whether she had not yet experience of the Nature of the Creatures or did admire so strange an accident and would satisfie her curious mind in the further tryall entertained discourse and was presently snared For though she held her to the Commandement yet the threatning annexed she did somewhat mince and extenuate What she seemed to lessen he feared not to annihilate and wholly disanull propounding not onely impunity but aduantage That they should be as Gods in the enriching of their minds with further knowledge This hee perswadeth by the equivocating in the name of the Tree the first equiuocation we read of otherwhere plainely tearmed a lye charging GOD with falshood and malignitie Thus he that abode not in the Truth himselfe but was a Man-slayer from the beginning and the Father of Lying which he no where else borrowed but had of his owne perswaded her by his great subtiltie first to doubt of GODS Truth in his Word the first particular sinne that euer mans heart entertained for the other were but occasions and inducements disobedience and vnthankefulnesse are more generall after that she vnlawfully lusted after this new knowledge bewitched with the pleasantnesse of the fruit to the taste and sight shee tooke and did eate and gaue to her husband likewise The highest power of the soule is first entrapped the lusting and sensible faculties follow after iustly plagued by a correspondent inward rebellion that the sense now ruleth the appetite and this the reason in our corrupt estate which hence proceeded Thus vnbeleefe brought forth vnthankefulnesse vnthankefulnesse pride from thence ambition and all that rabble of contempt of Gods Truth beleeuing the Deuils lies abuse of the Creatures to wanton lust Sacrilegious vsurping that which GOD had reserued scandalous prouocation of her husband with the murther bodily and ghostly of him her selfe and their whole posteritie for euer and whereas yet they had done so little seruice to GOD they offered almost their first fruits to the Deuill hauing Free-will to haue resisted if they would No maruell then if such a combination of so many sinnes in one wrung from the iustice of GOD such a multitude of iudgements on them and theirs in the defacing that goodly and glorious Image of GOD subiecting in stead thereof the Bodie to Sickenesse Colde Heate Nakednesse Hunger Thirst Stripes Wounds Death the Minde to Ignorance Doubtings Vanitie Phancies Phrenzies the Will to Vnstaiednesse Passion Perturbations the Whole Man is made a slaue to Sinne within him to the Deuill without whence he must expect Wages sutable to his Worke Death Spirituall Naturall and Eternall an infinite punishment for offending an infinite Maiesty Thus had they put out their light to obscure darkenesse and if they were not presently cast into vtter darkenesse it was GODS mercy not their merit which suspended the first and naturall death to preuent that second and eternal But spiritually the were euen already dead in sinnes as appeared by the accusations of their conscience whereof Moses saith The eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked Conscience before Vertues keeper was now become Hels Harbenger then flashing lightnings in the face of their minds to shew that their nakednesse did now appeare filthy in GODS sight Lightnings indeed which could only lighten to terrifie not enlighten with instruction and comfort which sparke remaineth after the fire of Gods Image extinct by the mercifull prouidence of GOD in some to bee a bridle of Nature least they should runne into all excesse of vilanie and not leaue a face of the world in the world and to be to others by disposition and working of a higher and supernaturall Light a preparatiue to and a preseruatiue in that light of Life So much the greater is their sinne that seeke to flash out these flashings and whereas they cannot reade the booke of Scripture and will not reade the booke of the Creature labour to extinguish also this Light of Nature that with seared consciences they may more freely in darkenesse commit the workes of darkenesse And euen this did Adam seeke if GOD had not brought him out of his Owles neast For what could a Fig-leafe hide from GOD and did they thinke the innocent Trees would conspire with them to conceale Traytors Was there any darkenesse which was not Light to him Or could Breeches and Trees couer their Soules which receiued the first and worst nakednesse till which Nakednesse to the body was a Clothing of Beauty a Liuery of Bounty an Ensigne of Maiesty Such broken pits seeke they that forsake the Fountaine of liuing Waters And yet when GOD commeth into Iudgement and makes the winds to vsher him vnto his priuate Sessions in Paradise to those shiftlesse shifts they added worse impiously accusing GOD vncharitably charging one another to put from themselues that blame which thus claue faster to them A medicine worse then the disease or a disease in stead of a medicine is hypocrisie that will not see her owne sickenesse and seekes rather to couer then to cure to couer by charging others then recouer by discharging and discouering it selfe as if equitie pretended were not iniquitie doubled GOD proceedeth to sentence a sentence worthy of GOD shewing at once his infinite iustice in the punishment of sinne and no lesse infinite mercie to prouide an infinite price to redeeme vs by his infinite power bringing good out of euill and by his manifold Wisedome taking that wise one in his craftinesse who in the destruction of Man had sought GODS dishonour So good is it that euill should be when this Soueraigne goodnesse purposeth to effect his good will by wicked instruments out of their darkenesse producing his owne maruellous light as appeared in this worke of Sathan an aduersary intended to his despite in and by the promised Seede disposed to his glory The Serpent hath a bodily curse in his future bodily difficulties which still continue for his instrumentall and bodily imployment The old Serpent and spirituall Enemie hath a spirituall and eternall curse the breaking of his head by that Seede of the Woman that should once lead Captiuitie captiue Our Parents are cursed yet so as their curse is turned into a blessing all things working to the best In sorrow shal be the Womans conceptions but recompenced with the ioy which followeth and is as it were the Mid-wife in their trauell because of fruit borne into the World and more then recompenced in that they are saued by bearing of children if they continue in the faith and liue in holinesse with modestie Adam is set to labour not as before with delight but with paine and difficultie the Earth also being cursed for his sake yet by this narrow way by this crosse-way he is guided to Heauen the hope whereof was giuen him before Paradise was taken from him So true is it that in iudgement he remembreth mercy if we can learne to liue
the World all Nations honoring his memory except some Heathens as the Parthians on the left hand and Indians on the right which were remainders of the Chaldaeans and called Zabij These Zabij Scaliger also sayth were Chaldaeans so called a vento Apeliote as one might say Eastern-men or Easterlings and addeth that the Booke so often cited by Rambam concerning their Religion Rites and Customes is yet extant in the hands of the Arabian Muhamedans Out of this booke our Rabbie reciteth their opinions that Adam was borne of man and woman as other men and that hee was a Prophet of the Moone and by preaching perswaded men to worship the Moone and that hee composed bookes of husbandry that Noe also was a husband-man and beleeued not in Idols For which the Zabij put him in prison and because he worshipped the Creator Seth also contradicted Adam in his Lunarie worship They tell also that Adam went out of the Land of promise which is towards India and entred into Babylon whither hee carried with him a tree still growing with branches and leaues and a tree of stones and leaues of a tree which would not burne vnder the shadow of which tree he said ten thousand men might be couered the height whereof was as the stature of a man Adam also had affirmed in his booke of a tree in India the boughes whereof being cast on the ground would stir like Serpents and of another which had a root shaped like a man endued with a kind of sounding voyce differing from speech and of a certaine hearbe which being folded vp in a mans clothes would make him walke inuisible and the smoke of the same being fired would cause thunders another tree they worshipped which abode in Niniuie twelue yeeres and contended with the Mandrake for vsurping her roome whereby it came to passe that the Priest or Prophet which had vsed to prophesie with the spirit of that tree ceased a long time from prophesying and at last the tree spake to him and bade him write the sute betweene her and the Mandrake whether of them were the more honourable These fooleries saith he they attributed to Adam that so they might proue the eternitie of the world and Deitie of the Stars These Zabij made them for this cause Images of gold to the Sunne of siluer to the Moone and built them Temples saying that the power of the Planets was infused into those Images whence they spake vnto men and taught things profitable The same they affirmed of those trees which they apropriated to each of them with peculiar worships rites and hallowings whereby that tree receiued a power to speake with men in their sleepes From hence sprang magicall diuinations auguries necromancie and the like They offered to their chiefe god a Beetle and seuen Mice and seuen Fowles The greatest of their bookes is that of the Aegyptian seruice translated into Arabike by a Moore called Enennaxia which containeth in it many ridiculous things and yet these were the famous wise-men of Babylon in those daies In the said booke is reported of a certaine Idolatrous Prophet named Tamut who preaching to a certaine King this worship of the seuen Planets and twelue Signes was by him done to a grieuous death And in the night of his death all the Images from the ends of the world came and assembled together at the great golden Image in the Temple at Babylon which was sacred to the Sunne and hanged betweene the heauen and the earth which then prostrated it selfe in the midst of the Temple with all the Images round about shewing to them all which had befallen Tamut All the Images therefore wept all night and in the morning fled away each to his owne Temple And hence grew that custome yearely in the beginning of the monerh Tamut to renew that mourning for Tamut Other bookes of theirs are mentioned by him one called Deizamechameche a booke of Images a booke of Candles of the degrees of Heauen and others falsly ascribed to Aristotle and one to Alformor and one to Isaac and one of their Feasts Offrings Prayers and other things pertaining to their Law and some written against their opinions all done into Arabike In these are set downe the Rites of their Temples and Images of stone or mettall and applying of Spirits to them and their Sacrifices and kinds of meates They name their holy places sumptuously built the Temples of Intelligible formes and set Images on high mountaines and honour trees and attribute the increase of men and fruites to the Starres Their Priests preached that the Earth could not bee Tilled according to the will of the gods except they serued the Sunne and Starres which being offended would diminish their fruites and make their Countries desolate They haue written also in the former bookes that the Planet Iupiter is angrie with the Deserts and drie places whence it commeth that they want water and trees and that Deuils haunt them They honoured Husband-men and fulfilling the will of the Starres in tilling the ground they honoured Kine and Oxen for their labours therein saying that they ought not to be slaine In their festiuals they vsed Songs and all Musicall instruments affirming that their Idols were pleased with these things promising to the doers long life health plentie of fruits raines trees freedome from losses and the like Hence it is saith R. Moses that the Law of Moses forbiddeth these rites and threatneth the contrarie plagues to such as shall obserue them Tehy had certaine hallowed beasts in their Temples wherein their Images were before which they bowed themselues and burned incense These opinions of the Zabij were holden also by the Aramites Chanaanites and Aegyptians They had their magicall obseruations in gathering certaine hearbs or in the vse of certaine metals or liuing creatures and that in a set certaine time with their set rites as of leaping clapping the hands hopping crying laughing c. in the most of which women were actors as when they would haue raine ten Virgins clothed in hallowed garments of red colour danced a procession turning about their faces and shoulders and stretching their fingers towards the Sunne and to preuent harme by haile foure Women lay on their backes naked lifting vp their feete speaking certaine words And all Magicall practices they made to depend of the Starres saying that such a Starre was pleased with such an incense such a Plant such a metall such words or workes and thereby would be as it were hired to such or such effects as to driue away Serpents and Scorpions to slay wormes in nuts to make the leaues fall and the like Their Priests vsed shauings of the head and beard and linsey wolsey garments and made a signe in their hand with some kind of metals The Booke of Centir prescribeth a woman to stand armed before the starre of Mars and a man clothed in womans attire painted before the starre of Venus to prouoke lust The worshippers of
flesh neither of their owne young nor of men as on the contrarie they worship the Storke for her pietie in nourishing her aged parents that I speake not of their wed-locke chastitie for breach whereof Crollius tells from the relation of an eye-witnesse That in a wood neere to Spire in Germanie the Male complayning to a congregation of Storkes caused them to teare his Mate in pieces The Egyptians also had a conceit That Swines milke would breede the leprosie and that Swine were beasts odious to the Sunne and Moone He citeth out of Endoxus That they spared them for treading their Seede into the ground which was their Harrowing and Tillage when Nilus had newly left the softned Earth to send these Labourers their Kine and Swine to tread in the myrie Earth the Corne which they sowed therein The Egyptians sware by the head of their King which oath whosoeuer violated lost his life for the same without any redemption The Priests in old time renowmed for their learning in Straboes time were ignorant and vnlearned No woman might beare Priestly function These Priests might not eate Egs Milke or Oile except with Sallads they might not salute Mariners nor looke vpon their children or kinsfolks They washed themselues in the day-time thrice and in the night twice they were shauen wore linnen garments alwayes new washed were daily allowed sacred meates Of their ancient Priests thus Du Bartas singeth in Syluesters tune The Memphian Priests were deepe Philosophers And curious gazers on the sacred Starres Searchers of Nature and great Mathematickes Ere any letter knew the ancient'st Attickes Tertullian speakes of the continence of Apis his Priests and addes That certayne women consecrated to the African Ceres voluntarily relinquished marriage and from thenceforth might not touch a Male no not so much as k sse their owne sonnes Their magicke skill appeared in Iannes and Iambres which withstood Moses and in Hermes testimonie of himselfe R. Salomon on Exod. 8. writeth That Pharao said to Moses and Aaron Doe you bring straw into Ophraim a Citie full of straw And doe yee bring inchantments into Egypt which aboundeth therewith Postellus deriueth the Egyptian and Orientall sciences from Abraham to whom he dareth to attribute their diuinations by the Aire Water Fire Earth Birds and alleageth Rambams authoritie That the greatest part of the Alcoran is taken out of the Egyptian learning and saith That Moses and Salomon studied the same and expounded in Scripture what Abraham had taught them to which also hee ascribeth the Iewish Exorcismes in casting out Deuils But some Deuill I thinke hath taught him so to commend these deuillish Arts as he doth no lesse the Alcoran and the Iewes Cabala calling them an excellent Appendix to Moses and both of I know not what magicall facultie first infused into Adam in the puritie of his creation and taught by the Angell Raziel by him deliuered in verball tradition written first by the Henoch the bookes whereof Nimrod stole from Noah which Abraham might learne either in that Chaldean Nation or from Melchisedech But let vs obserue these Priests further When they sacrificed they made choice of their beasts by certaine religious markes a Cow they might not sacrifice as consecrated vnto Isis They kindled a fire and sprinkling water ouer the Sacrifice with inuocation of their God killed it cut off the head which either they sold to the Grecians if they would buy it or cast it into the Riuer with imprecation That whatsoeuer euill was imminent to them or their Countrey might be turned vpon that head This ceremonie seemes to haue come to them from the Iewes And they haue beene as liberall of their Rites since to the Catholikes for so they will be called as appeareth both by this Relation and by the testimonie not onely of Moresinus a Protestant but Maginus Polidorus Boemus and Beroaldus Popish writers although dawbed ouer with new mysticall significations as in Bellarmine and other the purest Catholikes is seene Their Priests were their Iudges the eldest of which was chiefe in pronouncing sentence He wore about his necke a Saphire Iewell with the Image of Truth therein engrauen The Priests of Isis besides their shauings and linnen garments had paper-shooes on their heads Anubis in their hands a Timbrell or a branch of Sea-wormewood or a Pine-apple They had one chiefe Priest or Primate of Egypt as appeareth by Iosephus and Heliodorus who maketh Thyamis to succeede his father Calasyris in this high Priesthood at Memphis Manetho also enioyed this Pontificall Hierarchie as appeareth by his Epistle to Ptolemeus which after shall follow Philostratus speaketh of Gymnosophists which some ascribe to India Heliodorus to Ethiopia he to Ethiopia and Egypt These saith hee dwelt abroad without house on a Hill a little off the bankes of Nilus where grew a Groue in which they held their generall Assemblies to consult of publike affaires hauing otherwise their studies and sacrifices apart each by himselfe Thespesion was the chiefe of this Monkish Colledge when Apollonius after his visitation of the Babylonian Magi and Indian Brachmanes came thither These held the immortalitie of the soule and accounted Nilus for a god If a man at Memphis had by chance-medley killed a man hee was exiled till those Gymnosophists absolued him Hercules Temple at Canopus was priuiledged with Sanctuarie to giue immunitie to Fugitiues and Malefactors Thus elsewhere Osiris Apollo in Syria Diana at Ephesus euery Cardinals house saith a Pope in Rome Saint Peter at Westminster and other Popish Oratories priuiledged Dennes of Theeues §. III. Of their Feasts and Oracles THeir Feasts were many of which Herodotus reckoneth one at Bubastis in honour of Diana To this place the Men and Women at this festiuall solemnitie sayled in great multitudes with minstrelsie and showtings and as they came to any Citie on the waters side they went on shore and the women some danced some played some made a brawle with the women of the place and thus resorting to Bubastis they there offered great Sacrifices spending in this feast more Wine then in all the yeere besides Hither resorted of Men and Women besides Children seuen hundred thousand In Busiris was solemnized the feast of Isis in which after the sacrifice many thousands beat themselues but with what they did beate themselues was not lawfull to relate The Carians that inhabited Egypt did also cut their foreheads with swords signifying thereby that they were forreiners This Citie was in the midst of the Egyptian Delta and in it a very great Temple of Isis A third feast was at Sai in honour of Minerua where assembling by night they lighted candles full of Salt and Oile and therewith went about the walls of the Citie This solemnitie was called Light-burning or if you will Candle-masse This night they which came not hither yet obserued the setting vp of Lights throughout Egypt A fourth
Priest vnto the Church which was very homely couered with base twigs or boughs not much better then the Priest their hoste his Tent in which a man might not stand vpright Enquiring after the disposition of the people they learned that they were vtterly ignorant of buying and selling of fraude and stealing They neither had nor cared to haue gold or siluer and when he offered ten pieces of gold to the Priest hee refused it onely was content to accept a little rayment The Hammientes are not much distant in place or differing in name from the Ammonians which built their houses of Salt digging the salt-stones out of the Mountaynes which they with morter apply to their buildings Mela ioyneth to these aforesaid the Atlantes which curse the Sunne at the setting and rising as bringing damage to them and their fields A practice not vnlike to the women of Angola at this day who as Andrew Battle which liued there testifieth salute the New Moone when they first see her by holding vp their hinder parts naked against her as the cause of their troublesome menstruous purgation These Atlantes haue no proper names nor feede of such things as haue life He affirmeth of the Garamantes that they had no wiues but liued in a beastly communitie The Augila acknowledge no other Gods but Ghosts or Soules departed by which they sweare with which they consult as Oracles to which they pray at their Tombes receiuing answeres by dreames The women the first night of marriage are prostituted to all that will see them the more the greater honour but after must obserue their owne husbands The Trogleditae dwell in Caues and feede on Serpents and rather make a sound or noyse then humane voyce they vsed Circumcision they named not their Children by their Parents names but by the names of sheepe or other beasts which yeeld them nourishment Their wiues and children saith Agatharchides are common onely the Kings wife is proper yet if any had lyen with her his punishment was but the losse of a sheepe In their Winter they liue on bloud and milke which are mixed and heated together at the fire In their Summer they kill the scabbed and diseased of their Cattell They entitle none with the name of Parents but the Bull and Cow the Ram and Ewe and the Male and Female of the Goates because of these they receiue their nourishment and not from their Parents They goe naked all but the buttocks Such as want that skin which others circumcise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they depriue of the whole flesh so farre as the circumcision should haue extended Their funerall Rites were to tye the necks of the dead to their legs and couer them with heapes of stones setting a goates horne on the top with laughter rather then mourning Their old men which can follow the flockes no longer they strangle with an Oxe-taile which medicine they minister likewise to those that haue grieuous diseases or maymes And vnto these doth Plinie adde the Blemmyae with faces in their brests the Satyres Aegypanes Himantopodes and other monsters scarce worthy Relation or credit These parts I haue thus ioyned in one Discourse as liuing for the most part a wilde life as the Arabians and Tartars doe at this day and for Religion hauing nothing notable that I finde but as you haue heard Procopius writeth of the Blemyes and Nobatae that Iustinian placed them in Egypt about Elephantina that they before obserued the Greekes deuotions Isis also and Osiris and Priapus and sacrificed to the Sunne which Rites the Emperour prohibited But hee mentions no such Monsters The Arabians which vnder Elcain about the foure hundred yeere of their Hegeira gaue a Ducat a man to passe into Africke are Lords and Inhabitants of the Desarts to this day liuing as wee say a dogs life in hunger and ease professing Mahumets sect The Adrimachidae liued neere to the Egyptians both in situation and custome The Nasamones had many wiues with which they had companie publikely The first night of the marriage all the guests had dealing with the Bride and rewarded her with some gift The Guidanes had a more beastly custome whose women glorying in their shame ware so many frindges of leather as they had found Louers The Malchyes ware the haire on the hinder part of their head as the Iaponians now doe The Auses vsed the contrarie whose Virgins in the yeerly feast of Minerua diuided themselues into two companies and skirmished with staues and stones If any Virgins dyed of the wounds they accounted them false Maides The most martiall Virago of the companie they arme and crowne and place in a Chariot with great solemnitie They vsed not marriage but had women in common the childe being reckoned his with whom shee chooseth to liue To adde a word of the Cyrenians they held it vnlawfull to smite a Cow in honour of Isis whose Fasts and Feasts they solemnely obserued and in Barca they abstayned both from Beefe and Hogs flesh They seared the crownes or temples of their children to preuent the distilling of the rheume In their sacrificing they first cut off the eare of the beast as first fruits and hurled it ouer the house Their gods were the Sunne and Moone The Maxes shaue the left side of their heads leauing the haire on the right side The Zigantes feede on Apes whereof they haue plentie The Megauares make no account of Sepulchres in stead whereof they couer the corps with stones and set vp a Goates horne on the stone heape They haue many skirmishes for their pastures which are ended by the mediation of old Women who may safely interpose themselues and end the fray or battell if you will so call it When men are so old that they can no longer follow the herds they strangle him with a Cowes taile if he will not preuent them by doing it himselfe The like medicine they administer to such as are dangerously sicke Of the Macae Caelius thinkes the Roman Priests borrowed their shauen crownes Other things which our Authors adde of these people and others adioyning as seeming too fabulous I list not to expresse Silius Italicus in his Poems and Aldrete in his Antiquities of Spaine and Afrike expresse diuers of their ancient Rites and Names and that which seemes to vs most fitting shall in this Historie be inserted This part of the World as least knowne to the Ancients yeelded both Poets and Historians most matter of their Fables in explayning whereof Aldrete hath written in Spanish very learnedly as also of the later times when the Romans Vandals and since the Arabians haue preuayled CHAP. VIII Of that part of Barbarie now called the Kingdome of Tunis and Tripolis §. I. The name Barbarie the Kingdome of Tunis and Antiquitie of Carthage ALl the Tract of Land betweene Atlas and the Sea stretching in length from Egypt to the Straits is called Barbaria either of Barbar which signifieth to murmure because such seemed the
renue their mourning with great howling as they then did for Kashurakeny who died the yeere before They report that the Canibals haue a Sea behinde them They found a Bath two miles about so hote that they could not drinke it Master Patteson was slaine by the Sauages of Nanhoc a Riuer of the Tarentines Their short Commons caused feare of mutiny One of the Sauages called Aminquin for a straw hat and knife giuen him stript himselfe of his cloathing to Beuers skinnes worth in England 50. shillings or three pound to present them to the President leauing onely a flap to couer his priuities He would also haue come with them for England In winter they are poore and weake and do not then company with their wiues but in Summer when they are fat and lusty But your eyes wearied with this Northerne view which in that Winter communicated with vs in extremitie of cold looke now for greater hopes in the Southerne Plantation as the right arme of his Virginian body with greater costs and numbers furnished from hence But first let me tell you that by some lately these Northerne Parts are stiled by the Name of New-England as being supposed in the same Latitude with Noua Albion on the South Sea discouered by Sir Francis Drake hauing New France on the North and the Southern Plantation of Virginia on the South New Spaine New Granado New Andalusia being in the same Continent A Map and Discouerie hereof was set forth this last yeere by Captaine Iohn Smith with new English Names exchanged for the Saluage It lyeth betwixt 41. degrees and 45. minutes The harsh Names of the habitations of those parts I forbeare to recite the commodities are expressed by that Author First for fish let not any thinke this contemptible when by his report the Hollanders reape from three kinds Herring Cod and Ling fifteene hundred thousand pound yeerely herevpon principally founding their greatnesse by Sea and Land In March Aprill May and halfe Iune here is Cod in abundance in May Iune Iuly and August Mullet and Sturgeon whose Roes doe make Caularie and Puttargo Their store of Herrings they compare to the haires of their heads In the end of August September October and Nouember you haue Cod againe to make Corfish or Poore-Iohnt wice as good as in New-found-land where their fishing also is chiefely but in Iune and Iuly Mullets are here taken by Nets which at Cape Blanke are hooked and twice as large He addes store of Red-berries called Alkermes Muske-Rats Beuers Otters Martins Blacke Foxes probabilities of Mines and manifold commodities of the soile the particulars whereof I referre to the booke it selfe together with the arguments for a Plantation there There also you may reade his Obseruations and Discoueries Anno 1614. with the successe of sixe ships that went the next yeere and his disasters by French Pirats and English perfidie This present yeere 1616. eight voluntarie ships went thither to make further tryall and hereafter we hope to haue English Colonies renued in this Northerly Plantation newly called New-England §. II. Of the Southerne Plantation and Colonies and many causes alledged of the ill successe thereof at the first CAptaine Bartholomew Gosnold hauing long sollicited many of his friends at last preuailed with some Gentlemen as Master Edward Maria Wingfield Captaine Iohn Smith and diuers others with the helpe of some Noblemen and Merchants his Maiestie granting Commission for establishing Councels to direct here and to gouerne and execute there so that December 19. 1606. they set saile and after long contending with contrarie windes and the windy inconstancie of some of the company that would haue returned for England before they had saluted their desired Port they were by a storme forced into the same vnexpected where after some harme by assault of the Sauages on the 13. of May Master Wingfield was chosen President their fort contriued and the fals soone after discouered Sixe weekes being thus spent Captaine Newport returned with the ships and Captaine Smith before held in much iealousie was by the paines of Mr Hunt the Preacher reconciled and admitted of the Councell a hundred being left there for the Plantation Within ten dayes after the departure of this moueable Tauerne as they called it a more sauage enemy then the Sauages had assaulted them and scarcely ten left vntouched with sicknesse through want of conuenient lodging and diet of which from May to September fifty dyed Wingfield was deposed and Ratcliffe established in his place and by the industrie of Smith Iames Towne was builded the Sauages supplying their necessities they failing Captaine Smith sought trade abroad others at home intending a returne in the Pinace for England by his vnexpected returning were forced to stay or sinke which action cost the life of Captaine Kendall Soone after the like plot of the President and Captaine Archer was discouered and by him againe suppressed The Winter approaching the Riuers afforded them plenty of Cranes Swannes Geese Ducks with which and Pease wilde Beasts and other land-commodities they dayly feasted But in the discouerie of Chickahamine Riuer George Casson was surprised and Smith with two others were beset with two hundred Sauages his men slaine and himselfe in a quagmire taken prisoner but after a moneth he procured himselfe not onely libertie but great admiration amongst them and returning once more stayed the Pinace from flight and the Fort from being abandoned The Treasurer and Councell meane-while carefull to supply their wants sent two ships with neere a hundred men Capt. Newport arriued safely Captaine Nelson with the other ship by force of windes was driuen to shift as hee could elsewhere Now the Sauages enchanted by Smiths relations of God Nature and Art were in manner at his command till the ambition of some by giuing foure times as much for their commodities as he appointed seeking to seeme of so much greater magnificence and authoritie made them prize their commodities dearer Newport whom Smith had called father and extolled with Powhatan the Emperour went with solemnitie to visit him sending Smith before who after his manner of State gaue him royall entertainment sitting vpon his bed of Mats his pillow of leather embroidered with pearle and white beads attired with a robe of skins large as an Irish mantle at his head and feet sate a handsome yong woman on each side his house twenty others their heads and shoulders painted red with a great chaine of white beades about their necks before those sate his chiefest men in like order in his Arbor-like house Newport gaue him a boy for whom Powhatan gaue him Namontacke his seruant which was after brought into England Powhatan wittily cheated our men and offering so much corne as they gaue copper said he could eate that not this Their gettings in this voyage other commodities and their townes were casually consumed by fire and the ship staying fourteene weekes spent most of that prouision for the reliefe of the
exercise their dances and songs piercing the middle of their priuie member with the sharpe bone of the Ray-fish bedewing the pauement with the bloud And their Banti who are their Physicians and Priests heale the same againe in 4. dayes They haue in those parts Magicians without whose aduice they attempt nothing and neyther hunt fish nor gather gold except the Tequenigua or Wizard thinke it fit To end this Dabaiban Story Martyr sayth for I will not further engage my credit for the truth that in Camara which is at the head of this Riuer there happened most terrible tempests from the East which threw downe Trees and Houses and in the last Act of that Tragedie were brought not by representation two foule Monsters of monstrous Fowles such as the Poets describe the Harpies with womens faces one of them so great that her legs were thicker then a mans thigh so heauy that the boughes of the Trees could not beare her so strong that she would seize on a man and flye away with him as a Kite with a Chicken the other was lesse and supposed to bee the young one of the former Corales Osorius and Spinosa told Martyr that they spake with many who saw the greater killed which was done by a stratagems for they made the Image of a man and set it on the ground attending in the Woods with their Arrowes till shee the next morning seized on this prey and lost her selfe the young was neuer seene after and happily you thinke not before neither But they added that the killers of her were honoured as Gods and rewarded with presents §. III. Of Tunia Saint Martha Venezuela and Curiana IN the Valley of Tunia or Tomana are Mines of Emeralds The people worship the Sunne for their chiefe God with such awfull deuotion that they dare not looke stedfastly vpon it the Moone also they worship but in an inferiour degree In their Warres in stead of Ensignes they tye the bones of certaine men who in their liues had beene valiant vpon long staues to prouoke others to the like fortitude They bury their Kings with golden neck-laces set with Emeralds and with Bread and Wine The people about Rio Grande are Canibals also about Saint Martha The Tunians vse poysoned Arrowes and when they go to the Warres they carry their Idoll Chiappen with them vnto whom before they enter into the field they offer many Sacrifices of liuing men being the children of Slaues or of their Enemies painting all the Image with bloud which done they eate the flesh Returning Conquerers they hold great Feasts with dancing leaping singing drinking themselues drunke and againe besmeare their Image with bloud If they were ouercome they sought by new Sacrifices to appease Chiappen They demanded counsell of their Gods for their Marriages and other affaires For these consultations they obserued a kind of Lent two moneths in which they lay not with women nor ate Salt They had Monasteries of Boyes and Girles where they liued certaine yeeres They corrected publike faults as stealing and killing by cutting off the eares and nose hanging and if hee were a Nobleman by cutting off his haire In gathering Emeralds they first vsed certaine Charmes They vsed to sacrifice Birds and many other things Saint Martha standeth about fifty leagues from Carthagena at the foot of certaine Hils alway crowned with Snow The Indians here are very valourous and vse poysoned Arrowes They make Bread of Iucca a root as bigge as a mans arme or legge the iuyce whereof is poyson in the Ilands and therefore they presse it betweene two stones but in the firme Land they drinke it rawe and both heere and there sodden they vse it for Vineger and being sodden till it be very thicke for Honey This Bread is their Cusaui not so good as that of Mais I haue seene a Plant of this herbe growing in Master Gerards Garden the Picture whereof he hath expressed in his Herball The people are abominable Sodomites a badge whereof they ware about their neckes a Chaine with the resemblance of two men committing this villany In Gayra the Sodomites were attired like women others were shauen like Friers They had women which preserued their Virginitie these addicted themselues to hunting with Bow and Arrowes alone they might lawfully kill any that sought to corrupt them These people were Canibals and eate mans flesh fresh and powdered the young Boyes which they tooke they gelded to make them fatter for their Tables as we doe Capons They set vp the heads of those they killed at their Gates for a memoriall and wore their teeth about their neckes for a brauery They worship the Sun and Moone and burne thereto Perfumes of Herbs and Gold and Emeralds They sacrifice slaues Venezuela is so called because it is built vpon a plaine Rocke in the waters of a Lake The women of this Country paint their brests and armes all the rest of their bodie is naked except their priuie parts They Maids are known by their colour and greatnesse of their girdle The Men carrie their members in a shell There are many filthy Sodomites They pray to Idols and to the Deuill whom they paint in such forme as he appeareth to them They paint their bodies in this sort Hee that hath killed one Enemy in the Warres paints one of this armes the second time his brest and when he hath killed a third hee painteth a line from his eyes to his eares and this is his Knighthood Their Priests are their Physicians who being sent for by a sicke man aske the Patient if he beleeue that they can helpe him and then lay their hands vpon the place where they say their paines are if he recouer not they put the fault in him or in their Gods They lament their dead Lords in Songs in the night time made of their prayses that done they roast them at a fire and beating them to powder drinke them in Wine making their bowels their Lords Sepulchres In Zoupaciay they bury their Lords with much Gold Iewels and Pearles and set vpon the Graue foure sticks in a square within which they hang his weapons and many Viands to eate From the Cape Vela the space of 2000. miles alongst the Coast is the fishing for Pearles discouered by Christopher Columbus in the yeere 1498. which sayled all along this Coast In Curiania they receiued the Spaniards with great ioy and for Pinnes Needles Bels Glasses and such trifles gaue them many strings of Pearles for foure Pinnes they would giue a Peacocke for two a Phesant for one a Turtle Doue And when they asked What they should doe with this new Merchandize of Pins and Needles seeing they were naked they shewed them the vse to picke their teeth and to picke out thornes in their feete These Indians had Rings of Gold and Iewels made with Pearles after the formes of Birds Fishes and Beasts They had also the Touch-stone for their Metall and weights to weight the
Pits with sharpe stakes set vp in them couered with stickes and earth these they made for the Spaniards but in a confused flight fell therein themselues Here the Spaniards built the Towne of Assumption which Herera saith hath foure hundred Spanish housholds and three thousand Mestizas The King of the Scherues attended with twelue thousand men met the Spaniards and gaue them friendly entertainment with dancing musick and feasting The women goe naked and paint themselues as artificially as any of our Painters could doe they weare Carpets of Cotton with the figures of Indian beasts The King asked the Spaniards What they sought who answered Siluer and Gold He then gaue them a siluer Crowne which hee said he had taken in the warres which hee had waged with the Amazones that dwelt two moneths iourney thence Of these Amazones the Indians told the same things that Orellana told of neere that Riuer which hath receiued name of this supposition The Spaniards with some of the Scherues for their Guides set forth for this Amazonian Discouery but were encountred by the way with hote waters in which they waded vp to the waste and so continued diuers dayes till they came to a Nation called Orthuesen who were then infected with a Pestilence caused by famine which famine the Grashoppers had effected two yeeres together eating vp all the fruits which nature or husbandry had prouided for their sustinance Thus these Martiall and Venerean warres of the Spaniards wanted food to hold out further toward the Amazons if there were any such people and that they were not as before I said the warre-like Wiues or haply some gallant Viragoes that by themselues would let the World see what women could doe but yet I cannot subscribe to the rest of their storie But I am wearie of leading you any further in this Discouerie of this great Riuer and the neere Inhabitants seeing little is obserued in our Authour of their Religions Some of these barbarous Nations he sayth hanged vp the hairie skin of their slaine Enemies in their Temples or Houses of deuotion this people is called Iepori To giue you a Catalogue of the names of the Indian Nations that inhabited these parts would be but tedious These Iournies of the Spaniards were to see what Gold and not what Gods the Indians had They passed vp through the Land into Peru Betweene Peru and these more Easterly parts are the Hils Andi or Andes which lift vp their snowie tops vnto the cloudes and reach vnto the Magellane Straits In them inhabit many fierce Nations bordering vpon the Nations of Brasill and Plata The Ciraguans the Viracans the Toui the Varai These last exercise their children vnto Armes betimes vnto them they commit their Captiues for triall of their bloudy forwardnesse and he which at one blow can kill a Captiue is of the greatest hopes and rewarded for his encouragement To this end they name their children Tygre Lion that their names might teach them the like beastly furie At the new full Moone they wound themselues with sharpe bones to inure themselues to things of war They weepe in the entertainment of a friend as the Brasilians doe In seuenteene degrees stands the Spanish Citie of Holy Crosse of the Mountaine The Riuer Vapai in those Valleyes riseth and falleth as Nilus doth There is a Brooke at Holy Crosse of a wonderfull nature it is but little aboue two yards broad and shallow withall not running aboue a league but is drunke vp of the thirstie sands Yet doth this Brooke prouide the Citie water and three sorts of good fish and that in great plenty from the end of February to the end of May. At other times there are few They vse diuers meanes of shauing their heads which they say they learned of one Paicume In the womens lying in the man keeps his bed as is said of the Brasilians More towards the East dwell the Itatini people which call themselues Garay that is Warriours and others Tapuis or Slaues The language of the Varrai is common to all these Nations with the Brasilians that as in the other World Latine Sclauon and Arabike so in that New World the Varay Cuscan and Mexican Language will generally serue a mans turne The Kingdome of Tucuma stretcheth two hundred leagues betweene Chili Brasill Holy Crosse and Paraguay The Spaniards haue therein fiue Colonies It is a plaine Country The Paraguay inhabit along the Riuer so called whereof they take name From Plata Southwards is the great Region of Chica washed on the South East and West by the Sea The Inhabitants are called Patagones §. II. Of Giants and other Nations neere the Straits THe Spaniards which with Magellane first discouered the Straits saw Giants on this Coast of which he carried away one with him to Sea where after for want of sufficient food he died Edward Cliffe that wrote Master Winters Voyage who first of all others returned out of the Straits by the same way homewards because he saw on this Coast men of common stature excepteth against that report of Giants as a Giant-like report exceeding the stature and measure of Truth But besides that some of our owne at another time measured the print of mens feete eighteene inches in the Sands Oliuer Noort in his World compassing Voyage had three of his men slaine by men of admirable stature with long haire not farre from Port Desire about seuen and forty degrees of Southerly latitude and after in the Magellane Straits discomfited a band of Sauages which neither would yeeld nor flee from their wiues and children which were in a Caue iust by till euery man was slaine Foure Boyes the Hollanders carried away one of which learning their Language told them of three Families or Tribes in those parts of ordinary stature and of a fourth which were Giants ten or eleuen foote high which warred vpon the former Sebalt de Weert being detayned fiue moneths in the Straits by foule weather sent his men to fish for their prouision which exceedingly failed them who there were suddenly assayled by seuen Canoas of Giants which they guessed to be so high as is mentioned who being put to flight by their Peeces fled to land and plucked vp Trees in their rude manner barricadoing and fortifying themselues against the further pursuite of the Hollanders who were no lesse glad that they were rid of such company These men both Giants and others went either wholly naked or so clothed as they seemed not to dread the cold which is yet there so violent that besides the Mountaintops alway couered with Snow their very Summer in the middest thereof freeth them not from Ice Yea at that time of the yeere those Hollanders encountred an Iland of Ice in the Sea which the cold Aire had there mounted and maintained in despight of Neptunes rage or the Sunnes volley of shot in his neerest approach The Trees in these parts and the men it seemeth are naturally fortified
the Sacrifices of Aaron Gedeon Manoah Dauid Salomon Elias or by some other meanes both comfortable to Abel and enuied of Caine who therefore slew him thus in this member bruising the heele of that blessed seed as a type of that which the Head himselfe should after sustaine Here is the first Apostasie after that first Euangelicall promise and the first diuision of Religion Caine beeing the first builder of the Earthly Citie not that which hee called after the name of his Sonne Henoch but of that spirituall City of the Wicked the seed of the Serpent which he founded in his Brothers bloud euen as that later Compendium thereof which called her selfe Caput mundi the head of the World and indeed the World is vsually in Scripture applyed to that seed of the Serpent as it is opposite to the seed of the Woman was by Romulus her first Founder by like example of Fratricide in the murther of Remus dedicated as it were to the future mysterie of iniquitie the seat of the Beast and of the Whore by whose authoritie Christ himselfe was slaine drunken after with the blood of his Saints and still breathing blood and slaughter to euery Abel that will not communicate in her spirituall whooredomes that will not with her offer the fruits of the ground the Sacrifice of Caine which neither came from heauen nor can guide to Heauen being earthly sensuall deuillish Caine was for this his fact conuented by that All-seeing Iustice who both by open sentence and inward terrors accused and accursed him continuing his life euen for the same cause that other Murtherers loose it that he might liue an example which then in that vnpeopled world by his death he could not haue been to the future generation branded also by the Lord with some sensible marke to exempt him and terrifie others from that bloudy crueltie this mercy being mixed with this iudgement a longer time of repentance GOD before cursed the earth for Adam he now cursed CAINE from the earth to be a runnagate and wanderer thereon For how could he that had so forsaken God but be forsaken of the Earth and of himselfe the stable and mercifull earth which before had opened her mouth to receiue his Brothers bloud shrinking and as it were grudging to support such wicked feet and by denying him her strength forcing him to his manifold shifts and shiftlesse remoouing Wretched man alwayes bleeding his brothers bloud not daring to looke vp to Heauen fearing to looke downe to Hell the World without him threatning a miserable life his Body branded to contempt and shame till his death his soule become a stage of Anguish Feare Horrour and other Furies the Harbingers of Hell not able to suffer which yet he cannot but suffer the guilt of passed wickednesse gnawing him the waight of present misery pressing him the dread of a death and a death attending him restlesse in himselfe hated of the World despairing of reliefe from God a liuely Map of the deadly and damnable state of sinne and sinners without Christ dead whiles they liue moouing sepulchres the Deuils captiues hels heires exiled from heauen and vagabonds on the earth euen on that which they call their owne land Caine more vexed with the punishment then at the fault of his sinne departed from the presence of the Lord which is meant either of his iudiciall conuenting him or in regard of the visible societie of the Church cradled yet in his Fathers houshold where God did especially shew his present prouidence protection and grace who otherwise filleth the Heauen and Earth of whom in whom they are from hence as Adam before out of Paradise so Cain was as it were excommunicated expelled out-lawed and dwelt in the Land of Nod which some take to be appellatiuely spoken as if his miserie had giuen name of Moouing vnto the place where he dwelled or roamed rather Iosephus saith hee built Naida applying it to a proper place which was either Eastward from Eden or Eastward towards Eden from Canaan where Adam is supposed to haue dwelt and after with his Wife to haue beene buried at Hebron Afterward his posteritie beeing multiplied his Wife Epiphanius out of Leptogenesis calleth Shaue Comestor calleth her Chalmana Philo Themech he built a Citie which he called by the name of his sonne Henoch to crosse that curse of his wandering to and fro on the earth or to arme him against others which his guilty conscience caused him to feare or to be a receptacle and store-house of those spoyles which Iosephus saith hee robbed from others by violence when as the earth was barren to him Philo if we may so entitle that Author which hath written of the Antiquities of the Bible ascribeth vnto him other Cities Mauli Leed Tehe Iesca Celet Iebbat adding that hee liued 730. yeeres These things may bee probable although that Author be otherwise fabulous considering that men did ordinarily liue many hundred yeeres in those times and were also exceeding fruitfull especially after that Polygamy was embraced of that Family And if that in Abrahams posterity the seed of Iacob in lesse then three hundred yeares was multiplyed to so great a people it is like that the Cainites were no lesse populous liuing in more freedome Hee first saith Iosephus found out weights and measures and assigned proprieties in possessions of Land before common as the ayre and light and was Author to lewd persons of a lewd and vngodly life Probable it is that the Citie was called Henoch because the Curse suffered not the father to stay in a place but to leaue a hasty inheritance to his Son to finish and rule it Iabal and Iubal and Tubalcain were inuenters of Arts the first to dwell in Tents and keepe Cattell the second of Musicall instruments the third of working in Mettals and making of Armour which some thinke to be Vulcan by the neerenesse of name and occupation His Sister Naamah is accounted by some Rabbines the first inuenter of making Linnen and Woollen and of vocall Musique yea they make her the wife of Noah also Thus let vs leaue this Family multiplying in numbers in Sciences in wickednesse sauouring nothing diuine or at least nothing but humane in their Diuinitie therefore called the sonnes of men and let vs looke backe to Adam who in this wicked fruit of his body might read continual Lectures of repentance for the sinne of his soule Adam begat a child in his own likenesse that is not in that likenesse of God wherein he was created but like vnto himselfe both in humane nature natural corruption his name he called Seth of whose posteritie the whole world was by Noah re-peopled Vnto Seth was born Enosh Then began men saith MOSES to call vpon the name of the Lord This some interpret of the beginning of Idolatry that men began to profane the name of the Lord
the other beganne first to haue a being which hee further prosecuteth in many particulars But before we prosecute these Babylonian affaires after the Floud it shall not be amisse to shew here the Chaldaean Fables of Antiquities before the Floud out of Berosus a Chaldaean Priest which liued in the time of Alexander Polyhistor citeth out of Berosus his first Booke this report of himselfe and Tatianus saith he was the Priest of Belus and wrote his Chaldaean Storie to Antiochus the third after Seleucus in three Bookes His name signifieth the Sonne of Osee Alorus raigned the space of ten Sari Sarus with them is three thousand sixe hundred yeares Alasparus three Sari Amelus thirteene Sari Amenus twelue Metalarus eighteene Daorus tenne Aedorachus eighteene Amphis tenne Otiartes eight Xixuthrus eighteene in his time as is said before the Floud happened The whole space is an hundred and twentie Sari which amounteth to foure hundred thirtie two thousand yeares This I thought not vnfit although incredible to report from Berosus both because my scope is to declare as well false as true Religions it being not Theologicall but Historicall or rather Historically Theologicall and because the Ancients Cicero Lactantius Augustine haue mentioned this monstrous Computation of the Chaldaean Kalender which yet they racke higher to foure hundred threescore and ten thousand yeeres Here you haue the particulars out of Apollodorus and Abidenus which both borrowed them of Berosus Polyhistor addeth that there came one out of the Red Sea called Oannes and Annedotus a Monster other-where like a fish his head feet and hands like a man as saith Photius but Al. Polyhistor ascribeth two heads one of a fish and the other of a man the Image whereof was vnto his times reserued This Monster liued without meate and taught them the knowledge of Letters and all Arts buildings of Cities foundations of Temples enacting of Lawes Geometry and Husbandry and all necessaries to mans life Afterwards he returned to the Sea and after him appeared other such Monsters Foure of them came out of the Sea saith Abidenus when Daos whom Apollodorus calleth Daorus raigned their names were Euedochus Eneugamus Enaboulus Anementus Pentabiblus it seemeth was then their chiefe Citie That Oannes the first did write of the first beginning That all was darknesse and water in which liued monstrous creatures hauing two formes men with two wings and some with foure with one body two heads one of a man and another of a woman with the priuities of both Sexes others with hornes and legs like Goats some with Horse feet some like Centaures the former part Men the after part Horses Buls also headed like Men and Dogges with foure bodies c. with many monstrous mixtures and confusions of creatures whose Images were kept in the Temple of Belus Ouer all these ruled a woman named Omorkae which signifieth the Sea and by like signification of Letters the Moone Then came Belus and cut her in twaine and made the one halfe of her Land the other Heauen and the creatures therein appeared This Belus made men and beasts the Sunne Moone and Planets these things reporteth Berosus in his first Booke in the second he telleth of Kings before mentioned which raigned till the Floud After the Floud also the same Polyhistor out of him sheweth That Sisuthrus hauing by Saturnes warning before built an Arke as is before said and laid vp all Monuments of Antiquitie in Sipparis a Citie dedicated to the Sunne and now with all his World of Creatures escaped the Floud going out of the Arke did sacrifice to the gods and was neuer seene more But they heard a voyce out of the Ayre giuing them this Precept To bee Religious His Wife Daughter and Ship-master were partakers with him of this honour Hee said vnto them the Countrey where they now were was Armenia and hee would come againe to Babylon and that it was ordayned that from Sipparis they should receiue Letters and communicate the same to men which they accordingly did For hauing sacrificed to the gods they went to Babylon and digged out the Letters Writings or Bookes and building many Cities and founding Temples did againe repayre Babylon Thus farre out of Alexander Polyhistor a large Fragment of the true Berosus CHAP. XI Of the Citie and Countrey of Babylon their sumptuous Walls Temples and Images LEauing these Antiquities rotten with Age let vs come to take better view of this stately Citie Herodotus Philostratus Plinie and Solinus report concerning the compasse of Babylon That the walls contayned foure hundred and eightie furlongs situate in a large Plaine foure square inuironed with a broad and deepe Ditch full of water Diodorus saith That there were but so many furlongs as are dayes in the yeare so that euery day a furlong of the wall was built and thirtie hundred thousand Work-men imployed therein Strabo ascribeth to the compasse three hundred and eightie furlongs and Curtius three hundred fiftie eight ninetie furlongs thereof inhabited the rest allotted to Tylth and Husbandry Concerning the thicknesse of the walls or the height they also disagree The first Authors affirme the height two hundred Cubites the thicknesse fiftie They which say least cut off halfe that summe Well might Aristotle esteeme it a Countrey rather then a Citie being of such greatnesse that some part of it was taken three dayes before the other heard of it Lyranus out of Hierome vpon Esay affirmeth that the foure squares thereof contayned sixteene miles a piece wherein euery man had his Vineyard and Garden according to his degree wherewith to mayntaine his Family in time of siege The Fortresse or Tower thereof he saith was that which had beene built by the Sonnes of Noah And not without cause was it reckoned among the Wonders of the World It had a hundred Brazen gates and two hundred and fiftie Towers It was indeed a Mother of Wonders so many Miracles of Art accompanyed the same the workes partly of Semiramis partly of Nabuchodonosor which I would desire the Reader to stay his hastie pace and take notice of Euery where I shall not I cannot be so tedious in these kinds of Relations Diodor. thus addeth of Semiramis shee built also a bridge of fiue furlongs The walles were made of Bricke and Asphaltum and slimy kind of Pitch which that Countrey yeeldeth Shee built two Palaces which might serue both for ornament and defence one in the West which inuironed sixtie furlongs with high Bricke walles within that a lesse and within that also a lesse circuit which contayneth the Tower These were wrought sumptuously with Images of beasts and therein also was game and hunting of beasts this had three gates The other in the East on the other side the Riuer contayned but thirtie furlongs In the lower Countrey of Babylonia she made a great square Lake contayning two hundred furlongs the walls whereof were of Bricke and that pitchie Morter
about and leapeth from one place to another Then doth the chiefe of the Priests make supplication and request for all things which if it misliketh it goeth backwards if it approueth it carrieth them forwards and without these Oracles they enterprise nothing neither priuate nor sacred and Lucian saith he saw it leauing the Priests the supporters and mouing it selfe aboue in the ayre Here are also the statues of Atlas Mercurie and Lucina and without a great brazen Altar and many brazen Images of Kings and Priests and many others recorded in Poets and Histories Among others standeth the Image of Semiramis pointing to the Temple with her finger which they say is the signe of her repentance who hauing giuen commandement to the Syrians to worship no other god but her selfe was by plagues sent from heauen driuen to reuoke that former Edict and thus seemeth to acknowledge and point out another Deitie There were also places inclosed wherein were kept and fed sacred Oxen Horses Eagles Beares Lyons The Priests were in number aboue three hundred some for killing Sacrifices some for offerings some ministring fire to others at the Altar their garment all white their head couered and euery yeere was chosen a new High-Priest which alone was clothed with purple and a golden head-tire A great multitude there was besides of Musicians Galli and Propheticall women they sacrificed twice a day whereat they all assembled To Iupiter they vse neyther song nor instrument in sacrifice as they doe to Iuno Not farre hence was a Lake of two hundreth fadome depth wherein were preserued sacred Fishes and in the middest thereof an Altar of stone crowned alwaies with Garlands and burning with odours They haue a great feast which they call the going downe to the Lake when all their Idols descend thither Their greatest and most solemne Feast was obserued in the Spring which they called the fire they solemnized it in this sort They felled great trees and laide them in the Church-yard as you may terme it and bringeth thither the Goates Sheepe and other beasts they hanged them on these trees together with them fowles and garments and workes of gold and siluer which being set in due order they carrie the Images of the gods about the trees and then fet all on fire They resort to this Feast out of Syria and the coasts adioyning and bring hither their Idols with them and great multitudes resorting to the sacrifices the Galli and those other sacred wights beate and wound each other Others play on instruments and others rauished by diuine furie prophesie and then doe the Galli enter into their orders for the furie rauisheth many of the beholders Whatsoeuer young man commeth prepared to this purpose hurling off his garments with a great voyce he goeth into the middest and drawing his sword geldeth himselfe and runneth thorow the Citie carrying in his hands that which he would no longer carry on his body And into whatsoeuer house he casteth the same he receiueth from thence his womanish habite and attire When any of them die his fellowes carrying him in to the uburbes couer him and his horse with stones and may not enter into the Temple in seuen dayes after nor after the sight of any other carkasse in one day but none of that family where one hath died in thirty dayes and then also with a shauen head Swine they hold for vncleane beasts And the Doue they esteeme so sacred that if one touch one against his will hee is that day vncleane This causeth Doues in those parts to multiply exceedingly neyther doe they touch Fishes This because of Derceto halfe a woman halfe a fish that for Semiramis which was metamorphosed into a Doue Iulius Hyginus hath this fable that an egge of maruellous greatnesse fell out of heauen into Euphrates which the fishes rolled to land on the same did Doues sit and hatched thereout Venus who was after called the Syrian goddesse at whose request Iupiter granted the Fishes their heauenly constellation and the Syrians for that cause eate not their Fish nor Doues but number them amongst their gods Their superstition concerning Herrings and Daces was ridiculous esteeming that the Syrian goddesse did fill the bodies of such as had eaten them with biles an vlcers causing also the fore-part of the leg and the liuer to consume Many are the ceremonies also to be performed of the religious Pilgrims or Votaries that visit this holy City for before hee setteth forth hee cutteth off the hayre of his head and browes he sacrificeth a sheepe and spreading the fleece on the ground hee kneeleth downe on it and layeth vpon his head the head and feet of the beast and prayeth to bee accepted the rest hee spendeth in the banquet Then doth he crowne himselfe and his fellow Pilgrims and after sets forward on his pilgrimage vsing for his drinke and washing cold water and sleepeth alwayes on the ground till his returne home In this Citie were appointed publike Hostes for diuers Cities diuers called Doctors because they expounded these mysteries They haue also one manner of sacrificing to hurle downe the beasts destined herevnto from the top of the porch which die of the fall They haue a like rite to put their children in a Sacke and carrie them downe branded first on the necke or palme of the hand and hence it was that all the Assyrians were branded The young men also consecrated their haire from their Natiuitie which being cut in the Temple was there preserued in some boxe of gold or siluer with the inscription of the owners name thereon And this did I saith Lucian in my youth and my hayre and name remaine in the Temple still Of Atergatis see more in the Chapter of Phoenicea Suetonius tels of Nero that hee contemned all Religions but this of the Syrian goddesse of which also he grew weary and defiled her with Vrine After which hee obserued a little Needle supposed to haue a power of fore-signifying danger and because soone after he had it he found out a conspiracie intended against him he sacrificed thereto three times a day Plutarch calleth the Syrians an effeminate Nation prone to teares and saith that some of them after the death of their friends haue hidden themselues in Caues from the sight of the Sunne many dayes Rimmon the Idoll of the Syrians and his Temple is mentioned 2. King 5.18 Bur I haue litle certainetie to say of him Some reckon among the Syrian Deities Fortune conceyuing the mention thereof Gen. 30.11 by Leah at Zilpa's trauel the word bagad which shee vseth is vsually in our translations and Tremellius a troupe commeth but in the vulgar Latine foeliciter in Vatablus auspicato in Pagnine Montanus venit prosperitas The Ebrew and Greeke Interpreters vnderstand it of an ominous and well-wishing presage yea some Comments I know not whether Planet-like expresse the Planet Iupiter called Mazal tob whose influence helpeth in the opinion of Astrologers
name before mentioned you please to giue her which I know not how mystically is also called Cybele Berecynthia and with a confused mixture of Heauen and Earth THE EARTH Astaroth a word plurall is exemplified in the European Iunones mentioned in Inscriptions and in those altars in Master Camden and Master Selden inscribed DEABVS MATRIBVS diuers of which haue beene found in this Iland intended by them as were also the Beli which made vowes DIS SYRIS Lucian sayth that he saw also at Biblos the Temple of Venus Biblia wherein are celebrated the yeerely rites of Adonis who they say was slaine in their Countrie with beatings and wofull lamentings after which they performe Obsequies vnto him and the next day they affirme him to be aliue and shaue their heads And such women as will not bee shauen must prostitute their bodies for one day vnto strangers and the mony hence accrewing is sacred to Venus Some affirme that this ridiculous lamentation is made not for Adonis but Osiris in witnesse whereof a head made of Paper once a yeere in seuen dayes space comming swimming from Egypt to Byblos and that without any humane direction Of which Lucian reporteth himselfe an eye-witnesse This is called the mourning for Thamuz which Iunius interpreteth Osiris whence the fourth moneth commonly their Haruest is called Tamuz For Ists which instituted these rites was their Ceres Hierom interpreteth it Adonis but it seemeth the difference is more in the name then the Idoll or rites Women were the chiefe lamenters if not the onely as Ezechiel testifieth and the pronenesse of that sexe to teares and to superstitious deuotion also which they seeme to acknowledge whose praying stile is pró deuoto foemineo sexu likewise Ethnike Authors are witnesses Plutarch sayth the women kept the Adonia or feast of Adonis euery where through the Citie setting forth Images obseruing exequies and lamentation Ammianus reported of this festiuall solemnized at Antiochia at the same time when Iulian entred the Citie then filled with howlings and lamentings and elsewhere compareth the women which lamented the death of their young Prince to the women which obserued the rites of Venus in the feasts of Adonis Iulius Firmicus affirmeth that in most Cities of the East Adonis is mourned for as the husband of Venus and both the smiter and the wound is shewed to the standers by For Mars changed into the shape of a Bore wounded him for the loue of Venus Hee addeth that on a certaine night they lay an Image in a bed and number a set bead-roll of lamentations which being ended light is brought in and then the Priest anointeth the chappes of the Mourners whispering these words Trust in God for wee haue saluation or deliuerance from our griefes And so with ioy they take the Idoll out of the Sepulchre Was not this mourning thinke wee sport to the Deuill especially when this Adonia was applyed vnto the buriall and resurrection of Christ the Pageant whereof followeth the Good-Friday and Lenten fast of the Papists Yet is this worse then the former not onely because Corruptio optimi pessima the best things by abusing are made worst but also because the treason of Iudas and Peters deniall is proposed in action to the peoples laughter inter tot eachinos ineptias solus Christus est serius seuerus saith L. Viues complayning of this great wickednesse of the Priests magno scelere atque impietate Sacerd. but here and elsewhere often when he telleth tales out of Schoole the good mans tongue is shortned and their Index purgeth out that wherewith hee seeketh to purge their leauen But let vs backe from Rome to Biblos Hereby runneth the Riuer Adonis also which once a yeere becommeth red and bloudie which alteration of the colour of the water is the warning to that their Mourning for Adonis who at that time they say is wounded in Libanus whereas that rednesse ariseth indeed of the winds which at that time blowing violently doe with their force carry downe alongst the streame a great quantity of that red Earth or Minium of Libanus whereby it passeth This constancy of the wind might yet seeme as maruellous as the other if diuers parts of the world did not yeeld vs instance of the like In Libanus also was an ancient Temple dedicated to Venus by Cyniras Astarte or Astaroth was worshipped in the formes of sheepe * not of the Sydonians only but of the Philistims also in whose Temple they hanged the armour of Saul And wise Salomon was brought by doting on women to a worse dotage of Idolatrie with this Sydonian Idoll among others And not then first did the Israelities commit that fault but from their first neighbour-hood with them presently after the dayes of Ioshua This Sidon the ancient Metropolis of the Phoenicians now called Saito in likelihood was built by Sidon eldest Sonne of Canaan and fell to the lot of Asher whence it is called Great Sidon It was famous y for the first Glasse-shops and destroyed by Ochus the Persian This faire mother yeelded the world a Daughter farre fairer namely Tyrus now called Sur whose glory is sufficiently blazed by the Prophets Esay and Ezechiel being situate in an Iland seuen hundred paces from the shore to which Alexander in his siege vnited it whom it held out eight moneths as it had done Nabuchodonosor thirteene yeeres which long siege is mentioned in Ezec. 26.7 in nothing more famous then for helping Salomon vnder Hiram their King to build the Temple a hundred fiftie fiue yeeres before the building of Carthage This Hiram Iosephus reports it out of Dius a Phoenician Historiographer inlarged the Citie and compasses within the same the Temple of Iupiter Olympius and as he addeth out of Menander Ephesius therein placed a golden Pillar he pulled downe the old Temples and built new and dedicated the Temples of Hercules and Astarte Ithobalus Astartes priest slew Phelles the King and vsurped the Crowne He was great Grandfather to Pygmalion the brother of Dido Founder of Carthage The Phoenicians famous for Marchandise and Marinership sailed from the red Sea round about Afrike and returning by Hercules pillars arriued againe in Aegypt the third yeere after reporting that which Herodotus doubted of and to vs makes the Storie more credible that they sailed to the South-ward of the Sunne They were sent by Pharaoh Neco Cadmus a Phoenician was the first Author of Letters also to the Greekes At Tyrus was the fishing for purple not farre off was Arad a populous Towne seated on a rocke in the sea like Venice Alongst the shore is Ptolemais neere which runneth the Riuer Belaeus and nigh to it the sepulchre of Memnon hauing hard by it the space of an hundred cubites yeelding a glassie sand and how great a quantitie soeuer is by ships carried thence is supplied by the Winds which minister new sands to be by the nature of the place changed
persons were there whose touch might pollute them They washed also Cups and Brasen vessels and Beds not Chamber-beds to lie on Drusius expoundeth but dining-beds which they vsed in stead of Tables They would not eate with Publicans or sinners yea they accounted themselues polluted with their touch Their hypocrisie in prayer Christ mentioneth that it was long and open in the streetes c. It was thrice in the day at the third sixt and ninth houre Their words submisse and softly as of Hannah 1. Sam. 1. and toward the Temple They Tythed all Luke 18. Math. 23. euen the smallest matters For Tythes saith Akiba are the Hedges of thy Riches And another Prouerbe learne it Tythe that thou maist be rich Epiphanius addeth they paid first fruits thirtieths and fiftieths Sacrifices and Vowes Their Phylacteries or Seruatories Defensiues so the word signifieth in Hebrew Totaphoth they vsed as Preseruatiues or Remembrancers of the Law and ware them larger then other men Hierome calls them Pittaciola resembling to them herein some simple superstitious women wearing little Gospels and the wood of the Crosse and such like of zeale not according to knowledge strayning a Gnat and swallowing a Cammell This superstition then complayned of by Hierome yet remaineth saith Scaliger among Christians and Mahumetans which weare about them the Gospell of S. Iohn Christ condemneth not the Rite but their ambition for dilating not for wearing them to which all the Iewes were bound and all the Iewes and Samaritans obserued They vsed the like ambition in their Fringes or twisted Tassels which the Iewes call Zizis and vse them still as after shall appeare Their Oathes were By Ierusalem the Temple the Heauen Earth their Head by the Law Fagius obserueth that the Iewes in swearing lay their hand on the booke of the Lawe at this day Other Oathes are little esteemd Hence it seemeth came our corporall oathes on a book The Iewes saith Capito thinke it no Oath if one forsweare by Heauen or Earth vnlesse he say by him which dwelleth there c. And none is subiect to that Curse in which the name of God is not added That of Corban pertayneth to this place mentioned Math. 15.5 Marke 7.11 which some interprete as if a Iew should say to his Parents That he had alreadie dedicated all that to God to whom vowes are to be performed wherewith he might haue helped them Doctor Rainolds saith That the Iewes as they were prone to vngodly vowes so this was an vsuall vow amongst them and they would binde it with an Oath That such or such a man should haue no profit by them The Oath which they herein vsed as most solemne was By the Gift for so they were instructed That if any sware by the Altar it was nothing but if by the Gift he was a debtor The Pharises therefore taught if any had said to his father By the Gift thou shalt haue no profit by me then he might in no case doe them any good against the Commandement Honour thy Father c. The Iewes vsed to binde their vowes with a curse as they which vowed Paules death vsing yet to suppresse the curse it selfe as If they shall enter into my rest So these By the gift if they haue any profit by me meant they should haue none Thus the Talmud saith he the Booke of their Canon Law and Schoole-Diuinitie saith That a man is bound to honor his Father vnlesse he vow the contrary Masius explaineth it thus That they did consecrate by saying Corban all where-with they should haue benefited their parents as if they had said Let it be Anathema or deuoted whatsoeuer it be with which I may profit thee And therefore those Rabbines vnder pretext of Religion allowed not to spend on his parents that which he had thus vowed to God Scaliger thus interpreteth the place as if a sonne being by his parents admonished of his dutie should put them off with this exception vnlesse that which I haue offered for thee free me of this burthen But let the more curious reade it in himselfe and what Masius Serarius and others haue written hereof The Pharises were esteemed pitifull The Sadduces more cruell They were much addicted to Astrologie and the Mathematikes whose names of the Planets Epiphanius rehearseth as also the twelue Signes There were seuen sorts of the Pharises which the Talmud reckoneth first Sichemita which measure pietie by honour and profit as the Sichemites which for the marriage of Dina endured circumcision Secondly Nacphi which lifted not his feete from the ground the third Kisai Draw-blood which smiteth his head to the wall to cause the bloud to come and also shutteth his eyes that he behold not a woman The fourth that standeth on his perfection called Mahchobathi What is my sinne as if there wanted nothing to his Righteousnesse The fift Meduchia which goe lowly and stooping The sixt The Pharisee of Loue which obeyeth the Law for loue of vertue or reward The seuenth the Pharisee of Feare which is holden in obedience by feare of punishment This they call Iobs Pharisee the former Abrahams Epiphanius describeth their strict obseruations Some saith he prescribed to themselues ten yeeres or eight or foure yeeres continence Some lay on plankes which were onely nine inches broad that when they slept they might fall to the pauement so to be awakened againe to prayer and keepe themselues waking Others put stones vnder them for the same end by pricking to awake them Others lay on Thornes for that purpose Scaliger reproueth Epiphanius for affirming that the Pharises ware womans attire as not agreeing to their austeritie which despised all beds beate themselues against walles and put thornes in the fringes of their garments to prick them he thinketh him deceiued by some Iewes report and addeth that the moderne Iewes haue little or no knowledge of those ancient Pharises but as they learne it of the Christians or of Pseudo-Gorionides so hee calleth the Hebrew booke ascribed to Ioseph Ben Gorion whom Drusius esteemeth and Scaliger proueth to be a counterfeit wherein Serarius and Ribera concurre with them The Pharises in a selfe-conceit and singularitie called all but themselues in a disgracefull scorne Other men so said he Luke 18. I am not as other men whereas they accounted themselues Masters of others on whom also they bound heauie burthens in their Rules and Cases the breach whereof they iudged Sinne in the people but yet held not themselues bound thereto For example Euery Israelite ought euery day by their Rule to say ouer the ten Commandements and that in the first Watch which might not be deferred for danger of sinne and yet amongst themselues they esteemed it lawfull at any houre of the night But vpon the Proselytes they imposed more then on the other Israelites all which they were bound to in their censure vnder paine of Hell fire and therefore
in his Image Male and Female created hee them And he called their name ADAM yet after this is mention of Adams solitarinesse and forming of Eue out of his side that is cutting the female part from the Male and so fitting them to generation Thus doth Leo Hebraus reconcile the Fable of Platoes Androgynus with Moses narration out of which he thinketh it borrowed For as hee telleth that Iupiter in the first forming of mankinde made them such Androgyni with two bodies of two sexes ioyned in the brest diuided for their pride the nauill still remaining as a skarre of the wound then made so with little difference is this their interpretation of Moses §. III. Of the Iewesses Conception and Trauell and of Lilith WHen a Iewish woman is great with Childe and neare her time her chamber is furnished with necessaries and then some holy and deuout man if any such may bee had with Chalke maketh a circular line round in the chamber vpon all the walls and writeth on the doore and within and without on euery wall and about the bed in Hebrew Letters Adam Chaua Chuts Lilith or after the Iewish pronuntiation Lilis that is Adam Eue away hence Lilis Hereby they signifie their desire that if a woman shall bee deliuered of a sonne GOD may one day giue him a wife like to Eue and not a shrew like Lilis This word Lilis is read in the Prophet interpreted a Skritch-Owle but the Iewes seeme to meane by it a diuellish Spectrum in womans shape that vseth to slay or carry away Children which are on the eight day to be Circumcised Elias Leuita writeth that hee hath read that a hundred and twentie yeeres Adam contained himselfe from his wife Eue and in that space there came to him Diuels which conceiued of him whence were ingendred Diuels and Spirits Fairies and Goblins and there were foure mothers or dammes of Diuels Lilith Naemah Ogereth and Machalath Thus is it read in Ben Sira when GOD had made Adam and saw it was not good for him to bee alone hee made him a woman of the earth like vnto him and called her Lilis These disagreed for superioritie not suffering Caesarue priorem Pompeiusue parem Lilis made of the same mould would not be vnderling and Adam would not endure her his equall Lilis seeing no hope of agreement vttered that sacred word IEHOVA with the Cabalisticall interpretation thereof and presently did flie into the Ayre Adam playning his case GOD sent three Angels after her viz. Senoi Sensenoi Sanmangeleph either to bring her backe or to denounce vnto her That a hundred of her Children should dye in a day These ouertooke her ouer the troublesome Sea where one day the Aegyptians should bee drowned and did their message to her shee refusing to obey they threatned her drowning but she besought them to let her alone because shee was created to vexe and kill children on the eight day if they were men if women children on the twentieth day They neuerthelesse forcing her to goe Lilis sware to them That whensoeuer she should finde the name or figure of those Angels written or painted on Schedule Parchment or any thing shee would doe Infants no harme and that she would not refuse that punishment to lose a hundred children in a day And accordingly a hundred of her children or young Diuels dyed in a day And for this cause doe they write these names on a Scroll of Parchment and hang them on their Infants neckes Thus farre Ben Sira In their Chambers alwayes is found such a scroll or painting and the names of the Angels of Health this office they ascribe to them are written ouer the chamber doore In their Booke Brandspiegel Printed at Cracouia 1597. is shewed the authoritie of this Historie collected by their Wise-men out of those words Male and Female created hee them compared with the forming of Eue of a Rib in the next Chapter saying That Lilis the former was diuorced from Adam for her pride which shee conceiued because she was made of earth as well as hee and GOD gaue him another Flesh of his flesh And concerning her R. Moses tels that Samael the Diuell came riding vpon a Serpent which was as bigge as a Camell and cast water vpon her and deceiued her When this Iewesse is in trauell shee must not send for a Christian Mid-wife except no Iewish can bee gotten and then the Iewish women must be very thick about her for feare of negligence or iniurie And if she be happily deliuered of a sonne there is exceeding ioy through all the house and the father presently makes festiuall prouision against the Circumcision on the eight day In the meane time ten persons are inuited neither more nor fewer which are all past thirteene yeeres of age The night after her deliuerie seuen of the inuited parties and some others sometimes meet at the Child-house and make there great cheere and sport all night Dicing Drinking Fabling so to solace the Mother that shee should not grieue too much for the childs Circumcision §. IIII. Of the Iewish manner of Circumcision THe Circumciser is called Mohel who must bee a Iew and a Man and well exercised in that facultie and hee that will performe this office at the beginning giueth money to some poore Iew to be admitted hereunto in his children that after his better experience hee may be vsed of the richer And this Mohel may thence-forwards bee knowne by his thumbes on which he weareth the nayles long and sharpe and narrow-pointed The circumcising Instruments is of stone glasse yron or any matter that will cut commonly sharpe kniues like Rasors amongst the rich Iewes closed in siluer and set with stones Before the Infant be Circumcised he must be washed and wrapped in clouts that in the time of the Circumcision hee may lie cleane for otherwise they might vse no prayers ouer him And if in the time of Circumcision for paine he defileth himselfe the Mohels must suspend his praying till he be washed laid cleane again This is performed commonly in the morning while the child is fasting to preuent much fluxe of bloud In the morning therefore of the eight day all things are made readie First are two seates placed or one so framed that two may sit in the same apart adorned costly with Carpets and that either in the Synagogue or some priuate Parlour If it bee in the Synagogue then the seat is placed neere the holy Arke or Chest where the Booke of the Law is kept Then comes the suretie or God-father for the child and placeth himselfe at the said seat and neere him the Mohel or Circumciser Other Iewes follow them one of which cryeth with a loud voyce That they should bring presently whatsoeuer is needfull for this businesse Then come other Children whereof one bringeth a great Torch in which are lighted twelue waxe Candles to represent the twelue Tribes of Israel after him two
their wiues children and vtensils on their Camels Their horses are leane little swift laborious bold and the horse-men actiue beyond beleefe darting and catching with their hand the same Dart in the horses swiftest race before it commeth at the ground and auoiding a Dart throwne at them by sleightie winding vnder the horses sides or belly also taking vp weapons lying on the ground whiles the horse is running and in like swift race hit the smallest marke with Arrow or Sling Their armes are Arrowes Iauelins with iron heads swords which they vse not to thrusts but strokes Daggers Slings and vse the same in aduerse fight or in auerse flight They lie in wait for Carrauans prey vpon trauellers liue at rapine and spoile and often make themselues the Great Turkes Receiuers and Treasurers and raise new Imposts on all such as they can enforce whether Trauellers or Cities obeying neither the Ottoman nor any other Souereigne but being diuided in innumerable Families obey the heads of their owne Families or Tribes These Tribes are distinguished by the Names of their first Parents as Abi-Helal Abi-Risce Abi-Zaid and six hundred others all esteemed and saluted gentle and equall in rights Their food is browne bread new and sowre milke cheese goats and camels flesh pulse hony oile and butter Rice is esteemed a great delicacie by reason of their Tradition that it came of Mahomets sweat For say they when Mahomet compassed the Throne of God in Paradise God turned and looked on him which made the modest Prophet sweat and wiping it off with his finger six drops fell out of Paradise one whereof produced the Rose the second Rice the other foure his foure associates They vse a certaine hodge-podge or frumentie of boiled wheat laid after a drying in the Sun then beaten boiled with fat flesh til the flesh be consumed This they call Heresie say that Gabriel the Angel taught it Mahomet for the strengthning his reines whereby one night he fought against fortie men and in another had fortie times carnal dealing with women These might seem calumnies deuised by some Mahumetan aduersarie if the former author both learned in and zealous of the law of Mohamed had not related the same in a chapter of the choise of meats Mohamed or Mahomet commended also the eating of gourds of the Melongene affirming that hee had seene this plant in Paradise and measured the quantitie of mens wits by their eating store hereof When he was once in prison saith Ben-sidi-Ali the Angell Gabriel came downe from heauen and carried him in Gennet Elenaam or the Garden of Pleasures where amongst others he saw this shrub and he asking why it grew there the Angell answered because it hath confessed the vnitie of God and that thou art a true Prophet Their garments are base a cotton shirt with very wide sleeues an vpper garment of wooll wouen with white and blacke lines of Goats or Camels haire their feet are bare Their nobler sort go better clothed and vse shooes a red lether girdle a white tulipan of cotton or linnen of few folds Their women goe almost naked in a blew smocke of cotton linnen head tire and face vailed They vse eare-rings chaines broochen and rings of glasse or other base matter and die or paint with blew markes made with a needle their cheekes armes and lips Thus much of the Beduines §. II. Of the Sararcenicall beginnings and proceedings vnder MAHOMET and his successors of the Maraunian race THis robbing and roguing people liued in much obscuritie vntill that darkenesse brought them to light and a Religion newly stamped by Mahomet in a secret and iust iudgement of God for the contempt of the Truth was by as new a kind of preaching viz. force of Armes obtruded on the luke-warme world For when as Mahomet of whole life followeth a large discourse had obserued that sicke state of the Empire afflicted with Iewish rebellion Persian inuasion and Nestorian infection besides the securitie of the Head it selfe Heraclius then Emperour he thought good to take Occasion by the Fore-locke and to strike whiles the yron was hot First vnder pretence of Religon hauing inueigled a multitude of Disciples he made a commotion in Arabia and being therfore driuen out of Mecca many of his followers resorted to him Of whom hee appointed Captaines and Leaders of the rest Vbequar Omar Ozmen Alifre Talaus Azubeirus Zadimui Zaedinus and Abnobeid The Arabians as some affirme aided Heraclius in his warre against Cosdroes the Persian and after that warre ended the Arabians complaining for want of pay the Treasurer answered that there was scarce sufficient for the Greek and Romane Souldiers much lesse for that company of Dogs Whereupon as long before on like occasion they had rebelled in the reigne of Iulian so now enraged they departed into Syria and adioyned themselues vnto Mahumet who euen then after the Persian victorie had obtained some say of the Emperour whom he serued in those warres to himselfe and his followers a Region to inhabite the Emperour so rewarding his exploits in the late warres Mahumet with this supply assailed Mecca which diuers times before he had in vaine attempted and tooke it with other pieces in Arabia viz. Hunaim Ietrip Tambic c. He afterwards created foure Generalls whom he called the foure sharpe swords of GOD and commanded them to goe into the foure parts of the world and to kill all such as would not embrace his Law These foure were Ebubezer or Vbequar Omer Osmen and Ali. Ebubezer went into Palestina but was ouerthrowne by Theodorus Begarius Caesars Lieutenant About the same time died Mahumet and this Ebubezer succeeded him although Mahumet had designed Ali his successour At his death saith Cedrenus a Comet appeared thirtie dayes together at Noone in forme of a sword from the South to the North foresignifying the Empire of the Arabians Eubocara or Abubacher for diuersly is this Ebubezer called hauing by his might and the assistance of Homar and Osmen obtained to be Califa ouerthrew the Imperiall and soone after died Homar the next Califa wanne Bosra the chiefe Citie of Arabia and all the Countrey as farre as Gabata and put Theodorus the Emperours brother to flight Hee besieged Damascus and hauing broken the forces that came to reskue it obtained it subduing also all Phoenicia After that turning his forces into Egypt Cyrus the Bishop of Alexandria staied him with promise of two hundred thousand pieces of gold for yeerely Tribute This was disannulled by Heraclius and Emanuel the Deputie denied the payment whereupon entring the second time vnder conduct of Hamrus Egypt was conquered After two yeeres siege Ierusalem also was wonne into which hee entred clothed in a garment of Camels haire and very homely professing great sanctitie Hee built a superstitious Temple where that of Salomon had stood Iaidus one of his Captaines subdued Edessa and all Mesopotamia Afterwards placing Muauias ouer all the Countries
superfluously for they that doe superfluously are of Kinne to the Deuil Slay not your children for no cause Bee yee not Fornicators for that is wickednesse and a bad way Be reuenged on Murtherers Say nothing till yee know it for you must giue account of your saying 26. In disputing or reasoning vse onely good words Answere in honest sort to him which asketh thee 27. Be iust in weight and measure 37. The Deuill standeth ouer the makers of songs and lies that is the Poets if they amend not doing good 68. If you cannot giue be daily in prayers Pay your tithes following GOD and the Prophet They which do not good but for vaine glory and ostentation shall bee damned 118. The Histories which are in the Old Testament are so cited by him as if hee neuer had read them so many dreames and lies are inserted Az. 12. Before PRAIER WASH the face the hands the armes vp to the elbow the feete vp to the ankles and after carnall company wash in the Bath and if water cannot bee had with dust of cleane earth GOD desireth cleannesse 9. In prayer let them be sober that they may know what they say 2. GOD will not aske why men pray not toward the East for the East and West is his but will demand of the workes which they haue done of their Almes Pilgrimages and Prayers He commandeth that they be humble in prayer and that in prayer they turne towards Mecca Euery one which shall pray asking that which is good which way soeuer hee shall turne him shall be heard of GOD although the true manner of praying be toward the Center of the Temple of Mecca They which are good make their prayers to helpe them by their patience and abstinence GOD dwelleth in such men Pray according to the vsuall custome in all places the foot-man on foote the horseman on his horse Az. 3. He that giueth his owne for Gods sake is like a graine that hath seuen eares euery of which containeth an hundred graines Good men loose not your Almes by vaine glorie 4. Giue almes of the good gaines of your money and of that which the earth produceth but GOD respecteth not gifts of that which is vniustly gotten Satan perswaded you to giue nothing for feare of pouertie To giue almes publikely is good but to giue priuately is better and this blotteth our sinnes Giue especially to those which stay in one place and are ashamed to aske 6. GOD will giue Paradise to them which in time of famine and scarcetie giue liberally and which receiue iniuries and repent of their sinnes Az. 2. Euery one which draweth nigh to death let him leaue of his money to his family and kindred to distribute in almes and they which shall change that vse shall be iudged of the Creator c. Az. 2. They which are intreated to beleeue the Diuine Precepts say they will follow their Ancestors in their Sect What would yee follow your Fathers if they were blinde or deafe Will yee be like them in being mute blinde and foolish Az. 2. O good men EATE that good which he hath giuen you and giue him thanks aboue all other things calling vpon him Abstaine from that which dieth of it selfe from Swines flesh from bloud and from euery other creatur that is killed and not in the name of the Creator But in case of necessity it is not sinne for GOD is mercifull and will forgiue you this 12. Eate not of that which is drowned burned in the fire and touched of the Wolfe 16. Eate nothing which hath not before beene blessed To the Iewes we made many things vnlawfull because of their wickednesse 2. Hee which shall contradict this Booke shall continually bee consumed in vnquenchable fire and none of his workes shall helpe him Az. 3. To them that doubt of WINE of Chesse Scailes and of Tables thou shalt say that such sports and such drinkes are a great sinne and although they be pleasant or profitable yet are they hurtfull sinnes if they say what shall we then doe thou shalt say the good things of GOD. Perswade them to seeke the Orphanes and succour them as their Brethren or else GOD will make them so poore that they shall not bee able to helpe either themselues or others 13. Wine Chesse and Tables are not lawfull but the Deuils inuentions to make debate amongst men and to keepe them from doing good Let none goeon hunting in the Pilgrimage moneth Az. 3. Take not a WIFE of another Law nor giue your daughters to men of another Law except they before conuert to your Law Let no man touch a woman in her disease before she be well clensed Vse your wiues and the woman which are subiect to you where and how you please Women which are diuorced may not marrie till after foure moneths hauing had three times their menstruous purgation Let them not deny their husbands their company at their pleasure They are the heads of the women After a third diuorce from one man they may not marrie the same man againe except they haue in the meane time beene married to another and be of him diuorced Let the woman nurse their children two yeeres receiuing necessaries of the fathers After buriall of a husband let them stay vnmarried foure moneths and ten daies and not goe out of the house in a yeere after Take yee two three foure wiues and finally as many as in your minde you are content to maintaine and keepe in peace It is vnlawfull to marry with the Mother Daughter Sister Aunt Neece Nurse or the Mother or Daughter of the Nurse and take not a whore to wife 9. Let the wiues keepe their husbands secrets or else let them be chastised and kept in house and bed till they be better 10. Let the husband seeke to liue peaceably with his wife 31. Cast not thine eyes on other mens wiues though they be faire A woman conuicted of adulterie by testimonie of foure women must be kept in her house till shee die and let none come at her Az. 8. If you loue not your wiues you may change them but take away nothing of that which is giuen them Az. 3. Sweare not in all your affaires by GOD and his names They which forsweare themselues shall haue no good thing in the world to come And 35. Sweare not rashly for GOD seeth euery thing They which sweare from their hearts are bound thereto before GOD and not else To redeeme such an oath they must feede or cloath ten poore men or fast three daies Az. 13. Az. 4. Offer violence to no man in respect of the Law for the way of doing good and euill is open 4. GOD gaue first the Testament then the Gospell and lastly the true Booke the Alfurcan of the Law in confirmation of those former Az. 4. They which liue of VSVRIE shall not rise againe otherwise then the Deuils they embrace that which GOD hath said is
vnlawfull but they say vsurie is as Merchandize Ye which are good feare GOD and forsake Vsurie lest the anger of GOD and of the Prophet assaile you Take onely the principall and if he cannot pay you stay still he can and giue him almes for this shall be better for you And Az. 6. Euery one which feareth GOD must very much beware of this vice fearing the fire prepared for vnbeleeuers And Az. 11. ascribeth the miseries of the Iewes to their wickednes and vsuries Az. 4. 15. He which repenteth him and leaueth his sinne obtaineth pardon and the cancelling of that which is past but returning againe thereto hee shall suffer eternall fire In the 5. Vnto bad men is denied humane and diuine mercie except they repent GOD careth little for the conuersion of them which after that of Infidels they are made beleeuers become worse Such shall suffer without any remission intolerable punishment 10. GOD pardoneth lesse faults but not criminall Az. 5. Let no man reckon him a good friend which is an vnbeleeuer except it be for feare If betwixt you there grow discord laying aside all stomacke doe the will of GOD and become Brethren together imitating GOD who hath deliuered you from the fire and from dangers 6. GOD would not that any should doe euill to those of his owne Nation and those which consent to your Law but rather their profit and commoditie Az. 6. Thinke not that euer Paradise shall be open vnto you if you be not first valiant and couragious in battaile and before you enter into battaile prepare your selues for death and after the death of the Prophet Mahomet defend the orders by him giuen with Armes No man can die but when GOD will that is when his time is come Those which flee out of the warre are prouoked of the Deuill but GOD pardoneth them which repent They which die in the way of GOD are not truely called dead They liue with GOD. Let none feare them which are gouerned of the Deuill 7. Be patient and you shall haue eternall life 10. Accompanie not with vnbeleeuers neither in friendship nor other businesse They which goe on warfare for GOD and the Prophet shall receiue abundance in the Earth and after death the mercie of GOD. They which refuse except they be sicke or children shall be cast into Hell Neglect not prayers in your expeditions Some may pray whiles other stand in Armes Pray not for them which hurt their owne soules 18. Looke to your selues that there be no discord amongst you His last Azoara is this In the Name of the mercifull and pittifull GOD sanctifie thy selfe and pray continually and humbly vnto him which is Lord of all Nations Lord of all GOD of all that he will defend and deliuer thee from the Deuill which entreth into the hearts of men and from deuillish and peruerse men From Mahomet himselfe and from his diuellish and peruerse Law AMEN §. III. The Saracens opinion of their ALCORAN THus haue I endeuoured to bring some order out of confusion and haue framed these heads out of that Alcorau-Chaos where is scarce either head or taile this tale they haue and beleeue for what will not What shall not they beleeue which refuse to beleeue the Truth that he which readeth this Booke a thousand times in his life shall haue a woman in Paradise whose eye-browes shall be as large as the Raine-bow But amongst the more studious and iudicious the manifold contradictions therein hath bred no scruple as in their ordinary discourses in speech and writing may appeare For as many Marchants and such as haue liued with them report it is a common thing to heare from themselues obiections and doubts touching their Law in their Bookes also and Tractates are contained many Morall sentences and exhortations to vertue and holinesse of life and those things called in question which the Alcoran hath seemed to determine Of these their Bookes Master Bedwel hath lately translated and published one a Dialogue written some six hundred yeeres since in which many scruples are propounded and left vndecided many things found contradictory yea and the Bookes of the Old and New Testament commended and approued and the Doctrine of the Trinitie explained the exceptions also made by the other Mahumetans to the Gospell answered In that booke it is affirmed that there were written by Mahomet a hundred and twentie thousand sayings of which onely three thousand are good the residue false that the descent of the Moone into Mahomets sleeue is impossible that shedding of blood is too slippery an argument for proofe of Doctrine that the Sunne his beames and heat doe represent the Trinitie and Vnitie that the state of Paradise is like to that of Angels without meate drinke women and therefore that voluptuous Paradise is one of Mahomets fictions for himselfe saith hee did write some things in iest that it seemeth absurd and against reason and faith to follow a Law which it selfe saith none can vnderstand but GOD that the Alcoran in the Assora Ionas sends men to the Iewes and Christians for the right vnderstanding thereof that wheras it sayes Christ is the word of GOD it followes hee is the Sonne of GOD as reason and speech the Sunne and his layes are one Essence and the Vnderstanding Will Memory in one Man that the Chrstians could not as the Mahumetans obiect blot the name of their prophet out of their Scriptures seeing the Iewes and Christians and Heretiques and Christians haue alway beene watchfull aduersaries to each other and they are more ancient sixe hundred yeeres then Mahomet that the storie of the speaking Ant and other things are triuiall and impertinent that Moses Law was giuen with open miracles and the Gospell approued with diuers languages and martyrdomes that these nor any Law of GOD hath therein any contraritie that virginitie is a chiefe and bodily good and their prophet writes of himselfe polygamy adulteries and the like with many libidinous precepts and practises that these things seeme contrarie that the Deuills shall be saued the Iewes also and Christians which yet he counselleth to slay with other the like contradictions that their prophet onely vnderstood the Arabike and by an Interpreter heard that which is contained in the Bookes of Iewes and Christians which easily appeares in his falsifying the Histories of the Bible that hee hath no Testimony but his owne that there are many absurd things in their law not confirmed by Miracle and others excuse them by Metaphors c. These things are there religiously discoursed with shew of reuerence to their Law but exceeding magnifying of Christ and his Gospell which is so generall with the more learned sort that some also haue hazarded their liues in this quarrell And Auicen that learned Physician saith against their Paradise that wise Diuines more respect the minde the coniunction whereof with truth is a felicitie beyond those sensuall pleasures of the bodie And
the Ianizaries of Aleppo and Damasco but death stayed him not his rebellion which a younger brother of his prosecuted against whom Hassan Bassa was sent but lost himselfe and his Armie The Rebels besieged Angole and forced them to giue two hundred thousand Duckets to buy their peace Meane while the Ianizaries after their insolent manner in a mutinie forced Mahomet to commit the Capi-Aga one of his greatest Officers and some others to whom the successe of these Rebels was imputed to their cruell execution The Rebels sacked Burze one of the chiefe Cities the Turkes Store-house for his Warres and and Treasurie for his reuenues and the great Shaugh of Persia had taken Corberie also from the Turkes The Gouernour of Babylon inclined now also to the Rebels Mahomet not able with force to preuaile by faire meanes sought to winne them and gaue them their demands making Zellalie one of their Chiefetaines Bassa of Bosna Whereupon his men of warre entered into a resolution to depriue him of the State and to inuest therewith Mahomet his eldest sonne about which an Astrologian being consulted promised all happie successe vnhappie foole that knew not his owne approching ruine which Mahomet executed on him together with young Mahomet the Prince and fiftie other conspirators He sent forth a Fleet of gallies against the King of Fesse which hauing encountred with a tempest was forced with a great losse to retire to their former Port. The chiefe rebel making shew he would come into Europe as Zellaly had done Mahomet sent certain gallies to receiue him but hee receiued them and possessing himselfe of the gallies slew the men and mocked the Sultan Hassan a great Bassa ioyned himselfe also vnto them about such time as Tauris was againe recouered by the Persian All these disasters draue Mahomet to his deuotions for refuge accounting these crosses to be inflicted for his sinnes and therefore appointed publike Prayers in all the Mosques of his dominion and sent two Priests bare-headed and bare-footed to Mecca on pilgrimage to pray for him But not Mahomet either had no eares to heare this or else was so farre entreated as to be better acquainted with this great Sultan in the place of his eternall residence whither about the yeere 1603. Mahomet the Turke was by death soone after sent His sonne Achmat succeeded for his eldest was strangled in his sight He was buried in a faire Chappell by himselfe for that purpose built about fiftie foot square with foure Turrets or Steeples in the middest is his Sepulchre in a great Coffin of white Marble his Turbant at his head two exceeding great Candles of white Waxe standing but neuer burning the one at his head the other at his feet The floore is couered with Mats and faire Carpets on them Round about are like Tombes for his wiues and children but not so great and faire Diuers such Chappels there are neere to the Temple of Sophia as of his father Amurath with his fiue and fortie children entombed about him and of the other great Sultans two Selyms Solyman Baiazet Mahomet each hauing a faire Hospitall for the reliefe of the poore adioyning Some of the great Bassaes imitate the same No other Turkes are buried in the Cities but in the fields with stones laid ouer or set vpright fashioned with some resemblance of the head which beareth ensigne of his dignitie whether it be a man or woman with letters engrauen further to testifie the same §. IIII. Of ACHMET ACHMAT set a sure guard about his brother and to preuent the insolencie of the Ianizaries and Souldiers distributed amongst them two millions and a halfe and being fifteene yeeres old was crowned Emperour He is said in behauiour and resemblance much to resemble Mahomet the Great first Conquerour of Constantinople At the same time the warres in Transyluania had procured such famine that rootes herbes leaues of trees were their food yea a mother is said to haue brought backe into her wombe by vnnaturall meanes satisfying Nature her six children two men to eate their mother others to cut downe malefactors from the gallowes and eate them Horses Dogs Cats and such like were rarities to the poore and dainties beyond their reach And if the State can be made worse theeues by robberies and Souldiers by continuall spoyles in taking away their goods adde to their miseries Cicala Bassa is sent against the Asian Rebels and receiueth an ouerthrow the second time he reneweth his forces with renewing his fortunes namely the losse of thirtie thousand of his men The Persian recouered the Countrie of Sirvan and the Citie of Arusta with the Countrie thereabouts and all that from the daies of Solyman had beene taken from them except two or three places Hassan Bassa is sent against the Christians in Hungarie assisted with the Tartars alwayes readie to helpe the Turkes both because they are linked in marriages like in conditions and that huge Empire for want of heires male of the Ottomans is entailed to the Tartar Cham pay and spoile are no small motiues also to fetch them into these Expeditions Cicala Bassa is sent against the Persians but defeated with all his power by the Persian In Hungarie they doe more with their money to maintaine rebellions then with open force In the yeere 1605. a tumult arose among the Ianizaries in Constantinople and fiue hundred shops and ware-houses with two hundred Iewes and other persons to whom they belonged were burnt the Ianizaries enriched themselues with the spoile The Iewes haue made them Vaults made fire-free to preuent the like danger from the Ianizaries who are thought purposely to fire them sometimes and alway haue the office to quench it or pull downe houses in neere danger which they willingly protract or performe in places fittest for pillage Ignis ruina extinguitur the remedie no lesse then the disease Hungarie is at once vexed with forraine and ciuill warres the mutinous Christians doing more harme then the Turkes and the people flee into Polonia or the Mountaines for refuge The Rebels take great Townes yea they spoyle Stiria and Austria The German name growes odious to the Hungarian Botscay chiefe of the Rebels is assisted by the Turkes and called Prince of Transyluania all Hungarie in manner following his ensignes But the Rebels in Asia and the Persian exploits detained the Turkes from making vse of these occasions else likely to haue swallowed Hungarie and Austria both yet Pesth was before taken by them and now Strigonium Cicala Bassa is againe ouerthrowne by the Persian and with three hundred flieth to Adena The Bassa of Trebezond is sent to succour him but is discomfited and almost all his Armie slaine Achmat enraged causeth Cicala Bassaes house at Constantinople full of wealth and treasure to bee rifled Adena is yeelded to the Persian The Bassaes of Damasco and Aleppo had before fallen out taken armes Damasco had ouerthrown Aleppo in the field besieged him and forced him to composition Now
and besides them come in no company of men nor doe they speake with a man or in any part of their body are seene of any man because they thinke sight especially where beautie or comlinesse is cannot bee without sinne Onely the brother may bee permitted to see the sister but not the husbands brother Yea their sonnes when they come to growth are separated from them For this cause that sexe is not suffered to buy and sell but is closely mewed saue that their law alloweth them to frequent the publike Baths The wife and Concubine differ in the right to a dowrie which the later wanteth but the wife must cause the other to bee her husbands bed-fellow when hee commandeth without gaine-saying except on their Sabbath or Friday night which is the wiues peculiar Yet are the Turkes giuen in both Sexes to vnnaturall lust in these times euen the women in publike Baths sometimes are so enflamed in that filthinesse as is intollerable Busbequius tells of one woman which falling in loue with a young maide and no way else preuailing clothed her selfe in mans apparell and hyring a house neere procured the fathers good will to haue that his daughter in marriage which being solemnized betweene them and the truth discouered which the blacke mantle of night could not couer from Hymaeneus complaint was made and the Gouernour quenched the hot flames of this new Bridegroome causing her to bee drowned for that offence If the man abuse the wife to vnnaturall lust shee may haue her remedie by diuorce if shee accuse her husband which modestie forbiddeth to bee done in words and therefore shee puts off her shooe and by inuerting the same accuseth her to her husbands peruersenesse One Master Simons which liued amongst them told me that there are some which keepe boyes gallantly arraied to serue for the worse then beastly lust of such as will hyre them He affirmed also That they haue this lothsome punishment for that lothsome sinne of whoredome to take the panch of a beast new killed and cutting a hole thorow to thrust the adulterers head in this dung-wallet and so carrie him in pompe thorow the streets It is death either to the bodie by iudiciall sentence or the soule by turning Turke for a Christian to haue carnall dealing with any of their women A Iew which had dealing with a Turkes wife with her husbands consent could not escape hanging therefore this indeed was a fauour for hee should haue beene burned notwithstanding his rich countrey-men offered 2000. Duckets to saue him Her husband was hanged for his wittoldly permission and she her selfe drowned George Dousa reporteth the like danger which an Armenian hardly escaped but for talking with a Turkish woman both of them being therefore imprisoned and thence deliuered at a deere rate Hee telleth of their Paederastie that they buy boyes at an hundred or two hundred Duckets and mew them vp for their filthy lust till they proue bearded they will also steale boyes for that villanie as hee instanceth of one which came with the Polonian Embassadour so stolne and neuer could after bee heard of Murther prohibited in their eight Commandement they hold vnpardonable if it bee done wilfully Often will the Turkes braule but neuer in priuate quarrels strike one another for feare of this Law and the seueritie of the Magistrate And if one bee found dead in street or house the Master of the house or the Parish must finde out the murtherer otherwise hee himselfe shall be accused of it and the whole Contado shall be fined and likewise in case of robberie During the time that I remained amongst them you heare Mr. Sandys it being aboue three quarters of a yeere I neuer saw Mahometan offer violence to a Mahometan nor breake into ill language If any giue a blow hee hath many gashes made in his flesh and is led about for a terrour but the man-slayer is deliuered to the friends of the slaine to bee by them tortured to death For publike punishments to mention that heere they haue impaling on stakes thrust in at their fundament ganching on hookes on which they are cast from some high place there to hang till famine if some more gentle crueltie haue not made a suddenner dispatch consumed them they also haue another inuention to twitch the offender about the waste with a towell enforcing him by often prickings to draw vp his breath till they haue drawne him within the compasse of a spanne then tying it hard they cut him off in the middle and setting the bodie on a hot plate of copper which seareth the veynes vp-propping him during their cruell pleasure who not onely retaineth sense but discourse also till hee be taken downe and then departeth in an instant Little faults are chastised by blowes on the soles of their feet by hundreths at a time Parents correct their children by stripes on their bellies §. II. Of other their Opinions and Practices in Religion MEnaninus reckoneth seuen mortall sinnes Pride Auarice Lecherie Wrath Enuie Sloth and Gluttonie The first they say cast Lucifer out of heauen The second is the root of many other sinnes The third is most rise amongst them and that in the most filthy and vnnaturall kinde of Sodomie their Law to the contrarie notwithstanding Their fourth maketh a man a beast The fifth shutteth men out of Paradise and so forth of the rest Wine is also forbidden them but yet they will bee drunke with it if they can get their fill of it And Mahomet the third Anno 1601. imputing diuers insolencies of the Ianizaries to their excessiue drinking of Wine by the Musties perswasion commanded on paine of death all such in Constantinople and Pera as had Wine to bring it out and staue it except Embassadours onely so that the streets ranne therewith One drinking Wine with Busbequius made great clamors being asked the cause hee said hee did it to warne his soule to flee into some corner of the bodie or else be quite gone lest it should bee polluted with that sinne Yet in their Fast or Lent they abstaine very religiously If it be proued against a Priest that he hath drunke wine but once hee shall neuer be beleeued as a witnesse after it Swines flesh is prohibited too in abstaining from which they are more obedient it being vtterly abhorred The Turkes generally hate saith Septemcastrensis that lightnesse in apparell speech gesture c. vsed of the Christians whom for this cause they call Apes and Goates Likewise they are not sumptuous in their priuate buildings They go to the warre as it were to a wedding esteeming them blessed which are therein slaine The wiues and women-sernants agree in one house without iealousie and grudging they are in their habite and behauiour modest and where himselfe dwelt the Father-in-law had not seene the face of his Daughter-in-law liuing in the same house with him in twentie yeeres space so religiously doe they veyle themselues
soot and tastes not much vnlike it good they say for digestion and mirth Of the boyes which some Coffa-men keepe as stales wee haue spoken before Optum they much vse it seemes for the giddinesse and turbulent dreames it causeth which they as all kinde of stupifying astonishment and madnesse religiously affect This perhaps the cause why Tobacco is so liked a thing brought them by the English the worst here passing currant and excellent there But Morat Bassa not long since caused a pipe to be thrust through the nose of a Turke and so be led in derision through the Citie They take it through reeds with great heads of wood annexed The vnder garments of the women differ little from those of the men These weare on their heads a cap sugar-loafe-fashion the better sort vse Bracelets and Iewells When they goe abroad they weare ouer all long gownes of violet or scarlet cloth tyed close before the large sleeues hanging ouer their hands They haue the sweetest children that are lightly seen which they carry astride on their shoulders They anoint their bodies with the earth of Chios which makes the skinne soft white and shining freeing the face from wrinkles For the Readers further pleasure I haue here presented a Turkish Woman in Picture They vse their bond women with little lesse respect then their wiues Their Markets yeeld Men Women Virgins Children to as ample tryall and full purchase as Horses with vs saue that the Men-slaues may compell their Masters before the Cadi to limit the time of their bondage or set a price of their redemption or else to sell them to another But Galley slaues are seldome released or those that belong to great men beyond the Cadies authoritie They buy little children and geld many of them as you haue heard which some say was begun by Selym the second after he had seene a Gelding couer a Mare and by Menauinus his relation of himselfe seemes not practised in his father Baiazets time These are in great repute with their Masters yea the second Vizier of the Port is now an Eunuch For Arts some haue some little knowledge in Philosophie Necessitie hath taught them the practise of Physicke not the grounds of Arts In Astronomie they haue some insight and vndertake to tell fortunes They haue a good gift in Poetrie Their Musicke is very vile The Grand Signior was once perswaded to heare some Italian Musick but while they spent much time in tuning hee perhaps esteeming that their Musick commanded them to depart Logick and Rhetorick they reiect Some write Histories but few read them thinking none dare write the truth of the present or can of the times past Printing they reiect the most of their Priests liuing by writing Euery one hath some trades such lightly as serue their owne turnes a lazie people more esteeming ease then profit yet very couetous seldome holding compact with the Christians that holds not with their commoditie CHAP. XI Of the Religious places amongst the Turkes their Meschits Hospitalls and Monasteries with their Liturgie and Circumcision §. I. Of their Temples A description of S. SOPHIES THE places of most Religion to the Turkes abroad are those which Mahumet himselfe polluted with his irreligion as Mecca Medina c. The places of most Religion amongst themselues are their Mosches or Meschits that is their Temples and Houses of Prayer whereof they haue many in all Turkie and next thereunto their Hospitals for the reliefe of the poore impotent and Pilgrims Neither are the Turkes sparing in these or the like seeming charitable expences For when a Turke falleth sicke and thinketh he shall thereof dye hee sends for his friends and kinsfolkes and in their presence maketh his Testament the greatest Legacies whereof are bequeathed to publike vses which they thinke will be meritorious to their soules Such are the making and repayring of Bridges Cawseyes Conduits to conuey water to their Hospitalls or Temples Some also giue to the Redemption of Captiues Many of their Women the deuouter Sexe whether in Religion or superstition bequeath money to bee distributed amongst such Souldiers as haue slaine any certaine number of Christians a deed in their conceit very religious These are the Wills and Deeds of the inferiour sort But the Emperors and great Bassaes appoint Legacies to expresse a greater magnificence with their deuotion as the building of Temples and Hospitalls Their Temples or Meschites are for the most part foure square not much vnlike to our Churches but larger in length then bredth The Temple of St. Sophie in Constantinople is of all other in the Turkes Dominion the most admirable built long since by Iustinian and by Mahumet the Conqueror peruerted to this Mahumetan vse aboue nine hundred yeeres after Of this Temple they write that it was first built by Constantius sonne of Constantius the Great with a roofe of timber and burnt by the Arrians in the time of Great Theodosius who againe repayred it Sozomenus saith that in the broyles which hapned not long after in the raigne of Arcadius and Honorius about Chrysostome the Church was fired his enemies ascribing it to his partakers and they againe to his Aduersaries It is reported that Theodosius Iunior rebuilt it But in the time of Iustinian Procopius testifieth that base and wicked men burnt it againe which Iustinian built a-new in such sumptuous and manificent sort that in regard of this change it might haue beene wished that it had perished long before His chiefe worke-men were Anthemius and Isidorus who raised it into a most goodly frame which might amaze the beholders and seeme incredible to the hearers Both he and Euagrius recite the particulars The length was two hundred and threescore feet the bredth one hundred and fifteene the height a hundred and fourescore Zonaras Agathias and Georgius Cedrenus tell of the harmes it receiued by Earthquakes whiles Iustinian liued which yet he repaired as did Basilius and Andronicus after him Nicephorus saith that Constantine raised the Temple of Peace which before was but small to that large and stately greatnesse which in his dayes it retayned and his sonne Constantius finished the Temple of Sophia so neere it that they seemed to haue but one wall It was founded by Constantine his fa her and was burnt in a sedition of the people in the raigne of Iustinian in which rebellion thirtie thousand of the people were slaine and partly to pacifie the wrath of GOD saith hee for so great a slaughter hee built this Temple From the side of the Temple hee tooke foure hundred twentie and seuen Pillars or Images of Heathen gods and of the twelue signes of the Zodiake and fourescore Statues of Christian Emperours which hee didistributed in the Citie But more then enough of the ancient structure thereof As it is at this day diuers haue described it but of them all most diligently Petrus Gellius The walls and roofes thereof are of
And this they doe foure or fiue times according to the order of their seruice After this they all kneele and prostrate themselues on the ground the Meizin obseruing a long Ceremonie in which with a loud voyce hee prayeth GOD to inspire the Christians Iewes Greekes and generally all Infidels to turne to their Law This being said euery man lifteth his hand to heauen crying aloud Amin Amin and then they touch their eyes to wipe them with their hands which is as crossing among the Papists a blessing of themselues bringing their hands ouer their face and so they depart In the English Treatise of the Turkish Policie these things are related with some other Ceremonies as that they say together with the Priest the first Azoara or Chapter of the Alcoran c. Bartholomaeus Georgiouitz saith that onely the chiefe sort are bound to assemble to the daily deuotions which they obserue fiue times a day others which cannot spare the times are not tyed On their Sabbaths it is otherwise §. IIII. Of their Sabbaths and of their Lent and Easter THE women enter not their Mesquitas but on Fridayes at nine a clocke or at Easter and then they are in a Gallery or Terasse apart where they may see and not bee seene and this is not common to all but the wiues and mothers of the chiefe of the place And as we haue said of the Priest so it is to be vnderstood that all the men and women there doe the same without failing in any point They suffer not a Christian to enter therein and yet will they enter into the Churches of the Christians to heare the Church-musicke The women abide in their Churches from nine of the clocke to midnight continually praying with certaine motions and strange cries continuing so long in this act that they fall vpon the ground as in a swoune through wearinesse and if any feele her selfe at that time to bee with childe the Turkes hold that they are conceiued by the holy Ghost and presently vow that childe to God and call such Nefecs Ogli that is sonnes of the holy Ghost And on Friday at nine or ten of the clocke the Priest vseth to preach to the people and these their discourses last aboue two houres That which is said is not verie manifest yet they say that he preacheth the miracles of Mahomet sometime exalting their faith sometime commending obedience and sometime rehearsing fabulous tales to terrifie the bad as that such mens soules are carried of certaine Camels there being some sixe thousand flying about in the ayre for this purpose into the Sepulchres of wicked Christians and that the good Christians are put in their emptie Sepulchres inueighing against the blasphemers of Mahomet Christ and the Saints exhorting to Almes rehearsing their commandements of the law And if they preach scandalous doctrine the Mufti and the Cadlilescher depriue them and correct them as Heretikes yea some of them for preferring Christ before Mahomet are put to death of which one Ibraim Schec a Priest of Constantinople reported to haue wrought miracles amongst the Turkes in the dayes of Soliman was stoned to death his head cut off and his bodie burned of his Disciples some were beheaded others thrust into the Gallies for preferring Christ and denying Mahomet And were it not for the terrour of the sword there would be more innouations of religion and some haue perswaded the Grand Signior not to suffer the Alcoran to bee so common to be read and interpreted of euerie one guiltie of the absurdities therein contained But to returne After this preaching ended two young Clerkes goe vp to him and sing certaine prayers which ended the Priest againe beginneth to sing with the people in a base voyce with wrigling euery way for the space of halfe an houre saying nothing but Lailla illellah that is there is but one God And these Ceremonies are done onely on their Lenten Fridayes Their Lent is one Moone or Moneth in the yeere which if this yeere it be Iuly the next it shall bee August and so in order that in twelue yeeres they haue fasted all times of the yeere making no other difference of meates then at other times but eating onely in the night They prepare themselues by diminishing their fare not as the Christians at Shrouetide that they may the better endure it for on the day in which they fast they will not so much as taste a cup of water or wash their mouthes therewith till the Starres appeare And eight or ten dayes after it beginneth some Officers ride about the towne crying Such a day beginneth the Fast prepare yee prepare yee and when it is begun the Cadi and Subassi if they finde any shops open or any body eating in the day set him on an Asse backwards with the tayle in his hand as Adulterers are punished and to drinke wine at this time is death Neither will they suffer Iewes or Christians to scandalize their Turkes this way And when their Lent is neere the end they goe all to the Baths and plucke off all their haires but of the head and beard with an oyntment for that purpose they colour their nayles red with an enduring colour called Chua with which they dye also the tayles and feet of their horses and the women their hands feet and priuie parts This they doe in honour of their solemnitie which lasteth three daies with great feasting in which nothing else but meates and drinkes may be sold They goe to the Sepulchres of the dead there to eate full of gladnesse and salute each other saying Baaram glutiotzong that is God giue you a good Feast and if they meete with a Iew or a Christian woe vnto them On the first day of their Bairam the Sultan rideth to S. Sophia with all pompe and then did we see saith Master Sandys a sight full of horror many mourne with age yet dead before death and reuolting from their Christianitie therefore throwing away their bonets and lifting vp their fore fingers to which the Tyrant bowed himselfe as glorying in such conuersions The Turks keepe another Easter especially in Mecca more solemne to the Tartars Moores and Arabians then to the Turkes except the Pilgrims which resort thither §. V. Of the Turkish Circumcision THE Turkes say they are circumcised because they are the sonnes of Ismael and because they may be cleane when they goe to their Temples no filth lying hid vnder the skinne At seuen or eight yeeres of age or later this Ceremonie is performed The first thing they doe is to inuite many thither both Turkes Iewes and Christians besides the friends and kindred to make the greater gaine euery one giuing somewhat according to his abilitie When the day is come they which are inuited mount on horse-backe for else it is no solemnitie and goe to the house of the childe who being mounted on a faire horse richly clothed with a great Tulipant on his head
is carryed to Church with a long speare borne before him hauing a torch on the top worth a crown more or lesse according to the state of the partie adorned with roses and garlands which with the speare is left a gift to the Church the fees of the Priest all the way they sound on instruments after the sonne followeth the father the kindred and the rest of the friends that sometimes there are a hundred horse at Church they alight and accompany the childe to the Priest which wayteth for them Here one of the friends sitteth downe and on his lap the child is set presently another pulleth off his shooes another holdeth his hands and others his feet and many hold him in talke with words and these are the Gossips The Priest seeing all things readie taketh the end of the skinne of his yard and draweth it out and nippeth it with siluer Pinsers so to mortifie it and cut it off with lesse paine then making him beleeue he will deferre it till the next day he ariseth the other holding him fast and after as if he had forgot somewhat to be done about it with sizzers which he holdeth closely in his hand suddenly cutteth it off and another layeth thereon a certaine powlder to ease the paine and in fiue and twentie dayes they looke to the curing of it laying on it salt and marmalade of Quinces and thence forwards he is called a Musulman But his name is not then giuen him but at his birth and that according to their qualitie Bellonius writes that they must answere the Circumciser to certaine questions somewhat like it seemes to that which in the Baptisme of elder persons is performed by themselues of younger by their Godfathers and therefore they are so old before they bee circumcised Hee also affirmeth that it is neuer done in the Meschit wherein none vncircumcised may enter but in the house The name Mussulman Mussliman or Muslim signifies an Orthodoxe Mahometan as Christian or Catholike with vs Verus Turca saith Bellonius Saluatus or sanae fidei homo after Cantacuzenus After the childe is loosed who to shew himselfe of courage smileth and lifting vp his greatest finger saith those former words of their profession and is againe mounted all the company after a little prayer and offering at the Church with like pompe conueigh him home where is great feasting prouision some feast it three dayes together Amurath circumcised his sonne Mahomet at sixteene yeeres old Vnto which solemnitie many Christian Princes were solemnly inuited who sent thither their Ambassadors with Presents who had there their scaffols prepared for them and furnished according to their states The solemnitie lasted fortie dayes and fortie nights in the great Market-place of Constantinople And to end these solemnities Mahomet the Prince was circumcised not publikely but in his Fathers chamber by Mechmet one of the inferiour Bassaes sometime the Emperour Solymans Barber And it is done of other Turkes also most commonly in the Fathers house not in the Church The women-children about the same age among other women without other solemnity say ouer those words La illah c. and likewise the renegado-Iewes but the Christian renegadoes are carried about the streets of the Cities with much solemnity and many gifts giuen them besides freedome from tribute many blinded by couetousnesse offer themselues to this circumcision But if any for blasphemie against Mahomet or iniurie to a Turke be by force circumcised they haue no such gifts which punishment the Cadilescher by the testimony of two accusing Turkes inflicteth And therefore to preuent the same the Christians obtaine the Grand Seigniors safe conduct that in cases of conscience they may not be iudged of any except they were accused at the Court before the foure Bassaes and the Cadilescher of Constantinople and that by the witnesse of Priests onely which had not in twelue yeeres drunke wine CHAP. XII Of the Sepulchres Funerall-Rites and Opinions touching the Dead among the Turkes NOw if you be wearie of viewing their Temples and their Prayers and other Ceremonies seeme tedious I haue thought fit to present you with another sight and to conclude with that which is the conclusion of all flesh a discourse of their Funerals When a Turke is sicke and like to die his friends visite him and putting him in minde of his sinnes aduise him with a penitent heart to bewayle them Then doe certaine of their Priests or one of his kinsmen read some Psalmes and Prayers And if the pangs of death doe still continue they bring him the Alcoran or Curaam wherein is one Legend called Thebara Echelezi which they read seuen times and if hee shall die of that sicknesse they thinke hee will die before they haue thrice read it and if they see breath still remaine they read another Psalme called Iasinnel Curanil Hecin to the end that the Deuill cause no impediment to his soule When hee is dead they lay him forth in the middest of the house vpon Carpets and place him on his right side with his face towards the South Then doe assemble certaine Priests to buy him who bring with them a string of Beades such as the Papists vse in mumbling and numbring their deuotions being a thousand of them of lignum aloes and there with compasse the bodie and then say to euery one Sababan alla that is God haue mercie on him and turne it about foure or fiue times After this their Priests which are twentie or more carrie the corps into the Garden and lay it on a Table two hands breadth from the ground taking away his shirt and couering his shame with a new cloth made of fine bombast with warme water and sope washing him from top to toe Then do they take two sheets of bombast in which they wrap the corps wetting the same with Rose-water perfumes and odoriferous things and laying him on the Beere couer him quite ouer with his best garments placing his Turbant at the head thereof all bedecked with flowers This done the Priests begin their deuotions and some of the company take vp the Beere carrying the same with the head forwards to the Meschit the kinsmen follow and the women remaine at home weeping and make readie to eate for the Priests When they come to the Church they set him downe without doores and goe and make an end of their seruice After that they carry him forth of the City to the buriall place for it is not lawfull to bury in their Cities Some prouide their Sepulchres in their life time some haue them made after by their friends either in their Gardens or some solitarie place They haue also common buriall places as are our Church-yards wherein are many Tombes of Marble Brick or other matter according to the qualitie of the person If the deceased were a man of high condition his horses are led with his corps and his Tombe is adorned with many Epitaphs And if he were a great
therein an hundred twentie seuen Pillars the workes of so many Kings threescore foot in height and sixe and thirtie of them very curiously wrought The Temple was foure hundred twentie fiue foot long two hundred and twentie broad of the Ephesians holden in such veneration that when Croesus had begirt them with a straight siege they deuoted their Citie to their Goddesse tying the wall thereof with a rope to the Temple It was enriched and adorned with gifts beyond value It was full of the workes of Praxiteles and Thraso The Priests were Eunuches called Megalobyzi greatly honoured and had with them sacred Virgins Some call these or else another order of Diana's Priests Estiatores and Essenae that is Good fellowes after the appellation of this bad age which by yeerely courses had a peculiar diet assigned them and came in no priuate house All the Ionians resorted to Ephesus at Diana's festiuall which with daunces and other pompe they solemnized with their wiues and children as they had done before at Delos the Temple had priuiledge of Sanctuarie which Alexander extended to a furlong Mithridates to a flight-shot Antonius added part of the Citie But Augustus disanulled the same that it should no longer bee a harbour for villaines This the Romans finde saith a Roman Pope relating this Historie among whom are so many Sanctuaries as Cardinals houses in which theeues and ruffians haue patronage which make the Citie otherwise quiet and noble a denne of theeues A lake named Selinusius and another which floweth into it were Diana's patrimonie which by some Kings being taken from her were after by the Romans restored And when the Publicans had seized the profits Artimedorus was sent in Ambassage to Rome where hee recouered them to Diana for which cause they dedicated to him a golden Image in the Temple In the midst of the lake was the Kings Chappell accounted the worke of Agamemnon Alexander not onely restored the Ephesians to their Citie which for his sake they had lost and changed the gouernment into a popular state but bestowed also the tributes which before they had paied to the Persians vpon Diana and caused them to be slaine which had robbed the Temple and had ouerthrowne the Image of Philip his father therein and such of them as had taken Sanctuarie in the Temple he caused to be fetched out and stoned While hee staied at Ephesus hee sacrificed to Diana with very solemne pompe all his Armie being arranged in battell array But this Temple of Diana together with their Diana is perished But neuer shall that Truth perish which Paul writ in his Epistle to them for obseruing which by Christ himselfe in another Epistle written by S. Iohn they are commended and which in a Councell there holden was confirmed against the Heresie of Nestorius and Celestius But alas that golden Candlesticke as was threatned is now almost by Greekish superstition and Turkish tyrannie remoued thence a Bishop with some remnants of a Church still continuing The Ephesians were obseruers of curious Arts which not onely Luke mentioneth but the prouerbe also confirmeth Ephesiae literae so they called the spells whereby they made themselues in wrestling and other conflicts inuincible The summe of those Magicall bookes burned by them Luke rateth at 50000. pieces of siluer which Budaeus summeth at 5000. Crownes The many Temples of Venus at Ephesus are not worth memorie Memorable is the History of an Ephesian maid who when Brennus inuaded Asia promised him her loue which he much desired and withall to betray the Citie to him if hee would giue her all the Iewels and Attire of the women which the Souldiers were commanded to doe who heaped their gold so fast vpon the Damosell according to their command that shee was therewith couered and slaine The Asiarchae which Luke nameth Beza saith were certaine Priests whole office it was to set forth publike playes and games in honor of their Gods as also were the Syriarchae The Ephesians as all other Ionians were much addicted to nicenes and sumptuousnesse of attire for which other their delicacies they grew into a prouerbe The Ionians had other places and Temples amongst them famous for deuotion and antiquitie such as no where else are to be seene as the Temple and Oracle of Apollo at Gemini Myus had a small arme of the Sea whose waters by the means of Meander fayling the soyle brought forth an innumerable multitude of fleas which forced the Inhabitants to forsake their Citie and with bagge and baggage to depart to Miletus And in my time saith Pausanias nothing remaineth of Myus in Myus but Bacchus Temple The like befell to the Atarnitae neere to Pergamus The Persians burnt the Temple of Pallas at Phocea and another of Iuno in Samos the remaines whereof are worthy admiration the Erythraean Temple of Hercules and of Pallas at Prienae that for antiquitie this for the Image The Image of Hercules is said to be brought in a ship which came without mans helpe to the Cape where the Chians and Erythraeans laboured each to bring the same to their owne Citie But one Phormio a Fisher-man of Erythraea was warned in a dreame to make a rope of the haires cut off from the heads of the Erythraean Matrons by which their husbands should draw the same to the Towne The women would not yeeld but certaine Thracian women which had obtained their freedome granted their haire to this purpose to whom therefore this priuiledge was granted to enter into Hercules Temple a thing denied to all other the Dames of Erythraea The rope stil remaineth and the Fisher-man which before was blinde recouered his sight In this Towne also is Mineruaes Temple and therein a huge Image of Wood sitting on a Throne holding with both hands a Distaffe There are the Graces and Houres formed of white Marble At Smyrna was the Temple of Aesculapius and nigh to the Springs of the Riuer Meles a Caue in which they say Homer composed his Poems Thus much Pausanius The Ionian letters were more resembling the Latine then the present Greeke are and were then common as in our first Booke is shewed in our Phoenician Relations At Miletus a mad phrensie had once possessed their Virgins where by it came to passe that they in great multitudes hanged themselues Neither cause appeared nor remedie Needs most they goe whom the Deuill driues Whom neither the sweetnesse of life bitterternesse of death teares intreaties offers custodie of friends could moue Modestie detained from proceeding in this immodest butcherie and which is more to be wondred at a Posthume modestie which could not be borne till they were dead For a Law was made That the naked bodies of such as had thus strangled themselues should bee drawne through the streets which contumely though it were but a Gnat to those Camels which with the halter they swallowed yet strained they at it and it could
together of rosted Almons they made bread and wine of the roots of herbs This and venison was there food In one plaine of Media were pastured fiftie thousand Mares belonging to the King the herbe whereon they principally fed is stil called Medica The race of Horses called Nisaei were here bred and hence dispersed allouer the East Among the Medes none might be King by the Law of the Countrey except hee were in stature and strength eminent All the Medes saith Bardesanes a famous Chaldaean nourish Dogs with great care to which they cast men readie to die whiles they are yet breathing to be deuoured of them The Medes worshipped the fire with barbarous honours done thereto Their Kings held such Maiestie that none might laugh or spit before them They were seldome seene of their people They had alway Musitians attending them Their wiues and children accompanied them in their battells The name of the Medes remained famous after the Persian Conquest as appeareth by the stile which the Scripture giueth them The Law of the Medes and Persians which was vnchangeable the King himselfe not hauing power to reuoke his sentence As for the Catalogue of the Kings which succeeded Arbaces vntill the time of Astyages and the times of their raigne wee haue before shewed it out of Scaliger in our first Booke Chap. 13. True it is that all agree not in that account Reinerus Reineccius leaueth out diuers of them and numbreth the yeeres of the Median Dynastie but 261. whereas our former account hath 322. But I had rather referre the Reader to that Catalogue then trouble him with new out of this or other Authors Media hath beene diuided into Media Maior and Atropatia the former containeth Tauris supposed by Ortelius to be the forenamed Ecbatana yet now wanting walls altogether containing in circuit sixteene miles and of people two hundred thousand subdued to the Turke 1585. and before by Selim and Soliman but since recouered by the Persian Sultania famous for the fairest Moschee in the East Casbin to which the Persian hath remoued the Royall Seat from Tauris The Lake of Van three hundred miles long and an hundred and fiftie broad after Strabo Manlianus Lacus of salt-water the greatest next to Meotis Gyllius affirmeth that eight great Riuers runne into it without any apparant issue to the Sea Atropatia is now called Seruan the chiefe Citie is Sumachia or Shamaki in which the Sophi not long since built a Turret of flint and free-stone and in a ranke of flints therein did set the heads of the Nobilitie and Gentrie of the Countrey for a terrour to the rest the quarrell was pretended for Religion intended for Soueraigntie Their ancient Religion differed not much from the Persian and such also is it still Their Kings had many wiues which custome extended after to the Villages and Mountaines in so much that they might not haue lesse then seuen The women also esteemed it a credit to haue many husbands and a miserable calamitie to haue lesse then fiue Cyrus subdued them to the Persians Alexander to the Macedons What should wee speake of the Parthians who made Ecbatana their Seat Royall in the Summer time and of the Saracens Tartars Persians and Turkes who haue successiuely vexed these Countries Not farre from Shamaki saith Master Ienkinson was an olde Castle called Gullistone now beaten downe by the Sophi and not farre from thence a Nunrie of sumptuous building wherein was buried a Kings daughter named Ameleck Channa who slew her selfe with a knife for that her Father would haue forced her shee professing chastitie to haue married a Tartar King vpon which occasion the Maidens euerie yeere resort thither to bewaile her death There is also a high Hill called Quiquifs vpon the top whereof they say dwelt a Gyant named Arneoste hauing on his head two great Hornes and Eares and Eyes like a Horse and a tayle like a Cow who kept a passage thereby till one Haucoir Hamshe a holy man bound him with his woman Lamisache and his sonne After who is therefore had in Saint-like reputation Obdolowcan King of this Country vnder the Sophi besides gracious entertainment granted vnto Mr. Anthony Ienkinson for our English Merchants great priuiledges Anno 1563. Gilan also anciently Gelae is reckoned to Media Into these Cities of Media the Israelites were transported together with their Religion by Salmanesar the Assyrian GOD in his manifold wisdome so punishing their sinnes and withall dispersing some sparks of diuine truth CHAP. III. Of the Parthians and Hyrcanians §. I. Of Parthia PArthia is placed by Plinie in the rootes of the Hills hauing on the East the Arians on the West the Medes on the South Carmania on the North Hyrcania rounded with desarts Hee affirmeth that the Kingdomes of the Parthians were eighteene Eleuen of them neere to the Caspian Sea and the other seuen neer the Red Sea The word Parthian signifieth with the Scythians an exile Their chiefe Citie was Hecatompylos now as some affirme Hispaham for the excellencie thereof called of the Persians Halfe the world These Scythian exiles in the times of the Assyrians Medes Persians and Macedonians were an obscure people the prey of euery Conquerour which after seemed to diuide the world with the Romans Their speech was mixt of the Median and Scythian their Armies consisted most part of seruants which they held in great respect instructing them in feats of Armes In an Armie of fiftie thousand wherewith they encoutred Antonie there were onely eight hundred freemen The Parthians had no vse of gold or siluer but in their armour They had many wiues whereof they were so iealous that they forbad them the sight of other men They performed all businesse priuate and publike on horse-backe this being the distinction of free-men from seruants Their buriall was in the bellies of birds or dogs Their naked bones were after couered with earth they were exceedingly superstitious in the worship of their gods a stout vnquiet seditious vnfaithfull people Arsaces first a famous thiefe after the Founder of that Kingdome left no lesse memorie of himselfe amonst the Parthians then Cyrus among the Persians or Alexander among the Macedonians The day wherein hee ouerthrew Seleucus was solemnly obserued euery yeere amongst them as the beginning of their libertie Of him they called all their Kings Arsaces as the Roman Emperors are named Caesars They called themselues the brethren of the Sunne and Moone which are in those places worshipped This Arsaces was worshipped after his death They were no lesse bloudie to their brethren when they came to the Crowne then the Ottomans are at this day Phrahartes slew thirtie of his brethren and before them his father and after his sonne rather then he would endure a possibilitie of a Competitor About 224. yeeres after Christ Artabanus the last Persian King being slaine by Artaxeres or Artaxares the
and Peloponnesus for feare of a second returne of Techellis The remainder of Techellis his power as they fled into Persia robbed a Carauan of Merchants for which outrage comming to Tauris their Captaines were by Ismaels command executed and Techellis himselfe burnt aliue but yet is this Sect closely fauoured in Asia §. III. Of their Rites Persons Places and Opinions Religious WE haue now seene the Proceedings of this Sophian Sect both in Persia and Turkie both here kept downe and there established by force To weare red on the lower parts of their body were to these Red-heads scarsely piacular Touching Hali they haue diuers dreames as that when they doubted of Mahomets successor a little Lizard came into a Councell assembled to decide the controuersie and declared that it was Mahomets pleasure that Mortus Ali or Morts Ali should be the man He had a sword wherewith hee killed as many as he stroke At his death he told them that a white Camell would come for his body which accordingly came and carried his dead body and the sword and was therewith taken vp into heauen for whose returne they haue long looked in Persia For this cause the King kept a horse ready sadled and kept for him also a daughter of his to be his wife but she died in the yeere 1573. And they say further that if he come not shortly they shall be of our beleefe They haue few bookes and lesse learning There is often great contention and mutinie in great Townes which of Mortus Ali his sonnes was greatest sometime two or three thousand people being together by the eares about the same as I haue seene sayth Master Ducket in Shamaky and Ardouill and Tauris where I haue seene a man comming from fighting and in a brauery bringing in his hand foure or fiue mens heads carrying them by the hayre of the crowne For although they shaue their heads commonly twice a weeke yet leaue they a tuft of hayre vpon their heads about two foot long whereof when I enquired the cause They answered that thereby they may bee the easier carried vp into heauen when they are dead In praying they turne to the South because Mecca lyeth that way from them When they be on trauell in the way many of them will as soone as the Sunne riseth light from their horses turning themselues to the South and will lay their gownes before them with their swords and beads and so standing vpright doe their holy things many times in their prayers kneeling downe and kissing their beades or somewhat else that lieth before them When they earnestly affirme a matter they sweare by God Mahomet and Mortus Ali and sometime by all at once saying Olla Mahumet Ali and sometime Shaugham bosshe that is by the Shaughes head Abas the young Prince of Persia charged with imputation of treason after other Purgatorie speeches sware by the Creator that spread out the ayre that founded the earth vpon the deepes that adorned the heauen with Starres that powred abroad the water that made the fire and briefly of nothing brought forth all things by the head of Ali and by the Religion of their Prophet Mahomet that hee was cleare If any Christian will become a Bosarman or one of their superstition they giue him many gifts the Gouernor of the Towne appointeth him a horse and one to ride before him on another horse bearing a sword in his hand and the Bosarman bearing an arrow in his hand rideth in the City cursing his father and mother The sword signifieth death if hee reuolt againe Before the Shaugh seemed to fauour our Nation the people abused them very much and so hated them that they would not touch them reuiling them by the names of Cafars and Gawars that is Infidels or Mis-beleeuers Afterwards they would kisse their hands and vse them gently and reuerently Drunkards and riotous persons they hate for which cause Richard Iohnson caused the English by his vicious liuing to be worse accounted of then the Russes Their opinions and rites most-what agree with the Turkish and Saracenicall Their Priests are apparelled like other men they vse euery morning and afternoone to goe vp to the toppes of their Churches and tell there a great tale of Mahomet and Mortus Ali. They haue also among them certaine holy-men called Setes accounted therefore holy because they or some of their ancestors haue beene on pilgrimage at Mecca these must be beleeued for this Saint-ship although they lie neuer so shamefully These Setes vse to shaue their heâ—ds all ouer sauing on the sides a little aboue the Temples which they leaue vnshauen and vse to braide the same as women doe their hayre and weare it as long as it will grow Iosafa Barbaro at Sammachi lodged in an Hospitall wherein was a graue vnder a vault of stone and neere vnto that a man with his beard and hayre long naked sauing that a little before and behind he was couered with a skinne sitting on a peece of a matte on the ground I sayth hee saluted him and demanded what hee did he told mee hee watched his father I asked who was his father He quoth he that doth good to his neighbour with this man in this Sepulchre I haue liued thirty yeeres and will now accompany him after death and being dead be buried with him I haue seene of the world sufficient and now haue determined to abide thus till death Another I found at Tauris on all-Soules day in the which they also vsed a commemoration of Soules departed neere to the Sepulchre in a Church-yard hauing about him many birds especially Rauens and Crowes I thought it had beene a dead corpse but was told it was a liuing Saint at whose call the birds resorted to him and he gaue them meat Another I saw when Assambei was in Armenia marching into Persia against Signior Iausa Lord of Persia and Zagatai vnto the City of Herem who drew his staffe in the dishes wherein they are and sayd certaine words and brake them all the Sultan demanded what he had sayd they which heard him answered that he said hee should be victorious and breake his enemies forces as hee had done those dishes whereupon he commanded him to be kept till his returne and finding the euent according he vsed him honourably When the Sultan rode thorow the fields he was set on a Mule and his hands bound before him because he was sometime accustomed to doe some dangerous folly at his feet there attended on him many of their religious persons called Daruise These mad trickes he vsed according to the course of the Moone sometimes in two or three dayes not eating any thing busied in such fooleries that they were faine to bind him Hee had great allowance for his expences One of those holy men there was which went naked like to the beasts preaching their faith and hauing obtained great reputation hee caused himselfe to bee immured in a wall forty
Citie Royall Now for custome of both whereas in China theeues and malefactors are seldome executed and none hath power to execute any without speciall Commission from the King but either they die by stripes hunger or imprisonment except some few once in a yeere Marcus Paulus and Iosafa Barbaro from the relation of eye-witnesses affirme That in Cambalu was such sudden and rigorous execution of Iustice that one taking a iarre of Milke from a womans head and beginning to drinke vpon the womans out-cry was apprehended and presently with a sword cut in sunder that the bloud and milke issued together a Tartarian Embassador affirming both this and that he had seene the like execution vpon another for taking a piece of Bayes from a woman so chopped in twaine But the relation of the Chinian and Cathayan differing Rites will further yeeld scruples in this case As for the name of Cathay ascribed to China by the Moores I answere That William de Rubruquis who was in the Court of Mangu Can supposeth Cathay to be Serica Regio described by Ptolomey farre more Northerly then the Iesuite reporteth China to bee by his owne Astrolabicall obseruation And to these Seres Ptolemey ioyneth the Sinae or Chinois on the South and our later Geographers generally concurre in this opinion Hee also which readeth Ioannes de Plano Carpini shall finde that the Tartars conquered the Kara-Kitai or blacke Cathayans and then the Emperour of Kithai be vndermining his Citie as is said in the daies of Cyngis and yet a great part of Kitai remained still vnconquered and withstood his forces and namely that part which is neerest the Sea And this wealthy countrie of great Cathaya hath many Prouinces the more part whereof doe yet withstand the Moals or Tartars it is the last Printed period in William de Rubriquis I hence gather that the name Kitai was applied to a great part of the North-East of Asia happily no lesse generall to many Regions on that side then India to the Southerly parts And why may not the name of Kathay as well by the Mogores and Persians bee giuen to the North parts of China one parcell of the North-East of Asia as the name of India not onely to so great a part of Asia but to America also which was called India because the first Discouerers thought they had encountered the Indian Continent And these parts of China may much fitter retaine the name of Cathay to which Empire it had so long been subiect and by the Cathayan conquest was first knowne to our world Since my first Edition I met with the other part of Rubruquis which Master Hakluit then whom I know none in this kind more industrious copied out of an entire booke in the Librarie of Bennet Colledge in Cambridge Where betweene Cataya and India he placeth a Sea which fitly agreeth to the Chinian Map made by the Chinois themselues who paint a great Bay or Gulfe of the Sea betwixt the Northern parts of China which we reckon to Cathaia and the Southerne which may be accounted to India Further hee addeth That all the Nations of Great Cathaya which Epithete is not a little to bee obserued are situate amongst the Caucasean hils on the North side euen to the Easterne Sea But they knew no countrie else so named True for the Lawes of the Cathayans forbidding egresse of the Natiues and ingresse of Aliens and a more forcible law of Mountains and Desarts wilde beasts and wilder men the manifold smaller and more beggerly Segniories betweene euerie one challenging their ninth if not themselues confiscating or theirs robbing all now in so long a space may burie euen the name and knowledge of the Great Can whereas neither Armes of Princes nor traffique of Subiects can open any new or retaine the olde notice of Nations What dreames did the West conceiue of the East in Asia and South in Africke till the Armies first and Merchants after of the Carthaginians Macedonians and Romanes discouered them And yet how did those flouds of barbarous people afterwards drowne with barbarous ignorance the knowledge of all Arts and this of Geographie amongst the rest And till the Tartarians like a terrible thunder-clap with the lightning and noyse of their Armies brought a more sudden then welcome knowledge of themselues to the world who euer in Persia or Assyria had heard of their names or of diuers people else and these Cathayans among the rest first knowne by their conquests Further the Iesuite himselfe to Paquin ascribeth iust fortie degrees and Marcus Paulus his Father and Vncle went from Boghar the altitude whereof Master Ienkinson at his being there obserued to be thirtie nine degrees and ten minutes or as Abilfada Ismael placeth it thirtie nine and an halfe North and North-East to goe into Cathay The like course did the same men hold going into Cathay from Armenia afterwardes with Marcus himselfe sempre alla volta di Graeco Tramontana whereas a course directly East or inclining to the South must haue beene taken if China had beene Catai Neither is is likely that their iourney would haue beene so much letted by Frosts and Snowes The same may be gathered out of the discourses following in Marcus Paulus where he abutteth the countries in succeeding linkes to Cathay from the East to the Northwards and from the North-East declining Westward in reckoning from thence And whereas Pantogia raiseth the most Northerly part of China but to fortie two degrees at the most wherein as to an eye-witnesse wee yeeld him credit How can it stand with reason how can it be likely that in those temperate climes the world can yeeld but a few Nations and those base Moores and Ethnikes when as a good part of Spaine halfe Italy Greece all France Germanie and Hungarie to omit other welthy parts of the world are subiect to the same parallels And indeed herein Pantogia hath well helped vs whereas our moderne Maps haue caused no small scruple to a diligent obseruer in placing Cathay a countrie reported to bee so fertile and ciuill in so Northerly a clime very indiscreetly raising Cambalu to the height of sixtie degrees and paralelling Cathay with Norwey which cannot stand with other things thereof reported howsoeuer the Tartars themselues were happily of a more Northerly climate then this mentioned Others go not so farre yet they place Cambalu too farre within land which Paulus saith is within two dayes iourney of the Sea It seemeth that now this great Tartarian Prince if there be any such hath no strength at Sea and therefore is lesse knowne And herein participate other great and mightie Princes Prester Iohn so called of Aethiopia in Africa and the Sophi and great Mogor in Asia ranked iustly amongst the greatest Emperours of the world who hauing some part of their Dominion adioyning to the Sea make little or no vse thereof Abilfada Ismael a Syrian Prince who wrote an exact Geographie in Arabike
which they shed no bloud nor eate flesh They haue many wiues of which the first married hath the first place and preheminence Here Marcus Paulus liued about a yeere Touching the Religion and Customes in Tanguth the reports of Caggi Memet in Ramusius who of late yeeres was in Campion are not much diferent He sayth That their Temples are made like the Christians capable of foure or fiue thousand persons In them are two Images of a man and woman lying in length fortie foot all of one piece or stone For which vse they haue Carts with fortie wheeles drawne of fiue or sixe hundred Horses and Mules two or three moneths iourney They haue also little Images with sixe or seuen heads and ten hands holding in each of them seuerall things as a Serpent Bird Flower c. They haue Monasteries wherein are men of holy life neuer comming forth but haue food carried them thither daily Their gates are walled vp and there are infinite of Frier-like companions passing to and fro in the Citie When any of their kindred die they mourne in white They haue Printing not much vnlike to that which is vsed in Europe and Artillerie on their walls very thicke as haue the Turkes All the Catayans and Idolaters are fordidden to depart out of their natiue Countrey They haue three Sciences Chimia Limia and Simia the first Alchymie the second to make enamoured the third Iugling or Magicke Succuit also is according to his report great and faire beautified with many Temples Their Rheubarbe they would not bestow the paines to gather but for the Merchants which from China Persia and other places fetch it from them at a cheape price Nor doe they in Tanguth vse it for Physike as we here but with other ingredients make perfumes thereof for their Idols and in some places they burne it in stead of other firing and giue it their Horses to eate They set more price by an herbe which they call Membroni cini medicinable for the eyes and another called Chiai Catai growing in Catay at Cacianfu admirable against very many diseases an ounce whereof they esteeme as good as a sacke of Rhubarbe whose description you may see at large according to the relation and picture of the said Chaggi in Ramusius for to adde that also they haue many Painters and one Countrey inhabited onely by them These Tanguthians are bearded as men in these parts especially some time of the yeere Northwards from Tanguth is the Plaine of BARGV in customes and manners like to the first Tartars confining with the Scythian Ocean fourescore dayes iourney from Ezina in the North parts of Tanguth and situate vnder the North starre Eastward of Tanguth somewhat inclining to the South is the Kingdome of Erginul addicted likewise to Ethnike superstitions wherein yet are some both Nestorians and Mahumetans Here are certaine wilde Bulls as big as Elephants with manes of white and fine haire like silke of which some they came and betwixt them and their tame Kine engender a race of strong and laborious Oxen. Here is found a beast also as big as a Goat of exquisite shape which euery full Moone hath an apostemation or swelling vnder the belly which the Hunters at that time chasing the said beast doe cut off and drie against the Sunne and it proueth the best Muske in the world The next Easterly Countrie is EGRIGAIA idolatrous and hauing some Christians of the Sect of Nestorius But Tenduc next adioyning was at that time gouerned by King George a Christian and a Priest of the posteritie of Presbyter Iohn subiect to the Grand Can. And the Gran Cans giue commonly their daughters in mariage to this generation and stocke of Presbyter Iohn The most part of the inhabitants are Christians some Idolaters and Mahumetans being there also There bee also that are called Argon descended of Ethnikes and Moores the wisest and properest men in those parts All the people from hence to Cathay are Christian Mahumetan and Gentile as themselues like best In Thebet the next Countrey the people in times past saith William de Rubruquis bestowed on their parents no other Sepulchre then their owne bowels and yet in part retaine it making fine cuppes of their deceased parents skuls that drinking out of them in the middest of their iolitie they may not forget their progenitors They haue much gold but hold it an high offence to imprison it as some doe with vs in Chests or Treasuries and therefore hauing satisfied necessitie they lay vp the rest in the earth fearing otherwise to offend GOD. Cambalu is in the Northeast parts of Cathay and fortie miles Westward from hence all which way is enriched with Palaces Vineyards and fruitfull Fields is Gouza a faire Citie and great with many Idoll-Monasteries Here the way parted leading Westward into Cathay and Southeastward vnto Mangi or China TANIFV and Cacianfu are Prouinces which tend Westward from hence inhabited with idolatrous Nations and here and there some of the Arabian and Christian profession full of Cities Cunchin and Sindinfu are Ethnikes as is Thebeth where they haue a brutish custome not to take a wife that is a Virgin and therefore when Merchants passe that way the mothers offer vnto them their daughters much striuing which of them may be the most effectuall bawde to her childe They taking to their pleasure such as they like gratifie them with some iewell or other present which on her mariage day shee weareth and shee which hath most of such presents bringeth the most accepted dowrie to her husband as testimonies of the great fauour of their Idols This Thebeth contained sometimes eight Kingdomes with many Cities but was now desolated by the Tartarians There are great Necromancers which by their infernall skils cause Thunders and Tempests They haue Dogges as bigge as Asses with which they catch wild Oxen all sorts of beasts CAINDV is an Heathenish Nation where in honour of their Idols they prostitute their wiues sisters and daughters to the lust of Trauellers which being entertained in the house the good man departeth and the woman setteth some token ouer the doore which there remaineth as long as this stallion-stranger for a signe to her husband not to returne till the guest be as well gone from her house as honesty from her heart and wit from his head They make money of salt as in Cathay of paper In Caraian also a large Prouince adioyning there are some Christians and Saracens but the most Ethnikes which are not discontented that other men should lie with their wiues if the women be willing CARAZAN is of like irreligion their soules captiuated to the Olde Serpent and their bodies endangered to mighty huge bodies of Serpents tenne paces long and tenne spannes thicke which that Countrey yeeldeth They keepe in their dennes in the day and in the night prey vpon Lyons Wolues and other Beasts which when they haue deuoured they resort to some water to drinke
any other people I talked sayth our Authour with certaine of them and finde that they acknowledge one God but represent him by such things as they haue most vse and good by and therefore they worship the Sunne the Ollen the Losy and such like The PERMACES and SEBYRIANS are of the Russe Religion The Yougorians are clothed after the Pormacke fashion but worship Images as doe the Samoeds The Tingoseys a people farre more Easterly are sayd to worship the Sun and Moone They weare their apparell all of Deere-skinnes made closer to them then the Samoeds being also a taller people Beyond the Tingoseys liue the Boulashees beyond them the Seelahee Beyond the riuer Yenisey the Imbaki and Ostaki a kind of Tartars Beyond the Tingoseys is a Riuer called Geta This space extending Eastward from Ob a Russe was a Sommer in trauelling and liued there sixe yeeres Onecko another Russe was first occasion of subduing the Samoyeds to the Russian Dominion in the raigne of Pheodor Iuanowich He sending his sonnes into the Samoyeds Country found that about the Riuer Ob they were gouerned by the ancientest had no Cities liued in hords or companies eate the beasts they tooke knew not corne nor bread were good Archers sharpning their Arrowes with fish bones and stones sewed Furres with bones and sinewes for their clothing which they ware inward in Winter outward in Summer couered their houses with Elkes-skinnes He grew rich by trading with them for Furres The Muscouite sent thither Messengers gallantly attired which easily obtayned leaue to erect Castles neere Ob to which he sent condemned persons and brought it into the forme of a petty Kingdome Boris the next Emperour built Tooma 200. leagues vp the riuer Ob and many other Townes on both sides the Riuer the which were peopled with Samoyeds Tartars Russes It is ten weekes trauell from Ob to the Tingoseys through the Desarts They in hords haue deformed swellings vnder the throat These trauelling Eastward passed a Riuer which they called Pisida heard the sound of brazen bels which if it be so is argument of some more ciuill people eyther of Cathay or the parts adioyning The Cathayans are said to trade to Sergolt From the mouth of Pechora to Ob is tenne dayes sayling Ob and Ienisey runne North and South The Samoyeds report that in Ienesey are great vessels drawne with ropes In the yeare 1611. Iosias Logan and William Pursgloue sailed to Pechora where they anchored Iuly the tenth and on the sixteenth came to Pustozera where Master Logan wintered but Pursgloue trauelled from thence by Land to Colmogro The nine and twentieth of Nouember hee departed with Russes and Permacks for Slebotca in a sled drawne with two Deere in their Argeshey so they call their whole company were two hundred and tenne sleds and they had aboue fiue hundred for change when the other were weary These kept company till the fourth of December and then in company of foure sleds and a Samoyed for a guide he left the laden sleds and went in post for Slebotca where he arriued the ninth day at night and thence trauelled day and night to Colmogro where he arriued the twelfth being two hundred and fiftie Versts or Russe miles somewhat shorter then ours He returned againe with a better passage to Pechora by reason of much snow falne in the meane while and frozen passing ouer the mountaines which are not high but a Champaine Countrey Hee left the company the fift of Ianuary and in forty houres continuall post passed by report three hundred and fifty versts About the mouth of the Riuer Ob is sayd to bee an ancient Idoll in forme of an olde woman holding in each arme a child and a third at her feet called by her worshippers the Iugri Obdarani and Condorani Zlata Baba that is the golden olde wife to which they offer precious Furres and sacrifice Harts besmearing the mouth and eyes of the Idoll with the bloud In the time of their sacrificing the Priest demands of the Idoll touching things to come and sometime receiueth answere Docter Fletcher found this to be a very fable Onely saith he in the Prouince of Obdoria on the Sea-side neere the mouth of Ob there is a Rocke which naturally being some what helped by imagination seemes to beare the shape of a ragged woman with a child in her armes as the Rocke by the North Cape the shape of a Fryer where the Obdorian Samoites vse to resort by reason of the commoditie of the place for fishing and there sometimes practise their Sorceries and ominous coniecturings about the good or bad successe of their iourneyes fishings huntings and such like The Samoits or SAMOYEDS are clad from head to foot in Deeres-skinnes or in Seale-skinnes with the hairy side outwards downe as low as the knees with their breeches and netherstocks of the same both men and women They are all blacke haired naturally beardlesse And therefore the men are hardly discerned from the women but by the lockes which the women we are downe their eares They liue a wilde and sauage life rouing from one place to another without any property of House or Land Their leader in euery company is their Papa or Priest The Samoyeds are Idolaters and Witches obseruing Deuelish superstitions as witnesseth Rich. Iohnson who on the fifth of Ianuary in the yeere 1557. saw amongst them as followeth The Samoyeds about the bankes of Pechore are in subiection to the Muscouite and when they will remoue from one place to another then they will make Sacrifices in manner following Euery kindred doth Sacrifice in their owne Tent and hee that is most Ancient is their Priest And first the Priest doth begin to play vpon a thing like a great Siue with a skinne on the one end like a Drumme his Drumme sticke is about a spanne long and one end is round like a ball couered with the skin of an Hart. Also the Priest hath as it were a white garland on his head and his face is couered with a peece of a shirt of male with many small ribbes and teeth of fishes and wild beasts hanging thereon Then he singeth as wee vse here in England to hollow whoope or shout at Hounds and the rest of the company answere him with this Outes Igha Igha Igha to which the Priest with his voyce replyeth And they answere him with the selfe same words so many times till in the end he become as it were madde falling downe as he were dead hauing nothing on him but a shirt and lying on his backe I perceyued him yet to breath and asked why he lay so they answered Now doth our God tell him what wee shall doe and whither we shall goe And when he had lyen still a little while they cryed thus three times together Oghao Oghao Oghao and as they vse these three cals he ryseth with his head and lyeth downe againe and then he rose vp sang with like voyces
as Pequin now and Nanquin are the situation South-east from Cinczianfu and fiue and twentie miles from the Sea the high houses and shops vnderneath the exceeding trade reuenue pastimes by water multitudes fairenesse and length of the streets all so conspiring to proue this Han or Hamceu to bee that Quinsay of Paulus True it is that Quinsay was then greater being as Venetus sayth an hundred miles about But the euerting of that Farfur and his Familie then raigning the diuerting of the Court to Cambalu by the Tartars and after to Nanquin by Humvn and neuer returning hither might lessen the same And might not warres in that long siege by the Tartars in the recouerie thereof by the Chinois easily circumcise her superfluitie Besides who knoweth whether all this huge Lake might be contained in that account of Paulus still compassed about with buildings Or before those warres the Lake it selfe might as Suceu now is be builded on which Time and Warre hath consumed nor since the remoue of the Court were so necessarie Mandeuile mentions warres at Quinsay in his time Nicolo di Conti which was here about the yeere 1440. saith Quinsay was in his time new built of thirtie miles compasse Or if any like better that Suceu it selfe to which also many of these arguments agree should be this Quinsay I contradict not That which somtimes I haue thought that Quinsay after so long a sicknesse and consumption of warres died bequeathing her Land-greatnesse to Nanquin her Sea-treasures to Suceu both arising out of the ashes of that Quinsay-Phenix I finde cannot I meane for Nanquin agree with the distance betwixt Suceu and Nanquin aboue foure dayes iourney Of this Quinsay let the Reader take a large and leasurely view in Marcus Paulus which but for tediousnesse I could hither haue transcribed Whether Hanceu or Suceu bee it or whether both these Paradises doe now succeed that Citie of heauen or wheresoeuer else it be it was which these are the wonder of the world reported saith Paulus to haue 12000. bridges 1600000. housholds in which was a rich Mart of all commodities of the world there was spent euery day 9589. pounds of Pepper it had ten principall Market-places square each square halfe a mile the chiefe streets leading thereto being fortie paces wide and running strait from one end of the Citie to the other these Market-places foure miles asunder But I forbeare the rest this Citie had twelue principall Companies or Arts each of which had 12000. shops the adioyning Countrey reckoned the ninth part of Mangi paide sixe millions and 400000. Duckats to the Great Chan yeerely for custome of Salt made of the Sea-water by the heate of the Sunne in large plaines besides sixteene millions and 800000. Duckats otherwise But let vs looke on some of the meaner Cities one of those called Hien is Scianhai in the Prouince of Nanquin in 29. degrees ouer-against Cerra and within foure and twentie houres sayle of Iapon and therefore is defended with a Garrison and a Nauie it hath about 40000. housholds and the iurisdiction adioyning seemes a continued Citie with Gardena intermixed payes to the King 300000. Duckats there is great store of Rice and Cotton and in this Citie and the Suburban liberties are 200000. Weauers thereof the aire wholsome and they liue ordinarily to a great age some to fourescore and fourescore and ten and many to a hundred yeeres The keyes of Cities are euery night brought to the Gouernours and thousands appointed to watch to preuent theeues themselues being the worst they ring bells at certaine spaces to each other These Cities of China ordinarily want that elegance and magnificence which stately Temples and sumptuous building doe affoord vnto our Cities of Europe Their houses are lowe without the ornament of Porches Galleries Windowes and prospect into the streets Besides these habitations they haue many which dwell not on land but in their ships For their shipping is of two sorts one for sayle another for habitation also and these meanes or fairer according to the wealth of the owners In the one side they carrie their families in the other side their passengers Many Barques are as victualling houses by the way and likewise as shops of merchandize Many of the poorer water-dwellers get their liuing by labour on land their wiues ferry ouer passengers and vse meanes to get fish They bring vp thousands of Duckes hatched with artificiall heate in dung which hauing fed with a little Rice in the morning they put out at a doore into the water which presently swim on land and eate the weedes which growe among the Rice these weeders thereby procuring some wages of the husband-men to their owners and at night are called home with a Tabor each resorting to their owne Barque They haue certaine Sea-crowes or Cormorants wherewith they fish tying their gorges that they cannot swallow the fishes which they take till their Masters turne being serued they are suffered to hunt for themselues which one in this Citie of London hath lately imitated and effected In the winter they haue store of Ice and Snow whereby the Riuers are frozen euen about Nanquin They haue abundance of all things necessarie to the life of man fruits flesh and fish with prices correspondent They haue two and somewhere three haruests in the yeere Few Mountaines but Plaines of an hundred leagues Wine they make of Rice They eate thrice a day but sparingly There drinke be it water or wine they drinke hot and eate with two stickes of Iuorie Ebonie or like matter nor touching their meate with their hands and therefore little napery serueth them Their warme drinkes and abstinence from fruits are great preseruatiues of their health which for the most part they enioy and none of them haue the stone which some say is with vs caused by cold drinkes but let vs take more full view of their persons and conditions §. IIII. Of their Persons Attire and many strange Rites SOme of the Chinois haue faces almost square many in the Prouinces of Canton and Quamsi haue two nayles on their little toes a thing common to all the Cauchin Chinois Their women are all of lowe stature and account small feet their greatest elegance and therefore binde and swaddle them so from their infancy all their liues that they seeme in going stump-footed which seemes to be by deuice of some to keepe them within doores Neither men nor women euer cut off their haire which is generally blacke and other colour a deformitie they let it growe on their crownes only till fifteene yeeres of age after that all their heads ouer loose on their shoulders till twentie yeeres when they put on their virilis pileus the cap of manhood and then gather it vp the men into caules or hats hollow at the top for the haire to passe thorow which the women vse not but trimme vp their haire on knots with gold siluer stones and flowers eare-rings also at their
these parts telleth of their Philosophers called Gymnosophists like things to that which is before mentioned of their beholding the Sunne from the rising to the setting with fixed eyes standing on the hot sands all day long on one foot by course Tooth-ache with other diseases of the head and eyes spitting and other sicknesses are either exiles or strangers to the Indians Tully saith That in this naked plight these Philosophers endure the cold of Winter and Snowes of Caucasus while they liue and the burning fire at their end without any playning The Indian women also striue which shall be marryed to her husbands corps in a fierie Chariot riding with him into another World Hystaspes the Father of Darius is reported to haue learned of the Indian Philosophers or Brachmanes both Astronomie and Rites of Religion with which hee after instructed the Persian Magi. None might sacrifice without one of these to direct him who onely among the Indians had skill of Diuination and authoritie to sacrifice and were free from other seruices §. III. Many doubtfull and fabulous reports of the Indians THe Indians are said to worship Iupiter Ganges and other Heroes of their Countrey Some of the Indian Nations accounted it dishonourable as they doe also at this day for the wiues not to be burned with their deceased husbands Thomas the Apostle preached the Gospell to the Indians and so did Bartholomew also and destroyed their Idols which wrought great wonders amongst them Astaroth Beirith and Waldath as Abdias reporteth who euen in this Historie may easily be conuinced to be counterfeit in ascribing the Names and Religions of the Grecians Iuno Neptune Berecinthia to the Indians besides those vnchristian reuenges in killing so many of their Aduersaries and old Heathenish new Popish Ceremonies fathered on those Apostles To let passe that Abdias a fit Bishop of that mysticall Babylon Alexander ab Alexandro reckoneth among their gods the greatest Trees to cut which was with them a capitall crime and a Dragon in honor of Liber Pater Hercules they honored in a Gyant-like statue whose daughter Pandaea the Pandeans say was their first Queene These affirme that in the Hill Meros which they account sacred to Iupiter is a Caue wherein Liber or Bacchus was nourished from whence the fable grew that hee was borne of Iupiters thigh for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth Some of the Indians saith Solinus kill no beasts nor eate flesh some liue onely on fish Some kill their Parents and Kinsfolks before Age or sicknesse withereth them and deuoure their flesh an argument not of villany but pietie amongst them Their Gymnosophists from the Sun-rising to the setting fixe their eyes on the bright Orbe of the sun thence obseruing certaine secrets Hereunto he addeth the tales of Men with dogs-heads of others with one leg and yet very swift of foot of Pigmeis of such as liue onely by sent of hoarie Infants of some like Polyphemus with one eye in their fore-head of others with eares to the ground wherein many of the old Writers are Poets and the Moderne Painters as in many other Monsters of Men and Beasts We seeke credit with the wise and not admiration of fooles Ctesias in his Indica which Photius hath preserued rather as a Monument of Ctesias his lying then of Indian truth hath told the like incredible tales that it neuer rayneth in India that there is a Fountaine of liquid gold receiued into pitchers of Earth that the Sea in the top is boyling hot with the monstrous Martichora a man-like beast and other more horrible beast-like men with tailes and heads of dogs without speech the little truth in his little Pigmeis both beasts and men his great lyes of great Gryphons Lyon-Eagles Keepers of golden Mountaines with other like fables scarce in one thing agreeing with our Moderne and more certaine obseruations and such as if of purpose he had in challenge of the World cast downe the Gantlet for the Whetstone which for my part I thinke he best deserueth This hath the lyer gotten by lying that in his Persian storie which he had better meanes to know he is the more doubted and such relations haue made Indian reports accounted fabulous The Indians neuer sacrificed or saluted their Idols without dances They were neuer rewarded with militarie honor or spoile except they brought into the Campe an enemies head in their hand They punished periurie with the losse of fingers and toes and such as deceiued their Clients with perpetuall silence and besides they were disabled vnto any Office Their Lawes are not written their Contracts without seales or witnesses They vsed no pledges nor might borrow or lend vpon vsury Philostratus in his large Legend of the life of Apollonius Tyanaeus their Philosophicall Saint relateth his Pilgrimage into India to the Brachmanes in which he came to Nysa where was a Temple of Bacchus built by himselfe planted about with Bayes Vines and Iuy whose shadie roofe couered the same In the middest was an Image all Instruments belonging to the Vintage were there some of Gold others of Siluer hanged vp sacred to Dionysius Hee after came to Taxilla the Citie Royall where he found the Temple of the Sun and in it the yuorie Image of Aiax with golden statues of Alexander and ouer-against the same the brazen Images of Porus The walls of red Marble shined like fire interlaid with Gold resembling lightning The Mosaicall floore pouldred with Pearles The King here offered sacrifice to the Sun For the Pepper-trees which he saith are great and abound with Apes who gather the Pepper for the Indians gratis brought thereunto by a wyle of the Indians who first gather some and lay it on heapes and then go away at their returne finding many the like heapes made by the emulous Apes I leaue it to the Authors authoritie and Readers credulitie as that also which followeth of the Inhabitants of Paraca in these parts who by eating a Dragons heart and liuer attaine to vnderstand the Language if so I may terme it of Beasts And if you maruell at this that which followes will amaze you of Men which doe not as the former communicate with the nature of Beasts but of Spirits making themselues at their pleasure inuisible Here in a holy Hill was a pit whereof no man drinketh by which the Indians bind their faith as by the most solemne and inuiolable oath In this pit was a fierie receptacle where men were purged from their offences and two tubs of Whetstones I should say of raines and windes the one being opened yeelding raines and the other windes In this place were many Indian Grecian and Egyptian statues with their Rites obserued accordingly This Hill was reported the middle of India and euery noone-tide they sing Hymnes to the Sun for that fire borrowed they say from his beames The Brachmanes sleepe on the ground on hearbes strewed two cubits thick that by this
Paroes the Countrey being full of Riuers in which they goe to and fro with their Families as strange is the dwelling here on the Land their houses being set on high posts and their going vp on Ladders for feare of Tygres From hence to Pegu is tenne as is said before or eleuen dayes iourney by the Riuers as before is expressed where their Markets are as their dwellings vpon the water in Boates with a great Sombrero like a Cart-wheele to keepe off the Sunne made of Coco-Leaues They vse in riding to carry bits in their mouthes which make them swell and puffing cheekes The husbands buy their wiues and if they mislike put them away And if the wiues Parents will take away their daughters they must restore that which was giuen in price for her If a man dies without children the King is his Heire And if hee hath children the King hath a third they the rest They vse to carrie men somewhat after the fashion of Congo in a kind of Couerlet of Cotton called Delingo of diuers colours made commodiously to keepe off the Sunne and Raine and easie to lie on as a bed carried by foure men which alway runne from morning to night resting onely once in the day The wife children and slaues of the Debtor are bound to the Creditor who may carry the Debtor to his house and shut him vp or else sell the wife children and slaues The Noble and Ignoble obserue one fashion of attire differing in the finenesse of the matter which commonly is bombast One piece for a shirt another large and painted tied vp betweene the legges On their heads a kind of Mitre of the same and some like a Hiue they goe bare-foot but the Nobles vsually are carried in Delingos or on Horse-backe The women weare a smocke to the girdle from thence a strait cloth of purpose to shew that they are Women in sort before related They goe bare-foote their armes laden with Hoopes of Gold and Iewels and their fingers full of precious Rings with their haire rolled vp about their heads Many weare a cloth about their shoulders in stead of a Cloake In Pegu they vse much Opium Aracan is mid-way betweene Bengala and Pegu on the Coast Hee is able saith Fredericke to arme many Austs by Sea and by Land hath certaine Sluces with the which if the King of Pegu his greatest enemy assaulted his Countrey hee could at pleasure couer a great part with waters In Pegu they haue a custome of buying and selling by Brokers which vndertake for the performance on both sides Also that others standing by may know what is bidden for commodities they haue their hands vnder a cloth and by touching the fingers and nipping the ioynts each finger and ioynt hauing his proper signification they make vp their bargaines CHAP. V. Of the Religion in Pegu and the Countreys sometime subiect thereto THeir Varellaes or Idol-Temples in the Kingdome of Pegu are many They are made round like a Sugar-Loafe or a Bell some are as high as a Church or a reasonable Steeple very broad beneath some a quarter of a mile in compasse in the making of them they consume many Sugar-Canes with which they couer them from the top to the bottome Within they bee all earth done about with stone They spend thereon much gold for they be all gilded aloft and many of them from the top to the bottome and euery ten or twelue yeeres they must bee new gilded because the Raine consumeth off the gold for they stand open abroad Were it not for this vaine custome gold would there be good cheape About two dayes iourney from Pegu there is a Varelle or Pagode which is the Pilgrimage of the Pegues It is called Dogonne and is of wonderfull bignesse and all gilded from the foot to the top This house is fifty fiue paces in length and hath in it three Iles or Walks and forty great Pillars gilded which stand betweene them It is gilded with gold within and without These are houses very faire round about for the Pilgrims to lie in and many goodly houses for the Tallipoys to preach in which are full of Images both of men and women all ouer gilded I suppose it the fairest place in the world It standeth very high and there are foure waies to it which all along are set with Trees of Fruits in such wise that a man may goe in the shade aboue two miles in length And when their Feast-day is a man can hardly passe by Water or by Land for the great prease of people which resort thither from all places of the Kingdome There are on the shoares of Dogon two Statues which from the head down-ward represent young men but haue the faces of Deuils and two wings on their backes In Pegu there is Varelle or Temple like to this which the King frequented to doe his Holies therein mounting vp staires at the foot whereof were two Tygers gaping wide seeming as if they had beene aliue Besides the many Magazins or Treasuries full of Treasure which the late Braman King had hee had neere vnto the Palace a Court walled with stone the gates whereof were open euery day Within this Court are foure gilded Houses couered with Lead and in euery of them certaine Idols of great value In the first house was a great Statue of Gold and on his head a Crowne of Gold beset with rare Rubies and Saphires and about him foure little children of Gold In the second House is another of Siluer as high as an House set as it were sitting on heapes of money crowned his foot is as long as a man In the third house there is the like Idoll of Brasse and in the fourth of Ganza which is their Mony-mettall tempered of Lead and Copper In another Court not farre from this stand foure other Colosses or huge Images of Copper in Houses gilded faire as they are themselues saue the head Balby tells of fiue made of Ganza so monstrous that the toes of their feeet were as big as a man and sitting crosse-legged were yet as high as one could hurle a stone and were all gilded Fernandes relateth of threescore and seuen Images of Gold richly adorned with Iewels and three hundred threescore and sixe Combalengas or Gourds of Gold molten by the Kings Father each weighing a hundred fourescore pound besides his other Treasures to conceale which he slew two hundred Eunuchs his attendants Their Tallipoys before they take Orders go to Schoole till they be twentie yeeres old or more then they come before a Tallipoy appointed for that purpose whom they call Rowli Hee as chiefe and most learned examineth them many times Whether they will leaue their Friends and the company of all Women and take vpon them the habite of a Tallipoy If hee be content then hee rideth vpon an Horse about the streets very richly apparrelled with Drums and Pipes to shew that hee leaueth the riches of the
of diuers formes kept closely that none may see what others haue prouided till the Day These are made of Indian Reedes carued and gilded and on the Festiuall presented to the King who praiseth the most artificiall of them All that night huge lights of Waxe are burnt in honor of their Idoll whose Feast it is that all may see to haue accesse to him to which end the Citie gates are lest open But none may approach vnto him emptie-handed They haue a Feast of Watering celebrated in the old Citie where the King Queene and his Children with Rose-water sprinkle one another And all the Captaines likewise besprinkle each other that they seeme as wet as if they came out of a Riuer It is said of the last Kings Father that when the people were thus washing he would send amongst them an Elephant which slew many of them whereat he laughed the people lamented Another Feast they haue wherein they haue a triall of their Ships which can saile best this Feast lasteth a moneth A fifth Feast is called Giaitnosegienon in honor of a certaine Idoll They haue many other Feasts but these the most solemne Antony Correa a Portugall concluding a league with the King of Pegu the Kings Deputie caused the Articles of accord written in Portugall and Pegu-languages with golden Letters to bee read aloud and then rent the scrole and with a few leaues of an odoriferous tree caused the same to bee burned to ashes vpon which hee laid both hands of the Priest who in the Name of the King sware to those Articles These things being done with great attention and silence Correa loth in a superstitious fancie to defile Holy Writ with confirmation of an Oath to a Gentile sware on a Booke of amarous Sonnets to keepe inuiolable the said Articles In the yeere of our Lord 1585. the King of Aua rebelling as is before shewed the King of Pegu by single combate slew the Traytor The fight was on Elephants in which the Pegusians Elephant and the Auan Prince died The liuing Elephant was preferred to the place of the former but in fifteene dayes space let the beastlinesse of Men imitate the humanitie of a beast hee sorrowed so for his Master that nothing might comfort him And although hee had continually two seruants attending him and telling him of his amended estate vnder a mightier Master yet would he scarce cease to weepe or begin to eate till his fifteene dayes exequies were finished Bomferrus a Franciscan spent three yeeres in learning the Pegu's Language and Mysteries that hee might preach the Christian Religion amongst them but was soone forced to giue ouer and returne into India For they could not endure to heare any better Knowledge then they had This was Anno 1557. Crocodiles and Apes are accounted holy and sacred creatures for which cause Apes multiply exceedingly none taking them except for the vse of their Varelles or Temples where they tye them and keepe them with diligent respect And though the Crocodiles in the Town-ditch deuoure men daily yet in a blind zeale they will drinke no other water accounting this holy and account their soules certainly saued whose bodies are thus certainly lost and deuoured of those Beasts which sometimes are thirtie foot in length one of which Balby saw draw in a woman and not a day but some were said to be deuoured till the King caused one of those which was obserued to be most manslaying to be slaine The Kings subiect to the King of Pegu did their homage and presented themselues before him kneeling yea they not only kneeled to him but to his white Elephants also When the King dyeth they make two Ships with golden couers and betwixt them erect a golden Theatre in which they place the corpes applying thereto Musk and the most sweet Woods with other things and so set forth the same to Sea setting that Theatre or Pageant on fire In one of the Ships or Tallapois which sing till they thinke the bodie to bee consumed to ashes Then doe they make a masse or lumpe of these ashes and milke and commit the same to Sea in the Hauen of Sirian at an ebbing water The bones which remaine they carrie to another place and there erecting a Chappell doe burie the same therein After this they returne to the Palace and according to the accustomed Rites inaugurate the new King The father of that King whose Tragedie yee haue heard had his bones buried in Dogon In Iamahey or Iangoma fiue and twentie dayes iourney from Pegu when the people be sicke they make a vow to offer meat vnto the Deuil if they escape and when they be recouered they make a Banquet with many Pipes and Drummes and many other Instruments and dancing all the night Their friends bring them presents Cocos Figges Arreoues and other Fruits and with great dancing and reioycing they offer to the Deuill and say They giue the Deuill to eate and driue him out and to this end in their dancing they crie and hallow very loud Likewise when they be sicke a Tallipoy or two euery night doth sit by them and sing to please the Deuill that hee should not hurt them When one is dead hee is carryed vpon a great Frame as is said before of the Tallipoys made like a Tower with a couering all gilded made of Canes carried by fourteene or sixteene men with great Minstrelsie to a place out of the Towne and there is burned He is accompanied with all his friends and neighbours all Men and they giue to the Tallipoys or Priests many Matts and Cloth and then returne to the house where they feast it two dayes which being expired the Women accompanie the wife to the place where hee was burned and there spend a while in mourning Then doe they gather the pieces of bones which bee left vnburned and burie them and then returne to their houses The neere of kindred doe also shaue their heads both men and women CHAP. VI. Of Bengala and the parts adioyning and of the holy Riuer Ganges §. I. Of Bengala THe Kingdome of Bengala is very large and hath of Coast one hundred and twentie leagues and as much within Land Francis Fernandes measureth it from the Confines of the Kingdome of Ramu or Porto Grande to Palmerine ninetie miles beyond Porto Pequene in all six hundred miles long The Riuer Chaberis which some call Guenga and thinke to bee the ancient Ganges watereth it it is plentifull in Rice Wheat Sugar Ginger Long-pepper Cotton and Silke and enioyeth a very wholsome ayre The Inhabitants neere the shoare are for the most part Mahumetans and so also was the King before the Great Magore one likewise of his owne Sect conquered Him Gouro the seat Royall and Bengala are faire Cities Of this the Gulfe sometimes called Gangeticus now beareth name Golfo di Bengala Chatigan is also reckoned amongst their Cities They are a most subtile and wicked people and are
Bannaras is a great Towne on Ganges to which the Gentiles out of farre Countries come on Pilgrimage The men are shauen all but the crowne Alongst the water-side are many faire Houses in which stand Images of euill fauor made of stone and wood like Leopards Lyons Monkeys Men Women Peacocks and Deuils with foure armes and hands sitting close-legged and holding somewhat in their hands There are diuers old men which on places of earth made for that purpose sit praying and they giue the people which by breake of day and before come out of the Towne to wash themselues in Ganges three or foure strawes which they take and hold them between their fingers where they wash themselues and some sit to marke them in the foreheads and they haue in a cloth a little Rice Barley or Money which they giue to these old men After that they goe to diuers of their Images and giue them of their sacrifices those old men in the meane while praying which maketh all holy They haue one Idoll called Ada with foure hands and clawes On certaine great carued stones also they powre Water Rice Wheat c. They haue a great place like a Well with steps to goe downe wherein the water standeth foule and stinketh by reason of those many flowers which they continually throw there into Many people are alwayes therein with imagination of pardon for their sinnes because GOD as they blaspheme washed himselfe therein They gather vp the Sand in the bottome as a holy Relike They pray not but in the water and wash themselues ouer-head lading vp water with both their hands and turne themselues about and then drinke a little of the water three times after which they go to their gods in their houses Some of them will wash a place which is their length and then pray vpon the earth with their armes and legs at length out and will rise vp and lye downe and kisse the ground twentie or thirtie times but wil not stirre their right foot Some vse fifteene or sixteene Pots little and great ringing a Bell while they make their mixtures ten or twelue times and make a circle of water about their Pots and pray others sitting by one of which reacheth them their Pots They say ouer these Pots diuers things many times which done they goe to their gods and strew their Sacrifices which they thinke are very holy and marke many of them which sit by in their foreheads esteemed as a great gift There come fiftie and sometime an hundred together to this Well and to these Idols About their Idols in some houses sitteth one in warme weather to blow the winde with a Fan vpon them And when they see any company comming they ring a little Bell and many giue them their almes None of these Idols haue a good face Some are blacke and haue clawes of brasse and some ride on Peacocks or other Fowles One there is alwayes attended with his Fan to make winde which they say giueth them all things both food and rayment Here some are burned to ashes some scorched in the fire and throwne into the water when they are dead the Foxes presently eat them The Wiues doe burne with their Husband when they dye if they will not their heads are shauen and neuer any account is made of them after If a Man or Woman be sicke and like to die they will lay him before their Idols all night and that shall mend or end him And if hee doe not mend that night his friends will come and sit a little with him and crie and after will carrie him to the water side and set him vpon a little raft made of reeds and so let him goe downe the Riuer The chiefe Idols are very euill-fauoured their mouthes monstrous their eares gilded and full of Iewels their teeth and eyes of gold siluer glasse coloured blacke with Lampes continually burning before them Into their Houses or Temples you may not enter with your shooes on When the scorched Indians are throwne into Ganges the Men swim with their faces downwards the Women with their faces vpwards which I had thought they had by some meanes caused but they denied it The people goe all naked with a little cloth about their middle Their Women are exceedingly on their necks armes and eares decked with Rings of Siluer Copper Tinne and Iuorie hoopes they are marked with a great spot of red in their foreheads and a stroke of red vp to the crowne and so it runneth three wayes Their marriages are in this sort The Man and the Woman come to the water-side where standeth a Bramane or Priest with a Cow and a Calfe or a Cow with Calfe these all goe into the Water together the Bramane holding a white cloth of foure yards long and a basket crosse bound with diuers things in it This cloth he layeth vpon the backe of the Cow And then he taketh the Cow by the tayle and saith certaine words Shee hath a Copper or a Brasse pot-full of water The man holdeth his hand by the Bramans hand and the wiues hand by her husbands and all haue the Cow by the tayle Then they powre water out of the pot vpon the Cowes taile which runneth thorow all their hands and they lade vp water with their hands and then the Brachmane tyeth their clothes together After this they goe round about the Cow and Calfe and giue some what to the poore there attending leauing the Cow and Calfe for the Bramans vse and offer to diuers of their Idols mony then lying downe vpon the ground they kisse it diners times and go their way Betweene this and Patanaw are diuers Theeues like the Arabians without certaine abode §. III. Of Patane Couche Orixa Botanter Candecan PAtane or Patanaw is a great Towne and long with large streets simple houses of earth couered with thatch the people tall and slender many old sometimes a Kingdome now subiect to the Mogor They haue gold which as in America they dig out of the Pits and wash the Earth in great Bolls The Women here are so decked with Siluer and Copper that it is strange to see and by reason of such Rings vpon their Toes they can weare no shooes Here I saw a dissembling Prophet which sate vpon an Horse in the Market-place and made as though hee slept and many of the people came and touched his feet with their hands and then kissed their hands They tooke him for a Great Man but I saw he was a lazie Lubber and there I left him sleeping The people here are great Praters and Dissemblers As I came from Agra downe the Riuer Iemena I saw also many naked Beggars of which the people make great account they call them Schesche Here I saw one which was a monster among the rest wearing nothing on him with a long beard the hayre of his head couering his priuities The nayles of some of his fingers were two Inches long for he would cut nothing from
fourescore Rupias from mee sent mee twentie Courses with my men vp to the Mountatines to a brother of his where I continued two and twentie dayes a close prisoner and then order was sent to conuey mee to Parker but in the way was robbed of my clothes and all that I had so that I and my men were forced to liue vpon the charitie of people by begging onely my Horse as not worth taking was left me for which I could get but foure mamoodees foure shillings but chancing on a Banian whom I had knowne at Amadabar I was relieued and sold not my Horse Wee came to Radingpoore May the nineteenth and April the second to Amadabar thence to Cambaya and passing the Riuer seuen Courses broad yeerely drowning many to Saurau a Towne and Castle of the Razbootches and fiue and twentie Courses further to Borocho and passing that Riuer to Cassimba and thence to Surat In all this Countrey of Sinda no Citie of greater Trade then Tutta the chiefe Port thereto is Lowribander three dayes iourney from thence where is a faire Roade without the Riuers mouth cleere of Wormes which about Surat and other places of the Indies infest the ships so that after three or foure moneths riding if it were not for sheathing they were not able to returne The Ports and Roades of Sinda are free of them In two moneths they passe from Tutta to Lahor and returne downe the streame in one And from Agra goods may bee conueyed on Camels in twentie dayes which is on Sinda Riuer and thence in fifteene or sixteene dayes aboord the Ships at Lowribander as soone as to Surat if Theeues did not make it lesse secure May the fourth 1614. Master Withington went from Surat to Brampore where Sultan Paruise lyes It is situate in a Plaine by a great Riuer hauing a large Castle and thence to Agra all which way is seuen hundred Courses From Surat to Brampore is a pleasant and champaigne Countrey full of Riuers Brookes and Springs From Brampore to Agra very mountainous hardly passable for Camels by Mando the neerest way there are many high Hils and strong Castles in the way Townes and Cities in euery dayes iourney well inhabited the Country peaceable and cleere of Theeues Betweene Agimere or Azmere and Agra are a hundred and twentie Courses at euery Course end a great Pillar erected and at euery tenth Couse a Seraglia or Place of lodging for Man and Horse with Hostesses to dresse your Victuall if you please three pence will pay for your Horse and Meate-dressing there are also at euery tenth Course faire Houses erected by Echebar for his Women and none else may lie in them The reason heereof is reported that Echebar wanting Children went on Pilgrimage on foot to Asmere for that purpose at euery Course end saying his prayers and lodging at the tenth Agra is a huge Towne situate by the great Riuer Geminie or Iamena The Castle is the fairest thing in it compassed with the fairest and highest Wall that I haue seene two miles about well replenished with Ordnance the rest except Noble-mens houses which are faire and seated by the Riuer ruinous Fatipore is decayed but hath a very stately Temple built by Geometry as Echebars Sepulchre the fairest thing that euer I saw I went to Ganges two dayes iourney from Agra the Water whereof is carryed a hundred miles by the Banians for deuotion which say it will neuer stinke how long soeuer it bee kept From Agra Master Fitch went to Satagam in Bengala by Water So that if you obserue all these Trauels of Fitch Couert Still Withington and the rest of our Countrey-men and adde thereto the iourney of Goes from thence to China with other Relations of the Iesuites before expressed you shall haue a better Corographie of this Countrey then any of our Maps haue yet deliuered And their want hath made me thus full and tedious I might adde the Trauels of William Clerke one of the Ascensions Company which serued the Mogol in his Warres diuers yeeres and returned in the last Ship whiles these things are publishing against the Rasboots and Decans hauing two Horse pay which is neere sixe pounds a moneth and had some moneths pay allowed him before-hand that so hee might furnish himselfe for they must buy and maintaine their Horses Master Walter Payton was Master in the Exepedition and carried Sir Robert Sherly whom they had thought to haue landed at Gauder or Guader in Masqueranno in fiue and twentie Degrees and six and twentie Minutes but the people were then in Rebellion against the Persian and by damnable treachery had possessed themselues of the Ship and all the goods had not one Hoge Comal a Surgeon amongst them reuealed this mysterie of their iniquitie they had thus betrayed three ships before By this villany of the Bulloches they were forced to goe further to the mouth of Sinde which is East and by North in foure and twentie Degrees and foure and thirtie Minutes They landed the Embassador September the nine and twentieth 1613. at Diul in rhe Mols Dominion fifteene miles from the ships The Portugals reported them to be Theeues according to their custome And when they sought for Trade in Sinda the Gouernour had yeelded but for the Portugals which threatned to depart if the English were admitted whose custome hee was loth to lose being worth hee said a Leck of Rupias ten thousand pound English and more which shewes the exceeding Trade of Sinda by the yeere But this Countrey and the disposition of their King are most amply described to vs together with the remarkable Rarities of those parts by the Hon. industry of Sir Thomas Roe Embassadour for his Maiestie with the Mogoll whose Map of those parts wee heere present you as likewise by his learned Chaplaine Master Edward Terry both whose Obseruations wee haue presented in our first Tome of Voyages To them I referre the industrious Reader for more ample relations of these parts then in this Worke were couenient to insert Amongst other things the Reader shall see the true course of Indus which all Moderne Geographers haue exceedingly falsified and of Ganges William Finch hath also written of those parts I thought good heere to adde that which Master Steele and his wife told me of the Women of those parts Master Steele hauing a proiect of Water-works to bring the water of Ganges by Pipes c. carried fiue men with him to the Mogol who gaue them entertainment with large wages by the day and gaue to each an Arabian Horse One of these was a Painter whom the Mogol would haue to take his picture and because hee could not speake the language Master Steele who could speake the language of the Court which is Persian was admitted a thing not permitted to Men into the Mogols lodgings where he did sit for the said Limner At his entrance the chiefe Eunuch put a cloth ouer his head that he should not see the Women
which hee might heare as hee passed and once also saw them the Eunuch purposely putting on a thinner cloth ouer his head there being of them some hundreds His wife had more accesse at Chan Channas Court whose daughter sometimes wife to the elder brother of this Mogol and liuing still a widdow had a desire to see the English-woman and Chan-Channa intreated her husband to permit it Shee was fetched in a close Chariot drawne by white Oxen attended by Eunuchs and was first brought into an open Court in midst of which was a Tanke or Well of Water where sate many women slaues to Chan-Channas daughter of diuers Nations and complexions some blacke exceeding louely and comely of person notwithstanding whose haire before did stand vp with right tufts as if it had growne vpward nor would ruffling disorder them some browne of Indian complexion others very white but pale and not ruddy many of them seemed goodly and louely all sitting in their slight but rich garments on the floore couered with carpets The Lady came forth in meaner attire whereat they all arose and did her reuerence with their faces to the ground Mistresse Steele made her three courtsies after the English fashion being also in English attire and deliuered her a Present without which there is no visitation of great persons and the Lady caused her to sit by her and after discourse entertained her with a Banket and began familiaritie with her continued and increased with often visitations and rewarded with many gifts as of womens vestments of of those parts some of which I saw the vpper garment like a smocke of thin Calico vnder which they weare a paire of breeches close aboue the neather parts very long and slender loosely ruffling about their legs of thin stuffe also the mans garment differing from the womans by the fastning on the side vnder the arme whereas the womans is fastened before both tyed with ribbands Chan Channa caused his Taylor to take view of Master Steele and without other measure hee made him a cloake of cloth of gold after the English fashion very comely which I also saw §. VI. Of the Rasboots and other people subiect to the Mogol and of their Countries Religion and Rites THus haue we delineated this huge Giantly Body of the Mogol Empire The Soule or Religion thereof is more inuisible What lurking places and labyrinths the breasts of the Kings haue had in their vnknowne curious vncertaine Faith yee haue heard and may there by guesse at the rest As the people are manifold so are their Rites some of which about Ganges and in other parts haue alreadie beene touched and some hereafter as the People and their Rites are diffused and dispersed in diuers Tracts of India we shall elsewhere mention Besides Christian Forreiners the principall Religion is Ethnike though that of the Prince be Mahumetan The Reisbuti Rasbootes or Rasbooches the ancient Inhabitants of the Countrey of Sinda are Gentiles How strong one of them is you haue heard Captaine Hawkins report His name as I haue since learned of Mr. Rogers Mr. Clarke and Mr. Withington is Ranna some of them affirming That hee is lately come in and hath sent his sonne a pledge to the Mogols Court who for this cause and his sake hath beene so long resident at Azmere But Mr. Clarke employed in these wars saith That it is not a subiection but voluntarie friendship and neighbourhood with acknowledgement of himselfe the Inferior A Rebell or Outlaw he cannot be called because hee was neuer subiect accounting the Mogoll Superior in power but not his Lord There are of these many Casts or Tribes each of which haue supreame and independent Lords Nature building them with little helpe of Art impregnable Fortresses or inaccessable Hils One of which called Dewras is said to haue very many populations able on the Hill tops to gather sufficient prouisions for themselues and the neighbour-Markets impossible without corruption to be conquered When any of these Casts or Tribes disagree the Mogoll interposeth himselfe professing to take part with the right Their Countrey lies in the direct way from Surat to Agra the wayes by Amadauar or by Brampore both much about yet frequented by Merchants for feare of them The Countrey people are rude naked from the waste vpwards with Turbants differing from the Mogol fashion Their Armes are Sword Buckler and Launce Their Buckler is great in fashion of a Bee-hiue in which they will giue their Camels drinke and Horses prouender Their Horses are good swift and strong which they ride vnshod and back at a yeere old A resolute people which the Mogoll saith knowes as well to die as any in the world They eate no Beefe nor Buffolo but haue them in superstitious respect The Rasbutche husband dying the wife is burned The manner is this The wise accompanies the dead bodie of her husband in her best array pompously attended with her friends and kindred and with Musick The fire being made she compasseth the same twice or thrice first bewayling her husbands death and then reioycing that she shall now liue with him againe and then embracing her friends sits downe on the top of the pyle taking her husbands head in her lap and bids them kindle the fire This done her friends throw Oyle and other sweet Perfumes on her shee enduring the fire with admirable patience loose and not bound I haue seene many it is M. Withingtons report the first at Surat the woman being but ten yeeres old and not yet a woman hauing not knowne her husband who was slaine in the wars and his clothes brought home Yet would she needs burne with his clothes and the Gouernour not permitting because shee was a Virgin her friends intreated and bribed him thereto shee seeming impatient of that delay and saying her husband was a great way before her with much blind ioy entring into endlesse sorrowes The kindred of the deceased husband doe not force this vnkind kindnesse but the wiues owne kindred holding it a disgrace to their family if shee refuse which she hath power to doe but few will and then shee must shaue her haire and breake her iewels and is not suffered to eate drinke sleepe or company with any bodie till her death If after purpose to burne impatient of the flame she leapes out her father and mother will bind and burne her perforce But such weaknesse seldome happens In some places they obserue it with Rites a little differing carrying the woman in great pompe on a Pageant and binding her to a stake all her kindred kneeling round about her and praying to the Sun and their other Idols Shee hath betwixt her legs and vnder each arme a bag of Gun-powder the fire made all of sweet Woods Wee shall mention other Rites in other places The Hendownes possesse the Countrey North from Asmere toward the Multans degenerate Gentiles and refusing no manner of Flesh or Fish They pray naked dresse and eat
Sanga on the North Mandao on the East on the West Nautacos or the Gedrosians The Sea and the Confines of Decan are the Southerly bounds It hath in it by estimation threescore thousand Populations or inhabited Places watred with many Streames the chiefe whereof is Indus which diuideth it in the middle running from Caucasus or Naugrocot and after nine hundred miles iourney with two nauigable mouths disemboquing it selfe into the Ocean This Countrey is very fertile not yeelding to any other in India in the fruits which the Earth and Trees bring forth besides their store of Elephants Gems Silke Cotton and such like The people are of an Oliue-colour and goe naked except about their priuie parts They eate no Flesh but Rice Milke Barley and other life-lesse Creatures The Inhabitants are for the most part Gentiles and so were their Kings vntill the Mahumetan Superstitions preuailed There are vp within the Land People called Reisbuti which are the natural Nobles of this Kingdome chaced by the Moores to the Mountaines whence they make often excursions and spoyles in the Country and the Cambayans pay them tribute that they might liue in peace of these is spoken alreadie Their chiefe Sea-Townes are Daman Bandora Surate Rauellum Bazuinum and within Land Cambaya Madabar Campanel Tanaa c. Surat now an English Factory hath a Castle of Stone with good Ordnance The Houses are faire of Stone and Brick square with flat roofes they haue goodly Gardens with Pomegranats Pome-Citrons Melons Limons Figs all the yeere long curious Springs of fresh Water The people neat tall louing graue iudicious clothed in long white Calico or Silke Cambaya hath bestowed the name on the whole Kingdome which they call the Indian Cairo for the excellencie thereof it standeth three miles from Indus The Tides here encrease not as with vs at the full but in the decrease of the Moone they are at the highest Of this Riuer Indus Ptolomey and Arrianus in his Periplus of the Erythrean Sea reckon seuen Mouthes or Entrances into the Sea and Theuet I know not with what Friar-like and Lyar-like boldnesse nameth seuen at this day but Arrianus saith in those times six of the seuen were ouer-growne and but one nauigable But Dionysius Pomponius Strabo and the other Arrianus which writ the life of Alexander ascribe but two vnto it which is confirmed by the Portugals Arrianus hath in his eight Booke largely described the Voyage of Nearchus and Onesicritus from this Riuer about the Coast into the Persian Gulfe employed by Alexander the Great It is not 160. yeeres since Machamut a Moore expelled the Guzarat King This Machamut deserueth mention for one thing wherein the Sunne hath scarce beheld his like Hee so accustomed himselfe to poysons that no day passed wherein hee tooke not some for else hee himselfe had dyed saith Barbosa as it fareth with Amfian or Opium the vse whereof killeth such as neuer tooke it and the disuse such as haue And beyond that which we reade of Mithridates in the like practice his Nature was transformed into so venemous a habit that if hee did meane to put any of his Nobles to death hee would cause them to be set naked before him and chewing certaine fruits in his mouth which they call Chofolos and Tambolos with lime made of shells by spitting vpon him in one halfe houre depriued him of life if a Fly sate vpon his hand it would presently fall off dead Neither was his loue to be preferred to his hatred or with women was his dealing lesse deadly For he had three or foure thousand Concubines of whom none liued to see a second Sunne after hee had carnally knowne them His Mustaches or haire of his vpper lip was so long that hee bound it vpon his head as women doe with an haire-lace and his beard was white reaching to his Waste Euery day when he arose and when hee dined fiftie Elephants were brought into the Palace to doe him reuerence on their knees accompanied with Trumpets and other Musicke Coelius Rhodiginus mentions the like of a Maid thus nourished with Poysons her Spettle and other Humours comming from her being deadly such also as lay with her carnally presently dying Auicenna hath also a like example of a Man whose Nature infected with a stronger Venome poysoned other venomous Creatures if any did bite him And when a greater Serpent was brought for triall he had by the biting thereof a two-dayes Feuer but the Serpent dyed The other did not harme him Mamudius the Successor of King Machamut was a great enemy to the Portugals Badurius succeeded in state and affection and exceeded in greatnesse and ambition Hee inuaded Mandao and Sanga where hee besieged Citor then gouerned by a warlike woman which not able to hold out longer against him fled and left the people in forlorne plight who in a desparate resolution like Sardanapalus heaping vp their Treasures set fire thereto and then cast themselues therein This fire continued three dayes and consumed threescore and ten thousand persons Hence Badurius triumphantly marched against the Mogor whom Maffaeus calleth Miramudius with an Army of an hundred and fiftie thousand Horse whereof thirtie thousand were barded and fiue hundred thousand Foot-men of great brazen Ordnance a thousand whereof foure Basiliskes were drawne such was their weight by so many hundred yokes of Oxen with Shot and Powder hee laded fiue hundred Waynes and as many with Gold and Siluer to pay his Souldiers These Forces with this prouision might rend the Ayre with Thunders might make the Earth to shake with Terror might dry and drinke vp Riuers of Water might frame another fiery Element of Arts inuention but could not either terrifie the Mogor or saue Badurius from a double ouerthrow first at Doceri next at Mandoa where hee loseth his Tents and Treasures and shauing his beard flyeth disguised to Diu in which that the Portugalls might be engaged in the same warre hee gaue them leaue to erect a Fortresse A thing of such moment vnto them that Iohn Botelius confined before vnto India for crimes obiected thought by being the first Messenger thereof in Portugall to purchase his libertie whereof he might well bee reputed worthy who in a little Vessell scarce eighteene foot long and sixe wide with vndaunted courage contemning that wide long and tempestuous Ocean arriued with his small companie great newes and greater admiration at Lisbone Badurius after altering his minde and therein entertaining a treacherous Proiect against the Portugalls coloured the same with kindnesse and he which feared all men no lesse then hee was feared as guiltie to his owne Tyranny which sometime made Dionysius of a King a Barbar and now this a King of others and his own Cooke trusting no man to dresse his meat aduentured to visit the Portugall Vice-Roy in his ships professing great friendship with great dissimulation and by a meane Mariner at his returne was slaine whereupon the whole Iland submitted
Hermites reputed very holy Many Iuglers also and Witches which shew deuilish tricks They neuer goe forth without praying Euery Hill Cliffe Hole or Den hath his Pagodes in it with their Furnaces hard by them and their Cisternes alwayes full of water with which euery one that passeth by washeth his feet and then worshippeth and offereth Rice Egges or what else their deuotion will affoord which the Bramene eateth When they are to goe to Sea they will feast their Pagode with Trumpets Fires and hangings fourteene dayes before they set forth to obtaine a good voyage and as long after their returne which they vse to doe in all their Feasts Marriages Child-births and their Haruest and Seed-seasons The Indian women in Goa when they goe forth haue but one cloth about their bodies which couereth their heads and hangeth downe to the knees otherwise naked They haue rings thorow their noses about their legs toes neckes and armes and seuen or eight bracelets vpon their hands according to their abilitie of glasse or other metall When the woman is seuen yeeres old and the man nine they marry but come not together till the woman is able to beare children Mr. Fitch mentioneth the solemnitie of these marriages and the cause to be the burning of the mother when the father is dead that they might haue a father-in-law to bring them vp To leaue Goa with this Iland The Canaras and Decanijns weare their beards and haire long without cutting as the Bramenes They except from food Kine Hogs and Buffles They account the Oxe Cow or Buffle to be holy which they haue commonly in the house with them and they belmeere stroke and handle them with all friendship in the world feed them with the same meat they eate themselues and when the beasts ease themselues they hold vnder their hands and throw the dung away they sleepe with them in their houses hereby thinking to doe God seruice In other things they are as the Bramenes For those are the Laitie these are the Spiritualtie When they take their oathes they are set within a circle of ashes on the pauement and laying a few ashes on their heads the other on their breasts sweare by their Pagodes to tell the truth The Canarijns and the Corumbijns are the rustickes and Countrey-husbandmen the most miserable people of all India their Religion is much as the other They couer onely their Priuities and eate all things except Kine Oxen Buffles Hogs and Hens flesh Their women binde a cloth about their Nauell which reacheth halfe way the thigh they are deliuered alone by themselues without other helpe their children are brought vp naked till they be seuen or eight yeeres old without any trouble about them except washing them in a little cold water and liue to be an hundred yeeres old without head-ache or losse of teeth They nourish a cuffe of haire on their crownes cutting the rest When the man is dead the wife breaketh her glasse-jewels and cutteth off her haire his bodie is burnt They eate so little as if they liued by the ayre and for a penny would endure whipping In Salsette are two Temples or holes rather of Pagodes renowned in all India one of which is cut from vnder a hill of hard stone and is of compasse within about the bignesse of Village of foure hundred Houses with many Galleries or Chambers of these deformed shapes one higher then another cut out of the hard Rock There are in all three hundred of these Galleries The other is in another place of like matter and forme It would make a mans haire stand vpright to enter amongst them In a little Iland called Pory there standeth a high Hill on the top whereof is a hole that goeth downe on the Hill digged and carued out of the hard Rocke within as large as a great Cloyster round beset with shapes of Elephants Tygres Amazons and other like worke workemanly cut supposed to be the Chinois handy-worke But the Portugals haue now ouerthrowne these Idol-Temples Would God they had not set new Idols in the roome with like practice of offerings and Pilgrimages as did these to their Pagode I once went into a Temple of stone in a Village and found nothing in it but a great Table that hung in the middle of the Church with the Image of a Pagode thereon painted hellishly disfigured with many hornes long teeth out of the mouth downe to the knees and and beneath his nauell with such another tusked 〈◊〉 horned face Vpon the head stood a triple crowne not much vnlike the Popes It hung before a wall which made a partition from another Chamber like a Quire close without any light in the middle whereof was a little doore and on each side of it a furnace within the wall with certaine holes thereby to let the smoake or sauour of the fire to enter into that place when any offering should bee made Whereof wee found there some Rice Corne Fruits Hens and such like There issued thence such a filthy smoake and stinke that it made the place black and almost choaked such as entred We desired the Bramene to open the doore which with much entreatie he did offering first to throw ashes on our fore-heads which wee refused so that before hee would open vs the doore we were forced to promise him not to enter beyond the doore It shewed within like a lime-kill being close vaulted without hole or window neither had the Church it selfe any light but the doore Within the the said Cell hung an hundred burning Lampes and in the middle stood a little Altar couered with Cotton Cloth and ouer that with Gold vnder which as the Bramene told vs sate the Pagode all of Gold of the bignesse of a Puppet Hard by the Church without the great doore stood within the earth a great fouresquare Cisterne hewed out of freestone with staires on each side to goe downe into it full of greene filthy and stinking water wherein they wash themselues when they meane to enter into the Church to pray In the euening they carried their Pagode on Procession first Ringing a Bell wherewith the people assembled and tooke the Pagode out of his Cell with great reuerence and set it in a Palamkin which was borne by the chiefe men of the Towne the rest following with great deuotion with their vsuall noise and sound of Trumpets and other Instruments and hauing carried him a prettie circuit brought him to the stone Cisterne washed him and placed him againe in his Cell making a foule smoake and stinke and euery man leauing his offering behind him intended to the Pagode but consumed by the Bramene and his family As we went along by the wayes we found many such shapes vnder certaine couertures with a small Cisterne of water hard by and halfe an Indian Nut hanging thereby to take vp water withall for the Trauellers to wash and pray By the said Pagodes doe stand commonly a Calfe of stone and two little
Furnaces before which they present their offerings My fellow leaping on one of those Calues in the Church the Bramane called out and the people came running but we stayed their fury by gentle perswasion of the Bramene before And thus much of these deformed formes and misshapen shapes with their woshippings and worshippers sutable Like lips like lettice Vaine Rites stinking sinks and smoakes vgly Idols conspiring with Internall Darkenesse of the Mindes and Externall Darkenesse of their Temples to bring an Eternall Darkenesse to the Followers that all may shut vp as they are begun in an hellish period I haue seene in Mr. Hakluites hands a large Treatise written by Don Duart de Menezes of the Customes Courts Officers Expences and other remarkeable obseruations for knowledge of the Portugall State and affaires in the East Indies He saith that the Iland Tisoare so he writeth it in which Goa standeth hath thirtie two Townes and Villages therein The Iesuits Colledge in Salsete enioyeth the Rents before belonging to the Pagodes being two hundred and fiftie pound yeerely besides their Glebe-lands of Rice grounds and other commodities also the Parishes subiect to them are worth two hundred ninetie eight pounds and sixteen shillings In Goa they receiue seuen hundred and fifteene pound twelue shillings and sixe pence per Annum and their yeerely Presents amount to three hundred seuentie fiue pound In Cochin also they haue three hundred thirtie seuen pound The Monastery of Saint Francis in Goa hath Rents sixe hundred and thirteene pound and ten shillings and one hundred fortie three pound twelue shillings and sixe pence in other duties The Dominicans receiue fiue hundred pound and fourescore and ten pound in other rights The Friars of Saint Augustine fourescore pound twelue shillings and sixe pence The Inquisition one hundred three pound and ten shillings besides the Rents of the Hospitall one thousand eight hundred seuenty fiue pound and an Almes-house for Widowes and Orphans two hundred and fiftie pound These things I thought worthy relation not so much to satisfie the curious as to answere the ordinary brags of that World-wandring Generation pretending Mortification to the World strictnesse of their Vow loue to Religion and compassion to the poore Pagans when as they haue such Golden chaines to draw them thither Whereunto if wee adde the bountie of Christians in those parts vnto these pretended holy Fathers their gaines from the pearle-fishings the vowes of such as become of their Societie and many other wayes accruing to their Coffers together with those nouelties and rarities wherewith euery sense in varietie is here presented wee may see the World a sufficient argument to lead them about the world whatsoeuer other pretences notwithstanding But this hath beene learnedly handled against them by others already amongst others and before others Our most Reuerend and learned Metropolitan in vnmasking the reasons of Hill for Popery hath shewed both this our Hill to be an ignorant Mountebanke and our Iesuites in India rather enrichers of their owne Societie in Europe with Gold Pearle Spice and other Indian wares then of those Asian Proselites with sound Europaean Christianitie besides that they seeme necessary to their Nation for the establishing of their Trading and ciuill affaires vnder colour of Religion winning estimation with the Pagans and remaining there as well for Intelligencers and as it were Leeger Embassadours with their Kings as for Conuersion of the Heathens For me what I can shew against this their allegation belongeth to another taske §. III. Of the Indian Bramenes both Secular and Religious THe Indian Wisemen may be diuided into two Sects the Banianes of whom is already spoken and the Bramenes These obserue the Indian Heathen custome that no man may change his fathers trade but must succeed in the same and marry a wife also of the same Tribe The Brachmanni or as they are at this day called the Bramenes who haue their shops as well as other Merchants throughout the Cities are the chiefe Tribe and of best reputation and weare in signe of their profession from the shoulder crosse vnder the arme vpon their naked body downe to the girdle three strings like sealing threeds which for their liues they will not nor may by their vow put off They are naked sauing that about their middles they haue a cloth bound to hide their priuities And sometime when they goe abroad they cast a thin Gowne ouer them Vpon their heads they were a white cloth wound twice or thrice about therewith to hide their haire which they neuer cut off but weare it long and turned vp as the women doe They haue commonly hanging at their eares Gold-rings They are very subtill in writing and accounts making other simple Indians beleeue what they will Whatsoeuer they meet first with in the streets they pray to all day after When the Bramenes die all their friends assemble together and make a hole in the ground in which they throw much sweet Wood Spices Rice Corne and Oyle Then lay therein the dead body his wife followeth with Musicke and many of her neerest friends singing praises in commendation of her husbands life encouraging her to follow him which accordingly she doth For parting her Iewels among her friends with a cheerefull countenance she leapes into the fire and is presently couered with Wood and Oyle whereby shee is quickly dead and with her husbands body burned to ashes And if it chanceth which is seldome that any woman refuseth this Fiery Coniunction they cut the haire cleane off from her head neither may shee after that weare a Iewell but is accounted a dishonest woman This custome is as may appeare very ancient and supposed to haue beene ordained because of the libidinous disposition of the Indian women which for their lusts would poyson their husbands The Bramenes obserue Fasting-dayes with so great abstinence that they eat nothing that day and sometime not in three or foure dayes together They tell many miracles of their Pagodes They hold the immortalitie of the Soule both of Beasts and Men and that so often mentioned Pythagorean succession and renuing of mens soules in beasts and contrariwise They by the direction af the Deuill the author of their miracles frame such deformed Statues to their Idols Botero saith the Bramenes also worship one Parabramma and his three sonnes and in honour of them weare those three threeds aforesaid He affirmeth that the Ioghi wander vp and downe through India abstaining from all carnall pleasure but a certaine time which being expired they are past possibilitie of further sinning and are then called Abduti as the Illuminate Elders of the Familists polluting themselues in all filthinesse The Bramenes b haue Images of the Trinitie and haue in religious estimation the number of Three They acknowledge and pray to the Trinitie in Vnitie but affirme many Demi-gods which are his Deputies in gouerning the World They honour the Portugals Images also as approaching to their owne
then they goe out of the Citie passing by the Riuers side to the burning-place where is prepared a great square Caue full of Wood. Here is made a great Banquet the woman eating with ioy as if it were her wedding-day and after they sing and daunce till the woman bid to kindle the fire in the Caue then she leaueth the Feast and taketh her husbands neerest kinsman by the hand and goeth with him to the banke of the Riuer where she strippeth her of her cloathes and iewels bestowing them at her pleasure and couering herselfe with a cloth throweth herselfe into the Riuer saying O wretches wash away your sinnes Comming out of the Water shee rowleth herselfe into a yellow cloth and againe taking her husbands kinsman by the hand goeth to the said Caue by which is erected a little Pinnacle on which she mounteth and there recommendeth her children and kindred to the people After this another woman taketh a pot with oyle and sprinkleth it ouer her head and therewith annoynteth all her bodie and then throweth it into the Furnace the woman going together with the same Presently after the woman the people throw great pieces of Wood into the Caue so that with those blowes and the fire she is quickly dead and their great mirth is on a suddaine turned into great lamentation and howling When a Great man dyeth all the women of his house both his wife and slaues with whom hee hath had carnall copulation burne themselues together with him Amongst the baser sort I haue seene saith Master Frederike the dead man carried to the place of buriall and there set vpright the woman comming before him on her knees casteth her armes about his necke while a Mason maketh a wall round about them and when the wall is as high as their neckes one comming behind the woman strangleth her the workeman presently finishing the wall ouer them and this is their buriall Ludouicus Vertomannus relateth the same Funerall Rites of Tarnasseri as in other parts of India sauing that there fifteene or twentie men in their idolatrous habit like Diuels doe attend on the fire wherein the husband is burned all the Musicians of the Citie solemnizing the Funerall pompe and fifteene dayes after they haue the like solemnitie at the burning of the woman those diuellish fellowes holding fire in their mouthes and sacrificing to Deumo and are her intercessors to that Diuell for her good entertainment The cause of burning their wiues is by some ascribed to their wonted poysonings of their husbands before this Law by others that the husband might haue her helpe and comfort in the other world Odoricus telleth of a strange and vncouth Idoll as bigge as Saint Christopher of pure Gold with a new band about the necke full of precious stones some one whereof was of value if he valued iustly more then a whole Kingdome The roofe pauement and seeling of the walls within and without the Temple was all Gold The Indians went thither on pilgrimage some with halters about their neckes some with their hands bound behind them some with kniues sticking on their armes and legges and if after their pilgrimage the wounded flesh festered they esteemed that limbe holy and a signe of their Gods fauour Neere to the Temple was a Lake where-into the Pilgrims cast Gold Siluer and Gemmes for honour of the Idoll and reparation of his Temple At euery yearely Feast the King and Queene with the Pilgrims and People assembling placed the said Idoll in a rich Chariot and with a solemne procession of Virgins two and two in a ranke singing before him and with Musicall Instruments carrie him forth Many Pilgrims put themselues vnder the Chariot wheeles where they are crushed in pieces More then fiue hundred persons vsed thus to doe whose carkasses were burned and ashes kept for holy Reliques Otherwise also they will deuote themselues to such a martyrdome in this manner The parents and friends assemble and make a Feast to this Votarie and after that hang fiue sharpe kniues about his necke and so carrie him before the Idoll where he taketh one of his kniues and cryeth For the worship of my God I cut this my flesh and cutting a piece casteth it at the face of the Idoll and so proceeding at the last sayth Now doe I yeeld my selfe to death in the behalfe of my God and being dead is burned as before Our Country-man Sir Iohn Mandeuile reporteth the same Historie of their Idoll-Procession and the ashes of those voluntary Martyrs which they keepe to defend them against tempests and misfortunes He also sayth That some Pilgrims in all their peregrinations not once lifted vp their eye-lids some at euery third or fourth pace fell downe on their knees to worship some whipped others wounded themselues yea killed themselues as is before said Nicolo di Conti reporteth the same in his time Neither is this bloudy custome yet left as Linschoten affirmeth by report of one of his chamber-fellowes that had seene it They haue sayth he a Waggon or Cart so heauie that three or foure Elephants can hardly draw it which is brought forth at Faires Feasts and Processions At this Cart hang many Cables or Ropes whereat all the people hale and pull of deuotion In the vpper part of the Cart standeth a Tabernacle and therein the Idoll vnder it sit the Kings wiues playing on Instruments And while the Procession passeth some cut pieces of their flesh and throwe at the Pagode some lay themselues vnder the wheeles of the Cart with such euent as you haue heard Gasparo Balby relateth the same and addeth That the Priests which haue care of this Idoll and certaine women are consecrated to these deuotions from their Cradles by their Zeale-blind parents And the women prostitute their bodies to gaine for the Idoll whatsoeuer they can get ouer and aboue their owne maintenance This filleth the Citie with Strumpets there being of this Sacred you may interpret it Cursed crue foure hundred in one place of the Citie These haue their place in the Idoll-procession some of them in the Chariot which is drawne by men euery one accounting himselfe happy that can touch or draw the same This he sayth was at Negapaton He further affirmeth That not farre from the Citie of Saint Thomas is the Towne Casta where the the Wife is not burned as at Negapatan but a great Graue being made for the deceased Husband they place the liuing Wife by the dead corps and their neerest kindred cast earth vpon them both and stampe thereon They which marry wed in their owne degree as a Smith to a Smiths daughter and they powre out their prayers at the Image of some Kow or a Serpent called Bittia di Capella Their Bramenes burne Kowes dung and if they intend any warres with other Nations they anoint their Nose and Forehead with those ashes not washing themselues till the euening They which sacrifice themselues to the Pagode
with loftie Cedars and Pines watered with a goodly streame arched with a double row of pillars adorned with fiftie Lanternes on each side of solid metall couered with gold and curiously wrought which burne all night the large Monasterie of Bonzian Nunnes which being aboue fiue and fortie yeeres old deuote themselues to these holies the Qoire not to be entred by any but certaine Religious which there sit in garments of silke these with other like might tempt my pen to bee tedious And so might the Temple of Fachiman in the same Groue more costly and curious then the former and another without it consecrate to Dai which hath two giantly Porters of stone fourteene elles high fourescore and eighteene pillars of wonderfull height and three elles and a halfe in compasse it was built seuen hundred yeeres since and was twentie yeeres in building A Tower or Steeple of wood is borne vp with thirtie pillars in which did hang a brazen Bell the mouth whereof was two elles the compasse sixe the depth three and a halfe the thicknesse aboue thirteene inches There are many Deere and Doues consecrated to the Temple which goe into mens houses no man touching them Their walkes set with Orange Trees and other their rarities of Art and Nature they which would further learne let them resort to Almeida our Author One Temple is dedicated iust by to a Lizard which they make Author and Patron of learning without Altar or Image in it Hee that readeth of the huge workes of Taicosama holding sometime an hundred thousand workmen in labour at once may present to his imagination the incredible buildings which those Tyrants by so many slauish hands can raise Their busie wits appeare by their curious questions to Iohn Fernandus of the nature of the Soule of Angels and Deuils c. and some of them seeing the absurdities of the Bonzij worship nothing at all The Bonzij as the Iesuites report raysed slanderous rumours of them to be eaters of mens flesh and causes of the warres and plagues which their gods prouoked by this new Sect sent amongst them they slandered the new Conuerts as miserable Apostataes which became Christians because they would not be at the charges of their Idolatrie The Iesuites tell of a great woman possessed with a Deuill which said that he was a Foxe for some iniuries offered by the Maide thus dealing with the Mistresse There were in those parts store of Foxes multiplyed by their superstition not daring to hurt any notwithstanding their great harmes because forsooth they were the Deuils instruments to punish them Yet in this case the Wizard being consulted counsayled to take a Foxe without hurting him which with a trap was done and to giue him all kinde entertaynment with most delicate foode and vsage so to pacifie the Good-wifes angrie Daemon who yet like a Deuill with faire entreatie grew worse Hereupon another famous Wizard was called who writ a long scroll binding himselfe in the Deuill-Foxes name to free the woman subscribing with his bloud which scroll hee hanged on the Foxes necke before taken which being neatly trimmed and shauen by a Barber and painted as their women being of pale complexion vse was let goe and the Deuill intermitted his tortures awhile but after reiterating the same The womans husband caused all the Foxes thereabouts to bee slaine for this perfidiousnesse and a third Wizard cured the Mistresse by coniuring the Diuell into one of her Maides They are very curious and ambitious in setting foorth their Funerals thus briefely The friends assemble in their best array to the fire the women of his acquaintance goe forth in white raiment with partie coloured veyles on their heads and their Maidens attending their chiefe women are carried in Beds or Litters of Cedar After them follow the Men in sumptuous habite next comes the chiefe Bonzius of his Sect in his Pontificalibus carried in a costly Bed attended with thirtie other Bonzij in their Linnen vestments Then one in Ash-coloured garments for that is also a mourning colour with a long Torch lighted sheweth the Corpse the way to the fire followed with two hundred Bonzij singing to the Deitie which the dead had chiefely obserued others beate on a Bason till they come at the fire others carrie paper-baskets full of painted Flowers which they shake out by the way as a token that his soule is gone to Paradise Eight Bonzij draw Banners on the ground in which is written their Idols name tenne Lanternes with the same inscription are carried with lights burning Two follow with Torches vnlighted wherewith afterward they kindle the fire Many come after in Ash-coloured habite with three-square Caps on their heads with the name also of their Diuell therein written which name another beareth written in a Table with large letters of Gold After all these did you thinke you had lost him comes the Corpse sitting in a Bed in white borne by foure men his hands ioyned in a praying gesture His Children are next the eldest carrying a Torch to kindle the fire Lastly comes the multitudes with such Caps as wee spoke of After an houres hallowing their Holies by all this multitude and three times compassing about the inclosed square place in which besides tables for viands the fire is made the chiefe Bonzij in an vnknowne language mumbleth ouer an Hymne and lighting a Torch doth thrice brandish it about his head thereby signifying that the soule is without beginning or end and then casts it away Two of his Children take it vp and after a triple ceremonie the body being layd thereon kindle therewith the wood on which they hurle costly woods and Oyle and so burne the carkasse to ashes Which done the Children making incense adore their Father as now assumed to the heauenly societie and richly reward the Bonzij Next day they returne and put the reliques of this Corpse ashes and bones into a gilded vessell which is hanged in the house there to receiue like exequies and afterwards with no lesse ceremonie buried euery seuenth day and seuenth month and seuenth yeere his Children renuing their deuotions The poorer spend herein two or three hundred the rich as many thousand Ducats In the Obits of Great Persons the Lords and men of Ranke assemble themselues and are called euery man by name to doe honour to the Image of the deceased with incense as in sacrifices After so much wickednesse of men let vs adde somewhat of the admirable workes of God in Iapan §. VII Of the strange Earthquakes and Tempests in Iapan with some other Obseruations ON the two and twentieth day of Iuly in the yeere 1596. it rained Ashes round about Meaco couering the ground as if it had beene Snow Soone after it rained both there and in other places red sand and after that as it had beene womens haire And not long after followed an Earthquake that hurled downe Temples and Palaces wherein Taicosama had then newly employed night and
euery one hath a peece of a leafe of the Bonanas Tree then is set before each a peece of Sagu bread after that a dish made of the leafe of another Tree with a little sodden Rice and Flesh-pottage which they hurle by handfuls into their mouthes deuouring rather then eating the same In the meanewhile the Gentlemen arise with their weapons and exercise themselues in Martiall games with Daunces The quarrell betwixt these Ilanders grew about the cutting of certayne Trees from whence it is come to cut and kill one another with cruell butcheries They exercise Sea-fights in their Caracorae or Galeots with great dexteritie with great showts and cryes the Gentlemen dancing on the hatches very actiuely They are very bloudie and barbarous yet bury the heads of their enemies with sweet odours If any of their friends die the women make a shrill and lowd crie to call him againe which not effected they prouide a great feast whereunto all the kindred and friends are inuited They burie them almost after our fashion in a white sheet the corps being carried on mens shoulders the men first and women after following A Censer is there left fuming all the day and might and in the night they keepe a light burning in a little house which they haue set ouer the graue In the morning and euening all of all sorts come and say their prayers a long while together at the graue and being asked wherefore they said that the dead should not arise againe They haue a play with the Ball exercised by many of them not as amongst vs with the hand but with their feete tossing the same vp into the ayre and taking it one of another with admirable sleight Thus haue we related from Dutch testimonies In Banda the Hollanders are reported to haue foure Factories and three Castles They are farre more feared of the Natiues then loued They raysed a Fort neere to one of their Mesgids or Temples to the prophanation as they thought of their holy ground and of the Sepulchres of their dead which for this cause they spared not Hence did the Bandeses burne with indignation which yet they concealed and with goodly protestations desired the Dutch Generall Verhauf which was there at that time with many ships to come into their House or place of Councell This was compassed with Trees and Bushes in the midst hauing a faire round place where they sate vpon Mats their chiefe Magistrate being the Sabandare Verhauf promised to come and when hee was by one of his Countrey-men that had long continued there admonished of the trecherie of this people Hee yet scorned to feare and with some three hundred followers at the appointed houre marched thither The Xeriff one of Mahomets kindred wearing as note hereof greene in his Turbant which had before inuited him to this assembly with all lowly semblance meetes him tells that in such armed troupes they shall not dare to speake their mindes He presently commands his Souldiers to stay tooke with him some two and fortie chiefe men entred and sate downe with the Bandese Senate crosse-legged a Bandese and a Hollander together and so through all the companie At the watchword each Bandese stabbed his neighbour Dutch and presently the Generals head was smitten off and carried out to his Souldiers now busie in playing or altogether idle their peeces lying on the ground and in this case they were suddenly assaulted by an ambush hidden there in the Thickets and were in great danger to haue lost their Fort. The English in their ships might see the fight In another place the Hollanders turned one of their Mesgids into a Fort. The offended Bandeses offered their slaues libertie to dispossesse them they refused till a Iauan Merchant then there with his Iunke offered his ten slaues aboard his Iunke to giue the onset Thus they went about three hundred each man with a fire-brand in one hand and a creese in the other aduentured on the shot and soone fired the Fort ouer their heads slaying euery man These Ilands of Banda are subiect as some but vntruely report to the King of Botone with whom one M. Richard Welding an Englishman was in great fauour The king had a sonne which was mad whom a certaine Italian vndertaking to cure was sent to attend him in the other World his patient dying vnder his hand M. Welding had serued him in his warres and gotten victories for him and honour for himselfe and his Nation It is reported that lately neere to the Hollanders Fort in Banda there issued a great fire out of the Sea which continued a good space and was likely to haue fired the Hollanders Fort the Natiues wayting for such oportunity but by shifting of the winde it escaped The Sea in that fired place was many many fathomes deeper then it had beene before But our English haue since this was published enioyed not only commerce but Forts and Dominion by voluntary subiection of the Bandaneses themselues the cause of great warres twixt the Dutch and ours the particulars whereof you may see at large in my Booke of Voyages The Hollanders and the Spaniards are in continuall warres for these Molucca Ilands They droue out the Portugals by force about ten yeeres since but the Spaniards haue succeeded in the quarrell which yet is managed on both parts so as the Natiues haue the worst For they both weare out the Country people in warres which betweene Tidore and Ternate are ancient by these bellowes kindled into continuall flames that there are scarsly sufficient to gather their Cloues Machian yeelds the most store in the third yeere which is most plentifull about 1800. Bahars on other yeeres almost eleuen hundred The Spaniards haue a Castle on Ternate another on Tidore in Gelolo also and Battachina two others but the Hollanders haue three in Terenate and as many in Tidore one in Amboyna one in Battachina in Batchame one in Botoone two Bulwarkes in Mechame three in Moutter one besides their other Indian Forts and all their Factories They haue their wiues also to helpe man if that name may bee giuen to women their Fortresses in some places Their Sea-force and Land-vices being added make them dreadfull to the Spaniard hatefull to the Indians and for their insolence distastefull to the English vnder pretence of I know not what conquest stiffely denying terribly threatning disgracefully deprauing the English vnder whose name they haue yet borne themselues in many places of the Indies and with mayne force and violence binding the Natiues to their owne trade and that at lower prices and harder conditions which makes them loue the more liberall though imperious and proud spirit of the Spaniard more then that accounted fordid dealing of the Flemming in the Moluccas and Banda Ilands Before we leaue these Moluccas and their dependant Ilands we may conclude with a Tragedy wherein blind superstition and beastly cruelty were principall Actors When Menesius was Gouernour of
the Portugall Fort in Ternate he kept a Sow which some of the deuouter Mahumetans killed He getting the chiefe Priest accessorie to the fact into the Castle at his deliuerie made his face bee greased with Bacon by the Iaylor which caused the people to ofter abuse to some Portugals Menesius in reuenge cut off the hands of two of them the third had his hands bound behinde him and was bayted with two dogges on the Sea-shore which his implacable enemies transported him into like dogged humour though he were not with Hecuba transformed into the shape insomuch that fastening with his teeth on one of their eares he held fast till his strength fayling hee sunke into the Sea with the Dogge and was drowned In Celebes they eate mans flesh The King of the Moluccas was wont to send condemned persons to Celebes to be deuoured Nicolaus Nunnes writeth That Celebes is very large and contayneth many and great Ilands the Soyle is exceeding fertile the Inhabitants comely and tall rather ruddie then blacke They haue many Kings which is cause of many contentions Three of them were conuerted Peter Mascarenia in a Letter dated a thousand fiue hundred sixtie nine speaketh of a King of Sion in Celebes which was baptized and his subiects therefore rebelled against him one Towne onely except and that hee and the King of Sanguim did take vp a Crosse on their owne shoulders which the chiefe Men had before hewen of a faire piece of wood and helped to erect the same and then with the multitude kneeling downe worshipped it Southward of Celebes is situated a little Iland where Sir Francis Drake graued his ship This Iland is throughly growne with Woods in which euery night certayne fierie Flyes made such a light as if euery Twigge or Tree had beene a burning Candle Here they found Batts as bigge as Hennes and plentie of Cray-fishes so great that one vvould suffice foure men to their dinner they digged themselues holes in the earth like Conies At Macassar in this Iland is an English Factorie In this Iland some are Moores some Ethnikes They enuenome their arrow-Arrow-heads which are made of Fish-bones with an incurable poyson There are Priests which conforme or rather deforme themselues to the habit of women nourishing their haire on the head and plucking it out of the face They gild their teeth and vse broken wanton effeminate gestures They are called Becos and marrie one another For them to lye with a woman is capitall and punished with burning in pitch These Men-Monsters Women-Deuils much hindered the Portugals Conuersions §. III. Of the Iauas and other adioyning Ilands NOt farre from hence is Iaua of which name M. Paulus and Nich. di Conti reckon two great Ilands ascribing to the one two thousand and to the other three thousand miles in circuit The lesse is neere to the firme Land of the South Continent where Beach and some other Prouinces are named by Paulus and Vertomannus of Heathenish superstitions The lesse Iaua had in the dayes of M. Paulus eight Kingdomes in sixe of which himselfe had beene which hee nameth Felech wherein the rurall Inhabitants were Idolaters the Citizens Moores the Idoll-worshippers eate any flesh whatsoeuer of man or beast and obserue all day what they first see in the morning Basma the second acknowledged the Great Chams soueraigntie but payed him no tribute Here were certayne Vnicornes headed like Swine footed like an Elephant with one horne on their foreheads with which they doe not hurt any but to that end vse certayne prickles that grow on their tongues They delight also in the myre like Swine Here are little Apes much resembling men in their countenance which they vsed to preserue with certayne Spices hauing flayed off their skins and left the haire growing in those parts where Nature causeth men to be hayrie and sell them to Merchants to be carried ouer the World as the bodies of little men happily the onely true Pygmies the world yeeldeth In Samara the third of those Kingdomes none of the North-starres can bee seene They are Man-eaters and Idolaters but not so brutish as in Dragorian the next Kingdome where if a man bee sicke his kinsmen consult with their Sorcerers who enquire of the Deuill Whether he shall escape or no And if the answere bee Negatiue they send for certayne men specially designed to that villanous mysterie which strangle him and then they dresse and eate him amongst the kindred euen to the very marrow in his bones For say they if any flesh should remayne it would putrifie and wormes would breede thereof which after for want of sustenance would perish whereby the soule of the dead partie would be much tormented The bones they burie safely that no beast should touch them such dread haue they of beasts and crueltie in a more then beastly crueltie and such a care to obserue humanitie and pietie in a most impious inhumanitie Lambri the next Kingdome hath in it some men with tayles like Dogs a span long The last is Fanfur where they liue of bread made of pith of Trees the wood whereof is heauie and sinketh to the bottome if it be put in water like Iron and therefore they make Lances thereof able to pierce Armour for it is three fingers thicke betwixt the hollow and the barke To let passe Pentan Sondar and other Idolatrous Ilands and come to Iaua maior This Countrey is very rich but in times past of most abominable custome Nic. Conti saith That they feede on Cats Rats and other vermine and were most vile murtherers not sticking to make triall of the good cutting or thrust of their blades on the next body they met with and that without punishment yea if the blow or thrust were deliuered with fine force with much commendation Vertomannus affirmeth of them That some obserue Idols some the Sunne or Moone others an Oxe and many the first thing they meete in the morning and some worship the Deuill When men were old and not able longer to worke their children or parents carryed them into the Market and sold them to others which did eate them And the like they vsed with the younger sort in any desperate sicknesse preuenting Nature with a violent death and esteeming their bellies fitter Sepulchres then the earth accounting others fooles which suffered the wormes to deuoure so pleasant foode For feare of these Man-eaters they stayed not long there It seemeth that they haue much left their brutish customes since wonne to more ciuilitie by trading of the Moores and Christians especially such as are of the Arabian law although as our owne Countrey-men report which haue there liued a mans life is valued to the murtherer at a small summe of money They are a prowd Nation If a man should come in where they are set on the ground after their manner and should sit on a Chest or high thing it were as much as his life were worth The King of Bantam breaking
he in hope of the Resurrection For they would not interre their dead bodies because of the Wormes nor burne them because they esteemed fire a liuing creature which feeding thereon must together with it perish They therefore with Nitre and Cedar or with compositions of Myrrhe Cassia and other Odours thus preserue them Scaliger sayth they set these bodies in their dining Roomes that their Children and Nephewes might behold them whiles they were eating Some also report That the poorer sort vsed hereunto the slimy Bitumen of the Dead Sea which had preserued an infinite number of Carcasses in a dreadfull Caue not farre from these Pyramides yet to bee seene with their flesh and members whole after so many thousand yeeres and some with their haire and teeth Of these is the true Mummia The Mores and Indians violate the Sepulchres and either burne them as is reported they somtimes doe in stead of fire-wood which is scarce in those parts or else sell them at Cairo a body for a Dolor the Citie being nigh twenty miles from thence For these Mummes are neere the place where Memphis sometimes stood In that place are some indifferent great and a number of little Pyramides with Tombes of seuerall fashions many ruinated and many violated the ancient Egyptians coueting there to bee buried as the place supposed to conteine the body of Osiris Vnder euery one or wheresoeuer lye stones not naturall to the place by remouing the same descents are discouered like the narrow mouthes of Wels hauing holes in each side of the walls to descend by but with troublesome passage some well-nigh ten fadome deepe leading into long Vaults belonging it should seeme to particular Families hewen out of the Rock with pillars of the same Betweene euery arch the corpses lye ranckt one by another shrowded in a number of folds of linnen swathled in bands of the same the brests of some being stayned with hieroglyphicall Characters Within their bellies are painted papers and their gods inclosed in little models of stone or metall some of the shape of menin coat-armours with the heads of Sheepe Hawkes Dogs c. others of Cats Beetles Monkies and such like They wrapt the dead bodies in manifold folds of linnen besmeared with gumme and after other ceremonies laid the corps in a boat to be wafted ouer Acherusia a Lake on the South side of the Citie by Charon so they called the Ferry-man and there the body was brought before certayne Iudges who if conuinced of euill life depriued it of buriall the most terrible of punishments to the Egyptians About this Lake stood the Temple of Hecate with the Ports of Cocitus and Lethe or Obliuion Styx and other Poeticall fables had hence their deriuation But let vs returne to the Pyramides and view them as they now stand with Master Sandys his eyes hauing first told a miracle or imposture rather of the Moores with pieces of Mummes stucke in the sands many thousands on Good Friday resorting to see the armes and legs of dead men appearing on the other side of Nilus to the gayne of the Ferry-men for this cause perhaps deluding the superstitious vulgar Baumgarten mentions it in his time and thought it an illusion of the Deuill whether Hee or His wee will not now examine Full west from Cairo close vpon the Libyan Desarts hauing crossed Nilus and a Playne twelue miles ouer they came to the three Pyramides the greatest of them is ascended by two hundred and fiftie fiue steps each step aboue three feet high of a breadth proportionable No stone so little through the whole as to bee drawne by our carriages brought out of the Mountaynes of Arabia with a double wonder of the conueyance and mounting The North side is most worne by reason of the humiditie of the Northerne winde in these parts From the top is discerned the Countrey with her beloued Nile the Mummes and many huge Pyramides afarre off each of which were this away might be reputed wonderfull Descending on the East side below from each corner equally distant they approched the entrance into which they went with a light in euery mans hand a narrow and dreadfull passage stooping or creeping as downe the steepe of an hill an hundred foote the descent still continuing but few daring to venter further Plinie writes that at the bottome is a spacious pit eightie and sixe cubits deepe filled at the ouerflow by concealed Conduits others adde that there is in the middest a little Iland on that the Tombe of Cheops the Founder Master Sandys saith That climbing ouer the mouth of this dungeon they ascended by like vneasie passage about an hundred and twentie feete and thence passing through a long irkesome entrie direct forward they came to a little roome with a compast roofe of polished marble From hence they climbed an hundred and twentie feete higher at the top entring a goodly roome twentie foote wide and fortie foote long the roofe of a maruailous height the stones so great that eight floores it eight roofes it eight flagge the ends and sixteene the sides all of well wrought Theban marble At the vpper end is a Tombe of one stone vncouered and emptie brest high seuen foote in length and almost foure in breadth sounding like a bell more probably supposed the Builders sepulchre If any desire a more exact suruey let him resort to our Authour and other eye and pen-witnesses Not farre hence is that Sphynx a huge Colosse with the head of a Maide and body of a Lion supposed by Bellonius to be the monument of some sepulchre by Plinie of Amasis It yet continueth all of one stone and is a huge face looking toward Cairo The compasse of the head saith P. Martyr an eye-witnesse is fiftie eight paces Plinie numbreth eight Pyramides and saith That the compasse of this Sphynx about the head was an hundred and two feete the length an hundred and fortie three Master Sandys affirmeth that vnto the mouth it consists of the naturall Rocke thus aduanced the rest of huge flat stones laid thereon wrought altogether into the forme of an Aethiopian woman heretofore adored by the people not so huge as before reported the whole being but sixtie foote high the face disfigured by Time or the Moores supersticion detesting Images Plinie writes That three hundred and sixtie thousand men were twentie yeeres in making one of the Pyramides and three were made in seuentie eight yeeres and foure moneths The greatest saith he couereth eight Acres of ground and Bellonius affirmeth That the Pyramides rather exceed then fall short of the reports of the Ancient and that a strong and cunning Archer on the top is not able to shoot beyond the fabrick of one which Villamont being there caused to bee tried and found true William Lithgow writeth that the height of one is 1092. foote as their Dragoman told him the top thereof is all one stone which he measured seuenteene foote in euery square yet on
was sometime sacred famous for the Garden of the Hesperides neere to which is that Riuer of Lethe so much chaunted by the Poets Nigh to this place also are the Psylli a people terrible to Serpents and medicinable against their poysons both by touching the wounded partie and by sucking out the poyson and by enchanting the Serpent The Oracle of Iupiter Ammon is famous among the Ancient The place where this Temple was hath on euery side vast and sandie Desarts in which they which trauelled as wee finde in Arrianus and Curtius seemed to warre with Nature for the Earth was couered with sand which yeelded an vnstable footing and sometime was blowne about with the windie motions of the Aire Water was hence banished neither Cloudes nor Springs ordinarily affoording it A fierie heate did possesse and tyrannize ouer the place which the Sands and Sunne much encreased Neither was here Tree or Hill or other marke for Trauellers to discerne their way but the Starres In the middle of this Desart was that sacred Groue which Silius Italicus calleth Lucus fatidicus not aboue fiftie furlongs in circuit full of fruit-bearing Trees watred with wholsome Springs seasoned with temperate Aire and a continuall Spring The Inhabitants called Ammonians are dispersed in cottages and haue the middest of the Groue fortified with a triple wall The first Munition contayneth the Kings Palace the second the Serail or lodgings for his women where is also the Oracle the third the Courtiers inhabite Before the Oracle is a Fountayne in which the Offerings were washed before they were offered The forme of this God was deformed with Rams-hornes crooked as some paint him according to Curtius without forme of any creature but like a round Bosse beset with jewels This when they consult with the Oracles is carried by the Priests in a gilded ship with many siluer Bells on both sides of the ship The Matrons follow and the Virgins singing their dis-tuned Procession by which they prouoke their god to manifest what they seeke These Priests were about fourscore in number Alexanders ambitious pilgrimage to this Oracle is sufficiently knowne by the Relations of Curtius and Arrianus This we may adde out of Scaliger That after that the Cyrenaeans to sooth this prowd King which would needes bee taken for the sonne of Ammon stamped his shape in their coynes with two hornes of a Ramme and without a beard whereas before they had vsed the forme of Iupiter with a beard and hornes wherein the other Easterne people followed them The Syrians vsed the like stampe with the name of King Lysimachus which Scaliger who hath giuen vs the pictures of these Coynes thinketh to be Alexander Rammes-hornes are said to bee ascribed to him because Bacchus wandering in these Desarts with his Armie was guided to this place by a silly Ramme Likewise Pausanias in his Messenica saith that one Ammon which built the Temple a Shepheard was authour of this name to their God Plutarchs reason of Amus we haue before shewed Others deriue this name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sand which may well agree with all Idoll deuotion as being a sandie foundation although it is here intended to the situation But that which I haue before noted of Ham the sonne of Noah soundeth more probable as being Progenitor of all these Nations and of this minde also is Peucerus This Strabo in his time saith was not in request as no other Oracle besides For the Romanes contented themselues with their Sybils and other diuinations This Oracle was not giuen by word but by signes This defect of Oracles in generall and especially of this occasioned that Treatise of Plutarch of this subiect enquiring the cause of the Oracles fayling Neuer had he read that the Gods which had not made heauen and earth should perish out of the earth nor had he eyes to see that Sunne of Righteousnesse the Light of the world whose pure beames chased and dispersed these mists of darknesse And therefore are his coniectures so farre from the marke as not able with a naturall eye to see the things of God The antiquitie of this Oracle appeareth in that Semiramis came to it and inquired of her death after which the Oracle promised to her diuine honours Perseus also and Hercules are reported to haue consulted the same in their aduentures against Gorgon and Busiris Besides this Groue there is another of Ammon which hath in the middest a Well they call it the Fountayne of the Sunne whose water at Sunne-rising is luke-warme and cooleth more and more till noone at which time it is very cold and from thence till mid-night by degrees exchangeth that coldnesse with heate holding a kinde of naturall Antipathy with the Sonne hottest in his furthest absence coldest in his neerest presence Plinie and Solinus place this Fountayne in Debris a Towne not very farre from those parts amongst the Garamants Lucretius mentions it and Philosophically disputeth the cause thereof nimirum terra magis quod Raratenet circum hunc fontem quà m caetera tellus Multaque sunt ignis prope semina corpus aquai c. The substance whereof is that the fire vnder that subtile earth by cold vapours of the night is pressed and forced to that waterie refuge but by the Sunne beames receiuing new encouragement forsaketh those holds and holes and for a little while takes repossession of his challenged lands The Ammonian women haue such great brests that they suckle their children ouer their shoulder their brest not lesse if Iunenal be beleeued then the childe In Meroe crasso maiorem infante mamillam In Meroe the monstrous Pappe Is bigger then the childe in lappe Pausanias reckoneth an Ammonian Iuno among the Libyan Cities as well as this Iupiter He addeth the Lacedemonians had this Ammon in much request and built to him diuers Temples as at Gytheum one which had no roofe and the Aphytaeans did him 40 lesse worship then the Libyans Ortelius who hath bestowed a Description of this Temple supposeth that his Image was painted with hornes but that Vmbilicus was accounted the Deitie it selfe or the signe of his presence which shapelesse shape he sampleth by many like in other Nations The ship he coniectureth to signifie that the Religion was brought from some other place But if Ammon be that sonne of Noah it might rather bee a memoriall of the Arke wherein Noah and his sonnes were preserued as that also of Ianus who is imagined to be Noah may more fitly be interpreted then according to the Poets glosse Sic bona posteritas puppim formauit in aere Hospitis aduentum testificata Dei So well-dispos'd Posteritie did frame A ship to shew which way their strange God came The ancient frugalitie of the Cyrenians is commended in Authors Sulpitius bringeth in Postumianus in his Dialogues telling That landing there by force of weather hee went with the
to liue long In their Winter they haue much sicknesse and mortalitie The goods of the deceased descend not to his Children but to the Brethren if he haue any otherwise to his Father If it bee a Woman her Husband deliuereth her marriage goods to her brethren When the King dies the Sepulchre is made like a house and as well furnished as if they were aliue being guarded night and day by armed men to bring him any thing which he shall need Their Noses are flat not naturally but by pressing them downe in their Infancie esteeming it a great part of beautie Their hot stomackes can digest raw flesh and therefore Alexander Aphrodisicus and Coelius Rhodiginus that thinke their naturall heate extracted to the outward parts to be the cause of their blacknesse are deceiued They eate the enemies which are slaine in the warres which are very rife amongst those Nations and those which are taken are euerlasting prisoners And in some more important warres which they vndertake they will burne their dwellings before they goe lest either the enemy might possesse them by conquest or themselues become too mindfull of a returne In these warres they prouide themselues of some good light Armour wearing at such times no other apparell Their Women are vnfaithfull Secretaries in Natures most hidden secrets vsing in the sight of men women boyes and girles to be deliuered of their Children whom after they circumcise whether they be of the male or female sexe §. IIII. Of the Marriages Manners Religion Funerals Gouernment and other Rites of the Guineans collected out of a late Dutch Author ANd if we may leaue to follow a Dutch guide well acquainted in these parts whereof he hath written a very large Treatise you may feast with them at their spousals and againe after a view of their liues at their Funerals At the marriages of their Daughters they giue halfe an ounce of Gold to buy Wine for the Bridale the King himselfe giueth no other portion The Bride in the presence of her friends sweareth to be true to her Husband which the man doth not For Adulterie he may diuorce her and the Adulterer payeth to the King foure and twenty Pesos of gold and the husband also may driue him out of Towne but the Dutchmen payd no fine therefore the Women onely were blamed and payd foure Pesos If the husband suspects his wife hee makes tryall of her honesty by causing her to eate salt with diuers Fetisso ceremonies hereafter mentioned the feare whereof makes her confesse They haue many Wiues if they can buy and keepe them each dwelleth in a house by her selfe though there be ten of them they eat and lodge asunder sometimes they will bring their cheere together The Husband closely takes which he will haue lye with him to his roome where their bed is a Mat. The Women after trauell wash themselues and acccompany not with their husbands for three moneths after The Child newly borne hath a cleane cloath wrapped about the middle and is layd downe on a mat The Mothers vse to beare their Children at their backes and so trauell with them none prouing lame notwithstanding that shaking of their bodies they giue them the brest ouer their shoulders When it is a moneth old they hang a net about the body like a shirt made of the barke of a Tree hanged full of Fetissos to secure it from the Diuell who otherwise would they thinke carry it away They hang the haire full of shels and Corals about the necke armes and legges applying diuersi Fetissos or wreathes with superstitious fancies that one is good against Vomiting a second for Falling a third for Bleeding a fourth to make it Sleepe a fifth against wilde Beasts and so on in the rest giuing to each Fetisso a seuerall name They quickly learne them to eate and then leaue them about the house like dogs they soone learne to goe to speake to swim When they are first borne they are not blacke but reddish as the Brasilians Each woman brings vp her owne they teach them no ciuilitie and beat them sometimes cruelly with staues When they are eight or ten or twelue yeeres old they learne them to spinne Bark-threed and make nets after that they goe with their Fathers to fish At eighteene yeeres old they begin to set vp for themselues two or three of them together hiring a house and Canoa and then they couer their priuities grow amorous and their Fathers looke out wiues for them They haue little haire on their face at thirty they weare nayles as long as the joynt of a mans finger as a token of Gentilitie which is also obserued by Merchants they keepe them very cleane and as white as Iuorie They are great in flesh beyond Men of these parts At threescoore and ten or fourescore their blacknesse decaies and they grow yellow They haue small bellies long legges broad feet long toes sharpe sight quicke wit Estridge mawes are spitefull curiously neat Drunkards Theeues Lecherous and subject to the Pockes whereof they are not ashamed as neither of shewing their nakednesse Yet it is holden shame with them to let a fart which they wondered at in the Hollanders esteeming it a contempt The Women goe long naked are libidinous and would boast of their filthinesse if they could haue their pleasure with the Dutch decking themselues of purpose They weare beades about their neckes and straw Fetissos about their feet The Mulato women in Mina cut their haire short for brauerie They cut three gashes on their fore-head an inch long and likewise on their cheekes neere their eares which they suffer to swell and colour it with painting They make also white strakes vnder their eyes They curle and fold the haire of their head making a hill in the middest like a hat with frizzles round about They vse long combes with two teeth onely each a finger length these they vse also for salutation plucking them out and in as heere men put off or on their hats they make also white spots on their faces which afarre off shew like pearles They rase their armes and brests with diuers cuts on which euery morning they lay colours which cause them to shew like blacke silke doublets cut and pinked They haue earings and bracelets of Copper the vnmarried Maides weare thirty or forty on each arme of Iron the common Queanes weare copper rings with bels on their legs These women are strong nimble well proportioned good house-wiues home-keepers and cookes not very fruitfull The riches of the Guineans are store of Wiues and Children They take great pride of white teeth which therefore they rub with a certaine wood they shew like Iuorie Their garment is a fadome or more of Linnen cloth which they weare about their bodies from beneath the brests to the knees vpon which they girt a piece of blue or yellow cloth whereon hang their kniues and keyes and diuers wispes of straw or Fetissos When
they take not the Tunie at all the Sword-fish they take but eate not till his sword bee cut off which is dryed and holden in great veneration The Mountaines would bend their sullen browes if they should not haue some redde letters in their Kalender to which their toppes aspire threatning to scale Heauen or ouer-whelme the Earth if the Fetissan portion did not pacifie their angry moode by daily presents of meate and drinke set thereon Neither can Nature alone vsurpe this Prauilege but Art in other things her emulous corriuall and farre vnequall competitor in this matter of God-making commonly gets the vpper hand And therefore they with their ceremonious Art can make them Fetissos ' or Gods at pleasure Principally in their Funerals they obserue it for when one is dead they make a new Fetisso or Ring of Straw and pray it to beare the dead partie companie and protect him in his journey into the other World They lay the dead body on a Matte on the ground wind it in a Wollen cloath set a stoole vnder the head which is couered with a Goates skinne the body is strawed ouer with ashes his armes layd by his sides his eyes open and so continueth halfe a day his best-beloued wife sitting by as the Husband doth also at the death of his wife crying Aury and wiping her face with a wispe of straw Women goe round about the house singing and beating on Basons and about the corpse likewise and then againe about the house The eldest Morimi or Gentlemen goe about from house to house with a Bason wherein each puts the value of twelue-pence in Gold with which they buy a Cow with whose bloud the Fetissero appeaseth the Fetisso The friends and kinsfolkes assembling prepare a Henne and then setting themselues in a corner of the dead mans house they place all his Fetisso's on a row the greatest in the middest adorning the same with Garlands of Pease and Beanes like to the Popish praying-Beads Then they sprinkle the same with the bloud of the Henne and hang a chaine or Garland of herbes about their neckes After this the women set the Hen now sodden in the middest of the Fetisso's and the Fetissera takes water in his mouth which amidst his Exorcismes and Charmes he spoutes on those Fetisso's and taking two or three herbes from his necke he rols the same in forme of a ball which after certaine ceremonies he layeth downe and so doth till all his Herb-garland bee spent and then makes them all into one great ball and therewith besmeareth his face and thus is it made a Fetisso and the partie deceased is now at rest In the meane time the dearest of his Wiues filleth all the house with mourning the neighbours and friends with Songs and Musicke such as they haue and Dances And at last they take vp the Corps and carrie it to the Graue which is foure foot deepe and couer it with stakes that nothing may fall therein The Women creeping about the Sepulchre expostulate with him Why hee would leaue them Then doe they hurle on earth so that none can get in to the Corpes for hee hath with him his Houshold Armour and whatsoeuer he vsed in his life time Wine also if before he loued it to drinke in the other World Lastly they couer the Sepulchre with a Roofe to defend all from Raine If the King dies not onely greater solemnitie is vsed but the Nobles thinking it necessarie for so great a Personage to haue attendents offer vnto him one a Seruant another a Wife a third his Sonne or Daughter till there be many of both Sexes in that other life to attend him All which are suddenly slaine at vnawares and their bloudie carkasses buried together with the King Yea the Kings wiues which loued him best refuse not this last and euerlasting seruice as they suppose but yeeld themselues to die that they may liue with him The heads of all these thus slaine are set vpon poles round about the Sepulchre Meate Drinke Rayment Armes and other Vtensils are added for their vse and buried with them After the buriall they goe to the Sea or Riuer and there obserue other Rites some washing while others play on Basons and Instruments The Widow or Widower is layd backward on the water with diuers wordes of complaint At last they cloath them returne to the dead-mans house make great cheere and drinke themselues drunke They in vncertaintie of criminall accusations as of Adulterie Murther and such like haue a certaine water offered them to drinke by the Fetissero made of those Herbes whereof their Bal Fetisso is made and in effect like the cursed water Numb 5. none daring to drinke for feare of sudden death thereby if hee be guilty They dare not come out of their houses in Thunder for then they say many of them are carried away by the Deuill and throwne dead on the ground When they pray for Raine they wash themselues and cast Water ouer their heads with diuers words and spitting in the water Their Kings are Electiue and must be liberall or else are expelled Once a yeere he makes a great feast for the common people buying to that end all the Palme-wine and many Kine the heads of which are painted and hanged in the Kings chamber in testimonie of his bounty Hee inuiteth also his neighbour-Kings Captaines and Gentlemen and then prayeth and sacrificeth to his Fetisso which is the highest Tree in the Towne The men with Fencing Drumming Singing Leaping the Women with Dances honour this feast Euery King holdeth his feast apart one soone after another in the Summer-time The King comes little abroad In the Morning and Euening his Slaues blow or sound certaine Trumpets made of Elephants teeth his Wiues doe then wash and anoynt his body He hath also his Guard Hee sits in state on a stoole holding in his hands the tayle of a Horse or Elephant to driue away Flies gallantly adorned with Rings of Gold on his Armes and legges and necke with corall Beads also wherwith likewise he maketh diuers knots on his beard His Children if they will haue any thing when they are of age must get it the common people would not like that he should maintaine them idle Onely he bestowes on them their marriage gift and a Slaue They chuse by most voyces a successour in another kindred who inheriteth the treasure of the dead King and not his owne Children Controuersies are tried by the Fetisseros Pot as is said if it be for Murther hee may redeeme his life with money one moity to the King the other to the Courtiers if he cannot the Executioner bindes his hands behind him couers his face leades him to a place alone and causing him to kneele downe thrusts him through and then for before they thinke him not dead cuts off his head and quartering the body leaues it to the Fowles ond Beasts His head is boyled by his
longer then the wings are wet nor swimme fast hauing exchanged finnes for wings So haue I seene men thrice worse that haue two Trades than such as haue been skilfull and thriftie in one Lerius addeth the like wonder of certaine Birds so tame that they would light vpon the hatches and suffer themselues to bee taken These are the same Birds which pursue those flying fishes wiser to hunt them then to saue themselues as bigge as Crowes in feathers in flesh little bigger than a Sparrow and farre lesse then the fish which they take and deuoure These Seas are also subiect to great and tedious calmes which not onely hinder the Voyages but end the liues of many Giouanni da Empoli saith in his returne out of India they were heere detained foure and fifty dayes in which they scarce sailed aboue sixe leagues and in thirty fiue dayes they cast ouer-boord threescore and sixteene of their company very few suruiuing in their ship which likewise happened to other ships their Consorts so that they had vtterly despaired had not God sent a Portugall ship that way bound to relieue them And would God the like examples many might not be produced amongst our own Betweene 17. and 32 degrees of Northerly Latitude men are subiect to gripings and haue need to keepe themselues warme To returne to our discouerie from Iago where we left where the Negro's were wont to bring slaues to sell to the Portugals for Beads and other trifles and Cottons with other base commodities and them not such alone as they tooke in warre but their fathers and mothers thinking they did them a benefit to cause them thus to be conueyed into better countries they brought them naked The Iles of Arguin are sixe or seuen inhabited by the Azanhagi where the King of Spaine hath a Fortresse concerning the trade whereof you may reade the letter of Melchior Petonoy §. II. Of the Canaries Madera and Port-Santo FVrther into the Sea are the Canaries which are commonly reckoned seuen Canaria Teneriff Palma Gomera Hierro Lansarrotte and Fuerte Ventura : Thauet addes three others more Lobos Roca Gratiosa S. Clara Alegrança and Infierno The Inhabitants were so grosse before they were discouered that they knew not the vse of fire They beleeued in one Creator of the World who punisheth the euill and rewarded the good herein they all consented in other things disagreed their weapons were stones and staues They shaued their heads with sharpe stones like flints Iron they had not Gold they respected not The women nursed not their children but commonly committed that office to their Goats They as much delighted in dancing as the birds which beare their name in singing They were vnknowne from the times of the Romane Empire at which time they were called Fortunatae till either an English or French ship by mis-fortune lighted on them An 1405. Io. Bentacor conquered them and after him Anno 1444. Henry the Infanta of Portugal that Day-starre which by his industry made way to the present Sun-shine of Discoueries whereby the World in her last dayes hath fullest view of her selfe Galuano calleth that Frenchmen Io. Betancourt and saith hee was sent by Iohn the second of Castile An. 1417. who being slaine in the action his sonne sold them to Peter Barba a Spaniard and hee to Don Henry Hee saith the people were Idolaters and did eate their flesh raw for want of fire They tilled their ground with Oxe and Goats-horns They had many wiues but deliuered them to their Superiours to haue the first vse of them before they lay with them Don Henry conquered the rest which Betancourt had not possessed Their former gouernment was by an hundred and ninety persons which ruled also in matters of Religion prescribing to the people their faith and worship They had in highest name of authoritie a King and a Duke To slay a beast was esteemed the basest office in the world and therefore committed to their prisoners they which did this liued separate from the people Thus was it in the Gran Canaria In Gomera they vsed for hospitality to let their friends lye with their wiues and receiuing theirs in like courtesie and therefore as in India the Sisters Sonne inherited In Tenarife they had two Kings one dead another aliue when a new King was crowned some man to honour his entrance offered himselfe to voluntary death when the King was buried the noblest men caried him on their shoulders and putting him into the graue said depart in peace O blessed soule Theuet affirmeth that the Canaries are so called of the Canes and Reeds that grow there that they worshipped the Sun Moone and Planets Of these Ilands Thomas Nichols an Englishman hath composed a Treatise extant in Mr Hakluyts Voyages Tom. 2. Part. 2. He saith they dwelt in Caues supposed to descend of such as the Romans in Africa had exiled and out their tongues out for blasphemie against thiir gods The Pike or high Hill of Tenarife is after Theuets measure foure and fifty miles Tho. Byam a friend of mine told me that he had seene it eight and forty leagues into the Sea in cleere weather One of our Nation hath written a Tractate of his obseruations of these Ilands Heere before the conquest were seuen Kings which with their people dwelt in Caues Their buriall was to be set vpon their feet naked in a Caue propped against the wall and if hee were a man of authoritie he had a staffe in his hand and a vessell of milke standing by him I haue seene saith Nichols three hundred of these corpses together the flesh dryed vp the body light as parchment I my selfe saw two of those bodies in London Canaria Tenerife and Palma haue one Bishop who hath twelue thousand Ducats Reuenue which place was not long since possessed by Melchior Canus a great Writer in defence of the falling Babylon They pay to tht King fiftie thousand Ducats Hierro or the Iland of Iron is by a multitude of Authours affirmed to haue it in no fresh water but what falleth from the leaues of a certaine Tree which is alwayes greene and couered with clouds and vnderneath the same is a Cisterne to receiue the water for the vse both of men beasts throughout that Iland A whole wood of such Trees wee mentioned in Saint Thomas Iland which yeeld from their dropping leaues Rilles of water downe all sides of the Hill where they grow In this Iland heere is but one and that very ancient differing in this if we beleeue Sanutus from those of St Thomas they alwayes this onely afternoone being couered with that cloud which continueth till two houres before day and then the bodie boughs and leaues of the tree sweat out that liquor till two houres after Sun-rising it is in 27. degrees Lewis Iackson saith that he saw this tree being in this Iland Anno 1618. that it is as bigge as an Oake
was hell and that the soules of their wicked Ancestors went thither to be tormented and that those who were good and valiant men went downe into the pleasant Valley where the great City di Laguna now standeth then which the Towns adioyning to it there is not in any place of the World a more delicater temperature of Ayre nor a goodlier Obiect for the eye to make a Royall Landskip of as to stand in the Centre of this Plaine and to behold how nature hath delineated all earthly beauty in the great On the North side of the Iland are many fresh waters with falling downe from the top of exceeding high Mountaynes refresh the Plaines and City di Laguna and are afterwards by the greatnesse of their torrent carried into the Ocean The Iland is parted in the midst with a ridge of Mountaynes like the roofe of a Church hauing in the midst of it like a steeple the Pyke of Teyda if you diuide the Iland into twelue parts ten of them are taken vp in impassable Rocky Hils in Woods in Vineyards and yet in this small remaynder of arrable ground there was gathered as I saw vpon their account in the yeere of our Lord 1582. 200. and 5000. Hannacks of Wheat besides infinite store of Rie and Barley One of our English quarters make foure and a halfe of their Hannacks The soyle is delicately temperate and would produce all the most excellent things the earth beareth if the Spaniards would seeke and labour them The Vineyards of account are in Buena Vista in Dante in Oratana in Tigueste and in the Ramble which place yeeldeth the most excellent Wine of all other There are two sorts of Wines in this Iland Vidonia and Muluesia Vidonia is drawne out of a long Grape and yeeldeth a dull Wine The Maluesia out of a great round Grape and this is the only Wine which passeth all the Seas of the World ouer and both the Poles without sowring or decaying whereas all other wines turne to Vineger or freeze into Ice as they approch the Southerne or Northerne Pole There are no where to be found fairer or better Mellons Pomegranates Pomecitrons Figs Orenges Limons Almonds and Dates Honey and consequently Waxe and Silke though not in great quantity yet excellent good and if they would plant there store of Mulberry trees the ground would in goodnesse and for quantity equall if not exceed eyther Florence or Naples in that commodity The North side of this Iland aboundeth aswell with wood as with water There grow the Cedar Cypresse and Bay tree the wild Oliue Masticke and Sauine goodly procerous Palme and Pine-trees which shoot vp into a beautifull streight talnese In the passage betwixt Oratana and Garachiro you ride through a whole Forrest of them the strong sauour of which perfumeth all the Aire thereabouts of these there are such abundance all the Iland ouer that all their Wine Vessels and woodden Vtensils are made of them There are of these Pine-trees two sorts the strait Pine and the other growing after the manner of our spreading Okes in England which wood the Inhabitants call the Immortall tree for that it rotteth neyther aboue nor below the ground nor in the water It is neere as red as Brasill , and as hard but nothing so vnctuous as the other kind of Pine Of these they haue such great ones that the Spaniards doe faithfully report that the wood of one Pine-tree alone couered the Church of los Remedios in the City of Laguna which is 80. foote in length and 48. foote in breadth And that one other Pine-tree couered the Church of S. Benito in the same City which is 100. foot in length and 35. in breadth The noblest and strangest tree of all the Iland is the tree called Draco his body riseth into an exceeding height and greatnesse The barke is like the scales of a Dragon and from thence I suppose it had his name On the very top of the tree doe all his armes cling and interfold together by two and by two like the Mandragoras they they are fashioned euen like the arme of a man round and smooth and as out of their fingers ends groweth the leafe about two foote in length in fashion like to our greene wild water seggs This tree hath not wood within its barke but only a light spongious pith and they commonly make Bee-hiues of the bodies of them Towards the full of the Moone it sweateth forth a cleane Vermilion Gummme which they call Sangre de Draco more excellent and astringeth by farre then that Sanguis Draconis which wee haue from Goa and from other parts of the East Indies by reason the Iewes are the only Druggists of those parts and to make mony they falsifie and multiply it with other trash foure pound waight for one The first that were knowne to inhabit this Iland are called Guanches but how they came thither it is hard to know because they were and are people meerely barbarous voyd of Letters The language of the old Guanches which remayneth to this day among them in this Iland in their Towne of Candelaria alludeth much to that of the Moores in Barbary When Betanchor the first Christian Discouerer of these parts came thither he found them to be no other then meere Gentiles ignorant of God Notwithstanding I doe not find that they had any manner of commerce with the Deuill a thing not vsuall among the Indian Gentiles They held there was a power which they called by diuers names as Achuhurahan Achuhucanar Achguayaxerax signifying the greatest the highest and the mayntayner of all If they wanted raine or had too much or any thing went ill with them they brought their sheepe and their Goats into a certaine place and seuered the young ones from the Dams and with this bleating on both sides they thought the wrath of the Supreme Power was appeased and that he would prouide them of what they wanted They had some notion of the immortality and punishment of Soules for they thought there was a Hell and that it was in the Pike of Teyda and they call Hell Echeyde and the Deuill Guayotta In ciuill affaires they were somewhat Regular as in acknowledging a King and confessing vassalage in contracting Matrimony reiecting of Bastards succession of Kings making of Lawes and subiecting themselues to them When any childe was borne they called vnto them a certaine woman and shee did with certaine words powre water vpon the childes head and euer after this woman was assumed into the number of that kindred and with her it was not lawfull euer after for any of that race to marrie or vse copulation The exercises which the young men vsed were leaping or running shooting the Dart casting of the stone and dauncing in which to this houre they do both exceedingly glorie and delight And so full of naturall vertue and honest simplicitie were these Barbarians
Tome appeareth Perhaps this Voyage of Cabot was the same which is mentioned by Master Robert Thorne in a Treatise of his written 1527. that his Father and Hugh Eliot a Merchant of Bristow were the Discouerers of the New-found-lands and if they had followed their Pilots minde the Lands of the West Indies had beene ours Anno 1500. Gasper Corteregalis a Portugall minding new Discoueries set forth a ship at his owne charge from Lisbone and sayling farre North at last came to a Land which for the pleasantnesse thereof he called Greene The men as he reported were barbarous brown-coloured very swift good Archers clothed in Beasts skins They liue in Caues or base Cottages without any Religion but obserue Sooth-sayings They vsed Marriages and were very iealous Petrus Pasqualigi in a Letter concerning this Voyage sayth they brought from thence a piece of a gilded Sword which seemed to be of Italian workmanship a child also amongst them ware two siluer-earings which by the workmanship appeared to bee brought from these parts perhaps belonging to some of Cabots company Returning into Portugall hee sayled thitherward againe Anno 1501. But what became of him none can tell His Brother Michael Corteregalis the next yeere set forth two ships to make search for his Brother but he also was lost The King Emanuel grieued herewith sent to enquire of them but all in vaine Their Brother Vasco would haue put himselfe on this aduenture but the King would not suffer him The name Greene vpon this occasion was withered and the land was called Terra Corteregalis Thus farre Osorius It reacheth according to Boterus reckoning to the 60. degree Let vs come to our owne For of Steuen Gomes little is left vs but a Iest This Gomes hauing beene with Magellan a few yeeres before in his Discouery of the South Sea inlarged with hopes of new Streights in the yeere 1525. set forth to search this Northerly passage But finding nothing to his expectation he laded his ship with slaues and returned At his returne one that knew his intent was for the Moluccas by that way inquiring what hee had brought home was told Esclauos that is slaues Hee fore-stalled with his owne imagination of Cloues had thought it was said Clauos and so posted to the Court to carry first newes of this Spicy Discouery looking for a great reward but the truth being knowne caused hereat great laughter Dithmar Bleskens in his Treatise of Island relateth that in the yeere 900. the Nobilitie of East Frisia and Breame found that Iland and 200. leagues from thence discouered Groenland which he saith was named per antiphrasin of the contrary for want of greene and pleasant Pastures and that by Whirle-pooles and misty darknesse all their Nauie but one ship perished William Steere translated a Booke Anno 1608. before translated out of the Norsh Language 1560. for the vse of Henry Hudson in which is mention of diuers Townes of Groenland as Skagenford an Easterne Dorp or Village and from thence more Easterly Beareford where was great fishing for Whales by the Bishops licence the benefit redounding to the Cathedrall Church Allabourg sound where Fowle and Oxen were plentifull Fendbrother Hauen where in Saint Olaffs time some were drowned and their ship cast away Crosses being yet seene on their Graue-stones Corsehought where by authority from the Bishop they hunted for White Beares from hence Eastward nothing but Ice and Snow Westward stood Kodesford a Dorp well built with a great Church Wartsdale Peterswicke Saint Olaffes Monastery and another of Saint Benets Nuns here were many warme-water◠in the Winter intolerably hot and medicinable There was also a Church of Saint Nicholas and many other Parishes and Villages Desarts Beares with red patches on their heads Hawkes Marble of all colours great Streames Nuts and Acornes in the Hils Wheate Sables Loshes c. He affirmeth that it is not so cold there as in Island and Norway But let vs obserue the Discoueries of our owne Countrimen §. III. Discoueries by Sir MARTIN FROBISHER SIr Martin Frobisher deserueth the first place as being the first that in the dayes of Queene Elizabeth sought the Northwest Passage in three seuerall Voyages The first whereof was written by Christopher Hall the second by Dionise Settle the third by Thomas Ellis and all in one Discourse by M. George Best all which at large the Reader may find in M. Hakluyts laborious Discouery of Discoueries To speake briefly what may best befit vs in our Pilgrimage Sir Martin Frobisher sayled from Blackewall Iune the fifteenth and the seuenth of Iuly had sight of Frisland but could not get on shore for the abundance of Ice which was also accompanyed with an extreame fogge as double gard to that Iland vncertaine whether to fortifie it or to imprison them The twentieth of Iuly he had sight of and high Land which he named Queene Elizabeths Fore-land Here was he much troubled with Ice but sayling more Northerly descryed another Fore-land with a Great Gut Bay or Passage which he entred calling it Frobishers Straits supposing it to be the diuision of Asia and America Hauing entred threescore leagues hee went on shore and was encountred with mighty Deere which ranne at him with danger of his life Here had he sight of the Saluages which rowed to his ship in Boats of Seales skinnes with a Keele of wood within them like a Spanish Shallop saue onely they be flat in the bottome and sharpe at both ends They eat raw flesh and fish or rather deuoured the same they had long blacke haire broad faces flat noses tawny of colour or like an Oliue which neyther Sunne or Wind but Nature it selfe imprinted on them as appeared by their Infants and seemeth to be the generall Liuery of America Their apparell was Scales skins their women were painted or marked downe the cheekes and about the eyes with blue strakes These Saluages intercepted fiue of our men and the Boat Ours also tooke one of theirs which they brought into England where they arriued the second of October 1576. Hee had taken possession of the Countrey in right of the Queene and commanded his company to bring euery one somewhat in witnesse of the same One brought a piece of blacke stone like Sea-coale which was found to hold Gold in good quantity Whereupon a second Voyage was made the next yeere 1577. to bring Ore And comming to those Straits in Iuly found them in manner shut vp with a long Mure of Ice which sometime indangered their ships especially on the nineteenth of that moneth They found a great dead fish round like a Porcpis twelue foot long hauing a Horne of two yards lacking two inches growing out of the Snout wreathed and straight like a Waxe Taper and might bee thought to be a Sea Vnicorne It was broken in the top wherein some of the Saylers said they put Spiders which presently dyed It was reserued as a Iewell
it halfe eaten and then foure of them could scarcely carry the other halfe when as the whole body had been very lightly carried in his fellowes mouth As for the thin Diet which these Hollanders endured and other discommodities together with their returne in two open Scutes wherein they sailed aboue a thousand miles after ten moneths continuance in this desolate habitation their dangers in the Ice which somewhat besieged them like whole Tents Townes and Fortifications and other the particulars of this Voyage I referre to the Author himselfe Here I remember thus much for Greene-lands sake on which in this Nauigation they are said to haue touched How euer that be they continued no trade nor Discouerie thither till the English diuers yeeres after had made a new Discouerie and found there a profitable Whale-fishing In the yeere 1607. Hen. Hudson discouered these parts to the Latitude of fourescore there naming a point of Land Hackluyts Head-land which name is still beareth And Ionas Poole in the yeere 1610. was set forth by the Muscouy Company in the Amitie and discouered diuers Sounds and Harbours here with the Sea-Horses he killed and other things found on shore giuing such good Content to the Aduenturers that He was by them employed the next yeere in the Elizabeth with Master Steuen Bennet in the Mary Margaret both which Ships were vnfortunately cast away the Men and part of the goods were brought home by Master Marmaduke then there in a Ship of Hull In the yeere 1612. were set forth three Ships from Holland and one from Biscay all hauing English Pilots besides two sent thither by the Company called the Sea-Horse and the Whole vnder the Masters before mentioned In the yeere 1613 many Ships were thither sent from France Biskay Holland so that the Company addressed thither seuen warlike ships vnder the Command of Master Beniamin Ioseph who without bloudshed disappointed those Strangers ready to reape that which others had sowne and either had not at all discouered or wholly giuen ouer the businesse The next yeere 1614. eleuen good Ships and two Pinasses were employed to Greeneland and three more not then ready appointed to follow vnder the same Generall which Voyage is in my hands communicated to mee by my industrious Friend a skilfull Mariner and Discouerer both in these and other parts William Baffin entertained in this Fleet. But the particulars would be howsoeuer profitable to our Mariner tedious to our ordinarie Reader They then discouered wel-neere to 81. For beyond that degree our Author beleeues not that any hath beene The names of diuers places as Saddle Iland Barren Iland Beare Iland Red Goose Iland all betwixt 80. and 81. and Sir Tho Smiths Inlet Maudlin Sound Faire Hauen Sir Thomas Smiths Bay Ice Sound Bell Sound with other places on or neere the Greater Ile or supposed Continent I forbeare to recite as not intending to instruct the Mariner so much as the Scholler This yeere 1616. were sent thither ten ships which killed aboue a hundred Whales as Master Thomas Sherwin imployed therein related to me Greeneland is now almost altogether discouered to bee an Iland or rather many Ilands and broken grounds In the Greeneland voyage 1611. from Cherry Iland toward Greeneland they met with a banke of Ice fortie leagues long and ranne almost alongst another a hundred and twenty Leagues At their first comming all was couered with Snow at their departure the tops of the Hils and Plaines had receiued a new liuerie of greene Mosse and a little grasse The Aire was mistie like night They found many fat Deere many white Beares with white gray and dunne Foxes There was a bird called an Allen which beats the other birds till they vomit their prey for him to deuoure and then dismisseth them with little meat in their bellies or feathers on their backs They finde Morses Sea-Vnicornes hornes white Partriches Wilde-geese but not a bush or tree I might heere adde diuers Voyages to Cherry Iland where they haue thousands of Morses the Teeth and Oyle whereof yeeld them no small commoditie There also are many Beares I might here recreate your wearied eyes with a hunting spectacle of the greatest chase which Nature yeeldeth I meane the killing of the Whale When they espy him on the top of the water which he is forced to for to take breath they row toward him in a Shallop in which the Harponier stands ready with both his hands to dart his Harping-iron to which is fastened a line of such length that the Whale which suddenly feeling himselfe hurt sinketh to the bottome may carry it down with him being before fitted that the Shallop be not therewith indangered comming vp againe they againe strike him with Launces made for that purpose about twelue foot long the iron eight therof and the blade eighteene inches the Harping-iron principally seruing to fasten him to the Shallop and thus they hold him in such pursuit till after streames of water and next that of blood cast vp into the Aire and Water as angry with both Elements which haue brought thither such weak hands to his destruction he at last yeeldeth his slaine carkasse as meed to the conquerors They tow him to the Ship with two or three Shallops made fast to one another and then floating at the sterne of the Ship they cut the blubber or fat from the flesh in pieces three or foure foot long which after at shore are cut smaller and boiled in coppers which done they take them out put them into wicker baskets which are set in Shallops halfe ful of water into which the Oyle runneth and is thence put into buts This Whale-fishing is yeerely now vsed by our men in Greeneland with great profit The ordinarie length of a Whale is sixty foot and not so huge as Olaus hath written who maketh the Mors also as bigge as an Elephant The proportion of this huge Leuiathan deserues description as one of the greatest Wonders of the Lord in the deepe whereon Himselfe so much insisteth Iob 41.12 that he will not conceale his parts nor his power nor his comely proportion The Whale that here we speake of is the Great Bay-Whale for there are many other kinds the Trompe which hath two Trunkes or breathing holes on his head whereas the Bay-Whale hath but one whose braines are said to be the Sperma Cete the Inbarte which hath a Fin on his backe dangerous to boats exceeding swift and little profitable besides other kinds This is the most simple and vsefull the greater and fatter the more easily taken His head is the third part of him his mouth O hellish wide sixteene foot in the opening and yet out of that belly of Hell yeelding much to the ornaments of our womens backs the Whale-bones or Finnes being no other then the rough and inner part of the mouth closing in the shutting thereof as the fingers of both hands within each other Of these Finnes are fiue hundred from the length
Discouerers vtterly deny this History affirming that there are but Cabans here and there made with Perkes and couered with barkes of trees or with skins and both the Riuer and inhabited place is called Pemtegoet and not Agguncia And there can be no great Riuer as they affirme because the great Riuer Canada hath like an insatiable Merchant engrossed all these water-commodities so that other streames are in manner but meere Pedlers The Armouchiquois are a traiterous and theeuish people next vnneighbourly neighbours to the Etechemins they are light-footed and lime-fingered as swift in running away with their stollen prey as the Grey-hound in pursuing it Champlein testifieth that the Armouchiquois are deformed with little heads short bodies armes small like a bone as are their thighs also their legges great and long and disproportioned with likenesse of proportion when they sit on their heeles their knees are halfe a foot higher then their heads They are valiant and planted in the best Countrey Monsieur du Point arriued in those parts in the yeere 1605. and du Monts remoued the French Habitation to the Port-Royall Monsieur de Pourtrincourt sailed thither in the yeere 1606. and with him the Author of the Booke called Noua Francia who hath written the Rites and Customes of these Countries Hee saith that the Armouchiquois are a great people but haue no adoration They are vicious and bloudy Both they and the Souriquois haue the industry of Painting and Caruing and doe make Pictures of Birds Beasts and Men both in stone and wood as well as the workmen in these parts They as is said ascribe not Diuine worship to any thing but yet acknowledge some Spirituall and inuisible Power I know not by what Diuine Iustice and Iniustice of the Diuell it comes to passe that God hath giuen some men vp so farre vnto the Diuels tyrannie that he hath banished out of their hearts the knowledge and worship of the True God and yet the nature of Man cannot be without apprehension of some greater and more excellent Nature and rather then want of all Religion they will haue a Religious-irreligious commerce with the Diuell Yea the more all knowledge of God is banished the baser seruice doe Men in doing and suffering yeeld to the Diuell as to leaue other parts to their owne places it falleth out in these Regions The Prince and greatest Commander of Men among them seemes by this meanes to bee the Diuels Vicegerent and by wizardly and diuellish practices to vp-hold his owne greatnesse So it was with Sagamos Membertou if any body were sicke he was sent for he made inuocations on the Diuell he bloweth vpon the partie grieued maketh incision sucketh the bloud from it a practice vsed in very many Countries of the Continent and Ilands of America if it be a wound he healeth it after the same maner applying a round slice of Beauers stones Some present is therefore made to him of Venison or skinnes If it be a question to haue newes of things absent hauing first questioned with his spirit he rendereth his Oracle commonly doubtfull very often false and sometimes true He rendered a true Oracle of the comming of Poutrincourt to du Pont saying his Diuell had told him so When the Sauages are hungry they consult with Membertous Oracle and he telleth them the place whither they shall goe and if there be no game found the excuse is that the Beast hath wandered and changed place but very often they finde And this makes them beleeue that the Diuell is a God and know none other although they yeeld him no adoration When these Aoutmoins so they call these Wizards consult with the Diuell they fixe a staffe in a pit to which they tye a Cord and putting their head into the pit make inuocations or coniurations in a language vnknowne to the others that are about and this with beatings and howlings vntill they sweat with paine When this Diuell is come the Master Aoutmoin makes them beleeue that hee holds him tyed by his cord and holdeth fast against him forcing him to giue him an answer before he let him goe That done he beginneth to sing something in the praises as it seemeth of the Diuel that hath discouered some game vnto them and the other Sauages that are there make answer with some concordance of musicke among them Then they dance with songs in another not vulgar language after which they make a fire and leape ouer it and put halfe a pole out of the top of the Cabin where they are with something tied thereto which the Diuell carrieth away Memberton carried at his necke the marke of his profession which was a purse triangle-wise couered with their imbroidered worke within which there was somewhat as bigge as a Nut which he said was his Diuell called Aoutem This function is successiue and by tradition they teach their eldest sonnes the mysterie of this iniquitie Euery Sagamos either is or hath his Aoutmoin The men and women weare their blacke haire long hanging loose ouer the shoulder wherein the men sticke a feather the women a bodkin They are much troubled with a stinging fly for preuention whereof they rub themselues with a certaine kinde of grease and oyles They paint their faces with blue or red but not their bodies For their marriages they are contracted with the consent of Parents who will not giue their Daughters in marriage to any except he be a good hunter The women are said to bee chaste and the contrary seldome found and though the husband hath many wiues yet is there no iealousie among them The widowes heere if there husbands be killed wil not marrie againe nor eate flesh till their death be reuenged Otherwise they make no great difficultie which Cartier reporteth of Canada to marry againe if they find a fit match Sometimes the Sauages hauing many wiues will giue one to their friend if he likes her so to disburden themselues The women eate not with the men in their meetings but apart When they make feasts they them end with dances all in a round to which one singeth at the end of euery song all make a loud long exclamation and to be the more nimble they strip themselues starke naked If they haue any of their enemies heads or armes they will carry them as a iewell about their necks whiles they dance sometimes biting the same After their Feasts they will diet themselues liuing sometimes eight dayes more or lesse with the smoke of Tobacco They are in nothing laborious but in hunting They sow but so much as will serue them for sixe moneths and that very hardly during the Winter they retire three or foure moneths space into the woods and there liue on Acornes Fish and Venison They wash not themselues at meales except they be monstrous foule and then wipe on their owne or their Dogs haires Their entertainment is with small complement the Guest sits downe by his
much respect to our Bibles When the Weroans was sicke he sent vs to pray for him Some were of opinion that we were not mortall nor borne of Women but that wee were men of an old Generation many yeeres past then risen againe to immortalitie some would likewise seeme to prophecie that there were more of our Generation yet to come to kill theirs and take their places which were now in the Aire inuisible and without bodies and that they by our entreatie did make men to die which had wronged vs They haue their Idoll in the innermost roome of their house of whom they tell incredible things They carrie it with them when they goe to the warres and aske counsell thereof as the Romans did of their Oracles They sing songs as they march towards the battell in stead of Drummes and Trumpets their warres are bloudy and haue wasted much of their people A certaine King called Piemacum hauing inuited many men and women of the Secotans to a Feast whiles they were merry and praying before their Idol came vpon them and slew them When one of their Kings had conspired against the English a chiefe man about him said that we were the seruants of God and not subiect to be destroyed by them and that we being dead men could doe more hurt then while we were aliue They vse to solemnize certaine months-minds in their Sauage manner for any great personage dead Iames Rosier from the relation of Owen Griffin an eye-witnesse thus tels of their ceremonies One among them the eldest as hee iudged riseth right vp the other sitting stil and looking about suddenly cryed with aloud voice Baugh Waugh then the women fall downe and lye vpon the ground and the men all together answering the same fall a stamping round about the fire with both feet as hard as they can making the ground shake with sundry out-cries and change of voice and sound Many take the fire-sticks and thrust them into the earth and then rest a while Of a sudden they begin as before and continue so stamping till the yonger sort fetched from the shore many stones of which euery man tooke one and first beat vpon them with their fire-sticks then with the stones beat the earth with all their strength And in this manner they continued about two houres After this ended they which had wiues tooke them apart and withdrew themselues seuerally into the wood This seemed to be their euening deuotion When they haue obtained some great deliuerance from danger or returne from warre they obserue a publike and solemne reioycing by making a great fire encompassed with the men and women promiscuously all of them with Rattles in their hands making a great noise They hold one time in the yeere Festiuall and then they meet together out of many Villages euery one hauing a certaine marke or Character on his backe whereby it may be discerned whose Subiect he is The place where they meet is spacious and round about are set posts carued with the resemblance of a Nuns head In the mids are three of the fairest Virgins louingly embracing and clasping each other about this liuing Center and artificiall Circle they dance in their Sauage manner Their Idoll called Kiwasa is made of wood foure foot high the face resembling the Inhabitants of Florida painted with flesh-colour the brest white the other parts blacke except the legges which are spotted with white he hath Chaines or strings of Beads about his necke This Idoll is in Socota as it were the keeper of the dead bodies of their Kings In their Temples are houses of publique deuotion they haue two three or more of them set in a darke place The dead bodies of their Weroances are kept on certaine Scaffolds nine or ten foot high this Kiwasa their guardian being placed with them and vnderneath dwelleth a Priest which night and day there numbreth his deuotions §. II. Obseruations of their Rites by Captaine SMITH and others BVt let vs take view of our last Colonies obseruations Capt. Smith was taken by the Virginians and while hee stayed amongst them obserued these their Magicall Rites Three or foure dayes after his taking seuen of their priests in the house where he lay each with a Rattle setting him by them began at ten of the clock in the morning to sing about a fire which they enuironed with a circle of meale at the end of euery song which the chiefe Priest began the rest following laying downe two or three graines of Wheat and after they had laid down sixe or seuen hundred in one circle accounting their songs by Graines as the Papists their Orisons by Beads they made two or three other circles in like manner and put at the end of euery song betwixt euery two or three or fiue Graines a little sticke The High Priest disguised with a great skinne his head hung round with little skins of Weasils and other Vermine with a Crownet of Feathers painted as vgly as the Diuell at the end of each song vseth strange and vehement gestures casting great Cakes of Deere-suet and Tobacco into the fire thus till sixe of the clock in the euening they continued these howling deuotions and so held on three dayes This they pretended to doe to know if any more of his Country-men would arriue and what hee there intended They so fed this our Author that he much mis-doubted that he should haue been sacrificed to the Quoyoughquosicke which is a superiour Power they worship then the Image whereof a more vgly thing cannot be described To cure the sicke a certaine man with a little Rattle vsing extreme howlings shouting singing with diuers anticke and strange behauiours ouer the patient sucketh bloud out of his stomacke or diseased place Not much vnlike to that rattling deuotion of their exorcising Priests at least in absurditie was that entertainment which Powhatans women gaue the same Captaine then being free and President of the company at Werowocomoco where thirtie of them came out of the woods naked onely couered behinde and before with a few greene leaues their bodies painted but with some difference each from other the Leader of these Nymphs resembled both Actaeon and Diana hauing on her head a faire paire of Stagges hornes and a quiuer of arrowes at her backe with Bow and Arrowes in her hand The rest followed all horned alike weaponed with vnlike instruments these as if they had beene the infernall guard comming with Cerberus to welcome Proserpina to her Palace rushed from the trees with hellish shouts and cryes dancing about a fire which there was made for that purpose and after an houre thus spent they departed Then did they solemnly inuite him to their lodging where he was no sooner come but all rounded about him with tedious kindnesse crying Loue you not me This salutation ended which Pan and all his Satyres would haue accepted they feasted him with plenty and varietie some singing and dancing
whiles others attended and at last led him with a firebrand in stead of a Torch to his lodging When they intend any wars the Weroances or Kings consult first with the Priests and Coniurers And no people haue there beene found so sauage which haue not their Priests Gods and Religion All things that are able to hurt them beyond their preuention they after their sort adore as the Fire Water Lightning Thunder our Ordnance Peeces Horses Yea I haue heard Captaine Smith say that they seeing one of the English Bores in the way were striken with awfull feare because he brisled vp himselfe and gnashed his teeth and took him for the god of the Swine which was offended with them The chiefe god they worship is the Diuell which they call Okee They haue conference with him and fashion themselues vnto his shape In their Temples they haue his Image ill-fauouredly made painted adorned with Chaines Copper and Beads and couered with a skinne By him is commonly the Sepulchre of their Kings whose bodies are first bowelled then dryed on a hurdle and haue about the ioynts chaines of Copper Beads and other like trash then lapped in white skinnes and rowled in mats and orderly entombed in arches made of mats the remnant of their wealth being set at their feet These Temples and Bodies are kept by their Priests For their ordinarie burials they digge a deepe hole in the earth with sharpe stakes and the corps being wrapped in skins and mats with their iewels they lay them vpon sticks in the ground and couer them with earth The buriall ended the women hauing their faces painted with blacke coale and oyle sit foure and twenty houres in the houses mourning and lamenting by turnes with yellings and howlings Euery Territory of a Weroance hath their Temples and Priests Their principall Temple is at Vttamussack in Pamaunk where Powhatan hath a house vpon the top of certaine sandie hils in the woods There are three great houses filled with Images of their Kings and Diuels and Tombes of their Predecessors Those houses are neere threescore foot long built after their fashion Arbour-wise This place is in such estimation of holinesse that none but the Priests and Kings dare enter yea the Sauages dare not passe by in Boats without casting Copper Beads or somewhat into the Riuer Heere are commonly resident seuen Priests the chiefe differed from the rest in his ornaments the other can hardly be knowne from the common people but that they haue not so many holes at their eares to hang their Iewels at The High-Priests head-tire is thus made They take a great many Snakes skinnes stuffed with Mosse as also of Weasils and other vermines skins which they tye by their tayles so that all the tayles meet on the top of their head like a great tassell The faces of their Priests are painted as vgly as they can deuise in their hands they haue Rattles some Base some Treble Their deuotion is most in songs which the chiefe Priest beginneth the rest following sometime he maketh inuocations with broken sentences by starts and strange passions and at euery pause the other giue a short grone It cannot be perceiued that they haue any set Holy-dayes onely in some great distresse of want feare of enemies times of triumph and of gathering their fruits the whole Countrey Men Women and Children assemble to their solemnities The manner of their deuotion is somtimes to make a great fire all singing and dancing about the same with Rattles and shouts foure or fiue houres sometime they set a man in the middest and dance and sing about him he all the while clapping his hands as if he would keepe time after this they goe to their Feasts They haue certaine Altar-stones which they call Powcorances standing from their Temples some by their houses others in the woods and wildernesses vpon which they offer bloud Deere-suet and Tobacco This they doe when they returne from the warres from their huntings and on other occasions When the waters are rough in stormes their coniurers runne to the waters sides or passe in their boats and after many hellish out-cries and inuocations cast Tobacco Copper Pocones or such trash into the water to pacifie that god whom they thinke to be very angry in those stormes Before their dinners and suppers the better sort will take the first bit and cast it into the fire which is all the grane they are knowne to vse In some part of the Countrey they are said which since is found false to haue yeerely a sacrifice of children such a one was performed at Quiyoughcohanock some ten miles from Iames Towne in this manner Rapahannock Werowance made a Feast in the woods the people were so painted that a Painter with his pensill could not haue done better Some of them were blacke like Diuels with hornes and loose haire some of diuers colours They continued two dayes dancing in a circle of a quarter of a mile in two companies with antick tricks foure in a ranke the Werowance leading the dance they had Rattles in their hands all in the middest had black hornes on their heâ—ds and greene boughes in their hands next them were foure or fiue principall men diuersly painted which with bastinadoes beat forward such as tired in the dance Thus they made themselues scarce able to goe or stand When they met together they made a hellish noise and euery one flinging away his bough ranne clapping their hands vp into a tree and tare it to the ground and fell into their order againe thus they did twice Fourteene well-fauoured children or if you had rather heare Captaine Smith fifteene of the properest yong Boyes betweene ten and fifteene yeeres of age they painted white H uing brought them forth the people saith he spent the forenoone in dancing and singing about them with Rattles in the afternoone they put these children to the root of a tree all the men standing to guard them each with a Bastinado of Reeds bound together in his hand Then doe they make a lane betweene them all along thorow which there were appointed fiue yong men White cals them Priests to fetch these children Each of these fetched a child the guard laying on with their Bastinadoes while they with their naked bodies defend the children to their great smart All this time the women weepe and cry out very passionately prouiding mosse skinnes mats and dry wood vnknowne to what purpose When the children are in this manner fetched away the guard teares downe trees branches and boughes making wreathes for their heads or bedecking their haire with the leaues What else was done with the children was not seene but they were all cast on a heape in a Valley as dead where was made a great feast for all the company William White relating this Rite saith That they remoued them from tree to tree three times and at last carried them into a Valley where the King sate where
wee haue banished together out of our Coasts euery one distrusting or defrauding others whiles eyther by miserable keeping or luxurious spending he which is bad to all is worst to himselfe To this Barne they bring at a certaine time of the yeere all the Venison Fish and Crocodiles dryed before in the smoke for the better preseruation which they meddle not with til need forceth them and then they signifie the same to each other The King may take thereof as much as he will This prouision is sent in baskets on the shoulders of their Hermaphrodites which weare long haire and are their Porters for all burthens They hunt Harts after a strange manner for they will put on a Harts skinne with the legges and head on so that the same shall serue them to stalke with and they will looke thorow the eye and the holes of the Hide as if it were a Vizor thereby deceiuing their Game which they shoot and kill especially at the places where they come to drinke Their Crocodiles they take in a strange manner They are so plagued with these beast that they keepe continuall watch and ward against them as other-where against their Enemies For this purpose they haue a watch-house by the Riuers side and when hunger driues the beast on shore for his prey the Watchmen call to men appointed they come tenne or twelue of them bearing a beame or tree the smaller end whereof they thrust into the mouth of the Crocodile comming vpon them gaping for his prey which being sharpe and rough cannot be got out and therewith they ouer-turne him and then being laid on his backe easily kill him The flesh tasteth like Veale and would be sauoury meate if it did not sauour so much of a Muskie sent Their sobrietie lengtheneth their liues in such sort that one of their Kings told me saith Morgues that he was three hundred yeeres old and his Father which there he shewed me aliue was fiftie yeeres elder then himselfe when I saw him mee thought I saw nothing but bones couered with skinne His sinewes veines and arteries sayth Laudonniere in description of the same man his bones and other parts appeared so cleerely thorow his skinne that a man might easily tell them and discerne the one from the other He could not see nor yet speake without great paine Monsieur de Ottigni demanding of their age the younger of these two called a company of Indians and striking twice on his thigh laid his hands on two of them hee shewed that they were his Sonnes and striking on their thighes he shewed others which were their Sonnes and so continued till the fift generation And yet it was told them that the eldest of them both might by the course of Nature liue thirtie or fortie yeeres more They haue a diuellish custome to offer the first-borne male-children to the King for a sacrifice The day of this dismall Rite being notified to the King he goeth to the place appointed and sits downe Before him is a blocke two foot high and as much thicke before which the mother of the child sitting on her heeles and couering her face with her hands deploreth the death of her sonne One of her friends offereth the child to the King and then the women which accompanied the mother place themselues in a Ring dancing and singing and shee that brought the child stands in the mids of them with the child in her hands singing somewhat in the Kings commendation Sixe Indians stand apart and with them the Priest with a Club wherewith after these ceremonies he killeth the child on that blocke which was once done in our presence Another religious Rite they obserue about the end of Februarie they take the hide of the greatest Hart they can get the hornes being on and fill the same with the best hearbs which grow amongst them hanging about the hornes necke and bodie as it were Garlands of their choisest fruits Hauing thus sowed and trimmed it they bring the same with songs and pipes and set it on a high tree with the head turned toward the East with prayers to the Sunne that hee would cause the same good things to grow againe in their land The King and his Magician stand neerest the tree and begin all the people following with their Responds This done they goe their wayes leauing it there till the next yeere and then renue the same ceremonie Ribault at his first comming had two of the Floridians aboord with him certaine dayes who when they offered them meat refused it giuing them to vnderstand that they were accustomed to wash their face and to stay till sun-set before they did eate which is a ceremonie common in all those parts They obserue a certaine Feast called Toya with great solemnitie The place where it is kept is a great circuit of ground swept and made neat by the women the day before and on the Feast day they which are appointed to celebrate this Feast come painted and trimmed with feathers and set themselues in order Three others in differing painting and gestures follow with Tabrets dancing and singing in a lamentable tune others answering them After that they haue sung danced and turned three times they fall to running like vnbrideled Horses through the midst of the thicke Woods the Indian Women continuing all the day in weeping and teares cutting the armes of the yong Girles with Muskle-shels with hurling the blood into the Ayre crying out three times He Toya Those that ranne through the Woods returne two dayes after and then dance in the midst of the place and cheere vp those which were not called to the Feast Their dances ended they deuoure the meat for they had not eate in three dayes before The Frenchmen learned of a boy that in this meane-while the Iawas had made inuocation to Toya and by Magicall Characters had made him come that he might speake with him and demand diuers strange things of him which for feare of the Iawas he durst not vtter To prouoke them vnto reuenge against their enemies they in their Feasts haue this custome There is a Dagger in the roome which one taketh and striketh therewith one that is thereunto appointed and then places the Dagger where he had it and anon renueth the stroke till the Indian falling downe the women Girles Boyes come about him and make great lamentation the men meane-while drinking Cassine but with such silence that not one word is heard afterwards they apply Mosse warmed to his side to heale him Thus doe they call to minde the death of their Ancestors slaine by their enemies especially when they haue inuaded and returne out of their enemies Countrey without the heads of any of them or without any Captiues §. III. Of the more In-land parts of Florida discouered by NVNEZ BVt let vs take view of the more Southerly and Westerly parts of Florida beyond the point Of Pamphilo Naruaes his vnfortunate Expedition
nor vsed one Vessell or Dish aboue once Hee was rigorous in execution of his Lawes and for that purpose would disguise himselfe to see how they were executed and offer bribes to the Iudges to prouoke them to iniustice which if they excepted cost them their liues though they were his kinsmen or brethren His fall is before declared it shall not be amisse here to mention some prodigious fore-runners of the same The Idoll of Cholola called Quetzacoalt declared That a strange People came to possesse his Kingdome The King of Tescuco a great Magician and many Sorcerers told him as much The King shut vp the Sorcerers in prison where they vanished presently wherefore hee exercised that rage on their wiues and children which he had intended against them He sought to appease his angrie Gods by Sacrifices and therefore would haue remoued a great stone which by no humane industrie would be moued as refusing his atonement Strange voices were heard accompanied with Earthquakes and swellings of the waters A prodigious Bird of the bignesse of a Crane was taken which on his head had as it were a Glasse representing armed men and in the kings presence vanished A stranger thing befell a poore man who was taken vp by an Eagle and carried into a certaine Caue where he let him downe pronouncing these words Most mightie Lord I haue brought him whom thou hast commanded There he saw one like the King lying asleepe touching whom hauing receiued threatning Prophesies he was againe by that former Pursuiuant placed where he had bin taken vp These things as Diuellish illusions abusing GODS Prouidence and Iustice and imitating his Power to rob him of his glorie deserue to be mentioned Mutezuma hauing intelligence of Cortes his arriuall was much troubled and conferring with his Councell they all said that without doubt their great and ancient Lord Quetzacoalt who had said that he would returne from the East whither he was gone had now fulfilled his promise and was come Therefore did hee send Embassadors with presents vnto Cortes acknowledging him for Quetzacoalt sometime their Prince now esteemed a God and himselfe his Lieutenant The Mexican Historie described in Pictures and sent to Charles the fift which I haue seene with Master Hakluit in the first part sheweth their first Expedition and Plantation in this place then all drowned with water with great bogs and some drie bushie places their Kalendar and the names yeeres and conquests of their Kings In the second part their tributes are described the particulars whereof are reparations of certaine Churches so many baskets of Maiz grownd holding halfe a bushell and Almonds of Cacao baskets of Chianpinoli mantles paid euery fourth day and once a yeere Armours and Targets of Feathers all this was paid by the Citie Tlatilulco And in like proportion euery Towne and Nation subiect was to pay the Naturall or Artificiall commodities thereof as Armours garnished with feathers rich mantles white or of other colours Eagles aliue beames of timber boords salt made in long moulds for the Lords of Mexico onely pots of honie Naguas and Huipiles which were attire for women Copale for perfume Cotton Wooll Red-Sea-shels Xicharas in which they drinke Cacao others full of Gold in powder each containing two handfuls plates of Gold three quarters of a yard long and foure fingers broad as thicke as parchment Yellow Varnish to paint themselues Bells and Hatchets of Copper Turkesse-stones Chalke Lime Deere-skins Cochinile Feathers Frizoles Targets of Gold Diadems Borders Beades of Gold Beades of Gemmes Tigres-skins Amber Axi or West-Indian Pepper c. Concerning the State of Mexico vnder the Spaniards Robert Tomson who was there about the yeere 1555. saith that then it was thought there were a thousand and fiue hundred housholds of Spaniards and aboue three hundred thousand Indians The Citie is enuironed with a Lake and the Lake also with Mountaines about thirty leagues in compasse the raines falling from these Hils cause the Lake In this City resideth the Viceroy and heere the highest Indian Courts are kept There are weekly three Faires or Markets abounding with plenty of Commodities at a cheape price Many Riuers fall into the Lake but none goe out The Indians know how to drowne the City and would haue practised it had not the Conspirators beene taken and hanged The Indians here are good Artificers Gold-smiths Copper-smiths Black-smiths Carpenters Shoomakers Taylors Sadlers Embroderers and of all other Sciences and worke exceeding cheape liuing of a little They will goe two or three leagues to a Faire carrying not aboue a penny-worth of Commodities and yet maintaine themselues thereby Milos Philips saith that when Sir Francis Drake was on the South Sea the Viceroy caused a generall muster to be made of all the Spaniards in Mexico and found aboue seuen thousand housholds and three thousand singlemen and of Mestizoes twentie thousand Master Chilton testifieth that euery Indian payeth tribute to the King twelue Reals of Plate and a Hauneg of Maiz fiue Haunegs make a quarter English and euery Widow halfe so much And all their children aboue fifteene yeeres old pay after the same rate He hath great gaine by his fifths and by the Popes Buls this leaden ware was worth to the King at first aboue three Millions of Gold yeerely The greatnesse of exactions caused two Rebellions whiles he was there and the King will not suffer them to haue Oyle or Wine there growing although the Earth would prodigally repay them that they may still haue need of Spaine Tlaxcalla for their merits in the conquest of Mexico as before is shewed is free only they pay a handfull of Wheate a man in signe of subiection but some later encrochers haue forced them to till at their owne charge as much ground as their tribute would amount to There are in it two hundred thousand Indians Some of the wild people in New Spaine are deadly enemies to the Spaniards and eate as many as they get of them Iohn Chilton fell into their hands but being sicke and leane they thought as a Captiue Wench told him that he had the Pox and was but vnwholsome food and so let him depart It is an ill wind that blowes none to good sicknesse the Harbenger of death was to him a preseruer of life Mexico is now an Vniuersitie and therein are taught those Sciences which are read in our Vniuersities of Europe This Vniuersitie was there founded by Antony Mendoza and King Philip erected a Colledge of Iesuites Anno 1577. Mexico is an Archbishopricke There bee many Spanish Colonies or Plantations Compostella Colima Guadaleiara Mechocan Citie of Angele and others whereof diuers are Episcopall Sees Antonio Herrera reckoneth in this and other parts of America fiue Archbishoprickes twentie seuen Bishoprickes two Vniuersities foure hundred Monasteries and Hospitals innumerable In Guastecan not farre from Panuco is a Hill from whence spring two Fountaynes one of blacke Pitch the other of red very hot
appeared this fift Sunne newly borne which after their reckoning is now in this yeere 1612. nine hundred and eighteene yeeres since Three dayes after this Sunne appeared they held that all the Gods did die and that these which since they worship were borne in processe of time At the end of euery twenty dayes the Mexicans celebrated a Feast called Tonalli which was the last day of euery moneth The last day of the first moneth was called Tlacaxiponaliztli on which were slaine an hundred Captiues in Sacrifice and eaten others putting on the skins as before is shewed Many of them would go to the slaughter with ioyfull countenance dancing and demanding Almes which befell to the Priests When the greene Corne was a foot aboue the ground they vsed to goe to a certaine Hill and there sacrificed two Children A Girle and a Boy three yeeres old to the honour of Tlaloc God of the Water that they might haue raine and because these children were free borne their hearts were not plucked out but their throats being cut their bodies were wrapped in a new Mantle and buried in a graue of stone When the fields of Maiz were two foot high a collection was made and therewith were bought foure little slaues betwixt the age of fiue and seuen and they were sacrificed also to Tlaloc for the continuance of raine and those dead bodies were shut vp in a Caue appointed to that purpose The beginning of this butcherie was by occasion of a drought which continued foure yeeres and forced them to leaue the Country When the Maiz was ripe in the moneth and Feast Hueitozotli euery man gathered his handfull of Maiz and brought it to the Temple for an offering with a certaine drinke called Atuli made of the same graine They brought also Copalli a sweet Gumme to incense the Gods which cause the Corne to grow At the beginning of Summer they celebrated the Feast Tlaxuchimcaco with Roses and all sweet flowres making Garlands thereof to set on their Idols heads and spending all that day in dancing To celebrate the Feast Tecuilhuitli all the principall persons of each Prouince came to the Citie on the Euening of the Feast and apparelled a woman with the attire of the God of Salt who danced among a great company of her Neighbours but the next day was sacrificied with much solemnitie and all that day was spent in deuotion burning of Incense in the Temple The Merchants had a Temple by themselues dedicate to the God of gaine they made their Feast vpon the day called Micailhuitl wherein were sacrificed and eaten many captiues which they had bought and all the day spent in dancing In the Feast of Vchpauiztli they sacrificed a woman whose skin was put vpon an Indian which two dayes together danced with the Townsmen celebrating the same Feast in their best attire In the day of Hatamutzli the Mexicans entred into the Lake with a great number of Canoas and there drowned a Boy and a Girle in a little Boat which they caused to be sunke in such sort that neuer after that Boat appeared againe holding opinion that those Children were in company with the Gods of the Lake That day they spent in feasting and anointing their Idols cheekes with a kind of Gumme called Vlli. When Cortes was gone out of Mexico to incounter Pamphilo de Naruaes and had left Aluarado in the Citie he in the great Temple murthered a great multitude of Gentlemen which had there assembled to their accustomed solemnitie being six hundred or as some say a thousand richly attired and adorned where they vsed to sing and dance in honour of their God to obtaine Health Children Victorie c. §. II. Their Feast of Transubstantiation Lent Bloudie Processions and other holy times IN the moneth of May the Mexicans made their principall Feast to Vitziliputzli two dayes before which the Religious Virgins or Nuns mingled a quantity of Beets with rosted Maiz and moulded it with Hony making an Image of that paste in bignesse like to the Idoll of wood putting in in stead of eyes graines of glasse greene blue or white and for teeth graines of Maiz Then did all the Nobles bring it a rich garment like vnto that of the Idoll and being clad did set it in an azured Chaire and in a Litter The morning of the Feast being come an houre before day all the Maidens came forth attired in white with new ornaments which that day were called the Sisters of Vitziliputzli they were crowned with Garlands of Maiz rosted parched with chaines of the same about their neckes passing vnder their left armes Their cheekes were died with Vermilion their armes from the elbow to the wrist were couered with red Parrots feathers Thus attired they tooke the Image on their shoulders carrying it into the Court where all the young men were attired in red Garments crowned like the women When the Maydens came forth with this Idoll the young men drew neere with much reuerence taking the Litter wherein the Idoll was vpon their shoulders carrying it to the staires foot of the Temple where all the people did humble themselues laying earth vpon their heads After this all the people went in Procession to a Mountaine called Chapulteper a league from Mexico and there made Sacrifices From thence they went to their second Station called Atlacuyauaya and from thence againe to a Village which was a league beyond Cuyoacoan and then returned to Mexico They went in this sort aboue foure leagues in so many houres calling this Procession Vpauia Vitziliputzli Beeing come to the foote of the Temple staires they set downe the Litter with the Idoll and with great obseruance drew the same to the top of the Temple some drawing aboue and others helping below the Flutes and Drummes Cornets Trumpets meane-while increasing the Solemnitie The people abode in the Court Hauing mounted and placed it in a little lodge of Roses presently came the young men which strowed flowres of sundry kinds within and without the Temple This done all the Virgins came out of their Conuent bringing pieces of the same paste whereof the Idoll was made in the fashion of great bones which they deliuered to the young men who carried them vp and laid them at the Idols feet till the place could receiue no more They called these morsels of paste The flesh and bones of Vitziliputzli Then came all the Priests of the Temple euery one strictly obseruing his place with veiles of diuers colours and workes Garlands on their heads and chaines of flowres about their neckes after them came the Gods and Goddesses whom they worshipped of diuers figures attired in the same liuery Then putting themselues in order about those pieces of paste they vsed certaine Ceremonies with singing and dancing By these meanes they were blessed and consecrated for the flesh and bones of the Idoll which were then honoured in the same sort as their God Then came forth the Sacrificers who began the
Voyages relateth It is time for vs to passe beyond the Darien Straits vnto that other great Chersonesus or Peruvian AMERICA RELATIONS OF THE DISCOVERIES REGIONS AND RELIGIONS OF THE NEW WORLD OF CVMANA GVIANA BRASILL CHICA CHILI PERV AND OTHER REGIONS OF AMERICA PERWIANA AND OF their Religions THE NINTH BOOKE CHAP. I. Of the Southerne America and of the Countries on the Sea-coast betwixt Dariene and Cumana §. I. Of the great Riuers in these parts and of Dariene THis Peninsula of the New World extending it selfe into the South is in forme somewhat like to Africa and both to some huge Pyramis In this the Basis or ground is the Northerly part called Terra Fuma from whence it lesseneth it selfe by degrees as it draweth neerer the Magellan Straits where the top of this Spire may fitly bee placed On the East side it is washed with the North Ocean as it is termed On the West with that of the South called also the Peaceable It is supposed to haue sixteene thousand miles in compasse foure thousand in length the breadth is vnequall The Easterne part thereof betweene the Riuers Maragnon and Plata is challenged by the Portugals the rest by the Spaniard From the North to the South are ledges of Mountaines the tops whereof are said to be higher then that Birds will visit the bottomes yeeld the greatest Riuers in the World and which most enrich the Oceans store-house Orenoque Maragnon and Plata seeme to be the Indian Triumuiri Generals of those Riuer-Armies and Neptunes great Collectors of his watery tributes Orenoque for ships is nauigable a thousand miles for lesse Vessels two thousand in some places twentie miles broad in some thirtie Berreo affirmed to Sir Walter Raleigh That a hundred Riuers fell into it marching vnder his name and colours the least as bigge as Rio Grande one of the greatest Riuers or America It extendeth two thousand miles East and West and commandeth eight hundred miles North and South Plata taking vp all the streames in his way is so full swolne with his increased store that he seemeth rather with bigge lookes to bid defiance to the Ocean then to acknowledge homage opening his mouth fortie leagues wide as if he would deuoure the same and with his vomited abundance maketh the salt waters to recoyle following fresh in this pursuit till in salt sweates at last he melteth himselfe in the Combate Maragnon is farre greater whose water hauing furrowed a Channell of sixe thousand miles in the length of his winding passage couereth threescore and ten leagues in breadth and hideth his Bankes on both sides from him which sayleth in the middest of his proud Current making simple eyes beleeue that the Heauens alway descend to kisse and embrace his waues And sure our more-straitned world would so far be accessary to his aspiring as to style him with the royall title of Sea and not debase his greatnesse with the meaner name of a Riuer Giraua some what otherwise writeth of these Riuers that Plata called by the Indians Paranaguaeu as one should say a Riuer like a Sea is twenty fiue leagues in the mouth placed by him in thirty three degrees of Southerly latitude encreasing in the same time and manner as Nilus Maragnon hee saith is in the entrance fiue leagues and is not the same with Orellana so called of Francis Orella the the first Spaniard that sayled in it and Amazones of the fabulous reports as Giraua termeth them of such women there seene which hee sayth hath aboue fifty leagues of breadth in the mouth and is the greatest Riuer of the World called by some the fresh Sea running aboue fifteene hundred leagues vnder the Aequinoctiall Thus much Hee though lesse then others yet more then can bee paraleld in any other streames This Southerne halfe of America hath also at the Magellane Straits contracted and as it were shrunke in it selfe refusing to be extended further in so cold a Climate The manifold riches of Metals Beasts and other things in the beginning of the former Booke haue been declared and in this as occasion moueth shall bee further manifested The Men are the worst part as being in the greatest parts thereof inhumane and brutish The Spanish Townes in this great tract and their Founders are set downe by Pedro de Cieza Herera and others I rather intend Indian Superstitions then Spanish plantations in this part of my Pilgrimage Of the Townes of Nombre de Dios seuenteene leagues from Panama the one on the North Sea the other on the South and of Dariene wee last tooke our leaues as vncertaine whether to make them Mexican or Peruvian being borderers and set in the Confines betwixt both The moorish soyle muddie water and grosse Ayre conspire with the heauenly Bodies to make Dariene vnwholesome the myrie streame runneth or creepeth rather very slowly the water but sprinkled on the house-floore engendreth Toades and Wormes They haue in this Prouince of Dariene store of Crocodiles one of which kinde Cieza saith was found fine and twentie foot long Swine without tailes Cats with great tailes Beasts clouen-footed like Kine otherwise resembling Mules sauing their spacious eares and a trunke or snowt like an Elephant there are Leopards Lyons Tygres On the right and left hand of Dariene are found twenty Riuers which yeeld Gold The Men are of good stature thinne haired the Women weare Rings on their eares and noses with quaint ornaments on their lips The Lords marry as many Wiues as them listeth other men one or two They forsake change and sell their Wiues at pleasure They haue publike Stewes of women and of men also in many places without any discredit yea this priuiledgeth them from following the warres The yong Girles hauing conceiued eate certain herbs to cause abortion Their Lords and Priests consult of warres after they haue drunke the smoke of a certaine herbe The Women follow their husbands to the warres and know how to vse a Bow They all paint themselues in the warres They neede no Head-pieces for their heads are so hard that they will breake a Sword being smitten thereon Wounds receiued in warre are the badges of honour whereof they glory much and thereby enioy some Franchises They brand their prisoners and pull out one of their teeth before They will sell their children are excellent Swimmers both Men and Women accustoming themselues twice or thrice a day thereunto Their Priests are their Physicians and Masters of Ceremonies for which cause and because they haue conference with the Deuill they are much esteemed They haue no Temples nor Houses of deuotion The Deuill they honour much which in terrible shapes doth sometimes appeare vnto them as I saith Cieza haue heard some of them say They beleeue that there is one God in heauen to wit the Sunne and that the Moone is his wife and therefore worship these two Planets They worship the Deuill also and paint him in such
in water thicke and white the next day in fresh and the day after saw two Islands in the mouth of Amazones accounting themselues fortie Leagues vp the Riuer May 22. they were in the Riuer of Wiapogo which they called Caroleigh in three degrees and halfe Northward from the Line The people were ready to giue them entertainment The Iayos and Capayos offered them their owne houses and gardens already planted two of which he accepted with some gardens vndertaking to defend them against the Charibes and their other enemies They desired him to send into England for some to teach them to pray and gaue fiue pledges to be sent thither He after intending for England dyed aboord his ship of the Flux They intoxicate the fish with a strong sentedwood called Ayaw whereby they easily take them on the top of the water Their bread is Cassaui of which chewed they also make drinke They are much troubled with a Worme like a Flea the Spaniards call it Niguas which creepes into the flesh of their toes vnder the nailes and multiply there with much multiplication of torment except they vse speedie preuention One was so pestred with them that for remedie they were faine to hold his feet vpwards and powre thereon melted Wax hot which being cold they plucked off and therewith seuen or eight hundred Niguas The people are of modest countenance naked but would weare clothes if they had them Huntly returned for England and left there fiue and thirtie which should haue bin succoured it Discord had suffered Anno 1605. a ship was sent for supply but the Mariners and Land-men quarelling these were left on Land at Saint Lucia an Island in twelue degrees of Northerly Latitude to the number of threescore and seuen and most of them slaine a by the Ilanders These Indians go naked haue long blacke haire their bodies painted red with three strokes also of red from the eare to the eye Eleuen of our men after much miserie and famishment which killed some of them in the way got to Coro and after good and bad entercourse of fortunes with the Spaniards some returned home The Spaniards there as Iohn Nichol one of this companie testifieth told them of a Vision of Christ on the Crosse appearing to our King and reuoking him from his error at the sight whereof three of our Bishops fell into a trance and so continued three dayes after which they became Catholikes and preached and the King had sent to the Pope for learned men to perfect this Conuersion These were the Spanish tricks with faithlesse tales to peruert these men to their faith The Mariners gaue names to the places which they left according to their conceits of these men Rogues Bay Cape Knaue Riuer of Rascals They came as farre as Comana or Cumana where they obserued the weather hot till noone and then a coole breeze and thunder without raine by windes and current they were detained from Wiapogo which they sought A Fleming there told them fabulous rumours of Warres with Spaine Another ship of Amsterdam to disgrace our men told the Indians of Wiapoco that they came to inhabit there and to oppresse them as the Spaniards did See what gaine can doe without godlinesse A ship of Middleburgh came thither with Negros to sell thither came also a ship of Saint Malos The Indians of these parts as Wilson reporteth choose their Captaines at their drunken Feasts in this sort They set the nominated person in the midst with his hands lifted ouer his head making Orations to him to bee valiant after which they whip him with a whip that fetcheth bloud at euery stroke for tryall of his courage he neuer mouing thereat They haue commerce with the Deuill For they told vs of three ships in the Riuer of Amazons and that One two moneths after would visit vs They call this Deuill Peyae with whom the men haue often conference the women neuer that they could perceiue they suffer not meane-while a childe in the house When any bee sicke they thus consult of their recouerie and if their Oracle answer death they will giue no Physicke if life they vse their best helpes For an Axe they would trauell with them two or three moneths or finde them so long victuals at home The Iayos are proud ingenious giuen to flouting The Arwakos of better carriage The Saspayes craftie The two former hate the Spaniards as much as the Caribes Their houses haue doores at each end the men keepe at one end the women at the other they are like Barnes but longer some hundred and fiftie paces long and twentie broad an hundred of them keepe together in one No raine commeth in notwithstanding that store which falleth in Aprill May Iune and most of Iuly They paint them when they goe to feasts Against the time of trauell the women haue as roome apart whereto they goe alone and are deliuered without helpe which done shee cals her husband and deliuers it to him who presently washeth it in a pot of water and paints it with sundry colours I could not heare saith Wilson the woman so much as grone all the time of her trauell When one dyes they make great moane ten or twelue dayes together and sometimes longer Here are store of Deere Hares Conies Hogs Monkeyes Leopards Lyons Porke-pines Parrots as big as Hennes blue and red very beautifull c. He returned with the rest in a ship of Amsterdam the Indians being loth to part with them They often inquired of Sir Walter Raleigh and one came from Orenoque to aske of him alledging his promise of returne The like remembrances of him are mentioned by Master Harcourt in his late published Voyage to Guiana This worthy Gentleman An. 1608. with Gentlemen and others to the number of 97. set forth for Wiapoco The ninth of May they fell into the Current of that great and famous Riuer of Amazones of which they drunke fresh and good being 30. leagues from Land the tenth day the water became muddy whitish and thicke the eleuenth day they made Land and their Pinnace being left dry vpon the Ebbe by the next floud comming on was almost spoyled Thence they stood along the Coast to Wiapoco whither they came May the seuenteenth and setled themselues at Caripo Hee tooke possession in his Maiesties name as Captaine Leigh had also done of this spacious Countrey of Guiana bounded on the North with Orenoque and the Sea on the East and South with the Riuer of Amazones on the West with the Mountaines of Peru The Charibes are the Ancient Inhabitants the Other later Incrochers There is no setled gouernment amongst them only they acknowledge a superioritie which they will obey as long as they please They commonly punish Murther Adulterie by death which are the only offences punished amongst them and certaine persons are appointed to execute those punishments The better sort haue two or three wiues or more the rest but one
slaine and deuoured But by Gods mercy he escaped He was the Gunner in the Fort of Saint Vincent and going into the Wood to prouide somewhat wherewith to entertaine some friends then come to him became himselfe a prey to those Men-hunters When they had taken him they contended which of them had beene the first taker and that controuersie ended hee was stripped naked and led away Hee was giuen to one of their Kings , and this victory by them was ascribed to their Tamaraka or Idols which they said had by Oracle prophesied thereof but their Kings were no other then the chiefe in euery Cottage which consisted of one Kindred and these Tamaraka weare certaine Rattles as shall after appeare The manner is that it gets them a great name to exhibit this Feast of a slaine Captiue and therefore some that haue taken will credit some other friend with the gift of a Captiue to this solemne butcherie on condition to repay him the next Captiue hee taketh This was Stadius his case who was thus tossed by exchange from one to another till at last hee escaped altogether But when hee had beene newly taken the Women came about him and one while buffeted him one saying This is for such a friend of mine that the Peros or Portugals had slaine another fixing on his flesh the memoriall of another friend of hers and then led him with a Rope about his necke almost strangling him making him also to dance in the middest of them with Rattles tied to his legges but hee after grew in some credit and respect amongst them and saw diuers others eaten while himselfe could not bee free from feare of the like destinie The Sauages that they take put on a great shew of resolution and little regard in seeming that their Tragedie supported with this comfort that their friends will reuenge it In time of sicknesse or sudden dangers they would resort to him to pray to his God for deliuerance and this conceit of his God which they obserued in his Deuotions was the principall meanes of deferring his execution Such as are mortally wounded in their fights they would spend presently or at least kill and dresse them for a Feast neere at hand and one man that had liued long amongst them and was desperately sicke lest Death should depriue them of their cheere they slue and because of his sicknesse hurling away the head and inwardes ate vp the rest They take great pride in these their cruelties and when Konyan Bebe their King hauing a basket full of pieces of Mans flesh on which hee was feeding offered Stadius a piece who told him that it was more then beastly hee answered I am a Tygre and I delight in these delicacies This Stadius after escaped in a French Shippe Nicolas Durantius a Knight of Malta sirnamed Villagagnon in the yeere 1555. male-content with his estate at home sayled into Francia Antarctica or the Southerne parts of Brasill vnder the Tropike of Capricorne and pretended there to worship God according to the puritie of the Gospell and to fortifie both for the habitation of his owne and for a Sanctuarie vnto such as at home were persecuted for the Truth He fortified and sent thence to Geneua for assistance in this his holy intent whereupon Richerius and Charterius two Ministers with diuers others among whom was Iohn Lerius were sent and landed there in the yeere 1557. Lerius hath written his Obseruations of these parts as Theuet also another of Villagagnons Company but as Lerius testifieth in many things falsly The first Sauages that Lerius and his fellowes saw were the Marguiates which hold friendship with the Portugals and are enemies to the French and to the Touou Pinambaulsij or Tuppin Imbas Confederates of the French and as deadly enemies to the former In the meane way they passed by the Tapemiry Paraiba Ouetacates all which howsoeuer they exercise hostilities and mutuall disagreements yet agree in like barbarous and rightlesse Rites With the Touou Pinambaulsij he conuersed familiarly about a yeere They are in habit of bodie like the Europeans but stronger and lesse subiect to sicknesse not subiect to our bodily distempers by like intemperance or vexation of mind by turbulent and distracting passions of Couetousnesse Enuie ambition They are all naked except sometimes the Old men rather to hide their disease in those parts then their shame couer their priuities They weare in their nether lip a Pyramidall stone which brauerie weigheth downe their lip and subiecteth the face to great deformitie Some also not content with this adde two others in their cheekes to like purpose They presse downe the noses of their Infants to make them flat They anoynt themselues with a kind of Gumme which they couer with the downe of Feathers sticking thereto They weare also Frontlets of Feathers in their eares they weare bones They which will excell the rest in gallantry and would seeme to haue slaine and eaten the most enemies slash and cut their flesh and put therein a blacke powder which neuer will bee done away They vse Rattles of the shell of a certaine fruit in which they put stones or graines and call them Maraca of which they haue some superstitious conceit The Women differ from the Men in nourishing their haire which the Men shaue off before and make not those holes in their lips but in their eares weare Eare-rings of the forme and bignesse of a meane Candle They paint also their faces with diuers colours and weare Bracelets of little bones of which the men weare Chaines or Collars They would not weare clothes pretending their custome of nakednesse and often washing sometimes ten times in a day whereto clothes would bee a hinderance and our captiue women further then the Whip forced them would not accustome themselues to the apparell we gaue them The women make two kinds of Meale of certaine Roots which they vse in stead of Bread which they doe not put but hurle into their mouthes without losse Their office is also to make their drinke of Rootes sliced and chewed in their mouthes and thus prepared boyled and stirred in a great pot ouer the fire the like drinke they make of chewed Maiz which they call Auats the men would account it a disgrace to do these things and that they would not taste so well They call this drinke Caouin it is thick and tastes like Milke I haue seene them continue saith Lerius drinking this liquor three dayes and nights together they hold it a disparagement not to bee able to hold out at this Bacchanall exercise which they celebrate with dancing and singing especially at their beastly Man-feasts The women dance apart from the men One of them reported to our Author that they had taken a ship of the Peros or Portugals and eaten the men they found therein great vessels which they could not tell what it was but drank so much thereof that they slept three dayes after it was likely that it was
Spanish Wine They eate Serpents and Toads which with them are not venemous and Lizards Our Authour saw one Lizard as big as a man with scales on her backe like Oysters They haue a kind of Monkey called Sagouin of the bignesse of a Squirrell the fore-halfe in shape resembling a Lion they haue another strange beast called Coaty as high as a Hare with a little head sharpe eares and a snout or beake aboue a foot long the mouth so little that one can scarsely put in his little finger it feedeth on Ants They take Petum it is not Tobacco not in Pipes but put foure or fiue leaues in another greater and firing it sucke in the smoke and therewith in time of warre will sustaine themselues three dayes together without other sustinance They weare this herbe about their neckes When Sir Francis Drake made his famous and fortunate Voyage about the World in the South-Sea he lost the rest of his company the Elizabeth wherein M. Winter was which returned into England and a Pinnesse wherein were seuen men besides Peter Carder the relater of this History This Pinnesse being alone returned backe the Straits and on the North side of the Riuer of Plate sixe went on shore into the wood to seeke food where threescore and ten Tapines shot at them and wounded all whereof two dyed soone after foure were taken their Pinnesse also being broken onely Peter Carder and William Pitcher remained which liued in an Iland two moneths on a fruit somewhat like Orenges Crabs without any fresh-water the want whereof forced them to drinke their owne Vrine saued in sherds for that purpose till the next morning weary of this life which began to grow weary of them they with a planke and certaine boords made shift in three dayes to set themselues ouer into the maine three leagues distant where meeting with fresh-water this Pitcher was broken and dyed within halfe an houre of ouer eager drinking Carder encountred certaine Sauages called Tappaubasse which led him away dancing rattling tabering They slept on beds of white Cotton netting tyed two foot from the ground and a fire on each side to preuent cold and wild beasts the next day they marched twenty miles to their Towne which was foure-square with foure houses euery house being two bow-shoot in length made with small trees like Arbours thatched to the ground with Palme-tree leaues hauing no windowes but thirty or forty doores on each side the square Their chiefe Lord was named Caion about forty yeeres old he had nine wiues the rest but one except the most valiant which were permitted two one for the house another to goe with him to the warres In this Towne were neere foure thousand persons Hee found among them good entertainment for certaine moneths They vsed to goe to the Warres three or foure hundred in a company with bowes and arrowes and hauing ouercome would bring home their captiues tyed by the arme to so many of their mens armes and soone after would tye them to a poste and with a club after dancing and drinking slit their heads Their drinke is made of a root chewed by women and spit into a trough where it stands two or three dayes and hath a yest on it like Ale and then is tunned into earthen jarres wherewith they drinke themselues drunke After halfe a yeere hauing learned the Language he was requested to their Warres against the Tapwees and much bettered their martiall skill teaching them to make an hundred Targets of tree-barke and two hundred clubs marking their owne company with red Balsam of this they haue red white blacke very odoriferous and so marched seuen hundred together three dayes to another foure-square Towne like but lesse then their owne They knocked downe two hundred tooke twenty they broyled their carkasses and after also the prisoners How many men they kill so many holed they make in their visage beginning at the nether lippe and so proceeding to the cheeke eye-browes and eares Some Portugals came to search for him two of which and some Negros were taken and eaten Hee obtained leaue to goe to the Coast hauing foure to prouide him victuals for nine or ten weekes and so came to Bahia de todos los Santos where he yeelded himselfe to Michael Ionas a Portugall and arriued in England in Nouember 1586. nine yeeres after his setting forth §. III. Most ample Relations of the Brasilian Nations and Customes by Master ANTHONY KNIVET MAster Anthony Kniuet hath written a Treatise of what he had seene and suffered in Brasil He was one of Master Candishes company in his vnfortunate voyage 1591. who after much misery sustained in the Magellan Straits in their returne was set on shore at St Sebastians where many of his company died with eating a kinde of blacke venemous Pease Hee saw there a great beast come out of the Riuer hauing on the backe great scales vgly clawes and a long tayle which thrust out a tongue like a harping iron but returned without harme Hee found a dead Whale which with long lying was couered with Mosse on which hee yet liued a fortnight His company were knocked on the head with firebrands and he like to be eaten of the Sauages but escaped this and many other miseries and was saued by the Iesuites from being hanged by the Portugals Where his calamities compelled him with another Indian in like predicament of slauerie to escape by flying swimming two miles ouer the Sea and so they trauelled seuen and thirty dayes thorow a desart meeting by the way as he saith Lyons Leopards huge Serpents Some Indians they saw with feathers of diuers colours fixed on their bodies and heads with oyle of Balsam seeming as if they had bin so borne not leauing a spot bare but on their legs The Sauages sell their children to the Portugals for toyes Some of them were so haunted with a Spirit which they called Coropio like that which Lerius his Sauages called Aignan that some of them dyed therewith in much amazement Many complained that they were possessed with spirits which they called Auasaly and commanded themselues to bee bound hand and foot with bow-strings desiring their friends to beat them with cords wherewith they hang their beds but most died notwithstanding They haue wormes which creepe into their fundaments which consume their guts for remedie whereof they take slices of Limons and greene pepper and put therein with salt water He in diuers expeditions for war and Merchandize with the Portugals and escapes from them trauelled thorow more of those Sauage nations then perhaps any other before or since Out of whole obseruations bought at so deare a rate I haue heere mustered these many wild people before thee with such rarities as hee found amongst them The Petiuares are not so barbarous as many other they inhabite from Baya to Rio Grande their bodies are carued with fine workes in their lips is a hole made with a Roe-Bucks horne which
at mans estate they cut bigger with a Cane and weare therein a greene stone otherwise they esteeme a man no Gallant but a Pesant They haue no Religion vse Polygamie but the women are tied to one husband except hee giue her publike leaue When they goe to warre the wiues carrie all the prouision That wife whom hee giueth his hunted prey is his bed-fellow that night and she goeth to the water and washeth her selfe after which she lyeth downe in the net and commandeth all the rest to attend on her for that day When they are in trauell they goe to the doore and being deliuered the father lyeth downe and is visited as before is said No Indian will kill any female creature whiles his wife is with childe thinking that would be the death of his childe They trauell with great store of Tobacco and haue continually a leafe thereof along the mouth betweene the lip and teeth the rheume running out at the lip-hole They war against the Portugals and all others eating all and take so many new names as prisoners They thinke mans flesh makes them valiant Their houses are two hundred yards long without partition they hang their nets on beames wash euery morning both men women and children they part their grounds They haue Serpents amongst them with bodies like trees which strike two fins out of their fore-quarters that kill whatsoeuer they call them d Iaboya They haue foure legs and a taile like an Aligator or Crocodile which they hide when they lye in the woods for their prey They haue Monkies as big as a water-dog faced like a man with long broad beards which goe twentie together on a tree and one of them will alway walke vp and downe with his hand on his beard making a great noyse the rest harkening still an houres space The Maraquites are betweene Fernambuc and Baya other Indians call them Tapoyes that is wilde men which name all but these and the Vaanasses which are like them account a disgrace The men are of good stature the women very proper and fight with their bowes as well as the men They haue no dwelling Religion nor friendship with any Nation yet he left them in peace with the Portugals They haue holes in their lips but carue not their bodies vse Polygamie are swift neuer come into the field to fight but keepe in the Mountaines they eate mans flesh without ceremonies The Topimambazes inhabite from R. de S. Franc. to Baya de todos Sanctos they are and speake like the Petowares but the women are of better complexion The men let their beards grow long From Baya to Eleoos are the Waymoores men of great stature and swift as a Horse fiue or sixe of them will set on a Sugar-house with an hundred therein I haue seene one saith our Author take a man aliue and defend himselfe with this his prisoner as it were with a Target They haue long haire are without Townes or Houses and care not where they come presuming of their swiftnesse They are greedie Man-eaters and are alwaies foule with durt and dust by lying on the ground and ashes Iarric writes that they are without Gouernours euery one doing what seemes good in his owne eyes only he is accounted most Noble that hath slaine most enemies with whom for any of them to speake is punished with death They roue vp and downe in vncertaine dwellings and therefore cannot by warre be conquered This wandring is common to many of these Brasilian Saluages The Tomomymenos dwell at Spirito Sancto haue settled Townes with great stones set about like pales of a good height and within walls of clay and stone they make the sides of their houses with loope-holss to shoot out at They deck their bodies with feathers and paint themselues blacke and red One of these tooke the Portugall Captaine Martin de Sa and in spite of all his company carried him a stones cast and threw him into a Riuer but hee was rescued by Petummyen another Sauage The Portugals tooke sixteene thousand slew the tenth parf and parted the rest destroying the Country downe the Riuer Paraeyua The Waytaquazes dwell on the North and South sides of Cape Frio They are of greater stature then the Waymoores we took thirteene of them and whiles we searched for more they burnt their cords from their hands and fled Their women warre with bowes and arrowes They lye on the ground like Hogs with a fire in the midst hold no peace with any but eate all they can get Heere the mountaines were full of Crablice which sticked so fast on their skins that they were faine to take dry straw to singe themselues Abausanga-retam was Captaine of a kinde of Tamoyes an hundred and twenty yeeres old which being taken ranne amongst the enemies where being shot in one and twenty places he fell then desired Baptisme after which within foure houres he died his haughtie courage could not brooke captiuitie The Wayanasses keepe at Ila Grande they are low great bellied cowards not carued glory not to eate mans flesh the Women vgly with bigge bodies and are well faced painted red with Vrucu which growes in a cod like a Beane the crownes of both Sexes are shauen like Friers the rest of their haire long The Topinaques haue their dwelling at Saint Vincents are of good stature and complexion the women painted with diuers colours eate mans flesh adore nothing onely when they kill a man paint themselues with a fruit called Ianipano and with feathers on their heads great stones in their lips Rattles in their hands dance three dayes together drinking a filthy liquor whereto they said Tobacco made them fresh Among them is great store of Gold in many hils by the Sea The Pories dwell an hundred miles within Land are low like the Wayanasses liue on Pine-nuts and small Cocos as big as Apples with shels like Wall-nuts but harder they call them Eyrires they warre with none eate not mans flesh if they haue other meat lye in nets of barke haue no houses but two or three boughs tyed together couered with Palme-leaues for a knife or combe they will giue fiue or sixe gallons of Balsame-oyle The Molopaques inhabite heere the Riuer Paradiua are like Dutchmen in bignesse faire of complexion bearded ciuill couer their priuities their Towns circled with wals of earth and great logges haue a King called Moriuishann which had thirteene wiues They haue store of Gold which they esteeme not nor vse it but to tye on their fishing lines this is in the Riuer Para fourescore leagues beyond Paraeyua They take none but what the rayne washeth from the Mountaines which are of blacke earth without Trees The Women are goodly and faire like English women modest neuer seene to laugh and of good capacitie They tye their haire about their middle with barke and couer therewith their nakednesse their haire also is of diuers colours and
they which want long haire vse a furre to couer themselues They eate mans flesh obserue meales at noone and night a thing rare in those parts vse no Religion so farre as our Author could see in nine or ten dayes of his abode with them they are very cleanly The Motayas met them with dancing and singing the women sate about them and wept and then set forth their victuals they laughed at them for refusing mans flesh they are small people and browne weare their haire in fashion as we in England frizling it round about and in other parts of the body plucke it away with a shell The Lopos or Biheros as the Portugals call them liue in the Mountaines of Pine-apples they saw no houses but boughs tyed together with the pils of Trees they would rob them of their goods but not hurt their persons heere they found many mines of Gold and many rich stones no part of America is richer but it is farre within Land and the Countrey populous that neither Spaniard nor Portugall can inhabite there they are browne small the women as shamelesse as beasts The Wayanawasons dwell in small Townes by the side of a Riuer are the simplest of all other would stand and gaze on vs like heards of Deere without speaking word They are bigge tall cleane made lazie heere sixteene of their company dyed with eating a certaine yellow plumme as bigge as a Horse-plumme The Rootes of Mandioca had almost killed them all but by a piece of Vnicornes Horne they were preserued From hence hee with twelue Portugals determined to trauell to the South-Sea by Land they came to many mountaines where they found store of gold and many precious stones and had thought themselues in Peru those stones they tooke vp one day they cast away the next to take vp better In this Countrey they trauelled two moneths till they came to the great Mountaine of Crystall for height seeming to tower vp it selfe in the clouds and was impassable for steepenesse they saw it ten dayes before they came at it and were not able when the Sun was aloft to trauell against it for the glistering reflection They passed alongst it twentie dayes before they could finde passage and at last came to a Riuer which ranne vnder it Then did they make them prouision of great Canes three yards and a halfe broad and sixe long and killing good store of Tamandroes rosted them and thus prouided went into the vault which made such a noise with the water that it seemed to them an enchantment They went in on a Munday morning came out againe on a morning they knew not whether one or two dayes after The next Sauages they encountred were a kinde of Tamoyes which are as proper men as any in Europe most of them faire their heads set with feathers the women tall proper slender in the waste faire fine-handed comely faced and brests carued They esteeme of gold and gems as we of stones in the streets Here he liued eighteene moneths but his twelue companions they slue and deuoured Him they spared because hee professed himselfe a Frenchman with whom they sometimes had commerce The Tocomans dwell betweene the Riuer of Plate and Saint Vincent They are sandie small but not so little as they say of the Pigmees and dwell in Caues The Cariyoghs for two or three Glasses and a Combe with some Kniues would giue the worth of foure or fiue thousand crownes in gold or stones Their women are comely faire the men die their bodies blacke These Carigij so Rodericus cals them dwell in handsome thatched houses sixty foot long euery house they call a Village They haue no superiour dwell in a barren soyle are very fond of euery trifle and toy and will trauell laden with their wares for such trade thirty leagues to the Portugals and sometimes sell themselues slaues If they take an enemy aliue they commit him to the Boyes of ten yeeres old to bee slaine fiue or sixe of which smite out his braines with clubs And this is a kind of Knighthood or Gentility vnto them in signe whereof they cut the skinne from the Ankle to the Necke and fast many dayes and obserue a set Diet. They obserue charmes and sooth-sayings If any dye without children all his substance is buried with him The Tamoyes his last hosts by his instructions who was desirous to try if the Sea might yeeld him any succour left their habitations and 30000. of them aduentured themselues to seeke new They came into the countrey of the Amazones which the Indians call Mandiocusyams but durst not warre against them they tooke a towne of the Carijos and ate three hundred of them the rest fled to the Riuer of Plate and obtained Portugall succour who tooke these Tamoyes captiues slue ten thousand and shared 20000. amongst them for slaues And thus came he againe into his Portugall slauery from which hee had made an escape once before and trauelled nine moneths in the wildernesse fiue or sixe yeeres he serued the Portugals and liued a yeere and eleuen moneths with the Canibals He made another escape into Angola and serued as a drudge in Mafangana the sickliest Countrey vnder the Sunne where the Portugals die like Chickens gape for aire like the Camelions liue close take Physicke euery weeke let bloud obserue certaine diet and houres when to goe abroad But his houre to goe abroad at liberty was not yet come Backe he was sent to Brasile and long it was before his longing could be satisfied to reuiew his Country and friends some compassion of his passions I think this tedious following him in this epitomised discourse of his disasters hath bred in you wherein as in the following also are many things strange some seeming doubtfull which if any reiect let them not blame me who had rather beleeue more then this then to aduenture the search amongst those cruell Barbarians §. IIII. Of the strange Creatures in Brasile NO man hath written so absolute a discourse of Brasile as was that taken from a Portugall Frier and by Francis Cooke sold to Master Hakluyt Out of him I could recite the names of other Brasilian Nations Ararape Apigapigtanga Vintan which he saith were by a Magician Priest of Portugall conueyed to Fernambuc Tapuya is a generall name of which he reckoneth threescore and sixteene seuerall Nations most of them of sundry languages The Guaymares haue hard skins and beat their children with thistles to harden them They are swift and cruell cut off the captiues flesh with Reeds leauing nothing but the bones and guts and disbowell women with childe to eate the child roasted The Camucuira haue paps reaching almost to the knees which when they runne they binde to their waste The Curupetie eate not men but carry the heads for shew The Winter begins in Brasile in March and ends in August The beasts of Brasil he reckoneth Deere Elkes
prophecying that they shall not bee mourned for They wash and paint the dead curiously and then couer him ouer with Cotton yarne and put him in a great vessell vnder the Earth that no Earth may come to him and couering this vessell with the Earth make him a House where euery day they carry him meate For when he is wearied with dancing say they hee comes thither to eate Thus for a certaine time they goe to bewaile him euery day With him they bury all his Iewels if any had giuen him a Sword or other thing now he challengeth his gift againe The mourners eat not but by night This mourning lasteth a Moone after which they make Drinkings but many after this will forbeare them They rule themselues by the Sunne and goe two or three hundred leagues thorow the Woods no Horse will hold out with them they feare no Sea being able to continue a night and a day swimming When they returne from victory their women receiue them with shouts and buffeting themselues on the mouth The Keeper appointed to the Captiue is one giuen him to be as his Wife for bed and boord Some of these are so resolute that they will not be ransomed saying it is a wretched thing to dye and to stinke be eaten of Wormes Sometimes their Keeper will run away with them When they kill a Captiue at their Feasts if hee fall on his backe it is an ominous signe that the killer shall dye which presages they obserue in other circumstances The taker hath a new name as a title of dignitie added to him and must be content to fill his fancie with this new Gentility for nothing is left him to fill his belly euery one taking from him that which he hath He stands all that day on certaine logges of the Tree Pilan with strange silence he is presented with the head of the dead the eyes pulled out his pulses annointed with the strings and sinewes and cutting off the mouth whole they put it in manner of a Bracelet about his arme Thus lyeth he downe in his Net fearing if all Rites be not accomplished that the soule of the dead will kill him Within few dayes after they giue him the habit razing his skin with the tooth of a Cutia in forme of some worke putting thereon Cole and juyce of Broome-rape he lying still certaine dayes in silence hauing water meale and fruits set neere him After this they make a great Feast and then may hee lay aside his mourning and cut his haire and thence forwards may kill any without any painfull ceremonie Abaetes Marnbixaba Moczacara are names of Gentilitie amongst them The Fryers haue obtained some good liking with the Brasilians for teaching their children to write reade and cipher the Iesuits will be of esteeme euery where yet two and fifty of them sayling from Lisbon to Brasil Anno 1570. by Frenchmen at Sea were taken and slaine In Marriages they abstaine sayth Lerius onely from Mother Sister and Daughter they obserue no Marriage-ceremonies but vpon consent of her friends and her owne take her home It is a credit to haue many wiues amongst whom is no Leah to enuie Rachels greater portion of loue the Husband may kill the Adulteresse but for their vnmarried Maydens they are not scrupulous Our Author hearing a woman cry in the night thought shee had beene in some danger of deuouring by a wild beast but found her Husband playing the homely Midwife to her in her trauell byting the nauel-string and pressing downe the nose The Father washeth and painteth him They vse to put to their male-infants little Bowes and Arrowes into one end of the bed and herbs at the other which are the Enemies his Son must be supposed to kill and eate chatting out their hope of the childes valour in being auenged when he shall be a man vpon his Enemies They name their children at aduenture by the name of a Beast Bird or otherwise as this Child was called Orapacon that is Bow and Arrowes The men are modest in accompanying with their Wiues secretly The women haue not the ordinary feminine sicknesse Lerius thinkes that humour was diuerted in their youth seeing the Mothers cut their Daughters side downe to the thigh at twelue yeeres of age But twice while he was there did he see any in priuate brawling or contention if such happens as they began so they are suffered to end it if any hurt or kill other he sustayneth the like in his owne person inflicted by the Kindred of the party wronged They haue their proper pieces of ground which they husband with their Rootes and Mais When they entertayne a Stranger the Moussacat or Good-man seemes to neglect him a while and the guest sits him downe silent on the bed the women sit by on the ground and hold their hands before their eyes weeping with many prayses that hee is a good man a valiant man that if he be a Christian he hath brought them fine Wares The Stranger must endeuour in some measure to imitate the like weeping gesture The Moussacat is all this while whitling his Arrow not seeming to see his new Guest till anon he comes And are you come sayth hee How doe you with many termes of his best Rhetoricke and then askes if he be hungry and if he be sets his cheere before him on the ground which kindnesse is repayed with Glasses Combes or the like They are very kind both to their owne and to such Strangers as they are enleagued with They would carry burthen or man for the space of some miles when they needed their loue and hatred are in like extremes the one to their owne the other to their Enemies They haue Physicians called Pages They vse much mourning at the death of any and making a round pit bury him vpright therein sixe houres after his death with that wealth they had In their Villages liue some six hundred persons they remoue their Villages often which yet carry the same name Stadius sayth there are few Villages of aboue seuen Houses but those Houses are a hundred and fifty foot long and two fathoms high without diuision into plurality of Roomes and therein liue many Families all of one Kindred What our Countrimen haue done on this Coast I referre the Reader to Master Hakluyts Discoueries The Iesuits first came into these parts Anno 1549. which whiles they sought to reduce the Brasilians from their Man-eating Feasts had like to haue kindled a dangerous contention betwixt them and the Portugals whereupon the Iesuits sought to bee permitted to speake with them whom they kept for the Boucan instructing baptizing them but then also they complained the flesh was distastfull they said vnto them so that the Iesuits being forbidden that by stealth with a wet cloth following them to execution would performe a kind of Baptisme and that also being espyed was prohibited Since which by schooling their children teaching them to reade and
write they haue most though not much preuayled with these Barbarians Somewhat as themselues write they haue beene hindred in their Brasilian Conuersions by the peruersenesse of some couetous Portugals who sometimes vnder colour of peace would betray these silly soules and seize on them to cruell slauery sometimes would counterfeit Iesuiticall habits and vnder pretence of Religion perswading them to goe with them haue betrayed Religion and Them together sometimes would vnder-hand and closely threatten seruitude to all such as beleeued the Iesuits with all promises of kindnesse to such as would follow them which in effect proued to the Mynes or other offices of slauish drudgery and sometimes by hostile violence haue seized on such as the Iesuit haue conuerted and made slaues of them Most strange is that which they write of certaine Brasilians within the Land which eyther hauing seene the Religious Rites of the Portugals or instructed therein by some Fugitiues or Apostata's had set vp a new Sect of Christian Ethnicisme or Mungrell-Christianity This was about Anno 1583. They chuse one Supreme in their vnholy Holies whom also they call Pope other inferiour Prelates they call Bishops These ordayne their Priests which obserue in an Apish imitation their Confession Absolution Beads to number their Prayers great Gourds or Rattles in stead of Bels to assemble them together Free-schooles for instruction of youth Bookes of Barke bound in wood and strange Characters therein written a kinde of Baptisme also but wanting the essentiall words and forme all the Men they name Iesus the Women Marie the Crosse they haue but without veneration their Priests vow Continence They conceiue a state of perfection in drinking the juyce of the herbe Petine till they fall downe distracted as in the Falling-sicknesse quaking and stretching out their limbes with terrible gestures the Deuill speaking from within them their mouthes not open nor their lips moued after they haue thus continued a while they returne to themselues and are washed all ouer their bodies he is iudged the most sanctified Wight that hath expressed most extaticall gestures The most transcendent degree of perfection they ascribe to the muttering of certayne words ouer them by an Inchanter They say that their Ancestors long since dead will returne by shipping and deliuer them from the Portugals which all shall be slaine by them and if any shall escape they shall be turned into fishes or beasts Those of this faith shall inherit Heauen and all the vnbeleeuers shall be deuoured of Birds or Beasts In the yeere 1602. a Iesuite was sent amongst these Sectaries where their Great Father or Pope came to meete him attended with many weaponed men and Archers He began a Song which the other Brasilians vnderstood not and when he had sung one Verse the rest as with vs in the Quire answered Then did this Holy Father Catechize or instruct them with many idle words often mixing and repeating Sancta Maria Tupama Remireco that is Saint Mary the Wife of God c. Kneeling he lifted vp his eyes and hands to Heauen after the fashion of the Priests at Masse Hee and the Iesuite imbraced each other and then hee told the Iesuite that hee liued in the Woods as one that would not bee seene of Men. The next night hee caused a youth to bee hanged that had beene familiar with the Iesuite A conference was appointed betwixt him and the Iesuite where after much boasting of his sanctitie the Iesuite interrupted him and told him he came to teach him the way to Heauen but the other soone after conueyed himselfe away and came no more CHAP VI. Of the Countries from the Riuer of Plate to the Magellane Straits §. I. The Nations inhabiting neere the Riuer THis Riuer we haue already mentioned the Indians call it Parana and Iohn Dias de Solis discouering the same in the yeere 1512. for some shew it seemed to haue of that Metall called it the Riuer of Plata or Siluer It is forty leagues wide in the entrance and preuayleth so farre against the Oceans saltnesse that the taste of the fresh water sooner discernes his waters then the eye can see his bankes It ouerfloweth the Countrey as Nilus in Egypt and Orenoque Marannon with the other great Riuers in America It ebbeth and floweth a hundred miles vp the streame Dias whom some call the first Discouerer was with fifty of his companions there slaine and eaten But hee which hath most fully discouered the Nations that dwell neere this Riuer is Huldericus Schmidel who sayled thither in the yeere 1534. and continued in those parts almost twenty yeeres He sayled thither with Peter Mendoza who carried with him fiue and twenty hundred men to discouer conquer and inhabit those Regions They built the Citie Buenas Aeres so called of the wholsome Aire neere to an Indian Towne named Carendies of three thousand Inhabitants if that may bee called a Towne whose Inhabitants stay not long in one place They will drinke the bloud of the beasts they kill for thirst The Spaniards destroyed them whose parts famine seemed to take against that cruell people which with inuisible Darts so pierced their entrailes that vile and venemous creatures were applyed to the curing of their wounded stomackes and when such Medicines failed three of them stole a horse minding to flee from famine on that dead beast but were therefore horsed on a Gibbet where three others that by this example were terrified from Horse-flesh aduentured vpon these carkasses cutting thence large gobbets to pay that cruellest Tyrant and greediest Exactor Hunger his Tribute Another whose Brother dyed buried him in his owne body halfe their company were consumed with this plague The Indians of Carendies Bartennis Zeechuruas and Tiembus taking this aduantage assayled their Towne of Good Aires turning it into good fires by shooting Arrowes fired at the end thereinto They after passed vp the Riuer and came to Tiembus where the men are tall and great their women alway deformed with scratched and bloudy faces The Tiembus could make fiue thousand men Of the Spaniards were not left fiue hundred in a small time and Mendoza dyeth returning homewards The Curenda the next people are like the Tiembus The Macuerendas liue onely on fish and a little flesh There they killed a Serpent fiue and twenty foot long and as bigge as a man The Saluaisco goe starke naked and liue onely on fish flesh and honey The Curemagbas are of huge stature the men bore a hole in their nose in which they weare a Parrots feather The women paint their faces with indeleble lines The Carios Countrie is large neere to the Brasilians in Rites and Site They goe naked they will sell the father his daughter the husband his wife the brother his sister The price of a woman is a Hatchet Knife or such like They fat such as they take in their warres and then deuoure them with great solemnitie The Lampere made neere vnto their Towne
where I with others saw him and he espying me called vpon Christ They threw him into a Dungeon where hee miserably ended his life He had liued in pompe and beene Authour of much mischiefe had conuayed much treasure out of the Countrey by way of England to Wesell in Westphalia where hee was borne though brought vp in Cambridge an Enemy alway to our Nation Hee had deluded the Emperour with tales of Queene Elizabeths youth and hopes by his Calculations of obtayning her But the Emperour out of hope hereof heard that there was a young Lady of the bloud Royall the Lady Mary Hastings daughter to the Earle of Huntington whom he now affected The Bishop of Nouogrod was condemned of coyning and sending money to Swethen and Poland of keeping Witches buggering Boyes and Beasts confederating with Bomelius c. All his goods were confiscated and himselfe throwne into a Dungeon with Irons on his head and legges where he made painted Images Combes and Beads liued with bread and water Eleuen of his confederate Seruants were hanged in his Palace gate at Mosco and his women Witches shamefully dismembred and burnt The Emperour passed ouer those which had beene accused and now consulted about marrying his second Sonne Chariwich Theodor being of great simplicitie the eldest hauing no issue But hauing his Prelates and Nobles together could not but euaporate some of his conceits from the former confessions of their Treasons being Ascension day on which before Musco had beene burned He spent some houres in Rhetoricall enlarging the dismalnesse of that day with great eloquence darting still with his eye at many Confederates in the late Conspiracie protesting to leaue them a naked disloyall and distressed people and a reproch to all Nations of the World The Enemies are at hand God and his prodigious creatures in the Heauens fight against vs Scarcity and Famine witnesse it and yet no Iudgements moue remorse in you The Originall is too long to recite Little was done but all prostrating themselues to his Maiesty and mercy desired God to blesse his holy purpose for the marriage of his Sonne for whom he chose Irenia daughter of Theodor Iuanowich Godonoue and after the solemnization of the marriage with great Feast dismissed the Nobles and Prelates with better words and countenance which was taken for a reconciliation But the Nuptials could not be performed by vsuall cohabitation which much distempered the King it is not decent to write the courses taken therein The Emperous Letters Instructions were ready himselfe his chiefe Secretarie Sauelly Frowlow whiles I was present closed them vp in one of the false sides of a woodden Bottle filled with Aquanitae to hang vnder my Horse-mayne not worth one penny appointed me foure hundred Hungarian Duckets in Gold to be sowed in my boots and quilted in some of my worst garments He said he forbare to tell me of some secrets of his peasure fearing left I passing thorow his Enemies Country might bee inforced to discouer what hee would not haue knowne The Bottle you carry with you shall declare what you shall say to Queene Elizabeth my louing Sister of which you must haue care as of your life vntill you come in safe place to open it In meane while and alway bee thou my sweet Sunshine Eremiska trusty and faithfull and thy reward shall be my goodnesse and grace from me hereafter I fell prostrate layd my head on his foot with a heauy heart to bee thus exposed to vnauoydable danger Doeafie Vlanon a Gentleman of good ranke and daily Wayter on the King attended me my Sled and Horse and twenty Seruants were ready at the posterne gate I posted that night to Otuer ninety miles where victuals and fresh Horses were prepared and so to Nouogrod and Plesco 600. miles in three dayes where entring into Liuonia my Gentleman and Seruants tooke their leaues and desired some token to the Emperour of my safe comming thither They left me with a poore guide only Within three houres after the Centinell tooke me vpon the borders and brought me to New house into the Castle before the State-holder or Lieutenant who straitly examined and searched me suspecting me as one comming from their enemies Country I said I was glad to come into their hands out of the vaile of misery the Moscouites Country not without losse On the third day vpon some mediation they appointed mee a Guide and suffered mee to passe The Guard expected gratuitie but I excused as pinched by the Russe I passed three dayes by Land and frozen Meares to Ossell in Liefland an Iland large and spacious vnder the King of Denmarke Raggamuffin Souldiers tooke me and vsed me roughly and carried me to Sowen Burgh and so to Orent Burgh the chiefe Townes and Castles in those parts and there deliuered me to the State-holders Lieutenant I attended his pleasure kept hardly as a Spie the Snakes creeping in my Lodging on Bed and board and Milke pans the soyle was such they did no harme I was called before the chiefe Gouernour a graue Gentleman in good fauour with the King many Halberds attending who examined me with many questions I answered I was a Subiect of the Queene of England who had peace with all Christian Kings specially with the King of Denmarke but was committed againe to custody whence hauing dismissed his company he sent for me againe by his Sonne and being priuate holding a Letter in his hand said I haue receiued sundry Letters from my friends and one of late from my daughter captiue in Mosco which sheweth of much friendship shee hath found at an English Gentlemans hand which negociates in that Court for the Queen of England My Lord said I is your daughter called Magdalen Vrkil yea Sir said he I answered I was the man that within these ten dayes she was well He sayd he could not procure her ransome and clasps me about the neck crying as did his Sonne likewise Gods Angell hath brought your goodnesse thus to me how euer disguised in this turbulent time that I might render you thankes and furtherance I desired free passe and safe conduct He feasted me ioyfully and made ready his Letters and Pasports to Captaines of Townes and Castles gaue mee a faire German striking Clocke offered his Sonne and Seruants armed to guard me out of danger which I could not accept of and commended his daughter to me I passed on to Pilton a strong Castle where King Magnus lay who vsed mee roughly because I could not drinke with him excessiuely Hee had riotously spent and giuen most of his Townes and Castles Iewels Plate c. to his followers and adopted daughters which hee receiued in Dowre with the Emperours Neece and not long after dyed miserably leauing his Queene and only daughter in very poore estate I roade thorow the Duke of Curlands Country and Prussia to Konninsburgh Meluin and Danzike in Polond Pomerania and Mickelburgh to Lubeck where I was
meddle withall The next Tribe is there tearmed a Committy and these are generally the Merchants of this place who by themselues or their Seruants trauell into the Countrey gathering vp Callicoes from the Weauers and other Commodities which they sell againe in greater parcels in the Part Townes to Merchant Strangers taking their Commodities in bartar or at a price Others are Money Changers wherein they haue exquisite iudgement and will from a superficiall view of a piece of Gold distinguish a penny worth of difference without whose view no man dares receiue Gold it hath beene so falsified The poorest sort are plaine Chandlers and sell only Rice Butter Oyle Sugar Honey and such like belly stuffe and these men for their generall iudgement in all sorts of Commodities subtiltie in their dealings and austerity of dyet I conceiue to be naturally Banians transplanted growne vp in this Country by another name they also not eating any thing that hath life nor at all vntill they haue fresh washed their bodies and this Ceremony is also common to the former Tribe The next they call Campo Waro and these in the Countrey manure the earth as husbandmen in the City attend vpon the richer sort as Seruing men in the Forts are Souldiers and are for number the greatest Tribe these spare no flesh but Beefe and that with such reuerence that torture cannot enforce them to kill and eate and their reason for this besides the custome of their Ancestors is that from the Cow their Countrey receiues its greatest sustenance as Milke and Butter immediately then al the fruits of the earth by their assistance in tilling it so that it were the greatest inhumanity to feed vpon that which giueth them so plentifully wheron to feed and vnto vs that would take liberty in this case they wil not sell an Oxe or Cow for any consideration but from one to another for six or 8. shillings the best Boga Waro is next in English the Whoores Tribe and of this there are two sorts one that will prostitute themselues to any better Tribe then themselues but to none worse the other meeteth none bad enough to refuse and these with their Predecessors and Of-spring haue and do still continue this course of iniquity for the daughters if handsome are brought vp to the trade if otherwise they are maried to the men of this Tribe and their children if hansomer then their mothers supply their Parents defects from whence there neuer wants a sinfull succession of impudent Harlots whom the Lawes of the Country doe both allow and protect but this is not alwayes Heathenish for in most Christian Common-wealths such creatures either by permission conniuencie or neglect find meanes to set vp and customers to deale with all Being children they are taught to dance and their bodies then tender and flexible skrewed into such strange postures that it is admirable to behold impossible to expresse in words as for a child of eight yeeres of age to stand vpon one legge raysing the other vpright as I can my arme then bringing it down and laying her heele vpon her head yet all this while standing looses the wonder in my imperfect Relation but to behold is truly strange the like for their dancing and tumbling which doth as farre in actiuity exceed our mercenary Skip-iacks as the Rope-dancing woman doth a Capring Curtezan or an Vsher of a Dancing Schoole a Country Plough-Iogger The homage they owe the King is once a yeere to repaire to Golchonda to the Court and there being met together to make proofe of their actiuities where the best deseruing is guerdoned with some particuler fauour all of them gratified with Bettelee and so returne home againe to their seuerall Mansions The Gouernour of the place where they dwel exacts nothing of them but their attendance as often as he sitteth in the publike place at which times they dance gratis but at all other meetings as Circumcision wedding ships arriuals or priuate Feasts they assist and are paid for their company They are many of them rich and in their habit cleane and costly vpon their bodies they weare a fine Callico or Silken cloth so bound about them as that one part beeing made fast about the waste couereth downwards another part comes ouer the head couering all that way wearing also a thinne Wastcoat that couereth their breasts and armes vnto the elbowes all the rest of their armes couered almost with Bracelets of Gold wherein are set small Diamonds Rubies and Emeralds In their eares they weare many Rings and Iewels and some of them one through the right nosthrill wherein a Pearle or Ruby is commonly set as also about their fingers and toes about their middles one or two broad plates of Gold for Girdles and about their neckes many chaines of small Pearle and Corall or worser beads according to their estate without other ornament on their head then their own haire which being smoothly combde is tied on a knot behind them And these also in their bestuall liberty forbeare to eate Cowes flesh all other meats and drinks are common to them and they themselues common to all The Carpenters Masons Turners Founders Gold-smiths Black-smiths are all one Tribe and match into each others Family all other Mechanike Trades are Tribes by themselues as Painters Weauers Sadlers Barbers Fishermen Heardsmen Porters Washers Sweepers diuers others the worst whereof are the abhorred Piriawes who are not permitted to dwell in any Towne by any Neighbours but in a place without by themselues liue together auoyded of al but their own Fraternity whom if any man should casually touch he would presently wash his bodie These flea all dead cattle for their skins and feed vpon the flesh the skins they dresse making thereof Sandals for the Gentiles and shooes for the Moores othersome they vse to embale Merchandise to defend it against wet to conclude they are in publike Iustice the hateful executioners and are the basest most stinking ill fauoured people that I haue seene the Inhabitants of Cape bona Esperanza excepted who are in these particulars vnparalleld and so I leaue them adding onely one word of the Porters who carry the Palamkeenes a Litter so contriued euery way as to carry a man his bed and pillowes which eight of these Porters will carry foure of those leagues in a day which are 36. of our miles supporting it on their bare shoulders and running vnder it by turnes foure at a time from which continuall toyle aggrauated by the extreme heate their shoulders are become as hard as their hoofes yet this their education makes easie to them for when their children can but goe alone they lay a small sticke on their shoulders afterwards a logge which they make them carry with proportionable increase vntill Roman Milo like they are able to run vnder a Palamkeene and in that sometimes perchance an Oxe But all these thus distinguished are in Religion one body and haue
betweene vs and you whereupon the men of Irac threatned to kill Ali if hee would not listen to the Syrians according to the iudgement of Gods Booke and so Muaui escaped At last both sides agreed to chuse an arbitrator which should arbitrate according to that Booke which were chosen Amrus and Abumusa and both parties bound to stand to their agreement They agreed to depose both Ali and Muaui and chuse Abdalla Sonne of Omar Ali was deposed accordingly but when Amrus should haue done the like to Muaui he refused Abdalla Son of Wahab had also forsaken Ali whom he slue in fight with all the Chawarigians his followers The broyles continued betwixt Ali and Muaui in Egypt and Irac till the fortieth yeere Then Basijr was sent to Medina by Muaui and entred it the Inhabitants acknowledged Muaui Thence he went to Mecca then to Aliaman and slue two of Ali his Sonnes with many others which followed the part of Ali after which he returned to Mecca and slue at Taijf Iamam and Medina thirty thousand At last Peace was concluded betwixt them that laying aside armes Ali should enioy Irac and Muaui Syria That yeere three Chawarisians agreed to kill in diuers places on one day Ali Muaui and Amrus also Hagiag wounded Muaui with a poysoned Sword but he was slaine and Muaui escaped Amrus another of them mistooke and killed Charigia the Lieutenant of Amrus Sonne of Alas in steed of him and was therefore taken and executed Abdurrahman the third wounded Ali on the forehead as he went to morning Prayer on a Friday the seuenteenth of Ramadan whereof he dyed three dayes after and was buried in Tahaf where now is the place of his buriall Some say he was buried at Cufa and some say the place is vnknowne Ali commanded to feed his smiter for hee was taken and vse him well and if he recouered to spare him if hee dyed to ioyne him with him that he might accuse him before God He reigned fiue yeeres three moneths lesse aged sixty three He was browne short great-bellied long-bearded and bald neglected things of the World feared God much much in Almes iust and lowly witty defender of the true Religion learned in speculatiue and practicke Sciences bold liberall The inscription of his Seale was Only to the strong God dominion Hasen Sonne of Ali was made Chalifa at Cufa on the day of his Fathers death But the men of Irac quarrelling with him he sent to Muaui conditions and agreed with him he abode at Medina and yeelded Cufa to Muaui hauing enioyed the Chalifate six moneths and fiue dayes His Seale was inscribed There is no God but God the true and manifest King Muaui Sonne of Abusofian Sonne of Haleb Sonne of Ommia Sonne of Abdusiams Sonne of Abdumenaf Sonne of Cuda was the seuenth Emperour Hee was created Chalifa at Cufa when Hasen resigned Anno 46. Muaui Sonne of Amir and Basier Sonne of Artah inuaded the West and tooke many Cities Caraua Caphsa c. till they came to Kairawan which Muaui Sonne of Chodbag had taken before they came and there builded a Citie and encompassed with a wall the City now called Kairawan An. 49. Hasen dyed poysoned by his wife as was said by the command of Muaui He had gone fiue and twenty Pilgrimages on foot and twise had forsaken all his wealth and thrice made partition with God euen to his shooes and sockes reseruing one halfe to himselfe An. 50. Muaui procured that the Oath of Fealty should be made to his Sonne Iezid as to his partner of the Couenant which was done by all but Husein Sonne of Ali Abdurrahman Sonne of Abubecr Abdalla Sonne of Omar and Abdalla Sonne of Zubeir An. 52. Iezid inuaded the Romans as farre as Constantinople An. 58. Aijsia of happy memory died on the seuenth day of Ramadan An. 60. Muaui dyed at Damascus and his Sonne Iezid prayed for him he enioyed the place nineteene yeeres and ninetie foure dayes Obeid Sonne of Sarib liued in his time a man three hundred yeeres old Iezid was created Chalifa the same day He writ to Walid Gouernour of Medina to apprehend Husein Sonne of Ali and Abdalla which fled to Mecca and abode there refusing the Oath to Iezid The Cufans sent to Husein and promised to sweare to him Husein going thither with fifty horse and a hundred foot was set on by the band of Obeidalla sent thither by Iezid He on the Friday set before him the Mushaf and admonished them But they rushed on him and slue him and all his company and carried away their wiues and children Iezid commanded his head to be set vp at Damascus on the gate The same yeere Abdalla Sonne of Zubeir vsurped the Empire at Mecca whiles Iezid followed his wine and dogges contemning Religion Iezid set ouer Chorasan Selim which tooke Naishbur and Chouarasma and Bochara then ruled by Chatumis a woman who promised the King of Saida marriage if he would assist her against the Muslims who thereupon came with 120000. but was slaine in battell and enriched the Muslims with spoyles They went to Samarcand the King whereof bought his Peace with much money A. 63. the men of Medina deposed Iezid who sent against them Muslim who spared them three dayes and then entred and spoyled them three dayes shedding their bloud and carrying away their goods Yet the Prophet of glorious memory said He which spoyleth my City my wrath remayneth on him A. 64. Muslim went to Mecca against Abdalla and dyed in the way Hasin succeeded in his place layd siege to it beate the house with Engines of battery and burned it This siege continued till newes came of Iezids death His Sonne Muaui prayed for him or in his steed hee reigned three yeeres nine moneths Anno mundi 6175. Muaui Sonne of Iezid the third Emperour of the house of Ommia was created Chalifa the same day and reigned forty fiue dayes and then dyed His Seale was inscribed The World is deceit Abdalla Sonne of Zubeir was inaugurated at Mecca when there had beene no Chalif two moneths The Iracans Egyptians and some Syrians sware to him Merwan of the house of Ommia raised a party at Damascus and preuayled in battell against Dahac which stood for Abdalla slue him and chased his followers Hee held Syria entred Egypt and after many fights obtained it sent an Army against Abdalla which got the better An. 65. the Cufans made an vprore to reuenge the death of Husein sixteene thousand being assembled vnder Suleiman which was slaine in battell by Obeidalla and his followers chased This yeere also Muchtar Sonne of Abuobeida came to Cufa and incited them to reuenge Husein of happy memory for which the Gouernour imprisoned him Merwan dyed of the Plague in the moneth Ramadan Some say that his Wife poysoned him others that she laid a Pillow on his face and sate thereon Abdulmelic Son of Merwan prayed for him He was Chalifa ten moneths
* Amos 4.12 b Psal. 103.1 b Of the Iewes Arba-canphos and Zizis they call this garment Talish vid. El. Thisb rad Talith vid. R. Mos M. N. l. 3. c. 33. c Num. 15.38 Fringes and Phylacteries d Of their Tephillim e The foureteene first verses in Exod. 13. 4 5 6 7 8 9. of Deut. 6. Pagn f Deut. 6.6 8. g Eccles 4.17 h Exod. 3. 5 i Num. 24.5 k Psal. 5.7 l Psal. 26.28 It seemeth 1. Cor. 11.4 that they prayed bare headed but in the booke Musar cap. 4. It is said a man ought to couer his head when hee prayeth because he standeth before God with fear and trembling and Cap. 6. he giueth a reason why a man is bare a woman couered because saith he Eue first sinned m Grounded on Deut. 10.12 Now Israel what doth God require of thee they reade not Mahschoel but Meahschoel hee râ—quireth an hundred And in the Treatise Porta lucis is hereof a Cabalisticall speculation that hee which any day shall misse any of his hundreth benedictions he shall not haue one blessing to his minde c. See P. Ric. de Coelest Agric. lib 4. n Zephan 3.20 o Hos 14.3 p Obad. ver 21. q Monster praecept Mes cum expos Rab. r Echad Å¿ They may not say it within foure cubits of a graue nor in sight of an vnclean place where dung or vrine is except they be hardned and dryed vp or else couered They must not stirre their eyes or fingers It is a preseruation against diuels Munster t Ezek. 1.7 u Tract Sanhedrin x 1. Kin. 22.22 y Vict. de Carben lib. 1. cont Iud. cap. 8. P. Ric. praec. affirmat 19. z Psal. 72.19 * Mor. Neb. l. 3. cap. 64. Buxdorf c 6 7. a Relation of Religion in the West b Deut. 11.13 c Leuit. 26.10 d Talmud tract Sotah cap. 1. e Prou. 6.26 f They may not drinke any wine with the Gentiles because it is doubtfull whether it hath beene offered to Idols or no and though it be alleaged that the Gentiles now doe not serue Idols yet because it was determined by a certaine number of Rabbines till by a Counsel of so many that decree bee disanulled it must stand Elias Thys rad Nesech g Robin good-fellow or the spirit of the buttery among the Iewes Concerning Angels it is thus writen in the booke Aboth fol. 83. from the earth to the firmament all is full of troupes and rulers and below are many hurtfull and accusing creatures which all haue their abode in the ayre no place being free of which some are for peace some for warre some prouoke to good some to euill to life and death c. Drus lib. 7. praet They say the Angell Raeziel is Gods Secretarie of which name are two Cabalisticall bookes Elias Thys Samael is the Diuell Euerie one hath two Angels one at his right hand the other at his left Rambam M. N. lib. 3.23 h Hee that leaues nothing on the Table shall not bee prosperous Sanhed C. helek i Psal. 39.10 11 k Scholae pulsator among the Iewes is as our Sexten They will not admit of bels because it is an inuention of the Christians because sayth Carbensis they are baptised they vse this prouerbe therof Hee which ringeth a bell let him fall in the dunghill and hee which hangs on the Bel-rope may he hang in hell Vict. Carb lib. 1. cap. 11. l Psal. 84 4. 144.15 145.5 m Iosh 7.6 n Deut. 6.4 a Tract Rabba Kama c. 7. b Exod. 15.22 c Li. Musar c. 4 d Princip sap ap Drus e The deuouter Iewes fast euery Munday and Thursday Vid. Buxdor syn cap. 9. Drus praet in Luc. 1.8 18.2 f Li. Musar 26. g In Thisb rad sacar h In their Synagogues they might do this but not in their Schooles See c. 12. Sup. §. 3. i The manner of the Law-Lectures k The folding of the wood of Life l Prou. 3.18 m Praecentor n Psal. 34.4 o Psalm 99.9 Legem legebant primuÌ„m Sacerdos deinde Leuita postreme Israel nam tres erant qui eam legebant Drus ex li. Musar Women haue a Synagogue apart from the men p Zach. 12.2 q This preparation or Parasceue they obserue before the Sabbath and other feasts Tertullian calls them caenae purae r Exod. 16.25 Å¿ Orach chaijm cap. 2. t Gen. 3.12 u De Sab. c. 21. x Like to this is the storie of Turnus and R. Akiba in the Talmud Tract Sanhed cap. 7. y De Sab. c. 16. z Dicunt cabalistae quòd qui vxorem suam cognoscit in media nocte noctis Veneris adueniente Sabbato non aliter prospera erit ei generatio tales n nunquam caerebunt haerede bonos procreabunt filios tales dicuntur Eunuchi quibus Deus etiam dat bona temporalia quia sicut tunc Tipheret copulatur vxori Malcut ratione Sobbati sic vir tunc de influxis Tipheret participabit Archang. in Cabal quem consule de Tiphereth Malch pag. 769. a Esa 58.13 b Minhagam Pag. 13. c Math. 27.47 d This holy wine they sprinkle about their houses and themselues as effectuall against diseases and diuels e Math 12 11. f Iob. 9 they accused Christ for anointing the eyes of the blinde c. yet they except the danger of life Thanchuma 8.1 Imeden fol. 41. Aquiba saith one may raise the dead by Necromancie except on the Sabbath and Misuoth 100. he determineth a Sabbath iourney out of towne for within though as wide as Niniue it had none at 2000. cubites which there is a measured mile g V ct Caroâ—ns l. 1. Buxdorf Syn. Iud. a Of their Tekuphas see sup c. 4. b Scal. Em. Tem. l. 7. p. 592. c Their order of celebrating the Passe-ouer at this day d Thus curious were the Roman women in the tites of Bana Dea not leauing a Mouse-hole vnsearched lest some male Mouse might marre the solemnitie e Hac nocte pas legunt historiam de exitu Aeg. bibunt 4 Cyathos vini post coenam frangunt panem dant partem suam vnicuique in mensacum tantasanctitate ac si ipsum Pascha mactassent Phil. Ferdinand praec. 19. f Abundans cautela non nocet g Pentecost h So the Primitiue Church neither fasted nor kneeled all the dayes betweene Easter Pentecost in token of ioyfull hope of the resurrection Iust Mart. quaest. 115. Amb. ser 61. Hier. Aug. c. perhaps in imitation of this Iewish rite applyed to that mystery i Tabernacles k The last day they may kindle fire from another not strike fire with stone or mettal nor quench it although to saue their good nor blow it with bellowes but with a reede they may with many trifling obseruations else mentioned by Munst Praecept Mos cum expos Rab. l Palme and Willow and Pome-citron and Myrtle the cause hereof Rambam deliuers Moreb Neb. p. 3. c. 44. m Psal. 96.12 n Bux de
in his Seale ingrauen words of like effect as is alreadie shewed Mandeuill hath the same report Will. de Rubruquis saith that they haue diuided Scythia amongst them from Danubius to the Sunne rising euery Captaine knowing the bounds of his pastures which they feede in the Winter descending Southwards ascending in the Summer Northwards Their houses are moueable remoued on great Carts which containe twentie foot betweene the wheeles their houses on each side ouer-reaching fiue foot drawne by aboue twenty Oxen. When they take them downe they turne the doore alwaies to the South Ouer the Masters head is an Image of Felt called the Masters brother and another ouer the head of the good wife or Mistres called her brother fastened to the wall and betwixt both of them is a little leane one which is the keeper of the whole house Shee hath also at her beds feet a Kids skin filled with wooll and a little Image looking towards the Maidens and Women Next to the doore on the Womens side which is the East as the mans side is on the West there is an Image with a Cowes Vdder for the Women whose office it is to milke the Kine on the other side another with a Mares Vdder for the Men. When they make merrie they sprinkle their drinke vpon these Images in order beginning at the Masters Then goeth a seruant out of the house with a cup full of drinke sprinkling thrice toward the South and bowing the knee at euery time and this is done for the honour of the Fire Then performeth he the like superstition toward the East for the honour of the Ayre next to the West for the honour of Water and lastly to the North in the behalfe of the Dead When the Master holdeth a cup in his hand to drinke before he tasteth thereof hee poureth his part vpon the ground if he drinketh sitting on horse-backe hee first poureth part thereof on the Mane of the Horse After the seruant aforesaid hath discharged his cups to the foure quarters of the world hee returneth to the house and two other seruants stand readie with two cups and two Basons to carry drinke vnto their Maister and that Wife which lay with him the last night sitting together on a bedde Their Sooth-sayers or Inchanters are their Priests To this may bee added out of the Manuscript aboue mentioned their Diuination by three bones thorough which being first burned blacke the Diuinor lookes and if the sight passeth straight and right it is a good token but if it be inwardly crooked or broken hee then vpon this euill presage ceaseth from his enterprise Master Ienkinson trauelled with certaine Tartars which diuined by the blade-bones of sheepe sod and then burnt to powder which being mingled with the bloud of the sheep they writ therewith certaine Characters with diuers words and Ceremonies and thence diuined of their successe which they found true to their cost They vsed Diuination also by foure swords Mangu Can desired a conference betwixt the Christians Saracens and Idolaters to see which of them could make best proofe of his Religion The Moal Tartars professed to beleeue one onely GOD the Author of life and death but as the hand which is one hath diuers fingers so thought he and they that this one GOD was pleased with diuers waies of deuotion Their Priests were diuiners they were many but had one Captaine or chiefe Bishop who alwaies placed his house or tent before that of the great Can about a stones cast distant Hee had charge of the Waine which carried the Idols the other Priests had their places appointed them Some of them were Astrologers specially that High-Priest which foretold the Ecclipses of the Moone All the people prouided them their meat that they might not go out of their Tents When an Ecclipse happens they sound their Organs and Timbrels and make a great noyse and when it is past they make great feasting drinking and mirth They foretell Holy-daies and those which are vnluckie for enterprises No warres are begun or made without their word They cause all presents which are sent to the Can to passe through the fire they purifie the houshold of the dead by the like rite which before may not bee touched On the ninth day of May they assemble all the white Mares and hallow them at which the Christians must be present with their Censors They then cast on the ground new Cosmos and make a great feast They foretell the destinies of Infants newly borne and when one is sicke they diuine by charmes whether the disease bee naturall or proceed of Sorcerie They are themselues Witches Sorcerers Inuokers of the Deuill this they doe in the night setting flesh in the midst of the house readie boiled vsing charmes Timbrells and falling into mad fits are bound Then comes the Deuill and giues them answeres Thus much Rubruquis M. Paulus thus reporteth of their Religion They say that there is a GOD on high in heauen of whom lifting vp their hands smiting their teeth three times together euery day with Censer and Incense they desire health and vnderstanding They place a Table aloft in the wall of their house in the which is written a name that representeth this god They haue another which they call Natigay or Itogay of Felt or other stuffe in euerie house They make him a wife and children and set his wife on the left hand and his children before him which seeme to doe him reuerence This they call the God of earthly things which keepeth their children beasts and corne and when they eat they annoint his mouth with the fat and the mouthes of his wife children and then cast out the broth out of the doore vnto other spirits And when their God hath had his part they take theirs Of this Natigay they with like Ceremonies of lifting vp their hands and smiting of their teeth desire temperature of the ayre fruits of the earth children and such like Their wiues are exceeding chaste and obseruant and though they bee many yet can Rachel and Leah yea ten or twentie of them agree with a maruellous vnion intent vnto their houshold and other businesse whereby they are gainefull and not chargeable to their Husbands When they marry the Husband couenanteth with the Father of the Maide who hauing giuen him power to take her wheresoeuer hee shall finde her hee seeketh her among some of her friends where shee hath then of purpose hidden her selfe and by a kinde of force carrieth her away They marry with any except their owne Mother and Sister Their Widdowe 's seldome marry because of their seruice to their former Husbands in another world except the sonne marrie his fathers wiues or the brother his brothers because they can there in the next world bee content to resigne them to their former Husbands againe The women buy sell and prouide all necessaries into the house the men intending nothing but their Armes
Hunting and Hawking If one hath buried a Male-child and another a Female the Parents contract a marriage betwixt those two and painting in papers Seruants Horses Clothes and Houshold and making writings for the confirmation of the Dower burne these things in the fire by the smoake whereof they in their smokie conceits imagine all these things to be carried and confirmed to their children in the other world and the Parents of the two dead parties claime kindred each of other as if they indeed had married their children while they liued In Xamdu did Cublai Can build a stately Palace encompassing sixteene miles of plaine ground with a wall wherein are fertile Meddowes pleasant Springs delightfull Streames and all sorts of beasts of chase and game and in the middest thereof a sumptuous house of pleasure which may be remoued from place to place Here hee doth abide in the moneths of Iune Iuly and August on the eight and twentieth day whereof hee departeth thence to another place to doe sacrifice on this manner He hath a Heard or Droue of Horses and Mares about ten thousand as white as snow of the milke whereof none may taste except hee bee of the bloud of Cingis Can. Yea the Tartars doe these beasts great reuerence nor dare any crosse their way or goe before them According to the direction of his Astrologers or Magicians he on the eight and twentieth of August aforesaid spendeth and poureth forth with his owne hands the milke of these Mares in the ayre and on the earth to giue drinke to the Spirits and Idols which they worship that they may preserue the men women beasts birds corne and other things growing on the earth These Astrologers or Necromancers are in their Art maruellous When the skie is cloudy and threatneth raine they will ascend the roofe of the Palace of the Grand Can and cause the raine and tempests to fall round about without touching the said Palace These which thus doe are called Tebeth and Chesmir two sorts of Idolaters which delude the people with opinion of their sanctitie imputing these workes to their dissembled holinesse and for this cause they goe in filthy and beastly manner not caring who seeth them with dirt on their faces neuer washing nor combing themselues And if any bee condemned to death they take dresse and eate him which they doe not if any die naturally They are also called Bachsi that is of such a Religion or Order as if one should say a Frier-Preacher or Minor and are exceedingly expert in their diuellish Art They cause that the Bottles in the Hall of the Great Can doe fill the Bowles of their owne accord which also without mans helpe passe ten paces through the ayre into the hands of the said Can and when hee hath drunke in like sort returne to their place These Bachsi sometimes resort vnto the Officers and threaten plagues or other misfortune from their Idols which to preuent they desire so many Muttons with black heads and so many pounds of Incense and Lignum Aloei to performe their due sacrifices Which they accordingly receiue and offer on their Feast-day sprinkling Broth before their Idols There be of these great Monasteries which seeme like a small Citie in some whereof are two thousand Monkes which shaue their heads and beards and weare a religious habite and hallow their Idols Feasts with great solemnitie of Hymnes and Lights Some of these may bee married Other there are called Sensim an Order which obserueth great abstinence and strictnesse of life in all their life eating nothing but Bran which they put in hot water and let it stand till all the white of the meale bee taken away and then eate it being thus washed These worship the Fire and are condemned of the other for Heretikes because they worship not their Idols and will not marry in any case They are shauen and weare hempen-garments of black or bright yellow and although they were Silke yet would they not alter the colour They sleepe on great Mats and liue the austerest life in the world Of their Astrologers in Cambalu were not fewer then fiue thousand Christians Catayans and Saracens maintained with food and rayment at the Great Cans charge These by their Astrolabe foretell of the change of weather mortalitie warres diseases c. And if any enterprise any great worke he resorteth vnto them and telling the houre of his Natiuitie by their Art is informed of the successe They hold the soule to be immortall and according to euery mans merits in his life to passe into a more noble creature till it be deified or ignoble as to a Pesant and then to a Dogge and so by degrees to the vilest They shew much reuerence to their Parents to whom if any bee vngratefull in their necessitie there is an Office and Officers appointed to trie and punish the offence In the Emperours hall none dare spit but for that purpose carrieth a little vessell to spit in nor dare any there make any noyse or loud talking The Tartars were at first very vncharitable to the poore and would curse them saying That if God had loued them he would haue prouided for them but after the Idolatrous Bachsi had commended Almes for a good worke there was great prouision made for them and euery day at least twentie thousand dishes of Rice Mill and Panike by certaine Officers distributed amongst them And for this liberalitie they adore him as a God Cingis amongst his first Lawes enacted as saith Vincentius the punishment of death to bee inflicted vpon offenders in those three vices which before time had beene most rife amongst them namely lying adulterie and theft of which yet towards other men that were not Tartars they made no conscience They are great Vsurers taking ten in the hundreth for a moneth besides vse vpon vse insomuch that a Souldier in Georgia which had borrowed fiue hundred pieces of coyne called Yperpera retaining the same fiue yeeres was constrained to repay seuen thousand And a Tartarian Lady for seuen yeeres vse of fiftie sheepe demanded seuen thousand Yperpera They are so couetous that though they abound in cattell they will scarce allow any to their owne expence while it is sound and good but if it die or be sicke They are addicted to Sodomie or Buggerie They eate sometimes for necessitie mans flesh sometimes to delight themselues and sometimes to terrifie others reckoning it a great glorie to haue slaine many and that by varietie of crueltie Their heads they shaue from eare to eare in manner of a Horse-shooe wearing long lockes at their eares and neckes There bee some of the Tartars which when they see their fathers grow old and diseased they giue them fat meates which may choake them And when they are thus dead they burne their bodies reseruing the ashes as a precious jewell sprinkling their meates with that powder But if any thinke not this enough which I am
death at Passanan for Tecco is a healthfull place where and in the Country about the Pepper most groweth In Nicobar they are base people and till not the ground Sumbrero is ten or twelue leagues Northward from this Iland where that plant growes not a plant but a Worme but a stone before obserued The people are tawny and naked they paint their faces Their Priests in their Sacrifices weare apparell so close as if it were sowed to them and hornes on their heads turning backe with a taile also hanging downe behind for so the Deuill they say appeareth to them Their faces and haire are deformed with greene blacke and yellow colours HONDIVS his Map of Zeilan CEILAN insula §. II. Of Zeilan ZEilan which some call Seylon other Ceilan is by Barrius auerred to be Taprobana sometimes according to Marcus Paulus his reports thought to haue comprehended 3600. miles in circuit since much impayred by his ouer-mighty neighbour the Sea which hath now left not aboue 250. miles in length and an 140. miles of breadth vnto it b The Indians call it Tenarisim or the delicious land and some are of opinion that this was Paradise So iust are the iudgements of the Highest that when as man wandred from him caused him also to wander from himselfe and from his habitation yea the place it selfe hath also wandred in mens wandring conceits ouer the World yea and out of our habitable World altogether as before is shewed men now seeking it as vainly as before they lost it It is in fashion resembling an Egge by a shallow channell separated from the Cape Comori The Heauens with their dewes the Ayre with a pleasant holesomnesse and fragrant freshnesse the Waters in their many Riuers and Fountaynes the Earth diuersified in aspiring Hils lowly Vales equall and indifferent Plaines filled in her inward Chambers with Metals and Iewels in her outward Court and vpper face stored with whole Woods of the best Cinamon that the Sunne seeth besides Fruits Oranges Limons c. surmounting those of Spaine Fowles and Beasts both tame and wild among which is their Elephant honoured by a naturall acknowledgement of excellence of all other Elephants in the World These all haue conspired and ioyned in common league to present vnto Zeilan the chiefe of worldly treasures and pleasures with a long and healthfull life in the Inhabitants to enioy them No maruell then if Sense and Sensuality haue heere stumbled on a Paradise There wooddie Hils as a naturall Amphitheatre doe encompasse a large Plaine and one of them as not contenting his beetle-browes with that onely prospect disdayneth also the fellowship of the neighbouring Mountaynes lifting vp his steepe head seuen leagues in height and hath in the top a Plaine in the middest whereof is a stone of two Cubits erected in manner of a Table holding in it the print of a mans foot who they say came from Deli thither to teach them Religion The Iogues and other deuout Pilgrimes resort thither from places a thousand leagues distant with great difficulty of passage both hither and heere For they are forced to mount vp this Hill by the helpe of nayles and chaines fastened thereto Nature hauing prohibited other passage Maffaeus and Boterus could perswade themselues that this foot-step is a relike and memory of the Aethiopian Eunuch others will haue it further fetcht and father it vpon Adam the first Father of Mankinde of whom the Hill also is named Pico de Adam The Moores call it Adam Baba and say That from thence Adam ascended into Heauen The Pilgrimes are clad in their Palmers Weed with Iron chaines and skins of Lions and other wild beasts Vpon their armes and legs they weare buttons with sharpe points that cut the flesh and draw bloud which they say they doe in Gods seruice Before they come at the Mountayne they passe by a fenny Valley full of water wherein they wade vp to the waste with Kniues in their hands to scrape from their legs the bloud-leeches which else would end their Pilgrimage and life before the time For this dirty and watery passage continueth eighteen miles before they come at the Hil whose proud top would disdaine climbing if Art did not captiue Nature and binde the Hill with chaines of Iron as is said When they are mounted they wash them in a Lake or Poole of cleere springing water neere to that foot-stone and making their Prayers doe thus account themselues cleane from all their sinnes This holy iourney is generally performed by the Ilanders sayth Vertomannus once a yeere He addeth that a Moore told him that this foot-print was two spans long and that Adam heere a long time bewayled his sinne and found pardon But Odoricus affirmeth that they reported this mourning to haue beene for Abel and to haue lasted three hundred yeeres and of the teares of Abel and Eue this purifying water to haue proceeded which Odoricus proued to be a Tale because he saw the water springing continually and it runneth thence into the Sea He saith that this water had in it many precious stones and the King gaue leaue at certayne times of the yeere to poore men to take them that they might pray for his soule which they could not doe but first anointed with Limons because of the Horse-leeches in that water There are reckoned nine Kings in this Iland The first of Colmuchi to whom the rest pay tribute viz. the Kings of Ianasipatan Triquinamale Batecolon Villassem Tanamaca Laula Galle and Candy In Candy were Statues artificially wrought fiue or sixe fathomes high which these Symmetrians proportioned to the stature of Adam gathered by that print of his foot In Vintane is a Pagode or Idoll Temple the compasse whereof is an 130. paces it is very high and all white except on the top which hath the spires thereof gilded insomuch that men are not able when the Sun shineth to looke thereon It hath a Towre or square Steeple of excellent workmanship There are many other Temples and a Monastery also of Religious persons which are attired in yellow haue their crownes shauen with Beades in their hands and alwayes seeme to mumble ouer somewhat of their deuout Orisons being in high estimation of sanctity with the vulgar and freed from publike labours and burthens Their Monastery is built after the manner of the Popish being also gilded with Gold In their Chappels are many Images of both sexes which they say represent some of their Saints they are set on the Altars and are clothed with garments of gold and siluer Before them are the Images of Boyes which beare vp great Candlestickes with Wax-candles burning therein night and day Euery houre they resort to these Altars to their Mumpsimus They held a solemne Procession whiles the Hollanders were there in which their Abbot rode on an Elephant richly attired lifting vp his hands ouer his head with a golden Rod therein the Monkes went two
and two before him in order partly bearing and playing on many Instruments of Musicke partly bearing Wax-lights and Torches the men also and after them the women and Maids following in like order and the fairest Virgins were busied with games and dances being naked from the nauell vpwards beneath couered with smockes of diuers colours their armes and eares adorned with Gold and Iewels Any man that should see it saith our Author would thinke our Westerne Monkes had hence borrowed their Ceremonies Their Images are in euery corner of the way which they adorne with flowers In Candy the chiefe Citie of that Kingdome were Pagodes innumerable The houses or Temples were of stone like the Temples in these parts some Statues were as high as the mast of a ship The people heere if they haue once touched meate which for quantity or quality they cannot eate they cast it to the dogs neither will any man be he neuer so meane eate that which another hath touched The women goe naked from the waste vpwards They marry as many wiues as they can keepe The King makes vse of their Superstition For pretending to build Temples he after leaues them vnperfect excusing himselfe that they had not contributed sufficient summes of mony and therefore exacteth a new There is one Statue of great stature with a Sword in his hand which by illusion of the Deuill if it be not the delusion of fabulous reports made as though he would strike the King with his Sword as he was entring the Temple and put him in great feare whereas before he had made a mocke of it The Singales or Natiue Inhabitants say that the World shall not perish as long as that Image continueth safe When any one is sicke hee sacrificeth to the Deuill hauing a Box hanging in his house to that end therein to gather somewhat for his Offering Some pray vnto the Image of an Elephants head made of wood or stone that they may obtaine wisdome whereof this prayer argues their great want some eate no quicke creature They eat no Beefe nor drinke any Wine they worship whatsoeuer first meeteth them in the morning George Spilberge was bountifully entertained of the King of Candy but Sebald de Weert was with diuers of his companions slaine after he had receiued much kindnesse of the King his importunitie to get the King into his ship making him suspect some trechery The King of Motecalo had eares adorned with Iewels and hanging downe the lappets of them were so stretched to his shoulders He was kind to the Hollanders but they incensed him against them by killing certaine Kine for some of them said that the soules of Kine slaine after that manner were hurled forthwith into Hell He obserued one Pagode to whole Feast he went while the Hollanders were there the solemnity whereof was to continue ten dayes till a new Moone with great concourse of deuout persons Of the Superstitions of Perimal and the worship of the Apes tooth celebrated in this Iland we haue already shewed in the Chapter of Narsinga The Cingalan language which they speake in this Iland is thought to haue beene there left by the Chinois sometimes supposed I thinke falsely Lords of Zeilan In Marcus Paulus his dayes the Tartarians had not pierced thus farre For the King then raigning refused to sell to Cublai Can then the greatest Monarch in the World at a price a Rubie which hee had left him by his Ancestors esteemed the richest Iewell in the World being as he saith a span long and as bigge as a mans arme cleere and shining as if it had bin a fire In this Iland were reckoned nine Principalities or Kingdomes but not long since their chiefe King was murthered by a Barber who draue the other Kings out of the Countrey and vsurped the Monarchy to himselfe practising hostility against the Portugals The Cingulas are very cunning Artificers in all Metals One of them presented the Archbishop of Goa with a Crucifix so cunningly wrought as if he had giuen life to the Image of one dead He sent it to the King of Spaine as a rare Iewell not to be equalled in Europe The Inhabitants heere are actiue and expert in Iuggling both men and women trauelling through India with their strange Hobby-horses to get money by this vanity The Sea-coast as in other Indian Ilands is inhabited with Moores the Inland with Pagans The Portugals haue a Fortresse at Colombo The Ilanders are not warriours they giue themselues to pastime and pleasure they goe naked from the girdle vpward they make wide holes in their eares which they stretch out with the weight of their Iewels to their shoulders Monfart relates that Zeilan hath whole Forrests of Cinamon and Mountaynes of Chrystall and that out of their Riuers they draw Pearles Rubies Saphirs and Cats-eyes that they worship the first creature they meet eat nothing that hath bloud make no more bread then will be eaten at a meale their Religion prohibiting them to eat any two houres old The Hollanders found exceeding both good and bad entertainment with the King of Candy Now for that question whether Zeilan or Samatra be that Taprobane of the ancient is very doubtfull yet that report in Pliny of Taprobane seemes more to encline for Zeilan For hee sayth That in Claudius time a seruant of Annius Plocamus which was Customer for the Red Sea was carried from the Coast of Arabia besides Carmania in fifteene dayes which I thinke could not possibly bee done to Samatra Likewise the excellency of the Elephants beyond all the Indian agrees to Zeilan and had Samatra beene so knowne at that time the other parts of India it is like had beene better discouered then they were in those times This Taprobane was discouered to bee an Iland by Onesicritus Alexanders Admirall of his Fleet in these parts It was then accounted another World and therefore shall be the period of our Pilgrimage and Perambulation in this Asian part of the World : which by the gracious goodnesse of his Almighty Guide the Pilgrime hath now passed and hath led the industrious Reader along with him §. III. The Conclusion of this Asian Pilgrimage THe Popish Pilgrimes were wont to beguile their weary steps with Musicke or pleasant tales according to the delicate deuotion of those times easie was their pardon and penance at their iournies end And in these our times Madonna de Loretto must giue entertainment to many Pilgrimes which as if Venus were become her Chamberlaine haue their Curtezan-consolations to solace their Pilgrim-paines the deuout Friers and Nuns themselues that haue defied the Deuill and denyed the World by a new Vow deuoted to the flesh disguise themselues in Lay-habits trauelling thither and from thence as Man and Wife only at Loretto couering all with their Cowles And if Confession discouer it hideth againe as a double couering But to vs Vowes Cowles and such salace-solaces are wanting the end of this labour