as being weaker and therefore had more occasion for the wind but the Negroes thought they had been gone to Bowre and dispatch a Canoe to give the King of Boulom the Alarum which was persued by the Enemy who fired into their Boat and at length took them they were two young Slaves belonging to the Portugals who lived with the English Factor but would confess nothing of their Message The English in the House observing what passed fired at them with their Cannon and three of their Bullets fell within ten paces of the Boat The Hollanders put themselves out of the reach of their Guns for the present and came to an Anchor to wait the Tyde About an hour after two Moores belonging to one of the Neighbour Islands made up directly to them in a Canoe and came within Pistol-shot but would not be persuaded aboard the Dutch firing on them they fled and stooping for fear of their fire seemed no higher than Catts the English in the interim played upon them though they saw they were out of their reach to shew the Natives they had undertaken their Defence and desired their Friendship The Tyde coming in the Dutch retreated to their Ship wherein they found several Moores and Portugals and among them the King of Bouloms Son called Bembo about 35 years old well proportioned and abating his Blackness a very handsom Man he was a very great Friend of Abrahams the English Factor and when he understood he was a Prisoner he instantly interceded for his Ransom and on Monday noon came on board again with an hundred Elephants Teeth weighing nine hundred pound weight and two Civet Catts alive upon the delivery whereof Abraham was dismist the Hollanders giving him a little Barrel of Strong-Waters a Roll of Tobacco a Cheese and a Salvo of three Guns In the River of Madre-Bomba the English have likewise a House or Factory not inferiour to that of Siorra-Leone The Kingdom of Boulom wherein it seated is principally inclined to the English and Portugals of which last there are several that inhabit there Let us now consider the Religion of the Negro's if we may so call it which is generally Paganism they greet the New Moon with horrible roarings and strange gestures of Adoration they offer their Sacrifices in the Woods before great hollow Trees wherein their Idols are placed yet this they do rather out of Custom than Zeal using neither Form nor Method in their Devotions every one making a God after his own fancy some seeming to incline to Mahumatism others to Judaism and many of them are Roman Catholicks yet divers affirm that God who giveth all things and can do what he pleaseth and causes Thunders Lightning Rain and Wind is Omnipotent and needs neither praying to nor to be set forth in so mysterious a way as that of the Trinity They believe that when People die they go into another World and will have occasion for many of the same things they use here and therefore put part of their Housholdstuff into the Grave with the dead Corps and if they lose any thing imagine their Friends in the other World had need of it and have taken it away They have no Letters nor Books yet keep Tuesday for a Sabbath forbearing then their Fishing and Husbandry and the Palm Wine which is gotten that day must not be sold but is offered to the King who bestows it on his Courtiers to drink at night On this Day in the midst of the Market-place they place a Table on four Pillars about three yards high whose flat cover is made of Straw and Reeds woven together upon which they place many Straw Rings called Fetisso's or Gods and within them set Wheat Water Oil for their God whom they imagine devours it Their Priest they call Fetissero who every Festival-day placeth a Seat upon that Table and sitting thereon preacheth to the People but what his Doctrine is the Europeans cannot understand After this the Women offer him their Infants whom he sprinkles with Water wherein a live Snake swims wherewith he likewise besprinkles the Table and then uttering certain words very loud and stroking the Children with some kind of Colours as if giving them his Blessing he himself drinks of that Water the People clapping their hands and crying I ou I ou and so he dismisseth this devout Assembly Many wear such Rings next their Bodies to preserve them from the mischiefs their angry God might inflict upon them in honour of whom they daub themselves with a kind of Chalky Earth which is their Morning Mattens At their eating the first bit and the first draught is consecrated to their Fetisso wherewith they besprinkle it If Fishermen have not a good Draught they present a piece of Gold to the Priest to reconcile them to their frowning Saint who with his Wives makes a kind of Procession through the Streets smiting his Breast and clapping his Hands with a mighty noise till he come to the Shore where they cut down boughs from certain Trees and hang them on their Necks playing on a Timbrel Then the Priest turns to his Wives and expostulates with them and throws Wheat and other things into the Sea as an Offering to appease the Fetisso's displeasure against the Fishermen When the King Sacrifices to his Fetisso he commands the Priest or Fitessero to inquire of a Tree whereunto he ascribeth Divinity what he will demand The Priest comes to the Tree and in a heap of Ashes there provided sticks the Branch of a Tree and drinking water out of a Bason spouts it upon the Branch and then daubeth his Face with the Ashes after which the Devil out of the Tree gives answer to the Kings questions The Nobility likewise adore certain Trees esteeming them Oracles and they report the Devil sometimes appears to them like a black Dog and otherwhile answers them without any visible apparition Some worship a Bird called Pittoie spotted and painted as it were with Stars and resembleth the voice of a Bull To hear this Bird low in their Journey is reckoned a good Omen they saying their Fetisso promises them good Fortune and therefore they set a Vessel of Water and Wheat in the place where they hear it And as the Earth and Air yield them Deities so the Sea is not illiberal to them but yields certain Fishes whom they Canonize upon this account they never take the Tunny Fish the Swordfish they take and eat but dry the Sword on his back which is held in great Veneration Yea the Mountains are not without honour and if they did not pacifie their Anger by setting daily Presents of Meat and Drink thereon they believe they would bend their sullen Brows and as their High Tops threaten to scale Heaven would overwhelm the Earth and destroy them all Monstrous Serpents in Africa In the mean time the dearest of his Wives fills all the House with Mourning the Neighbours and Friends assisting with Songs and Dances At length they
before they bargained though the Captain was resolved not to leave him behind Several times the Negro's padled away with their Canoe resolving not to part with him but what with his intreaties and promises he perswaded them to the Ship again and at last they delivered him on board for forty five Copper and Iron Bars about the bigness of a mans Finger When he came on board his Hair was very long and his Skin tawny like a Mulatto having gone naked all the time he was there and usually anointed himself with Palm-Oyl the Seamen very charitably apparalel'd him and in short time after he arrived safely in England with a thickful Heart for so happy a deliverance And here I shall conclude the view of Guinea Sect. II. A View of the Island OF St. HELENA With the Product thereof BEfore I come to relate the Acquisitions of the English in the East-Indies I will make an halt at the Island of St. Helena This Isle is now by His Majesties Grace and Favour in the possession of the Honourable East India Company as a place for watering and refreshment in their long Voyages to the Indies It was formerly seized by the Dutch but retaken May 6. 1673. by Captain Munday with some other English Ships and three rich Dutch East-India Prizes taken in the Harbour since which the English have fortified and secured it against any future Invasion It was so called by the Portuguess because first discovered by them on St. Hellens day being April 21. It lies in sixteen degrees and fifteen minutes of South Latitude in the main Ocean about fifteen hundred Miles from the Cape of Good Hope three hundred and fifty from Angola and five hundred and ten from Brasile the circumference is about seven miles lying high out of the Water and surrounded on the Sea-coasts with steep Rocks having within many Cliffs Mountains and Valleys of which one is named Church-Valley where behind a small Church they climb up to the Mountains To the South is Apple-Dale so called from the abundance of Oranges Lemons and Pomegranats enough to furnish five or six Ships On the West side of the Church Ships have good Anchorage close under the Shore to prevent the Winds which blow fiercely from the adjacent high Mountains The Air seems very temperate and healthful insomuch that sick men brought ashore there in a short time recover Yet the heat in the Valleys is as intollerable as the eager cold upon the Mountains It commonly rains there five or six times a day so that the bareness of the Hills is not occasioned for want of Water of which it hath two or three good Springs beside for furnishing Ships with fresh Water The ground of its own accord brings forth wild Pease and Beans also whole Woods of Orange Lemon and Pomegranat Trees all the year long laden both with Blossoms and Fruit good Figs abundance of Ebony and Rose-trees Parsly Mustard-seed Purslain Sorrel and the like The Woods and Mountains are full of Goats very large Rams and wild Swine but difficult to be taken When the Portuguess first discovered it they found neither four-footed Beasts nor Fruit-trees but only fresh Water They afterward planted Fruit-trees which so increased since that at present all the Valleys stand full of them Partridges Pigeons Moor-hens and Peacocks breed here very numerously whereof a good Marksman may soon provide a Dinner for his Friends On the Cliff-Islands on the South are thousands of grey and black Mews or Sea-Pies and also white and coloured Birds some with long others with short Necks who lay their Eggs on the Rocks and are so unaccustomed to fear that they suffer themselves to be taken with the Hand and gaze at their surprizers till they are knocked on the Head with sticks From the salt-Salt-Water beating against the Cliffs a Froth or Scum remains in some places which the heat of the Sun so purifies that it becomes white and good Salt some of the Mountains yield Bole Armoniack and a fat Earth like Terra Lemnia The Sea will answer the pains of a patient Fisherman who must use an Angle not a Net because of the foul ground and beating of the waves the chief are Mackrel Roach Carp but differing in colour from those among us Eels as big as a mans Arm and well tasted Crabs Lobsters Oysters and Mussels as good as English It is in this Island that the Scene of that notable fancy called The Man in the Moon or a discourse of a Voyage thither by Domingo Gonsales is lay'd written by a late Reverend and Learned Bishop saith the Excellent and ingenious Bishop Wilkins who calls it a pleasant and well contrived fancy in his own Book intituled A Discourse of the New World tending to prove that it is possible there may be another habitable World in the Moon Wherein among many other curious arguments he affirms that this hath been the direct opinion of divers ancient and some Modern Mathematicians and may probably be deduced from the Tenents of others neither does it contradict any principle of reason nor Faith And that as their World is our Moon so our World is theirs Now this small Tract having so worthy a Person to vouch for the credit of it and many of our English Historians having published for Truth what is altogether as improbable as this as Sr. John Mandevil in his Travels and others and this having what they are utterly destitute of that is Invention mixed with Judgment and was judged worthy to be Licensed 50 years ago and not since reprinted whereby it would be utterly lost I have not thought it amiss to republish the Substance thereof wherein the Author says he does not design to discourse his Readers into a belief of each particular circumstance but expects that his new discovery of a New World may find little better entertainment than Columbus had in his first discovery of America though yet that poor espial betrayed so much knowledge as hath since increast to vast Improvements and the then Unknown is now found to be of as large extent as all the other known World That there should be Antipodes was once thought as great a Paradox as now that the Moon should be habitable But the knowledge of this it may be is reserved for this our discovering Age wherein our Virtuosi can by their Telescopes gaze the Sun into Spots and descry Mountains in the Moon but this and much more must be left to the Criticks as well as the following faithful Relation of our little Eye witness and great Discoverer which you shall have in his own Spanish Style and delivered with that Grandeur and thirst of Glory which is generally imputed to that Nation It is sufficiently known to all the Countries of Audaluzia that I Domingo Gonsales was born of a Noble Family in the renowned City of Sevil in 1552. my Fathers name being Therando Gonsales near kinsman on the Mothers side to Don Pedro Sanches the worthy Count of Almenara My Mother
yet if they forced themselves never so little it is impossible to imagine with what swiftness they were carried either upward downward or side ways I must ingeniously confess my horrour and amazement in this place was such that had I not been arm'd with a true Spanish Courage and Resolution I should certainly have died for fear But the next thing that disturb'd me was the swiftness of the motion which was so extraordinary that it even almost stopt my breath if I should liken it to an Arrow out of a Bow or a Stone thrown down from the top of an high Tower it would come vastly short of it Another thing was exceeding troublesom to me that is the Illusions of Devils and Wicked Spirits who the first day of my arrival came about me in great numbers in the shapes and likeness of Men and Women wondring at me like so many Birds about an Owl and speaking several Languages which I understood not till at last I met with some that spoke very good Spanish some Dutch and others Italian all which I understood And here I had only a touch of the Suns absence once for a short time having him ever after in my sight Now though my Gansa's were entangled in my lines yet had they means easily to seize upon divers kinds of Flies and Birds especially Swallows and Cuckoes whereof there were multitudes even like Motes in the Sun though to say truth I never saw them eat any thing at all As for my self I was I 'le assure you very much obliged to those whether Men or Devils I know not who among divers discourses which I will forbear a while to repeat told me If I would follow their Directions I should not only be carried safe home but be assured to command at all times all the pleasures of that place To which motion not daring to give a flat denial I desired time to consider and withal intreated them though I felt no hunger at all which may seem strange to help me to some Victuals least I should starve in my Journey Whereupon they readily brought me very good Flesh and Fish of several sorts and well drest but that it was extream fresh without any relish of Salt Wine likewise I tasted of divers kinds as good as any in Spain and Beer no better in all Antwerp They advised me that while I had opportunity I should make my Provisions telling me that till the next Thursday they could help me to no more if happily then at which time they would find means to carry me back and set me safe in Spain in any place I would desire provided I would become one of their Fraternity and enter into such Covenants as they had made to their Captain and Master whom they would not name I answered civilly telling them I saw little reason to rejoice in such an offer desiring them to be mindful of me as occasion served So for that time I was rid of them having first furnished my Pockets with as much Victuals as I could thrust in among which I would be sure to find a place for a small Bottle of good Canary I shall now declare the quality of the place wherein I then was The Clouds I perceived to be all under between me and the Earth The Stars because it was always day I saw at all times alike not shining bright as we see in the night upon Earth but of a whitish colour like the Moon with us in the day time those that were seen which were not many shewed far greater than with us yea as I guest no less than ten times bigger As for the Moon being then within 2 days of the change she appeared of an huge and dreadful greatness It is not to be forgot that no Stars appeared but on that part of the Hemisphere next the Moon and the nearer to her the larger they appear'd Again whether I lay quiet and rested or were carried in the Air I perceived my self to be always directly between the Moon and the Earth whereby 't is plain that my Gansa's took their way directly toward the Moon and also that when we rested as we did at first for many hours either we were insensibly carried round about the Globe of the Earth though I perceived no such motion or else that according to the opinion of Copernicus the Earth is carried about and turneth round perpetually from West to East leaving to the Planets only that motion which the Astronomers call natural and is not upon the Poles of the Equinoctial commonly called the Poles of the World but upon those of the Zodiack The Air in that place I found quiet without any motion of wind and exceeding temperate neither hot nor cold as where neither the Sun beams had any Subject to reflect upon nor the Earth and Water so near to affect the Air with their natural Quality of coldness As for that imagination of the Philosophers attributing heat and moisture to the Air I alwaies esteem'd it a fancy Lastly I remember that after my departure from the Earth I never felt either hunger or thirst whether the purity of the Air freed from the Vapors of the Earth and Water might yeild nature sufficient nourishment or what else might be the cause I cannot determine but so I found it though I was perfectly in health both of body and mind even above my usual Vigor Let us now proceed which we shall do fast enough for the future Some hours after the departure of that Devilish Company my Gansa's began to bestir themselves still directing their course toward the Globe or body of the Moon making their way with such incredible swiftness that I conceive they advanced little less than fifty Leagues in an hour in which passage I observed three things very Remarkable one that the farther we went the less the Globe of the Earth appear'd to us and that of the Moon still larger and more monstrous Again the Earth which I had ever in mine eye seemed to mask it self with a kind of brightness like another Moon and as we discern certain Spots or Clouds as it were in the Moon so did I then see the like in the Earth but whereas the form of those Spots in the Moon are always the same these on the Earth seemed by degrees to change every hour the reason whereof seems to be that whereas the Earth according to his natural motion for such a motion I am now satisfied she hath according to the opinion of Copernicus turns round upon her own Axis every four and twenty hours from West to East I should at first see in the middle of the Body of this New Star the Earth a Spot like a Pear with a Morsel bit out on one side in some hours I should observe this Spot move away toward the East This no doubt was the main Land of Africa Then might I perceive a great shining brightness in that place which continued about the same time and was questionless
connive with these Factors their Voyage will be lost and their Commodities unsold In 1553. Thomas Windam and Anthony Pintado a Portugal in two English Ships Traded along these Coasts as far as Benin where they presented themselves to the King who sate in a great Hall the Walls whereof were made of Earth without Windows the Roof of thin Boards open in divers places his Nobles never look him in the Face but sit with their Buttocks on the ground and their hands before their Faces not looking up till the King commands them when they depart they go backward turning their Faces still toward him The next year Captain John Lock Sailed into these Parts to Trade for Gold and Elephants Teeth And after him Captain Towerson made several Voyages thither who at the River St. Vincent observed a kind of Pease growing on the Shore like Trees with stalks twenty seven paces long At Cape Tres Puntas they made him Swear by the Water of the Sea that he would not hurt them before they would Trade with him Aban a Negro King treated them kindly with a Pot of Palm or Coco-Wine which they draw out of Trees The People are handsom and well proportioned having nothing disagreeable in their Countenances but the blackness of their Complexion some of them have flattish Noses all little Ears my Dutch Author who writ some years since relates that the People go all Naked till they are married and then are clothed from the middle to the knees At the Marriage of their Daughters they give half an Ounce of Gold to buy Wine for the Wedding the Bride in the presence of her Friends swears to be true to her Husband which the man doth not for they have as many Wives as they can maintain yet the first has this preheminence that he can never take another but by her permission but because the multitude of Wives and Children are counted the greatest honour and riches in that Countrey they often persuade their Husbands to take more and glory therein the first Wife likewise has the priviledge to lye with her Husband three Nights successively whilst the rest must be content only with one so that they live very quietly together a Merchant or Captain will have thirty or forty the King of Benin had six hundred wherewith he went in Solemn Procession every year The King of Fetu's Son had fourteen Sons and twelve Daughters and kept an hundred Slaves to wait upon them At Cape Gonsalvo they pink and colour their bodies and offer their Wives to Strangers The King uses his own Daughters when grown up as Wives and the Queens with the like incestuous abomination make use of their own Sons Their Women saith my Author are unfaithful Discoverers of Natures most hidden secrets not being ashamed to be delivered publickly in the sight of Men Boys and Girls They circumcise both Sexes after Travel they accompany not their Husbands in three months after as soon as she is delivered they gave her a drink made of Rice Mays Water Wine and Mallaguette like our Pepper after which she lyes warm three or four hours and then rises washes her self and Child and so falls to her work as before Next they give it a name usually of some Christian they are obliged to then wrapping it in a kind of Blanket or Skin they lay it upon Rushes where it continues about five weeks then the Mother tyes it to a board and carries it on her back with the Legs under her arm-pits and the hands tyed about her neck where it hangs all day and never comes off till it goes to bed and yet few or none of them prove lame or deformed notwithstanding the shaking of their bodies they give them the breast over their shoulders and this may be the reason of the flatness of their Noses by their knocking them continually against the Back and Shoulders of the Mother while she is walking or at work for it is observed that the Children of their Gentry whose Mothers do not labour nor carry their Infants about them have very comely Noses they wash and rub them every morning with Oil of Palms When they are seven or eight years old they hang a Net about their Necks made of the Bark of a Tree full of Fetiches or little Gods to secure them from the Devil who they believe would else carry them away They hang their Hair full of Shells and Coral about the Arms and Legs with several Feticho's of different qualities one being an Antidote against Vomiting a second against dangerous Falls a third prevents Bleeding a fourth causes Sleep a fifth secures them against Wild Beasts and the like giving to each Fetisso a different name They soon learn to speak go and swim When they are born they are not black but red About seven year old they learn them to spin Thred make Nets and go a Fishing with their Fathers and feed as they do picking up any nasty thing in the Streets which they eat with good Appetites The Boys and Girls are all naked together which makes them have no sense of shame or modesty they being neither reproved nor corrected by their Parents They are excellent at Swimming even at this Age so that if their Canoe overset at Sea they are very little concerned all of them swimming back again to the place from whence they came and consequently they can Dive with great dexterity and fetch up any thing from the bottom About twelve their Fathers instruct them how to make a Canoe and catch Fish The Merchants bring their Sons acquainted with Europeans and with the Mystery of Trade At eighteen they begin to set up for themselves two or three together hiring a House and purchasing a Canoe they then cover their Nudities grow amorous and their Fathers look out Wives for them The Girls clean the Houses pick the Rice beat the Mays make the Bread clean the Kitchen buy and sell at Market make Baskets of Rushes and Matts which they weave extream curiously but their chief care is to provide Meat and Drink for their Parents secure their Goods and all other kinds of good Huswifry when grown up they are vary lascivious and boast of their Gallantries especially with Strangers whom they seem to affect above their own Men They are very careful to keep their Teeth white have Wit enough but are very wanton with the Young Fellows stark naked to please whom they wash comb and plait their hair with great curiosity some paint their Foreheads and Eyebrows red and white and hang Pendants in their Ears all love Ribbons especially red they have Necklaces of Coral and Bracelets upon their Wrists Arms and Legs when they go abroad they were a piece of Silk Taffaty or other Stuff wrapt about them from the breast to the midleg and have always a great bunch of Keys though never a Coffer nor Trunk to open the Virgins make it their whole business to appear acceptable especially to white men and are seldom
take up the Corps and carry it to the Grave which is about four foot deep and covered with Stakes that nothing may fall therein The Women come about the Sepulchre and expostulate thus with him in a pitiful and lamenting voice Alas why didst thou dye Thou hadst so much Wheat so much Maiz thou wast beloved of thy Family and they had great care of thy Person why therefore wouldst thou dye what have we deserved wherein have we offended thee what discontent have we ever given thee to oblige thee to leave us If he be a man they add Thou wert so valiant so generous thou hast overthrown so many Enemies thou hast behaved thy self gallantly in so many Fights who shall now defend us from our Adversaries Wherefore then wouldst thou dye Others cry He is dead that brave Huntsman that excellent Fisherman that valiant Warriour that great destroyer of Portugals that generous Defender of our Gountrey he is departed this World Then they throw on a little Earth but none can get in to the Corps for he hath with him his Houshold Stuff Armour and whatsoever he used in his life time and Wine too if he loved it to drink in the other World Lastly they cover the Sepulchre with a Roof to defend all from Rain If the King dyes greater Solemnity is used yea his Nobles thinking so great a Personage ought to have Attendants one offers to him a Servant another a Wife a third his Son or Daughter even many of both Sexes to wait upon him all whom are suddenly slain and their Bloody Carcasses buried with him yea the Kings Wives who loved him best refuse not this last and everlasting Service but are willing to dye that they may again live with him The Heads of the Slain are set upon Poles round about the Sepulchre Meat Drink Cloths Arms and other Utensils are buried with them After the Funeral they go to the Sea and there use other Ceremonies some washing while others play on Basons and Instruments where the Widdow or Widdower is laid backward on the water with divers words of complaint at last they return back to the dead Mans House where they are very merry drinking themselves drunk and washing away all further sorrow Near Cape Miserado the English have another Ware house or Factory being in great favour with the Natives who have no kindness for any other Nation that are Enemies to them It was called Miserado by the Portugals either because it is incompassed with Rocks that lye under water and would inevitably destroy any Vessel which should come nearer than half a League or because the French who were formerly Massacred here cryed out Misericorde Misericorde Mercy Mercy Besides the Natives of this place being very cruel they have denominated the River and called it Duro as being hard and fatal to the Europeans The Government of this Countrey is absolute and unlimited Monarchy so that the King is the only and sole Judge in all Causes and though he admit his Councellors sometimes to give their Opinions yet he follows his own single resolved determinations This absolute Power makes him jealous of his Honour of which he will not endure the least diminution His Highest Pomp consists in sitting upon a Shield whereby he signifies that he is the Protection and Defence of his Countrey and the Manager of all Wars pacifying Civil Insurrections and other weighty matters belonging to him alone His Title is Dondagh which is as much as Monarch When any Nobleman is Disobedient and will not appear upon Summons he sends this Koredo or Shield as if he would upbraidingly say Be you Lord your self and bear the burden of the Countrey This peremptory command by the Shield is sent by two Drummers who as soon as they come near the Offenders Habitation begin to beat their Drums and so continue without ceasing till they have delivered the Shield upon receipt whereof he must speed away to Court without delay carrying the Shield with him which he presents to the King begging forgiveness for his miscarriages and so taking up the Earth before the King humbles himself Those that Address to the King for any favour make their way with Presents of Ribbons Elephants Teeth or such things which he must deliver at the House of the Kings chiefest Wife who carries it to the King requesting that the Person may be admitted into his presence If the King accept it the Person hath leave to enter otherwise if any complaints be brought against him he sends it back yet so as the Presenter dares not receive and carry it away but continues his Suit by Friends without intermission by whose frequent and renewed Mediations the King at last seeming a little pacified remits his severity takes the Present and calls for the Suppliant who entring the Royal Presence goes bowing all along toward the King who sits on the ground upon a Mat leaning on a Stool when he approaches within two steps he bows himself to the Earth kneeling down upon one Knee with his his right Elbow on the ground and names the Kings Title Dondagh whereupon the King if pleased Answers Namady I thank you if not he sits silent If it be a Person of Quality and his Subject the King perhaps causes a Mat to be spread on the ground upon which sitting at some distance he moves his request But if a Forreigner who comes only to salute the King he is conducted to him without any further Ceremony and receives an immediate dispatch If the Person have any Proposition Petition or Complaint to make an Interpreter is called who coming with his Bow in his hand opens the whole matter to the King sentence by sentence where to according to the quality of the Affair he receives Answer with promise if upon complaint that when he hath heard the other party he will forthwith give Judgment according to Right If any man come to thank the King for doing Exemplary Justice in a difficult Cause after his Presents received he divests himself of all his Cloths and Ornaments saving a little Cloth to cover his Virilities and so casts himself backward upon the groudn and instantly turning again rises upon one knee takes up Earth with his hand and lays it upon his head then leaning with one Elbow upon the Earth he says three times Dondagh whereupon the King answers sometimes Namady I thank you and sometimes otherwise as he thinks fit The first Address is usually performed in his own House in the presence of his chiefest Wife but such as concern Justice or the State of the Countrey he hears in the Council House in the presence of his Lords When some Eminent Person sent from a Neighbour King desires Audience one of the Kings Wives goes with a Present and tells him who sent it whereupon the Person appears before the King and takes up Earth When an Ambassador sent from another Great Prince approaches the Borders he gives notice of his coming whereupon he is ordered
Spear and fastned on his Hand Which he cut off and then did safely stand With that Hands loss viewing securely there The sad example of his death so near c. Ostriches in Africa keep in great Companies and appear afar off like Troops of Horsemen putting a ridiculous terrour into the Caravans of Merchants it seems to be a foolish Bird that forgetteth her Nest and leaveth her Eggs for the Sun and Sand to hatch she eateth any thing even the hardest Iron and is said to be Deaf Another Bird bigger than a Crane soars so high in the Air that his great Body is invisible yet from thence espieth his Prey and falls down directly upon it he lives so long that all his Feathers fall away by Age and then is fed by his young ones Locusts or Grashoppers do here often renew the Egyptian Plague coming in such vast numbers that like a Cloud they intercept the shining of the Sun and having eaten the Fruits and Leaves they leave their Spawn behind who are worse than themselves devouring the very Barks of the naked Trees Orosius says that one time after they had done all this mischief they did worse by their deaths for being carried by a strong Wind into the Sea and again cast up dead on the Shore their putrified Carcases caused such a Pestilence that in Numidia only there died eight hundred thousand and on the Sea coast near Utica and Carthage two hundred thousand In some places they forced the People to leave the Countrey it being so desart and destroyed that they left nothing to sustain them and lookt as if it had snowed by reason of the Trees without Barks The Fields of Maiz were as if trodden down After a Tempest of Rain and Thunder they lay above two yards thick upon the Rivers Bank In the River Nilus in the time of Mauricius the Emperour at the place where Grand Cario now standeth a Giant-like Monster was seen from the bottom of his Belly upward he appeared like a Man with Flaxen Hair Frowning Countenance and Strong Limbs After he had continued in the view of multitudes three hours there came out of the Water another like a Woman with a comely Face part of her black Hair hanging down and part gathered into a knot her Face was fair rosie Lips Fingers and Breasts well composed the rest of her Body hid under Water from Morning to Sun-set they fed their greedy Eyes with this spectacle which then sunk down into the Waters and was never seen more At Eniacham the English have a Fort upon a little eminence about six hundred Paces within the Land as also several other Factories at Rio Nuno Rio Grande Sierra Liona Serbro Cestos Achin Auta Comenda Acara Ardra Benin with old and new Calabar of which little more can be said than of those already mentioned only of the last I have met with this notable Relation That in 1668. an English Ship bound for Guinea Sailing to old Calabar they entred a River called the Cross-River into Pirats-Island after they had taken in their Negro's and were ready to Sail the Master called up the Boatswain and three Men more commanding them to look out the Copper Bars that were left and carry them on Shore to try if they could sell them The Boatswain with his small Company desired they might have Arms with them not believing they were so harmless a People as reported they took with them three Musquets and a Pistol and so rowed toward the Shore but not far from it their Match unhappily fell into the Water and the Ship being fallen down lower toward the Sea quite out of sight and they ashamed to go back without dispatching their business one of them went ashore to the first House to light the match but before he was twenty Rods from the Water-side he was seized on by two Blacks or rather Tawny-Moores and by them haled above half a Mile up into the Countrey and thrown with great violence upon his Belly and so compelled to lye till they stript him and more Company coming to them they were so eager for his poor Canvas Apparel that some they tore off others they cut off and with that several pieces of his Flesh to his intolerable pain With these Rags they made little Aprons to cover their Privities clothing being very scarce there The Boatswain finding this J. W. was thus carried away was resolved with his other two Companions to venture their Lives to have him again and arming themselves they were suddenly beset with about a dosen men in several Canoes but they valiantly maintained their Boat about three hours for after two or there three Musquets were discharged they defended themselves with their Oars and Boat hooks The Boatswain received a mortal wound in his Groin and fell down in the Boat the other two adventured into the River endeavouring by swimming to escape the Hands of these cruel Infidels but the Negro's with their swift Canoes soon overtook them and brought them on Shore to the other They took the Boatswain out of the Boat and instead of endeavouring to preserve what Life remained in him one of them with a keen Weapon instantly cut off his Head And while he was yet reeking in his Blood they in a barbarous manner cut off pieces of Flesh from his Buttocks Thighs Arms and Shoulders and broil'd them on the Coals and with much impatience eat it before his Companions Faces to their great astonishment About a Fortnight after one of the Company fell sick And instead of being his Physicians to cure him they were his Butchers to Murther him cutting off his Head and broiling and eating his Flesh rejoicing exceedingly at this rich Banquet Ten days after the other fell sick whom they used in the very same manner J.W. continued still in Health though the Natives daily expected such another Banquet because it seems it is not their Custom to kill those that are well and therefore they resolved to sell him his Master was free to discourse especially since he had before learned the Tata Language in the West-Indies which is easily attained being compreheneded in few words and all the Negro's speak it He began to discourse his Master of the reason of their cruelty who told him he should be content for if he were not sick he should not have his Head cut off In the Boat which they took there was one Musket saved that was not discharged which his Master some time after brought to him to know the use of J. W. endeavoured as much as possible to keep him in ignorance but being threatned if he refused at length he was forced to shoot it off but the Negroes who expected some delightful thing were frustrated and at the sudden noise and flash of Fire which they very much dread ran from him extreamly affrighted but hearing no more noise came up to him again and commanded him to do the like he told them he had no Powder which caused the noise
At Poleroon on the Isle of Banda At Firando in Japan And lastly at Amboina Hitto and other of the Molucco's which they quietly enjoyed till the Dutch by base Circumventions and treacherous practices deprived the English of that Trade and several of them of their Lives as has been at large published to the World The honourable East-India Company was incorporated in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and hath since been confirmed with divers Immunities added to their Charter by all the succeeding Kings so that now they have as ample Priviledges as any other Company whatsoever and are found very beneficial to the Nation by the great Trade they drive in Importing so many rich Commodities from India Persia and Arabia They export from hence Peices of Eight Dollars Broad cloaths Perpetuana's Gun-Powder Elephants Teeth Lead Amber Looking-Glasses Sizars Knives Beads Bracelets Feathers Coral Quicksilver Vermillion Allom Brimstone and many others For which they import all sorts of Spices Cotton-yarn Callicoes Pintadoes Tamerinds Sanders Spiknard Bezoar Alloes Mirrhe Rubarb Opium Frankincense Cassia Borax Calamus Mirabolans Green Ginger Sugars Sugar Candy Camphire Sandal Wood Benjamin Musk Civet Ambergreece Rice Indico Silks both Raw and wrought Salt Petre Precious Stones of several sorts Pearl Mother of Pearl Gold Silver Christal Cornelian Rings Agats Lacquie Furrs and Skins of Wild Beasts Porcelane Copper China Roots Tea Sanguis Draconis China Wares of divers sorts with several other Commodities and Drugs too tedious to relate Designing to give some Account of the Countreys wherein the aforementioned Forts and Factories are placed according to my propos'd Method and the scantling allowed me I shall begin with Ormus which is an Island Scituate in the Persian Gulf about twenty Mile in compass stony and full of Rocks and in a manner barren of all necessaries except Salt wherewith the very Rocks are covered and of Salt Stone many Houses built So destitute of all things fitting for the life of man that the Inhabitants had all their Victuals even the Water which they drank from the adjoining Countreys The Air so hot in Summer that the people rest themselves in Caves covered over with Wood where they stand or sit in Water up to the Chin and have Loopholes in the Tops of their Houses to let in the Wind Which notwithstanding in regard of the Scituation it was of late one of the richest Empories in all the World the wealth of Persia and East-India being brought thither and conveyed hence up by Water to the River Euphrates and so by Boats or on Camels Backs to Aleppo Alexandretta Tripoly and from thence dispersed into all the Countreys of the Mediterranean Sea The chief and only City was of the same name with the Island founded about seven hundred years ago by one Mahomet Danku descended from the Kings of Saba in Arabia Faelix Who with many Families of the Sabeans passed over the Streights into Carmania and the Isles adjoining and liking the Scituation of this Island built this City in it which he called Ormus or Armuzium according to the name of the Promontory wherein it lies It is seated at one end of the Isle about 2 Miles in compass well built and adorned with a fair Market place some Churches and a well fortified Castle furnished with all necessaries for a Seige By reason of its wealth and resort of Merchants grown to such esteem that it gave gave occasion to this distich Si terrarum Orbis quaequa patet Annulus esset Illius Ormusium Gemma decusque foret Were all the World a Ring this Isle alone Might of that Ring be thought to be the Stone It was first under its own King whose Dominion extended also to some part of the Continent on either side and over all the rest of the Islands within the Gulf His Revenue of no great yearly value till the coming of the Portugals thither by whom it was discovered under the conduct of Albukerque in 1509. Who having fortified some part of it for their own defence made it the Staple of their Trade for the Indian Merchandize so inricht the same that the Revenues of those Kings though Vassals and Tributaries to the Portugals amounted to an hundred and Forty Thousand Seriffs yearly In this flourishing state it stood till 1622. when Abbas the Sultan of Persia having received some affronts from the Portuguess or desirous to remove the Trade from Ormus to some Port of his own gave order to Emangoli Chan the Duke of Shiras to besiege it with fifteen thousand men Who dispairing of prevailing by his Land Forces only furnished himself with Ships and Cannon of some English Merchants to whom he promised many things which he never performed For being once Master of the City he utterly destroyed it removing the Ordnance to Lar the wealth thereof to his own Treasury at Shiras and the Materials of the Houses to Gombroon beforementioned the Portuguess and Christian Natives passing over to Muskahat in Arabia Faelix Since which time though the English Captains that ventured in it were disappointed of the rewards they expected yet so much honour hath been given by the King of Persia to the English Nation that the Agent who resides at Gombroon takes Custom of all Strangers who traffick thither The People hereof in their Persons Habit and Religion participate somewhat of the Arabians but most of the Persians They are Mahometans for the most part of the Sophian Sect the Author of which Religion has infatuated so great a part of the World with his Blasphemous dotage was Mahomet that Grand Impostor born at Jathrip an obscure Village not far from Medina his Father called Abdalla was an Idolatrous Pagan his Mother named Hemina as perverse a Jewess Deprived of both his Parents when but two years old he was left to the care of an Uncle who not able to give him Education nor willing to keep him any longer sold him at sixteen years of Age to the Ishmaelites by whom exposed to Sale in the open Market he was bought by one Abdal a wealthy Merchant By whom imploy'd at first in drudgery and servile Offices till noting his great Wit and fitness for better Services he at last used him as his Factor sending him with his Camels and Loads of Merchandize into Syria Persia Egypt and other places wherein he behaved himself with such dexterity that he much increased his Masters wealth and his own estimation Of Person he is said to be low and withal Scald headed but otherwise comely and of good aspect Much troubled with the falling sickness which infirmity he made good use of afterward affirming those fits were nothing but heavenly raptures in which he conversed with the Angel Gabriel He is likewise said to have been well Skill'd in Magick by which he taught a white Pigeon to feed at his Ear which he declared was the Holy Ghost by whom he was instructed in the Law he was to publish but this not till afterwards By Sorceries comeliness of Person