himself that out of his impatience judged according to the wicked inclination of his heart Moreover asking of them whether in their Law they believed that the great God which governeth this All came at any time into the world clothed with a humane form they said No because there could be nothing that might oblige him to so great an extremity in regard he was through the excellency of the divine Nature delivered from our miseries and far esloigned from the Treasures of the Earth all things being more then base in the presence of his splendor By these answers of theirs we perceived that these people had never attained to any knowledg of our truth more then their eyes made them to see in the picture of Heaven and in the beauty of the day for continually in their Combayes which are their prayers lifting up their hands they say By thy works Lord we confess thy greatness After this Antonio de Faria set them at liberty and having given them certain presents wherewith they were very well pleased he caused them to be conveyed to Land that done the wind beginning a little to rise he set sail having all his Vessels adoâ—ned with divers coloured Silks their Banners Flags and Streamers displayed and a Standart of Trade hung out after the manner of the Country to the end they might be taken for Merchants and not for Pyrats and so an hour after he anchored just against the Key of the Town which he saluted with a little peal of Ordnance whereupon ten or eleven Almadiaes came presently to us with good store of refreshments Howbeit finding us to be strangers and discerning by our habits that we were neither Siams Iaos nor Malayos nor yet of any other Nation that ever they had seen they said one to another Please Heaven that the dew of the fresh morning may be as profitable to us all as this evening seems fair with the presence of these whom our eyes behold Having said thus one of the Almadiaes asked leave to come aboard us which they were told they might do because we were all their brothers so that three of nine which were in that Almadia entred into our Junk whom Antonio de Faria received very kindly and causing them to sit down upon a Turky Carpet by him he told them that he was a Merchant of the Kingdom of Siam and going with his goods towards the Isle of Ainan he had been advertised that he might better and more securely sell off his Commodities in this Town then in any other place because the Merchants thereof were juster and truer of their word then the Chineses of the Coast of Ainan Whereunto they thus answered Thou art not deceived in that which thou sayst for if thou be a Merchant as thou affirmest beleeve it that in every thing and every where thou shalt be honored in this place wherefore thou mayst sleep without fear Antonio de Faria mistrusting some intelligence might come over Land concerning that which he had done to the Pyrat upon the River of Tanauquir and so might work him some prejudice would not dis-imbarque his goods as the Officers of the Custom-house would have had him which was the cause of much displeasure and vexation to him afterward so that his business was twice interrupted by that means wherefore perceiving that good words would not serve to make them consent to his Propositions he sent them word by a Merchant who dealt between them that he knew well enough they had a great deal of reason to require the landing of his goods because it was the usual course for every one so to do But he assured them that he could not possibly do it in regard the season was almost past and therefore he was of necessity to hasten his departure as soon as might be the rather too for the accommodating of the Junk wherein he came for as much as she took in so much water that threescore Mariners were always laboring at three pumps to clear her whereby he ran a great hazard of losing all his goods And that touching the Kings Customs he was contented to pay them not after thirty in the hundred as they demanded but after ten as they did in other Kingdoms and so much he would pay presently and willingly To this offer they rendred no answer but detained him that carried the message prisoner Antonio de Faria seeing that his messenger returned not set sâ—il immediately hanging forth a number of flags as one that cared not whether he sold or no Whereupon the Merchants strangers that were come thither to trade perceiving the Commodities of which they hoped to make some profit to be going out of the Port through the perversness and obstinacy of the Nautarel of the Town they went all to him and desired him to recall Antonio de Faria otherwise they protested to complain to the King of the injustice he did them in being the cause of hindring their Traffique The Nautarel that is the Governor with all the Officers of the Custom-house fearing left they might upon this occasion be turned out of their places condescended to their request upon condition since we would pay but ten in the hundred that they should pay five more whereunto they agreed and instantly sent away the Merchant whom they had detained prisoner with a Letter full of complements wherein they declared the agreement they had made Antonio de Faria answered them that since he was out of the Port he would not re-enter it upon any terms by reason he had not leasure to make any stay howbeit if they would buy his Commodities in gross bringing lingots of silver with them for that purpose he would sell them to them and in no other manner would deal for he was much distasted with the little respect the Nautarel of the Town had carried towards him by despising his messages and if they were contented to accept thereof that then they should let him know so much within an hour at the farthest otherwise he would sail away to Ainan where he might put off his Commodities far better then there They finding him so resolved and doubting to lose so fair an occasion as this was for them to return into their Country embarqued themselves in five great Lighters with forty chests full of lingots of silver and a many sacks to bring away the Pepper and arriving at Antonio de Faria's Junk they were very well received by him unto whom they represented anew the agreement they had made with the Nautarel of the Town greatly complaining of his ill Government and of some wrongs which without all reason he had done them but since they had pacified him by consenting to give him fifteen in the hundred whereof they would pay five they desired him to pay the ten as he had promised for otherways they could not buy his Commodities Whereunto Antonio de Faria answered that he was contented so to do more for the love of them then for any profit
iustice that conducted us they took their leaves of us in most courteous manner The next morning as soon as it was day they sent us the Letter sealed with three Seals in green Wax the Contents whereof were these Ye servants of that high Lord the resplendent mirrour of an uncreated light before whom our merits are nothing in comparison of his we the least servants of that holy house of Tauhinaâ—el that was founded in favour of the fifth prison of Nanquin with true words of respect which we owe unto you we give your most humble persons to understand that these nine strangers the bearers of this Letter are men of a far country whose bodies and goods have been so cruelly intreated by the furie of the sea that according to their report of ninety and five that they were they only have escaped shipwrack being cast by the tempest on the shore of the Isles of Tautâ—a upon the coast of the Bay of Sumbor In which pitious and lamentable case as we have seen them with our own eyes begging their living from place to place of such as charitie obliged to give them something after the manner of good folkes it was their ill fortune without all reason or justice to be apprehended by the Chumbin of Taypor and sent to this fifth prison of Faniau where they were condemned to be whipped which was immediatly executed upon them by the Ministers of the displeased arm as by their Process better appeareth But afterwards when as through too much crueltie their thumbs were to be cut off they with tears besought us for that Soveraign Lords sake in whose service we are imployed to be assisting unto them which presently undertaken by us we preferred a Petition in their behalf whereunto this Answer was made by the Court of the crowned Lyon That mercy had no place where justice lost her name whereupon provoked by a true zeal to Gods honour we addressed our selves to the Court of those four and twenty of the austere life who carried by a blessed devotion instantly assembled in the Holy House of the remedy for the poor and of an extream desire they had to succour these miserable creatures they interdicted that great Court from proceeding any further against them and accordingly the success was agreeable to the mercy of so great a God for these last Iudges revoking the others first Sentence sent the cause by way of Appeal to your Citie of Pequin with amendment of the second punishment as you may see more at large by the proceedings In regard whereof most reverend and humble Brethren We beseech you all in the Name of God to be favourable unto them and to assist them with whatsoever you shall thinke necessary for them that they may not be oppressed in thier right which is a very great sin and an eternal infamy to us who again intreat you to supply them with your Alms and bestow on them means to cover their nakedness to the end they may not perish for want of help which if you do there is no doubt but that so pious a work will be most acceptable to that Lord above to whom the poor of the earth do continually pray and are heard in the Highest of Heavens as we hold for an Article of Faith On which earth may it please that divine Majestie for whose sake we do this to preserve us till death and to render us worthy of his presence in the house of the Sun where he iâ— seated with all his Written in the Chamber of the zeal of Gods honour the ninth day of the seventh Moon and the three and twentieth year of the Raign of the Lyon crowned in the Throne of the World CHAP. XXVIII The Marvels of the Citie of Nanquin our departure from thence towards Pequin and that which hapned unto us till we arrived at the Town of Sempitay THis Letter being brought to us very early the next morning we departed in the manner before declared and continued our voyoge till Sun-set when as we anchored at a little Village named Minhacutem where the Chifuu that conducted us was born and where his Wife and Children were at that time vvhich vvas the occasion that he remained there three dayes at the end whereof he imbarqued himself vvith his family and so we passed on in the company of divers other Vessels that went upon this River unto divers parts of this Empire Now though we vvere all tyed together to the bank of the Lauteaa where vve rowed yet did we not for all that lose the view of many Towns and Villages that were scituated along this River whereof I hold it not amisse to make some descriptions To which effect I will begin with the Citie of Nanquin from whence we last parted This City is under the North in nine and thirty degrees and three quarters scituated upon the river of Batampina which signifies The flower of fish This river as we were told then and as I have seen since comes from Tartaria out of a lake called Fanistor nine leagues from the City of Lancama where Tamberlan King of the Tartarians usually kept his Court Out of the same lake which is eight and twenty leagues long twelve broad and of a mighty depth the greatest rivers that ever I saw take their source The first is the same Batampina that passing through the midst of this Empire of China three hundred and threescore leagues in length disimbâ—ques into the sea at the bay of Nanquin in thirty six degrees The second named Lechuna runs with great swiftness all along by the mountains of Pancruum which separate the Country of Cauchim and the State of Catebenan in the height of sixteen degrees The third is called Tauquida signifying the Mother of waters that going North-west traverseth the Kingdom of Nacataas a Country where China was anciently seated as I will declare hereafter and enters into the sea in the Empire of Sornau vulgarly stiled Siam by the mouth of Cuy one hundred and thirty leagues below Patana The fourth named Batobasoy descends out of the Province of Sansim which is the very same that was quite overwhelmed by the sea in the year 1556. as I purpose to shew else-where and renders it selâ— into the sea at the mouth of Cosmim in the Kingdom of Pegu The fifth and last called Leysacotay crosseth the Country by East as far as to the Archipelago of Xinxipou that borders upon Mocovye and fals as is thought into a sea that is not navigable by reaâ—on the clymate there is in the height of seventy degrees Now to return to my discourse the City of Nanquin as I said before is seated by this river of Batampina upon a reasonable high hill so as it commands all the plains about it The climate thereof is somewhat cold but very healthy and it is eight leagues about which way soever it is considered three leagues broad and one long The houses in it are not above two stories high and all built
this Stone upon which this new place is to be built for I desire that hereafter it should be so called wherefore I pray you all as Friends and command you as your King not to call it otherwise to the end the memory thereof may remain immortal to those that shall come after us to the end of the World By which means it shall be manifested to all men that the thirteenth day of the eighth Moon in the year one thousand six hundred thirty and nine after the Lord of all things created had made those that lived upon the Earth see how much he abhorred the sins of Men for the which he drowned the whole World with Water that he sent down from Heaven in satisfaction of his divine Iustice it shall I say be manifested to them that the new Prince Pequin built this Fortress whereunto he gave his Name And so conformable to the Prophesie which the dead childe hath delivered it shall be published over all by the voice of strange People in what manner the Lord is to be feared and what Sacrifices are to be made that they may be just and acceptable unto him Now this was that which King Pequin said unto his Vassals and which is at this day to be seen engraven on a silver Scutcheon fastened to an Arch of one of the principal Gates of the City called Pommicotay where in memory of this Prophecy there is ordinarily a Guard of forty Halberdiers with their Captain whereas there are but onely four in all the rest who are bound to render an account of all that pass in and out there daily And because the Histories relate that this new King laid the first foundation of this City on the 3 d of the moneth of August the Kings of China do on that day usually shew themselves to the People and that with such Pomp and Majesty that I profess I am not able to declare the least part of it much less to describe the whole Now in regard of this first Kings words which the Chineses hold for an infallible Prophecy his Descendants do so fear the accomplishment thereof that by a Law expresly made by them the admittance of any Strangers into this Kingdom saving Ambassadours and Slaves is forbidden upon most grievous pains So that when any do chance to arrive there they banish them presently from one place to another not permitting them to settle any where as they practised it towards me and my eight companions And thus as I have succinctly delivered was this Empire of China founded and peopled by the means of this Prince named Pequin the eldest of Nancaa's three Sons As for the other two called Pacan and Nacau they afterwards founded the other two Towns aforesaid and withall gave them their own Names It is also the general opinion that their Mother Nancaa founded the City of Nanquin which took its denomination from her continuing so to this day and is the second City of this great Monarchy The Histories further affirm that from the time of this first Founder the Empire of China augmented always from one King to another by a just Succession till a certain Age which according to our Computation was in the Year of Lord one thousand one hundred and thirty After which a King that then reigned named Xixipan inclosed the City of Pequin within the space of three and twenty years in such manner as it is seen at this day and that fourscore and two years after another King his Grand-childe called Iumbileytay made the like so that both together were sixty leagues in circuit namely each of them thirty ten in length and five in breadth Now it is certain and I have often times read it that each of these Inclosures or Walls hath a thousand and threescore round Bulwarks as also two hundred and forty Towers very fair strong large and high with gilt Lions upon Globes being the Arms of the Kings of China which are very pleasing to the eye Without the last Inclosure is an exceeding great Ditch round about it ten fathom deep and forty broad continually replenished with many Barques and Boats covered over head as if they were Houses where both Provisions and all sorts of Merchandise are sold. This City according to the Chineses report hath above three hundred and threescore Gates in each of which as I have before recited there are always four Halberdiers who are obliged to render an account of all that go in and out daily There are also certain Chambers in it whither it is the custome to bring such Children as wander and go astray in the Town to the end their Parents that lose them may be sure to hear of them there I will refer my speaking more largely of the Magnificences of this goodly City to another place for that which I have now delivered in haste and as it were en passant was but to make a brief Relation of the original of this Empire and of the first Founder of the City of Pequin which may be truly said to be the chiefest of all the World for greatness policy riches and abundance of all things that can be desired of man as also of the Foundation of the second City of this mighty Kingdom that is Nanquin and of the other two Pacan and Nacan whereof I have heretofore spoken and in which the Founders of them are buried in very stately and rich Temples within Tombs of white and green Alabaster all garnished with Gold and erected upon Lions of Silver with a world of Lamps and perfuming Pans full of divers sorts of sweet Odours round about them Now that I have spoken of the Original and Foundation of this Empire together with the circuit of the great City of Pequin I hold it not amiss to intreat as succinctly as I may of another particular which is no less admirable then those whereof I have made mention before It is written in the fifth Book of the Scituation of all the remarkable places of this Empire or rather Monarchy for to speak truly there is no appellation so great but may be well attributed unto it that a King named Crisnagol Dicotay who according to the computation of that Book reigned in the year of our Lord five hundred and eighteen happened to make war with the Tartar about some difference between them concerning the State of Xenxinapau that borders on the Kingdom of Lauhos and so valiantly demeaned himself in a Battel against him that he defeated his Army and remained Master of the Field whereupon the Tartar confederating himself with other Kings his Friends did by their assistance assemble together greater Forces then the former and therewith invaded the Kingdom of China where it is said he took three and thirty very important Towns of which the principal was Panquilor insomuch that the Chinese fearing he should not be well able to defend himself concluded a Peace with him upon condition to relinquish his right which he pretended to that in
a review to be made of those that would fight but he â—ound them to be not above two thousand in all and they too so destitute of courage as they â—ould hardly have resisted feeble women Beholding himself then reduced to the last cast he communicated his mind to the Queen only as having no other at that time by whom he may be advised or that indeed could advise him The only expedient then that he could rest on was to render himself into the hands of his Enemy and to stand to his mercy or his rigor Wherefore the next day about six of the clock in the morning he câ—uâ—ed a white flag to be hung out over the wall in sign of peace whereunto they of the Camp answered with another like banner Hereupon the Xenimbrum who was as it were Marshal of the Camp sent an horseman to the bulwark where the flag stood unto whom it was delivered from the top of the wall That the Chaubainhaa desired to send a Letter to the King so as he might have a safe-conduct for it which being signified to the Xenimbrum he instantly dispatched away two of good quality in the Army with a safe-conduct and so these two Bramaaâ— remaining for hostages in the City the Chaubainhaa sent the King a Letter by one of his Priests that was fourscore years of age and reputed for a Saint amongst them The contents of this Letter were these The love of children hath so much power in this house of our weakness that amongst us who are fathers there is not so much as one that for their sakes would not be well contented to descend a thousand times into the deep pit of the house of the Serpent much more would expose his life for them and put himself into the hands of one that useth so much clemency towards them that shall do so For which reason I resolved this night with my wife and children contrary to the opinions that would disswade me from this good which I hold the greatest of all others to render my self unto your Highness that you may do with me as you think fit and as shall be most agreeable to your good pleasure As for the fault wherewith I may be charged and which I submit at your feet I humbly beseech you not to regard it that so the merit of the mercy which you shall shew me may be the greater before God and men May your Highness therefore be pleased to send some presently for to take possession of my person of my wife of my children of the City of the Treasure and of all the Kingdom all which I do even now yield up unto you as to my Soveraign Lord and lawful King All the request that I have to make unto you thereupon with my knees on the ground iâ— that we may all of us with your permission finish our days in a Cloister where I have already vowed continually to bewail and repent my fault past For as touching the honors and estates of the world wherewith your Highness might inrich me as Lord of the most part of the Earth and of the Isles of the Sea they are things which I utterly renounce for evermore In a word I do solemnly swear unto you before the greatest of all the Gods who with the gentle touch of his Almighty hand makes the Clouds of Heaven to move never to leave that Religion which by your pleasure I shall be commanded to profess where being freed from the vain hopes of the world my repentance may be the more pleasing to him that pardoneth all things This holy Grepo Dean of the golden House of Saint Quiay who for his goodnesse and austerity of life hath all power over me will make a more ample relation unto you of what I have omitted and can more particularly tell you that which concerns the offer I make you of rendring my self that so relying on the reality of his Speech the unquietness wherewith my soul is incessantly troubled may be appeased The King of Bramaa having read this Letter instantly returned another in answer thereunto full of promises and oaths to this effect That he would forget all that was past and that for the future he would provide him an estate of so great a Revenue as should very well content him Which he but badly accomplished as I shall declare hereafter These news was published throughout all the Camp with a great deal of joy and the next morning all the Equipage and Train that the King had in his quarter was set forth to view First of all there were to be seen fourscore and six Field-Tents wonderful rich each of them being invironed with thirty Elephants ranked in two Files as if they had been ready to fight with Castles on their backs full of Banners and their Panores fastened to their Trunks the whole number of them amounted unto two thousand five hundred and fourscore Not far from them were twelve thousand and five hundred Bramaas all mounted on horses very richly accoustred with the order which they kept they inclosed all the Kings quarter in four Files and were all armed in Corslets or Coats of Mayl with Lances Cymitars and guilded Bucklers After these Horse followed four Files of Foot all Bramaas being in number above twenty thousand For all the other Souldiers of the Camp there were so many as they could not be counted and they marched all in order after their Captains In this publique Muster were to be seenâ— world of Banners rich colours such a number of Instruments of war sounded that the noise thereof together with that which the Souldiers made was most dreadful and so great as it was not possible to hear one another Now for that the King of Bramaa would this day make shew of his greatness in the reddition of the Chaubainhaa he gave express Command that all the Captains which were strangers with their men should put on their best clothes and Arms and so ranged in two Files they should make as it were a kind of street through which the Chaubainhaa might pass this accordingly was put in execution and this street took beginning from the City gate and reached as far as to the Kings Tent being in length about three quarters of a League or better In this street there were six and thirty thousand strangers of two and forty different Nations namely Portugals Grecians Venetians Turks Ianizaries Iews Armâ—nians Tartars Mogores Abyssins Raizbutos Nobins Coracones Persians Tuparaas Gizares Tanacos Malabares Iaos Achems Moens Siams Lussons of the Island Borneo Chacomas Arracons Predins Papuaas Sâ—lebres Mindanoas Pegus Bramaas and many others whose names I know not All these Nations were ranked according to the Xemimbrums order whereby the Portugals were placed in the Vantgard which was next to the gate of the City where the Chabainhaa was to come After them followed the Armâ—nians then the Ianizaries and Turks and so the rest CHAP. LI. In what manner the Chaubainhaa rendred himself
faith which a King ought to have whom God himself hath annointed that I will take you and all those of your Nation with all others that beleeve in your God into my protection After that this Letter was read to the great astonishment of all us that heard it we could beleeve no other but that by Divine permission it came from Heaven for the assurance of our lives whereof we stood in very great doubt until then Gonçalo Pacheco and Nuno Fernandez with ten other Portugals which were chosen for that purpose instantly prepared a Present of divers rich Pieces to carry to the King unto whom they went that very same night an hour before day in the company of the Bramaa who brought the Letter in regard the haste the King was in would brook no delay Gonçalo Pacheco Nuno Fernandez and the other Portugals arrived at the camp an hour before Sun-rising and the King sent to receive them one of the chiefest Bramaa Commanders that he had and in whom he very much confided who was accompanied with above an hundred horse and six Serjeants at armes that carried maces This same received the Portugals and lead them to the King who did much honour unto Gonçalo Pacheco and Nuno Fernandez and after he had talked with them of divers matters he put them in mind of the importance of the businesse for which he had sent for them and willed them by any means to leane rather to the Commanders then to him assuring them that he should be very well contented therewith and said many things to them to that purpose Then he caused them to be conducted by the same Bramaa Lord to the Tent where the other four Arbitrators were with the high Treasuror and two Registers when as they had commanded silence to all that were without they fell to debating of the businesse for which they were assembled together whereupon there were many opinions which took up the most part of the day but at last all six came to conclude That albeit on the one side the King by the promise which he had made at Tanguu to the forraigne Souldiers for to give them the spoil or pillage of the places which he should take by force was exceedingly obliged to the performance thereof yet seeing that on the other side this promise was of great and notable prejudice to the innocent because it could not be put in execution without greatly offending God these things considered they ordained by their award That the King in regard of the promise which he had made them should pay unto them a thousand bisses of gold out of his own treasure and that upon the Souldiers receiving thereof they should passe over to the other side of the River and retire directly into their countries but that they should first be also paid all that was due to them before this mutiny began and that they should be furnished with victuals sufficient for twenty daies This award being published was received with much content to either party So that the King commanded it to be instantly and punctually executed and for a greater testimony of his liberality after he had paid them all this sum of mony he bestowed upon the Commanders and Officers of each Company many bountifull rewards wherewith they were all of them very well pleased and satisfied In this sort were these three mutinous nations discharged for the King would by no meanes trust or make use of them any longer Howbeit he would not suffer these strangers to go all away together but caused them to be divided into troups each of them consisting of a thousand men to the end that by this means they should give the lesse suspicion in their returne and should be lesse able to plunder the open townes by which they were to passe and thus the next day they departed As for Gonçalo Pacheco and Nuno Fernandez Teixyra the King gave them ten bisses of gold for being his Arbitrators in this affair whereunto he added a passport written with his own hand whereby the Portugals were permitted to retire freely into the Indies without paying any custome or duty for their marchandize whereof we made more account then of all the mony could have been given us because that for three years before the precedent Kings had retayned us in this country with exceeding much vexation and tyranny whereby we were oftentimes in great danger of our lives by reason of the successe of that which I have spoken heretofore This done there were Proclamations made by men on horseback to give notice that the day following the King would enter into the City in a peaceable manner threatning all such as should do the contrary with a cruell death Accordingly the next morning at nine of the clock the King parted from the Pagode whither he had retired himself and about an hour after arrived at the City wherein to entring by the chiefest gate he was received by an assembly in form of a Procession of six thousand Priests of all the twelve Sects which are in this Kingdome by one of whom called Capizundo an oration was made unto him whereof the preface was thus Blessed and praised be that Lord who ought truly to be acknowledged of all men for such in regard of the holy works which he hath made with his Divine hands testified to us by the light of the day the shining of the night and all the other magnificences of his mercy which he hath produced in us Praised be he I say for that by the effects of his infinite power which are agreeable unto him he hath been pleased to establish thee on the earth above all the Kings that govern it and seeing we hold thee for his favorite we humbly beseech thee our Lord that thou wilt never more remember the faults and offences which we have committed against thee to the end that these thy afflicted people may be comforted with the promise thereof which they hope thy Majesty will make them at this present This same request was likewise made unto him by the six thousand Grepos all prostrated on the ground and with their hands lifted up to heaven who with a dreadful tumult of voices said unto him Grant our Lord and King peace and pardon for that is past to all the people of this thy Kingdome of Pegu to the end they may not be troubled with the feare of their offences which they confesse publikely before thee The King answered them that he was contented so to do and swore to them by the head of Quiay Nivandel the God of Battel of the field Vitau for the confirmation thereof Upon this promise all the people prostrated themselves with their faces on the ground and said unto him God make thee to prosper for infinite years in the victory over thy enemies that thou mayest trample their heads under thy feet Hereupon for a token of great gladnesse they fel to playing on divers instruments after their manner though very barbarously
aâ—ter being not able either to go forward or turn aside by reason of the bogs round about us all covered over with rushes In the mean time one of our companions dyed whose name was Bastian Anriques a rich man and that had lost eight thousand crownâ— in the Lanchara in so much that of all the company we were before there remained none but Christovano Borralho and my self that with tears sat lamenting over the poor dead mans body which we had covered with a little earth as well as we could for we were then so weak that we could hardly stir or almost speak so as we had set up our rest to make an end of those few hours we hoped to live in that place The next day being the seventh of our disaster about Sun-set we espyed a great Barque coming rowing up the River whereupon as soon as it was near us we prostrated our selves on the ground beseeching those that were aboard her to take us in They wondering at us presently made a stand seeming much amazed to see us so on our knees and our hands lift up to Heaven as though we were at our prayers nevertheless without speaking at all to us they made as if they would go on which constrained us afresh to cry aloud to them with tears that they would not suffer us for want of succor to dye miserably there Upon thosâ— our cries and lamentations an ancient woman came forth from under the hatches whose grave countenance represented her to be such as afterwards we found her to be she seeing us in so pitiful a plight moved with our misfortune and our wounds that we shewed her she took up a stick and therewith struck three or four of the Mariners because they would not take us in whereupon approaching to the bank five or six of them leapt on shore and by her commandment took us upon their shoulders and carryed us into the Barque This honorable woman much grieved to behold us so hurt and our shirts and linnen drawers all bloody and mired caused them straightway to be washed and having given each of us a linnen cloth to cover us withall she would needs have us to sit down by her where commanding meat to be brought us she her self presenting it to us with her own hand Eat eat said she poor strangers and be not afflicted to see yâ—ur selves reduced unto the estate you are in for I whom now you look upon and that am but a woman not having as yet attained to the age of fifty years have seen my self a slave and despoyled of above an hundred thousand duckets worth of goods Nor is that all for to this misfortune was the death of three of my sons adjoyned and that of my husband whom I held far more dearer then these eyes of mine these eyes alass wherewith I beheld both the father and the sons torn in pieces by the King of Siams Elephants together with two brothers and a son-in-law I had Ever since I have had a languishing life and to all these miseries have many others far greater succeeded for so implacable hath fortune been unto me that I have seen three daughters of mine ready to be marryed as also my father mother and two and thirty of my kinsmen nephews and cousins thrown into burning furnaces where their cries and lamentations could not chuse but reach unto Heaven for God to succor them in the violence of that insupportable torment but alass the enormity of my sins no doubt so stopped the ears of the clemency of the Lord of Lords that he would not heaâ— our request which seemed very just to me nevertheless I deceived my self since nothing is just but what it pleaseth his divine Majesty to ordain Hereunto we answered that the sins which we also had committed against him were the cause of our calamities Seeing it is so replyed she mingling her tears with ours it is always good in your adversities to acknowledg that the touches of the hand of God are evermore righteous for both in that as also in a confession of the mouth in a sorrow for having offended and in a firm resolution to do so no more consisteth all the remedy of your sufferings and mine Having entertained us thus with the discourse of her misfortune she enquired of us the occasion of ours and by what means we came to be in that miserable estate whereupon we recounted unto her all that had past and that we neither knew who it was that had so ill intreated us nor wherefore he did it Her people hearing us said that the great Junk whereof we spake belonged to a Mahometan a Guzarat by Nation named Coia Acem who the same morning went out of the River laden with Brazil and was bound for the Isle of Ainan Hereat the good woman smote her brest and seeming to be much moved Let me not live said she if it be not so for I have heard that Mahometan of whom you speak vaunt publiquely before all that would give ear unto him that he had sâ—ain a great number of the race of those of Malaca and that he hated them in such sort as he had promised to his Mahomet to kill more of them in time Being amazed hereat we desired her to declare unto us who that man was and why he was so much our enemy whereunto she answered that she knew no other reason but for that a great Captain of our Nation named Hector de Sylvâ—ira had killed his father and two of his brothers in a ship which he took from them in the straight of Mâ—cqua that was going from Iudas to Dabul Thus much did this good Matron tell us and many other things afterwards concerning the great hatred this Mahometan bore us as also what lyes he devised to render us infamous This honorable woman departing from the place where she found us went some two leagues up the River till she came to a little Village where she lay that night The next morning parting from thence she made directly to the Town of Lugor which was above five leagues further Arriving there about noon she landed and went to her house whither she carryed us with her and kept us there three and twenty days during which time we were very well looked unto and plentifully accommodated with all that was necessary for us This woman was a widow and of an honorable family as afterwards we learnt and that had been marryed to the Captain General which they call Xabandar of Prevedim whom the Pata of Lasapara King of Quaijuan had put to death in the Isle of Iaoa the year 1538. At the time she met with us as I have related she came from a Junk of hers that lay at the Road laden with Salt and because it was great and could not pass up by reason of the shelves she caused it to be unladen by little and little with thaâ— Barque By that time the three and twenty days I spake of were expired it
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
of sinners so thou wilt be pleased to forgive us our offenceâ— that thereby we may become worthy to behold thy face in the glory of thy Kingdom where thou art sitting at the right hand of the Almighty Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name In the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Amen And so all of them kissing the Cross imbraced one another and thereupon returned every one to his own home Moreover she told us that her Father had left her many other prayers which the Chineses had stollen from her so that she had none left but those before recited whereunto we replyed that those we had heard from her were very good but before we went away we would leave her divers other good and wholsome prayers do so then answered she for the respect you owe to so good a God as yours is and that hath done such things for you for me and for all in general Then causing the cloth to be laid she gave us a very good and plentiful dinner and treated us in like sort every meal during the five days we continued in her house which as I said before was permitted by the Chifuu in regard of a present that this good woman sent his wife whom she earnestly intreated so to deal with her husband as we might be well intreated for that we were men of whom God had a particular care as the Chifuus wife promised her to do with many thanks to her for the present she had received In the mean space during the five days we remained in her House we read the Catechism seven times to the Christians wherewithall they were very much edifyed beside Christophoro Borhalho made them a little Book in the Chinese tongue containing the Pater Noster the Creed the Ten Commandments and many other good Prayers After these things we toâ—k our leaves of Inez de Leyria and the Christians who gave us fifty Taeis in Silver which stood us since in good stead â—s I shall declare hereafter and withall Inez de Leyria gave us secretly fifty Taeis more humbly desiring us to remember her in our Prayers to God After our departure from the Town of Sempitay we continued our course upon the River of Bataupina unto a place named Lequinpau containing about eleven or twelve thousand fires and very well built at least we judged so by that we could discern as also inclosed with good Walls and Curtains rouâ—d about it Not far from it was an exceeding long House having within it thirty Furnaces on each side where a great quantity of Silver was melted which was brought in carts from a Mountain some five leagues off called Tuxenguim The Chineses assured us that above a thousand men wrought continually in that Mine to draw out the Silver and that the King of China had in yearly Revenue out of it about five thousand Picos This place we left about Sun-set and the next day in the evening we arrived just between two little Towns that stood opposite one to another the River onely between the one named Pacau and the other Nacau which although they were little yet were they fairly builâ— and well walled with great hewed stone having a number of Temples which they call Pagods all guilt over and enriched with Steeples and Fanes of great price very pleasing and agreeable to the eye Now in regard of that they recounted unto us here of these two Towns I hold it not amisse to discourâ—e it in this place the rather for that I have heard it confirmed since and that thereby one may come to know the Original and Foundation of this Empire of China whereof ancient Writers have spoken little â—ill this present It is written in the first Chronicle of fourscore which have been made of the Kings of China the thirteenth Chapter as I have heard it many times delivered That six hundred thirty and nine years after the Deluge there was a Country called then Guantipocau which as may be judged by the height of the Climate where it is scituated being in sixty two degrees to the Northward abutts on the backside of our Germany In this Country lived at that time a Prince named Turbano whose state was not very great It is said of him that being a youth he had three children by a Woman called Nancaa whom he extreamly affected although the Queen his Mother then a Widow was exceedingly displeased at it This King being much importuned by the principal Persons of his Kingdom to marry always excused himself alledging some Reasons for it which they did not well allow of but incited by his Mother they pressed him so far that at length they perceived he had no intent to condescend unto them for indeed his minde was to legitimate the eldest Son he had by Nancaa and to resign his Kingdome unto him to which effect he not long after put himself into Religion in a Temple named Gison which seems to have been the Idol of a certain Sect that the Româ—â—s had in their time and that is still at this present in the Kingdomes of China Iappon Cauchenchina Cambaya and Siam whereof I have seen many Pagods in those Countries But first having declared his said â—on King the Queen his Mother would by no means approve of it saying That since the King her Son would needs profess himself into that Religion and leave the Kingdom without a lawful Heir she would labour to remedy so great a disorder as indeed she did by instantly marrying her self being fifty years of age to a Priest of hers called Silau that was but six and twenty whom she proclaimed King notwithstanding all opposition made to the contrary whereof Turbano being presently advertised and knowing that his Mother had done it of purpose to defeat his Son of the Crown he got him forthwith out of his Religion for to repossess himself of it and to that end used all the means and diligence he could whereupon the Queen Mother and Silau fearing that which might follow thereof to both their destructions if he were not in time and that speedily prevented they secretly assembled some of their partakers to the number of thirty Horse and fourscore Foot who going one night where Turbano was slew him and all his Company Howbeit Nancaa saved her self with her three Sons and accompanied with certain of her Domestical Servants she imbarqued her self in a small Lanteaa and fled away down the River to a place some seventy leagues from thence where she landed with those few followers she had There assisted with some others that resorted unto her she fortified her self in a little Island that was in the middest of the River and which she named Pilaunere that signifies The retreat of the poor with an intent there to end the rest of her days now having lived five years in that poor and miserable estate the Tyrant Silan whom the People hated doubting lest the three young Princes coming
time since it was discovered being above two hundred years it never failed but rather more and more was found Having past about a league beyond those twelve Hoâ—ses up the River we came to a place inclosâ—d with three ranks of Iron grates where we beheld thirty Houses divined into five rows six in each row which were very long and compleat with great Towers full of Bells of cast mettle and much carved work as also guilt Pillars and the Frontispieces of fair hewed stone whereupon many Inventious were engraved At this place we went ashore by the Chifâ—us permission that carried us for that he had made a Vow to this Pagod which was called Bigay potim that is to say God of an hundred and ten thousand Gods Corchoo fungané ginaco ginaca which according to their report signifies strong and great above all others for one of the Errors wherewith these wretched people are blinded is that they beleeve every particular thing hath its God who hath created it and preserves its natural being but thâ—t this Bigay potim brought them all forth from under his arm-pitâ— and that from him as a father they derive their being by a filial union which they term Biâ—â— Porentasay And in the Kingdom of Pegu where I have often been I have seen one like unto this named by those of the country Ginocoginans the God of all greatness which Temple was in times past built by the Chineses when as they commanded in the Indiaes being according to their supputation from the year of our Lord Iesus Christ 1013. to the year 1072. by which account it appears that the Indiaes were under the Empire of China but onely fifty and nine years for the successor of him that conquered it called Exiragano voluntarily abandoned it in regard of the great expence of mony and bloud that the unprofitable keeping of it cost him In those thirty Houses whereof I formerly spake were a great number of Idols of guilt Wood and a like number of Tin Lâ—tten and Pourcelain being indeed so many as I should hardly be believed to declare them Now we had not past above five or six leagues from this place but we came to a great Town about a league in circuit quite destroyed and ruinated so that asking the Chineses what might be the cause thereof they told us that this Town was anciently called Cohilouza that is The flower of the field and had in former times been in very great prosperity and that about one hundred forty and two years before a certain stranger in the company of some Merchants of the Port of Tanaçarim in the Kingdom of Siam chanced to come thither being as it seems an holy man although the Bonzes said he was a Sorcerer by reason of the wonders he did having raised up five dead men and wrought many other Miracles whereat all men were exceedingly astonished and that having divers times disputed with the Priests he had so shamed and confounded them as fearing to deal any more with him they incensed the Inhabitants against him and perswâ—ded them to put him to death affirming that otherwise God would consume them with fire from Heaven whereupon all the Townsmen went unto the House of a poor Weaver where he lodged and killing the Weaver with his son and two sons in Law of his that would have defended him the Holy man came forth to them and reprehending them for this uproar he told them amongst other things That the God of the Law whereby they were to be saved was called Iesus Christ who came down from heaven to the earth for to become a man and that it was needful he should dye for men and that with the price of his precious bloud which he shed for sinners upn the Crosse God was satisfied in his justice and that giving him the charge of Heaven and Earth he had promised him that whosoever professed his Law with Faith and good works should be saved and have everlasting life and withall that the gods whom the Bonzes served and adored with sacrifices of bloud were false and Idols wherwith the Devil deceived them Here at the Churchmen entred into so great furie that they called unto the people saying Cursed be he that brings not wood and fire for to burn him which was presently put in execution by them and the fire beginning exceedingly to rage the Holy man said certain Prayers by vertue whereof the fire incontinently went out wherewith the people being amazed cryed out saying Doubtlesse the God of this man is most mighty and worthy to be adored throughout the whole World which one of the Bonzes hearing who was ring-leader of this mutiny and seeing the Town-men retire away in consideration of that they had beheld he threw a stone at the holy man saying They which do not as I do may the Serpent of the night ingulf them into hell fire At these words all the other Bonzes did the like so that he was presently knock'd down dead with the stones they flâ—ng at him whereupon they cast him into the river which most prodigiously staid its course from running down and so continued for the space of five days together that the body lay in it By means of this wonder many imbraced the law of that holy man whereof there are a great number yet remaining in that country Whilest the Chineses were relating thishistory unto us we arrived at a point of land where going to double Cape we descryed a little place environed with trees in the midst whereof was a great cross of stone very well made which we no sooner espied but transported with exceeding joy we fell on our knees before our Conductor humbly desiring him to give us leave to go on shoar but this Heathen dog refused us saying that they had a great way yet to the place where they were to lodge whereat we were mightily grieved Howbeit God of his mercy even miraculously so ordered it that being gone about a league further his wife fell in labour so as he was constrained to return to that place again it being a Village of thirty or forty houses hard by where the Cross stood Here we went on land and placed his wife in an house where some nine days after she died in Child-bed during which time we went to the Cross and prostrating our selves before it with tears in our eyes The people of the Village beholding us in this posture came to us and kneeling down also with their hands lift up to heaven they said Christo Iesu Iesu Christo Maria micauvidau late impont model which in our tongue signifies Iesus Christ Iesus Christ Mary always a Virgine conceived him a Virgine brought him forth and a Virgine still remained whereunto we weeping answered that they spake the very truth Then they asked us if we were Christians we told them we were which as soon as they understood they carried us home to their houses where they entertained us with great affection Now all these
weight measure and true account therefore take heed to what thou doest for if thou comest to sin thou shalt suffer for it eternally Upon his head he had a kind of round bonet bordered about with small sprigs of gold all enamelled violet and green and on the top of it was a little crowned Lion of gold upon a round bowl of the same mettal by which Lion crowned as I have delivered heretofore is the King signified and by the bowl the world as if by these devices they would denote that the King is the Lion crowned on the throne of the world In his right hand he held a little rod of ivory some three spans long in manner of a Scepter upon the top of the three first steps of this Tribunal stood eight Ushers with silver maces on their shoulders and below were threescore Mogors on their knees disposed into three ranks carrying halberts in their hands that were neatly damasked with gold In the vantgard of these same stood like as if they had been the Commanders or Captains of this Squadron the Statues of two Giants of a most gallant aspect and very richly attired with their swords hanging in scarfs and mighty great halberts in their hands and these the Chineses in their language call Gigaos on the two sides of this Tribunal below in the room were two very long tables at each of which sat twelve men whereof four were Presidents or Judges two Registers four Solicitors and two Conchalis which are as it were Assistants to the Court one of these Tables was for criminal and the other for civil causes and all the officers of both these Tables were apparelled in gowns of white Satin that were very long and had large slieves thereby demonstrating the latitude and purity of justice the Tables were covered with carpets of violet damask and richly bordered about with gold the Chaems table because it was of silver had no carpet on it nor any thing else but a cushion of cloth of gold and a Standith Now all these things put together as we saw them carried a wonderful shew of State and Majesty But to proceed upon the fourth ringing of a bell one of the Câ—â—chalis stood up and after a low obeysancâ— made to the Chaem with a very loud voice that he might be heard of every one he said Peace there and with all submission hearken on pain of incurring the punishment ordained by the Chaems of the Government for those that interrupt the silence of sacred Iustice. Whereupon this same sitting down again another arose and with the like reverence mounting up to the Tribunal where the Chaem sat he took the Sentences from him that held them in his hand and published them aloud one after another with so many ceremonies and compliments as he employed above an hour therein At length coming to pronounce our judgment they caused us to kneel down with our eyes fixed on the ground and our hands lifted up as if we were praying unto Heaven to the end that in all humility we might hear the publâ—cation thereof which was thus Bitau Dicabor the new Chaem of this sacred Court where justice is rendred to strangers and that by the gracious pleasure of the Son of the Sun the Lion crowned on the throne of the world unto whom are subjected all the Scepters and Crowns of the Kings that govern the earth ye are subjected under his feet by the grace and will of the most High in Heaven having viewed and considered the Appeal made to me by these nine strangers whose cause was commanded hither by the City of Nanquin by the four and twenty of austeer life I say by the oath I have taken upon my entry into the Charge which I exercise for the Aytao of Batampina the chief of two and thirty that govern all the people of this Empire that the ninth day of the seventh Moon in the fifteenth year of the reign of the Son of the Sun I was presented with the accusations which the Cumbim of Taypor sent me against them whereby he chargeth them to be theeves and robbers of other mens goods affirming that they have long practised that trade to the great offence of the Lord above who hath created all things and withall that without any fear of God they used to bathe themselves in the blood of those that with reason resisted them for which they have already been condemned to be whipt and have their thumbs cut off whereof the one hath been put in execution but when they came to have their thumbs cut off the Proctors for the poor opposing it alledged in their behalf that they were wrongfully condemned because there was no proof of that wherewith they were charged in regard whereof they required for them that in stead of judging them upon a bare shew of uncertain suspitions voluable testimonies might be produced and such as were conformable to the divine Laws and the Iustice of Heaven whereunto answer was made by that Court how justice was to give place to mercy whereupon they that undertook their cause made their complaint to the four and twenty of austeer life who both out of very just considerations and the regard they had to the little support they could have for that they were strangers and of a Nation so far distant from us as we never heard of the Country where they say they were born mercifully inclining to their lamentable cries sent them and their cause to be judged by thiâ— Court wherefore omitting the prosecution thereof here by the Kings Proctor being able to prove nothing whereof he accused them affirms only that they are worthy of death for the suspicion and jealousie they have given of themselves but in regard sacred justice that stands upon considerations which are pure and agreeable to God admits of no reasons from an adverse party if they be not made good by evident proofs I thought it not fit to allow of the Kings Proctors accusations since he could not prove what he had alledged whereupon insisting on his demand without shewing either any just causes or sufficient proof concerning that he concluded against those strangers I condemned him in twenty Taeis of silver amends to his adverse parties being altogether according to equity because the reasons alledged by him were grounded upon a bad zeal and such as were neither just nor pleasing to God whose mercy doth always incline to their side that are poor and feeble on the earth when as they invoke him with tears in their eyes â—s is daily and clearly manifested by the pitiful effects of his greatness so that having thereupon expresly commanded the Tanigores of the house of mercy to alledge whatsoever they could say on their behalf they accordâ—ngly did so within the time that was prefixed them for that purpose And so all proceedings having received their due course thâ— cause is now come to a final Iudgment wherefore every thing duly viewed and considered without regard had to any
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
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
the Idol to the tune of certain Instruments of Musick saying three times with a lamentable voyce Lord asswage the pains of the dead to the end they may praise thee peaceably whereunto all the people answered with a strange noise Such may thy pleasure be and so may it come to pass every day wherein thou shewest us the Sun Each of these Charets was drawn by above three thousand persons who for that purpose made use of very long coards covered with silk and thereby gained to themselves plenary remission of their sins without restitution to be made of any thing at all Now that many might participate of this absolution by drawing the coard they set their hands to it one after and close to another continuing doing so to the very end in such sort that the whole coard was covered with hands and nothing else to be seen but that they also which were without might gain this indulgence they helped those that had their hands on the coard by puâ—ting theirs about their shoulders then they that were behind them did the like and so consequently all the rest In this manner throughout the whole lâ—ngth of the coard there were six or seven Ranks or Files and in each of them above five hundred persons This Procession was enviâ—oned with a great number of Horsemen that carryed staves with pikes at both ends who riding all about went crying to the people which were infinite in number that they should make way and not interrupt the Priests in their prayers Many times also they struck those so rudely whom they first met withall as they brat down three or four together or hurt them grievously no man daring to find fault with or so much as speak a word against it In this order this mervelous Procession passed through above an hundred streets which to that end were all adorned with boughs of Palms and Myrtle amongst the which were many Standarts and Banners of Silk planted There were also many Tables set up in divers places where all that desired it for Gods sake were admitted to eat of free cost yea and in other parts they had clothes and mony given them There likewise Enemies reconciled themselves one to another and the rich men forgave them their debts which were not able to pay In a word so many good works were done there more proper for Cristians then for Gentiles as I must needs conclude that if they had been done with Faith and Baptism for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and without any mixture of the things of this world assuredly they would have been acceptable to him But 〈◊〉 the best was wanting to them and that both for theirs and our sins Whilest this Procession together with the Charets wherein the Idols were passed along in this manner and that with a dreadful noise of Drums and other such instruments behold where out of certain wooden Sheds made expresly for that purpose six seven eight or ten men all besmeared with odors and wrapped up in silk wearing Gold Bracelets about their wrists start forth all at once and room being instantly made them by the people after they had saluted the Idol which was on the top of the Charet they went and layd themselves down athwart on the ground so that the wheels coming to go over them crush'd them all to pieces which the assistants beholding cryed out aloud together My Soul be with thine Presently whereupon nine or ten of the Priests descending from the Charet took up these blessed or rather accursed creatures that sacrificed themselves in this sort and putting the head bowels and all the other members so crushed in pieces into great bowls made for that purpose they shewed them to the people from the highest part of the Charet where the Idol stood saying with a pitiful voyce Miserable sinners fall ye to praying that God may make you worthy to be a Saint as this here is who hath now offered himself up as a sweet smelling Sacrifice Whereunto all the people prostrated on the ground answered with a fearful noise We hope that the God of a thousand Gods will permit to be so In this manner many other of these wretches sacrificed themselves to the number as we were told by certain Merchants worthy of credit of six hundred and more After these followed other Martyrs of the Devil whom they called Xixaporaus which sacrificed themselves before the said Charets by most mercilesly slâ—shing themselves with sharp Rasors that to behold them how they did it one could not think but that they were altogether insensible for they cut off great gobbets of their flesh and holding them on high at the end of Arrows as if they would shoot them up to Heaven they said That they made a Present thereof to God for the Souls of their Fathers of their Wives of their Children or of such a one for whose sake they did this wicked work Now wheresoever this gobbet of flesh chanced to fall there ran so much people to catch it up as oftentimes many were stifled in the press for they held it as a very great relique In this sort these miserable wretches stood upon their feet all bathed in their own blood without Noses without Ears and without any resemblance at all of man until at length they fell down stark dead on the Earth then came the Grepos in all haste down from the top of the Charet and cutting off their heads shewed them to all the people who kneeling on the ground and lifting up their hands to Heaven cryed out with a loud voyce Let us O Lord live to that time wherein for thy service we may do as this same here hath done There were others also whom the Devil drew thither after another manner Those same craving an Alms said Give me an Alms for Gods sake or if thou dost it not I will kill my self So that if they were not presently contented they would instantly cut their own throats with Rasors which they held in their hands or stab themselves in to the belly and so drop down stark dead whereupon the Grepos ran suddenly to them and having cut off their heads shewed them as before to the people who reverenced them prostrated on the ground We likewise saw some named Nucaramons men of a very ill look clothed with Tygers skins and carrying in their hands certain pots of Copper full of excrements and filthy corrupted urine the stench whereof was so horrible and insupportable as it was not possible for any nostril to endure it These craving an Alms of the people said Give me an Alms and that instantly otherwise I will â—at this ordure which the Devil eats and bespatter thee with it that so thou mayst be accursed as he is They no sooner uttered these words but that all ran hastily to give them an Alms for if they stay'd never so little they straightway set the pot to their mouths and taking a great sup of that stinking stuff they
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
these things and how much we are bound to him for the benefit of this Creation Then one of our company named Gaspar de Meyrelez shewing himself therein more curious then the rest after he had thanked the Grepo in the name of us all he prayed him to give him leave to ask him something which he desired to know of him Whereunto the Grepo made answer that he was very well contented For added he it is as well the property of a wise and curious man to enquire for to learn as of an ignorant to hear and not be able to answer whereupon Gaspar de Meyrelez demanded of him whether God after he had created all these things whereof he spake had not done some heroical works upon Earth either by his Justice or by his Mercy To this the Grepo replyed that he had it being evident that as long as man lived in this flesh he could not chuse but commit sins which would render him punishable nor God be without a great desire to pardon him and he added further That the sins of men coming to be multiplyed on Earth God had overwhelmed the whole World by commanding the Clouds of Heaven to rain upon it and to drown all living things except one just man with his Family which God put into a great House of wood from whom issued afterwards all the Inhabitants of the Earth The Portugal again enquired whether God after this chastisement had not sent some other God did not answered he send any which taken in general was like unto that but it is true that in particular he chastiseth Kingdoms and People with Wars and other scourges which he sendeth them as we see that he punisheth men with infinite afflictions labors diseases and above all with extream poverty which is the last and extreamest of all evils The Portugal continuing in his demands desired him to tell him whether he had any hope that God would one day be appeased so as men might have entrance into Heaven Whereunto the Grepo replyed That he knew nothing thereof but that it was an evident thing and to be believed as an Article of Faith that even as God was an infinite good so he would have regard to the good which men did upon Earth for his sake Hereupon he demanded of him whether he had not heard it said or found written That after all those things whereof he spake a man was come into the World who dying on the Cross had satisfied God for all men or whether there was not among them some knowledg thereof Whereunto the Grepo answered None can make satisfaction to God but God himself although there be in the World holy and vertuous men which satisfie for themselves and for some of their friends such as are the Gods of our Temples as the Grepos do assure us But to say that one alone hath satisfied for all is a thing which we have never heard of till now besides on Earth which is so base of it self a Ruby of so high a price cannot be ingendred It is true nevertheless that in times past so much was certified to the Inhabitants of this Country by a man named John who came into this City and was held for an holy man having been the Disciple of another called Tomé Modeliar the Servant of God whom those of the Country put to death because he went publiquely preaching That God was made man and that he had suffered death for mankind which at first wrought such a Division amongst the people of this Nation as many believed it for a very truth and others opposed it and formed a contrary party against it incited thereunto by the Grepoes of the Law of Quiay Figrau God of the Atomes of the Sun so that they reproved all that this stranger said by reason whereof He was banished from this City to the Kingdom of Bramaâ— and from thence for the same cause to the Town of Digan where he was put to death for preaching publiquely as I said before That God became man and was crucified for men Upon these speeches Gaspar de Meyrelez and we said that this man had preached nothing in this Country which was not most true wherewith the Grepo was so taken that he fell down on his knees before all that were present and lifting up his hands and eyes to Heaven he said with tears in his eyes Lord of whose beauty and goodness the Heavens and the Stars do give testimony I with all my heart do beseech thee to permit that in our times the hour may come wherein the People of the other end of the World may give thee thanks for so great a Grace After that these matters were past in this manner and many others besides which well deserved to be related if my gross wit were able to describe them the Embassador took his leave of the Grepo with many complements and words of courtesie whereof they are nothing sparing as being much accustomed to practise them one with another CHAP. XLIX An ample relation of this Empire of the Calaminham and of the Kingdomes of Pegu and Bramaa with the continuance of our voyage and what we saw among the same A Moneth after our arrivall at this City of Timphan where the Court then was the Ambassador demanded an answer to his Ambassie and it was immediately granted him by the Calaminham with whom he spake himself and being graciously entertained by him he referred him for his dispatch to the Monuagaruu that was as I have heretofore delivered the chief man in governing the Kingdome who gave him an answer on the behalf of the Calaminham as also a present in exchange of that which the King of Bramaa had sent him withall he wrote him a Letter that contained these words Thou arm of a clear Ruby which God hath newly enchaced into my body and whose flesh is fitly fastned to me as that of my brother by that new league and amity now accorded unto thee by me Prechau Guimiam Lord of the seven and twenty Crownes of the Montaignes of the earth inherited by a lawfull succession from him who these two and twenty moneths hath not set his feet upon my head for so long it is since he left me never to set me again by reason of the sanctification which his soul doth now enjoy in feeling the sweet heat of the beams of the Sun I have seen thy Letter dated the fifth chaâ—eca of the eighth moon of the year whereunto I have given the true credit of a brother and as such a one I accept of the party thou dost present me with obliging my self to render thee the two passages of Savady free that so thou mayest without fear of the Siamon be King of Avaa as thou desirest me by thy Letter And as for the other conditions whereof thy Ambassador hath made some mention unto me I will make answer thereunto by one of mine own whom will send unto thee from hence e're it be long to the end thou mayest
said he unto him I pray thee by the great goodness of that God in whom thou believest to pardon me that for which thou accusest me and to remember that it is not the part of a Christian in this painful estate wherein I see my self at this present to put me in mind of that which I have done heretofore for besides that thou canst not thereby recover the loss which thou sayest thou hast sustained it will but serve to afflict and trouble me the more Pacheco having heard what this fellow said commanded him to hold his peace which immediately he did whereupon the Xemindoo with a grave countenance made shew that this action pleased him so that seeming to be more quiet it made him to acknowledge that with his mouth which he could not otherwise requite I must confess said he unto him that I could wish if God would permit it I might have one hour longer of life to profess the excellency of the faith wherein you Portugals live for as I have heretofore heard it said your God alone is true and all other gods are lyers The Hangman had no sooner heard these words but he gave him so great a buffet on the face that his nose ran out with bloud so that the poor Patient stooping with his handsâ—downward Brother said he unto him suffer me to save this bloud to the end thou maist not want some to fry my flesh withall So passing on in the same order as before he finally arrived at the place where he was to be executed with so little life as he scarcely thought of any thing When he was amounted on a great Scaffold which had been expresly erected for him the Chirca of Justice fell to reading of his Sentence from an high Seate where he was placed the contents whereof were in few words these The living God of our heads Lord of the Crown of the Kings of Avaa commands that the perfidious Xemindoo be executed as the Perturbator of the people of the earth and the mortal enemy of the Bramaa Nation This said he made a sign with his hand and instantly the Hangman cut off his head at one blow shewing it to all the people vvhich vvere there vvithout number and divided his body into eight quarters setting his bovvels and other interior parts vvhich vvere put together in a place by themselves then covering all vvith a yellovv cloth vvhich is a mark of mourning amongst them they vvere left there till the going dovvn of the Sun at vvhich time they vvere burnt in the manner ensuing The eight quarters of the Xemindooes body vvere exposed from mid-day till three of Clock in the afternoon to the view of all the people whereof there was an infinite company there for every one came thronging thither as well to avoid the punishment wherewith they had been threatned as to gain in so doing the Plenary indulgence called by them Axiperan which their Priests gave them of their sins without restitution of any thing of all the Theeveries by them formerly committed After then that the tumult was appeased and that certain men on horseback had imposed silence on the people by making certain publications whereby the Transgressors therein were threatned with terrible punishments a bell was heard to toll five several times upon this signal twelve men clothed in black robes spotted all over with bloud having their faces covered and bearing silver Maces on their shoulders came out of a house of wood made expresly for that purpose and distant some five or six paces from the Scaffold after them followed twelve Priests which they call Talagrepos being as I have said the most eminent Dignities amongst these Pagans and held by them as Saints then appeared the Xemin Pocasser the King of Bramaaes Uncle who seemed to be near an hundred years old and was as the rest all in mourning and invironed with twelve little boyes richly apparelled carrying on their shoulders Courtelasses curiously Damasked After that the Xemin had with a great deal of Ceremonie prostrated himselfe three times on the ground in way of extraordinary reverence O holy flesh said he which art more to be â—steâ—med then all the Kingdomes of Avaa thou orient Pearle of as many Carats as there be Atomes in the beams of the Sun whom God hath placed in an height of Honour with a Scepter of Soveraign power above that of Kings I that am the least of thy meiny and so unlike thee through my baseness as I can scarcely see my self so little I am do most humbly beseâ—ch thee O thou Lord of my head by the fresh Meadow where thy soul doth now recreat thy self to hear that with thy sorrowful ears which my mouth sayes to thee in publick to the end thou maist remain satisfied for the offence which hath been done thee in this world Oretanan Chaumigrem thy brother Prince of Savady and Tanguu sends to intreat thee by me thy slave that before he departs out of this life thou wilt pardon him that which is past if he have given thee any discontent and withall that thou wilt take possession of all his Kingdomes because he doth even now yeild them up unto thee without reserving the least part thereof for himself withall he protests unto thee by me thy vassal that he makes this reconciliation with thee voluntarily to the end that the complaints which thou maiest prefer against him there above in heaven may not be heard of God Moreover for a punishment of the displeasure he hath done thee he offers to be for thee during this pilgrimage of life the Captain and Guardian of this thy Kingdome of Pegu for which he does thee homage with an oath to accomplish alwaies upon earth whatsoever thou shalt command him from heaven above upon condition that thou wilt bestow the profit which shall arise thereof upon him at an almes for his entertainment for he knowes very well that otherwise he should not be permitted to possess the Kingdome neither would the Menigrepos ever consent thereunto nor at the hour of death give him absolution for so great a sinne Upon these words one of the Priests that was present and that seemed to have more authoritie then all the rest made him answer as if the deceased himself had spoken Since I see O my Sonne that thou doest now confesse thy past faults and cravest pardon of me for them in this publick assembly I do grant it thee with all my hearâ— and it pleases me to leave thee in this Kingdome for the pastor of this my flock on condition that thou dost not violate the faith thou hast given me by this oath which would be as great an offence as if thou shouldst now come to lay hands on me without the permission of Heaven All the people having heard these words answered thereunto with joyfull voices Perform so much my Lord my Lord. After this the Priest being got into the pulpit began to speak thus to the assistants Present me with part