stick with the Nut at the end of it and the Nut pursues and follows in the Tract that the Thief went All the way it is going they still continue Charming and flinging the Blossoms of the Betel-nut-Tree upon it And at last it will lead to the house or place where the Thief is and run upon his Feet This Nut will sometimes go winding hither and thither and sometimes will stand still Then they follow their Charms strewing on Blossoms and that sets it forward again This is not enough to find the Thief guilty but if they intend to prosecute the Man upon this Discovery the Charmer must swear against him point blank which he sometimes will do upon the Confidence of the Truth of his Charm And the supposed Thief must either Swear or be Condemned Oftentimes Men of courage and metal will get Clubs and beat away the Charmer and all his Company and by this means put all to an end If the Thief has the wit to lay his tail by the way the Coker-nut when it comes thither will stop and run round about it but go no further I doubting the truth hereof once took the stick and held it my self when they were upon this Business but it moved not forward while I held it in my hand tho they strewed their Flowers and used their mutterings to provoke it But afterwards when another took it it went forward I doubted whether they did not guide it with their hand but they assured me it guided their hand Here are some antient writings engraven upon Rocks which poseth all that see them There are divers great Rocks in divers parts in Cande Vda and in the Northern Parts These Rocks are cut deep with great Letters for the space of some yards so deep that they may last to the worlds end No body can read them or make any thing of them I have asked Malabars Gentuses as well as Chingulays and Moors but none of them understood them You walk over some of them There is an antient Temple Goddiladenni in Tattanour stands by one place where there are of these Letters They are probably in memorial of something but of what we must leave to learned men to spend their conjectures CHAP. XI Of their Sickness Death and Burial NOthing now remains but to carry you to their Sick-beds and to tell you what they do with the Bodies of their friends deceased and their Behavior on these occasions They live to a great Age very often to fourscore and hale at that age the Kings Sister was near an hundred They are healthy and of a sound constitution The Diseases this Land is most subject to are Agues and Fevours and sometimes to Bloody-fluxes The Small-Pox also sometimes happeneth among them From which they cannot free themselves by all their charms and inchantments which are often times successful to them in other distempers Therefore they do confess like the Magicians in Egypt that this is the very finger of Almighty God They are also subject to Aches and Pains in their Bodies For the Remedy whereof they have excellent oyntments and oyls which they make and keep to have ready when they have occasion Here are no professed Physitians nor Chyrurgeons but all in general have some skill that way and are Physitians and Chyrurgeons to themselves Their Medicines they make of the leaves that are in the Woods and the barks of Trees With which they purge and vomit themselves and will do notable Cures upon green wounds and also upon sore eyes To give a few hints of their method of Physick and what Ingredients they make use of For purging they make use of a Tree called Dallugauhah It bears no leaves nothing but thorns and is of a soft substance Being cut there runs out a white thick milk in which we soak some whole corns of Pepper a whole night The next day the Pepper is taken out and washed clean and then boyled in fair water with a sower fruit they call Goraca which we shall speak of by and by This they drink and it purgeth very well This milk is rekoned as rank Poyson as any thing can be and yet the Goats eat of the Tree greedily without harm For a Vomit there is is a leaf of a Plant called Warracole in colour like a Cabbage leaf but smaller it grows upon a long stalk some three foot high This leaf as soon as it is broken from the stalk is full of milk which runs out In this milk they put a lump of Salt and let it lye a whole night The next day they take the Salt out which is not dissolved and wash it clean then boyl a little Rice and Water together After t is taken off the fire they put this salt into it and drink it There is a strong Purge they make with a berry called Iawpolls â— which is a little long greenish berry Of it self it is rank Poyson They boyl it with Goraca and Pepper in water and drink a little of the water For drawing and healing of Sores they have a leaf called Mockinacola it is a very like our Tunhoof or Ground-ivy only it is a brighter green it runs along upon the ground and spreads it self as Tunhoof doth They only take the leaf and clap it upon the sore For an Impostume in the Throat we take the rind of the Tree Amaranga and bruise it and rub it with green Turmeric and wrap it up in a Plantane leaf and bury it in hot ashes and there let it lye an hour or two till the fire hath well qualified it Then the Patient takes it and keeps chewing it for a day or two swallowing the spittle The Virtue of this I my self can testifie being exceedingly ill with a sore Throat and could not swallow By the use of this I was well within a day and a night For a sore or hurt in the eye they take Oulcande-cole Goderacole two herbs the juyce of each and womans milk and having mingled them drop them into the eye I had a Thorn of a considerable length run into the gray of my eye and put me to great pain the Chingulays advised me to use this means assuring me how successful it was wont to be but I was loath to tamper with so tender a place and thanks be to God after some days the Thorn fell out of it self It is a speedy Cure of the Itch to take Coudouro giddi a fruit of a Tree in form somewhat like a Mussel but bigger This fruit they cut in slices and fry it in Coker-nut oyl And with this oyl they anoint the body The ordinary Caudle for Women in Child-bed is Goraca boyled in water with Pepper and Ginger Women in that condition use nothing else This Goraca is a fruit round like an Apple marked with divers creases along the sides of it Being ripe it is within and without red like blood but sower they use this fruit as
is full time now that we relate what course of life the People take and what means they use for a livelihood This has been in part already related As for Commerce and Merchandize with Foreign Nations there is little or nothing of that now exercised Indeed in the times when the Portugueze were on this Island and Peace between them and the King he permitted his People to go and Trade with them The which he would never permit them to do with the Hollander tho they have much sought â—or it They have a small Traffic among themselves occasioned from the Nature of the Island For that which one part of the Countrey aâ—â—ords will not grow in the other But in one part or other of this Land they have enough to sustain themselves I think without the help of Commodities brought from any other Countrey exchanging one Commodity for another and carrying what they have to other parts to supply themselves with what they want But Husbandry is the great Employment of the Countrey which is spoken of at large before In this the best men labour Nor is it held any disgrace for Men of the greatest Quality to do any work either at home or in the Field if it be for themselves but to work for hire with them is reckoned for a great shame and very few are here to be â—ound that will work so But he that goes under the Notion of a Gentleman may dispence with all works except carrying that he must get a man to do when there is occasion For carrying is accounted the most Slave-like work of all Under their Husbandry it may not be amiss to relate how they geld their Cattel They let them be two or three years old before they go about this work then casting them and tying their Legs together they bruise their Cods with two sticks tied together at one end nipping them with the other and beating them with Mallets all to pieces Then they rub over their Cods with fresh Butter and Soot and so turn them loose but not suffer them to lye down all that day By this way they are secured from breeding Maggots And I never knew any die upon this Whensoever they have occasion to use Glew they make it aâ—ter this fashion They take the Curd of milk and strain the water from it through a cloth Then tying it up in a cloth like a Pudding they put it into boyling water and let it boyl a good while Which done it will be hard like Cheese-curd then mixing it with Lime use it If it be not for present use they will roul up these Curds into a Ball which becomes hard and as they have occasion will scrape some of it off with a Knife and so temper it with Lime This Lime with them is as soft as Butter Their Manufactures are few some Callicoes not so fine as good strong Cloth for their own use all manner of Iron Tools for Smiths and Carpenters and Husbandmen all sorts of earthen ware to boil stew fry and fetch water in Goldsmith's work Painter's work carved work making Steel and good Guns and the like But their Art in ordering the Iron-Stone and making Iron may deserve to be a little insisted on For the Countrey affords plenty of Iron which they make of Stones that are in several places of the Land they lay not very deep in the ground it may be about four or five or six â—oot deep First They take these Stones and lay them in an heap and burn them with wood which makes them more soft and fitter for the Furnace When they have so done they have a kind of Furnace made with a white sort of Clay wherein they put a quantity of Charcoal and then these Stones on them and on the top more Charcoal There is a back to the Furnace like as there is to a Smith's Forge behind which the man stands that blows the use of which back is to keep the heat of the fire from him Behind the Furnace they have two logs of Wood placed fast in the ground hollow at the top like two pots Upon the mouths of these two pieces of hollow wood they tie a piece of a Deers Skin on each pot a piece with a small hole as big as a man's finger in each skin In the middle of each skin a little beside the holes are two strings tied â—ast to as many sticks stuck in the ground like a Spring bending like a bow This pulls the skin upwards The man that blows stand with his feet one on each pot covering each hole with the soles of his feet And as he treads on one pot and presseth the skin down he takes his foot off the other which presently by the help of the Spring riseth and the doing so alternately conveys a great quantity of wind thro the Pipes into the Furnace For there are also two Pipes made of hollow reed let in to the sides of the Pots that are to conduct the wind like the nose of a Bellows into the Furnace For the ease of the Blower there is a strap that is fastned to two posts and comes round behind him on which he leans his back and he has a slick laid cross-ways before him on which he lays both his hands and so he blows with greater ease As the Stones are thus burning the dross that is in them melts and runs out at the bottom where there is a slanting hole made for the purpose so big as the lump of Iron may pass thro out of this hole I say runs out the dross like streams of fire and the Iron remains behind Which when it is purified as they think enough so that there comes no more dross away they drive this lump of Iron thro the same sloping hole Then they give it a chop with an Ax half thro and so sling it into the water They so chop it that it may be seen that it is good Iron for the Satisfaction of those that are minded to buy For a â—arewel of their labours let it not be unacceptable to relate here a piece of their Housewifry and tell you how they make Butter First They boil the Milk then they turn it into a Curd the next morning they skim off the Cream and drill it in an earthen Vessel with a stick having a cross at the bottom of it somewhat like a Chocolate stick When the Butter is come they put it in a pan and fry it to get all the water dry out of it and so put it into an earthen pot for use There are no Markets on the Island Some few Shops they have in the Cities which sell Cloth Rice Salt Tobacco Limes Druggs Fruits Swords Steel Brass Copper c. As to the Prices of Commodities they are sold after this rate Rice in the City where it is dearest is aâ—ter six quarts for fourpence half-peny English or a small Tango or half a Tango six
and so draw the Water by little and little as they have occasion for the watâ—ring their Corn. These Ponds in dry weather dry up quite If they should dig these Ponds deep it would not be so convenient for them It would indeed contain the Water well but would not so well nor in such Plenty empty out it self into their Grounds In these Ponds are Aligators which when the Water is dried up depart into the Woods and down to the Rivers and in the time of Rains come up again into the Ponds They are but small nor do use to catch People nevertheless they stand in some fear of them The Corn they sow in these Parts is of that sort that is soonest ripe fearing lest their Waters should fail As the Water dries out of these Ponds they make use of them for Fields treading the Mud with Buffeloes and then sowing Rice thereon and frequently casting up Water with Scoops on it I have hitherto spoken of those Rices that require to grow in Water There is yet another sort of Rice which will ripen tho' it stand not alway in Water and this sort of Corn serves for those places where they cannot bring their Waters to overflow this will grow with the Rains that fall but is not esteemed equal with the others and differs both in scent and taste from that which groweth in the watery Fields The ordinary Season of seed time is in the Months of Iuly and August and their Harvest in or about February but for Land that is well watered they regard no Season the Season is all the year long When they Till their Grounds or Reap their Corn they do it by whole Towns generally all helping each other for Attoms as they call it that is that they may help them as much or as many days again in their Fields which accordingly they will do They Plough only with a crooked piece of Wood something like an Elbow which roots up the Ground as uneven as if it were done by Hogs and then they overflow it with water But if any be so curious as to know more particularly how they order and prepare their Lands and sow their Corn take this account of it But before we go to work it will be convenient first to describe the Tools To begin therefore with their Plough I said before it was a crooked piece of Wood it is but little bigger than a Man's Arm one end whereof is to hold by and the other to root up the Ground In the hollow of this Plough is a piece of Wood fastned some three or four Inches thick equal with the bredth of the Plough and at the end of the Plough is fixt an Iron Plate to keep the VVood from wearing There is a Beam let in to that part of it that the Ploughman holds in his hand to which they make their Buffaloes fast to drag it These Ploughs are proper for this Countrey because they are lighter and so may be the more easie for turning the Fields being short so that they could not turn with longer and if heavier they would sink and be unruly in the mud These Ploughs bury not the grass as ours do and there is no need they should For their endeavour is only to root up the Ground and so they overflow it with VVater and this rots the Grass They Plough twice before they sow But before they begin the first time they let in VVater upon their Land to make it more fost and pliable for the Plough After it is once Ploughed they make up their Banks For if otherwise they should let it alone till after the second Ploughing it would be mere Mud and not hard enough to use for Banking Now these Banks are greatly necessary not only for Paths for the People to go upon through the Fields who otherwise must go in the Mud it may be knee deep but chiefly to keep in and contain their VVater which by the help of these Banks they overflow their Grounds with These Banks they make as smooth with the backside of their Houghs as a Bricklayer can smooth a VVall with his Trowel For in this they are very neat These Banks are usually not above a Foot over After the Land is thus Ploughed and the Banks finished it is laid under water again for some time till they go to Ploughing the second time Now it is exceeding muddy so that the trampling of the Cattel that draws the Plough does as much good as the Plough for the more muddy the better Sometimes they use no Plough this second time but only drive their Cattel over to make the Ground the muddier Their Lands being thus ordered they still keep them overflowed with Water that the Weeds and Grass may rot Then they take their Corn and lay it a soak in Water a whole night and the next day take it out and lay it in a heap and cover it with green leaves and so let it lye some five or six days to make it grow Then they take and wet it again and lay it in a heap covered over with leaves as before and so it grows and shoots out with Blades and Roots In the mean time while this is thus a growing they prepare their Ground for sowing which is thus They have a Board about four foot long which they drag over their Land by a yoke of Buffaloes not flat ways but upon the edge of it The use of which is that it jumbles the Earth and Weeds together and also levels and makes the Grounds smooth and even that so the Water for the ground is all this while under water may stand equal in all places And wheresoever there is any little hummock standing out of the Water which they may easily see by their eye with the help of this Board they break and lay even And so it stands overflown while their Seed is growing and become fit to sow which usually is eight days after they lay it in soak When the Seed is ready to sow they drain out all the Water and with little Boards of about a foot and a half long fastned upon long Poles they trim the Land over again laying it very smooth making small Furrows all along that in case Rain or other Waters should come in it might drain away for more Water now would endanger rotting the Corn. And then they sow their Corn which they do with very exact evenness strewing it with their hands just as we strew Salt upon Meat The Manner of their Ploughing The Manner of Smoothing their Feilds The Manner of treading out their Rice At reaping they are excellent good just after the English manner The whole Town as I said before as they joyn together in Tilling so in their Harvest also For all fall in together in reaping one man's Field and so to the next until every mans Corn be down And the Custome is that every man
and all so that it happens sometimes the horns run thro his belly and kill him A Stag was caught by one of these Pimberahs which seised him by the buttock and held him so fast that he could not get away but ran a few steps this way and that way An Indian seeing the Stag run thus supposed him in a snare and having a Gun shot him at which he gave so strong a jerk that it pulled the Serpents head off while his tayl was encompassing a Tree to hold the Stag the better There is another venomous Snake called Polongo the most venomous of all that kills Cattel Two sorts of them I have seen the one green the other of a reddish gray full of white rings along the sides and about five or six foot long Another poysonous Snake there is called Noya of a grayish colour about four foot long This will stand with half his body upright two or three hours together and spread his head broad open where there appears like as it were a pair of spectacles painted on it The Indians call this Noy-Rogerati that is a Kings-Snake that will do no harm But if the Polonga and the Noya meet together they cease not fighting till one hath kill'd the other The reason and original of this fatal enmity between these two Serpents is this according to a Fable among the Chingulays These two chanced to meet in a dry Sâ—ason when water was scarce The Polonga being almost famished for thirst asked the Noya where he might go to find a little water The Noya a little before had met with a bowl of water in which a Child lay playing As it is usual among this people to wash their Children in a bowl of water and there leave them to tumble and play in it Here the Noya quenched his thirst but as he was drinking the Child that lay in the bowl out of his innocency and play hit him on the Head with his hand which the Noya made no matter of but bare patiently knowing it was not done out of any malice and having drunk as much as sufficed him went away without doing the Child any harm Being minded to direct the Polonga to this bowl but desirous withal to preserve the Child he told him That he knew of water but that he was such a surly hasty creature that he was fearful to let him know where it was lest he might do some mischief Making him therefore promise that he would not he then told him that at such a place there was a bowl of water with a Child playing in it and that probably the Child might as he was tumbling give him a pat on the Head as he had done to him before but charged him nevertheless not to hurt the Child Which the Polonga having promised went his way towards the water as the Noya had directed him The Noya knowing his touchy disposition went after him fearing he might do the Child a mischief and that thereby he himself might be deprived of the like benefit afterwards It fell out as he feared For as the Polonga drank the Child patted him on the head and he in his hasty humour bit him on the hand and killed him The Noya seeing this was resolved to be revenged and so reproaching him for his baseness fought him so long till he killed him and after that devoured him Which to this day they ever do always fight when they meet and the Conquerour eats the the body of the vanquished Hence the Proverb among the Chingulayes when they see two men irreconcileable they compare them to the Polonga and Noya and say Noya Polonga waghe like a Noya and Polonga There is the Carowala about two foot in length very poysonous that lurks in the holes and thatch of houses The Cats will seize these and kill and eat them Other Snakes there are called Gerende whereof there are many but not venomous Of the former there are but a few in comparison These last mentioned the greatest mischief they do is to destroy young Birds and Eggs and young Hares Rabbets cannot be kept here to run wild because of these and other Vermin such as Polecats Ferrets Weazels c. Hickanella much like a Lizzard venomous but seldom bites unless provoked these ly in the thatch of the houses There is a Spider called Democulo very long black and hairy speckled and glistering It s body is as big as a mans fist with feet proportionable These are very poysonous and they keep in hollow Trees and holes Men bitten with them will not dy but the pain will for some time put them out of their Sences Cattle are often bit by some of these Snakes and as often found dead of them tho not eaten Treading upon them sleeping or the like may be the cause of it When the people are bitten by any of these they are cured by Charms and Medicines if taken and applyed in timâ— There are also a sort of Water Snakes they call Duberria but harmless Alligators may be reduced hither there be many of them Of which we have said somewhat before There is a Creature here called Kobbera guion resembling an Alligator The biggest may be five or six foot long speckled black and white He lives most upon the Land but will take the water and dive under it hath a long blew forked tongue like a sting which he puts â—orth and hisseth and gapeth but doth not bite nor sting tho the appearance of him would scare those that knew not what he was He is not afraid of people but will ly gaping and hissing at them in the way and will scarce stir out of it He will come and eat Carrion with the Dogs and Iackals and will not be scared away by them but if they come near to bark or snap at him with his tayl which is about an Ell long like a whip he will so slash them that they will run away and howl This Creature is not eatable But there is the Tolla guion very like the former which is eaten and reckoned excellent meat The Chingulays say it is the best sort of flesh and for this reason That if you eat other flesh at the same time you eat of this and have occasion to vomit you will never vomit out this tho you vomit all the other This creature eats not carrion but only leaves and herbs is less of size than the Kobbera guion and blackish lives in hollow Trees and holes in the Humbosses And I suppose is the same with that which in the West Indies they call the Guiana This Countrey has its Vermin also They have a sort of Rats they call Musk-Rats because they smell strong of Musk. These the Inhabitants do not eat of but of all other sort of Rats they do Before I conclude my discourse of the Growth and Product of this Countrey it will not be improper to reduce under this head
in his Palace Where he hath it running thro in many places unto little Ponds made with Lime and Stone and full of Fish To bring this Water to his Palace was no small deal of labour For not having a more convenient way they were forced to split a great Mountain in twain to bring the Water thro and after that to make a Bank cross a Valley far above a Cables length and in height above four Fathom with thickness proportionable to maintain it for the Water to run over the top Which at first being only Earth the Water would often break down but now both bottom and sides are paved and wrought up with Stone After all this yet it was at least four or five Miles to bring this Water in a Ditch and the ground all Hills and Valleys so that they were forced to turn and wind as the Water would run Also when they met with Rocks which they could not move as this Ground is full of them they made great Fires with Wood upon it until it was soundly hot and hereby it became so soft that they could easily break it with Mawls This Water was that which nourished that Countrey from whence it was taken The People of which ever since have scarce been able to Till their Land Which extremity did compel the People of those Parts to use a means to acquaint the King how the Countrey was destroyed thereby and disabled from perâ—orming those Duties and Services which they owed unto the King and that there was Water sufficient both â—or His Majestie 's Service and also to relieve their Necessities Which the King took very ill â—rom them as if they would seem to grudge him a little Water And sure I am woe be to him tâ—â—t should mention that matter again So far is he from regarding the good of his Countrey that he rather endeavours the Dâ—struction thereof For issue he hath none alive and e're long being of a great Age Nature tells him he must leave it Howbeit no love loâ—â— between the King and his People Yet he daily contriveth and buildeth in his Palace like Nebuchadâ—ezzar wet and dry day and night not showing the least sign of Favour to his People Who oftentimes by such needleâ—s Imployments are Letted from the seasonable times of Ploughing and Harvest to their great prejudice and sometimes utter undoing After the Rebellion when the People that lived at a further distance saw that the King intended to settle himself near the Mountain to which he fled Viz. Digligy and not to come into the old City again it being very troublesom and tedious to bring their Rents and Taxes thither they all jointly met together being a great number and sent an Address to intimate their Desires to him which was with great Submission That His Majesty would not leave them destitute of his Presence which was to them as the Sun that he would not absent himself from them to dwell in a Mountain in a desolate Countrey but seeing there was no further danger and all the Rebels destroyed that he would return to his old Palace again vowing all Fidelity to him The King did not like this Message and was somewhat afraid there being such a tumultuous Company met together and so thought not fit to drive them away or publickly to declare his displeasure at them but went to work like a Polititian Which was to tell them that he thanked them for their love and affection towards him and that he was desirous to dwell among them in such a part of their Countrey as he named and so bad them all go to work to build him a Palace there The People departed with some Satisâ—action and fell to work might and main and continued at it for near two years together selling Timber and fetching it out of the Woods laying Foundations hewing Stone till they were almost killed with labour And being wrought quite tyred they began to accuse and grumble at one another for having been the occasion of all this toil After they had laboured thus a long while and were all discouraged and the People quiet the King sent word to them to leave off And now it lies unfinished all the Timber brought in rots upon the place and the building runs to ruin And this is the manner how he employs his People pulling down and building up again equalling unequal grounds making sinks under ground for the passage of water thro' his Palace dragging of great Trees out of the Wood to make Pounds to catch Elephants in his Presâ—nce altho' they could catch them with far less labour and making houses to keep them inâ— alter they are taken He stands not upon any 〈◊〉 to establish himself or sâ—â—â—ke terror into his People This made him 〈◊〉 oâ—â— his only Son a young man of about â—ifteen years After the Rebellion the Kingdom being setled in the King's hands again and knowing that the hearts of the People disaâ—â—ecting himâ— stood strongly bent towards the Prince and fearing his own safely as the Prince grew to â—per years to prevent all he poisoned him For about a year after the Rebellion his Son was Sick the King takes this Opportunity to dispatch him by pretending to send Phyâ—iâ— to him to â—â—â—e him The People heaâ—ing of the Death of the Prince according to the Custom of the â—and when any of the Royal Blood is deceased came all in general towards the City where he was with black or else very dirty Cloaths which is their Mourning the Men all â—aâ—e headed the Women with their hair loose and hanging about their Shoulders to mourn and lament for the Death of their â—oung Prince Which the King hearing of sent this word unto them That since it was not his fortune to live to sit on his Throne aâ—ter him and Reign over the Land it would be but in vain to mournâ— and a great trouble and letâ— unto the Countrey and their voluntary good will was taken in as good part as the mourning it self and so dismiâ—â— the Assembly and burned the Princes dead Body without Ceremonies or Solemnities Yet the Death of an old Sister which he had caused no small â—amentation It was she that carried the Prince away in the Rebellion Which I shall relate by and by Countrey alter Countrey came up to mourn giving all signs of extraordinary sadness both in Habit and Countenance the King himself was sâ—â—n to weep bitterly The White men also came which the King took wellâ— Insomuch that the Hâ—llanders supposing the King himself to be dead came up to take Possession of the Countrey but hearing the contrary and understanding their mistake returned back again The King and all his Countrey for more than a years time went in mourning And her Body was burnt with all the Honour and State that could be Yet notwithstanding all the love and respect he bare unto heâ— he did not once Visit her in all the time of her
of them will not take pains to clay their walls but make them of boughs and leaves of Trees The poorest sort have not above one room in their houses few above two unless they be great men Neither doth the King allow them to build better They are not nice nor curious in their houses They have no Chimneys in them but make their fires in one corner so that the roof is all blacked with the smoak The great people have handsom and commodious houses They have commonly two buildings one opposit to the other joined together on each side with a wall which makes a square Court-yard in the middle Round about against the walls of their houses are banks of clay to sit on which they often daub over with soft Cow-dung to keep them smooth and clean Their Slaves and Servants dwell round about without in other houses with their wives and children The Manner of their Eating and Drinking And now we are mentioning eating let us take a view of this people at their meals Their Dyet and ordinary fare is but very mean as to our account If they have but Rice and Salt in their house they reckon they want for nothing For with a few green Leaves and the juice of a Lemmon with Pepper and Salt they will make a hearty meal Beef here may not be eaten it is abominable Flesh and Fish is somewhat scarce And that little of it they have they had rather sell to get mony to keep then eat it themselves neither is there any but outlandish men that will buy any of them It is they indeed do eat the fat and best of the Land Nor is it counted any shame or disgrace to be a niggard and sparing in dyet but rather a credit even to the greatest of them that they can fare hard and suffer hunger which they say Soldiers ought to be able to endure The great ones have always five or six sorts of food at one meal and of them not above one or two at most of Flesh or Fish and of them more pottage than meat after the Portugal fashion The rest is only what groweth out of the ground The main substance with which they fill their bellies is Rice the other things are but to give it a relish If these people were not discouraged from rearing and nourishing of Cattle and Poultry provisions might be far more plentiful For here are many Iackalls which catch their Hens and some Tigres that destroy their Cattleâ— but the greatest of all is the King whose endeavour is to keep them poor and in want For from them that have Hens his Officers take them for the Kings use giving little or nothing for them the like they do by Hogs Goats none are suffered to keep besides the King except strangers In dressing of their victuals they are not to be discommended for generally they are cleanly and very handy about the same And after one is used to that kind of fare as they dress it it is very savoury and good They sit upon a mat on the ground and eat But he whom they do honour and respect sits on a stool and his victuals on another before him Their common drink is only water and if they drink Rack it is before they eat that it may have the more operation upon their bodies When they drink they touch not the Pot with their mouths but hold it at a distance and pour it in They eat their Rice out of China dishes or Brass Basons and they that have not them on leaves The Carrees or other sorts of Food which they eat with their Rice is kept in the Pans it is dressed in and their wives serve them with it when they call for it For it is their duties to wait and serve their Husbands while they eat and when they have done then to take and eat that which they have left upon their Trenchers During their eating they neither use nor delight to talk to one another They always wash their hands and mouths both before and after they have eaten but for others to pour the water on their hands is looked upon as an affront For so they do to them whom they account count not worthy to handle their Water pot But when they wash with one hand they pour it themselves upon the other They are very cleanly both in their bodies and heads which they do very often wash and also when they have been at stool they make use of water But to give you a little of their Cookery If People be in the room talking together the woman being ready to put the Rice into the Pot bids them all be â—ilent till she has put it in and then they may procede with their discourse For if they should talk while the Rice is putting in it would not swell At the time of the year that there is most plenty of Lemmons they take them and squeez the juyce into an earthen Pot and set over the fire and boil it so long till it becomes thick and black like Tar. This they set by for their uâ—e and it will keep as long as they please A very small quantity of it will suffice for sawce They call it Annego They have several sorts of sweet-meats One they call Caown It is like to a Fritter made of Rice-flower and Iaggory They make them up in little lumps and lay them upon a Leaf and then press them with their thumbs and put them into a Frying-Pan and fry them in Coker-nut Oyl or Butter When the Dutch came first to Columba the King ordered these Caown to be made and sent to them as a royal Treat And they say the Dutch did so admire them that they asked if they grew not upon Trees supposing it past the Art of man to make such dainties Oggulas another sort of sweet-meats made of parched Rice Iaggory Pepper Cardamum and a little Cinnamons They rowl them up in Balls which will grow hard These they tie up in bags and carry them with them when they travail to eat in afternoons when they are hungry Alloways made much after the former manner only they are flat in the fashion of a Lozenge which are good for faintings and thirsty souls to relish their water and to eat of in afternoons when they are at home We carried some of these along with us in our travayl Tacpetties made of Rice-flower and the meat of the Coker-nut and Iaggory They are made up into small lumps and so put in a Leaf and laid on a cloth over a Pot of boyling water The stream of which heats that which is laid upon it and so they are sodden like a Pudding They tast like white bread Almonds and Sugar Pitu Which is made thus They take flower of Coracan and sprinkle a little water into it being both put into a large Pot for the purpose Then they stir and rowl it in the Pot with
the Great Men to save himself from further dammage and sit down contented with the loss of his goods and house Though the Slave was a person of a very bad reputation and had done divers Thests and some of his stolen goods he hath brought to me to sell. Sometimes they do decide their debates by swearing in hot Oyl Which because it is remarkable I will relate at large They are permitted thus to swear in matters of great importance only as when Law Suits happen about their Lands or when their is no witness When they are to sweare ach party hath a Licence from the Governor for it written with his hand to it Then they go and wash their heads and bodies which is a religious ceremony And that night they are both confined Prisoners in an house with a guard upon them and a cloth tyed over each of their right hands and sealed least they might use any charm to harden their fingers The next morning they are brought out they then put on clean cloths and purifie themselves reckoning they come into the presence of God Then they tie to their wrists the Leaf wherein the Governors Licence is and repair under some Bogahah God-Tree and all the Officers of the County assemble with a vast number of people besides Coker-nuts are brought and Oyl is there extracted from them in the sight of the people that all may see their is no deceit Also they have a Pan of Cow-dung and water boyling close by The Oyl and Cow-dung being both boyling and throughly hot they take a young leaf of a Coker-nut Tree and dip that into the Oyl that all may see it is hot For it singes and frizzels up and roars as if you poured water into hot boyling Oyl And so they do likewise to the Cow-dung When all are satisfied the Oyl is hot the two men come and stand on each side of this boyling Oyl and say The God of Heaven and Earth is witness that I did not do this that I am accused of Or The four sorts of Gods be witness That this Land in controversie is mine And then the other swears quite contrary But first the Accuser alwayes swears The Accused also relates his own innocence or his own Right and Title The cloths that their hands were bound up in are taken off And immediatly upon using the former words he dips his two fingers into the hot Oyl flinging it out three times And then goes to the boyling Cow-dung and does the same And so does the other Then they tie up their hands again with the cloth and keep both of them Prisoners till the next day When their hands are looked upon and their fingers-ends rubbed with a cloth to see if the skin come off And from whose fingers the skin comes he is forsworn The Penalty of which is a great forfeiture to the King and great satisfaction to the Adversary I am able to testifie that the fingers of some of these that have thus sworn have been whole from any scald after this use oâ— hot Oyl but whether it be their innocence or their Art that it thus comes to pass I know not The penalty of the breach of the Laws or Customes of this Land is at the pleasure of the Iudg either amercement or imprisonment or both For the taking of Fines from men on whom they are laid this is their Custom The Officers wheresoever they meet the man stop him in the place Where they take away his Sword and Knife and make him pull off his Cap and Doublet and there he sits with his Keepers by him till he pays the Fine And if he delays paying it they clap a great Stone upon his back in which condition he must remain till he pays it And if he doth not pay they load him with more Stones until his compliance prevent further pains Another way they have to exact the payment of the Fines laid upon them They take some sprigs of Thorns and draw them between the mans naked Legs till he pays But if he râ—main obstinate they clap him up in chains They have an odd usage among them to recover their debts Which is this They will sometimes go to the house of their debtor with the leaves of Nâ—iingala a certain Plant which is rank Poyson and threaten him that they will eat that Poyson and destroy themselves unless he will pay him what he ows The debtor is much afraid of this and rather than the other should Poyson himself will sometimes sell a Child to pay the debt Not that the one is tender of the life of the other but out of care of himself For if the party dyes of the Poyson the other for whose sake the man Poysoned himself must pay a ransome for his life By this means also they will sometimes threaten to revenge themselves of those with whom they have any contest and do it too And upon the same intent they will also jump down some steep place or hang or make away with themselves that so they might bring their Adversary to great dammage To speak now a little of their Language It is a language peculiar toth at Island and I know not any Indian Nations that speak it but themselves There are a few words that are common to the Chingulays and the Malabars which they might borrow of one another by Intercourse and Commerce but the words are so few that a Malabar cannot understand a Chingulay nor on the contrary The manner of Extorting their Fine Puddeci A word for a woman of the lowest condition Kiddekel A term of more respect given to a young wench Nanda A term for an inferior woman something in years signifies also Ant. Nandadga A little higher yet of the like years Nauchere A Title may be given to an ordinary woman still but yet higher Lamhaumi A Title higher than any yetâ— Ettani Higher still Lam-Ettani Of more respect Ettanihaumi Higher than that Maugi Proper only to an old woman but of good quality Maugiwanxi Better then the Maugi Comaurehaumi A Title due to the greatest Ladies Hondreunié Given to the Queen or the King So that it is hard to speak to a woman without they know what she is before least they might mistake her Title And the women are much pleased with some of the better Titles The men also have various Titles tho not so many as the women People give to them these Titles according to the business they have with them If they come for some favour or kindness to be done them they bestow the better sort of Titles upon them They have seven or eight words for Thou or You which they apply to persons according to their quality or according as they would honour them And they are so Topi Vmba Vmbela Tomnai Tomsi Tomsela Tomnanxi All these words are gradually one higher than the other Their ordinary Plow-men and Husbandmen do speak elegantly and are full of complement And there
certainly we would have attempted it had they not removed us There was a small Moors Vessel which lay in the River which they had seized on about this time as we supposed they would have done by our Ship if they could have catched her there This Vessel had some forty men belonging to her who were not made Prisoners as we were but yet lay in the same Town with those we had concluded that they should furnish us with Arms and in the night altogether to march down and get on board of their Vessel and so make our escape But being prevented in this design by our departure we were fain to lay at their mercy In our new quarters our entertainment proved as good as formerly And indeed there was this to mitigate our misery that the People were courteous to us and seemed to pity us For there is a great difference between the People inhabiting the high-lands or the mountains of Cande and those of the low-lands where we now are placed who are of a kinder nature by far than the other For these Countreys beneath the mountains formerly were in subjection unto the Portugueze Whereby they have been exercised and acquainted with the customs and manners of Christian People Which pleasing them far better than their own have begot and bred in them a kind of love and affection towards Strangers being apt to shew Pity and Compassion on them in their distress And you shall hear them oftentimes upbraiding the High-landers for their insolent and rude behavior It was a very sad Condition whilst we were all together yet hitherto each others company lessened our sufferings and was some comfort that we might condole one another But now it came to pass that we must be separated and placed asunder one in a Village where we could have none to confer withall or look upon but the horrible black faces of our heathen enemies and not understand one word of their Language neither this was a great addition to our grief Yet God was so merciful to us as not to suffer them to part my Father and I. For it was some sixteen days after our last remove the King was pleased to send a Captain with Soldiers to bring us up into the Country Who brought us and the other men taken in the Long boat together Which was an heavy meeting Being then as we well saw to be carried Captives into the mountains That night we supped together and the next morning changed our condition into real Captivity Howbeit they gave us many comfortable promises which we believed not as that the Kings intent was not to keep us any longer than till another Ship came to carry us away Altho we had but very little to carry God knows yet they appointed men to carry the cloths that belonged to the Captain and Officers We still expected they would plunder us of our cloths having nothing else to be plundered of but the Chingulay Captain told us that the King had given order that none should take the value of a thread from us Which indeed they did not As they brought us up they were very tender of us as not to tyre us with Travelling bidding us go no faster than we would our selves This kindness did somewhat comfort us The way was plain and easie to Travail through great Woods so that we walked as in an Arbour but desolate of Inhabitants So that for four or five nights we lay on the Ground with Boughs of Trees only over our heads And of Victuals twice a Day they gave us as much as we could eat that is of Rice Salt-fish dryed Flesh And sometimes they would shoot Deer and find Hony in the Trees good part of which they always brought unto us And drink we could not want there being Rivers and Puddles full of Water as we Travelled along But when we came out of the Woods among Inhabitants and were led into their Towns they brought us Victuals ready dressed after their fashion viz. Rice boiled in Water and three other sorts of Food whereof one Flesh and the other two Herbs or such like things that grow in their Countrey and all kinds of ripe Fruit which we liked very well and fed heartily upon Our entertainment all along was at the Charge of the Countrey So we fed like Soldiers upon free Quarter Yet I think we gave them good content for all the Charge we put them to Which was to have the satisfaction of seeing us eat sitting on Mats upon the Ground in their yards to the Publick view of all Beholders Who greatly admired us having never seen nor scarce heard of English-men before It was also great entertainment to them to observe our manner of eating with Spoons which some of us had and that we could not take the Rice up in our hands and put it to our mouths without spilling as they do nor gaped and powred the Water into our Mouths out of Pots according to their Countreys custom Thus at every Town where we came they used both young and old in great Companies to stare upon us Being thus brought up all together somewhat near to the City of Cande Now came an Order from the King to separate us and to place us one in a Town Which then seemed to us to be very hard but it was for the convenience of getting Food being quartered upon the Countrey at their Charge The Captain Mr. Iohn Loveland my self and Iohn Gregory were parted from the rest and brought nearer to the City to be ready when the King should send for us All the Rest were placed one in a Town according to the aforesaid Order Special Command also was given from the King that we all should be well entertained and according to the Countrey fare we had no cause to complain We four were thus kept together some two Months faring well all the while But the King minding us not Order came from the great Men in Court to place us in Towns as the rest were only my Father and I were still permitted to be together and a great Charge given to use us well And indeed twice a Day we had brought unto us as good fare as the Countrey affordedâ— All the rest had not their Provisions brought to them as we had but went to eat from house te house each house taking its turn On the Sixteenth of September 1660. My Father and I were placed in a Town called Bonder Coos-wat the situation was very pleasing and commodious lying about Thirty Miles to the Northward of the City of Cande in the Countrey called Hotcurly and distant from the rest of our People a full days journey We were removed hither from another Town nearer to the City where the Nobles at Court supposing that the King would call for vs had placed us to have us ready Being thus brought to Bonder Cooswat the People put it to our choice which House we would have
miles passing thro several Counties where we met with several Governors and Officers in their respective Iurisdictions who had they not been well sensible of these Priviledges granted us would not have allowed us to pass thro their Countries All which Officers we described to him by name and also that now we came from the High Sheriff's House at Colliwilla where we had been these three dayes and there heard of the Order that was come to secure the Watches which was not for fear of the running away of White men but of the Chingulayes These Reasons gave him full satisâ—action that we were innocent Traders seeing also the Commodities that we had brought with us this further confirmed his opinion concerning us The People were very glad of our coming and gave us an end of an open house to ly in but at present they had no dryed Flesh but desired us to sâ—ay two or three days and we should not fail which we were very ready to consent to hoping by that time to come to the knowledg of the way and to learn where about the watch was placed To prevent the least surmise that we were Plotting to run away we agreed that Stephen should stay in the house by the things while I with some few went abroad pretending to enquire for dryed Flesh to carry back with us to Cande but intending to make discoveries of the way and provide necessaries for our Flight as Rice a Brass Pot to boil our Rice in a little dryed Flesh to eat and a Deers-skin to make us Shooes of And by the Providence of my gracious God all these things I happened upon and bought But as our good hap was Deers-Flesh we could meet with none So that we had time enough to fit our selves all People thinking that we stayed only to buy Flesh. â—ere we stayed three days during which we had found the great Road that runs down towards Iafnapatan one of the Northern Ports belonging to the Dutch which Road we judged led also towards Manaar a Dutch Northern Port also which was the Place that we endeavoured to get to lying above two or three days Iourney distant from us But in this Road there was a Watch lay which must be passed Where this Watch was placed it was necessary for us punctually to know and to endeavour to get a sight of it And if we could do this our intent was to go unseen by Night the people being then afraid to travayl and being come up to the Watch to slip aside into the Woods and so go on untill we were past it and then strike into the Road again But this Project came to nothing because I could not without suspition and danger go and view this Watch which layd some four or five miles below this Plain and so far I could not frame any business to go But several inconveniences we saw here insomuch that we found it would not be safe for us to go down in this Road. For if we should have slipt away from them by Night in the Morning we should be missed and then most surely they would go that way to chace us and ten to one overtake us being but one Night before them Also we knew not whether or no it might lead us into the Countrey of the Malabar Prince of whom we were much afraid Then resolving to let the great Road alone we thought of going right down thro the VVoods and steer our course by the Sun and Moon but the Ground being so dry we feared we should not meet with VVater So we declined that Counsel also Thus being in doubt we prayed God to direct us and to put it into our hearts which way to take Then after a Consultation between our selves all things considered we concluded it the best course to go back to Malwat oyah the River we had well viewed that lay in our way as we came hither And back thither we resolved to repair CHAP. X. The Author's Progress in his Flight from Anarodgburro into the Woods unto their arrival in the Malabars Couâ—trey NOw God of his Mercy having prospered our Design hitherto for which we blessed his Holy Name our next care was how to come off clear from the People of Anarodgburro that they might not presently miss us and so pursue after us Which if they should do there would have been no escaping them For from this Town to Colliwilla where the Sheriff lived with whom we left our Goods they are as well acquainted in the Woods as in the Paths And when we came away we must tell the People that we were going thither because there is no other way but that Now our fear was lest upon some occasion or other any Men might chance to Travel that way soon after we were gone and not finding us at Colliwilla might conclude as they could do no otherwise that we were run into the Woods Therefore to avoid this Danger we stayed in the Town till it was so late that we knew none durst venture to Travel afterwards for fear of wild Beasts By which means we were sure to gain a Nights Travel at least if they should chance to pursue us So we took our leaves of the Governor who kindly gave us a Pot of Milk to drink for a farewel we telling him We were returning back to the Sheriff at Colliwilla to whom we had given some Gunpowder when we came from him to shoot us some Deer and we doubted not but by that time we should get to him he would have provided flesh enough for our lading home Thus bidding him and the rest of the Neighbours farewel we departed they giving us the Civility of their accustomed Prayers Diabac â— that is God bless or keep you It was now the Twelfth day of October on a Sunday the Moon eighteen days old We were well furnished with all things needful which we could get Viz. Ten days Provision Rice Flesh Fish Pepper Salt a Bason to boil our Victuals in two Calabasses to fetch Water two great Tallipats for Tents big enough to sleep under if it should rain Iaggory and Sweet-meats which we brought from home with us Tobacco also and Betel Tinder-Boxes two or three for failing and a Deers Skin to make us Shooes to prevent any Thorns running into our feet as we travelled through the Woods for our greatest Trust under God was to our feet Our Weapons were each man a small Axe fastned to a long Staff in our hands and a good Knife by our sides Which were sufficient with God's help to defend us from the Assaults of either Tiger or Bear and as for Elephants there is no standing against them but the best defence is to flee from them In this Posture and Equipage we marched forward When we were come within a Mile of this River it being about Four in the Evening we began to fear lest any of the People of Anarodgburro from whence we came should follow us to
this way Having said thus much concerning the Cities and other Eminent places of this Kingdom I will now add a little concerning their Towns The best are those that do belong to their Idols wherein stand their Dewals or Temples They do not care to make Streets by building their Houses together in rowes but each man lives by himself in his own Plantation having an hedg it may be and a ditch round about him to keep out Cattel Their Towns are always placed some distance from the High-ways for they care not that their Towns should be a thorough-fair for all people but onely for those that have business with them They are not very big in some may be Forty in some Fifty houses and in some above an Hundred and in some again not above eight or ten And as I said before of their Cities so I must of their Towns That there are many of them here and there lie desolate occasioned by their voluntary forsaking them which they often do in case many of them fall sick and two or three die soon after one another For this they conclude to happen from the hand of the Devil Whereupon they all leave their Town and go to another thinking thereby to avoid him Thus relinquishing both their Houses and Lands too Yet afterwards when they think the Devil hath departed the place some will sometimes come back and re-assume their Lands again CHAP. III. Of their Corn with their manner of Husbandry HAving discoursed hitherto of the Countrey method will require that I proceed now to the Products of it Viz. their Fruits Plants Beasts Birds and other Creatures Minerals Commodities c. whereof I must declare once for all That I do not pretend to write an Exact and Perfect Treatise my time and leisure not permitting me so to do but only to give a Relation of some of the chief of these things and as it were a tast of them according as they that occur to my Memory while I am writing I shall first begin with their Corn as being the Staff of their Countrey They have divers sorts of Corn tho all different from ours And here I shall first speak of their Rice the Choice and Flower of all their Corn and then concerning the other inferior kinds among them Of Rice they have several sorts and called by several names according to the different times of their ripening However in tast little disagreeing from one another Some will require seven Months before it come to maturity called Mauvi some six Hauteal others will ripen in five Honorowal others in four Henit and others in three Aulfancol The price of all these is one and the same That which is soonest ripe is most savoury to the tast but yieldeth the least increase It may be asked then why any other sort of Rice is sown but that which is longest a Ripening seeing it brings in most Profit In answer to this you must know That all these sorts of Rice do absolutely require Water to grow in all the while they stand so that the Inhabitants take great pains in procuring and saving water for their Grounds and in making Conveyances of Water from their Rivers and Ponds into their Lands which they are very ingenious in also in levelling their Corn Lands which must be as smooth as a Bowling-Green that the Water may cover all over Neither are their steep and Hilly Lands uncapable of being thus overflown with Water For the doing of which they use this Art They level these Hills into narrow Allies some three some eight foot wide one beneath another according to the steepness of the Hills working and digging them in that fashion that they lye smooth and flat like so many Stairs up the Hills one above another The Waters at the top of the Hills falling downwards are let into these Allies and so successively by running out of one into another water all first the higher Lands and then the lower The highest Allies having such a quantity of Water as may suffice to cover them the rest runs over unto the next and that having its proportion unto the next and so by degrees it falls into all these hanging parcels of Ground These Waters last sometimes a longer and sometimes a shorter Season Now the Rice they sow is according as they foresee their stock of Water will last It will sometimes last them two or three or four or five Months more or less the Rice therefore they chuse to cast into the Ground is of that sort that may answer the duration of the Water For all their Crop would be spoilt if the Water should fail them before their Corn grew ripe If they foresee their Water will hold out long then they sow the best and most profitable Rice viz. that which is longest a ripening but if it will not they must be content to sow of the worser sorts that is those that are sooner ripe Again they are forced sometimes to sow this younger Rice for the preventing the damage it might otherwise meet with if it should stand longer For their Fields are all in common which after they have sown they enclose till Harvest But as soon as the Corn first sown becomes ripe when the Owner has reaped it it is lawful for him to break down his Fences and let in his Cattle for grazing which would prove a great mischief to that Corn that required to stand a Month or two longer Therefore if they are constrained to sow later than the rest either through want or sloth or some other Impediment yet they make use of that kind of Rice that will become ripe equal with that first sown And so they all observe one time of reaping to prevent their Corn being trampled down or eaten up by the Cattle Thus they time their Corn to their Harvest some sowing sooner some later but all reaping together unless they be Fields that are enclosed by themselves and peculiar to one Man Where there are no Springs or Rivers to furnish them with Water as it is in the Northern Parts where there are but two or three Springs they supply this defect by saving of rain Water which they do by casting up great Banks in convenient places to stop and contain the Rains that fall and so save it till they have occasion to let it out into their Fields They are made rounding like a C or Half-Moon every Town has one of these Ponds which if they can but get filled with Water they count their Corn is as good as in the Barn It was no small work to the ancient Inhabitants to make all these Banks of which there is a great number being some two some three Fathoms in height and in length some above a Mile some less not all of a size They are now grown over with great Trees and so seem natural Hills When they would use the Water they cut a gap in one end of the Bank
a small Profession as perceiving that there is a greater God than those that they thro long custom have and do Worship And therefore when an Impostor a Bastard Moor by Nation born in that Land came and publickly set up a new nameless God as he styled him and that he was sent to destroy the Temples of their Gods the King opposed it not for a good while as waiting to see which of these Gods would prevail until he saw that he aimed to make himself King then he allowed of him no longer as I shall shew more at large hereafter when I come to speak of the Religion of the Countrey The Christian Religion he doth not in the least persecute or dislike but rather as it seems to me esteems and honours it As a sign of which take this passage When his Sister died for whom he had a very dear Affection there was a very grievous Mourning and Lamentation made for her throughout the whole Nation all Mirth and Feasting laid aside and all possible signs of sorrow exprest and in all probability it was as much as their lives were worth who should at this time do any thing that might look like joy This was about Christmas The Dutch did notwithstanding adventure to keep their Christmas by Feasting The News of this was brought to the King And every body reckoned it would go hard with the Dutch for doing this But because it was done at a Festival of their Religion the King past it by and took no notice of it The Value also that he has for the Christian Religion will appear from the respect he gives the Professors of it as will be seen afterwards CHAP. III. Of the King's Tyrannical Reign WEE have all this while considered this King with respect unto his Person Temper and Inclinations now we will speak of him with more immediate respect unto his Office and Government as he is a King And here we will discourse of the manner of his Government of his Treasure and Revenues of his Great Officers and lastly of his Strength and Wars As to the manner of his Government it is Tyrannical and Arbitrary in the highest dâ—gree For he ruleth Absolute and after his own Will and Pleasure his own Head being his only Counsellor The Land all at his Disposal and all the People from the highest to the lowest Slaves or very lâ—kâ— Slaves both in Body and Goods wholly at his Command Neither wants He those three Virtues of a Tyrant Iealousie Dissimulation and Cruelty But because Policy is a necessary endowment of a Prince I will first shew in an instance or two that he is not devoid of it The Countrey being wholly His the King Farms out his Land not for Money but Service And the People enjoy Portions of Land from the King and instead of Rent they have their several appointmentsâ— some are to serve the King in his Wars some in their Trades somâ—â—erve him for Labourers and others are as Farmers to furnish his House with the Fruits of the Ground and so all things are done without Cost and every man paid for his pains that is they have Lands for it yet all have not watered Land enough for their needs that is such Land as good Rice requires to grow in so that such are fain to sow on dry Land and Till other mens Fields for a subsistence These Persons are free â—rom payment of Taxes only sometimes upon extraordinary occasions they must give an Hen or Mat or such like to the King's use for as much as they uâ—e the Wood and Water that is in his Countrey But if any find the Duty to be heavy or too much for them they may leaving their House and Land be free from the King's Service as there is a Multitude do And in my judgment they live far more at ease after they have relinquished the King's Land than when they had it Many Towns are in the King's hand the Inhabitants whereof are to Till and Manure a quantity of the Land according to their Ability and lay up the Corn for the King's use These Towns the King often bestows upon some of his Nobles for their Encouragement and Maintenance with all the fruits and benefits that before came to the King from them In each of these Towns there is a Smith to make and mend the Tools of them to whom the King hath granted them and a Potter to fit them with Earthen Ware and a Washer to wash their Cloaths and other men to supply what there is need of And each one of these haâ—h a piece of Land for this their Service whether it be to the King or the Lord but what they do for the other People they are paid for Thus all that have any Place or Employment under the King are paid without any Charge to the King His great Endeavour is to Secure himself from Plots and Conspiracies of his People who are sorely weary of his tyrannical Government over them and do oâ—ten Plot to make away with him but by his subtilty and good fortune together he prevents them And for this purpose he is very Vigilant in the Night the noise of Trumpets and Drums which he appoints at every Watch hinders both himself and all others from sleeping In the Night also he commonly does most of his Business calling Embassadors before him and reading the Letters also displacing some of his Courtiers and promoting others and giving Sentence to execute those whom he would have to live no longer and many times Commands to lay hold on and carry away great and Noble men who until that instant knew not that they were out of his favour His Policy is to make his Countrey as intricate and difficult to Travel as may be and therefore forbids the Woods to be felled especially those that divide Province from Province and permits no Bridges to be made over his Rivers nor the Paths to be made wider He often employs his People in vast works and that will require years to finish that he may inure them to Slavery and prevent them from Plotting against him as haply they might do if they were at better leisure Therefore he approves not that his People should be idle but always finds one thing or other to be done tho the work be to little or no purpose According to the quantity of the work so he will appoint the People of one County or of two to come in and the Governor of the said County or Counties to be Overseer of the Work At such times the Soldiers must lay by their Swords and work among the People These works are either digging down Hills and carrying the Earth to fill up Valleys thus to enlarge his Court which standeth between two Hills a more uneven and unhandsom spot of ground he could not well have found in all his Kingdom or else making ways for the Water to run into the Pond and elsewhere for his use