the night would needs accompany us thither that so we might go safely for which service they were contented with a very small gratuity which we gave them The first of March being Ash-Wednesday we set forth by break of day and having travell'd fifteen Cos an hour or little more before night we came to lodge in a competently large Town call'd Soznitrà where I saw Batts as big as Crows The next day March the second beginning our journey early we travell'd twelve Cos and a little after noon arriv'd at Cambaia The Dutch Merchants there understanding by others that we were coming with this Cafila came to meet us a little without the Gate and with their accustomed courtesies conducted us to lodge in their House March the third we went out of the walls to the top of the Tower of that Sepulchre which I said we saw near the Garden of the King of Guzarat to behold from thence being a great prospect upon the Sea the coming in of the Tide which indeed was a pleasant spectacle 'T was New-Moon this day and so a greater Tide then usual and we went to observe it at the punctual time of its being at the height which those people know very well because at that time it increases in less then a quarter of an hour to almost the greatest height it is to have and flows with greatest fury contrary to what happens in other Seas Now at the due time we saw the Sea come roaring a far off like a most rapid River and in a moment overflow a great space of Land rushing with such fury that nothing could have with-stood its force and I think it would have overtaken the swiftest Race-horse in the world A thing verily strange since in other places both the rising and the falling of the Sea in the flux and reflux is done gently in full six hours and with so little motion that 't is scarce perceiv'd After this we went to see another goodly Cistern or Lake without the City formerly not seen of a square form and of a sumptuous marble structure with stairs about it like the others which I had seen elsewhere Afterwards we saw in one of the Suburbs or Hamlets near the City call'd Cansari a Temple of the Gentiles peradventure the goodliest that I have seen with certain Cupola's and high Balconies of tolerable Architecture but no great model This Temple belongs to that Race of Indians who shave their heads a thing unusual to all others who wear long hair like Women and such are call'd Vertià The Idol in it sate on high over an Altar at the upper end in a place somewhat dark ascended by stairs with lamps always burning before it When I went in there was a Man at his Devotions and burning Perfumes before the Idol At some distance from this stands another Temple of like structure but more plain and of a square form within it were seen abundance of Idols of several shapes whose Names and Histories the shortness of time and my unskilfulness in their Language allow'd me not to learn Without the Gate of these Temples I beheld sitting upon the ground in a circle another Troop of those naked Gioghi having their bodies sinear'd with Ashes Earth and Colours like those I had seen upon the River of Ahmedabà d they 〈◊〉 a ring about their Archimandrita or Leader who was held in such Veneration not onely by the Religious of their Sect but also by the other secular Indians for Reputation of Holiness that I saw many grave persons go and make low Reverences to him kiss his Hands and stand in an humble posture before him to hear some sentence and He with great gravity or rather with a strange scorn of all worldly things hypocritically made as if he scarce deign'd to speak and answer those that came to honour him These Gioghi are not such by Descent but by Choice as our Religious Orders are They go naked most of them with their bodies painted and smear'd as is above mention'd yet some of them are onely naked with the rest of their bodies smooth and onely their Fore-heads dy'd with Sanders and some red yellow or white colour which is also imitated by many secular persons out of superstition and gallantry They live upon Almes despising clothes and all other worldly things They marry not but make severe profession of Chastity at least in appearance for in secret 't is known many of them commit as many debaucheries as they can They live in society under the obedience of their Superiors and wander about the world without having any setled abode Their Habitations are the Fields the Streets the Porches the Courts of Temples and Trees especially under those where any Idol is worshipt by them and they undergo with incredible patience day and night no less the rigor of the Air then the excessive heat of the Sun which in these sultry Countries is a thing sufficiently to be admir'd They have spiritual exercises after their way and also some exercise of Learning but by what I gather from a Book of theirs translated into Persian and intitl'd Damerdbigiaska and as the Translator saith a rare piece both their exercises of wit and their Learning consist onely in Arts of Divination Secrets of Herbs and other natural things and also in Magick and Inchantments whereunto they are much addicted and boast of doing great wonders I include their spiritual exercises herein because according to the aforesaid Book they think that by the means of those exercises Prayers Fastings and the like superstitious things they come to Revelations which indeed are nothing else but correspondences with the Devil who appears to and deludes them in sundry shapes forewarning them sometimes of things to come Yea sometimes they have carnal commerce with him not believing or at least not professing that 't is the Devil but that there are certain Immortal Spiritual Invisible Women to the number of forty known to them and distinguisht by various forms names and operations whom they reverence as Deities and adore in many places with strange worship so that some Moorisco Princes in India as one of these three pety Kings who reign'd in Decà n Telengane and Meslepaton Cutbsciach as I remember though a Moor yet retaining some reliques of ancient Gen 〈…〉 sm makes great Feasts and Sacrifices to one of these Women in certain Grottoes under high Mountains which are in his Country where 't is reported that this Woman hath a particular and beloved habitation and He of the Gioghi that by long spiritual exercises can come to have an apparition of any of these Women who foretells him future things and favours him with the power of doing other wonders is accounted in the degree of perfection and far more if he happen to be adopted by the Immortal Woman for her Son Brother or other Kinsman but above all if he be receiv'd for a Husband and the Woman have carnal commerce with him the Giogho thenceforward remaining
pure white and fine Callico-laune which they there make likewise is for the most part the height of all their bravery the collars and some other parts of their upper coats being set off with some neat stitching Upon their heads they wear a long wreath of cloth about half a yard broad usually white but sometimes of other colours Which cloth worn for their head-covering is sometimes inter-woven in spaces with threds of coloured silk or silver or gold and when not so one end of that wreath of cloth worn by Gallants is usually thus inter-woven and so put upon their heads that its gayness may appear This head-covering of theirs they call a Shash which incircles their heads many times and doth mervellously defend them from the violence of the Sun And because this covering must needs keep their heads hot they provide for this as well as they can by shaving the hair continually from off them And they have girdles made of the same wreaths of cloth for the better sort thus inter-woven which come twice at least about them made very trim with that kind of weaving especially on both ends which hang down directly before them And thus have I presented a Mahometan there in his proper dress whose habit will more visibly appear together in the Mogols Picture portrayed and after put into this discourse Now for the Mahometan women because I had never sight of those of the greatest quality I cannot give such an account of them in respect of the Habits For these unless they be dishonest or poor come not abroad but for the fashion of their Garments they do not differ much from those the men wear for they wear Coats and Breeches one very like the other only women bind their long hair with Phillets which hand down behind them They wear likewise upon their heads Mantles or Vails usually made of white Callico or of their Pintado's which hang down over their other Garments Further the women have their Ears boared not only in their flaps but round about them wherein they wear very little Pendants those of the richer sort are made of flat narrow and thin pieces of Gold or Silver those worn by the poorer sort made of Brass or Iron kept bright so that all are in the same fashion they bestow some work upon the edges and ends of those Pendants And those women have the lower part of their left Nostrils pierced wherein they wear a Ring when they please of Gold or Silver or of some other baser Metals Those Rings of Gold have little Pearls fastned to one end of them and that Pearl is dril'd through that both ends of the ring may meet in it And doubtless the women of the greatest quality though I saw it not are bedeck'd with many rich Jewels This I have observed in some of those of the better sort I there saw that they did wear great broad hollow Rings of Gold enamel'd and some made of Silver or Brass upon their wrists and upon the small of their legs to take off and on two or three of them upon each Arm and Leg which make a tinkling noise very probably such Ornaments as the Jewish women were threatned for Isaiah 3. where Almighty God tells them that he would take away their tinkling Ornaments about their feet the Bracelets and the Ornaments of their legs their Rings and Nose-jewels For my Lord Embassadour and his Company we all kept to our English Habits made as light and cool as possibly we could have them His waiters in red Taffata Cloaks guarded with green Taffata which they always wore when they went abroad with him my self in a long black Cassock and the colours and fashion of our garments were so different from theirs that we needed not wheresoever we were to invite spectators to take notice of us And now the Constancy there observed by the Natives of both sexes in keeping to their old fashions in their Habits exampled to them by their Predecessors in many foregoing Generations and by them still continued is the great praise of this people as the commendation of every Nation in the World almost besides ours still constant to their ancient fashions in their Apparel SECTION XII Of their Language their Books their Learning c. THE Language of this Empire I mean the Vulgar bears the name of it and is called Indostan it hath much affinity with the Persian and Arabian Tongues but the Indostan is a smoother Language and more easie to be pronounced than the other a Language which is very significant and speaks much few words They write it as we to the right hand It is expressed by letters which are very much different from those Alphabets by which the Persian and Arabian Tongues are formed The Persian there is spoken as their more quaint and Court-tongue The Arabian is their learned Language both written backward to the left hand like the Hebrew from whence they borrow many words which come so near it as that he who is a good Critick in the Hebrew may very well guess at the meaning of much in both those Languages The Persian is a Language as if it consisted all of Guttural letters as some in the Hebrew Alphabet are called filling the mouth in the pronunciation of them for as the words in that Language are full of sense so in their speaking they are full of sound For the Latin and Greek by which there hath been so much knowledg conveyed into the World they are as ignorant of them both as if they had never been and this may be one great reason why there is so little learning amongst them But for the people themselves they are men of very strong reason and will speak ex re nata upon any offered occasion very exceeding well and doubtless they are a people of such strong Capacities that were there literature amongst them they might be the Authors of many excellent works but as the case stands with them all that is there attainable towards Learning is but to read and write And here by the way let me insert this that I never saw any Idiot or natural Fool nor any deformed person amongst them in any of those parts For Logick and Rhetorick which are so instrumental the first to enlarge and the second to polish discourses they have none but what is Natural They say that they write some witty Poems and compose many handsom Annals and Stories of their own and other adjacent Countries They delight much in Musick and have some stringed but many more Wind-instruments They have the use of Timbrels likewise but for want of pleasing Airs their Musick in my ears never seemed to be any thing but discord Their Books are not many and those are Manuscripts That rare and happy invention of Printing which hath been the advancement of so much learning within Christendom is not known without it They have heard of Aristotle whom they call Aplis and have some of his Books as they
Cocin were fain to keep a Fort continually with a great Garrison and at much expence And because he shew'd not much inclination thereunto it was not without cause judg'd that his Treaties were Artifices to hold the Portugals in suspence wherefore the General sent him word That he had express Order from the Vice-Roy not to stay longer at Calecut then twenty four hours and so long he would stay If within that time the Samori took a Resolution sutable to the Vice-Roy's Propositions he would carry his Ambassador with a good will otherwise he intended to depart the next night all the intermediate day being allow'd his Highness to determine With this Reply he re-manded the young Child Cicco honor'd with some small Presents and the other Men that came with him without sending any of his Portugals on purpose or going ashore to refresh himself and visit the Samori as he was by him invited the Vice-Roy having given him secret Instruction not to trust him too far because these Kings Samori had never been very faithful towards the Portugals Nevertheless the General forbad not any Souldiers to land that were so minded so that many of them went ashore some to walk up and down some to buy things and some to do other business as also many people came to the Fleet in little boats partly to sell things and partly out of curiosity to see the Portugals who in regard of their almost continual enmity with the Samori seldom us'd to be seen in Calecut The same day December the two and twentieth whilst we were aboard in the Port of Calecut I took the Sun's Altitude with my Astrolabe and found him to decline at Noon from the Zenith 34 degrees and 50 minutes The Sun was this day in the thirtieth degree of Sagittary whence according to my Canon of Declination which I had from F. Frà Paolo Maria Cittadini he declin'd from the Aequinoctial towards the South 23 degrees and 28 minutes which according to that Canon is the greatest Declination if it be not really so the little that is wanting may be allowed for the anticipation of four hours if not more that the Noon-tide falls sooner at Calecut than in any other Meridian of Europe according to which my Canon of Declination shall be calculated so that if from the 34 degrees 50 minutes in which I found the Sun you substract the 23 dgrees 28′ which I presuppose him to decline from the Aequinoctial towards the South the remainder is 11 degrees 22′ and so much is the Elevation of the North Pole in this place and consequently the City of Calecut lyes 11 degrees 22′ distant from the Aequinoctial towards the North. After dinner I landed also with the Captain of my Ship and some other Souldiers we went to see the Bazar which is near the shore the Houses or rather Cottages are built of Earth and Palm-leav's being very low the Streets also are very narrow but indifferently long the Market was full of all sorts of provision and other things necessary to the livelihood of that people conformable to their Custom for as for Clothing they need little both Men and Women going quite naked saving that they have a piece either of Cotton or Silk hanging down from the girdle to the knees and covering their shame the better sort are wont to wear it either all blew or white strip'd with Azure or Azure and some other colour a dark blew being most esteem'd amongst them Moreover both Men and Women wear their hair long and ty'd about the head the Women with a lock hanging on one side under the ear becommingly enough as almost all Indian-Women do the dressing of whose head is in my opinion the gallantest that I have seen in any other Nation The Men have a lock hanging down from the crown of the head sometimes a little inclin'd on one side some of them use a small colour'd head-band but the Women use none at all Both sexes have their arms full of bracelets their ears of pendants and their necks of jewels the Men commonly go with their naked Swords and Bucklers or other Arms in their hands as I said of those of Balagate The Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Calecut and the In-land parts especially the better sort are all Gentiles of the Race Nairi for the most part by profession Souldiers sufficiently swashing and brave But the Sea-coasts are full of Malabari an adventitious people though of long standing for Marco Polo who writ four hundred years since makes mention of them they live confusedly with the Pagans and speak the same Language but yet are Mahometans in Religion From them all that Country for a long tract together is call'd Malabar famous in India for the continual Robberies committed at Sea by the Malabar Thieves whence in the Bazar of Calecut besides the things above-mention'd we saw sold good store of the Portugals commodities as Swords Arms Books Clothes of Goa and the like Merchandizes taken from Portugal Vessels at Sea which things because stollen and in regard of the Excommunication which lyes upon us in that case are not bought by our Christians Having seen the Bazar and stay'd there till it was late we were minded to see the more inward and noble parts of the City and the out-side of the King's Palace for to see the King at that hour we had no intention nor did we come prepar'd for it but were in the same garb which we wore in the Ship Accordingly we walk'd a good way towards the Palace for the City is great and we found it to consist of plots beset with abundance of high Trees amongst the boughs whereof a great many of wild Monkies and within these close Groves stand the Houses for the most part at a distance from the common Wayes or Streets they appear but little few of their outsides being seen besides the low walls made of a black stone surrounding these plots and dividing them from the Streets which are much better than those of the Bazar but without any ornament of Windows so that he that walks through the City may think that he is rather in the midst of uninhabited Gardens than of an inhabited City Nevertheless it is well peopled and hath many Inhabitants whose being contented with narrow buildings is the cause that it appears but small As we walked in this manner we met one of those Men who had been at Goa with the Vice-Roy and because he saw us many together and imagin'd there was some person of quality amongst us or because he knew our General he invited us to go with him to his King's Palace and going before us as our guide conducted us thither He also sent one before to advertise the King of our coming and told us we must by all means go to see him because his Highness was desirous to see us and talk with us Wherefore not to appear discourteous we were constrein'd to consent to his Request notwithstanding
Italp running several adventures by the way to beseech the Pope for some favours in reference to her course of life which by the mediation of many principal Persons she hath obtain'd I had heard of her in the East Indies whither her fame was arriv'd and many times desir'd further information concerning her Wherefore my friend F. Roderiga di San Michele a Discalceated Carmelite being now arriv'd at Rome by the way of Venice many days before me and acquainted with my desire brought her to my house where she hath related to me many strange accidents befallen her in the course of her life of which I here mention only the most important and certain as of an extraordinary person in our times I have since brought her into the company of several Ladies and Cavaliers whose conversation she loves much more then that of women Sig Francesco Crescentio who is well skill'd in painting hath drawn her picture with his own hand She is of a large and portly stature for a Woman and cannot thereby be known for other then a man Her breast is but like a young Girl 's and she told me she had us'd I know not what kind of Remedy to dry it and make it almost plain which Remedy was a Plaister given her by an Italian which at first put her to much pain but afterwards without doing her other hurt or corroding the flesh produc'd the effect sufficiently well Her Visage is not deform'd though not fair but somewhat worn with age and her black short hair cut after the fashion of Men with a little lock as the mode also is at this day represents rather an Eunuch then a Woman She wears Clothes and a Sword after the Spanish manner and is well truss'd at the waste onely she carries her Head somewhat low and is a little thick shoulder'd In brief she rather resembles a weather-beaten Souldier than a fine Amorous Courtier Nothing but her Hand discovers her a Woman for it is some-what plump and fleshie although strong and robust and she moves it after a womanish manner Iune the eleventh After dinner F. Don Pietro Avitabile came to visit me and to receive instruction from me according to the command of the Congregation in order to his sudden Voyage Iune the fourteenth I visited the said Father in the Church of S. Silvester at Montecavallo and gave him the said Instruction in writing of which I also deliver'd another Copy to the Congregation De Propaganda Fide to the end they might supply the Father with many things which I judg'd necessary particularly with Briefs from the Pope to those Princes and with Letters of Recommendation to such Ambassadors of Catholick Princes as were at Constantinople through which he was to pass and to others who might help him upon the way Iune the five and twentieth F. Avitabile began his Voyage for Georgia together with one of his Companions nam'd F. Don Francesco Aprile intending to take F. Don Giacomo di Stefano and others at Messina five or six Fathers being design'd for this Mission but by my advice they divided into two Companies because I thought it best for the others either to follow these first after they should be advertis'd by them from Constantinople of the easiness of the passage or else take another way Those that went first carri'd his Holiness's Briefs to the four present Georgian Princes namely of Imeriti or Basciaive of Dadian or Odisci which is Mengrelia of Guriel and of Kacheti They also carry'd Letters from the Congregation to two Metroplitans to whom because it was not evident that they were Catholicks but rather suspected Schismaticks it was not convenient for the Pope to write Sundry fine things they carry'd likewise to present to the Princes and Metropolitans and to who-ever else it should be needful Their allowance from the Congregation was five hundred Crowns as much more being reserv'd for the other company of Fathers who were to follow besides that they were to collect many Alms for this purpose both of money and things to present at Rome Naples Messina and all the way they pass'd I took leave of them in the Evening at their own Church with many embraces and an appointment that they would continually communicate all Occurrences to me by Letters Iune the eight and twentieth The Pontifical Vespers being ended at S. Peter's the Pope in his Cope and Mitre was carry'd from the Church in his Chair to the Palace but before he came out of the Church-Gate the Spanish Ambassador Count d' Ognate who was arriv'd a few dayes before in place of the Duke of Pastrana presented himself according to the custom for of late years this Ceremony ha's been perform'd on S. Peter's Eve and not on the Feast day it self as formerly to give his Holiness a Gennet for the accustom'd Tribute of the Kingdom of Naples But before the Ambassador came to the Pope near whose Chair I stood and saw all very well the Treasurer of the Chamber came running to his Holiness and told him that the Ambassador brought not a Bill of so many thousand Crowns as use yearly to be presented together with the Gennet I know not whether they said it could not be made timely enough but should be done afterwards or whether it was made but not subscrib'd with those Cautions that were requisite but in summ the money was not ready And although they alledg'd that this hapned through negligence by reason of the new arrival of the Ambassador who was not well inform'd yet 't was believ'd that they design'd onely to try whether the Pope would let the business pass thus that so by degrees they might introduce a custom of paying no more money hereafter The Pope as I conceive apprehending their drift presently answer'd that without a good Bill he would not accept of the Gennet nor do that prejudice to the Apostolical Chamber wherefore if the Bill were not in order they should return back with the Gennet and bring both together the next Morning The Ambassador made suit to have the Gennet receiv'd presently promising that the Bill should be ready speedily The Pope reply'd that if Sig Marcello Sacchetti Brother of Card Sachetti who kept the publick accounts of the Exchequer and was then near the Pope would take security from the Ambassador he would be contented but he neither commanded the said Sig Marcello to take it nor would have him take it for his sake but he might do it if he pleas'd at the Ambassadors request The Spaniards perceiving there was no other way presently desir'd Sig Marcello to make the security which he very readily and courteously condescended to and thereupon by the Pope's Order made a publick writing in good form and his Holiness was contented to receive the Gennet which the Ambassador presented to him with the usual Ceremonies I was willing to relate this passage as a thing extraordinary which hapned in my time and presence So I humbly kiss your Hands From
liberty here that every one may do if he will and be able as much as the King himself Hence generally all live much after a genteel way and they do it securely as well because the King doth not persecute his subjects with false accusations nor deprive them of any thing when he sees them live splendidly and with the appearances of riches as is often done in other Mahometan Countries as because the Indians are inclin'd to these vanities and servants cost very little in regard of the multitude of people and the small charge wherewith the common sort are maintain'd for a simple Servant who is not an Officer commonly in the best houses between wages victuals and clothing stands not in more then three Rupià a moneth amounting to about the value of a Venetian Zecchine or ten shillings sterling Of Slaves there is a numerous company and they live with nothing their clothing is onely white linnen which though fine is bought very cheap and their dyet for the most part is nothing but Rice the ancient food of all the Indians according to Strabo of which they have infinite plenty and a little fish which is found every where in abundance So that every body even of mean fortune keeps a great family and is splendidly attended which is easie enough considering the very small charge as I said and on the other side the very considerable gains of traffick wherein most men are imploy'd and the incomes of the Land through its incredible fruitfulness I dare say unmeasurable Upon this occasion I must not forget that amongst the Indian Men both Mahometans and Pagans agreably to what Strabo testifies they did of old wear onely white linnen more or less fine according to the quality of the persons and the convenience they have of spending which linnen is altogether of Bumbast or Cotton there being no Flax in India and for the most part very fine in comparison of those of our Countries The Garment which they put next to the skin serves both for Coat and Shirt from the girdle upwards being adorn'd upon the breast and hanging down in many folds to the middle of the Leg. Under this Cassack from the girdle downwards they wear a pair of long Drawers of the same Cloth which cover not only their Thighs but legs also to the Feet and 't is a piece of gallantry to have it wrinkled in many folds upon the Legs The naked Feet are no otherwise confin'd but to a slipper and that easie to be pull'd off without the help of the Hand this mode being convenient in regard of the heat of the Country and the frequent use of standing and walking upon Tapistry in their Chambers Lastly the Head with all the hair which the Gentiles as of old they did also by the report of Strabo keep long contrary to the Mahometans who shave it is bound up in a small and very neat Turbant of almost a quadrangular form a little long and flat on the top They who go most gallant use to wear their Turbant only strip'd with silk of several colours upon the white and sometimes with Gold and likewise their girdles wrought of Silk and Gold instead of plain white I was so taken with this Indian dress in regard of its cleanness and easiness and for the goodly shew me-thought it had on hors-back with the Scemiter girt on and the buckler hanging at a shoulder belt besides a broad and short dagger of a very strange shape ty'd with tassell'd strings to the girdle that I caus'd one to be made for my self complete in every point and to carry with me to shew it in Italy The Mahometan Women especially of the Mogholians and Souldiers of other extraneous descents who yet are here esteem'd go clad likewise all in white either plain or wrought with Gold-flowers of which work there are some very goodly and fine pieces Their upper Garment is short more beseeming a Man then a Woman and much of the same shape with those of Men Sometimes they wear a Turbant too upon their heads like Men colour'd and wrought with Gold Sometimes they wear onely fillets either white or red or wrought with Gold and Silver for other colours they little use Likewise their Clothes are oftentimes red of the same rich and fine linnen and their Drawers are also either white or red and oftentimes of sundry sorts of silk-stuff strip'd with all sorts of colours When they go along the City if it be not in close Coaches but on foot or on horse-back they put on white veils wherewith they cover their faces as 't is the custome of all Mahometan Women Yet the Indian Gentile Women commonly use no other colour but red or certain linnen stamp'd with works of sundry colours which they call Cit but all upon red or wherein red is more conspicuous then the rest whence their attire seems onely red at a distance And for the most part they use no garment but wear onely a close Wastecoat the sleeves of which reach not beyond the middle of the Arm the rest whereof to the Hand is cover'd with bracelets of Gold or Silver or Ivory or such other things according to the ability of the persons From the waste downwards they wear a long Coat down to the Foot as I have formerly writ that the Women do in the Province of Moghostan in Persia near Ormùz When they go abroad they cover themselves with a Cloak of the ordinary shape like a sheet which is also us'd by the Mahometan and generally by all Women in the East yet it is of a red colour or else of Cit upon a red ground that is of linnen stamp'd with small works of sundry colours upon red Those that have them adorn themselves with many gold-works and jewels especially their Ears with pendants sufficiently enormous wearing a circle of Gold or Silver at their Ears the diametre whereof is oftentimes above half a span and 't is made of a plate two fingers broad and engraven with sundry works which is a very disproportionate thing The Pagan Women go with their faces uncover'd and are freely seen by every one both at home and a broad Nevertheless they are modest and honor'd much more then the Mahometans and amongst them 't is a certain thing that there is not any publick Courtisan but amongst the Mahometan Women there are infinite who go every day publickly to houses and where they please to play on Musick sing dance and do what else belongs to their profession But of these things enough for this time I came from Persia with a great desire to go to Cambaia in regard of what I had heard of it being told that in that City which is one of the ancientest of India the Pagans are very numerous and above measure observers of their Rites so that I might probably see more remarkable Curiosities there of those Idolaters then elsewhere Sig Alberto Scilling had the same desire so that upon
to understand without suspicion of error Before the Idol without the Nieche hung a Bell as 't is the custom in all their Temples which as I said before all those who come to make their prayers ring at their first entrance Within this and the other Nieches on the sides were one or two lighted Candles In the other sides of the Temple something higher then the pavement were in the wall certain little Nieches in each of which stood an Idolet or little Idol some in the shape of Men others of Women One there was which had many Arms on a side and many Faces and this they said was call'd Brachma one of their chief false Deities Another had the head of an Elephant and was call'd Ganescio They say he is the Son of Mahadeu who finding him one day with Parveti his Wife but his own Mother and not knowing who he was kill'd him out of jealousie cutting off his Head but afterwards understanding that he was his own Son he repented him of his error and resolv'd to bring him to life again Wherefore meeting with an Elephant as he had purpos'd to do with what he first happen'd upon he cut off his Head and plac'd it on his dead Son's Shoulders Whereupon Ganescio reviv'd and thenceforward liv'd immortal with an Elephants Head But behold another delusion One there is with the Head I know not whether of a Tyger or Lyon probably 't is that Narosinha which I formerly writ that I saw in Combru in the maritine parts of Persia. Some of these Idolets sate upon sundry Animals as Tygers and the like and even upon Rats of which things the foolish and ignorant Indians relate ridiculous stories But I doubt not that under the veil of these Fables their ancient Sage most parsimonious of the Sciences as all Barbarians ever were have hid from the vulgar many secrets either of Natural or Moral Philosophy and perhaps also of History And I hold for certain that all these so monstrous figures have secretly some more rational significations though express'd in this uncouth manner As we know in ancient time among the Gentiles of our Countries there was in the figures of quadrifronted Ianus of Iupiter Ammon with the Head of a Ram of Anubis with the Head of a Dog and many other extravagances not onely of the Grecians and Aegyptians but also of the Romans The Sieling Pillars and Walls of this Temple were adorn'd with Painting especially red which how dear 't is to the Indians I formerly intimated The doors of their Houses namely the Posts Architraves and Barrs that fasten it are all colour'd so adding some mixture of white limes to the red for of white too they are so enamour'd that all Men are generally cloth'd with it A custom peradventure deriv'd to them from Aegypt where it was in use as Herodotus writes and whence perhaps Pythagoras himself learnt it who went cloth'd in white as we find noted by Aelian and others And I observe that in many particulars the manners of the present Indians much resemble those of the ancient Aegptians but since the Aegyptians who descended from Cham the Son of Noah were a very ancient people I rather believe that the Indians learnt from the Aegyptians then the Aegyptians from the Indians and 't is known that from Aegypt there was always Navigation and Commerce into India by the Southern Ocean The red colour amongst these Indians is besides by the Women worn also by the Sami who are a kind of religious persons with red the Gioghi who live like Hermits and go about begging sometimes paint their bodies in many parts and also with red blended with yellow that is with some parcel of Sanders or Saffron almost all the Indian Gentiles dye their fore-heads and sometimes their garments accordingly as Strabo reports from the testimony of Onesicritus they did likewise in the time of Alexander the Great Lastly they wear red Turbants upon their Heads and their Girdles are oftner wrought with red then any other colour After having seen the Temple of Mahavir we went to visit an old Brachman accounted very learned amongst them with whom we discours'd as well as we could by an interpreter because he understood no other Language but the Indian We found him amongst many Scholars to whom he was giving a Lecture He shew'd us his Books written in an antique Character which is the learned amongst them not common to the vulgar but known onely to the learned and us'd by the Brachmans who in distinction from other vulgar Characters us'd variously in sundry Provinces of India call it Nagheri I have and shall carry with me two small Books of it which I sometimes bought in Lar. This Brachman is call'd Beca Azà rg of which words Beca is his proper Name and Azà rg his Title of Honour Amongst other Books he shew'd us that of their sect in wâ—â—â—h though it was bound long ways as 't is the fashion of their Books yet the lines were written cross the paper after the manner of some of our Musick-Books He affirm'd to us for certain that it was a work of Pythagoras which well agreeth with what Philostratus saith Iarchas told Apollonius namely that they Indians believ'd the same concerning the Soul which Pythagoras had taught them and they the Aegyptians which is quite contrary to what I said before was my opinion which of these two Nations first taught the other But Diogenes Laertius who writes Pythagoras's Life copiously enough making mention of his going into Aegypt and how he convers'd likewise with the Chaldaeans and Magi yet speaks not a word that ever he went into India or had communication with the Brachmans Wherefore if Pythagoras taught any thing to the Indians as Iarchas said he did it not in person but by his books which possibly were carry'd into India Moreover Beca Azà rg added that their Brachmà esteemed one of the chief amongst their false Gods from whom they are denominated Brachmans is all one with Pythagoras A curious notion indeed and which perhaps would be news to hear in Europe that Pythagoras is foolishly ador'd in India for a God But this with Azà rg's good leave I do not believe Either he did not expresly speak thus and by the fault of the Interpreters we did not understand him aright or if he did affirm it perhaps he came to be mistaken by having heard Pythagoras nam'd by some Europaeans for the Author of that foolish opinion of the Transmigration of Souls Be it as it will I cannot believe that Pythagoras and Brachma are all one because though Pythagoras be very ancient for he flourish'd in the Consulship of Brutus who expell'd the Kings out of Rome yet I hold the Rites and opinions of the Brachmans much more ancient For when Diodorus relates the contest of the two Wives of Ceteus an Indian Captain in the Army of Eumenes each of whom would be burnt with her Husband slain in battel speaking of the Laws
which lies on the left side of the River as you go against the stream Having landed and going towards the Bazà r to get a Lodging in some House we beheld the Queen coming alone in the same way without any other Woman on foot accompany'd onely with four or six foot-Souldiers before her all which were quite naked after their manner saving that they had a cloth over their shame and another like a sheet worn cross the shoulders like a belt each of them had a Sword in his hand or at most a Sword and Buckler there were also as many behind her of the same sort one of which carry'd over her a very ordinary Umbrella made of Palm-leavs Her Complexion was as black as that of à natural Aethiopian she was corpulent and gross but not heavy for she seem'd to walk nimbly enough her Age may be about forty years although the Portugals had describ'd her to me much elder She was cloth'd or rather girded at the waste with a plain piece of thick white Cotton and bare-foot which is the custom of the Indian-Gentile Women both high and low in the house and abroad and of Men too the most and the most ordinary go unshod some of the more grave wear Sandals or Slippers very few use whole Shoos covering all the Foot From the waste upwards the Queen was naked saving that she had a cloth ty'd round about her Head and hanging a little down upon her Breast and Shoulders In brief her aspect and habit represented rather a dirty Kitchin-wench or Laundress then a delicate and noble Queen whereupon I said within my self Behold by whom are routed in India the Armies of the King of Spain which in Europe is so great a matter Yet the Queen shew'd her quality much more in speaking then by her presence for her voice was very graceful in respect of her Person and she spoke like a prudent and judicious Woman They had told me that she had no teeth and therefore was wont to go with half her Face cover'd yet I could not discover any such defect in her either by my Eye or by my Ear and I rather believe that this covering the Mouth or half the Face as she sometimes doth is agreeable to the modest custom which I know to be common to almost all Women in the East I will not omit that though she were so corpulent as I have mention'd yet she seems not deform'd but I imagine she was handsome in her Youth and indeed the report is that she hath been a brave Lady though rather of a rough then a delicate handsomeness As soon as we saw her coming we stood still lay'd down our baggage upon the ground and went on one side to leave her the way to pass Which she taking notice of and of my strange habit presently ask'd Whether there was any among us that could speak the Language Whereupon my Brachman Narsù step'd forth and answer'd Yes and I after I had saluted her according to our manner went near to speak to her she standing still in the way with all her people to give us Audience She ask'd who I was being already inform'd as one of her Souldiers told me by a Portugal who was come about his businesses before me from Mangalòr to Manel that I was come thither to see her I caus'd my Interpreter to tell her that I was Un Cavaliero Ponentino A Gentleman of the West who came from very farr Countries and because other Europaeans than Portugals were not usually seen in her Dominions I caus'd her to be told that I was not a Portugal but a Roman specifying too that I was not of the Turks of Constantinople who in all the East are styl'd and known by the Name of Rumi but a Christian of Rome where is the See of the Pope who is the Head of the Christians That it was almost ten years since my first coming from home and wandring about the world having seen divers Countries and Courts of great Princes and that being mov'd by the fame of her worth which had long ago arriv'd at my Ears I was come into this place purposely to see her and offer her my service She ask'd What Countries and Courts of Princes I had seen I gave her a brief account of all and she hearing the Great Turk the Persian the Moghol and Venk-tapà Naieka nam'd ask'd What then I came to see in these Woods of hers Intimating that her State was not worth seeing after so many other great things as I said I had seen I reply'd to her that it was enough for me to see her Person which I knew to be of great worth for which purpose alone I had taken the pains to come thither and accounted the same very well imploy'd After some courteous words of thanks she ask'd me If any sickness or other disaster had hapned to me in so remote and strange Countries How I could have done being alone without any to take care of me a tender Affection and incident to the compassionate nature of Women I answer'd that in every place I went into I had God with me and that I trusted in him She ask'd me Whether I left my Country upon any disgust the death of any kindred or beloved person and therefore wander'd so about the world for in India and all the East some are wont to do so upon discontents either of Love or for the death of some dear persons or for other unfortunate accidents and if Gentiles they become Gioghies if Mahometans Dervises and Abdales all which are a sort of vagabonds or despisers of the world going almost naked onely with a skin upon their Shoulders and a sttaff in their Hands through divers Countries like our Pilgrims living upon Alms little caring what befalls them and leading a Life suitable to the bad disposition of their hearts I conceal'd my first misadventures and told the Queen that I left not my Country upon any such cause but onely out of a desire to see divers Countries and customs and to learn many things which are learnt by travelling the World men who had seen and convers'd with many several Nations being much esteem'd in our parts That indeed for some time since upon the death of my Wife whom I lov'd much though I were not in habit yet in mind I was more then a Gioghi and little car'd what could betide me in the World She ask'd me What my design was now and whither I directed my way I answer'd that I thought of returning to my Country if it should please God to give me life to arrive there Many other questions she ask'd which I do not now remember talking with me standing a good while to all which I answer'd the best I could At length she bid me go and lodg in some house and afterwards she would talk with me again at more convenience Whereupon I took my leave and she proceeded on her way and as I was afterwards told she went about
are all for this long Voyage hoop'd with Iron These Salvages had their Cattell which we bought of them at a very great Command for with a call they would presently run to them and when they had sold any one of their Bullocks to us for a little inconsiderate piece of brass if we did not presently knock him down they would by the same call make the poor creature break from us and run unto them again and then there was no getting them out of their hands but by giving them more brass and by this trick now and then they sold the same beast unto us two or three times and if they had thus sold him more often he had been a good penny-worth how ever in this we might observe the covetousness and deceit of this brutish people Here ye must know that this people of all metals seem to love Brass I think as you may ghess afterward for the rankness of its smell with which they make great Rings to wear about their Wrists yea so taken are they with this base metal that if a man lay down before them a piece of Gold worth two pounds sterling and a piece of brass worth two pence they will leave the Gold and take the brass On this shore there likewise are found excellent good though small Roots for Salads which the soyl brings forth without husbanding And in the head of the Bay may be taken with nets great store of fair fat Mullets of which we took abundance This remotest part of Africa is very mountainous over-run with wild beasts as Lions Tygers Wolves and many other beasts of prey which in the silent night discover themselves by their noyse and roaring To the Teeth and Jaws of which cruel Beasts the Natives here expose their old people if death prevent it not when once they grow very old and troublesom laying them forth in some open place in the dark night When the wild beasts as David observs Psal. 104. 20 21. do creep forth and the young lions roar after their prey One miserable poor old wretch was thus exposed when we there who by his pitiful cries was discovered by our Court of Guard there on shore and not far off from him and by them relieved and delivered for that present time out of the jaws of Death And we asking Cooree one of the Natives whose Story you shall have by and by why they did so he told us It was their custom when their people had lived so long that they knew not what to do with them thus to be rid of them We saw in this Bay of Souldania many Whales and about the shore divers party-coloured Fowls And here are Ostriches to be seen For the soil about the Bay it seems to be very good but the Sun shines not upon a people in the whole world more barbarous than those which possess it Beasts in the skins of men rather than men in the skins of beasts as may appear by their ignorance habit language diet with othet things which make them most brutish First for God the great God of Heaven and Earth whom generally all the people in the World Heathen as well as Christians do confess they as this Cooree told us acknowledg none For their speech it seemed to us an inarticulate noise rather than Language like the clucking of Hens or gabling of Turkies and thus making a very strange confused noise when they walk here or there if there be two or three or five or ten or twenty or very many more in company it is their manner to walk in rank one after the other in small paths they have made by their thus walking as Kine in Summer many times do when they come home to the Pail or as Wild-geese who fly in ranks and as they fly make a noise so these walking together thus gabble from the first to the last in company as if all spake but none answered Their Habits are their sheeps-skins undrest thonged together which cover their bodies to the middle with a little flap of the same skin tied before them being naked downward and when 't is cold keep the woolly when hotter weather the fleshy side of those skins next to their bodies Their Ornaments and Jewels Bullocks or Sheeps-guts full of excrement about their necks and therefore when we bought their Cattel they would take and we were content they should their skins guts and garbage which plentifully furnished them with that rich attire and gay ornaments and when they were hungry they would sit down upon some hillock first shaking out some of that filthy pudding out of the guts they wore about their necks then bowing and bringing their mouths to their hands almost as low as their knees like hungry dogs would gnaw and eat the raw guts when you may conceive their mouths full of sweet green sauce The women as the men are thus adorned thus habited and thus dieted only they wear more about their lower parts than the men And by the way these carry their sucking Infants under their skins upon their backs and their breasts hanging down like Bag-pipes they put up with their hands to their children that they may suck them over their shoulders Both Sexes make coverings for their heads like to skull-caps with Cow-dung and such-like filth mingled with a little stinking grease with which they likewise besmear their faces which makes their company unsufferable if they get the wind of you I observ'd that some of the rest of their dyet was agreeable to the former for they would eat any reffuse thing as rotten and mouldy Biskets which we have given them fit indeed for nothing but to be cast away yea they will eat that which a ravenous Dog in England will refuse I once took notice of a Couple of them who had found on the neighbouring shore a large piece of a dead fish the Sea had cast up which did most sufficiently stink they presently made a little fire with dry Cowdung and with this they warm'd it and then they eat it with as much seeming appetite as an hungry man with us would feed upon a very choice and savoury dish which makes me almost to believe that those wretched creatures have but three senses wanting the benefit both of Smelling and Tasting They lodge upon the earth in Hovels so ill-covered that they keep not out the weather made like to those we call Summer-houses with boughs and sticks These Brutes devote themselves to idleness for they neither dig nor spin For their stature and making they are very streight and well limb'd though not very tall but in their faces very ill-favoured for the noses of most of them are flat They have little or no beard the hair on their heads short black and curled their skins very tawny swift they are of foot and will throw Darts and shoot Arrows which are their weapons very dangerously But I shall here insert a short Story About three years before I went to India
and the Mogol's Stamp which is his Name and Titles in Persian Characters put upon it The Coyn there is more pure than in any other part of the world being as they report made of pure Silver without any Allay so that in the Spanish Money the purest of all Europe there is some dross They call their pieces of Money Roopees of which there are some of divers values the meanest worth two shillings and three pence and the best two shillings and nine pence sterling By these they count their Estates and Payments They have another Coyn of inferiour value in Guzarat called Mamoodies about twelve pence sterling both the former and these are made in halfs and some few in quarters so that three pence is the least piece of silver current in those Countries and very few of them to be seen That which passeth up and down for exchange under this rate is Brass or Copper Money which they call Pices whereof three or thereabouts countervail a Penny Those Pices are made so massie and thick as that the baser metal of which they are made put to other uses is well-nigh worth the Silver they are rated at Their Silver Coyn is made either round or square but so thick as that it never breaks nor wears out They have pure Gold-Coyn likewise some pieces of great value but these are not very ordinarily seen amongst them I have now done with this Section wherein I have related much of the Commodities and Riches as before of the Provisions and Pleasures which are to be found in that vast Monarchy and I conceive nothing but what Truth will justifie And now lest that place I have describ'd should seem to be an earthly Paradise I must acquaint my Reader that the Contents there found by such as have lived in those parts are sour'd and sauc'd with many unpleasing things which he must needs know when he takes notice SECTION IV. Of the Discommodities Inconveniences and Annoyances that are to be found or met withall in this Empire AS the Poets feigned that the Garden of the Hesperides wherein were Trees that bare Golden Apples was guarded by a Serpent So there are stings here as well as fruits all considered together may not unfitly be resembled by those Locusts mention'd Rev. 9. 7 8 10. verses Who had the Faces of Men and the Hair of Women and Crowns as of Gold on their Heads but they had too the Teeth of Lyons and the tayls of Scorpions and there were stings in those tayls Here are many things to content and please the enjoyers of them to make their life more comfortable but withall here are Teeth to tear and stings to kill All put together are nothing but a mixture made up as indeed all earthly things are of good and bad of bitter and sweet of what contents and of what contents not The Annoyances of these Countries are first many harmfull beasts of prey as Lyons Tygers Wolves Jackalls with others those Jackalls seem to be wild Doggs who in great companies run up and down in the silent night much disquieting the peace thereof by their most hideous noyse Those most ravenous Creatures will not suffer a Man to rest quietly in his Grave for if his Body be not buryed very deep they will dig him thence and bury as much of him again as they can consume in their hungry bellies In their Rivers are many Crocodiles and Latet anguis in herba on the Land not a few over-grown Snakes with other venemous and pernicious Creatures In our Houses there we often see Lizards shaped like unto Crocodiles of a sad green colour and but little Creatures the fear of whom presents its self most to the Eye for I do not know that they are hurtful There are many Scorpions to be seen which are oftentimes felt which creep into their houses especially in that time of the Rains whose stinging is most sensible and deadly if the Patient have not presently some oyl that is made of Scorpions to annoint the part affected which is a sudden and a certain cure But if the man can get the Scorpion that stung him as sometimes they do the oylie substance it affords being beaten in pieces suddenly applyed is a present help The sting of the Scorpion may be a very fit resemblance of the sting of Death the bitterness and anguish whereof nothing can asswage and cure so well as a serious consideration and a continual application of the thoughts of dying Facilè contemnit omnia qui cogitat se semper moriturum that man may trample upon every thing whose meditations are taken up with the thoughts of his Change He cannot dye but well who dyes daily daily in his preparations for death though he dye not presently The Scorpions are in shape like unto our Cra-fishes and not bigger and look black like them before they are boyled They have a little round tayl which turns up and lyes usuallyupon their backs at the end whereof is their sting which they do not put in and let out of their bodies as other venemous creatures do but it alwayes appears in their tayls ready to strike it is very sharp and hard and not long but crooked like the talon of an Hawk The abundance of Flyes like those swarms in Egypt Exod. 8. 21. in those parts did likewise very much annoy us for in the heat of the day their numberless number was such as that we could not be quiet in any place for them they being ready to fly into our Cupps and to cover our Meat as soon as it was placed on the Table and therefore we had alwayes some of the Natives we kept there who were our Servants to stand round about us on pupose while we were eating with Napkins to fright them away And as in the day one kind of ordinary Flyes troubled us so in the night we were likewise very much disquieted with another sort called Musqueetoes like our Gnats but some-what less and in that season we were very much troubled with Chinches another sort of little troublesome and offensive creatures like little Tikes and these annoyed us two wayes as first by their biting and stinging and then by their stink From all which we were by far more free when we lodged in Tents as there we did much than when we abode in Houses where in great Cities and Towns to add unto the disquiets I before named there were such an abundance of large hungry Ratts that some of us were bitten in the night as we lay in our beds either on our Toes or Fingers or on the tips of our Ears or on the tops of our Noses or in any part of our Bodies besides which they could get into their Mouths The winds in those parts as I observed before which they call the Mont soone blow constantly one way altering but few points six months Southerly and six months Northerly The months of April May and the beginning of Iune till the Rain falls
a people of no large stature with little eyes and noses somthing flatted de tribus Capillis with a few black hairs that stand scattered on their upper lips which make them as handsome beards as are to be seen on our Hares or Cats There are some Jews here as before I observed whose stubbornness and Rebellion long ago caused Almighty God to threaten them that they should be after sifted and scattered among all the Nations of the World Those ancient Satyrists Persius and Iuvenal after that most horrid act committed by them in Crucifying our Blessed Saviour though not in respect unto that most cruel action for they were Heathens yet they call them Verpos that is circumcised Worms vermin Tacitus after gives them a most unsavory Epithete calling them foetentes Iudaeos stinking Jews Marcus the Emperour observing them well concluded that they were a generation of men worse than savages or Canibals to be even the worst of men as if they were the very reffuse and dregs of mankind How usual is that Proverb that when men are suspected to do otherwise than they should to answer what am I Iew that I should do so and so I have observed somthing to this purpose from the people of East-India whoare very valiant at tongue-fights though not so with their weapons as you will hear afterward that people I say who have a very nimble but a base quality in railing at and miscalling one another and their language is so full and significant that they can call a man in it two or three base things in one word but when they come to call him whom they miscall Iudeo Jew they believe as I have been often told that they can go no higher esteeming that above all other terms the highest name of obloquy Yet we do believe because the Lord hath promised it that he will find a time to call home this people again to himself when they shall receive honour above all the contempt they have been long under after they shall see with sorrow and with the eye of faith Him whom their Fore-fathers out of ignorance and despite and unbelief pierced For the Stature of the Natives of East-India they are like us but generally very streight for I never observed nor heard of any crooked person amongst them And one reason may be because they never lace nor girt in their Bodies and when they sleep they accustom themselves to stretch out their Bodies at their full length without any thing to raise up their heads And further among many other things I took special notice of there I never observed any deformed Person nor Ideot or natural Fool in those Parts Now for the Complexion of this People they are all of them of a sad tawney or Olive-colour their hair black as a Raven very harsh but not curl'd They like not a man or woman that is very white or fair because that as they say is the colour of Lepers common amongst them Most of the Mahumetans except the Moolaes which are their Priests or those which are very old and retired and have as it were given the World quite over keep their chins continually bare but suffer the hair on their upper lipps to grow very long and they keep it in its natural colour by combing it continually with black-lead Combs till they be of good years but afterward when Time hath so snowed upon them that they can no longer keep in nor conceal their gray hairs they use the Rasor as they did no more but let the hair of their chins grow long and large which makes many gray-beards amongst them and I conceive that there are of those many Old men And further it is the manner of the Mahumetans to shave all the hair from off their Heads reserving only one lock on the Crown of them for Mahomet to pull them up to Heaven with as they fondly conceit The Hindoes shave their Heads likewise but cut all off and both of them shave thus and that very often but however their baldness appears not at all because their Heads are continually covered with a Shash or a wreath of narrow Callico-Cloth many times wrap'd about them usually for their colour white or red which they never pull off as we do our Hats in Complements Their much and often shaving makes many excellent Barbers amongst them who besides their Scisâ—ers and Rasors use a little Instrument about the length of a short Bodkin very sharp made like a Chizel but not broader at the cutting end than the shank of a six-penny nail with which they pare and clense the nails on their fingers and toes Every Barber carries always about him a round Looking-glass made of steel about the compass of a large trencher-plate made somwhat hollow and kept by them exceeding clean and sleek so that it will represent the Face of him that beholds it on the convex side very well These Barbers as they walk up and down often present these Glasses unto men whom they find sitting still which is a tender of their Service if they shall please to make use of them The people there often wash their Bodies and keep their Feet as clean and as sweet as their Hands The better sort annoint themselves very much with sweet oyls which makes their company as before I observed very savory The Natives there of which there is somthing before in my third Section shew very much ingenuity in their curious Manufactures as in their Silk-stuffs which they most artificially weave some of them very neatly mingled either with Silver or Gold or both As also in making excellent Quilts of their stained cloth or of fresh coloured Taffata lined with their Pintadoet or of their Sattin lined with Taffata betwixt which they put Cotten-wooll and work them together with Silk Those Taffata or Sattin-quilts are excellently stitched by them being done as evenly and in as good order as if they had been drawn out to them for their direction the better to work them They make likewise excellent Carpetts of their Cotton-wooll in fine mingled colours some of them more than three yards broad and of a great length Some other richer Carpets they make all of Silk so artificially mixed as that they livelily represent those flowers and figures made in them The ground of some other of their rich Carpets is Silver or Gold about which are such silken flowers and figures as before I named most excellently and orderly disposed throughout the whole work Their skill is likewise exquisite in making of Cabinets or Boxes or Trunks or Standishes curiously wrought within and without inlaid with Elephants tooth or Mother of Pearl or Ebony or Tortoyse-shell or Wyre they make excellent Cups and other things of Agate and Cornelian and curious they are in cutting all manner of stones Diamonds as well as others They paint Staves or Bed-steads or Chests of Boxes or Fruit-dishes or large Chargers extream neatly which when they be not inlaid as before they
a Merchants son marries a Merchants daughter and so men of several Trades marry to the same Trade Thus a Coolee who is a Tiller of the Ground marries his son to a Coolees daughter and so in all other professions they keep themselves to their own Tribes and Trades not mixing with any other by which means they never advance themselves higher than they were at first They take but one wife and of her they are not so fearful and jealous as the Mahometans are of their several wives and women for they suffer their wives to go abroad whither they please They are married very young about six or seven years old their Parents making Matches for them who lay hold of every opportunity to bestow their Children Because confin'd to their own Tribes they have not such variety of choice as otherwise they might have and when they attain to the age of thirteen or fourteen or fifteen years at the most they bed together Their Marriages are solemnized as those of the Mahometans with much company and noise but with this difference that both the young couple ride openly on horse-back and for the most part they are so little that some go on their horse sides to hold them up from falling They are bedeck'd or strewed all over their cloathing with the choice flowers of that Country fastned in order all about their Garments For their Habits they differ very little from the Mahometans but are very like them civilly clad but many of their women were Rings on their Toes and therefore go bare foot They wear likewise broad Rings of Brass or better metal upon their Wrists and small of their Legs to take off and on They have generally I mean the Women the flaps or tips of their ears boared when they are young which holes daily extended and made wider by things put and kept in them for that purpose at last become so large as that they will hold Rings hollowed on the out-side like Pullies for their flesh to rest in that are as broad in their circumference some of them I dare say as little Sawcers But though those fashions of theirs seem very strange at first sight yet they keep so constantly to them as to all their other habits without any alteration that their general and continual wearing of them makes them to seem less strange unto others which behold them And for their Diet very many of them as the Banians in general which are a very strict Sect will eat of nothing that hath had or may have life And these live upon Herbs and Roots and Bread and Milk and Butter and Cheese and Sweet-meats of which they have many made very good by reason of their great abundance of Sugar Others amongst them will eat Fish but of no living thing else The Rashboots will eat Swines-flesh which is most hateful to the Mahometans some will eat of one kind of flesh some of another of all very sparing but all the Hindoo's in general abstain from Beef out of an high and over-excellent esteem they have of Kine and therefore give the Mogol yearly besides his other exactions great sums of money as a ransom for those Creatures whence it comes to pass that amongst other good provisions we meet there but with little Beef As the Mahometans bury so the Hindoos in general not believing the Resurrection of the Flesh burn the bodies of their dead near some Rivers if they may with convenience wherein they sow their ashes And there are another Sect or sort of Heathens living amongst them called Persees which do neither of these of whom and how they bestow the bodies of their dead you shall hear afterward The Widows of these Hindoos first mentioned such as have lived to keep company with their Husbands for as before there is usually a good space of time 'twixt their wedding and bedding The Widows I say who have their Husbands separated from them by death when they are very young marry not again but whether or no this be generally observed by them all I know not but this I am sure of that immediately after their Husbands are dead they cut their hair and spend all their life following as creatures neglected both by themselves and others whence to be free from shame some of them are ambitious to dye with honour as they esteem it when their fiery love carries them to the flames as they think of Martyrdom most willingly following the dead bodies of their Husbands unto the fire and there embracing them are burnt with them A better agreement in death than that of Eteocles and Polynices the two Theban brothers of whom it is said that they were such deadly enemies while they were alive that after when both their bodies were burnt together in the same fiery Pile the flame parted and would not mix in one of which Statius thus Nec furiis post fata modus flammaeque rebelles Seditione Rogi But those which before I named agree so well in life that they will not be divided by death where their flames unite together And although the woman who thus burns with her Husband doth this voluntarily not by any compulsion for the love of every Widow there is not thus fired and though the poor creature who thus dies may return and live if she please even then when she comes to the Pile which immediately after turns her into ashes yet she who is once thus resolved never starts back from her first firm and setled resolution but goes on singing to her death having taken some intoxicating thing to turn or disturb her brains and then come to the place where she will needs dye she settles her self presently in the middest of that combustible substance provided to dispatch her which fuel is placed in a round shallow trench about two foot deep made for that purpose near some River or other water as before and though she have no bonds but her own strong affections to tye her unto those flames yet she never offers to stir out of them And thus she being joyfully accompanied unto the place of her dying by her Parents and other friends and when all is fitted for this hellish sacrifice and the fire begins to burn all which are there present shout and make a continued noise so long as they observe her to stir that the screeches of that poor tortured creature may not be heard Not much unlike the custom of the Ammonites who when they made their children pass through the fire to Molech caused certain Tabrets or Drums to sound that their cries might not be heard whence the place was called Tophet Now after their bodies are quite consumed and lie mixed together in ashes and those ashes begin to grow cold some of them are gathered up by their nearest friends and kept by them as choice Relicks the rest are immediately sowen by the standers by upon the adjacent River or water But for those poor silly souls who sing themselves into the
coloured Marble which Lions are all made of Massie silver some part of them guilded with gold and beset with precious stones Those Lions support a Canopy of pure gold under which the Mogol sits when as he appears in his greatest state and glory For the beauty of that Court it consists not in gay and gorgious apparel for the Country is so hot that they cannot endure any thing that is very warm or massie or rich about them The Mogol himself for the most part is covered with a garment as before described made of pure white and fine Callico-laune and so are his Nobles which garments are washed after one days wearing But for the Mogol though his cloathing be not rich and costly yet I believe that there is never a Monarch in the whole world that is daily adorned with so many Jewels as himself is Now they are Jewels which make mens covering most rich such as people in other parts sometimes wear about them that are otherwise most meanly habited To which purpose I was long since told by a Gentleman of honour sent as a Companion to the old Earl of Nottingham when he was imployed as an extraordinary Embassadour by King Iames to confirm the peace made 'twixt himself and the King of Spain which Embassadour had a very great many Gentlemen in his train in as rich clothing as Velvets and Silks could make but then there did appear many a great Don or Grandee in the Spanish Court in a long black bays Cloak and Cassack which had one Hatband of Diamonds which was of more worth by far than all the bravery of the Ambassadors many Followers But for the Mogol I wonder not at his many Jewels he being as I conceive the greatest and richest Master of precious stones that inhabits the whole earth For Diamonds which of all other are accounted most precious stones they are found in Decan where the Rocks are out of which they are digged the Princes whereof are the next Neighbours and Tributaries to the great Mogol and they pay him as Tribute many Diamonds yearly and further he hath the refusal of all those rich stones they sell he having Gold and Silver in the greatest abundance and that will purchase any thing but heaven he wil part with any mony for any Gems beside that are precious and great whether Rubies or any other stones of value as also for rich Pearls And his Grandees follow him in that fancy for one of his great Lords gave our Merchants there twelve hundred pounds sterling for one Pearl which was brought out of England The Pearl was shaped like a Pear very large beautiful and orient and so its price deserved it should be Now the Mogol having such an abundance of Jewels wears many of them daily enow to exceed those women which Rome was wont to shew in their Star-like dresses who in the height and prosperity of that Empire were said to wear The spoils of Nations in one ear Or Lollia Paulina who was hid with Jewels For the great Mogol the Diamonds and Rubies and Pearls which are very many and daily worn by him are all of an extraordinary greatness and consequently of an exceeding great value And besides those he wears about his Shash or head covering he hath a long Chain of Jewels hanging about his Neck as long as an ordinary Gold-Chain others about his wrists and the Hilts of his Sword and Dagger are most curiously enriched with those precious Stones beside others of very great value which he wears in Rings on his fingers The first of March the Mogol begins a royal Feast like that which Abasuerus made in the third year of his Reign Esth. 1. wherein he shewed the riches of his glorious Kingdom This feast the Mogol makes is called the Nooroos that signifies Nine-days which time it continues to usher in the new year which begins with the Mahometans there the tenth day of March. Against which Feast the Nobles assemble themselves together at that Court in their greatest Pomp presenting their King with great gifts and he requiting them again with Princely rewards at which time I being in his presence beheld most immense and incredible riches to my amazement in Gold Pearls Precious stones Jewels and many other glittering vanities This Feast is usually kept by the Mogol while he is in his Progress and lodges in Tents Whether his Diet at this time be greater than ordinary I know not for he always eats in private amongst his Women where none but his own Family see him while he is eating which Family of his consists of his Wives and Children and Women and Eunuchs and his Boys and none but these abide and lodge in the Kings Houses or Tents and therefore how his Table is spread I could never know but doubtless he hath of all those varieties that Empire affords if he so please His food they say is served in unto him in Vessels of Gold which covered and brought unto him by his Eunuchs after it is proved by his Tasters he eats not at any set times of the day but he hath provision ready at all times and calls for it when he is hungry and never but then The first of September which was the late Mogol's birth-day he retaining an ancient yearly Custom was in the presence of his chief Grandees weighed in a Balance the Ceremony was performed within his House or Tent in a fair spacious Room whereinto none were admitted but by special leave The Scales in which he was thus weighed were plated with Gold and so the beam on which they hung by great Chains made likewise of that most precious Metal the King sitting in one of them was weighed first against silver Coin which immediately after was distributed among the poor then was he weighed against Gold after that against Jewels as they say but I observed being present there with my Lord Ambassador that he was weighed against three several things laid in silken Bags on the contrary Scale When I saw him in the Balance I thought on Belshazzar who was found too light Dan. 5. 27. By his weight of which his Physicians yearly keep an exact account they presume to guess of the present estate of his body of which they speak flatteringly however they think it to be When the Mogol is thus weighed he casts about among the standers by thin pieces of silver and some of Gold made like flowers of that Countrey and some of them are made like Cloves and some like Nutmegs but very thin and hollow Then he drinks to his Nobles in his Royal wine as that of Ahasuerus is called Esth. 1. 7. who pledge his health at which solemnity he drank to my Lord Ambassadour in a Cup of Gold most curiously enameled and set all over the outside with stones which were small Rubies Turkesses and Emeralds with a Cover or Plate to set in it in both of pure Gold the brims of which plate and the cover were enameled and