charge For partly for a stock to set out and partly for victuals while they are abroad they are forc'd to borrow Money at three and four in the hundred a month So that unless a thousand Oysters yeild them five Fano's of Pearls they do not fish that year As for the Merchants they must buy their Oysters at hap-hazard and be content with what they find in them If they meet with great Pearls they account themselves happy which they seldom do at the Fishery of Manar those Pearls being fit for little else but to be sold by the Ounce to powder Sometimes a thousand Oysters amounts to seven Fano's and the whole Fishery to a hundred thousand Piasters The Hollanders take of every Diver eight Piasters in regard they always attend the Fishery with two or three small Men of War to defend them from the Malavares Pyrats The more Rain falls in the year the more profitable the Fishery happens to be They fish in twelve fathom water five or six Leagues off at Sea sometimes two hundred and fifty Barks together among which there is not above one or two Divers at most There is a Cord ty'd under the Arms of them that dive one end whereof is held by them that are in the Bark There is also a great stone of eighteen or twenty pound ty'd to the great Toe of him that dives the end of the Rope that fastens it being also held by them in the Vessel The Diver has beside a Sack made like a Net the mouth whereof is kept open with a Hoop Thus provided he plunges into the Sea the weight of the stone presently sinking him when he is at the bottom he slips off the stone and the Bark puts off Then the Diver goes to filling his Sack as long as he can keep his breath which when he can do no longer he gives the Rope a twitch and is presently hall'd up again Those of Manar are better Fishers and stay longer in the water than those of Bakren and Catifa for they neither put Pincers upon their Noses nor Cotton in their Ears as they do in the Persian Gulf. After the Diver is draw'n up he stays half a quarter of an hour to take breath and then dives again for ten or twelve hours together As for the Oysters themselves they throw 'em away as being ill-tasted and unsavoury To conclude the discourse of Pearls you are to take notice that in Europe they sell them by the Carat weight which is four Grains In Persia they sell them by the Abas and one Abas is an eighteenth less than our Carat In the Dominions of the Mogul the Kings of Visapour and Golconda weigh them by the Ratis and one Ratis is also an eighteenth less than our Carat Goa was formerly the greatest place of the world for the trade of Jewels and Pearls You must know therefore that in Goa and in all other places which the Portugals had in the Indies they us'd a particular weight to sell their Pearls by which they call Chego's the proportion whereof to Carats appears in the following Table Carats Chegos Carats Chegos 1 5 21 306 2 8 22 336 3 11 and a half 23 367 a quarter 4 16 24 400 5 21 25 430 6 27 26 469 a quarter 7 34 27 506 a quarter 8 44 28 544 a quarter 9 56 29 584 10 69 30 625 11 84 31 667 a quart 12 100 32 711 13 117 33 756 and a quart 14 136 34 802 and 3 quart 15 156 35 850 and a quart 16 177 3 quart 36 900 17 200 a half 37 950 and a half 18 225 38 1002 and 3 quar 19 250 a half 39 1056 20 277 3 quar 40 1111 and a quar CHAP. XIX Observations upon the fairest and largest Diamonds and Rubies which the Author has seen in Europe and Asia represented according to the Figures in the Plates as also upon those which the Author sold to the King upon his last return from the Indies with the Figure of a large Topaz and the fairest Pearls in the World Number 1. THis Diamond belongs to the Great Mogul being cut into the same form and it weighs 319 Ratis and an half which make 279 and nine 16 ths of our Carats when it was rough it weigh'd 907 Ratis which make 793 Carats Numb 2. Is the figure of a Diamond belonging to the Great Duke of Tuscany It weighs 139 Carats and an half the fault of it is that the water enclines somewhat to a Citron-colour Numb 3. Is a Stone that weighs 176 and one 8 th Mangelins which makes 242 Carats and five 16 ths A Mangelin coming to one and three 8 ths of our Carats Being at Golconda I saw this Stone and it was the biggest that ever I saw in my life in a Merchant's-hands It was valu'd at 500000 Roupies or 750000 Livres of our Money I offer'd 400000 Roupies but could not have it Numb 4. Is the figure of a Diamond which I bought at Amadabat and it weigh'd 178 Ratis or 157 Carats and a quarter 〈…〉 and for severall services done the Kingdome His Majesty honored him with the Title of Noble Numb 5. Is the figure of the fore-mention'd Diamond after it was cut on both sides there remaining 94 Carats and a half the water being perfect The flat-side where there were two flaws below was as thin as a sheet of brown-paper When the Stone was cut I caus'd all that thin side to be taken off with one part of the end above where there remains one little speck of a flaw Numb 6. Is another Diamond which I bought at the Mine of Coulour It is fair and clean and weighs 36 Mangelins or 63 and 3 8 ths of our Carats Numb 7 and 8. Are two pieces of a Stone that was cut in two which being entire weigh'd 75 Mangelins and a half or 104 Carats Though it were of a good water it seem'd so foul in the middle that in regard it was large and held at a high price there was ne're a Banian would venture upon it At length an Hollander bought it and cutting it in two found in the middle of it eight Carats of filth like a rottenweed The small piece happen'd to be clean excepting a little flaw hardly to be perceiv'd but for the other wherein there are so many other cross flaws there was no way but to make seven or eight pieces of it The Hollander ran a great risco in cutting it a-sunder for it was very great luck that it had not broke into a hunder'd pieces Yet for all that it did not turn to account so that it is in vain for another to buy that which a Banian refuses CHAP. XX. The Forms of twenty Rubies which the Author sold to the King upon his last return from the Indies The first part of the Plate shews the weight extent and thickness of every Stone Numb 1. IS the Figure of a Ruby that belongs
Ruslowa upon the main Wolga Cokelou Beerullee Ewansuke Mansor Argeessan Keessan Camusshuke Naowara Tussockly Collobery Malla Collobery Yamansuke Eirichsha Surka Libessha Bussan Carabussan Bealla Wolloskee In all which Oughsukes or Wears they take no Fish besides Sturgeon They are made of Shigenas or long Poles made sharp at one end and beaten into the ground under Water and a pleiting made of Rods somewhat resembling Osier after the manner of our Matts which are fastned to the Poles and hinder the Fish from passing up the River And Houses are built near the Wears for the Convenience of the Fishers 40 50 more or less according unto the greatness of the Water or resort of Fish and twice every day usually in the morning and evening they set about their Fishery They imploy only long slender Poles with an iron Hook or Cruke in the end baited and do ordinarily take 400 every day in the smaller and 600 in the larger Streams The Sturgeon they take is all salted excepting that wherewith they serve the Town of Astracan where a whole fair Sturgeon may be bought for ten pence English and when the great Caravan comes from Russia it takes off most of their Fish which is conveyed into divers parts of Muscovy but chiefly unto the great City of Mosco They return also with great quantities of Caviar and Salt there being not far from the Volga on the Little Nagoy side great Salt-pits which yield an immense quantity of Salt prepared yearly by the heat of the Sun without any further trouble than taking it off the superficies of the Water where it daily kerns The Volga a little above Seraichena 500 miles from Astrachan dismisses a great Branch named Actabon which passing through the Desarts of the Great Nagoy through Bussane enters the Caspian Sea The remainder of the Volga after having parted with several smaller Branches most of which joyn with the forementioned River divides the Little and Great Nagoy passes under the Town of Astrachan whence it proceeds unto Ruslowa on the South-west side of Crosna Boggar then falls into the Caspian And the distance between the East-side of the Volga near Astrachan and the River Actabon is about 20 miles which is mostly Water and Islands And that the Course of the Volga from its first Source until it doth dis-embogue it self into the Caspian Sea can be no less than what we have asserted is hence confirmed That the Snow which falls abundantly in Russia and begins to be dissolved about the latter end of April and do mightily increase the Waters of the Volga come not unto Astrachan until Midsummer when it so raises the Volga that overflowing the Banks it covers with his Waters all the Islands near Astrachan so that from the Little Nagoy unto Actabon in the Great Nagoy all the Countrey seems excepting a Hillock or two one continued Lake or a great Gulf of the Sea Wherefore they who go in the Spring from Astrachan to fetch Wood having cut it make great Floats which are lifted up when the River overflows and guided each by a few Men until they are brought unto Astrachan or those other places for which they are designed The most remarkable Towns and Habitations upon the Volga between Seraichena and Astrachan which are 500 miles distant from each other are Camena Rokegowa Osshenofka Chornoyar Borisse Offatalka Poollowoy Collmakof Satone Cossoyar Crosnoyar Nassonoyar Satone Yanatavy Daneelofka Perre Ousshake Eillansuke Eiskyborro Crukla Bussan Balsheeke Tollotonygorod Dolgoa Goradocha which was old Astrachan Sharina Bogor which is near Astrachan besides many other Places with whose Names I have not charged my memory We will now pass over the Volga through Astrachan into the Great Nagoy The Great Nagoy may be properly enough divided into Islands and Continent the former are made by the Volga and several Rivers which fall out of it variously mix'd with each other and are all at length emptied into the Caspian Sea Those Rivers or Branches have their several Names those which I remember are Cuttoma Boulda Malla Guellusa Creewantya Busane Actabon and Bereket The Kingdom of the Great Nagoy is all plain and desart 1200 miles in length between Astrachan and Samara 500 miles in breadth from the said Astrachan unto the River of the Yeike or Jaick There is no Wood in all this Countrey except what grows near the Rivers It hath no Towns or fix'd Habitations though it had formerly divers and some among them very considerable as Czarofsgorod or Czarofs Pollate in English the Emperor's Town which formerly must needs have been as its Name imports an Imperial or Capital City I have often viewed it with admiration and cannot compute it to have been less than 20 miles in Circuit I have told fourscore great eminent Buildings which must have been either Moschees Pallaces or Caravanseraies and some of them 6 miles distant from the other The Muscovites are of divers Opinions concerning its Destruction Some say it was ruined by the Cossacks but the Cossacks who are ready enough to brag of their Atchievements know nothing thereof only that they have often dispossessed the Russes when they endeavoured to rebuild part of it For indeed the Situation is very excellent having the Volga on one side the Actabon on the other The Countrey very beautiful healthful and fertile and yet notwithstanding all these encouragements it is not yet inhabited not by the Russes because it standing on the main Land they would be continually exposed unto the Inroads of the Tartars nor by the Tartars because its nearness unto the Rivers would render them obnoxious to the Russes every time the great Caravan passes that way which is at least twice each year Yet the Muscovites do frequently fetch Brick and Stones from this ruined City wherewith they have built a great part of Astrachan and the neighbouring Forts or Towns where such solid Materials are imployed But besides this Serai for so the Tartars call any fix'd Habitation there were in ancient times five or six more down along the Rivers side in each of which formerly dwelt a Chan but Time and Wars have almost entirely ruined them There is also another Serai upon the River Jaick named Seraichika where is said formerly to have been the Residence of a great Myrsa or Chan but 't is now quite ruinated The Tartars who inhabit the Great Nagoy both Men and Women are very proper at least of much taller Stature than many other Tartars but have ill-favoured Countenances broad Faces flat little Noses small Eyes sunk in their Heads all which are common to most of the Eastern Tartars But the Tartars of Crim are more comely which I suppose may partly proceed from their Wives who are many of them Captive Circassians Russes Poles Hungars and of divers other Nations The Nagoy Tartars are also Black or rather Tawny which I Conjecture is not so much natural as proceeding from the heat of the Sun which is in these Parts some Months of the Year much
were generally more than in any other Port. But the Captains who rejected his Proposition of fighting against the Venetians believing that he would put some force upon them suddenly hois'd Sail and got away it being at a time when he could not keep them in having no Castle then built to command them The Grand Visier nettl'd at the refusal of the Captains as an affront done to his Master and to see that the Ships could come in and go out without any let or molestation bethought himself to the end he might keep them for the future under subjection of building a Fort upon the Gulf in such a part where the Vessels must necessarily touch where now there lye great Cannons level with the Water which no Vessel can escape Ever since the Convoys will not come to Smyrna as they were wont to do but lye out at Sea out of the reach of the Fort. Near to the Sea are yet to be seen some Remains of a Church two sides whereof seem to have been distinguish'd into Chappels by little Walls which are yet standing But the Natives doubt whether they be the Ruines of a Church dedicated to St. Polycarp or of an ancient Temple of Janus Smyrna has been oftentimes ruin'd either by the Wars or by the Earthquakes which often happen there One time that I staid there there happen'd one which did not last long but was very terrible About sixty Paces from the Sea are to be discern'd the Ruines of great Walls two Foot under Water and at the end of the City that looks toward the Winter-West near to the Sea appear the Ruines of a Mole and certain ancient Magazins The English Merchants have dig'd among the Ruines of Smyrna and have found great store of fair Statues which they transported into their own Country There are still found some or other every day but when the Turks find any they disfigure them presently It may be conjectur'd that there was one of a prodigious bigness by a great Toe broken off of some one and for which I paid sufficiently out of the desire I had to buy it I sent it to Paris to a Person of Quality who look'd upon it as a great Curiosity This Toe was of a hard white Stone and well shap'd and by the proportion whereof the Figure could not be judg'd to be less than the Colossus of Rhodes Upon that side of the City where the Mole was stands an old Castle of no defence at the foot whereof the Sea makes a small Creek where sometimes the Gallies of the Grand Signor lye The City is well peopl'd containing no less than fourscore and ten thousand Souls There are reckon'd no less than 60000 Turks 15000 Greeks 8000 Armenians and about six or seven thousand Jews As for the European Christians that Trade there their number is very small Every one of these Nations has the exercise of their Religion free to themselves The Turks have in Smyrna fifteen Mosquees the Jews seven Synagogues the Armenians but one Church the Greeks two and the Latins three There are also French Jesuits and Italian Observantins or a sort of Grey Franciscans The Turks the Greeks the Armenians and Jews live upon the Hill but all the lower part toward the Sea is inhabited only by the European Christians English French Hollanders and Italians The Greeks have also in the same Quarter an old Church and some few small Houses where Sea-men make merry All these different People of Europe are generally known in Smyrna by the Name of Franks Every Nation has its Consul and the French Consul has two Vice-Consuls under him the one at Scalanova the other at Chio. Scalanova or the New Port is two Leagues beyond Ephesus and being a good Haven the Vessels were wont to unlade there but the Turks would not permit it any longer For that Place being the Dowry of the Grand Signor's Mother the Vice-Consul agreed with the Governour of Scalanova who permitted the Transportation of Goods to Smyrna which is not above three little days journey with the Caravan A thing that spoil'd the Trade of the City and injur'd the Officers of the Custom-House Whereupon they Petition'd the Grand Signor that no more Goods might be unladed at Scalanova so that now no more Vessels go thither unless it be to take in fresh Victuals Chio is one of the greatest Ilands in the Archipelago of which in another place but the Vice-Consul that lives there has no more business there than the other at Scalanova for the Vessels that touch there neither unlade nor export any Goods from thence The Quarter of the Franks is only a long Street one side whereof lyes upon the Sea and as well for the Prospect as for the convenience of Unlading Goods the Houses upon the Sea are much dearer than those that lye upon the Hill The Soil about Smyrna is fertil and abounds in all things necessary for humane support but particularly in good Oyl and good Wine There are Salt-Pits also half a League from the City toward the North. The Sea affords great store of good Fish Fowl is very cheap and in a word Smyrna is a place of great plenty There is a lovely Walk all along the Sea to the Salt-Pits where generally abundance of People walk in the Summer-time to take the fresh Air and there being more liberty at Smyrna than in any other part of Turkie there is no necessity of taking a Janisary along when a man goes abroad If a man loves Fowling it is but taking a Boat which lands him two or three Leagues from the City toward the Mountains where there is so much Game that he can never return empty For the value of three Sous you may buy a red Partridge at Smyrna and all other Fowl is proportionably cheap But if Smyrna have these great advantages it has also its inconveniences the Heats are very excessive in Summer and indeed they would be insupportable were it not for the Breezes that come off the Sea these Breezes rise about ten in the Morning and continue till the Evening but if they fail t is very bad for the Inhabitants Besides there hardly passes a Year but the City is infested with the Plague which however is not so violent as in Christendom The Turks neither fear it nor flie it believing altogether in Predestination Yet I believe if the Inhabitants of Smyrna would take care to drain away the standing Puddles that gather in the Winter about the City they would not be so frequently molested with the Plague as they are It is most rife in May June and July but the malignant Fevers that succeed it in September and October are more to be fear'd more People dying of them than of the Pestilence In all my Travels I never was in Smyrna at these unfortunate Seasons There is no Basha in that City it being govern'd only by a Cady who is not so severe to the Christians as in other places For should he
threats or by rewards The eleventh after a Journey of ten hours we came to Ourfa where the Caravan usually stays eight or ten days for here it is that they live that hire the Horses and the Mules who have always some business in this place We lay at an Inn three or four hundred paces distant from the City toward the North. When the Inn is full the rest retire into the Grotto's which are near at hand and are very good quarters Here the Toll-gatherer presently comes and counts the Bales without op'ning them They that carry any Sacks must pay for half a Load if not he op'ns the Sack to see if there be any Merchandise therein for then the Merchant must pay the whole duty Ourfa is the Capital City of Mesopotamia built as they say in the same place where Abraham liv'd and where stood the ancient Edessa where the people of the Country report that King Abagarus generally kept his Court. There are still to be seen the ruines of a Castle from whence they add that the same King sent to CHRIST for his Picture and offer'd him his Kingdom and his people to defend him against the Jews whom he understood to be his Enemies The Chronicles of the Armenians report that Abagarus was their Country-man and that in his Reign they began to be Christians and to be Baptiz'd by the hands of an Apostle whom CHRIST sent to that Prince after his Resurrection * Neither is this Castle yet so far ruin'd but that there is still to be seen a spacious Hall and three or four handsom Rooms with some relicks of Mosaick work I was curious to see what ever was remarkable in this City And first they led me to a large Fountain which resembles a Fish-pond the Spring whereof is under the Foundations of the principal Mosquèe which was built in the honour of Abraham The Christians of the Country say that it was in that place where he pray'd before he went about to Sacrifice his Son Isaac and that two Springs of Water arose from the two places where he rested his knees which now feed the large Fountain I have made mention of It is pav'd with Free-stone and so full of fish that if you throw them in a little Bread they will follow you from place to place as you walk by the side of the Pond There is no medling with them for the Turks have a great veneration for those Fish which they call Abraham's Fish Besides that the place about the Fountain where the water wid'ns it self to water all the City is cover'd with very fair Carpets for about twenty paces in bredth This Fountain at length falls into a little River that runs by the Walls As for the Grotto where the two Springs rise there is no going into it before you have pull'd off your Shooes and it is a great favour for a Christian to see it such a favour as cost me six Piasters I also saw the Church under the portal whereof they say St. Alexis liv'd seventeen years a private life It stands in the middle of a Church-yard in the highest part of the Town in the possession of the Armenians But their principal Church is about a quarter of an hours walking from the City built by St. Ephren who is there buried The Monastery stands yet entire enclos'd with fair Walls In the Church I saw a large Bible in Armenian Characters The Sepulchre of St. Ephren is in a Cave at the foot of the Mountain to which there also belongs a Chappel where they keep three or four Lamps continually burning There are other Grotto's up and down the Mountain where are to be seen very ancient Sepulchers of the Christians The City of Ourfa is seated in a good soil very well manur'd which extends it self out of sight toward the East There are several pleasant Gardens near the walls water'd by little Channels brought thither by Art The soil produces good Wine so that a man may live as well at Ourfa as in any part of Turkie While I stay'd there I kill'd abundance of Feldfares in those Gardens and indeed there is great store of wild Fowl all the Country over The Walls of the City are of Freestone with Battlements and Towers but within the houses are small ill built and ruinous And there are several void spaces in the City which makes Ourfa to look rather like a Desert than a Metropolis The City is Govern'd by a Basha who has under him a hundred and fifty Janizaries and six hundred Spahi's standing more in need of Cavalry than Infantry by reason of the Incursions of the Arabians especially in Harvest time In short Ourfa is the place were they dress such great quantities of Cordovan Skins by reason of the waters particular to the Country which give them that peculiar beauty The Yellow Skins are drest at Ourfa the Blew at Tocat and the red Rat Diarbequir The twentieth of March we set out of Ourfa and after a Journey of six hours we lay at a pittiful Village where the Inn was fal'n all to decay There is a Fountain of excellent water by it which is all the convenience of the place for there is no Provision to be had The twenty-first we travel'd nine hours and came to lye near several Caverns which are very deep at the entry whereof there are little Rooms which are suppos'd to be the places where the People of the Country liv'd that fed their Cattel thereabouts There is also Rain-Water to be had in some of the Concavities of the Rock Half this days journey you must pass over Rocks where it is almost impossible and very dangerous to keep your Horses back The twenty-second having travel'd eleven hours we lodg'd near a Cavern having forded a River that runs at the foot of it There are two great Grotto's on each side where Travellers take up their Quarters and whither the Natives of the Country bring Provisions both for Horse and Man The Toll-gatherers coming from a Fort about three Leagues distant from these Caverns here exact two Piasters and a half for every Horse and Mules Load and search your Sacks to see if there be no Merchantable Goods therein About half the way of this days journey you meet with a City quite deserted by the Inhabitants and about an hours march after that with Tombs of Stone in the middle whereof stands a Cross with Armenian Characters The twenty-third we travel'd elev'n hours and lay at Dadacardin This appears to have been a great Town but is all ruin'd nor is there any thing remaining but a long Stone-Bridge very well built under which runs a River that is very broad when it overflows The People of the Country have no other Habitations than the Hollows of Rocks yet they bring to the Travellers Hens Butter Cheese and other Provisions which they sell very cheap The twenty-fourth we travel'd nine hours and lay at a place call'd Cara built upon a Hill The Caravan lay
observing so stop up the Mouth of the River that the Fish cannot go back for else they would not stay above forty days at which time they catch 'em up in wide-mouth'd Baskets at the Mouth of the River thinking to return it being lawful for any man to fish The people drive a great Trade in these Fish transporting them into Persia and Armenia for the Persians and Armenians both drinking Wine at the end of their Feasts they then bring this Dish to the Table for a relishing-bit The people of Van tell a Story how that there was a certain rich Merchant who farm'd the whole Fishery paying a good sum of Money for it to the Basha who thereupon strictly forbad any to fish but the Merchant whereas before it was free for any man But when the Fishing-season came and that the Merchant thought to have caught his Fish he met with nothing but Serpents So that after that time the Fishery was never more farm'd And there seems to be something in it for the Basha's who are a sort of people that will lose nothing they can get would be certain to farm the Fish again and again were there not some strange reason to hinder it There are two principal Islands in the Lake of Van the one call'd Adaketons where there stand two Covents of the Armenians Sourphague and Sourp-kara the other Island is call'd Limadasi and the name of the Covent is Limquiliasi all which Armenian Monks live very austerely From Van to Darcheck From Darcheck to Nuchar it stands in the Territories of a Bey of Curdistan being a paltry Village consisting of two or three little Houses These Bey's are a kind of particular Lords upon the Frontiers of both the Empires of Turkie and Persia who care for neither for they lye so secure among the Mountains that there is no assaulting them by force The Curds in general are a brutish sort of people who though they stile themselves Mahometans have very few Moullah's to instruct or teach them They have a particular veneration for black Grey-hounds so that if any person should be seen to kill one of them he would be knock'd o' the Head immediately Neither does any one dare to cut an Onion with a Knife in their presence but it must be squeez'd between two Stones by him that intends to make use of it so ridiculously superstitious they are The Bey to whom Nuchar belongs has his Toll-gatherers in that place who exact sixteen Abassi's for every Horse-load besides a Present which the Caravan-Bashi is oblig'd to present him which comes sometimes to seven or eight Tomans sometimes more for otherwise the Bey would be sure to watch the Caravan at some scurvy place and plunder it to some purpose As once it happen'd to a Caravan with which my Nephew went along in the year 1672 though he had the good luck to lose nothing more than one Camel laden with English Cloth and another with his Provision The Basha of Van and the Kan of Tauris took the Field with an intention to remedy these disorders especially the Basha of Van who perceiving that the Merchants would forsake that Road by reason of the Injuries they dayly receiv'd was resolv'd to make the Basha restore some part of his Goods which he had taken from the Merchants and for the future to leave two of his Subjects in Tauris and two in Van that should be responsible for what mischief should be done to the Caravan For otherwise the Merchants like this way best as being the nearest from Aleppo to Tauris and where they pay less Duties From Nuchar to Kuticlar is a long Journey through the Mountains by the side of several Torrents which are to be cross'd in several places This bad way brings Fifty i' the Hundred profit to the Bey of Nuchar for were the Caravan to travel through Plains or a level Country one Horse or Camel would carry as much as two or three and the Merchant would pay Custom for no more Here therefore the Caravan-Bashi and the Merchants must understand one another and agree as cunningly as they can togethor From Kuticlar to Kalvat From Kalvat to Kogia From Kogia to Darkavin From Darkavin to Soliman-Sera all which four places are very convenient Inns. From Soliman-Sera to Kours in that City resides a Bey who is tributary to the King of Persia. He lives in an ancient Castle about half a League off where the Caravan pays nine Abassi's for every Horse-load besides a Present But that Present consists only in Sugar-loaves Boxes of Treacle or Marmaled for he stands so much upon his Honour that he scorns to take Money The Wine of Kours is sweet and tart From Kours to Devogli From Devogli to Checheme About half way between these two places you cross a Plain which upon the South extends it self a League to the Mountains but upon the North side enlarges it self out of sight Upon the High-way on the left hand stands a Rock three hundred Paces in compass and about fourscore Foot high round about it were to be seen several Dens which most certainly had been the Habitations of those that fed their Cattel thereabouts Under the Rock which is hollow appears a Fountain of clear cold Water wherein there was great store of Fish thousands of which would come up to the top of the Water when a man threw any Bread into it The Fish had a great Head and a large Mustache I shot a Carbine into the River charg'd with Hail-shot upon which they all disappear'd but presently five or six return'd wounded to the top of the Water which we easily took The Armenians laught at me for shooting believing it had been impossible to catch them in that manner but they admir'd when they beheld them again turning up their bellies at the top of the Water The Turks and some of the Armenians would not eat of them believing them to be defil'd but the Armenians that had been in Europe laugh'd at their Superstition and fell to when they were drest From Checheme to Davashiler From Davashiler to Marand a City where you must pay sixteen Abassi's for a Camel's-load and eight for a Horses From Merand to Sefian From Sefian to Tauris These are the two biggest days journies throughout the Road. Returning out of Persia this way we could not get Bread for Money so that we were forc'd to give the Women some Trifles which they lov'd better Though the People are Mahometans yet they will not spare to drink lustily CHAP. IV. Another Road from Aleppo to Tauris through Geziré and other places FRom Aleppo to Bi r or Beri where you must cross Euphrates days 4 From Bi r to Ourfa days 2 From Ourfa to Diarbequir days 6 From Diarbequir to Geziré days 4 Geziré is a little City of Mesopotamia built upon an Island in the River Tigris which is there to be cross'd over a fair Bridge of Boats Here the Merchants meet to buy Gall-nuts and Tobacco The City is
either the heat or scituation of the Climate makes these Cafres so black Being desirous to know the reason and why they stunk so terribly I learnt it from a Girl that was bred up in the Fort who was tak'n from her Mother as soon as she was born and was white like our women in Europe she told me that the reason why the Cafres are so black is because they rub themselves with a Greafe or Ointment compos'd of several sorts of Drugs wherewith should they not anoint themselves very often and as soon as they were born they should become Hydropsical as the Blacks of Africa and the Abyssins are or like the people of Saba that never live above forty years and are always troubl'd with one Leg twice as big as the other These Cafres as brutish as they are have yet some knowledg of Simples which they know to apply to several Diseases which the Hollanders have several times experienc'd Of nineteen sick persons that we had in our Ship fifteen were committed to the care of these Cafres being troubl'd with Ulcers in their Legs and old wounds which they had receiv'd in the wars and in less then fifteen days they were all perfectly cur'd Every one of these had two Cafres to look after him and according to the condition of the wound or Ulcer they went and fetch'd Simples which they bruis'd between two Stones and apply'd to the sore As for the other four they were so far gone with the Pox that they would not trust the Cafres with them having been given over at Batavia and so they all dy'd between the Cape and St. Helens In the year 1661 a Gentleman of Britanny being at Batavia was so bit by the Gnats in the night that his Leg exulcerated presently in such a manner as to puzzle all the art and skill of the Chirurgeons in that Town When he came to the Cape of good Hope the Captain of the Ship sending him ashore the Cafres came about him and after they had beheld him they told him if he would trust to them they would cure him The Captain thereupon committed him to their care who cur'd him and made him a sound man in less then fifteen days When a Ship comes to an Anchor in the Cape it is the fashion for him that commands the Ship to give leave to some part of the Mariners and Souldiers to go ashore to refresh themselves The sickly have first leave by turns and go to the Town where they are dyeted and lodg'd for seven or eight Sous a day and are very well us'd It is the custom of the Hollanders when they stay here to send out parties of Souldiers upon the discovery of the up-land Country and they that go farthest are best rewarded With this design a party of Souldiers under the Command of a Serjeant far advanc'd in the Country and night coming on they made a great fire as well to keep themselves from the Lions as to warm themsèlves and so lay down to sleep round about it Being asleep a Lion came and seiz'd one of the Souldiers Arms which the Serjeant perceiving immediately shot the Lion with his Carbine but when he was dead they had much ado to open the Lions mouth to get out the Souldiers Arm. Thus it appears a vulgar error to believe that Lions will not come near the fire As for the Souldier the Cafres cur'd his Arm in twelve days There are in the Fort abundance of Lions and Tigers Skins among the rest there was the Skin of a Horse which the Cafres had kill'd it was white cross'd with black streaks spotted like a Leopard without a Tail Two or three Leagues from the Hollanders Fort there was a Lion found dead with four Porcupines Quils in his body the third part whereof had pierc'd his flesh So that it was judg'd that the Porcupine had kill'd the Lion The Skin with the Quils in it is kept in the Fort. A League from the Fort is a fair Town that grows bigger and bigger every day When the Holland Company arrives there with their Ships if any Souldier or Mariner will live there they are very glad of it They have as much ground as they can mannage where they have all sorts of Herbs and Pulse and as much Rice and as many Grapes as they can desire They have also young Ostridges Beef sea-Sea-fish and sweet water To catch the Ostridges when they please they got their Nests when they are young and driving a stake in the ground tye the Birds by one Leg to the stake and when they are old enough they come and take them out of the Nest from whence it is impossible to fly away When the Hollanders began to inhabit the Cape they took a young Girl from her Mother as soon as she was born she is white only her Nose is a little flat A French man got her with Child and would have marry'd her but the Company were so far from permitting him that they took away above a hundred Livres of the Maids wages from her to punish her for the misdemeanour which was somewhat hard There are great numbers of Lions and Tigers which the Hollanders have a pretty invention to take they fasten a Carbine to a stake driv'n into the Earth and lay meat round about the Gun which meat is fasten'd with a string to the Trigger So that when the Beast snatches the meat the string pulls the Trigger and the Gun going off hits the Lion either in the throat or the breast The Cafres feed upon a Root like our Skerrets which they roast and make bread of Sometimes they grin'd it into flower and then it tasts like a Walnut For their food they eat the same Root raw with raw Fish with the Entrails of Beasts out of which they only squeeze the ordure As for the bowels of the wild Beasts the women wear them dry'd about their Legs especially the bowels of those Beasts which their Husbands kill which they look upon as a kind of Ornament They also feed upon Tortoises when they have so far heated them at the fire as to make the Shells come off They are very expert in darting their Azagaya's and those that have none make use of pointed sticks which they will lance a great way With these they go down to the Sea-side and as soon as ever they spy a Fish near the top of the water they will not fail to strike him As for their Birds which are like our Ducks whose Eggs are without any Yolk they breed in such great quantities in the Countrey that in a Bay about eighteen Miles from the Cape you may knock them on the head with a stick The Hollanders once carried a young Cafre to the General at Batavia who bred him carefully up teaching him to understand the Dutch and Portugal Languages perfectly well At length being desirous to return into his Country the General gave him very good Cloaths and good Linnen hoping that he
Mountain he demanded who built it and what was his design To whom the Mollah return'd this Answer Sir said he I built that Bridge that when your Majesty came to Tauris you might inform your self from the mouth of him that built it By which it appear'd that the Mollah had no other ambition than to oblige the King to speak to him A League from Tauris to the West in the middle of a Field stands a great Brick Tower call'd Kanhazun It is about fifty Paces in Diameter and though it be half ruin'd yet it is very high It seems to have been the Dungeon of some Castle there being very high Walls round about it which though they be but of Earth nevertheless appear to be very ancient It is not certainly known who built this Tower but the Arabian Letters upon the Gate afford us some reason to conclude that it was a Mahometan Structure In the year 1651 there happen'd a terrible Earthquake in Tauris and the parts thereabout by which many Houses were overturn'd and this Tower then cleaving from the top to the bottom a good part of it fell down and fill'd up the hollow within-side Besides the little River that runs by Tauris there is another bigger to be cross'd about half a League from the City over which there is a very fair Stone-Bridge Near to it stands a Sepulcher cover'd with a little Duomo where the Persians say that the Sister of Iman-Riza lyes interr'd and they have it in great veneration The River that runs under the Bridge comes from the Mountains of the North and falls into the Lake Roumi thirteen or fourteen Leagues from Tauris They call it Aggisou or Bitter-water for the Water is very bad and without any Fish The Lake which is fifteen Leagues in compass has the same quality the Water being blackish the Fish that happen into it out of other Rivers that fall into it presently become blind and in a short while are found dead by the Shoar This Lake takes its name from a Province and a little City which are both call'd Roumi being not above eleven Leagues from Tauris In the middle of the Lake upon the way that leads to a little City call'd Tokoriam there is a little Hill that rises insensibly the ascent whereof is very smooth and out of it there rise many little Springs The farther they run from the Head the wider grow the Streams and the Earth which they water is of two distinct qualities the first Earth that is dig'd serves to make Lime the next to that is a hollow spungy Stone that is good for nothing but under that again is a white transparent Stone which you may see through as through Glass which being smooth and polish'd serves to adorn the Houses This Stone is only a congelation of the Waters of these Streams for sometimes you shall meet with creeping Animals congeal'd within The Governour of the Province sent one piece to Sha-Abas as a great Present wherein there was a Lizard congeal'd of a Foot long He that presented it to the Governour had twenty Tomans or three hundred Crowns afterwards I offer'd a thousand for the same Piece In some parts of the Province of Mazandran where the Euxin Sea stretches farthest into the Persian Territories these congeal'd Stones are to be found but not so frequently as near the Lake Roumi and you shall many times find pieces of Wood and Worms congeal'd in the Stones I brought away a Camels-loading of these Stones and left them at Marseilles till I could find what use to put them to CHAP. V. A Continuation of the Constantinopolitan Road from Tauris to Ispahan through Ardevil and Casbin FRom Tauris to Ispahan the Caravan makes it generally twenty-four days journey The first day you cross over dry Mountains and four Leagues from Tauris you meet with one of the fairest Inns in Persia. This Inn Sha-Sefi caus'd to be built it is very convenient and large enough to lodge a hundred persons with their Horses Over all Persia especially from Tauris to Ispahan and from thence to Ormus you meet every day with Inns at an equal distance The next day you descend a Mountain in very rugged and narrow way At the foot of this Mountain there are two ways for the Merchants to choose that will go to Ispahan They that will go the ordinary road and the direct way through Kom and Kachan leave a Lake upon the left hand that parts the two Roads and they that will go through Ardevil and Casbin two other good Cities leave the Lake upon the right hand and coast along by the side of the Mountain From Tauris to Ardevil it is not above a dozen Leagues and having pass'd the Lake the Country is very good Which is the Road I intend to describe first Ardevil being at so small a distance from Tauris lyes almost in the same Degrees and Minutes of Longitude and Latitude This City is famous as well for being the first Market of Silks that come from Guilan from which it is not far off as also for the Sepulcher of Sha-Sefi the first of that Name King of Persia. The avenues to it are very pleasant being as it were Alleys of great Trees which are call'd Tchinar planted in a streight line at a due distance It is of a moderate bigness and seated in a lovely opening of the Mountains The next to the City which is call'd Sevalan is the highest in all Media The Houses of Ardevil are built of Earth as are most of the Houses in the Cities of Persia but the Streets are very uneven dirty and narrow There is but one which is handsom at the end whereof is built the Armenian Church A little River runs through the middle of the City which descending from the neighbouring Mountains runs from East to West It is by Industry brought into many Cutts to water the Gardens and in many places there are very fair Trees planted which are very delightful to the Sight The Meydan or Market-place is a very great one more long than round where stands a very fine Inn upon one side which the Kan caus'd to be built There are several others in several parts of the City which have the Prospect over several lovely Gardens especially that which belongs to the King to which you go through a long and stately Walk of four rows of Trees at the end whereof stands a large Gate that gives you entrance Though the Country about Ardevil be proper to bear Vines yet there are none thereabouts nor is there any Wine made till about four or five Leagues from the City The Armenians that dwell in the City are very well stor'd with it though there be no place in all Persia where there is so much Caution to be us'd either as to the Importing it or the Drinking it both which must be done very privately Which proceeds from the Mahometan Superstition the Persians having so peculiar a Veneration for that place that they
way was short every Sea-man that had a hundred Crowns more or less went on Foot to Aleppo and got easily thither in three days with little expence Now because they had but little Money to spend and were willing to dispatch their business they would not stand to give Four or Five in the Hundred extraordinary for what Goods they bought which was of dangerous consequence to the Merchants For you must observe that when the Ships arrive the first Man that either out of rashness or ignorance gives two Sous more for a Commodity that is not worth a Crown sets the Price and causes all the whole Commodity to be sold at that rate So that the Merchants that lay out ten or twelve thousand Crowns together are very careful lest those Saylors should get before them and enhance the Price of the Market To remedy which inconvenience the Merchants obtain'd an Order That no Strangers should be permitted to go a-foot from Alexandretta to Aleppo but that they should be bound to hire Horses and to give for every Horse six Plasters thither and six back which expence would soon eat out the Profit of a poor Mariner's small Sum. Usually you stay at Alexandretta three or four days as well to rest your self as to make some little Provisions for your Journey to Aleppo For though you meet with good Stages at Evening yet the Janizaries will be very glad to eat by the way Setting out from Alexandretta we travel'd over a Plain to the foot of a Mountain which is call'd Belan There is a wide Gap in the midst of this Mountain which giving liberty to the North-East Wind when it blows hard doth so enrage the Road of Alexandretta which is otherwise very calm that no Ship can ride there at that time In so much that all Ships that happ'n to be there when the Wind rises presently weigh and get out to Sea for fear of being cast away Almost at the top of the Mountain you meet with an Inn but though it be a very fair one with Fountains round about it yet Merchants never stop there but go on a little farther to a Grecian that speaks good Italian and whose entertainment is indifferent good considering the Country When you go away you give him a Crown for your accommodation which is the manner at other Stages by a custom which the Franks themselves having establish'd will never be left off Descending down the Mountain you discover the City of Antioch built upon a Hill Formerly the Road lay through that City but the Janizaries of the place exacting a Piaster from every person that travel'd that way that Road is now disus'd Antioch once made more noise in the World being fal'n to ruine ever since the Channel that ran from the City to the Sea where Galleys might ride has been stop'd up by the Sands that have encroach'd upon the Mouth of the Haven When you are at the bottom of the Hill toward the North you discover a Castle built upon a Hill standing by it self from whence you have a prospect over a good part of the Plain of Antioch It is about fifteen Leagues long and three broad in that part where the Road lyes Somewhat more than half the way you meet with a long Causey parted by several Bridges by reason of certain Rivulets that cross it without which the Road were hardly passable The frequent Revolts of Bagdat and Balsara which the Grand Signor has been forc'd so often to besiege caus'd the Grand Visier in the Reign of Achmat to undertake this Causey which together with the Bridge was finish'd in six Months that was lookt upon as a Miracle This was done for the more easie passage of the Artillery and other Provisions of War that were brought out of Romania and Greece to the Siege of Bagdat which could never have been done but for this Causey At the end of this Causey stands a Bridge very long and strongly built under which runs a River which with the other Rivulets that wind about the Plain forms a Lake toward the South that is call'd the Lake of Antioch This Lake affords a great Revenue by reason of the Eels that are caught there which are taken two Months before Lent and transported to Malta Sicily and other parts of Italy This Plain is very full of Olive-Trees which produces that great Trade of Soap that is made at Aleppo and transported into Mesopotamia Chaldea Persia and the Desert that Commodity being one of the most acceptable Presents that can be made to the Arabians Sallet-Oyl is also in great esteem among them so that when you make them a Present of it they will take off their Bonnets and rub their Heads their Faces and their Beards with it lifting up their Eyes to Heaven and cry in their Language God be thank'd Therein they have lost nothing of the ancient custom of the Eastern People of which there is often mention made in Holy Scripture About a League and a half beyond the Plain you meet with a Rock at the foot whereof is a little deep Lake wherein they catch a world of Fish that are like our Barbels I have kill'd them with my Pistol and found them to be of an excellent tast though they are not regarded at Aleppo Two hours after you ford a River which is call'd Afrora though if it have happen'd to rain you must stay 'till the Waters are fal'n Having past the River upon the Banks whereof you stay to feed your self and your Horses you come to lye at a poor Village call'd Shaquemin where there is an Inn. Here the Country-people bring Provisions of Food to the Travellers and whether you eat or no you must pay a Piaster according to the custom which the Franks have establish'd After you have pass'd the Plain of Antioch as far as Shaquemin the Horses in Summer are so terribly tormented with a sort of great Flies that it were impossible to travel three or four hours together were it not for going out of the Road either to the right or to the left and riding through the Fields which are full of those Burrs that our Clothworkers make use of For in regard they grow as high as the Crupper of the Horse they keep the Flies off from stinging and tyring the Horses Leaving the Village of Shaquemin the Road lyes among Stones and for half this tedious way for two or three Leagues round about you see nothing but the Ruines of ancient Monasteries There are some of them which are built almost all of Free-stone and about half a days journey toward the North quite out of the Road stands the Monastery of St. Simeon the Stylite with the remainder of his so famous Pillar which is still to be seen The Franks that travel to Aleppo usually go out of their way to see that place That which I find most entire and worthy observation among the Ruines of those Monasteries is the number of arch'd Cisterns of Free-stone
Great Sha-Abas having taken Ormus sent a powerful Army under the Command of Iman-Kouli-Kan Governour of Shiras to take in Balsara Whereupon the Prince finding himself too weak to resist so great a Pow'r made an agreement with the Desert Arabians to break down the Dam that stops the Sea Which being perform'd in came the Sea tumbling fifteen Leagues to Balsara and four Leagues beyond it which constrain'd the Persians surrounded with water and hearing at the same time of the death of Sha-Abas to raise their Siege Since that inundation several Lands and Gardens have been utterly barren or have born very little by reason of the Salt which the Sea has left behind The Prince of Balsara has enter'd into Leagues with several strange Nations so that whencesoever you come you may be welcom There is so much liberty and so good order in the City that you may walk all night long in the Streets without molestation The Hollanders bring Spices thither every year The English carry Pepper and some few Cloves but the Portugals have no Trade at all thither The Indians bring Calicuts Indigo and all sorts of Merchandize In short there are Merchants of all Country's from Constantinople Smyrna Aleppo Damascus Cairo and other parts of Turkie to buy such Merchandizes as come from the Indies with which they lade the young Camels which they buy in that place for thither the Arabians bring them to put them to sale They that come from Diarbequir Moussul Bagdat Mesopotamia and Assyria send their Merchandizes up the Tigris by Water but with great trouble and expence In regard the Boats are to be tow'd by men that cannot go above two Leagues and a half in a day and against the Wind they cannot stir which makes them oft-times between Balsara and Bagdat to be above sixty days nay there have been some that have been three months upon the Water The Customs of Balsara amount to five in the hundred but generally you have some favour shew'd you either by the Customer or the Prince himself that the Merchant does not really pay above four in the hundred The Prince of Balsara is so good a Husband that he lays up three millions of Liuers in a year His chiefest Revenue is in four things Money Horses Camels and Date-trees but in the last consists his chiefest wealth For all the Country from the meeting of the two Rivers to the Sea for the space of thirty Leagues together is all cover'd with these Trees nor does any one dare to touch a Date 'till he has paid for every Tree three fourths of a Larin or nine Sous French The profit which the Prince makes upon money proceeds from this that the Merchants that come from abroad are oblig'd to carry their Reals to his Mint where they are Coyn'd and converted into Larins which is worth to him eight in the hundred As for his Horses there is no place in the world where there are more fit for travel or handsomer shap'd for there are some that will travel thirty hours together and never draw bit especially the Mares But to return to the Palm-trees it is worth observation that there is more Art to bring up those Trees than any other The Natives dig a hole in the ground wherein they heap a great quantity of Date-nuts in a Pyramidical form the top whereof ends in one single Nut which being cover'd with Earth produces the Palm-tree Most of the people of the Country do say that in regard there is among the Palm-trees the distinction of Male and Female that therefore they must be planted one by another for that otherwise the Female Tree will bear no Fruit. But others affirm that nicety to be unnecessary and that it susfices when the Male is in Blossom to take a Flower from the Male and put it into the Heart of the Female a little above the Stem for unless they should do so all the Fruit would fall off before it came to maturity There is at Balsara a Cady that administers Justice and who is establish'd by the authority of the Prince that commands there In the City are also three sorts of Christians Jacobites Nestorians and Christians of St. John There is also a House of Italian Carmelites and there was a House of Portugal Austin-Friars but they have forsak'n the Town ever since their Country-men quitted the Trade The Christians of St. John are very numerous at Balsara and the Villages thereabouts who anciently liv'd by the River of Jordan where St. John Baptiz'd and from whom they took their Name But since the time that Mahomet conquer'd Palestine though Mahomet formerly gave them his Hand and his Letters of Priviledge that they should not be molested nevertheless they that succeeded the false Prophet resolv'd to extirpate them all to which purpose they ruin'd their Churches burnt their Books and exercis'd all manner of cruelties upon their Persons which oblig'd them to retire into Mesopotamia and Chaldea and for some time they were under the Patriarch of Babylon from whom they separated about a hundred and sixty years ago Then they remov'd into Persia and Arabia and the Towns round about Balsara as Souter Despoul Rumez Bitoum Mono Endecan Calufabat Aveza Dega Dorech Masquel Gumar Carianous Balsara Onezer Zech Loza Nor do they inhabit City or Village by which there does not run a River And many of their Bishops have assur'd me that the Christians in all the foregoing places make above five and twenty thousand Families There are some among them who are Merchants but the most part of them are Trades-men especially Goldsmiths Joyners and Lock-smiths Their Creed is full of fables and foul errours The Persians and Arabians call them Sabbi a People that have forsak'n their own Religion to take up a new one In their own Language they call themselves Mendai Jahia or Disciples of St. John from whom as they ascertain us they have receiv'd their Faith their Books and their Traditions Every year they celebrate a Feast for about five days during which time they go in Troops to their Bishops who Baptize them according to the Baptism of St. John They never Baptize but in Rivers and only upon Sundays But before they go to the River they carry the Infant to Church where there is a Bishop who reads certain Prayers over the Head of the Child from thence they carry the Child to the River with a Train of Men and Women who together with the Bishop go up to the knees in Water Then the Bishop reads again certain Prayers out of a Book which he holds in his Hand which done he sprinkles the Infant three times saying Beesmebrad er-Rabi Kaddemin Akreri Menhal el gennet Alli Koulli Kralek or In the Name of the Lord first and last of the World and of Paradise the high Creator of all things After that the Bishop reads something again in his Book while the God-father plunges the Child all over in the Water after which they go all
the heat of the Sun-beams and if you set a Candle by it in the night you might read two hundred Paces off in your Bed by the reflection From Lyons I rode to Marseilles and set Sail for Ligorn the tenth of January 1664. in a small Bark but being scar'd by a great Vessell that we saw off at Sea we came to an Anchor in the Port of Agaïe two Leagues from Frejus where there stood a pittiful Fort with two or three Houses There we also went ashore and saw a Garden the Alleys of which were distinguish'd with rows of Citron and Orange Trees which look'd as Green in the depth of Winter as in the midst of Summer with several other curiosities after the mode of Italy We were no sooner got aboard again but we perceiv'd another Vessel making into the same Port with sull Sail. It was a Vessel which the Masters of the Forein Office at Toulon had set out to force all Ships that were bound into Italy to pay certain Customs which those of Marseilles would not pay when they came into the Port of Toulon Thereupon foreseeing that there would be mischief done I call'd for my little Chests that contain'd my Goods of greatest value carrying some part my self and giving the rest to one of my most trusty Servants thinking to have skipt into a Genoa Bark that lay hard by us but instead of leaping a-board I fell into the Sea where by reason of the Tumult I had perish'd without relief had I not by good fortune laid hold of a Cable and redeem'd my self At what time one of my Servants luckily coming to my ayd with much ado drew me up safe again Having escap'd this danger I got a-shoar with such of my Servants as I had about me and meeting with a Bark of Frontignan that carry'd Languedock-Wine to the Coast of Italy I hir'd him for Ligorn and setting Sail we first touch'd Villa-franca and afterwards at Monaco At Monaco I went a-shoar and went to wait upon Madam the Princess who shew'd me the Rarities in the Castle among the rest several pieces of extraordinary Painting several pieces of Clock-work and Goldsmiths-work But among all her Curiosities she shew'd me two pieces of Crystal about the bigness of two Fists each in one of which there was above a Glass full of Water in the other a good quantity of Moss which were clos'd in by Nature when the Crystal first congeal'd Monaco is a Castle situated upon a steep Rock advancing out into the Sea which advantage together with others which it receives from Art and Nature renders it one of the most considerable Forts in Italy The next day finding the Frontignan-Vessel to be deep-laden and that it made little way I took a Faluke and kept along by the Shoar which was most pleasantly adorn'd with beautiful Villages and Houses as far as Savona where I chang'd my Faluke to compleat the rest of the way which I had to Genoa Half the way we did very well but the Wind rising we were forc'd to put in to a great Town where we landed and from thence having but nine Miles I got in good time by Horse to Genoa There can be no Prospect certainly more pleasing than that nine Miles riding For on the one side you see nothing but a continu'd Row of magnificent Buildings and lovely Gardens on the other a calm Shoar upon which the Waves seem not to beat but lovingly to kiss Arriving at Genoa I met with the rest of my Servants and at the end of two days I embarqu'd for Ligorn where we arriv'd in four and twenty hours From Ligorn I went to the Court of Florence to wait upon the Grand Duke By whom I had the honour to be admitted into his Chamber where I found no body attending but one Mute who had a long time serv'd his Highness and I observ'd that they understood one another by Signs as perfectly as if the Mute had had his Speech and Hearing So that when-ever the Duke sent him into his Closet for any Papers or other thing whatsoever he never fail'd to bring the right After I had tak'n my leave of the Duke he sent me a noble Present of Wine and Fruits but that which I valu'd more than all the rest was a Case of Medicaments and Counter-poysons in the composition whereof the Italians are very exquisite And yet they did me no service for when I came into the hot Countries their fermentation was so strong that all the Oyls and Treacles broke their several Boxes that I could save nothing of that precious Present The next day being the twenty-sixth of March 1664 I embarqu'd with all my Servants in a Dutch Vessel call'd The Justice The twenty-seventh we staid in the Road expecting the rest of the Fleet consisting of eleven Ships two Men of War and nine Merchant-mon four of which were bound for Smyrna three for Ancona and two for Venice About seven that evening we set Sail and all that night the Wind was favourable but blew hard and veer'd often which was the reason that two of our Fleet separated from us steering between the Isle of Elbe and Corsica while we kept on between the Isle of Elba and Italy The twenty-eighth by eight in the Morning we found our selves between Porto Ferraro and Piombino and it being fair Weather we had a pleasant prospect of those two places From thence we steer'd between two Ilands the one call'd Palmajela the other being nameless About six hours after we saw Portolongone afterwards at a distance we descry'd Monte-Christo An hour after Noon we discover'd Castiglon-sore all the rest of the day we coasted by the Ilands of Gigio and Sanuti The twenty-ninth with the same Wind at North-West by Morning we discover'd the Ilands of Pontia and Palmerola and about Evening those of Ventitione and Ischia Night approaching and there being no news of the Ships we had lost instead of making the Pharo of Messina it was resolv'd that we should steer a Course round about Messina where we expected to overtake them At eleven a Clock in the Evening we had but little Wind at North-North-West so that we made not above fourteen Leagues of way The thirty-first the same Wind continu'd with a high Sea but about nine at Night the Wind chopping about to the West we kept our former Course The first of April by eight of the Clock in the Morning we discover'd the three Ilands that lye before Trepano Levanzo Maretima and Favagna The second and third the Weather was ill and the Wind unconstant so that we made but little way The fourth by break of day we discover'd the Iland of Pantalarea The fifth by Morning we found our selves within a League and a half of the Coast of Sicily just against Cape Passaro at what time the Weather being fair we had a view of Mount Gibello all cover'd with Snow Doubling the Cape in the Afternoon we discover'd the Coast of Saragossa The sixth
arriv'd upon Easter-eve and as we enter'd into the City the great Guns went off round the City in honour of the Resurrection At Rome we all separated according as our Business led us CHAP. VI. Another Road from Constantinople to Ispahan by the Euxin or Black Sea with some Remarks upon the principal Cities thereabouts THere are three Roads yet remaining leading out of Europe into Persia or the Indies That of Constantinople all along the Coasts of the Black Sea that of Warsovia crossing the same Sea at Trebisond and that of Mosco down the Volga which has been amply describ'd by Olearius Secretary to the Embassy of the Duke of Holstein In this and the next Chapter I shall describe the Way from Constantinople all along the Black Sea and that from Warsovia not knowing any person that has hitherto mention'd any thing upon this subject And first of all I will give a short Description of the principal Places that lye upon that Sea as well upon the side of Europe as of Asia with the just distances of one Place from another The principal Cities upon the Black Sea on the Coast of Europe From Constantinople to Varna they count it two hundred Miles four of which make an Alman League miles 200 From Varna to Balshinké miles 36 From Belshinké to Bengali miles 70 From Bengali to Constance miles 60 From Constance to Queli miles 25 Near to this City of Queli the great Arm of Danow throws it self into the Black Sea Here is the grand Fishery for Sturgeon From Queli to Aquerman miles 50 The City of Aquerman belongs to a Kan of the lesser Tartary but it is not the place of his residence for he keeps his Court at Basha-Serrail twenty-five miles up in the Land From Aquerman to Kefet or Kaffa miles 350 This is a great City and a place of great Trade wherein there are above a thousand Families of the Armenians and about five hundred Greeks They have every one their Bishop and several Churches St. Peter's is the biggest very large and very beautiful but it falls to decay because the Christians have not Wealth enough to repair it Every Christian aboue fifteen years of age pays a Piaster and a half tribute to the Grand Signor who is Lord of the City and he sends a Bashae that lives in the ancient City call'd Frink-Hessar However the Kan of the Lesser Tartary extends his Jurisdiction as far as the Gates of Kaffa From Kaffa to Assaque miles 70 Assaque is the last City in Europe belonging also to the Grand Signor By it runs a great River of the same name the other side being in the Territories of the Duke of Muscovy Down this River come the Cossacks that do so much mischief to the Turks For sometimes they come with threescore or fourscore Gelia's which are a kind of Brigantines the bigger sort of which carry a hundred and fifty men the less a hundred Sometimes they divide themselves into two parts one of which makes Havock toward Constantinople the other Ravages the Coast of Asia as far as Trebizond The Coast of Europe bord'ring upon the Black Sea is 861 miles in length The chief Cities upon the Black Sea on the Coast of Asia which is 1170 miles in length From Constantinople to Neapoli miles 250 In this City are made the greatest part of the Galleys and Vessels that belong to the Grand Signor From Neapoli to Sinabe miles 250 From Sinabe to Ouma miles 240 From Ouma to Kerason miles 150 From Kerason to Trebisond miles 80 From Trebisond to Rise miles 100 From Rise to Guni miles 100 The City of Guni belongs half to the Grand Signor and half to the King of Mengrelia with whom he keeps a good Correspondence because the greatest part of the Steel and Iron that is spent in Turkie comes out of Mengrelia through the Black Sea The only good Ports upon the Black Sea from Constantinople to Mengrelia are Quitros Sinabe or Sinope Onnye Samsom Trebisond Gommé The Haven of Quitros is very deep and the Vessels lie shelter'd from the winds but the entrance into it is very bad which only the Pilots of the place or they who have often accustom'd themselves to that Trade can only find out It seems that anciently there had been most stately Buildings round about the Port and several noble Pillars are to be seen all along the shore not to speak of those which have been Transported to Constantinople Near the City toward the South stands a high Mountain whence there flows good store of excellent Water which at the bottom gathers into one Fountain To go from Constantinople for Persia by Sea you must embark at Constantinople for Trebisond and many times for Rise or Guni which are more to the North. They that Land at Trebisond go directly to Erzerom which is not above five days Journey off and from Erzerom to Erivan or Tunis But there are few that will venture upon this Sea where there is no good Anchorage besides that it is subject to prodigious Tempests from which there are very few good Ports to defend them which is the reason it is call'd Cara-denguis or the Black Sea The Eastern people giving to all things mischievous and dangerous the Epithet of Black They that are Bound for Rise or Guni go to Testis the Capital City of Giorgia and thence to Erivan for though the way be bad yet it is far better and smoother than the Road to Tauris The principal places from Teflis to Erivan are these together with their respective distances From Teflis to Soganlouk leagues 3 From Soganlouk to Senouk-kupri leagues 7 From Senouk-kupri to Guilkac leagues 7 From Guilkac to Daksou leagues 6 From Dakson to Achikent leagues 6 From Achikent to Dillou leagues 6 From Dillou to Yazegi leagues 6 From Yazegi to Bicheni leagues 4 From Bicheni to Erivan leagues 2 From Erivan you keep the ordinary Road to Tauris CHAP. VII The Road from Warsow to Ispahan over the Black Sea and from Ispahan to Mosco with the Names of the principal Cities and Islands of Turky according to the vulgar pronunciation and as they are call'd in the Language of the Turks FRom Warsow upon the left hand of the Vistula the ordinary residence of the Kings of Poland to Lublin days 6 From Lublin to Iluove days 5 There all the Bales are open'd and the Customers take Five in the Hundred for their Merchandize From Iluove to Jaslovieer days 12 This is the last City of Poland toward Moldavia where if you sell any quantity of Goods you must pay Five per Cent. From Jaslovieer to Yashé days 8 This is the Capital City of Moldavia and is the Residence of the Vaywood which the Grand Signor sends to govern in the Country There they open all the Bales and there is a Roll of what every Merchant ought to pay which may amounts to Five per Cent. From Yashé to Ourshaye days 3 This is the last City of Moldavia
which he made the Grand-Signor was in Iron and Steel and a great number of Slaves The first time of his Audience he had a train of above 200 Persons But every day he sold two or three to defray his expences So that at his departure he had none but his Secretary and two Vassals more left He was a man of presence but no wit and every time he went to visit the Grand-Visier he presum'd to wear the white Bonnet which all the Franks wonder'd at when they saw that the Grand Visier wink'd at it For should any other Christian have done so he had been most certainly put to death or constrain'd to turn Mahumetan By which it was apparent how much the Grand Signor valu'd the Friendship of the King of Mengrelia and how careful he is of offending those that are sent from his Court He knew those People suffer no affronts but upon the least word presently draw besides that there is nothing to be got by provoking them This Embassadour going once upon a visit into the Country returning home was surpriz'd with a Storm whereupon he pull'd off his Boots and carri'd them under his Coat choosing rather to go bare foot to his lodging then to spoil his Boots Another time it being the custom of all Catholick Ambassadors to go to Mass to the Covent of Grey Friars in Pera upon St. Francis's day the Mengrelian Ambassador after Mass was done coming out of the Church and seeing several baubles which the Pedlers expose in the Cloyster upon that day bought a Tin Ring two or three small Looking-Glasses and a Pipe which he put in his mouth and went piping all the way i' th Street as Children do coming from Fairs But to return to the matter you must take notice that there are not only Iron Mines but also Mines of Gold and Silver in two places five or six days Journey from Teflis the one call'd Soiianet the other Obetet But the mischief is the people can hardly be got to work there for fear the Earth should tumble down and bury them in the Mine as it has many times happen'd There is also a Mine of Gold near to a place which is call'd Hardanoushé and a Mine of Silver at Gunishé-Koné five days Journey from Erzerom and as many from Trebisond As for the people themselves both Georgians and Mengrelians they never trouble themselves about the jgnorance and viciousnes of their Priests or whether they be able to instruct them or no. The richest among them are they which are in most credit and absolutely give Laws to the poor There are also some heads of the Church that assume such a jurisdiction over the people as to sell them both to the Turks and Persians and they choose out the handsom'st Children both Boys and Girls to get the more money by which authority also the great men of the Country enjoy Marry'd Women and Maids at their pleasure They will choose out their Children for the Bishops while they are yet in their Cradles and if the Prince be dissatisfi'd at it all the Clergy joyns with him that makes the choice and then together by the Ears they go In which Skirmishes they will carry away whole Villages and sell all the poor people to the Turks and Persians And indeed the custom of selling men and women is so common in that Country that a man may almost affirm it to be one of their chiefest Trades The Bishops dissolve Marriages when they please and then Marry again after they have sold the first If any of the Natives be not Marri'd to his fancy he takes another for such a time as he thinks fit for which he pays her all the while as the Turks do Very few of these people know what Baptism means Only two or three days after the woman is brought to bed the Priest comes and brings a little Oyl mumbles over a few Prayers and then anoints the Mother and the Infant which they believe to be the best Baptism in the World In short they are a people of no Devotion at all neither in their Ceremonies nor in their Prayers But there are great store of Nunneries where the young Maids apply themselves to their Studies and after such an age whether they stay in the Nunneries or betake themselves to the Service of any of the great Lords they Confess Baptize Marry and perform all other Ecclesiastical Functions which I never knew practis'd in any other part of the World beside CHAP. XI Of Comania Circassia and of certain people which they call Kalmouchs COmania is bounded toward the East by the Caspian Sea Westward by the Mountains that divide it from Circassia Northward it lies upon Muscovia and Southward it is bounded by Georgia From the Mountains that bound upon the North-East to Tercki which is the River that parts Moscovia from Comania it is all a level Country excellent for Tillage and abounding in fair Meadows and Pasturage However it is not over-peopl'd which is the reason they never Sow twice together in one place The Climate is much the same as between Paris and Lion where it Rains very much and yet the Country people have cut several Channels from the Rivers to water the Grounds after they have Sow'd them which they learnt from the Persians Those Rivers fall from the Southern Mountains being not at all tak'n notice of in the Map There is one among the rest a very large River which can be forded at no time They call it Coyasou or The thick water in regard it is continually muddy the stream being so slow that they can hardly discern which way it runs It falls gently into the Caspian Sea to the South of the mouth of Volga Not far from this River in the months of October and November all along the Shore of the same Sea you may see vast shoals of fish about two foot long Before they have two legs like a Dog's legs behind instead of legs they have only claws Flesh they have none but only fat with a bone in the middle Now in regard they are but flow pac'd when they come upon Land the Country people easily knock them on the head and make Oyl of them which is the greatest Trade they have The people of Comania commonly call'd Comouchs dwell for the most part at foot of the Mountains because of the Springs so plentiful in those places that in some Villages you shall have above twenty or thirty Three of these Spings meeting together make a stream strong enough to drive a Mill. But this is not the sole reason for there is Water enough in the plain But in regard they are a people that only live upon the spoil and plunder of their Enemies and of one another as they are in continual fear of being set upon they love to dwell near the refuge of the Mountains whither they fly with their Cattle upon any occasion of danger For all the people round about as Georgians Mengrelians
is allow'd to take he may keep several female Slaves but the Children are still slaves and can never inherit These Tartars are of a very hot constitution though not so hot as the women Both the one and the other are very fair-haird but the men have little or no Beards So that if there be any one that has more Beard than ordinary and can but write and read they make him a Moullah These people have no Houses but live in Tents or in Waggons which are drawn after them where-ever they go The Tents are for the old people and little Children with their Slaves that attend them The young women ride in Waggons clos'd up with Boards and to let in the Air upon one side they open a Window that is made like a Lattice In the Evening they are permitted to spend a little time in the Tents When the Girls have attain'd to the age of ten or twelve Years they never stir any more out of their Waggons till they are married not so much as for the necessities of Nature but in the middle of the Waggon there is a Plank to be taken up and if it be in a place where they stay a Slave presently comes and cleanses all underneath The Maidens Waggon is easie to be known as being painted with Flowers and generally there is a Camel ty'd to the Tail of it besmear'd with several colours and several Nosegays or Posies of Flowers stuck about the Head of the Beast The young men have also every one their Chariot wherein they only carry a Boracho of Horse-skin containing about 38 Quarts which they usually fill with Mares-Milk which is very sowr They have also every one another Waggon next to that wherein they ride themselves wherein they carry several Boracho's full of Cows-Milk which is very sowr At Meals they drink this Milk But before they powr it out they stir it in the Boracho with a great Stick that the Curd may mix with the thin Milk But the Mares-Milk is only for the Master and Mistress though before they drink of either they mix it with water When a Friend comes to see them they fetch out their dri'd Cheese which they call Kourout and breaking it into little Bits eat it with fresh Butter At their Feasts they sometimes kill old Sheep sometimes old Goats But for their Horses they never kill them but at the Funerals of their Kindred at the Birth of a Child or at their Marriage-Feasts or lastly when their Friends return laden with Spoil from any incursion and are stor'd with Slaves They never drink any thing but Mares-Milk or Cows-Milk and when they can get neither they will endure thirst for three or four days together before they will drink Water being always grip'd with a terrible Colick when they drink it They never eat any Salt being of an opinion that it is naught for the Eyes They live long and are very strong and seldom sick nor do they refuse any Diet but Swines-flesh Their Countrey is very level only for some few Hills in some places They have great store of Pasture-grounds and every Tribe has their peculiar Wells to water their Cattel In the Winter they lodge upon the banks of great Rivers near to Woods and Marishes suffering their Herds to feed at liberty When the Snow is very deep the Cattel scrape it away with their seet to come at the Grass though they meet with very little else but Reeds and Bushes In the mean while the men cut down the Woods make great Fires and employ themselves in Fishing There are some parts of these Rivers where the least Fish they take is about four or five foot long and some there are above ten or twelve foot in length Some they dry in the wind and preserve against Summer some they smoke in holes which they make in the Earth As for the smaller sort they boil them and eat them without Salt or any other seasoning When they have eat'n their Fish they scoop up a large wooden Ladle full of the fish-Fish-water and gulp it down As for Bread there is no talk of it in their Countrey When they are not at Wars or are but newly return'd from any Incursion they spend their time in Hunting but cannot endure any other Hounds except Greyhounds So that he must be a very poor Tartar indeed that do's not keep a Greyhound Take notice however by the by that these petty Tartars concerning whom I have last discours'd are certain people adjoyning to Comania which the Turks Persians and Mengrelians call Nogaies who may be well reckon'd among the number of the petty Tartars in regard they are all under one Prince whom the Grand Signor appoints King over all Petty Tartary and who receives his investiture at Constantinople These Tartars are all Mahumetans Nor have they any Physitian among them making use only of certain Simples of which they have a traditional knowledge When the sick person lies in any extremity they send for a Moullah who comes with the Alcoran which he opens and shuts three times saying certain Prayers and laying it upon the sick person's face If by chance the sick person recover they attribute his recovery to the Sanctity of the Alcoran and present the Moullah with a Sheep or a Goat If he die all his Kindred meet and carry him to the Grave with great Testimonies of Sadness crying continually Alla Alla. When he is interr'd the Moullah mutters certain Prayers ov'r the Grave and is paid for his pains according to the wealth of the Heirs For the poor he generally spends three days and three nights in that exercise for the rich he as usually spends a Month never stirring all the while from the Grave and sometimes sev'n or eight When any one of them is wounded they use no other Salve but only boil'd Flesh which they apply hot to the wound If the wound be deep they thrust in a piece of Fat as hot as the wound can endure it and if the person be able to kill a Horse the wound is cur'd so much the sooner for the Flesh and Fat of a Horse are much more medicinable than the Flesh of any other Creature Were it not the Custom of the Tartars to buy their Wives when they marry there would be fewer Whores But in regard there are an abundance of poor young men that have not wherewithal to buy Wives they never marry at all This is that which makes so many Souldiers among them and emboldens 'em to invade their Neighbors and to get something whereby they may be enabl'd to buy them a Wife For the Virgins they are nev'r to be defil'd being always shut up in their Waggons But for the Women they are oft'n debauch'd appointing their private Meetings when they go to fetch water for their Cattel when their Husbands are a-hunting or looking after their Herds Nor is it a hard thing to conceal it from their Husbands in regard the Tartars are not in the
Priest repeats these words three times to the people to instruct them and to teach them to what end they receive the Sacrament Every time the Priest says the words the people say after him word for word and when the Priest serves the people he breaks the Host into little bits which he dips in the Wine and gives to every one of the Communicants That which I most wonder at is that they give the Communion to Children of two or three months old which their Mothers bring in their arms though many times the Children put it out of their mouths again They never administer the Sacrament all the time of their Lent for then they never say Mass but upon Sunday noon which they call Low-Mass at which time they never see the Priest who has a Curtain drawn before the Altar and only reads the Gospel and Creed aloud Sometimes upon Thursday in the Passion week they say Low-Mass about noon and then they Confess and administer the Sacrament But generally they stay 'till Saturday and then the Communicants after they have receiv'd are permitted to eat Fish Eggs Butter Oyl or any thing else except Flesh. Upon Easter-day by break of day the Priest says Low-Mass Confesses and Administers after which it is lawful to eat Flesh. But the Beasts must be kill'd upon Easter-day and not so much as upon Easter-eve They have four other Feasts in the year wherein they observe the same Ceremony eating neither Flesh Fish Eggs Butter nor Oyl for eight days which four Feasts are Christmas the Ascention the Annunciation and St. George's Before this last Feast they stretch their devotion to the utmost for some will fast three days some five one after another CHAP. X. Of the ordination of their Priesthood and their Austerities WHen a Father designs his Son to the Priesthood he carries him to the Priest who puts the Cope op'n on both sides about his Shoulders after which the Father and Mother take him home again This Ceremony is repeated seven times in several years according to the years of the young Child 'till he come to be of age to say Mass. If he be not design'd for a Monk but for the Priesthood after the fourth time of putting on the Chasuble or op'n Cope they marry him for their Priests marry once but if that Wife dye if they intend to marry again they must give over saying Mass. The six first Ceremonies being over when the Youth comes to the age of 18 years at what time they are capable of saying Mass as well those who are design'd for Monks as those who are marry'd Priests they proceed to the seventh and last Ceremony which must be perform'd by an Archbishop or a Bishop who invests the young Priest with all the Habits which the Priests wear that say Mass. That being done he goes into the Church out of which he is not to depart for a whole year during all which time he is altogether employ'd in the service of the Church The Priest who is marry'd must be five days after he has said Mass before he returns home to eat or drink or lye with his Wife And as well the Monks as Priests when they intend to say Mass again must remain five days in the Church without either going to bed or touching any thing with their hands unless it be the Spoon where-with they eat their meat not daring all the while to spit or blow their noses The next five days after they have said Mass though such days upon which they might otherwise eat Flesh and Fish they are oblig'd to seed upon nothing else but Eggs without Butter and Rice boyl'd with Water and Salt The morning before they celebrate Mass if the Priest have by chance swallow'd a drop of Water he must not say Mass. Their Austerities are such that many of their Bishops never eat Flesh or Fish above four times a year but more then that when they come to be Archbishops they only live upon Pulse They have six months and three days in a year wherein they keep Lent or particular Fasts which you please to call them and during all that time as well the Ecclesiastical persons as the Laity feed only upon Bread and some few Herbs which grow in their Gardens There was an Armenian of Zulpha whose superstition was so great that he made his Horse to fast with him allowing him but very little either to eat or drink for a whole week together As for the poor labouring people they only feed upon Pulse boyl'd in Water and Salt for during their chief Lent they are permitted no more then others to eat either Butter or Oyl nay though they lay a dying it is not lawful for them to eat Flesh upon those days wherein that diet is forbidd'n They may only eat Wall-nuts or Small-nuts Almonds or Pistaches or some such other Fruit that affords no Oyl and they have this farther liberty to pound them and put them among their Pulse or their Herbs and boyl them with Rice CHAP. XI Of their Baptism 'T IS the custom of the Armenians to Baptize their Infants upon Sunday or if they Baptize any upon the week-days it is only in case of necessity when they think they will not live The Midwise carries the Infant to Church and holds it in her arms 'till either the Archbishop the Bishop or the Priest has said some part of the Form of Baptism Then he that baptizes takes the Infant which is naked and plunges it in the Water and then taking it out again puts it into the hands of the God-father and goes on with the Prayers While he reads them with the Cotton which he has in his hand he twists a string about half an Ell long He makes another also of red Silk which is flat then twisting those two strings together he puts them about the Child's neck They say that these two strings one of white Cotton and the other of red Silk signifies the Blood and Water which flow'd from the Body of CHRIST when he was wounded with the Lance upon the Cross. Having ty'd the cord about the neck of the Child he takes the holy Oyl and anoints the Child in several parts of the body making the sign of the Cross in every place where he drops the Oyl every time pronouncing these words I baptize thee in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost He first anoints the Forehead then the Chin then the Stomach the Arm-holes the Hands and Feet As to the making this Oyl you must know that every seven years upon the Eve of our Lady in September against which day they observe a small Lent of eight days the Patriarch makes this holy Oyl there being no person but he who has power to make it He uses all sorts of fragrant Flowers and Aromatical Drugs but the principal Flower is that which the Armenians call in their Language Balassan-Jagué we in ours the Flower of Paradise When the Oyl is made
General and his Wife could keep so private a Daughter that was so incomparably fair that it should not come to the Kings knowledg At length he lov'd her so tenderly that not being able to deny her the liberty of Reigning one whole day in his place he gave her leave to share with him afterwards in the Government And she it was that gave motion to all the most important Affairs of State the King excusing himself to the Grandee's of his Court who wonder'd why he let the Queen bear so great a sway by telling them that she was fit for the Government and that it was time for him to take his ease Fig. 1 and 2. is as all the rest are the backside of the Twelve Signs Fig. 1. is the backside of the Ram. and Fig. 2. of Cancer Both of them signifie the same thing it being the Name of the King Queen and City where they were stamp'd These two were coln'd at Amadabat The Gold Silver and Copper Money which the Portugals coin in the East Indies THe Gold which the Portugals Coin in Goa is better than our Louisse's of Gold and weighs one grain more than our half Pistol At the time when I was in Goa this piece was worth four Roupies or six Franks They hold it up at so Portugall Money Muscovie Money high a rate to the end the Merchants who come from all the Coasts of India thither with their Wares may not transport it out of the Countrey This piece is called St. Thomas Formerly when the Portuguez had the Trade of Japon Macassar Sumatra China and Mosambique which they still preserve and is the place whither the Indians bring the Gold of the Abassins and Saba it was a wonderful thing to see the quantity of Gold which the Portuguez Coin'd and the several pieces of workmanship which they fram'd in Gold and sent into Forreign Countreys even to the West-Indies by the way of the Philippine Islands But now they have no other places but only Mosambique to furnish them with Gold they keep up those Pieces called St. Thomass's at a very high rate lest they should be carried out of the Countrey as I said before They have also Silver Pieces which they call Pardos which go for the value of 27 Sous of our Money As also a great quantity of small Copper and Tin-Money not much unlike that of the Kings already mentioned which they thread upon strings in particular numbers The Gold and Silver Money of Muscovy I Have observed in my Relations that in all parts of our Europe where they Coin Money there are great Sums transported all over Asia where they go currantly But for the Money of Muscovy there is great loss in transporting it any where else because the Prince enhances it to so high a value The pieces as well of Gold as Silver are very good Metal for the Gold in worth is somewhat higher than our Lewis Fig. 1 and 2. This piece of Gold weighs 14 Grains and to take the Gold at 48 Grains the Ounce would amount to 20 Sous one Deneer and one half-peny of our Money But going in Muscovy for 24 Sous there would be nineteen and an half loss to transport it any where else Fig. 3 and 4. Is a piece of Silver that weighs eight Grains and to take an Ounce of Silver at three Livres ten Sous it comes to a Sous of our Money But in the Countrey you have but fifty of these pieces or at most sometimes fifty two for one of our Crowns or a Real of Spain or an High-German Rixdollar Fig. 5 and 6. Is a piece of Silver also which only goes in Muscovy But I cannot tell in what Province it is Coin'd in regard there are no Arms upon it and that the most knowing persons to whom I shewed them could not tell me what the Characters meant which makes me think it is very ancient The piece weighs 25 Grains which comes to three of our Sous one Deneer and one half-peny This is all that I could collect of most certainty concerning the Money and Coins of the East during the long course of my Travels Nor do I believe that any person has undertaken before me to write upon the same Subject If any one of my Readers desires to see the real Pieces themselves as well in Gold and Silver as in Tin Copper Shells and Almonds he may without question obtain the Favour from Monsieur the first President to whose Study I devoted them all together with certain Medals of which that Supreme Senator most skilful in Antiquity has great store being still curious in searching after what is rare The end of the Coins TRAVELS IN INDIA The First Book What Roads to take in Travelling from Ispahan to Agra from Agra to Dehly and Gehanabatt where the Great Mogul Resides at present And how to Travel also to the Court of the King of Golconda to the King of Visapour and to many other Places in the Indies CHAP. I. The Road from Ispahan to Agra through Gomron Where is particularly describ'd the manner of Sailing from Ormus to Suratt IN this Relation of my Indian I will observe the same Method as in the Recital of my Persian Travels and begin with the description of the Roads which lead you from Ispahan to Dehly and Gehanadatt where the Great Mogul Resides at present Though the Indies stretch themselves front Persia for the space of above 400 Leagues together from the Ocean to that long Chain of Mountains that runs through the middle of Asia from the East to the West and which was known to Antiquity by the Name of Mount Caucasus or Mount Taurus yet there are not so many ways to travel out of Persia into the Indies as there are to travel out of Turky into Persia by reason that between Persia and the Indies there are nothing but vast Sands and Desarts where there is no water to be found So that you have but two Roads to choose in going from Ispahan to Agra The one is partly by Land and partly by Sea taking Ship at Ormus The other altogether by Land through Candahar The first of these two Roads is amply describ'd as far as Ormus at the end of my first Book of my Persian Travels So that I am now only to speak of the manner of Sailing from Ormus to Suratt There is no Sailing at all times upon the Indian as upon the European Seas You must observe the proper seasons which being elaps'd there is no more venturing The Months of November December January February and March are the only Months in the year to Embark from Ormus to Suratt and from Suratt to Ormus But with this difference that there is no stirring from Suratt after the end of February but you may Sail from Ormus till the end of March or the fifteenth of April For then the Western-winds that bring rain along with them into India begin to blow During the first four Months there blows
Pallekis to go to Madesou-basarki This was a great Town three Leagues from Casen-basar where lay Cha-Est-Kan's Receiver General to whom I presented my Bill of Exchange He told me it was very good and that he would willingly have paid me had he not receiv'd order the night before not to pay me in case he had not paid me already He did not tell me the reason that mov'd Cha-Est-Kan to act in that manner so that I went home to my Lodging infinitely surpriz'd at his proceeding The sixteenth I wrote to the Nahab to know the reason why he had forbad his Receiver General to pay me The seventeenth in the evening I took water for Ougueli in a Bark of fourteen Oars which the Hollanders lent me and that night and the next I lay upon the River The nineteenth toward evening I pass'd by a large Town call'd Nandi farther than which the Sea does not flow Here the Wind blew so fiercely and the Water grew so rough that we were forc'd to stay three or four hours and ly by the shore The twentieth I arriv'd at Ougueli where I stay'd till the second of March During which time the Hollanders bid me very welcome and made it their business to shew me all the divertisements which the Country was capable to afford We went several times in Pleasure-Boats upon the River and we had a Banquet of all the Delicacies that the Gardens of Europe could have afforded us Salads of all sorts Colewarts Asparagus Pease but our chiefest Dish was Japon Beans the Hollanders being very curious to have all sorts of Pulse and Herbs in their Gardens though they could never get Artichokes to grow in that Country The second of March I left Ougueli and the fifth arriv'd at Casenbasar The next day I went to Madesou-Barsaki to know whether the Nahab had sent any other orders to his Receiver For I told you a little before that I wrote upon the place to Cha-Est-Kan to complain of his proceedings and to know the reason why my Bill of Exchange was not paid The Director of the Holland Factories writ a Letter also in my behalf which I enclosed wherein he represented to the Nahab that I was too well known to him as having been formerly with him at Amadabat in the Army in Decan and other places to deserve such hard usage That he ought to consider that I being the only person that brought the chiefest rarities of Europe to the Indies it was not the way to make me eager of returning any more as he himself had invited me to do to send me away in a discontent Besides that the credit of my report would discourage others from coming to the Indies fearing the same usage as I had receiv'd Neither mine nor the Directors Letter produc'd that effect which we expected Nor was I much better satisfi'd with the new order which the Nahab sent to his Receiver which was to pay me abating twenty thousand Roupies of the sum which we had agreed upon and if I would not take the remainder that I might come and fetch my goods again This ill dealing of the Nahab proceeded from a scurvy trick that was play'd me by three Canary-birds at the Great Mogul's Court. The story whereof was thus in short Aurengzeb that now reigns at the instigation of two Persians and a Banian has brought up a custom very much to the disadvantage of Merchants that come out of Europe and other parts to sell Jewels at Court. For whether they come into India either by Land or Sea the Governour of the place where they first arrive has order to send them to the King together with their goods whether they will or no. As the Governour of Surat dealt by me in the year 1665 sending me to Delhi or Jehanabad where the King was There were then attending upon his Majesty two Persians and a Banian who are entrusted to view and examine all the Jewels which are to be sold to the King One of those Persians is call'd Nahab-Akel-Kan that is the Prince of the Spirit who keeps all the Kings Jewels The name of the other is Mirza-Mouson whose business is to rate every stone The Banian whose name is Nalikan is to see whether the Stones be false or not or whether they have any defect These three men have obtain'd a Licence from the King to view before ever he does whatever forreign Merchants shall bring to Court and to present their goods to him themselves And though they are under an Oath not to take any thing from the Merchants yet they extort whatever they can get from them though it be to their ruine When they see any thing that is lovely and likely to bring great profit they would perswade you to sell it to them for less by half than the thing is worth and if you refuse to let them have it when they are in the Kings presence they will set a price upon it at half the value knowing that Aurengzeb is not very covetous of Jewels loving his Money far better Upon the Kings Festival-day of which I shall speak in another place all the Princes and Nobility of the Court present him with most magnificent gifts And when they cannot meet with Jewels they send him Roupies of Gold which the King likes far better than Stones though Jewels are the more honourable present Therefore when this Festival draws nigh he issues out of his Treasury a great quantity of Diamonds Rubies Emraulds and Pearls which he who is entrusted to prize the Stones delivers to several Merchants to sell to the Nobility who are bound to present the King by which means the King gets the Money and his Jewels again There is also another thing very disadvantageous to a Merchant Jeweller which is that when the King has seen the Stones no Prince or Nobleman that knows of it will ever buy them Besides while these three persons who are entrusted to view the Jewels are considering and examining them at their Lodgings several Banians resort thither who are expert some in Diamonds some in Rubies some in Emraulds and others in Pearls who write down the weight goodness cleanness and colour of every piece So that when a Merchant goes afterwards to any Prince or Governour of any Province these people send them a note of what he has and the price which they set down at half the value For in trade these Banians are a thousand times worse than the Jews more expert in all sorts of cunning tricks and more maliciously mischievous in their revenge Now you shall hear what a trick these unworthy people serv'd me When I arriv'd at Gehanabad one of them came to my Lodging and told me he had order from the King to see what I had brought before I expos'd my goods in the Kings presence They would have rather that the King had not been at Gehanabad for they would have then endeavour'd to have bought them themselves to gain thereby by selling them
opinion that Elephants do great matters in War which may be sometimes true but not alwaws for very often instead of doing mischief to the Enemy they turn upon those that lead them and rout their own party as Aureng-Zeb found by experience at the Siege of this City He was twenty days before Daman and resolv'd at length to Storm it upon a Sunday believing that the Christians were like the Jews and would not defend it upon that day He that commanded the Place was an old Souldier who had serv'd in France and had three Sons with him In the Town were eight hundred Gentlemen and other stout Souldiers who came from all parts to signalize their valour at that Siege For though the Mogul had in his Army above forty thousand men he could not hinder relief from being put into Daman by Sea in regard that he wanted Ships The Sunday that the Prince intended to Storm the Governour of Daman as had been order'd at the Councel of War caus'd Mass to be said presently after Midnight and then made a Sally with all his Cavalry and some part of his Infantry who were to fall on upon that quarter which was guarded by two hundred Elephants Among those Elephants they flung a great number of Fire-works which so affrighted them in the dark of the Night that knowing not whither they went nor being to be rul'd by their Governours they turn'd upon the Besiegers with so much fury that in less than two or three hours half the Army of Aureng-Zeb was cut in pieces and in three days the Siege was rais'd nor would the Prince after that have any more to do with the Christians I made two Voiages to Goa the one at the beginning of the year 1641. the second at the beginning of the year 1648. The first time I stay'd but five days and return'd by Land to Surat From Goa I went to Bicholly which is upon the main Land thence to Visapour thence to Golconda thence to Aureng-abat and so to Surat I could have gone to Surat without passing through Golconda but my business led me that way From Goa to Visapour costes 85 Which takes up generally eight days journey From Visapour to Golconda costes 100 Which I travel'd in nine days From Golconda to Aureng-abat the Stages are not so well order'd being sometimes sixteen sometime twenty five sometimes twenty Leagues asunder From Aureng-abat to Surat takes up sometimes twelve sometimes fifteen sometimes sixteen days journey Visapour is a great scambling City wherein there is nothing remarkable neither as to the publick Edifices nor as to Trade The Kings Palace is a vast one but ill built and the access to it is very dangerous in regard there are abundance of Crocodiles that lie in the Water which encompass it The King of Visapour has three good ports in his Dominions Rejapour Daboult and Crapaten The last is the best of all where the Sea beats upon the foot of the Mountain and you have fourteen or fifteen Fathom Water near the Land Upon the top of the Mountain there is a Fort with a Spring of Water in it Crapaten is not above five days journey from Goa to the North. And Rabaque where the King of Visapour sels his Pepper is as far distant from it to the East The King of Visapour and the King of Golconda have been formerly tributary to the Great Mogul but now they are absolute of themselves This Kingdom was for some time disquieted by the revolt of Nair-seva-gi Captain of the King of Visapour's Guards After which the young Seva-gi his Son conceiv'd so deadly a hatred against the King that he made himself the head of certain Banditi and as he was both wise and liberal he got together so many Horse and Foot as made a compleat Army the Souldiers flocking to to him from all parts for the reputation of his Liberality And he was just about to have led them to action when the King of Visapour happen'd to dye without Children so that with little or no trouble he got possession of one part of the Coast of Malavar taking Rejapour Rasigar Crapaten Daboul and other places They report that upon his demolishing the fortifications of Rasigar he found vast Treasures which help'd him to pay his Souldiers who were alwayes well paid Some years before the death of the King the Queen perceiving no probability of having any Children adopted a little Boy upon whom she bestow'd all her affections and caused him to be brought up in the Doctrine of Haly's Sect The King upon his Death-bed caus'd this Adopted Son to be Proclaim'd King but Seva-gi having a numerous Army continu'd the War and much disturb'd the Regency of the Queen At length he made the first propositions for Peace which was concluded upon conditions that he should quietly enjoy the Territories which he had subdu'd that he should become Tributary to the King and pay him the half of all his Revenue The young King being thus fix'd in his Throne the Queen Regent went in Pilgrimage to Mecca and I was at Ispahan when she pass'd through the Town in her return home When I made my second Voiage to Goa I embark'd in a Dutch Vessel call'd the Maestricht which carry'd me to Mingrela where I landed the eleventh day of January 1648. Mingrela is a large Town extended half a League in length upon the Sea in the Territories of Visapour It is one of the best Roads in all India where the Hollanders take in fresh Provisions every time they sail to block up Goa as also when they are bound upon Trade for many other parts of India For at Mingrela there is both excellent Water and excellent Rice This Town is also very famous for Cardamoms which the Eastern people esteem the best of Spices not being to be had in any other Countrey which makes that sort of Commodity very scarce and very dear There is also made great store of course Calecuts that are spent in the Countrey besides great quantities of course Matting that serves to pack up goods So that both in respect of Trade as also for the furnishing their Ships with fresh Provisions the Hollauders have a Factory in the Town For as I said before not only all Vessels that come from Batavia from Japon from Bengala Ceylan and other places and those that are bound for Surat the Red Sea Ormus Balsara c. both going and coming come to an Anchor in the Road of Mingrela but also while the Hollanders are at Wars with the Portugals and lye before the Bar of Goa where they have usually eight or ten Sail they send their small Barks to Mingrela for Provisions For the Hollanders lye eight Months in a year before the mouth of the Port of Goa so that there can nothing pass into Goa by Sea all that time You must also take notice that the Bar of Goa is also stopt up some part of the year by the Sands which the South and West-winds that precede
serves for the Priests Kitchin On the South-side there is a large Platform cut in the Mountain where there is a pleasing shade of many fair Trees and several Wells digg'd in the ground Pilgrims come far and near to this Pagod and if they be poor the Priests relieve them with what they receive from the rich that come there out of devotion The great Feast of this Pagod is in the month of October at which time there is a great concourse of people from all parts While we were there there was a Woman that had not stirr'd out of the Pagod for three days together and her prayer to the Idol was since she had lost her Husband to know what she should do to bring up her Children Thereupon asking one of the Priests wherefore she had no answer or whether she was to have any answer or no he told me that she must wait the pleasure of their God and that then he would give her an answer to what she expected Upon this I mistrusted some cheat and to discover it I resolv'd to go into the Pagod when all the Priests were absent at Dinner there being only one that stood at the Gate whom I sent to fetch me some water at a Fountain two or three Musket-shot from the place During that time I went in and the Woman hearing me redoubl'd her cries for there being no light in the Pagod but what comes in at the door it is very dark I felt my way to the Idol and by the glimmering light observ'd an hole behind the Idol I could not do this so quickly but that the Priest return'd before I had done He curst me for prophaning his Temple as he call'd it But we became suddenly very good friends by the mediation of two Roupies which I put into his hands whereupon he presently presented me with some of his Betlé The one and thirtieth we departed from Bezouart and past the River which runs to the Mine of Gani or Coulour It was then neer half a league broad by reason of the great rains which had fall'n continually for eight or nine days together After we had travell'd three leagues on the other side of the River we came to a great Pagod built upon a large Platform with an ascent of 15 or 20 steps Within it stood the Figure of a Cow all of very black-Marble and a number of deformed Idols four or five-foot-high some having many heads others many hands and legs and the most ugly are most ador'd and receive most Offerings A quarter of a league from this Pagod is a large Town but we travell'd three leagues farther and came to lie at another Town call'd Kab-Kali neer to which there is a small Pagod wherein there stand five or six Idols of Marble very well-made The first of August we came to a great City call'd Condevir with a double-Moat pav'd at the bottom with Free-stone The way to this Town is clos'd on each side with strong Walls and at such and such distances are built certain round Towers of little or no defence This City toward the East stretches out to a Mountain about a league in compass and surrounded with Walls At the distance of every 150 paces there is as it were an half-Moon and within the Walls are three Fortresses The second we travell'd six leagues and lay at a Village call'd Copenour The third day after we had travell'd eight leagues we came to Adanquige a very fair Town where there is a very large Pagod with abundance of Chambers which were built for the Priests but are now gone to ruine There are also in the Pagod certain Idols but very much maim'd which the people however very superstitiously adore The fourth we travell'd eight leagues and came to lie at the Town of Nosdrepar Half a league on this side there is a great River but at that time it had but little water in it by reason of the drowth The fifth after eight leagues journey we lay at Condecour The sixth we travell'd seven hours and lay at a Village call'd Dakije The seventh after three leagues journey we came to Nelour where there are many Pagods and having cross'd a great River a quarter of a league farther we travell'd six leagues and came to Gandaron The eighth after a journey of eight hours we lay at Serepelé a small Village The ninth we travell'd nine leagues and lay at a good Town call'd Ponter The tenth we travell'd eleven hours and lay at Senepgond another good Town The eleventh we went no farther than Palicat which is but four leagues from Senepgond and of those four leagues we travell'd above one in the Sea up to the Saddles of our Horses in water There is another way but it is the farther about by two or three leagues Palicat is a Fort that belongs to the Hollanders that live upon the Coast of Coromandel and where they have their chief Factory where lives also the chief Intendent over all the rest that are in the Territories of the King of Golconda There are usually within the Fort 200 Souldiers or thereabouts besides several Merchants that live there upon the account of Trade and several others who having serv'd the Company according to their agreement retire to that place There also dwell some of the Natives of the Countrey so that Palicat is now as it were a little Town Between the Town and the Castle there is a large distance of ground lest the Fort should be annoid by shot from the Town The Bastions are well-stor'd with good Guns And the Sea comes up to the very Wall of it but there is no Haven only a Road. We staid in the Town till the next day in the evening where we observ'd that when the Inhabitants fetch their water to drink they stay till the Sea is quite out and then digging holes in the Sand as neer the Sea as they can they meet with fresh-water The twelth we departed from Calicat and the next morning about ten of the clock we came to Madrespatan otherwise call'd Fort St. George which belongs to the English having travell'd not above seven or eight leagues that day We lay at the Covent of Capuchins at what time Father Ephraim and Father Zenon were both there The fifteenth we went to St. Thomas's Town to see the Austin-Friars and the Jesuits Church in the first whereof is an Iron-lance wherewith they say that St. Thomas was martyr'd The two and twentieth in the morning we departed from Madrespatan and after a journey of five leagues we arriv'd at a large Town call'd Serravaron The three and twentieth after 7 leagues travel we came to Oudecot the whole days journey being over a flat sandy Countrey On each side there are only Copses of Bambou's that grow very high Some of these Copses are so thick that it is impossible for a man to get into them but they are pester'd with prodigious numbers of Apes Those that breed in the Copses upon one side
as Sha-jehan came to the Empire he sent to demand his Tribute of this Raja as well for the time past as to come who finding that his Revenues were not sufficient to pay him quitted his Country and retir'd into the Mountains with his Subjects Upon his refusal Sha-jehan believing he would stand it out sent a great Army against him perswading himself that he should find great store of Diamonds in his Country But he found neither Diamonds nor People nor Victuals the Raja having burnt all the Corn which his Subjects could not carry away so that the greatest part of Sha-jehans Army perish'd for hunger At length the Raja return'd into his Country upon condition to pay the Mogul some slight Tribute The Way from Agra to this Mine From Agra to Halabas costes 130 From Halabas to Banarous costes 33 From Banarous to Sasaron costes 4 From Agra to Saferon you travel Eastward but from Saferon to the Mine you must wind to the South coming first to a great Town costes 21 This Town belongs to the Raja I have spoke of From thence you go to a Fortress call'd Rodas costes 4 This is one of the strongest places in all Asia seated upon a Mountain fortifi'd with six Bastions and twenty-seven pieces of Cannon with three Moats full of Water wherein there are good Fish There is but one way to come to the top of the Mountain where there is a Plain half a League in compass wherein they sow Corn and Rice There is above twenty Springs that water that Plain but all the rest of that Mountain from top to bottom is nothing but a steep Precipice cover'd with over-grown Woods The Raja's formerly us'd to live in this Fort with a Garrison of seven or eight hundred men But the Great Mogul has it now having taken that Fort by the policy of the famous Mirgimola which all the Kings of India could never take before The Raja left three Sons who betray'd one another the eldest was poison'd the second went and serv'd the Great Mogul who gave him the command of four thousand Horse the third possesses his Fathers Territories paying the Mogul a small Tribute From the Fortress of Rodas to Soumelpour costes 30 Soumelpour is a great Town the Houses whereof are built of Earth and cover'd only with Branches of Coco-trees All these thirty Leagues you travel through Woods which is a very dangerous passage as being very much pester'd with Robbers The Raja lives half a League from the Town in Tents set upon a fair rising ground at the foot whereof runs the Gouel descending from the Southern Mountains and falling into Ganges In this River they find the Diamonds For after the great Rains are over which is usually in December they stay all January till the River be clear by reason that by that time in some places it is not above two foot deep and in several places the Sand lies above the water About the end of January or the beginning of February there flock together out of the great Town and some others adjoining above eight thousand persons men women and children that are able to work They that are skilful know by the sand whether there be any Diamonds or no when they find among the sand little Stones like to those which we call Thunder-Stones They begin to make search in the River from the Town of Soumelpour to the very Mountains from whence the River falls for fifty Leagues together Where they believe there are Diamonds they encompass the place with Stakes Faggots and Earth as when they go about to make the Arch of a Bridg to drain all the water out of that place Then they dig out all the Sand for two foot deep which is all carried and spread upon a great place for that purpose prepar'd upon the side of the River encompass'd with a little Wall about a foot and half high When they have fill'd this place with as much Sand as they think convenient they throw water upon it wash it and sift it doing in other things as they do at the Mines which I have already describ'd From this River come all those fair Points which are call'd natural Points but a great Stone is seldom found here The reason why none of these Stones have been seen in Europe is because of the Wars that have hinder'd the people from working Besides the Diamond Mine which I have spoken of in the Province of Carnatica which Mirgimola caus'd to be shut up by reason of the yellowness of the Diamonds and the foulness of the Stones there is in the Island of Borneo the largest Island in the World another River call'd Succadan in the Sand whereof they find Diamonds as hard as any in the other Mines The principal reason that disswaded me from going to the Island of Borneo was because I understood that the Queen of the Island would not permit any Strangers to carry away any of those Diamonds out of the Island Those few that are exported being carry'd out by stealth and privately sold at Batavia I say the Queen and not the King because in that Island the Women have the Soveraign Command and not the Men. For the people are so curious to have a lawful Heir upon the Throne that the Husband not being certain that the Children which he has by his Wife are his own but the Wife being always certain that the Children which she bears are hers they rather choose to be govern'd by a Woman to whom they give the Title of Queen her Husband being only her Subject and having no power but what she permits him CHAP. XIV Of the diversity of Weights us'd at the Diamond Mines Of the Pieces of Gold and Silver there Currant and the Rule which they observe to know the Price of Diamonds AT the Mine of Raolconda they weigh by Mangelins a Mangelin being one Carat and three quarters that is seven Grains At the Mine of Gani or Coulour they use the same Weights At the Mine of Soumelpour in Bengala they weigh by Rati's and the Rati is seven eighths of a Carat or three Grains and a half They use the same Weights over all the Empire of the Mogul In the Kingdoms of Golconda and Visapour they make use of Mangelins but a Mangelin in those parts is not above one Carat and three eighths The Portugals in Goa make use of the same Weights in Goa but a Mangelin there is not above five Grains As for the Money in use First in Bengala in the Territories of the Raja before mention'd in regard they lye enclos'd within the Dominions of the Great Mogul they make their payments in Roupies At the two Mines about Raolconda in the Kingdom of Visapour the payments are made in new Pagods which the King coins in his own Name as being independent from the Great Mogul The new Pagod is not always at the same value for it is sometimes worth three Roupies and a half sometimes more and sometimes less
flaw the first Carat were worth 160 Livres but for that reason I reckon it not at above 150 and so by the rule it comes to 11723278 Livres 14 Sous and 3 Liards Did the Diamond weigh no more than 279 Carats it would not be worth above 11676150 Livres so that the nine 16 ths comes to 47128 Livres 14 Sous and 3 Liards The Great Duke of Tuscany's Diamond weighs 139 Carats clean and well-shap'd cut in facets every way but in regard the water enclines somewhat toward the colour of Citron I do not value the first Carat above 135 Livres so that by the rule the Diamond ought to be worth 2608335 Livres A Diamond by the Miners is call'd Iri which the Turks Persians and Arabians call Almas CHAP. XVI Of Colour'd Stones and the Places where they are found THere are but two places in all the East where Colour'd-Stones are found within the Kingdom of Pegu and the Island of Ceylan The first is a Mountain twelve days journey or there-abouts from Siren toward the North-east the name whereof is Capelan In this Mine are found great quantities of Rubies and Espinels or Mothers of Rubies yellow Topazes blew and white Saphirs Jacinths Amethysts and other Stones of different colours Among these Stones which are hard they find other Stones of various colours that are very soft which they call Bacan in the language of the Countrey but are of little or no esteem Siren is the name of the City where the King of Pegu resides and Ava is the Port of his Kingdom From Ava to Siren you go by water in great flat-bottom'd-Barks which is a voyage of sixty days There is no going by land by reason the Woods are full of Lions Tigers and Elephants It is one of the poorest Countreys in the World where there is no Commodity but Rubies the whole Revenue whereof amounts not to above a hunder'd-thousand Crowns Among all the Stones that are there found you shall hardly see one of three or four Carats that is absolutely clean by reason that the King strictly enjoyns his Subjects not to export them out of his Dominions besides that he keeps to himself all the clean Stones that are found So that I have got very considerably in my Travels by carrying Rubies out of Europe into Asia Which makes me very much suspect the relation of Vincent le Blanc who reports that he saw in the King's Palace Rubies as big as eggs All Rubies are sold by weights which are call'd Ratis that is three grains and a half or seven 8 ths of a Carat and the payments are made in old Pagods A Ruby weighing one Ratis has been sold for Pagods 20 A Ruby of 2 Ratis and one 8 th Pagods 85 A Ruby of 3 Ratis and one 4 th Pagods 185 A Ruby of 4 Ratis and five 8 ths Pagods 450 A Ruby of 5 Ratis Pagods 525 A Ruby of 6 Ratis and a half Pagods 920 If a Ruby exceed six Ratis and be a perfect Stone there is no value to be set upon it The Natives of the Countrey call all Colour'd-Stones Rubies distinguishing them only by the colour Saphirs they call Blue-Rubies Amethysts they call Violet-Rubies Topazes Yellow-Rubies and so of other Stones The other place where Rubies are found is a River in the Island of Ceylan which descends from certain high Mountains in the middle of the Island which swells very high when the rains fall but when the waters are low the people make it their business to search among the Sands for Rubies Saphirs and Topazes All the Stones that are found in this River are generally fairer and clearer than those of Pegu. I forgot to tell you that there are some Rubies but more Balleis-Rubies and an abundance of Bastard-Rubies Saphirs and Topazes found in the Mountains that run along from Pegu to the Kingdom of Camboya Colour'd-Stones are also found in some parts of Europe as in Bohemia and Hungary In Hungary there is a Mine where they find certain Flints of different bigness some as big as eggs some as big as a man's fist which being broken contain a Ruby within as hard and as clean as those of Pegu. In Hungary there is a Mine of Opals which Stone is no-where else to be found in the World but there The Turquoise is no-where to be found but in Persia. Where there are two Mines The one is called the Old-Rock three days journey from Meched toward the North-west near a great Town which goes by the name of Michabourg The other which is call'd the New-Rock is five days journey off Those of the New-Rock are of a paler blue enclining to white and less esteem'd so that you may have a great many for a little Money Some years since the King of Persia commanded that no Turquoises should be digg'd out of the Old-Rock but only for himself making use of those Turquoises instead of enamelling to adorn Hilts of Swords Knives and Daggers of which the Persians are altogether ignorant As for Emraulds it is a vulgar error to say they come originally from the East And therefore when Jewellers and Gold-smiths to prefer a deep-colour'd Emrauld enclining to black tell ye it is an Oriental Emrauld they speak that which is not true I confess I could never discover in what part of our Continent those Stones are found But sure I am that the Eastern-part of the World never produc'd any of those Stones neither in the Continent nor in the Islands True it is that since the discovery of America some of those Stones have been often brought rough from Peru to the Philippine-Islands whence they have been transported into Europe but this is not enough to make them Oriental Besides that at this time they send them into Spain through the North-Sea CHAP. XVII Of Pearls and the Places where they Fish for them IN the first place there is a Fishery for Pearls in the Persian Gulf round about the Island of Bakren It belongs to the King of Persia and there is a strong Fort in it Garrison'd with three hundred men The Water which the people drink in that Island and all along the Coast of Persia is brackish and ill-tasted so that only the Natives of the Country can drink it Fresh water costs Strangers very dear for the people fetch it sometimes one League sometimes two Leagues from the Island from the bottom of the Sea being let down by a Rope with a Bottle or two ty'd about their wastes which they fill and stop it well and then giving the Rope a twitch are hall'd up again by their Companions Every one that fishes pays to the King of Persia five Abassi's whether he get any thing or no. The Merchant also pays the King some small matter for every thousand Oysters The second Fishery for Pearls is right against Bakren upon the Coast of Arabia the happy near the City of Catifa which together with all the Country about it is under the Jurisdiction of an
above the Town up the River But no person must enter into this Pagod unless it be the King and his Priests As for the people so soon as they see the Door op'n they must presently fall upon their faces to the Earth Then the King appears upon the River with two hundred Gallies of a prodigious length four hundred Rowers belonging to every one of the Gallies most of them being guilded and carv'd very richly Now in regard this second appearance of the King is in the month of November when the waters begin to abate the Priests make the people believe that none but the King can stop the course of the waters by his Prayers and by his Offerings to this Pagod And they are so vain as to think that the King cuts the waters with his Sabra or Skain thereby commanding it to retire back into the Sea The King also goes but incognito to a Pagod in an Island where the Hollanders have a Factory There is at the entry thereof an Idol sitting cross-leg'd with one hand upon his knee and the other arm akimbo It is above sixty foot high and round about this Idol are about three hundred others of several sorts and sizes All these Idols are guilt And indeed there are a prodigious number of Pagods in this Countrey for every rich Siamer causes one to be built in memory of himself Those Pagods have Steeples and Bells and the Walls within are painted and guilded but the Windows are so narrow that they give but a very dim light The two Pagods to which the King goes publickly are adorn'd with several tall Pyramids well guilded And to that in the Hollanders Island there belongs a Cloyster which is a very neat Structure In the middle of the Pagod is a fair Chappel all guilded within side where they find a Lamb and three Wax Candles continually burning before the Altar which is all over cover'd with Idols some of massie Gold others of Copper guilt In the Pagod in the midst of the Town and one in of those to which the King goes once a year there are above four thousand Idols and for that which is six Leagues from Siam it is surrounded with Pyramids whose beauty makes the industry of that Nation to be admir'd When the King appears all the Doors and Windows of the Houses must be shut and all the people prostrate themselves upon the ground not daring to lift up their eyes And because no person is to be in a higher place than the King they that are within doors are bound to keep their lowest Rooms When he cuts his hair one of his Wives performs that office for he will not suffer a Barber to come near him This Prince has a passionate kindness for his Elephants which he looks upon as his Favourites and the Ornaments of his Kingdom If there be any of them that fall sick the Lords of the Court are mighty careful to please their Soveraign and if they happ'n to dye they are buried with the same Funeral Pomp as the Nobles of the Kingdom which are thus performed They set up a kind of Mausoleum or Tomb of Reeds cover'd with Paper in the midst whereof they lay as much sweet wood as the body weighs and after the Priests have mumbl'd certain Orisons they set it a-fire and burn it to ashes which the rich preserve in Gold or Silver Urns but the poor scatter in the wind As for offenders they never burn but bury them 'T is thought that in this Kingdom there are above two hundred Priests which they call Bonzes which are highly reverenc'd as well at Court as among the people The King himself has such a value for some of them as to humble himself before them This extraordinary respect makes them so proud that some of them have aspir'd to the Throne But when the King discovers any such design he puts them to death And one of them had his head lately struck off for his Ambition These Bonzes wear yellow with a little red Cloth about their Wasts like a Girdle Outwardly they are very modest and are never seen to be angry About four in the morning upon the tolling of their Bells they rise to their prayers which they repeat again toward evening There are some days in the year when they retire from all converse with men Some of them live by Alms others have Houses with good Revenues While they wear the Habit of Bonzes they must not marry for if they do they must lay their Habit aside They are generally very ignorant not knowing what they believe Yet they hold the transmigration of Souls into several Bodies They are forbidd to kill any Creature yet they will make no scruple to eat what others kill or that which dies of it self They say that the God of the Christians and theirs were Brothers but that theirs was the eldest If you ask them where their God is they say he vanish'd away and they know not where he is The chief strength of the Kingdom is their Infantry which is indifferent good the Soldiers are us'd to hardship going all quite naked except their private parts all the rest of their body looking as if it had been cupt is carv'd into several shapes of beasts and flowers When they have cut their skins and stanch'd the blood they rub the cut-work with such colours as they think most proper So that afar off you would think they were clad in some kind of flower'd Satin or other for the colours never rub out Their weapons are Bows and Arrows Pike and Musket and an Azagaya or Staff between five and six foot long with a long Iron Spike at the end which they very dextrously dart at the Enemy In the year 1665 there was at Siam a Neapolitan Jesuite who was call'd Father Thomas he caus'd the Town and the Kings Palace to be fortifi'd with very good Bulwarks according to Art for which reason the King gave him leave to live in the City where he has a House and a little Church CHAP. XIX Of the Kingdom of Macassar and the Embassadors which the Hollanders sent into China THE Kingdom of Macassar otherwise call'd the Isle of Celebes begins at the fifteenth Degree of Southern Latitude The heats are excessive all the day but the nights are temperate enough And for the Soil it is very fertile but the people have not the art of building The Capital City bears the name of the Kingdom and is situated upon the Sea The Port is free for the Vessels that bring great quantities of goods from the adjacent Islands pay no Customs The Islanders have a custom to poyson their Arrows and the most dangerous poyson which they use is the juice of certain Trees in the Island of Borneo which they will temper so as to work swift or slow as they please They hold that the King has only the secret Receit to take away the force of it who boasts that he has the most effectual poyson in
in Requenings or Debentures of the Servants of the Holland Company which they that have no mind to return into their own Country as being setled in the Indies will sell at an easie rate insomuch that for sixty or seventy you may buy a hundred Piasters the Act and Acquittance of the Seller being made and register'd by the Publick Notary Thereupon I bought of one of the publick Notaries who had Bills in his hands to the value of about eleven thousand Guelders at fourscore and two for the hundred After that I bought by means of the Advocate of the Treasury six thousand Guelders more at seventy-nine for the hundred But some few days after meeting with the same Advocate again he pass'd a Complement upon me and told me he was very much troubl'd for those that had bought Debentures in regard that the General and the Council had commanded him to recall all Debentures that had been sold for they had consider'd how sad a thing it would be for the poor men to lose so much of their Salaries I answer'd him that for my part I was willing to return mine provided I might have my Money again About six or seven hours after I was sent for by the General and his Council When I came there they ask'd me why I had not return'd the Debentures which I had bought to the Advocate who had demanded them by their order I answerd them that they were at Bantam whither I had sent them in order to my passage home in regard that the English President had offer'd me a convenience to go along with him The Council answer'd me that the Dutch Ships were as good as the English and very courteously assur'd me they would give order for a Cabin to my self in the Vice-Admiral But withall they told me I must deliver up my Debentures before I stirr'd assuring me that they would give me a Bill to be re-imburs'd my Money by the Company in Holland I thought it very hard for I knew not how to trust 'em but seeing the Merchants Commanders and all other persons clapt up and their Papers taken from them by force that had bought Debentures I thought it the best way to deliver mine and stand to their courtesie I often press'd the General and the Council for my Bill but after many delays the General ascertain'd me that my Bill should be in Holland as soon as I. Thereupon desiring the Vice-Admiral and some others to be my Wirnesses of what the General promis'd I took my leave of him very much repenting my going to Batavia CHAP. XXVI The Author embarks in a Dutch Vessel to return into Europe THE next day I went aboard the Vice-Admiral and the third day after we set sail and as soon as we were out of the Streight we discover'd the Islands of the Prince From thence being in the Altitude of the Coco Islands we beat about two days to discover them but all to no purpose thereupon we made directly for the Cape of good Hope The fourty-fifth day after our departure from Batavia our Vice-Admiral neglected to put out his Lights believing all the Fleet had been before at the Cape so that it happen'd that one of the Fleet being behind and not carrying any Lights out neither it being a dark night fell foul upon us which put every man to his prayers all people believing the Vessel had been lost and indeed had she not been a sound stanch Ship for the Provinces were so accounted she could never have endur'd so terrible a shock At length we clear'd our selves by cutting off the Yards of the Maestricht that hung in our Cordage The fifty-fifth we came within view of the Cape of good Hope but were forc'd to keep the Sea because the waves roll'd so that we were not able to come to an Anchor not that the Wind was extream high but because the South-wind had blown so long that it had forc'd the Water to that part When the Sea grew calm we came to an Anchor But of all the people that ever I saw in all my travels I never saw any so hideous nor so brutish as the Comoukes of which I have spoken in my Persian Travels and those of the Cape of good Hope whom they call Cafres or Hosentotes When they speak they make a noise with their tongues like the breaking of wind backward and though they hardly speak articulately yet they easily understand one another They cover themselves with the Skins of wild Beasts which they kill in the Woods in Winter wearing the hairy part innermost and in Summer outermost But there are none but the best sort among them who are thus clad the rest wear nothing but a nasty rag about their privy parts The men and the women are lean and short and when they bring forth a Male-child the Mothers cut out his right Stone and presently give him Water to drink and Tobacco to eat They cut out the right Testicle because say they it makes them swifter to run There are some of them that will catch a Roe-Buck running They neither know what belongs to Gold nor Silver and for Religion they have none among them So soon as we cast Anchor four women came aboard us and brought us four young Ostriches which were boil'd for some sick people that we had aboard After that they brought great store of Tortoise-Shells and Ostriches Eggs and other Eggs as big as Goose Eggs which though they had no Yolk tasted very well The Birds that lay these Eggs are a sort of Geese and so fat that they are hardly to be eaten tasting rather like Fish than Flesh. The women seeing our Cook throw away the Guts of two or three Fowl which he was dressing took them up and squeezing out the Ordure eat them as they were being hugely pleas'd with the Aqua Vitae which the Captain gave them Neither men nor women are asham'd to shew their nakedness for indeed they are but a sort of human Beasts So soon as the Ship arrives they bring their Beeves to the shore with what other Commodities they have to barter for strong Water and Tobacco Crystal or Agat Beads or any sort of old Iron work If they are not satisfi'd with what you offer them away they fly and then giving a whistle all their Cattel follow 'em nor shall you ever see 'em again Some when they saw 'em fly would shoot and kill their Cattel but after that for some years they would never bring any more 'T is a very great convenience for the Vessels that touch there to take in fresh Victuals and the Hollanders did well to build a Fort there It is now a good handsome Town inhabited by all sorts that live with the Hollanders and all sorts of Grain which are brought out of Europe or Asia and sow'd there come to better perfection there then in other parts The Country lies in thirty-five Degrees and some few Minutes over so that it cannot be said that
would have liv'd among the Hollanders and bin serviceable to them in the discovery of the Country but so soon as he got home he flung his Cloaths i' the Sea and return'd wild among his fellow Natives eating raw flesh as he did before and quite forgetting his Benefactors When the Cafres go a hunting they go a great number together and make such a prodigious howling and yelling that they fright the very Breasts themselves and in that affright with ease destroy them and I have been assur'd that their cries do terrifie the Lions themselves The women are of so hot a constitution of Body that at the times that their monthly customs are upon 'em they happen to make water and that an European chances to set his feet upon it it causes an immediate Head-ach and Feaver which many times turns to the Plague CHAP. XXVII The Holland Fleet arrives at St. Helens The description of the Island HAving staid two and twenty days at the Cape of good Hope seeing that the Wind was favourable we weigh'd and steer'd for St. Helens When we were under Sail the Mariners cry'd out they would sleep till they came into St. Helens Road. For the wind is very constant and carries you in sixteen or eighteen days to the Road of the Island All the trouble that our Mariners had was that fourteen days after our departure from the Cape they were often forc'd to the Top-Mast head upon discovery of the Island for as soon as you discover the Island the Pilot must take care to steer to the North-side of the Island because there is no casting Anchor but on that side and that very near the shore too by reason of the deepness of the water for if the Anchors come not to take hold the current of the water and the wind carries the Ship quite out of the Road which there is no recovering again because the wind never changes So soon as the Ships came to an Anchor part of the Seamen were sent ashore to get wild Hogs of which there are great plenty and to gather Sorrel which grows in great abundance and indeed they not only send the Seamen but all the Pigs Sheep Geese Ducks and Pullets aboard to feed upon that Sorrel which purges them in such a manner that in a few days they became so fat that by that time we came to Holland they were hardly to be eaten That Sorrel has the same operation upon the men who boiling their wild Swines flesh Rice and Sorrel together make thereof a kind of Potage so excellent that it keeps their bodies open by an insensible purgation There are two places upon the Coast of St. Helens where Ships may come to an Anchor But the best is that where we lay by reason that ground is very good and for that the water that falls from the Mountain is the best in the Island In this part of the Island there is no plain for the Mountain descends to the very shore of the Sea It is not so good anchoring in the other Road but there is a very handsome plain where you may sow or plant whatever you please There are great store of Citrons and some Oranges which the Portugals had formerly planted there For that Nation has that vertue that wherever they come they make the place the better for those that come after them whereas the Hollanders endeavour to destroy all things wherever they set footing I confess the Commanders are not of that humour but the Sea-men and Souldiers who cry one to another we shall never come hither any more and out of greediness will cut down a whole tree instead of gathering the fruit Some days after there arriv'd a Portugueze Vessel from Guiny full of Slaves which were bound for the Mines of Peru. Some of the Hollanders that understood the language of the Negro's told 'em how miserably they would be us'd and thereupon the next night two hundred and fifty of them threw themselves into the Sea And indeed it is a miserable slavery for sometimes after they have min'd in some places for some days together the Earth being loose falls down and kills four or five hunder'd at a time Besides that after they have been mining awhile their Faces their Eyes and their Skins change colour which proceeds from the vapours that arise from those concavities nor could they subsist in those places but for the quantity of strong Water which they give both to the men and women There are some that are made free by their Masters who labour however for their living but between Saturday night and Munday morning they spend all their weeks wages in strong Water which is very dear so that they always live miserably Being ready to depart the Island of St. Helens the Admiral call'd a Council to advize which way to steer The greatest part were for steering more to the West then to the South because the season for sailing was far spent and for that if we steer'd for the West Indies we should find the wind more proper to carry us into Holland But we had no sooner cross'd the Line but we found the wind quite contrary to what the Mariners expected so that we were forc'd to steer to the sixty-fourth Degree of Altitude with the Island and so return by the North into Holland CHAP. XXVIII The Holland Fleet sets Stil from St. Helens and prosperously arrives in Holland THE next day after the Admiral had call'd a Council we weigh'd and set Sail about ten a Clock at night Three days after our departure from St. Helens the Seamen were call'd very duly to prayers morning and evening though all the time we stay'd in the rode they never minded any such matter which made me wonder to find they should be more devout when they were out of danger than when they were in jeopardy After several other days sailing we discover'd the Coast of Island and then the Island of Ferella where we join'd with the Holland Fleet that stay'd for us Here it is that the Commander in chief calls to account all the Mariners for their misdemeanours during the whole Voyage Our Ship was bound for Zealand but we were forc'd to lye out at Sea seven days before we could get into Flushing because the Sand had chang'd its place Coming to an Anchor before Flushing two of the Company came aboard to welcome us home and to advise us to lock our Chests and put our marks upon them for all Chests are carry'd into the East India House where when the owners come for them they are order'd to op'n them lest they should have any counterband goods therein Thereupon I set a mark upon my Chests and went ashore after I had giv'n a good character of the Captain and his civility to me all the Voyage and thence proceeded by Land to Middleburgh Four days after I came to Middleburgh I went to fetch my Chests and finding the two Directors there one a Zealander the other of
of his Countrey by his General Chan Timur Myrsa retired unto the Cossacks upon the Nepper and having contracted a Friendship with them and the bordering Russes by their assistance he gathered an Army of 40000 Men and marched towards Crim leaving behind him a revolted Ottoman with a Brigade of 3 or 4000 Men who immediately after the departure of Sultan Shaugary marched directly towards Aslamgorod and early in a Morning surprized the Castle then in the possession of the Turks put every Man in Garrison to the Sword slighted the Walls and other Fortifications retired with the Spoyl and marched to joyn Sultan Shaugary who in the interim arrived near Precop where he was met by Chan Timur and totally defeated but by good fortune escaped and by the way of Astracan got to Persia. From the Nepper we will pass unto Crim with which Countrey I am well acquainted having against my will resided there some years Crim is a small Land so near as I can conjecture 200 miles long and 50 miles broad but is wonderfully populous and exceedingly fruitful abounding with Corn and Grass the only scarcity they have is Wood which grows no where but upon the Sea-Coast from Bakessey Seray unto the Town of Crim which in former times was the chief City All the rest of the Land is a Plain where they have no Wood to burn nor any sort of Fewel but Fissheke Fusshane Curay and Stroa The Land is inclosed with the Sea excepting at two places Precop and Arbotka By Precop there is a narrow passage through which you may go to the Nepper Lithuania or Muscovy through the Desarts of Ingul and Ungul and there is a Water comes from the Teine Sea called the shallow Water and goeth along the Desart until it comes to Precop upon West-side of Crim and by North where it turns back on the North-side of Crim is almost surrounded with Water for the Black Sea is on the one side and the Ratten Sea on the other which latter produces nothing but Salt for it is so salt that no Fish can live therein I have reason to know it because I lived in a Village which was called Seekely Otta Mamutachy The Towns round about Crim on the Sea-side are these Precop Cuslowa Crim Caffa Kerse and Arbotka and within the Land Carasu Ackenesh Messheite and Bakessy Seray The Town of Arbotka lieth on the North-East side of Crim between the Black and Ratten Seas which there come so near together that there is no more Land between them than that whereon the Town of Arbotka stands and without Arbotka is a great Field 50 miles long inclosed with Water where the Tartars in Winter do keep their Hergels or Horses which Field goeth to the shallow Waters where I ran away from the Tartars I shall here take my leave of Crim and pass unto the Little Nagoy to Asshowa on the River Don which runs down from Bealla Ossharra through the Country of Russia between Russia and Lithuania until it comes to Peilesboy not far from the Wolga for from Peilesboy to the River Camusshanka is not above 20 miles all level which is called Perewolog where the Cossacks do draw their Strukes or Boats upon Wheels to the River of Camusshanka by which they pass into the Volga whereupon this Place is called Perewolog The Don runs down between the Little Nagoy and the Desarts of Ingel and Ungule so to Asshowa right under the Town and there falls into the Tein Sea This River is full of Fish especially Sturgeons well inhabited by Cossacks for there are seldom less than 10000 upon it besides those that go on Freebooting There are also 16 Gorodkees or strong Skonces well manned and with store of great Guns they being in continual fear of the Turks and Tartars and sometimes also of the Muscovites The Little Nagoy lies between the Tein and Caspian Seas the former on the West the latter on the East Shercassen to South and the Volga on the North and there is never a Town in all this Countrey excepting Asshowa It is inhabited by Tartars who go altogether in Hords their Prince in my Time was Cassay Myrsa whom the Tartars call also Sultan Ulugh or the Great Prince They sowe no Corn but Pross which they sowe upon the Sea-side up unto Asshowa and after sowing they depart with their Hords and graze up and down the Desarts to the Don to Capbane Shurpoha Yedecul Comma and Curray to Masshargorodoke and to Shercassen Land under the Rivers Terigke and Balke and almost to Pettigor and by the River of Cupba and back again unto the Black Sea Thus they ramble all the Summer until their Harvest be ripe and their Pross gathered and put into Yams under ground after which they settle from Asshowa all along the Sea-side amongst the Reeds and leave their Horses to winter in the Desarts So I shall leave the Little Nagoy and pass unto Temerassa in Shercassen Land which is 500 miles from Asshowa Now in all Circassia are but two Towns Temerossa on the Black Sea upon the Gulf that goeth from the Black Sea into the Tein Sea right over against Arbotka The other is Tumein upon the Caspian Sea the distance between them being 1100 miles and all the rest of the inhabited Places are only Cubbacks made in the Woods piled round with Timber Their Houses are very high in the midst whereof they make the Fire Their Men are proper Men very like the Irish both for person and garb for they go in Trowses with short Mantles wear long Hair on both sides of their Heads with a shorn Crown between Their Women are very beautiful and loving to Strangers for if a Stranger come unto their Houses their young Women and Maidens will look Lice in their Shirts and all about them the most private parts not excepted and will allow them the liberty to examine and handle all parts of their Bodies besides their Breasts The Circassians are excellent Horsemen and very couragious but withal exceedingly ignorant and superstitious for when they kill a Goat or Kid they cut off the privy parts and cast it against a Wall if it stick they pray to it if otherwise they cast it away and spread the Skin upon Stakes place it in their Corn-fields and worship it They have no Writing among them yet pretend to be good Christians Do strangely bewail the Dead making great Cryes scratch their Hands and Faces until they draw much Blood knock their Foreheads against the ground until Knobs arise bigger than Plums The Men are notorious Thieves stealing from each other and he that steals most is accounted the bravest Fellow Their Countrey is very fruitful abounding with most sorts of Grain and they have store of excellent Grass They have also much Fruit growing wild many sorts of Beasts as Harts Hinds Kine Eissubrass Hogs and great Adders The considerable Rivers which I know are Cubba which runs from Pettigor between Shercassen Land and the Little Nagoy betwixt
more Excessive than one would expect from the Climate And besides their Children go stark naked during the great heats in Summer It is also remarkable That the Cold in Winter in the same Country is exceeding severe and one would think to them who have such mean accommodation intollerable These Nagoy Tartars have great store of Cattle as Kine Sheep Horses and Camels and yet notwithstanding they are very ill clad most of their Clothing being Sheep-Skins and those but scurvily dressed They have no sort of Corn or Grain mightily scorning the Europeans and Persians whose chief Diet they say is the top of a pitiful weed Polygamy is not only allowed but altogether in fashion among them most having divers Wives more or fewer according unto their Quality and Ability who unless they are Captivated by War are such as they buy of their Parents or Kindred for Cattle If one Brother dye the other takes all his Wives who are usually 5. or 6. But if all the Brothers die either in War or by Diseases then they are devolved like other Goods and Chattels unto the Elder Brother's Son they never suffering any married Woman during life to go out of the Kindred Here our Author hath inserted a Discourse concerning divers odd and some barbarous Customes which have long prevailed among the Nagoy Tartars and wherewith they will not easily Dispence But they giving little light unto History or Geography I have not thought them worthy the trouble of transcribing ner do I apprehend they would afford any considerable instruction or divertisement unto the Reader These Tartars of the Great Nagoy when they remove their habitation transport their Houses from place to place in Waggons with 4 Wheels which are drawn usually by Camels thoy pass up and down the Country in great Hordes their ordinary march is from the Volga unto Buskowshake thence to Voroslane Samara Eirgeesse Eishene Ougogura Reimpeska and all along under the Calmukes Country untill they arrive at the Jaick or Yeike Sometimes they pass by Cassoone Aurrow Camoyes Samar and so to Saraichika This is ordinarily their Summer Progress Against Winter they return unto those parts of the Country which border upon the Caspian Sea As Baksake upon the Caspian Sea Beallnssa Kitgach Sheennamara Coudake Caradowan Actabon and higher upon the Volga scattering themselves upon the Sea-shore and Banks of the Rivers among the Reeds and VVoods or wheresoever they find the Climate most mild and best Defence against the Cold which in the VVinter is in those Parts extremely severe so that 't is hard to determine whether they suffer more from the Heat in Summer or Cold in Winter During which latter Season they leave their Hergels or Horses and most of their greater Cattle to shift for themselves in the Deserts Having had often occasion to mention the River Jaicke or Yeike I shall here give a short account of what I have observed and learnt concerning its Rise and Course It comes from the Calmukes Land where it is thought to spring though some of the Russes affirm it Fountains are more Remote in Siberia the Southern parts of which is also inhabited if not possessed by the Kalmukes some of whose Ulusses or Hords are subject unto the Muscovites others in League with them but they have sometimes cruel Wars and did formerly destroy Tumen with some other Towns and Castles of the Russes who they apprehended did incroach too fast upon them But to return unto the Course of the Yeik after it hath passed through the Calmukes Country it divides the Great Nagoy from Cassachy Horda and after it hath passed in all a Thousand miles throwes it self into the Caspian Sea a little below Seraichika This is a very large River and the Land on each side well cloathed with Wood Grass divers sorts of Herbs and wild Fruits and the VVater full of good Fish which Conveniences do oft-times invite the Cossacks to make their abode there and from thence they make Incursions on divers parts bordering on the Caspian Sea This River among divers other Fish doth so wonderfully abound with Sturgeon that a man may stand upon the Pank side with a Pole in hand arm'd at the end with an Iron Crook make choice of what Sturgeon best pleaseth him which he shall rarely fail of taking though never so inexpert in Fishing if he have but strength or help to draw it on Land Not far from the Mouth of the Jaick in the Caspian Sea near the Shore are many Coves and Corners which they call Lapateens and Cultukes which are alwayes full of Swans usually swimming on the Sea which are so numerous that it is impossible to make any reasonable Computation thereof These Swans after Midsummer every Year cast their Feathers a little before which time there parts from Astracan many Boats which are manned by Russes and most of them are their Youth after a passage of 500 miles they arrive at these places which the Swans mostly haunt and having filled their Boats with Swans Skins and Feathers they return unto Astracan where a great Trade is driven with the Persians who give ordinarily a Dollar apiece for these Skins The next Country unto the Great Nagoy towards the East is Cassachy Horda which hath as I said on the West the Jaick by which it is divided from the Great Nagoy On the North the Kalmukes North East the Yurgeach or Jurgench Tartars and to the South the Caspian Sea and Caragans who inhabit on the North East side of the Caspian Sea These Cassachy Tartars march up and down the Country much after the manner of the Nagoys They have frequent Wars with the Kalmukes and Yurgeachians but seldome with either Nagoys or Caragans Only after the manner of most other Tartars they will clandestinely steal even from those Neighbours with whom they have the most uninterrupted and profound Peace Cassachy Horda is altogether Desart excepting some Woods Northward bordering upon the Kalmucks where there are divers small Rivers which empty themselves into the Jaick which River is also in most places bordered with Woods unto its Entrance into the Caspian Sea And therefore the Inhabitants may well be named Cassachy Horda or Wild people as the name imports They sowe no sort of Corn their chief Food being Horse-flesh and Mares milk which is also common to divers other Nations of the Tartars On the North of Cassachy Horda dwell the Kalmuke Tartars if such a life as they lead may be called dwelling The Country they inhabit deserves a better People the Land abounding with all things necessary for a Comfortable subsistence This Country hath store of Sables Marterns Black Foxes Squerrils and several other sorts of Furs which they Exchange with the Russes for Aqua-vitae Mead Tobacco and other Commodities This Country hath some Towns as Siberia the Head of a Province of the same name and Tumen both which the Russes have gained from them Ouffha Wadle Sellona Lucomoria which latter place they say is
they do most irreconcileably hate each the other The most noted Places on that side the Little Nagoy which regards the Caspian Sea and lye all along the Coast from Tumeine to Astracan are Sheerlona Yeare where I was first taken Prisoner by the Tartars Peremetka Arsi Bash Moyackee Bealla Oshera Bashmachake Kaboylly Machakofska Chostoway and so over the Volga unto Astracan And to conclude all I shall here enumerate all the Places on the Coast near Astracan which have Names that are considerable for Havens Trade Fishing or any other remarkable Circumstance Soteeza Bockgra Ueuslowa Cossa Beerulska Cossa Ewanshoska Cossa Seamme Bogoroffe Tussocleoff Lapateene Chaska Cossa Crosna Bogore Cocklouska Cossa Owarska Cossa Comashaska Cossa Colloberinska Cossa Cocktabow Bussanska Lapaten Kara Bussan which last place is not far from Sheene Mare which I have formerly mentioned I cannot so exactly tell the Circumference of the Caspian as of the Black Sea having been only on the North and West side but howsoever I shall from what I have seen and learnt from Experienced persons be enabled to approach very near unto the Truth The Distance between Astracan and the Jaick is 500 miles from thence unto the Confines of Bochara 500 miles From Jaxartes to Persia and thence unto Gilan is according unto my Information 1100 miles From Gilan unto Koisa 500 miles From thence unto Astracan as much in all 3100 miles But if any person should endeavour by Land to Travel round this Sea or in a Voyage by Sea follow the Coast he would make at least a Thousand miles more for this Sea is full of great Gulphs Bays and broken ground so that the Calculation I make is upon a direct passage by Sea suppose from Astracan to Gilan from thence to the Oxus from the Oxus to the great North-East Bay into which the River Jem falls which is full of Islands and broken Grounds Shelves Sand and Shallow Water and from thence back to Astracan Having presented your Lordship with a short but true Account of those Countries encompassing and lying between the two forementioned Mediterranean Seas I shall no less briefly and faithfully declare by what Accidents I came unto this Knowledge which cost me so dear that I suppose the most inquisitive person would not purchase the gratification of his Curiosity at a far less Expence of time and trouble than I have imployed though often against my will in my Travels and Enquiries I was born in Ireland yet of English Extract My Family Noble but my Estate not corresponding with my Quality being ambitious and withal naturally inclined to fee Forraign Countries I hoped to Raise my Fortune by my Sword After I left Ireland before I had been long in England an opportunity presenting it self I engaged in the Service of the King of Sweden who had then Wars with the Muscovite having given some Considerable proofs of my Courage I was gradually raised unto a Considerable Command but being engaged too far in a Body of the Enemies I was unhappily taken Prisoner by the Russes and carried Prisoner unto Plescow then in their possession having at the same time Arrears due unto me from the Swede above 5000 Dollars The Swedes taking no care for my Enlargement being willing I suppose to save so great a Summe of Money as at my Return I should have challenged after Three years close Imprisonment I was proffered Liberty by the Muscovite upon condition I would faithfully serve him against all his Enemies whereunto assenting I was sent unto Moscow and there before the Chancellor sworn a Tolmack and preferred unto a Command little inferiour unto what I enjoyed before And the Poles advancing towards Moscow with a great Army fearing lest I should go over unto them I was sent unto Astracan where I remained 10 years being continually Employed against the Tartars and Circassians By which means I came to know Pettigor Sneesnagor Shadgore Cabardye and the Great and Little Nagoy the Comukes the Tartars of Cassan the Kalmukes Cassachy Horda Caragans Ungensh and Usbeg Tartars During which Wars I conflicted with great difficulties and hardship In making long Journies faring hardly Nor was it a small labour to make floates in order unto our passing over the great Rivers I have mentioned to say nothing of the Danger Besides we run great hazards in our Journeying over those waste wide howling Desarts which on every side surrounded us frequently wanting provisions and sometimes Guides so that had we failed never so little in our Conjectures we had all perished After Ten years hard Service in my Return frrom Convoying Shollohofe Knez into Shercassen Land I was taken Prisoner by the Tartars of the Little Nagoy and by them carried unto Assowa upon the Mouth of the Tana or Don. There I was sould unto a Precopensian Tartar who carried me along with him towards Crim But upon the shallow Waters I very happily made my Escape I had little Knowledge of the Country but having formerly understood by our Cossacks at Astracan that great Bodies of the same name mortal Enemies unto the Tartars dwelt upon the Nepper not far beyond Crim by the help of the Sun and Stars I journeyed due West many days without any disastrous Adventure until I found them who gave me a very kind reception In this escape I traversed almost the whole Desart of Ingile and Ungule Dorosensko who then Commanded all the Cossacks upon the Nepper immediately made me a Poskofneke from which time for the space of almost two years I did accompany them in divers Expeditions in which we visited most of those Countries which lye upon the Black Sea to the no small vexation and loss of the Inhabitants We kept a Correspondence with the Cossacks upon the Don and frequently assisted each other And being all Foot and the Country exactly level we travelled surrounded with Wagons which they call a Tabor for fear of the Tartars who often set upon us but were as often repulsed we being well accommodated with Fire-Arms and small Field-pieces which the Tartars do exceedingly fear and will not ordinarily attempt closely unless they have greatly the Odds in Number But at length it was my ill Fortune between the Nepper and the Don to be again taken by the Tartars and by them carried into Crim where I lived long in great misery and was at length sould unto a Timariot Spahi living in Anadoule Anatolia or Asia minor with whom I lived 5 years but in more easie servitude than among the Tartars And to make my service less irksome my Master bestowed on me a Wallachian Woman whom I received for my Wife though without the usual Solemnities of Marriage which are practised among Christians Understanding at length that a Lord Ambassador was resident at Constantinople in behalf of the King of Great Brittain and to manage the Affairs of the English Nation in Turkey I prevailed with my Master whose Favour I had gained to grant me my freedom together with my Wives if I