and the Iewes still obserue that time Scaliger also sometime of a contrary opinion hath now yeelded to this And the Egyptians in the time of Fermicus held that the world was created in the thirtith part of Libra The Flood after Scaliger began in the yeere 1657. on Saturday the seuenth of Nouember The second age of the World is reckoned from the Floud to Abraham Whose birth was after the Floud 292. yeeres Sem two yeeres after the Floud begat Arpacsad hee at thirtie fiue yeeres Selah who in the thirtith yeere begat Heber Heber at thirtie foure Peleg who being thirtie yeeres old begat Regu and he at thirty two Serug in whose thirtith yeere Nahor was borne who at nine and twenty begat Terah who at seuentie yeeres begat Abram Thus Scaliger Caluisius Buntingus Arias Montanus Genebrard Pererius Adrichomius Opmeerus c. But Iunius Broughton Lydayt Codomannus c. adde sixtie yeeres more For Moses saith Gen. 11.32 That Terah died in Charan aged two hundred and fiue yeeres and then Abram as it is in the next Chapter was seuentie fiue yeeres old so that Terah when Abram was borne was a hundred thirty yeeres old Whereas therefore he is said at seuentie yeeres to beget Abram Nahor and Haran it is to be vnderstood that he then began to beget Abram being named first for diuine priuiledge not because hee was eldest The like phrase is vsed Gen. 5.32 Noah being fiue hundred yeeres old begat Shem Ham and Iaphet and yet neither were they all borne at once nor was Shem the eldest let the Reader choose whether of these opinions he best liketh In the seuentie fiue yeere Abram went out of Charan hauing receiued the promise from whence to the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt are numbred 430. yeeres Rather herein we are to follow Pauls interpretation of Moses then Genebrards who Gal. 3.17 accounts those foure hundred and thirtie yeeres mentioned by Moses Exod. 12.40 from the promise made to Abraham and not from the time that Iacob went downe with his familie into Egypt So that the departure out of Egypt after Scaligers computation and some others Perkins Adrichomius c. happened in the yeere of the World 2453. whereto if we adde those sixtie yeeres of Terahs life before mentioned it amounteth to two thousand fiue hundred and thirteene And so Broughton reckoneth Iunius and Lydyat account two thousand fiue hundred and nine The difference seemes to arise from hence that one accounteth from Abrams departing out of Vr of the Chaldees the other from his departure from Haran after his fathers death about fiue yeeres after But it were an endlesse worke to reconcile Chronologers in their different computations Some reckon the fiue and twentieth Scaliger the fifteenth of Aprill the day of their departure And then the Hebrewes began their yeere at the Spring-Equinoctiall which before they began in Autumne From this departure to the building of Salomons Temple Scaliger reckoneth foure hundred and eightie yeeres whose first foundations he saith were laid the nine and twentieth of May being Wednesday Anno Mundi 2933. and of the great Iulian Period which differeth seuen hundred sixtie foure yeeres from the yeere of the World 3697. In this computation of foure hundred and eightie yeeres betwixt the departure and foundation of the Temple many Chronologers agree Arias Montanus Adrichomius Broughton Perkyns Lydyat c. although some dissent much The summe ariseth of these parcels Moses died fortie yeeres after their deliuerance Ioshua ruled seuenteene Othoniel fortie Ehud fourescore Gideon fortie Abimelech three Thola twentie three Iaer twentie two Iephte sixe Ibsan seuen Elam ten Abdon eight Sampson twentie Heli fortie Samuel and Saul fortie Dauid fortie Salomon in the fourth yeere and second month beganne to build his Temple after which hee raigned thirtie seuen yeeres From thence to the destruction of the Temple vnder Zedekias are accounted foure hundred twentie and seuen This agrees with Ezekiels account reckoning a day for a yeere three hundred and ninety daies or yeeres after the Apostasie of Israel from God the rebellion against the house of Dauid in the beginning of Rehoboams raigne by the meanes of Ieroboam to which if we adde seuen and thirtie yeeres which Salomon raigned after the foundation of the Temple the summe is foure hundred twentie seuen The same appeareth thus Roboam reigned seuenteene yeeres Abiam three Asa fortie one Iehoshaphat twentie fiue Iehoram eight Ahaziah one Athaliah sixe Ioash fortie Amazia twentie nine Azaria or Vzzia fiftie two Betwixt Amazia and Azaria the kingdome was ruled eleuen yeeres by the States as some gather out of 2. Reg. 15.1 others reckon it not Iotham sixteene Ahaz sixteene Ezekiah twentie nine Manasses fiftie fiue Amon two Iosias thirtie one Iehoahaz three moneths Eliakim or Iehoiakim eleuen yeeres Iehoiachin three moneths Zedechiah or Mattaniah eleuen yeeres The little difference from the former number may be ascribed to the current and vnfinished yeeres of some of their raignes From this time of Sedekias ruine some begin the reckoning of the seuentie yeeres captiuitie in which time others comprehend all Sedekias raigne and account the returne vnder Cyrus to bee fiftie nine yeeres after this desolation and from thence a hundred and eight to the Edict of Darius Nothus from which time are numbred two hundred fiftie nine to the Dedication of Iudas Maccabeus and from thence a hundred sixtie two yeeres to the birth of Christ So Scaliger It were a worke irkesome to my selfe and tedious to the Reader to recite the variable opinions of Chronologers or to trauerse their arguments about these points To recite here their high Priests and later Kings with the time of their pontificalitie and raigne out of Arias Montanus I hold not vnfit First Iesus returned with Zorobabel and built the Temple whose time of Priest-hood after Scaliger Iunius and those that reckon vpon the Edict of Darius Nothus must needs be very long To leaue that therfore his sonne Ioacim succeeded in the Priest-hood twentie eight yeeres besides twentie yeeres with his father Eliasib held the Priest-hood one and fortie yeeres Ioiada twentie fiue Ionathan twentie foure Ieddoa twentie seuen till the time of Alexander Onias twentie seuen after Philo but Eusebius saith twentie three Simon Iustus thirteene Eleazar twentie Manasses twentie seuen Onias thirty nine Afterwards the Syrian Kings appointed high-Priests of whom Iason was Priest three yeeres Menelaus twelue yeeres in whose seuenth yeere Iudas Maccabeus began to administer the Common-wealth Ionathas brother of Iudas ruled eighteene yeeres Simon his brother was both Priest and Captaine eight yeeres Ioannes Hircanus his sonne thirtie one Whereas they had vsed to date their contracts according to the yeeres from Alexander as we reade in the bookes of Maccabees when Simon Hircanus was high Priest that order was abolished and another taken that euery date should be expressed in such or such a yeere of N. high Priest of the great God But lest
fit to answer that These Brethren holding much resemblance in name nature and feature yet differ both in the obiect and subiect This being mine own in matter though borrowed and in forme of words and method Whereas my Pilgrims are the Authors themselues acting their owne parts in their owne words onely furnished by me with such necessaries as that stage further required and ordered according to my rules here is a Pilgrimage to the Temples of the Worlds Citie religionis ergo with obuious and occasionall view of other things there is a full Voyage and in a method of Voyages the whole Citie of the World propounded together with the Temples here the soule and some accessories there the body and soule of the remoter World with 98 her rarer furniture this from the eare that from the eye this briefer notes that the Text it selfe How euer such was his Maiesties fauour as to adde for my further encouragement his promise to heare at large all those Pilgrims which was nightly also performed vntill his fatall sicknesse called him to enioy a nightlesse day in the heauenly Kingdome Euen the last day on which this Citie saw him it pleased him with gracious approbation of the former to impose another taske on me by an Honourable messenger with promise of reward which had almost in a dangerous sickenesse buried me and was buried with those hopes in his Maiesties graue whose Funerals this Citie hath beene forced euer since to solemnise with armies of Mourners pressed by Pestilence to attend follow His Corps with their owne And if some liuing remaines of him had not shined in his Sonne King CHARLES in that Sun-set what a Chaos of darkenesse had befalne vs which lost that day and yet saw no night And long may your Grace shine as a Starre of greatest magnitude attending neere our happy Charles-waine and euer may that Royall Race bee the Load-starre of our Church and State vnder the Sunne of righteousnesse euen so long as Bootes shall attend on that bright constellation May it please your Grace to pardon this talkatiue boldnesse and to permit mee also to mention your late fauour and seconding that Royall testimonie when notwithstanding the dreadfull infection your gracious affection admitted free communication with me intended a free and bountifull Collation on me and extended so large a collaudation to those my Pilgrimes neither by their voluminous prolixitie deterred from reading them nor then deterring my suspended scrupulous thoughts by your iudicious seueritie but with ingenuous sinceritie yeelding a testimonie so able and ample that though I blush to record it yet I now repent not of so vast vndertakings which such iudgement deemeth so profitable that the studious in this kind of literature neede goe no further which was the scope of those voluminous Collections to coniure as it were all Trauelling spirits into that one Pilgrime-centre and at once to make the World Eye-witnesse to it selfe Let me glorie further that my Volumes are admitted into your Graces Librarie and my selfe an appendix of your family and Your Graces vnworthy Chaplaine S. P. To the Reader AND now READER The PILGRIME comes vnto thee the fourth time with whom hee dares be somewhat bolder Being I know not by what naturall inclination addicted to the studie of Historie my heart would sometimes obiect a selfe-loue in following my priuate delights in that kinde At last I resolued to turne the pleasures of my studies into studious paines that others might againe by delightfull studie turne my paines into their pleasure I heere bring Religion from Paradise to the Ark and thence follow her round about the World and for her sake obserue the World it selfe with the seueral Countries and Peoples therin the chiefe Empires and States their priuate and publique Customes their manifold chances and changes also the wonderfull and most remarkeable effects of Nature Euents of Diuine and Humane Prouidence Rarities of Art and whatsoeuer I finde by Relations of Historians as I passe most worthie the writing Religion is my more proper aime and therefore I insist longer on the description of whatsoeuer I finde belonging thereto declaring the Religion of the first Men the corrupting of it before and after the Floud the Iewish obseruations the Idols Idolatries Temples Priests Feasts Fasts Opinions Sects Orders and sacred Customes of the Heathens with the Alterations and Successions that haue therein happened from the beginning of the World hitherto This Worke I diuide into foure parts This first exhibiteth the Relations and Theologicall discouerie of ASIA AFRICA and AMERICA The second when God will shall doe the same for EVROPE The third and fourth in a second visitation shall obserue such things in the same places as I holde most remarkeable in the Christian and Ecclesiasticall Historie and that according to the same Method which is squared in the Whole by order of Place going still out of one Countrie into the next in each particular part and seuerall Countrie by the order of Time deducing our Relations so farre as we haue Others foot-prints to guide vs though not exactly naming the day and yeere and determining questions in Chronologicall controuersies yet in some conuenient sort from the ancient times and by degrees descending to the present If thou demandest what profit may be hereof I answere that heere Students of all sorts may finde matter fitting their studies The naturall Philosophers may obserue the different constitution and commixtion of the Elements their diuers working in diuers places the varietie of heauenly influence of the yeerely seasons of the Creatures in the Aire Water Earth They which delight in State-affaires may obserue the varietie of States and Kingdomes with their differing Lawes Polities and Customes their Beginnings and Endings The Diuine besides the former may heere contemplate the workes of God not in Creation alone but in his Iustice and Prouidence pursuing sinne euery where with such dreadfull plagues both bodily in rooting vp and pulling downe the mightiest Empires and especially in spirituall Iudgements giuing vp so great a part of the World vnto the efficacie of Errour in strong delusions that hauing forsaken the Fountaine of liuing waters they should dig vnto themselues these broken Pits that can hold no water deuout in their superstitions and superstitious in their deuotions agreeing all in this that there should bee a Religion disagreeing from each other and the TRVTH in the practice thereof Likewise our Ministers may be incited vnto all godly labours in their function of preaching the Gospel seeing otherwise for outward and bodily ceremonies the Turkes and Iewes in their manifold deuotions in their Oratories euery day and other Heathen would conuince vs of idlenesse And let mee haue leaue to speake it for the glory of God and the good of our Church I cannot finde any Priests in all this my Pilgrimage of whom wee haue any exact History but take more bodily paines in their deuotions than is performed by not preaching Ministers especially in Countrie-villages
hath written of seuen Elders in each City and those things which in the Talmud are written of their Politie had now first as some thinke their beginning Concerning this because it is not so common let me haue leaue for a larger discourse out of the Talmudical Sanhedrin which thus recordeth Matters which concerne goods are determined by three criminall cases by a Councell of three and twenty But such things as belong to a whole Tribe a false Prophet or the high Priest by the great Councell at Ierusalem of seuenty and one The high Priest iudgeth and is iudged he sitteth at Funerals on a little Seare all the multitude sitting on the ground The king iudgeth not and is not iudged giueth testimony against none nor none against him Hee maketh Warres but not without consent of the Sanhedrin he may not haue aboue eighteene wiues he ought to haue the booke of the Law written and hanging about his necke In ciuill causes each of the Litigants chooseth a Iudge or Arbitrator and both these thus chosen choose a third Of this Office are vncapable Dicers Vsurers and such as practise dishonest courses for gaine They also which are of neere kindred to the parties may neither be Iudges nor Witnesses Their Companions or Aduersaries may giue testimony but not iudgement Women and Seruants might not be witnesses Ios. Antiq 4.7 Nor a Thiefe Robber Vsuret Publican Child or keeper of Doues Ph. Ferdinand This last Ricius doth not mention but addeth a Gentile Foolâ— Deafe Blinde The ancientest witnesse is first examined and that from his owne sight or the debters mouth or else it is nothing Thirtie daies after sentence giuen the Defendant may alleage what hee can for himselfe The odde number is the casting voice In criminall causes decided by three and twenty one odde voice absolueth but there must be aboue twelue of the three twenty to condemne and when sentence is giuen nothing may be alleaged further for accusation which for absolution is lawfull And he which hath spoken for the accused may not after speake against him Ciuill causes are examined in the day and sentenced in the night but criminall only by day and sentence of condemnation may not be pronounced the same day and therefore on holy-dayes Eeuens examinations are forbidden Proselytes and Bastards may determine ciuill causes Priests and Leuits with other Israelites are required in criminall These Iudges sate in a semicircle hauing one Scribe or Register on the right hand another on the left In the Session-house were present besides three orders of Students which sate on the ground according to their degree out of which the number of the Senators were supplied when neede was so that one of the first order being made Senator another was chosen out of the second order into his place and out of the third in the roome of the second and out of the people into that third Order The witnesses must testifie only from their own sight and that exactly what seuenth yeere of the Iubilee what yeere of that seuenth what moneth what day of the moneth and weeke and in what houre and place hee saw it For to saue or lose an Israelite is asmuch as to preserue or destroy the frame of the World if one witnesse be ignorant of any of those circumstances or contradicteth another his testimony is vaine None of the Students which sit by may be suffered to accuse if they can say any thing in defence of the partie they may If they cannot finde sufficient to absolue him that day the Senators or Iudges scanne that matter seriously two or three together all night vsing a spare diet If twelue condemne and the rest cleere him they adde to the number of Iudges till they make vp seuenty and one to make further search When sentence is pronounced the condemned person is carried away and brought againe foure or fiue times to see whether hee or any other can say any thing for his purgation And if nothing bee alleaged sufficient to reuerse the sentence he is led to execution the Cryer going before him and proclayming the crime and sentence and accusers that if any can then say any thing in his behalfe he may speake When he commeth within ten cubits of the place of execution he is admonished to confesse his fault and so hee shall haue part in the life to come and if he know not the forme of confession it is enough for him to say Let death be vnto me the remission of all my sinnes Being within foure cubits he is stripped naked all but his priuities if it bee a woman shee is led forth in her cloathes The stoning place was built twice the height of a man from whence by one of the witnesses he was cast downe head-long the ground beneath being set with flints and if he died not with the fall another of the witnesses smote him neere the heart with a flint which if it did not finish his death the whole multitude cast stones at him They might not condemne aboue one in one day to death He which was stoned if he were a man was presently hanged on a Gibbet and after taken downe and buried with other persons which had before suffered in like manner When the flesh was there consumed his bare bones might bee laid in his owne or his fathers Sepulcher After this his friends and kinsemen went to the Iudges and witnesses and saluting them acknowledged the iustice of their fact Besides this punishment of stoning they punished with the fire sword or strangling The manner of burning was to put the condemned person in dung vp to the arme-holes and one executioner on one side and another on the other graned him with a linnen cloth about his neck pulling the same till they forced him to gape and then a bar or rod of burning metall was thrust downe into his body The sword was vsed in beheading Strangling was done with a course piece of linnen pulled close about his neck till he were dead It would be too long to shewe what faults were appropriated to each of these kindes of execution If a man had deserued two of them he was to be punished with the most seuere In some cases of homicide the guilty person was put in a little-ease prison where he was forced alway to stand and was fed onely with Barly till his belly rotted and his bowels fell out Any one might presently slay him which had stolne any of the holy Vessels or blasphemed the name Iehoua The Priest which exercised his function while he was polluted was not brought to iudgement but other Priests chosen to that purpose led him out of the holy place and knocked out his braines From the Sanhedrin was no appeale They were also called Mehokekim that is Scribes or Law-giuers because whatsoeuer they deliuered or writ was receiued for a Law Their Colledge saith Galatinus who from their fayling prooueth that the
first-borne themselues and therefore in right of the former challenge of the first-borne were the Lords already And if it seeme as much wonder which Authors obserue not that of two and twentie thousand were but three hundred first-borne That their exploite of executing their kindred for Idolatrie before mentioned in which sinne the first borne as Priests were likeliest to haue followed Aaron a chiefe man of their Tribe might answere for me And that cruell Edict of Pharaoh and their miraculous fruitfulnesse may mae it lesse strange that both in these Leuites there were so few first-borne and in the other Israelites also with whom amongst 603550. men from twentie yeeres olde vpwards there were though reckoning but from a moneth olde as is said but two and twentie thousand two hundred seuentie three which is little more then one of seuen and twentie besides that inequalitie of the persons numbred Likewise as Phil. Ferdinand hath obserued out of Abraham ben Dauid if a woman first brought forth a female neither that nor the sonne if shee had any after were of these sanctified first-borne This excursion vpon this occasion wherein I haue found diuers Interpreters mute will I hope find pardon with the Reader who happily himselfe may finde some better resolution To returne to our Historie God had before appointed Aaron to be high Priest and his Sonnes to be Priests to whom the Leuites were assigned after as we haue said as assistants in inferiour offices of the Tabernacle Aaron from whom is reckoned the succession of the high Priests in the same office had appointed to him eight holy garments a Brest-plate an Ephod a Robe a broidered coate a Miter a Girdle a Plate of gold and linnen breeches Also his sonnes had appointed to them Coates and Bonets and Girdles and Breeches Which their attire is described at large Exodus 28. Iosephus writeth of the stones there mentioned That that on the Priests right shoulder shined forth very bright when GOD was pleased with their Sacrifices as did also those twelue in the brest-plate when in the time of Warre GOD would assist them Which ceased miraculously to shine two hundred yeeres before his time or as the Talmudists say from the building of the second Temple The consecration of the Priests and Rites thereof are mentioned Exodus 29. The conditions required in the high Priest as that hee should not haue the bodily defects of blindnesse lamenesse maymednesse c. nor should vncouer his head and many other such like are expressed Leuit. 21. His office was daily to light the Lights at the euening and to burne incense at Morning and Euening and once euerie Sabbath to set the Shew-bread before the Lord to Sacrifice and once a yeere to make reconciliation in the holy-place c. This office they executed till the captiuitie after which they ruled also in the Common-wealth and the familie of the Maccabees obtayned temporall and spirituall iurisdiction being both Priests and Kings But the state being vsurped by others they also appointed high Priests at their pleasures and thus were Annas and Caiphas high Priests although Caiphas alone administred the office which was abrogated to Annas the name only remayning and thus Iosephus saith that Annas was most happie who had himselfe beene high Priest and seene all his sonnes in that office whereas in the institution and before the Captiuitie this office continued ordinarily with their liues which after they enioyed longer or shorter at pleasure of the Conqueror Next vnto the high Priest were the Priests lineally descended from Eleazar and Ithamar the sonnes of Aaron as in number many so in their Priestly rayments Consecration Condition and Office much differing from the former as appeareth for their Garments Leuit. 28. their Consecration 29. their Conditions required in them Leuit. 10. and 21. and their Office in some things as Preaching Praying Sacrificing not much vnlike to the former but in degree sometime assisting him in these things sometime alone and in some things nothing participating as in Moses plainely may be seene These Priestly families being of the house of Eleazar sixteene and of Ithamar eight which Dauid by Lot distributed into foure and twentie orders according to the number of the heads of families those foure and twentie men chiefe of those orders being to the high Priest as Aarons sonnes were vnto him in their ministerie 1. Chron. 24. and tooke turnes by course in performing of the same as Luke sheweth in the example of Zacharie Iosephus testifieth the same and affirmeth That in each of these rankes were more then fiue thousand men in his time And in the Historie of his life saith that himselfe was of the first of these orders betwixt which was no small difference and the heads of these were also called Chiefe Priests in the old and new Testament It was by their Lawe forbidden on paine of death to any Priest or Leuite to intermeddle in anothers Function But at the three solemne Feasts any of the Priests which would were permitted to Minister and to participate with those whose course it then was Onely they might not offer the Vowes or Free-will or ordinarie Offerings The Leuites had the next place in the Legall Ministerie all that descended of Leui except the familie of Aaron being thus called And Num. 3. according to the descent of the three sons of Leui had their offices assigned them which so continued till the daies of Dauid He distributed them according to their families vnto their seuerall functions twentie foure thousand to the seruice of the Temple six thousand to be Iudges and Rulers foure thousand Porters and foure thousand which praysed the Lord vpon Instruments These were diuided vnder their Heads or Principals according to their families The Leuiticall Musicians with their Offices and Orders are reckoned 1. Chron. 25. and 2. Chron. 7. These in stead of the silken stole which they ware obtained in the daies of Agrippa to weare a linnen one like the Priests The Porters are in the 26. of 1. Chron. described according to their families orders and offices They kept in their courses the doores and treasures of the Temple to keepe the same cleane and to keepe that which was vncleane out of the same and these all are ministred in their offices 2. Chron. 35. The Gibeonites called after Nethanims were at hand vnto the Leuites in the meanest Offices about the Tabernacle and Temple Ios. 9.21 and 1. Chron. 9. assigned hereunto first by Ioshua after by Dauid and the Princes for the seruice of the Leuites to cut wood and draw water for the house of God Ezra 8. Besides these Ecclesiasticall persons in the ordinarie Ministerie of the Temple were other which may no lesse be counted holy either in regard of Vow as the Nazarites for a time Sampson is an especiall example hereof and Iames the Iust brother of our Lord or else they were Prophets by extraordinarie calling as Samuel
And this they doe foure or fiue times according to the order of their seruice After this they all kneele and prostrate themselues on the ground the Meizin obseruing a long Ceremonie in which with a loud voyce hee prayeth GOD to inspire the Christians Iewes Greekes and generally all Infidels to turne to their Law This being said euery man lifteth his hand to heauen crying aloud Amin Amin and then they touch their eyes to wipe them with their hands which is as crossing among the Papists a blessing of themselues bringing their hands ouer their face and so they depart In the English Treatise of the Turkish Policie these things are related with some other Ceremonies as that they say together with the Priest the first Azoara or Chapter of the Alcoran c. Bartholomaeus Georgiouitz saith that onely the chiefe sort are bound to assemble to the daily deuotions which they obserue fiue times a day others which cannot spare the times are not tyed On their Sabbaths it is otherwise §. IIII. Of their Sabbaths and of their Lent and Easter THE women enter not their Mesquitas but on Fridayes at nine a clocke or at Easter and then they are in a Gallery or Terasse apart where they may see and not bee seene and this is not common to all but the wiues and mothers of the chiefe of the place And as we haue said of the Priest so it is to be vnderstood that all the men and women there doe the same without failing in any point They suffer not a Christian to enter therein and yet will they enter into the Churches of the Christians to heare the Church-musicke The women abide in their Churches from nine of the clocke to midnight continually praying with certaine motions and strange cries continuing so long in this act that they fall vpon the ground as in a swoune through wearinesse and if any feele her selfe at that time to bee with childe the Turkes hold that they are conceiued by the holy Ghost and presently vow that childe to God and call such Nefecs Ogli that is sonnes of the holy Ghost And on Friday at nine or ten of the clocke the Priest vseth to preach to the people and these their discourses last aboue two houres That which is said is not verie manifest yet they say that he preacheth the miracles of Mahomet sometime exalting their faith sometime commending obedience and sometime rehearsing fabulous tales to terrifie the bad as that such mens soules are carried of certaine Camels there being some sixe thousand flying about in the ayre for this purpose into the Sepulchres of wicked Christians and that the good Christians are put in their emptie Sepulchres inueighing against the blasphemers of Mahomet Christ and the Saints exhorting to Almes rehearsing their commandements of the law And if they preach scandalous doctrine the Mufti and the Cadlilescher depriue them and correct them as Heretikes yea some of them for preferring Christ before Mahomet are put to death of which one Ibraim Schec a Priest of Constantinople reported to haue wrought miracles amongst the Turkes in the dayes of Soliman was stoned to death his head cut off and his bodie burned of his Disciples some were beheaded others thrust into the Gallies for preferring Christ and denying Mahomet And were it not for the terrour of the sword there would be more innouations of religion and some haue perswaded the Grand Signior not to suffer the Alcoran to bee so common to be read and interpreted of euerie one guiltie of the absurdities therein contained But to returne After this preaching ended two young Clerkes goe vp to him and sing certaine prayers which ended the Priest againe beginneth to sing with the people in a base voyce with wrigling euery way for the space of halfe an houre saying nothing but Lailla illellah that is there is but one God And these Ceremonies are done onely on their Lenten Fridayes Their Lent is one Moone or Moneth in the yeere which if this yeere it be Iuly the next it shall bee August and so in order that in twelue yeeres they haue fasted all times of the yeere making no other difference of meates then at other times but eating onely in the night They prepare themselues by diminishing their fare not as the Christians at Shrouetide that they may the better endure it for on the day in which they fast they will not so much as taste a cup of water or wash their mouthes therewith till the Starres appeare And eight or ten dayes after it beginneth some Officers ride about the towne crying Such a day beginneth the Fast prepare yee prepare yee and when it is begun the Cadi and Subassi if they finde any shops open or any body eating in the day set him on an Asse backwards with the tayle in his hand as Adulterers are punished and to drinke wine at this time is death Neither will they suffer Iewes or Christians to scandalize their Turkes this way And when their Lent is neere the end they goe all to the Baths and plucke off all their haires but of the head and beard with an oyntment for that purpose they colour their nayles red with an enduring colour called Chua with which they dye also the tayles and feet of their horses and the women their hands feet and priuie parts This they doe in honour of their solemnitie which lasteth three daies with great feasting in which nothing else but meates and drinkes may be sold They goe to the Sepulchres of the dead there to eate full of gladnesse and salute each other saying Baaram glutiotzong that is God giue you a good Feast and if they meete with a Iew or a Christian woe vnto them On the first day of their Bairam the Sultan rideth to S. Sophia with all pompe and then did we see saith Master Sandys a sight full of horror many mourne with age yet dead before death and reuolting from their Christianitie therefore throwing away their bonets and lifting vp their fore fingers to which the Tyrant bowed himselfe as glorying in such conuersions The Turks keepe another Easter especially in Mecca more solemne to the Tartars Moores and Arabians then to the Turkes except the Pilgrims which resort thither §. V. Of the Turkish Circumcision THE Turkes say they are circumcised because they are the sonnes of Ismael and because they may be cleane when they goe to their Temples no filth lying hid vnder the skinne At seuen or eight yeeres of age or later this Ceremonie is performed The first thing they doe is to inuite many thither both Turkes Iewes and Christians besides the friends and kindred to make the greater gaine euery one giuing somewhat according to his abilitie When the day is come they which are inuited mount on horse-backe for else it is no solemnitie and goe to the house of the childe who being mounted on a faire horse richly clothed with a great Tulipant on his head
therein an hundred twentie seuen Pillars the workes of so many Kings threescore foot in height and sixe and thirtie of them very curiously wrought The Temple was foure hundred twentie fiue foot long two hundred and twentie broad of the Ephesians holden in such veneration that when Croesus had begirt them with a straight siege they deuoted their Citie to their Goddesse tying the wall thereof with a rope to the Temple It was enriched and adorned with gifts beyond value It was full of the workes of Praxiteles and Thraso The Priests were Eunuches called Megalobyzi greatly honoured and had with them sacred Virgins Some call these or else another order of Diana's Priests Estiatores and Essenae that is Good fellowes after the appellation of this bad age which by yeerely courses had a peculiar diet assigned them and came in no priuate house All the Ionians resorted to Ephesus at Diana's festiuall which with daunces and other pompe they solemnized with their wiues and children as they had done before at Delos the Temple had priuiledge of Sanctuarie which Alexander extended to a furlong Mithridates to a flight-shot Antonius added part of the Citie But Augustus disanulled the same that it should no longer bee a harbour for villaines This the Romans finde saith a Roman Pope relating this Historie among whom are so many Sanctuaries as Cardinals houses in which theeues and ruffians haue patronage which make the Citie otherwise quiet and noble a denne of theeues A lake named Selinusius and another which floweth into it were Diana's patrimonie which by some Kings being taken from her were after by the Romans restored And when the Publicans had seized the profits Artimedorus was sent in Ambassage to Rome where hee recouered them to Diana for which cause they dedicated to him a golden Image in the Temple In the midst of the lake was the Kings Chappell accounted the worke of Agamemnon Alexander not onely restored the Ephesians to their Citie which for his sake they had lost and changed the gouernment into a popular state but bestowed also the tributes which before they had paied to the Persians vpon Diana and caused them to be slaine which had robbed the Temple and had ouerthrowne the Image of Philip his father therein and such of them as had taken Sanctuarie in the Temple he caused to be fetched out and stoned While hee staied at Ephesus hee sacrificed to Diana with very solemne pompe all his Armie being arranged in battell array But this Temple of Diana together with their Diana is perished But neuer shall that Truth perish which Paul writ in his Epistle to them for obseruing which by Christ himselfe in another Epistle written by S. Iohn they are commended and which in a Councell there holden was confirmed against the Heresie of Nestorius and Celestius But alas that golden Candlesticke as was threatned is now almost by Greekish superstition and Turkish tyrannie remoued thence a Bishop with some remnants of a Church still continuing The Ephesians were obseruers of curious Arts which not onely Luke mentioneth but the prouerbe also confirmeth Ephesiae literae so they called the spells whereby they made themselues in wrestling and other conflicts inuincible The summe of those Magicall bookes burned by them Luke rateth at 50000. pieces of siluer which Budaeus summeth at 5000. Crownes The many Temples of Venus at Ephesus are not worth memorie Memorable is the History of an Ephesian maid who when Brennus inuaded Asia promised him her loue which he much desired and withall to betray the Citie to him if hee would giue her all the Iewels and Attire of the women which the Souldiers were commanded to doe who heaped their gold so fast vpon the Damosell according to their command that shee was therewith couered and slaine The Asiarchae which Luke nameth Beza saith were certaine Priests whole office it was to set forth publike playes and games in honor of their Gods as also were the Syriarchae The Ephesians as all other Ionians were much addicted to nicenes and sumptuousnesse of attire for which other their delicacies they grew into a prouerbe The Ionians had other places and Temples amongst them famous for deuotion and antiquitie such as no where else are to be seene as the Temple and Oracle of Apollo at Gemini Myus had a small arme of the Sea whose waters by the means of Meander fayling the soyle brought forth an innumerable multitude of fleas which forced the Inhabitants to forsake their Citie and with bagge and baggage to depart to Miletus And in my time saith Pausanias nothing remaineth of Myus in Myus but Bacchus Temple The like befell to the Atarnitae neere to Pergamus The Persians burnt the Temple of Pallas at Phocea and another of Iuno in Samos the remaines whereof are worthy admiration the Erythraean Temple of Hercules and of Pallas at Prienae that for antiquitie this for the Image The Image of Hercules is said to be brought in a ship which came without mans helpe to the Cape where the Chians and Erythraeans laboured each to bring the same to their owne Citie But one Phormio a Fisher-man of Erythraea was warned in a dreame to make a rope of the haires cut off from the heads of the Erythraean Matrons by which their husbands should draw the same to the Towne The women would not yeeld but certaine Thracian women which had obtained their freedome granted their haire to this purpose to whom therefore this priuiledge was granted to enter into Hercules Temple a thing denied to all other the Dames of Erythraea The rope stil remaineth and the Fisher-man which before was blinde recouered his sight In this Towne also is Mineruaes Temple and therein a huge Image of Wood sitting on a Throne holding with both hands a Distaffe There are the Graces and Houres formed of white Marble At Smyrna was the Temple of Aesculapius and nigh to the Springs of the Riuer Meles a Caue in which they say Homer composed his Poems Thus much Pausanius The Ionian letters were more resembling the Latine then the present Greeke are and were then common as in our first Booke is shewed in our Phoenician Relations At Miletus a mad phrensie had once possessed their Virgins where by it came to passe that they in great multitudes hanged themselues Neither cause appeared nor remedie Needs most they goe whom the Deuill driues Whom neither the sweetnesse of life bitterternesse of death teares intreaties offers custodie of friends could moue Modestie detained from proceeding in this immodest butcherie and which is more to be wondred at a Posthume modestie which could not be borne till they were dead For a Law was made That the naked bodies of such as had thus strangled themselues should bee drawne through the streets which contumely though it were but a Gnat to those Camels which with the halter they swallowed yet strained they at it and it could
Stone If any fraud bee found they are both excluded and punished Then the doores being shut and sealed the two Examiners propound out of their Tetrabiblion three sentences on which euery one is to write so many Theames also out of those Fiue Doctrines , foure sentences the arguments of so many other Theames or Orations These seuen Writings must bee adorned both with eloquent phrase and elegant sentences according to the Chinian Rhetorike not any one Writing exceeding fiue hundred Characters or Words The next day of triall they haue three questions of state propounded out of the old Chronicles or of things which may after happen to which they returne answer in three Writings Likewise the third day three cases propounded of such things as may be demanded in executing publike functions which they answere in so many writings Thus euery one hauing that dayes arguments written out is by some thereunto appointed brought vnto his designed Cell where he writeth in a Booke his Meditations subscribing his owne his fathers grandfathers and great grandfathers Names then closing the booke that none but they which are deputed may open it to whom they offer it These bookes before they come to the Examiners are new copied and transcribed by others in red inke whereas the former were in blacke and these transcripts without the Authors names deliuered to these Prouinciall Examiners which are chosen to assist the two Principall which reiect the worst and offer twice so many of the best as are to proceed at that time vnto the Kings Examiners These make a new examination chusing out so many as are to bee admitted Graduates and obserue which are best second and third composing them in their due order This being done all the Examiners together compare the Copies with the Originalls knowne by certaine numbers indorsed and taking out the Authors names expose them written on large Tables in Cubitall letters about the end of the eight Moone with great concourse of Magistrates and applause of their friends This degree enioyeth farre greater priuiledges and immunities with a peculiar habit and if they seeke not to proceed further they are capable of many publike Offices After this the Kings Examiners publish a booke which containeth the names of the Licentiates and the chiefe writings on euery Theame especially his who obtained the first name amongst all the Competitors who is called Quiayven The third degree answers to our Doctor they call it Cin-su This is conferred euery third yeere also but only at Pequin the yeere next after the former Proceeding Euery Kiugin or Licentiat out of all Prouinces may bee admitted to the Examination but onely three hundred are Speeders of fiue thousand Competitors The Examiners are principall Magistrates the time the second Moone on the same dayes and in the same manner as the former These being created and pronounced Doctors in that place where the Licentiates are made all in the Kings Palace before the chiefe Magistrates of the Court the King himselfe was wont to be present doe vndergoe a new Triall and make a writing on a Theame propounded according to which the order of Offices whereof they are made capable is declared being of three Rankes or Formes He which had the first place in the examination of Doctors is here sure to haue the third but he which here obtaines the first or second place is dignified with an honorable title like to that of a Duke or a Marquesse with vs if it were hereditary all his life and obtaineth the highest places in the gouernment Anno 1604. three hundred and eight Doctors were made and then another Triall was made for the Kings Collegiats of Hanlinyen of that number were named twentie foure chosen out of those three hundred and eight as in the former Trialls These are chosen to the chiefe Magistracies in the Kingdomes but so as after many other trialls onely twelue or fifteene of those twentie foure be chosen These Doctors enioy their proper Vest Cap Bootes and other ensignes of Magistrates and are admitted vnto the best functions so as they alway exceed the Licentiates and are suddenly become the Grandes of the Kingdome Those Licentiates which are reiected from their Doctorship if they haue no further hope are admitted and betake themselues to some places of gouernment But if they intend to make and abide a new triall the studie hard at home other three yeeres some of them ten times aduenturing the same without desired successe wearing and wearying out their liues in priuate There is a booke also published of the Doctors Commencement or Act as of the former and another yeerely containing all the Doctors names in the Kingdome with their Countrey Parents Offices and places of Residence They also which are fellow Commencers and proceed either Licentiates or Doctors the same yeere together euer after affect each other as brethren and their Examiners as Parents or Masters although they sometimes attaine higher preferments then these In some Cities they haue Exercises of Learning euery learned man of chiefe note hauing his day appointed whereon to lecture or discourse of some Morall Vertues And they haue also an especiall Officer called Tauli which on certaine dayes is to call an Assembly he is a great Magistrate and to exhort the people to vertue as it were by preaching Militarie Honors are conferred in the same yeeres places titles vnto the Professors therof the time is the Moone following the solemnitie much lesse according to the Chinian account of Souldierie Their first triall is on Horse-backe and then in full carriere they shoot nine Arrowes in the second three at the same marke on foot And they which with foure arrowes mounted and with two standing haue hit the marke are admitted to the third triall in which they are enioyned to write an Oration or Theame of some question propunded And the Iudges declare in each Prouince some fiftie of these Licentiates and when Doctors are made at Pequin an hundreth of the best militarie Licentiates in all the Kingdome after a threefold examination are there declared Doctors The Doctors of this Societie sooner then Licentiates but not without bribes are admitted to some militarie place of commaund And both Philosophicall and Militarie being admitted Doctors write ouer their doores in Cubitall letters their Degree and Title The Presidents and Iudges in all Examinations whether of Militarie Mathematicall Physicke or Ethicke Sciences are their Philosophers without assistance of any of other professors so much doe they account of this Confutian Philosophie as if it had made them able to iudge of all things §. VIII Of the King his Court Issue Reuenue and Maiestie CHina is a Monarchie not knowing the names of Aristocratie or Democratie or any other Polycratie not so much as Dukes or great Nobles enioying either Title there or Dominion whereof in ancient times were many these 1800. yeeres past Sometimes it hath beene subiect to ciuile broyles and sometimes diuided into many petty kingdomes but was
the whole Court and Kingdome called Colaos which are three foure or sixe Councellors of State hauing no peculiar charge but looking to the whole The King was wont to sit with them in Counsell but now they doe it without his presence euery day admitted into the Palace and there remayning in consultation send Libels many and often vnto Him who approueth disalloweth or altereth at his pleasure Besides these and other Magistrates there are two sorts one called Choli the other Zauli of each aboue threescore all choise Philosophers which haue before giuen approued testimonie of their sufficiencie These are employed in affaires of moment extraordinarie with the Court or Prouinciall officers with Royall authoritie and their especiall Office is to admonish the King by Libell if any thing bee done contrary to Law through the Kingdome not dissembling the faults of the greatest Magistrates nor of the King himselfe or any of His which they performe to the astonishment and wonder of other Nations at their integritie and libertie neuer giuing ouer frownes or threats notwithstanding their complaints and admonitions till they procure redresse This is also lawfull to euery Magistrate yea to euery priuate man but these are most respected because it is their peculiar Function These Libels and the Kings answers are printed by many and so passe through the Kingdome whence their Historians may bee furnished with intelligence This was lately apparant in the case of the Prince whom the King would haue dis-herited the King being so incensed with numbers of Libels or Bils of Complaint that hee depriued or deiected to inferior places aboue a hundred whereupon the rest abdicating themselues as is said he was forced to surcease his attempt And lately when the greatest of the Calaos tooke indirect courses hee was accused by these Officers in a hundred Bills within two moneths space though in greatest grace with the King which as it was thought killed him soone after with thought Besides these Magistrates in Court there are diuers Colledges instituted to diuers purposes the noblest of which is Han lin yuen consisting of choise Doctors which deale not in the Gouernment and yet are accounted of greater Dignitie Their Office is to compose the Kings Writings to compyle the publike Annales and to write out the Lawes and Statutes Of these are chosen the Schoole-masters of the Kings and Princes They wholly addict themselues to Studie haue their Degrees of honour in the Colledge which they attaine by their writing and are preferred to the greatest Dignities but in the Court onely None is chosen to be of the Colaos but these They gaine much by composing Writings for their friends as Epitaphs and the like which for their very name are precious They are also Presidents and Iudges in the Examinations of the Licentiates and Doctors All these Magistrates except the Colai are as well at Nanquin as Pequin The Cities attributed to them both are gouerned as other Cities in other Prouinces The gouernment of those thirteene Prouinces depends of one Magistrate called Pucinsu and of another called Naganzasu the former iudging ciuill cases the later criminall Their Residence is in the chiefe Citie of the Prouince with great pompe In both these Courts are diuers Colleagues called Tauli which are also principall Magistrates and sometimes reside without the Mother-Citie in some other where they haue speciall charge The Prouinces are diuided into diuers Regions which they call Fu and the proper Gouernor of each Region Cifu These are also subdiuided into Ceu and Hien that is nobler or meaner Townes as bigge yet as our Europaean greater not greatest Cities Each of these hath a Prouost called Ciceu or Cihion Ci signifies to gouerne These Prouosts or Gouernours haue their foure Assistants to helpe them That which some thinke that they are onely in repute of Cities which are intituled Fu and the rest Ceu and Hien but villages is a tale For both the Prouinciall Citie hath her Cifu and Cihien and the Lieutenant of the Shire or Region hath no more power in the Shire-Towne then in other Cities of the Shire that is the right of first Appeale The second Appeale is to the Pucinsu and Nagaurasu Gouernours of the Prouince Besides these in euery Prouince there are other two of more eminent place sent from the Court one of which is resident there called Tillam the other sent yeerely from the Court called Cia yuen The former hath power ouer all both Magistrates and subiects and in millitarie affaires and may be compared to our Vice-ioyes or Deputies The other is a Commissioner or Visiter who enquireth into all Officers and punisheth the faultie except the greatest whom be accuseth to the King ang onely of all Magistrates executeth the sentence of death Many other Officers in Cities Towns and Villages many Captaines and military Commanders many which haue charge of Wals Gates Bridges Forts euen as it were in time of Warre Musters daily and Wrestlings might here be recited All the Magistrates both Philosophicall and Militarie are reduced to nine Orders and according to their seuerall Order they receiue Money or Rice monthly which in such maiestie of Maiestrates is very small the stipend of the highest not amounting to a thousand duckats yeerely and euery one of the same Order receiuing a like the chiefe in the militarie Order receiuing the same stipend which the chiefe in the Philosophicall True it is that more acorues to them by industrie gifts or otherwise but this is the Legall allowance All Magistrates weare the like Cap of blacke cloth with eares or wings on both sides of Ouall forme apt to fall off which is done purposely to make them walke grauely without light mouing of their heads They weare all like attire Bootes alike of peculiar fashion and substance of fine blacke Leather They weare also a faire girdle about foure fingers broad large and loose of curious embroiderie and on their breasts and backes they haue square pieces of Cloth embroidered by both these are discerned their Places and Dignities They are also knowne by their Vmbrelas which are carried ouer their heads some blew some yellow some two three and some one the meanest on horse-back the greater on chayres carried on foure or eight mens shoulders according to their Dignitie They haue other Ornaments Banners Chaines Censers multitudes of Sergeants or inferiour Officers going before them two and two in a ranke with Halberds Maces Battle-axes Chaynes Canes crying out to giue way with such clamours and noyse that euen dogs shrinke away and not a man to bee seene in most populous streets this more or lesse according to the degree of the Magistrate Thus haue we seene a Philosophicall Empire all euen the Souldiers being subiect to them yea the Captaines beaten by them as boyes by their Masters Neither is the sentence of Militarie men in matters of Warre of authoritie with the King like theirs no nor their valour comparable these in maintainance of
strict orders they may not nourish Hennes because of their female Sexe To drinke Wine is punished in their Priests with stoning They haue many Fasts in the yeare but one especially in which the people frequent the Temples and their Sermons They haue their Canonicall houres by day and night for their holy things They hold that the World shall last eight thousand yeares whereof sixe thousand are passed and then it shall be consumed with fire at which time shall bee opened in Heauen seuen eyes of the Sunne which shall drie vp the Waters and burne vp the Earth In the ashes shall remaine two Egges whence shall come foorth one Man and one Woman which shall renew the World But there shall be no more Salt but fresh Riuers and Lakes which shall cause the Earth without mans labour to abound in plenty of good things The Siamites are the sinke of the Easterne Superstitions which they deriue to many Nations Gasper de Cruz testifieth that the Bramenes in Siam are Witches and are the Kings principall seruants They worship one god called Probar Missur which say they made Heauen and Earth and another called Pralocussur who obtained of a third named Praissur that power vnto Probar Missur Another called Praput Prasur Metrie Hee thinketh the third part of the Land to be Priests or Religious persons These Religious are proud the inferiour worshipping their superiours as gods with prayer and prostrating They are reuerenced much of the people none daring to contradict them so that when our Frier Gasper preached if one of those Religious came and said This is good but ours is better all his Auditors would forsake him They number in their opinion seuen and twentie Heauens holding that some of them are like Mahomets Paradise fraught with faire women with meates also and drinkes and that all liuing things which haue soules goe thither euen Fleas and Lice And these lousie heauens are allotted to all secular persons which enter not into their rule and habit of Religion They haue higher heauens for their Priests which liue in wildernesses ascribing onely this felicitie to them there to sit and refresh themselues with winde And according to the higher merits they assigne other higher heauens among their gods which haue round bodies like bowles and so haue these that goe thither They hold also that there are thirteene Hells according to the differing demerits of mens sinnes Of their Religious men some are supreme and sit aboue the King called Massauchaches a second Order they entitle Nascendeches which sit with the King and are as Bishops a third and lower ranke sit beneath the King named Mitires which are as Priests and haue the Chapuzes and Sazes two inferior degrees vnder them all reuerenced according to their place Except the Priests and Religious all are slaues to the King and when they die their whole state deuolueth to him how hardly soeuer the wife and children shift which was caused through a rebellion against the brother of the King which then reigned when the Frier writ this In the yeere 1606. Balthasar Sequerius a Iesuite landing at Tanassary passed from thence partly by goodly Riuers partly ouer cragged and rough Hills and Forrests stored with Rhinocerots Elephants and Tigres one of which tare in pieces one of their company before his eyes vnto Odia Conferring with the Talipoies or Religious men he learned their conceits That there was now no God in the world to gouerne it Three had beene before now dead and a Fourth is expected which deferreth his comming In the meane while lest this huge Frame should want a Ruler it is ordered by a certaine Bubble or Brooch which some of the Former Gods had left The vulgar people heare these bubbles bables and fables with great reuerence and silence holding vp their ioyned hands They obserue their Festiualls according to the course of the Moone and then open their Temples whither the people resort to doe their deuotions These are built strong and stately with Art and Beautie hauing their Porches Cloisters Quires and lower Iles great Chappels being annexed on both sides and large Church-yards In one of these hee saw a Statue of eighteene Cubites length dedicated to the great God They are of marueilous abstinence and thinke it a great sinne to taste wine In their Quires they haue singing men which after the Europaean fashion sing there especially in the shutting in of the Euening and about midnight Very early in the morning warning is giuen for them to goe to beg from doore to doore They haue their funerall Holies and Obits for the dead The carkasses are burned being put into painted Coffins with great solemnitie if they be great men with Musicke and dances and great store of victuals to be bestowed on the Talipoys Thus farre Sequerius The Inhabitants of this Kingdome are much giuen to pleasure and ryot they refuse the vse of Manuall Arts but addict themselues to Husbandry They haue publike Schooles where they teach Lawes and Religion in the vulgar Language other Sciences they learne in a more learned Tongue They worship innumerable Idols but especially the foure Elements according to which his Sect each man maketh choise of his buriall They which worshipped the Earth are therein buried the Fire burneth the dead carkasses of them which obserued it in the Ayre are hanged to feast the airy-winged people with their flesh those which adored the Ayre being aliue The Water drowneth those which had aliue beene drowned in that Waterie Religion Euery King at his first entrance to the Crowne erecteth a Temple which hee adorneth with high Steeples and innumerable Idols In the Citie of Socotay is one of mettell fourescore spans high The Kingdome of Siam comprehendeth that Aurea Regio of Ptolemey by Arrianus in his Periplus the Map whereof Ortelius set forth 1597. called Aurea Continens nigh to which is placed that Aurea Chersonesus then it seemeth by a necke of land ioyned to the Continent since supposed to be by force of the Sea separated from the same and to bee the same which is now called Sumatra which Tremellius and Iunius iudge to bee Salomons Ophir The Land trendeth long and narrow and containeth fiue hundred leagues of Sea-coast compassing from Champa to Tauay But of this space the Arabians or Moores haue vsurped two hundred with the Townes of Patane Pahan Ior and Malacca now in possession of the Portugals and the Kingdomes of Aua Chencran Caipumo and Brema haue shared also therein Odia is the chiefe Citie thereof containing foure hundred thousand housholds and serueth the King with fiftie thousand Souldiers and to the Riuer Caipumo on which it standeth belong two hundred thousand vessels This King hath nine Kingdomes subiect to him and thirtie thousand Elephants whereof three thousand are trained to the warres His Nobles hold their Lands in a kinde of Knights-seruice like the Turkish Timars yet onely for terme of life without the Kings pay serue him whensoeuer
Riuer ninety and odde miles from the mouth thereof which somewhat differs from the number before mentioned and within fifteene or sixteene miles of the Fals being our furthest habitation within land are eight and thirtie men and boyes of which two and twenty Farmers Captaine Smaley Commander in the absence of Iames Dauies who now is returning Master William Wickham Minister At Bermuda Nether Hundred seated on the South side the Riuer which almost encompasseth it and with a pale on a short necke of land boundeth this peninsula are a hundred and nineteene These are incorporated to Bermuda Towne which is made a Corporation according to certaine Orders and Constitutions Captaine Yeardly Deputy gouernour liues most heere Master Alexander Whitaker is Minister West and Sherley Hundred is three or foure miles lower on the North side the Riuer here are twenty fiue men commanded by Captaine Maddeson employed onely in planting and curing Tobacco to the publike benefit Lower by thirty seuen miles is Iames Towne where are fifty men vnder Captaine Francis West Brother to the L. La Ware and in his absence commanded by Lieutenant Sharp Master Buck Minister At Kequoughton thirty seuen miles lower neere the mouth of the Riuer are twenty Capt. Webbe commander Master Mays Minister Dales-Gift is vpon the Sea neere Cape Charles where are seuenteene vnder Lieutenant Cradock their labour to make salt and catch fish The numbers of Officers and Labourers are two hundred and fiue The Farmers eighty one besides sixty fiue women and children in euery place some in all three hundred fifty one persons These I haue thus particularly related as a witnesse to after-Ages of their little but now hopefull proceedings after ten yeeres habitation which as Iacobs little family in Egypt and Gedeons small Armie lesse then that which the Father of the Faithfull mustered in his owne houshold I hope and pray may grow into Townes Cities and Christian-English Churches in numberlesse numbers to the glory of God and honour of our Nation Euen in all the greatest workes of God and exploits of Men the beginnings are ordinarily slow and small How many of the foure hundred and thirtie yeares were almost if not more then halfe spent when Iacob was but a little Family and those in a strange land there suddenly growing vnder the Crosse into a multitude and great people From her Village-foundation how did Rome peepe and creepe forth by degrees vnto the height of Maiestie So may wee say of the Spanish Plantations in this American continent from contemptible and troublesome beginnings to their present Splendor Nor are our hopes lesse if our hearts bee sincere and minde as wee professe the propagation of Christianitie As for their transported Cattell there were the last of May of Buls Steeres Cowes Heifers Calues a hundred forty and foure Horses three and as many Mares Goates and Kids two hundred and sixteene Hogges wilde and tame not to bee numbred and great plenty of Poultry CHAP. VI. Of the Religion and Rites of the Virginians §. I. Of the Virginian Rites related by Master HARIOT NOw for the manners and Rites of the people thus hath Master Hariot reported They beleeue that there are many gods which they call Mantoac but of different sorts and degrees one onely chiefe and great God which hath bin from all eternity Who as they affirme when he purposed to make the world made first other gods of a principall Order to bee as meanes and instruments to be vsed in the Creation and Gouernment to follow and after the Sunne Moone and Starres as petty gods and the instruments of the other Order more principall First they say were made Waters out of which by the gods was made all diuersitie of Creatures that are visible or inuisible For Mankinde they say a Woman was made first which by the working of one of the gods conceiued and brought forth children And in such sort they say they had their beginning But how many yeeres or ages haue passed since they say they can make no relation hauing no letters nor other meanes to keep records of times past but onely tradition from Father to Sonne They thinke that all the gods are of humane shape and therefore they present them by Images in the formes of men which they call Kewasowock one alone is called Kewas Them they place in Houses or Temples which they call Machicomuck where they worship pray sing and make many times offerings vnto them In some Machicomuck we haue seene but one Kewas in some two in other three They beleeue the immortalitie of the Soule that after this life as soone as the soule is departed from the body according to the workes it hath done it is either carried to heauen the habitacle of Gods there to enioy perpetuall blisse and happinesse or else to a great pit or hole which they think to be in the furthest parts of their part of the World toward the Sun-set there to burne continually This place they call Popogusso For the confirmation of this opinion they tell tales of men dead and reuiued againe much like to the Popish Legends Thus they tell of one whose graue the next day after his buriall was seene to moue and his body was therefore taken vp againe who reported that his soule had beene very neere the entring into Popogusso had not one of the gods saued him and giuen him leaue to returne againe and teach his friends how to auoid that terrible place They tell of another which being taken vp in that manner related that his soule was aliue while his body was in the graue and that it had trauelled farre in a long broad way on both sides whereof grew most delicate pleasant Trees bearing more rare and excellent fruits then euer he had seene before or was able to expresse and at length came to most braue and faire houses neere which he met his father that had been dead before who gaue him great charge to goe back againe and shew his friends what good they were to doe to enioy the pleasures of that place which when he had done he should after come againe What subtiltie so euer be in their Weroances and Priests the vulgar are hereby very respectiue to their Gouernours and carefull of their manners although they haue also in criminall cases punishments inflicted according to the qualitie of the offence This I learned by speciall familiaritie with some of their Priests wherein they were not so sure grounded but that they lent open eare to ours with doubting of their owne The Priests in Secota haue their haire on the crowne like a Combe the rest being cut from it onely a fore-top on the forehead is left and that Combe They haue a garment of skins peculiar to their function They are great Wisards Our artificiall Workes Fire-workes Gunnes Writing and such like they esteemed the workes of Gods rather then of Men or at least taught vs by the Gods They bare
that part of the Countrey could not be permitted â—â—dâ—ande without the Kings Firmaen with much trouble procured from whom I vnderstood that this Castle being of great circuit was deuided into sixe seuerall Forts one commanding another according to their situation which being furnished with great ponds of water store of trees as well fruit as others and large fields to plant Rice in lodged in them continually 12000. Souldiers thus much his Relation What I could soe which was enough to hide a great part of the Heauens was a huge Mountaine which being apart by nature had inuited Art to make it a retreate for the King of this Countrey if a battels losse or other aduerse fortune forced them to that extremity For besides the Mountayne it selfe steepe in most places is walled with a hand some seeming stone wall with Bulwarkes and Battlements according to the ancient Order of fornification whereunto hauing but one way that admits a â—â—ent it is thought impregnable not to bee vndermined but by treacherie skaled without wings or battered but by Famine And betwixt this Castle and Cundeuera which is at least fiue and twentie English miles there is a lightly correspondence held by shewing each other Torches lifting them vp sometimes more sometimes lesse according to the order contriued betwixt them Religion is heere free and no mans conscience oppressed with Ceremony or Obseruance onely he Kings Religion is predominant in the authority and quality of the Professors not in number of Soules for the Ancient Naturals of the Countrey commonly called Gentiles or Heathens exceed them in a very great proportion The moores are of two sorts as I formerly mentioned but they onely which are tearmed Seam haue their Mesgits and publikes exercise of their Religion the rest giuing no offence are not interrupted in their Opinions or Practizes but of these their Ceremonies or Differences I forbeare to discourse well knowing that besides our neerer Neighbourhood with Turkey and Barbarie your Pilgrimage hath an ply delineated both their beginnings and continuance The like consideration might silence my purposed Relation of the Gentiles who differing little in Habit Complexion Manners or Religion from most of the Inhabitants of the mayne of India haue alreadie from abler Pennes past your approbation and the Presse so that Nil dictum est quod non sit dictum prius Yet encouraged by your request I adde to that Treasury this myte of my Obseruation submitting all that dislikes or appeares superfluous to your suppression The Gentiles in the Fundamentall points of their little Religion doe hold the same principles which their Learned Clergie the Bramenes haue from great Antiquitie and doe yet maintayne but with an Implicite faith not able to giue an account of it or any their customes onely that it was the custome of their Ancestors Conceining God they doe beleeue him first to haue beene onely one but since to haue taken to his assistance diuers that haue sometimes liued vpon Earth vnto whose memorie they build their Temples tearmed Pagodes and styling them Demi-gods or Saints direct most of their Worship to such of them as they stand most particularly affected vnto supporting their Deities with most ridiculous Legendary Fables of Miracles done by them in the likenesse of Apes Oxen Kites or the like many yeeres since past all memory or beliefe They hold the Immortalitie of the Soule and the transmigration of it from one body to another according to the good or bad quarter it kept in the last Mansion from whence followeth much abstinence from killing or eating any thing that had life Their difference in Washings Meates Drinkes and such like arise rather from the Tradition of the Fathers enioyned to their Posteritie then in point of Religion as we reade of the Rechabites who from their Fathers Iniunction were commended for their constant continuance in their customes Their moralitie appeares best in their conuersation murder and violent theft are strangers amongst them seldome happen but for coozenage in bargaining caueat emptor Poligamy is permitted but not generally practised vnlesse in case of the first Wiues barrennesse Adultery is not common but punishable in women Fornication veniall and no Law but that of modesty restraines the publike action They are diuided into diuers Tribes or Linages they say fortie foure all which according to their degrees are knowne each to other and take place accordingly wealth in this point being no prerogatiue for the poorest Bramene will precede the richest Committy and so the rest in their seuerall Orders The Bramene is Priest vnto them all and weareth alwayes three or foure twisted threeds ouer one shoulder and vnder the other arme and in his forehead a round spot whereon there sticketh cornes of Rice dyed yellow in Turmericke they are very good and ready Accountants and in that Office much employed by Moores of greatest Affaires writing and keeping their accounts in Palmito leaues with a Pen of Iron and if in that Generall Deluge of Pagan Ignorance there remayneth any knowledge of Arts or Learning these preserue it and entirely to themselues without participation to other Tribes involved in verball Traditions or concealed Manuscripts and are indeed indifferent Astronomers obseruing exactly the course of the seuen Planets through the twelue Houses and consequently the certaine houre of Ecclipses and other Astrologicall Predictions wherein they haue gained so good credit that none eyther Gentile or Moore will vndertake any great Iourney or commence any important businesse without first consulting with his Bramene for a good houre to set forward in from whence I haue knowne it happen that a Moore which came Gouernour to Musulipatnam hath attended without the Towne ten dayes before he could find a fortunate houre to make his triumphant entry into his new gouernment and of this Tribe they forget not to tell you there are two Kings the Samorijue King of Callecut and the King of Cochijne both vpon the Coast of Malabar The next Cast in account is the Fangam who is of the Bramenes dyet in all particulars eating nor killing any thing that hath life abhorring Wine but drinking Butter by the pint contenting themselues with Milke from the Reuerend Cow and such Pulfe Herbs Roots and Fruits as the Earth produceth the Onion only excepted which for certaine red veines in it resembling bloud finds fauour in their mercifull mouthes and these also in an inferiour degree haue some Priestly power ouer such as by wearing sanctified Stones tyed vp in their haire are buried when they dye all others are burnt If these be of any Trade they must be Taylers and such many of them are but more profest Beggers and no wonder for the constancy of that Countries fashion and the little or no Needle-worke belonging to the making vp of a Garment cannot finde all of them worke if they stood affected to vndertake it but other worke then Taylours worke they may not