such Fathers who have perform'd any important Service for the good of his Kingdom He gives them Pains of Gold every one worth six hundred Livres and Bars of Silver amounting each to forty six Livres The same day he also releases all Prisoners both Criminal and Debtors provided the crime do not deserve death and that the debt do not exceed two Bars of Silver Also every year the three last days of the last Month the 40 Mandarins who are the chief Councellors of State take the Oaths of all the Lords and Officers of the Court and of their Wives causing them to swear to be faithful to the King and if they know of any thing that concerns the King's person or his Kingdom to discover it All Governours of Provinces give the same Oaths to the Lords and Gentlemen under their Jurisdictions and the Governours of Cities to the Citizens and other Inhabitants They that discover any Treason never fail of any reward only with this distinction in reference to the quality of the Persons that reveal it For as for the Mandarins and Gentlemen the King rewards them according to his own pleasure But as for the meaner sort whether Men or Women they are ennobl'd and gratifi'd with a reward of 50 Pains of Gold and 500 Bars of Silver which in all amounts to 53000 Livres But they esteem their Nobility far beyond their Money At certain times of the year there is a Muster of the Youth of the several Provinces and all those who are found not to be either of the Nobility or not to have learnt any Trade are presently enroll'd for the Service of the King who every five years make choice of such as he intends for his Guard and sends them to the Frontier Garrisons There are some who endeavour to get off by Money but if they be discover'd both the Officers and the Soldier are punish'd without redemption For they hang a little Bell about his Neck Fetter his Arms and in that posture send him to the Constable who presently orders his Head to be struck off But in regard the Tunquineses are very averse from seeing any Blood shed the Kindred or Friends of the condemn'd Person intercede that he may be hang'd believing that death to be most honourable which is not defil'd with Blood-shed wherein they seem to be of the Opinion of the Turks CHAP. XIII Of the Ceremonies observ'd when the Kings of Tunquin are advanc'd to the Throne BEfore we speak of the Enthroning the Kings of Tunquin and of the Ceremonies that attend it it behoves us to relate the manner of their setting out of the Palace when they go at any time to take their pleasure The King is seated upon a most magnificent Palanquin carry'd by eight Men where he may be beheld by all the People the Lords and Officers of the Court attending him on foot provided he do not go out of the City for when he goes into the Country he rides upon an Elephant and the Lords follow him on Horse-back When the Queen Mother or his first Wife go abroad they are likewise carry'd upon a close Palanquin with Lattice-Windows to the end they may see and not be seen and behind the Palanquin follow the Maids of Honour on foot The Mandarins and great Princes solemnize their Birth-days every year with great Feasting Pastimes Comedies and Fire-works and all their Friends and Kindred fail not to attend them to honour the Solemnities In the year 1645 the eldest Son of the King who was by his Father appointed for his Successor upon one of his Birth-days shew'd the Court all the divertizements he could imagin and the King who had a great affection for him sent him a thousand Pains of Gold and five hundred Bars of Silver to the value of 120000 Livres At which time large Alms are distributed especially to poor Widows and Prisoners When the King dies and leaves several Sons they set up him whom when alive he chose for his Successor The third day after the Decease of the King the Constable with all the Military Mandarins the Lords of the Council and all the Governours of Provinces repair to the Prince's Appartment where they present him with a Chinese Habit after which having mounted him upon an Elephant they bring him into one of the great Courts of his Palace which is all covered with Cloth of Gold and Silver as with a Tent. There it is that being placed upon a Throne magnificently enrich'd all the Mandarins prostrate themselves upon the Earth with their Heads downward in which posture having lain for some time they rise and closing their Hands together with their Arms and Eyes lifted up to Heaven they swear to the new King to be faithful to him till death This first Ceremony being over the new King to shew himself liberal upon his first coming to the Crown causes four Panes of Gold and six Bars of Silver to be given to every one But to distinguish the Constable from the rest he gives him twenty Panes of Gold and forty Bars of Silver and to the President of the Council or Chancellour ten of Gold and twenty of Silver These Presents being thus made several Pieces of Artillery are fired round the Palace accompanied with several Volleys of small Shot there being then in Arms above 30000 Horse and Foot and then the King is set upon a magnificent Palanquin and the Constable and chief of the Council ride before upon lovely Horses Sixteen of the principal Officers of the Court carry the King viz. eight Military Mandarins and eight of the Council And in this manner they set forward to the Apartment of the deceased King from whence all the Lords retire for two hours except the Eunuchs and then it is that the Princesses Ladies of the Court and chief Wives of the Mandarins come to kiss the King's Hand and congratulate his Advancement to the Throne Which done all the Lords return again to a noble Feast after the manner of the Countrey ready prepar'd Their Viands are not so delicate nor so deliciously dress'd as ours neither have they so much variety 'T is true they have those Birds-nests already mention'd which they mix in the most part of their Dishes which gives the Meat a tast of almost all sorts of Spices Of all the Meats which they eat Colts Flesh is in most esteem and Dogs Flesh neither of which agree with our Palates The Festival is concluded with Comedies and Fireworks which la allst the night The next day the 30000 Men that gave their Volleys of small Shot the day before are drawn up in good order in a Field next and all the principal Officers of War Colonels Captains and Lieutenants leave the Frontiers to be at the same place Then the King mounted upon his Palanquin and carried by sixteen of his principal Officers the Constable and grand Squire riding before and attended by several other Commanders on foot with several Mummers that play and dance before the
fear some mischief should befall him at that time That Prince was so superstitious that one of his Children dying in the fifth moneth which bears the name of the Horse he would never permit him to be enterr'd but caus'd him to be burnt and scatter'd his ashes in the Air. This is that which I could gather of most remarkable and most considerable matters concerning the State of the Kingdom of Tunquin either out of the Manuscripts which my Brother who died in the Indies left me or from the Discourse which I have had with the Tunquineses themselves both at Bantam and Batavia OF THE ISLAND OF FORMOSA CHAP. I. How the Hollanders possessed themselves of it and how it was taken from them by the Chineses THE Island of Formosa is about Eighty Leagues in compass so that the Hollanders were never in possession of the whole Island but were onely Masters of four Fortresses and two and fifty Villages wherein they could number about fourteen or fifteen thousand Inhabitants As for that part which is under the Indians the best discovery that we can give is onely such as was made by a young Hollander upon this occasion There was in the chief Fort belonging to the Hollanders a young man imployed there as an under-Factor who being wild and extravagant was put out of his place and made a Souldier He not able to undergo that miserable course of life resolved with himself rather to die than live in that mean condition Thereupon having at several opportunities made a shift to make up a little Pack of what he thought was most fit for the Mountainiers of the Island he watch'd his time and stole out of the Fort and took his way directly toward the Mountains With these Highlanders he liv'd four years in which time having learnt the Trade and Language of the Countrey he ventur'd to return to the Hollanders again who received him kindly as being willing to understand the Government of the People and by what means they might traffick with them Whereupon the young man made them this Relation But to return to the Story the Governour gave the young man what he desired and sent him going but the Chineses soon after expelling the Hollanders out of the Island it was never known what became of the young man It may be wondered why Formosa was taken so soon but here were two Reasons first the faint-heartedness of the Governour and secondly his breach of word to a French Souldier of Rouen call'd Abraham du Puys for he having served out his time of seven years desir'd leave to be gone but the Governour after he had promis'd him fair at first at length absolutely refused him Soon after the Chineses came to besiege the place The Souldier thus disappointed and seeing himself coop'd up who might have been free had the Governour so pleased studied a fatal revenge upon all his Countrymen for being by this means grown desperate watch'd his opportunity and flinging himself from the Fort into the Sea swam directly to the Enemy The Governour offered 200 Pieces of Eight to any person that would venture after him and bring him back dead or alive A Serjeant accepted his offer but it was to get loose as the other had done and so they got both safe into the Enemies Quarters The Chineses presently carried them to the General Coxima and he being a person of Valour and Discretion made very much of them whereupon they readily and willingly inform'd him of the strength and condition of the Fortress They also advised him to remove his Batteries to the weakest part of the Town whereas he was then assailing it where it was most strongly fortified which if he would do they assur'd him he should be soon Master of the Fort. The General was thinking a little before they came to have raised his Siege but upon their encouragement he fell on again according to their direction and as he was preparing for a general Assault the Holland Commander fearful of losing his Life and his Estate beat a Parley and surrender'd the place upon Articles During the Siege the Hollanders made a Salley but were beaten in again and fourteen of their men were taken Prisoners The Chineses finding those fourteen men in their power and remembering how cruel the Hollanders had been to their Nation when they took any of them at Sea brought the fourteen men all together put out one eye of each cut off their Noses Ears and one hand and so sent them back to the Fort with order to tell the Commander that the Dutch had taught them that kind of Mercy CHAP. II. Of Maurice Island where they cut Ebony THE Island call'd Maurice Island lies almost in 84 degrees of Longitude and 21 degrees of Southern Latitude being but 2 degrees and 30 minutes from the Tropick of Capricorn right over against the middle of the great Island of Madagascar which it has upon the West from whence it lies 140 Leagues and is in compass about 60 Leagues It bears great quantities of Ebony and here it was that the Hollanders did formerly send their Slaves their banish'd and condemn'd Persons to cut that sort of Wood which is Labour much more severe and cruel than that of Rowing in the Galleys The whole Island is subject to those violent and outrageous Tempests call'd Ouragans which nothing can withstand so that the People are forc'd to dig themselves Holes in the ground not being able to keep their Huts standing Neither had the poor Creatures any other Food than a little boil'd Rice and about a Farthings worth of Salt-fish among four for a whole day Since that the Price of Ebony being brought very low the Dutch have forsaken the Island the Profit not bearing the sorry Expences which those poor Creatures put them to So soon as this Tree is cut down it must be sawed into Planks and then buried seven or eight foot deep in the Earth which ought to be somewhat moist There those Planks must lie two years and sometimes three if the Wood be very thick After that the Wood is fit to be wrought upon neither will it splinter or split and will the sooner admit of a glittering Polishment This Maurice Island puts me in mind of a Story that the Sieur Loocker told me concerning what befell him in his Voyage from Holland to Batavia in the Year 1643. Cha Abbas the second of that Name King of Persia having a great desire to learn to paint signified to the Hollanders at Hispahan that he desired them to send into Holland for some person who was excellent both in Designing and Painting Thereupon the Chief of the Factory wrote into Holland and upon his Letters the Company sent away Loocker to oblige the King and to do him the greater honour gave him the charge of Merchant of the Vessel who is equal with the Captain during the Voyage to whom the Wind and Season was very favourable till they came to the Cape of
Raja of Velouche which are of a large extent He and all his Subjects being Idolaters unless it be about nine or ten thousand poor People call'd Christians of S. John as being baptiz'd after the same manner that S. John baptiz'd the People in the Wilderness After the taking of Cochin of which we have given a full Relation in our Indian Travels General Vangous who commanded at the Siege became so haughty that he despis'd all the other Officers as well Military as those that belonged to the Government and Justice of the City However to recompence one of the Raja's by whose means he had taken the City he persuaded him to quit the Name of Raja and to assume the Title of King that he might have the Honour to set the Crown upon his Head To this end he made great inquiry through his whole Army for a Goldsmith and having found out one that undertook it and caus'd him to make a Crown of massie Gold that weigh'd near ten Marks which I believe the Raja found more inconvenient and weighty upon his Head than an old Muckender with three corners bound about his Head which is the mark of the Raja's Sovereignty While they were making this Crown there were great preparations for the Ceremony It was performed in a Garden near the Town where was set a large Tent spread all over with painted Calicut Within was a Throne erected with a Canopy of China Damask and all the Steps to the Throne were cover'd with Persian Tapistry The day being come the greatest part of the Army Officers and Souldiers went to fetch the Raja who lay in his Hut a quarter of a League off where they mounted him upon one of two Elephants which the General sent him being attended likewise with two led Horses and two Palanquins for more State Being come to the place he was clad in a Scarlet Robe with great Hanging Sleeves and so brought in where Vangous was sitting upon his Throne with a Sword and a Crown by him The Raja being come to the Foot of the Throne the Major of the Army took the Sword deliver'd him by the General and girt the Raja who then ascending the Steps of the Throne prostrated himself before the Holland General while he put the Crown upon his Head Then the new King riseth up and lays his Hand upon the Head of a Cow that stood near the Throne Which done kneeling with his Hands clasp'd and lifted toward the Head of the same Cow he took his Oath to be true and faithful to the Company and to embrace their Interests On the other side the General promis'd him on the behalf of the Company that they should assist him when he should have occasion against his Enemies Which Solemnities being very gravely perform'd the Musquettiers gave three Volleys and the new King was conducted back to his Hut with the same Pomp that he was brought Thus you see the Pride of a Pepper Merchant to make Kings and domineer over Crowns One other famous Act of Vangous must not be forgotten You must know that at the taking of Cochin the Jesuits had in that City one of the fairest Libraries in all Asia as well for the great quantity of Books sent them out of Europe as for several rare Manuscripts in the Hebrew Chaldee Arabic Persian Indian Chinese and other Oriental Languages For in all the Conquests of the Portugals their first care was to summon all the Learned People of the several Nations and to get all their Books into their hands During that little time which the Jesuits staid in Aethiopia they had copied out all the good Books that came to their knowledge and sent all those Books of Cochin They had staid longer in Aethiopia had it not been for the Jealousie of the Patriarchs and their Bishops which are very numerous so that if there be two men in one Village that belong to one Church the chiefest calls himself Bishop At their Ceremonies of Baptism when they name the Holy Ghost they apply a hot Iron to the neck of the Infant saying that the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in the shape of Fiery Tongues The Patriarchs and Bishops were jealous of the Jesuits finding that they had insinuated themselves into the favour of the King and Grandees of the Court. Which so enraged the Aethiopians that they caus'd the People to mutiny preaching that the King was about to alter the Religion of the Country and to draw along with him several of the Lords And the Fury of the People grew to that height that whatever the King could do or say he could not appease their Fury So that they put him in prison and elected his Brother in his place The cause of this disorder was laid upon the Jesuits and was the reason that they were expell'd the Kingdom neither had they scap'd so but that they were afraid of the Governour of Mozambique and the Portugals that inhabit all along the Coast of Africa But to tell ye what became of this Library General Vangous made no conscience to expose it to the ignorance of his Souldiers so that I have seen the Souldiers and Seamen tear several of those beautiful Volums to light their Tobacco CHAP. VI. Of the Sieur Hollebrand Glins President of the Factory at Ormus WHen the Ships come to Ormus it is a great prejudice for the Goods to lie out of doors For such is the extremity of the Heat in that part that if the Spices especially the Cloves be not carried to the Water-side every foot and there laid to steep in the Water for four and twenty hours they would turn to a mere powder Sugar is brought thither in great Wooden Chests but if there be the least Cleft for a Fly or an Emmet to get in in a small time the Chest will be half emptied As for Camphire which is brought from Borneo in Pipes if it lie a little too long in that warm Air it will exhale above half away To remedy these Inconveniences Sieur Hollebrand resolved to build a bigger Warehouse Among the rest of the Workmen that were imployed in this Building was a Gunsmith who came in the interim in a Ship from Batavia This poor Fellow was imployed to make Locks for the Warehouse for in those Parts they have no other Keys or Locks either than what are made of Wood So that it was a Crime for him to be found idle at any time And therefore the President finding him one Sunday in the Afternoon drinking with two of his Companions that came from the Ship to see him gave the Fellow half a dozen good Licks with his Cane and would have given him more but that the Smith being a sturdy Fellow and feeling the Blows smart wrested the Stick out of the President 's Hands and flung it out of the Window For which the President upon pretence that the Fellow had struck him four Blows which was untrue as I my self being there could witness sent him