Conventual Cordeliers and their Church is called St. Francis of the Jacobins who have St. Peters Church of the Jesuits who have St. Benet's Church and of the Capucius who have the Church of St. George By the Sea-side there is the finest Fish-market in the World it is a Street with Fish-mongers shops on both sides who have so great quantity of Fish upon their Stalls that it would surprise a man to see it There one may find all sorts of fresh Fish and at a very cheap rate The Greeks keep many Taverns or Publick Houses in Galata which draw thither many of the Rabble from Constantinople who are very insolent in their drink and very dangerous to be met with Going up from Galata you come to Pera which is likewise separated from Galata by Burying-places it is a kind of a Town where Christian Ambassadors dwell only the Ambassadors of the Emperor King of Poland and Republick of Ragousa having their residence in Constantinople The French Ambassador is very commodiously lodged in Pera having a fair large Palace which is called the Kings House and has on all hands a good Prospect looking one way towards the Serraglio of the Grand Signior over against which it stands upon a higher ground than the Serraglio Pera lying very high The Houses of Pera are handsome and hardly any body lives there but Greeks of Quality From Pera to Tophana there is a great descent and Tophana lies upon the Rivers side over against the Serraglio It is called Tophana that is to say the House of Cannon because it is the place where Guns and other Pieces of Artillery are cast and that gives the name to all that Quarter which is a kind of little Town The Houses of Galata Pera and Tophana are built in so good order that as these places stand some higher and some lower they represent a kind of Amphitheater from whence with ease and pleasure the Port and Sea may be seen CHAP. XXI Of Leander's Tower Scudaret the Princes Isle and the Black Sea. THough the Countrey about Constantinople be not so delightful nor so well peopled Iscodar as in France yet it is not without pleasant Walks you must take a Caique and go to Scudaret called in Turkish Iscodar and it is a good mile over to it You pass by the Tower of Leander which stands betwixt the Serraglio and Scudaret and you may go into it if you please This Tower is built upon a Rock in the Sea and is pretty strong there are several great Guns mounted in it which may batter the Port of Constantinople and the two mouths of the Bosphorus of Thrace and of the Propontis or as they say of the Black and White Seas there is a Well of excellent good fresh Water in this Tower but I cannot tell why they call it Leander's Tower. From thence you go to Scudaret which is a Village in Asia upon the Sea-side over against the Serraglio of Constantinople where the Grand Signior hath a sttately Serraglio and very lovely Gardens A little lower on the same side over against the seven Towers stands Chalcedon a Town anciently Famous and celebrated by the Fourth general Council that was held there but at present it is no more but a pitiful Village The Princes Isle which is four hours going from Constantinople is another Walk where the Air is excellently good though this Isle be not great yet it is very pleasant and contains two little Towns of Greeks The Chanel of the Black Sea is a rare place to take the Air upon this is the Bosphorus of Thrace which coming from the Black Sea to Constantinople enters into the Propontis and mingles its Waters with the White Sea at the broadest place it is about a mile over and is twelve miles in length Going from Tophana towards this Chanel you see to the left-hand on the side of Europe a great many lovely Houses and Gardens when you have entered into the Chanel you have on both sides the most charming and delightful Prospect in the World nothing offering to your view but stately Houses and Gardens full of all sorts of excellent Fruits Upon the side in Asia I saw a very pretty Castle where Sultan Ibrahim the Father of Sultan Mahomet who Reigns at present was hid for the space of twenty years to avoid the Death which Sultan Amurath put his other Brothers to This Castle is covered with many very high Trees that hinder it from being seen which is the reason as those who live there told us that few come to see it Along both the shores there are also a great many good Villages where one may have whatsoever is needful They take in this Chanel great quantities of good Fish of several sorts especially Sword-fish Sword-fish which are great and so called because on their Snout they have a long broad bone like a Sword or rather a Saw there are many Dolphins to be seen there which follow Boats playing and leaping out of the Water Six miles from Constantinople there are two Forts on this Sea the one in Europe and the other in Asia which serve for Prisons for Persons of quality and were built to put a stop to the Cosacks who were it not for that would often come and make Booty even in Constantinople seeing notwithstanding these Forts they sometimes give the alarm to that City In three or four hours time one comes to the end of the Chanel or Bosphorus of Thrace where the Black Sea begins In the middle of this mouth which is very narrow there is a little Isle or rather Rock distant on each hand from the main Land about fifty paces where being come you may go up to the top of it and there see a Pillar of white Marble which is called the Pillar of Pompey because they say it was raised by Pompey in memory of his Victory after that he had overcome Mithridates Close by this Rock and round it there are several others scattered here and there in the Water which many take to be the Cyanean Isles or Symplegades On the main Land of Europe side over against the Rock of Pompey's Pillar there is a Village on the Water-side with a Tower on the top whereof there is a Light for the convenience of Vessels that by mistake they may not run foul of the Rocks and be cast away for that 's a very dangerous Sea and many shipwrecks are made in it every year so that the Greeks call it Maurothalassa that is to say the Black Sea Maurothalassa not because the Waters of it are black but because Storms and Tempests rise on it so suddenly that they cause many losses and though the Weather be never so fair yet Vessels are often surprised there in a moment for besides that this Sea is not very broad there are several Currents in it caused by the Danube Boristhenes Tanais and many other smaller Rivers that discharge their Waters into it which occasion so many Eddies
herself being present and throw themselves into the water where he that stays longest under obtains the Maid in Marriage These are a sort of People that seem to be Fish rather than Men. They pay the Grand Signior their Tribute in Sponges and from them all Turkie is furnished This Isle hath no Haven for great Vessels but only for small Barks wherein they go to Chio and sell Honey Wax White-wine as clear as water which comes away by Urine as soon at it is drank and such like Commodities Their Vineyards are here and there among the Rocks But the World is turned topsie-turvie in this Island for the Women are the Mistresses there So soon as the Husband is arrived from any place the Wife goes to the Sea-side and takes the Oars and other implements and carries them home after which the Husband disposes of nothing without her leave In the time of the Emperours of Constantinople Persons of Quality that deserved Banishment were sent to this Island the Inhabitants whereof are well-shaped and strong But to return to Sea again we did what lay in our power to pass that Island and take Harbour at Stanchio but a South-east wind blowing soon after hindred us from that and though we beat and tack'd to and agen till the evening we gained no ground so that we resolved to turn back again and did so an hour before night finding that the South-east wind began to blow fresher and fresher In the Night-time we had much Lightning However while I was attentively considering Samos I saw a light on shore A Light which no body kindles which seem'd to me to be a Candle and having ask'd an honest Roman Catholick of Chio with whom I had made friendship what it was He made me answer That that Light was seen every night in the same place that having past that way ten or twelve times in the night-time he had always seen it that nevertheless there was neither House nor Tree there that many had gone oftentimes in search of it but could never find it seeing it very well at a distance but losing sight of it assoon as they came near and that about the place where the Light is seen there is an ancient Christian Church all ruinous which makes people think that there is some Mystery in it I thought the man had jeer'd me when he told me all these things and therefore I went to the Captain 's Cabin where having asked him the same question though he was a Turk he told me the same things the honest Chiot did who was Patron of the Saique and a Greek which made me more attentively consider that Light I ey'd it for the space of an hour and it seemed to me to be about two hundred paces from the Sea-side on that part of the Island which looks Westward opposite to the Isle of Nacaria or Nicaria I saw it rise and fall like a Candle and I remember that the Monks of Niamoni of the Isle of Chio told me just such another thing concerning the Foundation of their Church Having well considered that Light I went to sleep about eleven of the clock and the wind blew fresher about midnight with so thick a darkness that one could not see six steps on head and in the mean time we were in a dangerous place betwixt Samos and Nicaria so that we had cause to fear the Saique might run foul of one of these two places There fell afterward a great deal of rain but such strong gusts of wind with it as gave the Sea-men enough to do and besides that we had great claps of Thunder which doubling horribly betwixt these Islands made with the beating of the waves a fearful noise In the mean time the Ship made much water which created no small trouble to the Sea-men who had already their hands full on 't Another danger threatned us besides for they had left the Caique in the Sea towed at the Saiques stern which being forced by the violence of the wind knock'd its head so hard against the Saique that it might have started a plank and sunk her down to rights many Vessels being lost so even in the Port nevertheless their was no hoisting of it up though it had strucken so often against the Saique that all the Head of it was broken and the Saique was so slippery that there was no holding on her so that at several times three Men fell into the Sea but Ropes being quickly thrown out to them they were drawn up again At length came day but with it so thick a Fog that it was more than three Hours after before we could see Land. We afterward discovered Chio about ten a Clock in the Morning and put into Harbour the same day being Friday the seventeenth of November a little after Noon Our Captain perceiving the Weather to be contrary to us Scala Nuova or Couschadasi proposed to go and Anchor in the Port of Scala Nuova which the Turks call Couschadasi and I earnestly desired it because then I might have gone to Ephesus which is but half a days Journey from it but some Chiots told him that it was dangerous entring into the Port of Scala Nuova at that time But indeed I think it was that they had rather wait for fair Weather at home in their own Town than in another place So soon as I was come to Chio I failed not to speak to our Vice-Consul of the Light I had seen in the Isle of Samos and he told me all the same that the rest did and that he himself with some others had gone in search thereof but that as they drew nigh they always lost sight of it CHAP. LXXI Of Stanchio and Bodrou WE waited with great Impatience for fair Weather at Chio nevertheless the South-East Wind continued blowing till Tuesday the Twenty eighth of November when with day a North-Wind arose we let not slip the occasion for being got on Board we put out the same day about Four a Clock in the Afternoon and Wednesday the Twenty ninth of November past by Samos about Midnight In the Morning the Wind abated a little and nevertheless about One of the Clock we arrived at Stanchio Stanchio or Isola Longa. otherwise called Isola Longa Fourscore and ten Miles from Samos and came to an Anchor to take in Fresh-Water We who were Christians went not a Shoar because there were Eight hundred Spahis lately arrived to defend that Island against the Venetians and seeing these Blades play'd the Devil and all putting their Horses into the Churches of the Greeks they would certainly have abused us being then extreamly Exasperated against all Franks This Island called heretofore Coos Coos Lango and named at present by the Turks Stanchio and by the Franks Lango or Isola Longa is Seventy Miles in Circuit and is very Fruitful especially in good Wine the Country seems to be pleasant enough and upon the Port by the Sea-side there is a Castle that
made now a days as I have seen and have by me so that the Engravers of those times must have been excellent Artists nay it seems to me a doubt whether they might not have had the art of casting or at least softning the Stones for some of them are so little that one has much adoe to finger them and nevertheless they are Engraved to perfection When it rains the Moors search for them among the Ruines and never fail to find some then they come and sell them for a small matter to the Franks Good Asses in Aegypt Christians in Aegypt cannot ride on Horse back through Towns. Asses stand ready in the streets of the Towns of Aegypt but of late they hold them a little dearer because of the emulation of the Franks who come and out bid one another When Strangers go to see these Antiquities they take little Asses which goe very fast and stumble not nay will Gallop too if they be put to it for Christians whether Franks or not cannot ride on Horses through the Towns but in the Country they may if they please The Asses stand ready in the Streets and one has no more to do but to get up they pay no more for a whole Afternoons use of them but seven or eight Pence a piece to wit one half for the Ass and as much for a Moor who follows on Foot and beats and pricks on the Ass now and then to make him go A farther Description of Alexandria the Reader will find in the Second Part. CHAP. III. Of Rossetto AFter I had seen what I thought fit in Alexandria I resolved to go to Rossetto and parted from Alexandria on Saturday Morning the sixth of January with a Janizary whom the French Vice-Consul had given me to accompany me thither Bouquier we passed by Bouquier twenty short miles from Alexandria which is a Castle that defends a Road that is near to it and lodged that night at the Maadie of Alexandria Till you come to the Maadie there is no place to rest in being all a Desart of Sand. This place is called Maadie that is to say Passage because there is a Lake there to be crossed over in a Ferry-Boat with a Rope fastened to both sides of the Water The Maadie is thirty long miles from Alexandria This water is very full of Fish which renders a great Revenue to the Grand Signior There is a little Kervanserai on the other side of this Water where Travellers have a House over head for nothing and may eat and drink if they have brought Provisions along with them There we ate and drank and lay upon the Field-beds that we carried with us Next day being Sunday we set out in the Morning and about noon came to Rossetto Rossetto threescore miles from Alexandria but the miles indeed are short and all along the Sea-side On our way we saw the place where the River of Nile discharges it self into the Sea which is a very dangerous passage for Barks and Saiques Tht mouth of the Nile at Rossetto and close by shoar we saw the wrack of that Saique which stranded the same day that the great Gallion was cast away in the Port of Alexandria as I hinted at before The danger is when the Sea is rough for then it occasions an Eddy with the waters of the River that turns the Vessel round and casts it on shoar where it is sure to be split and none can save themselves by Swimming because of the force of the Waves but the wise make the best shift they can in their Caiques Rossetto Rossetto anciently called Canopus lyes upon a branch of the Nile which falls into the Sea five miles below the Town next to Caire it is reckoned the neatest Town of Aegypt not only because of the lovely Piazza's but also the many fair Hans it contains and yet they daily build new ones there for indeed it is a Town of great Trafick and very pleasant as being all encompassed with lovely Gardens The Houses of Rossetto are all high and well Built it is good living there as in all other places of Aegypt where Victuals are very cheap and wild-fowl especially Water-fowl very plentiful which they catch several ways but the Town hath this Inconvenience that in the Months of July and August they drink no other water but what they have gathered before into fair Cisterns Leaded and made for that purpose because during that time the Sea flows so high that it mingles with the water of the Nile and renders it Brackish The branch of the Nile that runs by this Town makes a Port for Saiques but great Ships cannot come up to it this port is always full of Saiques which come from the Archipelago to Trade in Aegypt The Town is very carefully kept by the Sous-Basha from all Disorders that might happen but besides that Guard there are threescore Men that in the Night-time march up and down to catch Robbers The cunning of the Arabs who rob in Rossetto who are Arabs of the Desarts These Villains strip themselves stark-naked then rub their Bodies over with Oyle that one may not take fast hold of them and in that manner come to the Town where they Steal what they can find and when they are pursued cast themselves into the River and swim over to the other side I made no long stay at Rossetto but knowing that every Tuesday and Friday Barks go off from Rossetto to Caire I waited for the first opportunity that I might go in company with several Barks which is the way to be safe from the Pirates of the Nile and having hired a little Boat only for myself and my Servant that I might be at more ease I parted from Rossetto Friday the nineteenth of January about Noon These Barks are Caiques or ordinary Boats and I had a Tilt or Covering made of Matts in the Stern to keep me from the Sun and the Dew which on the Nile is very cold and piercing It was very bad weather that day however we went on and Wednesday the twenty fourth of January passed the place where the Chanel divides it self into two Branches of which one goes to Rossetto and the other to Damiette The same day in the Evening we came to Boulac which is the Port of Caire though it be half a League from it Boulac Boulac is a pretty big long and narrow Town built upon the side of the Nile and has many Gardens and country Houses about it At Boulac we paid a Piastre a piece to some Jews it being the custome that every Frank the first time he comes to Caire pays a Piastre at Boulac In my Voyage from Rossetto to Caire I observed that all the land upon the Nile sides is excellently good and really Aegypt may be said to be an Earthly Paradise but Inhabited by Devils not only because the Inhabitants are Tawny but also very Vicious great Robbers especially and such as
men attempted to hall her out of the water by one side that she might be emptied by the other but the weight of the water bulged one of her sides and then she overset so that despairing to recover her unless with much labour and the loss of a great deal of time and fearing besides that she might dash against the Hold of the Ship because it was then a very rough Sea they cut the Ropes and let her go though it was near a hundred Piastres loss to the Owner of the Ship This made us lose a whole hours time and in the mean while one of the Ships which the day before was to our Starboard got a Head of us About half an hour after seven in the morning we made Sail with a North Wind. About half an hour after nine we were off of an Island to our Larboard which we took to be Audarvia but we were mistaken About ten a Clock the violence of the Wind began to abate and we Steered away East South-East About two a Clock after-noon we made a little Island to the Larboard very near the main Land and knew it be Audarvia and that the other which we past about half an hour after nine in the morning and took for Audarvia was Lara This Isle of Lara is a little Desart very low place Lara close by the main Land which is the reason that it is not easily discovered it bears nothing unless it be some wild Trees and that too only at one end of it which lyes to the West North-West and was to us the beginning of the Isle as our Course lay it may be known by these Trees It lyes in length from West North-West to East South-East and is threescore and ten Leagues from Carek Audarvia The Isle of Audarvia is in like manner little low and very near the main Land and lyes in length as Lara does from West North-West to East South-East there is good water in this Island and in the middle of it some wild Trees and the Cottages of some Fishermen who come from the main Land to Fish there it being seven or eight Leagues from Lara It is worth the observing that though these two Isles be very near the Land as I have been saying yet they leave a passage betwixt them and the main Land which may admit of Ships because it is very deep water and Ships sometimes shoot that passage The Wind freshning in the afternoon at three quarters of an hour after two a Clock we were got to the farther end of the Island and an hour after made the Isle of Keis to the South-East About half an hour after four we got on Head of the Ship that was before us in the morning and at the same time we were off and on with the hithermost end of the Isle of Keis Keis which was to our Starboard side This Island is about two Leagues and a half from the main Land or three at most and about five Leagues from Audarvia though they reckon it fifteen Leagues from Lara to Keis it reaches in length from West South-West to East North-East and is about five Leagues in Circuit it is very low and flat like the two former but it is inhabited by several people who have Houses dispersed here and there upon it I was told that heretofore the Inhabitants of that Island having killed a Portuguese who had gone a shoar there for some insolence which he had committed sometime after other Portuguese Ships coming thither the Admiral called Roui-Fereyra-Andrada went a shoar upon the Island and taking a Sucking-Child put it into a Mortar and by an unparalelled piece of cruelty A horrid piece of cruelty of a Portuguese made the Father and Mother of the innocent Babe pound it themselves in the Mortar This General was a Devil incarnate and it was his usual way so to revenge himself on the Inhabitants of those Coasts when they had done him any displeasure his name is to this day so terrible unto them that they use it to still their little Children when they cry threatning them with Lowis de Fereyra In the mean time that inhumanity made many forsake the Island that they might not be exposed to such cruel usage nevertheless some abode still and have Cattel there I was told that heretofore there were all sorts of Fruits on this Island but that since the Portuguese have left off to go thither there are no more to be found I was likewise assured that there is excellent water in the North-West and East ends of the Isle About five a Clock in the evening we furled our Mizan Mizan-Top Main-Top and Fore-Top-Sails that we might not make so much way because on this Coast there are places where the water is very shallow About seven a Clock at night we were got off of the other end of the Isle of Keis and then the Wind slackened much half an hour after we came off and on a place of the main Land where the shoar opens towards the East and forms a Gulf in shape of a half Circle and the outmost point of that half Circle is called Gherd All that day we had kept very near the main Land which to that Gulf bears West North-West and East South-East When we were just off the beginning of this Gulf a gentle Gale blowing from East North-East made us to Steer our Course South-East and we made the Land called Gherd to the East South East About ten a Clock at night we stood away South South-East and heaving out the Lead found seventeen Fathom water within a quarter of an hour after the Wind turning North-West we bore away South but because it instantly blew too hard we furled the Main-Sail and Steered South South-East About three quarters after ten we Steered South-East and casting the Lead found fifteen Fathom water Sunday the two and twentieth of November at two a Clock after midnight we were got off of the Isle of Paloro to our Starboard Paloro our Course was then East South-East and having sounded we found thirteen Fathom water whereupon we turned the Ships Head South South-East A quarter after two we heaved the Lead several times and found betwixt six and seven Fathom water Three quarters after two we bore away East South-East and casting the Lead found first fifteen then ten and a little farther only eight Fathom water we had then to the Larboard a Mountain on the main Land Mount Sannas called Sannas Half an hour after five in the morning we had but five Fathom water At six a Clock we found twelve and then we Steered East North-East and at eight a Clock in the morning came before Congo distant from Keis fifteen Leagues by Land and thirty by Sea an hundred from Carek and an hundred and fifty from Bassora from Congo to Comoron it is twenty Leagues by Land and thirty by Sea. We came to an Anchor in the Road a long half League
to shew how insignificant a thing the Grand Signior is when the Soldiery is in an Insurrection CHAP. LV. Of the Christians and Jews that are Subjects to the Grand Signior THE Subjects of the Grand Signior who are not Musulmans The Grand Signior's Subjects are either Christians or Jews of the Christians the chief are the Greeks who use the same Habit that the Turks do only there are some colours which they dare not wear neither on their Head nor in their Body-Apparel for not only they but generally all who are not Turks whether Christians or Jews Subjects to the Grand Signior or not dare not wear Green on their Head or any other part of their Body and if a Christian or Jew be found with the least bit of Green about him he 'll be soundly Bastonado'd and pay Money to boot in so great veneration is the Green colour with them Nor dare Christians wear a Turban all white A white Turban for if he be taken with such an one whether he be a Subject of the Grand Signior's or not he must turn Turk or die for it Colours for those who are not Mahometans but they may wear of all other colours or of mixt colours provided there be no Green among them though still it be dangerous to wear all Red or all Yellow because the Soldiers affect those colours Neither dare the Christians who are Subjects to the Grand Signior wear yellow Paboutches upon pain of several Bastonadoes but only Red Strangers however may wear Yellow Papas The Papas or Greek Priests are always clad in Black and wear a black Cap with a list of white Cloth about it having a piece of black Cloth fastened to it within which hangs down upon their back They wear long Hair and so do their Monks also As for their Religion the chief point wherein they differ from the Church of Rome is that they maintain that the Holy Ghost proceeds only from the Father and not from the Father and Son together They acknowledge not the Pope for Head of the Church but have four Patriarchs who are Chief and have equal Authority in their several Patriarchates The first is the Patriarch of Constantinople the second of Antioch the third of Alexandria and the fourth of Jerusalem All the four are confirmed in that Dignity by the Grand Signior or by his Officers at least to wit he of Constantinople by the Grand Visier and the rest by the Bashas of the Countrey He that receives them gives them a Caftan or Vest the day of their Confirmation They admit not of Purgatory but yet allow a Third Place where they will have the Blessed to be in expectation of the Day of Judgment And nevertheless though they believe not that the Saints are in Paradise into which they say they are not admitted before the Day of Judgment yet they pray to them that they would intercede for them with God. At Mass they Consecrate with Leavened Bread such as we commonly eat they Communicate under both kinds aswel Laicks as Priests and aswel Women and Children as Men. They have four Lents The Greeks Lents and begin the First six weeks before Easter which they continue till Easter Day The Second fifteen daies before the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul until the Day of that Feast The Third the First of August until the Assumption which is the Fifteenth day The Fourth from the first Sunday of Advent until Christmas day and all this according to their Calendar which is the ancient During these three last Lents they may eat Fish and Oyl The Great Lent of the Greeks but in the first Lent they eat neither Oyl nor Fish nor any thing that hath blood but only Herbs and Shell-fish and that which they call Ceppia and we Cuttle-fish whose blood is as black as Ink and certainly what Busbequins says That the Greeks never eat Oysters is not true for they hardly eat any thing else during Lent and at all times they are great Eaters of Fish The Lent of the Armenians is stricter than that of the Greeks The Lent of the Armenians for during their Lent they eat no kind of Fish not so much as Shell-fish nor Oyl nor do they drink Wine but live only on Bread Water Herbs and Roots But to return to the Greeks their Churches are like ours save that the High Altar is divided from the rest of the Church by a wooden partition with three doors in it and that makes a kind of Sanctum Sanctorum They have no Images but in flat Picture The Greeks kneel not and not in Relief The Greeks kneel not in their Churches no not at the Elevation of the Sacrament but all lean upon Crutches and for that purpose the Greek Churches are always well provided with them The age of Greek Priests Priests married A Man with them cannot be a Priest if he be not full thirty years old Their Priests may have been Married once in their life to a Virgin and keep their Wives after they are Priests but being dead they cannot take other Wives The Caloyers or Religious Greeks can never Marry Caloyers These Monks eat no Flesh I shall not here spend time in describing their way of celebrating Mass which is in substance the same with that of the Latins nor shall I speak of their Sacerdotal Vestments which have their Mysteries aswel as the Candlestick with three Candles that signifies the Holy Trinity and the other with two which signifies the two Natures in Jesus Christ to wit the Divine and Humane Natures Every one knows also that in giving the Blessing they make the sign of the Cross from the right to the left whereas the Latins make it from the left to the right But let us say somewhat of their Marriage The Marriage of the Greeks Maids shew not themselves before they be married nor yet a long while after avoiding the sight even of their Relations and go not to Church for fear of being seen I saw a Maid married at Rhodes who had two other Maiden Sisters who were neither present at the Ceremony nor Rejoycings of the Wedding for fear of being seen The Greeks are married by a Priest as the Latins are and give a Ring in the same manner But over and above that they have something that the Latins have not Father and Mother of the Marriage for they take a Godfather and Godmother to whom they present some wrought Handkerchief at least I had one presented to me when once I was chosen for a Godfather The Godfather and Godmother present themselves before a Papas with the Bridegroom and Bride and while the Papas says some Prayers the Godfather and Godmother hold a Garland of Flowers interlaced with Orpine over the Heads of the couple that are to be married and a Pall over that When Prayers are said the Bridegroom and Bride holding one another by the hand turn several times while
hundred distant from Chio on the top of this Mount there is a Church dedicated to that Saint This is so high a place that it is always covered with Mists and Snow In the middle of the Mountain there is so large and copious a Spring that it Waters all the Fields about which are fertile and abound in all sorts of Fruits Spartonda In a Wood hard by there is a Village called Spartonda where about fifty Persons only all Shepherds live but it is a delightful place affording good Water Calandre Coronia and excellent Fruits Betwixt the Village of Calandre that stands upon a Hill and Coronia consisting of about an Hundred and fifty scattering Houses there is a Bath of Sulphur by the Sea-side under extraordinary big Oaks this Bath is called Hayasma which signifies Holy or Blessed Water because the Water of it being drank Cures many Diseases but it Kills a great many People too by the violence of its Operation Three Miles from the Sea St. Helenas Town at the farther end of the Island is the Town St. Helena built upon a Rock and containing Two hundred Inhabitants it hath two Churches and a Chappel built just about the middle of the Hill where being hollow there hangs in the middle of it a point of a Rock from which Water contially drops and this Water they also call Hayasma Holy or Blessed Water This Water comes from the Mountain impregnated with Rain-Water or the vapours that rise from a deep Valley underneath where runs a Water that drives some Mills The Inhabitants of this place firmly believe that if a dead Body do not in forty days time corrupt Zorzolacas Hobgoblins it turns to a Hobgoblin which they call Zorzolacas or Nomolacas A dead body whose Ghost wandred about the Village in the Night-time And the Author of the Manuscript from whence I had this says That Travelling that way in the Month of April 1637. he found a Priest reading over a dead Body which he had caused to be raised after it had been fifty days in the Grave and was nevertheless still sound there being no sign of Corruption about it but a Worm that crawled out of the Eye The Priest told the Man who reports this that that Body or rather its Ghost went all Night about the Village knocking at the Doors and calling the People by their Names and that such as made answer died within two or three days after and that the Worm that came out of his Eye was but a Trick of the Devils to make it believed he was rotten This place is about thirty Miles from the City and they are all poor Shepherds that live there The Chappel in the aforesaid Rock is highly esteemed by all the Villages about From thence one goes to Volisso Volisso which is a great Village seated on a Hill with a Castle built by Belisarius General to the Emperour of Constantinople who going somewhere else by Sea was by a Storm forced to put on Shoar in that place in that Castle there is a Church with several Houses and Cisterns the Village contains about Three hundred Houses and about Fifteen hundred Inhabitants with several Churches The Country about it is very Pleasant Spacious and Fruitful and the Inhabitants make Five thousand Weight of Silk yearly with the Money whereof they pay their Tribute They are very vicious and it is thought they lie under a Curse of being almost always destitute of Bread. There is a place Varvariso The transformation of St. Marcella called Varvariso where there is a Church dedicated to St Marcella who as the Inhabitants of that place say was converted into Stone in a Grotto by the Sea-side whither she fled to escape from her Father who would have Defloured her and they say that on the day when the Church celebrates the Festival of that Saint Milk is seen to drop from the Breasts that are on the Rock Panagirio This with them is a solemn Feast which they call Panagirio the Priests singing praises to her all Night long Three Miles from that Village there is a Monastery dedicated to St. John and near to that Monastery is a Village called Fitta Fitta below which there is a great Valley corresponding to the Country about Volisso wherein there is a running Water that drives eight Mills which serves all the Villages about though every Peasant has a Hand-mill in his House wherewith the Women grind the Corn. From thence one goes to Sieronda Sieronda which is a very ancient spacious Tower inhabited by fifty Souls Lecilimiona all Shepherds who have a Church there a little further is the Village of Lecilimiona containing an Hundred and fifty Inhabitants with a Church There begin the Mastick-Trees About two Miles from thence there is a Village called Elata Elata whereof all the Inhabitants are addicted to the taming of Partridges Further on is the Village of Armolia Armolia where all the Earthen Ware that is used in the Island is made it contains about Five hundred Inhabitants and several Churches and lies in a Plain full of Mastick-Trees Over against this Village there is a Castle standing upon a very high Hill and is called Apolieno built by one Nicholas Justiniani in the Year 1440. Apolieno as may be seen upon the Gate of it It is of an Oval Figure with a double Wall and contains Threescore and two Rooms with two Cisterns one of which is Threescore Foot long and Forty Foot broad This Castle is very strong to resist the Corsares and has a Church in the middle of it The Village of Mesta exceeds all the rest in Strength and good Building Mesia it is of a Triangular figure lying in a Plain and containing Three hundred Inhabitants with several Churches About two Miles from thence there is a Harbour called Ayadinamy and another named San Nichita Ayadinamy San Nichita Pirgi this last is nearer the Village of Pirgi than Mesta Pirgi is a great Village with a Tower containing Two thousand Inhabitants and thirty Churches And this being all I had to say of the Villages that are among the Hills I shall now speak of others and first of Calamoty which hath several Churches Calamoty and about Seven hundred Inhabitants but no considerable House Chiny Vessa St. George Flacia Vono Nevita no more than Chiny inhabited by Three hundred People Vessa by Two hundred St. George and Flacia Vono is a great Village with a square Castle it hath about Five hundred Inhabitants and several Churches Over against this Village there is another called Nevita which is very great and hath a very high Tower an hundred Hands broad this place contains Two thousand five hundred Inhabitants and thirty Churches with two Monasteries one of Monks and the other of Nuns Without the Village there is also a Church dedicated to St. Michael the Arch-angel which is mightily crowded with People on that
very stony from Jerusalem to the Plain of Jericho where we arrived and encamped about two in the afternoon We took no care to carry with us Tents Victuals nor any other Necessaries in all that Journey for the Monks made it their business to provide us with Horses Victuals and Tents and to shew us all without paying any thing but for our Horses The Town of Jericho is about a quarter of a league from thence Jericho which formerly was a famous City but at present consists only of thirty or forty Brick-Houses inhabited by Arabs These Houses were all forsaken when we went that way because the Arabs had fled for fear of the Turks that went with us Near to these Habitations we saw the House of Zacheus The House of Zacheus about a quarter of a league from the Camp as I said already and then we returned to the Camp. In the Plain of Jericho Roses of Jericho there are Roses of Jericho as they call them but they have not the vertues as many ascribe to them for they blow not unless they be put into water and then they blow in all seasons and at any hour contrary to the Opinion of those who say That they blow not but in Christmas Night and others on all the Festival Days of our Lady with a great many such idle tales I found of them also in the Desarts of Mount Sinai Next day Tuesday the sixteenth of April we set out about three of the clock in the morning and travelled on still in the Plain till about half an hour after five we came to the River of Jordan which is something deep The River of Jordan and perhaps half as broad as the Scine at Paris it is very rapid and the water of it thick because it passes through fat Land but they say it corrupts not The course of Jordan and I filled a Bottle of it to try the experiment but the Corsairs whom I met with threw it into the Sea this River has its source from two Springs towards Mount Libanus called Jor and Dan which joyned together make Jordan It runs from East to South passes through the Sea of Tiberius and loses it self in that nasty and stinking Lake Asphaltites called the Dead-Sea Lake Asphaltites It is very full of Fish and on both sides beset with little thick and pleasant Woods among which thousands of Nightingales warbling all together make a most pleasant delightful and charming Consort Devotions at Jordan Here our Monks quickly erected an Altar upon which they sayed two Masses at the first of which I received the Sacrament but it was very incommodious for it behoved one besides he that Celebrates to hold the Chalice Veil c. Lest the Wind which blew high might overturn and carry them away and another to hide the Tapers lest they should be blown out During that time all the Greeks Cophtes Armenians c. Performed their Devotions also most part go into the Water stark-naked especially the Men and the Women in their Smocks they had of the Water of Jordan poured upon their Heads in memory of our Lords Baptism and washed their Linen in it carrying away Jarrs and Bottles full of Water with Mud and Earth which they took up by the River side not forgetting Sticks which they cut in the adjoining Woods and all to be kept as Relicks This River is rendred Illustrious by many Miracles as having stopt its course to let the Children of Israel pass over The Prophet Elisha passed it over dry-shod upon his Masters Cloak c. I was very desirous we might have gone afterwards to the Dead-Sea but the Turks would not and therefore I shall here relate what I have learn'd of it from those that have been there The Dead-Sea It was in this Sea that the five Cities of the Plain Sodom and Gomorrah c. Were swallowed up The water of it is very clear but extreamly Salt and in some places of it they find Salt as resplendant as Cristial It bears up all who wash in it though they move neither Hand nor Foot as many have found by Experience But I do not at all believe what some say that it bears up only Live things and lets things Inanimate sink to the Bottom nay that if a lighted Candle be plunged into it it will float above But if put out it will sink to the bottom There is no sort of Fish in this Sea by reason of the extraordinary saltness of it which burns like Fire when one tastes of it and when the Fish of the Water Jordan come down so low they return back again against the Stream and such as are carried into it by the Current of the Water dead- The extent of the Dead-Sea immediately Die. This Sea is an hundred miles in length and twenty five over The Land within three Leagues round it is not Cultivated but is white and mingled with Salt and Ashes They say that there are Apple-Trees upon the sides of this Sea which bear very lovely Fruit but within are all full of Ashes In short we must think that there is a heavy Curse of God upon that place seeing it was heretofore so pleasant a Countrey There are many Camels load of Bitumen daily got out of this Lake Return from Jordan Having no liberty then to go see that Sea we parted from the River of Jordan about seven a clock in the Morning and returned back the same way as we came about nine a clock the Musellem who as I said commanded the Convoy halted in the middle of the Plain of Jericho and went into a Tent which was purposely pitched for him then he caused all the Latin Monks to pass by before him The Musellem numbers the Pilgrims who were numbered Then we who were secular Pilgrims passed by also and the Musellem ordered us to be set down eight though we were but six and though the Trucheman said that there was but six of us and offered to make us pass by him again yet nothing would be abated which was an Avanie of twenty Piastres for the Monks An avanie for the Pilgrims Franks for every Secular Frank payes ten Piastres but they pay it in the City because the Convent answers for them after we had been thus mustered we went and Encamped in the same place where we did the day before and having taken some refreshment we went to the Mount of the Quarantine The Mount of forty days Fasting ar forty days Fast not far from thence while the Musellem mustered the rest of the Christians who payed down in ready Money four Bokels and twenty Maidins a Head though the years before they payed no more but three Bokels We parted from the Camp about ten a Clock in the Morning then went to the Mount of Fasting a League distant from the Town of Jericho it is so called because our Lord when he came out of Jordan spent forty days
It is a Town at present almost desolate We lodged in the Convent which is commodious and neat enough being new built for it is but about forty Years since that place came into the hands of the Monks of the Holy Land being given them by the Emir Farir Eddin Thursday the ninth of May we went into the Church where we heard Mass and said our Prayers The place of the Annunciation this Church is on the same place where the Angel Gabriel Annunciated the Mystery of the Incarnation to the Virgin Mary when she was at Prayers so that that Grott was her Oratory you go down to it by seven or eight steps in the Court and by more in the Convent There are two lovely Pillars of greyish Stone in it which were put there by St. Helen one at the very place as they say where the Virgin was when she received that Heavenly Message and the other at the place where the Angel appeared from the lower part of that where the Virgin was there is about two Foot broken off by the Turks so that the rest hangs as it were in the Air sticking to the Vault to which the Capital of it is fastned The Chamber of the Virgin. Even with this Grott is the place of the Virgins Chamber which was by Angels Transported to Loretto so that there are two Nefs one of the Grott and another of the Chamber in the space whereof there is another Rebuilt exactly like that of Loretto It is thirteen paces long and four broad the Chamber and Grott together being also thirteen paces in length We went out of Nazareth the same day May the ninth about three in the Afternoon to go visit the holy places about it And in the first place about three quarters of a League South from Nazareth we saw a great Hill called the Precipice The Precipice which is the place where the Jews would have thrown our Saviour down headlong but He rendering himself invisible to them retreated as they say into a little Cell that looks like a large and deep Nich this Nich is about the middle of the Precipice and heretofore the prints of his Body were to be seen in it In this Nich there is an Altar on which sometimes they say Mass and the ruines of a Chappel still to be seen by it From the top of that Precipice you may see the Town of Naim where our Lord raised the Widows Son from the Dead it lies at the foot of the Hill called Hermon Hermon mentioned in the Psalms Betwixt the Precipice and Nazareth there are some ruines of a Nunnery Our Lady of fear where there was a Church dedicated to our Lady of Fear because they say the holy Virgin following our Lord whom the Jews led to precipitate him and being afraid they might put him to death as she was going fell down in this place and her Knee is very well marked in the Rock The Monks say that they caused a piece of the Rock to be cut off that they might have carried away that Impression but that after they had gone a few steps they could not carry it away Then upon a little Mount about six hundred paces from the Convent they shewed us a great Stone Our Saviour's Table St. Peter's Well called our Lord's Table because they have it by Tradition that our Saviour eat many times upon it with his Apostles Close by it is the Fountain called St. Peter's Well because our Lord returning back to the Town with his Apostles and St. Peter being dry our Saviour made that Well to spring out and the Water is very good After that we entered into the Town which is close by and about five a Clock at Night came to the Convent CHAP. LV. Of the House of the Cananean the Mount of Beatitudes the Mount of the two Fishes and five Loaves the Sea of Tiberias of Mount Tabor and other holy Places NEXT day being Friday the Tenth of May we parted from Nazareth about five a Clock in the Morning and a little after found the Fountain where the Blessed Virgin used to draw Water The Tomb of Jonas and there are some steps to go down to it Then on the left hand we saw the Tomb of Jonas to whom the Turks bear great respect as they do to all the Prophets We saw a print of his Foot on the Rock the same Foot being marked on four places of the Rock at some paces distance from one another We came next to the Well where the Water was drawn which our Lord turned into Wine at the Marriage of Cana. In the Sacristie of the Church of the Eleven Thousand Virgins at Cologne I saw one of the Pots wherein our Saviour wrought that Miracle changing the Water that was in it into so good Wine that the Guests who had not seen the Miracle wrought complained to the Master of the Feast that he brought forth the good Wine last seeing it was the custom to give the good Wine first and the bad last then we went into the House where our Lord wrought this Miracle St. Helen built there a Church with a little Convent where some Monks lived it is still standing but the Moors have changed it into a Mosque however we entred into it Having seen that place we Travelled a pretty while in the Plain where the Apostles pluck'd the Ears of Corn and rubbed them in their hands on the Sabbath-Day The Sea of Galilee Bethulia then from a little height we discovered the Sea of Galilee from whence we also saw Bethulia where Judith killed Holofernes We saw also from that place pretty near the said Sea the top of Mount Libanus all white with Snow and about Ten in the morning we came to the Mount of Beatitudes so called The Mount of Beatitudes because it is the place where our Saviour made to his Apostles the Sermon of Beatitudes we went up to it and after we had heard the Gospel on that subject read by one of our Monks we came down again and continued our Journey The place and stone upon which our Lord blessed the two fishes and five loaves Tiberias and half an Hour after we came to the place where our Lord fed Five thousand men with two Fishes and five Loaves and twelve Baskets full of Fragments remained Having the Gospel read to us we eat in that place upon a Stone upon which they say he blessed the said Fishes and Loaves from thence we went to the Town of Tiberias which is upon the side of the Sea of Tiberias having been restored by Herod and named Tiberias from the name of the Emperour Tiberius We got there about Noon its Ruines and old Demolished Walls demonstrate it to have been a very large place The Walls of it having been ruined a Jewish Widow afterwards built new ones in form of a Fort with its Courtines and Jews lived there until about fifteen Years ago that the
Tyrannie of the Turks made them abandon it Among the ruines of the Town and even within the Precincts of it a great many Palm-Trees grow within this last Precinct there is a Castle upon the Sea-side which seems to have been a strong place A hundred paces from thence within the said Precinct we saw a Church five and twenty paces in length and fifteen broad dedicated to St. Peter which is still entire They say that St. Helen caused it to be built in the place where our Lord said to St. Peter Mat. c. 16. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church c. There we had that Gospel read to us Others say it is the place where our Lord eat Fish with his Apostles after his Resurrection when He appeared unto them upon the side of this Sea. We Dined in that place and then washed our selves in the Lake the Water whereof is fresh very good to Drink and full of Fish It is about twelve or fifteen Miles long and five or six over It was heretofore called the Sea of Galilee Lake of Genezareth Capernaum Mat. 9. Mat. 8. John 4. or Lake of Genezareth From thence on the left hand upon the side of that Sea we saw the ruines of the Town of Capernaum where St. Matthew left the Custom-House to follow our Lord and where our Saviour Cured the Centurion's Servant and the Son of the Nobleman and raised a Maid from the Dead About an hundred paces from the Precinct of the Town of Tiberias close by the Sea-side there is a natural Bath of hot Waters to which they go down by some steps The ancient Walls of Tiberias reached as far as this Bath We parted from Tiberias about two in the Afternoon and about seven a Clock at Night arrived at a Village called Sabbato near to which we lay abroad in the open Fields Aain Ettudgiar for our Monks would by no means have us to Lodge at the usual place which is at the Castle called Aain Ettudgiar that is to say the Merchants Well as being afraid of some Avanie Next day Saturday the eleventh of May we left that bad Inn about five a Clock in the Morning and half an hour after came to a Castle called Eunegiar which is square having a Tower at each Corner close by it there is a Han which appears to be pretty enough The place where Joseph was sold and is also square It was at this Castle as they say that Joseph was by his Brethren sold to an Ishmaelite Merchant the Pit or Well whereunto they had put him first is still to be seen but we went not to it because it was quite out of our Road. This Castle is commanded by a Sous-Basha and there we payed a Piastre of Caffare a piece of which one half goes to the Sous-Basha and the other to the Arabs From thence we went towards Mount Tabor Mount Tabor or Gabeltour by the Arabs called Gebeltour and came an hour after to the foot of it where alighting from our Horses though one may ride up on Horse-back as some of our Company did we got up to the top about nine a Clock It is easie to be mounted seeing one may go up on Horse-back but it is also very high being almost half a League from the bottom to the top Having taken a little breath we entred by a low Door into a little Grott where we found on the left hand a Chappel built in memory of the place where our Lord was Transfigured and of what St. Peter said It is good for us to be here let us make three Tabernacles c. This Chappel is made up of four Arches cross-ways one of them is the entry of the Chappel that which is opposite to it is the place where our Lord was when he was Transfigured that which is on the right hand of it but on the left hand of those that enter into the Chappel is the place where Moses was because in holy Scripture Moses is mentioned before Elias The fourth which is over against that of Moses is the place where Elias was and a Monk read to us there the Gospel of the Transfiguration Near to this place there is a little Plain and a Cistern of excellent Water This Mount is shaped like a Sugar-Loaf and is covered all over with Trees for most part hard Oaks After we had eaten in that place we came down about ten a Clock in the Morning and took our way towards the Convent of Nazareth where we arrived about one of the Clock In the Evening we went to see the House and Shop of St. Joseph very near to the Convent there is an old ruinous building there which appears to have been a Church wherein were three Altars The House and Shop of St. Joseph built by St. Helen and a few steps farther we saw the Synagogue where our Lord taught the Jews when they had a mind to precipitate him CHAP. LVI The way by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth ONE may Travel by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth The way by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth and besides avoiding the dangers that offer by Sea see a great many other curious places but as I have already said the Arabs exact such unreasonable Caffares upon the Road that few go that way at present however I shall set it down in this Place Parting from Jerusalem after Dinner you come to Lodge at Elbir Elbir there there is a very curious Village standing upon a height and Inhabited by a few People There is also a Church half ruined which was heretofore a fair Fabrick The Walls that yet stand are of great Flints They say that this was the place where the blessed Virgin lost her dear Son Jesus and therefore returned to Jerusalem where she found him in the Temple Disputing with the Doctors Next day you Lodge at Naplouse Travelling all the way over Hills and Dales Naplouse which are nevertheless Fruitful and in many places bear plenty of Olive-Trees Naplouse is the Town which in holy Scripture is called Sichim Sichem near to which Jacob and his Family most frequently Lived it stands partly on the side and partly at the foot of a Hill. The Soil about it is fertile and yields Olives in abundance The Gardens are full of Orange and Citron-Trees watered by a River and sundry Brooks About one hundred paces from the Town towards the East there is a spring under a Vault which discharges its water into a reservatory of one entire piece of Marble ten spans long five broad and as much in height in the front there are some Foliages and Roses cut in Relief upon the Marble About half a quarter of a League from thence upon the Road from Jerusalem is the Well of the Samaritan The Well of the Samaritane as the Christians of the Country say who keep it covered with great Stones least the Turks should fill it up
Prayers of the Hermites who at that time lived by it and chiefly of St. Macharius because the Pirats of that Sea much infested them Bahr el Malame it is called Bahr el Malame that is to say Mare Convicii There you may find a great many petrifications of Wood and some Bones converted into Stone which are pretty curious On the side of that Sea to the West The Mountain of Eagles Stones Dgebel el Masque is the Mountain of Eagles Stones called Dgebel el Masque where digging in the Earth and especially in time of heat and drought they find several Eagles Stones of different bigness so called because the Eagles carry them to their Nests to preserve their young ones from Serpents they have many Vertues and the Monks say that there are commonly many Eagles to be seen there You must make as short a stay there as you can for fear of the Arabs From the Mountain of Eagles Stones you go making a Triangle to the fourth Monastery and all the Journey from Ambabichoye to this Monastery Dir el Saydet is performed in one day This Monastery is called Dir el Saydet that is to say the Monastery of our Lady it is very spacious but a little ruinous It hath a fair Church and Garden but the Water is brackish and nevertheless there are more Monks in this Monastery than in the other three because the Revenue of it is greater and they have some Relicks also From this Monastery you go to the Lake of Natron Birquet el Natroun called Birquet el Natroun only two Leagues distant from it this Lake is worth ones Curiosity to see and it looks like a large Pond frozen over upon the Ice whereof a little Snow had fallen It is divided into two the more Northern is made by a Spring that rises out of the Ground though the place of it cannot be observed and the Southern proceeds from a great bubbling Spring the Water being at least a Knee deep which immediately as it springs out of the Earth congeals and makes as it were great pieces of Ice and generally the Natron is made and perfected in a Year by that Water which is reddish There is a red Salt upon it six or seven Fingers thick Natron then a black Natron which is made use of in Aegypt for Lye and last is the Natron much like the first Salt but more solid Higher up there is a little Well of Fresh-water which is called Aain el Goz and a great many Camels come dayly to the Lake to be loaded with that Natron From this Lake you go to another where there is Salt at Whitsontide made in form of a Pyramide Pyramidal Salt. Melhel Mactaoum and therefore is called Pyramidal Salt and in Arabick Melh el Mactaoum From the said Lake you return and Lodge in one of the Monasteries and next day come back to the Nile where you must stay for a passage to Caire or Rossetto if you have not retained the Boat that brought you CHAP. LXXII Of Aegypt the Nile Crocodiles and Sea-Horses AEGypt called by the Hebrews Mis Raim Aegypt Masr and by the Arabs at present Masr and in Turkish Misr is bounded on the East by the Red Sea and the Desarts of Arabia on the South by the Kingdoms of Bugia and Nubia The borders of Aegypt on the West by the Desarts of Lybia and on the North by the Mediterranean Sea. This Country lies so low that the Land cannot be seen till one be just upon it and therefore those that sail to it ought to be upon their Guard. Aegypt has no Ports on the Mediteranean fit for Ships except Alexandria and the Bouquer which is rather a Road than a Port The course of the Nile in Aegypt The River of Nile runs through the length of it and having its Course from South to North discharges it self into the Mediterranean by two mouths upon the sides of which stand two fair Towns to wit Rossetto to the West and Damiette to the East two miles below which it mingles its Waters with the Sea and by that division makes a Triangular Isle in Aegypt This Triangular Island was by the ancient Greeks called Delta because in Figure it resembles the Character Δ. The Delta of Aegypt One side of that Triangle is beat by the Mediterranean Sea on the North and the other two are bounded by the two branches of the Nile which divide at the point of this Triangle so that the three points or angles of this Triangle are the first at the place where the Nile divides it self into two the second at Rossetto and the third at Damiette The first Angle is at an equal distance from the other two to wit from Rossetto and Damiette and from that Angle it is five or six Leagues to Caire so that the Nile has only those two mouths which are Navigable for great Vessels for though there be some others yet they are no more but Rivulets The breadth of the Nile This River is broader than the broadest part of the Seine but it is not very Rapid unless it be at its Cataracts where it falls from so great a height that as they say the noise of it is heard at a very great distance When it overflows it seems to be a little Sea. The water of it is very thick and muddy but they have an Invention to clarifie it For in that Country An invention for clarifying the water of the Nile they make use of great Vessels of white Earth holding about four Buckets full of Water when they are full of Water they rub the inside of the Vessels with three or four Almonds at most until they be dissolved and in the space of a quarter of an Hour the Water becomes very clear and for that end most of those who bring Water to Houses have a Paste of Almonds wherewith they rub the Vessels as I have said After all this Water is so wholesome that it never does any harm though one drink never so much of it because it comes a great way over Land to wit from Ethiopia So that in so long a course and through so hot a Country the Sun has time to Correct it and cleanse it from all Crudities and indeed it is sweated out as fast as one drinks it In short The number of Villages upon the Banks of the Nile they have no other Water to drink in Aegypt and therefore most of the Cities Towns and Villages are upon the sides of the River and there are so many Villages that you no sooner leave one but you find another and all the Houses in them are built of Earth This River abounds not much in Fish and we had but one good Fish of the Nile at Caire which they call Variole and that is rare too Variole Crocodiles but there are a vast number of Crocodiles in it which perhaps is the cause of the scarcity of the
about it all the while with West-north-west and North-winds Our Mates told us that they were always a long time in doubling that Cape and sometimes spent three Weeks about it About five a Clock in the Evening we Sailed betwixt the Isle of Zimbre and an Isle or Rock that is almost mid-way betwixt the Main-land and Zimbre Zimbre Zimbre is Inhabited has convenient Anchorage by it and good Water in it From Zimbre it is but forty Miles to Goletta Having passed Zimbre we stood off from Land intending not to enter Goletta till next day because of the many Flats that are on that Coast Friday night and Saturday morning the eighth of March we had greater gusts of Wind and Rain than before and if we had not doubled the Cape we must have been a long time still before we could have done it considering the Weather that happened afterward During these storms a Moor on board of us died who had been ill of a Bloody Flux almost ever since the beginning of our Voyage and next morning he was thrown over-board At length on Saturday the eighth of March about seven a Clock in the Morning we came into the Port or rather the Road of Goletta for it is not a Harbour but a Road that lies open to the South east Wind and in all Barbary there are but two good Ports to wit Porto Farina Porto Farina Porto Stera Biserta Vtica and Porto Stera The Harbour for the Galleys of Tunis is Biserta a little Town threescore Miles from Tunis Biserta was formerly called Vtica and here it was that Cato killed himself wherefore he was called Cato Vticensis We came to an Anchor near a Point of Land where the Sepulchre of Dido is The Sepulchre of Dido Marabout and a Marabout or Sheick is Interred there So soon as we had dropt Anchor Don Philippo sent ashoar one of his Men who having informed a poor Moor whom he met that Don Philippo was arrived the poor Man ran with all the speed he could to the Town to carry the news to Don Philippo's Mother who was overjoyed thereat and gave him twenty Crowns for a Reward he was no more expected at Tunis and it was thought he was gone back again into Christendom having been absent almost two Years Sunday the ninth of March we went ashoar and when Don Philippo left the Ship they fired fifteen Guns He found several Men on Horse-back and amongst them all his Brothers who were come out to receive him CHAP. LXXXIX Of Goletta and our Arrival at Tunis Goletta GOletta is no more but two Castles whereof the one was built by the Emperour Charles the fifth and the other by Ahmet Dey the Father of Don Philippo who perceiving that the Galleys of Malta came and took ships in the Road without any damage from the Guns of the Castle built this last which is very low and has seven or eight great Gun-holes two foot above the Water by which the Guns play level with the surface of it This Castle is round on the side next the Sea and that of Charles the fifth is almost square Between these two Castles there are three Houses one belonging to the Family of Don Philippo the other to the Bey and the other to Schelebi the Son of Hisouf Dey who is called barely Schelebi because he was Born during the time his Father Reigned When we had refreshed our selves a little in the House of Don Philippo we took Boat and went to Tunis by the Canal or rather Lake which in the beginning is very narrow there being many Canes fixed all round in the bottom of the Water for catching of Fish afterwards it grows very wide It is not commonly above five span deep in Water then it was very shallow and had many dry places in it which with the least Wind are quickly covered and that very high with Water Don Philippo went by Land with his company mounted on a stately Horse that was brought him The first thing we saw upon that Water was a Hill to the left hand very near the Sea-side where there are natural Baths of Water almost boyling hot There is a Bagnio built there and it is called Hamarmulf Hamarmulf Zagouam then a little further on upon the same side they shewed us a high Hill called Zagouam which is a great way from this Lake and a days Journey distant from Tunis there there is a little Town of Tagarins or Andalaous called also Zagouam When the Christians possessed that Countrey there were Aqueducts that brought Water from thence to the City of Carthage at present they are broken but some Arches with the Fountains and Cisterns still remain to be seen As we came near to Tunis we saw a great many Olive-Trees and abundance of other Trees which denote a good Countrey In four hours time we arrived at Tunis though with a little wind they go it many times in two hours but we were many times imbayed By Land it is eighteen miles from Goletta to Tunis If they pleased they might make a good Port at Tunis but then the Town would not be so strong or at least not so secure From the place where you Land it is a mile still to the Town where being arrived we went to lodge at the House of Monsieur Le Vacher a Perisian Priest and Father of the Mission who was then Consul for the French and he received us very Affectionately CHAP. XC Of the Countrey-Houses and other places that are to be seen about Tunis TWO days after our arrival Don Philippo sent for us to shew us a Countrey-House he had half a League from the Town The Countrey about Tunis is full of these Countrey Houses which are built like the Bastides about Marseilles Don Philippo's is very pretty it is built in form of a square Tower and higher than any about it from the Hall to the top of the Tower there are an hundred and eleven steps up and from thence there is an excellent Prospect which discovers on all hands a lovely Plain reaching out of sight full of Olive-Trees In it there is a great Hall open above with covered Galleries round it which have the Roof supported by several Pillars In the middle of this open place there is a great reservatory of Water which serves for several Water-works All this place is adorned with Marble as also all the Halls and Chambers which are beautified with Gold and Azure and very pleasant Plaister-work there being Fountains every where that play when one pleases One should also see the Bardes which are three Houses built by the Bey for his three Sons a League from Tunis This Bey is as it were the Basha's Farmer to whom he gives so much of the Revenue due to the Grand Signior in the Countrey which he gathers and the rest he keeps to himself He was not at that time Bey but Basha and his eldest Son was Bey In these Houses
So soon as we were on board she made sail with a North-Wind and steered a course South-South-West about six a clock at night the Wind chopped about to North-West Capraia Elbe and we passed betwixt Capraia and the Elbe in the night-time the Wind blew very fresh Monte Christo Corsica Next morning we were got an hundred and fourscore miles from Legorn and saw Monte Christo a great way a-stern of us we coasted along the Island of Corsica and because we were too near Land about ten of the clock in the morning we stood away South-South-East the Wind slackening much All that day we had Sardinia to the Star-board Sardinia but at a pretty good distance In the beginning of the Night the Wind blew a little fresher but far less than the Night before Saturday morning the six and twentieth we had lost sight of Sardinia and being fair before the Wind so that no Sails but the Main and Main-Top-Sails could bear we put out our Stutting Sails About noon the Wind shifted about to the North and two hours after to the North-East and therefore we took in our Stutting Sails and kept on our course South-South-East In the evening the Wind abated so that all night long we were becalmed Maretimo Next day being Sunday we made the Island of Maretimo a-head and about eleven a clock in the morning we stood away South-East about two a clock afternoon we made a Sail a great way off to the Leeward all that day we had a Calm till night when the Wind blew so fresh again that about midnight we past betwixt Maretimo Levanzo Favignane Levanzo and La Favignane leaving the first of these Islands to the Star-board and the other two to the Larboard then we steered away East South-East shortly after the Wind so slackned that we were becalmed Sicily Capo Boco Marsala Munday morning about break of day we were got very near the Land of Sicily to the Wind-ward of Capo Boco over against Marsala it is five hundred miles from Legorn We made still some way in our course East-South-East notwithstanding the Calm which lasted till noon when the Wind blowing fresher we coasted along Sicily pretty near the Shoar about four a clock afternoon the Wind encreasing a little we stood away South-South-East and this fair weather beginning with the New Moon made the Captain repent that he had not passed through the Phare of Messina Phare of Messina which would have saved him fifty miles in his course but then he told me that he durst not venture through so dangerous a passage in the Winter-time when Storms are so frequent and the rather about New Moon when commonly the VVinds change Towards the evening we were becalmed and had a breeze again in the beginning of the night and in that manner the Wind fell and rose several times during the night That day Murenes we took two Murenes or Sea-Eeles which were in the Fisher mens Wells this Fish is dainty Food but the Skin of it is Slimey and is so full of small bones that if one have not a care he may be choaked by them it is shaped like a common Eele and dies so soon as it is out of the Water Tuesday a very fresh East-North-East Wind rose with the Sun and we continued our course South-South-East about ten of the clock in the morning the Wind ceased and left us in a Calm over against Monte Gibello Monte Gibello which we saw so plainly that we could easily perceive it was covered with Snow A little after we made a Ship on head but because it stood in to Shoar we thought they were afraid of us The Calm lasted till night during which we had sometimes Breezes of Wind and sometimes Calms with which we made a little way Wednesday morning we were got in sight of Malta Malta seven hundred miles from Legorn and about two hundred from Sicily which we had not yet lost sight of He that looked out made a Sail towards Malta At first we were in a dead Calm but a little after we had a very great Sea from the West which tossed us sufficiently though there was not a breath of Wind we therefore furled our Sails and that rowling Sea lasted till one of the clock at noon when there arose a gentle North-North-East-Breeze which made us spread our Sails and stand away East-South-East that we might make Candie Candie seven hundred miles from Malta That Wind lasted not above an hour so that we were becalmed till about eleven a clock at night when we had a stiff North Gale with which we still continued our course East-South East That fresh Gale lasted all Thursday till night and then we had a strong gust of Wind with some Rain when that was over we had fair weather the Sea becoming Calm in a moment though before the Rain it was exceeding rough but half an hour after the weather and Sea began to grow rougher than before and then Calmed again which happened twice that night During these gusts the Sea was so rough that it was not possible to stand upright in any place of the Ship so strangely was she tossed because of a rowling Sea that came upon us on poop and on both sides the roughness of the Sea in poop was occasioned by the violence of the Wind and on the Star-board by the currents of the Gulf of Venice off of which we were Gulf of Venice and nevertheless we made betwixt eight and ten miles an hour About midnight it blew fresh from North-West with which we bore away East and by South that we might not stand too far off of the Gozo of Candie That Wind lasted all Friday the first of February Gozo of Candie about night we had smoother Water the Sea on poop only remaining which with the Wind that shifted about to the West and blew fresh made us run above twelve miles an hour but about ten a clock at night we had a swelling Sea again which made us rowl all night long Next day we were troubled with the same weather and strong gusts of Wind by fits About night since we had not made the Land of Candie as we expected by reason of the cloudy dark day it was consulted what course we should steer every one brought forth his observations and all agreed in general that our course was to the Windward of the Gozo of Candie but because one amongst them according to his account set off our course betwixt Candie and the Gozo though it was known he was in a mistake seeing according to his own account we must then have been very near and almost upon the said Gozo nevertheless for greater security it was thought fit to spare Sail and therefore all the Sails except the fore-Sail were furled and the Ships head turned due East-South-East least we might run too near the Shoar the Watch looking out sharp all night
covering a great pent-house which was made of sticks or laths laid cross ways and two Stores over them upon which they spread a very thin lay of this lime smoothing it with the Trowel Then they put upon this lay three fingers thick of Earth mingled with Straw and wrought into a morter In this which I saw prepared there were four and twenty Ass loads and four men prepared it They were near eleven hours about it and made it up into five Wells or Heaps which remained so for two days before they were used The greatest use they make of this lime mingled with Ashes and Straw Lime for fish Ponds Basons and Fountains is for Fish-ponds Basons of Fountains and other things that are to hold water When that Stuff is well made it lasts above thirty years and is harder than Stone In whitening of their Walls they use no lime but make use of a white Earth which is in small pieces like plaister and immediately dissolves in water This Earth they call Ghilsefid Ghilsefid that 's to say white Earth they dig it out of certain Pits or Quarries of which there are many about Ispahan As to their morter it is usually made of plaister The making of Morter earth and chopped straw all well wrought and incorporated together At Schiras to spare the charges of Ghilsefid they sometimes make use of plaister for whitening their Walls but they have not that bright whiteness which Ghilsefid giveth They cast their Walls pretty often also with a mixture made of Plaister and Earth which they call Zerdghil Zerdghil that 's to say yellow Earth though in reality it be not yellow but rather of a Musk or Cinnamon colour they get it on the River-side and work it in a great Earthen Vessel but they put so little earth in proportion to water that it remains liquid like muddy water or at most like strained Juice and it is altogether of the Colour of that Earth they make use of it to work the Plaister in another Earthen Vessel where they mingle this water with plaister in such a quantity that it be reduced to the thickness of morter which retains the colour of that Earth With this mixture they cast their Walls which at first look all greyish but according as they dry they grow so white that when they are fully dry they seem almost as if they were plaistered over with pure plaister This mixture is used not onely for saving of plaister but also because it holds better than plaister alone and in my opinion looks as well For making of Terrasses they lay as I have said upon the Stores and reeds almost half a foot thick of Earth The way of making Terrasses but which sinks to far less being trampled and tread upon when it is well dried in the Air they lay on more Earth mingled with a like quantity of Straw which they work well together stirring it often that they may better incorporate the Straw with the Earth And when that is well mixt and reduced to the consistence of kennel-dirt they trample it a long while with their feet and spread it very even all over This second lay is commonly about half a foot thick also but being dry is hardly half so thick when it is dry they lay on a third lay like the former so that all being dry it may be about a foot thick All this is held up by a range of broad burnt Bricks or Tiles which is laid all round the Terrass five or six high and level with the Earth in some places they make a little shelving that the rain-Water may run off into wooden Spouts which jet out for conveying it away In this manner I saw two Terrasses made which had in surface each about a fathom and a half square when they laid on the second lay two men wrought at each about an hours time stirring the Earth with shovels and incorporating it with the Straw whilst another man continually poured water upon it the last lay requires the same labour and pains At Schiras Lar and in other hot Countries they have upon the tops of their Houses an invention for catching the fresh Air An invention for having the fresh Air. It is a Wall one or two fathom high and about the same breadth to which at the intervals of about three foot other Walls about three foot broad and as high as the great Wall joyn in right Angles there are several of such on each side of the great Wall and all together support a Roof that covers them The effect of this is that from whatsoever corner the Wind blows it is straitned betwixt three Walls and the Roof over head and so easily descends into the house below by a hole that is made for it CHAP. VI. A Sequel of the Observations of Ispahan Of ARTS LET us go on in speaking of Arts and Trades Artists of Persia since we are insensibly engaged in it The Artists in Persia and all over the Levant use their Feet in working as much as their hands for their Feet serve them for a Loom hold fast and several other Instruments An imposition upon the companies of traydesmen Every Company of crafts men pays the King a certain Summ of Money which is raised upon all the Artists of the several Trades every one of them being assessed according to his incomes They have no Loom for turning as we have but put that which they have a mind to turn upon a Pivot or Spindle and wrap about it a thong of Leather leaving two ends A Boy holds the two ends of this strap and pulls towards him The way of turning wood sometimes the one and sometimes the other and in that fashion makes the piece to turn whilst the other labours whereas with us a single Person does all The use of the wimble Nor are the Wimbles of Carpenters and Joyners so convenient as with us neither They have a long Iron as thick as two of our Wimbles but square and flat at the end like a slice or Spatula yet drawing into a point with a side and edge which way soever they turn it This Iron is in a wooden handle about a foot long and above an inch thick with a weight of lead on the top with that they have a stick with a strap of Leather like a bow but very slack they turn the strap of this bow once about the handle of the Wimble and then leaning the left hand upon the head of the handle and pulling to and fro the bow with the right hand they turn the Wimble They have a most excellent Varnish for Painters Varnish it is made of Sandarack and lintseed Oyl which they mingle together and reduce all into the consistence of an Unguent when they would make use of it they dissolve it with the Oyl of Naphta but for want of the Oyl of Naphta one may use the Spirit of Wine many times
Adjoyning to this Kervanseray there is another very little one through which the same water runs and a little farther there is a third which is bigger but somewhat ruinous This place is five Agatsch from Hhormont We parted from thence Monday the sixth of April half an hour after Midnight at first for above an hour we had very bad stony way but it proved pretty good afterward about two in the Morning we passed by a little covered Kervanseray called Berkei Dobend and about four a Clock by another called Dgei Hhon Berkei Dobend Dgei Hhon at break of day we entered into bad way again where we clambered up and down for above an hour among stones and then we found the way better till we came to a covered Kervanseray called Kor Bazirghion Kor Bazirghion that is to say the Merchants Ditch where we arrived about eight a Clock This Kervanseray is of the same bigness as the other where we Lodged the day before it is built much after the same manner having in each Corner three Chambers of which the one which is on the inside is open by Arches on two sides and the other two have their Door without the Kervanseray this place is five Agatsch from Tengbidalan We parted from thence about half an hour after one a Clock in the Morning during a large quarter of an hour we had bad stony way and about half an hour after five we passed by a little covered Kervanseray Berkei Soltouni called Berkei Soltouni about three quarters of an hour after seven we came to such another near to a great Village called Coureston Coureston four Agatsch from Kor Bazirghion we left the Caravan at this place because our Carriers took Camels to finish the Journy with and resolved to Travel only by day and to be four days longer by the way I therefore took a Camel to carry my man and baggage and a guide to shew us the way which from thence to Bender is so difficult that he who hath Travelled it fifty times may lose himself there in so that it is absolutely necessary to take a man of the Country if one would not wander out of the way We parted about eleven a Clock at Night and presently entered into a great sandy Plain which nevertheless is peopled and hath a great many Villages that are to be seen here and there this is occasioned by the abundance of Palm-Trees that this Country is full of the Soil being proper for them though very barren for any thing else About an hour after Midnight we passed by a little covered Kervanseray Dobrike called Dobrike which is an Agatsch and a half from Coureston and a little after we passed over an Aqueduct which is level with the Ground and called Pariabzahed Aly Pariabzahed Aly. this Aqueduct brings water from a Spring at the Foot of the Hills that are to the Left Hand towards the North in digging it was discovered and the water of it is very good Betwixt three and four of the Clock we went over a very high and fair Bridge above three Fathom broad and betwixt seven and eight hundred common Paces long it is well Paved and has a side-Wall on each side about a Foot and a half high under this Bridge runs a River above nine or ten Fathom broad which is heard at a great distance by reason of the noise it makes in its course there is no drinking of the water of it for it is Salt and it discharges it self into the Sea about six hundred Paces from thence Rohhouna The name of that River is Rohhouna that is to say the running River and that is the name they give to all great Rivers it comes from Kermont Pouli Seugh the name of the Bridge is Pouli Seugh that is to say Stone-Bridge or otherwise Pouli Coreston before this River comes to the Bridge it runs by the Foot of the Hills on the Left Hand Northwards and there it begins to be Salt when it comes to this Bridge which indeed is only upon the side of it finding it so runs along the side of it and discharges but part of its water underneath in passing which running under the Arches and finding the Ground lower on the other side of the Bridge falls with great impetuosity and that makes the rumbling noise that is heard at such a distance the rest of the water running along by the Bridge turns afterwards towards the South and loses it self in the Sea. Being over the Bridge we went a long a Causey above two Fathom broad and all Paved about a thousand Paces in length which hath a good Parapet or Breast-Wall about a Foot and a half high Wednesday the eighth of April about six of the Clock in the Morning we came to a covered Kervanseray called Ghetschi Ghetschi six Agatsch from Coureston There is another besides close by which is not covered but like the rest in all things else and a little ruinous There were several Tents of black Goats hair thereabout and as soon as we arrived a great many Women and Girls came out of them to visit us they were cloathed with blew streakâ—d Drawers and a blew Shirt over them their Noses Ears Arms and Feet were full of Silver Copper Bone or Glass-Rings every one of them held an Earthen Porringer full of Yogourt or Sower Milk and a little Vessel full of the same under their Arms and to invite us to buy some of them in our presence dabbed four Fingers and a Thumb into their Budgets and pulled out Butter full of Straws which they mingled with the Milk that was in their Porringers and then poured out more Sower Milk out of the same Borrachy their Husbands are all Fishermen and both men and women are Inhabitants fit for such a Country We parted from that place the same day half an hour after six in the Evening and continued our Journy along the sandy Plain about eight a Clock we passed a narrow streight betwixt little Hills and having kept turning about half a quarter of an hour we found two ways the one to the Left Hand over a pretty high Hill and the other to the Right which hardly appeared we followed this last leaving that to the Left Hand which is very dangerous if we may believe the people of the Country for they would needs persuade us that on that Hill there were Dgius who killed all Passengers by that word Dgius they understand evil Spirits Dgius which they say are of a middle Nature betwixt Angels and Men. This imagination then they have and give it out for a very certan thing that in that Hill there is a Tlisim or Charm by vertue whereof the Dgius prevail Tlisim and that they make Cauldrons there the sound whereof may be heard for they all agree that some men have been there and come safe back again who related all these things but they say that none but such
are very well worth the pains of Reading by those who had rather trust to my relation than to go and see them themselves For my part I had pleasure enough in seeing them and Monsieur Doliere was with me he came from France with Monsieur Tavernier as far as Bender from whence we came back together to Schiras he with design to return to France and I to shift elsewhere and go on to the Indies I could have wished not to have left him so soon for he is an honest man and very pleasant Company To see those Antiquities so much Celebrated amongst the Curious being out of the Town of Schiras you must go streight South-East keeping the way that leads to the Lake where the Salt is made that is used in those Quarters Having Travelled on an Agatsch and a half you see to the Left Hand a Hill A Lake where Salt is made at Schiras which is almost opposite to a Village standing in the middle of the Plain you must go up to the top of that Hill and there you see the ruins of a curious Temple That place is square and in the middle of the Face that looks to the North-West Antiquity and ruins of a fair Temple a League and a half from Schiras there is a great Gate another in the middle of the side that looks to the South-East and a third in the middle of the Face that looks to the North-East there is none to be seen on the opposite side nor any sign that there has ever been any there the Jams of these Gates are each of one piece of a dark grey and very hard stone and are at least ten Foot high and somewhat more than two Foot and a half broad the Lintel and Threshold are of the same and contain about four Foot in length so that these Gates or Doors are about some ten Foot high and four Foot wide On each side of the Gate there is a Figure cut in relief as big as the life the one resembles a man holding on his Arm a kind of Manipule as Priests do when they are Cloathed for saying of Mass only with this difference that it is no broader at the ends than in the middle in the other Hand he holds a thing like a Bowl or a Heart out of which mounts up a flame The opposite Figure seems to be of a woman holding in one Hand a kind of Holy-water-pot and we could not devise what it was she held in the other it being so broken and cut with a Chizzel unless it be a Candlestick and Candle or rather a Holy-water-sprinkle There are also two Figures at each Gate which have the same postures as these or at least there is but very little difference the Heads of all these Figures have been knocked off This square is about seven Fathom long towards the middle there is a little Stone-Fat of an Oblong square with a hole in the bottom to let out the water It is probable that the Walls were all of the same stone as the Doors are because from the Door that looks to the North-East to that which faces the South-East there stands a Range still which is of the very same the rest lies under ruins or is taken away and on one of these stones that remain near the South-East-Gate there are six Figures in Bass relief but very little raised which are somewhat more than a Foot high they represent men upright and following one another at equal distances in the same manner as if they were going in Procession In one Hand they hold either a Torch or a Pike I cannot tell which for they are so spoilt that hardly any thing is to be discerned On the other side of the same Door a little towards the South there is another stone with the like Figures The people of the Country call that place Mesdgidi Mader Soliman Mesdgidi Mader Soliman that is to say the Mosque of the Mother of Soliman but can give no reason for it The Mahometans in and about Schiras go and pray in that Temple the day of the little Bairam or Courban Bairami that is to say the day of their Easter of Sacrifices In fine these Antiquities are little preludes to those of Tschehel-minar I had a man who said plaisantly that the place where they are ought to be called the little Brother of Tschehel-minar Having considered it you are to go down the other side of the Hill opposite to that by which they come up and continue your way South-East a few steps off you see to the Right Hand a Spring that runs at the Foot of the Hill and makes a little Bog shaded over by many high and great Trees which render this place very pleasant a little further you see to the Right Hand a Thicket or small Wood all of Rose-Trees which yield a very lovely prospect when they are in the Flower as I saw them You must then leave the High-way which leads to the Salt-Lake and draw near the Hills that are to the Left Hand and but very little distant from the Road and having kept going a good quarter of an hour more you come to a very delightful place for there you have a great many clear Springs full of Fish that glide under the shade of a great many Planes Ash-Trees and Willows which so extend their Boughs that at Noon day they cover you from the Sun and there you may delightfully spend the whole day in the cool When you are come into this charming place you must alight from your Horse and pass over a little water close by the Hill upon stepping stones that are there in great quantity and in a place where the Hill bending makes a kind of Semicircle you see at two Fathoms height The Antiquity of Kademghah Two Figures in a Rock The Figure of a Woman two Figures of the ordinary bigness in Relief cut in the natural Rock these Figures are somewhat hid by a Fig-Tree which hath taken Root at the Foot of the Rock but it is easie to get up betwixt the Rock and the Fig-Tree and to consider them at nearer distance The first of these seems to be the Figure of a Woman with a naked Body unless towards the Legs where one may perceive some folds of a Gown behind her Head there is a kind of Crown of Rayes cut in the Rock she stretches out both her Hands to the neighbouring Figure as to receive something that it presents to her that neighbouring Figure represents a Man with a long Beard The Figure of a Man. and his Hair made up into Tresses behind his Head-attire seems to be much like a Swisses Cap for it sets close to his Head covers all his Brow and is broader above than below there is this difference that it rises round instead of being flat on the Crown he hath a Girdle and a Sword hanging at his Left side which is above two Foot and a half long
made himself Master of Dgezire Besides that the Basha of Bassora holds in Arabia Foelix the Port El-Catif El-Catif Lehhsa and the Town of Lehhsa which formerly belonged to a Basha Tributary also to the Grand Seignior but twelve years since he took the Port Catif and since that having a mind also to Lehhsa he sent thither an Arab Scheik with many Arabs at whose approach the Basha of Lehhsa fled leaving them a free entry into that Town which they plundered but afterwards the Arab Scheik slighted the Basha of Bassora saying that he had not taken that Town for him but for himself and recalled the Basha of Lehhsa to whom he delivered back the Town in consideration of a sum of mony which that Basha paid him In fine last year one thousand six hundred sixty and four the Basha of Bassora finding the Grand Signior engaged in a War with the Emperour and thinking that the War would be of long continuance in the month of November put on Shipboard an Army which The Basha makes War. as I was assured consisted not of above five or six thousand Men with some Cannon though the News flew into all places that they were seven or eight times so many This Army having Landed at Port Catif and marched from thence to Lehhsa which is but three days Journy distant they presently made themselves Masters of it without any resistance the Basha of Lehhsa being upon their approach fled to Constantinople where he made his complaints to the Grand Signior who presently thereupon ordered the Bashas of Aleppo Orfa Diarbeck Mosul Bagdad and some others to the number of eight to joyn and restore the Basha of Lehhsa to his Government and turn the Basha of Bassora out of all This Basha was not daunted for all that but making a shew as if he intended to be upon his defence and indeed putting himself in a posture to do so he fortified Lehhsa sending thither a great deal of Artillery whilst on the other Hand he sent to the Port to inform the Grand Signior that he ought not to concern himself in his Conquest because he was ready to pay him for his new acquisitions the same Tribute that he formerly received It is certain that if the Turk had not made Peace with the Emperour so soon this Basha would have carried his Conquests farther on thinking of nothing less than to have made himself Master of Mascat Now though this State of Lehhsa comprehend no more but the two Towns Catif and Lehhsa it is nevertheless very considerable and of great extent having a great many good Villages but the principal Riches of that Country consists in the the Traffick of Indian Commodities which are Transported from Mascat to Port Catif from whence they come to Lehhsa Indian Commodities at Mascat and thence are dispersed all over Arabia Foelix and chiefly at Mecha where they sell very well when the Caravans come from all Parts to perform their Devotions there Port Catif is on the main Land in Arabia Foelix over against the Isle of Bahrin by corruption called Bahrem which is only seven Leagues distant from it Catif The Isle of Bahrem though it belong not to the Turk being under the Dominion of the King of Persia This Island is very famous for the Fishing of Pearls there in the months of June July August and September It must needs be great if one may judge of it by the great number of Barks that are employed therein which amount to two or three thousand In the Isle of Bahrin there is a Town and a Fort distant from it a large League and a half Though there be good water in that Town yet the Fishermen take not in fresh water there they find it more commodious to draw it out of the bottom of the Sea Three Springs of fresh water in the Sea. where there are three Springs of good water yet not all in one place but here and there and all above two Leagues distant from the Town Signor Emanuel Mendez Henriquez Agent for the King of Portugal at Congo hath often told me the way how they draw this water which is thus An extraordinary way of drawing fresh water out of the bottom of the Sea. The Barks go near to the place where the Springs are which they know by the bearing of the Island at high water there is two Fathom water in those places but when the Sea is out they have not above three Foot water and many times they are on dry Ground for Bahrem is encompassed with Banks of Sand that run out a great way where there are such flats that Vessels cannot pass them but amongst these Banks there are deep Channels which the Vessels keep and whatsoever storm may blow at Sea the Vessels that are in these Channels are safe and secure When these Barks are come near the Wells they stay till low water and then they plant two Oars in the Sand one on each side of the Well where they intend to water at then they strain a Rope under water from one Oar to the other We must know that upon every one of these Wells the Arabs have always the half of a Jarr to wit the upper half where the mouth is which may be called an Earthen Pipe they put the wider end upon the mouth of the Spring and thrust it down above four inches in the Sand they dawb it besides all round with Plaster and Bitumen that the Salt water may not get in when these half Jars break or are worn out they take care to put another in the place of them after that the Fishermen then have planted the Oars and fastened the Rope a Man goes down into the Sea with a Borrachio stopt and Diving down his Head puts himself under the strained Rope that so the force of the fresh water that gushes out of the Jarr may not raise him up again for it gushes out with great impetuosity and then he claps the mouth of his Borrachio to the mouth of the Jarr which being narrow and opened is immediatly filled with fresh water when it is full he he stops it again and brings it up to the Bark where he empties his fresh water and then goes down again for more till the Bark be supplied This Portuguese Gentleman told me that it was very easie to be done and that he himself had been so curious as to go and fill a Borrachio there Now I am speaking of Bahrem The way of Fishing for Pearls I will here relate the manner of the Pearl Fishing as the same Emanuel Mendez Henriquez who hath been at it told me This Fishing begins about the end of June and lasts till the end of September During this time there are to be seen about Bahrem above two or three thousand Fishermens Barks all Arabs who pay severally a due to the Prince whose Subjects they are for their permission to Fish and besides each Bark pays to
any flurry of Wind or rough water for the Sea was not at all moved At the same time these Storms began to appear in the Air others began to work in our Captains Head which caused a real Tempest in the Ship. He had drunk several Cups of Brandy which began to heat his Brains however he ordered the Sails to be taken in as it is usual when they see a Storm a comeing but presently after a fancy taking him in the Head that they accused him of timorousness and saying that he had heard some say he was affraid though no body had spoken a word he fell into a sudden rage and to shew that he was a Man of Courage commanded all the Sails high and low to be set again though the Mate prayed him not to do it and that the Sea-men stayed two or three Orders before they obeyed him which incensing him the more he swore that the Sails should stand whatsoever weather blew that he might make those dy for fear that had said he was affraid adding a thousand more impertinent raveings Never did Captain on a Stage shew so many Rodomontadoes and that for several hours during which he tried all the Ships patience without the least word of answer from any Man. At four a Clock the Wind turning West we stood away East South-East Half an hour after four we had a great shower of Rain which soon was over and immediately after the Wind fell a shifting into all the Points till at length it settled at North-East and we bore away East South-East In the mean time all our Sails were abroad except the Main-Top-Galant-Sail which he had likewise caused to be put on but was immediately after taken in About six a Clock the Wind veering about to East we Steered away South South-East At seven a Clock we were more becalmed than before and we turned the Ships Head East and by South Wednesday morning the three and twentieth of December one of our Sea-men took with a Hook a Fish called a Dorado Dorado a Fish which was about two Foot long and four Inches broad from the middle of the Back to the middle of the Belly but not very thick the Skin a long the Back and half way the Sides of it was of a Violet blue and the Belly of a yellowish white but full of little round Violet coloured specks it had along the Back a blue Skin streatched as it were upon little bones or prickles which made it bristle up about an inch and a half high the Eyes of it were large and round under the Gills it had on each side a Fin three Fingers breadth long which stood out very streight and two others under the Throat near one another and another at the Roots and then widening by degrees to the points it had two more of the same fashion near the Tail but it had no Teeth It was very brisk and lively when it was pulled out of the water but as the force of it spent that Skin which before was streatched like a piece of Cloath upright upon the Back of it flagged and fell flat to the Body as well as its Fins They told me that there were some of those Fish a Fathom and a half long that they call them Doradoes that is to say gilt because the ground of their Skin is in some manner of the colour of Gold the English call them Dolphins It is good meat and of easie digestion the Flesh of it is firm and delicate and it feeds on a kind of small flying Fish which being pursued rise out of the water and fly above a Ships length falling sometimes into Ships as one did into ours On Sunday the seven and twentieth of December I handled and considered it at leisure it was shaped like a Herring and seven inches long the Back of it was of a very dark blue and the Belly white on each side it had a Wing almost five inches long and about four inches broad these Wings are only a thin Skin of a very obscure blue colour streatched upon little Nerves or Bones which reach from the side of the Fish to the extremity of the Skin When it is pursued by the Doradoes it leaps out of the Water and flies in the Air so long as the Wings of it are moist and when they dry it falls again into the water When these Wings are dry they fold together like a Fan and that Fishes Wings which I Handled were folded in that manner it is very good to eat We could have no Observation at noon because the Sun was over Clouded and must then be satisfied with our dead reckoning according to which we had made but nine Leagues from noon to noon At eight a Clock at night a Coal of fire fell out of a Tobacco-Pipe into the Gun-Room through the hole of the Whip-staff and by good fortune the two Women slaves of Manuel Mendez who lodged in that place soon perceived it and put it out and then being all in a fright they cried out for help they who had done this were enquired after but in vain for it was impossible to find out the Authors had not God in his great mercy preserved us from the danger of that accident we must all have unfortunately perished Thursday the four and twentieth of December at four of the Clock in the morning there fell a great deal of Rain and it continued showring by intervals with great Thunder-Claps till half an hour after six when the Rain was quite over we had a good Wind from North-West which made us run a League and a half an hour but it was close weather and the Captain ordered to Steer away East whereby we altered our Course and stood in to Land when I asked him the reason of it he told me he was affraid he might find the Wind at East North-East which would force us out from the place to which we were bound but the truth was he had a mind to make the Land that he might know where we were for neither he the mate nor Gunner could tell it At eight a Clock the Wind turned Easterly and we stood away South South-East At nine a Clock it shifted to South-East and we Steered South which was a very bad Course for following it we must have run far below the place whither we were bound About ten a Clock the Wind being got into the South South-East we bore away East but all of a sudden the Wind slackened At noon we had the Wind at South and we Steered away East South-East We could have no Observation this day neither because of Cloudy weather and they found by their dead Reckoning that we had made nine Leagues most of this way we had made since six a Clock in the morning for the eighteen hours before we had advanced but little or nothing at all A quarter after twelve the Wind turned South-West and we Steered our Course North-East but we were presently after becalmed
water of the Sea and the first big enough to admit of Ships being besides defended by several stone-Bastions built very high upon a Rock which are mounted with many great Guns that play on all Hands so that it will be no easie task to take it unless being unprovided of Victuals an Enemy might attempt to starve it it hath no water but Cistern-water yet every House has its Cistern There is a good Port in Diu and heretofore all the Trade of the Indies was managed there and at Chaoul Chaoul belonging to the Portuguese which is another place belonging to the Portuguese but the Dutch so ordered matters that it was wholly removed to Surrat where it is at present About seven a Clock we found by observing the Land that we had made eight Leagues since the day before at noon for you must know that so soon as they make Land they heave the Log no more to know the Ships running because it is well enough known by the Land. At eight a Clock the Wind turned East and by North and we stood away South-East and by South About eleven a Clock it turned East South-East and we Steered away South That day we took no Observation because the Land interposed betwixt us and the Horizon nevertheless we lost sight of it immediately after noon and about six a Clock we tackt about and stood North-East and by East About seven a Clock we tackt again About eight a Clock we were becalmed Half an hour after nine we tackt again a third time and at ten a Clock having cast the Lead we had thirty eight Fathom water About eleven a Clock we had a good Wind at North North-East which made us bear away East Next day the second of January about five a Clock in the morning the Wind having veered about to North-East we Steered our Course East South East At break of day having furled our Main-Top-Sail we put out our Colours and waited for the Masulipatan which was close up with us he presently also shewed his Colours and within a quarter of an hour after sheered a long on head of us we hailed one another but could have no discourse together because he had stood too much on head and in a trice fell off from us This was the Hollanders fault for he was vexed that Master Manuel Mendez would not Sail with him though he had invited him and besides he was angry that we should have come up with him which was the reason he would have no Conversation with us though ever since the day before he might many times have born up near enough to have Discoursed with us when we were upon our tacks Half an hour after six we sounded and found six and twenty Fathom water About seven a Clock the Wind came in to East North-East and we Steered South-East About eight a Clock it blew much fresher from East and by North which convincing us that we were off of the mouth of the Bay of Cambaya The mouth of the Bay of Cambaya we steered away South-East and by South and about nine a Clock the Wind turning due East we stood away South South East We could have no Observation that day because of the motion of the Ship and must rest satisfied to know that from noon to noon we had made fifteen Leagues About five a Clock the Captain of the Musulipatan being in a better humour bore up with us and after the Selam and three or four Cups drunk to our good Voyage he asked us if we would go in Consort and we agreed to it About six a Clock the Wind ceased and left us becalmed About half an hour after ten we had a small Gale from North North East which made us bear away East At midnight the Wind veering in to North-East we steered away East South-East Then we heaved the Lead and found forty Fathom water Sunday morning the third of January we perceived several peices of Wood floating upon the water and some Snakes bigger than ones Thumb four or five Foot long and of a blackish colour and about noon we saw the Sea water look whitish these were so many signs that we were near the Indian shoar At noon the Gunner took an Observation but how right I cannot tell because of the Ships great Travel and he found that we were in the Latitude of nineteen degrees fifty four minutes but we could not tell how much we had run for in twenty four hours time we had not heaved the Log knowing that we were near Land we only cast the Lead and found thirty three Fathom water having cast it out again at three a Clock in the afternoon we had no more but thirty Fathom About five a Clock the Wind turned East North East and we stood away South-East Half an hour after five we had again thirty three Fathom water About eight a Clock the Wind was got into East and by North and we steered South-East and by South and had still thirty three Fathom water About half an hour after ten the Wind turned North and by East a brisk Gale and we bore away East and by North. At midnight we had twenty five Fathom water Monday the fourth of January half an hour after five in the morning we had the Wind at North-East and steered away East South-East but this hot Wind blew so fresh that we were obliged to furl our Main-Top-Sail and then we had twenty five Fathom water A North-East Wind blows commonly on that Coast all the Moon of December and the beginning of the Moon of January and after it comes the North-West Wind. About eleven a Clock the Wind flackning a little we unfurled our Main-Top-Sail again At noon the Gunner found that we were in the Latitude of nineteen degrees twenty four minutes and having cast the Lead we had two and twenty Fathom water and at five a Clock the same Half an hour after five the Wind turning North North-East we steered away East At nine a Clock we had only twenty Fathom water and at midnight but eighteen Tuesday the fifth of January after midnight the Wind was at North-East and by East but a very easie Gale and we bore away South-East and by East At five a Clock in the morning we had but four Fathom water At break of day we made the Land of Bassaim on Head which was very near us and we had made it the day before if it had not been hazy upon the Land. Bassaim Bassaim is a Town held by the Portuguese lying about the nineteenth degree and a half of North Latitude There are very high Mountains at this place At six a Clock we tacked and stood away North and by East At two a Clock in the afternoon we came to an Anchor in fourteen Fathom water because it began to Ebb and it is the custom for Ships that put into the Bay of Cambaya when they are near shoar to Tide it only up unless they have the
or three times a long Copper-Trumpet which I have described in my Voyage into Persia The cry of Caberdar Then the Officers or Serjeants cry as loud as they can Caberdar that 's to say take heed and they who are in the Neighbouring Streets answer with another cry to shew that they are not asleep After that they continue their round and begin to cry again afresh until they have finished it This round is performed thrice a Night to wit at nine of the Clock Midnight and three in the Morning The Cotoual answers for Robberies The Cotoual is to Answer for all the Robberies committed in the Town but as generally all that are put into that Office are very cunning so they find always evasions to come off without paying Whil'st I was at Surrat an Armenian Merchant was Robbed of two thousand four hundred Chequins his name was Cogea Minas Two of his Slaves absconding about the time of the Robbery he failed not to accuse them of it all imaginary enquiry was made after them but seeing there was no news to be had neither of them nor of the Money the report run that these Slaves had committed the Theft and that they were concealed by some Moor that was in intelligence with them who perhaps to get all the Money had killed and buryed them as it had already happened at Surrat In the mean time the Governour told the Cotoual that he must forthwith pay the Money because if the Emperour came to know of the matter all the fault would be laid at their door that perhaps they might be served worse than to be made pay the Money that had been stollen from Cogea Minas and that therefore they had best send for the Armenian and learn from him how much he had really lost The Cotoual said nothing to the contrary but at the same time asked leave to commit him to Prison and to put him and his servants to the Rack that so by torture he might discover whether or not he had really lost the Money and if so whether or not one of his own Men had Robbed him The Governour granted what he demanded but no sooner was the news brought to the Armenian but he desisted from pursuing the Cotoual and chose rather to lose all than to suffer the torments that were designed for him In this manner commonly the Cotoual comes off The punishment of those who are suspected of Robbery When any one is Robbed this Officer apprehends all the People of the House both Young and Old where the Robbery hath been committed and causes them to be beaten severely They are stretched out upon the Belly and four Men hold him that is to be punished by the Legs and Arms and two others have each a long Whip of twisted thongs of Leather made thick and round wherewith they lash the Patient one after another like Smiths striking on an Anvil till he have received two or three hundred lashes and be in a gore of Blood. If at first he confess not the Theft they whip him again next day and so for several days more until he hath confessed all or the thing stolen be recovered again and what is strange the Cotoual neither searches his House or Goods but after five or six days if he do not confess he is dismissed Prevost Foursdar At Surrat there is a Prevost who is called Foursdar and he is obliged to secure the Country about and to Answer for all the Robberies that are committed there but I cannot tell if he be so crafty as the Cotoual When they would stop any Person Doa-Padecha they only cry Doa-padecha which hath greater force than a Hue-and-cry and if they forbid a Man to stir out of the place where he is by saying Doa-padecha he cannot go without rendering himself Criminal and is obliged to appear before the Justice This cry is used all over the Indies After all there are but Fines imposed at Surrat the People live there with freedome enough CHAP. XI Bad Offices done to the French Company at Surrat Bad Offices done to the French Company at Surrat THe Governour of Surrat was making strict enquiry into the French Company when I came to the Indies Seeing at first he applyed himself to the other Franks and particularly to those whose interest it was not to have it established at Surrat they told him a great deal of evil of the French so that by the Artifice of their Enemies he had conceiv'd a bad Opinion of them He was thinking to sollicite their exclusion at Court when Father Ambrose Superiour of the Capucins being enform'd of it went to undeceive him telling him that he ought not to give credit to the Enemies of that Company for that they were combin'd to ruin it if they could He loved that Father because of his Probity and therefore did not reject him only adjur'd him to tell him the truth without dissimulation concerning the matter and whether the French who were to come were not Pirates as it was reported all over the Countrey and as many Franks had assured him they were This thought was suggested in Surrat so soon as it was known that there was a Design in France of sending Ships to trade in the East-Indies and the Calumny was easily believ'd because one Lambert Hugo Lambert Hugo a Corsar a Dutchman who had had French on Board of him and whom they brought fresh into the Peoples Minds had been two Years before at Moca with French Colours and a Commission from the Duke of Vendosme then Admiral of France and had taken some Vessels But that which offended most was the story of the Ship that carried the Goods of the Queen of Visiapour and was stranded about Socotra The Queen of Visiapour Socotra an Isle lying in eleven Degrees forty Minutes Latitude at the entry of the Red-Sea That Queen who was going to Mecha was out of the reach of the Corsar for luckily she had gone on Board of a Dutch Ship but being satisfied with a Ship belonging to her self for transporting her Equipage Hugo met that Ship and persued her so briskly that the Master was forced to run aground It being difficult for the Corsar to approach the Ship in the place where she lay he lost no courage but patiently expected what might be the issue of her stranding His expectation was not in vain for the Indians wanting Water for a long time and finding none where they were suffered great extremity and therefore having hid in the Sea what Gold Silver and pretious Stones they could they resolved to have recourse to the Corsar himself to save their lives hopeing that he would be satisfied with what remained in the Ship. Hugo being come up with them The Cunning of Hugo cunningly found out that they had sunk somewhat in the Sea and a false Brother told him that none but the Carpenter and his Son knew where the Queens Treasure was for she
are above four Foot Diametre and hard by there is a kind of Mahometan Chappel This Tanquie was made at the charges of a rich Banian named Gopy Gopy who built it for the publick and heretofore all the Water that was drank in Surrat came from this Reservatory for the five Wells which at present supply the whole Town were not found out till long after it was built It was begun at the same time the Castle was and they say that the one cost as much as the other It is certainly a Work worthy of a King and it may be compared to the fairest that the Romans ever made for publick benefit But seeing the Levantines let all things go to ruine for want of repair it was above six Foot filled with Earth when I saw it and in danger sometime or other to be wholly choaked up if some Charitable Banian be not at the charge of having it cleansed Having viewed that lovely Reservatory The Princesses Garden we went a quarter of a League farther to see the Princesses Garden so called because it belongs to the Great Moguls Sister It is a great Plot of Trees of several kinds as Manguiers Palms Mirabolans Wars Maisa-trees and many other planted in a streight line Amongst the Shrubs I saw the Querzehere or Aacla of which I have treated at large in my Second Part and also the Accaria of Egypt There are in it a great many very fair streight Walks and especially the four wich make a Cross over the Garden and have in the middle a small Canal of Water that is drawn by Oxen out of a Well In the middle of the Garden there is a Building with four Fronts each whereof hath its Divan with a Closet at each corner and before every one of these Divans there is a square Bason full of Water from whence flow the little Brooks which run through the chief Walks After all though that Garden be well contriv'd it is nothing to the gallantry of ours There is nothing to be seen of our Arbours Borders of Flowers nor of the exactness of their Compartments and far less of their Water-works About an hundred or an hundred and fifty Paces from that Garden The War-tree we saw the War-tree in its full extent It is likewise called Ber and the Tree of Banians as also the Tree of Roots because of the facility wherewith the branches that bear large Filaments take Rooting and by consequence produce other branches insomuch that one single Tree is sufficient to fill a great spot of Ground and this I speak of is very large and high affording a most spacious shade It s circuit is round and is fourscore Paces in Diametre which make above thirthy Fathom The Branches that had irregularly taken Root have been so skilfully cut that at present one may without any trouble walk about every where under it The Gentils of India look upon that Tree as Sacred A Sacred Tree and we might easily perceive that at a distance by the Banners which the Banians had planted on the top and highest Branches of it It hath by it a Pagod dedicated to an Idol which they call Mameva and they who are not of their Religion believe it to be a representation of Eve. We found a Bramen sitting there who put some Red Colour upon the Foreheads of those who come to pay their Devotions and received the Presents of Rice or Cocos that they offered him That Pagod is built under the Tree in form of a Grot the outside is painted with diverse Figures representing the Fables of their false Gods and in the Grot there is a Head all over Red. Charity towards Ants. In that place I saw a Man very charitable towards the Ants He carried Flower in a Sack to be distributed amongst them and left a handful every where where he met with any number Whilst we were abroad in the Fields we considered the Soyl of Surrat it is of a very brown Earth and they assured us that it was so very rich that they never dunged it After the Rains they sow their Corn that is after the Month of September and they cut it down after February They plant Sugar-Canes there also Sugar Canes and the way of planting them is to make great Furrows wherein before they lay the Canes they put a great many of the little Fish called Gudgeons Whether these Fish serve to fatten the Earth or that they add some qualitie to the Cane the Indians pretend that without that Manure the Canes would produce nothing that 's good They lay their pieces of Canes over these Fish end to end and from every joint of Cane so interred their Springs a Sugar-cane which they reap in their season The Soyl about Surrat is good for Rice also and there is a great deal sown Manguiers and Palm-trees of all kinds and other sorts of Trees thrive well there and yield great profit The Dutch water their Ground with Well-Water which is drawn by Oxen after the manner described in my Second Part but the Corn-land is never watered because the Dew that falls plentifully in the Mornings is sufficient for it The River of Tapty The River of Tapty is always brackish at Surrat and therefore the Inhabitants make no use of it neither for Drink nor Watering of their Grounds but only for washing their Bodies which they do every Morning as all the other Indians do They make use of Well-water to drink and it is brought in Borrachoes upon Oxen. This River of it self is but little for at High-water it is no broader than half of the River of Seine at Paris Nevertheless it swells so in the Winter-time by the rain-Rain-water that it furiously overflows and makes great havock It has its source in a place called Gehar-Conde in the Mountains of Decan ten Leagues from Brampour It passes by that Town and before it discharge it self into the Sea it Waters several Countries and washes many Towns as last of all it does Surrat At low Water it runs to the Bar but when it flows the Sea commonly advances two Leagues over that Bar and so receives the Water of the Tapty CHAP. XV. The Port of Surrat The Port of Surrat THe Bar of Surrat where Ships come at present is not its true Port at best it can be called but a Road and I had reason to say in the beginning of this Book that it is called the Bar because of the Banks of Sand which hinder Ships from coming farther in The truth is there is so little Water there that though the Vessels be unloaded the ordinary Tides are not sufficient to bring them up and they are obliged to wait a Spring-tide but then they come up to Surrat especially when they want to be careen'd Small Barks come easily up to the Town with the least Tides The true Port of Surrat is Soualy two Leagues from the Bar. Soualy It is distant from the Town
on the top you may go up to the top by a winding stair-case that is within it Burnt Pillar The other is called the burnt pillar because it is all black having been scorched by a fire that broke out in some adjoyning houses which spoil'd it so much that they have been forced to gird it about with great bars of Iron to keep it tight and hinder it from falling it is of eight pieces of Porphyrian Marble which were so well joyned together before that fire that it appeared to be but one single Stone and indeed the seams were hid and covered by Lawrel-branches cut upon them but at present they are easily seen CHAP. XVIII Of the Grand Signior's Serraglio THe Serraglio of the Grand Signior is the first thing that one sees in coming to Constantinople by Sea it affords a very pleasant Prospect Serraglio because of the Gardens on the Water-side but the Architecture of the Fabrick is nothing at all magnificent it is on the contrary very plain in respect of what the Palace of so powerful a Prince ought to be Serrai and Serraglio Serrai in Turkish signifies a Palace and the Franks by corruption call it Serraglio taking it it seems only for the Appartment where the Women are shut up as if they derived that word from the French Serrer or the Italian Serrar which signifies to close or shut but the word is Turkish and signifies a Palace and the Grand Signiors is called Serrai or Serraglio by excellence It is built in the place where in ancient times Byzantium stood upon the Hill of Sandimitri Hill of Sandrimitri which is a point of the main land looking to the Chanal of the Black Sea The Lodgings are upon the top of the Hill and the Gardens below This Palace is three miles about The bigness of the Serraglio and is of a triangular Figure of which two sides are upon the Sea enclosed within the Town Walls and betwixt the Walls and the Sea there is a little rising Key but no body dares go there especially on the side of the Port before he be past the Serraglio the third side is separated from the Town by good Walls fortified with several Towers as well as those to the Sea side in which Towers there are always some Aadgemoglans in Sentinel Aadgemoglans These Aadgemoglans are the refuse of the tribute Children out of whom they chuse the more witty and dextrous and instruct them in order to be advanced to places and those who have fewest parts are employed in mean and clownish imployments as to be Gardners Grooms and such like On the side of the Port over against Galata there is a Kionsk or Pavillion upon the Key Kionsk not raised very high from the ground it is supported by several Marble Pillars and there the Grand Signior comes often to take the Air at this place he takes water when he intends to divert himself in his Galiot upon the Sea. On the other side of the Serraglio towards the Sea and the seven Bowers Another Kiousk there is another kind of Pavillion pretty high where the Prince often diverts himself also it is built upon Arches and below it upon the Wall there are marks of Crosses the Greeks say that it was formerly a Church There is also a Fountain there where those of that Nation go on the day of the Transfiguration The Ceremony of the Greeks on the day of Transfiguration and make the Sick drink the Water of it burying them in the Sand about up to the Neck and immediately after uncovering them again and many who are very well in health do the like The Grand Signior is that day commonly at his Window where he diverts himself with the pranks they play without being seen Near to that place there is a great Window out of which those who are strangled in the Serraglio are thrown into the Sea in the night-time and as many Guns are fired as there are Bodies thrown out a great many pieces of Cannon lye there upon the shoar unmounted This Palace hath many Gates to the water-side but they are only for the Grand Signior and some of the Serraglio The chief Gate of the Serraglio the chief Gate of it looks towards Santa Sophia which is near by That being the Common Gate is guarded by Capidgis it opens into a very spacious Court where at first you see to the right Hand the Infirmerie whither they carry the sick of the Serraglio in a little close Chariot The Infirmerie of the Serraglio drawn by two men when they see that Chariot every one steps aside to make way for it even the Grand Signior if he happen'd to meet it would do so Dgebehane A little farther to the left Hand is the Dgebehane or Magazine of Cuirasses covered with Lead Vestry of Santa Sophia Second Gate of the Serraglio that building was heretofore the Vestry of Santa Sophia which shews how big a Church it has been in its time From that Court you go to the second which is not fo big as the former and is in a square extending two hundred paces every way all round it there is a Gallery in form of a Cloyster supported by several Marble Pillars and covered with Lead At the back of that Gallery to the right Hand there are nine Domes ranging from one end of the Court to the other all covered with Lead and these are the Kitchins The Kitchins of the Serraglio Stables to the left Hand at the back of the Gallery also is the Stable where none but the Horses which are for the Grand Signiors own Sadle stand the other Stables being towards the Sea along that side of the Serraglio which looks to the Propontis none but the Grand Signior enters this second Court on Horseback all others alight without at the Gate of this The Janisaries draw up in this Court under the Gallery to the right and the Horse to the left The Fountain of the Serraglio In the middle of it there is a most lovely Fountain shadowed over with several Sycamore Trees and Cypresses and near to this Fountain the Grand Signior caused heretofore the Heads of the Bashaws and other persons of Quality to be cut off At the end of this Court on the left Hand is the Hall where the Divan sits and on the right a door which gives entry into the Serraglio but that entry is only allowed to those who have orders to come that way so then since I had no call and this place being all mysterie I shall not attempt to speak of it The Fabrick of the Serraglio The Fabrick of this Serraglio by what one can see of it on the outside is no ways regular all that is to be seen are but separated Appartments in form of Domes so that there is nothing to be distinguished and one cannot tell what to make of it The Grand Signior lodges in this
shall not speak of them I will only tell what I had from an Itchoglan newly come out of the Serraglio that the Grand Signior is served at his Meals in China which is more valuable then Purcelane or Terra Sigillata that is reckoned to be good against Poyson The Grand Signior's Dishes He hath also a great many covered dishes of beaten Gold each dish with its cover weighing twelve or thirteen Marks These Dishes were presented to him by Kilidge Hali Basha a Renegado native of Messina after the Pillage and Robberies that he committed in Calabria where he took great Booty Now though with them it be a sin to eat in Gold or Silver yet he makes use of both and the Queen Mother of the Grand Signior is served in forty Silver plate dishes But at extraordinary Feasts which are kept in the Gardens or Summer-Houses they are served in Basons of Purcelane or Terra Sigillata as the Ambassadours are also when they are feasted in the Hall of the Divan before they have their Audience of the Grand Signior When he eats he speaks to no body The Grand Signior never speaks at Dinner but makes himself be understood by Signs to the mute Buffoons who are very expert at that having a very singular method in it and there is nothing but what they can express by Signs These Buffoons are always playing some foolish Tricks amongst themselves to make him Laugh He never beats his Brains about Business Care of Affairs but refers the whole management of Affairs to his Ministers who give him a Summary Account of them on certain days of the Week Not but that there have been some who have taken the Care upon themselves ordering their Ministers to act according to their Directions Sultan Amurat though a very debauched Prince always minded his Affairs and Sultan Mahomet who Reigns at present and traces the Footsteps of his Uncle Amurat loves Business very well too When the Grand Signior is weary of staying in his Serraglio he goes and takes the Air upon the Water and sometimes by Land but not often because his Ministers do what they can to hinder him from that least Petitions may be presented to the Grand Signior against them For such as cannot have Justice of them expect till the Grand Signior be abroad in the Streets and when he passes by they put their Petition on the end of a Cane which they hold up as high as they can which the Grand Signior perceiving sends for it and has it brought to him The truth is the Ministers are not well pleased he should be informed of Affairs by any but themselves I have several times seen the present Grand Signior abroad but the first time that I saw him I was told that for at least a Year before he had not been out of his Serraglio The Grand Signior's going abroad out of the Serraglio When he goes abroad by Land it is either with small Attendance or in Pomp I have seen both as I shall afterwards relate When he goes by Water he has always few Attendance his Galiotte comes to the Kieusk of the Serraglio which is on the Water-side over against Galata and entring with a very small Retinue he goes to Scudaret or the black-Black-Sea to take the Air. This is a most rich Galiotte guilt all over and adorned with many counterfeit Stones It hath four and twenty Benches that is to say four and twenty Oars on each side Bostangis Rowers each rowed by two Bostangis who have only a Shirt over their Breeches or rather Drawers they have scarlet Caps shaped like a Sugar-Loaf such as all the Bostangis wear being half an Ell high and they who serve on this occasion are the Favorites of the Bostangi Basha The advantage of the Rowers Those that Row on the right side are all the Sons of Christians made Turks who may arise to the dignity of Bostangi Basha to which Office those that Row on the left hand who are the Sons of Turks and commonly of Asia can never aspire And the greatest reward that they can hope for when they come out of the Serraglio is to have fourscore Aspres a day in Pay whereas those on the right side after they have discharged the Office of Bostangi Basha may be Agas of the Janizaries nay even Bashas or Governours of Provinces If any of these Bostangis chance to break an Oar in Rowing the Grand Signior gives him according to his Liberality a handful of Aspres or a handful of Chequins as an encouragement for plying his Business with so much strength In the time of Sultan Solyman three Chequins was the ordinary reward but at present it is not limited However it is not by strength but rather slight that they break their Oars and many times they break them half off before the Grand Signior come on board his Galiotte and then easily do the rest as they Row. The Bostangi Basha sits at the Helm and steers the Galiotte and at that time has opportunity enough to discourse with the Grand Signior at his ease The Grand Signior goes through the City in Disguise Besides these ways of going Abroad the Grand Signior goes sometimes through the City in Disguise and without Attendance as a private Man to see if his Orders be punctually observed And he at present who seems in all his Actions to imitate his Uncle Sultan Amurat went abroad almost every day in Disguise whilst I was at Constantinople having however some Men following him at a little distance and amongst the rest an Executioner And by the way he caused many Heads to flie off both in Constantinople and Galata which kept all things in better order The Christians were very glad that he Disguised himself so for that was the cause that no body durst molest or abuse them Sometimes he would go to a Bakers Shop and buy Bread and sometimes to a Butchers for a little Meat And one day a Butcher offering to sell him Meat above the rate which he had set he made a sign to the Executioner who presently cut off the Butchers Head. Prohibition of Tobacco But it was chiefly for Tobacco that he made many Heads to flie He caused two Men in one day to be Beheaded in the Streets of Constantinople because they were smoaking Tobacco He had prohibited it some days before because as it was said when he was passing along the Street where Turks were smoaking Tobacco the smoak had got up into his Nose But I rather think that it was in imitation of his Uncle Sultan Amurat who did all he could to hinder it so long as he lived He caused some to be Hanged with a Pipe through their Nose others with Tobacco hanging about their Neck and never pardoned any for that I believe that the chief reason why Sultan Amurath prohibited Tobacco was because of the Fires that do so much mischief in Constantinople when they happen which most commonly are
Orange-Water two Baskets full of Pomegranates two of Limons two of Water-Melons two of Mezingianes or Violet-Naveurs one of Grapes one of Grass half a dozen of Pidgeons a dozen of Pullets and three Sheep Next day his Kiaya or Lieutenant had likewise the usual Present brought to him which was but one half of the abovementioned Provisions They expected two Bashas more within a short time and these Bashas caused People to be often Bastonadoed as they went along the Streets when they were out of Humour but for all that no sooner were they Lodged but the whole Trouble was over CHAP. LXV Of the Isle of Patino HAving said enough of Chio Patino I shall here make a little digression from my Travels and relate what I have learned of some Islles of the Archipelago where I have not been as well by what has been told me as by a memoire that hath come to my hands And in the first place I shall speak of the Isle of Pathmos which though small is nevertheless Illustrious Pathmos as being the place to which St. John the Evangelist was Banished and where he wrote the Revelation This Isle called anciently Pathmos and at present Patino and Palmosa is eighteen miles in circuit Palmosa and has in it but one well Built little Town with a Castle in the middle of it called the Monastery of St. John where two hundred Greek Monks live who carefully keep in their Church a Body shut up in a case which they say is the Body of St. John what ever they think who doubt whether he be as yet Dead or not There are about three thousand Souls in this Isle who have much ado to live Three thousand Souls in Pathmos The Grott where the Apocalypse was written called Theoskeposti the Land being very dry and all Rockie In it is the Grotto where St. John wrote the Apocalypse which Grotto by the Greeks is called Theoskeposti that is to say in vulgar Greek covered by God. The Inhabitants of this place relate a pretty ridiculous story of St. John and that is that the Devil went to Tempt St. John in that Grotto which is but half a mile from the Sea and as far from the Town bidding him go and swim and that St. John made answer to the Devil do thou first throw thy self into the Sea and I 'll follow thee which the Devil did and was immediately changed into a Stone The figure of a Devil at Pathmos of the same Figure that he had when he threw himself into the Sea And that Stone is to be seen to this day being but one step from the Land. No Turk lives in this Island they are Christians that bear rule there yet they pay Tribute to the Grand Signior And the Corsars put into this Island to careen and take fresh Water CHAP. LXVI Of the Isle of Nixia THE Isle of Nixia heretofore called Naxus is sixscore miles in circuit Nixia In latter times before it was possessed by the Turks it carried the title of a Dutchy The Families of Sanudi and Somarigi Venetians in Nixia and at present it has among its Inhabitants several noble Families descended of the said Dukes who were the Sanudi Somarigi Venetians and others The Fields of this Isle are most fruitful in all things and chiefly a certain Valley called Darmilla wherein are eighteen Villages The Inhabitants of this Isle make plenty of Wine which they send to Alexandria Smyrna and Chio as likewise very good Cheese for they have many Cows Sheep and Goats Not far from the Town near the Sea are the Salt-pits and a Pond which the Town letts out to farme they Fish in it but two Months in the Year to wit August and September There are great quantities of Eels taken also in a Valley called Plichi that is full of Marshes which are always supplied with Water from greaâ— Springs that run into it There are very thick Woods also in it with Rocks and solitary Dens where there are a great many tall Stags Catching of Partridges with an Ass and there the Gentlemen go a Hunting with the Cady who governs the Island the Peasants catch Partridges with an Ass in this manner Late in the Evening the Peasant goes and joggs the Partridges to know where they Sleep then he pitches a Net where he thinks convenient and afterwards puts himself under the belly of his Ass which is trained to the sport and thus both stalking along together the Peasant with a switch drives the Partridges into the Net where they are caught and this sport is the better because Partridges are very Plentiful there There are besides other Valleys with Water-springs in them that turn Mills for the use of the People There are several Monasteries in this Island one of which ought to be very Ancient for it is built in form of a Tower upon a Hill. There is another called Fanaromeni Fanaromeni dedicated to the Virgin because a Picture of the Virgin was found in that Place which is held in great Veneration and called Faneromeni it is not long since that Monastery was built and contains threescore and ten Rooms or Chambers besides those that are under Ground the Church is small but well built and beautified It is served by ten Monks all Countrey Clowns who have no Learning and not only there but over all the Isles of the Archipelago they are so ignorant that it may be said of them Ignoto Deo and it is impossible but that Vice must reign where People are so ignorant of the commands of God and where there is so much Idleness and Drunkenness Threscore miles from the Town there is a Tower and another Church also dedicated to the Virgin named Tagia in that place there is a Spring of as good Water as can be desired and a Monk and some Shepherds live there the people of the Island often go thither out of Devotion and not without much Pain because of the troublesome Hills and Valleys that are in the way About six miles from thence near the Sea overagainst the Isle of Nicaria there is to be seen upon a very steep and rugged Mountain The Castle of Apollo some ruines of the Castle of Apollo and it is a wonder how they could carry up Stones to Build it The wall is eight hand breadth thick it is not carried on to the Sea on the East-side because there is no going up to it on that side but by a very dangerous place but on the South East and South-side it is built of Stone and Bitumen down to the Sea. In that Castle there are several Houses and Cisterns for Water In the neighbourhood of it are four little Towns very well Inhabited In these Quarters there are also many Goat-heards that keep Goats and the Hills are full of an Herb which Mathiolus calls Ledum The Ledum of Mathiolus Kissaros an Herb. Laudanum a Gum. Darmilla Strongyle Palace of Bacchus and
great sounded the Sea at that place and could find no Ground There is nevertheless a little Island called Firesia at the point whereof one may come to an Anchor Firesia and no where else CHAP. LXIX Of the Isles of Policandre Milo Sifanto Thermia Ajora and Scyra Policandre THE Isle of Policandre is eight miles in compass and a pretty pleasant place Three miles from the Sea-side there is a Village of about an hundred Houses inhabited by three hundred Souls one must cross over a Valley and Rocks in going to it and there are no other Houses in the Island In it there are three well built Churches and two Monasteries one of Men and another of Women The Convent of the Monks is very well situated and is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin it hath a little Garden adjoyning to the Church with a Cistern of excellent water and in that Garden there is a Statue without a Head made after the Apostolick way there are others also in the Walls built in among the rest of the stones The other Monastery is for Women who observe no rule or institution but live as Nature teaches them their Church is dedicated to St. John and a Monk says Mass in it on all Sundays and Holy-days The Inhabitants of this Isle pay their Tribute with the Money they raise from Barley Cotton Stuffs and Cheese which they make The Castle stands upon a very high Hill but all the Houses of it are ruinous except a Chapel of St. Michael the Arch-Angel from thence one may see all the Isles of the Archipelago The Inhabitants of this place are honest civil and courteous People especially the Women who are very handsome they live pretty well having very good Bread Fowl Sheep and other things necessary They make no Wine but have it brought them from Santorini which is but thirty miles from it They have no Physicians nor Chyrurgeons nor any sort of Trade The Harbour of this Island is indifferent good but the Mainots and other Corsairs put often in there and lodge a-shore in a Church that stands by the Sea-side Milo. The Isle of Milo is so called from Mylos which in the vulgar Greek signifies a Mill because there are many Windmills in it and because also they bring Mill-stones from thence This Island is thirty six miles about has few Hills in it and is fruitful in all things selling yearly betwixt three and four hundred Tun of Wine and the Inhabitants trade in Candie Venice and other places They have a Mine of Brimstone and much Pumice-stones which are Let out to one of the Inhabitants for fifteen hundred Piastres a year Three miles from the Town there are hot Baths of Sulphur where People come from several places to wash and many recover their health there The Port is six miles long three over and has a good depth of water Two miles from this Port there is a Grotto in form of a large Chamber wherein there is luke-warm water A Bath of hot Water that reaches six miles which gives so much heat that an artificial Bath cannot make one sweat more They say that the water of this Grott has an inrercourse with the Church of St. Constantine that is six miles North of it and to make a proof of this one day they put a Silver Cup into this Bath which they found again in the Fountain of the said Church of St. Constantine In this Isle there is a Town where two thousand five hundred Souls live and an old Castle inhabited by five hundred more The Town stands in a Plain with a Castle in the middle of it but not inhabited They have a Latin Bishop and a Greek Bishop the Latin Cathedral is without the Town dedicated to St. Peter but without any Ornaments and the Latin Bishop celebrates in a Chapel that joyns to one of the Greek Churches this Bishop has a great many Tithes which he divides with the Greek Bishop taking two thirds to himself and giving the Greek the other third The Greek Bishop hath several well built Churches in good repair and many Priests to officiate in them Most of the Inhabitants of this Island are Greeks who live much at their ease are civil but very wicked and perfidious Their Women go in a very ugly dress speak very ill and cannot pronounce the letter L They are very charitable and kind to Strangers The People live here commodiously enough having all things necessary for life but they have no Physicians Chyrurgeons nor any of that Profession There are no Turks in this Island and it is governed by four Deputies of the Town Half a mile from Milo is the Isle called Chimolo or Argentara which hath a good Harbour Chimolo or Argentara and a Village containing about two hundred Souls which was burnt by the Corsairs in the Year 1638. These poor People live in great misery The Isle of Sifanto or Sifano anciently Sifanus is thirty six miles in circuit Sifanto Sifanus and has a Castle upon a Hill with double Walls inhabited by three thousand Souls and there are no other Houses in all the Island unless it be some Countrey-houses of private Men There is no water in this Castle what they have is brought out of the Plain underneath it The Harbour is not good for Barks and therefore they have Ware-houses near the shore where they put their Commodities and then draw the Barks on Land. There is another good Harbour but it is five miles from thence This Isle belonged formerly to the Family of Gozadini as may be seen by an Inscription made in the Year 1450. Family of the Gozadini upon a Marble-Pillar at the entry into the Port. There is upon it a Latin Bishop and a Greek Vicar but the Chapel of the Latin Bishop is little and very poor There is a Monastery of Greeks also built upon a Hill. There is no place of Recreation in this Island nor any other Antiquity but a great Chest of white Marble with Oxes Heads Festons and Fruits upon it This Isle produces not Provisions for above two months in the year and for the rest of the year the Inhabitants provide themselves elsewhere having little Barks for that end which they build upon the place They say that they have a Mine of Lead and a Gold Mine They are very rogues but their Women are very honest and go with their faces covered There are no Trades there but Weavers Shoemakers Joyners and the like The Isle of Thermia is thirty six miles in circuit and so called from Therma Thermia which in the Greek signifies Hot because of the Springs of hot water that are in a Plain there near the Sea from which the sick and indisposed receive much relief The Town contains about three hundred Houses inhabited by about two thousand Souls there are fifteen Greek Churches in it and a Greek Bishop who resides six months of the year at Zia and the other six at Thermia
Heretofore there was a Latin Bishop there but he having gone out of the Island the Albanians usurped all there being no Inventory nor other Writing to be found There is nothing remarkable in it but the afore-mentioned Baths though there be a Castle there and a pretty big Village called Mesi Mesi This Island is almost all a Plain has few Trees and yet it is fruitful and abundant in all things The Inhabitants are honest people and trade in Stuffs Thread and other Commodities raising thereby Money to pay their Tribute Turkish Money passes not there but only the Coyn of Venice so as in several other such Isles except Naxia Andro and Seyra where Turkish Money goes The Women of Thermia are vertuous handsome and wear a neat dress The People live pretty well there and a Cady commands with four Procurators chosen among the Citizens of the Town Ajora is a little Isle eighteen miles about it depends on the Isle of Scyra Ajora whose Inhabitants keep some Shepherds there to look after their Sheep There are four Churches in it where Divine-Service is performed but once a year to wit at Easter and then the Shepherds Communicate It is not at all cultivated because the Corsairs carry off the Oxen and sometimes the Sheep also The Isle of Scyra which in the vulgar Greek signifies Signora or Mistress Scyra is so called because by its height it commands all the other Isles being almost in the middle of them It is thirty six miles in circuit a dry Soyl bears few Trees and nevertheless abounds in all things having plenty of Provisions Flesh Fish and Venison The Water they use is brought from a Spring a little wide of the Town and is very good They have no Villages of any consequence only some scattering Houses in the Countrey The Inhabitans of this Isle are much given to devotion and chiefly the Women who are very silly There is much hatred and envy always among them which arises from the oppression they daily suffer from the Turks and their common poverty They are almost all Latins and have several Churches the Cathedral standing on the top of the Town dedicated to St. George and served by several Priests who have a Latin Bishop for their Superiour that lives on his Revenue and Tithes But there are some of these Churches in so bad order that they look more like Ware-houses than Churches The Capucins in spight of the Hereticks and Schismaticks bring many into the Church by their constant Preaching They Catechise there and instruct the young Children who have a very quick wit and are apt to learn. They often hear Confessions and their Church which is dedicated to St. John was built at the charge of the Publick There is another Church also dedicated to the Virgin and served by the Religious of the Order of St. Dominick Six miles from the Town there is a little Garden where there are some stocks of Orange-Trees and some Springs with a Chapel dedicated to the Virgin and some Hermite commonly lives there They have no places of Curiosity nor Walks CHAP. LXX Of the Isles of Samos and Nicaria AFter I had long waited for a Passage to Aegyt an occcasion at length offered of a great Saique bound for Rossetto Saiques These Saiques are like great Barks having a round hulk and a very big and high Main-mast They carry great Cargoes of Goods but they sail not fast unless they be before the Wind or rather they sail no otherwise for they cannot go upon a Wind. The Greeks make use of no other Vessels for trading both in the White and Black Seas and that 's the reason there are so many of them though the Christian Corsairs pick up several of them now and then I spake to the Master of this Saique who was a Janizary and he promised to give me notice when the weather was fair to set out but that I might be the more at ease I hired the Pursers Cabin in the top of the Poop which was so little that when my Man and I turn'd in there was not half a foot of room to spare I then bestir'd my self speedily to make my provisions not forgetting a Capot for my self and another for my Man. A Capot is a certain Field-garment Capot lined through with the same stuff it is made of and shaped like a Wastcoat reaching down to the knee there are sleeves for the arms and a hood fastened to it for the head All the Sea-men have Capots and it seems to me to be so necessary an Implement not only for Sea-men but for all that travel by Sea that I cannot see how in a long Voyage one can be without it In case of necessity it will serve for a Quilt and Coverlet With a Capot you may sit down and lye where you please and without it you would pitch all your cloaths rain or blow you may walk abroad in the air with your Capot and within a Capot you need neither fear wet nor cold I found so much good in this Garment and have received so many Services from it that I thought I could not but here say something in praise of it Being then provided with all things necessary for a pretty long Voyage though they gave me hopes that in eight or ten days time I should be in Aegypt I went on board on Wednesday the Fifteenth of November Departure from Chio. about three a clock in the Afternoon and an hour after we set out of the Port of Chio with a North-wind We made not much way that day Thursday morning the sixteenth of November the wind ceased leaving us before the Isle of Samos Samos which is threescore miles from Chio. This is a very barren Island by what I could perceive but is famous for having been the Native Countrey of Pythagoras Pythagoras Polycrates Sibylla of Samos Nicaria Icaria that great Philosopher of Polycrates so much renowned for his good fortune and of a Sibyl It is fourscore miles in circuit Pretty near and over against Samos is the Isle of Nicaria called in ancient times Icaria from Icarus the Son of Doedalus It is in figure long the Land of it very dry and all high Rocks wherein are the Houses of the Inhabitants who may make in all three thousand Souls very poor and ill clad They are much addicted to Swimming and fishing up Sponges from the bottom of the Sea or the Goods of Ships that have been cast away and Batchelours are not married in this Island unless they can dive at least eight fathom deep into the water and of this they must give proof So that when a Papas or any other of the richest men of the Island would marry his Daughter To whom the Maids are married at Nicaria he pitches upon a day whereon he promises his Daughter to the best Swimmer and the day being come the young Men strip themselves stark naked before all the People the Maid
that go to other places that so they may avoid the heat which is almost insupportable and when the Moon does not shine there are Men who carry Links before the Caravan In all Caravans the Camels are tied tail to tail so that let them but go and there is no trouble of leading them Here I 'll give the Reader an account how many Stages there are betwixt Caire and Mecha how many days they stay in them how many hours travelling there is betwixt them and at what Stages the Waters are sweet or bitter all along the way This little Itinerary I had from a Prince of Tunis An Itinerary from Caire to Mecha who made that Journey whilst I was at Caire From Caire to the Birque it is reckoned four hours Journey there is fresh water there From the Birque to Misana that is to say Cistern ten hours no water there Misana Kalaat Aadgeroud Navatir Raftagara Kalaat el Nahhal Abiar Alaina Sath el Akaba Kalaat el Akaba Dar elHhamar Scharafe Benigateie Magare Chouaib Eyoun el Kaseb Kalaat el Moilah Castel Kalaat Ezlem Istanbel Antir Kalaat el Voudge Ekre Hank Krue Hhawre Nabte Nabathean Arabs Hazire Yanbouh Soucaife Beder Hunein Sibil el Mouhsin Rabij Haramein From Misana to Kalaat Aadgeroud which is to say the Castle of Sand-Pits twelve hours and an half there is bitter water there From the Castle of Aadgeroud to Navatir seven hours and an half no water there From Navatir to Rastagara ten hours no water there and the way bad From Rastagara to Kalaat el Nahhal that is to say the Castle of Palmes fifteen hours there they stay a day and have fresh water From the Castle of Nahhal to Abiar Alaina fourteen hours only bâ—tter water there From Abiar Alaina to Sath el Akaba that is to say the Plain of the Hill fifteen hours no water there From Sath el Akaba to Kalaat el Akaba that is to say the Castle of the Hill that 's upon the side of the red-Red-Sea sixteen hours there they stay two days and an half the way is very bad but they have fresh water From the Castle el Akaba to Darel Hhamar six hours and an half no water there Dar el Hhamar signifies Asses Back and it is like the Mountain in Italy where there is an Inn called Scarga l'asino From Dar el Hhamar to Scharafe Benigateie fourteen hours no water there From Scharafe Benigateie to Magare Chouaib that is to say the Grott of Jethro fourteeen hours fresh water there that is the Countrey of the Midionites From Magare Chouaib to Eyoun el Kaseb fourteen hours and an half fresh water there It was in that place where Jethro's Daughters going to water their Cattel and the Shepherds offering to hinder them Moses protected and defended them against those who would have hindred them to draw water From Eyoun el Kaseb to Kalaat el Moilah which is by the Sea-side fifteen hours there they rest two days and an half and have fresh water From Kalaat el Moilah to Castel eleven hours bitter water there From Castel to Kalaat Ezlem fifteen hours and an half bitter water there From Kalaat Ezlem to Istanbel antir fourteen hours fresh water there From Istanbel antir to Kalaat el Voudge that is to say the Castle of the Face thirteen hours and an half fresh water there From Kalaat el Voudge to Ekre sixteen hours no water there but what is bitter From Ekre to Hank Krue that is to say Gulf twelve hours and an half no water there From Hank Krue going to Hhawre they enter into the Territory of Mecha to Hhawre it is thirteen hours only bitter water there From Hhawre to Nabte fifteen hours fresh water there From thence come the Nabathean Arabs Eurus ad auroram Nabathaeaque regna recessit From Nabte to Hazire thirteen hours and an half no water there From Hazire to Yanbouh that is to say Fountain fourteen hours and an half there they stay two days and an half and have fresh water From Yanbouh to Soucaife thirteen hours no water there From Soucaife to Beder Hunein that is to say the Moon of Hunein eight hours fresh water there Hunein was a Man that shew'd the Moon in his Well From Beder Hunein to Sibil el Mouhsin that is to say the way of Benefaction or Benefit fourteen hours fresh water there From Sibil el Mouhsin to Rabij seventeen hours fresh water there Rabij is a Sacred Place that is to say not to be entered into without being well prepared and purged from all sin Hence it is that there are two places which are called Haramein Sacred Places to wit Mecha and Medina that is to say which are two Holy Places where one should take heed not to set his foot Kawdire Bi r el fan Vadi Fatima Mecha unless he be well washed from all Sin. From Rabij to Kawdire fifteen hours no Water there From Kawdire to Bi r el fan fourteen hours fresh water there From Bi r el fan to Vadi Fatima fourteen hours fresh water there From Vadi Fatima to Mecha six hours CHAP. XVIII Of Mecha THE Musulmans have so great a veneration for Mecha not only because Mahomet was Born there but more especially for the Temple called Kiaabe that is to say square house that they think all who are not Musulmans are unworthy to come there and therefore they suffer them not so much as to come within some days journey of it and if a Christian or any other who were not Mahometan should be apprehended in that Holy Land he would be burned without mercy I never made the journey then but seeing in the conferences that I have had with a great many who have made it I have learned some things relating thereunto I think I may tell what I know especially since no man that I know of hath as yet given us any true relation of it A description of Mecha Kiaabe Mecha is an ancient Town scituated among the Mountains and built all of Stone and Morter in the middle of this Town is the Kiaabe which is a square House surrounded with a wall that hinders people from approaching it there being a void space betwixt the House and the Wall the House is covered with a Dome Within it there is a well of indifferent good Water at least in respect of the other Waters of Mecha which are so bitter that one can hardly drink of them There is besides on the right hand near the door as they enter into that House a black stone as big as a mans Head which they say came down from Heaven A black stone come down from Heaven and that heretofore it was white but that through the Sins of men it became black as it is at present He that first can kiss it at the time when they give one another the Selam after the Prayer of Kouschlouk A great happiness for him that
Places where they could find some fewel not only to warm them but for boyling their Coffee and Mafrouca This was the first time that ever I rode upon a Camel and indeed it made me very weary for their Pack-saddles are so broad that they are very uneasie to ones Legs which must straddle very wide the fatigue of this lasted with me about two days but after that I grew accustomed to it Camels are so well known at present Camels that I think it would be superfluous to give a description of them I shall only say that there are two kinds of them to wit those which are called Camels and those whom they name Dromedaries at least I think they may be ranked under one kind Dromedaries for all the difference that is betwixt them is that the Camels have one bunch of flesh upon their Backs are great and high go constantly at one pace which is fast but hard and travel when they are loaded with seven or eight hundred weight about thirty good leagues a day The Dromedaries have two bunches of flesh on their back shaped naturally like a Saddle are less smaller and lighter than the Camels and are only for carrying of men they have a good soft trott and will travel with ease forty Leagues a day all that one has to do is to sit them well and indeed there are some that tye themselves to them for fear of falling in all things else they are like Camels they have Ears and a short Tail like them a cloven foot and as soft as a Spunge the neck long and hair just like a Camels both kneel when they are loaded and unloaded and then rise as they are bid their Food is the same and both endure thirst well continuing upon occasion five days without drinking however the Camels can abstain longer than the Dromedaries But to return to our Journey we parted from our first Stage Saturday the twenty sixth of January about five a Clock in the morning and during all this Journey Ain el Mouse it was very cold in the mornings until the sun was up Shortly after we found several waters which they call Ain el Mouse that is to say the Wells of Moses there we filled our Borrachios as we did where ever we found fresh water About half an hour after ten we rested and having baited we went forwards about eleven and travelled till six a Clock at night having the red-Red-Sea always on our right hand about half a league wide of us We travelled at such a rate that it would have been all a good Foot man could do to have kept up with us Sunday January the twenty seventh we set out about five a clock in the morning and had not advanced above five hundred paces when passing by the side of a Bush An Arab who who had not eaten in five days time we heard a Voice that called to us and being come to the place we found a poor languishing Arab who told us that he had not eaten a bit for five days we gave him some Victuals and Drink with a provision of Bread for two days more and so went on our way We were not afraid of the Arabs Meeting with Arabs in the Desart whom we met on the way for when we found any they civilly saluted us and departed after we had given them some Bread and Tobacco which they very courteously desired of us for they durst not do us any hurt seeing us guarded by two Scheiks who told them that they had answered for us when we rested in any place to feed some of them came often who having saluted us fell a eating with our Arabs and when none came one of our Arabs cried out as loud as possibly he could That if any body had a mind to eat they might safely come and made this proclamation on all sides so that such as heard the invitation failed not to come with their half-pikes and laying down their Arms fell a feeding together on the Mafrouca of which I shall speak hereafter but there was no necessity of making proclamation at night for so soon as they saw the fire we made they came immediately to see what it meant After we had given that poor famished Arab some Victuals and travelled on in very good way about ten a clock in the morning we entred among the Hills on very stony ground loseing sight of the Sea Antelopes a Beast betwixt a Goat and a Deer Chacales Estridges on these Hills we saw a great many Antelopes and nothing else though there be abundance of wild Beasts in these Desarts as Woolves Bears wild Boars Foxes Hares Chacales and Estridges these are all very common there and all know that the Chacales are engendred of a Dog-Wolf and Bitch-Fox or of a Dog-Fox and Bitch-Wolf As for the Estridges they also live only in the Desarts where some of them are of a prodigious bigness Every one knows how Estridges are shaped which have a neck head and bunch on the Back like Camels with which they agree in many things Deve Cousch so that the Turks call them Deve Cousch that is to say Bird-Camels they go in the Fields always in an even number as two and two or four and four They always beget a Male and a Female and run swifter than a Horse but tire likwise sooner and while they run they throw with their feet the stones that they find with so much force against those that pursue them that if they hit a man they would do him a great deal of hurt I saw one once give a great Dog such a blow with his foot as left him sprawling with his four legs up in the Air. How Estridges are taken When they would catch Estridges an Arab pursues them on Horse-back at first gently and they run away in the same manner but still tiring a little After two or three hours time he rides faster and then when he sees his Fowl almost spent he puts on to a speed and having taken and Killed it he makes a hole in the Throat of it and then having tied streight the neck under the hole three or four of them take hold of it and for some time toss and shake it from side to side just as one would rinse and wash a Barrel when they think it is enough shaken they untie the Throat of it The Eutter or Mantegue of an Estridge and then a great deal of Mantegue or a kind of Butter comes running out at the holes insomuch that they say some of them will yield above twenty pound weight of that stuff for by that shakeing all the flesh of the Creature is dissolved into Mantegue nothing remaining but skin and Bones This would have seemed fabulous to me if several Barbary men had not assured me of it They say that this Mantegue is a very delicious food but very apt to cause a looseness We travelled among these Hills till noon
when we rested in a place where there were a great many fair Trees Near to that is a place where the rain-Rain-water that falls from the Mountains is kept and that water is very good Here it was that the People of Israel came out of the red-Red-Sea having passed it over dry to the ruine and confusion of Pharaoh and all his men who pursued them as may be seen in the Book of Exodus where this place is called Shur Chap. 15. Exod. Chap. 15. Corondel Haman of Pharaon It is at present called Corondel Not far from thence there are hot waters in a Grott which the Arabs call Haman el Pharaon that is to say Pharaon's Bath They tell a thousand stories of it amongst others that if you put four Eggs into it you can take out but three and so many as one puts in there is always one fewer taken out again and that the Devil keeps for himself we did not see that place for our Arabs would not take us to it because it was a little out of the way They say also that over against Corondel the Sea is always Tempestuous about the place where Pharaoh and the Aegyptians were Drowned We parted from thence at one of the clock and continued travelling till seven then we rested in a place where there are Trees also Next day being Monday the twenty eighth of January we set out at four a Clock in the Morning and having passed over several Hills we came into good way again near to the Sea but there is one place to be passed over just by the side of it being white and smooth Rocks where the Camels had much ado to keep from sliding chiefly because they are wet with the Sea-water but that lasts not long we rested at Noon and half an hour after set forwards again and towards the evening entred among Hills where we travelled till six a Clock that we rested in the hollow of a Rock where we spent the Night at that Stage and we could find no wood not to boyl so much as our Coffee Tuesday the twenty ninth of January we parted at five a clock in the Morning and entred into a plain where we travelled till Noon and then having rested a little after one a Clock we marched on over the same Plain until six a Clock at Night and then rested Next day Wednesday the thirtieth of January we parted at four a clock in the Morning and four hours after arrived at Tor about an hour before we came to Tor we found a great many Palm-trees and a well of very bad Water CHAP. XXVI Of Tor and of our arrival at Mount Sinai Tor. TOR is no considerable place nevertheless it has a good harbour for Ships and Galleys This Port is guarded by a little square Castle on the Sea-side with a Tower at each corner and two small Guns on the out-side before the Gate an Aga is Governour of this Castle where none but Turks lodge Near to it there is a Convent of Greeks dedicated to St. Catherine and to the Apparition of God to Moses in the Burning-Bush We delivered the Aga the Letter from the Bey of Suez but because we had no present for him he made no great account of us We lodged in the Convent which is very fair and spacious there we were very well received entertained with the Best and ate Fish of the Red-Sea at that time there were thirty Monks in it We searched for Provisions there but could not find any only the Monks commiserating our condition gave us Olives Dates Onions and a Jar of Brandy which we husbanded as well as we could we stayed a day there because the Monks told us that we needed two Septiers more of Flower so that having bought the Corn and got it ground they baked Bread of one half of it to give our Arabs by the way and upon the Mount and all this they did in a very obliging manner While we were there we bought of these poor Greeks several stone-Mushromes which in that place are got out of the Red-Sea as also small Stone-shrubs or branches of Rock which they call white Coral and many great shells all taken out of the Sea and very pleasant for artificial works But they could not furnish me with any thing of a certain Fish A Sea-man which they call a Sea-man however I got the hand of one since This Fish is taken in the Red-Sea about little Isles that are close by Tor. It is a great strong Fish and hath nothing extraordinary but two hands which are indeed like the hands of a man saving that the Fingers are joined together with a skin like the foot of a Goose but the skin of the Fish is like the skin of a wild Goat or Shamois When they spie that Fish they strike him on the back with Harping-Irons as they do Whales and so kill him They use the skin of it for making Bucklers which are Musquet proof Having payed all and made a Present of some Piastres to the Monks for their kind reception we prepared to be gone but were obliged first to pay a due of twenty eight Maidins a head to wit four for Tor and twenty four for the Mount and all to the use of the Arabs We parted from Tor on Thursday the last of January about eleven a clock in the Fore-noon with a Monk whom they sent with us to shew us the chief Places of the Mount and we payed for a Camel to carry him thither and back again He spoke to us Turkish and Arabick for he understood not a word of Lingua Franca we saw on our way the Garden of the Monks of Tor which is not far from it this Garden is the place which in Holy Scripture is called Elim Elim where when the Israelites went that way there were only seventy Palm-Trees and twelve wells of bitter water which Moses made sweet by casting a piece of Wood into them these Wells are still in being being near one another and most of them within the precincts of the Garden the rest are pretty near they are all hot and are returned again to their first bitterness for I tasted of one of them where People Bath themselves Hamam Mousa which by the Arabs is called Hamam Mousa that is to say the Bath of Moses it is in a little dark Cave there is nothing in that Garden but abundance of Palm-Trees which yield some rent to the Monks but the seventy old Palm-Trees are not there now After we had seen these things we filled our Borrachios with the water of a Well near to that place which belongs to the Monks I told them that it stunk a little and they made answer that they had not Scowered it that year as they used every year to do but withall that it was the best water thereabouts Heretofore they had a Church near to that Well which the Turks Demolished and with the stones of it built the aforesaid
indeed they know not at all how to use them For I know a French Merchant who one time meeting with Arabs they stript him stark naked and before they left him made him shoot off his Fire-lock and Pistols which they suffered him to keep They have also Bucklers made of the Skin of a Fish called the Sea-man They have pretty Horses Arabian Horses that are small but indefatigable and run so fast that they seem to flie where they alight they leave them without making them fast to any thing and these Horses stir not from the place where they have been left The food of the Arabian Horses And indeed when they find them for their purpose they are careful to feed them with Camels Milk Butter Camels flesh dried in the Sun and Wheat all which things make them very strong Those who have any competent Estate keep a Camel to save their Life in time of danger They feed him from a Colt with Camels Milk Butter Camels flesh dried in the Sun and Wheat and give him nothing else to eat which makes them very strong and swift as well as their Horses The Arabs of different Tribes are many times in Wars one with another and the Scheik el Kebir marches at the head of them When one of them kills another in time of peace if the Friends apprehend the Malefactor they carry him before the Scheik el Kebir who condemns him to death or to pay so much to the Relations of the deceased according as they desire it but commonly those of the same Family revenge the death of their Relation and they are so obstinate in their revenge that they 'll keep it an Hundred Years the Mother ever now and then shewing her Children the Bloody Shirt of their Father When any one of them dies he is buried in the same place where he Expired and some Stones put upon his Grave They told me a great many things more of their Customs as among others If an Arab marry a Maid he kills a Camel or two according as he is able to make a Feast and gives so much to the Maid If at any time after a near Relation of the Maids who was absent when the Wedding was made happen to come and be displeased with the Marriage he pays back the Husband what Money he gave to his Kinswoman the Camel which he killed and breaks the Marriage though the Maid be deflowred Though these People be Musulmans yet they make no other Prayers than now and then to say Bismillah that is to say in the Name of God. To conclude they have a wonderful slight in stealing and one of the Scheiks who went with me to Mount Sinai told me that if he pleased he could in the Night-time kill the Bey of Suez in his Bed in spight of all his Guards and though all his Doors were shut And a little before I came to Caire three Arabs contending together which of them was the nimblest Rogue one brag'd that he could steal all that was in the Kitchin of the Basha the other thinking that to be but a small matter said that he would steal the Basha's Signet or Seal and the third offered to do more than they both saying he would kill the Basha in his Bed. The first made a shift to slip into the Kitchin and in the Night-time carried all away not leaving so much as a Skillet the second thronging in among those who one day entred into the place where the Basha was Sealing got pretty near to him and the Basha having sealed something and offering the Seal to some body to hold this Knave stretched out his hand and having received it shortly after disappeared The third went so far that he slid into the Basha's Appartment and entring into his Chamber in the Night-time came to his Beds-side where having drawn his Cangiar his hand was up to have stabbed him when a little Boy who was in the Bed and saw the glittering light of the Cangiar cried out so loud that the Basha starting up avoided the blow Immediately Servants came in and seized the Villain who was next day Empaled for it CHAP. XXXIII Of Suez and the Red-Sea BEing come back to Suez we went and thanked the Bey for his kindness and seeing there was no Caravan ready to set out we had time enough to consider Suez and the Red-Sea This Sea which many think is so called because its Water is Red others more rationally because the Sand of it is Red is no Redder than any other Sea neither in its Water nor Sand only I observed as I went to Mount Sinai some Mountains all over Red upon the sides of it but I believe the reason why it is called Red is That the Translators of the Greek into Latin having in the Greek found the Erythrean Sea have taken that word in Greek for Red not considering that it is the Name of an ancient King called Erythra who hath given his Name to that Sea Erythra which Name reaches a good way beyond the Gulf of Arabia comprehending all the Sea that is betwixt the Eastern Coast of Africa and the Indies See Arrian's Navigation of the Erythrean Sea. This Sea in the holy Scripture is called Yam Souf that is to say the Sea of Rushes because the Banks of it are full of Rushes And the Arabs call it Buhr el Calzem Buhr el Calzem Clysma as if one should say the Sea of Clysma because of the Town named Clysma which was heretofore built at the most Northern point of that Sea which is a Gulf of the Ocean growing narrower and narrower the more Northward it runs and during the space of five days that I kept along the Coast of it in going to Mount Sinai I could not observe it to be any where above eight or nine Miles over This Sea ebbs and flows like the Ocean Two Galleys that belong to Haly Bey Trade on it and many Ships also which for the most part belong to Beys of Aegypt but every Year some of them are lost because being narrow and full of Rocks the Ships want Sea-room It was a Sea of great Trade before the discovery of the way to the East-Indies by the Cape of Good Hope by which the Portuguese English Dutch and others sail now to the Indies and bring us the Drugs Spices Pretious Stones Pearls and many other Commodities which for the most part came formerly only by Aleppo or by the Red-Sea and were unloaded at the Port of Cossir from whence they were carried to the Town of Chana Cossir Chana lying upon the Nile and from thence conveyed down the River to Caire and so to Alexandria Strabo observed this way and passage when he writes that Coptos Coptos where situated a Town of the Thebais the Ruines whereof are still to be seen betwixt Cossir and Chana was a place of Traffick common to the Arabs and Indians There are very good Oysters taken in this Sea as
they may stand in need of and not trust to Suez or Tor for a Camel will carry all I 'm sure for want of that counsel we suffered much and when we came back to Caire were all troubled with a Rheum that fell down upon our Lungs like to have choaked us by reason of the cold icey waters that we were forced to drink upon that Mountain nay our Moor Servant had almost lost his Life by it CHAP. XXXV The Journey from Caire to Gaza BEing recovered from my Journey to Mount Sinai From Caire to Gaza I resolved to travel to Jerusalem and seeing that which most recommends these places to us is the Birth Life and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ I stayed till Lent that I might be there at the time when the Church celebrates the memory of his dolorous Passion There is a Caravan that yearly in Lent goes from Caire to Jerusalem and with the Master of the present years Caravan who was a Christian of the Countrey I made a bargain for eighteen Piastres each Coune and all Caffaires payed to Jerusalem Counes These Counes are Hampiers like Cradles carried upon Camels Backs one on each side but they have a back head and sides like the great Chairs that sick people sit in A man rides in each of these Counes and over them they lay a covering which keeps them both from the Rain and Sun leaving as it were a Window before and behind upon the Camels back We wanted four Counes for we were four in company to wit a Capucin a Provencial my self and my Servant A Clergy man pays less than a Secular but the Capucin payed only sixteen Piastres the Religious not paying so much as the Seculars We had Biskets made for us French Bread Wine in Flasks Rice Lentils and other Lent-Provisions carrying with us a Tent a Pot or Skillet and in short all that was necessary not forgetting Candles Candlestick and Leather-Buckets to draw Water with All this we had carried upon a Camel over and above the Bargain Being thus provided we parted from Caire Saturday the three and twentieth of March at one a Clock after noon every one mounted on his Ass and by four a Clock came to Hhanque Hhanque which is a little Town where the Caravans of Jerusalem make their first Stage There we lay and next day came the whole Caravan consisting of six Score Camels with several Horses Mules and Asses We parted from Hhanque Monday morning the twenty fifth of March and rested without the Town till Noon at which time we set out on our journey Bulbeys and at eight a Clock at night came to ly at Bulbeys we had a tryal then of these Panniers and for my part I was much at my ease for I had under me a good thick quilt and a Pillow and lay at full Length turning my feet sometimes towards the neck and sometimes towards the tail of the Camel though the Camel-drivers kept a heavy clutter crying that I spoil'd their Camel for they would have had me sit after the Turkish manner as all the rest did Next day Tuesday the twenty sixth of March we parted from Bulbeys at one a Clock after Noon and came to lodge at Corede where we arrived at eight in the Evening and we parted from thence next day Wednesday the twenty seventh of March at Noon and at eight a Clock in the Evening we came to Salahia Salabia Tamarisks there are very pleasant Woods of Tamarisks about all these places but though all of them were good Towns and Villages yet we lay abroad in Tents making a little Camp and in the Night-time Guards with Musquets were placed on all the Avenues of the Caravan who suffered none to come in or goe out they are payed for that and it is a very good course to prevent being Robbed Next day Thursday the twenty eighth of March at Noon we parted from Salahia and about ten a Clock at night crossed over a fair Bridge under which runs the Water of the Mediterranean Sea that remains on land when that Sea makes any Inundation so we were told but it is probable it may be the Sirbonite Lake Sirbonite Lake We travelled on till five a Clock in the morning next day when we encamped in a place called Elbir Devedar because of a dirty Well of salt Water that is near to it Bir. for Bi r in Arabick signifies a Well the Beasts are watered there but such as have not provided themselves of fresh Water know what it is to want it at that place We parted from thence the same day Friday the twenty ninth of March about noon and betwixt three and four of the Clock we found upon the Road a Well called Bi r like the former but continued traveling till nine a Clock at night Catie when we arrived at Catie where we rested the next day being Saturday the thirtieth of March because of the Jews who do not travel on Saturday and there being a good many of them in the Caravan they had credit enough with the master of the Caravan to obtain this Catie is a Village where there is indeed a well of water that is not indeed salt but still unpleasant for drinking as being very sweetish but two miles from Catie there is a well of Water which is good after that it hath stood a little at Catie we ate fresh Fish half as long as ones Arm as broad and thick as Carpes and of as good a rellish they did not cost us a Maidin or five farthings a piece Cachef Saturday after noon the Cachef of Catie pressed our Camels th fetch wood from the Sea-side which is but a little way off and they did not come back till the next day Sunday at One a clock in the Morning which hindred us from Parting from Catie till the day after The Cachef of Catie sent for me to shew me some Books he had got a great many Latin and French Books of Physick and Chirurgery that had belonged to a Dutch Chirurgeon who died there some Months before as he was coming from Caire with the Caravan which the Cachef signified by Letter to the French Consul at Caire he told me that he had a Chest full of them he shewed me also holy Sepulchres and other such Relicks of the same Dutch-mans and gave me some of them having afterward treated me with Coffee he asked me wherein he could serve me I thanked him heartily for his civility and being returned to my Tent made up a Box of Raisins Almonds and such other Fruits which are there a great Treat and presented it to him We parted from Catie Monday the first of April at nine a clock in the Morning and four Turks armed with Muskets and Shables waited on us as a guard to Riche because we were afraid to be set upon by the Arabs About two a clock we found a shallow and narrow but very long Pit
full of very white Salt Salt of Rain-water and they assured us that that Salt was made only by the Rain-water the sand of that place having such vertue as being without doubt very Salt and the like is to be seen in Alexandria Birlab We came to Birlab about ten a Clock at night which is a Desart without any Hibitation but hath three wells of Salt-water We set out from thence next day Tuesday the second of April about ten a Clock in the morning and about noon came to a well of good fresh water lately made by a Sangiac of Aegypt for all Travellers Bi r Acat About six a clock at night we arrived at a place called Bi r Acat which is also in the Desart having neither habitation nor water to water Beasts and all these ways are full of Quick-Sands We lay there and parted on Wednesday the third of April about six a clock in the Morning and about one of the clock at noon we found a Well called Sibil el bar Acat newly made by an Aga who passed that way a little before on his Journey to Constantinople Sibil signifies a place where all may have water for God's sake This Well is covered with a Dome supported by four walls of free-stone built square the entry into it is by two Doors over against one another but one must first ascend four or five steps The Cistern is covered all over with free-stone except in two round places big enough to let a Bucket down by which the water is drawn that rises pretty high half a fathom of Rope being sufficient to reach it This Aga left a fond to maintain some Arabs who daily bring thither so many Camels laded with fresh Water which they take at a place near the Sea. Having there made a provision of Water we entered again into the Quick-Sands Riche which lasted as far as Riche where we arrived about four in the Afternoon A quarter of an hour before we got there we were overtaken by a Storm which lasted above thirty hours Riche is a Village not far distant from the Sea it hath a Castle well built of little Rock-Stones as all the Houses are and the Cachef of it as well as he of Zaka depends on the Cachef of Catie Zaka They have so many lovely ancient Marble-Pillars at Riche that their Coffee-Houses and wells are made of them and so are their Burying-places full We parted from Riche Thursday the fourth of April about one a clock at noon having eight Turks with us who guarded us to Cauniones Cauniones for fear of the Arabs An hour after we parted from Riche we found a Sibil of Salt Water We still travelled on through Quick-Sands though it blew very hard Rained Thundered and Lightened and about midnight came to Zaka which is in the Desart without any Habitation but has only three Wells of bad Water and yet the Corsairs come often there to take in fresh Water Friday the fifth of April the Wind after a great deal of Rain calming we parted from Zaka about nine a Clock in the Morning and travelled in good way a little after twelve of the Clock we found three fair Marble-Pillars two standing and one lying along upon the ground and a little after a large Well of good Water where there are Sakis there we began to see a very pleasant Countrey and some Corn-Land sometime after we found a Sibil of bitter Water which is close by Cauniones where we arrived about three in the Afternoon they have so many Marble-Pillars there also that their Coffe-Houses stand all upon such There we began to see abundance of Trees and a great deal of good Meadow ground and indeed both the Cattel and Inhabitants of that Place from the biggest to the least are extreamly Fat. There is a very fair Castle there with a large open place in it The Turks lodge in the Castle where there is a Saki of very good Water and the Moors and Felas live in the Houses without This Castle is commanded by a Muteferaca who has but a small number of Soldiers with him in it he depends immediately on Caire from whence he has his pay and his Soldiers are payed by the Cachef of Catie Cauniones is in Aegypt which here ends We parted from Cauniones on Saturday the sixth of April before five in the Morning guarded by seven or eight Turks of the Place who went with us to Gaza for fear of the Arabs About six a clock we found a Sibil of bitter Water and about seven another better a little after we discovered the Town of Gaza half an hour after eight we found a Bridge under which runs the water of the Meadows which are very spacious and at the end of that Bridge there is a well of good Water the Countrey abounds in fair Cattle and all sorts of Fruit-Trees about an hour after we found two Sibils not far distant from one another and about half an hour after ten we arrived at Gaza where we Encamped near the Castle in a little Burying-place walled about CHAP. XXXVI Of the Cities of Gaza and Rama and our arrival at Jerusalem Gaza THE City of Gaza is about two miles from the Sea and was anciently very Illustrious as may be seen by its Ruines for you have Marble-Pillars every where and I have seen Burying-places there where the Tombs were wholly made of Marble among others there is one enclosed with a wall which belongs to some particular Turkish Family and is full of lovely Sepulchres made of large pieces of excellent Marble which are the remains and evidences of the ancient splendour of that Town It was one of the five Lordships of the Philistins Lordships of the Philistins to which Samson did so much hurt nay and one day carried away upon his Shoulders the Gates of this City and left them upon a little hill at a miles distance The Castle is near the Town and is round with a Tower at each corner four in all it is kept in good order and has but a small circumference but two Iron-Gates Hard by this Castle is the Serraglio of the Basha's Wives and joining to it above some pieces of old wall of a matter so compact that it cannot be broken with a Hammer it is the ruines of the Castle of the Romans The Town is but very little it hath a Bezestein in very good order and a pretty large Greek Church whereof the arched Roof in the middle is supported by two great Pillars of Marble with their Corinshes of the Corinthian order they say that our Lady was three days there when she fled into Aegypt The Armenians have a Church there also Near to the Castle of Gaza behind the Burying-place where we Encamped is the place where the Palace of the Philistins stood which Samson pulled down Smothering himself and all that were within it it is now no more but a heap of
the Reys calling as loud as ever he could made them at length hear him and the Greeks who were at Jaffa to know him Then in stead of Alarga they called to us Taala which exceedingly rejoyced us and the meaning of that was that we should come in so that we entered the Port about ten a Clock at Night For my part I was afraid it might have been a Trick that so they might have easily sunk us when we were got nearer But it proved otherwise for we were received as Friends We found all the People in Arms ready to flie and the Women and Children were already gone from Jaffa Here we had the comfort to be pittied that we should have been Rifled even by Christians for they knew us as having been once before at Jaffa and had had intelligence of our being taken We stayed at Jaffa for fair Weather until Friday the four and twentieth of May when the Wind presenting we set out about Noon and within two or three Hours after were got out of sight of Land the Wind calming in the Evening we came to an Anchor and next Morning Saturday the five and twentieth of May by break of day we weighed and sailed upon a Wind about three or four a Clock in the Afternoon we made Land and standing in to it came to an Anchor at Sun-setting not being able to weather a Cape on head of us because the Wind was contrary Next day being Sunday the six and twentieth of May we weighed by break of day and presently made two Sail whereof the one seemed to be a Ship and the other a Galliot we rowed off from them as much as we could and at length after some hours lost sight of them but about Noon again we saw the Galliot a stern of us Our Consort ran presently ashoar and instead of doing the like we rowed and made all the sail we could so that in a short time we lost sight of the Galliot once more but making her again a little after we rowed again a little and so lost sight of her the third time At first when we made those Sails my mind misgave me that some Misfortune attended us and indeed I was an unlucky Prophet for I told the rest that as yet we were too far from Damiette to be taken and that as we had been already taken within ten Miles of Acre so we should be taken within ten Miles of Damiette Having then lost sight of that Galliot once more about six a Clock at Night we came to an Anchor at a place from whence we could see three Vessels riding at an Anchor also Our design was so soon as it should be Night and calm to endeavour to double a point of Land that we were not far short of and then we would have been pretty near Damiette and avoided that which befel us but our Company slept too long for Monday the seven and twentieth of May they turned out about two hours before day and having weighed Anchor made all the way they could with Sails and Oars but at break of day when we were not twenty miles from Damiette we saw two Cayques full of Men coming against us then would our Company have stood back again but it was too late And the Cayques making up with all speed a Turk who was a Passenger with us tied his bundle about his Neck and jumping over-board got quickly ashoar without the loss of any thing the rest whether it was that they could not Swim so well or that they hoped we might gain shoar before they could board us did not imitate him I had then some apprehensions that they as well as the Corsairs might discharge their choler upon us who were Franks But at length the Cayques being come within Musquet-shot of us all the Turks who were Passengers in our Sanbiquer leaped over-board to save themselves on shoar and the Greeks having fired the two Petreras they had did the same It pitied me much to see these poor People flie from their own House for so I call their Sanbiquer and to leave all their Goods to the Plunder and Discretion of those Mad-men carrying nothing with them but a Chaplet or two of certain Bisket which they sell strung upon Chaplets Presently one of the Caiques fired a Cros-bar Shot out of a Blunderbuss into our Poop Corsairs that were Franks which had it hit but a hands breadth lower would have killed us all and sunk the Sanbiquer to rights but seeing no body appear on board of us they made after those who were making their escape to shoar for being near land the water was very shallow which made the Soldiers finding ground to jump into the Sea with a Sword in one hand and a Pistol in the other and pursue the poor Wretches firing at those whom they could not overtake In the interim I prayed our Capucin and another French Monk that was with us to go up upon the Deck and put out a white Flag which they did and putting up a Handkerchief upon the end of a stick called in French to those who remained in the Caiques that we were French they bid us lower our Sail which we easily did but it was so great that we could not furl it In the mean time it covered all our Sanbiquer and they fearing there might be more still hid underneath durst not come but having told them that without their assistance they could not furl it and that they need not fear any thing they came on board where knowing us to be Franks they offered us not the least injury as the former had done only took of our baggage and things what they found here and there in the Vessel though we ourselves kept still a good share of them It was then a sad spectacle to see the Soldiers return loaded with Spoyl leading by the hand those whom they had taken a-shoar and who were all stript to the shirt as soon as they had been taken When they were come on board our Sanbiquir they search'd in all places to see if they could find any thing worth the taking and made Captive seven Turks in all Being all on board our Sanbiquer or in their own Caiques they carried us to their Ships and by the way told us how they had made us the evening before but that not having seen a Galliot which they had in company for two days they took our Sanbiquer for her till next morning when we stood close in by the shoar they were convinced it was not she and that if they had not taken us for their Galliot they would have given us a visite the same evening that they saw us CHAP. LXIII Of what happened on Board the Corsairs so long as we were with them and our Arrival at Damiette WIthin an hour we came on board the Corsairs being two Ships the one Commanded by Captain Santi called otherwise Ripuerto of Legorn and the other by Captain Nicolo of Zante We were made
of the wrongs which the Franks daily do to the Greeks their Countrey men and indeed we took that resolution only that we might be delivered out of the miseries that we endured a Board of these Ships for besides the bad entertainment we had there which we could not have born with much longer we were daily in danger of being taken and burn'd a live or at least made Slaves if these Corsairs had been taken as indeed it was to me a great wonder that the Turks should suffer these Blades to stop the entry into Damiette seeing they needed do no more but man out five or six good Sayques with an hundred and fifty or two hundred men a piece and fall upon these Corsairs whom they might easily have taken Besides that we were hourly in danger of being wounded if the Ships came to an Engagement and durst not defend our selves for if we had once taken Arms we must have laid aside all thoughts of setting Foot on Turkish Ground where we might be known by one or other that had Escaped or been Ransom'd out of the hands of the Corsairs In reality the life of a Corsair is a most wretched life both for this World and the next and certainly there is nothing but I could do rather than be engaged in it When we left our Corsairs we were fifteen miles from Damiette where we arrived in three hours time and so soon as we came to the place where the water of the Nile mingles with the Sea which is a good mile out at Sea from the mouth of the River for the different colours of the River-water and Sea-water may easily be seen There came out some Germes to unload our Saycot because at this place loaded Vessels cannot come in for want of Water These Germes are great Boats with high sides and very light they are Lighters open fore and aft having no Deck that they may take in the more Goods They came about us in such numbers every one striving to be the first that some of them were like to have run down our Saycot When they had lighttened us a little and we were got into the mouth of the Nile we took our Goods in again out of the Germes and in half an hours time went up the River to Damiette about two miles from the mouth of it For defence of this entry there is only a sorry tower in form of a Castle wherein are some Guns mounted which were those that Fired at the Corsairs Being upon the Nile we drank our Bellies full of good Water thinking our selves to be come out of Hell into Paradice as we came from Sea into a River however we were still fearful of going a-shoar at Damiette where being come we quickly dispatched a Monk to find out the House of a French Man whom we knew to be there the danger not being so great for a Religious Person as for us He speedily came back to us again and having given some Crowns which we had saved from the Corsairs to the Greeks of the Saycot for they would needs be paid for our Passage and that at a dear rate too without calling to mind that we had begg'd their Saycot for them We step'd a-shoar over the Galliot which had been the day before attacked by our Corsairs We went to that French Merchants House who made us very welcome and told us that that Galliot came from Satabia and that they on Board were three hundred Men having with them fifteen thousand Piastres wherewith they were going to Trafick at Mecha and that they had had one Man Killed and three Wounded Had our Corsairs minded their business as they should they would have enriched themselves for all these Turks were well Cloathed and able to pay Ransoms being all Rich after we had rested our selves a little we went to the Bishop of the Greeks to acquaint him with our Disaster and to desire his Protection and Certificate that we were not Corsairs Afterward we kept very private within doors but the People of the Countrey were so far from abusing us that they pitied our misfortune and three Turks came to see us and told us that they were of those that were on Board that Polaque which ran foul of our Sanbiquer in the night-time and had swam a-shoar They asked us news of their Comrades that were made Slaves and we desired to know of them what was become of the other nine who jump'd into the Sea with them but they told us that they could not tell what was become of them they were certainly Drowned and indeed it requires a very good Heart to swim above two Leagues We had no sight of Damiette Damiette but upon our Arrival not daring to walk abroad in the Streets all we could observe was that it is a very handsome well built long Town yet not so long as Rossetto It was anciently called Pelusium and lyes upon a Branch of the River of Nile which discharges it self into the Sea two miles below this Town that makes one Angle of the Delta CHAP. LXIV Our Departure from Damiette and Arrival at Caire TVesday the fourth of June Departure from Damiette for Caire we Embarked in a little Bark that we had hired for our selves but the Wind not being good we made but little way till Thursday the sixth of June when a fair Wind presenting we past by Mansoura on the left hand This is a pretty neat long Town Mansoura Sammenud but we stopt not at it Friday the seventh of June we passed by Sammenud on our right hand which appears to be a Handsome Town but it is ancient and ruinous Saturday the eighth of June we left Metegamr to the left hand Metegamr a pretty neat Town half way betwixt Damiette and Caire Monday the tenth of June in the Morning we passed by that place where the River divides it self into two Channels one whereof goes to Damiette and the other to Rossetto and at length about eleven a Clock in the Forenoon we arrived at Boulac where we paid a Piastre a piece and from thence we took Asses and rode to Caire where the Merchants wondered to see us in so bad plight for I had not so much as a pair of Pabouches having lost them on board the Corsairs and all the Cloathes I had were a Wast-coat a pair of Drawers and my Capot However they had been informed that we had been twice taken by Corsairs for it was known all along the Coast And they thought we had been carried to Malta and so many times I thought we should for the Corsairs told us that if they could but take a Prize that might be worth the pains such as a good Sayque loaded with Rice they would stand away for Malta CHAP. LXV Of the Publication of the Growth of the Nile THE publication of the wonderful growth of the Nile The growth of the Nile begins to be made on St. Peter and St. Paul's day or the day
King of Aethiopia to spend several days about that Fountain which is twelve days Journey from Gonthar the Capital City of Aethiopia This Spring sends its Water Northwards through a long tract of Land which having passed seven Cataracts or Falls that are very high places from which it falls plumb down making a roaring noise at every one of these Cascades and having run through all Aegypt it discharges itself into the Mediterranean Sea by the two mouths of Rossetto and Damiette Now the cause why Nile overflows so regularly in the Summer-time is only because when they have Summer in Aegypt it is Winter in Aethiopia where for three months time the Rain that continually falls running by Torrents into the main River makes it to swell extraordinarily and nevertheless there are no Mountains near to that Spring head for the Mountains that are nearest to it are the Jews Mountains whereof I shall make some mention hereafter and these are three Weeks Journey from it It is a Vulgar errour then that this River has its Source from an unknown place The source of the Nile is not unknown as also that those who live near the Cataracts of Nile are deaf and a greater still what some say that the Grand Signior pays Tribute to the King of Aethiopia to let the Nile run in its usual Channel for it is not in his power to divert it The Mountains of the Jews are but two in number of which the one is called Semain and the other Sallemt Semain Sallemt They were heretofore Inhabited by Jews who became powerful under the command of one called Ghidhon which the King of Aethiopia perceiving marched out against them reduced them to duty Ghidhon chief of the Jews and at length that they might attempt no Innovation for the future he dispossessed them of the Mountains and brought them down into a Plain Inhabited by Christians whom he sent into their Mountains on which there always lyes a great deal of Snow CHAP. LXX Of the Esine that was kept at Caire in my time IN the month of November there was an Esine kept at Caire that is to say Esine a publick Rejoicing because the Turks had taken two Castles in Hungary It was proclaim'd on the eighth of November after noon there being a man who cried it in every Quarter and the chief Cryer went in a Caftan to advertise the Beys and Consuls and got money in the Streets They Cried it for seven days to begin on Saturday the ninth of November at the hour of Evening Prayers though it used not to last above three days This Saturday morning the Guns were fired from the Castle which continued to be done every morning as long as the Esine lasted and then all fell to work before their doors the poorest Man that is being ready on such occasions to lay out somewhat on Lamps and Stuffs It is a very pleasant thing to be seen especially in the Night-time when one may go abroad with greater safety and freedom than in the day at any other time for by Lamp-light they cannot tell whether your Turban be white or of any other Colour and so they know not whether you be Christian or Turk All the streets are full of Lamp-lights but especially some wherein there are a vast number of Lights not only before the Gates but within the Houses of the Beys and other Persons of Quality Besides that the streets are hung with lovely Hangings of Cloath of Gold and other rich stuffs among others there are some Streets wherein all the Shops are hung with Cloath of Gold and rich silk Stuffs flowered with Gold. In many places also you may see pleasant figures of Christian Franks which to them is a great Diversion Besides the Tapistery and Lamps which are to be seen in the Houses of the Beys they make a shew also in the entry of all sorts of Arms and Armour as Head-pieces Corslets Coats of Mail Musquets Swords and Targets c. which are ranked in very good order The Consuls are likwise obliged to act their parts in the Solemnity though it were even a rejoycing for a Victory obtained by the Turks over their own Country else they would have an Avanie put upon them and therefore when they keep an Esinie for a Victory over the Venetians the Consul of Venice is obliged to do as others do if he had not rather pay the next day a swinging Avanie There they expose besides Lamps and Tapistry several excellent Pictures which the Turks look upon with a great deal of pleasure especially when it is some good Face thinking it impossible that we should have such Beauties in Christendom nay that there can be any such in the World. The Women came also being allowed then as at Bairam to go abroad and see the Festival yet not the great Ladies as those of the Basha's Beys and others of higher Quality but only those of an inferiour Condition This is very expensive to the Consuls and to all that would make any shew for besides some hundreds of Lamps and the Tapistry which must be hired it is the custom to treat all those who come to see what is before the House with Coffee and if they be People of Honour and Fashion they must give them Sorbet also nay and Sweet-meats too And for that end every Consul had before his House a piece of Tapistry hung out on each side of the Street and Hangings all round leaving only a Passage between under these kind of Pavillions on each side of the Street there were some hundreds of Lamps and a great many Pictures as likewise at the Avenues of the Street with Chairs and rich Cushions for those that come to see to sit on And no sooner did any come how mean soever he was but he had Coffee and Tobacco brought to him so that the Expence went high for betwixt morning early and three a Clock after Midnight many thousands of People came This Festival ended on Friday Morning the fifteenth of November so that the Esine lasted but six days though it had been cried for seven because the Inferiour sort of People were at too great Charges and got nothing for during that time no Man was suffered to Work. CHAP. LXXI Of the Desarts of St. Macharius The Journey to the Desarts of St. Macharius ONE should also see the Desarts of St. Macharius where there are four Monasteries to wit of St. Macharius the Syrians Balsarion and of our Lady I did not see them having still put it off from day to day However I will here give you a Relation of them which I got You must take Water at Boulac with a Janizary or two and fall down as far as a Village called Terrana where there is a Cachef to whom it will not be a miss to make some small present of Sweet-meats or the like that you may be the better protected by him Then the Janizaries wait upon the said
Fish Crocodiles are Amphibious Animals for they live both in the Water and upon Land They have a Head flat above and below the Eyes indifferently big and very darkish which has made many say that they always weep after once they are taken but it is a fable They have a long sharp Snout full of long and sharp Teeth but no Tongue The Body is large and all of a bigness the Back covered with high Scales like the heads of the Nails in a Court-Gate of a greenish Colour and so hard that they are proof against a Halbard they have a long Tail covered over with Scales like the Body their Belly below is white and pretty tender They have four short thick Legs there being five Claws in each of the Fore-feet and only four in the Hind-feet In a word a Crocodile resembles very much a Lizard and grows as long as it lives some of them are above twenty Foot in length but I have seen little ones half a Foot long This and the Hippopotamus are the only Animals who in eating move the upper Jaw and move not at all the under The Crocodile is very strong and one day as I caused one of them which was eight Foot long to be skinned four Men stood upon it whilst they were slitting up his Belly but it stirred and strugled with so much force that it threw them all four off it is also very strong liv'd for when they skin it after they have cut the Throat and opened the Belly of it if it catch hold of any thing in its mouth it will never part from it As it happened once to a Moor whom I knew who having skinned one for a French-man who had a mind to keep the Skin and cutting the Throat had separated the Head from the Body so that there remained no more but the Head sticking to the Skin all the flesh being taken out he untied the Snout but immediately thereupon the Jaws opening caught hold of one of his Fingers which with its Teeth it cut clear off The flesh of a Crocodile is not bad but it is somewhat insipid and not at all poysonous as many believe for I have tasted of it and found it to be good the Barbarians eat heartily and make a great Feast of it These Creatures are great lovers of Mens flesh and therefore they are very terrible all along the Nile not only to little Boys whom they frequently devour when they come to the River-side to do their Needs for these cunning creatures hide themselves but also to Men whom they surprise sometimes in their Boats. For in the Night-time they rise upright and thrusting their Snout into the Boat endeavour to catch hold of a Man and if they can but pull him into the Water they quickly master him and that is the reason that no Body will willingly venture to Swim in the Nile It is another most erroneous fable also that a Crocodile will weep like a young Child to draw People about it whom it may devour How Crocodiles are taken it is a thing altogether unknown in that Country To catch these Creatures they make a great many Pits by the River-side which they cover over with Sticks and such other things and so when they come to pass over these Ditches especially when the Water encreases which is the time when most of them are taken because then they venture farthest out they fall into them and cannot get out again They let them fast there for several days then let down some Gins with running Nooses wherewith they muzzle their Snout and so pull them up and carry them to the Quarters of the Franks The Moors say That at old Caire there is a Talisman against the Crocodiles which makes that they never pass beyond old Caire but that is false for there are of them at Rossetto and Damiette and they are to be seen upon the way to Caire not indeed in any great number because commonly they keep off from the Sea but there some at least to be found there They never come into the Khalis because as I think it is narrow but if they did they might do a great deal of mischief for when the Water runs in it it is full of Swimmers Hippopotamus There are Hippopotamuses or Sea-Horses also in this River and there was one taken at Girge in the Year 1658. which was immediately brought to Caire where I saw it in the Month of February the same Year This Creature was of a kind of Tawny Colour the hinder part of it was much like to a Buffler however its Legs were shorter and bigger it was about the bigness of a Camel and had a Muzzle like an Ox. The Head of it is like to a Horses and very great but its Eyes small It had a very thick Neck a little Ear wide and open Nostrils thick large Feet and almost round with four Toes in each like a Crocodile a little Tail like an Elephant and little or no Hair upon the Skin no more than an Elephant In the lower Jaw it had four great Teeth half a Foot long two whereof were crooked and as big as the Horns of an Ox and one on each side of the Jaw the other two were streight and of the same bigness as the crooked but standing out in length Many said at first that it was a Sea-Buffler but some others and I knew it to be a Sea-Horse because of the description that is given of it by Writers It was brought Dead to Caire by some Janizaries who shot it on Land where it was come to feed they fired several shot at it before it fell for the Bullets hardly pierced through its Skin as I observed but they fired one shot which hit it on the Jaw and made it fall For many years before such an Animal had not been seen at Caire But to return to the Nile this River causes all the fruitfulness of Aegypt and if it failed to overflow one year there would be a Famine in the Land nay if it did not rise sixteen foot there would be great Scarcity as also if it grew four and twenty foot it would likewise occasion a Dear 〈◊〉 because the water covering all the Land too long Seed-time would be lost when it ebbs off it leaves a fat nitrous slime upon the ground which so fattens the Land that it would produce nothing through too much Fatness if they did not sow Sand upon it before they plant or sow any thing therein so that they are at the same pains to put Sand on their Land to unfatten it as we are to Dung ours Not that it never rains there as many Dreamers would have us believe in Christendom squeezing their Brains to give a reason for that which is not in Nature for it rains much at Alexandria and Rossetto also but at Caire which stands higher it rains less and yet I have seen it rain very hard every year for two days together in the
is very light In that Canal there is plenty of Fish which none dare take for the Turks will not suffer it saying that if any eat of them they fall sick They may be seen playing in the Water which is so clear that one may easily see to the Bottom this place is shut with a very thick Stone-gate whose Pivots are of one piece with the Gate and turn above and below in the Lintel and Threshold The Castle of Aleppo reaches in length from North-East to South-West and is of an oval Figure aswell as the Town which must be seen from Mount Angeletti a quarter of a League to the Westward of it From thence you have a fair prospect thereof and may perceive that it reaches from North-East to South-West This hill is called by the Francks Monte Della Angeletti because there are many little Birds there Angeletti called by the Arabs Meeez and by the Turks Pendgeali All the Houses of Aleppo are better built than in any other place of Turkey that I have seen There are a great many fair Mosques in it The great Mosque of Aleppo and amongst others the great Mosque which is to be seen from the great field from which it bears betwixt North and East It hath a large Court almost square paved with lovely black and white Marble towards the middle there is a great Bason covered with a Dome rough cast over supported by six Marble-Pillars and on the side towards the South there is a Fountain covered with a Dome in the same manner but less which is also supported by six Marble-Pillars A Gallery or very wide vaulted Porch runs all round the Court and that Gallery hath seventeen Arches in length and eleven in breadth under which they who have performed the Abdest or other purification say their Prayers this Gallery is terrassed over-head On the North side in the middle of the front is the Chair or Pulpit of St. John Damascene wherein he Preached and it is upon the side of the Terrass This Chair is of Stone covered with a Dome of the same they enter it from the Terrass under an Arch on each side before it there is a round Stone-Balcony pierced through and wrought in the sides and over-head a Pent-house of Stone to keep the Preacher from the Rain The Entry into this Mosque is on the East and West sides on the West side there is a Court joyning the Mosque into which they go from the great Mosque by a little door in the middle of this Court there is a Bason and from the Court there is an Entry into a little Mosque covered with a Stone-Dome rough cast This Mosque with the Court was anciently the Church of St. John Damascene and there is a Crucifix painted on the inside still to be seen but the Vaults that covered the Court have been demolished There is another Mosque near the great Khan towards the West covered with a Dome of excellent Architecture it is of a very great circumferrence and on the outside hath butteresses of most delicate structure to strengthen the Walls The Adelie a Mosque this Dome is covered with Lead The Mosque is called the Adelie from the Name of its Founder and its Minaret hath been beat down by Thunder There is also another fair Mosque near the great Khan betwixt the East and South which hath a lovely Court where two ranges of Pillars support and make two very good Porticos This Mosque hath a very high fair Dome covered with Lead as all the other Domes of the Mosques of this City are The great Khan of Aleppo There are many fair Khans in Aleppo and amongst others the great Khan where the Consuls of England and France and many Merchants lodge The Portal of it is very lovely and hath Roses cut upon it as delicately as can be done in any place of Christendom It hath two great Iron-gates covered all over with Nails and though they be half a foot thick yet there is a hole quite thorough which they say was made by a Musket-shot fired by one of the Soldiers of Asan Basha when he was in rebellion against the Grand Seignior By these Gates you enter into a very large Court in the middle whereof there is a little Mosque in figure of a Dome covered with Lead the truth is this Mosque does some Injury to the beauty of the Khan There is a vast number of Domes in Aleppo and it seems that way of building hath had its Original in this City for most part of the Inhabitants build all their houses Dome-ways Houses Dome-ways wherein they succeed extraordinarily well nay even their Villages are all Domes though they be of Earth and a little sharp pointed They also build Stone-minarets very high and slender and give very good proofs that they are not ignorant of Architecture To say the truth the People of Aleppo are very industrious and ingenious and easily imitate whatever they see and whatever is brought to them from Christendom There are very fair Bazars and very beautifull houses in Aleppo you 'll see lovely Halls there with Fountains in the middle and three Divans cross-ways and all of Mosaick work even to the top or at least built of white Free-stone and certain Black-stones that are found near to Aleppo which are layed alternately one after another Checker-ways There are other Divans encompassed with very high Marble-Pillars Divans and most of these Divans have large Windows before which there are Matts to set on for the convenience of prospect and fresh Air. Since Aleppo is a City of great trade it will not be amiss to say somewhat of the Value of Weights and the Moneys that are most current there Weights and Moneys Rottle The weights that are used in that Countrey for gross Commodities are the Rottle and the Oque The Rottle weighs commonly six hundred Drachms or five hundred Pound weight of Marseilles The Rottle of Persian Silk contains six hundred and fourscore Drachms or five Pound and a third of Marseilles weight the Rottle of Aleppo is of seven hundred and twenty Drachms or five Pound weight and a half of Marseilles Oque The Oque contains four hundred Drachms or three Pounds of Marseilles and so it is at Damascus At Aleppo the Piastre of Ryals is worth fourscore Aspres the Boquelle threescore and ten the Schaied is worth five Aspres sixteen Schaieds go for a Piastre and fourteen for a Boquelle At Aleppo and Damascus they rub all the Roots of the Vines with a kind of Asphaltum A Remedy against Worms in Vines which they purposely melt to anoint the Vines with from the Root a foot and a half high and that prevents the Grapes from being eaten by certain Worms which otherwise would destroy all That stuff is of a shining black almost transparent and very light it is brought to Aleppo from Damascus and is called Kfr it is got out of the Earth near
and amongst others we saw a flight altogether like Francolines save that they have an unpleasant smell though the flesh of them be firm and very good to eat They were so numerous that I think a grain of small shot could not have past through without hitting some of them and they made a Cloud above five hundred paces in length and fifty in breadth About six a Clock we began to have little hills on our right hand which lasted about two hours And we passed near to one out of which they have Sulphur which they purifie and melt into Canes This Sulphur is a very white Earth for we were pretty near that hill which is almost wholely of Sulphur We stopped on the Curdistan shoar two hundred paces from thence about Sun-setting and rested upon the ground by the Water-side some of the Company stayed on board to guard the Kelecks for the Arabs when they see Kelecks many times come swimming and take what they can and then make their escape in the same manner They have besides the cunning when they are swimming to put some branches of trees upon their heads that it may not be thought they are men The water over against these hills is no broader than the length of the Pont Marie at Paris That Night we had a very hot Wind which sometimes brought with it cold gusts also and I observed they were not so strong as the others I was afraid it might have been the Samiel because it blew from that hill of Sulphur Next Morning being Saturday the ninth of August we embarked about break of day Hills of Sulphur We still saw on the side of Mesopotamia some hills of Sulphur which we smelt We met several People Men Women and Girls that crossed the Water stark naked having a Borrachio under each Arm-pit and their baggage on their heads and amongst the rest we saw two Girls who swam over without any help Half an hour after Sun-rising we perceived on the Water-side to the left hand Houses of Arabs several of the Arabs houses square and about two fathom high they were made of Poles and covered with leaves their Cattel were hard by and also their Horses which are always saddled These are their Summer-houses for in the Winter-time they shelter themselves under their Tents of black Goats hair Alyhamam Hot Baths About six a Clock we stopt at a Village called Alyhamam in Mesopotamia there are a great many natural hot Baths there and I make no doubt but these Waters run through Sulphur The People of the Countrey have dugg great Pits in the Earth under little Domes wherein they bath themselves for my own part I thought it enough to wet a finger therein and found it very hot but not scalding Sick people come there from all quarters and are cured but especially Lepers There are a great many always there from Mosul which is but a days Journey of Caravan distant All the Houses of this Village are by the Water-side they are all about two fathom square and the Walls and Roofs are onely of Canes interlaced with branches of Trees we rested there about two hours and then continued our Voyage The Sun that day was several times overcast with Clouds that did us a great kindness after Noon we stopt a little to stay for the other Keleck which was not come up About three a Clock we came to Asiguir Asiguir which is a place where the remains of the Foundation of a Bridge are still to be seen over which the Water runs with so much noise that we heard it half an hour before we came to the place When we were got there we went a shoar on the left hand because there is onely a small passage near Land for the Kelecks and in the Summer-time it is so shallow that many times they are forced to keep in the middle and go over stones that rise to the brim of the Water and make a kind of cascade or fall We all took our Arms to defend us against the Lions which are there in great Numbers amongst little Coppises however we saw none When the Keleck had passed near the shoar the current carried it into the middle of the River so that it could not stop till it came to an Island which is about fifty paces from the main Land and thither we went to it up to the knees in water A little after we had a great many hills to the right hand and on the first of them there is still some remains of a Castle called Top-Calai that 's to say the Castle of Cannons Top-Calai they say it was built by Nimrod as well as that Bridge which he had built for his convenience in going to his Mistress whom he kept on the other side Besides that we saw a great many other hills of Sulphur and one amongst the rest very high the Sulphur whereof appeared very yellow and smelt strong About half an hour after we saw the end of these Mountains and had others on the left hand covered over with Trees A quarter of an hour after we saw on the left hand River of Zarb the place where the River of Zarb falls into the Tigris It 's a great River more than half as broad as the Tigris very rapid and the Water thereof is whitish and cold They say that it comes very far off from the Mountains of Curdistan and is onely snow-Snow-water On the same side about a French League up in the Countrey there is a hill by it self on which are the Ruines of a Castle called Kchaf Kchaf Having passed this place which looks like a little Sea we had constantly to the left hand Woods full of Lions Boars and other wild Beasts We rowed on till the Sun was setting not knowing where to lye because we durst not go a shoar on the side of the Woods for fear of Lions and on the side of Mesopotamia we saw Arabs at length just at Sun-setting we stopt near Woods which are all of Tamarisk and Liquourice and set a guard both against Men and Beasts From Mosul to this place they reckon it two days Journey and a half by Caravan After midnight three Robbers stark naked approached but finding themselves discovered they dived into the water and disappeared nevertheless this gave us a great allarm for they who saw them ran in all haste to the Keleck crying out like men in extreme danger and the rest not knowing what the matter was and thinking that they had a Lion at their heels threw themselves desperately into the Keleck whilst those that were asleep on board awaking at the noise and imagining there was a Lion in the Keleck endeavoured to get out In short so great was the disorder that no man knowing what he did it is a wonder we did not kill one another Sunday the tenth of April about break of day we put forward again and half an hour after past by the foot of a
he takes a Camel or a Buffle he lays him on his Back and easily carries that Load but that he cannot do so with an He-Buffle nor a Sheep for he dares not set upon an He-Buffle because he would certainly be killed by him As to a Sheep that he can very well take and kill it though he cannot carry it but is obliged to drag it and the reason is because heretofore the Lion taking a Buffle or Camel said I carry it in the strength of God A Fable of the Lion. knowing that it was above his power but having found a Sheep he said I 'll carry this well enough by my own strength and therefore God punished his Presumption by disabling him to carry it This they have got from the Fables of damned Calilve They affirm moreover that the Lion understands what a man says and weeps when a man speaks The Arabs are not afraid of Lions The Arabs are not afraid of Lions and provided an Arab have but a stick in his hand he 'll pursue a Lion and kill him if he can catch him This evening about nine a clock one of the men of our Keleck with a Hook took a great Fish it was above five foot long A Fish as big as a man. and though it was as big as a man yet he told me it was a young one and that commonly they are much bigger The Head of it was above a foot long the Eyes four inches above the Jaws round and as big as a brass farthing the mouth of it was round and being opened as wide as the mouth of a Cannon so that my head could easily have gone into it about the mouth on the out-side it had four white long Beards of Flesh as big as ones little finger it was all over covered with scales like to those of a Carp it lived long out of the water died when they opened the Belly to skin it and was a Female the flesh of it was white tasted much like a Tunny and was as soft and loose as Flax. We embarked again next day the twelfth of August in the dawning and about two a clock after noon came to Tikri which is in Mesopotamia Tikri and the sixth Lodging of the Caravans from Mosul there we spent the rest of the day I endeavoured twice to go thither but could not because in ten or twelve places there is danger of breaking ones neck so that I rested satisfied to see the Houses which are to the water-side and are well enough built for that Countrey being all of rough Stone I understood that heretofore it had been a great Town but at present it is no more but ruins and hardly to be reckoned a good Village and indeed we had much ado to find Bread in it and to have a little Meat it behoved me to buy a whole Sheep It is built upon a very high Rock because of the overflowings of the Tygris which happens in the Spring for then it swells so considerably that it seems to be a little Sea and is deeper than in Summer by above four or five Pikes length as I might easily observe by the marks that remain on the Hills We had no Lions to be afraid of in that place but Robbers we had Wednesday the thirteenth of August we parted from thence about break of day Imam-Muhammeddour and about eight a clock saw to the left hand a Village called Imam-Muhammeddour from the name of a Mosque where they pay great Devotion all that I could observe in passing was a square Minaret that spires into a Pyramid About noon we saw many forsaken houses some ruinous and others not and that during the space of above two hours way but at distances one from another Eski-Bagdad they call that Eski-Bagdad the ancient Bagdad About two in the afternoon we stopt on the left hand because the wind was high At that time some of our company having gone a-shoar to sit under a Tree they had hardly made one step when they returned with all speed because they found that the wind was Samiel and told me that they felt the Air as it had been fire We staied there about two hours and then went on our way but the wind still continuing and being apprehensive that it might force us upon some Bank half an hour after we put a-shoar on the same side We were presently visited by the Arabs who told us that in the morning a Lion had carried away one of their Buffles I asked one of them if he run away when he met a Lion God forbid answered he a Man should never flie from a Lion seeing if a Lion perceive that he is resolute it will be sure to run first We kept Guard all night long against the Arabs and Lions whose roarings we heard every minute as well as the noise of the Karacoulacks the yelping of the Chakales and the barking of the Arabs Dogs Karacoulacks The Karacoulacks are Beasts somewhat bigger than Cats and much of the same shape they have long black ears almost half a foot long and from thence they have their name which signifies black-ear They are the Chiaoux of the Lions as the people of the Countrey say for they go some steps before them and are as it were their guides to lead them unto those places where there is Prey and have a share for their reward When that Beast calls the Lion it seems to be the voice of a Man calling another though the voice of this be a little shriller I was told that the Karacoulack and the Leopard were one and the same thing Chakales The Author was in that mistake in his first Travels The Chakales are as big as Foxes and have something of a Fox and something of a Wolf but are not Mongrels begot of them as many have said We were obliged then to keep Guard both towards the Land and Water as well against Men as Beasts Several told stories how that many Lions had come to Caravans and carried away men no body scarcely perceiving it because when a Lion swims he hides all his Body under water except the Nose so that he comes on so softly that he is not heard and when he is a-shoar he snatches a man and jumping into the water with him carries him over to the other side Whenever we heard a Fish stir in the water we took the allarm and that obliged us to make a fire and shoot off several Musquets because they say the Lion is afraid of fire About midnight we heard the voice of a Chakale near to us but when we spake it was silent and we all thought it was an Arab who had counterfeited the noise of a Chakale that seeing him afterwards come creeping upon all four we might not have been allarmed for they have the cunning to do so A little before day a real Chakale came within Musquet-shot of us but finding it self discovered fled These Chakales are
Bottles with a good deal of straw and two of these Chests make a Mules load They have also store of Capers Capers which they send also into all parts They preserve another thing in Vinegar which I never saw done any where else Preserved Grapes and that is Grapes which they gather half ripe and the time of gathering them they take to be when the Sparrows begin to peck them they put these Grapes into Bottles with good store of Vinegar which so macerates them that they lose their hardness yet no so as to become too soft or lose their Greenness only they look a little yellowish These Grapes preserved in Vinegar have a certain sweet acidity which is not unpleasant especially in the great heats and therefore they send great quantities of them into the Indies Rose-water They have also abundance of Roses from which they draw so much Rose-water that they furnish all the Indies with it They have a great deal of Corn but they give much of it to the Horses to be eaten in the blade because they say it would not come to maturity for want of water There is a great deal of Opium made at Schiras and round the Town there are large fields sowed with White Poppies A powerful Chan of Schiras In former times Schiras was Governed by a Chan who was the first of Persia and his Government reached as far as Lar Bender and the Isle of Ormus nay he was so powerful that in the Reign of the great Schah Abbas there was a Chan or Schiras called Imem-Couli-Chan who spent as much as the King and kept no smaller Family in so much that the King commanded him to spend a Mabmoudi less a day that there might be some difference betwixt their Expences Schah Sâ—fi grand Child of Schah Abbas and Father to Schah Abbas who Reigns at present put that Chan and all his Children to death because he was afraid that being so powerful he might play him some trick and after him there have been some Chans in Schiras but at present there is none a Vizier commands there as the Kings Farmer to whom he yearly pays out of his Government a thousand Tomaâ— which make a hundred and fifty thousand Crowns CHAP. III. Of the Road from Schiras to Bender and first to Lar. WE parted from Schiras Monday the sixteenth of March half an hour after Eight in the Morning having let the Caravan set out an hour and half before We took our way Southwards and past near the Lime-Kilns the way was good and in a lovely cultivated Plain Half an hour after Nine we had on our Left Hand a large Village called Oudgeval by which runs a Rivulet about half an hour after Ten we struck off a little to the Right Hand Oudgeval marching full South over Land all white with Salt where nothing grows but Abrotanum foemina An hour after we crossed over a Bridge of ten Arches under which a little River runs Abrotanum foemina It is called Poulifesa in coming to it you go along a Causey and find such another on the farther side the water that runs underneath is as salt as Sea-water Poulifesa about Noon we entered into a great Plain covered with green Grass where having Travelled till half an hour after One a Clock we came to a wretched Kervanseray standing all alone it is called Baba-Adgi from the name of its Founder who lies buried hard by and is five Agatsch from Schiras Baba-adgi close by this Kervanseray there is a little Spring which makes a great marish in that Plain but the water being naught they drink of another a little farther off which is very good water We parted from that place Tuesday the seventeenth of March half an hour after Six in the Morning and marched South-East in a great green Plain full of Heath where we saw on both hands several Villages and a great many Flocks of Sheep feeding having Travelled there till half an hour after two in the Afternoon we arrived at a Kervanseray standing by it self and called Mouzeferi seven Agatsch from Baba-Adgi near to it there is a Spring of very good water Mouzeferi behind the Kervanseray there are several vent-holes by which one may see the water run and Fish playing therein whereof some are pretty big We parted from thence on Wednesday the Eighteenth of March half an hour after five in the Morning and kept our way Southward going up Hills and down Hills covered with Turpentine-Trees and Heath this Heath is like Tragacantha and has a Carnation-Blossome divided into four or five Leaves bearing a kind of Wooll Turpentine-Trees Tragacantha Erigerum Paira and perhaps it is your Erigerum we were troubled with this rough and stony way till Noon that we arrived at a great Kervanseray called Paira which stands alone by it self and is four Agatsch distant from Monzeferi A few steps from that Kervanseray there is an artificial Canal drawn from a River a little beyond and parallel to it that River comes from the Mountains of Orostan which are above thirteen or fourteen days Journy from thence and runs as far as Tadivan a great Village Tadivan upon the way to Lar six Agatsch from Paira it afterwards loses it self in the fields which is not to be wondered at because these people having scarcity of water when they can command a River they so let it blood by drawing it off to water their Grounds that they reduce it to nothing nevertheless in those places where that River is in its strength it is seven or eight Fathom broad the water of it is clear and good and runs rapidly in a fair bed of Sand where there is not a stone to stop its course it is full of Fish Rose-Laurels and Planted on the sides with Rose-Laurels and such like Trees so that there can be nothing more charming to the sight The Canal that passes near to Paira is cut from it a little above this place and waters many Sowed fields which being done about four Agatsch lower it falls again into the same River from which it was never far distant but in all its course it runs through high ground whereas the River rowls with a great noise in a very deep precipice We parted from that place Thursday the Nineteenth of March at four of the Clock in the Morning and held our way South-Eastwards having met now and then with very stony ways we found afterwards a fair way where on each hand we saw good Corn-Land with a great many Villages where there were many Gardens full of Trees About eight a Clock in the Morning we arrived at a fair large Kervanseray Chafer called Kervanseray Chafer from the name of a Village close by it on the River-side which at this place is dwindled away almost to nothing this is a great Village and nothing to be seen in it but Gardens with long Walks in them
and at the Guard four Fingers broad at least but growing broader and broader it is five Fingers broad at the end and draws not into a point this man seems to present to the Woman a Posie of Flowers with the Right Hand and rests his Left Hand upon the Handle of his Sword. A little farther about ten Fathom from thence and at the same height of Ground Two other Figures there are two other Figures of the same bigness of which the first is of a young Man without a Beard whose curled Locks hang backwards behind his Head on it he carries a great Globe it might be taken for a Turban but in my Opinion it appears not to be his Head-attire though he hath no other he looks towards the neighbouring Figure and hath the Left Hand shut wherein he seems to hold somewhat the Right Hand is stretched out as if ready to receive what is presented to him The Figure that is by him seems to be of a Woman for she hath pretty round Breasts nevertheless she wears a Sword by her side like to that which I have just now described her Head-attire seems to be the Cap of a Dervisch somewhat long and all round upon her Left Shoulder she hath a little Basket or perhaps it is only the Tresses of her Hair she seems to present something with her Right Hand to the man who is looking towards her and her Left Hand is upon the Handle of her Sword. All these Figures seem to have the Body naked and only some few foldings of a Garment towards the Legs In short the two last are almost in the same posture and action as the two first but one cannot tell what it is they present to one another for the extremities of their Hands as well as many other parts of their Bodies are worn out and eaten by the weather The Work appears very well hath been good though all the proportions be not exactly observed I looked about all along the side of the Hill but could see no more and I believe there has been some Temple there This place is so covered with Trees and encompassed by Marishes by reason of the many Springs thereabouts that few people know of it and of all the Franks the Reverend Father Athanasius a bare-Footed Carmelite living at Schiras Father Athanasius was the first that found it out by chance as he was walking in that place and it being my fortune to pass by Schiras sometime after he led me to it The people of the Country call that place Kadem-Ghah that is to say the place of the step Kadem-Ghah because say they I know not what old Man walking in that place a Spring of water gushed out under his Foot it is but a few steps wide of the High-way that leads to the Salt-Lake an Agatsch distant from thence Though all these Antiquities be curious enough yet they are not that which they call the Antiquities of Tschehel-minar so much mentioned in Relations and which are in effect the same at present in Persia as the Pyramids are in Egypt that is to say the finest thing in its kind that is to be seen and the most worthy of observation One may go thither in coming from Ispahan by Main The way to Tschehel-Minar or Abgherim and the way is not long but the way to it from Schiras is by Badgega which is the first Kervanseray upon the Road to Ispahan and after two hours march from thence there are two ways whereof that to the Left goes to Ispahan you must leave it and take the way to the Right Hand which leads to Tschehel-minar Having Travelled about two hours and a half that way in a pretty good Road amongst Heath there is a Village on the Right Hand where one may stop and bait Having passed this Village you enter into a great Plain where after you have Travelled three quarters of an hour you pass over a Causey a Fathom and a half broad and about an hundred paces in length a little after you find another three hundred paces long and a little beyond that just such another having Travelled a little farther you go over another Causey five hundred paces in length beyond which after three quarters of an hours Journy you come to a great Bridge of two large Arches which is called Pouli-Chan in the middlemost Pillar of it there is a Room with some steps to go down to it which would be very delightful to take the fresh Air in if it were not uninhabitable by reason of the prodigious swarms of Gnats that haunt it The River of Bendemir runs under this Bridge and is at that place broad deep and full of Fish the water looking very white they assured me that it swells so high in the Winter-time that it reaches over the Arches almost level with the Parapet after you have passed that Bridge and Travelled an hour longer in a Plain you leave a Village upon your Left Hand and an hour after another to the Right and then within another hour you come to the Village called Mirchas-Chan near to which is Tschehel-minar being but a quarter of an hours Journy from it This Village stands in a most spacious and Fruitful Plain watered with a great many waters there you have a Kervanseray to Lodge in because in the Winter-time it is the way from Ispahan to Schiras and going Eastward but somewhat to the South from this Village you arrive at Tschehel-minar CHAP. VII Of Tschehel-minar and Nakschi Rustan I Am of their Opinion who will have Tschehel-Minar to be part of the Ancient Persepolis which was built in the place where at present stands the large Burrough of Mirkas Chan not only because of the River which Diodorus Siculus and others mention to be there under the name of the little Araxes which is now called Bendemir but also of many other marks that cannot be called into question All Tschehel-Minar is built upon the skirt of a Hill. The first thing that presents to view upon ones arrival is a great Wall of blackish stones four Foot thick which supports a large Platform or Terrass reaching from South to North about five hundred Paces in length to the West side it hath the Plain to the East beyond a great many magnificent ruins of Buildings whereof it makes the beginning it hath the Hill which bending into a Semicircle forms a kind of Amphitheatre that embraces all those stately ruins to ascend to the top of this Terrass you must go to the farther end of it towards the North where at first you will find two Stair-Cases The first Stairs of Tschehel-Minar or rather one Stair-Case of two ascents or if you please a double Stair-Case which on each side hath fix and fifty steps of a greyish stone and are so easie that Horses go up them without any difficulty having ascended by one of the sides of that double Stair-Case up to a square Landing-place where one may
good very pleasant Destberm Half an hour after five we came to a Lodge of Rahdars which is at the end of the Plain and is called Destberm commonly they make it a Menzil or days Journy from Chadgegih to Destberm because of the trouble of climbing over the Mountain which extreamly tires the Mules There being no water in that place but what is taken out of a beastly open Cistern we gave the Rahdars some Casbeghis and so went on A quarter of an hour after we found a Sepulchre in form of a square Chappel covered with a Dome and pretty near it two Cisterns We went downwards afterwards Chotal Ouscheneck by a very rugged descent called Chotal Ouscheneck in former times it was more rugged and I believe that neither Men nor Beasts could pass it but the Mother of Imam-Couli-Chan Governour of Schiras called Voli Naamet caused the passage to be made as now it is The Rock in many places is cut in the fashion of steps in other places it is Paved and all over where the way is so narrow that Beasts making a false step were in danger of tumbling into a Precipice there is a Parapet made of stone about a Foot and a half high and a Foot thick so that now it is passable though a great way of it one must alight and lead being come to the bottom of that descent for near three quarters of an hour we had very stony way and then came to a lovely Spring of water which spreads so over the Country that with its waters it covers a very large Plain it is called Abghine We saw that water the day before Abghine from Mount Andgira though there be a great Hill betwixt them We passed it at a narrow place upon a Bridge of two Arches which is all ruinous and is called Poul-Abghine Poul-Abghine Having Travelled on two hours and a half more over a barren Plain about half an hour after ten we came to Karzerum six Parasanges and a half from the last Stage Karzerum Karzerum is a Town of many Houses but all so miserable that in our Country the greatest Compliment that could be put upon it would be to call it Bourg or Village because it has a Market-place it depends on the Vizir of Schiras and is Commanded by a Kelonter there are two or three good Kervanserays it it and the water they drink there is brought above half a League from the Town but both in it and the Kervanserays there is water good enough for Beasts and the Kitchin. Here they would have seized our Mules to carry Provisions for the King to Ispahan but the Reverend Father Provincial going to wait upon the Kelonter to represent to him that we were Franks so soon as the Kelonter saw him he ordered that our Mules should not be taken because we were strangers They have a great many Grapes and Melons here and make Wine that may be made use of We parted from Karzerum Friday the second of October at two of the Clock in the Morning and Travelled on still Westwards in very good way Half an hour after four we passed by a sorry Village called Dris Dris where they have no water to drink but what is taken out of a little Lake About six a Clock we passed by a little River that runs in a bottom and there is a way along the side of it we took not that way but leaving both it and the River struck off to the Left Hand by a very stony way about seven a Clock we began to go up Hill in bad way and a quarter of an hour after found a Lodge of Rahdars to whom we made a Present of some Casbeghis and kept on mounting upwards till about eight a Clock and then having descended a little we came into a very even Plain but which produces nothing though there be not one stone in it Having Travelled therein an hour we passed by a Village called Kangh Turkon Kangh Turkon Kamaredge and still kept on in the same Plain till we came to a Village called Kamaredge at the farther end of it This Village is six Parasanges from Karzerum we arrived there half an hour after nine and Lodged in a House that was lent us for some small Gratuity the water we drank there is taken out of a Well close by We parted from that Village Saturday the third of October half an hour after three a Clock in the Morning A little after we passed by a Kervanseray called Kervanseray Khodgia Belfet it is not opened but in the Winter-time Khodgia Belfet when it Rains or Snows the rest of the Year it is shut and no body Lodges in it We continued going Westward but the way was very bad about four a Clock the way was so narrow that only one Mule could pass at a time it lyes betwixt two Hills that are very near one another but it is not above an hundred paces long immediately after we entered into another narrow pass among the Hills where the way is no broader and we went down Hill in very bad way until three quarters of an hour after four there we found a Caravan of several Mules and Camels which were coming from Bender Rik and we met with several others afterward every day Then we went up Hill for about a quarter of an hour and afterwards went down Hill again till six of the Clock in very irksome way and amongst dreadful Precipices being steep black Rocks where one is often forced to alight for fear of tumbling headlong After that we had good way but still amongst Hills until half an hour after six that we found a great broad and deep River Roudchone Bouschavir called Roudchone Bouschavir the water of which tasts a little sweetish the source of it is near the Town called Scheleston Scheleston which is a days Journy from Karzerum Northwards and it loses it self in the Sea towards Bender-Rik we Coasted along it at first in a Plain for the space of an hour and after that mounting during a quarter of an hour we continued our Journy by a flat way for another quarter and then lost fight of the River for the space of half an hour going up Hill all the while until about half an hour after nine we joyned it again and Travelled on along the sides of it an hour and a half in very good way There are many Villages thereabouts and much Cultivated Land some of which bears Tobacco I also saw in several places that fatal Shrub Kerzebreh About ten a Clock we Foarded over a large Brook that falls into the River of Bouschavir Bouschavir Sirt This may very well be the River which Sanson marks in his Map by the name of Sirt we Foarded it again a quarter of an hour after and then five times an end so that in less than half an hours time we crossed it six times having the water always up
holes which press the little Cords very hard besides they put in the inside at the joyning of the Planks a twist or double of these small Lines about three Fingers thick which is fastened to the two Planks by other little Lines and of these there is one at each seam or joyning of the Planks from the upper side of the Bark down to the Keel and over and above that there is a Girdle also on the inside which goes all round her all these Cords are made of Palm-Tree and that they may not be damaged by the water nor the Bark leak they cover all over with Pitch In short They have no Sea-Compass a Compass would be of great use to one of these Barks but they use none for they commonly keep within fight of Land and in the night-time are guided by the Stars Nevertheless the Sea-men of our Bark told me that she had cost twenty Tomans which is not to be thought strange seeing Timber is dear at Bender-Rik and Bassora They also told me that the usual burden of such a Bark was four hundred Bales of Dates each Bale being commonly twelve Man 's of Tauris so that these Barks carry according to that account four thousand eight hundred common Mans of Persia which make twenty eight thousand eight hundred weight Thursday the eighth of October they gave us notice to go on board and we went on Foot along the water-side to our Bark which was half a Farsakh distant that is to say about half a French League Farsakh for Farsakh Farfange and Parasange signifie one and the same thing and we went on board at Noon seeing she was empty as being sent only to bring Dates from Bassora we had room enough though I believe Passengers are much streightned in these Barks when they are loaded for they must lie upon the Goods as high as the side of the Bark We had eight Sea-men on board besides the Master and we put off as soon as we were on board by the help of two of the Company who wading up to the Belly in the water Towed us whilst the rest Rowed three hours after we stopt near the shoar on our Right Hand to take in Sand for Ballast they took in fifty Couffes or Basketfuls on Head and as much a Stern and then raised their Mast and fitted all their Tackle by the time they had put all in order it was six of the Clock at Night and then we set Sail with an Easterly Wind and standing away South-West we presently got out of that long Channel the mouth of it bearing South-West and keeping on the same course we lost sight of Land on the Starboard side but saw Land to the Larboard as long as we had day-light all night long we bore away sometimes South-West sometimes North-West beating too and again with the same Wind but so small that it was almost a Calm Friday the ninth of October at break of day we saw the Land near to us on the Right Hand and we were becalmed till about ten a Clock in the Morning when we had an easie South-West Gale with which we stood off a little from the shoar bearing away North-West we made so good way with this Gale that at one of the Clock after Noon Bender-Delem we were off and on with Bender-Delem and about six a Clock in the Evening we weathered a little point of Land which they say is half way from Bender-Rik to Bassora but about half an hour afrer seven the Wind all of a sudden shifted about to the North-West and therefore we Furled our Sail and came to an Anchor We were a little tossed during the whole night Next day being Saturday the tenth of October half an hour after six in the Morning we weighed Anchor and made Sail though the Wind was still at North-West and we stood away South-West About eight a Clock perceiving the Sea to be all over white I asked the reason of it and our Sea-men told me it was because the water was shallow and indeed we had no more but five foot water though we were at a pretty good distance from Land but some time after when I found that they had four Fathom water and that the water was still white I asked them again the reason of it and they could tell me no other but that it was always so in that place The North-West Wind blowing still they cast Anchor for it was contrary to us because in that place the Land bears Northward and then turns again towards Bassora making a kind of Semicircular Bay. From the place where we were at Anchor we made Land but so obscurely that it appeared only to be Clouds After much enquiry and many questions I got it out of our Patron at length that we were off and on with the mouth of a River which as he said was called Endian Endian and runs by a Village of the same name where there are many Houses but not contiguous there being twenty in one place thirty in another and all upon the Banks of the River that from Bender-Delem to the Village of Endian it is three days Journy that the Village of Endian depends on the Governour of Schiras and that it is five or six hours Travelling from the Sea being near the River Endian which is half as broad as the Tygris at Bassora This was all I could get out of that Man and that was not a little for it required time to pump so much from him whence one may judge how difficult a thing it is to get an exact knowledge of these Countries and it is not to be thought strange that the ways we have of them are full of errours most of them being made upon the relation of people who not understanding the Language can hardly inform themselves of the people of the Country otherwise than by signs and some words which here and there they understand and so are apt to take one thing for another Half an hour after seven at night we weighed Anchor and kept upon Tacks sometimes South-West sometimes North-East but the Wind blowing fresh about midnight we furled Sail and came to Anchor in six Fathom and a half water We were extreamly tossed all night long and I wondered that the Bark sprang not a Leak being so beaten by the waves Next day being Sunday the eleventh of October we weighed about seven a Clock and kept beating upon a Wind from South-West to North-East until Noon that we had calm weather at length about half an hour after two we had a breeze from South-West which made us weigh Anchor in good earnest and stand away North West It is to be observed that in all that Voyage we had not above two three four or six Fathom water at most though we were so far out at Sea that we could not discover the Land but like Clouds About six a Clock at night we were becalmed and came to an Anchor About
midnight we had a fresh Gale from North-West Monday Morning the twelfth of October the Wind slackned very much but changed not and therefore we weighed Anchor at half an hour after eight and standing away South-West we were soon after becalmed Towards Noon we Rowed a little and half an hour after had a breeze from South-West with which we bore away North-West till three in the Afternoon when we entered into the River Caron that comes from the Hills above the Town Souster Caron Souster Khusistan Susa Ahasuerus Coaspes Choasp Tiripari Zeimare which is the Capital Town of Khusistan and was in ancient times the Town of Susa where Ahasuerus held his Court. This River of Caron must be the Coaspes of the Ancients nay they assured me that there is still at present near to the Town of Souster a Hill called Choasp where the River of Caron which Sanson calls Tiripari Tiritiri and Zeimare hath its source but what reason he has for these names I cannot tell since no body could give me any account of them though I have enquired of many who all told me they knew of no such thing On the Right Hand to the West there is an Isle called Dorghestan and on the Left or towards the East Dorghestan Gheban is the Island of Gheban the point whereof is called Mouele and Gheban because all that Country is called Gheban and is the limits of the Kingdom of Bassora on that side In that place to the Left Hand there is a piece of of Palm-Tree-Wood fixed in the Ground to serve for a signal when it his high water not to go beyond it and they call that signal Dgioudoh The Land here on both sides depends on the Basha of Bassora The usual way to Bassora is by Sea to the mouth of Schat-el-Aarab The way to Bassora which they enter and go by water to Bassora but we put in to the River because our Sea-men who had nothing to do at Bassora being only come to take in Dates imposed upon us telling us that we must go to Gheban to take in fresh water and wood which we wanted and that it was also the shortest cut to Bassora but that great Barks went not that way because it was not deep enough which we too easily believed So soon as we were got into the River we came to Anchor in a Fathom water At low water the River at that place is but very little salt and a little higher it is fresh even when it is Flood Being Flood about midnight our men fell to their Oars but Rowed not above an hour and then came to an Anchor The Country about seems to be very good Land it is low even and green on all Hands and we saw many Cows there feeding in the Meadows which look much like the Meadows of Holland Tuesday the thirteenth of October about ten a Clock in the Morning our Sea-men went a shoar and Towed us up till one of the Clock when being over against a Village where there are a great many Palm-Trees we hoisted Sail with a North-West Wind that lasted not long and so came to an Anchor again Our men went a shoar to hear News as they said of Bassora and coming back in the Evening told us that all things were in confusion at Bassora that the Basha was marched with his whole Army towards Bagdad and that all Barks were taken up for Transporting of Soldiers and that therefore they durst go no farther but were resolved to return empty to Bender-Rik This was all false A cheat of the Sea-men and the truth was they had no mind to go any farther designing to take in their Cargoe at the place we were at where there is plenty of Dates and that was the reason they had brought us that way Nevertheless we must pretend to believe all the Knaves told us and try to find another Bark to carry us to Bassora We sent then a servant next day to look for one and he brought us a small thing wherein the men promised in four and twenty hours to carry us to the Town for six Abassis which we gave them These Barks are flat bottomed about a Fathom high one and a half broad and about five Fathom long The Stern is very low but the Head is as high again and draws into a sharp point as the Gondolos of Venice Barks on the River of Caron These Barks are not Caulked but only Pitched over on the outside which they do in the manner following When they are to Pitch a Daneg for so they call that sort of Bark in Arabick ten or twelve paces from the Daneg they make a Furnace of Earth the upper part whereof is made like a Cauldron into that they put the Pitch and the fire underneath and when the Pitch is almost melted but not altogether liquid a man comes with a little wet Shovel in his Hand and another lays some of this Pitch upon it The Pitching of a Daneg and then puts water upon the Pitch which the first carrying to the Daneg and stirring the Pitch with a piece of Wood to which it does not stick he that is working at the Daneg takes the Pitch in his Hand and dawbs it as one would do Plaster upon the Daneg and then with a Rowler which is not altogether round he spreads it upon the Vessel and in that manner Pitches it all over on the outside These Barks are made very strong the sides being about a Foot thick and all the Planks are Nailed with great Nails such as are driven into Gates in France they have likewise a Mast of an indifferent bigness Indeed these Barks make but heavy way especially in the middle of the water where they cannot use a Sail if they have not the Wind in Poop and nevertheless they load them so deep that they are not above half a Foot above water We embarked in one of these Boats about half an hour after three in the Afternoon it was full of a kind of very long green Rushes that have a great point at the end whereof they make very fine mats Our Crew consisted of two Sea-men and a Master the two men Towed us on Land till half an hour after six that we came before a Village to the Left Hand there we cast Anchor our Men unloaded all the Rushes and going afterwards to the Village we we saw no more of them till next day This is a great Village and has a square Castle with eight Towers to wit one at each corner and one in the middle of each side but they are all of Earth and so thin that a double Musket could batter them all down This place is called Koutmian Koutmian that is to say Castle Mian and they make many Danegs there The Country of Gheban reaches from thence to the mouth of the River of Caron and in all that space the Land on both sides the River is called Gheban it
the Sultan or Governour of Bahrem fifteen Abassis a year The King of Persia's Right in the Pearls the King of Persia has not one penny of that Revenue for it all belongs to Mosques only all the Pearls that weigh a half Medical or more belong to him and nevertheless he makes a liberal Present to the Fisher-man that brings him such but also if any of them fail to do it and sell such a Pearl out of his Dominions were it even at the Worlds end the King is soon acquainted with it and to be revenged he puts to death the whole Family and all the Kindred of the Fisher-man even to the seventh Generation both Males and Females Every one of these Barks hath Men for Diving to the bottom of the Sea and picking up the Shell-Fish or Nacres and the rest serve to draw them up for all are not Divers The Barks go fifteen twenty or thirty Leagues off of Bahem along the Coast and when they are at a place where they think there may be good Fishing they come to an Anchor in five Fathom water and then two Divers make ready one on each side to go down for Nacres All their preparatives consist in stripping themselves naked and taking a piece of Horn cloven in the manner of a pair of Pincers as the Gentleman represented it to me which they always hang about their Necks by a piece of Pack thread before they jump into the water they put it upon their Nose like a pair of Spectacles and that keeps their Nostrils so close that the water cannot enter them nor can they fetch breath above water by the Nose neither Besides this accoutrement every Diver provides himself of a great stone which he fastens to a long Rope and of a Basket tied to another and puting the Rope to which the stone is tied betwixt the Toes of one of his Feet and taking the Basket in his Hand he leaves the ends of the two Ropes on Board and Dives into the Sea. The stone carries him immediately to the bottom where being come he casts loose the Rope of the stone from his Foot which they on Board pull up and without losiing time he quickly picks up all the Nacres he sees and puts them in his Basket and when it is full comes up again The rest hall up the Basket whilst he takes a little breath and smoaks a Pipe of Tobacco and having done so he returns again to the bottom in the same manner coming and going so from eight a Clock in the Morning till Eleven Then he goes to Dinner with his comrades and feeds on Pilau and Dates which are their common Food and about Noon he goes a Diving again and continues at work till three a Clock but no longer because the water is then too cold When they have got on Board a good quantity of these Nacres they unload them upon some bank of Sand and there open them every one having an Iron Instrument purposely for that the Master of the Bark in the mean time never taking his Eyes off of them least they might purloin a Pearl for if they be not carefully lookt to they will cunningly whip them into their Mouth as soon as they have opened the Nacre Now if the Master made them open them on Board it would be worse still for if any of them found a fair Pearl he would nimbly throw the Nacre down into the hold without being perceived and when the Bark were to be made clean he would not fail to be Swabber and throwing all the Shells and Fish into the Sea for they know not what it is to make any Works of Mother of Pearl he would hide the Pearls he had thrown down and then go sell them for a small matter in the Town and which would be worst of all he would Work no more after because when these Blades have once got at little mony by such means it is not possible to make them Fish any more so long as it lasts The Revenue of the Basha of Bassora But to return to the Basha of Baslora he has a considerable Revenue and I have been assured that it amounts to no less than eight hundred thousand Piastres though in exacting it he be a little Tyrannical The Custom-house of Bassora yields him a great deal and he lets it not out to Farm as is usual in other places but entertains a Customer or Schah Bender as they call him who has a Salary from him and is accountable for all he receives Besides he has from every Palm-Tree half a Schai a year and that branch of his Revenue he lets out to a Man who yearly pays him for it fifty thousand Piastres He gets moreover a great deal of the Persians who go every year to Mecha Pilgrims of Mecha for all of them pass by Bassora and the Basha sells them the Camels they stand in need of at what price he pleases besides they give him thirty five Chequins a Head for which he sends with them a Guard of three hundred Troopers to wait upon them to Mecha and back again to Bassora These Pilgrims willingly pay the mony to be secured from the Arabian Robbers In five and twenty days time they go from Bassora to Mecha and when they are come back the Basha buys their Camels at an easie rate and sells them Horses very dear to carry them home he takes the same course with the Merchants who during the Mouson buy Horses from him to be Transported they must buy them at what price he pleases to demand if they would have them because it is Prohibited that any man whosoever sell Horses during that time nor dare they sell at any other time without a Licence from him which is never obtained without a Present Indeed last year the Basha of Bagdad did him a bad and un-neighbourly Office for by Letters he invited the Persians that intended to go to Mecha to come and pass by Bagdad promising to give them safe Conduct for twenty Chequins a Man so that most part to save fifteen Chequins went by Bagdad and a very few came by Bassora This is the Road from Bassora to Mecha which the Pilgrims commonly take The Road from Bassora to Mecha They set out from Bassora by the East Gate and go to Dgiam-Hali three Agatsch from Bassora where there is bitter water in the Ditch of a Castle that stands in that place where heretofore the Town of Bassora was built the way to it from Bassora is by a Causey which hath salt-water on each side They go from thence to Dgebel-Senan five Agatsch off where there is fresh-water from Dgebel-Senan to Tscha-Haffer where they find a Well of indifferent good water and that is six Agatsch Journy In this place they make Provision of water for seven days Travelling in all which way there is neither water nor Habitation to be found Having Travelled seven days they find a Well of good water where
Channel Haffar which was to our Larboard and there begins the Isle of Gban Isle of Gban which reaches from that place to the Sea. Tuesday the tenth of November the Tide of Ebb beginning an hour before day we weighed Anchor and continued our course betwixt the Isle Chader and the Isle Gban and there we found the water brackish At this place the Palm-Trees end and the Land on both sides is only level and barren Plains and so low that at high water they are almost all overflown about two hours after day the water cast us so much upon the Land on the South side that our Poop raked the shoar and that is in a manner unavoidable in this place where all Ships are forced a shoar nevertheless though we were so near we had two Fathom water a Stern and three a Head and the current of the water drove us forward at a great rate in the mean time our men did what they could to get out again into the Channel and at length with the help of our Boat that Towed us they accomplished it We found three Mahometan Ships which set out the same day that we did from Bassora and all three had had the same luck having been by the force of the stream cast a shoar as well as we The Course we stood from Bassora till we came to the Sea was in the beginning whilst we had the Wind at South-East South South West and after we had it at North-West we Steered always East South-East or South South-East About nine a Clock in the morning we had a pretty brisk Gale from North-West which made us spread our Mizan and Mizan-Top-Sail the Main and Main-Top-Sail and the Fore-Sail and Fore-Top-Sail and then we steered away South South-West making the more way as the Wind grew fresher the water is very broad at this place About half an hour after three a Clock in the Afternoon we came to an Anchor near the Mouth of the River because our Men would not venture out to Sea in the night-time for fear of being stranded for in the mouth of this River there is but two Fathom water when the Tide is out and the other Ships did as we did the Wind in the mean time ceased about midnight Next day we weighed Anchor about half an hour after six in the Morning and having spread the Fore-Top-Sail we Steered away South South-East but seeing it was little better than a calm we made but very little way nevertheless we began to lose sight of Land on all hands and had betwixt five and six Fathom water About nine a Clock we came to an Anchor to stay for the Tide because then we had but little water about eleven a Clock it being flood we weighed and a North-West Wind rising at the same time we clapt on all our Sails Steering our Course sometimes South-East sometimes South and sometimes South-West according to the water we found which was sometimes but three and sometimes four Fathom Half an hour after one of the Clock we had four Fathom and a half water and at two a Clock five but at the same time the Wind chopping about to South we were forced to furl our Sails and come to an Anchor It is very dangerous putting out of that River after the first days of November The season of Sailing for commonly the South Winds begin to blow at that time and last all November whereby many Ships that put out too late are cast away Thursday the twelfth of November the Sun rose with a stiff Wind from South and at the same time the Sky was on all hands over-cast with such a thick Fog that we could hardly see the other Ships which yet weighed Anchor and were Towed by their Boats we did the same though it was against the Captains mind who feared a storm and would have kept still at Anchor We got our Boat then to Tow us the Ships Head standing East South-East in five Fathom water About half an hour after eight we unfurled the Fore-Top-Sail and stood away East North-East and a little after North North-East About nine a Clock we spread the Mizan-Sail whilst our Boat still Towed us About half an hour after nine the Wind shifting about to East we presently furled our Sails and turning our Ships Head South-East came to an Anchor a quarter of an hour after in three Fathom water That day they began to allow every one but two measures of water by day one to boil the Kettle and the other to drink each measure is about three Pints About a quarter after ten a Clock we weighed Anchor and were Towed by our Boat spreading our Mizan Main-Top-Sail and Fore-Top-Sail though we had no settled Wind but sometimes one way and sometimes another and we turned the Ships Head North-East A little after the Wind getting in to South-East we bore away East and presently it shifted to South so that three quarters after ten we came to an Anchor Friday the thirteenth of November the Pilot of Carek and the Merchants prevailed so far with the Captain that he gave way to the weighing of Anchor at three quarters of an hour after seven though he was of a contrary Opinion and the truth is there was no reason to weigh because it blew a strong Wind from South-East and we had but little water on all hands We had indeed four Fathom at that time but seeing it was a Tide of Ebb we had reason to fear running a ground and to put out to Sea which was the thing the Merchants desired was to run into the storm In fine notwithstanding all these Reasons our men Towed us and we spread the Fore-Top-Sail but we held no certain Course the other Ships did as we did and perceiving us to cast Anchor three quarters of an hour after they did the like This is the inconvenience where many Ships are together that if one weigh or come to an Anchor the rest must do the same for if they should fail to do it and any misfortune happened the blame would be laid at the Masters door in that he did not do as the rest did who are all supposed to understand their Trade Saturday morning the fourteenth of November we made a Mahometan Ship coming from Bassora where we had left her for all the strong South-East Wind which had constantly blown since the day before we weighed Anchor at nine of the Clock in the morning and made Sail with our Mizan Main-Top and Fore-Top-Sails Steering our Course East North-East Half an hour after nine the Wind getting about to South-West we let fly the Mizan Top-Sail and Fore-Sail and stood away East South-East At ten a Clock we tackt about and bore away West North-West and so kept beating to and again every half hour until three quarters of an hour after eleven that the Wind chopping in to South we came to an Anchor in three Fathom water we made short Tacks because of the little water we
Captain making use of the occasion failed not to tell the Merchants who waited for our Ship that she would not come this year which they believed to be true and went aboard with their mony on his Ship. All this proceeded from the fault of the Vikil that stayed behind at Bassora who detained the Ship in the Harbour a Fortnight longer than he should have done to get on Board some Goods which payed not above an hundred Piastres Freight and in the mean while he lost the Freight of a great deal of Goods and Mony and of many Passengers that were at Carek Congo and Comoron who embarked in the Ships which touched at these Ports before us When we had put a shoar all the Goods and the Man who was to take care of them we weighed Anchor three quarters of an hour after seven making all the Sail we could and Steering away South South-East with a very easie Wind about ten a Clock we were becalmed till midnight when there blew a little Gale at East but as easie as the former and with it we bore away South Next day about two or three a Clock in the morning we Sailed by the Isle of Rischer which was to our Larboard This Island is very near the main Land and makes a little Port which is called Bender-Rischer a days Journy from Bender-Regh and there is a Fort on it which belonged formerly to the Portuguese At break of day we made two Ships on Head of us one of which had put out from Carek five days before us Half an hour after seven we were off of the Isle of Coucher Coucher that was to our Larboard and is a pretty big Island At eight a Clock we got a Head of one of the Ships that had been before us the other which was at some distance put us into some apprehension for a few hours time for by his manner of working he gave us cause to think that he had a mind to be up with us and we were affraid he might be a Corsair but at length he Steered the same Course that we did About ten a Clock we were becalmed Three quarters after twelve the Wind being Southerly we Steered away East A quarter after two we Steered South-East Three quarters after three a Clock the Wind chopping about to South-West we stood away South South-East And thus the Wind being but very easie did nothing but chop and change until the evening that we were becalmed Wednesday the eighteenth of November towards day having an easie Gale from East South-East we Steered our Course South South-West about half an hour after nine it blowing hard from South we bore away West South-West About three quarters of an hour after ten the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East Half an hour after noon the Wind slackened much and about five a Clock in the evening we were becalmed About half an hour after nine we made a Sail to the Windward of us and another on Head but a great way before us we cast the Lead and found seventeen Fathom water At ten a Clock at night the Wind turned East South-East and blew pretty hard and we Steered away South South-West finding only thirteen Fathom water when we heaved the Lead After midnight we past Cape Verdestan which was to our Larboard This is a very dangerous Cape and one night several Portuguese Ships being Land-lockt there when they thought themselves far enough off of it were cast away We Sailed within three or four Leagues of it and when it was day saw it a Stern of us About half an hour after nine the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East About noon we saw several Taranquins Half an hour after one the Wind turned South South-West and we bore away South-East We were then off and on Cape Naban to our Larboard Cape Naban and made it but very dimly but coming up more and more towards it we made it very plain and saw along the Sea-side Rocky Hills which seemed to be very steep and at the foot of them a great many Palm-Trees We continued our Course off and on with these Rocks till five a Clock that we saw the end of them at least in this place they run far up into the Land and leave a very level Coast in this low Country is the Village called Naban which gives the name to the Cape Here we cast the Lead and found only seven Fathom water there is but little water all along that Coast and therefore we presently tackt and stood off to the West about ten a Clock at night the Wind turned North-East and we Steered away South South-East Friday the twentieth of November by break of day we made the three Ships that put out the same day with us from Bassora two of which were at a pretty good distance to the Starboard and the other very near a Head of us it was this last which some days before we had taken for a Corsair we made also to our Larboard the Land of Persia but at a great distance A quarter after nine a Clock in the morning having a very easie Gale from North North-West we put out our Main and Fore-Top-Galant-Sail and kept on our Course South South-East in a short time we left all the other Ships a Stern About noon the Wind blew much fresher and about three a Clock we stood away East South-East about five a Clock we took in our Top-Galant-Sails the Mizan and Mizan-Top-Sails because it would have been dangerous to have made so much way in the night-time that was now coming on for we might have run within Land considering that the Wind freshened more and more and we bore away South South-East that we might keep without the Isle of Lara If it had been day we would have Steered our Course betwixt the main Land and that Island but we durst not venture it in the night-time being safer to leave it to the Larboard we made account to have Sailed by that Island about midnight but we saw it not though we had all along light enough to discern a little of the main Land near to which it lyes We concluded then that we had past that Isle of Lara in the night-time but next day we found that we were out in our reckoning Nevertheless seeing we did not find out our mistake till after noon about six a Clock in the morning we Steered away East bearing in towards the Land for fear we might be cast too far to the Leeward of Congo About half an hour after six our Long-Boat that was fastened to the Stern filled full of water and sunk under the surface of the Sea we presently furled all Sails but the Sprit-Sail and three Seamen swam to the Boat to fasten another Rope to it which they held by the end then they went into it and we halled it to the Leeward side of the Ship and took out a little Anchor that was in her this being done our
hour after eight we had seven Fathom water About ten a Clock seven Fathom a Foot less About half an hour after eleven seven Fathom and then we set the Ships Head East South East but at midnight held our Course South Next morning half an hour after five we had thirteen Fathom water and were almost at an equal distance from the Isle of Queschimo which was to the North-East of us the Isle of Nabdgion or Pitombo South South-West of us and the Isle of Tonbo South East from us and we bore away East Queschimo is a great Isle but low Land though it hath several Hillocks Queschimo yet they are all so low that Sailing along this Island on any side you may see the Mountains of the main Land over it It lyes in length East and West is not very broad but twenty Leagues long it is to the East of Congo and West South-West from Comoron it is a fruitful and well inhabited Island the West end of it not being above a good League and a half from Congo and the East end about a League from Bender-Abassi On the East part of this Island there is a Fort before which Ships may come to an Anchor in six Fathom water to take in fresh water which is very good in this place The Portuguese formerly held this Fort and it may be worth the observing that though the Island be very near the main Land yet Barks and Galliots pass betwixt the two Nabdgion or Pitombo is a little low Desart Island lying South Nabgion or Pitombo Tonbo South-East from Queschimo Tonbo is another little low flat Island and Desart affoarding only a great many Antelopes and Conys It lyes to the East of Nabdgion or Pitombo and South from Congo from which it is but four Leagues distant Manuel Mendez who had much experience in those Seas being very young when he came into that Country where he hath during the space of many years made several Voyages made me observe that if any one should build a Fort on that Island and keep some Men of War there he might easily raise a Toll upon all the Ships that Trade in those Seas for they must of necessity Sail near to that Island on the one side or other Towards the South-East it has fifteen or twenty Wells of good water but especially one that is excellent and a good Road before it When the Portuguese were possessed of Mascate they came every year with some Galliots to the Isle of Tonbo to receive the Tribute that was paid them in all the Ports of those Seas and brought thither by those who were obliged to pay it The yearly Tribute they had from the Isle of Queschimo consisted of five Persian Horses and two Falcons Congo payed four hundred Tomans Bahrem sixteen thousand Abassis and Catif the half of the yearly profits of its Customs as for Bassora there was a Portuguese Agent that resided there who received a Chequin a day of the Basha and as often as the General came to that Town the Basha made him a Present This Island is encompassed all round with Banks under water nevertheless there is almost every where four six eight nay in some places nine Fathom water About half an hour after seven the Wind slackened much and we Steered South South East about eleven a Clock we found nine Fathom water and seeing we were almost becalmed and the Tide cast us to the Westward we were obliged to drop an Anchor half an hour after one a Clock at noon We were some three Leagues off of Sannas which was to the West North-West of us to the North-West and by West it makes a Peak but the Hill is higher than the Peak we went thither to take in water for the water is very good there though it be about two Leagues from the West point of Queschimo which was to the North-West of us About four a Clock we had a Breeze from South South-West which made us Steer our Course South-East About six a Clock we had twenty Fathom water Half an hour after seven the Wind turned North-West and we bore away East at eight a Clock we found eighteen Fathom water half an hour after that eighteen and a half and we stood away East and by North. About nine a Clock the Wind freshened a little and we had twenty Fathom water at ten a Clock we had one and twenty and about half an hour after ten we Steered our Course East Wednesday the ninth of December about day break the Wind ceased and we Steered still East the Isle of Angom was to the North-East of us and not far off and on the other side to the South-East we had a Port of Arabia Foelix called Julfar which is a good Harbour where many Indian Barks carrying mony come to buy Dates Julfar Pearl-Fishing and Pearls which are Fished all along that Coast from Mascat to Bahrem there is a good Castle at Julfar From that Port to the Cape of Mosandon the Coast of Arabia the Happy is all Mountanous bearing South-West and North-East and runs so near the Persian shoar that there is but five Leagues betwixt the main Land of Mosandon and the Isle of Lareca which is close by Comoron Betwixt Julfar and Mosandon Good Ports in the Gulf which are not set down in the Maps there are a great many good Ports that are not set down in the Maps where notwithstanding several Ships may safely Winter secure from all Winds and there is every where very good water About half an hour after seven in the morning the Wind turned North-East and we Steered our Course East South-East We were then off and on with the Point of Angom which bears West North-West Angom Angom is a little low Island to the South of Queschimo and reaches along Queschimo from West North-West to East South-East no body lives in it but two or three Fishermen who keep some Goats which they sell to Ships that come there to take in fresh water where it is very good Though this Island be very near to Queschimo yet Ships may pass betwixt them and all that take in water there shoot the Streight About noon we bore away South-East and at one a Clock having cast the Lead we had eight and thirty Fathom water we were then becalmed and made no way but by the Tide of Ebb which cast us upon Arabia so that we were obliged to stand off of it as far as we could to turn the Ships Head East North-East nevertheless towards the evening we were got very near the Mountains of Arabia wherefore to keep off of that shoar as much we could we Steered away North-East and by East and the Tide of floud did us some service About seven a Clock the Wind seemed as if it would get in to North but it blew so gentlely that it hardly curled the water Thursday the tenth of December about half an hour after four in the morning we
those Spouts not that I thought the danger so very great being they were to the Leeward of us and in reality they wrought more admiration than fear in me Nevertheless there was a great consternation amongst our Company all Hands were at work and our Franks kept a heavy stir calling and asking whether any one had the Gospel of St. John they addressed themselves to me and I told them that I was a saying it and whilst they prayed me to continue one of them brought a Knife with a black handle asking if any body knew how to cut the Spouts I made answer that I had been informed of the way that some used to cut them but that I would not put it in practise because it was a bad and unlawful superstition he objected that the Spouts were so near that they would quickly fall upon the Ship and infallibly sink her and that if he knew the secret he would do it I endeavoured to reassure him and the rest from the fear which made him speak so telling them that the Spouts being to the Leeward there was not so much danger as they imagined And in short to put that thought quite out of their Heads I plainly told them that I neither would do that superstitious Art my self nor teach any body else how to do it and that for the Gospel of St. John I should willingly persist in saying it because it was a good and lawful means to procure protection from God Almighty And indeed I forbore not to say it till all the Spouts were dispersed which was not before one a Clock after noon or thereabouts A B C D E F G H I At length seeing the Air on all Hands full of tempestuous Clouds he ordered the Ships Head to be turned North-West which was very hard to be done for the Sea hindered the Ship from coming about though the Wind was then at East and we stood in to Quesomo near which about a quarter after two we came to an Anchor in seven and twenty Fathom water to the South of that Island so that we put back again above a League Then the Pilot was for bringing the Yards by the Board and lowering the Main-Top and Fore-Top-Masts fearing they might be damaged by the storm but the Captain would not give way to it During the rest of the day we had many flurries with continual showers of Rain but whilst these are blowing over I will enlarge a little in the description of the Spouts which I have only occasionally mentioned I am apt to believe that few have considered Spouts with so much attention A description of Spouts as I did those I have been speaking of and perhaps no man hath made the Observations which chance gave me the occasion of making I shall here give an account of them with that plainness I profess in the Relation of all my Travels thereby to render things mere sensible and easie to be comprehended The first we saw was to the Northward betwixt us and the Isle of Quesomo about a Musket shot from the Ship we were then Steering North-East The first thing we perceived in that place was the water boyling up about a Foot high above the surface of the Sea it looked whitish and over it there appeared somewhat like a blackish smoak but not very thick so that the whole looked very like a bundle of straw set on fire but only as yet smoaking see the Figure A this made a dull noise like to a Torrent running impetuously in a deep Valley but it was mingled with another somewhat more distinct noise resembling the loud hissing of Serpents or Geese A little after we saw as it were a dark puff of steam much like to a smoak which turning very fast tapers up to the Clouds and this puff seemed to be a Pipe as big as ones Finger see the Figure B the same noise still continuing Then the light put it out of our sight and we knew that that Spout was spent because the water boyled no more up so that it lasted not above half a quarter of an hour This being spent we saw another Southward of us which began in the same manner as the former did presently after there appeared another by the side of this Westward and then a third by the side of the second The most remote of the three might have been somewhat more than a Musket shot distant from us and all the three appeared like so many bundles of Straw a Foot and a half or two Foot high that yielded a great deal of smoak see the Figure A and made the very same noise that the first did Afterward we saw so many Pipes reaching down from the Clouds upon the places where the water bubbled and every one of these Pipes at the end which joyned to the Cloud was as large as the wide end of a Trumpet and resembled that I may explain my self intelligibly the Teat or Dug of a Beast streatched perpendicularly downwards by some weight see the Figure C. These Channels or Pipes seemed to be of a paleish white and I believe it was the water in these transparent Pipes which made them look white for in all appearance they were already formed before the water was suckt up in them as may be judged by what follows and when they were empty they appeared not in the same manner as a Glass-Pipe that is very clear being set in the light at some distance from our Eyes appears not unless it be full of some coloured liquor These Pipes were not streight but in some places crooked see the Figure D neither were they perpendicular on the contrary from the Clouds into which they seemed to be inserted to the places where they drew up the water they sloaped very Obliquely as you may see by the Figure D and what is more singular the Cloud to which the second of these three was fastened having been driven by the Wind the Pipe followed it without breaking or leaving the place where it drew up the water and passing behind the Pipe of the first they made for sometime a Saltier or the Figure of St. Andrews Cross see the Figure E in the beginning they were all three as big as ones Finger as I have already observed but in the progress the first of the three swelled to a considerable bigness I can say nothing of the other two for the last that was formed was almost as soon spent that to the South continued about a quarter of an hour but the first on the same side lasted somewhat longer and was that which put us into the greatest fear and whereof I have still somewhat more to say at first the Pipe of it was as big as ones Finger then it swelled as big as a mans Arm after that as big as ones Leg and at length as big as the Trunk of a good Tree as much as a Man can Fathom about see the Figure F. We could plainly see through that
they would be in danger of committing great errours at Sea because of the Tides and Currents that either drive the Log forwards or backwards and to be assured of the exactness of that account the Log must be fixed and immoveable But the English are not mistaken for besides that invention of Miles they dayly take an observation of the Suns height besides they heave out the Log at every change encrease or decrease of the Wind. The English reckon their Miles at five hundred Geometrical paces only that is five Foot to the pace Cape of Jasques Carpella The distance of Ormus from Cape Jasques About half an hour after six we were off of the Cape of Jasques anciently called Carpella it lyes in five and twenty degrees and a half North Latitude and in thirty Leagues from Ormus From that Cape the Land bears East and by South to the River of Indus At Cape Jasques about half a Mile or a Mile up on Land there is a kind of a sorry Fort with about forty Houses inhabited by a sort of very poor people who live on Barley and drink nothing but water and that very brackish too they have two Barks or Taranquins wherein they carry Wood to sell at Mascat That wretched place is called Jasques and depends on the Governour of Comron who sends whom he pleases to Command in it Thursday the seventeenth of December about six a Clock in the morning we clapt on our Main-Top-Galant-Sail and stood away East keeping in sight of the Land of Persia least the Wind might force us too far out to Sea which about eleven a Clock turned North-East At noon we found that from Sun setting the day before we had run threescore and one Miles or twenty Leagues and a third at the rate of three Miles a League At one of the Clock we bore away East and by South About four a Clock the Wind chopping about to West we bore away South-East and by East About half an hour after five we had East North-East of us a little low Isle close by the Persian shoar which in that place is very low About six a Clock we were off and on with that little Isle Friday the eighteenth of December in the morning we Steered our Course East and by South and at noon we found that from that time the day before we had made eight and thirty Leagues then the Wind got into North-West and we bore away South-East and by East that we might not run within Land which we obscurely made on Head a little to the Larboard Next morning the Wind abated and therefore we stood away East and by South At noon we found by our reckoning that we had in the last four and twenty hours made five and twenty Leagues and a half Then the Captain Mate and Gunner took an Observation of the Sums height with a Quadrant as well as they could for none of the three had much skill in it and the Maâ—e least of all all three agreed that we were in twenty four degrees thirty minutes Latitude About evening the Wind shifted into South-West but it was so easie that scarcely did it curl the water yet we Steered away South-East and by East that we might not be cast a shoar Sunday the twentieth of December it continued still calm weather so that at noon we found we had made but five Leagues way and our Men having taken their Observation found that we were still in the Latitude of twenty four degrees thirty minutes as we were the day before and that day every one was stinted to a measure and a half of water by day Towards the evening we made the Land of Persia and were but about five Leagues off of it which made us Steer away South-East and by South and stand out to Sea contrary to the opinion of the Mate who would have kept in by the Shoar giving this reason for it that we needed not fear to be cast too far to the Leeward as the Captain said because at that time the East Wind blows along the Coast of Sindy and besides being near Land in case it proved bad weather we might come to an Anchor and take in water which we were affraid we might come to want But the chief reason why he would have stood in to shoar and which he kept to himself was that he might know the place where he was for these are such an ignorant sort of Men that so soon as they lose sight of Land they know no more where they are The Captain made answer to all his reasons that it was bad advice to make us double our way without any necessity and that we had no reason to go look for East Winds having the Wind at South-West which though it was easie still kept us going on in our Course and would if it freshened bring us in a short time whither we were bound and in that case we needed not go look for water whereof as yet we had no want besides that by standing in to shoar we run a risk of meeting the Zinganes those Pirats I mentioned before whom no body desired to see and we put our selves also in danger of not being able to get out to Sea again for a long time if the Wind which we had lasted because we must wait for another Wind which perhaps might not offer in some weeks time In fine it behoved the Pilot to acquiesce to this judgment which was approved by all of us nay the Gunner was for having us steer our Course more to the Southward and he was not out in that for the Coast of Cape Jasques bears West and by North and East and by South and we Steered South-East and by East from which substracting a Point and a half which is the variation of the Needle and then our Course would prove to be East a Point and a half towards South and so we were but half a Point to the Windward of the Land of Persia and this Course carried us streight to the Gulf which is to the Northward of the Isle of Diu but the Captain would not change his Course fearing to meet with an East Wind which would have driven him too far above the place whither we were bound and therefore he would not bear away South till he was near the Isle of Diu. Monday the one and twentieth of December our Observers found at noon that we were in twenty four degrees twenty five minutes Latitude and that we had run ten Leagues Next day they found twenty four degrees five minutes Latitude and that we had run fourteen Leagues the last twenty four hours About four a Clock in the afternoon the Heaven was on all Hands overcast with thick black Clouds and at the same time there arose a small Gale from West North-West which presently drove the Clouds upon us we expected a strong Gust of Wind but we were excused for a shower of Rain which was indeed violent but lasted not without
At two a Clock we had a breeze from North-West and we bore away South-East and by East About six a Clock the Wind slackened much About seven a Clock our Ships Head stood South-East Friday the five and twentieth of December at six a Clock in the morning it blew a West North-West Wind and we steered on our Course still South-East About seven a Clock the Sky was overcast with Clouds which brought Rain with them and we saw some more Spouts at a pretty good distance and a Weather-Gall this Weather-Gall was like a Segment of a Rain-Bow rising from the Horizon about three degrees or if you will it seemed to be three Foot high Sometimes they appear over a Ship and that is commonly a presage of a Tempest and the Portuguese call this Phenomenon an Oxes Eye About eight a Clock it blew a pretty fresh Gale from North but immediately it veered about to North-East and became very weak At noon we were by our Observations in three and twenty degrees two and fifty minutes Latitude and had made from noon to noon thirteen Leagues Then the Captain and Mate made account that we were eight or ten Leagues off of the Land of Sindy and about five and twenty Leagues from Jaquelte for my part by what I could make out by my Map we were twenty Leagues off Malan and to the Southward of Malan and forty Leagues from Sindy and near threescore Leagues from Jaquelte and this agreed with the Gunners Observation but he durst not say any thing for fear of quarelling with the Captain who thought every body ignorant in respect of himself and nevertheless it was found afterwards that he and the Mate were in the mistake About four a Clock the Wind turned East South-East and we Steered North-East About five a Clock we had a great shower of Rain from a thick Cloud over head which being past we had the Wind at South-East and bore away North-East Half an hour after six we had Rain again with Lightning but we were becalmed and turned the Ships Head North-East At seven a Clock the Wind turned South and by East and we bore away East and by South Half an hour after ten we were becalmed but about eleven a Clock had a great flurry which made much noise at first and this made us furl all our Sails but a great shower of Rain soon carried it off and the Sea being smooth we Steered away South-East and by South At midnight we cast the Lead but though they veered out sixty Fathom of Rope yet we had no ground which was like to have made the Captain mad for shame for he believed us to be very near Land and he fell into a Passion with the Mate saying that he had not left importuning him for two days to heave out the Lead We were all night becalmed though at times we had several showers of Rain Saturday the six and twentieth of December about seven a Clock there blew a gentle Gale from East North-East which made us Steer away South-East and by South About half an hour after nine the Wind being all Easterly we stood away South-East then master Manuel Mendez who perceived very well that no body knew where we were advised the Captain to stand in to Land and gratifie the Pilot which highly offended him saying that since they took him for an ignorant blockhead for the future he would only sleep and take his rest and let the Ship go which way she pleased and that to content us he would put back and make the Land at Jasques however this went no farther About ten a Clock the Wind turned East North-East and we stood away South-East At noon the Gunner found by his Observations that we were in twenty three degrees forty five minutes the Captain in twenty three degrees five minutes and the Mate in twenty three fifteen minutes and in four and twenty hours we had only made about six Leagues That day we began to see of those Birds which the Portuguese call Rabo de Junco Rabo de Junco a Fowl. and are a kind of Sea-Mews only they are bigger and have the Tail all of a piece and pointed like a Rush wherefore they are called Rush Tails and they keep upon the water as the Sea-Mews do At one a Clock the Wind slackened and chopped into the East and we Steered South and by East About four a Clock we tackt and stood away North. About half an hour after five the Wind having veered about to East North-East we Steered South-East About half an hour after seven the Wind turned North-East and by East About ten a Clock it was full North-East and we bore away East South-East Sunday morning the seven and twentieth of December at five of the Clock the Wind turned East and by North and we Steered our Course South-East and by South About nine a Clock we bore away South-East because the Wind was at East North-East and blew pretty fresh Our Officers took an Observation at noon and were again of different opinions the Captain had two and twenty degrees fifty two minutes the Mate twenty three and the Gunner three and twenty degrees and two minutes and in twenty four hours we had made fourteen Leagues In the Evening a flying Fish leaped into our Ship. The Wind freshened so much in the night-time that we were obliged to furl our Top Sails Monday noon the twenty eighth of December the Captain found out by his Observation that we were in the Latitude of twenty two degrees eight minutes and the Gunner in twenty two degrees eighteen minutes in four and twenty hours we had made fourteen Leagues That day we saw a great many Weeds or Herbs floating upon the water which the Portuguese call Sargaso Herb Sargaso and that is one sign of being near the Land of the Indies many such are also to be seen towards Brasil The stalk of that Herb is small blackish and as supple as a hair the Leaves of it are long and narrow and a little jagged besides the Leaves it hath a great many small clear and transparent Berries as soft as little Goosberries that stick to the stalk This Herb grows upon the Rocks in the Sea and being torn off by storm it floats upon the water till it be cast a shoar About two in the afternoon the Wind slackened much and therefore we spread our Main-Top and Fore-Top-Sails the Sea which had been very high before growing calm and smooth within a few hours Tuesday morning the nine and twentieth of December about seven a Clock the Wind was at North North-East and we Steered our Course East At noon the Gunner found that we were in one and twenty degrees forty four minutes Latitude and that in the space of twenty four hours we had made thirteen Leagues and a half at midnight we Steered East and by South that we might keep off of the Banks that are towards Diu our Company thinking themselves nearer to
Provinces of Judostan to those which his Father left him died in the Year 1604. Gehanguir Selim his Eldest Son was immediately Crowned by the Name of Gehan-guir and having Reigned Three and twenty Years and enlarged the Conquest he died in the Year 1627. After his death his Grandson Boulloquoy Reigned about Three Months Bulloquoy but he was strangled by Order of Sultan Corom a Rebel Son of Gehanguir Corom who having made sure of the Empire Chagehan took to himself the Name of Chagehan in the Year 1628. Seeing Blood and Rebellion raised him to the Throne he had experience of the same disorders amongst his Children which he had caused to his Father for through their jealousie his Empire was almost always in confusion Auranzeb and at length fell into the hands of Auranzeb the Third of his Four Sons who Reigns at present In mounting to the Throne this Prince imitated the crimes of his Father for he put to death Dara his Eldest Brother imprisoned Mourad his other Brother who confided in him and clapt up his own Father in Prison The death of Chagehan who died Five or Six Years after about the end of the Year 1666. The Great Mogul is certainly a most Powerful Prince The Power of the Mogul as we may Judge by his Riches Armies and the number of People that are within the extent of his Empire His yearly Revenues they say mount to above Three hundred and thirty French Millions The Canon Name The Registred Forces of the Mogul which is a Register containing a List of his Forces makes it appear that that Prince entertains Three hundred thousand Horse of which betwixt Thirty and Thirty five thousand with ten thousand Foot are for a Guard to his Person both in time of Peace and War and are commonly quartered in those places where he keeps his Court. This Empire extends from East to West above Four hundred Leagues and from North to South above Five hundred and that vast space excepting some Mountains and Deserts is so full of Towns Castles Burroughs and Villages and by consequence of Inhabitants who till the Land or emprove it by manufactures and the commerce which that Country affords that it is easie to judge of the Power of the King who is Master thereof The true bounds of his Empire are to the West The bounds of Mogulistan Macran or Sinde and Candahar to the East it reaches beyond the Ganges to the South it is limited by Decan the great Sea and the Gulf of Bengale and to the North by the Tartars The exageration of many Travellers concerning the extent of the Countries of this great King of the Indies was the cause that I made it my business to consult the most knowing Men that I might learn what they thought of the greatness of it and what now I write is their Opinion They affirm not as some do that when the Mogul makes War The true Forces of the Mogul he sends Three hundred thousand Horse into the field They say indeed that he pays so many but seeing the chief Revenues or to say better the rewards of the Great Men consist particularly in the pay which they have for more or fewer Troopers it is certain that they hardly keep on Foot one half of the Men they are appointed to have so that when the Great Mogul marches upon any expedition of War his Army exceeds not an Hundred and fifty thousand Horse with very few Foot though he have betwixt Three and four hundred thousand Mouths in the Army Besides I was informed by any Indian who pretends to know the Map of his Country that they reckon no more but twenty Provinces within the extent of Mogulistan in the Indies and that they who have reckoned more have not been well informed of their number since of one Province they have made two or three This Indian had a list of the Princes Revenues calculated for the twenty Provinces and I made no doubt of the truth of his System Twenty Provinces or Governments in Mogulistan but I had rather call them Governments and say that every Government contains several Provinces I shall observe the Revenues of the Governments in the discription I give of them and shall call each Government a Province that I may not vary from the memoires which I have and as I entered the Indies by the Province of Guzerat so I shall describe it before the others CHAP. IV. The Province of Guzerat Guzerat THe Province of Guzerat which was heretofore a Kingdom fell into the Possession of the Great Mogul Ecbar about the year 1565. He was called into it by a great Lord to whom the King of Guzerat Sultan Mamoet gave the general Government thereof when being near his death he trusted him with the tuition and regency of his only Son in the Year 1545 or 1546. during the Reign of Humayon the Father of Ecbar Government The ambition of that Governour who was envied by all the great Men of the Kingdom of Guzerat that were his declared Enemies and against whom he resolved to maintain himself at the cost of his own lawful Prince made him betake himself to the King Mogul under pretext of soliciting his protection for his Pupil named Mudafer who was already of Age but not yet of sufficient Authority to maintain his Guardian against the faction of the great Men whom he had provoked Mudafer King of Guzerat Ecbar seizes Guzerat Ecbar entered Guzerat with an Army and subdued all those who offered to make head against him and whom the Governour accused of being Enemies to his King But instead of being satisfied with one Town which with its Territories had been promised him he seized the whole Kingdom and made the King and Governour Prisoners That unfortunate Prince being never after able to recover it again not but that having made his escape he attempted once again to have reestablished himself but his efforts were in vain Mudafer kills himself for he was overcome and made Prisoner a second time so that despair at length made him destroy himself Guzerat a pleasant Province This is the pleasantest Province of Judostan though it be not the largest The Nardaba Tapty and many other Rivers that water it render it very fertile and the Fields of Guzerat look green in all the seasons of the Year because of the Corn and Rice that cover them and the various kinds of Trees which continually bear Fruit. The most considerable part of Guzerat is towards the Sea on which the Towns of Surrat and Cambaye stand The Ports of Surrat and Cambaye whose Ports are the best of all Mogulistan But seeing Amedabad is the Capital Town of the Province it is but reasonable we should treat of it before we speak of the rest Departure from Surrat to Amedabad The Boats on the Tapty incommodious February the First I parted from Surrat to go
of Sivagy who made inrodes to the very Town We Encamped beyond Indelvai and next day being the six and twentieth of March having after four hours March passed over the pleasantest Hills in the World by reason of the different kinds of Trees that cover them we arrived at Calvar which is the last Village of the Moguls Countrey It is distant from Aurangeabad about fourscore and three Leagues which we Travelled in a fortnights time The rest of the Road to Golconda I shall describe when I treat of that Kingdom The way from Aurangeabad that I have been now speaking of is diversified by Hills and Plains All the Plains are good Ground some sow'd with Rice and the rest planted with Cotton-trees Tamarins Wars Cadjours Manguiers Quesous and others and all Watered with several Rivers which turn and wind every way and with Tanquies also out of which they draw the Water by Oxen And I saw one of these Reservatories at Dentapour which is a Musquet-shot over and seven or eight hundred Geometrical paces long We were incommoded during our whole Journey almost with Lightenings Whirle-winds Rains and Hail-stones some as big as a Pullets Egg Very large Hail-stones The Moguls Horse against Viziapour and when we were troubled with none of these we heard dull Thunderings that lasted whole Days and Nights We met every where Troops of Horse designed against Viziapour the King whereof refused to send the Great Mogul the Tribute which he used to pay to him To conclude with this Province it is to be observed that all the Rocks and Mountains I have mentioned are only dependances of that Mountain which is called Balagate The Mountain of Balagate which according to the Indian Geographers divides India into the two parts of North and South as that of Guate according to the same Geographers environs it almost on all hands CHAP. XLVII Of the Province of Telenga The Province of Telenga TElenga was heretofore the principal Province of Decan and reached as far as the Portuguese Lands towards Goa Viziapour being the Capital City thereof But since the Mogul became Master of the Northern places of this Countrey Calion and of the Towns of Beder and Calion it hath been divided betwixt him and the King of Decan who is only called King of Viziapour and it is reckoned amongst the Provinces of Indostan which obey the Great Mogul The borders of Telenga It is bordered on the East by the Kingdom of Golconda on Maslipatan side on the West by the Province of Baglana and Viziapour on the North by Balagate and on the South by Bisnagar The Capital City of this Province is at present Beder which belonged to Balagate when it had Kings and it hath sometime belonged to Decan Beder is a great Town Beder it is encompassed with Brick-Walls which have Battlements and at certain distances Towers they are mounted with great Cannon some whereof have the mouth three Foot wide Great Guns The Garison of Beder There is commonly in this place a Garison of Three thousand Men half Horse and half Foot with Seven hundred Gunners the Garison is kept in good order because of the importance of the place against Decam and that they are always afraid of a surprize The Governour lodges in a Castle without the Town it is a rich Government and he who commanded in it when I was there was Brother-in-law to King Chagean Auran Zebs Father but having since desired the Government of Brampour which is worth more he had it because in the last War that Governour had made an Army of the King of Viziapours raise the Siege from before Beder Some time after I met the new Governour upon the Road to Beder The Train of the Governour of Beder who was a Persian of a good aspect and pretty well stricken in years he was carried in a Palanquin amidst Five hundred Horse-men well mounted and cloathed before whom marched several Men on foot carrying blew Banners charged with flames of Gold and after them came seven Elephants The Governours Palanquin was followed with several others full of Women and covered with red Searge and there were two little Children in one that was open The Bambous of all these Palanquins were covered with Plates of Silver chamfered after them came many Chariots full of Women two of which were drawn by white Oxen almost six Foot high and last of all came the Waggons with the Baggage The Great Moguls Revenue in Telenga and several Camels guarded by Troopers This Province of Telenga is worth above Ten millions a Year to the Great Mogul No where are the Gentiles more Superstitious than here they have a a great many Pagods with Figures of Monsters that can excite nothing but Horror instead of Devotion unless in those who are deluded with the Religion These Idolaters use frequent Washings Men The washings of the Gentiles Women and Children go to the River as soon as they are out of Bed and the rich have Water brought them to wash in When Women lose their Husbands they are conducted thither by their Friends who comfort them and they who are brought to Bed use the same custom almost as soon as they are delivered of their Children and indeed there is no Countrey where Women are so easily brought to Bed when they come out of the Water a Bramen dawbs their Forehead with a Composition made of Saffron and the Powder of white Sawnders dissolved in Water then they return home where they eat a slight Breakfast and seeing they must never eat unless they be washed some return to the Tanquie or River about noon and others perform their Ablutions at home before they go to Dinner As they have a special care not to eat any thing but what is dressed by a Gentile of their Caste so they seldom eat any where but at home The feeding of the Gentiles and commonly they dress their Victuals themselves buying their Flower Rice and such other Provisions in the Shops of the Banians for they 'll not buy any where else These Banians as well as the Bramens and Courmis feed on Butter Pulse The Diet of some Castes Herbs Sugar and Fruit they eat neither Fish nor Flesh and drink nothing but Water wherein they put Coffee and Tea they use no Dishes for fear some body of another Religion or Tribe may have made use of the Dish out of which they might eat and to supply that they put their Victuals into large Leaves of Trees which they throw away when they are empty nay there are some of them who eat alone and will not suffer neither their Wives nor Children at Table with them Nevertheless I was informed The Bramens sometimes eat Hogs Flesh that in that Countrey one certain day of the year the Bramens eat Hogs Flesh but they do it privately for fear of Scandal because the Rules of their Sect enjoyn them so to do and I believe it
that many times Vessels are carried upon the Rocks and there perish The Antients called this Sea Pontus Euxinus a Name that hath been changed and soft'ned from that of Axinos which in Latin signifies Inhospitabilis one that uses his Guests unkindly as in Italy the the City which was since called Malventum was named Beneventum If you go a-shore on the side of Europe you 'll see a very fine Countrey full of Gardens and good Pasture Ground and in this Countrey there are several Villages inhabited by Greeks A little further up in the Countrey on the same side there are very lovely Aqueducts that carry water to Constantinople CHAP. XXII Of the Shape and Strength of the Turks Of their Apparel Way of Saluting And of their Manners I Have given but a short account of all the places of Constantinople that I have seen because many others have treated largely of them I shall now say something of the Shape Strength Cloathing Customs and Manners of the Turks according to what I could observe and learn. The Shape of the Turks The Turks are commonly well shaped having a well proportioned body and are free from many defects which are more common in other Countries of Europe for you see neither Crooked nor Criples amongst them and it is not without reason that it is said As strong as a Turk they being for the most part robust and strong Their Habit is fit to make them seem proper The Turks Habit advantagious and it covers defects far more easily than the Canons or Pantaloons of France next their skin they wear a pair of Drawers which shut alike behind and before their Shirt which hath sleeves like our Womens Smocks and is slit in the same manner comes over their Drawers they have a Doliman above their Shirt Doliman which is like a close-bodied Cassock that reaches down to the heels and hath streight sleeves ending in a little round flap that covers the back of their hands these Dolimans are made of Stuff Taffeta Sattin or other neat striped Stuffs and in Winter they have them quilted with Cotton over the Doliman they gird themselves about the small of the waste with a Sash that may serve them for a Turban when it is wreathed about the head or with a leathern Belt two or three fingers broad adorned with Gold or Silver Buckles Cangiar At their girdle they commonly wear two Daggers which they call Cangiars and are properly knives in a sheath but the handles and Sheaths are garnished with Gold or Silver and sometimes with Precious-stones or else the handles are only of the Tooth of a Fish which they esteem incomparably more than Ivory and sell a pound of it very dear They carry two Handkerchiefs at their girdle one on each side and their Tobacco-pouch hangs also at it their Purse being in their bosom as many things else are to wit their Papers and foul Handkerchiefs for they use their bosoms as we do our pockets Feredge Over the Doliman they wear a Feredge which is like our Night-gown having very wide sleeves and about as long as the arm though they hang not always so far down this serves them for a Cloak and in the Winter-time they line it with rich Furrs and such as are able Samour willingly lay out four or five hundred Piastres for a Lining of Sables which they call Samour Their Stockins are of Cloth the length of the leg the feet whereof are socks of yellow or red Leather according to their quality sewed to the Stockins Mestes they call these Socks Mestes Their Shoes are of the same colour and made almost like Slippers the heel is equal to the rest of the sole only it is shod with a piece of Iron made purposely half-round and these Shoes they call Paboutches Paboutches Their head is covered with a crimson Velvet Cap without brims gilded in the in-side and round that they wreath a white or red Turban Turban This Turban is a scarf of Linnen or Silk stuff many Ells long and the whole breadth of the stuff which they turn several times about their head and they wreath it in many fashions so that the condition or quality of the Man may be known by the way he wears the Turban and other head-attire whereof we shall speak hereafter Some fashions of them are very difficult to be made and there are people whose trade and profession is to make them up as Dressers are with us As for the Kindred of Mahomet whom they call Scherifs they wear a green Turban the word Scherif signifies Noble and none but those of that Race dare take to themselves this Title or wear green on the head there being no other way to distinguish them but by their colour These Blades who have only an imaginary Nobility are very numerous and for the most part Beggars if you except some Princes which they have still in some States of Arabia and Africa of whom we shall treat in another place These Scherifs give it out that they have this particular vertue in themselves That throw them into a fiery Furnace they 'll come out without any hurt The Women of this Race are also to be known by a piece of green stuff which they have fastened to their Veil on the fore-part of their head But to return to the Turks Apparel I look upon it to be very commodious and indeed it is the Habit most generally used in the World if you except some Northern and Western Provinces The Hair and Beards of the Turks The Turks shave their heads and think it strange that the Francks suffer their Hair to grow for they say that the Devil nestles in it so that they are not subject to that filth and nastiness which breed among our Hair if we be not careful to comb it well But they let their Beard and Mustachios grow except those who are brought up and have Offices in the Serraglio for none there but the Grand Signior and the Bostangi Basha suffer it to grow and they have a great esteem for a Man that hath a lovely Beard it is a great affront to one to take him by the Beard unless it be to kiss him as they often do they swear by their Beard as also by the Head of their Father of the Grand Signior and such like Oaths When they salute one another The Turkish way of saluting they uncover not the head and to do so would be an affront but only laying their hand upon the breast and bowing a little they say Sela meon aleicom which is asmuch as to say Peace be with you and he that is saluted does the like and answers Aleicom esselam ve rahhmet vllah which is to say Peace be with you and God's Mercy also and such other Benedictions In fine that way of saluting is very grave and was indeed the ancient way of Salutation as appears by Holy Scripture The left hand is