again to the King or the Nobility upon occasion which they could never perswade me to The next day they came to see me all three one after another and they would needs have of me amongst other things a Jewel of nine great Pearls in the fashion of a Pear the biggest whereof weigh'd thirty Carats and the least sixteen together with another single Pearl like a Pear of fifty-five Carats As for the Jewel the King took it but for the single Pearl they finding that whatever they could say I would not be wrought upon to sell them any bargains so order'd it that before I had shew'd my Jewels to the King Giafer-Kan the Kings Uncle saw and kept it telling me he would give me as good a price as the King and desir'd me not to speak of it for indeed he had a design to make a present to the King When the King had made choice of such of my Jewels as he pleas'd Giafer-Kan bought of me several pieces and at the same time agreed with me for the great Pearl Some days after he paid me according as we had agreed except for the Pearl upon which he would have abated me ten thousand Roupies For the two Persians and the Banian had malitiously inform'd him that at my first arrival they could have bought the Pearl for eight or ten thousand Roupies less than I had valu'd it to him which was absolutely false Thereupon Giafer-Kan telling me that if I would not take his Money I might have my Jewel again I took him at his word assuring him he should never see it again as long as he liv'd And I was as good as my word And indeed that which made me the more resolute was that I was resolv'd to carry somesomething which was considerable to Cha-Est-Kan for could I have had my liberty upon my arrival at Surat to have gone to him I would never have seen the King at Gehanabad about which I had a very great quarrel with the Governour of Surat For when I came to visit him he told me presently that the case was alter'd from what it had been since my last being there for that the King was resolv'd to have the first view of all Curiosities imported into his Kingdom I was above four Months contending in vain with the Governour but nothing would serve I must go to the King and for fear I should take another Road he sent fifteen Horsemen along with me as far as Shalaour When I went for Bengala these Overseers of the Jewels our of meer spite and it may be set on by Giafer-Kan to be reveng'd of me for denying to let him have my Jewel writ to Cha-Est-Kan that I intended to shew him certain Jewels among the rest a very fair Pearl which I had sold to Giafer-Kan but that he had given it me again because he understood that I would have made him pay for it ten thousand Roupies more than it was worth They wrote also the particular proportion of all the other Stones which I carry'd And upon this false and malicious advice it was that Cha-Est-Kan who receiv'd not this information till he had deliver'd me my Bill of Exchange would abate me for my whole parcel twenty thousand Roupies which he reduc'd at length to ten thousand and well I had it too Since I told you before what a Present I gave to Cha-Est-Kam I think it not amiss to tell you what I gave the King to Nahab Giafer-Kan to the Eunuch of the Grand Begum Aurengzeb's Sister the Great Treasurer and the Porters of the Treasury For you must take notice that whoever he be that craves Audience of the King they ask him in the first place where the Present is which he intends for the King and examine whether it be fitting to present to his Majesty For no man must come into his presence empty handed though it be an honour dearly purchas'd Coming then to Gehanabad I went to make my obeisance to the King and this is the Present which I made him In the first place a Buckler of Brass highly emboss'd and very richly guilt the cost of the Guilding alone amounting to two hundred Ducats of Gold or eighteen hundred Livres the value of the whole piece coming to four thousand three hundred seventy eight Livres In the middle thereof was the story of Curtius who threw himself and his Horse into the Barathrum when the Earth gap'd near Rome Round the outermost Circle of the Buckler was represented the siege of Rochel It was wrought by one of the best Workmen in France by the order of Cardinal Richlieu All the great Lords that were about Aurengzeb at that time were charm'd at the beauty of the Workmanship and told him he could not do better than to put it upon the great Elephant which carry'd the Standard before his Majesty when he march'd into the Field I presented him also with a Battle-Axe of Chrystal of the Rock the sides whereof were set with Rubies and Emraulds enchas'd in Gold in the body of the Chrystal which cost three thousand one hundred and nineteen Livres Moreover I presented him with a Saddle after the Turky fashion embroider'd with little Rubies Pearls and Diamonds which cost two thousand eight hundred and ninety-two Livres I presented him also with another Saddle and Foot-cloath embroider'd with Gold and Silver to the value of one thousand seven hundred and thirty Livres The whole Present amounting to twelve thousand one hundred and nineteen Livres The Present which I made to Giafar-Kan the Great Mogul's Unkle was a Table with other nineteen pieces to make a Cabinet all nataurl Stones of divers colours representing the shapes of several Birds and Flowers The work was made at Florence and cost two thousand one hundred and fifty Livres A perfect Ruby Ring which cost one thousand and three hundred Livres To the great Treasurer I presented a Watch in a Gold Case set with small Emraulds at seven hundred and twenty Livres To the Potters of the Kings Treasury and those that deliver out the Money out of the Treasury two hundred Roupies at three hundred Livres To the Eunuch of the Great Begum Sister to Aurengzeb a Watch in a painted Case which cost two hundred and sixty Livres All these Presents which I made as well to the Great Mogul as to Cha-Est-Kan Giaser-Kan his Majesties Uncles as also the Great Treasurer to the Stewards of the Houses of the Kan's and those that brought me twice the Calaat or Habit of Honour from the King and as many times from the Begum his Sister and once from Giafar Kan all these Presents I say came to twenty-three thousand one hundred fourscore and seven Livres So true it is that they who have any business to do at the Court of the great Princes as well in Turky as in Persia and in the Indies must not pretend to do any thing in reference to their affairs till they have their Presents and those very considerable ready
Caravansera's and Government of the Caravans 45 Chap. XI Of the breeding nature and several sorts of camels 49 Chap. XII Of the Coyns and Money of Persia. 50 The Second BOOK of the Persian Travels of Monsieur TAVERNIER containing the several Roads from Paris to Ispahan the Capital City of Persia through the Southern Provinces of Turky and through the Deserts Chap. I. THe second Voyage of the Author from Paris to Ispahan and first of his Embarking at Marseilles for Alexandretta 53 Chap. II. The Description of Aleppo now the Capital City of Syria 57 Chap. III. Of the several Roads in general from Aleppo to Ispahan and particularly of the Road through the Great Desert Pag. 60 Chap. IV. Of the Road from Aleppo to Ispahan through Mesopotamia and Assyria which I travell'd in my third Voyage to the Indies 66 Chap. V. A Continuation of the Road from Nineveh to Ispahan together with the Story of an Ambassador call'd Dominico de Santis 72 Chap. VI. Of the Road which the Author kept when he travell'd the fourth time into Asia to go from Paris to Ormus And first of his Voyage from Marseilles to Alexandretta 78 Chap. VII A Continuation of the Road which the Author kept in the fourth Voyage into Asia and particularly of his passage upon the Tigris from Nineveh to Babylon 82 Chap. VIII A Continuation of the Road from Bagdat to Balsara and of the Religion of the Christians of St. John 87 Chap. IX A Continuation of the Road from Balsara to Ormus 94 Chap. X. Of the Author's first Voyage and the Adventures of the four French-men 95 The Third BOOK of the Persian Travels of Monsieur TAVERNIER containing the Author's Sixth and Last Voyages and the Roads through Turky into Persia through the Northern Provinces of Europe With a Description of several Countries lying upon the Black and Caspian Seas Chap. I. OF the Author's sixth and last Voyage from his setting out of Paris to his Landing at Smyrna 99 Chap. II. A Continuation of the Author's sixth Voyage as he travell'd from Smyrna to Ispahan 102 Chap. III. The Road from Aleppo to Tauris through Diarbequir and Van. 103 Chap. IV. Another Road from Aleppo to Tauris through Geziré and other places 108 Chap. V. The Road from Aleppo to Ispahan through the Small Desert and through Kengavar 109 Chap. VI. Another Road from Constantinople to Ispahan by the Euxine or Black Sea with some Remarks upon the principal Cities there abouts 113 Chap. VII The Road from Warsow to Ispahan over the Black Sea and from Ispahan to Mosco with the names of the principal Cities and Islands of Turky according to the vulgar pronunciation as they are call'd in the Language of the Turks 115 Chap. VIII Remarks upon the Trade of the Island of Candy and the principal Isles of the Archipelago as also upon some of the Cities of Greece adjoyning with a particular Relation of the present condition of the Grand Signor's Galleys belonging as well to the Isles as to the Continent 118 Chap. IX A Relation of the present State of Georgia 123 Chap. X. A Relation of the present State of Mengrelia 125 Chap. XI Of Comania Circassia and of certain people which they call Kalmouchs 126 Chap. XII Of the Ceremonies and Customs of the people of Comania and Circassia 129 Chap. XIII Of the lesser Tartars call'd Nogaies bord'ring upon Comania 132 The Fourth BOOK of the Travels of Monsieur TAVERNIER being a Description of Persia. Chap. I. OF the Extent of Persia and its Division into Provinces 141 Chap. II. Of the Flowers and Fruits of Persia of Turquoises and Pearls 144 Chap. III. Of the Beasts of Service of the Fish and Fowl of Persia. 145 Chap. IV. Of the manner of Building in Persia. 147 Chap. V. A Description of Ispahan the chief City of the Kingdom and Dominion of the King of Persia. 148 Chap. VI. Of Zulpha a City separated from Ispahan by the River Senderou 155 Chap. VII Of the Religion of the Persians of the great Feast of Hocen and Hussein and the Camel-Feast 160 Chap. VIII Of the Religion of the Gaurs the Relicks of the ancient Persians Adorers of Fire 163 Chap. IX Of the Religion of the Armenians and of their principal Ceremonies and how the Armenians Consecrate and Administer the Sacrament 169 Chap. X. Of the Ordination of their Priesthood and their Austerities 170 Chap. XI Of their Baptism 171 Chap. XII Of the Marriage of the Armenians 172 Chap. XIII How the Armenians Bury their Dead 173 Chap. XIV Examples of the Constancy of the Armenians in maintaining their Religion against the Persecutions of the Mahometans 174 Chap. XV. Of the Author's Reception at the Court of Persia in his sixth and last Voyage and what he did there during his stay at Ispahan 177 Chap. XVI Of the Honours and Presents which the Author receiv'd from the King of Persia. 179 Chap. XVII How the King was pleas'd to divertise himself in the Author's Company 181 The Fifth BOOK of the Persian Travels of Monsieur TAVERNIER being a Politick and Historical Description of Persia with the Roads from Ispahan to Ormus Chap. I. OF the Genealogy of the Kings of Persia of the last Race 195 Chap. II. Of certain particular Actions which denote the Virtues and Vices of the Kings of Persia from Sha-Abas the first to Sha-Soliman the present King And first of Sha-Abas the Great 202 Chap. III. Of what fell out most memorable in the Reign of Sha-Sefi the first and particularly of the Death of Iman-Kouli-Kan and his three Sons Pag. 198 Chap. IV. The Tragical and memorable Story of Ralph Sadler Native of Zurich in the Reign of Sha-Sefi who had retain'd him in his Service 207 Chap. V. Of some particulars under the Reign of Sha-Abas the second 199 Chap. VI. Of the misfortune of Mahomet-Beg in the Reign of Sha-Abas the second 212 Chap. VII Of the Rebellion of the Prince of Jasque a Vassal to the King of Persia in the Reigns of Sha-Sefi the first and Sha-Abas the second 217 Chap. VIII Observations upon the Reign of Sha-Solimon the present King 218 Chap. IX Of the Government of Persia. 219 Chap. X. Of the first of the three Orders or States of Persia which comprehends the King's Houshold the Kans or Governours of Provinces and the Souldiery 221 Chap. XI Of the second Order containing all those that belong to the Ecclesiastical Law and their Courts of Justice and in general of all the Gown-men such as are chiefly the Officers of the Chamber of Accounts 226 Chap. XII Of the third Estate of the Kingdom comprehending the Tradesmen and Merchants as also the Trades Manufactures and Commodities of Persia. 229 Chap. XIII Of the Justice and Policy of the Persians 232 Chap. XIV Of the Manners and Customs of the Persians 234 Chap. XV. Of the Diseases of Persia and the manner of Curing them 239 Chap. XVI Of the Division of Time among the Persians 240 Chap. XVII Of the Feasts and
speak nothing but the Armenian as having no converse with strangers and never stirring out of their houses There are some Armenians speak Italian and French as having learnt it in Europe There are in Zulpha fifteen or sixteen Churches and Chappels of the Armenians among which you are to count two Nunneries for Women There are in Ispahan Austin-Friars Carmelites and Capuchins and in Zulpha Jesuits The Jesuits that came last have but a little House but to make them amends they have a large Garden Though the number of the Religious Teachers is far greater then the number of Hearers for in all Ispahan and Zulpha take the Franks that come out of Europe or born in Persia as well Men as Women there are not six hundred persons that profess the Catholick Religion As for the Armenians they are so obstinately fix'd to their own Religion that they will hear of no other and nothing but Money has sometimes caus'd them to seign the embracing of another Friar Ambrose a Capuchin staid a while at Zulpha to whom several of the principal Armenians came to School to learn French in hopes of establishing a Trade with France But the Armenian Archbishop and Bishops fearing lest the Children should be infected with some other Religion excommunicated all Fathers that sent their Children to School And finding that they little regarded the Excommunication they shut up the Church doors and stir'd up the People against the Religious Franks so that Father Ambrose was forc'd to leave Persia and retire to Surat Moreover there are in Ispahan both Jews and Indian Idolaters Nor are the Jews so miserable and beggarly as they seem to be they intrude according to custom into all Business so that if any has a mind to buy or sell any rich Jewel he need do no more but speak to them In the Reign of Sha-Abas the Athemadoulet persecuted them so grievously that either by force or by cunning he caus'd them to turn Mahometans but the King understanding that only power and fear had constrain'd them to turn suffer'd them to resume their own Religion and to live in quiet There are about ten or twelve thousand Banians in Ispahan who are known by their yellow Complexions or rather by a yellow Mark made with Saffron upon the top of their Foreheads Their Turbants are less than usual and their Shooes are almost like ours embroider'd with Flowers a-top They are all Bankers and very knowing in Money The greatest part of the Money of the principal Money'd men of Ispahan is in their hands for improvement sake So that if you want a considerable Sum you may have it the next day upon good Security and paying severe a Interest which those Banians will squeez up sometimes to 18 per Cent. But if it be not very privately exacted and paid the Law of Mahomet which forbids the taking of Interest lays hold upon the whole Sum and confiscates it every Penny CHAP. VII Of the Religion of the Persians of the great Feast of Hocen and Hussein and the Camel-Feast THE difference among the Mahometans doth not consist in the different Explanations which they put upon the Alcoran but in the several Opinions which they hold concerning the first Successors of Mahomet from which have aris'n two particular Sects entirely opposite the Sect of the Sunnis and the Sect of the Schiais The first who are of the Turkish belief maintain that Abou-baker succeeded immediately to Mahomet as his Vicar or Vicegerent to him Omar to Omar Osman to Osman Mortuz-Ali Nephew and Son-in-law to Mahomet by Marriage of his Daughter That Osman was Secretary to Mahomet a porson of Courage as well as the other three and that they were all valiant Souldiers and great Captains who extended their Conquests more by force of Arms than by Reason And thence it comes that the Sunnis will not allow of Disputes but propagate and maintain their Religion altogether by force The Schiais who are of the Persian belief detest Abou-baker Omar and Osman as Usurpers to the Succession of Mahomet which only belong'd to Haly his Nephew and Son in Law They hold that this succession consists in elev'n High Priests descendants from Haly who makes the twelfth in this order 1. Haly Son of Aboutaleb 2. Hocen eldest Son of Hali. 3. Hussein his second Son who suffer'd death in defence of his Father's Succession The place where the Sunnis gave him battel and slew him is call'd Kerbela near to Babylon and is a holy place in high veneration among the Persians 4. Iman-zin-el-Abedin 5. Mahomet-el-Baker 6. Iafer-el-Scadek who introduc'd the Law into Persia that if any Christian Jew or Idolater turn'd Mahumetan he should be declar'd general Heir to his Family to the exclusion of Brothers and Sisters and that he might allow what he pleas'd to his Father and Mother Whence arose two mischiefs that some Armenians Christians and Jews turn'd Mahumetans to get the Estate of the Family and others turn'd Mahumetans to keep their possessions 7. Moussa-Katzem 8. Hali-el-Rezza whose Tomb at Meshed is as highly venerated among the Persians as Mahomet's among the Turks 9. Mahammet-el-Ioüad 10. Hali-el-Hadi 11. Hocen-el-Askeri 12. Mouhemmet-el-Mouhadi Shaheb-zaman The Persians hold the same belief as to the last Iman as we do of Enoch and Elias which is the reason that several people leave them in their Wills Houses ready furnish'd Stables full of stately Horses and other necessaries for them to make use of when they return to Earth again They attribute to this Iman the Sirname of Zaheb-zaman or Lord of Time These two Sects of Sunnis and Schias over-run the three principal Kingdoms of India viz. the Great Mogul's the King of Golconda's and the King of Visapour's The first and last being Sunnis that is to say both the Kings and Lords of the Court for their Subjects are most of them Idolaters Some Schiais there are in the Courts of both Kings in regard the Officers of the Army are for the most part Persians though in outward shew they may follow the Religion of the Prince But the King of Golconda Koutoub-Sha is a zealous Schiais I come now to the Grand Festival of the Persians which is the famous Feast of Hocen and Hussein Eight days before the Festival begins some of the more zealous sort black all their Bodies and their Faces and go naked in the Streets with only a covering about their secret parts They carry two Flints one in each hand which they knock one against another wrything their Bodies and making a thousand antick Faces and all the while crying out Hussein Hocen Hocen Hussein which they act and speak with so much Labour 'till they foam again at the mouth In the Evening the devout people admit them into their Houses and feed them very well During those days as soon as the Sun is set you shall see at the corners where several Streets meet Pulpits set up for certain Preachers who prepare the people that flock to hear them to the
comes they set up a Candle or a lighted Lamp for a Signal Then it is also that they open all the Shops where they sell Tari which is a certain drink made of the juice of a Tree and is as sweet as our new Wines They fetch it some five or six leagues off upon Horses that carry two earthen-Bottles of each side and trot at a great rate of which there come every day to the City above five or six-hunder'd The King has a considerable Revenue by the Impost which he lays upon this Tari And for that reason he permits so many common Women in regard it is for their sake that so much Tari is consum'd those that sell it for that cause keeping their Shops by those Houses These sort of Women are so nimble and active that when the present King went to see Maslipatan nine of them undertook to represent the figure of an Elephant four making the four feet four the body and one the trunk upon which the King sitting in a kind of Throne made his entry into the City All the Men and Women of Golconda are well proportion'd and of comely statures and fair enough in their councenances only the Countrey-people are a little more swart The present King of Golconda bears the Name of Abdoul-Coutou-Sha and I will tell the Reader in a few words from whence he drew his Original In the Reign of Axbar King of India the Father of Jehan-Guir the Territories of the Great Moguls did not extend farther Southward then Narbider to that the River which runs by it and which coming from the South empties it self into Ganges separated their Dominions from the Territories of the Raja of Narsingue that stretch'd as far as Cape-Comorin the other Raja's being only his Subjects and depending upon him This Raja and his Successors have been always at Wars with them that succeeded to Tamerlane or Temur-leng in India and their Power was so great that the last Raja who was at War with Akbar brought into the Field four Armies under as many Generals The most considerable of his Armies lay in those Provinces which at this day are call'd the Kingdom of Golconda the second was quarter'd in the Provinces of Visapour the third in the Province of Dultabat and the fourth in the Territories of Brampour The Raja of Narsingue dying without Children the four Generals divided among themselves the Countreys which they possess'd with their Army and took upon them the title of Kings the one of Golconda the other of Visapour the other of Brampour and the fourth of Dultabat Though the Raja were an Idolater nevertheless his four Generals were Mahumetans and he of Golconda was of the Sect of Haly descended from an Ancient Family of the Turcomans which inhabit the Country of Hamadan in Persia. This General as I have said was more considerable than any of the rest and some few days after the death of the Raja they won a famous Victory from the Mogul so that he could not hinder them from assuming their several Sovereignties But after that Jehan-Guir the Son of Akbar conquer'd again the Kingdom of Brampour Cha-jehan the Son of Jehan-Guir recover'd the Kingdom of Dultabat and Aureng-zeb the Son of Cha-jehan recover'd some part of the Kingdom of Visapour As for the King of Golconda neither Cha-jehan nor Aureng-zeb disturb'd him but let him rest in peace upon condition that he should pay to the Mogul an annual tribute of 200000 Pagods At present the greatest Raja on this side Ganges is the Raja of Velou whose Territories extend to Cape-Comorin and who succeeded to some part of the Territories of the Raja of Narsingue But in regard there is no Trade in his Countrey and by consequence no concourse of strangers there is little notice taken of him The present King of Golconda has no Sons but three Daughters who are all married The Eldest Espous'd one of the Kinsmen of the Grand Chek of Mecca Nor must we forget some passages that fell out before this Marriage The Chek coming to Golconda in the habit of a Faquir for some Months lodg'd without the Gate of the Palace disdaining to give any answer to several Courtiers that demanded what his business was At length the thing being made known to the King he sent his chief Physitian who spoke good Arabick to know of the Chek what he had to request and the reason of his coming The Physitian and some other Lords of the Court that discours'd him also finding him to be a person of great Wit and Learning brought him to the King who was very well satisfi'd with his aspect and his presence But at length the Chek declaring to him that he came to Espouse the Princess that proposal very much surpriz'd the Prince and was look'd upon by the greatest part of the Court as made by a person not well in his wits At first the King only laugh'd at him But when he found him obstinately persevering in his demand in-so-much that he threaten'd the Countrey with some strange Calamity if the Princess were not given to him in Marriage he was committed to Prison where he lay a long time At length the King thinking it more to the purpose to send him back into his own Countrey caus'd him to be ship'd away at Mastipatan in a Vessel that carri'd Goods and Pilgrims to Mocca whence they travell by land to Mecca About two years after the same Chek return'd again to Golconda and order'd his affairs so well that he Espous'd the Princess and won an high reputation in the Kingdom which he governs at this day and is very Potent He it was that kept the King from surrendring the Fortress of Golconda whither he was retir'd when Aureng-zeb and his Son took Bagnabar as I shall tell you by and by threatning to kill him if he would not resolve to hold it out and not deliver the keys to the enemy This bold action wss the reason which made the King love him ever afterwards and that he takes his counsel in all weigty affairs not as he is the King's Son-in-Law but as he is a great Minister of State and the chiefest person next the King in all the Court He it was that has put a stop to the finishing the great Pagod in Bagnagar having threaten'd the whole Kingdom with some great Calamity if they went forward with the work This Prince is a passionate Lover of all those that profess the Mathematicks and understands them as well For which reason though he be a Mahumetan he is a great Favourer of all the Christians who are vers'd in that Science as he has particularly testifi'd to Father Ephrahim a Capuchin passing through Golconda for Pegu whither he was sent by his Superiors He did all he could to oblige him to stay in the Country and offer'd to build him a House and a Church at his own expences telling him he should neither want employment nor Hearers in regard there were several
as Sha-jehan came to the Empire he sent to demand his Tribute of this Raja as well for the time past as to come who finding that his Revenues were not sufficient to pay him quitted his Country and retir'd into the Mountains with his Subjects Upon his refusal Sha-jehan believing he would stand it out sent a great Army against him perswading himself that he should find great store of Diamonds in his Country But he found neither Diamonds nor People nor Victuals the Raja having burnt all the Corn which his Subjects could not carry away so that the greatest part of Sha-jehans Army perish'd for hunger At length the Raja return'd into his Country upon condition to pay the Mogul some slight Tribute The Way from Agra to this Mine From Agra to Halabas costes 130 From Halabas to Banarous costes 33 From Banarous to Sasaron costes 4 From Agra to Saferon you travel Eastward but from Saferon to the Mine you must wind to the South coming first to a great Town costes 21 This Town belongs to the Raja I have spoke of From thence you go to a Fortress call'd Rodas costes 4 This is one of the strongest places in all Asia seated upon a Mountain fortifi'd with six Bastions and twenty-seven pieces of Cannon with three Moats full of Water wherein there are good Fish There is but one way to come to the top of the Mountain where there is a Plain half a League in compass wherein they sow Corn and Rice There is above twenty Springs that water that Plain but all the rest of that Mountain from top to bottom is nothing but a steep Precipice cover'd with over-grown Woods The Raja's formerly us'd to live in this Fort with a Garrison of seven or eight hundred men But the Great Mogul has it now having taken that Fort by the policy of the famous Mirgimola which all the Kings of India could never take before The Raja left three Sons who betray'd one another the eldest was poison'd the second went and serv'd the Great Mogul who gave him the command of four thousand Horse the third possesses his Fathers Territories paying the Mogul a small Tribute From the Fortress of Rodas to Soumelpour costes 30 Soumelpour is a great Town the Houses whereof are built of Earth and cover'd only with Branches of Coco-trees All these thirty Leagues you travel through Woods which is a very dangerous passage as being very much pester'd with Robbers The Raja lives half a League from the Town in Tents set upon a fair rising ground at the foot whereof runs the Gouel descending from the Southern Mountains and falling into Ganges In this River they find the Diamonds For after the great Rains are over which is usually in December they stay all January till the River be clear by reason that by that time in some places it is not above two foot deep and in several places the Sand lies above the water About the end of January or the beginning of February there flock together out of the great Town and some others adjoining above eight thousand persons men women and children that are able to work They that are skilful know by the sand whether there be any Diamonds or no when they find among the sand little Stones like to those which we call Thunder-Stones They begin to make search in the River from the Town of Soumelpour to the very Mountains from whence the River falls for fifty Leagues together Where they believe there are Diamonds they encompass the place with Stakes Faggots and Earth as when they go about to make the Arch of a Bridg to drain all the water out of that place Then they dig out all the Sand for two foot deep which is all carried and spread upon a great place for that purpose prepar'd upon the side of the River encompass'd with a little Wall about a foot and half high When they have fill'd this place with as much Sand as they think convenient they throw water upon it wash it and sift it doing in other things as they do at the Mines which I have already describ'd From this River come all those fair Points which are call'd natural Points but a great Stone is seldom found here The reason why none of these Stones have been seen in Europe is because of the Wars that have hinder'd the people from working Besides the Diamond Mine which I have spoken of in the Province of Carnatica which Mirgimola caus'd to be shut up by reason of the yellowness of the Diamonds and the foulness of the Stones there is in the Island of Borneo the largest Island in the World another River call'd Succadan in the Sand whereof they find Diamonds as hard as any in the other Mines The principal reason that disswaded me from going to the Island of Borneo was because I understood that the Queen of the Island would not permit any Strangers to carry away any of those Diamonds out of the Island Those few that are exported being carry'd out by stealth and privately sold at Batavia I say the Queen and not the King because in that Island the Women have the Soveraign Command and not the Men. For the people are so curious to have a lawful Heir upon the Throne that the Husband not being certain that the Children which he has by his Wife are his own but the Wife being always certain that the Children which she bears are hers they rather choose to be govern'd by a Woman to whom they give the Title of Queen her Husband being only her Subject and having no power but what she permits him CHAP. XIV Of the diversity of Weights us'd at the Diamond Mines Of the Pieces of Gold and Silver there Currant and the Rule which they observe to know the Price of Diamonds AT the Mine of Raolconda they weigh by Mangelins a Mangelin being one Carat and three quarters that is seven Grains At the Mine of Gani or Coulour they use the same Weights At the Mine of Soumelpour in Bengala they weigh by Rati's and the Rati is seven eighths of a Carat or three Grains and a half They use the same Weights over all the Empire of the Mogul In the Kingdoms of Golconda and Visapour they make use of Mangelins but a Mangelin in those parts is not above one Carat and three eighths The Portugals in Goa make use of the same Weights in Goa but a Mangelin there is not above five Grains As for the Money in use First in Bengala in the Territories of the Raja before mention'd in regard they lye enclos'd within the Dominions of the Great Mogul they make their payments in Roupies At the two Mines about Raolconda in the Kingdom of Visapour the payments are made in new Pagods which the King coins in his own Name as being independent from the Great Mogul The new Pagod is not always at the same value for it is sometimes worth three Roupies and a half sometimes more and sometimes less
Servants knows his business whether it be to carry the pot of Water to drink by the way or to give his Master his Pipe of Tobacco when he calls for it so that if the Master should bid one to do that which the other was appointed to do that Servant would stand like a Statue and never make him any answer But for the Slaves they are oblig'd to do what ever the Master commands them These Alacors having no other business but only to make clean the Houses eat the scraps of all the other Castes and so without scruple feed upon any thing There are none but those of this Tribe make use of Asses to carry away the filth of the Houses into the Feilds for which reason none of the rest of the Indians will so much as touch that Animal which is quite otherwise in Persia as well for carriage as to ride upon Moreover there are none of the other Indians except the Alacors that will eat Pig CHAP. IV. Of the Kings and Idolatrous Princes of Asia THE chiefest of the Idolatrous Kings of Asia are the King of Aracan the King of Pegu the King of Siam the King of Cochinchina and the King of Tunquin As for the King of China we know that he was an Idolater before the Tartars invaded his Dominions But since that we know not what to report of certainty in regard that the Tartars who are now Masters of the Country are neither Idolaters nor Mahometans but rather both together In the Islands the King of Japon the King of Ceylan and some petty Kings of the Molucoa Islands are Idolaters as are all the Raja's as well in the Empire of the Great Mogul as in the neighbouring Kingdoms of Visapour and Golconda In a word all the meaner sort of people as well in the Territories of the Great Mogul Kings of Golconda and Visapour as in the Isles of Achan Java and Macassar though their Kings are Mahumetans are all themselves Idolaters Some fifty years ago one of the Kings of Ceylan became a Christian and was baptiz'd by the name of John being call'd before the Emperor Priapender But as soon as he had embrac'd the Christian Faith the Princes and Priests of the Country set up another King in his room He endeavour'd all he could to bring his people to follow his example to which purpose he assign'd to the Father Jesuits twelve large Villages about Colombo for the bringing up the youth of the Country in their Colledges to the end that they being well instructed might instruct others For the King made it plain to the Jesuits that it was impossible for them so well to understand the Language of the Country as to be able to preach to the Natives Besides that they found the ingenuities of the Youth of Ceylan so quick and apprehensive that they learnt more Latin Philosophy and other Sciences in six months than the Europeans learnt in a year and that they put such subtle Questions to their Masters as were beyond imagination Some years after the King had profess'd Christianity a witty man of the Island of Ceylan and a good natural Philosopher whose name was Alegamma Motiar or the Master of the Philosophers after he had convers'd with the Jesuits and other Religious persons was inspir'd to turn Christian. Thereupon he went to the Jesuits and told them that he desir'd to be a Christian but withall he was very earnest to know what Jesus Christ had done and lest in writing They gave him the New Testament which he set himself to read with that heed and study that in less than six months there was hardly a passage which he could not repeat After that he again testifi'd to the Jesuits and other Religious persons that he had a great desire to turn Christian in regard he found their Religion to be such as Jesus Christ had taught but only he wonder'd that they themselves did not follow his example For that he could never find by his reading that Jesus Christ ever took any money of any body but that they took all they could get and never baptiz'd nor buri'd unless they were well paid But though he started the Question he was baptiz'd and afterwards became a sedulous converter of others CHAP. V. What the Idolaters believe touching a Divinity THough the Idolatrous Indians attribute to the Creature as to Cows Apes and several Monsters those Divine Honours which are only due to the true Deity yet they acknowledg one only Infinite God Almighty and only Wise the Creator of Heaven and Earth who fills all places with his presence They call him in some places Permesser in others Peremael and Westnon among the Bramins that inhabit the Coast of Cormandel It may be because they have heard that the Circle is the most perfect of all Figures therefore it is that they say God is of an Oval Figure for they have in all their Pagods an Oval Flintstone which they fetch from Ganges and worship as a God They are so obstinately wedded to this foolish imagination that the wisest among the Bramins will not so much as hear any argument to the contrary So that it is no wonder that a people led by such blind Guides should fall into such Abysses of Idolatry There is one Tribe so superstitious in reference to that Article that they carry those Oval Flints about their Necks and thump them against their Breasts when they are at their devotions In this dark and lamentable mist of Ignorance these Idolaters make their Gods to be born like men and assign them Wives imagining that theirs are the pleasures of men Thus they take their Ram for a great Deity in regard of the Miracles which they believe he wrought while he liv'd upon Earth Ram was the Son of a potent Raja who was call'd by the name of Deseret and the most vertuous of all his Children which he had by two lawful Wives He was particularly belov'd by his Father who design'd him to be his Successor But the Mother of Ram being dead the Raja's other Wife who had her Husband entirely at her beck prevail'd with him to exterminate Ram and his Brother Lokeman from his House and all his Territories upon whose exclusion the Son of that Wife was declar'd the Raja's Successor As the two Brothers were about to be gone Ram's Wife Sita of whom he went to take his leave and whom the Idolaters worship as a Goddess beg'd of him that she might not leave him having made a resolution never to forsake him whereupon they all three went together to seek their fortunes They were not very successful at first for as they pass'd through a Wood Ram being in pursuit of a Bird stray'd from the Company and was missing a long time insomuch that Sita fearing that some disaster was befall'n him besought Lokeman to look after him He excus'd himself at first by reason that Ram had oblig'd him never to leave Sita alone foreseeing by a Prophetick Spirit what would
whereof make a Salt so tart that it is impossible to eat it until the tartness be tak'n away which they do by putting the ashes in water where they stir them ten or twelve hours together then they strain the substance through a Linnen Cloth and boil it as the water boils away the bottom thick'ns and when the water is all boil'd away they find at the bottom very good and white Salt Of the ashes of these Fig-leaves they make a Lye wherewith they wash their Silk which makes it as white as Snow but they have not enough to whiten half the Silk that grows in the Country Kenneroof is the name of the City where the King of Asem keeps his Court twenty-five or thirty days journey from that which was formerly the Capital City and bore the same name The King requires no Subsidies of his people but all the Mines in his Kingdom are his own where for the ease of his Subjects he has none but slaves that work so that all the Natives of Asem live at their ease and every one has his house by himself and in the middle of his ground a fountain encompass'd with trees and most commonly every one an Elephant to carry their Wives for they have four Wives and when they marry they say to one I take thee to serve me in such a thing to the other I appoint thee to do such business so that every one of the Wives knows what she has to do in the House The men and women are generally well complexion'd only those that live more Southerly are more swarthy and not so subject to Wens in their throats neither are they so well featur'd besides that the women are somewhat flat Nos'd In the Southern parts the people go stark naked only covering their private parts with a Bonnet like a blew Cap upon their heads hung about with Swines teeth They pierce holes in their ears that you may thrust your thumb in whete they hang pieces of Gold and Silver Bracelets also of Tortoise-shells and Sea-shells as long as an egg which they saw into Circles are in great esteem among the meaner sort as Bracelets of Coral and yellow Amber among those that are rich When they bury a man all his Friends and Relations must come to the burial and when they lay the body in the ground they all take off their Bracelets from their Armsand Legs and bury them with the Corps CHAP. XVIII Of the Kingdom of Siam THE greatest part of the Kingdom of Siam lies between the Golf of Siam and the Golf of Bengala bordering upon Pegu toward the North and the Peninsula of Malacca toward the South The shortest and nearest way for the Europaeans to go to this Kingdom is to go to Ispahan from Ispahan to Ormus from Ormus to Surat from Surat to Golconda from Golconda to Maslipatan there to embark for Denouserin which is one of the Ports belonging to the Kingdom of Siam From Denouserin to the Capital City which is also call'd Siam is thirty-five days journey part by Water part by Land by Waggon or upon Elephants The way whether by Land or Water is very troublesome for by Land you must be always upon your guard for fear of Tigers and Lions by Water by reason of the many falls of the River they are forc'd to hoise up their Boats with Engines All the Countrey of Siam is very plentiful in Rice and Fruits the chiefest whereof are Mangos Durions and Mangustans The Forests are full of Harts Elephants Tigers Rhinocero's and Apes where there grow also large Bambou's in great abundance Under the knots of these Bambou's are Emets nests as big as a mans head where every Emet has his apartiment by himself but there is but one hole to enter into the nest They make their nests in these Canes to preserve themselves from the rains which continue four or five months together In the night time the Serpents are very busie There are some two foot long with two heads but one of them has no motion There is also another creature in Siam like our Salamander with a forked tail and very venomous The Rivers in this Kingdom are very large and that which runs by Siam is equally as large as the rest The water is very wholesome but it is very full of Crocodiles of a monstrous bigness that devour men if they be not very careful of themselves These Rivers overflow their banks while the Sun is in the Southern Tropick which makes the fields to be very fertile as far as they flow and it is observ'd that the Rice grows higher or lower as the floods do more or less increase Siam the Capital City of the Kingdom where the King keeps his Court is wall'd about being about three of our Leagues in circuit it is situated in an Island the River running quite round it and might be easily brought into every street in the Town if the King would but lay out as much Money upon that design as he spends in Temples and Idols The Siamers have thirty-three Letters in their Alphabet But they write from the left to the right as we do contrary to the custom of Japon China Cochinchina and Tunquin who write from the right to the left All the Natives of this Kingdom are slaves either to the King or the great Lords The women as well as the men cut their hair neither are they very rich in their habits Among their complements the chiefest is never to go before a person that they respect unless they first ask leave which they do by holding up both their hands Those that are rich have several Wives The Money of the Country is already describ'd The King of Siam is one of the richest Monarchs in the East and stiles himself King of Heaven and Earth though he be Tributary to the Kings of China He seldom shews himself to his Subjects and never gives Audience but to the principal Favourites of his Court He trusts to his Ministers of State for the management of his affairs who sometimes make very bad use of their authority He never shews himself in publick above twice a year but then it is with an extraordinary magnificence The first is when he goes to a certain Pagod within the City which is guilded round both within and without There are three Idols between six and seven foot high which are all of massie Gold which he believes he renders propitious to him by the great store of Alms that he distributes among the poor and the presents which he makes to the Priests Then he goes attended by all his Court and puts to open view the richest Ornaments he has One part of his magnificence consists in his train of two hundred Elephants among which there is one that is white which the King so highly esteems that he stiles himself King of the White Elephant The second time the King appears in publick is when he goes to another Pagod five or six Leagues
Pardo's in Diamonds gave order to two men which he had fee'd for the purpose that as soon as the Fathers had made their purchase he should give notice to the Officer of the Custom-House at Bicholi Bicholi is a great Town upon the Frontiers of those Lands that part the Kingdom of Visapour from the Territories of the Portugals there being no other way to pass the River which encompasses the Island where the City of Goa is built The Fathers believing that the Customer knew nothing of their purchase went into the Boat to go over the River but as soon as they were in they were strictly search'd and all their Diamonds confiscated To return to the King of Macassar you must know that the Jesuits once endeavour'd to convert him and perhaps they might have brought it to pass had they not neglected one proposal which he made them For at the same time that the Jesuits labour'd to bring him to Christianity the Mahumetans us'd all their endeavours to oblige him to stick to their Law The King willing to leave his Idolatry yet not knowing which part to take commanded the Mahumetans to send for two or three of their most able Moulla's or Doctors from Mecca and the Jesuits he order'd to send him as many of the most learned among them that he might be instructed in both Religions which they both promis'd to do But the Mahometans were more diligent then the Christians for in eight months they fetch'd from Mecca two learned Moulla's whereupon the King seeing that the Jesuits sent no body to him embrac'd the Mahumetan Law True it is that three years after there came two Portugal Jesuits but then it was too late The King of Macassar being thus become a Mahumetan the Prince his Brother was so mad at it that when the Mosquee which the King had caus'd to be built was finish'd he got into it one night and causing the throats of two Pigs to be cut he all besmear'd the walls of the new Mosquee and the place which was appointed for the Moulia to perform Divine Service with the blood so that the King was forc'd to pull down that and build another After which the Prince with some Idolatrous Lords stole out of the Island and never since appear'd at Court CHAP. XX. The Author pursues his Travels into the East and embarks at Mingrela for Batavia The danger he was in upon the Sea and his arrival in the Island of Ceylan I Departed from Mingrela a great Town in the Kingdom of Visapour eight Leagues from Goa the fourteenth of April 1648 and embark'd in a Dutch Vessel bound for Batavia The Ship had orders to touch at Bokanour to take in Rice Whereupon I went ashore with the Captain to obtain leave of the King to buy Rice We found him upon the shore where he had about a dozen Huts set up which were cover'd with Palm-leaves In his own Hut there was a piece of Persian Tapestry spread under him and there we saw five or six women some fanning him with Peacocks Feathers others giving him Betlé others filling him his Pipe of Tobacco The most considerable persons of the Country were in the other Huts and we counted about two hundred men that were upon the Guard arm'd only with Bows and Arrows They had also two Elephants among ' em 'T is very probable that his Palace was not far off and that he only came thither to take the fresh air There we were presented with Tari or Palm-wine but being new and not boil'd it caus'd the head-ach in all that drank it insomuch that we were two days before we could recover it I ask'd the reason how the Wine came to do us so much prejudice to which they answer'd me that it was the Planting of Pepper about the Palm-trees that gave such a strength to the Wine We were no sooner got aboard but a mighty tempest arose wherein the Ship men and goods had all like to have been cast away being near the shore but at length the wind changing we found our selves by break of day three or four Leagues at Sea having lost all our Anchors and at length came safe to Port in the Haven of Ponté de Galle the twelfth of May. I found nothing remarkable in that City there being nothing but the ruins made by the underminings and Canon-shot when the Hollanders besieg'd it and chas'd the Portugals from thence The Company allow'd ground to build upon to them that would inhabit there and land to till and had then rais'd two Bulwarks which commanded the Port. If they have finish'd the design which they undertook the place cannot but be very considerable The Hollanders before they took all the places which the Portugals had in the Island of Ceylan did believe that the trade of this Island would have brought them in vast sums could they but be sole Masters of it and perhaps their conjectures might have been true had they not broken their words with the King of Candy who is the King of the Country but breaking faith with him they lost themselves in all other places thereabouts The Hollanders had made an agreement with the King of Candy that he should be always ready with twenty thousand men to keep the passages that hinder the Portugals from bringing any succours from Colombo Negombe Manar or any other places which they possessed upon the Coast. In consideration whereof the Hollanders when they had taken Ponte Galle were to restore it to the King of Candy which they not performing the King sent to know why they did not give him possession of the Town to which they return'd answer that they were ready to do it provided he would defray the expences of the war But they knew that if he had had three Kingdoms more such as his own he could never have payd so great a sum I must confess indeed the Country is very poor for I do not believe that the King ever saw fifty thousand Crowns together in his life his trade being all in Cinnamon and Elephants As for his Cinnamon he has no profit of it since the Portugals coming into the East Indies And for his Elephants he makes but little of them for they take not above five or six in a year but they are more esteem'd than any other Country Elephants as being the most couragious in war One thing I will tell you hardly to be believ'd but that which is a certain truth which is that when any other King or Raja has one of these Elephants of Ceylan if they bring him among any other breed in any other place whatever so soon as the other Elephants behold the Ceylan Elephants by an instinct of nature they do him reverence laying their trunks upon the ground and raising them up again The King of Achen with whom the Hollanders also broke their word had more opportunity to be reveng'd upon them then the King of Candy For he deni'd them the transportation of Pepper
ordinary Diet of the Persians 241 Chap. XVIII Of the Marriages of the Persians 243 Chap. XIX Of the Death and Burial of the Persians 244 Chap. XX. The Author departs from Ispahan to Ormus and describes the Road to Schiras 245 Chap. XXI Of the City of Schiras 247 Chap. XXII A Continuation of the Road from Ispahan to Ormus from Schiras to Bander-Abassi 251 Chap. XXIII Of the Island of Ormus and of Bander-Abassi 225 Chap. XXIV Of the Roads by Land from Casbin to Ispahan to the Frontiers of the Territories of the Great Mogul through Candahar 257 THE CONTENTS OF THE Indian Travels The Figures of the Pieces of Gold Silver and Copper and of the sorts of Shells and Almonds that pass for Money over all Asia THe Money of Arabia Pag. 1 The Money currant under the Dominions of the Great Mogul 2 The Money of a King and two Raja's all three Tributaries to the Great Mogul 3 Pieces of Gold call'd Pagods which are currant in the Territories of the King of Golconda the King of Visapour the Great Raja of Carnatica the Raja of Velouche and at the Diamond Mines 4 The Money which the English and Hollanders Coyn in the Indies 5 The Money of the King of Cheda and Pera. 6 The Money of Gold and Tin of the King of Achen with the Money in Gold Coyn'd by the King of Macassar and the Celebes And the Silver and Copper Money of the King of Camboya 7 The Money in Gold Silver and Copper of the King of Siam Ibid. The Gold and Silver Money of the King of Asem Tipoura Arakin and Pegu. 8 Lumps or Pieces of Gold and Silver which go for Money in the Kingdom of China and the Kingdom of Tunquin Ibid. The Gold and Silver Money of Japon 9 The Portraiture of the Silver Ingots of Japon which go for Money Ibid. Money that represents the Figures of the twelve Signs and which were Coyn'd during the twenty four hours that Jehan-Guir King of the Indies permitted Queen Nourmahall his Wife to Reign in his stead 10 The Gold Silver and Copper Money which the Portugals Coyn in the East-Indies 12 The Gold and Silver Money of Muscovy 13 The First BOOK of the INDIAN Travels What Roads to take in Travelling from Ispahan to Agra from Agra to Dehly and Gehanabat where the Great Mogul resides at present And how to Travel also to the Court of the King of Golconda to the King of Visapour and to many other places in the Indies Chap. I. THe Road from Ispahan to Agra through Gomron where is particularly describ'd the manner of Sailing from Ormus to Surat Pag. 15 Chap. II. Of the Customs Money Exchange Weight and Measures of the Indians 17 Chap. III. Of their Carriages and the manner of travelling in India 27 Chap. IV. The Road from Surat to Agra through Brampour and Seronge 30 Chap. V. The Road from Surat to Agra through Amadabat 36 Chap. VI. The Road from Ispahan to Agra through Candahar 43 Chap. VII The continuance of the same Road from Dehly to Agra 48 Chap. VIII The Road from Agra to Patna and Daca Cities in the Province of Bengala and of the quarrel which the Author had with Cha-Est-Kan the King's Uncle 51 Chap. IX The Road from Surat to Golconda 60 Chap. X. Of the Kingdom of Golconda and the Wars which it has maintain'd for some few years last past 63 Chap. XI The Road from Golconda to Maslipatan or Masalipatan 69 Chap. XII The Road from Surat to Goa and from Goa to Golconda through Visapour 71 Chap. XIII Observations upon the present State of the City of Goa 74 Chap. XIV What the Author did during his stay at Goa the last time he went thither in the year 1648. 78 Chap. XV. The Story of Father Ephraim and how he was put into the Inquisition at Goa by a surprisal 85 Chap. XVI The Road from Goa to Maslipatan through Cochin here describ'd in the Story of the taking of that City by the Hollanders 88 Chap. XVII The passage by Sea from Ormus to Maslipatan 90 Chap. XVIII The Road from Maslipatan to Gondicot a City and Garrison in the Province of Carnatica and of the dealings which the Author had with Mirgimola who commanded the King of Golconda's Army With a discourse at large concerning Elephants 91 Chap. XIX The Road from Gondicot to Golconda 100 Chap. XX. The Author's return from Surat to Ormus 105 The Second BOOK of the INDIAN Travels Containing an Historical and Political Description of the Empire of the Great Mogul Chap. I. A Relation of the last Wars of Indostan which gives an insight into the present Estate of the Empire and Court of the Moguls 106 Chap. II. Of the Sickness and supposed Death of Cha-Jehan King of India and the Rebellion of the Princes his Sons Pag. 108 Chap. III. Of the Imprisonment of Cha-Jehan and how he was punish'd by Aurenge-Zebe his third Son for the injustice he had done Prince Boulaki his Nephew the Grand child of Jehan-Guir to whom as to the Son of the Eldest Son the Empire of the Mogul belong'd 111 Chap. IV. Of the flight of Dara-Cha to the Kingdom of Scindi and Guzerat of the second battle which he fought against Aurenge-Zebe his being tak'n Prisoner and Death 114 Chap. V. How Aurenge-Zebe caus'd himself to be declar'd King and of the flight of Sultan-Sujah 116 Chap. VI. Of the Imprisonment of Sultan-Mahomed Aurenge-Zebe's Eldest Son and of Sultan Soliman-Chekour Eldest Son of Dara-Cha 117 Chap. VII Of the beginning of Aurenge-Zebe's Reign and the Death of Cha-Jehan his Father 120 Chap. VIII Of the preparations against the Feast of the Great Mogul when he is weigh'd solemnly every year Of the Richness of his Thrones and the magnificence of his Court 122 Chap. IX Some other observations upon the Court of the Great Mogul 124 Chap. X. Of the Commodities which are brought as well out of the Dominions of the Great Mogul as out of the Kingdoms of Golconda and Visapour and other Neighbouring Territories 126 Chap. XI Of Diamonds and the Mines and Rivers where they are found and first of the Author's Journey to the Mines of Raolconda 134 Chap. XII The Author's Journey to the other Mines and how they find the Diamonds there 137 Chap. XIII A Continuation of the Author's Travels to the Diamond Mines 139 Chap. XIV Of the diversity of Weights us'd at the Diamond Mines of the pieces of Gold and Silver there currant and the Rule which they observe to know the price of Diamonds 140 Chap. XV. The Rule to know the just price and value of a Diamond of what weight soever from three to a hundred and upwards a Secret known to very few people in Europe 142 Chap. XVI Of Colour'd Stones and the places where they are found 137 Chap. XVII Of Pearls and the places where they fish for them 145 Chap. XVIII How the Pearls are bred in the Oysters and how they fish for them and at what
to the Sword after he had given them his Word to the contrary and promis'd to spare their Lives CHAP. IV. A Continuation of the same Road from Erivan to Tauris IT usually takes up ten days journey for the Caravan to go between Erivan and Tauris and Nacksivan is almost in the mid-way between both The first days journey you travel thorough large Plains sow'd with Rice and water'd with several Rivulets The next day you continue to travel through Plains of the same nature in sight of the Mountain Ararat which is full of Monasteries leaving it upon the South The Armenians call this Mountain Mesesoufar The Mountain of the Ark because the Ark of Noah rested upon it It is as it were unfasten'd from the other Mountains of Armenia and from the half-way to the top it is continually cover'd with Snow It is higher than any of the neighbouring Mountains and in my first Travels I saw it for five days journey together So soon as the Armenians discover it they kiss the Earth and lifting up their Eyes to Heaven say their Prayers Yet you are to take notice that the Mountain is hid in Clouds for two or three Months together In the Plains that you cross in this second days journey to the Southward a League and a half from the High-way is to be seen a Work of great Art being the Ruines of a Magnificent Castle where the Kings of Armenia were wont to reside in the time of their Hunting Divertisements more especially when they continu'd their Sports at the Mallard and Heron. The next day we lodg'd near to a Village where there was good Water which constrain'd the Caravan to stay there there being none to be met with for ten Leagues farther The next day you must travel one by one through the Pass of a Mountain and cross a large River nam'd Arpa-sou which falls into Aras It is fordable when it is low but when the Snow melts and swells the Stream you must go a League out of your way to the Southward to cross it over a Bridge of Stone From thence you go to lodge near a Village call'd Kalifakiend where you are forc'd to fetch your Water a good way off The first days journey is through a Plain at the end whereof you meet with an Inn call'd Kara-bagler standing upon a Rivulet which was finish'd in 1664. The Head of this Rivulet springs three or four Leagues higher toward the North and half a League below Kara-bagler the Water congeals and petrifies and of those Stones is the Inn built The Stone is very slight and when they have need of it they make Trenches all along the Stream and fill them with the same Water which in eight or ten Months turns into Stone The Water is very sweet and has no bad tast yet the Country-men thereabouts will neither drink it nor water their Grounds with it The Armenians say that Sem the Son of Noah caus'd the Rock to be hollow'd out of which this River issues which four or five Leagues from its Head and two from the Inn falls into Aras From this Inn to Naksivan is but a small Journey Naksivan according to the Opinion of the Armenians is the most ancient City of the World built about three Leagues from the Mountain upon which the Ark of Noah rested from whence it also takes its Name for Nak in the Armenian Tongue signifies a Ship and Sivan resting or reposing 'T was a great City now wholly ruin'd by the Army of Sultan Amurath There are the Remains of several rare Mosquees which the Turks have destroy'd for the Turks and Persians destroy one anothers Mosquees as fast as they fall into one anothers possession This City is very ancient and the Armenians report that it was in this place where Noah went to live when he went out of the Ark. They say further that he was Buried here and that his Wife has a Tomb at Marante upon the Road to Tauris There runs a little River by Naksivan the Water whereof is very good the Spring whereof is not far distant from the Head of the River of Karabagler The Armenians drove a great Trade in Silk formerly in this Town which is now very much abated however there is a Kan which has the Command there All the Country between Erivan and Tauris was wholly destroy'd by Sha-Abas King of Persia and the first of that Name to the end that the Armies of the Turks not meeting with any subsistance might perish of themselves To this purpose he sent all the Inhabitants of Zulfa and the Parts adjoyning into Persia Old and Young Fathers Mothers and Children with which he planted new Colonies in several parts of his Kingdom He sent above 27000 Families of Armenians into Guilan whence the Silks come and where the harshness of the Climate kill'd abundance of those poor People that were accustom'd to a milder Air. The most considerable were sent to Ispahan where the King put them upon the Trade of Silk and lent them Commodities for which they paid upon the return of their Markets which suddenly set the Armenians upon their Feet again These are they that built the City of Zulfa which is only separated from Ispahan by the River of Senderou calling it New Zulfa to distinguish it from the old City which was the Habitation of their Ancestors A third part of the People were dispers'd into other Villages between Ispahan and Sciras But the old People dying the young ones generally turn Mahumetans so that now you can hardly meet with two Christian Armenians in all those fair Plains which their Fathers were sent to manure Among the Ruines of Naksivan appear the Ruines of a great Mosquee which was one of the most stately Buildings in the World which some say was built in memory of Noah's Burying-place As you depart out of the City near to the River that runs by it appears a Tower which is an excellent piece of Architecture It is compos'd of four Duomo's joyn'd together which support a kind of Pyramid that seems to be fram'd of twelve little Towers but toward the middle it changes its figure and lessening like a Spire ends in a Point The Building is all of Brick but as well the out-side as the in-side is over-spread with a kind of Varnish of Parget wrought into Flowers like Emboss'd Work 'T is thought to have been an Edifice set up by Temur-leng when he had Conquer'd Persia. THE PLATFORME OF BAGDAT A League and a half from the chief of these Covents there is a high Mountain separated from all the rest which rises like a Sugar-loaf as doth the Pike of Tenariff At the foot of this Mountain are certain Springs that have the virtue to heal those that are bit by Serpents in so much that Serpents carry'd to that place will dye immediately When the Caravan is ready to set out from Naksivan for Zulfa which is not above a days journey from thence the principal Armenians usually
to Ispahan to have the benefit of Coynage themselves They that traffick into Guilan for Silks carry their Silver to Teflis where the Master of the Mint gives them 2 per Cent. profit for their Silver The reason is because that which he gives them for it is a little sophisticated but it passes currant all over Guilan In the third place you must observe That upon the pieces of Silver as well for the King's Duty as the Coynage of the Money there is requir'd 7½ per Cent. But upon the Copper Money not above one half or 1 per Cent. at most Whence it comes to pass that when a Workman has need of Copper rather than lose time in going to buy it he will melt down his Casbeké's There are four several pieces of Silver Coyn Abassi's Mamoudi's Shaet's and Bisti's but as for the Bisti's there are very few at present The Copper pieces of Coyn are call'd Casbeké of which there are single and double The single Casbeké is worth five Deniers and a Half-peny of our Money The double Casbeké is valu'd at eleven Deniers Four single Casbeké's or two double ones make a Bisti Ten single Casbeké's or five double ones make one Shayet in value Two Shayet's make a Mamoudi Two Mamoudi's make an Abassi The Real or Crown of France is worth three Abassi's and one Shayet and counting a Real at sixty Sous an Abassi is worth eighteen Sous six Deniers Though to say truth three Abassi's and one Shayet make three Half-pence more than the Crown Number 1 and Number 2. Are two pieces which upon one side bear the Names of the twelve Prophets of the Law of Mahomet and in the middle this Inscription La Illah allah Mahomet resoul Allah Ali Vaeli Allah on the back-side The Conquerour of the World Abas II. gives us permission to coyn this Money in the City of Cashan Num. 1. Makes five Abassi's and counting our Crown at thirteen Shayet's it comes to four Livres twelve Sous six Deniers Num. 2. Makes two Abassi's and a half of our Money or forty-six Sous and one Farthing Num. 3. Is an Abassi which comes to eighteen Sous six Deniers Num. 4. Is a Mamoudi worth nine Sous and a Farthing Num. 5. Is a Shayet worth four Sous seven Deniers one Half-peny Num. 6. A Bisti worth one Sous ten Deniers Num. 7. The Copper Coyn call'd Casbeké worth five Deniers one Half-peny These Coyns unless it be the Casbeké bear no other Inscription but only the Name of the King reigning when they were coyn'd the Name of the City where they were coyn'd with the Year of the Hegyra of Mahomet Though all Payments are made in Abassi's as well at Ormus and other parts of the Gulf belonging to the King of Persia as in the Iland of Bahren where is the great Fishery and Market for Pearls yet there is no mention made but only of Larins The Larin is describ'd in the Money of Arabia Eight Larins make an Or four and twenty make a Toman An Or is not the name of a Coyn but of a Sum in reck'ning among Merchants One Or is five Abassi's A Toman is another Sum in payment For in all Persian Payments they make use of only Tomans and Ors and though they usually say that a Toman makes fifteen Crowns in truth it comes to forty-six Livres one Peny and ⅓ As for pieces of Gold the Merchant never carries any into Persia but Alman-Ducats Ducats of the Seventeen Provinces or of Venice and he is bound to carry them into the Mint so soon as he enters into the Kingdom but if he can cunningly hide them and sell them to particular persons he gets more by it When a Merchant goes out of the Kingdom he is oblig'd to tell what pieces of Gold he carries with him and the King's people take a Shayet at the rate of a Ducat and sometimes they value the Ducat at more But if he carry's his Gold away privately and be discover'd all his Gold is confiscated The Ducat usually is worth two Crowns which in Persia justly comes to twenty-six Shayets but there is no price fixt in that Country for Ducats For when the season is to go for the Indies or that the Caravan sets out for Mecca as well the Merchants as the Pilgrims buy up all the Ducats they can find out by reason of their lightness and then they rise to twenty-seven and twenty-eight Shayets and sometimes more a piece The end of the Roads from Paris to Ispahan through the Northern Provinces of Turky THE SECOND BOOK OF THE PERSIAN TRAVELS OF MONSIEUR TAVERNIER Containing the several ROADS From PARIS to ISPAHAN the Capital CITY of PERSIA Through the Southern Provinces of TURKI and through the DESERTS CHAP. I. The second Voyage of the Author from Paris to Ispahan and first of his Embarking at Marseilles for Alexandretta THE Road from Constantinople to Erivan which with all those other Roads through the Northern Provinces of Turkie the first time I travel'd into Persia I have amply describ'd It behoves me now to treat of the Southern Provinces and of those through the Deserts where there are several Emirs or Arabian Princes of which several are very potent For there are some of them that can bring 30000 Horse into the Field five of which I have had the honour to discourse and to oblige them with small Presents in recompence whereof they sent me Rice Mutton Dates and Sherbet as long as I staid among them I embark'd at Marseilles in a Holland Vessel that carry'd five and forty Guns from thence we set sail for Malta At Malta we staid twelve days to carine the Vessel and to take in fresh Victuals Among the rest we bought two thousand Quails for there are a prodigious quantity in the Iland but in two or three days we found five or six hundred of them destroy'd by the Vermin that pester'd the Ship From Malta we set sail for Larneca a good Road in the Iland of Cypras to the West of Famagosta which is not above a days journey from it by Land As we were making into the Road about two or three hours after midnight we perceiv'd a Vessel close upon us and both the Ships Company began to cry out for fear of falling foul one upon another but the Vessel sheer'd clear without any harm on either side In the morning we cast Anchor and went a-shoar It is a good half League from the Road where the Consuls and Merchants both English Hollanders and French live in a very pitiful Village However there is a little Monastery of Capuchins who officiate in the Chappel of the French Consul and another of Religious Italians that depend upon the Guardian of Jerusalem We staid but two days at Larneca the Captain having nothing to do but to inform himself what business they might have for him at his return it being usual to then to take in spun and unspun Cottons together with course Wool for
of all these Places A Particular Relation of the Gallies belonging to the Grand Signor as well at Constantinople as in the Isles and other Parts of the Empire FOrmerly there lay in the Road of Constantinople above a hundred and fifty Galleys But the Grand Visier perceiving that so great a number did but cause confusion and that the Captain Basha could not conveniently take so great a burden as to look after such a number he gave order that no more than twenty-four should lie in the Port of Constantinople sending the rest to other Ports as well of the Continent as the Islands At present the Number of the Grand Signor's Gallies is fourscore thus distributed under the Command of their several Beys or Captains At Constantinople twenty-four under the Command of the Captain Basha or Admiral of the Sea who when he goes out upon any Expedition sends to the rest to meet him according to Orders When he goes in person to Sea he gives to every one of his Slaves besides their ordinary Habit a kind of Cassock of Red Cloth and a Bonnet of the same colour But this is only in the Admiral 's Gally and at his own Cost His Gally carries usually 366 Slaves and to every Seat of the Rowers a Bonne Vole These Bonne Voles are certain Volunteers that freely offer themselves to the Service of the Admiral and there is great care taken for their being well paid Their Pay is 3500 Aspers for their Voyage which generally continues seven or eight Months They feed as the other Slaves but if they Row negligently or lazily they are beaten worse than the Slaves for the Volunteers have nothing to do except it be to Row But the Slaves are put to several other Duties Take notice also that the Volunteers that serve in the General 's Gally have 500 Aspers more than those in the other Gallies that is to say 4000 Aspers for their Voyage which comes to 40 Crowns The Reer-Admiral carries Two hundred and fifty men as well Slaves as Volunteers That Galley and the great Tefterdar's or Treasurers are the best provided of any in the whole Fleet For the Reer-Admiral Basha has his choice to take four of the best men out of every Galley for his own or else to receive 3500 Aspers for every man which is paid by the Captain of the Galley which makes him the richest of all the Beys The great Tefterdar's Galley is one of the Twenty four Galleys of Constantinople and he sends a particular Treasurer in the quality of a Lientenant to command her That Command is very much contested for in regard that Galley is very well provided with all things and for that all the Captains Court the Tefterdar who when the Galleys return to Port rewards them according to their Merit The Janizary-Aga's Galley is of the same number but he never goes to Sea always sending one in his room The Bey of Rhodes that takes upon him the Title of Basha has eight Galleys The Bey of Stancho an Island about an hundred Miles from Rhodes Lieutenant to the Bey of Rhodes has one Galley The Bey of Sussam a small Island near Scio has one Galley and his Lieutenant another These Galleys are generally appointed to watch the Maltesi and Ligorn The Bey of Scio formerly had but three but since the War with Candy he has had six The Lieutenant of the Bey of Soio has two Gallies There be also three other Beys in the Island of Scio who have no dependance upon the Basha of Scio but buy their Provisions where they can find it best cheap The Bey of Smyrna and his Lieutenant have two Gallies but they can do nothing without the Orders of the Bey of Scio. The Bey of Metelin has two Gallies The Bey Cavale a small Bay twelve Miles on this side the Dardanells upon the Coast of Europe has one The Bey of Nestrepont seven The Bey of Napoli in Romania five The Bey of Coron one The Bey of Modon one The Bey of Famagosta six The Bey of Alexandria in Egypt five The Bey of Canée two Gallies The Bey of Candia one The Bey of Castel-Tourneze or Navarin two Gallies All these Gallies make up the number of Fourscore The light Gallies carry not above 196 men the four men that are wanting of two hundred being the Bey's profit Every Captain is allow'd thirteen thousand Piasters for his Provision and every Christmas he gives to every Slave a pair of Breeches and a Cassock of course Cloth with a scantie kind of a Cloak Every Slave has every day a pound and a half of good Bread and nothing else But upon Friday which is the Mahumetans Snnday they have hot Pease or Beans or Lentils boyl'd in Butter They receive also sometimes the Alms of the Greeks when they lie in any Port. But at Constantinople they fare somewhat better for twice a week as well the Turks as the Greeks and others come to the Bains and be stow their Charity of Rice and other good Victuals The Bains is the name of the place where the Sea-men are kept when they are not at Sea Sometimes when they are to go to Sea they will counterfeit themselves sick or lame but they are so narrowly observ'd that it serves them to no other purpose than to procure to themselves the more Blows CHAP. IX a Relation of the present State of Georgia GEORGIA which others call Gurgïe or Gurgistan extends Eastward to the Caspian Sea and upon the West is bounded by Mountains that part it from Mengrelia Formerly it was a Kingdom all the Inhabitants whereof were Christians of the Armenian and of the Greek Church but of late the Mahometans have got footing among them And the King of Persia having fill'd them full of Divisions has made two Kingdoms of it which he calls Provinces over which he has plac'd two Governors They are generally Princes of the Countrey who must turn Mahometans before they can be admitted to that Dignity When they are advanc'd they take upon them the title of Kings and while they have any Issue the King of Persia cannot dispossess their Children The most Potent of these two Kings is he that resides at Testis who in the Language of the Country is call'd the King of Cartele The present King is the last that has continu'd a Christian with his four Sons the Eldest of which the King of Persia having entic'd to Court partly by Promises and partly by Presents has won to Mahumetism Immediately thereupon he caus'd him to be declar'd King of the other Province These two Kings have each of them a Guard of Mahumetan-Horsemen under their own pay and at present I believe there are in both Kingdoms near upon 12000 Mahumetan Families The King of Testis coyns Mony in the King of Persia's Name and the Silver which he coyns is in Spanish Reals French Crowns and such other Money which the Armenians bring out of Europe for their Goods As to
the Justice of the Countrey neither the King himself nor the Mahometans have any thing to do with it A thief is acquitted paying seven-fold what he has stole two parts whereof go to the Party robb'd one part to the Judges and four parts to the King If the Thief has not wherewithal to make restitution he is sold If the Product do not yet equal the Sum if he have a Wife and Children they first sell the Wife and if that will not do then they sell the Children But if the Party robb'd be so merciful as to forgive the Thief his share then neither the King nor the Judges can demand any thing for their share If a man commit a Murder they condemn him to die and deliver him up into the hands of the Kindred of the Party slain to do Execution as they please themselves However it is in their power to pardon him if he be able to give sixty Cows or more to the next a-kin to the Party kill'd In matter of Debt a Creditor has power to seize upon all the Estate of the Debtor and if that will not satisfie he may sell his Wife and Children The Christians of Georgia are very ignorant especially in Matters of Religion They learn that little they know in the Monasteries as also to write and read and generally the Women and Maids are more knowing than the Men not only because there are more Religious Houses for Women than for Men but also because the Boys are bred up to labour or sent to the Wars For if a Virgin grows up and happens to be handsom some one or other presently endeavors to steal her on purpose to sell her into Turky Persia or the Territories of the great Mogul So that to prevent their being stoln their Fathers and Mothers put them very young into Nunneries where they apply themselves to study wherein if they attain to any proficiency they usually stay as long as they live After that they profess and when they come to a certain Age they are permitted to Baptize and to apply the holy Oyles as well as any Bishop or Arch-Bishop can do The Georgians are very great Drinkers and Nature has fitted them a Countrey that produces good store of Wine They love the strongest Drinks best for which reason at their Feasts both men and women drink more Aquavitae than Wine The women never eat in publick with their Husbands but when the man has invited his Friends the next day the Woman invites her She-companions And it is observable that at the Womens Festivals there is more Wine and Aquavitae drank than at the mens The Guest is no sooner enter'd into the Dining-room but he is presented with 2 or 3 Dishes of Sweet-meats and a Glass of half a pint of Aquavitae to excite his Appetite They are great Feeders upon Onions and Herbs which they eat raw out of the Garden The Georgians are also great Travellers and very much addicted to Trade they are very dext'rous in shooting with Bow and Arrows and are accounted the best Souldiers in all Asia They compose a great part of the King of Persia's Cavalry who keeps them in his Court at peculiar pay and relies very much upon their fidelity and courage There are several also in the Service of the Great Mogul The Men are very well complexion'd and very well shap'd and for the Women they are accounted the fairest and most beautiful of all Asia and therefore out of this Countrey it is that the King of Persia chooses all his Wives being not permitted to marry a Stranger Teflis where the Women have more liberty than in any part of Asia is the Capital City of Georgia well situated large and well built where there likewise is a great Trade in Silk CHAP. X. A RELATION of the present State of Mengrelia MEngrelia extends from a Chain of Mountains that separates it from Georgia to the Black-Sea and is now divided into three Provinces every one of which has their King The first is call'd the Province of Imareté or Bassa-Shiouk the king whereof pretends to a superiority over both the other which is the reason they are often at War and that with so much cruelty that when they have tak'n any Prisoners of either side they fell them into Turkie They are so accustom'd to sell one another in this Country that if a man or his wife have any occasion for money they will go and sell one of their Children and many times they will exchange a Child for Ribands or other Toyes at the Mercers Shops The second Province is that of Mengrelia and the King of this Province is call'd the King of Dadian The third is the Province of Guriel the King of which Province is call'd the King of Guriel The Province of Mengrelia was formerly subject to the King of Bassa-Shiouk who sent thither a Governour which is call'd in their language Dadian One of those Governours being a person of wit and courage gain'd so far upon the affection of the People that they chose him for their King The chief of the Province of Guriel seeing how the Dadian had obtain'd the Kingdom following the Example of Mengrelia shook off the Yoke of the King of Bassa-Shiouk and chose another King among themselves who keeps his Soveraignty to this day by the support of the Grand Signor For when the Dadian rebell'd he enter'd into an Alliance with the Grand Signor and oblig'd himself to furnish him every year with such a certain quantity of Iron upon condition that if the King of Bassa-Shiouk should war upon him he should furnish him with twenty thousand Horse Of which the Turk was very glad finding thereby the Country of Mengrelia divided which being united was able at any time to have disturb'd him with an Army of fifty thousand Men. The King of Bassa-Shiouk coynes money of the same bigness and weight with that of the King of Persia. But in regard it is not so fine metal as that of the King of Persia he would have much a doe to make it pass in the trade between his Subjects and the Persians which is very great had he not found an expedient by putting the King of Persia's name upon the Coyn as well as his own which makes it pass without any difficulty He would also put the Grand Signor's Name upon his Coyn but that the Turk coynes none but small money or Aspers excepting only some Ducatts which he coines at Cairo The King of Bassa-Shiouk as well as the King of Teflis coynes all sort of forreign money These three Kings of Bassa-Shiouk Mengrelia and Guriel are Christians also And when they go to war all the Ecclesiastical Persons attend them Arch-bishops and Bishops Priests and Monks not so much to fight as to encourage the Souldiers Being at Constantinople the first time I travell'd into Persia I saw there an Embassador from the King of Mengrelia whose behaviour gave all the Franks occasion of laughter The Present
cold Now in regard the Christians are not permitted to keep these Pigeons some of the vulgar sort will turn Mahometans to have that liberty There are above three thousand Pigeon-houses in Ispahan For every man may build a Pigeon-house upon his own Farm which yet is very rarely done all the other Pigeon-houses belong to the King who draws a greater Revenue from the Dung than from the Pigeons which Dung as they prepare it serves to smoak their Melons Poultrey is very plentiful in Persia and the Armenians brought out of Europe the way how to fat Capons the first so fatted they presented to the King who lik'd them so well that he order'd that the richest of the Armenians should be commanded to provide him such a number every year There are no Turkeys in all Asia but the Armenians trafficking to Venice carry'd some from thence which when the King had tasted he lik'd so well that he order'd the Armenians to breed him up such a number and to stock the Kingdom with them But the Armenians seeing the King would impose a new Tribute of Turkeys as well as Capons grew negligent and suffer'd the Chickens to dye as soon as they were hatch'd Thereupon the Persians suspecting the fraud commanded the Armenians to keep the dead Turkeys that they might be Judges how they came by their deaths And it was my wonder to see so many young Turkeys hanging against the Walls of some Houses in Zulpha that occasion'd this Story to be told me All sorts of Water-fowl are as plentiful in Persia as with us Upon the Frontiers of Media and Armenia at a certain season of the year are to be seen a great number of Birds much like to our Owzils Much about the same time the Corn begins to appear but then is the ground cover'd with such infinite swarms of Locusts that the Armenians are forc'd to betake themselves to their Processions and to water the ground with a Water which they fetch a great way off whereinto the Bodies of several martyr'd Christians were thrown Three days these Processions and waterings of the ground continue and after that whether it be that the fore-mention'd Birds do eat the Locusts or only drive them away in two or three days the Country is clear of them As for Birds of prey the Country wants none Falcons Sparrow-haws Lanerets c. of which the King of Persia is very well provided having above eight hundred belonging to his Game Some of these Birds are taught to fly at the wild Boar or wild Ass or wild Goat others at Cranes Herons wild Geese and Partridge The chiefest of which Birds are brought from the Southern Mountains extending from Schiras to the Persian Gulf. The King takes great delight to hunt the Boar and Hart and if it come to pass that the Game out-run the Dogs then they let fly one of their Hawks who presently seizes the head and while she is continually pecking and disturbing the Beast the Dogs are presently at his heels The Hawks are taught to stop like a Horse at full speed else they would never quit their prey which they presently do as soon as ever the Falconer shews them their reward Now their way of ord'ring or making the Hawk is this They take the skin of a Hart head body and legs and stuff it with Straw to the end it may be like the Beast which they intend to represent in the nature of a Quarry When they have set it in the place where they usually train up the Hawk they lay meat upon the head or in the holes of the eyes to the end the Bird may be sure to seize those parts at his down-come Being accustom'd to feed in this manner for some days together they fix the Beast upon a Plank with four Wheels and cause it to be drawn with long Cords by certain men that mend their pace ev'ry day 'till at length it is drawn by a Horse at full speed whereby the Bird is accustom'd by degrees not to forsake her prey After the same manner they counterfeit all other sorts of Quarrys to enter their Hawks as well wild Boars wild Asses as Hares and Foxes Some there are that will order a Crow with the same industry as you would make a Hawk They have have also a certain Beast which they call Once which has a spotted skin like a Tiger but which is nevertheless very gentle and tame this a Horse-man will carry behind him and when he sees a wild Goat he sets down the Once which is so nimble that in three leaps he will be upon the back of the wild Goat though the wild Goat be a very swift Creature The Once immediately strangles him with his sharp teeth But if by accident the wild Goat get from him the Once will stand still in the same place abash'd and troubl'd so that an Infant may take him and kill him without the least resistance made in his own defence The Kings of Persia take great delight in Hunting and in that sport it is that they love to shew themselves magnificent Insomuch that Sha-Sefi desirous to treat all the Ambassadors then at his Court which at that time were the Tartarian Muscovite and Indian carry'd them along with him into the field and having tak'n a great number of Harts Fallow-dear Hinds and wild Boars he caus'd them all to be made ready to be eat'n the same day And while he was feasting an Architect had order to raise a Pyramid of the heads of those Beasts in the middle of Ispahan of which there are some remains to this day When the Architect had rais'd it to a considerable height he came very pleasantly to the King and told him he wanted nothing but one head of some great Beast to finish the Work The King whether in his Wine or to shew the Ambassadors how absolute he was over his Subjects turning briskly toward the Architect Thou say'st well said he nor do I know where to meet with a Head more proper than thy own Thereupon the miserable Architect was forc'd to submit his own Head the King's Command being presently put in execution CHAP. IV. Of the manner of Building in Persia. IN regard there is little Wood or Stone in Persia all the Cities except some Houses are generally built of Earth but of an earthen or rather a kind of Potter's Clay so well wrought that you may cut it like Turf being wrought to a just consistency The Walls are made with lays of Earth according to the proportion intended and between every lay of Earth three Foot high two or three rows of Bricks bak'd in the Sun These Bricks are made in a square Mold three singers thick and seven or eight inches broad and for fear they should cleave with drying in the Sun they lay over them pounded Straw to keep them from chopping in the heat They never lay the second Lay 'till the first be dry nor is the second Lay to be so broad as
the lowermost Those Buildings which are made of Brick bak'd in the Sun are very handsom and after the Wall is rais'd the Mason plaisters it over with a Morter made of Potter's Clay mingled with Straw so that the defects of the Building being cover'd the Wall appears very firm and close Then the Work-man plaisters the Morter over again with a Lime mixt with Muscovy-Green which he pounds with a certain Gum to render the Lime more glutinous and then rubbing the Wall over with a course Brush it becomes as it were damask'd and silver'd and looks like Marble The poor are contented with only bare Walls or some course daubing that costs little The middle of the House consists of a large Portico twenty or thirty Foot square and in the middle of the Portico a Fountain full of Water It is all open upon one side and from the Portico to the Pond or Fountain all cover'd with Carpets At every corner of the Portico is a Room to sit and take the fresh Air and behind another large Room the floor whereof is spread with Carpets Mattresses and Cushions according to the quality of the Master of the House Upon the two sides of the Portico are two other Chambers and doors to go from one Chamber to another and thus are the Houses of the great Lords built but only they are more spacious For their Houses consist of four great Parlours that look toward the our corners of the World and every Parlour has two Chambers upon each side which make eight Chambers that surround a great Hall in the middle The King's Palace is also built after the same fashion and generally the Persian Houses are very low it being a rare thing to see one three Stories high Yet all their Chambers and Rooms are arch'd wherein the Persian exceeds us For without all that trouble and time that we spend they will presently raise an Arch so broad and high as easily demonstrates the skill of the Work-man The tops of their Houses are flat and terrass'd being plaster'd with Earth mixt with Straw chopt very small and well temper'd which they bind together with a layer of Lime beat'n for seven days together which makes it as hard as Marble and if they want Lime they pave the Terrass with square Tiles bak'd in an Oven so that the Rain can do no harm But they are very careful to shovel off the Snow for fear it crack the Terrass with lying Without the Houses show nothing but within they are curiously painted with Birds and Flowers wherein the Persians are no bad Artists They take great delight to have several little Chambers with several Doors and Lattice-windows the quarrels whereof are of Glass of various colours This sort of glazing serves generally and indeed more properly for the Apartments where the Women may come For they might have Crystal-windows if they pleas'd but they glaze the void spaces in this manner that their Women may not be seen after they have fram'd the op'n place that gives light like a Flower-Pot with several Flowers in it which the Glass of several colours imitates to the life whereby it is impossible that the Windows should be peer'd through besides that it is pleasant to the Eye The Doors of their Houses are of Tchinar-Wood which is very noble and their Wainscoting is as neat The Persians that love ostentation always display their rich Carpets Mattresses Cushions Coverlets and all the most costly Furniture they have in the fore part of their dwellings For the Haram or the Women's Quarter is but meanly adorn'd in regard they are never visited by any men but their Husbands In some of their Rooms they have very narrow Chimnies for the Persians set all their Wood upright which they burn because of the Smoak besides they make but small Fires in regard they have so great a scarcity of Wood. When they would go to sleep they lye down upon a Plank cover'd with a Carpet and wrap themselves in a quilted Blanket In the Summer they sleep in the open Air upon their Terrasses and in regard the Women lye there too there is an order obtain'd that the Moullahs that sing upon the Mosquèes shall not presume to go up in the morning because it might be their hap to see the Women as they lay it being one of the highest pieces of infamy imaginable for a Woman to be discover'd with her Face op'n There are some Houses that belong to great Lords that have a square place before their Doors where they that come to visit them may put their Horses to the end the Street should not be pester'd If you look upon the Front of their Houses there is little ornament to be seen unless it be upon some which have been lately built CHAP. V. A Description of Ispahan the chief City of the Kingdom and Dominions of the King of Persia. ISpahan Sphahan or Sphaon as the Persians pronounce it which some Travellers have too unwarily affirm'd to be a fine City lyes in the Province of Hierac which composes some part of the ancient Kingdom of the Parthians It is the Capital City of all Persia and a very large place where the King usually keeps his Court. The Records of the Persians declare that formerly it was two contiguous Towns one part whereof belong'd to Haider and the other to Neamed-Olahi two parts of Ispahan still retaining those two names which has occasion'd great quarrels and debates among the people while they have both been eager to prefer their own quarter Nor indeed could Ispahan be accompted other than a Village before Sha-Abas had conquer'd the Kingdoms of Lar and Ormus But then observing so fair a Situation where he might as well be near the Provinces which he had newly conquer'd as for the design which he had to extend his Dominions to the East and West as he had enlarg'd them to the South he quitted Casbin and Sultany to reside at Ispahan as in the center of his Empire This City is seated in a vast plain which extends it self three ways fifteen or twenty Leagues Upon the South about two Leagues from Ispahan rises a very high Mountain on the top whereof toward the West are to be seen the remains of a very strong Fortress where Darius kept himself when Alexander gave Battle to him in that Plain In the side of the Rock is a Grotto either natural or artificial or both out of which issues a natural Spring of excellent Water where a Dervis usually inhabits The Circuit of Ispahan taking the Suburbs all in is not much less than that of Paris but the number of Inhabitants is ten times greater at Paris than at Ispahan Nor is it a wonder that a City should be so large and yet so ill peopl'd where every Family has its particular House and every House its particular Garden What ever way you come to it you may discover first the Towers of the Mosquees and then the Trees that environ the Houses so
devotion of the Feast Now in regard all Ages and Sexes go there is no time in all the year so favourable for the Women to meet their Gallants In the year 1667. the third of July I saw the Festival by the favour of the Nagar who appointed me a place just against the Déla where the King sate This Déla is a Room built with a jetting upon that side of the Meidan next the Palace Gate one story high Several Pillars sustain the flat bottom or floor of the Déla enrich'd with a Grotesco work of Gold and Azure in the mid'st whereof there was a Fountain that was fill'd with Water by the contrivance of a Pipe The Stage or Déla was op'n upon three sides the longest side jetting out upon the Piazza Upon the Wall of the opposite side which was close were to be seen several English and Hollanders both men and women pictur'd with Bottles and Glasses in their hands as if they were drinking to one another Sha-Abas the second caus'd this Painting to be drawn by a Hollander About sev'n a Clock in the Morning Sha-Sephi the second who since has chang'd his name to Sha-Soliman the second came and seated himself upon his Throne set up in the mid'st of the Déla all his Nobility standing about him So soon as he was sate down the Great Provost appear'd at the end of the Piazza mounted upon a fair Horse attended by certain young Lords who caus'd the people consisting of the Companies of the two quarters of the City which are twelve in all to advance to the places which were design'd them For formerly the Companies would strive for the way and therefore the King to prevent disorder order'd there should be a Provost or Master of the Ceremonies to place them without disturbance As he was about his duty a Horse-man entred the Piazza arm'd with a Bow a Quiver and a Scimitar follow'd by seven Men that carry'd every one a Pike upright in their hands with every one a Man's Head at the top Those were the Heads of certain Usbeck-Tartars the neighbouring and mortal Enemies of the Persians which those men had cut off from the shoulders of their conquer'd Foes The King caus'd five Tomans a piece to be giv'n to them that carry'd the Heads and ten Tomans to their Leader After them enter'd three hundred Turks which were fled from the Borders of Turkie from whence the Country-people were tak'n by force and sent to the Warrs of Candy They complain'd that whereas they were wont to be sent to their Winter-Quarters about the middle of October the Turk kept them to the same hard service in Winter as in Summer All these were order'd to advance into the middle of the Piazza where they made their obeysance to him three times and then humbly besought him that they might dwell in his Kingdom with their Wives their Children and their Cattel The King order'd Money to be distributed among them and that they should have Lands assign'd them to manure Then the Provost caus'd the Companies to advance every Company having the Thill of a Wagon carry'd before him upon every of which Thills was a Bier three or four Foot high the Wood of the Thill being painted with a Grotesco of Gold and Silver and the Bier cover'd with Sattin When the first Company had order to march three Horses were led before richly harness'd when they were come about a hundred Paces forward into the Piazza in view of the King they that led the Horses caus'd them to gallop and then all the Company fell a running and dancing about with the Bier Besides that every one flung up his short Cassock his Girdle and Bonnet put their fingers in their mouths to whistle as loud as they could While the naked people with their Flint-stones in their hands ran knocking their Stones together crying out Hussein Hocen Hocen Hussein 'till they foam at the mouth again not omitting to wryth their Bodies and to make all the scurvy Faces as before describ'd The three Companies succeeding one another in the same Formalities by and by came two Companies more with a little Bier upon their Thills and in each Bier a little Child that lay as if dead They that accompany'd these two Biers wept and sigh'd most sadly These two Infants represented the Children of Hussein who when the Prophet was slain were tak'n by Yerid Caliph of Bagdat and put to death Upon this occasion you shall see a great number of Curtisans that come to the Ceremony fall a weeping who thereby believe their Sins are forgiv'n When all the people were come into the Piazza notwithstanding all the care and good order that was tak'n there were several that went to Sharps accounting it a great honour to fight smartly in the King's presence and farther believing that if any one be kill'd upon that occasion he shall be Sainted as indeed every one gives something toward his Interrment The Grand Provost seeing the Quarrel grow hot and fearing more mischief sent for five Elephants which ceas'd the Combat by drawing the Eyes of the Spectators upon them The Elephants march'd one before another according to their Pay that was allow'd them and their skill in War Not that the King of Persia makes any use of them in the Field but only for State keeps such as the Indian Princes present him withal Those five Elephants were cover'd with Houses of Cloth of Gold with a Fringe of the same round about And upon the first which was the highest and the biggest sate two Men the one upon the neck who guides the Elephant the other upon the crupper carrying the King's Arm 's in a Standard fix'd to a Half-Pike Upon the other four sate only one Man a-piece who were the Governours When they came before the place where the King sate they were all rank'd five a-brest at what time the biggest which was in the middle stretch'd out his two fore-legs forward and his two hinder-legs backward 'till his belly almost touch'd the ground after which manner the Elephant makes his obeysance The other four did the same Then laying their Trunks upon the ground and raising them again over their heads three times more they were made to stand with their heads where their tayls stood and their Houses were turn'd up to the end the King might see in what condition they were and whether well look'd after or no which being done they were led away again Upon one side of the Room where the King stood a little Scaffold was set up cover'd with Tap'stry some five Foot lower than the Kings In the middle of the Scaffold stood a great Elbow-Chair cover'd with black Velvet where sate a Moullah with six other Moullah's round about him The Moullah made a Discourse upon the Death of Hussein and Hocen of about half an hour long which being ended the King caus'd a Calaat or Habit of Honour to be giv'n him as also to the others though not so rich When they had
all put on the Habit the same Moullah return'd to his Chair and made a Prayer for the health of the King and the prosperity of his Kingdom All these Ceremonies lasted from seven in the Morning 'till Noon at what time the King retir'd into his Haram As for the People they carry their Biers up and down the City and where-ever two Companies meet whether it be for the upper hand or to get formost they presently fall together by the Ears and knock one another down for they are not permitted to carry any other Arms than good big Clubs almost as big as Levers Some time after the Feast of Hussein and Hocen the Persians celebrate another Festival which they call the Feast of the Camel in remembrance of Abraham's Sacrifice They have a great reverence for this Festival saying that it was a Camel and not a Ram which God sent to reprieve Ishmael affirming that Ishmael was to have been sacrific'd and not Isaac They choose out for this Ceremony one of the fairest Camels they can meet withal and adorn and dress him up with several Plates of counterfeit Gold and Silver and then leäd him without the City to a place which is before a Mosquee on the other side of the River of Ispahan upon Zulpha side the Deroga or Provost accompanying the people The King was formerly wont to be at this Feast accompany'd with his Nobility and I have seen him there but of late years he never goes the Deroga supplying his place When the King went thither several Moullahs pray'd for half an hour after which the King took a kind of a Jav'lin and darted it against the Camel but now in the absence of the King the Deroga gives the first stroak At the same time they fling the Camel to the ground with Ropes ty'd to his legs and cutting off his head and neck together they divide the rest of the Body into eleven parts more to the end all the twelve Companies may have every one their share Every Company carries their share to the Master of the Companies House who is generally the ancientest among them Which part is kept and salted up 'till the next Feast and the piece the year before so 'till then preserv'd is then boyl'd with Rice and is the foundation of the Feast for the chief of the Company who take it for an honour to eat of it For the rest they boyl Rice with Mutton and Hens and besides that distribute large Alms to the Poor CHAP. VIII Of the Religion of the Gaurs the Relicks of the ancient Persians adorers of Fire THere are no men in the world so scrupulous of discovering the Mysteries of their Religion as the Gaurs so that I was forc'd to frequent their company very much in most of my Travels to pick out what I have here to deliver Of the present Condition of the Gaurs AFter the Persians began to persecute the Gaurs great numbers of them retir'd to Surat and others into the Province of Guzerat Now the King of Persia lets them live in quiet and there are now above 10000 in Kerman where I staid three Months in the year 1654. All that live in India are Tradesmen and for the most part Turners in Ivory those in Kerman deal in Wool Four days journey from whence stands their principal Temple where their Chief Priest resides whither they are once in their lives oblig'd to go in Pilgrimage There are some of these Gaurs live near Ispahan Of their Original and their Prophets THey say that the Father of their Prophet was a Frank by Nation whose Name was Azer and a Carver by Trade That he left his own Country to live in theirs which at that time was the City of Babylon where he took a Wife who call'd her self Doghdon That one night his Wife dreamt that God had sent an Angel from Paradise to visit her who brought her very rich Cloathes which she put on That a Celestial Light presently over-spread her Face and render'd her as beautiful as the Sun and that when she wak'd she found her self with Child which Child prov'd to be the Prophet Ebrahim-zer-Ateucht That the Astrologers of that time by their skill in the Stars knew of the Birth of that Infant sent by God who was to govern Men and reign in their Hearts That those Astrologers went and declar'd the same thing to the King telling him that there was a Child suddenly to be born that would one day deprive him of his Crown Whereupon the said King call'd Neubrout and a great Tyrant caus'd all the Women with Child to be put to death through the whole extent of his Dominions But by a Miracle the big Belly of the Mother of their Prophet not appearing she remain'd undiscover'd and brought forth a Son Her Husband who knew nothing of this Mystery fearing he should lose his head if he did not discover the business to the King before he found it out another way went and confess'd that he had a Child born but that he knew nothing of her being with Child Now you must know that contrary to the custom of other Children that cry so soon as they come out of the Mothers womb this Child laugh'd so soon as he was born For being to triumph over the Hearts of the people he was to shew signs of joy so that the people began already to rejoyce in their future felicities This being signifi'd to the King he call'd his Astrologers together to tell him the meaning of so extraordinary a thing and what would become of the Infant But the Astrologers not being able to satisfie him he sent for the Infant and would have slain him with a Sword with his own hand but God dry'd up his Arm immediately so that he could not However not terrifi'd with so great a punishment transported with Choler he caus'd a great Fire to be kindled and commanded the Infant to be thrown into it But by the power of God the Fire which he had prepar'd to consume the Infant turn'd into a Bed of Roses where the Child most sweetly repos'd They who from that hour began to honour the little Prophet took away some of that Fire which has been preserv'd to this time They keep it say they in honour of so great a Miracle and they have it in great veneration because it discover'd the merit of their Prophet Nevertheless the King stop'd not there but still obstinate in his impiety notwithstanding all these Miracles he prepar'd new torments for the little Infant but God chastis'd his incredulity and that of his people very severely by sending such an infinite number of Flies and that of such a pestiferous nature that who-ever were stung with them dy'd without remedy unless they immediately came and worship'd the Prophet and kiss'd his Feet in testimony of their repentance As for the King who still continu'd in his impenitency an exemplary fate befel him For one of those Flies stinging him in one of his Ears
several times before we could agree but at length he told me that the King would give me Twenty-five in the Hundred profit for all the Stones leaving me the Pearls which he thought I might put off at a better price in the Indies which was an offer I could not refuse and therefore I sign'd the Agreement according to the Nazar's desire Which when his Majesty had seen he bid the Nazar tell me I should be his Jeweller in Ordinary and that for my sake all the Franks should be the better us'd within his Territories and that I should have any favour of him that I desir'd I besought his Majesty to give me his Patent with his Seal affix'd whereby I might be priviledg'd to Trade in his Dominions without paying Custom for such and such Merchandize and in in such manner as I should think fitting I also besought him graciously to grant his Protection to a Nephew of mine whom I had left at Tauris to learn the Language that he might be serviceable to his Majesty when I was dead and gone Thereupon he caus'd my Nephew to be enrol'd presently as one of his Domestick Servants and order'd the Nazar to take particular care of him The next day after my agreement with the Nazar the King gave audience in the great Hall of the Palace to the Ambassador of the Vsbeck-Tartars All the Lords and Officers of the Crown stood in the Court where the Ambassador was to pass there were also nine stately Horses whose Furniture was very rich and all different Two Harnesses were cover'd with Diamonds two with Rubies two with Emralds two with Turquoises and one embroider'd with fair Pearls Had he been an Ambassador from a Monarch for whom the King of Persia had had a greater esteem than he had for the Cham of Tartary there had been thirty Horses for according to the value which the King puts upon the Prince that sends to him he either augments or abates of the number of his Horses of State Every Horse is ty'd by the Reins to a Nail of Gold fasten'd in the Ground with a Hammer of Gold lying by There was another Nail of Gold behind with a Cord ty'd to it that held their hinder legs They set also before every Horse a Caldron of Gold out of which they draw up Water into a great Manger though all this be only for State for they never water their Horses in that place Out of the first Court the Ambassador enter'd into a large Gallery between a long File of Musqueteers on each side Thence he enter'd into a Garden through an Alley about eight Fathom broad all pav'd with great Marble Stones in the middle of which runs a Channel of Water four Foot wide with several Water-works that spurted out of the Channel at equal distances On each side of the Walk to the Hall where the King sat there is a Pond almost as long as the Walk and in the middle of the Pond another sort of Water-works Several Officers of the Army were rang'd all along the Alley and at the end of one of the Ponds were four Lions ty'd and at the end of the other three Tigers couchant upon Carpets of Silk having Men to guard them with Half-pikes in their hands The Hall took up more ground in length then in bredth being op'n every way the Cieling was sustain'd by sixteen wooden Pillars of eight pannels every one and of a prodigious thickness and height As well the Cieling as the Pillars were all painted with Foliage-work in Gold and Azure with certain other Colours mix'd therewith In the middle of the Hall was a Vase of excellent Marble with a Fountain throwing out Water after several manners The Floor was spread with Gold and Silk Carpets made on purpose for the place and near to the Vase was a low Scaffold one Foot high twelve Foot long and eight wide cover'd with a magnificent Carpet Upon this Scaffold sate the King upon a four-square Cushion of Cloth of Gold with another Cushion behind him cover'd with the same set up against a great Tap'stry-Hanging wrought with Persian Characters containing the Mysteries of the Law On each side of the King stood several Eunuchs with Musquets in their hands The King commanded the Athemadoulet and four others to sit down by him and the Athemadoulet made me a sign to sit down but the King knowing how little the Franks care for sitting cross-leg'd order'd me to be told that I might stand upright if I thought good The King was clad in a Silk streak'd with Gold His Cloak was a Gold-ground with Flowers of Silk and Silver Furr'd with a Martin Sable the blackest and most glist'ring that ever was seen His Girdle was very rich and upon his Bonnet he wore a plume of Herons Feathers fasten'd with a transparent Jewel in the middle of the Jewel was a Pear-fashion'd Pearl set with great Topaze's and Rubies About half an hour after the King was sat the Nazar and the Master of the Ceremonies brought the Ambassador who neither himself nor any of his Train were very well clad and caus'd him to stay at the foot of the steps into the Hall from the Garden When the Ambassador had ascended the steps he prostrated himself before the King then advancing nine or ten paces he did the same again after which the Master of the Ceremonies caus'd him to sit down leaving between him and the King space enough for eight men After that I observ'd that the Nazar went often between the King and the Ambassador and between the Ambassador and the King but I could not tell what they said So that I being by that time quite tyr'd made my obeysance to the King and went home to my Lodging The next day the Nazar signify'd to me that it was the King's pleasure to favour me with a compleat Calaat or Habit of Honour and to pay me my money This is y e God worthy to be praisd The Kingdome belongs to God The God of Mercy to y e Compassionate O Mahomet OHaly y e God most high the Prophets These great Caracters with those y t are upon the side of the names of the 12 Prophets signifie To the Name of God God who is the aid of Mahomet The King who has all power Severat Iafar Elfeteseni Elmoussi These are the names of the four Prophets that haue followed the Doctrine of Haly. This Containe y e Names of y e 12 Prophets without their surnames Aly Hassen Hossein Alizein Maham Iafar Moussa Alj Mahomet Haly Hassen Mahomet That which is under the Names of the 12 Prophets signifies as follows He who at this time enjoyes y e Kingdome The Victorious Abas the second this is y t. w ch is on y e. Kings seale Mahomet Methi son of Habi Bala of the race of Sophi This is y t. w ch is Contein'd in y e seale of the Aemadoulet or first Minister of State y e seale in the Originall is sett
behind noe man dareing to fix his seale on y e. side of y e Kings The next day in the Morning being sent for to the Court I found the Nazar the Grand Treasurer and several other great Officers expecting me in the Treasury where the Money lay ready in seal'd Bags My Sum amounted to three thousand four hundred and sixty Tomans of which the Treasurer would have abated me a hundred and sixty for Fees After a long contest I gave him half and carry'd away my Money having first weigh'd two Bags Toman by Toman and then weigh'd the rest of the Bags Bag by Bag. CHAP. XVI Of the Honours and Presents which the Author receiv'd from the King of Persia. THE day following one of the Nazar's principal Officers brought me the compleat Calaat consisting of Vest Tunick or Super-Vest Girdle and Bonnet He also deliver'd me three Patents seal'd by his Majesty and the Athemadoulet which exempted me from paying any Customs within his Kingdom Another to the Kan of Schiras with a little Seal or Signet commanding him to let me have three Loads of good Wine when I travel'd that way A third with his Signet in favour of my Nephew at Tauris wherein the King declar'd that he own'd him as his Domestick Servant and that he was under his Protection The First PATENT ran thus THE Command of him whom all the Universe obeys has been made That the Beglerbegs of High Nature the victorious and great Lords Ornaments of the Kingdom Possessors of Honour the Judges in high place practisers of Justice the Visiers who preserve Reason and have in their thoughts the removal of Vice and the Commissioners who act in affairs and difficulties of the Palace the Overseers of the Roads and the Conservators of the good Customs of the well-order'd Kingdoms of Kragon which God preserve from all misfortune MAY KNOW That whereas the choicest of his Resemblers and Companions * Aga TAVERNIER French Merthant has brought so many Rarities of all sorts to the presence and view of the Lieutenant of the Eagles who has all things according to his wish has found the degree of favour and good will And whereas We have commanded him to perfect some Business for Us which so soon as he has finish'd he is to bring to the holy and pure view Therefore through whatsoever Road or Coast of Our Thrice-spacious Kingdom the above-nam'd shall have a desire or occasion to pass Let not the Receivers of the Palace out of any seeming expectancy from the above-nam'd give him any trouble or molestation But let them know that it is necessary for them to give him all honour and to make much of him that he may go where he pleases And whereas the Seal of High Nature the Light of the Universe of Kragon of thrice-noble extraction the Master of the Age has illuminated and adorn'd this Writing Let them rest there and give Credence to it By the thrice-high Command c. Kragon A King of China so renown'd for his Justice Victory and Magnanimity that sometimes the Kings of Persia assume that Title in their Patents and sometimes in honour of him stile themselves his Lieutenants Receivers of the Palace are Farmers of the Customs and other Subsidies The Second PATENT To the Governour of Schiras THE Command of Him whom all the world ought to obey is such That the Illustrious and High Lord whose Office ought to be honour'd the Governour and Prototype of Visiers and Grandees Mirza-Mahomet-Sadée the Visier of Fars may be assur'd of Royal Favours when he understands the Contents of this Command He shall give three Loads of Wine of that which he has in his custody to the Cream of his Equals Aga TAVERNIER French Merchant and you shall take an Acquittance All the Grand Visiers and Officers of Customs and Guarders of Passes also let them not molest him at all let them take nothing from him let them permit him to go and come as he pleases and let them obey him Given the Month of Jamady-Elaker in the Hegyra of Mahomet 1075. January 1665. The Cream is the Character of an honest man among the Eastern people But to return to the Calaat You must take notice that the Persians call a Calaat any Present which one person makes to another inferior to him in dignity sometimes a Vest alone sometimes a Tunick with the Girdle only sometimes a Turbant or a Horse with Bridle and Saddle to those in the Army the King sends a Sword or a Dagger and all these go by the name of Calaat's Secondly you must take notice that when the King sends a Calaat to a Governour of a Province he names himself the person that is to carry it For both in Turkie and Persia the Receiver of the King 's Present is oblig'd to pay the Messenger in so much that sometimes they hardly scape for a thousand Tomans But when the Calaat is sent to any private person the Nazar chooses out of his Domestick Servants one to carry it I gave twenty-five Tomans into Father Raphael's hand who order'd his business with so good a grace and so advantageously for my Purse that he complemented away the Messenger very well satisfi'd with half The next day the Nazar sent to me to put on my Calaat and to come and do my obeysance to the King who was that day to go abroad Thereupon I summon'd together all the Franks and order'd the Trumpets and Drums to be made ready as I rode from the Palace home For then the people come out to see who the King has honour'd that day who is always known by his Habit which is still the newest and gayest of all the rest It happen'd that the King being indispos'd did not go away that day however I apply'd my self to the Nazar and told him how much I was oblig'd to the King for the honour he had done me and that I was resolv'd to shew my self before the greatest Monarchs in Europe in the Habit he had bestow'd upon me that they might behold the beauty and richness of my Calaat The Nazar fail'd not to repeat my Compliment to his Majesty who thereupon order'd me the Persian Cloak with hanging-sleeves and fac'd with sable Martins Two or three days after the Nazar sent for me again to Court whither I went accompany'd by the Zulphian Franks as before I was no sooner come to the Palace but the Nazar met me in the great Hall attended by two Officers who carry'd the Cloak which the King had appointed for me and presently taking the Cloak out of their hands he put it about my shoulders saying these words It is the King's pleasure to honour thee entirely It was a most magnificent piece of Silk and very richly furr'd having been valu'd at eight hundred Crowns In this I was particularly beholding to the Nazar who might have sent me my Cloak home to my Lodging as well as the Calaat but he was pleas'd to put it upon my back in the
King caus'd the Baker and the Cook to be apprehended and to be led quite thorough the City with two men going before them who cry'd to the people We are going to put the Baker into a red hot Oven made in the Piazza where he is to be bak'd alive for having utter'd Bread by false weights and the Cook is to be roasted alive for having sold meat by false weights Thus those two men serv'd for an example not only to Ispahan but to all the Kingdom where every one dreaded the severe justice of Sha-Abbas CHAP. III. Of what fell out most memorable in the Reign of Sha-Sefi the first and particularly of the death of Iman-Kouli-Kan and his three Sons I Man-Kouli-Kan was the last Kan of Schiras whose Government extended over the Province of Lar to the Golf of Persia under the Reign of Sha-Abbas these Kans being the most potent in all Persia. Iman-Kouli-Kan was he who in the Reign of Sha-Abbas conquer'd the greatest part of the Kingdom of Lar and the Kingdom of Ormus with all the Coast of the Persian Golf from Cape Jasques to Balsara This Iman-Kouli-Kan was prodigiously rich belov'd and respected by all the world besides he was wonderfully magnificent his expences almost equalling the Kings which occasion'd Sha-Abbas who discours'd with him one day particularly upon that Subject to tell him that he desir'd him to spend every day one Mamoudy less than he that there might be some difference between the expences of a King and a Kan The noble qualities of this Iman-Kouli-Kan had gain'd the affections of the people for he was magnificent and liberal highly recompenc'd brave Soldiers and Students he lov'd Strangers and had a particular care to cherish Arts and Sciences To which purpose he built a fair Colledg at Schiras for the instruction of Youth and several Inns as well in the City as upon the Road for the benefit of Travellers He caus'd Mountains to be cut thorough to shorten the way and join'd others by Bridges of such an adventurous Structure that it is hard to conjecture how such prodigious Arches could be made over such vast Precipices and Torrents Now in regard Iman-Kouli-Kan was strick'n in years he seldom went to Court chusing rather to continue in his Government where he was belov'd and respected by all men But the King being young and the Government of the Kingdom in the hands of the Queen-Mother and the Athemadoulet who were extreamly jealous of the Kan those two persons link'd together in interest for the maintenance of the Kings Authority and their own fretted to see the Kan's Court almost as splendid as the Kings and that nothing of the Revenue of Schiras Lar Ormus or any part of the Persian Golf came to the Kings Coffers as being solely at the disposal of the Kan but that on the contrary the King was oblig'd to send him Money to pay the Army But that which troubled the Queen-Mother most of all was the pretention of the Kan's eldest Son to the Crown whowas also a person of a daring and ambitious courage For the Kings of Persia esteem it a great Honour to bestow upon any Kan or great Lord one of their Wives out of their Royal Haram and Sha-Abbas had given to Iman-Kouli-Kan one of his own proper Wives whom he lov'd extreamly 'T is thought that when she left the Haram she was three months gone with Child by Sha-Abbas for somewhat above six months after she was bedded by the Kan she lay-in of a Son of which the King was the reputed Father and who being born before Sha-Sefi pretended a right before him to the Throne By vertue of this claim contrary to the will of Sha-Abbas in favour of Sha-Sefi this ambitious Lord who only pass'd for the Kan's eldest Son vehemently sollicited his Father to seize upon Sha-Sefi and to make himself King or at least to op'n a way for him to the Throne Now it happen'd that one day being a hunting with the young King near Schiras the impatient young Lord coming to his Father Sir said he see now the opportunity that offers you the Throne for I will go presently and bring you Sha-Sefi's head But the Kan holding his Son by the Arm told him that he would never consent to the death of his King protesting to him rather to dye a thousand deaths adding withall that it was the Kings will to appoint Sha-Sefi to succeed him as being the Son of his Son and consequently his lawful Heir that the young Prince was recommended to his care and in regard he had promis'd and sworn he was so far from falsifying his trust that he would maintain his possession to the last gasp This generous resolution of the Kan broke the young Lords design upon the Kings person However the Sultaness being not ignorant of the train that was laid for the young King and against the repose of the Kingdom thought it her wisest way to prevent the blow and to rid her self of such persons as had conspir'd the death of the King The Kan's two other Sons took part with him they call'd their elder Brother And as for the Kan himself though he were upright in his Loyalty yet his power his wealth his reputation among the Souldiery and the affection that the people bare him concurr'd together not only to render him suspected but guilty The Sultaness and the Athemadoulet took counsel together which way to divert the storm that threaten'd the Kings head to whom they represented that he was not safe in his own person so long as Iman-Kouli-Kan and his three eldest Sons liv'd The King easily believ'd them and resolv'd to be rid both of Father and Sons together but the difficulty was to get 'em to Court wherein opportunity it self assisted them For at that time Amurath the Great Turk at the head of a vast Army was already advanc'd within the Confines of Persia had tak'n Erivan and had ruin'd Tauris Upon the first news of this march the King sends for all the Kans and Governours to attend his person with all the Forces under their command Among the rest the Kan of Schiras receiv'd the same orders who thereupon assembl'd all his Troops both Horse and Foot who were not only the most numerous but the best disciplin'd and stoutest Souldiers of all Persia. As he was upon his march to Casbin with his three Sons the eldest having well consider'd of affairs Sir said he We are making hast to the King to the end our heads may the sooner fall at our feet Perhaps my Son reply'd the Kan thou maist speak the truth but to this day I never was a Rebel against the King I have done whatever he commanded and whatever may happ'n I will obey him till death The Kan arriving at Casbin was by the King welcom'd with great demonstrations of joy Some days after he took a general Muster and then made a great Feast which lasted three days to which all the great Lords and Kans
sent him to Prison Eight days after the King who had a great love for him and therefore troubl'd that he must be constrain'd to put him to death unless he would turn Mahumetan sent for him again and offer'd him two thousand Tomans after a powerful perswasion by words but all signify'd nothing Upon that he sent him back again to Prison But yet remembring that he had once approv'd the fact he sent for Ralph a second time and offer'd him ten thousand Tomans and a Wise out of his Haram with all her Jewels all which Ralph refus'd with the same resolution as before The King incens'd at the fierceness of his resolution deliver'd him to the Brother of the party slain to execute the Law upon him The Holstein Embassadors were resolv'd to have beg'd his life but the Athemadoulet smelling their design would not permit them Audience However the King commanded all the Franks and all the Armenian Clergy to be present at the Execution to save all his blood and put him in a Coffin he commanded also that he should be buried at Zulpha in the Armenian Church-yard and have a Tomb made over him Thereupon Ralph was lead to the Meidan with that triangular Instrument of Wood which the Persians call a Palenk about his neck This Palenk was the cause that the Brother of the deceas'd who was to be the Executioner not only miss'd his first blow but wounded himself in the Leg while his Skain being born off by one of the sides of the triangular Instrument by the force of the blow lighted upon himself Whereupon the people making a great shout hinder'd farther execution for that time The King being advertis'd thereof remanded him to Prison and after a few days sent for him a third time into his presence but though the King offer'd him a thousand Tomans and that the Lords urg'd him to turn though it were but for a while and in outward appearance yet neither threats nor promises could move the Zurickian who was thereupon executed at the end of October 1637. All the Franks willingly contributed to raise him a Tomb which was cover'd with a small Duomo supported with four Pillars ten or twelve foot high The Armenians have made him a Saint so that when they are sick of a Feaver they come and make their devotions at this Tomb and every time they come they carry away a piece of a Stone so that the Tomb wants repairing every year The Athemadoulet to the end the King might be the less sensible of the want of him had told the King that his Majesty would find no great miss of him in regard he had a Servant who was almost as good as himself But some few days after the Kings Watch that he always carry'd about him being out of order and Ralphs Apprentice not being able to remedy the fault the King for madness that he had been the Watchmakers death threw the Watch at the Athemadoulets head There cry'd he Dog as thou art by thy advice I put Ralph to death the most skilful man of his Profession that ever will come into my Kingdom Thou deservest for thy counsel to have thy belly ript up But I swear by my Throne that from this time forward I will never put a a Christian to death for his Religion And I question whether any of you would have had the same courage to have dy'd for the Law of Haly. And indeed they have been very cautious ever since nor has any of the Franks been put to death though they have flown out before the King in words and actions rash enough CHAP. V. Of some particulars under the Reign of Sha-Abbas the second SHa-Abbas the second Son of Sha Sefi was no less cruel then his Father and would be no less punctually obey'd He had two Sisters which he marri'd to two of the richest Lords of his Kingdom though of a very mean extraction Some time after the King understanding that they were both with-Child order'd Physick to be given them to destroy the fruit of their Wombs About three months after he was told that they were big again then he suffer'd 'em to be brought to bed but commanded that they should not give the Children any nourishment but let 'em starve to death The same Sha Abbas caus'd the tongue of one that fill'd him Tobacco to be cut out for a word spok'n idly For the King calling for Tobacco one of the Pages ran hastily for it to him that had it in charge and bid him dispatch who answer'd him briskly Gehennemé sabreijlé that is to Hell have a little patience The King being inform'd of it commanded his tongue to be cut out The poor man desir'd him that was the Executioner to cut it as deep as he could in his throat and to leave it very short by which means he spoke some words muffling The people cry'd out against the Nazar who being a person of low extraction and advanc'd to that high dignity in a short time grew so proud that he contemn'd all the Lords of the Court. There was no dealing with him about any business unless he were first presented and he paid no body without making some advantage of it Every body had reason to complain yet no person knew how to come at the King to make their complaints At length they bethought themselves of making their application to two black Eunuchs who had the Kings ear in the night One was call'd Aga-Saron who was the Meter or Master of the Wardrobe and the other Aga-Kafour or high Treasurer These two Eunuchs seeing the King in a good humour one night let fall certain words concerning the Nazar and his management of affairs and thence slid into a discourse of His injustice that caus'd the people to cryout against him and speak evil of his Government Now it happen'd one morning that the King intending to go a hunting the Grand Master who had always a large train attending him coming to the Kings Tent the Meter deny'd him entrance About the same time the King came forth and seeing the Nazar commanded his Officers to take off the Bonnet from the head of that Dog that took Gifts from his people and that he should sit three days bareheaded in the heat of the Sun and as many nights in the Air. Afterwards he caus'd him to be chain'd about the neck and arms and condemn'd him to perpetual imprisonment with a Mamoudy a day for his maintenance but he dy'd for grief within eight days after he was put in prison Jafer-Kan being a generous Lord and one that kept a magnificent train was Governour of Asterabat At first he was very mild but at last he began to exact such sums from the people that his oppressions were very heavy nor were these violences of his conceal'd from the Kings ear who being one day drinking with some of his Lords and seeing the Master of his Musick in the Room who was a merry droll and had always some
ended the Vizir open'd the Letter and read it with a loud voice When the Vizir came to read the Sentence against the Deroga he was seiz'd with astonishment at what time Negef-Couli-Beg coming to the Deroga and striking him upon the Neck with his fist threw him down under his Horses feet and caus'd him to be bound according to custom Immediately he was hurri'd to the Piazza where he receiv'd so many Bastinado's upon the soles of his feet that his nayls fell off The next Friday they brought him to the same place where they repeated the same Execution and boar'd his ankles The Deroga being very ancient his pains put him into such a condition as mov'd Negef-Couli-Beg himself to compassion who wrote presently to Court that the continuance of so much torment would infallibly be the death of the old man Upon that the King order'd that there should no more be done to him only that he should be shut up in the inner part of his House with his Wives depriving him of his employment but leaving him his Estate But Mahomet Beg not having yet compleated the revenge he sought was resolv'd after he had thus tormented him to deprive him also of his Estate To which purpose he advanc'd to the Office of Deroga a Georgian Renegado who was call'd Padada-Beg whom he taught all the tricks imaginable to pick the peoples pockets The design of Mahomet Beg in this was to let the King understand that if the new Deroga could heap up such a sum of money in five or six months what a prodigious sum must Mir-Kassembeg have heap'd up in so many years In short the new Deroga instructed and encourag'd by Mahomet Beg levy'd unjustly such a vast number of fines committed so many extortions and rapines upon the people that at the end of six months the people began to tumulc at the Palace gate The Divan Bequi who is the first Minister of Justice took the peoples part whereupon Mahomet Beg perceiving he had been too hasty in his design to be reveng'd upon the Divan Bequi who had cross'd his designs one morning caus'd several files of Musqueteers to be drawn up at the Kings Haram The King surpriz'd at the sight Mahomet Beg told him that his Majesty was not safe so long as the Divan Bequi stirr'd up the people to Rebellion which so incens'd the King that he caus'd the Groom Porter to go immediately and pull out the Divan Bequi's eyes which was immediately done nor did the old man say any more but with his face all besmear'd with his own goar desir'd the servant upon whose arms he lean'd to turn him toward Mecca that he might pray for the prosperity of the King All his goods were confiscated and brought into the Treasury but Mir Kassem-beg still enjoy'd his though he was forc'd to spend the remainder of his days in his own house Thus Mahomet Beg preserv'd himself still in the Kings favour and had remov'd all those persons from the Court that had no kindness for him and was indifferently safe till Mir-Tchekar-Bashi another favourite whom the King highly lov'd began to make head against him These two haughty spirits would not give an inch one to another and both equally strove to possess the Kings favour to have the disposal of Affairs Mir-Tchekar-Bashi who had brought Mahomet Beg into Favour being the elder pretended a respect due to his years and Mahomet Beg pretended more due from him by reason of his place During this contest ran a report of a rebellion upon Georgia side Whereupon the Athemadoulet perswaded the King to send Mir-Tchekar-Bashi lately made Koular Agasi or General of the Slaves toward Georgia that so he might remove his Rival from Court The Favourite sets forward with a flying Camp but not finding any Enemy that oppos'd him wrote back to the King that he saw no appearance of an Enemy and that therefore it was a needless thing to tire the Souldiers in a Country where there was no face of War and begg'd his Majesties leave to return The Athemadoulet on the other side labour'd to hinder his return by preaching to the King the advantages of the stay of those forces in those parts In this interim the Usbek Tartars had made inroads upon the Frontiers of Carassan and had slain several of Manoutcheks people who was governor of the Province Mahomet Beg who was his Kinsman gave the King to understand that the Kan of Corassan had behav'd himself valiantly but conceal'd the defeat of the Kan On the other side the Koular Agasi sent Letter upon Letter to the King but perceiving that none of them came to the Kings hands he sent to Ispahan one of his discreetest and most trusty servants who coming to Court intermix'd himself among the rest of the Lackeys The Athemadoulet spying an unknown face and being always mistrustful demanded who he was To whom the Messenger answer'd that he was a poor Souldier upon the frontiers of the Kingdom who because he could not get his pay there was come to Court to see if he could there get any recompence for his service upon which reply the Athemadoulet took no farther notice of him Presently after the young man meeting the Meter told him he had Letters of importance to deliver into the Kings own hand of which the Meter giving notice to the King the messenger was immediately call'd in The King having read the Letters which discover'd to him what the Athemadoulet had conceal'd from him touching the no necessity of keeping forces upon the Frontiers of Georgia and the loss which the Kan of Korassan had receiv'd transported with choler against his prime Minister sent for him and after he had most bloodily revil'd and reproach'd him he was within a little of killing him with his own hands But the Nazar and some other Lords there present took the boldness to represent to the King the long services which Mahomet Beg had done the Kingdom and that since his Majesty had rais'd him from the dust to the highest honours of the Kingdom it would not be for his honour to destroy at one blow a person that he had lov'd and might still be useful to him This discourse somewhat appeas'd the King so that he only gave him in custody to the Nazar Three days after the King exil'd him to Kom with all his Family not permitting him to shave himself go to the Bath or to come abroad This Exilement lasted for several years But my Letters from Persia in the year 1674. enform'd me that Sha Solyman the present King has restor'd him to his Primier Dignity and that he still governs as Athemadoulet the King finding no man more capable than himself CHAP. VII Of the Rebellion of the Prince of Jasque a Vassal to the King of Persia in the raigns of Sha-Sefi I. and Sha-Abbas II. BEtween Cape Jasque and Cape Guadel which are the two most Southern points of Persia there lies a mountainous and mershie Country
receiv'd every one then labour'd to testifie their joy for his return They sent him Horses Mules Camels rich Carpets and every thing fit to furnish a Lords house But all this while he wanted money which because he could not meet with among the Persians he was forc'd to have recourse to the Armenians of whom he desir'd to borrow five or six hunder'd Tomans As for the Kalenter he would have had the sum lent but the rest would not Thereupon the King taking a walk to Zulpha Ali-Couli-Kan put it into his head to go and see the great Cathedral belonging to the Armenians where several Bishops with several Monks reside The King entring into the Church where the Bishop stood ready at the head of the Clergy to receive him and seeing all things new and strange as coming but lately out of the womens Haram ask'd his favourite what sort of people those were clad in such an extraordinary manner Ali-Couli-Kan told him they were Devils Devils said the King What! added he dost bring me into a house of Devils The King thus incens'd against the Armenians resolv'd to force 'em to turn Mahumetans But Ali-Couli-Kan being a Georgian repenting that he had rais'd the Kings indignation to so high a pitch and not believing it would be any advantage to him for the Armenians to turn Mahumetans contented himself only with frighting them which was enough to bring the Armenians upon their knees and to make them come and beg the Intercession of his authority Which favour as he order'd it cost the Armenians ten thousand Tomans to the King and four or five thousand Tomans to his Favourite The 23. of September 1677. the King made a Cavalcade then which there could be nothing imagin'd more magnificent All the richest Furniture was brought out of the Exchequer into the Meydan The golden buckets to water the Horses The golden Fat out of which they take the water together with the buckles harness and nails of gold to which the Horses are ty'd After the King had play'd at Mall as I have already describ'd and had also shot at the Goblet upon the top of the Mast in the middle of the Meydan he went and fate in the Divan which is over the Gate call'd Ali Capi where he had the pastime to see Lyons Bulls Bears Tygres and Rams fight But that which was most admirable was to see a man stand upright upon the Saddle while the horse ran full speed which he did three times the whole length of the Meydan The first time 't is true he fell but the two last times he stood firm On day the same Ali-Couli-Kan presented two handsom Youths to the King which had both delicate voices The King hearing them sing was very much troubl'd that he could not make use of them in his Haram which Ali-Couli-Kan observing sent for a French Chirurgeon and promis'd him a great reward if he could cut the youths and save their lives The Chirurgeon for lucre of a large recompence cut them both and cur'd 'em very well Which done Ali-Couli-Kan presented the two youths to the King who was surpriz'd to see them but was well pleas'd that he had got two such new attendants in his Haram But see the reward of such a wicked action Ali-Couli-Kan dy'd soon after The Chirurgeon never was pay'd and being advis'd to present a Petition to the King by the Meter the Meter ask'd him whither he would turn Mahometan which when the Chirurgeon deny'd to do the Meter bid him be gone like a Rascal telling him withall that he did not think the Religion of the Christians had permitted such acts of villany The two youths were born at Cashan and had both Fathers and Mothers and were promis'd in Marriage When their Parents heard of it they came to Ispahan to weep over their Children Which the King observing to appease their sorrow gave them a Pension during life CHAP. IX Of the Government of Persia. THE Government of Persia is purely Despotick or Tyrannical For the King has the sole powre of life and death over all his Subjects independent from his Council and without any Trials or Law-proceedings He can put to what death he pleases the chief Lords of the Kingdom no man daring to dispute the reason nor is there any Soveraign in the world more absolute then the King of Persia. The King deceasing and leaving Male Issue behind him the Eldest ascends the Throne while his Brothers are kept in the Haram and their eyes are put out and if there be the least suspicion of any contrivance against the King they are forthwith put to death without any farther examination And not only they but the Children also of the Kings Brothers and Sisters I remember when I first travell'd into Persia they were not so rigorous but were contented to move a red hot iron to and fro before their eyes But Sha-Sefi perceiving his command had bin negligently executed and that the poor unhappy Princes had some sight left them he order'd their eyes to be digg'd out of their heads Sha-Sefi's cruelty went yet farther for he spar'd not his Eldest Son Sha Abbas the lawful Heir to his Throne ordering one of his Eunuchs to move an Iron before his eyes no man being able to tell the reason But the Eunuch compassionating the young Prince did indeed move an Iron but not a red hot Iron before his Eyes and teaching him to counterfeit himself blind preserv'd his sight till his Father lay upon his death-bed at which time his Father was very penitent for having put out the eyes of his Eldest Son to whom the Throne of right belong'd The Eunuch seeing the King so sadly afflicted and ready to give up the ghost assur'd him that he would restore the Prince to his sight and to comfort him at his death brought the Prince with perfect eyes to the bed side The sight of which prolong'd the Kings life till next day and gave him time to command all the Grandees of the Court to obey Sha Abbas his Eldest Son as his lawful Successor and their King But to return to these blind Princes There were several at Ispahan when I was there and I knew one particularly who is still alive and is a person of excellent natural parts As blind as he is he is a great lover of Curiosities and has built him a House in Ispahan which is worthy a mans sight He is overjoy'd when any person brings him any rarities out of Europe feeling them in his hands and causing his Eunuchs which are very apprehensive to tell him the meaning of every thing He is a great admirer of Clock-work and Watches and can tell by his finger when a Watch is right in the Case To know what a Clock it is he has little points set up in the Dial-plate and a half hand to the end he may not be deceiv'd which part of the hand points to the hour By means of certain figures which he makes of
soft wax and sets in order upon a Table he will cast up an accompt very exactly Several other good qualities I admir'd in him and it griev'd me to see a man reduc'd to that miserable Condition only because he was of the blood Royal of Persia Though the Employments of the Kingdom generally fall from Father to Son yet the King if he pleases may bequeath the Governments of Provinces or any other dignities to any of his Goulams which are his Slaves if he find them capable and thinks they may be fit for his service The Father to leave the Employment to his Family labours by degrees to introduce his Son and to obtain the Survivorship for him But if the Father dye and leaves the Survivorship to an Infant there is generally a person of Age and Experience sent along with him Some there are also that obtain employments by presenting the Favourites at Court The State of Persia is distinguish'd like most of the European States into three Bodies The first is that of the Sword which answers to the Nobility and comprehends the Kings houshold the Kans and all the Souldiery The second is that of the Quill comprehending all those that belong to the Law and the Courts of Justice The third is compos'd of Merchants Handicrafts-men and Labourers CHAP. X. Of the first of the three Orders or States of Persia which comprehends the Kings Houshold the Kans or Governours of Provinces and the Souldiery THE Primier Minister of the Kingdom is call'd Athemadoulet or the support of Riches His office is the same with the Grand Vizir's in Turkie and may be compar'd to the ancient Mayors of the Palace in France In regard all the affairs of the Kingdom pass through his hands he ought to be rather a Gowoman then a Souldier and herein he only differs from the Grand Vizier who is always to be at the head of the Army and for every slight fault or distaste is subject to be strangl'd by the Grand Signior Whereas in Persia where the Government is milder the Prime Ministrers generally dye in their beds or if they are Depos'd they are only exil'd to some frontier City where they live as private men When the King is young the Prime Minister has a hard game to play for then the Favourite Eunuchs and the Sultanesles disannul and cancel in the night whatever orders he makes in the day time The Nazar or Seer has the charge of all the Kings goods of his breeds of horses of his moveables of his Cloaths and Plate much like the grand Master of the Kings House in France The Mehter who is always a white Eunuch is the first Gentleman of the Kings Chamber and follows the King with a kind of bag hanging by his side full of handkerchiefs And as he is always at the Kings elbow if he have the Kings ear it is easie for him to befriend or do unkindnesses as his inclination leads him During the minority of the King some of these Mehters have been known to govern the Kingdom The Mir-Akhor-Bashi or Grand Esquire has the Charge of the Kings Stables which as well as the Gate of Ali-Capri are a place of Refuge and whoever saves himself therein let it be for Murther or Debt is safe All the Horses in the Kings Stable are mark'd with a hot iron upon the left hip and those that belong to private persons upon the right Those that the King gives to them that serve in his Armies have the Kings mark and are not to be sold but they may be chaffer'd away If any of those Horses happens to dye in a Horse-mans hands he must flea off the Kings mark and carry it to the under Officers of the General of the Cavalry to have another otherwise he would be forc'd to buy another at his own expences Those people by laying the skin in the water know though by what art I cannot tell whither the Horse dy'd of age or sickness or whither he were malitiously kill'd For in times of Peace there are some Horsemen that will kill their Horses to save the Charges of keeping any more than themselves then at the next Muster they bring the skin of their Horse with the mark on to the Officers and get another unless they be found out Nor are their Horses only mark'd but their Scimitars Musquets Bows and Quivers all which they must shew to the Commissioners every Muster Sha-Abbas the second being at Casbin in the year 1654 took a general view of his Cavalry which lasted for ten or twelve days For the King sitting in the Portal of one of his Gardens with his Officers standing about him every day caus'd so many troopers to ride by him which were all stout active men and well mounted Every Souldier gallop'd singly by him and coming just under the King he shot an Arrow against a Butt of Turf that was thrown up upon his left hand and when the Muster was over the King advanc'd the Pay of every Horse-man who according to the sentence of the Judges had shot nearest the mark I was then at Casbin and I remember one Souldier who quite contrary to what the other Horse-men did walk'd his Horse along by the King and never shot but only lay'd his hand upon his brest and then upon his forehead which is the Ceremony of Salutation us'd by the King He was a very homely fellow with a flat tawny countenance so that his behaviour and his presence offending the King in a chafe he commanded that black rascal to be cashier'd out of his service Immediately they took away his Horse and his Arms and were going about to have drubb'd him but that the General of the Cavalry made them a sign to let him alone Immediately the General gave the King to understand that he was one of the best Souldiers in the Army as he had signally made it appear at the Sieges of Erivan and Candahar Upon that the King caus'd his Horse and Arms to be restor'd him again and commanded him to ride by him as the rest of the Souldiers had done When he came against the Butt instead of obeying the Kings command he turn'd his Horse to the right and left without saying a word The General fearing he would offend the King again bid him shoot What shall I shoot at Sir said he Against the place where all the rest have shot answer'd the General Then the Souldier shaking his head and smiling 'T is not my way said he to spend my Arrows against a wall for I know how to make use of 'em better against the body or head of the Enemies of my King I would then shoot thrice before another could shoot once At the same time he draws out two Arrows out of his Quiver one of which he held in his mouth and put the other to his bow and then setting spurs to his Horse he out-rid the Butt for the nonce to shoot backward which he did and hit the very middle
of the white then turning his horses head and passing the Butt as before he shot the second Arrow into the same hole whence they had pull'd the first Arrow Then the General approaching near the King told him that by what he had heard and seen he might well believe that Horseman to be as brave a Souldier as any in the Army which his Majesty confess'd and from three Tomans advanc'd his pay to 15 Tomans The Mir-Shikar-Bashi or the Grand Master of the Hunt who is also employ'd as Grand Falconer He has under him a thousand Officers and a great number of Birds of prey and manag'd Hawks The Seguan Bashi receives the orders of the Grand Master of the Hunt He has charge of the Doggs Lyons Leopards and other Beasts for Chace The Kindar Bashi who has charge of the Kings Saddles The Zinkan-Courlshisi is the chief of the Querries that hold the Kings stirrup when he gets a Horseback The Kelege-Courlshisi carrys the Kings sword The Oriaje-Courlshisi carrys his Bow and Arrows The Vakanviez is as it were the chief Secretary of State an employment never conferr'd but upon a Favourite He also reads all Petitions and Papers that are represented to the King The Kasnadar-Bashi is he that keeps all the Money which is in the Kings Coffers whom we call the High Treasurer The Ishik-Agasi-Bashi is the Grand Master of the Houshold who has several Officers under him The Mehmender Bashi is the Master of the Ceremonies The Hakim-Bashi is the Kings chief Physitian by whose allowance all the Physitians of the Kingdom are licens'd The Munedgin Bashi is the chief of the Astrologers The Divan-Bequi is the chief Justiciar as well in Civil as in Criminal causes and he keeps his Court either in Ali Capi or in the Kings House where his Majesty sometimes presides himself when he pleases Before him as being an Officer of great Authority all the Criminals in the Kingdom make their appeal and he makes out process against the Kans and other Grandees of Persia. The Deroga is much like the Lieutenant Criminal in France from whom it is lawful to appeal before the Divan Bequi He has an eye upon Robberies Batteries and Murthers and he has power to suppress Houses of Debauchery If he catch any debauch'd persons he has power to give them the Bastinado or to fine them and most commonly he spares corporal chastisement to punish their purses The Sofragi-Bashi is he that spreads the Sofra before the King The Chirakgi-Bashi is he that has charge of the Wine chiefly the Schiras wine which is particularly kept for the King who seldom drinks any other Nor can any particular person in Schiras make Wine till the Court be first serv'd and that with the leave of the Chirategi-Bashi there being none but the Franks and Jews that make it The Mesheal-Bashi is the chief of the Torch-bearers who furnishes the Court with Candles which are all of Wax To this Mesheal-Bashi belong all the fines of those that play at Cards or Dice the Law of Mahomet forbidding all Games of hazard This Officer has several inferior Officers under him who go from place to place to spy where they can find any persons at play and he has power to break open any house unless the Master be of great Quality The Kahuergi-Bashi is he that has eare of the Kahué the Rose-water and other distillations which the Persians drink as Bilmishe made of the buds of brown Sallows The Kara-Setashe is the King's Chirurgeon or Barber who lets him Blood and shaves his Head and cannot part with his place to another The Capigi-Bashi is the great Porter who has under him several other Officers The Melikultugagear is he that has charge of the Stuffs for the King's Houshold and puts them out to the Taylors He takes an account of the shreds and old habits which serve to make Clothes for the Souldiers deducting for them out of their pay The Gelander-Bashi is the chief of the Foot-men The Mir-ahe or the Prince of the Seals is the Superintendent of the Seals and for profit is one of the best employments in the Kingdom He has the sale of the Canal-water to the Countrey-men for which he makes the Farmers pay a severe rate The Karkrone is the House for the Royal Manufactures where the Gold and Silver-Carpets are made as also those of Silks and Worsted together with Tissues Velvets and Taffeta's There are other Workmen that make Coats of Mail Bows Arrows Scimitars and other Arms. In other Apartments are Limners that paint in Water-colours Lapidaries and Goldsmiths that only make Silver-Rings For in regard the Persians cannot say their Prayers when they have any Gold about 'em they never wear Jewel or Ring of Gold because it would be troublesome to pull 'em off and lay 'em up so many times a-day And therefore the King of Persia causes all his Jewels to be set in Silver as we set all our Stones in Gold As for working Goldsmiths they have none in Persia all their Gold and Silver-Plate being wrought by the Copper-smiths in round figure for they have not the art to frame an Oval The Nakkashe-Bashi is the Serjeant-Painter who only works in miniature they cover their Pictures with a Varnish made of Mastich steep'd in a certain Oil that distills from a Rock that points upon the Caspian-Sea not far from Shamatri It distills out of the Rock at first like water but afterwards it thickens till it become as thick as Sallet-Oil preserving still its whiteness There are also three other Rocks not far from the former from whence this Oil distills but it is thicker and of darker colour The Negeach-Bashi is the chief of the Joyners The Embardar-Bashi has the charge of the King's Granaries and other Provisions having several Officers under him The Odondar-Bashi is the Master of the Woodyard The most part of these Officers have their diet in the King's House or else an allowance of Diet from thence The Tushemal-Bashi is the Clerk of the Kitchen He orders what shall be serv'd up to the King and when the Table is clear'd he sticks his Knife in the best dish and orders it to be carri'd home to his own House Now for the Officers of War the principal are First the Sepeh-Salar Generalissimo of the King of Persia's Armies who is never constituted but in time of War which being ended his employment ceases His place in Council is immediately next to the Athemadoulet Now in regard the Militia is divided into three sorts there are also three Generals The three Bodies of the Militia are the Corschis the Goulams and the Tusenlegis The Corschis are descended from a forreign race which have still a great repute for their Valour These people live in Tents like the Turcomans and they send their Youth betimes to the King They furnish their Youth also with all necessaries and maintain them till they come to be taken notice of by the King They are all Horse-men
well paid and well look'd to and are many times advanc'd to the Supreme Dignities of the Kingdom They are generally call'd Kesel-Bashi or Red-heads because that formerly they wore red Bonnets It is said that the King has about 22000 of these Corchis in pay all good Souldiers that do wonders in Battel Sha-Abbas the first did what he could to abolish this Militia and to set up the Goulams in their stead His hatred against them was only because he thought them too powerful for he was wont to say to his Favourites that nothing but the Puissance of the Corchis could oppose the Royal Power Thereupon he took away some of their Priviledges and gave them to the Doulams but he could not bring about his design any farther The General of the Corchis is call'd Corschi-Bashi and ought to be one of their Body nor can the King impose another upon them The Mim-Bashi commands a thousand Men the Yux-Bashi commands a hundred and the Om-Bashi commands ten The Corschi-Bashi has 150 Tomans a year the Mim-Bashi sixty-two the Yuz-Bashi thirty and the Om-Bashi fifteen The pay of every Horse-man is from nine to fifteen Tomans a year Besides every year the King makes a general Muster and then he gives to the Corschis a third part more than their usual pay however to some more to others less either according to favour or merit When the King has resolv'd to put a great Man to death he commits the execution of his command to a Corschi The Gouler-Agasi is General of the Goulams or Slaves For indeed they are either Slaves or the Sons of Slaves of all sorts of Nations who do the King very good Service They are for the most part runnegade Georgians and there are about 18000 of these Goulams being all Horse-men whose pay is from five to eight Tomans a year The Corschis are very good Husbands but the Goulams as soon as they have receiv'd their pay fall a drinking and swaggering whereas the other if he has a Piaster to spare will buy a Sheep with it For in regard they live in Tents their Riches consists in Flocks The greatest part of the Court of Persia is made up of these two Bodies The Goulams have this peculiar to themselves that they are very rarely known to revolt For being all Slaves and of different Nations there are no ties of Affection or Kindred between them And if the King has an occasion to punish any of them the chief of their Body is to execute his orders The Goulams carry no other Arms besides a Bow and Arrows with a Skain Though some wear Coats of Mail and Head-pieces others Vambraces and Battel-Axes These Horse-men never entrench in the Field like ours in Europe nor have they any Field-Marshals to assign them quarters For after the chief have taken up the best places the rest set up their Tents as neer as they can to the Pavillion of the General The Tufenkgiler-Agasi is the General of the Tufenkgis who compose the third Body of the Militia This part of the Souldiery was but lately instituted being compos'd of men taken from the Plough as being most fit for labour They are Foot-men with only a Scimiter and a Musket But when they march they have a Horse or a Mule between three or four to carry their Baggage and Provisions Their pay is not above four or five Tomans a year And for their Officers their pay is more or less according to their Quality and Command They are in no great reputation being laugh'd at by the old Souldiers as being a company of poor Countrey-men that dare not look an enemy in the face Not but that the Infantry of Persia is able to do good service though as numerous as they are the King never makes use of them but in case of necessity When he marches in person he sends for eight or ten thousand which he sends for out of what Province best pleases him and they prove very useful to the Army as Sutlers This Infantry is compos'd of the Countrey-men that live in Tents abiding in the Mountains all the Summer and betaking themselves in the Winter to the hot Countrreys Every Tribe or Family knows how many men it ought to set out And there is not a Foot-man that has not his new-Suit in his Chest and his Musket and Scimiter in very good order They are well train'd and well disciplin'd for every three months the Governor of the Province takes a review of all the Souldiers in his Province and causes them to be exercis'd in his own presence They are order'd to shoot at a mark and they that hit it are sure to have some reward from the Governor When the King sends for any part of his Infantry they presently know who is to lead 'em and they are all lusty and well clad never putting on their best Clothes but when they muster or march into the Field They pay to the King little or nothing for of all their Cattel great and small they pay but one in the hundred to him and one Abassi or 18 Sous of our Money The Eshek-Agasi or chief of the Keshekshi's who are the King's Guards and carry a Musket with a very wide bore They were but lately instituted by the Athemat-doulet when he intended to destroy the Divan-begui This Officer has about 2000 men under him of which he disposes every night a certain number round about the Palace When the King sits in Council he stands there with a Battoon in his hand and throws himself to the ground when the King beckons to him to come and receive any command from his mouth The Topigi-Bashi is the Master of the Ordnance and ehief of the Sea-affairs but he has little to do in either employment For as for the Cannon there are only some two or three pittiful Guns in some of the Frontier-towns And for Ships there are none in Persia but what come from Europe or the Indies to Ormns or Balsara The Persians themselves have no other Ships than some few large Barks in the Persian-Gulph and in some parts of the Caspian-Sea where they keep a Fleet against the Usbeck Tartars the Kalmoukes and other people As for the Kaus or Governors of Provinces they are generally chosen out of the body of Corschi's and Goulams who are handsom persons and generally much more Valiant than the natural Persians For the natural complexion of the Persians is not good as may be seen by the Gaures the original Inhabitants of the Countrey who are for the most part tann'd and ill-shap'd So that there is hardly a Persian from the King to the meanest of his Subjects who is not a Georgian or sprung from the loins of Georgidns For they fetch a great number of Slaves out of Georgia by the frequent Marriages of whichwomen the Georgian Valour and Beauty are become Natives of Persia. The Kans or Governors of Provinces are as so many petty Kings fear'd and respected by all the people And
when they are settl'd they are never depos'd but upon repeated complaints of their excessive Tyranny There are some of these Governments that yield the Kan seven or eight thousand Tomans But they are bound to present the King every year at Nourons or New-years-tide Under the Kans there are also Governors of lesser quality who are also immediately preferr'd by the King and cannot be depos'd by any person but himself If they abuse their Authority the complaints brought against him are first carri'd to the Kan which if they concern the Government of the Kingdom the Kan is bound to inform the King thereof But if the complaints are not considerable then the Kan may do Justice himself and make the Sultans know their duty There is yet a third sort of Governors call'd Asephs who are the King's Lieutenants in places where he had Kans in former times or where he ought to have them still but only to save charges For in the Provinces where Kans Govern they and their Officers almost equalling in name and number the Officers of the King's Houshold devour all the profits of the Province but what the Kan is oblig'd annually to pay By what I have wrote as well concerning the King's Houshold the Governors of his Provinces and the Officers of his Army it may be easily concluded that the King of Persia's Court is the most magnificent and glorious of all the Courts of Asia and besides that it is the most Polite and Civil of all the Orient CHAP. XI Of the second Order containing all those that belong to the Ecclesiastical Law and their Courts of Justice and in general of all the Gown-men such as are chiefly the Officers of the Chamber of Accounts THE second of the three Estates of Persia comprehends the Gown-men such as are the Doctors of the Law the Officers of Justice and those of the Chamber of Accounts As the Athemat-doulet is the Prime Minister in Temporals the Sedre is the Prime Minister in Spirituals and the High-Priest of the Law However he does not pretend to take place before the Athemat-doulet either in Council or in the publick Ceremonies There is this difference between the Sedre and the Mufti in Turkey that in Persia Ecclesiastical Dignities are no bar from Civil Employments so that the Sedre is many times made Athemat-doulet The Dignity of Sedre is not limited to one single person but may be divided between two in regard there are two sorts of Legacies the one from the King 's of Persia the other from particular persons Therefore for the more careful Superintendency over these two sorts of Legacies there are sometimes two Sedres appointed The one is call'd Sedre-Kras particular or peculiar Sedre who manages all the Revenues of the Royal Foundations and distributes them to the Mullaks and Students according to their merit The other is call'd Sedre-el-mankoufat who has the management of private Foundations In the year 1667 the King created two Sedres and marri'd them to two of his Sisters The Sedre has two men under him whose Authority is almost equal to theirs The one is call'd Speik-el-selom and the other Cadi and these are they that decide all controversies in Religion judge of Divorces make Contracts and publick Acts. These two Dignities are in the King's nomination and in all the principal Cities of the Kingdom there are two of these Ecclesiastical Judges for all matters that concern the Law To every Mosquee there belongs a Pichnamaz who is always first there before Prayers begin and he teaches the people to Pray by learning of him having their eyes always fix'd upon him to that end This Picknamaz is the same with him whom the Turks call Iman The Moullah's are the Doctors of the Law as are the Hodgia's in Turkey and they are well paid out of the Legacies giv'n to the Mosquees for reading every Friday and interpreting the Alcoran to the people He that reads sits in one Chair and he that interprets in another somewhat lower upon the left-hand of the Reader They are also bound to teach the Sciences to all those that require it and as a mark of Sanctity they wear a great white Turbant with a single Chamlet-habit of the same colour Their gate is grave and their discourse very serious yet all this is but pure hypocrisy When they light into any considerable company of people they presently rise and exhort 'em to go to Prayers At the same time they wash their heads their hands and their feet and spread a felt upon the ground or if they are poor a single mat Upon this at one end the Maulla kneels at the other lies a flat Stone about the bigness of the paulm of a man's hand which was brought from Mecca Which Stones the Moullah's always carry about 'em for being commanded while they are at their devotions often to kiss the ground they rather choose to kiss a Stone brought from so holy a place than the prophane Earth They have a kind of a Mariners compass which directs them punctually where Mecca stands to the end they may know which way to turn when they say their Prayers The Prayer which the Moulla's make seems to be accompani'd with a great deal of zeal and they take great notice all the while whether the company be attentive or no. Some Persians are so superstitious that a Vizir of Schiras suffer'd his leg to rot off because he would not let a Christian Chirurgeon touch him for fear of being defil'd There belongs also to every Mosquee a Monteveli who looks after the repairs of the Building and the Provision of what belongs to the Mosquee together with a Mouazen who cries morning and evening from the top of a Tower That there is but one God and that Mahomet is his Prophet Colledges the Persians call Medrese where there are a great number of Scholars bred up at little charge out of the Legacies left to the Foundations They allow them a Chamber without any Furniture they being to provide a Coverlet and a Mattress for themselves They have no certain Masters but sometimes they go for their instructions to one sometimes to another seldom to the Principal of the Colledg who is call'd Monderes and is generally the greatest Blockhead of them all But there are several other persons in every good City that are forward to teach the Sciences to purchase honour to themselves For which reason they are very liberal to get a great company of Followers together who are as so many Trumpets to publish the wisdom of their Akroom or Doctor But when their Liberality ceases the Trumpets want breath at the same time Now as to their manner of studying the Student first reads two or three lines and then the Doctor Expounds Then another reads two or three lines more and so one after another every one rising up out of respect after he has done reading and standing upright till the Doctor bids him sit down again One of these Doctors shall
teach all manner of Sciences in one day for he is not learned that cannot talk of all And certainly had the Persians those advantages of Books and that method of study which we have in Europe they would prove to be men of great understanding for with those little helps they have they will give a good account of their own Theology of Logick Physick and the Mathematicks wherein they strive to reach the bottom of things as deep as they can Their Books are for the most part the works of an ancient Persian Author whose name was Kodgia Nesir in the City of Thouss in the Province of Korassan T is very probable he was well skill'd in the Greek and Arabick having translated into Persian several Books out of those two Languages They have some pieces of Aristotle which are accounted the best in the West The Almagistes of Ptolemy which they call Magesti some tractates of Euclide some fragments of Archimedes the Opticks of Ebne Heister and other excellent Books Some have affirm'd that they have been skill'd in the doctrin of Sines and Tangents for above this 800 years and indeed they are very curious at this day in Mathematical Instruments They have also a great inclination to Poetry the chiefest grace whereof they believe to consist in design of accidents and high comparisons observing Rhime as we do As for Physick they have Galen whom they call Galenous Averroes whom they call Aboualt or great Father and Hermes Trismegistus whom they call Ormous The most considerable of their Historians is Ronze el Sapha who wrote a Chronology from the Creation of the World to his time wherein there are abundance of fables but little truth He says that the World was inhabited by Devils for an infinite number of years before the Creation of Adam and that God for their enormities depriv'd them of their power upon earth and gave it to man to manage Their Books though deer are very common and every Trades-man buys 'em being very ambitious to learn the Sciences themselves and to encourage their children to do so too They send them betimes to the School which they call Meklebe of which there are several in every Quarter They make a hideous noise in their Schools repeating their Lessons altogether aloud while the Master corrects every Boy that does not keep along with the Cry As for the children of persons of Quality they have Tutors at home never stirring out of doors till they are 18 years of age unless it be to go a hunting or a shooting now and them Hence it comes to pass that the Children are discreet civil and modest so that you shall never hear an ill word come out of their mouths In the Chamber of Accounts are many Officers whom I look upon as Gown-men All the Books and Registers pass through their hands particularly such Papers as concern'd the King's Revenue All which are register'd in the Chamber of Accounts at Ispahan which is call'd Defter-Krone As to the Fee-Lands call'd Moulkerbar which belong to particular persons they owe to the King a certain annual Rent which the Governors of Provinces exact with a severe extortion The Mestempti and the Memalek are they that value the Rent of all Lands in Demesh which is one of the principal charges of the Defter-Kroon They also take cognisance of all the King's Farms Quit-Rents Provisions and Expences of Receivers and Collectors There is also a Mestempti to value Legacies The Nazer controuls the Mestempti and the Memalek and his hand is requir'd to all Papers of dispatch The Deroga or Provost of the Dester-Kroon is to prosecute and punish all that are guilty of false Receipts or of Exaction Into this Office are deliver'd all the Grants and Assignations of the wages of the King's Officers Every man comes and receives his own or sends for it to those places upon which this Money is assign'd In every Village or Borough there is a Reis or chief of the place to whom the Officers apply themselves for their Money for should they terrify the Countrey-man he would run quite away and pay nothing The greatest cheat in this Chamber of Accounts is that in regard the Officers keep the Roll of the Officers wages they will give them divers Bills to receive little parcels at several places distant from one another till the Sum be made up to which trouble rather than the Kings servant will be put he will give a good gratuity to the Officer to pay him all together But because the Officers are not able to satisfy all that come there are certain Thahsilders or hoarders up of Rent who buy for ready Money as cheap as they can such Bills as private men come to receive at the Chamber and when they have got a good number together they go and receive them altogether at the Chamber and make great advantage By this misgovernment of the Dester-Kroon several persons are very much opprest For he that has but 30 Tomans a year shall be forc'd to give a good share out of it to have the rest in ready Money which has been often the ruine of the Persian Army through the abuses and defalcations put upon the poor Souldiers During the Reign of Sha-Abbas the 1 and toward the beginning of the Reign of Sha-Sefi his Son the Exchequer was better regulated but when the Persians came to be at Peace with their Neighbours the King and his Lords have minded nothing less than the payment of the Souldiery The greatest part of the Lands in Persia belong to the King and are only farm'd by private persons The rest of the Lands are measur'd and every Land pays so much a measure The King also has a vast income by the Merchandizes that pay Custom and Toll The Port of Bander-Abassi alone brings him one year with another when least besides accidents neer upon 20000 Tomans CHAP. XII Of the third Estate of the Kingdom comprehending the Tradesmen and Merchants as also of the Trades Manufactures and Commodities of Persia. THe Commerce of Persia as in all other Kingdoms consists in the Trade of the Country and Forraign Traffick Only with difference that the Country Trade is in the hands of the Persians and Jews the forraign Traffic in the hands of the Armenians only who are as it were the Kings and the Noble mens Factors to sell their silk As for the Handicraft trades there are some Corporations that pay a certain yearly duty to the King as Shoemakers Cutlers Smiths and others Some are free as the Joyners and Masons though he get by their labour as much as others pay him in money For when the King requires twenty Masons for a work which is in hast the Marmar Bashi who is their Chief summons them together and they that give most are excus'd For when the King requires but twenty he summons forty and thus every man lives by his calling The practice is the same with the Chief of the Joyners and all other Trades who
another sort of Fowl like the great Partridges in their bodies but their legs and feet resemble those of wild Ducks The Camels take this Road because it is impossible for them to pass the Mountain Jarron over which the Horses and Mules are hardly able to travel I set out from Moushek the 21 th of March at two in the morning and having travell'd till eight through a plain but stony Countrey I came to the little City of Jarron which is rather to be call d a Forrest of Palm-trees that bear excellent Dates I lodg'd in an Inn five hunder'd paces from the City and staid there two days The 24 th setting out presently after midnight I travell'd a good hour and then I began to mount the steep Mountain of Jarron which is very high and very long but the descent is the most dangerous that ever I saw in all my Travels and besides that the Moon did not shine Being at the top after you have descended three or four hunder'd paces you meet with a Bridg of one Arch that reaches from one Mountain to another a bold piece of Architecture not enough to be admir'd being rais'd at the charges of Iman-Kouli-Kan for the benefit of Travellers Being come to the bottom of this you must pass two others as steep in their ascent as in the descent upon the top of one of which stands a Cistern which though it be very large is generally emptied by the end of the Summer Upon these Mountains there is such an infinite quantity of Partridg that a man cannot miss that will but shoot By eight in the Morning I came to an Inn which is call'd Shakal which is a-lone House in a Desert Countrey but stor'd with bitter Almond-trees and Turpentine-trees Approaching neer to the Inn you meet with two or three Cisterns which are a great comfort to Travellers water being very scarce upon this Road. There are at Shakal nine or ten Radar's for the Guard of the Road who are also Masters of the Inn So soon as you are alighted they ask you if you will eat any Kid being sure of their blow and having no more to do but to go to the Mountain and fetch one where they swarm There are store of Partridges which are almost as big as Pullets of which you may easily kill as many as you please The 25 th I travell'd five hours from morning till noon An hour after I took Horse I met with a Mountain the descent whereof was very steep They call it the Mountain of Hâ—shen at the foot whereof is a Fountain of excellent water A good league farther you meet with a fair Inn call'd Mouezeré in the midst of a pleasant Grove where there is an excellent Spring of water but because there is no food to be had you must go as far as Detadombé a Village seated in a plain A quarter of a league on this side upon the top of a Mountain appears the ruins of an old Castle the Village it self being surrounded with Palm-trees The Inn is a good one provided with a very good Cistern The 25 th I travell'd through a plain for three hours and stopt at Banarou a little City well built at the foot of a high Mountain upon which appears the remains of a large Castle Bonarou is the Frontier Town of the Province of Fars bordering upon the Province of Lar. The 26 th I departed an hour after midnight and travell'd till nine in the morning partly through the Plain and partly through the Mountains where I saw an old Tower for the guard of the Road. I staid at Bihry a little City seated upon a plain that borders upon a high Mountain The Inn is new and very magnificently built by the Mother of Aimas Kan of Lar when the great Sha-Abbas took this Countrey from the Gaures whom he constrain'd to turn Mahumetans The 27 th I set out at four of the Clock in the morning and about seven I past through a Village seated in a small plain A league from thence I lodg'd in an Inn call'd Pai-Cotali that is to say the foot of the Mountain as being built at the foot of the Mountain From thence to Lar is not above four or five hours travelling but the way is very bad and several swift Torrents are to be past over You may take another Road from Bihry upon the right-hand toward the West it is the shorter way by two or three leagues but so bad and so narrow that in many places two Horsemen cannot ride a-brest being for the most part all Rocks and Precipices Lar is the Capital City of the Province of the same name which formerly bore the title of a Kingdom It is but of an ordinary bigness enclos'd on both sides with high Mountains being built round about a Rock upon which there stands a Castle of Free-stone wherein the King keeps a Garrison The whole Country is very hot nor have they any water but Rain water which they preserve in Cisterns and which sometimes causes a wide Torrent that runs by one side of the City and falls from a Cascade two stories high made of Free-stone In the City and parts adjacent grow a great number of trees especially Date trees and Tamarisk The Gardens also and Mountains are full of Orange trees There are but two Inns in Lar the one within the City which is not a very good one the other at the end of the City toward Ormus which would be convenient but that it is always afloat when the Rains fall for which reason the Franks generally lye at the Hollanders House at the end of the City And there is a necessity for staying at Lar to change the Camels for the Camels that come from Ispahan can go no further every City having their particular priviledges Which sometimes proves prejudicial to the Merchant in regard the Governour will delay the change of the Camels till he is presented The Fortress of Lar takes up the whole surface of the top of the Rock and there is but one way to climb it up with great difficolty It is more long than broad and the four corners are fortifi'd with four Bastions or Bulwarks between which are rais'd several Towers for the Souldiers Lodgings That Fortress is the Royal Prison whither the King sends such Prisoners as he takes in war or surprizes by stratagem I met with two there one a Prince of Georgia the other of Mengrelia The two Princes had each of them a Toman a day allow'd them and ten or twelve Servants to wait upon them Upon one of the corners of the Castle toward the West was built a Banquetting House with three or four Chambers In the middle of the Court stands the Magazine full of Bows and Arrows Bucklers and Muskets enough to arm fifteen hundred men For the Inhabitants of the Province but more especially of the City of Lar are accounted the best Musqueteers in Persia and the best at making the Barrels of Muskets
daring to trust the Chineses who have often deceiv'd them and none have been more cheated than the Hollanders For they have a way to stuff their Loaves of Gold insomuch that you shall sometimes find in the middle a third part of Copper or Silver In all sorts of Bargains the Chineses are so cunning that there are few strangers whom they do not over-reach especially in Batavia the Hollanders when they come first They carry their weights always along with them being like a Roman Beam or a Stelleer about eight Inches long with which they weigh all the Gold and Silver which they receive As for the small Money both in China and Tunquum it is of Copper It is made as in Fig. 4. They also thread these pieces there being a hole in the middle 12 25 50 and 300 upon a string because they will not put themselves to the trouble of telling them when the number exceeds a dozen The Gold and Silver Money of Japon ALL the Gold that comes from Japon is of the same goodness somewhat better than our Louis and is about that goodness for which we pay about 50 Franks the Ounce Fig. 1. This piece of Gold weighs one Ounce and six Drams at fifty Franks the Ounce comes to 87 Livres and 10 Sous Fig. 2 and 3. Every one of these pieces is of Gold and every one weighs a third part of the great one which is half an Ounce and 48 Grains and comes to 29 Livres 3 Sous and 4 Deneers Fig. 4. This as it is mark'd is the backside of the three pieces of Gold Fig. 5 and 6. are pieces of Silver of the same weight every one weighing 4 Grains less than our pieces of 30 Sous though it go nevertheless for the same value As for the Silver it is the same in goodness with our Money However in the Territories of the Great Mogul whither the Hollanders carry all their Silver their Bars and Japon pieces to coin them into Money sometimes they sell them to the Bankers where they have no convevenience of coinage as at Surat and Agra and these Bankers give them from two to three in the hundred more than they will give for our Crowns Rixdollars or Spanish Reals Fig. 7. is the backside of the two Silver pieces The Portraicture of the Silver Ingots of Japon which go for Money I Said before that all the Silver that comes out of Japon is equal in goodness to our Crowns Fig. 1. An Ingot of this form weighs seven ounces at three Livres ten Sous the ounce the whole comes to twenty four Livres and ten Sous Fig. 2. Weighs two ounces three drams and an half the whole comes to eight Livres ten Sous and seven Deneers Fig. 3. Weighs once ounce half a dram and twelve grains the whole comes to four Livres five Sous and five Deneers Fig. 4. Weighs one ounce eight grains the whole comes to three Livres ten Sous and an eleven Deneers Fig. 5. Weighs seven drams one quarter and seven grains the whole comes to three Livres eight Sous and eight Deneers Fig. 6. Weighs two drams and an half and twenty four grains the whole comes to one Livre five Sous and one Deneer Fig. 7. Weighs two drams twenty four Deneers the whole comes to one Livre nine Deneers Fig. 8. Weighs one dram and an half and twenty four grains the whole comes to sixteen Sous and four Deneers Fig. 9. Is the Copper-Money which they thread by fifteen thirty fifty to the number of 600. which is the value of a Tell in Silver Over all Japon they reckon by Tells and the Hollanders reckon that a Tell makes three Gelders and an half of their Money which comes to four Livres and five Sous of ours Fig. 10. Is the back-side of the Copper-piece Money that represents the Figures of the twelve Signs and which were Coined during the twenty four hours that Gehan-guir King of the Indians permitted Queen Nourmahall his Wife to Reign in his stead Silver Ingots of Iapan Money representing the 12 Signes Perhaps the Reader may be curious to know from whence this Illustrious Queen of the Indians descended and therefore for his satisfaction I will tell him in a few words Her Father a Persian by Nation a man naturally Ambitious and who in his own Country was no more than a bare Captain of Horse without any hopes of rising to any higher preferment travel'd into the Indies to serve the Great Mogul who was then Gehan-guir with an intention of raising his Fortune in a strange Country Gehan-guir had then many Enemies the Kings of Golconda and Visapour being in Rebellion against him and several Raja's having taken their part So soon as he came to kiss the Kings Hands the King took a liking to him and gave him immediately the Command of five hundred Horse And because he was very well skill'd in Astrology which is a Science to which the Asiaticks are very much addicted the King esteem'd him the more and in a short time made him General of his Army But afterwards forgetting his duty and the benefits he had received he join'd with Sultan Kosrou guir's eldest Son and having gain'd a great part of the Army they conspir'd together to depose the King and set up his Son in his stead There was at that time in the Court an Eunuch of great wit who did more mischief to the Army in his Closet than he could have done in the Field This Eunuch so soon as intelligence was brought of the Rebellion told the King that if his Majesty pleas'd he would deliver Kosrou and the Persian General into his hands in a short time without so much as striking one stroke or losing one man He was as good as his word in part for he so order'd his business by his politick contrivances that the General was brought to the King who would not presently put him to death Sultan Kosrou escap'd that bout and continu'd the War many years against his Father who at length took him in Fight and caus'd his eyes to be pull'd out The King detaining the General in custody his Wife and his Daughter found a way to save his life as you shall hear The Daughter of the Persian General who was his only Child was about fourteen years of Age the most accomplish'd Beauty at that time in all the Kingdom she was most rarely educated and could both write and read the Arabian Persian and Indian Languages The Mother and the Daughter went every day to Court to hear what would become of the General and understanding at length that the King intended either to put him to death or to banish him they came to the Haram and casting themselves at his Majesties feet they humbly begg'd pardon the one for her Husband the other for her Father which they easily obtain'd the King being surpriz'd at the Beauty of the Virgin to whom he afterwards surrender'd his Affections All the Court was astonish'd afterwards how the
I made five journeys more in my Travels in the year 1653. And I also took another Road from Piplenar where I arriv'd the eleventh of March setting out from Surat the sixth The twelfth to Birgam The thirteenth to Omberat The fourteenth to Enneque-Tenque a strong Fortress that bears the name of two Indian Princesses It stands upon a Mountain steep every way there being but one ascent to it upon the East-side Within the enclosed compass of the Walls there is a large Pond and Ground enough to sow for the maintenance of five or six-hunder'd men But the King keeps no Garrison therein so that it falls to ruine The fifteenth to Geroul The sixteenth to Lazour where you are to cross a River upon which about a Cannons-shot from the fording place are to be seen several large Pagods of the Countrey whither great numbers of Pilgrims repair every day The seventeenth to Aureng-abad The eighteenth to Pipelgan or Piply The nineteenth to Ember The Twentieth to Devgan The one and twentieth to Patris The two and twentieth to Bargan The three and twentieth to Palam The four and twentieth to Candear a large Fortress but upon one side commanded by an high Mountain The five and twentieth to Gargan The six and twentieth to Nagooni The seven and twentieth to Indove The eight and twentieth to Indelvai The nine and twentieth to Regivali Between these two last places there is a little River which separates the Territories of the Great Mogul from the Dominions of the King of Golconda The thirtieth to Masapkipet The one and thirtietieth to Mirel-mola-kipet To go from Agra to Golconda you must go to Brampour according to the Road already describ'd from Brampour to Dultabat which is five or six days journeys off and from Dultabat to those other places before set down You may also take another Road to go from Surat to Golconda that is to say through Goa and Visapour as I shall inform you in the particular relation of my journey to Goa I come now to what is most worthy observation in the Kingdom of Golconda And to relate what happen'd in the last Wars the King maintain'd against his Neighbours during the time that I have known the Indies CHAP. X. Of the Kingdom of Golconda and the Wars which it has maintain'd for some few years last past THE whole Kingdom of Golconda take it in general is a good Countrey abounding in Corn Rice Cattel Sheep Poultry and other necessaries for human life In regard there are great store of Lakes in it there is also great store of Fish Above all the rest there is a sort of Smelt that has but one bone in the middle which is most delicious food Nature has contributed more than Art toward the making these Lakes whereof the Countrey is full which are generally in places somewhat rais'd so that you need do no more than make a little Dam upon the plain-side to keep in the water These Dams or Banks are sometimes half a league long and after the rainy seasons are over they open the Sluces from time to time to let out the water into the adjacent Fields where it is receiv'd by divers little Channels to water particular grounds Bagnagar is the name of the Metropolis of this Kingdom but vulgarly it is call'd Golconda from the name of a Fortress not above two leagues distant from it where the King keeps his Court. This Fortress is about two leagues in circuit and by consequence requires a numerous Guard It is as it were a Town where the King keeps his Treasure having left Bagnagar ever since it was sack'd by the Army which Aureng-zeb brought against it Bagnagar is then the City which they vulgarly call Golconda and it was founded by the Great Grandfather of the present King upon the importunity of one of his Wives whom he passionately lov'd whose name was Nagar Before that it was only a place of Pleasure where the King had very fair Gardens till at length his Wife continually representing to him the delicacies of the situation for the building a City and a Palace by reason of the River he laid the foundations and order'd that it should bear the name of his Wife calling it Bag-Nagar that is to say the Garden of Nagar This City lies in seventeen degrees of Elevation wanting two minutes The Countrey round about is a flat Countrey only neer the City are several Rocks as you see about Fontain-Bleau A great River washes the Walls of the City upon the South-west-side which neer to Maslipatan falls into the Gulf of Bengala At Bagnagar you cross this River over a Bridg no less beautiful than Pont-Neus at Paris The City is little less than Orleans well-built and full of windows There are many fair large Streets but not being well-pav'd they are dusty as are all the Cities of Persia and India which is very offensive in the Summer Before you come to the Bridg you must pass through a large Suburb call'd Erengabad about a league in length where live all the Merchants the Brokers Handicraft-Trades and in general all the meaner sort of people the City being inhabited only by persons of Quality Officers of the King's House Ministers of Justice and Officers of the Army From ten or eleven in the forenoon till four or five in the evening the Merchants Brokers and Workmen come into the City to trade with the Forreign Merchants after which time they return to their own Houses In the Suburb are two or three fair Mosquees which serve for Inns for the Forreigners besides several Pagods in the Neighbouring-parts Through the same Suburb lies the way to the Fortress of Golconda So soon as you are over the Bridg you enter into a large Street that leads you to the King's Palace On the right-hand are the Houses of some Lords of the Court and four or five Inns two Stories-high wherein there are fair Halls and large Chambers to let in the fresh Air. At the end of this Street there is a large Piazza upon which stands one of the sides of the Palace in the middle whereof there is a Balcone wherein the King comes to sit when he pleases to give Audience to the People The great Gate of the Palace stands not upon this Piazza but upon another very neer adjoyning and you enter first into a large Court surrounded with Portico's under which lies the King's Guards Out of this Court you pass into another built after the same form encompast with several fair Apartments the Roofs whereof are terrass'd Upon which as upon those where the Elephants are kept there are very fair Gardens wherein there grow Trees of that bigness that it is a thing of great wonder how those Arches should bear so vast a burthen About fifty years since they began to build a magnificent Pagod in the City which would have been the fairest in all India had it been finish'd The Stones are to be admir'd for their bigness And that
Portuguese Christians and several Armenians that came thither to trade But Father Ephraim having a particular Order to go to Pegu could not accept of his Offer yet when he went to take his leave of the Check he presented him with a Calaat the most noble that was in his Wardrobe being the whole habit the Cap the Cabay or large Vest the Arcalou or short Cassock two pair of Drawers two Shirts and two Scarfs which they wear about their necks and over their heads to keep off the heat of the Sun The Friar was surpriz'd at the present and gave the Check to understand that it was not proper for him to wear it however the Check would force him to take it telling him he might accommodate some of his Friends with it Two months after Father Ephraim bestow'd the same Present upon me being at Surat for which I return'd him thanks The Check seeing he could not detain the Father and unwilling he should go a foot from Golconda to Mastipatan oblig'd him to take an Oxe with two Men to lead it and because he could not perswade him to take also thirty Pagods which he presented the Father withall he commanded the two men when they came to Mastipatan to leave the Oxe and the thirty Pagods with him which they did very punctually for otherwise at their return to Golconda they had forfeited their lives I will finish the History of Father Ephraim when I come to the discription of Goa which is the principal place that the Portugals have in the Indies The second Daughter of the King of Golconda was married to Sultan Mahumad the eldest Son of Aurengzeb the occasion whereof was this Mirgimola Generalissimo of the King of Golconda's Army and who had been very serviceable to his Master to settle the Crown upon his head according to the custom left with the King as a mark of his fidelity both his Wife and Children in Hostage for he was sent to reduce certain Raja's in Bengala that were in Rebellion He had several Daughters but only one Son who had a great train and made a great noise at Court The reputation and riches which Mirgimola had gain'd rais'd him up several Enemies who endeavour'd in his absence to ruine him and to put him out of the Kings favour They pretended that the great power of Mirgimola was very much to be suspected that all his designs tended to dethrone him and to settle the Kingdom of Golconda upon his own Son that it behov'd him not to stay till the remedy were past cure but to rid himself of an Enemy so much the more to be fear'd the closer he kept his intentions and that the shortest and best way was to poyson him The King being easily perswaded gave them leave and authority to act as they pleas'd for his security but having miss'd of their design for three or four times together Mirgimola's Son began to smell the plot and immediately gave advice thereof to his Father It is not known what instructions he receiv'd from his Father but so soon as he had his answer he went to the King and spoke boldly to him taxing him with the services which his Father had done him and that without his assistance he had never come to the Crown The young Lord naturally of a fiery disposition kept on this discourse so displeasing to the King till at length his Majesty flung away and the Lords that were present fell upon the young man and basely misus'd him At the same time also he was arrested and committed to prison together with his Mother and Sisters Which action as it made a great noise at Court coming to Mirgimola's ears so incens'd him that having an Army under his command and being belov'd by the Soldiers he resolv'd to make use of the advantages he had to revenge himself for the injury done him He was then not far from Bengala being sent as I said before to reduce certain Raja's to obedience whose Territories lye upon the Ganges and Sultan-Sujah Cha-jehan's second Son being then Governour of Bengala the General thought it his best way to address himself to him as being the next Prince with whom he might join his Forces against the King of Golconda whom he look'd upon now no more as his Master but as one of his most inveterate Enemies Thereupon he wrote to the Prince to this effect That if he would join with him he would give him an opportunity to possess himself of the whole Kingdom of Golconda and that he should not neglect so fair an opportunity to enlarge the Dominions of the Great Mogul the succession whereof might as well concern him as any of the rest of his Brothers But the Answer which Sultan-Sujah sent him was contrary to his expectation who told him that he could not tell how to trust a person who as he went about to betray his King might more easily be drawn to betray a Foreign Prince whom he had inveigl'd only for the sake of his Revenge and that therefore he should not rely upon him Upon Sultan-Sujah's refusal Mirgimola wrote to Aurengzeb who was then in his Government of Brampoure who being not so nice as his Brother accepted of the proposal that was made him Thus while Mirgimola advanc'd with his Troops toward Bagnabar Aurengzeb hasten's toward Decan and both Armies being join'd they came to the Gates of Bagnabar before the King was in a posture to receive them He had only time to retreat into his Fortress of Golconda to which Aurengzeb after he had rifl'd the City of Bagnabar and plunder'd the Palace lay'd a close Siege The King seeing himself thus vigorously press'd sent away to Mirgimola his Wife and Children very honourably For there is vertue and generosity in the Indians as well as in the Europeans of which I will give you an illustrious Example in the person of the King of Golconda Some days after the Enemy had besieg'd the Fortress a Canoneer espying Aurengzeb upon his Elephant riding about to view the Fortifications of the Castle told the King being then upon the Bastion that if he pleas'd he would fetch off Aurengzeb with a Canon-shot and at the same time was about to give fire but the King holding his hand told him he perceiv'd it well enough but that it behov'd Kings to be better Husbands of the Lives of Princes The Canoneer obey'd the King and instead of shooting at Aurengzeb he took off the Head of the General of his Army who was a little before him which put a stop to the Assault they were about to have giv'n the Army being in a confusion upon his death Abdul-jaber-Beg General of the King of Golconda's Army lying not far from the Camp with a flying Army of four thousand Horse understanding the disorder of the Enemy by reason of the loss of their General laid hold of so favourable an opportunity gave them a desperate charge in that confusion and putting them to the rout pursu'd them
till night for four or five Leagues Some few days before the General 's death the King of Golconda finding that his provisions fail'd him in the Fortress was about to have deliver'd the Keys but as I said before Mirza-Mahomed his Son-in-Law snatch'd them out of his hand and threatn'd to kill him if he persever'd in that resolution Which was the reason that the King who lov'd him not before had ever after the greatest affection imaginable for him as long as he liv'd Aurengzeb being thus constrain'd to raise his Siege stay'd some days to rally his Troops and having receiv'd a recruit of fresh men return'd again to the Siege with new resolutions But Mirgimola who had still some kindness for the King remaining in his breast would not permit Aurengzeb to use the utmost of extremity but by his wit and good management gain'd a suspension of Arms. Cha-jehan the Father of Aurengzeb had formerly had great kindnesses shew'n him by the King of Golconda to whom he fled after he had lost the Battel together with his eldest Brother which he fought against Jehan-guir his Father with whom he made War The eldest Son was taken and Jehan-guir caus'd his eyes to be put out but Cha-jehan being more wary fled and was entertain'd by the King of Golconda with whom he enter'd into a particular and strict friendship Cha-jehan making an Oath to his Benefactor that he would never wage War against him upon any occasion whatever Mirgimola therefore knowing that it would be no difficult thing to bring two Kings that were Friends to an accommodation wrought underhand with both toward the conclusion of a Peace And he so brought his business about that the King of Golconda writ a Letter first to Cha-jehan wherein he submissively requested him to be an Arbitrator between Aurengzeb and him promising to submit wholly to him and to sign such Articles as he should propose By the same policy of Mirgimola Cha-jehan was advis'd in answer to the King of Golconda's Letter to propose a Match between his second Daughter and Sultan Mahomed the Son of Aurengzeb upon condition that after the death of the King her Father the Son-in-Law should inherit the Kingdom of Golconda This proposition being accepted the Peace was concluded and the Nuptials celebrated with an extraordinary Magnificence As for Mirgimola he quitted the service of the King of Golconda and went with Aurengzeb to Brampour Soon after Cha-jehan made him his Prime Minister of State and Generalissimo of his Armies and he it was that so potently assisted Aurengzeb to get the Crown by the defeat of Sultan-Sujah For Mirgimola was a person of great wit and no less understanding in Military than in State affairs I had occasion to speak with him several times and I have no less admir'd his justice than his dispatch to all people that had to do with him while he gave out several Orders and sign'd several Dispatches at the same time as if he had but one entire business in hand The other Princess of Golconda was promis'd to Sultan Sejed another Chek of Mecca and the Match went on so fairly that the day was appointed for the celebration of the Nuptials but Abdoul-Jaber-Beg General of the Army with six other Lords went to the King to divert him from his intention and they brought it so to pass that the Match was broken off and the Princess was given in Marriage to Mirza-Abdoul-Cofing the Kings Cousin by whom she has two Sons which have wholly annull'd the Pretentions of Aurengzeb's Son whose Father now keeps him in Prison in the Fort of Gavaleor for having taken his Uncle Sultan Sujah's part against him The Princess had been given before to Mirza-Abdoul-Cofing but for his debauchery which render'd him little regarded by the King But since his marriage he is very much reclaim'd Now the King of Golconda does not stand in so much fear of the Moguls for in imitation of them he keeps his Money in his own Country and has already hoarded up a Treasury sufficient to maintain his Wars Besides he is altogether addicted to the Sect of Haly so that he will not wear a Bonnet like the other Mahumetans because they say Haly wore none but another sort of attire for the head Which is the reason that the Persians that come into India to seek their fortune apply themselves rather to the King of Golconda then to the Great Mogul Such is the condition of the King of Visapour also whom the Queen Sister to the King of Golconda takes care to educate in the Sect of Haly which invites great numbers of Persians into her Service CHAP. XI The Road from Golconda to Maslipatan al. Masalipatan FRom Maslipatan they count it an hunder'd costes or leagues taking the right way But if you go by the Diamond-Mine which in the Persian Language is call'd Coulour in the Indian Gani they reckon it an hunder'd and twelve leagues and this is the Road which I generally took From Golconda to Tenara costes 4 Tenara is a sweet place where there are four very fair Houses to every one of which belongs a large Garden One of the four standing upon the left-hand along the High-way is much more beautiful then any of the other three It is built of Free-stone two stories high wherein there are several fair Galleries Halls Parlors and lodging-Chambers Before the front of the House is a large four-square Piazza little inferior to the Place Royale in Paris Upon every one of the other three fronts there is a great Portal on each side whereof there is a fair Platform rais'd from the earth above four or five-foot-high and well-Arch'd where Travellers of Quality are lodg'd On the top of each Portal there is a strong Baluster and a little Chamber for the Ladies When Persons of Quality care not to be in their Houses they set up Tents in their Gardens and you must take notice that there is no dwelling for any person but only in the three Houses for the fourth which is the fairest belongs only to the Queen When she is not there however any body may see it and take a walk in the Garden which is a very lovely place and well-stor'd with water The whole Piazza is encompast with several Chambers for the lodging of poor Travellers who every day toward the evening have an Alms bestow'd upon them of Rice or Pulse which they boil ready to their hands But for the Idolaters that eat nothing which is provided by other hands they give them flower to make Bread and a little Butter For when their Bread is bak'd like a broad thin Cake they dip it in the melted-Butter From Tenara to Jatenagar costes 12 From Jatenagar to Patengi costes 12 From Patengi to Pengeul costes 14 From Pengeul to Nagelpar costes 12 From Nagelpar to Lakabaron costes 11 From Lakabaron to Coulour or Gani of which I shall speak in my discourse of the Mines costes 11 The greatest part of the way from
opinion that Elephants do great matters in War which may be sometimes true but not alwaws for very often instead of doing mischief to the Enemy they turn upon those that lead them and rout their own party as Aureng-Zeb found by experience at the Siege of this City He was twenty days before Daman and resolv'd at length to Storm it upon a Sunday believing that the Christians were like the Jews and would not defend it upon that day He that commanded the Place was an old Souldier who had serv'd in France and had three Sons with him In the Town were eight hundred Gentlemen and other stout Souldiers who came from all parts to signalize their valour at that Siege For though the Mogul had in his Army above forty thousand men he could not hinder relief from being put into Daman by Sea in regard that he wanted Ships The Sunday that the Prince intended to Storm the Governour of Daman as had been order'd at the Councel of War caus'd Mass to be said presently after Midnight and then made a Sally with all his Cavalry and some part of his Infantry who were to fall on upon that quarter which was guarded by two hundred Elephants Among those Elephants they flung a great number of Fire-works which so affrighted them in the dark of the Night that knowing not whither they went nor being to be rul'd by their Governours they turn'd upon the Besiegers with so much fury that in less than two or three hours half the Army of Aureng-Zeb was cut in pieces and in three days the Siege was rais'd nor would the Prince after that have any more to do with the Christians I made two Voiages to Goa the one at the beginning of the year 1641. the second at the beginning of the year 1648. The first time I stay'd but five days and return'd by Land to Surat From Goa I went to Bicholly which is upon the main Land thence to Visapour thence to Golconda thence to Aureng-abat and so to Surat I could have gone to Surat without passing through Golconda but my business led me that way From Goa to Visapour costes 85 Which takes up generally eight days journey From Visapour to Golconda costes 100 Which I travel'd in nine days From Golconda to Aureng-abat the Stages are not so well order'd being sometimes sixteen sometime twenty five sometimes twenty Leagues asunder From Aureng-abat to Surat takes up sometimes twelve sometimes fifteen sometimes sixteen days journey Visapour is a great scambling City wherein there is nothing remarkable neither as to the publick Edifices nor as to Trade The Kings Palace is a vast one but ill built and the access to it is very dangerous in regard there are abundance of Crocodiles that lie in the Water which encompass it The King of Visapour has three good ports in his Dominions Rejapour Daboult and Crapaten The last is the best of all where the Sea beats upon the foot of the Mountain and you have fourteen or fifteen Fathom Water near the Land Upon the top of the Mountain there is a Fort with a Spring of Water in it Crapaten is not above five days journey from Goa to the North. And Rabaque where the King of Visapour sels his Pepper is as far distant from it to the East The King of Visapour and the King of Golconda have been formerly tributary to the Great Mogul but now they are absolute of themselves This Kingdom was for some time disquieted by the revolt of Nair-seva-gi Captain of the King of Visapour's Guards After which the young Seva-gi his Son conceiv'd so deadly a hatred against the King that he made himself the head of certain Banditi and as he was both wise and liberal he got together so many Horse and Foot as made a compleat Army the Souldiers flocking to to him from all parts for the reputation of his Liberality And he was just about to have led them to action when the King of Visapour happen'd to dye without Children so that with little or no trouble he got possession of one part of the Coast of Malavar taking Rejapour Rasigar Crapaten Daboul and other places They report that upon his demolishing the fortifications of Rasigar he found vast Treasures which help'd him to pay his Souldiers who were alwayes well paid Some years before the death of the King the Queen perceiving no probability of having any Children adopted a little Boy upon whom she bestow'd all her affections and caused him to be brought up in the Doctrine of Haly's Sect The King upon his Death-bed caus'd this Adopted Son to be Proclaim'd King but Seva-gi having a numerous Army continu'd the War and much disturb'd the Regency of the Queen At length he made the first propositions for Peace which was concluded upon conditions that he should quietly enjoy the Territories which he had subdu'd that he should become Tributary to the King and pay him the half of all his Revenue The young King being thus fix'd in his Throne the Queen Regent went in Pilgrimage to Mecca and I was at Ispahan when she pass'd through the Town in her return home When I made my second Voiage to Goa I embark'd in a Dutch Vessel call'd the Maestricht which carry'd me to Mingrela where I landed the eleventh day of January 1648. Mingrela is a large Town extended half a League in length upon the Sea in the Territories of Visapour It is one of the best Roads in all India where the Hollanders take in fresh Provisions every time they sail to block up Goa as also when they are bound upon Trade for many other parts of India For at Mingrela there is both excellent Water and excellent Rice This Town is also very famous for Cardamoms which the Eastern people esteem the best of Spices not being to be had in any other Countrey which makes that sort of Commodity very scarce and very dear There is also made great store of course Calecuts that are spent in the Countrey besides great quantities of course Matting that serves to pack up goods So that both in respect of Trade as also for the furnishing their Ships with fresh Provisions the Hollauders have a Factory in the Town For as I said before not only all Vessels that come from Batavia from Japon from Bengala Ceylan and other places and those that are bound for Surat the Red Sea Ormus Balsara c. both going and coming come to an Anchor in the Road of Mingrela but also while the Hollanders are at Wars with the Portugals and lye before the Bar of Goa where they have usually eight or ten Sail they send their small Barks to Mingrela for Provisions For the Hollanders lye eight Months in a year before the mouth of the Port of Goa so that there can nothing pass into Goa by Sea all that time You must also take notice that the Bar of Goa is also stopt up some part of the year by the Sands which the South and West-winds that precede
the morning he began the assault with four Companies consisting each of a hundred and fifty men The Hollanders lost abundance of men in this last assault and so did the Portugueses for they defended themselves stoutly being seconded by two hundred Soldiers who were all Dutch-men tho they sided with the Portugueses because their Countrymen had bated them six months and a half pay for the loss of Touan Without the assistance of these Soldiers the City had never held out two months there being among them one of the best Dutch Engineers of his time who had left his Countrymen by reason of their ill usage of him At length the Hollanders having enter'd the Town toward evening on Calivete side and being Masters of the chief Bulwark the Portugals came to a Capitulation and the City was surrender'd The Portugals by their Articles march'd out of Cochin with their Arms and Baggage but when they came out of the City where the Hollanders were drawn up in Battalia they were all forc'd to quit their Arms and to lay them at the Generals feet except the Officers who kept their Swords The General had promis'd the Soldiers the Pillage of the Town but not being able to keep his word for several plausible reasons which he told he promis'd them six months pay which in a few days after was reduc'd to eight Roupies a man Samarin also demanded of him the City of Cranganor according to his promise which the General made good but he caus'd all the Fortifications to be slighted first and left Samarin nothing but the bare Walls For being of a very mean Extraction he was naturally as cruel and barbarous in his disposition One time the Soldiers being so put to it for four days together that they could get no food for money two of them had somewhere taken a Cow and kill'd her for which the General when he came to know of it caus'd one of them to be hang'd immediately and had order'd the other to have run the Gauntlet had not King Perca interceded for him King Perca was a petty King of that Country with whom the General was then in Treaty and the Treaty being at length concluded the General muster'd all his Land and Sea-men to the number of about six thousand men A few days after he sent some Companies to besiege the City of Cananor which surrender'd without any resistance When they return'd the General caus'd a Crown to be made for the new King of Cochin the other being expell'd his Country And upon the day which he had appointed for this most solemn Coronation the General sat upon a kind of a Throne at the foot whereof a Malavare or Pirat being led thither between three Captains of each side fell upon his knees to receive the Crown from the Generals hand and to do homage for a petty Kingdom that is to say the little City of Cochin and its Territories which were very small The King and the King-maker were both alike For no doubt it could not but be a pleasant sight to see a Hollander that had been only the Cook of a Ship crowning a miserable Pirat with those hands that had oft'ner handled a Ladle than a Sword In the mean time the Ships that carried the Inhabitants of Cochin to Goa return'd laden with the spoils of those distressed people for contrary to the Articles of Capitulation the Hollanders were no sooner out at Sea but they took from those poor Creatures whatever they had rifling both men and women without any regard to sex or modesty The General being return'd into Batavia they sent a Governour to Cochin who to make the place the stronger demolish'd a great part of the City But this Governour us'd the greatest rigor imaginable even towards the Soldiers he shut them up in the City as if they had been in a Prison nor could they drink either Wine or Sury or Strong-water by reason of the great Imposts which he laid upon them Sury is a drink which flows from the Palm-trees So that when the Portugueses kept Cochin men might live better for five or six Sous than under the Hollander for ten This Governour was so severe that he would banish a man for the smallest fault in the world to the Island of Ceylan to a place where they made Brick sometimes for five or six years sometimes as along as the party liv'd For it is oftentimes observ'd that when any one is banish'd thither though the sentence be only for a term of years yet the Exile never obtains his freedom afterwards CHAP. XVII The Passage by Sea from Ormus to Maslipatan I departed from Gomron to Maslipatan the eleventh of May 1652 and went aboard a great Vessel of the King of Golconda's which is bound every year from Persia laden with fine Calicuts Chites or Calicuts painted with a Pencil which makes them much more beautiful and dearer than those which are printed The Holland Company are wont to allow to those Vessels which belong to any of the Kings or Princes of India a Pilot and two or three Gunners neither the Indians nor Persians being expert in Navigation In the Vessel where I was aboard there were but six Dutch Mariners at most but above a hundred Natives We sailed out of the Persian Golf with a pleasing and favourable Gale but we had not sail'd very far before we found the Sea very rough and the Winds at South-West so violent though full in our Stern that we were not not able to carry out more than one small Sail. The next day and for some days after the Wind grew more violent and the Sea more boist'rous so that being in the sixteenth Degree which is the elevation of Goa the Rain the Thunder and Lightning render'd the Tempest the more terrible insomuch that we could not carry out any other than our top-sail and that half furl'd We pass'd by the Maldives Islands but were not able to discern them besides that the Ship had taken in very much water in the Hold. For the Ship had lain five months in the Road of Gomron where if the Mariners are not very careful to wash the Planks that lye out of the water they will be apt to gape which causes the Ship to leak when she is loaden For which reason the Hollanders wash the outside of their Ships morning and evening We had in our Vessel five and fifty Horses which the King of Persia had sent as a Present to the King of Golconda and about a hundred Merchants Persians and Armenians together who were Traders to India One whole day and night together there rose a cross Wind so violent that the Water rowl'd in from Stern to Stern and the mischief was that our Pumps were nought By good fortune there was a Merchant that had two Bails of Russia Leather besides four or five Sadlers that knew how to sow the Skins who were very serviceable as well to the whole Ship as to themselves For they made
Rock We inform'd him of the cause of our coming telling him that we had some commodities that were rare and worth the King 's buying but that we were unwilling to shew them to the King till he had seen them believing it our duty to render him that respect The Nahab was very well-pleas'd with our Complement and after he had caus'd us to be presented with Betlé we took our leaves of him and return'd to our Lodgings whither he sent to us two Bottles of Wine one of Sack and the other of Sohiras which is a rare thing in that Countrey The fourth day we waited upon him again and carried along with us some Pearles of an extraordinary weight beauty and bigness the least whereof weighed twenty four Caratts After he had vewd them and shew'd them to some of the Lords that were about him he ask'd the price which when we had set him he return'd us our Jewels and told us he would consider of it The tenth day he sent for us in the morning and after he had caus'd us to sit down by him he sent for five small Bags full of Diamonds every Bag containing a good handful They were loose Stones of a very black Water and very small none of them exceeding a Carat or a Carat and a half but otherwise very clean There were some few that might weigh two Carats After the Nahab had shew'n us all he ask'd us whether they would sell in our Country We made answer that they might have been for sale in our Country provided they had not been of a black Water for that in Europe we never esteem'd any Diamonds but such as were clean and white having but a small esteem for any others It seems that when he first undertook the Conquest of this Kingdom for the King of Golconda they inform'd him that there were Diamond Mines in it Whereupon he sent twelve thousand men to dig there who in a whole years time could find no more than those five small Bags full Whereupon the Nahab perceiving that they could find none but brown Stones of a Water enclining much more to black than white thought it but loss of time and so sent all the people back to their Husbandry The eleventh the French Canoneers came all to the Nahabs Tent complaining that he had not paid them the four months pay which he had promis'd them threatning him that if he did not discharge it they would leave him to which the Nahab promis'd to give them satisfaction the next day The twelfth the Canoneers not failing to give him another visit the Nahab paid them three months and promis'd to pay them the fourth before the month were out but so soon as they had receiv'd their Money they fell a feasting one another so that the Dancing Wenches carried away the greatest part of their Coin The thirteenth the Nahab went to see the Guns which Maille had undertaken to cast For which purpose he had sent for Brass from all parts and got together a great number of Idols which the Soldiers had pillag'd out of the Pagods as they march'd along Now you must know that in Gandicot there was one Pagod said to be the fairest in all India wherein there were several Idols some of Gold and others of Silver among the rest there were six of Brass three sitting upon their Heels and three upon their Feet ten foot high These Idols ' were made use of among the rest But when Maille also had provided all things ready he could not make those six Idols run that were taken out of the great Pagod of Gandicot though he melted all the rest He try'd several ways but it was impossible for him to do it whatever expence the Nahab was at nay though the Nahab threaten'd to hang the Priests for having inchanted those Idols And thus Maille could never make any more than only one single piece and that split upon trial so that he was forc'd to leave the work unfinish'd and soon after left the Nahabs service The fourteenth we went to take our leaves of the Nahab and to know what he had further to say to us concerning the Commodities we had then shew'n him But then he told us he was busie at present about the examination of certain Offenders which were brought before him For it is the custom of that Country never to put a man in Prison but as soon as the Offender is taken he is examin'd and sentence is pronounc'd upon him according to his crime which is immediately executed or if the party taken be found innocent he is as soon acquitted And let the controversie be of what nature it will it is presently decided The fifteenth in the morning we went to wait upon him again and were immediately admitted into his Tent where he sate with his two Secretaries by him The Nahab was sitting according to the custom of the Country bare-foot like one of our Taylors with a great number of Papers sticking between his Toes and others between the Fingers of his left hand which Papers he drew somtimes from between his Toes sometimes from between his Fingers and order'd what answers should be given to every one After his Secretaries had wrote the answers he caus'd them to read them and then took the Letters and seal'd them himself giving some to Foot Messengers others to Horsemen For you must know that all those Letters which are sent by Foot-Posts all over India go with more speed than those which are carried by Horsemen The reason is because at the end of every two Leagues there are little Huts where there are men always ready who are engag'd to run away immediately so that when one of these men that carries the Letters comes to one of these Huts he throws the Letters into the Hut and then he that is appointed runs with them to the next Stage They look upon it as an ill Omen to give the Letters into the Messengers hands but they must be thrown at his feet and he must gather them up It is to be observ'd also that the Highways in most parts of India are like Walks of Trees and that where there are no Trees at every five hundred paces distance there are set up little Heaps of Stones which the Inhabitants of the next Villages are bound to white-wash from time to time to the end those Letter-Carriers may not miss their ways in dark and Rainy nights While we stay'd with the Nahab certain Officers came to tell him that they had brought certain Offenders to the door of his Tent. He was above half an hour before he return'd them any answer writing on and giving instructions to his Secretaries but by and by all of a sudden he commanded the Offenders to be brought in and after he had examin'd them and made them consess the crime of which they stood accus'd he was above an hour before he said a word still writing on and employing his Secretaries In the mean while several
which caus'd great lamentations among them In this extremity the chiefest of their Priests fat himself down in the midst of them and covering himself with a sheet began to cry out that they who would have any Victuals should come to him when they came he ask'd every one what they would have whether Rice or Meal and for how many persons and then lifting up the corner of the sheet with a great Ladle he distributed to every one that which they asked for so that the whole multitude of four thousand Souls was fully satisfi'd My Servant did not only tell me this story but going several times afterwards to Brampour where I was known to the chief men in the City I enquir'd of several who swore to me by their Ram Ram that it was truth Though I am not bound to believe it The twenty-third we arriv'd at Doupar after we had travel'd eight leagues and cross'd several Torrents The twenty-fourth we travel'd four leagues and came to Tripante where there is a great Pagod upon a Hill to which there is a circular ascent of Free-stone every way the least Stone being ten foot long and three broad and there are several Figures of Damons in the Pagod Among the rest there is the Statue of Venus standing upright with several lascivious Figures about her all which Figures are of one piece of Marble but the Sculpture is very ordinary The twenty-fifth we travel'd eight leagues and came to Mamli The twenty-sixth we travel'd eight leagues more and came to lye at Machels The twenty-seventh we travel'd not above three leagues being to cross a wide River in Boats like Panniers which usually takes up half the day for when you come to the River side there is neither Pannier nor any thing else to cross it There was only one man with whom we bargain'd for our passage who to try whether our Money were good or no made a great fire and threw it into the flame as he does to all others that pass that way If among the Roupies which he receives he meets with any one that turns a little black you must give him another which he presently heats red hot when he finds his Money to be good he calls to his Companions to fetch the Manequin or Flasket-Boat which lay hid before in some other part of the River For these sort of people are so cunning that if they descry any Passengers afar off they will row their Mamequin to the other side because they will not be constrain'd to carry any person over without Money But the Money being paid the man that receives it calls his Companions together who take the Boat upon their Shoulders and when they have launch'd it into the River they fetch their Passengers and goods from the other side The twenty-eighth having travel'd five leagues they came to a place call'd Dabir-Pinta The twenty-ninth after twelve hours travel we came to lye at Holcora The thirtieth we travel'd eight leagues and came to spend our night at Peridera The first of October after we had travel'd ten leagues we came to lye at Atenara This is a House of Pleasure which the present King's Mother caus'd to be built There are many Chambers in a great Piazza belonging to it for the convenience of Travellers You must take notice that in all the Countries where we travel'd as well in the Kingdom of Carnatica as the Kingdoms of Golconda and Visapour there are no Physicians but such as attend Kings and Princes As for the common people after the Rains are fall'n and that it is time to gather Herbs you shall see every morning the good women of the Towns going into the Fields to gather such Simples which they know to be proper for such Diseases as reign in the Family T is very true that in great Cities there may be one or two men that have some common Receipts who go every morning and sit in some known places to give their Remedies to such as enquire for them whether they be Potions or Plasters First they feel their Pulses and then giving them some remedy for which they do not demand the value of six pence they also at the same time mutter certain words between their teeth The second of October we had but four leagues to travel before we came to Golconda We went immediately to the Lodging of a young Dutch Chirurgion belonging to the King whom the Sieur Cheteur Envoy from Batavia had left at Golconda upon the King 's earnest entreaty The King was always very much troubl'd with the head-ach for which reason the Physitians had order'd that he should be let blood in four places under the tongue but there was no person that would undertake to do it for the Natives of the Countrey understand nothing of Chirurgery Now before that Peter de Lan for that was the Dutch-Chirurgion's name was entertain'd in the King's service he was ask'd whether he could let blood To which he answer'd that there was nothing so easy in Chirurgery Some few days after the King sent for him and gave him to understand that he was resolv'd to be let blood the next day in four parts under the tongue as the Physitians had order'd but he should take a care of not drawing away above eight ounces De Lan returning the next day to Court was lead into a Chamber by three Eunuchs and four Old-women who carri'd him to a Bath and after they had undrest him and wash'd him especially his hands they anointed him with Aromatick-drugs and instead of his own European-Clothes they brought him a Robe according to the fashion of the Countrey After that they brought him before the King where he found four little Porringers of Gold which the Physitians who were present had weigh'd In short he let the King blood under the tongue in four parts and perform'd his business so well that when the blood came to be weigh'd it weigh'd but bare eight ounces The King was so satisfi'd with the Operation that he gave the Chirurgion three-hunder'd Pagods which comes to almost seven-hunder'd Crowns The Young-Queen and the Queen-Mother understanding what he had done were resolv'd to be let-blood too But I believe it was rather out of a curiosity to see the Chirurgion than out of any necessity which they had to be let-blood For he was a handsom young-man and perhaps they had never seen a stranger neer at hand for at a distance it is no improbable thing in regard the Women are shut up in such places where they may see but not be seen Upon this de Lan was carri'd into a Chamber where the same Old-women that had waited on him before he let the King blood stript up his arm and wash'd it but more especially his hands which when they were dry they rubb'd again with sweet-Oils as before That being done a Curtain was drawn and the Queen stretching out her arm through a hole was let-blood as was the Queen-Mother afterwards in the
by him as fortunately fought by his Brothers For Dara-Cha confiding too much in the principal Officers of his Army against the advice of his General who was his chief Minister of State and faithful to him thought himself sure of the Victory by falling on before his Brothers had time to repose themselves The first onset was very rude and bloody where Morat-Bakche full of fire and courage fighting like a Lyon was shot with five Arrows into the body The Victory leaning to Dara-Cha Aureng-zeb retreated but soon turn'd head again when he saw those Traytors advancing to his aid who were in the Army of Dara-Cha and who had treacherously deserted him after he had lost his best Officers and his General With this assistance Aureng-zeb renews the fight against Dara-Cha who seeing himself betray'd and unable to maintain the fight with the small number of men which he had left retreats to Agra where the King his Father was who began to mend The King advis'd his Son to retire to the Fortress of Dehly and to carry the Treasure that was in Agra with him which he did without delay Thus the Victory fell intirely to Aureng-zeb and Morat-Bakche who before the end of the Battel being weaken'd with the loss of blood was forc'd to retire to his Tent to have his wounds drest Now it was an easie thing for Aureng-zeb to gain those Traytors as well by reason of the vast Treasures which he had as also for that the Indians are very inconstant and want generosity Besides the Commanders are generally Fugitive Persians persons of little worth who are altogether for them that give most Cha-Est-Kan who was Uncle to these four Princes whose Mother was the King's Sister went over to Aureng-zeb with the greatest part of the principal Commanders that had adher'd to Dara-Cha and Morat-Bakche and had forsaken their Masters Morat-Bakche then began to see his Error in having trusted Aureng-zeb who seeing himself favour'd by Fortune lost no time to accomplish his ends Thereupon Morat-Bakche sends to his Brother for the half of the Treasure that he had seiz'd that he might retire to Guzerat But Aureng-zeb for answer assur'd him that he had no other design than to advance him to the Throne to which purpose he desir'd to confer with him by word of mouth Morat-Bakche in order to that finding himself indifferently well recover'd of his wounds goes to visit his Brother who kindly welcom'd him extoll'd his courage and told him he deserv'd the best Empire of the world The young Prince was charm'd by the melody of such sweet language while his Eunuch Shabas-Kan did all he could to make him sensible of the snares that were laid for him But when Morat-Bakche should have taken the Eunuchs advice it was too late for Aureng-zeb had already laid his plot to destroy him He invites Morat-Bakche to a Feast and the more the one excuses himself the more the other presses him to come The young Prince perceiving he would take no denial resolv'd to go for fear of discovering the mistrust he had although he verily believ'd that that day would be the last of his life and that some deadly poyson was brew'd for him However he was deceiv'd in that particular for Aureng-zeb not aiming at his life then contented himself only to deprive him of his liberty and so instead of advancing him to the Throne sent him away to be safely kept in the Castle of Gavaleor CHAP. III. Of the Imprisonment of Cha-jehan and how he was punish'd by Aureng-zeb his third Son for the injustice he had done Prince Boulaki his Nephew the Grandchild of Gehan-guir to whom as to the Son of the Eldest Son the Empire of the Moguls belong'd GEhan-guir King of India Son of Achbar and Grandchild to Houmajon reign'd very peaceably during the space of twenty-three years equally belov'd both by his Subjects and Neighbours But his life seem'd too long to his two Sons who were both ambitious to reign The eldest rais'd a powerful Army near Lahor with an intention to have surpriz'd his Father and to have possess'd himself of the Throne by force The King incens'd at the insolence of his Son resolv'd to chastise him meets him with a considerable Army defeats him and takes him Prisoner with many of the most considerable Nobility that adher'd to him After which out of a natural affection to his Children he sav'd his life but put out his Eyes And when he was blind he always kept him about his person with an intention to have prefer'd his eldest Son Boulaki to the Crown whose Father had already many Sons but all very young But Sultan Courom his second Son believing it his right to be prefer'd before a Nephew resolv'd to leave no stone unturn'd to remove him from his hopes and to settle himself in possession before the death of his Father However he conceal'd his intentions from him appearing outwardly very obedient to his Father who always kept about him the Children of his eldest Son By that submission he more easily brought about his designs for having by that means gain'd the good will of his Father he obtain'd leave to carry along with him the blind Prince his eldest Brother to his Government of the Kingdom Decan He laid before his Father that it would be far better to remove from his sight an object that could not chuse but be so afflicting to him and that the Prince himself being blind would spend the rest of his days more comfortably in Decan where he might be more retir'd The King not penetrating into his design readily consented to his request Who when he had that poor Prince in his Clutches made him away with that secresie which was not to be discover'd and under the most plausible pretence imaginable to conceal him from the eyes of men After the death of the blind Prince Sultan Courom took upon him the name of Cha-jehan that is King of the World and to uphold his Title he rais'd an Army to finish what his Brother had begun which was to dethrone his Father and to take possession of the Empire The King incens'd as well at the death of his Son as at the attempt against his own person sent a considerable Army to chastise Courom for so bold an Enterprize But the rebellious Prince finding himself too weak to stand his Fathers force quitted the Kingdom of Decan and with certain Vagabonds that follow'd him wander'd from place to place till he came to Bengala where he rais'd an Army with an intention to give the King Battel To which purpose passing the Ganges he marches directly toward the Kingdom of Lahor whom the King in person met with an Army much more numerous and stronger than his But Gehan-guir being old and wearied with the troubles that his Sons had put him to dy'd by the way leaving Cha-jehan at liberty to pursue his own designs However before he expir'd the good King had time to recommend his Grandchild Boulaki
to Asouf-Kan his Generalissimo and prime Minister of State who was Protector of the Empire He commanded also all the Officers of the Army to acknowledg him for King as being the lawful Heir declaring Sultan Komrom a Rebel and incapable of the Succession Moreover he made Asouf-Kan to swear in particular that he would never suffer Boulaki to be put to death which way soever affairs went which Asouf-Kan sware upon his Thigh and as religiously observ'd as to the Article of not putting him to death but not as to that of helping him to the Crown which he design'd for Cha-jehan who had married his eldest Daughter the Mother of four Princes and two Princesses The news of the Kings death being known at Court caus'd a general lamentation And presently all the Grandees of the Kingdom set themselves to execute the Kings Will and Testament acknowledging Sultan Boulaki for Emperor who was very young That Prince had two Cousin-Germans who were both of them by the Kings consent turn'd Christians and made publick profession thereof Those two young Princes being very apprehensive perceiv'd that Asouf-Kan Father-in-Law to Cha-jehan and Father of Cha-Est-Kan had no good intentions toward the young King and gave him notice of it which cost them their lives and the King the loss of his Dominions For the young King having no more with than was agreeable to his age openly declar'd to Asouf-Kan what his Cousins had reveal'd to him in private and ask'd the General whether it were true that he had a design to set up his Uncle against him or no. Asuof-Kan immediately accus'd the Reporters of salsity and impudence and protested his fidelity to his King and vow'd to spend the last drop of his blood to preserve him in the possession of the Empire However seeing his Conspiracy discover'd he resolv'd to prevent the punishment to which end having got the two Princes into his possession he put them both to death But before that in regard of his power in the Army and in the Empire he had already brought over to Cha-jehans party the greatest part of the Commanders and Lords of the Court and the better to play his game and deceive the young King he rais'd a report that Cha-jehan was dead and because he had desir'd to be buried near his Father Gehan-guir the body was to be brought to Agra This Stratagem being cunningly manag'd Asouf-Kan himself gave advice of the feign'd death to the King telling the King withall that it would be but a common civility for him to go and meet the Corps when it came within a League or two of the City being an Honour due to a Prince of the Blood of the Moguls All this while Cha-jehan kept himself incognito till coming within sight of the Army that lay about Agra he caus'd himself to be put into a Coffin wherein there was only a hole left for him to breath at This Coffin being carri'd under a moving Tent all the principal Officers who were of the plot with Asouf-Kan came to perform the usual Ceremonies of State to the body of the deceas'd Prince while the young King was upon the way to meet the body But then Asouf-Kan finding it seasonable to execute his design caus'd the Coffin to be open'd and Cha-jehan rising up and shewing himself to the eyes of all the Army was saluted Emperor by all the Generals and other principal Officers who had their Cue ready so that the name of Cha-jehan running in a moment from one mans mouth to another the Acclamation became publick and the Empire was setled upon him The young King hearing the news by the way was so surpriz'd that he thought of nothing but how to save himself by flight being upon a sudden forsaken by all his followers And Cha-jehan not believing it any way necessary to pursue him suffer'd him to wander a long time in India like a Fakir At length he retir'd into Persia where he was magnificently receiv'd by Cha-Sefi who allow'd him a pension fit for so great a Prince which he still enjoys Cha-jehan having thus usurp'd the Crown the better to secure himself and to stifle all Factions that might arise during the life of the lawful Prince whom he had so unjustly despoiled of his right by degrees put to death all those that had shew'n any kindness to his Nephew So that the first part of his Reign was noted for many acts of cruelty that blemish'd his reputation No less unfortunate was the end of his Reign For as he had unjustly depriv'd the lawful Heir of the Empire which belong'd to him he was himself while he yet liv'd depriv'd of his Crown by Aureng-zeb his own Son who kept him Prisoner in the Fortress of Agra For after Dara-Cha had lost the Battel against his two Brothers Aureng-zeb and Morat-Bakche in the Plain of Samonguir and was treacherously abandoned by the principal Officers of the Army he retir'd into the Kingdom of Lahor with all the Treasure which the confusion of his affairs would suffer him to get together In the King to resist the violence of his victorious Sons shut himself up in the Castle of Agra to the end he might not be surpriz'd but have time and leisure to observe how far the insolence of his children would transport them As for Aurengzeb who had Morat Bakche safe enough he enters Agra feigning to believe a report that Cha-jehan was dead that he might have liberty to get into the Fortress where he said one of the Omra's would make it out The more he reported the death of Cha-jehan the more did the King endeavour to let the people know he was alive But finding both Power and Fortune had taken Aureng-zeb's party and being also in great necessity for want of water he sent Fazel-Kan grand Master of his Houshold to assure his Son that he was alive and withal to tell him that it was the King's command that he should retire to his Vice-Roy-ship in Decan without putting him to any more vexation and that upon his obedience he would forgive whatever had past Aurengzeb firm in his resolution return'd for answer to Fazel-Kan that he was certain that the King his Father was dead and that upon that account he had only taken Arms to secure the Crown to himself which he thought he deserv'd as well as the rest of his Brothers That if his Father were living he had too great a respect for him to undertake the least enterprize that should displease him and therefore that he might be certain he was not dead he desir'd to see him and to kiss his feet and having so done he would retire to his Government and punctually obey his Commands Fazel-Kan return'd this answer to the King who declar'd that he should be glad to see his Son and sent back Fazel-Kan to tell him he should be welcome But Aureng-zeb more cunning than Cha-jehan assur'd Fazel-Kan that he would not set his foot in the Castle till the Garrison
that was in it should be sent away to make room for his men For the Prince was afraid and not without reason if he should adventure into a Fortress where he was not absolute Master himself lest they should seize his person of which the King being apprehensive consented to his proposal not being able to do better at that time Thereupon the Garrison which belong'd to Cha-jehan was sent out of the Castle and another of Aureng-zeb's enter'd commanded by Sultan Mahomet the eldest of his Sons to whom he gave order to secure his Father's person When they were thus got in and his Father safe he delaid seeing his Father from day to day waiting as he gave ou t for excuse a kind opportunity for the enterview and pretending his Astrologers did not presently think it seasonable he retir'd into the Countrey to a House about two or three leagues from Agra which very much displeased the people who waited every day for the fortunate hour from which they expected a conclusion of their miseries by the Father and Son's discourse together But Aureng-zeb who was in no great hast to see his Father took up another resolution which was to seize upon all his Fathers treasure which Dara-Sha had not time to carry away He also shut up in the same Fortress Begum-Saheb his Sister to keep the King company by whom she was entirely belov'd and took into his own hands all the wealth she had got by her Father's liberality Cha-jehan enrag'd to see himself us'd in that manner by his own Son made an attempt to escape and kill'd some of the Guards that oppos'd him which caus'd Aureng-zeb more strictly to confine him In the mean time it was a wonderful thing to see that not one of the Servants of so great a King so much as offer'd to help him that all his Subjects should forsake him and turn their eyes upon the rising-Sun acknowledging only Aureng-zeb for King while they seem'd to have forgotten Cha-jehan though still alive Thus this great Monarch sadly ended his days in Prison and dy'd in the Fortress of Agra in the year 1666 the last time that I was in India During his Reign he had begun to build the City of Jehanabad though he had not quite finish'd it and therefore he desir'd to see it once more before he dy'd but Aureng-zeb would not give him leave unless he would be content to go and come back by water or else to be confin'd to the Castle of Jehanabad as he was at Agra which refusal of his Son did so torment him that it hasten'd his end Which as soon as Aureng-zeb heard of he came to Agra and seiz'd upon all the Jewels whick he had not taken from his Father while he liv'd Begum-Saheb had also a quantity of Jewels which he had not taken from her when he put her into the Castle But now because she had formerly taken her Father's part he found out a way to deprive her of them after a very plausible manner making a shew of bestowing very great Honours and Caresses upon his Sister and taking her along with him to Jehanabad But in a short time after we heard the news of her death which prov'd and all people suspected her to have been poison'd CHAP. IV. Of the Flight of Dara-cha to the Kingdoms of Scindi and Guzerat Of the second Battel which he fought against Aureng-zeb His being taken Prisoner and death DAra-cha having carri'd along with him the best part of the Gold and Silver which was in the Fortress of Agra by his Father's advice and being got into the Kingdom of Lahor was in good hopes to have rais'd an Army in a short time to have stopt the proceedings of his Brother His most faithful Servants and Friends had always accompani'd him in his misfortune And as for his Eldest Son Soliman Shekour he went with the Raja Roup into the Territories of that Raja's own demeans to levy men carrying along with him five-millions of Roupies which make of our Money seven-millions and 500000 Livres But that great Sum opening the Raja Roup's eyes he most treacherously and infamously seiz'd upon it whereupon Soliman Chekour fearing he should proceed farther and make some attempt upon his person fled in all hast into the Kingdom of Sireneguer under the protection of the Raja Nakti-Rani who more foully and basely deliver'd him up sometime after to Aureng-zeb Dara-cha having notice of the Raja Roup's treason and seeing all his friends had forsook him and were revolted to Aureng-zeb quitted Lahor and retir'd into the Kingdom of Scindi Before he left the Fortress he sent all the Gold Silver Jewels and Wealth that was in the Fort away by water to Baker a Fort in the midst of the River Indus To guard all that Wealth he lest an Eunuch and six-thousand men with all provisions necessary for a Siege after that he went to Scindi where he left several great pieces of Cannon Then he march'd through the Territories of the Raja of Kachnagana who made him mountainous promises to no effect then he came into the Kingdom of Guzerat where the people receiv'd him as their lawful King and Heir to Cha-jehan He sent his Orders to all the Cities and particularly to Surat where he appointed a Governor but the Governor of the Fortress who was left there by Morat-Bakche refus'd to submit to Dara-cha so that he was forc'd to let him alone In the mean time Dara-cha receiv'd news at Amadabat that Jessomseing one of the most potent Raja's in all India was fall'n off from Aureng-zeb The same Raja also solicits him to advance with his Army Dara-cha confiding in his words follow'd his counsel and march'd to Emir which was the place of Rendevouz appointed But Raja Jessomseing being regain'd by the perswasions of Raja Jesseing more potent than himself to favour Aureng-zeb never met according to his promise nor did he come till the last push and then only with a design to betray the poor Prince Thus the two Brothers meeting they came to a Battel which lasted three days but in the heat of all the Fight Jessomseing shewing an apparent treachery went over to Aureng-zeb upon which Dara-cha's Souldiers immediately fled Dara-cha having thus lost all his hopes and finding Fortune contrary to all his expectations fled away likewise with his Wives some of his Children and his most faithful Servants in an equipage that drew compassion But coming to Amadabat the Governor having declar'd for Aureng-zeb deni'd him entrance Thereupon he discamp'd in the middle of the night and took the road for Scindi He arriv'd at Scindi with an intention to pass into Persia where Cha-Abas the Second expected him with a magnificent Retinue and a resolution to have assisted him with Men and Money But not daring to trust himself by Sea as he pass'd through the Countrey of the Patanes in the way to Candahar he was unworthily betraid by one of the Lords of the Countrey call'd Gion-Kan who
together to whom he represented the incapacity of his Father to govern through age and many infirmities that troubled him as for Dara-Cha his Brother he had put him to death because he was a slighter of the Law drank Wine and favour'd Infidels Those reasons intermix'd with threats caus'd his Council of Conscience to conclude that he deserv'd the Empire and ought to be proclaim'd King though the Cadi obstinately persisted in his first resolution There was no other remedy therefore but to remove him from his employment as a disturber of the publick peace and to chuse another for the Honour of the Law and the Good of the Kingdom The person who was elected by the Council was soon confirm'd by Aureng-zeb in acknowledgment whereof he proclaim'd him King the twentieth of October 1660. This Proclamation being made in the Mosquee Aureng-zeb seated himself upon the Throne and receiv'd the Homages of all the Grandees of the Kingdom However Aureng-zeb did not think his Throne fast enough nor himself secure in the Empire so long as Sultan Sujah was raising a powerful Army in Bengala to release his Father Thereupon he sent a considerable Force against him under the Command of Sultan Mahomed his eldest Son to whom he appointed for his Lieutenant the Emir-Jemla one of the greatest Captains that ever came out of Persia into India His great Conduct and Courage had render'd him a person to be reverenc'd by all posterity had he been faithful to the Princes whom he serv'd But first he betray'd the King of Golconda under whom he advanc'd his Fortune and next to him Cha-jehan under whose protection he rose so high that there was not a Nobleman in all India more powerful or richer than he Otherwise he is both belov'd and fear'd by the Soldiers and perfectly understands the Art of War according to the custom of the Country The two Armies engaging several times the Victory was sometimes on the one side and sometimes on the other so that Sultan Mahomed finding it likely ro be a tedious War assisted by the Counsels of his Lieutenant resolv'd to add policy to strength Thereupon he treats underhand with the Officers of his Uncle's Army makes them magnificent promises and so earnestly sollicites them to come over to Aureng-zeb's party whom he call'd the Pillar and Protector of Mahomet's Law that he gain'd the principal to whom he sent considerable Presents to confirm them in their resolutions This was a mortal blow to Sultan-Sujah against which he could not provide For they that adhear'd to him being a mercenary generation that serves whoever gives most finding they had little more to expect from a Prince whose Exchequer was empty resolv'd to drive a Trade with Aureng-zeb who was Master of all the Treasure in the Kingdom And thus did Aureng-zeb debauch the Army of his Brother who in the last Battel seeing himself abandon'd by all his Soldiers was forc'd to save himself by flight with his Wives and Children The Traytors asham'd of their treachery did not so smartly pursue the unfortunate Prince as they might have done but presently fell to plund'ring his Tents and Baggage which Emir-Jemla suffer'd them to do in recompence of their Treason Sultan-Sujah in the mean time crossing the Ganges with his Retinue retir'd some time afterwards into the Kingdom of Arakan upon the Confines of Bengala where we shall leave him for a time CHAP. VI. Of the imprisonment of Sultan-Mahomed Aureng-zeb's eldest son and of Sultan Soliman Chekour eldest son of Dara-Cha THough Aureng-zeb were esteem'd a very great Politician and were so indeed yet he fail'd in his Politicks to trust his Son with such a powerful Army under the Conduct of a Captain who had already betray'd two Masters However at length he began to be jealous left Heaven should inspire his own Son to revenge the crimes which he had committed And upon this receiving intelligence that Sultan Mahomed began to be very pensive and melancholy he then absolutely believ'd that his Son was practising mischief against him for the better discovery whereof he wrote to Emir-Jemla But the Letter unhappily miscarrying was taken by Sultan Mahomed's Guards and giv'n to the young Prince who being a person of a quick apprehension conceal'd the business from Emir-Jemla and fearing left he should receive other Orders more precise to take away his life he resolv'd to pass the Ganges and throw himself upon his Uncle Sultan Sujah from whom he expected more mercy than from his Father With this resolution he feign'd to go a fishing and passing the Ganges with several Officers that adher'd to him he went directly to Sultan Sujah's Camp which lay on the other side of the River the Sultan having rais'd a considerable Force in the Kingdom of Arakan Sultan Mahomed coming into his Uuncles presence threw himself at his feet begging his pardon for having taken Arms against him as being forc'd thereto by his Father Now though Sultan Sujah had reason enough to believe that Mahomed's coming into his Camp was only a trick of his Father to send his Son as a Spy to discover his condition yet being a vertuous and generous Prince and seeing his Nephew prostrate at his feet he could not but raise him up after which embracing him he assur'd him of his protection against Aureng-zeb Some days after these two Princes made an attempt and passing Ganges and fetching a compass thought to have surpriz'd the Enemies Army who dreamt not of their coming They made a vigorous onset and kill'd a great number of men But when they found the whole Army had taken the Alarum they contented themselves with the mischief they had done and repass'd the Ganges for fear of being surrounded by number Emir-Jemla had already given intelligence to Aureng-zeb of the flight of his Son which sensibly griev'd the Father though he durst not shew his anger for fear of incensing the Emir to betray him as he had betray'd his Father Thereupon he cunningly wrote to him that he rely'd altogether upon his prudence and policy to retrieve his Son to his duty that he was young and that what he had done was only out his heat of youth and the inconstancy incicident to his years The confidence which Aureng-zeb seem'd to put in Emir-Jemla incited the General to use all his endeavours to get Mahomet out of Sultan Sujah's hands Thereupon he gave the young Prince to understand his Fathers good intentions toward him and that he was ready to receive him with open Arms so that he would but make good use of his Residence with Sultan Sujah which he might pretend was done for the advantage to his Father and for which his Father would have rather cause to extol his prudence and affection than otherwise The young Prince easily suffer'd himself to be perswaded and the same way he went to his Uncle's the same way he return'd to his Fathers Camp where Emir-Jemla receiv'd him honourably and with all the demonstrations of joy He advis'd
being advanc'd and brought down according to the course of Trade and the correspondence of the Bankers with the Princes and Governors At the Mine of Colour or Gani which belongs to the Kingdom of Golconda they make their payments in new Pagods which are equal in value to the King of Visapour's But sometimes you are forc'd to give four in the hunder'd more by reason they are better Gold and besides they will take no others at the Mine These Pagods are coin'd by the English and Hollanders who whether willingly or by force are priviledg'd by the King to coin them in their Forts And those of the Hollanders cost one or two per cent more than the English by reason they are better Gold and for that the Miners choose them before the other But in regard the Merchants are prepossess'd that the Miners are a rude and savage sort of people and that the ways are dangerous they stay at Golconda where the Workmasters keep correspondence with them and send them their Jewels There they pay in old Pagods coin'd many ages ago by several Princes that Reign'd in India before the Mahumetans got footing therein Those old Pagods are worth four Roupies and a half that is to say a Roupy more than the new not that there is any more Gold in them or that they weigh any more Only the Bankers to oblige the King not to bring down the price pay him annually a very great Sum by reason they get very much by it For the Merchants receive none of those Pagods without a Changer to examin them some being all defac'd others low-metal others wanting weight so that if one of these Bankers were not present at the receipt the Merchant would be a greater loser sometimes one sometimes five sometimes six i' th hunder'd for which they also pay them one quarter in the hunder'd for their pains When the Miners are paid they also receive their Money in the presence of Bankers who tells them which is good and which is bad and has for that also one quarter i' th hunder'd In the payment of a thousand or two-thousand Pagods the Banker for his fee puts them into a bag and seals it with his Seal and when the Merchant pays for his Diamonds he brings the Seller to the Banker who finding his bag entire assures the party that all is right and good within and so there is no more trouble As for the Roupies they take indifferently as well the Great Mogul's as the King of Golconda's by reason that those which that King coins are to be coin'd by Articles with the Great Mogul's stamp 'T is an idle thing to believe that vulgar error that it is enough to carry Spices Tobacco Looking-glasses and such trifles to truck for Diamonds at the Indian-Mines For I can assure ye these people will not only have Gold but Gold of the best sort too As for the roads to the Mines some fabulous modern relations have render'd them very dangerous and fill'd them full of Lions Tigers and cruel People but I found them not only free from those wild creatures but also the People very loving and courteous From Golconda to Raolconda which is the principal Mine the road is as follows the road being measur'd by Gos which is four French-leagues From Golconda to Canapour one Gos. From Canapour to Parquel two Gos and a half From Parquel to Cakenol one Gos. From Cakenol to Canol-Candanor three Gos. From Canol-Candanor to Setapour one Gos. From Setapour to the River two Gos. That River is the bound between the Kingdoms of Golconda and Visapour From the River to Alpour three quarters of a Gos. From Alpour to Canal three quarters of a Gos. From Canal to Raolconda two Gos and a half Thus from Golconda to the Mine they reckon it seventeen Gos or 68 French-Leagues From Golconda to the Mine of Coulour or Gani is reckon'd thirteen Gos and three quarters or 55 French-leagues From Golconda to Almaspinda three Gos and a half From Almaspinda to Kaper two Gos. From Kaper to Montecour two Gos and a half From Montecour to Naglepar two Gos. From Naglepar to Eligada one Gos and a half From Eligada to Sarvaron one Gos. From Sarvaron to Mellaseron one Gos. From Mellaseron to Ponocour two Gos and a quarter At Ponocour you only cross the River to Coulour CHAP. XV. The Rule to know the just price and value of a Diamond of what weight soever from three to a hunder'd and upwards a secret known to very few people in Europe I Make no mention of Diamonds of three Carats the price thereof being sufficiently known First then as to others above that weight you must know how much the Diamond weighs and see if it be perfect if it be a thick Stone well-squar'd and have all its corners if the water be white and lively without specks and flaws If it be a Stone cut in Facets which we call a Rose-Diamond you must take notice whether the form be round or oval whether it be of a fair breadth and not of Stones clapt together whether it be of a good water and without specks or flaws Such a Stone weighing one Carat is worth 150 Livres or more Now to know how much a Stone of the same perfection weighing 12 Carats is worth Multiply 12 by 12 it makes 144. Then multiply 144 by 150 which is the price of a Stone of one Carat it comes to 21600 Livres As for Example To know the price of imperfect Diamonds you must observe the same rule grounded upon the price of a Stone of one Carat You have a Diamond of fifteen Carats shewn ye neither of a good water nor good form and full of specks and flaws besides such a Diamond cannot be worth above 60 or 80 or 100 Livres at most according to the goodness of the Stone Multiply therefore the weight of the Diamond of 15 Carats by 15 then multiply the product which is 125 by the value of the Stone of one Carat which we will grant to be 80 Livres the product whereof is 10000 Livres the price of a Diamond of 15 Carats The Example By that it is easy to discover the difference between a perfect and an imperfect Stone For if that Stone of 15 Carats were perfect the second multiplication should be wrought by 150 which is the price of a perfect Stone of one Carat and then the Diamond would come not to 10000 Livres but to 33750 Livres that is 23750 Livres more than an imperfect Diamond of the same weight By this rule observe the price of two the greatest Diamonds of the World for Cut-stones the one in Asia belonging to the Great Mogul the other in Europe in the possession of the Duke of Tuscany The Great Mogul's Diamond weighs 279 and 9 16 th Carats It is of a perfect good water of a good shape with only a little flaw in the edg of the cutting below which goes round about the Stone Without that
the next day was found dead in the Sea The Captain four or five days after his arrival at Surat being met in the Street by a Mahometan who was jealous of his Wife and being mistak'n by him for one among several Franks that had parted him and kept him from correcting his Wife some few days before was stabb'd by him in three or four places with a Dagger and kill'd him out-right And this was the end of those treacherous people The End of the Second Book TRAVELS IN INDIA The Third Book CHAP. I. Of the particular Religion of the Mahometans in the East Indies THE diversity of Opinions among the Mahometans does not consist in the different Expositions which they put upon the Alcoran but in the contrariety of Belief which they receiv'd by Tradition from the first Successors of Mahomet From thence there sprung two Sects directly opposite The one which is call'd the Sect of the Sounnis follow'd by the Turks and the other of the Chiais which is adher'd to by the Persians I will not enlarge my self upon these two Sects that divide all Mahumetism it being my design only to tell you how the condition of that false Religion stands in the Empire of the Great Mogul and in the Kingdoms of Golconda and Visapour When Mahumetism was first brought into the Indies there was an excess of pride but no devotion among the Christians and the Idolaters were an effeminate people able to make little resistance so that it was easie for the Mahumetns to subdue both the one and the other by force of Arms which they did so advantageously that many as well Christians as Idolaters embrac'd the Mahumetan Religion The Great Mogul with all his Court follows the Sect of the Sounnis the King of Golconda that of the Chiais In the King of Visapour's Territories the Sounnis and Chiais are mingl'd together which may be said also of the Court of the Great Mogul in regard of the great numbers of Persians that flock thither to serve in his Armies True it is that though they abhor the Sounnis yet they adhere to the Religion of the Prince holding it lawful for the preservation of their Estates to conceal their belief As for what concerns the Kingdom of Golconda Koutoub-Cha the present King very zealously maintains the Law of the Chiais in regard the Grandees of his Court are almost all Persians Aureng-zeb testifies above all things an extraordinary devotion for the Sect of the Sounnis of which he is so zealous an observer that he surpasses all his Predecessors in outward profession which was the Cloak under which he usurp'd the Crown When he took possession of his Throne he gave it out that he did it only out of a design to cause the Law of Mahomet to be more strictly observ'd which had been very much neglected in the Reign of Sha-jehan his Father and Gehan-guir his Grandfather and to shew himself more zealous to the Law he turn'd Faquir or Dervich that is poor Volunteer and under that false pretence of Piety he cunningly made way to the Empire And indeed though he has a great many Persians under his pay yet he will not permit them to keep holy the day consecrated to the memory of Hosen and Heussin the two Sons of Ali who were put to death by the Sounnis besides that they to please him are willing enough to conform CHAP. II. Of the Faquirs or poor Mahometan Volunteers in the East Indies THey reckon that there are in the Indies eight hundred thousand Faquirs and twelve hundred thousand Idolaters which is a prodigious Number They are all of them Vagabonds and lazy Drones that dazle the eyes of the people with a false zeal and make them believe that whatever comes out of their mouths is an Oracle There are several sorts of Mahometan Faquirs The one sort go almost naked like the Idolatrous Faquirs having no certain abode in the world but giving themselves up to all manner of uncleanness There are others whose Garments are of so many different pieces and colours that a man can hardly tell of what they are made These Garments reach down to the half Leg and hide the rags that are underneath They go generally in Troops and have their Superiour of the Gang who is known by his Garment which is generally poorer and consists of more patches than the other Besides that he draws after him a great Iron Chain which is ty'd to his Leg and is about two Ells long and proportionably thick When he says his prayers he does it with a loud voice and ratling his Chain all the while which is accompany'd with an affected gravity that draws the Veneration of the people In the mean time the people prepare Dinner for him and his company in the place where he takes up his stand which is usually in some street or publick place There he causes his Disciples to spread certain Carpets where he sets himself down to give audience to the people On the other side the Disciples go about publishing through the Country the vertues of their Master and the favours he receives from God who reveals his most important secrets to him and gives him power to relieve persons in affliction by his counsel The people who give credit to him and believe him to be a holy man approach him with a great devotion and when they come near him they pull off their Shoes and prostrate themselves to kiss his feet Then the Faquir to shew his humility reaches out his hand to kiss that done he causes them that come to consult him to sit down by him and hears every one apart They boast themselves to have a prophetick Spirit and above all to teach barren women a way how to have Children and to be belov'd by whom they please There are some of these Faquirs who have above two hundred Disciples or more which they assemble together by the sound of a Horn or the Beat of a Drum When they travel they have their Standard Lances and other Weapons which they pitch in the ground near to their Master when he reposes in any place The third sort of East Indian Faquirs are those that being born of poor Parents and desirous to understand the Law to the end they may become Moulla's or Doctors retire to the Mosquees where they live upon the Alms which is given them They employ all their time in reading the Alooran which they get by heart and if they can but add to that study the knowledg of some natural things and an exemplary life withall they come to be chief of the Mosquees and to the dignity of Moullahs and Judges of the Law Those Faquirs have their Wives and some out of their great zeal to imitate Mahomet have three or four thinking they do God great service in begetting many Children to be followers of their Laws CHAP. III. Of the Religion of the Gentiles or Idolatrous Indians THe Idolaters among the Indians are so numerous that
Seed can be gather'd but the mischief is that before the Seed is ripe the wind scatters the greatest part which makes it so scarce When they gather the Seed they take two little Hampers and as they go along the Fields they move their Hampers from the right to the left and from the left to the right as if they were mowing the Herb bowing it at the top and so all the Seed falls into the Hampers Rhubarb is a Root which they cut in pieces and stringing them by ten or twelve together hang them up a drying Had the Natives of Boutan as much art in killing the Martin as the Muscovite they might vend great store of those rich Furs considering what a number of those Beasts there are in that Countrey No sooner does that creature peep out of his hole but the Muscovites who lye upon the watch have e'm presently either in the nose or in the eyes for should they hit e'm in the body the blood would quite spoyl the skin The King of Boutan has constantly seven or eight thousand Men for his Guard Their Weapons are for the most part Bows and Arrows Some of them carry Battel-axes and Bucklers 'T is a long time ago since they had the first use of Muskets and Cannons their Gun-powder being long but of an extraordinary force They assur'd me that some of their Cannons had Letters and Figures upon them that were above five-hunder'd years old They dare not stir out of the Kingdom without the Governor 's particular leave nor dare they carry a Musket along with them unless their next Kindred will undertake for them that they shall bring it back Otherwise I had brought one along with me for by the characters upon the Barrel it appear'd to have been made above 180 years It was very thick the mouth of the bore being like a Tulip polish'd within as bright as a Looking-glass Two thirds of the Barrel were garnish'd with emboss'd Wires with certain Flowers of Gold and Silver inlaid between and it carri'd a Bullet that weigh'd an ounce But I could not prevail with the Merchant to sell it me nor to give me any of his powder There are always fifty Elephants kept about the King's House and twenty five Camels with each a Piece of Artillery mounted upon his back that carries half a pound Ball. Behind the Gun sits a Cannoneer that manages and levels the Guns as he pleases There is no King in the World more fear'd and more respected by his Subjects then the King of Boutan being in a manner ador'd by them When he sits to do Justice or give Audience all that appear in his presence hold their hands close together above their forheads and at a distance from the Throne prostrate themselves upon the ground not daring to lift up their heads In this humble posture they make their Petitions to the King and when they retire they go backwards till they are quite out of his sight One thing they told me for truth that when the King has done the deeds of nature they diligently preserve the ordore dry it and powder it like sneezing-powder and then putting it into Boxes they go every Market-day and present it to the chief Merchants and rich Farmers who recompence them for their kindness that those people also carry it home as a great rarity and when they feast their Friends strew it upon their meat Two Boutan Merchants shew'd me their Boxes and the Powder that was in them The Natives of Boutan are strong and well proportion'd but their noses and faces are somewhat flat Their women are said to be bigger and more vigorous than the men but that they are much more troubled with swellings in the throat then the men few escaping that disease They know not what war is having no enemy to fear but the Mogul But from him they are fenc'd with high steep craggy and snowey Mountains Northward there are nothing but vast Forrests and Snow East and West nothing but bitter water And as for the Raja's near them they are Princes of little force There is certainly some Silver Mine in the Kingdom of Boutan for the King coins much Silver in pieces that are of the value of a Roupy The pieces are already describ'd However the Boutan Merchants could not tell me where the Mine lay And as for their Gold that little they have is brought them from the East by the Merchants of those Countries In the year 1659 the Duke of Muscovy's Embassadors pass'd through this Country to the King of China They were three of the greatest Noblemen in Muscovy and were at first very well receiv'd but when they were brought to kiss the Kings hands the custom being to prostrate themselves three times to the ground they refus'd to do it saying that they would complement the King after their manner and as they approach'd their own Emperor who was as great and as potent as the Emperor of China Thereupon and for that they continu'd in their resolution they were dismiss'd with their presents not being admitted to see the King But had those Embassadors conform'd to the custom of China without doubt we might have had a beaten rode through Muscovy and the North part of Great Tartary and much more commerce and knowledge of the Country than now we have This mentioning the Muscovites puts me in mind of a story that several Muscovy Merchants averr'd to be true upon the rode between Tauris and Ispahan where I overtook them of a woman of fourscore and two years of age who at those years was brought to bed in one of the Cities of Muscovy of a Male Child which was carry'd to the Duke and by him brought up at the Court. CHAP. XVI Of the Kingdom of Tipra MOst people have been of opinion till now that the Kingdom of Pegu lies upon the Frontiers of China and I thought so my self till the Merchants of Tipra undeceiv'd me I met with three one at Daca and two others at Patna They were men of very few words whether it were their own particular disposition or the general habit of the Country They cast up their accounts with small Stones likes Agats as big as a mans nail upon every one of which was a Cypher They had every one their weights like a Stelleer though the Beam were not of Iron but of a certain Wood as hard as Brazile nor was the Ring that holds the weight and is put thorough the Beam to mark the weight of Iron but a strong Silk Rope And thus they weigh'd from a Dram to ten of our Pounds If all the Natives of the Kingdom of Tipra were like the two Merchants which I met at Patna I dare affirm them to be notable topers for they never refus'd whatever strong Liquor I gave them and never left till all was out and when I told them by my Interpreter that all my Wine was gone they clapt their hands upon their stomachs and sigh'd These Merchants travell'd
all three through the Kingdom of Arakan which lies to the South and West of Tipra having some part of Pegu upon the Winter West They told me also that it was about fifteen days journey to cross through their Country from whence there is no certain conjecture of the extent to be made by reason of the inequality of the stages They ride upon Oxen and Horses which are low but very hardy As for the King and the Nobility they ride in their Pallekies or upon their Elephants of War They are no less subject to Wens under their throats than those of Boutan insomuch that the women have those Wens hanging down to their Nipples which proceeds from the badness of the waters There is nothing in Tipra which is fit for strangers There is a Mine of Gold but the Gold is very course And there is a sort of very course Silk which is all the Revenue the King has He exacts no Subsidies from his Subjects but only that they who are not of the prime Nobility should work six days in a year in his Mine or in his Silk-works He sends his Gold and his Silk into China for which they bring him back Silver which he coins into pieces to the value of ten Sous He also makes thin pieces of Gold like the Aspers of Turky of which he has two sorts four of the one sort making a Crown and twelve of the other CHAP. XVII Of the Kingdom of Asem IT was never known what the Kingdom of Asem was till Mirgimola had setl'd Aureng-zeb in the Empire For he considering that he should be no longer valu'd at Court after the war was at an end being then General of Anreng-zeb's Army and powerful in the Kingdom where he had great store of Creatures to preserve the Authority he had resolv'd to undertake the Conquest of the Kingdom of Asem where he knew he should find little or no resistance that Kingdom having been at peace above 500 years before 'T is thought these were the people that formerly invented Guns and Powder which spead it self from Asem to Pegu and from Pegu to China from whence the invention has been attributed to the Chineses However certain it is that Mirgimola brought from thence several pieces of Canon which were all Iron Guns and store of excellent Powder both made in that Countrey The Powder is round and small like ours and very strong Mirgimola embark'd his Army in one of the mouths of Ganges and sailing up one of the Rivers that comes from the Lake Chiamay to the twenty-ninth or thirtieth Degree he landed his Army and came into a Country abounding in all humane necessaries still finding the less resistance because the people were surpriz'd Being a Mahumetan he spar'd not the very Pagods but burn'd and sack'd all where-ever he came to the thirty-fifth Degree There he understood that the King of Asem was in the field with a more powerful Army than he expected and that he had several pieces of Canon and great store of fire-works withall Thereupon Mirgimola thought it not convenient to march any farther though the chief reason of his return was the drawing on of Winter which the Indians are so sensible of that it is impossible to make them stir beyond the thirti'th or thirty-fifth Degree especially to hazard their lives Mirgimola therefore turns to the South-west and besieges a City call'd Azoo which he took in a small time and found good plunder therein In this City of Azoo are the Tombs of the Kings of Asem and of all the Royal Family For though they are Idolaters they never burn their dead bodies but bury them They believe that the dead go into another world where they that have liv'd well in this have plenty of all things but that they who have been ill livers suffer the want of all things being in a more especial manner afflicted with hunger and drowth and that therefore it is good to bury something with them to serve them in their necessities This was the reason that Mirgimola found so much wealth in the City of Azoo For many ages together several Kings had built them Chappels in the great Pagod to be buried in and in their life times had stor'd up in the Vaults of their particular Chappels great sums of Gold and Silver and other moveables of value Besides that when they bury the deceas'd King they bury with him likewise whatever he esteem'd most pretious in his life-time whether it were an Idol of Gold or Silver or whatever else that being needful in this might be necessary for him in the world to come But that which favours most of Barbarism is that when he dies all his best beloved Wives and the principal Officers of his House poyson themselves to be buri'd with him and to wait upon him in the other world Besides this they bury one Elephant twelve Camels six Horses and a good number of Hounds believing that all those Creatures rise again to serve their King The Kingdom of Asem is one of the best Countries of all Asia for it produces all things necessary for humane subsistence without any need of foreign supply There are in it Mines of Gold Silver Steel Lead Iron and great store of Silk but course There is a sort of Silk that is found under the the Trees which is spun by a Creature like to our Silk-worms but rounder and which lives all the year long under the trees The Silks which are made of this Silk glist'n very much but they fret presently The Country produces also great store of Gum-Lake of which there is two sorts one grows under the trees of a red colour wherewith they paint their Linnen and Stuffs and when they have drawn out the red juice the remaining substance serves to varnish Cabinets and to make Wax being the best Lake in Asia for those uses As for their Gold they never suffer it to be transported out of the Kingdom nor do they make any Money of it but they preserve it all in Ingots which pass in trade among the Inhabitants but as for the Silver the King coins it into Money as is already describ'd Though the Country be very plentiful of all things yet there is no flesh which they esteem so much as Dogs flesh which is the greatest delicacy at all Feasts and is sold every month in every City of the Kingdom upon their Market-days There are also great store of Vines and very good Grapes but they never make any Wine only they dry the Grapes to make Aqua Vitae As for Salt they have none but what is artificial which they make two ways First they raise great heaps of that green Stuff that swims at the top of standing waters which the Ducks and Frogs eat This they dry and burn and the ashes thereof being boil'd in a Cloth in water become very good Salt The other way most in use is to take the leaves of Adams Fig-tree which they dry and burn the ashes
above the Town up the River But no person must enter into this Pagod unless it be the King and his Priests As for the people so soon as they see the Door op'n they must presently fall upon their faces to the Earth Then the King appears upon the River with two hundred Gallies of a prodigious length four hundred Rowers belonging to every one of the Gallies most of them being guilded and carv'd very richly Now in regard this second appearance of the King is in the month of November when the waters begin to abate the Priests make the people believe that none but the King can stop the course of the waters by his Prayers and by his Offerings to this Pagod And they are so vain as to think that the King cuts the waters with his Sabra or Skain thereby commanding it to retire back into the Sea The King also goes but incognito to a Pagod in an Island where the Hollanders have a Factory There is at the entry thereof an Idol sitting cross-leg'd with one hand upon his knee and the other arm akimbo It is above sixty foot high and round about this Idol are about three hundred others of several sorts and sizes All these Idols are guilt And indeed there are a prodigious number of Pagods in this Countrey for every rich Siamer causes one to be built in memory of himself Those Pagods have Steeples and Bells and the Walls within are painted and guilded but the Windows are so narrow that they give but a very dim light The two Pagods to which the King goes publickly are adorn'd with several tall Pyramids well guilded And to that in the Hollanders Island there belongs a Cloyster which is a very neat Structure In the middle of the Pagod is a fair Chappel all guilded within side where they find a Lamb and three Wax Candles continually burning before the Altar which is all over cover'd with Idols some of massie Gold others of Copper guilt In the Pagod in the midst of the Town and one in of those to which the King goes once a year there are above four thousand Idols and for that which is six Leagues from Siam it is surrounded with Pyramids whose beauty makes the industry of that Nation to be admir'd When the King appears all the Doors and Windows of the Houses must be shut and all the people prostrate themselves upon the ground not daring to lift up their eyes And because no person is to be in a higher place than the King they that are within doors are bound to keep their lowest Rooms When he cuts his hair one of his Wives performs that office for he will not suffer a Barber to come near him This Prince has a passionate kindness for his Elephants which he looks upon as his Favourites and the Ornaments of his Kingdom If there be any of them that fall sick the Lords of the Court are mighty careful to please their Soveraign and if they happ'n to dye they are buried with the same Funeral Pomp as the Nobles of the Kingdom which are thus performed They set up a kind of Mausoleum or Tomb of Reeds cover'd with Paper in the midst whereof they lay as much sweet wood as the body weighs and after the Priests have mumbl'd certain Orisons they set it a-fire and burn it to ashes which the rich preserve in Gold or Silver Urns but the poor scatter in the wind As for offenders they never burn but bury them 'T is thought that in this Kingdom there are above two hundred Priests which they call Bonzes which are highly reverenc'd as well at Court as among the people The King himself has such a value for some of them as to humble himself before them This extraordinary respect makes them so proud that some of them have aspir'd to the Throne But when the King discovers any such design he puts them to death And one of them had his head lately struck off for his Ambition These Bonzes wear yellow with a little red Cloth about their Wasts like a Girdle Outwardly they are very modest and are never seen to be angry About four in the morning upon the tolling of their Bells they rise to their prayers which they repeat again toward evening There are some days in the year when they retire from all converse with men Some of them live by Alms others have Houses with good Revenues While they wear the Habit of Bonzes they must not marry for if they do they must lay their Habit aside They are generally very ignorant not knowing what they believe Yet they hold the transmigration of Souls into several Bodies They are forbidd to kill any Creature yet they will make no scruple to eat what others kill or that which dies of it self They say that the God of the Christians and theirs were Brothers but that theirs was the eldest If you ask them where their God is they say he vanish'd away and they know not where he is The chief strength of the Kingdom is their Infantry which is indifferent good the Soldiers are us'd to hardship going all quite naked except their private parts all the rest of their body looking as if it had been cupt is carv'd into several shapes of beasts and flowers When they have cut their skins and stanch'd the blood they rub the cut-work with such colours as they think most proper So that afar off you would think they were clad in some kind of flower'd Satin or other for the colours never rub out Their weapons are Bows and Arrows Pike and Musket and an Azagaya or Staff between five and six foot long with a long Iron Spike at the end which they very dextrously dart at the Enemy In the year 1665 there was at Siam a Neapolitan Jesuite who was call'd Father Thomas he caus'd the Town and the Kings Palace to be fortifi'd with very good Bulwarks according to Art for which reason the King gave him leave to live in the City where he has a House and a little Church CHAP. XIX Of the Kingdom of Macassar and the Embassadors which the Hollanders sent into China THE Kingdom of Macassar otherwise call'd the Isle of Celebes begins at the fifteenth Degree of Southern Latitude The heats are excessive all the day but the nights are temperate enough And for the Soil it is very fertile but the people have not the art of building The Capital City bears the name of the Kingdom and is situated upon the Sea The Port is free for the Vessels that bring great quantities of goods from the adjacent Islands pay no Customs The Islanders have a custom to poyson their Arrows and the most dangerous poyson which they use is the juice of certain Trees in the Island of Borneo which they will temper so as to work swift or slow as they please They hold that the King has only the secret Receit to take away the force of it who boasts that he has the most effectual poyson in
the world which there is no remedy can prevent One day an English man in heat of blood had kill'd one of the Kings of Macassars Subjects and though the King had pardon'd him yet both English Hollanders and Portugals fearing if the English man should go unpunish'd lest the Islanders should revenge themselves upon some of them besought the King to put him to death which with much ado being consented to the King unwilling to put him to a lingring death and desirous to shew the effect of his poyson resolv'd to shoot the Criminal himself whereupon he took a long Trunk and shot him exactly into the great Toe of the right foot the place particularly aim'd at Two Chirurgeons one an English man and the other a Hollander provided on purpose immediately cut off the member but for all that the poyson had dispers'd it self so speedily that the English man dy'd at the same time All the Kings and Princes of the East are very diligent in their enquiry after strong poysons And I remember that the chief of the Dutch Factory and I try'd several poyson'd Arrows with which the King of Achen had presented him by shooting at Squirrels who fell down dead as soon as ever they were touch'd The King of Macassar is a Mahometan and will not suffer his Subjects to embrace Christianity Yet in the year 1656 the Christians found a way to get leave to build a fair Church in Macassar But the next year the King caus'd it to be pull'd down as also that of the Dominican Friars which the Portugals made use of The Parish Church which was under the Government of the secular Priests stood still till the Hollanders attack'd Macassar and compell'd him to turn all the Portugals out of his Dominions The ill conduct of that Prince was in part the occasion of that war to which the Hollanders were mov'd to revenge themselves upon the Portugal Jesuites who had cross'd their Embassy to China Besides that they offer'd great affronts to the Hollanders at Macassar especially when they trod under foot the Hat of one of the Dutch Envoys who was sent to treat with the King in behalf of the Company Thereupon the Hollanders resolv'd to unite their forces with the Bouquises that were in rebellion against their Soveraign and to revenge themselves at any rate Now as to the business of China it happen'd thus Toward the end of the year 1658 the General of Batavia and his Council sent one of the chief of the Holland Company with Presents to the King of China who arriving at Court labour'd to gain the friendship of the Mandarins who are the Nobility of the Kingdom But the Jesuites who by reason of their long abode in the Country understood the language and were acquainted with the Lords of the the Court lest the Holland Company should get footing to the prejudice of the Portugals represented several things to the Kings Council to the prejudice of the Hollanders more especially charging them with breach of Faith in all the places where they came Upon this the Holland Agent was dismiss'd and departed out of China without doing any feats Afterwards coming to understand what a trick the Portugal Jesuites had put upon him he made report thereof to the General and his Council at Batavia which so incens'd them that they resolv'd to be reveng'd For by the Deputies accounts the Embassy had cost them above fifty thousand Crowns for which they consulted how to make the Portugals pay double Understanding therefore the trade which the Jesuits drove in the Island of Macao and to the Kingdom of Macassar whither upon their own account they sent seven Vessels laden with all sorts of Commodities as well of India as China they took their opportunity and the seventh of June 1660 appear'd with a Fleet of thirty Sail before the Port of Macassar The King thinking himself oblig'd to make defence against so potent an Enemy endeavour'd to sustain the brunt of the Hollander with the Portugal Ships in the Road but the Hollander dividing their Fleet part of them fought the Portugal the other half batter'd the Royal Fortress so furiously that they carry'd it in a short time Which so terrifi'd the King that he commanded the Portugals not to fire any more for fear of farther provoking his Enemies The Prince Patinsaloa was slain in the fight which was a great loss to the King of Macassar who was become formidable to his neighbours by the good Conduct of that Minister As for the Hollanders they took burnt and sunk all the Portugal Vessels and sufficiently re-imburs'd themselves for their China Expences The thirteenth of June the King of Macassar whose name was Sumbaco hung out a white Flag from another Tower whence he beheld the fight environ'd by his Wives During the truce he sent one of the Grandees of his Court to the Dutch Admiral to desire peace which was granted upon condition he should send an Embassador to Batavia expel the Portugals out of the Island and not permit his Subjects to have any more to do with them Thereupon the King of Macassar sent eleven of the greatest Lords of his Court with a train of seven hundred men the Chief of the Embassy being the Prince of Patinsaloa The first thing they did was to pay two hundred Loaves of Gold to redeem the Royal Fortress again and then submitting to the Conditions which the Dutch Admiral had propos'd the General of Batavia sign'd the Articles which were punctually observ'd For the Portugals immediately quitted the Country some departing for Siam and Cambòya others for Macoa and Goa Macao formerly one of the most famous and richest Cities of the Orient was the principal motive that enclin'd the Hollanders to send an Embassadour into China for being the best station which the Portugals had in all those parts the Dutch had a design to win it wholly Now this City lying in twenty-two Degrees of Northern Latitude in a small Island next to the Province of Kanton which is a part of China has very much lost its former luster But this was not all which the Jesuits and the Portugal Merchants suffer'd The Chief of the Dutch Factory at Mingrela which is but eight Leagues from this City understanding the bad success of the Dutch in China had a contrivance by himself to be reveng'd He knew that the Jesuites of Goa and other places drove a great trade in rough Diamonds which they sent into Europe or else carry'd along with them when they return'd and that for the more private carrying on of their trade they were wont to send one or two of their Order that knew the language in the habit of a Faquir which consists of a Tygers Skin to cover their back-parts and a Goats Skin to cover the breast reaching down to the knees Thereupon the Chief of the Factory of Mingrela taking his opportunity and having notice that two of the suppos'd Faquirs were gone to the Mines to lay out 400000
when he is weigh'd 122. G. GAnges pag. 51 an ordinary River ib. and bad water 52. Gani see Coulour Gate what manner of place 34. Gehanabad 45 the Mogul's Palace there 45 46 47. Gehanguir ninth King of the Indians He permits Nourmahal his Wise to Reign in his stead He put out his Eldest Son's eyes 111. He prefers his Grandchild to the Throne ib. Dies ib. Gion-Kan a Traytor his death 115. Goa the present State of it 74. Golconda describ'd 61. The Policy and Government of the City 64. Gold where found 156 c. Gomron Road heat excessive injures the Ships 90. Gondicot taken by Mirgimola 98. Describ'd ib. Govaleor 35. The Prison for the Indian Grandees ib. Guards how reliev'd at Golconda 64. H. HAlabas pag. 52. The Governor a great Person ib. The cruelty of his Physitian ib. Hameth-Sheck 107. I. JAva the King thereof pag. 202. Javaniers good Souldiers 203. Jessom-seing betrays Dara-Sha 114. Idolaters belief touching a Deity 164. Of the state of the Soul after death 167. Of their burning their dead 168. Their several customs 179. Idolatrous Princes of Asia 163. Indians cunninger then the Jews 23. Their manner of crossing Rivers 100 102. Their Superstition 97. The Penance of the Women ib. Their Alms ib. Their Pilgrimages 101. Their craftiness 102. Their Physick 102. Their honesty 136 137. Their manner of driving bargains ib. Their Penances 181. Indigo where made 36 37 43. Indolstan bounded 106. Iron of Golconda the best 65. Island of St. Helens describ'd Ivory the best 96. Justice in India quick 99 100. K. Kemerouf a City pag. 188. L. LAhor pag. 45. Letter-Carriers 110. Lions how tam'd 40. M. MAcassar a Kingdom describ'd 191. The King shoots an English Malefactor with a poison'd Arrow 191. His difference with the Hollanders 192. Maldives Islands 90. Malvares Indian Pyrats 71 182. Mascate 16. Maslipatan 70. Matura one of the chiefest Pagods of the Indians 48. Measures Indian 27. Mingrela 73. A Miracle done by a Bramin 101 102. Miram-Sha 107. Mirda 43. Mirgimola the King of Golconda's General 67. He is suspected by the King ib. He revolts 68. He joyns with Aurengzeb ib. besieges the King ib. and cunningly settles a new Peace ib. entertains the Author at Gondicot 98 99. How he dispatch'd business 99. He conquers Asem 187. Mirza-Abdoul-Cofing marries the King of Golconda's third Daughter 69. Mirza Mahomed 68. See Check of Mecca Moguls why so call'd 106. Money the force of it in India 19. What most proper to be carri'd into India 18 21. Monuments Indian their sumptuousness 49 50 52 61. Morad-Backshe 108 Vice-Roy of Guzerat ib. He rebels against his Father 109 besieges Surat ib. proclaims himself King ib. He gives credit to Aurengzeb's fallacies ib. joyns with him 110 and defeats Dara-Sha ib. wounded ib. He sees his error is betraid and sent to Govaleor ib. Mountebanks Indian 36. Multan 43. Musk 153. Its adulterations ib. N. NAder pag. 35. Nahab what it signifies 53. Navapoura 30 famous for Rice ib. Nava-Sevagi revolts from the King of Visapour 73. Nourmahal Queen of India her Extraction 11 12. O. OBservations particular upon the Mogul's Court pag. 124 125. Omrahs their duty 122. Ormus the manner of Sailing from Ormus to Surat 15. Outemeda 97. P. PAgods Indian describ'd 92 93 94 97 102. The most celebrated among the Indians 173 c. Palicat 93. Passage by Sea from Ormus to Maslipatan 90. Passes where requir'd 44 52. Patna 53. Peacocks plentiful 37. How caught ib. Pearls and where fish'd for 145. How bred how fish'd for and at what time 146 c. Perca a petty Indian King 89. Physitians none in India but such as attend Princes 102. Pilgrimages of the Indians 179. Ponte Galle 194. Portugals their power in Goa 74 75. Their excessive proneness to revenge ib. discover a strange Countrey 83 84. Priests Indian how maintain'd Presents given by the Author at the Great Mogul's Court 59. R. RAge-Mehide 54. Raolconda Diamond-Mine 134. Rauchenara-Begum 108 always a friend to Aurengzeb His kindness to her their falling out 121. Religion of the Mahumetans in the Indies 159 c. Of the Idolatrous Indians 161. Roads from Ispahan to Agra through Gomron 15 from Surat to Agra through Brampour and Seronge 30 through Amadabat 36. From Ispahan to Agra through Candahar 43. From Dehly to Agra 48. From Agra to Patna and Daca 51. From Surat to Golconda 60. From Golconda to Maslipatan 69. From Surat to Goa from Goa to Golconda through Visapour 71. From Goa to Maslipatan through Cochin 88. From Maslipatan to Gandicot 91. From Gandicot to Golconda 100 to the Mines 137 139 141. Rodas the Fortress 139. Roupies the difference of them 20. Rubies the forms of several 149 150. Rule to know the price of Diamonds 142 143. S. SAltpeter where refin'd 53. Samarin an Indian King 89. Saseron 53. Say-pieces Indian 25 26. Sepper chekour 115 sent to Govaleor 116. Sera the signification of the word 32. Seronge 33. Serpents their vast bulk and deadly venom 34. Seva-gi continues the revolt 73. He finds vast Treasures ib. Sha-Est-Kan 20 24 56 buys the Authors Jewels 104 his kindness to the Author ib. revolts to Aurengzeb 110. Sha-Jehan first call'd Sha-Bedin-Mahomet 107. His good Government 108. He marries a young Lady ib. His children ib. His love to his children ib. He rebels against his Father is disinherited 111. He is advanc'd to the Throne 112. His cruelty ib. He is kept Prisoner by Aurengzeb and dies 113. Siam a Kingdom the King of it 119 c. Siren 143. Sodomy abominated by the Indians 54. Solyman Chekour defeats his Unckle 109 Betraid by Raja Roup flies to Nactiran 114. Is deliver'd up by him 119. Sent Pris'ner to Govaleor Soumelpour 139. Stones colour'd where found 143. Stones medicinal and their effects 154 155. Stories of the man that lost his child in Swimming 38. Of the Merchant's Wife that desir'd a child 39. Of the Merchant that ne'r told lye ib. The Story of Monsieur Belloy 79. Of the rich Leaper in Goa ib. Of St. Amant and John de Rose and the Sieur Marests ib. 80 81 c. Of Father Ephraim 85 86 87. Sultan Abousaid-Mirza 107. Sultan Babur 107. Sultan Boulaki preferr'd by Sha-Jehan 111. Betraid by Asouf-Kan 112. Retires into Persia ib. Sultan Kourom 107. See Sha-Jehan Sultan Mahomed Mogul 107. Sultan Mahomed Aurengzeb s Son marries the second Daughter of the King of Golconda 69. He flies to his Unckle 117. Is betraid by Emir-Jemla and imprison'd 118 119. Sultan Selim alias Jehanguir Patska 107. Sultan Soujah 108. Rebels 109. He flies to the King of Arakan marries his Daughter 119. Plots against him ib. His death 120. Sumbaco King of Macassar 192. Surat 15. T. TAmurleng 106. Tari what 65. Tavernier abus'd at the Mogul's Court 57 58. Tenara a sweet place 69. Thrones the description of the Mogul's Thrones 122 c. Thunderbolts three at a time 91. Tipra a Kingdom 186. Travelling the manner in India 27 29.
by this course that they are kept within their duty and that they obey the Laws as much out of a principle of Religion and Conscience as out of the fear of chastisement and in that they do not much recede from our Christian Maximes The Mouftis and the Cadis pass therefore indifferently under the Name of Persons well skill'd in the Law as if we should reduce our Divines and our Civil Lawyers into the same Class and in civil and criminal Causes the Moufti is often consulted The Moufti is the honourary Chief of the Law all over the Empire and accounted to be the Interpreter of the Alchoran I speak of the grand Moufti of Constantinople who is the most esteem'd and the principal of all For there are several others of them in Turkey over whom he has no more jurisdiction than he has over the Imans or Priests every one of them submitting themselves only to the Magistrate and there being no Ecclesiastical Superiority amongst them That hinders not but that the Grand Moufti is honour'd by all the rest and in great veneration among the Turks The Grand Seignor never bestows that Dignity but upon a Person of great abilities and great integrity he often consults him in the Affairs of greatest importance he always follows his Directions and he is the only Person in the World at whose approach he rises up to receive him The Cadilesquers follow the Moufti and are Judges-Advocates of the Militia the Souldiers having this Priviledge That they are judg'd only by them whence they also call them Judges of the Armies There are but two of them all over the Empire the Cadilesquer of Romania and the Cadilesquer of Natolia who are in highest esteem next to the Moufti and have their Seats in the Divan immediately next to the Grand Vizir The Mollah or Moula-Cadis are the Judges of great Cities who receive their Commissions from the Cadilesquers to whom there may be an Appeal made from their Sentence in civil Concerns only for as to the criminal part the Cause is soon decided and the least Judge condemns to death without any Appeal The Cadis are under the Mollah and ought to be well vers'd in the Laws and Customs of the Countrey They have also under them the Naips who administer Justice in the Villages and that is done with much expedition without the help of Proctors or Advocates The Imans or Emaums are the Priests of the Turks and as 't were the Parsons of their Mosqueys where they take care that all things be done in order and at the times appointed The Hogias are the Doctors of the Law and as it were the Regents and Instructors of Youth The Sheiks are to them instead of Preachers and they make publick Exhortations The Muezims are they who cry upon the Towers of the Mosquey to call the People together at the hour of Prayer the Turks not using any Bells not the Christians in the Levant The Dervis are Religious Men among the Turks who live poorly and indeed the very word signifies poor They are for the most part ridiculously cloath'd and all generally great Hypocrites OF THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF Gold and Silver-Coins And the small MONEY Now current in TURKEY Together With the History of the TRADE in Five Sols Pieces French MONEY and the Abolition of it THere are but two Species of Gold-Coins current all over the Turkish What Money current in Turkey Empire the one is the proper Countrey Money the other comes out of Forein parts The former is the Scherif otherwise called Sequin or Sultanine and that kind of Gold is worth at the present six Franks French Money though heretofore it yielded but five Franks nay came so low as four The Scheriffs come from Egypt and Cairo isthe only City of the Empire where The Gold brought to Cairo and coin'd there Gold is coin'd That Gold is brought out of the Kingdom of the Abyssines and this is the manner how it is brought to Cairo The quantity is not the same every year and when the passages are shut up whether by War or by extraordinary Rains whereby the Fields are overflown there comes but little Gold into Egypt during that time As soon as those obstructions are taken away and that there is a freedom of Commerce you shall see arriving at Cairo nay at Alexandria too several Abyssines who bring in one man two pounds another four every one more or less according to his abilities Those poor People run a thousand risques in their Travels and 't is almost a miracle how they bring them to a period Some of them are of that Country whence the Queen of Sheba came and which is now call'd the Kingdom of Sabour Others come from places at a greater distance and they have sometimes fifteen days journeys to make and cannot meet with any waters to drink but what are corrupt and destructive to health which I found but too true my self when I cross'd the Desarts of Arabia If by chance they come to some Cottage or Hut where they have kill'd an Elephant it is a place for them to feast in This consider'd we need not wonder at the short lives of those miserable people whose bodies are destroy'd in those Voyages and who for the most part do not exceed forty years of age The case is the same with those who trade with the Portugueses on the Coasts of Melinda and Mozambico the corrupt waters they are forc'd to drink in their way make them hydropical at five and twenty years at age and generally all the several peoples of the Kingdom of Sabour have the right Leg swell'd and twice as big as the left and seldom exceed five and thirty years 'T is a miraculous thing to see the fidelity wherewith those poor Abyssines demean The sincerity of the Abyssines themselves in trading as well those of the Southern parts who are Christians as those of the North who border upon Egypt and are Mahumetans For after they have taken the Commodities they like for the Gold they have brought if the Merchant they deal with will supply them with any thing further to be paid at their return and upon their own words he is sure enough of it and need not break his sleep for it For if it happen that one of those Abyssines who is a Debtor should die by the way some of his Relations or Friends whom he acquaints with his affairs brings the Gold at the next return for the Commodity which had been taken up and it could never hitherto be found that any Merchant could complain that ever he had lost ought by any one of them All that is to be fear'd is that they should fall into the hands of their Enemies who rob and kill them and particularly on the South-side there being less danger towards the North. The foreign Coins of Gold in Turkey are the Ducates of Germany Holland Hungary and Venice They are very much sought after and they are