Conventual Cordeliers and their Church is called St. Francis of the Jacobins who have St. Peters Church of the Jesuits who have St. Benet's Church and of the Capucius who have the Church of St. George By the Sea-side there is the finest Fish-market in the World it is a Street with Fish-mongers shops on both sides who have so great quantity of Fish upon their Stalls that it would surprise a man to see it There one may find all sorts of fresh Fish and at a very cheap rate The Greeks keep many Taverns or Publick Houses in Galata which draw thither many of the Rabble from Constantinople who are very insolent in their drink and very dangerous to be met with Going up from Galata you come to Pera which is likewise separated from Galata by Burying-places it is a kind of a Town where Christian Ambassadors dwell only the Ambassadors of the Emperor King of Poland and Republick of Ragousa having their residence in Constantinople The French Ambassador is very commodiously lodged in Pera having a fair large Palace which is called the Kings House and has on all hands a good Prospect looking one way towards the Serraglio of the Grand Signior over against which it stands upon a higher ground than the Serraglio Pera lying very high The Houses of Pera are handsome and hardly any body lives there but Greeks of Quality From Pera to Tophana there is a great descent and Tophana lies upon the Rivers side over against the Serraglio It is called Tophana that is to say the House of Cannon because it is the place where Guns and other Pieces of Artillery are cast and that gives the name to all that Quarter which is a kind of little Town The Houses of Galata Pera and Tophana are built in so good order that as these places stand some higher and some lower they represent a kind of Amphitheater from whence with ease and pleasure the Port and Sea may be seen CHAP. XXI Of Leander's Tower Scudaret the Princes Isle and the Black Sea. THough the Countrey about Constantinople be not so delightful nor so well peopled Iscodar as in France yet it is not without pleasant Walks you must take a Caique and go to Scudaret called in Turkish Iscodar and it is a good mile over to it You pass by the Tower of Leander which stands betwixt the Serraglio and Scudaret and you may go into it if you please This Tower is built upon a Rock in the Sea and is pretty strong there are several great Guns mounted in it which may batter the Port of Constantinople and the two mouths of the Bosphorus of Thrace and of the Propontis or as they say of the Black and White Seas there is a Well of excellent good fresh Water in this Tower but I cannot tell why they call it Leander's Tower. From thence you go to Scudaret which is a Village in Asia upon the Sea-side over against the Serraglio of Constantinople where the Grand Signior hath a sttately Serraglio and very lovely Gardens A little lower on the same side over against the seven Towers stands Chalcedon a Town anciently Famous and celebrated by the Fourth general Council that was held there but at present it is no more but a pitiful Village The Princes Isle which is four hours going from Constantinople is another Walk where the Air is excellently good though this Isle be not great yet it is very pleasant and contains two little Towns of Greeks The Chanel of the Black Sea is a rare place to take the Air upon this is the Bosphorus of Thrace which coming from the Black Sea to Constantinople enters into the Propontis and mingles its Waters with the White Sea at the broadest place it is about a mile over and is twelve miles in length Going from Tophana towards this Chanel you see to the left-hand on the side of Europe a great many lovely Houses and Gardens when you have entered into the Chanel you have on both sides the most charming and delightful Prospect in the World nothing offering to your view but stately Houses and Gardens full of all sorts of excellent Fruits Upon the side in Asia I saw a very pretty Castle where Sultan Ibrahim the Father of Sultan Mahomet who Reigns at present was hid for the space of twenty years to avoid the Death which Sultan Amurath put his other Brothers to This Castle is covered with many very high Trees that hinder it from being seen which is the reason as those who live there told us that few come to see it Along both the shores there are also a great many good Villages where one may have whatsoever is needful They take in this Chanel great quantities of good Fish of several sorts especially Sword-fish Sword-fish which are great and so called because on their Snout they have a long broad bone like a Sword or rather a Saw there are many Dolphins to be seen there which follow Boats playing and leaping out of the Water Six miles from Constantinople there are two Forts on this Sea the one in Europe and the other in Asia which serve for Prisons for Persons of quality and were built to put a stop to the Cosacks who were it not for that would often come and make Booty even in Constantinople seeing notwithstanding these Forts they sometimes give the alarm to that City In three or four hours time one comes to the end of the Chanel or Bosphorus of Thrace where the Black Sea begins In the middle of this mouth which is very narrow there is a little Isle or rather Rock distant on each hand from the main Land about fifty paces where being come you may go up to the top of it and there see a Pillar of white Marble which is called the Pillar of Pompey because they say it was raised by Pompey in memory of his Victory after that he had overcome Mithridates Close by this Rock and round it there are several others scattered here and there in the Water which many take to be the Cyanean Isles or Symplegades On the main Land of Europe side over against the Rock of Pompey's Pillar there is a Village on the Water-side with a Tower on the top whereof there is a Light for the convenience of Vessels that by mistake they may not run foul of the Rocks and be cast away for that 's a very dangerous Sea and many shipwrecks are made in it every year so that the Greeks call it Maurothalassa that is to say the Black Sea Maurothalassa not because the Waters of it are black but because Storms and Tempests rise on it so suddenly that they cause many losses and though the Weather be never so fair yet Vessels are often surprised there in a moment for besides that this Sea is not very broad there are several Currents in it caused by the Danube Boristhenes Tanais and many other smaller Rivers that discharge their Waters into it which occasion so many Eddies
is very good Soil and if Cultivated would produce any thing but is is neglected through the Laziness of the Inhabitants who content themselves with their Dates there being in that Country vast Woods of Palm-Trees We parted from Koutmian Thursday the fifteenth of October half an hour after eight in the Morning and at first put over to the other side of the River where our Men went a shoar to Towe us our course being due North-West At that place the River grows pretty broad and I think is as broad as the River of Seine at Paris and yet is very deep and makes many Islands About Eleven a Clock we stopt at a Village to the Left Hand on the water side from whence we parted at one of the Clock About half an hour after nine at night we saw to our Right Hand the end of the Isle Dorghestan Dorghestan Koutschemal which from thence reaches to the Sea. We stopped before a Castle called Koutschemal which stands on the main Land near the end of that Island and on the same Hand This is a very large Castle and the Basha of Bassora has a Palace in it which as I was told is very beautiful and as some say he keeps his Treasure there Over against this Castle but a little higher on the other side of the water there is another square Castle with a Tower at each Angle We parted from that place Friday the sixteenth of October at six of the Clock and having the Wind at South we made Sail and stood away North-West A quarter after eleven Kout-Muethel we passed by a square Castle called Kout-Muethel which was on our Left Hand and is flanked with eight Towers one at every corner and one in the middle of each side and near to it there is a little Canal A little farther we saw a Straw-House where Officers of the Customs live who did not visit us but only ordered our Master to carry us to the Custom House of Bassora Leaving then the River of Caron we entered into a Canal called Haffar Haffar which was to our Left Hand or to the South-West of us at that place it is not two Fathom over in other places it is less but towards the middle is very broad it hath been made for a Communication betwixt the River of Schat-El-Aarab and the Caron there is good Land on each side of that Canal but it is not Cultivated and bears only plenty of Date-Trees The Canal makes many turnings it is very deep and our Men shoved the Bark forwards with Poles Three quarters of an hour after Noon we saw a Canal to the Right Hand which loses it self in the Fields and a little after another to the Left that runs into the Caron near to Kout-Mnuethel as I said before and then our Men went on shoar to Towe us There the Canal of Haffar grows very broad and at the end is above seven or eight Fathom over About four a Clock we saw a Canal that spends it self in the Fields Half an hour after we passed betwixt two square Castles each of which have a Tower at every Angle and one in the middle of each side they are called Kout-Haffar Kout-Haffar because they lye at the end of the Canal Haffar that has its mouth to the South it is about six French Leagues from thence to Bassora and about twelve to the Sea. We then entered into the River made up of the Tygris and Euphrates joyned into one the Arabs call it Schat-El Aarab that is to say the River of Aarabs We turned then to the Right Hand and stood away North-West having to our Left the Isle Dgezirak-Chader Dgezirak-Chader and seeing we had a breeze of Wind from the South we spread our Sail. Half an hour after five in the Evening we saw to our Left the end of the Isle called Dgezirak-Chader which reaches from the Canal by which they go to Bahrem to the mouth of Schat-El-Aarab there are Palm-Trees yet their Soil is not good but from the Canal of Bahrem till over against or a little above the Canal Haffar for from thence to the Sea the Land is barren perhaps because it being very low the Sea overflows it at high water Next to the Islle Chader we saw on our Left Hand the Canal by which they go to Port Calif and Bahrem it runs towards the South and passes betwixt the Isle Chader and the main Land of Bassora it is very broad and has above eight Fathom water but there are great stones in some places of it From thence to Bassora the River is above twice and a half as broad as the Seine is at Paris and yet is very deep all over Three quarters after six we saw on our Right Hand the beginning of a long Island called Dgezirat-el-Bouarin and a little after we had on the same hand the Isle El-Bochasi Dgezirat-el-Bouarin El-Bochasi El-Fayadi and not long after the Isle El-Fayadi to the Left Hand These are all great Islands full of Palm-Trees and nevertheless the Channel is every where very deep and broad The Wind slackened so at this place that we scarcely made any way at all however we drew near to the shoar on the Left Hand or West side and about half an hour after eight our Men took their Oars and Rowed till three quarters after ten at night when we stopt close by the shoar before a Castle of the Bashas that seems to be very lovely it has many Pavillions all made into Windows and Porticos for taking the fresh Air in the Summer-time and indeed these Castles are only for pleasure for they could make no great defence We parted from that place Saturday the seventeenth of October at six a Clock in the Morning half an hour after we entered into a Canal to the Left Hand which runs South-West we had on our Left Hand a very spacious Castle pretty entire on the side of the Canal but all ruinous towards the Sea-side This Canal at high water is as broad as one half of the Seine but when the Tide is out it is but a sorry Brook full of Mud. The Town of Bassora lies on the two sides of this Canal though along the sides of it there be nothing to be seen but Gardens the Houses being backwards We came along that Canal till eight a Clock in the Morning when we arrived at the Custom-House which is almost at the bottom of it and having had our Goods viewed we went to Lodge with the Reverend Fathers the bare-footed Carmelites which is not far distant at that time there was but one Religious Italian there Arrival at Bassora called Father Severin With a good Wind they come often from Bender-Rik to Bassora in a days time From Bender-Rik to Bassora in a day though sometimes it makes a Voyage of three weeks We found no preparations for War at Bassora only the Basha of the place finding that the Basha of Bagdad suffered
Captain making use of the occasion failed not to tell the Merchants who waited for our Ship that she would not come this year which they believed to be true and went aboard with their mony on his Ship. All this proceeded from the fault of the Vikil that stayed behind at Bassora who detained the Ship in the Harbour a Fortnight longer than he should have done to get on Board some Goods which payed not above an hundred Piastres Freight and in the mean while he lost the Freight of a great deal of Goods and Mony and of many Passengers that were at Carek Congo and Comoron who embarked in the Ships which touched at these Ports before us When we had put a shoar all the Goods and the Man who was to take care of them we weighed Anchor three quarters of an hour after seven making all the Sail we could and Steering away South South-East with a very easie Wind about ten a Clock we were becalmed till midnight when there blew a little Gale at East but as easie as the former and with it we bore away South Next day about two or three a Clock in the morning we Sailed by the Isle of Rischer which was to our Larboard This Island is very near the main Land and makes a little Port which is called Bender-Rischer a days Journy from Bender-Regh and there is a Fort on it which belonged formerly to the Portuguese At break of day we made two Ships on Head of us one of which had put out from Carek five days before us Half an hour after seven we were off of the Isle of Coucher Coucher that was to our Larboard and is a pretty big Island At eight a Clock we got a Head of one of the Ships that had been before us the other which was at some distance put us into some apprehension for a few hours time for by his manner of working he gave us cause to think that he had a mind to be up with us and we were affraid he might be a Corsair but at length he Steered the same Course that we did About ten a Clock we were becalmed Three quarters after twelve the Wind being Southerly we Steered away East A quarter after two we Steered South-East Three quarters after three a Clock the Wind chopping about to South-West we stood away South South-East And thus the Wind being but very easie did nothing but chop and change until the evening that we were becalmed Wednesday the eighteenth of November towards day having an easie Gale from East South-East we Steered our Course South South-West about half an hour after nine it blowing hard from South we bore away West South-West About three quarters of an hour after ten the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East Half an hour after noon the Wind slackened much and about five a Clock in the evening we were becalmed About half an hour after nine we made a Sail to the Windward of us and another on Head but a great way before us we cast the Lead and found seventeen Fathom water At ten a Clock at night the Wind turned East South-East and blew pretty hard and we Steered away South South-West finding only thirteen Fathom water when we heaved the Lead After midnight we past Cape Verdestan which was to our Larboard This is a very dangerous Cape and one night several Portuguese Ships being Land-lockt there when they thought themselves far enough off of it were cast away We Sailed within three or four Leagues of it and when it was day saw it a Stern of us About half an hour after nine the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East About noon we saw several Taranquins Half an hour after one the Wind turned South South-West and we bore away South-East We were then off and on Cape Naban to our Larboard Cape Naban and made it but very dimly but coming up more and more towards it we made it very plain and saw along the Sea-side Rocky Hills which seemed to be very steep and at the foot of them a great many Palm-Trees We continued our Course off and on with these Rocks till five a Clock that we saw the end of them at least in this place they run far up into the Land and leave a very level Coast in this low Country is the Village called Naban which gives the name to the Cape Here we cast the Lead and found only seven Fathom water there is but little water all along that Coast and therefore we presently tackt and stood off to the West about ten a Clock at night the Wind turned North-East and we Steered away South South-East Friday the twentieth of November by break of day we made the three Ships that put out the same day with us from Bassora two of which were at a pretty good distance to the Starboard and the other very near a Head of us it was this last which some days before we had taken for a Corsair we made also to our Larboard the Land of Persia but at a great distance A quarter after nine a Clock in the morning having a very easie Gale from North North-West we put out our Main and Fore-Top-Galant-Sail and kept on our Course South South-East in a short time we left all the other Ships a Stern About noon the Wind blew much fresher and about three a Clock we stood away East South-East about five a Clock we took in our Top-Galant-Sails the Mizan and Mizan-Top-Sails because it would have been dangerous to have made so much way in the night-time that was now coming on for we might have run within Land considering that the Wind freshened more and more and we bore away South South-East that we might keep without the Isle of Lara If it had been day we would have Steered our Course betwixt the main Land and that Island but we durst not venture it in the night-time being safer to leave it to the Larboard we made account to have Sailed by that Island about midnight but we saw it not though we had all along light enough to discern a little of the main Land near to which it lyes We concluded then that we had past that Isle of Lara in the night-time but next day we found that we were out in our reckoning Nevertheless seeing we did not find out our mistake till after noon about six a Clock in the morning we Steered away East bearing in towards the Land for fear we might be cast too far to the Leeward of Congo About half an hour after six our Long-Boat that was fastened to the Stern filled full of water and sunk under the surface of the Sea we presently furled all Sails but the Sprit-Sail and three Seamen swam to the Boat to fasten another Rope to it which they held by the end then they went into it and we halled it to the Leeward side of the Ship and took out a little Anchor that was in her this being done our
it than indeed they were Next morning we saw two Snakes upon the water Snakes upon the water are a sign of the nearness of Land. which occasioned great joy in the Ship for when they begin to see Snakes it is an infallible mark that they are not above forty Leagues off the Land of the Indies wherefore one may boldly come to sounding and indeed when at nine a Clock we heaved out the Lead we found fifty three Fathom water At noon by the Gunners Observation we were in one and twenty degrees thirty three minutes Latitude having in the last twenty four hours run five and twenty Leagues and a half we sounded a second time and had forty Fathom water whereupon we stood away South-East and by East that we might not run upon the Land of Diu where we had nothing to do and which is the Rendez-vous of the Malabar Corsairs and the Zinganes Half an hour after five in the evening we had but thirty five Fathom water and then we saw upon the water a great many little yellow Snakes a Foot long and as big as ones little Finger which made us know that we were near the Coast of Diu along which the Snakes are small for from thence forwards along the Coast of the Indies they are big That we might not then run within Land we stood away South-East About six a Clock we began to see some Excrements of the Sea which the Provensals call Carnasse the Italians Potta-Marina Carnasse or Potta Marina or Alfareca and the Portuguese call Alfareca I fancy that I have seen the figure and description of them by the name of Potta-Marina in a Treatise of Fabius Columna de Conchis which is at the end of the Treatise de Plantis of the same Author Our Ships Company told me it was like a frothy Flesh which the Fish eat and when it touches a Mans Flesh it sticks to it like Glew and puts him to hot stinging pains This puts me in mind that heretofore being at Calais a Gentleman of Honour told me that in the Sea of Calais there were some certain Sea-Excrements which stung and occasioned such burning pains when they touched a Mans Flesh that he had seen some Soldiers of the Garison run about the streets roaring and crying out like Mad-men through the violence of the pain they suffered by these Excrements which had touched their Flesh when they washed themselves in the Harbour and that this pain lasted two or three days In all probability those Excrements he spoke to me of were Carnasses If the Translatour be not mistaken the English call that Excrement a Carvel We saw so great a quantity of them all the evening that sometimes they made the Sea look all white and they lay as it were in veins so that to judge by the sight one would have taken them for great Banks of Sand but of a very white Sand or else for Rivers of Milk and certainly a Man that had never seen them nor been told what they were would think himself to be upon a Bank of Sand. No sooner was one of these veins past but we saw another a coming and each of them was above five hundred paces in length and proportionably broad Those that floated along the Ships side lookt like so many very clear Stars and at first I took them for sparks that are many times seen to flash out of the Sea when the water is very rough but having observed that they lost not their splendour as commonly that sort of sparks does which disappear as soon as they are seen I took notice of them to the Captain and the rest that were upon the Quarter Deck and asked them what they were they all told me they were Carnasses and they knew by that that we were near Land for these Excrements are not commonly seen but very near the shoar and are the fore runners of a Gale of Wind but when the Captain considered them and saw them coming in so great a quantity he acknowledged to me that he had never seen so many of them together and about eight a Clock the Lead being heaved out we found thirty Fathom water After eight a Clock we saw no more Carnasses A little after eight the Wind blew very fresh which made us take in the Main-Top-Sail At the same time we perceived to the Windward at East North-East a great light which all presently knew to be some great fire a shoar and we saw many such until midnight which confirmed us in the opinion that we were very near the Land of Diu. Wherefore we Steered on our Course South-East bearing rather to South than East About eleven a Clock the Wind slackened much Thursday the last day of the year one thousand six hundred sixty five about three a Clock in the morning the Wind turned North-East and we still Steered our Course South-East About break of day we made to the Leeward South of us a great Ship with all Sails abroad even their Top-Gallant-Sails though it was no good weather for carrying such Sails which made us conclude it was the Masulipatan which put out from Congo the same day that we did in the morning and which we thought had been at Comoron In all appearance he took our Ship for an English man for the Captain of the Masulipatan was a Hollander and therefore he had put out his Top-Gallant-Sails to run for it and the truth is he made so good way that in an hours time he was got almost out of fight Half an hour after six we cast out the Lead and had thirty five Fathom water According to the Gunners Observation at noon we were in twenty degrees forty minutes Latitude and in four and twenty hours time we had made seven and twenty Leagues and a half We were then becalmed and half an hour after five we had thirty three Fathom water At eight of the Clock at night we had a small Gale from North-East which made us Steer away East South-East At midnight having sounded we found still thirty three Fathom water Friday New-years-day one thousand six hundred sixty and six at five a Clock in the morning we had twenty six Fathom water At break of day we made to the Leeward South South-East of us the same Ship which we saw the day before but somewhat nearer to us We also made Land which was known to be the Point of main Land Point of Diu. The Isle of Diu belonging to the Portuguese Alambater called the Point of Diu and immediately after we made the Island which bears the same name and is near the main Land of the Country of Cambaya This Island was anciently called I think Alambater lyes in the Latitude of twenty degrees forty minutes or one and twenty degrees the Portuguese are masters of it and have a Town there of the same name with the Island and a Fort which is thought to be impregnable being surrounded with two Ditches filled with the
W Faithorne sc Monsieur de Thevenot THE TRAVELS OF Monsieur de Thevenot INTO THE LEVANT In Three Parts VIZ. Into I. TURKEY II. PERSIA III. The EAST-INDIES Newly done out of French. Licensed Decemb. 2. 1686. RO. L'ESTRANGE LONDON Printed by H. Clark for H. Faithorne J. Adamson C. Skegnes and T. Newborough Booksellers in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII THE PREFACE IT would be needless without doubt by any Preliminary Discourse to recommend the Relations of TRAVELS to publick Perusal since the universal Approbation they meet with in the World and the eagerness wherewith they are sought after by all People is an Argument convincing enough that they are Delightful at least if not also Profitable However seeing the Credit of Books of this Nature depends chiefly on the Places and Things that are described and the Genius and capacity of the Traveller who observes them As the Title Page gives a general account of the first so for the second the Translator hath borrowed a few Paragraphs concerning the Illustrious Author from the Gentleman who compiled and published the two last Parts of these Relations in Execution of the last Will of him that made them who Dying abroad in his Travels bequeathed them in Legacy to his care and these the Translator doth premise by way of Preface to prepare but not forestal the Readers acceptance and by such a short view and glance of the worthy Traveller who ended his Days in endeavouring to promote Knowledge and improve Learning to shew how great his Abilities were in this kind Monsieur de Thevenot the Renowned Author of these Travels was a Gentleman of a good Family Born the seventh of June 1633. At Eighteen Years of Age he had accomplish'd his Studies in the College of Navarre in the University of Paris and then applied himself to those Exercises which in the breeding of Youth commonly succede to their School Education till having both a desire and liberty to Travel On the Eighteenth of December 1652. he parted from Paris for England He made no long stay in this Country but took the first occasion of Sailing over to Holland where he remained longer His next remove was to Colen and from Colen to Franckfort and Ratisbone that he might see an Imperial Diet there He afterwards crossed the remaining part of Germany and entering Italy by the Mountains of Tirol went first to Verona from thence to Venice from Venice to Loretto and from thence to Rome He stayed a considerable time there because when he was just upon parting Pope Innocent the Tenth Died so that he resolved to tarry a little longer that he might see the Ceremonies and all that happens on such Occasions during a Conclave and at the Coronation of a Pope He left not Rome then till after the Creation of Alexander the Seventh The first part of his Travels over most part of Turkey Egypt the Holy Land c. which he himself put to the Press is an Account of what he had seen in that time until he came back again to Legorn from whence he made another Journey in Italy that he might see all the other Places which he had not visited the time before and made some stay at the Court of Savoy before he returned into France Our Author hath published nothing of these Travels not but that he made a Relation of them which he was at the pains to write out fair But as he was a modest Man and distrustful of his own performances he would not give it to be printed with the first part of his Travels which he himself handed to the Press thinking these were Countreys sufficiently known already It is indeed but his first Essay yet perhaps not inferior to the exactness of more mature time He therein gives you a succinct Account of all that is Curious in every place and a character of the several People In short he says enough to give one a reasonable information of those Countreys and not too much to cloy the Reader with the repetition of what he hath seen before The Publisher of the two last Parts of these Travels has that Relation by him but has as yet taken no resolution what to do with it Our Illustrious Traveller had not been long at home after his first Travels before the same Motives of Curiosity and Learning put him upon preparing for a second Expedition so that privately he withdrew himself from his Friends without taking leave in order to travel over Persia and the Indies which are the Subjects of the two last Parts of his Relations and of the last part of his days for as he was returning again through Persia into Europe he Died at Miana a little place about thirty Leagues from Tauris the twenty eighth of November 1667. his Observations ending but a few days before his Life whose Death not only his Relations to whom he was very dear but even the publick hath reason to bewail as having lost in him an Example of Piety a Model of Vertue and a Treasury of Knowledge Nay Reader you also have cause to Lament this Loss in relation to that Satisfaction you might have had from the last two Parts of his Relations which would have been doubtless Augmented if Providence had granted him longer Life For Monsieur de Thevenot was not only exact in the daily Memoires he made in Travelling of all things he observed in the Countreys he passed through but being a person very inquisitive after the Truth and who would not rest satisfied with every slight Information he address'd himself to as many and as often as possibly he could the better to find out the truth of what he desired to know and dispersed the notices he had given him here and there confusedly among his Memoires so that the Publisher who imployed all imaginable care and pains in compiling them is nevertheless forced to complain of the great Fatigue he underwent in putting them together in the order they should be and are in However it is not to be thought that there is any thing supposititious or altered in these two last Parts no they are only not so full as they would have been had the Author lived to decipher the Short Notes which were clear enough to him though not altogether so intelligible to others And the truth is the ingenious Publisher is so far from Alterations that he would not so much as change that forreign Air and Dress they brought with them from Abroad chusing rather to let them speak in the naked and plain strain of the Author than in the more elaborate Language of the Court and Town which would chiefly be believed for their words-sake And indeed he had reason so to do for a genuine and simple style such as can raise a distinct Idea in the mind of the Reader is the proper style for particular and exact Relations of things and that was the Character of Monsieur de Thevenot in the first Part of his Travels which hath been
hundred Sail great and small having Two hundred thousand Men on board Threescore thousand of them being Pioneers and the Grand Signior in Person who much raised their Courage not only by his Promises but Threatnings and besides that daily succours came to them from Anatolia which is close by This Siege is at length described in the History of the Knights of St. John to which I refer the Reader both it and that of Malta deserving very well to be read which assuredly are two of the most memorable Sieges that any History mentions in regard of the many brave Actions performed by the Knights The Turks Attacked the place with great fury and the Knights most valiantly Defended it so that the Grand Signior despairing of taking it was about to pack up and be gone Andrea d'Amaral a Portuguese Traitor and his Army already began to dislodge When Andrea d'Amaral a Portuguese Prior of Castile and Chancellour of the Order being vexed that he was not chosen Great Master at the last Election and thereupon bearing a great spight to his Order gave him notice by a Letter which being fastned to an Arrow he shot into his Camp That the Besieged were quite spent and informed him of a weak place in the Town whereat he ought to give the Assault promising him an easie Conquest of the place if he had but patience to abide some days longer before it The Grand Signior having followed this Counsel the Town was taken by Composition for the Knights were reduced to that pass that they were not able to hold out any longer And indeed the Great Master received a great deal of Honour by this Siege having been praised by the Grand Signior himself who both honoured and pittied him offering him every thing that he stood in need of This place was surrendred to the Turks about the end of the Year 1522. after it had been kept by the Knights for the space of Two hundred and some odd Years The Town hath two Harbours the one which is the great Port being square and spacious enough but it is not very safe when it blows from East North-east or South-east and we found it bad enough for two days time that a North-Wind blew When the Knights were in possession of that Isle they designed to have made another in the corner near the Town by the Castle St. Angelo and this would have proved a safe Port from all Winds but they lost the place before they could put their design in execution On the right-hand of the entry into the Port there is a new Tower built by the Turks in place of the old one which was called the Tower of St. Nicholas it is square has a pretty Dungeon or Plat-form in the upper part of it and a Sentry-place at each Angle This Tower is well furnished with Cannon it hath a Bastion adjoyning to it behind and a Courtine that reaches to the Walls of the Town and makes one of the sides of the Port Over against this Tower on the other side of the Port there is an old Castle which when the Knights were Masters there was called the Castle of St. Angelo but it is somewhat Ruinous The Colossus of the Sun. The Castle and Tower which are above fifty Fathom distant are built upon the two places where stood the Feet of that great Colossus of Brass one of the Seven Wonders of the World betwixt the Legs of which Ships passed under Sail. This Colossus which represented the Sun was cast by Chares the Lyndian Chares the Lyndian it was Seventy Cubits high and carried in one Hand a Light-house where every Night a light was kindled to direct the Vessels that were abroad at Sea. At length since the solidest thing that can be is subject to the decays of Time this Colossus which seemed immortal Being overthrown by an Earth-quake lay there till the Saracenes having made themselves Masters of Rhodes beat it in pieces and sold it to a Jew who loaded Nine hundred Camels with the Mettal and carried it to Alexandria in the Year 954. and 1461. years after it had been made There is a Bastion on the Sea-side behind the Tower of St. Nicholas to which it is joyned on which Nine very great Guns are Mounted that defend the entry of the Port on all sides and it is Railed in with Wooden-Rails to the Land-side Next to that is the Port of the Galleys which toward the Sea is covered by a Tongue of Rock joyned to the Main-Land whereon there is a Castle built called in time of the Knights the Castle of St. Erme This is a good Harbour and able to contain many Galleys but the Mouth of it is so narrow that one Galley only can enter at a time it looks to the East North-east It 's every Night shut with a Chain that is fastned to a little Tower at the farther end of a Mole which runs out Five and twenty or thirty Paces into the Sea over against the Castle St. Erme the other end of the Chain is made fast to a piece of Rock on the Shoar seven or eight Paces from the Castle St. Erme This Mole I have been speaking of hath another little Tower on the end of it towards the Land and hard by about fifty Paces further up on Land there is a Burying-place and in it fifteen or twenty Domes of Free-stone well built most of them supported by four Arches and these are the Sepulchres of the Beys and other Persons of Quality in Rhodes who have been killed in the Wars There is a Piazza or place on the side of the Galleys Port with some Trees and a Fountain in it and at the end of that place near the bottom of the Port is the Arsenal where the Galleys and Saiques are built The Town as I said is small but very strong towards the Port it hath high and strong Walls well planted with Faulcons on the top and below there are Port-holes for great Cannon There is besides over against the Bastion that is betwixt the two Ports a good Tower with a Ditch which hath three great pieces of Cannon mounted aloft that hinder any Vessels from coming near the Port. In the middle of the Frontispiece of this Tower there is a little Statue of St. Paul The Statue of St. Paul at Rhodes with his Sword as the Inscription by his Head shews underneath this Statue is the Mitre with the two Keys which are the Arms of the Church then underneath that there are three Escutcheons one of a plain Cross another of a Cross Anchred and a third in the middle bearing a Tree which I know not It is as strong on the Land-side but strangers have less liberty to view it on that side because they have less to do there This Town hath three Gates one towards the Sea where Corn is sold and two on the Land-side through one of which I passed and it looks towards the Den of the Dragon which
they may stand in need of and not trust to Suez or Tor for a Camel will carry all I 'm sure for want of that counsel we suffered much and when we came back to Caire were all troubled with a Rheum that fell down upon our Lungs like to have choaked us by reason of the cold icey waters that we were forced to drink upon that Mountain nay our Moor Servant had almost lost his Life by it CHAP. XXXV The Journey from Caire to Gaza BEing recovered from my Journey to Mount Sinai From Caire to Gaza I resolved to travel to Jerusalem and seeing that which most recommends these places to us is the Birth Life and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ I stayed till Lent that I might be there at the time when the Church celebrates the memory of his dolorous Passion There is a Caravan that yearly in Lent goes from Caire to Jerusalem and with the Master of the present years Caravan who was a Christian of the Countrey I made a bargain for eighteen Piastres each Coune and all Caffaires payed to Jerusalem Counes These Counes are Hampiers like Cradles carried upon Camels Backs one on each side but they have a back head and sides like the great Chairs that sick people sit in A man rides in each of these Counes and over them they lay a covering which keeps them both from the Rain and Sun leaving as it were a Window before and behind upon the Camels back We wanted four Counes for we were four in company to wit a Capucin a Provencial my self and my Servant A Clergy man pays less than a Secular but the Capucin payed only sixteen Piastres the Religious not paying so much as the Seculars We had Biskets made for us French Bread Wine in Flasks Rice Lentils and other Lent-Provisions carrying with us a Tent a Pot or Skillet and in short all that was necessary not forgetting Candles Candlestick and Leather-Buckets to draw Water with All this we had carried upon a Camel over and above the Bargain Being thus provided we parted from Caire Saturday the three and twentieth of March at one a Clock after noon every one mounted on his Ass and by four a Clock came to Hhanque Hhanque which is a little Town where the Caravans of Jerusalem make their first Stage There we lay and next day came the whole Caravan consisting of six Score Camels with several Horses Mules and Asses We parted from Hhanque Monday morning the twenty fifth of March and rested without the Town till Noon at which time we set out on our journey Bulbeys and at eight a Clock at night came to ly at Bulbeys we had a tryal then of these Panniers and for my part I was much at my ease for I had under me a good thick quilt and a Pillow and lay at full Length turning my feet sometimes towards the neck and sometimes towards the tail of the Camel though the Camel-drivers kept a heavy clutter crying that I spoil'd their Camel for they would have had me sit after the Turkish manner as all the rest did Next day Tuesday the twenty sixth of March we parted from Bulbeys at one a Clock after Noon and came to lodge at Corede where we arrived at eight in the Evening and we parted from thence next day Wednesday the twenty seventh of March at Noon and at eight a Clock in the Evening we came to Salahia Salabia Tamarisks there are very pleasant Woods of Tamarisks about all these places but though all of them were good Towns and Villages yet we lay abroad in Tents making a little Camp and in the Night-time Guards with Musquets were placed on all the Avenues of the Caravan who suffered none to come in or goe out they are payed for that and it is a very good course to prevent being Robbed Next day Thursday the twenty eighth of March at Noon we parted from Salahia and about ten a Clock at night crossed over a fair Bridge under which runs the Water of the Mediterranean Sea that remains on land when that Sea makes any Inundation so we were told but it is probable it may be the Sirbonite Lake Sirbonite Lake We travelled on till five a Clock in the morning next day when we encamped in a place called Elbir Devedar because of a dirty Well of salt Water that is near to it Bir. for Bi r in Arabick signifies a Well the Beasts are watered there but such as have not provided themselves of fresh Water know what it is to want it at that place We parted from thence the same day Friday the twenty ninth of March about noon and betwixt three and four of the Clock we found upon the Road a Well called Bi r like the former but continued traveling till nine a Clock at night Catie when we arrived at Catie where we rested the next day being Saturday the thirtieth of March because of the Jews who do not travel on Saturday and there being a good many of them in the Caravan they had credit enough with the master of the Caravan to obtain this Catie is a Village where there is indeed a well of water that is not indeed salt but still unpleasant for drinking as being very sweetish but two miles from Catie there is a well of Water which is good after that it hath stood a little at Catie we ate fresh Fish half as long as ones Arm as broad and thick as Carpes and of as good a rellish they did not cost us a Maidin or five farthings a piece Cachef Saturday after noon the Cachef of Catie pressed our Camels th fetch wood from the Sea-side which is but a little way off and they did not come back till the next day Sunday at One a clock in the Morning which hindred us from Parting from Catie till the day after The Cachef of Catie sent for me to shew me some Books he had got a great many Latin and French Books of Physick and Chirurgery that had belonged to a Dutch Chirurgeon who died there some Months before as he was coming from Caire with the Caravan which the Cachef signified by Letter to the French Consul at Caire he told me that he had a Chest full of them he shewed me also holy Sepulchres and other such Relicks of the same Dutch-mans and gave me some of them having afterward treated me with Coffee he asked me wherein he could serve me I thanked him heartily for his civility and being returned to my Tent made up a Box of Raisins Almonds and such other Fruits which are there a great Treat and presented it to him We parted from Catie Monday the first of April at nine a clock in the Morning and four Turks armed with Muskets and Shables waited on us as a guard to Riche because we were afraid to be set upon by the Arabs About two a clock we found a shallow and narrow but very long Pit
full of very white Salt Salt of Rain-water and they assured us that that Salt was made only by the Rain-water the sand of that place having such vertue as being without doubt very Salt and the like is to be seen in Alexandria Birlab We came to Birlab about ten a Clock at night which is a Desart without any Hibitation but hath three wells of Salt-water We set out from thence next day Tuesday the second of April about ten a Clock in the morning and about noon came to a well of good fresh water lately made by a Sangiac of Aegypt for all Travellers Bi r Acat About six a clock at night we arrived at a place called Bi r Acat which is also in the Desart having neither habitation nor water to water Beasts and all these ways are full of Quick-Sands We lay there and parted on Wednesday the third of April about six a clock in the Morning and about one of the clock at noon we found a Well called Sibil el bar Acat newly made by an Aga who passed that way a little before on his Journey to Constantinople Sibil signifies a place where all may have water for God's sake This Well is covered with a Dome supported by four walls of free-stone built square the entry into it is by two Doors over against one another but one must first ascend four or five steps The Cistern is covered all over with free-stone except in two round places big enough to let a Bucket down by which the water is drawn that rises pretty high half a fathom of Rope being sufficient to reach it This Aga left a fond to maintain some Arabs who daily bring thither so many Camels laded with fresh Water which they take at a place near the Sea. Having there made a provision of Water we entered again into the Quick-Sands Riche which lasted as far as Riche where we arrived about four in the Afternoon A quarter of an hour before we got there we were overtaken by a Storm which lasted above thirty hours Riche is a Village not far distant from the Sea it hath a Castle well built of little Rock-Stones as all the Houses are and the Cachef of it as well as he of Zaka depends on the Cachef of Catie Zaka They have so many lovely ancient Marble-Pillars at Riche that their Coffee-Houses and wells are made of them and so are their Burying-places full We parted from Riche Thursday the fourth of April about one a clock at noon having eight Turks with us who guarded us to Cauniones Cauniones for fear of the Arabs An hour after we parted from Riche we found a Sibil of Salt Water We still travelled on through Quick-Sands though it blew very hard Rained Thundered and Lightened and about midnight came to Zaka which is in the Desart without any Habitation but has only three Wells of bad Water and yet the Corsairs come often there to take in fresh Water Friday the fifth of April the Wind after a great deal of Rain calming we parted from Zaka about nine a Clock in the Morning and travelled in good way a little after twelve of the Clock we found three fair Marble-Pillars two standing and one lying along upon the ground and a little after a large Well of good Water where there are Sakis there we began to see a very pleasant Countrey and some corn-Corn-Land sometime after we found a Sibil of bitter Water which is close by Cauniones where we arrived about three in the Afternoon they have so many Marble-Pillars there also that their Coffe-Houses stand all upon such There we began to see abundance of Trees and a great deal of good Meadow ground and indeed both the Cattel and Inhabitants of that Place from the biggest to the least are extreamly Fat. There is a very fair Castle there with a large open place in it The Turks lodge in the Castle where there is a Saki of very good Water and the Moors and Felas live in the Houses without This Castle is commanded by a Muteferaca who has but a small number of Soldiers with him in it he depends immediately on Caire from whence he has his pay and his Soldiers are payed by the Cachef of Catie Cauniones is in Aegypt which here ends We parted from Cauniones on Saturday the sixth of April before five in the Morning guarded by seven or eight Turks of the Place who went with us to Gaza for fear of the Arabs About six a clock we found a Sibil of bitter Water and about seven another better a little after we discovered the Town of Gaza half an hour after eight we found a Bridge under which runs the water of the Meadows which are very spacious and at the end of that Bridge there is a well of good Water the Countrey abounds in fair Cattle and all sorts of Fruit-Trees about an hour after we found two Sibils not far distant from one another and about half an hour after ten we arrived at Gaza where we Encamped near the Castle in a little Burying-place walled about CHAP. XXXVI Of the Cities of Gaza and Rama and our arrival at Jerusalem Gaza THE City of Gaza is about two miles from the Sea and was anciently very Illustrious as may be seen by its Ruines for you have Marble-Pillars every where and I have seen Burying-places there where the Tombs were wholly made of Marble among others there is one enclosed with a wall which belongs to some particular Turkish Family and is full of lovely Sepulchres made of large pieces of excellent Marble which are the remains and evidences of the ancient splendour of that Town It was one of the five Lordships of the Philistins Lordships of the Philistins to which Samson did so much hurt nay and one day carried away upon his Shoulders the Gates of this City and left them upon a little hill at a miles distance The Castle is near the Town and is round with a Tower at each corner four in all it is kept in good order and has but a small circumference but two Iron-Gates Hard by this Castle is the Serraglio of the Basha's Wives and joining to it above some pieces of old wall of a matter so compact that it cannot be broken with a Hammer it is the ruines of the Castle of the Romans The Town is but very little it hath a Bezestein in very good order and a pretty large Greek Church whereof the arched Roof in the middle is supported by two great Pillars of Marble with their Corinshes of the Corinthian order they say that our Lady was three days there when she fled into Aegypt The Armenians have a Church there also Near to the Castle of Gaza behind the Burying-place where we Encamped is the place where the Palace of the Philistins stood which Samson pulled down Smothering himself and all that were within it it is now no more but a heap of
Tyrannie of the Turks made them abandon it Among the ruines of the Town and even within the Precincts of it a great many Palm-Trees grow within this last Precinct there is a Castle upon the Sea-side which seems to have been a strong place A hundred paces from thence within the said Precinct we saw a Church five and twenty paces in length and fifteen broad dedicated to St. Peter which is still entire They say that St. Helen caused it to be built in the place where our Lord said to St. Peter Mat. c. 16. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church c. There we had that Gospel read to us Others say it is the place where our Lord eat Fish with his Apostles after his Resurrection when He appeared unto them upon the side of this Sea. We Dined in that place and then washed our selves in the Lake the Water whereof is fresh very good to Drink and full of Fish It is about twelve or fifteen Miles long and five or six over It was heretofore called the Sea of Galilee Lake of Genezareth Capernaum Mat. 9. Mat. 8. John 4. or Lake of Genezareth From thence on the left hand upon the side of that Sea we saw the ruines of the Town of Capernaum where St. Matthew left the Custom-House to follow our Lord and where our Saviour Cured the Centurion's Servant and the Son of the Nobleman and raised a Maid from the Dead About an hundred paces from the Precinct of the Town of Tiberias close by the Sea-side there is a natural Bath of hot Waters to which they go down by some steps The ancient Walls of Tiberias reached as far as this Bath We parted from Tiberias about two in the Afternoon and about seven a Clock at Night arrived at a Village called Sabbato near to which we lay abroad in the open Fields Aain Ettudgiar for our Monks would by no means have us to Lodge at the usual place which is at the Castle called Aain Ettudgiar that is to say the Merchants Well as being afraid of some Avanie Next day Saturday the eleventh of May we left that bad Inn about five a Clock in the Morning and half an hour after came to a Castle called Eunegiar which is square having a Tower at each Corner close by it there is a Han which appears to be pretty enough The place where Joseph was sold and is also square It was at this Castle as they say that Joseph was by his Brethren sold to an Ishmaelite Merchant the Pit or Well whereunto they had put him first is still to be seen but we went not to it because it was quite out of our Road. This Castle is commanded by a Sous-Basha and there we payed a Piastre of Caffare a piece of which one half goes to the Sous-Basha and the other to the Arabs From thence we went towards Mount Tabor Mount Tabor or Gabeltour by the Arabs called Gebeltour and came an hour after to the foot of it where alighting from our Horses though one may ride up on Horse-back as some of our Company did we got up to the top about nine a Clock It is easie to be mounted seeing one may go up on Horse-back but it is also very high being almost half a League from the bottom to the top Having taken a little breath we entred by a low Door into a little Grott where we found on the left hand a Chappel built in memory of the place where our Lord was Transfigured and of what St. Peter said It is good for us to be here let us make three Tabernacles c. This Chappel is made up of four Arches cross-ways one of them is the entry of the Chappel that which is opposite to it is the place where our Lord was when he was Transfigured that which is on the right hand of it but on the left hand of those that enter into the Chappel is the place where Moses was because in holy Scripture Moses is mentioned before Elias The fourth which is over against that of Moses is the place where Elias was and a Monk read to us there the Gospel of the Transfiguration Near to this place there is a little Plain and a Cistern of excellent Water This Mount is shaped like a Sugar-Loaf and is covered all over with Trees for most part hard Oaks After we had eaten in that place we came down about ten a Clock in the Morning and took our way towards the Convent of Nazareth where we arrived about one of the Clock In the Evening we went to see the House and Shop of St. Joseph very near to the Convent there is an old ruinous building there which appears to have been a Church wherein were three Altars The House and Shop of St. Joseph built by St. Helen and a few steps farther we saw the Synagogue where our Lord taught the Jews when they had a mind to precipitate him CHAP. LVI The way by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth ONE may Travel by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth The way by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth and besides avoiding the dangers that offer by Sea see a great many other curious places but as I have already said the Arabs exact such unreasonable Caffares upon the Road that few go that way at present however I shall set it down in this Place Parting from Jerusalem after Dinner you come to Lodge at Elbir Elbir there there is a very curious Village standing upon a height and Inhabited by a few People There is also a Church half ruined which was heretofore a fair Fabrick The Walls that yet stand are of great Flints They say that this was the place where the blessed Virgin lost her dear Son Jesus and therefore returned to Jerusalem where she found him in the Temple Disputing with the Doctors Next day you Lodge at Naplouse Travelling all the way over Hills and Dales Naplouse which are nevertheless Fruitful and in many places bear plenty of Olive-Trees Naplouse is the Town which in holy Scripture is called Sichim Sichem near to which Jacob and his Family most frequently Lived it stands partly on the side and partly at the foot of a Hill. The Soil about it is fertile and yields Olives in abundance The Gardens are full of Orange and Citron-Trees watered by a River and sundry Brooks About one hundred paces from the Town towards the East there is a spring under a Vault which discharges its water into a reservatory of one entire piece of Marble ten spans long five broad and as much in height in the front there are some Foliages and Roses cut in Relief upon the Marble About half a quarter of a League from thence upon the Road from Jerusalem is the Well of the Samaritan The Well of the Samaritane as the Christians of the Country say who keep it covered with great Stones least the Turks should fill it up
The Sepulchre of St. Julian The fifth Church is called St. Merlian alias St. Julian the People of the Countrey say that his Body is there in a Sepulchre of most excellent Marble standing behind the Altar made like a Beer or Coffin with a high ridged cover At the four Corners there are four Balls of the same Marble and twelve Crosses round it in Demy Relief This Sepulchre is ten Spans long five broad and as much in height seeming to be all of one entire piece The Sepulchre of Caius Caesar the Nephew of Augustus Six hundred paces West-ward from the Gate called Bab Jeoundy that is to say the Jews Gate there is a Pretty big Pyramid wherein the People of the Countrey believe that Caius Caesar the Nephew of Augustus is buried Upon a Hill to the South of the Town there is a Castle built like that of Ama which I mentioned in the foregoing Chapter but it is not so ruinous though it be uninhabited as well as the other They say that heretofore both of them were held by the Christians who endured long and hard Sieges before they surrendred them to the Turks and that 's the reason that the Grand Signior has commanded that they should not be Repaired nor Inhabited The Han where Travellers lodge is fifteen paces without the Walls of the Town on the North-side from Hemps The next Lodging is at Ama. About half way there is a little Oratory which they say was built by the Franks it is at present Inhabited by a Moorish Scheik A little further there is a ruined Village upon a Hill. Near to that is the Han where Travellers that have a mind to stop there may Lodge After that you pass over a Bridge of ten Arches called Dgeser Rustan that is to say Rustans Bridge which is very neat and has the River Assi running underneath it I have said enough of Ama in the Chapter before The Country of Job Betwixt Hemps and Ama is the Countrey which the People that live there say was inhabited by Job and his Family but half of it is not Cultivated The day following you Lodge at Scheicon Han that is to say the Han Scheick it is a very old Han having on the Gate a Marble-Stone six spans long and four spans broad upon which are engraven six lines in Arabick Characters and on the two sides there are also two round stones of Marble Scheicon Hani upon each whereof there is a Chalice with its Paten very well Engraven From Scheicon Hani you go to Marra of which I have spoken in the preceeding Chapter Next day you go to Han Serakib Upon the Road you see some ruinous Villages whereof that which is most entire is called Han Mercy built in form of a Castle having four Towers in the four Corners three square and one round this Han is four Hours going from Marra and about twenty paces short of it on the left hand you see five great Sepulchres in one whereof a Basha is Interred having his Turban cut in Marble at one end of his Tomb. In an old Building fifteen paces distant from the Gate of that Han Serakib there is a Well almost square which is two and forty Fathom deep before you come at the Water as well as that of Marra about fourscore paces from thence there is a pitiful Village little Inhabited though there be good Land about it Han Touman Sermin From Han Serakib you have a days Journey to Han Touman Upon the Road to the left hand you see a pretty handsome Town called Sermin and three or four ruinous Villages having been forsaken because of the Robberies of the Arabs About forty Years since Han Touman was rebuilt by a Basha of Aleppo called Hisouf Basha who put into it an Aga with fifty Soldiers and ten little Culverines Singa to keep it against the Arabs who formerly committed frequent Robberies thereabouts The River of Aleppo called Singa runs hard by it and turns two Mills not far from thence From Han Touman you go to Aleppo in three or four Hours time CHAP. LXII Our setting out from Acre to Damiette and our meeting with Italian Corsairs From Acre to Damiette WE staid at Acre four days expecting a passage for Damiette but at length finding two Sanbiquers of Cyprus which were both bound for Damiette we resolved to go along with them and having sent for the Reys of that Sanbiquer that was a Greek Monsieur de Bricard the Consul took the pains to make a Bargain for us Sanbiquer and recommended us to him Sanbiquers are Vessels made like Galliotts but longer the Stern and Stem of them are made much alike only in the Poop there is a broad Room under Deck there are several Banks for Rowers according to the length of the Sanbiquer and each Oar is managed by two Men. Ours had twelve Oars on each side but besides it had a great Mast with a very large Sail so that being light Loaded no Galley could be too hard for one of them if their Oars were long enough but they have them very short The Wind offering fair for us we took our Provisions and went on board our Sanbiquer Sunday the nineteenth of May about three a Clock in the Afternoon the other Sanbiquer being in company with us We were much afraid of Corsairs still and especially of him who had taken us before not only because his Men had said That if they had killed us they would not have been obliged to make Restitution of any thing but also least they might have accused us of being the cause that the Turks had come out against them and so used us the worse for that However we met with nothing considerable till next day being Monday the twentieth of May that about Sun-setting we passed by a Tower about twelve Miles from Jaffa when we were come near to that Tower they fired some great and Small shot at us which much surprised us but more when we saw that they made great Fires all along the Coast and especially upon the Towers We knew not the cause of this which I shall tell hereafter only we concluded that they took us for Pirats When we came near to Jaffa we perceived a great Fire upon the Tower and then about nine a Clock at Night offering to put into the Harbour to take in Wood and Water they fired at us both great and small Shot Then our Reys went upon the Poop and called out as loud as he could that he was such a Man Reys of a Sanbiquer calling by Name those whom he knew at Jaffa but we had no other answer from within but Alarga that is to say that we should stand off and with that another Volley of great and small Shot When this Musick had lasted about an Hour they continually Firing and our Reys calling to them and making a heavy Noise the other Sanbiquer stood in nearer than we and
consisted not in Hair and that therefore he should suffer it to be cut off Then he sent for his Wife to Tunis she being with Child but he had much ado to preserve his Servants liberty for the Dey and Aga of the Divan would have had them made Slaves nevertheless they retained both their Liberty and Religion Two years after he would have sent his Wife back again into Christendom but they would not suffer him however after many difficulties she went away attended by a Servant of the Princes leaving a Son behind her and came to Genoa where she put her self into a Nunnery and hath since continued Now Don Philippo having been Disinherited by his Father had nothing to Live on but what he had from his Mother who is very fond of him Nor is he put into any Place because they still believe him to be a Christian there being none great nor small in Tunis but knew him by the name of Don Philippo for my part the first time I went to his House when I was at Tunis having asked for the House of Don Philippo every body told me the way to it Now to dispossess them of the belief they have that he is still a Christian at Heart he resolved some years after his return to undertake the Pilgrimage of Mecha and so wheadled a Brother of his own that he engaged him in the Journey who bore Don Philippo's Charges and his Sons whom he took with him So soon as he came to Caire he made acquaintance with the Franks and then hired a House in the quarter of the French where he came two or three times a week to drink Wine and make merry with the Franks and the time being come that the Caravan parts for Mecha he travelled thither in company of the Megrebins and upon his return the occasion of this English Ship presenting he resolved to return by Sea to Tunis This Prince is a tall and handsome well shaped Man and was not then above thirty years of Age he has a great deal of wit and speaks Italian and Spanish naturally well He is a lover of Musick and therefore has several Slaves who played some on the Harp others on the Flute and Lute His Son was then a little Boy about seven years old handsome and witty like his Father This same Don Philippo for all he is so poor makes his Brothers so stand in fear of him that there is none of them dares to look him in the Face CHAP. LXXXIV Our Voyage from Caire to Alexandria What the Hhouames are FRiday the third of January 1659. I parted from Caire and embarking at the Gissiere which is a pleasant place upon the side of the Nile where many go to divert themselves and where our Boat stayed for us with a fair wind we sailed as far as Tono which is half way from Caire to Rossetto Some hours after we parted from Caire we met the Boat of Don Philippo which we Saluted with some Volleys of our Fowling-pieces We arrived at Tono Saturday the fourth of January after Midnight Tono but there the Wind turned contrary which put us to a great deal of trouble and a main Rope of our Tackle breaking we had almost been cast away Boat and all but having quickly recovered it out of the Water and re-fitted it with all haste we continued our course making still a little way though the wind was full against us at length perceiving that the Wind was like to continue so we put a-shoar at Derout Tuesday morning the seventh of January and went by Land to Rossetto six hours Journey distant from Derout Derout we arrived the same day Tuesday the seventh of January at Rossetto Upon the way from Caire to Rossetto there are some pretty Towns which I had not observed as I went from Rossetto to Caire as Foa Sewdion Derout Foa Sewdion and some others We stayed for our Boat wherein our luggage was at Rossetto where it arrived on Wednesday morning the eighth of January and Thursday the ninth we parted from Rossetto about two a Clock in the Morning Betwixt Rossetto and the Sea-side there are eleven Pillars fixed in the Ground and a Palm-Tree at some hundreds of Paces distant one from another they are put there to mark the way because it is a Desart and besides the ways most commonly are covered with Rain-water and if a Man should miss his way in that Desart it would take him above a day to find it again We followed then these marks by Moon-light and being got to the Sea-side came to Casa Rossa Casa Rossa Media which is half way betwixt Rossetto and Media where we arrived about three hours after day Media is above half way from Rossetto to Alexandria Having rested there about an hour we crossed over in the Ferry-boat paying a Maidin for our House-room and passage and after we had travelled a good way about two a clock in the Afternoon we came to Alexandria twelve hours Journey distant from Rossetto betwixt which two Towns there is no other Inn but Media where you have nothing but Water and House-room so that what you eat and drink you must carry with you From Caire to Alexandria it is about an hundred and fifty miles by Land which is commonly travelled in three days because they travel day and night resting a little in the Morning and Afternoon I saw nothing in Alexandria but what I had seen the time before when I was there only they shewed me a Hhouame Hhouames and told me that these Hhouames are a sort of Vagabond People among the Arabs who lodge as they do under Tents but have a certain particular Law to themselves for every night they perform their Prayers and Ceremonies under a Tent without any Light and then lye with the first they meet whether it be Father Mother Sister or Brother and this is far worse than the Religion of the Adamites These People though sculk and keep private in the City for if they be known to be Hhouames they are Burned Alive CHAP. LXXXV Our arrival at Bouquer a Ship cast away in the Port of Alexandria A description of Bouquer I Stayed at Alexandria till the Ship was ready whereof the Purser having given us notice we sent away our Goods and Provisions which we had prepared before hand for one must not delay those preparations till the Ship be just ready to sail When a man is alone it is no bad way to agree with the Captain for Diet especially with the English who treat well but besides that one must still have some small provision for himself in private For our parts being five in company to wit three Marseillese my self and my man we provided all things for ourselves We took Boat then on Thursday the thirtieth of January to go on board the Ship which was at Bouquer but not before we and our Goods had been searched at the Custome-house where we were encompassed
about it all the while with West-north-west and North-winds Our Mates told us that they were always a long time in doubling that Cape and sometimes spent three Weeks about it About five a Clock in the Evening we Sailed betwixt the Isle of Zimbre and an Isle or Rock that is almost mid-way betwixt the Main-land and Zimbre Zimbre Zimbre is Inhabited has convenient Anchorage by it and good Water in it From Zimbre it is but forty Miles to Goletta Having passed Zimbre we stood off from Land intending not to enter Goletta till next day because of the many Flats that are on that Coast Friday night and Saturday morning the eighth of March we had greater gusts of Wind and Rain than before and if we had not doubled the Cape we must have been a long time still before we could have done it considering the Weather that happened afterward During these storms a Moor on board of us died who had been ill of a Bloody Flux almost ever since the beginning of our Voyage and next morning he was thrown over-board At length on Saturday the eighth of March about seven a Clock in the Morning we came into the Port or rather the Road of Goletta for it is not a Harbour but a Road that lies open to the South east Wind and in all Barbary there are but two good Ports to wit Porto Farina Porto Farina Porto Stera Biserta Vtica and Porto Stera The Harbour for the Galleys of Tunis is Biserta a little Town threescore Miles from Tunis Biserta was formerly called Vtica and here it was that Cato killed himself wherefore he was called Cato Vticensis We came to an Anchor near a Point of Land where the Sepulchre of Dido is The Sepulchre of Dido Marabout and a Marabout or Sheick is Interred there So soon as we had dropt Anchor Don Philippo sent ashoar one of his Men who having informed a poor Moor whom he met that Don Philippo was arrived the poor Man ran with all the speed he could to the Town to carry the news to Don Philippo's Mother who was overjoyed thereat and gave him twenty Crowns for a Reward he was no more expected at Tunis and it was thought he was gone back again into Christendom having been absent almost two Years Sunday the ninth of March we went ashoar and when Don Philippo left the Ship they fired fifteen Guns He found several Men on Horse-back and amongst them all his Brothers who were come out to receive him CHAP. LXXXIX Of Goletta and our Arrival at Tunis Goletta GOletta is no more but two Castles whereof the one was built by the Emperour Charles the fifth and the other by Ahmet Dey the Father of Don Philippo who perceiving that the Galleys of Malta came and took ships in the Road without any damage from the Guns of the Castle built this last which is very low and has seven or eight great Gun-holes two foot above the Water by which the Guns play level with the surface of it This Castle is round on the side next the Sea and that of Charles the fifth is almost square Between these two Castles there are three Houses one belonging to the Family of Don Philippo the other to the Bey and the other to Schelebi the Son of Hisouf Dey who is called barely Schelebi because he was Born during the time his Father Reigned When we had refreshed our selves a little in the House of Don Philippo we took Boat and went to Tunis by the Canal or rather Lake which in the beginning is very narrow there being many Canes fixed all round in the bottom of the Water for catching of Fish afterwards it grows very wide It is not commonly above five span deep in Water then it was very shallow and had many dry places in it which with the least Wind are quickly covered and that very high with Water Don Philippo went by Land with his company mounted on a stately Horse that was brought him The first thing we saw upon that Water was a Hill to the left hand very near the Sea-side where there are natural Baths of Water almost boyling hot There is a Bagnio built there and it is called Hamarmulf Hamarmulf Zagouam then a little further on upon the same side they shewed us a high Hill called Zagouam which is a great way from this Lake and a days Journey distant from Tunis there there is a little Town of Tagarins or Andalaous called also Zagouam When the Christians possessed that Countrey there were Aqueducts that brought Water from thence to the City of Carthage at present they are broken but some Arches with the Fountains and Cisterns still remain to be seen As we came near to Tunis we saw a great many Olive-Trees and abundance of other Trees which denote a good Countrey In four hours time we arrived at Tunis though with a little wind they go it many times in two hours but we were many times imbayed By Land it is eighteen miles from Goletta to Tunis If they pleased they might make a good Port at Tunis but then the Town would not be so strong or at least not so secure From the place where you Land it is a mile still to the Town where being arrived we went to lodge at the House of Monsieur Le Vacher a Perisian Priest and Father of the Mission who was then Consul for the French and he received us very Affectionately CHAP. XC Of the Countrey-Houses and other places that are to be seen about Tunis TWO days after our arrival Don Philippo sent for us to shew us a Countrey-House he had half a League from the Town The Countrey about Tunis is full of these Countrey Houses which are built like the Bastides about Marseilles Don Philippo's is very pretty it is built in form of a square Tower and higher than any about it from the Hall to the top of the Tower there are an hundred and eleven steps up and from thence there is an excellent Prospect which discovers on all hands a lovely Plain reaching out of sight full of Olive-Trees In it there is a great Hall open above with covered Galleries round it which have the Roof supported by several Pillars In the middle of this open place there is a great reservatory of Water which serves for several Water-works All this place is adorned with Marble as also all the Halls and Chambers which are beautified with Gold and Azure and very pleasant Plaister-work there being Fountains every where that play when one pleases One should also see the Bardes which are three Houses built by the Bey for his three Sons a League from Tunis This Bey is as it were the Basha's Farmer to whom he gives so much of the Revenue due to the Grand Signior in the Countrey which he gathers and the rest he keeps to himself He was not at that time Bey but Basha and his eldest Son was Bey In these Houses
we travelled all day long mounting through very good Corn-fields and the rest of the ground by the road that was not sowed was covered over with Daffadils and Furzes in the blossom Daffadils and Furzes with other like shrubs that yielded a very pleasant prospect So soon as we were arrived a Tchorbadgi of Damascus encamping hard by under a Tent being informed of the Moucre that there was a Franck there sent for me and having treated me with Coffee asked me if I had any relation to Monsieur Bermond a Chirurgeon of Marseilles who negotiated some Affairs at Damascus for the Merchants of Saide I told him I was without mentioning in what degree for our Kindred is onely derived from the Patriarch Noah He told me that he was his friend and made me to understand several times that if I had a mind to buy ashes he would be my merchant but all my answer was that I was too poor to be a Merchant and that my business was to go to my Kinsman Labatia is a miserable little Village where we could not find lodging Labatia and the best accommodation we had to lie in was a little place at the end whereof there was a pane of a Wall our Mules were made fast hard by and we posted our selves near the Wall in the open Air. Next day being Wednesday the twenty sixth of March we parted about five in the Morning the ground being frozen with a sharp cold Wind. Our way was bad and still upwards and we soon came in sight of a Castle upon a high hill before us The Castle of Skheip Sefet a Town which is called Skheip and is pretty large and square it depends on Sefet which is but two days Journey from it That Castle is strong by scituation for it is inaccessible but yet was inhabited VVe left it to the right and went a great way to find out a descent into a place from whence we saw a very deep Valley where a River runs which they call Leitani Leitani a River that makes many turnings and windings it is at least five fathom broad and very rapid During a quarter of an hour we descended by a very dangerous way for the least false step was enough to make one tumble down into the River and that from a great height too Being come down we kept along that VVater following the current and a little from thence crossed it upon a stone-Bridge of two Arches about three fathom high which is called Hardala A Caffare at Hardala There Passengers pay a Piastre and a half a head I mean the Christians for Turks do not pay so much Having passed the Bridge we stood off a little from the VVater still ascending and had in view the Hill that we had left on the other side which appeared pleasanter unto us than when we were upon it for it was very high and streight and all covered over with Trees After we had travelled about half an hour in ways where it would have been very dangerous to fall we came just over against the Castle of Skheip which is upon a very high and steep Hill Some time after we came into a Plain and an hour after to another far larger but uncultivated and full of stones as the former was though both looked very green In this Plain we met a Caravan of Camels loaded each with a Mill-stone I was told that these stones came from Oran Oran which is five days Journey from thence and that they carried them to Saide to be transported into Egypt Having past that Plain we came over bad way to a stone Bridge of three Arches lying over a Brook four or five fathom broad when we had crossed it we mounted by a worse way full of stones bad enough to make Mules that were not loaded to break their Necks and that lasted till we came to our Lodging at Banias where we arrived two hours after during all that way besides stones we had a great many torrents and such dirty deep ground that the Mules often stuck Banias This Village of Banias is very inconsiderable nevertheless when heretofore the Christians were Masters of it it was a good Town it lies at the foot of a Hill on the top whereof there is a great Castle uninhabited this place depends on the Basha of Damascus VVe found no better Lodging here than the Night before for having crossed a square Court we entered under a Vault two foot deep of Horse-dung and dust mingled together our Lodging was appointed us in that place and seeing the Court was vaulted all round under which they had put the Mules and a Caravan of Asses we were so incommoded there that so soon as the Beasts began to stir they raised a dust that spoilt all the Victuals we had prepared to eat all the pleasure we had came from a little door that opened towards the side of a River that runs by it and which is at least three fathom broad but very shallow though it be rapid it is called the River of Banias Next morning about five a Clock we left that nasty Lodging and after about an hours mounting upwards turning by very bad ways though the Land about was sowed we found ourselves just opposite to our Lodging having betwixt us and it a very deep Valley agreeable by its verdure and the many Trees it is filled with which are watered by a River that runs through it A little after we saw the Castle of Banias in its full extent which is large and strong VVe still mounted during the space of an hour by ways that were better than the former but we had the lovely Valley always in sight and on the road there were a great many Trees which by their verdure and shade lessened somewhat of the fatigue The truth is there was no false step to be made there because the way being very smooth and slopeing to the very bottom of the Valley one could not stop before he came to the bottom By the way we found many wild Chestnut-trees withered and without leaves and yet bearing their fruit Having descended a little we entered into a large Plain and having passed it and mounted a little amongst Trees we found stony Plains where it behoved us to march on untill about three of the Clock after Noon in the worst way imaginable for they were all great stones amongst which there was no place for a Mule to set his foot After Noon it was a little better but we saw no sowed Land all the ground about being still full of a prodigious number of stones Nevertheless our Monkires would needs have me believe that heretofore Vines had grown there Indeed in several places there are still to be seen some Hovels like to Hen-houses made of stones piled one upon another where it might be thought that they who dressed the Vines retired but since that time some Medusa's head must needs have past over these grounds or
the other we lodged in the greater which is all built of great thick Flints of several colours cemented with good Plaister and the Vaults are of Brick the different colours of these Flints make a pretty pleasant Mosaick Work. The Water thereabouts is good for nothing and therefore there is no habitation there We parted from thence the same day at seven a Clock at Night and on Thursday the first of October one thousand six hundred sixty and four about two a Clock in the Morning arrived at Ispahan where I went and lodged with the reverend Fathers Capucins The Reverend Father Raphael of Mans a person of extraordinary vertue and capacity and of a most exemplary life was their Guardian Arrival at Ispahan he had two Religious with him to wit the reverend Father Valentine of Anger 's and the reverend Father John Baptista of Loche CHAP. III. Of Persia in General BEfore I enter into the description of what I have observed at Ispahan I think it will not be impertinent to give the Reader a general notion of Persia which is a Kingdom onely strong because environed with Mountains and barren Desarts that defend it against the attempts of its most powerfull Enemies And indeed the forces that are entertained therein of whom I shall speak in the Chapter of the Court or if you will the Armies that have been raised there in our days are so inconsiderable in respect of so vast a Countrey that the Persians are not to be reckoned amongst formidable Powers The cause of that weakness is the scarcity of money in those Countreys which cannot suffice to set on foot great Armies and far less to maintain them this want of money proceeds from the small trade the Persians drive having but few Goods amongst them proper to be exported to wit some Silk which is made in the Gheilan and Mazendaran Carpets and wrought Stuffs and hardly any thing else considerable In so much that it may be said of Persia that it is as a Kervanserai that serves for passage to the money that goes out of Europe and Turkey to the Indies and to the Stuffs and Spices that come from the Indies into Turkey and Europe whereof it makes some small profit in the passage The soyl of the bordering Countreys speaking generally is very bad The soil of Persia in general not onely by reason of the many Mountains but also of the want of water and wood in most places thereof there being no other Trees but fruit-Trees that are enclosed within Gardens for there are none to be found in the Fields though the Countrey People seem to be carefull and diligent enough in cultivating sowing and planting all the Land that is good It is true the great pains they take in making Gardens and cultivating them for the benefit they make of the Fruit which are exceedingly much eaten in Persia makes them a little neglect the rest of their grounds for after we had past Curdistan I saw in several places very good Land and Hills which in my opinion would be very fruitfull if they were well cultivated and manured Nay in many of these places there is plenty of excellent good water wherewith in my Judgment they might water their grounds by making Ditches through them as they do in other parts And nevertheless I cannot tell why they are desart and full of Liquorice or such like shrubs and no Trees growing in them There are so many Brooks in several Countreys of Persia that I believe the ways are very bad to travel in in the Winter-time for though we were about the end of Summer yet we passed some which were full of thick mud at the bottom The Mazandaran indeed is a very lovely Countrey Mazandaran abounding with Plants Fruit and Wood as well as Europe and good reason why for it is watered by many Springs and Rivers which having run through the Countrey fall into the Caspian Sea that is near it The chief Town of that Countrey is called Eschref Eschref and in it there is a Royal Palace where one may have all imaginable Recreations Lovely Gardens Large Gardens full of flowers with many Ponds and Fountains in these Gardens lovely Houses and artificial Mounts for taking the fresh Air all covered with Flowers with little Buildings on the top to repose in In a word it is a very pleasant place And indeed this is the onely lovely Province of all Persia and yet it hath its inconveniences The Air of Mazandaran for in Winter it is very cold there and the ways very bad In the Summer the Air is so malignant that most of the Inhabitants are obliged to remove to other Places and all the People of that Countrey look yellowish and tawny Venomous Creatures The cause of that bad Air is the vast number of Serpents and other insects that swarm there which in the Summer-time dying for want of water because most Springs in that Season are dried up cause a corruption and infection which fills the Air with contagious Vapours CHAP. IV. Of what hath been observed in Ispahan Ispahan ISpahan is the Capital City of the Province of Irac which is part of the ancient Parthia and generally of the whole Kingdom of Persia for in this Town the King holds his ordinary residence The Air of it is extremely dry therefore what the Earth produces for the food of man is easily preserved there all the year round I cannot tell but it may be attributed to this disposition of the Air what commonly happens that all the Bodies whether of Men or Beasts an hour after they are dead swell extremely which may be occasioned by this so dry an Air that penetrating into the Bodies drives out the humidity which being extravasated betwixt the Flesh and Skin endeavours to break out and so puffs them up until it hath found an Issue when the parts of it have been sufficiently subtilized The hands and feet likewise swell at the end of all Sicknesses which continues some weeks before the cause of it be discussed Nevertheless in time of Rain there are great damps so that the effects of the humidity are to be seen on all things not onely at Ispahan but also all over Persia in so much that all Instruments of Iron rust where ever they may be kept even keys in ones Pocket as I several times found by experience The truth is it rains there very seldom unless it be in Winter And whilst I was there the first Rain that fell was on the eleventh of December But likewise when it rains the Houses crumble and fall away in pieces and the Snow rots the Terrasses if they be not paved with Bricks and seeing most of them are of Earth the Snow must be thrown off assoon as it falls upon them In the year one thousand six hundred sixty and five there was a great Rain in all that extent of Countrey which reaches from Bender Abassi and Bender Cougo
holes which press the little Cords very hard besides they put in the inside at the joyning of the Planks a twist or double of these small Lines about three Fingers thick which is fastened to the two Planks by other little Lines and of these there is one at each seam or joyning of the Planks from the upper side of the Bark down to the Keel and over and above that there is a Girdle also on the inside which goes all round her all these Cords are made of Palm-Tree and that they may not be damaged by the water nor the Bark leak they cover all over with Pitch In short They have no Sea-Compass a Compass would be of great use to one of these Barks but they use none for they commonly keep within fight of Land and in the night-time are guided by the Stars Nevertheless the Sea-men of our Bark told me that she had cost twenty Tomans which is not to be thought strange seeing Timber is dear at Bender-Rik and Bassora They also told me that the usual burden of such a Bark was four hundred Bales of Dates each Bale being commonly twelve Man 's of Tauris so that these Barks carry according to that account four thousand eight hundred common Mans of Persia which make twenty eight thousand eight hundred weight Thursday the eighth of October they gave us notice to go on board and we went on Foot along the water-side to our Bark which was half a Farsakh distant that is to say about half a French League Farsakh for Farsakh Farfange and Parasange signifie one and the same thing and we went on board at Noon seeing she was empty as being sent only to bring Dates from Bassora we had room enough though I believe Passengers are much streightned in these Barks when they are loaded for they must lie upon the Goods as high as the side of the Bark We had eight Sea-men on board besides the Master and we put off as soon as we were on board by the help of two of the Company who wading up to the Belly in the water Towed us whilst the rest Rowed three hours after we stopt near the shoar on our Right Hand to take in Sand for Ballast they took in fifty Couffes or Basketfuls on Head and as much a Stern and then raised their Mast and fitted all their Tackle by the time they had put all in order it was six of the Clock at Night and then we set Sail with an Easterly Wind and standing away South-West we presently got out of that long Channel the mouth of it bearing South-West and keeping on the same course we lost sight of Land on the Starboard side but saw Land to the Larboard as long as we had day-light all night long we bore away sometimes South-West sometimes North-West beating too and again with the same Wind but so small that it was almost a Calm Friday the ninth of October at break of day we saw the Land near to us on the Right Hand and we were becalmed till about ten a Clock in the Morning when we had an easie South-West Gale with which we stood off a little from the shoar bearing away North-West we made so good way with this Gale that at one of the Clock after Noon Bender-Delem we were off and on with Bender-Delem and about six a Clock in the Evening we weathered a little point of Land which they say is half way from Bender-Rik to Bassora but about half an hour afrer seven the Wind all of a sudden shifted about to the North-West and therefore we Furled our Sail and came to an Anchor We were a little tossed during the whole night Next day being Saturday the tenth of October half an hour after six in the Morning we weighed Anchor and made Sail though the Wind was still at North-West and we stood away South-West About eight a Clock perceiving the Sea to be all over white I asked the reason of it and our Sea-men told me it was because the water was shallow and indeed we had no more but five foot water though we were at a pretty good distance from Land but some time after when I found that they had four Fathom water and that the water was still white I asked them again the reason of it and they could tell me no other but that it was always so in that place The North-West Wind blowing still they cast Anchor for it was contrary to us because in that place the Land bears Northward and then turns again towards Bassora making a kind of Semicircular Bay. From the place where we were at Anchor we made Land but so obscurely that it appeared only to be Clouds After much enquiry and many questions I got it out of our Patron at length that we were off and on with the mouth of a River which as he said was called Endian Endian and runs by a Village of the same name where there are many Houses but not contiguous there being twenty in one place thirty in another and all upon the Banks of the River that from Bender-Delem to the Village of Endian it is three days Journy that the Village of Endian depends on the Governour of Schiras and that it is five or six hours Travelling from the Sea being near the River Endian which is half as broad as the Tygris at Bassora This was all I could get out of that Man and that was not a little for it required time to pump so much from him whence one may judge how difficult a thing it is to get an exact knowledge of these Countries and it is not to be thought strange that the ways we have of them are full of errours most of them being made upon the relation of people who not understanding the Language can hardly inform themselves of the people of the Country otherwise than by signs and some words which here and there they understand and so are apt to take one thing for another Half an hour after seven at night we weighed Anchor and kept upon Tacks sometimes South-West sometimes North-East but the Wind blowing fresh about midnight we furled Sail and came to Anchor in six Fathom and a half water We were extreamly tossed all night long and I wondered that the Bark sprang not a Leak being so beaten by the waves Next day being Sunday the eleventh of October we weighed about seven a Clock and kept beating upon a Wind from South-West to North-East until Noon that we had calm weather at length about half an hour after two we had a breeze from South-West which made us weigh Anchor in good earnest and stand away North West It is to be observed that in all that Voyage we had not above two three four or six Fathom water at most though we were so far out at Sea that we could not discover the Land but like Clouds About six a Clock at night we were becalmed and came to an Anchor About
midnight we had a fresh Gale from North-West Monday Morning the twelfth of October the Wind slackned very much but changed not and therefore we weighed Anchor at half an hour after eight and standing away South-West we were soon after becalmed Towards Noon we Rowed a little and half an hour after had a breeze from South-West with which we bore away North-West till three in the Afternoon when we entered into the River Caron that comes from the Hills above the Town Souster Caron Souster Khusistan Susa Ahasuerus Coaspes Choasp Tiripari Zeimare which is the Capital Town of Khusistan and was in ancient times the Town of Susa where Ahasuerus held his Court. This River of Caron must be the Coaspes of the Ancients nay they assured me that there is still at present near to the Town of Souster a Hill called Choasp where the River of Caron which Sanson calls Tiripari Tiritiri and Zeimare hath its source but what reason he has for these names I cannot tell since no body could give me any account of them though I have enquired of many who all told me they knew of no such thing On the Right Hand to the West there is an Isle called Dorghestan and on the Left or towards the East Dorghestan Gheban is the Island of Gheban the point whereof is called Mouele and Gheban because all that Country is called Gheban and is the limits of the Kingdom of Bassora on that side In that place to the Left Hand there is a piece of of Palm-Tree-Wood fixed in the Ground to serve for a signal when it his high water not to go beyond it and they call that signal Dgioudoh The Land here on both sides depends on the Basha of Bassora The usual way to Bassora is by Sea to the mouth of Schat-el-Aarab The way to Bassora which they enter and go by water to Bassora but we put in to the River because our Sea-men who had nothing to do at Bassora being only come to take in Dates imposed upon us telling us that we must go to Gheban to take in fresh water and wood which we wanted and that it was also the shortest cut to Bassora but that great Barks went not that way because it was not deep enough which we too easily believed So soon as we were got into the River we came to Anchor in a Fathom water At low water the River at that place is but very little salt and a little higher it is fresh even when it is Flood Being Flood about midnight our men fell to their Oars but Rowed not above an hour and then came to an Anchor The Country about seems to be very good Land it is low even and green on all Hands and we saw many Cows there feeding in the Meadows which look much like the Meadows of Holland Tuesday the thirteenth of October about ten a Clock in the Morning our Sea-men went a shoar and Towed us up till one of the Clock when being over against a Village where there are a great many Palm-Trees we hoisted Sail with a North-West Wind that lasted not long and so came to an Anchor again Our men went a shoar to hear News as they said of Bassora and coming back in the Evening told us that all things were in confusion at Bassora that the Basha was marched with his whole Army towards Bagdad and that all Barks were taken up for Transporting of Soldiers and that therefore they durst go no farther but were resolved to return empty to Bender-Rik This was all false A cheat of the Sea-men and the truth was they had no mind to go any farther designing to take in their Cargoe at the place we were at where there is plenty of Dates and that was the reason they had brought us that way Nevertheless we must pretend to believe all the Knaves told us and try to find another Bark to carry us to Bassora We sent then a servant next day to look for one and he brought us a small thing wherein the men promised in four and twenty hours to carry us to the Town for six Abassis which we gave them These Barks are flat bottomed about a Fathom high one and a half broad and about five Fathom long The Stern is very low but the Head is as high again and draws into a sharp point as the Gondolos of Venice Barks on the River of Caron These Barks are not Caulked but only Pitched over on the outside which they do in the manner following When they are to Pitch a Daneg for so they call that sort of Bark in Arabick ten or twelve paces from the Daneg they make a Furnace of Earth the upper part whereof is made like a Cauldron into that they put the Pitch and the fire underneath and when the Pitch is almost melted but not altogether liquid a man comes with a little wet Shovel in his Hand and another lays some of this Pitch upon it The Pitching of a Daneg and then puts water upon the Pitch which the first carrying to the Daneg and stirring the Pitch with a piece of Wood to which it does not stick he that is working at the Daneg takes the Pitch in his Hand and dawbs it as one would do Plaster upon the Daneg and then with a Rowler which is not altogether round he spreads it upon the Vessel and in that manner Pitches it all over on the outside These Barks are made very strong the sides being about a Foot thick and all the Planks are Nailed with great Nails such as are driven into Gates in France they have likewise a Mast of an indifferent bigness Indeed these Barks make but heavy way especially in the middle of the water where they cannot use a Sail if they have not the Wind in Poop and nevertheless they load them so deep that they are not above half a Foot above water We embarked in one of these Boats about half an hour after three in the Afternoon it was full of a kind of very long green Rushes that have a great point at the end whereof they make very fine mats Our Crew consisted of two Sea-men and a Master the two men Towed us on Land till half an hour after six that we came before a Village to the Left Hand there we cast Anchor our Men unloaded all the Rushes and going afterwards to the Village we we saw no more of them till next day This is a great Village and has a square Castle with eight Towers to wit one at each corner and one in the middle of each side but they are all of Earth and so thin that a double Musket could batter them all down This place is called Koutmian Koutmian that is to say Castle Mian and they make many Danegs there The Country of Gheban reaches from thence to the mouth of the River of Caron and in all that space the Land on both sides the River is called Gheban it
slackened much and we let loose the Main-Sail though we had still several gusts of Wind and Rain we had besides the Currents to struggle with which turned the Ships Head towards the Coast of Arabia with so much force that it was sometimes above a quarter of an hour before the Ship could be brought about again to our right Course of South and by East The Sea became smoother in the night-time though the Wind freshened a little Wednesday the sixteenth of December about break of day we made on Head six of the Ships which we left at Congo that were not to set out till some days after us during the late storms they had kept at Anchor at the Isle of Angom and the Wind being good this last night they had set Sail and coasted along Arabia and when we made them they were Steering away South-East to double Cape Jasques Half an hour after nine we set our Main-Top-Galant-Sail About a quarter after four a Clock we were got within a League and a half of the shoar of Persia off and on with a place where there are high white Hills a little up on the Land which with a blackish Rock that ranges all along the Sea-side makes a very pleasant prospect for seeing at a distance over that black a great many pieces of white Rock that rise in various figures one would take it to be a City and to the South of that imaginary Town upon the same Hill there is a piece of whiteish Rock broken off from the rest which looks like a Tower or Pillar upon a high Pedestal from thence it is but a League to Bombareca Bombareca Half an hour after five we were off of Bombareca which is only a very high square white Rock and flat on the top it seems to be very steep and at a distance one would take it for a square Fort this Rock is very near the Land and it is dangerous to approach it because it is surrounded with a Bank of Sand. A little after we came up with the Ships that were on Head of us and after the Selame or mutual Hailing they told us that it was but six days since they parted from Congo they had all signed Indentures to go in Consort and not to leave one another till they came to Surrat nevertheless one of them Hailed us and told us that if we would go in Consort with him he would leave the rest and our Captain and the Mate whose Brother was Mate of the other Ship having made answer that they were content he packt on all the Sail he could and followed us About six a Clock we got a Head of the Headmost of all the Ships and our Men handed the Main-Top-Galant-Sail and would have furled the Main-Sail to stay for our Consort who was a Stern of us but the Captain would first have the consent of the Souhreseart who was not of the same mind saying it was better to make the best of our way whilst the Wind was good so that we only took in our Main-Top-Galant-Sail and Steered our Course South-East and by South The Sea-men in the mean time kept a heavy muttering that we should leave the other Ship after we had promised to stay for her and occasioned her leaving of the rest but the clutter was far greater when our Mate who had turned in came out after an hours sleep and not seeing our Consort would needs spare Sail for when he was told what resolution had been taken he made a fearful noise complaining of our breach of promise but after all he was fain to have patience CHAP. IV. Of the rest of the Voyage to the Indies An Invention for Reckoning the Ships way WEdnesday about Sun set we began to keep reckoning of our way which is done in this manner At the Stern of the Ship they heave out a little piece of board about half a Foot long four Inches broad and very thin and smooth which is fastened to a Line at the same time they turn a minute Sand-Glass which is the sixtieth part of an hour and so long as this minute is running they veer off the Line but stop it so soon as the the Glass is out and when they have pulled it up they reckon how many Fathom have run off in that minutes time allowing for every seven Fathom a Miles running in an hour But it is to be observed that before the Glass be turned they let off with the Log fourteen Fathom of the Line and these fourteen Fathom are not accounted in the reckoning for they reckon none but those that run off whilst the Glass is running and therefore there is a mark to distinguish the beginning from the end of the first fourteen and at the instant that that mark begins to go off they turn the minute Glass This reckoning is found by experience to be pretty just and thereupon I told our Captain that I had seen the English do the same thing in the Mediterranean save that they did not allow those fourteen first Fathom and that they used but half a minute Glass or the hundred and twentieth part of an hour and that nevertheless they reckoned seven Fathom of the Line that run off during that minute for a Mile an hour of the Ships way that according to that reckoning he ought to allow fourteen Fathom for an hour his being a minute Glass and cut off these first fourteen He made me no other answer but that the Currents of the Ocean were stronger than those of the Mediterranean nevertheless one would think that since they reckon not those fourteen Fathom and turn not the Glass till they be run out they are altogether useless unless it be perhaps that they let them run off to the end that when those which they reckon begin to run the Log may be so far off that the Sea which beats against the Ship may not drive it neither forwards nor backwards and indeed before the Glass be turned they take notice whether or not the Log runs streight in the Ships wake and there is a red mark at the place where they begin to reckon to prevent their being mistaken otherwise if they should reckon as soon as they heaved out the Log the Ship runs some times so fast that they would not have time to consider whether or not the Log weâ—t streight in the Ships way Once an hour they heave that Log and then mark down every time how many knots or Fathoms of the Line has run out and every day at noon they cast up the account of their running so that they reckon by this means how many Miles the Ship has run in four and twenty hours that is to say from noon of the preceeding to noon of the present day and this they set off with a Compass upon the Sea Chart that they may know where the Ship is Though this be a very useful invention yet it is not too much to be relyed upon else
Wind in Poop and a fresh Gale from South for those that go upon a Wind against Tide are driven back instead of going forward the Tides running very strong on that Coast and South Winds being rare Half an hour after eight at night we weighed Anchor and stood away North and by West the Wind being then North-East and by East Wednesday the sixth of January at two a Clock in the morning we came to an Anchor in seventeen Fathom water Having weighed again about nine a Clock we steered North North-East the Wind was then at East a little to the Southward but so weak that at ten a Clock it left us becalmed About three a Clock we had a Gale from West when we least expected it for it seldom blows on that Coast that was the reason we came not to an Anchor though it began to Ebb and we stood away North and by East Half an hour after five we had twenty Fathom water and at six a Clock we were becalmed Half an hour after eight we had the Wind at East North-East which made us steer away South-East but at ten a Clock the Tide of Flood beginning to make it behoved us to tack and stand away North and by East Thursday the seventh of January about four a Clock in the morning we came to an Anchor in ninteen Fathom water About nine a Clock a small Gale blowing from South-East we weighed though it was above an hour and a half to Flood and bore away East North-East but seeing the Wind did not last about half an hour after eleven we came to an Anchor again in seven Fathom water though it was Flood then but it did us no kindness because it carried us to Surrat and we were bound for Daman being so near it that some of the Ship discovered the Steeple of a Church in the Town Half an hour after one of the Clock we had a small Gale from North-East which made us presently weigh and bear away South-East and sounding every quarter of an hour we found first fifteen Fathom water then twelve after that ten and at least nine About four a Clock we steered away East South-East about five a Clock South South-East a little after we were becalmed and having cast out the Lead found eight Fathom water About six a Clock we turned the Ships Head East and by South half an hour after North-East and by East About seven a Clock we came to an Anchor in eight Fathom water and about a good League and a half from Land because there was no Wind and the Tide of Ebb cast us toward the South-West Next morning about nine a Clock we weighed though it was still low water only we had a Gale from South-East we steered East North-East that we might stand in to shoar and about half an hour after eleven we came to an Anchor a League off of the Town of Daman and Westward from it I did not go a shoar because the Captain told me that I could not stay there above an hour or two having ordered the Boat that carried a shoar Master Manuel Mendez to return immediately and being resolved so soon as he had unloaded his Goods to weigh Anchor and wait for no body I did not think going a shoar to be worth the pains of running the risk of being taken for there are Malabar Barks commonly upon the scout especially in the evening skulking behind some Points of Land and when they perceive any small Vessel make up to it and carry it away Daman is a Town belonging to the Portuguese who have made it very strong Daman Latitude of Daman and have a good Fort in it It lyes in the twentieth degree of North Latititude and is fifteen Leagues distant from Bassaim and forty from Diu. They have most delicate Bread at Daman and drink only water of a Tanquier but which they say is very good From Daman to Cape Comorin Cape Comorin a range of very high Hills runs along the Coast This Town has no other Harbour but a little Canal or Cut which is full at high water and remains dry when the Tide is out small Barks come into it but Ships ride out in the Road. Ours stayed there a little more than four and twenty hours for the Boats that were to come for the Goods of Master Manuel Mendez came not a Board of us till the next day which was Saturday it was noon before we had loaded them and it behoved us afterwards to stay till two a Clock for our Boat though we had fired a Gun in the morning as a signal for them to put off but the Sea-men being got drunk made never the more haste for that we did not weigh Anchor then till three a Clock in the afternoon and we stood away North the Wind being then at West North-West About seven a Clock we were forced to come to an Anchor because the Wind was down and the Tide of Ebb made us lose way About nine a Clock with a little Gale at East we weighed again and bore away North in five Fathom and a half water and for above an hour we had no more Next day being Sunday the tenth of January by break of day we were got within a Cannon shot of Land which was to our Starboard and to the Larboard we saw two great Ships at Anchor they were presently known to be Ships belonging to the King of Mogul which Trade to Moca Ships of the King of Mogul whither they carry at every Voyage above two Millions We saw many other Ships on Head some at Anchor and others under Sail amongst these there were two Dutch Ships who failed not to send off their Boats to know who we were taking us to have been an English Ship. At length half an hour after ten we came to an Anchor at the Bar of Surrat The Bar of Surrat in six Fathom and a half water and presently a Custom-House Waiter came on Board of us being there accidentally for commonly they come not till after the Captain be gone a shoar Next day Monday the eleventh of January several of the Custom-House Boats came on Board of us to take in all the Passengers and their Goods we went down into them and they put off from the Ship about half an hour after two at first we made towards shoar apace the Wind being good but it being low water an hour after we stuck a ground and it behoved us to stay for Flood to get off again which was not till half an hour after three when we weighed again the Anchor which we had dropped We went on then with the Tide for the Wind was contrary and within half an hour after ran a ground again where we were another half hour before we could get off having afterwards advanced a little farther we saw a small Isle to our Right Hand and from thence the Channel grows narrower and narrower About eight a Clock we passed by the
health they attribute this Virtue also to the Benediction of St. Paul and several Barks are yearly loaded with it to be transported into other places of Christendom Amongst the Rocks of this Island they find those Stones that look like a Serpents Eye The Stone of the Serpent's Eye which some carry upon their fingers set in Rings because of the virtue that they are thought to have against poyson This Island is very populous and when in the Year 1590 a Calculation was made of the number of the Inhabitants by Command of the Count of Alvadelista Vice-Roy of Naples that he might know what quantity of Corn was necessary for them they found in the Bourg the Old Town the Town of Valetta the Isle of St. Michael and in seven Parishes which contain above thirty six Villages seven and twenty Thousand Men not reckoning the Knights of the Order and their Servants The Maltese are of a brown complexion and are much of the nature of the Sicilians at least in point of Revenge The Women are beautiful and pretty familiar in the streets they cover their heads with a Mantle that reaches down to the ground but though they hide their own face yet they see every body without being known The Native Language of the Isle of Malta is Arabick but the Italian is very common there especially in the Town The Isle of Malta hath several Ports and Creeks well defended by Forts built upon them Marsamouchet a great Sea-Port in Malta but amongst others there are two great Havens open to the East North East one of which is called Marsamouchet and the other is the great Port these two Ports are separated by a tongue of pretty high Land on the point whereof the Castle of St. Erme was built and since adjoyning to it the City Valetta The Port of Marsamouchet is for Ships to perform their quarantine in before they have access to the Town and for such as by reason of foul weather cannot get into the great Port as also for Casairs who coming only for a short stay put not in into the great Port because it is not easie to get out again There is a little Island in this Port and in it the Lazaretto where they who are to perform their quarantine lodge The great Port contains several Havens within it and is secured by two Rocks Many Ports in Malta one on each side of the Entry on that which is on the right-hand the Castle of St. Erme is built in foul weather it is very dangerous to come near it and special care must be had both in coming and going out of it having pass'd these Rocks you see to the left-hand a Haven where the Vessels that come from the Levant and are not to stay at Malta put into that they may be separated from the rest advancing a little further you pass betwixt the Town of Valetta which is to the right-hand and the Castle of St. Angelo to the left Castle of St. Angelo in Malta standing upon the point of a tongue of Land along which lies the Bourg at the back of the said Castle after that you find another Haven to the left-hand which is very good and safe and is betwixt the Bourg and the Isle of Sangle Isle of Sangle which is a tongue of Land inhabited almost like to that of the Bourg to which it is parallel these two tongues reaching from East to West like two fingers of a hand The Galleys of the Order are laid up in this Haven and all the Vessels that are to make any stay at Malta either to load careen or refit put in there it being shut with an Iron Chain There is a little Haven at the bottom of this Port staked in where in the Evening all the small Barks are shut up lest Slaves might make their Escape in the Night-time Beyond the Island there is Water further up but it is of no depth from the entry of the great Port to the extremity or rather bottom of it it is at least two miles CHAP. VI. Of the Castles St. Angelo and St. Erme AS soon as the King of Spain had given the Island of Malta to the Knights of St. John Philip de Villiers l' Isle-Adam Castles St. Angelo St. Erme The Great Master Villiers who at that time was Great Master of the Order came and took possession of it and lodged in the Castle of St. Angelo as the rest of the Order did in the Bourg But Sultan Soliman not satisfied with the Isle of Rhodes out of which he had driven that illustrious Order having a design utterly to extirpate those men who though but few in number had put him to so much trouble and from whom he was still apprehensive of more mischief sent in the year 1565 a powerful Army to take the Isle of Malta Soliman sent and Besieged Malta La Vallet Great Master Mount Pelegrino The Siege of Malta It arrived there in the month of July Friar John of Valetta being then great Master and landed towards Mount Pelegrino The Turks presently attacked the Castle St. Erme which wholly defends the Entries into the great Port and Marsamouchet they raised their Batteries in the place where the Town of Valetta stands which was not then begun to be built and battered that Castle so furiously that having killed all that defended it they made themselves Masters of the same Then they turned against the Bourg and the Isle De la Sangle The Country is defended by the Castle St. Angelo which stands at the end of it on the side of the Port upon a very high Rock and difficult to climb up so that it is almost inaccessible The Isle De la Sangle is defended by a Bastion on the point of it They gave several Assaults to both these places where they landed many thousand Men but all in vain for they were still repulsed with great loss In the mean time though the Castle St. Angelo did so continually annoy them that they durst not shew themselvs yet they battered the Isle so furiously that they ruined the Works and resolved to make a general assault because being Master of that Isle they could break the Chain that secured the Port The Port of Malta secured by a Chain which was stretched from the Castle St. Angelo to the Spur of the said Isle The Great Master having notice of their resolution caused Port-holes to be made in the Castle St. Angelo level with the water without opening them on the outside yet so contrived and made that a knock of a Hammer might give them an opening wide enough for his design He there caused Guns to be planted with all expedition When it was day the Turks sent off a great many Boats manned with Soldiers to give the assault to the Spur of the Isle and at the same time the Canon of the Castle St. Angelo appearing level with the water fired with so good success that
though in the Woods and Hills they have good Venison and wild Fowl as Hares Coneys Partridges and the like but they have neither Huntsmen nor Fowling-pieces Their Sea affords no Fish and is as to that worse than the Sea of Genoa They have neither Physician nor Chyrurgeon but when they fall sick betake themselves to the Mercy of God. This Isle belonged heretofore to the Family of the Sanuti Family of Sanuti who had it in Dowry from the Family of Zen of which were the Dukes of Naxia in those times It was into this Island that Themistocles was sent from Athens to raise money who having entered into conference with those of the Island told them Gentlemen of Andra's I bring you two Gods the One of Perswasion and the Other of Force chuse you which of the two you please To which they answered And we will present you with two Goddesses the One Poverty and the Other Impossibility take which of the two you please Which was the cause that the Athenians besieged and took it We lay at an anchor before Andra from Wednesday the Seventh till Friday the Nineteenth of November when the last Quarter of the Moon began which made us hope that the Wind would change It being then a Calm about Moon-rising we weighed betwixt Ten and Eleven a clock at night and found a good South-west Wind. When we were got out to Sea we bore away to the starboard and pass'd betwixt Andra and Negropont with a Wind in Poop Sciro Ispicera Chio. Saturday the Twentieth before noon we made Sciro shortly after Ispicera and then Chio About evening the Wind turned East South-east but we still continued our course with good enough success until next morning November the One and Twentieth when about Three or four a clock we made Land but knew not whether or not it was Tenedo and about break of day we tacked and then found that we were pass'd it for we were before Troy The Ships running a ground and very near Land. Our Ship stuck a ground with the noise of which our Captain awoke and thinking the Ship to be lost he presently sent to view the Pump to see if she had made much water but they found none at all At the same time he launched the Boat and going into it viewed the Snip all round and found that she had received no damage her head having only struck upon the sand He thereupon ordered all the Sails to be furled and the Ship beginning to float again he caused an Anchor to be heaved out a stern by means whereof in a short time we weighed off of the sand We had certainly the particular assistance of God Almighty at that time for it blowing so fresh and we having all our Sails abroad the Ship in all probability should have stranded and nevertheless in an hours time we were got off without springing the least leak But if the ground had been very Rocky as it was but a kind of Oaze the Ship had certainly been lost Whilst the Seamen were busie in clearing the Ship seeing my self out of danger of shipwreck I considered the Ruins of that ancient and famous City of Troy which are still very remarkable and of great extent Being at length got clear we stood a little more off to the larboard and betwixt Nine and Ten of the clock The Chanel of the Hellespont we passed the Mouths and entered the Chanel of the Hellespont It was at this place where the Turks first passed from Asia into Europe At One a clock the Wind calming we came to an Anchor Monday the two and twentieth of November a South Wind blowing much about the same hour in the Afternoon we weighed Anchor and soon after pass'd betwixt the Castles of the Dardanels which we saluted with three Petrera's and about Three in the Afternoon we came to an Anchor CHAP. XIV Of the Dardanelles Gallipoly and our arrival at Constantinople THE two Castles of the Dardanelles are upon the side of the Chanel of the Hellespont which the Turks call by excellence only Boghas Dardanelles that is to say Gorge or Chanel the one is in Europe and the other in Asia they are two miles distant from one another which is the whole breadth of the Chanel at this place That which is in Romania on the side of Europe is in the same place where in ancient Times Sestos stood It is built in a triangular form Sestos at the foot of a Hill which commands and covers it and upon which there is a little Town This Castle hath three Towers covered with Lead whereof two are towards the Land and the third which is the bigest upon the Harbour it hath as I could privately discern with a Perspective-glass about twenty Port-holes level with the water in which there are Guns of such a prodigious bore that besides what I could observe by my Glass I was assured that a Man might easily creep into them The other Castle which is in Anatolia in Asia in the place where heretofore Abidos stood is in a Plain Abydos and seemed to me to be almost square it hath three Towers on each side and a Dundgeon or Platform in the middle Mahomet the Second built these two Castles The distance of the Dardanelles from Constantinople but it hath not so many Gun-holes as the other Mahomet the second Son of Amurath the Second built these two Forts which are properly the Keys of Constantinople that is at two hundred miles distance for they hinder any Ship Friend or Foe to pass them without leave else they would run a danger of being sunk All Vessels that come from Constantinople stop three days before the Castle in Anatolia that they may be searched whether they have any Counterband Goods or Fugitive Slaves on board Sestos and Abidos The Amours of Leander The Place where Xerxes caus'd a Bridge to be built upon the Sea. These two places of Sestos and Abydos are famous for the Love of Leander and Hero. Much about this place Xerxes King of Persia made a Bridge of Boats to pass his Army over from Asia into Europe From Andra to these Castles it is about two hundred and fourscore miles Tuesday November the Twenty Third having a gale of Wind about Noon we weighed Anchor but were obliged to drop it again in the Evening because of a calm Wednesday November the Twenty Fourth we weighed again after Midnight and putting out three Oars on each side of the Ship our Men tugg'd so hard that we arrived at Gallipoly about One a clock Gallipoly From the Castles to Gallipoly it is reckoned about five and thirty miles There we stopt eight days during which time we had leisure to walk but found no great matter worth the observation This Town was built by Callias Prince of the Athenians from whom it was named Calliopolis and by corruption Gallipoly It seems not to be well peopled and there
within adorned with Gold and Azure and the Floor they walk upon covered with fine Carpets which is the reason that men commonly put off their Shoes when they enter them for fear of spoiling the Carpets The Walls are faced with pure Tiles like China In all the Halls and Chambers they have a rising half a foot or a foot high from the Floor Divans which they call Divans and these are covered with richer Carpets than the rest of the Room with embroidered Cushions set against the Wall upon these Divans they rest receive visits and spend the best part of the day In all Palaces the Womens appartment is separated from the rest of the Lodgings and no Man enters it unless the Master of the House or some Eunuch Hans There are also many great buildings in the City in form of the Cloysters of Monks which they call Hans they consist for the most part of a large square Court in the middle whereof there is a Fountain with a great Bason and Arches all round the Court under which all along the Walls are the Doors of the Chambers which are all alike and have each of them a Chimney These Arches support a Gallery that ranges all round the Court as that below The Lodgeings of Merchants and this Gallery has also Chambers on the side like to those that are underneath these Hans are for lodging of Merchants If you would have a lodging room there you must speak to the Porter of the Han who keeps all the Keys and for opening it as they call it you give him a Piastre or half Piastre and for every day you stay there one two or three Aspres according to the rate that is set you may hire a Ware-house for goods in the same manner These Hans are very well built and the chief Walls are of Free-stone The fairest in Constantinople is that which called Valida Hhane the Han of the Sultana Mother because the Mother of the present Grand Signior built it It is a very convenient place for strangers who always find a House ready to hire and at an easie rate so that having a Quilt some Coverings Carpets and Cushions you have a furnished House to lodge in and these Hans yield a very considerable revenue to those to whom they belong The Houses of Constantinople mean. As to the Houses of Constantinople they are very ordinary and almost all of Wood which is the cause that when Fires happen as they do very often they make great havock amongst them especially if a wind blow there were three Fires in Constantinople in the space of eight months that I so journed there Constantinople much Subject to fire the first hapned on the day of my arrival and burnt down eight thousand Houses the other two were not so great In the time of Sultan Amurat such a fire raged there for three days and three nights as ruined one half of the Town it is true the Houses being but little and built more of Timber than any thing else they are soon rebuilt again and for a small matter Baltadgis For putting a stop to these fires there are men called Baltadgis that 's to say Hatchet-men who have a constant pay from the Grand Signior When a fire breaks out in any place they beat down the neighbouring Houses with Hatchets beginning sometimes twenty or thirty Houses from the fire for the fire runs so fast that it is soon up with them these fires most commonly are occasioned by Tobaco for the Turks easily fall asleep with a lighted Pipe in their mouths Causes of fire and seeing they smoak when they are in Bed it is very easie for the Fire that falls out of their Pipes to take on materials that are so prepared to receive it These accidents of fire are sometimes also occasioned by the Souldiers who raise a fire with design to rob Houses whilst the people are labouring to quench it The streets of Constantinople are very ugly being for the most part narrow crooked up-hill and down-hill There are several Market-places in the City but one must see the great Bezestain Great Bezestain which is a very large round Hall built all of Free-stone and enclosed with very thick Walls the Shops are within round the Hall as in Westminster-Hall and in these Shops the most costly Goods are to be sold There are four Gates into this Hall which are very strong and shut every night no body lies there and all the care they take is to shut their Shops well at night The litle Bezestain There is another Bezestain in the City but less where Goods of smaller value are to be sold CHAP. XX. Of Cassumpasha Galata Pera and Tophana HAving said enough of Constantinople we must now pass over to Galata which is as it were the Suburbs of it Galata is separated from Constantinople by the Port that is betwixt them there are on both sides a great many Caiques and Permes which will carry you over for a very small matter Caiques-Permes and land you where you have a mind to be Caiques are small Boats and the Permes are little slight Boats or Wherries and so tick'lish that by leaning more to one side than another it is an easie matter to overset them You may go to Galata by land if you 'll fetch a compass round the Port which is very spacious having crossed a little River of fresh water that discharges it self into the Harbour you go towards Galata and by the way you first find the Ocmeidan or field of Arrows it is a large place where the Turks practise Archery Ocmeidan and come in procession to make their Prayers to God for the prosperity of their Armies and for whatsoever they stand in need of Then you come to Cassumpasha which seems to be a great Village there by the water side is the Arsenal where Gallies Maones and Ships are built it contains sixscore arched Docks or Houses where Gallies may be put under cover or new ones built The Capoudan Basha Capoudan Basha or Admiral has his lodgings in the Arsenal where he commands and all who belong to the Sea depend on him In the same Arsenal is the Bagnio for the Grand Signiors slaves which is very spacious From thence you come to Galata separated from Cassumpasha only by the burying places that are betwixt them Galata is a pretty large Town over against Constantinople from which it is separated by the Port or Harbour it belonged hererofore to the Genoese and then was pretty considerable there is still a large Tower to be seen in it which they long held out against the Turks after they were Masters of Constantinople the Houses are good and well built many Greeks live there and it is the usual residence of the Francks In Galata there are five Monasteries of religious Francks to wit of the Cordeliers and their Church is called St. Marie of the Observantines or
shall not speak of them I will only tell what I had from an Itchoglan newly come out of the Serraglio that the Grand Signior is served at his Meals in China which is more valuable then Purcelane or Terra Sigillata that is reckoned to be good against Poyson The Grand Signior's Dishes He hath also a great many covered dishes of beaten Gold each dish with its cover weighing twelve or thirteen Marks These Dishes were presented to him by Kilidge Hali Basha a Renegado native of Messina after the Pillage and Robberies that he committed in Calabria where he took great Booty Now though with them it be a sin to eat in Gold or Silver yet he makes use of both and the Queen Mother of the Grand Signior is served in forty Silver plate dishes But at extraordinary Feasts which are kept in the Gardens or Summer-Houses they are served in Basons of Purcelane or Terra Sigillata as the Ambassadours are also when they are feasted in the Hall of the Divan before they have their Audience of the Grand Signior When he eats he speaks to no body The Grand Signior never speaks at Dinner but makes himself be understood by Signs to the mute Buffoons who are very expert at that having a very singular method in it and there is nothing but what they can express by Signs These Buffoons are always playing some foolish Tricks amongst themselves to make him Laugh He never beats his Brains about Business Care of Affairs but refers the whole management of Affairs to his Ministers who give him a Summary Account of them on certain days of the Week Not but that there have been some who have taken the Care upon themselves ordering their Ministers to act according to their Directions Sultan Amurat though a very debauched Prince always minded his Affairs and Sultan Mahomet who Reigns at present and traces the Footsteps of his Uncle Amurat loves Business very well too When the Grand Signior is weary of staying in his Serraglio he goes and takes the Air upon the Water and sometimes by Land but not often because his Ministers do what they can to hinder him from that least Petitions may be presented to the Grand Signior against them For such as cannot have Justice of them expect till the Grand Signior be abroad in the Streets and when he passes by they put their Petition on the end of a Cane which they hold up as high as they can which the Grand Signior perceiving sends for it and has it brought to him The truth is the Ministers are not well pleased he should be informed of Affairs by any but themselves I have several times seen the present Grand Signior abroad but the first time that I saw him I was told that for at least a Year before he had not been out of his Serraglio The Grand Signior's going abroad out of the Serraglio When he goes abroad by Land it is either with small Attendance or in Pomp I have seen both as I shall afterwards relate When he goes by Water he has always few Attendance his Galiotte comes to the Kieusk of the Serraglio which is on the Water-side over against Galata and entring with a very small Retinue he goes to Scudaret or the Black-Sea to take the Air. This is a most rich Galiotte guilt all over and adorned with many counterfeit Stones It hath four and twenty Benches that is to say four and twenty Oars on each side Bostangis Rowers each rowed by two Bostangis who have only a Shirt over their Breeches or rather Drawers they have scarlet Caps shaped like a Sugar-Loaf such as all the Bostangis wear being half an Ell high and they who serve on this occasion are the Favorites of the Bostangi Basha The advantage of the Rowers Those that Row on the right side are all the Sons of Christians made Turks who may arise to the dignity of Bostangi Basha to which Office those that Row on the left hand who are the Sons of Turks and commonly of Asia can never aspire And the greatest reward that they can hope for when they come out of the Serraglio is to have fourscore Aspres a day in Pay whereas those on the right side after they have discharged the Office of Bostangi Basha may be Agas of the Janizaries nay even Bashas or Governours of Provinces If any of these Bostangis chance to break an Oar in Rowing the Grand Signior gives him according to his Liberality a handful of Aspres or a handful of Chequins as an encouragement for plying his Business with so much strength In the time of Sultan Solyman three Chequins was the ordinary reward but at present it is not limited However it is not by strength but rather slight that they break their Oars and many times they break them half off before the Grand Signior come on board his Galiotte and then easily do the rest as they Row. The Bostangi Basha sits at the Helm and steers the Galiotte and at that time has opportunity enough to discourse with the Grand Signior at his ease The Grand Signior goes through the City in Disguise Besides these ways of going Abroad the Grand Signior goes sometimes through the City in Disguise and without Attendance as a private Man to see if his Orders be punctually observed And he at present who seems in all his Actions to imitate his Uncle Sultan Amurat went abroad almost every day in Disguise whilst I was at Constantinople having however some Men following him at a little distance and amongst the rest an Executioner And by the way he caused many Heads to flie off both in Constantinople and Galata which kept all things in better order The Christians were very glad that he Disguised himself so for that was the cause that no body durst molest or abuse them Sometimes he would go to a Bakers Shop and buy Bread and sometimes to a Butchers for a little Meat And one day a Butcher offering to sell him Meat above the rate which he had set he made a sign to the Executioner who presently cut off the Butchers Head. Prohibition of Tobacco But it was chiefly for Tobacco that he made many Heads to flie He caused two Men in one day to be Beheaded in the Streets of Constantinople because they were smoaking Tobacco He had prohibited it some days before because as it was said when he was passing along the Street where Turks were smoaking Tobacco the smoak had got up into his Nose But I rather think that it was in imitation of his Uncle Sultan Amurat who did all he could to hinder it so long as he lived He caused some to be Hanged with a Pipe through their Nose others with Tobacco hanging about their Neck and never pardoned any for that I believe that the chief reason why Sultan Amurath prohibited Tobacco was because of the Fires that do so much mischief in Constantinople when they happen which most commonly are
telling him that he must either save him or both Perish finding himself in this danger he told the Turk that he could not save him in that posture but that if he would get upon his Back he would do his best which the Turk a little too credulous attempting to do no sooner had he let go his Foot but he gave him a punch on the Belly and made all haste to land where siting down to rest himself two other Turks who had swam a shoar as well as he having rested in the same place and rising up to be gone were both shot close by him with a Canon-Bullet from the Sea. I thought fit to mention all these particulars as supposing they will not be unpleasing to the Reader This was so great an overthrow that it put all the Turks into a consternation The Consternation of the Turks after the Overthrow who were so terrified that they imagined themselves to be Slaves to the Venetians already The Grand Signior took this loss so much to Heart that for a whole day he would not eat nor receive any comfort but wept bitterly nay before any news of it was brought his Barber having told him that he heard say the Turkish Fleet was Defeated he caused him immediately to be put to Death When he had got certain Intelligence of it he ordered Soldiers to be forthwith sent to all the Isles and other places where he feared the Venetians might make a descent and because he was apprehensive that they might come to Constantinople he caused the Houses that were upon the Walls to be pulled down because they might facilitate the Burning and hinder the defence of the City For my own part I make no doubt but that if they had appeared the Turks would have abandoned Constantinople it is most certain that the Grand Signior would have immediately fled over to Asia and a great many among them said that the time was come which had been foretold by a Scheik or Imam to wit that the time would come when a Chequin would be offered for a place in a Perme to go from Constantinople to Scudaret and could not be had This Overthrow had been foretold by several Turks to be greater than it was for before the Fleet put out from Constantinople I was told that some Turks had predicted that not one sail of them should come back again The taking of Tenedo and Lemnos and that the Christians should not only defeat it but take Canea also the same year which nevertheless proved not to be true but the Venetians took Tenedo and Lemnos which would have much incommoded the Turks if the Christians had kept them for keeping some Gallies and Galleasses at Tenedo they would have deprived the Turks of Greece of all Commerce by Sea with Aegypt but the Turks soon after took both these Islands The Captain Basha turned out After this great Overthrow every one thought that the Captain Basha would lose his Head and yet he had so good Friends that they saved him only he was made Mansoul and in his place was employed Seyd Hamet Basha The Name of of the Captain Basha with orders to the Captain Basha Mansoul to go to Negrepont of which he was made Basha This man named Ourous Kienan Basha was by Nation a Russian and one Night when the Tartars plundered the Village where he was they found him at the age of six Months lying stark naked on a heap of Chaff they took him and with other Slaves sent him to Constantinople where he was sold and brought up in the Turkish Religion wherein his luck was so good that he attained to the highest places Sunday the sixth of August late in the Night The return of some of the remaining Vessels to Constantinople when hardly any thing could be seen seven Turkish Galleys and a Maone which were part of the remaining Fleet came into the Port at Constantinople without any noise having no Colours nor Main-masts but only the fore Mast standing we who were Franks rejoiced at all this in private but so far from making any Publick rejoicing it behoved us to act the Turks and seem sorrowful for the Christians good success Nevertheless after the loss of that Battel the Turks conceived so great hatred and rage against the Christians that the very sight of a Frank brought it into their mind nay many of them seeing Frank Merchants pass along in Galata could not forbear to say openly We shall see at Bairam what will become of these Hats so that those who heard the words telling them to one another The fear of the Franks at Constantinople we thought we had reason to apprehend that they might take the day of Bairam to Massacre all the Franks It was known also that several Janizaries were come a shoar one night in Galata and this gave us great suspicion for we ought to fear every thing from Bruitish People especially when they are provoked The English Ships that were in the Port by orders from their Ambassadour in the Night-time put off a little from shoar and kept good Guard. in fine the Bairam which was the four and twentieth of July being past we took a little heart again but Friday the eight and twentieth of July about ten a clock at Night a Letter was brought to the French Ambassadour which renewed our former fears it was written in Turkish by an Itchoglan of the Serraglio Dragoman that is close by the Palace of the Ambassadour who sent for his chief Dragoman or Interpreter and gave him the Letter to read the purport whereof was that if the Turks had failed to fall upon the Franks at their Bairam An Itchoglan punished for a Letter he wrote to the French Ambassadour they should not fail to do it within a few Days My Lord Ambassadour sent that Letter to the Aga of the Janizaries who having seen it caused the Young-man who wrote it in a meer caprice to have instantly two hundred blows of a Cudgel upon the soles of his Feet so that his Cries were heard in the Ambassodours House CHAP. LIV. Of the Sedition that happened in Constantinople in the Year 1655. I Have said enough I think of the Turkish Militia yet I cannot dismiss that Subject without taking some Notice of the Revolts of the Janizaries These very Men who when obedient to the Grand Signior render him one of the most formidable Princes on Earth strangely limit his Power when they lose that Respect they owe to him which happens pretty often and then more like to Rapid Torrents than a company of Rational Men they run down all that comes in their way and slighting the Commands of all Superiours follow the dictates of their furious Passion Sultan Osman had a mind to turn off the Janizaries so that they have strangled several Grand Signiors and among others Sultan Osman because as they suspected he had a mind to rid himself of them For that
the Modern Greeks Kissaros when the Goats feed on that Herb a certain viscous Dew that is upon it sticks to their Beards and there congeals into a kind of Gum of a very good smell which they Ladanum and Vulgarly Laudanum and cannot be gathered without cutting off of the Goats Beards As you go to the Town there is a Castle upon a very high Hill which commands all the Villages of Darmilla Near the Town upon a Rock called heretofore Strongyle is the Palace of the God Bacchus so called in ancient Times it is an hundred Foot in length and fifty in breadth and built of very white Marble each Stone being sixteen hands long and seven hands thick which were all fastened together with Iron and Lead The Gate is thirty two hands high and sixteen wide its lintel is of four pieces There is no Inscription to be seen upon it they being all eaten out by the Sea and Weather but there are two Cisterns close by it The Turks and others carry away Marble daily from that Palace for making of Gates Windows Mortars Chests and such like things nay and Turbans also to be put at the ends of Graves according to the custome of the Turks The same Bacchus as the Inhabitants say made an Aqueduct that brought Water from a very distant Spring but having carried it on as far as the Shoar he Died and that so it was never perfected however the Chanels of it are to be seen Bacchus was the God of Wine and therefore the Inhabitants of Nixia are so great Drunkards It was in this Island that the perfidious wretch Theseus abandoned the poor Ariadne The place where Theseus forsook Ariadne who had delivered him out of the Labyrinth and Bacchus finding her forsaken and forlorn took her for his Wife The Tower and Ducal Palace are still in being in the Town There are two Arch-Bishops in this Town a Latin and a Greek The Cathedral Church of the Latin Arch-Bishops is dedicated to the assumption of our Lady and is very handsome it hath a Steeple with three Bells in it several Relicks of Saints are kept in the Church and it is served by six Canons and seven other Priests and Clerks who are very diligent at their duty in the Quire but their Revenue is very Inconsiderable and the Arch-Bishop himself has no more than two hundred Piastres of yearly Rent He hath a seat in the country with a Church it is a very delightful place and called San Mamma the Church is neat Paved with Marble and the Walls lined with the same but kept in bad repair Besides the Cathedral Church the Jesuits have also a sorry House in the Castle and the Greeks have a Chappel that belonged to the Dukes formerly Without the Town there are Recollets and Capuchins who make many Proselytes there to the Catholick Faith. The Inhabitants of Nixia have great fewds among themselves so that they speak not to one another as long as they live but the Women are more obstinate than the Men and are very great medlers in other Peoples Business These Women wear more than ten Coats one over another so that they have much adoe to go and their Shoes are so streight that they can hardly thrust their Feet into them but they are pretty Honest and Chast This Island raises its Tribute by the sale of Wine Cheese and Silk CHAP. LXVII Of the Isles of Paro Delos Mycone Tine and Nio. ABout fix miles from Nixia is the Isle of Paro heretofore Paros Paro which hath three Castles several Villages a good harbour for all sorts of Vessels fair Churches and many Greek Priests and Monks being fifty miles in compass and containing about six thousand Souls There were several Statues Marble-Chests and other Antiquities found in this Island which have been carried away by an English Gentleman who brought off all he could find not only there but in the other Isles also and chiefly in Delos Delos or Sdrille called at present Sdrille heretofore so famous for the Oracle of Apollo and where in ancient times there were so many Statues of the Gods at present there is no more but a Statue lying along upon the Ground representing a Woman which is so great that sitting upon the Shoulders one cannot reach the Head with the Hand and there is nothing of it broken off but one Arm. This Isle is fourteen miles in Circuit There are many Ports about these little Islands inhabited only by Coneys where the Corsars commonly go a little farther off is the Island of Mycone heretofore Myconus which was well Peopled Mycone but at present is almost forsaken because of the rigorous Persecution of the Turks it is thirty miles in Circuit Over against this Island is the Isle of Tine in Ancient times Tenes which belongs to the Venetians it is well Peopled Tine and hath a very strong Castle built upon a high Rock and the Houses stand one over another This Isle is forty miles in Compass it is plentiful in Provisions and Silk but so over stocked with People that many are obliged to go ad live elsewhere as at Smyrna and Chio. There is a Latin Bishop in it and the Women are handsome and Courteous enough In going to Santorini one must pass by the Isle of Nio called heretofore Oliarus Nio. Oliarus which was not long since Inhabited by the Albanians a Barbarous and Warlike People who go all night long Armed by the Sea-side Their Fields are fruitful in all things and they have very thick Woods of Oakes and other Trees which they cut down and sell to several Places and particularly to the Inhabitants of Santorini who stand in need of it as we shall say hereafter There is a good Harbour in this Island CHAP. LXVIII Of the Isle of Santorini Santorini or Therasia THE Isle of Santorini whose ancient name was Therasia is thirty six miles round and is threescore miles from Candie from whence the Land of it may be seen There are several Castles in this Isle and first the Castle of St. Nicholas standing on a point of the Island This is a frightful place for besides that it is very high the Houses of it are built upon the hanging sides of black and burn'd Rocks A Greek Bishop has his residence there and a matter of five hundred Souls about him but most of them live in Caves that they have made under Ground which is very light and easie to be Dug being all Pumice-stone and it is very pleasant to see Plowed Lands and People living underneath them so that the Men come creeping out like Coneys But Scaro is a Castle far more Gastly than that of St. Nicholas Scaro not only for the height but solitude of the Place and those that go up to it must climb with Hands and Feet and have a special care too least some great Stone fall from on high and knock them down for one cannot shun it by turning back
short of the Town We stay'd still there all Sunday the one and twentieth of December and then in the night-time the wind turning North blew so hard that our Vessel was very much tossed Monday the first day of the Year 1657. the wind abating a little about eleven a clock we weighed standing in towards the Harbour of the Galleys where half an hour after we came to an anchor There we were informed that a great Gallion was cast away in the Port of Alexandria which belonged to two Turkish Merchants and had a great deal of Goods on board to wit Flax Coffee and Sugar to the value of a hundred and fifty Thousand Piastres Not but that the Port is good enough but they said that there was negligence in the case and that the Cables were old and not look'd to for eleven months that the Gallion was in the Port so that they were rotten in the water This Gallion rode with four Anchors abroad yet one night a little before day all the Cables broke much at the same time which the company that were on board perceiving fired two Guns for assistance but no help being given them about break of day she split upon a Rock all the men that were on board were saved except a Turkish Merchant who would not be saved saying that he would not leave his Goods that were in the Gallion and indeed he perished with the Ship which was so broken to pieces that in an hours time there was no more to be seen of her Nevertheless help might have been given them seeing notwithstanding the storm Caiques went and came and all that was to be done was but to carry them a Cable or two All the Goods that were saved of a Cargoe worth an hundred and fifty Thousand Piastres was no more but a little Flax which they took up floating upon the water and which I afterwards saw spread abroad to dry She was the fairest Gallion that ever the Turks built exceeding even the Sultana taken some years since by the Knights of Malta which was so high that the Main-masts heads of the Galleys of Malta did not reach up to her side I was told that this was another-guess Gallion and that her stern was higher than the Main-top-mast head of our Saique which nevertheless was one of the largest of the kind She was built at Constantinople and cost eight and thirty Thousand Piastres her burthen was fifteen hundred Tun but she was now grown old she had on board forty Guns and would carry three thousand Men nay the first Voyage she made from Constantinople she had two thousand and one hundred Persons on board Nevertheless the Sea at this time was so enraged that not satisfied with this great booty it carried its fury farther and cast away a Saique in the mouth of the Nile in which two and forty Men were drowned but thanks be to God we were at Rhodes during that Tempest The End of the First Book TRAVELS INTO THE LEVANT PART I. BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of Alexandria IN the former Book I gave an Account of our arrival at Alexandria after a tedious Voyage which is commonly performed from Chio in seven or eight days time And now being in Alexandria I stay'd some days for fair weather that I might go with the Saique to Rossetto but perceiving that the wind changed not and that probably it might be a months time before the Saique could get to Rossetto I brought my things a-shore and resolved to go thither by Land. Before my departure I saw all that is worth the seeing in Alexandria This Town called by the Turks Skenderia Alexandria or Skenderia heretofore so lovely rich and famous a place is at present so ruined that it is no more the same there is nothing to be seen in it but ruined Houses cast one upon another and the heaps of Rubbish and Stones which are on all hands are higher than the Houses The French are lodged there in a Fondick which is a great House like a Han. There are other Fondicks also for the English Dutch Venetians and others and they pay no House-rent on the contrary the Consuls receive Money from the Grand Signior yearly to keep them in necessary repair These Fondicks are every evening shut up and the Keys of them carried to the Aga of the Castle who takes care to send them back every next morning They are also shut and so is the Water-gate every Friday during the Noon-Prayer as the Castle-gate is at Caire and also in all places of the Turkish Empire where there are Franks because they say they have a Prophesie which threatens that the Franks are to become Masters of them on a Friday during the Noon-Prayer Hardly any thing of the ancient Alexandria remains standing but the Walls and some Buildings toward the Fondick of the French which are almost ruined for the Buildings that are now towards the shore are not ancient but have been built by the Turks as may be easily seen by the Fabrick being all low ill-contriv'd Houses This Town hath three Ports the first of which called the Old Harbour is pretty large but few Vessels put into it because the entry is difficult there are two Castles to defend it one on each side and both well kept The other two Ports are higher up and separated one from another by a little Island heretofore farther off from the main Land than it is at present and anciently called the Pharos It is at present joyned to the main Land by a Stone-bridge of some Arches under which the water passes This Isle runs out a great way in Meo in the middle of it there is a large square Tower Farillon where the Grand Signior's Powder is kept At the end of the same Isle there is a good Castle called Farillon that stands in the same place where the heretofore so renowned Pharos stood which was reckoned One of the Seven Wonders of the World this which is now in the place of it is neat enough and well provided with Artillery and a Garison of three hundred Soldiers commanded by a Muteferaca but it hath no other water than that of the Nile which is brought into it from without upon Camels The first of the two Ports divided by the Pharos is the Harbour of the Galleys and the other is the Great Port or New Harbour the mouth whereof is on the one side defended by the Farillon and on the other side by another little Castle at its entry which is not so good as the Farillon however it is kept by several Soldiers and these two Castles easily succour one another Both these Ports are very dangerous because of the Stones and Rocks that are in them and there is need of a good Pilot to bring Vessels in The Great Port lyes much open to the North-east and North winds The Harbour of the Galleys is the safer of the two but it hath no great depth of water and indeed as
that go to other places that so they may avoid the heat which is almost insupportable and when the Moon does not shine there are Men who carry Links before the Caravan In all Caravans the Camels are tied tail to tail so that let them but go and there is no trouble of leading them Here I 'll give the Reader an account how many Stages there are betwixt Caire and Mecha how many days they stay in them how many hours travelling there is betwixt them and at what Stages the Waters are sweet or bitter all along the way This little Itinerary I had from a Prince of Tunis An Itinerary from Caire to Mecha who made that Journey whilst I was at Caire From Caire to the Birque it is reckoned four hours Journey there is fresh water there From the Birque to Misana that is to say Cistern ten hours no water there Misana Kalaat Aadgeroud Navatir Raftagara Kalaat el Nahhal Abiar Alaina Sath el Akaba Kalaat el Akaba Dar elHhamar Scharafe Benigateie Magare Chouaib Eyoun el Kaseb Kalaat el Moilah Castel Kalaat Ezlem Istanbel Antir Kalaat el Voudge Ekre Hank Krue Hhawre Nabte Nabathean Arabs Hazire Yanbouh Soucaife Beder Hunein Sibil el Mouhsin Rabij Haramein From Misana to Kalaat Aadgeroud which is to say the Castle of Sand-Pits twelve hours and an half there is bitter water there From the Castle of Aadgeroud to Navatir seven hours and an half no water there From Navatir to Rastagara ten hours no water there and the way bad From Rastagara to Kalaat el Nahhal that is to say the Castle of Palmes fifteen hours there they stay a day and have fresh water From the Castle of Nahhal to Abiar Alaina fourteen hours only bâ—tter water there From Abiar Alaina to Sath el Akaba that is to say the Plain of the Hill fifteen hours no water there From Sath el Akaba to Kalaat el Akaba that is to say the Castle of the Hill that 's upon the side of the Red-Sea sixteen hours there they stay two days and an half the way is very bad but they have fresh water From the Castle el Akaba to Darel Hhamar six hours and an half no water there Dar el Hhamar signifies Asses Back and it is like the Mountain in Italy where there is an Inn called Scarga l'asino From Dar el Hhamar to Scharafe Benigateie fourteen hours no water there From Scharafe Benigateie to Magare Chouaib that is to say the Grott of Jethro fourteeen hours fresh water there that is the Countrey of the Midionites From Magare Chouaib to Eyoun el Kaseb fourteen hours and an half fresh water there It was in that place where Jethro's Daughters going to water their Cattel and the Shepherds offering to hinder them Moses protected and defended them against those who would have hindred them to draw water From Eyoun el Kaseb to Kalaat el Moilah which is by the Sea-side fifteen hours there they rest two days and an half and have fresh water From Kalaat el Moilah to Castel eleven hours bitter water there From Castel to Kalaat Ezlem fifteen hours and an half bitter water there From Kalaat Ezlem to Istanbel antir fourteen hours fresh water there From Istanbel antir to Kalaat el Voudge that is to say the Castle of the Face thirteen hours and an half fresh water there From Kalaat el Voudge to Ekre sixteen hours no water there but what is bitter From Ekre to Hank Krue that is to say Gulf twelve hours and an half no water there From Hank Krue going to Hhawre they enter into the Territory of Mecha to Hhawre it is thirteen hours only bitter water there From Hhawre to Nabte fifteen hours fresh water there From thence come the Nabathean Arabs Eurus ad auroram Nabathaeaque regna recessit From Nabte to Hazire thirteen hours and an half no water there From Hazire to Yanbouh that is to say Fountain fourteen hours and an half there they stay two days and an half and have fresh water From Yanbouh to Soucaife thirteen hours no water there From Soucaife to Beder Hunein that is to say the Moon of Hunein eight hours fresh water there Hunein was a Man that shew'd the Moon in his Well From Beder Hunein to Sibil el Mouhsin that is to say the way of Benefaction or Benefit fourteen hours fresh water there From Sibil el Mouhsin to Rabij seventeen hours fresh water there Rabij is a Sacred Place that is to say not to be entered into without being well prepared and purged from all sin Hence it is that there are two places which are called Haramein Sacred Places to wit Mecha and Medina that is to say which are two Holy Places where one should take heed not to set his foot Kawdire Bi r el fan Vadi Fatima Mecha unless he be well washed from all Sin. From Rabij to Kawdire fifteen hours no Water there From Kawdire to Bi r el fan fourteen hours fresh water there From Bi r el fan to Vadi Fatima fourteen hours fresh water there From Vadi Fatima to Mecha six hours CHAP. XVIII Of Mecha THE Musulmans have so great a veneration for Mecha not only because Mahomet was Born there but more especially for the Temple called Kiaabe that is to say square house that they think all who are not Musulmans are unworthy to come there and therefore they suffer them not so much as to come within some days journey of it and if a Christian or any other who were not Mahometan should be apprehended in that Holy Land he would be burned without mercy I never made the journey then but seeing in the conferences that I have had with a great many who have made it I have learned some things relating thereunto I think I may tell what I know especially since no man that I know of hath as yet given us any true relation of it A description of Mecha Kiaabe Mecha is an ancient Town scituated among the Mountains and built all of Stone and Morter in the middle of this Town is the Kiaabe which is a square House surrounded with a wall that hinders people from approaching it there being a void space betwixt the House and the Wall the House is covered with a Dome Within it there is a well of indifferent good Water at least in respect of the other Waters of Mecha which are so bitter that one can hardly drink of them There is besides on the right hand near the door as they enter into that House a black stone as big as a mans Head which they say came down from Heaven A black stone come down from Heaven and that heretofore it was white but that through the Sins of men it became black as it is at present He that first can kiss it at the time when they give one another the Selam after the Prayer of Kouschlouk A great happiness for him that
When these Stones are removed you go down into a Vault by a little hole opposite to the mouth of the Well and there another great Stone is to be removed before you come at the Well which is sixteen fathom deep Cimented narrow at the top and wide at the bottom Over the aforesaid Vault there are some ruines of the Buildings of a Village two little Pillars are to be seen still standing and many Olive-Trees all round Near to that is the portion of Land which Jacob gave to his Son Joseph it is a very pleasant place and his Sepulchre is in it Mount Gerezim Mount Gerezim mentioned in holy Scripture is on the right hand as you go to that Well There is a Chappel at the foot of this Mountain where the Samaritans heretofore worshipped an Idol On the South side of the Town there is another Mount called in Arabick Elmaida that is to say Table Elmaida where they say our Lord rested himself being weary upon the Road There is a Cushion of the same Stone raised upon the Rock still to be seen and some prints of Hands and Feet and they say that in times past the figure of our Lords whole Body was to be discerned upon it This is a pleasant place having a full prospect of the Town To the West of it there is a Mosque heretofore a Church built upon the same ground where the House of Jacob stood on the other side there is a ruinated Church The House of Jacob. built in honour of St. John Baptist In this Town Travellers pay a Caffare Next day after an hour and an halfs travel you strike off the high Road to the right if you would see the Town of Sebaste standing upon a little Hill Sebaste about half a League wide of the Road where you still see great ruins of Walls and several Pillars both standing and lying upon the Ground with a fair large Church some of it still standing upon lovely Marble-Pillars The high Altar on the East end must have been very fine by what may be judged from the Dome which covers it and is still in order faced with Marble-Pillars whose Capitals are most Artfully fashioned and adorned with Mosaick Painting which was built by St. Helen as the People of the Country say This Church at present is divided into two parts of which the Mahometans hold the one and the Christians the other That which belongs to the Mahometans is paved with Marble The Sepulchre of St. John Baptist Elisha and Abdias and has a Chappel under Ground with three and twenty steps down to it In this Chappel St. John Baptist was Buried betwixt the Prophets Elisha and Abdias The three Tombs are raised four Spans high and enclosed with Walls so that they cannot be seen but through three openings a span big by Lamp-light which commonly burns there In the same place as they say St. John was put in Prison and Beheaded at the desire of Herodias Others say Macherus Samaria that it was at Macherus which is a Town and Fort where King Herod kept Malefactors in Prison This Town of Sebaste was also called Samaria from the name of Simri to whom the Ground whereon it is built belonged or from the name of the Hill on which it stands which is called Chomron Having pass'd Sebaste you are out of Samaria Genny which terminates there and pursuing your Journey you come to lodge at Genny They say that in this place our Saviour cured the ten Lepers There is a Mosque there still which was formerly a Church of the Christians the Han where you lodge is great and serves for a Fort having close by it a Fountain and a Bazar where Provisions are sold The Soil is fertile enough and produces plenty of Palm-Trees and Fig-Trees There is a very great Caffare to be payed there Next day after about two Hours march Ezdrellon you enter into a great Plain called Ezdrellon about four Leagues in length at the west end whereof you see the top of Mount Carmel where the Prophet Elias lived of which we shall speak hereafter At the foot of this Hill are the ruines of the City of Jezreel founded by Achab King of Israel where the Dogs licked the Blood of his Wife Jezebel Jezreel Brook Gison as the Prophet Elias had foretold In the middle of this Plain is the Brook of Gison where Jabin King of Canaan and Sisera his Lieutenant were slain by Deborah the Prophetess and Judge of Israel and by Barak chief of the Host of Gods People Many Battels have been fought in this Plain as may be seen in holy Scripture After you have passed this Plain and travelled an hour over Hills you come to Nazareth of which and the places that are to be seen about it I have already said enough Now I 'll set down the way from Nazareth to Damascus CHAP. LVII The Road from Nazareth to Damascus SUCH as would go to Damascus may lye at Aain Ettudgiar which is a Castle about three Leagues from Nazareth mentioned by me before in the fifty fifth Chapter and there is a Caffare to be paid there The next day you lye at Menia Menia Sephet by the Sea-side of Tiberias The day following you see from several places on the Road the Town of Sephet where Queen Esther was Born standing on a Hill. Josephs Pit. About four hours Journey from Menia you see the the Pit or Well of Joseph into which he was let down by his Brothers there is no water in it the mouth of it being very narrow but the bottom indifferent wide and may be six fathom deep It is covered by a Dome standing on four Arches to three of which so many little Marble-Pillars are joined as Butteresses for the Dome the place of the fourth Pillar is still to be seen and it appears to have been not long agoe removed Close by this Pit there is a little Mosque adjoining to an old Han. Two hours journey from that Pit you cross over Jacob's Bridge Jacobs Bridge Dgeseer Jacoub which the Arabs call Dgeser Jacoub this is the place where this Patriarch was met by his Brother Esau as he was returning with his Wives and Goods from Laban his Father in law The Bridge consists of three Arches under which runs the River of Jordan and falls afterwards into the Sea of Tiberias about three hours going from thence On that side the River runs there is a great Pond to be seen When you have passed this Bridge you are out of Galilee and there you pay a great Caffare Then you come to Lodge at Coneitra which is a little Village Coneitra wherein there is a very old large Han built in form of a Fort with three Culverines within the precinct of it there is a Mosque a Bazar and a Coffee-House Saxa and there also you pay a Caffare Next day you lye at Saxa and have bad way to it
in the House of Judas They say that the Turks have several times attempted to build a Mosque over that Grott but that all that they had built in the day-time was in the Evening thrown down in an instant You may also go to a little Hermitage two miles from the City where Dervishes live it stands upon a little Hill above a great Village called Salahia Salahia The Cave of the seven Sleepers There you may see the Cave where the seven Sleepers hid themselves when they were Persecuted by Decius who would have made them renounce the Christian Faith and where they slept till the time of Theodosius the Younger This is a very pleasant place and the more that from thence one may see all the Countrey about Damascus Three Leagues from thence towards the way of Baal bel The place where Cain slew his Brother Abel Jobar Elias's Grott is the place where they say Cain slew his Brother Abel and where also they Sacrificed You must also go to a Village called Jobar half a League from the City inhabited only by Jews who have a Synagogue there at the end of which on the right side there is a Grott four paces square with a hole and seven steps cut in the Rock to go down to it They say that this is the place where the Prophet Elias hid himself when he fled from the Persecution of Queen Jezabel The hole by which the Ravens brought him Victuals for the space of forty days The place where Abraham Fought is still to be seen there There are three little Presses in this Grott serving to set three Lamps in A League and a half from thence is the place where as they say the Patriarch Abraham gave Battel to the five Kings who carried away his Nephew Lot Cham. and overcame them Damascus which the Turks call Cham is very well situated seven Rivers run by it and it is encompassed all round almost with two Walls and little Ditches The Houses are not handsome on the out-side being built of Brick and Earth but within they are most Beautiful and have all generally Fountains The Mosques Bagnio's and Coffee-Houses are very fair and well Built But let us return to Nazareth which I passed not hoping to see Damascus by another way as I shall relate hereafter The Reader may find a more ample description of Damascus in the Second Part Of these TRAVELS CHAP. LIX Our return to Acre A Description of Mount Carmel AFter we had seen Nazareth and all that is to be seen about it we took leave of the Father Guardian of Nazareth and parted on Sunday the twelfth of May about two a Clock in the Afternoon Monday the thirteenth of May we parted from Acre about four a Clock in the Evening in a small Bark to go to Mount Carmel ten miles from Acre we had a fair Wind but so high that our Rudder broke which being quickly mended again with some Nails we sailed only with a fore Sail and about six a Clock at night arrived at the Village of Cayphas The Village of Cayphas before which we were taken by the Corsair mentioned before This Village which was formerly a Town stands at the foot of Mount Carmel we went up the Mount and about seven a Clock came to the Convent which is held by barefooted Carmelites The Convent on Mount Carmel There we found two French Fathers and an Italian Brother who had been twenty years there They observe a very severe Rule for beside that they are removed from all Worldly Conversation they neither eat Flesh nor drink Wine and if they need it they must go to another place as the Superiour at that time did for being asthmatick and pining away daily he was forced to go to Acre there to recruit himself for some days Nor do they suffer Pilgrims to eat Flesh in their Convent only they allow them to drink Wine This Convent is not on the top of the Mount where they had a lovely one before the Christians lost the Holy Land the ruines whereof are still to be seen but is a very little one somewhat lower and needs no more but three Monks to fill it who would have much adoe to subsist if they had not some Alms given them by the French Merchants of Acre that go often thither to their Devotions They have possessed this place thirty years since the time they were driven out of it after that the Christians lost the Holy Land it is the place where the Prophet Elias lived and their Church is the very Grott where sometimes he abode which is very neatly cut out of the Rock From this Convent they have an excellent Prospect especially upon the Sea where there is no bounds to their sight About their Convent they have a pretty Hermitage very well Cultivated by the Italian Brother who hath brought all the Earth that is in it thither and indeed it is very pleasant to see Flowers and Fruits growing upon a Hill that is nothing but Rock These good Monks gave us a very neat Collation of nine or ten Dishes of Fruit and then we went to rest in the apartment of the Pilgrims for though it be a very little place yet they have made a small commodious and very neat Lodging for Pilgrims but they must not exceed the number of six Next day the fourteenth of May we performed our Devotions in that holy place and then left the Convent about eight a Clock in the morning that we might go visit the places of Devotion about it Our guide was one of the French Fathers who fearing we might be Robbed by the Arabs made us carry upon our shoulders sticks in the manner of Musquets At a good Leagues distance from the Convent we saw a Well that the Prophet Elias made to spring out of the Ground and a little over it another no less miraculous the waters of both are very pleasant and good The Arabs say that all the while the Monks were absent after they had been Banished from thence they yielded no Water Close by this last Fountain are stately ruines of the Convent of St. Brocard who was sent thither by St. Albert Patriarch of Jerusalem to Reform the Hermites that lived there without rule or community Stone-Melons it hath been a lovely Convent Not far from thence is the Garden of the Stone-Melons and they say that Elias passing that way demanded in Charity a Melon from a man that was gathering some who in contempt answered Elias that they were Stones and not Melons whereupon all the Melons were immediately turned into Stones when I prayed them to conduct me to that Garden They made me answer that they knew not the way but after that they told me privately that they were unwilling to carry me thither because we were too many in company and that there being but few of these Melons there at present if every one took what he listed no more would remain
cry any more though it should encrease as sometimes it does till October and it is to be observed that it decreases gently and much in the same manner as it encreased until the Month of May following CHAP. LXVI Of the Ceremonies and Publick Rejoycings at the Opening of the Khalis WEdnesday the fourteenth of August Ceremonies and publick rejoycings at the opening of the Khalis he that daily measures the encrease of the Nile receives a Caftan from the Basha because the Water was risen 16. Pics and Thursday the fifteenth of August we went to Boulac to see the preparations that were making for the cutting of the Khalis there we saw all the Acabas ranked in order Acaba they call great Barges or Barks Acaba in the stern whereof they make a Hall or Divan of Timber Painted Gilt and contrived like the Rooms of their Houses This Hall may be fourteen or fifteen good Paces broad and about the same in length with Rails and Balisters of Joyners Work all round them all this is Gilt and full of Arabick Characters in Gold and within they have several lovely Carpets and Cushions after their way Embroidered with Gold and a Lanthorn but in the Basha's there are three Lanthorns Besides that they make a large Blaze or Flame aloft upon the Yard and in the Head have several pieces of Cannon upon the Basha's there were ten and on the Snout of the stem there is a Wooden Figure of some Animal Gilt as a Lyon Tygre Eagle or the like on the Basha's there was a Hydra All the several Beys the Sousbasha and many other Officers have also each of them one besides several other smaller made like Galliots About seven or eight a Clock in the Morning the Basha arrived with the usual Cavalcade When he goes to any such Solemnity he is mounted on a stately Horse in rich Trappings and at this time he wore on his Head a lovely Flower of Diamonds As he passed they killed Sheep in three or four places and when he was about to enter into his Bark three or four more were killed upon the River-side Being with all the Beys entred into his Barge or Acaba he went towards old Caire and then all the Acabas saluted him with their Guns and followed him in order The Basha's Acaba besides that it was Towed by three Barges spread a Sail of many Colours with a set of five great Red-Roses upon it and after it came a little Galliot all covered over with Flags and Streamers wherein were several Drums Flutes Trumpets and such like Instruments many others also had the like Galliots full of Musicians And in short all that Fleet together made a very pleasant shew for it was a delightful sight to see upon the Nile all these Acabas which were above forty in number and all these pretty party-coloured Sails with their sets of Flowers all the Flags and streaming Flames which look'd very fine Nor did the noise of Cannon the sound of infinite numbers of Instruments and the shouts and acclamations of the People contribute a little to the Magnificence of the Solemnity In this manner they went gently along firing now and then their Guns till they came to the Bank which keeps out the Water from the Khalis We could not see the opening made because of the great crowd and confusion but it signifies no great matter for all that is to be seen is a vast number of Rabble who wait till the Basha pass and on each side of the Dyke a Paper-Tower with Walls of the same reaching to the Dyke and stuck full of Squibs and Serpents which as soon as the Basha passes are fired and set one another on fire whilst the People break down the Dyke with Pick-axes Shovels and such like Instruments and removing the Earth make way for the Water There are Boats loaded with Fruit and Sweet-meats such as they make which are thrown among the People and one may have the pleasure to see them jump in and swim for a share In the mean time the Basha goes forward to his Serraglio which is in the middle of the Nile hard by and over against old Caire and there stays during the three days that the Bonfires last So soon as they have begun to break down the Bank the Sousbasha or his Lieutenant as it happened this Year comes on Horse-back along the Khalis and about eleven a Clock in the Forenoon stops before the House of the French Consul where he orders two Rockets to be played and the Consul gives him five or six Piastres which are his due every Year at that Ceremony the like he does to all the other Consuls About Noon the Water passes by the Quarters of the French and advances with pretty much Rapidity being full of Rabble As I related in the Description of the opening of the Khalis the Year before Much about the same time the Khalis of Alexandria that fills the Cisterns of that Town and all the other Khalis are opened The same day in the Evening we took a Cayque and went to old Caire and as soon as we came near it we began to see on all hands a shoar and upon the Water a vast number of large Figures made of Lamps placed in such and such order as of Crosses Mosques Stars Crosses of Malta Trees and an infinite number of the like from one end of old Caire to the other There were two Statues of Fire representing a Man and a Woman which at the farther distance they were seen the more lovely they appeared These Figures were two square Machines of Wood two Pikes length high each in a Boat and both were placed before the Palace where they measure the Water and where the Basha tarries during the three days of Rejoycing One of them is on the one side of the Water and the other on the other side each ten paces from Land leaving a broad passage betwixt them for Boats and Barges These Machines are filled with Lamps from top to bottom which are lighted as soon as it is Night In each of these Figures there are above two thousand Lamps which are so placed that on all sides you see a Man and a Woman of Fire Besides that all the Acabas or Barks of the Basha and Beys are also full of Lamps and their Musick of Trumpets Flutes and Drums which keep almost a continual Noise mingled with that of Squibs Crackers Fire-Lances great and small Shot so that the vast number of Lamps with the cracking of the Gun-powder and noise of Musick make a kind of agreeable Confusion that without doubt chears up the most Dejected and Melancholick This lasts till Midnight and then all retire the Lamps burning all Night unless they be put out by the Wind and Squibs This Solemnity continues for three Nights The custome of the ancient Aegyptians at the opening of the Khalis The opening of the Khalis hath in all times been very famous even among the Ancient Egyptians as being
Prayers of the Hermites who at that time lived by it and chiefly of St. Macharius because the Pirats of that Sea much infested them Bahr el Malame it is called Bahr el Malame that is to say Mare Convicii There you may find a great many petrifications of Wood and some Bones converted into Stone which are pretty curious On the side of that Sea to the West The Mountain of Eagles Stones Dgebel el Masque is the Mountain of Eagles Stones called Dgebel el Masque where digging in the Earth and especially in time of heat and drought they find several Eagles Stones of different bigness so called because the Eagles carry them to their Nests to preserve their young ones from Serpents they have many Vertues and the Monks say that there are commonly many Eagles to be seen there You must make as short a stay there as you can for fear of the Arabs From the Mountain of Eagles Stones you go making a Triangle to the fourth Monastery and all the Journey from Ambabichoye to this Monastery Dir el Saydet is performed in one day This Monastery is called Dir el Saydet that is to say the Monastery of our Lady it is very spacious but a little ruinous It hath a fair Church and Garden but the Water is brackish and nevertheless there are more Monks in this Monastery than in the other three because the Revenue of it is greater and they have some Relicks also From this Monastery you go to the Lake of Natron Birquet el Natroun called Birquet el Natroun only two Leagues distant from it this Lake is worth ones Curiosity to see and it looks like a large Pond frozen over upon the Ice whereof a little Snow had fallen It is divided into two the more Northern is made by a Spring that rises out of the Ground though the place of it cannot be observed and the Southern proceeds from a great bubbling Spring the Water being at least a Knee deep which immediately as it springs out of the Earth congeals and makes as it were great pieces of Ice and generally the Natron is made and perfected in a Year by that Water which is reddish There is a red Salt upon it six or seven Fingers thick Natron then a black Natron which is made use of in Aegypt for Lye and last is the Natron much like the first Salt but more solid Higher up there is a little Well of Fresh-water which is called Aain el Goz and a great many Camels come dayly to the Lake to be loaded with that Natron From this Lake you go to another where there is Salt at Whitsontide made in form of a Pyramide Pyramidal Salt. Melhel Mactaoum and therefore is called Pyramidal Salt and in Arabick Melh el Mactaoum From the said Lake you return and Lodge in one of the Monasteries and next day come back to the Nile where you must stay for a passage to Caire or Rossetto if you have not retained the Boat that brought you CHAP. LXXII Of Aegypt the Nile Crocodiles and Sea-Horses AEGypt called by the Hebrews Mis Raim Aegypt Masr and by the Arabs at present Masr and in Turkish Misr is bounded on the East by the Red Sea and the Desarts of Arabia on the South by the Kingdoms of Bugia and Nubia The borders of Aegypt on the West by the Desarts of Lybia and on the North by the Mediterranean Sea. This Country lies so low that the Land cannot be seen till one be just upon it and therefore those that sail to it ought to be upon their Guard. Aegypt has no Ports on the Mediteranean fit for Ships except Alexandria and the Bouquer which is rather a Road than a Port The course of the Nile in Aegypt The River of Nile runs through the length of it and having its Course from South to North discharges it self into the Mediterranean by two mouths upon the sides of which stand two fair Towns to wit Rossetto to the West and Damiette to the East two miles below which it mingles its Waters with the Sea and by that division makes a Triangular Isle in Aegypt This Triangular Island was by the ancient Greeks called Delta because in Figure it resembles the Character Δ. The Delta of Aegypt One side of that Triangle is beat by the Mediterranean Sea on the North and the other two are bounded by the two branches of the Nile which divide at the point of this Triangle so that the three points or angles of this Triangle are the first at the place where the Nile divides it self into two the second at Rossetto and the third at Damiette The first Angle is at an equal distance from the other two to wit from Rossetto and Damiette and from that Angle it is five or six Leagues to Caire so that the Nile has only those two mouths which are Navigable for great Vessels for though there be some others yet they are no more but Rivulets The breadth of the Nile This River is broader than the broadest part of the Seine but it is not very Rapid unless it be at its Cataracts where it falls from so great a height that as they say the noise of it is heard at a very great distance When it overflows it seems to be a little Sea. The water of it is very thick and muddy but they have an Invention to clarifie it For in that Country An invention for clarifying the water of the Nile they make use of great Vessels of white Earth holding about four Buckets full of Water when they are full of Water they rub the inside of the Vessels with three or four Almonds at most until they be dissolved and in the space of a quarter of an Hour the Water becomes very clear and for that end most of those who bring Water to Houses have a Paste of Almonds wherewith they rub the Vessels as I have said After all this Water is so wholesome that it never does any harm though one drink never so much of it because it comes a great way over Land to wit from Ethiopia So that in so long a course and through so hot a Country the Sun has time to Correct it and cleanse it from all Crudities and indeed it is sweated out as fast as one drinks it In short The number of Villages upon the Banks of the Nile they have no other Water to drink in Aegypt and therefore most of the Cities Towns and Villages are upon the sides of the River and there are so many Villages that you no sooner leave one but you find another and all the Houses in them are built of Earth This River abounds not much in Fish and we had but one good Fish of the Nile at Caire which they call Variole and that is rare too Variole Crocodiles but there are a vast number of Crocodiles in it which perhaps is the cause of the scarcity of the
Fish Crocodiles are Amphibious Animals for they live both in the Water and upon Land They have a Head flat above and below the Eyes indifferently big and very darkish which has made many say that they always weep after once they are taken but it is a fable They have a long sharp Snout full of long and sharp Teeth but no Tongue The Body is large and all of a bigness the Back covered with high Scales like the heads of the Nails in a Court-Gate of a greenish Colour and so hard that they are proof against a Halbard they have a long Tail covered over with Scales like the Body their Belly below is white and pretty tender They have four short thick Legs there being five Claws in each of the Fore-feet and only four in the Hind-feet In a word a Crocodile resembles very much a Lizard and grows as long as it lives some of them are above twenty Foot in length but I have seen little ones half a Foot long This and the Hippopotamus are the only Animals who in eating move the upper Jaw and move not at all the under The Crocodile is very strong and one day as I caused one of them which was eight Foot long to be skinned four Men stood upon it whilst they were slitting up his Belly but it stirred and strugled with so much force that it threw them all four off it is also very strong liv'd for when they skin it after they have cut the Throat and opened the Belly of it if it catch hold of any thing in its mouth it will never part from it As it happened once to a Moor whom I knew who having skinned one for a French-man who had a mind to keep the Skin and cutting the Throat had separated the Head from the Body so that there remained no more but the Head sticking to the Skin all the flesh being taken out he untied the Snout but immediately thereupon the Jaws opening caught hold of one of his Fingers which with its Teeth it cut clear off The flesh of a Crocodile is not bad but it is somewhat insipid and not at all poysonous as many believe for I have tasted of it and found it to be good the Barbarians eat heartily and make a great Feast of it These Creatures are great lovers of Mens flesh and therefore they are very terrible all along the Nile not only to little Boys whom they frequently devour when they come to the River-side to do their Needs for these cunning creatures hide themselves but also to Men whom they surprise sometimes in their Boats. For in the Night-time they rise upright and thrusting their Snout into the Boat endeavour to catch hold of a Man and if they can but pull him into the Water they quickly master him and that is the reason that no Body will willingly venture to Swim in the Nile It is another most erroneous fable also that a Crocodile will weep like a young Child to draw People about it whom it may devour How Crocodiles are taken it is a thing altogether unknown in that Country To catch these Creatures they make a great many Pits by the River-side which they cover over with Sticks and such other things and so when they come to pass over these Ditches especially when the Water encreases which is the time when most of them are taken because then they venture farthest out they fall into them and cannot get out again They let them fast there for several days then let down some Gins with running Nooses wherewith they muzzle their Snout and so pull them up and carry them to the Quarters of the Franks The Moors say That at old Caire there is a Talisman against the Crocodiles which makes that they never pass beyond old Caire but that is false for there are of them at Rossetto and Damiette and they are to be seen upon the way to Caire not indeed in any great number because commonly they keep off from the Sea but there some at least to be found there They never come into the Khalis because as I think it is narrow but if they did they might do a great deal of mischief for when the Water runs in it it is full of Swimmers Hippopotamus There are Hippopotamuses or Sea-Horses also in this River and there was one taken at Girge in the Year 1658. which was immediately brought to Caire where I saw it in the Month of February the same Year This Creature was of a kind of Tawny Colour the hinder part of it was much like to a Buffler however its Legs were shorter and bigger it was about the bigness of a Camel and had a Muzzle like an Ox. The Head of it is like to a Horses and very great but its Eyes small It had a very thick Neck a little Ear wide and open Nostrils thick large Feet and almost round with four Toes in each like a Crocodile a little Tail like an Elephant and little or no Hair upon the Skin no more than an Elephant In the lower Jaw it had four great Teeth half a Foot long two whereof were crooked and as big as the Horns of an Ox and one on each side of the Jaw the other two were streight and of the same bigness as the crooked but standing out in length Many said at first that it was a Sea-Buffler but some others and I knew it to be a Sea-Horse because of the description that is given of it by Writers It was brought Dead to Caire by some Janizaries who shot it on Land where it was come to feed they fired several shot at it before it fell for the Bullets hardly pierced through its Skin as I observed but they fired one shot which hit it on the Jaw and made it fall For many years before such an Animal had not been seen at Caire But to return to the Nile this River causes all the fruitfulness of Aegypt and if it failed to overflow one year there would be a Famine in the Land nay if it did not rise sixteen foot there would be great Scarcity as also if it grew four and twenty foot it would likewise occasion a Dear 〈◊〉 because the water covering all the Land too long Seed-time would be lost when it ebbs off it leaves a fat nitrous slime upon the ground which so fattens the Land that it would produce nothing through too much Fatness if they did not sow Sand upon it before they plant or sow any thing therein so that they are at the same pains to put Sand on their Land to unfatten it as we are to Dung ours Not that it never rains there as many Dreamers would have us believe in Christendom squeezing their Brains to give a reason for that which is not in Nature for it rains much at Alexandria and Rossetto also but at Caire which stands higher it rains less and yet I have seen it rain very hard every year for two days together in the
with an Army of Rogues that begged something of us and to say the truth it is no easie matter for a Stranger to Embark there for there are so many of these Rascals to whom some Maidins must be given that one is quite Stunned with them At length being in the Boat we went to the Block-house to give in our Cockets to shew that all our Goods had been searched at the Custome-house and there it behoved us also to pay three Maidins a piece but those that are at Bouquer cannot be searched for they are without the reach of Cannon shot From the Farillon or Block-house we went streight to Bouquer where we arrived about six a Clock at Night but it blew so hard that we durst not go a board the Ship so that we put a-shoar and lodged in a Coffee-House keeping our Boat with us for there was none to be found there and that was the reason we came by Sea and not over Land knowing very well that we should find no Boats there besides it is more convenient and cheaper to go by Sea than over Land when one has any quantity of Goods We staid then some days a-shoar waiting for a fair wind to carry us on Board during which time I observed that place as well as I could though it signified no great matter Bouquer is a Castle built upon a point of land Bouquer that runs out a little into the Sea. It is square having on each corner a little Tower mounted with some small Guns a Dungeon or great Tower in the middle with a light House on the top of it and a Mosque The Castle is like an Island there being a gut of Sea-water two steps over betwixt it and the main Land to which it is joined by a wooden Bridge that joins to one of Stone it is beside encompassed all round with Rocks but they have no other water but what they fetch from a Well at a pretty distance from the Castle Heretofore there was an Aqueduct that brought water from a Fountain at the old port of Alexandria to this Castle and this Aqueduct is still to be seen The Castle has in it a great many Soldiers commanded by a Muteferaca but it does not seem to be well provided of Cannon for while I was at Caire Papachin a famous Corsair came with Spanish Colours and took both an English and a French Ship that had put themselves under the protection of its shot the Castle firing only two Guns but the Aga was made Mansoul for it It has some Guns however and two among the rest whereof the one has the Arms of France and the other of Marseilles the Turks who are very bad Historians say that they are as old as St. Louis who left them at Monsour near to Damiette There is about a score of Houses near to this Castle and a little farther off as many more but the French are not suffered to water at Bouquer Friday Saturday and Sunday there blew so violent a North wind that on Friday night or Saturday Morning a Dutch Ship called the Soldatero was cast away in the port of Alexandria The evening before that disaster happened the Aga of the Block-house sent word to the Captain of that Ship that he should have a care of himself that he thought his Ship made too much travel and that he had best put out another Anchor but he slighting the advice and his Cables firing in the night-time the ship struck against the Rocks with so much Violence that she broke into small bits no bigger than ones hand as Don Philippo who saw it told me and eight Men Perished The same night a Ship of Messina which arrived at Bouquer two days before broke her Cables and having quickly got under Sail to save her self was forced in by the Storm near to Madia not without danger of being wracked there for it is almost at the Mouth of the Nile where there is no Water for a Vessel of any Burthen Our ship had also some share in the danger occasioned by that Storm for she lost two Cables and saved only one that held out The chief Mate also going in the Evening to the head to see if it was not like to Fire was thrown over Board but five and twenty or thirty Ropes being immediately thrown out to him he caught hold of some of them and so was pulled in The Captain would have reckoned his Ship as good as lost if that Mate had been cast away for he confided much in him and indeed he was a skilful Sea-man In short if that Cable had given as the other two did the Ship must unavoidably have been lost for they had not one good Cable more having lain three or four Months at an Anchor CHAP. LXXXVI Our departure from Bouquer and our getting on Board the Ship. MOnday the third of February the Wind flackening a little though it blew still a strong gale from West we went into our boat and put out from Bouquer about eight a Clock in the Morning In a good hours time we came to the Ship and immediately after Don Philippo came This ship carryed thirty Guns of which the greatest eighteen pound Ball the smaller twelve Pounders except two little Brass pieces in the Cuddie which carried but five pounders a piece There were two of these Guns in the steerage which were charged with Bunches of Grapes that is to say clusters of little leaden Bullets split in the middle that yet stick all together but when they are shot scatter into so many pieces In this place there were two port-holes to run out the Guns if the ship were attacked and came to a close Fight so that there being two also in the Fore-castle and two more in the Cuddie charged in the fame manner they would so scower the Deck fore and aft that I believe if two hundred men should have come on Board they would all have had their share Scopa Coperta These Guns in the Streights are called Scopa Coperta that is to say a covered Broom and when they fire them they ring a little Bell that those of the ships company who are at the other end of the ship may fall flat on their Bellies and receive no hurt Our ship had sixty four men a board she was very great had fair large Cabins and two Decks In the lower Deck they had a very convenient Pump it is an Iron-Chain in form of a Chaplet that reaches down to the Sink having little pieces of Leather about half as long as ones hand and somewhat hollow and fastened to it at every half foots distance this is turned by two Handles one on each side and it is incredible how much water it will raise insomuch that if a ship were full she might be emptied by such a Pump in two hours time So soon as we were come on Board we hired every one of us a Cabin to lye in for my part I hired one for six
Crowns upon the Deck in the Ships Wast These Cabins are like presses made along the ship side I put my quilt into mine and crept into it by a little hole but being within I neither felt cold nor the tossing of the Vessel for I was in the middle of the Ships length There were so many such Cabins in this Ship that not only the Officers but all the Sea-men likewise had every one his Cabin some also lay in Hammocks made fast to the Deck above which is very commodious for let the Ship toss never so much it is not to be felt in these Hammocks which hang always perpendicular The English are very good Sea-men and observe excellent order on board their Ships not dismayed at all at bad Weather and so exact in keeping account of the ships way every day that during all our Voyage I never knew them six miles out in their reckoning They measure the Ships way with a Log or little flat and very thin piece of Wood tied to a line and when they throw it into the Sea they turn a half minute Sand-Glass there being an hundred and twenty of them in an hour and then drop the Log from the Stern letting the line run off till the Glass be out then they pull in the line and reckon how much of it hath been in the water every seven fathom of the line making a mile in an hour this they did every time the Wind encreased or abated never grudging their labour and the four Mates were always present when they heaved the Log who after it was done went to their several Cabins and set down how much the ship had run for every one of them keeps a Journal This is very useful to know how far the ship is from Land and to prevent running a-shoar in the Night-time in short the English are very expert in that That which only displeased me in this Voyage was the great number of Candles that were lighted in the Night time betwixt Decks and in the Cabins for there were above thirty Barbary Men on board who had been at Mecha and were returning into their own Country all these Men lay upon the lower Gun-Deck there being a rank of Beds on each side and a passage in the middle betwixt them and had all their lighted Lamps stuck to the Deck and burning in the Night-time which made me always extremely afraid the Ship might be set on fire and besides that since the least glipse of light is in the Night-time seen a great way off at Sea I was apprehensive it might have directed some Corsair or some Ship of the Venetian Fleet towards us For I had smarted already and knew very well what Blades they were nay more I fancied that they were not careful enough in smoaking their Tobacco However they told me still that there was no danger in what I feared CHAP. LXXXVII Our Ships sailing from Bouquer TVesday the fourth of February the Purser who was still at Alexandria came on board with some Provisions and then having taken in our Boats we set sail from Bouquer Wednesday the fifth of February we steered our course North with an easie West-wind it was a calm in the Evening but in the Night it blew hard from West with several storms of Rain and Wind which lasted till next day at Noon Thursday the sixth of February All that while we bore away North-north-west in the Evening the Wind shifted about to North-west and lasted till next day the seventh of February when after Noon the Wind turning North-north-west we tackt and stood away West-south-west least the Wind might force us too near the Isle of Rhodes The night following the Wind slackned and Saturday the eighth of February we were becalmed from Morning till Noon when we had a little Gale from South then we steered away West-north-west but the Wind lasted not After that to our great trouble we were becalmed for several days Saturday-night or Sunday-morning the sixteenth of February there fell a great deal of Rain which lasted till day when we were still becalmed and about eleven a Clock in the Morning with a breeze of Wind from West-north-west we stood away South-west the Wind blowing fresher in the evening until Midnight during that time we tackt and stood away towards the Isle of Candia and the Night being very dark we ran so far till we saw a Light close on Head which the Men could not discern whether it was ashoar or in a small Pinnace which in the day-time we saw making for Candia at length for fear of striking on Ground they tackt about again before Midnight bearing away South-west Monday the seventeenth of February after Midnight the Winds so chopt and changed that we had all sorts of Winds and about Morning it blew so hard from West-north-west that we were forced to furl all our Sails except the Main-sail and tye the Helm to Midships this Wind brought with it many storms of Rain that lasted not long About one a Clock after Noon it Hailed which changed the Wind to the North but seeing it blew harder than it had done in the Morning we could not carry high Sails but continued the same Course If the Wind had not been so violent we would have steered our Course West-north-west This Wind lasted till Tuesday the eighteenth of February when about an hour before day it slackened a little and then we spread our Fore-sail the Wind being still too high to carry our Maintop-sail however we stood away West the Wind abating a little after we spread our Maintop-sail and shortly after that the Mizzain and Foretop-sail After noon the Wind chopt about to North-west and blew so fresh that we were forced to furl our Foretop-sail and steered away West-south-west till Wednesday Morning the nineteenth of February when the Wind changing to North-north-west we put abroad our Foretop-sail again and stood away West and a little after we spread all our Sails About two hours after day we made Cape Rasaxarra Rasaxarra in Barbary and stood in within almost thirty Miles of it it is a very low Land then we tackt about again towards the Gozo of Candia About two hours before night we were becalmed and about two hours after Night was in we had the long look'd for East Wind but it was easie however with it we steered our course West-north-west until Thursday Morning the twentieth of February when after a little Rain that fell the Wind chopt about to South-south-east whilst in the mean time we made all sail and stood away North-north-west a little after we turned our Ships-head to West-north-west running above eight Miles an hour upon a Wind which we would have continued to do had we not been afraid to have been embeyed within a bad Gulf Hihal called Hihal that runs out into the Sea and therefore we stood away before the Wind till we had weathered it all this while the Fore-sail and Sprit-sail did us no service
there are a great many Fountains with lovely Basons of one entire piece of Marble brought from Genoa and as in the House of Don Philippo an open Hall with a great reservatory in the middle and walks all round it roofed over and supported by several Pillars this as also all the Rooms are paved with black and white Marble adorned with Gold and Azure and that kind of Clay or Plaister-work There are several fair appartments in all these Houses which have lovely Gardens full of Orange and several other Fruit-Trees planted in as good order as in Christendom with many neat Beds and borders of Flowers at the ends of Walks all made by Christian slaves These Houses are called Bardes from the Moresco word Berd that signifies Cold because there is a fresh Air about them Near that place there is an Aqueduct built by a Dey which brings Water four or five miles off to Tunis A few steps from that there is another Aqueduct somewhat older yet still modern which is parallel to the former and carries Water also to Tunis Another day I went to see the Cantre which belongs to Schelebi whom I mentioned Cantre the Son of Hisouf Dey and is four leagues from Tunis As you go thither you pass by the old Aqueducts of Carthage which are about half way they are at that place very entire still raised high and built of very great stones From Tunis to the Cantre most of the way is over large Fields planted with Olive-Trees some steps distant from one another but in so streight a line that they look like Walks which would be very pleasant were it not that these ways are always full of Rain-water and mire as all the Countrey about Tunis is because it lyes upon a level We came then to the Cantre so called from a Bridge which Hisouf Dey the Father of Schelebi built over a River called Magerda Magerda for Cantre in Moresco signifies Bridge This River Magerda is neither very broad nor rapid but enough to deserve the name of a fair River it runs near to the House of Schelebi and his Father built a stone Bridge to cross over it the spaces betwixt the Pillars of the seven Arches being built up from the bottom to the surface of the Water with huge pieces of Free-stone so that the water passing through the Arches and finding it lower on the other side makes at every arch a very pleasant Cascade two foot high where the Water falls with a great noise Upon that River there are several Iron-Mills as also for grinding Corn and fulling the Caps called Fez-Caps which are made at Zagouaro by Tagarins All that work in these Mills are the slaves of Schelebi At the end of the Bridge is the House of Schelebi built in form of a Castle it hath one very large Court and other smaller ones the Rooms as in other Houses are beautified with Gold Azure and Plaistering with Fountains every where and all paved with Marble so that they are more magnificent than those I had seen before There are lovely Pictures in those Rooms for formerly this Schelebi was very rich his Father having left him a vast Estate and among other things eighteen hundred Slaves but he hath run out a great deal in his Debaucheries he is a man of a generous Heart and if he were once in Christendom he would never leave it again He keeps open table for all Franks that come to see his House and is so courteous that he never refuses any thing and if he have not what is asked from him he uses means to procure it at any rate that he may freely give it When I went to his House he was not there for he was then at Tabarque a little Island in the Kingdom of Tunis within a Musquet shot of the main Land but three days Journey from Tunis That Island belongs to the Genoese who have a very good Fort and drive a great trade there and among other things in Horses which are called Barbes The Schelebi was gone thither to buy Timber for building of a Galley About three Leagues from the Cantre there is a place called Tabourbe where there are some ancient ruines and chiefly an ancient Temple but I went not to see it because then I must have lain there or at the Cantre and I had not time to spare for our Captain put us in hopes daily that he would sail next day That was the reason also that I went not to Suze neither which is a long days journey from Tunis it is the place where there are more Antiquities than any where else in the Kingdom of Tunis and I believe that thereabouts there are ruines of Churches and other things relating to St Augustin to be seen CHAP. LXXXXI Of Tunis and of the Slaves that are there TVNIS the Capital City of the Kingdom of the same name lyes in a Plain it is pretty big and the Houses are indifferently well built though they make no shew but they are all Marble Gold and Azure within The Suburbs of this City are as big as the City itself which is all paved but dirty as heretofore Paris was so that after rain there is hardly any going in the Streets There is a Castle upon an Eminence within the Town which commands it and it makes a very pretty shew There are some Guns before the Gate and the front of it looks well which is all that I could see of it nor indeed durst I eye it attentively for I had warning given me that it was dangerous for Christians to be curious in viewing that Castle I past by it then but very fast and hard by over against it there is a Burying-place Not far frem the Castle there is Bazar for Drapers it is a long broad street with shops on both sides all which have the fore part supported by four Pillars two on each side none but Drapers keep shop there but there are several other Bazars also for other Commodities Baths for Slaves at Tunis There are thirteen Baths in Tunis where all the Slaveslodge except those that are kept in their Masters Houses and as several Slaves told me there may be there in all ten or twelve thousand Christian Slaves who carry every one a great ring of Iron at their foot Knights of Malta at Tunis but the Knights of Malta have besides that a huge Iron-Chain above five and twenty pound weight which is fastened to the Ring that Chain is very troublesome to them for they must either turn it quite round their Leg and make it fast there which is very heavy when they walk or hang it by a hook that they have by their side which commonly gives them a pain in the side or else must carry it on their Shoulders In these Baths there is a great Hall where they are shut up in the Night-time there they lodge as well as they can some having little Rooms made of wood to which they
themselves insupportable to all People forcing all the Women and Boys they meet with so that if a Dey would have his Son to succeed him he must get him made Dey in his own Life-time The Aga of the Customes at Tunis Gillet They have at Tunis also an Aga of the Customes who has a vast Revenue and is a man of great Authority The Moors of Barbary are not altogether Apparrelled like the Turks for instead of a Doliman and a Vest they wear a Wastecoat which they call Gillet and over it a Justacors which reaches down to the knee girt about with a large Girdle on their head they wear a Fez-cap shaped like a Bell and a thick Turban round it They are all Apparrelled after this manner except some Officers as for instance there are six Chiaoux's of Justice who wear a sharp pointed Cap with a Turban about it and a kind of Hanging-sleeve that is interlaced with it behind their back the Oda Bashas go much after the same manner but there is this difference that their Hanging-sleeve ends as it were in a pair of Horns They have no Janizaries but men of pay and generally all Renegadoes so that Italian is very commonly spoken at Tunis and if a Christian would say any thing that he would not have known he should not speak French neither for he might easily be understood and pay dear for it CHAP. LXXXXIII Of the Punishments which are in Vse at Tunis THE Punishments used at Tunis differ according to the quality of the Persons When a Turk in pay deserves Death he is Executed in a Chamber and not Publickly They make him sit down in a Chair and two Christian Slaves pulling each an end of a Cord that is put about his Neck quickly strangle him The Turks of mean condition or Moors are Hanged upon the outside of the Walls they set them upon the Wall put about their Neck a Halter made fast in a hole purposely made in the Wall and then pushing them down they are also soon dispatched As for Maids or Women that have deserved Death they choak them in the Oaze by the Sea-side putting their Head into it and a Man setting his Foot upon their Neck They have other very cruel Punishments for the Renegadoes that turn Christians again They wrap them up in Pitched Cloth put a Cap of the same upon their Head and then make a Fire round them Or otherwise they put them to a crueller Death For they wall them up so that there is nothing but their Head without the Wall and having rubbed over their Head and Face with Honey leave them so exposed for three days and as many nights to the discretion of the Flies which pain them to Death within less time The Slaves are punished with Bastonadoes or they cut off their Ears or Nose according to the quality of the Offence But if a Slave kill his Master or any other Turk they break his Legs and Arms then tie him to a Horses Tail and after they have dragged him so about the Town strangle him giving the Body to the Franks to be Buried but most commonly the Boys take him from the Executioner as they did a French Man a little before I came to Tunis for there are no wickeder Boys in the World than in that Town They snatcht that dead Body out of the Executioners hands in spight of the Mezoar Mezoar who is the Officer whom in Turky they call the Sous-basha and having dragged him about for some time longer they Roasted him a little with Straw which they kindled under him and then threw him into the Ditch out of which the French afterwards took him and buried him in their Burying Place called St. Anthony for the English have one by themselves When I was at Tunis the Franks lived severally in the Houses which they Hired but they were a Building a pretty commodious Oquele where they must all Lodge with their Consuls as in other places of the Levant CHAP. LXXXXIV Our Departure from Goletta and the Continuation of our Voyage AT length our Captain having done all his Business and the Wind offering fair it was time for us to leave Tunis We parted from thence on Wednesday the six and twentieth of March Carthage about eleven a Clock in the Morning and went by Land on Horse-back that we might see somewhat of Carthage We went close by the Ruines of it which are above three Leagues from Tunis and there saw the remains of stately Aqueducts which conveyed water from Zagouan to Carthage many of the Arches whereof are still standin the Road to the Cantre as we said before The Ruines of Carthage signifie but little being only heaps of Stones and some places under Ground where there are great Cisterns nay from these Ruines they daily carry away Marble and other Stones for their Buildings in Tunis and the Country Houses about We came to the Sea-side about three a Clock in the Afternoon and being got on board we stayed still there all that day because our Captain had some Business to do with him that Commanded at Goletta concerning the dues that he is to have from every Ship. Next morning Thursday the seven and twentieth of March we set sail with a good South-east Wind steering away North-north-west but about Noon the Wind slackened a little and the night following it turned Northerly which made us put back again to the Road of Goletta where we arrived on Friday the twenty eighth of March about ten a Clock in the morning Saturday the nine and twentieth of March the Wind veered about to North-east and the night following we had all sorts of Winds At length Sunday the thirtieth of March we had a gentle Gale from South-west and an hour after day we set sail steering our course North but about ten a Clock we were becalmed and about Noon it blew a breez from North which within an hour after changed to North-east and an hour after that to East so that we still kept on our Course Two hours within Night the Wind turned South-south-west and we stood away North-north-east Monday morning the one and thirtieth of March we were becalmed and continued so till Tuesday the first of April when about ten a Clock in the Morning we had a small Gale from North-west and we steered away West towards Sardinia In the Evening two hours after Sun-set the Wind turned Easterly and we stood our Course again North-north-east in the night-time we had a calm which lasted all next day Wednesday the second of April However it always blew a little breez sometimes one way sometimes another though the Sea was still smooth and calm In the Evening from the Maintop head we made a Sail off of Sardinia which followed its Course as we did ours Northward with a gentle Gale from East We were becalmed in the night-time and continued so till next day the third of April when about nine in the morning it blew a
day time had been very rough and high Tuesday morning the twelfth of February we perceived the Sea very white about us and he that looked out cryed Land some thought it to be Damiette and others Bouquer In the mean time that we might not fall to the Lee ward we continued our course South-West About eight of the Clock we tacked and stood North East and a quarter of an hour after the Wind turning North-West we bore away West-South-West after an hours sailing we found the Water to be so little brackish that it was almost fresh and he that looked out thought he made Rossetto Wherefore thinking that we knew where we were we tacked about and stood away North-North-East About Noon the Wind freshened and at Night turned Northerly but was very gentle about ten of the Clock at Night we tacked and bore away West Wednesday about four in the morning we tacked and steered our course East-North-East and two hours after the Wind blowing fresher we tacked again and stood West-South-West About seven a Clock in the Morning we saw to the Lar-board land very near us which we all took to be the Land betwixt Bouquer and Rossetto so that we continued our course hoping quickly to see the Bouquer and that till eleven in the Forenoon when having discovered the Masts of several Saicks we thought our selves to be off and on with Rossetto and so we found our selves far out in our account wherefore having tacked about we bore away East-North-East about ten of the Clock at Night we tacked again and stood West-South-West and after midnight we had several Flurries Thursday morning the fourteenth of February the Wind slackened a little but we had several gusts till Noon about eleven in the Morning he that looked out made the Bouquer Bouquer and an hour after we easily saw it upon the Deck a little after we made the Farillon or Light-house of Alexandria where we arrived about three in the Afternoon when we entered the Haven by the South CHAP. II. Of some Curiosities observed during the Voyage and in Alexandria IN this Voyage I was convinced of one thing which I had read in the Travels of Monsieur de Breves but could hardly believe it because I had never heard it mentioned by any but him and that is that when sounding upon the Coast of Egypt one has onely forty fathom water it is certain he is just forty miles from land Marks for knowing how near one is to Land upon the Coast of Egypt the depth of the water from forty fathom downwards to one marking exactly the number of miles from the place where one sounds to the Land But under the name of the Coast of Egypt we are onely to understand the Land from Damiette to Rossetto betwixt the two Branches of the Nile for this rule is onely for that extent of Land. Besides the Murenes I mentioned before we took two other fish in our Voyage Porpess to wit a Porpess which was taken with a Fish-gig above Malta over against Cape Passaro Cape Passaro it was about five foot long and almost as big as a man without scales blackish in the back and white in the belly the head of it was about a foot and a half long and a large foot over its eyes as large as a mans and betwixt the two eyes it hath a hole like the mould in the head of a man by which it sucks in and spouts out the Water making it look like a Crown it hath two Cheeks which are onely of fat two Inches thick they begin at the eyes of it and end almost round at the snout which from the Cheeks to the point is about five Inches long and is shaped much like the beak of a Goose the Tongue of it is white a finger thick and two fingers broad it had an hundred threescore and sixteen Teeth all very small Its tail stands another way than the Tails of other fish which are forked upwards and downwards answering to their back and belly for the Tail of this is forked cross ways parallel to its two sides it hath the Yard and Testicles as big and long as those of a Boar and its Entrals wholly resembling those of Swine its skin is all fat a finger thick of which Lamp-oyl is made the flesh of it is like to that of an Oxe and very good I have tasted it and by the sight and taste one would always take it for Beef it hath onely great Bones and no small ones abounds with bloud which is as hot as that of a Beast it moans and sighs like a man and dies not presently when it is out of the Water but beats furiously with the Tail wherein its greatest strength lies A Fish called Fanfre The other Fish which was also taken with a Fish-gig is by the Provincials called Fanfre and is probably the same which the English call the Pilot-Fish there was two of them then together but one escaped the stroak This Fish is shaped like a Mackerel and is of the same length and bigness I found nothing singular in it all the back of it is begirt with streaks two fingers broad the one of a dark purple almost black and the other blew which interchangeably reach from the head to the Tail and the belly of it is white The Seamen say that this Fish coming once up with a Ship never leaves following till the ship come to harbour another being taken two days after they all assured me that it was the companion of the first which had not left off following the Vessel After all to my taste it is an excellent Fish and so it seemed to all those who had eaten of them formerly and also tasted these Seeing there are but few things in Alexandria which I did not observe in my former Travels I gave my self no great trouble to charge my Memoires with them at this time This Town lies exactly in the one and thirtieth degree of latitude and Rossetto is one and thirty and a half at least a Dutch Captain who had taken the height of them assured me of it The most considerable piece of antiquity that still remains there The Pillar of Pompey is that famous Pillar of Pompey whereof as I remember I have already written Nevertheless as I took pleasure to view it over and over again so possibly the Curious will not take it ill that I impart to them my observations I measured the shadow of it at the time when shadows are equal to the bodies which cause them and I found the body of it to be threescore and fifteen foot high without reckoning the Pedestal and Cornish but the shadow was upon a very declining ground Another day when the shadows were the double of the Bodies I found near an hundred and threescore foot onely of the body of it and eight foot of diameter or breadth and I observed that the Pedestal is near twelve foot high All
know that the Cornish of this Pillar is of the Corinthian order The same day also I saw something very remarkable which I had not sufficiently considered in my former Travels Being abroad with some others by the gate Del Pepe which looks betwixt South and West about a thousand paces from that gate as we went betwixt South and West streight towards the Palus Mareotis leaving the Pillar of Pompey to the left Burying places of the ancient Egyptians we saw Grotto's cut in the Rock we entered into one of them stooping and leaning upon our hands with lighted Wax-candles being within we found that the Roof was above ten foot high cut very smooth and on all sides we saw Sepulchres made in the Wall which is the Rock it self and of these there are four Stories one over another and from one range to another and from Story to Story there is but half a foots distance so that the intervals seem to be so many Pillars which support those that are over them their depth reaches to the bottom of the Sepulchres and so they serve for Walls to separate the one from the other In these Sepulchres we saw many dead mens Bones which we handled and found them to be as fresh and hard as if the men had died but the day before There were some lying upon the ground at the Entry into the Grotto which had been thrown out there I handled and broke some of them and found that they were rotten in the air but they crumbled not into ashes onely broke longways like rotten Elder nay they were also moist and had a kind of marrow within Coming out of that Grotto we entered into another opposite unto it where we saw Sepulchres as in the other at the bottom we found a way that led very far in but because we must have gone double in the manner as we entered the first Gotto and marched in that posture at least as far as we could see by the light of our Wax-candles we thought best not to enter in and be contented with the Relation we had that it reached above two French Leagues in length This was all that we could learn from the Turks who were with us and who told us besides that the Ancient Inhabitants of Alexandria had dugg those places to lay their dead in there is a great deal of probability of the truth of that and that it has been some burying-place I then considered the Palus Mareotis it reaches in breadth out of sight Palus Mareotis Khalis and is but some hundred of paces distant from the Khalis which hath its course betwixt the same Palus Mareotis and the Pillar of Pompey but they have no communication together Another day I went up to the Hill where the Tower is wherein there is commonly a Watchman to put out the Flag so soon as any Vessel appears A Watch-Tower from thence I easily discovered all the City and the Sea with the Palus Mareotis and all the Countrey about Being come down I went on Foot round the Ancient Walls of Alexandria beginning at the Water-gate The circuit of Alexandria that looks to the North and for some time going streight North till the Wall turns off in a right Angle towards the East and after fifty paces length turns again towards the North making there an obtuse Angle it continues so towards the North till you come over against the Palace of Cleopatra The Palace of Cleopatra which stood upon the Walls opposite to the mouth of the Harbour having a Gallery running outwards supported by many fair Pillars of which some remains are still to be seen on the Sea-side That Gallery they say and not without probability reached even into the Palace so that one might embark there In a Tower hard by are to be seen three Pillars standing which support a little Dome that in former times stood upon four but there is one wanting I cannot conceive for what use that little Dome was being in a place where there is no light perhaps it stood over some Cistern which at present is stopt up Ten or twelve steps from that Tower there is a Cistern where there are two Stories of Pillars and in many other places there are Cisterns supported in the same manner Cisterns upon Pillars Obelisks so that it would seem that most part of the Town hath stood upon Pillars A few steps from thence there are to be seen two Obelisks of Thebaick Stones one of which lies buried in the Earth nothing of it but the foot appearing the other is standing but the Earth must needs be raised very high in that place for in all probability that Obelisk is upon its pedestal of which nothing is to be seen nay not the foot of the Obelisk it self Opposite to this place the Wall turns again towards the East and with the other plane makes almost a returning right Angle and after a considerable space doubles inwards making a square but an hundred paces farther it runs out again a pretty way towards the North-East and stretches Northwards then making a sharp Angle it points betwixt East and South-Eastward as far as the Gate of Rossette after which it maketh an obtuse Angle and reaches along betwixt the West and South-West Along that side runs the Khalis and a little farther is the Palus Mareotis parallel unto it which is so broad that one can hardly see Land on the other side of it When we come over against the Pillar of Pompey which stands to the South of the Town on this side the Khalis we find the Gate del Pepe or Sitre which looks to the South-West and West and then the Wall which is doubled inwards in this place to make the Gate continues on towards the South-West and West as far as a New Castle which seems to be very strong and near to which a little from the Gate del Pepe the Khalis enters under the Wall into the conduits of the City from which all have Water into their Cisterns by means of Pousseragues Aqueducts Afterwards the Wall turns streight North and passes along the old Harbour opposite to which on the right hand are to be seen the Aqueducts which heretofore conveyed the Water of the Khalis from the Castle of the old Harbour to Bouquer Then the Wall runs streight betwixt North-East and North to the Water-Gate We were two hours in going the compass of Alexandria which reaches in length from East to West but is very narrow CHAP. III. Of what happened in the way from Alexandria to Sayde and from Sayde to Damascus Departure from Alexandria I Parted from Alexandria on Thursday the twenty eighth of February about nine of the clock in the morning in a Germe or open Boat but seeing the Wind was easie and that we were becalmed in the afternoon we put in again to the Harbour of Bouquer which we had passed On Board of that Germe there was a Corsar of Barbary
be twelve Horse-men armed with Muskets who came from Mosul where we arrived the six and twentieth of July three quarters of an hour after five in the Morning A little before we came there one of our Company having alighted and returning back to look for his Sword which he had dropt was stript of all by the Arabs CHAP. XI Of Mosul Mosul WE entered Mosul by Bagdad Capisi that looks to the South and at that Gate I payed a Piastre to the Janissaries I went and lodged with the Capucins who were lately arrived there to settle a mission by orders of the Congregation de propaganda fide and therefore as yet they were but very ill accommodated but a house was a preparing for them which a Syrian Priest had let them at a pretty dear rate There were but two Capucins there to wit the Reverend Father John and brother George who charitably administred Physick to all the People without distinction of Religion This with the knowledge he had of all Diseases dew so many sick People to their house that it was always as full as an Hospital They came to him even ten days Journey off and the most powerfull sent and prayed him to come to them from all parts of Mesopotamia Aasour The City of Mosul anciently called Aasour stands upon the side of the Tigris which runs to the East of it it is encompassed with Walls of rough stone plastered over with little pointed Battlements on the top two fingers breadth thick and four or five broad much like to wooden Pales I think that one may walk round this Town in an hours time there is a Castle in the water which is narrow but reaches out in length from North to South and is almost of an oval figure towards the River it is all built of Free stone and the Walls are about three fathom high on the land-side it is separated from the Town by a ditch five or six fathom broad and very deep being filled with the River-Water and in this place it is about four fathom deep but is not faced with Free-stone above one fathom high from the foundation and the rest is only rough Stone The entry into it is on the side of the Town and the Gate is in the middle of a great square Tower built upon a strong and large Arch under which runs the Water of the ditch and there is a little Draw-Bridge to be past before one comes to the Gate which heretofore was strongly defended by Artillery for before it on the outside there are six large Guns still to be seen but one of them is broken and but one mounted there are about as many field-pieces and onely two of them mounted I was told that this Castle was built by the Christians and that there is a fair Church within it The Tigris seems to be somewhat broader than the River of Seine but is very deep and rapid nevertheless it has a Bridge of Boats over it a little below the Castle and opposite to one of the Gates of the City called Dgesir Capisi that 's to say the Bridge-Gate It consists of about thirty Boats on which they pass to an Isle the other end reaches not the Land unless it be by a Stone-Causey which is as long as the Bridge it self where it ends In Winter that Bridge is removed because the River then overflowing becomes as broad again as it is in Summer A few paces from the River-side there are large Ditches which it fills with water that is drawn out from thence for watering their grounds and that I think by a very silly invention They have great Buckets of Leather that hold more than a Barrel and at the bottom of the Bucket there is a large Pipe of Leather about three foot long such as I have in former times seen at Paris fastened to Casks full of water which served to water the Cours de la Reine This Bucket is fastened to a Rope put over a wheel that turns upon an Axletree whose ends enter into the Penthouses that are on each side of the Well and there is another Cord fastened to the Mouth of the Bucket that holds it upright to keep the water from spilling and this last Cord goes under the wheel these two Cords are fastened together to a great Rope and because it requires several men to draw the Bucket full of Water they fasten this great Rope to an Ox whom they drive foreward about twenty paces in descent that he may draw more easily and fast When the Bucket is up they let the water run out at the Pipe into a little furrow from whence it spreads over their grounds When that is done they bring the Ox back again and so set him a drawing as before I cannot tell why in this Countrey and in Persia they make no use of Pousseragues as in Egypt and the West of Turky Whilst I was at Mosul the Customer who learnt that I was a Franck sent for me and my servant and having presented me with Coffee he demanded of me ten Piastres for the Custome of two load of Goods which he said I had I pretended not to understand neither Turkish nor Arabick it being best to do so when one is known to be a Franck for many reasons I told him then by an Interpreter that I had not two load of Goods and that they were onely Books By chance there was a Syrian Merchant there called Codgia Elias who is very powerfull in Mosul and a friend of the Capucins and he had business with the Customer this Codgia seeing me took two Piastres out of his Purse which he threw to the Customer praying him to let me go for that but this generosity of a man whom I knew not making me distrust him I bid tell him that if he laid out any thing for me I could not repay it this put the Customer into so great a passion that having abused my servant with his tongue he sent him away to prison for my part I stayed there and he still treated me calmly and civilly enough At length Codgia Elias offering to pull out more Money I made him plainly to understand by Signs that I would not repay it wherefore he put up his Money again and departed not well satisfied with me though he brought my Servant back from prison again to whom the Customer gave leave to go to my Lodging for one of my Books that he might see it he came back and Father John with him who ordered matters so that I came off for two Piastres I thought it might not be unprofitable to relate these things Profitable advice which seem to be but trifles and yet may serve for a lesson to the Francks who travel in Turky when they find themselves in the like Circumstances and in places where there is no Consul nor Merchants for where there is any it is best to let them to whom you are recommended act because they know the
humour of the Customers and how they are to be dealt with Not that I pretend that my conduct should serve for a model to others but I think these are hints that can do no hurt and may do good seeing when one is instructed before hand he may better take his measures as to what he is to say and do upon the like occasions For my own part I thank God I came off very well in my own way and I always perceived that one must be as slow as he can in putting his hand in his Pocket in that Countrey Because when you are known to be a Franck if you pull out your Money as soon as they demand it they never leave off as long as they can squeeze one penny more from you The Name of a Franck so tickles them that when any such fall into their hands they drain from him all that they can imagining that Francks never travel but with Purses full of Chequins One must likewise have a special care not to let them see Gold but onely white Money and as little of that too as may be and in short one should have the cunning to pass for a poor Man. And therefore in these my last Travels I wore always mean Apparel so long as I was in Turky The best way in the world would be not to pass for a Franck if it could possibly be done and I was so well disguised when I parted from Legorn that understanding Turkish I succeeded in it not in Alexandria where I was too well known since the first time I had been there but at Rossetto and Saide but from that time forward travelling always with those who had seen me with Franks they presently blazed it abroad that I was a Franck. Mosul hath five Gates besides that which looks to the South The Gates of Mosul called Bagdad Capisi because that is the Gate by which they go to Bagdad There is a Mosque by it which formerly was very great but the Turks have demolished a good part of it least if the Persians should besiege that Town as they always do when they are Masters of Bagdad they might make that Mosque a Castle to batter the Town from The inside of it is entirely faced from the top to bottom with ornaments of Plaister laid upon the Walls and wrought with the Chizzel a good inch deep These ornaments are not so regular as those that are to be seen in Europe nay they are even a little confused and being but small are not easily distinguished though they escape not altogether the sight neither and particularly one may plainly observe a great many Roses But after all it is an agreeable confusion and since there is not one bit but what is covered with them even in the Seeling it self and that the ground is all azure it yields a sight that surprizes the Eye and in some sort contents it better than more regular and accomplished Beauties Nineveh On the other side of the River at the end of the Bridge begins the place where in ancient times stood the famous City of Neniveh which having repented upon the preaching of the Prophet Jonas forty years after relapsed into its former disorders wherefore the People of the Countrey say that God overturned the City and its Inhabitants who were buried in the Ruines with their heads down and their feet upwards There is nothing of it now to be seen but some Hillocks which they say are its foundations the Houses being underneath and these reach a good way below the City of Mosul A little more up on land on the same side is the Tomb of Jonas in the Mosque of a Village but I went not thither because of the excessive heat For two hours after Sun-rising there is no possibility of stirring abroad till at least an hour after it is set the Walls besides are so hot that half a foot from them one feels the heat as if it were of a hot Iron and therefore during the Summer all sleep in the Night-time upon Terrasses in the open Air both Men and Women And the last of July I observed in my Thermometre exposed to the Sun The degres of heat at Mosul seven and thirty degrees of heat In short the heat in Mesopotamia is certainly excessive and though when I travelled there I wore upon my head a great black handkerchief like a Womans hood that I might see through because the Turks commonly use these handkerchiefs upon the road nevertheless I had many times my Fore-head scorched that 's to say it became all over red after which it swelled exceedingly and then the skin came off my hands were also continually scorched Some also in the Caravan had their Eyes daily scorched and the remedy for it is a powder made of Sugar and long Pepper beat very small which being well mixt is put into a purse or rather a long narrow bag and when there is occasion for it they take a skewer like a bodkin of wood so long as to reach to the bottom of the bag ad having taken it out full of that powder draw it along betwixt the Eye and Eye-lid where it leaves all the powder that stuck to it and this must be done to each Eye severally In the City of Mosul there is a Mosque divided into several Isles by means of many arched Roofs it is adorned with Plaister-work as the former but much decayed Plaister it is at least as big as Nostre Dame of Paris The plaister wherewith they emblellish these Mosques is made of a certain Stone which they burn and then break and crush with rowlers drawn by Horses The houses of this Town are ill built and are rather ruines than houses even the Basha's own Serraglio for Mosul is a Bashaship being a very sorry place In this Countrey and in the rest of Assyria the Melons are not rough and in a manner carved as in Europe but they are long have a very smooth skin and for the most part the flesh white They are very good and eat as if they were full of Sugar but they are gathered so ripe that one may easily eat them with a spoon and the Levantines generally eat them so There are also some little round Melons which are white within and eat very short but they are not so good When we came to Poul in Persia we found some of the same shape but yet are of a quite different nature for they are never over ripe and I have eat of one that looked firm and green which I found to be very good and nevertheless all the seeds were already sprouted out an inch long nay it had a little Melon full shaped of the bigness of a Nut with a tail to which the seeds that produced it were still sticking it was not round but wanted not much of it and had the form that it could take in the vacuity it met with Having cut it I found seeds in it but so small
which are nothing else but bundles of poles about half a foot thick they are set at about two foot and a half distance one from another and are made as high so that there remains all round without a border or side-way two or three foot broad Afterwards they lay poles cross over from one bench to another and upon them they load the goods and place their passengers every one shifting for themselves aswell as they can upon the things they carry along with them So these boats are about four fathom long and three broad below and above when they are loaded about three fathom long and two broad and they are loading and all about five or six foot high These Borrachios must be wet every half quarter of an hour for fear they should squat for want of Wind which the boat-men do with a leathern pouch tied to the end of a pole There is neither rudder nor sail as I said and the whole crue consists of three Watermen two of which row the boat with Oars which are towards one of the ends on each side one and these Oars are no more but Poles having sins about two foot and a half long fastened to the end of them they are made of several pieces of Cane six or seven Inches long and the third Waterman wets the Borrachios They have neither stem nor stern and goe any way but commonly side ways quite contrary to ours Every evening these Barrachios must be new blow'd which they do with the ends of reeds and when they are cracked they mend them These Kelecks put a shoar always twice a day that the men may do their needs They are necessitated to make use of such boats because in the Summer-time a small boat of Timber cannot go upon that River by reason of the multitude of banks Two of these Kelecks were made and so soon as they were finished I sent to take a place but the answer I had was that they would not receive me because some said I had Wine and others Musk with me the smell whereof would heat them too much However since I would by no means lose that occasion the Reverend Father John spoke to some No Wine in a Keleck who promised that I should have a place on condition that I carried no Wine with me for they fancy that Wine would sink the Keleck And indeed I saw some Christians who had a great deal of credit but not enough to embark Wine I presently sent my Servant with my things he stayed on board to look after them and sent me word that they would not put off before the next day I failed not next morning to go thither but it was in vain for our departure being put off till night and then till next day I was perswaded to return back which I did the more willingly because I perceived it would be very incommodious to spend the Night in that place However having heard the Soldiers of Bagdad who were to go with us threaten to throw over-board the Goods of those that offered to carry Wine I then resolved not to take any with me Next morning I came to the water-side where at first I had a proof of the tyranny and barbarity of these people who putting the passengers Goods on board without weighing them reckoned them double the weight they were for one hundred weight setting down two and doing the like for the provisions for one must carry every thing with him in this Voyage wherein as they say there was neither house nor harbour to be found We went to the Office and payed two Piastres for every head and four for the hundred weight of my Goods Then I came to keep my place where I suffered a great deal of heat for every thing was so hot there that whatever I touched burnt my hands and rivers of sweat ran from me on all sides During that time I saw an experiment of the dexterity the People of the Countrey have to cross the water without a Bridge I perceived forty or fifty she Buffles driven by a Boy stark naked who came to sell the milk of them these Buffles took the water and fell a swimming in a square body the little Boy stood upright upon the last and stepping from one to another drove them on with a stick and that with as much force and assurance as if he had been on dry Land sometimes sitting down upon their Buttocks He went ashoar above five hundred paces below the Town on the other side of the Water After Noon they demanded a Piastre more of each Person and I was obliged to Codgia Elias that I payed a little less But when they came to talk of putting me in the middle of the other Keleck where I should have been stifled for want of Air I demanded back my money and goods telling them that I would stay at Mosul until the heats were over In fine Codgia Elias prevailed so far that they left me my place and they sent other passengers with their goods out of our Keleck into the other which was less loaded From that time they began to shew me good countenance and to assure me that no body should molest me I think that besides the credit of Codgia Elias to whom I am much obliged for that good office and for many more that he did me the Authority of Topgi Bassa whose Kinsman I gave my self out to be in the Caravan stood me in no small stead and I had reason to say I was since in the Letters he gave me at Damascus he had called me his Brother CHAP. XIII Of the Voyage on board the Keleck to Bagdad Departure from Mosul WE parted from Mosul on Friday the eighth of August about three of the Clock in the Afternoon at least our Keleck went to the Isle on the other side where we stayed at least an hour in putting men and goods on board of the other which was less loaded than ours There was left on board of ours no more than ten hundred weight of goods and twenty passengers then they made me change my place as a sign they would oblige me and gave me a better upon the side of the Keleck all beginning to caress me We began then to set forward in good earnest and were gone but a little way when we found an Island which we left to the right hand keeping always to the left along by the shoar of Curdistan The side of Mesopotamia is well sowed but the Curdistan shoar is barren and uncultivated as if the curse of Nineveh were fallen upon it nevertheless in the Evening I saw great flocks of sheep and goats a watering The River of Tigris is more crooked and winding than any that ever I saw It maketh a great many Islands and is full of banks of stone when we passed near to any of these banks all the Turks in Chorus called Mahomet to their assistance There are a great many Birds on both sides
and amongst others we saw a flight altogether like Francolines save that they have an unpleasant smell though the flesh of them be firm and very good to eat They were so numerous that I think a grain of small shot could not have past through without hitting some of them and they made a Cloud above five hundred paces in length and fifty in breadth About six a Clock we began to have little hills on our right hand which lasted about two hours And we passed near to one out of which they have Sulphur which they purifie and melt into Canes This Sulphur is a very white Earth for we were pretty near that hill which is almost wholely of Sulphur We stopped on the Curdistan shoar two hundred paces from thence about Sun-setting and rested upon the ground by the Water-side some of the Company stayed on board to guard the Kelecks for the Arabs when they see Kelecks many times come swimming and take what they can and then make their escape in the same manner They have besides the cunning when they are swimming to put some branches of trees upon their heads that it may not be thought they are men The water over against these hills is no broader than the length of the Pont Marie at Paris That Night we had a very hot Wind which sometimes brought with it cold gusts also and I observed they were not so strong as the others I was afraid it might have been the Samiel because it blew from that hill of Sulphur Next Morning being Saturday the ninth of August we embarked about break of day Hills of Sulphur We still saw on the side of Mesopotamia some hills of Sulphur which we smelt We met several People Men Women and Girls that crossed the Water stark naked having a Borrachio under each Arm-pit and their baggage on their heads and amongst the rest we saw two Girls who swam over without any help Half an hour after Sun-rising we perceived on the Water-side to the left hand Houses of Arabs several of the Arabs houses square and about two fathom high they were made of Poles and covered with leaves their Cattel were hard by and also their Horses which are always saddled These are their Summer-houses for in the Winter-time they shelter themselves under their Tents of black Goats hair Alyhamam Hot Baths About six a Clock we stopt at a Village called Alyhamam in Mesopotamia there are a great many natural hot Baths there and I make no doubt but these Waters run through Sulphur The People of the Countrey have dugg great Pits in the Earth under little Domes wherein they bath themselves for my own part I thought it enough to wet a finger therein and found it very hot but not scalding Sick people come there from all quarters and are cured but especially Lepers There are a great many always there from Mosul which is but a days Journey of Caravan distant All the Houses of this Village are by the Water-side they are all about two fathom square and the Walls and Roofs are onely of Canes interlaced with branches of Trees we rested there about two hours and then continued our Voyage The Sun that day was several times overcast with Clouds that did us a great kindness after Noon we stopt a little to stay for the other Keleck which was not come up About three a Clock we came to Asiguir Asiguir which is a place where the remains of the Foundation of a Bridge are still to be seen over which the Water runs with so much noise that we heard it half an hour before we came to the place When we were got there we went a shoar on the left hand because there is onely a small passage near Land for the Kelecks and in the Summer-time it is so shallow that many times they are forced to keep in the middle and go over stones that rise to the brim of the Water and make a kind of cascade or fall We all took our Arms to defend us against the Lions which are there in great Numbers amongst little Coppises however we saw none When the Keleck had passed near the shoar the current carried it into the middle of the River so that it could not stop till it came to an Island which is about fifty paces from the main Land and thither we went to it up to the knees in water A little after we had a great many hills to the right hand and on the first of them there is still some remains of a Castle called Top-Calai that 's to say the Castle of Cannons Top-Calai they say it was built by Nimrod as well as that Bridge which he had built for his convenience in going to his Mistress whom he kept on the other side Besides that we saw a great many other hills of Sulphur and one amongst the rest very high the Sulphur whereof appeared very yellow and smelt strong About half an hour after we saw the end of these Mountains and had others on the left hand covered over with Trees A quarter of an hour after we saw on the left hand River of Zarb the place where the River of Zarb falls into the Tigris It 's a great River more than half as broad as the Tigris very rapid and the Water thereof is whitish and cold They say that it comes very far off from the Mountains of Curdistan and is onely Snow-water On the same side about a French League up in the Countrey there is a hill by it self on which are the Ruines of a Castle called Kchaf Kchaf Having passed this place which looks like a little Sea we had constantly to the left hand Woods full of Lions Boars and other wild Beasts We rowed on till the Sun was setting not knowing where to lye because we durst not go a shoar on the side of the Woods for fear of Lions and on the side of Mesopotamia we saw Arabs at length just at Sun-setting we stopt near Woods which are all of Tamarisk and Liquourice and set a guard both against Men and Beasts From Mosul to this place they reckon it two days Journey and a half by Caravan After midnight three Robbers stark naked approached but finding themselves discovered they dived into the water and disappeared nevertheless this gave us a great allarm for they who saw them ran in all haste to the Keleck crying out like men in extreme danger and the rest not knowing what the matter was and thinking that they had a Lion at their heels threw themselves desperately into the Keleck whilst those that were asleep on board awaking at the noise and imagining there was a Lion in the Keleck endeavoured to get out In short so great was the disorder that no man knowing what he did it is a wonder we did not kill one another Sunday the tenth of April about break of day we put forward again and half an hour after past by the foot of a
Hill to the left hand on which there is a Mosque with a Building like to a little Castle called Sultan-Abdullah Sultan-Abdullah heretofore it was inhabited by Dervishes and at present serves for a retreat to Arabian Robbers We saw about a score of them on the water-side with their Horses and Lances who sent three of their company towards us These Blades having stript themselves naked came swimming and asked Bread of us they had it and so returned carrying each two Loaves one upon their head and the other in one hand which they held out of the water swimming only with the other hand We had still Woods to our left and by intervals some Hills and shortly after we had Woods also to the right hand In several places on the same side we saw a great many of the Summer-houses of the Arabs but no body in them Half an hour after five in the evening we saw upon a little Hill on the same hand the ruins of a Castle called Toprac-Calasi Toprac-Calasi There were some Houses of Arabs there and the other Keleck having stopt a few minutes near Land they stole an Abe of Cloth which is a kind of a Vest and no body perceived it till they were gone These Arabs sow Millet thereabouts of which they make their Bread eating no other We stopt that day in the morning and at noon to do the needs of Nature as it was our custom and then continued our way having always Hills on the right hand and about Sun-setting we went a-shoar at a place on the left hand where there is abundance of Lions and where one must have a special care of Arabs for some time ago the Arabs robbed a Keleck in that very place having on board almost fourscore people whom they killed and then over-set the Keleck that it might be thought it over-set of it self Hardly were we arrived when three Arabs came swimming over to us from the other side we gave them Bread and so set them going We parted next morning Monday the eleventh of August at break of day and had Hills still on our right hand About eight a clock we passed near one of these Hills on which the people of the Countrey say there is a Castle named Mekhoul-Calaai by the name of a Franck who built it About nine a clock we saw the ends of these Hills Liquorice-water The Liquorice which I found by the way when we went a-shoar was very useful to me for I infused it in the water which I drank and that pleased me better than common water which not only made me sweat excessively for I voided by the pores as much as I drank but also it raised on me several Blisters that pricked me like so many needles as often as I drank or sate down whereas when I drank Liquorice-water Sumack I felt none of these inconveniences I had besides Sumack which is almost like Hemp-seed wherewith I made another sort of Drink by putting a little of that grain into water and after pounding it that yielded me a very red Water but very cooling and wholsom and if a little Salt be added to it it makes it much pleasanter They use a great deal of Sumack and when it is beat and put into Broth it is very wholsom and a good remedy against the Bloody-Flux They suffer no man to make a Tent upon these Kelecks to keep out the Sun nay they would not suffer me to hold a bough of a Tree over my head because of the wind which might over-set the Keleck but I found a way to defend my self against the heat of the Sun by lying half at length so that my head was a little higher almost as if I had been sitting In this posture I fastened one end of my Abe behind my head and covered my self with the rest in manner of a Tent by means of three sticks of which one that I held between my Legs upheld it in the middle and was like the main Pile the other two supported it on the two sides In this manner I had a pretty convenient shade and the wind ever almost on one side or other but notwithstanding all my circumspection I suffered great heats especially some days when there was not a breath of wind About noon the Hills began again and these Mountains run along as far as the Indies they call them Dgebel Hemrin Dgebel Hemrin Montes Cordaci Gioubbar Calai Altun Daghi I believe they are the Mountains called Cordaci by Quintus Curtius in his fourth Book and tenth Chapter Towards two of the clock we passed near to a Castle which is in Mesopotamia called Gioubbar Calai and some time after we saw a little Hill to the left hand called Altun Daghi that 's to say the Hill of Gold because the Arabs digging in it here and there find a little Gold. About four a clock we passed that place where they that go down the Tygris as we did begin to have the Mounts Hebrin to the left which till that place they have always had to the right and on the side of Mesopotamia It is the tradition that the River heretofore divided them and that they go by Ispahan and reach as far as the Indies and in that Countrey they affirm that these Hills which are of a white Rock encompass all the World. At Sun-setting we went a-shoar on the side of Mesopotamia over against Kizil-Han Kizil-Han which is a Han not far from it and the fifth Lodging of the Caravans that come from Mosul We did not take our Lodging on the other side as the nights before because of the Lions that are there and are to be seen in Flocks like Sheep We kept good Guard because our station was pretty near to the Houses of some Arabs besides there were some Lions also on that side Amongst the rest there is one that is in great reputation among the people of the Countrey he is called the Lion of Kizil-Han and is said to be as big as an Ass A Lion of great bigness and of extraordinary strength who never fails to take a man of every Caravan and it was very honourable for ours that we paid him not that Tribute They add that he commonly sets upon those who straggle in the rear and that it may not be thought that it 's for want of courage but only out of cunning that he does so they say he is so bold that if he see no more but two or three men he comes confidently up to them and taking one of them in his Claws lays him upon his Back and carries him away Some Caravanists told me a great many Tales upon that subject which I shall give as cheap as I had them They told me very seriously that the Lion never sets upon a man but when he is very hungry and that he feeds upon him backwards beginning always at his Buttocks because he is afraid of the face of a man. That when
fair Road near hills we passed by many Rivulets on our right hand Munday Morning the eighth of September half an hour after five we came to a great bourg Sahna called Sahna We went through that Town and encamped without near the Gardens which are about it in great Numbers from whence they brought us fair Grapes Apples and Pears and furnished us under hand with a little Wine that we had not tasted since we left Mosul unless at Bagdad with the Fathers Capucins who make some privately for Mass for it is forbidden either to make or sell any And a little before I came to Bagdad an Armenian being catched there making Brandy had several hundred Bastinado's and whilst some beat him others poured his Brandy upon his head Now in all those places of Persia where there are no Christians not onely there is none to be found but even it is a Crime to speak of it nevertheless having demanded some of an Inhabitant of this Town who brought us Grapes after he had lookt about him on all hands to see if any body heard him he promised us a Jarr which he brought us a little while after It was sweet and red and had not sufficiently purged nevertheless it was good and delicious and so are their Grapes excellent Here we began to see sow'd Lands and a great many Gardens full of Vines and of all sorts of fruit and though it be in Curdistan Sofis yet Sofis also live there We parted from Sahna next day being Tuesday the ninth of September about two of the Clock in the Morning and about five we went up hill and down hill for a little while Half an hour after seven we crossed over a Bridge of four Arches under which runs a pretty broad River but shallow and it is called Camoutedona An hour after we came to a big Town Camoutedona a River Kenghever called Kenghever where we lodged in a Kervanserai This is a large Town well built and populous a Rivulet runs by it which they call the Water of Kenghever About it are a great many Gardens full of Fruit-trees of all sorts and it must heretofore have been a considerable place for there are the Walls of a Fortress still standing almost entire they are built of Flints and other very hard Stones that are both large and thick and some Towers still remain with several pieces of white Marble-Pillars of which the Capitals are so thick that it 's enough for three men to embrace them Amongst others at a little distance from a Tower close by this Fort there are some Port-holes for great Guns and a Gate towards the Countrey where two Pedestals of Marble are still remaining which formerly carried Pillars and these Pedestals which are four or five foot in length are placed at three or four foot distance from one another both upon a very thick Wall of fair Stone with a very lovely wreath on the outside So that in all probability these Pillars supported some Pavillion or Balcony for prospect or some thing else that was very weighty This Fortress is built upon an Eminence which affords a very distant prospect and the Town is the last place of Curdistan which terminates here Before I leave it for good and all The utmost bounds of Curdistan Curds I must say somewhat of the People that inhabit it The Curdi called anciently Carduchi live in the Summer-time in Huts made of Canes and Boughs of Trees and in Winter under Tents Their Countrey is so mountainous and so hard to be passed that I do not now wonder that the King of Persia every time that he went to besiege Bagdad instead of taking Cannon with him carried upon Camels metal to cast them obliging every Trooper besides to carry an Oque for it is absolutely impossible to have Cannon drawn along these ways Though these Curds lead a life much like the Arabs nevertheless they are more warlike and make very good use of Harquebuses nay in all places we past through there were always some of them who came and cheapened our Arms thinking they had been to be sold Amongst others one of them once offered me ten Abassis for my Fire-lock These Curds instead of Candle burn onely Oil of Naphta which is got in a place not far from Bagdad We parted from Kenghever the same day about half an hour after eleven at Night and in a very good Road marched Northwards About three a Clock in the Morning Wednesday the tenth of September we past over a fair Bridge of six Arches called the Bridge of Scheich-Hali-Kan Scheich-Hali-Kan from the name of a Chan that founded it the River that runs under it is called the Water of Scheich-Hali-Kan Bridge for to Bridges they give the Name of the Founder and to the Waters that run under them the Name of the Bridge An hour after we went by a Village which we onely saw by Moon-light but it seemed to me to be big and well built Having afterwards marched through a great Plain for a long while about seven of the Clock in the Morning we came to a Town called Asad Abad Asad Abad That Town or rather Burrough is of a vast extent and well built There are streight large Streets in it and in the middle of them a running Brook. The Entries into all the Houses are handsom though the Doors of many of them be but low and have many Gardens round them We lodged in the Fields without but close by the Town and parted from thence the same day about ten a Clock at Night directing our way full East Immediately after in very good way we went up a hill called Elouend Elouend it is so high that it took us a compleat hour to mount it and almost three quarters of an hour in coming down again on the other side After that we went by a little house of Rahdars where for every horse there are two Cabeghis of Caffare to be payed Then we marched above two hours and a half amongst Mountains and there after came into a Plain where having past by a great many Villages and crossed several Brooks and half an hour after five having left a Town called Zaga to the left hand Zaga two hours after we arrived at Hamadan where we lodged in a Kervanserai and payed a Bisti which is worth four Cabeghis a day for a Room We shall speak of the money of Persia in the description of Ispahan CHAP. II. Of the Road from Hamadan to Ispahan HAmadan is a very large Town but contains many void places Gardens and even ploughed Fields within it The houses are lovely and built onely of Bricks baked in the Sun There is no fair Street in it but that where they sell Stuffs Cloaths ready made and such like Commodities It is a streight long and broad Street and the shops of it are well furnished it lies near the Bezestein which is little but pretty well built This is a
of a Cherry and is very hard and round so that there is hardly any thing but a skin over the stone The Fruit being ripe is wrinkly and inclining to an Orange-colour it is pretty sweet but woolly I believe it grows in Italy by the name of Azzarole and is perhaps the Rhamnus Azzarole Rhamnus Folio sub rotundo Livas an Herb. folio sub rotundo fructu compresso Jonston Amongst Plants there is a certain Herb in Persia called Livas which hath a very curled Leaf somewhat like a Beet or like curled Coleworts but it is much more curled the stalk of it is like the stalk of an Artichoak and is very sharp they Eat of it in the Spring as a delicious food many will have it to be the Rhuebarb but it is not The End of the Second Book TRAVELS INTO THE LEVANT PART II. BOOK III. Of the Country of Schiras and other places under the Dominion of the King of Persia CHAP. I. Of the Road from Ispahan to Schiras AFTER almost five Months stay at Ispahan Departure from Ispahan I made ready to continue my Travels forwards and parted from thence the four and twentieth day of February 1664 / 5. with a Caravan wherein there were about fifty Mules a great part of them belonging to Monsieur Tavernier and the rest to Armenians who took the occasion of our going We took Mules for our Goods at the rate of five Abassis for an hundred Man 's of Tauris for our selves we had Horses for the Muletors scrupuled to let us have Mules to Ride on however they were obliged to spare one for my Servant who carried part of my things with him for they reckon a man but for thirty Man 's comprehending therein four or five Mans of Bagage We set out then from Giolfa Tuesday at Noon and past by Hezar Dgirib taking our way streight East at One of the Clock we Encamped by a Kervanseray called Tahhtpoulad and Babaruk which is near the burying place of the Mahometans We parted from that place the same day Tahhtpoulad Babaruk half an hour after Nine of the Clock at Night and held our way streight South-East over a Plain which at the entry is streightned a little by Hills on both sides and then opens into a pretty large Champain there grows not one Pile of Grass in it and in some places there are great pieces of white Earth of Natural Salt. This Salt is made of Rain-water Natural Salt. which incorporating with that Salinous Earth produces a Salt that works out of the Surface of it We marched in that Plain till about Four a Clock in the Morning Wednesday the five and twentieth of February and then ascended a little Hill called Ortschin Ortschin a little Hill. that is to say Stairs it is not high but yet very difficult to get up being all steps in a very slippery Rock which hath given it that name we were a full half hour in that passage not only because it behoved us to goe one by one but also because several Mules fell and threw their burdens which we must load again and all this by Star-light which in Persia commonly shine so clear that one may Travel by them even when there is no Moon-shine we afterwards continued Travelling amongst Hills till it was day that we entered into a great Plain as barren as the former wherein we marched on till half an hour after Eight when being arrived at a Village called Mayar we Lodged in a Kervanseray this place is eight long Agatsch from Babaruk Mayar is a ruinated Village which was formerly of note and had many Gardens about it that produced plenty of Fruit but some years since an Eatmad Doulet cut off their water to bring it all into a Garden which he had in those Quarters so that since that time nothing Grows there and they bring what they want from other Villages nor have they any other water to drink but what they get out of a great Pool hard by Mayar is the beginning of the Country of Fars or real Persia Schairza at that Village begins the Country which is properly Persia We parted from thence next day being Thursday the six and twentieth of February about Three a Clock in the Morning and continued our way over the same Plain about Five in the Morning we crossed a small running water Half an hour after Nine we passed through a little Village called Schairza where there is much Sowed Land and many Gardens in one of those Gardens there is a Pond of Spring-water which falls down from the Hills that are over it it is so full of Fish that from thence the Garden hath taken the name of Hhaouz-Mahi which signifies a Fish-Pond but there is a Dervish that hinders people from catching them Keeping on our way about half an hour after Ten in the Morning we came near to a Town called Komschah Komschah five Agatsch from Mayar there is Wine there and several Kervanserays in one of which we Lodged out of the Town We parted from thence next day being Friday the seven and twentieth of February at Three a Clock in the Morning but no sooner were we gone but we were forced to turn back again because there was a Chan upon the Road going to Schiras with his Haram The meeting of a Chan with his Haram that is to say his women and therefore we could not goe on for the jealous Persians fuffer no man to come near the Road where there women are So then we came back and having fetched many compasses about another way three quarters of an hour after we fell into the High-way again which was still a Plain and we kept on marching still almost South wards but with a piercing cold Wind we found several Brooks on our way and the ground being pretty good in that Country so soon as it was day we saw some Villages on our Right Hand and about Nine of the Clock arrived near to a Village called Maksoud Beghi Maksoud Beghi five Agatsch distant from Komschah we Lodged in a new Kervanseray that of the Village being demolished Next Morning about a quarter after Two of the Clock we set forward on our Journey again over the same Plain we had the day before at break of day we passed by a little Castle built of Stone with some round Towers where there is a Village hard by with Gardens and a Kervanseray Amnebad that place is called Amnebad it is distant from Maksoud-Beghi three Agatsch and as far from Yez-de-Kast This Castle was built by Imam-Couli-Chan who was Chan of Schiras in time of the great Schah-Abbas Keeping on our way about Eleven of the Clock we arrived at Yez-de-Kast a little Town or Burrough three Agatsch distant from Amnebad and six from Maksoud-Beghi we went and Lodged in a Kervanseray a little beyond it Tez-de-Kast Yez-de Kast is very little having but only one Street it is
as well as those of Keuschkzer by Schah Abbas who took their Country and gave them good Lands to Cultivate in this place they make Wine but their Grapes come from Maain We parted from thence Wednesday the fourth of March half an hour after five in the morning and at our setting out saw on our right hand two good Fields watered with several Brooks that come from Springs which are plentiful in that Country where the people live in Villages We marched on through a Plain in good way until Noon when having passed over a Bridge of seven Arches under which a River runs Oudgioun we came to a Village called Oudgioun four Agatsch from Asoupas we found a Kervanserai there but it stank so by reason of the great quantity of Carrion and filth that was in it that we could not Lodge therein so that we were fain to encamp hard by under Carpets which we pitched instead of Tents A River fix or seven Fathom over runs through this Village the water of it is very muddy and has a Bridge of seven small Arches over there is Wine also in this place and the Grapes are brought from Maain Within a Mosque there lyes Enterred the Son of a King Schah-Zadeh-Imam-Dgiafer called Scbah Zadeh-Imam-Dgiafer whom they reckon a Saint the Dome is rough cast over before the Mosque there is a Court well Planted with many high Plane-Trees on which we saw a great many Storks that haunt thereabout all the year round We parted from Oudgioun Thursday the fifth of March half an hour after two in the Morning and having advanced a quarter of an hour through Grounds full of water we had the way good till half an hour after Four that we went up an extraordinary high and uneasie Hill because of the stones that lay in the way it is called Chotal-Imam-Zadeh-Ismael Chotal-Imam-Zadeh-Ismael that is to say the Hill of Ismael the Son of an Imam and we were above an hour in mounting it We found on the top a great many Camels coming from Schiras loaded with Tabacco which is brought from Beban after that for above two hours we went down Hill in pretty good way save that here and there we met with some stones one would have thought that we had changed the Climate when we came to the top of the Hill for the side by which we came up was all covered with Snow and on this side there was none at all on the contrary it was full of wild Almond-Trees that bear a bitter Fruit and other Trees which with their Verdure delighted the sight When we were a good way down we came to a Mosque where that Ismael the Son of Imam who gives the name to the Hill is Enterred The outside of that place looks like a Castle with a round Tower at each corner within there is a Court at one end of which is the Mosque whose Frontispiece is a Portico six Arches in length and in the middle of the Mosque there is a Dome rough cast close by it is a Village with a great many Gardens watered by a lovely Brook that runs hard by We then continued our Journy in stony way till Eleven a Clock that we found a River about a Fathom and a half over which divides it self into many Rivulets that water all the Grounds thereabout being very good Land and all sowed The water of that River is very clear and has many Trees growing on the sides of it which render it a very pleasant place The River of Main or Bendemir or Kur it is called the River of Main because it runs by Main but it is the Bendemir and I was told that its right name was Kur from which the Son of Cyrus who there was exposed took his name Bendemir signifies the Princes Dyke and it is so called because of a Dyke or Bank that a Prince made there consult as to that the Geography of Diagiaib Makhlouear This River is the second Araxes of Quintus Curtius Diodorus Siculus and Strabo We kept along the side of it and crossed many of its Canals until about one of the Clock we arrived at a large Village called Main fix Agatsch from Oudgioun Main We Lodged in a good Kervanserai where we found some men who accompanied to Mecha the body of a Lady who had desired to be buried there There are many Gardens all round this Village full of Vines that bear good Grapes and abounding also in Pear-Trees Peach-Trees Walnuts and other Fruit-Trees with water-Melons and other Melons We parted from Main Friday the sixth of March half an hour after two in the Morning and presently left the High-way striking to the left over Sowed Ground till we got near to the River we were obliged to do so because the High-way would have led us to a place where the River was not Foardable and they take not that way but when it may be Foarded over the other way leads to a Bridge we followed the current of the River which is the same that runs by Main until half an hour after Three that we crossed over the Bridge consisting of three Arches but the middlemost a very large one under which the water is very rapid a quarter of an hour after we found a great Brook that falling from the Hill discharges it self in the River a little farther on we saw upon the River a Bridge broken down and a quarter of an hour after the ruins of another Bridge in this place there are a great many small Brooks that lose themselves in the River we then went forwards in good Way till day that we began to ascend a little In these Quarters is the Hill which Alexander the Great made himself Master of by stratagem sending Soldiers by a compass about to surprise the Enemies on their back whilst he Attacked them on the Front as Quintus Curtius relates it a Franck shewed me one separated from the rest which he said was the very same but there was little probability in that because there are a great many such thereabouts and it is very difficult to pitch upon the right besides I did not see how it could command the Passage which is too wide in that place to be Locked in by Mountains About Eight of the Clock we came to a Bridge built over the River of Main or Bendemir which at that place is at least nine or ten Fathom broad This is a rapid River and seems to be deep the water of it is thick and swells high in Winter for they assured me that then it swelled up as high as the Bridge which consists of five Arches but somewhat ruinous nevertheless it is called Pouli-Now Pouli-Now New-Bridge that is to say the New Bridge having passed it and left a way on our Right Hand we took to the Left and having Travelled on an hour and a half more in a Plain till about half an hour after nine we Encamped near to a Kervanserai
Bottles with a good deal of straw and two of these Chests make a Mules load They have also store of Capers Capers which they send also into all parts They preserve another thing in Vinegar which I never saw done any where else Preserved Grapes and that is Grapes which they gather half ripe and the time of gathering them they take to be when the Sparrows begin to peck them they put these Grapes into Bottles with good store of Vinegar which so macerates them that they lose their hardness yet no so as to become too soft or lose their Greenness only they look a little yellowish These Grapes preserved in Vinegar have a certain sweet acidity which is not unpleasant especially in the great heats and therefore they send great quantities of them into the Indies Rose-water They have also abundance of Roses from which they draw so much Rose-water that they furnish all the Indies with it They have a great deal of Corn but they give much of it to the Horses to be eaten in the blade because they say it would not come to maturity for want of water There is a great deal of Opium made at Schiras and round the Town there are large fields sowed with White Poppies A powerful Chan of Schiras In former times Schiras was Governed by a Chan who was the first of Persia and his Government reached as far as Lar Bender and the Isle of Ormus nay he was so powerful that in the Reign of the great Schah Abbas there was a Chan or Schiras called Imem-Couli-Chan who spent as much as the King and kept no smaller Family in so much that the King commanded him to spend a Mabmoudi less a day that there might be some difference betwixt their Expences Schah Sâ—fi grand Child of Schah Abbas and Father to Schah Abbas who Reigns at present put that Chan and all his Children to death because he was afraid that being so powerful he might play him some trick and after him there have been some Chans in Schiras but at present there is none a Vizier commands there as the Kings Farmer to whom he yearly pays out of his Government a thousand Tomaâ— which make a hundred and fifty thousand Crowns CHAP. III. Of the Road from Schiras to Bender and first to Lar. WE parted from Schiras Monday the sixteenth of March half an hour after Eight in the Morning having let the Caravan set out an hour and half before We took our way Southwards and past near the Lime-Kilns the way was good and in a lovely cultivated Plain Half an hour after Nine we had on our Left Hand a large Village called Oudgeval by which runs a Rivulet about half an hour after Ten we struck off a little to the Right Hand Oudgeval marching full South over Land all white with Salt where nothing grows but Abrotanum foemina An hour after we crossed over a Bridge of ten Arches under which a little River runs Abrotanum foemina It is called Poulifesa in coming to it you go along a Causey and find such another on the farther side the water that runs underneath is as salt as Sea-water Poulifesa about Noon we entered into a great Plain covered with green Grass where having Travelled till half an hour after One a Clock we came to a wretched Kervanseray standing all alone it is called Baba-Adgi from the name of its Founder who lies buried hard by and is five Agatsch from Schiras Baba-adgi close by this Kervanseray there is a little Spring which makes a great marish in that Plain but the water being naught they drink of another a little farther off which is very good water We parted from that place Tuesday the seventeenth of March half an hour after Six in the Morning and marched South-East in a great green Plain full of Heath where we saw on both hands several Villages and a great many Flocks of Sheep feeding having Travelled there till half an hour after two in the Afternoon we arrived at a Kervanseray standing by it self and called Mouzeferi seven Agatsch from Baba-Adgi near to it there is a Spring of very good water Mouzeferi behind the Kervanseray there are several vent-holes by which one may see the water run and Fish playing therein whereof some are pretty big We parted from thence on Wednesday the Eighteenth of March half an hour after five in the Morning and kept our way Southward going up Hills and down Hills covered with Turpentine-Trees and Heath this Heath is like Tragacantha and has a Carnation-Blossome divided into four or five Leaves bearing a kind of Wooll Turpentine-Trees Tragacantha Erigerum Paira and perhaps it is your Erigerum we were troubled with this rough and stony way till Noon that we arrived at a great Kervanseray called Paira which stands alone by it self and is four Agatsch distant from Monzeferi A few steps from that Kervanseray there is an artificial Canal drawn from a River a little beyond and parallel to it that River comes from the Mountains of Orostan which are above thirteen or fourteen days Journy from thence and runs as far as Tadivan a great Village Tadivan upon the way to Lar six Agatsch from Paira it afterwards loses it self in the fields which is not to be wondered at because these people having scarcity of water when they can command a River they so let it blood by drawing it off to water their Grounds that they reduce it to nothing nevertheless in those places where that River is in its strength it is seven or eight Fathom broad the water of it is clear and good and runs rapidly in a fair bed of Sand where there is not a stone to stop its course it is full of Fish Rose-Laurels and Planted on the sides with Rose-Laurels and such like Trees so that there can be nothing more charming to the sight The Canal that passes near to Paira is cut from it a little above this place and waters many Sowed fields which being done about four Agatsch lower it falls again into the same River from which it was never far distant but in all its course it runs through high ground whereas the River rowls with a great noise in a very deep precipice We parted from that place Thursday the Nineteenth of March at four of the Clock in the Morning and held our way South-Eastwards having met now and then with very stony ways we found afterwards a fair way where on each hand we saw good Corn-Land with a great many Villages where there were many Gardens full of Trees About eight a Clock in the Morning we arrived at a fair large Kervanseray Chafer called Kervanseray Chafer from the name of a Village close by it on the River-side which at this place is dwindled away almost to nothing this is a great Village and nothing to be seen in it but Gardens with long Walks in them
rest and which is proportioned to the breadth of the Stairs you continue to go up by the upper part of the Stair-Case which goes contrary to the lower part my meaning is that the upper part of the Stair-Case above the Landing place goes North whereas the lower went Southward and the upper part of the other side which went North below goes Southward above so that these two Stair-Cases which bore off from one another in their first part draw near again in the second and Land in on the same place above and that upper part of the Stair-Case has forty six steps Being come to the top of the Stair-Case you find a Walk and traceing it Eastwards you see two great Pilasters in Front which bear nothing at present but seem to make the two sides of an Entry they appear to be but of one single stone apiece though they be very high On the inside of each of these Pilasters you see the Figure of a Beast cut in Demi-relief but it is hard to tell whether it be a Horse or an Elephant and I should rather take it to be the latter at least it seems to me to resemble that more however it be these Figures are about three Fathom high and are as I said in half body along the inside of the Pilaster one opposite to another the Head turned towards the Terrass-Walk and Stair-Case or if you will towards the Plain Beyond these two Pilasters there are two great Chamfered Pillars in front and which in all appearance are what remains of four in Square Then you find two other Pilasters like to the first with each a Figure on them of an Animal in Demi-relief of the same height and opposite to one another on the inside but the Figures of these seem to be Griffons and they are Back to Back with the Elephants looking Eastward to the Hill whereas the Elephants look Westward to the Plain these four Pilasters with the Pillars seem to have made a Portico Advancing a little forward you find on the Right Hand a great Oblong Square Bason A great Bason two Fathom and a half in length almost as much in breadth and about three Foot deep it is all of a greyish stone Turning from thence to the Right Hand and going about twenty steps Southward you find a second Terrass higher which hath a jutting out in the middle with a Stair-Case on each side there are two others at the two ends of the Terrass but these four Stair-Cases are almost buried under Ground nevertheless one may still see several Figures upon so much of the Terrass-Walls as are above Ground At the least which is as I said by the jutting out in the middle you see a Lion devouring a Bull which is often repeated By the other there are three Ranges of Bas-reliefs representing as I take it Sacrifices Bas-reliefs representing Sacrifices for many persons are there represented as going in Procession one after another and Armed some only with Swords and Daggers others with Swords Bows and Arrows and others again seem to be carrying Vessels There you see also several kinds of Beasts as Sheep Oxen Dromadaries and other Animals When you are at the top of these Stairs you come upon a Platform where there are a great many Pillars some buried under Ground and others broken A place full of Pillars and you only see the Bases of most of them nevertheless there are seventeen still standing and these with the others whereof nothing but the Bases are to be seen make according to my account twelve Ranges from East to West and from South to North in breadth consist of nine Pillars a piece they are about seven Fathom high and at three Fathom distance one from another all Chamfered and some with double Capitals they are all of an extraordinary Order which yet hath great affinity to the Dorick It appears by what remains upon some that all of them have supported Statues or perhaps Idols and at present they serve the Storks to build their Nests on Going on Southward from thence you see a square Building A square building much adorned with Bas-reliefs and part of the Walls thereof still standing It is pierced on all sides with Doors and Windows which are embellished with many Demi-reliefs especially the sides of the Doors which are of big greyish stones as the rest of the Edifice is Upon these sides of the Doors the Figures are much the same as on the rest of the Building and opposite to one another there you see an old Man followed by two Servants one of them holding in both his Hands a great Staff with seven branches at the end of it which uphold an Umbrello just over the Head of his Master the other holds a Manipule in one Hand and in the other a Crosier or crooked Staff liker to Cricket-sticks than the Crosiers carried by Bishops nevertheless by the way of holding it one may judge that it is something resembling a Bishops Crosier for the Crook is carried up over the Masters Head. In some of these Doors there is but one Servant as in the one he only who carries the Manipule and the Crosier and in the others he that holds the Umbrello The Doors of the other two Faces are almost a like and at the side of each Door on the inside you see a Man fighting with a Beast that is erected against him with the Left Hand he holds a short Club over the Head of it and with the Right sheaths a Dagger in its Belly all these are to the natural bigness nay some of them are bigger Next to this Building you see the ruins of a like Fabrick Buildings but hardly any thing standing on the sides of the Doors within there are still to be seen two men each holding a Pike as if they Guarded these Doors along the two sides of these Buildings there is a little Walk about a Fathom and a half broad that runs betwixt the Building and a Wall at the end of this last which is so ruinous you find a double Stair-Case cut in the Rock but it is almost hid under the ruins as well as the Wall betwixt the two which supports the Earth and is full of Demi-reliefs whereof there is no more but the Heads to be seen A little beyond that there is square Terrass not much raised from the Ground A square Terrass and supported by a Wall which is also embellished by several Figures in Demi-relief that are half covered under Ground and in this place there remain many round Bases beyond that Terrass that buts upon a large open places which reaches length from West to East as far as the Hill and fronts towards the South there is no more now remaining one comes down from thence by a pair of Stairs which turning to the Left you find at the side of the Terrass and are made in the Rock it self that in this place supports the Earth Returning back
good very pleasant Destberm Half an hour after five we came to a Lodge of Rahdars which is at the end of the Plain and is called Destberm commonly they make it a Menzil or days Journy from Chadgegih to Destberm because of the trouble of climbing over the Mountain which extreamly tires the Mules There being no water in that place but what is taken out of a beastly open Cistern we gave the Rahdars some Casbeghis and so went on A quarter of an hour after we found a Sepulchre in form of a square Chappel covered with a Dome and pretty near it two Cisterns We went downwards afterwards Chotal Ouscheneck by a very rugged descent called Chotal Ouscheneck in former times it was more rugged and I believe that neither Men nor Beasts could pass it but the Mother of Imam-Couli-Chan Governour of Schiras called Voli Naamet caused the passage to be made as now it is The Rock in many places is cut in the fashion of steps in other places it is Paved and all over where the way is so narrow that Beasts making a false step were in danger of tumbling into a Precipice there is a Parapet made of stone about a Foot and a half high and a Foot thick so that now it is passable though a great way of it one must alight and lead being come to the bottom of that descent for near three quarters of an hour we had very stony way and then came to a lovely Spring of water which spreads so over the Country that with its waters it covers a very large Plain it is called Abghine We saw that water the day before Abghine from Mount Andgira though there be a great Hill betwixt them We passed it at a narrow place upon a Bridge of two Arches which is all ruinous and is called Poul-Abghine Poul-Abghine Having Travelled on two hours and a half more over a barren Plain about half an hour after ten we came to Karzerum six Parasanges and a half from the last Stage Karzerum Karzerum is a Town of many Houses but all so miserable that in our Country the greatest Compliment that could be put upon it would be to call it Bourg or Village because it has a Market-place it depends on the Vizir of Schiras and is Commanded by a Kelonter there are two or three good Kervanserays it it and the water they drink there is brought above half a League from the Town but both in it and the Kervanserays there is water good enough for Beasts and the Kitchin. Here they would have seized our Mules to carry Provisions for the King to Ispahan but the Reverend Father Provincial going to wait upon the Kelonter to represent to him that we were Franks so soon as the Kelonter saw him he ordered that our Mules should not be taken because we were strangers They have a great many Grapes and Melons here and make Wine that may be made use of We parted from Karzerum Friday the second of October at two of the Clock in the Morning and Travelled on still Westwards in very good way Half an hour after four we passed by a sorry Village called Dris Dris where they have no water to drink but what is taken out of a little Lake About six a Clock we passed by a little River that runs in a bottom and there is a way along the side of it we took not that way but leaving both it and the River struck off to the Left Hand by a very stony way about seven a Clock we began to go up Hill in bad way and a quarter of an hour after found a Lodge of Rahdars to whom we made a Present of some Casbeghis and kept on mounting upwards till about eight a Clock and then having descended a little we came into a very even Plain but which produces nothing though there be not one stone in it Having Travelled therein an hour we passed by a Village called Kangh Turkon Kangh Turkon Kamaredge and still kept on in the same Plain till we came to a Village called Kamaredge at the farther end of it This Village is six Parasanges from Karzerum we arrived there half an hour after nine and Lodged in a House that was lent us for some small Gratuity the water we drank there is taken out of a Well close by We parted from that Village Saturday the third of October half an hour after three a Clock in the Morning A little after we passed by a Kervanseray called Kervanseray Khodgia Belfet it is not opened but in the Winter-time Khodgia Belfet when it Rains or Snows the rest of the Year it is shut and no body Lodges in it We continued going Westward but the way was very bad about four a Clock the way was so narrow that only one Mule could pass at a time it lyes betwixt two Hills that are very near one another but it is not above an hundred paces long immediately after we entered into another narrow pass among the Hills where the way is no broader and we went down Hill in very bad way until three quarters of an hour after four there we found a Caravan of several Mules and Camels which were coming from Bender Rik and we met with several others afterward every day Then we went up Hill for about a quarter of an hour and afterwards went down Hill again till six of the Clock in very irksome way and amongst dreadful Precipices being steep black Rocks where one is often forced to alight for fear of tumbling headlong After that we had good way but still amongst Hills until half an hour after six that we found a great broad and deep River Roudchone Bouschavir called Roudchone Bouschavir the water of which tasts a little sweetish the source of it is near the Town called Scheleston Scheleston which is a days Journy from Karzerum Northwards and it loses it self in the Sea towards Bender-Rik we Coasted along it at first in a Plain for the space of an hour and after that mounting during a quarter of an hour we continued our Journy by a flat way for another quarter and then lost fight of the River for the space of half an hour going up Hill all the while until about half an hour after nine we joyned it again and Travelled on along the sides of it an hour and a half in very good way There are many Villages thereabouts and much Cultivated Land some of which bears Tobacco I also saw in several places that fatal Shrub Kerzebreh About ten a Clock we Foarded over a large Brook that falls into the River of Bouschavir Bouschavir Sirt This may very well be the River which Sanson marks in his Map by the name of Sirt we Foarded it again a quarter of an hour after and then five times an end so that in less than half an hours time we crossed it six times having the water always up
to the Mules Belly for five or six and in some places more than seven Fathom in breadth it is so broad and deep in Winter that it can no ways be Foarded over and then they must go by a very narrow way cut out in the Hill on the Left Hand which is very dangerous for if the Mule make one false step it is lost for good and all About three quarters after ten we began to go up Hill in very bad way and that during an hour and a quarter we sometimes also went down Hill but not much and always in very bad way having the River on our Right Hand certainly I never saw worse way than what we had during that whole day At Noon we arrived at a Kervanseray called Kervanseray Narghisi Narghisi which stands on the top of the Hill it is seven Parasanges from Kameredge and was so full of people that came from Bender Rik that hardly could we have shelter you find nothing to eat there because it hath no Dukondar the River runs by the foot of the Hill on which it stands We parted from thence Sunday the fourth of October half an hour after one in the Morning and Travelled on Westward in bad enough way Three quarters after two we went down a very rugged way but the worst is at first the rest being pretty good but that it is narrow and upon the edge of an exceeding deep Precipice so that the Mules are in the same danger as in those we past which made us alight and lead down that descent we got down about half an hour past three and a little after came into a very even Plain and all Sowed Land we Travelled on there Southward until seven a Clock when to the Right Hand we again found the River of Bouschavir which we Foarded over and stopt on the other side of the water There is no Habitation there and yet the place has a name being called Sefid Rou Sefid Rou. it is four long Agatsch from Kervanseray Narghisi We parted from thence Munday the fifth of October half an hour after four a Clock in the Morning and holding streight West we Travelled in a Plain until eight a Clock that we arrived at a pitiful Kervanseray which consists in three nasty Chambers and all black with Soot it is called Tschah-Ghonbez that is to say the Well of the Vault the water that is drank there is drawn out of a Well hard by some hundred of paces distant there is a Village called Dehkone that is to say Old Village which is distant from Sefid-Rou three Agatsch and Sefid-Rou is not properly a Menzil Tschah-Ghonbez but commonly they come from Kervanseray Narghisi to Tschah-Ghonbez in a day our Muletor made us make two of it that he might keep Company with his Brother who was at Sefid-Rou and Travelled but small Journies We parted from Tschah-Ghonbez Tuesday the sixth of October at one a Clock in the Morning and continued our way over a very even Plain due West About half an hour after six we Foarded over a Salt water that was but shallow from that we had all along a Plain covered with Sand to Bender Regh where we arrived about half an hour after nine it is seven Agatsch from Tschah-Ghonbez Bender-Regh The Bender Regh that is to say sandy Port or Harbour is a little Town built along the Sea-side at a place where it runs into a long narrow Channel that turns and winds but is not deep Most of the Houses of this Town are made of Mats laid upon a Trellis or Lettice of Poles interlaced nay the Walls that encompass the Houses are of no better stuff so that there is neither Iron nor Masons work in them There are some however made of Brick baked in the Sun Cemented with morter made of Clay and Straw Most of the Inhabitants of that place are Arabs and all speak both Arabick and Persian the Governour is an Arab and depends on the Governour of Schiras The Soil about it is all Sand and the water they drink is fetched from a Well a good Agatsch from the Town nevertheless there is a great deal of Corn from the neighbouring Villages loaded at this Port to be Transported to the Isle of Bahrem and Bassora from whence they bring them Dates The Sea-Ports of Persia are Bender-Abassi Berder-Congo Sea-Ports Bender-Abassi Bender-Congo Bender-Rischer Bender-Regh Bender-Delem three days Sailing from Bender-Abassi Bender-Rischer ten days Sailing from Bender-Congo Then the Mouth of the River of Boschavir below which is Bender-Regh or Bender-Rik a days Sailing from Bender-Rischer and three days Journy by Land beyond that is Bender-Delem a days Sailing and two day Journy by Land from Bender-Rik CHAP. IX Of the Voyage from Bender-Rik to Bassora THE day we arrived at Bender-Rik a Bark put out from thence in the Morning for Bassora and the same day two Barks came from Bassora Letters from the Basha of Bassora which brought Letters to the Governour from the Basha of that place wherein he prayed him to send him twelve Barks to fit out with Soldiers for his defence against seven Bashas who by orders from the Grand Signior were preparing to attack him because he had not obeyed some Orders from the Port. This was very unpleasant News to us nevertheless being resolved to go to Bassora whatever might happen we agreed with the Patron of a Bark to pay him fifteen Abassis for the passage of the Reverend Father Provincial my self and three servants but I must first describe the fashion of these Barks They are great Boats built much like the Germes of Egypt which have no Deck Barks of Bender-Regh and are round in the inside the Bark we went on Board of was above six Fathom long two Fathom broad and no less in depth there were two little Decks in the Stern which made two small Cabins one over another he that stood by the Helm was placed on the second the other which was the lower was no more but a Hurdle of Palm-Tree Branches laid upon sticks that went cross-ways and there was a Deck also in the Stem or Head the stern was higher than the Head but was made sharp as well as it the Mast was high and big the Yard uniform with a great Sail and on each side there were four Oars that is to say so many Poles with a board a Foot and a half long and half a Foot broad fastened with three Ropes to the end of each of them but it is chiefly to be observed that there is not a bit of Iron in these Barks the truth is They have not a bit of Iron ours had an Anchor of Iron but it was a thing extraordinary because commonly they are only of Wood. The Planks of the Barks are fastened together by small Cords that go through holes made in them and that they may hold sure and the Cords keep streight they drive little pegs of Wood into the
no Bark to come to Bassora laid an Embargo also upon all Vessels that were at Bassora loaded with Goods for Bagdad They had other false News at that time at Bassora to wit that the King of Persia was coming to Besiege it False News from Persia and some people of Fashion asked me the News at the Custom House but I put them out of trouble as to that assuring them that in Persia there was no appearance that the King had any thoughts of making War which was true enough They then told me how much they were troubled at the News they had of twenty French Corsairs being at Sea False News of the French raised by the Dutch. which very much terrified all the Merchants This report was raised by the Dutch who purposely broached it that all the Merchants might put their mony on board of Dutch Ships and not in Mahometan and this News was the more easily believed that it was known every where now that the French were coming to settle a Trade in the Indies and they were persuaded that all our Vessels were Pirats French Corsairs because three Years before two French Corsairs came to Moca just about the time that the Vessels put out from the Port of Moca carrying nothing but mony to Surrat from whence they bring Goods which is at the end of August The French took all these Vessels and went off If they had had a little more skill in those Seas they might have done more for they might have come into the Gulf of Persia about the end of October and there waited for the Ships of Bassora at which time they carry a great deal of mony for Trafficking in the Indies and they might easily have made themselves Masters of them and therein of several millions in ready mony there being none but Indians on Board of all these Vessels who make no resistance and that being done they might as easily have got away but they did not do it in short they left such a terrible consternation on all these Seas Fear of the French. that to name but the French to them is enough to make them all shake for fear CHAP. X. Of Bassora The situation of Bassora BAssora the Capital Town of the Kingdom or Bashaship of that name lies at the farther end of Arabia the Desart which is to the West of it and near Arabia the Happy that lies to the South two days Journy below the place where the two Rivers Euphrates and Tygris joyn upon the Banks of Schat-El-Aarab which is no other than Euphrates and Tygris joyned into one it is eighteen Leagues from the Sea The Latitude of Bassora The variation of the Loadstone The distance of Bagdad from Bassora and in the thirtieth or one and thirtieth Degree ten Minutes North Latitude The Needle declines there about thirteen Degrees and a half from North to West and from thence to the Indies it always declines about eleven Degrees and a third some say a half from North to West It is two days Journy by Land from Bagdad and by water they come from Bagdad to Bassora in great Barks in fifteen or sixteen days time and most commonly in eighteen but the Barks that go from Bassora to Bagdad are commonly fifty sixty and sometimes fourscore days in the Voyage The Circuit of Bassora because they are only drawn by men This is a great Town encompassed with Walls of Earth that are about six hours march in Circuit but they contain a great many void spaces where there are neither Houses nor Gardens It hath two Gates The Gates of Bassora the one called the East Gate and the other the West and the Gate of Bagdad because by it they go out of the Town when they are bound for Bagdad The situation of Bassora advantageous This Town in my Opinion is so advantageously seated that it might be made one of the richest and most lovely Cities in the World It would certainly be very pleasant if it were a little better built and Gardens made all along the sides of the Canal that comes from Schat-El-Aarab and runs through the whole Town For the Land about if they would Manure it and Plant Trees therein I believe it would bear any thing for the Climate is hot and the Soil of a greyish colour which seems to me to be very fertile being twice a day moistened by the River-water which the Tide carries up four days Journy and a half from Bassora the water rising at the Town a Fathom and a half but yet not salt some have told me that the Ground is too salt to bear any thing but Palm-Trees which thrive much in salt Ground Abundance of Palm-Trees and grow in greater numbers in the Country about Bassora than in any other Country in the World and to shew that it is really salt they say that if one dig two Fathom deep in the Earth they will find salt-water but perhaps it is not so in all places However it be it is certain that from November forwards that Country produces a great many Herbs as Succory Spinage Herbs and Fruits at Bassora and other Pot-Herbs and in several Gardens there are very good Apricots which last all June and July and in July and August also many Grapes as in October Melons water-Melons Pomegranats and Limons the truth is none of these Fruits will keep because of the South-East Wind that reigns during that time and is hot and moist There are pretty enough publick places in Bassora and amongst others the Meidan which is before the Bashas Palace and is very large The Meidan of Bassora there are in it twelve pieces of Cannon or Culverines mounted on their Carriages near that Palace and there are also several very fair Bazars in the Town I said that this might be made one of the richest Cities in the World The Port. of Bassora commodious for all Countries because of the Commerce that might be settled there with all parts almost of the Habitable World. Its Port is good and very safe being twelve Leagues from the Sea in the fresh water of Schat-El-Aarab and it is so broad and deep that the greatest Vessels may come to it without danger all the Goods of Europe might be brought thither by the Mediteranean because being once come to Aleppo it would not be difficult to Transport them to Bi r which is but four days Journy from Aleppo and there they might be embarked on the Euphrates on which they might in ten days time come to Rousvania from whence there is but a days Journy to Bagdad where they might embark them on the Tygris and in fifteen or sixteen days time they would come to Bassora nay and with a very little pains and industry the River Euphrates might be made Navigable for great Vessels only by clearing the Channel in some places where it is choaked up with great stones and that is the reason
Channel Haffar which was to our Larboard and there begins the Isle of Gban Isle of Gban which reaches from that place to the Sea. Tuesday the tenth of November the Tide of Ebb beginning an hour before day we weighed Anchor and continued our course betwixt the Isle Chader and the Isle Gban and there we found the water brackish At this place the Palm-Trees end and the Land on both sides is only level and barren Plains and so low that at high water they are almost all overflown about two hours after day the water cast us so much upon the Land on the South side that our Poop raked the shoar and that is in a manner unavoidable in this place where all Ships are forced a shoar nevertheless though we were so near we had two Fathom water a Stern and three a Head and the current of the water drove us forward at a great rate in the mean time our men did what they could to get out again into the Channel and at length with the help of our Boat that Towed us they accomplished it We found three Mahometan Ships which set out the same day that we did from Bassora and all three had had the same luck having been by the force of the stream cast a shoar as well as we The Course we stood from Bassora till we came to the Sea was in the beginning whilst we had the Wind at South-East South South West and after we had it at North-West we Steered always East South-East or South South-East About nine a Clock in the morning we had a pretty brisk Gale from North-West which made us spread our Mizan and Mizan-Top-Sail the Main and Main-Top-Sail and the Fore-Sail and Fore-Top-Sail and then we steered away South South-West making the more way as the Wind grew fresher the water is very broad at this place About half an hour after three a Clock in the Afternoon we came to an Anchor near the Mouth of the River because our Men would not venture out to Sea in the night-time for fear of being stranded for in the mouth of this River there is but two Fathom water when the Tide is out and the other Ships did as we did the Wind in the mean time ceased about midnight Next day we weighed Anchor about half an hour after six in the Morning and having spread the Fore-Top-Sail we Steered away South South-East but seeing it was little better than a calm we made but very little way nevertheless we began to lose sight of Land on all hands and had betwixt five and six Fathom water About nine a Clock we came to an Anchor to stay for the Tide because then we had but little water about eleven a Clock it being flood we weighed and a North-West Wind rising at the same time we clapt on all our Sails Steering our Course sometimes South-East sometimes South and sometimes South-West according to the water we found which was sometimes but three and sometimes four Fathom Half an hour after one of the Clock we had four Fathom and a half water and at two a Clock five but at the same time the Wind chopping about to South we were forced to furl our Sails and come to an Anchor It is very dangerous putting out of that River after the first days of November The season of Sailing for commonly the South Winds begin to blow at that time and last all November whereby many Ships that put out too late are cast away Thursday the twelfth of November the Sun rose with a stiff Wind from South and at the same time the Sky was on all hands over-cast with such a thick Fog that we could hardly see the other Ships which yet weighed Anchor and were Towed by their Boats we did the same though it was against the Captains mind who feared a storm and would have kept still at Anchor We got our Boat then to Tow us the Ships Head standing East South-East in five Fathom water About half an hour after eight we unfurled the Fore-Top-Sail and stood away East North-East and a little after North North-East About nine a Clock we spread the Mizan-Sail whilst our Boat still Towed us About half an hour after nine the Wind shifting about to East we presently furled our Sails and turning our Ships Head South-East came to an Anchor a quarter of an hour after in three Fathom water That day they began to allow every one but two measures of water by day one to boil the Kettle and the other to drink each measure is about three Pints About a quarter after ten a Clock we weighed Anchor and were Towed by our Boat spreading our Mizan Main-Top-Sail and Fore-Top-Sail though we had no settled Wind but sometimes one way and sometimes another and we turned the Ships Head North-East A little after the Wind getting in to South-East we bore away East and presently it shifted to South so that three quarters after ten we came to an Anchor Friday the thirteenth of November the Pilot of Carek and the Merchants prevailed so far with the Captain that he gave way to the weighing of Anchor at three quarters of an hour after seven though he was of a contrary Opinion and the truth is there was no reason to weigh because it blew a strong Wind from South-East and we had but little water on all hands We had indeed four Fathom at that time but seeing it was a Tide of Ebb we had reason to fear running a ground and to put out to Sea which was the thing the Merchants desired was to run into the storm In fine notwithstanding all these Reasons our men Towed us and we spread the Fore-Top-Sail but we held no certain Course the other Ships did as we did and perceiving us to cast Anchor three quarters of an hour after they did the like This is the inconvenience where many Ships are together that if one weigh or come to an Anchor the rest must do the same for if they should fail to do it and any misfortune happened the blame would be laid at the Masters door in that he did not do as the rest did who are all supposed to understand their Trade Saturday morning the fourteenth of November we made a Mahometan Ship coming from Bassora where we had left her for all the strong South-East Wind which had constantly blown since the day before we weighed Anchor at nine of the Clock in the morning and made Sail with our Mizan Main-Top and Fore-Top-Sails Steering our Course East North-East Half an hour after nine the Wind getting about to South-West we let fly the Mizan Top-Sail and Fore-Sail and stood away East South-East At ten a Clock we tackt about and bore away West North-West and so kept beating to and again every half hour until three quarters of an hour after eleven that the Wind chopping in to South we came to an Anchor in three Fathom water we made short Tacks because of the little water we
men attempted to hall her out of the water by one side that she might be emptied by the other but the weight of the water bulged one of her sides and then she overset so that despairing to recover her unless with much labour and the loss of a great deal of time and fearing besides that she might dash against the Hold of the Ship because it was then a very rough Sea they cut the Ropes and let her go though it was near a hundred Piastres loss to the Owner of the Ship This made us lose a whole hours time and in the mean while one of the Ships which the day before was to our Starboard got a Head of us About half an hour after seven in the morning we made Sail with a North Wind. About half an hour after nine we were off of an Island to our Larboard which we took to be Audarvia but we were mistaken About ten a Clock the violence of the Wind began to abate and we Steered away East South-East About two a Clock after-noon we made a little Island to the Larboard very near the main Land and knew it be Audarvia and that the other which we past about half an hour after nine in the morning and took for Audarvia was Lara This Isle of Lara is a little Desart very low place Lara close by the main Land which is the reason that it is not easily discovered it bears nothing unless it be some wild Trees and that too only at one end of it which lyes to the West North-West and was to us the beginning of the Isle as our Course lay it may be known by these Trees It lyes in length from West North-West to East South-East and is threescore and ten Leagues from Carek Audarvia The Isle of Audarvia is in like manner little low and very near the main Land and lyes in length as Lara does from West North-West to East South-East there is good water in this Island and in the middle of it some wild Trees and the Cottages of some Fishermen who come from the main Land to Fish there it being seven or eight Leagues from Lara It is worth the observing that though these two Isles be very near the Land as I have been saying yet they leave a passage betwixt them and the main Land which may admit of Ships because it is very deep water and Ships sometimes shoot that passage The Wind freshning in the afternoon at three quarters of an hour after two a Clock we were got to the farther end of the Island and an hour after made the Isle of Keis to the South-East About half an hour after four we got on Head of the Ship that was before us in the morning and at the same time we were off and on with the hithermost end of the Isle of Keis Keis which was to our Starboard side This Island is about two Leagues and a half from the main Land or three at most and about five Leagues from Audarvia though they reckon it fifteen Leagues from Lara to Keis it reaches in length from West South-West to East North-East and is about five Leagues in Circuit it is very low and flat like the two former but it is inhabited by several people who have Houses dispersed here and there upon it I was told that heretofore the Inhabitants of that Island having killed a Portuguese who had gone a shoar there for some insolence which he had committed sometime after other Portuguese Ships coming thither the Admiral called Roui-Fereyra-Andrada went a shoar upon the Island and taking a Sucking-Child put it into a Mortar and by an unparalelled piece of cruelty A horrid piece of cruelty of a Portuguese made the Father and Mother of the innocent Babe pound it themselves in the Mortar This General was a Devil incarnate and it was his usual way so to revenge himself on the Inhabitants of those Coasts when they had done him any displeasure his name is to this day so terrible unto them that they use it to still their little Children when they cry threatning them with Lowis de Fereyra In the mean time that inhumanity made many forsake the Island that they might not be exposed to such cruel usage nevertheless some abode still and have Cattel there I was told that heretofore there were all sorts of Fruits on this Island but that since the Portuguese have left off to go thither there are no more to be found I was likewise assured that there is excellent water in the North-West and East ends of the Isle About five a Clock in the evening we furled our Mizan Mizan-Top Main-Top and Fore-Top-Sails that we might not make so much way because on this Coast there are places where the water is very shallow About seven a Clock at night we were got off of the other end of the Isle of Keis and then the Wind slackened much half an hour after we came off and on a place of the main Land where the shoar opens towards the East and forms a Gulf in shape of a half Circle and the outmost point of that half Circle is called Gherd All that day we had kept very near the main Land which to that Gulf bears West North-West and East South-East When we were just off the beginning of this Gulf a gentle Gale blowing from East North-East made us to Steer our Course South-East and we made the Land called Gherd to the East South East About ten a Clock at night we stood away South South-East and heaving out the Lead found seventeen Fathom water within a quarter of an hour after the Wind turning North-West we bore away South but because it instantly blew too hard we furled the Main-Sail and Steered South South-East About three quarters after ten we Steered South-East and casting the Lead found fifteen Fathom water Sunday the two and twentieth of November at two a Clock after midnight we were got off of the Isle of Paloro to our Starboard Paloro our Course was then East South-East and having sounded we found thirteen Fathom water whereupon we turned the Ships Head South South-East A quarter after two we heaved the Lead several times and found betwixt six and seven Fathom water Three quarters after two we bore away East South-East and casting the Lead found first fifteen then ten and a little farther only eight Fathom water we had then to the Larboard a Mountain on the main Land Mount Sannas called Sannas Half an hour after five in the morning we had but five Fathom water At six a Clock we found twelve and then we Steered East North-East and at eight a Clock in the morning came before Congo distant from Keis fifteen Leagues by Land and thirty by Sea an hundred from Carek and an hundred and fifty from Bassora from Congo to Comoron it is twenty Leagues by Land and thirty by Sea. We came to an Anchor in the Road a long half League
hour after eight we had seven Fathom water About ten a Clock seven Fathom a Foot less About half an hour after eleven seven Fathom and then we set the Ships Head East South East but at midnight held our Course South Next morning half an hour after five we had thirteen Fathom water and were almost at an equal distance from the Isle of Queschimo which was to the North-East of us the Isle of Nabdgion or Pitombo South South-West of us and the Isle of Tonbo South East from us and we bore away East Queschimo is a great Isle but low Land though it hath several Hillocks Queschimo yet they are all so low that Sailing along this Island on any side you may see the Mountains of the main Land over it It lyes in length East and West is not very broad but twenty Leagues long it is to the East of Congo and West South-West from Comoron it is a fruitful and well inhabited Island the West end of it not being above a good League and a half from Congo and the East end about a League from Bender-Abassi On the East part of this Island there is a Fort before which Ships may come to an Anchor in six Fathom water to take in fresh water which is very good in this place The Portuguese formerly held this Fort and it may be worth the observing that though the Island be very near the main Land yet Barks and Galliots pass betwixt the two Nabdgion or Pitombo is a little low Desart Island lying South Nabgion or Pitombo Tonbo South-East from Queschimo Tonbo is another little low flat Island and Desart affoarding only a great many Antelopes and Conys It lyes to the East of Nabdgion or Pitombo and South from Congo from which it is but four Leagues distant Manuel Mendez who had much experience in those Seas being very young when he came into that Country where he hath during the space of many years made several Voyages made me observe that if any one should build a Fort on that Island and keep some Men of War there he might easily raise a Toll upon all the Ships that Trade in those Seas for they must of necessity Sail near to that Island on the one side or other Towards the South-East it has fifteen or twenty Wells of good water but especially one that is excellent and a good Road before it When the Portuguese were possessed of Mascate they came every year with some Galliots to the Isle of Tonbo to receive the Tribute that was paid them in all the Ports of those Seas and brought thither by those who were obliged to pay it The yearly Tribute they had from the Isle of Queschimo consisted of five Persian Horses and two Falcons Congo payed four hundred Tomans Bahrem sixteen thousand Abassis and Catif the half of the yearly profits of its Customs as for Bassora there was a Portuguese Agent that resided there who received a Chequin a day of the Basha and as often as the General came to that Town the Basha made him a Present This Island is encompassed all round with Banks under water nevertheless there is almost every where four six eight nay in some places nine Fathom water About half an hour after seven the Wind slackened much and we Steered South South East about eleven a Clock we found nine Fathom water and seeing we were almost becalmed and the Tide cast us to the Westward we were obliged to drop an Anchor half an hour after one a Clock at noon We were some three Leagues off of Sannas which was to the West North-West of us to the North-West and by West it makes a Peak but the Hill is higher than the Peak we went thither to take in water for the water is very good there though it be about two Leagues from the West point of Queschimo which was to the North-West of us About four a Clock we had a Breeze from South South-West which made us Steer our Course South-East About six a Clock we had twenty Fathom water Half an hour after seven the Wind turned North-West and we bore away East at eight a Clock we found eighteen Fathom water half an hour after that eighteen and a half and we stood away East and by North. About nine a Clock the Wind freshened a little and we had twenty Fathom water at ten a Clock we had one and twenty and about half an hour after ten we Steered our Course East Wednesday the ninth of December about day break the Wind ceased and we Steered still East the Isle of Angom was to the North-East of us and not far off and on the other side to the South-East we had a Port of Arabia Foelix called Julfar which is a good Harbour where many Indian Barks carrying mony come to buy Dates Julfar Pearl-Fishing and Pearls which are Fished all along that Coast from Mascat to Bahrem there is a good Castle at Julfar From that Port to the Cape of Mosandon the Coast of Arabia the Happy is all Mountanous bearing South-West and North-East and runs so near the Persian shoar that there is but five Leagues betwixt the main Land of Mosandon and the Isle of Lareca which is close by Comoron Betwixt Julfar and Mosandon Good Ports in the Gulf which are not set down in the Maps there are a great many good Ports that are not set down in the Maps where notwithstanding several Ships may safely Winter secure from all Winds and there is every where very good water About half an hour after seven in the morning the Wind turned North-East and we Steered our Course East South-East We were then off and on with the Point of Angom which bears West North-West Angom Angom is a little low Island to the South of Queschimo and reaches along Queschimo from West North-West to East South-East no body lives in it but two or three Fishermen who keep some Goats which they sell to Ships that come there to take in fresh water where it is very good Though this Island be very near to Queschimo yet Ships may pass betwixt them and all that take in water there shoot the Streight About noon we bore away South-East and at one a Clock having cast the Lead we had eight and thirty Fathom water we were then becalmed and made no way but by the Tide of Ebb which cast us upon Arabia so that we were obliged to stand off of it as far as we could to turn the Ships Head East North-East nevertheless towards the evening we were got very near the Mountains of Arabia wherefore to keep off of that shoar as much we could we Steered away North-East and by East and the Tide of floud did us some service About seven a Clock the Wind seemed as if it would get in to North but it blew so gentlely that it hardly curled the water Thursday the tenth of December about half an hour after four in the morning we
transparent body the water winding and turning as it mounted up and now and then the thickness of it decreased sometimes at the top see the Figure G and sometimes at the Root see the Figure H. At that time it exactly ressembled a Gut filled with some fluid matter and pressed with ones Fingers either above to make the liquor descend or below to make it mount up and I was persuaded that the violence of the Wind made these alterations making the water mount very fast when it forced upon the lower end of the Pipe and making it descend when it pressed the upper part after that the bigness of it so lessened that it was less than a Mans Arm like a Gut when it is strained and drawn perpendicularly out in length then it grew as big as ones Thigh and afterwards dwindled again very small At length I perceived that the boyling on the surface of the Sea began to settle and the end of the Pipe that touched it separated from it and shrunk together as if it had been tied see the Figure I and then the light which appeared by the blowing away of a Cloud made me lose fight of it however I still lookt out for some time if I might see it again because I had observed that the Pipe of the second on that side had appeared to us three or four times to break short off in the middle and that immediately after we had seen it whole again one half of it being only hid from us by the light but it was to no purpose for me to look sharply out for this appeared no more so that there was an end of our Spouts and I gave God thanks as all the other Franks did that he had delivered us from them They attributed that mercy to the Holy Gospel which I had said wherein I arrogate nothing to my self being not so unreasonable as to think that my merit contributed any thing but perhaps God had some respect to our good intention and the trust that all of us reposed on his Holy Gospel In fine there is nothing more certain than that notwithstanding the inconstancy of the Wind which shifted all Points none of these Spouts came nearer us than the place where first they began and this I may with sincerity affirm that in all dangers of Storms Pirats and other accidents wherein I have been often engaged it was always my practise to rehearse this Holy Gospel and God in his great mercy hath preserved me from all The effects of Spouts These Spouts are very dangerous at Sea for if they come upon a Ship they entangle the Sails so that sometimes they will lift it up and then letting it fall down again sink it to the bottom which chiefly happens when the Vessel is small but if they lift not up the Ship at least they Split all the Sails or else empty all their water into it which sinks it to rights and I make no doubt but that many Ships that have no more been heard of have been lost by such accidents seeing we have but too many instances of those which have been known to have perished so of a certain Besides the Devotion of the Holy Gospel the human remedies which Sea-men use against Spouts is to furle all the Sails and to fire some Guns with shot against the Pipe of the Spout and that their shot may be surer to hit instead of Bullet they charge the Gun with a cross-bar-shot wherewith they endeavour to cut the Pipe if the Spout be within shot of them and when they have the good luck to level their shot just they fail not to cut it short off this is the Course they take in the Mediteranean Sea but if that succeed not they betake themselves to the Superstition which I would not practise though I knew it having learned it in my former Travels One of the Ships Company kneels down by the Main-Mast and holding in one Hand a Knife with a Black Handle without which they never go on Board for that reason he Reads the Gospel of St. John and when he comes to pronounce those Holy words Et verbum caro factum est habitavit in nobis he turns towards the Spout and with his Knife cuts the Air athwart that Spout as if he would cut it and they say that then it is really cut and lets all the water it held fall with a great noise This is the account that I have had from several French Men who as they said had tried it themselves whether that hath succeeded so or not I know not but for the Knife with the black Handle it is a foul Superstition which may be accompanied with some implicit compact with the Devil and I do not think that a Christian can with a good Conscience make use of it as to the vertue of these Holy words which as I may say put God in mind of the Covenant that he hath made with Man I make no doubt but that being said with Devotion without any mixture of Superstition they are of great efficacy to draw a blessing from God upon us on all occasions And so much for the Spouts by which we were more affraid than hurt but the Storm did our Ship more prejudice in its Course for we were obliged to lye at Anchor all that day and the night following until next morning when though it blew very hard from North-East we weighed at seven a Clock and stood away East South-East About nine a Clock we Sailed along Lareca which was to the Windward or Larboard of us About three quarters after nine we saw the Sky on Head over cast and the Air black with stormy Clouds and flurries but they were to the Leeward of us and therefore at first we dreaded them not but having more attentively considered them we found that they came from South to North and seeing it blew fresher and fresher perhaps because of the resistance it met with from those Clouds driven by a contrary Wind we furled our Mizan Sail and Steered away South-East and by East that we might avoid the Storm About a quarter after ten we took in all our Sails except the Main Course and Sprit-Sail About half an hour after ten it cleared up to the South and we made the biggest of the four Isles of Cape Mosandon called Selame which bore South and by West of us and at the same time we made the fourth of these little Isles which we had not seen before to the South and by East This little Isle lyes to the Southward of the biggest and is not far from it it seemed to me to reach North and South and is very low Land except at the end towards the big Island where it rises a little About three quarters after ten we set our Mizan and Main-Top-Sail again and stood our Course South-East the Wind being then North-East and by East and immediately after we had a shower of Rain For two hours after the
At two a Clock we had a breeze from North-West and we bore away South-East and by East About six a Clock the Wind slackened much About seven a Clock our Ships Head stood South-East Friday the five and twentieth of December at six a Clock in the morning it blew a West North-West Wind and we steered on our Course still South-East About seven a Clock the Sky was overcast with Clouds which brought Rain with them and we saw some more Spouts at a pretty good distance and a Weather-Gall this Weather-Gall was like a Segment of a Rain-Bow rising from the Horizon about three degrees or if you will it seemed to be three Foot high Sometimes they appear over a Ship and that is commonly a presage of a Tempest and the Portuguese call this Phenomenon an Oxes Eye About eight a Clock it blew a pretty fresh Gale from North but immediately it veered about to North-East and became very weak At noon we were by our Observations in three and twenty degrees two and fifty minutes Latitude and had made from noon to noon thirteen Leagues Then the Captain and Mate made account that we were eight or ten Leagues off of the Land of Sindy and about five and twenty Leagues from Jaquelte for my part by what I could make out by my Map we were twenty Leagues off Malan and to the Southward of Malan and forty Leagues from Sindy and near threescore Leagues from Jaquelte and this agreed with the Gunners Observation but he durst not say any thing for fear of quarelling with the Captain who thought every body ignorant in respect of himself and nevertheless it was found afterwards that he and the Mate were in the mistake About four a Clock the Wind turned East South-East and we Steered North-East About five a Clock we had a great shower of Rain from a thick Cloud over head which being past we had the Wind at South-East and bore away North-East Half an hour after six we had Rain again with Lightning but we were becalmed and turned the Ships Head North-East At seven a Clock the Wind turned South and by East and we bore away East and by South Half an hour after ten we were becalmed but about eleven a Clock had a great flurry which made much noise at first and this made us furl all our Sails but a great shower of Rain soon carried it off and the Sea being smooth we Steered away South-East and by South At midnight we cast the Lead but though they veered out sixty Fathom of Rope yet we had no ground which was like to have made the Captain mad for shame for he believed us to be very near Land and he fell into a Passion with the Mate saying that he had not left importuning him for two days to heave out the Lead We were all night becalmed though at times we had several showers of Rain Saturday the six and twentieth of December about seven a Clock there blew a gentle Gale from East North-East which made us Steer away South-East and by South About half an hour after nine the Wind being all Easterly we stood away South-East then master Manuel Mendez who perceived very well that no body knew where we were advised the Captain to stand in to Land and gratifie the Pilot which highly offended him saying that since they took him for an ignorant blockhead for the future he would only sleep and take his rest and let the Ship go which way she pleased and that to content us he would put back and make the Land at Jasques however this went no farther About ten a Clock the Wind turned East North-East and we stood away South-East At noon the Gunner found by his Observations that we were in twenty three degrees forty five minutes the Captain in twenty three degrees five minutes and the Mate in twenty three fifteen minutes and in four and twenty hours we had only made about six Leagues That day we began to see of those Birds which the Portuguese call Rabo de Junco Rabo de Junco a Fowl. and are a kind of Sea-Mews only they are bigger and have the Tail all of a piece and pointed like a Rush wherefore they are called Rush Tails and they keep upon the water as the Sea-Mews do At one a Clock the Wind slackened and chopped into the East and we Steered South and by East About four a Clock we tackt and stood away North. About half an hour after five the Wind having veered about to East North-East we Steered South-East About half an hour after seven the Wind turned North-East and by East About ten a Clock it was full North-East and we bore away East South-East Sunday morning the seven and twentieth of December at five of the Clock the Wind turned East and by North and we Steered our Course South-East and by South About nine a Clock we bore away South-East because the Wind was at East North-East and blew pretty fresh Our Officers took an Observation at noon and were again of different opinions the Captain had two and twenty degrees fifty two minutes the Mate twenty three and the Gunner three and twenty degrees and two minutes and in twenty four hours we had made fourteen Leagues In the Evening a flying Fish leaped into our Ship. The Wind freshened so much in the night-time that we were obliged to furl our Top Sails Monday noon the twenty eighth of December the Captain found out by his Observation that we were in the Latitude of twenty two degrees eight minutes and the Gunner in twenty two degrees eighteen minutes in four and twenty hours we had made fourteen Leagues That day we saw a great many Weeds or Herbs floating upon the water which the Portuguese call Sargaso Herb Sargaso and that is one sign of being near the Land of the Indies many such are also to be seen towards Brasil The stalk of that Herb is small blackish and as supple as a hair the Leaves of it are long and narrow and a little jagged besides the Leaves it hath a great many small clear and transparent Berries as soft as little Goosberries that stick to the stalk This Herb grows upon the Rocks in the Sea and being torn off by storm it floats upon the water till it be cast a shoar About two in the afternoon the Wind slackened much and therefore we spread our Main-Top and Fore-Top-Sails the Sea which had been very high before growing calm and smooth within a few hours Tuesday morning the nine and twentieth of December about seven a Clock the Wind was at North North-East and we Steered our Course East At noon the Gunner found that we were in one and twenty degrees forty four minutes Latitude and that in the space of twenty four hours we had made thirteen Leagues and a half at midnight we Steered East and by South that we might keep off of the Banks that are towards Diu our Company thinking themselves nearer to
Inhabitants unless it be on that side which lies towards Persia where it is very barren Every thing is dear in the chief Town because of the multitude of Forreign Merchants that resort thither and it wants good Water The Town of Candahar is considerable by its Situation and every one knows that the Persian and Mogul both pretend to it The former has in it at present a Garrison of nine or ten thousand Men least it should be surprized by the Mogul and being besides a Town of great importance Two Citadels at Candahar it is fortified with good Walls and hath two Citadels Candahar a rich Town The Trade that it hath with Persia the Country of the Uzbecs and Indies makes it very rich and for all the Province is so little it heretofore yielded the Mogul betwixt fourteen and fifteen Millions a year The yearly Revenue of the Mogul from Candahar There is no Province in Indostan where there are fewer Gentiles The Inhabitants are great lovers of Wine but they are prohibited to drink any and if a Moor who hath drank Wine commit any Scandal he is set upon an Ass with his Face to the Tail Wine-drinkers punished and led about the Town attended by the Officers of the Cotoual who beat a little Drum and they are followed by all the Children who hooop and hallow after them Though there be no Province of Indostan where there are fewer Gentiles yet there are Banians there because of Traffick but they have no publick Pagod And their Assemblies for Religion are kept in a Private House under the direction of a Bramen whom they entertain for performing their Ceremonies The King of Persia suffers not the Gentiles Wives there to burn themselves when their Husbands are dead The Wives are not burnt at Candahar There are a great many Parsis or Guebres there but they are poor and the Mahometans employ them in the meanest and most servile drudgeries They perform the Ceremonies of their Religion on a Mountain not far distant from the Town where they have a place wherein they preserve the Fire which they worship I have spoken of these People in my Book of Persia The same Officers are in Candahar as in the Towns of the Kingdom of Persia and do the same Duties but above all things they have special Orders to treat the People gently because of the proximity of the Moguls and if they oppress them in the least they are severely punished for it There are some small Rajas in the Mountains who are suffered to live in liberty paying some easie Tributes And these Gentlemen have always stuck to the strongest side when the Country came to change its Master There is also a little Countrey in the Mountains which is called Peria Peria that 's to say fairy-Fairy-Land where Father Ambrose a Capucin spent a Lent upon the mission in two Bourgs whereof the one is named Cheboular and the other Cosne And he told me That that Country is pleasant enough and full of good honest People but that the Christians who are there have but slight tinctures of Religion CHAP. XXXIV Of the Province of Caboul or Caboulistan Province of Caboul CAboulistan is limited to the North by Tartary Caboulistan from which it is separated by Mount Caucasus which the Orientals call Caf-Dagai Cachmire lies to the East of it It hath to the West Zabulistan and part of Candahar Zabulistan and to the South the Countrey of Multan Two of the Rivers that run into the Indies have their source in the Mountains thereof from whence they water the Province and for all that render it nothing the more fruitful for the Countrey being very cold is not fertile unless in those places that are sheltered by Mountains Nevertheless it is very rich because it hath a very great Trade with Tartary the Countrey of the Usbecs Persia and the Indies The Usbecs alone sell yearly above threescore thousand Horses there and that Province lies so conveniently for Traffick that what is wanting in it is brought from all Parts and things are very cheap there The chief Town of the Province is called Caboul Caboul a Town a very large place with two good Castles And seeing Kings have held their Courts there and many Princes successively have had it for their Portion there are a great many Palaces in it It lies in thirty three degrees and a half North Latitude Mirabolans grow in the Mountains of it Mirabolans and that 's the reason why the Orientals call it Cabuly There are many other sorts of Drugs gathered there and besides that they are full of aromatick Trees which turn to good account to the Inhabitants as also do the Mines of a certain iron which is fit for all uses From this Province especially come the Canes of which they make Halbards and Lances and they have many Grounds planted with them Caboulistan is full of small Towns Burroughs and Villages most of the Inhabitants are heathen and therefore there are a great many Pagods there They reckon their months by Moons and with great Devotion celebrate their Feast called Houly which lasts two days Houly a Feast At that time their Temples are filled with People who came to Pray and make their Oblations there the rest of the Celebration consists in Dancing by companies in the Streets to the sound of Trumpets At this Feast they are cloathed in a dark Red and many go to visit their Friends in Masquarade Those of the same Tribe eat together and at night they make Bonefires in the Streets That Feast is Celebrated yearly at the Full Moon in February and ends by the destruction of the Figure of a Giant against which a little Child shoots Arrows to represent what the People are made to believe God under the name of Cruchman to wit That God coming into the World under the name of Cruchman he appeared in shape of a Child that a great Giant that feared to be undone by him endeavoured to ruin him But that that Child hit him so dexterously with an Arrow A Giant killed by Cruchman that he laid him dead upon the ground These people seem heretofore to have been Christians but if they have had any Tincture of it it is much corrupted by the Fables and strange Tales that have been told them concerning the same to which they conform their Lives and Religion The Charity of the Indians of Caboul Their chief Charity consists in digging a great many Wells and in raising several Houses at certain distances upon the High-ways for the convenience of Travellers And by these little Houses there is always a place fit for those who are weary and heavy Loaded to rest in so that they can put off or take up their Burden without any bodies help Physicians of the Indies This Countrey supplies the rest of the Indies with many Physicians who are all of the caste of Banians Nay and
River which is also called Setana almost mid way betwixt Surrat and Aurangeabad we met the Bishop of Heliopolis The Bishop of Heliopolis so much esteemed in the Indies for his Piety and Zeal he had in company with him Monsieur Champson and a Spanish Cordelier Bishop of Barut who had left the Bishop of Barut with several other Church-men who laboured in converting the Gentiles at Siam That Bishop was going to Surrat in order to return to France from whence he hoped to bring back new Missionaries with him and the Cordelier came from China where he had lived fourteen Years we continually met Caravans of Oxen and Camels upon our Road Caravans of above a 1000 Oxen. Aurangeabad the Capital of Balagate and some I saw that came from Agra consisting of more than a thousand Oxen loaded with Cotton-Cloath At length the eleventh of March we arrived at Aurangeabad threescore and fifteen Leagues from Surrat which we Travelled in a fortnight This great Town the Capital of the Province has no Walls the Governour who is commonly a Prince has his Residence there and King Auran-Zeb commanded there as long as he did at Candich in the Reign of his Father His first Wife whom he loved dearly died in this Town as a Monument to her he erected a lovely Mosque covered with a Dome and beautified with four Minarets or Steeples The Sepulchre of Auran Zeb's first Wife It is built of a white polished Stone and many take it for Marble though it come short of that both in hardness and lustre There are several other pretty fair Mosques in this Town and it is not destitute of publick places Carvanseras and Baguios The buildings are for the most part of Free-stone and petty high before the Doors there are a great many Trees growing in the Streets and the Gardens are pleasant and well cultivated affording the refreshment of Fruit Grapes and Grass-plats Sheep that are Saddled and Bridled They have Sheep there without Horns that are so strong as that being Bridled and Saddled they 'll carry Children of ten years of Age up and down wheresoever they please This is a Trading Town and well Peopled with excellent Ground about it Though it was but in the beginning of March Extraordinay Apes we found all the Corn cut down I saw some Apes much esteemed there which a Man had brought from Ceilan They valued them because they were no bigger than ones Fist and differed in kind from the common Monkeys they have a flat Forehead big round Eyes which are yellow and clear like the Eyes of some Cats their Snout is very sharp and the inside of their Ears yellow they have no Tail and their Hair is like to that of other Apes When I looked upon them they stood upon their hind Feet and embraced one another often eying the People stedfastly without being scared their Master called them wild Men. CHAP. XLIV Of the Pagods of Elora The Pagods of Elora AT Surrat I was told great matters of the Pagods of Elora and therefore I had a mind to see them so that so soon as I came to Aurangeabad I sought out for an Interpreter to go along with me but it being impossible for me to find one I resolved to take my Servants with me and make that little Journey alone And because my Oxen were weary I hired a little Waggon to carry me thither and took two Pions more besides those I had I gave all the four half a Crown Piece and leaving my Man to look after my Baggage I parted about nine of the Clock at Night They told me that there was some danger of meeting Robbers but being well Armed as my Men also were I was not much concerned and I chose rather to run some little risk than to miss an oppertunity of seeing those Pagods which are so renowned all over the Indies We marched softly because of the unevenness of the Country and about two of the Clock in the Morning came near to Doltabad where we rested till five We had a rugged Mountain to ascend and very hard for the Oxen to climb up though the way cut out of the Rock be almost every where as smooth A lovely way in a Mountain as if it were Paved with Free-stone It had on the side a Wall three Foot thick and four Foot high to hinder the Waggons and Chariots from falling down into the Plain if they chanced to be overthrown My Pious thrust forward the Waggon with all their force and contributed as much as the Oxen to get it up to the top of the Hill. When I arrived there I discovered a spacious Plain of well cultivated Land with a great many Villages and Bourgs amidst Gardens plenty of Fruit-trees and Woods We Travelled at least for the space of an hour over Plow'd Land where I saw very fair Tombs several stories high and covered with domes built of large grayish Stones Fair Tombs at Elora and about half an hour after seven having passed by a great Tanquie I alighted near a large Court paved with the same Stones I went in A large Court in Elora where one must put off his Shoes but was obliged to put off my Shoes at first I found a little Mosque where I saw the â—ismillah of the Mahometans writ over the Door the signification of that Inscription is In the Name of God. There was no light into the Mosque but what entered by that Door but there were many Lamps burning in it and several old Men that were there invited me to come in which I did I saw nothing rare in it but two Tombs covered with Carpet And I was extreamly troubled for want of an Interpreter for else I had known a great many particulars that I could not be informed of A little farther Westward my Pions and I were above half an hour clambering down a Rock into another very low Plain The first thing I saw were very high Chappels and I entered into a Porch cut out of the Rock which is of a dark grayish Stone and on each side of that Porch there is a Gigantick figure of a Man cut out of the natural Rock Gigantick Figures of Men cut in the Rock and the Walls are covered all over with other figures in relief cut in the same manner Having passed that Porch I found a Square Court an hundred paces every way The Walls are the natural Rock which in that place is six Fathom high Perpendicular to the Ground-plat and cut as smooth and even as if it were Plaster smoothed with a Trewel Before all things I resolved to view the outside of that Court and I perceived that these Walls or rather the Rock hangs and that it is hollowed underneath A Gallery in the Rock so that the void space makes a Gallery almost two Fathom high and four or five broad It hath the Rock for Ground Pillars cut in the Rock and is
diligence that they were at the Gates of Bagnagar before the King had any News that they were marched from Aurangeabad so that he easily made himself Master of the Town Nevertheless the King in disguise escaped by a private door and retreated to the Fort of Golconda The Mogul plundered the Town and Palace carrying away all the Riches even to the Plates of Gold wherewith the Fleors of the Kings appartment were covered The Queen Mother at length had the Art to appease the Conquerour she treated with him in name of the King and granted him one of his Daughters in Marriage for his Son with promise that he should leave the Kingdom to him if he had no Male issue and he hath none Had it not been for that Accommodation he was upon the point of losing his Kingdom and perhaps his life too Since that time he is apprehensive of every thing and next to the Queen mother he trusts no body but Sidy Mezafer his favourite and the Bramens because that Queen is of the Bramen Castle and continually surrounded by them The King knows of nothing but by them and there are some appointed to hearken to what the Vizier himself and other Officers have to say to the King but his fear is much encreased since the Great Mogul hath been in War with the King of Viziapour whom in the beginning he assisted with Two hundred thousand Men commanded by an Eunuch who was almost as soon recalled as sent upon the complaints made by the Moguls Embassadour at Golconda The King to excuse himself said that that Army was sent without his knowledge and he is still in great apprehension of having the Moguls upon his back if they succeed against the King of Viziapour who hath hitherto defended himself very bravely This shews the weakness of that King he dares not put to death his Omras even when they deserve it and if he find them guilty of any Crime he condemns them only to pay a Fine and takes the Money Nay the Dutch begin to insult over him and it is not long since they obliged him to abandon to them an English Ship which they had seized in the Road of Masulipatan though he had undertaken to protect her There is a Prince also at his Court who begins to create him a great deal of trouble and it is he whom they call the Kings little Son-in-law who hath married the third of the Princesses his Daughters because he is of the Blood Royal He pretends to the Crown what promise soever hath been made to the Great Mogul he makes himself to be served as the King himself is who hitherto loved him very tenderly but at present he is jealous of that Son-in-law as well as of the rest and fancies that he intends to destroy him that he himself may Reign tho' he be reckoned a Man of great integrity There was in Bagnagar a Moorish Santo that lived near the Carvansery of Nimet-Ulla who was held in great veneration by the Mahometans A Moorish Santo the House he lived in was built for him by a great Omra but he kept his Windows shut all day and never opened them till towards the Evening to give his Benedictions to a great many people who asked them with cries prostating themselves and kissing the ground in his presence Most part of the Omras visited that cheat every evening and when he went abroad which happened seldom he went in a Palanquin where he shewed himself stark naked after the Indian fashion and the People reverenced him as a Saint The great Lords made him Presents and in the Court of his House he had an Elephant chained which was given him by a great Omra Whil'st I was on my Journey to Carnates the Kings little Son-in-law gave to this Santo a great many Jewels belonging to the Princess his Wife Daughter to the King and since no Man knew the motive of so great a Present which perhaps was only some Superstitious Devotion it was presently given out that it was to raise Forces against the King that with the concurrence of the Santo he might invade the Crown Whether that report was true or false it is certain that the King sent to the Santo's House to fetch from thence his Daughters Jewels and the Elephant and ordered him to depart out of the Kingdom The Kings eldest Daughter was married to the Kinsman of a Cheik of Mecha the second married Mahmoud eldest Son to Auran-Zeb for the Reasons I mentioned already and the third is Wife to the little Son-in-law Mirza Abdul-Cossin who has Male-Children by her and they say the fourth is designed for the King of Viziapour The King of Golconda has vast Revenues he is proprietory of all the Lands in his Kingdom which he Rents out to those who offer most except such as he gratifies his particular Friends with to whom he gives the use of them for a certain time Customs The Customs of Merchants Goods that pass through his Countrey and of the Ports of Masulipatan and Madrespatan yield him much and there is hardly any sort of Provisions in his Kingdom from which he hath not considerable dues Diamond Mines The Diamond-Mines pay him likewise a great Revenue and all they whom he allows to digg in those that are towards Masulipatan pay him a Pagod every hour they work there whether they find any Diamonds or not His chief Mines are in Carnates in divers places towards Viziapour and he hath Six thousand Men continually at work there who daily find near three Pound weight and no body diggs there but for the King. A rich Jewel of the King of Golconde This Prince wears on the Crown of his head a Jewel almost a Foot long which is said to be of an inestimable value it is a Rose of great Diamonds three or four Inches diameter in the top of that Rose there is a little Crown out of which issues a Branch fashioned like a Palm-Tree Branch but is round and that Palm-Branch which is crooked at the top is a good Inch in Diameter and about half a Foot long it is made up of several Sprigs which are as it were the leaves of it and each of which have at their end a lovely long Pearl shaped like a Pear at the Foot of this Posie there are two Bands of Gold in fashion of Table-bracelets in which are enchased large Diamonds set round with Rubies which with great Pearls that hang dangling on all sides make an exceeding rare shew and these Bands have Clasps of Diamonds to fasten the Jewels to the head In short That King hath many other considerable pieces of great value in his Treasury and it is not to be doubted but that he surpasses all the Kings of the Indies in pretious Stones and that if there were Merchants who would give him their worth he would have prodigious Sums of Money CHAP. VIII Of the Omras or Omros of Golconda THe Omras are the great Lords of
the Kingdom who are for the most part Persians or the Sons of Persians they are all rich for they not only have great Pay yearly of the King for their Offices but they make extream advantage also by the Soldiers scarcely paying one half of the number they are obliged to entertain besides that they have gratifications from the King of Lands and Villages whereof he allows them the Use where they commit extraordinary exactions by the Bramens who are their Farmers These Omras generally make a very handsome Figure when they go through the Town an Elephant or two goes before them on which three Men carrying Banners are mounted fifty or sixty Troopers well cloathed and riding on Persian or Tartarian Horses with Bows and Arrows Swords by their sides and Bucklers on their backs follow them at some distance and after these come other Men on Horse-back sounding Trumpets and playing on Fifes After them comes the Omra on Horse-back with thirty or forty Foot-men about him some making way others carrying Lances and some with fine Napkins driving away the Flies One of them holds an Umbrello over his Masters head another carries the Tobacco-Pipe and others Pots full of water in hanging Cages of Canes The Palanquin carried by four Men comes next with two other Porters for change and all this pomp is brought up by a Camel or two with Men beating of Timbals on their backs When the Omra pleases he takes his Palanquin and then his Horse is led by him The Palanquin is sometimes covered with Silver and its Canes or Bambous tipt with Silver at both ends the Lord is to be seen lying in it holding Flowers in his hand smoaking Tobacco or else chewing Betle and Areca shewing by that soft and effeminate Posture a most supine dissoluteness All who have any considerable Pay whether Moors or Gentiles imitate the Gentiles and are carried through the Town in Palanquins well attended and the Dutch Interpreter at Bagnagar who is a Gentile goes at present with such an equipage save only that instead of Camels he hath a Chariot but at least there is not a Cavalier but hath his Umbrello bearer his two Flie-drivers and his Cup-bearer The Betle which these Gentlemen chew in their Palanquin is a Leaf not unlike to an Orange-Tree Leaf though it be not so broad the Stalk of it being weak it is commonly planted near the Areca-Tree to which it clings and indeed the Indians never take Betle without an Areca-Nut and they are sold together The Areca is very high and much like to an ordinary Palm-Tree it carries its Nuts in clusters and they are as big as Dates and insipid This Betle and Areca keep all the Indians in countenance and they use it in the Streets and every where They pretend that it is an excellent thing for the Stomach and for the sweetness of Breath All that are called Omras at Golconda have not the ability of those whose Train and Equipage I have now observed there are those who being not so rich proportion their Train to their Revenue besides the quality of Omra is become so common and so much liberty allowed to take that Title that the Indians who guard the Castle and the outside of the Kings Palace to the number of a Thousand must needs be called Omras also though their Pay be no more than about a Crown a month But in short some of the great Omras are exceeding rich There was the Omra or rather the Emir Gemla Emir-Gemla or Mir-Gemla the Son of an Oyl-man of Ispahan who had the wealth of a Prince He left the Service of the King of Golconda went over to the Mogul and died Governour of Bengala It is well known that he had a design to make himself King of Bengala where he was very powerful and that he only waited for a favourable occasion to get his Son from the Court of the Great Mogul where he was detained as an hostage He had twenty Mans weight of Diamonds which make Four hundred and eight Pounds of Hollands weight and all this Wealth he got by the Plunder he formerly made in Carnates when he was at the head of the Army of the King of Golconda at the time when that King in conjunction with the King of Viziapour made War against the King of Bisnagar This General took a great many places there in a short time Guendicot but the Fort of Guendicot standing upon the top of an inaccessible Rock put a full stop to his Conquests The Town is upon the side of the Hill one must in a manner crawl up to come to it and there is no way to enter it but by one narrow Path. Mir-Gemla being unable to force it made use of his cunning and Money and so managed those whom the Naique sent to him to negotiate a Peace that he wheedled out the Governour under pretext of entring into a League with him for great Designs but no sooner was he come to the place of meeting but the Omra made sure of his Person contrary to the Promise he had given and kept him constantly with him till he put him in possession of Guendicot This place is within ten days Journey of St. Thomas upon the main Land. I had been two months in the Countrey when Winter came on Winter in Golconda it began in June by Rain and Thunder but the Thunder lasted not above four days and the Rain poured down with great storms of Wind till the middle of July though now and then we had some fair weather The rest of that month was pretty fair in August September and October there fell great Rains but without any Thunder the Rivers overflowed so prodigiously that there was no passing over the Bridges no not with the help of Elephants The River of Bagnagar beat down almost Two thousand Houses in which many People perished The Air was a little cold in the night-time and morning there was some heat during the day but it was as moderate as it is in France in the month of May and the Air continued in this temper until February the year following when the great heats began again These Rains render the Land of this Kingdom exceeding fertile which yields all things in abundance and especially Fruits Vines are plentiful there and the Grapes are ripe in January though there be some that are not gathered but in February March or April according as the Vines are exposed to the heat they make White-wine of them When the Grapes are gathered they Prune the Vines and about Midsummer they yield Verjuice In this Countrey also they have two Crops a year of Rice and many other Grains CHAP. IX The Authors departure from Bagnagar for Masulipatan HAving stayed long enough at Bagnagar I had a design to see some Countries of the coast of Coromandel and notwithstanding it was Winter I resolved to set out for Masulipatan Seeing there was no Travelling neither in Coach nor Chariot because of the
Scent and the Fruit of it is round They take off the Bark in the Summer-time and when they cut it the Smell is so strong that the Soldiers who are to guard the same fall almost sick upon 't Towards Cochin there is wild Cinnamon but because it is weak Wild Cinnamon it is not much esteemed The best Nutmegs are got in the Isle of Banda Nutmegs The Isle of Banda which is to the South of the Molucca's The Tree that produces them is no higher than our common Apricock-Trees that grow by themselves when its outward Husk falls off its Mace appears of a lovely Vermilion colour but being in the least exposed to the Air it changes its Colour into a light Brown as we have it The Tree is produced after this manner There is a kind of Birds in the Island that having picked of the green Husk swallow the Nuts which having been sometime in their Stomach they void by the ordinary way and they fail not to take rooting in the place where they fall and in time to grow up to a Tree This Bird is shaped like a Cuckoe and the Dutch prohibite their Subjects under pain of death to kill any of them Cloves grow upon a Shrub that has long narrow leaves Cloves the Flowers of it which at first are white change Colour four or five times and from the out-most point of its Branches the Cloves grow which have then a far more fragrant Smell than when they are brought into Europe The great Isle of Java furnishes the good Pepper The Tree is sow'd The Pepper of Java and when it comes to bear it produces Cods that contain forty or fifty Corns such as are brought into our Countrey Of Japan A friend of mine at Surrat gave me a short relation of the Affairs of the Dutch in Japan which I look upon to be curious enough to deserve a place here It says that after the horrible Persecution of the Christians in that Kingdom the Portuguese by the artifice of the Dutch having been deprived of their Trade the Emperour of that Countrey suffered the last comers to take the place of the Portuguese but fearing lest that if he gave them too much liberty they might abuse it he ordered them to live in a little Peninsule called Disima which is at the bottom of a Channel near the Town of Mansaque which in some Relations of the Jesuits is termed Mangasaquy This Peninsule is about two thousand Paces in circuit they go to the Town by a point of Land and on another side there is a Bridge The Dutch have built Houses there of Stones which they brought from Batavia but they are forbidden to bind them with any Mortar or Ciment and they have obtained no more liberty but to Pile them up one upon another to hinder People only from seeing what they are doing at home yet they cut and polish them so ingeniously that their dry Walls are as good as if they were built with Mortar They have made two Streets and three publick Gates but they do nothing but what the Governour of the Town knows either by Spies or by Guards he sets at the Gates whom he obliges every evening to give him an account of what passes in the day-time and these Guards are chang'd every day None of the Dutch dare go out of the Peninsule without the Governours leave under pain of being cut they dare not so much as have a Candle lighted in the night-time nor make the least noise and if the Guard hear any they blow a Horn and immediately the Governour sends a Commissary to know what news there is this Commissary goes into the Streets makes enquiry and leaves not the Peninsule till he knew who made the noise and why And he has Orders to check not only those that made it but also those who are appointed to keep all things quiet and in order In this constraint the Dutch live during eight months of the year When the Mouson or Season for sailing upon these Seas is come the Governour places Sentinels upon hills to discover the Dutch Fleet. So soon as ever it appears they give him advice and he speedily sends out towards the Fleet as many Boats and Waiters as there are Ships seen no sooner are they brought into Port but the Governour sends notice of it to the Emperour by Expresses for they have regulated Posts and the Dutch cannot dispose of any thing before the return of those Expresses In the mean time they make Inventories of what is on Board the Ships each Waiter takes one in the Ship that is assigned to him and the Dutch Captain is obliged to write down the Name Age Stature and Office of all the Men in his Ship and to give that List of them to the Waiter that he may send to have it Translated into the Language of the Countrey When one of the Couriers is comeback from Court the Dutch go a-Shoar one after another according to the order and rank of the Ships wherein they serve The first Ships crew go a-Shoar first and then the rest in order all are Mustered before the Commissaries and the Dutch Clerk who has the List and the Secretary or Japanese Clerk that has the Translation of it name them aloud according as they pass and tell their Quality Age Stature and Office. After they have been thus examined a-Shoar they are put on Board again the Yards are lower'd and the Sails Arms Guns and Powder of the Ship are carried a-Shoar the Hatches are shut and sealed up with a Seal put upon a piece of Paper tied with Straw whereon they cast a certain knot which the Japanese alone can untie and the Carpenter of the Ship covers these Seals with Boxes of Wood for fear they should be broken when they wash the Ship or are about any other business but there is such a constraint upon all the Crew that if any one stand in need of a bit of Meat or any other thing that is in the hold he cannot have it without a particular permission from the Governour himself who sends a Man express to open the Hatches and go below decks with the Dutch after which he again shuts and seals them up They are neither permitted to light a Candle nor make a noise on Ship-board no more than on Shoar in the Peninsule nor is one Vessel allowed to have any communication with another No Man is suffered to go a-Shoar no not the Officers themselves so that it is a great joy to them to be deputed to carry the Emperour who resides in the Town of Yonde which some Relations call Yando the Present which the States make him yearly but they are conducted under a good Guard and when they have made their Present and the Emperour hath given them another for the States they are conducted back to their Ship and they employ three months and a half in making that Journey I have been informed by a Dutch
built upon a narrow Rock which stretches out in length from North-East to South-West this Rock is very steep so that it is almost as broad on the top as at the bottom especially on the North-West side it is in some places above seven or eight Fathom high particularly on the South-East side at the Foot of this Rock on the same South-East side there are some Gardens and some steps farther runs a little River near to which is the Kervanseray built of burnt Bricks and over the Gate there is a pretty convenient Lodging-House it stands at the Foot of a high Rock that is to the South of it from which sometimes great pieces fall and are to be seen below most of them being as big as Houses The Village of Yez-de-Kast takes up the whole Surface of the Rock on which it stands as well in length as in breadth it hath no other Walls but the Walls of the Houses which are three or four Stories high and some higher all built of Stone This Town is in manifest danger sometime or other of falling down topsie turvy all at once being so high and having nothing to support it and indeed the Inhabitants mistrust it for about ten years since they began to build another Town at some distance from the Rock and to the Northward of it and when I passed by it on my return in the Year one thousand six hundred sixty and seven a great many Houses were already finished and new ones going up all forsaking the other Seat whereas when I past it first in the Year one thousand six hundred sixty five there was not so much as one House begun The Gate of Yez-de-Kast is on the South-West side where the ground about is as high as the Rock it is but little so that not having observed it at first coming I went from the Kervanseray to the Town climbing up the Rock on the South-East side betwixt the Gardens and after much climbing up I entered by a little Gate and went on above a hundred steps in a covered way that receives no light but by ugly holes and is by consequence so dark that one must groap along as they go in it I durst proceed no farther for fear of losing my self or entering into some House by mistake and so for that time I was obliged to turn back again by the same way I came but it is not so when one enters the Town by the other Gate The Land about Yez-de-Kast bears the best Corn in Persia and indeed they make most excellent Bread there the Inhabitants as they say mingling dry Pease with the Corn which makes the Bread so good There are several fair Tombs here built in Fashion of Domes Sunday the first of March we parted from that place half an hour after midnight and took the upper way for there are two ways the one on the Left Hand East-wards which is called the lower way and the other on the Right Hand to the West side which they call the upper way because it lies among Hills in the Winter-time when this way is filled up with Snow they are obliged to go the lower way which is the longer by a days Journy but being assured that the upper way was open we took it and for that end when we set out from the Kervanseray we held Westward for some time till we came to a place where the way leads up that Hill at the Foot whereof the Kervanseray stands being got up we marched in a Plain betwixt little Hills covered with Snow streight South-East until about Three a Clock we mounted up a Hill where the ascent is not long and the descent shorter but the way very bad and therefore it is called Chotali-Naar-Schekeni Chotali-Naar-Schekeni that is to say the Hill that pulls off the Horses shoes we came afterward into a pretty good way betwixt little Hills all white with Snow at day break we passed by a little Castle called Gombez-Cala where there is a Village also but ruined Gombez-Cala Half an hour after Nine we entered into a Plain in which we Travelled on till after Eleven that we came to a Village where we Lodged in a Kervanseray This Village is called Dehi ghirdon that is to say Village of Nuts Dehi ghirdon not that it abounds in that Fruit for having informed my self I learnt that the Nuts they eat there come from Lar however I took the pains to ask the reason why it was so called but all the answer I could get was that that was the name of it it is seven Agatsch distant from Yez-de-Kast We parted from Dehi-ghirdon Monday the second of March about midnight and after two hours and a halfs Journey past by a ruinous Kervanserai beyond which we marched on in a Plain covered over with Snow where there was but one Path open and that all Frozen about seven of the Clock we crossed over a little Bridge of five Arches under which runs a River two Fathom broad and travelling on still in that white Plain we arrived about Noon at a Village called Keuschkzer that is to say the Silver-Pavillion there are two Kervanserais there Keuschkzer the one old and the other all new well built of Free-Stone and burnt Bricks with many embellishments and very commodious Lodgings and Stables near which also there are Appartments for the Winter and in these we Lodged Keuschkzer is seven long Agatsch distance from Dehi-ghirdon the Land about is very good being Sowed with Corn there are about it also a great many Meadows where the Kings Horses are sent to Grass in the Season It is always cold there and the Snow lyes all the year round upon the neighbouring Hills The Inhabitants of that Village are Circassians they make Wine and sell it but they have the Grapes from Maain of which we shall Treat in its proper place Next Morning about half an hour after Four we went on our Journey and Travelled in a way covered with Snow and full of holes but we found it worse when the Sun was up and the ground began to Thaw especially about Eleven of the Clock when we entered amongst the Hills which being full of Dirt and Stones made the way as bad as it could be This passage makes that they goe not that way in the Winter-time for in the Summer all these ways are good we kept on always ascending a little till about One a Clock that we went down Hill a good way at the the bottom of that descent a great Brook rises out of the Ground a good Fathom in breadth the water whereof is very clear this Brook runs by a Village called Asoupas Asoupas where we arrived half an hour after two in the afternoon and there we were very ill Lodged in a nasty Kervanserai this Village is five Agatsch distant from Keuschkzer and has a sorry old ruinous Castle upon a little Hill the Inhabitants are Circassians who were Transported thither