of July in the Year 1099 and had reduced it they laid down their Armors and Arms and went to visit the Holy Sepulchre with great Devotion and chose there unanimously their General King of Jerusalem who at their request undertook the Government would not be called King nor Crowned with a Golden Crown in that place where our Saviour that Arch-King had worn one of Thorns After he had obtained this Victory he also subdued some adjacent Towns viz. Joppe called Jassa Porphria situated at the Foot of Mount Carmel by the Arabians and Turks called Hayphe Tiberias and the Consines of Galilea He also overcame with a handful of his Men the Captain of the Sultan who had a great number of Men with him and killed above Thirty thousand of them But as nothing is lasting in human Affairs he died in the Eleventh Month of his Reign and was buried in the above-mentioned Chapel and upon his Tomb-Stone is still to be read this following Epitaph Hic jacet inclitus dux Gottefridus de Boulion qui totam istam terram acquisivit cultui Christiano cujus anima regnet cum Christo Amen After his Decease the Christians unanimously chose his Brother Baldewin King of Jerusalem in his place He overcame with a small number of Men th◠King of Egypt that was Two and twenty thousand strong and killed the greatest part of his Men. And when he died in the Eighteenth Year of his Reign they chose Cousin Baldewin of Burgo the Second of that Name King This was a great Warrior and did many Heroick Deeds with few Men against the Heathens he overcame and took Prisoner Gatzim the Turkish Prince of the Lesser Asia with a great number of Men but soon after in the Fifth Year of his Reign he was beaten in a Battel by the King of the Parthians and carried away Prisoner In the mean time the Venetians and Genoueses came with Two hundred and seventy Ships and dispersed and beat the Armada of the Saracens and sunk many of their Ships and took also the strong Town of Tyrus so that both by Sea and Land there was abundance of Blood shed When the Enemies saw this that they set the King at liberty again in the Eighteent Month of his Imprisonmenth for a Sum of Money after that he did execute in the six following Years of his Reign in order to an Enlargement of his Kingdom many glorious and famous Deeds He overthrew the King of the Ascalonites who was assisted by the Egyptians and fell upon Jerusalem in one single Battel and also beat the King of Damascus in three several ones as you may see by his Epitaph here underneath written Rex Baldewinus Judas alter Machabaeus Spes patriae vigor ecclesiae virtus utriusque Quem formidabant cui dona tributa ferebant Cedar Aegyptus Dan homicida Damascus Proh dolor in modico clauditur hic tumulo In the Year 1131 the Crown was presented to Fulcon Count of Andegavia and Son-in-law to the before-said Baldewin who also obtained several Victories against the Persians and Turks But in his time there arose some Differences among the Christians and some Conspiracies which proved afterwards very disadvantageous to him he lost also Edessa a City in Mesopotamia which King Baldewin the First had conquered before which the Turks took by force from him This King left two Sons Baldewin and Alamric and after he had reigned Eleven Years he fell dead when he hunted a Hare on full speed After him his Son Baldewin the Third was Crowned who also died in the Twenty fourth Year of his Reign after he had fought several Battels and taken some Towns Then his Brother Alamric came to the Crown who was a great Warrior so that he was very fit for this Dignity he obtained many Victories against Sultan Saladin But afterwards when the Scales were turned he died also after his return from Egypt in the Year 1178 his Son Baldewin the Fourth and the Seventh King undertook the Government of the Kingdom in the Thirteenth Year of his Reign This although he was leprous yet he managed his Business very well and defended his Dominions courageously and gloriously against the Infidels And because he would not be married by reason of his Distemper therefore he married his Sister Sibylla to a Marquis of Monteferrato called William She was brought to Bed in the first year of a Son and called him after his Uncle Baldewin But when William died he married her again to Guido of Lusignan Count of Joppe with this condition that after his Decease he should Rule the Kingdom for his Son-in-law and be his Guardian so long until he came at age But he behaving himself very ill in the mean while the King grew so angry with him that he would by no means suffer him to live in his Dominions and ordered another to fill up his place one Raymond a Count of Tripoli Soon after the King died before his Son was quite Twenty Years old and was also buried in the Temple of the holy Sepulchre Within Eight Months after did also die the true Heir of the Crown the Son of Sibylla his Sister and was also buried by the other Kings so that we find still on three several Tomb-Stones that stand close one behind the other viz. Septimus in tumulo puer hic regnum tumulatus Est Baldewinus regum de sanguine natus Quem tulit è mundo sors primae conditionis Vt Paradysiacae loca possideat regionis So by the Incitation of his Mother Guido was proclaimed the last King Raymund the Count of Tripoli was extremely disgusted at this Election being that the Kingdom was already recommended to him wherefore he resolved to go to war with him and that he might be strong enough for him he made a League with Sultan Saladin to his own Grief and Ruine For when the Sultan saw these Differences between them two he raised suddenly a great Army and took Jerusalem and the whole Country by force of Arms. So the Kingdom of Jerusalem after the Christians had been possessed of it Eighty eight Years and Nineteen Days was retaken again by the Infidels not without great Loss and Damage Not long after the Infidels did pull down the Walls of the City turned the Churches into Stables saving the Temple of Solomon and spoiled the holy Sepulchre of our Lord Christ which in all the other Wars did still remain intire so that only one side of the Rock thereof is now to be seen This was done by the Infidels on purpose to shew us the foolish Zeal we have to conquer and visit the holy Grave and City as if Christ were still in it This and other places had been quite demolished also had it not been for the Eastern Christians the Armenians Surians c. which did stop their Fury by giving of them a great Sum of Money and so redeemed it CHAP. X. A Common Account of several sorts of Christians but chiefly of them that are
that live in Mesopotamia and Judea c. This Sect was rejected and condemned in the Counsil of Ephesus CHAP XVI Of the JACOBITES called Golti IN the Temple of Mount Calvaria also live in the Chapel behind the Sepulchre of Christ another sort that boast to be Christians called Jacobites after Jacob the Heretick who was a Pupil of the Patriarch of Alexandria They pretend to have been first converted to the Christian Religion by the holy Evangelist and Apostle Matthew but they did not adhere to it but fell afterwards into a great many Errors so that in our time they are divided into other Sects and Orders For some have assumed the Order of S. Macharius who with Eutychius did own or believe no more but one Nature in Christ others that of St. Anthony who was an Eremite in the year of our Lord Christ 324 in Egypt Others have their Male Children circumcised but others and the greater part have their Children baptized with Fire and have Crosses made on their Foreheads or Temples according to the words of St. John the Baptist in the 3d. Chapter of St. Matthew V. 11. He that cometh after me shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire They live chiefly in Egypt and in other adjacent places They are generally subject unto the Turkish Sultan they speak the vulgar Arabian Language and agree in most points partly with the Abyssines and partly with the Surians We saw many of their Wives go about in the Temple they wear Hats near a Span high which at top have a broad Brim like unto our Bonnets else they are habited like unto the Surians This Heresie was rejected and condemned in the Chalcedonian Council CHAP. XVII Of the Abyssins Priest John called Lederwick Subject unto the King of the Moors THese live at Jerusalem in the Temple of Mount Calvaria just by the Church Door towards the left and have through their Lodging a peculiar way so that without hinderance according to their pleasure they may go in and out and pretend that their King hath made a peculiar Agreement to let his Subjects have Free-ingress and Re-gress According to all appearance they are a Naked People yet for all that they may be Rich and Able they are of a dark brown colour When we spoke to them by an Interpreter they shew'd themselves very kind and friendly and always did give with a great deal of discretion such Answers to our Questions that one might easily conclude that they were of good Understanding and well Instructed and Grounded in their Religion To their King is given in the beginning of his Reign the Sir-name of David which else are called Lederwick and by the Persians Amma to shew and to make known by it that they are derived from the Kingly Race and Stem of David and Solomon and to prove this they alledge the History of the Queen of Saba called Merquerda who as we Read in Scripture came from Rich Arabia with many Camels Laden with Gold Spices and precious Stones to Jerusalem to see the great Wisdom and Glory of Solomon whereof she had heard much When she had been there a good while and in the mean time was got with Child by Solomon and brought him a Son into the World called Meytich she left him at Jerusalem but she returned into her own Country again Many Years after when the Son was grown up and came to his Understanding his Father seeing he had more Sons was perswaded to send him home to his Mother who had a greater Kingdom than he So he did dispatch him and sent along with him the chiefest of his Courtiers and sent him away with a great Train as did become a King When he was come into his Kingdom he entertained these Lords and Gentlemen very Honorably and promoted them before all others to the highest and best places that they might the willinger stay with him But all this would not prevail with them but they grew daily more tired and unwilling to stay longer in these strange and unaccustomed Countries and this encreased daily more and more and at length to that height that they resolved that if the King would not give them free leave they would endeavor to make their escape Clandestinly against the Kings Will to Jerusalem in Judea When this their design came before the King he was very angry and ordered immediately that a Mark should be burnt on their Foreheads that every body might know them and issued a Proclamation That all his Subjects might watch them and if any or more of them that were a going away should be taken they should detain them and send them to him again Now as at this time the Marks did begin and then those had them that were of a great Race so they are retained by their Posterity to this very day as we still see in these times that their Nobility have them on their Foreheads towards the right yet not all for there are some that wear them rather upon their Shields and Arms c. These marks are not all alike for in some you see a Bear a Dragons-Head c. in others a Lyon a Wolf or three crossed Arrows c. because every one hath that made that they give in their Coats of Arms they colour it with an Oil which they call Aâ—aâ—cinte and is brought to them from Greece Beâ—s this Custom they still keep in many things to the Ancieâ— ones of the Jews for they keep the Sabbath for their peculiar Holiday and also they do not eat all sorts of flesh nor any of them that are forbid as Unclean in the Old Testament They pretend that the Holy Apostle Philip hath when he Travell'd with the Chamberlain of Candaces Queen of the Moors to Gaza and Converted him there allowed them this and other things being Born Jews Circumcision they believe unnecessary and that it can neither profit nor hurt a Christian And again Baptism they believe to be necessary wherefore through all his large Dominions they bring their Children to it on the third day and Baptize them yet with Fire in the Name of God the Father the Son and the holy Ghost whom they believe to proceed only from the Father and not from the Son according to the Words of St. Mathew Chap. 3. Vers 11. He shall Baptize you with the holy Ghost and with Fire They take the Oil of Achalcinte dip a Stick into it and lay Frankincense upon it and set it on Fire and so they let some drops fall down which do not hurt the Children being mix'd with the Oil and at last they make a Cross with it upon the left side of their Forehead near unto the Temple They begin their Lent about Easter as the Armenians wherein the Lay-men Eat nothing else but 〈◊〉 Herbs and Pulse but their Priest generally nothing but Bread and Water and so they do every Wednesday and Friday throughout all the Year They Marry also according to the Words of
any Arms. But in the middle of the City there is a Castle on a high Hill which is strong large surrounded with Walls and Ditches and well beset with a good Guard Concerning their other Buildings which are flat at the top and covered with a sort of Pavement that one may walk on the tops of them they are like unto them of Tripolis Amongst the rest there is a very Magnificent Building which they say hath cost a great deal of Money which hath for its Entrance a very low and small Door so that one must bend himself very low that will go into it but when you come in you find there delicate large Halls high open Arches very pleasant and cool to sit underneath in the Summer Water-works Orchards and Kitchen-Gardens where among the rest was one of these Ketmy's Besides these there was also some fine Mosques with Steeples which were round and small but very high some of them had a Balcony at the top like unto a Garland whereupon the Waits are and their Priests go about at the time of Prayers to call People in But for other stately Buildings that might be erected for the Memory of some Potent King or Prince there is none Without the City they have here and there some Country-Houses among the rest one built for the Turkish Emperour at four Miles distance from the City where he used to be sometimes chiefly when he is at War with the Sophy King of Persia that he may presently assist his Army in case of Necessity This is very large but not built so stately as so great a Monarch deserveth In the great Garden is a Chappel built by the River that runs through it upon Pillars where the Great Sultan used to hold Conferences with his Privy-Councellors and Visier-Bashaws It happened in the Reign of Solyman the Great as the Gardiner did relate to us that when they were assembled to consult whether it was more profitable to him to suffer the Jews in his Provinces or to root them quite out After every one had given his Opinion and the most of them were of the Opinion that they ought not to be tolerated because of their insufferable Usury wherewith they oppressed his Subjects And after the Emperour had heard every ones Sentiment he gave them also to understand his and that in this instance viz. He bad them look upon a Flower-Pot that held a quantity of fine Flowers of divers colours that was then in the Room and bid them consider whether each of them in their colour did not set out the other the better and that if any of them should decay or be taken away whether it would not somewhat spoil the Beauty of the rest After every one had heard the Sultan's Opinion and did allow of it to be true the Emperour did begin to explain this and said The more sorts of Nations I have in my Dominions under me as Turks Moors Grecians c. the greater Authority they bring to my Kingdoms and make them more famous And that nothing may fall off from my Greatness I think it convenient that all that have been together so long hitherto may be kept and tolerated so still for the future which pleased his Council so well that they all unanimously agreed to it and so let it remain as it was Without the City of Halepo are abundance of Quarries where they dig great Free-stones of a vast bigness almost as white and soft as Chalk very proper for Building There are also about the Town some Walks or Grotto's under Ground which are above an English Mile long which have the Light let into them by holes made near the High-way so that a Man must be very careful chiefly at Night that he may not fall into them or that he may not be trapan'd by the Moors that live in them in great numbers The Ground about it being very Chalky it causeth to the soles of our Feet chiefly at Night although one be very well provided with strong shooes a very considerable dryness and heat as one may also see by the Moors that for the most part go bare-foot which causeth the soles of their Feet to be so shrifled that into some of their crevises you may almost put your little Finger Yet notwithstanding that Halepo is surrounded with Rocky Hills and the Valleys thereof are Chalky they have no want of Corn as Barley Wheat c. but rather it is very Fruitful and their Harvest beginneth commonly in April or May But they have but few Oats and less Grass or Hay for the dryness is so great and it is so Sandy and the Hills are so rough and full of Bushes that they make but very little Hay Wherefore they feed their Cattel with Barley and with Straw which is broken in pieces by threshing Waggons that are drawn by Oxen. The Valley is also full of Olive-Trees so that Yearly they make several Thousand Hundred Weight of Oyl for to make Soap There is also a great quantity of Tame and Wild Almond-Trees of Figgs of Quince and white Mulberry-Trees which are very high and big Pistacies-Trees which they call Fistuc are hereabout very common they have underneath very strong stems which have outwardly an Ashen-colour'd Bark and are adorned with handsome Leaves of a sad green colour like unto their Charnubis and behind them grow many small Nuts like Grapes in Clusters together In the Spring when they first put out they send forth long shoots which the Moors gather in great quantity for their Sallad and dress them as we do Asparagus There are also abundance of delicate Orchards that are filled with Oranges Citrons Lemons Adams-Apples Sebesten Peaches Morelloes and Pomgranats c. and amongst them you find sometimes Apples and Pears but very few nor so many sorts nor so big nor so well coloured as ours There grow many Mirtles which bear roundish Berries of the bigness of our Sorbus or Services of a blewish Grey colour very good to eat which have white Seeds of the shape of our jumping Cheese-magots they propagate them diligently because they are beautiful and remain long green to put about their Graves Moreover there are many Sumach-Trees which they plant for their Seeds sake which is much used by them But Cherries Amelanchier and Spenleny I have not seen there and very few Gooseberries or Currans Weychseln they have but very few wherefore they esteem them and keep them choice as a Foreign Plant to shew them to others and to present great Persons with them This may suffice of Trees Concerning their Garden Plants those that are common are Endives Lettice Kel or Coleworts Colliflowers Caulorapa Rauckelen Apium Tarcon whereof Rhases describeth two sorts one with long small Leaves by us called Taragon and the other with broad Leaves which I reckon to be our Lepidium by the Inhabitants called Cozirihan Ravos Serap or our Hartichokes But beyond all they plant Colocasia in such plenty as we do Turneps whereof they have
got towards Night upon the Balls to stand Centinel it being my turn so when I saw one with a Mug full of Water I desired him to give me some to drink which he was willing to do and reached me the Mug I going to take it trod by chance upon a Fiddle of one of the Turks and broke it Although he had had great occasion to be angry with me for this yet understanding that I had Giue enough to mend it he was presently quieted and well contented The next Morning we sat together and mended the Fiddle as well as we could when the Dervis saw us busy about the Fiddle he was very angry that we did not help to spread out the Merchandices which we had done already before we began so he took the Fiddle broke it and flung it into the River then he came back and pretended to bang us thinking to have the same Success with this as he had with the Wine But the Turk seeing this took up a good Cudgel that was thrown up by the River and struck him several times over his Head and Limbs that the Blood ran down his Ears and Face and at length he grew so angry that he went to draw his Scymeter but before he could we stept in between them got them asunder mitigated the business and appeased them So this Saint of theirs looked very dismal in his long and lank black Hair and had besides on his Body here and there several Scars viz. on his Head and Breast and above all upon his Arms which he had cut or burnt himself which is usual to that Order and other Turks to do which set often on their Flesh burning and red glowing Spangs or instead of them Linen Rags about an Inch thick twisted very hard together broad below and pointed on the top tapering just like unto a Pyramid which they set on Fire and let it burn out with a great deal of Patience upon their bare Skin so long until it is quite consumed and brought to Ashes then they tie it up with Cotton they also do the same sometimes in Rheums of the Head and Eyes c. to dry them up or to turn them and to draw them into another place So I have seen several which have had at least Twenty Scars about them but chiefly on their Arms whereof-some were of the bigness of a Shilling besides Wounds and Scratches they had But from whence they received this inhumane way to wound and torment themselves I do not know except they had it anciently from the Priests of Baal which used to wound themselves with Knives and Lances as we read in the 18th Chapter of the 3d of the Kings until the Blood followed These Holy Scars and Tokens of their Zeal I could soon see and observe on this Moor for according to his Order which is a very great one he was to wear no Cloths upon his Body neither Winter nor Summer only a little Scarf to cover his Privy Members withal Instead of them they put Sheep Skins about them whereon they lie also at Night and so they serve them for Cloaths Bed and Cover And so they pretend by their exteriour Apparel and Behaviour to great Vertue and Patience as if they were dead to the World and to a peculiar Holiness in praying fasting watching c. whereas they are full of Roguery and Knavery so that you shall hardly find any like them With this came also several other Religious Men of several Orders which were all in several distinct Habits as they are in our Country among them was a very strong well set young Man of the Order of the Geomaliers as they call it which are rather Secular than Clergy-men they are generally Tschelebys that is Gentlemen and rich Persons which take great delight in travelling in their young Days under pretence of Holiness like Pilgrims at other Peoples Costs through several Countries and Kingdoms to see and learn and to get Experience This had only a blue Coat on that covered his Body tied about with a Sash and Shooes of Sheeps Skins such as the Arabians in the Desarts use to wear There went along with us Two more whereof one had a great Ring in each Ear about the thickness of a Finger and so heavy that it stretched down his ear-laps to his very Shoulders These are of the Order called the Calendriers which lead a sober and abstemious Life before People wherefore they separate themselves from the People and walk about like Hermits into Desarts where-ever they can to pray there ardently and to cry out the hours whereof they have Five every Day as the Priests do from the Steeples wherefore this Man did separate himself as often as he had an Opportunity far from us that the Beasts could rather see and hear him than we that were in the Ship When he had done this he came to us again and looked so devoutly as if he had been in a Rapture or Ecstasie The other was a Dervis whereof I have made mention before which also kept to a very strict Order for he prayed devoutly and ardently chiefly at Night after Sun set at what time two or three more used to come to him and among them sometimes some of our Merchants they did stand together in a circle and so began to pray as I heard often first very lowly then by degrees louder but when they came to the Leila Hillalla c. they were so loud that you might hear them afar of and then they repeated only these Words very often and every time they repeated them they turned their Head from one side to the other as if they looked upon one another by turns to shew their great Love one to another so they repeat these words very often and every time quicker and quicker until they abbreviate them at last and say only Lahu Huhu By this pratling or jabbering and moving of their Heads they became at length so giddy and weary that the cold Sweat ran down them But this their Saint did not pronounce the words of their Prayers with the rest but struck on his Breast with his Fist upon his Heart which gave instead thereof so strange a Tune as if he had been hallow within much like unto the Noise that a Turky-Cock uses to make when he is very angry so that it would have frighted any Man chiefly if he had been alone with him and he would with his terrible Face rather have taken him to be an Apparition than a Man These above-mentioned Words he repeateth so often and so long until he fainteth away and falls down and there he lieth as if he were dead Then the others cover him let him lie and go their ways After he hath lain thus a good while as if he had been ravished in his Prayers or had seen a peculiar Vision he cometh to himself riseth and appeareth again All these Saints although they practise their Religion after a peculiar manner which according
respect are very like unto the Polycnemon of Dioscorides but whether it be the same or no I leave the learned to decide Besides those before as we came down the River I saw a great many large Tamarisk Trees and abundance of a certain kind of Agnus Castus almost like unto the other only a great deal less and it had no more but three strong claver Leaves but above all the Galega called Goats-Rue in our Language which in these Parts groweth very high and in so great plenty that on the River side I could see nothing but this for several Miles together CHAP. IV. Of the Inhabitants of the Mountains and the great Wilderness we came through to Deer Of their ancient Origination and miserable and laborious Livelihood UPon this good and severe Command of the Bashaw Son of Mahomet Bashaw we were acquitted of our long Arrest and went away about Noon on the 27th of September we went again from thence through such great Desarts that for some Days we saw nothing worth relating but here and there little Huts made of some erected Boughs and covered with some Bushes wherein the Moors with their Families live to secure themselves from the great Heat Rain and Dews that are in these Parts most violent so that I admired how these miserable People could maintain themselves and so many Children in these dry and sandy Places where nothing was to be had Wherefore these poor People are very naked and so hungry that many of them if they saw us afar off would fling themselves into the great River and swim to us to fetch a piece of Bread And when we flung at them whole handfulls they would snap at it just like hungry Fish or Ducks and eat it Others did gather it and put it into the Crown which they make neatly of their Sheets on the top of their Heads and so swim away with it After these sandy Desarts had continued a great while we came at length out of them between high rough and bare Hills which were so barren that there was to be seen neither Plough-Lands nor Meadows neither House nor Stick neither High-way nor Foot-path wherefore those People that live there have no Houses but Caves and Tents as they have in the great Desarts where because of the great Heat and Driness the Soil is so barren that they cannot subsist in a place for any considerable time nor have Villages or certain Habitations Wherefore they wander up and down fall upon the Caravans and plunder them and make what shift they can to get a livelihood These Mountains as I am informed reach to the River Jordan the Dead and the Red-Seas c. wherein are situated Mount Sinai Horeb c. and the Town Petra which by the Prophet Isaiah is called Petra of the Desarts The Arabians that live in these Desarts and round about them are extraordinary Marks-men for Bows and Arrows and to fling Darts which are made of Canes They are a very numerous People and go out in great Parties every where almost they are a very ancient Nation and come from the Sons of Ishmael but chiefly from his Eldest Son Nebajoth and were anciently called the War-like Nabathees and their Country the Land or Province of the Nabathees which Josephus testifieth in Book I. Chap. 21. where he says that the Twelve Sons of Ishmael which he had by an Egyptian Wife his Mother Agar from whom they were called Agarens as you may see in the first of the Chronicles and the sixth Verse being also of the same Country were possessed of all the Country between the Euphrates and the Red-Seas and called it the Province of the Nabathees The Midianites that bought Joseph of his Brethren and carried him into Egypt may also be reckoned among these This same Country is also chiefly by Pliny because thereabout are no other Habitations but Tents wherein the Inhabitants live called Scenitis From this we may conclude that the Prophet Isaiah in his 60th Chapter and David in his 120th Psalm did speak of them when chiefly the latter maketh mention of the Tents of Kedar whereby he understands a Country that is inhabited by such a Nation as liveth in Tents and is derived from Kedar the Son of Ishmael whom his Father Abraham as a strange Child born by his Maid Agar did thrust out together with his Mother into the Desarts his words are these Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesheck that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar In our times these and other Nations are called the Saracens which have very much encreased under Mahomet which by his Mother was an Ishmaelite and did spread very much and so they were in David's time a very strong Nation wherefore he prayeth very earnestly in his 83 Psalm that God would punish and slay and disperse them as Enemies of his Holy Church But that I may come to our former Intention again here the Arabians asked us very often again where their King was at that time so that our Master had business enough to answer them whereby you may observe what great Respect and Love they have for their King But that they might not altogether look upon us as Outlandish Men nor presently discern us to be Strangers we did sometimes when there was occasion for it change our Turbants and let one end thereof according to their Fashion hang down which they do to make themselves a Shade against the Heat that is very cruel in these Countries But yet if any body be he who he will doth enquire after their King and wants to come before him to present him with a Suit of Cloaths c. or to desire a Pass from him or if one should go about to hire one of them to shew him the way to a certain place or through their Country which he may do for a very small price he would soon find one or other that would be ready to do it but among the Turks there is no such Obedience for if you should desire any thing of them to do in the Name of their Sultan they are not willing to do it except it would redound to their great Profit Wherefore a Turkish Guide to conduct you would cost you a great deal more than one of them Besides they also remember their Master daily and hardly speak of any thing but of him his great riches c. but with such Pride and Greatness chiefly when they speak of his powerfulness and enlarging of his Kingdom as if some share of these were belonging to them and that they must be respected for it In this Navigation through the great Desarts we two did not spend much because the Towns were at so great a distance from one another that we could not reach them to provide our selves daily with Necessaries as we do in our Country on the Danube and Rhine or Lodgings We were necessitated to be contented with some slight Food or other and make a shift with Curds Cheese Fruits
St. Paul That a Priest shall be a Husband of one Wife They give the Lords Supper to Young and Old alike in Leavened Bread in both kinds and they confess their Sins like unto the Jacobites to no body but only God The Portuguese that go to the Indies know them very well and love them for being good Soldiers and are glad if they will live among them and go out and in with them CHAP. XVIII Of the MARONITES BEsides all these there is also a sort of Christians who first after Maro the Heretick were called Maronites who believed that their is but one Nature Understanding and Work in Christ according to the Opinion of Macharius the Heretick whom he followeth diligently but since they have by degrees left this and are returned to the Popish Religion again And although they are still of it yet they give the Sacrament in both kinds to the Lay-men as almost all other Nations do according to the Words of the Institution of our Lord Christ In all other Points they follow the Roman Religion more than any other Nation Their Priests wear over their Clothes black hair Vestments They live for the most part in Syria but chiefly upon the Promontory of Mount Libanus where upon they have a Monastery within a days Journey of Tripoli called our Ladies which is situated underneath a large Rock wherein their Patriarch dwelleth whom they respect very much and kiss his Hands with their Knees bended c. whereof I have made mention here before The Patriarchs are still to this day chosen by the Commons and afterwards confirmed by the Pope and so this when he after the Decease of his Predecessor came into a Dispute with one of his Competitors concerning the Election did presently unknown to his Adversary go to Rome and so obtained in person the Patriarchal Seat from the Pope The Common People are in their Shape and Habits so like unto the Surians and their Neighbours the Arabians that except by their Turbants none can know them from each other They are a Couragious and War-like People very well provided with Guns and other Arms as well as their Confederates the Trusci And because they are not subject nor pay any Contribution unto the Turkish Sultan therefore they still keep their Bells and other Priviledges They speak the Arabian Language and their Books are also written as many as I could see of them in their Churches with Arabian Characters or Letters which they always kiss with great reverence when they take them up or lay them down according to the Custom of all other Eastern People or Nations as well Heathens as Christians They keep a very severe Order and never Eat Flesh and on their Fasts neither Butter nor Eggs but live upon Fruits as Beans Pease French-Beans and such other common Victuals But yet if any Merchants or Pilgrims come from Tripoli or any other places they let them want neither for Meat nor Drink nay they shew themselves to every body so benevolent as I have found it three several times and civil that one would wish to stay some time with them These live not continually in the Temple of Mount Calvaria but go often thither on Pilgrimages CHAP. XIX Of the Latinists or Papists THE Latinists or Papists living at Jerusalem in the often before-named Temple are Friers of the Order of the Lesser Franciscans they chiefly possess the Holy Sepulcher of our Lord Jesus Christ which they keep in very good order and read their Hora's diligently wherefore their Father stileth himself Guardian of the Holy Sepulcher and Mount Sion Besides this they are possessed of more Holy Places as at Bethlehem the Stable wherein our dear Lord Christ did lye in the Manger with the Ox and the Ass In the Mountains of Judea the Temple of St. John the Baptist In Bethania the Sepulcher wherein Lazarus had lain four days when Christ raised him from the Dead and here and there many others These as all know are dispersed in a great many places and Kingdoms nay almost through all the World Their Head is the Pope of Rome who pretends to be the Vicegerent of Christ and taketh upon himself so much Power as to prescribe to all Men Laws according to his own pleasure which Christendom finds every day to its great grief Wherefore in the mean while they are grown into so many Divisions Idolatry and Ceremonies that they out-do quite all the before-named Nations But being that they are in these our times so very well described that thanks to God they are very well known to every body therefore I forbear to write more of them and will only before I conclude make mention of these Brethren that live at Jerusalem only in a few Points and say that these that live in the Monastery at Jerusalem are about 20 in number more or less according as they go and come and among them are Spaniards Italians French-men and Germans c. that commonly are sent thither by Kings and Princes but being that they have more Churches and places in and without Jerusalem to provide for their Father Guardian distributeth them sends some to Bethlehem to look after the Manger of Christ others upon the Hills of Judea to the Mount of Olives and towards Bethania c. but before all others always two and two into the Temple of Mount Calvaria to stay there for 14 days together But being that the Temple is always Lock'd up that the Priests that are within it may not want for Food as well as others that are with them therefore three holes one bigger than the other are made in the great Door of the Church that through them all Necessaries of Meat and Drink may be conveyed to them These that are thus Locked up in the Temple do but look diligently after the Holy Sepulchre and Read their Hora's with Singing and Praying and to look after the Lamps but chiefly those that hang in the Sepulchre of Christ to illuminate it There are about twenty of these Lamps one better and clearer than the other they belong for the most part to great Persons as Kings and Princes whereof they have their Yearly Revenue that is sent them by their Brethren but chiefly from Italy and the Italian Princes and the most Catholick King of Spain But from Germany England and also now Cyprus the Isle since it hath been taken by the Turks they complain they have nothing as they had in former Ages and the Most Christian King of France doth also already begin to forget them which they have found some years since and the number of the Pilgrims doth also decrease which formerly used to flock thither in great numbers and sometimes to reward them besides Meat and Drink very Nobly which they find very prejudicial to them seeing they have no Revenues of any other Lands or the like They receive the Pilgrims that come in to them very kindly and treat them very well with Meat and Drink and shew
to Books and Study and the Examples of past-times but to Experience and the plain suggestions of Nature and common Sence They have Rules of Government which they firmly adhere to holding the Reins streight especially being cruel and inexorable to Criminals of State who never are to expect any Mercy or Pity Their Councils formerly were open and their Designs known and proclaimed before-hand as if this had been a Bravery becoming their greatness and that they scorned to steal a Conquest But they have learned since the Art of Dissimulation and can lye and swear for their Interest and seem excessive in their Caresses to the Ministers of those Countries which they intend to invade But their Preparations for arming are made with so much noise that an ordinary Jealousie is soon awakened by it to oppose them in case of an attack They seldom or never care to have War at both Extremes of the Empire at the same time and therefore they are mighty sollicitous to secure a Peace with Christendom when they intend a War upon the Persian and as much as is possible they avoid quarrelling with two Christian Princes at once being usually at league either with Poland and Muscovy when they war upon Hungary and so on the contrary dreading nothing more than a Union of the Christian Princes bordering upon them which would prove so fatal to their Empire and quickly put a Period to their Greatness for hereby they would be put upon a necessity of making a defensive War to their great loss and disadvantage and at last either be forced to beg a Peace of the Christians or run the hazard of losing all by a further prosecution of War This they are very sensible of and therefore as they take all occasion to promote Quarrels and Dissentions in Hungary and Transylvania so they greatly rejoyce when the Princes of Christendom are at War one with another This is their great time of advantage and they know that it is their true Interest to pursue it though they do not always by reason of the ill condition of their own Affairs make use of it During the Civil Wars of Germany the Bassa's and other Commanders of the Army were very importunate with the Grand Signior to make a War on that side and to enlarge his Conquests as far as Vienna no conjuncture having been ever so favourable to consummate such a design in which Solyman so unhappily miscarried They promised him an easie Victory assuring him that the Animosities of the Princes of the Empire were so heightned that there was no room left for a Reconciliation that he was but to go in the Head of an Army to take possession and that Austria would surrender at the first news of his march towards it The Emperor was not to be moved at that time by these Insinuations and plausible Discourses being continually urged he as often denyed One day when they came to renew their Advice about the German War he having given order before that several Dogs should be kept for some days without Meat commanded that they should be brought out being almost starved and Meat thrown among them whereupon they snailed and bit one another In the midst of their noise and fighting he caused a Bear to be let loose in the same Area the Dogs forgetting their Meat and leaving off their fighting ran all upon the Bear ready to prey upon them singly and at last killed him This Diversion the Emperor gave his Bassa's and left them to make the application A certain Prophecy of no small Authority runs in the minds of all the People and has gain'd great credit and belief among them that their Empire shall be ruined by a Northern Nation which has white and yellowish Hair The Interpretation is as various as their Fancy Some fix this Character on the Moscovites and the poor Greeks flatter themselves with foolish hopes that they are to be their Deliverers and to rescue them from their Slavery chiefly because they are of their Communion and owe their Conversion to the Christian Faith to the Piety and Zeal of the Grecian Bishops formerly Others look upon the Sweeds as the persons describ'd in the Prophecy whom they are most to fear The Ground and Original of his Fancy I suppose is owing to the great Opinion which they have of the Valour and Courage of that warlike Nation The great Victories of the Sweeds in Germany under Gustavus Adolphus were loudly proclaimed at Constantinople as if there were no withstanding the shock and fury of their Arms and their continued Successes confirmed the Turks in their first Belief and their Fears and their Jealousies were augmented afterwards when Charles Gustave a Prince of as heroick a Courage and as great Abilities in the Art and Management of War as the justly admired Gustavus entred Poland with his Army and carried all before him seized upon Warsaw and drove Casimire out of his Kingdom and had almost made an entire and absolute Conquest only a few places holding out This alarmed the Grand Signior and the Bassa's of the Port as if the Prophecy were then about to be fulfilled who did not care for the company of such troublesome Neighbours who might push on their Victories and joyning with the Cossacks advance their Arms further and make their Country the Seat of a War which might draw after it fatal consequences To prevent which Couriers are dispatch'd from Constantinople to Ragotski Prince of Transylvania then in concert with the Sweeds to command him to retire with his Army out of Poland as he valued the Peace and Safety of his own Country and the friendship of the Grand Signior whose Tributary he was and by whose Favour he had gain'd that Principality And the Crim-Tartars the sworn Enemies of the Poles who at that time lay heavy upon them were wrought upon by the same Motives and Reasons of State to clap up a Peace with them that being freed from these distractions they might unite their Forces the better together and make head against the Sweeds The Ambassadors of Christian Princes when they are admitted by the Grand Signior to an Audience their Presents being then of course made which are look'd upon as due not to say as an homage are dismist in few words and referred by him to his Wakil or Deputy as he usually stiles the chief Vizier and a small number of their Retinue only permitted the honour of kissing his Vest and then rudely enough sent away The Grand Signiors keep up the state of the old Asiatick Princes They do not expose themselves often to the view of the People unless when they ride in Triumph or upon some such solemn occasion when they go to the Moschs or divert themselves in the Fields either in riding or hunting they do not love to be stared upon or approached It is highly criminal to pry into their Sports such an insolent Curiosity being often punished with Death The Story is famous of Morad the Third who
Governor of Schouaken praying him to put to death those three religious Franks The Governor of Schouaken caused their Heads to be immediately struck off and sent them to the King of Ethiopia who as a Reward made him a Present of three Bags of Gold Dust promising him as many Bags of Gold Dust as he should send him Heads of Franks And fifteen or sixteen years since two others have been put to death in the Province of Oinadaga whose Names were Father Fioravanti and Father Francesco In short this King is a declared Enemy to all Franks whom he accuses of being Hereticks and of having conspired to put the Crown upon the Head of one of his Enemies So that a Frank who would go into that Country must pass for an Armenian or Cophte for the King and his People are of the Cophtish Religion They believe but one Nature in Jesus Christ At the end of eight day they circumcise as the Jews do and baptise Fortnight after Before the Jesuits went thither they baptised none before they were thirty or forty years of age They say Mass as the Cophtes do but their Church-books are in the Ethiopick Language Their Patriarch depends on the Patriarch of Alexandria and when the Patriarch of the Abyssins dies they send Deputies to Alexandria to entreat the Patriarch to send them another and he convocating his Clergy chuses out the fittest among them whom he sends but is never any more heard of in Egypt till he be dead There are four Kings that pay Tribute to the King of Ethiopia to wit the King of Sennar who pays his Tribute in Horses Sennar is a very hot Country The King of Naria who pay his Tribute in Gold The King of Bugia and King of Dangala Naria is a good Country and in that Country are the Mines out of which they have the Gold that passes on the Coasts of Soffala and Guiney These Mines are not deep as in many other Countries From that Country also comes the Civet I think it will not be amiss here to say somewhat of Civets which are so rare in our Country as that they deserve to be taken notice of where one can find them They are called Civet-Cats come from Naria as I just now said and are taken in Snares The Jews in Caire keep many of them in their Houses where for buying a few drachms of Civet one may see them It is a Beast almost as big as a good Dog It hath a sharp Snout small Eyes little Ears and Mustachios like a Cat The Skin of it is all spotted black and white with some yellowish specks and hath a long bushy Tail almost like a Fox It is a very wild Creature and I believe the bite of it would put a body to no small pain The Jews keep them in great square Wooden Cages where they feed them with raw Mutton and Beef cut into small pieces When they would get from them that which is called Civet and is the Sweat of this Beast that smells so sweet they make him go back with a stick which they thrust in betwixt the Bars of the Cage and catch hold of his Tail When they have that fast they take hold also of his two hind Legs pulling him half out of the Cage by the Door which falls down upon his Back and keeps him fast there then another opens a certain Cod of Flesh that these Beasts have which is shaped like a split Gyserne and with an Iron Spatula scrapes all the Sweat off it within The Males have that piece of Flesh betwixt their Stones and Yard which is like a Cats The Females have it betwixt their Fundament and Privities and it is emptied of the Sweat but twice a week each Beast yielding about a drachm at a time by what I could discern When that Sweat or Excrement is taken out it is of a whitish grey but by little and little in some short space it turns to a very brown colour It smells very sweet at a distance but near hand it stinks and causes a Head-ach There are as many kinds of Civet-Sweat as there are of Civet-Cats for it is more whitish greyish or yellowish and dryer in some than in others and yet they mingle all together After all it is in vain to think to have pure Civet for the Jews falsifie it and if a man imagine it to be pure because he has seen it taken from the Beast he is mistaken for before People come to their Houses they rub the inside of that piece of Flesh with a little Oyl or some such Stuff that so the Sweat and it together may make more weight but when no body is present they take it out pure and mingle it afterwards To find out the truth of this I went one day to the House of a Jew that kept Civet-Cats without giving him notice before for because I had bought a little of him and promised to come again another time he asked me as often as he saw me what day I would come and having desired him to get me some fresh Civet he told me that it was not the day he used to take it out and having returned without acquainting him before upon one of the days when he said he was accustomed to gather it he refused then also to do it pretending Business which confirmed all that had been told me of that matter In the mean time they hold these Beasts very dear for having asked that Jew and others also how much they would have of me for a Civet Cat they all told me an hundred Chequins Dangala is the capital City of Nubia the King of Dangala is King of the Barberins who are a kind of Blacks of the Musulman Religion that came in Crowds to Caire to get Services they are somewhat silly but very faithful and serve for a small matter for two Maidins a day or a Maidin and their Dyet You may make them do whatsoever you please They wear a blew Shirt plat all their Hair in Tresses and then rub it over with a certain Oyl to keep their Head from being lousie At Caire when they have any falling out they go before the Scheiks of their own Nation who make them Friends and if they think it convenient adjudg them to pay a Fine with which they feast and make merry together They are great lovers of Crocodiles Flesh and when any Frank has got one for the Skin they come and beg the Flesh which they dress with a pretty good Sawce When these Blades have scraped together ten or twelve Piastres they return home again wealthy to their own Country provided they escape being robbed by the Arabs upon the way who many times serve them so therefore they commonly return in companies as they came The King of Dangala pays his Tribute to the King of Ethiopia in Cloth The Provinces of Ethiopia are Gouyan where the King keeps a Viceroy Beghandir Dambia Amara which is a great Province full of
Mountains and good Castles Damoud Tegre and Barnegas Besides there are several Provinces governed by Princes who are Vassals to the King of Ethiopia In short the Kingdom of Ethiopia comprehends twenty four Tambours or Vice Roys The capital City is called Gonthar and is in the Province of Dambia Ethiopia as the Ambassador told me is as cold as Aleppo or Damascus only the Countries near the Red-Sea and the Country of Sennar are hot The King of Ethiopia has above an hundred Wives and keeps no Eunuchs to look after them because they look upon it as a Sin to geld a man so that the Women have the same liberty there as in Christendom He is a King of very easie access and the poorest have the freedom â—o come and speak to him when they please He keeps all his Children on a Mountain called Ouhhni in the Province of Oinadaga which is a Mountain two days Journey distant from Gonthar there is a place like a Cistern on the top of the Mountain into which they are let down every night and taken up again in the day-time and suffered to play and walk about When the King dyes they chuse out one of the wittiest of them and make him King without any regard to Birth-right and when he comes to have Children he sends his Brothers Prisoners to some other place and places his Children at Ouhhni The place where the Kings are buried is called Ayesus and is a kind of Grott where the Aged are laid in one side and the young in the other Heretofore there was a Church there of the same name in time of the Jesuites and in the same place there is a Library The Ambassador assured me that he had been in that Library and I fancy it is the old Library of the Ancient Ethiopians Ethiopia is a good and fertile Country producing Wheat Barley c. The greatest Desarts of it are not above three or four days Journey over and nevertheless when the King makes any progress he lodges in Tents The Houses of the great Lords are like those of Caire that is to say very mean in respect of the Houses of Europe and the rest are only of Mud. The Country affords men of all Trades except Watch-makers They have no Camels there but Mules Asses Oxen and Horses All the People of this Country eat raw Flesh except the King who has it dress'd and drinks Wine of Grapes the rest drink only Wine made of Millet or Sarasin Wheat but as strong as ours and Brandy made of the same Grain They are cloathed after the fashion of the Franks and wear Cloath Velvet and other Stuffs imported to them by the Red-Sea They have Harquebusses from the Turks and of those People there are not above three or four hundred who serve in the Wars with Harquebusses In Trading they make no use of coyned Money as the Europeans do but their Money are pieces of fifteen or twenty Pies of Cloth Gold which they give by weight and a kind of Salt which they reduce into little square pieces like pieces of Soap and these pass for Money They cut out that Salt upon the side of the Red-Sea five or six days Journey from Dangala as you go from Caire and the places where they make it are called Arho Among them is the Nation of the Gauls whom in Ethiopick they call Chava and are a Vagabond people in Ethiopia as the Arabs are in Egygt These Gauls are rich in Cattel and are alwaies at wars with the Ethiopians They have no Harquebusses nor other Fire-Arms but make use of Lances and Targets After all they speak so mâ—ny different Languages in Ethiopia that the Ambassador said to me If God hath made seventy two Languages they are all spoken in Ethiopia I asked his Excellency if he knew any thing of the Source of the Nile and this he told me concerning it The Head of Nile is a Well that springs out of the Ground in a large Plain where many Trees grow this Fountain is called Ouembromma and is in a Province called Ago It makes that a very delightful place casting up Water very high in several places And this Ambassadour of Ethiopia assured me that he had been above twelve times with the King of Ethiopia to spend several days about that Fountain which is twelve days Journey from Gonthar More Observations of Ethiopia by Father Lobo Father Alvarez Father Tellez and others extracted from their Portuguese Voyages THE Rains begin to fall in June and continue July August and part of September which make the Nile swell and overflow in those Months Father Tellez says the Mountains of Habessinia are much higher than our Alps and Pyrenean Hills these render the Country more temperate and healthful and make that torrid Climate tolerable to the European Bodies There is plenty of good Springs and Herbage In the midst of the Plains there rise up many steep Rocks of wonderful Figures and Shapes on the tops whereof are Woods Meadows Fountains Fish-ponds and other conveniencies of Life The Natives get up to them by Ropes and crane up their Cattel These are like so many Fortresses which defend the Natives against the sudden Incursions of barbarous Nations on all sides This Kingdom abounds with Metals but they neglect to work them lest Turkish or other Invasions should follow if such Baits were discover'd Their Winter is from May to September the Sun then passing and repassing perpendicular over their Heads During this Season once every day it rains Torrents and thunders most violently which are accompanied sometimes with sudden and furious Hurricanes The Jesuits residing in the Province of Zambea observ'd both the Poles the Antarctick higher with his cross Stars In this tract of Heaven there is as it were a Cloud or Blot full of little Stars as our Via Laclea The Animals of this vast Kingdom are the Hippopotamus or River-horse which makes great devastation in their Plantations Crocodiles Rhinocerots Elephants Lyons Tygers Panthers Camelopardalus Gazels Zembra's Civet-Cats great varieties of Monkeys Apes and Baboons Ostriches Cassowars Turtles Locusts in prodigious numbers The ordinary Trees are the Date Coco Tamarind Câ—ssia Oranges Musa or Plantane Cotton-Trees with many others peculiar to the Climate and Region In one year they will have three several crops of Rice Millet Tef-Seed their common Food ten times less than Mustard-Seed of Wheat and other European Grain yet the Locusts often devour all and bring on Famines They make a Drink of Honey burnt Rice Water and a Wood call'd Sardo They have no Mills but grind all their Grain with the Hand Great Caravans pass up and down the Country to and from the Sea-Ports with Merchandise In many places the Towns and Villages are extreamly thick and very populous Snow sometimes lies on the high Mountains of Ethiopia especially those called Semam and Salleat or the Jews Hills This part of Africk called Habessinia is much the highest of that Quarter of the World the great Rivers