leave his foolishness But as he was put in so will he come out a fool The year following we carried three more condemned persons to be left in this place but they hearing of the ill successe of their predecessors and that it was very unlikely for them to find any safe footing here when we were ready to depart thence and to leave them on the shore they all came and presented themselves on their knees with many tears in their eyes unto our chief Commander Captain Joseph most humbly beseeching him that he would give order that they might be hanged before he departed in that place which they much rather chose than to be there left wee thought it was a very sad sight to behold three men in such a condition that made them esteem hanging to be mercy Our Commander told them that he had no Commission to execute them but to leave them there and so he must doe and so believed he had done But our fift ship the Swan staying in this place after us a day or two took these poor men into her and then took her course for Bantam whither she was bound And the Rose our last ship whose sight and company we lost in that most violent storm before mentioned at the beginning of our voyage was safely preserved and happily afterward found her way to Bantam likewise Wee made our abode in this Harbour till the 28th following on which day we being well watered and refreshed departed And the 29th we doubled the Cape of good Hope whose Latitude is 35 Degree South Off this Cape there setteth continually a most violent Current Westward whence it comes to pass that when a strong contrary wind meets it as often-times it doth their impetuons opposition makes the Sea so to rage as that some ships have been swallowed but many more very much endangered amongst those huge mountains of water and very few ships pass that way without a storm We kept on in a circular course to gain a South-west wind for yee must know that the wind in those parts and so in East-India blows and but with a very little variation half the year South-west and the other half North-East we sayled here Southerly till we had raised the South-Pole almost forty degrees above the Horizon This Pole is a Constellation of four starrs the Mariners call the Crosiers these starrs appear neer one another like a Cross and almost equidistant And while we had the view of this Pole the Sun as it must needs be was North at Noon unto us The 22. of July we discovered the great Mâ—dagascar Commonly called St. Laurence we being then betwixt it and the African Shore which Iland lies almost every part of it undeâ— or within the Southern Tropick we touched not at it but this I dare say from the Credit of others who have been upon it that as it is an exceeding great Iland if not the greatest in the known world So is it stored with abundance of very excellent good Provisions though inhabited by a barbarous and heathenish people but stout and warlike and very numerous Over against this Iland on the main Continent of Africa are Zefâ—la and Mozambique whereon the Portugals have got some footing the places as may be strongly supposed whither Solomon sent his Navy of Ships built at Eziongeber which stood on the banks of the Râ—d-Sea in Arabia the Happy the Countrey of that famous Queen of the South who hearing of the wisdome and renown took her journey thence to visit the Court of King Solomon who had understanding like a flood From that place forenamed Solomon sent his Ships for gold and Silver and â—vory c. 1 Ki. 10 22. they Coasting all along the shore of Africa for in the dayes of Solomon the Art of Navigation was not known and Sea-men then steering without Cart or Compass were necessitated to keep the neighbouring Land alwayes in their sights as without question those ships did and to those forementioned places stored as is related above other Parts of Africa with those richest Commodities I might have taken notice before but yet it will not be unseasonable of many suddain strong and violent Gusts of wind frequently to be observed in those-South-west Seas which surprize a Ship so suddainly that if she have many sayles abroad and the Mariners be not very watchfull and Nimble to strike them their strength is such that they will endanger her overturning And to these there are many strange watery Clouds they Call Spouts which appear like a Funnel or water tankard very large and big at the one end but small on the other which hangs lowest and of a very great length They Contain a great Quantity of water wrapt together by a whirl-wind that falls within a very narrow Compass the abundance whereof by ' its great weight if it fall directly as sometimes it doth upon the body of a small ship it will much endanger it and would do much more harm but that these Spouts when they are seen may be easily avoided From the Iland Madagascar we proceeded on in our Course and the 5 of August following approached neer the little Ilands of Mohilia Gazidia St. John de Castro with some others whose Names I have not called in general the Ilands of Comora lying about 12. Degrees South of the Equator The day following being the 6 of August early in the morning our men looking out for Land espied a sail which stood directly in our Course but far before us at first sight she appeared as if there had been some great hill interposed betwixt us for first we had sight only of her Colours in her high Maintop after this of her Masts and Sailes and then of her Hull after which manner ships at Sea do every where appear at great distance one to another which proves that that mighty Collection of waters called Seas have a Convex or Globous and round body placed by Almightie God as it were in Hills or Heaps and being above the earth and higher than it they have set Limits and Commanded they are to their Bounas contrary to their Nature which they may not passe for to saith the Psalmist Ps 104. 9 Thou hast set a bound which they may not passe over that they return not again to Cover the earth But this is known to all that have been at sea therefore we proceed Upon the first sight of that ship we were all glad of the object improving all endeavours we could to overtake her withall preparing our great ordnance that if she were a Friend we might salute her if an Enemy be in readinesse for her so eagerly pursuing this unlooked for ship with the wings of the wind after that we had given her Chase about five howers her Colours and bulk discovered her to be a very great Portugal Caraque bound for Goa lying in the Skirts of East-India and principally inhabited by Portugals the Citie of Residence for the Vice-Roy to the King of Spain
A Voyage to EAST-INDIA Wherein Some things are taken notice of in our passage thither but many more in our abode there within that rich and most spacious Empire Of the Great Mogol Mix't with some Parallel Observations and inferences upon the storie to profit as well as delight the Reader Observed by Edward Terry then Chaplain to the Right Honorable Sr. Thomas Row Knight Lord Ambassadour to the great Mogol now Rector of the Church at Greenford in the County of Middlesex In journeying often in perils of waters in perils of Robbers in perils by the Heathen in perils in the Sea 1 Cor. 11. 26. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters yea than the mighty waves of the Sea Psal 93. 4. Digitis a morte remotus Quatuor aut Septem Ju. Sat. 12. Qui Nescit orare discat navigare ubique Naufragium London Printed by T. W. for J. Martin and J. Allestrye at the Bell in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1655. To the Reader READER THere was never age more guilty than this present of the great expence and waste of paper whose fair innocence hath been extreamly stubber'd by Errors Heresies Blasphemies and what not in these bold times which like so many the foulest of all blots blurs hath defiled very much of it so true is that of the Poet Tenet insanabile multos Scribendi Cacoëthes Ju. Certainly there hath been of late abundantly more printed than ought than should if what follows in this discourse lay under the guilt of any such just exception it should feel the fire not the press The summe substance of what here follows as a description of that Empire I long since composed shortly after my return from East-India and then presented it in writing unto the late King when he was Prince of Wales in the year 1622. with this short following Epistle Most Renowned Prince I Have nothing to plead for this high presumption but the Novelty of my subject in which I confesse some few have prevented me who bv traveling India in England or Europe have written somewhat of those remotest parts but like unto poor Tradesmen who take up Wares on trust have been deceived themselves and do deceive of others For my self I was an eye-witnesse of much here related living more than two years at the Court of that mighty Monarch the great Mogol who prides himself very much in his most famous Ancestor Tamberlane in the description of whose Empire your Highnesse may meet with large Territories a numerous Court most populous pleasant and rich Provinces but when all these shall be laid in the Balance against his miserable blindnesse your Highnesse shall have more cause to pity than envy his greatnesse I am not ambitious to make this my Relation publick and therefore if it consume more paper it shall not be my fault As it is in a fearfull boldnesse 't is offered to your Princely hands and if it may be any way pleasing and usefull I have my reward if not my most humble desires to have ministred something this way unto your Highnesse shall be my comfort Thus Reader thou hearest when this Relation was first written and into what hands it was then put And although there be now a very great space of time 'twixt the particulars then observed and their publication now which may make thee look upon that which is here brought forth as an untimely birth or as a thing born out of due time Therefore know which may give thee some satisfaction herein that for the commodities and discommodities of those remote parts for the customes and manners of that people for their Religion and policie with every thing beside wherein thou mayest desire information which lies within the vast compasse of that huge Monarchy expressed in the Map and further described in this following discourse time not making that people at all to varie from themselves thou mayest look upon it now as if it hath been taken notice of but immediately before it was here communicated and if it prove usefull now I shall be very glad that it was reserved even for this present time wherein it might do some good Yet notwithstanding this it should never have been brought by me into this more open view especially in such a scribling writing age as this where there is no end of making many books and many of those written to no end but what is evil and mischievous but that the Printer who had gotten my Original Copie presented as before desired to publish it And because so I have revised and in some particulars by pertinent though in some places very long digressions which I would intreat the Reader to improve so enlarged it that it may if it reach my aim contain matter for instruction and use as well as for relation and novelty So that they who fly from a Sermon and will not touch sound and wholesom and excellent treatises in Divinity may happily if God so please be taken before they are aware and overcome by some Divine truths that lie scattered up and down in manie places of this Narrative To which end I have endeavoured so to contrive it for every one who shall please to read it through that it may be like a well form'd picture that seems to look stedfastly upon everie heholder who so looks upon it But here Reader let us sit down and wonder that in these dayes which are called times of Reformation manie choise books are often published which contain in themselves and declare unto others very much of the minde of God yet are laid aside as if they were not worth the looking into and in their stead Romances and other Pamphlets ejusdem farinae of the like kinde which do not inform but corrupt rather the mindes of those which look so much into them teaching wickednesse while they seem to reprove it are the books O times which are generally call'd for bought up read and liked When a Traveller sometimes observed the women in Rome to please themselves in and overmuch to play with their Curs and Monkeys he asked whether or no the women of Rome did not bear Children to delight themselves withall The storie is so parallel to what I before observed that he who runs may make Application and therefore I forbear to do it As for that I have here published I know habent sua fata libelli that books have their Fates as well as their Authors and therefore this Relation now it is got into the World must take its chance whatsoever its successe or acceptance be But however I shall never be of their minde who think those books best which best sell when certain it is that they are not to be valued by their good sale but good use Which while some may make of this others who love to carp and censure and quarrel so as to make a man an offender for a word may put harsh interpretation upon some passages they may find in this
be many Ships in company you may observe them all to sayl so many severall wayes and every one of them seem to goe directly before the wind Now that it should be so here and not known so to be in any part of the world beside I ever heard of if not in those winds which they say are sometimes sold by the Lapland Witches I can give no reason for it unlesse Satan who is most Tyrannicall where he is most obeyed that Prince of the Ayr seems to rule more here than hee doth in other parts And most certain it is that he rules very much in the Inhabitants on that Main the poor ignorant and most miserable Negroes born for sale and slavery and slaughter These strange Gusts were accompanied with much Thunder and Lightning and with extreme rain so noysome that it made their cloths who stir'd much in it presently to stink upon their backs the water likewise of those slimy unwholsome hot and unsavorie showres wheresoever it stood would presently bring forth many little offensive Creatures These Turnadoes met with us when we were about 12. Degrees of North Latitude and kept us company ere they quitted us two Degrees Southward of the Equinoctial under which we passed the 28. of April The 19th of May being Whitsunday wee passed the Tropick of Capricorn so that we were seven weeks compleat under the Torrid Zone Between the Tropicks wee saw almost every day different kinds of fishes in greater abundance than else-where as the great Leviathan whom God hath made to take his pastime in the Sea Granpisces or lesser whales Sharkes Turtles or Torteises Dolphins Bonitoes Albicores Porpisces Flying fishes with many others Some Whales we saw of an exceeding greatnesse who in calm weather often arise and shew themselves on the top of the water where they appear like unto great Rocks in their rise spouting up into the Ayr with noyse a great quantity of water which falls down again about them like a showr The Whale may well challenge the Principalitie of the Sea yet I suppose that he hath many enemies in this his large Dominion for instance a little long Fish called a Thresher often encounters with him who by his agilitie vexeth him as much in the Sea as a little Bee in Summer doth a great Beast on the shore The Shark hath not this name for nothing for he will make a morsell of any thing he can catch master and devour These Shark are most ravenous fishes foâ— I have many times observed that when they have been swimming about our Ships as oftentimes they doe and we have cast over-board an iron hook made strong for this purpose fastned to a roap strong like it bayted with a piece of beese of five pounds weight this bayt hath been presently taken by one of them and if by chance the weight of the fish thus taken in haling him up hath broken out the Hooks hold not well fastned as sometimes it did so that he fell again into the Sea he would presently bite at an other Bayt and so bite till he was taken Not much unlike many vile men who think they may safely take any thing they can finger and get and having been fastned in and escaped out of many Snares will take no warning but be still nibling and biting at what they like not once considering that there is an hook within the bayt that will take them at last and hamper them to their unavoydable destruction This Sea-shark is a Fish as bad in eating as he is in qual 〈…〉 y a very moyst watery fish yet eaten at Sea because any fâ—esh thing will there down but no good food This Fish turns himself on his back to take his prey by which he gives warning to many other little fishes who ever swim about him to avoyd his swollow Those Fishes that thus keep him company are called by the Mariners Pilate-fishes who alwayes shape their course the same way the Shark takes and by consequence nature having made them so wary he becomes their guard they not his food And there are other fishes too they call Sucking-fish that stick as close to the body of the Shark as a Tike on the shore doth to the body of a Beast and so receive their nourishment from him and he must be contented for while he is swimming up and down he cannot possibly free himself of them Many of these Sharks grow to a very large greatness they have a broad roundhead in which are three rowes of teeth very strong and sharp by which they are able to take off the leg of a man at one bite as some have found by wofull experience while they have been carelesly swimming in these hot Seas where these Sharks most use and certainly were they as nimble as they are mischievous would doe very much hurt The Turtle or Torteis is one of those creatures we call Amphibia that lives sometimes in the Sea and sometimes on the shore he is marvellously fortified by Nature dwelling as it were continually under a strong roof which moves with him and covers when he will his whole body therefore Testudo which signifies a Torteise signifies also the roof or vault of an house which covers all within it Those concave backs like bucklets but of an Oval shape that cover these creatures are many of them so exceeding strong that they will bear off the weight of a Cart-wheel These Torteises increase by eggs as I have been often told are very good to eat the substance within them whether you will call it flesh or fish first boyled and after minced with butter tastes like buttered Veal Their shell makes as is very commonly known excellent good Combes Cups or Boxes and further it is used by them in East-India to make or adorn little or great Cabinets The Dolphin is a fish called for his swiftnesse the Arrow of the Sea differing in this one particular from all other fishes I ever observed in that he hath many little teeth upon the top of his tongue Hee is very pleasing to the eye smell and taste of a changeable colour finn'd like a Roach covered with many small scales having a fresh delightsome sent above other fishes and in taste as good as any these Dolphins are wont often to follow our ships not so much I think for the love they bear unto man as some write as to feed themselves with what they find cast over board whence it comes to pass that many times they feed us for when they swim close to our ships wee often strike them with a broad instrument full of barbs called an Harping-iron fastned to a roap by which we hale them in This Dolphin may be a fit Embleme of an ill race of people who under sweet countenances carry sharp tongues Bonitoes and Albicores are in colour shape and taste much like unto Mackrels and as good fish as they but they grow to be very exceeding large The Porpisces or Hogfish are like the
former very large and great but better to look upon than to taste they usually appear at Sea in very great sholes or companies and are as if they came of the race of the Gadaren Swine that ran violently into the Sea very swift in their motion and like a company matching in rank and file They leap or mount very nimbly over thâ— waves and so down and up again making a melancholy noyse when they are above the water These are usually when they thus appear certain presagers of very foul weather The Flying fishes have skinny wings like unto Batts but larger they are stifned and strengthned with many little bones such as are in the back finns of Pearches by which they fly but a little way at a time they have small bodyes like unto Pilchers and appear when they fly in marvellous great companies and some of them often fly into our ships by which we have tasted that they are excellent good fish Of all other these flying Fishes live the most miserable lives for being in the water the Dolphins Bonitoes Albicores and Porpisces chase persecute and take them and when they would escape by their flight are oftentimes caught by ravenous Fowls somewhat like our Kites which hover over the water These flying Fishes are like men professing two trades and thrive at neither I could further enlarge but my business is not to write an History of Fishes yet in those wee have named as in thousands more which inhabite that watery Main I desire with David to admire and say O Lord how manifold are thy works manifold and wonderfull indeed as he that will take notice many observe every where but in a speciall manner because they are more rare in the great varietie of strange Creatures which the Sea that womb of moysture brings forth in which many things we behold are wonderfull and many things besides we cannot see are certainly more full of wonder In which unfadom'd water y deep Creatures innumerable keep Some small some great among the waves As if they liv'd in moving graves Through which the ships doe plow their way In which the Whales doe sport and play Psal 104. 24 25 26. But to proceed on our Voyage the 12. of June early in the morning we espied our long-wished for harbour the Bay of Souldania about twelve leagues short of the Cape of good Hope where we came happily to an Ankor that forenoon In which Bay we found a Dutch-ship bound for Bantam which had taken in her course and brought thither a small Portugal bound to Angola a Colonie belonging to the Portugals lying in the skirts of Africa about ten degrees South of the Line in which small ship amongst many rich Commodities as we heard to the value of five or six thousand pounds sterling there were ten Portugal Virgins as they call'd themselves sent to that Colonie I suppose for Husbands The young women were well-favoured and well clad in silks but such were the courtesies of these Dutch-men towards them as that they took not only away all the goods Artilerie and good provisions of their ship but they rob'd these poor captive Maidens of all their apparell which they most sadly complained of to one poor suit and I suppose of their honour too if they brought it with them then giving them water for their wine and a very scant proportion of all other provisions turn'd them with their unarm'd leakie and ill-man'd ship to the mercy of the Seas the twentieth day following This Bay of Souldania lyeth in 34 degrees and half of South Latitude in a sweet Climate full of fragrant herbs which the soyl produceth of its self pleasing to the sense where our ships companies when they have often-times there arrived with very weak and feeble bodies usually by that Sea disease the Scurvy in which disease I shall observe by the way if any that have it be not too much overgone with it assoon as hee comes to enjoy the fresh ayr on any shore with fresh water and fresh food he will presently recover but if this disease have over-much prevailed on him immediatly after he sets his foot on shore he usually dies I say our people when they have come hither with very crazie bodies have often found here much good refreshing for besides a most delectable brook of pure good water arising hard by out of a mighty hill call'd for its form the Table close by which there is another Hill which ariseth exceeding high like a Pyramis and called by Passengers the Sugar-loaf there are good store of Cattell as little Beeves called by the barbarous Inhabitants Boos and Sheep which they call Baas who bear a short coarse hairie wooll and I conceive are never shorn These Boos and Baas as they call them were formerly bought in great plenty for small quantities of Kettle-brasse and Iron Hoops taken off our Empty Cask which are all for this long voyage hoop'd with Iron These Salvages had their cattell which we bought of them at a very great Command for with a call they would presently run to them and when they had sold any one of their bullooks to us for a little inconsiderate peece of brasse if we did not presently knock him down they would by the same call make the poor creature break from us and run unto them again and then there was no getting them out of their hands but by giving them more brasse and by this trick now and then they sold the same beast unto us two or three times and if they had thus sold him more often he had been a good penny worth how ever in this wee might observe the covetousness and deceit of this brutish people Here yee must know that this people of all metals seem to love brasse I think as you may ghesse afterward for the ranknesse of its smell with which they make great rings to wear about their wrists yea so taken are they with this base metall that if a man lay down before them a peece of gold worth two pounds sterling and a peece of brasse worth two pence they will leave the Gold and take the brasse On this shore there likewise are found excellent good though small roots for Salads which the soyl brings forth without husbanding And in the head of the Bay may be taken with netts great store of fayr fat Mullets of which we took abundance This remotest part of Africa is very mountainous over-run with wild beasts as Lions Tygres Wolves and many other beasts of prey which in the silent night discover themselves by their noyse and roaring to the Teeth and Jawes of which cruell Beasts the Natives here expose their old people if death prevent it not when once they grow very old and troublesome laying them forth in some open place in the dark night When the wild beasts as David observes Psal 104. 20 21. doe creep forth and the young lyons roar after their prey One miserable poor old wretch was thus
shore and there to make these most sad Conflicts matter of talk discourse or merriment as some do yet I conceive they should not be seen or heard of without grief and detestation Because the very name of a man implies Humanity which a man forgets to shew when he sees or hears of the â—uine and destruction of others with Content who are men like himself It is well observed that Almighty God in Scripture shewing mercy is oftentimes called by the name of a Man as Gen. 32. 24. 29 A Man wrestled with Jacob and blessed him So in many other places But when God threatens displeasure and vengeance against a man he â—aith I will not meet thee as a man Iâ— 47. 3. that is he will shew no pity no compassion Which implies thus much that they who at any time are wanting in this deserve not the names of Men they being without natural affections Appearing to be such as if they had been hewen from the Rocks and not falâ— from Loyns of flesh and blood as if they had sucked the Dragons in the Wilderness rather than the Daughters of Men. But to conclude what I have to say of this If it be very terrible as indeed it is to be in the midst of such Encounters as these though a man come off untouched it is much more to smart under the sad consequences thereof It being by much more hard to feel than it is easy to talk of them And now Reader if thou shalt be pleased to accompany me further I shall carry thee from this sad discourse where we may be both refreshed upon a near rich and pleasant Iland And to make way for our entertainment there take further notice that after we saw the Carrâ—que in a flame which was about midnight we stood off and on till morning to see if any thing might be found in her Ashes of which when we despaired we sought about to succour and comfort our wounded and sick men on the shore The Land there was very high against which the Sea is alwaies deep so that it was the tenth day of that month â—re we could be possessed of a good Harbour which enjoyed we found the Iland called Mohâ—lâ—a very pleasant full of Trees and exceeding fruitful abounding in Beeves Kids Poultrey of divers kinds Rice Sugar-Canes Plantens of which Fruit more shall be spoken hereafter Oranges Coquer-nuts as with many other wholsome things of all which we had sufficient to relieve our whole Company for little quantities of White Paper Glass Beads low prized Looking-Glasses and cheap Knives For instance we bought as many good Oranges as would fill an Hat for one quarter of a sheeâ— of white writing Paper and so in proportion all other Provisions Here we had the best Oranges that ever I tasted which were little round ones exceeding sweet and juicie having but a little sâ—â—ngâ—e skin within them and the rinde on them almost as thin as the paring of an Apple We eat all together Rinde and Juice and found them a Fruit that was extraordinary well pleasing to the Tast Much of their Fruits the Ilanders brought unto â—s in their little Canoos which are long narrow boats but like troughs out of firm trees but their Cattel we bought on the shore Where I observed the people to be streight well limm'd stout able men their colour very tawney most of the men but all the women I saw uncloathed having nothing about them but a Covering for their shame Such as were cloathed had long Garments like unto the Arabians whose Language they speak and of whose Religion they are Mahumetans very strict as it should seem for they would not endure us to come near their Churches They have good convenient Houses for their Living and fair Sepulchres for their Dead They seemed to live strictly under the Obedience of a King whose place of residence was some miles up in the Countrey His leave by Messengers they first craved before they would sell unto us any of their better Provisions Their King hearing of our arrival bad us welcome by a Present of Beâ—ves and Goats and Poultrey and the chief and choyce Fruits of his Countrey and was highly recompenced as he thought again by a Quire or two of white Paper a pair of low prized Looking-Glasses some strings of Glass Beads some cheap Knives and with some other English toyes We saw some Spanish Money amongst them of which they seemed to make so little reckoning that some of our men had from them many Royals of Eight in exchange for a little of those very low and very cheap Commodities which before I named The Coquer-nuâ—tree of which this Iland hath abundance of all other Trees may challenge the preheminence for meerly with these Trees without the least help of any other Timber or any other thing unless a little Iron-work a man may build and furnish and fit and victual a small Ship to Sea For the Heart of this Tree being very tough firm and fast wood growing up streight and high will make Timber and Planks and Pins and Musts and Yards a strong Gum that issues out of it with the Rinde that grows about it will serve to calk the Ship and that spongie Rinde that looks like our Hemp when it is a little bruised will make Cordage and Sails and the very large Nuts that grow upon it of which are made many excellent drinking Cups when it is newly gathered hath a milk-white substance that is tender tasting like an Almond round about of a good substance within it and within that a very pleasant Liquor that is wholsom as well as savoury which may for a need serve those which sail in this Ship for meat and drink Now well-stored with these Nuts and other good Provisions after six daies abode there the breaches our Ship had lately received in fight being repaired and our men well refreshed we put again to Sea the sixteenth day and a prosperous gale following us were carried happily a second time under the Aequinoctial without the leâ—st heat to offend us the 24 day of the same Month. Our Course was for the Iland of Zocotora near the mouth of the Red Sea from whence comes our Aloes Zocotrina but an adverse gale from the Arabian shore kept us so off that we could by no means recover it We passed by it the first of September Missing that Fort we proceeded on our Voyage and the fourth of September made a solemn Funeral in memory of our late slain Commander when after Sermon the small Shot and great Ordnance made a large Peal to his Remembrance On the sixt of September at night to our admiration and fear the Water of the Sea seemed to us as white as milk which did not appear onely so in the body of the Sea but it looked so likewise in Buckets of water which we did then draw out of the Sea Others of our Narion passing on that Course have observed the like but I am yet
from Joppa whence they departed together towards Jerusalem and found it a very solitary rocky uncomfortable way full of danger by reason of the wild Arabs who keep about those Passages to make poor Travellers their prey and spoyl But they came safe to Jerusalem now inhabited by Turks and that place called by them Cutts where he told me that himself and his Companion were courteously received by the Father Guardian of the Convent of Franciscan Friars that keep their residence in Jerusalem and by some of them were met at the Gate of the City where they were compelled by the Turkish Souldiers who keep those Gates as all others that bear the names of Christians are at their first coming thither to redeem their heads by paying each of them the value of five shillings before they could have admittance into that place which they had no sooner â—ntâ—â—d but they were presently carried by those Franciscans which met them to their Convent and then the first thing they did to or for them they washed their feet then set some comfortable refection before them and after went in Procession about a little Cloyster they had praising God that he had brought in safety those two Votaries as they called them to visit that Holy Place A day or two after they accompanied them to Bethlehem the place of our Blessed Saviours birth about five English miles distant from Jerusalem and in the way betwixt those two places shewed them a Rock on which as they said the Blessed Virgin sate down as she went on a time betwixt Jerusalem and Bethlehem to give her Babe suck and that the Rock might not feel hard under her it yielded as they told them to her body like a Cushion and that impression made by her so sitting remaineth unto this day and is most devoutly kissed by Votaries as they pass up and down After this they returning back shewed them all that was to be seen in and about Jerusalem Many particulars they told them stories which are there kept by Tradition concerning our Blessed Saviour and his Mother Then they had a sight of as much of Mount Calvarie where our Blessed Saviour suffered as could be shewed them that Hill being now enclosed within the Wals of Jerusalem They undertook to shew them afterwards the place wherein our Blessed Saviour was buried and after that upon Mount Olivet the very place whence he after ascended where upon a Rock there was an impression of the former part of two feet such as is seen in soft earth when a man lifts up his body to leap thence and these Franciscans confidently affirmed and seemed undoubtedly to believe that it was so as they shewed and told them Many other things they affirmed which being but Circumstantials though appertaining to the best of all stories were enough for these Pilgrims to believe and enough to make doubt of At Jerusalem this our Traveller had made upon the Wrists of his left Arm the Arms of Jerusalem a Cross Crossed or Crosslets and on the Wrist of his right a single Cross made like that our Blessed Saviour suffered on and on the sides of the stem or tree of that Cross these words written Via Veritas Vita some of the letters being put on the one side of that stem or tree and some of them on the other and at the foot of that Cross three Nails to signifie those which fastned our Saviour unto it All these impressions were made by sharp Needles bound together that pierced onely the skin and then a black Powder put into the Places so pierced which became presently indelible Characters to continue with him so long as his flesh should be covered with skin And they were done upon his Arms so artificially as if they had been drawn by some accurate Pencil upon Parchment This poor man would pride himself very much in the beholding of those Characters and seeing them would often speak those words of St. Paul written to the Galatians Gal. 6. 17. though far besides the Apostles meaning I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Now after that himself and Camrade had seen what they desired in and about Jerusalem they took their leave of those Franciscans leaving with them money to recompence the curtesy they had received from them the Friars being very poor and consequently unable to entertain them freely without requitals From hence they took their way to take a view of the Dead Sea so called either because the water therein is still and moves not or because no living Creature is in it and nothing thrives on the banks thereof the place where Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboim once stood those Cities which Almighty God overthrew in anger and repented not Jer. 20. 16. Hence they went to have a sight of the River Jordan which dischargeth it self into that most uncomfortable Lake and from hence they journied North-east through those ten Tribes which for the sin of Salomon were rent from his son Rehoboam till they came to Mount Libanus Thence back to Sidon which retaineth that name still And here he told me as his last observation made in that Land of Cauaan sometimes like the Garden of the Lord flowing with milk and honey being then enriched with a very great variety and abundance of Gods good Creatures and in the daies of David so populous that there were numbred in it at one time thirteen hundred thousand fighting men 2 Sam. 24. 9. besides Women and Children and others unfit to draw swords which was a most wonderful thing to consider that such a spot of ground in comparison not above one hundred and sixty miles in length from Dan to Beersheba and not above sixty miles in bredth from Joppa to Jordan should be able to bear and feed such a numerous people and now the very self-same tract of Earth either for want of manuring or which is rather to be conceived for the want of the blessing of Almighty God which once shined upon it but now long since withdrawn from it For a fruitful Land the Lord makes barren for the wickedness of them that dwell therein Psal 107. 34. is now become unable to sustein one in an hundred of such a number From Sidon they got a passage by Sea unto Alexandretta now called Scanderoon in the extremest bottom of the Mediterranean Sea which is one of the unwholsomest places in the World where I have often heard that no Stranger that was born far from it comes to continue there for the space of one Month but is sure to meet with a sickness which very often proves Mortal At this place his English Companion left him and turned his face towards England and he presently took his way towards Aleppo in Syria about seventy miles or more distant from Scanderoon which is as much renowned for wholsomness as the place before-named for being unwholsome and therfore it is called sweet-air'd Aleppo Here he being kindly received by the English Consul
him how long soever their parts seem to be For if one should go to the extremest part of the World East another West another North and another South they must all meet at last together in the Field of Bones wherein our Traveller hath now taken up his Lodging and where I leave him And shall now proceed to give an account of what I have undertaken and do principally intend in the description of the large Territories under the subjection of the Great Mogol Which following Discourse that I may put it into and after continue it in some due order I shall digest into several Parts or Sections As SECTION I. Of the several Provinces the chief Cities the Principal Rivers the extent of this vast Empire in its length and bredth THE most spacious Monarchy under the subjection of the Great Mogol divides it self into thirty and seven several and large Provinces which antiently were particular Kingdomes whose true Names which we there had out of the Mogol's own Records with their Principal Cities and Rivers their Situation and Borders their Extent in length and bredth I shall first set down very briefly beginning at the North-west Yet as I name these several Provinces I shall by the way take notice of some particulars in them which are most remarkable 1. Candahore the chief City so called it lyes from the heart of the Mogol's Territories North-west it confines with the King of Persia and was antiently a Province belonging to him 2. Cabut the chief City so called the extremest part North of this Emperours Dominions it confineth with â—artaria the River Nilob hath its beginning in it whose Current is Southerly till it dischargeth it self into Indus 3. Multan the chief City so called it lyeth South from Cabut and Candahore and to the West joyns with Persia This Province is fam'd for many excellent Bowes and Arrowes made in it The Bowes made of Horn excellently glued and put together the Arrows of small Canes or Reeds both of them curiously set off by rich Paint and Varnish They which are made here are more neat and good than in any part of East-India besides 4. Haiacan the Province of the Baloches who are a very stout and warlike people that dare fight I insert this because there are infinite multitudes of people in the Mogol's Territories who appear as likely as these but so low-spirited as I shall after observe that they dare not sight This Province hath no renowned City The famous River Indus called by the Inhabitants Skind borders it on the East and Lar a Province belonging to the King of Persia meets it on the West 5. Buckor the chief City called Buckor-Succor that famous River Indus makes its way through it and gently enricheth it 6. Tatta the chief City so called the River Indus makes many Islands in it exceeding fruitful and pleasant the Main Current whereof meets with the Sea at Sinde a place very famous for many curious Handicrafts 7. Soret the chief City is called Janagar it is but a little Province yet very rich it lyes upon Guzarat it hath the Ocean to the South 8. Jesselmure the chief City so called it joyneth with Soret but Buckor and Tatta lye to the West thereof 9. â—ttack the chief City so called it lyeth on the East side of Indus which parts it from Haiâ—can 10. Peniab which signifieth five Waters for that it is seated amongst five Rivers all Tributaries to Indus which somewhat South of Labore make but one Current It is a large Province and most fruitful Lahore is the chief City thereof built very large and abounds both in people and riches one of the most principal Cities for Trade in all India 11. Chishmâ—ere the chief City called Siranakar the River Bhat finds a way through it though it be very mountainous and so creeps to the Sea 12. Banchish the chief City is called Bishur it lyeth East somewhat Southerly from Chishmeere from which it is divided by the River Indus 13. Jangapore the chief City so called it lyeth upon the River Kaul one of those five Rivers which water Peniab 14. Jenba the chief City so called it lyeth East of Peniab 15. Dellee which signifies an Heart and is seated in the heart of the Mogol's Territories the chief City so called it lyeth between Jenba and Agra the River Jemni which runneth through Agra and after falleth into Ganges begins in it This Dellee is both an antient and a great City the Seat of the Mogol's Ancestors where most of them lye interred It was once the City and Seat of King Porus who was conquered about this place by Alexander the Great and here he encountring with huge Elephants as well as with a mighty Hoast of Men said as Curtius reports Tandem par animo meo inveni periculum That he had met with dangers to equal his great mind I was told by â—om Corâ—at who took special notice of this place that he being in the City of Dellee observed a very great Pillar of Marble with a Greek inscription upon it which time hath almost quite worn out erected as he supposed there and then by Great Alexander to preserve the memory of that famous Victory 16. Bando the chief City so called it confineth Agra to the West 17. Malway a very fruitful Province Rantipore is its chief City 18. Chitor an antient great Kingdome the chief City so called which standeth upon a mighty high Hill flat on the top walled about at the least ten English miles There appear to this day above an hundred ruin'd Churches and divers fair Palaces which are lodged in like manner among their Ruins besides many exquisite Pillars of Carved Stone and the Ruins likewise at the least of an hundred thousand stone houses as many English by their observation have ghessed There is but one ascent unto it cut out of a firm Rock to which a man must pass through four sometimes very magnificent Gates It s chief Inhabitants at this day are Ziim and Ohim Birds and Wild Beasts but the stately Ruins thereof give a shadow of its Beauty while it flourished in its Pride It was won from Ranas an antient Indian Prince who was forc'd to live himself ever after in high mountainous places adjoyning to that Province and his Posterity to live there ever since Taken from him it was by Achabar Padsha the Father of that King who lived and reigned when I was in those parts after a very long siegâ— which faâ—â—ished the besieged without which it could never have been gotten Let me digress here a little and put my Reader in mind of a sad truth which he must needs know already how that this Hunger is the most powerful Commander the most absolute Conquerour in the World for though Nature may be content and in extremiâ—ies can make shift with a little yet something must be had Bread being the Staff of Life the Prop the Pillar which next under the Giver hereof keeps up these Houses
certain Divinity to Waters but more especially to the Water in the River Ganges And thither our famous Coryat went likewise to view this place 29. Kakares the principal Cities are called Dekalâ—e and Purhola it is a large Province but exceeding mountainous divided it is from Tartaria by the Mountain Caucasus it is the extremest part North under the Mogol's subjection 30. Gor the chief City so called it is full of Mountains the River Sersily a tributary unto Ganges hath its beginning in it 31. Pitan the chief City so called the River Canda waters it and fals into Ganges in the Confines thereof 32. Kanduana the chief City is called Karhakatenka the River Sersily parts it from Pitan This and Gor are the North-east bounds of this Monarchy 33. Patna the chief City so called the River Ganges bounds it on the West Sersily on the East it is a very fertile Province 34. Jesuat the chief City is called Raâ—apore it lyeth East of Patna 35. Mevat the chief City is called Narnol it is very mountainoâ—s 36. Udessa the chief City called Jikanat it is the most remote part East of this Empire 37. Bengala a most spacious and fruitful Province but more properly to be called a Kingdome which hath two very large Provinces within it Purb and Patan the one lying on the East the other on the West-side of the River Ganges It is limited by the Golph of the same name whereinto the River Ganges which at last comes to be divided into four great Currents dischargeth it self after it hath found a way through the Mogol's Territories more than fifteen hundred miles in length The chief Cities in it are Ragamahat and Dekaka It hath many Havens and Ports belonging unto it which are places of very great trade Now these are the several Provinces belonging to the Great Mogol and all of them under his subjection which may be beheld all together at one view in this most exact affixed Map first made by theespecial observation direction of that most able and honourable Gentleman Sir Thomas Row here contracted into a less compass yet large enough to demonstrate that this great Empire is bounded on the East with the Kingdome of Maug West with Persia and with the Main Ocean Southerly North with the Mountain Caucasus and Tartaria South with Decan and the Gulph of Bengala Decan lying in the skirts of Asia is divided betwixt three Mahumeran Princes and some other Indian Rhaiaes which are Princes likewise The length of these Provinces is North-west to South-west more than two thousand English miles North and South the extent thereof is about fourteen hundred miles the Southermost part lying in twenty and the Northernmost in forty and three degrees of North Latitude The breadth of this much enlarged and far extended Empire is North-east to South-west about fifteen hundred of the same miles And here a great errour in Geographers must not escape my notice who in their Globes and Maps make East-India and China near Neighbours when as many large Countries are interposed betwixt them which great distance may appear by the long travel of the Indian Merchants who are usually they going and returning all the way by Land in their journey and return and some stay there two full years from Agra to China Now to give an exact account of all those forenamed Provinces were more than I am able to undertake yet out of that which I have observed in some of them by travelling many miles up into that Countrey and then up and down with my Lord Embassadour unto many places there in progress with that King I shall adventure to ghess at all and think for my particular that the Great Mogol considering his most large Territories his full and great Treasures with the many rich Commodities his Provinces afford is the greatest and richest known King of the East if not of the whole World I shall now therefore fall upon particulars to make that my observation good Where SECTION II. Of the Soyl there what it is and what it produceth c. THis most spacious and fertile Monarchy called by the Inhabitants Indostan so much abounds in all necessaries for the use and service of man to feed and cloath and enrich him as that it is able to subsist and flourish of it self without the least help from any Neighbour-Prince or Nation Here I shall speak first of that which Nature requires most Food which this Empire brings forth in abundance as singular good Wheat Rice Barley with divers more kinds of good Grain to make Bread the staff of life and all these sorts of Corn in their kinds very good and exceeding cheap For their Wheat it is more full and more white than ours of which the Inhabitants make such pure well-relished Bread that I may say of it as one sometimes spake of the Bread made in the Bishoprick of Leige it is Panis Pane melior Bread better than Bread The ordinary sort of people eat Bread made of a coarser Grain but both toothsome and wholsome and hearty they make it up in broad Cakes thick like our Oaten-cakes and then bake it upon small round iron hearths which they carry with them when they journey from place to place making use of them in their Tents It should seem to be an antient Custome in the East as may appear by that president of Sarah when she entertained the Angels who found her in her Tent She took fine meal and did knead it and made Cakes thereof upon the hearth Gen. 18. 6. To their Bread they have great abundance of all other good Provision as of Butter beating their Cream into a substance like unto a thick Oyl for in that hot Climate they can never make it hard which though soft yet it is very sweet and good They have Cheese likewise in plenty by reason of their great number of Kine and Sheep and Goats Besides they have a Beast very large having a smooth thick skin without hair called a Buffelo which gives good milk the flesh of them is like Beef but neither so toothsome nor wholsome These Buffeloes are much employed in carrying large skins of water for they are very strong Beasts which hang on both sides of them unto Families that want it their Hides make the most firm and excellent Buff. They have no want of Venison of divers kinds as Red-Deer Fallow-Deer Elks which are very large and strong and fierce Creatures Antilops Kids c. but their Deer are no where imparked the whole Empire being as it were a Forrest for them for a man can travel no way but he shall here and there see of them But because they are every mans Game that will make them so they do not multiply to do them much hurt either in their Corn or other places To these they have great store of Hares and they have plenty of Fowls wild and tame as abundance of Hens Geese Ducks Pigeons Turtle-Doves Partriches Peacocks Quails and many other
extend themselves to such an incredible breadth they growing round every way as that hundreds of men may shade themselves under one of them at any time the rather because these as all other Trees in those Southern parts of East-India as particularly I observed before still keep on their green Coats For their Flowers they are for the generality like unto painted Weeds which though their colour be excellent they rather delight the eye than affect the smell for not many of them except Roses and some few kinds more are any whit fragrant Amongst them that are there is one white Flower like to Spanish Jessamin if it be not the same which is exceedingly well sented of which they make a most excellent pure sweet Oyl with which they anoynt their heads and other parts of their bodies which makes the company of those that do so very savoury and sweet This Empire is watered with many goodly Rivers as they are expressed in the Map the two principal are Indus and Ganges where this thing is very observable for they say there that it is very true that one pint of the water of Ganges weigheth less by one ounce than any other water in that whole great Monarchy And therefore they say that the Mogol wheresoever he is hath water brought him from that River that he may drink thereof by some appointed for that service who are continually either going to it or coming from it The water is brought unto the King in fine Copper Jars excellently well tin'd on the inside and sealed up when they are delivered to the Water-bearers for the King's use two of which Jars every one carries hanging upon Slings fitted for the Porter's shoulders Besides their Rivers they have store of Wels fed with Springs and to these they have many Ponds which they call Tanques some of them exceeding large fill'd with water when that abundance of Rain fals of which more hereafter That most antient and innocent Drink of the World Water is the common drink of East-India it is far more pleasant and sweet than our water and must needs be so because in all hot Countries it is more rarified better digested and freed from its rawneâ—s by the heat of the Sun and therefore in those parts it is more desired of all that come thither though they never made it their drink before than any other liquor and agreeth better with mens bodies Sometimes we boyl the water there with some wholsome seeds and after drink it cold and then it is by much more cold after an heat Like unto some men who have shewed formerly much zeal and heat for good and afterward become more chill and cold than ever they were before Sometimes we mingle our water there with the juice of Limons and Sugar which makes an exceeding pleasant drink which we call there Sherbet Some small quantity of Wine but not common is made amongst them they call it Raâ—k distilled from Sugar and a spicy rinde of a Tree called Jagra it is very wholsome if taken very moderately Many of the people there who are strict in their Religion drink no Wine at all but they use a Liquor more wholsome than pleasant they call Coffee made by a black seed boyled in water which turns it almost into the same colour but doth very little alter the tast of the water notwithstanding it is very good to help digestion to quicken the spirits and to cleanse the blood There is yet another help for those that forbear Wine by an Herb they have called Beetle or Paune in shape somewhat like an Ivy-leaf but more tender they chew it with an hard Nut somewhat like a Nutmeg but not in tast like that and a very little pure white-lime amongst the leaves and when they have sucked down the juice put forth the rest It hath as they say and I believe very much of it many rare qualities for it preserves the Teeth strengthens the Stomack comforts the Brain and it cures or prevents a tainted Breath This I am sure of that such is the pleasing smell of this Beetle being chewed in a close room that the breath of him so chewing it fils it with a very pleasing savour This Empire further affords very excellent good Horse curiously made high mettled and well managed by the Natives Besides their own they have many of the Persian Tartarian and Arabian breed which have the name to be the choyce ones of the World But of these more when I come to speak of the Inhabitants Here are a great number of Camels Dromedaries Mules and Asses imployed for the carriage of burthens or the carrying of the people to which use also they employ many of their Oxen and their Buffeloes likewise which before I spake of The Camels as I oft observed there have one strange quality who cry and make a very piteous noyse at night when they take off their burthens but in the morning when they are laid on the poor Creatures are very still and quiet making no noyse at all Many wicked men who are most fitly called by the Psalmist the Beasts of the people Pâ—al 68. â—0 for so it is in the Vulgar Translation Beastâ— for want of Reason and for not using Reason well worse than Brutes may be most fitly resembled by those dull Camels who being burthen'd and clogg'd with a great load of sin already enough to press them down into that bottomless pit seem to feel nothing nor to complain at all but with much quiet and content keep on their burthens and take up more still as if that wickedness which the Prophet Zachary 5. 7. compares to a Talent of Lead were as light as a Feather But when we go about by our Exhortations Intreaties Perswasions of them and by the strongest Arguments besides we can invent press them to suffer God through Christ Jesus to save their souls and consequently to get themselves freed from that most intollerable burthen which will unavoydably sink them into Hell at last if they be not freed from it then these like those stupid Creatures cry and complain and seem to be much disquieted as if we did them much wrong while we labour to do them the greatest right The reason is because their Pride as every beloved sin besides compasseth them as a Chain Psal 73. 6. it is their Jewel their Ornament as they think and therefore they will keep it they will not part from it though it be their greatest shame because they esteem it their chiefest Glory I would intreat my Reader when he comes to this digression to read it over and over again The Dromedary is called by the Prophet Jeremy 2. 23. the swift Dromedary the reason may be because these like the Camels have very long legs and consequently make long steps and so travelling rid ground apace or because at a pinch or time of need they will carry a man exceeding far without rest and but with a very little food They have some Rhynocerots
fild with a thick yellow watry substance that arose upon many parts of our bodyes which when they brake did even burn and corrode our skins as it ran down upon them For my part I had a Calenture before at Mandoa which brought me even into the very Jawes of Death from whence it pleased God then to rescue and deliver me which amongst thousands and millions of mercies more received from him hath and shall for ever give me cause to speak good of his Name There are very few English which come thither but have some violent sicknes which if they escape and live temperately they usually enjoy very much health afterward But death made many breaches into my Lord Ambassadors family for of four and twenty wayters besides his Secretary and my self there was not above the fourth man returned home And he himself by violent Fluxes was twice brought even to the very brink of the Grave The Natives of East India in all their violent hot diseases make very little use of Physicians unless in be to breâ—th a veine sometimes after which they use much fasting as their most hopefull remedy That foul disease a most into consequence of filthy incontinency is too common in those hot climates where the people that have it are much more affected with the trouble it brings than with the sin or shame thereof As many amongst us who care not for issue but lust and after pay dear for their filthines which many times rotts or else makes bare the bones of them that are thus filthy For as vertue and goodnes rewards it self so to it self wickednes is a punishment poena peccati peccasse saith Seneca this is cleer in the sad consequences of many other sins cui â—hu cui vae who hath wo who hath sorrow Solomon askes the question and resolves it too Prov. 23. 29. they that tarry long at the wine c. for it will bite like a Serpent and sting like an Adâ—er How many sad diseases are contracted to mens bodyes by this kind of intemperancy who can recount the hurts that by this means come to the whole body especially to the Head Stomack Liver and the more noble párts who can recite the Rheumes Gouts Dropsies Appoplexies Inflamations and other distempers hence arising Drunkennes being like that Serpent Amphisbaena which hath a sting in the mouth and a sting in the tail for it kills two wayes first the Body and after that the Soul How were the thoughts of Amnon rackt about the compassing of that incestuous unnatural and brutish lust with his Sister Tamar for first he is sick for her and after he had reaped the bitter fruit of his beastly desires his lust ending in loathing he was sick of her and hated her exceedingly and said unto her arise be gone 2 Sam. 13. 15. Brutus and Cassius were traytors which Julius Caesar fear'd Macilenti pallidi men pal'd with Anger whose thoughts to do mischief drank up all their own sap and moisture Envy â—aith Solomon is the rottennes of the bones Prov. 14. 30. hence the heart of the malicious and envious man is never without torment for it boyles continually as it were in Brine And therefore this sin is said to have much justice in it self Justius invidia nihil est because it eateth the heart and marrow of her master as he desireth to have the heart of another to be eaten up And thus may it be said of Anger when it boyles up to rage as many times it doth in se sâ—mper armatur furor that it is always in Armes against it self The people in East India live up to our greatest ages but without all question they have more old people than we a thing not to be wondred at if we consider the great Temperance of that people in general in their eating and drinking But to proceed The Hindooes or Heathens there begin their year the first day of March The Mahometans begin theirs the tenth at the very instant as the Astrologers there ghess that the Sun enters into Aries their year as ours is divided into twelve Months or rather into thirteen Moons for according to them they make many payments They distinguish their time in a much different manner from us dividing the day into four and the night into as many parts which they call Pores which again they subdivide each of them into eight parts which they call Grees measured according to the ancient custome by water dropping out of one vessell into another by which there alwayes stands a man appointed for that service to turn that vessell up again when it is all dropped out and then to strike with an hammer upon the brim of a concave peece of Metal like the inner part of a large platter hanging by the brim on a wire the number of those Pores and Grees as they pass It hath a deep sound and may be heard very far but these are not common amongst them Neither have they any Clocks or Sun-Dials to shew them further how their time passeth We lived there some part of our time a little within or under the Tropick of Cancer and then the Sun was our Zenith or Verticle at noon day directly over our heads at his return to his Northern bounds of which I have spoken something before The Sun-rising there was about six houres in the Morning before its appearing here so that it is twelve of the clock with them when it is but six with us We had the Sun there above the Horizon in December when the dayes are shortest neer eleven houres and in June when they are at their fullest length somewhat more than thirteen houres which long absence of the Sun there from the face of the earth was very advantagious to cool both the Earth and Air. I proceed to speak SECTION XIV Of the most excellent moralities which are to be observed amongst the People of those Nations NExt to those things which are Spiritually good there is nothing which may more challenge a due and deserved commendation than those things which are Morally and Materially so and many of these may be drawn out â—o life from the examples of great numbers amongst that people For the Temperance of very many by far the greatest part of the Mahometans and Gentiles it is such as that they will rather choose to dye like the Mother and her seven Sons mentioned in the second of Machabees and seventh Chapter then eat or drink any thing their Law forbidds them Or like those Rechabites mentioned Jer. 35. Where Jonadab their father commanded them to drink no wine and they did forbear it for the Commandement sake Such meat and drink as their Law allowes them they take only to satisfie Nature as before not appetite strictly observing Solomons Rule Proy 23. 2. in keeping a knife to their throats that they may not transgress in taking too much of the Creature hating Gluttony and esteeming drunkennes as indeed it is another Madnes and
Tamberlane and his successors and the lower we go the greater still they are but the last of them swels biggest of all calling himself amongst other phansies the Conqueror of the world and so he conceits himself to be As they write of Thrasyllus the Athenian who believed that all the ships on the Sea were his own and therefore he would call them my ships when ever he saw them floating on the waters and thus the great Magol imagines all the Kings Nations and people of the world to be his Slaves and Vassals And therefore when the Grand Signiour or great Turks sent an Ambassador to the great Mogol who came unto him attended with a great train and retinue and after when he was ready to take his leave desired of the Mogol to know what he should say to his Master when he was returned tell thy Master said the Mogol that he is my slave for my Ancestor Conquered him The Mogol feeds and feasts himself with this conceit that he is Conqueror of the world and therefore I conceive that he was troubled upon a time when my Lord-Ambassador haveing businesse with him and upon those terms there is no coming unto that King empty handed without some present or other of which more afterward and having at that time nothing left which he thought fit to give him presented him with Mercators great book of Cosmography which the Ambassador had brought thither for his own use telling the Mogol that that book described the four parts of the world and all several Countreys in them contained the Mogol at the first seem'd to be much taken with it desiring presently to see his own Territories which were immediately shewen unto him he asked where were those Countreys about them he was told Tartaria and Persia as the names of the rest which confine with him and then causing the book to be turn'd all over and finding no more to fall to his share but what he first â—aw and he calling himself the Conqueror of the world and having no greater share in it seemed to be a little troubled yet civily told the Ambassadour that neither himself nor any of his people did understand the language in which that book was written and because so he further told him that he would not rob him of such a Jewel and therefore returned it unto him again And the truth is that the great Mogol might very well bring his action against Mercator and others who describe the world but streighten him very much in their Maps not allowing him to be Lord Commander of those Provinces which properly belong unto him But it is true likewise that he who hath the greatest share on the face of the earth if it be compared with the whole world appears not great As it was said of the Lands of Alcibiades that compared with the Glob of the whole earth they did not appear bigger than a small tittle The Mogols Territories are more apparent large and visible as any one may take notice who strictly views this affixed Map wch is a true representation of that great Empire in its large dimensions So that although the Mogol be not master of the whole World yet hath he a great share in it if we consider his very large Territories and his abundant riches as will after more appear whose wealth and strength makes him so potent as that he is able whensoever he pleaseth to make inroades upon and to do much mischief unto any of his Neighbours but I leave that and come now to speak SECT XXIII Of the Mogols policy in his government exercised by himself and substitutes c. ANd it is that indeed which is the worst of â—ll governments called by Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arbitrary illimited Tyrannical such as a most severe Master useth to Servants not that which a good King administreth to Subjects Which makes it very uncomfortable for those that live as subjects there under the command of others taller than themselves by their swords length or so to be fixed in any part of the World Where no Laws resist The sword but that it acteth what it lists As in that Empire where the King measureth his power by his sword or Launce in making his will his guide and therefore any thing lawfull that likes him which carriage of his might very well become that Embleme of illâ—mited power which is a sword waved by a strong arm and hand and the word siâ— volo sic jubeo or thus will I have it and if any there be so far discontented as to make any the least question at what he doth he hath a far stronger argument still in readinesse than all the force of Logick can make and that is very many thousands of men that are â—â—ouâ— and able Souldiers whom he keeps continually in arms and pay that can make any thing good which he shall please to command There are no Laws for Government kepâ— in that Empire upon record for ought I could ever learn to regulate Governours there in the administration of Justice but what are written in the breast of that King and his Substitutes and therefore they often take liberty to proceed how they please in punishing the Offender rather than the offence mens persons more than their Crimes aegrotum potius quam morbum Yet ever they pretend to proceed in their wayes of judicature which is the right progresse in judgement secundum allegata probata by proofs and not by presumptions The great Mogol will sit himself as Judge in any matters of consequence that happen nere unto him And there are no Malefactors that lye more than one night in prison and many times not at all for if the party offending be apprehended early in the day he is immediately brought before him that must be his Judge by whom he is presently either acquitted or condemned if he be sentenced to be whipt he hath his payment and that usually with very much severity in the place often where he received that sentence If condemned to dye he is presently which as I apprehend it is a very hard course though used anciently among the Jews carried from his sentence to his execution which is done usally in the Bazar or Market-place And this round and quick Justice keep the people there in such order and awe as that there are not many executions Murder and Theft they punish with death with what kinde of death the Judge pleaseth to impose for some Malefactors are hang'd some beheaded some impaled or put upon sharp stakes a death which hath much cruelty and extream torture and torment in it some are torn in places by wilde Beasts some kill'd by Elephants and others stung to death by Snakes Those which are brought to suffer death by Elephants some of which vast Creatures are train'd up to do execution on Malefactors are thus dealt withall First if that overgrown Beast be commanded by his Rider to diâ—patch that poor trembling Offender presently
causes of the distemper and sickness of the whole Body of this Nation even from the sole of the foot unto the Crown of the head Never such liberty taken by youth of all sorts of both sexes as now How generally do they forget God the guide of youth for how do they sligâ—t him by that irreverence they shew in religious duties they being seduced in ways that carry them from Religion and consequently from God What lightness looseness pride drunkenness and prophaneness may be observed in too too many of them What a generall debauchery expressed by wickedness in life â—ath eaten into the manners of such multitudes of the younger sort of people more by far in the present than in foregoing times whence it comes to pass that there never was such a scarcity of good servants So that if Almighty God that can do what he will do do not please to put â—uâ—bs on them that may reform or restrain them the succeeding age is like to prove a monstrous generation How much uncharitableness and censoriousness that is accompanied in some with blindness of mind and consequently with error about the things of God hath taken up the thoughts of many more of riper years And lastly there is so much covetousness which turns so many wholy into themselves without respect had unto any others which makes so many steer their course for wealth esteeming any thing that may be gotten to be good gain being resolved to be rich however they come by wealth though that they get be like the waters of Bethelem 2 Sam. 23 17. Which David there calls blood because gotten with so much hazard and jeopardy of their lives that got those Waters So of the lives and souls too of those that get this wealth and yet for all this for Judas his wages they will do Judas his work they want peices of silver must have them as Judas had though they earn them as dearly and suffer for them as deeply as Judas did Esteeming gain godliness when it is godliness that is gain the hearts of so many are so bent upon and run after their covetousness in these present untoward and self seeking times The Prophet Esay once cryed Es 45. 8. O yee Heavens drop down Righteousness when righteousness was taken up into the Clouds So may we say Oh! yee Heavens drop down kindness Love Charity in our times that people may know that they were not borne onely for themselves that they came not into the world to laugh and joy and rejoyce to themselves nor to eat and drink or to thrive and grow rich and to live alone to themselves and to their own private relations but for others who stand in need of them who by the very Prerogative of mankind may challenge an interest in their succour and service The consideration whereof bids me turn back mine eyes again upon some forementioned passages in this relation that set forth the most excellent Moralities which shine in those Indians and by reflexion do very much shame us And this doth further make me call to mind a passage of Erasmus in that Colloquie of his called convivium Religiosum where admiring Soorates an heathen upon the same account said that he could hardly forbear sometimes to cry out Sancte Soorates Ora pronobis Now as before I have observed againe and again that heathens should out-go us in any way that is safe and good that they should out-strip us as they do us that have so much advantage of them in the way us that have so much assurance if we run well in the race set before us and chalk'd out to us to get the better of them in the end Thaâ— heathens I say should walk in many things so exactly and being but heathens do so as it marvelously condemnes so it may deeply humble many of us who bear the names of Christians and make us passionately to cry out and say Oh Religion thou when thou art professed in purity and power which bindest God to man and man to God! Where art thou What is become of thee Whither art thou gone Whither departed Where shall we seek thee where find thee If not very much amongst those which profess thee some and they the greatest number by far lay thee altogether aside some make thee to consist too much in forms and others as much in affected Phrases which are made by many a new Shibboleth to distingush one man from another A very great Number make this a Complement as others a cloak Some slight thee and others think themselves above thee some make thee an any thing and some an every thing and some a nothing And yet for all this it is true of very many by reason of their great unsetledness That while they run into these wide extreames Religion and conscience are their Theams Without all doubt Machevils position is no good Divinity which adviseth men to take up the profession of Religion but to slight the practice and power thereof Da justum sanctum que videri As if they resolved to make the Church of Christ a Theater or stage to act a part on as if it were enough for a man to seeme good and not to be so But let all assure themselves that their sin their own sin will first or last discover them find them out When they shall further by sad experience feel that the revenges of Almighty God are never so deadly never fall so heavily upon sinners as after they have had most way in sinning And that God will find a time to pull off all peoples vizards Thamar muffles her selfe to take a short pleasure Gen. 38. 15. And others muffle their consciences for a time but as Thamar was discovered so shall all hearts be laid open and pull'd out of their thickets wherein they would hide themselves as Adam when he had sinn'd would have done Gen. 3. when a man shall say to his conscience as Ahab sometimes spake unto Elias hast thou found me O mine enemy certainly if the brests of many were ript up the wounds and rents and breaches which guilt hath made there would most visibly appear Tuta esse scelera secura non possunt A man may think to sin without danger for a time but never without fear Oh this conscience when it is throughly awakned will appear to be a very strange a terrible thing if it be full of guilt for then it will swell so big as that it will be ready to break open the brest of him that bears it And it would do so but for these Reasons first because it is many times hoodwink't mask't or seared as with an hot iron having the mouth of it as before bung'd up or hooft over and this makes it not to see or to be sensible of its present condition And 2. a man by the malice and cunning of Satan may be brought to esteem the doing of things good which in themselves are most horrid damnable Now conscience is
to the soul as it is represented to it the time shall came that he which kills you shall think he doth God good service and upon his false ground a man may be never troubled at the acting of the worst things they shall think they do God good service but they do but think so and shall first or last bemade to pay dear for so thinking so doing But however this will be found a truth that conscience is ever marked and observed by her own eye though no other eye perceive her followed she is and chased by her own foot though nothing else pursue her she flyes when no man followes and and hath a thousand witnesses within her own brest when she is free from all the world beside she is a worm that ever gnaweth a fire that ever burneth and though a guilty man could escape the hands of the â—verliving God yet should he find it misery enough and more than he could possibly beare to he under the rack or lash of a never dying conscience the consciences of the wicked being so filled with the guilt of sin that there is no â—oom left for the peace and consolation of God to dwell in them â—ain felt this weight like a Talent of head upon his soul which he thought could never be removed and therefore he 〈…〉 ers a blasph 〈…〉 y against the grace of God never to be pardoned for if he could have been as forward to ask pardon for his sin as he was to seek protection for his body he might have found it But Nemo polluto queat animâ— mederi No cure so difficult as the cleansing and healing of a polluted soul no balme in Gilead no Phisitian there can of himself help it and as all the wealth of the world cannot buy off the guilt so all the waters in the Sea cannot wash off the filth of one Sin Arctoum licèt Moeotis in me gelida transfundat mare Et tota Tethys per meas currat manus Haerebit altum facinus said the guilty man The Northern Sea Though coole Meotis pour on me And th' Ocean through my hands do run Guilt dy'd in grain will yet stick on Oh this fear when it takes its rise from guilt is a most terrible thing It is written of Tiberius the Emperour a very politick and subtile but a most prodigiously wicked man who to compasse his ends the better was summus simulandi dissimulandi artifex A very Master-peece of dissimulation that for a time he seemed to stand in awe of no power either in Heaven or earth but after this monster had retired himself from Rome to Capriâ— for the more free enjoyment of his most noysome lusts in process of time he had such terrors fell upon him and his natural conscience did so perplex him as that he came to be afraid of every thing as of his friends his guard nay he became like Pashur whom the prophet Jeremy calls Magor-missabib a terror to himself like the man in the Tragaedy who would fain have run out of himself saying Me fugio c. I fly from my self-guiltiness would fain keep out of sight and such shall one day be the horror of the damned as that they would hide themselves if it were possible even in hell A wounded spirit who can beare it is written of Cajus Marius and of Mutius Scaevola men famous in the Roman story that the first of them patiently endured the cutting off his flesh the other the burning off his right hand A wounded estate a wounded name a wounded head a wounded body may be indured but a wounded spirit a wounding conscience is unsupportable cannot be born cannot be endured being like unto a gouty joynt â—o sore and tender as that it cannot endure it self the truth of all this being known by sad experience of all those who either have been or for the present are pressed down under the weight thereof I will now draw towards the conclusion of this discourse but shall first make this request unto him that reads it that I may not be mistaken in any partiâ—ulars laid down in my many digressions for my witnesses are in Heaven and in my own bosome too that I desire to be angry and offended at nothing so much as at that which angers and displeaseth Almighty God hating that which is evill in all and as far as I can know my own heart am desirous to do it in my self first and most But the sad consideration of the strange and still increasing wickednesses of this Nation wherein we breath bid me take leave to enlarge my self far in this case and to rebuke sharply or cuttingly to go to the very quick I say the wickednesses of this Nation to whom that of the Prophet Jeremiah may be fitly applyed that we are waxen fat we shine overpassing the deeds of the wicked putting far from us the evill day while we laugh out the good lying under the most heavy weight both of spirituall and other judgments but feele them not having been like Solomons foole that could laugh when he was lashed in many things justifying Turks Pagans Heathen in being corrupted more than they all Our sins being like that tree which Nebuâ—hadnezzar saw in his vision whose top reached up to Heaven and hath spread it self in its branches over all the parts of the earth here below But I shall not lead my Reader into a dark and melancholly cloud and leave him there for notwithstanding all these sad and horrible truths I have named I must say this that if God have a people a Church in any place under Heaven which none but an Atheist or a Divell will make doubt of they may be found in this Nation and in that we may take comfort for they are the righteous that deliver the Island the remnant that keepe it from desolation and were it not for those few whom the very great multitudes amongst whom they are mingled scorn and hate this Nation could not continue which should make the wicked of this land if not out of piety yet if they understood themselves out of policy to love and respect those for whose sake they fare so much the better God hath had a Church long planted in this Nation and I dare say that since the Gospell hath been published to the world it was never preached with more Power than it hath been here in these later times As for our Fore-fathers they instead of the food of life issuing from the two breasts of the Church the Law and the Gospels were made to feed on moudly fennowed Traditions The book of God was sealed up from them in an unknown tongue which they could neither understand nor read but for us at this present day our Temples are open we may come our Bibles are engshed we may read our Pulpits frequented we may heare from these considerations ariseth a great cause both of wonder greife unto every one who loves the glory of