this Stone upon which this new place is to be built for I desire that hereafter it should be so called wherefore I pray you all as Friends and command you as your King not to call it otherwise to the end the memory thereof may remain immortal to those that shall come after us to the end of the World By which means it shall be manifested to all men that the thirteenth day of the eighth Moon in the year one thousand six hundred thirty and nine after the Lord of all things created had made those that lived upon the Earth see how much he abhorred the sins of Men for the which he drowned the whole World with Water that he sent down from Heaven in satisfaction of his divine Iustice it shall I say be manifested to them that the new Prince Pequin built this Fortress whereunto he gave his Name And so conformable to the Prophesie which the dead childe hath delivered it shall be published over all by the voice of strange People in what manner the Lord is to be feared and what Sacrifices are to be made that they may be just and acceptable unto him Now this was that which King Pequin said unto his Vassals and which is at this day to be seen engraven on a silver Scutcheon fastened to an Arch of one of the principal Gates of the City called Pommicotay where in memory of this Prophecy there is ordinarily a Guard of forty Halberdiers with their Captain whereas there are but onely four in all the rest who are bound to render an account of all that pass in and out there daily And because the Histories relate that this new King laid the first foundation of this City on the 3 d of the moneth of August the Kings of China do on that day usually shew themselves to the People and that with such Pomp and Majesty that I profess I am not able to declare the least part of it much less to describe the whole Now in regard of this first Kings words which the Chineses hold for an infallible Prophecy his Descendants do so fear the accomplishment thereof that by a Law expresly made by them the admittance of any Strangers into this Kingdom saving Ambassadours and Slaves is forbidden upon most grievous pains So that when any do chance to arrive there they banish them presently from one place to another not permitting them to settle any where as they practised it towards me and my eight companions And thus as I have succinctly delivered was this Empire of China founded and peopled by the means of this Prince named Pequin the eldest of Nancaa's three Sons As for the other two called Pacan and Nacau they afterwards founded the other two Towns aforesaid and withall gave them their own Names It is also the general opinion that their Mother Nancaa founded the City of Nanquin which took its denomination from her continuing so to this day and is the second City of this great Monarchy The Histories further affirm that from the time of this first Founder the Empire of China augmented always from one King to another by a just Succession till a certain Age which according to our Computation was in the Year of Lord one thousand one hundred and thirty After which a King that then reigned named Xixipan inclosed the City of Pequin within the space of three and twenty years in such manner as it is seen at this day and that fourscore and two years after another King his Grand-childe called Iumbileytay made the like so that both together were sixty leagues in circuit namely each of them thirty ten in length and five in breadth Now it is certain and I have often times read it that each of these Inclosures or Walls hath a thousand and threescore round Bulwarks as also two hundred and forty Towers very fair strong large and high with gilt Lions upon Globes being the Arms of the Kings of China which are very pleasing to the eye Without the last Inclosure is an exceeding great Ditch round about it ten fathom deep and forty broad continually replenished with many Barques and Boats covered over head as if they were Houses where both Provisions and all sorts of Merchandise are sold. This City according to the Chineses report hath above three hundred and threescore Gates in each of which as I have before recited there are always four Halberdiers who are obliged to render an account of all that go in and out daily There are also certain Chambers in it whither it is the custome to bring such Children as wander and go astray in the Town to the end their Parents that lose them may be sure to hear of them there I will refer my speaking more largely of the Magnificences of this goodly City to another place for that which I have now delivered in haste and as it were en passant was but to make a brief Relation of the original of this Empire and of the first Founder of the City of Pequin which may be truly said to be the chiefest of all the World for greatness policy riches and abundance of all things that can be desired of man as also of the Foundation of the second City of this mighty Kingdom that is Nanquin and of the other two Pacan and Nacan whereof I have heretofore spoken and in which the Founders of them are buried in very stately and rich Temples within Tombs of white and green Alabaster all garnished with Gold and erected upon Lions of Silver with a world of Lamps and perfuming Pans full of divers sorts of sweet Odours round about them Now that I have spoken of the Original and Foundation of this Empire together with the circuit of the great City of Pequin I hold it not amiss to intreat as succinctly as I may of another particular which is no less admirable then those whereof I have made mention before It is written in the fifth Book of the Scituation of all the remarkable places of this Empire or rather Monarchy for to speak truly there is no appellation so great but may be well attributed unto it that a King named Crisnagol Dicotay who according to the computation of that Book reigned in the year of our Lord five hundred and eighteen happened to make war with the Tartar about some difference between them concerning the State of Xenxinapau that borders on the Kingdom of Lauhos and so valiantly demeaned himself in a Battel against him that he defeated his Army and remained Master of the Field whereupon the Tartar confederating himself with other Kings his Friends did by their assistance assemble together greater Forces then the former and therewith invaded the Kingdom of China where it is said he took three and thirty very important Towns of which the principal was Panquilor insomuch that the Chinese fearing he should not be well able to defend himself concluded a Peace with him upon condition to relinquish his right which he pretended to that in
of light women exempted from the tribute which they of the City pay for that they are Curtisans whereof the most part had quitted their husbands for to follow the wretched trade and if for that cause they come to receive any hurt their husbands are grievously punished for it because they are there as in a place of freedom and under the protection of the Tutan of the Court Lord Steward of the Kings house In this inclosure do likewise remain all the Landresses by them called Maynates which wash the linnen of the City who as we were told are above an hundred thousand and live in this quarter for that there are divers rivers there together with a number of wells and deep pools of water compassed about with good walls Within this same inclosure as the said Aquisendan relates there are thirteen hundred gallant and very sumptuous houses of religioâ—s men and women who make profession of the four principal Laws of those two and thirty which are in the Empire of China and it is thought that in some of these houses there are above a thousand persons besides the servants that from abroad do furnish them with victuals and other necessary provisions We saw also a great many houses which have fair buildings of a large extent with spacious inclosures wherein there are gardens and very thick woods full of any kind of game either for hawking or hunting that may be desired And these houses are as it were Inns whither come continually in great number people of all ages and sexeâ— as to see Comedies Playes Combates Bul-baitings Wrastlings and magnificent Feasts with the Tutons Chaems Conchacys Aytaos Bracalons Chumbims Monteos Lauteas Lords Gentlemen Captains Merchants and other rich men do make for to give content to their kindred and friends These houses are bravely furnished with rich hangings beds chairs and stools as likewise with huge cupbards of plate not only of silver but of gold also and the attendants that wait at the table are maids ready to be married very beautiful and gallantly attired howbeit all this is nothing in comparison of the sumptuousness and other Magnificences that we saw there Now the Chineses assured us there were some feasts that lasted ten days after the Carachina or Chinese manner which in regard of the state pomp and charge thereof as well in the attendance of servants and wayters as in the costly fare of all kind of flesh fowl fish and all delicacies in musick in sports of hunting and hawking in playes comedies tilts turnayes and in shews both of horse and foot fighting and skirmishing together do cost above twenty thousand Taeis These Inns do stand in at least a million of gold and are maintained by certain Companies of very rich Merchants who in way of commerce and traffique employ their mony therein where by it is thought they gain far more then if they should venture it to sea It is said also that there is so good and exact an order observed there that whensoever any one will be at a charge that way he goes to the Xipaton of the house who is the superintendant thereof and declares unto him what his designe is whereupon he shews him a book all divided into chapters which treats of the ordering and sumptuousness of Feasts as also the rates of them and how they shall be served in to the end that he who will be at the charge may chuse which he pleases This book called Pinetoreu I have seen and heard it read so that I remember how in the three first Chapters thereof it speaks of the feasts whereunto God is to be invited and of what price they are and then it descends to the King of China of whom it sayes That by a speciall grace of Heaven and right of Soveraignty he hath the Government of the whole earth and of all the Kings that inhabit it After it hath done with the King of China it speaks of the feasts of the Tutons which are the ten Soveraign dignities that command over the forty Chaems who are as the Vice-royes of the State These Tutons also are termed the beams of the Sun for say they as the King of China is the Son of the Sun so the Tutons who represent him may rightly be termed his beams for that they proceed from him even as the rayes do from the Sun But setting aside the bruitishness of these Gentiles I will only speak of the Feast whereunto God is to be invited which I have seen some to make with much devotion though for want of faith their works can do them little good CHAP. XXXIV The Order which is observed in the Feasts that are made in certain Inns and the State which the Chaem of the two and thirty Vniversities keeps with certain remarkable things in the City of Pequin THe first thing whereof mention is made in the Preface of that Book which treats of Feasts as I have said before is the Feast that is to be made unto God here upon earth of which it is spoken in this manner Every Feast how sumptuous soever it be may be paid for with a price more or less conformable to the bounty of him that makes it who for all his charge bestowed on it reaps no other recompence then the praise of flatterers and idle persons wherefore O my Brother saith the Preface of the said Book I counsel thee to imploy thy goods in feasting of God in his poor that is to say secretly to supply the necessities of good folks so that they may not perish for want of that which thou hast more then thou needest Call to mind also the vile matter wherewith thy father ingendred thee and that too which is far more abject wherewith thy mother conceived thee and so thou wilt see how much inferiour thou art even to the bruit beasts which without distinction of reason apply themselves to that whereunto they are carried by the flesh and seeing that in the quality of a man thou wilt invite thy friends who possibly by to morrow may not be to shew that thou art good and faithful invite the poor creatures of God of whose groans and necessities he like a pitiful Father taketh compassion and promiseth to him that doth them good infinite satisfaction in the house of the Sun where as an Article of faith we hold that his servants shall abide for evermore in eternal happiness After these words and other such like worthy to be observed the Xipaton who as I told you is the chief of them that govern this great Labyrinth shews him all the Chapters of the Book from one end to the other and bids him look what manner of men or Lords he will invite what number of guests and how many days he will have the feast to last for addeth he the Kings and Tutons at the feasts that are made for them have so many Messes of meat so many Attendants such Furniture such Chambers such vessel such plate such sports
the way were two rows of low houses like unto great Churches with steeples all guilt and divers inventions of painting Of these houses the Chineses assured us there was in that place three thousand all which from the very top to the bottom were full of dead mâ—ns skuls a thing so strange that in every mans judgment a thousand great shops could hardly contain them Behind these houses both on the one side and the other were two great Mounts of dead mens bones reaching far above the ridges of the houses full as long as the street and of a mighty bredth These bones were ordered and disposed one upon another so curiously and aptly that they seemed to grow there Having demanded of the Chineses whether any register was kept of these bones they answered there was for the Talagrepos unto whose charge the administration of these three thousond houses was commited enrolled them all and that none of these houses yieldâ—d less then two thousand Taeis revenue out of such lands as the owners of these bones had bequeathed to them for their souls health and that the rent of all these three thousand houses together amounted unto five millions of gold yearly whereof the King had four and the Talagrepos the other for to defray the expences of this Fabrick and that the four appertained to the King as their Support who dispenced them in the maintenance of the three hundred thousand prisoners of Xinanguibaleu Being amazed at this marvel we began to go along this street in the midst whereof we found a great Piazza compassed about with two huge grates of lattin and within it was an Adder of brass infolded into I know not how many boughts and so big that it contained thirty fathom in circuit being withall so ugly and dreadful as no words are able to describe it Some of us would estimate the weight of it and the least opinions reached to a thousand quintals were it hollow within as I believe it was Now although it was of an unmeasurable greatness yet was it in every part so well proportioned as nothing can be amended whereunto also the workmanship thereof is so correspondent that all the perfection which can be desired from a good workman is observed in it This monstrous Serpent which the Chinese call The gluttonous Serpent of the house of smoak had on the top of his head a bowl of iron two and fifty foot in circumference as if it had been thrown at him from some other place Twenty paces further was the figure of a man of the same brass in the form of a Gyant in like manner very strange and extraordinary as well for the greatness of the body as the hugeness of the limbs This Monster held an iron bowl just as big as the other aloft in both his hands and beholding the Serpent with a frowning and angry countenance he seemed as though he would throw this bowl at him Round about this figure was a number of little idols all guilt on their knees with their hands lifted up to him as if they would adore him All this great edifice was consecrated to the honour of this Idol called Mucluparon whom the Chineses affirmed to be the treasurer of all the dead mens bones and that when the gluttonous Serpent before mentioned came to steal them away he made at him with that bowl which he held in his hands whereupon the Serpent in great fear fled immediately away to the bottom of the profound house of smoak whither God had precipitated him for his great wickedness and further that he had maintained a combate with him three thousand years already and was to continue the same three thousand years more so that from three thousand to three thousand years he was to imploy five bowls wherewith he was to make an end of killing him Hâ—reunto they added that as soon as this Serpent should be dead the bones that were there assembled would return into the bodies to which they appertained formerly and so should go and remain for ever in the house of the Moon To these brutish opinions they joyn many others such like unto which they give so much faith that nothing can be able to remove them from it for it is the doctrine that is preached unto them by their Bonzes who also tell them that the true way to make a soul happy is to gather these bones together into this place by means whereof there is not a day passes but that a thousand or two of these wretches bones are brought thither Now if some for their far distance cannot bring all the bones whole thither they will at leastwise bring a tooth or two and so they say that by way of an alms they make as good satisfaction as if they brought all â—he rest which is the reason that in all these chunel houses there is such an infinite multitude of these teeth that one might lade many ships with them We saw in a great Plain without the walls of this City another building very sumptuous and rich which they call Nacapirau that is to say the Queen of Heaven for it is the opinion of these blinded wretches that our Lord above is married like the Kings here below and that the children which he hath had by the Nacapirau are the Stars we see twinkling in the Firmament by night and that when any exhalation comes to dissolve in the air they say that it is one of his children that is dead whereof his other brothers are so grieved that they shed such abundance of tears as the earth is watered therewith by which means God provides us of our living as it were in manner of alms bestowed for the souls of the deceased But letting pass these and other such like fooleries I will only intreat of such particulars as we observed in this great Edifice whereof the first was one hundred and forty Convents of this accursed Religion both of men and women in each of which there are four hundred persons amounting in all to six and fifty thousand besides an infinite number of religious servants that are not obliged to their vow of profession that are within who for a mark of their Priestly dignity are clothed in violet with green stars on them having their head beard and eye-brows shaven and wearing beads about their necks to pray with but for all that they crave no alms by reason they have revenue enough to live on The next was an inclosure within this huge building a league in circuit the walls whereof were built upon arches vaults of strong hewed stone and underneath them were Galleries invironed all about with ballisters of lattin within this inclosure at a gate through which we past we saw under most deformed figures the two porters of hell at least they believe so calling the one Bacharon and the other Quagifau both of them with iron clubs in their hands and so hideous and horrible to see to that it is impossible to behold them
which made them all to agree that it was not necessary they should go to Malaca After these things I desired Ioano Cayeyro to make me a Dâ—claration of all that had past in this business that it might serve me as it were for a Certificate at my return to our Fortress determining as soon as I had it to get me from this place for that I had nothing more to do there With this resolution I stayed there with Ioano Cayeyro in continual expectation to be gone when the Season should serve for the Junck to depart and remained with him at this Siege the space of six and forty days which was the chief time of the King of Bramaa his abode there of whom I will say something here in a few words because I conceive the curious would be well content to know what success the Chaubainhaa King of Martabano had in this war This Siege had lasted now six months and thirteen dayes in which space the City had been assaulted five times in plain-day but the besieged defended themselves always very valiantly and like men of great courage Howbeit in regard they were insensibly consumed with length of time and the success of war and that no succour came to them from any part their enemies were without comparison far more in number then they in such sort as the Chaubainhaa found himself so destitute of men as it was thought he had not above five thousand souldiers left in the City the hundred and thirty thousand which were said to be there at the beginning of the Siege being consumed by Famine or the Sword by reason whereof the Councel assembling for to deliberate what was to be done thereupon it was resolved that the King should sound his enemy by his Interest which he presently put in execution For that effect he sent to tell him that if he would raise the Siege he would give him thirty thousand Bisses of silver which is in value a million of gold and would become his Tributary at threescore thousand Duckets by the year The answer made by the King of Bramaa hereunto was that he could accept of no conditions from him if he did not first yield himself to his mercy The second time he propounded unto him that if he would suffer him to depart away with two ships in one of the which should be his Treasure and in the other his Wife and Children that then he would deliver him the City and all that was in it But the King of Bramaa would hearken no more to that then the former The third Proposition which he made him was this That he should retire with his Army to Tagalaa some six leagues off that so he might have liberty to go away freely with all his and thereupon he would deliver him the City and the Kingdom together with all the Treasure belonging to the King his Predecessour or that in lieu thereof he would give him three millions of gold But he also refused this last offer insomuch that the Chaubainhaa utterly dispairing of ever making his peace with so cruel an enemy began to meditate with himself what means he might use to save himself from him Having long thought upon it he found no better an expedient then therein to serve himself of the succour of the Portugals for he was perswaded that by their means he might escape the present danger He sent then secretly to tell Ioano Cayeyro that if he would imbarque himself in the night in his four ships and take him in with his wife and children and so save them he would give him half his treasure In this affair he very closely imployed a certain Portugal named Paulo de Seixas born in the Town of Obidos who at that time was with him in the City This same having disguised himself in a Pegu habit that he might not be known stole one night to Cayeyro's Tent and delivered him a Letter from the Chaubainhaa wherein this was contained Valiant and faithful Commander of the Portugals through the Grace of the great King of the other end of the world the strong and mighty Lion dreadfully roaring with a Crown of Majesty in the House of the Sun I the unhappy Chaubainhaa heretofore a Prince but now no longer so finding my self besieged in this wretched and infortunate City do give thee to understand by the words pronounced out of my mouth with an assurance no less faithful then true that I now render my self the Vassel of the great King of Portugal Soveraign Lord of me and my children with an acknowledgement of homage and such tribute as he at his pleasure shall impose on me wherefore I require thee on his behalf that as soon as Paulo Seixas shall present this my Letter unto thee thou come speedily with thy Ships to the Bulwark of the Chappel-key where thou shalt find me ready attending thee and then without taking further counsel I will deliver my self up to thy mercy with all the treasures that I have in gold and precious stones whereof I will most willingly give the one half to the King of Portugal upon condition that he shall permit me with the remainder to leavy in his Kingdom or in the Fortresses which he hath in the Indiaes two thousand Portugals to whom I will give extraordinary great pay that by their means I may be re-established in this State which now I am constrained to abandon since my ill fortune will have it so As for that which concerns thee and thy men I do promise them by the faith of my verity that in case they do help to save me I will divide my treasure so liberally among them that all of them shall be very well satisfied and contented And for that time will not suffer me to enlarge any further Paulo de Seixas by whom I send this unto thee shall assure thee both of that which he hath seen and of the rest which I have communicated unto him Ioano Cayeyro had no sooner received this Letter but he presently caused the chief of his followers secretly to assemble together in Councel Having shewed them the Letter he represented unto them how important and profitable it would be for the service of God and the King to accept of the offer which the Chaubainhaa had made them Whereupon causing an Oath to be given to Paulo de Seixas he willed him freely to declare all his knowledg of the matter and whether it were true that the Chaubainhaa his Treasure was so great as it was reported to be Thereunto he answered by the Oath that he had taken That he knew not certainly how great his Treasure was but that he was well assured how he had often seen with his own eyes an house in form of a Church and of a reasonable bigness all â—ull up to the very tyles of bars and wedges of Gold which might very well lade two great Ships He further said That he had moreover seen six and twenty Chests bound about with strong
it in the Kings head that you can be any ways profitable unto him It were fitter for you therefore to shave away your beards that you may not deceive the world as you do and we will have women in your places that shall serve us for our money Whereupon the Bramaas of the Guard being incensed against us drove us away from thence with a great deal of shame and contumely And truly not to lye never was I so sensible of any thing as this in respect of the honour of my Country-men After this the Chaubainhaa went on till he came to the Tent of the King who attended him with a Royal Pomp for he was accompanied with a great number of Lords amongst the which there were fifteen Bainhaas who are as Dukes with us and of six or seven others that were of greater dignity then they As soon as the Chaubainhaa came near him he threw himself at his feet and so prostrated on the ground he lay there a good while as it were in a swoon wiâ—hâ—ut â—peaking a word but the Rolim of Mounay that was close by him supplyed that defect and likâ— a religious man as he was spake for him to the King saying Sir Here is a Spâ—ctacle able to move thy heart to pity though the crime be such as it is Remember then that the thing most pleasing to God in this world and whereunto the effects of his mercy is soonest communicated is such an action and voluntary submission as this is which here thou beholdâ—st It is for thee now to imitate his clemency and so to do thou art most humbly intreated by the hearts of all them that are mollified by so great a misfortune as this is Now if thou grantest them this their request which with so much instance they beg of thee be assured that God will take it in good part and that at the hour of thy death he will stretch forth his mighty hand over thee to the end thou mayst be exempted from all manner of faults Hereunto he added many other speeches whereby he perswaded the King to pardon him at least-wise he promised so to do wherewith the Rolim and all the Lords there present shewed themselves very well contented and commended him exceedingly for it imagining that the effect should be answerable to that which he had ingaged himself for before all Now because it began to be night he commanded the most of them that were about him to retire as for the Chaubainhaa he committed him into the hands of a Bramaa Commander named Xemin Commâ—dau and the Queen his wife with his children and the other Ladies were put into the custody of Xemin Ansedaa as well because he had his wife there as for that he was an honourable old man in whom the King of Bramaa much confided The fear which the King of Bramaa was in left the men of war should enter into the City of Martabano and should pillage it now that it was night before he had done all that which I am hereafter to relate was the cause that he sent to all the gates of the City being four and twenty Bramaa Captains for to guard them with express Commandment that upon pain of death no man should be suffered to enter in at any of them before he had taken order for the performance of the promise which he had made to the strangers to give them the spoil of it howbeit he took not that care and used such diligence for the consideration he spâ—ke of but onely that he might preserve the Chaubainhaas treasure to which effect he spent two whole days in conveighing it away it being so great that a thousand men were for that space altogether imployed therein At the end of these two days the King went very early in the morning to an hill called Beidao distant from his quarters some two or three flight shoot and then caused the Captains that were at the Guard of the gates to leave them and retire away whereupon the miserable City of Martabono was delivered to the mercy of the Souldiers who at the shooting off of a Cannon which was the signal thereof entred presently into it pell-mell and so thronging together that at the entring into the gates it is said above three hundred were stifled for as there was there an infinite company of men of War of different Nations the most of them without King without Law and without the fear and knowledge of God they went all to the Spoile with closed eyes and therein shewed themselves so cruel minded that the thing they made least reckoning of was to kill an hundred men for a crown And truly the disorder was such in the City as the King himself was fain to go thither six or seven times in Person for to appease it The Sack of this City endured three days and an half with so much avarice and cruelty of these barbarous enemies as it was wholly pillaged without any thing left that might give an eye-cause to covet it That done the King with a new ceremony of Proclamations caused the Chaubainhaas Pallaces together with thirty or forty very fair rich Houses of his principal Lords and all the Pagods and Temples of the City to be demolished so that according to the opinion of many it was thought that the loss of those magnificent Edifices amounted to above ten millions of gold wherewith not yet contented he commanded all the buildings of the City that were still a foot to be set on fire which by the violence of the wind kindled in such manner as in that onely night there remained nothing unburnt yea the very Walls Towers and Bulwarks were consumed even to the foundations The number of them that were killed in this Sack was threescore thousand persons nor was that of the prisoners much less There were an hundred and forty thousand houses and seventeen hundred Temples burnt wherein also were consumed threescore thousand Statues or Idols of divers mettals during this Siege they of the City had eaten three thousand Elephants There was found in this City six thousand pieces of Artillery what of brass and iron an hundred thousand Quintals of Pepper and as much of Sanders Benjamin Lacre Lignum Aloes Camphire Silk and many other kinds of rich Merchandise but above all an infinite number of commodities which were come thither from the Indiaes in above an hundred vessels of Cambaya Achem Melinda Ceilam and of all the Streight of Mecqua of the Lequios and of China As for the gold silver precious stones and jewels that were found there one knows not truly what they were for those things are ordinarily concealed wherefore it shall suffice me to say that so much as the King of Bramaa had for certain of the Chaubainhaas Treasure amounted to an hundred Millions of gold whereof as I have said before our King lost the Moitie as well for our sins as through the malice and envy of wicked dispositions The next day after the
himself absolute Lord of the Empire of Sâ—rnaâ— whereof the revenue was twelve millions of gold besides other comings in which amounted to as much more With all these inventions this Queen used so great diligence for the contenting of the desire which she had to raise her Favorite to the Royalty to marry her self to him and to make the illegitimate son which she had bad by him successor of the Crown as within the space of eight moneths fortune favouring her designes and hoping more fully to execute her wicked plot shee caused most of the great men of the kingdom to be put to death and confiscated all their lands goods and treasures which she distributed amongst such of her creatures as she daily drew to her party Now forasmuch as the young King her son served for the principall obstacle to her intentions this young Prince could not escape her abominable fury for she her self poysoned him even as she had poysoned the King his father That done she married with Vquumcheniraa who had been one of the Purveyors of her house and caused him to be crowned King in the city of Odiaa the eleventh of November in the yeare one thousand five hundred forty five But whereas Heaven never leaves wicked actions unpunished the year after one thousand five hundred forty and six and on the fifteenth day of January they were both of them slain by Oyaa Passilico and the King of Cambaya at a certain banquet which these Princes made in a Temple that was called Quiay Figrau that is to say the god of the atoms of the Sun whose solemnity was that day celebrated So that as well by the death of these two persons as of all the rest of their party whom these Princes also killed with them all things became very peaceable without any further prejudice to the people of the kingdom onely it is true that it was despoyled of the most part of the Nobility which formerly it had by the wicked inventions and pernicious practices whereof I have spoken before CHAP. LXIX The King of Bramaa's enterprize upon the Kingdom of Siam and that which past untill hiâ— arrivall at the city of Odiaa with his besieging of it and all that ensued thereupon THe Empire of Siam remaining without a lawfull successor those two great Lords of the Kingdom namely Oyaa Passiliâ—â— and the King of Cambaia together with four or five more of the trustiest that were left and which had been confederate with them thought fit to chuse for King a certain religious man named Pretiâ—m in regard he was the naturall brother of the deceased Prince husband to that wicked Queen of whom I have spoken whereupon this religious man who was Talagrepo of a Pagodâ— called Quiay Mitrau from whence he had not budg'd for the space of thirty years was the day after drawn forth of it by Oyaa Passilico who brought him on the seventeenth day of January into the city of Odiaa where on the nineteenth he was crowned King with a new kind of ceremony and a world of magnificence which to avoid prolixity I will not make mention of here having formerly treated of such like things Withall passing by all that further arrived in this Kingdom of Siam I will content my self with reporting such things as I imagine will be most agreeable to the curious It happened then that the King of Bramaa who at that time reigned tyrannically in Pegu being advertised of the deplorable estate whereinto the Empire of Sâ—rnau was reduced and of the death of the greatest Lords of the Country as also that the new King of this Monarchy was a religious man who had no knowledge either of arms or war and withall of a cowardly disposition a tyrant and ill beloved of his subjects he fell to consult thereupon with his Lords in the town of Anapleu where at that time he kept his Court. Desiring their advice then upon so important an enterprize they all of them told him that by no means he should desist from it in regard this Kingdome was one of the best of the world as well in riches as in abundance of all things thereunto they added that the season which was then so favourable for him â—romised it to him at so good a rate as it was likely it would not cost him above the revenue of one only year what expence soever he should make of his treasure besides if he chanced to get it he should remain Monarch of all the Emperors of the world and therewithall he should be honored with the soveraign title of Lord of the whiâ—e Elephant by which means the seventeene Kings of Capimper who made profession of his Law must of necessity render him obedience They told him moreover that having made so great a conquest he might thorough the same territories and with the succour of the Princes his Allies passe into China where was that great City of Pequin the incomparable pearl of all the world and against which the great Cham of Tartaria the Siamon and the Calaminham had brought such prodigious Armies into the field The King of Bramaa having heard all these reasons and many others which his great Lords alledged unto him wherein his interest was especially concerned which alwayes works powerfully on every man was perswaded by them and resolved to undertake this enterprise For this effect he went directly to Martabano where in lesse then two moneths and an half he raised an Army of eight hundred thousand men wherein there were an hundred thousand strangers and amongst them a thousand Portugals which were commanded by Diego Suarâ—z d' Albergaria called Galego by way of nick name This Diego Suarez departed out of the Kingdome of Portugal in the year one thousand five hundred thirty and eight and went into the Indiaes with the Fleet of the Vice-Roy Don Garcia de Noronha in a Junck whereof Ioano de Sepulveda of the town of Euora was Captain but in the time of which I speak namely in the yeare one thousand five hundred forty and eight he had of this King of Bramaa two hundred thousand duckats a yeare with the title of his brother and Governor of the Kingdome of Pegu. The King departed then from the Town of Marâ—abano the Sunday after Easter being the seventh of April 1548. His Army as I have already said was eight hundred thousand men whereof only forty thousand were horse and all the rest foor threescore thousand of them being Harquebuziers there were moreover five thousand warlike Elephants with whom they fight in those countries and also a world of baggage together with a thousand pieces of Canon which were drawn by a thousand couple of Buffles and Rhinocerots withall there was a like number of yoke of oxen for the carriage of the victualls Having taken the field then with these forces he caused his Army to march still on untill at length he entred into the Territories of the King of Siam where after five days he came to a
from the River of Tinlau with his ill success thereupon and the succor we met withall 73 CHAP. XXII Antonio de Faria hath news of the five Portugals that were made Captives his Letter to the Mandarin of Nouday about them and his assaulting the said Town 76 CHAP. XXIII Antonio de Faria's Navigation till he came to the Port of Liampoo his arrival and gallant reception there by the Portugals 81 CHAP. XXIV Antonio de Faria departs from Liampoo for to go and seek out the Island of Calempluy the strange things that we saw and the hazard we ran in our Voyage thither 87 CHAP. XXV Our arrival at the Island of Calempluy with the description thereof what happened to Antonio de Faria in one of the Hermitages there and how we were discovered 92 CHAP. XXVI Our casting away in the gulph of Nanquin with all that befell us after this lamentable shipwrack 97 CHAP. XXVII Our arrival at the Town of Taypor where we were made Prisoners and so sent to the City of Nanquin 103 CHAP. XXVIII The Marvels of the City of Nanquin our departure from thence towards Pequin and that which happened unto us till we arrived at the Town of Sempitay 107 CHAP. XXIX Our arrival at Sempitay our encounter there with a Christian woman together with the original and foundation of the Empire of China and who they were that first peopled it 112 CHAP. XXX The foundation of the four chief Cities of China together with which of the Kings of China it was that built the wall betwixt China and Tartaria and many things that we saw as we past along 116 CHAP. XXXI The order which is observed in the moving Towns that are made upon the Rivers and that which further befell us 122 CHAP. XXXII Our arrival at the City of Pequin with our imprisonment and that which moreover happened unto us there as also the great Majesty of the Officers of their Court of Iustice. 125 CHAP. XXXIII What past between us and the Tanigores of Mercy with the great favor they did us and a brief relation of the City of Pequin where the King of China keeps his Court. 131 CHAP. XXXIV The order which is observed in the Feasts that are made in certain Inns and the state which the Chaems of the two and thirty Universities keeps with certain remarkable things in the City of Pequin 134 CHAP. XXXV The Prison of Ximanguibaleu wherein those are kept which have been condemned to serve at the reparations of the wall of Tartaria and another Inclosure called the Treasure of the dead with the revenues whereof this Prison is maintained 137 CHAP. XXXVI Of an Edifice scituated in the midst of the River wherein were the hundred and thirteen Chappels of the Kings of China and the publique Granaries established for the relief of the poor 142 CHAP. XXXVII The great number of Officers and other people which are in the King of China's Pallace with our going to Quincay to accomplish the time of our Exile and what befell us there 144 CHAP. XXXVIII A Tartar Commander enters with his Army into the Town of Quincay and that which followed thereupon with the Nauticors besieging the Castle of Nixiamcoo and the taking of it by the means of some of us Portugals 149 CHAP. XXXIX The Mitaquer departs from the Castle of Nixiamcoo and goes to the King of Tartaria's Camp before Pequin with that which we saw till we arrived there and the Mitaquers presenting us unto the King 154 CHAP. XL. The King of Tartaria's raising his siege from before Pequin for to return into his Country and that which passed until his arrival there 158 CHAP. XLI In what manner we were brought again before the King of Tartaria with our departure from that Kingdom and all that we saw and befell us in our Voyage till our arrival at the Court of the King of Chauchinchina 160 CHAP. XLII The reception of the Tartarian Embassador by the King of Chauchinchina with the said Kings going to the City of Uzanguea and his triumphal entry thereinto 167 CHAP. XLIII Our departure from the City of Uzanguea and our adventures till our arrival at the Isle of Tanixumaa with our going a shore there 170 CHAP. XLIV The great Honor which the Nautaquin Lord of the Isle did to one of us for having seen him shoot with an Harquebuse and his sending me to the King of Bungo with that which passed till my arrival at this Court 172 CHAP. XLV The great mishap which befell the King of Bungo's son with the extream danger that I was in for the same and what followed thereupon 176 CHAP. XLVI My curing the young Prince of Bungo with my return to Tanixumaa and imbarquing there for Liampoo and also that which happened to us on land after the shipwrack we suffered by the way thither 178 CHAP. XLVII The carrying of us to the Town of Pungor and presenting us to the Broquen Governor of the Kingdom with that which ensued upon it 181 CHAP. XLVIII The King of Lequios sending a cruel sentence against us to the Broquen of the Town where we were Prisoners to the end he should put it in execution and that which further happened unto us till our arrival at Liampoo 184 CHAP. XLIX My sailing from Liampoo to Malaca with the sending me by the Captain of the Fortress there to the Chaubainhaa at Martibano and all that befell us in our Voyage thither 189 CHAP. L. The Continuance of our Voyage to the Bar of Martibano and certain memorable particularities happening there 195 CHAP. LI. In what manner the Chaubinhaa rendered himself to the King of Bramaa and the cruel prâ—ceeding against the Queen of Martabano and the Ladies her attendants 201 CHAP. LII In what manner the sentence of death was executed on the person of the Chaubinhaa King of Martabano Nhay Canatoo his wife and an hundred and forty women with that which the King of Bramaa did after his return to Pegu. 205 CHAP. LIII That which passed between the Queen of Prom and the King of Bramaa together with the first assault that was given to the City and the success thereof 209 CHAP. LIV. The King of Bramaa his besieging the Fortress of Meleytay with his going from thence to Avaa and that which passed there 282 CHAP. LV. Our going with the King of Bramaa's Embassador to the Calaminham with the course which we held until we arrived at the Temple or Pagode of Tinagoogoo and a description thereof 215 CHAP. LVI The great and sumptuous Procession made in this Pagode together with their Sacrifices and other particularities 218 CHAP. LVII What we saw in the continuing of our Voyage until we arrived at the City of Timplan 223 CHAP. LVIII The Magnificent Reception of the King of Bramaa his Embassador at the City of Timplan and that which passed betwixt the Calaminham and him 226 CHAP. LIX An ample Relation of the Empire of Calaminham and of the Kingdoms of Pegu and Bramaa
yielded unto thee at the hour of our death as to our Lord and God unto whom we acknowledge they appertain both by Creation and Redemption After this Confession they said the Lords Prayer and the Creed which they pronounced very distinctly whereat we could not chuse but shed a world of tears to see these innocents born in a Country so far remote from ours and where there was no knowledge of the true God thus to confess his Law in such religious terms This being done we returned because it was three of the clock in the morning to our lodging exceedingly astonished at that we had seen as at a thing which we had great reason to admire CHAP. XXXVIII A Tartar Commander enters with his Army into the Town of Quincay and that which followed thereupon with the Nauticors besieging the Castle of Nixiamcoo and the taking of it by the means of some of us Portugals WE had been now eight months and an half in this captivity wherein we endured much misery and many incommodities for that we had nothing to live upon but what we got by begging up and down the Town when as one Wednesday the third of Iuly in the year 1544. a little after midnight there was such a hurly burly amongst the people that to hear the noise and cries which was made in every part one would have thought the earth would have come over and over which caused us to go in haste to Vasco Calvo his house of whom we demanded the occasion of so great a tumult whereunto with tears in his eyes he answered us that certain news were come how the King of Tartary was fallen upon the City of Pequin with so great an Army as the like had never been seen since Adams time In this army according to report were seven and twenty Kings under whom marched eighteen hundred thousand men whereof six hundred thousand were horse which were come by land from the Cities of Luançama Famstir and Mecuy with fourscore thousand Rhinocerots that draw the waggons wherein was all the Bâ—gage of the Army as for the other twelve hundred thousand which were foot it was said that they arrived by Sea in seventeen thousand vessels down through the river of Batampina By reason whereof the King of China finding himself too weak for the resisting of such great forces had with a few retired himself to the City of Nanquin And that also it was reported for a certain that a Nauticor one of the chiefest Tartar Commanders was come to the Forrest of Malincataran not above a league and an half from Quinçay with an Army of threescore and two thousand Horse wherewith he marched against the Town that in all likelihood he would be there within two hours at the furthest These news so troubled us that we did nothing but look one upon another without being able to speak a word to any purpose howbeit desiring to save our selves we prayed Vasco Calvo to shew us what means he thought we might use to effect it who sad and full of grief thus answered us O that we were in our Country between Laura and Carncha where I have often been and should be there now in safety but since it cannot be so all that we can do for the present is to recommend our selves to God and to pray unto him to assist us for I assure you that an hour ago I would have given a thousand Taeis in silver to any one that could have got me from hence and saved me with my wife and children but there was no possibility for it because the gates were then all shut up and the walls round about invironed with armed men which the Chaem hath placed there to withstand the enemy So my fellows and I that were nine in number past the rest of the night there in much affliction and unquietness without any means of counselling one another or resolving on what we were to do continually weeping for the extream fear we were in of what should become of us The next morning a little before Sun-rising the enemy appeared in a most dreadful manner they were divided into seven very great Battalions having their Ensignes quartered with green and white which are the colours of the King of Tartaria marching in this order to the sound of their Trumpets they arrived at a Pagode called Petilau Namâ—ioo a place of good receit in regard of the many lodgings it had which was not much distant from the walls In their Vantguard they had a number of Light-horse who ran confusedly up and down with their Lances in their Rests Being in this sort come to the Pagode they stayed there about half an hour and then marching on till they were within an haâ—quâ—buse shot of the walls they suddenly ran to them with such hideous cries as one would have thought that Heaven and Earth would have come together and rearing up above two thousand Ladders which for that purpose they had brought aloâ—g with them they assaulted the Town on every side with a most invincible courage Now though the besieged at the beginning made some resistance yet was it not able to hinder the enemy from effecting his designe for by the means of certain iron rams broking up the four principal gates they rendred themselves Masters of the Town after they had slain the Chaem together with a great number of Mandarins and Gentlemen that were run thither to keep them from entring Thus did these Barbarians possess themselves of this miserable Town whereof they put all the inhabitants they could meet withall to the sword without sparing any and it was said that the number of the slain amounted to threescore thousand persons amongst whom were many women and maids of very great beauty which appertained to the chiefest Lords of the place After the bloody Massacre of so much people and that the Town was fired the principal houses overthrown and the most sumptuous Temples laid level with the ground nothing remaining on foot during the disorder the Tartars continued there seven days at the end whereof they returned towards Pequin where their King was and from whence he had sent them to this execution carrying with them a world of gold and silver only having burnt all the Merchandise they found there as well because they knew not how to transport it away as for that the Chineses should not make any benefit of it Two days after their departure they arrived at a Castle named Nixianicoo where the Nauticor of Luançama their General pitched his Camp and intrenched himself on all sides with an intention to take it by assault the next day to be revenged on the Chineses there for that upon his passing by them towards Quinçay they had cut off an hundred of his men by an Ambuscado After the Army was encamped and intrenched and that the General had placed sure Guards and Sentinels in all places he retired to his Tent whither he sent for the seventy Captains that commanded
from Heaven is profitable to our fields that are sowed with Rice Finding my self somewhat perplexed with the novelty of these terms and this manner of salutation I made him no answer for the instant which made the King say to the Lords that were about him I â—magine that this strâ—nger is daunted with seeing so much company here for that peradventure he hath not been accustomed unto it wherefore I hold it fit to remit him unto some other time when as he may be better acquainted and not be so abashed at the sight of people Upon this Speech of the Kings I answered by my Truchmâ—n that whereas his Highness had said that I was daunted I confessed that it was true not in regard of so many folks as were about me because I had seen far many more but that my amazement proceeded from the consideration that I was now before thâ— feet of so great a King which was sufficient to make me mute an hundred thousâ—nd years if I could live so long I added further that those which were present there seemed to me but men as I my self was but as for his Highness that God had given him such great advantages above all as it was his pleasure that he should be Lord and that others should be meer servants yea and that I my self was but a silly Ant in comparison of his greatness so that his Majesty could not see me in regard of my smalness nor I in respect thereof be able to answer unto his demands All the Assistants made such account of this mad answer of mine as clapping their hands by way of astonishment they said unto the King Mark I beseech your Highness how he speaks to purpose verily it seems that this man is not a Merchant which meddles with base things as buying and selling but rather a Bonzo that offers sacrifices for the people or if not so surely he is some great Captain that hath a long time scoured the Seas Truly said the King I am of the same opinion now that I see him so resolute but let every man be silent because I purpose that none shall speak to him but my self alone for I assure you that I take so much delight in hearing him talk that at this instant I feel no pain At those words the Queen and her daughters which were set by him were not a little glad and falling on their knees with their hands liâ—â—ed up to Heaven they thanked God for this his great goodness unto him CHAP. XLV The great mishap that befel the King of Bungo's Son with the extream danger that I was in for the same and what followed thereupon A Little after the King caused me to approach unto his bed where he lay sick of the Gout when I was near him I pree thee said he unto me be not unwilling to stay here by me for it does me much good to look on thee and talk with thee thou shalt also oblige me to let me know whether in thy Country which is at the further end of the world thou hast not learn'd any remedy for this disease wherewith I am tormented or for the lack of appetite which hath continued with me now almost these two months without eating any thing to speak of Hereunto I answered that I made no profession of physick for that I had never learnt that art but that in the Junck wherein I came from China there was a certain wood which infused in water healed far greater sicknesses then that whereof he complained and that if he took of it it would assuredly help him To hear of this he was very glad insomuch that transported with an extream desire to be healed he sent away for it in all haste to Tanixumaa where the Junck lay and having used of it thirty dayes together he perfectly recovered of this disease which had held him so for two years together as he was not able to stir from one place to another Now during the time that I remained with much content in this City of Fuchea being some twenty dayes I wanted not occasions to entertain my self withall for sometimes I was imployed in answering the questions which the King Queen Princes and Lords asked of me wherein I easily satisfied them for that the matters they demanded of me were of very little consequence Other-whiles I bestowed my selfe in beholding their Solemnities the Temples where they offered up their prayers their warlike Exercises their naval Fleets as also their fishing and hunting wherein they greatly delight especially in the high flying of Falcons and Vultures Oftentimes I past away the time with my Harquebuse in killing of Turtles and Quailes whereof there is great abundance in the Country In the mean season this new manner of shooting seemed no less marvellous and strange to the inhabitants of this Land then to them of Tanixumaa so that beholding a thing which they had nâ—ver seen before they made more reckoning of it then I am able to express which was the cause that the Kings second Son named Arichaudono of the age of sixteen or seventeen years and whom the King wonderfully loved intreated me one day to teach him to shoot but I put him off by saying that there needed a far longer time for it then he imagined wherewith not well pleased he complained to his Father of me who to content the Prince desired me to give him a couple of charges for the satisfying of his mind whereunto I answered that I would give him as many as his Highness would be pleased to command me Now because he was that day to dine with his Father the matter was referred to the afternoon howbeit then too there was nothing done for thâ—t he waited on his Mother to a Village adjoyning whither they came from all parts on pilgrimage by reason of a certain feast which was celebrated there for the health of the King The next day this young Prince came with only two young Gentlemen waiting on him to my lodging where finding me asleep on a Mat and my Harquebuse hanging on a hook by he would not wake me till he had shot off a couple of charges intending as he told me afterwards himâ—elf that these two shoots should not be comprised in them I had promised him Hâ—ving then commanded one of the young Gentlemen that attended him to go softly and kindle the Match he took down the Harquebuse from the place where it hung and going to charge it as he had seen me do not knowing how much powder he should put in he charged the Piece almost two spans deep then putting in the bullet he set himself with it to shoot at an Orange tree that was not far off but fire being given it was his ill hap that the Harquebuse brake into three pieces and gave him two hurts by one of the which his right hand thumb was in a manner lost instantly whereupon the Prince fell down as one dead which the two Gentlemen perceiving they ran
a review to be made of those that would fight but he â—ound them to be not above two thousand in all and they too so destitute of courage as they â—ould hardly have resisted feeble women Beholding himself then reduced to the last cast he communicated his mind to the Queen only as having no other at that time by whom he may be advised or that indeed could advise him The only expedient then that he could rest on was to render himself into the hands of his Enemy and to stand to his mercy or his rigor Wherefore the next day about six of the clock in the morning he câ—uâ—ed a white flag to be hung out over the wall in sign of peace whereunto they of the Camp answered with another like banner Hereupon the Xenimbrum who was as it were Marshal of the Camp sent an horseman to the bulwark where the flag stood unto whom it was delivered from the top of the wall That the Chaubainhaa desired to send a Letter to the King so as he might have a safe-conduct for it which being signified to the Xenimbrum he instantly dispatched away two of good quality in the Army with a safe-conduct and so these two Bramaaâ— remaining for hostages in the City the Chaubainhaa sent the King a Letter by one of his Priests that was fourscore years of age and reputed for a Saint amongst them The contents of this Letter were these The love of children hath so much power in this house of our weakness that amongst us who are fathers there is not so much as one that for their sakes would not be well contented to descend a thousand times into the deep pit of the house of the Serpent much more would expose his life for them and put himself into the hands of one that useth so much clemency towards them that shall do so For which reason I resolved this night with my wife and children contrary to the opinions that would disswade me from this good which I hold the greatest of all others to render my self unto your Highness that you may do with me as you think fit and as shall be most agreeable to your good pleasure As for the fault wherewith I may be charged and which I submit at your feet I humbly beseech you not to regard it that so the merit of the mercy which you shall shew me may be the greater before God and men May your Highness therefore be pleased to send some presently for to take possession of my person of my wife of my children of the City of the Treasure and of all the Kingdom all which I do even now yield up unto you as to my Soveraign Lord and lawful King All the request that I have to make unto you thereupon with my knees on the ground iâ— that we may all of us with your permission finish our days in a Cloister where I have already vowed continually to bewail and repent my fault past For as touching the honors and estates of the world wherewith your Highness might inrich me as Lord of the most part of the Earth and of the Isles of the Sea they are things which I utterly renounce for evermore In a word I do solemnly swear unto you before the greatest of all the Gods who with the gentle touch of his Almighty hand makes the Clouds of Heaven to move never to leave that Religion which by your pleasure I shall be commanded to profess where being freed from the vain hopes of the world my repentance may be the more pleasing to him that pardoneth all things This holy Grepo Dean of the golden House of Saint Quiay who for his goodnesse and austerity of life hath all power over me will make a more ample relation unto you of what I have omitted and can more particularly tell you that which concerns the offer I make you of rendring my self that so relying on the reality of his Speech the unquietness wherewith my soul is incessantly troubled may be appeased The King of Bramaa having read this Letter instantly returned another in answer thereunto full of promises and oaths to this effect That he would forget all that was past and that for the future he would provide him an estate of so great a Revenue as should very well content him Which he but badly accomplished as I shall declare hereafter These news was published throughout all the Camp with a great deal of joy and the next morning all the Equipage and Train that the King had in his quarter was set forth to view First of all there were to be seen fourscore and six Field-Tents wonderful rich each of them being invironed with thirty Elephants ranked in two Files as if they had been ready to fight with Castles on their backs full of Banners and their Panores fastened to their Trunks the whole number of them amounted unto two thousand five hundred and fourscore Not far from them were twelve thousand and five hundred Bramaas all mounted on horses very richly accoustred with the order which they kept they inclosed all the Kings quarter in four Files and were all armed in Corslets or Coats of Mayl with Lances Cymitars and guilded Bucklers After these Horse followed four Files of Foot all Bramaas being in number above twenty thousand For all the other Souldiers of the Camp there were so many as they could not be counted and they marched all in order after their Captains In this publique Muster were to be seenâ— world of Banners rich colours such a number of Instruments of war sounded that the noise thereof together with that which the Souldiers made was most dreadful and so great as it was not possible to hear one another Now for that the King of Bramaa would this day make shew of his greatness in the reddition of the Chaubainhaa he gave express Command that all the Captains which were strangers with their men should put on their best clothes and Arms and so ranged in two Files they should make as it were a kind of street through which the Chaubainhaa might pass this accordingly was put in execution and this street took beginning from the City gate and reached as far as to the Kings Tent being in length about three quarters of a League or better In this street there were six and thirty thousand strangers of two and forty different Nations namely Portugals Grecians Venetians Turks Ianizaries Iews Armâ—nians Tartars Mogores Abyssins Raizbutos Nobins Coracones Persians Tuparaas Gizares Tanacos Malabares Iaos Achems Moens Siams Lussons of the Island Borneo Chacomas Arracons Predins Papuaas Sâ—lebres Mindanoas Pegus Bramaas and many others whose names I know not All these Nations were ranked according to the Xemimbrums order whereby the Portugals were placed in the Vantgard which was next to the gate of the City where the Chabainhaa was to come After them followed the Armâ—nians then the Ianizaries and Turks and so the rest CHAP. LI. In what manner the Chaubainhaa rendred himself
to the King of Bramaa and the cruel proceeding against the Queen of Martabano and the Ladies her Attendants ABout one of the clock in the afternoon a Cannon was shot off which was the Signal for the instant opening of the gates of the City whereupon first of all issued out the Souldiers whom the King had sent thither for the guard of it being four thousand Siams and Bramaas all Harquebusiers Halberdiers and Pikemen with above three hundred armed Elephants all which were commanded by a Bramaa Uncle to the King named Monpocasser Bainba of the City of Melietay Ten or eleven paces after this Guard of Elephants marched divers Princes and great Lords whom the King had sent to receive the Chaubainhaa all mounted on Elephants richly harnessed with Chairs upon their backs plated over with gold and Collars of precious stones about their necks Then followed at some eight or nine paces distance the Rolim of Monnay Soveraign Talapoy of all the Priests of the Kingdom and held in the reputation of a Saint who went alone with the Chaubainhaa as a Mediatour between the King and him immediately after them came in a close Chair carried upon mens shoulders Nhay Canatoo the daughter of the King of Pegu from whom this Bramaa had taken his Kingdom and wife to the Chaubainhaa having with her four small children namely two boyes and two girls whereof the eldest was not seven years old round about her and them went some thirty or forty young women of noble extraction and wonderful fair with cast down looks and tears in their eyes leaning upon other women After them marched in order certain Talagrepos which are amongst them as the Capuchins with us who bare-foot and bare-headed went along praying holding beads in their hands and ever and anon comforting those Ladies the best they could and casting water in their faces for to bring them to themselves again when as they fainted which they did very often A spectacle so lamentable as it was not possible to behold it without shedding of tears This desolate Company was attended by another Guard of Foot and five hundred Bramaas on Horse-back The Chaubainhaa was mounted on a little Elephant in signe of poverty and contempt of the world conformable to the Religion which he intended to enter into being simply apparelled in a long Cassock of black velvet as a mark of his mourning having his beard head and eye-brows shaven with an old cord about his neck so to render himself to the King In this Equipage he appeared so sad and afflicted that one could not forbear weeping to behold him As for his age he was about some threescore and two yeers old tall of Stature with a grave and severe look and the countenance of a generous Prince As soon as he was arrived at a place which was near to the gate of the City where a great throng of women children and old men waited for him when they saw him in so deplorable an estate they all made seven times one after another so loud and dreadful a cry as if Heaven and earth would have come together Now these lamentations and complaints were presently seconded with such terrible blows that they gave themselves without pity on their faces with stones as they were most of them all of a gore blood In the mean time things so horrible to behold and mournful to hear so much afflicted all the Assistants that the very Bramaas of the Guard though men of war and consequently but little inclined to compassion being also enemies to the Chaubainhaa could not forbear weeping It was likewise in this place where Nhay Cauatoo and all the other Ladies that attended on her fainted twice by reason whereof they were fain to let the Chaubainhaa alight from his Elephant for to go and comfort her whereupon seeing her lying upon the ground in a swoon with her four children in her arms he kneeled down on both his knees and looking up to Heaven with his eyes full of tears O mighty Power of God cryed he who is able to comprehend the righteous judgements of thy divine Iustice in that thou having no regard to the innocency of these little creatures givest way to thy wrath which passeth far beyond the reach of our weak capacities but remember O Lord who thou art and not what I am This said he fell with his face on the ground near to the Queen his wife which caused all the Assembly who were without number to make another such loud and horrible cry as my words are not able to express it The Chaubainhaa then took water in his mouth and spurted it on his wife by which means he brought her to her self again and so taking her up in his arms he fell a comforting her with speeches so full of zeal and devotion as any one that heard him would have taken him rather for a Christian then a Gentile After he had employed about half an hours time therein and that they had remounted him on his Elephant they proceeded on their way in the same orderas they held before and as soon as the Chaubainhaa was out of the City gate and came to the streets which was formed of the several Companies of the strangers ranked in two Files he by chance cast his eye on that side where the seven hundred Portugals were all of them in their best clothes with their buffe-coats great feathers in their Caps and their Haâ—quebuses on their shoulders as also Ioano Cayeyro â—n the middest of them in a Carnation Satin Suit and a guilt Parâ—isan in his hand wherewith he made room the afflicted Prince no sooner knew him but he presently fell down on the Elephant and there standing still without passing on he said with tears in his eyes to those that were about him My brethren and good friends I protest unto you that it is a less grief unto me to make this sacrifice of my self which the divine Iustice of God permits me to make him this day then to look upon men so wicked and ingrateful as these same here are either kill me then or send these away for otherwise I will not stir a foot further Having said so he turned away his face three times that he might not behold us thereby shewing the great spleen that he bore us and indeed all things well considered there was a great deal of reason that he should carry himself in that sort towards us in regard of that which I have related before In the mean time the Captain of the Guard seeing the stay which the Chaubainhaa had made and understanding the cause why he would not go on though he could not imagine wherefore he complained so of the Portugals yet he hastily turned his Elephant towards Cayeyro and giving him a scurvy look Geâ— you gone said he and that instantly for such wicked men as you are do not deserve to stand on any ground that bears fruit and I pray God to pardon him which hath put
not be applied to his wound but because he was hurt just in the heart there was no hope of recovery so that he died within a very short time after Presently they seized on the Page whom they put to torture by reason of some suspitions which they had upon this accident but he never confessed any thing and said nought els save That he had done it of his own free will and to be revenged of the blow which the King had given him on his head by way of contempt as if he had struck some dog that was barking up and down the streets in the night without considering that he was the son of the Pate Pondan Lord of Surebayaa The Page then was impaled alive with a good big stake which was thrust in at his Fundament and came out at the nape of his neck As much was done to his Father to three of his brothers and to threescore and twelve of his kinsmen so that his whole Race was exterminated upon which so cruell and rigorous an execution many great troubles ensued afterwards in all the country of Iaoa and in all the Islands of â—ale Tymor and Madura which are very great and whereof the Governors are Soveraigns by their Lawes and from all antiquity After the end of this execution question was made what should be done with the Kings body whereupon there were many different opinions amongst them for some said that to bury him in that place was as much as to leave him in the power of the Passeruans and others that if he were transported to Demaa where his Tomb was it was not possible but that it would be corrupted before it arrived there whereunto was added that if they interred him so putrified and corrupted his soul could not be received into Paradisâ— according to the Law of the country which is that of Mahomet wherein he died After many contestations thereupon in the end they followed the counsell which one of our Portugals gave them that was so profitable to him afterwards as it was worth him above ten thousand duckats wherewith the Lords rewarded him as it were in vye of one another for a recompence of the good service which he did then to the deceased This counsell was that they should put the body into a Coffin full of Lime and Camphire and so bury it in a Junck also full of earth so that albeit the thing was not so marvellous of it self yet left it not to be very profitable to the Portugals because they all found it very good and well invented as indeed the successe of it was such as by means thereof the Kings body was carried to Demaa without any kind of corruption or ill savour As soon as the Kings body was put into the Iunck appointed for it the King of Zunda Generall of the Army caused the great Ordinance and the ammunition to be imbarqued and with the least noyse that might be committed to safe custody the most precious things the King had together with all the treasures of the Tents But whatsoever care and silence was used therein the enemy could not be kept from having some inkling of it and from understanding how things went in the Camp so that instantly the King marched out of the Town in person with only three thousand souldiers of the past confederacy who by a solemn vow caused themselves to be annoynted with the oyle which they call Minhamundi as men resolved and that had vowed themselves to death Thus fully determined as they vvere they went and fell upon the enemies whom finding busie in trussing up their baggage they intreated so ill as in lesse then half an hours space for no longer lasted the heat of the fight they cut twelve thousand of them in pieces Withall they took two Kings and five Pates or Dukes prisoners together with above three hundred Turks Abyssines and Achems yea and their Caâ—ismoubana the Soveraign dignity amongst the Mahometans by whose counsell the Pangueyran was come thither There vvere also four hundred ships burnt vvherein vvere the hurt men so that by this means all the Camp vvas neer lost After this the King retreated into the Tovvn vvith his men vvhereof he lost but four hundred In the mean time the King of Zunda having caused the remainder of the Army to be re-imbarqued vvith all speed the same day being the nineth of March they set saile directly for the City of Demaa bringing along with them the body of the Pangueyran vvhich upon the arrivall thereof vvas received by the people vvith great cries and strange demonstrations of a universall mourning The day after a revievv vvas taken of all the men of vvar for to knovv hovv many vvere dead and there vvas found missing an hundred and thirty thousand vvhereas the Passeruans according to report had lost but five and tvventy thousand but be it as it vvill and let fortune make the best market that she can of these things yet they never arrive but the field is died vvith the bloud of the vanquishers and by a stronger reason vvith that of the vanguished to vvhom these events do alvvayes cost far dearer then to the others The same day there vvas question of creating a nevv Pangueyran vvho as I have said heretofore is Emperor over all the Pates and Kings of that great Archipelago vvhich the Chineses Tartar Iapon and Lequio Historians are vvont to call Raterra Vendau that is to say the eye-lid of the world as one may see in the Card if the elevation of the heights prove true Novv because that after the death of the Pangueyran there vvas not a lavvfull successor to be found that might inherit this Crovvn it vvas resolved that one should be made by election for vvhich effect by the common consent of all eight men vvere chosen as heads of all the people to create a Pangueyran These same assembled then together in a house and after order had been taken for the pacifying of all things in the City they continued seven vvhole daies together vvithout being able to come to any agreement about this election for vvhereas there vvere eight pretendents of the principall Lords of the Kingdome there vvere found amongst these Electors many different opinions vvhich proceeded from this that the most part or all of them vvere meerly allied to these â—ight or to their kinsmen so that each one laboured to make him Pangueyran vvhich vvas most to his mind Whereupon the inhabitants of the City and the souldiers of the Army making use of this delay to their advantage as men vvho imagined that this affair vvould never be terminated and that there vvould be no chastisement for them they began shamelessly to break out into all kind of actions full of insolency and malice And forasmuch as there vvas a great number of Merchants Ships in the Port they got aboard them and fell pell-mell to rifling both of strangers and those of the country vvith so much licentiousnesse as it vvas said
fire was put to all that infinite number of Idolls just in the manner as they stood in the Barques and this was accompanied with so horrible a din of cries great Ordnance Harquebuzes Drums Bells Cornets and other different kinds of noyse as it was impossible to hear it without trembling This ceremony lasted not above an hour for whereas all these figures were made of combustible stuffe and the Vessells filled with pitch and rozen so dreadfull a flame ensued presently thereupon as one might well have said that it was a very pourtraiture of hell so that in an instant the Vessells and all that vvere in them vvere seen to be reduced to nothing Whenas this and many other very lively inventions which had cost a great deal of money vvere finished all the inhabitants vvhich vvere come thronging thither and vvhereof the number seemed to be infinite retired back to their houses where they remained with their doors and windows shut not one appearing in the streets for the space of ten daies during which time all places were unfrequented and none were seen stirring but some poor people who in the night went up and down begging with strange lamentations At the end of the ten daies wherein they had shut themselves up so they opened their doors and windows and their Pagodes or Temples were adorned with many Ensigns of rejoycing together with a world of hangings standards and banners of silk Hereupon there went through all the streets certain men on horseback apparelled in vvhite Damask who at the sound of very harmonious instruments cried aloud with tears in their eys Ye sad inhabitants of this Kingdomâ— of Siam hearken hearken to that which is made known to you from God and with humble and pure hearts praise ye all his holy name for the effects of his divine justice are great withall laying aside your mourning come forth of your aâ—odes wherein you are shut up and sing the praises of the goodnesse of your God since he hath been pleased to give you a new King who fears him and is a friend of the poor This Proclamation being made all the Assistants with their faces prostrated on the ground and their hands lifted up as people that rendred thanks to God answered aloud weeping We make the Angells of heaven our Attorneys to the end they may continually praise the Lord for us After this all the inhabitants of the City coming out of their houses and thinking of nothing but dancing and rejoycing went to the Temple of Quiay Fanarel that is to say the God of the joyfull where they offered sweet perfumes and the poorest sort fruits pullen and rice for the entertainment of the Priests The same day the nevv King shewed himself over all the City with a great deal of pomp and Majesty in regard whereof the people made great demonstrations of joy and gladnesse And forasmuch as the King was but nine years old it was ordained by the four and twenty Bracà loâ—s of the Government that the Queen his mother should be the Protector or Regent of him and that she should beare rule over all the Officers of the Crown Things past thus for the space of four moneths and an half during the which there was no manner of disorder but all was peaceable in the Kingdome howbeit at the end of that time the Queen coming to be delivered of a Son which she had had by her Purveyor being displeased with the bad report that went of her she resolved with her self to satisfie her desire which was to marry with the Father of this new Son for that she was desperately in love with him And further she wickedly enterprised to make away the new King her lawfull child to the end that by this means the Crown might passe to the bastard by right of inheritance Now to execute this horrible design of hers she made shew that the excesse of her affection to the young King her Son kept her always in fear left some attempt should be made upon his life so that one day having caused all the Councell of the State to be assembled the represented unto them that having but this only pearl enchaced in her heart she desired to keep it from being plucked from thence by some disaster for which effect she thought it requisite as well to secure her from her apprehensions as to prevent the great mischiefs which carelessenesse is wont to bring in such like cases that there should be a guard set about the Palace and the person of the King This affair was immediately debated in the Councell and accorded to the Queen in regard the matter seemed good of it self The Queen seeing then that her design had succeeded so well took instantly for the guard of the Palace and the person of her Son such as she judged were proper for the executing of her damnable enterprise and in whom she most confided She ordained a guard then of two thousand foot and five hundred horse besides the ordinary guard of her house which were six hundred Cauehins and Lequios and thereof she made Captain one called Tileubacus the cozen of the same Purveyor by whom she had had a child to the end that by this mans favour she might dispose of things as she pleased and the more easily bring to passe her pernicious design Whereupon relying on the great forces which she had already on her party she began to revenge her self upon some of the great ones of the Kingdome because she knew they despised her and held her not in that esteem she desired The two first whom she caused to be laid hands on were two Deputies of the Government making use of this pretext that they held secret intelligence with the King of Chiamway and were to give him an entry into the Kingdome thorough their lands so that under colour of justice she caused them to be both executed and confiscated their estates whereof she gave the one to her Favorite and the other to a brother-in-law of his who it was said had been a Smith But in regard this execution had been done precipitously and without any proof the greatest part of the Lords of the Kingdom murmured against the Queen for it representing unto her the merit of them whom she had put to death the services they had rendred to the Crown the qualitie of the persons and the nobility and antiquity of their extractions as being of the bloud royall and lineally descended from the Kings of Siam howbeit she made no reckoning thereof but contrarily a little after making show as if she had not been well she in a full Councill renounced her regency and conferred it on Vquumcheuiraa her Favorite to the end that by this means bearing rule over all others he might dispose of the affairs of the kingdom at his pleasure and give the most important charges thereof to such as would be of his party which he thought to be the most assured way for him to usurp this Crown and make
fortresse called Tapurau containing some two thousand fires commanded by a certain Mogor a valiant man and well verst in matters of war The King of Bramaa having invested it gave three assaults to it in the open day and laboured to sâ—ale it with a world of ladders which he had caused to be brought thither for that purpose but not being able to carry it in regard of the great resistance of them within he retreated for that time But having by the counsell of Diego Suarez who was Generall of the Camp and by whom he was wholly governed caused forty great pieces of Ordnance whereof the most of them shot bullets of iron to be planted against it he fell to battering it with so much fury as having made a breach in the wall twelve fathom wide he assaulted it with ten thousand strangers Turks Abyssinâ— Moors Malauares Acâ—ems Iaaos and Malayes whereupon ensued so terrible a conflict between the one and the other that in lesse then half an hour the besieged vvhich vvere six thousand Siamites were all cut in pieces for not so much as one of them would render himself As for the King of Bramaa he lost above three thousand of his men vvhereat he vvas inraged as to be revenged for this losse he caused all the women to be put to the sword vvhich no doubt vvas a strange kind of cruelty After this execution he drevv directly tovvards the Tovvn of Sacoâ—ay vvhich vvas nine leagues beyond desiring to make himself master of that as vvell as of the other He arrived in the sight of this Tovvn one Saturday about Sun-set and incamped all along the river of Lebrau vvhich is one of the three that issue out of the Lake of Chiammay vvhereof I have formerly made mention vvith a design to march thorough it directly to Odiaa the Capitall City of the Empire of Sornau for he had already been advertised that the King vvas there in person and that he vvas making preparation to fight vvith him in the field he no sooner received this advice but his Lords counselled him to make no tarrying in any place as vvell that he might not lose time as that he might keep himself from insensibly consuming his forces in lying before places vvhich he pretended to take that vvere so vvell fortified as they vvould cost him dear if he amused himself about them so that at his arrivall at Odiaa he vvould find the most part of his men vvanting and his victualls quite spent The King having approved of this advice caused his Army to march avvay the next day thorough vvoods that vvere cut dovvn by threescore thousand Pioners vvhom he had sent before to plane the passages and vvays vvhich vvith much ado they performed When he vvas come to a place called Tilaâ— vvhich is besides Iuncalaâ— on the South-East Coast neere to the Kingdome of Quedea an hundred and forty leagues from Malaca he took guides that were very well acquainted with the way by whose means in nine daies journey he arrived in the sight of Odiaa where he pitched his Camp which he invironed with trenches and strong Pallisadoes During the first five daies that the King of Bramaa had been before the City of Odiaa he had bestowed labour and pains enough as well in making of trenches and Pallisadoes as in providing all things necessary for this siege in all which time the besieged never offered to stir whereof Diego Suarez the Marshall of the Camp being aware as also of the little reckoning which the Siamites made of so great a power as was there assembled and not knowing whereunto he should attribute the cause of it he resolved to execute the design for which he came to which effect of the most part of the men which he had under his command he made two separated Squadrons in each of which there were six battalions of six thousand a piece After this manner he marched in battell array at the sound of many instruments towards the two points which the City made on the South-side because the entrance there seemed more facile to him then any other where So upon the nineteenth day of Iune in the year one thousand five hundred forty and eight an hour before day all these men of war having set up above a thousand ladders against the walls endeavoured to mount up on them but the besieged opposed them so valiantly that in lesse then half an hour there remained dead on the place above ten thousand on either part In the mean time the King who incouraged his souldiers seeing the ill successe of this fight commanded these to retreat and then made the wall to be assaulted afresh making use for that effect of five thousand Elephants of war which he had brought thither and divided into twenty troops of two hundred and fifty apiece upon whom there were twenty thousand Moeâ—s and Chaleâ—s choice men and that had double pay The wall then was assaulted by these forces with so terrible an impetuosity as I want words to expresse it For whereas all the Elephants carried wooden Castles on their backs from whence they shot with muskets brasse culverins and a great number of harquzes a crock each of them ten or twelve spans long these guns made such an havock of the besieged that in lesse then a quarter of an hour the most of them were beaten down the Elephants withall setting their trunks to the target fences which served as battlements and wherewith they within defended themselves tore them down in such sort as not one of them remained entire so that by this means the wall was abandoned of all defence no man daring to shew himself above In this sort was the entry into the City very easie to the Assailants who being invited by so good successe to make their profit of so favourable an occasion set up their ladders again which they had quitted and mounting up by them to the top of the wall with a world of cries and acclamations they planted thereon in sign of victory a number of Banners and Ensigns Now because the Turks desired to have therein a better share then the rest they besought the King to do them so much favour as to give them the vantguard which the King easily granted them and that by the counsell of Diego Suarez who desired nothing more then to see their number lessened always gave them the most dangerous imployments They in the mean time extraordinarily contented and proud to see themselves preferred before so many other Nations as were in the Camp resolved to come off with honor from this service which they had undertaken For which purpose having formed a Squadron of twelve hundred men wherein some Abyssius and Ianizaries were comprised they mounted with great cries by those ladders up to the top of the wall which as I have declared was at that time in the power of the King of Bramaaes people These Turks then whither more â—ash or more infortunate then the rest sliding
satisfied with the death which they have received in this last battell by your hands Behold how I earnestly intreat you as children that you are of my bowels that having regard to my good intention you will not kindle this fire wherein my soul will be burnt since you see well enough how reasonable that is which I desire of you and how unjust it would be for you to refuse it me Neverthelesse to the end you may not remain altogether without recompense I do here promise you to contribute thereunto all that shall seem reasonable to you and to supply this default in part with my own goods with my Person with my Kingdom and with my State Hereupon the Commanders of those six Nations hearing the Kings justification and the promise which hee made them yeelded to agree unto whatsoever he would do howbeit they prayed him above all things to have regard unto souldiers pretensions who were not at any hand to be discontented but greatly to be made account of Whereunto the King replyed That they had reason and that in all things he would endeavour to conform himself to whatsoever they should judg reasonable In the mean time to avoid disputes which might ensue hereupon it was concluded that they should referr themselves to Arbitrators for which effect the Mutiners were to name three on their side and the King three others on his which made six in all whereof three were to be Religious men and the rest Strangers that so the judgment might be given with lesse suspicion This resolution being taken between them they agreed together that the three Religious men should be the Menigrepos of a Pagode that was named Quiay Hifaron that is to say the God of Povertie and that for the other three Strangers the King and the Mutiners should cast lots to see who should chuse one or two of them on his side This Election being fallen to the King he made a choice of two Portugals of an hundred and forty that were then in the Citie whereof the one was Gonçalo Pacheco the King our Masters Factor for Lacre a worthie man and of a good conscience and the other a worshipful Merchant named Nuno Fernandez Teixeyra whom the King held in good esteem as having known him in the life time of the deceased King By the same means the Commanders of the Mutiners elected another stranger whose name I do not know Things thus concluded the Judges destined for the resolution of this Affair were sent for because the King was not willing to stirre out of the place where he was untill the matter was determined to the end he might dismisse them all peaceably before he entred into the Citie for fear lest if they entered with him they should not keep their word For this purpose then the King about midnight sent a Bramaa on horseback to the Portugals quarter who vvere in no lesse fear then the Pegues of being plundered and killed After that the Bramaa vvas come into the Citie and that hee had asked aloud for so they use to do vvhen they come from the King vvhere the Captain of the Portugals vvas he vvas presently conducted to his Lodging vvhere being arrived It is a thing said he to the Captain as proper to the nature of that Lord above who hath created the firmament and the whole heavens to make good men for the conversion of the wicked as it is ordinary with the pernicious Dragon to nourish in his bosome spirits of commotion and tumult to bring disorder unto the peace which conserves us in the holy Law of the Lord. I mean hereby continued he that amongst all those of your Nation there is one wicked man found vomiting out of his infernall stomack flames of discord and sedition by means wherof he hath caused the three strange Nations of the Chalons Meleytes and Savadis to mutinie in the King my Masters Army whereupon hath ensued so great a mischief that besides almost the utter ruine of the Camp three thousand Bramaaes have been slain and the King himself hath been in such danger as he was fain to retire into a Fort where hee hath remained three dayes and still is there not daring to come out because he cannot put any trust in those strangers Howbeit for a remedy of so great unquietnesse it hath pleased God who is the true Father of concord to inspire the Kings heart with patience to endure this injurie being prudent as he is to the end hee may by that means pacifie the tumult and rebellion of these three turbulent Nations who inhabit the most desert parts of the mountains of Mons and are the most accursed of God amongst all people Now to make an entry into this peace and union a Treaty hath been had between the King and the Commanders of the Mutiners whereby it hath been concluded on either part with an Oath That to exempt this Citie from the plundering which had been promised to the Souldiers the King shall give them out of his own estate as much as six men deputed for that purpose shall award of which number there are already four so that to make up the whole six there wants none but thee whom the King hath chosen for him and another Portugal whose name is written in this paper whereby thou shalt be ascertained of that which I have said unto thee Thereupon he delivered a Letter unto him from the King of Bramaa which Gonçalo Pacheco received upon his knees and laid upon his head with exterior complements so full of civilitie and courtesie as the Bramaa remained very much contented and satisfied therewith and said unto him Surely the King my Master must needs have a great knowledg of thee in that hee hath chosen thee for a Iudg of his Honour and Estate Hereupon Gonçalo Pacheco read the Letter aloud before all the Portugals who heard it standing with their hats in their hands The contents of it were to this effect Captain Gonçalo Pacheco my dear Friend and that appears before my eyes like a precious Pearl as being no lesse vertuous in the tranquillitie of thy life then the holyest Menigrepos which live in the Deserts I the ancient Chaumigrem and new King of fourteen States which God hath now put into my hands by the death of the holy King my Master do send thee a smile of my mouth to the end thou mayest be as agreeable to me as those whom I cause to sit at my table in a day of joy and feasting Know then that I have thought good to take thee for a Iudg of the Affair that is in question and therefore have sent for thee together with my good Friend Nuno Fernandez Teixeyra to come presently unto me for to give an end to this businesse which I wholly commit unto your trust And for so much as concerns the security of your persons in regard of the fear you may be in of the late Mutinie I do engage my word and swear to you by the
morning as also the day following from one til three During this trembling it was a dreadful thing to hear the terrible noise which the stormes and thunder made After all this such an horrible inundation of waters borke forth out of the center of the earth as in an instant all the Country about was swallowed up threescore leagues round without the saving of any living creature from perishing but only of one child of seven years of age and which was for a great wonder presented to the King of China In the mean time this news was no sooner come to the City of Cantan but all the inhabitants thereof were terrifyed with it yea and all ours were so amazed at it that holding it for an unpossible thing fourteen of our company would needs go thither to know the truth thereof which they immediately put in execution and at their return affirmed that the matter was very certain whereof an attestation was made signed by fourteen ocular witnesses who had been upon the place which attestation was afterwards sent by Francisco Toscano to the King of Portugal Don Ioano the third of glorious memory This prodigious event so affrighted the inhabitants of the City of Cantan that all of them generally testified a world of repentance and although they were Gentiles yet must it be acknowledged that they confounded us Christians who saw how far their devotion extended For on the first day when the newes thereof arrived there Proclamations were made throughout all the Principall streets of the City by six men on horseback who in long mourning robes and with a sad and lamentable voice rode crying out these words Miserable creatures as you are that cease not from offending day by day the Lord of all things Heare O heare the most lamentable and dreadfull adventure that ever was For you are to know that for our sins God hath drawn the sword of his Divine Iustice against all the people of Cuy and Sansy overwhelming pell mell with water fire and tempests from Heaven all that great Province of China none being saved but one only Child which is carried to the Son of the Sun And thereupon they rung a little bell thrice which they had in their hands Then all the people prostrating themselves on the ground said with fearfull cryes God is Iust in all that he doth After this was past all the inhabitants retired into their houses which were shut up for five daies together so that the City was so desolate as there was not a living creature seen stirring in it At the end of the five daies the Chaem and the Anchassis of the government together with all the rest of the people wherein the men only vvere comprehended for as for the vvomen they hold them incapable of being heard of God by reason of the disobedience of the first sinne committed by Eve vvent as it vvere in procession thorow the principall Streets of the Citie while their Priests which vvere above five thousand in number cryed with a loud voyce that pierced the very skies O marvellous and pitifull Lord have no regard to our wickednesse for if thou takest account of them we shall remain dumb before thee Whereunto all the people with an other fearfull cry answered Lord we confesse our faults before thee And so the Procession continuing still going on they at length arrived at a magnificent Temple called Nacapyrau whom they hold for the Queen of Heaven as I have heretofore related From thence they went the next day to another Temple called The God of Iustice and in this sort they continued fourteen dayes during which were great Alms generally bestowed and many prisoners freed also divers Sacrifices were made of the odoriferous perfumes of Aloes and Benjamin There were many others too wherein there was good store of blood shed and wherein many Kine Stags and Swine vvere offered vvhich were all distributed in almes to the poor In pursuance whereof during the three months that we abode there they continued in doing many other good works which were performed vvith so much charge and charity as it is to be beleeved that if the Faith of Jesus Christ had been added thereunto they would have been acceptable unto him We heard afterwards and this report was universall over all the Country that during the three dayes of that Earth-quake at Sansy it had still rained blood in the City of Pequin vvhere the King of China's Court was at that time vvhich made the most part of the inhabitants to forsake it and the King to fly to Nanquin vvhere it was said he gave great alms and set at liberty an infinite many of Slaves amongst the which were five Portugals vvho had been retained prisoners in the Town of Pocasser above twenty yeers together When these came to Cantan they recounted unto us divers marvellous things and amongst others they told us that the almes which the King had given upon this occasion amounted to six hundred thousand Duckats besides the magnificent Temples which he built to appease the vvrath of God amongst the which hee made one in that very City very sumptuous and of great majesty under the title of The Love of God CHAP. LXXIX Our arrival in the Kingdome of Bungo and that which pass'd there THe season being come vvherein vve might continue our Voyage vve parted from this Island of Lampacau the seventh day of May One thousand five hundred fifty and six after vve had imbarqued our selves in a Ship vvhereof Don Francisco de Mascarenhas surnamed Pallia vvas Captain So vve proceeded on in our course for fourteen dayes together at the end whereof vve discovered the first Islands at the height of five and thirty degrees and vvhich by gradation regard the West North-vvest of Tanixumaa vvhereupon the Pilot knowing that it vvas ill sailing there steered to the South-vvest to finde out the point of the Mountain of Minatoo We coasted Tanoraa then and still ran along this coast to the Port of Finugaa And forasmuch as in this Climate the windes are Northerly and that the current of the vvater vvas contrary to them the Pilot had a very bad opinion of his Navigation so that vvhen he came to know his fault although out of an accustomed obstinacy of Mariners he vvould not confess it vve vvere already past threescore leagues beyond the Port vvhere vve meant to arrive by reason vvhereof we vvere fain to tack about for the recovery of it fifteen dayes after though with travell enough for that the vvindes were crosse and without lying our goods and lives were in no little jeopardy by reason all this Coast was risen up against the King of Bungo our Friend and the inhabitants who vvere greatly inclined to the Law of the Lord vvhich had formerly been preached unto them At length after that by the mercy of God vve had got to the Town of Fucheo vvhereof I have oftentimes spoken which is the capitall of the Kingdom of Bungo where the chiefest Christians
where the Tanigores spake to them again about us and recommending us unto them more then before the Monteo caused our names to be written down in a book that lay before him and said unto us I do this because I am not so good a man as to give you something of mine own nor so bad as to deprive you of the sweat of your labour whereunto the King hath bound you wherefore even at this instant you shall begin to get your living although you do not serve as yet for the desire I have that this may be accounted to me for an alms so that now you have nothing to do but to be merry in my house where I will give order that you shall be provided of all that is necessary for you Besides this I will not promise you any thing for the fear I am in of the shewing some vanity by my promise and so the Divel may make use thereof as of an advantage to lay hold on me a matter that often arrives through the weakness of our nature wherefore let it suffice you for the present to know that I will be mindful of you for the love of these holy brethren here who have spoken to me for you The four Tanigores thereupon taking their leave gave us four Taeis and said unto us Forget not to render thanks unto God for the good success you have had in your business for it would be a grievous sin in you not to acknowledge so great a grace Thus were we very well entertained in the house of this Captain for the space of two months that we remained there at the end whereof we parted from thence for to go to Quansy where we were to make up our time under the conduct of this Captain who ever after used us very kindly and shewed us many favours untill that the Tartars entred into the Town who did a world of mischief there as I will more amply declare hereafter Before I recount that which happened unto us after we were imbarqued with those Chineses that conducted us and that gave us great hope of setting us at liberty I think it not amiss to make a brief relation here of the City of Pequin which may truly be termed the capital of the Monarchy of the world as also of some particulars I observed there as well for its arches and policy as for that which concerns its extent its government the laws of the Country and the admirable manner of providing for the good of the whole State together in what sort they are paid that serve in the time of war according to the Ordinances of the Kingdom and many other things like unto these though I must needs confess that herein I shall want the best part namely wit and capacity to render a reason in what clymate it is scituated and in the heigth of how many degrees which is a matter the learned and curious most desire to be satisfied in But my designe having never been other as I have said heretofore then to leave this my book unto my children that therein they may see the sufferings I have undergone it little imports me to write otherwise then I do that is in a gross and rude manner for I hold it better to treat of these things in such sort as nature hath taught me then to use Hyperboles and speeches from the purpose whereby the weakness of my poor understanding may be made more evident Howbeit since I am obliged to make mention of this matter by the promise I have made of it heretofore I say that this City which we call Pequin and they of the Country Pequin is scituated in the heighth of forty and one degrees of Northerly latitude the walls of it are in circuit by the report of the Chineses themselves and as I have read in a little book treating of the greatness thereof and intituled Aquisendan which I brought since along with me into Portugal thirty large leagues namely ten long and five broad Some others hold that it is fifty namely seventeen in length and eight in bredth and forasmuch as they that intreat of it are of different opinions in that the one make the extent of it thirty leagues as I have said before and others fifty I will render a reason of this doubt conformable to that which I have seen my self It is true that in the manner it is now built it is thirty leagues in circuit as they say for it is invironed with two rows of strong walls where there are a number of towers and bulwarks after our fashion But without this circuit which is of the City it self there is another far greater both in length and bredth that the Chineses affirm was anciently all inhabited but at this present there are only some Boroughs and Villages as also a many of fair houses or castles about it amongst the which there are sixteen hundred that have great advantages over the rest and are the houses of the Proctors of the sixteen hundred Cities and most remarkable Towns of the two and thirty Kingdoms of this Monarchy who repair unto this City at the general Assembly of the Estates which is held every three years for the publique good Without this great inclosure which as I have said is not comprehended in the City there is in a distance of three leagues broad and seven long fourscore thousand Tombs of the Mandarins which are little Chappels all guilded within and compassed about with Ballisters of iron and latin the entries whereinto are through very rich and sumptuous arches near to these Chappels there are also very great houses with gardens and tufted woods of high trees as also many inventions of ponds fountains and aqueducts whereunto may be added that the walls of the inclosure are on the inside covered with fine porcelain and on the fanes above are many Lions pourtrayed in gold as also in the squares of the steeples which are likewise very high and embellished with pictures It hath also five hundred very great Palaces which are called the houses of the Son of the Sun whither all those retire that have been hurt in the Wars for the service of the King as also many other souldiers who in regard of age or sickness are no longer able to bear arms and to the end that during the rest of their days they may be exempted from incommodity each of them receives monthly a certain pay to find himself withall and to live upon Now all these men of War as we learned of the Chineses are ordinarily an hundred thousand there being in each of those houses two hundred men according to their report We saw also another long street of low houses where there were four and twenty thousand oar-men belonging to the King Panoures and another of the same structure a good league in length where fourteen thousand Taverners that followed the Court dwelt as also a third street like unto the other two where live a great number
Tribunal fourteen steps high that was all overlaid with fine gold Her face was very beautiful and her hands were heaved up towards Heaven at her armpits hung a many of little idols not above half a finger long filed together whereupon demanding of the Chineses what those meant they answered us That after the waters of Heaven had overflowed the earth so that all mankind was drowned by an universal Deluge God seeing that the world would be desolate and no body to inhabit it he sent the goddess Amida the chief Lady of honour to his wife Nacapirau from the Heaven of the Moon that she might repair the loss of drowned mankind and that then the goddess having set her feet on a Land from which the waters were withdrawn called Calemphuy which was the same Island whereof I have spoken heretofore in the streight of Nanquin whereof Antonio de Faria went on land she was changed all into gold and in that manner standing upright with her face looking up unto Heaven she sweat out at her armpits a great number of children namely males out of the right and females out of the left having no other place about her body whence she might bring them forth as other women of the world have who have sinned and that for a chastisement of their sin God by the order of nature hath subjected them to a misery full of corruption and filthiness for to shew how odious unto him the sin was that had been committed against him The goddess Amida having thus brought forth these creatures which they affirm were thirty three thousand three hundred thirty and three two parts of them females and the other males for so say they the world was to be repaired she remained so feeble and faint with this delivery having no body to assist her at her need that she fell down dead in the place for which cause the Moon at that time in memory of this death of hers whereat she was infinitely grieved put her self into mourning which mourning they affirm to be those black spots we ordinarily behold in her face occasioned indeed by the shadow of the earth and that when there shall be so many years ran out as the goddess Amida brought forth children which were as I have delivered thirty three thousand three hundred thirty and three then the Moon will put off her mourning and afterwards be as clear as the day With these and such like fopperies did the Chineses so turmoil us as we could not chuse but grieve to consider how much those people which otherwise are quick of apprehension and of good understanding are abused in matter of Religion with such evident and manifest untruths After we were come out of this great place where we saw all these things we went unto another Temple of religious Votaries very sumptuous and rich where they told us the Mother of the then reigning King named Nhay Camisama did abide but thereunto we were not permitted to enter because we were strangers From this place through a street arched all along we arrived at a Key called Hichario Topileu where lay a great number of vessels full of pilgrims from divers Kingdoms which came incessantly on pilgrimage to this Temple for to gain as they believe plenary indulgences which the King of China and the Chaems of the Government do grant unto them besides many priviledges and franchises throughout the whole Country where victuals are given them abundantly and for nothing I will not speak of many other Temples or Pagodes which we saw in this City whilest we were at liberty for I should never have done to make report of them all howbeit I may not omit some other particulars that I hold very fit to be related before I break off this discourse whereof the first were certain houses in several parts of this City called Laginampurs that is to say The School of the poor wherein fatherless and motherlesâ— children that are found in the streets are taught to write and read as also some trade whereby they may get their living and of these houses or schools there are about some five hundred in this City Now if it happen that any of them through some defect of nature cannot learn a trade then have they recourse to some means for to make them get their living according to each ones incommodity As for example if they be blind they make them labour in turning of handmils if they be lame of their feet they cause them to make laces riband and such like manufactures if they be lame of their hands then they make them earn their living by carrying of burdens but if they be lame both of feet and hands so that nature hath wholly deprived them of means to get their living then they shut them up in great Convents where there are a number of persons that pray for the dead amongst whom they place them and so they have their share of half the offerings that are made there the Priests having the other half if they be dumb then they are shut up in a great house where they are maintained with the amerciaments that the common sort of women as oyster-wives and such like are condemned in for their scolding and fighting one with another As for old queans that are past the trade and such of the younger sort as by the lewd exercise thereof are becomâ— diseased with the pox or other filthy sickness they are put into other houses where they are very well looked unto and furnished abundantly with all things necessary at the charge of the other women that are of the same trade who thereunto pay a certain sum monthly and that not unwillingly because they know that they shall come to be so provided for themsâ—lves by others and for the collecting of this mony there are Commissioners expresly deputed in several parts of the City There are also other houses much like unto Monasteries where a great many of young maids that are Orpâ—ans are bred up and these houses are maintained at the charge of such women as are convicted of adultery for say they it is most just that if there be one which hath lost her self by her dishonesty there should be another that should be maintained by her vertue Other places there are also where decayed old people are kept at the charge of Lawyers that plead unjust causes where the parties have no right and of Judges that for favoring one more thâ—n another and corrupted with bribes do not execute justice as they ought to do whereby one may see with how much order and policy these people govern all things In the prosecution of my discourse it will not be amiss here to deliver the marvellous order and policy which the Kings of China observe in furnishing their States abundantly with provisions and victuals for the relief of the poor people which may very well serve for an example of charity and good government to Christian Kingdoms and Commonwealths Their Chronicles
you hither at this time certainly it is some extraordinary matter Madam answered she that which your Majesty sayes is very true and I assure my self that it will seem no less strange in your ears then it was to me to see my Neece arrive here lately with so much sorrow and grief that I am not able to express it in words The Queen having then commanded her to call her in she presently fetched her The first thing that this young Gentlewoman did was to prostrate her self before the Queen who was in her bed and so told her weeping the occasion that brought her thither and therewithall presented her with the letter which the Queen commanded her to read as accordingly she did and it is said the Queen was so moved with compassion at it that not induring to have her make an end of reading it she said many times unto her with tears in her eyes Enough enough I will hear no more of it at this time and since the business stands in the terms you speak of God and the Soul of the King my Husband for whose sake all these Ladies beg this boon of me forbid that these poor wretches should lose their lives so unjustly The false reports which the Chineses have made of them together with the miseries they have indured at Sea may serve them in stead of great punishments Wherefore rely upon me for your request and in the mean space withdraw your selves til to morrow morning betimes when we will go all three to the King my Son before it be day and then you shall read this letter to him as you have read it to me that being incited to pity he may make no difficulty to grant us that which we demand of him with so much reason This resolution taken the Queen was no sooner up the next day but carrying along with her only her chief Lady and the Gentlewoman her Neece she past through a Gallery to the Chamber of the King her Son whom she found still in bed and having rendred him an account of the occasion of her coming she commanded the Gentlewoman to read the letter as also to tell by word of mouth all that had happened in that affair which the Gentlewoman performed very exactly but not without mingling her tears with those of her Aunts as we knew afterwards In the mean time the King looking on his Mother Madam answered he unto her I must needs confess that I dream'd this night how I saw my self before a very angry Iudge who carying his hand three times to his face as if he had threatned me I promise thee said he unto me that if the blood of these strangers doth cry unto me for vengeance thou and thine shall satisfie my justice which makes me believe that assuredly this vision comes from God for whose sake I will do this alms to his praise giving them both life and liberty that so they may go where they will and moreover I will cause a vessel to be provided for them furnished with all things they shall need all at mine own charge The Queen gave thâ— King her Son thanks for this his great grace unto them and withall commanded her Lady and the Gentlewoman to kiss his feet as instantly they did and so the Queen retired to her own lodging Hereupon the King sent for the Chumbim to command him that the Sentence against us might be revoked telling him all that had past as well concerning his dream as the request the Queen his Mother had made unto him which he had granted her Then the Officers of Justice commending the King much for this action revoking the former drew up another Sentence in favour of us which contained words to this effect Broquen of my City of Pungor I the Lord of seven Generations and of the hairs of thy head do send thee the smiles of my mouth that thy reputation may be thereby augmented Considering the information which the Chineses had given me of the pernicious manner of living of thâ—se strangers assuring me by a solemn oath and upon the faith they owe unto their Gods that infallibly they were Pyrats and robbers who used no other trade then to steal away othermens goods and bathâ—e heir hands in the blood of those that would defend their own according to reason as they said was manifest to all the world which they have run over not leaving any Island Port of the Sea River nor Land that they have not invaded with fire and sword committing such enormous and horrible crimes as for fear of offending God I may not mention All which things have at first sight seemed unto me most worthy to be punished in justice according to the Laws of my Kingdom wherefore I sent their Proces to the principal officers of my Crown who all with one common consent swore unto me that these strangers deserved not only one but many deathâ— if it were possible so that relying upon their advice I wrote unto Nhay Peretanda that he should enjoyn thee from me not to fail within four dayes to put that Sentence of mine in execution Now forasmuch as the chiefest Dames of your City whom I hold for my kinswomen have been Suiters unto me since that I would be pleased to bestow their lives upon them by way of an alms alledging many reasons in their letters to that purpose whereby I might be induced not to deny but rather to accord them that grace the fear which I have least their cries should in case of refusal arrive at the highest of the Heavens where that Lord liveth raigning whose property it is to have pity on the tears which are truly shed by those that have a right zeal to his holy Law hath wrought so with me that freeing my self from that blind passion whereunto the flesh rendred me inclined I would not let my choller prevail over the blood of those wretches For which reasons I command thee that as soon as this fair Gentlewoman who is of noble extraction and my kinswoman shall present thee these letters signed with my hand wherewith I confess I am well contented in regard of the persons that have made this Suite unto me thou go unto the prison whither thou hast committed these strangers and that without all delay thou set them at liberty as also that thou furnish them with a vessel at my charge giving them moreover such alms as the Law of the Lord commandeth thee to bestow on them and that too with a liberal hand whereupon thou shalt tell them that they may go away without seeing my Person for which I will dispense with them as well because that labour would be to no purpose as for that performing as I do the Office of a King it is not fit for me to behold men who have a great knowledge of God and yet seem to make little account of his Law in that they accustom themselves to rob others of their goods Given at Bintor in the third
Chavequa of the first Mamoquo of the Moon in the presence of the Queen my Mother the Source of my right eye and Lady of all my Kingdom And signed a little below Hira Pitau Xinancor Ambulec the firm prop of all Iustice. As soon as the Gentlewoman had this Letter of the Kings in her hands she was never at quiet till she had left her Aunt and put her self upon her journey which she continued with such diligence that in a short space she arrived at the City and delivered the Letter to the Broquen who presently upon the reading of it caused all the Peretandas Chumbims and other Officers of Justice to assemble together and then went with them directly to the Prison where we were at that instant under a sure guard we no sooner saw them enter but all of us cried out three or four times together Lord have mercy upon us wherewith the Broquen and all that accompanied him whereof the prison was full were so moved as some of them could not forbear weeping out of the compassion they had of us In the mean time the Broquen fell to comforting us in such kind and loving terms as well expressed the greatness of his charity Withall he commanded the irons to be taken off from our hands and feet and drawing us into an outward Court he recounted unto us all that had past in our business whereof we had not any knowledge at all in regard of the strict watch that was set upon us all the while Then having caused the Kings Letters to be published My friends said he unto us now that God hath shewed you so much grace to deliver you as you see I have one request to make unto you which is that for my sake you will thank him from the bottom of your heart and praise him for it for if you make this acknowledgement unto him he will communicate to you from above whence all good doth proceed an agreeable repose which is a thing far more convenient for us then to live three or four days in the miseries of this world where there is nothing but labour grief great affliction and above all poverty which is the accomplishment of all evils and whereby ordinarily our souls are wholly consumed in the deep abyss of the house of smoak The Broquen moreover caused two Paniers full of clothes to be brought to that place and distributed to them amongst us according to each ones need That done he carried us home to his house where all the Ladies of the Town came to see us testifying by their countenances that they greatly rejoyced at the good success of our deliverance They comforted us also with great demonstration of pity which is an effect of the good nature of the women of this Country that is common to them all and not contented therewith they entertained us in their houses one after another during all the time we were there until our departure for we continued in this City afterwards the space of forty six dayes in which time we were furnished with all things necessary for us and that in such abundance as there was not one of us but carried above an hundred Duckets away with him As for the Portugal woman of whom I spake before she had above a thousand as well in mony as in other gifts which were given her by which means her husband in less then an year recovered himself of all the losses he had sustained After we had with a great deal of contentment past those forty six dayes there the season proper for our voyage being come the Broquen procured us passage in the Junck of a Chinese which was bound for the Port of Liampoo in the Kingdom of China according to the commandment that he had received of the King for that purpose buâ— first he caused the Captain of the Junck to put in good security for the safety of our persons during all the time of the voyage In this manner we departed from Pungor the capital City of the Island of Lequios of which I will here make a brief relation to the end that if it shall one day please God to inspire the Portugal Nation principally for the exaltation and increase of the Catholick faith and next for the great benefit that may redound thereof to undertake the Conquest of this Island they may know where first to begin as also the commodities of it and the easiness of this Conquest We must understand then that this Island of Lequios scituated in nine and twenty degrees is two hundred leagues in circuit threescore in length and thirty in bredth The Country is almost like that of Iapon saving that it is a little more mountainous in certain parts but in the middle it is plainer and more fertile It is rendred very agreeable by many large Plains that are watred with divers rivers of fresh water and from whence are gathered great provisions especially of Rice and Wheat It hath Mountains out of which is drawn such quantity of copper as in regard of the abundance thereof it is so common among those people that whole Ships are laden with it from thence in way of traffique to all the Ports of China Lamau Sumbor Chabaquea Tosa Miacoo and Iapon as likewise to all the other Islands on the South-side thereof as those of Sesirau Goto Fucanxi and Pollem Moreover in all this Country of the Lequios there is also great store of iron steel lead tin allum salt-peeter brimstone hony wax sugar and ginger far better then that which comes from the Indiaes It hath withall a world of Angelin-wood Chestnuts Trees Oak and Cedar wherewith thousands of Ships may be made On the East-side it hath five very great Islands where many Mynes of Silver are found as also Pearls Amber Frankincense Silk Ebony Brasil and a great abundance of a certain wood fit for Carpentry called Poytan It is true that there is not such store of Silk there as in China The Inhabitants of all this Country do as the Chineses cloth themselves with Linnen Cotten Silk and a kind of Damask-stuff which comes to them from Nanquin They are great eaters very much addicted to the delights of the flesh little inclined to arms and altogether unfurnished of them which induceth me to believe that they might be easily conquered and the rather for that in the year a thousand five hundred fiâ—ty and six a Portugal arrived at Malaca named Pero Gomez a' Almeyda servant to the Grand Master of Santiago with a rich Present and Letters from the Nautaquim Prince of the Island of Tanixumaa directed to King Iohn the third the Substance and Contents of his request was to have five hundred Portugals granted to him to the end that with them and his own Forces he might conquer the Island of Lequio for which he would remain tributary to him at five thousand Kintals of Copper and a thousand of Lattin yearly which Ambassy came to no effect because the Messenger was
cords wherein according to the Chaubainhaa his own report was the Treasure of the deceased Bresaguean King of Pegu which said Treasure containing an hundred and thirty thousand Bisses and every Biss in value five hundred Duckets made up all together the sum of threescore Millions of Gold He said also That he knew not certainly the number of the wedges of Gold which he had seen in the Temple of the God of Thunder but he was most assured notwithstanding that they would fully lade four good Vessels And for a conclusion he told them That the same Chaubainhaa had shewed him the golden Image of Quiay Frigau which was taken at Degum all full of such rich and resplendent stones as it was thought the like again were not in the whole world So that this Declaration which this man made upon Oath astonished them so that heard it as they could not possibly beleeve it to be true Howbeit after they had sent him out of the Tent they entered into consultation about this affair wherein nothing was resolved of which I verily beleeve our sins were the cause for there were in this Assembly as many different opinions as Babel had diversities of Languages which proceeded especially from the envy of six or seven men there present who would needs perswade the rest that if this affair should happen to have such success as was hoped for Ioano Cayeyro unto whom they all bore no good will would go then into Portugal with so much honor and reputation as it would be a small matter for the King to make him an Earl or a Marquis or at least recompence him with the Government of the Indiaes so that after these Ministers of the Devil had alledged many reasons wherefore it might not be done which I think was but the mask of their weakness and ill nature though it may be they did it out of the fear they were in of losing both their goods and lives if this matter should come to be discovered to the King of Bramaa howsoever they would not agree to accept of this offer but contrariwise they threatened Ioano Cayeyro that if he desisted not from his purpose which was to comply with the Chaubainhaa they would disclose it to the Bramaa so that Cayeyro was constrained to abandon this business lest if he should persist therein the Portugals themselves would discover him as they threatened to do without either fear of God or regard of men Ioana Cayeyro seeing he could not possibly bring his desiâ—e to pass wrote a Letter to the Caubainhaa wherein he used many weak excuses for not performing that which he demanded of him and giving it to Paulo de Seixas he speedily dispatched him away with it so that departing about three hours after midnight he arrived safe at the City where he found the Caubainhaa attending him in the same place which he had named in his Letter unto whom he delivered the Answer he had brought After he had read it and thereby found that he could not be succored by our men as he always thought he should it is said that he remained so confounded that for very grief and sorrow he sunk down to the ground like a dead man and continuing a pretty while in that manner at length he came again to himself and then beating his brest and bewailing his miserable fortune Ah Portugals said he with tears in his eyes how ill do you acknowledg that which I have done for you imagining that thereby I should make acquisition of your friendship as of a treasure to the end that like faithful men you would be assisting to me in so great a necessity as this is which now I am in whereby I desired no other thing then to save my childrens lives inrich your King and state you in the number of my chiefest friends And would it had pleased him who raigns in the beauty of these stars that you had merited before him the doing me this good office which only for my sins you have refused me for in so doing you had by my means augmented his Law and I been saved in the promises of his truth Thereupon sending away Paulo de Seixas with a young Wench by whom he had had two sons he gave him a pair of Bracelets and said unto him I desire thee not to think of this little which now I give thee but of the great love I have always born thee above all forget not to tell the Portugals with how much cause and grief I complain of their extream ingratitude whereof I will render them culpaple before God at the last and dreadful day of Iudgment The night following Paul de Seixas came back to the Portugals with two children and a very fair young Damosal their Mother with whom he married afterwards at Coromandel and shewed to Simon de Binto and Pedro de Bruges Lapidares the Bracelets which the Chaubainhaa had given him who buying them of him payd six and thirty thousand Duckets for them and had afterwards fourscore thousand for them of Trimira Raia Governor of Narsingua Five days after Paulo de Seixas coming to the Camp where he recounted all that I have related before the Chaubainhaa seeing himself destitute of all humane remedy advised with his Councel what course he should take in so many misfortunes that dayly in the neck of one another fell upon him and it was resolved by them to put to the sword all things living that were not able to fight and with the blood of them to make a Sacrifice to Qâ—iay Nivandel God of Battels then to cast all the treasure into the Sea that their Enemies might make no benefit of it afterward to set the whole City on fire and lastly that all those which were able to beat arms should make themselves Amoucos that is to say men resolved either to dye or vanquish in fighting with the Bramaas The Chaubainhaa very much approved this counsel and concluding of it accordingly they fell presently to the demolishing of houses and were preparing all other things for the effecting of their design when as one of the three principal Commanders of the City apprehending that which was to follow the next day fled the night ensuing to the Enemies Camp and there rendered himself with four thousand men under his leading to the Bramaa Hereupon the courages of all the rest were so abated by such a strange infidelity and flight that not one of them cared afterwards either to keep watch maintain the breaâ—hes or do any other service whatsoever but contrarily all that remained stuck not to say publiquely that if the Chaubainhaa would not suddenly resolve to yield himself to the Bramaa they would open the gates and let him in for that it would be better for them to â—ye so then to languish and consume away like rotten beasts as they did The Chaubainhaa seeing them stifly bent thereunto for to appease them answered that he would perform their desire howbeit withall he caused
by the four women upon whom she leaned directly to the Gallows whereon she and her four children were to be hanged and there the Rolim of Mounay who was held amongst them for a holy man used some speeches unto her for to encourage her the better to suffer death whereupon she desired them to give her a little water which being brought unto her she filled he mouth with it and so spurted it upon her four children whom she held in her arms then having kissed them many times she said unto them weeping O my Children my Children whom I have conceived anew within the interior of my Soul how happy would I think my self if I might redeem your lives with the loss of mine own a thousand times over if it were possible for in regard of the fear and anguish wherein I see you at this present and wherein every one sees me also I should receive Death with as good an heart from the hand of this cruel Enemy as I willingly desire to see my self in the presence of the Soveraign Lord of all things within the repose of his celestial Habitation Then turning her to the Hangman who was going to bind her two little boys Good Friend said she be not I pray thee so voyd of pity as to make me see my children dye for in so doing thou wouldst commit a great sin wherefore put me first to death and refuse me not this boon which I crave of thee for Gods sake After she had thus spoken she took her children again in her arms and kissing them over and over in giving them her last farewell she yielded up the ghost in the Ladies lap upon whom she leaned not so much as once stirring ever after which the Hangman perceiving ran presently unto her and hanged her as he had done the rest together with her four little children two of each side of her and she in the middle At this cruel and pitiful spectacle there arose from amongst all this people so great and hideous a cry that the Earth seemed to tremble under the feet of them that stood upon it and withall there followed such a Mutiny throughout the whole Camp as the King was constrained to fortifie himself in his quarter with six thousand Bramaa Horse and thirty thousand Foot and yet for all that be thought not himself secure enough from it had not the night come which onely was able to calm the furious motions of these men of war For of seven hundred thousand which were in the Camp six hundred thousand were by Nation Pegu's whose King was the Father of this Queen that was thus put to death but this Tyrant of Bramaa had so disarmed and subjected them as they durst not so much as quich upon any occasion Behold in what an infamous manner Nhay Canatoo finished her days a Princess every way accomplished wife to the Chaubainhaa King of Martabano and the daughter of the King of Pegu Emperor of nine Kingdoms whose yearly Revenue amounted unto three millions of Gold As for the infortunate King her Husband he was the same night cast into the River with a great stone tyed about his neck together with fifty or threescore of his chiefest Lords who were either the Fathers Husbands or Brothers of those hundred and forty Ladies that were most unjustly put to such an ignominious death amongst the which there were three whom this King of Bramaa had demanded in marriage at such time as he was but a simple Earl but not one of their Fathers would condescend unto it whereby one may see how great the revolutions of time and fortune are After the Tyrant of Bramaa had caused this rigorous Justice to be done he stayed there nine whole days during the which many of the Inhabitants of the City were also execued At last he departed for to go to Pegu leaving behind him Bainhaa Chaque Lord Steward of his House to take order for all things that might conduce to the pacifying of that Kingdom and to provide for the repairing of what the fire had consumed to which purpose he placed a good Garison there and carryed with him the rest of his Army Ioano Cayeyro followed him also with seven hundred Portugals not above three or four remaining behind in the ruines of Martabano and those too not very considerable except it were one named Gonçalo Falcan a Gentleman well born and whom these Gentiles commonly called Crisna Pacan that is to say Flower of Flowers a very honorable Title amongst them which the King of Bramaa had given him in recompence of his services Now for as much as at my departure from Malaca Pedro de Faria had given me a Letter directed unto him whereby he desired him to assist me with his favor in case I had need of it in the affair for which he sent me thither as well for the service of the King as for his own particular as soon as I arrived at Martabano where I found him resident I delivered him this Letter and withall gave him an account of the occasion that brought me thither which was to confirm the ancient league of Peace that the Chaubainhaa had made by his Embassadors with them of Malaca at such time as Pedro de Faria was first Governor of it and whereof he could not chuse but have some knowledg adding moreover how to that effect I had brought the Chaubainhaa Letters full of great protestations of amity and a Present of certain very rich Pieces of China Hereupon this Gonçalo Falcan imagining that by means hereof he might insinuate himself much more into the good grace of the King of Bramaa to whose side he turned at the siege of Martabano quitting that of the Chaubainhaa whom formerly he served he went three days after the Kings departure to his said Governor and told him that I was come thither as Embassador from the Captain of Malaca to treat with the Chaubainhaa unto whom the Captain sent an offer of great Forces against the King of Bramaa in so much that they of the Country were upon the point of fortifying themselves in Martabano and chasing away the Bramaas out of the Kingdom whereunto he added so many other such like matters that the Governor sent presently to apprehend me and after he had put me into safe custody he went directly to the Junck in which I came from Malaca and seized upon all the goods that were in her which were worth above an hundred thousand duckets committing the Necoda Captain and Master of the Junck to prison as also all the rest that were in her to the number of an hundred threescore and four persons wherein comprized forty rich Merchants Malayes Menancabo's Mahumetans and Gentiles Natives of Malaca All these were incontinently condemned to a confiscation of their goods and to remain the Kings prisoners as well as I for being complices in the Treason which the Captain of Malaca had plotted in secret with the Chaubainhaa against the King of Bramaa Having
King of Bramaa as attributing the cause thereof to the negligence of some of his Capâ—ains in the â—ll guarding of the Terrace that the day following he caused two thousand Pegu's to be bâ—hâ—aded which had stood sentinel that night This adventure rendred things quiet for the space of twelve days during which the besieged stirred not in the mean time one of the four principal Captain of the City named Xemim Meleytay fearing that which all others in general misdoubted namely that they could not escape from falling into the hands of so cruel an Enemy treated secretly with the Tyrant and upon condition that he would continue him in his charge not meddle with any of the houses of his friends and make him Xemin of Ansedaa in the Kingdom of Pegu with all the Revenue which the Bainhaa of Malacou had there being thirty thousand Duckats a year he would deliver him up the City by giving him entrance into it through the gate which he commanded The King of Bramaa accepted hereof and for a gage of performance on his part he sent him a rich Ring from off his finger This Treason so concluded was effected on the three and twentieth of August in the year 1545. wherein this Tyrant of Bramaa carryed himself with all the barbarousness and cruelty that he used to practise in the like cases And for as much as I conceive that I should never have done if I should recount here at large how this affair past I will say no more but that the gate was opened the City delivered up the Inhabitants all cut in pieces without so much as sparing one the King and Queen made prisoners their Treasurers taken the Buildings and Temples demolished and many other inhumanities exercised with such outragiousness the belief whereof is beyond the imagination and thought of man and truly I never represent unto my self in what manner it was done as having seen it with mine own eyes but that I remain as it were astonished and besides my self at it For as this Tyrant was touched to the quick with the affront he had lately received so he executed all the cruelties he could imagine against thosâ— miserable Inhabitants for to be revenged of the ill success he had had in the siege which could not proceed from any other but a base mind and vile extraction for it ordinarily falls out that barbarousness finds place in such kind of people rather then in generous and valiant hearts Whereunto may be added that he was a man without faith and of an effâ—minate disposition though he was nevertheless an Enemy to women albeit there were in that Kingdom and in all the others whereof he was Lord those that were very white and fair After the bloody ruine of that wretched City the Tyrant entred into it in great pomp and and as it were in triumph through a breach that was made of purpose in the wall and by his express commandment When he was arrived at the young Kings pallace he caused himself to be crowned King of Prom and during the Ceremony of this Coronation he made that poor Prince whom he had deprived of his Kingdom to continue kneeling before him with his hands held up as if he adored some God and ever and anon they constrained him to stoup down and kiss the Tyrants feet who in the mean time made shew as if he were not pleased therewith This done he went into a Balcone which looked on a great Market place whither he commanded all the dead children that lay up and down the streets to be brought and then causing them to be hacked very small he gave them mingled with Bran Rice and Herbs to his Elephants to eat Afterward with a strange kind of ceremony at the sound of Trumpets Drums and other such like Instruments there was above an hundred Horses led in loaden with the quarters of men and women which also he commanded to be cut small and then cast into a great fire kindled expresly for it These things so done the Queen was brought before him that was wife to the poor little King who as I said before was but thirteen years of age and she thirty and six a woman very white and well-favored Aunt to her own Husband Sister to his Mother and Daughter to the King of Avaa which is the Country from whence the Rubies Saphirs and Emeralds do come to Pegu and it was the same Lady whom this Bramaa had sent to demand in marriage of her Father as it was then spoken but that he refused him saying to his Embassador for an answer That the thoughts of his Daughter soared a pitch higher then to be the wife of the Xemim of Tanguu which was the family whence this Tyrant was issued But now that she was fallen into his hands as his slave whether he used her so either out of a revenge of that affront or out of scorn and contempt so it was that he made her to be publiquely stript stark naked and to be torn and mangled with whipping and then in that manner to be led up and down all the City where amidst the cries and hooting of the people he exposed her to other cruel torments wherewith she was tortured till she gave up the ghost When she was dead he made her to be bound to the little King her Husband who was yet living and having commanded a great stone to be tyed about their necks they were cast into the River which was a kind of cruelty very dreadful to all that beheld it To these barbarous parts he added many others so inhumane as it is not likely that any other but he could imagine the like And for a conclusion of his cruelties the next day he caused all the Gentlemen that were taken alive being some three hundred to be impaled and so spitted like rosted Pigs to be also thrown into the River whereby may be seen how great and unheard of the injustice of this Tyrant was which he exercised on these miserable wretches CHAP. LIV. The King of Bramaa his besieging of the Fortress of Meleytay with his going from thence to Avaa and that which passed there FOurteen days were past since the doing of these things during the which the Tyrant employed himself in fortifying the City with a great deal of diligence and care when as his spies whom he had sent out brought him word that from the City of Avaa a Fleet of four hundred rowing Vessels was come down the River of Queitor wherein there were thirty thousand Siamon Soldiers besides the Mariners of which the King of Avaas son and brother to the poor Queen was General for this Prince having received advertisement of the taking of the City of Prom and of the death of his sister and brother-in-law went and lodged in the Fortress of Meleytay which was some twelve leagues up the River from Prom. This news much troubled the Tyrant howbeit he resolved to go himself in person against his Enemies before
his men amongst the which were threescore and two Portugals Now whereas this City was very strong as well in regard of the scituation of it as of the Fortifications which were newly made there it had besides within it twenty thousand Mons who it was said were come thither some five days before from the Mountains of Pondalâ—u where the King of Avaa by the permission of the Siamon Emperor of that Monarchy was levying above fourscore thousand men for to go and regain the City of Prom for as soon as that King had received certain news of the death of his daughter and son-in-law perceiving that he was not strong enough of himself to revenge the wrongs this Tyrant had done him or to secure himself from those which he feared to receive of him in time to come namely the depriving him of his Kingdom as he was threatened he went in person with his wife and children and cast himself at the Siamons feet and acquainting him with the great affronts he had received and what his desire was he made himself his Tributary at threescore thousand Bisses by the year which amount to an hundred thousand Duckets of our mony and a gueta of Rubies being a measure like to our pynt therewith to make a jewel for his wife of which Tribute it was said that he advanced the payment for ten years beforehand besides many other precious stones and very rich Plate which he presented him with estimated in all at two millions in recompence whereof the Siamon obliged himself to take him into his protection yea and to march into the field for him as often as need should require and to re-establish him within a year in the Kingdom of Prom so as for that effect he granted him those thirty thousand men of succor which the Bramaa defeated at Meleytay as also the twenty thousand that were then in the City and the fourscore thousand which were to come to him over whom the said King of Avaa was to be the General The Tyrant having intelligence thereof and apprehending that this above all other things he could fear might be the cause of his ruine he gave present order for the fortifying of Prom with much more care and diligence then formerly howbeit before his departure from this River where he lay at anchor being about some leâ—gue from the City of Avaa he sent his Treasurer named Dioçory with whom we eight Portugals as I have related before remained prisoners Embassador to the Calaminhan a Prince of mighty power who is seated in the midst of this region in a great and spacious extent of Country and of whom I shall say something when I come to speak of him The subject of this Embassage was to make him his Brother in Arms by a League and Contract of new amity offering for that effect to give him a certain quantity of Gold and precious stones as also to render unto him certain Frontier Lands of his Kingdom upon condition that the Spring following he should keep the Siamon in war for to divert him from succoring the King of Avaa and thereby give him means the more easily to take his City from him without fear of that assistance which that King hoped should serve for an obstacle to his design This Embassador departed then after he had imbarqued himself in a Laulea that was attended on by twelve Seroos wherein there were three hundred men of service and his guard besides the Watermen and Mariners whose number was little less The Presents which he carryed to the Calaminhan were very great and consisted in divers rich pieces as well of Gold as of precious stones but above all in the Harness of an Elephant which according to reports was worth above six hundred thousand Duckets and it was thought that all the Presents put together amounted to a Million of Gold At his departure amongst other favors which the King his Master conferred on him this same was not the least for us that he gave us eight unto him for to be his perpetual slaves Having clothed us then very well and furnished us abundantly with all things necessary he seemed to be exceedingly contented with having us along with him in this Voyage and ever after he made more account of us then of all the rest that followed him CHAP. LV. Our going with the King of Bâ—amâ—a's Ambassadour to the Calaminham with the Course which we held until we arrived at the Temple or Pagod of Timagoogoo and a Description thereof IT seems fit unto me and conformable to that which I am relaâ—ing to leave for a while this Tyrant of Bramaa to whom I will return again when time shal serve for to intreat here of the way we held for to go into Timplan the capital City of the Empire of the Calaminham which signifies Lord of the world for in their language Cala is Lord and Minhan the world This Prince also entitles himself The absoluâ—e Lord of the indomptable force of the Elephants of the Earth And indeed I do not think that in all the world there is a greater Lord then he as I shall declare hereafter This Ambassadour then departing from Avaa in the month of October a thousand five hundred forty and five took his course up the râ—ver of Queitor steering West South-East and in many places Eastward by reason of the winding of the water and so in this diversity of â—hombâ—s we continued our voyage seven days together at the end whereof we arrived at a Channâ—l called Guampanoo through which the Rhobamo who was our Pilot took his course that he might decline the Siamons Country being so commanded to do by the express Order of the King A while after we came to a great Town named Gataldy where the Ambassadour stayed three days to make provision of certain things necessary for his voyage Having left this place we wâ—nt on still rowing up through his Channel eleven dayes longer during which time we met not with any place that was remarkable only we saw some small villages the houses whereof were covered with thatch and peopled with very poor folks and yet for all that the fields are full of Cattel which seemed to have no Master for we killed twenty and thirty of them in a day in the sight of those of the Country no man so much as finding fault with it but contrarily they brought them in courtesie to us as if they were glad to see us kill them in that sort At our going out of this Channel of Guampanoo we entred into a very great river called Angegumaa that was above three Leagues broad and in some places six and twenty fathom deep with such impetuous currents as they drove us often-times from our course This river we coasted above seven dayes together and at length arrived at a pretty little walled Town named Gumbim in the Kingdom of Iangromaa invironed on the Lands side for five or six â—â—agues space with Forrests of Bâ—njamin as alâ—o with
the Country whose Fathers and Brothers were there present There were also three or four Comedies more like this acted by other young Ladies of great quality and set forth with so much pomp and magnificence as more could not be desired About evening the Calaminhan retired into another room accompanyed with women onely for all the rest they went along with the Monvagaruu who took the Embassador by the hand and led him back to the outermost room of all where with many complements after their manner he took his leave of him and so committed him to the Queitor who straightway caâ—ryed him to his House where he lodged all the while that he was there being two and thirty days during which time he was feasted by the principal Lords of the Court in a splendid and sumptuous manner and continually entertained with several sports of fishing hunting hawking and other such like recreations As for us Portugals we took a singular content in observing over all the City and about it the excellent structure of very sumptuous and magnificent edifices of statâ—ly Pagodes or Temples and of houses adorned with goodly workmanship and of inestimable value Now amongst all these Buildings there was not in the whâ—le City a more majestical one then that which was dedicated to Quiay Pimpocau who is The God of the Sick In it serve continually a number of Priests apparelled in grey Gowns who being of greater knowledg then all the rest of the four and twenty Sects of this Empire do distinguish themselves from the others by certain yellow strings which serve them for girdles they are also by the vulgar people in a soveraign degree of honor called ordinarily Perfect men The Embassador himself went five times to their Temple as well to see very marvelous things as to hear the doctrine of those that preached there of which and of all that concerns the extravagancies of their Religion he brought a great volume to the King of Bramaa which was so pleasing to him as he afterward commanded the said Doctrine to be preached in all the Temples of that Kingdom which is to this day exactly observed in all his states Of this Book I brought a Translation into the Kingdom of Portugal which a Florentine borrowed of me and when I asked him for it again he told me that it was lost but I found afterward that he had carryed it to Florence and presented it to the Duke of Tuscany who commanded it to be printed under this Title The new Belief of the Pagans of the other end of the World Upon a day as the Embassador was talking in this Pagode with one of the Grepos who professed much kindness unto him for indeed they are all of a good nature easie of access and communicating themselves to strangers freely enough he demanded of him how long it was since the Creation of the World or whether those things had a beginning which God doth shew so clearly to our eyes such as the Night the Day the Sun the Moon the Stars and other Creatures that have neither Father nor Mother and of whom no reason can be rendered in Nature how they began The Grepâ— relying more on his own knowledg then on the others that were about him made this answer to his Question Nature said he had no other Creation but that which proceeded from the Will of the Creator who in a certain time determined in his divine Counsel manifested it to the Inhabitants of Heaven created before by his soveraign power and according to that which is written thereof it was fourscore and two thousand Moons since the Earth was discovered from under the Waters when as God created therein a very fair Garden where he placed the first man whom he named Adaa together with his wife Bazagon them he expresly commanded for to reduce thâ—m under the yoke of obedience that they should not touch a certain fruit of a tree called Hilâ—forâ—n for that he reserved the same for himself and in case they came to eat thereof they should for a chastisement of their fault prove the rigor of his Iustice whereof they and their descendants should feel the dire effects This being known to the great Lupantoo who is the gluttonous Serpent of the profound House of Smoke and perceiving how by this commandment God would for mans obedience on Earth give him Heaven for a reward he went to Adaas wife and bid her eat of that fruit and that she should also make her Husband eat thereof for he assured her that in so doing they should both of them be more excellent in knowledg then all other creatures and free from that heavy nature wherâ—â—f he had composed them so that in a moment their bodies should mount to Heaven Then Bazagon hearing what Lupantoo had said unto her was so taken with a desire of enjoying that excellent prerogative of knowledg which he promised her 〈◊〉 to attain thereunto she eat of the fruit and made her Husband likewise to eat of it whence it insued that they were both of them by that unhappy morsel subjected to the pains of death of sorrow and of poverty For God seeing the disobedience of these two first creatures made them feel the â—igor of his Iustice by chasing them out of the Garden where he had placed them and confirming the punishments upon them wherewith he had threatened them before Wherefore Adaâ— fearing lest the divine Iustice should proceed further against him gave himself up for a long time to continual tears whereupon God sent him word that if he continued in his repentance he would forgive him his sin Whilest the Grepo was speaking thus the Embassador wondering at his discourse which was a great novelty to him Certainly said he unto him I am well assured that the King my Master hath never heard the like of this from the Priests of our Temples for they in recompence of our works propound no other thing unto us but the possession of riches in this life for as they say there is no guerdon after death and that we must finish our lives aâ— all the beasts of the field do except the Cows which for a reward of the milk they have given us are converted into other Sea-cows of the apples of whose eyes are pearls ingendred At these words the Grepo puffed up with vanity for that which he had said to the Embassador Think not answered he unto him that there is any one in all this Country can let thee understand so much as I have done unless it be one Grepo who is as learned as my self With this â—ume of presumption he chanced to cast his eye on us Portugalâ— that were behind the Embassador and as the Minister of the Devil believing that we esteemed him as much as he did himself Verily said he unto us I should be glad that you who as strangers have no knowledg of this truth would come more often to hear me for to understand how God hath created all
have a good successe in the pleasure thou seemest to take in making war upon thine enemies The Ambassador having received this Letter departed from the Court the third day of November in the year one thousand five hundred forty and six accompanied with certain Lords who by the expresse commandement of the Calaminham went along with him to Bidor where they took their leave of him after they had made him a great feast presented him with divers gifts But before I intreat of the way which we held from this place till we came to Pegu where the King of Bramaa was I think it convenient and necessary to make a relation here of certain things which we saw in this country wherein I will acquit my self as succinctly as I can as I have done in all other matters whereof 〈◊〉 have spoken heretofore for if I would discourse in particular of all that I have seen and of that which hath past as well in this Empire as in other Kingdomes where I have been during my painfull voyages I had then need to make another volume far bigger then this same and be indued with a wit much above that I have howbeit that I may not wholly conceal things so remarkable I am contented to say so much thereof as my grosse stile will permit me to deliver The Kingdome of Pegu hath in circuit an hundred and forty leagues is scituate on the South side in sixteen degrees and in the hearâ— of the Country towards the rhomb of the East it hath an hundred forty leagues being invironed all above with an high ground named Pangavirau where the Nation of the Bramaas doth inhabit whose country is fourscore leagues broad and two hundred long This Monarchy was in times past one sole Kingdome which now it is not but is divided into thirteen estates of Soveraignes who made themselves masters of it by poysoning their King in a banquet which they made him in the City of Chaleu as their histories relate of these thirteen estates there are eleven that are commanded by other Nations who by a tract of another great country are joyned to all the bounds of the Bramaas where two great Emperors abide of which the one is called the Siamon and the other the Calaminham who is the same I purpose only to treat of According to report the Empire of the Prince is above three hundred leagues bredth and as much in length and it is said that antiently it contained seven and twenty Kingdomes the inhabitants whereof spake all one language within this Empire we saw many goodly Cities exceedingly well peopled and abounding with all provisions necessary for mans life as flesh fresh water fish corn pulse rice pastâ—res vines and fruits the chief of all these Cities is Tymphan where this Emperor the Calaminham with his Court commonly resides it is seated along by a great river named Pitâ—y and invironed all about with two broad walls of earth made up with strong stone on either side having very broad ditches and at each gate a Castle with high Towers certain Merchants affirmed unto us that this City had within it some four hundred thousand fires and albeit the houses are for the most part not above two stories high yet in recompense thereof they are built very stately and with great charge especially those of the Nobility and of the Merchants not speaking of the great Lords which are separated by great inclosures where are spacious outward Courts and at the entring into them arches after the manner of China as also gardens and walks planted with trees and great ponds all very handsomely accommodated to the pleasures and delights of this life whereunto these people are very much inclined We were also certified that both within the inclosure of the City and a league about it there were six and twenty hundred Pagodes some of which wherein we had been were very sumptuous and rich indeed for the rest the most of them were but petty houses in the fashion of Hermitages These people follow four and twenty Sects all different one from another amongst the which there is so great a confusion of errors and diabolicall precepts principally in that which concerns their bloudy Sacrifices as â—abhor to speak of them but the Idol which is most in vogue amongst them and most frequented is that whereof I have already made mention called Quiâ—y Frigau that is to say The God of the Meats of the Sun for it is in this false God that the Calaminham believes and does adore him and so do all the chiefest Lords of the Kingdome wherefore the Grepos Menigrepos and Talagrepos of this false god are honored far more then all others and held in the retation of holy personages their superiours who by an eminent title are called Cabizondos never know women as they say but to content their bruitish and sensuall appetites they want not diabolicall inventions which are more worthy of tears then recital during the ordinary Fairs of this City called by them Chanduâ—â—s we saw all things there that nature hath created as iron steel lead tin copper lattin saltpeter brimstone oyl vermillion honey wax sugar lacre benjamin divers sorts of stuffes and garments of silk pepper ginger cinamon linnen cloth cotton wool alum borax corâ—alines christall camphire musk yvory cassia rhubarbe turbith scamony azure woad incense cochenill saffron myrâ—he rich porcelain gold silver rubies diamonds emerauds saphirs and generally all other kind of things that can be named and that in so great abundance as it is not possible for me to speak that which I have seen and be believed women there are ordinarily very white and fair but that which most commends them is that they are of a good nature chast charitable and much inclined to compassion The Priests of all these four and twenty Sects whereof there are a very great number in this Empire are cloathed in yellow like the Roolims of Pegu they have no money either of gold or silver but all their commerce is made with the weight of cates casis maazes and conderins The Court of the Calaminham is very rich the Nobility exceeding gallant and the revenue of the Lords and Princes very great the King is feared and respected in a marvellous manner he hath in his Court many Commanders that are strangers unto whom he giveth great pensions to serve him for the safety of his person our Ambassador was assured that in the City of Timphan where most commonly the Court is there are above threescore thousand horse and ten thousand Elephants the gentlemen of the country live very hand somely and are served in vessels of silver and sometimes of gold but as for the common people they use porcelain lattin in summer they are apparrelled in sattin damask and wrought taffetiâ—s which come from Persia in winter in gowns furred with marterns there is no going to Law amongst them noâ— does any man enter into bond there but if there be any difference
neer a moneth in this Port of Zunda where a good number of Portugals were assembled together so soon as the season to go to China was come the three Vessells set sail for Chincheo no more Portugals remaining ashore but only two who went to Siam in a Junck of Patana with their Merchandise I bethought me then to lay hold on this occasion and put my self into their company because they offered to bear my charges in this voyage yea and to lend me some money for to try fortune once more and see whether by the force of importuning her she would not use me bâ—tter then formerly she had done Being departed then from this place in six and twenty daies we arrived at the City of Odiaa the Capitall of this Empire of Sarnau which they of this country do ordinarily call Siam where we were wonderfully well received and intreated by the Portugals which we found there Now having been a moneth and better in this City attending the season for the voyage to China that so I might passe to Iapon in the company of six or seven Portugals who had imbarqued themselves for that purpose I made account to imploy in commodities some hundred duckats which those two with whom I came from Zunda had lent me In the mean time very certain news came to the King of Siam who was at that time with all his Court at the said City of Odiaa that the King of Chiammay allied with the Timocouhos Laaos and Gueos people which on the North East hold the most part of that country above Capimpâ—r and Passilâ—â—o and are all Soveraignes exceeding rich and mighty in Estates had laid siege to the Town of Quiteruan with the death of above thirty thousand men and of Oyaa Capimper Governor and Lievtenant Generall of all that Frontire The King remained so much appalled with this news that without further temporising he passed over the very same day to the other side of the river and never standing to lodge in houses he went and incamped under Tents in the open field thereby to draw others to do the like in imitation of him Withall he caused Proclamation to be made over all the City That all such as were neither old nor lame and so could not be dispensed with for going to this war should be ready to march within twelve daies at the uttermost upon pain of being burned alive with perpetuall infamy for themselves and their descendants and confiscation of their Estates to the Crown To the which he added many other such great and dreadfull penalties as the only recitall of them struck terror not into them of the country but into the very strangers whom the King would not exempt from this war of what Nation soever they vvere for if they would not serve they were very expresly enjoyned to depart out of his Kingdome within three daies In the mean time so rigorous an Edict terrified every one in such sort as they knew not what counsell to take or what resolution to follow As for us Portugals in regard that more respect had alwayes been carried in that country to them then to all other Nations this King sent to desire them that they would accompany him in this voyage wherein they should do him a pleasure because he would trust them onely with the guard of his person as judgiâ—g them more proper for it then any other that he could make choice of and to oblige them the more thereunto the message was accompanied with many fair promises and very great hopes of pensions graces benefits favours and honors but above all with a permission which should be granted them to build Churches in his Kingdome which so obliged us that of an hundred and thirty Portugals which we were there were sixscore of us that agreed together to go to this war The twelve daies limited being past the King put himself into the field with an Army of four hundred thousand men whereof seventy thousand were strangers of divers Nations They imbarqued all in three hundred Sâ—roos Lauleas and Iangâ—s so that on the nineth day of this voyage the King arrived at a Frontire Town named Suropisâ—â— some twelve or thirteen leagues from Quitiruan which the enemies had besieged There he abode above seven daies to attend four thousand Elephants which came to him by Land During that time he was certified that the Town was greatly prest both on the rivers side which the enemies had seized upon with two thousand Vessels as also towards the Land where there were so many men as the number of them was not truly known but as it was judged by conjecture they might be some three hundred thousand whereof forty thousand were horse but no Elephants at all This news made the King hâ—sten the more so that instantly he made a review of his forces and found that he had five hundred thousand men for since his coming forth many had joyned with him by the way as also four thousand Elephants and two hundred carts with field pieces With this Army he parted from Suropisem and drew towards Quitiruan marching not above four or five leagues a day At the end of the the third then he arrived at a valley called Siputay a league and an half from the place where the enemies lay Then all these men of War with the Elephants being set in battell array by the three Masters of the Camp whereof two were Turks by Nation and the third a Portugal named Domingâ—s de Sâ—ixas they proceeded on in their way towards Quitiruan where they arrived before the Sun appeared Now whereas the enemies were already prepared in regard they had been advertised by their Spies of the King of Siaâ—s forces and of the design vvhich he had they attended him resolutely in the plain field relying much on their forty thousand horse As soon as they discovered him they presently advanced and with their vant-guard which were the said forty thousand horse they so charged the King of Siams rearward composed of threescore thousand foot as they defeated them in lesse then a quarter of an hour with the losse of three Princes that were slaine upon the place The King of Siam seeing his men thus routed resolved not to follow the order which he had formerly appointed but to fall on with the whole body of his Army and the four thousand Elephants joyned together With these forces he gave upon the battalion of the enemies with so much impetuosity as at this first shock they were wholly discomfited from whence ensued the death of an infinite company of men for whereas their prinâ—â—s â—ll strength consisted in their horse as soone as the Elephants sustained by the harqueâ—uses and the field pieces fell upon them they were defeated in lesse then an half hour so that after the routing of these same all the rest began instantly to retreat In the meane time the King of Siam following the honor of the victory pursued them to the rivers side
delay This done he parted the day following with a small train from the City of Pegu to give example to others to do the like and wept and lodged at a Town called Mouchan with an intention to tarry there those fifteen days he had limited the Lords to come unto him Now whenas six or seven of them were already past he was advertised that Xemin de Satan Governor of a Town so named had secretly sent a great sum of gold to the Zemindoo and had withall done him homage for the same Town where he commanded This news somewhat troubled the King of Bramaa who devising with himself of the means which he might use to meet with the mischief that threatned him he sent for Xemin de Satan who was then in the said Town of his Government with a purpose to cut off his head but he betaking himself to his bed and making shew of being sick answered that he would wait upon the King as soon as he was able to rise Now in regard he found himself to be guilty and misdoubting the cause wherefore he was sent for he communicated this affair to a dozen of his kinsmen that were there present with him who all of them concluded together how since there was no better way to save himself then in killing the King that without further delay it was to be put in execution so that all of them offering secretly to assist him in this enterprise they speedily assembled all their Confidents without declaring unto them at first the occasion wherefore they did it and withall drawing others unto them with many fair promises they made up of all being joyned together a company of six hundred men Whereupon being informed that the King was lodged in a certain Pagode they fell upon it with great violence and fortune was so favourable unto them that finding him almost alone in his chamber they slew him without incurring any danger That done they retired into an outward Court where the Kings Guard having had some notice of this treason set upon them and the conflict was so hot between them that in half an hours space or thereabout eight hundred men lay dead in the place whereof the most part were Bramaaes After this Xemin de Satan making away with four hundred of his followers went to a place of a large extent called Poutel whither all those of the country round about resorted unto him who being advertised of the death of the King of Bramaa whom they mortally hated made up a body of five thousand men and went to seek out the three thousand Bramaaes which the King had brought thither vvith him And forasmuch as these same vvere dispersed in severall places they vvere all of them easily slain not scarce so much as one escaping With them also vvere killed fourscore of three hundred Portugals that Diego Suarez had with him vvho together vvith all the rest vvhich remained vvith their lives saved rendred themselves upon composition and vvere received to mercy upon condition that for the future they should faithfully serve Xemin de Satan as their proper King vvhich they easily promised to do Nine days after this mutiny the Rebell seeing himself favoured by fortune and such a multitude of people at his devotion which were come to him out of this Province to the number of thirty thousand men caused himself to be declared King of Pegu promising great recompences to such as should follow and accompany him untill he had wholly gained the Kingdome and driven the Bramaaes out of the country With this design he retired to a fortresse called Tagalaa and resolved to fortifie himself there out of the feare he was in of the forces vvhich vvere to come to the succour of the deceased King thinking to find him alive having been advertised that many vvere already set forth from the City of Pegu for that purpose Now of those Bramaaes which Xemin de Satan had slain one by chance escaped and cast himself all woundeâ— as he vvas into the river and swimming over never left travelling all that night and the day follovving for fear of the Pegues untill he arrived at a place called Coutasarem where he incountred with the Chaumigrem the deceased Kings Foster-brother vvho vvas incamped there vvith an army of an hundred and â—ourscore thousand men vvhereof there vvere but only thirty thousand Bramaaes all the rest Pegues finding him then upon the point of parting from thence in regard of the heat that vvould be vvithin tvvo hours after he acquainted him vvith the death of the King and all that had past besides Now though this news greatly troubled the Chaumigrem yet he dissembled it for the present with so much courage and prudence as not one of his followers perceived any alteration in him But contrarily putting on a rich habit of Carnation Sattin imbroidered with gold and a chain of precious stones about his neck he caused all the Lords and Commanders of his Army to assemble before him and then speaking to them with the semblance of a joyfull man Gentlemen said he this fellow which you saw come to me but now in such hast hath brought me this Letter which I have here in my hand from the King my Lord and yours and although by the contents thereof he seemeth to blame us for our carelessâ—ness in lingering thus yet I hope e're long to render him such an accompt of it as his Highnesse shall give us all thanks for the service we have done him By this letter too he certifies me that he hath very certaine intelligence how the Zemindoo hath raised an army with an intent to fall upon the Towns of Cosmin and Dalâ—â— and to gain all along the rivers of Digon and Meâ—doo the whole Province of Danaplâ—â— even to Ansedaa wherefore he hath expresly enjoyned me that as soon as possibly I may I put into those places as the most important such forces as shall be able to resist the enemy and that I take heed nothing be lost through my nâ—gligence because in that case â—e will admit of no excuse This being so it seems to me very importanâ— and necessary for his service that you my Lord Xemiâ—brum go instantly without all delay and put your self with your forces into the Town of Dâ—laa and your brother-in-law Baâ—â—haa Quem into that of Digon with his fifteen thousand men as for Colonel Gipray and Monpocasser they shall go with their thirty thousand souldiers into Ansedaa and Danapluu and Ciguamcan with twenty thousand men shall march along to Xaraa and so to Mâ—lacou moreoâ—er Quiay Brazagaran with his brethren and kinsmen shall go for Generall of the Frontier with an Army of fifty thousand men to the end that assisted with those forces he may in person give order wheresoever need shall be Behold what the King hath written to me whereof I pray you let us make an agreement and all sign it together for it is no reason that my head should answer for your
want of care and imprudence His Commanders presently obeyed him and without longer tarrying there each of them went straight to the place whither his Commission directed him The Chaumigrem by means of this so cunning and well dissembled a sleight rid himself in lesse then three hours of all the hundred and fifty thousand Pegues who he knew if once they came to hear of the Kings death would fall upon the thirty thousand Bramaaes that he had there with him and not leave one of them alive This done as soon as it was night turning back to the City which was not above a league from thence he seized with all speed on the deceased Kings Treasure which amounted according to report unto above thirty millions of gold besides jewells that were not to be estimated and withall he saved all the Bramaaâ—s wives and children and took as many arms and as much ammunition as he could carry away After this he set fire on all that was in the Magazines caused all the lesser Ordnance to be rived asunder and the greater which he could not use so to be cloyed Furthermore he made seven thousand Elephants that were in the country to be killed reserving only two thousand for the carriage of his treasure ammunition and baggage As for all the rest it was consumed with fire so that neither in the Palace where were chambers all seeked with gold nor in the Magazines and Arsenalls nor on the river where were two thousand rowing Vessells remained ought that was not reduced to ashes After this execution he departed in all hast an hour before day and drew directly towards Tanguu which was his own country from whence he came some fourteen years before to the conquest of the Kingdome of Pegu which in the heart of the country was distant from thence about an hundred and threescore leagues Now whereas fear commonly adds wings to the feet it made him march with such speed as he and his arrived in fifteen days at the place whither they were a going In the mean time whereas the Chaumigrem had cunningly sent away the hundred and fifty thousand Pegues as I have declared already it happened that two days after they understood how the King of Bramaa was dead Now in regard they vvere mortall enemies of that Nation sixscore thousand of them in one great body turned back in hast for to go in quest of the thirty thousand Bramaaes but when they arrived at the City they found that they were gone from thence three days before this making them to follow in pursuit of them with all the speed that possibly they could they came to a place called Guinacoutel some forty leagues from the City whence they came there they were informed that it was five days since they passed by so that dispairing of being able to execute the design which they had of cutting them in pieces they returned back to the place from whence they were parted where they consulted amongst themselves about that which they were to do and resolved in the end since they had no lawfull King and that the Land was quite freed of the Bramaaes to go to Xemin de Satan as incontinently they did who received them not only with a great deal of joy and good entertainment but promised them mighty matters and much honor by raising them to the principall commands of the Kingdome as soon as time should serve and that he was more peaceably setled Thereupon he went directly to the City of Pegu where he was received with the magnificence of a King and for such crowned in the Temple of Comquiay which is the chief of all the rest CHAP. LXXII That which arrived in the time of Xenim de Satan and an abominable â—ase that befell to Diego Suarez together with the Xemindoos expedition against Xenim de Satan and that which insued thereupon THree moneths and nine dayes had this Tyrant Xenim de Satan already peaceably possessed the city and kingdome of Pegu whenas without fearing any thing or being contradicted by none he fell to distributing the treasure and revenues of the Crown to whomsoever he pleased whereupon great scandalls insued which were the cause of divers quarrells and divisions amongst many of the Lords who for this cause and the injustice which this tyrant did them retyred into severall foraigne Countries and Kingdoms Some also went and sided with the Xemindoâ— who began at that time to be in reputation again For after he had fled from the battell onely with six horse as I have declared heretofore he got into the Kingdom of Ansedaa where as well by the efficacy of his Sermons as by the authority of his person he won so many to his devotion as assisted by the favour and forces of those Lords as adhered to him he made up an army of threescore thousand men with which he marched to Meidoo where he was very well received by those of the Country Now setting aside what he did in those parts during the space of foure moneths that he abode there I will in the mean time passe to a strange accident which in a few dayes fell out in this city that one may know what end the good fortune of the great Diego Suarez had who had been Governour of this Kingdom of Pegâ— and the recompence which the world is accustomed to make at last unto all such as serve and trust in it under the semblance of a good countenance which she shews them at first The matter past in this sort There was in this city of Pegu a Merchant called Manbagoaa a rich man and that of good reputation in the country This same resolved to marry a daughter of his to a young man the son of a worshipfull and very rich Merchant also named Manicaniandarim about that time that Diego Suarez was in the greatest height of his fortune and termed the Kings brother and in dignity above all the Princes and Lords of the Kingdom So the fathers of these young couple being agreed on this marriage and of the dowry that was to be given which by report was three hundred thousand duckats when as the day was come wherein the nuptialls were celebrated with a great deal of state and magnificence and honoured with the presence of most of the gentlemen of chiefest quality in the city it happened that Diego Suarez being come a little before Sun-set from the royall palace with a great train both of horse and foot as his manner was to be alwayes well accompanied passed by Mambogoaas door where hearing the musick and rejoycing that was in the house asked what the matter was whereunto answer being made him that Mambogoaa had married his daughter and that the wedding was kept there he presently caused the Elephant on which he was mounted to stay and sent one to tell the father of the bride that he congratulated with him for this marriage and wished a long and happy life to the new married couple to these words he
with the continuance of our Voyage and what we saw during the same 241 CHAP. LX. Our arrival at Pegu with the death of the Roolim of Mounay 245 CHAP. LXI The Election of the new Roolim of Mounay the grand Talagrepo of these Gentiles of the Kingdom of Pegu. 248 CHAP. LXII In what manner the Roolim of Mounay was conducted to the Isle of Mounay and put into possession of his Dignity 252 CHAP. LXIII A continuation of the success which we had in this Voyage with my departure from Goa to Zunda and what passed during my abode there 255 CHAP. LXIV The expedition of the Pangueyram Emperor of Jaoâ— and King of Demaa against the King of Passervan and all that which passed in this War 258 CHAP. LXV The death of the King of Demaa by a very strange accident and that which arrived thereupon 263 CHAP. LXVI That which befell us until our departure towards the Port of Zunda from whence we set sail for China and what afterwards happened unto us 266 CHAP. LXVII My passing from Zunda to Siam where in the company of Portugals I went to the War of Chyamay and that which the King of Siam did until he returned into his Kingdom where his Queen poysoned him 269 CHAP. LXVIII The lamentable death of the King of Siam with certain illustrious and memorable things done by him during his life and many other accidents which arrived in that Kingdom 273 CHAP. LXIX The King of Bramaa's enterprize against the Kingdom of Siam and that which past until his arrival at the City of Odiâ—â— with his besieging of it and all that insued thereupon 278 CHAP. LXX The King of Bramaa's raising his siege from before the City of Odiaâ— with a description of the Kingdom of Siam and the fertility thereof 283 CHAP. LXXI A continuation of that which happened in the Kingdom of Pegu as well during the life as after the death of the King of Bramaa 286 CHAP. LXXII That which arrived in the time of Xemin de Satan and an abominable case that happened to Diego Suarez together with the Xemindooes expedition against Xemin de Satan and that which insued thereupon 289 CHAP. LXXIII That which the Xemindoo did after he was crowned King of Pegu with the Chaumigreâ—s the King of Bramaa's Foster-brothers marching against him with a great Army and divers other memorable things 295 CHAP. LXXIV The finding of the Xemindoo and bringing him to the King of Bramaa with the manner of his execution and death and other particularities concerning the same 301 CHAP. LXXV My imbarquing in the Kingdom of Pegu to go to Malaca and from thence to Japon with a strange accident which arrived there 305 CHAP. LXXVI Our passing from the Town of Fucheo to the Port of Hiamangoo and â—hat which befell us there together with my departure from Malaca and arrival at Goa 310 CHAP. LXXVII Father Belquiors and my departure from the Indiaes to go to Japon and that which befell us till my arrival at the Island of Champeiloo 312 CHAP. LXXVIII Our departure from the Island of Champeiloo and our arrival at that of Lampacau with a relation of two great disasters which happened in China unto two Portugal Colonies and of a strange accident besides that fell out in the Country 314 CHAP. LXXIX Our arrival in the Kingdom of Bungo and that which past thereupon 318 CHAP. LXXX My reception by the King of Bungo as Embassador from the Vice-Roy of the Indiaes 321 CHAP. LXXXI What past after our departure from Zequa till my arrival in the Indiaes and from thence into the Kingdom of Portugal 323 THE Travels Voyages Adventures OF Ferdinand Mendez Pinto CHAP. I. After what manner I past my Youth in the Kingdom of Portugal until my going to the Indiaes SO often as I represent unto my self the great and continual Travels that have accompanied me from my birth and amidst the which I have spenâ— my first years I find that I have a great deal of reason to complain of Fortune for that she seemeth to have taken a particular care to persecute me and to make me feel that which is most insupportable in her as if her glory had no other foundation then her cruelty For not content to have made me be born and to live miserably in my Country during my youth she conducted me notwithstanding the fear I had of the dangers that menaced me to the East Indiaes where in stead of the relief which I went thither to seek she made me find an increase of my pains according to the increase of my age Since then it hath pleased God to deliver me from so many dangers and to protect me from the fury of that adverse Fortune for to bring me into a Port of safety and assurance I see that I have not so much cauâ—e to complain of my Travels past as I have to render him thanks for the benefits which until now I have received of him seeing that by his divine bounty he hath preserved my life to the end I might have means to leave this rude and unpolished Discourse unto my children for a memorial and an inheritance For my intention is no other but to write it for them that they may behold what strange fortunes I have run for the space of one and twenty years during the which I was thirteen times a captive and seventeen times sold in the Indiaes in Aethiopia in Arabia in China in Tartaria in Madagascar in Sumatra and in divers other Kingdoms and Provinces of that Oriental Archipalage upon the Confines of Asia which the Chineses Siames Guâ—os and Lecquios name and that with reason in their Geography the eye-lids of the World whereof I hope to entreat more particularly and largely hereafter Whereby men for the time to come may take example and a resolution not to be discouraged for any crosses that may arrive unto them in the course of their lives For no disgrace of Fortune ought to esloign us never so little from the duty which we are bound to render unto God because there is no adversity how great soever but the nature of man may well undergo it being favored with the assistance of Heaven Now that others may help me to praise the Lord Almighty for the infinite mercy he hath shewed me without any regard to my sins which I confess were the cause and original of all my mis-fortunes and that from the same divine Power I received strength and courage to resist them escaping out of so many dangers with my life saved I take for the beginning of my Voyage the time which I spent in this Kingdom of Portugal and say That after I had lived there till I was about eleven or twelve years old in the misery and poverty of my fathers house within the Town of Monte-mor Ovelho an Uncle of mine desirous to advance me to a better fortune then that whereunto I was reduced at that time and to take me from the caresses
and cockering of my Mother brought me to this City of Lisbon where he put me into the service of a very honorable Lady To the which he was carried out of the hope he had that by the favor of her self and her friends he might attain to his desire for my advancement and this was in the same year that the funeral pomp of the deceased King Emanuel of happy memory was celebrated at Lisbon namely Saint Luces day the thirteenth of December 1521. which is the furtheâ—â— thing I can remember In the mean time my Uncles desâ—gâ— had a succes◠〈◊〉 contrary to that which he had promised to himself in favor of me For having been in the service of this Lady about a year and an half an accident befell me that cast me into manifest peril of my life so that to save my self I was constrained to abandon her house with all the speed that possibly I could Flying away then in very great fear I arrived before I was aware at the Ford of Pedra which is a small Port so called There I found a Carvel of Alfama that was laden with the horses and stuff of a Lord who was going to Setuval where at that instant King Ioana the Third kept his Court by reason of a great plague that raigned in divers parts of the Kingdom Perceiving then that this Carvel was ready to put to Sea I imbarqued my self in her and departed the next day But alas a little after we had set sail having gotten to a place named Cezmibra we were set upon by a French Pirate who having boarded us caused fifteen or sixteen of his men to leap into our Vessel who finding no resistance made themselves Masters of her Now after they had pillaged every one of us they emptied all the Merchandise wherewithall ours was laden which amounted to above six thousand duckets into their ship and then sunk her so that of seventeen of us that remained alive not so much as one could escape slavery for they clapped us up all bound hand and foot under hatches with an intent to go and sell us at La Rache in Barbary whither also as we found by being amongst them they carried Arms to the Mahometans in way of Trade for this purpose they kept us thirteen days together continually whipping us but at the end thereof it fortuned that about Sun set they discovered a ship unto which they gave chase all the night following her close like old Pirates long used to such Theeveries Having fetcht her up by break of day they gave her a volley of threâ— pâ—eces of Ordnance and presently invested her with a great deal of courage Now though at first they found some resistance yet they quickly rendred themselves Mâ—sters of her killing six Portugals and ten or eleven slaves This was a goodly Vessel and belonged to a Portugal Merchant of the Town of Conde named Silvestre Godinho which divers other Merchants of Lisbon had laden at Saint Tome with great store of Sugar and Slaves In such sort that those poor people seeing themselves thus taken and robbed fell to lament their loss which they estimâ—ted to be forty thousand Duckets Whereupon these Pirates having gotten so rich a booty changed their design for going to la Rache and bent their course for the Goast of France carrying with them such of ours for slaves as they judged fit for the service of their Navigation The remainder of us they left at night in the Road at a place called Melides where we were landed miserably naked our bodies covered with nothing but with the stripes of the lashes which so cruelly we had received the days before In this pitiful case we arrived the next morning at Saint Iago de Cacen where we were relieved by the inhabitants of the place especially by a Lady that was there at that time named Donna Beatrix daughter to the Earl of Villanova and wife to Alonso Perez Pantoia Commander and grand Provost of the Town Now after the sick and wounded were recovered each of us departed and got him where he hoped to find best assistance for my self poor wretch I went with six or seven that accompanied me in my misery to Setuval Thither I was no sooner come but my good fortune placed me in the service of Francisco de Faria a Gentleman belonging to the great Commander of Saint Iago who in recompence of four years service that I did him put me to the said Commander to wait on him in his chamber which I performed for an year and an half after But in regard the entertainment which was given at that time in Noble-mens houses was so small as I was not able to live on it necessity constrained me to quit my Master with a design to imbarque my self by his favor to go to the Indiaes for that I thought was the best way I could take to free me of my poverty So albeit I were but meanly accommodated I imbarqued my self notwithstanding submitting my self to whatsoever fortune should arrive unto me in those far Countries either good or bad CHAP. II. My departure from Portugal for the Indiaes and my imbarquing there for the Straight of Mecqua IT was in the year 1537. and the eleventh of March that I parted from this Kingdom in a Fleet of five Ships whereof there was no General for each of those Vessels was commanded by a particular Captain For example in the ship named the Queen commanded Don Pedro de Silva surnamed the Cock son to the Admiral Don Vasco de Gama In the ship called S t Rock commanded Don Fernando de Lima son to Diego Lopez de Lima grand Provost of the Town of Guimaranes who dyed valiantly in defence of the Fortress of Ormuz whereof he was Captain the year following 1538. In the S. Barba commanded Don Fernando de Lima who was to be Governor of the Town of Chaul Of that which was called the Flower of the Sea Lope Vaz Vagado was Captain And in the fifth and last ship named Galega commanded Martimde Freitas born in the Isle of Madera who the same year was slain at Damao together with five and thirty men that followed him These Vessels sailing different ways arrived at length at a good Port called Mozambique There we met with the S. Michel that wintered there and was commanded by Duart Tristao who parted thence richly laden for to return into Portugal Howbeit I beleeve she was taken or suffered shipwrack as it happens but too often in this Voyage to the Indiaes for he was never heard of since After our five Vessels were equipped with all that was necessary for them and ready to set sail from Mozambique the Lievtenant of the Fortress called Vincent Pegado shewed the Captains of the said five ships a Mandate from the Governor named Nunho de Cunha whereby he expresly commanded that all Portugal ships which did arrive in that Port this year should go to Diu and leave their men there for the guard of the
side amazed to think how liberally it hath pleased God to heap up on this people the goods of the earth on the other side I am exceedingly grieved to consider how ungratefull they are in acknowledging such extraordinary favours for they commit amongst themselves an infinite of most enormous sins wherewithal they incessantly offend the Divine Goodness as well in their bruitish and diabolical Idolatries as in the abominable sin of Sodomy which is not only permitted amongst them in publique but is also accounted for a great vertue according to the instructions of their Priests CHAP. XXXII Our Arrival at the City of Pequin together with our imprisonment and that which moreover happened unto us there as also the great Majesty of the Officers of their Court of Iustice. AFter we were departed from that rare and marvellous Town whereof I have spoken we continued our course up the river until at length on Tuesday the nineteenth of October in the year 1541. we arrived at the great City of Pequin whither as I have said before we had been remitted by Appeal In this manner chained three and three together we were cast into a prison called Gofaniauserca where for our welcom we had at the first dash thirty lashes a piece given us wherewith some of us became very sick Now as soon as the Chifuu who conducted us thither had presented the process of our sentence sealed with twelve seals to the Justice of the Aytao which is their Parliament the twelve Chonchalis of the criminal Chamber unto whom the cognisance of our cause appertained commanded us presently away to prison whereupon one of those twelve assisted by two Registers and six or seven officers whom they term Hupes and are much like our Catchpoles here terrified us not a little as he was leading us thither for giving us very threatning speeches Come said he unto us By the power and authority which I have from the Aytao of Batampina chief President of the two and thirty Iudges of strangers within whose brest are the secrets of the Lyon crowned on the throne of the world inclosed I enjoyn and command you to tell me what people you are as also of what country and whether you have a King who for the service of God and for the discharge of his dignity is inclined to do good to the poor and to render them justice to the end that with tears in their eyes and hands lifted up they may not addresse their complaints to that Soveraign Lord which hath made the bright Enamel of the skies and for whose holy feet all they that reign with him serve but for sandals To this demand we answered him that we were poor strangers natives of the Kingdom of Siam who being imbarqued with our Merchandise for Liampoo were cast away in a great storm at sea from whence we escaped naked with the loss of all that we had and how in that deplorable estate we were fain to get our living by begging from door to door till such time as at our arrival at the Town of Taypor the Chumbim then resident there had arrested us for prisoners without cause and so sent us to the City of Nanquin where by his report we had been condemned to the whip and to have our thumbs cut off without so much as once daigning to hear us in our justifications by reason whereof lifting up our eyes to Heaven we had been adviced to have recourse with our tears to the four and twenty Judges of austâ—er life that through their zeal to God they might take our cause in hand since by reason of our poverty we were altogether without support and abandoned of all men which with an holy zeal they incontinently effected by revoking the cause and annulling the judgment that had been given against us and that these things considered we most instantly besought him that for the service of God he would be pleased to have regard to our misery and the great injustice that was done us for that we had no means in this Country nor person that would speak one word for us The Judg remained somtimes in suspence upon that we had said to him at length he answered that we need say no more to him for it is sufficient that I know you are poor to the end this affair may go another way then hitherto it hath done neverthertheless to acquit me of my charge I give you five days time conformably to the Law of the third Book that within the said term you may retain a Proctor to undertake your cause but if you will be advised by me you shall present your request to the Tanigores of the sacred Office to the end that they carryed by an holy zeal of the honour of God may out of compassion of your miseries take upon them to defend your right Having spoken thus he gave us a Taeis in way of alms and said further to us Beware of the prisoners that are here for I assure you that they make it their trade to steal all that they can from any one whereupon entring into another chamber where there were a great number of prisoners he continued there above three hours in giving them audience at the end whereof he sent seven and twenty men that the day before had received their judgment to execution which was inflicted upon them by whipping to death a spectacle so dreadful to us and that put us in such a fright as it almost set us besides our selves The next morning as soon as it was day the Jaylors clapt irons on our feet and manacles on ouâ— hands and put us to exceeding great pain but seven days after we had endured such misery being laid on the ground one by another and bewayling our disaster for the extream fear we were in of suffering a most cruel death if that which we had done at Calempluy should by any means chance to be discovered it pleased God that we were visited by the Tanigores of the house of mercy which is of the jurisdiction of this prison who are called in their language Cofilem Gnaxy At their arrival all the prisoners bowing themselves said with a lamentable tonâ— Blessed be the day wherein God doth visit us by the ministery of his servants whereunto the Tanigories made answer with a grave and modest countenance The Almighty and divine hand of him that hath formed the beauty of the stars keep and preserve you Then approaching to us they very courteously demanded of us what people we were and whence it proceeded that our imprisonment was more sensible to us then to others To this speech we replied with tears in our eyes that we were poor strangers so abandoned of men as in all that Country there was not one that knew our names and that all we could in our poverty say to intreat them to think of us for Gods sake was contained in a letter that we had brought them from the Chamber of the Society of the house
of Quiay Hinarol in the City of Nanquin whereupon Christophoro Borralho presenting them with the letter they received it with a new ceremony full of all curtesie saying Praysed be he who hath created all things for that he is pleased to serve himself of sinners here below Whereby they may be recompensed at the last day of all days by satisfying them double their labour with the riches of his holy treasures which shall be done as we believe in as great abundance as the drops of rain fall from the clouds to the earth After this one of the four putting up the Letter said unto us that as soon as the Chamber of Justice for the poor was open they would all of them give an answer to our business and see us furnished with all that we had need of and so they departed from us Three days after they returned to visit us in the prison and in the next morning coming to us again they asked us many questions answerable to a memorial which they had thereof whereunto we replyed in every point according as we were questioned by each of them so as they remained very well satisfied with our answers Then calling the Register to them who had our papers in charge they inquired very exactly of him touching many things that concerned us and withall required his advice about our affair that done having digested all that might make for the conversation of our right into certain heads they took our process from him saying they would peruse it all of them together in their Chambers of Justice with the Proctors of the house and the next day return it him again that he might carry it to the Chaem as he was resolved before to do Not to trouble my self with recounting in particular all that occurred in this affair until such time as it was fully concluded wherein six months and an half were imployed during the which we continued stil prisoners in such misery I will in few words relate all that befel us unto the end when as our business was come before the twelve Conchalis of the criminal Court the two Proctors of the house of mercy most willingly took upon them to cause the unjust sentence which had been given against us to be revoked Having gotten then all the proceedings to be disannulled they by petition remonstrated unto the Chaem who was the President of that Court How we could not for any cause whatsoever be condemned to death seeing there were no witnesses of any credit that could testifie that we had robbed any man or had ever seen us carry any offensive weapons contrary to the prohibition made against it by the Law of the first book but that we were apprehended quite naked like wretched men wandering after a lamentable shipwrack and that therefore our poverty and misery was worthy rather of a pitiful compassion then of that rigour wherewith the first Ministers of the arm of wrath had caused us to be whipt moreover that God alone was the Iudg of our innocency in whose name they required him once twice nay many times to consider that he was mortal and could not last long for that God had given him a perishable life at the end whereof he was to render an account of that which had been required of him since by a solemn oath he was obliged to do all that should be manifest to his judgment without any consideration of men of the world whose custom it was to make the ballance sway down which God would have to be upright according to the integrity of his divine Iustice. To this petition the Kings Proctor opposed himself as he that was our adverse party and that in certain articles which he framed against us set forth how he would prove by ocular witnesses as well of the Country as strangers that we were publique thieves making a common practise of robbing and not merchants such as we pretended to be whereunto he added that if we had come to the Coast of China with a good designe and with an intent to pay the King his due in his Custom-houses we would have repaired to the ports where they were established by the Ordinance of the Aytan of the Government but for a punishment because we went from Isle to Isle like Pirats Almighty God that detests sin and robberâ— had permitted us to suffer shipwrack that so falling into the hands of the Ministers of his justice we might receive the guerdon of our wicked works namely the pains of death whereof our crimes rendred us most worthy In regard of all which he desired we might be condemned according to the Law of the second book that commanded it in express terms And that if for other considerations no way remarkable in us we could â—y any law be exempted from death yeâ— nevertheless for that we were strangers and vagabonds without either faith or knowledg of God that alone would suffice at leastwise to condemn us to have our hands and noses cut off and so to be banished for ever into the Country of Ponxileytay whither such people as we were wont to be exiled as might be verified by divers sentences given and executed in like cases and to that effect he desired the admittance of his articles which he promised to prove within the time that should be prescribed him These articles were presently excepted against by the Proctor of the Court of Justice established for the poor who offered to make the contrary appear within a certain term which to that end and for many other reasons alleadged by him in our favour was granted him wherefore he required that the said articles might not be admitted especially for that they were infamous and directly contrary to the Ordinances of Justice Whereupon the Chaem ordered that his articles should not be admitted unless he did prove them by evident testimonies and such as were conformable to the Divine Law within six days next ensuing and that upon pain in case of contravention not to be admitted to any demand of a longer delay The said term of six days being prescribed the Kings Proctor he in the mean time producing no one proof against us nor any person that so much as knew us came and demanded a delay of other six days which was flatly denied him in regard it but too well appeared that all he did was only to win time and therefore he would by no means consent unto it but contrarily he gave the Proctor for the poor five days respit to alledge all that further he could in our defence In the mean time the Kings Proctor declaimed against us in such foul and opprobrious terms as the Chaem was much offended thereat so that he condemned him to pay us twenty Taeis of silver both for his want of charity and for that he could not prove any one of the obligations which he had exhibited against us Three days being spent herein four Tanigores of the house of the poor coming very early