Looking-glass that another holds to you you have no more to do but to pay and be gone The common price of the Bagnio is two Aspres to the Master and they who would be well served give as much to the Man. These Bagnios are very commodious and I believe the frequent use they make of them preserves them from many diseases The poorest person that is Man or Woman goes at least once a week to the Bagnio There are Bagnios whither the Men go one day and the Women another others whither the Men go in the morning and the Women afternoon and others again solely for Women When the Women are there they are served by Women and it is a capital crime for any Man of whatsoever religion or quality he be to enter into the Bagnio where the Women are The modesty of the Turks It is also a great crime but punishable only by shame or some Bastonadoes at most to show ones privy Parts or to look upon another Person 's These Bagnios are heated underneath and Lords of high quality have them in their houses for their own and Wives uses CHAP. XXIV Of the Turks way of Eating Drinking and Lying THe Turks make no sumptuous Feasts and it is never heard in Turkie that a man hath undone himself by House-keeping a small matter contents them and a good Cook in that Country would have but a very bad Trade of it The Turkish food What Pilau is for indeed they are all Cooks there and they have no Sauces but what one may learn to make at first sight Their most usual food is that which they call Pilau This Pilau is Rice put into a Pot with a Pullet a piece of Mutton and Beef or only one of these and for want of Meat with Butter and when the Rice has boyl'd a little they take it off putting it into a large dish with a great deal of Pepper upon it and sometimes Saffron to make it look yellow When it is eating time Soffra the Turks Table they spread upon the ground a Carpet of Turky Leather which they call Soffra upon which they set the Pilau and Meat and breaking the Bread into pieces they distribute it all round then they squat down upon their heels like Taylors about the Soffra and all make use of one blew Napkin that is long enough to go round the Soffra then having said Bismillah that is to say In the name of God Bismillah which to them is instead of Benedicite they eat their Pilau with wooden Spoons a foot long making a scruple to eat in Gold or Silver and nevertheless the Grand Signior has Dishes of Gold Plate as we shall shew hereafter When they have no Spoons they make an easie shift without them putting the Pilau with one hand into the other and so carrying it to their mouth When they come to the Meat one of the company with his Hands tears it to pieces using no Knife for that and then every one takes what they have a mind to They are at no trouble for the Beef and Mutton for before it be drest they cut it into small pieces whether for roasting or boyling They drink not commonly in time of meal but when they have eaten they rise and fill their bellies full of Water then they give God Thanks by a Handillah that is to say God be praised Having thus made an end of their meal they wash their hands for they wash not before they sit down to eat but only when they rise from it Their usual Drink is Water many of them also drink Wine The Turks Drink The Turks are not forbid to drink Wine and though Wine seems to be Prohibited by the Alcoran yet the good-fellows say that it is no more but an advice or council and not a precept However they drink it not publickly unless it be the Janizaries and other Desperadoes that stand in awe of no Man when they fall to drinking they drink a great deal and if they can have it for nothing they 'll drink till they fall a sleep again if they be let alone saying that it is no greater sin to drink ten quarts than one cup full they never mingle Water with it and laugh at Christians for doing so as a thing that seems altogether ridiculous to them In the Countrey about Constantinople and all over the Archipelago they have plenty of good Wine They have besides another Liquor which they call Boza Boza made of Barley or Millet and tasts somewhat like our Beer but not so pleasantly I tasted of it once but found it to be very bad and none but the meaner sort of people drink it because it is very cheap This Drink makes them drunk but they have another which they use very commonly they call it Coffee Coffee and drink of it all hours in the day This Liquor is made of a Berry that we shall mention hereafter They roast or parch it in a Fire-shovel or such like iron instrument then they peel it and beat it into powder and when they have a mind to drink of it they take a copper Pot made purposely which they call Ibrick Ibrick and having filled it with Water make it boyl when it boyls they put in this Powder to the proportion of a good spoonful for three Dishes or Cups full of Water and having let all boyl together they snatch it quickly off of the fire or stir it else it would run all over for it rises very fast Having thus boyl'd ten or twelve wambles they pour it out into China Dishes which they set upon a Trencher of painted Wood and so bring it to you scalding hot and so you must drink it but at several sips else it is not good This Liquor is bitter and black and has a kind of a burnt taste They all drink it sipping for fear of scalding themselves Coffee-bane so that being in a Coffee-hane so they call the place where they sell it ready made one hears a pretty pleasant kind of sippling musick The virtues of Coffee This Liquor is good to hinder vapours from rising up from the stomach to the head and by consequence to cure the Head-ach and for the same reason it keeps one from sleeping When Merchants have many Letters to write and intend to do it in the night-time in the Evening they take a dish or two of Coffee It is good also to comfort the Stomach and helps Digestion In short in the Turks opinion it is good against all Maladies and certainly it hath at least as much virtue as is attributed to Tea As to its taste by that time a man hath drank twice he is accustomed to it and finds it no longer unpleasant Some put Cloves to it some Cardamom-seed called in Latine Cardamomum minus which they call Cacoule and others Sugar but that mixture which renders it more agreeable to the palate makes it less wholsom and useful There
the Presents they made him at this Solemnity But he rewarded them afterwards by Offices and Employments And this is the course the King commonly takes with them and few complain of it CHAP. XXIX Of the Beasts of the Country of Azmer and of the Saltpetre THere is in these Countries a Beast like a Fox in the Snout which is no bigger than a Hare the Hair of it is of the colour of a Stags and the Teeth like to a Dogs It yields most excellent Musk for at the Belly it hath a Bladder full of corrupt Blood and that Blood maketh the Musk The Musk Animal or is rather the Musk it self They take it from it and immediately cover the place where the Bladder is cut with Leather to hinder the scent from evaporating But after this Operation is made the Beast is not long liv'd There are also towards Azmer Pullets whose Skin is all over black Pullets as well as their Bones though the Flesh of them be very white and their Feathers of another colour In the extremity of this Province the Maids are very early Marriageable Maids Marriageable at 8 or 9 years of age and so they are in many other places of the Indies where most part can enjoy Man at the age of eight or nine years and have Children at ten That 's a very ordinary thing in the Country where the young ones go naked and wear nothing on their Bodies but a bit of Cloath to cover their Privities Most of the Children in these Countries have the same playes to divert them with as amongst us they commonly make use of Tops Giggs The Childrens playes and Bull-flies in the season of Childrens Trumpets and many other Toys of that nature The People are rude and uncivil The Men are great clowns and very impudent they make a horrid noise when they have any quarrel but what Passion soever they seem to be in and what bitter words soever they utter they never come to blows The Servants are very unfaithful and many times rob their Masters There are very venemous Scorpions in that Country Venemous Scorpions The remedy of Fire but the Indians have several remedies to cure their Stinging and the best of all is Fire They take a burning Coal and put it near the wound they hold it there as long and as near as they can The venom keeps one from being incommoded by the heat of the Fire on the contrary the Poison is perceived to work out of the Wound by little and little and in a short time after one is perfectly cured The ways of this Country being very Stony The Oxen are shod they shoe the Oxen when they are to Travel far on these ways They cast them with a Rope fastened to two of their Legs and so soon as they are down they tye their four Feet together which they put upon an Engine made of two Sticks in form of an X and then they take two little thin and light pieces of Iron which they apply to each Foot one piece covering but one half Foot and that they fasten with three Nails above an Inch long which are clenched upon the side of the Hooffs as Horses with us are shod Seeing the Oxen in the Indies are very tame Indian Oxen. many People make use of them in Travelling and ride them like Horses though commonly they goe but at a very slow pace Instead of a Bit they put one or two small strings through the Gristle of the Oxes Nostrils and throw over his Head a good large Rope fastened to these strings as a Bridle which is held up by the bunch he hath on the fore part of his back that our Oxen have not They Saddle him as they do a Horse and if he be but a little spurred he 'll go very fast and there are some that will go as fast as a good Horse The Oxen are Saddled These Beasts are made use of generally all over the Indies and with them only are drawn Waggons Coaches and Chariots allowing more or fewer according as the load is heavier or lighter The Oxen serve to draw Coaches as well as Carts and Waggons The Oxen are Yoaked by a long Yoak at the end of the Pole laid upon their Necks and the Coach-man holdeth in his hand the Rope to which the strings that are put through the Nostrils are fastened These Oxen are of different sizes there are great small and of a middle size but generally all very hardy so that some of them will Travel fifteen Leagues a day There is one kind of them almost six Foot high but they are rare and on the contrary another which they call Dwarfs because they are not three Foot high these have a bunch on their Back as the rest have go very fast and serve to draw small Waggons White Oxen are very dear They have white Oxen there which are extraordinary dear and I saw two of them which the Dutch had that cost them two hundred Crowns a piece they were really lovely strong and good and their Chariot that was drawn by them made a great shew When People of quality have lovely Oxen They have great care of the Oxen. they keep them with a great deal of care they deck the ends of their Horns with sheaths of Copper they use them to Cloaths as Horses are and they are daily curried and well fed Their ordinary Provender is Straw and Millet The food of the Oxen. but in the Evening they make each Ox swallow down five or six large Balls of a Paste made of Flower Jagre and Butter kned together They give them sometimes in the Country Kichery which is the ordinary Food of the Poor Kichery and it is called Kichery because it is made of a Grain of the same name boiled with Rice Water and Salt Some give them dryed Pease bruised and steeped in Water After all no part of this Province is fertile but the Countries about Azmer and Soret for the Countries of Gesselmere and Bando are Barren The chief Trade of Azmer is in Saltpetre The Saltpetre of Azmer and there are great quantities of it made there by reason of the black fat Earth that is about it which is the properest of all other Soils to afford Saltpetre The Indians fill a great hole with that Earth and pound it in Water with great pounders of very hard Timber when they have reduced it into a Liquid mash they let it rest to the end the Water may imbibe all the Saltpetre out of the Earth The way of making Salt-petre This mixture having continued so for some time they draw off what is clear and put it into great Pots wherein they let it boil and continually scum it when it is well boiled they again drain what is clear out of these Pots and that being congealed and dryed in the Sun where they let it stand for a certain time it is in its perfection
come up with and of one and twenty Turks that were in it twelve leaped into the Sea to swim though the nearest land was above six miles off and the nine that remained were brought on board the Ship I asked them how they came to be so negligent in looking after their Vessel and they told me that thinking themselves to have been near the mouth of the Nile before Damiette they were fallen asleep which was the worst excuse they could have made seeing they ought to have been afraid that their Polaque might have run a-ground There were some Bales of Soap in that Polaque The same day the Corsairs finding that the Greeks to whom the Saique that they had taken belonged came not again resolved to burn her but knowing that the more mischief they did the harder it would be for us to get a-shore I prayed the Captain not to burn her and at my request having taken away all her Sails and Rigging they let her go a drift and not long after we saw her run a-shore In the same manner they unrigg'd our Sanbiquer and having set her a drift also she was cast away in our sight After that we steered our course toward Damiette to take in fresh water at the mouth of the Nile This resolution made us greatly rejoyce for good fresh water would have been at that time a great Treat for us besides that being near to the place where we desired to be we hoped still to find some expedient of getting safe a-shore We stood in as near as we could and next day being Thursday the thirtieth of May about ten a clock in the morning we were got before the mouth of the Nile and the Galliot went in to take fresh water in spight of the Guns of the Fort Our Ships had a mind to do the like and put out a white Flag that they might see whether they would let us come a-shore or ransome any of the Slaves they had on board We expected with great impatience that they should have put out a white Flag on the Castle and were making ready to go quickly to Damiette with all safety when as ill luck would have it he that look'd out from the main top-mast head made four Sail Immediately they changed their white Flag into a red though I offered to tell them that it was ill done to fall foul of those Sails which perhaps only stood in because they had seen white Colours abroad but they made answer that seeing the Castle had not put out a white Flag they were no ways obliged so that they gave chase to those four Vessels and the Castle fired several Shot at us without any effect unless perhaps they served to give warning to those Saiques to make away as fast as they could Three of them made their escape and the fourth wich was a Saycot run a-shore and all that were on board got to land and saved themselves Our Caiques were manned out who finding in her nothing but Wood wherewith she was loaded and the Reys all alone who was a Greek they left her there and him in her and so came back to the Ships Next day being Friday the last of May having by break of day made a Saique we gave her the chase also till about noon While we were in pursuit of her we heard four Guns and our Corsairs thinking it might be some other Corsair come upon the Coast who was in chase of some Saycot made all the speed they could with Sails and Oars after the Saique for our parts our wishes were contrary to theirs for we always prayed to God that they might not come up with her still reckoning that the less mischief they did the better it would be for us however they laboured so hard that they gained ground on her and manned out their Cayque to Board her then they who were in the Sayque finding that they could not make their Escape surrendred themselves and another Saycot seeing this though she was above six miles off of us came without being pursued and Surrendred of her own accord in hopes of better usage and both these two were only loaded with Carob Beans Towards the Evening the Galliot which had been out a Cruising as she daily did came up with our Ships and told us that they had met with a Turkish Galliot and having laid her a thwart the Hass they met with stout resistance the Turks who were on board of her having a naked Sword between their Teeth and a Musquet in their hands so that finding they could do no good on her that way they left the Head and set upon her on the Stern but they found as hot service there as they had done before and were even in danger of having been taken by the Turks They Boarded her again the third time but could make nothing on 't on the contrary the Turks were like to have mastered them so that having three of their Men Killed and seven wounded they were fain to come off with Disgrace During that Engagement they had fired some shot with their Chase-Gun which were the Guns we had heard in the Morning and if the Ships had stood that way from whence they heard the Guns as the Maximes of their trade required they would have easily taken that Galliot but being unwilling to save a certain for an uncertain Booty they missed of that fair hit This Engagement afflicted us because it made our condition worse and worse nevertheless we prayed our Captain to let go that Saycot which had voluntarily surrendred to the end that she going to Damiette we might go with her and that these men might tell a-shoar that they had been obliged to us for having begged their Saycot for them This Saycot being of small value they easily granted our desires and having taken out of her ten Sacks of Carobs they set us on board and let her go on Saturday the first of June We entreated the Captain also to give us that Turk who had put them upon the exploit of Castel Peregrino for seeing they had promised him his Liberty before an Image of the Virgin as their Soldiers told us he might tell all People at Damiette that we had procured him his freedom not daring to tell the real cause of it and so would have put us out of all danger but they made us answer that they would carry him back to his own Countrey which made some of the Soldiers murmur a little saying they could not fail of falling into some mischance seeing they falsified their Promise made before the Image of the Blessed Virgin. We went then in that Saycot which came from Cyprus and was bound for Damiette and were not as yet out of danger for if these Greeks had been malicious Rogues they might have taken an opportunity to throw us over Board not only to make themselves satisfaction for the small matter that was taken from them by the little Goods we had but also in revenge
who had long followed that course and had a Ship of his own in Alexandria That man who had seen a great many French men nay and had had several of them in his power would not believe that I was one but assured me that one would always take me for a Levantine rather than a French man I was not at all troubled to find that I was so well disguised for in travelling through Turky it is good to have so much of the Air of the Countrey that we may not be taken for strangers unless we please Next day about five of the clock in the morning we set out and about ten of the clock entred the Channel of Nile where we found a man in a Boat who put us in our way The Channel of Nile though there be Canes fixed at several distances to shew where the Shelves are yet there is need of such a man for a guide because the River bringing a great deal of sand with it the passages are daily choaked up which were navigable two hours before and on the contrary washing away Islands which it had made and which appeared to be out of reach of the Water it makes ways for Vessels in places where before one might have walked dry shod and this mans business is to sound every hour of the day that so he may be able to shew the right Channel and the Masters of the Germes pay him for his pains At noon we came to Rossetto where I saw manner the of making Sorbet Rossetto The way of making Sorbet whilst I staid there They made use of an hundred and fifty Rottes of Sugar broken into small pieces which they put into a great Kettle over a Fire with a little water to dissolve it when it was ready to boil they skimmed it and poured in five or six quarts more of water to make the skum rise better they put it in by spoonfulls and wet the sides of the Kettle to cool them Half an hour after they mingled a dozen whites of Eggs with four or five quarts of water and having beat them a little with the water all was poured into the Kettle at four or five times and then they began to skim again till a little after they strained it through a Cloath and that they call clarifying of the Sugar Afterwards they divided that Liquor into three parts of which they put a third into a great Kettle or Caldron over the fire and seeing that Sugar from time to time was like to boil over they made it settle by throwing in two or three Egg-shels full of Milk. When they knew it to be boiled enough after it had been an hour upon the fire they took it off it looked then very yellow and two men set a stirring of it with wooden peels so that the more they stirred it as it grew cold it became the thicker and whiter When it was a little thickened they put into it about two glass-fulls of the juice of Limon boiled as I shall tell you hereafter Then they stirred it again to mingle all well together and a little after they put into it about two spoonfulls of rose-Rose-water in which some Musk had been dissolved several adding thereto Ambergreass Then again they stirred it till it became like a Paste and afterwards put it into Pots the same they did with the other two parts With an hundred and fifty of these Rottes they filled twenty nine Pots therein they spent a little Bottle of rose-Rose-water with Musk which cost a Crown When they have a mind to make it of a violet-Colour after the juice of Limon they put of the Syrrup of Violets into it which is made by pounding Violets with Sugar which they clear from the dreggs To make the juice of Limons a great many Limons are pressed and the juice expressed boiled in a Kettle but the Kettle must be full and boil along while untill the juice be reduced to the quantity of six or seven quarts In the mean time they burn above an hundred weight of Wood and cannot boil above two Kettle-fulls a day that is above ten or twelve quarts it is of a blackish red colour sharp and bitter In the Desta over against Rossetto and as far as Damiette Desta there is plenty of fine Fowl which the people of the Countrey call Garden-Cocks Dic elgait Garden-Cocks that is in Arabick Dic elgait they are as big as ordinary Pullets having the Belly and Wings of a violet-colour above and black below the Head and Neck of a violet-colour the Back greenish brown a Tale like a Wood-Cock which is white underneath a long Beak like a Parrot and a little crooked but of a lovely red colour it reaches from the Crown of the Head where there is a kind of a flat Plate of the same stuff and all looks like Horn their feet are as big as Pullets feet but longer and are red but of a paler red than the Beak they keep in the Marshes At Rossetto I found a bark bound for Baruth but because there were Soldiers ready to go to Candia they suffered no Sail to put out least the Christians might have advice of it At length the Soldiers being gone for Alexandria our bark wherein the Aga of the Castle of Rossetto had a share Departure from Rossetto was suffered privately to depart So that Munday the nineteenth of March about nine of the Clock in the Morning we put out When we were almost at the mouth of the River we were forced to send out the Boat on head to drop an Anchor several times that so we might tow our selves till about Noon being got out of the River with a West-South-West Wind we made all the sail we could and bore away North-East Three hours after we steered an East and be South course the Wind having shifted about to South-West though it was so small that we were almost becalmed In the Night-time we saw a great deal of Lightning at a distance from us and then the Wind blowing fresher from South we stood away East-North-East It is uneasie to me to give a relation of this Voyage An Idle ship's Crew so much it vexed me our Crew consisted of fifteen men who did nothing but sleep till Noon and after they had quarrelled together at Dinner fell a singing and playing and would not vouchsafe to stir too look out aloft pump the ship or to do any other service All that I could get of them during the whole Voyage was once to pump the Vessel They had nothing to throw out the Water with but the Neck of a Bottle and if the Vessel made but the least Travel they thought themselves lost One Night wheh we had bad Weather the Vessel rowling to and again three or four times they were upon the point of launching the Boat and forsaking the Vessel which stood in need of nothing but a little Vigilance They had no Sea-Cart to set
know afterwards in Persia that when they make the Sagri after they have shaved the skin they wet it and put it upon a little frame of wood to which they fasten it by streight cords then they lay the grain which perhaps is no more but sand pretty thick all over it and so expose it to the Sun when it is dry they beat off that sand or grain knocking the back-side of the skin with a stick and then they wet it again and put the grain to it a second time which sometimes after they beat off again in the same manner and that 's the whole mystery They drive a pretty good trade at Aleppo in Cabrons hair that is the hair under the belly of some he Goats which is very fine and used in the making of hats I was told that when they are put on board great care must be taken that they be not wet because then they would be in danger of taking fire of themselves in a short time like Hay that is brought in before it be dry and some Ships have been burnt by that means though that happen not always infallibly Blew-Dye The Dyers of that Countrey make a most excellent blew dye They put in it as we do Indigo and Pomgranat-peels but besides that they have this particular secret They fill their great fats that are of Earth with water and put into it two or three Oques of Indigo according to the bigness of the fat and the goodness of the Indigo and for some time they stir the liquour in the fat until the Indigo be all dissolved and well mixt afterwards they put into it Dogs-turd prepared in this manner They take about an Oque of that Excrement and boil it in water then they strain that water and put it into the fat adding afterwards some of the water of dates For making of that date-date-water there is no more to be done but to put about an Oque of Dates into water and stir them well rubbing them with the hands in the water so that all the substance of the Dates may be dissolved and nothing remain but the stone then having passed that liquour through a strainer which looks then like honey they put it into the fat For want of Dates they make use of the Juice of black grapes well stamped and for want of grapes they take the Juice of stamped figs. In Aleppo they use grapes having no dates Four days after they have put in these waters of Dogs-turd and Date they add to it about two handfulls of unslacked Lime The preparation of that dye requires seven or eight days and sometimes a fortnight during that time they keep a gentle fire of Camels-dung under the Fat but so weak that it serves onely to keep the dye always warm they put no urine to it using Dogs-turd in stead of it which they say makes the Indigo to stick better to the things that are dyed There is an Indian living at Aleppo who paints Boxes and Canes of Pipes on which he makes a great many Circles and little points of divers Colours but being the onely person that knows the secret he is so jealous of it that he will not teach any other and it was to no purpose for Monsieur Bertet to offer him five and twenty Piastres to oblige him to tell it me CHAP. VIII The Sequel of the Observations of Aleppo WHilst I was at Aleppo there was a Zineh kept Zineh that word literally signifies Ornament but here it signifies a Festival or if you please a publick rejoycing These Zinehs here are more magnificent than at Caire where the houses onely of the Consuls Beys and the great Bazar are adorned and nothing else of any note But seeing there are many rich Merchants in Aleppo by reason of the great trade of the place at all times when there is a Zineh every one hangs his shop inside and outside with the finest stuffs he can get covers the Floor with lovely Carpets and lays rich Cushions upon them lights a great many Lamps and Wax-Candles and so all the Bazars being covered it yields a glorious prospect You shall see a Bazar whereof all the houses are hung with Velvet of several pieces or streaks another with Cloath of Gold and Silver another with Cloath another with wrought Stuffs and so every Bazar according to the trade of it and the Wealth of the Tradesmen who live there The gates of the great men are also adorned with costly Stuffs lovely Arms and all sorts of Lamps During that time they are day and night in their Divans which nevertheless are onely their Shops transformed into Divans But all the shops in Turkey are raised two or three foot from the ground and there as I told you they spread Carpets and lay Cushions all round and on the outside have rails of wood which they also cover with Carpet They visit each other and mutually receive their visits in their Divans and there they entertain themselves with Coffee and Sorbet musick after their way and their little Lute which they call Tamboura The Zineh which I saw at Aleppo was appointed for seven days Zineh for the Birth of a Prince beginning on Sunday the two and twentieth of June the reason of that rejoycing was the Birth of the Grand Signiors Eldest Son whereupon immediately Agas were sent from Constantinople to all the Towns of Turkey to publish the news and appoint Zinehs So soon as the Aga arrived the Zineh was proclaimed all over the Town and then the Guns of the Castle proclaimed it more loudly which continued Morning and Night all the days following If any had failed to rejoice and to adorn his house of whatsoever Nation religion or quality he was he would have been deeply fined and if a Subject of the Grand Signiors Bastonadoed besides During the Zineh all walk freely day and night up and down the City which in the Night-time is lighted by a great number of Lamps in all the Streets where there is constantly so great a Croud that one has much adoe to pass All treat one another and make merry with their friends Not so much as the Jews but force a publick rejoycing and they are to be seen in troops up and down danceing to the musick of instruments The second day of the Zineh the Musellem being come to the great Khan to visit the Scheick Bandar he is the Judge of the Merchants and Master of the great Khan he was received upon a Divan erected before the Gate where at first he was regaled with Coffee A Comedy after the way of Turkey Sorbet and Wine Then about ten of the Clock he was conducted to another Divan prepared against the Wall at the lower end of the Court to see a Comedy to be acted by Jews The Court served for a Theatre there are onely two Cresset-lights of Pine-wood which they took care to keep burning and that suffised to light all that great
other paints are stamped upon them with a mould besmeared with Colours CHAP. X. The Continuation of the Observations of Ispahan Chiefly of Eating A Persian Chimney ALL over Persia they seldom warm themselves by a Fire in the Chimney which is taken out of the wall but so little that it is hardly to be seen They have an Engine in their Rooms which they call the Coursi Coursi which is more convenient for use and renders a milder heat than that of a Chimney In the Floor of the Room they have a great square hole The way of warming a foot deep and about three foot broad into that they put clear burning Coals and over them a little wooden Table much of the same bigness and a large foot high which hath four feet that rest upon Stones purposely set at the four Corners of the hole They cover this Table with a large pinked Carpet which on all sides trails on the ground so that they see no fire and yet receive a gentle heat through the Carpet Now if they have a mind to have a greater heat to warm them all over of a sudden they sit down on Cushions round the Table and put their feet a-cross the frame of it and then cover themselves with the Carpet up to the Neck so that their whole body is under it and nothing out but the Head which warms them all over without burning their Face or breathing too hot an Air. Neither do they make use of Candle but the most part even the King himself The Persians use Lamps use Lamps whereinto they put tallow by bits for they employ not the Oil of Naphta which is got in a place near the Caspian Sea but onely in varnishing of Pictures As to their feeding the Persians are no greater husbands Their eating than in their Cloaths and Attendants Nevertheless they eat boiled meat but once a day which is commonly at Night and they wonder that the Franks eat twice In the King's House they boil Victuals twice a day though they eat of them but once The Persians eat boiled meat but once a day but every one is left to their humour to eat in the Morning or Evening according to their Appetite though most commonly they eat in the Evening and the King observes usually that rule As for the women they ask them every Morning if they have a mind to boiled meat which they call the Hazir in the Morning or at Night and they who have it in the Morning have none at Night Their other meal is of Fruit Cheese and Sweet-meats Their boiled meat consists in Pilao or Schilao Schilao which is boiled Rice without Butter but onely Water and Salt till it be as thick as Pilao which is instead of a Pottage to the Turks as the Schilao is in Persia and all over the Indies I have spoken of Pilao in my former travels When they serve in the Schilao at the same time they set upon the Table another dish of meat or fish with a great deal of broth of which they take several spoonfulls that they put upon their Plates with the Schilao And that with Salt-fish makes their most delicious Food They make also another kind of broth with Rice which they call Cangi Cangi When the Rice is boiled they strain it and take the water and mingle it with a little Flower as if they were to make broth and if it be the Flower of Barley it is the wholsomer they put to it also two Yelks of an Egg with Sugar and boil all like a thin broth when it is almost fully boiled they put rose-Rose-water into it This is very good food especially for the sick to whom they commonly give it being of easie digestion nourishing and pleasant and in that Countrey they are allowed no other food A great many who are in health take a mess of broth every Morning but it is made after another way They put into a Skillet two or three handfulls of Rice and boil that with a good deal of water untill the substance of the Rice be incorporated into the water then they strain it and drink it fasting which is very refreshing Much after this manner they give it commonly to the sick both in Persia and the Indies nor indeed do they take so much pains about it but onely bruise a handfull of Rice and boil it very clear with Water and Salt The meat most commonly used in Persia is Mutton and Lamb as also Pullets and Capons when they are in season And indeed it is but of late that they have had the use of Capons they usually have them boiled for it is not their custom to roast meat on the Spit The Persians Roast-meat and if sometimes they do it it is onely by little pieces but they bake in the Oven whole Sheep and Lambs in this manner After they have well heated the Oven which hath the Mouth in the top they put into it the meat and hang it there with an Earthen Dripping-pan underneath to receive the fat It roasts alike on all sides and when it is enough they cut it into pieces There are many shops where they sell all sorts of it and in what quantity one pleases and to say the truth they dress it very well The Armenians way of roasting a Lamb. The Armenians have another way of roasting a whole Sheep for having flead it they cover it again with the skin and put it into an Oven upon the quick Coals covering it also with a good many of the same Coals that it may have fire under and over to roast it well on all sides and the skin keeps it from being burnt The Persians have also a great many Ragoes which though singly they cost but little yet by the number of them are very expensive wherein they differ much from the Turks who spend little on their Belly The frugality of the Turks as in other things to wit their women and servants of whom they keep no more than they can conveniently entertain Above all things the Persians are immoderate in the excessive eating of fruits and I have been assured that some of them in a frolick will eat three nay four Man 's of Melons to eat a Man is a very usual thing The Persians eat too much fruit and nevertheless the Man of Ispahan is no less than twelve pound Weight as I have said already And indeed many of them die through their excessive eating of fruit Persian Bread. Their bread is commonly sprinkled over with Poppy-seed and for the rest is very good They make it into large Cakes half a finger thick some they make also so thin that it looks like fine Paper and they are obliged to lay twelve or fifteen of them together which they fold into two or four pleats and some of that fashion is very good But in some places it is but half baked very brown and all full of
at Ispahan but fairer and better and which keep better there by reason of the dryness of the Country-Air which makes Fruit keep a whole Year The Melons are far better there than with us as likewise the Peaches which are very big and the Grapes that are of Nine or Ten sorts Their Wines are White Wines of Ispahan and made of Grapes which they call Kismisch most men believe that that kind of Grape hath no Stones because they are so small as not to be discerned in Eating but they are easily enough to be seen in the Fat when the Wine worketh They make Wine also of other sorts of Grapes which is neither so good nor keeps so well They have some Red Wine but little and to make it they only put some Black Grapes into White Wine to give it a colour if it were made of Black Grapes it would not keep we must except the Wine of Schiras which is Red very good and Stomachical Schiras Wine but it is only brought in Bottles and one must have Friends for that too if nevertheless an Armenian hath got any of it he sells it at eight Abassis and at the least at six They keep the Wine commonly in very great Earthen-Jars for the draught would make all Casks leakey and these Jars hold above a third part of a Tun. No use made of Casks Though the Persians as I have now said have all the kinds of Fruit that we have yet they have not the several sorts of them They have for example several sorts of very good Grapes but they have not the Muscadine Grape The Persians have no Muscadine Grapes Grapes upon the Vine till Christmass No Strawberries in Persia They leave the Grapes on the Vines sometimes till Christmas putting each bunch into a Bag to keep them from the Birds and only gather them as they have occasion to Eat them They have also good Apricots small sharp Cherries Apples and many sorts of Pears but they have no Straw-berries They Eat Melons almost all the year round not only because they take much pains in Cultivating of them but also by reason of the Nature of the Air that I have spoke of which nevertheless excuses not those who would preserve their Melons well from having always a Candle burning in the Room where they lay them whether it be to keep them from the damp or from being Frozen In this manner they Cultivate them in the first place they make use of a great deal of Pigeons Dung The raising of Melons keeping Pigeons only for that purpose which they put into the Ground where they Sow the Melons and that Dung is sold by weight When the Melons are above Ground and begin to be shaped into a Stalk that will carry sometimes twenty they take off three or four and leave those which thrive best ten or twelve days after they again take off those that thrive worst which although they are so little sell very well about Town for there are those who Eat them and in this manner they always ease the Stem leaving only those which thrive best till at length there remain no more but one It is to be observed that every time they open a little with their Nails the Earth that is about the Root they fill it up with Pigeons Dung to give it new nourishment then they put water to it by means of some little Channels that have many turnings which water the Roots without weting the Fruit. They use all these ways with them three or four times for having watered them they let them alone eight or ten days without giving them any more water at length when the remaining Melon begins to grow big they put the end of it to their mouth and having wet it a little with their Spittle cover it with a parcel of Earth and they say that this Ceremony preserves them from the bitings of some Flies that else would spoil them In Persia they Eat Melons till the month of April nay some also in May which is about the time they begin to Eat new ones at least in July they begin to have them Ripe but they are small round Melons most of them white within soft like Cotton and of no relish those that are good are not fit to be Eaten before August they are of another kind and most part long I have described them before The Cultivating of the Palm-Tree Amongst the Trees of Persia is the Palm-Tree which they carefully Cultivate when it is Young and before it bear Fruit they dig at the Root of it eight or ten Fathom deep in the Earth more or less until they have found water but that Pit is not made all round the Tree for that would make it fall they only dig on one side and then fill up that hole with Pigeons Dung whereof they have always provision in that Country because in the Villages they purposely keep a great many tame Pigeons and I was told by the people of the Country that if they took not that course with the Palm-Trees they would not bear good Fruit but there is a very curious thing besides to be observed in the Cultivating of this Tree and that is that every year when the Palm-Trees are in Blossome they take the Blossomes of the Male Palm-Tree and put two or three Branches of them into the Matrix of each Female Palm-Tree when they begin to Blow else they would produce Dates with no more but Skin and Stone I call the Matrix that Bud which contains the Flowers from which in process of time the Dates spring the time of making that inoculation is about the end of November Not but the Males also bear Fruit but it is good for nothing and therefore they take all their Blossoms to Graft the Females with As to Dates it is worth the takeing notice of that the use of them is very dangerous during the Heats in hot Countries because they make the whole Body to break out in Botches and Boils and spoil the sight There is a Shrub called in Persian Kerzehreh that is to say Asses Gall because as they say it is as bitter as the Gall of an Ass Kerzehreh a shrub This Shrub is a Frutex that grows sometimes as high as a tall man the Trunk of it many times is as big as a man from which issue forth stems as big as ones Leg that send forth several Branches the least whereof are as big as ones Finger This Tree looks of a whitish green it hath a pretty thick Bark under which the Stem which is lignous is White The leaves of it are as thick as those of the Laurel Rose-Tree much broader almost as long and in a manner Oval with Veins running along them these Leaves grow by pairs the one opposite to the other but not all of a side for the pair below makes a cross with the pair above in the same manner as Balm does and that regularly
one by the Propontis or White Sea and the other by the Port the third is towards the land and the biggest of the three is that which lies on the Propontis and reaches from the Seraglio to the seven Towers that towards the Port is the middlemost The Seraglio is built upon the point of the Triangle The Situation of the Seraglio which runs out betwixt the Propontis and the Port and in a lower place under this Palace upon the shore are the Gardens of the Seraglio much about the place where the ancient Town of Byzantium stood which afford a very lovely Prospect to those who come to Constantinople either by the White Sea or the Black. On the other Angle The seven Towers which is upon the Chanel of the White Sea are the seven Towers covered with Lead they were built by the Christians and served a long time for keeping the Grand Seignior's Treasure at present they are made a Prison for Persons of Quality At the third Angle which is at the bottom of the Port on the Land side are the Ruines of Constantine's Palace This Town is encompassed with good Walls The Walls of Constantinople which to the Land side are double in some places built of Free-stone and in others of rough Stones and Brick Each of these Walls has a broad flat-bottom'd Ditch wharfed and faced on both sides The first Out-wall is but a Falsebray about ten foot high with many little Battlements and Casements in its Parapet and Gun-holes below aswel in the Courtine as in the Towers which are but at a little distance from one another and about two hundred and fifty in number The second Wall is of the same fashion but higher for it is at least three fathom from the ground up to the Cordon or edging it has the same number of Towers as the former but higher so that one Tower commands the other which is as a Cavalier to it In short this might be made a very strong Town but as yet the Turks have had no need of it for they have not been pursued so far The Walls on the Sea-side are not so high but they are still good and fortified but with the Ments and Turrets they run along the sides of the water upon the Streight of the Propontis unless it be at the Creeks and Stairs which are little Harbours where Boats put a shore for there they turn inwards about fifty paces to make place for them according to the turnings of the shore The bigness of Constantinople Many have imagined that Constantinople was bigger than either Caire or Paris but they are mistaken for certainly it is less than either of those two Cities Some allow it thirteen miles in circuit others sixteen and others again eighteen but I went round it once with another Frenchman we had each of us a Watch and having taken a Caique or Boat at Tophano we went over to Constantinople and landed as near as we durst to the Kionsk of the Seraglio which is upon the Port having then sent the Boat to stay for us at the seven Towers we set our Watches to Seven of the clock and walked a-foot along the Port without the Walls and also along the Land-side till we came to the seven Towers where looking on our Watches we found them both at three quarers after Eight so that we spent an hour and three quarters in performing that Journey and it requires no more than an hour to come by Water from the seven Towers to the Seraglio in a Boat with three Oars for that Way cannot be gone on foot because the Water washes the Walls but if there were a foot-Way I make no doubt but one may walk it in an hour or little more and in an hour and a quarter at most with ease and indeed that quarter is to be allowed because in the beginning we left behind us a little of the side that is on the Port seeing no body dares to walk there Thus I found that in the space of three hours at most one might make the circuit of Constantinople on foot walking a pace as we did It may be said The circuit of the Walls that without the Walls it is twelve miles in compass This Town hath two and twenty Gates six towards the Land eleven along the Port and five on the Streight of the Propontis having all their landing Places and Stairs CHAP. XVI Of Santa Sophia Solymania the New Mosque and others WHen Constantine the Emperour removed the Seat of his Empire from Rome to Constantinople he resolved to render that City which he called New-Rome so illustrious that it should at least be equal to old Rome and for that end he chose seven little Hills on the top and sides whereof in imitation of the first which is built upon seven Hills he built his Town which in progress of time he enrich'd with many ornaments as Statues Pillars c. This Town which stands on seven little hills is disposed in such order that one house takes not away the sight from another the streets are not fair but are for the most part narrow though there be several goodly Buildings in them There are many stately Mosques in it of which the most magnificent is the Santa Sophia heretofore a Christian Church built by the Emperour Justin enlarg'd enrich'd and adorned by Justinian the Emperour and dedicated to the Wisdom of God wherefore it was called Agia Sophia The Turks becoming since masters of Constantinople have changed it into a Mosque leaving it the name which it retains at present This Fabrick which is admired by all that see it is an hundred and fourteen paces in length and fourscore in breadth it is square on the outside and round within There are four Gates to enter under the Portico which reaches along the whole front of the Church but there is only a little door left open which is the wicket of a great Gate of well wrought Marble Afterwards you find seven doors to enter into a kind of Nef or body of a Church which is not very broad and then nine other great brazen Gates The middlemost whereof particularly is very great and by it they enter into the Mosque which is very spacious and hath a Dome in the middle the arch whereof is made in form of a squatted half Globe and so almost singular in its kind and architecture In the inside of this Church there is a porch that ranges all round which carries another Gallerie in like manner vaulted over thirty paces btoad supported by sixty Pillars and this carried as many more lesser ones which uphold the top of the Church all these Pillars being ranked by tens as well above as below The Ascent to the higher Gallery is by a very easie staircase and it behoved us to give a Turk money to open the door of it This gallery when the Christians were masters of it was appointed for the women who kept there
Serraglio has his Officers who have a great many under them Most part of these Officers are Eunuchs Officers and generally all Blacks heretofore it was thought enough to geld them but a Grand Signior having one day as he was walking The reason why the Eunuchs have all cut off Whence come the black Eunuchs Abyssia perceived a Gelding covering a Mare so soon as he was come home ordered all that the Eunuchs had remaining to be cut clear off and since that time it hath been the constant custom to cut all off clear to the Belly which is done when they are but about eight or ten years old It is true a great many dye of it but the Bashaws of the Governments that border upon Abyssia or Ethiopia and other Countries of the Negroes cause so many to be gelt that they have enough both for presents of the handsomest to the Grand Signior Eunuchs guard and look to the Women and for attending their own Women These Eunuchs have the sole government of the Serraglio such of them as have the care of the Women who are all lodged in a separate appartment together are so watchful and exact in looking after them that there is no Woman cunning enough to deceive those half men because they know that the Grand Signior is commonly so jealous that a single view of one of his Wives would cost him that saw her his life and when the Sultanas walk in the Gardens of the Serraglio Bostangis In what poscure are the Gardners when the Grand Signior walks with his Wives in the Gardens Great jealousie in the Grand Signior Eunuchs keepers of the Pages Ichnoglans Education of the Pages the Bostangis or Gardners stand round the Walls and holding Staves to which large and long pieces of Cloth are fastned behind them look towards the Sea making in that manner a kind of a Wall betwixt them and the Garden to hinder the Sultanas from being seen from abroad they themselves not daring to look upon them for fear least being perceived by some Eunuch he might make their heads flie off upon the spot this jealousie goes so far that they suffer no Boats to come nearer than four hundred paces of the Garden whilst the Sultanas are there though the Walls be high and there are Sentinels on purpose to fire at them if they do not stand off so that those who have business by Water must somtimes fetch a great compass about The Eunuchs also have the charge of the Ichnoglans or the Grand Signiors Pages who are all youths for the most part of Christian extraction made Mahometans and educated in the Serraglio with great care from eight to twenty years of age some are taught to shoot an Arrow dart the Zaguye sit a Horse well Wrestle Read Write and Sing and the rest any thing else that suits with their talents and inclination but they are all indispensably brought up in the Law of Mahomet if they have parts they rise to great Offices if not after some years they are turned out of the Serraglio and have pay proportionable to the employments they undertake but so long as they live in the Serraglio they are sure of blows with a Cudgel as often as they commit a fault They are divided into Chambers and many of them being thwackt together into one Room they are not a little straitned when they are in Bed Eunuchs watch over them walking up and down the Room least they should slip out of one Bed into another for the Itchoglans are not gelt The chief charge that they can rise to whilst they are Pages in the Serraglio is to be of the number of the forty that come nearest the person of the Grand Signior of whom the chief fourare the Selihhtar Forty Pages waiting on the Grand Signior who carries the Princes Sword The Tschoadar who carries his Yagmourluk or Cloak for rain the Ibrictar who carries always water in a vessel to pour upon his Hands if he have a mind to wash and the Kuptar who carries a Pot with Sorbet to give him to drink when he is dry Four Chief Pages The Selihhtar Tschoadar Ibrictar Cuptar The Old Serraglio The Wives of the last Prince These four always wait upon the Grand Signior when he goes abroad out of the Serraglio and from these Offices they are advanced to the highest places of the Empire Besides this great Serraglio there is another in Constantinople which is called the old Serraglio where heretofore the Prince lodged but which at present serves only for lodgings for the Wives of the Grand Signior that last died whither they are all sent unless it be some whom the Grand Signior now reigning taking a liking to retains in the Serraglio they are guarded very strictly by Eunuchs in this old Serraglio and that till death unless the Grand Signior think fit that they marry some great men of his Court. This Palace is well built it is enclosed within very high Walls which have no opening but the Gate so that it is not unlike to a Nunnery amongst us There is moreover a Serraglio of the Grand Signiors at Pera near to the House of the French Ambassador another Serraglio at Pera. where several Itchoglans are kept under the guard of an Aga who having spent some time there the duller are sent out with pay and the rest come to the Serraglio to be entertained in the Grand Signior's service Besides these Serraglio's the Grand Signior has others in the Country both in Europe and Asia which have all fine Gardens and many Bostangis to look after them who are under the command of the Bostangi Basha or chief of the Gardners Bostangi Basha This is one of the best places of the Empire for the Bostangi Basha has lodgings in the Serraglio and nevertheless he wears a Beard none but the Grand Signior and he doing so for all the rest are shaved as a mark of their servitude Besides he having the Princes Ear whom he often attends when he goes abroad to take the Air either in the Gardens or upon the Water where he sits at the Helm of the Boat or Galiot that carries the Grand Signior there is no doubt but he is in great Power and much considered not only at the Port but over the whole Empire When the Grand Signior puts any person of quality to death at Constantinople he commonly sends the Bostangi Basha to bring him his Head. CHAP. XIX Of the other Serraglios Hans Private Houses and Bezestins of Constantinople THere are also many Serraglios of private persons in Constantinople but they have no beauty on the outside on the contrary they are very ugly and it would seem that they affect to make them have but little show without for fear of giving jealousie to the Grand Signior Ornaments within the Palaces These Palaces are great and encompassed all round with high Walls like our Monasteries they have very lovely Appartments
within adorned with Gold and Azure and the Floor they walk upon covered with fine Carpets which is the reason that men commonly put off their Shoes when they enter them for fear of spoiling the Carpets The Walls are faced with pure Tiles like China In all the Halls and Chambers they have a rising half a foot or a foot high from the Floor Divans which they call Divans and these are covered with richer Carpets than the rest of the Room with embroidered Cushions set against the Wall upon these Divans they rest receive visits and spend the best part of the day In all Palaces the Womens appartment is separated from the rest of the Lodgings and no Man enters it unless the Master of the House or some Eunuch Hans There are also many great buildings in the City in form of the Cloysters of Monks which they call Hans they consist for the most part of a large square Court in the middle whereof there is a Fountain with a great Bason and Arches all round the Court under which all along the Walls are the Doors of the Chambers which are all alike and have each of them a Chimney These Arches support a Gallery that ranges all round the Court as that below The Lodgeings of Merchants and this Gallery has also Chambers on the side like to those that are underneath these Hans are for lodging of Merchants If you would have a lodging room there you must speak to the Porter of the Han who keeps all the Keys and for opening it as they call it you give him a Piastre or half Piastre and for every day you stay there one two or three Aspres according to the rate that is set you may hire a Ware-house for goods in the same manner These Hans are very well built and the chief Walls are of Free-stone The fairest in Constantinople is that which called Valida Hhane the Han of the Sultana Mother because the Mother of the present Grand Signior built it It is a very convenient place for strangers who always find a House ready to hire and at an easie rate so that having a Quilt some Coverings Carpets and Cushions you have a furnished House to lodge in and these Hans yield a very considerable revenue to those to whom they belong The Houses of Constantinople mean. As to the Houses of Constantinople they are very ordinary and almost all of Wood which is the cause that when Fires happen as they do very often they make great havock amongst them especially if a wind blow there were three Fires in Constantinople in the space of eight months that I so journed there Constantinople much Subject to fire the first hapned on the day of my arrival and burnt down eight thousand Houses the other two were not so great In the time of Sultan Amurat such a fire raged there for three days and three nights as ruined one half of the Town it is true the Houses being but little and built more of Timber than any thing else they are soon rebuilt again and for a small matter Baltadgis For putting a stop to these fires there are men called Baltadgis that 's to say Hatchet-men who have a constant pay from the Grand Signior When a fire breaks out in any place they beat down the neighbouring Houses with Hatchets beginning sometimes twenty or thirty Houses from the fire for the fire runs so fast that it is soon up with them these fires most commonly are occasioned by Tobaco for the Turks easily fall asleep with a lighted Pipe in their mouths Causes of fire and seeing they smoak when they are in Bed it is very easie for the Fire that falls out of their Pipes to take on materials that are so prepared to receive it These accidents of fire are sometimes also occasioned by the Souldiers who raise a fire with design to rob Houses whilst the people are labouring to quench it The streets of Constantinople are very ugly being for the most part narrow crooked up-hill and down-hill There are several Market-places in the City but one must see the great Bezestain Great Bezestain which is a very large round Hall built all of Free-stone and enclosed with very thick Walls the Shops are within round the Hall as in Westminster-Hall and in these Shops the most costly Goods are to be sold There are four Gates into this Hall which are very strong and shut every night no body lies there and all the care they take is to shut their Shops well at night The litle Bezestain There is another Bezestain in the City but less where Goods of smaller value are to be sold CHAP. XX. Of Cassumpasha Galata Pera and Tophana HAving said enough of Constantinople we must now pass over to Galata which is as it were the Suburbs of it Galata is separated from Constantinople by the Port that is betwixt them there are on both sides a great many Caiques and Permes which will carry you over for a very small matter Caiques-Permes and land you where you have a mind to be Caiques are small Boats and the Permes are little slight Boats or Wherries and so tick'lish that by leaning more to one side than another it is an easie matter to overset them You may go to Galata by land if you 'll fetch a compass round the Port which is very spacious having crossed a little River of fresh water that discharges it self into the Harbour you go towards Galata and by the way you first find the Ocmeidan or field of Arrows it is a large place where the Turks practise Archery Ocmeidan and come in procession to make their Prayers to God for the prosperity of their Armies and for whatsoever they stand in need of Then you come to Cassumpasha which seems to be a great Village there by the water side is the Arsenal where Gallies Maones and Ships are built it contains sixscore arched Docks or Houses where Gallies may be put under cover or new ones built The Capoudan Basha Capoudan Basha or Admiral has his lodgings in the Arsenal where he commands and all who belong to the Sea depend on him In the same Arsenal is the Bagnio for the Grand Signiors slaves which is very spacious From thence you come to Galata separated from Cassumpasha only by the burying places that are betwixt them Galata is a pretty large Town over against Constantinople from which it is separated by the Port or Harbour it belonged hererofore to the Genoese and then was pretty considerable there is still a large Tower to be seen in it which they long held out against the Turks after they were Masters of Constantinople the Houses are good and well built many Greeks live there and it is the usual residence of the Francks In Galata there are five Monasteries of religious Francks to wit of the Cordeliers and their Church is called St. Marie of the Observantines or
Conventual Cordeliers and their Church is called St. Francis of the Jacobins who have St. Peters Church of the Jesuits who have St. Benet's Church and of the Capucius who have the Church of St. George By the Sea-side there is the finest Fish-market in the World it is a Street with Fish-mongers shops on both sides who have so great quantity of Fish upon their Stalls that it would surprise a man to see it There one may find all sorts of fresh Fish and at a very cheap rate The Greeks keep many Taverns or Publick Houses in Galata which draw thither many of the Rabble from Constantinople who are very insolent in their drink and very dangerous to be met with Going up from Galata you come to Pera which is likewise separated from Galata by Burying-places it is a kind of a Town where Christian Ambassadors dwell only the Ambassadors of the Emperor King of Poland and Republick of Ragousa having their residence in Constantinople The French Ambassador is very commodiously lodged in Pera having a fair large Palace which is called the Kings House and has on all hands a good Prospect looking one way towards the Serraglio of the Grand Signior over against which it stands upon a higher ground than the Serraglio Pera lying very high The Houses of Pera are handsome and hardly any body lives there but Greeks of Quality From Pera to Tophana there is a great descent and Tophana lies upon the Rivers side over against the Serraglio It is called Tophana that is to say the House of Cannon because it is the place where Guns and other Pieces of Artillery are cast and that gives the name to all that Quarter which is a kind of little Town The Houses of Galata Pera and Tophana are built in so good order that as these places stand some higher and some lower they represent a kind of Amphitheater from whence with ease and pleasure the Port and Sea may be seen CHAP. XXI Of Leander's Tower Scudaret the Princes Isle and the Black Sea. THough the Countrey about Constantinople be not so delightful nor so well peopled Iscodar as in France yet it is not without pleasant Walks you must take a Caique and go to Scudaret called in Turkish Iscodar and it is a good mile over to it You pass by the Tower of Leander which stands betwixt the Serraglio and Scudaret and you may go into it if you please This Tower is built upon a Rock in the Sea and is pretty strong there are several great Guns mounted in it which may batter the Port of Constantinople and the two mouths of the Bosphorus of Thrace and of the Propontis or as they say of the Black and White Seas there is a Well of excellent good fresh Water in this Tower but I cannot tell why they call it Leander's Tower. From thence you go to Scudaret which is a Village in Asia upon the Sea-side over against the Serraglio of Constantinople where the Grand Signior hath a sttately Serraglio and very lovely Gardens A little lower on the same side over against the seven Towers stands Chalcedon a Town anciently Famous and celebrated by the Fourth general Council that was held there but at present it is no more but a pitiful Village The Princes Isle which is four hours going from Constantinople is another Walk where the Air is excellently good though this Isle be not great yet it is very pleasant and contains two little Towns of Greeks The Chanel of the Black Sea is a rare place to take the Air upon this is the Bosphorus of Thrace which coming from the Black Sea to Constantinople enters into the Propontis and mingles its Waters with the White Sea at the broadest place it is about a mile over and is twelve miles in length Going from Tophana towards this Chanel you see to the left-hand on the side of Europe a great many lovely Houses and Gardens when you have entered into the Chanel you have on both sides the most charming and delightful Prospect in the World nothing offering to your view but stately Houses and Gardens full of all sorts of excellent Fruits Upon the side in Asia I saw a very pretty Castle where Sultan Ibrahim the Father of Sultan Mahomet who Reigns at present was hid for the space of twenty years to avoid the Death which Sultan Amurath put his other Brothers to This Castle is covered with many very high Trees that hinder it from being seen which is the reason as those who live there told us that few come to see it Along both the shores there are also a great many good Villages where one may have whatsoever is needful They take in this Chanel great quantities of good Fish of several sorts especially Sword-fish Sword-fish which are great and so called because on their Snout they have a long broad bone like a Sword or rather a Saw there are many Dolphins to be seen there which follow Boats playing and leaping out of the Water Six miles from Constantinople there are two Forts on this Sea the one in Europe and the other in Asia which serve for Prisons for Persons of quality and were built to put a stop to the Cosacks who were it not for that would often come and make Booty even in Constantinople seeing notwithstanding these Forts they sometimes give the alarm to that City In three or four hours time one comes to the end of the Chanel or Bosphorus of Thrace where the Black Sea begins In the middle of this mouth which is very narrow there is a little Isle or rather Rock distant on each hand from the main Land about fifty paces where being come you may go up to the top of it and there see a Pillar of white Marble which is called the Pillar of Pompey because they say it was raised by Pompey in memory of his Victory after that he had overcome Mithridates Close by this Rock and round it there are several others scattered here and there in the Water which many take to be the Cyanean Isles or Symplegades On the main Land of Europe side over against the Rock of Pompey's Pillar there is a Village on the Water-side with a Tower on the top whereof there is a Light for the convenience of Vessels that by mistake they may not run foul of the Rocks and be cast away for that 's a very dangerous Sea and many shipwrecks are made in it every year so that the Greeks call it Maurothalassa that is to say the Black Sea Maurothalassa not because the Waters of it are black but because Storms and Tempests rise on it so suddenly that they cause many losses and though the Weather be never so fair yet Vessels are often surprised there in a moment for besides that this Sea is not very broad there are several Currents in it caused by the Danube Boristhenes Tanais and many other smaller Rivers that discharge their Waters into it which occasion so many Eddies
the more honourable with the Turks The more honourable side because it is the Sword-side so that he who is on the right-hand has the Sword under the hand of him whom he would honour When a Turk walks with a Christian he will not willingly give him the left hand and it is very easie to make them agree as to that point for seeing with us the right hand is the more honourable both of them are in the place of honour CHAP. XXIII Of Baths or Bagnios THE Turks make great use of Bathing both for keeping their bodies neat and clean and for their healths sake For that purpose they have many fair Bagnios in their Towns and the sorriest Village that is Bagnios has at least a Bagnio they are all made after the same fashion and there is no difference but that some are bigger and more adorned with marble than others I 'll describe that which is at Tophana near to a fair Mosque as being one of the loveliest that I have seen You enter into a large square Hall A Description of Bagnios about twenty paces in length and of a very high roof all round this Hall there are Mastabez or benches of stone against the wall above a fathom broad Mastabez and half as high which are all covered with mats so soon as you come they spread you out a large napkin which they call Fouta upon the said benches Fouta where you sit down and lay your cloaths after you have stript In the middle of this Hall there is a great Fountain with a large Bason of marble for washing the Linnen that hath been used and when they are washed they are hung up to dry upon poles which are on high all round the Hall When you have sate down upon the napkin which they have spread for you they bring you another to put before you which you tie over your shirt before you pull it off lest you should show what ought not to be seen which would be a great crime that covers you behind and before from the girdle down to the knees Having pull'd off your shirt you put it with your cloaths in the napkin you sate upon leaving them there without fear that any body will touch them for the Bagnios are places of liberty and security as though they were sacred and there is no cheat ever committed in them for if any were the Master of the Bagnio would be obliged to make good what was lost or embeziled After you are stript you enter by a little door into a small room somewhat hot and from thence by another door into the great Hall which is very hot All these Halls are made with Domes having little glass windows to let in the light This great hot Hall is of a Pentagone figure each side being supported by two Pillars of white marble on each side there is a marble edging or rising about half a foot high and in the middle of that in the floor about two foot from the wall there is a little Bason of white marble two foot broad and over it a cock of warm water and a hands breadth above this cock another cock for cold water so that you mingle them as you please then you take large copper Cups which are alwaies ready for that use and with them throw upon yourself as much water as you have a mind In this Hall also there is a large stone-Fat full of hot water whereinto you may go if you please but that is not safe because a great many Rogues who have several diseases go into it though the water be often changed but if you be sure that no body has as yet been in it you may wash yourself there So soon as you enter into that great Hall you sit down upon the flat floor which is all of marble heated by Furnaces underneath then comes a Servant stark naked except those parts which modesty requires to be covered the Servants of the Bagnio are always so that they may be in readiness to wait upon those that come and making you lye out at length upon your back he puts his knees upon your belly and breast and embracing you very streight makes all the bones of your body arms and legs crack again to stretch and soften the sinews then laying you upon your belly he does the like on your back treading upon it so that he often makes you kiss the ground after that having shaved your chin and under the arm-pits he gives you a rasor to shave yourself every where else and you go into one of the little chambers that are made in the intervals betwixt the sides and being there you take off your napkin and hang it upon the door that so every one that sees it may know there is some body within which will hinder them from coming in and there you may shave yourself at your leisure If you be afraid that you may hurt yourself with a Razor they give you a bit of Paste The way of using Rusma made of a certain mineral called Rusma beat into a powder and with lime and water made up into a Paste which they apply to the parts where they would have the hair fetcht off and in less than half a quarter of an hour all the hair falls off with the Paste by throwing hot water upon it They know when it is time to throw on water by trying if the hair comes off with the Paste for if it be left too long sticking on the place after it had eaten off the hair it would corrode the flesh Rusma is a mineral like to the rust or dross of Iron What Rusma is it is much in use in Turky and sold in so great quantities that the Custom of it yields the Grand Signior a considerable Revenue In Malta they use instead of Rusma Orpiment which they mingle with lime for the same use Having taken off the hair and put your napkin about you again you return into the great Hall where you sweat as long as you please then comes a Servant with a Purse of black Camlet into which he puts his hand and rubs your body so hard all over that he clears all the filth from your skin yet without hurting you then he takes a lock of Silk with a bit of Soap in it and therewith rubs and soaps you all over after which he throws a great deal of water upon your body and washes your head also if you please with Soap Having done so he goes and brings you a dry napkin which you put about you in the place of the wet one then you return into the Hall where you left your cloaths where sitting down he pours water upon your feet to wash off the filth that you may have got in coming and after that he brings you hot and dry napkins wherewith you rub and dry your skin and when you cloaths are on again and you have seen yourself in a
they believe that that was the night that Mahomet Ascended up to Heaven upon the Alboraoh as he mentions in the Alcoran Thursday the fourth of the Moon of Regeb they have Prayers in their Mosques till Midnight and then return home and Feast This Festival is because of the Ramadan which comes two Months after on all these Festivals and during the whole Ramadan the Minarets of the Mosques are as I said deck'd with Lamps which being contrived in several Figures when they are Lighted make a vary pretty show CHAP. XXXVI Of what renders the Turks Vnclean and of their Ablutions THE third Command of the Turks concerns Prayer Ablutions of the Turks but because they never say their Prayers till first they wash we must say somewhat of their Ablutions The Turks have two kinds of Ablutions the one is called Gousl and is a general Washing of the whole Body The other is termed Abdest and is the Ablution they commonly make before they begin their Prayers Of the Abdest for they never go to Prayers till first they have used the Abdest at least or both the Gousl and Abdest if it be needful Of the Gousl wherefore there are commonly near the Mosques Baths for the Gousl and Fountains for the Abdest There is also an Ablution that they perform after that they have done their Needs which is a kind of Abdest but they only wash their Hands They are obliged to use the Gousl after they have lain with their Wives or after Nocturnal Pollution or when Urine or any other unclean thing hath fallen upon them and therefore when they make Water they squat down like Women least any drop of it should fall upon them or their Cloaths for they think that that which pollutes their Bodies or Cloaths pollutes also their Souls as also by washing the Body they think they wash the Soul. After they have made Water they rub the Yard against a Stone to fetch off any thing that might remain and defile them by falling upon their Cloaths When they do their Needs they make not use of Paper as I have said but having eased themselves they make all clean with their Fingers that they dip into Water and then wash their Hands which they never fail to do after they have done their Needs nay and after they have made Water too wherefore there is always a Pot full of Water in their Houses of Office The Neatness of the Turks and they carry two Handkerchiefs at their girdle to dry their Hands after they have washed This cleanliness is in so great repute with them and they are so fearful least they should defile themselves with their Excrements that they take care that even their Sucking Children in Swadling Cloaths do not defile themselves and for that end they swadle them not as we do A Cradle after the Turkish fashion but put them into Cradles which have a Hole in the middle much about the place where the Child's Buttocks lie and leave always the Breech of it naked upon the Hole to the end that when it does its Business the Excrement may fall into a Pot just under the hole of the Cradle and for making of Water they have little Pipe of Box-wood crooked at one end and shaped like Tobacco-Pipes these Pipes are three Inches long and as big as ones Finger some have the Boul or Hole at the great end round and serve for Boys into which the Yard is put and fastned with some strings the others are of an Oval bore at the great end and serve for the Girls who have them tied to their Bellies and the small end passing betwixt their Thighs conveys the Urine by the hole of the Cradle into the Pot underneath without spoiling of any thing and so they spoil not so much Linnen as Children in Christendom do Now to continue the order of their Ablutions they are obliged to make the Abdest immediately after Prayers as they are to wash their Hands immediately after they have done their Needs or handled any thing that 's unclean and if they be in a place where they cannot find Water they may make use of Sand or Earth in stead of Water not only for the Abdest but the Gousl also and the washing of the Hands and that Ablution will be good The Abdest is performed in this manner First The way of doing the Abdest Turning the Face towards Mecha they wash their Hands three times from the Fingers end to the Wrist Secondly They wash the Mouth three times and make clean their Teeth with a Brush Thirdly They wash the Nose three times and suck Water up out of their Hands into their Nostrils Fourthly With their two Hands they throw Water three times upon the Face Fifthly They wash three times their right Arm from the Wrist to the Elbow and then the left Sixthly They rub the Head with the Thumb and first Finger of the right Hand from the Brow to the Pole. Seventhly With the same Finger and Thumb they wash the Ears within and without Eighthly they wash the Feet three times beginning at the Toes and going no higher than the Instep and with the right Foot first and then the left But if they have washed their Feet in the Morning before they put on their Stockins they pull them not off again but only wet the Hand and then with the aforesaid Finger and Thumb wash over the Paboutches from the Toes to the Instep beginning always with the right and then the left and do so every time that it is necessary from Morning to Night that is to say they pull not off their Stockins all day long But if their Stockins have a hole big enough for three Fingers they ought to pull them off They say that God commanded them to wash the Face but once the Hands and Arms as often to rub the Head as has been mentioned before and to wash the Feet up to the Instep God being unwilling to overcharge Man but that Mahomet added the two other times for fear they might neglect it The difference which they put betwixt that time which God commanded and the two times of Mahomet is that they call the first Fars and those of Mahomet Sunnet Mahomet ordained then that they should wash their Hands three times from the Wrist to the Fingers ends that they should use a Brush to make clean their Teeth that they should wash their Mouth three times that they should throw Water three times upon their Face with their two Hands that they should spend no more time in making clean one part than another but that they should make haste that they should wash their Ears with the same Water wherewith they washed the Head having a firm resolution to wash themselves and saying aloud or to themselves I am resolved to make my self clean That they should begin at the right side and with the Toes in washing of the Feet and the Fingers in washing the Hands and that whilst
Stirrups the two Masters of his Horse on foot the chief at the Left and the other at the Right Then a little behind them two Pages one on the Right Hand carrying the Sword Bow and Quiver of the Grand Signior the other on the Left carrying a Turban next came the Kzlar Agasi and the Capi Agasi and after them two other Pages carrying each a Silver Pot one full of Water and the other of Sorbet and some other Pages behind them on Horse-back followed by Peiks and a great many Bostangis on foot the Janizaries in the mean time being drawn up on both sides the Street When the Grand Signior had said his Prayers in the Mosque he changed his Vest and put on one of a Goose-turd green Colour lined with Samour then he Mounted a stately Horse covered with a Housse all Embroidered with Gold having a Gold Bit adorned and set with many precious Stones and so returned to the Serraglio followed by Horse-men richly Mounted besides many Eunuchs and the same Officers that waited upon him when he went. I have seen him so several times and then he was never accompanied but with the Officers of the Serraglio but his going abroad for the sake of the Ambassadour of the great Mogul was performed with all the State that can be shewn on such occasions In the first place The order of the Grand Signior's extraordinary Cavalcade upon occasion of the Ambassadour of the Mogul all the Way was covered with Sand from the Serraglio to the Mosque of Sultan Mahomet whether his Highness was to go as is usually done when he goes abroad in State every one taking care to lay Sand before their Doors making by that means in the middle of the Street a way of Sand three or four Foot broad and pretty thick on which the Grand Signior marches with all his Court The Janizaries made a Lane being drawn up on each side of the Way all along where the Cavalcade was to pass It began by the great Sous Basha having by his side the Commissary General and many Janizaries after him Next came the Keeper of the Grand Signior's Hounds and the Keepers of the Cranes very well Mounted these being followed by Janizaries with their Chorbadgis well Mounted having on their Heads their Caps of Silver guilt with Plumaches of Feathers in the Rear of them was the Janizary Agasi very well Mounted having Two and thirty Chorbadgis on foot before him After the Janizaries came the Spahis with their six Captain-Colonels in the Rear then the Chiaoux of the Guard above fifty in number all well Mounted having their Swords by their sides and holding their Maces of Arms in their Right Hands then the Mute-Feracas on Horse-back also and in good Order After these came the Officers who carry the Grand Signior's Dishes when he is to Eat abroad out of the Serraglio they were on Horse-back as well as the Eunuchs and Mutes who followed them Next came the Visiers and the Caymacam Caymacam Peiks or the Deputy of the Grand Visier there being no Grand Visier at that time then the Peiks or Footmen to the Grand Signior wearing their Caps of Ceremony which are much of the shape of the Jews Caps but of Silver guilt they were on foot and in the Rear the chief of them well Mounted who was followed by him that carries the Grand Signior's Port-mantle in which are changes of Apparel and he was likewise on Horse-back After all these came eleven Horses in rich Trappings with a great many pretious Stones on all sides and Stirrups some of Silver others of Silver guilt with a gross Mace of Silver at the Saddle-bow on the right side and on the other side a pretty broad Knife but no longer than half an Arms length all set with pretious Stones These Horses were led by so many Spahis well Mounted After these Horses came the Solaques on foot above Five hundred in number having the Doliman buckled up under the Girdle with hanging Sleeves behind and upon their Head a Cap with Feathers like the Chorbadgis carrying their Bows in hand and Quivers full of Arrows at their Back In the middle of these was the Grand Signior Mounted on a lovely Courser covered almost with pretious Stones he wore a Vest of Crimson-Velvet and in his Cap two black herons Tops adorned with large Stones above two Fingers high the one stood upright and the other pointed downwards By his right Stirrup was the chief Master of the Horse and the other on the Left both on foot He saluted all the People having his Right Hand constantly on his Breast bowing first to one side and then to the other and the People with a low and respectful Voice wished him all Happiness and Prosperity After the Grand Signior the Salihhtar Aga came on Horse-back carrying the Sword Bow and Quiver of the Grand Signior and on his Left Hand the Master of the Wardrobe carrying the Grand Signior's Turban then the Kzlar Agasi the Capi Agasi and two other Pages on Horse-back also carrying Silver-Pots full of Water to give the Grand Signior the Abdest and to Drink if he were a dry Last of all came a great many that belonged to the Serraglio all well Mounted When Prayers were over the Grand Signior came back in the same Order having only changed his Vest and put on one of a fire Red Satin Whilst he passed by a wretched Russian Slave cried that he would be a Turk and immediately the Grand Signior ordered a Capidgi to carry him to the Serraglio Many such Rogues intending to be Turks wait the opportunity of the Grand Signior's passing that they may make profession of the Mahometan Faith in his presence and have therefore some Pay ordered them by his Majesty CHAP. LVIII Of the City of Bursa I Parted from Constantinople Wednesday the Thirtieth of August Departure from Constantinople Montagna in the Year 1656. in a Caique which I had hired to carry me to Montagna I went on Board early in the Morning at Tophana and yet could not reach Montagna that day because of bad Weather and in the Evening it behoved us to stand in to the Shoar I spent the Night in the Caique having ordered the Men to come to an Anchor within fifty paces of the Land for fear of being Robb'd Thursday early in the Morning we continued our Voyage and about Three of the Clock came to Montagna I made no stay there and indeed it did not seem to deserve it Bursa but took Horses to go to Bursa about eighteen Miles from Montagna I arrived at Bursa the same day about Four or Five a Clock in the Evening and lodged in a Han where I had taken a Chamber Bursa called by the Antients Prusea the Metropolitan City and Seat of the Ancient Kings of Bithynia was the first Capital of the Turkish Empire having been taken by Orcan The Hegyra 726. the Son of Osman the first Sultan during the Reign of
his Father in the Year of the Hegyra 726. which was the Year of our Lord 1325. it was afterwards taken from the Turks by Tamerlan having totally Routed their Emperour Bajazet whom he made Prisoner This Town stands towards Mount Olympus Mount Olympus which is but about Ten Miles distant It has a pleasant Scituation and so great plenty of fresh Water that the Inhabitants bring it into all the Houses and Hans where it is conveyed in Pipes bigger then ones Leg Plenty of fair Water at Bursa into the Houses of Office and so washes away all the filth and supplies them with clean Water without any necessity of carrying Pots of Water into these places for the Ablution for there they have Fountains on purpose Besides these there are other Waters that run through the Town which are so hot Hot waters at Bursa that they easily boyl Eggs. They have made several fair Bagnios in the place where this Water runs which serves for the Cure of many Distempers so that People come to Bath there above an Hundred Miles off I went thither out of Curiosity and entred into a very lovely Bagnio all adorned with Marble and in stead of the innermost Room where they Sweat there was a very large Bason above Nine Foot deep full of hot and cold Waters mingled together all that please may Bath therein and some take their pleasure in Swiming there There are Steps to go down into it on all sides where one may be as deep as he pleases They bring into it two thirds of cold Water and nevertheless it is still so hot that I was scalded when first I went into it though the hot Water run through the Fields in an open Rivulet There are many fair Buildings in this Town and they reckon above Two hundred lovely Mosques in it and among others they shew'd me the Mosque of the Dervishes and in a little Chappel at the back of it I saw a Tomb which they assured me was the Tomb of the Mufti whom the Grand Signior had caused lately to be Strangled in that Town There are a great many Hans in it also all very Magnificent and constantly Inhabited because this Town is a common passage for Caravans from several places But one must not forget to see the Sepulchres of the first Turkish Emperours and of their Sultanas in so many little Chappels built Dome wise among which is the Monument of a French Sultana as they say but seeing they call all the Europeans Franks A French Sultana they many times confound the French with the rest of Franks They believe she was a most beautiful French Princess that having been taken at Sea was presented to the Grand Signior who was so much in love with her that he allowed her the Exercise of her Religion and yet lay with her though she was a Christian for she never forsook her Faith but lived and died in the same Religion she had been bred up in After her death the Christians of the Country beg'd her Body that they might Bury her after their Way and even offered Money to have that liberty but it was refused them and she was Buried like the other Sultanas Her Tomb is in a little Chappel arched and enclosed with Walls and one may see into it through Windows with Grates I could earnestly have wished the Door had been open that I might have gone in and read a Paper I saw fastned to the end of her Tomb which without doubt was her Epitaph for I observed in the Tombs of the other Sultana's that their Epitaph was cut in the Stone which was not so on this but I had not that satisfaction The length of Bursa The Castle of Bursa This Town is above half a French League in length and not Walled in all places Upon a little Hill in the middle of it there is a Castle which is almost as big as the rest of the Town it is Walled round and no Christian permitted to live in it This Castle is very strong and hath a Bastion that commands the Town which seems to be Impregnable yet the Water that runs into it may be cut off as it passes through the Town The Christians heretofore lost it so for the Turks having Besieged it then held out by the Christians and perceiving that there was no way to take it by Force bethought themselves of cutting off the Water for want of which the Christians forced by Thirst surrendred the place In this Castle are many Ruines of a stately Building which was formerly the Serraglio of the first Sultans of the Ottoman Family but it is all Demolished The People of the Country tell a Story in relation to this Castle which I have thought sit to Relate here They say A Maid built the Castle of Bursa That heretofore there was a Daughter of an Emperour Leaprous all over and by Consequence very Ugly but to make a mends for that very Vertuous who reposing great Confidence in God and finding her Father much dissatisfied that he could not Marry her all Men refusing it because of her Leprosie The hot Waters of Bursa cure Leprosie To ease her Father of that Trouble she begged his leave that she might go wander over the World like a poor Wtetch hoping that God would help her which she having with much ado obtained of her Father who tenderly loved her She Travelled so long till at length she came to the place where the Rivulet of hot Water runs whereof we spake before and there having Prayed as she never failed to do several times a day She saw a Measly Hog come and Wash in the Water which it having continued to do for some days was Cured of its Leprosie The Maid observing this thought that God Almighty had guided her to that place for a Cure wherefore she went into the Water and for some days having Bathed there she was in the end perfectly Cured being as Sound and Clean as if she had never been Leprous She failed not to give God thanks and resolved to stay in that Country which she found had been so healthful to her She therefore acquainted her Father with her Cure praying him to send her Means and People to Build a Place of Retreat for her Having then obtained of her Father all that she desired she Built this Castle which at present is the Castle of Bursa And because the Saracens much incommoded her by their Inrodes she demanded Assistance from her Father who sent her Aid under the Conduct of Roland or Orland a very strong and Valiant Man Roland or Orland who made great Slaughter of the Saracens Close by the Town there is a Hill on the top whereof a Turkish Hermite lives in a Chappel that Chappel is enclosed with good Walls and Iron-Grates but for a small present of Aspres the Hermite let me in and shewed me the Sword of the aforesaid Roland Roland's Sword. which is above seven Inches
great sounded the Sea at that place and could find no Ground There is nevertheless a little Island called Firesia at the point whereof one may come to an Anchor Firesia and no where else CHAP. LXIX Of the Isles of Policandre Milo Sifanto Thermia Ajora and Scyra Policandre THE Isle of Policandre is eight miles in compass and a pretty pleasant place Three miles from the Sea-side there is a Village of about an hundred Houses inhabited by three hundred Souls one must cross over a Valley and Rocks in going to it and there are no other Houses in the Island In it there are three well built Churches and two Monasteries one of Men and another of Women The Convent of the Monks is very well situated and is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin it hath a little Garden adjoyning to the Church with a Cistern of excellent water and in that Garden there is a Statue without a Head made after the Apostolick way there are others also in the Walls built in among the rest of the stones The other Monastery is for Women who observe no rule or institution but live as Nature teaches them their Church is dedicated to St. John and a Monk says Mass in it on all Sundays and Holy-days The Inhabitants of this Isle pay their Tribute with the Money they raise from Barley Cotton Stuffs and Cheese which they make The Castle stands upon a very high Hill but all the Houses of it are ruinous except a Chapel of St. Michael the Arch-Angel from thence one may see all the Isles of the Archipelago The Inhabitants of this place are honest civil and courteous People especially the Women who are very handsome they live pretty well having very good Bread Fowl Sheep and other things necessary They make no Wine but have it brought them from Santorini which is but thirty miles from it They have no Physicians nor Chyrurgeons nor any sort of Trade The Harbour of this Island is indifferent good but the Mainots and other Corsairs put often in there and lodge a-shore in a Church that stands by the Sea-side Milo. The Isle of Milo is so called from Mylos which in the vulgar Greek signifies a Mill because there are many Windmills in it and because also they bring Mill-stones from thence This Island is thirty six miles about has few Hills in it and is fruitful in all things selling yearly betwixt three and four hundred Tun of Wine and the Inhabitants trade in Candie Venice and other places They have a Mine of Brimstone and much Pumice-stones which are Let out to one of the Inhabitants for fifteen hundred Piastres a year Three miles from the Town there are hot Baths of Sulphur where People come from several places to wash and many recover their health there The Port is six miles long three over and has a good depth of water Two miles from this Port there is a Grotto in form of a large Chamber wherein there is luke-warm water A Bath of hot Water that reaches six miles which gives so much heat that an artificial Bath cannot make one sweat more They say that the water of this Grott has an inrercourse with the Church of St. Constantine that is six miles North of it and to make a proof of this one day they put a Silver Cup into this Bath which they found again in the Fountain of the said Church of St. Constantine In this Isle there is a Town where two thousand five hundred Souls live and an old Castle inhabited by five hundred more The Town stands in a Plain with a Castle in the middle of it but not inhabited They have a Latin Bishop and a Greek Bishop the Latin Cathedral is without the Town dedicated to St. Peter but without any Ornaments and the Latin Bishop celebrates in a Chapel that joyns to one of the Greek Churches this Bishop has a great many Tithes which he divides with the Greek Bishop taking two thirds to himself and giving the Greek the other third The Greek Bishop hath several well built Churches in good repair and many Priests to officiate in them Most of the Inhabitants of this Island are Greeks who live much at their ease are civil but very wicked and perfidious Their Women go in a very ugly dress speak very ill and cannot pronounce the letter L They are very charitable and kind to Strangers The People live here commodiously enough having all things necessary for life but they have no Physicians Chyrurgeons nor any of that Profession There are no Turks in this Island and it is governed by four Deputies of the Town Half a mile from Milo is the Isle called Chimolo or Argentara which hath a good Harbour Chimolo or Argentara and a Village containing about two hundred Souls which was burnt by the Corsairs in the Year 1638. These poor People live in great misery The Isle of Sifanto or Sifano anciently Sifanus is thirty six miles in circuit Sifanto Sifanus and has a Castle upon a Hill with double Walls inhabited by three thousand Souls and there are no other Houses in all the Island unless it be some Countrey-houses of private Men There is no water in this Castle what they have is brought out of the Plain underneath it The Harbour is not good for Barks and therefore they have Ware-houses near the shore where they put their Commodities and then draw the Barks on Land. There is another good Harbour but it is five miles from thence This Isle belonged formerly to the Family of Gozadini as may be seen by an Inscription made in the Year 1450. Family of the Gozadini upon a Marble-Pillar at the entry into the Port. There is upon it a Latin Bishop and a Greek Vicar but the Chapel of the Latin Bishop is little and very poor There is a Monastery of Greeks also built upon a Hill. There is no place of Recreation in this Island nor any other Antiquity but a great Chest of white Marble with Oxes Heads Festons and Fruits upon it This Isle produces not Provisions for above two months in the year and for the rest of the year the Inhabitants provide themselves elsewhere having little Barks for that end which they build upon the place They say that they have a Mine of Lead and a Gold Mine They are very rogues but their Women are very honest and go with their faces covered There are no Trades there but Weavers Shoemakers Joyners and the like The Isle of Thermia is thirty six miles in circuit and so called from Therma Thermia which in the Greek signifies Hot because of the Springs of hot water that are in a Plain there near the Sea from which the sick and indisposed receive much relief The Town contains about three hundred Houses inhabited by about two thousand Souls there are fifteen Greek Churches in it and a Greek Bishop who resides six months of the year at Zia and the other six at Thermia
when we rested in a place where there were a great many fair Trees Near to that is a place where the Rain-water that falls from the Mountains is kept and that water is very good Here it was that the People of Israel came out of the Red-Sea having passed it over dry to the ruine and confusion of Pharaoh and all his men who pursued them as may be seen in the Book of Exodus where this place is called Shur Chap. 15. Exod. Chap. 15. Corondel Haman of Pharaon It is at present called Corondel Not far from thence there are hot waters in a Grott which the Arabs call Haman el Pharaon that is to say Pharaon's Bath They tell a thousand stories of it amongst others that if you put four Eggs into it you can take out but three and so many as one puts in there is always one fewer taken out again and that the Devil keeps for himself we did not see that place for our Arabs would not take us to it because it was a little out of the way They say also that over against Corondel the Sea is always Tempestuous about the place where Pharaoh and the Aegyptians were Drowned We parted from thence at one of the clock and continued travelling till seven then we rested in a place where there are Trees also Next day being Monday the twenty eighth of January we set out at four a Clock in the Morning and having passed over several Hills we came into good way again near to the Sea but there is one place to be passed over just by the side of it being white and smooth Rocks where the Camels had much ado to keep from sliding chiefly because they are wet with the Sea-water but that lasts not long we rested at Noon and half an hour after set forwards again and towards the evening entred among Hills where we travelled till six a Clock that we rested in the hollow of a Rock where we spent the Night at that Stage and we could find no wood not to boyl so much as our Coffee Tuesday the twenty ninth of January we parted at five a clock in the Morning and entred into a plain where we travelled till Noon and then having rested a little after one a Clock we marched on over the same Plain until six a Clock at Night and then rested Next day Wednesday the thirtieth of January we parted at four a clock in the Morning and four hours after arrived at Tor about an hour before we came to Tor we found a great many Palm-trees and a well of very bad Water CHAP. XXVI Of Tor and of our arrival at Mount Sinai Tor. TOR is no considerable place nevertheless it has a good harbour for Ships and Galleys This Port is guarded by a little square Castle on the Sea-side with a Tower at each corner and two small Guns on the out-side before the Gate an Aga is Governour of this Castle where none but Turks lodge Near to it there is a Convent of Greeks dedicated to St. Catherine and to the Apparition of God to Moses in the Burning-Bush We delivered the Aga the Letter from the Bey of Suez but because we had no present for him he made no great account of us We lodged in the Convent which is very fair and spacious there we were very well received entertained with the Best and ate Fish of the Red-Sea at that time there were thirty Monks in it We searched for Provisions there but could not find any only the Monks commiserating our condition gave us Olives Dates Onions and a Jar of Brandy which we husbanded as well as we could we stayed a day there because the Monks told us that we needed two Septiers more of Flower so that having bought the Corn and got it ground they baked Bread of one half of it to give our Arabs by the way and upon the Mount and all this they did in a very obliging manner While we were there we bought of these poor Greeks several stone-Mushromes which in that place are got out of the Red-Sea as also small Stone-shrubs or branches of Rock which they call white Coral and many great shells all taken out of the Sea and very pleasant for artificial works But they could not furnish me with any thing of a certain Fish A Sea-man which they call a Sea-man however I got the hand of one since This Fish is taken in the Red-Sea about little Isles that are close by Tor. It is a great strong Fish and hath nothing extraordinary but two hands which are indeed like the hands of a man saving that the Fingers are joined together with a skin like the foot of a Goose but the skin of the Fish is like the skin of a wild Goat or Shamois When they spie that Fish they strike him on the back with Harping-Irons as they do Whales and so kill him They use the skin of it for making Bucklers which are Musquet proof Having payed all and made a Present of some Piastres to the Monks for their kind reception we prepared to be gone but were obliged first to pay a due of twenty eight Maidins a head to wit four for Tor and twenty four for the Mount and all to the use of the Arabs We parted from Tor on Thursday the last of January about eleven a clock in the Fore-noon with a Monk whom they sent with us to shew us the chief Places of the Mount and we payed for a Camel to carry him thither and back again He spoke to us Turkish and Arabick for he understood not a word of Lingua Franca we saw on our way the Garden of the Monks of Tor which is not far from it this Garden is the place which in Holy Scripture is called Elim Elim where when the Israelites went that way there were only seventy Palm-Trees and twelve wells of bitter water which Moses made sweet by casting a piece of Wood into them these Wells are still in being being near one another and most of them within the precincts of the Garden the rest are pretty near they are all hot and are returned again to their first bitterness for I tasted of one of them where People Bath themselves Hamam Mousa which by the Arabs is called Hamam Mousa that is to say the Bath of Moses it is in a little dark Cave there is nothing in that Garden but abundance of Palm-Trees which yield some rent to the Monks but the seventy old Palm-Trees are not there now After we had seen these things we filled our Borrachios with the water of a Well near to that place which belongs to the Monks I told them that it stunk a little and they made answer that they had not Scowered it that year as they used every year to do but withall that it was the best water thereabouts Heretofore they had a Church near to that Well which the Turks Demolished and with the stones of it built the aforesaid
small as those of England and many other good Shell-fish besides several extraordinary Fish and among others that which they call the Sea-man mentioned before and the Chagrin Chagrin a fish which is a Fish shaped like a Sea-dog and about seven or eight Foot long at least that which was sent me from Caire is so Upon the side and at the beginning of this Sea famous for the passage of the Israelites stands Suez Suez Arsinoe Ptolomy Philadelphus which some will have to be the Ancient Arsinoe so called from Arsinoe the Sister of Ptolomy Philadelphus who built that Town and called it by the name of his Sister it is a little Town containing about Two hundred Houses It hath a pretty Harbour but so shallow Water that Ships cannot put into it and the Galleys themselves must be half unloaded before they enter into it nevertheless Ships and all ride safe enough in the Road. These Galleys are very little they carry no great Guns but only a Petrera to salute the Ports where they arrive Close by the Harbour there is a Baraque railed in with great wooden Palissadoes where are nine Culverines every one longer than another of which the biggest is of a prodigious length and I take it to be much longer and of a far wider bore than the two which are at Malta upon the Baraque and in the Castle St. Erme they are of the Turkish make and nothing of Workmanship about them There are also thirteen pieces of very great Cannon there and upon one of them a Flower-de-Luce however it is easily discernable that it hath been made in Turkie perhaps by some Renegado French man for it is altogether Turkish without any Workmanship as all the rest are These Guns are not mounted and were sent thither from Constantinople by Sultan Amurat on a design he had of attempting an Expedition into the Indies with a Fleet fitted out on that Sea. Close by the Gate of Suez there is an Eminence where heretofore stood a Castle built by the Franks and upon the same Eminence there is still a great Gun. The Slaves told us that the People of the Country believe there is some Treasure near that place guarded by Hobgoblins for my part that Night we arrived from Mount Sinai I lay at the foot of that Eminence and the Sprights did not at all disturb my rest There is in this Town still a Greek Church but in bad order There are some pretty well built Houses in Suez and an indifferent good Market-place To conclude this Town is very Populous when any Ship arrives or when the Galleys are in the Harbour but at other times it is very Desolate and indeed there is not so much as any good Fresh Water within two Leagues round it CHAP. XXXIV My Return from Suez to Caire Return from Suez to Caire AFter I had seen Suez at leisure enough I prepared to be gone with a Caravan of Two hundred Camels which the Emir-Adge had provided to carry from Suez to Caire the Coffee that was brought in the Galleys and twelve Ships which were in the Road there was in all Thirty thousand Load each Load weighing three or four hundred weight and every Camel carried two of these Loads I hired a Camel for my self there being no Mules to be got and we parted from Suez Thursday the fourteenth of February about eight a Clock in the Morning the Caravan was attended by a guard of Arabs from sundry places We left several thousands of Camels in Suez and met abroad several great Troops belonging to Arabs and others who came to let their Camels for Transporting of the Coffee I soon found the difference betwixt the Camels of the Arabs and those of the Town for being accustomed to Ride upon the Camels of the Arabs I could not make use of this which I had hired to carry me to Caire one half days Journey so that I hired a little Ass from a man of the Caravan and rode upon it to Caire The truth is the Camels of the Arabs go a great deal more easily than the others do At Noon we past by a Castle called Adgeroud which we saw not as we came because we past it in the Night-time only three persons live there who drink salt-Salt-water We rested at Two a Clock and put on again at Six travelling till three a clock in the morning of Friday the fifteenth of February when we rested we parted again at noon and travelling till three a clock after we rested then we set forwards again at seven a clock at night and kept travelling till next day Saturday the sixteenth of February that about eight a Clock we arrived at Caire This Caravan from Caire to Suez and from Suez to Caire travels commonly very fast because it cannot spend much time by the way for otherwise they would fall short of provisions having none but what they carry with them both for Men and Camels and therefore they never stay above two or three days at Suez and if they stayed longer they would starve that Town where there is nothing but what is brought in from the Countrey about when the Galleys or some Ships arrive and indeed these Camel drivers are always so weary and spent that they can hardly stir they have not so much as time to sleep and now and then they run before the Caravan and tumbling down uPon the ground fall presently a sleep taking there a short nap till the Caravan be past when some take care to awaken them In this Journey from Suez to Caire for a days time and more we had so hot a Wind that we were forced to turn our backs to it A dangerous hot Wind. to take a little breath and so soon as we opened our mouths they were full of Sand our Water was so extreamly heated with it that it seemed to be just taken off of the Fire and many poor People of the Caravan came and begged of us a cup of water for Gods sake for our parts we could not drink it it was so hot The Camels were so infested with this Wind that they could not so much as feed but it lasted not above six hours in its force and if it had continued longer one half of the Caravan would have perished It was such a kind of wind that the year before so infested the Caravan of Mecha that two thousand men died of it in one night A great Mortality by that Wind. In this Journey I observed that when the feet of the Camels were cut and galled the Camel drivers took the Bones of dead Camels of which all the way from Caire to Suez is so full that following only the tract where these Bones ly one may go the streight way to Suez they took these Bones I say and with the marrow they fonnd in them anointed the sore place of the Camel. Such as would travel to Mount Sinai ought to make provision at Caire of all that
Breast or at his Head or Shoulders they lift him up and plant this Stake very streight in the Ground upon which they leave him so exposed for a day One day I saw a Man upon the Pale who was Sentenced to continue so for three Hours alive and that he might not die too soon the Stake was not thrust up far enough to come out at any part of his Body and they also put a stay or rest upon the Pale to hinder the weight of his body from making him sink down upon it or the point of it from piercing him through which would have presently killed him In this manner he was left for some Hours during which time he spoke and turning from one side to another prayed those that passed by to kill him making a thousand wry Mouths and Faces because of the pain he suffered when he stirred himself but after Dinner the Basha sent one to dispatch him which was easily done by making the point of the Stake come out at his Breast and then he was left till next Morning when he was taken down because he stunk horridly Some have lived upon the Pale until the third day and have in the mean while smoaked Tobacco when it was given them This poor wretch carried the Scales and Weights of those who go about to visit the Weights to see if they be just and he had so combined with such as had false Weights that he brought false ones also with him so that the Searchers not perceiving the change of their own Weights thought the other to be just When Arabs or such other Robbers are carried to be Empaled they put them on a Camel their Hands tied behind their Backs and with a Knife make great gashes in their naked Arms thrusting into them Candles of Pitch and Rosin which they light to make the stuff run into their Flesh and yet some of these Rogues go chearfully to Death glorying as it were that they could deserve it and saying That if they had not been brave Men they would not have been so put to death This is a very common and ordinary Punishment in Aegypt but in Turkie it is but very rarely put into practice The Natives of the Country are punished in this manner but the Turks are strangled in Prison CHAP. LXXX Of the Inconveniencies and Ordinary Distempers at Caire Ordinary Inconveniencies that happen at Caire Heat in Egypt Drink in Egypt THE first Inconvenience to be felt at Caire is the excessive Heat which is so intolerable that one can scarcely do any thing and what is worse there is no sleeping hardly there in Summer For when you go to Bed you 'll find the Sheets full of Sand and so hot that I think they could not be more after long warming with a Warming-pan What you drink there is commonly as hot as your Blood for you must not think of Ice Snow or a Well there all that can be done is to put the Water into certain Pots of a white Earth that Transpires much and leave them abroad in the Night-time having done so the Water is indeed pretty cold in the Morning but in the Day-time they put those Pots in Windows which receive any little breeze and there the Water cools a little or at least loses somewhat of its heat and it is a great happiness in that Country to have a Window that lies well for a breeze and a Bardaque or Pot that is Transpirable Besides these Inconveniencies there is that of little Flies or Musketto's which I reckon the greatest of all No Man can believe but he who hath felt it by Experience how uneasie and troublesome these Insects are in Aegypt there are always swarms of them buzzing about People and continually pricking of them so that they make themselves fat and plump with Man's Blood. There is no other remedy against these Gnats but to have a very fine Cloth all round your Bed which shuts very close and for all that some always get in when you go to lie down A pain in the Stomach is very common in that Country and all New-comers are subject unto it who finding themselves in a hot Countrey leave their Breast and Stomach open and will not take Counsel Nevertheless the Air which is subtile and penetrating chills their Bowels and causes dangerous Fevers and Bloody-Fluxes especially in Autumn when the Nile overflows and therefore one must always keep the Stomach warm and well covered There is another Distemper that reigns there also and that is a swelling of the Scrotum and to some I may speak without Exaggerating their Cods swell bigger than their Head which is occasioned by the Water of the Nile and I my self was troubled a little with it for the space of eight days but then it went away of it self To cure this Distemper they make Incision with a Lancet in the swelled Scrotum and let out the Water that is got into it Sore Eyes are very common there and very dangerous in the Summer-time that is caused by the burning heat of the Sun which reflects from the Ground upon the Eyes and scorches them as also from the Dust which is very subtile and salt and is blown into the Eyes by the Wind which is the reason that there are many blind in that Country Whilst I was in Aegypt a French Merchant lost an Eye so and I have known other French troubled with that Distemper who for a fortnight or three Weeks could not sleep because of the sharp pain they felt which made them cry out and roar both Night and Day In the Summer-time you hardly see any abroad in the Streets but who are afflicted with that evil and carry pieces of blew Stuff before their Eyes and certainly you shall find nine of ten whom you meet with such defensives before their Eyes Every one threatned me with that Distemper and yet thanks be to God I never had the least touch of it perhaps I took care to prevent it because in that bad Season every Morning and Evening I washed my Eyes with fair Water and when I returned from Abroad I did the like to wash out any Sand that might have got into them Pains in the Legs are very bad at Caire and a great many have their Legs swollen to a prodigious bigness There is also another Distemper or rather inconvenience for it is more uneasie than dangerous which happens when the Water of the Nile begins to rise there is a kind of Inflammation or Wild-fire that runs over the whole Body which exceedingly torments People by its pricking and stinging and when you drink to ease and refresh your self whilst you are drinking and after you feel such sharp prickings that you would think there were an hundred Needles stuck into you all at once the Provencials call that Des Arelles and it is an Inconvenience that lasts almost three Months Arelles In March 1658. after some days of high Winds a certain Distemper broke out
consisted not in Hair and that therefore he should suffer it to be cut off Then he sent for his Wife to Tunis she being with Child but he had much ado to preserve his Servants liberty for the Dey and Aga of the Divan would have had them made Slaves nevertheless they retained both their Liberty and Religion Two years after he would have sent his Wife back again into Christendom but they would not suffer him however after many difficulties she went away attended by a Servant of the Princes leaving a Son behind her and came to Genoa where she put her self into a Nunnery and hath since continued Now Don Philippo having been Disinherited by his Father had nothing to Live on but what he had from his Mother who is very fond of him Nor is he put into any Place because they still believe him to be a Christian there being none great nor small in Tunis but knew him by the name of Don Philippo for my part the first time I went to his House when I was at Tunis having asked for the House of Don Philippo every body told me the way to it Now to dispossess them of the belief they have that he is still a Christian at Heart he resolved some years after his return to undertake the Pilgrimage of Mecha and so wheadled a Brother of his own that he engaged him in the Journey who bore Don Philippo's Charges and his Sons whom he took with him So soon as he came to Caire he made acquaintance with the Franks and then hired a House in the quarter of the French where he came two or three times a week to drink Wine and make merry with the Franks and the time being come that the Caravan parts for Mecha he travelled thither in company of the Megrebins and upon his return the occasion of this English Ship presenting he resolved to return by Sea to Tunis This Prince is a tall and handsome well shaped Man and was not then above thirty years of Age he has a great deal of wit and speaks Italian and Spanish naturally well He is a lover of Musick and therefore has several Slaves who played some on the Harp others on the Flute and Lute His Son was then a little Boy about seven years old handsome and witty like his Father This same Don Philippo for all he is so poor makes his Brothers so stand in fear of him that there is none of them dares to look him in the Face CHAP. LXXXIV Our Voyage from Caire to Alexandria What the Hhouames are FRiday the third of January 1659. I parted from Caire and embarking at the Gissiere which is a pleasant place upon the side of the Nile where many go to divert themselves and where our Boat stayed for us with a fair wind we sailed as far as Tono which is half way from Caire to Rossetto Some hours after we parted from Caire we met the Boat of Don Philippo which we Saluted with some Volleys of our Fowling-pieces We arrived at Tono Saturday the fourth of January after Midnight Tono but there the Wind turned contrary which put us to a great deal of trouble and a main Rope of our Tackle breaking we had almost been cast away Boat and all but having quickly recovered it out of the Water and re-fitted it with all haste we continued our course making still a little way though the wind was full against us at length perceiving that the Wind was like to continue so we put a-shoar at Derout Tuesday morning the seventh of January and went by Land to Rossetto six hours Journey distant from Derout Derout we arrived the same day Tuesday the seventh of January at Rossetto Upon the way from Caire to Rossetto there are some pretty Towns which I had not observed as I went from Rossetto to Caire as Foa Sewdion Derout Foa Sewdion and some others We stayed for our Boat wherein our luggage was at Rossetto where it arrived on Wednesday morning the eighth of January and Thursday the ninth we parted from Rossetto about two a Clock in the Morning Betwixt Rossetto and the Sea-side there are eleven Pillars fixed in the Ground and a Palm-Tree at some hundreds of Paces distant one from another they are put there to mark the way because it is a Desart and besides the ways most commonly are covered with Rain-water and if a Man should miss his way in that Desart it would take him above a day to find it again We followed then these marks by Moon-light and being got to the Sea-side came to Casa Rossa Casa Rossa Media which is half way betwixt Rossetto and Media where we arrived about three hours after day Media is above half way from Rossetto to Alexandria Having rested there about an hour we crossed over in the Ferry-boat paying a Maidin for our House-room and passage and after we had travelled a good way about two a clock in the Afternoon we came to Alexandria twelve hours Journey distant from Rossetto betwixt which two Towns there is no other Inn but Media where you have nothing but Water and House-room so that what you eat and drink you must carry with you From Caire to Alexandria it is about an hundred and fifty miles by Land which is commonly travelled in three days because they travel day and night resting a little in the Morning and Afternoon I saw nothing in Alexandria but what I had seen the time before when I was there only they shewed me a Hhouame Hhouames and told me that these Hhouames are a sort of Vagabond People among the Arabs who lodge as they do under Tents but have a certain particular Law to themselves for every night they perform their Prayers and Ceremonies under a Tent without any Light and then lye with the first they meet whether it be Father Mother Sister or Brother and this is far worse than the Religion of the Adamites These People though sculk and keep private in the City for if they be known to be Hhouames they are Burned Alive CHAP. LXXXV Our arrival at Bouquer a Ship cast away in the Port of Alexandria A description of Bouquer I Stayed at Alexandria till the Ship was ready whereof the Purser having given us notice we sent away our Goods and Provisions which we had prepared before hand for one must not delay those preparations till the Ship be just ready to sail When a man is alone it is no bad way to agree with the Captain for Diet especially with the English who treat well but besides that one must still have some small provision for himself in private For our parts being five in company to wit three Marseillese my self and my man we provided all things for ourselves We took Boat then on Thursday the thirtieth of January to go on board the Ship which was at Bouquer but not before we and our Goods had been searched at the Custome-house where we were encompassed
We ran at a great rate in this manner for the space of three hours then the Wind turned West which brought us a Flurry with a great scud of Rain for half a quarter of an hour but the main Wind was easie enough and with it we bore away North-west in the evening the Wind freshened a little and we steered the same Course till about ten or eleven a Clock at Night that we tackt and stood away South-west About midnight we had a sudden gust of Wind with Hail and Rain which was so violent that it laid the Ship on her side and if she had been a small Vessel would certainly have overset her it tore the Main-sail in pieces and blew so very hard that the Sea-men could not furl their Sails but at length all Hands coming aloft they made a shift to furl them till the storm was over They saw the Flurry a coming and then they should have minded their Sails so that we needed not to have feared any damage but through Laziness they let them alone saying that perhaps it might pass over them In fine we spent the Carnaval in this manner dancing more than enough in spight of our Teeth and without Musick When the storm was over we spread all our Sails and tackt about again Northwards with the same West-north-west Wind until Friday the one and twentieth of February that the Wind turning South-west we bore away West-north-west till after Dinner that the Wind got into the North-north-west and we stood away West This lasted till Saturday the two and twentieth of February when we were becalmed and in the Evening the Wind turned North-west and by west but an easie Gale and we steered South-west till Sunday the three and twentieth of February that the Wind turned Northerly but so gently that it look'd like a Calm and we steered our course West-north-westward we were afterwards becalmed until Evening when we had an easie North-east Gale which freshened a little in the Night-time and in stead of steering away West which was our Course we stood away North-north-west to bear in with the Gulf of Venice where we hoped to have found a North-wind that would have carried us streight to Tunis We kept that Course till Tuesday the five and twentieth of February when the Wind blew so hard that we made nine or ten Miles an hour always North-west for fear of being carried to far to the Leeward and losing the Wind This Wind lasted all Wednesday the twenty sixth of February and Thursday morning the twenty seventh we made Malta which we left to the Starboard running betwixt Tripoly and Malta leaving Lampedosa and Linosa to the Larboard Linosa Linosa is about seventy Miles distant from Malta We saw them not because we passed them in the Night-time Our Lady of Lampedosa is well known and Reverenced both by Turks and Christians and though I had not the satisfaction to go ashoar there yet I will say two or three words of it CHAP. LXXXVIII Of Lampedosa and Pantalaria Of several Corsairs we met with and our Arrival before Goletta LAmpedosa is a little Isle or Rock of small Circumference Lampedosa about an hundred Miles distant from Malta It is an Island that produces nothing and is only inhabited by Coneys but because there is good Water upon it and a good Harbour Ships put in there for Fresh-water In that Isle there is a little Chappel wherein there is an Image of the Blessed Virgin which is much Reverenced both by Christians and Infidels that put ashoar there and every Vessel always leaves some present upon it Some Money others Bisket Oyl Wine Gun-powder Bullets Swords Musquets and in short all things that can be useful even to little cases and when any one stands in need of any of these things he takes it and leaves Money or somewhat else in place thereof The Turks observe this practice as well as the Christians and leave Presents there As for the Money no body meddles with that and the Galleys of Malta go thither once a year and take the Money they find upon the Altar which they carry to our Lady of Trapano in Sicily I was told that six Christian Ships having some time since put into that Port and that when they had watered the Wind offering fair they all sailed out of the Port except one which having set sail with the rest could not get out at which the Master was strangely surprised However taking patience he waited for another more favourable Wind which offering he attempted to get out again but as yet he could not which seemed very strange to him and therefore he resolved to make a search in his Ship whereby he found that one of his Soldiers had stollen something in that place which being carried back again he made sail and got easily out of the Harbour Many Miracles are wrought in that place at the intercession of our Blessed Lady which are not so much as doubted of neither by Christians nor Turks We past that Island then with the same Wind which lasted till Friday the eight and twentieth of February when we were becalmed about three a Clock in the morning the Wind leaving us pretty near Pantalaria Pantalaria is a little Island about twelve or fourteen Miles in Circuit it is distant from Malta about an hundred and thirty Miles and is fruitful in Wine Fruits and Cotten It belongs to the King of Spain who keeps a Spanish Governour in it that lives in the Castle which as the Turks told me is so strong that two hundred Galleys could not take it About two a Clock in the Afternoon we had a Gale at North-north-east and we stood away West About three in the Afternoon we made two Ships to the Windward which bore down upon us with full sail they were got already so near us that we wondred we had not made them sooner We made ready to receive them the best way we could in the short times warning we had Immediately we launched our two Boats then cleared the Gun-Deck of Chests Hamocks and of all incumberances that our Guns might have freedom to play so that in a trice the Deck look'd like a great Hall all the Goods and Baggage were laid aloft on the Poop and upon the upper Deck but betwixt the Masts that they might not hinder the execution of our Guns Scopa Coperta The Main-yard was chained to the Main-mast all the great Guns loaded every one took his Musquet and Bandileers and all with so much expedition that by that time they were got within Cannon shot of us we were ready The headmost Ship put out Red Colours and then all took them for Spaniards because we were so near Sicily For though we perceived the Turkish Colours yet we knew that Corsairs have all sorts of Colours on board and put out many times false ones that they may the more easily surprise We put out English Colours which they saluted with a Gun without shot and
seventh of April which was Monday in the Holy Week about four a Clock in the morning we made two Ships and a Bark or Sloop that bore up towards us there being so little Wind that it was almost a Calm About eight a Clock having perceived the Spanish Colours abroad upon the Ships and Bark we put out the English Colours and furled all our Sails but the Maintop-sail This put them to a stand when they saw with what Resolution we waited for them So that being within Cannon shot of us they all three came to Counsel together and we prepared to make a vigorous Defence for it was too late for us now to flatter our selves with the hopes that they might be Friends the storm had hovered so long that it must needs break at last I could not then but reflect upon my Luck that I should be Shipwrack'd in the Harbour for having been now almost seven Years absent out of France my Native Country when I thought my self as it were sound and safe at Home again I saw my self upon the point of losing at least my Liberty I made no doubt but that we should be worsted in the Engagement where the Match was so unequal However we were all in good heart and I look'd upon the Isles of Caprara and Gorgona as two Theatres wherein the Inhabitants were to behold at ease and out of all danger the engagement we were about to enter in like Gladiators destined for their Diversion for we were at an equal distance from both these Isles In the mean time we made all things ready that were necessary for our Defence all the Chests Hamocks and other Goods and Clothes that were in the Cabins and upon the Gun-Deck were carried aloft upon the Poop that they might be no hindrance to the Traversing of our Guns and that produced a good effect For the Enemies being busied in plundering them were in the mean time killed and besides it hindered them from breaking in with their Hatchets to the Cabin where we were which they must have done to master us A hole was made in the Floor of the Masters Cabin to go down to the Gun-Room and so all through the Ship where there was occasion and in case the Enemies should have rendered themselves Masters of the great Cabin we would quickly have got down into the Gun-Room and having made fast the Passage blown up the Poop and all that were upon it The Main-yard was Chained to the Mast with a great iron-Chain which no Hatchet could easily cut for if the Enemies could have brought the Main-yard upon the Deck they would have made a great clutter in the Ship and we should have been half overcome All the Guns were Loaded and the six Scopa Coperta Pieces were charged with bunches of Grapes the small shot I mentioned before Water was put in all places of the Ship to put out Fire if it should happen any where All things being thus prepared our Captain gave the necessary Orders then made a short Speech to his Men and gave them all a drachm of the Bottle and then all cried God save the Captain So bidding one another farewel every one went to his several Post some to the great Cabin others to the Gun-Room some to the Gun-Deck and others to the Fore-Castle there being a Man to command in every Post For my part I stayed with the Captain in the great Cabin An Engagement with three Corsairs The Chirurgion went down into the Hold where he prepared his Medicines and stayed to take care of the Wounded Men that should be brought down to him After these Gentlemen had been in Counsel almost two hours their Boats carrying Men often from one to another they came up with us The English Mate who spoke French told me that we should have the Honour to fire the first and last Gun and immediately we let flie three or four great shot at them the first of which would certainly have sunk the biggest Ship if the Bullet had been but half a foot higher but it fell in the Water close by the Ships side which seemed to put Courage into them for they thereupon made loud shouts And the biggest Ship making a great Noise and Bravado with a Trumpet he had having fired some great shot among our Rigging which only grazed upon our Masts about ten a Clock laid us on board and grappled with us on the Starboard side lying along our Quarter from the Stern to the middle of our Waste Immediately we shut our selves into the great Cabin and then the Guns went off Pell Mell on all hands the Patache and Bark came up and fired their Broad-sides endeavouring chiefly to shoot our Masts by the board which would have been a great advantage to them They fired also several Petreras charged with Musquet shot which would have done great Execution if we had been Aloft but our Walls were Musquet-prooff and we could hear showers of Bullets batter against the Ships sides Presently several of their men came on board of us who ran up the Shrouds to endeavour to let fall the Yards and we brought them down with small shot which we fired through holes purposely made When they found themselves so well plied with Musquet shot and that all who were above Decks both in their own Ship and on board of us were fallen for we fired out of the Port-holes and Skuttles upon all that appeared on board of them and cleared the Deck fore and aft of all that came on board of us many of them got up to the top of our Masts thinking that the securest place they could find and no man was more to be seen upon the Deck or any other part of the Ship they who were aloft hiding themselves the best way they could The Bell rung twice or thrice from the Fore-Castle and presently we fell upon our Bellies but they who were upon the Poop hearing the Bell got immediately upon the Shrouds so that there was no hitting of them but some being perceived one time upon the Poop without ringing the Bell they fired a Scopa Coperta from the Fore-Castle which killed three or four of them In the mean time we kept firing with great and small shot and if any of the Enemy attempted to get upon our Poop over the Skuttles of the Cabins we easily prickt them or run them through with our Swords At length about three a Clock in the Afternoon finding that the Enemies fired no more we came out with our Swords and Pistols and saw the Patache and Bark towing off with their Boats and the great Ship grappled with ours but no body appearing upon the Deck We sent some great shot after those that fled and had we fired but as many more perhaps they would have struck Sail and yielded themselves So we had the Honour to fire the first and last Gun. Then we offered Quarter to those who were aloft upon our Masts and as fast as they came
poor Pilgrims of all Religions and when I was there there were a great many Persons who were already come to perform the Pilgrimage of Mecha I went out of that Hospital by the opposite side to that which I entered it and on the left hand I saw the Stables where the Pilgrims Horses are put if they have any Pursuing my way I found to the right hand another Cloyster of the same Architecture as the former and which belongs to the same Hospital it is for poor Scholars and hath also its Mosque Being come out of the Morestan and going streight forwards I went along a street where on each side are little Chambers for poor Pilgrims also and over head Rooms for the Women Pilgrims Then I came to a great House which hath a square Court where they make the Bisket for Mecha and there I saw several hundred Sacks full though it was as yet three Weeks to the time of their setting out upon the Journey They made this Provision because it is the custome that at Damascus two hundred Camels are loaded with Biskets and as many with Water at the Grand Seigniors expences to be distributed in Charity amongst the poor Pilgrims on the way Keeping on my way I crossed the Horse-Market where stands a great stone between four and five foot high about three foot broad and half a foot thick wherein some lines in Arabick are cut but so worn out that they cannot be read but with great difficulty the meaning of them is that when this stone shall be covered with water then Damascus will be taken Nevertheless Monsieur de Bermond who conducted me to these places told me that some years before he had seen so great an inundation that he believed the stone was covered with water at least as far as he could perceive from a high place pretty near from whence he discovered all that Market-place and could not see the stone near to which many Franciscan Friers were here tofore put to death for the faith We came in the next place to the bazar of Horse-saddles it is so called because that is the onely Commodity sold there having advanced a little into it we saw on the left hand the great Bagnio which I shall describe then we entered into the City again by the Gate of Paboutches on both sides of that Gate there is a great Flower-de-luce cut in the Stone A Flower-de-luce We passed by the Gate called Bab-Fardis which was to our left on our way to Bab-Salem with out which but close by it is the conjunction of three Rivers this is an extraordinary pleasant place Keeping still along the side of the Wall we entered the City again by the Gate called Bab-Thoma and returned to our Lodging All the Coffee-houses of Damascus are fair and have much water Coffee-houses of Damascus but the fairest of all are in the Suburbs Amongst the rest that which is in the Sinanie and is called the great Coffee-house because of its vast extent is very delightfull by reason of the many Water-works that are in Basons full of Water there That which is near the Serraglio Gate and is called the Bridge Coffee-house because it is near a Bridge upon the River is so much the more delicious that the River borders it on one side and that there are Trees all along before it under the shade of which they who are upon the Mastabez of the Coffee-house have a pleasant fresh Air and the view of the River running below them The Coffee-house of the two Rivers which is near the Gate of the Paboutches and where the length of the Castle ends is also fair and large two Rivers pass by it which at the end of a great covered Hall makes a little Island full of Rose-bushes and other Plants whereof the verdure and various Colours with the smell of the Flowers delight at the same time several senses and give a great deal of agreeableness to a scituation otherwise so advantageous For you must know that these Rivers which I call little are at least four fathom broad and commonly five or six All know what a Coffee-berry is from which these places take their denomination I have spoken of it in my former Travels and shall onely add in this place what I learned of the qualities of that drink to wit that being drank very hot it clears the head of vapours moderately hot it binds up the body The Effects of Coffee and cold it is laxative At Damascus there are Capucins and Monks of the holy Land whose houses are near to one another in the quarter of the Maronites and just over against their Church where also they say Mass because each of these orders have their Chappel there There are Jesuits also in that City but they live a pretty way from thence in the quarter of the Greeks and celebrate in their own house I stayed four and twenty days in Damascus but could have been willing not to have stayed so long because of the troubles I was threatned with A false report being spread about the Town by the malice of some and perhaps of a Servant whom I had turned away that I had thirty thousand Chequins with me all ways were used to snap some of these pretended Chequins and for that end as I had information the Capicoules or Janissaries lay several times in wait to Arrest me upon some false pretext nay the same Chorbagi whom I met upon the Rode as I came from Saide having sent for Monsieur Bermond a French Merchant who was his friend told him perhaps to pump him that I had told him I was his Kinsman but that in short he knew I was a great and rich Lord and that I should look to my self because several threatened me and that he would serve me for his sake if I stood in need of it This report daily encreasing and I being very well known by face the onely remedy I had was to leave Damascus but seeing there was no opportunity of a Caravan I could not be delivered by that means so soon as I could have wished and I was forced to resolve to keep within Doors or at least not to stir abroad but as little as I could whilst I stayed for the occasion of some Caravan I could not doubt of the danger I was in especially when I knew that they watched the Reverend Father George a Jesuit who amongst other kindnesses he shewed me took the pains to come and teach me the use of the Astrolabe which obliged us for the future to correspond onely by Letters Notwithstanding all these cautions my Quality and Purse augmented daily in the mouths of the people In the mean time as luck would have it the night before my departure I had an express from Monsieur Bertet one of the chief Merchants of Aleppo upon occasion of my writing to him to give me notice when there was a Caravan ready to part for Bagdad In a trice
Turky they 'l suffer no body to ride on Horse-back with both Legs on one side as Ladies did in France when I left it the reason of that odd order is because the Turks believe that the two Gyants Gog and Magog who were Rebels against God A Posture in riding forbidden rode in that manner they are so prejudiced with that false Zeal that so soon as they see any body in that posture they hurle stones at him till he has altered his way of sitting At Damascus and Aleppo when they would whiten their Walls with Lime they cut hemp into small bits and mingle it with moistened Lime The manner of preparing Lime which they dawb the Wall over with where it would not hold without the hemp because the Walls are onely of Earth Holes in Tombs and Graves I observed at Damascus that the Turks leave a hole of three fingers breadth in diametre on the top of their Tombs where there is a Channel of Earth over the dead body That serves to cool the dead for the Women going thither on Thursday to pray which they never fail to do every Week they pour in water by that hole to refresh them and quench their thirst and at the end of the grave stick in a large branch of Box which they carry with them purposely and leave it there to keep the dead cold They have another no less pleasant custome and that is when a Woman hath lost her husband The Women ask counsel of their dead Husbands she still asks his counsel about her affairs For instance a Woman sometimes two years after her husband's death will go to his grave and tell him that such a person hath wronged her or that such a Man would marry her and thereupon asks his counsel what she should do having done so she returns home expecting the answer which her late husband fails not to come and give her the Night following and always conform to the Widows desire The Womens Mourning It is a pretty ridiculous thing too to see the Mourning which the Women at Damascus appear in at the death of their relations and even the Christian women I had that diversion one Evening about eight a Clock at Night when I was at the Capucins gate I perceived several Maronite women returning from the lodging of one of their relations who died three hours before there was above twenty of them and they made a great deal of noise some singing and others crying knocking their breasts with their hands joined together and two Men carried each a Candle to light them When they were over against the Maronites Church which is before the house of the Capucins they stopt and put themselves in a ring where for a long time they snapt the fingers of the right hand as if they had been Castanets against one anothers Noses keeping time to the songs they sung as if they rejoyced whilst some of them from time to time howled and cried like mad Women At length having performed that Musick a pretty long while they made many bows to the East lifting up the right hand to their head and then stooping it down to the ground having done so they marched foreward with the same Musick as before The way of threshing Corn. At Damascus and almost all Turkey over they thresh not the Corn but after it is cut down they put it up in heaps and round the heap they spread some of it four or five foot broad and two foot thick This being done they have a kind of sled made of four pieces of Timber in square two of which serve for an Axle-tree to two great rowlers whose ends enter into these two pieces of Timber so as that they easily turn in them round each of these rowlers there are three Iron-pinions about half a foot thick and a foot in diametre these pinions are full of teeth like so many saws there is a seat placed upon the two chief pieces of Timber where a man sits and drives the horses that draw this Machine round upon the lay of Corn that is two foot thick and that cutting the straw very small makes the Corn come out of the ear without breaking it for it slides betwixt the teeth of the Iron When the straw is well cut they put in more and then separate the Corn from that hashed Straw by tossing all up together in the Air with a wooden shovel for the Wind blows the Straw a little aside and the Corn alone falls streight down The way of feeding Horses They feed their Horses with that cut Straw In some places that Machine is different as I have seen in Mesopotamia where in stead of these pinions round the rowler they have many pegs of Iron about six Inches long and three broad almost in the shape of wedges but somewhat broader below than above fastened without any order into the rowlers some streight and others cross ways and this Engine is covered with Boards over the Irons whereon he that drives the Horses sits for he has no other seat to sit upon they take the same course in Persia nevertheless in some places they cut not the Straw but onely make Oxen or Horses tread out the Corn with their feet which they separate from the Straw as I have said Of all the Corn which they prepare in this manner Barley is the oneiy grain they feed their Horses with In the Morning they give every Horse an Ocque of that Barley and four at Night which they mingle with cut Straw and that 's all they have the whole day In Persia the Horses have Barley onely at Night but in the Day-time they give them a Sack of Straw Let us now see how they make Butter at Damascus The way of making Butter which is the same way all Turkey over They fasten the two ends of a stick to the two hind feet of a Vessel that 's to say each end of the stick to each foot and the same they do to the fore-feet to the end these sticks may serve for handles Then they put the Cream into the Vessel stopping it close and then taking hold on it by the two sticks they shake it for some time and after put a little water into it Then they shake it again untill the Butter be made which being done they pour off a kind of Butter-milk by them called Yogourt which they drink When they would have this Yogourt more delicious they heat the Milk and put a spoonfull of sower Milk to it which they make sower with runnet and by that mixture all the Milk becoming Yogourt they let it cool and then use it or if they have a mind to keep it they put it with Salt into a bag which they tye very fast that what is within may be pressed and let it drop until no more come out Of that matter there remains no more in the bag but a kind of a Butter or rather white Cheese
Damascus Kfr. and is by others called Malhomar Some of it was sent in my time Malhomar from Aleppo to Venice for the same purpose it was sent for by a Merchant residing in Venice who had formerly lived at Aleppo I remember that I have read upon that Subject in the History of Stones written by Anselmus Boetius de Boot in the Chapter of the Lythanthrax or Pit-coal that the Boors of the Countrey of Liege make an Oyntment of Pit-coal wherewith they anoint the Eyes of the Stocks of their Vines least the insects should gnaw them Mixto oleo hic carbo emolliter eoque unguento Agricolae vites oblinunt ne earum oculi ab insectis erodantur I was told that in Cyprus and many other places of Turkey they use a little drug for the same ends At Aleppo when the Grapes are ripe they bring them to the Town Grapes in Sacks of Goats hair without breaking though sometimes they be brought eight French Leagues from that City These Grapes have a very thick Skin are all white and make a very strong Wine the best time to gather them is in the Month of May. All buy as many as they stand in need of for making of Wine for it is the Custom of the Inhabitants of Aleppo that every one makes his own Wine in his own house after this manner The way of making Wine at Aleppo They put the Grapes into a great square fat of wood where they press them with mens feet and then the Wine runs into a Pale or a shallow Tub through a hole and strainer at the bottom of the fat When it is all run out they put it with the Lees into very large Earthen Jarrs where it works for thirty or forty Days these Jarrs are covered onely with a Board and a Cloath over it without any fear of its taking vent In this manner they leave it as long as they please nay sometimes a whole Year carefully stirring it every day And when they have a mind to drink it they draw it off provided the time at least wherein it was to work be over and they put it with the lees again into the fat where they strain it a second time When it runs no more they put the lees into a bag and press them in the same press with mens Feet till no more come out and what comes out runs into the rest Then they spread the Stalks of the Grapes that have been so prest in the fat and pour upon them all the Wine again and so let it run through a third time This being done it is clear fit for drinking and hath no lees They then barrel it up and in that manner make Wine at Aleppo all the months of the year but as I have already said it is onely White-wine for there are no red nor black Grapes in all those Quarters The Christians in that City make very good Brandy but they who sell it are obliged to put about six Drachms of Alum into a Bucket full of Brandy to make it stronger for otherwise the Turks would not like it They drink very good Water at Aleppo observing a great deal of circumspection in the use of it It is indeed River-water but it is diverted from the River about three Leagues above Aleppo near a place called Ailan from whence it is brought into the City in open Aqueducts which coming near the Town are conveyed under ground to Fountains whence they take the Water These Aqueducts have been made for purifying the Water which is very muddy and also for supplying the City for the River being low in the Summer-time the Gardens drain all the Water almost with their Pousseragues The Francks have Cisterns also which they fill with the Water of these Aqueducts by opening a hole in the Cistern through which the Water comes and then stopping it again aswell as the mouth of the Cistern which they open not but in Summer and these Cisterns are made not onely to keep the Water very cool but also to make it pure and clear They have besides another excellent way of clarifying it that is they put the Water into great Jarrs of unburnt Clay through which it distills and falls into Vessels put underneath to receive it This River of Aleppo comes from Antab two days Journey from thence and loses it self under ground about half a league beyond Aleppo many think that it comes from Euphrates near to which it hides it self under ground and appears again at Antab Though commonly they eat but little Fish at Aleppo nevertheless they have sometimes great plenty but onely when they are brought from Euphrates The little River furnishes several Trouts which are not above a Fingers length and very small but exceeding good They take good Eeles in it which though they be but small are most delicious There are also a great many Crabs in that River which are broad and flat Crabs and pretty good They are at no pains to fish for them when the Mulberries are knit because these Crabs delighting in that Fruit fail not to ramble about and crawl up the Mulberry-trees to feed on the fruit and then it is no hard matter to catch them Cucumbers The Cucumbers are so good in Aleppo that not onely the Countrey-People but the Francks also eat them green skin and all and they do no hurt though they be eaten in great quantity it is the same all over Mesopotamia There is no salt used in this City but what is brought from a place a day and a halfs Journey of Caravan distant towards the North-East it is made of Rain-water which in the Winter falls into a spacious low place that makes a kind of a Pond and that Water having extracted the Salt out of the ground it covers congeals and is formed into Cubes of Salt like to Sea-Salt it is brought to Aleppo on Mules but is nothing near so good as Sea-Salt There is very good Turkey Leather made at Aleppo There also aswell as at Damascus they prepare the Sagri which is that we call Chagrine in France but much more of it is made in Persia They are so jealous of their secret in preparing of Turkey Leather that they suffer no body to enter their houses The Sagri is made of the crupper-piece Skin of an Ass The way of making Chagrin they shave that skin so long till it become smooth white and thin like Partchment but what they do with it afterwards is all mystery I did all I could to learn it but could not onely I was told by a Jew who trades in it and deals much with them that they put some very small grain upon the skin so prepared which being pressed makes at first little dents in it but these dents afterwards filling up again they make that grane which we see in Chagrin but he assured me that he knew not in the least what grain it was they made use of I came to
be twelve Horse-men armed with Muskets who came from Mosul where we arrived the six and twentieth of July three quarters of an hour after five in the Morning A little before we came there one of our Company having alighted and returning back to look for his Sword which he had dropt was stript of all by the Arabs CHAP. XI Of Mosul Mosul WE entered Mosul by Bagdad Capisi that looks to the South and at that Gate I payed a Piastre to the Janissaries I went and lodged with the Capucins who were lately arrived there to settle a mission by orders of the Congregation de propaganda fide and therefore as yet they were but very ill accommodated but a house was a preparing for them which a Syrian Priest had let them at a pretty dear rate There were but two Capucins there to wit the Reverend Father John and brother George who charitably administred Physick to all the People without distinction of Religion This with the knowledge he had of all Diseases dew so many sick People to their house that it was always as full as an Hospital They came to him even ten days Journey off and the most powerfull sent and prayed him to come to them from all parts of Mesopotamia Aasour The City of Mosul anciently called Aasour stands upon the side of the Tigris which runs to the East of it it is encompassed with Walls of rough stone plastered over with little pointed Battlements on the top two fingers breadth thick and four or five broad much like to wooden Pales I think that one may walk round this Town in an hours time there is a Castle in the water which is narrow but reaches out in length from North to South and is almost of an oval figure towards the River it is all built of Free stone and the Walls are about three fathom high on the land-side it is separated from the Town by a ditch five or six fathom broad and very deep being filled with the River-Water and in this place it is about four fathom deep but is not faced with Free-stone above one fathom high from the foundation and the rest is only rough Stone The entry into it is on the side of the Town and the Gate is in the middle of a great square Tower built upon a strong and large Arch under which runs the Water of the ditch and there is a little Draw-Bridge to be past before one comes to the Gate which heretofore was strongly defended by Artillery for before it on the outside there are six large Guns still to be seen but one of them is broken and but one mounted there are about as many field-pieces and onely two of them mounted I was told that this Castle was built by the Christians and that there is a fair Church within it The Tigris seems to be somewhat broader than the River of Seine but is very deep and rapid nevertheless it has a Bridge of Boats over it a little below the Castle and opposite to one of the Gates of the City called Dgesir Capisi that 's to say the Bridge-Gate It consists of about thirty Boats on which they pass to an Isle the other end reaches not the Land unless it be by a Stone-Causey which is as long as the Bridge it self where it ends In Winter that Bridge is removed because the River then overflowing becomes as broad again as it is in Summer A few paces from the River-side there are large Ditches which it fills with water that is drawn out from thence for watering their grounds and that I think by a very silly invention They have great Buckets of Leather that hold more than a Barrel and at the bottom of the Bucket there is a large Pipe of Leather about three foot long such as I have in former times seen at Paris fastened to Casks full of water which served to water the Cours de la Reine This Bucket is fastened to a Rope put over a wheel that turns upon an Axletree whose ends enter into the Penthouses that are on each side of the Well and there is another Cord fastened to the Mouth of the Bucket that holds it upright to keep the water from spilling and this last Cord goes under the wheel these two Cords are fastened together to a great Rope and because it requires several men to draw the Bucket full of Water they fasten this great Rope to an Ox whom they drive foreward about twenty paces in descent that he may draw more easily and fast When the Bucket is up they let the water run out at the Pipe into a little furrow from whence it spreads over their grounds When that is done they bring the Ox back again and so set him a drawing as before I cannot tell why in this Countrey and in Persia they make no use of Pousseragues as in Egypt and the West of Turky Whilst I was at Mosul the Customer who learnt that I was a Franck sent for me and my servant and having presented me with Coffee he demanded of me ten Piastres for the Custome of two load of Goods which he said I had I pretended not to understand neither Turkish nor Arabick it being best to do so when one is known to be a Franck for many reasons I told him then by an Interpreter that I had not two load of Goods and that they were onely Books By chance there was a Syrian Merchant there called Codgia Elias who is very powerfull in Mosul and a friend of the Capucins and he had business with the Customer this Codgia seeing me took two Piastres out of his Purse which he threw to the Customer praying him to let me go for that but this generosity of a man whom I knew not making me distrust him I bid tell him that if he laid out any thing for me I could not repay it this put the Customer into so great a passion that having abused my servant with his tongue he sent him away to prison for my part I stayed there and he still treated me calmly and civilly enough At length Codgia Elias offering to pull out more Money I made him plainly to understand by Signs that I would not repay it wherefore he put up his Money again and departed not well satisfied with me though he brought my Servant back from prison again to whom the Customer gave leave to go to my Lodging for one of my Books that he might see it he came back and Father John with him who ordered matters so that I came off for two Piastres I thought it might not be unprofitable to relate these things Profitable advice which seem to be but trifles and yet may serve for a lesson to the Francks who travel in Turky when they find themselves in the like Circumstances and in places where there is no Consul nor Merchants for where there is any it is best to let them to whom you are recommended act because they know the
which are nothing else but bundles of poles about half a foot thick they are set at about two foot and a half distance one from another and are made as high so that there remains all round without a border or side-way two or three foot broad Afterwards they lay poles cross over from one bench to another and upon them they load the goods and place their passengers every one shifting for themselves aswell as they can upon the things they carry along with them So these boats are about four fathom long and three broad below and above when they are loaded about three fathom long and two broad and they are loading and all about five or six foot high These Borrachios must be wet every half quarter of an hour for fear they should squat for want of Wind which the boat-men do with a leathern pouch tied to the end of a pole There is neither rudder nor sail as I said and the whole crue consists of three Watermen two of which row the boat with Oars which are towards one of the ends on each side one and these Oars are no more but Poles having sins about two foot and a half long fastened to the end of them they are made of several pieces of Cane six or seven Inches long and the third Waterman wets the Borrachios They have neither stem nor stern and goe any way but commonly side ways quite contrary to ours Every evening these Barrachios must be new blow'd which they do with the ends of reeds and when they are cracked they mend them These Kelecks put a shoar always twice a day that the men may do their needs They are necessitated to make use of such boats because in the Summer-time a small boat of Timber cannot go upon that River by reason of the multitude of banks Two of these Kelecks were made and so soon as they were finished I sent to take a place but the answer I had was that they would not receive me because some said I had Wine and others Musk with me the smell whereof would heat them too much However since I would by no means lose that occasion the Reverend Father John spoke to some No Wine in a Keleck who promised that I should have a place on condition that I carried no Wine with me for they fancy that Wine would sink the Keleck And indeed I saw some Christians who had a great deal of credit but not enough to embark Wine I presently sent my Servant with my things he stayed on board to look after them and sent me word that they would not put off before the next day I failed not next morning to go thither but it was in vain for our departure being put off till night and then till next day I was perswaded to return back which I did the more willingly because I perceived it would be very incommodious to spend the Night in that place However having heard the Soldiers of Bagdad who were to go with us threaten to throw over-board the Goods of those that offered to carry Wine I then resolved not to take any with me Next morning I came to the water-side where at first I had a proof of the tyranny and barbarity of these people who putting the passengers Goods on board without weighing them reckoned them double the weight they were for one hundred weight setting down two and doing the like for the provisions for one must carry every thing with him in this Voyage wherein as they say there was neither house nor harbour to be found We went to the Office and payed two Piastres for every head and four for the hundred weight of my Goods Then I came to keep my place where I suffered a great deal of heat for every thing was so hot there that whatever I touched burnt my hands and rivers of sweat ran from me on all sides During that time I saw an experiment of the dexterity the People of the Countrey have to cross the water without a Bridge I perceived forty or fifty she Buffles driven by a Boy stark naked who came to sell the milk of them these Buffles took the water and fell a swimming in a square body the little Boy stood upright upon the last and stepping from one to another drove them on with a stick and that with as much force and assurance as if he had been on dry Land sometimes sitting down upon their Buttocks He went ashoar above five hundred paces below the Town on the other side of the Water After Noon they demanded a Piastre more of each Person and I was obliged to Codgia Elias that I payed a little less But when they came to talk of putting me in the middle of the other Keleck where I should have been stifled for want of Air I demanded back my money and goods telling them that I would stay at Mosul until the heats were over In fine Codgia Elias prevailed so far that they left me my place and they sent other passengers with their goods out of our Keleck into the other which was less loaded From that time they began to shew me good countenance and to assure me that no body should molest me I think that besides the credit of Codgia Elias to whom I am much obliged for that good office and for many more that he did me the Authority of Topgi Bassa whose Kinsman I gave my self out to be in the Caravan stood me in no small stead and I had reason to say I was since in the Letters he gave me at Damascus he had called me his Brother CHAP. XIII Of the Voyage on board the Keleck to Bagdad Departure from Mosul WE parted from Mosul on Friday the eighth of August about three of the Clock in the Afternoon at least our Keleck went to the Isle on the other side where we stayed at least an hour in putting men and goods on board of the other which was less loaded than ours There was left on board of ours no more than ten hundred weight of goods and twenty passengers then they made me change my place as a sign they would oblige me and gave me a better upon the side of the Keleck all beginning to caress me We began then to set forward in good earnest and were gone but a little way when we found an Island which we left to the right hand keeping always to the left along by the shoar of Curdistan The side of Mesopotamia is well sowed but the Curdistan shoar is barren and uncultivated as if the curse of Nineveh were fallen upon it nevertheless in the Evening I saw great flocks of sheep and goats a watering The River of Tigris is more crooked and winding than any that ever I saw It maketh a great many Islands and is full of banks of stone when we passed near to any of these banks all the Turks in Chorus called Mahomet to their assistance There are a great many Birds on both sides
Hill to the left hand on which there is a Mosque with a Building like to a little Castle called Sultan-Abdullah Sultan-Abdullah heretofore it was inhabited by Dervishes and at present serves for a retreat to Arabian Robbers We saw about a score of them on the water-side with their Horses and Lances who sent three of their company towards us These Blades having stript themselves naked came swimming and asked Bread of us they had it and so returned carrying each two Loaves one upon their head and the other in one hand which they held out of the water swimming only with the other hand We had still Woods to our left and by intervals some Hills and shortly after we had Woods also to the right hand In several places on the same side we saw a great many of the Summer-houses of the Arabs but no body in them Half an hour after five in the evening we saw upon a little Hill on the same hand the ruins of a Castle called Toprac-Calasi Toprac-Calasi There were some Houses of Arabs there and the other Keleck having stopt a few minutes near Land they stole an Abe of Cloth which is a kind of a Vest and no body perceived it till they were gone These Arabs sow Millet thereabouts of which they make their Bread eating no other We stopt that day in the morning and at noon to do the needs of Nature as it was our custom and then continued our way having always Hills on the right hand and about Sun-setting we went a-shoar at a place on the left hand where there is abundance of Lions and where one must have a special care of Arabs for some time ago the Arabs robbed a Keleck in that very place having on board almost fourscore people whom they killed and then over-set the Keleck that it might be thought it over-set of it self Hardly were we arrived when three Arabs came swimming over to us from the other side we gave them Bread and so set them going We parted next morning Monday the eleventh of August at break of day and had Hills still on our right hand About eight a clock we passed near one of these Hills on which the people of the Countrey say there is a Castle named Mekhoul-Calaai by the name of a Franck who built it About nine a clock we saw the ends of these Hills Liquorice-water The Liquorice which I found by the way when we went a-shoar was very useful to me for I infused it in the water which I drank and that pleased me better than common water which not only made me sweat excessively for I voided by the pores as much as I drank but also it raised on me several Blisters that pricked me like so many needles as often as I drank or sate down whereas when I drank liquorice-Liquorice-water Sumack I felt none of these inconveniences I had besides Sumack which is almost like Hemp-seed wherewith I made another sort of Drink by putting a little of that grain into water and after pounding it that yielded me a very red Water but very cooling and wholsom and if a little Salt be added to it it makes it much pleasanter They use a great deal of Sumack and when it is beat and put into Broth it is very wholsom and a good remedy against the Bloody-Flux They suffer no man to make a Tent upon these Kelecks to keep out the Sun nay they would not suffer me to hold a bough of a Tree over my head because of the wind which might over-set the Keleck but I found a way to defend my self against the heat of the Sun by lying half at length so that my head was a little higher almost as if I had been sitting In this posture I fastened one end of my Abe behind my head and covered my self with the rest in manner of a Tent by means of three sticks of which one that I held between my Legs upheld it in the middle and was like the main Pile the other two supported it on the two sides In this manner I had a pretty convenient shade and the wind ever almost on one side or other but notwithstanding all my circumspection I suffered great heats especially some days when there was not a breath of wind About noon the Hills began again and these Mountains run along as far as the Indies they call them Dgebel Hemrin Dgebel Hemrin Montes Cordaci Gioubbar Calai Altun Daghi I believe they are the Mountains called Cordaci by Quintus Curtius in his fourth Book and tenth Chapter Towards two of the clock we passed near to a Castle which is in Mesopotamia called Gioubbar Calai and some time after we saw a little Hill to the left hand called Altun Daghi that 's to say the Hill of Gold because the Arabs digging in it here and there find a little Gold. About four a clock we passed that place where they that go down the Tygris as we did begin to have the Mounts Hebrin to the left which till that place they have always had to the right and on the side of Mesopotamia It is the tradition that the River heretofore divided them and that they go by Ispahan and reach as far as the Indies and in that Countrey they affirm that these Hills which are of a white Rock encompass all the World. At Sun-setting we went a-shoar on the side of Mesopotamia over against Kizil-Han Kizil-Han which is a Han not far from it and the fifth Lodging of the Caravans that come from Mosul We did not take our Lodging on the other side as the nights before because of the Lions that are there and are to be seen in Flocks like Sheep We kept good Guard because our station was pretty near to the Houses of some Arabs besides there were some Lions also on that side Amongst the rest there is one that is in great reputation among the people of the Countrey he is called the Lion of Kizil-Han and is said to be as big as an Ass A Lion of great bigness and of extraordinary strength who never fails to take a man of every Caravan and it was very honourable for ours that we paid him not that Tribute They add that he commonly sets upon those who straggle in the rear and that it may not be thought that it 's for want of courage but only out of cunning that he does so they say he is so bold that if he see no more but two or three men he comes confidently up to them and taking one of them in his Claws lays him upon his Back and carries him away Some Caravanists told me a great many Tales upon that subject which I shall give as cheap as I had them They told me very seriously that the Lion never sets upon a man but when he is very hungry and that he feeds upon him backwards beginning always at his Buttocks because he is afraid of the face of a man. That when
very thieving Beasts not only of what is fit for eating but of any thing else they find carrying away even Turbans sometimes they howl almost like Dogs one making the Treble another the Basse and a third the Counter-Tenor and so soon as one cries the rest cry also so that all together they make a noise which may truly be called Dogs Musick Thursday the fourteenth of August we parted from that place at break of day Aaschouk Maaschouk and a little after saw on our right hand a Village called Aaschouk and to the left another called Maaschouk The people of the Countrey say that these places are so called because in each of those two Villages there was in former times a Tower in one of which lived a Man who was in love with a Woman that lived in the Tower of the other Village and was in like manner beloved of her This place is the seventh Lodging of the Caravans that come from Mosul to Bagdad About half an hour after six we saw to the left hand a Village called Imam-Samerva Imam-Samerva Hedgiadge Elhan Digel About eleven a clock we passed by another Village called Hedgiadge which is in Mesopotamia Three hours after we saw another on the same side named Elhan and besides it some Houses all that Land being called Digel Half an hour past six in the evening we put a-shoar on our left hand where I was told of another-guess prowess of a Lion than what I had been told of that of Kizil-Han They said then that not long before a Caravan passing by that place a Lion came who setting upon a young Boy mounted on an Ass that came after the rest carried away both Boy and Ass in view of the whole Caravan After Supper we went upon the water again about nine of the clock at night and for the space of half an hour heard on our right hand many Chakales very near us which called the Lions and after that we saw no more Woods We began then to make the best of our way by night as well as by day because there are no more Banks and the River is very broad but also so still that it can hardly be discerned which way it runs We past by several Villages most of which were on Mesopotamia-side Next day being Friday the fifteenth of August we saw about noon many Boats near the shoar which have Masts like Saicks and serve to carry Corn to Bagdad from the neighbouring Villages We then discovered several Palm-Trees and many of those Wheels they call Dollab which serve to draw water out of Wells as at Mosul Half an hour after six in the evening we stopt at a Village called Yenghige on the left hand there are many Gardens there where they sold us good Figs Pomegranats and very big long Grapes At that place we were not altogether safe from Lions seeing the people of the Countrey told us that they come often into their Gardens and that one morning a Lion came to the very Suburbs of Bagdad that lies on the Desart-side where it seized a man who had risen too early Nevertheless betwixt Yenghige and Bagdad there are several Villages with a great many Gardens Yenghige We parted about nine a clock at night and next day being Saturday the sixteenth of August at two a clock in the afternoon passed by a Village called Imam-Mousa which is on the right hand It is a place of Pilgrimage Imam-Mousa whither people resort from afar and the Women of Bagdad go thither every Friday it being only an hours march by Land. A little after we saw another Village on our left hand called Imam-Aazem Imam-Aazem which is likewise a place of Pilgrimage and about five of the clock in the evening we arrived at Bagdad In that Voyage they speak every where Turkish The Turkish Language towards Bagdad but it is Persian Turkish which differs somewhat from that of Greece and the nearer Bagdad the more the Turkish Language differs from that of Constantinople CHAP. XIV Of Bagdad and of the Road from Bagdad to Mendeli the last Place the Turks have on the Confines of Persia BAGDAD is a long Town lying upon the River-side Bagdad the first thing one sees in arriving is the Castle on the side of the River to the left hand which on the outside appears to be pretty strong It is built of lovely white Stone but I was told that there was nothing within but Huts Below that Castle upon the water-side also stands the Serraglio of the Basha which hath fair Kiochks from whence they have a good Prospect and fresh Air. Next you find a Bridge of about forty Boats on which they cross into Mesopotamia where there is a Town also or rather a Suburbs of Bagdad but the Houses of it are ill built Every night they undo that Bridge It requires at least two hours to make the round of Bagdad which is not very strong on the Land-side There are fair Bazars and lovely Bagnio's in this Town built by the Persians and generally all that is goodly in it hath been built by them It is but ill peopled considering the bigness of the place and indeed it is not compactly built for there are a great many empty places in it where there 's not one Soul to be found and except the Bazars where there is always a great confluence of people the rest looks like a Desart The Soldiers here are very licentious and commit all imaginable Insolencies their Officers not daring scarcely to punish them Some weeks before I arrived there they had put the Basha to death by poyson because of his Tyrannies and it was said the Aga had a share in it though he kept not his bed but was in a languishing condition Besides the Turkish Militia there are a great many Christians in the Grand-Signior's Pay to fight against the Arabs when they are commanded It is very hot in this Town and that 's the reason the people sleep upon the Terrasses The degrees of heat at Bagdad The eighteenth of August at noon the heat was at the thirty seventh degree by my Thermometre and nevertheless it blew a cool breeze of wind The Capuchins to whom I went as soon as I entred Bagdad very charitably practise Physick there The water of the Tygris Opposite to Bagdad the Tygris is very broad the water whereof they draw and put into great Jars of Clay that is not burnt and through these Jars the water transpires and percolates into an earthen Vessel underneath in the same manner as at Aleppo they call this River Chav-Bagdad that 's to say the River of Bagdad but wanting skill to make Water-mills upon it they are forced to grind all their Corn with Horse-mills or Hand-mills Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is very desart every thing being ruined there by the Tyranny of the Turks but the places that are inhabited are well peopled It bears few or no Trees
ascended three stories more you pass over a Canal three fathom broad which runs cross all the Walks of the Garden that are parallel to this as the other does which is at the other end A little farther you find a bason before a building much of the same contrivance as the others are which puts an end to the Walk and the length of the Garden All these Waters come from the River of Senderu by Chanels that divert them three or four Leagues above the City which having watered and embellished this Garden run and lose themselves in the Fields Many such Chanels are drawn from this River above the City for watering the Gardens which otherwise would be barren For besides that the Wells could not furnish a sufficient quantity of water their water is not so good as that of the River which is made very fat by the grounds that it runs through Every day is appointed for giving Water to a certain quarter and every Garden is taxed to pay thirty forty or sixty Abassis a year more or less according to its bigness for the water once a week None of these Canals return to the River but lose themselves in the Fields which makes the River to be much lessened when it comes to the City so that having run thorough it at a little distance farther it loses it self also in the Fields The Persians are so carefull to have water for their grounds The care of the Persians for having VVater that in many places they make Aqueducts under ground which bring it from a far nay and that many Leagues off They make them almost two fathom high and arch them over with Brick In making of them they digg at every twenty paces distance or thereabouts and make large holes like wells in which they go down and so carry on the Aqueduct because they cannot continue in going on so far under ground and these Aqueducts cost a great deal of money Although the Garden I have been describing is so magnificent yet you must not imagine to find such lovely Grass-plats and borders of Flowers as are in Europe There you have onely young Fruit-trees in great numbers with great Plane-Trees planted in a row which are the ornament of it The fruits of Hezar-dgerib so that in fruit-Season it is very pleasant walking there and since for a little money all are welcom one may eat as many as he pleases There is plenty also of Rose Bushes there and the Gardiners make money of their Roses This Garden is the Kings so are one half of those of Tcheharbag the rest belong to Chans and these Gardens are almost all of the same contrivance that 's to say that their beauty consists in long streight walks and abundance of Fruit-trees Rose-bushes and Plane-Trees which yield them a considerable revenue and therefore they are well kept so that when I went to the Garden of Hezard-gerib I saw a great many People at work in levelling the walks which had been spoilt by the Rain and Snow There is no Burying-place in Ispahan but they are all without the City Burying-places so as all over Persia and the Levant CHAP. V. A Continuation of the Observations of Ispahan and particularly of the manner of ordinary Buildings Materials for Masons ALL the Houses of Ispahan are built of Bricks baked in the Sun dawbed over with Clay mingled with Straw and then white cast over with a very fine and white Plaister which they get out of the neighbouring hills from a stone that being burnt is crushed and broken with a great rowler drawn by a Horse The charges of building a House The charges of building a house they commonly divide into three equal parts one for Brick another for Plaister and the third for Doors Windows and other timber necessary for a house However something may be saved in the Brick for out of the very place where the house is to be built Earth may be had for making all the Bricks that are necessary and furnishing Straw to be mingled with the Earth for the making of them the rest will not amount to above an Abassi and a half the thousand but the truth is it will cost three times as much in employing them In the rest of Persia the Houses are onely built of that sort of Brick made of Earth wrought with cut Straw and well incorporated which is afterwards dried in the Sun and then employed but the least Rain washes them away and dissolves all They make also tiles which they burn in a Kiln yet they seldom use them but for their Floors and Stair-cases some but few pave their Terrasses with them The Roofs of Houses Nevertheless it were much more profitable to pave them with Bricks for being onely of Earth they must be repaired once a year because of the Rain and Snow which spoil them all nay and as often as Snow falls they must of necessity throw it off assoon as they can else it would rot and by its weight bear down the houses but seeing for all their diligence they must needs with the Snow throw a good deal of Earth also from the Terrasses which are loosened by it it would be much safer to pave them because then the Snow might be more easily thrown off and nothing spoilt but it must be also confessed that the Terrasses cannot always be paved because of the uneavenness of the Rooms underneath some being higher and some lower nay and some of them having Domes which make the Terrasses very irregular and all crooked and convex in several places Much water at Ispahan There is so much Water at Ispahan that one may have a Well dug for three or four Abassis commonly and when it is dug they put down in the bottom one or two Pipes of baked or burnt Clay about three or four foot high and of the same Diameter as the Well is to keep the ground on the sides from falling in and choaking it up The Walls that go round the Terrasses are all pierced through checker ways with square holes about four or five inches square not onely to ease the Walls which are onely of Earth but also to let in the Air on all sides The Persians use no Cranes in building of their Houses but they raise high banks of Earth on which they drag along what the Crane would lift Many times they need neither of the two for all that they employ is light enough They make their houses commonly front the North to receive the fresh Air and they who can make them separated and open on all the four sides They make their little Vaults very quickly and in building of them use Timber as with us The Masons call for their materials as if they were singing all these Vaults are of brick sometimes baked in the Sun and sometimes in the Oven or Kiln according as they 'll be at the charges of it It it is pretty pleasant to see a
Mason at work there for he calls for what he wants as if he were singing and the Labourers who are always attentive to the tone serve him most punctually In Persia commonly they make the Floors of the Rooms of Joists Floros on which they lay planks and over them a Mat or Store and then a lay of Reeds which they cover with Clay half a foot thick But they observe to mingle Salt with the first lay of Earth Salt mingled with Clay that the Worms may not get into the Timber underneath They who will not be at the charge of boards or planks put onely in place of Joists pieces of Timber as thick as ones Arm and over them two Matts and then the Reeds which they cover with Clay salting also the first lay The Persians make their Lime of Stones which they burn as we doe and when they have taken them out of the Kiln they break them into small pieces When they are to use it they prepare it in the manner following The way of preparing Lime They sweep a place very clean to sift the Lime in and when it is sifted they make it up in a heap sharp at the top like a Sugar-Loaf then they sift Ashes upon it and that in almost as great a quantity as the lime that being done they sweep the adjoyning place very clean and water it and over the wet sift a very slight lay of Ashes then with Iron-shovels they throw upon it their Lime mingled with Ashes working and incorporating them well together When they have cast on three or four shovel fulls one of them throws upon it about a quarter of a Bucket full of Water or somewhat less and the rest cast very fast upon the wet Lime other Lime mingled with Ashes so that they give not the Water time to penetrate through that first lime then they throw on a good deal of water more and then another quantity of lime and ashes and they keep this course untill they have put all the lime which they had mingled with Ashes into a heap and the water they throw upon it is so little in regard of the quantity of that matter that it scarcely appears to be wet After this they sweep a neighbouring place and having watered and then covered it with a few Ashes as before they turn over again the mixture that they may well mingle and incorporate the Ashes with the lime and so turn it over from one side to another several times that 's to say nine or ten times But it is to be observed that after the first time they pour no more water upon the mixture but onely from time to time lightly sprinkle with the hand the outside of the heap to keep it a little humid without appearing to be wet but every time they cast the heap from one side to another they are sure first to sweep the place water it and then to scatter a few Ashes upon the same and then with their Iron-shovels they turn the heap I wondered to see these People when they prepared their lime that they were not afraid to burn their feet going bare footed upon that Stuff nor yet to wrong themselves by receiving into their Mouth and Nose the dust of the lime when they sifted it When they have thus well mingled the Ashes with the lime they divide the Stuff into several heaps which they spread a little giving to each about four foot of Diameter and one foot in thickness After that four of them stand round the heap and beat the Stuff with sticks somewhat crooked about two foot and a half long the handle they hold them by being two fingers thick with a little round knob at the end to keep them from slipping through their hands then they grow greater and greater till about the middle where they are as big as ones Arm and round so far and from that place where they bend and make an obtuse Angle with the other half they grow thicker and thicker according as they come nearer the end and are round on the concave side but flat on the convex and about the end are about six fingers broad These Clubs are of Ash They beat this Stuff with one hand two and two over against one another singing Y a allah Y a allah and other attributes of God and keeping time to this tune which seems to be essential to the trade they beat as our Threshers do sometimes in one place sometimes in another stooping at every blow and nothing but the flat side of the Club hits the matter They beat every heap so about half an hour without intermission and then go to another which they beat as much and continue this exercise almost an hour without resting onely now and then shifting their hand after this they take breath a little for the space of half a quarter of an hour or less and then fall to their business again In this manner they beat every heap four or five times and every time they leave it it is all reduced to the thickness of about half a foot in the middle falling thinner towards the edges and then one of the men takes a spade wherewith he breaks the Lumps and turns it all up again into a heap cooling it with a little water that he throws upon it with his hands When every heap is sufficiently beaten they spread it well so that it be alike thick in all places and a little hollow in the middle then they strow chopt Straw upon it such as they give to Horses they 'll spread upon a heap of lime about a sack full such as they give their Horses provender in so that the lime is all covered over with it with that they pour into the middle of it about four Buckets of water and mingle all together stirring it well with their shovels that the materials may be well incorporated and when all is reduced into a kind of soft morter they fall a beating it a new sometimes with their shovels and sometimes with the end of their Clubs Then they open it again in the middle making a round hole a good foot and a half wide so that it looks like a Well raised a good foot above ground they fill this hole with water pouring in about two Buckets full and so leave it after they have smoothed the outside with the back of their shovels so that it looks polished and of a blewish colour that 's to say like blew Fullers-Earth or Clay to take out grease and spots with these holes are always kept full of water till they be ready to use the Stuff When they are to use it they work it with a great deal of water and mingle therewith about half the quantity of Straw that was employed in the first working of it then they beat it well with shovels and leavers pouring on so much water that it is reduced almost into a liquid running mud I have seen it so employed for
rectified They have a Glew that holds as well as strong white Glew Scherischoun instead of Glew and the Shoe-makers and other Artisans make use of no other It is a root they call Scherischoun which they grind like corn betwixt Stones when it is ground it looks like Saw dust they steep this powder in water and make use of it in glewing any thing Soap In Persia they make soap of grease or tallow instead of Oyl and that makes it to have a bad scent and with the least sweating to breed lice in their Linnen Rasors The Rasors they make have a very thick back and are very heavy Physicians There are many Physicians in Persia and amongst them some skilfull men When they have visited their Patient they write their Bills upon a little bit of Paper which they give to a Woman who goes to a drugists and buys all the ingredients which she prepares for a Medicine for all over Persia the Women prepare the Medicines Remedy for a Feaver Their most usual Medicine for a Feaver are the cold Seeds which they peel and put into water giving the Patient the whole presently to be drank down China They make great use of China in several distempers They put it in infusion in Brandy and for fifteen days set it in the Sun they take it for the space of a Month observing in the mean time a good diet and especially not to eat any thing that has Salt in it to abstain from Wine and Women and not to stir abroad out of ones Chamber but they use not that Medicine in the Summer-time Bloud-letting They let bloud too and are very dextrous at it I speak by experience they tye a ligature of leather very streight about the Arm and then without rubbing or looking much on the place they take their Lance which is very broad and in a handle like a Rasor and prick very skilfully but they draw a great quantity of bloud when they are let alone In this Countrey of Persia as well as in Turkey they whiten or if you will tinn brass and copper otherwise than with us The Workmen make use of Salt Armoniack which they set over the fire with a little water to purifie and take the grease from it there they leave it till the humidity be evaporated so that it be all reduced into a white Powder Then they wash the Vessel they are to tinn very clean with * Soudegrise grey Saltwort which they have boiled in it after that a Boy setting the Vessel upon the ground puts sand into it and putting his two feet thereon turns to and again untill the Vessel be well scoured and no grease remain Then the Master takes it and setting it upon a clear coal fire with the Mouth downwards leaves it there till it be almost red when it is so he takes hold on it with a pair of Pinsers and with the other hand takes a parcel of Cotton with which he takes a little Salt Armoniack and therewith rubs the Vessel very well then he presses a piece of tin on it which being a little melted he takes a small portion of Salt Armoniack on his Cotton again and applying it upon the melted tinn he therewith rubs the Vessel untill it be all tinned over and so soon as he hath done that he throws it into cold water This they do so fast that in half an hours time they 'll tinn five or six Skillets and that costs but very little nay those that have store of vessels send for them to their houses and they bring their shops along with them which consists in a few coals a little Saltwort a pair of bellows the horn of an Ox full of Salt Armoniack and some small pieces of Tinn They work in any place they would have them whether in the Court Gardens or any where else without any need of a Chimney for they make their fire by a stone against which they lean their Vessel that it may not put out the fire when it is set upon it they cover the nose of their bellows with a little Earth made over it arch-ways and so their shop is prepared and in readiness CHAP. VII The Continuation of the Observations of Ispahan Of Moneys Weights and Measures SInce it happens often in the sequel of this discourse that when I am to speak of things I make use of the terms used in the Countrey without explaining them for avoiding of prolixity I have thought fit to do it in a Chapter by it self where the Reader may be satisfied when he has a mind I shall onely speak here of moneys that are current in Persia and especially of the pieces of the Countrey Moneys and VVeights of Persia The Piastres are commonly worth there thirteen Schais and when they are full weight they are worth thirteen Schais and a Bisti the Bisti consists of four Casbeghis of which ten make a Schai The most current money are the Abassis Mahmoudis Chais and Casbeghis The Abassi is of the value of four Schais which make about eighteen Sols of our money and the Mahmoudi contains two Schais which are nine Sols the Schai is worth about four Sols and a half and the Casbeghi five Deniers and a half or somewhat less The Toman is worth fifteen Piastres or fifty Abassis The Boquelle is worth three Abassis or twelve Schais They have great pieces of silver of the value of five Schais and weigh two Medicals The Mahmoudi is also called Yuz-Alton which is as much as to say an hundred Altons and nevertheless that word Alton which signifies Gold is commonly taken for a Chequin but in a Mahmoudi it is taken for the value of a Denier and in the same manner five Abassis are also called Min-Alton or Bing-alton which signifies a thousand Alton but I could not learn of any a satisfactory reason for that last signification Seeing the Abassis are the pieces that are most current in Persia it is fit one should know that it is the best money in the World. They are of the finest silver and the Officers of the Mint dare not coyn one single piece until they have first refined the Piastres and other pieces of silver that are appointed for the making of Abassis They are stamped as all the rest of their money with the hammer and not milled and there is so great equality in their weight that in great payments they are weighed after this manner They put five and twenty Abassis in one scale of the balance and as many in the other and if the one weigh more or less than the other they conclude for a certain that there are some false Abassis amongst them and fail not to examine them in which they are never out for each Scale ought most exactly to weigh alike They then put the five and twenty of the one Scale into the other which by that means contains fifty and that number makes the Toman
bits of Straw so that it looks more like brown Paper than bread if a Stranger were not told it he might be mistaken And some French when first these Cakes were brought before them took them for course Napkins They make great use of Earthen ware which is very pretty especially because of the lovely Varnish they give it it is made in Kerman and I was assured that the Dutch had the invention from thence of making that false purcelane which we call Hollands purcelane Butter In Persia generally they make not use of Butter of Cow's Milk alone because it is not good but they mingle it with the Butter of Ewes Milk which is much better The Yogourt is an ordinary Ragoe in that Countrey I remember that I have described it already and shall onely now add how they season it in the Spring they cut Fennel into small bits and with Turpentine-seed which in that season is still green and begins onely to look a little reddish they put it into the Yogourt to qualify the coldness of it Torschi They also make Torschi or a preserve of that seed in Vinegar into which they put the Berries to be pickled whole The Persians way of drinking VVine The Persians by their Law are prohibited to drink Wine as well as the Turks but they are not so scrupulous as to that point When they drink VVine they do it without mixture after the Levantines manner who never drink water with it but when they drink VVine they have pots of water by them whereof now and then they take large draughts Bowl of Punch The Francks use a Beverage there which they call a Bowl of Punch and is cooling They take a large Earthen Bowl that holds four or five quarts and fill it half full of water then they put in as much VVine with the Juice of Limons Sugar Cinamon and Nutmeg which they drink in full draughts in the Summer-time Ice-houses in Persia The Persians make great use of Ice even in VVinter but never of Snow they make not their Ice-houses as in France and this is their way They raise a wall towards the South three or four fathom high Along that wall on the North-side they digg a Ditch about three fathom deep and as much broad and Northwards from the Ditch they make several beds six or seven fathom long and one fathom broad which are separated one from another by little Dykes of Earth like Salt-pits some are two or three foot deep and others one foot When it is very cold they bring the River-water into these beds which freezes very quickly and when it is thick and hard they break the Ice of the hollowest beds into great pieces which they carry into the Ditch where they lay it in very good order Then they break the Ice of the shallower beds and having put it into the Ditch upon that which they had laid there before they beat it into very small morcels with a spade or shovel and fill up all the chinks that are betwixt the large pieces with them At night they throw a great deal of water over all which they do with the skins of gourds cut in two pieces and fastened to the end of long poles this water freezes in the Night-time and joyns all the Ice into one piece In the mean time they bring in more water into the beds that it may freeze there after which they remove the Ice into the Ditch where they place it above the former in the same manner untill it be a fathom and a half high then they cover all with Straw and Reeds two or three foot thick and when they would take out any for use they open the Ditch but in one place This is an easie invention at at Ispahan where the Air is very dry and where there is but little moist Weather It would seem some few of these Ice-houses might be sufficient for a whole great City and nevertheless there are a great many such made in several places near the Town A good many in Persia take Opium The use of Opium but it is a drug that so enslaves those who are addicted to it that if a man hath once made it customary to himself and after forbear to take it no less than his life is in danger so that if a Tereaqui as they call them all over the Levant go ten Leagues from the Town and forget to take Opium with him if he find none in the place he comes to though he should immediately return back again and make all the haste he can yet he would not get to the Town in time enough to save his Life CHAP. XI The Continuation of the Observations of Ispahan Of the Court of Persia HAving treated of the nature of the Persians of their Carriage Apparel and way of living we may now see how their Monarch governs them whom he makes use of for executing his Orders and at the same time observe some of his recreations Persia is a Monarchy governed by a King Monarchy of Persia The King of Persia absolute in all things who has so absolute a power over his Subjects that no limits can be set to it He meddles in Religion and they do not begin the Ramadan nor any Festival till first they have had his leave and sometimes he keeps them back a few days according to his pleasure though the Moon wherein they are to be celebrated hath been seen His Subjects never look upon him but with fear and trembling and they have such respect for him and pay so blind an obedience to all his Orders that how unjust soever his Commands might be they perform them though against all Law both of God and Nature Nay if they swear by the King's head their Oath is more Authentick and of greater credit than if they swore by all that is most sacred in Heaven and upon Earth He observes no form of Justice in most of his Decrees and without consulting any Person no not the Laws and Customes he judges of lives and fortunes as seems best to him without any regard to those who feel the weight of his power The kinds of punishments not regulated and that without observing the kinds of punishments that are in use in the Countrey but appointing such as his fancy suggests to him According to this Principle two years ago he commanded the Nazer who had vexed him to be exposed naked to the Sun and the Nazer is one of the chief Officers of that Court This was presently put into execution and he was exposed to the heat of the Sun and the rage of flies in the great place from Morning till Night at which time the King discharged him Whilst he was thus exposed no body minded him no more than if he had been a Dog which was a great instance of the inconstancy of fortune and of the friends she gives but both counterfeit and real friends have this excuse that on
that was a building a Rich man of Schiras having left by Will money for that purpose That place is called Abgherm which signifies hot water Abgherm because the water there is a little warm it gave some of our Company a looseness but has plenty of Fish in it This place which is but four Agatsch from Main was but half of our usual days Journey however our Beasts being tired we stayed there till next day the seventh of March when we parted half an hour after Two in the Morning and put on before the Caravan that we might get to Schiras the same day There are several ways that lead to it but we kept still to the Left crossing over many Brooks about half an hour after six we came to a Causey above two Fathom broad and two thousand Paces long all well Paved with Arches in several places and chiefly in the middle where there is a Bridge an hundred Paces in length under which runs a small branch of the River of Main Poligorgh that Causey is called Poligorgh Half an hour after Seven we saw a sorry Kervanserai but a little beyond it there is a very good one which is extraordinary large and well built with many embellishments at each corner there is a little Tower the Gate is fair and high adorned with many pieces of Marble on which there are Inscriptions The Appartments of this Kervanserai are very commodious but it is so infested with Gnats that there is no being in it It was built by a Chan of Sciras who to take off the Gnats built but to no purpose a large Garden by it it is called Agassef Agassef and is three Agatsch from Abgherm its common name is Poligourg that is to say the Woolfs Bridge or Poligord We went on The way that leads to Tchebelminar Badgega and an hour after left a broad way on the left Hand which goes streight to Tchebelminar and that is the way to it from Schiras About half an hour after Two we came to a Kervanserai called Badgega three Agatsch from Agassef there we found several Horses Camels and Mules which the Vizir of Schiras sent as a present to the King for the Neurouz for it is the custom as we have already observed that all the Grandees make great Presents to the King Present for the Neurouz or a New-Years-Gift the day of the Neurouz or Spring which is the two and twentieth of March just so as New-Years Gifts are given in France on the first of January We rested in that place till Three in the Afternoon when we parted to goe to Schiras two great Agatsch distant At first we went up a great Hill and then saw to our Left hand a Dome somewhat ruinous under which there are some Tombs close by runs a very clear Brook shaded by several great Planes and many little Pomegranate-Trees which render that place extraordinarily pleasant Having Travelled near two hours in very stony way and crossed several lovely Brooks about Five a Clock at night we came to a place from whence there is a very pleasant prospect of the City for two Hills there drawing near together at the end make a narrow passage beyond which are Gardens full of lovely Cypresses and then the Town which lyes in a Plain from North to South so that it yields a most delightful prospect After we had a little advanced betwixt those two Hills we saw a great Reservatory of water which is pretty ruinous the water is stopt by a thick Wall almost two Fathom broad supported by two spurs of the same thickness which with the Wall from the bottom of the Ditch are almost three Fathom high the Reservatory was formerly much of the same depth but is at present almost filled up with the Earth that the water has brought into it the Wall hath been made to serve for a Bank to stop the waters that in Winter fall from the Hills and running too violently through that streight beat down all that stood in their way but it is dry in the Summer-time Arrival at Schiras at length we came to the City-Gate which is fair and well built CHAP. II. Of Schiras THE first thing we found upon our entry into Schiras was a great broad Street on each side bordered by Gardens with little pretty neat Houses over the Gates of them having advanced in that Street about a quarter of an hour we came to a large Stone-Bason full of water and of an Oblong Figure being about twenty or twenty five Fathom in length and more than fifteen in breadth Continuing in the same Street you see a lovely Mosque whose Dome is covered with blew Varnished Tiles Joyning to this Mosque there is a burying-place Planted with fair Trees with a round Stone-Bason full of water which renders the place very pleasant so that there are always people taking the Air in it with their Pipes of Tobacco a little farther there is a Bridge of five Arches under which runs a small River and onward in the same Street you come to a covered Bazar that puts an end to it this Street is but as a Suburbs to the City which at that place begins We struck off to the Left and alighted at the little House of the Reverend Fathers Carmelites where all the Francks goe The City of Schiras heretofore Schirsaz and which many will have to be Cyropolis is properly the Metropolis of the Province of Persia it lyes in a most pleasant and fertile Plain that yields the best Wine in Persia On the East it is at the Foot of a Hill covered with several sorts of Fruit-Trees amongst which are many Orange and Limon-Trees intermingled with Cypresses it is about two hours walk in Circumference The Circumference of Schiras and lyes from North to South it hath no Walls but only a scurvy Ditch and that is all it needs having no Enemies to be afraid of it is watered by a River which is but little and yet subject to overflowings when that happens the Inhabitants hinder it from breaking into their Gardens and carrying away their Walls by casting up Dykes to stop it they make them with Couffes Couffes that is to say great Panniers made of bruised Canes like Palm-Tree-Leaves which they fill with Earth and Stone and that hinders the passage of the water very well The Streets of Schiras are for the most part somewhat narrow though there be some fair ones having in the middle lovely Canals bordered with Stone through which a very clear Rivulet runs There are a great many fair covered Bazars long and broad with great Shops on each side well furnished with all sorts both of Indian and Turkish Commodities and every Commodity hath its particular Bazar It hath many large well built Kervanserays as to the Palaces they make no shew on the outside no more than in the rest of the Levant but all their beauty is within the Palace of the Chan himself
midnight we had a fresh Gale from North-West Monday Morning the twelfth of October the Wind slackned very much but changed not and therefore we weighed Anchor at half an hour after eight and standing away South-West we were soon after becalmed Towards Noon we Rowed a little and half an hour after had a breeze from South-West with which we bore away North-West till three in the Afternoon when we entered into the River Caron that comes from the Hills above the Town Souster Caron Souster Khusistan Susa Ahasuerus Coaspes Choasp Tiripari Zeimare which is the Capital Town of Khusistan and was in ancient times the Town of Susa where Ahasuerus held his Court. This River of Caron must be the Coaspes of the Ancients nay they assured me that there is still at present near to the Town of Souster a Hill called Choasp where the River of Caron which Sanson calls Tiripari Tiritiri and Zeimare hath its source but what reason he has for these names I cannot tell since no body could give me any account of them though I have enquired of many who all told me they knew of no such thing On the Right Hand to the West there is an Isle called Dorghestan and on the Left or towards the East Dorghestan Gheban is the Island of Gheban the point whereof is called Mouele and Gheban because all that Country is called Gheban and is the limits of the Kingdom of Bassora on that side In that place to the Left Hand there is a piece of of Palm-Tree-Wood fixed in the Ground to serve for a signal when it his high water not to go beyond it and they call that signal Dgioudoh The Land here on both sides depends on the Basha of Bassora The usual way to Bassora is by Sea to the mouth of Schat-el-Aarab The way to Bassora which they enter and go by water to Bassora but we put in to the River because our Sea-men who had nothing to do at Bassora being only come to take in Dates imposed upon us telling us that we must go to Gheban to take in fresh water and wood which we wanted and that it was also the shortest cut to Bassora but that great Barks went not that way because it was not deep enough which we too easily believed So soon as we were got into the River we came to Anchor in a Fathom water At low water the River at that place is but very little salt and a little higher it is fresh even when it is Flood Being Flood about midnight our men fell to their Oars but Rowed not above an hour and then came to an Anchor The Country about seems to be very good Land it is low even and green on all Hands and we saw many Cows there feeding in the Meadows which look much like the Meadows of Holland Tuesday the thirteenth of October about ten a Clock in the Morning our Sea-men went a shoar and Towed us up till one of the Clock when being over against a Village where there are a great many Palm-Trees we hoisted Sail with a North-West Wind that lasted not long and so came to an Anchor again Our men went a shoar to hear News as they said of Bassora and coming back in the Evening told us that all things were in confusion at Bassora that the Basha was marched with his whole Army towards Bagdad and that all Barks were taken up for Transporting of Soldiers and that therefore they durst go no farther but were resolved to return empty to Bender-Rik This was all false A cheat of the Sea-men and the truth was they had no mind to go any farther designing to take in their Cargoe at the place we were at where there is plenty of Dates and that was the reason they had brought us that way Nevertheless we must pretend to believe all the Knaves told us and try to find another Bark to carry us to Bassora We sent then a servant next day to look for one and he brought us a small thing wherein the men promised in four and twenty hours to carry us to the Town for six Abassis which we gave them These Barks are flat bottomed about a Fathom high one and a half broad and about five Fathom long The Stern is very low but the Head is as high again and draws into a sharp point as the Gondolos of Venice Barks on the River of Caron These Barks are not Caulked but only Pitched over on the outside which they do in the manner following When they are to Pitch a Daneg for so they call that sort of Bark in Arabick ten or twelve paces from the Daneg they make a Furnace of Earth the upper part whereof is made like a Cauldron into that they put the Pitch and the fire underneath and when the Pitch is almost melted but not altogether liquid a man comes with a little wet Shovel in his Hand and another lays some of this Pitch upon it The Pitching of a Daneg and then puts water upon the Pitch which the first carrying to the Daneg and stirring the Pitch with a piece of Wood to which it does not stick he that is working at the Daneg takes the Pitch in his Hand and dawbs it as one would do Plaster upon the Daneg and then with a Rowler which is not altogether round he spreads it upon the Vessel and in that manner Pitches it all over on the outside These Barks are made very strong the sides being about a Foot thick and all the Planks are Nailed with great Nails such as are driven into Gates in France they have likewise a Mast of an indifferent bigness Indeed these Barks make but heavy way especially in the middle of the water where they cannot use a Sail if they have not the Wind in Poop and nevertheless they load them so deep that they are not above half a Foot above water We embarked in one of these Boats about half an hour after three in the Afternoon it was full of a kind of very long green Rushes that have a great point at the end whereof they make very fine mats Our Crew consisted of two Sea-men and a Master the two men Towed us on Land till half an hour after six that we came before a Village to the Left Hand there we cast Anchor our Men unloaded all the Rushes and going afterwards to the Village we we saw no more of them till next day This is a great Village and has a square Castle with eight Towers to wit one at each corner and one in the middle of each side but they are all of Earth and so thin that a double Musket could batter them all down This place is called Koutmian Koutmian that is to say Castle Mian and they make many Danegs there The Country of Gheban reaches from thence to the mouth of the River of Caron and in all that space the Land on both sides the River is called Gheban it
made himself Master of Dgezire Besides that the Basha of Bassora holds in Arabia Foelix the Port El-Catif El-Catif Lehhsa and the Town of Lehhsa which formerly belonged to a Basha Tributary also to the Grand Seignior but twelve years since he took the Port Catif and since that having a mind also to Lehhsa he sent thither an Arab Scheik with many Arabs at whose approach the Basha of Lehhsa fled leaving them a free entry into that Town which they plundered but afterwards the Arab Scheik slighted the Basha of Bassora saying that he had not taken that Town for him but for himself and recalled the Basha of Lehhsa to whom he delivered back the Town in consideration of a sum of mony which that Basha paid him In fine last year one thousand six hundred sixty and four the Basha of Bassora finding the Grand Signior engaged in a War with the Emperour and thinking that the War would be of long continuance in the month of November put on Shipboard an Army which The Basha makes War. as I was assured consisted not of above five or six thousand Men with some Cannon though the News flew into all places that they were seven or eight times so many This Army having Landed at Port Catif and marched from thence to Lehhsa which is but three days Journy distant they presently made themselves Masters of it without any resistance the Basha of Lehhsa being upon their approach fled to Constantinople where he made his complaints to the Grand Signior who presently thereupon ordered the Bashas of Aleppo Orfa Diarbeck Mosul Bagdad and some others to the number of eight to joyn and restore the Basha of Lehhsa to his Government and turn the Basha of Bassora out of all This Basha was not daunted for all that but making a shew as if he intended to be upon his defence and indeed putting himself in a posture to do so he fortified Lehhsa sending thither a great deal of Artillery whilst on the other Hand he sent to the Port to inform the Grand Signior that he ought not to concern himself in his Conquest because he was ready to pay him for his new acquisitions the same Tribute that he formerly received It is certain that if the Turk had not made Peace with the Emperour so soon this Basha would have carried his Conquests farther on thinking of nothing less than to have made himself Master of Mascat Now though this State of Lehhsa comprehend no more but the two Towns Catif and Lehhsa it is nevertheless very considerable and of great extent having a great many good Villages but the principal Riches of that Country consists in the the Traffick of Indian Commodities which are Transported from Mascat to Port Catif from whence they come to Lehhsa Indian Commodities at Mascat and thence are dispersed all over Arabia Foelix and chiefly at Mecha where they sell very well when the Caravans come from all Parts to perform their Devotions there Port Catif is on the main Land in Arabia Foelix over against the Isle of Bahrin by corruption called Bahrem which is only seven Leagues distant from it Catif The Isle of Bahrem though it belong not to the Turk being under the Dominion of the King of Persia This Island is very famous for the Fishing of Pearls there in the months of June July August and September It must needs be great if one may judge of it by the great number of Barks that are employed therein which amount to two or three thousand In the Isle of Bahrin there is a Town and a Fort distant from it a large League and a half Though there be good water in that Town yet the Fishermen take not in fresh water there they find it more commodious to draw it out of the bottom of the Sea Three Springs of fresh water in the Sea. where there are three Springs of good water yet not all in one place but here and there and all above two Leagues distant from the Town Signor Emanuel Mendez Henriquez Agent for the King of Portugal at Congo hath often told me the way how they draw this water which is thus An extraordinary way of drawing fresh water out of the bottom of the Sea. The Barks go near to the place where the Springs are which they know by the bearing of the Island at high water there is two Fathom water in those places but when the Sea is out they have not above three Foot water and many times they are on dry Ground for Bahrem is encompassed with Banks of Sand that run out a great way where there are such flats that Vessels cannot pass them but amongst these Banks there are deep Channels which the Vessels keep and whatsoever storm may blow at Sea the Vessels that are in these Channels are safe and secure When these Barks are come near the Wells they stay till low water and then they plant two Oars in the Sand one on each side of the Well where they intend to water at then they strain a Rope under water from one Oar to the other We must know that upon every one of these Wells the Arabs have always the half of a Jarr to wit the upper half where the mouth is which may be called an Earthen Pipe they put the wider end upon the mouth of the Spring and thrust it down above four inches in the Sand they dawb it besides all round with Plaster and Bitumen that the Salt water may not get in when these half Jars break or are worn out they take care to put another in the place of them after that the Fishermen then have planted the Oars and fastened the Rope a Man goes down into the Sea with a Borrachio stopt and Diving down his Head puts himself under the strained Rope that so the force of the fresh water that gushes out of the Jarr may not raise him up again for it gushes out with great impetuosity and then he claps the mouth of his Borrachio to the mouth of the Jarr which being narrow and opened is immediatly filled with fresh water when it is full he he stops it again and brings it up to the Bark where he empties his fresh water and then goes down again for more till the Bark be supplied This Portuguese Gentleman told me that it was very easie to be done and that he himself had been so curious as to go and fill a Borrachio there Now I am speaking of Bahrem The way of Fishing for Pearls I will here relate the manner of the Pearl Fishing as the same Emanuel Mendez Henriquez who hath been at it told me This Fishing begins about the end of June and lasts till the end of September During this time there are to be seen about Bahrem above two or three thousand Fishermens Barks all Arabs who pay severally a due to the Prince whose Subjects they are for their permission to Fish and besides each Bark pays to
the Sultan or Governour of Bahrem fifteen Abassis a year The King of Persia's Right in the Pearls the King of Persia has not one penny of that Revenue for it all belongs to Mosques only all the Pearls that weigh a half Medical or more belong to him and nevertheless he makes a liberal Present to the Fisher-man that brings him such but also if any of them fail to do it and sell such a Pearl out of his Dominions were it even at the Worlds end the King is soon acquainted with it and to be revenged he puts to death the whole Family and all the Kindred of the Fisher-man even to the seventh Generation both Males and Females Every one of these Barks hath Men for Diving to the bottom of the Sea and picking up the Shell-Fish or Nacres and the rest serve to draw them up for all are not Divers The Barks go fifteen twenty or thirty Leagues off of Bahem along the Coast and when they are at a place where they think there may be good Fishing they come to an Anchor in five Fathom water and then two Divers make ready one on each side to go down for Nacres All their preparatives consist in stripping themselves naked and taking a piece of Horn cloven in the manner of a pair of Pincers as the Gentleman represented it to me which they always hang about their Necks by a piece of Pack thread before they jump into the water they put it upon their Nose like a pair of Spectacles and that keeps their Nostrils so close that the water cannot enter them nor can they fetch breath above water by the Nose neither Besides this accoutrement every Diver provides himself of a great stone which he fastens to a long Rope and of a Basket tied to another and puting the Rope to which the stone is tied betwixt the Toes of one of his Feet and taking the Basket in his Hand he leaves the ends of the two Ropes on Board and Dives into the Sea. The stone carries him immediately to the bottom where being come he casts loose the Rope of the stone from his Foot which they on Board pull up and without losiing time he quickly picks up all the Nacres he sees and puts them in his Basket and when it is full comes up again The rest hall up the Basket whilst he takes a little breath and smoaks a Pipe of Tobacco and having done so he returns again to the bottom in the same manner coming and going so from eight a Clock in the Morning till Eleven Then he goes to Dinner with his comrades and feeds on Pilau and Dates which are their common Food and about Noon he goes a Diving again and continues at work till three a Clock but no longer because the water is then too cold When they have got on Board a good quantity of these Nacres they unload them upon some bank of Sand and there open them every one having an Iron Instrument purposely for that the Master of the Bark in the mean time never taking his Eyes off of them least they might purloin a Pearl for if they be not carefully lookt to they will cunningly whip them into their Mouth as soon as they have opened the Nacre Now if the Master made them open them on Board it would be worse still for if any of them found a fair Pearl he would nimbly throw the Nacre down into the hold without being perceived and when the Bark were to be made clean he would not fail to be Swabber and throwing all the Shells and Fish into the Sea for they know not what it is to make any Works of Mother of Pearl he would hide the Pearls he had thrown down and then go sell them for a small matter in the Town and which would be worst of all he would Work no more after because when these Blades have once got at little mony by such means it is not possible to make them Fish any more so long as it lasts The Revenue of the Basha of Bassora But to return to the Basha of Baslora he has a considerable Revenue and I have been assured that it amounts to no less than eight hundred thousand Piastres though in exacting it he be a little Tyrannical The Custom-house of Bassora yields him a great deal and he lets it not out to Farm as is usual in other places but entertains a Customer or Schah Bender as they call him who has a Salary from him and is accountable for all he receives Besides he has from every Palm-Tree half a Schai a year and that branch of his Revenue he lets out to a Man who yearly pays him for it fifty thousand Piastres He gets moreover a great deal of the Persians who go every year to Mecha Pilgrims of Mecha for all of them pass by Bassora and the Basha sells them the Camels they stand in need of at what price he pleases besides they give him thirty five Chequins a Head for which he sends with them a Guard of three hundred Troopers to wait upon them to Mecha and back again to Bassora These Pilgrims willingly pay the mony to be secured from the Arabian Robbers In five and twenty days time they go from Bassora to Mecha and when they are come back the Basha buys their Camels at an easie rate and sells them Horses very dear to carry them home he takes the same course with the Merchants who during the Mouson buy Horses from him to be Transported they must buy them at what price he pleases to demand if they would have them because it is Prohibited that any man whosoever sell Horses during that time nor dare they sell at any other time without a Licence from him which is never obtained without a Present Indeed last year the Basha of Bagdad did him a bad and un-neighbourly Office for by Letters he invited the Persians that intended to go to Mecha to come and pass by Bagdad promising to give them safe Conduct for twenty Chequins a Man so that most part to save fifteen Chequins went by Bagdad and a very few came by Bassora This is the Road from Bassora to Mecha which the Pilgrims commonly take The Road from Bassora to Mecha They set out from Bassora by the East Gate and go to Dgiam-Hali three Agatsch from Bassora where there is bitter water in the Ditch of a Castle that stands in that place where heretofore the Town of Bassora was built the way to it from Bassora is by a Causey which hath salt-water on each side They go from thence to Dgebel-Senan five Agatsch off where there is fresh-water from Dgebel-Senan to Tscha-Haffer where they find a Well of indifferent good water and that is six Agatsch Journy In this place they make Provision of water for seven days Travelling in all which way there is neither water nor Habitation to be found Having Travelled seven days they find a Well of good water where
they provide themselves for six days at the end of which they come to Anize which is a Well of fresh-water where they make provision again for three days in which time they arrive at Niged where there are two Castles opposite to one another and inhabited by Arabs They may have Victuals here for mony but the water is bad however they must make provision of it for five days and at five days end they find a Well where they take for two days more after that they find another Well of bitter water and yet must make Provision of it for four days which being over they come to a Well called Heram-Baglar-lar In this place all the Pilgrims strip and leave nothing upon their bodies but a Cloath to cover their Nakedness Having taken water at this Well for seven days they continue their march to Dgebel-Harafat where they spend the night in throwing stones at the Devil and next Morning having made the Courban they put on their Cloaths again There are Wells at Dgebel-Harafat Dgebel-Harafat where they take water enough to serve them to Mecha which is but a day and a halfs Journy distant From Mecha they go to Vadi-Fatima the place where the Tomb of Fatima is twelve days Journy distant wherein there are Wells but no Habitation to be found From Vadi-Fatima they go to Medina five days Journy distant Tschah-Haffer and they come from Medina to Tschah-Haffer in five and thirty days and from thence to Bassora The Basha hath a great many lovely Country-Houses and amongst others Gourdilan which is opposite to the mouth of the little Canal of Bassora and on the other side of Schat-El-Aarab The Subjects of the Basha of Bassora are either Aarabs or Sabeans Who are the Subjects of the Basha of Bassora Carmelites but besides these there are some Persians and Indians that live in the Capital City and these last have Pagods there No Franks live there except the Reverend Fathers Carmelites who have a House on the Terrass whereof they put out the Banner of the Cross They have their Church in that House which not only serves the Franks but also the Armenians and Nestorians who come to the Town during the Mouson they come there to Pray but say not Mass in it The Basha hath always some Present from these good Monks for that House The other Franks to wit the Portuguese English or Dutch come not to Bassora but in the Mouson and depart in their Ships at the end of it But two days before I came to Bassora Cunning of the Dutch in burning their Cinnamon the Dutch had burnt a great deal of Cinnamon because the Merchants would not give them the price they demanded for it which made them in anger say publickly that they would burn it which they did at home in their House and they consumed so great quantity of it that it was smelt all over the Neighbourhood During the Mouson the Franks and all other strangers are well received at Bassora Liberty at Bassora and no body molests or wrongs them Every one may wear a white Turban and the green colour there of whatsoever Religion he be and that not only during the Mouson but at any other time not but that I have been told that out of the Mouson they pretty often squeezed the Franks who staied behind there I must now say somewhat of the Sabeans The Sabeans or Christians of St. John. They are otherwise called Christians of St. John but very improperly for they are more Gentiles than Christians and one of them who turned Roman Catholick and was of those who went to Rome some years ago assured me that they were partly Christians partly Turks The Baptism of the Sabeans partly Jews and partly Gentiles The truth is if because of Baptism which they retain in memory of St. Johns Baptising our Saviour they ought to be called Christians the Turks may in the same manner be said to be of the Jewish Religion because of Circumcision It is in reality but a name of Baptism for they Baptise not in the name of the Holy Trinity nor do they perforn it but on Sundays and if the Child be born any other day they stay till Sunday though it be even in danger of dying A man carries the Child to the River-side for they hold that there can be no Baptising but in running water and therefore they always live near the Rivers and inhabit not those places where there are none One of their Ministers goes along with the Man that carries the Child and when they are come to the River-side the Minister says these words In Biscemon edai rabbi ead mai nocrai men hale me that is to say In name of the Ancient Mighty Lord God who knows all that we do before the light of the world then he throws a little water upon the Head of the Infant and repeating the same Prayer casts water again upon the Head of it afterwards he reapeats the same words a third time and throws water a third time upon the Childs Head this being done he who holds the Child dips it three times into the River and that is all the Ceremony of their Baptism It is not enough for them to have been so Baptised once in their life-time but they often reiterate these Ceremonies and every year during the space of five days every person great and small young and old Male and Female is Baptised and Rebaptised and when any of them Marry the Minister again Baptises the Bridegroom and Bride The Sacraments of the Sabeans They hold only four Sacraments to wit Baptism the Eucharist Orders and Marriage they acknowledge neither Confirmation Extream Unction nor Penance As to the Sacrament of the Eucharist which is but a nominal Sacrament no more than their Baptism they pronounce not the words of Consecration over the Host but only some Prayers The Hosts of the Sabeans They make their Hosts of Flower kned with Wine and Oil. As for the Wine of their Consecration they make use of Wine drawn from dryed Grapes steeped in water which they press and they use the same Wine for moistening the Flower whereof they make the Host In relation to Orders The Ministers of the Sabeans they have Superiour and Inferiour Ministers but they use no great Ceremony in Consecrating them for Children succeed to their Fathers in the Ministery provided they be sixteen or seventeen years of Age and failing Sons the next of Kin succeed this is all the Ceremony of their Consecration a Minister says some Prayers over him who is to be a Minister and that is sufficient with them The Marriage of the Sabeans As to Marriage the Minister who is to Officiate takes an Oath of the Bride in presence of the Women that are called to the Ceremony that she is a Virgin and let her swear what she please to him the Ministers Wife must still search her and make her
Channel Haffar which was to our Larboard and there begins the Isle of Gban Isle of Gban which reaches from that place to the Sea. Tuesday the tenth of November the Tide of Ebb beginning an hour before day we weighed Anchor and continued our course betwixt the Isle Chader and the Isle Gban and there we found the water brackish At this place the Palm-Trees end and the Land on both sides is only level and barren Plains and so low that at high water they are almost all overflown about two hours after day the water cast us so much upon the Land on the South side that our Poop raked the shoar and that is in a manner unavoidable in this place where all Ships are forced a shoar nevertheless though we were so near we had two Fathom water a Stern and three a Head and the current of the water drove us forward at a great rate in the mean time our men did what they could to get out again into the Channel and at length with the help of our Boat that Towed us they accomplished it We found three Mahometan Ships which set out the same day that we did from Bassora and all three had had the same luck having been by the force of the stream cast a shoar as well as we The Course we stood from Bassora till we came to the Sea was in the beginning whilst we had the Wind at South-East South South West and after we had it at North-West we Steered always East South-East or South South-East About nine a Clock in the morning we had a pretty brisk Gale from North-West which made us spread our Mizan and Mizan-Top-Sail the Main and Main-Top-Sail and the Fore-Sail and Fore-Top-Sail and then we steered away South South-West making the more way as the Wind grew fresher the water is very broad at this place About half an hour after three a Clock in the Afternoon we came to an Anchor near the Mouth of the River because our Men would not venture out to Sea in the night-time for fear of being stranded for in the mouth of this River there is but two Fathom water when the Tide is out and the other Ships did as we did the Wind in the mean time ceased about midnight Next day we weighed Anchor about half an hour after six in the Morning and having spread the Fore-Top-Sail we Steered away South South-East but seeing it was little better than a calm we made but very little way nevertheless we began to lose sight of Land on all hands and had betwixt five and six Fathom water About nine a Clock we came to an Anchor to stay for the Tide because then we had but little water about eleven a Clock it being flood we weighed and a North-West Wind rising at the same time we clapt on all our Sails Steering our Course sometimes South-East sometimes South and sometimes South-West according to the water we found which was sometimes but three and sometimes four Fathom Half an hour after one of the Clock we had four Fathom and a half water and at two a Clock five but at the same time the Wind chopping about to South we were forced to furl our Sails and come to an Anchor It is very dangerous putting out of that River after the first days of November The season of Sailing for commonly the South Winds begin to blow at that time and last all November whereby many Ships that put out too late are cast away Thursday the twelfth of November the Sun rose with a stiff Wind from South and at the same time the Sky was on all hands over-cast with such a thick Fog that we could hardly see the other Ships which yet weighed Anchor and were Towed by their Boats we did the same though it was against the Captains mind who feared a storm and would have kept still at Anchor We got our Boat then to Tow us the Ships Head standing East South-East in five Fathom water About half an hour after eight we unfurled the Fore-Top-Sail and stood away East North-East and a little after North North-East About nine a Clock we spread the Mizan-Sail whilst our Boat still Towed us About half an hour after nine the Wind shifting about to East we presently furled our Sails and turning our Ships Head South-East came to an Anchor a quarter of an hour after in three Fathom water That day they began to allow every one but two measures of water by day one to boil the Kettle and the other to drink each measure is about three Pints About a quarter after ten a Clock we weighed Anchor and were Towed by our Boat spreading our Mizan Main-Top-Sail and Fore-Top-Sail though we had no settled Wind but sometimes one way and sometimes another and we turned the Ships Head North-East A little after the Wind getting in to South-East we bore away East and presently it shifted to South so that three quarters after ten we came to an Anchor Friday the thirteenth of November the Pilot of Carek and the Merchants prevailed so far with the Captain that he gave way to the weighing of Anchor at three quarters of an hour after seven though he was of a contrary Opinion and the truth is there was no reason to weigh because it blew a strong Wind from South-East and we had but little water on all hands We had indeed four Fathom at that time but seeing it was a Tide of Ebb we had reason to fear running a ground and to put out to Sea which was the thing the Merchants desired was to run into the storm In fine notwithstanding all these Reasons our men Towed us and we spread the Fore-Top-Sail but we held no certain Course the other Ships did as we did and perceiving us to cast Anchor three quarters of an hour after they did the like This is the inconvenience where many Ships are together that if one weigh or come to an Anchor the rest must do the same for if they should fail to do it and any misfortune happened the blame would be laid at the Masters door in that he did not do as the rest did who are all supposed to understand their Trade Saturday morning the fourteenth of November we made a Mahometan Ship coming from Bassora where we had left her for all the strong South-East Wind which had constantly blown since the day before we weighed Anchor at nine of the Clock in the morning and made Sail with our Mizan Main-Top and Fore-Top-Sails Steering our Course East North-East Half an hour after nine the Wind getting about to South-West we let fly the Mizan Top-Sail and Fore-Sail and stood away East South-East At ten a Clock we tackt about and bore away West North-West and so kept beating to and again every half hour until three quarters of an hour after eleven that the Wind chopping in to South we came to an Anchor in three Fathom water we made short Tacks because of the little water we
Captain making use of the occasion failed not to tell the Merchants who waited for our Ship that she would not come this year which they believed to be true and went aboard with their mony on his Ship. All this proceeded from the fault of the Vikil that stayed behind at Bassora who detained the Ship in the Harbour a Fortnight longer than he should have done to get on Board some Goods which payed not above an hundred Piastres Freight and in the mean while he lost the Freight of a great deal of Goods and Mony and of many Passengers that were at Carek Congo and Comoron who embarked in the Ships which touched at these Ports before us When we had put a shoar all the Goods and the Man who was to take care of them we weighed Anchor three quarters of an hour after seven making all the Sail we could and Steering away South South-East with a very easie Wind about ten a Clock we were becalmed till midnight when there blew a little Gale at East but as easie as the former and with it we bore away South Next day about two or three a Clock in the morning we Sailed by the Isle of Rischer which was to our Larboard This Island is very near the main Land and makes a little Port which is called Bender-Rischer a days Journy from Bender-Regh and there is a Fort on it which belonged formerly to the Portuguese At break of day we made two Ships on Head of us one of which had put out from Carek five days before us Half an hour after seven we were off of the Isle of Coucher Coucher that was to our Larboard and is a pretty big Island At eight a Clock we got a Head of one of the Ships that had been before us the other which was at some distance put us into some apprehension for a few hours time for by his manner of working he gave us cause to think that he had a mind to be up with us and we were affraid he might be a Corsair but at length he Steered the same Course that we did About ten a Clock we were becalmed Three quarters after twelve the Wind being Southerly we Steered away East A quarter after two we Steered South-East Three quarters after three a Clock the Wind chopping about to South-West we stood away South South-East And thus the Wind being but very easie did nothing but chop and change until the evening that we were becalmed Wednesday the eighteenth of November towards day having an easie Gale from East South-East we Steered our Course South South-West about half an hour after nine it blowing hard from South we bore away West South-West About three quarters of an hour after ten the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East Half an hour after noon the Wind slackened much and about five a Clock in the evening we were becalmed About half an hour after nine we made a Sail to the Windward of us and another on Head but a great way before us we cast the Lead and found seventeen Fathom water At ten a Clock at night the Wind turned East South-East and blew pretty hard and we Steered away South South-West finding only thirteen Fathom water when we heaved the Lead After midnight we past Cape Verdestan which was to our Larboard This is a very dangerous Cape and one night several Portuguese Ships being Land-lockt there when they thought themselves far enough off of it were cast away We Sailed within three or four Leagues of it and when it was day saw it a Stern of us About half an hour after nine the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East About noon we saw several Taranquins Half an hour after one the Wind turned South South-West and we bore away South-East We were then off and on Cape Naban to our Larboard Cape Naban and made it but very dimly but coming up more and more towards it we made it very plain and saw along the Sea-side Rocky Hills which seemed to be very steep and at the foot of them a great many Palm-Trees We continued our Course off and on with these Rocks till five a Clock that we saw the end of them at least in this place they run far up into the Land and leave a very level Coast in this low Country is the Village called Naban which gives the name to the Cape Here we cast the Lead and found only seven Fathom water there is but little water all along that Coast and therefore we presently tackt and stood off to the West about ten a Clock at night the Wind turned North-East and we Steered away South South-East Friday the twentieth of November by break of day we made the three Ships that put out the same day with us from Bassora two of which were at a pretty good distance to the Starboard and the other very near a Head of us it was this last which some days before we had taken for a Corsair we made also to our Larboard the Land of Persia but at a great distance A quarter after nine a Clock in the morning having a very easie Gale from North North-West we put out our Main and Fore-Top-Galant-Sail and kept on our Course South South-East in a short time we left all the other Ships a Stern About noon the Wind blew much fresher and about three a Clock we stood away East South-East about five a Clock we took in our Top-Galant-Sails the Mizan and Mizan-Top-Sails because it would have been dangerous to have made so much way in the night-time that was now coming on for we might have run within Land considering that the Wind freshened more and more and we bore away South South-East that we might keep without the Isle of Lara If it had been day we would have Steered our Course betwixt the main Land and that Island but we durst not venture it in the night-time being safer to leave it to the Larboard we made account to have Sailed by that Island about midnight but we saw it not though we had all along light enough to discern a little of the main Land near to which it lyes We concluded then that we had past that Isle of Lara in the night-time but next day we found that we were out in our reckoning Nevertheless seeing we did not find out our mistake till after noon about six a Clock in the morning we Steered away East bearing in towards the Land for fear we might be cast too far to the Leeward of Congo About half an hour after six our Long-Boat that was fastened to the Stern filled full of water and sunk under the surface of the Sea we presently furled all Sails but the Sprit-Sail and three Seamen swam to the Boat to fasten another Rope to it which they held by the end then they went into it and we halled it to the Leeward side of the Ship and took out a little Anchor that was in her this being done our
where it is used for dying red and several Bags of Tobacco for neither the Indian nor Persian Tobacco is good for any thing and cannot be taken but with a Bottle full of water through which the smoak passes before it come at the Mouth so that they who carry good Tabacco to the Indies make a great profit of it we took on Board also several Chests of Schiras Wine and our Franks of the Ships Company carried some Bags of Nuts of which they hoped to make at least fifty per cent Bags of Nuts but you must take notice that this is a Commodity proper only for those who have not above twenty Piastres to lay out in Trading and pay no Freight such as the inferiour Officers or Sea-men for every Officer and Sea-man may put on Board so many Bags Freight free according to the Office he discharges in the Ship. Besides all these Goods there came on Board so many people with their Chests Jarrs and other luggage and such a quantity of Pullets Goats and Kids for in that Climate it is the best and wholesomest meat the Mutton there being good for nothing A great clutter in the Ship. that the Ship was thwackt full above and below Decks and so pestered that one had much a do to stir Many more Goods were offered to be put on Board but the Captain refused them having no more spare room With all this clutter and confusion we had the vexatious humour of the Captain to suffer who was so imperious and haughty The Captain a hasty man. that the least triffle offended him and he was continually quarrelling with one or other of the three Franks who were Officers in the Ship though they never gave him a word again when the fancy took him in the Head he would break out into such extravagancies of rage that he would fall a Cursing and abusing the first Man that stood in his way and sometimes he would challenge all the Ship to fight him when he came to Surrat adding that he was an Italian yes that he was He would suffer no body to say any thing to him and to hear him vapour there was no Man greater than he he had many debates with the Soubrescart at whom he had a great Pique as with the rest of the Armenians also sometimes he was so enflamed with rage that no less would serve his turn than to go a shoar and leave the Ship but then considering on it better he would burn her or run her against a Rock All the Armenians were to have their Heads broken nay more than that he was resolved to come some time or other and take all the Ships on those Seas and a hundred such extravagancies that blew away with the Wind the Pilot had no easie task of it for he could not endure that he should give his Opinion thinking it an indignity that any Man should seem to know more than himself When he was in all his rage no body made him answer no more than if he had been a Mad-man and indeed it was commonly the Shiras Wine or Congo Brandy that raised all this huff and din. When he was at a stand whom to fall soul on he turned to the Merchants that came last on Board who had their Goods in some place upon the Deck not knowing where else to put them he would tell them that he must have so much mony to suffer their Goods to lye in such a place or else threaten to throw them over Board if they told him that they had payed so much to the Soubrescart and that they knew not where to lye he shewed them little Cabins but he would have so much mony for the hire of them that no body would take them The truth is he was not altogether in the wrong as to this last point for they suffer not commonly Goods to lye upon the Deck because they hinder the working of the Ship and as for the Cabins it is usual to let them at a very dear rate in Indian Ships because of the many Passengers they have commonly on Board An hundred and sixteen souls on Board We were in all an hundred and sixteen on Board of whom about fourscore were Passengers all Armenians except the Sieur Manuel Mendez and his Company my Man and I. A Cabin five Foot long two Foot wide and three Foot high was let for a Toman and a half during the Voyage to Surrat and the Boat was let for fourscore Abassis It is the Custom that so soon as the Ship is out at Sea the Boat is halled in and lashed to Midships betwixt the Main-Mast and Fore-Mast Cabins belonging to the Captain In short all know that there are some Cabins which belong to the Captain as also all the Deck and those who would accommodate themselves there must pay for it especially when there is a Soubrescart on the Ship who takes the mony for the passage What a Passenger is furnished with for which you are allowed no more but Salt Water and Wood and these two last too are given out every day by Measure but you must hire a place to lye and be in from the Captain or some of the Officers of the Ship who have Cabins and have no share of the mony that you pay for your passage These things are all but triffles and have but little relation to the Voyage yet I thought it might not be a miss to mention them to shew how much Ships are commonly pestered in that passage for it is to be concluded that it is the same thing on Board all other Ships A Moorish or Mahometan Ship. nay in Moorish Ships the accommodation is worse where you have no Cabins and where Christians are used like Dogs only the noise is not so great there because commonly in them the Master has absolute command and is not so great a Fool as ours was The greatest inconvenience Men endure on Board these Ships is the want of water for though every one has no more allowed him but two measures a day to drink boil his Victuals water his Poultry c. each of which measures containing three Pints or there abouts and every Horse eight measures nevertheless it is many times wanting and then happy is he that hath a Jarr Care was taken to fill our two Cisterns and all our Casks with the best water that is drank at Congo and these Cisterns held sixteen Hogsheads a piece Monday the sixth of December a West Wind coming in with the New-Moon the Ship Masulipatan made Sail in the morning without firing a Gun and all day long such as were to go with us were coming on Board until five a Clock in the evening when we weighed made Sail and Steered away South We were then in five Fathom water and about half an hour after six we found six Fathom About seven a Clock the Wind veered about to North-West and we stood away South South-East Half an
those Spouts not that I thought the danger so very great being they were to the Leeward of us and in reality they wrought more admiration than fear in me Nevertheless there was a great consternation amongst our Company all Hands were at work and our Franks kept a heavy stir calling and asking whether any one had the Gospel of St. John they addressed themselves to me and I told them that I was a saying it and whilst they prayed me to continue one of them brought a Knife with a black handle asking if any body knew how to cut the Spouts I made answer that I had been informed of the way that some used to cut them but that I would not put it in practise because it was a bad and unlawful superstition he objected that the Spouts were so near that they would quickly fall upon the Ship and infallibly sink her and that if he knew the secret he would do it I endeavoured to reassure him and the rest from the fear which made him speak so telling them that the Spouts being to the Leeward there was not so much danger as they imagined And in short to put that thought quite out of their Heads I plainly told them that I neither would do that superstitious Art my self nor teach any body else how to do it and that for the Gospel of St. John I should willingly persist in saying it because it was a good and lawful means to procure protection from God Almighty And indeed I forbore not to say it till all the Spouts were dispersed which was not before one a Clock after noon or thereabouts A B C D E F G H I At length seeing the Air on all Hands full of tempestuous Clouds he ordered the Ships Head to be turned North-West which was very hard to be done for the Sea hindered the Ship from coming about though the Wind was then at East and we stood in to Quesomo near which about a quarter after two we came to an Anchor in seven and twenty Fathom water to the South of that Island so that we put back again above a League Then the Pilot was for bringing the Yards by the Board and lowering the Main-Top and Fore-Top-Masts fearing they might be damaged by the storm but the Captain would not give way to it During the rest of the day we had many flurries with continual showers of Rain but whilst these are blowing over I will enlarge a little in the description of the Spouts which I have only occasionally mentioned I am apt to believe that few have considered Spouts with so much attention A description of Spouts as I did those I have been speaking of and perhaps no man hath made the Observations which chance gave me the occasion of making I shall here give an account of them with that plainness I profess in the Relation of all my Travels thereby to render things mere sensible and easie to be comprehended The first we saw was to the Northward betwixt us and the Isle of Quesomo about a Musket shot from the Ship we were then Steering North-East The first thing we perceived in that place was the water boyling up about a Foot high above the surface of the Sea it looked whitish and over it there appeared somewhat like a blackish smoak but not very thick so that the whole looked very like a bundle of straw set on fire but only as yet smoaking see the Figure A this made a dull noise like to a Torrent running impetuously in a deep Valley but it was mingled with another somewhat more distinct noise resembling the loud hissing of Serpents or Geese A little after we saw as it were a dark puff of steam much like to a smoak which turning very fast tapers up to the Clouds and this puff seemed to be a Pipe as big as ones Finger see the Figure B the same noise still continuing Then the light put it out of our sight and we knew that that Spout was spent because the water boyled no more up so that it lasted not above half a quarter of an hour This being spent we saw another Southward of us which began in the same manner as the former did presently after there appeared another by the side of this Westward and then a third by the side of the second The most remote of the three might have been somewhat more than a Musket shot distant from us and all the three appeared like so many bundles of Straw a Foot and a half or two Foot high that yielded a great deal of smoak see the Figure A and made the very same noise that the first did Afterward we saw so many Pipes reaching down from the Clouds upon the places where the water bubbled and every one of these Pipes at the end which joyned to the Cloud was as large as the wide end of a Trumpet and resembled that I may explain my self intelligibly the Teat or Dug of a Beast streatched perpendicularly downwards by some weight see the Figure C. These Channels or Pipes seemed to be of a paleish white and I believe it was the water in these transparent Pipes which made them look white for in all appearance they were already formed before the water was suckt up in them as may be judged by what follows and when they were empty they appeared not in the same manner as a Glass-Pipe that is very clear being set in the light at some distance from our Eyes appears not unless it be full of some coloured liquor These Pipes were not streight but in some places crooked see the Figure D neither were they perpendicular on the contrary from the Clouds into which they seemed to be inserted to the places where they drew up the water they sloaped very Obliquely as you may see by the Figure D and what is more singular the Cloud to which the second of these three was fastened having been driven by the Wind the Pipe followed it without breaking or leaving the place where it drew up the water and passing behind the Pipe of the first they made for sometime a Saltier or the Figure of St. Andrews Cross see the Figure E in the beginning they were all three as big as ones Finger as I have already observed but in the progress the first of the three swelled to a considerable bigness I can say nothing of the other two for the last that was formed was almost as soon spent that to the South continued about a quarter of an hour but the first on the same side lasted somewhat longer and was that which put us into the greatest fear and whereof I have still somewhat more to say at first the Pipe of it was as big as ones Finger then it swelled as big as a mans Arm after that as big as ones Leg and at length as big as the Trunk of a good Tree as much as a Man can Fathom about see the Figure F. We could plainly see through that
they would be in danger of committing great errours at Sea because of the Tides and Currents that either drive the Log forwards or backwards and to be assured of the exactness of that account the Log must be fixed and immoveable But the English are not mistaken for besides that invention of Miles they dayly take an observation of the Suns height besides they heave out the Log at every change encrease or decrease of the Wind. The English reckon their Miles at five hundred Geometrical paces only that is five Foot to the pace Cape of Jasques Carpella The distance of Ormus from Cape Jasques About half an hour after six we were off of the Cape of Jasques anciently called Carpella it lyes in five and twenty degrees and a half North Latitude and in thirty Leagues from Ormus From that Cape the Land bears East and by South to the River of Indus At Cape Jasques about half a Mile or a Mile up on Land there is a kind of a sorry Fort with about forty Houses inhabited by a sort of very poor people who live on Barley and drink nothing but water and that very brackish too they have two Barks or Taranquins wherein they carry Wood to sell at Mascat That wretched place is called Jasques and depends on the Governour of Comron who sends whom he pleases to Command in it Thursday the seventeenth of December about six a Clock in the morning we clapt on our Main-Top-Galant-Sail and stood away East keeping in sight of the Land of Persia least the Wind might force us too far out to Sea which about eleven a Clock turned North-East At noon we found that from Sun setting the day before we had run threescore and one Miles or twenty Leagues and a third at the rate of three Miles a League At one of the Clock we bore away East and by South About four a Clock the Wind chopping about to West we bore away South-East and by East About half an hour after five we had East North-East of us a little low Isle close by the Persian shoar which in that place is very low About six a Clock we were off and on with that little Isle Friday the eighteenth of December in the morning we Steered our Course East and by South and at noon we found that from that time the day before we had made eight and thirty Leagues then the Wind got into North-West and we bore away South-East and by East that we might not run within Land which we obscurely made on Head a little to the Larboard Next morning the Wind abated and therefore we stood away East and by South At noon we found by our reckoning that we had in the last four and twenty hours made five and twenty Leagues and a half Then the Captain Mate and Gunner took an Observation of the Sums height with a Quadrant as well as they could for none of the three had much skill in it and the Maâ—e least of all all three agreed that we were in twenty four degrees thirty minutes Latitude About evening the Wind shifted into South-West but it was so easie that scarcely did it curl the water yet we Steered away South-East and by East that we might not be cast a shoar Sunday the twentieth of December it continued still calm weather so that at noon we found we had made but five Leagues way and our Men having taken their Observation found that we were still in the Latitude of twenty four degrees thirty minutes as we were the day before and that day every one was stinted to a measure and a half of water by day Towards the evening we made the Land of Persia and were but about five Leagues off of it which made us Steer away South-East and by South and stand out to Sea contrary to the opinion of the Mate who would have kept in by the Shoar giving this reason for it that we needed not fear to be cast too far to the Leeward as the Captain said because at that time the East Wind blows along the Coast of Sindy and besides being near Land in case it proved bad weather we might come to an Anchor and take in water which we were affraid we might come to want But the chief reason why he would have stood in to shoar and which he kept to himself was that he might know the place where he was for these are such an ignorant sort of Men that so soon as they lose sight of Land they know no more where they are The Captain made answer to all his reasons that it was bad advice to make us double our way without any necessity and that we had no reason to go look for East Winds having the Wind at South-West which though it was easie still kept us going on in our Course and would if it freshened bring us in a short time whither we were bound and in that case we needed not go look for water whereof as yet we had no want besides that by standing in to shoar we run a risk of meeting the Zinganes those Pirats I mentioned before whom no body desired to see and we put our selves also in danger of not being able to get out to Sea again for a long time if the Wind which we had lasted because we must wait for another Wind which perhaps might not offer in some weeks time In fine it behoved the Pilot to acquiesce to this judgment which was approved by all of us nay the Gunner was for having us steer our Course more to the Southward and he was not out in that for the Coast of Cape Jasques bears West and by North and East and by South and we Steered South-East and by East from which substracting a Point and a half which is the variation of the Needle and then our Course would prove to be East a Point and a half towards South and so we were but half a Point to the Windward of the Land of Persia and this Course carried us streight to the Gulf which is to the Northward of the Isle of Diu but the Captain would not change his Course fearing to meet with an East Wind which would have driven him too far above the place whither we were bound and therefore he would not bear away South till he was near the Isle of Diu. Monday the one and twentieth of December our Observers found at noon that we were in twenty four degrees twenty five minutes Latitude and that we had run ten Leagues Next day they found twenty four degrees five minutes Latitude and that we had run fourteen Leagues the last twenty four hours About four a Clock in the afternoon the Heaven was on all Hands overcast with thick black Clouds and at the same time there arose a small Gale from West North-West which presently drove the Clouds upon us we expected a strong Gust of Wind but we were excused for a shower of Rain which was indeed violent but lasted not without
water of the Sea and the first big enough to admit of Ships being besides defended by several stone-Bastions built very high upon a Rock which are mounted with many great Guns that play on all Hands so that it will be no easie task to take it unless being unprovided of Victuals an Enemy might attempt to starve it it hath no water but Cistern-water yet every House has its Cistern There is a good Port in Diu and heretofore all the Trade of the Indies was managed there and at Chaoul Chaoul belonging to the Portuguese which is another place belonging to the Portuguese but the Dutch so ordered matters that it was wholly removed to Surrat where it is at present About seven a Clock we found by observing the Land that we had made eight Leagues since the day before at noon for you must know that so soon as they make Land they heave the Log no more to know the Ships running because it is well enough known by the Land. At eight a Clock the Wind turned East and by North and we stood away South-East and by South About eleven a Clock it turned East South-East and we Steered away South That day we took no Observation because the Land interposed betwixt us and the Horizon nevertheless we lost sight of it immediately after noon and about six a Clock we tackt about and stood North-East and by East About seven a Clock we tackt again About eight a Clock we were becalmed Half an hour after nine we tackt again a third time and at ten a Clock having cast the Lead we had thirty eight Fathom water About eleven a Clock we had a good Wind at North North-East which made us bear away East Next day the second of January about five a Clock in the morning the Wind having veered about to North-East we Steered our Course East South East At break of day having furled our Main-Top-Sail we put out our Colours and waited for the Masulipatan which was close up with us he presently also shewed his Colours and within a quarter of an hour after sheered a long on head of us we hailed one another but could have no discourse together because he had stood too much on head and in a trice fell off from us This was the Hollanders fault for he was vexed that Master Manuel Mendez would not Sail with him though he had invited him and besides he was angry that we should have come up with him which was the reason he would have no Conversation with us though ever since the day before he might many times have born up near enough to have Discoursed with us when we were upon our tacks Half an hour after six we sounded and found six and twenty Fathom water About seven a Clock the Wind came in to East North-East and we Steered South-East About eight a Clock it blew much fresher from East and by North which convincing us that we were off of the mouth of the Bay of Cambaya The mouth of the Bay of Cambaya we steered away South-East and by South and about nine a Clock the Wind turning due East we stood away South South East We could have no Observation that day because of the motion of the Ship and must rest satisfied to know that from noon to noon we had made fifteen Leagues About five a Clock the Captain of the Musulipatan being in a better humour bore up with us and after the Selam and three or four Cups drunk to our good Voyage he asked us if we would go in Consort and we agreed to it About six a Clock the Wind ceased and left us becalmed About half an hour after ten we had a small Gale from North North East which made us bear away East At midnight the Wind veering in to North-East we steered away East South-East Then we heaved the Lead and found forty Fathom water Sunday morning the third of January we perceived several peices of Wood floating upon the water and some Snakes bigger than ones Thumb four or five Foot long and of a blackish colour and about noon we saw the Sea water look whitish these were so many signs that we were near the Indian shoar At noon the Gunner took an Observation but how right I cannot tell because of the Ships great Travel and he found that we were in the Latitude of nineteen degrees fifty four minutes but we could not tell how much we had run for in twenty four hours time we had not heaved the Log knowing that we were near Land we only cast the Lead and found thirty three Fathom water having cast it out again at three a Clock in the afternoon we had no more but thirty Fathom About five a Clock the Wind turned East North East and we stood away South-East Half an hour after five we had again thirty three Fathom water About eight a Clock the Wind was got into East and by North and we steered South-East and by South and had still thirty three Fathom water About half an hour after ten the Wind turned North and by East a brisk Gale and we bore away East and by North. At midnight we had twenty five Fathom water Monday the fourth of January half an hour after five in the morning we had the Wind at North-East and steered away East South-East but this hot Wind blew so fresh that we were obliged to furl our Main-Top-Sail and then we had twenty five Fathom water A North-East Wind blows commonly on that Coast all the Moon of December and the beginning of the Moon of January and after it comes the North-West Wind. About eleven a Clock the Wind flackning a little we unfurled our Main-Top-Sail again At noon the Gunner found that we were in the Latitude of nineteen degrees twenty four minutes and having cast the Lead we had two and twenty Fathom water and at five a Clock the same Half an hour after five the Wind turning North North-East we steered away East At nine a Clock we had only twenty Fathom water and at midnight but eighteen Tuesday the fifth of January after midnight the Wind was at North-East and by East but a very easie Gale and we bore away South-East and by East At five a Clock in the morning we had but four Fathom water At break of day we made the Land of Bassaim on Head which was very near us and we had made it the day before if it had not been hazy upon the Land. Bassaim Bassaim is a Town held by the Portuguese lying about the nineteenth degree and a half of North Latitude There are very high Mountains at this place At six a Clock we tacked and stood away North and by East At two a Clock in the afternoon we came to an Anchor in fourteen Fathom water because it began to Ebb and it is the custom for Ships that put into the Bay of Cambaya when they are near shoar to Tide it only up unless they have the
with Tiles made half round and half an Inch thick but ill burnt so that they look still white when they are used and do not last and it is for that reason that the Bricklayers lay them double and make them to keep whole Canes which they call Bambous serve for Laths to fasten the Tiles to Bambous and the Carpenters work which supports all this is only made of pieces of round Timber Such Houses as these are for the Rich but those the meaner sort of People live in are made of Canes and covered with the branches of Palm-trees The time to Build in Now it is better building in the Indies in the time of Rain than in fair weather because the heat is so great and the force of the Sun so violent when the Heavens are clear that every thing dries before it be consolidate and cracks and chinks in a trice whereas Rain tempers that heat and hindering the Operation of the Sun the Mason-work has time to dry When it rains the Work-men have no more to do but to cover their Work with Wax-cloath but in dry weather there is no remedy all that can be done is to lay wet Tiles upon the Work as fast as they have made an end of it but they dry so soon The Streets of Surrat that they give but little help The Streets of Surrat are large and even but they are not paved and there is no considerable publick Building within the Precinct of the Town The Meat at Surrat The Christians and Mahometans there eat commonly Cow-beef not only because it is better than the Flesh of Oxen but also because the Oxen are employed in Plowing the Land and carrying all Loads The Mutton that is eaten there is pretty good but besides that they have Pullets Chickens Pidgeons Pigs and all sorts of wild Fowl. They make use of the Oyl of Cnicus silvestris Oyles at Surrat or wild Saffron with their Food it is the best in the Indies and that of Sesamum which is common also is not so good Grapes at Surrat They eat Graps in Surrat from the beginning of February to the end of April but they have no very good taste Some think that the reason of that is because they suffer them not to ripen enough Nevertheless the Dutch who let them hang on the Vine as long as they can make a Wine of them which is so eager that it cannot be drunk without Sugar The white Grapes are big and fair to the Eye and they are brought to Surrat from a little Town called Naapoura Naapoura a Town in the Province of Balagate and four days Journey from Surrat The strong-Strong-water of this Country is no better than the Wine that which is commonly drunk is made of Jagre or black Sugar put into Water with the bark of the tree Baboul to give it some force and then all are Distilled together They make a strong-Strong-water also of Tary which they Distil But these strong-Strong-waters are nothing so good as our Brandy no more than those they draw from Rice Vinegar at Surrat Sugar and Dates The Vinegar they use is also made of Jagre infused in Water There are some that put Spoilt-raisins in it when they have any but to make it better they mingle Tary with it and set it for several days in the Sun. CHAP. VIII Of Tary TAry is a liquor that they drink with pleasure in the Indies Tary It is drawn from two sorts of Palm-trees to wit from that which they call Cadgiour and from that which bears the Coco the best is got from the Cadgiour Cadgiour They who draw it gird their Loyns with a thick Leather-girdle wherewith they embrace the trunk of the Tree that they may climb up without a Ladder and when they are come to that part of the Tree from which they would draw the Tary they make an incision one Inch deep and three Inches wide with a pretty heavy Iron-Chizel so that the hole enters in to the pith of the Cadgiour which is white At the same time they fasten an earthen Pitcher half a Foot below the hole and this Pot having the back part a little raised receives the Liquor which continually drops into it whil'st they cover it with Briars or Palm branches least the birds should come and drink it Then they come down and climb not up the Tree again till they perceive that the Pitcher is full and then they empty the Tary into another Pot fastened to their girdle That kind of Palm-tree bears no Dates when they draw Tary from it but when they draw none it yields wild Dates They take another course in drawing that Liquor from the Coco-tree The Coco-tree They make no hole but only cut the lower branches to a Foot length They fasten Pots to the end of them and the Tary Distils into the Vessels Seeing the Operation I have been speaking of is but once a year performed on these Palm-trees they whose Trade it is to fell Tary have a prodigious number of these Trees and there are a great many Merchants that Farm them The best Tary is drawn in the Night-time and they who would use it with pleasure ought to drink of that because not being heated by the Sun it is of an acide sweetness which leaves in the Mouth the flavour of a Chestnut which is very agreable That which is drawn in the day-time is eager and most commonly made Vinegar of because it easily corrupts and decays That kind of Palm or Coco-tree is fit for many other uses Coco for of its trunk they make Masts and Anchors nay and the hulks of Ships also and of its bark Sails and Cables The Fruit that springs from its feathered branches is as big as an ordinary Melon and contains a very wholesome Juice which hath the colour and taste of Whitewine The Dutch have a great many of these Coco-trees in Batavia which turn to great profit to them The Revenue alone of those which belong to the Company near the Town with the imposition on every Stand of those who sell any thing in the Market-place is sufficient to pay their Garison But they are so rigorous in exacting it that if any one leave his Stand to take a minutes refreshment in the Rain or for any other necessary occasion though he immediately come back yet must he pay a second time if he will challenge the same Stand. At Surrat are sold all sorts of Stuffs and Cotton-cloaths that are made in the Indies all the Commodities of Europe nay and of China also Commodities of Surrat as Purceline Cabinets and Coffers adorned with Torqueises Agats Cornelians Ivory and other sorts of embellishments There are Diamonds Rubies Pearls and all the other pretious Stones which are found in the East to be sold there also Musk Amber Myrrh Incense Manna Sal-Armoniac Quick-Silver Lac Indigo the Root Roenas for dying Red and all sorts of Spices
had carried with her a great deal of Money Jewels and rich Stuffs to make Presents at Mecha Medina Grand Cheik and other places resolving to be very magnificent In fine Hugo having sufficiently tortured the Master Carpenter and the Carpenters Son whom he threatned to kill in his Fathers presence made them bring out what was in the Sea and seized it as he did the rest of the Cargoe This Action had made so much noise in the Indies that Hugo who was there taken for a French-man was abominated and by consequenee all French-men for his sake The Governour talked high of that Corsar to Father Ambrose who had much adoe to perswade him that he was not a French-man because he came with French Colours and for certain had a great many Frenchmen on Board However after much Discourse he believed him but for all that excused not the French from the Action wherein they had assisted him and still maintained that nothing but a design of Robbing had brought them into that Countrey The Father denied that it was their design but that they only came with Lambert Hugo to revenge an affront done to some French in Aden a Town of Arabia the Happy Aden lying in the eleventh Degree of Latitude and thereupon he told him what was done in that Town to the French some years before How that a Pinnace of Monsieur de la Meilleraye being obliged in a storm to separate from her Man of War and to put into Aden The Sunnis by force and unparalell'd impietie had caused all those that came ashore to be Circumcised though at first they received them well and promised to treat them as Friends That notwithstanding that the King of France as well as the Indians had disapproved the Action of the Corsar and French who were on Board of him because they had put his Subjects into bad Reputation by the Artifice of the Enemies of France but that he was resolved to dispell that bad Reputation by settling a Company to trade to the Indies with express Orders to exercise no Acts of Hostility there The French justified by Father Ambrose The Governour being satisfied with the Answer of Father Ambrose prayed him to write down in the Persian Language all that he had told him and so soon as he had done so he sent it to Court. The Great Mogul having had it read to him in the Divan was fully satisfied therewith as well as his Ministers of State and then all desired the coming of the French Ships The truth is that Governour shewed extrordinary kindness to the Sieurs de la Boullaye and Beber Envoys from the French Company the Companies Envoys and told them that on the Testimony of Father Ambrose he would do them all the service he could The English President an old Friend of that Fathers shewed them also all the Honour he could having sent his Coach and Servants to receive them and he assured the Father that they might command any thing he had Thus the Capucin by the Credit that he had acquired in the Indies dispersed the bad reports which the Enemies of France had raised against the French. CHAP. XII Of the Marriage of the Governour of the Town 's Daughter The marriage of a great Lord at Surrat WHil'st I was at Surrat the Governour of the Town married his Daughter to the Son of an Omra who came thither for that end That young Lord made his Trumpets Tymbals and Drums play publickly during the space of twelve or fourteen days to entertain the People and publish his Marriage upon a Wednesday which was appointed for the Ceremony of the Wedding The Ceremonies of the Wedding he made the usual Cavalcade about eight of the Clock at Night first marched his Standards which were followed by several hundreds of Men carrying Torches and these Torches were made of Bambous or Canes at the end whereof there was an Iron Candlestick containing Rolls of oyled Cloath made like Sausages Amongst these Torch-lights there were two hundred Men and Women little Boys and little Girls who had each of them upon their Head a little Hurdle of Ozier-Twigs The Cavalcade of the Wedding on which were five little Earthen Cruces that served for Candlesticks to so many Wax-Candles and all these People were accompanied with a great many others some carrying in Baskets Rolls of Cloath and Oyl to supply the Flamboys and others Candles The Trumpets came after the Flamboy-carriers and these were followed by publick Dancing-women sitting in two Machins made like Bedstids without Posts in the manner of Palanquins which several Men carried on their Shoulders They sung and play'd on their Cymbals intermingled with Plates and flat thin pieces of Copper which they struck one against another and made a very clear sound but unpleasant if compared with the sound of our Instruments Next came six pretty handsome led Horses with Cloath-Saddles wrought with Gold-thread The Bridegroom having his Face covered with a Gold-Fringe which hung down from a kind of Mitre that he wore on his Head followed on Horse-back and after came twelve Horse-men who had behind them two great Elephants and two Camels which carried each two Men playing on Tymbals and besides these Men each Elephant had his Guide sitting upon his Neck This Cavalcade having for the space of two hours marched through the Town passed at length before the Governours House where they continued as they had done all along the Streets where the Cavalcade went to throw Fire-works for some time and then the Bridegroom retired Sometime after Bonefires Bonefires prepared on the River-side before the Governours House were kindled and on the Water before the Castle there were six Barks full of Lamps burning in tires about half an hour after ten these Barks drew near the House the better to light the River And at the same time on the side of Renelle Renelle a Town there were Men that put Candles upon the Water which floating gently without going out were by an Ebbing-Tide carried towards the Sea. Renelle is an old Town about a quarter of a League distant from Surrat It stands on the other side of the Tapty and though it daily fall into ruin yet the Dutch have a very good Magazin there There were five little artificial Towers upon the Water-side full of Fire-lances and Squibs which were set on fire one after another but seeing the Indian Squibs make no noise no more than their Fire-lances all they did was to turn violently about and dart a great many streaks of Fire into the Air some streight up like Water-works and others obliquely representing the branches of a Tree of Fire They put fire next to a Machine which seemed to be a blew Tree when it was on fire because there was a great deal of Brimstone in the Fire-work After that upon a long Bar of Iron fixed in the ground they placed a great many artificial Wheels which play'd one after
makes it accounted the strongest place belonging to the Mogul It is an Hill of an oval Figure A Hill in Doltabad fortified which the Town encompasses on all sides strongly Fortified and having a Wall of a natural smooth Rock that environs it at the bottom with a good Citidel on the top whereon the Kings Palace stands This is all I could see from the place where I was without the Town But I learnt afterwards from a Frenchman who had lived two years therein that besides the Citadel there are three other Forts in the Place at the foot of the Hill Barcot Marcot Calacot of which one is called Barcot the other Marcot and the third Calacot The word Cot in Indian signifies a Fort and by reason of all these Fortifications the Indians think that place Impregnable I spent two hours and a half in coming from Doltabad to Aurangeabad which are but two Leagues and a half distant This was the third time that I crossed this last Town and about an hour after I came to the place where my company Encamped They waited only for a Billet from the Customer to be gone but it could not be had that day because it was Friday and the Customer who was a Mahometan observed that day with great exactness It is threescore Leagues and more from Aurangeabad to Calvar Calvar which is the last Bourg or Village belonging to the Mogul on the Frontiers of the Kingdom of Golconda We found eight Towns great and small before we came to Calvar to wit Ambar Achty Lasana Nander Lisa Dantapour Indour Condelvaly and Indelvay and that Countrey is so Populous that we continually met with Bourgs and Villages on our way An hour and an halfs march from Aurangeabad we encamped under the biggest War-tree A fair War. that I have seen in the Indies It is exceedingly high hath some branches ten Fathom long and the circumference of it is above three hundred of my paces The branches of it are so loaded with Pigeons that it were an easie matter to fill a great many Pigeon-houses with them if one durst take them but that is forbidden because they are preserved for the Prince's pleasure There is a Pagod under that Tree and many Tombs and hard by a Garden planted with Citron-trees We saw a stately Tanquie at the Town of Ambar it is square Ambar and on three sides faced with Free-stone with fair steps to go down to it In the middle of the fourth side there is a Divan that runs out into the Water about two Fathom it is covered with Stone and supported by sixteen Pillars a Fathom high It stands at the foot of a fair House from whence they go down into that Divan by two fine pair of Stairs at the sides of it there to take the Air and Divert themselves Near the Divan there is a little Pagod under Ground which receives day-light by the door and by a square airie and many Devout People are there because of the convenience of the Water On the Road we met with a great many Troopers who were going to Aurangeabad where there was a Rendez-vous appointed for an Army which was to march against Viziapour Five Leagues from the Town of Nander near a Village called Patoda Nander Extraordinary feats of Agility of Body we had the Diversion of seeing Feats of Agility of Body There was a great concourse of People and we had a place given us on an Eminence under the shade of a great Tree from whence we might easily see all the Plays The Tumblers did all that the Rope-dancers of Europe do and much more These People are a supple as an Eel they 'll turn their whole body into a Bowl and then others rowl them with the hand The finest tricks were performed by a Girl of thirteen or fourteen years of Age who Played for the space of two hours and more This amongst other Feats of Agility which she did appeared to me extreamly difficult She sat down upon the Ground holding cross-ways in her Mouth a long cutting Sword with the right Hand she took hold of her left Foot brought it up to her Breast then to her left side and without letting go that Foot she put her Head underneath her right Arm and at the same time brought her Foot down along the small of her Back Then she made it pass under her sitting and over the right Leg four or five times without resting being always in danger of cutting her Arm or Leg with the edge of the Sword And she did the same thing with the left Hand and right Foot. Whil'st she was shewing of that trick they dug a hole in the Ground two foot deep which they filled with Water So soon as the Girl had rested a little they threw into the hole a little Hook made like a Clasp for her to fetch out with her Nose without touching it with her Hands She put her two Feet on the sides of the Pit and turned her self backwards upon her two Hands which she placed on the sides of the hole where her Feet had stood Then she dived headlong into the Water to search after the Hook with her Nose The first time she missed it but the pit being filled full of Water again she plunged backwards into it a second time and upholding her self only with the left hand she gave a sign with the right hand that she had found what she sought for and she raised her self again with the Clasp at her Nose Then a Man took this Girl and setting her upon his Head ran at full speed through the place she in the mean time not tottering in the least Setting her down he took a large Earthen pot like to those round Pitchers that the Indian Maids make use to draw Water in and put it upon his Head with the mouth upwards The Girl got on the top of it and he carried her about the place with the same security as he had done without the Pot which he did twice more having put the Pot with the mouth downwards once and then with the mouth side-ways The same trick he shewed in a Bason wherein he turned the Pot three different ways Then he took the Bason and turned its bottom up upon his Head with the Pitcher over it The Girl shewed the same tricks upon it And at length having put into the Bason upon his Head a little wooden Truncheon a foot high and as big as ones Arm he caused the Girl to be set upright upon that Stake and carried her about as before sometimes she only stood upon one Foot taking the other in her Hand and sometimes she hurkled down upon her Heels nay and sat down though the carrier in the mean time went on as formerly Then the Man took the Bason from under the Stake and put it on the top of it where the Girl likewise appeared Then changeing the Play he put into the Bason four Pins or little Stakes of
of Sivagy who made inrodes to the very Town We Encamped beyond Indelvai and next day being the six and twentieth of March having after four hours March passed over the pleasantest Hills in the World by reason of the different kinds of Trees that cover them we arrived at Calvar which is the last Village of the Moguls Countrey It is distant from Aurangeabad about fourscore and three Leagues which we Travelled in a fortnights time The rest of the Road to Golconda I shall describe when I treat of that Kingdom The way from Aurangeabad that I have been now speaking of is diversified by Hills and Plains All the Plains are good Ground some sow'd with Rice and the rest planted with Cotton-trees Tamarins Wars Cadjours Manguiers Quesous and others and all Watered with several Rivers which turn and wind every way and with Tanquies also out of which they draw the Water by Oxen And I saw one of these Reservatories at Dentapour which is a Musquet-shot over and seven or eight hundred Geometrical paces long We were incommoded during our whole Journey almost with Lightenings Whirle-winds Rains and Hail-stones some as big as a Pullets Egg Very large Hail-stones The Moguls Horse against Viziapour and when we were troubled with none of these we heard dull Thunderings that lasted whole Days and Nights We met every where Troops of Horse designed against Viziapour the King whereof refused to send the Great Mogul the Tribute which he used to pay to him To conclude with this Province it is to be observed that all the Rocks and Mountains I have mentioned are only dependances of that Mountain which is called Balagate The Mountain of Balagate which according to the Indian Geographers divides India into the two parts of North and South as that of Guate according to the same Geographers environs it almost on all hands CHAP. XLVII Of the Province of Telenga The Province of Telenga TElenga was heretofore the principal Province of Decan and reached as far as the Portuguese Lands towards Goa Viziapour being the Capital City thereof But since the Mogul became Master of the Northern places of this Countrey Calion and of the Towns of Beder and Calion it hath been divided betwixt him and the King of Decan who is only called King of Viziapour and it is reckoned amongst the Provinces of Indostan which obey the Great Mogul The borders of Telenga It is bordered on the East by the Kingdom of Golconda on Maslipatan side on the West by the Province of Baglana and Viziapour on the North by Balagate and on the South by Bisnagar The Capital City of this Province is at present Beder which belonged to Balagate when it had Kings and it hath sometime belonged to Decan Beder is a great Town Beder it is encompassed with Brick-Walls which have Battlements and at certain distances Towers they are mounted with great Cannon some whereof have the mouth three Foot wide Great Guns The Garison of Beder There is commonly in this place a Garison of Three thousand Men half Horse and half Foot with Seven hundred Gunners the Garison is kept in good order because of the importance of the place against Decam and that they are always afraid of a surprize The Governour lodges in a Castle without the Town it is a rich Government and he who commanded in it when I was there was Brother-in-law to King Chagean Auran Zebs Father but having since desired the Government of Brampour which is worth more he had it because in the last War that Governour had made an Army of the King of Viziapours raise the Siege from before Beder Some time after I met the new Governour upon the Road to Beder The Train of the Governour of Beder who was a Persian of a good aspect and pretty well stricken in years he was carried in a Palanquin amidst Five hundred Horse-men well mounted and cloathed before whom marched several Men on foot carrying blew Banners charged with flames of Gold and after them came seven Elephants The Governours Palanquin was followed with several others full of Women and covered with red Searge and there were two little Children in one that was open The Bambous of all these Palanquins were covered with Plates of Silver chamfered after them came many Chariots full of Women two of which were drawn by white Oxen almost six Foot high and last of all came the Waggons with the Baggage The Great Moguls Revenue in Telenga and several Camels guarded by Troopers This Province of Telenga is worth above Ten millions a Year to the Great Mogul No where are the Gentiles more Superstitious than here they have a a great many Pagods with Figures of Monsters that can excite nothing but Horror instead of Devotion unless in those who are deluded with the Religion These Idolaters use frequent Washings Men The washings of the Gentiles Women and Children go to the River as soon as they are out of Bed and the rich have Water brought them to wash in When Women lose their Husbands they are conducted thither by their Friends who comfort them and they who are brought to Bed use the same custom almost as soon as they are delivered of their Children and indeed there is no Countrey where Women are so easily brought to Bed when they come out of the Water a Bramen dawbs their Forehead with a Composition made of Saffron and the Powder of white Sawnders dissolved in Water then they return home where they eat a slight Breakfast and seeing they must never eat unless they be washed some return to the Tanquie or River about noon and others perform their Ablutions at home before they go to Dinner As they have a special care not to eat any thing but what is dressed by a Gentile of their Caste so they seldom eat any where but at home The feeding of the Gentiles and commonly they dress their Victuals themselves buying their Flower Rice and such other Provisions in the Shops of the Banians for they 'll not buy any where else These Banians as well as the Bramens and Courmis feed on Butter Pulse The Diet of some Castes Herbs Sugar and Fruit they eat neither Fish nor Flesh and drink nothing but Water wherein they put Coffee and Tea they use no Dishes for fear some body of another Religion or Tribe may have made use of the Dish out of which they might eat and to supply that they put their Victuals into large Leaves of Trees which they throw away when they are empty nay there are some of them who eat alone and will not suffer neither their Wives nor Children at Table with them Nevertheless I was informed The Bramens sometimes eat Hogs Flesh that in that Countrey one certain day of the year the Bramens eat Hogs Flesh but they do it privately for fear of Scandal because the Rules of their Sect enjoyn them so to do and I believe it
is the same all over the Indies A Cow of Paste There is another day of rejoycing whereon they make a Cow of Paste which they fill full of Honey and then make a fashion of killing it and break it to pieces the Honey which distills on all sides represents the Blood of the Cow and they eat the Paste instead of the Flesh I could not learn the Original of that Ceremony as for the Catris or Raspoutes except that they eat no Pullets they as the rest of the inferiour Castes do make use of all kinds of Fish and Flesh unless it be the Cow which they all have in veneration The Gentiles Fasting The Gentiles generally are great Fasters and none of them let a fortnight pass over without mortifying themselves by Abstinence and then they Fast four and twenty hours but that is but the ordinary Fast for there are a great many Gentiles and especially Women who will Fast six or seven days and they say there are some that will Fast a whole month without eating any more than a handful of Rice a day and others that will eat nothing at all Criata a Root only drink Water in which they boyl a Root called Criata which grows towards Cambaye and is good against many distempers it makes the Water bitter and strengthens the Stomach When a Woman is at the end of one of these long Fasts the Bramen her director goes with his companions to the House of the penitent beats a Drum there and having permitted her to eat returns home again There are such Fasts many times among the Vartias the Sogues and other religious Gentiles of that Province and they accompany them with several other mortifications Religious Communities Now I have mentioned these Religious Gentiles I would have it observed that in all the Indies there is no religious Community amongst the Gentiles belonging particularly to one Caste or Tribe For Example There is not any whereinto none are admitted but Bramens or Raspoutes if there be a convent of Sogues any where the Community will consist of Bramens Raspoutes Comris Banians and other Gentiles and it is the same in a convent of Vartias or a company of Faquirs I have already treated of both these as occasion offered CHAP. XLVIII Of the Province of Baglana and of the Marriages of the Gentiles The yearly Revenue of Baglana THe Province of Baglana is neither so large nor do's it yield so great a Revenue as the other nineteen for it pays the Great Mogul a year but Seven hundred and fifty thousand French Livres it is bordered by the Countrey of Telenga Guzerat Balagate and the Mountains of Sivagi the Capital Town of it is called Mouler Mouler The Portuguese border on the Moguls Countrey Daman Before the Moguls this Province was also of Decan and at present it belongs to Mogolistan by it the Portuguese border upon the Moguls Countrey and their Territories begin in the Countrey of Daman The Town of Daman that belongs to them is one and twenty Leagues from Surrat which is commonly Travelled in three days It is indifferently big fortified with good Walls and an excellent Citadel the Streets of it are fair and large and the Churches and Houses built of a white Stone which makes it a pleasant Town There are several Convents of Religious Christians in it it depends on Goa as the other Portuguese Towns do especially as to Spirituals and the Bishop keeps a Vicar General there It lies at the entry of the Gulf of Cambaye and the Portuguese have Slave there of both Sexes Portuguese Slaves which work and procreate only for their Masters to whom the Children belong to be disposed of at their pleasure from Daman to Bassaim it is eighteen Leagues Bassaim This last Town lies in the height of about nineteen Degrees and a half upon the Sea being Walled round and almost as big as Daman it hath Churches and a College of Jesuits as Daman hath From Bassaim to Bombaim it is six Leagues Bombaim made over to the English this last Town hath a good Port and was by the Portuguese made over to the English upon the Marriage of the Infanta of Portugal with the King of England in the year 1662 it is six Leagues more from Bombaim to Chaoul Chaoul The Port of Chaoul is difficult to enter but very safe and secure from all foul weather it is a good Town and defended by a strong Citadel upon the top of a Hill called by the Europeans Il Morro di Ciaul it was taken by the Portuguese Il Morro di Ciaul in the year One thousand five hundred and seven From Chaoul to Dabul it is eighteen good Leagues Dabul Dabul is an ancient Town in the Latitude of seventeen degrees and a half it has its Water from a Hill hard by and the Houses of it are low it being but weakly fortified I am told Sivagi hath seized it notwithstanding its Castle as also Rajapour Vingourla Rasigar Rajapour Vingourlâ— Rasigar Towns. and some other places upon that coast of Decan It is almost fifty Leagues from Dabul to Goa which is in Viziapour As all the People of that coast are much given to Sea-faring so the Gentiles offer many times Sacrifices to the Sea Sacrifice to the Sea. especially when any of their Kindred or Friends are abroad upon a Voyage Once I saw that kind of Sacricrifice a Woman carried in her hands a Vessel made of Straw about three Foot long it was covered with a Vail three Men playing upon the Pipe and Drum accompanied her and two others had each on their head a Basket full of Meat and Fruits being come to the Sea-side they threw into the Sea the Vessel of Straw after they had made some Prayers and left the Meat they brought with them upon the Shoar that the poor and others might come and eat it I have seen the same Sacrifice performed by Mahometans The Gentiles offer another at the end of September Opening of the Sea. and that they call to open the Sea because no body can Sail upon their Seas from May till that time but that Sacrifice is performed with no great Ceremonies they only throw Coco's into the Sea and every one throws one The only thing in that Action that is pleasant is to see all the young Boys leap into the Water to catch the Coco's and whilst they strive to have and keep them shew a hundred tricks and feats of Agility In this Province as in the rest of Decan the Indians Marry their Children very young The Marriage of Children and make them Cohabit much sooner than they do in many places of the Indies they Celebrate Matrimony at the Age of four five or six Years and suffer them to Bed together when the Husband is ten Years old and the Wife eight but the Women who have Children so young soon leave off Child-bearing and commonly do not conceive