Tribunal fourteen steps high that was all overlaid with fine gold Her face was very beautiful and her hands were heaved up towards Heaven at her armpits hung a many of little idols not above half a finger long filed together whereupon demanding of the Chineses what those meant they answered us That after the waters of Heaven had overflowed the earth so that all mankind was drowned by an universal Deluge God seeing that the world would be desolate and no body to inhabit it he sent the goddess Amida the chief Lady of honour to his wife Nacapirau from the Heaven of the Moon that she might repair the loss of drowned mankind and that then the goddess having set her feet on a Land from which the waters were withdrawn called Calemphuy which was the same Island whereof I have spoken heretofore in the streight of Nanquin whereof Antonio de Faria went on land she was changed all into gold and in that manner standing upright with her face looking up unto Heaven she sweat out at her armpits a great number of children namely males out of the right and females out of the left having no other place about her body whence she might bring them forth as other women of the world have who have sinned and that for a chastisement of their sin God by the order of nature hath subjected them to a misery full of corruption and filthiness for to shew how odious unto him the sin was that had been committed against him The goddess Amida having thus brought forth these creatures which they affirm were thirty three thousand three hundred thirty and three two parts of them females and the other males for so say they the world was to be repaired she remained so feeble and faint with this delivery having no body to assist her at her need that she fell down dead in the place for which cause the Moon at that time in memory of this death of hers whereat she was infinitely grieved put her self into mourning which mourning they affirm to be those black spots we ordinarily behold in her face occasioned indeed by the shadow of the earth and that when there shall be so many years ran out as the goddess Amida brought forth children which were as I have delivered thirty three thousand three hundred thirty and three then the Moon will put off her mourning and afterwards be as clear as the day With these and such like fopperies did the Chineses so turmoil us as we could not chuse but grieve to consider how much those people which otherwise are quick of apprehension and of good understanding are abused in matter of Religion with such evident and manifest untruths After we were come out of this great place where we saw all these things we went unto another Temple of religious Votaries very sumptuous and rich where they told us the Mother of the then reigning King named Nhay Camisama did abide but thereunto we were not permitted to enter because we were strangers From this place through a street arched all along we arrived at a Key called Hichario Topileu where lay a great number of vessels full of pilgrims from divers Kingdoms which came incessantly on pilgrimage to this Temple for to gain as they believe plenary indulgences which the King of China and the Chaems of the Government do grant unto them besides many priviledges and franchises throughout the whole Country where victuals are given them abundantly and for nothing I will not speak of many other Temples or Pagodes which we saw in this City whilest we were at liberty for I should never have done to make report of them all howbeit I may not omit some other particulars that I hold very fit to be related before I break off this discourse whereof the first were certain houses in several parts of this City called Laginampurs that is to say The School of the poor wherein fatherless and motherlesâ— children that are found in the streets are taught to write and read as also some trade whereby they may get their living and of these houses or schools there are about some five hundred in this City Now if it happen that any of them through some defect of nature cannot learn a trade then have they recourse to some means for to make them get their living according to each ones incommodity As for example if they be blind they make them labour in turning of handmils if they be lame of their feet they cause them to make laces riband and such like manufactures if they be lame of their hands then they make them earn their living by carrying of burdens but if they be lame both of feet and hands so that nature hath wholly deprived them of means to get their living then they shut them up in great Convents where there are a number of persons that pray for the dead amongst whom they place them and so they have their share of half the offerings that are made there the Priests having the other half if they be dumb then they are shut up in a great house where they are maintained with the amerciaments that the common sort of women as oyster-wives and such like are condemned in for their scolding and fighting one with another As for old queans that are past the trade and such of the younger sort as by the lewd exercise thereof are becomâ— diseased with the pox or other filthy sickness they are put into other houses where they are very well looked unto and furnished abundantly with all things necessary at the charge of the other women that are of the same trade who thereunto pay a certain sum monthly and that not unwillingly because they know that they shall come to be so provided for themsâ—lves by others and for the collecting of this mony there are Commissioners expresly deputed in several parts of the City There are also other houses much like unto Monasteries where a great many of young maids that are Orpâ—ans are bred up and these houses are maintained at the charge of such women as are convicted of adultery for say they it is most just that if there be one which hath lost her self by her dishonesty there should be another that should be maintained by her vertue Other places there are also where decayed old people are kept at the charge of Lawyers that plead unjust causes where the parties have no right and of Judges that for favoring one more thâ—n another and corrupted with bribes do not execute justice as they ought to do whereby one may see with how much order and policy these people govern all things In the prosecution of my discourse it will not be amiss here to deliver the marvellous order and policy which the Kings of China observe in furnishing their States abundantly with provisions and victuals for the relief of the poor people which may very well serve for an example of charity and good government to Christian Kingdoms and Commonwealths Their Chronicles
what he had to do The Rolim went herewith back to the City where he gave the Queen an account of all things saying That this Tyrant was a man without faith and replete with damnable intentions for proof whereof he represented unto her the Siege of Martabano the usage of the Chaubainhaa after he rendred himself unto him upon his word and how he had put him his wife his children and the chiefest Nobility of his Kingdom to a most shamefull death These things considered it was instantly concluded as well by the Queen as by all those of her Councel that she should defend the City till such time as succour came from her Father which would be within fifteen days at the furthest This resolution taken she being of a great courage without further delay took order for all things that were thought necessary for the defence of the City animating to that end her people with great prudence and a man-like Spirit though she was but a woman Moreover as she liberally imparted to them of her Treasure so she promised every one throughly to acknowledg their services with all manner of recompences and honours whereby they were mightily encouraged to fight In the mean space the King of Bramaa seeing that the Rolim returned him no answer within the time prefixt began the next day to fortifie all the Quarters of his Camp with double rows of Cannon for to batter the City on every side and for assaulting of the walls he caused a great number of Ladders to be made publishing withall throughout his whole Army that all Souldiers upon pain of death should be ready within three days to go to the Assault The time then being come which was the third of May 1545. About an hour before day the King went out of his Quarter where he was at anchor upon the river with two thousand vessels of choice men and giving the Signal to the Commanders which were on Land to prepare themselves they altogether in one Body assailed the walls with so great a cry as if Heaven and earth would have come together so that both sides falling to encounter pell-mell with one another there was such a conflict betwixt them as within a little while the air was seen all on fire and the earth all bloody whereunto being added the clashing of weapons and noise of guns it was a spectacle so dreadful that we few Portugals who beheld these things remained astonished and almost besides our selves This fight indured full five hours at the end whereof the Tyrant of Bramaa seeing those within defend themselves so valiantly and the most part of his Forces to grow faint he went to land with ten or eleven thousand of his best men and with all diligence re-inforcing the Companies that were fighting the Bickering renewing in such sort as one would have said it did but then begin so great was the fury of it The second trial continued till night yet would not thâ— Kâ—ng desist from the fight what counsel soever was given him to retire but contrarily he swore not to give over the Enterprise begun and that he would lie that night within the inclosure of the City walls or cut off the heads of all those Commanders that were not wounded at their coming off In the mean time this obstinacy was very pejudicial to him for continuing the Assault till the Moon was gone down which was two hours past midnight he was then forced to sound a Retreat after he had lost in this Assault as was the next day found upon a Muster fourscore thousand of his men besides those which were hurt which were thirty thousand at the least whereof many died for want of dressing whence issued such a plague in the Camp as well through the corruption of the air as the water of the river that was all tainted with blood and dead bodies that thereby about fourscore thousand more perished amongst whom were five hundred Portugals having no other buriall then the bellies of Vultures Crows and such like birds of prey which devoured them all along the Coast where they lay The King of Bramaa having considered that this first Assault having cost him so dear would no more hazaâ—d his men in that manner but he caused a great Terrace to be made with Bavins and above ten thousand Date-trees which he commanded to be cut down and on that he raised up a platform so high as it over-topped the walls of the City two fathom and more where he placed fourscore pieces of Ordnance and with them continually battering the City for the space of nine dayes together it was for the most part demolished with the death of fourteen thousand persons which quite abated the poor Queens courage especially when she came to understand that she had but six thousand fighting men left all the rest which consisted of women chidren old men being unfit and unable to bear Arms. The miserable besieged seeing themselves reduced to such extreamity assembled together in Councel and there by the advice of the chiefest of them it was concluded That all in general should anoint themselves with the Oile of the Lamps of the Chappel of Quiay Nivandel God of Battail of the field Vitan and so offering themselves up in sacrifice to him set upon the platform with a determination either to dye or to vanquish in vowing themselves all for the defence of their young King to whom they had so lately done homage and sworn to be true and faithful Subjects This resolution taken which the Queen and all her Nobility approved of for the best and most assured in a time wherein all things were wanting to them for the longer defending themselves they promised to accomplish it in the manner aforesaid by a solemn Oâ—th which they all took Now there being no further question but to see how they should carry themselves in this affair they first of all made an Uncle of the Queens the Captains of this resolute Band who assembling these six thousand together the same night about the first quarter of the watch made a sally out of the two gates that were neerest to the Terrace and platform and so taking courage from their despair and resolution to dye they fought so valiantly that in less then half an hour the whole Camp was put in disorder the Terrace gained the fourscore pieces of Cannon taken the King himself hurt the Pallisado burnt the Trenches broken and the Xenimbrum General of the Army slain with above fifteen thousand â—en more amongst the which were five hundred Turks there weâ—e moreover forty Elephants taken besides those that were killed and eight hundred Bramaas made prisoners so that these six thousand resolute men did that which an hundred thousand though valiant enough could hardly have effected After this they retreated an hour before day and upon a review they found that of six thousand which they were there was but seven hundred slain This bad success so grieved and incensed the
requisite for the purging of him from so enormous a crime Hereunto the Hermit answered Pleaseth the Lord who living reigneth above the beauty of the stars that the knowledge which by this discourse thou shewest to have be not prejudiciall unto thee For I be assured that he who knows these things and doth them not runs a far greater danger than he that sins through ignorance Then one of ours named Nuno Coelho who would needs have an oar in our talk told him that he was not to be angry for a matter of so small importance whereunto the Hermit beholding him with so stern a countenance answered Certainly the fear which thou hast of death is yet lesse since thou imployest thy selfe in actions as infamous and black as the soul that is in thy body and for my part I cannot but be perswaded that all thy ambition is wholly placed upon money as but too well appears by the the thirst of thy insatiable avarice whereby thou wilt make an end of heaping up the measure of thine infernal appetite Continue then thy theeveries for seeing then thou must go to hell for that which thou hast already taken out of this holy house thou shalt also go thither for those things which thou shalt steal otherwise so the heavier the burden shall be that thou bearest the sooner shalt thou be precipitated into the bottom of hell where already thy wicked works have prepared thee an everlasting abode Hereupon Nuno de Coelho prayed him to take all things patiently affirming that the Law of God commanded him so to do Then the Hermit lift up his hand by way of admiration and as it were smiling at what the souldier had said Truly answered he I am come to see that I never thought to see or hear namely evil actions disguised with a specious pretext of vertue which makes me believe that thy blindnesse is exceeding great since trusting to good words thou spendest thy life so wickedly wherefore it is not possible thou shouldest ever come to Heaven or give any account to God at the last day as of necessity they must do Saying so he turned him to Antonio de Faria without attending further answer from him and earnestly desired him not to suffer his company to spit upon and prophane the altar which he vowed was more grievous to him then the induring of a thousand deaths whereupon to satisfie him he presently commanded the forbearance of it wherewith the Hermit was somewhat comforted Now because it grew late Antonio de Faria resolved to leave the place but before he departed he held it necessary to inform himself of certain other particulars whereof he stood in some doubt so that he deserved of the Hermit how many persons there might be in all those Hermitages whereunto Hiticon answered that there were about three hundred and threescore Talagrepos besides forty Menigrepos appointed to furnish them with things requisite for their maintenance and to attend them when they were sick moreover he asked him whether the King of China came not somtimes thither he told him No for said he the King cannot be condemned by any body he is the son of the Sun but contrarily he had power to absolve every one Then he enquired of him if there were any arms in their Hermitages O no answered the Hermit for all such as pretend to go to heaven have more need of patience to indure injuries then of arms to revenge themselves Being also desirous to know of him the cause why so much silver was mingled with the bones of the dead This silver replied the Hermit comes of the alms that the deceased carry with them out of this into the other life for to serve them at their need in the heaven of the Moon where they live eternally In conclusion having demanded of him whither they had any women he said That they which would maintain the life of their souls ought not to taste the pleasures of the flesh seeing experience made it apparent that the Bee which nourisheth her self in an hony-comb dâ—th often sting such as offer to meddle with that sweetness After Antonio de Faria had propounded all these questions he took his leave of him and so went directly to his ships with an intention to return again the next day for to set upon the other Hermitages where as he had been told was great abundance of silver and certain Idols of gold but our sins would not permit us to see the effect of a business which we had been two months and an halfe a purchasing with so much labor and danger of our lives as I will deliver hereafter At the clearing up of the day Antonio de Faria and all of us being embarqued we went and anchored on the other side of the Island about a faulcon shot from it with an intent as I have before declared to go a shore again the next morning and set upon the Chappels where the Kings of China were interred that so we might the more commodiously lade our two vessels with such treasures which peradventure might have succeeded according to our desires if the business had been well carried and that Antonio de Faria had followed the counsel was given him which was that since we had not been as yet discovered that he should have carried the Hermit away with him to the end he might not acquaint the House of the Bonzos with what we had done howbeit he would never hearken to it saying that we were to fear nothing that way by reason the Hermit was so old and his legs so swoln with the gout as he was not able to stand much less to go But it fell out clean contrary to his expectation for the Hermit no sooner saw us imbarqued as we understood afterwards but he presently crawled as well as he could to the next Hermitage which was not above a flight shoot from his and giving intelligence of all that had past he bad his companion because himself was not able to go away with all speed to the Bonzoâ—s house to acquaint them with it which the other instantly performed so that about midnight we saw a great many of fires lighted on the top of the wall of the Temple where the Kings were buried being kindled to serve for a signal to the Countrey about of some extraordinary danger towards This made us ask of our Chineses what they might mean who answered that assuredly we were discovered in regard wherof they advised us without any longer stay to set sail immediatly Herewith they acquainted Antonio de Faria who was fast asleep but he straightway arose and leaving his anchor in the sea rowed directly afraid as he was to the Island for to learn what was done there Being arrived near to the Key he heard many bels ringing in each Hermitage together with a noise of men talking whereupon the Chineses that accompanied him said Sir never stand to hear or see more but retire we beseech you as fast as
very well inclined to the poor upon whom he continually bestowed much alms Moreover they swore unto us by their Law that we should receive no hurt yet could we not by any means be perswaded thereunto for at that time we had so little hope of life that if persons worthy of credit had assured us of it we should hardly have believed them much lesâ— those cruel and detestable Gentiles who neither had Religion nor any knowledg of God When they had tied us together the footmen placed us in the midst of them whilest those on horsback coursed up and down on every side as though they had gone the round now we no sooner began to march but that the three womâ—n which were with us more dead then alive fell down on the place in a swoon partly through their natural weakness and partly through the fear they were in so that the footmen were forced to take them up in their arms and each one to carry them in his turn howbeit for all that before we could arrive at the place whither they were leading us two of the three died and were left in the Wood for a prey to the Wolves Foxes and other Wild-beasts whereof we saw great plenty thereabout At length after we had marched a good while we arrived about Sun-set at a great Borough where we were presently put into a Pagode or Temple of theirs which was invironed with very high walls and yet for the more security they placed an hundred men about it to guard us all that night who with their cries and beating of their Drums kept us waking till the next morning for the noise thereof and the consideration of our present misery would not suffer us to take any rest CHAP. XLVII The carrying of us to the Town of Pungor and presenting us to the Broquen Governour of the Kingdom with that which ensued upon it AS soon as it was morning the next day the chiefest women of the Town came to visit us and in way of charity brought us a quantity of Rice boyled fish and certain fruits of the Country for us to eat she wing themselves to be much moved with our misery as well by their words as by their tears and seeing the extream need we stood in of clothes for that we had little or scarce any upon our bodies six amongst them which for that purpose were chosen by the rest went a begging for us through all the streets of the Town saying O good folks good folks which make profession of the Law of the Lord whose property it is if one may say so to shew himself proâ—igal towards us by communicating his benefits unto us come forth of your houses to behold the flesh of our flesh which the wrath of the hand of the Lord Almighty hath touched and succour them with your alms to the end the mercy of his greatness may not abandon you as it hath done them These words were of such force to stir up their charity as within less then an hour we were abundantly furnished with all things necessary for us But about three of the clock in the afternoon came a Post to this Borough with letters to the Xivalon of the place that is the Captain thereof who had no sooner read them but he caused two Drums to beat an Alarum at the sound whereof all the people assâ—mbled together in â— great Pagode or Temple where out of a window he spake unto them and gave them to understand that the Broquen the Governour of the Kingdom had commanded us to be brought to the Town of Pungâ—r which was some seven leagues from thence The most part of them at first refused to obey this command so that there was great contention about it in such sort that nothing could be agreed upon all that day by means whereof the Post was returned to the Broquen with a relation of that which had past and so we were left there till eight of the clock the next morning at which time two Peretandaâ—s who are as it were Judges came accompanied with divers Burgesses and some twenty horsmen unto us and after many writingâ— drawn up by certain publique Registers concerning us they sent us away the same day to a Town called Gondâ—xilau where we were put into a dungeon made in the fashion of a Ciâ—terâ— remaining there till the next day up to the middle in filthy standing water that was full of hoâ—sleeches which made us all gore blood As soon as it was morning they carried us towards Pungor where we arrived about four of the clock in the afternoon now because it was late the Broquen would not see us till the day following and then bound together as we were he caused us to be led through â—our of the principal streets of the City where the people thronging from all parts to behold us seemed much to pity our misery chiefly the women In this manner we were brought to a Court of Justice where there was a great many of Officers amongst whom we continued a long time waiting for the coming of the Judge at length upon the thrice striking of a clock a door that stood just against the place where we attended was presently opened by which we entred into a very spacious Hall where the Governour sat upon a Throne all adorned with rich tapestry and under a Cloth of State of silver tinsel round about him were six Ushers upon their knees carrying Maces on their shoulders and all along the room stood a Guard with Halberds in their hands damasked with gold and silver All the rest of the Hall was full of people of divâ—rs Nations the like whereof we had not seen in those Countries After silence was imposed on â—lâ— that were present we prostrated our selves before the Throne of the Broquen and weeping said unto him Sir we beseech thee by that God which hath made Heaven and Earth and on whose power we all of us depend to take pity of our miserable fortune for since the waves of the Sea hath brought us to the lamentable estate and wretched condition wherein thou seest us we most humbly desire thee that thy goodness will be pleased to put us into a better before the King to the end he may be incited to have compassion on us poor strangers that are destitute of all succour and favour of the world for so it hath pleased God to have it in regard of our sins At these words the Broquen looking on them that were abouâ— him and shaking his head What think you of these people said he unto them verily here is one of them that speaks of God as a man which hath the knowledge of his truth so that we may conclude without all doubt that there is another great world whereof we have no notice wherefore since these men know the Source of all good it is reasonable that we should proceed with them according to the request they have made unto us with so many
deal of blood Having buried him in the owze the best we could the other three Mariners and my self resolved to cross the River for to go and sleep on certain great Trees that we saw on the other side for fear of the Tygers and Crocodiles whereof that Country is full besides many other venomous creatures as an infinite of those copped Adders I have spoken of before in the sixth Chapter and divers sorts of Serpents with black and green scales whose venom is so contagious as they kill men with their very breath This resolution being thus taken by us I desired two of them to swim over first and the other to stay with me for to hold me up in the water for that in regard of my great weakness I could hardly stand upon my legs whereupon they two cast themselves presently into the water exhorting us to follow them and not be afraid But alas they were scarce in the midst of this River when as we saw them caught by two great Lâ—zards that before our faces and in an instant tearing them in pieces dragged them to the bottom leaving the water all bloody which was so dreadful a spectacle to us as we had not the power to cry out and for my self I knew not who drew me out of the water nor how I escaped thence for I was gone before into the River as deep as my waste with that other Mariner which hâ—ld me by the hand CHAP. X. By what means I was carried to the Town of Ciaca and that which befell me there my going to Malaca with a Mahometan Merchant and the Tyrant of Achems Army marching against the King of Aaru FInding my self reduced to that extremity I have spoken of I was above three hours so besides my self as I could neither speak nor weep At length the other Mariner and I went into the Sea again where we continued the rest of that day The next morning having discovered a Baâ—que that was seeking the mouth of the River as soon as it was near we got out of the water and falling on our knees with our hands lift up we desired them to come and take us up whereupon they gave over rowing and considering the miserable state we were in they judged immediately that we had suffered shipwrack so that coming somewhat nearer they asked us what we desired of them we answered that we were Christians dwelling at Malaca and that in our return from Aaru we were cast away by a storm about nine days before and therefore prayed them for Gods sake to take us away with them whithersoever they pleased Thereupon one amongst them whom we guessed to be the chiefest of them spake to us thus By that which I see you are not in case to do us any service and gain your meat if we should receive you into our Barque wherefore if you have any mony hidden you shall do well to give it us aforehand and then we will use towards you that charity you require of us for otherwise it is in vain for you to hope for any help from us Saying so they made shew as though they would be gone whereupon we besought them again weeping that they would take us for slaves and go sell us where they pleased hereunto I added how they might have any ransom for me they would require as having the honor to appertain very nearly unto the Captain of Malaca Well answered he then we are contented to accept of thy offer upon condition that if that which thou sayst be not true we will cast thee bound hand and foot alive into the Sea Having replyed that they might do so if they found it otherwise four of them got presently to us and carried us into their Barque for we were so weak at that time as we were not able to stir of our selves When they had us aboard imagining that by whipping they might make us confess where we had hid our mony for still they were perswaded that we had somâ— they tyed us both to the foot of the Mast and then with two double coards they whipped us till we were nothing but blood all over Now because that with this beating I was almost dead they gave not to me as they did to my companion a certain drink made of a kind of Lime â—â—eepâ—d in Urine which he having taken it made him fall into such a furious vomiting as he cast up both his lungs and his liver so as he dyed within an hour after And for that they found no gold come up in his vomit as they hoped it pleased God that that was the cause why they dealâ— not so with me but only they washed the stripes they had given me with the said liquor to keep them from festering which notwithstanding put me to such pain as I was even at the point of death Being departed from this River which was called Arissumhea we went the next day after dinner ashore at a place where the houses were covered with straw named Ciaca in the Kingdom of Iambes there they kept me seven and twenty days in which time by the assistance of Heaven I got my self throughly cured of all my hurts Then they that had a share in my person who were seven in number seeing me unfit for their Trade which was fishing exposed me to sale three several times and yet could meet with no body that would buy me whereupon being out of hope of selling me they turned me out of doors because they would not be at the charge of feeding me I had been six and thirty days thus abandoned by these Inhumanes and put a grasing like a cast Horse having no other means to live but what I got by begging from door to door which God knows was very little in regard those of the Country were extream poor when as one day as I was lying in the Sun upon the sand by the Sea side and lamenting my ill fortune with my self it pleased God that a Mahometan born in the Isle of Palimban came accidentally by This man having been sometimes at Malaca in the company of Portugals beholding me lie naked on the ground asked me if I were not a Portugal and willed me to tell him the truth whereunto I answered that indeed I was one and descended of very rich parents who would give him for my ransom whatsoever he would demand if he would carry me to Malaca where I was Nephew to the Captain of the Fortress as being the son of his sister The Mahometan hearing me say thus If it be true replyed he that thou art such as thou deliverest thy self to be what so great sin hast thou committed that could reduce thee to this miserable estate wherein I now see thee Then I recounted to him from point to point how I was cast away and in what sort the fishermen had first brought me thither in their Barque and afterwards had turned me out to the wide world because they could not find any body
you may and cause us not to be all miserably slain with your further stay Howbeit little regarding or afraid of their words he went ashore only with six souldiers having no other arms but swords and targots and going up the stairs of the Key whither it were that he was vext for having lost so fair an occasion or carried thereunto by his courage he entered into the gallery that invironed the Island and ran up and down in it like a mad man without meeting any body That done and being returned abord his vessel much grieved and ashamed he consulted with his company about what they should do who were of opinion that the best course we could take was to depart and therefore they required him to put it accordingly in execution Seeing them all so resolved and fearing some tumults among the souldiers he was fain to answer that he was also of their mind but first he thought it fit to know for what cause they should fly away in that manner and therefore he desired them to stay for him a little in that place because he would trie whether he could learn by some means or other the truth of the matter whereof they had but a bare suspition for which he told them he would ask but half an hour at the most so that there would be time enough to take order for any thing before day some would have alledged reasons against this but he would not hear them wherefore having caused them all to take their oaths upon the holy Evangelists that they would stay for him he returned to land with the same souldiers that had accompanied him before and entering into the little wood he heard the sound of a bell which addressed him to another Hermitage far richer then that wherein we were the day before There he met with two men apparaled like Monks with large hoods which made him think they were Hermits of whom he presently laid hold wherewith one of them was so terrified as he was not able to speak a good while after Hereupon four of the six souldiers past into the Hermitage and took an Idol of silver from the altar having a crown of gold on its head and a wheel in its hand they also brought away three candlesticks of silver with long chains of the same belonging to them This performed Antonio de Faria carrying the two Hermits along with him went abord again and sailing away he propounded divers questions to him of the two that was least affraid threatning to use him in a strange fashion if he did not tell the truth This Hermit seeing himself so menaced answered That an holy man named Pilau Angiroo came about midnight to the house of the Kings Sepultures where knocking in haste at the gate he cryed out saying O miserable men buried in the drunkenness of carnal sleep who by a solemn vow have profest your selves to the honour of the Goddess Amida the rich reward of our labouâ—s hear hear hear O the most wretched men that ever were born There are strangers come into our Island from the further end of the World which have long beards and bodies of Iron these wicked creatures have entred into the Holy House of the seven and twenty Pillars of whose sacred Temple an holy man is keeper that hath told it me where after they had ransacked the rich treasures of the Saints they contemptedly threw their bones to the ground which they prophaned with their stinking and infectious spitting and made a mockerie of them like Devils obstinate and hardned in their wretched sins wherefore I advise you to look well to your selves for it is said that they have sworn to kill us all as soon as it is day Fly away then or call some people to your succour since being Religious men you are not permitted to meddle with any thing that may shed the blood of man Herewith they presently arose and ran to the gate where they found the Hermite laid on the ground and half dead with grief and wearinesse through the imbecillity of his age whereupon the Grepos and Meingrepos made those fires that you saw and withall sent in all haste to the Towns of Corpilem and Fonbana for to succour them speedily with the Forces of the Country so that you may be assured it will not be long before they fall upon this place with all the fury that may be Now this is all that I am able to say concerning the truth of this affair wherefore I desire you to return us both unto our Hermitage with our lives saved for if you do not so you will commit a greater sin then you did yesterday Remember also that God in regard of the continuall penance we perform hath taken us so far into his protection as he doth visit us almost every hour of the day wherefore labour to save your selves as much as you will yet shall you hardly do it For be sure that the earth the air the winds the waters the beasts the fishes the fowls the trees the plants and all things created will pursue and torment you so cruelly as none but he that lives in heaven will be able to help you Antonio de Faria being hereby certainly informed of the truth of the businesse sailed instantly away tearing his hair and beard for very rage to see that through his negligence and indiscretion he had lost the fairest occasion that ever he should be able to meet withall CHAP. XXVI Our casting away in the Gulf of Nanquin with all that befell us after this lamentable Shipwrack WE had already sailed seven dayes in the Gulf of Nanquin to the end that the force of the Current might carry us the more swiftly away as men whose safety consisted wholly in flight for we were so desolate and sad that we scarce spake one to another In the mean time we arrived at a Village called Susequerim where no news being come either of us or what we had done we furnished our selves with some Victual and getting Information very covertly of the course we were to hold we departed within two hours after and then with the greatest speed we could make we entred into a straight named Xalingau much lesse frequented then the gulf that we had past here we navigated nine dayes more in which time we ran an hundred and fourty leagues then entring again into the said Gulf of Nanquin which in that place was not above ten or eleven leagues broad we sailed for the space of thirteen dayes from one side to another with a Westerly winde exceedingly afflicted both with the great labour we were fain to indure and the cruel fear we were in besides the want we began to feel of Victuals In this case being come within sight of the mountains of Conxinacau which are in the height of forty and one degrees there arose so terrible a Southwind called by the Chineses Tufaon as it could not possibly be thought a natural thing so that our Vessels being
low built weak and without Mariners we were reduced to such extremity that out of all hope to escape we suffered our selves to be driven along the coast as the current of the water would carry us for we held it more safeto venture our selves amongst the Rocks then to let us be swallowed up in the midst of the Sea and though we had chosen this design as the better and lesse painful yet did it not succeed for after dinner the winde turned to the North-west whereby the Waves became so high that it was most dreadful to behold Our fear then was so extream as we began to cast all that we had into the Sea even to the Chests full of Silver That done we cut down our two Masts and so without Mâ—sts and Sails we floated along all the rest of the day at length about midnight we heard them in Antonio de Faria's Vessel cry Lord have mercy upon us which perswaded us that they were cast away the apprehension whereof put us in such a fright as for an hour together no man spake a word Having past all this sad night in so miserable a plight about an hour before day our Vessel opened about the Keel so that it was instantly full of water eight spans high whereupon perceiving our selves to sinke we verily beleeved it was the good pleasure of God that in this place we should finish both our lives and labours As soon then as it was day we looked out to Sea as far as possibly we could discern but could no way discover Antonio de Faria which put us quite out of heart and so continuing in this great affliction till about ten of the clock with so much terror and amazement as words are not able to expresse at last we ran against the coast and even drowned as we were the Waves rouled us towards a point of Rocks that stood out into the Sea where we were no sooner arrived but that all went to pieces insomuch that of five and twenty Portugals which we were there were but fourteen saved the other eleven being drowned together with eighteen Christian Servants and seven Chinese Mariners This miserable disaster hapned on a Munday the fifth of August in the year one thousand five hundred forty and two for which the Lord be praysed everlastingly We fourteen Portugals having escaped out of this shipwrack by the meer mercy of God spent all that day and the night following in bewailing our misâ—fortune and the wretched estate whereunto we were reduced but in the end consulting together what course to take for to give some remedy thereunto we concluded to enter into the Country hoping that far or neer we should not fail to meet with some body that taking us for slaves would relieve us with meat till such time as it should please Heaven to terminate our travels with the end of our lives With this Resolution we went some six or seven leagues over rocks and hills and on the other side discovered a great Marsh so large and void as it past the reach of our sight there being no appearance of any land beyond it which made us turn back again towards the same place where we were cast away being arrived there the day after about Sun-set we found upon the shore the bodies of our men which the Sea had cast up over whom we recomenced our sorrow and lamentations and the next day we buried them in the sand to keep them from being devoured by the Tygers whereof that Country is full which we performed with much labour and pain in regard we had no other tools for that purpose but our hands and nails After these poor bodies were interred we got us into a Marsh where we spent all the night as the safest place we could chuse to preserve us from the Tygers From thence we continued our journey towards the North and that by such Precipes and thick woods as we had much adoe to pass through them Having travelled in this manner three dayes at length we arrived at a little straight without meeting any body over the which resolving to swim by ill fortune the four first that entred into it being three Portugals and a young youth were miserably drowned for being very feeble and the straight somewhat broad and the current of the water very strong they were not able to hold out any longer when they came to the midst so we eleven with three servants that remained seeing the infortunate successe of our companions could do nothing but weep and lament as men that hourly expected such or a worse end Having spent all that dark night exposed to the winde cold and rain it pleased our Lord that the next morning before day we discovered a great fire towards the East whereupon as soon as the day broke we marched fair and softly that way recomending our selves to that Almighty God from whom alone we could hope for a remedy to our miseries and so continuing our journey all along the River the most part of that day at last we came to a little wood where we found five men making of coals whom on our knees we besought for Gods sake to direct us to some place where we might get some relief I would said one of them beholding us with an eye of pitie it lay in our power to help you but alas all the comfort we can give you is to bestow some part of our Supper on you which is a little rice wherewith you may passe this night here with us if you will though I hold it better for you to preceed on your way and recover the place you see a little below where you shall finde an Hospital that serves to lodge such Pilgrims as chance to come into these quarters Having thanked him for his good addresse we fell to the Rice they gave us which came but to two mouthfuls a piece and so took our leaves of them going directly to the place they had shewed us as well as our weakness would permit About an hour within night we arrived at the Hospital where we met with four men that had the charge of it who received us very charitably The next morning as soon as it was day they demanded of us what we were and from whence we came Thereunto we answered that we were strangers natives of the Kingdom of Siam and that coming from the Port of Liampoo to go to the fishing of Nanquin we were cast away at sea by the violence of a storm having saved nothing out of this shipwrack but those our miserable and naked bodies Whereupon demanding of us again what we intended to do and whither we would go we replyed that we purposed to go to the City of Nanquin there to imbarque our selves as rowers in the first Lanteaa that should put to sea for to pass unto Cantan where our countreymen by the permission of the Aito of Panquin exercised their traffique under the protection of the son of the Sun
with dryed orange pills wherewith in victualing houses they boyl dogs flesh for to take away the rank savour and humidity of it as also to reader it more firm In brief we saw so many Vaucans Lanteaas and Barcasses in this river ladâ—n with all kinds of provision that either the sea or land produces and that in such abundance as I must confess I am not able to expresse it in words for it is not possible to imagine the infinite store of things that are in this Country of each whereof you shall see two or three hundred Vessels together at a time all full especially at the Fairs and Markets that are kept upon the solemn festival days of their Pagodes for then all the fairs are free and the Pagodes for the most part are scituated on the banks of rivers to the end all commodities may the more commodiously be brought thither by water Now when all these vessels come to joyn together during these Fairs they take such order as they make as it were a great and fair Town of them so that sometimes you shall have of them a league in length and three quarters of a league in bredth being composed of above twenty thousand vessels besides Balons Guedees and Manchuas which are small boats whose number is infinite For the Government hereof there are threescore Captains appointed of which thirty are to see good order kept and the other thirty are for the guard of the Merchants that come thither to the end they may sail in safety Moreover there is above them a Chaem who hath absolute power both in civil and criminal causes without any appeal or opposition whatsoever during the fifteen days that this Fair lasts which is from the new to the full Moon And indeed more come to see the policy order and beauty of this kind of Town then otherwise for to speak the truth the framing of it in that manner with vessels makes it more to be admired then all the Edifices that can be seen upon the land There are in this moving Town two thousand streets excâ—eding long very strait inclosed on either side with ships most of which are covered with silks and adorned with a world of banners flags and streamers wherein all kind of commodities that can be desired are to be sold In other streets are as many trades to be seen as in any Town on the Land amidst the which they that traffique go up and down in little Manchuas and that very quietly and without any disorder Now if by chance any one is taken stealing he is instantly punished according to his offence As soon as it is night all these streets are shut up with cords athwart them to the end none may passe after the retreat sounded In each of these streets there are at least a dâ—zen of lanthorns with lights burning fastened a good heighth on the Masts of the vessels by means whereof all that go in and out are seen so that it may be known who they are from whence they come and what they would have to the end the Chaem may the next morning receive an account thereof And truly to behold all these lights together in the night is a â—ight scarce able to be imagined neither is there a street without a Bell and a Sentinel so as when that of the Chaems ship is heard to ring all the other bels answer it with so great a noise of voices adjoyned thereunto that we were almost besides our selves at the hearing of a thing which cannot be well conceived and that was ruled with such good order In every of these streets even in the poorest of them there is a Chappel to pray in framed upon great Barcasses like to Gallies very neat and so well accommodâ—ted that for the most part they are enriched with silks and cloth of gold In these Chappels are their Idols and Priests which administer their sacrifices and receive the offerings that are made them wherewith they are abundantly furnished for their living Out of each street one of the most account or chiefest Merchant is chosen to waâ—ch all night in his turn with those of his Squadron besides the Captains of the government who in Ballons walk the round without to the end no thiefe may escape by any avenue whatsoever and for that purpose these guards cry as loud as they can that they may be heard Amongst the most remarkable things we saw one street where there were above an hundred vessels laden with Idols of guilt wood of divers fashions which were sold for to be offered to the Pagodes together with a world of feet thighs arms and heads that sick folks bought to offer in devotion There also we beheld other ships covered with silk hangings where Comedies and other playes were represented to entertain the people withall which in great numbers flocked thither In other places Bils of exchaâ—ge for Heaven were sold wherâ—by these Priests of the Divel promised them many merits with great interest affirming that without these bils they could not possibly be saved for that God say they is a mortal enemy to all such as do not some good to the Pagodes whereupon they tell them such fables and lies as these unhappy wretches do often times take the very bread from their mouths to give it them There were also other vessels all laden with dead mens skuls which diveâ—s men bought for to present as an offering at the tombs of their friends when they should happen to dye for say they as the deceased is laid in the grave in the company of these skuls so shall his soul enter into Heaven attended by those unto whom those skuls belonged wherefore when the Porter of Paradise shall see such a Merchant with many followers he will do him honour as to a man that in this life hath been a man of quality for if he be poor and without a train the Porter will not open to him whereas contrarily the more dead mens skuls he hath buried with him the more happy he shall be esteemed There were many boats likewise where there were men that had a great many of Cages full of live birds who playing on divers instruments of musick exhorted the people with a loud voice to deliver those poor creatures of God that were there in captivity whereupon many came and gave them mony for the redemption of those prisoners which presently they let out of the cages and then as they flew away the redeemers of them cried out to the birds Pichau pitauel catan vacaxi that is Go and tell God how we serve him here below In imitation of these there are others also who in their ships kept a great many of little live fishes in great pots of water and like the sellers of birds invite the people for Gods cause to free those poor innocent fishes that had never sinned so that divers bought many of them and casting them into the river said Get ye gone and tell there below
the way were two rows of low houses like unto great Churches with steeples all guilt and divers inventions of painting Of these houses the Chineses assured us there was in that place three thousand all which from the very top to the bottom were full of dead mâ—ns skuls a thing so strange that in every mans judgment a thousand great shops could hardly contain them Behind these houses both on the one side and the other were two great Mounts of dead mens bones reaching far above the ridges of the houses full as long as the street and of a mighty bredth These bones were ordered and disposed one upon another so curiously and aptly that they seemed to grow there Having demanded of the Chineses whether any register was kept of these bones they answered there was for the Talagrepos unto whose charge the administration of these three thousond houses was commited enrolled them all and that none of these houses yieldâ—d less then two thousand Taeis revenue out of such lands as the owners of these bones had bequeathed to them for their souls health and that the rent of all these three thousand houses together amounted unto five millions of gold yearly whereof the King had four and the Talagrepos the other for to defray the expences of this Fabrick and that the four appertained to the King as their Support who dispenced them in the maintenance of the three hundred thousand prisoners of Xinanguibaleu Being amazed at this marvel we began to go along this street in the midst whereof we found a great Piazza compassed about with two huge grates of lattin and within it was an Adder of brass infolded into I know not how many boughts and so big that it contained thirty fathom in circuit being withall so ugly and dreadful as no words are able to describe it Some of us would estimate the weight of it and the least opinions reached to a thousand quintals were it hollow within as I believe it was Now although it was of an unmeasurable greatness yet was it in every part so well proportioned as nothing can be amended whereunto also the workmanship thereof is so correspondent that all the perfection which can be desired from a good workman is observed in it This monstrous Serpent which the Chinese call The gluttonous Serpent of the house of smoak had on the top of his head a bowl of iron two and fifty foot in circumference as if it had been thrown at him from some other place Twenty paces further was the figure of a man of the same brass in the form of a Gyant in like manner very strange and extraordinary as well for the greatness of the body as the hugeness of the limbs This Monster held an iron bowl just as big as the other aloft in both his hands and beholding the Serpent with a frowning and angry countenance he seemed as though he would throw this bowl at him Round about this figure was a number of little idols all guilt on their knees with their hands lifted up to him as if they would adore him All this great edifice was consecrated to the honour of this Idol called Mucluparon whom the Chineses affirmed to be the treasurer of all the dead mens bones and that when the gluttonous Serpent before mentioned came to steal them away he made at him with that bowl which he held in his hands whereupon the Serpent in great fear fled immediately away to the bottom of the profound house of smoak whither God had precipitated him for his great wickedness and further that he had maintained a combate with him three thousand years already and was to continue the same three thousand years more so that from three thousand to three thousand years he was to imploy five bowls wherewith he was to make an end of killing him Hâ—reunto they added that as soon as this Serpent should be dead the bones that were there assembled would return into the bodies to which they appertained formerly and so should go and remain for ever in the house of the Moon To these brutish opinions they joyn many others such like unto which they give so much faith that nothing can be able to remove them from it for it is the doctrine that is preached unto them by their Bonzes who also tell them that the true way to make a soul happy is to gather these bones together into this place by means whereof there is not a day passes but that a thousand or two of these wretches bones are brought thither Now if some for their far distance cannot bring all the bones whole thither they will at leastwise bring a tooth or two and so they say that by way of an alms they make as good satisfaction as if they brought all â—he rest which is the reason that in all these chunel houses there is such an infinite multitude of these teeth that one might lade many ships with them We saw in a great Plain without the walls of this City another building very sumptuous and rich which they call Nacapirau that is to say the Queen of Heaven for it is the opinion of these blinded wretches that our Lord above is married like the Kings here below and that the children which he hath had by the Nacapirau are the Stars we see twinkling in the Firmament by night and that when any exhalation comes to dissolve in the air they say that it is one of his children that is dead whereof his other brothers are so grieved that they shed such abundance of tears as the earth is watered therewith by which means God provides us of our living as it were in manner of alms bestowed for the souls of the deceased But letting pass these and other such like fooleries I will only intreat of such particulars as we observed in this great Edifice whereof the first was one hundred and forty Convents of this accursed Religion both of men and women in each of which there are four hundred persons amounting in all to six and fifty thousand besides an infinite number of religious servants that are not obliged to their vow of profession that are within who for a mark of their Priestly dignity are clothed in violet with green stars on them having their head beard and eye-brows shaven and wearing beads about their necks to pray with but for all that they crave no alms by reason they have revenue enough to live on The next was an inclosure within this huge building a league in circuit the walls whereof were built upon arches vaults of strong hewed stone and underneath them were Galleries invironed all about with ballisters of lattin within this inclosure at a gate through which we past we saw under most deformed figures the two porters of hell at least they believe so calling the one Bacharon and the other Quagifau both of them with iron clubs in their hands and so hideous and horrible to see to that it is impossible to behold them
hath created all things From this blindness and incredulity of these people are these great abuses and confused superstitions derived which are ordinary amongst them and wherein they observe a world of diabolical ceremonies For they are so brutish and wicked as to sacrifice humane blood offering it up with divers sorts of perfumes and sweet savors Moreover they present their Priests with many gifts upon assurance from these profane wretches of great blessings in this life and infinite riches and treasure in the other To which effects the same Priests grant them I know not what Certificates as it were Bills of Exchange which the common people call Couchinnoces that after their death they may serve above in Heaven to procure for them a recompence of an hundred for one wherein these miserable creatures are so blinded that they save the very meat drink from their own mouths to furnish those accursed priests of Satan with all things necessary believing that these goodly â—ills they have from them will assuredly return them that benefit There are also Priests of another Sect called Naustolins who contrary to those others preach and affirm with great oaths that reasonable creatures live and die like beasts therfore that they are to make merry spend their goods jovially whiles life shall last there being no other after this as all but fools ignorants are to believe There is another Sect named Trimechau who are of opinion that so long time as a man shall live in this world so long shall he remain under ground until at length by the prayers of their priests his soul shall reassume the body of a child of seven days old wherein he shall live again till he shall grow so strong as to re-enter into the old body which he hed left in the grave and so be transported into the Heaven of the Moon where they say he shal live many years in the end be converted into a star which shall remain fixed above in the Firmament for ever Another Sect there is called Gyson who believe that only the beasts in regard of their sufferings and the labour which they endure in this life shall possess Heaven after their death not man that leadeth his life according to the lusts of the flesh robbing killing and committing a world of other offences by reason whereof say they it is not possible for him to be saved unless at the hour of death he leave all his estate to the Pagodes and to the Priests that they may pray for him whereby one may see that all the intentions of their diabolical Sects is not founded but upon a very tyranny and upon the interests of the Bonzes who are they that preach this pernicions doctrine to the people and perswaded them with many fables to believe it In the mean time these things seem so true to these wretches that hear them as they very willingly give them all their goods imagining that thereby only they can be saved and freed from those punishments and fears wherewithall they threaten them if they do otherwise I have spoken here of no more then these three Sects omitting the rest of the two and thirty which are followed in this great Empire of China as well because I should never have done as I have said heretofore if I would relate them all at large as for that by these it may be known what the others are which are nothing better but in a manner even the very same wherefore leaving the remedy of such evils and great blindness to the mercy and providence of God unto whom only it appertains I will pass on to the declarations of the miseries we indured during our exille in the Town of Quancy until such time as we were made slaves by the Tartars which happened in the year 1544. We had been now two months and an half in this City of Pequin when as on Saturday the thirteenth of Iuly 1554. we were carried away to the Town of Quansy there to serve all the time that we were condemned unto Now as soon as we arrived there the Chaem caused us to be brought before him and after he had asked us some questions he appointed us to be of the number of fourscore Halberdiers which the King assigned him for his Guard This we took as a special favour from God both in regard this imployment was not very painful as also because the entertainment was good and the pay of it better being assured besides that at the time we should recover our liberty Thus lived we almost a month very peaceably and well contented for that we met with a better fortune then we expected when as the divel seeing how well all we nine agreed together for all that we had was in common amongst us and whatsoever misery any one had we shared it with him like true brothers he so wrought that two of our company tell into a quarrel which proved very prejudicial to us all This division sprung from a certain vanity too familiar with the Portugal Nation whereof I can render no other reason but that they are naturally sensible of any thing that touches upon honourâ— Now see what the difference was two of us nine falling by chance in contest about the extraction of the Madureyras and the Fonsecas for to know which of these two houses was in most esteem at the King of Portugals Court the matter went so far that from one word to another they came at length to terms of oyster-wives saying one to the other Who are you and again who are you so that thereupon they suffered themselves to be so transported with choller that one of them gave the other a great box on the ear who instantly returned him a blow with his sword which cut away almost half his cheek this same feeling himself hurt caught up an halbert and therewith ran the other through the arm this disaster begot such part-taking amongst us as of nine that we were seven of us found our selves grievously wounded In the mean time the Chaem came running in person to this tumult with all the Anchacys of Justice who laying hold of us gave us presently thirty lashes a piece which drew more blood from us then our hurts This done they shut us up in a dungeon under ground where they kept us six and forty days with heavy iron collers about our necks manacles on our hands and irons on our legs so that we suffered exceedingly in this deplorable estate This while our business was brought before the Kings Atturny who having seen our accusations and that one of the articles made faith that there were sixteen witnesses against us he stuck not to say That we were people without the fear or knowledge of God who did not confess him otherwise with our mouths then as any wild beast might do if he could speak that these things presupposed it was to be believed that we were men of blood of a Language of a Law
wilt not deign to benefit this defunâ—t with the gift that God hath given thee of singing and playing on this instrument I will no longer say that thou art an holy man as we all believed hitherto but that the excellency of that voice which thou hast comes from the inhabitants of the house of smoak whose nature it was at first to sing very harmoniously though now they weep and wail in the profound lake of the night like hunger-starved dogs that gnashing their teeth and foaming with rage against men discharge the froth of their malice by the offences which they commit against him that lives in the highest of the Heavens After this ten or eleven of them were so earnest with Gaspar de Meyrelez as they made him play almost by force and led him to the place where the deceased was to be burnt according to the custom of those Gentiles In the mean time seeing my self left alone without my comrade I went along to the Forrest for to get some wood according to my Commission and about evening returning back with my load on my back I met with an old man in a black damask Gown furred clean through with white Lamb who being all alone as soon as he espied me he turned a little out of the way but percâ—iving me to pass on without regarding him he cried so loud to me that I might hear him which I no sooner did but casting my eye that way I observed that he beckened to me with his hand as if he called me whereupon imagining there was something more then ordinary herein I said unto him in the Chinese Language Potauquinay which is Doest thou call me whereunto returning no answer he gave me to understand by signes that in effect he called me conjecturing then that there might be some thieves thereabouts which would bereave me of my load of wood I threw it on the ground to be the better able to defend my self and with my staff in my hand I went fair and softly after him who seeing me follow him began to double his pace athwart a little path which confirmed me in the belief I had before that he was some thief so that turning back to the place where I left my load I got it up again on my back as speedily as I could with a purpose to get into the great high way that led unto the City But the man guessing at my intention began to cry out louder to me then before which making me turn my look towards him I presently perceived him on his knees and shewing me afar off a silver cross about a span long or thereabout lifting up withall both his hands unto Heaven whereat being much amazed I could not imagine what this man should be in the mean time he with a very pitiful gesture ceased not to make signes unto me to come to him whereupon somewhat recollecting my self I resolved to go and see who he was and what he would have to which end with my staff in my hand I walked towards him where he stayed for me when as then I came near him having always thought him before to be a Chinese I wondred to see him cast himself at my feet and with tears and sighs to say thus unto me Blessed and praysed be the sweet Name of our Lord Iesus Christ after so long an exile hath shewed me so much grace as to let me see a Christian man that professeth the Law of my God fixed on the Cross. I must confess that when I heard so extraordinary a matter and so far beyond my expectation I was therewith so surprised that scarcely knowing what I said I conjure thee answered I unto him in the Name of our Lord Iesus to tell me who thou art At these words this unknown man redoubling his tears Dear Brother replyed he I am a poor Christian by Nation a Portugal and named Vasco Calvo brother to Diego Calvo who was somtime Captain of Don Nuna Manoel his ship and made a Slave here in this Country about seven and twenty years since together with one Tome Perez who Loppo Soarez sent as Ambassador into this Kingdom of China and that since died miserably by the occasion of a Portugal Captain Whereupon coming throughly to my self again I lifted him up from the ground where he lay weeping like a child and shedding no fewer tears then he I intreated him that we might sit down together which he would hardly grant so desirous he was to have me go presently with him to his house but sitting down by me he began to discourse the whole success of his travels and all that had befallen him since his departure from Portugal till that very time as also the death of the Ambassador Tome Perez and of all the rest whom Fernand Perez d' Amdrada had left at Canton to go to the King of China which he recounted in another manner then our Historians have delivered it After we had spent the remainder of the day in entertaining one another with our passed adventures we went to the City where having shewed me his house he desired me that I would instantly go and fetch the rest of my fellows which accordingly I did and found them all together in the poor lodging where we lay and having declared unto them what had befallen me they were much abashed at it as indeed they had cause considering the stratagems of the accident so they went presently along with me to Vasco Calvo's house who waiting for us gave us such hearty welcome as we could not chuse but weep for joy Then he carried us into a Chamber where was his wife with two little boys and two girls of his she entertained us very kindly and with as much demonstration of love as if she had been the mother or daughter to either of us After this we sat down at the table which he had caused to be covered and made a very good meal of many several dishes provided for us Supper done his wife arose very courteously from the table and taking a key which hung at her girdle she opened the door of an Oratory where there was an altar with a silver cross as also two candlesticks and a lamp of the same and then she and her four children falling down on their knees with their hands lift up to Heaven began to pronounce these words very distinctly in the Portugal tongue O thou true God we wretched sinners do confess before thy Cross like good Christians as we are the most sacred Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost three Persons and one God and also we promise to live and dye in thy most Holy Catholique Faith like good and true Christians confessing and believing so much of thy holy truth as is held and believed by thy Church In like manner we offer up unto thee our souls which thou hast redeemed with thy most precious bloud for to be wholly imployed in thy service all the time of our lives and then to be
propound things unto him that cannot be whereupon turning himself towards us Go get you gone said he unto us and to morrow morning fail not to be ready for to come again when I shall send for you These words exceedingly contented us as there was great cause they should and accordingly the next day he sent us nine horses very well furnished upon which we mounted and so went to his Tent He in the mean time had put himself into a Piambre that is somewhat like to a Litter drawn with two horses richly harnessed round about him for his Guard marched threescore Halberdiers six pages apparelled in his Livery mounted on white Curtals and we nine on horsback a little more behind In this manner he went on towards the place where the King was whom he â—ound lodged in the great and sumptuous Edifice of the Goddess Nacapirau by the Chineses called the Queen of Heaven whereof I have spoken at large in the thirty â—ourth Chapter Being arrived at the first trenches of the Kings Tent he alighted out of his Litter and all the rest likewise off â—rom their horses for to speak to the Nautaran of whom with a kiâ—d of ceremony after the fashion of the Gentiles he craved leave to enter which was presently granted him Thereupon the Mitaquâ—r being returned into his Litter passed through the gates in the same manner as beâ—ore only we and the rest of his followers waited upon him on foot When he came to a low and very long Gallery where there was a great number of Gentlemen he alighted again out of his Litter and told us that we were to attend him there for that he would go and know whether it were a fit time to speak with the King or no. We stayed there then about an hour during the which some of the Gentlemen that were in the Gallery observing us to be strangers and such kind of people as they had never seen the like they called us and very courteously bid us to sit down by them where having spent some time in beholding certain tumblâ—â—s shewing â—eats of activity we perceived the Mitaquer coming forth with four very beautiful boys attired in long coats after the Turkish fashion garded all over with green and white and wearing about the small of their legs little hoops of gold in the foâ—m of irons and shackleâ— The Gentlemen that were pâ—esent as soon as they saw them rose up on their feet and drawing out their Courâ—elasses which they wore by their sides they laid them on the ground with a new kind of ceremony saying three times Let the Lord of our heads live an hundred thousand years In the mean while as â—e lay with our heads bending to the ground one of those boys said aloud unto us You men of the other end of the world rejoyce now for that the hour is come wherein your desire is to be accomplished and that you are to have the liberty which the Mitaquer promised you at the Castle of Nixiamcoo wherefore arise from off the earth and lift up your hands to Heaven rendring thanks unto the Lord who during the night of our peaceable rest enammels the Firmament with Stars seeing that of himself alone without the merit of any flesh he hath made you to encounter in your exile with a man that delivers your persons To this Speech prostrated as we were on the ground we returned him this answer by our truch-man May Heavens grant us so much happiness as that his foot may trample on our heads whereunto he replied Your wish is not small and may it please God to accord you this gift of riches These four boys and the Mitaquer whom we followed past through a Gallery erected upon five and twenty pâ—llars of brâ—ss and entred into a great room where there were a number of Gentlemen and amongst them many strangers Mogores Persians Bordies Calamiâ—hams and Bramaas After we were out of this room we came unto another where there were many armed men ranged into five Files all along the room with Courtelasses on their shoulders that were garnished with gold Tâ—ese stayed the Mitaquer a little and with great complements asked him some questions and took his oath upon the Maces the boys carried which he performed on his knees kissing the ground three several times whereupon he was admitted to pass on into a great place like a quadrangle there we saw four ranks of Statues of brass in the form of wild men with clubs and crowâ—s of the same mettal guilt These Idols or Gyants were each of them six and twenty spans high and six broad as well on the breâ—t as on the shoulders their countenances were hideous and deformed and their hair curled like to Negroes The desire we had to know what these figures signified made us to demand it of the Tartars who answered us that they were the three hundred and threescore gods which framed the days of the year being placed there expresly to the end that in their effigies they might be continually adored â—or having created the fruits which the earth produceth and withall that the King of Tartary had caused them to be transported thither from a great Temple called Angicamoy which he had taken in the City of Xipaton out of the Chappel of the Tombs of the Kings of China for to triumph over them when as he should happily return into his Country that the whole world might know how in despight of the King of China he had captivated his gods Within this place whereof I speak and amidst a plantation of Orange-trees that was invironed within a fence of Ivy Roses Rosemary and many other sort of flowers which we have not in Europe was a Tent piâ—ched upon twelve Ballisters of the wood of Champhire each of them wreathed about with silver in the fashion of knotted card-work bigger then ones arm In this Tent was a low Throne in the form of an Altar garnished with branched work of fine gold and over it was a cloth of State set thick with silver Stars where also the Sun and Moon were to be seen as also certain clouds some of them white and others of the colour of which appear in the time of rain all enammelled so to the life and with such art that they beguiled all those that bâ—held them for they seemed to rain indeed so as it was impossible to see a thing more compleat either for the proportions or colours In the midst of this Throne upon a bed lay a great Statue of silver called Abicau Nilancor which signifies the God of the health of Kings that had been also taken in the Temple of Angicamoy Now round about the same Statue were four and thirty Idols of the height of a child of five or six years old ranged in two Files and set on theâ—r knees with their hands lifted up towards this Idol as if they would adore him At the entry into this Tent there were four young Gentlemen richly clad
accommodated with Idols of silver upon one of these Altars we saw the Statue of a woman as big as a Giant being eighteen spans high and with her arms all abroad looking up to Heaven This Idol was of silver and her hair of gold which was very long and spread over her shoulders There also we saw a great Throne incompassed round about with thirty Giants of brass who had guilded Clubs upon their shoulders and faces as deformed as those they paint for the Divel From this room we past into a manner of a Gallery adorned from the top to the bottom with a number of little Tables of Ebony inlayed with Ivory and full of mens heads under every one of the which the name of him to whom it belonged was written in letters of gold At the end of this Gallery there were a dozen of iron Rods guilt whereon hung a great many silver Candlesticks of great value and a number of persuming Pans from whence breathed forth a most excellent odour of Amber and Calambuco or Lignum Aloes but such as we have none in Christendom There on an Altar invironed all about with three rows of Ballisters of silver we saw thirteen Kings vissages of the same mettal with golden Mitars upon their heads and under each of them a dead mans head and below many Candlesticks of silver with great white wax lights in them which were stuffed ever and anon by little boys who accorded their voyces to those of the Grepos that sung in form of a Letany answering one another The Grepos told us that those thirteen dead mens heads which were under the vissages were the skulls of thirteen Calaminhams which in times past gained this Empire from certain strangers called Roparons who by Arms had usurped the same upon them of the Country As for the other dead mens heads which we saw there they were the skâ—ls of such Commanders as by their Heroick deeds had honourably ended their dayes in helping to recover this Empire in regard whereof it was most reasonable that though death had deprived them of the recompence which they had merited by their action yet their memory should not be abolished out of the world When we were gone out of this Gallery we proceeded on upon a great Bridg that was in the form of a Street rayled on either side with Ballisters of Lattin and beautified with a many of Arches curiously wrought upon which were Scutchions of Arms charged with several devices in gold and the Crâ—â—ts over them were silver Globes five spans in circumferences all very stately and majestical to behold At the end of this bridge was another building the doors whereof we found shut whereupon we knocked four times they within not deigning to answer us which is a ceremony observed by them in such occasions At the length after we had rung a bell four times more as it were in haste out comes a woman of about fifty years of age accompanied with six little girls richly attired and Scymitars upon their shoulders garnished with â—lowers wrought in gold This anciâ—nt woman having demanded of the Monvagaruu why he had rung the bell and what he would have he answered her with a great deal of respect That he had there an Ambassadour from the King of Bramaa the Lord of Tanguu who was come thither to treat at the feet of the Calaminham about certain matters much importing his service By reason of the great authority which this woman was in she seemed little to regard this answer whereat we wondred much because he that spake to her was one of the chiefest Lords of the Kingdom and Uncle to the Calaminham as it was said Nevertheless one of the six girls that accompanied her spake thus in her behalf to the Monvagaruu My Lord may it please your Greatness to have a little patience till we may know whether the time be fit for the kissing of the foot of the Throne of this Lord of the World and advertising him of the coming of this stranger and so according to the grace which our Lord will shew him therein his heart may rejoyce and we with him That said the door was shut again for the space of three or four Credoes and then the six Girls came and opened it but the anciant woman that at first came along with them we saw no more howbeit in stead of her there came a Boy of about nine years of age richly apparelled and having on his head an hurfangua of Gold which is a kind of Myter but that it is somewhat more closed all about and without any overture he had also a Mace of Gold much like a Scepter which he carryed upon his shoulder this same without making much reckoning of the Monvagaruu or of any of the other Lords there present took the Embassador by the hand and said unto him The news of thy arrival is come unto the feet of Binaigaa the Calaminhan and Scepter of the Kings that govern the Earth and is so agreeable to his ears that with a smiling look he now sends for thee to give thee audience concerning that which is desired of him by thy King whom he newly receives into the number of his brethren with a love of the son of his entrals that so he may remain powerful and victorious over his Enemies Thereupon he caused him together with the Kings Uncle and the other Governors that accompanyed him to come in lâ—aving all the rest without the Embassador then seeing none of his Train follow him looked three or four times back seeming by his countenance to be somewhat discontented which the Monvagaruu perceiving spake to the Queitor who was a little behind that he should cause the strangers to be let in and none else the doors being then opened again we Portugals began to go in with the Bramaas but such a number of others came thrusting in amongst us as the Gentlemen Ushers who were above twenty had much ado to keep the doors striking many with Battouns which they had in their hands and of those some that were persons of quality and yet could they not therewith neither with their cries nor menaces stop them all from entering Thus being come in we past along through the midst of a great garden made with such art and where appeared so many goodly things so divers and so pleasing to the eye as words are not able to express them For there were there many Alleys environed with Ballisters of Silver and many Arbors of extraordinary scent which we were told had so much sympathy with the Moons of the year that in all seasons whatsoever they bare flowers and fruits withall there was such abundance and variety of Roses and other flowers as almost passeth belief In the midst of this Garden we saw a great many young women very fair and well clad whereof some past away their time in dancing and others in playing on sundry sorts of Instruments much after our manner which they performed with
the Country whose Fathers and Brothers were there present There were also three or four Comedies more like this acted by other young Ladies of great quality and set forth with so much pomp and magnificence as more could not be desired About evening the Calaminhan retired into another room accompanyed with women onely for all the rest they went along with the Monvagaruu who took the Embassador by the hand and led him back to the outermost room of all where with many complements after their manner he took his leave of him and so committed him to the Queitor who straightway caâ—ryed him to his House where he lodged all the while that he was there being two and thirty days during which time he was feasted by the principal Lords of the Court in a splendid and sumptuous manner and continually entertained with several sports of fishing hunting hawking and other such like recreations As for us Portugals we took a singular content in observing over all the City and about it the excellent structure of very sumptuous and magnificent edifices of statâ—ly Pagodes or Temples and of houses adorned with goodly workmanship and of inestimable value Now amongst all these Buildings there was not in the whâ—le City a more majestical one then that which was dedicated to Quiay Pimpocau who is The God of the Sick In it serve continually a number of Priests apparelled in grey Gowns who being of greater knowledg then all the rest of the four and twenty Sects of this Empire do distinguish themselves from the others by certain yellow strings which serve them for girdles they are also by the vulgar people in a soveraign degree of honor called ordinarily Perfect men The Embassador himself went five times to their Temple as well to see very marvelous things as to hear the doctrine of those that preached there of which and of all that concerns the extravagancies of their Religion he brought a great volume to the King of Bramaa which was so pleasing to him as he afterward commanded the said Doctrine to be preached in all the Temples of that Kingdom which is to this day exactly observed in all his states Of this Book I brought a Translation into the Kingdom of Portugal which a Florentine borrowed of me and when I asked him for it again he told me that it was lost but I found afterward that he had carryed it to Florence and presented it to the Duke of Tuscany who commanded it to be printed under this Title The new Belief of the Pagans of the other end of the World Upon a day as the Embassador was talking in this Pagode with one of the Grepos who professed much kindness unto him for indeed they are all of a good nature easie of access and communicating themselves to strangers freely enough he demanded of him how long it was since the Creation of the World or whether those things had a beginning which God doth shew so clearly to our eyes such as the Night the Day the Sun the Moon the Stars and other Creatures that have neither Father nor Mother and of whom no reason can be rendered in Nature how they began The Grepâ— relying more on his own knowledg then on the others that were about him made this answer to his Question Nature said he had no other Creation but that which proceeded from the Will of the Creator who in a certain time determined in his divine Counsel manifested it to the Inhabitants of Heaven created before by his soveraign power and according to that which is written thereof it was fourscore and two thousand Moons since the Earth was discovered from under the Waters when as God created therein a very fair Garden where he placed the first man whom he named Adaa together with his wife Bazagon them he expresly commanded for to reduce thâ—m under the yoke of obedience that they should not touch a certain fruit of a tree called Hilâ—forâ—n for that he reserved the same for himself and in case they came to eat thereof they should for a chastisement of their fault prove the rigor of his Iustice whereof they and their descendants should feel the dire effects This being known to the great Lupantoo who is the gluttonous Serpent of the profound House of Smoke and perceiving how by this commandment God would for mans obedience on Earth give him Heaven for a reward he went to Adaas wife and bid her eat of that fruit and that she should also make her Husband eat thereof for he assured her that in so doing they should both of them be more excellent in knowledg then all other creatures and free from that heavy nature wherâ—â—f he had composed them so that in a moment their bodies should mount to Heaven Then Bazagon hearing what Lupantoo had said unto her was so taken with a desire of enjoying that excellent prerogative of knowledg which he promised her 〈◊〉 to attain thereunto she eat of the fruit and made her Husband likewise to eat of it whence it insued that they were both of them by that unhappy morsel subjected to the pains of death of sorrow and of poverty For God seeing the disobedience of these two first creatures made them feel the â—igor of his Iustice by chasing them out of the Garden where he had placed them and confirming the punishments upon them wherewith he had threatened them before Wherefore Adaâ— fearing lest the divine Iustice should proceed further against him gave himself up for a long time to continual tears whereupon God sent him word that if he continued in his repentance he would forgive him his sin Whilest the Grepo was speaking thus the Embassador wondering at his discourse which was a great novelty to him Certainly said he unto him I am well assured that the King my Master hath never heard the like of this from the Priests of our Temples for they in recompence of our works propound no other thing unto us but the possession of riches in this life for as they say there is no guerdon after death and that we must finish our lives aâ— all the beasts of the field do except the Cows which for a reward of the milk they have given us are converted into other Sea-cows of the apples of whose eyes are pearls ingendred At these words the Grepo puffed up with vanity for that which he had said to the Embassador Think not answered he unto him that there is any one in all this Country can let thee understand so much as I have done unless it be one Grepo who is as learned as my self With this â—ume of presumption he chanced to cast his eye on us Portugalâ— that were behind the Embassador and as the Minister of the Devil believing that we esteemed him as much as he did himself Verily said he unto us I should be glad that you who as strangers have no knowledg of this truth would come more often to hear me for to understand how God hath created all
his left a custome vvhich they alvvays observe in such a like ceremony Then Oya Passilico who was the highest in dignity in the Kingdome falling on his knees before this new King said unto him with tears in his eyes and so loud that every one might hear him Blessed child that in so tender an age doest hold from the good influence of thy Star the happinesse to be chosen by heaven there above for Governour of this Eâ—pire of Sornau see how God puts it into thy hand by me who am thy vassall to the end thou mayest take thy first oath whereby thou doest protest to hold it with obedience from his divine will as also to observe justice equally to all the people without having any regard to persons whether it be in chastising or recompencing the great or small the mighty or the humble that so in time to come thou mayest not be reproached for not having accomplished that which thou hast sworn in this solemn action For if it shall happen that humane considerations shall make thee swarve from that which for thy justification thou art obliged to do before so just a Lord thou shalt be greatly punished for it in the profound pit of the house of smoke the burning lake of insupportable stench where the wicked and damned howl continually with a sadnesse of obscure night in their entrails And to the end thou mayest oblige thy selfe to the charge which thou takest upon thee say now Xamxaimpom which is as much as to say amongst us Amen The Passilico having finished his speech the young Prince said weeping Xamxaimpom which so mightily moved all the Assembly of the people as there was nothing heard for a good while together but sighing and wailing At length after that this noyse was appeased the Passilico proceeding on with his discourse in looking on the young King This Sword said he unto him which thou holdest naked in thy hand is given thee as a Scepter of Soveraign power upon earth for the subduing of the rebellious which is also to say that thou art truly obliged to be the support of the feeble and poor to the end that they which grow lofty with their power may not overthrow them with the puffe of their pride which the Lord doth as much abhor as he doth the mouth of him that blasphemeth against a little infant which hath never sinned And that thou mayest in all things satisfie the fair enaâ—elling of the stars of heaven which is the perfect just and good God whose power is admirable over all things of the world say once again Xamxaimpom whereunto the Prince answered twice weeping Maxinau Maxinau that is to say I promise so to do After this the Passilico having instructed him in divers other such like things the young Prince answered seven times Xamxaimpom and so the ceremony of his Coronation was finished onely there came first a Talagrepo of a soveraign dignity above all the other Priests named Quiay Ponuedea who it was said was above an hundred years old This same prostrating himself at the feet of the Prince gave him an oath upon a golden bason full of rice and that done they put him into it after they had created him thus anew for time would not permit them to hold him there longer in regard the King his Father was at the point of death besides there was so universall a mourning amongst the people that in every place there was nothing heard but lamentations and wailing CHAP. XLVIII The lamentable death of the King of Siam with certain illustrious and memorable things done by him during his life 〈◊〉 many other accidents that arrived in this Kingdome WHenas the day and the night following had been spent in the manner that I have related the next morning about eight of the clock the infortunate King yeelded up the Ghost in the presence of the most part of the Lords of his Kingdome for the which all the people made so great demonstrations of mourning as every where there was nothing but wailing and weeping Now forasmuch as this Prince had lived in the reputation of being charitable to the poor liberall in his benefits and recompences pitifull and gentle toward every one and above all incorrupt in doing of justice and chastising the wicked his subjects spake so amply thereof in their lamentations as if all that they said of it was true we are to believe that there was never a better King then he either amongst these Pagans or in all the countries of the world Howbeit whereas I cannot assure that those things which they affirmed in their complaints were true because I did not see them I will only insist upon those which past concerning him in the time whilest I was trading in this Kingdome whereof I will report three or four amongst many others which I have seen him do from the year 1540. untill 1545. The first was that in the year 1540. Pedro de Faria being Governour of Malaca King Ioanâ— the Iohn the third of glorious memory wrote him a letter whereby above all things he recommended unto him his using all possible means for the redeeming of a certain Domingos de Seixas who for the space of three and twenty years had been a slave in the Kingdome of Siam adding that the doing thereof would be very important for Gods service and his in regard he was informed that from him rather then from any other he might be certified of the great things which were recounted to him of this Kingdome and in case he could redeem this Christian that he should send him incontinently to Don Garcia the Vice-Roy of the Indiaes to whom he had also written that he should imbarque him in the ship which was to part that year for to returne into Portugal Pedro de Faria had no sooner received this letter but seeing with how much care the King his Master recommended this affair unto him he sent us his Ambassador to Siam one Francisco de Crasto a noble and very rich man to the end he should treat about the ransome of this Domingos de Seixas and other sixteen Portugals which were also slaves there as well as he According to this Commission Francisco de Castro came to the City of Odiaa whilest I was there where he delivered his letter to the King of Siam who gave him a very good reception and after he had read it and questioned him concerning many new and curious things he answered him presently which was a thing he did not usually do to any Ambassador his answer contained this much As for Domingos de Seixas whom the Captain of Malaca sends to me for advertising me that I shall do the King of Portugal a great pleasure in releasing him I do most willingly grant to do it as also to deliver all the rest that are with him Whereupon Francisco de Crasto having had this dispatch from the King gave him most humble thanks for it and prostrated himself three severall times
foaming with poyson make horrible cries and be delivered into the burning jawes of the dragon of discord whom the true Lord of all the Gods hath cursed for ever whereas contrarily to those that shall be so happy as to obey this Proclamation as his holy brethren and allies shall be granted in this life a perpetuall peace accompanied with a great deale of wealth and riches and after their death their souls shall be no lesse pure and agreeable to God then those of the Saints which goe dancing amidst the beams of the Sun in the celestiall repose of the Lord Almighty This publication made the musick began to play again with a great noise as before which made such an impression in the hearts of them that heard it as in seven nights that it continâ—ed above threescore thousand persons went and rendred themselves to the Xemindoo for most of them which heard those words gave as much credit thereunto as if an Angell from heaven had spoken them In the meane time the besieged Tyrant seeing that these secret Proclamations of the enemy were so prejudiciall unto him as they could not chuse but turn to his utter ruine brake the truce at twelve dayes end and deliberated with his Councell what he should do who advised him by no means to suffer h mself to remaine any longer besieged for feare left the inhabitants should mutinie and fall from him to the enemy and that the best and surest way was to fight with the Xemindoo in the open field before he grew to any further strength This resolution being approved of by Zenim de Satan he prepared himself for the execution of it to which effect he two dayes after before it was day sallied out at five gates of the city with fourscore thousand men which then he had and charged the enemies with strange fury They then in the meane time who alwayes stood upon their guard received them with a great deale of courage whereupon insued so cruell a conflict between them that in lesse then halfe an houre for so long lasted the heat of the fight there fell on both sides above forty thousand men but at the end of that time the new King Zenim was born from his Elephant by an harquebuze shot discharged at him by a Portugall named Gonçalo Nâ—to which caused all the rest to render themselves and the city likewise upon condition that the inhabitants should have their goods and lives saved By this means the Xemindoo entred peaceably into it and the very same day which was a Saturday the three and twentieth of February a thousand five hundred fifty and one he caused himself to be crowned King of Pegu in the greatest Temple of the city As for Gonçalo Nâ—to he gave him in recompence for killing the Tyrant twenty Bisses of gold which are ten thousand Duckats and to the other Portugalls being eighty in number he gave five thousand Duckats besides the honors and prsviledges which they had in the country he also exempted them for three years from paying any custome for their merchandize which was afterwards very exactly observed CHAP. LXXIII That which the Xemindoo did after he was Crowned King of Pegu with the Chaumigrems the King of Bramaaes Foster-Brothers coming against him with a great Army and divers other memorable things THe Xemindoo seeing himself Crowned King of Pegu and peaceable Lord of all the kingdome began to have thoughts far different from those which Xemin de Satan had had being raised to the same dignity of King for the first and principal thing wherein he imployed himself with all his endeavour was to maintain his Kingdome in peace and to cause Justice to flourish as indeed he established it with so much integritie as no man how great so ever he was durst wrong a lesser then himself withall in that which concerned the government of the Kingdome he proceeded with so much vertue and equity as it filled the strangers that were there with admiration so that one could not without marvel consider the peace the quiet and union of the wills of the people during the happy and peaceable estate of this Kingdome which continued the space of a year and better at the end whereof the Chaumigrem foster-brother to the same King of Bramaa whom Xemin de Satan had slaine as I have before declared having received advertisement that by reason of the rebellions and warres which since his departure from thence had happened in the Kingdome of Pegu the principall men of the State there had lost their lives and the Xemindoo who then raigned was unprovided of all things necessary for his defence he resolved once again to adventure upon the same enterprise which had formerly been undertaken by his late King With this design he entertained into his pay a mighty Army of strangers unto whom he gave a Tincall of gold by the month which is five dackets of our mony when as he had prepared all things in a readinesse he departed from Tanguu the place of his birth On the ninth day of March a thousand five hundred fifty and two with an Army of three hundred thousand men whereof only fifty thousand were Bramaas and all the rest Mons Chaleus Calaminhams Sauâ—nis Pamâ—rus and Auaas In the mean time the Xemindoo the new King of Pegu having certain intelligence of these great forces which were coming to fall upon him made preparation to go and meet them with a design to give them battle for which effect he assembled in the same City where he was a huge Army of nine hundred thousand men which were all Pegues by nation and consequently of a weake constitution and lesse warlick then all the others whereof I have spoken and on Tueseday the fourth of April about noone having received advice that the enemies Army was incamped all along the river of Meleytay some twelve leagues from thence he used such expedition as the same day and the next night all his Souldiers were put into battle array for whereas they had prepared every thing long before and had also been trayned by their Capt. there needed no great ado to bring them into order The day ensueing all these men of warre begun about nine of the clock in the morning to march at the sound of an infinite company of warlick instruments and went and lodged that night some two leagues from thence neer to the river Potarâ—u The next day an hour before Sun-set the Bramaa Chaumigrem appeared with so great a body of men as it took up the extent of a league and an half of ground his Army being composed of seaventy thousand horse of two hundred and thirty thousand foot and six thousand fighting elephants besides as many more which carried the baggage and victuals and in regard it was almost night he thought fit to lodge himself all along by the mountain that he might be in the greater safety Thus the night past with a good guard and a strange noise that was made on