the Father and Mother who give them have hold of them behind then a glass of Wine is brought of which the Bridegroom drinks a little and then the Bride then the Bridegroom drinks again which the Bride pledges and then the glass is given to the Priest who merrily drinks off the rest and breaking the glass says So may the Bridegroom break the Virginity of the Bride All things else are done as among Roman Catholicks The Manners of the Greeks As to their Customs and ways of living they are much like the Turks but more wicked The Greeks are covetous perfidious and treacherous great Pedereasts revengeful to extremity but withal very superstitious and great Hypocrites and indeed they are so despised by the Turks that they value not even a Greek that turns Turk They are far greater Enemies to Roman Catholicks themselves than the Turks are and if it lay only in their power to hinder us from becoming Masters of the Turkish Countries we need never expect it Their Women are beautiful but a little to fat and very proud The Jews in Turkie are cloathed as the Turks are The Apparel of the Jews save that they dare not wear Green nor a white Turban nor red Vests they wear commonly a Violet colour but are obliged to wear a Violet Cap shaped like a Hat and of the same height and such as can reach to the price of a Turban have one round their Cap below They ought also to wear their Mestes and Pabouthes of a Violet colour I need say nothing of their Religion since it is fully contained in the Old Testament and Talmud But as to their Manners The Manners of the Jews they are the same in all places that is to say as great Cheats in Turkie as in Italy and their thoughts run upon nothing else but devising and finding out taxes and tricks to vex Christians or Turks They are in all places despised and ill used by all People In the whole extent of the Turkish Empire all Male Christians and Jews who are Subjects to the Grand Signior pay the yearly Karadge The Karadge which the Males pay which is a Tribute of four Piastres and a half a Head They begin to pay this Tribute when they are Nine years of Age but the Christian Priests and Monks are exempted from it and so are the Jewish Rabins the Women also pay nothing This brings in a great Revenue to the Grand Signior and no body can avoid it by often changing Habitation for whatsoever place they come at when they Travel their Karadge is demanded if they have paid it for that year in another place they must produce an Acquittance but if they have none to shew they must pay it and take a Note or Acquittance to serve them in other places Seeing none but the Subjects of the Grand Signior pay that Tribute the Jews of Christendom pay it not when they are in Turkie And to shew that they are not liable to it they wear a Hat and have a good Certificate from a Consul that they are of such a place in Christendom CHAP. LVI The Arrival and Audience of an Ambassadour from the Mogul An Ambassadour from the Mogul THere came to Constantinople in the Month of May an Ambassadour from the Mogul who had been two and twenty Months by the way and came by the Red-Sea which much retarded him because of contrary Winds and besides he had stayed three or four Months at Mecha and stop'd also at several other places he brought not fourscore Men with him to Constantinople a great many of these being Sick too and most part Naked having no more but a Rag to cover their Nakedness There was no great Ceremony at his entry into Constantinople On Monday the fifteenth of May he had a private Audience of the Grand Signior at the Kieusk upon the Port by the Sea-side I was told that at this Audience he made a very considerable Present to the Grand Signior A Present made by the Moguls Ambassadour at his first Audience Cangiar to wit a Girdle all of Diamonds a Chaplet of the same and a Cangiar or Dagger whose Pommel was a Diamond weighing eight Chequins or six hundred Grains which was valued at five hundred Purses or two hundred and fifty thousand Piastres several added more a Box full of Diamonds well Sealed with a Writing upon it bearing that it should not be opened but by the Grand Signior but there was no certainty of this however that Present was valued at six hundred thousand Piastres The Grand Signior presented him with a Kurk or furred Vest Tuesday the sixteenth of May was pitched upon for his publick Audience and I had a great desire to see his entry into the Serrraglio and Present but was told that I could not have Access because Franks were never suffered to come in but when Franks Ambassadours made their entry and at the entry of any other Ambassadours no Franks were admitted However I resolved to try my Fortune and for that end went betimes in the Morning with a Janizary and Spahi to the Serraglio I was in company of a French Gentleman called Monsieur Mesquin who hath since been sent to Constantinople by the King of Poland in quality of Internuncio he having for several Years lived at the Court of Poland when we were come near the Serraglio we saw a great Guard of Capidgis who freely bestowed Blows on all hands as well on Christians as Turks that came in their way and suffered none to enter but a few whom they durst not refuse having stop'd there a little our Janizary told us that we had best return again for that certainly we could not get in and my Spahi told me as much nevertheless this French Gentleman having spoken in Turkish to one of the Capidgis met with no rude usage only he told us that he could not let us in which gave us some hopes that for all that we might enter I began also to speak Turkish to the same Capidgi and though I could hardly pronounce two right words yet I hammered out that I was a Stranger and that I had a great desire to see the Ceremony he still told me that I should not enter and sometimes being troubled with my Importunity fell into some Passion but seeing he offered not to strike me I Persisted and holding my peace when I saw him vexed I Just did as a bashful Beggar does when he beggs an Alms and when he bid me stay till the Ambassadour came and that I should come in with him I made answer that I was afraid of being abused by the Croud as being a Christian and a Frank at length having stunned him with my Gibberish language which was almost wholly made up of these words Allai seversen which is to say for God's sake he sent one of his comerades to his Colonel who was under the Porch to ask his leave to let us in which the Colonel easily
Month about half an hour after five in the Morning when it was almost in the Meridian and about two degrees beyond the Sign of Virgo its Tail appeared to the view about the length of a Fathom Some days after the Tail of it pointed betwixt the West and the North. It past from Virgo to Libra and the one and twentieth of December when it entered into Leo there was a Conjunction of the Sun and Saturn after that its Tail pointed Eastward Friday the sixteenth of January 1664 / 5. there happened an Eclipse of the Sun which began a little after eight of the Clock in the Morning and lasted almost till half an hour after Eleven and two thirds of the Sun were well near Eclipsed The Mahometans have no publick Superstition for an Eclipse of the Sun they only say a Prayer made on purpose wherein they Pray God to avert all Calamities from them But it is not the same in Eclipses of the Moon during which as I have already said they spare not their Kettles However it were no great matter if the Persians were only Superstitious in relation to the Stars they are so also in a thousand trifles which concern not at all Astrology For instance They will not eat any thing that a Christian hath but touched thinking it Polluted and therefore they will not suffer them to touch Flesh or any thing else that is Eatable A Persian superstition before they have bought it if a Christian drink in their Pot they break it immediately and it is very rare to see them lend one to any body if a Peece miss firing they are persuaded that some Enemy hath laid a Charm upon it and to cure the pretended Charm he that is to shoot knocks the muzzle of his Peece against the ground and then he thinks the Charm is spoilt and that it will not miss again though the defect he found proceeded only perhaps from the foulness of the Peece Christians esteemed impure They suffer no Christians to enter into their Coffee-Houses nor their Bagnios because they say they are Medgis that is to say impure Whereupon I had a pretty pleasant adventure when I was coming from Bagdad to Hamadan being as yet ignorant of that custom I very fairly went one day to one of their Bagnios they not knowing me to be a Christian suffered me to strip and enter the Bagnio where there were a great many Persians and Turks but some among them knowing me presently whispered the rest that I was a Christian at which being extreamly startled they acquainted the Master of the Bagnio with it who to dismiss me civilly came and told me that the Vizir or Lieutenant of the Chan desired to speak with me I who understood nothing of their intrigue made him answer that I would wait upon him so soon as I had done in the Bagnio and though he told me that he stayed for me I would not go but at length perceiving that the Servants attended all the rest and left me to look to my self I went to my Cloaths and quarelled with the Master because they had not served me which he suffered without making answer whereupon one of those who was in the Bagnio told me that the Bagnio-Master must wash all the Bath over as being polluted by my entring into it and I heard no more of the Vizirs Orders The Persians hate the Turks no less and hold them to be as impure as the Christians but dare not tell them so as they do the Christians to whom there are some Moulas that will not so much as teach the Persian Tongue for love nor mony but there are others who are not so scrupulous The Persians suffer a House that is on fire to burn out The filliest of all their Superstitions in my judgment is this that if a fire break out in their Houses they will not put it out but only save what Goods they can and let the fire burn down as many Houses as it can till others who are not of their Law put it out They suffer not Christians to enter their Mosques and if they catched one there they will oblige him to turn Mahometan or at least make him pay a good sum of mony if he were able and if not they will give him many Bastonadoes Nevertheless they will suffer Christians to dispute with them about matters of Faith which amongst the Turks would be a crime punishable by death CHAP. XIII The Continuation of the Observation of Ispahan Of the Religion of the Persians The Religion of the Persians THE Religion of the Persians is in substance the same with that of the Turks though nevertheless no Nations in the World hate one another so much upon the account of Religion as those two do they look upon one another as Hereticks not without appearance of reason as some think nor yet because the Persians have Translated the Alcoran into Persian for though it be true that they have several Alcorans Translated in Persian nevertheless that is but an interlineal Translation Translation of the Alcoran word for word and without any Sence and they believe as well as the Turks that that Book can not be explained in any other Language but in Arabick But the true ground of their division is that the Turks pretend that Aboubeker was the Lawful Successour of Mahomet Omar the Successour of Aboubeker Osman of Omar and then Aly whereas the Persians affirm that Aboubeker Omar and Osman were but so many Usurpers of the Succession of Aly who was the Lawful Successour of Mahomet and that is the reason the Turks hold them to be Hereticks The Persians believe then that Aly succeeded Mahomet or at least that he ought to have succeeded him and that he was the first of the twelve Imams whom they much honour and who succeeded one another of whom the last Mahomet Mehedy called Mahomet Mehedy-Sahabzemon that is to say the Master of times was snatched out of the hands of those who would have killed him and Translated as Enoch and Elias were and that he will also come at the day of Judgment but only that he may force the world to embrace the Faith of Mahomet that JESUS CHRIST shall be his Lieutenant JESUS CHRIST and that he will Marry for they look upon it as a great defect in his person that he was not married Upon these Principles of Religion the Politicks of the Kings of Persia have firmly secured the Crown to all the Descendants of the Race that sits at present upon the Throne For they have made a strong impression upon the minds of their people that to have a true Title to Rule over them one must be Descended of the Race of Aly by one or other of the twelve Imams Chah Ishmael Sofi first King of the Family that Reigns at present had the cunning to inspire these Sentiments into them because he derived his Extraction from one Cheik Sefi of the
Frontispiece there is Table of Bas-reliefs reaching down to the Ground whereon Men are represented Fighting on Horse-back but it is somewhat defaced Two steps from thence there is another Table of Bas-reliefs two Foot from the Ground about a Fathom and a half high and three Fathom broad where you see a Gigantick Horse-man Armed Capapie having a Crown on his Head with a Globe upon it his Left Hand is upon the Handle of his Sword and with the Right he lifts up a Woman whom he holds by the Arm near to whom there is a Man kneeling and in supplicant manner streatching forth his Hands The people of the Country say that this Horse-man is Rustan who would carry away his own Daughter and that his Son the Maids Brother beseeches him to let her alone Behind the Horse-man there is another great Figure standing upright but much defaced it hath a long Cap round at the top this Figure is all over full of Inscriptions which seem to be Greek but so worn out that it cannot be Read four steps from thence there is another Frontispiece like the other two at the bottom whereof there is a Bas-relief but all defaced Twenty paces from thence there is a fourth Frontispiece more of the same likeness with a Bas-relief underneath representing men a fighting but it is a little ruinated Opposite to this place at a few paces distance from the Hill there is a square Building A square Building in fashion of a Tower three Fathom broad and four high with a Terrass over on the top there is a kind of Architrave of the Dorick Order all of a white shining stone like Marble though it be not all the stones are three Foot high or thereabouts and three Fathom long so that there is but one in each Lay of the front The Gate of this Building looks to the Hill and is three Fathom high and one Fathom wide it is above half filled up with large stones that have been put into it In the Lintel of the Gate there are two great round holes into which went the ends of the shutting Gates that served for Hinges On each of the other three faces there are six inches and two other square ones over them but less they are all of greyish and black stone and sixty paces from thence there is a round piece of Bas-relief An Altar An hundred paces more foreward there is a kind of a round Altar cut in the Rock two Fathom from the Ground at the bottom of which there is a Man with a Head-piece on his Head his two Hands rest upon his Sword which stands before him with the point downwards he is accompanied with five Men on his Right Hand and four on his Left all with Head-pieces on their Heads but of these five there is no more to be seen but the Bust all the rest from the Feet up to the Breast being as it were behind a stone or Parapet which is on each side none but he in the middle is seen all over all of them have their Hair and Beards made up in Tresses Bas-relief six paces from thence there is a piece in Bas-relief a Fathom from the Ground one Fathom and a half high and four Fathom broad representing two Gigantick Horse-men facing one another so that their Horses Heads touch one of the Horse-men hath a long Cap round at the top with a brim four Fingers broad in his Left Hand he holds a great Truncheon in manner of a Scepter and with his Righ the pulls a Ring which the other pulls also with his Right Hand and hath a Globe on his Head if we may believe the people of the Country these two Horse-men are Rustan Sal and Rustan Colades behind this latter there is a great Figure of a Man or Woman somewhat defaced streatching forth the Hand to hinder as it were the Globe which is on his Head from falling to the side of each Horse there is a Vessel for holding of water fastened with Chains and shaped like a Pine-Apple after the manner of the Levantines who carry always a Mataras full of water A Pillar upon a Rock Some paces from thence upon a rising Rock there is a Pillar four Foot high a little farther likewise upon a rising Rock there are two Pedestals by one another and besides there are other Pillars scattered up and down here and there The people of the Country believe that all these things have been made by Dgius or Spirits Dgius or Spirits whom as they say Solomon who had power over them commanded to Build them The truth is whoever were the Work-men they have been Artists for they are well done and of curious design The good people say more that in the Chamber of the first Frontispiece there is a Treasure but that one cannot come at it because one must go over a Wheel of stone that is in the Chamber and that a Man having once attempted it the Wheel turned and crushed him to pieces they may say what they please as to that because to get up to it there is need of such long Ladders that few would be at the pains to attempt it They say also that on another neighbouring Hill beyond this there was a Gate of a City which they call the City of Solomon another at that Pillar I mentioned The Town of Solomon which is to be seen on the Right Hand as you come from Mirchas-Chan and a third on the other side of Tschehel-minar if so that Town must have had above eight Agatsch in Circumference As for Tschehel-minar many are of Opinion that it was the Palace of the Kings of Persia who held their usual Residence in Persepolis which Alexander the Great being Drunk Burnt at the instigation of a Miss but besides that this place is too little for the compass of a Palace that might answer the magnificence of the Kings of Persia in those days the Tombs that are in the Hill shew the contrary moreover since these places seem never to have been covered I had rather think that it hath been some Temple and that is probable enough because of the Pillars on which were Idols and all know that the Temples of the Ancient Persians were uncovered These Buildings have been spoilt not only by the weather but also by Men especially by a Governour of Schiras whom covetousness prompted to make great havock of them because he was obliged to defray the charges of all whom Curiosity brought thither to see them which was like to have cost him his Head the King having been extreamly displeased at so unworthy an action At Nakschi Rustan and Tschehel-minar there are Birds as big as Black-Birds which have the Beak of the same bigness and length but both it and the rest of their body is of a Flesh-colour so that one would think at first fight that these Birds had no Feathers unless on the Head Wings and Tail which are black they are
represents the Life of the Great Master Verdala This House hath a very neat Garden full of Orange Citron and Olive-Trees with several lovely Fountains At some distance from the House there is a little Wood stocked with Game for the Pleasure of the Great Masters In going to this place of diversion you pass near to the Old Town which is not far from it It is situated in the middle of the Island upon an indifferent high Hill of a pleasant Prospect it is inviron'd with Precipices and Bottoms and adorned with lovely Fabricks within Pretty near to this Town is the Grot where St. Paul lodged all the while he was in Malta Our Lady of Melecca where there is an Image of our Lady called Our Lady of Melecca and as they say many Miracles are wrought at it One may also go and walk in the Isle of Gozo which is but five miles from Malta This little Isle is thirty miles in circuit twelve in length and six in breadth Though it be begirt with Rocks and Precipices yet it hath some Creeks it hath a very wholsom Air is fruitful and almost all cultivated though it be mountanous It hath many Springs of fresh Water and places fit for Gardening and Pasture but the Inhabitants delight more in labouring the Land for Corn than in any other kind of Husbandry There were formerly seven or eight thousand Souls in this Island but since the Year 1551. that the Turks took the Castle of it and carried away all they found there the number of Inhabitants is much decreased This Castle is at present very well fortified CHAP. IX Of the Publick Rejoycing and Solemnity on Our Lady-day in September BEing at Malta on Our Lady-day the Eighth of September The Ceremony and Rejoycing on Our Lady-day of September in Malta I saw the Rejoycing and Ceremony that the Religion make yearly on that Day in memory of the Turks raising the Siege from before the Bourg Early in the morning all the Militia are in Arms before the Church of St. John and drawn up in Battalia The Church being extraordinarily deck'd the Great Master goes to High Mass where after the reading of the Epistle the Marshal of the Religion comes forth of the Inn of Auvergne being followed by one of the ancientest Commanders of the Inn with a Helmet on his head who carrys the Colours of the said Inn He takes a turn round the Church and when he passes through the Piazza all the Soldiers discharge their Volleys of small Shot After this Commander comes a Page of the Great Master's carrying in one hand a Sword and in the other a Dagger which the King of Spain sent as a Present to the Religion after that the Turks drew off both which are set with Precious-stones of very great value Being come to the great Porch of St. John's they enter the Church and advance near to the Altar then the Commander who carries the Colours salutes the Holy Sacrament with them three times and after that turning towards the Great Master he salutes him in the same manner and then takes his place below his Eminence on one hand of him with the Page near to him who presents the Sword and Dagger to the Great Master and he holds them naked with the points upward all the while the Gospel is a singing which being ended he gives them back to the Page Mass being over they wait upon his Eminence to his Palace where the Commander salutes him thrice again with the Colours and then they return to the Inn where the Commander who carried the Colours makes a great Feast to the whole Inn and to his Friends After Dinner they have Races of the Pallio and other Publick Rejoycings which conclude the Festival CHAP. X. Departure from Malta for Constantinople I Waited five months at Malta for Monsieur d' Herbelot but his Affairs taking him quite off of the Voyage which we had proposed he gave me notice of it wherefore I resolved to be gone and having found a Passage for Constantinople I left Malta on Thursday the Fourth of November 1655. at Nine a clock in the morning St. Margaret being on board the St. Margaret commanded by Captain Philip Martin de Ciudad which came from Legorn This Ship that was about eight and thirty years old was a good sailer and very lucky at Sea she was manned with two and thirty Seamen and carried six Iron great Guns and eight Brass Petrera's besides a great many smaller fire Arms. We went in consort with Captain Anthony Martin our Captain 's Brother whose Ship was called the Holy Ghost manned with thirty six Seamen and carrying five Iron Guns and eight Petrera's There was a Polaque of Ciudad called the St. Margaret in company with us also and she had on board four and twenty Men two Guns and six Iron Petrera's the Captain 's name being James Feautrier This Polaque sailed very well but the Vessel of Captain Anthony Martin lagg'd always a stern which made us lose above ten miles a way day because we lay by for him when he was at any considerable distance a stern We had a good West and by North Wind which on Friday morning the Fifth of November shifted about to South-west and the night following after a great storm of Rain turned North but so easie that we made but very little way Saturday the Sixth of November it freshened towards the Evening and brought us on a pace but the more we advanced the more we were in fear of meeting Ships of Tripoly about the Isle of Sapienza The Isle of Sapienza which we made account to pass next day and nevertheless we safely pass'd it before we were aware for Sunday morning the Seventh of November when we thought ourselves to be a great many miles short of the Isle of Sapienza according to the reckoning we had kept we perceived that we had already weathered the Cape of Matapan Cape of Matapan which is above seventy miles beyond the Isle of Sapienza The cause of this mistake was that we did not think our Ship made above eight miles an hour A mistake in reckoning Another mistake in the course when she made above ten because besides that the Wind was fair the Currents of the Gulf of Venice made us run a head a pace We committed also another errour of no less consequence than the former for we intended to have held our course above ninety miles off of the Isle of Sapienza and Cape Matapan betwixt Cerigo and Cerigotto and nevertheless on Sunday by break of day we found ourselves as I said above Cape Matapan but so near Land that it was but two miles off which obliged us to pass betwixt the main Land and Cerigo the nearer cut indeed by above forty miles than if we had passed betwixt Cerigo and Cerigotto but likewise by reason of the narrowness of the Passage Cerigo and Cerigotto the more dangerous This last mistake was
they wash they should say these words Bis millah el azem ve ellem doullillah allahdin islam Things unlawful when they wash That 's to say In the Name of the great God and praise to God the God of the Musulman Faith. When they wash there are some things unlawful which they call Meschreh as to wipe the Nose with the right Hand to wash any part oftner than thrice to wash with water heated in the Sun and to throw the water strong upon the Face There are many things also that render the Abdest unprofitable so that when any of these things happen they must begin it again Things that render them unclean And though they were not to pray yet after one of these they must wash their Hands or else they are unclean they are these If they happen to break Wind upwards or downwards if any blood or nastiness come out of their Body if they happen to Vomit fall into Passion faint away be Drunk laugh in time of Prayer embrace a Woman and touch any naked part of her to sleep during Prayer And indeed if any one fall asleep in time of Prayer the rest who are washed and prepared to pray will have a care not to awaken him for by doing so they would be unclean as well as he to be touched by a Dog or any other unclean Beast all these accidents evacuate the Abdest it must be renewed again before they begin their Prayers CHAP. XXXVII Of the form of their Mosques and their Prayers The form of the Mosques HAving spoken of their Ablutions some thing must be said of the form of their Mosques before I treat of their Prayers Their Mosques are called Mesdgid from whence the word Mosque hath been corrupted they are also called Dgemii that is to say place of Assembly These Mosques on the outside are like our Churches they have close by the side of them a Tower or Minaret and sometimes two four or six according to the stateliness of their Fabricks and these Minarets have a Balcony all round on the top Minarets The use they make of these Minarets is that at the hour of Prayer a Muezim goes up to the top of the Minaret and calls to Prayers The inside of the Mosques is very plain nothing to be seen but the four bare Walls on which the Name of God is written and in one of the Walls their is as it were a Niche which they call Keble that is to say the place to which they turn when they Pray This Niche in all the Mosques of Turkie is on the South Wall because when they pray they ought to turn towards Mecha Of the Keble which is to the South in respect of Turkie heretofore their Keble was towards the Temple of Salomon in Jerusalem to which they were to turn when they Prayed but Mahomet changed it in the second year of the Hegyra and put it on the side of Mecha which they have ever since observed They have also in their Mosque a piece of Stuff that has served at Mecha and a Pulpit where an Imam sometimes Preaches The floor of the Mosque is covered with Mats The hours of the Turks Prayers that the People may not be incommoded at Prayers They have Prayers five times a day the first is at break of day which they call Sabahnamaz the second at Noon which they call Oilehnamaz the third betwixt three and four of the Clock in the Afternoon which they call Quindinamaz the fourth at Sun setting which they call Akschamnamaz the fifth an hour after Night is in which they call Yatbinamaz On Friday which is their Sunday they have Prayers also at Nine a Clock in the Morning which they call Couschloucnamazi to which all goe and after that they may Work and open their Shops but most part Rest and make Merry that day which they call Dgiuma en hiun that is to say the day of Congregation When the hour of any of these Prayers is come for they whose business it is to mind that have for that end Hour-glasses and besides are regulated by the Sun when it shines a Muezim who is he that calls to Prayers goes up to a Minaret at every Mosque and stopping his Ears with his Fingers he sings and crys these words with all his force Allah ekber The words which the Muezims sing on the top of the Minarets allah ekber allah ekber eschadou in la illah illallah eschadou in Mahomet resoul allah hi alle sallatt hi alle fellat allah ekber allah ekber allah ekber allah ekber la illah illallah which is to say God is great God is great God is great God is great shew that there is but one God shew that Mahomet is his Prophet come and present your selves to the mercy of God and ask forgiveness of your Sins God is great God is great God is great God is great there is no other God but God he crys the same words towards the four Corners of the World beginning at the South and ending at the West Whilst he is crying every one does the Abdest and then all go to the Mosque They who cannot go to the Mosque say their Prayers at Home Being come to the Mosque Entring into the Mosques they leave their Shoes all leave their Paboutches or Shoes at the door and such as are afraid that they may be changed take them off their Feet and carry them with them in their Hand When they are entred they make a bow to the Keble then take their place and wait till the Imam which signifies Prelate begins their Prayer by these words Allah ekber that is to say God is great then they that are present say softly or aloud if they please I will imitate that Imam in what he doeth and they do all that he does And first The manner of the Turks Praying they put their hands upon their Shoulders and say Allah ekber then laying their Hands one over another upon the Navil they say some Prayers softly to themselves and at the end of every one prostrate themselves upon the Ground and say Allah ekber They are no longer prostrate than they can say a short Prayer then they rise and so prostrate themselves again several times If they pray in private they say to themselves I am going to say the Prayers appointed for the time which they name and pray as if they were in the Mosque They say the same Prayers every day only they repeat them more or less according to the Days When they lay their Hands upon their Shoulders the meaning of it is That they have quitted all Worldly Things and that they are in the presence of God. When they prostrate themselves that signifies that they adore God. At the Sabahnamaz when they pray How many Prostrations the Turks make they prostrate themselves eight times at Noon twenty times at the Quindy sixteen times at the Akschamnamaz ten times and at the Yatsinamaz twenty
Grand Signiors Gate Capidgi comes from Capi which signifies Gate These Men keep the Gates of the Serraglio and stand round the Grand Signior when he gives Audience it being their part also to introduce others into the Princes presence and hold them by the arms so long as they are there When the Grand Signior has a mind to have the Head of any Man that is out of Constantinople he sends a Capidgi for it they are in all three thousand and have a Head called the Capidgi Basha though sometimes they have more than one according as the Grand Signior pleases Their Head-attire is a Cap The Head-attire of the Capidgis Solaques old Soldiers who ought to succeed to the Officers with a Cone half a foot long fastened to it before The Solaques are also of the Infantry and are the Grand Signior's Garde du corps or Life-guard for they attend the Grand Signior when he goes abroad in the City These Blades when they march in Ceremony wear a Doliman with Hanging-sleeves tuckt up under the Girdle so that one may see their Shirts which are always clean and neat their Cap is of a pretty stuff ending in a point in which they stick Feathers in form of a Crest they have a Bow hanging over their Arm and the Quiver full of Arrows on the right Shoulder always ready to draw an Arrow if it be needful They are called Solaques that is to say left-handed Men because when they are to shoot their Arrows Solaque a Left-handed Man. those who are on the Grand Signior's right Hand draw the Bow-string with the left that they may not turn their back upon him But the chief of the Infantry are the Janizaries who are partly Children of Tribute Janizaries though they take but a few at present brought to Constantinople where the wittiest are shut up for seven years time in the Serraglio to learn their Exercises and according as they have Parts and Courage they are preferred to Places but the duller sort are made Janizaries Aagemoglans or Bostangis Every fifth year this Tribute is collected The Janizaries are then partly Children of Tribute partly Volunteer Renegadoes who are very numerous and some few natural Turks This Militia was first instituted by Othoman or Ozman Son of Ortogule The Institution of the Janizaries the first Emperour of the Turks It is a body of Men so powerful not only for their number for besides the Janizaries of the Port who are twelve thousand and are dispersed over all the Provinces of the Empire there are others in very great numbers but also for the Privileges anciently given to them and the great Union that is among them calling one another Brothers and not suffering the least injury to be done to the meanest of their Body who do whatsoever they please and none but their Officers dare to lift up a hand against them upon pain of death so that they seem to be sacred and really I know no Order of Militia in the World that is so much respected for love nor money cannot save the life of a Man that hath beaten a Janizary Seeing they can beat any man upon a just ground and no body dare touch them Ambassadours and Consuls entertain some of them to march before them and when a Frank would go into the City or Countrey without fear of being abused he takes one of the Ambassadour's Janizaries with him or the first he finds who for some Aspres to be pay'd him at his return goes before with a Cudgel in his hand wherewith he soundly drubs those that offer but to cast a cross look at the Frank. Head-attire of the Janizaries The Habit of the Janizaries differs not from that of other Turks but they have another kind of Head-attire for on their head they wear a Cap hanging down behind and shaped like the Sleeve of a Casaque in one end of which they put their head and the other hangs down their back like a large Livery-hood on the forehead they have a Cone half a foot long fastened to this Cap which is of Silver gilt and set with counterfeit Stones This Cap is called Zercola Zercola a Cap of Ceremony for the Janizaries and is their Cap of Ceremony but commonly they wear a woollen Cap wreathed about with a Turban in a manner peculiar to themselves Their Pay is two three four five or six Aspres a day some more and some less The Janizaries Pay. and besides their Pay they have a Piece of Cloth yearly Every new Grand Signior adds an Aspre to their Pay. The Janizaries of the Port The Janizaries Lodgings who as I said before are twelve thousand in number live in two Inns or Colleges containing an hundred and threescore Chambers and they are thirty forty or fifty in a Chamber those who would lodge elsewhere may but they are still of such a Chamber so that they are divided into Chambers which they call Oda Oda Oda Basha Chorbagi Vikil Hardge and every Chamber hath three Officers an Oda Basha that is to say Chief of the Chamber a Chorbagi who is a Captain and a Vikil Hardge which is to say the Steward The Chorbagis wear a Cap of fine Stuff with fair large plumes of Feathers placed in form of a Crest just like the Solaques Kiaya Bey Lieutenant General of the Janizaries That Aga of Janizaries is the General of the Foot. The way of punishing a Janizary Azapes over this is the Kiaya Bey or Lieutenant General of the Janizaries and over him the Aga of the Janizaries who is General of the whole Body and is a Muteferaca but he has no power to punish any one in his Lodging only when Justice is demanded against a Janizary he enquires what Chamber he belongs to then sends for his Oda Basha into whose hands he delivers him and he carries him to his Chamber where he causes him to be punished in the Night-time for Soldiers can neither be beaten nor put to death in publick If he hath not deserved death he has blows on his feet and if he be guilty of death he is strangled then put into a Sack and thrown into the Sea All Soldiers are served in this manner There are also the Azapes who are as it were the old Troops and are indeed Pioniers they were instituted before the Janizaries though they be inferiour to them There are many more Foot-Soldiers Dgebegis Topdgis Chiaoux as the Dgebegis or Cuirassiers Topdgis or Gunners and others but having spoken of the chief I shall now proceed to the Horse and first to the Chiaoux who are much like the Exempts des gardes in France their Office is very honourable for they execute most part of the Grand Signior's Commands and of his Bashas and are sent on Embassies to Foreign Princes they wear Caps above a foot in diameter and yet they are not round but long and flat above This kind of Cap is the Cap of
hundred distant from Chio on the top of this Mount there is a Church dedicated to that Saint This is so high a place that it is always covered with Mists and Snow In the middle of the Mountain there is so large and copious a Spring that it Waters all the Fields about which are fertile and abound in all sorts of Fruits Spartonda In a Wood hard by there is a Village called Spartonda where about fifty Persons only all Shepherds live but it is a delightful place affording good Water Calandre Coronia and excellent Fruits Betwixt the Village of Calandre that stands upon a Hill and Coronia consisting of about an Hundred and fifty scattering Houses there is a Bath of Sulphur by the Sea-side under extraordinary big Oaks this Bath is called Hayasma which signifies Holy or Blessed Water because the Water of it being drank Cures many Diseases but it Kills a great many People too by the violence of its Operation Three Miles from the Sea St. Helenas Town at the farther end of the Island is the Town St. Helena built upon a Rock and containing Two hundred Inhabitants it hath two Churches and a Chappel built just about the middle of the Hill where being hollow there hangs in the middle of it a point of a Rock from which Water contially drops and this Water they also call Hayasma Holy or Blessed Water This Water comes from the Mountain impregnated with Rain-Water or the vapours that rise from a deep Valley underneath where runs a Water that drives some Mills The Inhabitants of this place firmly believe that if a dead Body do not in forty days time corrupt Zorzolacas Hobgoblins it turns to a Hobgoblin which they call Zorzolacas or Nomolacas A dead body whose Ghost wandred about the Village in the Night-time And the Author of the Manuscript from whence I had this says That Travelling that way in the Month of April 1637. he found a Priest reading over a dead Body which he had caused to be raised after it had been fifty days in the Grave and was nevertheless still sound there being no sign of Corruption about it but a Worm that crawled out of the Eye The Priest told the Man who reports this that that Body or rather its Ghost went all Night about the Village knocking at the Doors and calling the People by their Names and that such as made answer died within two or three days after and that the Worm that came out of his Eye was but a Trick of the Devils to make it believed he was rotten This place is about thirty Miles from the City and they are all poor Shepherds that live there The Chappel in the aforesaid Rock is highly esteemed by all the Villages about From thence one goes to Volisso Volisso which is a great Village seated on a Hill with a Castle built by Belisarius General to the Emperour of Constantinople who going somewhere else by Sea was by a Storm forced to put on Shoar in that place in that Castle there is a Church with several Houses and Cisterns the Village contains about Three hundred Houses and about Fifteen hundred Inhabitants with several Churches The Country about it is very Pleasant Spacious and Fruitful and the Inhabitants make Five thousand Weight of Silk yearly with the Money whereof they pay their Tribute They are very vicious and it is thought they lie under a Curse of being almost always destitute of Bread. There is a place Varvariso The transformation of St. Marcella called Varvariso where there is a Church dedicated to St Marcella who as the Inhabitants of that place say was converted into Stone in a Grotto by the Sea-side whither she fled to escape from her Father who would have Defloured her and they say that on the day when the Church celebrates the Festival of that Saint Milk is seen to drop from the Breasts that are on the Rock Panagirio This with them is a solemn Feast which they call Panagirio the Priests singing praises to her all Night long Three Miles from that Village there is a Monastery dedicated to St. John and near to that Monastery is a Village called Fitta Fitta below which there is a great Valley corresponding to the Country about Volisso wherein there is a running Water that drives eight Mills which serves all the Villages about though every Peasant has a Hand-mill in his House wherewith the Women grind the Corn. From thence one goes to Sieronda Sieronda which is a very ancient spacious Tower inhabited by fifty Souls Lecilimiona all Shepherds who have a Church there a little further is the Village of Lecilimiona containing an Hundred and fifty Inhabitants with a Church There begin the Mastick-Trees About two Miles from thence there is a Village called Elata Elata whereof all the Inhabitants are addicted to the taming of Partridges Further on is the Village of Armolia Armolia where all the Earthen Ware that is used in the Island is made it contains about Five hundred Inhabitants and several Churches and lies in a Plain full of Mastick-Trees Over against this Village there is a Castle standing upon a very high Hill and is called Apolieno built by one Nicholas Justiniani in the Year 1440. Apolieno as may be seen upon the Gate of it It is of an Oval Figure with a double Wall and contains Threescore and two Rooms with two Cisterns one of which is Threescore Foot long and Forty Foot broad This Castle is very strong to resist the Corsares and has a Church in the middle of it The Village of Mesta exceeds all the rest in Strength and good Building Mesia it is of a Triangular figure lying in a Plain and containing Three hundred Inhabitants with several Churches About two Miles from thence there is a Harbour called Ayadinamy and another named San Nichita Ayadinamy San Nichita Pirgi this last is nearer the Village of Pirgi than Mesta Pirgi is a great Village with a Tower containing Two thousand Inhabitants and thirty Churches And this being all I had to say of the Villages that are among the Hills I shall now speak of others and first of Calamoty which hath several Churches Calamoty and about Seven hundred Inhabitants but no considerable House Chiny Vessa St. George Flacia Vono Nevita no more than Chiny inhabited by Three hundred People Vessa by Two hundred St. George and Flacia Vono is a great Village with a square Castle it hath about Five hundred Inhabitants and several Churches Over against this Village there is another called Nevita which is very great and hath a very high Tower an hundred Hands broad this place contains Two thousand five hundred Inhabitants and thirty Churches with two Monasteries one of Monks and the other of Nuns Without the Village there is also a Church dedicated to St. Michael the Arch-angel which is mightily crowded with People on that
when we rested in a place where there were a great many fair Trees Near to that is a place where the Rain-water that falls from the Mountains is kept and that water is very good Here it was that the People of Israel came out of the Red-Sea having passed it over dry to the ruine and confusion of Pharaoh and all his men who pursued them as may be seen in the Book of Exodus where this place is called Shur Chap. 15. Exod. Chap. 15. Corondel Haman of Pharaon It is at present called Corondel Not far from thence there are hot waters in a Grott which the Arabs call Haman el Pharaon that is to say Pharaon's Bath They tell a thousand stories of it amongst others that if you put four Eggs into it you can take out but three and so many as one puts in there is always one fewer taken out again and that the Devil keeps for himself we did not see that place for our Arabs would not take us to it because it was a little out of the way They say also that over against Corondel the Sea is always Tempestuous about the place where Pharaoh and the Aegyptians were Drowned We parted from thence at one of the clock and continued travelling till seven then we rested in a place where there are Trees also Next day being Monday the twenty eighth of January we set out at four a Clock in the Morning and having passed over several Hills we came into good way again near to the Sea but there is one place to be passed over just by the side of it being white and smooth Rocks where the Camels had much ado to keep from sliding chiefly because they are wet with the Sea-water but that lasts not long we rested at Noon and half an hour after set forwards again and towards the evening entred among Hills where we travelled till six a Clock that we rested in the hollow of a Rock where we spent the Night at that Stage and we could find no wood not to boyl so much as our Coffee Tuesday the twenty ninth of January we parted at five a clock in the Morning and entred into a plain where we travelled till Noon and then having rested a little after one a Clock we marched on over the same Plain until six a Clock at Night and then rested Next day Wednesday the thirtieth of January we parted at four a clock in the Morning and four hours after arrived at Tor about an hour before we came to Tor we found a great many Palm-trees and a well of very bad Water CHAP. XXVI Of Tor and of our arrival at Mount Sinai Tor. TOR is no considerable place nevertheless it has a good harbour for Ships and Galleys This Port is guarded by a little square Castle on the Sea-side with a Tower at each corner and two small Guns on the out-side before the Gate an Aga is Governour of this Castle where none but Turks lodge Near to it there is a Convent of Greeks dedicated to St. Catherine and to the Apparition of God to Moses in the Burning-Bush We delivered the Aga the Letter from the Bey of Suez but because we had no present for him he made no great account of us We lodged in the Convent which is very fair and spacious there we were very well received entertained with the Best and ate Fish of the Red-Sea at that time there were thirty Monks in it We searched for Provisions there but could not find any only the Monks commiserating our condition gave us Olives Dates Onions and a Jar of Brandy which we husbanded as well as we could we stayed a day there because the Monks told us that we needed two Septiers more of Flower so that having bought the Corn and got it ground they baked Bread of one half of it to give our Arabs by the way and upon the Mount and all this they did in a very obliging manner While we were there we bought of these poor Greeks several stone-Mushromes which in that place are got out of the Red-Sea as also small Stone-shrubs or branches of Rock which they call white Coral and many great shells all taken out of the Sea and very pleasant for artificial works But they could not furnish me with any thing of a certain Fish A Sea-man which they call a Sea-man however I got the hand of one since This Fish is taken in the Red-Sea about little Isles that are close by Tor. It is a great strong Fish and hath nothing extraordinary but two hands which are indeed like the hands of a man saving that the Fingers are joined together with a skin like the foot of a Goose but the skin of the Fish is like the skin of a wild Goat or Shamois When they spie that Fish they strike him on the back with Harping-Irons as they do Whales and so kill him They use the skin of it for making Bucklers which are Musquet proof Having payed all and made a Present of some Piastres to the Monks for their kind reception we prepared to be gone but were obliged first to pay a due of twenty eight Maidins a head to wit four for Tor and twenty four for the Mount and all to the use of the Arabs We parted from Tor on Thursday the last of January about eleven a clock in the Fore-noon with a Monk whom they sent with us to shew us the chief Places of the Mount and we payed for a Camel to carry him thither and back again He spoke to us Turkish and Arabick for he understood not a word of Lingua Franca we saw on our way the Garden of the Monks of Tor which is not far from it this Garden is the place which in Holy Scripture is called Elim Elim where when the Israelites went that way there were only seventy Palm-Trees and twelve wells of bitter water which Moses made sweet by casting a piece of Wood into them these Wells are still in being being near one another and most of them within the precincts of the Garden the rest are pretty near they are all hot and are returned again to their first bitterness for I tasted of one of them where People Bath themselves Hamam Mousa which by the Arabs is called Hamam Mousa that is to say the Bath of Moses it is in a little dark Cave there is nothing in that Garden but abundance of Palm-Trees which yield some rent to the Monks but the seventy old Palm-Trees are not there now After we had seen these things we filled our Borrachios with the water of a Well near to that place which belongs to the Monks I told them that it stunk a little and they made answer that they had not Scowered it that year as they used every year to do but withall that it was the best water thereabouts Heretofore they had a Church near to that Well which the Turks Demolished and with the stones of it built the aforesaid
this Cloath serves them to be buried in and for that end they keep it as if it were a Relick during this Solemnity one would certainly think himself in Hell amidst a Legion of Devils let loose and nevertheless the most serious cannot forbear Laughing at it After that is over they perform their office and then go eat for they neither eat nor drink that day before they have had the holy Fire Now it is impossible to know how they make this holy Fire for they have a special care that nobody comes near the holy Sepulchre to observe them but I am apt to beleive that a man hid within it strikes Fire with a Steel and so lights the Lamps The Turks discovered the Cheat and would have punished them for it but the Patriarch represented to them that he could not pay them so much Money as he did if they took from him the profit of the holy Fire and therefore they are suffered to continue the Juggle Next day the one and twentieth of April being Easter day the R. F. Commissary said high Mass upon an Altar purposely erected before the door of the holy Sepulchre a Father playing upon the Organ to which the Turks were very attentive but in the mean time purfumed us with the Smoak of their Tobacco and one of them fairly lighted his Pipe at one of the Tapers upon the Altar during the time that high Mass was saying At this Mass we all received the Sacrament from the hands of the R. F. Commissary That day we used Ornaments given by the King of Spain which are very rich in Embroadery but seeing it is not a compleat Service they made up what was wanting out of those that were given by the King of France The R. F. was very apprehensive that the Greeks might disturb our Service because they had resolved to perform theirs before ours but all was very well and we performed our Service first though they made as if they would come out of the Quire and begin their Procession at the same time we began our Mass however they durst not and perhaps they would have got nothing by it for we had Janizaries that would have hindred them They stayed then till our Service was over and then began theirs For our parts so soon as Mass was said we went out of the Church of St. Sepulchre and dined in the Convent of St. Saviour where every one of us found two Chaplets and two Crosses which had been touched at the Holy places upon our Plates The Convent treated both the Pilgrims and Monks with these CHAP. XLIV Of the places that are to be seen on the way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem MOnday the twenty second of April we put it to deliberation whether we should go to Emaus as the day seemed to require but it was not thought fit that we should go because it was in our way as we returned back so that we might not make the journey twice we went not for we had no time to lose but after Dinner we set out from the Convent at one a Clock to go to Bethlehem and going out by the Gate of Bethlehem and leaving Mount Sion to the left hand of which and of all that is to be seen there I shall speak hereafter we went first to a place where a Turpentine-Tree grew The Turpentine-Tree of the Virgin. under which as the People of the Countrey say the Blessed Virgin going one day from Bethlehem to Jerusalem rested her self to avoid the heat of the Sun and that then the Tree bent downwards to give her the greater shade Some years since it was set on Fire by the Arab Shepherds which the Monks hearing of ran thither in all haste and took what remained of it whereof they still make Chaplets and little Crosses Leaving that place to the left hand and keeping on our way we saw to the right hand out of the Road the House of Righteous Simeon The house of St. Simeon who made the Hymn Nunc Dimittis c. After that we found to the right hand the Cistern where the three Wise Men found again the Star which had appeared to them in the East and which they had lost as they entered into Jerusalem A little beyond that on the right hand is the House of the Prophet Habbakkuk The House of the Prophet Habbakkuk wherein the Angel took him by the Hair of the Head and carried him to Babylon to give Daniel Food when in that City he was put into the Lyons Den Dan. 14. To the left hand there is a Greek Monastery The place where Elias was Born. dedicated to the honour of the Prophet Elias who was Born in that place and before that Monastery there is a Stone on which the figure of his Body is imprinted and which they say was his Bed and a Well called Elias Well A little farther is the place where the Prophet Amos was Born. After that we found on our right hand the Field of Stone-pease where the People of the Country say that the holy Virgin going from Bethlehem to Jerusalem found a Man sowing Pease and asking him what it was he sowed he made answer Stones whereupon by Divine permission the Pease were changed into Stones retaining only the figure of Pease and there are of them to be found at present Then wide of the way to the right hand we saw the House of the Patriarch Jacob next The House of Jacob. The Sepulchre of Rachel the Sepulchre of the Beautiful Rachel made in the Vault of the Rock which is said to be so hard that Iron cannot hurt it it is under a little Dome open on all sides and supported by four square Pillars This Sepulchre is enclosed within a little Wall three Foot high having only a little entry to which one ascends by four steps It is all still so entire that it would seem to have been newly made Heretofore it was a Church which the Turks have now changed into a Mosque As we went on our way we found about twenty paces wide of the Road to the left hand David's Cistern made with three Mouths David's Cistern whereof mention is made in the 23 Chapter of the second Book of Samuel a little after about two in the Afternoon we arrived at Bethlehem CHAP. XLV Of Bethlehem BEthlehem was anciently a Town of the Tribe of Juda Bethlehem whither Joseph came with the Virgin Mary to be Enrolled as being of the Tribe of Juda according to the Edict of Augustus Caesar the Roman Emperour who commanded that all should give in their Names and Qualities in their Towns that he might know how many Souls were under his Government At present it is a pretty big Village where the Inhabitants get a Livelihood by making Chaplets Crosses c. There is a fair Convent in it A Convent of Monks where Latin Monks live consisting of a large Court through which you go into a second wherein
they procure a Great-Belly by them There was one of these blades hretofore carried a great Stone hanging at his Glans and the Women heartily kissed it for a Big Belly Others eat Serpents and in my time there was one of them at Caire whom they called the Scheik of the Serpents this Man had always a great train of Scheiks and other people after him when he went out or returned home to his House I did not see him eat Serpents but several who have seen him assured me of it and it is a thing no body doubts of I saw also at Caire a Santo who had a Turban as broad as a Mill-stone and weighed above half a hundred weight it was all patched up of several little pieces of different colours Every one came and kiss'd his hand with great respect the weight of his Turban making him walk very softly and with a great deal of Gravity There are many other sorts of Santo's and in a word enough in Aegypt to man out several Galleys The Turks who are nothing near so superstitious as the Arabs have no such esteem for them and formerly there was a Basha who sent as many of these lazy Lubbards as he could find to the Galleys They have also dead Santo's to whose memory they bear a singular Reverence some of them are Interr'd upon the High-ways and upon Bridges and when the Moors find any of these Sepulchres they ask leave of the Santo who is within to go that way or cross over that Bridge But I think the chief of the dead Santo's whom they reverence in Aegypt is Sidi Ahmet el bedoui for being at Caire on the ninth of July I saw a great many people go to a certain Fair that is kept at a Village called Menitegamr in the Isle or Delta of Aegypt on the side of the Channel of Rossetto Sidi Ahmet el bedoui Menitegamr That Fair is held there because the said Scheik is Interr'd in that place where they pray at his Grave and from all parts of Aegypt People come to this Fair and Devotion They say that at that time this Sidi Ahmet el Bedoui yearly delivers three Slaves out of Malta and three Moors fail not to be there and affirm that the night before they were brought from Malta where they had been Slaves One day a Turk of Quality who had been a Slave in Malta went thither and finding these Rogues to assert a Lie with so much boldness put so many questions to them that he convicted them of the Cheat. They relate a great many vertues of this Hellish Saint of which it was none of the least that he never knew Woman only lay with his own she Ass They also tell how this Santo having some priviledge granted him by a Basha and that another Basha offering to take it from him he went on a time to the appartment of that Basha and being brought in before him told him that he had had that priviledge a long time and prayed him to let him enjoy it but finding after much entreaty that the Basha was inexorable he turned up his cap a little that the point of it might encline to one side and said to the Basha thou wilt not then suffer me to enjoy my priviledge and the Basha answered him no then turning his Cap a little more to one side thou wilt not then said he to the Basha let me enjoy my priviledge who replied no then turning his Cap a great deal to one side the Basha perceived that the Castle leaned all to one side and was ready to fall for the Castle turned side-ways proportionally as he had turned his Cap whereupon the Basha in a great fright assured him that he would preserve his Priviledge unto him and prayed him to set the Castle upright as it was before which he did by setting his Cap by little and little to rights again They have so much Devotion for that Saint that when the Caravan of Mecha sets out in time of that Fair many leave the Caravan and Pilgrimage of Mecha and pay their Visits to that Saint This devotion lasts a fortnight and all Persons Moors Christians and Jews are suffered to go to that Fair. When they have visited that Saint they go to another not far distant then to another and so to four or five in short they spend a Month in these Devotions CHAP. LXXV Of the Cophtes Cophtes THE Cophtes are Christians but Jacobites that is to say who follow the Heresie of Eutyches and Dioscorus though some however among them be Orthodox and are called Melchites They have a Patriarch in Alexandria whose Authority reaches very far for he chuses one of his Clergy and sends him to be Patriarch to the Abyssins in Aethiopia as I said before The Cophtes are so very ignorant and unpolished that they have much ado to find a man among them fit to be their Patriarch and so in my time the Patriarchate had been vacant for some years the truth is there was another reason for it also for they could not raise a sum of Money that must be given to the Basha for the admission of every new Patriarch They retain a great many Fabulous stories taken out of Apocryphal Books which they have still among them We have no History of our Saviours life during his Minority but they have a great many relations of it for they say that every day an Angel brought him Victuals down from Heaven and that he spent his time in making little Birds of Clay which afterwards he breathed upon and so throwing them up into the Air they flew away They say that at our Lords Supper a roasted Cock was served up and that then Judas being gone out to sell and betray our Lord he commanded the Roasted Cock to rise and go after Judas which the Cock did and afterwards brought back word to our Lord that Judas had sold him and that therefore that Cock was admitted into Paradise They say Mass in the Cophtick and Arabick Tongues and when they sing the Passion and come to the place where it is said that Judas betrayed our Lord all the people cry Arsat that is to say Horned Beast Cuckold in this manner avenging our Lord by reviling of Judas And when they read that St. Peter cut off the ear of the High-Priest's Servant all the People cry Asia Boutros that is to say well fair you for that Peter as if they would encourage St. Peter by their Applause The Cophtes serve for Clerks to the Divan of the Beys and Villages CHAP. LXXVI Of the Franks that live in Aegypt and the Avanies which are put upon them Of the Franks in Caire THere are Franks who live in several places of Aegypt to wit in Caire Rossetto and Alexandria but the Consuls live at Caire because the Basha resides in that City they have Vice-Consuls in Rossetto and Alexandria and sometimes in Damiette Consuls of Franks at Caire There is in
the Earth hath brought forth stones instead of Grapes Having travelled in this manner till towards three of the Clock in the Afternoon we found a Village called Kefarhevar where Kefarhevar a Village our Moukires being in the humour to tell stories told me that Heretofore Nimrod dwelt there and that from thence he shot Arrows against Heaven VVe past that Village and having descended into a Valley and then mounted a little up again we came to Village called Beitima Beitima a Village where we took up our Lodging in a noble stable for in it was a place of Earth raised two foot high to make a separate appartment for the men from the Beasts Next day being Friday the eight and twentieth of March we set out half an hour after five in the Morning At first we did nothing but mount and descend during the space of two hours afterwards we entered into a great plain full of stones except in some places that were sowed and that plain reaches as far as Damascus There are a great many Villages in it Many Villages in the Territory of Damascus and at first we saw one called Catana about half a French League to the left of us Then we past near to another called Artous a little after we perceived one to our right hand named Mahtamia and so a great many more after that we left the High-way that leads to the Town and struck off to the left till we came to a great Village called Soliman and from thence to another named Salaia which was the Village of our Moukires where they would have had me to lodge had I not kept a great clutter with them these Blades go commonly to that Village to change their Beasts VVe went on then on our Journey and having past near to many Gardens Arrival at Damascus I arrived at Damascus about three of the Clock after Noon In all this Journey we saw but four VVolves of a greyish white Colour they were in company together and seemed not at all to be afraid of us for instead of running away they retreated at a foot pace onely we saw also several Covies of Patridges CHAP. IV. Of the City of Damascus AFter I had rested some days in Damascus I resolved to view the City but before I undertook it I took my necessary measures and since one must be assisted by some who have power I failed not to pay a visit to Topgi Bassa who received me most courteously and civilly I shall mention hereafter who this is and the good Offices he did me The City of Damascus has eight Gates to wit the East-Gate The number of gates in Damascus and their names or Bab-Charki that looks on the South-side along the VValls that are opposite to the East Bab-Tchiaour that looks to the South Bab-Jabie that looks to the VVest but somewhat Southward Bab-Choucaroua or Bab-Espahi that 's to say the Spahies Gate because furniture necessary for Horse-men is sold there it looks to the VVest it is also called the Serraglio Gate because it is opposite to the Serraglio Bab-Paboutch so called because it is the place where they sell Paboutches or shoes it looks betwixt VVest and North but somewhat more towards the VVest Bab-Fardis that 's to say the Gate of Paradise which looks betwixt VVest and North but more towards the North Bab-Salem or Gate of Peace so called because no dues are payed either entering in or going out at it a Grand Seignior having given it that Privilege it looks to the North Lastly Bab-Thomas which bears the Name of that Saint because in the outside there is a ruinous Church adjoyning to it dedicated to St. Thomas which looks to the North. The Circuit of the Town I went round the City on the outside of the Walls in an hour and a quarter walking pretty fast but the Suburbs are as big again as the Town and amongst others the Baboullah a Suburbs without the Gate Jabie reaches three or four Miles in length It is called Baboullah as one would say the divine Gate because that way goes the present which is sent from Damascus to Mecha In surrounding the place I observed that the Walls are not to be seen on the outside but from Bab-Tchiaour passing before Bab-Charki and then before Bab-Thomas to Bab-salem the rest being covered with Houses from Bab-Tchiaour to Bab-Thomas the VValls are double well built and very high having fair Battlements flanked at several distances with good Towers for the most part round some are square but of them there are but few The Inner-walls are about four fathom high The outer which are at some two fathoms distance from them are about three fathom and a half high and the space between ls filled up wlth Earth near four or five foot thick Before these VValls there is a Ditch about five fathom broad and two fathom or two and a half deep The length of Damascus I once measured the length of the City that 's to say from Bab-Charki to Bab-Jabie which is the Streight-street I was a quarter of an hour in walking it and reckoned two thousand one hundred paces The house of Ananias Let us take a view of the particular places and things That which first of all Travellers visit at Damascus is the House of Ananias which is inhabited by a Scheik I went thither with some friends and for some aspres we were suffered to enter in Having passed the gate and turned to the left hand by fourteen steps we descended into a Cellar which heretofore was a Church seeled and paved with Mosaick work of which some remains are still to be seen in the Pavements at present it is a Mosque and light enough to be so deep under ground that place as they say was the Chamber where Ananias lodged when God commanded him to go to Saul as it is related in the Acts of the Apostles Bab-Charki the East gate St. Paul's gate The beginning of the Streight-street The Gate Jaby Having visited that house wherein there is nothing curious besides the Antiquity of it we went to the Gate called Bab-Charki that 's to say the East-Gate it is likewise called St. Pauls Gate because it is near the place where that Holy Apostle was let down from the walls in a Basket. At that Gate begins the Streight-street mentioned in Holy Scripture which reaches as far as the Gate Jabie When we were past that Gate we turned to the right hand and having advanced a few paces we saw in one of the square Towers which are in the City-VVall about two fathom high two Free-stones on each of which there is a Flower-de-luce very well cut there is a third with an Inscription in Lingua Franca but the Characters are so worn out that they cannot be read Upon two other stones at the side of each Flower de-luce there are two Lions cut and near to each Lion a great Thistle Some will needs believe that the French
hair come for it falls off every year Having then passed by a great many sorry Ruines of houses and crossed a little Brook about half an hour after nine we were got by a large round Pond full of yellowish Rain-water where the Curds were watering a great number of Cattel of which the chief and most common are black Goats of whose hair they make their Tents The Village of Teldgizre Mount Taurus Half an hour after ten we passed by a great Village called Teldgizre which was to our left and then we were got so near Mount Taurus that was also to our left that it was not above an hours march to the foot of it following the current of a little Brook which was on the same side half an hour after eleven we came and encamped near a great Village called Kizilken by which that rivulet runs I observed on the way that day that they were but then cutting down their Corn whereas at Aleppo they begin to cut about the end of May or beginning of June After we were encamped we felt notwithstanding our Pavillions so hot a Wind A hot Wind. that it seemed to have mustered together and brought with it all the heat of the Air and I think that a man standing near a great flame which the Wind blew upon his face could not feel a hotter Air. Kizilken is a great Village all inhabited by Syrians we found some Carpous Kizilken or water-Mellons there which were ripe and good and these did us a great deal of kindness In the night-time there came Robbers several times but they that watched making as if they would fire upon them they made some silly excuses and marched away From Kizilken we parted next day being Friday the eighteenth of July half an hour after one of the Clock in the Morning and continued our way East-South East about four a Clock we saw on our right hand two very solid well built houses but abandoned as well as the old Ruines that were to our left Half an hour after seven we arrived at a great Village called Kodgiasar where the Customer came to take his dues Kodgiasar but not knowing that I was a Franck asked me nothing In former times it was a very great Town and some very high and substantial Buildings still remain and amongst others a spacious Church rarely well built First you enter into a large Court along which stands the Church that hath seven doors all stopt up except the middlemost which hath a great Nich on each side over these doors there has been Mosaick work the place whereof is still to be observed and at the four Corners of the Court there has been four very high square Steeples covered with little Domes of which at present there are onely three remaining and of these too but one entire The other two want onely the Dome they are built of pretty little Free-stones with Ornaments of Architecture and so is the Church also the middle wherof is covered with a Dome rough cast over and the Walls supported by good large stone-Butteresses The Turks having converted it into a Mosque have made a Keble in it and a little Pulpit to preach in Near to this Town runs a Water that passes under a Bridge of five Arches to say the truth it is not very good but there are good Wells and each house has one There is one in the middle of the Court of that Church and hard by it a kind of Dome supported by several Pillars but for what use I know not unless it be to wash in as the Turks do when they go to their Mosque Kodgiasar is over against Merdin that stands upon a hill to the North-East of it the Castle is on the very top of the hill and is seen at a great distance Merdin being four hours Journey from Kodgiasar The Customer of Merdin came to our Camp for his dues and demanded of me as a Franck five Piastres and therefore made my man Prisoner but my Moucre brought him out he was informed that I was a Franck by a Turk of the Caravan who was the onely man of them all that shewed any aversion to me The Castle of Merdin is so strong that the Turks say no Army is able to take it seeing they have both Spring-water and Cistern-water They will have it that Tamarlan lay seven years before this Castle who to shew them that he would continue there untill it were taken caused the Trees below it to be cut down and new ones planted of the fruit of which when they began to bear he sent to the Garrison and that the besieged to make the best shew they could sent him Cheese made of Bitches milk as if it had been of the Milk of Ewes which wrought a good effect for he was perswaded by that that they had not as yet spent their sheep and despairing to force them he raised the Siege though he had prevailed in all the other Sieges that he attempted There is a Basha at Merdin and almost all the Inhabitants of Kodgiasar are Robbers We stayed there all Saturday because the Customer had not as yet agreed with our People what he was to have of every load having asked too much at Kodgiasar there still remain many fair Steeples and other antiquities standing in several places The same Saturday the nineteenth of July there arrived a little Caravan near to our Camp which came from Aleppo and was going to Van. On Sunday the twentieth of July we parted from Kodgiasar about three a clock in the morning half an hour after five we past by a great Village called Toubijasa Toubijasa which was on our left hand and is onely inhabited by Syrians So soon as we passed it we came into a great plain sowed with Cucumbers and Melons A Field of Melons and Cucumbers of which those of our Caravan took as many as they could eat and carry with them notwithstanding the Cries of the poor People Men Women and Children who had no better payment than ill words as if they had been much in the wrong for complaining that their Goods were forcibly taken from them About nine a Clock we passed a little Water and after that found the Tents of some Curds three quarters after nine we encamped near a Village called Futlidge Futlidge near to which there is a Well of good Water in Winter they encamp at a Village near the Mountains Caradere called Caradere a little on this side because there are Grotto's in them to lodge in We parted about two of the Clock in the Morning directing our way East-South-East such hot Vapours steemed out of the Earth that for breath and that I might not be stiffled I was forced to fan my self which made me think of the Sausiel which I had already heard so much of Half an hour after five we saw on the side of the way to the left the Ruines of a great Castle
very thieving Beasts not only of what is fit for eating but of any thing else they find carrying away even Turbans sometimes they howl almost like Dogs one making the Treble another the Basse and a third the Counter-Tenor and so soon as one cries the rest cry also so that all together they make a noise which may truly be called Dogs Musick Thursday the fourteenth of August we parted from that place at break of day Aaschouk Maaschouk and a little after saw on our right hand a Village called Aaschouk and to the left another called Maaschouk The people of the Countrey say that these places are so called because in each of those two Villages there was in former times a Tower in one of which lived a Man who was in love with a Woman that lived in the Tower of the other Village and was in like manner beloved of her This place is the seventh Lodging of the Caravans that come from Mosul to Bagdad About half an hour after six we saw to the left hand a Village called Imam-Samerva Imam-Samerva Hedgiadge Elhan Digel About eleven a clock we passed by another Village called Hedgiadge which is in Mesopotamia Three hours after we saw another on the same side named Elhan and besides it some Houses all that Land being called Digel Half an hour past six in the evening we put a-shoar on our left hand where I was told of another-guess prowess of a Lion than what I had been told of that of Kizil-Han They said then that not long before a Caravan passing by that place a Lion came who setting upon a young Boy mounted on an Ass that came after the rest carried away both Boy and Ass in view of the whole Caravan After Supper we went upon the water again about nine of the clock at night and for the space of half an hour heard on our right hand many Chakales very near us which called the Lions and after that we saw no more Woods We began then to make the best of our way by night as well as by day because there are no more Banks and the River is very broad but also so still that it can hardly be discerned which way it runs We past by several Villages most of which were on Mesopotamia-side Next day being Friday the fifteenth of August we saw about noon many Boats near the shoar which have Masts like Saicks and serve to carry Corn to Bagdad from the neighbouring Villages We then discovered several Palm-Trees and many of those Wheels they call Dollab which serve to draw water out of Wells as at Mosul Half an hour after six in the evening we stopt at a Village called Yenghige on the left hand there are many Gardens there where they sold us good Figs Pomegranats and very big long Grapes At that place we were not altogether safe from Lions seeing the people of the Countrey told us that they come often into their Gardens and that one morning a Lion came to the very Suburbs of Bagdad that lies on the Desart-side where it seized a man who had risen too early Nevertheless betwixt Yenghige and Bagdad there are several Villages with a great many Gardens Yenghige We parted about nine a clock at night and next day being Saturday the sixteenth of August at two a clock in the afternoon passed by a Village called Imam-Mousa which is on the right hand It is a place of Pilgrimage Imam-Mousa whither people resort from afar and the Women of Bagdad go thither every Friday it being only an hours march by Land. A little after we saw another Village on our left hand called Imam-Aazem Imam-Aazem which is likewise a place of Pilgrimage and about five of the clock in the evening we arrived at Bagdad In that Voyage they speak every where Turkish The Turkish Language towards Bagdad but it is Persian Turkish which differs somewhat from that of Greece and the nearer Bagdad the more the Turkish Language differs from that of Constantinople CHAP. XIV Of Bagdad and of the Road from Bagdad to Mendeli the last Place the Turks have on the Confines of Persia BAGDAD is a long Town lying upon the River-side Bagdad the first thing one sees in arriving is the Castle on the side of the River to the left hand which on the outside appears to be pretty strong It is built of lovely white Stone but I was told that there was nothing within but Huts Below that Castle upon the water-side also stands the Serraglio of the Basha which hath fair Kiochks from whence they have a good Prospect and fresh Air. Next you find a Bridge of about forty Boats on which they cross into Mesopotamia where there is a Town also or rather a Suburbs of Bagdad but the Houses of it are ill built Every night they undo that Bridge It requires at least two hours to make the round of Bagdad which is not very strong on the Land-side There are fair Bazars and lovely Bagnio's in this Town built by the Persians and generally all that is goodly in it hath been built by them It is but ill peopled considering the bigness of the place and indeed it is not compactly built for there are a great many empty places in it where there 's not one Soul to be found and except the Bazars where there is always a great confluence of people the rest looks like a Desart The Soldiers here are very licentious and commit all imaginable Insolencies their Officers not daring scarcely to punish them Some weeks before I arrived there they had put the Basha to death by poyson because of his Tyrannies and it was said the Aga had a share in it though he kept not his bed but was in a languishing condition Besides the Turkish Militia there are a great many Christians in the Grand-Signior's Pay to fight against the Arabs when they are commanded It is very hot in this Town and that 's the reason the people sleep upon the Terrasses The degrees of heat at Bagdad The eighteenth of August at noon the heat was at the thirty seventh degree by my Thermometre and nevertheless it blew a cool breeze of wind The Capuchins to whom I went as soon as I entred Bagdad very charitably practise Physick there The water of the Tygris Opposite to Bagdad the Tygris is very broad the water whereof they draw and put into great Jars of Clay that is not burnt and through these Jars the water transpires and percolates into an earthen Vessel underneath in the same manner as at Aleppo they call this River Chav-Bagdad that 's to say the River of Bagdad but wanting skill to make Water-mills upon it they are forced to grind all their Corn with Horse-mills or Hand-mills Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is very desart every thing being ruined there by the Tyranny of the Turks but the places that are inhabited are well peopled It bears few or no Trees
unless it be Liquorice of which there is plenty every where Oyl of Naphta Carrier-Pigeons An errour in Geography about the confluent of Tygris and Euphrates They burn at Bagdad more of the Oyl of Naphta than Candles and it is got somewhere in those Quarters They have Carrier-Pigeons of a better kind than in any other place We must here take notice of a considerable mistake in all Maps where Bagdad is placed a great way below the confluent of the two Rivers of Euphrates and Tygris though it be certain that they joyn not but at ten or twelve days Journey below Bagdad in the furthermost part of Dgezri It is true that in the Winter-time when these two Rivers break out they joyn at Bagdad but that happens not every year About eight or nine days Journey below Bagdad there is a Canal made which goes from Euphrates to the Tygris Immediately after I arrived in this Town a Caravan offering for Hamadan in Persia Agreement for the Journey from Bagdad to Hamadan I bargained with a Christian and gave him seven Piastres for every Beast of carriage and paid nine and twenty Piastres Ryals for three Horses that I had occasion for for my own use and a fourth for Monsieur Jacob a Watch-maker who travelled the same way for which the Christian was to defray all Caffares and Customs as far as Hamadan for all things generally pay Custom and that without any regard to the value but only the weight The ordinary rate is seven Piastres Ryals for twenty three Patmans The names and value of weights and money Piastre Abassi Chais Para. Aspre Boquelle Turkish Chequin Venetian Chequin a Patman makes three Rottles of Aleppo or six Oques and three Ounces The Abassi is is worth there two Chais and a half the Piastre Ryal is worth eight Chais and each Chai five Paras and the Para four Aspres which are all pieces of Silver the Boquelle is worth seven Chais the Turkish Chequin is worth eighteen Chais and the Venetian nineteen That Caravan consisted of threescore and ten or fourscore men all bold and fearless Blades for they had but one Pistol and some few Shables amongst them all and to shew that it was not the number they relied upon they commonly divided and marched separately at some distance from one another without fear of Robbers and they were almost all Persians They were as little apprehensive too of the weather as of dangers for amongst them all they had no more but two or three little sorry Tents covered with some pieces of old Carpets For my own part since I was not so brave I had a good Pavillion to cover me and amongst three of us we had twelve shot that we could fire without re-charging We parted from Bagdad Wednesday the twentieth of August Departure from Bagdad about five a clock in the evening and joyned the Caravan which was encamped amongst small Trees without the Gate called Caranlu-Capi that looks to the East At this Gate each of us paid a Chai these Chais are also called Bagdadi because they are coyned at Bagdad they weigh a drachm a-piece Chai Bagdadi The Caravan marched next day being Thursday the one and twentieth of August a little after midnight We presently entered the Desart marching Northward in a great Plain of very smooth whitish ground glazed over with Salt where grows nothing but wild Caper-shrubs and Land-Caltrops Wild Caper Shrubs Caltrops Aadgem Coulasi An hour and a half after we saw in the dark to our left a Tower like a little Castle upon a Hillock it is called Aadgem-Koulasi that 's to say the Persians Tower. About nine a clock in the morning we encamped by the side of the Tygris some miles below Yenghidge near a Village called Locmam-Hakin or Locman the wise there we staid all day and in the evening we heard several companies of Chakales which entertained us with their Musick Next day being Friday the two and twentieth of August we parted after midnight and having taken a Guide at Locmam-Hakim we marched due East Locmam-Hakim Diala a River and about nine in the morning came to the side of a River called Diala which we crossed in a Ferry-boat On the other side we paid each Horse-man an Abassi to a Turk who receives that Toll and all pay the same of whatsoever Religion they be This River is at least as broad as two third parts of the Seine and at Bassora it falls into the Tygris Having crossed it we went and lodged in a great Village called Aacoube Aacoube under Palm-Trees which are there in great quantity Next morning by break of day we began to march our Company would not set out sooner because they knew not the ways We continued our way Eastwards and about seven a clock saw to the left hand a Mosque which is a place of Pilgrimage A quarter of an hour after we past through the ruins of a desolated Village and then over a Bridge of one Arch under which the Channel was very dry About nine of the clock we crossed a Village called Harounia and encamped near the Gardens which are many Harounia We made our Journey the shorter for fear of the heat We were obliged to keep Guard all night because of Thieves and Robbers yet we heard nothing but Chakales We parted from that place on Sunday the four and twentieth of August about two a clock in the morning keeping on still Eastward About three a clock we passed near to a Village called Adgia and about half an hour after six close by another called Imam-Esker where there is a Bridge Imam-Esker upon which they exacted for every Horse Mule or Ass an Ahassi and a Mahmoudi which is asmuch as a Chai and a Para though the Bridge it self never cost six Ahassis for it is onely made of two beams of Palm-tree that reach from side to side with some planks a-cross and half a foot of Earth over them the River that runs underneath being but a Brook no bigger than the River of Gobelines at Paris They call that due the toll of bridles We rested beyond the Bridge because not onely our People were afraid of the heat but they were besides informed that some Arabs waited for us on the way and therefore they held a Council to resolve what was fittest to be done Though they had no certainty of this yet they were strangely startled at it and the fear proceeded from some amongst them who knowing that we were to march through a narrow passage imagined that an hundred Arabs expected us there and yet they reduced this number afterwards to fifteen It was to no purpose to upbraid them with Cowardise telling them that let them be as many as they pleased we feared them not Though this resolution gave them some assurance yet they used their credit to make us stay for some Janissaries who who were going to Mendeli and in case they would
fair Road near hills we passed by many Rivulets on our right hand Munday Morning the eighth of September half an hour after five we came to a great bourg Sahna called Sahna We went through that Town and encamped without near the Gardens which are about it in great Numbers from whence they brought us fair Grapes Apples and Pears and furnished us under hand with a little Wine that we had not tasted since we left Mosul unless at Bagdad with the Fathers Capucins who make some privately for Mass for it is forbidden either to make or sell any And a little before I came to Bagdad an Armenian being catched there making Brandy had several hundred Bastinado's and whilst some beat him others poured his Brandy upon his head Now in all those places of Persia where there are no Christians not onely there is none to be found but even it is a Crime to speak of it nevertheless having demanded some of an Inhabitant of this Town who brought us Grapes after he had lookt about him on all hands to see if any body heard him he promised us a Jarr which he brought us a little while after It was sweet and red and had not sufficiently purged nevertheless it was good and delicious and so are their Grapes excellent Here we began to see sow'd Lands and a great many Gardens full of Vines and of all sorts of fruit and though it be in Curdistan Sofis yet Sofis also live there We parted from Sahna next day being Tuesday the ninth of September about two of the Clock in the Morning and about five we went up hill and down hill for a little while Half an hour after seven we crossed over a Bridge of four Arches under which runs a pretty broad River but shallow and it is called Camoutedona An hour after we came to a big Town Camoutedona a River Kenghever called Kenghever where we lodged in a Kervanserai This is a large Town well built and populous a Rivulet runs by it which they call the Water of Kenghever About it are a great many Gardens full of Fruit-trees of all sorts and it must heretofore have been a considerable place for there are the Walls of a Fortress still standing almost entire they are built of Flints and other very hard Stones that are both large and thick and some Towers still remain with several pieces of white Marble-Pillars of which the Capitals are so thick that it 's enough for three men to embrace them Amongst others at a little distance from a Tower close by this Fort there are some Port-holes for great Guns and a Gate towards the Countrey where two Pedestals of Marble are still remaining which formerly carried Pillars and these Pedestals which are four or five foot in length are placed at three or four foot distance from one another both upon a very thick Wall of fair Stone with a very lovely wreath on the outside So that in all probability these Pillars supported some Pavillion or Balcony for prospect or some thing else that was very weighty This Fortress is built upon an Eminence which affords a very distant prospect and the Town is the last place of Curdistan which terminates here Before I leave it for good and all The utmost bounds of Curdistan Curds I must say somewhat of the People that inhabit it The Curdi called anciently Carduchi live in the Summer-time in Huts made of Canes and Boughs of Trees and in Winter under Tents Their Countrey is so mountainous and so hard to be passed that I do not now wonder that the King of Persia every time that he went to besiege Bagdad instead of taking Cannon with him carried upon Camels metal to cast them obliging every Trooper besides to carry an Oque for it is absolutely impossible to have Cannon drawn along these ways Though these Curds lead a life much like the Arabs nevertheless they are more warlike and make very good use of Harquebuses nay in all places we past through there were always some of them who came and cheapened our Arms thinking they had been to be sold Amongst others one of them once offered me ten Abassis for my Fire-lock These Curds instead of Candle burn onely Oil of Naphta which is got in a place not far from Bagdad We parted from Kenghever the same day about half an hour after eleven at Night and in a very good Road marched Northwards About three a Clock in the Morning Wednesday the tenth of September we past over a fair Bridge of six Arches called the Bridge of Scheich-Hali-Kan Scheich-Hali-Kan from the name of a Chan that founded it the River that runs under it is called the Water of Scheich-Hali-Kan Bridge for to Bridges they give the Name of the Founder and to the Waters that run under them the Name of the Bridge An hour after we went by a Village which we onely saw by Moon-light but it seemed to me to be big and well built Having afterwards marched through a great Plain for a long while about seven of the Clock in the Morning we came to a Town called Asad Abad Asad Abad That Town or rather Burrough is of a vast extent and well built There are streight large Streets in it and in the middle of them a running Brook. The Entries into all the Houses are handsom though the Doors of many of them be but low and have many Gardens round them We lodged in the Fields without but close by the Town and parted from thence the same day about ten a Clock at Night directing our way full East Immediately after in very good way we went up a hill called Elouend Elouend it is so high that it took us a compleat hour to mount it and almost three quarters of an hour in coming down again on the other side After that we went by a little house of Rahdars where for every horse there are two Cabeghis of Caffare to be payed Then we marched above two hours and a half amongst Mountains and there after came into a Plain where having past by a great many Villages and crossed several Brooks and half an hour after five having left a Town called Zaga to the left hand Zaga two hours after we arrived at Hamadan where we lodged in a Kervanserai and payed a Bisti which is worth four Cabeghis a day for a Room We shall speak of the money of Persia in the description of Ispahan CHAP. II. Of the Road from Hamadan to Ispahan HAmadan is a very large Town but contains many void places Gardens and even ploughed Fields within it The houses are lovely and built onely of Bricks baked in the Sun There is no fair Street in it but that where they sell Stuffs Cloaths ready made and such like Commodities It is a streight long and broad Street and the shops of it are well furnished it lies near the Bezestein which is little but pretty well built This is a
Bottles with a good deal of straw and two of these Chests make a Mules load They have also store of Capers Capers which they send also into all parts They preserve another thing in Vinegar which I never saw done any where else Preserved Grapes and that is Grapes which they gather half ripe and the time of gathering them they take to be when the Sparrows begin to peck them they put these Grapes into Bottles with good store of Vinegar which so macerates them that they lose their hardness yet no so as to become too soft or lose their Greenness only they look a little yellowish These Grapes preserved in Vinegar have a certain sweet acidity which is not unpleasant especially in the great heats and therefore they send great quantities of them into the Indies Rose-water They have also abundance of Roses from which they draw so much Rose-water that they furnish all the Indies with it They have a great deal of Corn but they give much of it to the Horses to be eaten in the blade because they say it would not come to maturity for want of water There is a great deal of Opium made at Schiras and round the Town there are large fields sowed with White Poppies A powerful Chan of Schiras In former times Schiras was Governed by a Chan who was the first of Persia and his Government reached as far as Lar Bender and the Isle of Ormus nay he was so powerful that in the Reign of the great Schah Abbas there was a Chan or Schiras called Imem-Couli-Chan who spent as much as the King and kept no smaller Family in so much that the King commanded him to spend a Mabmoudi less a day that there might be some difference betwixt their Expences Schah Sâ—fi grand Child of Schah Abbas and Father to Schah Abbas who Reigns at present put that Chan and all his Children to death because he was afraid that being so powerful he might play him some trick and after him there have been some Chans in Schiras but at present there is none a Vizier commands there as the Kings Farmer to whom he yearly pays out of his Government a thousand Tomaâ— which make a hundred and fifty thousand Crowns CHAP. III. Of the Road from Schiras to Bender and first to Lar. WE parted from Schiras Monday the sixteenth of March half an hour after Eight in the Morning having let the Caravan set out an hour and half before We took our way Southwards and past near the Lime-Kilns the way was good and in a lovely cultivated Plain Half an hour after Nine we had on our Left Hand a large Village called Oudgeval by which runs a Rivulet about half an hour after Ten we struck off a little to the Right Hand Oudgeval marching full South over Land all white with Salt where nothing grows but Abrotanum foemina An hour after we crossed over a Bridge of ten Arches under which a little River runs Abrotanum foemina It is called Poulifesa in coming to it you go along a Causey and find such another on the farther side the water that runs underneath is as salt as Sea-water Poulifesa about Noon we entered into a great Plain covered with green Grass where having Travelled till half an hour after One a Clock we came to a wretched Kervanseray standing all alone it is called Baba-Adgi from the name of its Founder who lies buried hard by and is five Agatsch from Schiras Baba-adgi close by this Kervanseray there is a little Spring which makes a great marish in that Plain but the water being naught they drink of another a little farther off which is very good water We parted from that place Tuesday the seventeenth of March half an hour after Six in the Morning and marched South-East in a great green Plain full of Heath where we saw on both hands several Villages and a great many Flocks of Sheep feeding having Travelled there till half an hour after two in the Afternoon we arrived at a Kervanseray standing by it self and called Mouzeferi seven Agatsch from Baba-Adgi near to it there is a Spring of very good water Mouzeferi behind the Kervanseray there are several vent-holes by which one may see the water run and Fish playing therein whereof some are pretty big We parted from thence on Wednesday the Eighteenth of March half an hour after five in the Morning and kept our way Southward going up Hills and down Hills covered with Turpentine-Trees and Heath this Heath is like Tragacantha and has a Carnation-Blossome divided into four or five Leaves bearing a kind of Wooll Turpentine-Trees Tragacantha Erigerum Paira and perhaps it is your Erigerum we were troubled with this rough and stony way till Noon that we arrived at a great Kervanseray called Paira which stands alone by it self and is four Agatsch distant from Monzeferi A few steps from that Kervanseray there is an artificial Canal drawn from a River a little beyond and parallel to it that River comes from the Mountains of Orostan which are above thirteen or fourteen days Journy from thence and runs as far as Tadivan a great Village Tadivan upon the way to Lar six Agatsch from Paira it afterwards loses it self in the fields which is not to be wondered at because these people having scarcity of water when they can command a River they so let it blood by drawing it off to water their Grounds that they reduce it to nothing nevertheless in those places where that River is in its strength it is seven or eight Fathom broad the water of it is clear and good and runs rapidly in a fair bed of Sand where there is not a stone to stop its course it is full of Fish Rose-Laurels and Planted on the sides with Rose-Laurels and such like Trees so that there can be nothing more charming to the sight The Canal that passes near to Paira is cut from it a little above this place and waters many Sowed fields which being done about four Agatsch lower it falls again into the same River from which it was never far distant but in all its course it runs through high ground whereas the River rowls with a great noise in a very deep precipice We parted from that place Thursday the Nineteenth of March at four of the Clock in the Morning and held our way South-Eastwards having met now and then with very stony ways we found afterwards a fair way where on each hand we saw good Corn-Land with a great many Villages where there were many Gardens full of Trees About eight a Clock in the Morning we arrived at a fair large Kervanseray Chafer called Kervanseray Chafer from the name of a Village close by it on the River-side which at this place is dwindled away almost to nothing this is a great Village and nothing to be seen in it but Gardens with long Walks in them
where one may take the Air under the shade of Orange-Trees which are prodigiously big and bear much Fruit. There they have plenty also of Limon Pomegranate Date and other Fruit-Trees of all sorts nay and Vines also and the River runs in a bottom by the back of the Village in short it is a very agreeable place especially to those who have Travelled over large barren and dry Countries this Village is three Agatsch from Paira We left that pleasant Quarter Friday the Twentieth of March half an hour after one a Clock in the morning keeping still South-Eastwards in our way but a little toward the South in a fair even and smooth Road about four of the Clock we crossed a large Brook of running water which comes from the River of Paira below Chafer and a little after we crossed a Canal of running water over a little Bridge We afterwards crossed several other little Brooks having always to our Right Hand a great many Villages about break of day it behoved us to pass one large Brook more and about six a Clock in the Morning we found a little House where Rahdars lived about two or three Musket-shot from thence at the foot of a Hill Tadivan there is a Village call Tadivan where the River of Paira loses it self and ends Families of Arabs Upon that Road we met several Arabs with their Wives and Children on Camels which carried all their baggage also they were driving their Flocks of Sheep and Goats Since our departure from Schiras we dayly met such and they came from about Gomron and Lar. These Arabs Lodge under black Tents and have vast Flocks wherein consists the greatest part of their substance and that is partly the reason that they have no fixed Habitation and that they even remove from one Country into another in the different seasons of the Year just as some Birds doe For in the Spring they leave the Country of Lar and other places thereabout where the Heat is too great and packing up bag and baggage betake themselves with their whole Families towards Couchouzer which is a Village I have mentioned with very good Land about it and when Winter begins to draw nigh they pack up their Houses again and with their Flocks return towards Lar and Gomron where it is never Cold. It is not only the Heat that in the Summer-time drives them out of the hot Countrys but also the scarcity of water for they need a great deal for their Flocks They are almost all Black both men and women have long black Hair and cover not their Faces About Nine a Clock in the Morning we entered into stony way where we kept marching till half an hour after Ten that we arrived at a little Kervanseray called Mouchek Mouchek standing by it self and built in stony ground surrounded with Hills about some hundred paces behind this Kervanseray there is a great round Cistern four or five Fathom in Diametre and is very deep it is covered with a great Dome of rough stone that hath six Entries by so many Doors that are round it by which they go in to draw water which in the Spring-time is so high that it comes almost up to the Doors swelling so high by the Rain-water in the Winter-time by means of a Trench that comes from a neighbouring Hill at each Door there are steps to go down to the bottom when the water is low for there is no other water in that place They make Cisterns besides in those Quarters Cisterns after another manner they are of an Oblong Square covered with a long Convex Vault shaped much like the Roof of a Coach with a Door at each end and one of these ways are all the Cisterns from that place to Bender built We parted from that Kervanseray which is six Agatsch distant from Chafer Saturday the one and twentieth of May half an hour after Two a Clock in the Morning and had stony way till about Four after that we found a good Road which led us full South about half an hour after Five we past by the Walls of a ruinated Kervanseray with a Cistern adjoyning it about Seven a Clock we found some Brooks and then Travelled amongst good Corn-Fields until half an hour after Ten when having passed by a great many Gardens we arrived at a large Kervanseray Dgiaroun which is about an hundred paces from a little Town called Dgiaroun and is hardly worth a good Village however there is a fair Bazar in it This Town is on all Hands encompassed with Gardens full of Palm-Trees which there are so numerous and grow so near one another that they make a great Forrest and to say the truth I never saw so many together in one place Tamarisks besides the Tamarisks which are likewise plentiful in that place They have many Wells there and draw their water with Oxen as in all the rest of Persia in the manner I have described when I treated of Mosul There is a Cistern near the Kervanseray like to that of Mouchek but it is bigger having at least seven or eight Fathom in it Diametre it has a little house belonging to it which consists of a Kitchin and a Lodging-Room for the use of such as will not Lodge in the Kervanseray or cannot when it is full this place is five Agatsch distant from Mouchek there we began to feel the heat though in the Mornings a little before Sun rising we had pretty cold Winds before the Gate of the Kervanseray there is one of those Ox Wells with a great trough for watering the Horses but it is not good for men who in the Town drink running-water We stayed there all that day and the following and departed Monday the three and twentieth of March half an hour after midnight we took our way Westward by a very stony Road about an hour after we found a Cistern covered with a steep Roof half an hour after two we began to ascend the Hill of Dgiaroun The Hill of Dgiaroun to the South it is very high and the ascent not difficult save only that the way is full of stones but the higher one goes the worse it is and besides there is danger from Precipices that are on one side of it the truth is they have built little breast-walls about two foot high in some places to keep the Mules from falling down there one may see wild bitter Almond-Trees and other Trees of the Mountains We went up three or four times and down as often and the Sun found us in this exercise about five a Clock we came to a Cistern covered with a Dome and an hour after to another with a steep Roof Half an hour after seven we were passed our up Hills and down Hills but the way was still stony and bad at length about nine of the Clock we came to a little Kervanseray standing all alone near to which are two Cisterns the one covered with
a Dome three or four Fathom in Diametre wherein there are three Doors and as many Windows the other has a steep Roof this place is called Tschai-telhh Tschai-telhh that is to say bitter Well because of a Well not far from that Kervanseray whose water is bitter There is besides another Well behind the Kervanseray but it is dry and this place is six Agatsch from Dgiaroun Heretofore they went not by this Hill but struck off to the East and went round it and the Camel-drivers still take that way but because of five days Journey of Desart Horse-men and Muletors chuse rather to suffer the fatigue of a worse way but shorter over the Hill. Next Morning Tuesday about half an hour after four we set forward again directing our march Southwards about seven a Clock we descended into a very low place by very bad way that Hill is called Chotali Hasani Chotali Hasani or Chotali Mahhmaseni or Chotali Mahhmaseni it goes by both names towards the bottom of that descent we found a little Brook that runs out of the Ground and discharges it self into a square Bason at some few paces from the source being come down we Travelled through a very stony Plain about half an hour after Nine we came to a fair Kerva-seray standing alone by it self and called Momzir having a great square Bason before the Gate Momzir which is always filled full by a Brook that runs into it this Kervanseray is four Agatsch from Tschai-telhh we made no stop there because we found no body to sell us Provisions either for Men or Beasts so we continued our march in the stony Plain till about an hour after having found a little Brook on our Left Hand we entered about Noon into a great smooth Plain where we suffered much heat we Travelled on South-Eastward until about two of the Clock that we found a little Kervanseray close by a Village called Dehidombe Dehidombe that is to say the Village of the tail where there are some Palms and Tamarisk-Trees They drink no water there but out of a Cistern near the Kervanseray which is three or four Fathom in Diametre and covered by a Dome with six Doors this place is three long Agatsch from Momzir and is the last of the Government of Schiras after which we enter into that of Lar. We parted from thence on Wednesday the five and twentieth of March about half an hour after four in the Morning and marched over a very even Plain till half an hour after seven when we arrived at a Kervanseray at the end of a large Village called Benaru lying at the foot of the Hill that is to the right of it Benaru upon which on the other side of the Kervanseray are the ruins of many folid Buildings that reach from the top to the bottom of the Hill and seem to have been some considerable place in this Village there is plenty of Palms and Tamarisk-Trees and a great many Cisterns it is two Agatsch distant from Dehidombe We left it next day being Thursday at one a Clock in the Morning and Travelled in stony way until half an hour after two that we came into a fair fmooth way where having Travelled on till five we arrived at an ugly little Kervanseray called Dehra where there are some Rhadars we paid nothing there because of an order which Monsieur Tavernier had to pay nothing in Persia Without stopping at that place we continued our Journey but by very stony way about six of the Clock we were got amongst the Hills where having gone up Hill and down Hill until eight a Clock we came into a Plain which lasted till near nine Bihri that we arrived at a great Village called Bihri where many Palms and Tamarisk-Trees grow there are several Cisterns there but the water of them is full of Worms and therefore one must be careful to strain it through a Cloath We Lodged in a fair new built Kervanseray in that Village this is one of the lovliest Kervanserays in all Persia The fair Kervanseray of Aivaz Chan. not only for the solidity of the Fabrick being built of rough Stone and hard Flint but also for its neat Portal large square Court many spacious Rooms with several conveniences for securing Goods and fair Terrasses to which they go up by great and broad Stair-Cases In fine every thing in it is magnificent very neat and commodious even to the Houses of Office which are in each corner of the Kervanseray and on one side there is a lovely Garden full of Tulips Roses and abundance of other Flowers of all kinds it is well Planted also with Fruit-Trees and Vines and all kept in very good order the Walks very neat and covered with Artificial Arbours all round before this Garden there is a fair watering place for Horses which is always kept full of water from a Well hard by this Kervanseray was built by the Chan of Lar called Aivaz Chan and is six Agatsch from Benaru Friday the seven and twentieth of March after four a Clock in the Morning we parted from this place and Travelled Southward in a pretty good way though stony in some places about day we found a Cistern with a steep Roof and about half an hour after six we saw upon the Road a limit of stone about a Fathom high built upon a Paving of Free-stone that serves it for a Basis we were told that a man was shut up in it A man shut up in a stone according to the custom of the Country in times past when they used that particular punishment for Robbers on the High-ways others said that it was only a mark in the way which divides at that place about seven a Clock we passed by a Village called De-hi-Kourd De-hi-Kourd where there is a Kervanseray in that place are many Tamarisks some Palm-Trees and several Cisterns We left that Village on our Left Hand and continuing our way over an even Plain betwixt Corn-fields Pai Chotali about nine a Clock we came to a Kervanseray called Pai Chotali that is to say the foot of the Hill because it is near the Hills The same night I saw a Blazing Star Blazing-Star like to that which I had seen at Ispahan it was near the Dolphin and its Tail reached from East to West I saw it again all the nights following so long as our Journey lasted It rose always much about the same place of the Horizon and about the same hour or a quarter in or over On one side of this Kervanseray there is a Cistern and a Well on the other both covered with a Dome the Well is exceeding deep and it is a considerable time before the biggest stone that may be thrown into it reaches the bottom the water is drawn with a great Wheel and poured into a square Bason near to it from whence it passes through a hole into
There is there also a Hand of St. Anna which only wants the Finger they presented to the Queen-Mother of Louis XIV the present King of France when she was brought to bed of that Monarch They have besides many other Reliques and store of very rich Ornaments There are several lovely Buildings in that Town and amongst others the stately Palace of the Great Master A fair Magazine of Arms. In it there is a considerable Magazine of Arms not only for the quantity which is so great that I was assured it was enough to arm thirty five or forty Thousand Men but also for the good order the Arms are kept in all the several Pieces being by themselves in distinct places and kept clean by Slaves who are continually at work there The Arms of the Great Masters who have been wounded in Action are to be seen there with marks upon them Near to the Gate there is a Canon made of bars of Iron fastened together by Wire with a very thin case of Wood over it and the whole covered with thick and hard Leather A Canon covered with Leather well sewed That sort of Canon was invented for the convenience of Transportation because they may easily be carried over Mountains and other rough and difficult places but after they have been twice or thrice fired they are no more fit for service This Palace of the Great Master looks into a large Square that is before it in the middle whereof there is a lovely Fountain that throws up water in great quantity and to a great height The Great Master Lascaris was at the charge of above fourscore thousand Crowns in making of it the Water being brought to it above six Leagues off upon high Arches made in the Rock and indeed it is of great use for it supplies all the Town with running Water which before had no other but Rain-water to use The Water runs into all the streets by little Conduits made purposely to convey it into Cisterns so that when any one has a mind to fill his Cistern with Water he speaks to the Fountain-keeper who sends him as much as he pleases by stopping the Conduits which cross that which leads to his House and that also which is under the Gate to the end the Water may stop there and by a hole or pipe run into his Cistern At one end of that Square A Pillar erected by the Great Master Verdela Palaces of the Conservatory and Treasury Inns of Malta Hospital of Malta Poor Travellers lodged and entertained at Malta there is a Pillar about fifteen foot high erected by the Great Master Verdela with his Arms upon it The Palaces of the Conservatory and Treasury are fair Buildings also and so are the Inns. The Hospital is very well built and the Hall for the sick Knights hung with rich Tapestry where they are attended by Knights and served in Plate All the Sick are received and very well treated in this Hospital Nor are poor Travellers refused for there they have bed and board till they find a Passage for the place whither they are bound and then they are furnished with Provision put on board and all their Charges born during their Voyage The Jesuites have also a very well built House and keep Colledge there All the Houses even to the meanest make a very good shew being built of square Stones cut out of the Rock which does not cost them much for the Rock is very soft and when a Man is about to build the first thing he does is to make his Cistern because out of it he gets Stones that serve in the Building and the rest he has about the Town for they have them for their labour This is a kind of Stone that long retains its whiteness so that the Town seems still to be new All the Houses of it are built with a terrass or flat Roof and one may go from one street to another upon the terrasses of the houses There are in it many lovely Piazza's or Places as that which is before the Palace of his Eminence another betwixt the Houses of the Conservatory and Treasury and the Market-place which is pretty and square A lovely Fountain artfully made in Malta 1655. In this last is the Fountain made by the Great Master Lascaris in form of a large Basket of Stone very well cut and pierced through all round it stands upon a Pedestal about three foot from the ground In this Basket there is a Spire or Obelisk about four foot high with Festons of Flowers hanging from the top to the bottom of the four angles of it and on the top of that Obelisk there is another little pretty Basket The Water rises so just at the four angles of the Obelisk in the first Basket that it all falls into the little one which being pierced through sends the Water back to the Basket underneath from whence it falls down into a great Stone Trough where the Horses water and from that Trough into another little one a foot high where Dogs and other little Beasts drink The Streets of this Town are incommodious in that one is always going either up hill or down hill but they are wide and streight and for the most part begin and end at the Town Walls the fairest of all is the Street that reaches from the Castle St. Erme to the Royal Gate it is almost a mile in length and here it is that they make Horses and Asses run the Pallio on days of Publick Rejoycing Coming along that Street from the Castle St. Erme you mount a little and pass betwixt the Palace of his Eminence on the left-hand and the Square before it which is on the right then you go betwixt the Palace of the Treasury which is on the right-hand and a Piazza less than the former at the end whereof is the Palace of the Conservatory A little more forward on the right-hand is the Inn of Auvergne which is very pleasant by reason of a great many Orange-Trees at the entry Next is the Inn of Provence that has a very lovely Frontispiece and betwixt these two Inns but to the left there is a pretty handsom Piazza at the end whereof there is a Gate to enter into the Church of St. John as I said before so that in this Street one sees the beauty of the Town CHAP. VIII Of the Grove and other Walks in the Countrey-Fields and of the Isle of Gozo THE Countrey is full of Gardens and very agreeable Places of Pleasure Walks of Malta The Grove which is but twelve miles from the New Town is a delightful place whither the Great Masters commonly go to divert themselves This place was embellished by the Great Master Verdala who was made a Cardinal there he built a Palace in form of a Castle with so much uniformity and contrivance that there is not so much as a foot of ground lost all the Halls are adorned with excellent Painting which
Conventual Cordeliers and their Church is called St. Francis of the Jacobins who have St. Peters Church of the Jesuits who have St. Benet's Church and of the Capucius who have the Church of St. George By the Sea-side there is the finest Fish-market in the World it is a Street with Fish-mongers shops on both sides who have so great quantity of Fish upon their Stalls that it would surprise a man to see it There one may find all sorts of fresh Fish and at a very cheap rate The Greeks keep many Taverns or Publick Houses in Galata which draw thither many of the Rabble from Constantinople who are very insolent in their drink and very dangerous to be met with Going up from Galata you come to Pera which is likewise separated from Galata by Burying-places it is a kind of a Town where Christian Ambassadors dwell only the Ambassadors of the Emperor King of Poland and Republick of Ragousa having their residence in Constantinople The French Ambassador is very commodiously lodged in Pera having a fair large Palace which is called the Kings House and has on all hands a good Prospect looking one way towards the Serraglio of the Grand Signior over against which it stands upon a higher ground than the Serraglio Pera lying very high The Houses of Pera are handsome and hardly any body lives there but Greeks of Quality From Pera to Tophana there is a great descent and Tophana lies upon the Rivers side over against the Serraglio It is called Tophana that is to say the House of Cannon because it is the place where Guns and other Pieces of Artillery are cast and that gives the name to all that Quarter which is a kind of little Town The Houses of Galata Pera and Tophana are built in so good order that as these places stand some higher and some lower they represent a kind of Amphitheater from whence with ease and pleasure the Port and Sea may be seen CHAP. XXI Of Leander's Tower Scudaret the Princes Isle and the Black Sea. THough the Countrey about Constantinople be not so delightful nor so well peopled Iscodar as in France yet it is not without pleasant Walks you must take a Caique and go to Scudaret called in Turkish Iscodar and it is a good mile over to it You pass by the Tower of Leander which stands betwixt the Serraglio and Scudaret and you may go into it if you please This Tower is built upon a Rock in the Sea and is pretty strong there are several great Guns mounted in it which may batter the Port of Constantinople and the two mouths of the Bosphorus of Thrace and of the Propontis or as they say of the Black and White Seas there is a Well of excellent good fresh Water in this Tower but I cannot tell why they call it Leander's Tower. From thence you go to Scudaret which is a Village in Asia upon the Sea-side over against the Serraglio of Constantinople where the Grand Signior hath a sttately Serraglio and very lovely Gardens A little lower on the same side over against the seven Towers stands Chalcedon a Town anciently Famous and celebrated by the Fourth general Council that was held there but at present it is no more but a pitiful Village The Princes Isle which is four hours going from Constantinople is another Walk where the Air is excellently good though this Isle be not great yet it is very pleasant and contains two little Towns of Greeks The Chanel of the Black Sea is a rare place to take the Air upon this is the Bosphorus of Thrace which coming from the Black Sea to Constantinople enters into the Propontis and mingles its Waters with the White Sea at the broadest place it is about a mile over and is twelve miles in length Going from Tophana towards this Chanel you see to the left-hand on the side of Europe a great many lovely Houses and Gardens when you have entered into the Chanel you have on both sides the most charming and delightful Prospect in the World nothing offering to your view but stately Houses and Gardens full of all sorts of excellent Fruits Upon the side in Asia I saw a very pretty Castle where Sultan Ibrahim the Father of Sultan Mahomet who Reigns at present was hid for the space of twenty years to avoid the Death which Sultan Amurath put his other Brothers to This Castle is covered with many very high Trees that hinder it from being seen which is the reason as those who live there told us that few come to see it Along both the shores there are also a great many good Villages where one may have whatsoever is needful They take in this Chanel great quantities of good Fish of several sorts especially Sword-fish Sword-fish which are great and so called because on their Snout they have a long broad bone like a Sword or rather a Saw there are many Dolphins to be seen there which follow Boats playing and leaping out of the Water Six miles from Constantinople there are two Forts on this Sea the one in Europe and the other in Asia which serve for Prisons for Persons of quality and were built to put a stop to the Cosacks who were it not for that would often come and make Booty even in Constantinople seeing notwithstanding these Forts they sometimes give the alarm to that City In three or four hours time one comes to the end of the Chanel or Bosphorus of Thrace where the Black Sea begins In the middle of this mouth which is very narrow there is a little Isle or rather Rock distant on each hand from the main Land about fifty paces where being come you may go up to the top of it and there see a Pillar of white Marble which is called the Pillar of Pompey because they say it was raised by Pompey in memory of his Victory after that he had overcome Mithridates Close by this Rock and round it there are several others scattered here and there in the Water which many take to be the Cyanean Isles or Symplegades On the main Land of Europe side over against the Rock of Pompey's Pillar there is a Village on the Water-side with a Tower on the top whereof there is a Light for the convenience of Vessels that by mistake they may not run foul of the Rocks and be cast away for that 's a very dangerous Sea and many shipwrecks are made in it every year so that the Greeks call it Maurothalassa that is to say the Black Sea Maurothalassa not because the Waters of it are black but because Storms and Tempests rise on it so suddenly that they cause many losses and though the Weather be never so fair yet Vessels are often surprised there in a moment for besides that this Sea is not very broad there are several Currents in it caused by the Danube Boristhenes Tanais and many other smaller Rivers that discharge their Waters into it which occasion so many Eddies
Hebrew Breath or Spirit They say then that he was conceived by the Breath of God in the Womb of the Virgin Mary a Virgin both in his Birth and after his Birth which goes a great way but they deny that he is the Son of God thinking it an unworthy thing to attribute a Son to God The opinion of the Turks concerning Jesus Christ who is One and hath no companion They believe that Jesus Christ is a great Prophet who wrought great Miracles among the Jews to whom he foretold the coming of Mahomet under the name of the Comforter that therefore they endeavoured to kill him but that having disappeared from among them and ascended up into Heaven they crucified Judas whom they took to be Jesus In the first Chapter of the Gospel of St. John at the tweny seventh verse it is said He it is who coming after me is preferred before me whose shoes latchet I am not worthy to unloose where St. John means our Lord whose shoes latchet he was unworthy to unloose they say that is false and invented by the Christians and that it was not St. John who said that of Jesus but Jesus who said it of Mahomet They believe that Jesus will come and Judge the World that he shall reign forty years in Damascus Marry and have Children at which time Antichrist shall arise whom they call Dedgial who shall lead away many Dedgial especially of the Jews and put a mark on the foreheads of all those whom he shall deceive but that Jesus shall destroy Antichrist and all that have his mark When that time is expired that he shall again ascend up into Paradise then the Day of Judgment shall come after which that God shall create a sort of very little People such as are described by the Name of Pygmies who shall be great Drinkers for they shall drink the Sea dry and these they call Meijutch In short Meijutch they give great honour to Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary The Turks honour Jesus and the Virgin and if they heard any Man speak ill of them they would chastise him no less than if he spake amiss of Mahomet They believe that the Gospel was sent to Jesus as the Law was to Moses and the Psalms to David They believe all the Prophets They believe a Paradise that shall be filled with the Just and a Hell that shall be filled with the Wicked but they believe not Purgatory Aaraf and nevertheless they will have a place called Aaraf which is betwixt Paradise and Hell wherein they shall be who have done neither Good nor Evil. Mahomet promises the Blessed in Paradise wonderful Gardens where many Rivulets shall run The Turks opinion concerning Paradise and delicious Fruits abound 〈◊〉 all Seasons He says also that in that Paradise there shall be Rivers of Water Rivers of Milk Rivers of Wine and Rivers of Honey He promises them also that they shall be clothed in Green and Scarlet and that they shall have lovely Virgins whom they call Dgennet Kzlar that is to say Virgins of Paradise Dgennet Kzlar who shall be exceedingly beautiful as white as new-lay'd Eggs with great black Eyes and the complexion of the Body extremely white that they shall be alwaies young and never passing the Age of fifteen years have every day a new Maidenhead and never cast an eye upon any but them that they shall never exceed thirty years of Age and shall be served by young Boys that God shall appear to them once a week to wit on Friday They tell a thousand other Fopperies of this voluptuous Paradise which I shall not relate as having been mentioned by many Authours Mahomet promised them in this Paradise all things that he thought could work upon their senses and he feasts them with Gardens Fruits Brooks and Rivers because he was of a Countrey where it is excessively hot where there is but little Fruit and where Water is so scarce that a good Well is a great treasure He promises them Cloahts of Green and Scarlet because he delighted much in these colours as the Turks and Moors do at present especially in Green which is held in great veneration among them Seeing they are very lascivious he would have his Paradise provided with beautiful Maids and young Boys and because they reckon Women with big black Eyes and red Cheeks to be the greatest Beauties so they fancy to themselves those Coelestial Virgins who shall look upon none but their own Husbands which will be very grateful to them The opinion of the Turks concerning Hell. for they are jealous to extremity Those that are in Hell shall drink scalding hot Water and eat of the Fruit of the Tree Zacon this Tree grows out of the bottom of Hell and rises to a great height the Branches of it being like the Heads of Devils If those that are in Hell have a little Faith that is to say if they be not Atheists after that all their sins are consumed Zacon a Tree Selzaboul and they washed in a water which they call Selzaboul they shall be admitted into Paradise where they shall receive and enjoy as much happiness as those who entered at first And on the contrary they who have no Faith that is to say Atheists shall burn everlastingly in Hell-fire and their Bodies being reduced into Ashes by continual torments God shall create them a-new and so they shall suffer Eternally They pray for the Dead aswel as Christians and they likewise invocate their Saints as being able to recommend them to God. CHAP. XXX Of Tutelary Angels and of the Examination of the Black Angels THE Turks also acknowledge Guardian-Angels but in far greater number than we do for they say that God hath appointed threescore and ten Angels though they be invisible for the guard of every Musulman and nothing befalls any body but what they attribute to them They have all their several offices one to guard one member and another another one to serve him in such an affair and another in another There are among all these Angels Two chief Guardian-Angels of every Man. Kerim Kiatib two are the Dictators over the rest they sit one on the right side and the other on the left these they call Kerim Kiatib that is to say the Merciful Scribes He on the right side writes down the good actions of the man whom he has in tuition and the other on the left hand the bad They are so merciful that they spare him if he commits a sin before he goes to sleep hoping he 'll repent and if he does not repent they mark it down if he does repent they write down Estig fourillah Estig fourillah that is to say God pardons They wait upon him in all places except when he does his needs where they let him go alone staying for him at the door till he come out and then they take him into possession again wherefore when the
they believe that that was the night that Mahomet Ascended up to Heaven upon the Alboraoh as he mentions in the Alcoran Thursday the fourth of the Moon of Regeb they have Prayers in their Mosques till Midnight and then return home and Feast This Festival is because of the Ramadan which comes two Months after on all these Festivals and during the whole Ramadan the Minarets of the Mosques are as I said deck'd with Lamps which being contrived in several Figures when they are Lighted make a vary pretty show CHAP. XXXVI Of what renders the Turks Vnclean and of their Ablutions THE third Command of the Turks concerns Prayer Ablutions of the Turks but because they never say their Prayers till first they wash we must say somewhat of their Ablutions The Turks have two kinds of Ablutions the one is called Gousl and is a general Washing of the whole Body The other is termed Abdest and is the Ablution they commonly make before they begin their Prayers Of the Abdest for they never go to Prayers till first they have used the Abdest at least or both the Gousl and Abdest if it be needful Of the Gousl wherefore there are commonly near the Mosques Baths for the Gousl and Fountains for the Abdest There is also an Ablution that they perform after that they have done their Needs which is a kind of Abdest but they only wash their Hands They are obliged to use the Gousl after they have lain with their Wives or after Nocturnal Pollution or when Urine or any other unclean thing hath fallen upon them and therefore when they make Water they squat down like Women least any drop of it should fall upon them or their Cloaths for they think that that which pollutes their Bodies or Cloaths pollutes also their Souls as also by washing the Body they think they wash the Soul. After they have made Water they rub the Yard against a Stone to fetch off any thing that might remain and defile them by falling upon their Cloaths When they do their Needs they make not use of Paper as I have said but having eased themselves they make all clean with their Fingers that they dip into Water and then wash their Hands which they never fail to do after they have done their Needs nay and after they have made Water too wherefore there is always a Pot full of Water in their Houses of Office The Neatness of the Turks and they carry two Handkerchiefs at their girdle to dry their Hands after they have washed This cleanliness is in so great repute with them and they are so fearful least they should defile themselves with their Excrements that they take care that even their Sucking Children in Swadling Cloaths do not defile themselves and for that end they swadle them not as we do A Cradle after the Turkish fashion but put them into Cradles which have a Hole in the middle much about the place where the Child's Buttocks lie and leave always the Breech of it naked upon the Hole to the end that when it does its Business the Excrement may fall into a Pot just under the hole of the Cradle and for making of Water they have little Pipe of Box-wood crooked at one end and shaped like Tobacco-Pipes these Pipes are three Inches long and as big as ones Finger some have the Boul or Hole at the great end round and serve for Boys into which the Yard is put and fastned with some strings the others are of an Oval bore at the great end and serve for the Girls who have them tied to their Bellies and the small end passing betwixt their Thighs conveys the Urine by the hole of the Cradle into the Pot underneath without spoiling of any thing and so they spoil not so much Linnen as Children in Christendom do Now to continue the order of their Ablutions they are obliged to make the Abdest immediately after Prayers as they are to wash their Hands immediately after they have done their Needs or handled any thing that 's unclean and if they be in a place where they cannot find Water they may make use of Sand or Earth in stead of Water not only for the Abdest but the Gousl also and the washing of the Hands and that Ablution will be good The Abdest is performed in this manner First The way of doing the Abdest Turning the Face towards Mecha they wash their Hands three times from the Fingers end to the Wrist Secondly They wash the Mouth three times and make clean their Teeth with a Brush Thirdly They wash the Nose three times and suck Water up out of their Hands into their Nostrils Fourthly With their two Hands they throw Water three times upon the Face Fifthly They wash three times their right Arm from the Wrist to the Elbow and then the left Sixthly They rub the Head with the Thumb and first Finger of the right Hand from the Brow to the Pole. Seventhly With the same Finger and Thumb they wash the Ears within and without Eighthly they wash the Feet three times beginning at the Toes and going no higher than the Instep and with the right Foot first and then the left But if they have washed their Feet in the Morning before they put on their Stockins they pull them not off again but only wet the Hand and then with the aforesaid Finger and Thumb wash over the Paboutches from the Toes to the Instep beginning always with the right and then the left and do so every time that it is necessary from Morning to Night that is to say they pull not off their Stockins all day long But if their Stockins have a hole big enough for three Fingers they ought to pull them off They say that God commanded them to wash the Face but once the Hands and Arms as often to rub the Head as has been mentioned before and to wash the Feet up to the Instep God being unwilling to overcharge Man but that Mahomet added the two other times for fear they might neglect it The difference which they put betwixt that time which God commanded and the two times of Mahomet is that they call the first Fars and those of Mahomet Sunnet Mahomet ordained then that they should wash their Hands three times from the Wrist to the Fingers ends that they should use a Brush to make clean their Teeth that they should wash their Mouth three times that they should throw Water three times upon their Face with their two Hands that they should spend no more time in making clean one part than another but that they should make haste that they should wash their Ears with the same Water wherewith they washed the Head having a firm resolution to wash themselves and saying aloud or to themselves I am resolved to make my self clean That they should begin at the right side and with the Toes in washing of the Feet and the Fingers in washing the Hands and that whilst
a corner of a Street where they think they are not perceived they 'll lift the Veil to shew themselves to some Friend or Young-man that pleases them but in that they hazard their Reputation and Bastonadoes besides Now these Women are very haughty Turkish Women are haughty all of them generally will be clad in flowered stuffs though their Husbands can hardly get Bread nevertheless they are extreamly Lazy spending the whole day sitting on a Divan and doing nothing at all unless it be embroadering Flowers upon some Handkerchief and so soon as the Husband gets a penny it must be laid out for purchasing a Woman-Slave This great Idleness makes them Vicious and employ all their thoughts how to find out ways of having their Pleasures The Turks value not women much The Turks do not believe that Women go to Heaven and hardly account them Rational Creatures the truth is they take them only for their service as they would a Horse but seeing they have many of them and that they often spend their love upon their own Sex these poor Women finding themselves so forsaken use all means to procure what they cannot have from their Husbands who are very Jealous The jealousie of the Turks and put so little confidence in the frailty of that Sex that they suffer them not to shew themselves to Men and a Woman that should allow a Man to see her Face or Hands only would be reckoned Infamous and receive Bastonadoes on the Buttocks and therefore they suffer them not to go to the Mosques The Women go not to the Mosques Upon what grounds a woman may sue out a Divorce from her Husband where they would only distract the Men from their Devotion nor to Market nor yet to enter into their Husbands Shops They never show their wives to their Friends how intimate soever they be and in short they hardly ever stir out of doors unless to the Bath and these also men of Quality have at home and those of higher Quality keep Eunuchs to look to their Wives so that the greater Quality the Husbunds have the less liberty have they The wives have not the priviledge of Divorcing their Husbands as the husbands have of Divorcing them unless he deny them the things which he is obliged to furnish them which are Bread Pilau Coffee and Money to go twice a week to the Bagnio for if he fail in giving them any of these things they may goe before the Cady and demand a Divorce because the Husband is not able to maintain them Then the Cady visits the House and finding the Wives complaints to be just grants her Suit. A Wife may also demand divorce if her Husband hath offered to use her contrary to the course of Nature then she goes before the Cady and turns up the sole of her Slipper without saying a word the Cady understanding that Language sends for the Husband who if he makes no good defence is Bastanado'd and his Wife Divorced from him CHAP. XLIII Of the way of Mourning for the Dead among the Turks their manner of Burying and of their Burying-places WHen any one Dies in Turky the Neighbours soon have the news of it Of the way of mourning for the Dead for the Women of the House fall a Howling and crying out so loud that one would think they were in Dispair all their Friends and Neighbours having notice of this come to visit them and fall to making the same musick as they do for these visits are not rendered for Comforting but for Condoling They all then together weeping and in a mournful and doleful tone but still as if they were singing fall to rehearse the praise of the Deceased as for example the Wife of him that is dead will say He loved me so well gave me plenty of every thing I stood in need of c. And then the rest say the same making now and then all with one consent such loud cries that one would think all were undone The Burying of the Dead and this musick they continue for several hours together But the best of all is that so soon as the Company is all gone the mourning is over and so soon again as any Woman cometh a new Lamentation begins This lasts several days and sometimes at the years end they 'll begin again Such as cannot or will not weep hire Mourning Women who gain a good deal of money thereby At length after all these Lamentations comes the Ceremony that is to be observed before the Deceased be put in the Grave and his Relations and Friends having laid him out upon the Ground wash his Body and shave off his Hair for the Turks love so much to have their Bodies neat and clean that they make even the Dead observe it Next they burn Incense about him which they say scares away Evil Spirits and Devils who otherwise would muster about the Body then they wrap him up in a Sheet praying God to be merciful unto him but they sew not up the shroud at head and feet to the end the Deceased may the more easily kneel when the Angels that are to examine him The colour of the Palls of the Dead command him to do so They put him afterwards into a Coffin or Beer like to ours which they cover with a Pall that ought to be red if he be a Soldier that is Dead if it be a Scherif it ought to be a green Pall and if neither of the two a black one and a thwart over it they extend a Turban according to the Office he bore If he was a Janisary they put a red Turban if a Spahi a red one and a white and if he be a Scherif a green Turban for others they put a white one He is after that carried to the Burying-place then priests going before saying certain prayers and often calling upon the name of God after the Body comes the Relations and Friends then the Women who altogether crie along the Streets like Mad-women and holding a Handkerchief about their neck with both hands they pull it sometimes this way and sometimes that way as if they were out of their wits for Grief In fine being come to the Burying-place where the Corps is to de Interr'd they take it out of the Coffin or Beer put it into the Grave and so depart leaving the Women there to make an end of their Musick If it be a Person of Quality his Horses are led in state Horses led at Funerals Now the difference of the Turkish Graves and those of the Christians of the Country in the inside is this that after the Turks have put their Dead into the Grave they lay over a sloaping Board one end of it being set in the bottom of the Grave and the other leaning on the upper end of the same above so that it covers the Body which the Christians of the Country do not but neither of the two Bury their Dead in
general Assault to be given the next day and assured them that all such as should return from the Assault before the Town was taken should be put to death with his own hands Next day the Assault was given and seeing all knew that Sultan Amurat was a Man of Execution every one both Soldiers and Officers strove who should first offer their bodies to the Enemies blows a vast number were killed but at length they took the Town by storm Besides the advantage of their Numbers and Courage they are likewise very well armed and likewise very skilful in handling of them for in that especially they exceed the Christians that they place the chief part of their Wealth in the magnificence of their Habits Turkish Soldiers well armed Horses Arms and Harness of whatsoever quality they be and if a wretched Janizary who hath four or five Aspres a day can scrape together fifty Crowns he 'l freely lay them out upon a good Musket or handsom Sword. These Muskets are big and of very good metal and weigh sometimes forty fifty nay sixty pound weight nay I have seen one that weighed fourscore They put in them a great Charge of Powder and then ram down a sizable Bullet with the Scowring-stick The way of firing the Musket which is all Iron after that they hold their Musket with the right Hand against the right Shoulder and with the left Hand a leathern Belt fastened to a ring at the middle of the Musket and to another near the Butt and with that they 'l shoot as exact as one can do with a light Fowling-piece and their Musket never split I remember that a Janizary belonging to the French Consul at Caire having on a time charged his Musket with a Bullet of size and shot at two Turtles upon a Tree he shot off the head of the one and the other through the body As for the Troopers whatever some French men who have been in those Countries may say they sit a Horse well they have indeed the Stirrops very short but yet they look very well and sit as close as if they were nailed to the Horse One day in the French Quarter I saw a Spahi so drunk that he could not stand but when he was on Horse-back he made an hundred Caracolles without the least reeling They are very careful also in looking after their Horses Troopers careful of their Horses and there is no Trooper but hath always a measure of Oats ready for his Horse and every thing else that is fit to dress him or to set right what is amiss about him and early in the morning he rises and dresses him himself All this being considered it is not to be thought strange that they are strong by Land and bring to pass whatever they undertake CHAP. LII Of the Weakness of the Turks by Sea. IF the Turks succeed very well in their Wars by Land The Turks unskilful at Sea. they are neither so fortunate nor so stout at Sea where they are always worsted and never get the better but when they are six to one which chiefly is occasioned by their want of skilful Sea Officers fit to Command I speak not now of the Barbary men who being always a Pirating and for the most part Renegadoe Italians French English and Dutch Sea-men by profession cannot but understand Sea Affairs The Turks are even unskilful in building of Ships The Turks understand not how to build Ships and though in that they employ Christian Slaves yet they are so ill built that they are not fit to serve above two years They build Saiques and other Merchants Vessels pretty well but for Men-of-War they are meer Apprentices at it They do what they can to imitate the Galleasses of Venice which do them so much mischief but they cannot compass it for their Galleasses which they call Maones are no more but Galleys a little higher raised Nay Maone there Bastarde or Admiral Galley having served one year Bastarde becomes next year a Maone When they are about to launch a new built Vessel Ceremony in launching a new built Ship. all the other Ships and Galleys come to the place and the Ship that is to be launched is covered with Musicians and Players on Instruments adorned with Flags and Colours on all hands and the Port is covered over with Boats full of People All things being ready they kill a great many Sheep on board the new Ship which are given to the Poor and then she is launched off with the sound of all the Instruments and the shouts of the People who several times cry Allah when she is in the Sea all the other Ships and Galley's salute her with their Guns I saw the Admiral Galley launched in this manner but a little before I came to Constantinople they had ill luck with that Ceremony for a new Vessel which was very big and full of People being launched shot off so fast that she ran her head under water so that many were drowned and the Ships and Galleys that came to salute her were fain to return without firing a Gun. They man their Ships very well with Soldiers and even Janizaries but these Blades The Janizaries have an aversion to the Sea. Seferlus The insolence of the Soldiers when they are going to Sea. who know not what it is to give ground on shore never go to Sea but against their wills and if they can get off for money they are sure not to go All that go for a season to Sea are called Seferlus that is to say who make a Voyage Three days before the Fleet put out they go along the streets with a Hatchet in their hand demanding Aspres from all Christians and Jews whom they meet and sometimes of Turks too and if they have them not quickly bestowed they freely lay on with their Hatchet never minding what may come on 't for they are not sought after so that it is not good for Christians or Jews to be abroad in the streets during these three days Then are all Taverns shut up by order of the Visier who causes them ever to be sealed lest the Wine might inflame their Insolence But I cannot forbear to say somewhat of the Battel that was fought before the Dardaneiles whilst I was at Constantinople wherein the Christians and Venetians gained so much honour and advantage CHAP. LIII Of the Battel of the Dardanelles Fought in the Year 1656. Battel of the Dardanelles in 1656. NEws being brought to Constantinople that the Venetian Fleet was before the Dadanelles the Turks made hast to set out theirs and engage them and during that time an Italian who had had some command on Board of a Ship of the Venetian Fleet being disgusted by the other Officers made his escape out of the Fleet A Venetian turns Turk and came with his Son presently to Constantinople where they both turned Turks the Turks took that for a good
the Modern Greeks Kissaros when the Goats feed on that Herb a certain viscous Dew that is upon it sticks to their Beards and there congeals into a kind of Gum of a very good smell which they Ladanum and Vulgarly Laudanum and cannot be gathered without cutting off of the Goats Beards As you go to the Town there is a Castle upon a very high Hill which commands all the Villages of Darmilla Near the Town upon a Rock called heretofore Strongyle is the Palace of the God Bacchus so called in ancient Times it is an hundred Foot in length and fifty in breadth and built of very white Marble each Stone being sixteen hands long and seven hands thick which were all fastened together with Iron and Lead The Gate is thirty two hands high and sixteen wide its lintel is of four pieces There is no Inscription to be seen upon it they being all eaten out by the Sea and Weather but there are two Cisterns close by it The Turks and others carry away Marble daily from that Palace for making of Gates Windows Mortars Chests and such like things nay and Turbans also to be put at the ends of Graves according to the custome of the Turks The same Bacchus as the Inhabitants say made an Aqueduct that brought Water from a very distant Spring but having carried it on as far as the Shoar he Died and that so it was never perfected however the Chanels of it are to be seen Bacchus was the God of Wine and therefore the Inhabitants of Nixia are so great Drunkards It was in this Island that the perfidious wretch Theseus abandoned the poor Ariadne The place where Theseus forsook Ariadne who had delivered him out of the Labyrinth and Bacchus finding her forsaken and forlorn took her for his Wife The Tower and Ducal Palace are still in being in the Town There are two Arch-Bishops in this Town a Latin and a Greek The Cathedral Church of the Latin Arch-Bishops is dedicated to the assumption of our Lady and is very handsome it hath a Steeple with three Bells in it several Relicks of Saints are kept in the Church and it is served by six Canons and seven other Priests and Clerks who are very diligent at their duty in the Quire but their Revenue is very Inconsiderable and the Arch-Bishop himself has no more than two hundred Piastres of yearly Rent He hath a seat in the country with a Church it is a very delightful place and called San Mamma the Church is neat Paved with Marble and the Walls lined with the same but kept in bad repair Besides the Cathedral Church the Jesuits have also a sorry House in the Castle and the Greeks have a Chappel that belonged to the Dukes formerly Without the Town there are Recollets and Capuchins who make many Proselytes there to the Catholick Faith. The Inhabitants of Nixia have great fewds among themselves so that they speak not to one another as long as they live but the Women are more obstinate than the Men and are very great medlers in other Peoples Business These Women wear more than ten Coats one over another so that they have much adoe to go and their Shoes are so streight that they can hardly thrust their Feet into them but they are pretty Honest and Chast This Island raises its Tribute by the sale of Wine Cheese and Silk CHAP. LXVII Of the Isles of Paro Delos Mycone Tine and Nio. ABout fix miles from Nixia is the Isle of Paro heretofore Paros Paro which hath three Castles several Villages a good harbour for all sorts of Vessels fair Churches and many Greek Priests and Monks being fifty miles in compass and containing about six thousand Souls There were several Statues Marble-Chests and other Antiquities found in this Island which have been carried away by an English Gentleman who brought off all he could find not only there but in the other Isles also and chiefly in Delos Delos or Sdrille called at present Sdrille heretofore so famous for the Oracle of Apollo and where in ancient times there were so many Statues of the Gods at present there is no more but a Statue lying along upon the Ground representing a Woman which is so great that sitting upon the Shoulders one cannot reach the Head with the Hand and there is nothing of it broken off but one Arm. This Isle is fourteen miles in Circuit There are many Ports about these little Islands inhabited only by Coneys where the Corsars commonly go a little farther off is the Island of Mycone heretofore Myconus which was well Peopled Mycone but at present is almost forsaken because of the rigorous Persecution of the Turks it is thirty miles in Circuit Over against this Island is the Isle of Tine in Ancient times Tenes which belongs to the Venetians it is well Peopled Tine and hath a very strong Castle built upon a high Rock and the Houses stand one over another This Isle is forty miles in Compass it is plentiful in Provisions and Silk but so over stocked with People that many are obliged to go ad live elsewhere as at Smyrna and Chio. There is a Latin Bishop in it and the Women are handsome and Courteous enough In going to Santorini one must pass by the Isle of Nio called heretofore Oliarus Nio. Oliarus which was not long since Inhabited by the Albanians a Barbarous and Warlike People who go all night long Armed by the Sea-side Their Fields are fruitful in all things and they have very thick Woods of Oakes and other Trees which they cut down and sell to several Places and particularly to the Inhabitants of Santorini who stand in need of it as we shall say hereafter There is a good Harbour in this Island CHAP. LXVIII Of the Isle of Santorini Santorini or Therasia THE Isle of Santorini whose ancient name was Therasia is thirty six miles round and is threescore miles from Candie from whence the Land of it may be seen There are several Castles in this Isle and first the Castle of St. Nicholas standing on a point of the Island This is a frightful place for besides that it is very high the Houses of it are built upon the hanging sides of black and burn'd Rocks A Greek Bishop has his residence there and a matter of five hundred Souls about him but most of them live in Caves that they have made under Ground which is very light and easie to be Dug being all Pumice-stone and it is very pleasant to see Plowed Lands and People living underneath them so that the Men come creeping out like Coneys But Scaro is a Castle far more Gastly than that of St. Nicholas Scaro not only for the height but solitude of the Place and those that go up to it must climb with Hands and Feet and have a special care too least some great Stone fall from on high and knock them down for one cannot shun it by turning back
will kill a Man for a penny and indeed they are very Poor therefore when one goes by Water upon the Nile he had need keep a good Guard against the Corsairs During our Voyage in the night-time we lighted several Matches which we fastened round about our Bark on the out-side and the Arabs seeing these Matches easily take them for so many Musquets which they are deadly afraid of as not knowing the use of them besides that we had Fire-Arms which we now and then Discharged as well by night as by day that they might hear them but notwithstanding all that a Bark of Robbers came one night up with our Caiques which one having discovered he allarmed the rest then all cried to them to keep off thereupon they made answer in Turkish that we need not be afraid for they were Friends and would go in company with us but when we called to them again that if they did not stand off we would Fire at them they went their way At Boulac we took Asses to carry us to Caire half a League distant from thence My Lord Honorie de Bermond the French Consul did me the favour to lodge me at his House The French Consul as those of other Nations resides at Caire because the Basha lives there so the Affairs of the Nation are the more conveniently managed he hath two Vice-Consuls under him whom he appoints as he thinks good one at Rossetto another at Alexandria and sometimes one at Damiette who depend upon none but him CHAP. IV. Of Caire THere are so many things to be seen at Caire that a very large Book might be fill'd with the Relation of them and seeing I made a considerable stay there and saw a good many of them I shall here describe them in order according to the several times I saw them in Caire the Capital and Metropolitan City of Aegypt Caire before it fell under the Turkish Dominion was in the later times Governed by Sultans or Kings who were taken from among the Mamalukes Mamalukes These Mamalukes were all Circassian Slaves bought of Merchants who came and sold them to the Sultan of Aegypt who presently made them renounce the Christian Religion then committed them to the care of Masters of Exercise by whom they were taught to bend the Bow shoot exact give a true thrust with a Launce make use of Sword and Buckler sit a Horse well for they were all Horse-men and skilfully manage him After that they were advanced according to their merit and the Cowards and Unhandy were left behind so that all who were brave might rise to be Sultans for by them the Sultan was chosen and none who were not Mamalukes could be Sultans nor was any received to be a Mamaluke that was not of Christian Extraction those being excluded who had either Mahometans or Jews to their Fathers These Men were exterminated in the Year 1517. that Sultan Selim the First Conquered all Aegypt and at the taking of Caire Thomambey their Sultan called Tbomambey who was the last Sultan of Aegypt falling into his hands he put him to an ignominious death the Thirteenth of April 1517. causing him to be Hang'd at one of the Gates of Caire called Babzuaila Babzuaila and for ever rooting out the Mamalukes who were cut off to the last man. Since that time the Turks have always been Masters of it This City stands ill Caire stands ill for it is at the foot of a Hill on which the Castle is built so that the Hill covers it and intercepts all the Wind and Air which causes such a stifling heat there as engenders many Diseases whereas if it stood in the place where Old Caire is in the first place they would have the benefit of the River which is of great importance were it only for water to drink for the water must be brought into all parts of Caire in Borachios upon Camels backs which feth it from Boulac above half a league from the City and yet that is the nearest place Hence it is that so much bad water is drank at Caire because those who go to bring it on their Camels that they make the more returns take it out of the Birques or stinking Pooles Birques that are nearer than the River and for all that sell it very dear They would besides have the advantage of the Wind which blows on all hands along the River so that the heat would not be so prejudicial nay more it would be a great help to Trade in that it would ease them of the labour and charges of loading their Goods on Camels to carry them from the City to the Port or from the Port to the City And indeed Memphis the Antients chose a very good Situation for Memphis on the other side of the River and Old Caire hath since been built opposite to Memphis also upon the River But the Later who ought to correct the faults of the more Ancient if they were guilty of any have committed the greatest errours for I can see no reason why they have pitched upon that incommodious Situation unless it was perhaps to joyn the City to the Castle that so it might be under the protection thereof Caire is a very great City full of Rabble it lies in form of a Crescent but is narrow and they are in the wrong who perswade themselves that Caire is bigger than Paris I once went round the City and Castle with two or three other French-men we were mounted on Asses not daring to go on foot for fear of some bad usage The circumference of Caire how many leagues but we went at a foot pace and as near as we could no faster than a man might walk and we were two hours and a quarter in making that round which is somewhat more than three but not four French Leagues I walked once on foot also the whole length of the Khalis from end to end which is exactly the length of the City of Caire for it is a Street that goes through the middle of it from one end to another I set out early in the morning with a Janizary that I might not be by any hindred in my design or abused and being come to the end about St. Michael's I alighted and having set two Watches which I had in my pocket at the same hour I began to walk pretty fast when I came to the other end of Khalis I found that we had been almost three quarters of an hour in going the length of it and I could undertake to perform it very well in half an hour if I had not on Turkish Shoes as I had at that time which was a great hindrance to me for at every turn my Paboutches slipt off my feet and besides I was in my Vest that likewise retarded my going I reckoned also all the steps I made putting at each hundred paces a bean in my pocket and at the end I found one and fifty beans in
little too low against the wall of that Hall hang ten wooden Bucklers a fingers breadth thick a piece all joyned together and pierced through by a Javelin about five foot long with an iron Head about a good foot in length this Iron pierces through all these Bucklers and reaches a hands breadth farther The strength of Sultan Amurat Sultan Amurat as they say threw that Javelin wherewith he pierced the Bucklers through and sent them to Caire sticking thereon as they are to be seen at present to shew his strength to the Aegyptians this is kept as a Miracle and covered with a Net. Sultan Amurat was indeed the strongest Man of his time and marks of that are to be seen in several places In this Appartment of the Basha there is a very large court or place called Cara Meidan at the end of which are his Stables where the Aqueduct which comes near Boulac A most lovely Castle in Caire and conveyeth the water of the Nile discharges itself for the use of his Horses This Castle might pass for a great Town and is the finest that ever I saw not only for Strength but also for the stately Buildings that are in it The Castle of Caire ancient the lovely Prospects and good Air In a word it is a work worthy of the ancient Pharaoh's and Ptolomy's who built it and corresponds very well with the magnificence of the Pyramides This Castle looks great also on the out-side but chiefly on the side of the four Gates which they call Babel Carafi and which enter all four into the Romeile On that side the Castle Walls are very high and strong being built upon the Rock which is two mens height above ground These walls are very entire and look as if they were new Near to that all along from the first of the four Gates to the last and not far from the Castle there are fair Burying-places The Fountain of Lovers The Fountain of Lovers is within the City It is a great oval Bason or rather Trough made of one entire piece of black Marble six foot long and about three foot high and all round it there are Figures of Men and Hieroglyphicks rarely well cut The People of the Countrey tell a great many tales of this Fountain of Lovers and say that in ancient times Sacrifices were offered at it Not far from thence Calaat el Kabh there is a great Palace called Calaat el kabh that is to say the Castle of Turpitude it seems to have been formerly a neat Building but at present it falls to decay several lovely Pillars are to be seen in it They say that Sultan Selim lodged in that Palace after that he had made himself Master of Caire and many very ancient Fables they tell of it A few steps from thence is the Garden of Lovers Garden of Lovers Sesostris whereof the Moors relate the same thing that Diodorus Siculus reports of Sesostris the Second King of Aegypt who having lost his Sight and been told by the Oracle that he should not recover it if he did not wash his face with the Urine of a Woman that had never known Man beside her own Husband he washed with his Wife's water then tried several others without recovering his Sight and at length having washed with the water of a Gardener's Wife who was Master of this Garden his sight came to him again whereupon he married that Woman and caused all the rest who had been adulterous to be burnt CHAP. X. Of the Palaces Streets and Bazars of Caire HAving seen all the places that I have mentioned before no more remains but to walk through the City and see the lovely Mosques and fair Palaces and if you could have any occasion to go into the Houses of the Beys there you would see brave Appartments large Halls paved all with Marble with Water-works and Seelings adorned with Gold and Azure You would see likewise neat Gardens As to the Frontispieces of Houses there is not one that looks well and as I have said already the finest Houses are but dirt without Locks and Keys of wood in Caire All their Locks and Keys are of wood and they have none of iron no not for the City Gates which may be all easily opened without a Key The Keys are bits of timber with little pieces of wire that lift up other little pieces of wire which are in the Lock and enter into certain little holes out of which the ends of wire that are on the Key having thrust them the Gate is open But without the Key a little soft paste upon the end of one's finger will do the job as well There are some fair Streets in Caire the Street of Bazar or the Market Bazar is very long and broad and the Bazar is held there on Mondays and Thursdays There is always such a prodigious croud of people in this street but especially on Market-days that one can hardly go along All sorts of things are sold in this street and at the end of it there is another short street but something broad wherein the shops on each side are full of rich Goods this is called Han Kalil that is to say the little Han. Then at the end of that short street Han Kalil there is a great Han in which there is a large Piazza or Square and very high Buildings White Slaves are sold there aswel Women and Girls Slaves sold in a Market as Men and Boys A little farther there is another Han where are great numbers of Black Slaves of both Sexes There is a little street near Han Kalil where on Market-days that is to say Mondays and Thursdays there are Slaves standing in ranks against a wall to be sold to them that have a mind to buy and every body may look upon them touch and feel them like Horses to see if they have any faults The Hospital and Mosque of Mad People The Hospital and Mosque of Mad People Morestan is very near Han Kalil they are chained with heavy iron chains and are led to the Mosque at Prayer-time This is one of the largest Mosques in the City as far as I could see going by the doors of it The Hospital is called Morestan and it serves also for the sick Poor who are well entertained and look'd after in it It seems worth one's curiosity too to see them make Carpets for a great many fine ones are made at Caire and are called Turkie-work Carpets Turkie-work Carpets made at Caire Many People are employed in that work among whom are several little Boys who do their business so skilfully and nimbly that one could hardly believe it their Loom stands before them and in their left hand they have several ends of round bottoms of Woorstead of many colours which they place in their several places in the right hand they hold a Knife wherewith they cut the Woorsted at every point they touch
upon the ground along the Hall according to their Mode it consists of about Two thousand Dishes ranked one upon two others these Dishes have feet like our Salvers but almost half a Foot high and in that manner they are seven or eight Rows high The dishes are all of Rice Broths and the like Green Red Yellow and of several Colours they have also good Joynts of Roast-meat but without any Sauce however they make some Ragoes of the Nuts of Pine-Apples Almonds and such other things they mind not the daintiness and variety but only the quantity of Victuals and that they be not spoil'd Dinner is prepared in the same manner in the Tents of the Kiaya or the Basha's Lieutenant and of his other Officers When the first have filled their Bellies A Feast for many persons in one service they rise and give place to others who Dine also and then make way for the rest so long as any remain and so several companies Dine without any new Service When the Basha has Dined he withdraws into another Pavillion where he is visited by all the Beys and other persons of Quality every one in his turn The Basha stayed there two days and the third which was Saturday The Basha's entry into Caire the Nine and twentieth of September he made his Entry in this manner First went the Servants of the Beys on Horse-back their Sword by their side and Harquebuss in hand with the but-end on their Knee they made near Five hundred Horse and among them were several of the Retinue of the Basha Next came the Spahis divided into three Banners the Green The Green Troop the Yellow and the Red. The Green called the Troop of the Charquese or Circassians marched first every Trooper having a green Guidon on the top of his Pike they were near Four hundred Men and in the Rear of the Troop came their Aga having in his hand also a Pike with a green Guidon as the rest had and after him the Timbrels and Pipes of the Troop Next to that came the Yellow all the Troopers carrying yellow Guidons Yellow Troop they made about four hundred and twenty and were brought up by their Aga followed by the Timbrels and Pipes The last was the Red Troop Red Troop consisting of near five hundred Men carrying every one a red Guidon their Aga was in the rear and after him the Timbrels and Pipes but in greater number than with the two former for that is the most honourable Troop of the three A Troop of Tartars and next to it is the Yellow After the Spahies came a Troop of Tartarian-Horse who belonged to the Basha there were above an hundred of them all apparelled after the Tartarian fashion with Pike in hand and a Guidon strip'd white yellow and red These were followed by the Muteferacaes then the Chiaoux with their great Caps of Ceremony who made about three hundred in number Next came all the Beys every one with two Pages walking a foot before them After them came seven Horse-men every one leading a Horse of the Bashas these Horses were covered with rich Housses all embroidered with Gold and Silver the Sousbasha followed them having the Master of the Horse of the Basha on his left hand All this body of Horse made about two thousand five or six hundred Men. The Azapes followed them covered for the most part with the Skins of Tigres all entire and their Muskets on their shoulders being in all above three hundred Men. And after them came the Janizaries of whom two marched before the one carrying on his shoulder a great wooden Club and the other a great wooden Hatchet as their Custome is when they march in Pomp these Janizaries made in all near a thousand Men. After them marched the forty Janizaries of the Mehkeime or Justice with their Caps of Ceremony Mehkeime Mehkeime signifies a place where Justice is rendered to all then sixteen Peicks or Bashas Lackqueys marching two and two with their Caps of Silver gilt on their heads and Plumaches of Feathers in them Then at length came the Basha mounted on a stately Horse with a Housse embroidered all over with Gold He wore a Chiaoux Cap with two black Herons tops standing upright upon it and a lovely Vest of white Sattin lined with excellent Samour or Sable After him came his Selihhtar and Tchoadar each with his long tail'd Cap hanging down behind his back and then came a great many Trumpets Flutes Drums Timbrels and such like Instruments with all his domestick Servants on Horse-back This Basha brought one thousand seven hundred Men with him of whom some were in Armour to the very fingers ends and two thousand three hundred Beasts Horses Camels and Mules It was easie to distinguish them from the rest being all much harrassed by the Journey When he entered into his Appartment which had been prepared for him several days before they killed two Bullocks CHAP. XXIV Of the Journey from Caire to Suez BEing at Caire I had a design to go see the Red-Sea The Journey from Caire to Suez and knowing that there was a Caravan ready to part for Suez I went to wait on Haly Bey the Bey of Suez who was then at Caire and made him a Present of a Box of five or six pound weight of Sweet-meats made by a French man and he when I had opened my design to him promised me his protection I went next to the Gentleman of his Horse and having retained Mules for myself and Company I made Provisions of Bread Wine Meat Provisions for going from Caire to Suez and other things necessary to serve us to Suez where they assured me I should find all things but especially Water nor forgetting neither a Quilt Coverlet and a Capot for every one of the company We should have had a Tent also with us but we carried none because the Beys Gentleman of the Horse promised us the use of his to Suez Having made ready our Provisions we loaded them on a Camel and then I parted from Caire on Thursday the seventeenth of January in the Year 1658. with a Capucine and a French man of Provence who understood Arabick very well and a Moor Servant who used to serve the French and could speak a little Lingua Franca having left my own Man who was indisposed at Caire We went from Caire to the Birque which is but four leagues distant and encamped there waiting for the rest of the Caravan that consisted of two thousand Camels loaded with Timber for building a Ship for the Grand Signior Novali Bey had orders to get her built and was gone a little before The Bey of Suez went along with this Caravan in a Litter carried by two Camels he made the Journey because one of his Galleys was arrived and that was the cause also of the Capucins going that he might Confess the Slaves on board This Birque is spacious and has always water in
Earth Without the Town there are several goodly Mosques all faced with Marble on the outside and I beleive they were places that belonged all to the ancient City From Caire till we came thither we found no Wine but there we had some pretty good wherewith we provided ourselves and might have had pretty good Brandy too if we had had occasion We stayed at Gaza all Sunday the seventh of April waiting for the Jews who had stopp'd to celebrate their Sabbath at Cauniones On Monday morning when we thought of parting the Basha put a stop to it who having had intelligence that the master of the Caravan carried money for some Jews in Jerusalem who were his Debtors would needs pay himself with it The matter being taken up we parted from Gaza Tuesday the ninth of April at six a Clock in the Morning with some Turks for a Convoy about nine a Clock we passed over a very high and broad Bridge but of one single Arch which has at the higher end a Sibil joining to it and another a little beyond it about half an hour after ten we found another Sibil and about eleven two high-ways Megdel of which leaving to the left hand the one that at a hundred paces distance passes through a Village called Megdel we took the right hand way at the entry into which we found a Sibil and at noon another besides these there are a great many Birques upon the Road. Hhansedoud At three a Clock in the Afternoon we arrived at Hhansedoud travelling all the way from Gaza thither in a lovely plain full of Corn Trees and Flowers which yielded a rare good smell A Plain of Tulips and Emonies This Plain is all embroadered with Tulips and Emonies when the season is but then it was past and these Flowers would be reckoned beautiful in France Hhansedoud is a pitiful Village where there is a Han for Caravans built of small Free-stone and the doors faced with Iron but we went not into it because we would make no stay designing to make up our Mondays journey which we lost at Gaza and therefore we encamped upon a little height about two hundred paces beyond the Village from whence we parted the same day Tuesday the ninth of April at nine a clock at night and at one a clock in the morning passed a Village called Yebna at the end of which we crossed over a Bridge that is very broad about half an hour after three we found a lovely large well and a Sibil close by it as a little farther another Wednesday the tenth of April about four of the clock in the morning Rama Ramla we arrived at Rama called in Arabick Ramla we went not into it because we had no mind to lye there but encamped in a Plain over against the Town and then went to the Town to see the French Merchants that live there Rama is a Town depending on the Basha of Gaza and therein is the House of Nicomedes The House of Nicomedes where some French Merchants and their Chaplain live In the same House there is a pretty Church and it is the House where the Franks who are on Pilgrimage lodge when they pass through Rama The Door of that House is not three foot high and so are all the Doors in the Town to hinder the Arabs from entering into their Houses on Horse-back The Church of the Forty Martyrs is also in this Town and hath a very high square Steeple which in times past was as high again Heretofore there was a stately large Convent there of which the Cloyster seems still to be very entire by what we could observe in passing by the Gate for we were told that Christians were not permitted to enter it There is another Church there also dedicated to the Honour of St. George We parted from Rama on Thursday the eleventh of April at six of the clock in the morning and a little after came to a stony way which grew worse and worse all along till we came to our Lodging About nine of the clock we saw to the right hand the Village of the Good Thief Bethlakij called in Arabick Bethlakij after that we paid the Caffaire and took a Guard as far a Jerusalem before we came to that Village we found two Ways of which that which is the good Way is on the right hand and passes through the Village and the other is on the left hand which we took to avoid a Caffaire but it led us among Hills in very bad Way and at length we encamped amidst the Mountains about half an hour after two in the afternoon in a place close by a ruinous old Building which heretofore was a Convent of Franciscan Friers there are still some Arches standing and many others under ground wherein at present the Arabs put their Cows Near to it there is a Spring of very good Water issuing out of a Rock which perhaps was formerly enclosed within the Convent Friday the twelfth of April about five of the clock in the morning we parted from that place and about seven were got out from among the Hills which last about six or seven miles and are all covered with very thick Woods and a great many Flowers in Pasture-ground After that we travelled in pretty good Plains though there be many Stones in the way About eight of the clock Dgib the Town of Samuel we saw to the right hand a Village called in Arabick Dgib which was heretofore the Town of Samuel it stands upon an Eminence and in it there is a Mosque covered with a Dome they say Samuel is interred there and the Jews visite it out of Devotion About half an hour after nine we discovered a little on the right hand the beginning of the Holy City of Jerusalem Coudscherif called by the Turks Coudscherif and after about a quarter of an hours travelling we saw it plainly before us and arrived there after ten a clock in the morning but we who were Franks stay'd at the Gates of the City till the Religious sent for us When he had waited about an hour at the Gate which is called Damascus-Gate we were introduced into the City by the Trucheman of the Convent who came with a Turk belonging to the Basha that visited our Baggage for if a Frank entered the Town of Jerusalem before the Religious had obtained a permission for him from the Basha he would have an Avanie put upon him They led us to the Convent of St. Saviour where the Monks live and where after we had dined we were shew'd into an Appartment to rest ourselves This is a very commodious Convent both for the Religious and Pilgrims The reception of Pilgrims at Jerusalem About three of the clock in the afternoon a Monk came and washed our Feet with warm water and at four we were conducted to the Church where after the Compline the Reverend Father Commissary for at that time
there was no Guardian there attended by all the Monks and Pilgrims that were in the Convent making us sit down on a Couch of crimson Velvet washed the Feet of us four one after another in Water full of Roses then kissed them as after him did all his Monks singing in the mean time many Hymns and Anthems When this Ceremony was over they gave to each of us a white Wax-taper which they told us we should carefully keep because they carried great Indulgences with them and then we made a Procession about the Cloyster singing Te Deum laudamus to thank God for the favour he had shew'd us in bringing us sound and safe to that Holy Place They made us perform the Stations at three Altars to wit at the High Altar dedicated to the Holy Ghost at the Altar of our Lord's Supper and at the Altar of our Lord 's appearing after his Resurrection to the Apostle St. Thomas singing at every one of these Altars the proper Hymns for the places CHAP. XXXVII The first visiting of the Dolorous Way and other Holy Places I Shall not much enlarge in describing the Holy Places because I can say nothing of them but what hath been already said by so many who have visited them and especially by Monsieur Opdan who hath lately published a Book wherein all the Holy Places are very well and as fully as they can be described I shall therefore only speak of them as a Traveller and observe them in the order I saw them in The day we arrived we stirred not out of the Convent but next day after the thirteenth of April which was the Saturday before Palm-Sunday we went out of the Convent about eight of the clock in the morning The Judgement-Gate in Jerusalem with the Father who takes care of the Pilgrims to begin our Visites of the Holy Places and first we passed near to the Judgment-Gate through which our Saviour went out bearing his Cross when he went to Mount Calvary and it is called the Judgment-Gate because those that were condemned to Death went out of the City by it to the place of Execution at present it is within the City Having advanced a few steps we saw on our right hand the House of Veronica The House of Veronica who seeing our Saviour coming loaded with his Cross and his Face besmeared with Sweat and Spittle went out of her House and having made way through the Croud took a white Veil off of her Head and therewith wiped our Lord's Face who in testimony of his thankfulness for that charitable office left the Image of his Holy Face stamped upon her Veil which is shewn in St. Peter's at Rome four times a year There are four Steps up to the Door of this House Next to that on the right hand is the House of the Rich Glutton then on the left The House of the Rich Glutton the place where our Saviour said to the Women of Jerusalem who wept Weep not for me but for you and your Children A little after is the place where Simon the Cyrenean helpt our Lord to carry his Cross when he fell down under that heavy burthen Then on the right hand is the place of the Blessed Virgin 's Trance who fainted away when she saw our Lord bearing his Cross and so spightfully used Proceeding on our way about an hundred paces farther we passed under the Arch upon which Pilate set our Lord saying Behold the man it is a large Arch reaching from one side of the street to the other The Arch of Ecce Homo This Arch hath two Windows that look into the street which are separated only by a little Marble Pillar Under these Windows is this Inscription Tolle Tolle Crucifige eum Beyond that Arch at the end of a street on the left hand is the Palace of Herod where our Lord was cloathed with a white Robe in derision and sent back to Pilate with whom Herod being formerly at variance was that day reconciled Leaving that street on the left hand after a few steps you come to the Palace of Pilate on the right hand The Palace of Pilate which is at present inhabited by the Basha The Stairs of that Palace are to be seen at Rome near to St. John de Latran being sent thither by St. Helen they are at present called Scala Sancta because our Lord ascended them Scala Sancta when he was led before Pilate and came down again the same Stairs to go before Herod then being sent back by Herod he went them up again and afterwards descended them when he went to execution In place of that Stair-case there is another of eleven steps which are now sufficient because since that time the Street is much raised by the Ruines Having gone up these eleven steps you come into a Court and turning to the Left Hand you enter into the Basha's Kitchin which is the place where Pilate washed his Hands in that Kitchin there is a Window that looks into the Court or open place that is before the Temple of Salomon from that Window we saw the Front of the said Temple at one end of the Court there are several Arches that make a lovely Porch before the Door of the said Temple supported by several fair Pillars There is a hole in that Kitchin which serves at present to lay Coals in and is thought to have been the Prison into which our Lord was put Heretofore there was a passage from this Palace to the Arch of Behold the Man that we mentioned before Coming out of the Palace we went over to the other side of the Street into a Chappel called the Place of Flagellation The place of Flagellation because our Saviour was Scourged there the Turks make use of it at present for a Stable In that place ends according to the way we went or rather begins the Dolorous Way which reaches from the House of Pilate to Mount Calvary about a Mile in length Having seen these things to avoid the heat we resolved to see the most distant places before the Sun were too high and therefore went out by St. Stephen's Gate anciently called Porta Gregis Porta Gregis or the Sheep-Gate without which we saw the place where the Blessed Virgin let her Girdle fall to St. Thomas when he saw her Body and Soul carried up to Heaven then we went up to the Mount of Olives Mount of Olives in the middle whereof is the place where our Lord wept over Jerusalem foreseeing its future Ruine The truth is one has a very good view of it from that place and may at leisure there consider all the external beauties of the Temple of Salomon as also the Church of the Presentation of our Lady which joyns the said Temple and is magnificently built Here it was that the Blessed Virgin was by her Father and Mother presented to the good Widdows who lived near to the Temple and taught young
of the Jews This Chappel belongs to the Abyssins and has five Lamps in it Having passed this Chappel you come to a narrow Stair-case of which the first Steps are of wood and the rest cut in the Rock being nineteen in all where after you have put off your Shoes you come upon Mount Calvary upon which there are two Chappels separated by a Pillar that supports the Roof and so divides them that one may still go from the one into the other These two Chappels are adorned with Marble and the first of them which is on the left hand as you enter is the place where the Cross of our Lord was planted and in the middle of a neat Table of white Marble in form of an Altar which is about ten foot long seven foot broad and two foot raised from the floor The place where the Cross of our Lord was planted is the hole wherein the Cross of our Lord was fixed this hole is round a large half foot in diametre two foot deep and has a Silver-Plate about it on which the Mysteries of the Passion are embossed the Christians thrust their Arms into this hole and have their Chaplets touched there On our Saviour's right hand about five foot distant from him was the Cross of the Good Thief and on our Lord 's left hand six foot distant that of the Wicked Thief These three Grosses were not in a streight line but made a kind of triangle our Lord standing more backward so that he could easily see the two Thieves Where these two Crosses stood there are at present two little Marble-Pillars and Crosses upon them Betwixt the hole where the Cross of our Lord was placed and the Cross of the Wicked Thief is the Cleft of the Rock that was rent it is a foot wide and covered with a Wire-Lettice This Chappel belongs to the Greeks and there are in it eight and and forty Lamps and two Candlesticks of twelve branches a piece Near to the Cross of the Good Thief there is a Door by which the Greeks go into the Quire that belongs to them and into their Lodgings The other Chappel is called the Chappel of Crucifixion The Chappel of Crucifixion because in that place our Lord was laid upon the Cross and had his Hands and Feet pierced and nailed to it from whence he was carried to the place where the Cross was set up in the hole about six foot distant This Chappel is covered all over with Mosaick Work and upon the Pavement in the middle thereof there is a place marked with Marble of several colours and that is the very place where our Lord was Crucified and shed much Blood when his Feet and Hands were pierced This Chappel belongs to the Latin Monks and has two Altars before which are sixteen Lamps and a Candlestick of twelve branches Near to that there is another Chappel where they say the Blessed Virgin and St. John were while they Crucified our Lord and heretofore there was a Door to enter into it but at present there is no more but a Window with a Grate and the entry into it is without the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Going down the way you come up The Chappel of our Lady of Pity The Tombs of Godfrey of Boulloin and his Brother Baldowin The Epitaph of Godfrey of Boulloin The Epitaph of Baldowin you come to the Chappel of our Lady of Pity which is under Mount Calvary where are the Tombs of Godfrey of Boulloin and his Brother Baldowin Kings of Jerusalem that of Godfrey of Boulloin is on the right hand as you enter the Chappel it is made with a ridged Roof supported by four Stone-Pillars bearing this Epitaph Engrav'd on the Marble in Gothick Characters Hic jacet inclytus Dux Godefridus qui totam istam terram acquisivit cultui Christiano cujus anima regnet cum Christo Amen And Baldowin's Tomb is on the left hand but all of white Marble supported also by four little Stone-Pillars with this Epitaph Rex Baldewinus Judas alter Machabaeus spes Patriae vigor Ecclesiae virtus utriusque quem formidabant cui dona tributa ferebant Cedar Aegyptus Dan ac homicida Damascus proh dolor in modico clauditur hoc tumulo At the bottom of the same Chappel on the right hand The Tomb of Melchisedeck there is a great Tomb of curious Porphyrian-Marble about three foot high which they say is the Monument of the High Priest Melchisedeck Behind the Altar of this Chappel you may see the Cleft of the Rock underneath the place where the Cross of our Lord stood and they say that Adam's Skull was found in that place from whence Mount Calvary took the Name of Golgotha that is to say a Dead Man's Skull which we explain by the word Calvary There is always a burning Lamp in that Chappel entertained by the Georgians to whom it belongs They say that this Chappel is the place where the Blessed Virgin took our Lord in her arms when he was let down from the Cross and it is therefore called the Chappel of our Lady of Pity As you go out of that Chappel you see on the left hand before the Church-Door along the Wall four fair Sepulchres of white Marble where the Children of Baldowin are interred The Tombs of the Children of Baldowin on one of which is this Epitaph upon well cut Marble Septimus in tumulo puer isto Rex tumulatus est Baldewinus regum de sanguine natus quem tulit e mundo sors primae conditionis paradisiacae loca possideat regionis but one hath much a do to read the latter part of it because it pleased the Greeks heretofore to spoil these Tombs that they might abolish the memory of the Western Kings but at present they are not suffered to do it Near to that is the Stone of Unction The Stone of Unction upon which Joseph of Aramathea anointed the Body of our Lord after it was taken down from the Cross it is almost seven foot long and two foot broad and is now covered over with greyish Marble because the Pilgrims broke always bits off of it it is adorned all round with a chequered border of little white and red Marble-Stones and that no body should tread upon it for it is but about a foot above ground it is enclosed within an Iron-Grate the ends of which are leaded into the Pavement of the Church and there are two Copper-Candlesticks one at each end leaded in in the same manner in which the Latin Monks keep two Wax-Tapers burning There are always eight Lamps burning over that Stone which are entertained by all the eight Nations that are in the Holy Sepulchre to wit the Latins Greeks Abyssines Cophtes Armenians Nestorians and Jacobites but the Stone belongs to the Latins After that continuing to go round the Church you come to a pair of Stairs before which there is a round white Marble-Stone even with the Pavement and set
there are three Cisterns and on the Right Hand of them a place Vaulted over the Arch whereof is supported by six Pillars of Garnet It was in this place that St. Jerome Read and Taught the Holy Scriptures The place of St. Jerome but the Turks at present have made a Stable of it From this second Court you go through a little Door only three Foot high and two Foot wide into a third little Court which serves for a Porch to the Church this was a very large Door but it is walled up to hinder the Arabs from entring into the Church with their Horses the Door also which is of Wood is very thick and shuts with a strong Bar behind it to hold out the Arabs after that you enter by another Door into the Church which is very spacious and we shall speak of it hereafter Turning to the Left Hand you go into a Cloyster by a little very thick Door and covered all over with Iron on the side of the Cloyster with a great Bolt and strong Bar for resisting the Arabs In this Cloyster being the Lodgings of the Latin Monks St. Catharines Church in Bethlehem whose Church is Dedicated to the Honour of St. Catharine having there said our Prayers and heard Te Deum sung the R. F. Guardian gave each of us a white Wax-Taper like to that which had been given us in the Church of St. Saviour the day we came to Jerusalem and we went in Procession to visit the holy places that are in the Convent We descended eighteen steps and came to the place where the Birth of our Saviour is represented for since the Greeks as we shall hereafter relate had taken the holy places from our Monks The place of the Representation of the Birth of our Lord. they have built a Chappel over against the real place where our Lord was Born and another over against the Manger being only separated by a Wall that is betwixt them and the Popes have granted to these two Chappels the same Indulgences as to the true ones Next we went to the Altar of St. Joseph then to the Sepulchre of the Innocents so called The Sepulchre of the Innocents The Oratory of St. Jerome because many Innocent Infants whom the Mothers had hid with themselves in that Grott were Murdered and Buried there Then to the Oratory of St. Jerome where he Translated the Bible out of Hebrew into Latin and to his Sepulchre which stands in a Chappel where there are two Altars to wit one over his Tomb which is on the Right Hand as you enter and another upon the Tomb of St. Paula and her Daughter Eustochium where there is an Epitaph made by St. Jerome The Epitaph of St. Paula in these terms Obiit hic Paula ex Nobilissimis Romanorum Corneliis Gracchas orta cum 20. Annos vixisset in coenobiis a se institutis cui tale Epitaphium posuit Hieronymus And this other besides Scipio quem genuit Paulae fudere parentes Gracchorum soboles Agamemnonis inclyta proles hoc jacet in tumulo Paulam dixere priores Eustochii genitrix Romani prima Senatus Pauperiem Christi Bethleemiti rura sequuta We made a station at the Tomb of St. Jerome St. Jerome's Tomb. and another at the Tombs of the said Saints After that we went to the Tomb of St. Eusebius the Disciple of St. Jerome singing at these several stations the proper Prayers for the places All these stations are in Grotts under Ground where there is no Light but what they bring along with them Then we come up again into the Church where the Procession ended The Church of St. Catharine was heretofore a Monastery they say that it was in that Church that our Lord Espoused St. Catharine who came to visit these holy places and the same Indulgences are there as in Mount Sinai There is a very good Cistern in that Church near the Door on the left hand as you enter It is a very pretty Church and was with the whole Convent built by St. Paula After the Procession we went to the great Church lately come into the Possession of the Greeks which for Money they gave the Turks they wrested from our Monks This Church was built by St. Helene and is a most beautiful and spacious Church it has a high Roof of Cedar-Wood extraordinary well wrought and Leaded over with many fair Windows that render it very light The Nef or Body is supported on both sides by two rows of high and great Marble Pillars all of one entire piece there being Eleven in each row so that it maketh five Isles separated one from another by these four rows of Pillars on every one of which there is the Picture of a Saint and over these Pillars all the Wall is painted in lovely Mosaick Work of Green upon a ground of fine Gold. Heretofore all this Church was lined with beautiful Marble as may be easily seen by the Cramp-Irons fixed all over in the Wall which have held the pieces but the Turks have removed these Ornaments for their Mosques As you enter that Church you see on the right hand behind the third and fourth Pillars the Greeks Font which is very fine The Quire is still very large and closed all round with a Wall the Armenians have a third part of it which was given them by the Latins whilst they possessed the Church and they have separated it from the rest by wooden Rails As you enter this Quire you see on each side a kind of Chappel and almost at the farther end of it stands the high Altar which with these two Chappels makes a Cross in that which is on the right hand there is an Altar where you see the Stone on which our Lord was Circumcised In the other Chappel on the left hand which belongs to the Armenians there is an Altar which they say is the place where the Kings alighted from their Horses when they came to adore our Lord. On the right side of the high Altar there is a pair of Stairs by which you go up to a Tower on the out-side of the Quire it was formerly the Steeple of the Church and serves at present for Lodgings for the Greeks There are also many Pillars in the Quire like to those in the Nef and which with these of the Nef make in all fifty Pillars Near to the high Altar in the Quire there are two little Marble Stair-cases one on each side having thirteen steps apiece and being gone down six of them you find a neat Brazen Door well wrought and pierced through to let in light from above passing it you come to the foot of the Stairs which lead into a little Church reaching only in length from the one Stair-case to the other Much under the great Altar of the Quire at this end betwixt the aforesaid two Stair-cases there is an Altar under which is the place where our Saviour was Born this place is
faced with lovely Marble in the middle whereof there is a Glory of Silver like the Sun with this Inscription about it Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est About half a Foot from this Glory there is naturally upon a Marble Stone The figure of the Virgin and of her Son naturally imprinted on Marble The place of the Manger of our Lord. a figure in red Colour of a Virgin on her Knees and a little Child lying before her which is taken for the Blessed Virgin and her Son Jesus on whose Heads they have put two little Crowns of Silver-Plate Nine and twenty Lamps are kept burning before that Chappel Then you go down by three Marble-steps into a little Chappel where was the Wooden Manger into which the Virgin laid our Lord so soon as She had brought Him into the World this Manger is now at Rome in Santa Maria Majora And in the same place St. Helen caused another of white Marble Tables to be put on one of which set against the Wall is the natural Figure of an Old Man with a Monks Hood and long Beard lying on his Back and they 'll have this to be the Figure of St. Jerome which God was pleased should be marked upon that Stone because of the great love he had for that place Ten Lamps are kept burning before that Chappel two steps from which and just over against it is the Altar of Adoration of the Three Kings where there is a little Stone for a mark of the place The place of the Kings Adoration on which sat the holy Virgin with Her dear Son in Her Arms when She saw the three Wise Men come in who having laid down their Presents upon a little Bench of Stone at the foot of the Altar on the side of the Epistle adored Jesus and then offered him their Presents The Vault in this place is very low and supported by three Pillars of Porphyrian Marble before this Altar three Lamps burn At the other end of this place there was heretofore a Door by which one came down from St. Catharine's Chappel into this Grott before the Latin Monks lost it but at present it is Walled up and close by that Door there is a hole into which the Oriental Christians say the Star sunk after it had guided the Magi into this holy place This Grott is all faced with Marble both the Walls and Floor and the Seeling or Vault is adorned with Mosaick Work blackened by the smoak of the Lamps It receives no light but by the two Doors that are upon the Stairs which affords but very little Now this place is held in very great Veneration even by the Turks who come often and say their prayers there The Church of Bethlehem serves for a lodging to the Turks that pass that way But it is a very incommodious and unseemly thing that all the Turks who pass through Bethlehem should Lodge in the great Church with their whole Families there being no convenient Lodging in Bethlehem which is a great Eye-sore to the Christians who see their Church made an Inn for the Infidels But it is above all troublesome to our Latin Monks whom they oblige to furnish them with all things necessary both for Diet and Lodging CHAP. XLVI Of the Way of making what Marks Men please upon their Arms. WE spent all Tuesday the Nine and twentieth of April The Pilgrims of Jerusalem marked in the Arm. in getting Marks put upon our Arms as commonly all Pilgrims do the Christians of Bethlehem who are of the Latin Church do that They have several Wooden Moulds of which you may chuse that which pleases you best then they fill it with Coal-dust and apply it to your Arm so that they leave upon the same the Mark of what is cut in the Mould after that with the left hand they take hold of your Arm and stretch the skin of it and in the right hand they have a little Cane with two Needles fastened in it which from time to time they dip into Ink mingled with Oxes Gall and prick your Arm all along the lines that are marked by the Wooden Mould This without doubt is painful and commonly causes a slight Fever which is soon over the Arm in the mean time for two or three days continues swelled three times as big as it ordinarily is After they have pricked all along the said lines they wash the Arm and observe if there be any thing wanting then they begin again and sometimes do it three times over When they have done they wrap up your Arm very streight and there grows a Crust upon it which falling off three or four days after the Marks remain Blew and never wear out because the Blood mingling with that Tincture of Ink and Oxes Gall retains the mark under the Skin CHAP. XLVII Of what is to be seen about Bethlehem and of the Grott of the Virgin in Bethlehem WEdnesday the Four and twentieth of April we parted from Bethlehem at five a Clock in the Morning and went to see the holy places that are about it In the first place we saw on a little Hill on our right hand Boticella Boticella which is a Town wherein none but Greeks live and the Turks cannot live there for they say that if a Turk offer to live in it he dies within eight days Then a League from Bethlehem we saw the Church of St. George where there is a great Iron-ring fastened to a Chain through which the People of the Country A Ring that eures the Sick. both Moors and Christians pass when they are troubled with any Infirmity and as they say are immediately cured of it We went not thither because the day before the Greeks having been there met with some Turks who made every one of them pay some Maidins though it was not the custom to pay any thing and our Trucheman would by no means have us go thither that we might not accustome them to a new Imposition We left St. George's on the right hand and went to see a Fountain called in holy Scripture Fons Signatus Fons Signatus the Sealed Well which is in a hole under Ground where being got down with some trouble and a lighted Candle we saw on the right hand three Springs one by another the Water whereof is by an Aqueduct that begins close by the Fountain Heads conveyed to Jerusalem Near to that place there is a pretty Castle built some fifty or sixty Years since for taking the Caffares of the Caravans of Hebron a little farther are the three Fish-Ponds of Salomon The three Fish-ponds of Salomon they are three great Reser-servatories cut in the Rock the one at the end of the other the second being a little lower than the first and the third than the second and so communicate the Water from one to another when they are full near to this place his Concubines lived Continuing our Journey we saw in
a low Valley the Garden of the same Salomon Hortus Conclusus The Mount Anguedy called Hortus Conclusus because it is on both sides shut in by two high Hills that serve it for a Wall. Then returning back towards Bethlehem we passed the Mount Anguedy where the Cave is in which David cut off the Skirt of Saul's Garment And about half a League from thence we saw a Castle upon a high Hill called Bethulia which the Franks maintained forty Years after they had lost the City of Jerusalem then we came to the Well where the Virgin desiring to drink when she fled from the Persecution of Herod and the People of the Country refusing to draw Water for her it swelled of it self up to the Wells mouth Next we went to the place where the Shepherds were when the Angel brought them the joyful Tydings saying I bring you good Tydings and Glory be to God on High which with great Devotion we sung there in an old ruinous Subterranean Church built by St. Helen in that place All the Inhabitants thereabouts are to this day Shepherds because it is a fertile Country We returned to Bethlehem about ten a Clock in the Morning and in the Evening went into the Grott where it is said the holy Virgin hid her self with the Child Jesus to avoid the Tyranny of Herod when he put to death the innocent Babes We carried Candles with us thither for you can see nothing unless you have a light with you This is a round Grott cut in the Rock and in it there is an Altar where the Latin Monks sometimes say Mass They say that the Virgin having in this place shed some of her Milk the Stone became white A Stone become white by the Virgins Milk. as it is at present and that by Gods permission it obtained this Vertue That it makes Womens Milk return to them nay the Turks and Arabs give the powder of it in water to their Females which have lost their Milk and that makes it return again About sixty paces from thence is the House where St. Joseph was when the Angel appeared to him bidding him flee into Aegypt with the Virgin and the Child Jesus CHAP. XLVIII Of the Mountains of Judea and of the Convent of Holy-Cross THursday the twenty fifth of April we parted from Bethlehem about seven a Clock in the Morning and went to the Mountains of Judea Mountains of Judea The Town of Sennacherib passing by the Town of Sennacherib so called because the Army of Sennacherib was cut to pieces there in the Night-time by an Angel. Then after we had ascended a little we passed close by Botirella which we left on our left hand and came to the Fountain where St. Philip Baptized the Eunuch of Candaie Queen of Aethiopia the Brook which runs from that Fountain is called in holy Scripture the Brook of Eshcoll Numb 13. That is to say the Brook of Grapes Brook of Eshcoll Vineyard of Sorec because it runs near to the Vineyard of Sorec Leaving that Fountain to the left hand we went near to the said Vineyard of Sorec that is to say Chosen Vineyard where the Spies whom Moses sent to view the Land of Promise Battir The Desart of St. John Baptist took a great cluster of Grapes then we pass'd by the Village of Battir and from thence by very bad way came to the Desart of St. John Baptist where after a pretty long Ascent we found a very old ruinous Building which heretofore was a Monastery under these ruines there is a Cave where that Saint lived and there you see the Bed whereon he lay which is the hard Rock cut in shape of a Bed. The Bed of St. John Baptist This Grott is on the side of a Hill at the foot of which there is a very stony Valley or Precipice then another Mountain which intercepts the View so that it is encompassed round with Hills There is a Spring of excellent water by the side of this Cave and near to it we Dined Being gone from thence we came to the House of St. Elizabeth where are the ruines of a fair Church that was built by S. Helen that is the place where the Virgin visited St. Elizabeth The House of St. Elizabeth and made the Magnificat which we Sung there Then going down about five hundred paces we found on the right hand the Well of St. John where St. Elizabeth washed his Clouts when he was an Infant Keeping on our way we came to a Village wherein is the House of St. Zacharias The House of Zacharias the Father of St. John Baptist which was converted into a Church wherein on the left hand of the Altar that is at the end of it as you enter is the Room where St. John was Born and where his Father at the Birth of that Son who was blessed from the Womb recovered his Speech and made the Benedictus which we sung there on the other side of the Altar to wit on the side of the Epistle there is a little hole where it is said St. Elizabeth kept St. John long hid to avoid the fury of Herod The Arabs lodge their Cattel many times in this Church When we came out from thence The Village of St. John. The Convent of Holy Cross we passed through the Village of St. John Inhabited by Arabs All the ways in the Hilly Country of Judea are very bad We came next to a Convent of Greeks called Holy-Cross built with very strong Walls we went into the Church which is fair very light and full of the pictures of Saints after the Mosaical way and paved also in that manner The place where the Olive-Tree was cut down of which the Coss of our Lord was made It is covered with a Dome There is a great hole under the high Altar where the Olive-Tree grew that was cut down to make the Cross of our Lord of When we had seen all these things we took our way streight to Jerusalem where we arrived about four a clock in the Afternoon We entered by the Castle-Gate called also the Gate of Bethlehem This Gate is called the Castle-Gate because there is a good Castle in that place CHAP. XLIX Of Bethany Bethphage Mount Sion the Houses of Caiaphas and Annas FRiday the twenty sixth of April we went out by the Gate of Bethlehem about seven a Clock in the Morning and saw first on our right hand at the foot of Mount Sion The Fish-ponds of Bathshebah Mount Sion The Palace of David Aceldama the two Fish-ponds of Bathshebah where she bathed her self and very near over against it but about fifty paces higher upon the same Mount Sion is the Palace of David from whence he saw and fell in Love with her then the Field called in holy Scripture Aceldama that is to say The Field of Blood because it was bought for the thirty pieces of Silver which Judas got for betraying of
Tyrannie of the Turks made them abandon it Among the ruines of the Town and even within the Precincts of it a great many Palm-Trees grow within this last Precinct there is a Castle upon the Sea-side which seems to have been a strong place A hundred paces from thence within the said Precinct we saw a Church five and twenty paces in length and fifteen broad dedicated to St. Peter which is still entire They say that St. Helen caused it to be built in the place where our Lord said to St. Peter Mat. c. 16. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church c. There we had that Gospel read to us Others say it is the place where our Lord eat Fish with his Apostles after his Resurrection when He appeared unto them upon the side of this Sea. We Dined in that place and then washed our selves in the Lake the Water whereof is fresh very good to Drink and full of Fish It is about twelve or fifteen Miles long and five or six over It was heretofore called the Sea of Galilee Lake of Genezareth Capernaum Mat. 9. Mat. 8. John 4. or Lake of Genezareth From thence on the left hand upon the side of that Sea we saw the ruines of the Town of Capernaum where St. Matthew left the Custom-House to follow our Lord and where our Saviour Cured the Centurion's Servant and the Son of the Nobleman and raised a Maid from the Dead About an hundred paces from the Precinct of the Town of Tiberias close by the Sea-side there is a natural Bath of hot Waters to which they go down by some steps The ancient Walls of Tiberias reached as far as this Bath We parted from Tiberias about two in the Afternoon and about seven a Clock at Night arrived at a Village called Sabbato near to which we lay abroad in the open Fields Aain Ettudgiar for our Monks would by no means have us to Lodge at the usual place which is at the Castle called Aain Ettudgiar that is to say the Merchants Well as being afraid of some Avanie Next day Saturday the eleventh of May we left that bad Inn about five a Clock in the Morning and half an hour after came to a Castle called Eunegiar which is square having a Tower at each Corner close by it there is a Han which appears to be pretty enough The place where Joseph was sold and is also square It was at this Castle as they say that Joseph was by his Brethren sold to an Ishmaelite Merchant the Pit or Well whereunto they had put him first is still to be seen but we went not to it because it was quite out of our Road. This Castle is commanded by a Sous-Basha and there we payed a Piastre of Caffare a piece of which one half goes to the Sous-Basha and the other to the Arabs From thence we went towards Mount Tabor Mount Tabor or Gabeltour by the Arabs called Gebeltour and came an hour after to the foot of it where alighting from our Horses though one may ride up on Horse-back as some of our Company did we got up to the top about nine a Clock It is easie to be mounted seeing one may go up on Horse-back but it is also very high being almost half a League from the bottom to the top Having taken a little breath we entred by a low Door into a little Grott where we found on the left hand a Chappel built in memory of the place where our Lord was Transfigured and of what St. Peter said It is good for us to be here let us make three Tabernacles c. This Chappel is made up of four Arches cross-ways one of them is the entry of the Chappel that which is opposite to it is the place where our Lord was when he was Transfigured that which is on the right hand of it but on the left hand of those that enter into the Chappel is the place where Moses was because in holy Scripture Moses is mentioned before Elias The fourth which is over against that of Moses is the place where Elias was and a Monk read to us there the Gospel of the Transfiguration Near to this place there is a little Plain and a Cistern of excellent Water This Mount is shaped like a Sugar-Loaf and is covered all over with Trees for most part hard Oaks After we had eaten in that place we came down about ten a Clock in the Morning and took our way towards the Convent of Nazareth where we arrived about one of the Clock In the Evening we went to see the House and Shop of St. Joseph very near to the Convent there is an old ruinous building there which appears to have been a Church wherein were three Altars The House and Shop of St. Joseph built by St. Helen and a few steps farther we saw the Synagogue where our Lord taught the Jews when they had a mind to precipitate him CHAP. LVI The way by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth ONE may Travel by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth The way by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth and besides avoiding the dangers that offer by Sea see a great many other curious places but as I have already said the Arabs exact such unreasonable Caffares upon the Road that few go that way at present however I shall set it down in this Place Parting from Jerusalem after Dinner you come to Lodge at Elbir Elbir there there is a very curious Village standing upon a height and Inhabited by a few People There is also a Church half ruined which was heretofore a fair Fabrick The Walls that yet stand are of great Flints They say that this was the place where the blessed Virgin lost her dear Son Jesus and therefore returned to Jerusalem where she found him in the Temple Disputing with the Doctors Next day you Lodge at Naplouse Travelling all the way over Hills and Dales Naplouse which are nevertheless Fruitful and in many places bear plenty of Olive-Trees Naplouse is the Town which in holy Scripture is called Sichim Sichem near to which Jacob and his Family most frequently Lived it stands partly on the side and partly at the foot of a Hill. The Soil about it is fertile and yields Olives in abundance The Gardens are full of Orange and Citron-Trees watered by a River and sundry Brooks About one hundred paces from the Town towards the East there is a spring under a Vault which discharges its water into a reservatory of one entire piece of Marble ten spans long five broad and as much in height in the front there are some Foliages and Roses cut in Relief upon the Marble About half a quarter of a League from thence upon the Road from Jerusalem is the Well of the Samaritan The Well of the Samaritane as the Christians of the Country say who keep it covered with great Stones least the Turks should fill it up
When these Stones are removed you go down into a Vault by a little hole opposite to the mouth of the Well and there another great Stone is to be removed before you come at the Well which is sixteen fathom deep Cimented narrow at the top and wide at the bottom Over the aforesaid Vault there are some ruines of the Buildings of a Village two little Pillars are to be seen still standing and many Olive-Trees all round Near to that is the portion of Land which Jacob gave to his Son Joseph it is a very pleasant place and his Sepulchre is in it Mount Gerezim Mount Gerezim mentioned in holy Scripture is on the right hand as you go to that Well There is a Chappel at the foot of this Mountain where the Samaritans heretofore worshipped an Idol On the South side of the Town there is another Mount called in Arabick Elmaida that is to say Table Elmaida where they say our Lord rested himself being weary upon the Road There is a Cushion of the same Stone raised upon the Rock still to be seen and some prints of Hands and Feet and they say that in times past the figure of our Lords whole Body was to be discerned upon it This is a pleasant place having a full prospect of the Town To the West of it there is a Mosque heretofore a Church built upon the same ground where the House of Jacob stood on the other side there is a ruinated Church The House of Jacob. built in honour of St. John Baptist In this Town Travellers pay a Caffare Next day after an hour and an halfs travel you strike off the high Road to the right if you would see the Town of Sebaste standing upon a little Hill Sebaste about half a League wide of the Road where you still see great ruins of Walls and several Pillars both standing and lying upon the Ground with a fair large Church some of it still standing upon lovely Marble-Pillars The high Altar on the East end must have been very fine by what may be judged from the Dome which covers it and is still in order faced with Marble-Pillars whose Capitals are most Artfully fashioned and adorned with Mosaick Painting which was built by St. Helen as the People of the Country say This Church at present is divided into two parts of which the Mahometans hold the one and the Christians the other That which belongs to the Mahometans is paved with Marble The Sepulchre of St. John Baptist Elisha and Abdias and has a Chappel under Ground with three and twenty steps down to it In this Chappel St. John Baptist was Buried betwixt the Prophets Elisha and Abdias The three Tombs are raised four Spans high and enclosed with Walls so that they cannot be seen but through three openings a span big by Lamp-light which commonly burns there In the same place as they say St. John was put in Prison and Beheaded at the desire of Herodias Others say Macherus Samaria that it was at Macherus which is a Town and Fort where King Herod kept Malefactors in Prison This Town of Sebaste was also called Samaria from the name of Simri to whom the Ground whereon it is built belonged or from the name of the Hill on which it stands which is called Chomron Having pass'd Sebaste you are out of Samaria Genny which terminates there and pursuing your Journey you come to lodge at Genny They say that in this place our Saviour cured the ten Lepers There is a Mosque there still which was formerly a Church of the Christians the Han where you lodge is great and serves for a Fort having close by it a Fountain and a Bazar where Provisions are sold The Soil is fertile enough and produces plenty of Palm-Trees and Fig-Trees There is a very great Caffare to be payed there Next day after about two Hours march Ezdrellon you enter into a great Plain called Ezdrellon about four Leagues in length at the west end whereof you see the top of Mount Carmel where the Prophet Elias lived of which we shall speak hereafter At the foot of this Hill are the ruines of the City of Jezreel founded by Achab King of Israel where the Dogs licked the Blood of his Wife Jezebel Jezreel Brook Gison as the Prophet Elias had foretold In the middle of this Plain is the Brook of Gison where Jabin King of Canaan and Sisera his Lieutenant were slain by Deborah the Prophetess and Judge of Israel and by Barak chief of the Host of Gods People Many Battels have been fought in this Plain as may be seen in holy Scripture After you have passed this Plain and travelled an hour over Hills you come to Nazareth of which and the places that are to be seen about it I have already said enough Now I 'll set down the way from Nazareth to Damascus CHAP. LVII The Road from Nazareth to Damascus SUCH as would go to Damascus may lye at Aain Ettudgiar which is a Castle about three Leagues from Nazareth mentioned by me before in the fifty fifth Chapter and there is a Caffare to be paid there The next day you lye at Menia Menia Sephet by the Sea-side of Tiberias The day following you see from several places on the Road the Town of Sephet where Queen Esther was Born standing on a Hill. Josephs Pit. About four hours Journey from Menia you see the the Pit or Well of Joseph into which he was let down by his Brothers there is no water in it the mouth of it being very narrow but the bottom indifferent wide and may be six fathom deep It is covered by a Dome standing on four Arches to three of which so many little Marble-Pillars are joined as Butteresses for the Dome the place of the fourth Pillar is still to be seen and it appears to have been not long agoe removed Close by this Pit there is a little Mosque adjoining to an old Han. Two hours journey from that Pit you cross over Jacob's Bridge Jacobs Bridge Dgeseer Jacoub which the Arabs call Dgeser Jacoub this is the place where this Patriarch was met by his Brother Esau as he was returning with his Wives and Goods from Laban his Father in law The Bridge consists of three Arches under which runs the River of Jordan and falls afterwards into the Sea of Tiberias about three hours going from thence On that side the River runs there is a great Pond to be seen When you have passed this Bridge you are out of Galilee and there you pay a great Caffare Then you come to Lodge at Coneitra which is a little Village Coneitra wherein there is a very old large Han built in form of a Fort with three Culverines within the precinct of it there is a Mosque a Bazar and a Coffee-House Saxa and there also you pay a Caffare Next day you lye at Saxa and have bad way to it
but they made me a present of one After we had seen these places we returned to the Convent about eleven of the Clock and having Dined on good fresh Fish Another Grott of Elias we went to see the Grotts of the holy Prophets Elias and Elisha that are near to the Convent there is also a third but it is full of Earth and the door walled up Lower down towards the foot of the Mountain is the Cave where the Prophet Elias taught the People it is all cut very smooth in the Rock both above and below it is about twenty paces in length fifteen in Breadth and very high and I think it is one of the lovliest Grotts that can be seen The Turks have made a little Mosque there Mount Carmel and all the Country about Emir Tharabe is commanded by a Prince named the Emir Tharabee who pays yearly to the Grand Signior a Tribute of twelve Horses Having thanked the Fathers for their Civility which we acknowledged by a charitable Gratuity we embarked again about four a clock in the Afternoon in the same Bark that had brought us and arrived at Acre about seven at Night CHAP. LX. The way from Acre to Soursayde Baruth Tripoly and Mount Libanus and from Tripoly to Aleppo with what is to be seen in these places I shall here make a little digression from my Travels and observe what is to be seen in those quarters The first night you leave Acre you Lodge at Sour about half way there is a Tower near the Sea where a Caffare must be paid About an hour and a half before you come to Sour a few steps from the Sea-side you find a Well of an octogone figure about fifteen foot in diameter which is so full of Water that one may reach it with the Hand and as they say they have often attempted to sound the depth of it with several Camels load of Rope but could never find the bottom It is taken to be the Well of Living Waters mentioned in the Canticles The Town of Sour is upon the Sea-side and was anciently called Tyre there it was that our Lord Cured the Canaanitish Womans Daughter There are lovely Antiquities to be seen in this place From Sour you have a days Journey to Sayde and there is a Tower upon this Road also where there is a Caffare to be paid Sayde is a pretty Town upon the Sea-side and the Ancient name of it was Sydon Before the Town there is a little Fort Built in the Sea. The Countrey about Sayde is lovely and full of Gardens among others there are two about two Musquet Shot from the Town The Sepulchre of Zebulon Baruth Gie. that are full of excellent Orange-Trees wherein they shew the Sepulchre of Zebulon one of the twelve Sons of Israel Next day you may go and lye at Baruth About an hours travelling from Sayde to Baruth there is to the right hand a Village called Gie with a great deal of Sand about it and they say that that is the place where the Whale cast out Jonas after he had been three days in the Belly of it There are two Caffares to be paid on that Road. The Soil about Baruth is pleasant and good bearing abundance of White Mulberry-Trees for the Silk-Worms Having next day travelled half a League from Baruth you see a Cave on the right hand which was heretofore the Den of a huge Dragon Two hundred paces further there is a Greek Church upon the same Ground as they say where St. George Killed that Dragon when it was about to have Devoured the Daughter of the King of Baruth Half an hours travelling from thence there is a Bridge called Baruth's Bridge of six Arches and there is a Caffare to be paid there About two hours Journey from that Bridge you find another under which runs a River called in Arabick Naor el Kelb that is to say the Dogs River without doubt because there is a Ring cut in the Rock to which is fastened a great Dog cut on the same Rock that is still to be seen in the Sea. They say that in times past that Dog Barked by Enchantment when any Fleet came and that his Bark was heard four Leagues off A little above the descent where the Dog is this Inscription is cut in great Characters upon the Rock IMP. CAES. M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS PIUS FELIX AUGUSTUS PART MARI BRITANNIUS At the end of this Bridge there is a Marble-Stone eleven Span long and five broad on which is an Inscription of six lines in Arabick Characters From thence you go and lodge at Abrahim The day following you lye at Tripoly by the way on the Sea-side Tripoly Gibel Patron Amphe you see the Towns of Gibel Patron and Amphe Tripoly is a very pretty Town with a neat Castle at the foot of which a little River runs several Gardens full of Orange-Trees and White-Mulberries encompass the Town which is a mile from the Sea where there are several Towers planted with Cannon to defend the Coast Here it was that St. Marina being accused of Incontinence did Penance in Mans Apparrel Next day you go to Mount Libanus Mount Libanus Cannobin about five Hours and a halfs travelling from Tripoly you come to Lodge at Cannobin which is a Village where the Patriarch of Mount Libanus Lives there is a Church and Monastery in it The day following you go to the Cedars which are an hour and a halfs going from Cannobin and you pass through a pretty Village called Eden which is about an hour from Cannobin Eden .. Twenty three Cedars in Mount Libanus It is a Foppery to say that if one reckon the Cedars of Mount Libanus twice he shall have a different number for in all great and small there is neither more nor less than twenty three of them All that Inhabit this Mountain are Maronite Christians Having seen Mount Libanus you come back to Tripoly from whence if you have a mind to go to Aleppo you must take the following Road from Tripoly French Castle Ama. you come to lodge at a Castle called the French Castle standing upon a high Hill which was Built in the time of Godfrey of Boulloin From thence you have a days Journey to Ama which was heretofore a fair large Town but at present is half ruined tho' it still contains some lovely Mosques and Houses Built of black and white Stones intermingled At the end of the Town there is a great Castle upon a Hill almost all ruined and uninhabited the Walls of it are very thick and high built of pretty black and white Stones disposed in several Figures and the little of them that remains shews their ancient Beauty The Gate of the Castle is adorned with Inscriptions in Arabick Letters and the entry into it is made like a Court of Guard. There is an Oratory on the South side of it like to those wherein the Turks say their Prayers There are several Grotts well
The Sepulchre of St. Julian The fifth Church is called St. Merlian alias St. Julian the People of the Countrey say that his Body is there in a Sepulchre of most excellent Marble standing behind the Altar made like a Beer or Coffin with a high ridged cover At the four Corners there are four Balls of the same Marble and twelve Crosses round it in Demy Relief This Sepulchre is ten Spans long five broad and as much in height seeming to be all of one entire piece The Sepulchre of Caius Caesar the Nephew of Augustus Six hundred paces West-ward from the Gate called Bab Jeoundy that is to say the Jews Gate there is a Pretty big Pyramid wherein the People of the Countrey believe that Caius Caesar the Nephew of Augustus is buried Upon a Hill to the South of the Town there is a Castle built like that of Ama which I mentioned in the foregoing Chapter but it is not so ruinous though it be uninhabited as well as the other They say that heretofore both of them were held by the Christians who endured long and hard Sieges before they surrendred them to the Turks and that 's the reason that the Grand Signior has commanded that they should not be Repaired nor Inhabited The Han where Travellers lodge is fifteen paces without the Walls of the Town on the North-side from Hemps The next Lodging is at Ama. About half way there is a little Oratory which they say was built by the Franks it is at present Inhabited by a Moorish Scheik A little further there is a ruined Village upon a Hill. Near to that is the Han where Travellers that have a mind to stop there may Lodge After that you pass over a Bridge of ten Arches called Dgeser Rustan that is to say Rustans Bridge which is very neat and has the River Assi running underneath it I have said enough of Ama in the Chapter before The Country of Job Betwixt Hemps and Ama is the Countrey which the People that live there say was inhabited by Job and his Family but half of it is not Cultivated The day following you Lodge at Scheicon Han that is to say the Han Scheick it is a very old Han having on the Gate a Marble-Stone six spans long and four spans broad upon which are engraven six lines in Arabick Characters and on the two sides there are also two round stones of Marble Scheicon Hani upon each whereof there is a Chalice with its Paten very well Engraven From Scheicon Hani you go to Marra of which I have spoken in the preceeding Chapter Next day you go to Han Serakib Upon the Road you see some ruinous Villages whereof that which is most entire is called Han Mercy built in form of a Castle having four Towers in the four Corners three square and one round this Han is four Hours going from Marra and about twenty paces short of it on the left hand you see five great Sepulchres in one whereof a Basha is Interred having his Turban cut in Marble at one end of his Tomb. In an old Building fifteen paces distant from the Gate of that Han Serakib there is a Well almost square which is two and forty Fathom deep before you come at the Water as well as that of Marra about fourscore paces from thence there is a pitiful Village little Inhabited though there be good Land about it Han Touman Sermin From Han Serakib you have a days Journey to Han Touman Upon the Road to the left hand you see a pretty handsome Town called Sermin and three or four ruinous Villages having been forsaken because of the Robberies of the Arabs About forty Years since Han Touman was rebuilt by a Basha of Aleppo called Hisouf Basha who put into it an Aga with fifty Soldiers and ten little Culverines Singa to keep it against the Arabs who formerly committed frequent Robberies thereabouts The River of Aleppo called Singa runs hard by it and turns two Mills not far from thence From Han Touman you go to Aleppo in three or four Hours time CHAP. LXII Our setting out from Acre to Damiette and our meeting with Italian Corsairs From Acre to Damiette WE staid at Acre four days expecting a passage for Damiette but at length finding two Sanbiquers of Cyprus which were both bound for Damiette we resolved to go along with them and having sent for the Reys of that Sanbiquer that was a Greek Monsieur de Bricard the Consul took the pains to make a Bargain for us Sanbiquer and recommended us to him Sanbiquers are Vessels made like Galliotts but longer the Stern and Stem of them are made much alike only in the Poop there is a broad Room under Deck there are several Banks for Rowers according to the length of the Sanbiquer and each Oar is managed by two Men. Ours had twelve Oars on each side but besides it had a great Mast with a very large Sail so that being light Loaded no Galley could be too hard for one of them if their Oars were long enough but they have them very short The Wind offering fair for us we took our Provisions and went on board our Sanbiquer Sunday the nineteenth of May about three a Clock in the Afternoon the other Sanbiquer being in company with us We were much afraid of Corsairs still and especially of him who had taken us before not only because his Men had said That if they had killed us they would not have been obliged to make Restitution of any thing but also least they might have accused us of being the cause that the Turks had come out against them and so used us the worse for that However we met with nothing considerable till next day being Monday the twentieth of May that about Sun-setting we passed by a Tower about twelve Miles from Jaffa when we were come near to that Tower they fired some great and Small shot at us which much surprised us but more when we saw that they made great Fires all along the Coast and especially upon the Towers We knew not the cause of this which I shall tell hereafter only we concluded that they took us for Pirats When we came near to Jaffa we perceived a great Fire upon the Tower and then about nine a Clock at Night offering to put into the Harbour to take in Wood and Water they fired at us both great and small Shot Then our Reys went upon the Poop and called out as loud as he could that he was such a Man Reys of a Sanbiquer calling by Name those whom he knew at Jaffa but we had no other answer from within but Alarga that is to say that we should stand off and with that another Volley of great and small Shot When this Musick had lasted about an Hour they continually Firing and our Reys calling to them and making a heavy Noise the other Sanbiquer stood in nearer than we and
hundred in Number all in good Order every one with a large Musquet on his Shoulder well Gilt nay some of them carried Blunderbusses as big as little Faulcons with their Shables by their side After them came six led Horses as if it had been before the Basha himself then many of the Chiaoux of Caire Agas and Janizaries all with their Caps of Ceremony then the two Pages of the said Bey of Girge and the eight of the Basha with their Gilt Silver-Cap and lovely Plumes of Feathers and at length came the Bey of Girge He was a Man of good presence about forty Years of Age after him came his Household to the number of three hundred Men all in good Order The ten first were cloathed in Green Velvet with a large Collar of the same Stuff covered over with Plates of Gold having neat Bows and Quivers full of pretty Arrows with Shables by their sides The ten that came next were Apparelled in Yellow Satin carrying each a Pike a Shield and a Shable The rest were all well Cloathed too every one carrying a Carbine and Shable and in the Rear of them ten played on Timbrels and as many on Trumpets and Flutes besides all these there were above sixty Men playing on Timbrels every one mounted on a Camel who being dispersed here and there through the Cavalcade made a great Noise They drew all up in the Cara Meidan but though it be a large place yet it could not contain both them and the Militia of Caire so that a good many of them were forced to March out into the Romeille to make room for the rest When the Bey came near the Kieusk he alighted from his Horse and went unto it where the Basha expected him and treated him with Coffee Sorbet and a Perfume presenting him and every one of his Officers with a Caftan a piece Whilst he was there I went to a narrow Avenue at the end of the Romeille through which he was to pass soon after we saw him and all his Men pass that way in File I reckoned all those of his Retinue who had Caftans and found them to be an hundred and eight and they marched in the same Order as they came The Kiaya of the Basha waited upon the Bey back to his House which was not far distant However that was a thing extraordinary for it is not the custome for the Kiaya of a Basha to wait upon a Bey he saluted all the People on both hands as he went who all shouted and wished him a thousand Blessings The Turks and People of the Country were much surprised to see so many Men saying That there was no King so powerful as he The truth is the Bey of Girge is a very mighty Prince when he is beloved of his Subjects who are all Warlike so that when he is at Girge he values not the Grand Signior himself And nevertheless a Year after this solemn entry the Basha of Caire having made War with him who seemed to be very well beloved of his Subjects he took him and caused him immediately to be Strangled His Arabs who were his greatest strength and in whom he put most Confidence having forsaken him but it was thought they were corrupted by the Basha This Bey kept in his House about him a Guard of Two thousand Men and the rest of his Forces returned to Bezeten and the Rode which is a Country-house belonging to him over against old Caire but they came daily to the City to know how the Affaires of their Master stood because he mistrusted some bad design against him and therefore when he went abroad in the Town he took always Three thousand Horse along with him This Bey presented the Basha in Money and Horses to the value of eighty Purses and it was judged that that Journey would cost him Three hundred Purses and indeed he had brought Two thousand Purses with him which amount to fifty Millions of Maidins or a Hundred and fifteen thousand an hundred and one Piastres seventeen Maidins When this Bey was at Girge they killed an hundred and fifty Sheep a day for his Family CHAP. LXVIII The arrival of an Ambassadour of Aethiopia at Caire With the Presents he brought for the Grand Signior IN the month of October an Ambassadour of Aethiopia came to Caire The arrival of an Ambassadour of Aethiopia at Caire An Ass of extraordinary Beauty with several Presents for the Grand Signior and among others an Ass that had a most delicate Skin if it was Natural for I will not vouch for that since I did not examine it This Ass had a black List down the Back and the rest of its Body was all begirt with White and Tawny streaks a finger broad a piece the Head of it was extraordinarily long striped and partly coloured as the rest of the Body its Ears like a Buffles were very wide at the end and black yellow and white its Legs streaked just like the Body not long ways but round the Leg in fashion of a Garter down to the Foot and all in so good proportion and Symmetry that no Lynx could be more exactly spotted nor any Skin of a Tygre so pretty The Ambassadour had two more such Asses which died by the way but he brought their Skins with him to be presented to the Grand Signior with the live one He had also several little black Slaves of Nubia and other Countreys confining on Aethiopia Civet and other costly things for his Present These little Blacks as I said before serve to look after the Women in the Serraglio after that they are Gelded The Ambassadour was an Old Man and had the end of his Nose part of the upper and under Lip cut off but was otherwise a shapely Man and of a very good Presence He was Cloathed after the Cophtish fashion wearing a Turban like them and spoke very good Italian which gave me the opportunity of conversing with him He told me his name was Michael that he was a Native of Tripoly in Syria and that he had made three or four Voyages into Christendom he even confessed to me that he was a Roman Catholick but that he durst not make profession of it in Aethiopia but only of the Abyssin that is to say the Religion of the Cophtes That eighteen months before he had parted from Gontar the Capital City of Aethiopia and was so long retarded by the way because of the contrary Winds he met with on the Red Sea by which he came That of an hundred Persons whom he had brought with him of his own Servants and the Slaves he was to present to the Grand Signior thirty or forty were Dead If he had come by Land he had not been so long by the way for from Gontar to Schouaquen it is about six weeks Journey Gontar and from Schouaquen to Caire forty or fifty days by Camels but he could not take that way because of his Train He told me many things
terrible Execution There were dying Men still on board that Ship who could not be removed because of their Mortal Wounds and the Dead were thrown over-board so soon as we were Masters of the Ship. We found on board a great many Bales of Stuff fine Cloth and other things which they had taken some days before in the two French Ships I formerly mentioned and four thousand pieces of Eight in ready Money We observed that that day was St. Alexander's Day and the Ship which we took was called the Great Alexander After we had rejoyced a little and heartily praised God for our Adventure we made the best of our Way about seven a Clock at night we had the Wind at South-west and stood away North. Tuesday the eighth of April about two a Clock in the Morning we sailed by Gorgona a little Island belonging to the Great Duke Gorgona leaving it to the Larboard and steered on our Course with the Prize a-stern of us About five a Clock in the morning from the Main-top we discovered the Light of Legorn About seven in the morning we spied a Sail to the Starboard bearing towards us but shortly after it steered away its first Course About two a Clock in the Afternoon we came into the Road of Legorn and entered in Triumph having on the Poop and Maintop-mast head the Spanish Colours under the English and the Trumpet of the Prize sounded whilst the Prize came after us without any Ensign abroad So soon as we came into the Road the Prize fired all the Guns and Petreras with shot and then our Ship fired seven Guns and came to an Anchor All the People were come to the Harbour to know what the matter was for they had heard the Guns when we were Engaged and besides a Bark having set out from Legorn and seen our Engagement at a distance came back again alledging that they were obliged to do so because they had seen four Ships engaged two against two When we were come in and that from shoar they saw a Ship without Colours they soon concluded it was a Prize but when they saw the Spanish Colours under the English their Affections were much divided So soon as we were quiet at Anchor all the English Ships saluted us then the Health-boat came and put Waiters on board of us to keep the People of the Town from mingling with us To these we gave a full account of our Engagement which they punctually wrote down how many Prisoners we had taken and how many were Killed and Wounded that they might send the news of it to the Great Duke After that all the English in Legorn and several French came in Boats on board to visit us and congratulate our Victory we saluted them all with three Guns a piece so that our Ship fired above two hundred Guns that day Then they went to see the Prize which the Captain called his Child Every Body was astonished at this Victory for it had never been known before that a Merchant-man took a Man of War which had two others to assist her Our Captain was so Just to us as to tell all that came on board of him that the French had had a great hand in saving his Ship which the same day went over all Legorn and afterwards all over Italy It is certain enough we had our share in that Victory though we were but five French-men in all to wit three Merchants of Marseilles my self and my man. For the English are very nimble in Charging and Discharging their Guns and will Fire three shot before others can do two and all the Officers of the Ship fought very well but the Common Sea-men were in such a Maze that they knew not what they did and were put in heart much by the French who fired without intermission So that my Man called John Guillerval with thirteen shot killed so many Men as all that were on the same Quarter affirmed who easily saw what Execution every shot did Hardly any Guns but those in the Poop were used and every time they were to be Traversed the French must lend a hand to it for the English Sea-men seemed to be a sleep and laughed to see the French tug at it My man also served there so eagerly that he crushed one of his Fingers betwixt a Rope and a Pully of a Gun which he was bringing to and I was afraid he should have been maimed by it I thought my self obliged to say of him in this place what all the men of the Ship have every where published seeing it is all the Reward he had for though the Captain promised him his share in the Booty as in right it did belong to him as well as to all who fought nevertheless he gave him nothing nor to any other of the French nor indeed did we ask any thing In the mean time though we were in the Port yet we kept good Guard aboard in the Night-time having all our Guns loaded with shot because we had a suspicion that some Dutch Ships that were also in the Port had a mind to take our Prize from us and the Great Duke seemed unwilling to allow us his Protection Our Captain told me That if the Great Duke would not receive him into Protection he was resolved to kill and throw over-board all the Prisoners and then set sail for England with his Prize This design wrought horrour in me and I was much in fear they might put it in Execution for I perceived they were inclinable enough to do so But at length on Good-Friday about four a Clock in the Afternoon the Health-boat came aboard of us and gave us Prattick entring the Ship and mingling with us which was a singular favour for we expected at least to have made a Week or a Fortnight of Quarantine All the Prisoners were set at Liberty and put a-shoar and next day Saturday the twelfth of April we also went a-shoar Laudate Dominum de Caelis laudate eum in excelsis quonian confirmata est super nos Miserecordia ejus veritas Domini manet in Aeternum There is come into my Hands a Relation of the taking of Babylon otherwise called Bagdat by Sultan Amurath Translated out of Turkish into French which I here give the Reader in the same Terms as I had it FINIS A RELATION Of what past at the Taking of BABYLON OTHERWISE CALLED BAGDAT BY SULTAN AMURATH Emperour of the TURKS Translated from a Letter written from the said City by the Grand Signior's chief Faulconer to Mustapha Bey one of the Sangiacks of Egypt at Caire After the giving of God thanks and other Ceremonies used by the Turks in their Letters THE eighth of the Moon of Regeb which was the eleventh of November 1638. the Grand Signior pitched his Camp before Bagdat in the same place where above an hundred years before Sultan Solyman had pitched his And the same day he went to the Sepulchre of the blessed Iman Azam and called
built that Tower which is not impossible but it is more probable that the Turks have brought these stones ready cut and carved from Banias or some other place which had been possessed by the French and which the Turks had demolished for they are lazy enough to chuse rather to bring stones ready cut from a far than to be at the pains to cut them upon the places After that we saw in the Fields about some hundreds of paces off the places where the Christians and Jews are buried every Religion however having their burying-place at some distance apart Burying-place The Tomb of St. George Being gone some paces from the VValls we came to the place where St. George the Porter was stoned by the Jews who accused him of having saved St. Paul. That place is as it were a Court in the middle whereof is the Tomb of that Saint it is of Free-stone and covered with a little Pavillion in form of a Pyramid and below there is a little opening wherein the Christians commonly keep a burning Lamp their Devotion is great at that place and is even imitated by the Turks who affirm as well as the Christians that Miracles are daily wrought there and that several sick Turks having spent a Night in that place have next Morning come out in perfect health On that Saint's Holy day many People Men Women and Children aswell Turks as Christians repair to that Tomb. At the entry into the Court where it is on the left hand there is a place designed for burying of those who die for the Faith of Jesus Christ and when any Christian departs his body is first brought to that place where having said the office for the dead it is carried to the place appointed for its burial Being come out of that place we kept streight along by the City-Walls The place where St. Paul was let down and shortly after came to the place where St. Paul was let down in a Basket over the VVall. There is a Gate there which the Turks have walled up because they are perswaded that the City will never be taken but by that Gate The fatal gate and over it they have put a great Stone with some lines in Arabick cut on it intimating that that is the place where St. Paul the Apostle of Jesus came down to save himself from the Jews Afterwards we returned into the City by the Gate called Bab-Tchiaour Bab-Tchiaour we went into the streight-Street and following it came into a very large fair Bazar covered with a high ridged Timber-roof and full of shops on both sides it is called the Bazar of stuffs because nothing else is sold there The Bazar of Stuffs Rotte of Damascus and I learned by the by that the Rotte of Damascus is a weight answering to five French pounds Having crossed over half of that Bazar which is very long we struck off to the left hand and through a little street went to the house of Judas The house of Judas which is close by where it is believed in that Country that St. Paul lay hid three days and that Ananias went to him there VVe went into that house which was heretofore a fair and large Church and there is still to be seen a lovely Iron-Gate through which we passed and then came into a little Chamber where the Tomb of Ananias is raised against the VVall The Tomb of Ananias over which there is a green Cloath and on it Arabick Letters stitched I read them and found these words Veli Allah el Ahmed rivan that is the Holy God Ahmed sleeping or buried here The Turks have a great respect for it and they have taken that house because of the profit they make on 't from the Francks who give them somewhat when they go thither We then returned into the Bazar of Stuffs or the Streight-street and on the left hand from thence we came near to a Gate which separates that Bazar of Stuffs from another Bazar at the end of it where there is a Fountain with the Water whereof they say Ananias baptised St. Paul Having passed that Gate we entered into another Bazar which is still in the Streight-street the beginning of which is covered with a high-ridged Roof and the rest with a flat supported with round Joysts They sell stuffs there also Bab-Jabie The end of the streight-Street At length we came to the City-Gate called Bab-Jabie where the streight-street ends Having without it turned a few steps to the left hand we were got into a large Bazar where they sell wooden Boxes This is the largest Bazar of all it has a high ridged Timber-Roof upheld by several great stone-Arches at convenient Distances A Bazar called Sinanie That place is called Sinanie from the Name of a Basha of Damascus named Sinan who built it as he did many other fair publick Fabricks in several parts of Turkey and all his Works bear his Name As you enter into that Bazar without the Gate you see the green Mosque The green Mosque so called because it hath a Steeple faced with green glazed Bricks which renders it very resplendant it is covered on the Top with a Pavillion of the same stuff except the Spire of the Steeple which is covered with lead We passed before the door of that Mosque and I saw during the short time that I durst consider it a large Court paved with lovely Stones with a Bason or Fountain of Water in the middle at the end of that Court there is a Portico supported by eight Marble-Pillars of the Corinthian Order of which the six middlemost are chamfered these Eight Pillars uphold so many little domes leaded over that cover the Portico through which they enter into the Mosque by three doors It hath a large Dome covered over with lead and on the West side there is a Steeple or Minaret faced in the same manner and covered with a Pavillion of the same matter The Turks say that this Mosque was made in that place because that Mahomet being come so far would not enter the Town saying it was too delicious and that he might suddenly remove from it he set one foot upon a hill that is not far from it whereon there is a little Tower and from thence made but one leap to Mecha that 's the reason why they have covered that Mosque with green which is the Colour of this false Prophet Others confess indeed that Mahomet came as far as that place and would not enter the Town but they say that it was Haly who made that fair leap However it be they call Damascus Chamscherif that is to say Noble Damascus because Mahomet came thither From thence we advanced to the City-Walls and coming along the Serraglio Street we saw to the left hand a fair Tomb made in fashion of a Dome several fathom high and covered with lead next to that there is a lovely Mosque with a Court it
fronts the North and at the end of the Court there is a Portico supported by six Pillars by which they enter into the Mosque which is covered with a very large Dome The Mosque of Hasan having one less on each side they are all three covered with lead Its Founder was a Basha called Hasan who at his death left money to build that Mosque and his own Tomb. The Basha's Serraglio Going forward we came to a place of the Street where on the left hand stands the Basha's Serraglio which seems pretty enough Over the Gate there is a Pavillion in form of a Pyramid but it is onely of Earth and not faced it is the appartment of the Basha's Kiaya and the Castle is on the right hand The Serraglio gate or of Bazar Espahi The Castle of Damascus The Gate called Bab-Espahi or Bab-Bazar-Espahi is in this place We entered the Town and went along by the Castle which was on our left hand the Ditch wherein there is Water being betwixt us That Castle serves for a Wall to the Town on that side and it reaches almost to the Gate of Paboutches it is a large square well built fabrick of Free-stone Table cut the Walls of it are very high and at certain distances there are large high square Towers built as the rest are and very near one another Having walked all along that side we went along the second side which serves also for a Wall to the Town There we saw a stone-Chain made of a single Stone though it consists of several Links cut one within another it is fastened very high to the Wall There was another Chain longer than this but six years agoe it was broken down by foul Weather and fell into the Ditch From thence we passed by the Gate of the Castle where we saw some Cannon that defend the entry of it then we went to the Market-place of Paboutches Two Mosques formerly Churches and having crossed it we went through little Streets to one where there are two Mosques in which are the Sepulchres of some Kings of Damascus having been formerly the Churches of the Christians There is no seeing into one of them but we looked into the other through lovely Grates of well polished Steel This Mosque is compleatly round and covered with a lovely Dome of Free-stone in which there are several Windows all round it is faced in the inside with Marble of various Colours from the Pavement to the height of three fathome or thereabouts and from thence up to the Windows there are several fair Paints of Churches and Trees after the Mosaick way In the middle of the Mosque there are two Tombs one by another upon a Floor of Marble raised about a Foot and a half high These Tombs are of Cedar-wood very well wrought they are about four or five Foot high and ridged They say that the one contains the Body of King Daer who being a Christian turned Turk and persecuted the Christians cruelly and the Turks affirm that no Candle nor Lamp can be kept lighted there it is certain that both times I past that way I saw none Near to these Tombs there are some Alcorans chained to desks of the same matter the Tombs are of and though all the times I passed that way I saw no body at them yet I imagine there are men hired to read the Alcoran for the Souls of these Kings according to the Custome of the great Lords of the Mahometan Religion who commonly at their death leave great Estates for performing such Prayers The great Mosque of Damascus Having considered this Mosque as much as we could we came to another which is called the great Mosque I took several turns about it to see it by the doors which were open for a Christian dares not set foot within it nor stand at the door neither Some Turks offered indeed to take me in with a Turkish Turban on my head but I would not embrace that offer for had I been known I must have died since by God's Assistance I would not renounce my Faith. On the West-side they enter that Mosque by two great brazen Gates near four fathom high which are very well wrought and full of odd Figures in the middle of each of them there is a Chalice well cut By the doors I saw the breadth of that Mosque which may be about eighteen fathom it hath two ranges of large thick Pillars of grey Marble of the Corinthian Order which divide it into three Isles and of all these Pillars each two support an Arch over which are two little Arches separated by small Pillars which look much like Windows The Pavement is all of lovely stones that shine like Lookinglass That great Mosque which reaches from East to West is covered with a sharp ridged wooden Roof and hath a very large Dome in the middle but on the Noth-side at the place where that Dome is largest there are little arched Windows all round and from these Windows three or four foot higher which is also their height it is faced with green Stone glazed which makes a lovely object to the sight and the rest is rough cast with Lime On each side of the Front of the Mosque there is a square Steeple with Windows like to ours but the higher and larger is on the East-side and they say it was made when that Church was first built which since hath been converted into a Mosque The Turks affirm that Jesus is to return into this World by that Steeple There is a third Steeple behind the Dome The Steeple of the Messias which is diametrically opposite to that of the Messias and this last is round and hath been built by the Turks aswell as the other less square one One Night of the Ramadan I went upon the Terrass-walks to the Windows of that Mosque which are made like the Windows of our Churches and have panes of glass set in Plaister which are wrought into Figures I looked in through a quarry of one of these Windows from whence I saw the end of the Mosque which I could not through the others because on the outside they have wire Lettices There by the Lamp-light I perceived in the Keblay which is exposed to the South a hole grated over with gilt Iron The head of St. Zachary wherein they say the Head of St. Zachary is kept I could see no more of the Ornaments except the Lamps which are in great Number and the Pillars I mentioned Besides the two ranges of Pillars which are in the Body of the Mosque to the Number of six and thirty eighteen to each rank there are at least threescore more aswell in the Court as at the Portico's which make the Entrys into the Court. Take this account of what I could observe of that Court its Porches and of all the outside of the Mosque having taken several turns round it On the West-side there are three Brazen Gates embelished with
us into a Grotto hollowed in the Rock where he shewed us a place where it is said Elias fasted sometimes Elias's Grotto and was fed by a Raven In a hole hard by he shewed us the place where the People of the Countrey say the forty Martyrs are buried but no Tomb Bones nor Ashes are to be seen there He shewed us besides in the Roof of that Grott which is a natural Rock very hard and like to Pit-coal from which much water drops the figure of a hand which they say is the hand of Elias but which is indeed no more but the Veines of the Rock which represent but very imperfectly long and great fingers to the number of more than five or six and I cannot tell if ever Elias was there As to the forty Martyrs this is the Story they tell of them A Jewish Child having secretly left his Excrements in a Mosque the King or Basha being informed next Morning that such a Packet had been found there was highly enraged and caused enquiry to be made after the Authour The Jew who was an Enemy to the Christians told him that he knew for a certain that they had done it in contempt of his Religion whereupon he caused them all to be put into prison and some time after forty of them out of a charitable Zeal to save the rest confessed themselves guilty of the pretended Crime upon which he caused all the forty to be put to death though he knew very well they could not all have been guilty Upon the same hill but at some hundreds of paces from thence is the place of the seven Sleepers Seven sleepers as the People of the Countrey think There they shew a Grotto where there are seven holes stopt nay some say that they sleep there still but in relating these things they confound so many Histories that it is very hard to know the truth of what they believe We came back to the Town by the Gate of Paboutches To have a full view of Damascus The place for having a full view of Damascus one must go to that place of the forty Martyrs It lies towards the middle of a Mountain that is to the North of the City is long and narrow and reaches from East to West to the East it draws into a point and at the West-end is the Suburbs called Bab-Ullah which I mentioned before reaching in length above three or four Miles Westward This City is in the middle of a spacious Plain on all hands surrounded with Hills but all distant from the Town almost out of sight those on the North-side is where that of the forty Martyrs are the nearest On the North-side it hath a great many Gardens full of Trees and most Fruit-trees these Gardens take up the ground from the Hill of the forty Martyrs even to the Town so that at a distance it seems to be a Forest Another day I went by the Bashas Serraglio and having advanced a little North-wards in the first street to rhe left hand I found a Mosque which had formerly been a Church dedicated to St. Nicholas The Church of St. Nicholas now a Mosque I entered it and found it to have been a very large and stately Church with a spacious Court environed by a Cloyster whereof the Arches are supported by many great marble-Pillars All that Cloyster and Court which is still paved with large fair Stones belonged to the Church with a great space enclosed and covered which they have changed into a mosque and they have demolished all the Vaults which covered that which I call the Court and brought into it one of the Rivers of Damascus called Banias that runs through the length of it there they load the Camels that are to go to Mecha with Water and for that end alone they have brought the Course of the River that way There are a great many Trees also in it which render it a very pleasant place The Dervishes Being come out of that Court I went to the Dervishes which are a little farther on the same side They are very well lodged and have several Gardens through which the River Banias runs before it reaches the Church of St. Nicholas The Name of Dervish is made up of two Persian words to wit of Der which signifies Door and Vish signifying Threshold as if one should say the threshold of the door Their founder took that Name to intimate that his design was that that order should particularly make profession of humility by comparing themselves to the threshold of a door that all People tread upon Having viewed that house I kept on my way and came to the Green of Damascus that is not far from it It is a large Field or Grass-plat which they call the Meidan encompassed on all hands with Gardens and the River Banias runs through it About the middle of it there is a little Pillar in the ground The place where God made the first Man. about four foot high and they say that that is the place where God made the first Man. It is a very pleasant place and therefore when any Person of Quality passes by Damascus he pitches his Tents there The lovely Hospital of Morestan When I was come into that field I turned to the right and entered into the Morestan which is at the middle of one of the sides of that field I found my self in a square Cloyster covered with little Domes supported by marble Pillars the first bases of which are of Brass on the side I entered at and just opposite unto it there are Chambers for receiving Pilgrims of whatsoever Religion they be Every Chamber is covered with a great Dome and hath its Chimney two Presses and two Windows to wit one towards the Green and one on the other side The Cloyster has twice as many Domes as the Chambers have the side on the right hand is appointed for Kitchins where there are many great Kettles wherein daily and even during the Ramadan they boil Pilau and other such Food which they distribute amongst all that come of whatsoever Religion they be On the side opposite to the Kitchins is the Mosque and before it a lovely Portico covered with Domes as the rest of the Cloyster is but they are somewhat higher and supported by more lofty Pillars This Mosque is covered with a very great Dome having a lovely Minaret on each side and all these Domes and Minarets are covered with Lead Within the Green there is a fair Garden along the sides of the Cloyster where many Trees are planted it is railed with rails of Wood on the four sides of it which are five or six foot high so that it leaves in the middle a large Square paved with fair Free-Stone wherein there is a Bason of an oblong Figure or rather a very large Canal through which the River Banias runs This Hospital was built by Solyman the second who took Rhodes for the accommodation of
poor Pilgrims of all Religions and when I was there there were a great many Persons who were already come to perform the Pilgrimage of Mecha I went out of that Hospital by the opposite side to that which I entered it and on the left hand I saw the Stables where the Pilgrims Horses are put if they have any Pursuing my way I found to the right hand another Cloyster of the same Architecture as the former and which belongs to the same Hospital it is for poor Scholars and hath also its Mosque Being come out of the Morestan and going streight forwards I went along a street where on each side are little Chambers for poor Pilgrims also and over head Rooms for the Women Pilgrims Then I came to a great House which hath a square Court where they make the Bisket for Mecha and there I saw several hundred Sacks full though it was as yet three Weeks to the time of their setting out upon the Journey They made this Provision because it is the custome that at Damascus two hundred Camels are loaded with Biskets and as many with Water at the Grand Seigniors expences to be distributed in Charity amongst the poor Pilgrims on the way Keeping on my way I crossed the Horse-Market where stands a great stone between four and five foot high about three foot broad and half a foot thick wherein some lines in Arabick are cut but so worn out that they cannot be read but with great difficulty the meaning of them is that when this stone shall be covered with water then Damascus will be taken Nevertheless Monsieur de Bermond who conducted me to these places told me that some years before he had seen so great an inundation that he believed the stone was covered with water at least as far as he could perceive from a high place pretty near from whence he discovered all that Market-place and could not see the stone near to which many Franciscan Friers were here tofore put to death for the faith We came in the next place to the bazar of Horse-saddles it is so called because that is the onely Commodity sold there having advanced a little into it we saw on the left hand the great Bagnio which I shall describe then we entered into the City again by the Gate of Paboutches on both sides of that Gate there is a great Flower-de-luce cut in the Stone A Flower-de-luce We passed by the Gate called Bab-Fardis which was to our left on our way to Bab-Salem with out which but close by it is the conjunction of three Rivers this is an extraordinary pleasant place Keeping still along the side of the Wall we entered the City again by the Gate called Bab-Thoma and returned to our Lodging All the Coffee-houses of Damascus are fair and have much water Coffee-houses of Damascus but the fairest of all are in the Suburbs Amongst the rest that which is in the Sinanie and is called the great Coffee-house because of its vast extent is very delightfull by reason of the many Water-works that are in Basons full of Water there That which is near the Serraglio Gate and is called the Bridge Coffee-house because it is near a Bridge upon the River is so much the more delicious that the River borders it on one side and that there are Trees all along before it under the shade of which they who are upon the Mastabez of the Coffee-house have a pleasant fresh Air and the view of the River running below them The Coffee-house of the two Rivers which is near the Gate of the Paboutches and where the length of the Castle ends is also fair and large two Rivers pass by it which at the end of a great covered Hall makes a little Island full of Rose-bushes and other Plants whereof the verdure and various Colours with the smell of the Flowers delight at the same time several senses and give a great deal of agreeableness to a scituation otherwise so advantageous For you must know that these Rivers which I call little are at least four fathom broad and commonly five or six All know what a Coffee-berry is from which these places take their denomination I have spoken of it in my former Travels and shall onely add in this place what I learned of the qualities of that drink to wit that being drank very hot it clears the head of vapours moderately hot it binds up the body The Effects of Coffee and cold it is laxative At Damascus there are Capucins and Monks of the holy Land whose houses are near to one another in the quarter of the Maronites and just over against their Church where also they say Mass because each of these orders have their Chappel there There are Jesuits also in that City but they live a pretty way from thence in the quarter of the Greeks and celebrate in their own house I stayed four and twenty days in Damascus but could have been willing not to have stayed so long because of the troubles I was threatned with A false report being spread about the Town by the malice of some and perhaps of a Servant whom I had turned away that I had thirty thousand Chequins with me all ways were used to snap some of these pretended Chequins and for that end as I had information the Capicoules or Janissaries lay several times in wait to Arrest me upon some false pretext nay the same Chorbagi whom I met upon the Rode as I came from Saide having sent for Monsieur Bermond a French Merchant who was his friend told him perhaps to pump him that I had told him I was his Kinsman but that in short he knew I was a great and rich Lord and that I should look to my self because several threatened me and that he would serve me for his sake if I stood in need of it This report daily encreasing and I being very well known by face the onely remedy I had was to leave Damascus but seeing there was no opportunity of a Caravan I could not be delivered by that means so soon as I could have wished and I was forced to resolve to keep within Doors or at least not to stir abroad but as little as I could whilst I stayed for the occasion of some Caravan I could not doubt of the danger I was in especially when I knew that they watched the Reverend Father George a Jesuit who amongst other kindnesses he shewed me took the pains to come and teach me the use of the Astrolabe which obliged us for the future to correspond onely by Letters Notwithstanding all these cautions my Quality and Purse augmented daily in the mouths of the people In the mean time as luck would have it the night before my departure I had an express from Monsieur Bertet one of the chief Merchants of Aleppo upon occasion of my writing to him to give me notice when there was a Caravan ready to part for Bagdad In a trice
day we passed by a Han called Han Merai near to which there is a good Village Han Merai About an hour after we found another called Han Herbe with a Village close by it Han Herbe and not far from thence a third About Eight in the Morning we came and encamped near to another called Han Serahheb The other three as well as this are all called Han Serahheb that 's to say the Hans of Wells because in the Fields near to these Hans there are several Wells whose Mouths are even with the ground but this last has more particularly the Name of Serahheb Han Serahheb It is in bad order most of the Vaults being ruined but has a Village close by it On that road we saw a great many Olive-trees and that was the second time that we found Trees since we came from Damascus We parted from thence the same day immediately after Sun-set and about Eleven a Clock at Night Zarbel passed by a Village called Zarbel where there is a Han. We had an allarm in that place because he that marched before with a Lanthorn cried out that he saw Horse-men which made us prepare to receive them but none came Han Toman Wednesday the thirtieth of April about break of day we passed by Han Toman and three hours after arrived at the City Aleppo where so soon as I alighted I went to the great Han to lodge with Mousieur Bertet as civil a Man as lives and as zealous to serve his Friends as his Brothers are who were then at Marseilles who have all shew'd me particular Kindnesses Monsieur Bertet who resides at Aleppo had obliged me by his advice and care when I was at Damascus and therefore I thanked Monsieur Baron who had the goodness to offer me his Lodging and accepted of the former Monsieur Baron was at that time Consul for France and discharged that Office with honour and universal Approbation CHAP. VII Of Observations of Aleppo Aleppo SEeing Aleppo which I take to be the Ancient Baerea is one of the most considerable Cities of the Ottoman Empire in Asia by reason of Trade I will describe what I observed in it as exactly as possibly I can This town is distant from Alexandretta or Scanderoon Alexandretta that lies Westward from it about two and twenty Leagues and from Euphrates which it hath to the East betwixt eight and twenty and thirty This Alexandretta which serves it for a Sea-port on the Mediterranean Sea is the Ancient Hierapolis Degrees of heat at Aleppo It is very hot in Aleppo and the first day of June at Noon I found by my Thermometre that the heat was at the thirtieth Degree The Air. The Air is thin and wholsom so that about the end of May they begin to lie in the Night-time upon Terrasses untill the middle of September and that without any fear of danger or hurt for during all that time there is no Dew and they say that in the Months of May June and July there is no Cloud to be seen nevertheless whilst I was there we had Clouds often and Rain too which all wondered at The circumference of Aleppo I went the Circuit of Aleppo twice once on horse-back and another time on foot the first time I thought that in a large hour one might walk round it on foot and indeed having undertaken to do it my self with a friend keeping close by the Walls on the outside it took us up but an hour and a quarter and if we had not stopped to look about us we had certainly performed it in an hour or little more We left the Suburbs and went through the middle of Dgedid Dgedid a Suburbs which is a kind of a Burrough or Suburbs lately built as its Name implies for in Arabick it signifies new The Christians of the Countrey lodge in that quarter but there are several Turks also among them and the houses are well built The Maronites Armenians Greeks and Syrians have each of them a Church there This Suburbs lies betwixt the Gates Bab-El-Feradge and Bab-El-Nasre and is pretty near the Burying-place of the Christians The Walls of Aleppo The Walls of this City are not strong though they stand upon a Rock and there are houses built close by them The Gates of Aleppo The City of Aleppo hath ten Gates to wit Bab-Antakie the Gate of Antakia by which they go to Antakia or Antioch it looks to the West and North-West Bab-El-Dgenain the Gate that leads to a Village called Genain it looks also West-North-West Bab-El-Feradge the Gate of fair prospect because passing out at it one has a sight of several Gardens it looks likewise West-North-West Bab-El-Nasre the Gate of Victory because by that Gate the Turks entered the Town when they made themselves Masters of it the Christians call it St. George's Gate it looks North-East Bab-El-Barcousa otherwise Bab-El-Hadid or Iron-gate it looks East-South-East Bab-El-Ahmar the red Gate it looks to the South-East Bab-El-Atame the dark Gate it looks to the South-East but it has been stopt up not long since because much mischief was done there Bab-El-Nairem the Gate that leads to Nairem it looks to the South-East Bab-El-Macam so called from a Santo of that Name buried hard by it is also called Damascus Gate and looks to the South Bab-Kennesrim from the Name of a Captain that kept it in time of the Christians it is also called the Prison-Gate because the Prisons are near to it it looks to the South-West My meaning is that the City in those places where these Gates are looks to these Quarters of the World for some of the Gates look along the Walls Without the Prison's Gate there are a great many fair large Caves cut in the Rock which are wide and have a very high Roof reaching above an Hundred paces into the Rock They make ropes in the mouths of them and lay Grapes there also a drying to make Brandy of This Rock is white and pretty soft Seeing my curiosity led me to see all that could be seen they took me one day to a place called Scheik Bakir from the Name of the Founder Scheik Bakir it is a very pleasant convent of Dervishes You enter into a Court where there is a Fountain with a lovely Bason on the right hand at the end of the Court there is a fair large Hall covered with a great Dome paved with lovely greyish Marble and on the left hand stands the Mosque covered with a Dome The Water they have in that house is forced by Pousseragues From thence we past by the Garden of Sultan Amurat which signifies but little and then went to refresh our selves at the Fish-well The Fish-well which is a Court surrounded with Walls where there are a great many plane-Trees and a Canal wharfed with Marble that is filled with Water from a very good Spring hard by and that Water
not worth Eight pence they would not take it saying that they would not give it for a Piastre but for Soap they would The Night following we had a very cold Wind but not so the day after for then it was excessively hot We parted from Alaki on Tuesday the fifteenth of July about three of the Clock in the Morning and marched on East-South East An hour after we left the bad way full of Stones which we had constantly had from Orfa and entered into a great Plain having always to the left the Mountains Caradgia which are the Mount Taurus The Mountains of Caradgia or Taurus that reaches from above Ofra to Diarbeck towards the East and from thence South-East till over against Kinzilken and till near to Nisibin towards the North-East and from thence South-East till within two days Journey of Mosul About six a Clock I was told that the Town of Diarbeck The Town of Diarbeck called in Armenian Amid was two long or three short days march to our left hand and that was the nearest we came to it Half an hour after seven we passed by a little Chappel covered with a stone-Dome wherein there is a Tomb which the People of the Countrey say is the Tomb of Job Jobs Tomb. and at present there is a Santo who prays at the back of that Chappel for this is a famous place of Pilgrimage and this Santo hath a little Cell near a Well of good Spring-water Half an hour after eight we arrived at the foot of a hillock on which stands a Village called Telghiouran Telghiouran Tel in Arabick signifies a little hill and we encamped in the Plain near a Fountain This day and the preceeding we found by the way many plants called Agnus Castus or Canabis Canabis Agnus castus for they grow three foot high and have the leaves divided by fives like a hand the middlemost being the longest and then the two next to it the two last are the least they are jagged in the middle and white underneath in short that plant ends at the top in an ear of several little Flowers of a very bright blew they grow among the Stones and may be seen there in great tufts I must here also observe some faults in Sansons Mapp of Diarbeck An errour in Geography Mid-way from Orfa to Telghiouran we should have passed a River which he calls Soaid and makes it to come from Mount Taurus pass by Caraemit and a great deal after fall into Euphrates nevertheless in all our Caravan there was not one who could give me any tidings of that Water and from Orfa to Telghiouran we passed no other Water but Dgiallab Other errours Besides he hath made so many faults in the positions of places and in their distances as also in the changing their Names that nothing is to be known by it and though I named to many of our Caravan most of the Names that he has put in his Diarbeck or rather Diarbekir the best way I could yet they knew not above two or three of them Caramid Amid and Diarbeck are but one and the same Town Alchabour He makes two Towns of Caramid and Amid and it is but one to wit Diarbeck He makes the River Alchabour the same with Dgiallab and that of Orfa That River of Alchabour takes its source about four days Journey from Mardin towards the South and falls into Euphrates They say that the Water of this River is so good that if after a man hath eaten a whole Lamb he drink of it he 'll not find it burthen his Stomach Chabur Chobar But it is to be observed that there is also another River called Chabur which is the Chobar mentioned in the Prophesie of Daniel it is less and has it source below Mosul on the left hand to those who go down the Tygris and at Bagdad loses it self in the Tygris and by what I could learn of an ancient Syrian of Mosul who hath many times travelled by divers ways from Mosul to Aleppo and from Aleppo to Mosul there are a great many other faults in the Mapp of Diarbeck which makes me to think that it hath been taken from bad Memoirs Telghiouran Telghiouran is a Castle enclosed with a great many Stones piled up one upon another in former times it was a great Town but through the Turkish Tyranny it was defeated There are about an hundred Houses of Armenians in it but none of Turks except of the Aga and his Servants which Aga is also customer and Chorbagi we found a little thick muddy Claret there which they bring from Mardin Under the trees at the foot of the hill there is a little Chappel where are Chains that they put about mad mens Necks and they say that if they are to be cured they fall off of themselves but if otherwise they must be taken off The Customer of this place came to our Caravan to receive his dues We parted from thence next day the sixteenth of July three quarters after three in the Morning and continued our way East-South-East About half an hour after five we saw by the way many stones and some walls of houses still standing About six a Clock we had a great allarm because those who were foremost had espied some Horse-men all made ready some lighted their matches ond others took their bow and two arrows in their hand some run this way and others that way and nevertheless it was in vain for me to ask where the Arabs were for no body could let me see them because then they were in a little bottom A little after we came to know that it was the Aga of Telghiouran coming from some place where his business had carried him who was accompanied with ten Horse-men armed some with Muskets and others with Lances or Darts About eight a Clock we saw on our left hand near a Well several black Tents of the Curds who flying from the Arabs came and encamped in that place and we marching forewards about three quarters after ten came and encamped near a hillock in a place called Carakouzi Carakouzi where there is a Well of good Spring-water which bears the same Name Next day Thursday the seventeenth of July we parted from thence about three quarters after two in the Morning and continued our way East-South-East we entered among the Mountains where for almost an hour we did nothing but climb up and down in ways full of great stones having past them and got again into the plain we kept on the same course approaching to the Caradgia Mountains Half an hour after six we found a Well of good Spring-water Maes Sarazin Corn. Ricinus Palma Christi at seven we saw a Field sowed with Maez or Sarazin Corn and another full of Ricinus or Palma Christi at most but a foot high a great many draw Oil from it for Lamps and to rub the Camels with to make their
called Sertschehan of which several panels of Wall still stand About eight of the Clock we found some Tents of the Curds and then crossed at least twelve Canals one after another which discharge their Water at Nisibin where we arrived three quarters of an hour after eight and encamped beyond the Bridge which consists of eleven small Arches under which a great Water runs which is divided into three by plowed Fields that reach even to the Bridge and render three of its Arches useless They call all these the Waters of Nisibin for ask them the Name of a River in what manner you please they 'll give you no other but the Name of the place it runs by This water comes from the Mountains and before it reach Nisibin they cut it into several Channels for watering of their grounds that are planted with Cotton rice and other things which require Water That 's a heavy and unwholsome Water and so is the Air which is so bad that I was told that if one sleep in it by day or by night he runs a great risk of being sick and that is the reason why the People of the Countrey are so tawny as they are Nisibin Nisibin was formerly a great Town at present it is divided into two quarters separated by a plowed field and both these quarters make but an ordinary Village Mar-Jacob Heretofore it had a Church dedicated to Mar-Jacob that 's to say St. James who is called the Brother of our Lord It was very large but at present there is nothing to be seen but the Arches of the doors and a small space which was as I think the end of the Church walled up by the Syrians where they and the Armenians at present celebrate Mass The Customer of Nisibin came and demanded his dues of our Caravan though Nisibin depend on the Basha of Merdin the Customer of which had already taken his dues at Kodgiasar but he took nothing from me because he thought I was a Greek We parted from Nisibin next day being Tuesday the two and twentieth of July about one a Clock in the Morning by Star-light and passed another Canal a strong North-Wind blew then which hardly cooled the Air. About five of the Clock we began to see on our right hand the Mountains Sendgiar which reach from North-West to South-East Mountain Sendgiar but they were about two days Journey distant from us Half an hour after seven we crossed a water half an hour after eight another and a quarter after nine we passed a third which was very lovely Dgerrahhi Soui and called Dgerrahhi Soui We thought to have encamped near it as is usual but because the Mules must have been sent to grase on the other side and that it would have been troublesome to make them cross it back again in the Evening we went farther and encamped near to a Spring of good Water Kimarlick in a place called Kimarlick from which we parted about eleven of the Clock at Night and crossed a great Water where our Caravan was a long time in passing it because of the dark and of the many great Stones that are in the Water when we passed it we stood away Eastwards Wednesday the three and twentieth of July about two a Clock in the Morning we found another Water and another again about four a Clock and three quarters of an hour after a very pleasant little River which turns and winds through a small plain encompassed with hills Three quarters after five we saw by the way to our left a Hillock on the top of which there is a Dome under which lies buried one Imam Ahmed Imam-Ahmed for whom the Turks have great Veneration and this is a place of Pilgrimage About seven a Clock we passed by a sorry Village called Candgi Candgi and half an hour after we encamped near a Spring of good Water in a plain called by the Name of the Village The Inhabitants thereabouts are so given to thieving that they stay not for the Night as others do but come into the Camp in the day-time under pretext of selling Corn for the Horses and walking up and down if they perceive any thing not well looked after they fail not to lift it We parted from thence the same day about half an hour after seven of the Clock at Night and marched East-South-East It was extreamly hot till about two a Clock next Morning that the Air grew cooler We marched without finding Water or Habitation untll half an hour after six that we came and encamped in a plain called Adgisou because of a water that runs there among the reeds and is bitter according as I had been told that from Candgi to Mosul there was neither habitation nor good water which made me provide my self before hand nevertheless having tasted it I did not find it to be so bitter Friday the five and twentieth of July we parted from Adgisou half an hour after three in the Morning for we were not willing to travel in the Night-time for fear of the Arabs We marched South and about eight of the Clock crossed a Brook of bitter water half an hour after we crossed another whose water was pretty good upon a hillock close by there stands a wall which seems to have been the Wall of a Castle whereof there is no more remaining Half an hour after nine we crossed a great Brook of brackish Water and three quarters after eleven a small River that runs under a Bridge of four Arches of which two are broken and indeed they seem to be useless for the breadth of the water reaches but to the two that are whole and it must needs be very high when it passes through the other two which stand upon a pretty high ground This Bridge is below a little ruinous Castle standing upon a hillock it hath been square but there is nothing remaining but the four Walls and a little round Tower in a corner We encamped close by this Castle all scorched with the Sun and stewed in Sweat that place is called Kesick-Cupri that 's to say broken Bridge Kesick-Cupri and the Water is called Cupri-Sou that 's to say the Bridge-water and no other Names of Rivers are to be got from them I informed my self of the source of that River An errour in Geography which Sanson seems to have confounded with that of Nisibin and I was told that it was another and that the source is not far from that Bridge This water is not very good but it is not bitter as I had been told and close by it there is a Fountain of far worse water We left that place the same day three quarters after seven at Night and took our way East-ward About eleven a Clock we passed by a Village called Wlhayat Wlhayat which is wholly forsaken because of the Tyranny of the Turks At midnight we had a great Allarm but we found it onely to
that they could not be seen but by holding it to a Candle and looking through and then they might plainly be seen these Melons come in Autumn Whilst I was at Mosul Eclipse of the Moon there happened an Eclipse of the Moon on the seventh of August it began about one a Clock after midnight and lasted till four in the Morning during all which time the Moon seemed to be of the colour of bloud All the while it lasted the Terrasses were full of People who made a continual clashing din with their Kettles which they beat with sticks and that to frighten a huge Beast which the People of the Countrey say would devour the Moon I learnt from a knowing man that the Authour of that Mummery was an Astrologer who foretold to a King an Eclipse of the Moon which stirred up his curiosity to desire to see it But having waited sometime though the moment prefixt by the Astrologer drew nigh he grew impatient and because the Eclipse happened not so soon as he would have had it he discharged his choler upon the Astrologer as he who ought to have answered for it and then fell asleep In the mean time the Eclipse beginning shortly after the Astrologer was in a new perplexity because on the one hand he durst not awaken the King and on the other he was afraid that if he did not awake before the Eclipse was over he would not believe it and yet make him feel the bad influences of the same To be short that he might come off the best way he could he invented a tale to the People and told them that there was a huge Beast which had a mind to devour the Moon and that to scare it away they must make a great deal of noise which they did and by that means awakened the King. Nevertheless it seems that the Romans had this custom of making a noise with Kettles and Drums to assist the Moon when she laboured in an Eclipse as may be seen in the sixth Satyr of Juvenal Nemo tubas atque aera fatigat Unde laboranti poterit succurrere Lunae CHAP. XII Of the Wind Samiel the Kelecks and the Authours embarking in that kind of Vessel WHen we came to Mosul it was resolved that five Kelecks should be made because many of the Caravan had a mind to go by Water to the end they might avoid the Samiel and I was one of those The rest departed on Wednesday the thirtieth of July and took their way through Mesopotamia which is certainly the shortest but no Village to be found upon the Road and two days after we had news that six of them were already dead Within a few days more came the Hazna which is the money for paying the Soldiers of Bagdad and because the Kelecks were long in making a great many took that occasion and on Wednesday the sixth of August went away with the Hazna through Curdistan and crossed the Water upon the Bridge of Mosul That is the longest way but there are several Villages upon the Road and my Moucre had a mind I should go that way however I would not partly because of the Samiel and partly also for fear he might play me some trick because I had refused him some Piastres that he would have had over and above our bargain though he had been already payed double and therefore he went away and left me A profitable advice This ought to be a lesson never to pay that sort of men before hand Next day after they were gone the news came that nine of them were dying Samiel But having spoken so much of the Samiel it is but reasonable I should relate what I have been told of it Sam in Arabick signifies poyson and â—iel in Turkish wind so that that compound word signifies Poyson-wind and it may be the ventus urens or East Wind of which Job speaks in the one and twentieth Chapter of his Book Having with much curiosity informed my self of that Wind all told me the same thing that it is a very hot Wind that reigns in Summer from Mosul to Surrat but onely by Land and not upon the Water and that they who have breathed that Wind fall instantly dead upon the place though sometimes they have the time to say that they burn within No sooner does a man dye by this Wind but he becomes as black as a coal and if one take him by the Leg Arm or any other place his flesh comes from the bone and is plucked off by the hand that would lift him up They say that in this Wind there are streaks of fire as small as a hair which have been seen by some and that they who breath in those rays of fire dye of them the rest receiving no prejudice if it be so it may be thought that these fires volant proceed from sulphurous exhalations that rise out of the Earth which being tossed by the Wind kindle for they are inflameable and being with the Air sucked in by respiration consume the entrals in a moment Or otherwise if it be no more but a bare Wind that Wind must be so hot that in an instant it corrupts the whole body it enters into and if it kill no body upon the Water the reason must be that these enflamed Vapours are dissipated or extinguished by the exhalations that continually rise out of the water which are gross and humid or because there is always a cool breez upon the water However leaving the discussion of this point to the learned what I have related of the effects of the Samiel is certainly true for I have informed my self thereof by many most of whom have seen and handled those that have died of it which is very common in Summer If that Wind reign from Mosul to Surrat as some say it must be along the Water-side for over land there are many places where it reigns not at all Having been so well informed then of that Wind I resolved not to run the hazard of suffering by it but because many were gone with the Hazna Kelecks they could hardly resolve at Mosul to make Kelecks which is a kind of boat wherein there is neither peg nail nor indeed any bit of Iron though it be made up of at least of as many pieces as our boats are It hath neither Mast nor Sail and nevertheless if it wanted Wind it would presently sink to the bottom And quite contrary to our boats out of which they are obliged to pump the water often into this water must be thrown For making of these boats then they make fast and tye together with ropes a great many Borrachios or leathern Jugs in a square figure but longer than broad Ours consisted of twenty Borrachios in length and thirteen in breadth which in all made an hundred and threescore Upon these Borrachios they fasten a train or hurdle of poles tyed together with withies and upon that bed of poles they place four benches
and amongst others we saw a flight altogether like Francolines save that they have an unpleasant smell though the flesh of them be firm and very good to eat They were so numerous that I think a grain of small shot could not have past through without hitting some of them and they made a Cloud above five hundred paces in length and fifty in breadth About six a Clock we began to have little hills on our right hand which lasted about two hours And we passed near to one out of which they have Sulphur which they purifie and melt into Canes This Sulphur is a very white Earth for we were pretty near that hill which is almost wholely of Sulphur We stopped on the Curdistan shoar two hundred paces from thence about Sun-setting and rested upon the ground by the Water-side some of the Company stayed on board to guard the Kelecks for the Arabs when they see Kelecks many times come swimming and take what they can and then make their escape in the same manner They have besides the cunning when they are swimming to put some branches of trees upon their heads that it may not be thought they are men The water over against these hills is no broader than the length of the Pont Marie at Paris That Night we had a very hot Wind which sometimes brought with it cold gusts also and I observed they were not so strong as the others I was afraid it might have been the Samiel because it blew from that hill of Sulphur Next Morning being Saturday the ninth of August we embarked about break of day Hills of Sulphur We still saw on the side of Mesopotamia some hills of Sulphur which we smelt We met several People Men Women and Girls that crossed the Water stark naked having a Borrachio under each Arm-pit and their baggage on their heads and amongst the rest we saw two Girls who swam over without any help Half an hour after Sun-rising we perceived on the Water-side to the left hand Houses of Arabs several of the Arabs houses square and about two fathom high they were made of Poles and covered with leaves their Cattel were hard by and also their Horses which are always saddled These are their Summer-houses for in the Winter-time they shelter themselves under their Tents of black Goats hair Alyhamam Hot Baths About six a Clock we stopt at a Village called Alyhamam in Mesopotamia there are a great many natural hot Baths there and I make no doubt but these Waters run through Sulphur The People of the Countrey have dugg great Pits in the Earth under little Domes wherein they bath themselves for my own part I thought it enough to wet a finger therein and found it very hot but not scalding Sick people come there from all quarters and are cured but especially Lepers There are a great many always there from Mosul which is but a days Journey of Caravan distant All the Houses of this Village are by the Water-side they are all about two fathom square and the Walls and Roofs are onely of Canes interlaced with branches of Trees we rested there about two hours and then continued our Voyage The Sun that day was several times overcast with Clouds that did us a great kindness after Noon we stopt a little to stay for the other Keleck which was not come up About three a Clock we came to Asiguir Asiguir which is a place where the remains of the Foundation of a Bridge are still to be seen over which the Water runs with so much noise that we heard it half an hour before we came to the place When we were got there we went a shoar on the left hand because there is onely a small passage near Land for the Kelecks and in the Summer-time it is so shallow that many times they are forced to keep in the middle and go over stones that rise to the brim of the Water and make a kind of cascade or fall We all took our Arms to defend us against the Lions which are there in great Numbers amongst little Coppises however we saw none When the Keleck had passed near the shoar the current carried it into the middle of the River so that it could not stop till it came to an Island which is about fifty paces from the main Land and thither we went to it up to the knees in water A little after we had a great many hills to the right hand and on the first of them there is still some remains of a Castle called Top-Calai that 's to say the Castle of Cannons Top-Calai they say it was built by Nimrod as well as that Bridge which he had built for his convenience in going to his Mistress whom he kept on the other side Besides that we saw a great many other hills of Sulphur and one amongst the rest very high the Sulphur whereof appeared very yellow and smelt strong About half an hour after we saw the end of these Mountains and had others on the left hand covered over with Trees A quarter of an hour after we saw on the left hand River of Zarb the place where the River of Zarb falls into the Tigris It 's a great River more than half as broad as the Tigris very rapid and the Water thereof is whitish and cold They say that it comes very far off from the Mountains of Curdistan and is onely Snow-water On the same side about a French League up in the Countrey there is a hill by it self on which are the Ruines of a Castle called Kchaf Kchaf Having passed this place which looks like a little Sea we had constantly to the left hand Woods full of Lions Boars and other wild Beasts We rowed on till the Sun was setting not knowing where to lye because we durst not go a shoar on the side of the Woods for fear of Lions and on the side of Mesopotamia we saw Arabs at length just at Sun-setting we stopt near Woods which are all of Tamarisk and Liquourice and set a guard both against Men and Beasts From Mosul to this place they reckon it two days Journey and a half by Caravan After midnight three Robbers stark naked approached but finding themselves discovered they dived into the water and disappeared nevertheless this gave us a great allarm for they who saw them ran in all haste to the Keleck crying out like men in extreme danger and the rest not knowing what the matter was and thinking that they had a Lion at their heels threw themselves desperately into the Keleck whilst those that were asleep on board awaking at the noise and imagining there was a Lion in the Keleck endeavoured to get out In short so great was the disorder that no man knowing what he did it is a wonder we did not kill one another Sunday the tenth of April about break of day we put forward again and half an hour after past by the foot of a
Hill to the left hand on which there is a Mosque with a Building like to a little Castle called Sultan-Abdullah Sultan-Abdullah heretofore it was inhabited by Dervishes and at present serves for a retreat to Arabian Robbers We saw about a score of them on the water-side with their Horses and Lances who sent three of their company towards us These Blades having stript themselves naked came swimming and asked Bread of us they had it and so returned carrying each two Loaves one upon their head and the other in one hand which they held out of the water swimming only with the other hand We had still Woods to our left and by intervals some Hills and shortly after we had Woods also to the right hand In several places on the same side we saw a great many of the Summer-houses of the Arabs but no body in them Half an hour after five in the evening we saw upon a little Hill on the same hand the ruins of a Castle called Toprac-Calasi Toprac-Calasi There were some Houses of Arabs there and the other Keleck having stopt a few minutes near Land they stole an Abe of Cloth which is a kind of a Vest and no body perceived it till they were gone These Arabs sow Millet thereabouts of which they make their Bread eating no other We stopt that day in the morning and at noon to do the needs of Nature as it was our custom and then continued our way having always Hills on the right hand and about Sun-setting we went a-shoar at a place on the left hand where there is abundance of Lions and where one must have a special care of Arabs for some time ago the Arabs robbed a Keleck in that very place having on board almost fourscore people whom they killed and then over-set the Keleck that it might be thought it over-set of it self Hardly were we arrived when three Arabs came swimming over to us from the other side we gave them Bread and so set them going We parted next morning Monday the eleventh of August at break of day and had Hills still on our right hand About eight a clock we passed near one of these Hills on which the people of the Countrey say there is a Castle named Mekhoul-Calaai by the name of a Franck who built it About nine a clock we saw the ends of these Hills Liquorice-water The Liquorice which I found by the way when we went a-shoar was very useful to me for I infused it in the water which I drank and that pleased me better than common water which not only made me sweat excessively for I voided by the pores as much as I drank but also it raised on me several Blisters that pricked me like so many needles as often as I drank or sate down whereas when I drank Liquorice-water Sumack I felt none of these inconveniences I had besides Sumack which is almost like Hemp-seed wherewith I made another sort of Drink by putting a little of that grain into water and after pounding it that yielded me a very red Water but very cooling and wholsom and if a little Salt be added to it it makes it much pleasanter They use a great deal of Sumack and when it is beat and put into Broth it is very wholsom and a good remedy against the Bloody-Flux They suffer no man to make a Tent upon these Kelecks to keep out the Sun nay they would not suffer me to hold a bough of a Tree over my head because of the wind which might over-set the Keleck but I found a way to defend my self against the heat of the Sun by lying half at length so that my head was a little higher almost as if I had been sitting In this posture I fastened one end of my Abe behind my head and covered my self with the rest in manner of a Tent by means of three sticks of which one that I held between my Legs upheld it in the middle and was like the main Pile the other two supported it on the two sides In this manner I had a pretty convenient shade and the wind ever almost on one side or other but notwithstanding all my circumspection I suffered great heats especially some days when there was not a breath of wind About noon the Hills began again and these Mountains run along as far as the Indies they call them Dgebel Hemrin Dgebel Hemrin Montes Cordaci Gioubbar Calai Altun Daghi I believe they are the Mountains called Cordaci by Quintus Curtius in his fourth Book and tenth Chapter Towards two of the clock we passed near to a Castle which is in Mesopotamia called Gioubbar Calai and some time after we saw a little Hill to the left hand called Altun Daghi that 's to say the Hill of Gold because the Arabs digging in it here and there find a little Gold. About four a clock we passed that place where they that go down the Tygris as we did begin to have the Mounts Hebrin to the left which till that place they have always had to the right and on the side of Mesopotamia It is the tradition that the River heretofore divided them and that they go by Ispahan and reach as far as the Indies and in that Countrey they affirm that these Hills which are of a white Rock encompass all the World. At Sun-setting we went a-shoar on the side of Mesopotamia over against Kizil-Han Kizil-Han which is a Han not far from it and the fifth Lodging of the Caravans that come from Mosul We did not take our Lodging on the other side as the nights before because of the Lions that are there and are to be seen in Flocks like Sheep We kept good Guard because our station was pretty near to the Houses of some Arabs besides there were some Lions also on that side Amongst the rest there is one that is in great reputation among the people of the Countrey he is called the Lion of Kizil-Han and is said to be as big as an Ass A Lion of great bigness and of extraordinary strength who never fails to take a man of every Caravan and it was very honourable for ours that we paid him not that Tribute They add that he commonly sets upon those who straggle in the rear and that it may not be thought that it 's for want of courage but only out of cunning that he does so they say he is so bold that if he see no more but two or three men he comes confidently up to them and taking one of them in his Claws lays him upon his Back and carries him away Some Caravanists told me a great many Tales upon that subject which I shall give as cheap as I had them They told me very seriously that the Lion never sets upon a man but when he is very hungry and that he feeds upon him backwards beginning always at his Buttocks because he is afraid of the face of a man. That when
he takes a Camel or a Buffle he lays him on his Back and easily carries that Load but that he cannot do so with an He-Buffle nor a Sheep for he dares not set upon an He-Buffle because he would certainly be killed by him As to a Sheep that he can very well take and kill it though he cannot carry it but is obliged to drag it and the reason is because heretofore the Lion taking a Buffle or Camel said I carry it in the strength of God A Fable of the Lion. knowing that it was above his power but having found a Sheep he said I 'll carry this well enough by my own strength and therefore God punished his Presumption by disabling him to carry it This they have got from the Fables of damned Calilve They affirm moreover that the Lion understands what a man says and weeps when a man speaks The Arabs are not afraid of Lions The Arabs are not afraid of Lions and provided an Arab have but a stick in his hand he 'll pursue a Lion and kill him if he can catch him This evening about nine a clock one of the men of our Keleck with a Hook took a great Fish it was above five foot long A Fish as big as a man. and though it was as big as a man yet he told me it was a young one and that commonly they are much bigger The Head of it was above a foot long the Eyes four inches above the Jaws round and as big as a brass farthing the mouth of it was round and being opened as wide as the mouth of a Cannon so that my head could easily have gone into it about the mouth on the out-side it had four white long Beards of Flesh as big as ones little finger it was all over covered with scales like to those of a Carp it lived long out of the water died when they opened the Belly to skin it and was a Female the flesh of it was white tasted much like a Tunny and was as soft and loose as Flax. We embarked again next day the twelfth of August in the dawning and about two a clock after noon came to Tikri which is in Mesopotamia Tikri and the sixth Lodging of the Caravans from Mosul there we spent the rest of the day I endeavoured twice to go thither but could not because in ten or twelve places there is danger of breaking ones neck so that I rested satisfied to see the Houses which are to the water-side and are well enough built for that Countrey being all of rough Stone I understood that heretofore it had been a great Town but at present it is no more but ruins and hardly to be reckoned a good Village and indeed we had much ado to find Bread in it and to have a little Meat it behoved me to buy a whole Sheep It is built upon a very high Rock because of the overflowings of the Tygris which happens in the Spring for then it swells so considerably that it seems to be a little Sea and is deeper than in Summer by above four or five Pikes length as I might easily observe by the marks that remain on the Hills We had no Lions to be afraid of in that place but Robbers we had Wednesday the thirteenth of August we parted from thence about break of day Imam-Muhammeddour and about eight a clock saw to the left hand a Village called Imam-Muhammeddour from the name of a Mosque where they pay great Devotion all that I could observe in passing was a square Minaret that spires into a Pyramid About noon we saw many forsaken houses some ruinous and others not and that during the space of above two hours way but at distances one from another Eski-Bagdad they call that Eski-Bagdad the ancient Bagdad About two in the afternoon we stopt on the left hand because the wind was high At that time some of our company having gone a-shoar to sit under a Tree they had hardly made one step when they returned with all speed because they found that the wind was Samiel and told me that they felt the Air as it had been fire We staied there about two hours and then went on our way but the wind still continuing and being apprehensive that it might force us upon some Bank half an hour after we put a-shoar on the same side We were presently visited by the Arabs who told us that in the morning a Lion had carried away one of their Buffles I asked one of them if he run away when he met a Lion God forbid answered he a Man should never flie from a Lion seeing if a Lion perceive that he is resolute it will be sure to run first We kept Guard all night long against the Arabs and Lions whose roarings we heard every minute as well as the noise of the Karacoulacks the yelping of the Chakales and the barking of the Arabs Dogs Karacoulacks The Karacoulacks are Beasts somewhat bigger than Cats and much of the same shape they have long black ears almost half a foot long and from thence they have their name which signifies black-ear They are the Chiaoux of the Lions as the people of the Countrey say for they go some steps before them and are as it were their guides to lead them unto those places where there is Prey and have a share for their reward When that Beast calls the Lion it seems to be the voice of a Man calling another though the voice of this be a little shriller I was told that the Karacoulack and the Leopard were one and the same thing Chakales The Author was in that mistake in his first Travels The Chakales are as big as Foxes and have something of a Fox and something of a Wolf but are not Mongrels begot of them as many have said We were obliged then to keep Guard both towards the Land and Water as well against Men as Beasts Several told stories how that many Lions had come to Caravans and carried away men no body scarcely perceiving it because when a Lion swims he hides all his Body under water except the Nose so that he comes on so softly that he is not heard and when he is a-shoar he snatches a man and jumping into the water with him carries him over to the other side Whenever we heard a Fish stir in the water we took the allarm and that obliged us to make a fire and shoot off several Musquets because they say the Lion is afraid of fire About midnight we heard the voice of a Chakale near to us but when we spake it was silent and we all thought it was an Arab who had counterfeited the noise of a Chakale that seeing him afterwards come creeping upon all four we might not have been allarmed for they have the cunning to do so A little before day a real Chakale came within Musquet-shot of us but finding it self discovered fled These Chakales are
not accompany them they resolved to take four Troopers at the Village They sent one of their number to acquaint us with their resolution and civilly to entreat us to contribute somewhat to the pay of these Troopers At first we refused it yet gave them some Chais after with a Protestation that it was not for any fear we were in and that we should not be concerned though there were an hundred Arabs of them but that what we did was onely in a complaisance not thinking these Troopers to be any ways necessary We parted the same day about eleven a Clock at Night attended by fifteen Janissaries armed some with Muskets and some with Arrows and all marching in good order and at a good rate too for there was not one of them but was sufficiently afraid and we continued our march Eastwards Munday the five and twentieth of August about two of the Clock in the Morning we met a Caravan of about fourscore or a hundred in company some mounted on Horses Cunes upon Camels Mules or Asses and the rest in great Cunes well covered over Arch-ways each Camel carrying two of them and in that company I saw seven or eight of these Machines This Caravan came from Persia and was no better armed than ours which a little lessened our Peoples fear who before that made frequent discharges of two rusty Pistols which was all the Artillery they had About break of day we passed that dangerous pass they talked of It was a way somewhat narrow near to a little Water but it seemed to me to be no more dangerous than the rest of the Road. We met by the way several Men and Women some on Asses others on foot some in company and others not which made me think that it was a very good safe Road For from Bagdad to Mendeli the way is always full and as smooth as a Looking-glass but I take it to be very bad in Winter for there are pieces of ground all chincked and cracked by the heat which yielded a little under our Horses feet and that made me conclude that in another season it would be very deep About six a Clock in the Morning we saw to the right a Village called Nebitarana Nebitarana and half an hour after seven we arrived at Mendeli near to which we encamped Mendeli the Frontier of Persia Mendeli is the outmost bounds of the Turks on that side it is a little Town built amongst a great many Palm-trees It has a Castle with some Towers but all is built of Mud and Clay Nevertheless it is watered by a running stream divided into several Brooks There we rested all the next day being Tuesday the six and twentieth of August and payed an Abassi for every load The same day a Caravan arrived at Mendeli which came from Ispahan and was going to Bagdad it was no bigger than ours and had no fire-Arms yet there were Arabs at Mendeli who looked suspiciously And I was told that a Turk having asked them why they had done nothing to us they had made answer that it was because we had nothing but Leather which they did not much care for they used this Rodomontado because they saw some Horses in our Caravan loaded with Buffles skins in the Night-time we heard several Chakales THE Second Book OF PERSIA CHAP. I. Of the entry into Persia and of the Road to Hamadan WE Parted from Mendeli Wednesday the seven and twentieth of August at break of day taking our way due East assoon as we were on our way we entered amongst Hills where we saw many Rivulets some of which it behoved us to cross About six in the Morning we foarded over a River which they call Rogoura about two or three fathom broad Rogoura a River and the Water up to our Horses knees About ten of the Clock in the Morning we had a Rancounter which we little thought of As I passed within a few steps of three Huts made of Canes I saw two Men in Persian Habit of whom he that seemed to be the chief had a close bodied Coat of Silk-stuff with large Flowers of Gold They came towards us whilst I minded nothing and spoke to me though I did not heed it In the mean time finding that I listened not to what they said to me one of them with a hooked stick took hold of my Horses bridle and stopt him which made me pull out a Pistol and to consider the Men more attentively I perceived that they made no shew of offering any violence though they were armed each of them with a Quiver full of Arrows a Bow an Ax by their side and a Cymetre and indeed it had not been their best course I and they who followed me having our fire-Arms all in readiness which made me a little wonder at the boldness of the Men. At the same time Monsieur Jacob who saw their action advanced towards them with a design to fire calling them in Turkish an hundred Rogues and Rascals as if they had been Robbers My man came also with a Musketoon presented but perceiving that the men seemed not concerned and did not so much as lay a hand upon their Swords but that on the contrary the chief of them calling me Cardash that 's to say Brother civilly asked me to give him the hearing I prayed Monsieur Jacob to hold his hand and they very courteously told us that they had orders not to suffer us to pass That surprized us a little because we knew not the reason of it but being informed of that we would not proceed against their Will Rahdars guards of the Road. though we might have done it These men are Rahdars that 's to say guards of the Road of which there are many in several places especially upon the Frontiers not onely of Persia but also of every Khanlick or Province to secure the High-ways and for wages they have a due of some Bistis of every loaded Horse or Mule. They stop all that are not in Caravan if they know them not And the reason why they stopt us was because we were not onely a little separated from the Caravan but that a man who went before us had told them that in our Caravan there were two unkown Franks The Kervan-Basha being informed that we were stopt came and spoke to them but they told him that they would not suffer us to pass because if they did they would lose their places We might have easily forced them as I have said but it would not have lookt well to have committed violence upon our first entry into a Countrey for at this place begin the Territories of the King of Persia At length by the Council of the Kervan-Basha we followed them to their Huts where they spread a Carpet on which we sate down together like good friends In the mean time they unloaded our goods and several of their men came into the place where we were Their Master bid
better Way though the Mountains still surrounded us but we mounted onely some small Ascents until marching Northwards we began an hour after to have ups and downs again over very high hills and in worse and more dangerous ways than hitherto we had seen but that lasted not an hour and then we came into a Plain encompassed with hills Standing away Eastwards we came by a Village called Chegiafar Chegiafar where there are a great many scattering houses of which part are built of rough Stone and Earth and some of Canes and Reeds covered with green branches those of Earth serve for the Winter and Rainy weather and then no body lived in them and the other of Canes are for the Summer that the Inhabitants may have the fresh Air. Amongst these houses there is also a great Mosque built of rough Stone and Earth We made no stop there but a little beyond it came and encamped near another Village consisting as the former in the Summer and Winter-houses but not in so great Number it is called Seraou Seraou and is distant from Chegiafar about a quarter of an hours march We arrived there a little after seven in the Morning the Village stands upon a rising ground at the foot whereof runs a lovely Spring-water Towards the Evening some of these Curds came to our Tent and bid us take heed to our selves because there were Robbers in the hills who creeping on their Bellies in the Night-time came and carried away what they could find We shew'd them our Arms which they seemed to be much in love with many amongst us believed that they themselves were the onely Thieves and that they came to give us this warning that we might not accuse them if we were robbed and also that they might see our Arms. We parted from thence on Saturday the thirtieth of August half an hour after two in the Morning We went up hill and down hill over exceeding high and troublesome Mountains until eight a Clock after that we marched for two hours in a plain environed with hills where we saw several black Tents and about ten a Clock we encamped under Trees in a place called Rengpereng Rengpereng near which a Brook runs There was close by a Village of Curds who brought us provisions We parted from thence on Sunday the last of August about four of the Clock in the Morning At first we marched Eastward amongst Woods of Chestnut-trees where there is great plenty of liquorice as there is all that Countrey over we kept going upward still but in very good and easie way In the Morning we saw a Field sowed with Rice About seven a Clock we encamped in a Plain where there are some Trees near a Hamlet of three or four Huts of Canes Goaour and this place is called Goaour We parted from thence the same day about seven at Night and by Moon-light marched Eastward in the Plain or Valley till past Midnight that we descended by an ugly way into a very low Plain where having travelled almost an hour we passed a little Water Having marched about another hour we passed a Stone-Bridge of one Arch under which runs a little River that I could not learn the Name of a little after we passed over another Bridge much alike standing upon the same River About half an hour after two in the Morning Munday the first of September we encamped at the end of that Bridge near to a Village called Arnoua Arnoua where there is a good Kervanserai of brick there are also several Stone-houses and as many Huts of Canes These Bridges seem to have been lately built and the River that runs under them has no other Name amongst the People of the Countrey but the Water of Arnoua There are so many Frogs in that Countrey that my Tent was always full of them though they were continually driven out We parted the same day half an hour after ten at Night and marched Eastward in fair way till half an hour after one a Clock in the Morning of Tuesday the second of September when we came to a very uneasie descent and very dangerous too especially being in the dark because the Moon was then set for three hours after we had pretty good way Goumedli a River We crossed several Brooks and a small River called Goumedli and our way lay Northwards About half an hour after four in the Morning having gone down hill a little we went away Eastward in pretty good way having for sometime a large Brook of running Water on our left hand Half an hour after five we descended into a great Plain where we marched about an hour still Eastward Then about half an hour after six we came and encamped near to a Kervanserai built by a Lady A quarter of a league from that Kervanserai Maidescht there is a Village built of stone called Maidescht and a little farther off than that Village Scheik-Hali-Kan-Kervanserai there is another Kervanserai called Scheik-Hali Kan Kervanserai from the Name of a Chan that built it We passed by it after we had dislodged from the other about half an hour after eight at Night We lookt upon it to be very fair and commodious especially because of a little River that runs close by it it is called from the Name of the Village Maidescht Soui We crossed over it upon a Bridge of one Arch which is built very steep and sharp as most of the rest are we then kept on our way Eastward in the same smooth Plain Wednesday the third of September a litttle after Midnight we went over a hill but the way was pleasant enough and then came into the Plain again About three a Clock in the Morning we passed a little River and an hour and a half after came to a Village called Poul Schah Poul-Schah that 's to say the Kings Bridge we put our selves under cover there in a Kervanserai The Kervanserais of Persia are much finer and more commodious than those of Turkey at least such as are on the great Roads The Kervanserais of Persia for I speak not of those in Towns the loveliest in all the Levant being in Bursa These Kervanserais of Persia are large square brick-Buildings above three fathom high the entry into them is by a Portico under which are shops where all things necessary for life are to be had Passing through that Portico one enters into the Court in the middle of this of Poul Schah there is a Fountain which is not to be found in others All round the Court there are great Arches about three fathom wide and one and a half or two fathom deep under which are Mastabez or stone Divans about two foot raised from the ground In the middle of the Front or if you will at the bottom of the Divan there is a door about two foot wide where one enters into a Room of the same bigness as the place under the
the Morning and had pretty good way A little before day we went down into a very low and spacious ground all of white sand through which by what I could judge some great torrent must run when the snow melts for on both sides there are banks of Earth pretty high and steep we left that way soon after and going up hill a little came into a great Plain where having proceeded a little we stayed for the Caravan that was behind us there being none before but those who were light mounted The reason why we made that halt was because at a pretty distance we discovered on the Plain near the hills some Horse-men who kept still on the same ground and when we passed them they made a great smoak I know not the meaning of that signal but we understood afterwards that they were fifteen in company and had robbed a Caravan A quarter of an hour after we saw five Antelopes and at length about half an hour after nine we came to a good Kervanserai near to a Village called Arbane An hour after we had been there a Horse-man came in Arbane and made some turns there whereupon some of our company saying to one another that he was a robber and that they ought to lay hands on him he perceiving it went out of the Kervanserai and so put spurs to his horse and made haste to a Tree where two of his Comrades were About Midnight some Horse-men bounced at the Gate of the Kervanserai and because we would not open to them they made a great noise till the Gate was opened they were ten in company consisting of Persians Curds and Arabs they were all armed with Lances and some had hawks upon their Fists they asked if our Caravan was going to Ispahan and we asked them whither they were bound They said to Ispahan but when we asked them whence they came they would not tell but onely that they were going to Ispahan which made us think they were robbers and therefore many of our company slept not one wink though afterwards we came to understand that they were not robbers We set out about three a Clock next Morning and our ten Horse-men-stayed behind in the Kervanserai which made some think they onely came to plunder the Kervanserai and perhaps to cut our Throats About break of day we entered into a dangerous pass for robbing for it is a narrow way betwixt high Rocks behind which several men may lye hid and fire upon whom they please without being discovered We expected to have met with â—ouble here because there had been some Caravans robbed in this place and some said that there was an ambush there of forty Horse-men armed with Harquebuses the others would not have them to be so many We had in our Caravan six Harquebuses and several Bow-men and besides the Night before we were encreased by a Caravan of Camels guarded by five or six Horse-men with Harquebuses and some Bow-men but we were apprehensive that the Ten Horse-men whom we left behind might come and attack us in the rear whilst the rest set upon us in the Front In fine thanks be to God we found no robbers and in less than a quarter of an hour were got out of that pass the way much enlarging A little after we met two great Caravans that were coming from Ispahan one of Camels and the other of Horses and Mules and both guarded by several Horse-men armed with Harquebuses Afterwards we marched on in a Plain till about half an hour after ten Deha that we arrived at a Village called Deha where we lodged in Kervanserai A little before we entered into that Village we saw several Fields of Corn above a foot high already and I was told that they would reap it before Winter for they sow the ground a second time assoon as they have reaped Two harvests The truth is this last crop does not come to maturity and it is onely for the horses to which they give the green Corn to feed on Deha Deha is a Village where there are so many Kervanserais that it is almost nothing else It hath an old square Castle built of rough Stone with a large Tower at each Corner and one in the middle of one of the sides where the entry is They are all likewise built of rough Stone and some Bricks It hath two Gates to enter at each whereof are of one entire piece of that kind of Marble I mentioned before These Gates are about five foot high about four foot broad and two foot thick their Pivots which are of the same piece with the Gates turn below in the Lintel This Castle is all ruinous within and serves for no other use now but for a Store-house for wood hay and barley At Deha we found the ten Horse-men whom we left at Arbane they must have kept very wide of us for we saw them not all the way They complained that those of the Caravan which we met had taken them for robbers and fired at them We parted from Deha the same day at six a Clock at Night about eight we passed by a very fair and large Kervanserai called Asni Asni which has what others have not upon the Terrass on each side of the gate an arched room with a Balcony An hour after we found another called Ravat Ravat we saw also on our right hand several great Villages but though they be of large extent yet there are commonly but few dwellings in them for the most part of them are Gardens and sometimes that which appears to be a great Village is onely Gardens with some huts for lodging the Gardeners and their Families Wednesday the last of September a little after midnight some of our company who were on head saw seven or eight Robbers on Horse-back pass by on one hand and a little after four on the other who went and lay down at the foot of some hillocks on which the Moon shone Having fired two Musket shot at them three of our men went off to go and discover towards the other side of the hillocks on which the Moon did not shine what they might be A little after two Horse-men passed by us but being at a pretty good distance we said nothing to them Immediately we saw near to these hillocks where the Moon did not shine a great Troop of Horse-men our fore-riders went to view them and brought us word that it was the Caravan of Camels that came with us the day before and had got the start of us So that we thought our selves out of danger and therefore marched boldly on amongst very high and steep Mountains Half an hour after the way began to grow much wider making a kind of a plain where we found a Caravan of Camels with several Horse-men Having travelled in that plain till six a Clock in the Morning Tchalisiah we arrived at Tchalisiah which is onely two Kervanserais one before
beyond it Three Sanctuaries Sofis as also into the Kings Stables or Kitchins are in safe sanctuary no body dares tread upon that step which many in devotion kiss and the Gate is guarded by Sofis who are always there in great Numbers There is an entery into the King's House by the Court that is beyond it but that is not the principal Entry The Gate of the Palace Going back again into the Meidan a little beyond the Gate of Aly is the ordinary Gate of the King's Palace it is but an indifferent Gate and there are hundreds better in Ispahan Before these Gates upon an Earthen work raised three foot high or thereabouts there is a great Number of great and small Guns some mounted and others not which were all taken at Ormus Opposite to this Gate on the other side of the Square there is a Mosque with a Dome covered with Earth burnt and varnished green the Porch whereof is very high and painted all over with lovely Colours varnished for the rest it is but inconsiderable and the entry into it is by some steps There is another Mosque at the South end of the place which seems to be of the same contrivance but is far neater and this is called the King's Mosque not onely because it was founded by Schah Abbas the first but also because it is near the Palace Before this Mosque there is a Parvis or Walk of many Angles and in the middle of it a Bason of Water likewise Polygone the Porch is all over painted and varnished with blew yellow and many other Colours in great Flowers and over each side there is a Minaret painted in the same fashion with a very pretty Balcony out of which juts a kind of little Turret The Gates of the Mosque It hath two Gates almost three fathom high a piece and about a fathom wide which are faced all over with Plates of Silver with some Curiosities here and there embossed and there is a step there just like to that of Aly Capi. Having passed these Gates you enter into a great square Court paved with large smooth Stones in the middle whereof there is a square Bason of Water and along the side by which you enter a kind of gallery under which there are some shops there is another over head where you may see the doors of a great many little Chambers which as I think serve for lodging Rooms for the Scholars of the Medrese Fronts to the five Gates of the Mosque In the middle of the fourth side of the Court which faces you as you enter is the Mosque which hath five Gates and each of them its Porch the middlemost is at least ten fathom wide and about ten or twelve high the other two on each side lessen proportionably as they are distant from the middle This frontispiece hath a Minaret on each side which surpass it above three fathom in height and all is built of white Marble about a fathom high the rest being painted with several lovely colours and varnished over The entry of the middle and chief Porch is about six or seven fathom broad on the outside for on the inside it draws narrower by degrees till you come at the end of it where there are two doors which are also very high and are each above a fathom wide This is the entry into the Mosque which is large and spacious with a vast round Dome very well built and all painted and varnished It is square and divided into five Isles by a double range of six or seven great stone-Pillars two or three fathom high on each side The side Isles have their several entries by these four other Gates which with that of the middle Porch make all the frontispiece of the Porch of that Mosque and the middle Isle or Body with its Porch is much higher as I said then the rest and the two next exceed also the two remotest in proportion of height Along the Wall on the left hand are Windows reaching from the pavement a fathom high they are all square holes through which one may see into the Cloyster that is on the left side and which is one of the Courts of the Medreseâ— that I have mentioned All the Walls of this Mosque are of white Marble from the paving a fathom high the rest like the Dome is painted with various colours and varnished The pavement is all of large and very smooth Stones but under the Dome it is covered all over with lovely Carpets and the outside of the Dome is faced with green Bricks varnished After all Christians are not suffered to enter it it and if one be found there and known he is driven out with Cudgels like a Dog and yet that hindered not me from going thither with Monsieur Diagre master of the Dutch factory at Ispahan for which purpose both he and I put our selves into the habit of the Coutrey and received not the least affront At the corner of the Meidan betwixt South and West there is a Street in which to the right hand is the Gate of the King 's Haram that 's to say his Wifes house and on the left hand is his Karchanee that 's to say his Work-house because all the Workmen of every sort of trade who are under his pay work there they all have their shops and it is like to an Arsenal where all trades are to be found One of the finest things to be seen at Ispahan are the stately Gardens of Hezar Dgerib the chief building whereof is pleasant and at the end of the fair Street of Tcharbag or Tcheharbag but since that Street leads to it The Street of Tcheharbag and that it hath particular beauties of its own I think fit to describe it before I come to the description of Hezar Dgerib Tcheharbag which signifies four Gardens is a great Street near a hundred paces broad and above two Italian miles in length On the side of Ispahan there is at the head and entry into it a little Pavillion or Square building two stories high adorned with many Balconys and painted Windows to which they come from the King's Palace by a kind of corridor or curtain and this Street ends at Hezar Dgerib as we have just now said It is bounded on both sides by the Walls of a great many Gardens and at certain distances by little houses of uniform Symmetry which have all a little Pavillion and doors that open into the Gardens that belong some to the King and the rest to several great Lords who take their diversion in these places About twelve steps from the Garden-Walls there is on each side a row of lovely Plane Trees planted in a streight line which yield a rare shade and in the middle betwixt those two rows of Trees runs along the whole Street a current of Water in a Canal of fair Stone about five foot deep and thirteen over adorned here and there with Cascades and some rare
covering a great pent-house which was made of sticks or laths laid cross ways and two Stores over them upon which they spread a very thin lay of this lime smoothing it with the Trowel Then they put upon this lay three fingers thick of Earth mingled with Straw and wrought into a morter In this which I saw prepared there were four and twenty Ass loads and four men prepared it They were near eleven hours about it and made it up into five Wells or Heaps which remained so for two days before they were used The greatest use they make of this lime mingled with Ashes and Straw Lime for fish Ponds Basons and Fountains is for Fish-ponds Basons of Fountains and other things that are to hold water When that Stuff is well made it lasts above thirty years and is harder than Stone In whitening of their Walls they use no lime but make use of a white Earth which is in small pieces like plaister and immediately dissolves in water This Earth they call Ghilsefid Ghilsefid that 's to say white Earth they dig it out of certain Pits or Quarries of which there are many about Ispahan As to their morter it is usually made of plaister The making of Morter earth and chopped straw all well wrought and incorporated together At Schiras to spare the charges of Ghilsefid they sometimes make use of plaister for whitening their Walls but they have not that bright whiteness which Ghilsefid giveth They cast their Walls pretty often also with a mixture made of Plaister and Earth which they call Zerdghil Zerdghil that 's to say yellow Earth though in reality it be not yellow but rather of a Musk or Cinnamon colour they get it on the River-side and work it in a great Earthen Vessel but they put so little earth in proportion to water that it remains liquid like muddy water or at most like strained Juice and it is altogether of the Colour of that Earth they make use of it to work the Plaister in another Earthen Vessel where they mingle this water with plaister in such a quantity that it be reduced to the thickness of morter which retains the colour of that Earth With this mixture they cast their Walls which at first look all greyish but according as they dry they grow so white that when they are fully dry they seem almost as if they were plaistered over with pure plaister This mixture is used not onely for saving of plaister but also because it holds better than plaister alone and in my opinion looks as well For making of Terrasses they lay as I have said upon the Stores and reeds almost half a foot thick of Earth The way of making Terrasses but which sinks to far less being trampled and tread upon when it is well dried in the Air they lay on more Earth mingled with a like quantity of Straw which they work well together stirring it often that they may better incorporate the Straw with the Earth And when that is well mixt and reduced to the consistence of kennel-dirt they trample it a long while with their feet and spread it very even all over This second lay is commonly about half a foot thick also but being dry is hardly half so thick when it is dry they lay on a third lay like the former so that all being dry it may be about a foot thick All this is held up by a range of broad burnt Bricks or Tiles which is laid all round the Terrass five or six high and level with the Earth in some places they make a little shelving that the rain-Water may run off into wooden Spouts which jet out for conveying it away In this manner I saw two Terrasses made which had in surface each about a fathom and a half square when they laid on the second lay two men wrought at each about an hours time stirring the Earth with shovels and incorporating it with the Straw whilst another man continually poured water upon it the last lay requires the same labour and pains At Schiras Lar and in other hot Countries they have upon the tops of their Houses an invention for catching the fresh Air An invention for having the fresh Air. It is a Wall one or two fathom high and about the same breadth to which at the intervals of about three foot other Walls about three foot broad and as high as the great Wall joyn in right Angles there are several of such on each side of the great Wall and all together support a Roof that covers them The effect of this is that from whatsoever corner the Wind blows it is straitned betwixt three Walls and the Roof over head and so easily descends into the house below by a hole that is made for it CHAP. VI. A Sequel of the Observations of Ispahan Of ARTS LET us go on in speaking of Arts and Trades Artists of Persia since we are insensibly engaged in it The Artists in Persia and all over the Levant use their Feet in working as much as their hands for their Feet serve them for a Loom hold fast and several other Instruments An imposition upon the companies of traydesmen Every Company of crafts men pays the King a certain Summ of Money which is raised upon all the Artists of the several Trades every one of them being assessed according to his incomes They have no Loom for turning as we have but put that which they have a mind to turn upon a Pivot or Spindle and wrap about it a thong of Leather leaving two ends A Boy holds the two ends of this strap and pulls towards him The way of turning wood sometimes the one and sometimes the other and in that fashion makes the piece to turn whilst the other labours whereas with us a single Person does all The use of the wimble Nor are the Wimbles of Carpenters and Joyners so convenient as with us neither They have a long Iron as thick as two of our Wimbles but square and flat at the end like a slice or Spatula yet drawing into a point with a side and edge which way soever they turn it This Iron is in a wooden handle about a foot long and above an inch thick with a weight of lead on the top with that they have a stick with a strap of Leather like a bow but very slack they turn the strap of this bow once about the handle of the Wimble and then leaning the left hand upon the head of the handle and pulling to and fro the bow with the right hand they turn the Wimble They have a most excellent Varnish for Painters Varnish it is made of Sandarack and lintseed Oyl which they mingle together and reduce all into the consistence of an Unguent when they would make use of it they dissolve it with the Oyl of Naphta but for want of the Oyl of Naphta one may use the Spirit of Wine many times
a Corschi These men have vast numbers of Cattle The Goulams are Slaves or the Sons of Slaves of all Nations The Goulams and chiefly of Renegado Georgians all their male issue to the hundredth Generation are of this body And there are about fourteen thousand of them in service who have from five or six to eight Tomans of pay they have also many great Lords of their Body and their chief is called Kouller Agasi The Tufenkgi are men raised the Villages The Tufenkgi and chiefly Renegado Armenians they are about eight thousand and have the same pay as the Goulams have but are looked upon onely as Peasants without reputation They were the last that have been instituted for the use of the Musket they march on horse-back but when they are to fight alight The Corschi and Goulams carry bows and arrows and fight on horse-back yet some of them carry the Harquebuse The Souldier's Sons have pay The Sons of Soldiers receive pay so soon as they are seven years old and it is augmented proportionably as they grow in Age. Besides these the King of Persia has Guards who carry the Musket A new Militia of guards but it is not long since they were instituted by an Eatmad Doulet who made use of that invention to undo the Divan Beghi then in being The Story is that a certain Person having one day found the Sister of that Eatmad Doulet in a debauched place before he was as yet raised to that dignity carried carried away her drawers and then talked of it in several places which extremely netled the Brother who at that time dissembled his displeasure Not long after being made Eatmad Doulet he resolved to undo that man who had defamed his Sister and to compass his designs cunningly he brought things so about that the King bestowed the Office of Deroga upon this man At this he was much surprised and thought that the Eatmad Doulet had forgot the trick he had put upon his Sister so that he fell to rob and cheat briskly and the rather that he was supported by the Divan Beghi When the Eatmad Doulet found that he had robbed enough he accused him before the King of abuses committed in his Office and much oppression who not being able to justifie himself was condemned to have Peggs driven through his feet to be hanged up with his head downwards and in that posture to receive a great many Bastonadoes all which was publickly put into Execution in the Meidan in spight of the Divan Beghi who did all he could to hinder it That offended the Eatmad Doulet so that he resolved to undoe him also and for that end made a Renegado Armenian Deroga who put into purses by it self all the money he got in his Office by fines and sealed these purses by order from the Eatmad Doulet who by these purses made the King sensible that if a Deroga got so much a Divan Beghi must needs get much more On the other hand the Divan Beghi who was not asleep brought complaints from all hands against the Deroga that that might reflect upon the Eatmad Doulet but these People passing no higher than the Aali Capi the complaints reached not the Princes Ear. In fine one day when the King was to go abroad the Eatmad Doulet armed several men with Muskets and placed them in guard at the Gate of the King's Palace The King as he was going out observing this new guard failed not to ask what the meaning of it was the Eatmad Doulet being there on purpose answered that it was he who had placed those guards there for his Majesties security because the Divan Beghi stirred up the People to sedition against him presently the King who was a little credulous which is a thing too common to all Princes who are not acquainted with matters but as it pleases those who are about them to inform them returned back in a great fright and sent presently to apprehend the Divan Beghi with orders to pluck out his Eyes which was instantly put into Execution publickly in the Meidan and from that time forward this guard hath been entertained in the service of the Kings of Persia Chief Officers Eatmad Doulet Sedre Sepeh Salar Kouroukgi Bassa Koular Agasi The chief Officers of the Crown are the Eatmad Doulet who is the first of the Kingdom next to the King the Sedre the Sepeh Salar who is a Generalissimo the Kouroukgi Bassa the Koular Agasi or General of the Goulams In my time there was no Sepeh Salar and they make none now but in time of War which being ended the Office also expires The Sedre is the chief in spiritual Affairs he is the high Priest of the Law as in temporals the Eatmad Doulet is the chief Minister however this man is more considerable and takes place of the Sedre Wherein it is observable that the dignities of the Church are not annexed to the Doctors of the Law as in Turkey but many times from being Sedre one is promoted to the Dignity of Eatmad Doulet Officers of Religion The Sedre The Scheick-el-Selom and the Cadi Next to the Sedre in Spirituals there are two under him who decide all points of Religion and make all contracts testaments and other publick deeds they judge also of Divorces and of all civil Debates and Processes The one is called Scheick-el-Selom that 's to say Scheick of the Law and the other Cadi Their Authority as well as Office is almost equal nevertheless the Scheick-el-Selom has some preference They are established in all the principal Towns of Persia and even in Ispahan and the King nominates them on whom they onely depend Pichnamaz In every Mosque as well as in the King's Houshold there is a Pichnamaz this is the director of the Prayers who says the Prayers and makes the rest say them and therefore he stands always foremost that the rest behind may see him Imam and do as he does in Turkey he is called the Imam They who pronounce the Prayer aloud are inconsiderable fellows that have good Voices who are hired for that and commonly they are young Boys There are Mulas who have great Salaries out of Ecclesiastical Revenues for teaching all comers Mulas Sciences and the Law and they are properly the Doctors Hodgia whom the Turks call Hodgia In Persia they all wear white turbans These Mulas are also in Persia like Clerks or Notaries they make the deeds of conveyances of purchases contracts and other deeds to make these Writings Authentick they must have the Bull of the Scheick-el-Selom or of the Cady but many neglect that Circumstance besides they are not very willing that the Scheick-el-Selom or Cadi should know their Affairs and therefore they think it enough to have the Writings drawn by a Mula with the seals onely of the Mula and party concerned These Bulls or Seals are stones with their names cut on them upon which they put a
when the King sends a red Kalaat to a Governour it is a sign he has a mind to put him to death yet that is not infallible for sometime before I came to Schiras the King sent the Visier of Schiras a compleat Kalaat of which all the parts were red and this made all men think that he had sent for him to cut off his head and nevertheless it proved otherwise in the Sequel Schaters or Foot-men Amongst the lowest Officers of the King are the Schaters who are as the King's Foot-men To be admitted into this Office besides credit one must be an extraordinary good Foot-man and give proofs of it and therefore when a man desires to be received into the King's Service in quality of a Schater The master-piece of a Schater and hath made interest enough to be admitted to his tryal he must run a race which is to be his Essay He starts at Hali Capi and twelve times in one day runs to a certain place towards the Hills a long French League and a half distant from Hali Capi. At the end of this Carrere there are men who have several Arrows ready with little penons hanging at them and every time the Schater comes they give him one of these Arrows which he carries to Hali Capi so that coming and going twelve times he brings with him twelve Arrows and runs about six and thirty French Leagues from Morning to Night In the mean time there is Kourouk in the Meidan and all along the way he goes The Elephants and a great many horse-men are ranked in the Meidan where there is a noise of trumpets and timbrels all day long All the great men make presents to the Schater some ten or twenty and some thirty Tomans and all this to ingratiate themselves at Court They who have nothing to give The People are forced to come to the Kourouk of the Schater A Tax of the Armenians for the Schater are nevertheless present nay the People are forced to come in so much that at Giulfa they drive all out of doors with Cudgels and oblige them to come to this spectacle none but old men women and children are excused The Armenians are also taxed in a certain Summ which they are to present to the Schater When I was at Ispahan there was one of those races and the Armenians were taxed in thirty Tomans All bring their presents to Hali Capi whilst the Race is running Some of the Countrey would needs have perswaded me that the presents which are made to the Schater who runs might amount in all sometimes to two thousand Tomans but others who were more moderate told me two or three hundred Tomans This permission to run is earnestly sollicited for and he must have favour that can obtain it He that ran whilst I was at Ispahan had been six Months in suing out the permission Monsieur Diegre Master of the Dutch Factory at Ispahan a very knowing man so curious and exact that he omits not the smallest Circumstance as much as possibly he can in describing all things punctually measuring even publick places Mosques and Gardens almost to half a foot and more exactly too if he can set out one day from Hali Capi which is the place where the Schaters start who are to perform their tryal and went to that place where they take their Arrows keeping pace on horse-back with his Foot-man that went before He told me that he was an hour and a half on the way and that having obliged his Foot-men to reckon all their steps and to mark them by hundreds he found that they had made four thousand Geometrical paces which make a German mile and is a French League and a half So that the tryal of the Schaters is in travelling thirty six French Leagues from Morning to Night The Schaters make thirty six French Leagues The Chans make their Schaters run also The Chans in their Governments make their Schaters also run and all make them presents there being no difference but in more and less When a Schater would be received into the Service of any Lord he performs his tryal which is to goe an Agatsch from the Town where he finds a man that gives him an Arrow marked with a certain mark that he may not play the cheat he puts it through a hole in his coat on the shoulder and so brings it to the Town where he leaves it and returns back for another and in one day betwixt Sun and Sun he must go and bring twelve and so run four and twenty Agatsch At Night they count the Arrows which he hath brought and if there be twelve of them he is received He rests not all day long neither eats for that would hinder his going but is continually in motion save sometimes when he drinks Sorbet I have been assured that there are some of these Lords Schaters who in a frolick sometimes will carry on their shoulders four and twenty Man 's of Tauris which make a hundred and forty pound Weight or thereabouts and with that load travel thirty Agatsch a day that 's to say thirty French Leagues The King has a great many hunting Dogs of all kinds besides which Hunting dogs Panthers Ounces or Dgious Antelopes he makes use also of the Ounce or Panther in hunting of Antelopes That is a very tame Beast and does no hurt to men in Persian it is called Dgious and is brought from Arabia They carry it commonly on Horse-back behind a Man who holds it by a Chain about the Neck When they are to hunt him they keep a Cloath before his Eyes untill they have discovered an Antelope and when they come within five or six hundred paces of it they take off the Cloath and Chain and shewing him the Antelope let him go He creeps softly on his Belly towards the Antelope hiding himself behind the Hedges when he can and when he is got within about sixty paces of it he runs at it with skis and great leaps and fails not with three or four bounds to catch it and if he catch it not then he pursues no farther and is so ashamed that they have much adoe to make him hunt any more that day But to comfort him the Huntsmen tell one another aloud that he hath not seen it and that if he had seen it he would not have missed believing that he understands their Compliment very well They keep all the Dogs and wild Beasts too in a House by the River-side near the Bridge on the right hand as you go to Giolfa And on the left hand before a Garden on the River-side there is a Volary full of rare Fowl as Estradges Peacocks and others Volary Hawks The King has also many Hawks and I was assured that he had above nine hundred which they feed generally with Fowl giving them Mutton but once a Week The Persians are very expert in making of Hawks and commonly they use Falcons to flie at
all sorts of Fowl whose Eyes they sile that they may not see How they make Falcons and then let flie the Falcon which easily takes them when they cannot see Amongst these Hawks there are Falcons for hunting the Antelope which they teach in this manner Hunting of Antelopes by Falcons They have counterfeit Antelopes on the Noses whereof they daily feed the Falcons and no where else having bred them so they go into the Fields with them and so soon as they have discovered an Antelope let flie two of these Hawks of which one of them fastens just upon the Antelope's Nose and strikes him backwards with his Talons The Antelope stops and strives to shake it off and the Hawk flutters with its Wings to keep its hold which hinders the Antelope from running fast or seeing well before him At length when with much a doe he hath shaken it off the Falcon which is aloft stoops and comes in the place of the other which immediately points up and keeps above ready to succeed to its Companion when it is forced off and in this manner they so stop the Antelopes running that the Dogs come in and catch him This sport is the more pleasant that the Countrey is open and champian there being little wood in it The King hath also a great many Elephants and many wild Beasts such as Tygres Lions and Leopards In the enumeration of the Officers of the Court of Persia I have spoken occasionally of those who administer Justice and frame publick and private acts and deeds It remains now that I should add what I have learned of the particular Laws of the Countrey Civil Laws of Persia As for civil Affairs in the distribution of inheritances in Persia the Sons have two parts and the Daughters one Division of Estates amongst the Children If there be but one Son and one Daughter the Son takes two thirds and the Daughter the other third and if there be two Sons and one Daughter the Sons have each two fifth parts and the Daughter one if there be two Daughters and a Son the Son takes two thirds and the other is divided betwixt the two Daughters and if there be two Sons and two Daughters each Son has a third and the last third is for the two Daughters An unjust law against the Christians of the Countrey But as to the right of inheritance they have a very unjust Law devised for the propagation of the Faith of Mahomet And that is if a Christian turns Mahometan when any of his kindred dies all the Estate of the departed belongs to him to the exclusion of his Children though he be no nearer to him than in the fifth Degree of Kindred He who instituted that Law Dgiafer gave it out that it was commanded by Dgiafer one of the twelve Imams and that Dgiafer affirmed that it was revealed to him from God. Nevertheless this evil is not without remedy for the Mahometan Judges knowing the Iniquity of this Law have found out a knack to cause dying Christians to make a pretended Sale of all their Goods to trusty Persons and when that is done they dispose of all their Estates by Will and the pretended Purchasers approve before the Judges of all that the deceased hath done in disposing of the Estate which he hath sold to them The Judges admit of this the more willingly that they get money by it which they could not have if a Mahometan carried away all Duschacha A kind of punishment As for Criminals they use a singular way in binding Prisoners They put a forked piece of Timber before their Throat the handle being a foot long and the two prongs of the Fork goe on each side of the Neck behind there is a wooden bar that joyns the two ends of the grains and is nailed to them so that the whole makes a triangle before the throat there is another wooden bar nailed at each end to the middle of the prongs and at the end of the handle of this fork which is cut a little hollow the Prisoners hand is put with the Wrist in the hollow and over it they put another bar half a foot long which is likewise a little hollow in the middle and the two ends thereof are nailed to the two Extremities of the handle of the Fork so that the Prisoner has his hand as it were in a Scarff and can make no use of it This Instrument may be about a foot and a half or two foot long and they call it Duschacha The rack for malefactors The ordinary Rack to extort a Confession of Robberies and other Crimes is for men to pinch off the Flesh with hot Pinsers and to give blows on the feet with a Cudgel The rack for women as in Turky For the Women they put a Rat into their Drawers so that the Rat being betwixt the Drawers and the Flesh torments them extremely King of Punishments The usual punishments they inflict upon Malefactors whom they would not put to death is to pluck out their Eyes or else to pierce the Nerves of their Ankles and then hanging them up by the feet to give them a certain number of blows with a Cudgel and sometimes also to cut the Nerves short off When they condemn any to death the most usual punishment is to rip open the Belly One day the great Schah Abbas causing the Belly of a Malefactor to be ript open in his presence observed that the Portugal Ambassadours that stood by him turned away their Eyes from beholding that Spectacle as if it raised horrour in them which made him say that certainly these torments would be too cruel and horrid if they were practised amongst Christians who are rational People but that they were absolutely necessary among the Persians who are Beasts Moreover it is very difficult for those who have committed any Crime to make their escape or avoid Justice by flying because of the good order that is observed For besides that there are but few passages to get out of the Countrey the Roads are so exactly kept by the Rahdars whom I have mentioned before and whom I found upon my entry into Persia that is almost impossible not to fall into their hands and they suffer none to go out nor come into the Kingdom till first they examine who he is and the occasion of his Journey When I came to Ispahan there were two Muscovite Ambassadours who had waited there for Audience several Months and could not obtain it and the King used them in this manner because an Ambassadour of his had not been well received in Moscovy The design of their Embassy was not known onely it was suspected that they did it for no other end but to gain credit and reputation amongst their Neighbours when they should know that the King of Persia was their friend Nevertheless they had no good success which was partly occasioned by their own fault They had made
Town of Ardeville whom he brought down from the Race of Aly and who besides was held in great Veneration amongst them for his Piety in the practice whereof he had constantly lived according to the Rule of the Sofis of whose Sect he made profession The Persians call themselves Schiai Schiai because they think it enough to follow the commands of their Law and they who follow the Law of the Turks are called Sunni because besides Matters of Obligation Sunni they also follow Counsils of Devotion For example a Sunni being asked if he be of the Law Sunni or Schiai he must say that he is Sunni whatsoever danger there may be in making that profession But the Schiais think not that a matter of Obligation and on a like occasion they would frankly say that they were Sunni if they saw any danger in professing themselves to be Schiais and so in many other things Not but that the Persians practise some of the Counsils for instance it is a Counsil and not a Precept of their Law that when they see a Funeral passing by they turn at least three steps to accompany the Corps some time and that they even lend their Shoulders to help to carry it if it be needful nevertheless there is nothing more common in Persia than to see when any Burial passes all those who meet the company lend their Shoulders at least for ten or twelve steps to help to carry the dead body The Months are the same with the Persians as with the Turks The months of the Persians save that the former begin one day sooner Not but that they are regulated as well as the Turks by the Moon but these reckon not the first day of the Moon but when they see it which is commonly the second day and the Persians who are knowing in the Speculation of the Stars and who fail not to make Astronomical Calculations regulate themselves according to the course of the Moon and therefore they begin their Month and by consequence their Ramadan a day sooner They celebrate their little Bairam or Easter of Sacrifices The Feast of the little Bairam called Aidel Kerban The Sacrifice of a Camel. in the same manner as the Turks and Sacrifice some Sheep in memory of the Sacrifice that Abraham would have offered of his Son Ishmael for they say that it was Ishmael that was to have been Sacrificed and not Isaac But at Ispahan they Sacrifice a Camel with great ceremonies they lead him out of the City and there the King or in his absence the Governour of the Town strikes him with a Lance and then all fall upon him and hack him to pieces with Swords Axes and Knives Having vented part of their Zeal upon the poor Beast they employ what remains of it against one another fighting so furiously that many are alwaies left dead on the place The cause of this mad Devotion is because each quarter of the Town comes to this ceremony with their Banner and endeavours to have a piece of the Camel all are very eager to have it they quarrel pull and hale it from one another and at length fall to down-right blows That which makes the quarrel greater and gives occasion to bickerings is that each quarter pretends to a certain part of the Camel which hath at all times been granted them one the Leg another the Belly and so of the rest and seeing they are not all agreed upon these pretensions every one strives to maintain his right by force and there are always some who out of too much Devotion to eat of the Camel are excused from ever eating more Moreover there are two Factions in Ispahan which always entertain great feuds betwixt themselves and that is the reason that they never meet in a Body as in a Procession but they fight till they kill one another one of these Factions is called Aideri and the other Naamet Vllahi from the names of two men who commanded severally in the two Villages The Factions of Aideri and Naamet Ullahi whereof Ispahan consists These two Villages that were near one another being encreased have made one single Town and there is still at Ispahan a Gate called Derdeicht of which the one of the two Leaves of the Gate belongs to one of the two Factions and the other to the other But to return to the Ceremony of the Camel the piece that can be got is distributed in each quarter every Family hath a Portion of it which they Boil and then eat with a great deal of Devotion In other Towns in stead of a Camel they kill an Ox but without any Ceremony for a Butcher kills it and all the Dervishes and poor people come and take every one a piece besides every private person in his own House kills some Sheep most part of which he distributes amongst the poor Differences in Prayers betwixt the Persians and Turks There is also some difference betwixt the Persians and Turks as to their Prayers In Persia they call to Prayers but three times a day to wit so soon as it is Light at Noon and at Sunsetting and they call no oftner on Friday Nor is the call made from the tops of the Steeples neither because from thence one might see the women in the Houses and therefore the call is only made from Terrasses The Turks and Persians make their ablutions both alike but in saying their Prayers they have this difference that the Sunni hold their Hands one over another upon their Stomach and the Schiai observe not that posture besides these last in time of Prayer lay down a little gray stone before them which they always carry about and every time they prostrate themselves on the ground lay their Forehead on that stone The Stone of Kerbela which is made of the Earth of Kerbela the place where Hussein the second Son of Aly was killed by the men of Yezid his Tomb is there still and that place is called after his name Imam Hussein it is about four days journey from Bagdad betwixt Tygris and Euphrates it is a very famous place of Pilgrimage amongst the Persians and amongst the Turks also whither many people of both Sexes and all conditions resort They there take of the Earth which they knead and make little stones of and sell them all over Persia The death of Hussein This is the relation they give of the death of Hussein who was the second Son of Aly. After the death of his Father he was called by the inhabitants of the Town of Coufa who owned him for the Lawful Califfe but Yezid the Successour and Son of Muavias and second Califfe of the Family of the Ommies who was then at Damascus having intelligence that Hussein was upon his march to that Town with all his Family sent out a good Troop of Horse to bring him to him alive these men overtook him at Kerbela and so streightned him that they left him not so
Celebrate it the day of the Epiphany according to the Old Calendar which they follow plunging after several Prayers a Cross into water whereof all strive to take their shares in Pots They Communicate all Children in both kinds The Armenians Communicate Young Children They Marry their Children very Young. Extreme Unction with the Armenians Command for Mass Superstition of the Armenians The end of Lent with the Armenians even those that are but a year or two Old. They Marry them very Young sometimes the Parents promise them as soon as they are born and often Marry them at the Age of Seven or Eight Years but though the Priest perform the Ceremonies at that time yet they defer the Consummation of the Marriage till the usual time They say that Extreme Unction is not to be Administred till after death though some amongst them have denied me that Article but commonly they give it only to Priests They have no command obliging them to hear Mass on Sundays and Holy-days They have many of the Mahometan Superstitions and amongst others some of them hold Dogs to be Unclean as well as they and will not willingly touch them On Holy Saturday they end their Lent by Eating at night Butter Cheese Eggs and other things which are prohibited during the Lent but they Eat no Flesh till Easter-day and it must be killed too the same day for they say that it is not lawful for them to Eat of that which was killed in time of Lent. They admit of no Purgatory and yet Pray for the Dead Purgatory with the Armenians saying that those who are Damned goe streight to Hell but that the others goe not into Paradise where no body shall be received before the last Judgment but that they are in a place where they suffer a little and that the Prayers that are made for them comfort them whence it seems that they only contend about the name and that it is only to difference themselves from Roman Catholicks that they say they admit not of Purgatory Fables of the Armenians concerning our Lord. They have a hundred Stories or rather ridiculous Tales concerning the Infancy of our Lord and that is it they call the little Gospel as for instance that the Virgin being with Child her Sister Salome accused her of having been deflowred by some man and that the Holy Virgin for her own justification bid her lay her Hand upon her Belly and that she should know what Fruit she bore which Salome having done a fire issued out of it and consumed one half of her Arm and then being sensible of her fault she laid the stump upon it again by the Holy Virgins order and so recovered her whole Arm. They also say that our Lord being grown pretty big his Holy Mother put him to School to learn to Read Armenian and that his Master making him pronounce the Armenian Alphabet he would not pronounce the first Letter which is thus made III unless his Master gave him a reason why it was shaped in that manner which made his Master give him correction Our Lord having suffered it told him mildly that since he knew it not he would teach him and made him comprehend that it denoted the Mystery of the Holy Trinity whereat the Master much surprised returned him back to the Virgin telling her that he knew more than himself This Tale is the more ridiculous that it is not above four hundred years since their Letters were invented The invention of the Armenian Characters and that before they made use of the Greek Letters and the truth is there is in the Library of the French King a large thick Armenian Book which gives the History of their Letters and by whom they were invented A Ridiculous Story of Judas They say that Judas having sold our Lord and despairing of Pardon resolved to hang himself because he knew that our Lord was to goe to the Limbus to deliver all the souls which he found there and that he made account to be one of that number for with them Hell and the Limbus is one and the same thing but the Devil cunninger than he foreseeing that held him up by the Feet till our Lord had passed the Limbus and then let him fall plum into Hell. An Errour of the Armenians concerning the two Natures in JESUS CHRIST The Armenians as well as the Euticheans believe but one Nature in JESUS CHRIST though they condemn Eutiches of Heresie they doe not indeed say that the Humane Nature was swallowed up in the Divine as the first Euticheans did nor doe they believe the confusion of Natures in JESUS CHRIST as Eutiches did but they will have the Divine and Humane Nature to be united in his Sacred Person as the Soul and Body are in a man and that so they make but one and that makes them condemn the Council of Chalcedon A false belief in the Armenians The Opinion of the Armenians concerning the Pope They say that JESUS CHRIST neither Ate nor Drank and when I alledged to one of them some passages of the Gospel where it is said that he did Eat and Drink he made answer that he only seemed to do so but that in reality he neither Ate nor Drank They acknowledge not the Pope to be Superiour to their Patriarch but only to be Patriarch of Rome Yet I found some of them that were not of that Opinion and who confessed that he was Head of the Church Nevertheless they are generally great Enemies to the Franks and to all that profess the Roman Catholick Faith so far that there are some of them who stick not to say that it is better to be a Turk than a Roman Catholick Notwithstanding all this they agree with us as to the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist The belief of the Armenians concerning the Holy Sacrament of the Altar and it is a strong Argument against the European Hereticks to object to them the Levantine Christians who for a long time have been the declared Enemies of the Roman Catholicks and nevertheless are all Uniform with them as to the Holy Sacrament and Mass Jacobites Nestorians and all which makes it appear that the Mass is no new invented thing CHAP. XV. The Continuation of the Observations of Ispahan Of Horses Mules and Camels and some Insects THE Persians use commonly to ride on Persian Horses which are but small Animals of Persia Persian Horses but good and strong and Travel great Journeys without tyring they have a trick of casting up the Head and endanger the Riders Nose if he have not a care but some mend that fault by a kind of Cavasson which is a strap of Leather in form of a Halter that they put over their Nose and bringing it betwixt the fore Legs tie it to the Girts like a Petrel Not only in Persia but all over the Levant they have a better Hoof than in our Countries whether it be because of the
built upon a narrow Rock which stretches out in length from North-East to South-West this Rock is very steep so that it is almost as broad on the top as at the bottom especially on the North-West side it is in some places above seven or eight Fathom high particularly on the South-East side at the Foot of this Rock on the same South-East side there are some Gardens and some steps farther runs a little River near to which is the Kervanseray built of burnt Bricks and over the Gate there is a pretty convenient Lodging-House it stands at the Foot of a high Rock that is to the South of it from which sometimes great pieces fall and are to be seen below most of them being as big as Houses The Village of Yez-de-Kast takes up the whole Surface of the Rock on which it stands as well in length as in breadth it hath no other Walls but the Walls of the Houses which are three or four Stories high and some higher all built of Stone This Town is in manifest danger sometime or other of falling down topsie turvy all at once being so high and having nothing to support it and indeed the Inhabitants mistrust it for about ten years since they began to build another Town at some distance from the Rock and to the Northward of it and when I passed by it on my return in the Year one thousand six hundred sixty and seven a great many Houses were already finished and new ones going up all forsaking the other Seat whereas when I past it first in the Year one thousand six hundred sixty five there was not so much as one House begun The Gate of Yez-de-Kast is on the South-West side where the ground about is as high as the Rock it is but little so that not having observed it at first coming I went from the Kervanseray to the Town climbing up the Rock on the South-East side betwixt the Gardens and after much climbing up I entered by a little Gate and went on above a hundred steps in a covered way that receives no light but by ugly holes and is by consequence so dark that one must groap along as they go in it I durst proceed no farther for fear of losing my self or entering into some House by mistake and so for that time I was obliged to turn back again by the same way I came but it is not so when one enters the Town by the other Gate The Land about Yez-de-Kast bears the best Corn in Persia and indeed they make most excellent Bread there the Inhabitants as they say mingling dry Pease with the Corn which makes the Bread so good There are several fair Tombs here built in Fashion of Domes Sunday the first of March we parted from that place half an hour after midnight and took the upper way for there are two ways the one on the Left Hand East-wards which is called the lower way and the other on the Right Hand to the West side which they call the upper way because it lies among Hills in the Winter-time when this way is filled up with Snow they are obliged to go the lower way which is the longer by a days Journy but being assured that the upper way was open we took it and for that end when we set out from the Kervanseray we held Westward for some time till we came to a place where the way leads up that Hill at the Foot whereof the Kervanseray stands being got up we marched in a Plain betwixt little Hills covered with Snow streight South-East until about Three a Clock we mounted up a Hill where the ascent is not long and the descent shorter but the way very bad and therefore it is called Chotali-Naar-Schekeni Chotali-Naar-Schekeni that is to say the Hill that pulls off the Horses shoes we came afterward into a pretty good way betwixt little Hills all white with Snow at day break we passed by a little Castle called Gombez-Cala where there is a Village also but ruined Gombez-Cala Half an hour after Nine we entered into a Plain in which we Travelled on till after Eleven that we came to a Village where we Lodged in a Kervanseray This Village is called Dehi ghirdon that is to say Village of Nuts Dehi ghirdon not that it abounds in that Fruit for having informed my self I learnt that the Nuts they eat there come from Lar however I took the pains to ask the reason why it was so called but all the answer I could get was that that was the name of it it is seven Agatsch distant from Yez-de-Kast We parted from Dehi-ghirdon Monday the second of March about midnight and after two hours and a halfs Journey past by a ruinous Kervanserai beyond which we marched on in a Plain covered over with Snow where there was but one Path open and that all Frozen about seven of the Clock we crossed over a little Bridge of five Arches under which runs a River two Fathom broad and travelling on still in that white Plain we arrived about Noon at a Village called Keuschkzer that is to say the Silver-Pavillion there are two Kervanserais there Keuschkzer the one old and the other all new well built of Free-Stone and burnt Bricks with many embellishments and very commodious Lodgings and Stables near which also there are Appartments for the Winter and in these we Lodged Keuschkzer is seven long Agatsch distance from Dehi-ghirdon the Land about is very good being Sowed with Corn there are about it also a great many Meadows where the Kings Horses are sent to Grass in the Season It is always cold there and the Snow lyes all the year round upon the neighbouring Hills The Inhabitants of that Village are Circassians they make Wine and sell it but they have the Grapes from Maain of which we shall Treat in its proper place Next Morning about half an hour after Four we went on our Journey and Travelled in a way covered with Snow and full of holes but we found it worse when the Sun was up and the ground began to Thaw especially about Eleven of the Clock when we entered amongst the Hills which being full of Dirt and Stones made the way as bad as it could be This passage makes that they goe not that way in the Winter-time for in the Summer all these ways are good we kept on always ascending a little till about One a Clock that we went down Hill a good way at the the bottom of that descent a great Brook rises out of the Ground a good Fathom in breadth the water whereof is very clear this Brook runs by a Village called Asoupas Asoupas where we arrived half an hour after two in the afternoon and there we were very ill Lodged in a nasty Kervanserai this Village is five Agatsch distant from Keuschkzer and has a sorry old ruinous Castle upon a little Hill the Inhabitants are Circassians who were Transported thither
as well as those of Keuschkzer by Schah Abbas who took their Country and gave them good Lands to Cultivate in this place they make Wine but their Grapes come from Maain We parted from thence Wednesday the fourth of March half an hour after five in the morning and at our setting out saw on our right hand two good Fields watered with several Brooks that come from Springs which are plentiful in that Country where the people live in Villages We marched on through a Plain in good way until Noon when having passed over a Bridge of seven Arches under which a River runs Oudgioun we came to a Village called Oudgioun four Agatsch from Asoupas we found a Kervanserai there but it stank so by reason of the great quantity of Carrion and filth that was in it that we could not Lodge therein so that we were fain to encamp hard by under Carpets which we pitched instead of Tents A River fix or seven Fathom over runs through this Village the water of it is very muddy and has a Bridge of seven small Arches over there is Wine also in this place and the Grapes are brought from Maain Within a Mosque there lyes Enterred the Son of a King Schah-Zadeh-Imam-Dgiafer called Scbah Zadeh-Imam-Dgiafer whom they reckon a Saint the Dome is rough cast over before the Mosque there is a Court well Planted with many high Plane-Trees on which we saw a great many Storks that haunt thereabout all the year round We parted from Oudgioun Thursday the fifth of March half an hour after two in the Morning and having advanced a quarter of an hour through Grounds full of water we had the way good till half an hour after Four that we went up an extraordinary high and uneasie Hill because of the stones that lay in the way it is called Chotal-Imam-Zadeh-Ismael Chotal-Imam-Zadeh-Ismael that is to say the Hill of Ismael the Son of an Imam and we were above an hour in mounting it We found on the top a great many Camels coming from Schiras loaded with Tabacco which is brought from Beban after that for above two hours we went down Hill in pretty good way save that here and there we met with some stones one would have thought that we had changed the Climate when we came to the top of the Hill for the side by which we came up was all covered with Snow and on this side there was none at all on the contrary it was full of wild Almond-Trees that bear a bitter Fruit and other Trees which with their Verdure delighted the sight When we were a good way down we came to a Mosque where that Ismael the Son of Imam who gives the name to the Hill is Enterred The outside of that place looks like a Castle with a round Tower at each corner within there is a Court at one end of which is the Mosque whose Frontispiece is a Portico six Arches in length and in the middle of the Mosque there is a Dome rough cast close by it is a Village with a great many Gardens watered by a lovely Brook that runs hard by We then continued our Journy in stony way till Eleven a Clock that we found a River about a Fathom and a half over which divides it self into many Rivulets that water all the Grounds thereabout being very good Land and all sowed The water of that River is very clear and has many Trees growing on the sides of it which render it a very pleasant place The River of Main or Bendemir or Kur it is called the River of Main because it runs by Main but it is the Bendemir and I was told that its right name was Kur from which the Son of Cyrus who there was exposed took his name Bendemir signifies the Princes Dyke and it is so called because of a Dyke or Bank that a Prince made there consult as to that the Geography of Diagiaib Makhlouear This River is the second Araxes of Quintus Curtius Diodorus Siculus and Strabo We kept along the side of it and crossed many of its Canals until about one of the Clock we arrived at a large Village called Main fix Agatsch from Oudgioun Main We Lodged in a good Kervanserai where we found some men who accompanied to Mecha the body of a Lady who had desired to be buried there There are many Gardens all round this Village full of Vines that bear good Grapes and abounding also in Pear-Trees Peach-Trees Walnuts and other Fruit-Trees with water-Melons and other Melons We parted from Main Friday the sixth of March half an hour after two in the Morning and presently left the High-way striking to the left over Sowed Ground till we got near to the River we were obliged to do so because the High-way would have led us to a place where the River was not Foardable and they take not that way but when it may be Foarded over the other way leads to a Bridge we followed the current of the River which is the same that runs by Main until half an hour after Three that we crossed over the Bridge consisting of three Arches but the middlemost a very large one under which the water is very rapid a quarter of an hour after we found a great Brook that falling from the Hill discharges it self in the River a little farther on we saw upon the River a Bridge broken down and a quarter of an hour after the ruins of another Bridge in this place there are a great many small Brooks that lose themselves in the River we then went forwards in good Way till day that we began to ascend a little In these Quarters is the Hill which Alexander the Great made himself Master of by stratagem sending Soldiers by a compass about to surprise the Enemies on their back whilst he Attacked them on the Front as Quintus Curtius relates it a Franck shewed me one separated from the rest which he said was the very same but there was little probability in that because there are a great many such thereabouts and it is very difficult to pitch upon the right besides I did not see how it could command the Passage which is too wide in that place to be Locked in by Mountains About Eight of the Clock we came to a Bridge built over the River of Main or Bendemir which at that place is at least nine or ten Fathom broad This is a rapid River and seems to be deep the water of it is thick and swells high in Winter for they assured me that then it swelled up as high as the Bridge which consists of five Arches but somewhat ruinous nevertheless it is called Pouli-Now Pouli-Now New-Bridge that is to say the New Bridge having passed it and left a way on our Right Hand we took to the Left and having Travelled on an hour and a half more in a Plain till about half an hour after nine we Encamped near to a Kervanserai
that was a building a Rich man of Schiras having left by Will money for that purpose That place is called Abgherm which signifies hot water Abgherm because the water there is a little warm it gave some of our Company a looseness but has plenty of Fish in it This place which is but four Agatsch from Main was but half of our usual days Journey however our Beasts being tired we stayed there till next day the seventh of March when we parted half an hour after Two in the Morning and put on before the Caravan that we might get to Schiras the same day There are several ways that lead to it but we kept still to the Left crossing over many Brooks about half an hour after six we came to a Causey above two Fathom broad and two thousand Paces long all well Paved with Arches in several places and chiefly in the middle where there is a Bridge an hundred Paces in length under which runs a small branch of the River of Main Poligorgh that Causey is called Poligorgh Half an hour after Seven we saw a sorry Kervanserai but a little beyond it there is a very good one which is extraordinary large and well built with many embellishments at each corner there is a little Tower the Gate is fair and high adorned with many pieces of Marble on which there are Inscriptions The Appartments of this Kervanserai are very commodious but it is so infested with Gnats that there is no being in it It was built by a Chan of Sciras who to take off the Gnats built but to no purpose a large Garden by it it is called Agassef Agassef and is three Agatsch from Abgherm its common name is Poligourg that is to say the Woolfs Bridge or Poligord We went on The way that leads to Tchebelminar Badgega and an hour after left a broad way on the left Hand which goes streight to Tchebelminar and that is the way to it from Schiras About half an hour after Two we came to a Kervanserai called Badgega three Agatsch from Agassef there we found several Horses Camels and Mules which the Vizir of Schiras sent as a present to the King for the Neurouz for it is the custom as we have already observed that all the Grandees make great Presents to the King Present for the Neurouz or a New-Years-Gift the day of the Neurouz or Spring which is the two and twentieth of March just so as New-Years Gifts are given in France on the first of January We rested in that place till Three in the Afternoon when we parted to goe to Schiras two great Agatsch distant At first we went up a great Hill and then saw to our Left hand a Dome somewhat ruinous under which there are some Tombs close by runs a very clear Brook shaded by several great Planes and many little Pomegranate-Trees which render that place extraordinarily pleasant Having Travelled near two hours in very stony way and crossed several lovely Brooks about Five a Clock at night we came to a place from whence there is a very pleasant prospect of the City for two Hills there drawing near together at the end make a narrow passage beyond which are Gardens full of lovely Cypresses and then the Town which lyes in a Plain from North to South so that it yields a most delightful prospect After we had a little advanced betwixt those two Hills we saw a great Reservatory of water which is pretty ruinous the water is stopt by a thick Wall almost two Fathom broad supported by two spurs of the same thickness which with the Wall from the bottom of the Ditch are almost three Fathom high the Reservatory was formerly much of the same depth but is at present almost filled up with the Earth that the water has brought into it the Wall hath been made to serve for a Bank to stop the waters that in Winter fall from the Hills and running too violently through that streight beat down all that stood in their way but it is dry in the Summer-time Arrival at Schiras at length we came to the City-Gate which is fair and well built CHAP. II. Of Schiras THE first thing we found upon our entry into Schiras was a great broad Street on each side bordered by Gardens with little pretty neat Houses over the Gates of them having advanced in that Street about a quarter of an hour we came to a large Stone-Bason full of water and of an Oblong Figure being about twenty or twenty five Fathom in length and more than fifteen in breadth Continuing in the same Street you see a lovely Mosque whose Dome is covered with blew Varnished Tiles Joyning to this Mosque there is a burying-place Planted with fair Trees with a round Stone-Bason full of water which renders the place very pleasant so that there are always people taking the Air in it with their Pipes of Tobacco a little farther there is a Bridge of five Arches under which runs a small River and onward in the same Street you come to a covered Bazar that puts an end to it this Street is but as a Suburbs to the City which at that place begins We struck off to the Left and alighted at the little House of the Reverend Fathers Carmelites where all the Francks goe The City of Schiras heretofore Schirsaz and which many will have to be Cyropolis is properly the Metropolis of the Province of Persia it lyes in a most pleasant and fertile Plain that yields the best Wine in Persia On the East it is at the Foot of a Hill covered with several sorts of Fruit-Trees amongst which are many Orange and Limon-Trees intermingled with Cypresses it is about two hours walk in Circumference The Circumference of Schiras and lyes from North to South it hath no Walls but only a scurvy Ditch and that is all it needs having no Enemies to be afraid of it is watered by a River which is but little and yet subject to overflowings when that happens the Inhabitants hinder it from breaking into their Gardens and carrying away their Walls by casting up Dykes to stop it they make them with Couffes Couffes that is to say great Panniers made of bruised Canes like Palm-Tree-Leaves which they fill with Earth and Stone and that hinders the passage of the water very well The Streets of Schiras are for the most part somewhat narrow though there be some fair ones having in the middle lovely Canals bordered with Stone through which a very clear Rivulet runs There are a great many fair covered Bazars long and broad with great Shops on each side well furnished with all sorts both of Indian and Turkish Commodities and every Commodity hath its particular Bazar It hath many large well built Kervanserays as to the Palaces they make no shew on the outside no more than in the rest of the Levant but all their beauty is within the Palace of the Chan himself
another that is contiguous and afterwards fills a large and long Trough for watering of the Horses There are many other Cisterns also here and there in the Fields Two Musket-shot from the Kervanseray there is a Village called Dehi-Kouh Dehi-Kouh that is to say Hill Town because it stands on a Hill. This Kervanseray is four Agatsch from Bihri we staied there the rest of that day and all the following to comply with the humour of the Muletors it Thundered much in the night-time and we had Rain the whole next day we staied sometime thinking it might blow over but it still lasted We parted not then till Sunday the nine and twentieth of March at Noon continuing our way Southwards having set forward half a quarter of an hour we ascended the Hill which is neither very high nor very bad when we were got down on the other side we crossed several Torrents about two a Clock we found a little Kervanseray standing alone with a Cistern by it it is called Hhormont Kervanseray Hhormont from the name of the neighbouring Village so called because of the many Palm-Trees that grow about it Hhourma signifies the Fruit of the Palm-Trees or Dates On all that Road we found many of the Shrubs called Badisamour Badisamour a Shrub Hherzehre and there is hardly any thing else to be seen till you come to Bender but they give them another name in those Quarters calling them Hherzehre about four a Clock we saw on our Left Hand an Aqueduct which in former times conveyed water from a neighbouring source to Lar but it being dryed up the Aqueduct which cost a great deal of mony though it be but low and built only of rough stone is let go to ruin CHAP. IV. The continuation of the Journey to Bender and first of the Town of Lar. AFter many ups and downs and a great deal of turning and winding between Hills amongst many Tamarisk and some Conar-Trees about five a Clock we arrived at the Dutch House which is near the Town of Lar The Dutch House three Agatsch from Pai Chotali but these Agatsch seemed to me to be very long this is a very neat House with lovely Courts and Chambers and a fair Stable after the Franks Fashion it belongs to the Dutch Company There is a Kervanseray a little farther whither the Caravans go but both Franks and Armenians Lodge at the Dutch House We stayed three days in the Town of Lar which hath always been Lar. as at present it is the chief Town of the Province it was heretofore the residence of the King of that Country to wit when the Guebres were Masters of it The Guebres Masters of Lar. Ghermes the great Schah Abbas took it from them and now a Chan resides there who Commands the whole Province which is called Ghermes and reaches to the very Gates of Gomron This Town which is four days Journy from Gomron and seated on a Rock is but small it hath no Walls but only a sorry Ditch beyond which are several Houses pretty well built of which the Dutch House is one and these make a kind of Suburbs to it There is nothing to be seen at Lar but the Chans House the Market-Place the Bazars and the Castle The Chans House looks to the Ditch The House of the Chan of Lar. the Walls of it are very high on that side and at the farther end there is a Divan covered fit for taking the fresh Air in the entry into that House is from the Market-Place which is very pretty it is a Square with Arches all round and Terrasses on the top along which there is a row of Rails and Ballisters for a border these Ballisters consist of Arches interlaced about two foot high made of narrow stones about four Fingers thick In the middle of the East side of the Square is the Porch of the Chans House which juts out a little into the place and hath seven Fronts on the opposite side over against this Porch there is a large Gate over which there is a great covered Divan The entry into the Bazars is by that Gate and they are very fair and large well covered and paved with broad smooth Free-stone Lovely Bazars in Lar. amongst others there is one covered in the middle by a very large handsome Dome which hath well furnished Shops Having passed the Bazars and crossed the Town which is but narrow and reaches in length from South to North you come to the Quarter of the Jews who are very numerous in this Town Many Jews in Lar. they live near the foot of the Hill on which the Castle stands which reaches as the Hill-does South and North and is to West of the Town This Castle is very long and built all of stone The Castle of Lar. the Walls of it seem to be good and have Towers at some intervals the Hill on which it stands is a mere Rock steep almost on all sides this Castle Commands all round it and there is a Wall drawn from it with some Towers a little down the side of the Hill in short it is strong considering the Country and was built by the Guebres All the Country about Lar is full of Tamarisks which are very big Abundance of Tamarisks at Lar. and I never saw so many together in one place Gun-powder Bad water at Lar. There is good Gun-powder made in this Town Their drink is very bad for they have only Cistern-water which is very unwholesome and it is good to quench a red hot Iron in it and strain it through a Cloath because of the Worms that breed therein which being swallowed down slide betwixt the Flesh and the Skin Worms bred in the Body by the water as I shall describe when I come to speak of Gomron and get not only into the Legs but also into other parts of the Body nay and into the Testicles too so that a man will have sometimes four or five of them in several places as for our parts we drank good water there because of the Rain that fell the day when we arrived It Rained all Wednesday and next night which hindered us from setting out but Thursday the second of April about five of the Clock in the Morning we continued our Journy going streight East in a very good Sandy way betwixt Corn-Fields for the Villages are very thick thereabouts On that Road I observed a pretty pleasant thing which is practised in all that Country as far as Bendar Abassi I saw several Peasants running about the Corn-Fields who raised loud shouts and every now and then clacked whips with all their force and all this to drive away the Birds which devour all their Corn when they see Flocks of them coming from a neighbouring Ground that they may not light on theirs they redouble their cries to make them go farther and this they do every day Morning and Evening The truth is
there are so great numbers of Sparrows in Persia that they destroy all things and scare-Crows are so far from frightning them that they will Pearch upon them At eight a Clock we passed by a little covered Kervanseray called Tscherchab Tscherchab which puts an end to the Corn-Fields for beyond that there is hardly any thing to be found but Desarts sowed with stones about two hours after we passed by another Kervanseray Tenghinoun like to the former called Tenghinoun and a little further to the Left Hand we saw a small Forrest of Palm-Trees We afterwards marched on for the space of about two hours through very stony Ground and then came to good even Sandy way Half an hour after one in the Afternoon we passed by a covered Kervanseray called Ouasili Ouasili and keeping on our way over little Sandy Hills we came at three a Clock to another which is also covered Schemzenghi and called Schemzenghi where we stopt and this place is seven Agatsch from Lar. These Kervanserays are not built as others are but are little covered buildings about six Fathom long and as many broad on the outside and about a Fathom and a half high in the middle of each Front there is a Gate and you enter by these Gates under so many Vaulted Walks which run cross-ways within and have each about two Fathom in length they leave in the middle or Centre of the cross they make a little Square about two Fathom every way covered with a Dome In some of them there is in each Vault a half pace of stone two foot high and about a Fathom broad in the outside is the House of the House-keeper or Condar as they call him it stands along one of the sides of the Kervanseray and instead of Walls is only enclosed with a little Hedge in the mean time all the Provisions you are to expect must be had out of these wretched Hovels When there is no body in the Kervanseray these House-keepers retire to their Village or Huts which is out of the way a quarter or half a French League from thence and sometimes Travellers must go look for them when they have had no notice of their coming In the Angles of these Kervanserays there are commonly little Chambers which have the Doors on the outside and the rest of the place is for the Horses there is no other water but what is drawn out of Cisterns of which there are many in the Fields a little way from the Kervanseray We parted from that wretched Lodging Friday the third of April about four a Clock in the Evening and Travelled through a large very even Plain where we saw in many places the Ground whitened over with Salt which is made by the Rain Bahadini Tschektschek about half an hour after five we passed by a covered Kervanseray called Bahadini and about seven by another called Tschektschek by this last there is a Hut where Rhadars Lodge about eight a Clock we entered in amongst Hills and had up Hill and down Hill in very bad stony way where having turned to and again till nine of the Clock we came into a fair large Plain and there marched on till about half an hour after eleven at Night when we passed along a great Village where grow many Palm-Trees from which it hath taken the name of Hhormont Hhormont and a little beyond it there is a covered Kervanseray where we Lodged this place is five Agatsch from Schemzenghi We parted from thence on Saturday half an hour after a eleven a Clock at Night and took our way full South by a very bad and stony Road. Sunday about four a Clock in the Morning we passed by a little covered Kervanseray called Serten then taking our way Eastward Serten Bedgi-Paria after an hours Travelling we found another called Bedgi-Paria a little after we came to a running water the clearness whereof tempted us to fill our Mataras or leathern Bottles but it was good luck that I bid one of the Company who alighted purposely from his Horse to taste it first for he found it to be as Salt as Salt it self Our way continued still bad till about seven of the Clock in the Morning that we came to a Kervanseray called Tengbidalan this Kervanseray is covered as many others are Tengbidalan but it is much finer It is a Square about eight Fathom in the middle of each Face there is a great Arch by which one enters into Vaults which make a Cross as in the others but they are higher and it is not under these Vaults that Travellers Lodge for the Chambers are in the four Corners about three Fathom square two or three foot raised from the Ground and open on the two sides within where there are great Arches from the Floor up to the Vault each Chamber hath its Chimny and other small conveniences the Place in the middle is covered with a Dome in which there is a great round opening in the top By one of the Gates of this Kervanseray there runs a very clear Brook about a good Foot broad which falls into an oblong square Bason in the middle and keeps it always full then it passes farther in such another Canal as brought it and runs out at the opposite Gate this Brook comes from a Hill two Muskets shot from the Kervanseray it falls down from it impetuously in a Channel above a Foot broad and about half as deep and is received on the first Pillar of a broken Arch which is shaped like a Well there are a great many of these broken Arches in a row with some ruins of the Pillars and I believe they have been beaten down by the force of the water which in time of Rain is very great at that place nay some of it too ran then betwixt the Pillars perhaps it was because they were afraid of that accident that they brought not the water upon these Arches which in all appearance were only made for Ornament The water falling down into this Well runs under Ground about twenty Fathom length and comes up again by the Pillar of the first of the Arches that remain entire to the number of eleven this Pillar being also like a well and rising to a height it glides away in a Channel like to that which comes from the Hill save that it is carried along these Arches that are about a Fathom and a half high till coming to a higher Ground the Canal is not above two Foot high and a little farther runs level with the Ground where making several turnings and windings it waters the Roots of a great deal of Liquorice growing by the sides of it until it come to the Kervanseray The truth is that water is not good to drink and it is only necessity that makes men use it when there is none in a Cistern close by but it serves at least to cool the Kervanseray and to wash any thing in
Adjoyning to this Kervanseray there is another very little one through which the same water runs and a little farther there is a third which is bigger but somewhat ruinous This place is five Agatsch from Hhormont We parted from thence Monday the sixth of April half an hour after Midnight at first for above an hour we had very bad stony way but it proved pretty good afterward about two in the Morning we passed by a little covered Kervanseray called Berkei Dobend and about four a Clock by another called Dgei Hhon Berkei Dobend Dgei Hhon at break of day we entered into bad way again where we clambered up and down for above an hour among stones and then we found the way better till we came to a covered Kervanseray called Kor Bazirghion Kor Bazirghion that is to say the Merchants Ditch where we arrived about eight a Clock This Kervanseray is of the same bigness as the other where we Lodged the day before it is built much after the same manner having in each Corner three Chambers of which the one which is on the inside is open by Arches on two sides and the other two have their Door without the Kervanseray this place is five Agatsch from Tengbidalan We parted from thence about half an hour after one a Clock in the Morning during a large quarter of an hour we had bad stony way and about half an hour after five we passed by a little covered Kervanseray Berkei Soltouni called Berkei Soltouni about three quarters of an hour after seven we came to such another near to a great Village called Coureston Coureston four Agatsch from Kor Bazirghion we left the Caravan at this place because our Carriers took Camels to finish the Journy with and resolved to Travel only by day and to be four days longer by the way I therefore took a Camel to carry my man and baggage and a guide to shew us the way which from thence to Bender is so difficult that he who hath Travelled it fifty times may lose himself there in so that it is absolutely necessary to take a man of the Country if one would not wander out of the way We parted about eleven a Clock at Night and presently entered into a great sandy Plain which nevertheless is peopled and hath a great many Villages that are to be seen here and there this is occasioned by the abundance of Palm-Trees that this Country is full of the Soil being proper for them though very barren for any thing else About an hour after Midnight we passed by a little covered Kervanseray Dobrike called Dobrike which is an Agatsch and a half from Coureston and a little after we passed over an Aqueduct which is level with the Ground and called Pariabzahed Aly Pariabzahed Aly. this Aqueduct brings water from a Spring at the Foot of the Hills that are to the Left Hand towards the North in digging it was discovered and the water of it is very good Betwixt three and four of the Clock we went over a very high and fair Bridge above three Fathom broad and betwixt seven and eight hundred common Paces long it is well Paved and has a side-Wall on each side about a Foot and a half high under this Bridge runs a River above nine or ten Fathom broad which is heard at a great distance by reason of the noise it makes in its course there is no drinking of the water of it for it is Salt and it discharges it self into the Sea about six hundred Paces from thence Rohhouna The name of that River is Rohhouna that is to say the running River and that is the name they give to all great Rivers it comes from Kermont Pouli Seugh the name of the Bridge is Pouli Seugh that is to say Stone-Bridge or otherwise Pouli Coreston before this River comes to the Bridge it runs by the Foot of the Hills on the Left Hand Northwards and there it begins to be Salt when it comes to this Bridge which indeed is only upon the side of it finding it so runs along the side of it and discharges but part of its water underneath in passing which running under the Arches and finding the Ground lower on the other side of the Bridge falls with great impetuosity and that makes the rumbling noise that is heard at such a distance the rest of the water running along by the Bridge turns afterwards towards the South and loses it self in the Sea. Being over the Bridge we went a long a Causey above two Fathom broad and all Paved about a thousand Paces in length which hath a good Parapet or Breast-Wall about a Foot and a half high Wednesday the eighth of April about six of the Clock in the Morning we came to a covered Kervanseray called Ghetschi Ghetschi six Agatsch from Coureston There is another besides close by which is not covered but like the rest in all things else and a little ruinous There were several Tents of black Goats hair thereabout and as soon as we arrived a great many Women and Girls came out of them to visit us they were cloathed with blew streakâ—d Drawers and a blew Shirt over them their Noses Ears Arms and Feet were full of Silver Copper Bone or Glass-Rings every one of them held an Earthen Porringer full of Yogourt or Sower Milk and a little Vessel full of the same under their Arms and to invite us to buy some of them in our presence dabbed four Fingers and a Thumb into their Budgets and pulled out Butter full of Straws which they mingled with the Milk that was in their Porringers and then poured out more Sower Milk out of the same Borrachy their Husbands are all Fishermen and both men and women are Inhabitants fit for such a Country We parted from that place the same day half an hour after six in the Evening and continued our Journy along the sandy Plain about eight a Clock we passed a narrow streight betwixt little Hills and having kept turning about half a quarter of an hour we found two ways the one to the Left Hand over a pretty high Hill and the other to the Right which hardly appeared we followed this last leaving that to the Left Hand which is very dangerous if we may believe the people of the Country for they would needs persuade us that on that Hill there were Dgius who killed all Passengers by that word Dgius they understand evil Spirits Dgius which they say are of a middle Nature betwixt Angels and Men. This imagination then they have and give it out for a very certan thing that in that Hill there is a Tlisim or Charm by vertue whereof the Dgius prevail Tlisim and that they make Cauldrons there the sound whereof may be heard for they all agree that some men have been there and come safe back again who related all these things but they say that none but such
are very well worth the pains of Reading by those who had rather trust to my relation than to go and see them themselves For my part I had pleasure enough in seeing them and Monsieur Doliere was with me he came from France with Monsieur Tavernier as far as Bender from whence we came back together to Schiras he with design to return to France and I to shift elsewhere and go on to the Indies I could have wished not to have left him so soon for he is an honest man and very pleasant Company To see those Antiquities so much Celebrated amongst the Curious being out of the Town of Schiras you must go streight South-East keeping the way that leads to the Lake where the Salt is made that is used in those Quarters Having Travelled on an Agatsch and a half you see to the Left Hand a Hill A Lake where Salt is made at Schiras which is almost opposite to a Village standing in the middle of the Plain you must go up to the top of that Hill and there you see the ruins of a curious Temple That place is square and in the middle of the Face that looks to the North-West Antiquity and ruins of a fair Temple a League and a half from Schiras there is a great Gate another in the middle of the side that looks to the South-East and a third in the middle of the Face that looks to the North-East there is none to be seen on the opposite side nor any sign that there has ever been any there the Jams of these Gates are each of one piece of a dark grey and very hard stone and are at least ten Foot high and somewhat more than two Foot and a half broad the Lintel and Threshold are of the same and contain about four Foot in length so that these Gates or Doors are about some ten Foot high and four Foot wide On each side of the Gate there is a Figure cut in relief as big as the life the one resembles a man holding on his Arm a kind of Manipule as Priests do when they are Cloathed for saying of Mass only with this difference that it is no broader at the ends than in the middle in the other Hand he holds a thing like a Bowl or a Heart out of which mounts up a flame The opposite Figure seems to be of a woman holding in one Hand a kind of Holy-water-pot and we could not devise what it was she held in the other it being so broken and cut with a Chizzel unless it be a Candlestick and Candle or rather a Holy-water-sprinkle There are also two Figures at each Gate which have the same postures as these or at least there is but very little difference the Heads of all these Figures have been knocked off This square is about seven Fathom long towards the middle there is a little Stone-Fat of an Oblong square with a hole in the bottom to let out the water It is probable that the Walls were all of the same stone as the Doors are because from the Door that looks to the North-East to that which faces the South-East there stands a Range still which is of the very same the rest lies under ruins or is taken away and on one of these stones that remain near the South-East-Gate there are six Figures in Bass relief but very little raised which are somewhat more than a Foot high they represent men upright and following one another at equal distances in the same manner as if they were going in Procession In one Hand they hold either a Torch or a Pike I cannot tell which for they are so spoilt that hardly any thing is to be discerned On the other side of the same Door a little towards the South there is another stone with the like Figures The people of the Country call that place Mesdgidi Mader Soliman Mesdgidi Mader Soliman that is to say the Mosque of the Mother of Soliman but can give no reason for it The Mahometans in and about Schiras go and pray in that Temple the day of the little Bairam or Courban Bairami that is to say the day of their Easter of Sacrifices In fine these Antiquities are little preludes to those of Tschehel-minar I had a man who said plaisantly that the place where they are ought to be called the little Brother of Tschehel-minar Having considered it you are to go down the other side of the Hill opposite to that by which they come up and continue your way South-East a few steps off you see to the Right Hand a Spring that runs at the Foot of the Hill and makes a little Bog shaded over by many high and great Trees which render this place very pleasant a little further you see to the Right Hand a Thicket or small Wood all of Rose-Trees which yield a very lovely prospect when they are in the Flower as I saw them You must then leave the High-way which leads to the Salt-Lake and draw near the Hills that are to the Left Hand and but very little distant from the Road and having kept going a good quarter of an hour more you come to a very delightful place for there you have a great many clear Springs full of Fish that glide under the shade of a great many Planes Ash-Trees and Willows which so extend their Boughs that at Noon day they cover you from the Sun and there you may delightfully spend the whole day in the cool When you are come into this charming place you must alight from your Horse and pass over a little water close by the Hill upon stepping stones that are there in great quantity and in a place where the Hill bending makes a kind of Semicircle you see at two Fathoms height The Antiquity of Kademghah Two Figures in a Rock The Figure of a Woman two Figures of the ordinary bigness in Relief cut in the natural Rock these Figures are somewhat hid by a Fig-Tree which hath taken Root at the Foot of the Rock but it is easie to get up betwixt the Rock and the Fig-Tree and to consider them at nearer distance The first of these seems to be the Figure of a Woman with a naked Body unless towards the Legs where one may perceive some folds of a Gown behind her Head there is a kind of Crown of Rayes cut in the Rock she stretches out both her Hands to the neighbouring Figure as to receive something that it presents to her that neighbouring Figure represents a Man with a long Beard The Figure of a Man. and his Hair made up into Tresses behind his Head-attire seems to be much like a Swisses Cap for it sets close to his Head covers all his Brow and is broader above than below there is this difference that it rises round instead of being flat on the Crown he hath a Girdle and a Sword hanging at his Left side which is above two Foot and a half long
midnight we had a fresh Gale from North-West Monday Morning the twelfth of October the Wind slackned very much but changed not and therefore we weighed Anchor at half an hour after eight and standing away South-West we were soon after becalmed Towards Noon we Rowed a little and half an hour after had a breeze from South-West with which we bore away North-West till three in the Afternoon when we entered into the River Caron that comes from the Hills above the Town Souster Caron Souster Khusistan Susa Ahasuerus Coaspes Choasp Tiripari Zeimare which is the Capital Town of Khusistan and was in ancient times the Town of Susa where Ahasuerus held his Court. This River of Caron must be the Coaspes of the Ancients nay they assured me that there is still at present near to the Town of Souster a Hill called Choasp where the River of Caron which Sanson calls Tiripari Tiritiri and Zeimare hath its source but what reason he has for these names I cannot tell since no body could give me any account of them though I have enquired of many who all told me they knew of no such thing On the Right Hand to the West there is an Isle called Dorghestan and on the Left or towards the East Dorghestan Gheban is the Island of Gheban the point whereof is called Mouele and Gheban because all that Country is called Gheban and is the limits of the Kingdom of Bassora on that side In that place to the Left Hand there is a piece of of Palm-Tree-Wood fixed in the Ground to serve for a signal when it his high water not to go beyond it and they call that signal Dgioudoh The Land here on both sides depends on the Basha of Bassora The usual way to Bassora is by Sea to the mouth of Schat-el-Aarab The way to Bassora which they enter and go by water to Bassora but we put in to the River because our Sea-men who had nothing to do at Bassora being only come to take in Dates imposed upon us telling us that we must go to Gheban to take in fresh water and wood which we wanted and that it was also the shortest cut to Bassora but that great Barks went not that way because it was not deep enough which we too easily believed So soon as we were got into the River we came to Anchor in a Fathom water At low water the River at that place is but very little salt and a little higher it is fresh even when it is Flood Being Flood about midnight our men fell to their Oars but Rowed not above an hour and then came to an Anchor The Country about seems to be very good Land it is low even and green on all Hands and we saw many Cows there feeding in the Meadows which look much like the Meadows of Holland Tuesday the thirteenth of October about ten a Clock in the Morning our Sea-men went a shoar and Towed us up till one of the Clock when being over against a Village where there are a great many Palm-Trees we hoisted Sail with a North-West Wind that lasted not long and so came to an Anchor again Our men went a shoar to hear News as they said of Bassora and coming back in the Evening told us that all things were in confusion at Bassora that the Basha was marched with his whole Army towards Bagdad and that all Barks were taken up for Transporting of Soldiers and that therefore they durst go no farther but were resolved to return empty to Bender-Rik This was all false A cheat of the Sea-men and the truth was they had no mind to go any farther designing to take in their Cargoe at the place we were at where there is plenty of Dates and that was the reason they had brought us that way Nevertheless we must pretend to believe all the Knaves told us and try to find another Bark to carry us to Bassora We sent then a servant next day to look for one and he brought us a small thing wherein the men promised in four and twenty hours to carry us to the Town for six Abassis which we gave them These Barks are flat bottomed about a Fathom high one and a half broad and about five Fathom long The Stern is very low but the Head is as high again and draws into a sharp point as the Gondolos of Venice Barks on the River of Caron These Barks are not Caulked but only Pitched over on the outside which they do in the manner following When they are to Pitch a Daneg for so they call that sort of Bark in Arabick ten or twelve paces from the Daneg they make a Furnace of Earth the upper part whereof is made like a Cauldron into that they put the Pitch and the fire underneath and when the Pitch is almost melted but not altogether liquid a man comes with a little wet Shovel in his Hand and another lays some of this Pitch upon it The Pitching of a Daneg and then puts water upon the Pitch which the first carrying to the Daneg and stirring the Pitch with a piece of Wood to which it does not stick he that is working at the Daneg takes the Pitch in his Hand and dawbs it as one would do Plaster upon the Daneg and then with a Rowler which is not altogether round he spreads it upon the Vessel and in that manner Pitches it all over on the outside These Barks are made very strong the sides being about a Foot thick and all the Planks are Nailed with great Nails such as are driven into Gates in France they have likewise a Mast of an indifferent bigness Indeed these Barks make but heavy way especially in the middle of the water where they cannot use a Sail if they have not the Wind in Poop and nevertheless they load them so deep that they are not above half a Foot above water We embarked in one of these Boats about half an hour after three in the Afternoon it was full of a kind of very long green Rushes that have a great point at the end whereof they make very fine mats Our Crew consisted of two Sea-men and a Master the two men Towed us on Land till half an hour after six that we came before a Village to the Left Hand there we cast Anchor our Men unloaded all the Rushes and going afterwards to the Village we we saw no more of them till next day This is a great Village and has a square Castle with eight Towers to wit one at each corner and one in the middle of each side but they are all of Earth and so thin that a double Musket could batter them all down This place is called Koutmian Koutmian that is to say Castle Mian and they make many Danegs there The Country of Gheban reaches from thence to the mouth of the River of Caron and in all that space the Land on both sides the River is called Gheban it
is very good Soil and if Cultivated would produce any thing but is is neglected through the Laziness of the Inhabitants who content themselves with their Dates there being in that Country vast Woods of Palm-Trees We parted from Koutmian Thursday the fifteenth of October half an hour after eight in the Morning and at first put over to the other side of the River where our Men went a shoar to Towe us our course being due North-West At that place the River grows pretty broad and I think is as broad as the River of Seine at Paris and yet is very deep and makes many Islands About Eleven a Clock we stopt at a Village to the Left Hand on the water side from whence we parted at one of the Clock About half an hour after nine at night we saw to our Right Hand the end of the Isle Dorghestan Dorghestan Koutschemal which from thence reaches to the Sea. We stopped before a Castle called Koutschemal which stands on the main Land near the end of that Island and on the same Hand This is a very large Castle and the Basha of Bassora has a Palace in it which as I was told is very beautiful and as some say he keeps his Treasure there Over against this Castle but a little higher on the other side of the water there is another square Castle with a Tower at each Angle We parted from that place Friday the sixteenth of October at six of the Clock and having the Wind at South we made Sail and stood away North-West A quarter after eleven Kout-Muethel we passed by a square Castle called Kout-Muethel which was on our Left Hand and is flanked with eight Towers one at every corner and one in the middle of each side and near to it there is a little Canal A little farther we saw a Straw-House where Officers of the Customs live who did not visit us but only ordered our Master to carry us to the Custom House of Bassora Leaving then the River of Caron we entered into a Canal called Haffar Haffar which was to our Left Hand or to the South-West of us at that place it is not two Fathom over in other places it is less but towards the middle is very broad it hath been made for a Communication betwixt the River of Schat-El-Aarab and the Caron there is good Land on each side of that Canal but it is not Cultivated and bears only plenty of Date-Trees The Canal makes many turnings it is very deep and our Men shoved the Bark forwards with Poles Three quarters of an hour after Noon we saw a Canal to the Right Hand which loses it self in the Fields and a little after another to the Left that runs into the Caron near to Kout-Mnuethel as I said before and then our Men went on shoar to Towe us There the Canal of Haffar grows very broad and at the end is above seven or eight Fathom over About four a Clock we saw a Canal that spends it self in the Fields Half an hour after we passed betwixt two square Castles each of which have a Tower at every Angle and one in the middle of each side they are called Kout-Haffar Kout-Haffar because they lye at the end of the Canal Haffar that has its mouth to the South it is about six French Leagues from thence to Bassora and about twelve to the Sea. We then entered into the River made up of the Tygris and Euphrates joyned into one the Arabs call it Schat-El Aarab that is to say the River of Aarabs We turned then to the Right Hand and stood away North-West having to our Left the Isle Dgezirak-Chader Dgezirak-Chader and seeing we had a breeze of Wind from the South we spread our Sail. Half an hour after five in the Evening we saw to our Left the end of the Isle called Dgezirak-Chader which reaches from the Canal by which they go to Bahrem to the mouth of Schat-El-Aarab there are Palm-Trees yet their Soil is not good but from the Canal of Bahrem till over against or a little above the Canal Haffar for from thence to the Sea the Land is barren perhaps because it being very low the Sea overflows it at high water Next to the Islle Chader we saw on our Left Hand the Canal by which they go to Port Calif and Bahrem it runs towards the South and passes betwixt the Isle Chader and the main Land of Bassora it is very broad and has above eight Fathom water but there are great stones in some places of it From thence to Bassora the River is above twice and a half as broad as the Seine is at Paris and yet is very deep all over Three quarters after six we saw on our Right Hand the beginning of a long Island called Dgezirat-el-Bouarin and a little after we had on the same hand the Isle El-Bochasi Dgezirat-el-Bouarin El-Bochasi El-Fayadi and not long after the Isle El-Fayadi to the Left Hand These are all great Islands full of Palm-Trees and nevertheless the Channel is every where very deep and broad The Wind slackened so at this place that we scarcely made any way at all however we drew near to the shoar on the Left Hand or West side and about half an hour after eight our Men took their Oars and Rowed till three quarters after ten at night when we stopt close by the shoar before a Castle of the Bashas that seems to be very lovely it has many Pavillions all made into Windows and Porticos for taking the fresh Air in the Summer-time and indeed these Castles are only for pleasure for they could make no great defence We parted from that place Saturday the seventeenth of October at six a Clock in the Morning half an hour after we entered into a Canal to the Left Hand which runs South-West we had on our Left Hand a very spacious Castle pretty entire on the side of the Canal but all ruinous towards the Sea-side This Canal at high water is as broad as one half of the Seine but when the Tide is out it is but a sorry Brook full of Mud. The Town of Bassora lies on the two sides of this Canal though along the sides of it there be nothing to be seen but Gardens the Houses being backwards We came along that Canal till eight a Clock in the Morning when we arrived at the Custom-House which is almost at the bottom of it and having had our Goods viewed we went to Lodge with the Reverend Fathers the bare-footed Carmelites which is not far distant at that time there was but one Religious Italian there Arrival at Bassora called Father Severin With a good Wind they come often from Bender-Rik to Bassora in a days time From Bender-Rik to Bassora in a day though sometimes it makes a Voyage of three weeks We found no preparations for War at Bassora only the Basha of the place finding that the Basha of Bagdad suffered
of Surrat was full of Riches he took measures how he might plunder it But that no body might suspect his Design he divided the Forces he had into two Camps and seeing his Territories lie chiefly in the Mountains upon the Road betwixt Bassaim and Chaoul Sivagy's first Camp towards Chaoul The other towards Bassaim he pitched one Camp towards Chaoul where he planted one of his Pavillions and posted another at the same time towards Bassaim and having ordered his Commanders not to plunder but on the contrary to pay for all they had he secretly disguised himself in the habit of a Faquir Thus he went to discover the most commodious ways that might lead him speedily to Surrat Sivagy at Surrat in the habit of a Faquir He entred the Town to examine the places of it and by that means had as much time as he pleased to view it all over Being come back to his chief Camp Savagy returns to his Camp. he ordered four thousand of his Men to follow him without noise and the rest to remain encamped and to make during his absence as much noise as if all were there to the end none might suspect the enterprise he was about And comes back to Surrat with four thousand men but think he was still in one of his Camps Every thing was put in execution according to his orders His march was secret enough though he hastened it to surprise Surrat and he came and Encamped near Brampour-gate To amuse the Governour who sent to him he demanded guides under pretence of marching to another place but the Governour without sending him any Answer retired into the Fort with what he had of the greatest value and sent for assistance on all hands The Plundering of Surrat Most of the Inhabitants in consternation forsook their Houses and fled into the Country Sivagy's Men entered the Town and plundered it for the space of four days burning several Houses None but the English and Dutch saved their quarters from the pillage by the vigorous defence they made and by means of the Cannon they planted which Sivagy would not venture upon having none of his own Nor durst he venture to attack the Castle neither though he knew very well that the richest things they had were conveighed thither and especially a great deal of ready Money He was affraid that attack might cost him too much time and that assistance coming in might make him leave the Plunder he had got in the Town besides the Castle being in a condition to make defence he would not have come off so easily as he had done elsewhere So that he marched off with the Wealth he got And it is believed at Surrat that this Raja carried away in Jewels Gold and Silver to the value of above thirty French Millions 22 l. of Pearls in the house of one Banian for in the House of one Banian he found twenty two Pound weight of strung Pearls besides a great quantity of others that were not as yet pierced One may indeed wonder that so populous a Town should so patiently suffer it self to be Plundered by a handful of Men but the Indians for the most part are cowards No sooner did Sivagy appear with his small body of Men but all fled some to the Country to save themselves at Baroche and others to the Castle whither the Governour retreated with the first And none but the Christians of Europe made good their Post and preserved themselves All the rest of the Town was Plundered The Christians of Europe defended themselves against Sivagy The Capucins escaped except the Monastery of the Capucins When the Plunderers came to their Convent they past it by and had Orders from their General to do so because the first day in the Evening Father Ambrose who was Superiour of it being moved with compassion for the poor Christians living in Surrat went to the Raja and spake in their favour praying him at least not to suffer any violence to be done to their Persons Sivagy had a respect for him took him into his protection and granted what he had desired in favour of the Christians The Great Mogul was sensibly affected with the Pillage of that Town and the boldness of Sivagy but his Affairs not suffering him to pursue his revenge at that time he dissembled his resentment and delayed it till another opportunity In the Year One thousand six hundred sixty six Auran-Zeb praises Sivagy that he may allure him to his Court. Auran-Zeb resolved to dispatch him and that he might accompish his design made as if he approved what he had done and praised it as the action of a brave Man rejecting the blame upon the Governour of Surrat who had not the courage to oppose him He expressed himself thus to the other Rajas of Court amongst whom he knew Sivagy had a great many Friends and told them that he esteemed that Raja for his Valour and wished he might come to Court saying openly that he would take it as a pleasure if any would let him know so much Nay he bid one of them write to him and gave his Royal word that he should receive no hurt that he might come with all security that he forgot what was past and that his Troops should be so well treated that he should have no cause to complain Several Rajas wrote what the King had said and made themselves in a manner sureties for the performance of his word So that he made no difficulty to come to Court and to bring his Son with him having first ordered his Forces to be always upon their Guard Sivagy's coming to Court. under the command of an able Officer whom he left to head them At first he met with all imaginable caresses but some Months after perceiving a dryness in the King he openly complained of it and boldly told him that he believed he had a mind to put him to death though he was come on his Royal word to wait upon him The boldness of Sivagy in speaking to the King. without any constraint or necessity that obliged him to it but that his Majesty might know what Man he was from Chasta-Can and the Governour of Surrat That after all if he Perished there were those who would revenge his death and that hopeing they would do so he was resolved to die with his own hands and drawing his Dagger made an attempt to kill himself but was hindered and had Guards set upon him The King would have willingly put him to death but he feared an insurrection of the Rajas They already murmured at this usage notwithstanding the promise made to him And all of them were so much the more concerned for him that most part came only to Court upon the Kings word That consideration obliged Auran-Zeb to treat him well and to make much of his Son. He told him that it was never in his thoughts to have him put to death and flattered him with
richer Their other offensive Arms are the Bow and Arrow the Javelin or Zagaye and sometimes the Pistol The Foot carry a Musket or a Pike twelve Foot long They have Cannon also in their Towns The Moguls Cannon good for nothing but since they melt the Metal in diverse Furnaces so that some of it must needs be better melted than others when they mingle all together their Cannon commonly is good for nothing Defensive Arms. The Moguls Buckler The defensive Arms of the Indians are a round Buckler about two foot in diametre It is made of Buff varnished over with Black and hath a great many Nails the heads whereof are above an inch over with it they defend themselves against Arrows and Swords Coat of Mail. The Moguls Vambrace They have likewise the Coat of Mail the Cuirats the Head-piece and a Vambrace fastened to the Sword this Vambrace is is a piece of Iron covering the Handle almost round and growing broader as it reaches from the Guard of the Sword to the upper part of the Pummel and sometimes higher It is four or five inches in diametre at that place and is lined with Velvet or some such like thing in the inside that it may not hurt the Hand So that by means of that Engine both hand and handle are wholly covered from the Enemies blows CHAP. XXIV Of the Beasts at Dehly Beasts at Dehly AT Dehly are all sorts of Beasts that are known The King hath many and private Men who are Rich have some also They have Hawks there of all kinds Elks. Rhinoceros Buffles all kinds of Camels Dromedaries Mules Asses and Elephants They have also Elks and Rhinoceroses which are as big as the largest Oxen. The ordinary Oxen there are less than ours Buffles they have also and those of Bengala are the dearest because they are very stout and are not at all afraid of Lions Dogs of Maurenahar Nor do they want Dogs of all sorts but those which are brought from Maurenahar or Transoxiane are most esteemed for Hunting though they be small However the Indian Dogs are better for the Hare They have also Stags Lions and Leopards Horses There is abundance of all sorts of Horses there Besides the Country breed which the Moguls make use of and which are very good Horses they have others also from the Country of the Ulbecks Arabia and Persia those of Arabia being most esteemed and the loveliest of all are constantly reserved for the King. The way of dressing and feeding the Horses They have neither Oats nor Barley given them in the Indies so that Foreign Horses when they are brought thither can hardly feed The way they treat them is thus Every Horse has a Groom he curries and dresses him an hour before day and so soon as it is day makes him drink at seven of the Clock in the Morning he gives him five or six balls of a composition called Donna made of three Pounds of Flower the weight of five Pechas of Butter and of four Pechas of Jagre these Balls are at first forced down his Throat and so by degrees he is accustomed to that way of feeding which in some Months after he grows very fond of An hour after the Groom gives the Horse Grass and continues to do so at certain times every hour of the day after and about four of the Clock after noon he gives him three Pound of dried Pease bruised he mingles Water with them and sometimes a little Sugar according to the disposition the Horse is in Litter of dry Horse-dung and when Night is drawing on he carefully prepares his Horses litter which is of dry Dung laid very thick which he is very careful to provide For that end he gathers all that his Horse hath made and when that is not sufficient he buys from others who are not so much concerned for the convenience of their Horses Flying tassels of white Hair taken out of the tails of some Oxen. At Dehly as elsewhere they take care to adorn their Horses The great Lords have Saddles and Housses Embroadered and set sometimes with Pretious Stones proportionably to the charge they intend to be at But the finest Ornament though of less cost is made of six large flying tassels of long white Hair taken out of the Tails of wild Oxen that are to be found in some places of the Indies Four of these large tassels fastened before and behind to the Saddle hang down to the ground and the other two are upon the Horses head so that when the Rider spurs on his Horse to a full speed or if there be any wind these tassels flying in the Air seem to be so many wings to the Horse and yield a most pleasant prospect There are several sorts of Elephants at Dehly Elephants as well as in the rest of the Indies but those of Ceilan are preferred before all others because they are the stoutest though they be the least and the Indians say that all other Elephants stand in awe of them They go commonly in Troops Elephants Robbers on the High-ways and then they offer violence to no body but when they straggle from the rest they are dangerous There are always some of them that have the cunning and inclination to do mischief and in the Country these are called Robbers on the High-ways because if they meet a Man alone they 'll kill and eat him Strong Elephants can carry forty Mans An Elephants Load at fourscore Pound weight the Man. Those of the Country of Golconda Siam Cochin and Sumatra are indeed less esteemed than the Elephants of Ceilan The choice of Elephants but they are much stronger and surer footed in the Mountains and that is the reason why the great Men when they are to Travel provide themselves of those rather than of the Elephants of Ceilan However it may be said in general that Elephants of what Country or kind soever they be are the surest footed of all Beasts of Carriage because it is very rare to see them make a trip But seeing it is chargeable to feed them The food that is given to an Elephant and that besides the Flesh they give them to eat and the Strong-waters they drink it costs at least half a Pistol a day for the Paste of Flower Sugar and Butter that must be given to a single one there are but few that keep them Nay the great Lords themselves entertain no great number of them and the Great Mogul has not above five hundred for the use of his houshold in carrying the Women in their Mickdembers with grates which are a sort of Cages and the Baggage Mickdembers and I have been assured that he hath not above two hundred for the Wars of which some are employed in carrying small Field-pieces upon their Carriages When an Elephant is in his ordinary disposition Elephants docile his Governour can make him do what he pleases
with his Trunck That instrument which many call a hand hangs between their great Teeth and is made of Cartilages or Gristles He 'll make them play several tricks with that Trunck salute his friends threaten those that displease him beat whom he thinks fit and could make them tear a Man into pieces in a trice if he had a mind to it The governour sits on the Elephants Neck when he makes him do any thing and with a prick of Iron in the end of a Stick he commonly makes him Obey him In a word an Elephant is a very tractable Creature provided he be not angry nor in lust but when he is so the Governour himself is in much danger and stands in need of a great deal of art to avoid ruin for then the Elephant turns all things topsy-turvy Elephants furious and would make strange havock if they did not stop him as they commonly do with fire-works that they throw at him Elephant-hunting is variously performed Elephant-hunting In some places they make Pit-falls for them by means whereof they fall into some hole or pit from whence they are easily got out when they have once entangled them well In other places they make use of a tame Female that is in season for the Male whom they lead into a narrow place and tie her there by her cries she calls the Male to her and when he is there they shut him in by means of some Rails made on purpose which they raise to hinder him from getting out he having the Female in the mean time on his back with whom he Copulates in that manner contrary to the custom of all other Beasts When he hath done he attempts to be gone but as he comes and goes to find a passage out the Huntsmen who are either upon a Wall Elephant hunters or in some other high place throw a great many small and great Ropes with some Chains by means whereof they so pester and entangle his Trunck and the rest of his Body that afterwards they draw near him without danger and so having taken some necessary cautions they lead him to the company of two other tame Elephants whom they have purposely brought with them to shew him an example or to threaten him if he be unruly She Elephants go a year with their young Elephants live 100 years There are other Snares besides for catching of Elephants and every Country hath its way The Females go a Year with their young and commonly they live about an hundred Years Though these Beasts be of so great bulk and weight yet they swim perfectly well and delight to be in the Water So that they commonly force them into it by Fire-works when they are in rage or when they would take them off from Fighting wherein they have been engaged This course is taken with the Elephants of the Great Mogul who loves to see those vast moving bulks rush upon one another with their Trunck Head and Teeth All over the Indies they who have the management of Elephants never fail to lead them in the Morning to the River or some other Water The Beasts go in as deep as they can and then stoop till the Water be over their Backs that so their guides may wash them and make them clean all over whilst by little and little they raise their bodies up again CHAP. XXV Of other Curiosities at Dehly Painters of Dehly THe Painters of Dehly are modester than those of Agra and spend not their pains about lascivious Pictures as they do They apply themselves to the representing of Histories and in many places one may meet with the Battels and Victories of their Princes indifferently well Painted Order is observed in them the Personages have the suitableness that is necessary to them and the colours are very lovely but they make Faces ill They do things in miniature pretty well and there are some at Dehly who Engrave indifferently well also but seeing they are not much encouraged they do not apply themselves to their work with all the exactness they might and all their care is to do as much work as they can for present Money to subsist on People Rich in Jewels There are People in Dehly vastly rich in Jewels especially the Rajas who preserve their Pretious Stones from Father to Son. When they are to make Presents they chuse rather to buy than to give away those which they had from their Ancestors They daily encrease them and must be reduced to an extream pinch before they part with them There is in this Town a certain Metal called Tutunac that looks like Tin but is much more lovely and fine and is often taken for Silver that Metal is brought from China Theban Stone or Garnet They much esteem a greyish Stone there wherewith many Sepulchres are adorned and they value it the more that it is like Theban Stone or Garnet I have seen in the Countries of some Rajas and elsewhere Mosques and Pagods wholly built of them Screws at Dehly The Indians of Dehly cannot make a Screw as our Lock-smiths do all they do is to fasten to each of the two pieces that are to enter into one another some Iron Copper or Silver wire turned Screw-wise without any other art than of souldering the Wire to the pieces and in opening them they turn the Screws from the left hand to the right contrariwise to ours which are turned from the right to the left Citrul Flowers drive away the Flies They have a very easie remedy in that Country to keep the Flies from molesting their Horses when the Grooms are so diligent as to make use of it For all they have to do is to make provision of Citrul Flowers and rub them therewith But many slight that remedy because it must be often renewed seeing the Curry-comb and Water takes it off I cannot tell if these Flowers have the same vertue in our Country The Women of Dehly are handsome and the Gentiles very chast The Women of Dehly insomuch that if the Mahometan Women did not by their wantonness dishonour the rest the Chastity of the Indians might be proposed as an example to all the Women of the East These Indian Women are easily delivered of their Children and sometimes they 'll walk about the Streets next day after they have been brought to Bed. CHAP. XXVI Of the Festival of the Kings Birth-day THere is a great Festival kept yearly at Dehly on the Birth-day of the King regnant It is Celebrated amongst the People The Festival of the Kings Birth-day The pomp of the Festival much after the same manner as the Zinez of Turkey which I described in my first Book and lasts five days It is Solemnized at Court with great Pomp. The Courts of the Palace are covered all over with Pavillions of Rich Stuffs all that is magnificent in Pretious Stones Gold and Silver is exposed to view in the Halls particularly the great
some of them are very skilful and have many secrets in Medicine and amongst other Remedies they often make use of burning The yearly Revenue of Caboul The Great Mogul has not out of this Province above four or five Millions a year CHAP. XXXV Of the Province of Cachmir or Kichmir The Province of Cachmire THe Kingdom or Province of Cachmir hath to the West Caboulistan to the East part of Tibet to the South the Province of Lahors and to the North Tartarie But these are its most remote limits for it is bounded and encompassed on all hands by Mountains and there is no entry into it but by by-ways and narrow passes This Countrey belonged sometimes to the Kings of Turquestan and is one of those which were called Turchind Turchind that is to say the India of the Turks or the Turky of the Indies The Waters of the Mountains that environ it afford so many Springs and Rivulets that they render it the most fertile Countrey of the Indies and having pleasantly watered it Tchenas a River make a River called Tchenas which having communicated its Waters for the transportation of Merchants Goods through the greatest part of the Kingdom breaks out through the breach of a Mountain Atoc and near the Town of Atoc discharges it self into the Indies but before it comes out it is discharged by the name of a Lake which is above four Leagues in circuit and adorned with a great many Isles that look fresh and green and with the Capital Town of the Province that stands almost on the banks thereof Some would have this River to be the Moselle but without any reason for the Moselle runs through Caboulistan and is the same that is now called Behat or Behar because of the aromatick Plants that grow on the sides of it Cachmir a Town The Town of Cachmir which bears the name of the Province and which some call Syrenaquer lies in the five and thirtieth degree of Latitude and in the hundred and third of Longitude Syrenaquer This Capital City is about three quarters of a League in length and half a League in breadth It is about two Leagues from the Mountains and hath no Walls The Houses of it are built of Wood which is brought from these Mountains and for the most part are three Stories high with a Garden and some of them have a little Canal which reaches to the Lake whither they go by Boat to take the Air. This little Kingdom is very populous hath several Towns The beauty of Cachmire and a great many Bourgs It is full of lovely Plains which are here and there intercepted by pleasant little Hills and delightful Waters Fruits it hath in abundance with agreeable Verdures The Mountains which are all Inhabited on the sides afford so lovely a prospect by the great variety of Trees amongst which stand Mosques Palaces and other Structures that it is impossible perspective can furnish a more lovely Landskip The Great Mogul hath a House of Pleasure there wtih a stately Garden and the Magnificence of all is so much the greater that the King who built it adorned it with the spoils of the Gentiles Temples amongst which there are a great many pretious Things King Ecbar subdued this Kingdom King Ecbar subdued Cachmir which was before possest by a King named Justaf-can He being Victorious in all places wrote to this Prince that there was no appearance he could maintain a War against the Emperour of the Indies to whom all other Princes submitted Justaf-can King of Cachmir that he advised him to do as they had done and that he promised him if he would submit willingly without trying the fortune of War he would use him better than he had done the rest and that his Power instead of being lessened should be encreased seeing he was resolved to deny him nothing that he should ask Justaf-can who was a peaceable Prince thinking it enough to leave his Son in his Kingdom came to wait upon the Great Mogul at the Town of Labors trusting to his word He payed him Hommage and the Emperour having confirmed the Promise which he made to him in his Letters treated him with all civility In the mean time Prince Jacob Instafs Son would not stop there Jacob the Son of Justaf-can For being excited by the greatest part of the People of the Kingdom who looked upon the Dominion of the Moguls as the most terrible thing imaginable he caused himself to be proclaimed King made all necessary preparations in the Countrey and at the same time secured the Passes and Entries into it which was not hard to be done because there is no coming to it but by streights and narrow passes which a few Men may defend His Conduct highly displeased the Great Mogul who thought at first that there was Intelligence betwixt the Father and Son but he found at length that there was none And without offering any bad usage to the Father he sent an Army against Cachmir wherein he employed several great Lords and Officers of War who had followed Justaf-can He had so gained them by his Civilities and Promises that they were more devoted to him than to their own Prince and they being perfectly well acquainted with the streights and avenues of the Mountains introduced the Moguls into the Kingdom Cachmirian Officers introduce the Moguls some through Places that belong to them and others by By-ways that could not possibly have been found without the conduct of those who knew the Countrey exactly They succeeded in their Design the more easily that King Jacob thought of nothing but guarding the most dangerous places and especially the Pass of Bamber which is the easiest way for entring into Cachmir The Moguls having left part of their Army at Bamber Bamber to amuse Prince Jacob and his Forces marched towards the highest Mountains whither the Omras of Cachmir led them There they found small passages amongst the Rocks that were not at all to be mistrusted By these places they entred one after another and at length meeting in a place where the Rendez-vous was appointed they had Men enough to make a Body sufficiently able to surprize as they did in the Night-time the Capital City which wanted Walls where Jacob Can was taken Nevertheless Ecbar pardoned him and allowed Him and his Father each of them a Pension for their subsistence But he made sure of the Kingdom which he reduced into a Province He annexed it to the Empire of Mogolistan and his Successours have enjoyed it to this present as the pleasantest Country in all their Empire The yearly Revenue of Cachmir It yields not the Great Mogul yearly above five or six hundred thousand French Livres CHAP. XXXVI Of the Province of Lahors and of the Vartias IT is about forty eight or fifty Leagues from Lahors to the borders of Cachmir which is to the North of it The Province of Lahors as
Covillis as also the Hammer-men such as Goldsmiths Armorers Smiths and Masons They who work in Wood as Carpenters Joyners and Bill-men are all of one Caste Publick Wenches Tumblers Vaulters Dancers and Baladins are of another And it is the same with Taylors and other Sheers-men with Coach-makers and Sadlers The Bengiara Bengiara who are Carriers Painters and in a word all other Trades-men The least esteemed of all the eighty four Tribes are the Piriaves and the Der or Halalcour because of their nastiness and they who touch them Der. think themselves unclean The Periaves are employed in taking off Periaves and carrying away the Skins of Beasts and some of them are Curriers The Halalcour are the Gold-finders of the Towns Halalcour they make clean the publick and private Houses of Office and are payed for it Monthly they feed on all sort of Meats prohibited or not prohibited they eat others leavings without considering what Religion or Caste they are of And that 's the reason why those who only speak Persian in the Indies call them Halalcour that 's to say He that takes the liberty to eat what he pleases or according to others He that eats what he has honestly got And they who approve this last Application say that heretofore the Halalcour were called Haramcour eaters of prohibited Meats But that a King one day hearing his Courtiers Jear them because of their nasty Trade said to them Since these People gain their Bread better than you who are lazy lubbards their name of Haramcour ought to be given to you Haramcour or Halalcour and to them that of Halalcour And that they have retained that name Baraguy White and Red colours on the Forehead There is a Caste of Gentiles called Baraguy who damn the yellow Colour and who in the Morning put white on their Fore-head contrary to the custom of the other Castes who have red put there by the Bramens When a Gentile is Painted with this Red he bows his Head three times and lifts his joyned hands thrice up to his Fore-head and then presents the Bramen with Rice and a Cocos All the Castes or Tribes go to their Devotions at the same time but they adore what Idol they please without addressing themselves solely to him to whom the Temple is dedicated unless their Devotion invite them to do so in so much that some carry their Idols along with them when they know that he whom they Worship is not there None of these Gentiles marry out of their own Tribe The alliance of the Gentiles A Bramen marries the Daughter of another Bramen a Raspoute the Daughter of a Raspoute a Halalcour the Daughter of a Halalcour a Painter of a Painter and so of the rest The subordination of Tribes The eighty four Tribes observe among themselves an Order of Subordination The Banians yield to the Courmis the Courmis to the Raspoutes or Catrys and these as all the rest do to the Bramens and so the Bramens are the chief and most dignified of the Gentiles And therefore it is that a Bramen would think himself prophaned if he had eaten with a Gentile of another Caste than his own though those of all other Castes may eat in his House And so it is with the other Tribes in relation to their inferiours Brahmanes Gymnosophists The Bramens who are properly the Brahmanes or Sages of the Ancient Indians and the Gymnosophists of Porphyrius are the Priests and Doctors of the Heathen in India Besides Theologie which they profess they understand Astrology Arithmetick and Medicine but they who are actually Physicians pay yearly a certain Tribute to their Caste because Physick ought not to be their Profession All these Gentiles have a respect for the Bramens and they believe them in all things because they have been always told that God sent the four Bets to them Bets or Books of Religion which are the Books of their Religion and that they are the keepers of them Philosophers Several of these Doctors apply themselves to Philosophy and love not to appear so extravagant as the rest in ther Belief When a Christian speaks to them of their God Ram Ram a God of the Gentiles whom the Gentiles Worship they maintain not that he is God and only say that he was a great King whose Sanctity and good Offices that he did to Men have procured him a more particular Communion with God than other Saints have and that so they shew him much more reverence And if one speak to them of the Adoration of Idols they answer that they Worship them not that their intention is always fixed upon God The Adoration of Idols that they only honour them because they put them in mind of the Saint whom they represent that one must not heed the ignorance of the Common People who form to themselves a thousand idle fancies their Imaginations being always stuffed with Errors and Superstitions and that when one would be informed of a Religion he ought to consult those that are knowing in it The Belief of the understanding Indians That it is true the ignorant believe that many great Men under whose shape God hath made himself known are Gods but that for their part they believe no such thing and that if God hath been pleased to Act so it was only to facilitate the Salvation of Men and to condescend to the capacity and humour of every Nation Upon this Principle they believe that every Man may be saved in his Religion and Sect provided he exactly follow the way which God hath set before him and that he will be damned if he take another Course They make no doubt but that their Religion is the first of all Religions The Indians believe that their Religion is the first of all that it was Established in the days of Adam and preserved in Noah They believe Heaven and Hell but they affirm that none shall enter there before the Universal Judgment They say also that no body ought to find fault with them for the honour they shew to the Cow that they prefer her before other Animals only because she furnishes them more Food by means of her Milk Respect to the Cow. than all the rest put together and that she brings forth the Ox which is so useful to the World seeing he makes it subsist by his Labour and feeds Men by his Pains The Bramens believe the Metempsychosis or Transmigration of Souls into New Bodies more or less noble Metempsychosis according to the merit of their Actions which they have done in their Life-time And many of the other Castes follow that Opinion of Pythagoras Pythagoras They believe that every Soul must thus make many Transmigrations but they determine not the number and therefore there are some who kill no Beast and never kindle Fire nor light Candle for fear some Butterflie should burn it self thereat It being possible
is full of pleasant Islands covered with lovely Indian Trees and for five days Sailing on that River Passengers are delighted with the beauty of them In these Isles and some other places of Bengala there is a kind of bird called Meina Meina a bird which is much esteemed it is of the colour of a Black-bird and almost as big as a Raven having just such another Beak but that it is yellow and red on each side of the neck it hath a yellow streak which covers the whole Cheek till below the eye and its Feet are yellow they teach it to speak like a Starling and it hath the tone and voice much like but besides its ordinary Voice it hath a strong deep Tone which seems to come from a distance it imitates the neighing of a Horse exactly and feeds on dryed Pease which it breaks I have seen some of them upon the Road from Masulipatan to Bagnagar The Water of the Ganges The Heathen Indians esteem the water of the Ganges to be sacred they have Pagods near it which are the fairest of all the Indies and it is in that Countrey especially where Idolatry is triumphant Pagods of Jaganat The two chief Pagods are that of Jaganat which is at one of the mouths of the Ganges and the other of the Town of Benarous which is also upon the Ganges Pagod of Banarous Nothing can be more magnificent than these Pagods by reason of the quantity of Gold and many Jewels wherewith they are adorned Festivals are kept there for many days together and millions of People repair thither from the other Countreys of the Indies they carry their Idols in triumph and act all sorts of Superstitions they are entertained by the Bramens who are numerous there and who therein find their Profit The Great Mogul drinks commonly of the Water of the Ganges The Great Mogul drinks of the Water of the Ganges because it is much lighter than other Waters and yet I have met with those who affirm that it causes Fluxes and that the Europeans who are forced to drink it boil it first This River having received an infinite number of Brooks and Rivers from the North East and West discharges it self by several mouths into the Gulf of Bengala at the height of three and twenty degrees The Gulf of Bengala or thereabouts and that Gulf reaches from the eighth degree of Latitude to the two and twentieth it being eight hundred Leagues over On the sides thereof to the East and West The Coasts of the Gulf of Bengala there are many Towns belonging to several Sovereigns who permit the Traffick of other Nations because of the profit they get thereby My Indian reckons the yearly Revenue of the Mogul in this Province The Moguls Revenue from Bengala to amount to Ten millions but I learnt from other hands that it hardly makes Nine though it be far richer than other Provinces that yield him more The reason given for that is that it lies in the extremity of his Empire and is Inhabited by a capricious sort of People who must be gently used because of the Neighbourhood of Kings that are enemies who might debauch them if they were vexed The Mogul sends the Traitors thither Traitors whom he hath condemned to perpetual Imprisonment and the Castle where they are kept is strictly guarded CHAP. XLI Of the Province of Malva MAlva is to the West of Bengala and Halabas The Province of Malva Raja-Ranas Gualear Mando Towns. Cha-Selim King of Dehly therein are comprehended the Countries of Raja-Ranas Gualear and Chitor The Town of Mando is one of the fairest Ornaments of the Province The Mahometans took it from the Indians above Four hundred years before the Moguls came there and when they attacked it it was in the possession of Cha-Selim King of Dehly The first of the Moguls that took it was King Humayon who lost it again but he afterwards made himself Master of it This Town is of a moderate bigness and hath several Gates which are esteemed for their structure and height Most of the Houses are of Stone and it hath lovely Mosques whereof the chief is much beautified a Palace that is not far from that Mosque and which depends upon it serves as a Mausoleum to four Kings who are interred in it and have each of them a Monument and close by there is a Building in form of a Tower with Portico's and several Pillars Though this Town lying at the foot of a Hill be naturally strong by its Situation it is nevertheless fortified with Walls and Towers and has a Castle on the top of the Hill which is steep The Castle of Mando and encompassed with Walls six or seven Leagues in circuit It is a very neat Town at present but nothing to what it hath been heretofore It appears by the Ruins all about The Ruins of Mando shew that it hath been magnificent that it hath been much greater than it is that it hath had two fair Temples and many stately Palaces and the sixteen large Tanquies or Reservatories which are to be seen still for keeping of Water shew that in former times it hath been a place of great consequence This Province is very fertile and produces all that grows in the other places of the Indies Ratispor the Capital of Malva Traitors condemned to die Ratispor is the Capital of the Province and at present the Town of greatest Traffick it stands also upon a Mountain and thither the Grand Signior sends the Traitors whom he hath condemned to die For a certain time they are kept Prisoners and always one or other in the room with them and the day they are to die they make them drink a great quantity of Milk and throw them down from the top of the Castle upon the declining side of the Hill which is full of sharp pointed craggy Stones that tear the Bodies of the wretches before they can reach the bottom of the Precipice Chitor Raja-Ranas of the Race of Porus. The Town of Chitor is very famous also but it is almost ruined it long belonged to Raja-Ranas who deduced his Genealogie from King Porus though that Raja had considerable Territories and strong by reason of the Mountains that almost encompassed them yet could he not avoid the misfortune of other Princes but fell as they did under the power of the Moguls in the Reign of King Echar At present there are but few Inhabitants in Chitor the Walls of it are low and of a great many stately publick Buildings An hundred Temples in Chitor Antique Statues nothing remains but the ruins The hundred Temples or Pagods are still to be distinguished and many antick Statutes to be seen it hath a Fort where Lords of chief Quality are Imprisoned for small faults In short The remains of many Ancient Fabricks that are to be seen there make it apparent that it hath been a very great Town The
Seat of it is very pleasant and the top of the Hill on which it stands extreamly fertile it hath still four Reservatories or Tanquies for the private use of the Inhabitants There are a great many other Trading Towns in that Province and the Great Mogul receives yearly out of it above fourteen Millions The Revenue of the Province of Malva There are two kinds of Bats in that Countrey the one is like to that we have in Europe An extraordinary Bat. but seeing the other differs much I pleased my self in examining it in a Friends House who kept one out of curiosity it is eight Inches long and covered with yellowish Hair the Body of it is round and as big as a Ducks its Head and Eyes resemble a Cats and it has a sharp Snout like to a great Rat it hath pricked black Ears and no Hair upon them it hath no Tail but under its Wings two Teats as big as the end of ones little finger it hath four Legs some call them Arms and all the four seem to be glued fast within the Wings which are joyned to the Body along the sides from the Shoulder downwards the Wings are almost two Foot long and seven or eight Inches broad and are of a black Skin like to wet Parchment each Arm is as big as a Cats thigh and towards the Joynt it is almost as big as a Mans Arm the two foremost from the Shoulder to the Fingers are nine or ten Inches long each of the two Arms is fleshed into the Wing perpendicularly to the Body being covered with Hair and terminating in five Fingers which make a kind of hand these Fingers are black and without Hair they have the same Joynts as a Mans Fingers have and these Creatures make use of them to stretch out their Wings when they have a mind to flie Each hind Leg or Arm is but half a Foot long and is also fastened to the Wing parallel to the Body it reaches to the lower part of the Wing out of which the little hand of that Arm peeping seems pretty like the hand of a Man but that instead of Nails it hath five Claws the hind Arms are black and hairy as those before are and are a little smaller These Bats stick to the Branches of Trees with their Talons or Claws they fly high almost out of sight and some who eat them say they are good meat CHAP. XLII Of the Province of Candich THe Province of Candich is to the South of Malva The Province of Candich Berar Orixa and they who have reduced the Provinces have joyned to it Berar and what the Mogul possesses of Orixa These Countries are of a vast extent full of populous Towns and Villages and in all Mogulistan few Countries are so rich as this The Moguls yearly Revenue from Candich The Memoire I have of yearly Revenues makes this Province yield the Mogul above seven and twenty Millions a year The Capital City of this Province is Brampour it lies in the twenty eighth degree of Latitude about fourscore Leagues distant from Surrat Brampour the Capital of Candich The Governour thereof is commonly a Prince of the Blood and Auren-Zeb hath been Governour of it himself Here it was that the Sieurs de La Boullaye and Beber Envoy's from the French East-India Company quarrelled with the Banians A Quarrel the Sieurs La Boullaye and Beber had with a Banian to whom they were recommended When they arrived at Brampour these Banians met them with Basons full of Sweet-meats and Roupies in their hands The Gentlemen not knowing the custom of the Countrey which is to offer Presents to Strangers whom they esteem and imagining that the five and twenty or thirty Roupies that were offered them was a sign that they thought them poor fell into a Passion railed at the Banians and were about to have beat them which was like to have bred them trouble enough if they had been well informed of the custom of the Countrey they would have taken the Money and then returned some small Present to the Banians and if they had not thought it fit to make a Present they might have given it back again after they had received it or if they would not take it touch it at least with their Fingers ends and thanked them for their civility I came to Brampour in the worst weather imaginable and it had Rained so excessively that the low Streets of that Town were full of water and seemed to be so many Rivers Brampour is a great Town standing upon very uneven ground there are some Streets very high The Ground of Brampour and others again so low that they look like Ditches when one is in the higher Streets these inequalities of Streets occur so often that they cause extraordinary Fatigue The Houses are not at all handsom The Houses of Brampour because most of them are only built of Earth however they are covered with Varnished Tiles and the various Colours of the Roofs mingling with the Verdure of a great many Trees of different kinds planted on all hands makes the Prospect of it pleasant enough There are two Carvanseras in it one appointed for lodging Strangers and the other for keeping the Kings Money which the Treasurers receive from the Province that for the Strangers is far more spacious than the other it is square and both of them front towards the Meidan That is a very large place for it is at least Five hundred paces long and Three hundred and fifty broad but it is not pleasant because it is full of ugly huts where the Fruiterers sell their Fruit and Herbs The entry into the Castle is from the Meidan The Castle of Brampour and the chief Gate is betwixt two large Towers the Walls of it are six or seven Fathom high they have Battlements all round and at certain intervals there are large round Towers which jet a great way out and are about thirty paces Diametre This Castle contains the Kings Palace The Kings Palace at Brampour and there is no entring into it without permission the Tapty running by the East side of that Town there is one whole Front of the Castle upon the River-side and in that part of it the Walls are full eight Fathom high because there are pretty neat Galleries on the top where the King when he is at Brampour comes to look about him and to see the fighting of Elephants which is commonly in the middle of the River in the same place there is a Figure of an Elephant done to the natural bigness it is of a reddish shining Stone the back parts of it are in the Water The Monument of an Elephant and it leans to the left side the Elephant which that Statue represents died in that place fighting before Cha-Geban the Father of Auran-Zeb who would needs erect a Monument to the Beast because he loved it and the Gentiles besmear it
of Sivagy who made inrodes to the very Town We Encamped beyond Indelvai and next day being the six and twentieth of March having after four hours March passed over the pleasantest Hills in the World by reason of the different kinds of Trees that cover them we arrived at Calvar which is the last Village of the Moguls Countrey It is distant from Aurangeabad about fourscore and three Leagues which we Travelled in a fortnights time The rest of the Road to Golconda I shall describe when I treat of that Kingdom The way from Aurangeabad that I have been now speaking of is diversified by Hills and Plains All the Plains are good Ground some sow'd with Rice and the rest planted with Cotton-trees Tamarins Wars Cadjours Manguiers Quesous and others and all Watered with several Rivers which turn and wind every way and with Tanquies also out of which they draw the Water by Oxen And I saw one of these Reservatories at Dentapour which is a Musquet-shot over and seven or eight hundred Geometrical paces long We were incommoded during our whole Journey almost with Lightenings Whirle-winds Rains and Hail-stones some as big as a Pullets Egg Very large Hail-stones The Moguls Horse against Viziapour and when we were troubled with none of these we heard dull Thunderings that lasted whole Days and Nights We met every where Troops of Horse designed against Viziapour the King whereof refused to send the Great Mogul the Tribute which he used to pay to him To conclude with this Province it is to be observed that all the Rocks and Mountains I have mentioned are only dependances of that Mountain which is called Balagate The Mountain of Balagate which according to the Indian Geographers divides India into the two parts of North and South as that of Guate according to the same Geographers environs it almost on all hands CHAP. XLVII Of the Province of Telenga The Province of Telenga TElenga was heretofore the principal Province of Decan and reached as far as the Portuguese Lands towards Goa Viziapour being the Capital City thereof But since the Mogul became Master of the Northern places of this Countrey Calion and of the Towns of Beder and Calion it hath been divided betwixt him and the King of Decan who is only called King of Viziapour and it is reckoned amongst the Provinces of Indostan which obey the Great Mogul The borders of Telenga It is bordered on the East by the Kingdom of Golconda on Maslipatan side on the West by the Province of Baglana and Viziapour on the North by Balagate and on the South by Bisnagar The Capital City of this Province is at present Beder which belonged to Balagate when it had Kings and it hath sometime belonged to Decan Beder is a great Town Beder it is encompassed with Brick-Walls which have Battlements and at certain distances Towers they are mounted with great Cannon some whereof have the mouth three Foot wide Great Guns The Garison of Beder There is commonly in this place a Garison of Three thousand Men half Horse and half Foot with Seven hundred Gunners the Garison is kept in good order because of the importance of the place against Decam and that they are always afraid of a surprize The Governour lodges in a Castle without the Town it is a rich Government and he who commanded in it when I was there was Brother-in-law to King Chagean Auran Zebs Father but having since desired the Government of Brampour which is worth more he had it because in the last War that Governour had made an Army of the King of Viziapours raise the Siege from before Beder Some time after I met the new Governour upon the Road to Beder The Train of the Governour of Beder who was a Persian of a good aspect and pretty well stricken in years he was carried in a Palanquin amidst Five hundred Horse-men well mounted and cloathed before whom marched several Men on foot carrying blew Banners charged with flames of Gold and after them came seven Elephants The Governours Palanquin was followed with several others full of Women and covered with red Searge and there were two little Children in one that was open The Bambous of all these Palanquins were covered with Plates of Silver chamfered after them came many Chariots full of Women two of which were drawn by white Oxen almost six Foot high and last of all came the Waggons with the Baggage The Great Moguls Revenue in Telenga and several Camels guarded by Troopers This Province of Telenga is worth above Ten millions a Year to the Great Mogul No where are the Gentiles more Superstitious than here they have a a great many Pagods with Figures of Monsters that can excite nothing but Horror instead of Devotion unless in those who are deluded with the Religion These Idolaters use frequent Washings Men The washings of the Gentiles Women and Children go to the River as soon as they are out of Bed and the rich have Water brought them to wash in When Women lose their Husbands they are conducted thither by their Friends who comfort them and they who are brought to Bed use the same custom almost as soon as they are delivered of their Children and indeed there is no Countrey where Women are so easily brought to Bed when they come out of the Water a Bramen dawbs their Forehead with a Composition made of Saffron and the Powder of white Sawnders dissolved in Water then they return home where they eat a slight Breakfast and seeing they must never eat unless they be washed some return to the Tanquie or River about noon and others perform their Ablutions at home before they go to Dinner As they have a special care not to eat any thing but what is dressed by a Gentile of their Caste so they seldom eat any where but at home The feeding of the Gentiles and commonly they dress their Victuals themselves buying their Flower Rice and such other Provisions in the Shops of the Banians for they 'll not buy any where else These Banians as well as the Bramens and Courmis feed on Butter Pulse The Diet of some Castes Herbs Sugar and Fruit they eat neither Fish nor Flesh and drink nothing but Water wherein they put Coffee and Tea they use no Dishes for fear some body of another Religion or Tribe may have made use of the Dish out of which they might eat and to supply that they put their Victuals into large Leaves of Trees which they throw away when they are empty nay there are some of them who eat alone and will not suffer neither their Wives nor Children at Table with them Nevertheless I was informed The Bramens sometimes eat Hogs Flesh that in that Countrey one certain day of the year the Bramens eat Hogs Flesh but they do it privately for fear of Scandal because the Rules of their Sect enjoyn them so to do and I believe it
very stony from Jerusalem to the Plain of Jericho where we arrived and encamped about two in the afternoon We took no care to carry with us Tents Victuals nor any other Necessaries in all that Journey for the Monks made it their business to provide us with Horses Victuals and Tents and to shew us all without paying any thing but for our Horses The Town of Jericho is about a quarter of a league from thence Jericho which formerly was a famous City but at present consists only of thirty or forty Brick-Houses inhabited by Arabs These Houses were all forsaken when we went that way because the Arabs had fled for fear of the Turks that went with us Near to these Habitations we saw the House of Zacheus The House of Zacheus about a quarter of a league from the Camp as I said already and then we returned to the Camp. In the Plain of Jericho Roses of Jericho there are Roses of Jericho as they call them but they have not the vertues as many ascribe to them for they blow not unless they be put into water and then they blow in all seasons and at any hour contrary to the Opinion of those who say That they blow not but in Christmas Night and others on all the Festival Days of our Lady with a great many such idle tales I found of them also in the Desarts of Mount Sinai Next day Tuesday the sixteenth of April we set out about three of the clock in the morning and travelled on still in the Plain till about half an hour after five we came to the River of Jordan which is something deep The River of Jordan and perhaps half as broad as the Scine at Paris it is very rapid and the water of it thick because it passes through fat Land but they say it corrupts not The course of Jordan and I filled a Bottle of it to try the experiment but the Corsairs whom I met with threw it into the Sea this River has its source from two Springs towards Mount Libanus called Jor and Dan which joyned together make Jordan It runs from East to South passes through the Sea of Tiberius and loses it self in that nasty and stinking Lake Asphaltites called the Dead-Sea Lake Asphaltites It is very full of Fish and on both sides beset with little thick and pleasant Woods among which thousands of Nightingales warbling all together make a most pleasant delightful and charming Consort Devotions at Jordan Here our Monks quickly erected an Altar upon which they sayed two Masses at the first of which I received the Sacrament but it was very incommodious for it behoved one besides he that Celebrates to hold the Chalice Veil c. Lest the Wind which blew high might overturn and carry them away and another to hide the Tapers lest they should be blown out During that time all the Greeks Cophtes Armenians c. Performed their Devotions also most part go into the Water stark-naked especially the Men and the Women in their Smocks they had of the Water of Jordan poured upon their Heads in memory of our Lords Baptism and washed their Linen in it carrying away Jarrs and Bottles full of Water with Mud and Earth which they took up by the River side not forgetting Sticks which they cut in the adjoining Woods and all to be kept as Relicks This River is rendred Illustrious by many Miracles as having stopt its course to let the Children of Israel pass over The Prophet Elisha passed it over dry-shod upon his Masters Cloak c. I was very desirous we might have gone afterwards to the Dead-Sea but the Turks would not and therefore I shall here relate what I have learn'd of it from those that have been there The Dead-Sea It was in this Sea that the five Cities of the Plain Sodom and Gomorrah c. Were swallowed up The water of it is very clear but extreamly Salt and in some places of it they find Salt as resplendant as Cristial It bears up all who wash in it though they move neither Hand nor Foot as many have found by Experience But I do not at all believe what some say that it bears up only Live things and lets things Inanimate sink to the Bottom nay that if a lighted Candle be plunged into it it will float above But if put out it will sink to the bottom There is no sort of Fish in this Sea by reason of the extraordinary saltness of it which burns like Fire when one tastes of it and when the Fish of the Water Jordan come down so low they return back again against the Stream and such as are carried into it by the Current of the Water The extent of the Dead-Sea immediately Die. This Sea is an hundred miles in length and twenty five over The Land within three Leagues round it is not Cultivated but is white and mingled with Salt and Ashes They say that there are Apple-Trees upon the sides of this Sea which bear very lovely Fruit but within are all full of Ashes In short we must think that there is a heavy Curse of God upon that place seeing it was heretofore so pleasant a Countrey There are many Camels load of Bitumen daily got out of this Lake Return from Jordan Having no liberty then to go see that Sea we parted from the River of Jordan about seven a clock in the Morning and returned back the same way as we came about nine a clock the Musellem who as I said commanded the Convoy halted in the middle of the Plain of Jericho and went into a Tent which was purposely pitched for him then he caused all the Latin Monks to pass by before him The Musellem numbers the Pilgrims who were numbered Then we who were secular Pilgrims passed by also and the Musellem ordered us to be set down eight though we were but six and though the Trucheman said that there was but six of us and offered to make us pass by him again yet nothing would be abated which was an Avanie of twenty Piastres for the Monks An avanie for the Pilgrims Franks for every Secular Frank payes ten Piastres but they pay it in the City because the Convent answers for them after we had been thus mustered we went and Encamped in the same place where we did the day before and having taken some refreshment we went to the Mount of the Quarantine The Mount of forty days Fasting ar forty days Fast not far from thence while the Musellem mustered the rest of the Christians who payed down in ready Money four Bokels and twenty Maidins a Head though the years before they payed no more but three Bokels We parted from the Camp about ten a Clock in the Morning then went to the Mount of Fasting a League distant from the Town of Jericho it is so called because our Lord when he came out of Jordan spent forty days
and forty Nights there without Eating or Drinking It is not so hard to go up as some have been pleased to say unless it be in some places which are very dangerous for one must climb with Hands and Feet to the Rock that is smooth like Marble and when we went up it Rained which rendered it more slippery but we assisted one another The Grott where our Lord Fasted We came to the place where our Lord fasted forty days which is a Grott wherein there is an Altar on which one of our Monks said Mass the Greeks heretofore held this Place and there are still some Greek Pictures there Some of our company went up to the top of all the Hill The place of the Mountain where our Lord was tempted by the Devil to the place whether the Devil carryed our Lord and Tempting him shewed him all the Kingdoms of the Earth saying All these will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and Worship me But I was so spent and weary that I would not go up There are dangerous places in it where the way is not two foot broad and there is a great Precipice on the side of it There are some ruins still of an ancient Monastery that was heretofore on the very top of the Mount. After we had seen that Mountain we came down again and upon our return The prophet Elisha's Well saw the Well of the Prophet Elisha the Water whereof was formerly bitter but that Prophet sweetened it by casting Salt into the Fountain so that at present the Water is excellently good It is a quarter of an hours going from the foot of the Hill towards the Camp where we arrived at two of the Clock in the afternoon When we were come some Greeks to the number of ninety seven after they had been mustered before the Musellem and payed their four Bokels and twenty Maidins a piece would needs go see the Mountain also The inconvenience of seeing the Holy places but seeing they have not the permission as the Franks have to go thither upon their return the Musellem ordered them to be bound with Cords and demanded of them three Bokels and a half a piece but the Procurator of the Religious Franks compounded the business for somewhat less We parted from thence next day Wednesday the seventeenth of April about four a Clock in the morning and all the way in Rain and came about eleven of the Clock to Jerusalem The truth is there is a great deal of reason in what is said that those who would visit the Holy Places ought to arm themselves with Patience for in all these places they suffer injuries of all kinds from the Turks besides a great deal of Fatigue for they must visit all the Holy places about Jerusalem on Foot and to the more remote they ride on Beasts which are commonly very bad and they who bear with all purely for Gods sake may merit much but though there were no merit in the case yet they must take Patience per force For he that would huff and play the Bravo would pay and suffer dearly for it CHAP. XLII Of our second entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre THE same day we returned from Jordan which was Holy Wednesday the seventeenth of April after we had dined in the Convent of St. Saviour we entred a second time into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but the Greeks entered not till the nineteenth of April which was Holy Friday in the Afternoon so that we had two days quietly to perform our Devotions in On Holy Thursday the eighteenth of April in the Morning we received the Blessed Sacrament from the hands of the reverend Father Commissary and in the Afternoon went in Procession to the holy Sepulchre at the door whereof the reverend Father Commissary washed the Feet of twelve Monks and Pilgrims of the number of whom we were for when there is a sufficient number of Pilgrims they take no Monks but when they are fewer than twelve the number is made up with Monks as also when there are more than twelve Pilgrims they cast Lots who shall be admitted as it happened the year before I was there when there was one and twenty of whom nine were excluded by Lot we sat down then all twelve upon the two seats of Marble that are near to the Chappel of the Angel Washing of Feet and the Reverend Father Commissary washed all our Feet and kissed them giving to every one of us afterwards a Cross full of Relicks All the Oriental Christians who were in the Church for some went in with us crouded much to see that Ceremony most part weeping and crying aloud when they saw the good old man on his knees washing our Feet On holy Friday the ninteenth of April when the evening Office was over we went in Procession through all the Sanctuaries of the great Church where all the mysteries of the Passion were represented to the Life The Procession of Holy Friday in this Procession there were two Monks who carried the one a Box of Aromaticks and the other a Bottle of odoriferous Oyl every one of the Monks had a lighted Wax-Taper and the R. F. Commissary carried a Crucifix we who were Pilgrims marched two and two every one with his burning Taper and the Father of the Pilgrims after us to tell us what the places were and the Prayers that were to be said there and certainly the Janizaries who were with us did us a great kindness in making way for us laying about them with Sticks for they took great care that the Pilgrims should not be squeezed in the terrible croud of Christians that were there to see our Procession and who pressed one another almost to Death and indeed the Latin Monks perform all their Ceremonies with great Order and Devotion such as was admired and reverenced not only by all the Christians but also by several Turks who were present The Ceremonies of the Franks whereas the other Christians perform theirs without any Order but with great noise insomuch that the Janizaries who make way for them beat them themselves with their Sticks having no veneration for their Ceremonies as they have for ours We stopped first at the Chappel of the Pillar of Flagellation where having sung the Prayers that are for that place in Books which were given us an Italian preach'd upon that Subject then we went to the Prison of our Lord where having sung the Prayers for that place a French man made a very good Sermon From thence we went to the Chappel of the parting of the Garments where after Prayers there was an Italian Sermon then to the Chappel of Exprobration where after Prayers we had a French Sermon being gone up to Calvary we came to the place where our Saviour was nailed to the Cross and there having sung the proper Prayers for that place there was a Sermon in high Dutch. From thence we went to the place
our Lord and afterwards threw them back being in despair for having sold his Master They were taken up and laid out in purchasing this Field which was appointed to be a Burying-place for Strangers and the Armenian Strangers are buried there at present The Grott of the Apostles Afterwards we saw the Grott where the eight Apostles hid themselves when our Lord was taken there are some Pictures of the holy Apostles still to be seen there then the place where the Strangers Greeks are Interred The pit where the Fire was laid during the Captivity of Babylon and the pit where the Jews hid the Fire of the Altar by orders from the Prophet Jeremy when they were carried away Slaves to Babylon by Nebuchadnezer King of Babylon and many years after they were delivered the high priest Nehemiah causihg search to be made for the Fire in that place they found nothing but a fat Clay which being by the said Priest laid upon the Burnt-Offering it took Fire and was Consumed Close by this Pit there is a Mosque with a reservatory of Water We came afterwards to the Pool of Shiloah Pool of Shiloah whither our Lord sent the Blind man to wash The place where the Prophet Isaiah was Sawn in sunder a live The Fountain of the Virgin The Mount of Scandal The place where Judas hanged himself Bethany The Castle of St. Lazarus The Sepulchre of Lazarus after he had anointed his Eyes with Clay and Spittle which restored his sight to him Then we came to the place where the Prophet Isaiah was Sawn a live in two by the middle with a wooden Saw by command of King Manasses then the Fountain of the Virgin so called because there as it is said she washed our Saviours Clouts There are thirty steps to go down to it and they say that such as are sick of Feavers by bathing in that water and drinking of it it being very good to drink are presently Cured From this Well comes the water of the Pool of Shiloah Not far from thence we saw the Mount of Scandal so called because the Concubines of Salomon made him commit Idolatry in that place by Sacrificing to the Idol Moloch and the Idol of Chamos Not far from thence is the place where Judas Iscariot Hanged himself after he had betrayed our Saviour then we went to Bethany where we saw the ruines of the House of Simon the Leper where Mary Magdalen poured the precious Ointment upon the Feet of our Lord. Advancing sixty Paces further we saw the place of the Castle of St. Lazarus nothing remaining but the ruines upon a little Mount at the foot of which is the Sepulchre that our Saviour raised Lazarus out of when he had been four days Dead and the very stone that was rolled against the mouth of it there are twenty uneasie steps down to it cut in the Rock and at the bottom of them are six wooden steps that lead into a little Chappel out of which you go into the said Sepulchre that is on the left hand This Sepulchre is a little square Grott containing a Table on which all the Priests of the Nations that Inhabit Jerusalem say Mass and the Body of Lazarus was laid upon this Table Not far from thence is the stone on which our Saviour coming from Jericho sat down and bewailed the Death of Lazarus The Castle of Mary Magdalen The House of Martha when St. Martha told him Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not Died. Within a few paces of that stone stood the Castle of Mary Magdalen called Magdalon and close by it is the place where the house of Martha stood after that we came to the place of the Fig-Tree which our Saviour Cursed because it bore no Fruit whereupon it instantly withered Then we passed through Bethphage where we saw the place where the Ass was when our Saviour sent for it to make his entry into Jerusalem on Palm-Sunday riding on the Ass Next we went to the Grott where St. Peter wept bitterly for his Sin The Grott of St. Peter after that the Cock had Crow'd from thence we came to the place where the Jews would have taken the Body of the Virgin from the Apostles as they were carrying it to the Sepulchre for which they were immediately punished Then we went to Mount Sion about five or six hundred paces distant from the City Mount Sion The place of the Lords-Supper which is the place where our Lord celebrated his Holy Supper with his Apostles washed their Feet and instituted the most August Sacrament the eighth day after his Resurrection he entered into it when the Doors were shut and said to his Disciples Pax vobis Peace be unto you the Holy Ghost also descended there upon the Virgin and the Apostles on the day of Pentecost the Sepulchre of David and Salomon In this place are the Sepulchres of David and Salomon About an hundred years since that Mountain was within the Town possessed by the Religious of the Order of St. Francis but after that Sultan Solyman rebuilt the Walls of Jerusalem The place where the Virgin died it was excluded and the Friers dispossessed of it The Turks have built a Mosque there into which the Christians are not suffered to enter close by we saw the place where the holy Virgin died at present there being no building there a little lower is the Church-yard of the Roman Catholicks On the left hand towards the City is the place where St. John the Evangelist many times said Holy Mass About an hundred and fifty paces from that Mount as you go towards the City there is a Church held by the Armenians in the same place where the House of Caiaphas stood we went into it and saw upon the Altar The Stone that shut the Sepulchre of our Lord. the Stone which shut the door of our Saviours Monument which is near seven foot long three foot broad and a foot thick On the right hand is the Prison into which our Lord was put whil'st Caiaphas after he had examined him consulted with the rest what should be done with him As you go out of the Church on the left hand in a low Court there is an Orange-Tree which is the place where St. Peter warmed himself when he three times denied his Master seven or eight steps from thence is the place of the Pillar where the Cock Crew After that we entred the City by the Gate of Sion and went to see the House of the High Priest Annas which now is an Armenian Church The House of the High Priest Annas In the Court before the Church there is an Olive-Tree which they affirm for a certain to be the same to which our Lord was Bound till he received the Sentence of the High Priest Going from thence we went to another very fair Church called St. James still held by the Armenians which was built by St. Helen The
place where St. James was Beheaded The House of St. Thomas The House of St. Mark. in this Church there is a little Chappel on the left hand as you enter which is the place where St. James the Minor first Patriarch of Jerusalem was Beheaded by command of Herod Agrippa This Church has no light but by the opening in the Dome above where there is an Iron-Grate very well wrought Over against this Church is the House of St. Thomas the Apostle into which the Turks dare not enter because they say that in times past such as entered it died there Afterwards we entered into the House of St. Mark where there is a Church held by the Syrians it is the first that was built by St. Helen in Jerusalem when Herod cast St. Peter into Prison the other Apostles with the Disciples were in that House praying for his deliverance near to that we saw the Iron-Gate through which the Angel brought St. Peter Iron-Gate when he delivered him out of the Prison from whence St. Peter went to the House of St. Mark and found the other Apostles there We then visited in order the House of Zebedee the Father of St. James the Major and St. John the Evangelist The House of Zebedee which is also the place of their Nativity at present there is a Church there held by the Greeks Then we came into the Court or open place of the Church of the holy Sepulchre and on the right hand where Mount Calvary is we entered a little Door and ascending nine and thirty steps of a winding stair-case we saw two Churches held by the Abyssins And then a Chappel near to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a Dome and fifteen steps up to it under which St. Mary the Aegyptian did Penance The place where St. Mary the Aegyptian did Penance The Prison of St. Peter when she could not get into the Holy Sepulchre This Chappel is the place where the Holy Virgin and St. John the Evangelist were when the Jews Crucified our Lord. Then we went through a place where we saw the Ruines of a great Pile of Building where heretofore the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem lived we went into the Prison where Herod put St. Peter from whence he was delivered by an Angel as we have said After we had seen all these Places we came back to the Convent about eleven a clock in the Forenoon CHAP. L. Our third Entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Of the City of Jerusalem SAturday the seven and twentieth of April we entered into the Holy Sepulchre where we stayed till next day being Sunday the eight and twentieth of April that the Pilgrims went to Dinner in the Convent for my part I stayed still in the holy Sepulchre Knighthood of Jerusalem where I was honoured with the Order of a Knight of the holy Sepulchre with the customary Ceremonies This Knighthood costs an hundred Crowns and has many Privileges but not acknowledged in many places That which chiefly made me desire this Knighthood was that that they assured me in several places that the Spaniards did not detain the Knights of Jerusalem Prisoners though they were French men and seeing I was afraid I might meet them at Sea upon my return into Christendome I thought my self obliged to take shelter under that protection After I had dined in the Refectory which the Monks have in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre I went to the Convent and we prepared to leave that Holy City next day I shall say nothing of the Ancient Jerusalem only give the Reader an account of the present State of it Jerusalem The City of Jerusalem is the Capital of Judea It stands on a dry and mountanous ground that bears nothing so that for three or four leagues about the Land is very barren but good at a farther distance The Streets of this City are narrow and crooked The Gates of Jerusalem It hath six Gates to wit the Sheep-Gate at present called St. Stephens Gate the Gate of Ephraim that of Damascus that of Jaffa or Bethlehem that of Sion and the Dung-Gate It hath also besides these six Gates the Golden Gate by which our Lord entered upon the Ass in Triumph but it is walled up because the Turks have a Prophesie That the Christians are to take Jerusalem by that Gate A Prophecy of the Turks And every Friday all the other Gates of the City are shut at Noon and not opened till their Noon-Prayers be over because they have another Prophecy That the Christians are to become Masters of them on a Friday during Noon-Prayer The same thing they also do in many other Cities Not far from the Golden-Gate there is on high on the outside of the City-Wall towards the Valley of Jehosophat The Valley of Jehosophat A Pillar on which Mahomet will sit at the Day of Judgment The transformation of Mahomet a little Pillar peeping out of a nich in the Wall like a Cannon out of a Port-hole and the Turks say that at the day of Judgment Mahomet shall sit upon that Pillar and observe whether our Lord Judge the Christians well or not if he Judge righteously Mahomet will give him his Sister in Marriage with a great deal of Money that then the same Mahomet shall change himself into a Sheep and all the Turks shall nestle in his Wool being all like Flees and so he shall flie in the Air shaking himself very hard and that those who stick fast to him shall be happy and such as fall off be damned The Walls are fair and strong much like to the Walls of Avignon and look as if they were new CHAP. LI. Of Emaus and Jaffa MOnday morning the nine and twentieth of April the R. F. Commissary led us to the Church of St. Saviour where having sung the Benedictus and some Prayers he gave us his Blessing and so having taken leave of him and of all the Monks of the Convent after we had given some Piastres to the Truchemen for their pains and Money to the Procurator or Steward for our diet which is given by way of Charity every one according to his liberality for they ask nothing we parted from the said Convent extremely well satisfied with the Entertainment we had received from these good Fathers who certainly are at a loss how to Treat the Pilgrims for they say if they treat them well when they return into their own Countrey they give it out that there is no need of sending any thing to the Monks because they are too rich and if they treat them not well they hinder others from sending them any Charity saying that they do not so much as entertain Pilgrims with what is given them In the mean time they need support considering the great summs of Money they yearly pay the Turks without which they would not so willingly be tolerated though indeed the League betwixt the Grand Signior and the French
to resolve upon made us give a Certificate under our Hands attesting that the Goods belonged to Frenchmen When we had signed this he let us go in our Bark giving us three Greeks whom he had taken before he met with us We left him about Noon and came to Acre about an hour after being every way in bad Equipage and much out of Order not having so much as a Caique to come ashoar in Monsieur de Bricard the French Consul sent us one and did me the favour to offer me both Money and Cloaths for I had lost both Cloaths Money and all except a Bill of Exchange for Acre which by good luck they left me in an old Cloak-bag having torn and thrown overboard some Papers wherein I had written my Observations of Jerusalem All our Relicks were broken mislaid or thrown into the Sea and the Gourd that I had filled with the Water of Jordan was emptied and then filled with Wine for when I asked them news of it they shewed it me full of the Wine which they had taken from us So soon as we came ashoar the Basha fitted out four French-Merchants Ships that were in the Harbour to fall upon that Corseir for they had seen us taken from thence and all the French Merchants knew their own Bark having a Sail striped with Blew He put an hundred Turks on board every one of these Ships but the Consul whom it would have troubled to have seen so many Frenchmen made Slaves having recommended the matter to the Prayers of the Monks ordered the Captains of these Ships to use all means they could not to take him and prayed me to dishearten the Turks that went on board which I did the best way I could For the Turks having asked me before they went what number of Men they were I told them they were betwixt three and four hundred though they were not sixscore and that they were well Armed and resolved to defend themselves to the last In short the Basha himself went on board one of the four Ships and made towards the Corseir who was lying at Anchor much about the place where he had taken us He had a design as we were since informed thinking them to have been French Merchantmen to have met them and got Provisions from them for they were all ready to starve and if the Basha had had the skill to have put out French Colours he might have taken them without striking a blow but the Captains not steering right upon them and firing purposely at them at a distance made them know that they were coming to take them wherefore they quickly cut their Cable and getting under Sail stood presently away and the Basha being very well satisfied that he had made them leave his Coast returned to Acre CHAP. LIII Of Acre ACRE is a Town of Palestine lying on the Sea Acre Ptolemais it was anciently called Acco afterwards Ptolemais long held by the Knights of Malta and hath been a very large and strong place as appears by the marks that remain but at present it is almost wholly Ruined and the Harbour of it which is very great now filled up with Rubbish This Town depends on the Basha of Sephet History mentions that heretofore there were as many Churches in this Town as there are days in the Year at present there are only the Ruines of about thirty to be seen among others there are some stately remains of one where as they say the Knights of Malta heretofore had a Treasure which they marked with a piece of Marble and which not many Years since they brought away in a Ship that came purposely to Acre under pretext of buying Goods The Palace of the Great Master is to be seen there still but very Ruinous there is in this Palace a back Gate towards the Sea by which the Knights abandoned the Town and went on Shipboard when they could no longer defend the place There remain still a fair Stair-case and some Buildings made there by the Emir Farr Eddin with several other very lovely Ruines There is also a square Tower in Acre which serves for a Castle with a House close by it that serves for a Serraglio to the Basha when he is in that Town which is not much Inhabited for there are not fifty Houses in it and these too rather Huts than Houses Nevertheless there is a little Han there where the French Company of Sayde lodged at that time but they were so streightned in it that there were no fewer than four of them in one Room The cause of the French Companies removing from Sayde to Acre was that he who Commands at Sayde having done them an Injury and refusing to make Reparation Monsieur de Bricard the Consul resolved to have Justice of him and having given Orders for all things necessary he pretended one day to go a Hunting but being abroad in the Fields with all his Merchants he made all haste to Acre where he was kindly Welcomed by the Basha of Sephet The other finding this sent to entreat the Consul to return promising him all Satisfaction but the Consul was so far from condescending to it that he sent Deputies to Constantinople to make his Complaints against this Turk of Sayde who seeing that he could not prevail with the French by fair mains gained an Arab Scheik who promised to bring the Consul and all the Merchants back by force But the French being informed of this stood upon their Guard so that the Arab finding his design blow'd upon durst not undertake it In short this Man of Sayde being now at his Witsend threatned to Plunder their Ware-houses which were full of Goods at Sayde if they did not return but that did not at all move them as knowing he would have a care how he did that for he would have been forced to restore all back again one day and if they had thought fit more than he had taken by pretending that there was ten times as much in them as indeed there was But at length some Months after the Consul and Nation having received all Satisfaction from Constantinople returned in Triumph to Sayde CHAP. LIV. Of Nazareth and the Places about From Acre to Nazareth WE set out from Acre on Wednesday the eighth of May about four in the Afternoon to go to Nazareth eight Leagues distant from Acre we took four Turks with us each armed with a Musquet to defend us from the Arabs if we should meet any and we our selves had each of us a Fowling-Piece and a Case of Pistols that they had lent us at Acre We stopt a little to eat about six a Clock at Night and then taking Horse again continued our Journey through places where there was no Road but Grass up to our Horses Bellies Nazareth and at ten a Clock at Night arrived at Nazareth Nazareth is an ancient Town standing upon a little height at the end of a large Plain called Ezdrelon Ezdrelon
It is a Town at present almost desolate We lodged in the Convent which is commodious and neat enough being new built for it is but about forty Years since that place came into the hands of the Monks of the Holy Land being given them by the Emir Farir Eddin Thursday the ninth of May we went into the Church where we heard Mass and said our Prayers The place of the Annunciation this Church is on the same place where the Angel Gabriel Annunciated the Mystery of the Incarnation to the Virgin Mary when she was at Prayers so that that Grott was her Oratory you go down to it by seven or eight steps in the Court and by more in the Convent There are two lovely Pillars of greyish Stone in it which were put there by St. Helen one at the very place as they say where the Virgin was when she received that Heavenly Message and the other at the place where the Angel appeared from the lower part of that where the Virgin was there is about two Foot broken off by the Turks so that the rest hangs as it were in the Air sticking to the Vault to which the Capital of it is fastned The Chamber of the Virgin. Even with this Grott is the place of the Virgins Chamber which was by Angels Transported to Loretto so that there are two Nefs one of the Grott and another of the Chamber in the space whereof there is another Rebuilt exactly like that of Loretto It is thirteen paces long and four broad the Chamber and Grott together being also thirteen paces in length We went out of Nazareth the same day May the ninth about three in the Afternoon to go visit the holy places about it And in the first place about three quarters of a League South from Nazareth we saw a great Hill called the Precipice The Precipice which is the place where the Jews would have thrown our Saviour down headlong but He rendering himself invisible to them retreated as they say into a little Cell that looks like a large and deep Nich this Nich is about the middle of the Precipice and heretofore the prints of his Body were to be seen in it In this Nich there is an Altar on which sometimes they say Mass and the ruines of a Chappel still to be seen by it From the top of that Precipice you may see the Town of Naim where our Lord raised the Widows Son from the Dead it lies at the foot of the Hill called Hermon Hermon mentioned in the Psalms Betwixt the Precipice and Nazareth there are some ruines of a Nunnery Our Lady of fear where there was a Church dedicated to our Lady of Fear because they say the holy Virgin following our Lord whom the Jews led to precipitate him and being afraid they might put him to death as she was going fell down in this place and her Knee is very well marked in the Rock The Monks say that they caused a piece of the Rock to be cut off that they might have carried away that Impression but that after they had gone a few steps they could not carry it away Then upon a little Mount about six hundred paces from the Convent they shewed us a great Stone Our Saviour's Table St. Peter's Well called our Lord's Table because they have it by Tradition that our Saviour eat many times upon it with his Apostles Close by it is the Fountain called St. Peter's Well because our Lord returning back to the Town with his Apostles and St. Peter being dry our Saviour made that Well to spring out and the Water is very good After that we entered into the Town which is close by and about five a Clock at Night came to the Convent CHAP. LV. Of the House of the Cananean the Mount of Beatitudes the Mount of the two Fishes and five Loaves the Sea of Tiberias of Mount Tabor and other holy Places NEXT day being Friday the Tenth of May we parted from Nazareth about five a Clock in the Morning and a little after found the Fountain where the Blessed Virgin used to draw Water The Tomb of Jonas and there are some steps to go down to it Then on the left hand we saw the Tomb of Jonas to whom the Turks bear great respect as they do to all the Prophets We saw a print of his Foot on the Rock the same Foot being marked on four places of the Rock at some paces distance from one another We came next to the Well where the Water was drawn which our Lord turned into Wine at the Marriage of Cana. In the Sacristie of the Church of the Eleven Thousand Virgins at Cologne I saw one of the Pots wherein our Saviour wrought that Miracle changing the Water that was in it into so good Wine that the Guests who had not seen the Miracle wrought complained to the Master of the Feast that he brought forth the good Wine last seeing it was the custom to give the good Wine first and the bad last then we went into the House where our Lord wrought this Miracle St. Helen built there a Church with a little Convent where some Monks lived it is still standing but the Moors have changed it into a Mosque however we entred into it Having seen that place we Travelled a pretty while in the Plain where the Apostles pluck'd the Ears of Corn and rubbed them in their hands on the Sabbath-Day The Sea of Galilee Bethulia then from a little height we discovered the Sea of Galilee from whence we also saw Bethulia where Judith killed Holofernes We saw also from that place pretty near the said Sea the top of Mount Libanus all white with Snow and about Ten in the morning we came to the Mount of Beatitudes so called The Mount of Beatitudes because it is the place where our Saviour made to his Apostles the Sermon of Beatitudes we went up to it and after we had heard the Gospel on that subject read by one of our Monks we came down again and continued our Journey The place and stone upon which our Lord blessed the two fishes and five loaves Tiberias and half an Hour after we came to the place where our Lord fed Five thousand men with two Fishes and five Loaves and twelve Baskets full of Fragments remained Having the Gospel read to us we eat in that place upon a Stone upon which they say he blessed the said Fishes and Loaves from thence we went to the Town of Tiberias which is upon the side of the Sea of Tiberias having been restored by Herod and named Tiberias from the name of the Emperour Tiberius We got there about Noon its Ruines and old Demolished Walls demonstrate it to have been a very large place The Walls of it having been ruined a Jewish Widow afterwards built new ones in form of a Fort with its Courtines and Jews lived there until about fifteen Years ago that the