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