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A10231	Purchas his pilgrimage. Or Relations of the vvorld and the religions obserued in all ages and places discouered, from the Creation vnto this present Contayning a theologicall and geographicall historie of Asia, Africa, and America, with the ilands adiacent. Declaring the ancient religions before the Floud ... The fourth edition, much enlarged with additions, and illustrated with mappes through the whole worke; and three whole treatises annexed, one of Russia and other northeasterne regions by Sr. Ierome Horsey; the second of the Gulfe of Bengala by Master William Methold; the third of the Saracenicall empire, translated out of Arabike by T. Erpenius. By Samuel Purchas, parson of St. Martins by Ludgate, London.	Purchas, Samuel, 1577?-1626.; Makīn, Jirjis ibn al-ʻAmīd, 1205-1273. Taŕikh al-Muslimin. English.; Methold, William, 1590-1653.; Horsey, Jerome, Sir, d. 1626.	1626 (1626)	STC 20508.5; ESTC S111832	2,067,390	1,140

vse to paint themselues and their children he is the most gallant which is most monstrous Their women imbroder their legges hands c. with diuers workes as of Serpents and such like with blacke spots in the flesh Their houses are made of small Poles made fast at the top in round forme as is vsed in many Arbours with vs couered with Barkes or Mats twice as long as they are broad They are exact Archers and will with Arrowes kill Birds flying Fishes swimming Beasts running one of ours by them hath beene shot thorow the body and both his armes thereby fastened and pierced They speake of men two hundred yeeres old and more as Master Wingfield reporteth Their Bowes are of tough Hasill the strings of Leather Arrowes of Canes or Hasill headed with stones or hornes and artificially feathered They are heartlesse if they see defence to frustrate their Arrowes §. IIII. Of the present estate of Virginia and the English there residing THe last of May 1616. Sir Thomas Dale that worthy Commander and best establisher of the Virginian Plantation came from thence into England to procure and further the common good partly by conference with Him and chiefly by a Tractate and Relations of Master Rolph the Husband of Pokahuntas which came ouer with him I haue learned what here I deliuer you The English doe now finde this Countrey so correspondent to their constitutions that it is more rare to heare of a mans death in Virginia then in that proportion of people in England That Aristocraticall Gouernment by a President and Councell is long since remooued and those hatefull effects thereof together Order and diligence haue repayred what confusion and idlenesse had distempered The men haue beene employed in Palazading and building of Townes impaling grounds to keepe their Cattle from ranging and to preserue their Corne and a Peace concluded betwixt the English and Indians For howsoeuer they could well before defend themselues and their Townes from them yet not easily their Corne and Cattle This peace hath yeelded many benefits both opportunity of lawfull purchase of a great part of the Country from the Natiues freely and willingly relinquishing and selling the same for Copper or other Commodities a thing of no small consequence to the conscience where the milde Law of Nature not that violent Law of Armes layes the foundation of their possession and quiet enioying thereof yeerely planting and reaping without impediment . fowling hunting fishing trauelling as securely as in England Plenty and Health attending their Peace and Industry They haue Indian Wheate called Mays Pease and Beanes and other the naturall Commodities English Wheate Pease Barley Turneps Cabbages Carrots Parsneps Herbes and Flowres for pleasure and vse with other things as good as the best made English ground can yeeld And that you may know what two mens labours with Spade and Shouell onely can manure in one yeere they refused fifty pounds offered for their Crop Hempe Flaxe Tobacco which with a little better experience in the curing would be as good as any in America Fish Fowle Deere and other Beasts I need not mention Sir Thomas Dale whose Prudence Fortitude Temperance Iustice in the well ordering and gouerning the English Virginian affaires I cannot sufficiently honour obserued two seasons for the taking of Fish the Spring and the Fall himselfe taking no small paines in the triall at one hale with a Saint he caught fiue thousand three hundred of which were as bigge as Cod the least of the residue a kind of Salmon Trowt two foot long Yet durst he not aduenture on the maine Skul for breaking his Net Likewise two men with Axes and such like weapons haue taken and killed neere the shore and brought home forty as great as Cod in two or three houres space And whereas heretofore wee were constrayned yeerely to buy Corne of the Indians which brought vs into base esteeme with them now they seeke to vs come to our Townes sell the skins from their shoulders which are their best garments to buy Corne Yea some of their petty Kings haue this last yeere borrowed foure or fiue hundred bushels of Wheat for payment whereof this Haruest they haue Mortgaged their whole Countries some of them not much lesse in quantitie then a whole Shire in England So that Famine the quondam deuourer of our Nation is famished and in it selfe deuoured The places inhabited by the English are six Henrico and the limits Bermuda Nether Hundred West and Sherley Hundred Iames Towne Kequoughton Dales Gift The inhabitants are Officers Labourers Farmers The first haue charge and care ouer both the latter watching and warding for their preseruations in the due execution of their employments and businesse These are bound to maintaine themselues and their families with food and raiment by the industrie of them and theirs The Labourers are of two sorts some employed onely in the generall workes fed and cloathed out of the store Others are speciall Artificers as Smiths Shoomakers Carpenters Tailors Tanners c. which worke in their professions to the Colony and maintaine themselues with food and apparell hauing time limited them to till and manure the ground The Farmers liue at most ease yet by their good endeuours bring much plenty to the Plantation They are bound by Couenant both for themselues and their seruants to maintaine his Maiesties right and title in that kingdome to watch ward in the townes where they are resident to doe one and thirtie dayes seruice for the Colony when they shall be called thereunto to maintaine themselues and theirs with food and raiment to pay yeerely for themselues and each man-seruant two Barrels and a halfe a piece of their best Indian wheat this amounts to twelue bushels a halfe English measure that no Farmer nor other shall plant Tobacco knowne to be a vendible commoditie except he yeerely manure for himselfe and euery man-seruant two acres of ground with corne and then to plant as much as they please Also the Company haue already sent a ship to Virginia with prouision of cloathing houshold-stuffe and other necessaries to establish a Magazine there to be bought at easie rates in bartar and exchange for their commodities to a mutuall benefit of both parts I cannot heere omit the Christian care of his Maiestie worthy the Defender of the Faith in prouiding charitable collections and contributions in England for the erecting and maintaining of a Colledge in Virginia to be a Seminarie and Schoole of education to the Natiues in the knowledge and perfection of our Religion which I beseech Almightie God to prosper with answerable successe They haue likewise brought thence children of both sexes here to be taught our language and letters which may proue profitable instruments in this designe As for the English there now residing likely to bee much encreased by good supplyes now in sending at Henrico and in the Precincts which is seated on the North side the

Cherosonesus or Peninsula which containeth besides that the Regions of Pontus Bithynia Lycia Galatia Pamphilia Paphlagonia Cappadocia Cilicia and Armenia Minor It was bounded on the East with Euphrates now Frat on the South with the Mediterranean Sea on the West with the Archipelago on the North with the Black-Sea stretching in length from 51. to 72. degrees of Longitude and in breadth from 36. ½ to 45. This Countrey hath beene anciently renowned for Armes and Arts now the graue of the carkasses or some ruinous bones rather and stonie Reliques of the carkasses of more then foure thousand Places and Cities sometimes inhabited Many changes hath it sustained by the Egyptian Persian Macedonian Roman Tartarian and Turkish generall Conquests besides such exploits as Croesus and Mithridates of old the Saracens and the Westerne Christians of later times haue therein atchieued Let the studious of these things search them in their proper Authors our taske is Religion whose ouer-worne and almost out-worne steps with much curious hunting in many Histories wee haue thus weakely traced Of the Turkes we haue alreadie spoken and we leaue the larger Relations of the Christians for why should wee mixe Light with Darknesse to their proper place For euen yet besides the Armenians there remaine many Christians of the Greek Church in Cappadocia and other parts of this Region HONDIVS his Map of ASIA MINOR NATOLIA Next vnto those parts of Syria before deliuered are situate in this lesser Asia Cilicia Armenia Minor and Cappadocia CAPPADOCIA called also Leucosyria and now Amasia stretcheth foure hundred and fiftie miles along the Euxine Sea bounded on the West with Paphlagonia Galatia and part of Pamphylia on the South with Cilicia on the East with the Hills Antitaurus and Moschius and part of Euphrates Heere runneth Halys the end of Croesus Empire both in the site and fate thereof the doubtfull Oracle here giuing him a certaine ouerthrow For when hee consulted with the same touching his Expedition against Cyrus he receiued answer That passing Halys hee should ouer-turne a great State which he interpreting actiuely of his attempts against Cyrus verified it passiuely in himselfe And here besides other streames slideth Thermodon sometime made famous by the bordering Amazons Of which manly Foeminine people ancient Authors disagree Theophrastus deriuing them from the Sauromatae Salust fetching them from Tanais P. Diaconus describing them in Germany Trogus and Iustine reporting them Scythians Diodorus crossing the Seas to finde them in Lybia and thence also in a further search passing into an Iland in the Atlantike Ocean Ptolomey and Curtius placing them neerer the Caspian Sea Strabo doubting whether there euer had beene such a people or no. Some haue found them out a-new in the new World naming that huge Riuer of them Goropius confidently auouched them to bee the Wiues and Sonnes of the Sarmatians or Cimbrians who together with their Husbands inuaded Asia And this hee proueth by Dutch Etymologies and other coniectures Which if it be true sheweth that their Religion was the same with the Scythian They are said to haue worshipped Mars of whom they faine themselues to be descended Religion it were to speake of their Religion of whose being wee haue no better certaintie Strabo writeth That in the places ascribed to the Amazons Apollo was exceedingly worshipped In Cappadocia was seated the Citie Comana wherein was a Temple of Bellona and a great multitude of such as were there inspired and rauished by deuilish illusion and of sacred Seruants It was inhabited by the people called Cataones who being subiect to a King did neuerthelesse obey the Priest that was in great part Lord of the Temple and of the Sacred Seruants whose number when Strabo was there amounted to sixe thousand and vpwards of men and women The Priest receiued the reuenue of the Region next adioyning to the Temple and was in honour next to the King in Cappadocia and commonly of the same kindred These Idolatrous Rites are supposed to haue beene brought hither out of Taurica Scythia by Orestes and his sister Iphigenia where humane Sacrifices were offered to Diana Here at the solemne Feasts of Bellona those Sacred Seruants before mentioned called Comani wounded each other in an extaticall furie bloudy Rites fitting Bellona's solemnities Argaeus whose hoary head was couered continually with snow was reputed a religious Hill and habitation of some God Strabo reporteth of the Temple of Apollo Catanius in Dastacum and of another of Iupiter in Morimena which had three thousand of those Sacred Seruants or Religious Votaries which as an inferiour Order were at the command of the Priest who receiued of his Temples reuenue fifteene Talents and was reputed in the next ranke of honour to the Priest of Comana Not farre hence is Castabala where the Temple of Diana Persica where the sacred or deuoted women were reported to goe bare-footed on burning coles without harme It is reported that if a Snake did bite a Cappadocian the mans bloud was poyson to the Snake and killed him Many excellent Worthies hath this Region yeelded to the world Mazaca afterwards of Claudius called Caesarea was the Episcopall Seat of Great Basil Cucusum the Receptacle of exiled Chrysostome Amasia now a Prouinciall Citie of the Turkish Beglerbegs sometime the Countrey of Strabo to whom these our Relations are so much indebted Nissa and Nazianaum of which the two Gregories receiued their surnames But that Humane and Diuine learning is now trampled vnder the barbarous foot of the Ottoman-horse Here is Trapezonde also whilome bearing the proud name of an Empire Licaonia the chiefe Citie whereof is Iconium celebrated in holy Writ and a long time the Royall Seat of the first Turkes in Asia and since of Caramania now Conia or Cogne inhabited with Greekes Turkes Iewes Arabians and Armenians is of Ptolomey adioyned to Cappadocia And so is Diopolis called before Cabira since Augusta which Ortelius placeth in the lesser Armenia In Diopolis was the Temple of the Moone had in great veneration much like in the Rites thereof to that before mentioned of Comana which although it bare the surname of Cappadocia yet Ptolomey placeth it in this Armenia and Comana Pontica in Cappadocia of the same name and superstitious deuotion to the same Goddesse Thence haue they taken the patterne of their Temple of their Rites Ceremonies Diuinations respect to their Priests And twice a yeere in the Feasts which were called The Goddesse her going out the Priest ware a Diademe He was second to none but the King which Priest-hood was holden of some of Strabo's progenitors Pompey bestowed the Priest-hood of this Temple vpon Archelaus and added to the temples reuenue two Schoeni that is threescore furlongs of ground commanding the inhabitants to yeeld him obedience Hee had also power ouer the Sacred Seruants which were no lesse then sixe thousand Lycomedes after inioyed that Prelacie with foure Schoeni of land added thereto

also buried his wealth Plinie out of Isigorus affirmeth that a people called Albani not these I thinke if any were hoarie haired from their childhood and saw as well by night as by day §. IIII. Of Colchis or Mengrelia MENGRELIA sometime Colchis adioyneth to the Euxine Sea in which Countrey Strabo mentioneth the Temple of Leucothea builded by Phryxus where was also an Oracle and where a Ram might bee slaine This Temple was sometimes very rich but spoiled by Pharnax and after of Mithridates This country the Poets haue made famous by the fables of Phryxus and Iason Phryxus the sonne of Athemas Prince of Thebes and of Nephele with his sister Helle fled from their cruell stepdame Ino vpon the backe of a golden Ram from which Helle falling into the water gaue name thereto of her called Hellespont Phryxus comming safe into Colchis sacrificed to Iupiter and hanged vp the fleece of his Ram in the Groue of Mars which custome was yeerely practised of his posteritie Iason after by command of Pelias seeking by a barbarous enemy or a dangerous Nauigation to destroy him with fourescore and nineteene other companions in the Ship called Argo fetched this Fleece from hence by the helpe of Medaea and the Ship and the Ram filled Heauen with new Constellations That fable had ground of Historie howsoeuer by fictions obscured For the Riuers here in Colchis are reported to carrie gold downe with their streames and sands which the people take with boords bored full of holes and with fleeces of Wooll Spaine hath of late yeelded many such Argonauts with longer voyages seeking the golden Indian Fleece which their Indian conquest may make the Ensigne of their Order more fitly then the Burgundian inheritance Suidas applieth this Fleece and Ram to Bookes of Alchymie written in parchments made of Rams skins which Delrio accounteth an Art of Naturall Magicke and possible howsoeuer these Colchians as well as the Armenians Egyptians Persians and Chaldeans were infamous for that other which hee calleth Deuillish and Medaea is most renowned for that science the ignorance whereof is best learning Herodotus is of opinion that Sesostris left some of his Armie here at the Riuer Phasis perswaded hereunto by the agreement of the Colchians and Egyptians in the same ceremonie of Circumcision and in the like workes of Hempe Vadianus citeth out of Valerius Flaccus the like testimonie Plinie in his sixth Booke and fifth Chapter reporteth of Dioscurias a City of Colchis whilome so famous that Timosthenes affirmeth that three hundred Nations of differing languages liued in it and afterwards the Roman affaires were there managed by an hundred and thirtie Interpreters Cornelius Tac. saith that they accounted it vnlawfull to offer a Ram in Sacrifice because of Phryxus his Ram vncertaine whether it were a beast or the ensigne of his Ship They report themselues the issue of the Thessalonians §. V. Of the present Mengrelians and Georgians THe present Mengrelians are rude and barbarous defending themselues from the Turkes by their rough Hils and ragged Pouertie so inhumane that they sell their owne children to the Turks I reade not of any other Religion at this day amongst them but Christian such as it is Some adde these also to the Georgians The wiues of diuers of these people reported to bee exercised in Armes and Martiall feates happily gaue occasion to that Fable or Historie of the Amazons Busbequius saith that Colchos is a very fertile Countrey but the people idle and carelesse they plant their Vines at the foot of great Trees which marriage proueth very fruitfull the husbands armes being kindly embraced and plentifully laden They haue no money but in stead of buying and selling they vse exchange If they haue any of the more precious metals they are consecrated to the vse of their Temples whence the King can borrow them vnder pretence of publike good The King hath all his tributes payed in the fruits of the earth whereby his Palace becommeth a publike store-house to all commers When Merchants come they giue him a present and he feasteth them the more wine any man drinketh the more welcome hee is They are much giuen to belly-cheere dauncing and loose Sonnets of loue and dalliance They much caroll the name of Rowland or Orlando which name it seemeth passed to them with the Christian Armies which conquered the Holy Land No maruell if Ceres and Bacchus lead in Venus betwixt them which so ruleth in these parts that the husband bringing home a guest commends him to his wife and sister with charge to yeeld him content and delight esteeming it a ceedite that their wiues can please and bee acceptable Their Virgins become mothers verie soone most of them at ten yeeres old can bring witnesses in their armes little bigger then a great frogge which yet after grow tall and square men to proue that there is neuer a Maide the lesse for them Swearing they hold an excellent qualitie and to bee a fashion-monger in oathes glorious to steale cunningly winnes great reputation as of another Mercurie and they which cannot doe it are holden dullards and blocks When they goe into a Church they giue meane respect to other Images Saint George is so worshipped that his horses hoofes are kissed of them Dadianus the King of Colchos or Mengrelia came a suiter to Solyman while Busbequius was there Betwixt them and the Iberians their Neighbours is much discord And thus much of their present condition Haithon the Armenian extending the confines of Georgia to the great Sea saith In this Kingdome is a thing monstrous and wonderfull which I would not haue spoken nor beleeued had I not seene it with mine owne eyes In these parts there is a Prouince called Hamsem containing in circuit three dayes iourney and so farre is it couered with an obscure darknesse that none can see any thing nor dare any enter into it The Inhabitants thereabouts affirme that they haue often heard the voyce of men howling cocks crowing neighing of horses and by the passage of a Riuer it appeareth to haue signes of habitation This is reported by the Armenian Histories to haue come to passe by the hand of GOD so deliuering his Christian seruants by Sauoreus a Persian Idolater Lord of this place appointed to dye and so punishing with outward darknesse the inward former blindnesse and rage of those persecuting Idolaters Thus Haithonus or Antonius à Churchi for so Ortelius nameth him but this darknesse seemeth more ancient and to haue beene the cause of that prouerbe Cimmeriae tenebrae The Georgians girt in with two mightie aduersaries the Persian and the Turke haue endured much grieuance from them both and in the late warres especially from the Turke who hath taken and fortified many of their principall places of importance Gori Clisca Lori Tomanis Teflis the chiefe Citie of Georgia vnto which from Derbent there yet remaines the foundation of a high and thicke wall built

their Doctors neuer to reueale any of their secrets First that there was one God maker of Heauen Earth who alone not the Pagodes ought to be worshipped after that they were instructed in precepts necessary to saluation Xauerius asking what he repeated the Ten Cōmandements in order as we do and that in a mystical language known to few which their Doctors obserue in their holy things But the Bramene pronounced and explained them in the vulgar Further that the eight day or Sunday is to be kept holy then often to repeat the prayer Oncery Naraiua Noma the same which before is related and interpreted out of Heurnius this to be spoken with a lowe voice that they breake not their Oath likewise that their old bookes foretell of a time when all shall be of one Religion Fenicius another Iesuite learned of one of their Doctors other their mysteries contained in their Bookes that God produced all this world out of an Egge out of one part thereof the Land Sea and inferiour creatures out of the other the Heauens for habitation to the Gods that this World was founded on the end of a Buffals horne and because this beast leaned on one side ready to fall a huge Rocke was placed vnder him to support him But as before so here also followed some notice of better things For there was a Malabar Poet which writ 900. epigrams against their Pagodes each consisting of eight verses wherein he speakes many things elegantly of the Diuine Prouidence of Heauen and the torments of Hell and other things agreeing to the Christian Faith that God is present euery where and giues to euery one according to his estate that Celestiall blessednesse consists in the vision of God that the damned in Hell shall be tormented 400. millions of yeeres in flames and shall neuer die Thebramenes he calls fooles and blockes By this booke and by Mathematicall doctrine of the Sphere which they had scarcely euer heard of he made way for conuerting the people I haue thought good to say thus much together of them as in one view representing the Bramenes a name so anciently so vniuersally communicated to the Indian Priests although some particulars before haue beene or hereafter may be said touching some of them in other places according to the singularitie of each Nation in this so manifold a profession which they all demonstrate in their singular Superstitions CHAP. X. Of the Regions and Religions of Malabar §. I. Of the Kingdome of Calicut MAlabar extendeth it selfe from the Riuer Congeraco to the Cape Comori which some take to be the Promontory Cory in Ptolomey Maginus doubteth whether it be that which he calleth Commaria Extrema In the length it containeth little lesse then three hundred miles in bredth from that ridge of Gate to the Sea in some places fifty From Cangerecora to Puripatan are 60. miles of Coast therein Cota Colan Nilichilan Marabia Bolepatan Cananor where the Portugals haue a Fort in 12. degrees Tramapatan Chomba Main and Perepatan From thence to Chatua is the Kingdome of Calicut fourescore miles 11 coast therein Pandarane Colete Capocate Calecut in 11. 15. Chale a Portugall Fortresse Patangale Tanor a Citie Royall Pananc Baleancor and Chatua Then followes the Kingdome of Cranganor Next to that the Kingdome of Cochin then that of Porca without a good Port in her foure and fortie miles coast Coulan is next and then that of Trauancor which the Portugals called the Great King as being greater in State then the former subject to the King of Narsinga It is full of people diuided into many States by variety of Riuers which cause Horses to be vnseruiceable in their Warres and nourish many Crocodiles enrich the soyle and yeeld easie transportation of commodities which are spices of diuers kindes They haue Bats in shape resembling Foxes in bignesse Kites The chiefe Kingdomes in this tract are Kanonor Calicut Cranganor Cochin Carcolam and Trauancor About seuen hundred yeeres since it was one Kingdome gouerned by Soma or Sarama Perimal who by perswasion of the Arabian Merchants became of their Sect in which he proued so deuout that he would end his dayes at Mecca But before his departure he diuided his estate into these pety Signiories among his principall Nobles and kindred leauing vnto Coulam the spirituall preeminence and the Imperiall Title vnto his Nephew of Calicut who onely enjoyed the title of Zamori or Emperour and had prerogatiue of stamping coyne Some exempt from this Zamorin Empire and Allegeance both Coulam the Papall See of the high Bramene and Cananor and some haue since by their owne force exempted themselues This Perimal died in his holy Voyage and the Indians of Malabar reckon from this diuision their computation of yeeres as we doe from the blessed Natiuitie of our Lord He left saith Castaneda to himselfe but twelue leagues of his Countrie which lay neere to the shoare where he meant to embarque himselfe neuer before inhabited this he gaue to a Cousin of his then his Page commanding that in memorie of his embarquing there it should be inhabited and the rest to take Him for their Emperour except the Kings of Coulan and Cananor whom yet with the rest he commanded not to coine money but onely the King of Calicut For Calicut was therefore here built and the Moores for the embarquing tooke such deuotion to the place that they would no more frequent the Port of Coulan as before which therefore grew to ruine but made Calicut the Staple of their Merchandise Calicut the first in order with them shall bee so with vs The Citie is not walled nor faire built the ground not yeelding firme foundation by reason of the water which issueth if it be digged This Kingdome hath not aboue fiue and twenty leagues of Sea-coast yet rich both by the fertilitie of the soyle which yeeldeth Corne Spices Cocos Iaceros and many other fruits and by the situation as the Staple especially before the Portugals vnfriendly neighbourhood of Indian merchandise and therefore in her varietie of Merchants being a Map as it were of all that Easterne World The Egyptians Persians Syrians Arabians Indians yea euen from Catay the space of sixe thousand miles journey here had their trade and traffique The Palace also contained foure Halls of Audience according to their Religions for the Indians Moores Iewes Christians Of their Bramenes or Priests we haue already said They yeeld diuine honours to diuers of their deceased Saints and build Temples vnto beasts One of which dedicated to an Ape hath a large Porch for cattell to the vse of Sacrifice in which are saith Maffaeus seuen hundred marble Pillars not inferiour to those of Agrippa in the Roman Pantheon It seemeth that the ground in that place is not of so queasy and watery a stomacke but that it can digest deepe foundations To Elephants they attribute like Diuinitie but most of all to Kine supposing that the soules of

fragments in a cloth on the wall hauing a circle of Charcoales about it with this wall to keepe out this small creature and great enemy There are other Ants almost a finger long and reddish which doe great harme to fruits and plants Great is the harme which Moths and Wormes do in mens Clothes and Bookes which can very hardly bee kept from them But more hurtfull is the Baratta which flyeth and is twice as bigge as a Bee from which nothing almost can be kept close enough and are to be esteemed as a plague among them like to the Pismires and are commonly in all fat wares and sweet meats and when they come vpon apparell they leaue their stayning Egges behind The Salamander is said to be common in the I le of Madagascar an Iland of Africa by which they sayle to India Of Serpents they haue diuers kinds and very venemous besides one other kind as bigge as a Swine which is destitute of poyson hurteth onely by byting But the superstition of the King of Calicut multiplyeth their Serpents For he causeth Cottages to be set vp to keep them from the raine and maketh it death to whomsoeuer that shall kill a Serpent or a Cow They thinke Serpents to be heauenly Spirits because they can so suddenly kill men So much hath that old Serpent both at first and since deluded men by this venemous creature There are Hogges with hornes in the Moluccas in Celebes and Mindanao are Hogges which besides the teeth they haue in their mouthes haue other two growing out of their snowts and as many behind their Eares of a large spanne and a halfe in length Of fish they haue great plenty and variety They haue of Hayent or Tuberons which deuoure men especially such as fish for Pearles And others bathe themselues in Cisternes not daring to aduenture the Riuers for them One Thomas Smith an Englishman riding before Surate entring into the water had the outside of his thigh shared off by one of them and though he escaped from the fish yet not from death by effusion of bloud Linschoten tels the like in his ship that one had his legge bitten off and putting his hand to the place was presently depriued thereof but this is too common Of fish-monsters like men and like an Hogge some write and as monstrous is that which Maffaeus telleth of a Whale which with the opposition of his huge body stayed the course of a ship sayling with eight other ships into India with so great a noyse and shaking as if they had fallen on a Rocke Neyther could the winds which filled the sayles further her course The Mariners when they saw two Elements of wind and current so strongly encountred looked out and saw this Monster with her sins embracing the sides of the ship and enterlacing the sterne with her tayle applying her bodie to the Keele which contained about eighty foot in length They thought presently that some hellish Fiend had beene sent to deuoure them and consulted of remedy at last sent out their Priest in his holy Vestments with Crosses and Exorcismes who like the greater Deuill preuailed with these weapons and the Whale forsooke them without further hurt There are certaine fish shels like Scalop shels found on the shoare so great that two strong men with a leauer can scarce draw one of them after them They haue fish within them A ship called Saint Peter fell vpon sands sayling from Cochin and split The men saued themselues and of the wood of the old ship built a Caruall wherein to get the Continent but in the meanewhile were forced to make a Sconce and by good watch to defend themselues from certaine Crabs of exceeding greatnesse and in as great numbers and of such force that whosoeuer they got vnder their clawes it cost him his life as two Mariners of the ship told Linschoten No lesse strange is that which hapned to Captayne Saris in his way betweene Saint Laurence and Zeilan in a darke night when they could not see halfe the shippes length before them on a sudden they had a fierie gleame and shining light from the waters so that they might thereby see to reade At the first they were afraid of broken grounds but after found it to bee nothing but certayne shell fish in those waters whose shels yeelded so bright a lustre Crabs heere with vs haue a sympathy with the Moone and are fullest with her fulnesse in India there is a contrary antipathy for at full Moone they are emptiest They haue Oysters in which the Pearles are found which are fished for by duckers that diue into the water at least ten twenty or thirty fathome These men are naked and haue a basket bound at their backs which being at the bottome they rake full of Oysters and durt together and then rise vp and put them into Boats They lay them after on the Land where the Sunne causeth them to open and then they take out sometime many sometime few Pearles as each Oyster yeeldeth which is sometimes two hundred graines and more The King hath one part the Souldier a second the Iesuites a third and the fishers themselues the fourth a small recompence for so great a danger in which many men euery fishing time lose their liues The Hollanders found Tortoyses so great that tenne men might sit and dine within one of the shels §. II. Of the Indian Trees Fruits and strange Plants OF the Indian Plants diuers haue written both in their generall Herbals as Pena and Lobel Gerard with other Herbarists and in peculiar workes of this subiect Clusius Garcias de Orto Christopher Acosta c. Some also pretending themselues Natures Principall Secretaries haue found out in these and the like not onely temperatures learned by experience but Signatures of Natures owne Impression fitted to their seuerall and speciall vses in Physicke finding out a strange harmony and likenesse in the greater and lesser World but leauing these speculations to better leisure let vs take a little view of the Indian Trees Plants and Fruits Of their Fruits Ananas is reckoned one of the best in taste like an Apricocke in shew a farre off like an Artichoke but without prickles very sweet of scent It was first brought out of the West Indies hither it is as great as a Melon the Iuyce thereof is like sweet Must it is so hote of Nature that if a Knife sticke in it but halfe an houre when it is drawne forth it will be halfe eaten vp yet moderately eaten hurteth not a man Iacas are bigger then the former and grow out of the body of the tree they are of many pleasant tastes but hard to digest Of Mangas there are three sorts they are as bigge as Goose-egges The first sort hath stones which the second wanteth the third is poyson so deadly that yet no remedy hath beene found against it Of the like bignesse is the Caions yellow of good sauour

full of Iuyce like Lemmons at the end as Apples haue a stalke so this Fruit hath a Nut like the kidney of a Hare with kernels toothsome and wholsome The lambos exceedeth in beauty taste smell and medicinable vertue it is as bigge as a Peare smelleth like a Rose is ruddie and the tree is neuer without fruit or blossomes commonly each branch hauing both ripe and vnripe fruits and blossomes all at once Linschoten saith on the one side the tree hath ripe fruites and the leaues falne the other couered with leaues and flowres and it beareth three or foure times in a yeere The Iangomas grow on a tree like a Plum-tree full of prickles and haue power of binding The Papaios will not grow but Male and Female together but of these also the Carambolas Iambolijns and other Indian fruits I leaue to speake as not writing an Indian Herball but onely minding to mention such things which besides their Country haue some variety of Nature worthy the obseruation For the rest Gracias ab Horto translated by Carolus Clusius Paludanus Linschoten Christophorus Acosta writing particularly of these things and others in their generall Herbals may acquaint you Of this sort is the Indian Figge tree if it may be called a tree which is not aboue a mans height and within like to a Reed without any woody substance it hath loaues a fathome long and three span abroad which open and spread abroad on the top of it It yeeldeth a fruit in fashion of the clusters of Grapes and beareth but one bunch at once contayning some two hundred Figges at least which being ripe they cut the whole tree downe to the ground leauing onely the root out of which presently groweth another and within a moneth after beareth fruit and so continueth all the yeere long They are the greatest sustenance of the Country and are of very good taste and smell and in those parts men beleeue that Adam first transgressed with this fruit But of greater admiration is the Coquo tree being the most profitable tree in the world of which in the Ilands of Maldiua they make and furnish whole ships so that saue the men themselues there is nothing of the ship or in the ship neyther tackling merchandize or ought else but what this tree yeeldeth The tree groweth high and slender the wood is of a spungy substance easie to bee sowed when they make Vessels thereof with cordes made of Cocus For this Nut which is as bigge as an Estridge Egge hath two sorts of huskes as our Walnuts whereof the vppermost is hayry like hempe of which they make Ockam and Cordage of the other shell they make drinking Cups The fruit when it is almost ripe is full of water within which by degrees changeth into a white harder substance as it ripeneth The liquor is very sweet but with the ripening groweth sowre The liquor extracted out of the tree is medicinable and if it stand one houre in the Sunne it is very good Vineger which being distilled yeeldeth excellent Aquauitae and Wine Of it also they make by setting it in the Sunne Sugar Of the meate of the Nut dryed they make Oyle Of the pith or heart of the tree is made paper for Bookes and Euidences Of the leaues they make couerings for their Houses Mats Tents c. Their apparell their firing and the rest of the Commodities which this tree more plentifull in the Indies then Willowes in the Low Countryes yeeldeth would be too tedious to recite They will keepe the tree from bearing fruit by cutting away the blossomes and then will hang some Vessell thereat which receiueth from thence that liquor of which you haue heard It is the Canarijns liuing and they will climbe vp these trees which yet haue no boughes but on the top like Apes This tree hath also a continuall succession of fruits and is neuer without some No lesse wonder doth that tree cause which is called Arbore de rais or the Tree of Roots Clusius calleth it by Plinies authoritie the Indian Figge tree and Goropius with more confidence then reason affirmeth it to be the Tree of Adams transgression It groweth out of the ground as other trees and yeeldeth many boughes which yeeld certayne threeds of the colour of Gold which growing down-wards to the earth doe there take root againe making as it were new trees or a wood of trees couering by this meanes the best part somtimes of a mile in which the Indians make Galleries to walke in The Figges are like the common but not so pleasant The Arbore triste deserueth mention It growes at Goa brought thither as is thought from Malacca The Hollanders saw one at Achi in Samatra In the day time and at Sunne-setting you shall not see a flowre on it but within halfe an houre after it is full of flowres which at the Sun-rising fall off the leaues shutting themselues from the Sunnes presence and the tree seeming as if it were dead The flowres in forme and greatnesse are like to those of the Orange-tree but sweeter in Acostas iudgement then any flowres which euer hee smelled the Portugals haue vsed all meanes to haue it grow in Europe but our Sunne hath refused to nourish such sullen vnthankfull Malecontents And that yee may know the Indians want not their Metamorphoses and Legends they tell that a man named Parisatico had a Daughter with whom the Sunne was in loue but lightly forsaking her he grew amorous of another whereupon this Damosell slue herselfe and of the ashes of her burned carkasse came this tree Bettele is a leafe somewhat like a Bay leafe and climbeth like Iuie and hath no other fruit neither is any fruit more in vse then these leaues at bed and boord and in the streets as they passe they chew these leaues and in their gossippings or visiting of their friends they are presently presented with them and eate them with Arecca which is a kind of Indian Nut. It saueth their teeth from diseases but coloureth them as if they were painted with blacke bloud When they chew it they spit out the iuyce and it is almost the onely exercise of some which thinke they could not liue if they should abstaine one day from it They haue an Herbe called Dutroa which causeth distraction without vnderstanding any thing done in a mans presence sometimes it maketh a man sleepe as if hee were dead the space of foure and twentie houres except his feet be washed with cold water which restoreth him to himselfe and in much quantitie it killeth Iarric cals it Doturo and sayth that Pinnerus the Iesuite and his Family at Lahor were by meanes of this herbe giuen them by a theeuish seruant distracted and the goods then carried out of their house The women giue their husbands thereof and then in their sights will prostitute their bodies to their Iewder louers and will call them Coruudos stroking them by the beard the husband sitting with his eyes open

It flyeth so swift saith Ouiedo that the wings cannot be seene It hath a nest proportionable I haue seene saith he one of those birds together with her nest put into the scales wherein they vse to weigh Gold and both weighed but two Tomins that is foure and twenty graines Haply it is therefore called Tomineios as weighing one Tomin The feathers are beautified with yellow greene and other colours the mouth like the eye of an Needle It liueth on dew and the juice of herbs but sitteth not on the Rose The feathers specially of the necke and brests are in great request for those feather-pictures or portraitures which the Indians make cunningly and artificially with these natural feathers placing the same in place and proportion beyond all admiration The Indian Bats should not flee your light and are for their rarity worthy consideration but that wee haue spoken before somewhat of them They haue Birds called Condores of exceeding greatnesse and force that will open a sheepe and a whole Calfe and eate the same They haue abundance of Birds in beautie of their feathers farre surpassing all in Europe wherewith the skilfull Indians will perfectly represent in feathers whatsoeuer they see drawne with the Pensill A figure of Saint Francis made of feathers was presented to Pope Sixtus Quintus whose eye could not discerne them to be naturall colours but thought them pensill-worke till he made tryall with with his fingers The Indians vsed them for the ornaments of their Kings and Temples Some Birds there are of rich commoditie onely by their dung In some Islands ioyning to Peru the Mountaines are all white like Snow which is nothing but heapes of dung of certaine Sea-fowle which frequent those places It riseth many Ells yea many Launces in height and is fetched thence in Boats to hearten the Earth which hereby is exceeding fertile To adde somewhat of the Indian Plants and Trees Mangle is the name of a Tree which multiplyeth it selfe into a wood as before we haue obserued of it the branches descending and taking root in the Earth The Plane-tree of India hath leaues sufficient to couer a man from the foot to the head but these the Coco and other Indian Trees are in the East-Indies also and there we haue mentioned them Cacao is a fruit little lesse then Almonds which the Indians vse for money and make thereof a drinke holden amongst them in high regard They haue a kinde of Apples called Ananas exceeding pleasant in colour and taste and very wholesome which yet haue force to eate iron like Aqua fortis The Mamayes Guayauos and Paltos be the Indian Peaches Apples and Peares But it would bee a weary wildernesse to the Reader to bring him into such an Indian Orchard where he might reade of such varietie of fruits but like Tantalus can taste none or to present you with a Garden of their Trees which beare flowres with other fruit as the Floripondio which all the yeere long beareth flowres sweet like a Lilly but greater the Volusuchil which beareth a flowre like to the forme of the heart and others which I omit The flowre of the Sunne is is now no longer the Marigold of Peru but groweth in many places with vs in England The flowre of the Granadille they say if they say truely hath the markes of the Passion Nayles Pillar Whips Thornes Wounds exceeding stigmaticall Francis For their Seeds and Craines Mays is principall of which they make their bread which our English ground brings forth but hardly will ripene it growes as it were on a Reed and multiplyeth beyond comparison they gather three hundred measures for one It yeeldeth more blood but more grosse then our Wheat They make drinke thereof also wherewith they will be exceedingly drunke They first steepe and after boyle it to that end In some places they first cause it to be champed with Maids in some places with old women and then make a leauen thereof which they boyle and make this inebriating drinke The Canes and leaues serue for their Mules to eate They boyle and drinke it also for paine in the back The buds of Mays serue in stead of Butter and Oyle In some parts they make bread of a great root called Yuca which they name Caçaui They first cut and straine it in a Presse for the iuyce is deadly poison the Cakes dryed are steeped in water before they can eate them Another kinde there is of this Yuca or Iucca the iuice whereof is not poison It will keepe long like Bisket They vse this bread most in Hisponiola Cuba and Iamaica where Wheat and Mays will not grow but so vnequally that at one instant some is in the grasse other in the graine They vse in some places another root called Papas like to ground Nuts for bread which they call Chuno Of other their roots and fruits I am loth to write lest I weary the Reader with tedious officiousnesse Spices grow not there naturally Ginger thriueth well brought and planted by the Spaniards They haue a good kinde of Balme though not the same which grew in Palestina Of their Amber Oiles Gums and Drugs I list not to relate further Out of Spaine they haue caried great varietie of Plants herein Americo exceeding Spaine that it receiueth and fructifieth in all Spanish Plants that are brought thither whereas the Indian thriue not in Spaine as Vines Oliues Mulberies Figs Almonds Limons Quinces and such like And to end this Chapter with a comparison of our World with this of America Our aduantages and preferments are many Our Heauen hath more Stars and greater as Acosta by his owne sight hath obserued challenging those Authors which haue written otherwise of fabling Our Heauen hath the North-Starre within three degrees and a third of the Pole their Crosier or foure Stars set a-crosse which they obserue for the Antarticke is thirtie degrees off The Sunne commucateth his partiall presence longer to our Tropike then that of Capricorne remaining in the Southerne Signes 178. dayes one and twenty houres and twelue minutes in the Northerne 186. dayes eight houres and twelue minutes B. Keckerman System Astron L. 1. Tycho Brahe L. 1. reckoneth these a hundred fourescore and sixe dayes houres eighteene and a halfe dayes eight and one third part fere plus quam in Australi c. This want of the Sunne and Stars is one cause of greater cold in those parts then in these Our Earth exceeds theirs for the situation extending it selfe more between East and West fittest for humane life whereas theirs trends most towards the two Poles Our Sea is more fauourable in more Gulfes and Bayes especially such as goe farre within Land besides the Mid-Land-Sea equally communicating her selfe to Asia Africa and Europa This conuenience of traffique America wanteth Our beasts wilde and tame are farre the more noble as the former discourse sheweth For what haue they to oppose to our Elephants Rhinocerotes Camels Horses

38. and 39. The temperature agreeth with English bodies not by other meanes distempered The Summer is hot as in Spaine the Winter cold as in France and England certaine coole Brizes doe asswage the vehemency of the heate The great Frost in the yeere 1607. reached to Virginia but was recompenced with as milde a Winter with them the next yeere And the Winter Anno 1615. was as cold and frosty one fortnight as that There is but one entrance by Sea into this Country and that at the mouth of a very goodly Bay The Capes on both sides were honoured with the names of our Britanian hopes Prince Henry and Duke Charles The water floweth in this Bay neere two hundred miles and hath a channell for a hundred and forty miles of depth betwixt seuen and fifteene fathome of breadth ten or fourteene miles At the head of the Bay the Land is Mountaynous and so runneth by a Southwest Line from which Mountaynes proceed certaine Brooks which after come to fiue principall Nauigable Riuers The Mountaynes are of diuers composition some like Mil-stones some of Marble many pieces of Chrystall they found throwne downe by the waters which also wash from the Rockes such glistering Tinctures that the ground in some places seemeth gilded The colour of the earth in diuers places resembleth Bole-Armoniac terra sigillata and other such apparances but generally is a blacke sandy molde The Riuer next to the mouth of the Bay is Powhatan the mouth whereof is neere three miles broad it is Nauigable an hundred miles falls rocks shoalds prohibite further Nauigation hence Powhatan their greatest King hath his Title In a Peninsula on the Northside thereof is situate Iames Towne The people inhabiting which haue their Weroances are the Kecoughtans which haue not past twenty fighting men The Paspaheghes haue forty Chichahamania two hundred The Weanocks an hundred The Arrowhatocks thirty The Place called Powhatan forty The Appamatusks threescore The Quiyonghcohanocks fiue and twenty The Warraikoyacks forty The Naudsamunds two hundred The Chesapeacks an hundred The Chickahamanians are not gouerned by a Weroance but by the Priests No place affordeth more Sturgeon in Summer of which at one draught haue beene taken threescore and eight nor in Winter more Fowle Fourteene miles from Powhatan is the Riuer Pamaunke nauigable with greater Vessels not aboue threescore and ten miles Toppahanok is nauigable an hundred and thirty miles Patawomeke an hundred and twenty To speake of Powtuxunt Bolus and other Riuers on the East side of the Bay likewise of diuers places which receiued name by some accident as Fetherstones Bay so called of the death of one of ours there happening and the like or to mention the numbers which euery people can make would exceed our scope and the Readers patience Captaine Smiths Map may somewhat satisfie the desirous and his Booke now printed further This the Captaine saith that hee hath beene in many places of Asia and Europe in some of Africa and America but of all holds Virginia by the naturall endowments the fittest place for an earthly Paradise Alexander Whitaker the Preacher at Henrico writes that at the mouth of Powhatan are the Forts of Henrico and Charles two and forty miles vpward is Iames Towne and threescore and ten miles beyond that the new Towne of Henrico ten miles higher the fals where the Riuer falleth downe betweene many minerall Rockes twelue miles beyond a Chrystall Rocke wherewith the Indians head their Arrowes three dayes iourney from thence is a Rocke or Hill found couered ouer with a rich siluer Ore Our men that went to discouer those parts had but two Iron Pickaxes with them and those so ill tempered that the points turned againe at euery stroke but tryall was made of the Ore with argument of much hope Sixe dayes iourney beyond this Mine runs a ridge of Hils beyond which the Indians report is a great Sea which if it bee true is the South Sea At Henrico they are exceeding healthfull and more then in England Master Thomas Hariot hath largely described the Commodities which the Water and Earth yeeld set forth also in Latine with exquisite Pictures by Theodore de Bry besides the relations of Brereton and Rosier and others There is a Grasse which yeeldeth silke beside store of Silke-wormes Hempe and Flaxe surpassing ours in growth and goodnesse exceeded by a new found stuffe of a certaine sedge or water-flagge which groweth infinitely and with little paines of boyling yeeldeth great quantitie of sundry sorts of Skeines of good strength and length some like silke and some like Flaxe and some a courser sort as Hempe There is also a rich veine of Allum of Terra Sigillata Pitch Tarre Rozen Turpentine Sassafras Cedar Grapes Oyle Iron Copper and the hope of better Mines Pearle sweete Gummes Dyes Timber Trees of sweet wood for profit and pleasure of which kinde haue beene discouered fourteene seuerall kinds Neither is it needfull that heere I relate the Commodites of Virginia for food in Fowles Beasts Fishes Fruites Plants Hearbes Berries Graines especially their Maiz which yeeldeth incredible recompence for a little labour One Acre of ground will yeeld with good husbandry two hundred Bushels of Corne They haue two Roots the one for Medicinall vse to cure their hurts called Weighsacan the other called Tockahough growing like a flagge of the greatnesse and taste of a Potato which passeth a fiery purgation before they may eate it being poyson whiles it is raw Yet in all this abundance our men haue had small store but of want and no fire nor water could purge that poyson which was rooted in Some to the hinderance of the Plantation The chiefe Beasts of Virginia are Beares lesse then those in other places Deere like ours Aronghcun much like a Badger but liuing on trees like a Squirrell Squirrels as big as Rabbets and other flying Squirrels called Assepanicke which spreading out their legs and skins seeme to flye thirty or forty yards at a time The Opassom hath a head like a Swine a tayle like a Rat as bigge as a Cat and hath vnder her belly a bagge wherein she carrieth her yong Their Dogges barke not Their Wolues are not much bigger then our Foxes Their Foxes are like our siluer-haired Conies and smell not like ours Mussascus is otherwise as our Water-Rat but smelleth strongly of Muske Master Whitaker saith they yeeld Muske as the Musk-Cats doe Their Vetchunquoys are wild Cats Their vermine destroyed not our Egges and Pullen nor were their Serpents or Flyes any way pernicious They haue Eagles Hawkes wild Turkeyes and other Fowle and Fish which here to repeate would to some nice fastidious stomacks breed a fulnesse though with some of their Countrimen in Virginia they would haue beene sauoury sometimes and dainty They are a people clothed with loose Mantles made of Deeres skins and aprons of the same round about their middles all else naked of stature like to vs in England They

others and euery one of a seuerall God There was one round Temple dedicated to the God of the Aire called Quecalcouatl the forme of the Temple representing the Aires circular course about the earth The entrance of that Temple had a doore made like the mouth of a Serpent with foule and deuillish resemblances striking dreadfull horrour to such as entered All these Temples had peculiar houses Priests Gods and Seruices At euery doore of the great Temple was a large Hall and goodly buildings which were common Armories for the Citie They had other darke houses full of Idols of diuers metals all embrued with bloud the dayly sprinkling whereof made them shew blacke yea the walls were an inch thicke and the ground a foot thicke with bloud which yeelded a lothsome sent The Priests entered dayly therein which they allowed not to others except to Noble personages who at their entry were bound to offer some Man to be sacrificed to those slaughter-houses of the Diuell There did continually reside in the great Temple 5000. persons which had there their meat drinke and lodging the Temple enioying great reuenues and diuers Townes for the maintenance thereof Next to the Temple of Vitziliputzli was that of Tescalipuca the God of Penance Punishments and Prouidence very high and well built It had foure ascents the top was flat an hundred and twenty foot broad and ioyning to it was a Hall hanged with Tapistry and Curtains of diuers colours and workes The doore being low and large was alwayes couered with a Vaile and none but the Priests might enter All this Temple was beautified with diuers Images and Pictures most curiously for that these two Temples were as the Cathedrall Churches the rest as Parishionall They were so spacious and had so many chambers that there were in them places for the Priests Colledges and Schooles Without the great Temple and ouer against the principall doore a stones cast distant was the Charnell house or that Golgotha before mentioned where vpon poles or sticks and also in the wals two Towres hauing no other stuffe but Lime and Skuls Andrew de Tapia certified Gomara that he and Gonsala de Vmbria did reckon in one day an hundred thirty sixe thousand skuls When any wastad supply was made of others in their roome §. II. Of their Nunnes Friers and other Votaries WIthin this great Circuit of the principall Temple were two Houses like Cloisters the one opposite to the other one of Men the other of Women In that of Women they were Virgins onely of twelue or thirteens yeeres of age which they called the Maids of Penance they were as many as the men and liued chastly and regularly as Virgins dedicated to the seruice of their God Their charge was to sweepe and make cleane the Temple and euery morning to prepare meat for the Idol and his Ministers of the Almes the Religious gathered The food they prepared for the Idoll were small Loaues in the forme of hands and feet as of Marchpane and with this bread they prepared certaine sawces which they cast dayly before the Idol and his Priests did eate it These Virgins had their haire cut and then let them grow for a certaine time they rose at midnight to the Idols Mattins which they dayly celebrated performing the same exercises which the Religious did They had their Abbesse who employed them to make cloth of diuers fashions for the ornaments of their Gods and Temples Their ordinarie habite was all white without any worke or colour They did their penance at midnight sacrificing and wounding themselues and piercing the tops of their eares laying the bloud which issued forth vpon their cheekes and after bathed themselues in a poole which was within the Monasterie If any were found dishonest they were put to death without remission saying she had polluted the house of their God They held it for an ominous token that some religious man or woman had committed a fault when they saw a Rat or Mouse passe or a Bat in the Idol-Chappell or that they had gnawed any of the vailes for that they say a Cat or a Bat would not aduenture to commit such an indignitie if some offence had not gone before and then began to make inquisition and discouering the offender put him to death None were receiued into this Monasterie but the daughters of one of the sixe quarters named for that purpose and this profession continued a yeere during which time their fathers and themselues had made a vow to serue the Idoll in this manner and from thence they went to be married The other Cloyster or Monasterie was of young-men of eighteene or twentie yeeres of age which they called Religious Their Crownes were shauen as the Friers in these parts their haire a little longer which fell to the middest of their eare except on the hinder part of the head where they let it grow on their shoulders and tyed it vp in trusses These serued in the Temple liued poorely and chastly and as the Leuites ministred to the Priests Incense Lights and Garments swept and made cleane the Holy place bringing wood for a continuall fire to the Harth of their God which was like a Lampe that still burned before the Altar of their Idoll Besides these there were other little Boyes that serued for manuall vses as to decke the Temple with Boughes Roses and Reeds to giue the Priests water to wash Rasors to sacrifice and to goe with such as begged almes to carrie it All these had their superiours who had the gouernment ouer them and when they came in publike where women were they carried their eyes to the ground not daring to behold them They had linnen garments and went into the Citie foure or sixe together to aske almes in all quarters and if they got none it was lawfull for them to goe into the Corne-fields and gather that which they needed none daring to contradict them Cortes writeth that almost all the chiefe mens sonnes in the Citie after they were sixe or seuen yeeres old till the time of their marriage especially the eldest were thrust into a kind of Religious habit and seruice There might not aboue fiftie liue in that strict penance they rose at midnight and sounded the Trumpets to awake the people Euery one watched by turne lest the fire before the Altar should die they gaue the censor with which the Priest at midnight incensed the Idoll and also in the morning at noone and at night They were very subiect and obedient to their superiours and passed not any one point commanded And at midnight after the Priest had ended his censing they retyred themselues apart into a secret place where they sacrificed and drew bloud from the Calues of their legs with sharp bodkins therewith rubbing their Temples and vnder their Eares presently washing themselues in a Poole appointed to that end These yong men did not anoint their heads and bodies with Petum