Prior of the Covent of Sphahan who the day before arrived at Goa in a Shallop which had been long expected and judg'd lost having been seven moneths in coming from Mascat He said he came about Affairs of his Order and the Covents of Persia for besides that which I left at Sphahan they have since made one at Sciraz and another at Bassora and daily multiply yet with-all it was rumored that he was sent by the King of Persia to treat with the Vice-Roy about According the matters of Ormuz and I believe it although he spoke nothing of it himself otherwise me-thinks 't is not likely they would have let him come out of Persia without the King 's express Licence or that the King would have granted it in time of Warr unless he had come about some particular business of his He informed me that all my friends in Persia were well and so did a Letter of F Fra Giovanni to his Provincial at Goa wherein mention was made of me giving me intelligence of the well-fare of all my Friends and how Sitti Laali my Cousin had brought forth a Son whom she had nam'd Avedik from Chogia Avedik his Father's Uncle which News was stale for I knew it before my coming out of Persia and indeed all the Letters F. Manoel brought were of a very old date to me he brought none because my Friends there conceiv'd I was gone out of India into Europe May the seven and twentieth A Ship of the Portugal Fleet that was coming from Mozambique arrived in the Port of Mormogon it entred not into the River of Goa because the mouth of the River by reason of the lateness of the season was unsecure and began to be stopped for every year all the mouths of the Rivers and Ports of this Coast are fill'd with sand during the time of Rain wherein the West wind blows very tempestuously and are open'd again in September when the Rain ends The Port of Mormogon as I have elswhere said is in the same Island of Goa in the other mouth of the more Southern River where sometimes old Goa stood by which goods are convey'd by Boat from the Ships to the City but by a longer way going behind round the Island May the twenty eighth In the Evening at the time of Ave Maria the Bells of almost all the Churches of Goa saving that of the Jesuits were rung for the Beatification of two Fryers of the Order of San Domenico whereof this Ship had brought News May the twenty ninth Another Portugal Ship of the Fleet arrived and within two or three dayes after all the other Ships expected from Mozambique and in one of them the Jesuit design'd Patriarch into Aethiopia whither he with two Bishops whereof one was dead by the way and many other Jesuits was sent at the instance of the King of the same Country who they say is called Sultan Saghed and professes himself a Roman-Catholick already with great hopes of reducing all that Kingdom to the Church in short time As for the progress which the Jesuits affirm daily to be made in those Countries being I know nothing of them but by the information of others I refer you to their Annual Letters and it suffices me to have touched here what I saw concerning the same to wit the expedition of this Patriarch Bishops and many Fathers who were sent thither by several wayes attempting to open a passage into those Countries lest such Commerce might be hindred by the Turks who are Masters of some of those Passes So that the F. Visitor of the Jesuits told me they had this year sent many people for Aethiopia not onely by the Arabian Gulph and the Territories of the Turks bordering upon it but also by Cascem a Country of Arabia govern'd by Arabians themselves by Mozambique and Mombaza Countries of the Portugals in the Coast of Africk by Cafaria Angola and Congo that so by these several wayes they might send enough being the King demanded at least two hundred of their Fathers And 't is manifest that if the Conversion goes forward as they presuppose the Country is so large that there will be work enough for a greater number of Fathers and Religious Catholicks June the second We accompany'd with a solemn Cavalcade Sig Andrea de Quadro from the House of his God-father Sig Gasparo di Melo Captain of the City to the Jesuits Colledg where by the hands of the same Fathers was given him the degree of Master of Arts that is of Philosophy the said Fathers having by Apostolical Authority jurisdiction in India to confer the said degree and that of Doctorate for which reason I here have taken notice of this action June the seventh I visited in the said Colledge the Patriarch of Aethiopia one of the society nam'd Don Alfonso Luigi de Santi he told me much News from Rome and of several of my Relations whom he knew but it was stale News The Patriarch and his Fathers had been inform'd of me both by the Fathers of Goa and by a Portugal Souldier call'd Pero Lopez whom I knew in Persia and who went to Rome with my Letters where he lodg'd many dayes in my House from thence pass'd into Spain and at length return'd into India and came from Mozambique to Goa in the same Ship with the Patriarch To gratifie whose desires of seeing me upon their informations I visited him he not onely shew'd me many courtesies and offers of serving me with like ceremonious words but himself and all his Fathers enter'd into an intimate Friendship with me condition'd to hold mutual correspondence of Letters from Aethipia to Rome and where ever else I should happen to be We discours'd of many things and he inquir'd of me concerning his Voyage and how Fathers might pass at any time into Aethiopia from other parts particularly from Aegypt I inform'd him of the Aethiopick Language and some good Books for learning it c. June the sixteenth If I mistake not in Computation for which I refer my self to better diligence which I shall use with their Ephemerides of this year in case I can procure the same the Moors were to begin their Rasandhan or Fast of their 1633 year of the Hegira June the twenty fourth Being in a Window to see the careers of the Cavaliers who ran in the Street before the Vice-roy according to the yearly custom in Goa upon S. John's Day I hapned to meet with Sig. Luis de Mendoza General of the Fleet wherewith I went to Calecut and Sig. Bento or Benedetto or Freites Mascarenhas in a Portugal Habit who a few years before was taken by Pirats of Algiers and carried a slave to Barbary whence being redeemed and return'd into his own Country he was favourably look't upon by his King and sent again into India Captain of a Galeon This Cavalier besides the relation of his own misadventures told me how Qara Sultan who in my time was sent Embassador from the King of Persia
an hundred of such a number From Sidon they got a passage by Sea unto Alexandretta now called Scanderoon in the extreamest bottom of the Mediterranean Sea which is one of the unwholsomest places in the world where I have often heard that no stranger that was born far from it comes to continue there for the space of one moneth but is sure to meet with a sickness which very often proves mortal At this place his English Companion left him and turned his face towards England and he presently took his way towards Aleppo in Syria about seventy miles or more distant from Scanderoon which is as much renowned for wholsomness as the place before-named for being unwholsome and therefore it is called sweet-air'd Aleppo Here he being kindly received by the English Consul stayed a time to gain the company of a Caravan which consists of a great mixt multitude of people from divers parts which get and keep together travelling those parts for fear of the incursions and violences by Thieves and Murtherers which they would undoubtedly meet withal if they travelled single or but few together With these he after set forwards towards and to that City anciently called Niniveh in Assyria which we find in the Prophesie of Jonah was sometimes a great and excellent City of three dayes journey Jonah 3.3 but now so exceedingly lessen'd and lodg'd in obscurity that passengers cannot say of it This was Niniveh which now hath its old name changed and is called Mozel From hence they journied to Babylon in Chaldea situated upon the River Euphrates once likewise so great that Aristotle called it a Country not a City but now it is very much contracted and 't is called Bagdat From this place they proceeded through both the Armeniaes and either did or else our Traveller was made to believe that he saw the very Mountain Ararat whereon the Ark of Noah rested after the Flood Gen. 8. And from hence they went forward towards the Kingdom of Persia and there to Vzspahan the usual place of Residence for that great King then called Sha Abbas or King Abbas And after they went to Seras anciently called Shushan where the great King Ahasuerus kept his Royal and most Magnificent Court Esth. 1. From hence they journied afterwards to Candahor the first Province North East under the subjection of the Great Moghol and so to Lahore the chiefest City but one belonging to that great Empire a place as I have been often told by Tom Coryat and others of very great trade wealth and delight lying more temperately out of the Parching Sun than any other of his great Cities do And to this City he wanted not Company nor afterwards to Agra the Moghol's Metropolis or chief City And here it is very observable that from Lahore to Agra it is four hundred English miles and that the Country betwixt both these great Cities is rich even pleasant and flat a Campania and the rode-way on both sides all this long distance planted with great Trees which are all the year cloathed with leaves exceeding beneficial unto Travellers for the shade they afford them in those hot Climes This very much extended length of way 'twixt these two places is called by Travellers the Long Walk very full of Villages and Towns for Passengers every where to find Provision At Agra our Traveller made an halt being there lovingly received in the English Factory where he stayd till he had gotten to his Turkish and Morisco or Arabian Languages some good knowledge in the Persian and Indostan Tongues in which study he was alwayes very apt and in little time shewed much proficiency The first of those two the Persian is the more quaint the other the Indian the vulgar Language spoken in East-India In both these he suddenly got such a knowledge and mastery that it did exceedingly afterwards advantage him in his Travels up and down the Mogol's Territory he wearing alwayes the Habit of that Nation and speaking their Language In the first of these the Persian Tongue he made afterwards an Oration to the Great Mogol bringing in that Story of the Queen of Sheba 1 Kings 10. in which parts of that Sacred History the Mahumetans have some knowledge and he told him that as the Queen of Sheba having heard of the Fame of King Solomon came from far to visit him which when she had done she confessed that though she had heard very much of him and many things beyond her belief yet now seeing what she did acknowledged that she had not heard half of that which she now saw concerning the Wisdom and Greatness and Retinue and Riches of Solomon So our Orator told the Mogol that he had heard very much of him before he had the Honour to see him when he was very far off in his own Country but now what he beheld did exceedingly surmount all those former Reports of him which came to his Ears at such a distance from him Then larding his short speech with some other pieces of Flattery which the Mogol liked well concluded And when he had done the Mogol gave him one hundred Roopus which amounts to the value of twelve pounds and ten shillings of our English Money looking upon him as a Derveese Votary or Pilgrim for so he called him and such as bear that name in that Country seem not much to care for money and that was the reason I conceive that he gave him not a more plentiful Reward After this he having got a great mastery likewise in the Indostan or more vulgar Language there was a Woman a Landress belonging to my Lord Embassadors House who had such a freedom and liberty of Speech that she would sometimes scould brawl and rail from the Sun-rising to Sun-set One day he undertook her in her own Language and by eight of the Clock in the Morning so silenced her that she had not one word more to speak I shall have occasion to say more of this man in some passages of this following Discourse and therefore I shall not wrap all I have to speak of him in this although it be a very long digression Yet because I must now shortly bring you to his journies end I shall take the freedom to enlarge my self a little further concerning him here in this place before I leave him for the present and to give thee Reader a piece of his Character it speaks thus That he was a man of a very coveting Eye that could never be satisfied with seeing as Solomon speaks Eccles. 1.8 though he had seen very much and I am perswaded that he took as much content in seeing as many others in the enjoying of Great and Rare things He was a man that had got the mastery of many hard Languages as before I observed to the Latine and Greek he brought forth of England with him in which if he had obtained wisdom to husband and manage them as he had skill to speak them he had deserved more Fame in his
many excellent Bows and Arrows made in it The Bows made of Horn excellently glued and put together the Arrows of small Canes or Reeds both of them curiously set off by rich Paint and Varnish They which are made here are neat and good than in any part of East-India besides 4. Haiacan the Province of the Baloches who are a very stout and war-like people that dare fight I insert this because there are infinite multitudes of people in the Mogol's Territories who appear as likely as these but so low-spirited as I shall after observe that they dare not fight This Province hath no renowned City The famous River Indus call'd by the Inhabitants Skind borders it on the East and Lar a Province belonging to the King of Persia meets it on the West 5. Buckor the chief City called Buckor-Succor that famous River Indus makes its way through it and gently enricheth it 6. Tatta the chief City so called the River Indus makes many Islands in it exceeding fruitful and pleasant the Main Current whereof meets with the Sea at Sindee a place very famous for many curious Handicrafts 7. Soret the chief City is called Janagar it is but a little Province yet very rich it lyes upon Guzarat it hath the Ocean to the South 8. Jesselmure the chief City so called it joyneth with Soret but Buckor and Tatta lye to the West thereof 9. Attack the chief City so called it lyeth on the East side of Indus which parts it from Haiacan 10. Peniab which signifieth five Waters for that it is seated amongst five Rivers all Tributaries to Indus which somewhat South of Labore make but one Current It is a large Province and most fruitful Lahore is the chief City thereof built very large and abounds both in people and riches one of the most principal Cities for Trade in all India 11. Chishmeere the chief City called Siranakar the River Bhat finds a way through it though it be very mountainous and so creeps to the Sea 12. Banchish the chief City is called Bishur it lyeth East somewhat Southerly from Chishmeere from which it is divided by the River Indus 13. Jangapore the chief City so called it lyeth upon the River Kaul one of those five Rivers which water Peniab 14. Jenba the chief City so called it lyeth East of Peniab 15. Dellee which signifies an Heart and is seated in the heart of the Mogol's Territories the chief City so called it lyeth between Jenba and Agra the River Jemni which runneth through Agra and after falleth into Ganges begins in it This Dellee is both an ancient and a great City the Seat of the Mogol's Ancestors where most of them lye interred It was once the City and Seat of King Porus who was conquered about this place by Alexander the Great and here he encountring with huge Elephants as well as with a mighty Hoast of Men said as Curtius reports Tandem par animo meo inveni periculum That he had met with dangers to equal his great mind I was told by Tom Coryat who took special notice of this place that he being in the City of Delle observed a very great Pillar of Marble with a Greek inscription upon it which time hath almost quite worn out erected as he supposed there and then by Great Alexander to preserve the memory of that famous Victory 16. Bando the chief City so called it confineth Agra to the West 17. Malway a very fruitful Province Rantipore is its chief City 18. Chitor an ancient great Kingdom the chief City so called which standeth upon a mighty high Hill flat on the top walled about at the least ten English miles There appear to this day above an hundred ruined Churches and divers fair Palaces which are lodged in like manner among their Ruines besides many exquisite Pillars of Carved Stone and the Ruines likewise at the least of an hundred thousand Stone-Houses as many English by their observation have ghessed There is but one ascent unto it cut out of a firm Rock to which a man must pass through four sometimes very magnificent Gates It s chief inhabitants at this day are Ziim and Ohim Birds and Wild Beasts but the stately Ruines thereof give a shadow of its Beauty while it flourished in its Pride It was won from Ranas an ancient Indian Prince who was forc'd to live himself ever after in high mountainous places adjoyning to that Province and his Posterity to live there ever since Taken from him it was by Achabar Padsha the Father of that King who lived and reigned when I was in those parts after a very long siege which famished the besieged without which it could never have been gotten 19. Guzarat a very goodly and large and an exceeding rich Province it encloseth the Bay of Cambaya its chief City is Amadavaz besides it hath in it Cambaya Brodera Baroch and Surat fair Cities but the first of those I named more spacious and populous and rich then any of the other It is watered with many goodly Rivers as that of Cambaya falsly supposed to be Indus with the River Narbodah passing by Baroch and so to the Sea with the River Taplee which watereth Surat The Merchants which are the Natives of this Province trade to the Red Sea to Achin and to divers other places 20. Chandis the chief City called Brampore which is very great and rich and full of people Adjoyning to this Province lived a petty Prince called Partapsha tributary to the Mogol and this is the most Southernmost part of all his Territories 21. Berar the chief City is called Shapore the Southernmost part whereof doth likewise bound this Empire 22. Narvar the chief City is called Gehud it is watered by a fair River that much enricheth it and dischargeth it self into Ganges 23. Gwalier the chief City so called where the Mogol hath a very rich Treasury of Gold and Silver kept in this City within an exceeding strong Castle wherein the Kings Prisoners are likewise kept The Castle is continually guarded by a very strong Company of Armed Souldiers 24. Agra a principal and very rich Province the chief City so called this great Emperours Metropolis in North Latitude about twenty eight degrees and a half It is very well watered by the River Jemni This and Lahore are the two principal and chosce Cities of this Empire betwixt whom is that Long Walk I made mention of before of four hundred miles in length shaded by great Trees on both sides This is looked upon by Travellers who have found the comfort of that cool shade as one of the rarest and most beneficial Works in the whole World 25. Sanbat the chief City so called the River Jemni parts it from Narvar and after at the City Hellabass falls into that most famous River Ganges which is called by the Inhabitants of East-India Ganga 26. Bakar the chief City called Bikaneer it lyeth on the West side of the River Ganges 27. Nagracot the chief City so called
call'd by the name of Melick's Country then the Kingdom of Nizam-Scià h Nevertheless this Melik Amber governs not fraudulently and with design to usurp by keeping the King shut up as I have sometimes heard but according as I have better understood since from persons inform'd nearer hand he administers with great fidelity and submission towards the young King to whom nevertheless they say he hath provided or already given to Wife a Daughter of his own upon security that himself shall be Governour of the whole State as long as he lives This Melik Amber is a Man of great parts and fit for government but as they say very impious addicted to Sorcery whereby 't is thought that he keeps himself in favour with his King and that for works of Inchantments as to make prodigious buildings and with good luck that the same may last perpetually and succeed well he hath with certain Superstitions us'd in those Countries committed most horrid impieties and cruelties killing hundreds of his Slave's Children and others and offering them as in Sacrifice to the invok'd Devils with other abominable stories which I have heard related but because not seen by my self I affirm not for true The Ambassador of this Nizam-Scià h in Persia is that Hhabese Chan an Abyssine also whom I saw at my being there Of strange things they relate that Nizam-Scià h hath I know not where in his Country a piece of Ordnance so vast that they say it requires 15000. pound of Powder to charge it that the Ball it carries almost equals the height of a Man that the metal of the piece is about two spans thick and that it requires I know not how many thousand Oxen besides Elephants to move it which therefore is useless for war and serves onely for vain pomp Nevertheless this King so esteems it that he keeps it continually cover'd with rich cloth of Gold and once a year comes in person to do it reverence almost adoring it and indeed although these Kings are Moors yet they still retain much of the ancient Idolatry of the Countries wherein Mahometism is little or not yet universally setled The second of the three pety Kings whose Country joyns to that of the Moghòl but borders upon the Sea Eastward in the Gulph of Bengala is he who for the same reasons mention'd concerning Nizam-Scià h is call'd by the hereditary sirname of Cutb-Scià h which some erroneously expound Polo d' i Rè the Pole of Kings being deceiv'd by the Arabick word Cutb which signifies the Pole and is us'd by the Arabians and Persians to denote supream excellency understanding e. g. by Polo de i Savii ò di Sapienza The Pole of Wise-men or of Wisdom the wisest Man in the world by Polo di Santità o della Legge The Pole of Sanctity and the Law the greatest pitch and the highest observer of the divine Law and so in all other like Cases but I say I believe they are mistaken and there seems to me more truth in the exposition of others who interpret Rè de i Cani King of Dogs from Cutb which in the Language of India signifies a Dog because he was Master of the Dogs to that supream King Under his jurisdiction is Gulcondalà r where I think he hath his Royal Seat and Mislipatan a famous Port in the Gulph of Bengala Lastly the third of the three Reguli is he who hath his Seat in Visapor and reigns in the Country of Telongane bordering upon the Portugals Territories at Goa more Southwards then the two before mention'd Some will have Visapor and Goa belong to the Province of Dacà n and that Telenga much more remote toward the South The truth is India and the Provinces thereof is very confus'd forasmuch as the Indians themselves being illiterate cannot distinguish it aright and the Portugals have all their knowledge thereof from the vulgar of the ignorant Indians whose Language they understand not well and extreamly corrupt in pronuntiations therefore I cannot speak any thing certain concerning the same as neither have the Portugal Writers been able to do though persons very exact and sufficient But to return to my purpose the proper name of him that now reigns is Ibrahim but his hereditary sirname as the others is Adil-Scià h or Idal Scià h which signifies not giusto Rè a Just King as some think from the Arabick word Adil denoting Just but rather in my opinion as some others say Rè delle Chiavi King of the Keys from Adil or Idal an Indian word importing Keys he having been in times pass'd Superintendent of the Keys of the Treasury perhaps or Archives under the supream King Sometimes these Princes have been call'd Nizam-maluk Adil-Chan and so the others with the words either Melek or Chan in stead of Scià h which is all one for Melek or Maluk as some corruptly read signifies a King in Arabick as Chan doth also in Turkish and Scià h in Persian And because these three Languages are sufficiently familiar and almost common to the Moors therefore they have us'd sometimes one word sometimes another but in later times it seems that those who now rule rejecting the words Melek and Chan are better pleas'd with the Persian Title Scià h as being perhaps more modern to them whence they are ordinarily call'd now Nizam-Scià h Cutb-Scià h and Adil-Scià h which are the three Princes of whom I undertook to give an account as persons whom I shall have frequent occasion to mention in these Writings And to leave nothing unsaid I shall add that Nizam-Scià h or rather his Governour Melik-Ambar makes war frequently and bravely against the Great Moghòl upon whom he borders Cutb-Scià h I know not whether he actually makes publick war against him but at least he fails not to assist his Neighbour Nizam-Scià h with money The same doth also Adil-Scià h but secretly and by under-hand not daring through I know not what mean fear declare himself an enemy to the Moghòl I say mean fear because not bordering upon him for the two other Princes lye between them and being able as they say upon occasion to bring into the field a hundred thousand men he seems justly chargeable with timerousness and cowardice since me-thinks he that hath a hundred thousand men at his command ought not to fear the whole world or if he doth he is a very Poltron But indeed Adil Scià h fears the Moghòl yea he fears and observes him so much that he payes him an annual Tribute and when the Moghòl sends any Letter to him which is always brought by some very ordinary common Souldier or Slave he goeth forth with his whole Army to meet the Letter and him that brings it who being conducted to the Palace sits down there whilst Adil-Scià h stands all the time and the Letter being lay'd upon a Carpet on the pavement before he offers to put forth his hand to take it up he bows himself three times to the earth doing reverence to it after their manner Moreover I have heard that this Ibrahim Adil-Sciah
over them he not only shew'd no great liking of the Embassie but made little account of it and in a manner despis'd it that so he might keep himself and his affairs in greater reputation October the thirtieth Sig Gio Fernandez being resolv'd to depart the next day sent some Horses before upon this with some of his Family The same Evening one from Goa brought News of the arrival there of some Portugals of the Fleet which came this year from Portugal consisting of four great trading Ships two Shallops and four Galeons of Warr which last come in order to be consign'd to Ruy Freira for the War of Ormùz the loss of which place and the deliverance of Ruy Freira out of prison being already known at the Court of Spain but not the loss of the Ships of the Fleet the last year The Portugals arriv'd in Goa according to the abovesaid intelligence came in one of the Galeons of the Fleet which is coming which being separated from the rest toucht at Mozambique and there being old and shatter'd was lost onely all the People and Goods were sav'd and came in other Ships to Goa and being the rest of the Fleet delayes so long 't is conceiv'd to have held a course without the Island of Saint Lorenzo which uses to take up more time They relate also that the Marriage between Spain and England is concluded and that the Prince of England is now in Spain being come thither incognito before the conclusion of the Marriage which was shortly expected It being already very late I shall not longer deferr concluding this Letter because it is requisite for me to go and take a little rest that I be may fit for my journey to morrow Morning if it please God to whom I heartily commend you and with my accustomed affection kiss your Hands From Onòr October 30. 1623. LETTER V. From Ikkerì Novemb. 22. 1623. I Write to you from Ikkerì the Royal City and Seat of Venk-tapà Naieka whither I am come and where I am at present I shall give you an account of the Audience which our Ambassador hath had of this King who in my judgment should rather be call'd a Regulus or Royolet although the Portugals and Indians give him the honor of a Royal Title being he hath in effect neither State Court nor appearance befitting a true King I shall describe to you every particular that is not unworthy your Curiosity and adjoyn some other of my Relations and Descriptions of the Idolatrous Gentiles their vain Superstitions and Ceremonies about their Idols Temples Pagods What I shall now set down mine own Eyes have witness'd to and I shall not fear being too tedious in describing things perhaps over minutely in these Letters since I know you are delighted therewith and out of your great erudition can make reflections upon the Rites us'd in these parts of the world which in many things are not unlike the ancient Aegyptian Idolatry For I am perswaded to believe not without the authority of ancient Authors that the worship of Isis and Osiris was common to Aegypt and this Region as in Philostratus I find Apollonius affirming that in India he saw the Statues not onely of the Aegyptians but also of the Grecian gods as of Apollo Bacchus and Minerva But to return to the particulars of my journey October the one and thirtieth After one a clock in the Afternoon we departed from Onòr with Sig Gio Fernandez in a Mancion or Barge and the rest of the Family in a less Boat Vitulà Sinay who was to go with us we left in a readiness to set forth after us I know not whether by water or by Land We row'd up the River which runs Southward to Onòr against the stream making use both of Sail and Oars and a little before night having gone about three Leagues we came to Garsopà and there lodg'd This place was sometimes a famous City Metropolis of the Province and Seat of a Queen in which State as likewise in many others upon the Coast of India to this day a Woman frequently hath the sovereignty Daughters or other nearest Kinswomen begotten by what ever Father succeeding the Mothers these Gentiles having an opinion as 't is indeed that the Issue by the Woman-side is much more sure of the blood and lineage of the Ancestors then that by the Man-side The last Queen of Garsopà fell in Love with a mean Man and a stranger into whose power she resign'd her self together with her whole Kingdom In which act setting aside her choosing a Lover of base blood upon which account she was blam'd and hated by the Indians who are most rigorous observers of Nobility and maintainers of the dignity of their ancestors in all points as to giving her self up as a prey to her lover she committed no fault against her honor for in these Countries 't is lawful for such Queens to choose to themselves Lovers or Husbands one or more according as they please But this Man who was so favour'd by the Queen of Garsopà having thoughts as ignoble as his blood in stead of corresponding with gratitude to the Queens courtesie design'd to rebell against her and take the Kingdom from her which for a while he executed having in process of time gain'd the affection of most of her most eminent Vassals The Queen seeing her self oppress'd by the Traytor had recourse to the Portugals offering them her whole State on condition they would free her from imminent ruine But the Portugals according as they had alwayes in India done by their friends whereby they have been many times the ruine of others and themselves too did not succour her till it was too late and then very coldly On the other side the Traytor as his ill Fate or rather God's just anger would have it call'd to his assistance against the Queen and the Portugals his Neighbour Venk-tapà Naieka now Master of those Countries Venk-tapà Naieka taking advantage of the occasion enter'd suddenly into the Kingdom of Garsopà with great diligence and force so that shortly becoming Master of the whole Country and the City Royal having driven out the Portugals who came to defend it he took the Queen Prisoner and carry'd her to his own Court where being kept although honourably she ended her dayes afterwards in an honourable prison But the Traytor under-went the punishment of his crime for Venk-tapà Naieka caus'd him to be slain and for more secure keeping that State in his power caus'd the City and Royal Palace of Garsopà to be destroy'd so that at this day that lately flourishing City is become nothing but a Wood Trees being already grown above the ruines of the Houses and the place scarcely inhabited by four Cottages of Peasants But returning to my Travel I must not omit that the three Leagues of this journey was one of the most delightful passages that ever I made in my life for the Country on either side is very beautiful not consisting
Gate leading into it and another within on the other side Yet I believe both the Stairs and the Balisters are moveable because 't is likely that when the King comes forth the Gate is clearly open otherwise it would not be handsome but this is onely my conjecture We enter'd this Gate ascending the Stairs upon the Rails where we were met by the Messenger whom the above-said person had sent to the King and who again invited us into the Palace by the Kings Order Within the Gate we found a great Court of a long form without any just and proportionate figure of Architecture on the sides were many lodgings in several places and in the middle were planted divers great Trees for shadow The King 's chief apartment and as I believe by what I shall mention hereafter where his Women were was at the end of the Court opposite to the left side of the Entrance The Edifice in comparison of ours was of little consideration but according to their mode both for greatness and appearance capable of a Royal Family It had a cover'd porch in that form as all their structures have and within that was a door of no great largeness leading into the House Here we found Cicco the Portugal youth become an Indian in Habit and Language but as himself told us and as his Portugal Name which he still retain'd among the Gentiles demonstrated no Renegado but a Christian which I rather believe because indeed the Indian-Gentiles admit not nor care to admit other strangers to their Religion as I have elsewhere noted for conjoyning so inseparately as they do their Religion to the Descents or Races of Men as a Man can never be of other Race then what he was born of so they also think that he neither can nor ought to be of any other Religion although in Habit Language and Customes he accommodate himself to the people with whom he lives With the said Cicco we found many other of the King's Courtiers who waited for us and here we convers'd with them a good while before the Gate expecting a new Message from the King who they told us was now bathing himself according to their custom after supper Nor was it long before Order came from the King for us to enter and accordingly we were introduc'd into that second Gate and passing by a close room like a chamber in which I saw the Image of Brahmà upon his Peacock and other Idolets we enter'd into a little open Court surrounded with two rows of narrow and low Cloysters to wit one level with the ground and the other somewhat higher The pavement of the porch was also something rais'd above the plane of the Court so much as might serve for a Man to sit after our manner The King was not in this small Court but they told us we must attend him here and he would come presently Whereupon we betook our selves to sit down upon that rais'd pavement of the porch the Courtiers standing round about us amongst which the Portugal Cicco and another Indian Man who as they said was a Christian and being sometimes a slave to the Portugals had fled hither for Liberty and was entertain'd in the King's Guard serv'd us for Interpreters but not well because the Man spoke not the Portugal Tongue so much as tolerably and Cicco having been taken when he was very young remembred but little of his own Language No sooner were we seated in this place but two Girls about twelve years old enter'd at the same Gate whereat we came in they were all naked as I said above the Women generally go saving that they had a very small blew cloth wrap'd about their immodesties and their Arms Ears and Necks were full of ornaments of Gold and very rich Jewels Their colour was somewhat swarthy as all these Nations are but in respect of others of the same Country clear enough and their shape no less proportionable and comely than their aspect was handsome and wel-favour'd They were both the Daughters as they told us of the Queen that is not of the King but of his Sister who is styl'd and in effect is Queen for these Gentiles using to derive the descent and inheritance by the line of the Women though the Government is allow'd to Men as more fit for it and he that governes is call'd King yet the King's Sister and amongst them if there be more then one she to whom by reason of Age or for other respects it belongs is call'd and properly is Queen and not any Wife or Concubine of the King who ha's many So also when the King who governes upon the account of being Son of the Queen-Mother happens to dye his own Sons succeed him not because they are not the Sons of the Queen but the Sons of his Sister or in defect of such those of the nearest Kins-women by the same Female line So that these two Girls whom I call the Nieces of the Samorì were right Princesses or Infantaes of the Kingdom of Calecut Upon their entrance where we were all the Courtiers present shew'd great Reverence to them and we understanding who they were arose from our seat and having saluted them stood all the time afterwards before them bare-headed For want of Language we spoke not to them because the above-said Indian-slave was retir'd at a distance upon their coming giving place to other more noble Courtiers And Cicco stood so demurely by us that he durst not lift up his eyes to behold them much less speak having already learnt the Court-fashions and good manners of the place Nevertheless they talk'd much together concerning us as they stood and we also of them and all smil'd without understanding one another One of them being more forward could not contain but approaching gently towards me almost touch'd the Sleeve of my Coat with her hand making a sign of wonder to her Sister how we could go so wrap'd up and intangled in clothes as we seem'd to her to be Such is the power of Custom that their going naked seem'd no more strange to us than our being cloth'd appear'd extravagant to them After a short space the King came in at the same door accompany'd with many others He was a young Man of thirty or five and thirty years of Age to my thinking of a large bulk of body sufficiently fair for an Indian and of a handsome presence He is call'd as a principal Courtier whom I afterwards ask'd told me by the proper name of Vikirà His Beard was somewhat long and equally round about his Face he was naked having onely a piece of fine changeable cotten cloth blew and white hanging from the girdle to the middle of the Leg. He had divers bracelets on his Arms pendants at his Ears and other ornaments with many Jewels and rubies of value In his Hand he carry'd a painted staff if it were not an Indian Cane like a Shep-herd's staff upon which fix'd in the earth just as Shep-herds
in which there is a Chappel most richly set forth being seeled and paved with Plate of pure Silver most curiously imbossed over head in sevetal figures which they keep exceeding bright by often rubbing and burnishing it and all this Cost those poor seduced Indians are at to do honour to an Idol they keep in that Chappel What charge can Heathenish Idolaters be content to bear for their gross Idolatry Nothing is too rich too pretious or too dear for it This Idol thus kept in that so richly adorned Chappel they call Matta and it is continually visited by those poor blinded Infidels who out of the officiousness of their Devotion cut off some part of their Tongues to offer unto it as a Sacrifice which they say grow out again as before But in this I shall leave my Reader to a belief as much suspensive as is my own in this particular In this Province likewise there is another famous Pilgrimage to a place called Jallamakee where out of cold Springs that issue out from amongst hard Rocks are daily to be seen continued Eruptions of Fire before which the Idolatrous People fall down and worship Both these places were seen and strictly observed by Master Coryat 28. Siba the chief City is called Hardware where the famous River Ganges passing through or amongst large Rocks makes presently after a pretty full Current but both this and that other great River Indus have their Rise and Original out of the Mountain Caucasus from whence they both first issue That principal Rock through which this River Ganges there makes a Current is indeed or if not according to the fancy of the Superstitious Indians like a Cow's Head which of all sensible Creatures they love best of which more hereafter thither they assemble themselves daily in Troops to wash their bodies ascribing a certain Divinity to Waters but more especially to the Water in the River Ganges And thither our famous Coryat went likewise to view this place 29. Kakares the principal Cities are called Dekalee and Purhola it is a large Province but exceeding mountainous divided it is from Tartaria by the Mountain Caucasus it is the extremest part North under the Mogol's subjection 30. Gor the chief City so called it is full of Mountains the River Sersily a tributary unto Ganges hath its beginning in it 31. Pitan the chief City so called the River Canda waters it and fals into Ganges in the Confines thereof 32. Kanduana the chief City is called Karhakatenka the River Sersily parts it from Pitan This and Gor are the North-east-bounds of this Monarchy 33. Patna the chief City so called the River Ganges bounds it on the West Sersily on the East it is a very fertile Province 34. Jesuat the chief City is called Raiapore it lieth East of Patna 35. Mevat the chief City is called Narnol it is very mountainous 36. Vdessa the chief City called Jekanat it is the most remote part East of this Empire 37. Bengala a most spacious and fruitful Province but more properly to be called a Kingdom which hath two very large Provinces within it Purb and Patan the one lying on the East the other on the West-side of the River Ganges It is limited by the Golph of the same name whereinto the River Ganges which at last comes to be divided into four great Currents dischargeth it self after it hath found a way through the Mogol's Territories more than fifteen hundred miles in length The chief Cities in it are Ragamahat and Dekaka It hath many Havens and Ports belonging unto it which are places of very great trade Now these are the several Provinces belonging to the Great Mogol and all of them under his subjection which may be beheld all together at one view in this most exact affixed Map first made by the especial observation and direction of that most able and honourable Gentleman Sir Thomas Row here contracted into a less compass yet large enough to demonstrate that this great Empire is bounded on the East with the Kingdom of Maug West with Persia and with the Main Ocean Southerly North with the Mountain Caucasus and Tartaria South with Decan and the Gulph of Bengala Decan lying in the skirts of Asia is divided betwixt three Mahumetan Princes and some other Indian Rhaiaes which are Princes likewise The length of these Provinces is Northwest to South-west more than two thousand English miles North and South the extent thereof is about fourteen hundred miles the Southermost part lying in twenty and the Northermost in forty and three degrees of North-Latitude The breadth of this much enlarged and far extended Empire is North-east to South-west about fifteen hundred of the same miles And here a great errour in Geographers must not escape my notice who in their Globes and Maps make East-India and China near Neighbours when as many large Countries are interposed betwixt them which great distance may appear by the long travel of the Indian-Merchants who are usually they going and returning all the way by Land in their journey and return and some stay there two full years from Agra to China Now to give an exact account of all those fore-named Provinces were more than I am able to undertake yet out of that which I have observed in some of them by travelling many miles up into that Countrey and then up and down with my Lord-Embassador unto many places there in progress with that King I shall adventure to ghess at all and I think for my particular that the Great Mogol considering his most large Territories his full and great Treasures with the many rich Commodities his Provinces afford is the greatest and richest known King of the East if not of the whole World I shall now therefore fall upon particulars to make that my observation good Where SECTION II. Of the Soyl there what it is and what it produceth c. THis most spacious and fertile Monarchy called by the Inhabitants Indostan so much abounds in all necessaries for the use and service of man to feed and cloath and enrich him as that it is able to subsist and flourish of it self without the least help from any Neighbour-Prince or Nation Here I shall speak first of that which Nature requires most Food which this Empire brings forth in abundance as singular good Wheat Rice Barley with divers more kinds of good Grain to make Bread the staff of life and all these sorts of Corn in their kinds very good and exceeding cheap For their Wheat it is more full and more white than ours of which the Inhabitants make such pure well-relished Bread that I may say of it as one sometimes spake of the Bread made in the Bishoprick of Liege it is Panis Pane melior Bread better than Bread The ordinary sort of people eat Bread made of a coarser Grain but both toothsom and wholsom and hearty they make it up in broad Cakes thick like our Oaten-cakes and then bake it upon small round iron
spotted all over with several colours They are guided with small cords which go through the parting of their Nostrils and so twixt their horns into the Coach-mans hand who by these restrains them when and guides them how he pleaseth and when he would have them go on pricks them forward with a small and short staff he keeps in his hand pointed like a goad These Oxen there are very neatly made slender strait-limb'd and not very large but naturally very nimble and by daily use made so fit to perform that labour being kept well shod as that they go twenty miles a day and more with good speed They keep those Oxen for this service as their horses well-dressed and so well fed that they be plump and faâ— and consequently very handsom to behold The men there of the greatest rank and quality ride sometimes in those Coaches and sometimes on their curious Horses and sometimes on their brave Elephants but however they are carried they have their horses which wait upon them when they go abroad that they may bestride them when they please And at other times they ride on mens shoulders in a slight thing they call a Palankee made somewhat like a Couch or standing Pallat covered with a Canopy wherein a man may lie at his full length as many of those Grandees do when they are removed from place to place giving themselves up to ease and over unto those sins which follow it and while they are thus carried they make the shoulders and joints of those that feel their heavy weight to bow and buckle under their burdens This as it should seem was an ancient but a base effeminacy sometimes used in Rome Juvenal in his first Satyre describing a fat Lawyer thus carried Causidici nova cum veniat Lectica Mathonis Plena ipso Matho the pleader comes in his new Chair Fill'd with himself when that he takes the air It had been well if such carriages as these had been never heard of but in then-heathen Rome or amongst poor blinded Indians But Vae nobis miseris ad quos Paganorum vitia transierunt Wo to us wretched people of this Nation unto whom the vices of Pagans are derived It was a curse that the old Cretans were wont to wish might fall upon their greatest enemies that they might fall in love with evil customs This doubtless is one amongst many more fallen upon us of this Nation when some not out of necessity but choice make other men their Pack-horses to ride upon them a thing as I conceive of it most unworthy of a man as he is a man so to do But I shall here digress no further but return again to that people I mean those of quality amongst them who out of Pride or Idleness or both are thus carried up and down or by some other means I named before though they remove never so little way from one place to another accounting it very dishonourable for them to go on foot And so much of this I shall now proceed having made mention of their huge multitudes of Horses and Elephants c. to take notice SECTION VII Of their numerous Armies Their Ammunition for war How they lade themselves with weapons How terribly they appear yet how pusillanimous and low-spirited they are WHere first for their numerous Armies it will appear to be no strange thing if we consider the Great Mogol to be what he is an overgrown Prince as before described in the vast extent of his large Territories being like a huge Pike in a great Pond that preys upon all his neighbours who therefore purchase and keep his favour by very great Presents given him by way of homage and a submiss acknowledgment of his mighty Power And besides the Mogol is a Master of unknown treasure having Silver as 't is written of Solomon 1 Kings 10.27 like stones in the streets And certainly in far greater abundance than ever Solomon had Though I must tell my Reader that all metals there are not silver and gold nor all stones precious Now he that can command what treasure he will may likewise command what men he please as the Mogol doth besides his own people Many Persians and Tartars before spoken of very valiant men who serve him as Souldiers on horse-back and so the major part by far whether Natives or strangers are mounted for his service in his wars Hence it is that the Armies there consist of incredible multitudes they talk of some which have exceeded that mighty Host which Zerah King of Aethiopia brought against King Asa 2 Chron. 14.9 but they having not well learned that horrid bloody art of war as the Europeans have and wanting Commanders and other Officers to manage their great Companies are not so skilful to destroy as otherwise they might be it is a phrase most properly and fitly applyed unto savage and absurd and brutish and unreasonable men to the Enemies of God and of his Church by the Prophet Ezek. 21.31 Where Almighty God threatens that he will deiver them into the hands of brutish men and skilful to destroy The Weapons they use in their Wars are Bows and Arrows Swords and Bucklers short Lances having excellent good steel-heads and short pieces like unto Carbines besides those carried upon Elephants before described some Foot-men in their Wars carry those lesser Guns with Bows and Arrows Swords and Bucklers and they are excellent Marks-men They make good Gun-powder for their own use and fire their Guns with Match or Touch-wood Their Swords are made crooked like Falchons and are very sharp but for want of skill in those that temper them will easily break but not bend And therefore we sell at good rates our English Sword-blads that will bow and become strait again They have and they say that for many generations past have had great Ordnance though they seldom make use of them in their Wars Their warlike Musick are some Kettle-drums carried on horse-back with long wind Instruments which make not Musick but noise so harsh and unpleasing that it is enough to fright away their enemies They say that in their Military engagements they make at the first very furious onsets which are too violent long to continue for the Scale quickly decides the controversie when that side which happens first to be worsted and to be put into disorder knows better to Run than to Rally again There are some of the Mogols own Subjects which are men of courage those of note among the Mahometans are called Baloches inhabiting Haiacan adjoyning unto the Kingdom of Persia spoken of before and there are others called Patans taking their denomination from a Province of that name in the Kingdom of Bengala These will look an enemy boldly in the face and maintain with their lives their reputation and valour Amongst the many Sects of Hindoos or Gentiles after spoken of which are subject to this King there is but one race of fighters called Rashboots a number of which live by
the Harbour but something more inwardly discharging great Artillery from thence upon the City and the mouth of the Port so that no Ship could enter But at last a small number of Portugals having routed with a signal and almost miraculous victory a very great body of Moors the same day they likewise took the said Morro whither the routed Moors flying it hapned that in the entrance of the Fortress an Elephant wounded by the Portugals in its flight fell down in the Gate so that the Moors could not shut it and the victorious Portugals in that fury of pursuing the Enemy had occasion and convenience of entring so that they took it and still hold it having improv'd the fortifications and consequently deliver'd the City of Ciaùl from the continual molestations which it suffer'd from thence by the Moors and now the Citizens live in peace and more secure Having landed a little way from the Dogana or Custom-house which stands without the walls the first thing I saw was the Cathedral Church which stands likewise without the walls upon the shore and is the See not of a Bishop but of a Vicar as Daman Bassaim Ormuz and other places are which though they enjoy the title of Cities are nevertheless all subject to the Arch-Bishop of Goa I went next into the Colledge of the Jesuits whose Church here as also in Daman Bassaim and almost all Cities belonging to the Portugals in India is call'd Saint Paul's whence in India the said Fathers are more known by the name of Paulists then Jesuits Here I visited F. Antonio Pereira who was come from Bassaim where I fell acquainted with him in our Fleet in order to go likewise to Goa I likewise visited the F. Rector of the said Colledge who caus'd me to stay dinner with him and being the Fleet departed not that day I also lodg'd in the said Colledge at night April the second I heard Mass early in the Jesuits Church and taking leave of them went to embark but found that my Galeot was remov'd to the other side of the Port under the Mountain to be mended and having found Sig Manuel d' Oliveira one of our Companions embark'd in the same Galeot and understanding that the fleet did not depart that day neither I went with him to hear a Sermon in the Cathedral Church after which we went to dine in the House of F. Francesco Fernandez Priest and Vicar who liv'd sometimes at Ormuz and after the loss of that Island was retir'd hither The Portugals call Secular Priests Fathers as we do the Religious or Monasticks In the same House dwelt Signor a worthy and grave Souldier who being a Friend to my said Companion we convers'd together till it was late and then our Galeot being come back we went to embark but neither did the fleet depart this night as we suppos'd it would April the third A rumor of departing being spread abroad about noon we put out to Sea and cast Anchor at the mouth of the Harbour where many other Galeots were gather'd expecting the setting forth of the whole fleet but neither did we depart this day nor the night ensuing April the fourth The fleet being at length in readiness and the Sun a good height we set sail and departed from the Port of Ciaùl In the Afternoon we sail'd by a Fort which is the onely one possess'd near the Sea by the Moors of Daman that is by Nizà m Scià h which Fort is call'd Danda Ragiaporì and at night we cast Anchor under a steep shore call'd Kelsi We did not sail in the night time because the Cafila was numerous consisting by my conjecture of above 200. Vessels and in the dark some unwary Ship might easily have been taken by the Rovers of Malabar The next day we sail'd gently along onely with the sail call'd the Trinket making but little way that so we might go altogether and not leave many Ships behind which being ill provided of Tackle could not sail fast We cast Anchor again early in the Evening to avoid the confusion which might arise by so many Ships casting Anchor together besides the danger of falling foul one upon another in the dark Our course was always Southerly and the Coast along which we pass'd on the left hand was all mountainous till having got out of the dominion of Nizam-Sciah we began to coast along that of Adil-Scià h Now that it may be understood who these Princes are I shall tell you that on the South of the States of the Great Moghòl in the Confines whereof India begins to be distended into a great Tongue of Land like a Triangle a great way Southwards into the Sea between the Gulph of Cambaia and the Gulph of Bengala the first Province of India joyning to the States of the Moghòl is the Kingdom of Daman whereof some part is still possess'd by the Moghòl Next follows the Kingdom of Telengone or Telengà and many other Provinces divided under several Princes into little Kingdoms which they say were anciently but one or two and that the others who are now absolute Princes were sometimes his Captains or Ministers who having by degrees pull'd down the Principal who was if I mistake not the King of Bisnagà on the South and the King of Sceherbeder are become equal and all without superiority sovereign Princes Amongst these the nearest to the Moghòl are three Reguli or pety Kings all which yet have great dominion and strength and are at this day of the Sect of the Moors for the Moors having at first been brought into India to serve as slaves are by degrees become Masters and by oppressing the Gentiles in many places have much propagated their Religion Of these three Princes the nearest to the Moghòl whose Territory lyes toward the Sea on the West and Confines with the Portugals at Giaùl and other places and who is properly styl'd King of Dacà n from the greatest Province is call'd by the name or rather sirname hereditary to all that reign in this State Nizam Scià h which many interpret Rè della Lancia King of the Lance alluding to the Persian word Nizè which signifies a Lance but I conceive they are mistaken because his name is Nizam Scià h and not Nizè Sciah as according to this interpretation it should be Wherefore I have heard others perhaps better interpret it Rè de' Falconi King of Falcons or Hawks from the word Nizà m which in the Indian Tongue they say signifies a Hawk or other Bird of Prey And whosoever reigns here always retains this sirname because whilest he was not an absolute Prince but a Minister of that other great King of India this was his Title and Office under that King The Nizam Scià h now reigning is a Boy of twelve years old who therefore doth not govern it but an Abyssine Slave of the Moors Religion call'd Melik Amber administers the State in his stead and that with such authority that at this day this Territory is more generally known and