[Illustration]
Mr. RAY’s Travels.
VOL. II.
[Illustration]
A
COLLECTION
OF CURIOUS
Travels and Voyages.
CONTAINING,
Dr. _Leonhart Rauwolf_’s Journey
Into the _Eastern_ Countries, _viz._
SYRIA, PALESTINE, or the HOLY LAND, ARMENIA,
MESOPOTAMIA, ASSYRIA, CHALDEA, _&c._
Translated from the Original _High Dutch_,
By _NICHOLAS STAPHORST_.
AND ALSO,
TRAVELS into GREECE, ASIA _minor_, EGYPT,
ARABIA _felix_, PETRÆA, ETHIOPIA, the RED
SEA, _&c._
Collected from the Observations of
Mons. BELON, PROSPER ALPINUS, Dr. HUNTINGDON,
Mr. VERNON, Sir GEORGE WHEELER, Dr.
SMITH, Mr. GREAVES, and others.
To which are added three Catalogues of such
_Trees_, _Shrubs_, and _Herbs_, as grow in the LEVANT.
By the Rev. _JOHN RAY_, F. R. S.
The SECOND EDITION Corrected and Improved.
VOL. II.
_LONDON_:
Printed for _J. Walthoe_, _D. Midwinter_, _A. Bettesworth_,
and _C. Hitch_, _W. Innys_, _R. Robinson_, _J. Wilford_, _A.
Ward_, _J._ and _P. Knapton_, _T. Longman_, _O. Payne_, _W.
Shropshire_, _J._ and _R. Tonson_, _T. Woodman_, _R. Chandler_,
and _J. Wellington_. 1738.
THE CONTENTS.
PART. I.
Chap. I. _Which way I went first of all, from ~Augspurg~ to
~Marseilles~, and from thence shipped over the Seas towards
~Tripoli~ of ~Syria~, situated in ~Phœnecia~._ pag. 1
Chap. II. _Of the famous city of ~Tripoli~, of it’s fruitful
neighbourhood and great trade; and also of the splendid baths,
and other magnificent buildings to be seen there. Their ways of
making Rusma, Pot-ashes, Soap, ~&c.~_ p. 14
Chap. III. _Of the ~Turks~ of high and low conditions, men
and women; of their employments, offices, manners, customs,
cloaths, as much as I could at ~Tripoli~ (during my abode)
understand, see, and learn thereof._ p. 26
Chap. IV. _A description of the plants I gathered at
~Tripoli~._ p. 35
Chap. V. _Which way I travell’d from ~Tripoli~ farther to the
two famous cities of ~Damant~ and ~Aleppo~._ p. 42
Chap. VI. _Of the situation of the potent city of ~Aleppo~; of
the buildings thereof, and also of the delicate fruits and
fine plants, that grow there, within and without gardens._ p. 45
Chap. VII. _Of the high places and authority of Bashaws, what
great courts they keep, and how they administer their offices;
as also of their way of living, of their privileges, of their
manners and conversation._ p. 51
Chap. VIII. _Of the great trading and dealing of the city of
~Aleppo~; as also several sorts of their meats and drinks; of
their ceremonies, and their peculiar way of sitting down at
meals._ p. 61
Chap. IX. _A short and plain relation of plants, which I
gather’d during my stay at ~Aleppo~, in and round about it, not
without great danger and trouble, which I glued upon paper very
carefully._ p. 73
PART. II.
Chap. I. _How I departed from ~Aleppo~ to the famous city of
~Bir~; and how I sailed from thence on the ~Euphrates~ to Old
~Babylon~._ p. 87
Chap. II. _Which way we went into the ship, and sailed to
~Racka~; and how the son of the King of ~Arabia~, with his
retinue came to our ship to demand his customs; what else we
saw by the way, and what we did suffer from the ~Arabians~ and
their Mendicants._ p. 96
Chap. III. _Of the city of ~Racka~, and of it’s situation; and
also something of the departure of the King of ~Arabia~; and of
his league with the ~Turkish~ Emperor; and also of the trouble
we had with the Custom-house-officer or ~Publican~._ p. 110
Chap. IV. _Of the inhabitants of the mountains, and the
great wilderness we came through to ~Deer~; of their ancient
origination, and miserable and laborious livelihood._ p. 117
Chap. V. _Of our voyage to the famous town ~Ana~, in which
we passed again through great sandy wildernesses; for the
performance whereof we must provide ourselves with victuals,
and be very careful in our navigation. Some relation of the
inhabitants, of their cloaths, and other things we did observe
and see by the way, and what else did happen unto us._ p. 124
Chap. VI. _Which way we travell’d from ~Ana~ farther to Old
~Babylon~, by some ancient towns call’d ~Haddidt~, ~Juppe~,
~Idt~, and saw more pleasant, fruitful and well cultivated
fields on each side than before._ p. 132
Chap. VII. _Of Old ~Babylon~ the Metropolis of ~Chaldee~, and
it’s situation; and how it is still to this day, after it’s
terrible desolation, to be seen, with the tower or turret, and
the old ruined walls lying in the dust._ p. 137
Chap. VIII. _Of the famous city of ~Bagdat~, call’d ~Baldac~;
of it’s situation, strange plants, great traffick, and
Merchants of several nations that live there, together with
several other things I saw and did learn at my departing._ p. 142
Chap. IX. _Which way I came in my return from ~Bagdat~, through
~Assyria~, the confines of ~Persia~, and the province of the
~Curters~, to the town ~Carcuch~, ~Capril~, &c. and at length
to the river ~Tygris~, to ~Mossel~, that famous town which was
formerly call’d ~Nineveh~._ p. 159
Chap. X. _Which way we went through ~Mesopotamia~, by the way
of ~Zibin~ and ~Orpha~, to ~Bir~, not without a great deal
of danger; and afterwards how we passed the great river, the
~Euphrates~, and came at last into ~Syria~, by ~Nisib~, to the
famous town of ~Aleppo~._ p. 168
Chap. XI. _Of the ~Turkish~ Physicians and Apothecaries; of my
comrade ~Hans Ulrich Krafft~ of ~Ulm~’s hard imprisonment; of
the great danger that I was in, in the two towns of ~Aleppo~
and ~Tripoli~; of the murdering of some Merchants, and what
else did happen when I was there._ p. 179
Chap. XII. _Of the large and high mount of ~Libanus~, it’s
inhabitants and strange plants that are found there._ p. 186
Chap. XIII. _Cunning and deceitful stratagems of the ~Grand
Turk~ against the inhabitants of mount ~Libanus~, the ~Trusci~,
and ~Maronites~; and how he made war with them, and what damage
they sustained by it._ p. 198
PART. III.
Chap. I. _A Short description of his departure from ~Tripoli~,
a town of ~Phœnicia~ in ~Syria~, and how I went from thence to
~Joppa~._ p. 203
Chap. II. _A short relation of my travels by land from the
harbour of ~Joppa~, to the city of ~Jerusalem~._ p. 212
Chap. III. _A plain description of the city of ~Jerusalem~, as
it was to be seen in our time; and of the adjacent countries._ p. 220
Chap. IV. _Of mount ~Sion~, and it’s holy places._ p. 229
Chap. V. _Of the mount ~Moria~, and the glorious temple of
~Solomon~._ p. 239
Chap. VI. _Of the ~Saracens~ and ~Turkish~ religion, ceremonies
and hypocritical life, with a short hint how long time their
reign shall last after ~Mahomet~’s decease._ p. 257
Chap. VII. _Of mount ~Bethzetha~, and the two houses of
~Pilate~ and ~Herod~._ p. 258
Chap. VIII. _Of mount ~Calvaria~, and the holy grave of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ._ p. 260
Chap. IX. _Here follow some epitaphs of the Christian Kings of
~Jerusalem~, together with a short relation of their reigns and
mighty deeds._ p. 271
Chap. X. _A common account of several sorts of Christians, but
chiefly of them that are always to be found in the temple of
mount ~Calvaria~. And also how these, and many other strangers,
are treated by the ~Turkish~ Emperor (as by their chief head,
to whom they are generally subjected) and his officers._ p. 275
Chap. XI. _Of the ~Greeks~._ p. 288
Chap. XII. _Of the ~Surians~ that esteem themselves to be
Christians._ p. 290
Chap. XIII. _Of the ~Gregorians~._ p. 291
Chap. XIV. _Of the ~Armenians~ and their religion._ p. 292
Chap. XV. _Of the ~Nestorians~._ p. 294
Chap. XVI. _Of the ~Jacobites~ call’d ~Golti~._ p. 296
Chap. XVII. _Of the ~Abyssins~, Priest ~John~, call’d
~Lederwick~, subject unto the King of the ~Moors~._ p. 297
Chap. XVIII. _Of the ~Maronites~._ p. 300
Chap. XIX. _Of the ~Latinists~ or ~Papists~._ p. 301
Chap. XX. _Of the Knights of the Temple of ~Jerusalem~, the
Order of the ~Johannites~._ p. 304
Chap. XXI. _A short description of some places, hills, valleys,
~&c.~ that lie near and about ~Jerusalem~. Of the mount of
~Olives~, and it’s holy places._ p. 309
Chap. XXII. _Of ~Bethlehem~, the mountains of ~Judea~, and
their famous places. Where also is made mention of my returning
back from ~Jerusalem~ to ~Tripoli~._ p. 316
Chap. XXIII. _How I took ship at ~Tripolis~ in ~Syria~, and
sailed back from thence to ~Venice~, and travell’d home again
to my own relations at ~Augspurg~._ p. 327
VOL. II.
Chap. I. _Mr ~Belon~’s remarks in the island of ~Creta~ or
~Candy~._ p. 341
Chap. II. _A description of mount ~Athos~, commonly call’d
~Monte Santo~, by Mr ~Belon~._ p. 345
Chap. III. _An account of a journey by land from mount ~Athos~
to ~Constantinople~, wherein the gold and silver mines of
~Macedonia~, together with many antiquities and natural
rarities are described._ p. 349
Chap. IV. _The ways of fishing on the ~Propontis~, the
~Bosphorus~, and ~Hellespont~; as also of the fishes taken. By
M. ~Belon~._ p. 353
Chap. V. _Of some beasts and mechanic trades at
~Constantinople~._ p. 354
_Mr ~Francis Vernon~’s letter, written to Mr ~Oldenburg~, ~Jan
10, 1675-6~._ p. 355
_Some plants observed by Sir ~George Wheeler~, in his Voyage to
~Greece~ and ~Asia minor~._ p. 364
_Historical observations relating to ~Constantinople~, by
the reverend and learned ~Tho. Smith~, D.D. Fellow of ~Magd.
College Oxon.~ and of the ~Royal Society~._ p. 368
_An account of the city of ~Prusa~ in ~Bithynia~, and a
continuation of the historical observations relating to
~Constantinople~._ p. 380
_An account of the latitude of ~Constantinople~ and ~Rhodes~;
by the learned Mr ~John Greaves~._ p. 404
Chap. VI. _Some observations made in a Voyage to ~Egypt~, by Mr
~Belon~._ p. 409
_More Observations made in ~Egypt~, by ~Guilandinus~, ~Alpinus~
and others_.
Chap. I. _Of the weather and seasons in ~Egypt~._ p. 411
Chap. II. _Of the meats and drinks of ~Egypt~._ p. 412
Chap. III. _Of the diseases and physic._ p. 414
_Of the Pyramids of ~Egypt~, by Mr ~Greaves~, Professor of
Astronomy in the University of ~Oxford~. A description of the
first Pyramid._ p. 417
_A description of the second Pyramid._ p. 436
_A description of the third Pyramid, out of Mr ~Belon~, and Mr
~Greaves~._ p. 439
_Of the rest of the Pyramids in the ~Libian~ desart._ p. 441
_In what manner the Pyramids were built._ p. 443
_Of the ~Pyramids~, ~Sphynx~, ~Mummies~, &c. by Father
~Vansleb~ and others._ p. 448
_Of the ~Sphynx~._ p. 452
_Of the wells where the ~Mummies~ are._ p. 453
_A description of an entire body of a ~Mummy~._ p. 457
_A letter from ~Dublin~ concerning the Porphyry pillars in
~Egypt~, by Dr ~Huntingdon~._ p. 461
_A journey from ~Grand Cairo~ to ~Mecca~._ p. 467
_Of the Aga sent to meet the Caravan upon their return._ p. 470
_Of ~Mecca~ and ~Medina~._ p. 472
_An extract of a journey through part of ~Arabia Felix~, from
the copy in ~Ramusio~’s collection._ p. 475
_Some observations made by Sir ~Henry Middleton~, and other
~Englishmen~ in ~Arabia Felix~, &c._ p. 477
_Of the ways and roads between ~Egypt~ and ~Ethiopia~._ p. 479
_Of ~Ethiopia~: By ~Michael~ of ~Tripoli~, Embassador from the
~Habessine~ Emperor to the Grand Signior._ p. 481
_More Observations of ~Ethiopia~, by Father ~Lobo~, Father
~Alvarez~, Father ~Tellez~, and others; extracted from their
~Portuguese~ voyages._ p. 487
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Dr _Leonhart Rauwolff_’s
TRAVELS
INTO THE
Eastern Countries.
In which is chiefly treated, how he got into _Syria_, and what strange
things he there saw and observed.
PART. I.
CHAP. I.
_Which way I went first of all, from ~Augspurg~ to ~Marseilles~, and from
thence shipped over the seas towards ~Tripoli~ of ~Syria~, situated in
~Phœnicia~._
I having always had a natural inclination, almost from my infancy, to
travel into foreign Countries, but chiefly into the Eastern ones, which
have been of old celebrated for fertility, which were cultivated by the
most ancient people, and whose princes in former ages, have been the
most potent monarchs of the world; not only to observe their lives,
manners and customs, but chiefly to gain a clear and distinct knowledge
of those delicate herbs, described by _Theophrastus_, _Dioscorides_,
_Avicenna_, _Serapio_, &c. by viewing them in their proper and native
places, partly that I might more exactly describe them, especially
the most strange and rare; partly also, to provoke the Apothecaries
to endeavour to procure those that are necessary for them to have in
their shops: I strove always to put this my desire into execution, but
was forced to defer it until, in the year of our Lord 1573, I found an
opportunity, by my honour’d brother-in-law Mr _Melchior Manlick_, senior,
which was very convenient. He received me presently, (having before a
design to increase the number of them that were employ’d in his trade)
and fitted me out for my voyage, that I might go with the first company
that should travel for _Marseilles_, and then from thence farther in one
of their ships to _Tripoli_, situated in that part of _Syria_ which is
call’d _Phœnicia_.
After that my honour’d friend, Mr _Frederick Rentzen_, of that same
city, was come to me, we set out the _18th_ of _May_, _Anno 1573_,
from _Augspurg_ towards _Lindaw_, designing to go through _Piedmont_
to _Milan_ and _Nissa_, and so farther: The same day we came to
_Mindelheim_, a very pleasant town with a princely castle, situated upon
the _Mindel_, then belonging to the baron of _Frundsberg_.
The _19th_ at noon we came to _Memmingen_, a very pleasant city of the
empire, and at night to _Leutkirch_.
The _20th_ we rode thorough _Wangen_, another imperial city, situated in
_Algaw_, where they drove a very good trade with fine ticking and linnen
cloth; about noon we arrived at _Lindaw_, an imperial city situated in
the _Boden_ sea, where there is a very great depository or staple of all
sorts of commodities or merchandizes: some have call’d this the _German
Venice_, because it is in like manner situated in water, and hath also a
great trade. After dinner we crossed the lake towards _Fuzach_, a village
not far from _Bregentz_, towards the _Rhine_.
The _21st_ about breakfast-time we came to _Veldkirch_, a very pleasant
town, situated upon the _Yll_, belonging now to the house of _Austria_,
but formerly to the counts of _Montfort_. By the way I saw several fine
plants, _viz._ _Saxifraga Aurea_, _Caryophyllata Alpina_, a fine sort
of _Bellis-major_, _Christa galli_ with white flowers, and _Auricula
Ursi_ with brown flowers, _&c._ At night we came to _Mayenfeld_,
belonging to the _Grawpunters_, upon the _Rhine_, which runs by the town,
and there runs into it a river call’d _Camingen_, which slides down
between high rocks, where the famous warm bath (from an adjacent abby,
call’d _Pfeffers_) riseth, which may be numbered amongst the wonderful
waters, in regard of it’s admirable operation in strengthening lame and
contracted members, and hath this property beyond other baths, that it
loseth itself from _October_ till _May_, and then it cometh on again
powerfully.
The _22d_ we came at night to _Chur_, a very ancient city, where also
is a deposition of Goods that are brought thither from _Germany_ by
pack-horses over the mountains. A seat of that Bishop lyeth half an
hour’s going from the _Rhine_, wherefore this bishopric is accounted
the chief of all the bishoprics of the _Rhine_, or the _Pfaffen gaste_,
call’d by others, because it is situated near the first beginning of
the _Rhine_, according to the ancient proverb: _Costentz_ the biggest,
_Basil_ the pleasantest, _Strasburg_ the noblest, _Spires_ the devoutest,
_Worms_ the poorest, _Mentz_ the worthiest, _Trier_ the ancientest, and
_Collen_ the richest.
The _23d_ we rode to _Tusis_, an ancient village belonging to the
_Grawpunters_, the name whereof shews it’s original, for the _Rhetians_
are descended from the _Tuscans_, who under the conduct of one _Rhætus_
of old took possession of those countries; not far off upon a high
mountain is still situated a ruin’d castle, call’d _Realt_, or which is
righter, _Rhœtia alta_, deriv’d also from the _Rhetians_.
The _24th_ at noon we came by the _Splewer-hill_ into a village call’d
_Splugi_, not far from the beginning, head, or sourse of the _Rhine_:
Thence we passed over the hill, and came at night to a little village
call’d _Gampolschin_, situated in a valley of the same name, where we
rested.
Monday the _25th_ at noon we came to _Clæven_, or _Clavenna_, a very
ancient town, belonging to the _Bunts_, which had anciently a strong
castle, which was demolished by the _Grawpunters_ themselves, _Anno
1524_, after it was cunningly taken from them by _Castel de Maess_ and
_John Jacob de Medicis_, in which bustle the town was also ruin’d, for
the gates and walls were beaten down, that no enemy might after that
lodge himself there again. From _Clæven_ we went to _Riva_ upon the
_Lago di como_, where the water _Addua_ runs into the lake, and yet
notwithstanding adds no water to it, nor taketh any from it, but only
runs strait through it; and so doth the _Rhine_ through the lake call’d
the _Boden-Sea_: From thence we travell’d to _Gera_ upon the same lake,
where we lay all night. On the bank I saw some purple-colour’d lillies, a
sort of _Lilium Saracenicum_ with small leaves, and in the old walls the
_Cymbalaria_.
The _26th_ about noon we came to _Como_, a very glorious and pleasant
city, from whence the lake hath it’s name to this day. From thence we
rode the same night to _Milan_, the metropolis of that dukedom. What
strange passages have been committed in this town before it was possessed
by the Emperor _Charles_ the fifth, after the decease of the last duke
_Francis Sfortia_, is related sufficiently in History.
The _27th_ we rode through _Binasco_, a pleasant village, where the very
learned and famous _Andreas Alciatus_, Doctor in Law, and Professor of
several Universities in _France_ and _Italy_, hath built a very glorious
palace; and in the evening passing by the great park (in which in the
year 1525, was fought that bloody battel between _Francis_ King of
_France_, and the Emperor _Charles_ the fifth’s officers, in which the
King himself was made prisoner, and many of his men kill’d) the same
night arrived at _Pavia_, an ancient glorious city, situated on the river
_Tesin_, where the Kings of the _Longobards_ did formerly keep their
courts, and afterwards _Charles the Great_, the first _German_ Emperor,
did institute an University, which has brought up many eminent and
learned men since.
The _28th_ departing from _Pavia_, we passed the River _Padus_, or
_Eridanus_, which is believed to be the biggest river in _Italy_, to
_Vogera_, a pleasant village, situated on the river _Stafora_, there
we began to take post, and had eighteen stages to _Nissa_: By noon we
arrived at _Dertona_, a pretty town, yet not very full of people, by
reason of the many wars and intestine quarrels in which it was engaged,
belonging to the Duke of _Milan_. In this country I found whole acres
sown with _Wood_, and there I saw the _White Poplar_, also _Millefolium
flore luteo_, and farther upon the hill _Brotho_ the _Cineraria_, and
the _Stœchas Citrina_, _Cotinus Plinii_, and many more fine plants. At
night we came to _Alexandria della Paglia_, that is to say, _of Chaff_.
When heavy and long wars did arise between the Emperor _Frederick_ the
first, and the towns of _Lombardy_, by instigation of Pope _Alexander_
the third, the towns of _Lombardy_ did agree to compile this city out
of several villages in the year 1168, and did fortify it the year next
ensuing, and call’d it, after the Pope’s name, _Alexandria_; but the
_Imperialists_ call’d it _Alexandria of Straw_, which name it doth retain
to this day; yet we did not stay there, but rode the same night to
_Bellizona_, a strong place, which perhaps formerly had it’s own princes,
which did sell it from _Uri_ and his relations, because they could not
defend it from the Duke of _Milan_ in the year 1422, and yet it cost a
great deal of blood, until the _Switzers_ got it into safe possession in
the year 1500.
The _29th_ at noon we came to _Ast_, a considerable city belonging to the
dukedom of _Milan_, where the King of _Spain_ keeps a garrison, which
had just then received the new Governour of _Milan_, and conducted him
into the city. Not far off lieth _Carmagnola_, belonging to the King of
_France_, and to the Marquisate of _Saluzo_, where is kept a _French_
garrison, as at _Moncalier_, which is very near it, the Duke of _Savoy_
hath a garrison; and so garrisons of three eminent princes lie very near
one another. That night we lodged in a pitiful village call’d _Baieron_.
The _30th_ we rode thro’ _Racones_ and _Savigliano_, two small villages,
and at night came to _Coni_.
The last of _May_, after we had broke our fast in a village call’d
_Limona_, we came to mount _Brothus_, where we saw many pleasant
vineyards; and so by _Tenda_ into another village, call’d _Sorgo_, where
we staid all night.
The first of _June_ we reached to _Nissa_ in the morning, a city with
a strong citadel, upon the _Tyrrhenian_ sea, belonging to the Duke of
_Savoy_, which the _Turkish_ Admiral _Barbarossa_ did for a long time
besiege with great fury, and yet was forc’d to leave it, although he
had the city in his possession, in the year 1543. Thither also came
_Francis_ King of _France_, and the Emperor _Charles_ the fifth, to
Pope _Paul_ the third, to have peace made between them. Thereabouts I
espy’d some fine plants, but chiefly two sorts of _Papaver Corniculatum_,
with large and stately flowers, yellow and brown; and also the _Ladanum
latifolium_, and upon the hill towards _Villa Franca_, a _Convolvulus_
with white and purple-strip’d flowers, and with long and cut leaves.
The second we went from thence with more company, passing through the
villages of _Antibo_, _Cacabo_, _Luc_, _Brignola_, _&c._ (where I found
in the shops a sort of very delicate preserved Prunes, call’d in _English
Prunellos_’s, which would be very useful in burning fevers against the
thirst, in great quantity) to _Marseilles_, which maketh thirty _French_
miles or leagues; and we rode so fast onward, during this journey, that
we arrived there in nineteen days after our departure, that is, on the
fifth day of _June_: By the way I saw _Convolvulus foliis acutis_, _Rubia
Tinctorum_, _Stœchas_, a fine _Sesely Peloponnesiacum_, _Thymelæa_,
_Cistus_ with white and purple flowers, and also a kind of _Ladanum_ of
the learned _Carolus Clusius_, with small Rosemary-leaves, _Terebinthus_,
_Ilex Coccifera_, _Aspalathus_, and the _Polemonium Monspeliensium_ of
_Rembert Dodonæus_, call’d _Trifolium fruticans_, _Ruscus_, _Lentiscus_,
_Calamintha montana_, some common thistles, and others.
In _Marseilles_ where I was lodged in my forenam’d kinsman’s house, to
stay untill the ships were ready, I met with one _John Ulrich Kraft_,
son of _John Kraft_, one of the Privy Council at _Ulm_, who was arrived
there a few days before, also with the same intention to go along with
us, about his own business. We staid together, and while the ships
were fitting out, we made ourselves acquainted with the Physicians
and Apothecaries, but above the rest with one experienced man, _Jacob
Renaud_, a great lover of plants, who shew’d me in his garden many pretty
and strange simples, _viz._ _Scammonium verum_, _Ambrosia_, _Moly_,
_Ammi_, _Aloës_, _&c._, and a great many dry’d and laid between papers.
I found also about the city, _Trifolium Asphaltites_, _Lactuca marina_,
_Dendillaria_, _Tragacantha Guilhelmi Rondeletii_, a great _Scabiosa_
with white flowers, _Gratiola_, _Gnaphalium marinum_, _Medica marina_,
_Polygonum marinum_, _Eryngium marinum_, _Coris Monspeliensium_, another
sort of _Tamariscus_, and of _Consolida_, with yellow sweet flowers,
which I also found between _Nimes_, and _Pont du gard_, an old, strong,
and fine building, upon which I did find _Ruta Silvestris_, a sort of
_Verbascum foliis dissectis_, _Papaver corniculatum flore flavo_; I also
found thereabouts _Chondrilla Viminea_, growing chiefly in the vineyards,
_Conyza major_, _Vermicularis fruticans_, _Carduus tomentosus_, not
unlike to _Leucacantha_, _Nepa Lobelii in adversariis novis_; I also
found _Tartonrayre_, _Aster atticus luteus_, _Psyllium_, _Seseli
Æthiopicum fruticans_, _Jujubes_, _red Valeriana_, _Corruda Rembert.
Dodon._, the first kind of _Catanance Dioscor._, which I first spy’d by
it’s dry’d leaves, just like a Vulture’s claw, and many others, not
needful to be here related.
After that the ship _Santa Croce_ was laden, victuall’d for three months,
and provided with guns, and all other necessaries for a three months
voyage; we two went with our master, _Anthony Reinard_, with some others
belonging to him, in a frigat, the first day of _September_, in the year
1673, to our ship, which lay at anchor with several other laden ships,
near the adjacent islands, with an intention to set sail the next day.
The next day about two in the afternoon, when God sent us a good wind,
we hoisted up our sails, and went on: When our patron began to exhort
his men to agree together, and to be obedient to him, which they all
faithfully promised; then we went to prayers, and recommended ourselves
to the protection of God Almighty.
In the first setting out, before we got to sea, our ship came so near to
another, that they touch’d almost; and had not the seamen in time got
them off, we might have suffer’d shipwreck.
When this was over, and we out of danger, we sail’d on with full sails
six of us, and advanc’d so fairly, that we lost the sight of land before
night, and could see nothing but sky and water.
Not long after, most of us began to be sea-sick, and to bring up what we
had eaten some days before, but I and my comrade _Kraft_ purged ourselves
that night so well, that we were very fresh again the next morning. Some
of the rest remain’d sick for seven days after, and not one of us,
altho’ we were forty eight, but was sick, and found an alteration after
our shipping off.
After we had sail’d two days with a favourable wind, by the _Latins_
call’d _Caurus_, but by the _French_ and _Italians_, _Maistral_, which
bloweth between north and west, and proceeded an hundred _French_
leagues, there arose on the fourth day about midnight another wind,
call’d _Græco_, and by the _Latins_, _Cæcias_, which the more it went to
the east, the more it was against us; so that we being hindred from going
eastward, were forced to go sideways, and to traverse up and down, and
were driven so far southwards, that on sunday night and monday morning
we sail’d in sight of the coast of _Barbary_. After the wind was laid a
little, and the dolphins appear’d in great numbers, we hoped for better
weather, but for want of it, finding ourselves advance towards _Africa_
more and more, we were forced to tack about, and to direct our course
towards _Marseilles_ again.
We going thus back again, contrary to our intentions, feared that the
wind would hold so a while, but contrary to our expectation, it came to
be so calm towards the night, that we could hardly perceive any. Then
we hoped it would change, which did also succeed accordingly, for the
next morning before break of day the _Maistral_ began to blow again,
which pleased us extremely, and so we return’d and pursued our former
course again towards the east, and on monday we sail’d so fast, that in
an hours time we made ten _Italian_ miles, and on the 9th day came into
the streights of _Sardinia_ and _Africa_, where we saw an island call’d
_Gallicia_, which, altho’ it be but small, yet, because of the high
mountains, is seen afar off; we left it about thirty leagues on one side
of us. This island is subject to no body, wherefore a great many pirates
lye lurking there: In it is no great matter to be seen, only wild Capers
grow there in great plenty. We, finding ourselves in this dangerous
place, were not idle, altho’ the ship was well provided with guns, pikes,
and other arms, but got our great guns ready, and fill’d our chamber, in
which we two were, with guns and swords, so that it look’d rather like
an armoury of the whole ship than a chamber. Moreover, because we were
afraid of some huge rocks that lye in the sea, chiefly of them which the
seamen call _Leuci_, they observ’d them diligently, not only in their sea
chart, to know which way they might avoid them, but kept a good watch all
that night to observe them, and so with the help of God we got safely
clear of them.
A little after we came in view of the kingdom of _Tunis_ in _Africa_,
with some adjacent islands; amongst them there is one call’d _Simles_,
which, tho’ but small, is very fruitful, and therein groweth the best
_Aristolochia rotunda_ in abundance.
We lost this the next morning, and westward upon our right hand, at about
forty miles distance, we saw another, call’d _Panthalarea_, subject to
the King of _Spain_, which is inhabited by above three hundred people;
_Sicily_ on our left, because the night fell in, we did not then see,
but came so near it, that early in the morning we could not only see the
hills and mountains, and chiefly the _Mongibello_, which is very high,
situated at the other side of the famous city of _Syracusa_, but also the
buildings and steeples distinctly; we sail’d also the whole day by that
side that lieth over-against the isle of _Malta_, so long till we came to
the last point thereof: And altho’ we were not in a little danger there,
because of the war, yet we saw no more than one small ship early in the
morning by _Malta_, which we took to be of _Marseilles_. So, God be
praised, we arrived very well, and without any hindrance at the farthest
point of _Sicily_, on the 11th day of _September_ in the evening, which
is reckon’d to be 900 _Italian_ miles from _Marseilles_; and we hoped
also with the help of the Almighty to go the rest of our voyage to
_Cyprus_, which is 1300 more, three of which are reckon’d to a _French_
league, for we crossed the _Adriatick_ and _Tyrrhenian_ seas, so happily
by good weather, as if we had gone the other way through the streights.
And although we sail’d on very fast, yet the wind was uncertain, for one
arose after another, so that we had three several winds that night and
day, _viz._ first, _Maistral_ after midnight, which lasted until morning;
then the _Betsch_, that blew from south-west very violently, in _Latin_
call’d _Africus_, which lasted till night; then follow’d the _Ponente_,
which bloweth from the west towards night, which commonly ariseth upon
the coast of _Africa_, as the old seamen observe, and we found it so
ourselves, on the day of the Holy Cross, not without trouble or danger;
for as the seamen kept that day, and according to their old custom
discharged three great guns, the _Betsch_ arose immediately with very
great violence, so that the waves swell’d very high, and the ship was
toss’d about from one side to the other, and did rock us so, that if we
had not held ourselves, we could not have kept our places, as did happen
to some of our company that did not observe this, and were strangely
tumbled about in the ship, and forc’d to creep on all fours to their
places again. This wind began to remit towards night, when the _Maistral_
began to blow. With this _Maistral_ we went on, and came so far, that on
monday the 15th of _September_ early, we did make the island _Candy_,
and soon after another, now call’d _Cerigo_, anciently _Cythera_, near
to the _Morea_. That day we had very good weather, and it was so calm
that we could reach no further than to the point of _Candy_. Thus going
on, another wind arose, blowing from south-east, call’d _Sirocco_, and
in _Latin_, _Vulturnus_, which was contrary too, and hinder’d us very
much, so that we were forced to sail upon one side, to weather the point
from one side to the other; when we came to the side of _Creet_, and
our patron would neither land in _Candy_ nor in a little island call’d
_Legosia_, we turn’d on wednesday towards _Africa_. Some while after, a
very great tempest arose, with thunder and lightning, so that we had work
enough with our sails, and to rule the ship that it might take no hurt;
and we sailing thus against the wind, that it might not cast us back,
this made us more work than the rest, for the waves went against us so
vehemently, that when we were mounted to the top of a wave, we seem’d to
look down thence into a deep and dark valley; then down we went again
with such a fury, that we thought we should descend to the bottom, which
continued almost till the next morning. And although the tempest had
thrown us a good way back, yet in a little time we got so far forward
again, that we could descry _Candy_, and the little island _Legosia_.
Just then we spy’d two ships, one a bark, ten miles off to the left, and
the other a great ship going to _Africa_.
After we were thus gone along by _Creet_, we came on friday just
over-against the city of _Candy_; it came to be so calm and so warm,
that we could hardly perceive we were come above three or four miles.
We going thus slowly, some of our company jump’d out into the sea to
wash themselves; but the mate of our ship run a fish through with a long
spear for that purpose, call’d _Lischa_, and so pull’d it out; this was
delicately colour’d, and very pleasant to look upon; his back was blew,
and his belly white and glisning, above a yard long, of a tender flesh,
and very good to eat: This seems to have been a _Tunny_.
Just over-against it is a monastry of St _Francis_, in which is a very
good Apothecary’s shop, and a delicate garden, fill’d with strange and
useful plants.
There is also not far off a good and safe port, call’d _Calisme_, where
we would willingly have taken in water, but because it lay thirty miles
before us, and the wind, _Sirocco_, contrary to us, began to blow again,
and hindred us in this enterprise; we steer’d on saturday towards the
south, that we might reach it the next morning.
About noon, when we turn’d again to the _Porto_, we saw another ship on
the left, and because we did not know how to trust her, we look’d to
our great guns, of which we had thirteen, and got them ready, and also
the rest of our arms, _&c._ But the longer we look’d upon the ship, the
farther we perceived her go from us. When we came within twelve miles of
the port, and hoped to make it, the wind changed, and the _Tramontana_
blew from the north vehemently; so we went on in our right course to the
islands _Calderon_ and _Christiana_, so that on monday we passed the
furthest point of _Creet_, call’d _Caput Salomonis_, where we saw on
the hight another island, situated sixty _Italian_ miles from _Rhodus_,
call’d _Scarpanthos_, and also _Carpathos_, where night befel us. But
when we expected to go forwards with this wind, we lost it, and it
changed into _Græco_ again, contrary to us, and so we could not go on
farther, but were forced to cross up and down and to weather the point.
On Monday we saw a ship that came directly down upon us, wherefore we
went to meet her, and put our flag at the top of our main-mast. But when
we came nearer we knew her to be a _Marsilian_, called _Santa Maria de
Lacura Bursa_, they did send out one of their boats to tell us, that they
came seven weeks agone from _Tripoli_, and that they wanted biscuits very
much, and therefore desired us to let them have some of ours, to which
we willingly agreed, and let them have what they would, and so they were
very well pleased. While this was done, a good wind arose again, serving
us both, called _Tramontana_, so that we could go forwards and they
homewards, and so we parted. Then our master ordered three guns to be
discharged, which they answered with two, so we went on, and lost sight
of one another in half an hour’s time.
Here is to be observed, that of the four cardinal, and four side winds,
five were for us; for we could go on as well with the _Tramontana_ and
the _Midi_, called north and south, as with the three other, called
north-west, west, and south-west, and so we had three contrary ones,
_Syrocco_, _Levantino_, and _Græco_, which were contrary to us in our
going; during this wind we went on with such speed, that on the 24th of
_September_ in the evening we saw the great island _Cyprus_, five hundred
miles beyond _Candy_. But because we had steered too much on the right,
we were forced to spend all that night and the next day before we could
come to _Cyprus_. The same morning we saw the high mountain _Libanus_ in
_Syria_, two hundred miles distant from us, and so at night we got into
the harbour of _Salamine_: Here is made the best bay-salt that is in the
world. Here we also discharged three guns, for joy of our safe arrival,
and some of us landed, together with our master, to take in water, and
to enquire after our friends and acquaintance. No sooner were we landed,
but we met with two travelling _Turks_, with an _Italian_ that understood
their language: They spake to us by their interpreter, and conducted us
to their Colonel, who was encamped near the market-place of _Salamine_
upon a hill, where one might see a great way off into the sea. After an
hour’s walk we came in sight of him, and saw about thirty tents, and
amongst them his also, where we saw some curious tapestry spread, and him
sitting in the midst, with a delicate white turbant, and a long red lined
_Caban_.
He held in his hand a long iron, like a grater we use to grate bread
withal, only it was a great deal smaller: The _Turkish_ persons of
quality have generally such irons in their hand in the summer-time; which
they put in between their back and cloaths to scrach their backs when
they itch: About him sat some more gentlemen bended down, and others
kept centinel without his tent, with guns and scymiters well provided.
Amongst the rest there was one of a good presence covered with a Tyger’s
skin, that held a great iron club in his hand. Upon his desire we went
to him, with the usual reverences, according to their custom, bending
our head and the whole body downwards, and laying the right hand upon
our breasts: Our master also pulled off his shoes, went in, and sate
down with the rest before him: But we two set ourselves down without
upon two seats that were brought us. Then the Lord began to ask our
master, by his interpreter, from whence we came, how long we had been
a coming, what merchandizes we had brought, and whether we designed to
make any sale there; which questions our master answered. Then he began
to enquire after news: _viz._ whereabout the _Spanish Armada_ was at
present, and how strong it was reputed; whether the King of _Spain_
had made any leagues with other princes; and how the King of _France_
did agree with his _Hugonots_; how strong the city of _Rochelle_ was,
and whether the King took it by violence, or whether they submitted
themselves voluntarily. After this conference had lasted for half an
hour, he dismissed us with great civility, giving us leave to go about
our affairs. So we went off with the usual ceremonies, and went the same
evening into the market of _Salamine_, to enquire after our friends; but
we found this market-town, and also all the neighbourhood so strangly
spoiled, that there were but very few whole houses standing. But being
that we found none of ours, nor having any business there, we returned to
our ship. I found nothing by the way but a few _Caper-bushes_ with some
_Paliurus_’s and _Kali_.
After our men had filled water enough out of the well by the harbour
we went aboard the ship again, hoisted up our sail, and departed in
the night. But in going thence for _Tripoli_ we had for the most part
contrary winds, which hindred us so much, that we did not arrive there
until the last day of _September_. Thanks, honour, and glory be to
the Almighty God, that mercifully did protect us from all dangers and
mischiefs, and brought us safely into this harbour.
CHAP. II.
_Of the famous city of ~Tripoli~, of it’s fruitful neighbourhood and
great trade: And also of the splendid baths, and other magnificent
buildings to be seen there. Their ways of making Rusma, Pot-ashes, Soap,
~&c.~_
Before _Tripoli_, near the sea-shore, we saw five castles like high
towers, distant from one an other about a musquet-shot, where some
Janisaries are kept in garrison, to cover the ships in the harbour
(which is in some measure surrounded with rocks) and to defend that
custom-house, and the several ware-houses (where you may see all sorts of
goods brought from most parts of the world) from an hostile attempt or
assault: but after the sun was set, and night began to approach, we made
what haste we could to the town, which was an hour’s going distant from
us. Some _Turks_ went with us no otherways armed but with good strong
cudgels, which, I was told, they commonly carry to keep off the wolves
called Jacals (whereof there are a great many in these countries that are
used to run, seek, and pursue after their prey in the night). While we
were a talking of them some came up pretty near us, but as soon as they
saw us they turned and ran away. When we came to the gate of the town
we found it shut up, wherefore one of our friends, that met us to make
us welcome, called to some _Frenchmen_ that were in their inn, in their
language called _Fondique_, which is near the gate, and reacheth quite to
the wall of the town, and desired that one of them would take the pains
to go to the _Sangiacho_, to desire him to let the gate be opened to let
us in, which they were willing to do. But in the mean time that we staid
before the gate, another that was an enemy to our friend ran also away,
and bespoke some _Turks_ and _Moors_ to set upon us, which they were very
willing to do, and came with all speed through another gate that is never
shut, along the wall to us, fell unawares upon us, struck at us, and took
hold of us, chiefly at our good friend, for whose sake all this was done;
others drew their scymiters upon us, so that I thought we should have
been all cut to pieces. While this was a doing the gate was opened, and
some _Frenchmen_ and their Consul himself came to our assistance, and
spoke to these fellows, earnestly exhorting them to desist, and to let
the cause be decided by the _Sangiacho_ and _Cadi_, which at length they
did. So we came after this unfriendly welcome in the crowd into their
_Fondique_, where we remained all that night. The Consul was very much
displeased at this, considering that such-like proceedings would be very
troublesome to them, wherefore he made great complaints and enquiries,
until at length he found out who was the author thereof.
The next morning we went to our friends houses in order to stay a while
with them: In the mean time we walked sometimes about in our own cloaths
to see the town, which is situated in the country of _Syria_, called
_Phœnicia_, which reached along the sea-shore to _Berinthus_, _Sidon_,
_Tyrus_, and _Acon_, as far as the mountain of _Carmelus_. The town
_Tripoli_ is pretty large, full of people, and of good account, because
of the great deposition of merchandizes that are brought thither daily
both by sea and land: It is situated in a pleasant country, near the
promontory of the high mountain _Libanus_, in a great plain toward the
sea-shore, where you may see abundance of vineyards, and very fine
gardens, enclosed with hedges for the most part, consisting chiefly of
_Rhamnus_, _Paliurus_, _Oxyacantha_, _Phillyrea_, _Lycium_, _Balaustium_,
_Rubus_, and little _Palm-trees_, that are but low, and so sprout and
spread themselves. In these gardens, as we came in, we found all sorts
of sallating and kitchen-herbs, as Endive, Lettice, Ruckoli, Asparagus,
Seleri, whose tops are very good to be eaten with salt and pepper, but
chiefly that sort that cometh from _Cyprus_, _Taragon_ by the inhabitants
called _Tarchon_, Cabbages, Colliflowers, Turneps, Horseradishes,
Carrots, of the greater sort of Fennel, Onions, Garlick, _&c._ And also
fruit, as Water-melons, Melons, Gourds, Citruls, Melongena, Sesamum (by
the Natives called _Samsaim_, the seeds whereof are very much used to
strow upon their bread) and many more; but chiefly the Colocasia, which
is very common there, and are sold all the year long: I have also found
them grow wild about rivulets, but could never see either flowers or
seeds on them. I found also without the gardens many Dates and white
Mulberry-trees, which exceed our Aspen and Nut-trees in height very
much; and also Pomgranat-trees and Siliqua, which the _Grecians_ call
_Xylocerata_, the _Arabs_, _Charnuby_. Also Olive and Almond-trees, and
Sebesten, the fruit whereof are to be had at Apothecaries shops by the
same name: _Poma Adami Matth._ But in great plenty there are Citrons,
Lemons, and Oranges, which are as little eaten there as Pears or Crabs
here. Between these gardens run several roads and pleasant walks, chiefly
in the summer, for they afford many shady places and greens, where you
are defended from the heat and the sun-beams: And if passing through you
should have a mind to some of the fruits, you may either gather some that
are fallen down, or else pull them from the nearest trees without danger,
and take them home with you.
Without at the sea-shore, near the old town of _Tripoli_ (which together
with many more, as _Antiochia_, _Laodicea_, &c. in the year of our Lord
1183, was so destroyed by an earthquake, that nothing but a few marks
remain) there were more spring-gardens, which some of the Merchants still
remember. But these were a few years agone by the violence of the seas so
destroyed and so covered with sand, that now you see nothing there but a
sandy ground, like unto the desarts of _Arabia_. Yet at _Tripoli_ they
have no want of water, for several rivers flow down from the mountains,
and run partly through the town, and partly through the gardens, so that
they want no water neither in the gardens nor in their houses.
The new town in itself is of no strength, for it is so meanly walled in,
that in several places in the night you may get in and out: But within
there is a citadel situated upon an ascent near the water, where a
garrison of a few Janisaries is kept. They have low houses ill built and
flat at the top, as they are generally in the East, for they cover their
houses with a flat roof or a floor, so that you may walk about as far as
the houses go; and the neighbours walk over the tops of their houses to
visit one another, and sometimes in the summer they sleep on the tops of
them: And so it may very well be, that the four men (of which we read in
St _Mark_, chap. ii. and St _Luke_, chap. v.) that carried the paralytic
man, and could not come to _CHRIST_ because of the crowd of people, did
carry him on the tops of the houses, and so let him down through the roof
into the room where our _SAVIOUR_ was. They have not great doors, gates,
or comings-in from the street as we have in our country, except some few
Merchants houses, because they use neither waggons nor carts, wherefore
they have only a little low door, sometimes not above three foot high, so
that you cannot go into them without stooping. In a great many houses the
comings-in are so dark and deep that one would think he were going into a
cave or cellar, but when you are come through this entry into them, you
see, in some, great court-yards wherein are cisterns to wash themselves
in, in others large halls paved, and therein some ascents that go up two
or three steps, paved delicately with marble, which they keep very clean,
and adorned with rich tapestry, whereupon they sit, and this is covered
with a large arch left open at one side, that the _Turks_ may, chiefly in
the summer, sit underneath them very airy.
Their doors and houses are generally shut with wooden bolts, which are
hollow within, and they unlock them with wooden keys about a span long,
and about the thickness of a thumb, into this key they have driven, five,
six, seven, eight or nine short nails, or strong Wires in such an order
and distance that they just fit others that are within the lock, and so
pull them forwards, or shut them backwards as they please.
The streets are but narrow, paved with broad stones, and have, chiefly
those that are great roads, a channel in the middle of them about ten
inches broad, so that a laden Camel may walk in them with ease, or that a
man may step over them, which they say are made that the laden Camels or
Asses, _&c._, that daily arrive in great caravans, may be obliged to walk
in them one after another, in good order, that people may walk in the
streets without being disturbed by them. And that these channels may be
kept clean and dry, they have in some places some hidden drains covered
with broad stones, that as well the rain-water as that of the wells may
run away through them.
They cannot brag of any fine buildings, save only the _Mosques_ or
temples, into which no _Christian_ must come, except he hath a mind
to be circumcized, and so turn a _Mammeluk_ or _Renegado_: And also
some great houses by the natives called _Champ_ or _Carvatscharas_,
(_Caravanseries_) wherein are a great many shops or ware-houses, and
chambers, by one another, as is in stately cloisters, in the middle
thereof there is a great court-yard, where the strange Merchants (that
daily bring their merchandizes in great caravans) do inn, considering
that the _Turks_ keep no other inns.
The inns commonly belong to the _Grand Seignior_, or his _Basha_, which
they build in several towns to get themselves a yearly revenue, as the
_Venetians_ do in _Venice_ out of the _German_ house.
Besides these buildings they have also hot-houses or _bagnios_, which are
so glorious and sumptuous, that they far exceed all their other buildings
in beauty, wherefore they are very well worth seeing. And because the
_Turks_, _Moors_, and _Arabs_, &c. according to their _Mahometan_ laws,
are bound to bath themselves often, to wash themselves clean from their
manifold sins which they daily commit, but chiefly when they are going to
their _Mosques_, therefore they have their hot-houses always ready, and
keep them warm and in an equal heat, with a very small charge, and with
far less wood than one can imagine, all the week long, both by night
and by day. They have under-ground a large and deep vault, like unto a
large cellar, which is every where very close, and it hath no more but
two air holes, one on the top about three or four inches diameter, and
the other below which is a great deal larger, where they put in wood, or,
for want of it, pieces of peat (which they make out of Camels or Goats
dung, _&c._ and also out of the dregs of the pressed grapes); these are
so dry that the great heat melts them just like sea-coals or turf, which
are burnt in the Low-countries, and other places where they have not
plenty of wood: And these give so great a heat that it warmeth the whole
vault quite through. And yet this vault is so close made that you do not
perceive the least smoke nor vapour, although it is sometimes very hot.
But that the fire may not decay, there is one on purpose to attend it,
that flings on as much fuel as is necessary to keep it. These hot-houses
(which according to the custom of the ancient _Greeks_ and _Romans_ are
magnificently built) have, near to the entry, a delicate hall, which
is curiously paved (as also is the whole bath) and set with marbles of
all colours very artificially, and a great _Cupolo_ at the top thereof,
which is covered with an arch in shape of a ball or globe. Round about
the walls are broad benches made, where the people put off their cloaths;
wherefore this first part of the bath (whereof the ancients had five)
was called _Apodyterium_. In the middle of the baths is a fine fountain,
where they sprinkle every one that goeth out of the bath with sweet
water, and also wash the bathing-cloaths that were made use of in the
bath, which they afterwards fling up upon lines that are hung at the top
of the vault, two or three fathoms high, with an admirable certainty,
and spread them out with a long pole, with one stroke (that they may dry
the sooner) so even, as if it were done with hands, which no body can
see without admiration; when they have a mind to make use of them again,
they take them down with the same sticks that are ready stuck up about
the fountain. These are wrought finely with all sorts of colours, whereof
they give two to every one that goeth into the bath or bagnio, two others
when he cometh out, one to put upon his head, the other to put about him
in the manner of an apron. When you will go in the hot-house you must
go through two or three chambers, whereof one is warmer than the other
(which each of them are covered with round arches) until you come into
the great room, these arches are full of round holes all about, which
are made in such order, and set with glass so curiously, that they do
not only make them very light, but give also a fine ornament to them. In
the great bath are several great marble vessels which they let the water
into; round about the great room, there are three or four small chambers,
which they keep chiefly for persons of quality, where they may wash
themselves apart from others without any disturbance. Besides these there
is still another room where there is a very great marble trough, in which
every one may wash himself after his sweat; there are several pipes laid
in it, that you may temper your water according to your own desire. All
these rooms are heated with the same fire, and the _Turks_ and _Moors_
(which two nations have almost the same religion and ceremonies) go into
them very frequently; but chiefly the women, which flock to them in great
numbers, for they never meet any where else, but here, and at the graves
of their relations; wherefore they keep these sumptuous buildings (the
like whereto are hardly any where else found) in very good repair. As
soon as you come into the hot-house, and are grown a little warm, one
of the servants (which are generally black _Moors_) meets you, and lays
you backwards down upon the floor, and stretcheth and snaps all your
joints after such a manner that they crack again; then he kneeleth down
upon your arms, which he puts upon your breast one over the other, and
holds them so for a good while together with his knees, then he bendeth
forwards and stretcheth with both his hands (keeping you still like a
prisoner under him) your head upwards. (So it happened once, when some of
us went in together, and were treated by the _Moor_ after this manner,
that he sprained the neck of one of my companions, so that he could not
turn his head in several days after it) when this is done he turns you
round upon your belly, toucheth and stretcheth your joints again in such
a manner, as if he did malax a plaister; at length he stands upon your
shoulder-blades, and bending himself down, he rubs you all over your
back with his hands, then he lifteth you up, and goeth away. Then when
you lay your self down to rest you, or to sweat, he maketh a paste, to
take off your hair (for they wear no hair upon their body, saving only
their arm-pits) he taketh quicklime (by the _Arab_’s called _Rils_) and
a little _Sarnick_, (_Arsnick_) that is, Orpiment, powders them, and
mixeth them with water, and anoints your hair with it, and looks very
often after it, until he finds that the hair begins to come off, then
he washeth it perfectly off again, before it can hurt you; when this is
done, he takes a fine white cloth, dips it in soap-suds, and rubs your
whole body over with it. The before-mentioned cloaths are white like
unto cotton, but the threads are harder, which the pilgrims bring with
them from _Mecca_: Being made of the bark of trees that bear _Bdellium_,
and they make ropes of them, as also of the fibers of the leaves of
_Palm-trees_, and of the covering of the fruit of the same tree, which is
of the bigness of a Wall-nut, by putting it on a distaff, and so spinning
it out.
_Lastly_, They wash peoples heads, and mix sometimes with their lees
(chiefly for women) an ash-coloured earth called _Nalun_, which cleanseth
the head, and makes the hair grow long. They have also another earth
called _Jusabar_, which the women eat frequently, so as breeding women
in our country use to eat sometimes coals or other things. These their
baths, are as free to strangers as _Germans_, _French_, _Italians_, &c.
as to _Moors_ and _Turks_, but they must have a care not to come into
those where the women are, if they will not run the hazard of their
lives. But that you may know where the women are, they commonly hang a
cloth over the door towards the street, that if any man should intend to
go in there, when he seeth this he may find himself another entrance.
Further concerning their traffick, there are in the town (because there
is there a very great deposition of all sorts of merchandizes, that are
brought thither from great distances) a great many merchants, chiefly
_French_ and _Italians_, which have two wise, understanding, and grave
Presidents, of which the one that liveth here is a _Frenchman_, and
the other at _Aleppo_, a _Venetian_, called Consuls, to assist their
countrymen with good counsel. They are sent thither by their government,
and confirmed, and have great privileges given them of the _Turkish_
Emperor, to let the Merchants with their commodities lodge with them, and
to defend them against any assault of the _Turks_ and _Moors_, that they
may trade and deal without disturbance. These Consuls were still their
usual habits, made of red sattin, velvet, or damask, _&c._ very richly
adorned; and they bring along with them Taylors, Shoe-makers, but chiefly
their Physicians, Apothecaries, Barber-Surgeons and Ministers, _&c._
and have besides them their Interpreters, skilful in the _Turkish_ and
_Arabian_ language, chiefly the Consul of _Venice_, because he must stay
there but three years, when they are expired the _Dogue_ sends another
in his place. When the new one is arrived at _Tripoli_ he dare not go on
shore, before the other gives him a visit of reception in the ship.
To these two Consuls there are given two large buildings, called by them
_Fondiques_, situated near two gates of the city, which lead towards the
haven and the sea-shore, that they may the easier send their goods in and
out. There are all day long a great many _Moors_ with their Asses, that
stand waiting for an opportunity to conduct Merchants and Seamen with
their goods in and out. These two houses are large, and have abundance of
vaults and chambers, so that there is room enough to lodge both Merchants
and their goods.
With the _French_ are also lodged, those from _Genoa_, _Florence_, _St
Luck_, _Germans_, _Dutchmen_, &c. as also with the _Venetians_ those
of _Candia_, _Corfu_, &c. that are under their master’s jurisdiction.
These _Fondiques_ have no more than one large gate, where Janisaries
keep watch: When their masters, the Consuls go out, they are accompanied
with a multitude of Merchants and their servants, and they are in great
authority with the _Turks_ and _Moors_, even beyond the _Bashaw_ himself:
They always take along with them their Janisaries, which go before with
great and long cudgels, and beat the people out of the way, even the
_Turks_ themselves.
The Merchants have daily great conversation with the _Jews_, for they
know a great many languages, and the prizes of all merchandizes, how to
buy and to sell them; wherefore they always help to conclude bargains
in merchandizes, pay the money and give bills of exchange, wherefore
they have their brokerage. I have seen chiefly three sorts of their
silver coins, _viz._ _Aspers_, _Medin_ and _Saiject_, which are very
good, and pass thro’ all _Turky_. When great sums are paid, they do
not tell the whole, but only part of it, and weigh it, and so take the
rest proportionably by the same weight. Of gold coins they have only
ducats which are made of fine gold, and are very limber: Besides these
you hardly see any other coins but _Venetian Ducats_, _French Testons_,
_Joachims Thalers_, of which they have so many, that they often do not
only pay with them great sums and their bills of exchange, but turn them
also into their own coin. So that there is abundance of _Jews_ throughout
all _Turky_ in any trading-town, but chiefly in _Aleppo_, and in this
town of _Tripoli_, where they have built a very large habitation, and
a delicate synagogue. These _Jews_ have the revenues of customs of the
_Grand Signior_ in their hands, so that nothing can be brought in or
out, but it must go thro’ their hands, which is very troublesome to the
Merchants. Those that buy any thing of them, must have a special care,
that they be not cheated, for they are full of it, insomuch as they
confess of themselves, that no body can get any thing by them, except he
will be a greater _Harmani_ (that is cheat) than they, that dare to sell
Wall-nuts for Nutmegs or Myrobolans.
Concerning the merchandizes: If one will see several sorts of goods they
are to be found in the _Carvatscharas_ or _Champen_, whereof I have made
mention before, but chiefly in the _Batzaren_ or houses where they buy
and sell, or exchanges. These exchanges are wide and long, and partly
arched, partly covered with timber, that you may walk and trade there
without being wetted, they have shops on both sides, which are also
kept by handicrafts and tradesmen, as Shoe-makers, Taylors, Sadlers,
Silk-embroiderers, Turners, Copper-smiths, Cutlers, Woollen-drapers,
Grocers, Fruiterers, Cooks, and many more, which are very orderly
distributed and placed in their several streets and places. They also
drive a great trade in silk, and there are a great many that deal in
nothing else but silk, which is convey’d thither from the adjacent
places; for mount _Libanus_ is inhabited by a numberless people, that
live by spinning and working of silk, but chiefly they of _Damascus_,
where is such plenty of silk, that a Merchant may quickly lay out
in it many thousand ducats: Because of the great abundance of white
Mulberry-trees (by the natives called _Tut_) which grow there so high and
large, that they have plenty of leaves to feed their silk-worms: But the
Mulberries thereof are white, and they carry them about in baskets to
sell to ordinary people. So there is in the _Batzars_ many silk-workers,
which make all sorts of embroidery, as purses, buttons, and girdles or
sashes of several colours, which they tie about their loins; these are
at work before their shops, that every one may see them. When they work,
or tie two threads together, they hold their work oftener with their
great toe, than pin it to any thing, and the same do the Turners, (which
sitting to it) hold their turning irons as well with their toes as with
their fingers. Further, at a certain time of the year there is brought
from _Damascus_ and other adjacent places, to these _Batzars_, so great
a quantity of large and well-tasted Cibebs, a kind of Raisins, having
but one or no stone, that several ship loads are sent from thence to us.
These and the like goods are daily brought and found in their _Batzars_,
as rare tapestry and delicately wrought silks with flowers and roses
of several colours, some of which look like pure gold. But of all the
tradesmen there are not so many of one sort as of them that only deal in
Soap and Pot-ashes, for of these ashes (besides Soap) several ship-loads
are yearly sent from thence to _Venice_, which they use for making of
Glase as well as Soap. These ashes are made chiefly of a herb, called by
the _Arabians_, _Schivan_, whereof there are two sorts, which amongst
others I have pasted upon paper, one whereof is not unlike to our little
_Kali_; it is a thick and knotty plant, with several small sprigs growing
out of it, which have several full buttons at the top, and underneath
small pointed leaves, just like the lesser _Kali_, as I said before,
tasting somewhat sharp, the leaves thereof are underneath white, and on
the other side of the colour of ashes. The other sort becometh also many
stalks, which are full of knots like our Equisetum, and underneath them
appears a woody and ash-coloured root.
Both these herbs grow thereabout in great quantities, and are burnt
into ashes upon the high mountains, in burning thereof there settleth
an oily matter underneath towards the bottom, which united with the
ashes is almost as hard as a stone when it is cold: at the top thereof
a part of the ashes remains unmix’d and loose, therefore it is not so
good as the rest. These ashes are brought down from the mountains upon
Camels backs by the _Moors_, to some Merchants that drive a great trade
with them, for partly they send away into foreign parts, and partly
they make soap of them, some more, some less, according to every one’s
capacity and pleasure. The way they make their Soap in _Syria_, I am
informed, is this, _viz._ They take commonly twelve hundred weight (or
twelve centners) of these ashes, which in the summer they divide into
eight, and in the winter into four parts, because the Soap is sooner
boiled up in winter, for the heat being then included by the outward cold
is more vehement than in summer. Of this they take first one part and
make it into a good sharp Lye, which they pour into a very large kettle
or caldron made of stone, with a large bottom made of a copper-plate,
and very thick, wherein they have before put sixteen hundred weight of
Sallet-oil, and let it simper for twenty four hours, pouring daily in
more Lye of another part. But before it is quite boil’d up (which in
winter requireth perhaps five days, and in summer nine or ten) they take
an hundred weight of quick-lime, and mixing it with the ashes, draw a
Lye from it, which they put two days before it is quite enough into the
caldron, more or less, according as they find it thick or thin. But if it
should happen, that there should be too much of the Lye in the kettle,
they have a cock coming out of the copper-plate, whereby they let out as
much of the Lye as is convenient. When it is almost boil’d up, they take
out, with a copper kettle that holds eight or ten pounds, the thicker
part of the soap that swimmeth on the top, and pour it upon the floor,
which is cover’d with lime or chalk beaten to powder; let it lie there
for one day in winter, and two days in summer, and it grows so hard that
they can walk over it; then they make it smooth, cut it into square
pieces, and put their mark upon it.
CHAP. III.
_Of the ~Turks~ of high and low conditions, men and women; of their
employments, offices, manners, customs, cloaths, as much as I could at
~Tripoli~, during my abode, understand, see and learn thereof._
The city of _Tripoli_ is, as well as a great many more of the adjacent
towns and provinces, subject to the _Turkish_ Emperor, wherein he hath
his officers, as in all other places, that they may be ruled according
to his pleasure, and protected from all assaults and dangers. Such
superiors are by them call’d, _Sangiacks_ or _Bashaws_, which we may
render State-holders, which have several hundred horse-men under their
command, more or less according to the revenues of the provinces that
are committed to their care. These are brave and experienced soldiers,
that lead their men out into the fields several times in the week to
exercise them, the horse-men in riding, and the foot in shooting with
bows and arrows, which have their several marks done upon high poles,
to shoot at in their running; that if there should be occasion they
may be ready to take the field presently to fight their enemies. There
_Sangiachi_ have other captains and commanders under them, of which the
_Soubashaws_ or Judges are the chief; these are placed by him round
about in the adjacent places, to officiate for him where he cannot be
present. To such places are commonly call’d the Burghers or Citizens of
the same places, and they continue no longer than half a year. By them
are examined all criminal matters, and they have power to examine and put
to the torture all malefactors, to make them confess their crimes. They
also accompany the malefactors, that are sentenced and condemn’d by the
_Cadi_, to the place of execution, to see the sentence duly executed;
so I have seen them often to ride along, but chiefly at one time with
a poor malefactor condemn’d to die, who was carry’d on a camel’s back,
ty’d with his back to a cross, with his arms extended, to the place of
execution; and between the cross and his shoulders were put two burning
torches, prepared with bacon, so that the grease run all over his body,
and burnt it severely. The _Turks_ have also for several crimes, whereof
there are a great many, their several punishments; as for thieves and
murderers, the gallows; for traytors, impaling; and for them that kill
a man, beheading, _&c._ and so they keep a great many servants, which
they send out every where to bring to them any that are suspected to have
transgressed the laws, by beating or wounding one another, which happens
very seldom, by stealing, or murdering, or adultery.
For any other transgressions besides these, the _Turks_ are brought
before other magistrates, call’d _Cadi_, which are to understand the
laws, and to judge, and to pronounce sentence after they have examin’d
the witnesses: If it be for debt, they are immediately cast into prison
until they pay, or find out any other means to make up the debt. But
if it be for transgressing the laws, they are severely fined or else
punish’d with blows. Wherefore also their _Cadi_ keep several men and
spies, which they daily send out, to find out any that transgressed
the laws in drinking of wine; in not going to prayers frequently; in
not strictly observing their fasts, or in transgressing the laws any
other ways. If they find any, they summon them before their _Cadi_, who
punishes them according to their default, with a pecuniary mulct; or
if they have no money to give, he sentences them to receive a certain
number of blows upon the soals of their feet, and besides pay half a
penny for each blow. Being that a great many of such transgressors are
daily brought before him, whereof the greatest part receive blows, it
causeth so miserable a howling and crying, that we might plainly hear it
in the _French Fondique_, which is just over against it; and although the
_Cadi_ is very much troubled with such transgressors, yet matrimonial
causes take him up a great deal more time, because all that will marry,
must come to him, and make their agreements and contracts, which are
consign’d into his books; partly that they may have them to shew, if
any differences should arise between them, (seeing that the _Turks_ and
_Moors_ have several wives, and are divorced again for a small matter)
and partly that they may give them copies of their contracts upon their
marriages, which they write for ordinary people upon smooth and plain
paper; but for others that are rich, upon a piece of white sattin, about
a yard long. These their contracts they comprehend in a few words, and
draw them up so short, that they scarce contain above eight or ten lines
a piece, at least two inches distant from one another. For this purpose
they keep several clerks, which oftener write upon their knees, than
on desks or tables. These _Sangiacks_, _Soubashaws_ and _Cadi_’s, of
which I have made mention before, and also their wives go very richly
cloathed with fine flower’d silks, artificially made and mix’d of several
colours. But these cloathes are commonly given them by those that have
causes depending before them, (for they do not love to part with their
own money) to promote their cause, and to be favourable to them; for they
are so very covetous that, where there is nothing given them, there they
do but little; for the _Bashaws_ and _Sangiachi_, which under the _Grand
Signior_, rule kingdoms and principalities, know very well that they must
rule but three years in the same place; for as soon as their _Sultan_
commands them, they must go to another place, perhaps far distant from
that place. Wherefore they always strive after honour and riches, that
they may either by gift or favour be by the court promoted to greater
authority and office; or else if that cannot be obtain’d, they may at
least lay up in the mean time such riches, that they may be able to
maintain themselves after the same greatness as they did before.
When I lived there, a new _Sangiack_ was promoted into the place of
the old one, who made his entrance, follow’d by his _Saphi_’s, and was
honourably received by the town. His train consisted most in horse, and
archers with arms and shields very well stored; they also had drums
and kettle-drums, and other musical instruments, _&c._ their sabers or
scymiters were for the most part tipp’d up a great way with some gilded
metal, and very smooth and shining, and so were their stirrups, that at a
distance they made a great glittering.
All these officers love to be look’d upon, as if they perform’d
their office with great integrity, and yet they are so addicted to
covetousness, which is the root of all evil, that, for gifts or bribes,
they let the false depositions of those that out of spite accuse the
innocent to pass for good. Therefore it is a very easy matter for any
one, that would be revenged of his enemy, by way of a small present,
to bring him into great trouble and costs. The _Soubashaws_ are of the
same stamp, for they do not at all stick to punish, for lucre sake, the
innocent, chiefly if they be rich and strangers; their men are very well
skill’d in these affairs, to find one trifle or other against them; and
because their time is also but short, therefore they make all possible
speed to grow rich; and this so much the bolder and opener as they need
not fear their _Sangiack_, nor _Bashaw_, for they wink at it, as being
sharers of the prey, that receive their dividend weekly. In short, let
one have committed never so much evil, if he giveth but money to them
all is well, and he is as good again as ever he was before. Seeing
that many, chiefly in law suits, are wrong’d by them, therefore higher
judges, call’d _Cadileschier_, are set over them, to punish them for
their rogery; these are esteem’d by the _Turks_ to be the principal
teachers of the Mahometan faith and laws; they are generally grave and
understanding men, before whom are brought all intricate causes and
appeals to be decided, and they have power to punish these and other
officers, but chiefly the _Cadi_’s, and to put them in and out, according
to their behaviour, wherefore they often take their circuits from town to
town, to see how the _Cadi_’s execute justice; wherefore they are very
much afraid of their coming, and if they know themselves guilty of any
misdemeanor, they often times run away. If they are complain’d of by the
people, they are presently punish’d with many blows, put out of their
places, and if the crime be great, they are after beheaded, strangled,
burnt, or otherways executed; and this happeneth very often in these
countries. But if one or more that were also wrong’d by the _Cadi_, could
not stay till the arrival of the _Cadileschier_, to make their complaints
to him, they have another way, that is, to make their complaints to the
_Porte_ or the Emperor’s court, or else to go themselves and make their
complaints in person, where they are speedily heard (for such causes, as
I am inform’d, are heard certainly once in fifteen days) and righted. If
any be poor he is maintain’d by the court until his cause is ended.
Such a cause did formerly happen to an interpreter of the _Venetian_
Consul, who being very well to pass, a _Soubashaw_ did strive to make
booty of him; but not being able to prove any thing against him, whereby
he could make him punishable, he found at length a way, and got one
of his servants to hide a common whore in the interpreter’s house,
unknown to him, that he might have sufficient cause to accuse him.
This being done, the servants of the _Cadi_ broke into the house, and
searching it found this whore, and put him into prison. The interpreter,
notwithstanding he pleaded his innocency, and that he was totally
ignorant of the fact, could not satisfy the _Cadi_ by any means, but was
condem’d by him in nine hundred ducats, which he was forc’d to pay. This
troubling the interpreter, he could not brook this unjust imposition,
being an experienc’d man, well skill’d in their laws, wherefore he took
horse immediately, unknown to the _Cadi_, for _Constantinople_, where he
made his complaints to the court himself so well, and with that success,
that he was declared innocent and not guilty of the fact. But as this
court usually doth severely punish those that do commit injustice, so
this _Cadi_ did not escape; for within a little while after the _Turkish_
Emperor sent to him a _Chiausbashaw_, which may be compared to an
executioner, with a little note, the contents whereof were to send him
his head by the bearer, which frighted the gentleman very much; but
yet, after, by a peculiar favour, he had taken his leave of his wife,
submitted himself to it. This is the reason, that many ill intentions and
designs, chiefly if one summon’d the other to appear at the court before
the Emperor, are stopt and drawn back, which else would have taken effect
and been gone on withal.
If a man appeareth before any _Turk_ that is a person of quality, he
must have especial care, that chiefly in departing he do not turn his
back side towards him, for this is accounted the greatest incivility and
affront that can be given throughout all the _Turkish_ dominions. Nay if
a servant appears before his master to ask him forgiveness of his faults,
he useth peculiar ceremonies; first he submitteth himself, and sheweth
his master all respect imaginable, then he taketh, with his knees bended,
his master’s hands to kiss them: If his master lets him have them freely,
he is in good hopes that his master will grant him his request, but if
not, but draweth them back, although he maketh several profers towards
them, he knoweth certainly that he is still out of favour, and that there
is but small hopes of obtaining his intention.
They love that one should bear a great deal of honour and respect towards
them, for they know that their masters the _Sultan_’s power hath for a
long time past, not been decreasing but always increasing; wherefore
they take very much upon themselves, and are always richly cloathed,
and ride delicate horses, well adorn’d with stately accoutrements, with
embroider’d saddles, and saddle-cloths of scarlet, velvet, or other
silks, the bridles and stirrups well garnish’d with silver and gold.
They commonly speak in the _Turkish_ language (and so do all that lie
about in garrisons) which is a very manly one, and sounds in proper
pronouncing much like unto our _German_ tongue; but they also generally
are expert in the _Arabian_ tongue, which is the common one there to the
whole country, and goeth through many provinces; for you meet there with
many _Arabians_, _Syrians_, _Jacobites_, _&c._ Christians and Heathens,
to whom this speech is common.
The _Turks_ have also some very fine manners and customs; they
are affable, they begin their discourse, chiefly to relations and
acquaintance, with a friendly salutation and kissing; but they are also
lazy, and do not esteem the liberal arts and sciences, love idleness
better than labour, for you shall see them spend a whole day in the
game of chesse and other games, and in playing on their (_quinterns_)
guittars, which have three, five, seven, and sometimes eleven strings, as
I have seen them with the musicians of the _Bashaw_ of _Aleppo_ several
times. They commonly play only with their fore-finger, or a piece of a
quill, they walk about with them in the streets, chiefly the soldiers,
all day long, and so use themselves to laziness and leachery, and
contaminate themselves with all sorts of terrible and chiefly sodomitical
sins, which by them, because both high and low are equally guilty
thereof, are not at all punish’d.
They love to wear good cloaths of light colour, but do not care they
should cost them much; their upper garments, which hang down very long
before, set with buttons, under which they wear other coats instead of
doublets, which (commonly those of the soldiers) are made of blew cloth,
somewhat shorter before than behind, with white sleeves, and without
collars about their neck, and so are their shirts, which generally are
wrought of cotten, and cut about their neck as wide as their cloaths.
Instead of bands they wear neck-cloths, which they wrap about their
nacked necks, to defend them from the violent heat of the sun. They
also, chiefly in the summer, wear white and wide cotton drawers, which
reach to their ancles, and are much narrower below; to them they have no
cod-pieces, which they do not suffer others to wear, that they may wash,
without hindrance, their private parts, feet, arms, necks or any other
parts, to cleanse themselves as often as their laws shall direct them.
These drawers they tie about their middle with some strings or bands
about their naked body, and let their shirts hang down over them. When
they have occasion to make water, they untie their drawers again, sit
down and cast their cloths round about them like women, turn themselves
from the south, to which they turn when they are going to pray. If they
see a man make his water standing, they immediately conclude him to be
a Christian, and none of their faith. They commonly sit with their legs
laid one over the other, which they do every where in the east, wherefore
they have neither chair nor table, but instead thereof, they have a paved
place, two or three steps high, which is arch’d over head, which they
keep very clean, and cover it with tapestry, or serge, or matts finely
twisted with several colours, according to their ability; wherefore to
save them, the _Turks_ pull off their shoes and leave them at the chamber
door. Their shoes are like unto those our lackies use to wear, and like
slippers easy to be put on and off, they commonly are of a white or blew
colour, painted before, underneath defended with nails before, and with
horseshoes behind; these are worn by young and old, men and women, rich
and poor. Besides these they also wear sometimes wooden shoes, which are
to be sold every where; they are about three inches high, and in the
middle underneath carved out, to distinguish the soals from the heels,
painted with several colours; the same wear the women, which have almost
the same garments with the men, and have also drawers, which sometimes
are so long that they hang out before their coats; they are commonly
made of fine cotton of several colours, and laced at the sides. You very
seldom see any _Turkish_ women either in the streets or in the markets
to buy provision, or in their churches, where only the chiefest of them
come, and that but seldom, where they have a peculiar place separated
from the men. They have also in their houses secret places and corners,
where they hide themselves immediately, if any body should come to see
their housholds. When they go abroad, which is very seldom, you see three
or four of them together with their children, which are all one man’s;
for according to their law they are allow’d to take as many as they can
maintain. Their faces are all cover’d with black vails, whereof some are
of fine silk, and some of horse-hair, which the poorer sort wear; and
over their head they put some white scarfs made of cotton, which are so
broad that they not only cover their heads but their arms and shoulders,
they look in them almost like our maids, when, to keep themselves from
the wet, they put a table-cloth or sheet over their heads. But because
the _Turks_ are very jealous, therefore their wives seldom meet in the
streets or markets, but only in the hot-houses, or when they go to visit
the tombs of their deceased parents or relations, which generally are out
of town near the highways. When they go thither, they take along with
them bread, cheese, eggs, and the like to eat there, which was call’d
_Parentalia_ by the _Latins_, just as the Heathens used to do in former
ages; and sometimes they leave some of their cheer behind them, that
the beasts and birds may eat it after they are gone; for they believe,
that such good bestow’d upon the beasts is as acceptable to God as if it
were bestow’d on men. Their graves are commonly hollow cover’d at the
top with great stones, which are like unto children’s bed-steads in our
country, which are high at the head and feet, but hollow’d in the middle;
they fill them up with earth, wherein they commonly plant fine herbs,
but chiefly flags; they also put some green myrtles in little air-holes
that are round the tombs; and they are of opinion, that their relations
are the happier, the longer these remain green and retain their colour:
And for the sake of this superstition there are in several places of the
town myrtles to be sold that stand in water, that they may remain fresh,
which the women buy to stick up at the graves of their relations. Their
burying-places are always out of town near the highways, that any body
that goeth by may be put in mind of them, and pray to God for them, which
is the reason that so many chapels are built about their burying-places,
that people that go by, chiefly the relations of the deceased, may go
into them to pray to God in their behalf. When any of them dieth, they
wash him, and put on his best cloaths; then they lay him on a bar or
board, and strow him with sweet smelling herbs and flowers, leaving only
his face bare, that every body may look upon him that knoweth him, as
he is carry’d out. If it be a _Tschelebii_, that is, a noble person,
they put his helmet and his other ornaments at his head; his friends
and acquaintance, which go before and follow the corps, keep no order,
but hang upon one another, as if they were fudled, and go merrily and
shouting along to the grave; as also do the women, who come behind and
hollow so loud that you may hear them a great way off.
CHAP. IV.
_A description of the plants I gather’d at ~Tripoli~._
Considering that I undertook this journey into the eastern countries,
not only to see these people, and to observe their manners, _&c._ but
also, and that principally, diligently to enquire and to search out the
plants that were growing there; I cannot but shortly describe those I
found about _Tripoli_, during my stay there, and will begin with such
as grew on the sea-shores, which were _Medica marina_, _Gnaphalium
marinum_, _Leucoium marinum_, _Juncus maritimus_, _Peplis_, _Scammonium
Monspeliense_, which the natives call _Meudheuds_; but _Rhasis_, in
his book _ad Almans._ call’d it _Coriziala_, _Brassica marina_, which
spreads it’s roots above the sand for some cubits round, and has instead
of round leaves rather square ones. A kind of wild white lillies by the
_Latins_ and _Greeks_ call’d _Hemerocallis_, which did not only grow on
the sea-shore, but also in islands thereabouts in great plenty, with a
great many others, which I forbear to mention here, being common. Behind
the custom-house, near the harbour, I found in the ruins of the old walls
that are left of that city, _Hyoscyamus_, and hard by it in the sand an
herb not unlike unto _Cantabrica secunda Caroli Clusii_, saving only the
stalks and leaves which are woolly. But the _Ricinus_ groweth there above
all in so great plenty, that you can hardly make your way through it; the
inhabitants call it still by it’s old _Arabian_ name _Kerva_.
If you turn from thence to the high-way towards your right hand, you
see the _Tythimalus Paralius_, and also a kind of _Conyza Diosc._ out
of one root there spring up several stalks, whereof some grow upright,
but the greater part of them lie down upon the ground, and so shoot new
roots, which afterwards sprout out into new stalks; it beareth long
olive-leaves, which are thick, fattish, and somewhat woolly, and have
a strong and equally sweet smell; for the rest, as the flowers, it is
very like unto the great one. You find there also the greater and lesser
_Medica_, which the _Moors_ to this day call _Fasa_. Likewise so great
and many _Squills_ that the inhabitants weed them up, chiefly those that
grow near their gardens, and fling them up in high heaps like stones.
There also groweth _Securidaca minor_, _Tribulus terrestris_, by the
inhabitants call’d _Haseck_, and a kind of _Echium_, which groweth by the
way as you go to St _James_’s church, which from thence is situated upon
an ascent at a mile’s distance. Hereabouts, and in other adjacent places,
groweth a great quantity of sugar-canes, so that there is yearly sold
a great many sugar-loaves that are made thereof. These are as high and
big as our canes, and not much differing from them, but within and down
towards the root, where they are best, they are full of this pleasant
juice, wherefore the _Turks_ and _Moors_ buy a great many of them, being
very pleasant to them to chew and eat, for they are mightily pleased with
sweet-meats, whereof they have variety. Before they begin to eat or chew
them, they stript off the long leaves and cut away what is tasteless, so
that only the juicy and good remaineth, which is hardly two foot. Of the
thus prepared canes they carry many along with them through the streets,
and cut off one piece after another, skale them, and so chew and eat them
openly every where in the street without shame; for they are, principally
near the root, very tender, and feel as mellow between your teeth as if
it were sugar itself. So the _Turks_ use themselves to gluttony, and are
no more so free and courageous, to go against their enemies to fight,
as they have been in former ages. The sugar canes do not grow there
from seeds, neither are they propagated by the root, but by the canes
themselves, whereof they lay into the ground some green pieces of two or
three joints long, and that they may grow the sooner, they bore pretty
large holes in between the joints; when they begin to grow, they sprout
out in the joints, and grow up into great canes, and so bring in good
profit.
There also by the rivers are found _Anthilis Marina_, _Visnaga_, the
first _Apocymum_, and _Oleander_ with purple flowers, by the inhabitants
call’d _Defle_, and a delicate kind of _Scabiosa Melissa Maluca_, and if
you go to the gardens, you see _Heliotropium majus_, _Convolvulus folio
acuto_, _Vitis nigra_, _Phaseolus Turcicus_, with yellow flowers, which
still retain the ancient name of _Lubie_, _Lysimachia lutea_, and wild
vines call’d _Labruscæ_, whereon nothing groweth but only the flowers,
call’d _Ocnanthe_; and also a shrub like unto the _Polygonus_ of _Carol
Clusius_, which climbs up into high trees, and hang down again from the
twigs; and I verily believe they are the same with _Ephedra_, whereof
_Pliny_ maketh mention in the seventh chapter of his twenty sixth book.
When I went farther, with an intention to consider the plants that grew
in the country, first came before me some _Sycomores_, whereof chiefly
_Dioscorides_ and _Theophrastus_ make mention, and tell us of two sorts;
and when I call’d these things to mind, I light of one of the second sort
of _Sycomores_, whereof abundance grow in _Cyprus_, wherefore these wild
figg-trees might be call’d, the one the _Cyprish Sycomore_-tree, and
the other the _Egyptian Sycomore_-tree, according to the places where
they are most frequent and fruitful. I found a great many of them: the
_Moors_ and _Arabians_ call them _Mumeitz_, they are as great and as high
as the white Mulberry-trees, and have almost the same leaves, but they
are only somewhat rounder, and are also whole at or about the sides;
they bear fruit not unlike to our figg-trees, only they are sweeter, and
have no little seeds within, and are not so good; wherefore they are
not esteem’d, and are commonly sold only to the poorer sort of people;
they grow in all fields and grounds, as you may see by the words of the
second book of the _Chronicles_ ix. 27. _And the king made silver in
~Jerusalem~ as stones, and Cedar-trees made he as the Sycomore-trees
that are in the low plains in abundance_. _Zacheus_ did climb upon such
a one when he had a great mind to see our Saviour. _Essaias_ also maketh
mention of them in his ninth chap. vers. 10, and _Amos_ in his seventh
chap. vers. 14, where he saith of himself: _I was a herds-man, and a
gatherer of Sycomore-fruit_. These two sorts are very like one another,
in stem, leaves, and fruit, only as the fruit of the one comes more out
of the great stems and great twigs, so that of the other does the same,
but not out of the stems and twigs immediately, but out of twigs or
sprouts without leaves of the length of five or six inches, whereon they
grow sometimes very thick, and in a bunch together. These trees bear
fruit three or four times yearly, which are small, of an ash-colour,
oblong, round, like Prunes, and are found upon the trees almost all the
year long. Hereabouts also grow many thorns, whereof is made mention in
Scripture, by the inhabitants call’d _Hauseit_, and by the _Arabians
Hausegi_, but the _Latins_ call them _Ahamnus_; and also white Poplars,
still to this day call’d _Haur_ by the _Arabians_. There also groweth a
great and high tree which beareth delicate leaves and flowers, pleasant
to look upon, by the inhabitants call’d _Zensetacht_, but by _Rhasis_ and
_Avicenna_, _Astirgar_, & _Astergir_, and _Azadaracht_, whereof you see
here and there several planted in the streets, to make a pleasant shade
in the summer, the fruit thereof remaineth upon them all the year long,
until they put out again a-new, for they are hurtful, and kill the dogs
if they eat thereof.
Near the town upon the highlands, (where you see abundance of
corn-fields, and abundance of pleasant Olive-trees, that reach quite
up to mount _Libanus_) are found _Polium montanum_, _Pecten veneris_,
_ferrum equinum_, _Chamæleon niger_, with it’s sharp pointed and black
roots and leaves, very like unto the leaves of _Carlina_, whereof the
stalks are of a reddish colour, a span long, and of the thickness of a
finger; whereon are small prickly heads, of a blewish colour, not unlike
to those of the little _Eryngium_. Another fine plant grows thereabouts,
call’d _Sathar_ in their language, but when I consider it’s beautiful
purple-colour’d flowers, and it’s small leaves which are something long
withal, I rather judge it to be the _Hasce_ of the _Arabians_, or the
true _Thyme_ of _Diosc._ which we call _Serpillum Romanum_. It hath as
pleasant an acrimony as any spice can have, wherefore the inhabitants use
it very much, whole or in powder, at home and abroad, with and without
their meat, chiefly for to correct an ill digestion of their stomach.
This herb is never found in our Apothecaries shops, they take another
in it’s room, which hath lesser and greener heads, and is rather the
first _Satureia_ of _Diosc._ brought from _Candia_. There are also two
sorts of _Clinopodium_, whereof the lesser and tenderer (considering
it’s long stalks, leaves and flowers, which grow in good order, and at
equal distances one over the other) may very well be taken for the true
one of the _Diosc._ There are also _Ilex minor_, _Sabina baccifera_,
_Terebinthus_, and many more.
In the town are found several strange plants; one called _Musa_, whereof
the stalks are from nine to twelve foot high, which are smooth, and
without they are inclosed in their leaves, and often quite surrounded
like our reeds, of a fine shining green; at the top thereof the leaves
spread themselves out, and look like a great bush of feathers, for they
are very long, and so broad, that the biggest person may lie upon them
with his whole body very well. These leaves have a rib in the middle,
which keepeth them up streight, and so strongly, that although the
wind breaketh them at the sides in several places, yet notwithstanding
they remain upright. These trees bear their fruit no more than once,
wherefore they are cut down, and so the root shoots out several other
stalks about a foot distant from the old one, which grow up again, and
bring forth fruit, which groweth on a thick stalk in great numbers;
they are almost shaped like the _Citruls_, round and bended, only they
are less, smooth without, invironed with a thick rind, which is first
yellow, but when they are kept a few days it grows black, it is easily
separated when they are new; within they are whitish, full of seeds,
sweet and good to eat; but they fill mightily, and are apt to gripe:
Wherefore, (as _Theophrastus_ mentioneth in the fifth chapter of his
fourth book) _Alexander_ the Great forbid his army to eat them, when he
went into the _Indies_. There groweth but very little of this fruit about
_Tripoli_, but it is brought from the neighbouring places plentifully.
We also find there another tree, not unlike unto our _Privett_, by the
_Arabians_ called _Alcana_, or _Henne_, and by the _Grecians_, in their
vulgar tongue _Schenna_, which they have from _Egypt_, where, but above
all in _Cayro_, they grow in abundance. The _Turks_ and _Moors_ nurse
these up with great care and diligence, because of their sweet-smelling
flowers, and put them into earthen pots, or wooden cases or boxes, to
keep them in the winter in vaults from the frost, which they cannot
endure. And because they hardly begin to sprout before _August_, they
water them with Soap-suds, but others lay lime about the root, to make
it put forth the earlier, that it may flower the sooner, because of the
pleasantness of the smell of the flowers, which is somewhat like musk:
They are of a pale yellow colour, and stand in spikes of the length of a
span, but not very close, so that leaves appear between them; their twigs
are also of the same colour, whereof many are sent to us, to cleanse
the teeth with, as it were with a brush, when they are bruised a little
at the ends. They also, as I am informed, keep their leaves all winter,
which leaves they powder and mix with the juice of Citrons, and stain
therewith, against great holydays, the hair and nails of their children
of a red colour, which colour perhaps may be seen with us on the mains
and tails of _Turkish_ horses. The powder is greenish, and so common with
them, that you see in their _Batzars_ whole bags full thereof standing
before their shops, which come from _Ægypt_ and _Africa_, from whence
whole ship-loads are sent through _Turky_, as I have seen myself in this
harbour several, from whence the _Turkish_ Emperor hath yearly a great
revenue. The _Arabians_ burn their _Spodium_ out of the root thereof, as
_Avicenna_ remarks in his seventeenth chap. This being thus, it appeareth
that there is no small difference between these two, ours and theirs; I
am of opinion, that theirs (which is mentioned in the first chapter of
_Solomon’s Song_) is liker to that which _Dioscor._ describeth, than our
_Ligustrum_.
Thereabouts is also found within and without the gardens a peculiar sort
of mallows, by them called _Chethince_, which is very large, and high,
and, like other trees, spreads it’s woody twigs and soft boughs, that
are covered with a brownish bark; amongst the rest I saw one as big as a
man’s middle, the leaves thereof are of a dark green, long, and at the
sides towards the point crenated; it’s flowers are rather bigger than
other mallows, of a blew colour; their seeds I did never see. Hard by I
found another outlandish _Doschet_ flower, which was almost decay’d, so
that it had neither leaves, flowers nor seeds: It was about three foot
high, the stem and twigs were hairy, hollow within as other stalks, of a
green colour, inclining somewhat to yellow, which had at top many other
shoots, each of them had behind like unto other tree-stems it’s proper
joint. This is so juicy quite through, that it drops almost with milk,
which is sharper than any spurge. I made great inquiry of them about it,
but could have no certain account thereof; but as it seemed to me, it is
very like unto _Xabra_ and _Camarronus_ of _Rhasis_ by the _Arabians_
called _Tanaghut_ and _Sabeam_, and may be taken, according to that
author’s description, for it.
Farther hereabouts, chiefly in the town upon the cisterns and conduits, I
found _Adiantum_, by the Apothecaries called _Capillus Veneris_, and in
old walls the _Apollinaris_. I also found in the shops in their _Batzars_
two sorts of roots, whereof one was rounder, which may be the _Bulcigeni_
of the _Venetians_, which are called _Thrasi_ at _Verona_, where they
grow (as the learned _Malthiolus_ testifieth) many of these are sent
out of _Egypt_ to _Tripoli_, and sold there, chiefly to eat in _June_,
by the name of _Habel_, _Assis_ and _Altzis_, this being true, and they
being very like both in name and quality to the grains of _Altzelem_ of
the _Arabians_, they must be the same, although _Rhasis_ reckoneth these
amongst the fruits. The other called by them _Hakinrigi_, and _Hakeuribi_
is somewhat longer, not unlike to our _Doronicum_; there is also a great
many of them to be sold; they are hard, of a sweetish taste, with a
piercing bitterness, and in their bigness, and white nerves (which spread
themselves under ground in the gardens round about like unto the wild
_Angelica_ of _Tragus_) so like to the _Haronigi Serapionis_, and to the
_Durungi_ and _Durunegi_ of _Avicenna_, according to their description,
and so uniform, that they must be taken for the same. Then I found also
in their shops abundance of the seeds of _Sumach_, whereof they make a
red powder, to excite the appetite of the stomach. These and more strange
and unknown simples I did find at _Tripolis_. But because it would be too
tedious to describe them all, therefore I have only made mention of those
that authors have describ’d.
CHAP. V.
_Which way I travell’d from ~Tripolis~ farther to the two famous cities
of ~Damant~ and ~Halepo~._
After I had rested for several weeks in _Tripolis_, and had observed that
city, it’s building, and pleasant situation, and moreover the manners,
customs, and habits, as well of the low as high ones, I propounded to
myself to travel to _Aleppo_, which is almost the biggest, and the most
famous trading city of _Syria_, which lies five or six days journey
towards the north-east of _Tripolis_. And when I met with some companions
to travel with me, we stored ourselves with provisions, _viz._ bread,
cheese, eggs, _&c._ for our journey, and so set out of _Tripolis_ the
ninth of _Novemb._ _Anno 1573_.
By the way we met with a great deal of rain, which commonly begins at
that time of the year, and continueth almost all the winter long; this
kept us so much back, that we reached not to _Damant_, which is in the
mid-way from _Tripolis_ to _Aleppo_, before the fourth day. There we
lodged in one of their great Champs, call’d _Carvatscharas_, where we
had a chamber assign’d us, in which we found neither table nor chairs,
nor bench, nor bed, only upon the floor was laid a _Stromatzo_, twisted
of canes, which was to serve us instead of them all. There we bought in
their _Batzar_ some victuals according to our pleasure, and staid there
all night long. The town, which some take to be the old _Apamia_, is
pretty big, and pretty well built; it lies in a valley between hills, so
that you can see nothing of it, the castle only excepted, which lieth
on the hill, and guardeth it very well, before you are just come to it.
Round about it there are many orchards and kitchen-gardens, which they
water out of the river _Hasce_, which is pretty large, and runs thro’
the town. The water they lift up with wheels, fix’d in the river for
that purpose, that pour it into channels that carry it into the gardens,
and so water them in the great heat of the sun, to refresh them. These
gardens had been worth my seeing, but my fellow-travellers were in haste,
and so we put on the next morning for _Aleppo_.
By the way we saw very good corn-fields, vineyards, and fields planted
with cotton, which is brought from thence, and sold to us under the name
of the place where it grew, and also silks and other goods that are
bought there at the first hand. In these countries are a great many wild
asses, call’d _Onagri_, the skins of them are very strong to wear, and
as they prepare them, finely frock’d on the outside as strawberries are,
or like the skin of the _Sepia_, or cuttle-fish, wherefore they commonly
make their scabbards for their scymiters, and sheaths of their knives
thereof. Their blades are water’d on both sides very subtilly; they are
made of good metal, well harden’d, and so sharp, chiefly those that
are made in _Damascus_, that you may cut with them a very strong nail
in pieces, without any hurt to the blade. They wear rather knives than
daggers, which they tie to their girdles with finely wrought tapes, by
their backs.
When we went on and came to the promontory of mount _Libanus_, we saw
abundance of villages by the way, which for the most part are inhabited
by Christians, _viz._ _Syrians_, _Maronites_, &c. with whom we did lodge
sometimes over-night; these entertain’d us very civilly, and gave us such
wine to drink as grew on the mountains, than which I hardly remember I
ever drank better. Amongst the rest of the villages we came to one call’d
_Hanal_, lying high in a fruitful country, where, as I am inform’d, in
former days a very fine city stood, which is so desolated, and in process
of time decay’d to that degree, that in our days there is almost nothing
left of it but a small village, and here and there in the fields some
small ruins of old houses.
We went on farther between the mountains, where we spy’d a little town
upon the hills, and above it a strong castle, which it is said the
_French_ did formerly build, that lieth in a very convenient place
between the mountains, so that you must go just by it; but because it
is haunted with evil spirits and hobgobblins, it remaineth unrepair’d
and uninhabited. We left it on our left hand, and came out into a
spacious corn-field well till’d, where on our left we saw the town
_Sermin_ at a great distance, and near to it and about it, great woods
of _Pistacio_-trees, which are gathered there, and sent to _Tripolis_,
and so by the merchants to us: Some of them grow also near the high-ways,
chiefly in the village of _Basilo_, where we stay’d all night.
In our way we found nine or ten Champs, call’d _Caravatscharas_: these
are open inns, where the caravans and travellers go in, commonly towards
evening, to stay there all night; they are free to any body, but you find
neither meat nor drink there, if you will have it you must bring it along
with you, and must be contented to lie upon straw, if you can have it,
upon the lower wall, which goes round about the sides, on purpose to give
to horses, asses, and camels their food upon it. They are generally three
miles distant from one another; they are large and stately, and as strong
in walls as castles, commonly built four-square, and have within a large
yard, and round about it are stables which are quite open, just like
cloisters. Some of them have a garrison of nine or twelve Janisaries, to
keep the roads clean, and to protect the travellers from assaults of the
inhabitants and _Arabians_.
When we had travell’d over several rough mountains, and came almost
near to _Halepo_, we saw at last the city just like _Damand_, of the
bigness of _Strasbourg_; at the gates we dismounted, because in _Turky_
no outlandish man hath liberty to ride thro’ a city, and so we went into
it, and I went into the _French Fundique_ to take my lodgings, as all
_Germans_ use to do.
CHAP. VI.
_Of the situation of the potent city of ~Halepo~, of the buildings
thereof, and also of the delicate fruits, and fine plants that grow there
within and without the gardens._
The town of _Halepo_, which is the greatest and most potent in _Syria_,
anciently call’d _Nerea_, is in some places well fortify’d with ditches
and walls, only they are not quite round it, so that one may (the same
it is with _Tripolis_) at any time of night go in and out; neither
are the gates, as used in our country, chiefly in cities of account,
beset with soldiers, but you will only see two or three waiting at the
head-gates, where the highways go through, which are rather there to
take custom, than to keep the gates, neither have they any arms. But
in the middle of the city there is a castle on a high hill, which is
strong, large, surrounded with walls and ditches, and well beset with a
good guard. Concerning their other buildings, which are flat at the top,
and cover’d with a sort of pavement, that one may walk on the tops of
them, they are like unto them of _Tripolis_. Amongst the rest there is
a very magnificent building, which they say hath cost a great deal of
money, which hath for it’s entrance a very low and small door, so that
one must bend himself very low that will go into it, but when you come
in, you find there delicate large halls, high open arches, very pleasant
and cool to sit underneath in the summer, water-works, orchards, and
kitchen-gardens, where among the rest was one of these _Ketmy_’s: Besides
these there was also some fine Mosques with steeples, which were round
and small, but very high; some of them had a balcony at the top, like
unto a garland, whereupon the waits are, and their priests go about at
the time of prayers, to call people in. But for other stately buildings,
that might be erected for the memory of some potent King or Prince,
there is none.
Without the city they have here and there some country-houses; among the
rest one built for the _Turkish_ Emperor, at four miles distance from
the city, where he used to be sometimes, chiefly when he is at war with
the _Sophy_, King of _Persia_, that he may presently assist his army
in case of necessity; this is very large, but not built so stately as
so great a monarch deserveth. In the great garden is a chapel built by
the river that runs through it upon pillars, where the _Great Sultan_
used to hold conferences with his Privy-counsellors and Visier-bashaws.
It happen’d in the reign of _Solyman the Great_, as the gardiner did
relate to us, that when they were assembled, to consult whether it was
more profitable to him to suffer the _Jews_ in his provinces, or to
root them quite out; after every one had given his opinion, and most of
them were of the opinion, that they ought not to be tolerated, because
of their unsufferable usury wherewith they oppressed his subjects; and
after the Emperor had heard every ones sentiment, he gave them also to
understand his, and that in this instance, _viz._ He bad them look upon
a flower-pot, that held a quantity of fine flowers of divers colours,
that was then in the room, and bid them consider whether each of them in
their colour, did not set out the other the better; and that if any of
them should decay, or be taken away, whether it would not somewhat spoil
the beauty of the rest. After every one had heard the _Sultan_’s opinion,
and did allow of it to be true; the Emperor did begin to explain this,
and said, The more sorts of nations I have in my dominions under me, as
_Turks_, _Moors_, _Grecians_, &c. the greater authority they bring to my
kingdoms, and make them more famous. And that nothing may fall off from
my greatness, I think it convenient, that all that have been together so
long hitherto, may be kept and tolerated so still for the future; which
pleased his council so well, that they all unanimously agreed to it, and
so let it remain as it was.
Without the city of _Halepo_ are abundance of quarries, where they dig
great free-stones of a vast bigness, almost as white and soft as chalk,
very proper for building: There are also about the town some walks or
grotto’s under ground, which are above an _English_ mile long, which
have the light let into them by holes made near the highway, so that a
man must be very careful (chiefly at night) that he may not fall into
them, or that he may not be trapann’d by the _Moors_ that live in them
in great numbers. The ground about it being very chalky, it causeth
to the soles of our feet, chiefly at night, although one be very well
provided with strong shoes, a very considerable driness and heat, as one
may also see by the _Moors_, that, for the most part go bare-foot, which
causeth the soles of their feet to be so shrifled, that into some of
their crevises you may almost put your little finger. Yet notwithstanding
that, _Halepo_ is surrounded with rocky hills, and the valleys thereof
are chalky; they have no want of corn, as barley, wheat, _&c._ but rather
it is very fruitful, and their harvest beginning commonly in _April_
or _May_: But they have but few oats, and less grass or hay; for the
driness is so great, and it is so sandy, and the hills are so rough and
full of bushes, that they make but very little hay. Wherefore they feed
their cattel with barley, and with straw, which is broken in pieces by
threshing waggons, that are drawn by oxen. The valley is also full of
Olive-trees, so that yearly they make several thousand hundred weight
of oil for to make Soap. There is also a great quantity of tame and
wild Almond-trees, of Figgs, of Quince, and white Mulberry-trees, which
are very high and big: _Pistacies_-trees, which they call _Fistuc_, are
hereabout very common; they have underneath very strong stems, which have
outwardly an ashen-colour’d bark, and are adorned with handsome leaves
of a sad green colour, like unto their _Charnubis_, and behind them grow
many small Nuts like Grapes in clusters together. In the spring when they
first put out, they send forth long shoots, which the _Moors_ gather
in great quantity for their sallad, and dress them as we do Asparagus.
There are also abundance of delicate orchards, that are filled with
_Oranges_, _Citrons_, _Lemons_, _Adam_’s-_Apples_, _Sebesten_, _Peaches_,
_Morelloes_, and _Pomegranates_, &c. and amongst them you find sometimes
Apples and Pears, but very few, nor so many sorts, nor so big, nor so
well coloured as ours. There grow many Myrtles, which bear roundish
berries of the bigness of our _Sorbus_ or Services, of a blewish grey
colour, very good to eat, which have white seeds of the shape of our
jumping cheese-magots; they propagate them diligently, because they are
beautiful, and remain long green, to put about their graves. Moreover
there are many _Sumach_-trees, which they plant for their seeds sake,
which is much used by them; but _Cherries_, _Amelanchier_ and _Spenleny_
I have not seen there, and very few Goosberries, or Currans; _Weychseln_
they have, but very few, wherefore they esteem them, and keep them
choice, as a foreign plant, to shew them to others, and to present great
persons with them; this may suffice of trees.
Concerning their garden plants: those that are common, are Endives,
Lettice, Keal or Coleworts, Colliflowers, _Cauloropa_, _Rauckelen_,
_Apium_, _Tarcon_, whereof _Rhasis_ describeth two sorts, one with
long small leaves, by us call’d Taragon, and the other with broad
leaves, which I reckon to be our _Lepidium_, by the inhabitants call’d
_Cozirihan_. _Ravos Serap_; or our common Hartichokes. But beyond all
they plant _Colocasia_ in such plenty as we do Turneps, whereof they have
also great plenty. They are also very well provided with Horseraddishes,
Garlick, and Onions, which the inhabitants still call _Bassal_. Of
_Pumpions_, _Citruls_, and _Cucumis anguinus_, which they call _Gette_,
they plant as many as they have occasion for; but many more _Angurien_ an
_Indian Muskmillion_, or Water-mellons, which they call _Batiechas_, but
_Serap._ _Dullaha_, they are large, of greenish colour, sweet and pleasent
to eat, and very cooling, wherefore they esteem them to be their best
fruits; but chiefly those, which have more red than white within; they
are very innocent and harmless, and keep so long good, that they sell
them in their _Batzars_ all the winter long. Moreover, there are three
sorts of those plants which the _Arabians_ call _Melanzana_, _Melongena_,
and _Beudengian_, as ash-coulour’d, yellow, and flesh-colour’d, which are
very like one another in their crookedness and length, and like unto the
long Gourds. There are two other sorts, which are call’d _Bathleschain_,
_viz._ oblong and round ones, which are much bigger, of a black colour,
and so smooth and glaz’d that they give a reflection. They eat these
oftener boil’d (chiefly after the way which _Averrhoës_ mention’d) than
raw. Without their gardens are two other strange plants, which also
(being they eat them commonly with others) may be reckon’d among the
Kitchin-herbs; whereof one is call’d by them _Secacul_, which I found
about the town in shady places, and among trees, and in the corn; it’s
roots are of an ashen colour without, and white within, smooth, mellow or
tender, of one inch thick, and one and a half long; it hath instead of
fibres, little knobs like unto warts, and a sweet taste, not unlike to
our Carrots in stalk, herb or head, saving only the flowers, which are
yellow; the herb-women carry them strung upon strings about the streets
to sell them. The other sort is also very plentiful, and is found in dry
and rough places, which the inhabitants to this day, with _Serapio_, call
_Hacub_, whereof he maketh mention in his 295th chapter, under the name
of _Hacub Alcardeg_, whereof they cut in the spring the young shoots or
sprouts, that grow round about it, boil and eat it as we do Asparagus,
corruptly call’d Sparrowgrass; the whole plant is very like to our
Carlina, only this hath bigger, higher and more prickly heads, whereon
appear flesh-coulour’d flowers. It being that it is every way like it,
and that also the root hath the same virtue, for if you steep it in
water, and drink of it, it maketh you vomit and fling up; therefore I am
of opinion, that without doubt it must be the true _Silybum Dioscorides_;
besides this there grow also in the road and on old walls such plenty of
Capers, that they are not at all esteem’d; they take these flowers before
they open, and pickle them, and eat them for sauce with their meat. I had
almost forgot another herb, which I found in their gardens, that beareth
roundish smooth stalks about two foot high; the leaves are two and two
equally distant from one another, and one above the other; they are long,
crenated at the sides, like unto our Mercurialis; between them sprout out
in harvest-time yellow flowers, which produce long aculeated cods, which
open themselves when they are ripe; within them are six distinctions, and
in each of them a little black seed placed in very good order; the herb
is of a sower taste, like Sorrel, wherefore it is to every body, chiefly
the _Jews_, known, who boil the leaves thereof with their meat to eat
them; wherefore some take it to be _Olus Judaicum Avicennæ_, and others
take it for _Corchorum Plinii_, whether it be or no I suspend my judgment.
They have abundance of Pulses in these countries, which they feed
upon, so that you see several in their _Batzars_ which sell nothing
else but them. Among the rest you will find abundance of _Phaseoli_,
or Kidney-beans, little and great ones, very white; and many sorts of
_Cicer_, which they call _Cotane_, and, with _Avicenna_, _Hamos_. Whereof
they have as many as we have Pease in our country, and boil them for
their daily food, and oftentimes they eat them raw, chiefly if they be
roasted, till the outward shell falls off; they often call for them thus
dressed when they are a drinking in their coffee-houses, and have them
brought to table with cheese after their meals instead of preserves or
fruit, as Cibebs, Hasel-nuts, and the like, for they eat very mellow, and
have a fine saltish taste. They dress the _Orobus_ after the same manner,
which they call now _Ades_ and _Hades_, but whether right or no I leave
to the learned; they are somewhat less and rounder, and not unlike the
Cicers in their colour, only that these are reddish and white, and the
other white and yellow. These put me still in mind of another strange
plant, by the _Arabians_ call’d _Mas_, whose leaves and cods are pretty
like our _Phaseolus_, and the cods contain little round seeds, something
less than our pease, of a dark green colour, and are so smooth and
shining that they reflect again. _Serapio_ maketh mention of them in his
116th chap. under the name of _Mes_. And _Avicenna_ in his 488th chapter
under the name _Meisce_; and the very learned and experienced Botanist,
_Carolus Clusius_, calleth it, in his _Epitome_ of the _Indian_ plants,
by the name of _Mungo_. The _Turks_ love these Pulses very well, chiefly
to eat them among their rice. So much I thought convenient to mention
here of their Kitchen-herbs and fruits that grow in gardens and about
_Aleppo_; of others that belong not to the kitchen I shall make mention
hereafter.
In this city of _Aleppo_ the Merchants buy great store of drugs,
brought from several parts by the caravans, as _Rheubarb_, _Galbanum_,
_Opoponax_, _Styrax_, _Laser_, _Sagapenum_, _Scammony_, &c.
CHAP. VII.
_Of the high places and authority of ~Bashaws~, what great courts they
keep, and how they administer their offices; as also of their way of
living, of their privileges, of their manners and conversation._
The city of _Aleppo_, which some, considering the name and situation,
believe to be the town _Chalibon_ of _Ptolomæus_ situated in
_Chalibonitis_, is subject unto the _Turkish_ Emperor, together with all
the adjacent places, wherefore he keepeth a _Bashaw_ in it, which is to
rule it, and the whole province according to his will and pleasure. Now
as the _Bashaws_ are almost the chiefest and heighest under the Emperor,
so they keep according to their station and dignity their courts as
great as the Princes do in our country, according as they have great
or small provinces. So they have under them their chief commanders, as
_Sangiacks_, _Bolucs-bashaws_ and others, which are continually with
them, go with them to their temples, or any other place where-ever they
have a mind to go in great numbers, both on foot and on horse-back,
which by their several habits are to be distinguish’d, but chiefly the
_Bolusc-bashaws_, who as captains have an hundred Janisaries under them,
which in costly cloaths, and high heads with feathers, run on foot like
lackies by their master. They have also besides their court, as well as
the Emperor himself, peculiar lodgings for their concubines, which they
either have pick’d up here and there out of towns and countries, or else
taken in time of war by sea and land from Christians and other nations;
wherefore they keep many eunuchs to attend them constantly. They take
great delight in hunting, and go often several days journeys after it;
if they take wild boars, they give them to Christians, because they
are by their laws forbid to eat them, which makes the _Turks_, often to
mock them in the streets, crying out and calling them _Chansir quibir_,
that is, great Boars or Hog-eaters. Although the _Bashaws_ are great
persons, that command over cities and countries, yet they are reckon’d
to be like others, but slaves to their master, that have nothing of
their own that they can bequeath to their heirs or posterity after their
decease, as our Princes can; because the Emperor, after their decease,
taketh possession of all their visible estates, and allows only to
their children an annuity; nay, if their Sultan commands them to go
from one place to an inferior one, or to leave their dignity quite and
clean, they must obey immediately, if they will not run themselves into
greater inconveniences or dangers. This is the reason that such persons,
though rich, seldom build great buildings, so that you see none in all
the country, except it be a chapel, or a champ, which they build to be
remember’d by. They rather keep their riches in gold and silver, which
can be hid, and so secretly given to their posterity. They bestow but
very little upon jacks, for they are too covetous, neither have they
many workmen that are able to set them. These _Bashaws_ being altogether
for their own advantage, that strive to get wealth, their subjects must
needs suffer very much under them, but chiefly strangers, that live
there to traffick, as _Italians_, _French_, &c. whereby between them and
the _Bashaws_, that mind their own and not the public good, arise often
great differences, and they must have suffer’d great damage, if their
sovereigns, to prevent these things, and that their subjects may deal
securely, had not taken care to send them discreet and prudent men, which
are call’d Consuls, endew’d with great privileges from the Grand Signior,
to hear their complaints, and to protect them against any assaulters.
It happen’d in my time, while I staid there, that great differences
arose between the Consul of _Venice_ and the new _Bashaw_ who was sent
thither instead of the deceased one, in the year 1575, the 6th of March,
who came in to take possession with a great number of horse and foot.
At his arrival, the Consul of _Venice_ went, accompany’d with a great
number of merchants in great state, to meet him, to bid him welcome,
and presented him with fourteen cloaths richly wrought of silk, desiring
him to take his countrymen into protection; that they might trade and
deal safely under him. The _Bashaw_ looking upon the cloaths, behaved
himself very unkindly, and thinking them to be very inconsiderable, he
not only refused them, but answer’d the Consul very scornfully. So it
often happens that these great persons come to differ, and pursue their
differences so far, that at last it must be brought before the Emperor
and his court. If they find that the _Bashaw_ is in the wrong, he is
immediately punish’d, not regarding his great authority, according to the
default, either in money, or else, if it be a great crime, he must loose
his life for it; which is the oftner done, because they depend very much
upon traffick, which bringeth the Emperor in yearly a great revenue. Yet
notwithstanding they are punish’d so severely, sometimes the pride and
ambition of the _Bashaws_ is so great, that to uphold their greatness
they will not cease to strive by any means after riches and very great
wealth, which their subjects, not to speak of strangers, find daily, whom
they squeeze and press, chiefly if they find them rich, to that degree,
that they cannot come to any thing, nor thrive under them; moreover they
draw, after the decease of their rich subjects, for the most part the
greatest share of what they leave, into their own purses; so that such
persons do not take pains, nor bestow any great cost to build their
houses, or to till their grounds, as we do in our country. They have
commonly in market-towns and villages low houses or halls, whereof many
are so cover’d with hills, that you cannot see them before you are quite
at them. When you come into them, you find neither chairs, nor stools,
nor tables, only a couple of pieces of tapestry spread, whereon they sit
after their fashion; and instead of feather-beds, whereof they make no
use at all, they have mats and quilts, which they fold together in the
day, and hang them up in a corner, at night they spread them out again
to sleep on them. They have no occasion for sheets to cover themselves
as we do, nor for any towels neither, for instead of them they use long
pieces of rags, which they hang about their naked necks, or hang them
at their girdles. We see sometimes in their houses, above all in the
country, several strange shaped earthen vessells, which cover whole
sides of the wall in their rooms, which their relations use to present
them with at their wedding, which to please them, they use to put up,
and to keep there, rather for their remembrance than to make any other
use of them. In their kitchen they have very few utensils, perhaps a few
pipkins, pans, and trenchers, for they boil all their victuals in one pot
together, that their maids may not have many to cleanse, or to put up.
Concerning their cloaths: They bestow not very much upon them, although
they be well to pass, for they love money so well, that they will rather
spend a whole day in contending for a penny, than pay it willingly.
Wherefore a man that will travel through these countries, must have his
purse well stored, and keep it very close, that no body may know it’s
worth, but chiefly he must have a care of the _Jews_, who are not to be
trusted, if you will escape great danger: They will not only do nothing
for you without reward, but if they suspect you to have any money,
they will endeavour to get it from you. Wherefore those that take a
pilgrimage into the Holy Land, and go in pitiful cloaths, are not much
troubled by them. The courtiers of the _Bashaws_, and amongst the rest
chiefly the eunuchs and dwarfs, _&c._ whereof they have several, go in
their taffety and sattin cloaths, which are long, and very well trimmed,
wherewith their master furnisheth them, being gifts from others, which he
distributeth among them. The Soldiers, _Spahees_, _Janisaries_, _&c._,
commonly have blew woollen cloaths from the court, and they live on their
pay, that is, four, five, six, seven, or eight _Medins_, (which are
about three farthings apiece) more or less (according as their places
are) which are paid them daily, as well in peace as in war time: If they
can get any thing else, by excursions and fighting from their enemies,
it is well for them. The Soldiers commonly wear white turbants on their
heads, and so do all _Turks_, and put painted paper underneath them,
chiefly when they go into the war, believing if they wear them they
cannot be hurt nor wounded. On their turbants they commonly wear cranes
feathers, that others may believe them to be valiant soldiers, and that
by their number people may guess that either they have been in so many
campaigns, or else killed so many _Christians_. Besides these turbants
the _Janisaries_ have also hats with high crowns, called _Zarcellus_,
made of white felt, which they wear instead of helmets, when they are
in waiting, or go out to the war; these have before, on the forehead, a
gilded sheath, set without with granats, rubies, _Turkey_-stones, and
other jewels, yet of no great value, wherein they put their feathers.
They and also other _Turks_ and _Moors_ let no hair grow upon their
heads, but as soon as it grows they shave it again, only behind they keep
a lock, which hangs down a pretty way; they let their beards grow now,
which they used formerly to cut off, so that now for some years they
have worn huge great mustachies. In war time they carry musquets, and
in peace, chiefly when they are in waiting, their long poles. They are
also allow’d to marry, and besides their wives, to keep any they take
prisoners in war, or else to sell them to any body. When they are at home
they are lovers of wine, and when they can come at it, that no body sees
them, they will drink more without mixture than any other nation; but in
time of war, when they are in expedition, they can live very sparingly,
and will march all day long before they will refresh themselves. Yet
to speak the truth, these and almost all Soldiers, because they are as
well paid in peace as in war, are no more so ready to take the field,
and to change a quiet life for a troublesome one, or a secure one for a
dangerous, as they have been in former ages, being used to laziness for
a great while together. Besides the power and strength of the _Turks_
is reckon’d much inferior to that of the Christians, for we are better
arm’d with muskets and pikes, to keep them off at a distance, that they
may not be able to come in with us to club-law, and so over-power us; for
if their enemy doth not give way at their first on-set, they turn their
backs and run away. But that notwithstanding all this, we gain nothing
from the _Turks_, but they rather from us; the reason is, not to mention
our manifold transgressions, rather our great divisions and contentions,
which hinders us from going out with such an army as is necessary, and
we might otherwise do. Wherefore the _Turks_ come out the bolder, to
frighten and to plague us, and make use of all sorts of stratagems to
amuse us, or to draw us into an ambush by pursuing them, and when they
think we are almost tired, they fall upon us with a multitude of fresh
men, to surround and to beat us. Nor do they value it, if they loose one
regiment or another, because there is enough of them, and they know how
to have in the room of the slain others again, that will be very glad
to accept of it, because of their pay that they receive daily of their
Prince out of his provinces. It being then so that he doth not only
maintain his own provinces, but rather gains others, and enlarges his
dominions daily, we ought to be very careful; for the more he increaseth
the more we are in danger. Thus he taketh one town, country, or kingdom
after another with his sword, as we have seen hitherto in _Europe_, not
to mention any thing of _Asia_, not without great detriment and damage
to all Christians. So he cometh daily the longer the nearer to us, that
at length we must expect no better than _Greece_, _Thracia_, _Servia_,
_Bosnia_, _Hungary_, and _Wallachia_, &c. which are brought into slavery,
under which some persons of quality still groan to this day. So I found
at _Aleppo_ an ancient Queen of _Wallachia_ with her sons, whereof the
youngest was born after the King his father’s death, who is maintain’d by
a very small allowance from the _Turkish_ Emperor. She is a very discreet
woman, and well skill’d in the _Turkish_ and _Arabian_ languages. Her
subjects still hope for her, that God Almighty will restore her to them
again, that so their slavery may have an end.
After the _Turks_ have obtained a great victory, they lift up their
hands, thank and praise God, and the prophet _Mahomet_, God Almighty’s
dearly beloved messenger; and pray farther, that God may send differences
and quarrels among us (that are against the book _Jugilis_, as they call
it, that is the book of the Gospel) that the magistrates may quarrel with
the subjects, and the Clergy with the Seculars, that from thence may
arise such disorders, that we may go on to transgress the laws of God
still more and more; that our belief in _Messias_ may be extinguished,
and that all good orders and policies may be dissolved: So that God may
take from thence occasion to make them farther our punishers to afflict
us. And when they see that the rich men oppress the poor, that the
magistrates do not protect the just and innocent, but that the chief and
heads do strive to ruin one another, then they rejoice at our misfortune
and misery, and do not fear us in the least to do them any mischief
(which might easily be done if we were unanimous) but rather threaten
what mischief they will do us.
When the _Turks_ have taken a strong town, or a whole country by the
sword, that they may keep them the easier in subjection without a great
garrison, pains, or danger, they demolish the places that are not very
strong, and send away the nobility and chief persons, which otherwise
might do them a great deal of mischief; and in the room of these they
bring in _Sangiacks_, with their souldiers, to keep the strong places,
and to take care of the Emperor’s revenue. So that in these places there
is no nobility, that come from any ancient races, and have their own
estates hereditary and descending from heir to heir: Which one may also
suppose when he considereth that the law of _Mahomet_ alloweth to those
that adhere to it, to have four wives at a time, besides concubines or
slaves as many as they please: I will say nothing of the liberty they
have to divorce them upon any small occasion, and to take others in their
room; from whence flow such disorders and uncertainties, that very few
children know who are their parents, and so there is but little love
shewn between them as one may easily suppose. And this is no disgrace
to them, but rather reputed to be an honour, because they conclude from
thence that those that keep many wives, behave themselves diligently
according to their laws: Wherefore they sooner trust them, prefer them
before others, in places and salaries, and esteem them to be true
_Tschelebiis_, that is, noblemen. Although these and other _Turks_ have
several wives, that are not all equal in their birth and extraction, yet
they all have in family affairs their equal share and power, and they
all are equally provided for with meat, drink, cloaths, _&c._ and they
have also their work and business equally among them: And that because
they bring their husband no portion, but he must rather buy them from
their Parents, sometimes for a considerable sum of ready money, and give
them cloaths and other necessaries to boot: wherefore the matrimonial
tye (which they call _Chebia_) is more in the power of the husband than
the wife, so that he may marry one three times and reject her again;
but farther he must not go, except he will be accounted a scandalous
base fellow: As you may perceive by the words of the _Turkish_ Emperour
_Bajazet_, which he did send to _Temyry_, who is also called _Tamerlane_,
saying, that he had better to take a wife again after he was three times
divorced from her, than to go to war with him; which scornful language he
might well have forborn; for _Tamerlane_ did not only beat him in a cruel
and bloody battle, but took him prisoner, and carried him about in an
iron cage like a wild beast of the forest.
But that I may return from whence I digressed, the marriages of the
_Turks_ are never look’d upon to be ratified before they are married by
one of their priests. Their wives must agree together, and live peaceably
and amicably, and must not resist their husbands, except he maketh
inequality among them: If any should appear (which happens very often)
they do not forbear to complain of their husband to the _Cadi_ or Judge.
So that daily very strange transactions (which are not strange to him)
come before him: If so be that the husband is convicted, and the wife
absolved, they are divorced immediately in the same hour.
The _Turkish_ women are pretty handsom, and well shaped, very civil in
their discourses, and other behaviour. When any of them is married, and
carried to her bridegroom’s house, their relations go along with her,
that are invited to the wedding, and begin to make a noise immediately in
the streets, and extol their voices more and more as they go along, that
you may hear them a great way off.
The _Turks_ that are of some condition, and rich and able men, have
at their weddings several diverting shews; in the day-time they have
dancing, running, actings, singing, jumping, and leaping, and dancing
on the ropes, _&c._ After sun-set, and at night, they let off rockets,
and fire-works of several sorts, made artificially. These are let off in
publick and open places, that every one may see them, and they last often
till break of day. The rope-dancers have three ropes one above the other,
whereof the uppermost is the longest; upon every one of them they have
their peculiar lessons, which they perform exactly and dexterously, with
dancing, jumping, running, gesticulating, going upon stilts, _&c._, which
is pleasant to look upon. Their children when they are married, soon
forget their parents, they dare not see them again in a great while, nor
do they desire to do it.
When they have children born, they do not justly circumcise them on the
eighth day, but let them be 8, 9, or 10 Years old, until they can make
their confession: There are some, chiefly among the _Arabians_, that
imitate their patriarch _Ishmael_, who was not circumcised until the
thirteenth year of his age. It is commonly performed in the house of
their parents. If rich mens sons are circumcised, they make a feast,
and roast a whole entire bullock, into his belly they put a wether, and
into his belly a pullet, into the pullet’s belly an egg, and so they
roast them all together, what remaineth they give to the poor. When the
children grow up, and begin to go, they cloath them in loose flying coats
of fine stuff, woven of several colours, which are pleasant to look
upon; and they put upon the heads of those that are not yet circumcised,
coloured caps, which are wrought with flowers, and very common to be sold
in their _Batzars_. After they are circumcised, they begin to wear white
turbants, which are made of cotton, and rolled about their caps after a
peculiar manner, and are commonly twenty yards long.
They have still another strange custom, which young and old, men and
women, use in these Countries, _viz._ They make a thin paste of galls and
calcined copperas, (to beautify themselves, and to keep their eyes from
rheum) with it they blacken their lips, and make a ring round about their
eyes, in the same manner as our ring-doves have about their necks. These
paintings they have had anciently, and some of them they have prepared of
_Stibium_ or Antimony: Of these paintings of the eye we read in several
places, chiefly (that I may not mention others) in the _23d._ Chap. of
_Ezekiel_, the _40th_ verse, where the Lord says by the prophet, _And lo,
they came, for whom thou didst wash thy self, paintedst thy eyes, and
deckedst thy self with ornaments_.
Concerning the education of their youth: They only learn in schools to
read, and to write the _Arabian_ Alphabet, the characters or letters
whereof are common both to the _Turks_ and _Arabians_, although their
languages are very differing: Besides these, there are other schools,
wherein the young men are instructed in the Emperor’s laws, and those
that go on in their learning, and take it well, are soon called to
high offices, as _Cadi_’s and _Cadileschiers_. But in liberal arts and
sciences, such as we teach in our countries, they are not instructed,
for they have not only none of these learned men, but esteem learning
of these sciences a superfluity, and loss of time; they rather love old
rhimes and ballads that speak of and commend the mighty deeds of their
ancient Emperors, and other Champions; or other fancies that make foreign
nations, or any of their enemies, ridiculous: And such things they put
either themselves into rhimes, or else hear those that have been put into
rhimes by others already, which they say daily with peculiar actions,
out of town in pleasant greens, (where also other divertisements are
performed with singing, dancing, leaping, _&c._) So that they are rather
pleased with the reading of these frivolous silly writings, than to learn
arts and sciences: Which you may evidently see, in that they do not
esteem, nor will admit of that Noble Art of Printing Books, that might
inform them in any thing: Which the clerks, whereof there is a great
number up and down in the cities, like very well, because they daily take
a great deal of money for the writing of their prophet _Mahomet_ and
others, which maketh them generally very rich, and wear greater turbants
than the rest, that they may be distinguished from others. Their paper
is generally smoothed and glazed, and they comprehend their letters in
very few words: When they will make them up, they fold them up until they
come to be no broader than an inch, the outward crevise of the paper they
fill all along with wax within, and so glue it as it were to the other,
or else they take any other paste made for that purpose, and so imprint
their name upon it with their seal that is done over with ink, so that
nothing remaineth white but the letters: These seals are generally made
at _Damasco_, where the best artists live that cut in steel, and they
put nothing more in it but their name. They do not make any use of paper
that is writ on, although they have great quantity thereof, neither to
put things up in, nor for any other use, and yet if they find any of it
in the street, they do not let it lie, but take it up carefully, fold
it together, and put it into the next crevise they meet with, for they
are afraid that the name God may be written on it: Instead thereof the
Grocers make use of great leaves of _Colocasia_, whereof they have great
store.
CHAP. VIII.
_Of the great trading and dealing of the city of ~Aleppo~; as also of
several sorts of their Meats and Drinks, of their Ceremonies, and their
peculiar way of sitting down at Meals._
Having heretofore treated of the buildings and situation of that
excellent town of _Aleppo_; and of the customs, manners, and offices of
the _Turks_, as much as I could apprehend of it, I cannot but speak,
before I leave it, of the dealings and merchandizing that are daily
exercised there, which are admirably great. For great caravans of
pack-horses and asses, but more camels arrive there daily, from all
foreign countries, _viz._ from _Natolia_, _Armenia_, _Ægypt_, and
_India_, _&c._ with convoys, so that the streets are so crouded, that
it is hard to pass by one another. Each of these nations have their
peculiar _Champ_ to themselves, commonly named after their master that
built it, _viz._ _Champ Agemi_, _Champ Waywoda_, _Champ Abrac_, _Sibeli_,
_Mahomet_’s _Bashaw_, and which are kept for them, that they may make
them their inns, and live in them, and to keep or sell their merchandizes
according to their pleasure. So among the rest of the nations there are
_French-men_ and _Italians_, &c. which have also there their peculiar
buildings (which, as is before said, are called _Fundiques_) wherein
some live together, and others (chiefly the _Italians_ that are married)
live without in lodgings; they have very small habitations, and live
sparingly like the _Turks_. In these _Champs_ you may meet with several
sorts of strange merchandizes, before all in _Champ Agemi_, where you
have all sorts of cotton-works, _viz._ handkerchiefs, long fillets,
girdles, which they roll about their loins and heads, and other sorts,
by the _Arabians_ called _Mossellini_ (after the country _Mussoli_,
from whence they are brought, which is situated in _Mesopotamia_) by us
_Muslin_; with these do the _Turkish_ gentlemen cloath themselves in
summer. There is delicate tapestry, artificially wrought with all manner
of colours, such as are sometimes brought over by us. From _Persia_
they bring great quantity of an unknown _Manna_ in skins, by the name
of _Trunschibil_, which is gathered from a prickly shrub, called by the
_Arabians_, _Agul_ and _Albagi_, which is the reason that it is mixt
with small thorns and reddish chaff. This _Manna_ hath grains something
bigger than our _Coriander_-seeds, so that, to all appearance, it is
very like unto our _Manna_, which we gather from the _Larix_. It might
also very well be taken to be the same that the _Israelites_ did eat,
had not God the Almighty fed his people and maintained them miraculously
and supernaturally. But that it falls upon thorns, is also attested by
_Serapio_ and _Avicen._ in those chapters where they treat of _Manna_,
which they call _Theceriabin_ and _Trangibin_, and that very learned and
experienced Botanist _Carolus Clusius_ saith the same in his Epitome of
_Indian_ plants. I found some of these shrubs that grew about _Aleppo_,
which were about a cubit high, which shout out into several roundish
stalks, and divide and spread themselves from the stem into several
sprigs like unto a flower (part whereof were quite over-grown with
_Epithymum_, as _Thymus_ used to be) and had abundance of long thin and
soft prickles, from whence grew out flesh-coloured reddish flowers, that
bore small red cods, very like, and of the same shape with the cods of
our _Scorpioides_ (whereof I have found many at _Montpelier_) wherein are
seeds of the same colour. The root thereof is pretty long, of a brown
colour, it’s leaves long, like unto those of _Polygonum_, of an ash
colour; those that grow at the bottom of the thorns are of a warm and dry
quality. The people use the herb for a purge, they take a handful thereof
and boil it in water. Besides this they have another _Manna_ like unto
that, that cometh to us from _Calabria_ by the way of _Venice_, _and is
the concreted Saccarine Exudation of the ~Ornus~._
Among the rest they also shew costly stones, by the _Arabians_ called
_Bazaor_, which are oblong and roundish, and smooth without, and of a
dark green colour. The _Persians_ take these from a peculiar sort of
bucks, and use the powder against mortal and poisonous distempers. There
are some that are very like unto these in form and figure, but not to be
compared for goodness: Wherefore a man must have great care that he be
not cheated. But there are some proofs to know whether they are good or
no, which a Merchant communicated to me as infallible. Take quicklime and
mixt it in powder with a little of this stone, and with water make them
up into a past, when that is dry grind it, if it then remaineth white
it is esteemed false, but if it turns yellow it is good, and brought
from _Persia_. They also bring hither _Turkey_ stones, that grow almost
only in their country, and their King, the _Sophy_, has an incredible
treasure of them together: Lately so many of them were brought to us
that the prices fell very much; but when the King heard of this, he
immediately forbid that any should be exported in seven years time, that
so they might come to their former price again, which seven years as I
am informed are now expired. There are also put to sale many chains of
delicate oriental pearls, which are for the greatest part taken or found
in the _Persian_ seas, near to the island called _Babare_, situated not
far from that great trading city of the _Turkish Batzora_, or _Balsara_.
From _India_ they bring hither many delicate spices, _Cinnamon_,
_Spikenard_, _Long Pepper_, _Turbith_, _Cardamoms_, _Nutmegs_, _Mace_,
and _China Roots_, which the _Arabians_ make more use of than of
_Guaiacum_, and delicate _China_ cups and dishes, _Indico_: and in very
great quantity they bring that noble root called _Rhubarb_. And moreover,
they sell several sorts of precious stones, _viz._ _Garnets_, _Rubies_,
_Balasios_, _Saphires_, _Diamonds_, and the best sincerest _Musk_ in
little cods. These precious stones are hid by the Merchants in the great
caravans that come from _India_, and they bring them secretly, because
they dare not pay custom for them, that the _Bashaws_, _Sangiacks_ and
others, may not rob them of them on the high-ways, for they use to do so
if they find any. I will cease to discourse any longer of these and other
drugs, and several merchandises, which the Merchants convey thither from
foreign places daily, and from thence to other places again, because it
is none of my business to deal in them. With the spices are sometimes by
the Merchants brought from the _Indies_ delicate canes, which are very
long, solid, or full within, flexible and bright without, of a yellowish
colour; they are almost every-where alike thick, only a little tapering;
but few joints, far distant from one another, and are hardly seen in
them. There are two sorts of them, great and small ones; the great and
stronger ones are used by old and lame people instead of crutches to
walk with, but the lesser (which are very like the former) are made into
arrows and darts, for which they are very fit, the _Turks_ wind them
about with silk of many sorts of colours, which they are very proud of
when they make their entries. You find also in the shops another sort of
canes to be sold, which are small and hollow within, and smooth without,
a brownish red colour, wherewith _Turks_, _Moors_, and the _Eastern_
people write, for to write with goose quills is not in use with them;
wherefore these may be esteemed to be the true _Syringas_ or _Fistularis_
of _Dioscor._ Besides these there is another bigger sort of canes, almost
of the same colour, but full of joints; the Pilgrims that go to see their
_Mahomet_ bring these with them from _Meccha_, and the people of that
country carry them along with them on horseback instead of short pikes,
chiefly the _Arabians_, for they are long, strong, and light, and yet
solid or full within; with these they come running on upon their enemies,
or else they (lifting it up above the middle in one of their hands) fling
it at them, with such force, that they penetrate deeper with their sharp
iron (wherewith they are tipt before and behind) then their arrows.
_Theophrastus_ maketh peculiar mention of them in his fourth book and,
the _11th_ chapter, and _Pliny_ in his sixteenth book and the _36th_
chapter.
We see very few of these in our country, for the Christians are forbidden
under great penalties to carry any of them (the same it is with any other
arms that they make use of in their wars) out of the country, if any doth
and is found out, he exposes himself to infinite troubles and dangers, as
did happen to one in my time, who after a scimiter was found about him,
was very highly accused, and fined seventy ducats to be paid in two days
time, and if he had not paid it, they would certainly have circumcised
him, and made him a _Turk_.
Besides these above-mentioned _Champs_, there are a great many more
without and within the city, where also all sorts of merchandizes are
sold, _viz._ _Quibir_ the great, _Sougier_ the little, _Gidith_ the new,
_Atich_ old, _&c._ And besides all these they have a great exchange
called _Batzar_ by the inhabitants, which is in the middle of the town,
and is bigger then _Friberg_ in _Bavaria_, in it there is many alleys,
and each of them divided for several wares and handycraft trades;
first the grocers and mercers, then those that sell tapestry and other
soft woollen cloaths, and also _Turkish Machyer_, _Camlet_, _Taffety_,
and other silks and cottons delicately wrought. There are also good
_Cardavon_, delicate furrs of _Martins_, and chiefly _Wild Cats_, whereof
abundance run about in these countries.
There are also jewellers that sell all manner of jewels, precious stones,
pearls, _&c._ All sorts of handy-craft tradesmen, as shoe-makers,
taylors, sadlers, needle and pin-makers, painters, goldsmiths, brasiers,
locksmiths, _&c._ that have their shops in the _Batzars_ where they
work, but their work is chiefly that of the goldsmiths, painters and
locksmiths, is so silly, that it is by no means to be compared with
ours. There are also turners, fletchers that make arrows and darts, and
bow makers, that have besides their shops small butts, that any body
that goes by may exercise himself, or try his bow before he buyeth it.
These bows are sometimes plain work, and some inlaid with ivory, buflers
horns, _&c._ which maketh them of a different price. The archers wear a
ring upon their right thumbs as our merchants wear their seals wherewith
they draw the string on when they are going to shoot, these are made of
wood, horn, or silver, and some are set with precious stones. Besides
these you find in great _Batzars_ some barbar-surgeons, which, (when they
have no body to trim) use to go about the streets with their instruments
and a flask of leather to look out for Work; if they find any that will
be trimmed they do not come back to their shops, but go to work in the
streets, or in the next _Champ_ if any be near, and there begin to lather
him, and shave all the hair off his head; save only one long lock which
he leaves to hang down his back. There are also places where they sell
slaves of both sexes, old and young, which are sold dearer or cheaper,
according to their strength or handsomeness, _&c._ But in all these
countries I saw neither wheel-wright nor cart-wright, because neither
waggons nor carts are in use with them: Neither could I find (for all
it is so great a city) a gunsmith that understood how to mend the least
fault in a gun-lock. Because there is a great trade daily driven in these
_Batzars_, you shall find there at all times of the day a great number
of people of several nations walking up and down, which makes a crowd as
if it were a fair. Amongst them you will often see drunken _Turks_ which
use to push people that do not give them the way immediately, chiefly if
they be Christians; but the Christians are not afraid of them for all
that, but prepare themselves (when they perceive some of them to approach
among the people) and stand upon their guard to be even with them, and
when the _Turks_ come and push them, they make them rebound again to one
side, or to one of the shop-boards. Sometimes also the _Turks_ will lean
themselves backwards against the shops, and when they see a Christian
go by they let him fall over their legs, and so laugh at them, but then
the Christians again when they perceive this, they kick up the other leg
of the _Turk_ whereon he rests and so make him fall down himself. For it
is usual with the _Turks_ to try the Christians what metal they are made
of, whether they have courage or no, wherefore they oftentimes before
they are aware of them, assault the Christians with rough words, and
if they find them to be afraid they laugh at them to boot, but if they
resist them, they give over immediately, as soon as they find them in
earnest (just like some dogs that sooner bark than bite) and esteem them
afterwards the more for it, and call them brave people that are fit for
the war.
You find also in this crowd several that are in orders, called
_Sacquatz_, (which commonly are pilgrims that have been at _Meccha_)
that go about with skins full of water, and for charity give to any,
nay, even to the Christians that desire it: (because the _Mahometans_
are forbid to drink Wine in their _Koran_.) Wherefore you see many in
their peculiar habits (moved thereunto by devotion) that go all day long
among the people to exercise a work of love and charity to those that are
thirsty. They have in one hand a fine gilded cup whereinto they pour the
water out of their skins, wherein they have commonly laid chalcedonicks,
jaspirs, _&c._ Sometimes also delicate tasted fruit, to keep the water
fresh, and to recreate the people. When they give you to drink out of it
they reach you also a looking-glass with this admonition, That you shall
look your self in it, and remember that you are mortal and must die. For
this service they desire nothing of you, but if you give them any thing
they take it and thank you, and spirt into your face and beard to shew
their thankfulness some fragrant water which they have in glasses, in
a great pouch tip’d with many brass clasps. The _Turks_ and _Arabians_
also esteem it to be a great charity and love, if they let their marble
troughs or great pots that stand every where about their doors be filled
up with fresh water every day, that travellers or any that are dry may
quench thirst as they pass by; in it hang little kettles to drink out of:
If one goes to it, others that see him go also, and drink rather for
company’s sake than to quench their thirst: So you find often a whole
multitude about a pot. If you have a mind to eat something or to drink
other liquors, there is commonly an open shop near it, where you sit down
upon the ground or carpets and drink together. Among the rest they have a
very good drink, by them called _Chaube_ (Coffee) that is almost as black
as ink, and very good in illness, chiefly that of the stomach; of this
they drink in the morning early in open places before every body, without
any fear or regard out of _China_ cups, as hot as they can, they put it
often to their lips but drink but little at a time, and let it go round
as they sit. In this same water they take a fruit called _Bunru_, which
in it’s bigness, shape, and colour, is almost like unto a bay-berry, with
two thin shells surrounded, which, as they informed me, are brought from
the _Indies_; but as these in themselves are, and have within them, two
yellowish grains in two distinct cells, and besides, being they agree in
their virtue, figure, looks, and name, with the _Buncho_ of _Avicenna_,
and _Bancha_ of _Rasis ad Almans._ exactly; therefore I take them to be
the same, until I am better informed by the learned. This liquor is very
common among them, wherefore there are a great many of them that sell
it, and others that sell the berries, every where in their _Batzars_:
They esteem it as highly as we do in our Country wormwood wine, or that
that is prepared with several herbs and drugs: Yet they love wine better
if their law would allow them to drink it, as we have seen in the reign
of the Emperor _Selymus_, when he gave them leave to drink it, that
they met together daily in drinking-houses, and drunk to one another,
not only two or three glasses of strong wine not mixed with water but
four or five of such as came from _Venice_ to them so quickly one after
another with such eagerness, as I have often seen it that they would
not allow themselves to eat a morcel or two between it; and so as you
may easily guess, they become to be sordid presently, and so hoggish,
that they excel all other nations in it. But after _Selymus_ was dead,
and his son _Amurah_ succeeded him in his right, he immediately forbad
them to drink wine in the very beginning of his reign, and looked after
it with such severity, that any body that did but smell of wine was
imprisoned immediately, put out of his place, and a great fine put upon
him according to his capacity, or for want of it, punished severely
with many blows under his soals. During this prohibition it happened,
that when the _Bashaw_ of _Aleppo_ had a mind to go abroad and met in
the court-yard one of his men that was drunk, and perceived it by his
staggering, he drew his scymeter and cut off his head, and so left him
dead upon the place. But yet notwithstanding all this severity, and be it
never so peremptorily forbid, they do not only not mind such prohibition,
chiefly the Renegadoes, being very much used to it, but long and linger
the sooner after it with that eagerness, that in the summer time they
use to carry in privately, just like the ants, great quantities of wine,
and lay up good stores that they may meet at night and drink together
until they have their bellies full, and so rest after it all night that
they might not smell of wine the next day. In that time when they were
prohibited to drink wine, we Christians fared very well and bought our
wine very cheap, until afterwards they had leave to drink it again: Their
wines are generally red, very good and pleasant, they keep it in skins;
they are brought to _Aleppo_ from several places, but chiefly from a
famous town called _Nisis_, which lieth two days journey distant from
it upon the borders of _Armenia_: The use of skins is still very great
with them as it was in former ages, as we may see by the similitude of
Christ, when in St. _Matthew_ Chap. ix. verse. 17. he says, _No man put
new wine into_, &c. Seeing that the Christians have leave to drink wine,
therefore they sell and buy most of it, they also plant it, and have
whole villages in their possessions, with abundance of vineyards. But
the _Turks_ not being allowed to drink wine by their laws do not keep
or cultivate many vineyards, and if they do they press the grapes after
several ways, for some they make into _Cibebs_, chiefly these people that
live in and about _Damascus_, where indeed the best groweth; others boyl
the juice of the grapes up to the consistence of honey, which they call
_Pachmatz_, chiefly those that live at _Andeb_, a town between _Bir_
and _Nisib_. They have two sorts of this rob, one very thick, and the
other somewhat thinner, the former is the best, wherefore they put it up
into little barrels to send into other countries, the latter they use
themselves, mix it sometimes with water and give it to drink (instead
of a julep) to their servants, sometimes they put it into little cups,
to dip their bread in it, as if it were honey, and so eat it. Besides
these they have other sweet drinks which they prepare out of red berries
called _Jujubes_, or of _Cibebs_, which, when boiled in water with a
little honey, the inhabitants call _Hassap_, and others call’d still by
the old name of _Berberis_, of which they bring great quantities down
from mount _Libanus_. Among other liquors they have a special one called
_Tscherbeth_, which boiled of honey tasteth like unto our mead; they have
another made of barley or wheat, by the ancients called _Zychus_ and
_Curmi_: These two last make the _Turks_ so merry and elevated, that, as
our clowns do when they drink beer, they sing and play on their hautboys,
cornets, and kettle-drums, which their musicians make use of every
morning when the guards are relieved: All these liquors are sold in their
great _Batzars_, where they have baskets full of ice and snow all the
summer long, whereof they put so much into the drink that it maketh their
teeth chatter and quake again. Thus much I thought convenient to mention
of their liquors or drinks.
Concerning their food: Their bread is nourishing and good, and so white,
chiefly at _Aleppo_, that none is like it in all _Turky_: They have
several sorts of it, of several shapes and mixtures, whereof some are
done with yolks of eggs; some mix’d with several sorts of seeds, as of
Sesanum, _Romish_ Coriander, and wild Garden Saffron, which is also
strewed upon it. Meat is cheap with them and very good, by reason of the
precious herbs that grow thereabouts, chiefly upon mount _Tauri_, which
extendeth itself very far eastwards, from whence they have abundance of
cattel, as rams, weathers, and sheep with broad and fat tails, whereof
one weigheth several pounds. They have also great store of goats, which
they drive daily in great numbers through that city to sell their milk,
which every one that hath a mind to it drinks warm in the open streets;
among them there are some that are not very big, but have ears two
foot long, so that they hang down to the ground, and hinder them from
feeding; when one of them is cut off, which is commonly done, they turn
themselves always upon that side that the other ear may not hinder them
from feeding. They have no want of beefs and buffles, for they are very
common there, and the butchers kill the beasts in the fields without
town, where they have their slaughter-houses; thereabouts are a great
many dogs that live of the offels, and have their young ones in holes and
cliffs, where they bring them up, and these become so ravenous and wild,
that they run about in the night after their prey, as I am inform’d,
like wolves in our country; and this may very well be, for the _Turks_
do not only not kill any dogs, but rather carry them home when they are
young, and there feed them till they are grown up, and able to shift for
themselves; and they believe that they do a deed of charity that is very
acceptable to God Almighty; like unto the divines in the _Indies_, call’d
_Banians_, which serve the birds in the same manner as these do dogs and
cats. These wolves are more like to our dogs, both in shape and bigness;
and so says _Pliny_, that the wolves in _Egypt_ are less and lazier than
these towards the north. Being there are no inns in _Turkey_, where, as
with us, travellers may lodge and have their diet, therefore there is a
great many cake-shops kept in the _Batzars_, where all manner of victuals
are cleanly dressed, _viz._ butchers meat, fouls, and all sorts of
sauces, and broths, and soups, where every body buys what he hath a mind
to, according to the capacity of his purse. Among the rest nothing is so
common as rice, which they boil up to such a stifness that it crumbleth.
A great many other sorts you shall see in copper basons upon their
shop-boards, prepared after the same way; amongst the rest peculiarly a
very common one, call’d _Bnuhourt_, made of barley and wheat, which were
first broke in a mill, and perhaps dry’d, and so boil’d with or without
milk, into a thick pap. _Dioscorides_, in the eighty third chapter of his
second book, maketh mention of this by the name of _Crimnon_; and also
_Avicen._ and _Rhasis ad Almans. in Synonymis_, calleth it _Sanguick_
and _Savick_. The _Turks_ provide themselves with good store of this,
chiefly in war-time, by water and by land, that when they want provision,
they may make use of it instead of bread. Besides these, they have more
dishes amongst them; I remember one call’d _Trachan_, when it is dress’d
it is so tough, that you may draw it out like glue; this they make up
into little pieces, which being dry’d, will keep a good while, and is
very good and pleasant food after it is boil’d; wherefore they lay up
great stores of this in their strong fortifications as we do of corn,
that in case of necessity they may eat instead of biskets, or other food.
That such sorts of foods, by the Latinists call’d _Puls_, have been very
well known to the ancients, and that in case of necessity they use to
make a shift with it, _Pliny_ testifieth in his eighteenth book, and the
eighth chapter.
They have also all manner of poultry in great plenty, _viz._ pullen,
snipes, partridges with red bills, woodcocks, _&c._ but very few fishes,
because they have only a small rivulet, which is full of turtles, so
that at _Aleppo_ they are very scarce; neither do they esteem them much,
because most of them drink water instead of wine, which is prohibited
by their law, wherefore there are but few brought thither from foreign
places, as _Antiochia_, and the great river _Euphrates_, _&c._ distant
from thence two or three miles. Besides this they have little by-dishes,
as keal, colliflowers, carrots, turneps, french-beans, besides trees and
codded fruits, and many more; but yet they are not so well skill’d in the
dressing of them, as we are in our country.
_Lastly_, They put also up with their Cheese, Cibebs, Almonds, dry’d
Cicers, Pistacho’s, and crack’d Hasel-nuts, which, altho’ they are
carry’d thither from our country, are better tasted and pleasanter than
ours. They have many sorts of preserves, very well done with sugar and
honey, very artificially, chiefly those they carry about to sell upon
plates very well garnish’d, made up and set out with several colours and
shapes, very beautiful to behold. For the rest they live very sparingly,
and bring the year round with small and little expences, for they do not
make so great feasts, nor have so many dishes, nor bestow so great cost
as we do in our country.
In these eastern countries they eat upon the plain ground, and when it
is dinner-time they spread a round piece of leather, and lay about it
tapestry; and sometimes cushions, whereupon they sit cross-leg’d before
they begin to eat, they say grace first, then they eat and drink hastily,
and every one taketh what he has a mind to, and do not talk much. The
rich have fine cotton-linnen about their necks, hanging downwards, or
else hanging at their silk girdles, which they use instead of napkins;
their wives or women do not eat with them, but keep themselves in their
peculiar apartments. After they have done, they rise altogether with
a jerk, swinging themselves about, which our countrymen cannot easily
imitate, till after they have been there a long while, for the limbs are
numbed in sitting cross-legg’d, so that one hath a great deal to do to
bring them to themselves again. At last they take up the leathern table
with bread and all, which serveth them also instead of a table-cloth and
bread-basket, they draw it together with a string like a purse, and hang
it up in the next corner.
CHAP. IX.
_A short and plain relation of plants, which I gather’d during my stay at
~Aleppo~, in and round about it, not without great danger and trouble,
which I glued upon paper very carefully._
Being I undertook this long journey, chiefly on purpose to see myself
those fine outlandish plants, whereof authors so often make mention,
growing in their native soil, and to gain a more clear and perfect
knowledge of them. I was very glad to have an opportunity to stay longer
than I intended, that I might the ofner go out with my friends and
comrades into the fields, among the _Turks_ and _Moors_, not without
great pain and danger of being knock’d on the head, to fetch in more
and greater variety of plants; wherein my comrade _Hans Ulrich Krafft_,
who came into these parts along with me, very often hath faithfully
and honestly assisted me. But having heretofore made mention of the
garden herbs and fruits, I will only in this place write of them which
grow abroad without the gardens, and that with all possible shortness;
and begin with the Poplar-tree, as the commonest of all, which the
inhabitants still call by the ancient _Arabian_ name _Haur_; they grow
very high in these countries, and abundance of them grow about the
rivulet near _Aleppo_, which make very shady walks underneath in the
heat of the summer. There is also a peculiar sort of Willow-trees,
call’d _Safcaf_, _&c._ these are not all alike in bigness and height,
and in their stems and twigs they are not very unlike unto Birch-trees,
which are long, thin, weak, and of a pale yellow colour; they have soft
ash-coulour’d leaves, or rather like unto the leaves of the Poplar-tree,
and on their twigs here and there are shoots of a span long, like unto
those of the _Cypriotish_ wild Fig-trees, which put forth in the spring
tender and woolly flowers, like unto the blossoms of the Poplar-tree,
only they are of a more drying quality, of a pale colour, and a fragrant
smell. The inhabitants pull of these, because they bear no fruit, great
quantities, and distill a very precious and sweet water out of them,
very comfortable and corroborating to the heart. The _Arabians_ call
these trees _Zacneb_ and _Zacnabum_; _Rhasis_ in his 353d and _Avicen._
in his 749th chapter; and after the same manner maketh _Serapio_ mention
of them in his 261st chapter, by the common name of _Zucumbeth_; and
_Theophrastus_ in his fourth book, and eleventh chapter, where he treats
of _Elæagnus_ which this is very like unto, and may be taken for the
same, although they differ in bigness, which often and easily happens
according to the soil and place where they grow. Hereabouts are other
small trees, which I rather take to be thorny shrubs; they are very like
in leaves unto the others, and are call’d by the _Moors_, _Scisesun_.
They love to grow in moist places and in hedges; from the root shoot
several stems, cloathed with a smooth brown-colour’d bark; they bear at
the top pretty long and strong twigs, which here and there are beset with
a few prickles, whereon grow small flowers, white without and yellow
within, whereof three and three sprout out between the leaves. I did
not see any of their fruit, but yet I do believe that they are like unto
the Olives of the _Bohemian_ Olive-tree, to which this plant is very
like, which is very naturally delineated in the herbal of the learned
_Matthiolus_. These trees cast forth such an odour in the spring, that
any body that goes by must needs be sensible of it presently; wherefore
the _Turks_ and _Moors_ cut many of their branches, and stick them up in
their shops.
On the banks of the above-mention’d rivulet, chiefly about the stone
bridge, as you travel to _Tripoli_, grow many _Agnus Castus_’s, of
the lesser sort, and on the other side in the fields, many _Pistacho_
nut-trees.
Within and without the city grow also many sorts of trees, _viz._ that
which _Avicen._ calleth _Azederack_, but _Rhasis_, _Astergio_; white
Mulberry-trees, Date-trees, and Cypresses, by the natives call’d _Sacub_,
which hereabouts grow very big and high, Turpentine-trees, _&c._
About the fences and hedges you will find wild Pomegranat-trees, with
fine double flowers, wild Almond-trees, the fruit whereof the _Moors_
carry about in great plenty to sell to the poor; and near it in old
decay’d brick-walls and stony places, you shall see Caper-bushes:
among the rest there groweth a very strange bush, by the inhabitants
call’d _Morgsani_, which is very green and thick, hath a long woody
coat, whereout sprout several stalks, with round leaves, like unto
Caper-leaves, only with this difference, that four of them stand together
all opposite to one another like unto our beans; between them there
appear small flowers, red within and white without, whereout grow long
pods, like unto those of the _Sesamum_. This plant hath a very unpleasant
scent, wherefore the inhabitants use it frequently to destroy worms;
but what the ancients formerly call’d it, I know not, but really am of
this opinion, it must be according to the description the _Ardifrigi_
of _Avicen._ and _Aadiccan_ of _Rhasis_; he that pleaseth may read more
thereof in the quoted places. In these places are also found the thorny
_Acacia_, by the inhabitants call’d _Shack_, and by the _Arabians_,
_Shamuth_, which are very small and low, chiefly those that stand in
the fields, which give as much trouble to the plowmen as the ferns and
rest-harrow do here; the twigs are of an ashen colour, crooked, full of
prickles, like unto those of the Rose-bush, and have very small feather’d
leaves, like unto _Tragacantha_, which are almost divided like unto our
female fern, the flowers of them I have not seen, but the cods that grow
out of them are without brownish, in their shape thicker and rounder than
our beans, spongy within, and containing two or three reddish seeds.
I have, besides these, seen in shops pods of a chestnut-brown colour,
sold under the name of _Cardem_, which have two or three little distinct
cells or baggs, in each whereof is a reddish seed, in the figure of our
male Balsam; these are brought from _Egypt_, and by some thought to be
the true _Acacia Diosc._ whether it be so or no I cannot well tell,
because I never saw the plant. Very near it, in untill’d places, groweth
_Galega_; _Sisynrichium Theophrasti_, which is very curiously delineated
in the book of _Rempert. Dodon. de herbis & floribus coron._
There is also found another fine plant, by the inhabitants call’d
_Tharasalis_, which hath seven or eight waved leaves, which stand about
a round stalk, almost as it is to be seen in _Sisynrichium_, only they
are a great deal broader, and not so long, when the stalk thereof, which
is not above a cubit long, is grown, through and above them; it gets at
top a white flower, not very unlike unto the low blue Flower de Luce
which blow early in the spring; it has a roundish root, like unto that of
_Narcissus_, and also has many long white fibres. Not far from thence,
when you get upon the hill, there groweth in the rough places others,
_viz._ _Bistorta_, still by the inhabitants call’d _Zuph_, a fine sort of
_Verbacum_; _Scorzonera_ with purple flowers, Saffron with small little
leaves, and a delicate yellow flower; also _Arisarum_, _Homaid._ and
_Arum_, call’d by them _Carsaami_, whereof there are four sorts, among
the rest a strange one, with long ears, wherefore they call it in their
language _Ouidae_.
There also are about the rivers some _Anemones_ of several sorts and
colours, very beautiful, as red, purple colour, yellow, _&c._ all which
they call with a common name _Sakaick_, and give an additional name
according to the colour of it, _viz._ _Schakaick achmar_, _Sakaik assar_,
_Aserack_, &c. that is to say, red-yellow, of a violet colour, _&c._
which would be too long and tedious to describe all here; chiefly if
I should at length relate the common ones, as, wild Rue, _Asphodelus
albus_; _Rheseda Plin._ _Flos solis foliis minoribus serpilli_, wild
Onions, and other innumerable more. As you come down by another way back
again, nearer to the corn-fields, you find other fine herbs, as the wild
new _Harmala_, a delicate sort of _Astragalus foliis hedysari minoris_,
and by it another which is very like unto _Astragalus_ of _Dioscor._ so
that I really believe it to be the same. There appear a great many of
them upon the height; it is a low herb, with a long brownish root, as big
and long as the root of horse-raddish, which puts out at the sides some
strong fibres, which are almost blacker and harder to cut than the root
itself; some of them go downwards, and others the greater part upwards,
and bended like unto horns. These contain, together with their sweetness,
also a driness; they shoot out at the top into several branches of the
same colour, yet not above the length of a finger, which incline towards
the earth, whereout grow nine or ten small leaves, like Lentil-leaves,
not very unlike to those of _Orobus_, and distributed after the same
manner. Between them sprout out purple-brown flowers, after them come
long and thick and full bladders, whereof some are as big as those of the
_Colutea_.
All these and several other herbs have I preserved and glued to some
paper, with great and peculiar care, so that they are to be seen in their
natural colours so exact, as if they were green.
About the river up a hill, I found a tender and fragrant herb with long
and white roots, of a pretty acrimonious taste, it’s leaves were like
unto our Coriander, only somewhat rounder, and not so much cut, but only
a little about the edges; I found no stalks nor flowers, for it was
early in the year, and about Easter, which is the time of their first
springing, these they call’d _Zarneb Melchi_, and the inhabitants dig
so many of these roots, that they send yearly several chests full into
_Persia_, where they use them, as I am inform’d, very frequently in
pains of their backs, and all other accidental pains: As far as I can
see, when I look upon the leaves, I reckon it to be the third sort of
_Daucus_ of _Diosc._ A little lower, as you come to the plow’d fields, I
found also the second kind of _Chondrilla_ of _Diosc._ with round roots
of a smooth and dark yellowish colour, perhaps at the top half an inch
thick, and five or eight long, whereon at the end where it is thinnest,
hangs another round root of the bigness of a Chest-nut, which are so full
of milk, that they are ready to crack; at top, where it is divided into
three parts, sprout out many long and small grass leaves together, which
lie flat upon the ground; between them come out yellow flowers like unto
those of _auricula muris_, each whereof hath it’s peculiar stalk.
Not far from it, yet in rougher and stonier ground, groweth another
_Chondrilla_, which is like unto that former in all parts, only the
leaves thereof are broader, and more woolly, and of an ash colour, very
like unto the _Holostium_ of _Montpellier_. As you go to the Grand
Signior’s garden, about a small mile from the town, at the road, I found
a good many plants, _viz._ _Draba Dioscorid._ call’d _Orobanche Halinu_,
_Spina solstitialis_, a kind of _Carduus Mariæ_; wild Cucumbers, by them
call’d _Adiural hamar_; _Xyphium_, _Peplium_, _Heliotropium tri coccum
Caroli Clusii_, and also his _Paronychia Hispanica_, and his third
_Lichnis_, with pale and red purple-colour’d flowers; _Coris Matth._ with
yellow flowers; two delicate sorts of _Geraniums_; and upon old walls I
found a little _Rauckel_ with pale-colour’d flowers, _Umbilicus Veneres_,
and a great many more. I cannot leave unmention’d those that grow round
about in the fields, and chiefly amongst them a _Medica_, with dissected
trifoliated leaves; and many more, whereof some have long and streight,
and others many bended pods, in a cluster together. I also found one with
many white and hoary heads, which look’d almost like unto _Lagopodium_,
and another little one with green-colour’d pods pressed together, so long
and so broad as those of _Senna_, which were a great ornament to the
whole plant. And also thereabouts are found many sorts of corn-flowers,
quite different from ours; _Papaver erratic_, in their language call’d
_Schuck_, of which they make a conserve with sugar, and use it in coughs;
_Papaver corniculatum_ with stately purple flowers. I found also there
_Eryngium_, with blewish tops and starr’d heads; two sorts of _Henbane_,
whereof one that groweth in the fields hath red and purple-coulour’d
flowers, the others which I found in the town upon the old walls had
white ones, by the Latins call’d _Apollinaris_. Much thereabouts in the
corn grew the less _Melampyrum_, by them call’d _Paponesck_, which at
the top beareth thick, yellow flowers, very like unto the _Melampyrum
Tragi_; _Item_ the second kind of wild Cumin, with yellow flowers, and
long bended pods; _Poterion Matth._ by the inhabitants call’d _Megasac_,
which they stick up in their chambers, to keep them from being bewitch’d.
A delicate sort of _Horminum_, with small woolly and dissected leaves,
a Garden-cypress with gold-colour’d flowers; _Scabiosa_, _Anchusa_, and
a _Salvia_, which hath many roundish leaves, and about their square
stalks grow purple-coloured bells, wherein is it’s black seed, like
unto that of _Melissa Molucca_, whereof I have made mention above. In
the corn also groweth _Leontopetalon_, in their language _Aslab_, with
it’s brown-colour’d round root and large leaves, which are roundish and
very near divided like unto those of our _Pæonia_; the stalk hath at the
top, which is about a foot high, and hollow, more twiggs, whereof the
point of each of them beareth several small purple and yellow flowers,
which make roundish bladders, that contain one, two, and sometimes three
seeds, the children use to play their tricks with them as they do with
the flowers of _Papaver erraticum_ in our country. The great roots they
bruise, and rub with it spots in cloaths, which, as they say, they draw
out immediately.
By these in the corn groweth also the true _Chrysogonum_ of _Diosc._
which is as high as the former, and also in flowers, stalks, and roundish
root, which is redder within, very like it, only the stalk is slenderer,
and hath more and longer by-shots, or _germina_, at the end whereof you
see stately yellow flowers, so that it is thicker, and more spriggy than
the other; it’s pennated leaves, whereof there are commonly four that
come from the root with long foot-stalks almost as slender as a thread,
lie close to the ground, as you may easily imagine, and have every one
their ribs, two and two leaves growing together on each side, one after
another, so that four of them stand together in a cross; they are darkish
green, and at the out-side, where they are broader, very like unto Oaken
leaves. Now, as these and others, that grow in these countries, are as
yet very little known, so may also the following, that groweth in plow’d
fields, be reckon’d among the unknown, which is very like unto the
_Lycopsis_ of _Diosc._ for which, in my opinion, it ought to be taken.
This plant hath a red coat, and a straight stalk about two foot high,
from whence round about below spread themselves many strong and rough
leaves in a circle, as if it were from one center; not unlike the wild
Bugloss, they decrease a little by degrees, as they grow higher and
higher; out of each of them, close to the stalk, sprout out many twigs,
with their peculiar small leaves, as you see in _Echium_; between them
shoot out very tender purple-coulour’d flowers, which are whole within,
and divided into six small or longish leaves, almost like unto these
of the _Caryophillus montanus_. In the beginning of February I have
seen several sorts of Hyacinths, and the _Oriental_ one in the greatest
quantity, which they call _Zumbel_ in their language. In April I saw
another very delicate one, known to them by the name _Ayur_, with long
and very small leaves of our _Philangium_; it groweth pretty high, and
beareth at the top four stalky flowers; the leaves thereof are very like
in shape and colour unto the three leaves that stand up in our Flower de
Luce; the root is very like to that of a Tulip, wherof I have also seen
a great number in these grounds of all sorts of colours. I have also
found some Daisies like unto our own, and also another sort of them with
nine or ten white Saffron-flowers, which sprout sooner in the spring
in the corn, not so bare as ours, but between the leaves. The leaves
are pretty thick, but narrower, longer, and narrower pointed than the
before-mention’d; they also spread more about upon the ground, and come
from a white coat with a brown-red skin, surrounded and divided in the
middle, it is call’d _Kusan_ in their tongue, but by some others it is
still call’d _Surugen_.
These and a great many more strange herbs have I found, but because they
were unknown to me, I forbear to mention any more of them. But yet I
cannot but describe to you one more, for the taking of which I and my two
comrades fell into great danger, as we often did, both of _Turks_ and
_Moors_, which needs not all to be related here; this is call’d by the
inhabitants _Rhasut_ and also _Rumigi_; it hath a strong yet unpleasant
savour, and about four stalks of a whitish colour, and so tender towards
the root, and so small as a pack-thread, whereon at each side grow seven
or eight tender ash-colour’d leaves one against the other, distributed
like unto those of _Osmond-royal_, only they have round ears towards the
stalk, like unto the small Sage, and between the lowermost, which are a
little more distant, flowers like unto our _Aristolochia_, yet a great
deal bigger, of a more brownish colour, and hanging on longer stalks.
The root striketh very deep, and is very like unto our _Pellitory_, of a
drying quality, and somewhat hot, as the bitter taste intimates. When I
was busy about this tender plant, and strove to get it out whole, which
took me up the more time, because I had no proper tools by me, a _Turk_
well arm’d came galloping upon us, to see what we were doing; but when
we perceived him to be fuddled, and that he earnestly set upon us, to
make booty of us, each of us gave him something, according to his desire,
seeing that he would not leave us without, that so we might get rid of
him; then he rode very well pleased out of our sight, and we took no
farther care of him. But before I could get the root quite out, he came
back again with full speed upon us, so I bid my comrades to run to the
next Olive-trees, and I would follow them presently; but when I saw him
come pretty near me, and found I could not get the plant whole, I pull’d
it up as well as I could, and so ran to my companions. But when I came to
the Olive-trees, I found they were run several Olive-trees farther, which
stand row by row, and found myself quite alone and destitute, and that
I must defend myself behind the tree; so he came down upon me with his
scymeter drawn, and fetch’d one blow after the other at me, which I still
declined, running from one side of the tree to the other, so that they
went into the tree and mangled it mightily. In the mean time defending
myself thus unarm’d against him, I took a resolution, that if he should
take hold of his bow and arrow to shoot at me, which he could not do,
except he left his scymeter, to run in upon him, and struggle with him;
but this fight during very long, and perhaps his anger did not give him
leave to think of it, I found out another way; knowing them to be very
covetous, to make myself free again with a piece of money, and to give
him a small silver piece, which in their language they call _Saict_,
worth about three pence or a groat, so pull’d it out, and shew’d it him,
still standing behind the tree; as soon as he saw it, he gave over, and
beckon’d to me to give it him so I stepp’d to him, and when I reach’d it
to him, he took it. But my table-book fell out of my pocket when I pull’d
out the money, upon the ground, wherein I had recorded many things,
which when he saw he would have it also, but I refusing it, he grew mad,
and began to renew the same game again; then I repented that I did not
dismount him when I gave him the money; yet I consider’d that if I should
have done him a mischief, as he deserved, yet although I had never so
good a cause, I was sure I must be cast, and perhaps to come to a greater
mischief and hurt; so I gave it him, and after he had received it he was
pacify’d and rode away.
But to come to my former purpose again: I found about the river the other
_Tragium Diosc._ in the plough’d ground, and afterwards also in abundance
upon the hill, but generally in moist places, near to the spring that
runs down the hill; it’s root is whitish, pretty long and slender, from
thence spread themselves some woody stalks, not above a little finger
long, whereon grew towards the top many leaves together, which were long,
and had of each side of their ribs small leaves, one opposite to the
other, which were divided, just like the _Trichomanes_, only somewhat
longer, about the bigness of those of _Asplenium_, and are, as they,
delicately green within, but without, and against the ground, of an
ash-colour, and woolly, chiefly the small ones, that are just sprouting
out between the others. Out of these first-mention’d stems come first
naked long stalks, upon which grow at the top violet-brown flowers close
together, as if it was an ear of corn; the inhabitants call it _Secudes_,
and so did the ancient _Arabians_, chiefly _Avicenna_ in the 679th chap.
where he also attributeth this Virtue, that it is very proper in the
bloody-flux.
In their gardens the _Turks_ love to raise all sorts of flowers, wherein
they take great delight, and use to put them on their turbant, so I
could see the fine plants that blow one after another daily, without
trouble. In _December_, I saw our violets with dark-brown and white
flowers, whereof they gave me in that season several nose-gays. Then
came the Tulips, Hyacinths, Narcisses, which they still name by the old
name _Nergis_. Before all other I saw a rare kind with a double yellow
flower, call’d _Modaph_, and a strange _Convolvulus hederæ foliis_, with
great purple flowers, whereout grew seed-vessels, as you see in the new
_Harmala_, with three distinct _Capsula_’s, wherein is kept it’s black
seed, to which they attribute the virtue of evacuating tough slime. This
is found sometimes in gardens, and by the inhabitants call’d _Hasnisca_,
and the _Persians_ _Acafra_, and _Serapio_ chap. 273. _Habalnil_; the
_Latins_, _Granum Indicum_, and _Carthamus Indicus_, and he that hath a
mind to know more of it, let him look into the author himself, in the
above-mention’d place, in the 306th chap. of _Avicenna_ and the 208th of
_Rhasis_. I also found in their gardens, Balm, Basil, and a fine sort of
Amaranthus, which for his colour’s sake may be call’d _Symphonia Plinii_,
and therefore call’d parrots feather.
I cannot forbear, before I conclude, to mention some which I found here
and there in the _Batzars_, and among them a strange sort of Lillies,
which as I am told grow in sunny, moory, mossy, and moist places; whereon
groweth a long stalk of the same colour and thickness of ours, only a
great deal broader, but broadest of all at top, where it is about three
fingers broad, so that it is like unto a Spatula that is painted at
one end; on this stalk grow at each side several tender leaves, which
are pretty long, but very small and pointed, and at the top thereof
some white flowers like unto ours. When I was thinking of this at
several times, what they were call’d by the ancients, it came into my
mind, that I had read of them in _Theophrastus_, _lib. 4. cap. 9._
and I really believe it to be the same. But whereas _Theophrastus_
writes in the quoted place, that they do not touch the ground, I can
say nothing to it, for I never saw any of them growing. They have also
some small roots to sell, call’d _Mamirani tchini_, good for eyes, as
they say; they are yellowish like _Curcuma_, but a good deal longer,
and thinner, and knotted, and very like unto our _Poligonatum_, and
may be esteem’d the true _Mamican_, whereof _Rhasis_ maketh mention in
several places. There is also among others brought a great quantity of
the juice of _Scammony_, that is still very soft, it cometh in leathern
bags from out of the country, and so it is sold to our Merchants in
their _Fondiques_; but those that buy it must have a great care, because
it is often adulterated, that they be not cheated. There is also a
good deal of the juice, by the Apothecaries call’d Opium, and by the
inhabitants Ofium, which the _Turks_, _Moors_, and _Persians_ and other
nations take inwardly not only in war, at the time when they go to fight
their enemies, to make them couragious and valiant, but also in time
of peace, to drive away melancholly and care, or at least to ease it.
Their religious people make also use of it, but above all the rest the
_Deruis_, and take so much of it, that it maketh them presently drowsy,
and without consideration, that when, after their barbarous and silly
way, they cut, slash, or burn themselves, they may feel less smart or
pain. If any one hath so begun to make use of it, (they take about the
quantity of a large pea at a time) they cannot well leave it off again,
except they have a mind to throw themselves into a sickness or other
inconveniencies; for, as they confess themselves, that if they omit
taking of it, they find themselves very ill in their bodies. Opium is
commonly taken from the white Poppy-heads, in their language call’d
_Caschasch_, wherein they cut, when they are young and tender, a spiral
or winding-circle round about it from top to bottom, one under another;
out of those runs some milk, which they let be there until it groweth
thick, then they gather it and make it into balls, like unto our perfum’d
soap-balls. Being that the _Turks_ use this Opium so commonly, it happens
sometimes that they take so much of it, that it is very dangerous;
wherefore they have an antidote, as I was inform’d, that is the root
Aslab, whereof I have made mention before, which they give to bring them
to rights again.
I found also in the great _Batzars_ a sort of _Alga_ sold in their shops,
which was dark-red, and therefore very useful for Dyers; it had stalks of
the thickness of a finger, and was surrounded with several thin scales,
or rather leaves, and round; wherefore it may be taken to be a _Saderva
Serab._ and herb _Alargivan_ of _Andreas Bellunensis_, whereof he maketh
mention in his Index, where he interpreteth the _Arabian_ words. For a
kind of this may also be taken, because it affords a delicate purple
colour, that _Alga_ that is found in the seas near _Candia_, and is
describ’d by _Theophrastus_ in his fourth book and seventh chap. Lastly,
among the rest, I did also enquire after the _Amomum_, and thought,
because they were near unto the confines of _Armenia_, that therefore
they might easily have it by the Caravans, which come daily from those
parts; yet I was forc’d to run a great while after it, till at length
I got a little stalk thereof in one shop; they call it by the name of
_Hamama_. But of the other, so call’d by _Dioscor._ which is like unto
it, and therefore may easily be taken for the right one, they had a great
deal. These two small shrubs, altho’ they are very like to one another,
yet for all that they may be distinguish’d by their stalks and different
colours. Wherefore _Dioscor._ bids us, if we will not be imposed upon, to
pick out the bigger and smoother, with it’s noble seed, and to leave the
small. This stalk which I found about the length of a finger, is almost
of the colour of the bark of the Cinnamon-tree, and also in it’s acrimony
and good odour, altho’ it was old, still very strong. At the top had been
several woody stalks, close to one another, whereon I believe had been
the flowers and Seeds. But the twigs of the other sort, which are crack’d
and bended, are of a brown colour, which at the top divide themselves
into other less ones like a tree, whereon grow several stalks with little
heads, like unto the _Masaron_, or _Marum Syriacum_ from _Crete_, wherein
is no great strength nor odour.
Thus much I thought convenient to mention of strange plants, chiefly of
those the ancients make mention of, and so I conclude the first part of
my _TRAVELS_.
_End of the first Part._
[Illustration: CAROLUS JEPHSON IMPRIM]
[Illustration]
Dr _Leonhart Rauwolff_’s
TRAVELS
INTO THE
Eastern Countries.
Wherein is treated of his Journey from _Aleppo_ thro’ the Famous Town of
_Babylonia_, to _Bagdet_; what he saw by the way, and what did befal him
in going and coming by Water and by Land. With a brief Account of the
high Mount of _Libanus_, of the strange Plants and Inhabitants thereof.
PART. II.
CHAP. I.
_How I departed from ~Aleppo~ to the famous city of ~Bir~, and how I
sailed from thence on the ~Euphrates~ to old ~Babylon~._
After I had staid a good while in _Aleppo_, and had seen and understood
the trade and merchandizes of the inhabitants, together with that of
all the other nations, _viz._ _Grecians_, _Armenians_, _Georgians_,
_Arabians_, _Persians_, and _Indians_, which come and go daily with
their caravans, and very well observed and understood their manners and
customs, and had also collected a fine parcel of foreign and undescribed
plants; I resolved to go farther eastward into _Mesopotamia_, _Assyria_,
_Babylonia_, &c. as the ancientest and most fruitful countries that ever
were, where the ancientest people, and the most potent monarchs did
inhabit. But these countries lying far off, and the way that leadeth
thither, passing through vast desarts and wildernesses, and therefore
the voyage being so much the more difficult and dangerous to attempt
and accomplish; I first look’d out for a trusty companion, to take as
my assistant, and met presently with an experienced _Dutchman_ that
had lived a great while in _Aleppo_, who granted my request (being as
desirous to go this voyage as myself) to go along with me. We agreed
presently, and began to consider which was our best way to take. But that
we being strangers, might not be taken to be vagabonds or spies (they
being very suspicious) from whence they might presently take occasion
(as the _Turks_ use to do) to lay great _Avarias_, or unjust taxes, upon
us, which the Christians that deal to these parts have often to their
great loss and damage experienced; we did consider, and found, that
the trading here was very great, so that they did not only deal from
hence into _Armenia_, _Egypt_ and _Constantinople_, (for from thence
come the caravans thro’ _Natolia_ in about a months time) but also very
much into _Persia_ and _India_: Wherefore we thought best to profess
ourselves Merchants, that so we might travel the more safely with other
Merchants in order thereto, to buy some merchandizes that would sell in
those places, and to carry them along with us. That we might put this in
execution, my formerly mentioned friend _Hans Ulrich Raft_, from _Ulm_,
took great pains to furnish me at my desire and request, with several
fit commodities for those places upon account of my patron Mr _Melchior
Manlich_, which I got pack’d up immediately to go with them to the famous
city _Bagdet_, situated upon the _Tygris_, where is a great staple and
deposition of merchandizes that are to go farther for _Persia_ and
_India_. But seeing that seldom any Merchants go from _Aleppo_ farther
into these countries, so that our habits are very rarely seen there; we
cloathed ourselves as is usual, in the common _Turkish_ habit (that every
body might not presently look upon us as strangers); first, we had long
blue _Cabans_, which are button’d before quite down, and cut out about
the neck, not unlike to those of the _Armenians_; and white _Drawers_
made of cotton that hung down to our ankles, and were drawn in and tied
about our bodies, and also shirts after the same fashion and without
collars. We also fitted ourselves with white turbants with a blue brim,
such as _Christians_ usually wear, and put on yellow shoes which were
painted, before guarded with nails, and with horse-shoes behind. Besides
this we put on a kind of a frock, made of a certain course stuff called
_Meska_ in their language, which is common among the _Moors_. They are
generally made of goats and asses hair, pretty narrow, without sleeves
and short, reaching only to our knees. But these stuffs being not all
alike, the finest thereof (chiefly that which is striped white and black)
is taken for cloaths; and the coarser for tents and portmantles, wherein
they carry their provision through the desarts, and also keep their
camels and mules meat, hanging it about their necks. This puts me in mind
of the plain cloathing which the ancient inhabitants of these countries,
chiefly the _Israelites_, when they mourned for their deceased relations,
or when they repented of their committed iniquities, and turned from
them, and prayed God to forgive them their accumulated transgressions,
used to put on, as we read in the 37th chapter of _Genesis_, where
_Jacob_ lamented the death of his son _Joseph_; and in the book of the
Prophet _Jonas_ of the _Ninevites_, who believing the Prophet’s words,
denouncing their destruction within forty days, and repenting of their
sins, put on sackcloth and prayed to God for forgiveness. The like we
read of the King and Prophet _David_, after he had numbred his people.
_Item_, in the 10th chapter of St _Luk_ and other places, that they put
on sackcloth and did repent in ashes. It is therefore very probable that
those were very like unto them that are still in use.
When we had thus accoutred ourselves for the voyage, and provided us
with all necessaries, _viz._ cloths, merchandizes, provision of biskets
and drink, and did stay only for some fellow-travellers, we were still
doubtful whether it were more convenient for us to go by land with
_caravans_, which go from hence and _Damascus_ very strong to _Bagdet_,
through great sands and desarts in fifty days, more or less, according
as the weather proveth: Or, whether we should go by water, either upon
the _Tygris_ or the _Euphrates_, there being good opportunity to go in
company with others. But it happening that we met with some _Armenian_
Merchants servants that did live at _Aleppo_, who were also provided
with goods, and had a mind to go into the same countries, we did readily
embrace this opportunity, partly because they understood the _Turkish_
and _Arabian_ languages, which two are chiefly spoken in _Syria_, and
partly because some of them had been four times already in the _Indies_;
wherefore we put our goods to theirs, and loaded a great many camels
together, to deliver them to us at _Bir_, to ship them there upon
the _Euphrates_. And that we might pass every where in the _Turkish_
dominions, we took a pass from the _Bashaw_ and _Cadi_, and so we began
our travels to _Bir_, distant three days journey, the 13th of _August_,
_Anno 1574_. By the way we were so strange to one another, that in our
new fashioned cloaths we did hardly know one another among them all.
After we had the first day a rough road, and travelled through many
desarts and uninhabited places, we reached at night a little village,
where we encamped and pitched our tents. We put all our packs in a circle
round about us, and without them our beasts (as it is usual in great
_caravans_) to defend us from the assaults of the _Moors_ in the night.
A little after midnight we heard a great _caravan_ of many camels and
asses to go by, very near to us, which after it was passed, we broke
also up and followed them; when the day-light appeared, we saw several
plow’d fields more than the day before, and also here and there in some
pleasant places many tents of the _Arabians_, which were fixed together
as it were in a camp; ranged very orderly in streets. After we had that
morning travelled very hard, so that our beasts under their heavy loads
began to be tired in the great heat, we rested behind a little chappel
to refresh ourselves and to feed our camels; in the mean time some poor
women came down from the high-lands to us to gather the dung of our
camels to burn it instead of wood, whereof they were in great want. When
the great heat was over, and we had staid there for two hours, we went
on again, and came before it was night to a little village lying in a
valley, near which upon the height, the _Arabians_ had formed a great
camp; we went up to them, and pitched our tents in the plain by them, and
kept as abovesaid a good watch. They came quickly to us, spoke kindly
to us, and their wives brought us water and good milk; but after we saw
that they were very naked and hungry, and in their shape like to our
_Gypsies_, we did not trust them at all, but kept a very good watch all
that night. These are vagabond people, that are used to idleness from
their infancy, and will rather endure hunger, heat and cold, than get
any thing by their handy-work, or till the fields, or plant garden-herbs
for their maintenance, although they might do it in several fruitful
places in their own possession. So you find here a great number of them
by the sides of these sandy desarts, that have no where any habitation,
but live in their tents like as the beasts do in caves, and go like unto
the _Gypsies_ from place to place, until they light on one, where they
may live a great while with their cattle, and when all is eat up, want
driveth them from thence to look out for another.
On the 15th early before break of day, we were up in the cool of the day,
with an intention to reach to _Bir_ that night, but our camels were grown
so faint by reason of the excessive heat and the great burthens, that
they fell down several times, wherefore we looked out for a convenient
place where we might stay all night, and found at last a village near
which we pitched our tents, eat some gourds and biskets, and so went to
rest.
Two hours before break of the day, we began our journey again, and came
early in the morning to the great river called _Euphrates_, we went over
with our goods and chattel, and fixed our tents before the town near
the river on the other side, to stay for a barge that was to come from
_Armenia_, to go from thence to _Babylon_, which is now called _Felugo_.
By the way I saw no herbs of any worth, except the _Galega_, in our
language called goats-rue, which grew plentifully on the dry heaths; and
near to the road, the first sort of _Apocynum_, by us called dogs-bane,
very like unto the great Celandine in it’s leaves and pods: I also saw
whole acres of _Turkish_ corn called _Sesamo_, and others sown all with
cotton, and also a kind of _Esula_, very full of milk, wherewith the
fallow grounds were so filled up, that at a distance, you would have
taken it for good corn. Seeing that the _Scammony_ that uses to be
brought to _Aleppo_, is wont sometime to be very sharp, therefore it
may very well be, that they adulterate it with this _Esula_. Near the
town grew abundance of _Acacia_, called _Schack_ and _Schamuck_, as is
above-mentioned, which are here in stem and fruit, greater and larger
than ever I saw any where. The town _Bir_ is situated on the other side
of the great river _Euphrates_ in _Mesopotamia_, near the high hill
_Taurus_, just like _Tripolis_ near the _Libanus_, or our _Losanna_ on
our _Alps_: It is neither big nor strong, but pretty well defended by a
castle that lyeth on a high rock above the river, not easily to be taken.
There is a very pleasant country round about it, and very fruitful,
which (chiefly on this side the river where it is plain) is very well
tilled and sown with corn, which they did just thrash out when we came,
with little waggons drawn by oxen, and here and there are very good
villages. But beyond the river it is more hilly, which kind of ground
extends it self a great way towards the east, and divideth _Armenia_
from _Mesopotamia_. It is at the top very rough and bare; nothing but
bushes and herbs to be seen there; wherefore abundance of beasts, chiefly
lambs and goats, are daily brought down, which are carried over the
_Euphrates_, and so driven to _Aleppo_ and other adjacent places. This
river where it runs by the town is about a mile broad, and so deep that
it is not easy to make a bridge over it: Yet because it hath not a swift
current in that place, it is not very dangerous to sail on it, except
where it enlargeth it self, as it doth in great desarts, or else where
it divideth it self into several branches, so that the water-men do not
know which is the best way for them to take; wherefore the Merchants
that have a mind to come quicker and with less pains to _Bagdet_ with
their merchandizes, carry them by land to _Orpha_, to the famous town of
_Carahmet_, which lyeth six days farther towards the east, on the borders
of _Assyria_ and _Media_, upon the rapid river _Tygris_, where is a great
deposition of merchandizes, that are sent from thence to _Ormutz_ and
the _Indies_. The _Euphrates_ is continually muddy, and therefore almost
not fit to be drunk except you let it stand two or three hours, until
the sand and mud is sunk down to the bottom, which sometimes is of the
thickness of an inch: So that in every house where they have no wells,
all along the river in towns and villages, they have several great pots
which they fill out of the river, and let them stand until it be settled,
but if they have occasion to drink of it before, they drink through their
towels.
During the time of our staying there they brought us several sorts of
fishes they had caught in the river to sell, and among the rest one
sort called _Geirigi_, which in their shape and scales were very like
unto _Carps_, only they were not so thick in the belly, but a great
deal longer and bigger, so that sometimes one of them did weigh three
_Rotula_’s of their weight, which is about seventeen or eighteen of our
pounds. They are very delicate and good to eat, and so cheap, that we
could buy one for one _Medin_, in our money worth about three-pence.
To catch these, our ship’s crew flung out oftentimes some pellets made
up with _Cocculus Indic._; which fruit is named by them _Doam Samec_
and presently after some of the fish flung themselves up at the top of
the water, whereupon they jumped out of the ship to catch them, and to
carry them a-shoar. I saw also a peculiar sort of vultures, which were
so tame that they did not only sit very thick upon the houses, but they
sat down in the street before all the people without any fear; they are
more of an ashen colour than ours, but for bigness, height and the rest,
exactly like unto them. Besides these there was another sort of them,
that were something bigger, and of a lighter colour than the former,
and had some black at the ends of their wings like unto our _Storks_.
They eat also carrion, and meat, and are somewhat wilder, wherefore they
may be affirmed to be the very same that _Rhasis_ called _Gyuni_, and
_Avicenna_, _Rachame_. During the time that we staid there, a _Bashaw_
was sent hither by the _Turkish Sultan_, with some hundred _Spahi_’s,
pretty well armed, for his master did intend to make war with the
_Trusci_ that so he might defend the confines of _Syria_, _Mesopotamia_,
and _Armenia_, &c. from being assaulted by them, and to keep every thing
secure. The _Trusci_ live on the mountain of _Libanus_, and pretend to
be the off-spring of those people, that under _Godfrey de Bouillon_ did
possess themselves again of the land of promise. They are since so much
encreased, that they are able to bring into the field sixty thousand,
most of which are very good gunners, which if occasion be, they can bring
together in a short time. The _Grand Signor_, seeing that they encreased
daily, so that he did fear they would be in time too great for him, to
prevent this, as then the common discourse went, and to subdue them, and
bring them under his yoke, did summon some _Bashaws_ and _Sangiacks_,
chiefly him of _Damascus_ to bring together a great army, to fall upon
them. But which way he did beat them, and how he encroached upon them, I
shall (because I did for this time, during my travels, hear no more of
it) relate more largely after my return. The _Spahi_’s which came with
the _Bashaw_, took, because they would not be idle, their diversion in
running, shooting with arrows, and in fencing, or cudgel-playing, and
sometimes the country people came in with them, and played with them, but
not in so many sorts of arms as the fencing-masters do in our country,
_viz._ with daggers, swords or halbarts, for these are not in fashion in
those countries. They take instead thereof only cudgels, with them they
approach towards one another three times, yet not with such flourishes
and neatness as our fencers do before they begin, for their long cloaths
hinder them. In their left hand they have a buckler which is about a
foot diameter round, covered with leather, and stuffed out with hair;
in their right hand they have a cudgel, wherewith they strike strait at
one another in the first bout, as the boys do in our country, but in
the second and third bout, they strike cross-ways, chiefly in the third
which is the last, which they take off cleaverly with their bucklers; and
sometime they strike at one another legs, but never to hurt one another;
when this is done, they turn back and march off. This manner of fencing
is very common in these countries.
At length after we had staid a great while, several ships did arrive from
above, and ours, for which we did stay, among them. So our patron began
to load, and to fit himself for our departure: And so did two more that
had a mind to go in company with us. One among them belonging to a _Turk_
which was laden only with corn, to carry during the scarcity, which was
occasioned by the great heat, and for want of rain to _Bagdet_. We also
bought several sorts of fruits, _viz._ _Cibebs_, _Anguria_’s, Garlick and
Onions, _&c._ and took also along with us some ground corn, as is usual
to do in such voyages, which with Rice flower is fit to make puddings, or
to bake bread of; honey and other things to serve as provision for our
ship; for we were to travel a great way through many desarts and places
not inhabited where nothing was to be had. For there are no inns upon
this river, as upon the _Rhine_ or _Danube_, where they dress victuals
for travellers against they come. And that we might have sometimes
something hot to eat, we provided ourselves with several cooking vessels,
as is usual in these cases, to dress our meat in. But the master of our
ship still wanting both men and merchandices to load his ship withal, we
were forced to stay somewhat longer, for other Merchants which came in a
little time from _Aleppo_ whereof some were _Armenians_, some _Persians_,
others from _Bagdet_ and _Balsora_, to us; with these also came into the
ship four souldiers that were listed by the _Turks_ to go to _Bagdet_,
to reinforce the confines of _Persia_: Our master also took in some of
their _Jews_, which are worse than ours, and so we were warned to have a
care of them. Besides all these we were forced to take in some of their
religious men, which had long before begged thereabout, for they commonly
live by begging, and desire you to give them something _Alla hitsi_, that
is, for God’s sake, and yet if they find an opportunity they will fall
upon you and rob you. They are very ill-favoured, idle and yet very hardy
men, that run about all countries and often do a great deal of hurt;
wherefore one must have a special care of them, chiefly upon the road.
Yet for all this they have in these countries very great privileges; they
pretend to great holiness and devotion, and pray often, and perswade
the vulgar sort of people, that God doth hear their prayers before any
others, and grants their desires, but people do not believe them so
readily now, as their ancestors have done formerly wherefore they do not
remain long in one place, that their roguery may not so much appear.
CHAP. II.
_Which way we went into the ship, and sailed to ~Racka~; and how the son
of the King of ~Arabia~ with his retinue came to our ship to demand his
customs. What else we saw by the way, and what we did suffer from the
~Arabians~ and their mendicants._
After our ship as well as the others was sufficiently loaden, and with
all necessaries provided, we went aboard, and began our voyage in the
name of God, the 30th day of _August_, _Anno 1574_ (having stay’d there
and lost seventeen days), in the evening, with an intention to go that
night three leagues farther. But two of our ships got into a branch of
the river, whereof there are several in the very beginning: Our watermen
took great pains to bring them into the right way again and stayed for
them; which retarded us so long, that we were forced to stay all night at
a market town called _Caffra_, which lieth a good league below, on the
top of a hill, where we landed.
The next morning at break of day, we got in again and in the beginning
we went on very fortunately, and began to leave by degrees on our left
hand the mountain _Taurus_, which extendeth its self eastward, and
went more to the right, through the great desarts and sandy places of
_Arabia_, where that river divideth it self into several broad branches,
that the skippers knew hardly how to steer the right way. When we went
on so, thinking of no danger, for the _Turkish_ ship was got already
very safe through one of them, the second, which we follow’d, stuck
upon the sand, by the neglect of their pilot towards the right, so that
it did not only stick there but took away the stream from us, which
turned their ship cross very violently, after such a manner, that we were
forced, because we were too nigh, and our ship was in her full running,
so that we could turn no way, to fall foul upon it. So ours drove with
the stream upon theirs with that force, that we broke the two uppermost
boards of their side; so the water ran in, and the ship sank deeper.
Our ship, although it hath received no hurt, yet did it not go on, but
stuck by the other. Whereupon we began to labour hard, remov’d the sand
below, and made a way to get clear; after we had half drawn it before the
other into the stream, the stream drove it so hard against the other,
that also a row and an half of our side-board were broken, and if it
had broken the second row quite, we had incurr’d the same mischief and
damage as they. When we were in this condition, and could not otherwise
think but that we must perish all together, yet our merciful God and Lord
did order it so, that we did not only secure the breach, but came into
the right river free and quit before the other ship, where we did land
immediately. After we had recover’d ourselves a little, we did not delay
to assist the other, but unloaded our ship to load theirs into it, and
so to land them, which we did with all speed; in the mean time appear’d
behind the trees and tamarisks at each side a good many _Arabians_, both
on horse-back and foot, and came so near, that they were not afraid to
attack our guards we had left with our goods, and to attempt to rob us.
But when they found resistance, and heard several guns discharged on
our side, they were frighted to that degree (for guns were unknown to
them) that they turned their backs and run away as hard as they could
drive. At last we attempted to draw out the ship together with some small
goods, that were still left in it, which succeeded very well, for when
we hoisted our sails and drew them on, and wrought with all our might
and strength, it yielded by degrees, so that at length we got it quite
off, and brought it a-shore. The loss of their marchandizes, altho’ it
was but small in quantity, yet it was very great in their Silk, Stuffs
of _Damasco_, Soap, Sugar, roots of _Zarneb Melchi_, which is good
for the pain in the back, as is here before mention’d, Figs and Corn,
which suffer’d very much; wherefore they begg’d of us, that we would be
pleased to stay with them, until they had dry’d their goods and mended
their ship, so that they might go along with us more safely through these
desarts, which we granted them readily. During this our stay, when we
were helping them, it fell out that I and one of my comrades were falsly
accused by some Jews, before some of their religious men, that we were
often fudling with the master of the ship, which the Jews did on purpose
to make us outlandish men hated among them, for they do according to
their law not easily admit of drinking of wine, and to disparage us; and
this his intention did succeed so well, that when their Clergymen did
understand it, they became very angry with us, took our vessel of wine,
flung it into the river, and drew in upon the land, where they let it
run out, which did not well please the Soldiers and others, wherefore
they took our part, and did give the Jews for it a very severe reprimand.
But as no good deed remaineth unrewarded, and no ill one unpunish’d, so
it happened here; for the chief of them, which was a _Moor_ and of the
order of the _Dervis_, was the next day punish’d severely for a frivolous
cause, whereof I unadvisedly was the occasion. While our goods were yet
on shore, I got towards night upon the balls to stand centinel, it being
my turn; so when I saw one with a mug full of water, I desired him to
give me some to drink, which he was willing to do, and reached me the
mug, I going to take it, trod by chance upon a fiddle of one of the
_Turks_ and broke it: Although he had great occasion to be angry with me
for this, yet (understanding that I had glue enough to mend it) he was
presently quieted, and well contented. The next morning we sat together
and mended the fiddle as well as we could; when the _Dervis_ saw us busy
about the fiddle, he was very angry that we did not help to spread out
the merchandizes, which we had done already before we began; so he took
the fiddle, broke it and flung it into the river; then he came back, and
pretended to bang us, thinking to have the same success with this as
he had with the wine. But the _Turk_ seeing this, took up a good cudgel
that was thrown up by the river, and struck him several times over his
head and limbs, that the blood ran down his ears and face, and at length
he grew so angry that he went to draw his scymeter, but before he could,
we stept in between them, got them asunder, mitigated the business, and
appeased them. So this saint of theirs looked very dismal in his long
and lank black hair, and had besides on his body here and there several
scars, _viz._ on his head and breast, and above all upon his arms, which
he had cut or burnt himself, which is usual to that order, and other
_Turks_ to do; which set often on their flesh burning and red glowing
spangs, or instead of them linen rags, about an inch thick twisted very
hard together, broad below, and pointed on the top, tapering just like
unto a pyramid, which they set on fire, and let it burn out with a great
deal of patience upon their bare skin, so long until it is quite consumed
and brought to ashes, then they tie it up with cotton; they also do the
same sometimes in rheums of the head and eyes, _&c._ to dry them up, or
to turn them, and so draw them into another place. So I have seen several
which have had at least twenty scars about them, but chiefly on their
arms, whereof some were of the bigness of a shilling, besides wounds and
scratches they had. But from whence they received this inhumane way (to
wound and torment themselves) I do not know, except they had it anciently
from the priests of _Baal_, who used to wound themselves with knives and
lances (as we read in the 18th chapter of the 3d of the _Kings_) until
the blood followed. These holy scars and tokens of their zeal, I could
soon see and observe on this _Moor_, for according to his order, which
is a very great one, he was to wear no clothes upon his body neither
winter nor summer, only a little scarf to cover his privy members withal:
Instead of them they put sheep skins about them, whereon they lie also at
night, and so they serve them for clothes, bed, and cover; and so they
pretend by their exteriour apparel and behaviour, to great vertue and
patience, as if they were dead to the world; and to a peculiar holiness,
in praying, fasting, watching, _&c._ whereas they are full of roguery
and knavery, so that you shall hardly find any like them. With this came
also several other religious men of several orders, which were all in
several distinct habits, as they are in our country; among them was a
very strong well set young man, of the order of the _Geomaliers_ as they
call it, which are rather secular than clergymen, they are generally
_Tschelebys_, that is gentlemen and rich persons, which take great
delight in travelling in their young days, under pretence of holiness,
like pilgrims, at other peoples costs, through several countries and
kingdoms, to see and learn, and to get experience. This had only a blue
coat on that covered his body, tied about with a sash, and shoes of
sheep skins, such as the _Arabians_ in the desarts use to wear. There
went along with us two more; whereof one had a great ring in each ear,
about the thickness of a finger, and so heavy that it stretched down
his ear-laps to his very shoulders. These are of the order called the
_Calendriers_, which lead a sober, and abstemious life before people,
wherefore they separate themselves from the people, and walk about like
hermits into desarts where-ever they can, to pray there ardently, and
to cry out the hours, whereof they have five every day, as the priests
do from the steeples, wherefore this man did separate himself, as often
as he had an opportunity, far from us, that the beasts could rather see
and hear him, than we that were in the ship. When he had done this, he
came to us again, and looked so devoutly as if he had been in a rapture
or extasy. The other was a _Dervis_, whereof I have made mention before,
which also kept to a very strict order, for he prayed devoutly and
ardently, chiefly at night after sun-set, at which time two or three more
used to come to him, and among them sometimes some of our Merchants; they
did stand together in a circle, and so began to pray, as I heard often,
first very lowly, then by degrees louder, but when they came to the
_Leila, Hillala_, &c. they were so loud, that you might hear them afar
of, and then they repeated only these words very often; and every time
they repeated them, they turned their head from one side to the other,
as if they looked upon one another by turns, to shew their great love
one to another, so they repeat these words very often, and every time
quicker and quicker, until they abbreviate them at last, and say only,
_Lahu Huhu_. By this pratling or jabbering and moving of their heads,
they became at length so giddy and weary, that the cold sweat ran down
them. But this their saint did not pronounce the words of their prayers
with the rest, but struck on his breast with his fist upon his heart
which gave instead thereof so strange a tune, as if he had been hallow
within, much like unto the noise that a turky-cock uses to make when he
is very angry, so that it would have frighted any man, chiefly if he had
been alone with him; and he would, with his terrible face, rather have
taken him to be an apparition than a man. These above-mentioned words he
repeateth so often, and so long, until he fainteth away and falls down,
and there he lieth as if he were dead. Then the others cover him, let
him lie and go their ways. After he hath lain thus a good while as if
he had been ravish’d in his prayers, or had seen a peculiar vision, he
cometh to himself, riseth and appeareth again. All these saints, although
they practice their religion after a peculiar manner, which according
to their opinion, is quite surpassing that which is prescribed in their
law, to move the people the sooner (regarding their severity in living,
their great patience and frequent extasies) to believe them, that they
under pretence of piety, may go on in their hoggishness, uncleanness and
robberies, as they do, without any controuling: Yet because their idle
hypocrisy, and great rogueries do daily appear more plainly, not without
great damage to the country, therefore they are no more in so great
esteem, nor have so much given them as formerly. Concerning their strange
way of praying, chiefly that of the _Moors_, their own people have often
told me, that because such a devotee changed his natural voice given him
by God, into an unnatural one, therefore he ought rather to be accounted
a beast than a man, and consequently much less ought to be esteemed a
divine. Thus much I thought convenient to relate here of their Mendicants
that travelled with us, and now I come to my former purpose again.
After we had spent four days in drying our merchandizes, and in mending
our ships, we did load them again, and so set out the next Friday, being
the third of _September_ about noon. All that day we saw nothing but
bushes on both sides of the river, wherein were several wild beasts,
but above all wild boars, till night, when we came in sight of a little
village about two or three miles distant upon the ascent on our left
hand, where we landed and staid all night. In that place I found nothing
but a bastard camel’s hay, which was like unto the true one, but without
any virtue in it.
The next day our navigation proceeded very well, and at noon we came to
a strong cittadel call’d _Galantza_, which is situated at this side of
the river, on a hill belonging to the king of _Arabia_, with whom the
_Turkish_ emperor, as I was informed, and could understand, that did not
know their language well, had long and heavy wars; and could have done
him, because he could not follow him through the desarts for want of
water and provisions, no great hurt, if the King’s eldest son had not
put himself into this castle, believing that he might be secure there
from any assault from without, wherein he was mightily mistaken. For
after the _Sultan_ did understand that he was there, he was resolved
to take it notwithstanding all difficulties. And therefore he summoned
all his forces together in the year 1570, and did assault it in three
places at the same time, so long and so often, until at length he took
it by storm, and so he made the King’s son his prisoner, and carried
him to _Constantinople_, where he had, as they say, his head cut off
the following year. This castle, being surrounded with strong walls,
and having within a very high and large tower, is still, according to
my apprehension, very strong, but yet it lieth in ruins, and the three
open places remain unrepaired. At night we landed in a small island,
which was not inhabited, and in the middle of the river we did not
question but we were there very well secured from the _Arabians_, and yet
notwithstanding, as soon as we had supp’d, and began to go rest, some of
them came creeping along to us about midnight, rather to visit our goods
than us. But because they durst not venture to go to our ships, without
great danger of being discovered by our watch, they did visit them that
rested on shoar, and had taken something considerable from them, if they
had not been discovered immediately by them, and had retaken from them
again that which they could not so readily carry over the river.
The fifth day of _September_, some _Arabians_ appeared on shoar early in
the morning; by and by we saw more at a great distance upon the height,
and some squadrons of horse of forty or fifty strong, ride about; from
whence we concluded that the King’s camp was not far off, which proved
to be true. For about noon after we landed, the King’s youngest son came
riding to us on a high black horse, with a retinue of about one hundred
men, most of which had bows and long pikes made of reed. He was but
young, about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, of a brownish colour,
and had a white turbant on his head made of cotton, one end whereof
hung down behind about a span long, according to their usual custom.
He had on a long gown made of ordinary sheeps skins with the wooll on
them, which hung down to his ankles, and so had all his courtiers, which
were in their common dress so like unto one another, that one could not
have discerned them, if his had not been edged with some gold lists,
as we use to edge childrens coats in our country, about the neck and
sleeves, and had not had long sleeves, whereon were some escutcheons to
be seen. Because custom is due to the King of _Arabia_, by reason of
the _Euphrates_, therefore this young prince came to demand and take
it; so he went into the river, and rode first to the _Turkish_ ship, to
see what goods they carried, but finding nothing but corn therein he
did not stay long there, but came to ours, his servants that were on
purpose ordered for that, helped him soon up into it, and placed him
in the middle of it on a bale, but they themselves went about from one
Merchant to another, to visit their goods, and did open now and then a
chest or a bale, and took some out of them more or less, according as
they liked them, so that it was a great while before they came about
from Merchant to Merchant. In the mean while, they brought also into
the ship a young Prince, perhaps two years old, which one carried before
him on horse back after his father. He had nothing on but only a cotton
shirt, and rings about his neck, wrists and legs, made of fine _Arabian_
gold. At length his servants came to me and my comrades into the poop of
the ship; but before we began to shew them any of our goods, they saw my
gun that was inlaid with ivory, which they took immediately, to shew it
to their master, with a great deal of admiration, being such a one as
they had never seen their life before. The King took it presently into
his hands, and was mighty well pleased with it, and said that it was
outlandish-work made by the _Franks_, (by which name they call outlandish
men, _French_, _German_, _Italian_, &c. because they know no divisions
or distinctions of our country,) so we went both to him, and acquainted
him that we were lately come from those countries, with an intention
to go into the _Indies_. After the King understood this, he spoke very
kindly to us, and bid his man to leave off and to search no more our
goods, and enquired after several other things, and at length he told
my comrade that he thought he had seen him before; which was very true,
for when my comrade lived at _Aleppo_, where he had drove the Goldsmiths
trade for a great while, he and others were sent to the King, who was
then at a little distance from _Aleppo_, by the Consul of _Venice_, to
present him in his name, with several presents, whereof some were costly
and rich wrought clothes, when they came to him, and presented them to
him, he took them with a great deal of kindness, and treated them very
honourably, and shewed them several sorts of sport, as jumping, running,
_&c._ that they might see that he had a great many brave and handy
soldiers; and did dispatch them very generously again, and promised them,
as my friend told me, all kindnesses, chiefly to their masters, saying,
that if they should have occasion to make use of him against the _Turks_,
he would faithfully assist them, and that he did not doubt at all, if
they should agree together, but they might go a great way with him in
these countries; nay, advance farther upon the _Turk_ in a short time,
even to _Constantinople_ itself. After the before-mentioned discourse,
the King went to his tents that were pitched on a plain by a hill, within
two miles of us, and took some of our company along with him to discourse
his father about our concerns. I would willingly have presented the King
with my gun, altho’ we had to travel through many deserts, and perhaps he
would have been pleased with it, but durst not do it before the _Turkish_
Soldiers, Mendicants and Jews, for I feared, that they would betray it,
and accuse me before the _Bashaw_ and _Cadi_’s, which soon would have
made me punishable, altho’ innocent, as they use to do to strangers; nay,
sometimes those of their own nation; and besides, I did remember, that
when the King was encamped near _Aleppo_, and some of his men did daily
come into the town to buy provision, cloaths and other things, that then
it was strictly forbidden to sell them any arms, bows or pikes to take
along with them into the desarts. After we had staid for our friends a
great while, they came so late to us, that we were hindred from going
any farther that day, for it began to be late, and so we staid there all
night. They told us, that the King, after they had told him that we came
from _Aleppo_, would not believe them, but thought rather we came from
_Saphet_, which town is within a day’s journey of _Sidon_, which the
_Sultan_ had taken from him a little while before, that he might have
a pretence to arrest us and our goods; and that he did so obstinately
persist in this opinion, that they did really fear he would have sent
some of his men with one of us to _Aleppo_, to know the certainty
thereof, until they plainly demonstrated to him by their letters from
whence they came; whereupon he gave them liberty to go on in their
journey. But I understood afterwards, that it was only to press something
more out of them, as he really did, for they were forced to give him some
knives tip’d with silver that came from _Damascus_, and also some damasks.
On the sixth of _September_ we were up early, and passed between great
wildernesses, wherein were abundance of wild boars, that appeared
sometimes in great herds: These wildernesses continued so long, that we
saw nothing else the whole day but woods, ’till in the evening we came
to _Cala_, a village and castle on this side of the river, which is
no more but two-days journey from _Aleppo_, situated in a plain; from
whence you may conjecture how crooked the river is hitherto. This castle
belongeth to a great Bashaw, called _John Rolandt_, and also the fine
house at _Aleppo_, as is before-mentioned. He hath very great revenues
and sixty sons: Six or seven of them are Sangiacks, whereof some live at
the Sultan’s court. Beyond this castle on the other side of the river, we
lodged all night in the wilderness, which continued so far, that we saw
nothing all the next day long, but only here and there a little cottage
of the _Moors_, which generally are built upon four sticks, and covered
with bushes: Within them there are so many children, that I have often
admired at the number of them. They run in their first infancy to the
river, and learn to swim so well, that they undertake without any fear
to swim over the broad river. When we went by, the _Moors_ saluted us
very often, if the distance did not hinder them, and that chiefly to
learn of us where about their King was in the country. For they have so
great a respect for their King, altho’ they are an idle and vagabond
people, and unanimously shew him such obedience, as no other nation
doth to their superiors; which also you may guess by this, that if any
outlandish man hath a mind to get safely through the wilderness, or to
see their King, let him but cloath himself in their habit, and take a
_Moor_ along with him to shew him the way, and to be his interpreter,
they will readily tell him the way to go to him; or when they see that
he hath one of their own nation with him, they let him pass without any
molestation or examination. So that those that are slaves on the confines
of _Arabia_, might easily free themselves without any trouble or danger.
Their wives did also often come to us, and brought us milk in great flat
dishes, which they shewed us at a distance to sell; wherefore we did
land sometimes and received it, and gave them biskets for it, for they
have great want of corn, so that this interchanging pleased us both. We
used to break biskets into this milk, and so to eat it for dinner or
supper, and sometimes if it was too thick, or rather too little of it,
that it might go the farther, we used to temper or mix it with water.
They have also sometimes put it into oblong linen sacks, which it did
hardly penetrate, and let it hang in the ship for two or three days,
until it did curdle and came to be in curds, and so it used to serve us
with biskets and onions for breakfast or for supper. When we did land and
had time to spare, I used to look about me for some strange plants, and
among the rest, I found a peculiar _Schœnanthum_, which was very like in
figure unto the true one, but had not it’s virtues, and the first kind
of _Rhannus_ of _Carolus Clusius_, with fat leaves like unto housleek.
I found also goats rue, and a strange sort of willows, which still are
called by the inhabitants by their old name _Garb_. There also were
abundance of tamarisks; they were as big and high as our cherry or plum
trees, wherefore these trees are discerned soon at a distance by their
height; they have very tender leaves, and long purple coloured tops, as
you see in the second kind of our tamarisks, so that between them and
ours, there is no great matter of difference, but only in bigness and
fruit, whereof I found none at that time. The _Moors_ feed their cattle
for the most part, with those bushes that grow at the river side; for
in the wilderness and desarts, where the ground is very sandy, lean and
barren, there is but little grass or tilled ground, which occasioneth
the great scarcity of bread among them, so that often they see none in
a great while, and are forced to eat their other food, as fish, flesh,
cheese and milk, which they take from goats, sheep, camels, _&c._ without
bread; so that these poor people make a shift with a mean diet; and yet
they are strong and in good health, and live to a good age. At night
before it was dark, I saw another fortification at the other side in
_Mesopotamia_, on a high hill called _Jabar_, belonging to the King of
_Arabia_, which is very large, and hath several towers in the wall, so
that as far as I could see, it was very like to that of _Aleppo_. We
staid all night on this side of it, in an island where we had been robb’d
again, if we had not kept a good watch so as to perceive the thieves,
and to let off several guns; yet this we did not to hurt, but only to
frighten them; for if we should have kill’d or wounded any of them, they
would have fetch’d immediately some, according as they are in strength,
it may be a thousand together to revenge their friend to fall upon us,
to beat us and to plunder us, whereof they are very eager, and to take
all we had. The same happened to us the next day in another uninhabited
island of the river, where we would dress no victuals that night, that
they might not spy us by our fire, to find us out and to fall upon us.
For when we expected to keep ourselves thus quiet, and to rest in good
tranquillity, they did not miss us, but came to us in a greater body than
before, and that so near, that we could not only hear them, but they
began to talk with us. But when we saw that they were in earnest, we
rouzed up ourselves, and got into order, and spoke big to them, and bid
them to offer no violence to us, for if they did, they would find greater
resistance than they expected. But when we saw that this our exhortation
would do no good, we were forced again to have recourse to our guns,
whereof we had but three, which we let go off, which frightened them in
such a manner, for they are not used to them, that they ran away and left
us in quietness. But it is no wonder that the _Arabians_ are so restless,
for they are full of want and nakedness, have not to fill their belly,
nor to cover their body withal; besides, they have nothing else to do,
and are used to idleness from their very infancy, and then because they
hate to work, they are forced to wander like vagabonds from one place to
another. And (if they will maintain themselves and theirs) to seek their
livelihood from those that travel through their country. So several times
there came two, three, or four together, swimming through the river, were
it never so broad or deep, to our ship, whereof some were black and some
brown, which came as naked into our ship as ever they were born into the
world, to beg a piece of bread; to each of them we gave as much as would
content them, so they went sometimes for a whole league along with us;
and when they had eaten the bread and thanked us, they jumped into the
river again and swam away. Besides these we saw daily as we went along,
many more swim over the river, which commonly had some bucks-skins blown
up, whereon they tried to get over the easier, for the river is so broad,
that it is not easy to make a bridge over it, neither did I find any.
They take their shirts (for besides them they wear no other cloaths) tie
them with their leathern girdles about their heads, and therein stick
their daggers (which are pretty broad and bended like unto a scythe)
which hang down by their temples.
The ninth day our voyage went on again chearfully, and we came pretty
near the town _Racka_, which belongeth to the _Turkish_ Emperor, but it
did not continue so long, for before we had dined and eaten a few fruit,
_viz._ Cibels, Anguries, and _Indian_ Musk-melons, to refresh ourselves
in the great heat, we incurr’d greater danger again than that we were
in before, for our ship, which was a great deal bigger than either of
the two, did strike upon the sand so severely, that we could not bring
her off again without assistance of others, as we had done several times
before, nor bring her into the right way again. So we were forced to
desire the _Arabians_ our antagonists, which stood and looked upon us,
rather rejoicing at our misfortunes, than pitying us, to assist us, which
at length we did obtain, and so they came to help us: But because they
had their daggers, and great cudgels, which they use to wear with them,
we durst not trust them, but were forced to leave a small guard in the
ship, but the rest of us helped them with all our force and strength, but
we could not stir her, so that they went away twice and left us. At last
we concluded, that we had no better way than to unload our ship, yet we
durst not do it for fear of the _Arabians_, nor venture our merchandizes;
so we resolved to draw her out another way, wherefore we desired the
_Arabians_ a third time to assist us, and if they were in earnest to
help us, we begged of them to lay down their arms, which at length, upon
our promising them a good reward, they did. When they came we took also
our guard to our assistance, set all hands at work, and with hard labour
we brought it at length into the right stream again, so we paid the
_Arabians_ and went on, and came that same night to _Racka_.
CHAP. III.
_Of the city of ~Racka~, and of it’s situation, and also something of the
departure of the King of ~Arabia~, and of his league with the ~Turkish~
Emperor, and also of the trouble we had with the ~Custom-house Officer~
or ~Publican~._
_Racka_, a town of _Mesopotamia_, is situated in the desarts of _Arabia_
upon the great river _Euphrates_, between two ascents, so that you cannot
see any thing of it before you can come near it. There is a castle by
it, which is given to a _Sangiack_ by the _Turkish_ Emperor to keep it
with 1200 _Spahi_’s. This town is pitifully built, and not well guarded
with walls; it having been built after the Desolation of the old town,
which was situated on the hight, as one may see still by the old wall,
and other arches and pillars. Among the rest there is yet standing a
very ancient high building, which is still very strong, and looketh
very great, altho’ it is much decay’d and run to ruin, and such as one
shall rarely see, so that one may conjecture, that it hath perhaps been
formerly the seat and habitation of their Kings or Magistrates. Between
the new and old city lieth a castle, which is also old and pretty strong,
where is kept a _Turkish_ garrison, it being on the confines or limits of
_Arabia_ and _Persia_, &c. to defend them and all the country from danger
and incursions. The old town is besides this quite demolish’d, and even
with the ground, so that here is no convenient place where the _Turks_
can exercise themselves in running, cudgel-playing, _&c._ but this, where
I have often sat upon the ruin’d walls, and look’d upon them when they
were a playing. To the Desolation of this town have very much contributed
the _Tartars_, under their King _Haalono_, who took it in the year of our
Lord, 1260, and not long after the town and castle of _Aleppo_, with the
help of _Ayton_ King of _Armenia_. Some will have this to be the town of
_Rhagos_, which is also called _Edessa_, whither the ancient and pious
_Tobias_ did send his son from _Nineveh_ to his friend _Gabel_, to fetch
the money from him which he had lent him: But because this lies a day’s
journey farther from the river _Euphrates_, therefore it cannot be the
same.
After we had landed there, the receiver of the custom came on horseback
to the shoar, and desired the master of the _Turkish_ ship to deliver his
arms, lances, and bows, who absolutely deny’d it, seeing that it never
had been a custom before; whereupon they fell about this into such a hot
dispute, that they began to draw upon one another, and had not we timely
put in between them, it would have caused a great tumult. The reason
why this man behaved himself so strangely, was, because we did not go
with our goods to _Carahemit_, which town is distant four days journey,
and situated on the rapid river _Tygris_, to have laid there upon that
river, where he would have received a great deal more custom, that also
belonging to him. But the _Turk_ not mattering him, having nothing in
but corn, which he would not carry, he let him alone, and came to us as
strangers, thinking to make up his loss from us, and to frighten us out
of it. He staid all night in the ship, and lay between us, fearing that
we should hide some goods from him; and sometimes he came upon us with
big words, saying, _Seeing that it was not allow’d to us outlandish men
to travel in these parts, therefore he could not but take us to be spies,
that came to discover, rather than for any thing else, wherefore he had
reason enough to take our goods in arrest, and send us two spies as to
~Constantinople~, to make us slaves to his master the Great Sultan._ After
we had heard this his unreasonable discourse, and were also sensible of
his intention to cheat us, we were not presently frighten’d, but drew out
our pass we had from the Bashaw and Cadi of _Aleppo_, and shew’d it to
him. He look’d it over, and after he understood that he durst not very
well act against it, he went away from us with a deal of indignation,
and immediately he began to quarrel with all the Merchants of the two
ships, and desired of them an unreasonable sum to pay him as toll,
whereof they complain’d heavily; but he went on, and would accept of no
reasonable conditions, but took away our rowers from our ships, to hinder
us from going away, to squeeze us the more. But the Merchants, altho’
they saw his earnestness, they did not matter it, but sent on the 11th
of _September_ one of them with a _Moor_ to _Carahemit_, to the Great
Bashaw, which was the son of _Mahomet Bassa_, to complain to him of these
impositions and extortions. When the toll-keeper did understand this,
he follow’d them with his son immediately. But because he did not find
the Bashaw, who was then in another place, call’d _Giselet_, whither
our friend was forced to follow him three days journey from thence, he
return’d again immediately. Although he did not speak with the Bashaw,
yet he falsly told us, that it was the Bashaw’s order that we should
pay him ten ducats _per cent._ Notwithstanding that, ours did not know
any thing, yet they would not trust him, but had carry’d the best and
greatest part of their goods out, before he came into the ship to search,
and also some thereof they bury’d in the sand by night, where the _Turks_
and _Moors_ went over by day-light, and yet they could find none of
these hidden goods. The next morning early the Publican came with his
crue, and search’d every thing with a great deal of care, as if he had
a peculiar command for it, but did not find any thing near, as you may
think, what he expected. When he was thus very busy in exercising his
office, our friend came in at last, and told us, that the Bashaw was very
much displeased that the Publican did deal so unjustly with us, contrary
to the orders and law of his master, the Grand Signior, and did keep us
so long, and hinder us in our navigation. Wherefore he had writ to the
Sangiack in our behalf, and ordered him on pain of death, to take all
care that we might not be detain’d any longer, but to take the Publican
prisoner, and to send him to _Constantinople_, to have him try’d at the
court kept for that purpose every fifteenth day, and that he feared very
much, that he would pay for this his misdemeanor with his life.
In the mean time we were thus detained prisoners on the rivers of
_Babylon_, expecting with a deal of patience the time of our deliverance,
it happened, that the King of _Arabia_ broke up with his retinue from
here-abouts on the 21st of day of _September_, and travelled towards
the south in great numbers, to find better pastures for his beasts, as
horses, asses, and camels, that they might the better subsist; for in
these places there are not so many villages, towns and market-towns,
where they might have their continual abode. Neither do they love farming
nor trading, but are contented, if they have a great flock of cattle, and
good store of grass for them, that they may keep them. So if they come
to a rivulet, where a little herbage or grass groweth, they immediately
erect their tents there, to stay there till want forceth them to remove,
and to look out for another place. When they break up, they take along
with them man, maid, beasts and all their whole substance, as I did
see them remove at this very time, and come towards this town in great
numbers, so that the _Turks_ kept their gates shut up for four days,
until they were all passed by. On horseback they are armed with darts and
bows, _&c._ and also if they ride on camels, whereof they have very a
great number, chiefly when the King is moving from one place to another,
as some of them did relate to me, where generally are employed 150000. I
myself have once seen at one time together about the number of 3 or 4000
camels. They are strong and hardy creatures, fit to carry heavy burthens,
and also to subsist without drinking in the greatest heats for three days
together. They stale out between their hind legs, so that those that go
in caravans behind them must have a great care, that they be not hit by
them, and so become all bedaubed. Their horses are very noble, neat, and
fit for business; they seldom feed them more than once a day, although
they ride them very hard all day long through the wildernesses. They
commonly cut off all the hair from their mains and tail, so that their
tails remain very naked, and look something like the tail of a lion. They
put their wives on littler asses, and also upon high camels with their
children, three or four of them together in boxes, as it is the fashion
in these countries. They are of a brown colour like unto our Gypsies,
and almost the fourth part of them black, which difference of colour
proceedeth from their travelling up and down to places where blacks are,
and sometimes leaving their own there, and taking blacks in the room of
them. The King of _Arabia_ is always encamped in the fields, and never
cometh into a place that is shut up or enclosed; and this the less now,
after the mischance of losing his son that retired into one, happened; so
he goeth from place to place like unto the _Tartars_, so that often it is
not known where he is. In the summer-time he goeth farther to the north,
and in winter to the south, to avoid both the heat and cold, and to have
better subsistance and provision for himself, his men, and cattle. So
it hath happened several times, that the _Arabians_ in their march have
come too near the _Turks_ dominions, and the _Turks_ again to his, from
whence arose between these two great Princes such differences, that they
are come to great and bloody wars. And yet for all this, as I am credibly
informed, they have now both made a peculiar league and contract between
them, wherein it is agreed that if the Grand _Turk_ should go to a war
with his neighbours, then the _Arabian_ King will assist and defend him,
wherefore the Grand Signior writes to him as his cousin and good friend,
and is to pay him the sum of 60000 ducats yearly as his certain salary or
retaining fee. And besides all this, the Sultan sends to the new King of
_Arabia_ after the decease of the old one, a standard with his coat of
arms in it, which together with other presents he sends him with usual
ceremonies, to congratulate him on his happy coming to the throne, and to
renew and confirm their alliances. Their religion doth contribute not a
small matter to this, which (together with all their ceremonies, and all
other points) is the same almost they profess in both nations: And they
take as many wives as the _Turks_ do, neither do they extol or magnify
one before the other, because they come from better parents, being they
buy them all from them. And therefore none of them are excused, because
she cometh from a greater extraction, from doing the family-business, nor
hath a poor one more put upon her because she came from mean extraction.
So one of the King of _Arabia_’s wives is a daughter of a man that keeps
a sawing-mill at _Racka_, which by him (although of mean extraction) is
as much respected as any of the rest. Her father and brothers are very
good people; they came very often to us, and shewed great compassion,
for that we were so abused by the Publican. His mill is not drawn by
horses as ours are, nor by water (for they know nothing of that) but two
of them cut the wood with great hand-labour. During our staying there
a young _Arabian_ gentleman, nearly related to the King of _Arabia_,
came very often to us to the water-side, who was always accompanied with
twenty servants with bows and darts; he had a delicate white turbant on,
and a long violet coloured caban made of wool, but his servants went
pretty bare, for some of them wore black caps and long indico coloured
shirts with wide sleeves, which they girt up with broad leathern girdles,
wherein stuck bended daggers or bayonets, as it is their usual custom. It
once happened, that some of us being upon the high town-walls together,
from whence we had a pleasant prospect down into the valley to the great
river _Euphrates_, this same gentleman came to us again, and seated
himself with his retinue overagainst us, and presented us with some dried
Cicer Pease (whereof I have made mention before) and some Cibebs mixed
together, which we thankfully received; and to shew our thankfulness, we
presented him again with some Almonds, Figs, Nuts, and some very good
sweat-meats we had brought with us from _Aleppo_, which he also received
very kindly. So we all began to eat each of us part of his present,
and drunk with it some water of the _Euphrates_. After we had eat them
all, and we thought the time to be long, he beckon’d to one of his
Musicians, and bid him to divert us with his instrument, which he pulled
out presently (which about the neck looked very like unto a cittern) and
we expected to hear some rarity, but when I looked upon it, and saw it
had but one string that was as big as a cord of their bows, he began to
play some of their tunes, but with what art and dexterity you may easily
fancy. He did this for almost two hours, and according to his opinion
very harmoniously, but we thought the time so long, that we were very
glad when he had done.
About the river I found that sort of _Acacia_ that beareth roundish and
brown-coloured pods, called _Schock_ and _Scamuth_ by the _Arabians_:
Some thorns called _Algul_, whereon the Manna falleth, chiefly in the
county of _Corascen_, as _Avicenna_ tells us. _Chamesyces_, some strange
kinds of mosses, which are very much differing in bigness: Among the
rest I saw the low prickly herb, by some esteemed to be the _Tragun_
of _Dioscorides_. Below, close to the river, I found the _Herba Sacra_
of _Dioscorides_, which the learned _Carolus Clusius_ hath accurately
described in his _History of Outlandish Plants_, book ii. chap. 45.
and just by these, more strange ones, chiefly a delicate one growing
plentifully there in the sand, which had from five to eight tender
stalks, which spread themselves into others that were very full of
joints, so that it crept rather on the ground than grew up; by each
of them stood three or four roundish Marjoram or _Origanum_ leaves
together, and above between them some star like white flowers, with six
pointed leaves like unto our _Ornithogalum_, each of them on a peculiar
foot-stalk, the seeds thereof I have not seen, but the roots are small
and fibrous, which together with their small bitterness have a pretty
exsiccating quality; and so in this respect are very like unto the
_Polycemon_ of _Dioscorides_, but whether it be the same or no, I leave
the learned to decide. Besides those before as we came down the river, I
saw a great many large Tamarisk trees, and abundance of a certain kind
of _Agnus Castus_, almost like unto the other, only a great deal less,
and it had no more but three strong Claver leaves; but above all the
_Galega_, called Goats-rue in our language, which in these parts groweth
very high, and in so great plenty, that on the river-side I could see
nothing but this for several miles together.
CHAP. IV.
_Of the Inhabitants of the mountains, and the great wilderness we came
through to ~Deer~: Of their ancient origination, and miserable and
laborious livelihood._
Upon this good and severe command of the _Bashaw_, son of _Mahomet
Bashaw_, we were acquitted of our long arrest, and went away about noon
on the 27th of _September_; we went again from thence through such great
desarts, that for some days we saw nothing worth relating, but here
and there little huts made of some erected boughs, and covered with
some bushes, wherein the _Moors_ with their families live, to secure
themselves from the great heat, rain and dews that are in these parts
most violent, so that I admired how these miserable people could maintain
themselves and so many children in these dry and sandy places where
nothing was to be had. Wherefore these poor people are very naked, and so
hungry that many of them if they saw us afar off, would fling themselves
into the great river, and swim to us to fetch a piece of bread. And
when we flung at them whole handfulls, they would snap at it just like
hungry fish or ducks, and eat it: Others did gather it and put it into
the crown which they make neatly of their sheets on the top of their
heads, and so swim away with it. After these sandy desarts had continued
a great while, we came at length out of them between high, rough and
bare hills, which were so barren that there was to be seen neither
plough-lands nor meadows, neither house nor stick, neither high-way nor
footh-path, wherefore those people that live there, have no houses, but
caves and tents, as they have in the great desarts, where because of the
great heat and dryness, the soil is so barren, that they cannot subsist
in a place for any considerable time, nor have villages or certain
habitations: Wherefore they wander up and down, fall upon the caravans
and plunder them, and make what shift they can to get a livelihood. These
mountains, as I am informed, reach to the river _Jordan_, the _Dead_ and
the _Red-Seas_, &c. wherein are situated mount _Sinai_, _Horeb_, &c.
and the town _Petra_, which by the prophet _Isaiah_ is called _Petra
of the Desarts_. The _Arabians_ that live in these desarts, and round
about them, are extraordinary marks-men for bows and arrows, and to
fling darts which are made of canes: They are a very numerous people,
and go out in great parties every where almost: They are a very ancient
nation, and come from the sons of _Ishmael_, but chiefly from his eldest
son _Nebajoth_, and were anciently called the war-like _Nabathees_, and
their country, the land or province of the _Nabathees_, which _Josephus_
testifieth in _Book_ i. _Chap._ 21. where he says, that the twelve sons
of _Ishmael_, which he had by an _Egyptian_ wife, (his mother _Agar_,
from whom they were called _Agarens_, as you may see in the first of the
_Chronicles_ and the sixth verse, being also of the same country,) were
possessed of all the country between the _Euphrates_ and the _Red-Seas_,
and called it the province of the _Nabathees_. The _Midianites_ that
bought _Joseph_ of his brethren, and carried him into _Egypt_, may also
be reckoned among these. This same country is also chiefly by _Pliny_
(because thereabout are no other habitations, but tents, wherein the
inhabitants, live) called _Scenitis_. From this we may conclude that the
prophet _Isaiah_ in his 60th Chapter, and _David_ in the 120th _Psalm_
did speak of them, when chiefly the latter maketh mention of the tents
of _Kedar_, whereby he understands a country that is inhabited by such
a nation, as liveth in tents, and is derived from _Kedar_ the son of
_Ishmael_, whom his father _Abraham_, as a strange child born by his maid
_Agar_, did thrust out together with his mother into the desarts; his
words are these, _Wo is me, that I sojourn in ~Mesheck~, that I dwell in
the tents, of Kedar._ In our times these and other nations are called
the _Saracens_, which have very much encreased under _Mahomet_ (who by
his Mother was an _Ishmaelite_) and did spread very much; and so they
were in _David_’s time a very strong nation, wherefore he prayeth very
earnestly in his 83d _Psalm_, that God would punish and slay and disperse
them, as enemies of his holy church. But that I may come to our former
Intention again, here the _Arabians_ again asked us very often, where
their King was at that time, so that our master had business enough to
answer them; whereby you may observe what great respect and love they
have for their King. But that they might not altogether look upon us
as outlandish men, nor presently discern us to be strangers, we did
sometimes when there was occasion for it, change our turbants, and let
one end thereof according to their fashion hang down, which they do to
make themselves a shade against the heat, that is very cruel in these
countries. But yet if any body, be he who he will, doth enquire after
their King, and wants to come before him, to present him with a suit of
cloaths, _&c._ or to desire a pass from him, or if one should go about
to hire one of them, to shew him the way to a certain place, or through
their country which he may do for a very small price, he would soon find
one or other that would be ready to do it; but among the _Turks_ there
is no such obedience; for if you should desire any thing of them to do
in the name of their _Sultan_, they are not willing to do it, except
it would redound to their great profit. Wherefore a _Turkish_ guide to
conduct you would cost you a great deal more than one of them. Besides,
they also remember their master daily, and hardly speak of any thing
but of him, his great riches, _&c._ but with such pride and greatness,
chiefly when they speak of his powerfulness, and enlarging of his
kingdom, as if some share of these were belonging to them, and that they
must be respected for it. In this navigation through the great desarts,
we two did not spend much, because the towns were at so great a distance
from one another that we could not reach them, to provide our selves
daily necessaries (as we do in our country on the _Danube_ and _Rhine_)
or lodgings. We were necessitated to be contented with some slight food
or other, and make a shift with curds, cheese, fruits, honey, _&c._ and
to take any of these with some bread for a good entertainment. The honey
in these parts is very good, and of a whitish colour, whereof they take
in their caravans and navigations great leathern bottles full along with
them; this they bring you in small cups, and put a little butter to it,
and so you eat it with biskets. By this dish I often remembred St _John_
the _Baptist_, the fore-runner of our Lord, how he also did eat honey in
the desarts, together with other food. Besides this when we had a mind to
feast our selves, some ran, as soon as our master had landed at night, to
fetch some wood, and others in the mean time made a hole in the ground on
the shoar, in the nature of a furnace, to boil our meat. So every company
dressed accordingly what they had a mind to, or what they had laid up in
store; some boil’d rice, others ground corn _&c._ And when they had a
mind to eat new bread instead, or for want of biskets, they made a paste
of flower and water, and wrought it into broad cakes about the thickness
of a finger, and put them in a hot place on the ground, heated on purpose
by fire, and covered it with ashes and coals, and turned it several times
until it was enough. These cakes were very savory and good to eat. Some
of the _Arabians_ have in their tents stones or copper-plates made on
purpose to bake them. On the 4th day, being the last of _September_,
about noon, we came to the end of the mountains, before which without,
on this side, lieth a very strong citadel, on a high hill, built three
square, by the inhabitants called _Seleby_, whereof two points go
downwards towards the river, and the third upward a great way on the
mountain, so that in it’s situation it is very like unto _Baden_ in
_Switzerland_. Although it is demolished, yet it is still very strong
in it’s walls, that are to be seen at the top and on the sides, chiefly
towards the hills, and the river side, to hinder the passage both by
water and land. There are also still standing some watch-houses without,
as you come towards it near the mountains, which may hold three or four
souldiers: yet it lieth still to this day in ruins, and so desolated,
that nothing but birds and beast inhabit it; whereof a great many
appeared on the river side, as _Herns_, _Ducks_, that were very large and
of a delicate colour, and others among which were some of a white colour,
called _Pelicans_ by _Aristotle_, and _Onocrotali_ by others, which are
as big as _Swans_; the prophet _Zephaniah_ maketh also mention of them
in his second chapter, when he prognosticated the punishment that was to
come to the _Ninevites_, _Assyrians_ and _Moors_; there also appeared
some quite black with long necks; whereof I did see abundance in my
travels into the _Land of Promise_, and especially near _Acon_ among the
rocks and crags of the sea; as far as I could discern them at a distance;
they seemed to be a kind of a _Sea-Eagle_[1], that feed more upon fish
than any thing else. Six miles lower, and at the other side of the
_Euphrates_, lieth still another fortification, which is called _Subiau
Seleby_, that is, lower _Seleby_, on a very high bank, and seeing that
we sailed very near it, I could not well discover it. Of these two which
way they were besieged and taken; and also of the way of government, or
ruling of the Kings of _Arabia_, &c. I should have been very glad to have
been a little better informed, but the language wherewith I was not well
acquainted, did hinder me. And suppose I should have understood it very
well, or enough to have made an enquiry after those particulars, yet
I could not have done it without great danger, to have been taken for
a spy; for they soon suspect outlandish men on every little occasion,
which those that trade in these parts have often experienced not without
great loss and danger. Beyond the mountains in the low country we saw
more tilled grounds, and habitations of the _Arabians_ than we had done
before, wherefore our master landed sooner than he used to do, near a
village, to take in provision for our farther journey, where the people
brought flesh and _Indian Melons_ to us to sell. Here it happened, that
about midnight, one of the _Turkish_ souldiers went out to ease himself
on the river side; and when he was busy about it, a _Moor_ came creeping
along to him, and thrust him into the river before he was aware of it,
and run away. The _Turk_ finding himself in the _Euphrates_, fell a
crying out for help; I hearing him, standing centinel that night did
not fail him, but made what haste I could, with my scymeter in my hand,
followed his voice, and came to the place, although it was very dark,
drew him out, and brought him into the ship, which was so kindly taken
by the rest of the _Turks_, that I got mightily into their favour, and
received many kindnesses of them all the way until we came to _Bagdet_,
the garrison which they went to reinforce.
The first of _October_ when our Voyage went on again, there came early
in the morning a post of six _Arabians_ on horseback to the river side
to inquire of us whither their King was gone, or where we thought they
might find him; they had received letters for him from the Sultan,
wherefore they must follow him until they found him. The master of our
ship told them, as he did to every body that ask’d him, that we had seen
him in _Mesopotamia_, which province he call’d _Amanachar_, that he
was broken up with his Men to go back into _Arabia_, where they would
find him. After this relation they departed, and we went on our way,
and soon saw below a town to our right at a distance, call’d _Seccard_,
very well situated on an ascent, belonging to the King of _Arabia_,
wherefore some of the _Turks_ said, that none but _Haramiquiber_, that
is, _great Thieves_, lived in it, which they do out of spight to all
them that are subject to any other master than their Sultan. This town
we passed by, and went directly towards _Deer_ another town, whence we
were then three leagues distant, yet they do not account their distances
by leagues, for they know little or nothing of it, but rather reckon by
days journeys, for their towns are so situated at such a distance, that
they have sometimes to go through divers wildernesses, several days, more
or less, before they arrive there. Before we came thither, one of the
ships in our company did go too much towards one side, toward a branch
of the river, that runs by the town, for it divideth itself into several
branches, where it got into the mud and stuck. Our master seeing this,
landed immediately, and did send his men to help them. So I got time to
look about for the strange plants, and found there about the river many
Tamarisk-trees, also a peculiar sort of Willow, which the inhabitants
still call by it’s ancient _Arabian_ name _Garb_. These trees do not
grow high, but spread very much; the twigs thereof are stronger and
not so tough, as to make bands or withs as ours will; the bark is of
a pale yellow colour, and so are the leaves, which are long and about
two fingers broad, and at the edges round about crenated, so that they
are very much differing from the rest of this kind. I found them to be
of a pretty drying and astringent quality. Of their flowers and fruit,
whereof _Avicenna_ maketh mention in his 126th and 686th chap. I can say
nothing, because I saw none. Hereabouts the _Turk_, that would not stay
until we were cleared, but went away before us, suffer’d shipwreck, and
so lost a great deal of his corn, that he intended to carry to _Bagdat_,
call’d _Baldac_, to sell it in the great scarcity, which was occasion’d
for want of rain, for there fell none in the space of two years and an
a half. And yet, as they say, if it raineth but twice or thrice a year,
they have enough to supply themselves. After our men had wrought longer
than an hour together with theirs, until they had emptied the ships, they
came to us again to go that night to _Deer_. But there being several
rocks before it, which were very dangerous to pass, some of their pilots,
that understood the depths, came out to meet, and did help us, so that we
got safe there. The town of _Deer_, which is not very big, and belongs
to the Sultan, is situated on this side of the river, on an ascent, and
is pretty well built with houses, (whereon stood great numbers of people
when we into it, to see us) but as for the walls and ditches, they are
but very slight. At our first arrival, we thought we should soon get
clear for the custom with the Armin, and ship off again, but he was
not in town, so that we were forced to stay three days for his coming.
In the mean time we got acquaintance with the inhabitants, which were
handsome, lusty and well set, and white, and more mannerly than the rest;
they visited us frequently, and spoke kindly to us, so that we found a
vast difference between those and the former. The Armin also, who was
no less civil, we presented at his return, with a great dish fill’d up
with Cibebs, and several sorts of confectures, and laid round about with
soap-balls, as is the fashion in these countries; but to them that were
with him and of his family, we gave some sheets of white paper, which
they willingly received, and were so well pleased with it, that some of
them (as the children do in our country, when we give them something
that is strange or pleasing to them) smiled at it as often as they look’d
on it. The country thereabouts is pretty fertile and plentiful of corn,
_Indian_ millet, cotton, _&c._ and they have also between the rivers
very good gardens for the kitchen, with all sorts of plants and fruits
in them, _viz._ Colliflowers, Citruls, Pumpions, Cucumbers, Anguries or
Water-melons, which they call _Bathiecæ_, whereof they have so many that
you may buy forty great ones for one Asper, whereof three make a Medin,
much about the value of our penny. There were also some Date-trees, Limon
and Citron, and other trees, which I could not distinguish at a distance.
CHAP. V.
_Of our Voyage to the famous town ~Ana~, in which we passed again through
great sandy wildernesses; for the performance thereof we must provide
ourselves with victuals, and be very careful in our navigation: Some
relation of the inhabitants, of their cloaths, and other things we did
observe and see by the way, and what else did happen unto us._
After we had paid the custom to the Armin, who was a great deal more
civil than he at _Racka_, and provided ourselves with all necessaries, we
did but half load our ships, to draw them out of the branch again into
the river, and then we carry’d the rest to them by boats and small ships,
for the water was very low and full of mud, so that we went from thence
on the fourth day of _October_ in the evening, and so staid all night, a
little below _Deer_.
The next morning our navigation proceeded very well till noon, when we
came to a very broad and shallow place of the river, that our master
did not know which way to get through. When he was thus troubled and
considering, there appeared on the hight on the shoar some _Arabians_,
and shewed us the course we must take, but we durst not trust them, for
we had heard before that they had sunk some great stones there, and
that a month before they had persuaded a ship to go that way which did
not discover their cheat, until their ship after several hard knocks
did split in pieces and sink. The same they would have served others,
which, although they did not follow their counsel yet they came into
such danger, that they could not deliver themselves out of it in a whole
days time. We (thanks be to God) got sooner through than in an hour,
after we had drawn our ship a little back into the deep stream to the
great admiration of the _Arabians_: But the other in our company did not
stick much longer, yet we had more to do to get her off, because she was
shorter with a hollow bottom, wherefore she was sooner turned, but could
not be got out so well as ours which was flat bottom’d. In the evening
very early we saw at a great distance on the other side in _Mesopotamia_,
a castle in the plain called _Sere_, which the _Arabians_, as they say,
have many years ago demolished, which the river _Chabu_, which is pretty
large, runs by, which beginneth not much above the castle (which one may
guess by it’s fresh water like unto fountain-water) and runs a little
way below into the river _Euphrates_. From thence we thought to have
reached _Errachaby_, a town belonging to the King of _Arabia_, but being
hindred in our navigation, as is abovementioned, we landed a little
above this before the night befel us, and went the next morning early to
the before-mentioned town, which was pretty large, and lay about half a
league from the river in a very fruitful country, where we staid until
the next day to sell some goods there. Wherefore two of ours went into
the town to call out some of their Merchants to trade with them.
After they had spent that whole day with them, we went off the next
morning early toward _Schara_, a little village which lieth on the right
hand half a league distant from the river belonging to the King of
_Arabia_, where we landed to pay the usual custom. All about the sides
and the river, I saw a great many bushes and trees. I would fain have
been at them to discern what they were, that I might have viewed them
exactly, but I was forced to stay in the ship and so I missed them.
From _Schara_ our navigation went on for several days very well, but
chiefly through sandy desarts which were as large as any we had before
passed; for they extended sometimes so far, that we could not see the
end of them; and they were so dry, that you could see neither plough,
land nor meadow, tree, nor bush, leaf, nor grass, nor path to go in;
wherefore these may very well be called desarts, which are also called
the sandy seas. First you must expect there great storms, as well as in
the seas, which cause waves in the sand as well as at sea; then those
that go in great caravans through them, must have their leader or pilot,
by them called _Caliphi_, as well as those at sea, who knows how to
direct their way by the compass, as pilots do on shipboard. Then they
provide themselves, because the way is very long through them, with
victuals for a long time, as well as those that go by sea, wherefore they
load generally the third part of their camels with provisions, chiefly
with water to refresh themselves and their beasts in the great heat of
the sun, for throughout all the desarts there is never a spring to be
found, except one should light by chance on a cistern, which yet are
also generally dry, for nothing but the rain filleth them. The _Turkish_
Emperors have ordered 30000 of these cisterns to be dug in the ground
in these desarts (as I was informed when I was at _Aleppo_) and to be
provided with water, that their armies when they marched from place to
place in those times when they had war with the Kings of _Persia_ or
_Arabia_, _&c._ might not want for water, and if one should be empty
they might perhaps find some in the others. In these wildernesses I saw
nothing worth speaking of, but on the 9th of _October_, some ancient
turrets that stood upon the high banks on a point called _Eusy_, where,
as some say, hath been formerly a famous town. Thereabouts the river
taketh so large a circumference, that we went longer than half a day,
before we could pass it. By the same river below us, we saw on the other
side of it several _Arabians_ on horseback; and nothing else remarkable,
but as I have told you before, some small huts of the _Moors_, who came
to see us often, but chiefly at night time to pilfer something, which
they are used to from their infancy. Wherefore it behoved us to have
great care, and to keap a good watch, as I did find it the same night:
For when it was come to my turn to stand centinel again, which I commonly
did in the hindermost part of the ship on high, that I might espy the
thieves the sooner if any should come, I laid down by me a good cudgel,
as we all used to do every time, so I lay down and wrap’d myself up in
a frize coat with hanging sleeves to it, to keep myself from the frost
and dew, which are very frequent and violent there. After long watching,
I began to be drowsy and fell asleep, a thief came through the water to
the ship, where I was laid down very silently, and took hold of one of
my sleeves that hung down, in hopes to draw out the coat gently, not
knowing that I was in it: So I was sensible that somebody was there that
would steal the coat, and got up, and seeing the head of the rogue, I
took hold of my long cudgel to have a blow at him; but he was too nimble
for me, swam back and ran away: The rest that lay by me were awakened
at this, and did perceive that I had seen somebody, but did not know
the particulars, so they were very glad that I had frightened away the
thief, and gave me thanks for my great care and diligent watching. As
the _Moors_ by night follow their robbery, so they came by daylight
often with their wives to trade with us. Wherefore our master sometimes
to please some Merchants did sooner land, who took all sorts of goods
out with him, as soap-balls, beads of chrystal, and yellow agates, glass
rings of several colours, which they wear on their hands and feet; and
several other toys made of red, yellow, green and blue glass; and set
in tin, brass, or lead, high shoes, which are tied with leathern straps
at the top, _&c._ for these goods they truck’d with the _Moors_ for
sheep’s skins, buck’s skins, cheese-curds, and several other things,
and sometimes for money. These _Moors_ do not differ much in their form
from our gypsies, only that these are a good deal browner. They are
very nimble in their actions, but they do not much care to work; they
rather spend their time in idle discourses, or begin to quarrel with one
another with loud and big words, and a great clamour, but seldom are so
much in earnest as to come blows. Their heads are shaved saving only the
crown, where they let generally a long lock grow, like unto the _Turks_,
that hangeth down behind. As to their cloathing, they wear coats made of
course stuff, whole before, and without sleeves; they are pretty long
before, and reach to their knees, such an one I wore on my journey,
striped with white and black; underneath they have long shirts, which are
cut out about the necks and reach down to their ankles; they are commonly
blue, and have wide sleeves which they let fly about chiefly in their
walking, when they fling their arms about to shew their pride. These
shirts they gird up with broad leathern girdles so high, that you cannot
see the girdle but only their bended dagger that sticks or hangs in them
as we wear our swords. The archers put sometimes one of their arms out
of their shirts, and so leave their breast bare at the same time, that
they may shoot and fight the freer without being hindred; those that are
not able to buy shoes, take instead of them necks of undressed skins,
and put them about their feet with the hair outwards, and so tie or lace
them up. The men wear no breeches, but the women do, and they come down
to their ankles. Their faces are not veiled as the _Turkish_ womens, but
else they cover themselves with broad scarfs, which more incline to blue
than to white, and let them (chiefly those that wear narrow ones) hang
behind in a great knot. When they have a mind to be fine, they put on
their precious things, as are marbles, amber beads, glasses of several
colours, _&c._ fixed to laces and hang them down their temples, which
come down about a span long, and fly about from face to neck, so that in
bending or moving their head, they often hurt their face, and do not a
little hinder them in their actions. Those that are of greater substance,
and have a mind to be richer and finer in their dress, wear silver and
gold rings in one of their nostrils (as some do in one of their ears
in our country) wherein are set garnets, turquois, rubies and pearls,
_&c._ They also wear rings about their legs and hands, and sometimes a
good many together, which in their stepping and working, slip up and down
about their hands and feet, and so make a great noise. So much I thought
convenient to relate of the inhabitants of these countries and desarts,
as I have seen and found it.
After we had passed through the great desarts, and began to come pretty
near unto _Ana_, our master landed early in the evening in a very
pleasant place which was about a league and a half on this side of
the town where we staid all night; for the river is very dangerous to
navigate because of it’s swift current and some rocks that lie between
the mountains. This place was so pleasant by reason of it’s fruitful
trees, _viz._ olive trees, orange, citron, limon, pomegranate, and
chiefly date trees, that the like I had not seen before in my travels,
and hard by it was a very thick wood of date trees, whereinto I went with
some of our company, and found so great a quantity of fruit that they did
not esteem them at all, and among them we found two new sorts different
from them that use to be brought to us in our countries, _viz._ quite
red, and yellow ones, by _Serapio_ called _Hayron_, in his 69th chapter;
which although something less than ours, yet are very good, and of a
delicate taste.
The next morning we recommended the ship to the master, and walked (the
ship being pretty well laden) to the town. By the way we found concerning
fruitfulness so great a difference, that we could really say, we were
come from the barren and desolated _Arabia_ (which hitherto had continued
from _Dir_, nay very near from _Aleppo_) into the well cultivated and
fruitful one. For just in the very entrance there appeared fields sown
with cotton, which was as tender and woolly, as one could any where
find: Then delicate fields of corn which grew very high, and was full
ripe, and fit to be cut down: Then trees that stood round about full
of fruit, so that we had a very pleasant walk to the town. In this way
I saw no strange plants at all, only in the corn the _Moluchi_ of the
_Arabians_, whereof I have made mention before, which is esteemed to be
the _Corcorum Plinii_; and also another, which because of it’s height is
easily seen; this is very like unto the _Sesamum_, only that the stalk is
longer and fatter, the leaves are rougher, and the uppermost ones are cut
in three different ones, which is not to be seen in the uppermost leaves
of the _Sesamum_, the leaves whereof are more like unto willow leaves
both in length and colour: Between the leaves that stand singly about the
stalk one above the other, sprout out stately flowers, which are yellow
without, and intermix’d with red veins, and of a purple brown colour
within, and have a long style or pointel in the middle thereof; when
these are fallen off, there grow long pods out of them, about a finger
long and thin, which are hairy without, pointed towards the top, and have
five distinctions within, wherein the seeds are contained (which are very
like unto the sort of malva that is called _Abutilon_) and are placed in
good order one above the other. I did very much enquire after this plant,
but they know no other name for it, but _Lubie Endigi_, that is, _Indian_
kidney-beans: But according to my knowledge, I rather take it to be the
_Trionum_, whereof _Theophrastus_ maketh mention in several places.
The town _Ana_ is by the _Euphrates_ divided into two parts, or rather
into two towns, whereof the one is not very big, and subject to the
_Turk_, and is very well guarded with old walls, and so surrounded by
the river, that you cannot go into it but by boats, but the other that
lieth on this side belongeth to the King of _Arabia_, is very great, and
very ill provided with walls and ditches, so that you may go in and out
by night, as in all other towns belonging to him. This, and also the
whole province, is called _Gimel_, and is fifteen days journey distant
from _Aleppo_, and goeth down a great way the river, so that we had a
good hour to go before we came to the house of our master, which was near
the harbour, where our ship did lie. The houses are built with brick and
stone walls, and very well done; and we could hardly see one on either
side but what had a garden to it, planted with dates, lemon, citron and
pomegranate trees, with delicate fruit in it. At the other side on left
in _Mesopotamia_, I saw nothing but some summer houses standing about
the hills. By the way before we came to _Ana_, I observed very well that
some of our company (to whom I was by an outlandish man recommended) left
me, and began to contrive with the master, who was born in that town, to
accuse me by a second hand, that they might not be seen in it, as a spy
before the magistrates, pretending that I observed all towns and places
accurately, and had a mind to betray them at my opportunity; which they
chiefly did to frighten me, and so to get the sooner some good booty
out of me. In order whereunto, some of them went to the Sub-Bashaw, and
obtained presently of him to send one of his servants with them, which
came to me in the long street, having some iron chains and fetters in
his hands, which he let hang down upon the ground, and led me along; so
that I presently understood that they had an ill intention against me,
which they intended to execute. So I went along with him to see what
they would do with me; when they came to the harbour, they gave me leave
to go into the ship, and to stay there until I heard more of them. So
they soon agreed together, and told me, chiefly one of them that was on
horseback in a long furr’d coat, that if I would be at liberty, I must
pay to the Sub-Bashaw 500 ducats. When I was considering these things,
and saw myself also quite left alone, and their demands so extraordinary
unreasonable, and found myself in this great necessity and danger, it
came into my mind, that there was another magistrate in the other town
_Ana_, at the other side of the river, which was a _Turkish_ one, to whom
I would make my complaint of their unjust and unreasonable imposition,
to see whether I might not find help and assistance of them; wherefore
I provided myself with my pass, and fitted myself so in cloaths that I
might be able to swim, so that if they should assault me to take hold of
me, I might soon make my escape over the river without any opposition or
hindrance. At length, when they expected my answer, and the money, I told
them my intention plainly and clearly, which put them into greater fright
and fear than they had put me in before. Wherefore they gave over their
unjust demands, and desired of the 500 ducats no more but a single one,
which they were forced to give to the servant of the Sub-Bashaw for the
pains he had taken.
CHAP. VI.
_Which way we travelled from ~Ana~ farther to old ~Babylon~, by some
ancient towns called ~Hadidt~, ~Juppe~, ~Idt~, and saw more pleasant,
fruitful and well cultivated fields on each side than before._
After the designed storm that should have befallen me was over, and I by
the power of the almighty God delivered, as it hath pleased him to do
with a great many more, which would be too long to relate all here, we
immediately departed from thence on the 15th of _October_. A little below
it we found a fruitful and well cultivated country, and some fine houses
standing here and there so near together, that before we passed one we
could see another, which had also their orchards and kitchen gardens,
and round about them fine woods of date trees and many others, which I
could not discern because it was too far off; so that we found a great
alteration, and our wilderness, wherein chiefly at a distance from the
river, we hardly saw a tree in a whole day, changed at the lower end of
the town into a fertile soil: Wherefore our voyage was very pleasant to
us, for we had also less danger to fear from the _Arabians_. But our
master was very much troubled, because the river was often stopp’d up at
the sides with great stones that made the river swell, for there was a
great number of large and high water engines or wheels, therefore these
stones were laid to lead the stream to them to make them work, for it
often happened that two of them stood close together, which took up so
much of the river, that we had hardly room to pass by them in the middle
of the stream, wherefore he was forced to have great care, to find
the right way where he might pass without danger. The reason why these
water-wheels are so much in use is, because this river doth not over flow
(as the river _Nilus_) to water the grounds, neither doth it rain enough
here sufficiently to moisten the seeds and garden-plants, that they be
not burnt by the great heat of the sun, wherefore they must look out for
such means, as will supply this want. To do this they erect water-wheels
(whereof three or four stand behind one another) in the river, which go
night and day, and dip up water out of the river, which is emptied into
peculiar canals, that are prepared on purpose, to water all the ground.
But if the places lie not conveniently, or the shore be too high to erect
such wheels, they make instead of them bridges and peculiar engines, that
are turned by a couple of bullocks, to bring the water up, with great
leathern buckets, which are wide at top and narrow at bottom. This land
being so fruitful, we soon found, to our great pleasure, great quantities
of delicate fruit, sold for a small matter of money, and among the rest
chiefly _Indian_ musk-melons, that were very well tasted.
When we came farther we had generally even ground at both sides, and not
a few fields, the most part whereof were sown with _Indian_ Millet, for
they sow more of this than of wheat or barley, for the land is pretty
deep, wherein the corn would not grow so well. This Millet was just fit
to be cut down, and in some places they had it in already. It shoots up
into a high stalk about six, seven, or eight cubits high, the leaves
thereof are like unto the _Indian_ corn, or sugar-reeds, which I took it
for at first, and that because the inhabitants did chaw it as well as the
sugar-canes, because of the sweet and pleasant juice (which is more in
the upper part of the cane, whereas that of the sugar-canes, is more in
the lower) which they draw out of it, untill I saw at length their white
hairy tops sprout out, which are large and not unlike to the _Italian_
Millet. These are full of whitish grains each of which sticks between
two broad flying leaves, of the bigness of those of the _Orabus_, yet
somewhat more compressed at the sides. Hereof they bake very well-tasted
bread and cakes, and some of them are rowled very thin, and laid
together like unto a letter, so that they are about four inches broad,
six long, and two thick; they are of an ashen colour. The inhabitants
call it still at this day by it’s ancient _Arabian_ name _Dora_, whereof
_Rhasis_ maketh mention. He that will may read more of it in authors.
Our voyage went on very well; wherefore the Merchants began several
pastimes, some did play at a play called the Eighteenth, and others
played at Chess, in which two games they were very well versed; others
spent their time in reading and singing. Among the rest there was a
Merchant from _Balsara_, that sung out of his _Koran_ (which was put into
rhymes in the common _Arabick_) several times with a loud and delicate
voice; so that I took great delight in hearing him. Yet they were not so
hot in their gaming or jesting, that they should therefore forget the
hour of their prayers, chiefly their divines that were in orders, which
used to call them out with a loud voice, at the usual hour, either in
the ship, or without in the desarts, if they could have convenient time
and opportunity. But among the _Persians_ I found a greater zeal and
earnestness, than among the _Turks_ or _Moors_, all which nations have
notwithstanding the same ceremonies in their prayers. For as they have
chiefly five hours of praying, whereof three are in the day-time; _viz._
the first about noon, the second about three, and the third when the sun
begins to set; the two others in the night, one in the morning an hour
and half before the sun riseth, and the second after sun set when the
firmament begins to look white and the stars to appear: So the _Persians_
would not be hindered, by the darkness of the night, danger of the place,
inconveniency of the time, to go out, when the others were asleep, on the
ground in the island where we were landed, and say their prayers with
such an earnestness and devotion, as I have often seen it, that the tears
run out of their eyes: I must also needs say that they keep closer and
stricter to their laws than almost any other nation, which forbid them to
drink wine, and command them to live in poverty, and to watch and pray
continually.
The eighteenth day of _October_ we came early to _Hadidt_, a pretty
large, yet anciently built, town, belonging to the King of _Arabia_,
which is also divided into two towns by the river _Euphrates_, like unto
_Ana_, whereof the greater part lieth on this side of the river. Here
the master payed for his ship two _Sayet_ (one whereof is about three
pence in our country) to the customers, and so set sail again, to try
whether he could reach that night to _Juppe_. And he did oftner than ever
before, speak to his men to pull on (chiefly where the river in it’s
breadth and depth was almost like unto the sea) so that at night pretty
late we arrived at _Juppe_, a pleasant and well built town belonging to
the _Turks_, and it is also divided into two parts, whereof one lieth
in the middle of the river on a high ground, at the top whereof is a
fortress, so that the town is pretty well defended: The other (which
is rather bigger) lieth on the left in _Mesopotamia_, wherein are many
fine orchards belonging to the houses, full of high date-trees, _&c._
wherefore the Merchants spent half a day there to buy dates, almonds, and
figs to carry with them into the inns; the same they did at _Idt_ another
great town of the _Turks_, on the right-hand of the _Euphrates_ situate
on a high ground, where we arrived on the 20th of _October_ at night in
very good time, and gave them instead thereof soap-balls, knives, and
paper, _&c._ After which goods they have often enquired of us; and we
have given them sometimes some sheets of white paper, which they received
with great joy, and returned us many thanks for them.
After our Merchants had sufficiently stored themselves with these goods,
and our master had pay’d the duty for his two ships, he put off about
noon on the 21st of _October_ and went away. About the evening we saw at
this side of the river a mill, and also the next day another, whereby
were several old walls, doors and arches, _&c._ whereby I conjecture that
formerly there stood a town. These two mills, as I was informed, were
two powder-mills that make gun-powder for the _Turkish_ Emperor, and
send it to him in caravans, together with other merchandizes through the
dominions of the King of _Arabia_, wherefore he must as well as other
Merchants, pay duty (for that liberty) and toll or custom. The gun-powder
is not made from salt-peter, as our is, but out of another juice, which
they take from a tree that is reckon’d to be a kind of willow; known to
the _Persians_ by the name of _Fer_, and to the _Arabians_ by _Garb_,
as I have mentioned above. Besides this they take the small twigs of
these trees together with the leaves, and burn them to powder, which
they put into water to separate the salt from it, and so make gun-powder
thereof, yet this is nothing near so strong as ours. _Pliny_ chiefly
testifieth this in his 31st book and 10th chapter, where he saith that in
former days they have made Niter of oak-trees, (which certainly he hath
taken these to be, for they are pretty like oaks) but that it hath been
given over long before now. Which is very probable, chiefly because the
consumption thereof was not so great, before they found out guns, as it
is now since they have been found out.
Further on the water-side, on the high banks, I saw an innumerable many
coloquints grow and hang down, which at a distance I could not well
know, until they called them by their ancient _Arabick_ name _Handbel_,
whereby they still to this day are known to the inhabitants. After we
had navigated a great way several days one after another, through even
grounds, and in a good road, we arrived at length on the 24th day of
_October_, at night, near to _Felugo_ or _Elugo_, a little village called
so, and with it the whole province.
[Illustration]
CHAP. VII.
_Of old ~Babylon~ the metropolis of ~Chaldee~, and it’s situation, and
how it is still to this day, after it’s terrible desolation to be seen,
with the tower or turret, and the old ruined walls, lying in the dust._
The village _Elugo_ lyeth on the place where formerly old _Babylon_,
the metropolis of _Chaldee_, did stand; the harbour lyeth a quarter of
a league off, whereinto those use to go, that intend to travel by land,
to the famous trading city of _Bagdet_, (which is situated farther to
the east on the river _Tygris_, at a day and a half’s distance). At this
harbour is the place where the old town of _Babylon_ did stand, but at
this time there is not a house to be seen, whereinto we could go with
our goods and stay till our departure. We were also forced to unload
our merchandises into an open place, as if we had been in the midst of
the desarts, and to pay toll under the open sky, which belongeth to the
_Turks_. This country is so dry and barren, that it cannot be tilled,
and so bare, that I should have doubted very much, whether this potent
and powerful city (which once was the most stately and famous one of the
world, situated in the pleasant and fruitful country of _Sinar_) did
stand there if I should not have known it by it’s situation, and several
ancient and delicate antiquities that still are standing hereabouts
in great desolation. First by the old bridge, which was laid over the
_Euphrates_ (which also is called _Sud_ by the prophet _Baruch_ in his
first chapter) whereof there are some pieces and arches still remaining,
and to be seen at this very day a little above where we landed. These
arches are built of burnt brick, and so strong, that it is admirable;
and that so much the more, because all along the river as we came from
_Bir_, where the river is a great deal smaller, we saw never a bridge,
wherefore I say it is admirable which way they could build a bridge here,
where the river is at least half a league broad, and very deep besides.
Near the bridge are several heaps of _Babylonian_ pitch, to pitch ships
withal, which is in some places grown so hard, that you may walk over it,
but in others that which hath been lately brought thither is so soft,
that you may see every step you make in it. Something farther; just
before the village _Elugo_, is the hill whereon the castle did stand
in a plain, whereon you may still see some ruins of the fortification,
which is quite demolished and uninhabited: Behind it pretty near to it,
did stand the tower of _Babylon_, which the children of _Noah_ (who
first inhabited these countries after the deluge) began to build up unto
heaven; this we see still, and it is half a league in diameter, but it
is so mightily ruined, and low, and so full of vermin that hath bored
holes through it, that one may not come near it within half a mile, but
only in two months in the winter, when they come not out of their holes.
Among these Insects, there are chiefly some, in the _Persian_ language
called _Eglo_ by the inhabitants, that are very poisonous; they are (as
others told me) bigger than our lizards, and have[2] three heads, and on
their back several spots of several colours, which have not only taken
possession of the tower, but also of the castle (which is not very high)
and the spring-well, that is just underneath it, so that they cannot live
upon the hill, nor dare not drink of the water (which is wholesome for
the lambs.) _This is Romance._
From this tower, at two leagues distance eastward, lieth the strong
town _Traxt_, which was formerly call’d _Apamia_, mention’d by _Pliny_
in book VI. chap. 26, 27, between the _Tygris_ and _Euphrates_, those
two great rivers of Paradise, whereof is made mention in the second
chapter of _Genesis_; which two rivers not far below it meet together,
and are there united. The town _Traxt_ is surrounded with ditches,
and very well defended by two strong citadels, that lie on each side
thereof, so that it is as it were, a key and doorway into the kingdom of
_Persia_, to which it doth also belong, as others not far from thence,
_viz._ _Orthox_, _Laigen_, which lie on the road towards _Media_; and
also _Goa_, which lieth a league and an half at the other side of the
_Tygris_, and _Axt_, two leagues farther still, in the way to _Persia_.
The next day, being the 25th of _October_, we spent in bespeaking of
camels and asses to load our goods upon, and after we were quite ready,
we broke up the day following early in the morning with the whole
caravan, to travel to _Bagdat_. In the beginning the ways were very
rough, by the stones and ruins that lie still from thence dispersed. But
after we were passed the castle and also the town of _Daniel_, the dry
desarts began again, where nothing was to be seen but thorns, neither
men nor beasts, neither caves nor tents, so that a man that knoweth the
ways never so well, hath enough to do to find them through it, which I
did often observe in our guide or Caliphi, who did several times, because
there was neither way nor mark neither of men nor beasts to be found,
very much doubt which way to turn himself, and so he did more than once
turn sometimes toward one, than towards the other side the whole caravan.
By the way we saw in the plain many large, ancient, high, and stately
buildings, arches, and turrets standing in the sand, which is very fine,
and lieth close together, as you find it in the valleys, here and there,
whereof many were decay’d and lay in ruins; some to look upon were pretty
entire, very strong, adorn’d with artificial works, so that they were
very well worth being more narrowly look’d into. Thus they stand solitary
and desolated, save only the steeple of _Daniel_, which is intire, built
of black stones, and is inhabited still unto this day; this is in height
and building something like unto our steeple of the Holy Cross church,
or of St _Maurice_ in _Augsburg_; on which as it stands by itself, you
may see all the ruins of the old _Babylonian_ tower, the castle-hill,
together with the stately buildings, and the whole situation of the old
town very exactly.
After we had travell’d for twelve hours through desolate places, very
hard, so that our camels and asses began to be tired under their heavy
burdens, we rested and lodged ourselves near to an ascent, we and our
beasts, to refresh ourselves, and so to stay there till night, and to
break up again in the middle thereof, that we might come to _Bagdat_
before sun-rising. The mean while, when we were lodged there, I
consider’d and view’d this ascent, and found that there was two behind
one another, distinguish’d by a ditch, and extending themselves like
unto two parallel walls a great way about, and that they were open in
some places, where one might go through like gates; wherefore I believe
that they were the walls of the old town, whereof _Pliny_ says that they
were two hundred foot high, and fifty broad, that went about there, and
that the places where they were open, have been anciently the gates of
that town, whereof there were a hundred iron ones; and this the rather,
because I saw in some places under the sand, wherewith the two ascents
were almost cover’d, the old wall plainly appear. So we found ourselves
to be just lodged without the walls of that formerly so famous kingly
city, which now with it’s magnificent and glorious buildings, is quite
desolated and lieth in the dust, so that every one that passeth through
it, in regard of them, hath great reason to admire with astonishment,
when he considers, that this city, which hath been so glorious an one,
and in which the greatest monarchs and kings that ever were (_Nimrod_,
_Belus_, and after him King _Merodach_ and his posterity to _Balthasar_
the last) have had their seats and habitations, is now reduced to such
a desolation and wilderness, that the very shepherds cannot abide to
fix their tents there to inhabit it. So that here is a most terrible
example to all impious and haughty tyrants, shewn in _Babylon_, which
may be sure, that if they do not give over in time, and leave their
tyranny, ceasing to persecute the innocent with war, sword, prison, and
all other cruel and inhuman plagues, as these did the people of God the
_Israelites_, that God the Almighty will also come upon them, and for
their transgressions punish them in his anger, for God is a jealous
God, that at long run, will not endure the pride of tyrants, nor leave
unpunish’d the potentates that afflict his people; wherefore be sure,
he will also in them verify the prophecies which he had utter’d by the
Prophet _Isaiah_, in his thirteenth chapter, and _Jeremiah_ in the fifty
first, against those insolent and haughty _Babylonians_.
As I passed by, I found some thorns growing in the sand, _viz._ the
Acacia, call’d _Agul_, whereon, chiefly in _Persia_, the Manna falls,
whereof I have made mention before: Above all I found in great plenty
some strange kinds of Cali of _Serapio_, of Coloquints. When evening fell
in, and the night did approach, our mockeries that drove the asses, made
themselves ready again for our journey; who kept every thing together, in
good order, and were so quick in loading and unloading, that they were
ready in less than a quarter of an hour. By the way I saw again several
antiquities, but the night falling in I lost them; so we went on a-pace
in darkness, so that we did arrive at _Bagdat_, by some call’d _Baldac_,
two hours before day. In the morning, which was the twenty seventh of
_October_, I and one of my comrades took our lodging at an eminent
Merchant’s house, that belonged to _Aleppo_, and was lately come from the
_Indies_; he received us kindly, and very readily, and kept us for four
days, when we took a shop in the great camp of the _Turkish_ Bashaw, in
the other town, on the other side of the _Tygris_, which we went into.
[Illustration]
CHAP. VIII.
_Of the famous city of ~Bagdat~, called ~Baldac~; of it’s situation,
strange plants, great traffic, and Merchants of several nations that
live there, together with several other things I saw and did learn at my
departing._
The town _Bagdat_, belonging to the _Turkish_ Emperor, is situated on the
most easterly part of his dominions, on the rapid river _Tygris_, and
the confines of _Persia_, in a large plain, almost like unto _Basiel_
on the _Rhine_, it is divided into two parts, which are rather bigger
than _Basiel_, but nothing near so pleasant, nor so well built, for the
streets thereof are pretty narrow, and many houses so miserably built
that some of them are down to the first story, and others lie quite in
ruins. The case is the same with the churches, which for age look black,
and are so much decay’d, that you shall hardly find a whole one; whereon
are still several old _Arabian_, or rather _Chaldean_ inscriptions to
be seen, cut out in stone, by the means whereof many antiquities of the
town might have been truly explain’d, but I could not only not read them,
but could get no body that could interpret them to me. These are some
buildings that are worth seeing, as the camp of the _Turkish_ Bashaw, and
the great Batzar or Exchange beyond the river in the other town, and the
Baths which are not to be compared with those of _Aleppo_ and _Tripoli_,
for they are at the bottom and on the walls done over with pitch, which
maketh them so black and dark, that even in the day time, you have but
little light. There being two towns, one of them which lieth on this
side is quite open, so that you may go in and out by night without any
molestation; wherefore it should rather be call’d a village great than
a town; but the other that lieth towards _Persia_ on the confines of
_Assyria_, is very well fortifieth with walls and ditches, chiefly
towards the _Tygris_, where there are also some towers, two whereof are
within by the gates that lead towards the water side, to guard them,
and between them are the old high walls of the town, whereon on the top
are stately writings, with golden letters, each whereof is about a foot
long, to be seen; the true meaning thereof I would fain have learned,
but for want of understanding and interpreters, I could not obtain it,
but was forced to go without it. Near unto it there is a bridge made of
boats, that reacheth over the _Tygris_ into the other town, which in that
place is about as broad as the _Rhine_ is at _Strasburg_, and because
of it’s rapid stream so dark and dull, that it is a dismal sight to
look upon it, and may easily turn a man’s head and make him giddy. This
river runneth not much below the town into the _Euphrates_, and so they
run mixt together into the _Persian_ gulf, by the town _Balsara_, which
is six days journey distance from thence eastwards. These two towns as
is said, at the river _Tygris_, were many years agone built out of the
ruinated city of _Babylon_, whereof the one on the other side of the
river is accounted to be the town of _Seleucia_ of _Babylon_, and that
on this side, which is more like unto an open village, is believed to be
the town _Ctesiphonta_. _Strabo_, in book XV, doth testify this, when he
writes thus of them: That _Babylon_ hath formerly been the metropolis
of _Assyria_, and that after it’s devastation, the town of _Seleucia_,
situated upon the _Tygris_, near which was a great village, wherein the
king of the _Parthians_ did keep his residence for the winter. _Pliny_
maketh also mention thereof in his sixth book, and in the twenty sixth
and twenty seventh chapter, _viz._ That the two towns of _Seleucia_
of _Babylon_, and _Ctesiphonta_, were built out of the ruins of the
old city, and that the river _Tygris_ runs between them. In the town
_Seleucia_, stands in a large place, the castle, which is without guarded
neither with walls nor ditches, nor is quite finish’d within. Before it
lie some pieces of ordnance in the road, which are so daubed with dirt,
that they are almost quite covered. In it dwelleth the _Turkish_ Bashaw,
who, when he understood that two strangers were come into his camp, sent
for us, and had us before him by his men; along with us went freely an
_Armenian_, whom we had known formerly at _Aleppo_, to assist us, and to
be our interpreter, to give the Bashaw a good and sufficient account of
us.
When we came into the room of the Bashaw, which was but very ordinary,
yet spread with delicate tapestry and well adorned, and appeared with
accustom’d reverences, he ask’d us, sitting in his costly yellow
colour’d long gown, by one of his servants, in _French_, which he did
not understand very well, from what places we came, what merchandizes
we had brought with us, and whither we intended to go. After we had
punctually answered him to each question, yet he was not satisfy’d, but
bid us to withdraw, and stay until we heard his answer. We understood
his meaning very well, that it was only to scrue a present out of us,
yet we would not understand it, but shew’d him our pass, subscrib’d both
by the Bashaw and the Cadi of _Aleppo_, to try whether that would give
him content. So he took it and read it over, and look’d very diligently
upon their seals, as they use to seal, after they had dipp’d it first
into ink, so that all but the letter is black. When he found them right,
and did not know any more to say to us, he let us go, then we made him
his reverence again, and so we went backwards out of his lodgings, for
if you turn your back to any one, altho’ it be a far meaner person, they
take it as a great uncivility, rudeness, and disparagement. This Bashaw
keeps a great garrison in the town of _Bagdat_, because it lieth on the
confines of _Susiana_, _Media_, &c. which are provinces belonging to the
King of _Persia_, and the Grand Signior hath nothing more towards the
east of it to command. His greatest dominions are the wildernesses of
the desart of _Arabia_, whereof the _Turk_ hath one part, but the other,
and the biggest, belongs to the King of _Arabia_. After the Bashaw had
given us leave to go, we went to our lodgings again, and bought by the
way in the Batzar some provision to eat, and to boil for supper, for
in these countries are no inns to be found, whereinto one may go, and
find a dinner ready prepared for chance-customers, as in our country
is done, except one would go into a cook’s shop, whereof there are a
great many in the Batzars; but every one boileth for himself what he
hath a mind to, without doors, before his lodgings, where there is a
chimney for that purpose; so that in the morning, and at night when it
is time to eat, you see every where in the allies of the camp several
fires. When we went to eat we were forced, because in these chambers is
neither table, nor stools, nor bench, to sit down on the ground, and
also lie upon it all night, so that our cloaks were very useful to us,
to serve us instead of a bed, chiefly in the winter, to keep us warm;
yet the winter is not very severe in those countries, which you may
conclude, for that our March-flowers, Narcissus’s, Hyacinths, Violets,
_&c._ were here full in flowers in the month of _December_; and that
the farmers went to plough at that time; wherefore I judge that their
winter is like unto our spring. When we lived at _Bagdat_, I found by our
catering, that the scarcity was still very considerable, and it would
have been more, and have increased, if the towns that lie above it on
the _Euphrates_ and _Tygris_, and chiefly _Mossel_, which formerly went
by the name of _Nineveh_, had not sent them great supplies, as did also
those of _Carahemit_, _&c._ which supply they have also almost always at
any other time occasion for, for their cultivated grounds are chiefly in
_Mesopotamia_, where they have almost none at all, so that there groweth
not enough to maintain themselves; wherefore the two rivers are very
necessary to them, not only to provide them with victuals, as corn, wine,
fruit, _&c._ but also to bring to them all sorts of merchandizes, whereof
many ship-loads are brought in daily. So that in this town there is a
great deposition of merchandizes, by reason of it’s commodious situation,
which are brought thither by sea as well as by land from several parts,
chiefly from _Natolia_, _Syria_, _Armenia_, _Constantinople_, _Aleppo_,
_Damascus_, &c. to carry them farther into the _Indies_, _Persia_, &c.
So it happened that during the time I was there, on the second day of
_December_, in 1574 there arrived twenty five ships with spice and other
precious drugs here, which came over sea from the _Indies_, by the way
of _Ormutz_ to _Balsara_, a town belonging to the Grand _Turk_, situated
on the frontiers, the farthest that he hath south-eastwards, within six
days journey from hence, where they load their goods into small vessels,
and so bring them to _Bagdat_, which journey, as some say, taketh them
up forty days. Seeing that the passage both by water and land, belongeth
both to the King of _Arabia_ and Sophi of _Persia_, which also have their
towns and forts on their confines, which might easily be stopt up by
them, yet that notwithstanding all this they may keep good correspondence
with one another, they keep pigeons, chiefly at _Balsara_, which in case
of necessity might soon be sent back again with letters to _Bagdat_. When
loaden ships arrive at _Bagdat_, the Merchant, chiefly those that bring
spice, to carry through the desarts into _Turky_, have their peculiar
places in the open fields without the town _Ctesiphon_, where each of
them fixeth his tents, to put his spices underneath in sacks, to keep
them there safe, until they have a mind to break up in whole caravans; so
that at a distance one would rather believe that Soldiers were lodged in
them, than Merchants; and rather look for arms than marchandizes: And so
I thought myself before I came so near that I could smell them.
Some of these Merchants that came with the same ships, came directly to
our camp, and among the rest a Jeweller, who brought with him several
precious stones, _viz._ Diamonds, Chalcedonies, which make incomparable
hafts to daggers, Rubies, Topazes, Saphires, _&c._ the two first whereof
he had procured in _Camboya_, and most of the rest in the island of
_Zeylan_, whereof he shew’d us several very fine ones. The Merchants
bring these along with them in great caravans, and keep them very close
and private, that they may not be found out, at the custom-houses and be
taken away from them which the Bashaws do constantly endeavour with all
their might and power. For the _Turks_ do not love that precious stones
should cost them money, for they are extraordinarily covetous, wherefore
you find but a few among them, but if they can have them without cost,
after the aforesaid manner they love them dearly, and keep them in great
esteem. In the room of them other stones are sent into the _Indies_
again, Corals, Emeralds (which are bought best in _Egypt_) Saffron,
Chermes-berries, and several sorts of fruit, as Cibebs, Dates, (which
are so pliable and soft that you may pack them together in great lumps
as they do Tamarinds) Figs, Almonds, and many others which I cannot now
remember, and also several sorts of silks and _Turkish_ handkerchiefs:
But above all, fine horses, whereof they send abundance into the _Indies_
by the way of _Persia_, but more by the way of _Ormutz_, wherefore the
King of _Portugal_ received yearly a good sum of money for custom, _viz._
forty ducats for each, which the Merchants pay very freely, because that
those that import horses (as I am informed) pay but half duty for their
other goods at the custom-houses, and sell them besides with good profit.
Some of these horses are also sent (because of their beauty and goodness)
into _Syria_, _Natolia_, and to us into _Europe_, where they are sold
or presented to Princes, and other great persons of quality. They feed
their horses in these countries chiefly with barly and straw, so as it
is broke by their threshing waggons, which they hang about their heads in
sacks, as they do also about asses, rather than give it them in mangers
as we do. For want of straw they sometimes litter them with a fine loose
earth, which they afterwards throw by in heaps to make it clean again to
serve another time. When, among other Merchants, Christians arrive from
our countries at _Ormutz_, which happen’d very seldom, all those of them
that have been any ways afflicted by the _Turks_, _Arabians_, or _Jews_,
must appear before some certain officers of the King of _Portugal_,
appointed for that purpose, and make their complaints to them, of what
hath happen’d to them, or what damage they have received; and in case
they should omit any thing, they are themselves severely punish’d. If
then it appeareth, that one of them hath been cheated of his money,
immediately some Merchants of the same nation although innocent, and
knowing nothing of it, are flung into prison, where they must remain
until they have made satisfaction to the utmost farthing, and are besides
severely punish’d, for an example to others that they may take warning.
But if a Christian should be murdered, and they come to know of it, then
three or four of them, more or less, according to the manner of fact,
must suffer and lose their lives for every Christians. From thence it
cometh, when Merchants of many nations are going into a ship, in order
to go to the _Indies_, by the way of _Ormutz_, where they must land upon
penalty of confiscation of all their goods, that when first they put off,
they look strangely upon one another, and take great notice of, or mind
one another much, and say very little or nothing, not making themselves
known, fearing that something may be had against them; and this endureth
so long, until they are gone half the way, then they begin to be
acquainted. Farther I understood, that the King of _Portugal_’s governor
in the _Indies_ hath already, (to make himself strong and the more able
for a war) made several of the chiefest and powerfullest _Indians_
knights or noblemen, to the number of 5000; and hath sent many Jesuits
to reform these countries, to propagate their religion and to institute
there the _Spanish_ inquisition. The _Indians_ are lank in body, brown in
their colour, well shaped, and of a very good understanding; wherefore
persons of quality, and Merchants love to buy them, and chuse them for
their servants, being in their business very faithful, diligent and
careful, as I have known many of them. These and many more nations, as
_Turks_, _Moors_, _Armenians_, _Curters_, _Medians_, &c. which every one
of them have their peculiar language, are at _Bagdat_ in great numbers,
but chiefly the _Persians_; so when I was there, there arrived a caravan
of three hundred, with camels and horses, _&c._ with an intention to go
to _Mecca_, to give _Mahomet_ a visit, which they think, after _Hali_ and
_Omar_, who were his companions and did live in that city, to be a very
great man. These _Persians_ have a peculiar language, so much differing,
that neither _Turks_ nor _Arabians_, nor other _Oriental_ nations can
understand them, and so they are forced to make them understand their
meaning by signs or an interpreter, as well as I and other strangers.
They also have their peculiar characters. They sit well on horse-back,
and have on long and white drawers, which serve them also for boots, and
are very well furnish’d with scymeters, bows and darts: Instead of spurs,
they have, as it is the fashion in those parts, pointed irons, which are
about an inch and a half long, and are sowed to the hind part of their
shoes. They are also call’d _Red Turks_, which I believe is, because they
have behind on their turbants, red marks, as cotton ribbands, _&c._ with
red brims, whereby they are sooner discerned from other nations. They may
also be distinguish’d by their grey woollen coats, which have commonly
three pleats behind, and come hardly down to their knees. They are a
strong and valiant people, of a noble countenance and mind, very civil,
and in their dealings upright. They are very wary in their undertakings,
which you may see by this, that before they conclude a bargain, they
take up more time to consider than others do two or three, which I have
several times observed. Among other merchandizes they have delicate
tapestry of several colours of cotton-work, in which they are great
artists, and well skill’d, but as for others, as gold and silver working,
_&c._ they understand little, and a great deal less of gilding, wherefore
they take any thing that is glossy for gold. They love the Christians
that are artists and ingenious in these sorts of works, and shew them all
civilities. But as for the _Turks_, because great and bloody wars arise
often between them, they hate them very much, and call them Heretics; 1.
Because they will not esteem nor receive _Hali_ and _Omar_, which they
denominate _Caliphi_, as the greatest and highest Prophets or Legates
of God, that have, after _Mahomet_, given more certain and better laws.
Wherefore they esteem them a great deal higher; nay, worship them like
Gods. 2. Because that they as circumcised men, esteem their women to be
unclean, and reckon them to be members that are not to be saved, and
therefore exclude them out of their churches, so that they may not appear
there publickly, which by the _Persians_, according to their laws and
ordinances, after they have spoke some words after them, are received as
bless’d ones, and admitted to come to their churches. From whence arise
between these two nations great quarrels and differences sometimes, but
yet they do not fall upon one another, nor make incursions in time of
peace, so violently on the frontiers, as they do in _Hungary_; probably
that one may (because negotiation goeth farther into _Persia_, and
bringeth in great custom to the Grand Signior) trade the safer into these
parts. It is cheap and very good travelling through these countries into
the _Indies_, and the customs and duties are very easy.
Farther I understood from others, that here and there in _Persia_ live
several Christians, and that most of them are of the perswasion of
_Prester-John_, whom they call _Amma_; and which way they are brought
to it, I am thus informed, that formerly about twelve years agone, it
did happen that the King of _Persia_ made a league with _Prester-John_
against the _Turks_, which came then very hard upon him, and gave him
his hands so full, that he was forced to seek for help by strangers.
Now when _Prester-John_ thought it very inconvenient for him to make a
league with a King that was not of his religion, he sent him a message
again, that he could make no league with him, except the chiefest of
the articles were, that he and his subjects would receive his religion,
then he would not only do him all friendship that in him lay, but also
assist him with all his might and power, which at length was agreed
upon. Whereupon he did send one of his patriarchs and some of his
priests, which in process of time had this effect, that now even at this
day, there are above twenty towns in _Persia_ where the most of the
inhabitants are addicted to the religion of _Prester-John_. They have
also as I was told, several books of the holy scripture, and chiefly
among the rest, some of the epistles of St _Thomas_, which they call
_Ærtisch_. And besides that, their patriarch hath brought it to that
pass, that they are no more so zealous in their superstitions; and are
of opinion that circumcision is not necessary, and that so much the
rather, because their enemies the _Turks_ and _Jews_ have it. And for
the same reason they do not abhor the forbidden beasts, but eat pork,
_&c._ nor refuse to drink wine, and that as before said, because their
adversaries are forbid it by their law. So that the Christian faith
doth in _Persia_ encrease daily more and more, and they begin to be
christened with fire, according to their fashion, and in the name of God
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, whom they notwithstanding, according to
their opinion, rather believe to be a creature, than the Third Person
of the Trinity, and that he doth only proceed from the Father and not
from the Son. But that those that are Christians may be discerned, they
wear a blue cross on the inside of their left leg a little above the
knee. They also administer the sacrament of the holy supper or communion,
and give it as well to the young as to the old ones in both kinds; but
before they go to it, they must have their feet washed, wherefore there
are little rivulets led through the churches, where they sit down, and
some of the chiefest of the town come to them and wash their feet, and
when that is done, they give unto one another a kiss of love; then they
read the words of Christ’s institution, and so go to receive it; they
do not come to confession before: And they endure no images in their
churches, but instead of them, they make use of harps, pipes and other
instruments, wherewith they make music, but chiefly at the King’s court,
at _Smarcand_ (where his best Musicians are) which town, as they say,
was built by _Sem_ the son of _Noah_, and called after his name. What
else is to be said concerning the points of their religion, shall be
hereafter mentioned in the chapter of the _Abissines_.
Farther I was informed at my return, that after the decease of _Gamach_
the King of _Persia_; that had three sons and one daughter (who was
soon married to one of the chiefest of the council at court) whereof
the eldest called _Alschi_ was beheaded, because he did endeavour to
take away his father’s crown, the other two are still in being; the
youngest of them _Balthasar_ liveth in _Parsid_ a peculiar province and
town in _Persia_, which lieth on the borders of the _Indies_; and the
middlemost, called _Ismael_, was lately, after his father’s decease,
elected King, almost at the same time when the now reigning _Turkish_
Emperor _Amurathes_ came to the crown. This is still young, and of a tall
and slim body, but very manly, and full of courage, and well skill’d in
all warlike exercises, so that he dare before any of his courtiers ride
wild and unbroken horse, by them called _Æcaik_, which are not easily
mastered. They are brought to him a great way off out of the eastern
parts; they are as I am informed, of an ashen colour, only some have
white legs; in these and other exercises he hath shown his manliness from
his infancy. But when he did encrease in age and in strength, the anger
and displeasure he bore against the _Turks_ did increase also, and to
that degree, that he resolved, during his father’s life, to be revenged
of them for the wrong they had done to his ancestors. Wherefore a little
while agone, he brought together a great many men in the frontier places
to surprize the town of _Bagdet_ unawares, being one of the chiefest
that formerly had belonged to his ancestors, together with the whole
country, wherein the new Kings of _Persia_ when they first come to the
government are used to be crowned. When he was thus prepared for the
onsent, and nothing was wanting, some traitors ran away from his troops
and acquainted the Bashaw of _Bagdet_ with his design, so the Bashaw was
forced to arm himself with all speed as well as he could, that he might
be able to oppose him in his designs. But when the King’s son would have
put his intention into execution, the Bashaw fell upon him unawares with
such a number and strength, that he could not only attempt nothing, but
was beaten, and he himself taken prisoner. Besides this, the Grand _Turk_
would have had him to be beheaded, if his father had not with great
earnestness taken his part, and given him for his ransom the town _Orbs_
in _Mesopotamia_. After this, the old King had enough to do to keep his
son in safe custody, that he might not begin new alarms and wars against
the _Turks_.
Before I began my voyage in _March_, in the year 74; certain news came
to _Aleppo_ that 25000 _Turks_ were killed on the confines of _Persia_
and _Arabia_; but in what place this battle was fought, and which way it
was done I could not learn (for if they suffer any damage, they always
keep it very close and secret) nor any ways here: Wherefore the _Turks_
at that time were a great deal harder towards the Christians, so that
many suffered for their misfortunes sake: But if they had obtained the
victory, as well as not, they would not have been so silent, but would
have spread it abroad, and have related it to others that did not ask
them, with high and big words. So great an opinion have the _Turks_ of
themselves, that they really believe there is no other nation that can
conquer the world so as they, although they are not be compared with
the _Persians_, neither for strength, manliness, nor shape; so therefore
they could effect but very little against others, if it were not for
their great number, wherewith they over power them. And to speak only of
the inhabitants of this town, there are so many sick and lame people in
it, that you would admire to see so many lame and limping ones in the
streets; yet the King of _Persia_ cannot hold out the war at length,
nor keep a war at a great distance, for his revenue is not so great as
to make sufficient provision for his officers and soldiers, _&c._ to
pay them as well in time of peace as of war: For his subjects are freed
from all taxes and impositions, according to their ancient privileges
and customs. They never arm themselves for a defence, but when they are
called together by their King, to defend and protect their country, house
or land, wife and children, against the assault of an enemy.
When I was thus enquiring from one or other, and endeavouring to inform
myself and learn whether it were more commodious for us two to go by
water to _Ormutz_, or by land through _Persia_ into the _Indies_, and we
thought of nothing else but to begin our voyage daily to go farther; I
was call’d on a sudden by a letter to come away for _Aleppo_ immediately,
which troubled me very much, and that the more when I considered, that
I was past the wilderness and come into the fruitful eastern countries,
which would have been very well worth seeing. So after I had considered
a while, I agreed with my comrade that he should go on with the voyage
in hand, and that I, because besides the letter, I had others no smaller
hindrances, would go back again. So I fitted him out for his voyage with
all necessaries, so that two days after, he went with other merchants
into the ship for _Balsara_. Not long after, I had a very mournful
message, or account, that the ship, wherein he went from _Balsara_ to
_Ormutz_, was perished in a great storm near the Island _Baccharis_
in the _Persian_ sea, where they find good store of oriental pearls,
and that he and several other merchants, and rich merchants sons from
_Aleppo_ were drowned. At the same time I might have returned back again
with a great caravan to _Aleppo_ but because they took the straightest
way through great and sandy desarts, which lasted for fifty days journey
or thereabouts, where we had but two places to pay custom in, where we
could buy provision, as water and other necessaries, I resolved within
myself to go by more fruitful places, and famous towns (although I went
about) where I might see and learn something more; so I did stay in the
great _Camp_ longer until I met with some companions. In the mean time,
while I stayed there, I made my self acquainted with an eminent Merchant,
that lived in _Aleppo_, and had been several times in the _Indies_; who
told me, that the Jesuits had begun to set up a very severe inquisition
in the _Indies_; chiefly in _Goa_, where they observed diligently those
that did not take off their hats to the images (which were set up in
several streets of the town) that they might put them into prison, which
he did very much dislike, believing it to be very great idolatry.
After he had said this, he began to talk farther to me concerning
religion, and chiefly of the articles of our Christian faith; and made
me immediately (when he began to be sensible that I was of the same)
so fine a confession of his Christian faith, so plainly and with such
grounds of scripture, that I was astonished, for I could never have
believed I could have met with the fellow of him in these countries. So
he began to have a great love for me, and desired me to go along with
him, and to stay with him in his house, until I had an opportunity to
go farther, or that I might make him a companion in his voyage into the
_Indies_, that during those travels he would shew me all kindnesses he
could; nay, be as careful of me, as if I were his own son. And after
he understood that I was a Physician, he proferred of his own accord
to recommend me to the _Bashaw_, who was then sick, and his very good
friend, to be his Physician. But I having understood before, that others
that had done the same, had been but very ill rewarded for the pains and
care they had taken, and chiefly by those they did cure; I would not
undertake it, fearing I should have the same measure, and instead of a
reward have my liberty taken away from me, wherefore I thanked him for
his kindness. Had it not been for this, I should have accepted of it,
notwithstanding that they have no Apothecaries shops that are any thing
provided, but I must have bought the ingredients from one shop-keeper or
other and so collected them from several places, for I could hardly find
any thing by them, saving some strange sort of turpentine nuts, whereof
they have abundance, and they are as good, as _Pistachios_; wherefore
the inhabitants keep them by them, and eat them as we eat small nuts in
our country. I have eaten several of them, and found them of a saltish
taste and of a drying quality. These are called by the _Arabians_,
_Botn_, and by the _Persians_, _Terbaick_. I have chiefly seen two kinds
of them, the greater and the less, and so the _Arabians_ distinguish
them into _Botnquibir_ and _Sougier_. The bigger is in shape pretty
like unto the pistach nut, only it is a little rounder and shorter; the
lesser is with it’s hard shell of the bigness of a pea, and are shaped
like unto an hart, or the _Dora_, that is, the _Indian-Hart_. A great
many of them grow in _Agemia_, _Persia_, _Mesopotamia_ and _Armenia_,
&c. and grow together in clusters like Grapes as the _Pistachios_ do,
or rather the Berries of our _Turpentine-Trees_, for which they ought
to be taken; chiefly, because the trees whereon they grow, are in their
long leaves pretty like unto the _Turpentine-Tree_ whereby they are
easily distinguished from the _Pistachio-Tree_ which hath roundish ones.
This being so, I take the little one for the _Bell_, and the great one
for the _Fael_ of _Serapio_, _Avicenna_ and _Rhasis_, which (as authors
say) grow chiefly in the _Indies_: And this the rather, because authors
attribute the same virtue and operation to them. So may according to
this, chiefly the great nuts _Fael_ be taken for the fruit of the _Indian
Turpentine-Tree_, whereof _Theophrastus_ in his fourth book and chapter
five, maketh mention; all which would be too tedious to be related here
at large. Besides these nuts, the before-mentioned authors (chiefly
_Serapio_ in his 251st chapter) makes still mention of another sort
of fruit, called by him _Sel_, and by _Avicenna_, _Scal_, which are
not in hard shells, but as I saw them, quite bare, of the bigness of a
_Pistachio_-nut, and of the colour of the kernel of our _Wall-nut_; they
have a pretty bitterish taste, and sensibly sharp. I did find none of
them in these parts by the shop-keepers, but had it only after that in
the monastery of the _Minorites_ in _Jerusalem_, of one of their order,
who told me also that they did grow in these countries. Of coloquints, of
white gourd apples, still known to the people by the old name _Handhal_,
there grow so many hereabout, that they send them to _Aleppo_, and from
thence into our countries; and also the delicate round _Cyperus_ root,
by the inhabitants called _Soëdt_, whereof one may find great quantities
growing in mossy and wet grounds. I did also find by the shop-keepers,
the white seed of _Machaleb_, which are in hard shells, which are long
and pointed, and covered without with a tender skin, like unto the
_Pistachio_-nut. A great quantity of them are carried from thence into
_Syria_, and used to perfume soap-balls. The trees whereon they grow I
did not see, yet, as I am informed, they grow hereabouts, but chiefly on
the mountains that are by the way to _Persia_. They are still to this
day by the inhabitants, as by _Serapio_, call’d _Nahandt_. But although
there are several sorts of them, yet they all boil them (after they have
been steep’d for some hours in water, to get off the thin shells, as we
do with Almonds) in milk or wine into a pap, and put sugar or honey to
it, chiefly to the white ones to take away their bitterness. I found
farther a strange gum in great pieces, somewhat like unto Frankincense,
or _Ammoniacum_, which the inhabitants chew all day long instead of
_Mastich_, and they attribute the same virtues to it. Wherefore great
quantities thereof are brought thither (chiefly from _Persia_) which
they call _Taxa_, as I am informed from the Tree _Tax_, which are very
like unto _Cypresses_ in shew and bigness, only their roots are not so
long, wherefore they are the easier over-turned by the wind. According
to this, I remember of the Trees _Thuja_, whereof _Theophrastus_ maketh
mention in book v. chap. 5. and of _Thya_ of _Pliny_. I also saw without
the _Batzars_ or Exchanges, very high and big _Caper-trees_; and here
and there in the fields a peculiar sort of red-grass, like unto that of
_Babylon_, according to the description of _Dioscorides_, and hath still
retained it’s ancient _Arabian_ name _Negil_ among the inhabitants. This
hath long fibrous and yellowish roots, with many joynts, and puts out
by them yearly several buds, which grow into hard leaves, which are long
and pointed, and at each side very sharp and cutting, like unto them of
the red-grass; between them come out small stalks or holms, each whereof
hath a peculiar ear at the top coming out of it’s grass sheath, which is
long, thin, and it’s seeds grow in two rows, between small leaves, like
unto the wild _Galengal_. This doth not only grow hereabouts, but also
in several other places and provinces, where the ground is sandy, as
_Susiana_, _Persia_, &c. in great quantity, and because it is by reason
of it’s sharpness and cutting, very pernicious to beasts, as to bullocks,
horses, _&c._ so that they die of it, therefore they have or keep the
fewer of them, but instead thereof they keep buffles (which can feed upon
it easier than other beasts) to eat this grass, which maketh the buffle
very cheap in these countries, for I have seen one buy three of them for
eight ducats (_which is in our money about 48 Shillings_) that was bigger
than an _Hungarian_ bullock. Thus much I had to relate of _Bagdat_, it’s
situation, trade, and strange plants, so much as I could find and see at
that improper time.
Being that I expected daily company to go with me to _Aleppo_ again,
by the way of several towns, and not straight through the sandy
wildernesses, a _Persian_ that I got acquainted withal in the mean while
did inform me, that the Sophi, King of _Persia_, had several unicorns
at _Samarcand_, which he kept there; and also in two islands _Alc_ and
_Tylos_, which lay from _Samarcand_ nine days journey farther towards
the east, near _Spaam_, some _Griffins_ (by them called _Alera_) which
were sent him out of _Africa_ from _Prester-John_. They are a great deal
bigger and higher, have a red coloured head, a bearded bill, and a neck
over-grown with feathers, a thick body, black wings like unto an eagle,
and a long tail like a lion, and feet like a dragon, they are very eager
for flesh; while they are yet young, the King taketh them along with him,
and goeth often thither for sport and pleasures sake; but as they grow
up and strong, he hath them chained about their necks very strongly. I
did believe this the sooner[3], because he could also tell me what trees
and fruit grow there, and chiefly those whereof _Theophrastus_ maketh
mention, and out of him _Pliny_. He also gave me an account besides these
of others that grow out of _Persia_ in several places, as of the tree
_Palla_, which _Theophrastus_ and _Pliny_ mention, which the wise men
did eat in the eastern countries, and of the _Musa_ of the _Arabians_,
whereof the former bear delicate sweet-tasted, and very wholesome fruit,
by them called _Wac_, which are round, reddish, and as big as the
_Indian_ Melons. But whether this be the noble fruit _Mangas_, (whereof
_Clusius_ maketh mention in his _History_ of _Indian Plants_, which for
goodness sake is carried over sea into _Persia_) I leave to the learned
to decide. But the _Musa_ (which is as aforesaid, also common in _Syria_)
beareth a great deal smaller fruit, which is smooth, yellowish, and
bended almost like unto citruls in shape. These are also of a sweetish
taste, and therefore the pleasanter to eat; but are very unwholesome,
so that _Alexander_ the Great was forced to forbid his soldiers to eat
of them. The same _Persian_, did also inform me of the poisonous fruit
_Persea_, which is still known to them by the name of _Sepha_; which they
esteem very little; and also the _Peaches_ (called _Het_) which are not
so poisonous (as some say) as the above-mentioned; for they esteem the
kernels thereof to be good, wholesome physic. But yet that they are not
esteemed by them, the chief reason is, that they perswade themselves,
that _Nimrod_ (who was a great Magician or Necromancer) poisoned them
by his black-art, and that since that time, they could not be eaten;
wherefore they have not been esteemed ever since: This I thought
convenient to mention, rather for the sake of those, that have a mind to
travel, that if one or more of them should go into these countries, they
might have occasion to make a more accurate enquiry after these things.
CHAP. IX.
_Which way I came in my return from ~Bagdat~ through ~Assyria~, the
confines of ~Persia~, and the province of the ~Curters~, to the town
~Carcuch~, ~Capril~, &c. and at length to the river ~Tygris~, to
~Mossel~, that famous town, which was formerly call’d ~Nineveh~._
When hinder’d in my travels, for several weighty reasons, I was forced to
go back again; I look’d up my goods, as I was advised by my good friend
the Christian, whereof I made mention here before, and fitted myself for
my journey. I got for my companions three Jews, one whereof came down
the _Euphrates_ with me, the others came from _Ormutz_, for I could get
no others, to travel with me to _Aleppo_. We set out on the sixteenth of
_December_ in the year 1574, for _Carcuch_ distant six days journey, in
the confines of _Media_, on the other side of the river _Tygris_, which
is still call’d by them in their language _Hidekel_. By the way we first
saw some well-till’d fields, and above us on the river _Tygris_ some
villages, so that I could not but think I should meet with a country
that had plenty of corn, must and honey, _&c._ as it was commended by
the Arch-koob-bearer of the King of _Assyria_, and compared even with
the Land of Promise, but the farther we went, the greater grew the
wildernesses, so that we were forced to lodge all night in the fields.
The next morning there appeared a great way off more little villages
belonging to the King of _Persia_: But we went on through the desarts,
and my fellow-travellers told me that they extend themselves to _Persia_
and _Media_, where we lost our way, and came in the evening into a bog
which hindered us so much, that I, because their Sabbath began, whereon
according to their laws they must not travel, was forced to stay there
with them all night long in it, and also the next day, in great showers
of rain, not without great inconveniency and trouble. During our staying
there I look’d about me for some plants; but found none, because they did
but first begin to sprout; but in the moist places some wild Galengal
with great round roots, by the inhabitants call’d _Soëdt_, and by both
_Latins_ and _Grecians_, _Cyperus_.
The nineteenth day, after we were not without trouble, got out of the
mire, our way extended itself still farther thro’ desolate places and
desarts. I thought of _Julian_ that impious _Roman_ Emperor, and of his
army, which when it went against the _Persians_, and was very numerous,
over the river _Tygris_ near to _Ctesiphon_, he was by an ancient
_Persian_ that was a prisoner, decoy’d into these desarts, where he was
beaten and routed by the _Persians_. In this great fight when the Emperor
himself was mortally wounded, he took up, as _Nicephorus_ and _Eusebius_
say, a handful of blood and flung into the air, yielded the victory and
said, Then _Galilean_ (so he call’d Christ, in whom he at first believed,
and afterwards deny’d and persecuted) thou hast beaten and conquer’d me.
After we had lived for several days very hardly in the desarts, and spent
our time in misery, we came on the twentieth by _Scherb_, a village over
an ascent, into another more fruitful and well till’d country, situated
on the confines of _Persia_, and for the most part inhabited by them,
which we could conjecture by the common language. Now, though travelling
through the confines uses commonly to be very dangerous, yet, I thank
God, we met with none, so that we without any stop or hindrance reach’d
that night, the twenty first of _December_, to _Schilb_, a curious
village, where we rested all night and refresh’d ourselves.
From thence we went on through large and fruitful vallies, but I found
nothing (for it was but just at the beginning of ploughing time) that was
worthy to be mention’d, for the plants did but just begin to sprout; we
had by the way several villages, and so we had better opportunity to buy
provision. The twenty third at night we came to one where we could buy
near one hundred eggs for two pence.
The next day we got up early again, and saw before us the high mountain
_Tauri_, all covered with snow (which extended itself a great way from
north and west to the eastward) at a great distance. We went on a-pace,
and advanced to _Tauk_ early in good time, and before their Sabbath began
again. This town is not very strong and lieth on a plain. We went into a
camp without it, and rested there all the Sabbath. After Sun-set, when
it began to grow dark, they desired of me to light a candle. I remembred
then immediately, that they could not do it themselves, being forbid
by law, as you may find in the thirty fifth chapter of _Exodus_, where
you may see that they must kindle no fire in any of their habitations,
wherefore they furnish themselves the day before with all sorts of
provisions and necessaries, that they may not need to do any labour on
the Sabbath, and yet may not want. When these Jews say their prayers,
they use the same ceremonies as the Christians and Heathens in the
eastern parts do: For first they lift up their hands, then they bow down
forwards with their whole body, and at last they kneel down and kiss the
ground. These Jews bragged continually of their Patriarchs, and made
mention of the laws; but of the ten commandments they knew nothing,
wherefore I took an occasion to repeat them before them in the _Portugal_
language, which is very much spoke in the _Indies_, as well as I could,
and they did admire when they heard them, how I came to know them. But
when I began to speak of Christ and his offices, they burst out into such
blasphemies, that I was glad to say no more, but hold my tongue.
Not far off from _Tauk_, we saw a very strong castle, near unto a wood,
that is guarded by a _Turkish_ garrison: This is situated in the province
of the _Curters_, which beginneth there, and lieth between _Media_ and
_Mesopotamia_, all along the river _Tygris_ and reacheth to _Armenia_.
These _Curters_, which are almost all _Nestorians_, speak a peculiar
language, which was unknown to my fellow-travellers, wherefore they
could not speak to them in the _Persian_ nor _Turkish_ language, which
is spoke all along from _Bagdat_ through _Assyria_, in the confines of
two potent monarchs, to that place. We were therefore forced to desire
others that understood both languages, to be our interpreters through the
country of the _Curters_. But whether this language did run upon that
of their neighbours the _Medians_ or no, I could not certainly learn;
but yet I was inform’d that the _Parthians_, _Medes_, and _Persians_,
as peculiar nations, had their peculiar languages, as histories tell
us, and we may also perfectly see in the _Acts of the Apostles_ the
second chapter and the eight verse, where it is thus written: _And how
hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? ~Parthians~
and ~Medes~, and ~Elamites~, and the dwellers in ~Mesopotamia~, &c._
All which people almost are subject unto the Sophi, the mighty King of
_Persia_. The before-mention’d _Curters_ were formerly call’d _Carduchi_,
and afterwards also _Cardueni_ (as chiefly _Xenophon_ testifieth) have
had their peculiar policy and government. But after many changes and
wars, they are at length subdued and brought under the dominion of the
_Turkish_ Emperor, to whom they are still subject to this day, and he
hath every where his garrisons in opposition to the Sophi. But what is
farther to be said of them, chiefly concerning their religion, shall
be hereafter mention’d, when I shall give you an account among other
Christians, of those that live in the temple of mount _Calvaria_ in
_Jerusalem_.
After the Sabbath of the Jews, my companions, was over, we went on again,
and came the twenty sixth of _December_ to _Carcuck_, a glorious fine
city lying in a plain, in a very fertile country; at four miles distance
is another that lieth on an ascent, whither we also travell’d, my
companions having business in both of them, and so we spent two days in
them before we were ready to go on again.
The twenty ninth we travell’d through large and dry heaths, and came at
night to some tents, which were made of hair or hair-cloath, wrought
out of goats and asses hair, and fix’d in such an order, that they made
streets and allies like unto a market-town. In one of these we went to
lodge with these poor people, (that were white _Moors_, and like unto the
_Gypsuns_ in their shape and figure) and to stay there all night long.
But whether these people are subject to the _Turkish_ Emperor, or to the
King of _Persia_, or to any other, I could not find out by their cloaths,
because they all wear the same hereabouts, nor could I discern any thing
by their language. To us came a little after some more travellers, so
that we had hardly room to lie down in. These people were very diligent
and busy to get us some meat and drink, for the husband went soon out
of doors to gather dry boughs and stalks of herbs, which I could not
at that time discern what they were, and brought them to us to boil or
dress some meat with them. The woman was not idle neither, but brought
us milk and eggs to eat, so that we wanted for nothing; she made also
some dough for cakes, which were about a finger thick, and about the
bigness of a trencher (as is usual to do in the wilderness, and sometimes
in towns also) she laid them on hot stones and kept them a turning, and
at length she flung the ashes and embers over them, and so bak’d them
thoroughly. They were very good to eat, and very savory. This way of
baking cakes is not new, but hath been very usual among the ancients, so
we find in Scripture mention made of bread bak’d among the ashes; the
_Romans_ call’d it, _Panes Subcineritios_; and so we read in _Genesis_
the eighteenth chapter, of cakes made upon the hearth, which _Sarah_ made
in haste when the three men came to see _Abraham_.
The thirtieth we went from thence, and about noon we came to a town
call’d _Presta_, which is chiefly towards the river whereon it lieth,
very well fortify’d, but what the inhabitants call that river, I do not
remember, but according to it’s situation it must be that which _Ptolomy_
call’d _Gorgus_, which runs below into the _Tyger_. In this place they
make floats, which although they are not very big, nor have much wood in
them, yet they have abundance of bucks and goats skins blown up, hung
or fixed underneath the bottom, without doubt, by reason that they may
load the more upon them, and also because the river is rapid, that they
may have the less fear or danger. On these floats they carry several
sorts of merchandizes, but chiefly fruit, _viz._ Figs, Almonds, Cibebs,
Nuts, Corn, Wine, Soap, _&c._ a great part whereof goeth farther into the
_Indies_.
The last day of _December_ we travell’d on, and came through well till’d
fields about night into the town _Harpel_, which is pretty large, but
very pitifully built, and miserably surrounded with walls, so that
it might easily be taken without any great strength or loss; there
we rested again the next day being the Sabbath, and on the same day
fell New-Years-Day. In the mean time I understood that the _Turkish_
Sangiack did a few days ago condemn and put to execution eight great
malefactors, which made it their business to rob and to commit murder
up and down on the high-way, for there are a great many of these rogues
in this province, chiefly on the borders of _Armenia_, which are very
mountainous, and maketh travelling very dangerous. The relations and
friends of these murderers and robbers did take this very ill, that
the Sangiack should execute them, and were resolved to be revenged of
him one way or other. In order thereunto they combined and agreed all
together, and had every thing ready, and only staid for the word to fall
upon him, which would have been done accordingly, if he had not had good
intelligence of this their intention, wherefore he went away _incognito_
for _Constantinople_, to complain to the _Turkish_ Emperor of this their
unjust proceedings, and what they must expect for this, they will know
in a short time. This Sangiack, when he found necessity of making his
escape, and found that he wanted money, which is very seldom, he took up
from an _Armenian_ Merchant, that was very rich, and was arrived there
to buy several merchandizes, chiefly Gauls, whereof grow many in these
parts, 300 ducats, which put the Merchant into great danger; for when
these rebellious people came to understand it, they took it very ill of
him, and threaten’d him very much, so that he was forced to stay some
days longer for more company, that so he might go the safer.
After we had joined him, we went from thence on the fifth of _January_
in a very handsome number, for the Merchant alone had about fifty
camels and asses, which were only loaden with Gauls, with him, to carry
to _Carahemit_, where he lived, and to send from thence to _Aleppo_,
where they are bought by our Merchants, to be sent into our country. So
we travell’d all day long and also half the night, without eating or
drinking, very fast, and began to rest about midnight. After we had for
the remaining part of the night hardly refreshed our beasts and ourselves
with eating and drinking a little, we broke up again before day-light,
to go on in our way. When we were gone a good way through fruitful and
pleasant vallies, we came betimes to another river by _Ptolomy_ call’d
_Caprus_, which although it is not very broad, yet it is very deep, so
that we had much to do to get through, which I found not without a great
detriment to my plants, which I carry’d on horse-back before me.
Soon after noon a great way off before us, appear’d a great market-town,
_Carcuschey_, where we arrived by night, and fix’d our camp without and
pretty near to it. This is quite inhabited by _Armenians_, which we could
presently find by the alteration of the language and their habit. They
received us very willingly, and let us want for nothing. After we had
staid with them till night, and refresh’d ourselves and our beasts, we
broke up again immediately and travell’d all night, which was so dark,
that we heard several caravans that met us, but could not see them,
much less know how strong they were, or from whence they came. At break
of day we came to another much larger river, by the inhabitants call’d
_Kling_, if I do not mistake, and by _Ptolomy_, _Licus_, which hindred
us very much in our day’s journey; for the river being very broad, at
least a long mile, it was very hard to hit exactly the right ford, and
not without great danger, which the _Curters_ knew very well, so that
we were also in great fear of them. But after some were found in our
company that had often forded that river formerly, we ventured it, went
in, and got over, thanks be to God, very safe, only one ass which went
over below us, where the stream went stronger, was drown’d, so that we
arriv’d very early on the seventh of _January_, to the _Tygris_ again,
and went into the famous city _Mossel_, that lieth on this side of the
river, over a bridge made of boats. This is situated in the country of
the _Curters_, and so we were forced still to keep our interpreter.
It belongeth to the _Turkish_ Emperor, as do all the rest hereabouts.
There are some very good buildings and streets in it, and it is pretty
large; but very ill provided with walls and ditches, as I did observe
from the top of our camp which extended to it. Besides this, I also saw
just without the town a little hill, that was almost quite dug through,
and inhabited by poor people, where I saw them several times creep in
and out as pismires in ant-hills. In this place and thereabouts stood
formerly the potent town of _Nineveh_, built by _Ashur_, which was the
metropolis of _Assyria_, under the Monarch of the first monarchy, to the
time of _Sennacherib_ and his sons, and was about three days journey in
length. So we read that the Prophet _Jonas_, when at the command of God,
he preach’d repentance to them, did go into it one day’s journey, which
the people did hearken willingly unto, and did amend their lives, but
they did not long remain penitent, but turn’d to their former iniquity
again, wherefore their destruction and ruin was prognosticated to them
by the Prophets _Nahum_ and _Zephania_, and also by the pious _Tobias_,
that did live there again, which did also not long after follow. Yet was
it re-built again afterwards, and did suffer very much upon changes of
governments, until at length _Tamerlane_ came and took it by storm, burnt
it, and reduced it to that degree, that afterwards in the same place grew
Beans and _Colocasia_, _&c._ So that at this time there is nothing of
any antiquities to be seen as in old _Babylon_, save only the fort that
lieth upon the hill, and some few villages, which as the inhabitants say,
did also belong to it in former days. This town lieth on the confines of
_Armenia_, in a large plain, where they sow the greatest part of their
corn, on the other side of the river; for on this side in _Mesopotamia_
it is so sandy and dry, that you would think you were in the middle
of the desarts of _Arabia_. Yet there is a very large deposition of
merchandizes, because of the river; wherefore several goods and fruits
are brought thither from the adjacent countries, both by land and water,
to ship them for _Bagdat_. Among the rest I saw abundance of small
and great Turpentine-nuts, by the inhabitants call’d, as above-said,
_Bont-quiber_ and _Sougier_; and also another sort of Manna as big as a
double fist, which is very common here, and is brought from _Armenia_, as
they told me. It is of a brown colour, a great deal bigger and firmer,
and not so sweet as that of _Calabria_, yet very good and pleasant to
eat. Within it are several red grains, so small that one taketh no notice
of them when one eats it. It looseneth the body very well, but not so
much as ours, wherefore the inhabitants eat great pieces thereof in the
morning, as the country-men on the mountains of _Algaw_ eat cheese. But
whether the _Arabians_ make mention thereof, if it be not the _Manna
Alhagiezi_, whereof _Avicenna_ in his second book, the second treatise,
and the 758th chapter maketh mention, I know not neither what it is to
be reputed. The town _Mossel_, is as abovesaid, for the greatest part
inhabited by _Nestorians_, which pretend to be Christians, but in reality
they are worse than any other nations whatsoever, for they do almost
nothing else, but rob on the high-ways, and fall upon travellers and kill
them: therefore being that the roads chiefly to _Zibin_ (to which we had
five days journey, and for the most part through sandy wildernesses) are
very dangerous, we staid some days longer, expecting more company that we
might go the surer.
[Illustration]
CHAP. X.
_Which way we went through ~Mesopotamia~ by the way of ~Zibin~ and
~Orpha~, to ~Bir~, not without a great deal of danger; and afterwards how
we passed the great river ~Euphrates~, and came at last into ~Syria~ by
~Nisib~, to the famous town of ~Aleppo~._
After our journey had been deferr’d for four days, we broke up on the
eleventh of _January_ several hundred strong, and went on for the whole
day without eating, with all speed until the sun-set at night, when we
encamp’d on an ascent near a small village, to keep our beasts and goods
safe, and to refresh ourselves and them. We watch’d all night long, and
went continually three and three together, round about our camp by turns.
The next day we proceeded on again in our journey with all speed, rather
for a good fountain or spring’s sake, as they do in these countries in
the vast desarts, than to reach a good inn, where we arrived late at
night, and encamp’d near it, to stay all night to rest. A little after
when we were at supper, some of the _Curters_ came to us into our camp,
spoke to us kindly, and ask’d us whether we did want any thing that they
could help us to, but we soon perceived them to be spies, that were sent
by their companions, to see what strength we were of. But when they
perceived that we were not pleased with them, they did not stay but went
away, and we composed ourselves to rest, but kept a good guard as we had
done the night before. About midnight when we were in our first sleep,
our watch-men perceived a great number of the _Curters_ to approach,
wherefore they awak’d us with a great shouting to alarm us the sooner,
and to bring us into good order, and to frighten our enemies, and to
drive them away. But they did not only not mind us, but made all haste
they could up to us, and that so near that we could see them, although
it was dark, before our camp, by their heads. But when they found us in
a good order and condition to oppose them, and did hear that our gunners
and archers, which were ready to let fly at them, call’d with a loud
voice to them, _tahal, tahal Harami_, that is, come hither, come hither
you thieves, _&c._ they halted for a little while and were so afraid of
us, that they turn’d their backs and run away. Afterwards when we fear’d
nor expected their assault any more, they came quickly again a second
time, in a far greater number than before. They led before them one camel
and several horses, which in the dark we could only discern by their
heads looking against the sky, in their hands, without doubt, that we
might look upon them as travellers, or else that we might not be able to
discern their number. But notwithstanding all this their first assault
was still in fresh memory, wherefore we did not tarry, but drew soon up
in our former order again, wherein I was the left hand man in the first
rank again, with my scymeter drawn, and had before armed my breast with
several sheets of paper, that I had brought with me to dry my plants in,
expecting their assault every moment. But when they made a halt again,
fearing their skin as much as we did ours, and did neither shout nor move
up towards us, one of ours provok’d them, and did shoot at the camel, and
did hit it so that it gave a sign thereof, but the rest forbore to fire.
So they staid a little while, and then went off a second time.
So we kept awake all the rest of the night, and kept a good watch, and
went on our journey again early the next morning about break of the day;
and came again to wide and dry heaths, where we saw neither men nor
beasts, and so we went on till noon, where we encamp’d in a large place,
which was surrounded with walls and ditches pretty well, just like unto
a fortress, whereof there are several in these dangerous places to be
seen. When we staid there, two _Curters_ came again to us into our camp,
and spoke to us, pretending that they came to demand the toll that was
due there, it being their place: But our Merchants soon perceived, that
they were not in a right cause, wherefore they would allow them nothing,
which put these two into such a passion, that they drew their swords,
and would have at us; but our friends did not stay idle neither, but
took their swords away, and laid on with dry blows at them, and so flung
them out of our camp. After this hubbub was over we dined, and that the
rather that we might not be too much weaken’d by our hard travelling,
and so be the less able to resist these robbers, for want of strength
if they should fall upon us, which we were not wont to do before night,
chiefly in great desarts, for there we used to get up presently after
midnight, and travel all day long with all speed without eating, which I
had often experimented before; wherefore I used to provide myself always
with bread, and when I had a mind to eat it, I did either stay behind or
go before; for no body eats openly by the way in the sight of others,
except he has a mind to run a hazard, because that most of them are very
hungry, and so eager at it, that they will assault one another for it,
and take it away from their very mouths. After we had refresh’d ourselves
and fed our beasts, which useth to be done also but once a day, we broke
up with our caravan, and went on again. We quickly saw some mountains
before us, where, when we approach’d them towards the evening, there
appear’d sometimes, on a high one, that before the rest lieth nearer to
the plain, some of them, so that we might very well presume, that there
was more of them behind in _Ambuscado_, which also proved very true:
For no sooner were we pass’d it, but before we went up the hill, they
came out from behind the mountain, in great troops on horseback, which
immediately drew up into order in the fields, in two squadrons, three
and three in a rank, to the number of about three hundred, almost as
many as we were. They exercised their horses, which were very lank, very
swiftly, turn’d sometimes on one, and then on the other hand, and come at
length to us within a bow’s shot. They had most of them darts, which they
play’d withal in their full speed, sometimes holding it downwards as if
they would run through a deer, which was a pleasant but very dangerous
sight to us. When they shew’d themselves so as if they would fall upon us
instantly, we drew our caravan close together, in order to resist them.
Wherefore we stood still, and tied our beasts together, and bound the
fore-feet of each of them, that they could not stir; behind them stood
our mockery, with their bows, and all those that were not well provided
with arms and horses, either to shoot at the enemy, or else in case of
necessity, if they should come too near us, to sally out, and cut off
their horses with our scymeters. Near unto us our horses were drawn up
into a troop, ready for their assault, to venture their success. After
a whole hours delay we sent at length two of our company to them, and
they sent also two of theirs to meet them to parley together; but which
way they made up an agreement I know not, but they prevailed so much
with them, that soon after they left us, and rode away, and we went on
in our journey. After this we kept our caravan, (that is so much to say
as a great many people, with loaden camels, asses, and horses) in far
better order than we had done before, and came that same day a good way,
to a small village, where we encamped and stay’d all night. We found no
wood thereabouts, wherefore we made shift with bread instead of other
victuals, and were very glad, we had it. In the mean time the inhabitants
came to us, to gather the dung of our beasts as they do in several other
places, chiefly in the desarts of _Arabia_, to burn it instead of wood,
which they do after the following manner.
They make in their tents or houses a hole about a foot and half deep,
wherein they put their earthen pipkins or pots, with the meat in them
closed up, so that they are in the half above the middle, three fourth
parts thereof they lay about with stones, and the fourth part is left
open, through which they fling in their dry’d dung, and also sometimes
small twigs and straws, when they can have them, which burn immediately
and give so great a heat, that the pot groweth so hot as if it stood in
the middle of a lighted coal-heap, so that they boil their meat with a
little fire, quicker than we do ours with a great one on our hearths; so
that these poor people must make very hard shift, and do sometimes as the
_Israelites_ did in the siege of _Jerusalem_, where they also in their
greatest necessity did boil their meat with dung of men and beasts, as
you may read in the 4th chapter of _Ezekiel_. This night, and several
others before, we passed more with watching than with sleeping, so that
sometimes we contemplated the constellations of the skies, which are very
much observed by these nations, but chiefly by the _Arabians_, which
lodge always in the open air, and have no shelter, so that by the stars
they know the hour of the night, and when it is time for them to break
up. They care not for beds, but rather have cloaks or tapestry wherein
they wrap themselves up and keep themselves warm, so that no frost nor
rain, nor dew can hurt them.
The next morning we broke up (that we might not expose ourselves any
farther) only after day-light, and travelled all day long without any
molestation or hinderance a long way after several rough mountains: and
also the next day through sandy desarts, which were deep and hindred our
going on very much. When it began to be night, our beasts were almost
ready to lie down under their burthens in the sand, which was very
tiresome to us, and that the rather, because we saw the town _Zibin_
far off before us, at four miles distance, but at length we got out of
this bad road, into green meadows, to very clear springs, which run over
in several places to water them: so that we began to make more speed,
and came the same night yet very late into the town. It is a fine place
subject unto the _Turkish_ Emperor not very big, lying on ascent, very
well surrounded and fortified with walls and ditches. It is full of
conduits or springs, but chiefly in the great _Camp_, where we rested for
five days to stay for more company. There live abundance of _Armenians_
in it, for it lieth in the confines of the greater _Armenia_, and so
we were no more in so great danger as we were in the country of the
_Curters_. During my staying there, the abovementioned rich _Armenian_
Merchant, and also an eminent _Turkish_ gentleman (which were very kind
to me upon the road) desired me several times (having heard from the
_Jews_ that I was a Physician) that I would be pleased to go along with
them to _Carahemit_, which town was four days distant at the other
side of the _Tygris_, to cure some of their relations that were not
well, they proffered me good entertainment, and to recommend me to the
young Bashaw son of _Mahomet_ Bashaw, who was also sick at that time,
and to bring me into good business; which I would have done with all my
heart, and nothing could have pleased me better, than to have served
the _Armenian_ for his kindness. Yet because I was sent for to come to
_Aleppo_, and could not but be as good as my word, wherein I had also no
small interest, I was obliged to leave that journey, and to strive with
all speed and diligence to get thither. Now as this Bashaw is among the
rest (except the Visir-Bashaws, whereof there are four or five, which are
always at court about the _Turkish_ Emperor, as being his Privy Council)
the chiefest in _Turky_, so he hath larger and more fruitful territories
than he of _Bagdet_, or any other, to govern, _viz._ _Assyria_,
_Mesopotamia_, and a large part of the greater _Armenia_, and of the
province of the _Curters_, _&c._ all which border upon the dominions of
the Sophi King of _Persia_.
After we had refreshed our selves during this time, very well, and other
companies had joined us, we broke up on the 20th towards night, and went
away. By the way we saw several plough’d fields and villages, and we
could speak better with the people, for they understood the _Armenian_,
_Turkish_, or _Arabian_ languages, which are generally used in these
countries. So our travels went on with great speed, so that we reached
on the 21st late, the town of _Hochan_, where the _Jews_ rested and kept
their Sabbath. Here we received the news that _Solyman_ the _Turkish_
Emperor was deceased.
The 23d we got up early again, and went the next way to _Orpha_, another
town, to which we had five days journey. From thence, the nearer we came
to the mount _Tauri_, which separateth _Armenia_ from _Mesopotamia_,
towards the south, the worse grew the roads, which we found very
sufficiently the next day, for when we came farther into the mountains,
the ways were so full of stones that we were hindered very much. Going
thus on, after it had snowed a little, which I have never seen but twice
in these countries, it happened, that one of the _Jews_ horses which
was empty, was frightened at something, and flung itself over and over.
The _Jew_ hearing this noise, looked back, and seeing me stand by it,
he grew angry with me, as if I had done it, and began to handle his bow
and arrows to shoot at me, when I found him in earnest, and remembered
how I lost my wine in the ship, when we went down the river, I did not
delay, but went to hinder him, took him by his leg, and flung him off
his horse, before he could take his aim at me; so we fell a boxing one
another so long, until at length I tripped up his heels. When the other
two saw that we spoiled thus the figure of the snow, and that I was too
hard for him, and had given him several hard blows, they came immediately
to separate us, and to make peace again between us; I seeing that they
did not come to wrong me, and also considering that we were to travel
together still farther, took their council, and was friends with him
again, and so we went on in our way. At night we came to another village
again, in a narrow valley lying at the bottom of a great ascent, near
which we found a great stable wherein we went; this was cut quite into
the hill, and so was that wherein we loged the night before, so that you
could see nothing of if, but only the entrance, for they are commonly so
in these hilly countries under ground, that the caravans may safely rest
there and defend themselves from cold in the winter. This stable (being
25 paces long and 20 broad, and all through equally high) was cut out
of a rock. About midnight, when we were in our first sleep, one of the
Grand Signior’s Chiaus, or Chamber messengers, knocked at the door of
the stable, who was come back from _Bagdet_ in six days to this place,
to look about for some fresh horses, because he had tired his own, and
could not have others by the way, as in our country where posts are
ordered. So he went in, took away from one Mockeri or Carrier, three pack
horses, and two more from the _Jew_, that I had contention with before,
for these messengers of the chamber have great privileges, and in case of
necessity, where-ever they see horses in city or country, they may take
them leaving theirs in the room thereof: They value one no more than
another, except Merchants and strangers, whom they excuse before others
to incourage trade; those that they come to, must deliver up their horses
without any reluctancy, except they have a mind to be soundly bang’d, as
one of our friends was that did not open the gates immediately, or else
to fare worse. When this Chiaus believed he had got very good horses,
he soon found his mistake, for the _Jew_’s horses had galled backs,
wherefore he let him have them again for a small recompence, which was
a child’s coat made of delicate _Indian_ stuff. When our journey was
thus stopp’d, chiefly because of the Mockeri, or Carrier, until he
could procure himself other horses in the room thereof, at least for
that day; we rose the earlier the next day, and traversed several rough
mountains, and went through narrow vallies that day, until at night
we came to a village inhabited by _Armenians_. These are good hearted
Christians, which have great compassion on their fellow Christians, and
love to entertain and to be kind to strangers, which I have very often
experienced, but chiefly in this village, where one of the _Armenians_
took me and the _Jews_ into his house, and would fain have kept us
also the next day. Being at leisure, I would fain have conferred and
discoursed with him concerning our Christian faith, and so was he
willing; but being that we could not understand one another, and the
_Jews_ were in this case by no means proper interpreters, we were forced
to have patience by silence, and to look at one another. About that time
they kept Lent, which I could perceive by their small sort of diet, for
they did eat nothing but leguminous food and bread and water. After he
had set before us some boiled eggs at night, and I being hungry, fell
on them, not imagining that they kept such strictness and difference in
their diet, he admired that I did not refuse to eat the eggs, and asked
me by one of the _Jews_, whether I did not know that it was not allowed
to Christians to eat eggs and the like victuals in Lent; at this I would
fain have answered him, that it became Christians to keep Lent rather
with soberness and abstinency, than with distinctions and differences of
foods. But I not understanding the language, only answered him briefly,
that our Lent was not yet begun, nor would until three weeks hence begin,
which did content him presently.
The 28th we went on our journey again, and came right among the high
mountains, which were very rough, and full of bushes; we got out of them
before night, and lodged our selves in the next village, which lieth
on an ascent in the plain, where we also staid the next day being the
Sabbath. By the way, when the _Jews_ were in fear of having their horses
taken away, as was done some days before, they often gave them to me to
lead them, as if they were mine, hoping to carry them off the easier, so
that although they were my guides, yet I was their safe-guard.
After we had past the great and rough mountains, and were come into a
very fruitful valley, which extendeth itself for a small days journey
to _Orpha_, there appeared presently on each side several villages, and
afterwards, the costly city against us with the castle situated on the
hill, very pleasantly. Into this we got on the thirtieth at night very
early, and went to lodge in the large and very well built camp, and
staid there for 3 or 4 days. This town is very pleasant, pretty big with
fortifications well provided. It was formerly, together with the whole
country, belonging to the Kings of _Persia_, but now it is as well as
the greatest part of the country, brought under the subjection of the
_Turkish_ Emperor. _Orpha_ is a town of very good trade; they deal in
tapestry of several sorts, some whereof are made there, and sent out to
us; there is also a great deposition of merchandizes, which are brought
thither from _Aleppo_, _Damascus_, _Constantinople_, and other places,
to go to _Carahemit_, five days journey distant from hence, and so to
be carried farther into _Media_, _Persia_, the _Indies_, _&c._ yet all
these goods are brought thither in caravans by land, because there is no
navigable river belonging to it. Some say that this town was anciently
called _Haran_ and _Charras_, from whence the Patriarch _Abraham_
departed with his wife _Sarah_, and his brother’s son _Lot_, according
to the command of God, _Gen._ chap. xii. and went forth to go into the
land of _Canaan_ which the Lord had promised to give him, and there is
a plentiful well still to this day called _Abraham_’s well, where the
servant of _Abraham_, whom he sent into _Mesopotamia_ to the town of
_Nahor_, to fetch a wife for his son _Isaac_, from his own kindred, did
first see _Rebecca_, when she gave him and his camels some water to drink
out of this well. And so did afterwards the Patriarch _Jacob_ when he
fled from his brother _Esau_ at this same well, make himself known to
_Rachel_ the daughter of _Laban_ his mother’s brother, when he removed
the stone from the head of the well, and so let her sheep drink. The
water of this fountain hath a more whitish troubledness than others. I
have drunk of it several times out of the conduit that runs from thence
into the middle of the great camp, and it hath a peculiar pleasantness,
and a pleasant sweetness in it’s taste. To the same did also come the son
of the pious _Tobias_, conducted by the angel _Raphael_, whom his father
sent to _Rages_, now called _Edessa_, as is above-mentioned, to call in a
debt from _Gabel_, as you may read in the 11th chapter of his book, when
they returned by the way of _Haran_, which is half way to _Nineveh_.
After the _Jews_ had done their business there with good success, we
went on in our travels again, and came again into the high and rough
mountains, where we spent also the next day with great trouble and
hardship, until we came again to the great river _Euphrates_ into the
town _Bir_, whereof I have made mention before. And although we had no
more but two half days journey to _Aleppo_, yet the _Jews_, my fellow
travellers, had business in the famous town _Nisib_, which is situated on
this side the river on the borders of the lesser _Armenia_, so that we
were bound to go thither; so we put out again on the 6th of _February_
after their sabbath, and went through very fruitful and well cultivated
corn fields to _Andeb_, towards evening. It is a pretty big town, but
not very strong. It lieth on two small hills very pleasantly, so that
you may see it plainly and distinctly, as soon as you come from out of
the valley by the lake into the fields. Yet notwithstanding that it is
so pleasantly situated, and looketh so stately at a distance, it is but
pitifully built when you come within it. In former ages this town hath
been several times besieged by the Kings of _Persia_, by whom it was
taken at last, and kept so long, until the _Roman_ Emperor _Galienus
Odenatus Palmyrenus_, took it from King _Sapor_, together with the town
_Orpha_, and laid it to the _Roman_ empire again. But in these our times,
to our grief, it is brought again, together with all the country, under
the _Ottoman_ slavery. The inhabitants have very little trade, they live
for the most part upon their estates, by cultivating their grounds, and
chiefly from the fruits of vineyards and orchards, which are planted
with pomegranates and figs, _&c._ so thick (that from the great quantity
of trees they may have the more fruit) that you would at a distance,
rather take them to be woods of wild trees, than of fruitful ones. So
they send yearly many sorts of fruits, but chiefly _Cibebs_, into the
eastern countries, by great caravans, whereof I have met many. After we
had staid here, and I had lost a whole day, for their business sake, we
broke up again directly for _Aleppo_, and having passed for several miles
through rough, bad, hilly ways, we came at length into a plain, delicate
and fruitful country, so fruitful of wine and corn, that on all my
journey I have seen none like unto it. This did almost extend itself to
_Aleppo_, where we arrived early, with the help of the Almighty God, in
very good health, on the 10th day of _February_. At my arrival, because
my comrade _Hans Ulrich Krafft_, with the rest, were not there, then
present, presently some _French_ Merchants, which I had cured of several
distempers before my departure, came to me, and carried me home with him,
desiring me to live with them until my business, which caused me to come
back, were done, wherein really they did me a very great kindness. For I
having very well torn my cloaths, which never came from my back in half
a year’s time, I had there an opportunity to rest myself and to procure
myself some new ones. _I thank the Almighty God for his many mercies and
favours bestowed on me, and the assistance he graciously afforded me in
this voyage, returning him praise, honour and glory, ~&c.~_
CHAP. XI.
_Of the ~Turkish~ Physicians and Apothecaries; of my comrade ~Hans Ulrich
Krafft~ of ~Ulm~’s hard Imprisonment. Of the great danger that I was
in, in the towns of ~Aleppo~ and ~Tripoli~. Of the murdering of some
Merchants, and what else did happen when I was there._
At my return to _Aleppo_, where my business obliged me to stay a while,
I came to understand, that during my absence, several _Italians_ and
_French-men_ were in their sickness but very slightly served by the
_Jews_ their Physicians; wherefore I did not only soon recover my former
acquaintance and practice by them, but might have also stept into great
business with the _Turks_; for I was presently so well known, that I had
much to do to excuse my self with discretion to get off of them, that I
might escape their anger and displeasure, which I must have got, if I
had served them never so faithfully, which I knew several had before me
found by experience. Wherefore at the instance of several good friends, I
only cured two great persons, whereof one was a _Georgian_, and at that
time _Sangiack_ of _Jerusalem_, which were very well pleased with me,
and requited me accordingly. The Physicians generally in these parts,
agree before hand for the cure with their patients for a certainty,
according to the condition of the patient and his distemper, and have
security for their money, but yet it is not paid to them before the
patient is cured. They have a great many Physicians, but they are very
unskilful, chiefly the _Turks_, which know none but their own language,
and so cannot read the authors of Physick that have writ in another
language as the _Jews_ can. But seeing that the _Jews_ are very much
addicted to covetousness, they endeavour rather to promote their own
interest than that of their patients; so that the _Turks_ are but
slightly provided with Physicians, and therefore rather die like flies,
than take advice of their Physicians, chiefly of the _Jews_, which are
not contented with a small reward; to this add also that the _Turks_
never put any confidence in the _Jews_, and esteem their counsel but
little; and besides, they believe that God hath already pre-ordained
every one his death, so that he that is born to be drown’d cannot be
hang’d. And besides all this, the _Jews_ do not stick close to them
in time of necessity, but fly presently, and first of all in time of
sickness (which certainly happens once in seven years, if not in five
or sooner) just like hirelings, as they have sufficiently experienced
in the last plague in the year 72, with the loss of several persons of
worth and quality; chiefly among the rest a _Turkish_ Pay-Master, by
them called _Daftedar_, and another eminent _Turk_, and their own sons,
which both of them (although this proferr’d to lay 3000 duckets, and
the other 10000 into the hands of a third person) yet were neglected
and left by their Physicians and died. It is very much in use among
them, that if any body doth find himself not well, another puts his
arms cross before him, and so graspeth him about his back, and lifteth
him up, and sets him down again, and shaketh him several times, just as
they use to do sacks with corn, to make them lie the closer, and to hold
the more. As the Physicians are, so are also the Apothecaries, where
you find nothing of any great compositions, nor purging electuaries, as
_Elect. Diacatholicon_, _Diaphœnicon_, _&c._ although they have the best
ingredients thereof, for we have them all sent from them, except they be
sent to them from _Marseilles_ or _Venice_, _&c._ If you have occasion
for any herbs, roots, or seeds, _&c._ you must go yourself, not without
great trouble and loss of time, and find them either in the fields, or
else at the Grocers and other shop-keepers. Among the rest of the things
they had, I soon knew the Rob Ribes by it’s antient name and pleasent
sourish taste, whereof they make a great quantity in this place, and send
it farther into other countries, but chiefly to the _Turkish_ Emperor;
wherefore in the _Easter_ week they had already gathered several sacks
full of the stalks of the true Ribes of the _Arabians_, (which are hairy
almost, two foot long, and of the thickness of an inch, of a greenish
colour, and underneath, as also _Serapio_ mentioneth, reddish) from the
mount _Libanus_, and brought it to the _Cadi_ to make _Rob_ of it for him.
I saw them lie in his court-yard, and several of them were given me to
taste, and to take away with me. What herbs I found at my return else,
because there are but a few of them, therefore I have put them among
the rest here above in a peculiar chapter. I saw there several strange
birds, and among others, some of a delicate green and blue colour, which
were about the bigness of our nut-crackers, by them called _Sucuruck_,
and by others _Alsecrach_. I also found their _Alhabari_, which are not
unlike our Peacocks, and almost as big, and could not fly much. Of four
footed beasts, I saw several, and among them some civet cats, which were
brought thither in caravans from remote parts, and the _Indies_. In the
_Fundique_ of the Consul of the _Venetians_, I saw a very sharp sighted
one like unto a _Lynx_, exactly of the shape of a cat, so that it was
not easily distinguished from it, save only in it’s bigness, for it is
much higher and slimmer. This is a very wild and fierce beast, so that
his keeper himself was afraid of it. It once got loose, and got through
the yard below into an Apothecaries shop, wherein he had just then put
a great many glasses that were sent him from _Venice_, whereof it broke
the greatest part before it could be taken again. When I was there, a
young _Rhinoceros_ was carried through the town to _Constantinople_. It
came from the most eastern parts, and had killed above 20 men before
they could take it. They also lead daily some Lions about the town in
small chains, which have small bells before, that every body may take the
sooner notice of them; they are so tame, that their keepers sometimes
wrestle with them in open places, neither do they easily grow wild,
except they should see sheep, then their keepers have enough to do to
keep them off and to appease them. Without in the fields in high and
bushy places, are sometimes found Camelions, which are somewhat bigger
than our green Lizards, but a great deal leaner and higher upon their
legs; they walk very slowly and lazily, they live a great while without
meat like the Serpents, and are a very ugly creature. If we put it upon
a coloured, red, yellow, or black cloth, it hath by degrees changed it’s
natural green colour into the same that the cloth was of.
Having ended my business I had, and in the mean time received a letter
from my comrades that were at _Tripoli_, I parted from thence according
to their desire, and came on the 5th of _May_, _Anno 75_, to them in
_Tripoli_. After some days, arrived also with some goods, one of their
chiefest Carriers, which they call Mockeri, which swore to me by his
head, that is, he affirmed upon his faith and reputation, that the
Sub-Bashaw of _Aleppo_, when he was departing from thence, had sent his
Bailiffs to my lodging to apprehend me, and to fling me into the publick
_Turkish_ gaol, because they were very well assured that when I was on
the hills (where they had seen me look for plants) I had observed the
situation of the town, and all the country very diligently, that I might,
when I should have an opportunity, betray them to their enemies, and shew
them the best way to take it. But all this was contrived that they might
have an opportunity to take an _Avaria_ on me, as the Merchants call it
there in these countries, that is to say, they would accuse me falsly to
make me punishable, that they might get a sum of money out of me. And the
Carrier also really believed, for as much as he heard of them, that they
would not have let me come off for less than 200 _Saraffi_ or ducats, one
whereof maketh two of their gilders. _Thanks be to our Lord God, who hath
delivered me from their unjust accusations and contrivances, and brought
me safe to this place._ At my arrival at _Tripoli_, when I expected to
live securely and quietly, and thought that I was passed all danger, I
fell, notwithstanding all this into another; for when my comrades, and
with them also _Hans Ulrich Krafft_ (yet without any transgression) were
flung into the _Turkish_ gaol, by the contrivances of some _Turks_, the
same rogues had also a mind to contrive something against me, to bring
me in also. But the _French_ Vice-Consul, _Andrew Bianchi_, who was my
very good patron, took my part, insomuch that he did recover my liberty
by the _Turks_, in spite of my accusers, and not only got me licence
to walk freely without molestation in and about the city where-ever I
pleased, but did also procure me a free and safe access to my comrades,
to see them in prison as often as I pleased. Into the prison wherein they
were kept, I must always go through three small and low doors, which the
keepers did always very freely and without any grumbling open unto me,
to go in or out, and sometimes I have staid there all night with them. I
was always in very great hopes that God Almighty would have ordered it
so, that their adversaries might have agreed with them, so that I and my
dear friend, whom I loved as my own brother, _Hans Ulrich Krafft_, might
have been returned home again with joy. But it pleased God to order it
otherways, for the differences grew the longer the more difficult, and
were so long produced, that these young gentlemen, particularly _Hans
Ulrich_, was kept there in this hard imprisonment very near three years.
To tell all that he suffered and indured there, would be too long here;
only this I cannot omit to tell you, that he did endure and conquer all
these troubles and adversities (as I did see myself) with such a courage,
patience and good conduct, that notwithstanding all these, although he
was almost left quite comfortless, he was rather fit to comfort others
than to be comforted. When I went thus in and out to them, I observed
very well that the _Turks_ have very great compassion on poor distressed
prisoners, and are very free to give them alms; and a man used to come in
daily with bread or boiled meat, as rice, and other sorts of boiled corn,
chiefly on feast days after the afternoons lecture was over, and when he
distributed them, he did also always as he went by, fling in for each of
them a little loaf (very like unto them they bake in lent in our country)
into their apartment before them upon the ground, wherewith they must
make shift, except they could live on their own means, or get something
by their hand labour, whereof there was a good many that did, to maintain
themselves. These alms, the _Turks_ give rather freely, without being
ask’d for it, for they believe that God is better pleased with that
which they give freely, than that which is begged of them. Wherefore they
have very few or no beggars in their towns, which beg alms as they do in
our country. During my stay at _Tripoli_, I did at the request of the
Consul, live in his Fundique, who entertained me very honourably, that
I might give attendance; and if any of the Merchants or Seamen should
happen to be sick, I might use my best endeavour to cure them. So I did
in the space of three months cure only in our Fundique, above forty men
of all sorts of distempers, _viz._ malignant fevers, violent gripings of
the guts, _&c._ which generally befell them that were lately arrived,
and were not yet acquainted with the air and diet of the country. There
happened in these days, a miserable cruel case, that some (among whom
were five _Italians_ and one _Frenchman_) did arrive at _Tripoli_, which
made themselves soon ready to go from thence farther to _Aleppo_, with
their merchandizes to sell there. Upon the road they left their caravan
too far behind them, and met with some horsemen which spoke to them, and
desired them that they would halt at the command of their master the
Sub-Bashaw, and dismount, and go into the next camp (which I found very
desolate and ruined when I went by formerly) to stay there until he came
to them, which would not be long, for he had something to say to them;
the Merchants obeyed them readily, fearing that if they should not, they
would be punished severely by the Sub-Bashaw for their disobedience.
After they were gone into the camp, the murderers immediately fell upon
them, shooting and striking at them, until they killed them all at last,
then they buried them in the ground, mounted their horses and rode away.
After these murderers thought they were very secure, one of these rogues,
which were said to be _Arabians_, met one of the Mockeri, or Carriers,
of the same caravan, he knew the horse immediately, and perceiving it
to be bloody, his heart gave him that it was not right, wherefore he
made haste up to him, and thrust his bended bayonet into his side, and
took him prisoner, and carried him to _Aleppo_, where he was, as I did
hear afterwards, having confessed the fact when he was upon the torture,
executed for it. They did also seek for the rest, but did apprehend none
of them in the time of my staying. The Sultan else taketh great care to
keep the roads safe and free from highwaymen, that trading may go on
without hindrance. Yet sometimes there are some of the great ones, and
men of note, that put others upon it for gain’s sake, so that one must
be very careful in these countries. It is not long ago when we had news,
that not far off the Christians had taken some ships from the _Turks_ and
carried them off, and also formerly in the beginning of _July_ of the
last year, they lost some more, and as, I am informed, among them were
four great ones, three fly-boats, and two other that were taken by six
gallies of the Christians, which made the _Turks_ mightily discontented;
wherefore the Emperor sends out many gallies into several places, chiefly
to _Rhodes_, to cross the seas up and down to keep them clear from
pirates, and to hinder them from making incursions or descents upon him.
These come sometimes into this port, but our Merchants and the Masters of
our ships do not care for their arrival, for they are forced to present
them with cloths, woollen cloaths, money, _&c._ if they will remain in
favour with them.
[Illustration]
CHAP. XII.
_Of the large and high mount of ~Libanus~, it’s inhabitants and strange
plants that are found there._
When I staid with the Consul at _Tripoli_, and had not a few of his in
cure in his Fundique, some others of other nations did sometimes between
whiles desire my assistance and advice, and among the rest an eminent
Patriarch of the _Maronites_, which reckon themselves to be Christians,
and are called so from the heretick _Maro_ to this day. This did live
in the mount of _Libanus_, and was carried down, although he had a
whole day’s journey to _Tripoli_, and was afflicted with that painful
distemper the gout very severely, to be cured by me. After some days,
when he was pretty well recovered again, so that he intended to return
home; he spoke to some of us in our Fundique, that we would be pleased to
conduct him up the hill home again; which was agreed unto very readily,
considering that this mountain is the most famous in all the country
of _Syria_, whereof the holy Scripture maketh several times mention,
speaking of it’s great heighth and famous rivers (of which _Jordan_ is
one), of it’s sweet smelling plants, and pleasantly tasted fruits; and
also because there is a great many strange plants to be found. So we
rode along with the Patriarch (who had no little reason to be afraid
of the _Turks_ clandestine assault) with all possible diligence, and
came immediately from the town upon the heights of the promontories of
the mount _Libanus_, which were very fruitful at the top, and had many
pleasant plain fields, which extended themselves for three leagues to the
high mount, so that this was a very pleasant road, where we saw sometimes
on one side delicate vineyards, then on the other, fruitful fields sowed
with barley, white _Indian_ millet, _&c._ After this we came to pleasant
woods, where sweet singing birds let themselves be heard, and recreated
us; sometimes we saw some hares and some deer, so that we could not but
fancy that we went through thick and dark woods. When we came out of
them, and were very near unto the mountain, there lay some small villages
before it, and we went to one of them, and very near unto it, in a green
shady place, we sat down, and refreshed our selves with some victuals,
which we had taken along with us before we began to go up the mountain.
The Patriarch was very merry with us, and presented us with some _Venice_
bottles of his wine, whereof we drank a good deal, for it was so pleasant
that I must confess that I never in all my life drank any like it. Soon
after we broke up again, with an intention to reach his monastery that
night, called _Our Lady_’s, which lieth on the middle of the mountain
as we travelled towards the top thereof; in the beginning we came into
a narrow and rough valley, which had on both sides very steep walls,
wherewith it was inclosed of a vast height, chiefly at our left hand,
and yet towards the top, there were several caves within them, wherein
Christians live, whereof we saw a great many that appeared so near to the
edges as they went about, that we that travelled underneath, had much to
do to keep us from being giddy. In that place (where from the height one
may plainly see the whole neighbourhood to the very seas, as if it was
a Specula, such as the ancients used to have) is always a strong watch
kept by the inhabitants of these mountains (because they are not under
the jurisdiction of the _Turks_, as others are, nor in any league with
them) to hinder the _Turks_ from making incursions upon them. When we
went farther, and got over some little hills, we came out of this narrow
place into wide meadows, pastures, corn fields, and to some fruitful
vineyards; then again into narrow and deep rocky roads where we had
enough to do to climb over; and afterwards again into pleasant groves, by
delightful rivulets that arose from springs that made so sweet a noise,
that those mountains are therefore admired and commended, chiefly by King
_Solomon_ in the 4th chapter of his Song, verse 15. in comparison, where
he mentioneth the streams from _Lebanon_, which make _Damascus_ one of
the most pleasant and delicious places in the world.
On this mount grow here and there, besides ordinary trees and
bushes, thick shrubby vines, _Zizipha alba_ & _ratila_, Poplars, two
kinds of Dwarf-cedars with pointed and obtuse leaves, _Eupatorium
Mesuæ_, _Absinthium Ponticum_, _Elæagni Math._ by the inhabitants
called _Seisesun_; and wild horn beams, a peculiar sort of willows,
_Phyllireas_, _Styrax_-trees, the fragrant Gum whereof is to be found
in apothecaries shops; but chiefly, and in the greatest number were the
Maple-trees, which are large, big, high, and expand themselves very
much with their branches. After we had rested ourselves, and were a
little refreshed underneath these, our labour began again, to climb up
these high and steep steps. When we were thus a climbing, some country
people, that we saw up so high before, came out of their caves down to
us, with mugs full of wine, which they presented first to their master
the Patriarch that was on horseback, receiving him with a great deal of
reverence (bowing themselves down to his feet) and loving kindness, and
afterwards they did detain us also, and presented each of us with a mug
of wine to bid us welcome, which I and the rest received very willingly,
but having pretty well heated myself with going, I at that time loved
spring water with bread dipt in it very well, I only tasted a little of
it. After we were got up these stairs, a great many more came running to
present their master with chickens, pullets and other poultry, which his
man took and carried up with them. Then the ways were pretty good and
much straighter, so that we went on apace, until at length we came to
the monastery, which we could not see before we came just upon it. Just
before it without is a most incomparable copious spring, that floweth
with delicate water, which is worthy to be often visited.
This monastry, which is not extraordinary built, lieth towards the left,
almost in the middle of the mountain, under a great rock, which doth so
cover and preserve it, that it cannot easily receive any harm from above.
At our arrival the Monks came immediately, whereof I saw no more than
ten, and received us very kindly, and shew’d us presently our lodging,
which because they had no chambers to spare, was an arch’d chapel,
that we might know whither to repair: Yet we kept more upon the top of
the house, which was like others, cover’d with plaister, which was the
delicatest and pleasantest place of all the buildings, where we could
see the situation of the snowy hill towards the east above the Cedars,
which was a very pleasant sight, and also below us several other hills,
whereon they feed their cattle, together with the deep and dark valley:
and, the monastry being but small, so that they had not much room in it,
we also supp’d there in the open air with the Patriarch and some of his
Fraternity, on a long table. They treated us very well, and gave us some
white wine to drink, which was better than that we drunk on the hill,
in _Venice_ glasses, the like whereof is not to be found, neither in
_Candia_ nor _Cyprus_. But they feed, according to their order, only upon
plain food as beans, and _French_ beans, and the like leguminous fruit,
_&c._ At night when they conducted us to our lodging to go to rest, they
shew’d us instead of beds some straw mats and tapestry, spread upon the
ground in their church on which we were to lie, and so we did and rested
that night. In the morning they came very early before break of day into
the church, when we were still very sleepy, to do their office, and
began immediately to ring two bells, which made underneath the rock such
a resounding noise, that it stupify’d us, and made us (chiefly because
some of us had heard none in two years time, and were full of sleep and
but half awake) so dull, that we did not for a good while know where we
were, until we came a little to ourselves again. Afterwards I heard them
with attention for a good while, and did look into their books which were
written with _Arabian_ letters; but what religion they were of, I shall
tell you hereafter, when I shall make mention of other Christians.
At break of day we made ourselves ready to go farther up the hill, to
the height thereof where the Cedars stand, to see them, so that we might
come to the monastery again. Along with us went two Monks to shew us the
way; they conducted us back again to the rich springs of water, to the
stairs, which were very rough, and so steep that we were often forced
to hold ourselves by the bushes, which we could reach at both sides;
but chiefly when we turned on a sudden, of which turnings they had very
many. So we got up higher and higher, with a great deal of labour, until
we came to a little chapel standing just at the top of the stairs on the
hill. Near to this chapel is a small village, which we went through, and
saw spacious fields well cultivated, so that the inhabitants of these
mountains, could have no want of corn, wine, flesh or oyl, _&c._ although
their neighbours should not supply them for years with any thing; and
besides, their lands are so well secured on the height, and so lock’d
up, as if they were surrounded with high walls and deep ditches; and
moreover they are a very stout and warlike people, very well provided
with bows and guns, _&c._ so that their neighbours cannot easily hurt
nor do any mischief to them; and they are also soon alarm’d, which we
found, when these two Monks did immediately raise twelve men well arm’d,
in the farthermost village towards the snowy hill, to conduct us safe up
to the Cedars of the highest mount, that their neighbours the _Trusci_
might not hurt us. But as I understood afterwards the _Trusci_ are in
confederacy with the inhabitants of mount _Libanus_, so that they need
not to fear any harm from them. But they rather did it to frighten us,
to get a good recompence from us that they might rejoice, and treat us
the better, as Christians, on our return. So these twelve went before us
and conducted us up to another, but very barren and rough plain, where
we found ourselves to be upon the highest point of the mountain, and
saw nothing higher but only a small hill before us, all cover’d over
with snow, at the bottom whereof the high Cedar-trees were standing,
some whereof King _Solomon_ ordered to be cut down to be employ’d for
the use of the building of the temple of _Jerusalem_. And although this
hill hath in former ages been quite cover’d over with Cedars, yet they
are since so decreased, that I could tell no more but twenty four, that
stood round about in a circle, and two others, the branches whereof are
quite decay’d with age. I also went about in this place to look out for
some young ones, but could find none at all. These trees are green all
the year long, have strong stems that are several fathoms about, and are
as high as our Fir-trees. They have very large twigs that bend the tree,
and make it lean that way, which somewhat spoileth their straightness.
Branches grow up straight, as also do the cones thereof, which are large
and round, and extend themselves a great length, in so delicate and
pleasant order and evenness, as if they were trimm’d, and made even with
a great deal of diligence, so that at a distance, you may see the tops of
them very even to one another. So that one may immediately see at a great
distance, a great difference between these and other Fir-trees. They
are else very like unto the Larch-trees chiefly in their leaves, which
are small, and all close together, but stand farther asunder upon small
brown shoots, which in their length and bigness are like unto them of the
_Muscus terrestris_.
After we had rested awhile underneath the Cedars, and began to be coldish
in this windy, snowy, and cold place, we began to return to the monastry
again. By the way I saw about the river three sorts of _Tragacantha_, one
whereof I took according to it’s shape to be that of the learned _Carolus
Clusius_, which is very like unto the true _Tragacantha_. The second is
somewhat lower than the first, else it is very like unto it, only it
beareth yellow flowers, each whereof groweth by itself in round yellowish
bags, and several of them stand one above the other on long stalks. The
third is almost of the same height, and hath more brown colour’d strong
stalks, with white woolly heads of _Poterius_, whereon you see purple
coloured flowers. I found also by them another plant, which to be brief,
considering it’s brown colour’d flexible twigs, and longish fat leaves,
is very like unto the _Chamælea_, of a very sharp taste, I think to be
the first kind of _Sanamunda_ of _Carolus Clusius_. Besides these I saw
hereabouts two thorny shrubs, one whereof was, with it’s red colour’d
grapes (setting the leaves aside as far as I remember) very like unto
our _Oxyacantha_. The other, which was full of thorns, and had small red
purple colour’d flowers, was like unto the first kind of _Scorpius_ of
_Carolus Clusius_. Among the bushes I saw the _Scorzonera_ with yellow
flowers, and also a pretty sort of Tulips with yellow stripes, and not
far from it the true _Ribes_ of the _Arabians_, which I found in autumn
at an ill time, without flowers or seeds, only with two leaves, as if
it was just sprung up. The leaves thereof are rough and round, as big
very near as those of _Petasites_, call’d Butterburn in our language,
which grow upon short yet thick stalks, which are also full of a pleasant
sowrish juice, as well as their stalks, whereof chiefly the true _Rob
Ribes_ is prepared, as I have seen it myself, and _Serapio_ testifieth.
This loveth moist grounds, hath a strong brown colour’d root, which is
pretty long, wrinkly, bended, and of a very unpleasant taste. On the
height of the mount I saw more plants, some whereof I had not time to
mind, and others that are not yet known, wherefore I omit, for shortness
sake, to say more of them.
The mountain is very high, so that it may be seen in _Cyprus_ about 200
_Italian_ miles off; wherefore the day breaketh later at _Tripoli_, and,
not until the morning sun appeareth before it: And moreover you find
there snow all summer long, which they bring down from the mountains,
into the Batzars or Exchanges to sell, to cool their drink with it,
chiefly in the dog-days, and fling it in by handfuls. Yet when we were at
the top, we could not see far about, being hindered by some hills.
After we were come down from the mountains into the little village again,
our conductors brought us into a pleasant garden where their wives came
to us, who brought to us several yet strange sorts of milk-meats to
eat, and very good wine to drink; so we sat down in the grass according
to their fashion, to eat and drink, and to make merry, and spoke to
them in the common _Arabian_ country language, and what we could not
speak out, we made them understand by signs. After we had dined, we
return’d them many thanks, for all their kindnesses and good cheer, and
so we went away. By the way we saw more plants, _viz._ the _Alyssum_ of
_Dioscorides_; a delicate kind of _Cynoglossum_. And also near the stairs
some wild Fir-trees, _Polium Montanum_, _Marrubium Creticum Lobelii_, as
I judged according to it’s shape. A delicate yellow _Jacea_ with scaly
heads, and prickles like unto the _Spina Solstitialis_, which is low,
yet it hath a long and strong root, cover’d with a gray and hairy rind,
like unto the _Victorialis_, the leaves are jagg’d or laciniated, of an
ashen colour and hairy, as also the two before-mention’d; and another
kind of _Jacea_, with purple colour’d flowers, which is very like unto
the yellow one of _Lobelius_ (which I have also found in _Provence_ in
_France_ near _Aix_) saving only the prickles that are about the heads.
Just before we came quite down, I found two kinds of _Linaria_, one
whereof, that is of a pretty bitter taste, puts forth long and slender
stalks from the root, closely surrounded with a great number of _Linaria_
leaves, and hath at top one, two, or three long scaly heads, from whence
issue small purple colour’d flowers; the other groweth also in leaves and
stalks almost like unto the first, only they are smaller and tenderer,
and hath quite to the top abundance of light and small purple colour’d
flowers round about it as the blue one of our gardens. At length after
a long travelling and climbing, we came just when the night broke in,
down to the monastry again; after supper we went strait to rest, that
we might be up early again to go for _Tripoli_. After break of the day
when we had taken our leave of the Patriarch and his brethren, and made
ourselves ready for our journey, we came strait away. By the way we saw
several of _Arbores Judæ_, with their red colour’d husks; and also in the
rock a fine _Gnaphalium_, with ash-colour’d roundish mouse-ear leaves,
and snow white double flowers. As we went on, and were almost come to
the house that stood upon the height, whereof we made mention before,
these inhabitants came down again, got before us, stopt us, and would not
let us pass until we had drank with them. Then we went on again, and I
found in the deep and dark valley the right _Medium Dioscoridis_, and
_Mindium Rhasis_, which I did spie immediately among the bushes, by it’s
height and spacious purple colour’d flower. This plant is very like unto
the _Viola Mariana_, of the learned _Rempert Dodonus_, very stately, so
that no great difference can be found but only in the leaves, which in
this are more carved, like unto those of _Plantain_, and in the flowers
which are more open, and spread themselves with their long and narrow
leaves, whereof each hath eight, into a round circle; the seeds I saw
not because they were not yet ripe, yet I found a greater austerity in
the root than in the seed vessels. Not far off, I also saw in the valley
a strange plant, which was of the height of a cubit, and had whitish
and wolly leaves, like unto our _Mullein_, only they are less, and grow
quite to the stalk, as those of _Tabaco_, or of _Hyosciamus Peruvianus_
of _Rempert Dodon._, at the top thereof grow fine purple colour’d and
white double flowers which stand close together, as those of the yellow
_Amaranth_, or in the little _Auricula Muris_ of _Fuchsius_, so that
according to all this, having also fragrant roots, and like unto those
of black Hellebore, which broke, because I pull’d it up in haste, as I
judged by that part thereof which still was left to them, I clearly take
it to be the true _Baccharis_ of _Dioscor._ In the valley farther down
towards the water, grew also the _Oleander_, and the _Apocynum Repens_,
which climbeth upon the trees that stand nigh it, and covereth them so
that it hangeth down again at the sides, like the _Ephedra_ of _Pliny_.
After we came out before the mountain, there appeareth the _Italian
Spondylium_, _Visnagia_, _&c._ there we went into the next village, and
look’d after the victuals we had left, to refresh ourselves. When we
came from thence I found the black _Chamælion_ with it’s handsome blue
colour’d tops; _Origanum_, _Onites_, _Lycium_ call’d also _Zaroa_ by the
inhabitants; the second _Acacia_ with trefoil leaves, and when we came
near to _Tripoli_, to the old and high rivulet, between the mountains,
I found the second _Tragoriganum_ of _Carol. Clusius_, _Ceterach_ and low
St _John_’s _Wort_, a fine _Chamædrys_, &c. but above all, a thorn-bush,
about the hight of a cubit, very thick of twigs and stalks, so that some
of them lie on the ground; the stalks, whereof many grow out of a root
of a drying quality, and somewhat bitter, are surrounded with a tender
gray rind, underneath which is another reddish one to be found. It’s long
tender leaves that grow one against the other, which are of the colour
of ashes underneath, and green above, are very like unto the leaves of
our _Sanguisorba_; between them at the top or the crown sprout out many
thorns, the biggest whereof divide themselves at the top into other less
ones in very good order, so that some point down, and some upwards,
and others towards the sides, and some thereof sprout out farther
before the rest, which sprout out early in the spring, and bear small
greenish colour’d starry flowers; from underneath them grow out small
soft berries of a whitish colour, and some reddish, which are so close
together, and stand in their ranks, at the top whereof the flower is
still plainly to be seen, like unto our currans. The seeds thereof I have
raised in the famous garden of the generous and eminent _Hans Heinrich
Herwarts_, Alderman of this place, very easily, and they grew up until
they were ready to blow; but as other outlandish plants do seldom endure
our climate, so did this also die the next winter; it is call’d by the
inhabitants _Bellen_, but I am of opinion according to it’s shape, for of
it’s virtue and use I can say nothing, because I never try’d it, that it
is the _Hippophië_ of _Dioscor._ so long until others give me a better
instruction. Not far from hence I found on the height, near to the town
in a rough place, another fine plant, not unlike unto our _Gingidium_,
only that it hath less fenil leaves and beareth a roundish seed, with
many smooth wings hanging round about it, which close themselves
almost into a knot together, with it’s tender leaves, which sprout out
underneath the crown, like unto the black coriander; which induced me to
inquire after it more narrowly what to call it, and being I found that it
had a small white root, tender leaves, and a bitterer taste than our wild
parsnip, and also in the middle of the crown a blewish knob, I cannot
judge it but to be the true _Gingidium_ of _Dioscor._ From thence we soon
went down the stairs again, and came by some _Turkish_ burying places,
and some wild figg-trees, by them call’d _Mumeitz_, whereof a great many
are growing in these grounds, into the town of _Tripoli_.
Soon after an honest and skilful _Botanist_ to whom I came to enquire
after plants, told me that a great many more were to be found
thereabouts. Wherefore I went out again to look for them, and to get
them also. So I found first upon the height near the vineyards a _Cassia
Monspeliensium_, which he call’d _Mackmudi_ and _Macmisi_, and the
berries thereof _Habel Mickeness_. But whether this is to be taken for
the _Avacsium Rhasis_, or no, I cannot certainly affirm. This is so
common in these places that they make brooms of it’s twigs. Moreover I
found in the vineyards another stately, fine and strange plant, which was
about two cubits high, and had whitish, woolly, and long, sharp pointed
leaves, which are set round with small prickles about the edges, and had
on each side towards the stalk little ears, as our sorrel and spinage
have; it is of a bitter taste, and at top thereof on long stalks grow
many smooth hands which in their bigness and flowers are very like unto
the yellow _Jacea_.
But that I may not be too tedious, it being not my intention to treat
here of every one at length, I will mention but one more before I
conclude, which I found just at the spouts where in rainy weather
the water runs down from the mount _Libanus_; which is the true
white _Beheen_ of the _Arabians_, and is still to this day call’d
_Behmen-ahied_, as the red is call’d _Behmen-ackmar_, which also doth not
stand far off, as my friend, that experienced Botanist, hath informed me.
But because I was daily ready to go on ship board, to come home again,
I had not time to obtain it; this was at that time almost decay’d, yet
I found still some green leaves, about it, so that by all appearance it
doth endure the winter, and so shoots out in new by degrees, which grow
up yearly again instead of the old ones, these put forth long, great and
pointed leaves, as big, sharp and as thick as a leaf of a pear-tree;
they have partly underneath on the stalks four much less, which stand
two and two against one another; and one also finds out a few of them on
round stalks, many whereof grow out of the same root, about the height
of a cubit, where the uppermost stick quite close to it, as you may
see on the _Smyrnum Creticum_; on the top it puts forth oblong scaly
yellow buttons, each of them on their peculiar stalk from whence issue
flowers of the same colour; it hath a very long root, which at the top
shoots out great branches, that grow so thick, that in time they may be
separated and transplanted; but else they have but very few fibres, so
that they rather are smooth, and also almost as tough and pliable as
liquorish root, to which it is very like in it’s bigness and colour,
only it is somewhat whiter, and not so strait. But why _Avicenna_ maketh
mention also of it’s wrinckles, I am of opinion that he rather speaketh
of the greater sort, which is more wrinkly and rougher, and also for
above a span long, seem to be shrunk of age and turn’d woody, or decay’d
and dry’d up, although within they are still juicy, limber, and have
kept their natural colour. I was also inform’d of others, _viz._ of the
_Costus Syriacus_, which they still know by the name of _Chast_, and is
found about _Antiochia_: And not far off from thence is also found the
_Nux vomica_ as some esteem them, by the inhabitants call’d _Cutschula_;
which together with a great many other famous ones I might have obtained,
if I could have had a true, faithful and experienced guide; but for want
of such a one, and also because I could stay no longer, I was forced to
leave them behind, to be hereafter found out by such that shall undertake
the like journeys.
[Illustration]
CHAP. XIII.
_Cunning and deceitful stratagems of the ~Grand Turk~ against the
inhabitants of mount ~Libanus~, the ~Trusci~, and ~Maronites~: And how he
made war with them, and what damage they sustained by it._
Having here before made mention of the _Maronites_ and _Trusci_ their
neighbours and allies, I cannot but must also go farther, and briefly
relate, how the _Turk_ did make war against them, (as to whom they
are not yet quite subjected) during the time of my staying in these
countries. But from whence this war did first arise, and had it’s
beginning, I was thus inform’d, that it broke out about one of their
governours, which lived then for a little time at _Damascus_. For when
the Grand Signior observed that these people did daily grow in number
and strength, he consider’d that if he should let them go on so, and
neglect to curb them in time, they might probably after a while grow too
potent for him; wherefore he thought it requisite to study and make it
his business to find out ways and means to subdue them, and to reduce
them under his power. In order thereunto, he apprehended the governour
that lived then in _Damascus_, and put him into prison, and at length
took away his life unjustly, under pretence as if he had endeavour’d
to raise a rebellion; not doubting but that when he had removed their
head, he might the easier subdue and reduce the people. But when the
_Trusci_ and _Maronites_ understood this cruel and abominable fact, not
without grief and trouble, they were not only not at all discouraged
from resisting so great and formidable an enemy, but rather took new
courage that was promoted by the great anger this detestable fact put
them into, so that they united themselves the firmer, and did unanimously
resolve to oppose him with all their might and power, and to stand by
their antient liberty; and accordingly they began immediately to arm
themselves, to fortify their villages, and chiefly their passes, and to
provide themselves with guns, bows, and arrows, and all other things
necessary for their defence, so that in case of necessity they might
be ready to resist their enemies, being such a kind that kept neither
faith nor promise, which they had often experienced to their great grief
and losses. So that in all probability it was like to be a war, which
also broke out with great violence within a little time after. But
because I went for _Bagdat_ at the same time, where in former years the
potent Caliphi did reside, I did hear no more of it in all my journey
until at my return, when my comrade _Hans Ulrich Krafft_ of _Ulm_, then
prisoner in _Tripoli_, did relate it to me, so as it was reported to
him by credible hands; who told me that the _Trusci_ are very numerous,
that they were divided into several regiments, of several colours, and
that those that live in the middle of the high mountains were the most
numerous of them all, that they live in a country that is very well
secured and surrounded, so that they need not, nor will not be subject
either to the _Turks_ or any other potentate. They are warlike people,
for the generality good gunners, that make their own guns and any other
sorts of arms, _&c._ they have plenty of corn, oil, wine, good meat and
good fruit, so that they need not any assistance of strangers. They
chiefly deal in silk, whereof they wind (from silkworms) about one
hundred rotulas in a year (which is about 450 C. weight) to send from
thence into other countries. These have their white colours, and their
confederates that live on the outward hill towards the sea, at _Baruti_
near _Tripoli_, have red ones, and have also their colonel whom they
call _Ermin Mackfur_, who also those that belong unto the white colours
acknowledge to be theirs, as well as their own, who was lately murder’d.
This because he could not entrench himself as well as the other _Trusci_
on the hill, agreed with the Great Sultan, and made peace upon this
account, that if he would let him live peaceably and quietly, he would
help him to protect the country, and pay unto him yearly the accustom’d
tribute, but if the Grand Signior would not be pleased with this proffer,
he would join and assist them. The Emperor accepted of this, and did not
only make this _Ermin Mackfur_ Lord of all _Baruti_ and _Scide_, call’d
_Sidon_, but did also procure him a great and plentiful yearly revenue
out of these countries; thinking thus to oblige him, to help him with
his _Trusci_ to subdue the others, not doubting but that he might easily
overcome these, when once the other on the mountains were kill’d. But
they would not get up the hill, but did profer to the _Turks_, that if
their men and the _Moors_ should go up, they would be ready in the valley
about _Baruti_, to cut off all that should fall into their hands. This
answer they gave to the Sultan, only for fashion’s sake, for no _Truscus_
killeth the other. When the Sultan saw that they would not bite one
another, and that he was not like to obtain any great matter from the
Colonel, he did notwithstanding send up the Bashaw of _Damascus_ with six
other Bashaws and seventeen Sangiacks, about 200,000 strong, both foot
and horse well arm’d, to subdue the before mention’d _Trusci_ which were
about 60,000 strong, to burn, demolish and destroy their towns, villages,
houses and plantations. After they were come up to the ascent two days
journey from _Damascus_, they found the roads so steep that no body could
pass them on horseback, for there was nothing to be seen but rough and
sharp pointed rocks. So they agreed to dismount, and to go up to them on
foot, and so they took presently six or seven villages, whereof there is
said to be twenty seven in all, but they found nothing in them but some
women and children and very few men (the rest were got upon the hills
where they had entrench’d themselves) which were all cut in pieces, and
the villages burnt.
The _Turks_ and _Moors_ thought themselves obliged, according to their
Emperors command to go on farther, so they endeavour’d and got up higher,
but could not do any more harm to the _Trusci_, being hinder’d by the
bad ways; but on the contrary the _Trusci_ met them sometimes and poured
their shot upon them from all sides, before they were aware of it, so
that they were but in an ill condition. Then when the _Turks_ would
pursue these men, they were too quick for them, as being born and bred in
these mountains; so they did only laugh at them, and bid them kiss their
breeches; so the _Turks_, partly for want of provision, partly being
tired by the steep roads, were sometimes forced, not without great damage
and loss of their men, to retire again to take better measures. Sometimes
also the _Trusci_ would stand between the rocks cover’d and when they
found any of their enemies appear, chiefly those that endeavour’d to
climb up the rocks, they would all of a sudden shoot among them as among
a flock of pigeons, so that many of them did precipitate themselves and
broke their necks. They would also sometimes decoy the _Turks_ into a
good road and after eight or ten thousand of them were passed, they would
with six thousand _Trusci_ fall in the rear of them, to drive them up
higher, where others soon did appear that came down upon them; so they
surrounded them sometimes and received them so warmly, that but very few
of them came back again to tell what was become of the rest. After this
war had continued for about two months, the Bashaw at last was forced
to make a shameful retreat with the remainder of his forces, and that
so much the sooner because the winter began to approach, so that it was
impossible to endure the frost and snow, which occasion’d many to die,
and the chiefest of them came home sick.
The _Trusci_ pretend to be Christians, and the posterity of those that
some years ago by might and strength recover’d the Holy Land; so that
still to this day they have a great affection for Christians, which those
that travel among them to buy silks can testify, whom they treat and
entertain very civilly with good meat and good wine, yet refuse to take
any money for it; and say, that what God hath given them they are bound
to distribute among us Christians. But they hate _Mahometans_ and Jews,
and keep very good intelligence with the Christians of this country. Yet
they themselves are neither Christians, _Turks_, _Moors_ nor Jews; for
they do not go to mass, nor any other publick worship of God; they cry
out sometimes to heaven that God would be pleased to protect them. They
also believe according to the opinion of _Pythagoras_, that the souls of
the deceased according to their merits, transmigrate from one body into
another; that the soul of a pious man goeth into a new born child, and
that of an ill man into the body of a dog or other wild beast; chiefly
if he hath lived very ill. As they believe so they live also. Among them
they marry to their nearest relations, the brother to his sister, the son
to his mother, the father to the daughter, and they lie all together a
night, but they will not marry into a strange family. The father or the
mother says, seeing that God hath given me this child as a seed unto me,
why should I throw it away upon a stranger; or else, I have a garden, and
God giveth me flowers in it, is it not reasonable that I should enjoy
them rather than a stranger? _&c._ they make use of a great many of these
and the like expressions. They also keep a yearly feast with their wives
which then they change one with the other as they please. Else they are
not given to stealing, killing or any such like crimes, because they want
for nothing, but if any be taken that hath transgressed he is executed
immediately. So they live in peace together, and care not for any other
Monarch.
_End of the second Part._
[Illustration: CAROLUS JEPHSON IMPRIM]
[Illustration]
Dr _Leonhart Rauwolff_’s
TRAVELS
INTO THE
Eastern Countries.
Wherein is chiefly treated of the Land of Promise, the city of
_Jerusalem_, and also of several opinions, beliefs and Errors of the
_Turks_ and _Christians_.
PART. III.
CHAP. I.
_A short description of his departure from ~Tripoli~, a town of
~Phœnicia~ in ~Syria~, and how he went from thence to ~Joppa~._
After my return to _Tripoli_, when I found myself near to the confines
of _Canaan_, the land of promise, promised and given to the _Israelites_
by the Lord of _Zebaoth_, and considered, that our long before promised
_Messias_, Lord and Saviour of the _Gentiles_ was there, according
to the prophecies of the prophets born in _Bethlehem_ of the virgin
_Mary_, and by the _Jews_ suffered the shameful death of crucifixion
at _Jerusalem_ on the mount of _Calvaria_, and afterwards was laid in
the new tomb of _Joseph_ of _Arimathea_, that was cut out of a rock,
_&c._ I found in me a great desire to see these and other the like holy
places: Not that I thought still to find there _Christ_ our Lord, as
the two young men _Peter_ and _John_ and the three _Maries_ did, but to
exercise my outward senses in the contemplation thereof, that I might
the more fervently consider with my inward ones his bitter passion,
death, resurrection and ascension, and to appropriate to myself, and to
apprehend the better, and to make my own, by faith and firm confidence,
_Christ_ our Lord himself together with his heavenly gifts and treasures,
as he has manifested himself in the holy scriptures; wherefore I was
fully resolved to look out for fellow travellers to accompany me in
this journey before I returned home again. I staid not long in quest of
company, but quickly met four Pilgrims that came out of the Low Countries
that had the same intention; there also came to us a _Grecian_ Monk of
the order of the _Carmelites_ whom I knew before when he lived with his
master, that I cured of a very dangerous distemper, and desired to go in
company with us. So we agreed together, and bespoke a small _Turkish_
vessel with eight oars, by them called _Caramusala_ whereof there were
many in the harbour, that wait constantly for travellers, goods and
provision, to be carried into the neighbouring towns and provinces,
_viz._ to _Antiochia_, _Caramania_, anciently called _Cilicia_, _Cyprus_,
_Baruthi_, _Caramania_, or quite into _Egypt_. We bought some biskets,
cibets, eggs, cheese, pompions, which the _Arabians_ call _Batticas_,
_Margeropfel_, oranges, good wine, _&c._ which we had occasion of for
our journey, of which as much as would last us eight days; for the
ship-masters do not willingly land, chiefly with Pilgrims, because of
the great customs the roguish _Turks_ demand unjustly from us Christians
every where, until we arrive at our designed stations.
After we had thus fitted ourselves, and got a good wind, we went
aboard the ship on the seventh of _September_, in the year 1575, and
put off, and came before night to the point _Capugio_, to the village
_Aniffe_, anciently called _Neuphrus_, which was in former ages very
well fortified, as still appeareth by some remainders to this day. This
village is pretty big, but every where open, that one might easily
take it with a handful of men; it is situated on the foot of mount
_Libanus_, which is very high there, and reacheth unto the sea. It is
chiefly inhabited by _Maronites_, as are also many more villages of this
mountain, chiefly those that lie in vallies towards _Aleppo_, where
I have inned many times when I went through it, and was very kindly
received; they keep very good wine by them, which the _Turks_ know very
well, and come there very often for it, altho they are forbidden (by the
laws of their Mahometan Koran) to satisfy their desire. These _Maronites_
are Christians, and speak the _Arabian_ language, and have their
Patriarchs, which are first chosen by the people, and then confirmed by
the Pope. After we had went on from thence very well all night long, all
along the steep mountainous shore, and had made the utmost point of the
promontory of _Baruthi_, we saw in the morning a far off, that famous
town lying behind it, where formerly great commerce has been drove,
well fortified with strong towers towards the sea, and surrounded with
fruitful orchards and vineyards. In this, and also in more adjacent
towns and villages, live a very warlike people, called _Trusci_, very
nimble and expert in shooting with guns and bows, and call themselves
the posterity of the ancient _Frenchmen_, which took and possessed
many years agone, under _Godfrid_ and _Baldwin_, _Jerusalem_, and all
the Land of Promise. They are still a free people to this day, and not
subject unto the Great Sultan as others are; wherefore he hath many times
attempted to bring them under his yoak. And in order thereunto he did
send in the year 1574 last past, a great army consisting of two hundred
thousand horse and foot to subdue them; but what harm he did them I have
already mentioned in the preceding part of this Journal. They are very
willing to accommodate and serve outlandish Christians, as _Germans_,
_Frenchmen_ and _Italians_, whereof they make no difference, and to
take them up into their habitations, and to shew them all civility and
kindness; nay, and what is more, to assist them according to their utmost
power against the common enemy of Christendom, as we have formerly found
indeed before _Cyprus_ was taken by the _Turks_; for after they were
informed that some _Italian_ gallies were to arrive to make an incursion
into the adjacent towns and places, chiefly to plunder _Tripoli_, they
raised seven thousand men very well armed to help them, and to come to
their assistance, some of which did then appear and shew themselves on
the frontiers; but finding that their gallies did not arrive, they also
returned home again, and left their design unaccomplished. The _Trusci_
have a head called _Ermin Mackfur_, that is, a judicious man, and a
very experienced soldier, whom they acknowledge to be their supreme
governor, and are obedient to him; he liveth in a castle on the bottom
of the mountain not far from the town we went by; he taketh great pains,
chiefly now after the _Turkish_ war, and maketh great provision to keep
the country in peace and security. He also keepeth good correspondence
with the neighbouring people, chiefly the _Maronites_, that have lived
long before in these mountains, with whom he hath lately renewed the
old confederacy again, as I know very well, and their Patriarch himself
was with him, before I was called to cure him of his distemper. He also
leaveth no stone unturned to get in with others, and to make them his
confederates; so that he hath already secured to himself the _Syrians_,
which are also Christians, yet not without gross errors, by paying to
them a yearly pension. These speak also _Arabick_, and are very like unto
them in shape, manners, fashion and cloaths; and I found two of them
among our seamen, that confirmed this to me.
After we had gone on a great while, and were passed by the point of the
promontary of _Barnti_, which extendeth itself far into the sea, our
ship-master, who was a _Turk_, and understood the _Arabian_ language,
shewed me a village lying beyond it, called _Burgi_, and told me, that
that was also inhabited altogether by _Harani Quibir_, that is, great
robbers and murtherers, as they always call these people. But I being
better informed beforehand, I prayed by myself that God would be pleased
to let the poor slaves that live in hard servitude under the _Turks_, who
were these they call _Harani_; and I do not at all question, but they
would soon take their refuge to them to make themselves free of their
servitude, as those might easily do, that live about these countries in
_Syria_.
We saw also upon the shoar some ancient towers, and among them chiefly
two, which are renewed again, wherein the _Trusci_ keep watches to
observe the pirates, but the others whereof there are a great many not
above a league distant from one another, are for the greatest part by age
decayed. Some say that they were formerly built by the potent Emperors,
that if any nation should rise up in rebellion, they might immediately
give notice thereof to _Constantinople_. These gave notice, before guns
were invented, in the night by a flaming fire, and by day-time by a great
smoak. And they still keep to this in many places, altho’ guns are now
invented.
In the afternoon we were becalmed, and so our journey went on but slowly,
we saw late at night a small village called _Carniola_ upon the height:
and soon after at the foot of the high mount of _Libanus_, southward of
the city of _Sidon_, by the inhabitants still called _Scida_, which is
not very great, but as far as I could see, very well built, and defended
by two castles, one whereof is situated towards the north on a high rock,
the other on a little hill. Those that are going to _Saphet_, which is
a day’s journey distant from it, land there. Before we could reach it,
night befel us, and brought contrary winds, which hindered us so much,
that we could hardly reach the glorious and rich town of _Tyrus_, now by
the inhabitants called _Sur_, which lieth in a manner close to it, until
the next morning. This is still pretty large, and lieth on a rock in the
sea, about five hundred paces distant from the shoar of _Phœnicia_. In
former ages _Alexander_ the Great did besiege it for seven months, and
during the siege he filled up the streight of the sea, and did join
it to the continent, and after he had taken it, he laid it into ashes,
so that punishment was inflicted on the inhabitants which the Prophet
_Esaias_ denounced against them four hundred years before.
On the confines of _Tirus_ and _Sidon_, that _Cananean_ woman came to
_Christ_ on behalf of her daughter that was possessed of an unclean
spirit, whereof the Lord, seeing her faith, did deliver her immediately.
Just before it, we heard a great noise of large running springs, which
rise within the country with so great a vehemency, that they drive
several mills. Within a large distance from thence, we saw a very fine
new house called _Nacora_.
Two miles farther near mount _Saron_ within, southward, we saw a large
village called _Sib_, without it in the sea round about were several
banks and rocks, behind which we hid ourselves, the wind being contrary,
and staid for a more favourable one; in the mean while, some of our men
got out among the rocks to catch fish, and to find oisters, where they
also gathered so much sea-salt, that they filled up a great sack with it.
Between this and mount _Carmelo_, which are eight leagues distant,
and run out a great way into the seas, lieth almost in the middle
thereof, as it were in a half moon, the famous town of _Acon_, anciently
called _Ptolemais_, on a high rocky shoar, which some years ago, when
_Baldewin_, the brother of _Gotefrid_, first, and _Guidon_ after him, did
possess themselves of the Holy Land, was not without great loss of many
men taken by them, from _Saladine_ King of the _Saracens_ in _Ægypt_,
which had (after some obtained victories) surrendered itself again a
second time, after a long siege. This town hath very good fields of a
fertile soil about it, and is at this time, together with the Land of
Promise and others, (to the great grief of the Christians) subjected
under the yoak and slavery of the _Turkish_ Emperor.
The next day the wind favouring us, we hoisted up our sails, and got
out at sea, with less danger to get before the point of the mountain,
but our design was frustrated; for about noon a contrary wind arose,
which did not only hinder us in our course, but violently drove us back
again, so that we were forced to have recourse to our old shelter behind
the rocks again. After midnight when it began to be calm, and another
wind arose, we put out two hours before break of day, and went along the
shore towards the town _Hayphe_, formerly call’d _Caypha_ or _Porphyria_,
four leagues beyond _Acon_, lying just within mount _Carmel_, where on
the evening when we came very near it, several frigats came out of all
sides to surround us. As soon as the master of our ship perceived them,
he did not like it, wherefore he let fall his sails, and exhorted his
men to ply their oars to get clear of them. When they saw they could not
reach us, they left their design and went back; but we landed without
on that mount _Carmelo_, to put out again in the night. This mountain
is very high and famous in Scripture; for we read in the third book of
the _Kings_, and the eighteenth chapter, that the holy Prophet _Elias_
call’d before him upon the hill the people of _Israel_, the four hundred
and fifty of _Baal_’s priests, and the four hundred of _Hayns_, to chide
them for their idolatery; where also God heard him, and consumed his
sacrifice by fire that came down from Heaven; but the priests of _Baal_
were not only not heard by their idols, but kill’d as idolaters near the
river _Kison_; and also in the fifth of the epistle of _James_; that
after the Heavens had been lock’d up for the space of three years and an
half, _Elias_ did pray to God on this mount, and the Lord heard him, and
let rain fall down upon the dry and barren earth. From this mountain,
the (presumed) holy order of the _Carmelites_ taketh it’s name, which
was first there endowed with several privileges by Pope _Innocent_ the
third, and _Albert_ the Patriarch of _Jerusalem_, in the year 1205; and
afterwards when they were encreased to a great number, under pretence of
greater holiness, confirmed by the name of _The Brothers of our Lady_,
by Pope _Honorius_ the third, in the year 1226. These pretend to be the
followers of the doctrine of _Cyrillus_, wear daily black girded coats,
and over them, when they say mass, white Monks habits. Some years ago
without doubt, have a great many of this order lived hereabouts, as still
to this day doth appear, by their cloisters and churches, which by age
are so mightily decay’d, that they are left deserted and uninhabited.
This mountain is also round about towards the sea-coast very bare and
rough, that we may very well say with the holy Prophet _Amos_, _That
the pastures of the herdsmen shall look miserably, and the top of the
mountain dry up_.
The town _Hayphe_ lieth at the bottom of the mount _Carmelo_, is pretty
large but very ill built, and the houses are so decay’d, that half of it
is not fit to be inhabited. _Salidinus_, King of the _Saracens_, who in
his time carry’d on long and heavy wars against the Christians, and was
almost hardly able to resist them, caused the walls of it, and also that
of _Cæsarea_ in _Palestina_, and others of less strength, to be pull’d
down, that his enemies might not find any place of reception against him.
Out of this port, as we were afterwards inform’d, was a little time
before taken away a pretty large and richly loaden ship by some pirates,
which vexed the inhabitants very much, and being that the Christians
chiefly were much suspected by them, they had a great desire to revenge
it upon them again; so that we, had not our master been very honest,
should have suffered for the loss they had sustain’d.
After we had lain there at anchor till after midnight, not without
danger, as you may imagine, our master made haste to get out to sea,
although it was very calm, in hopes to get good weather. After they had
wrought very hard, a good wind arose behind us towards the morning, and
drove us along, so that we got soon about, and pass’d the point of the
mountain, and saw the country on the other side, which was above on the
height so pleasant, green and shady, that there in a village resides a
_Turkish_ Sangiack for pleasure’s sake.
Nor far from thence lieth the castle of the Pilgrims in the sea, by the
inhabitants call’d _Altlit_, where most of them touch that take their way
through _Galilæa_ and _Nazareth_ to _Jerusalem_. This hath been in former
ages so well fortify’d with walls and bastions, that it was thought to be
impregnable; but now it is on two sides towards the sea so demolish’d and
destroy’d, that one may very reasonably guess, that it hath been formerly
taken by storm.
The wind still encreasing more and more, we went on with such a
swiftness, that although two little ships pursued us towards morning,
yet they were forced to leave us, and so we soon passed the castle, and
came towards _Dor_, three leagues distance from thence; it lieth near
mount _Carmel_ in the country of _Phœnecia_, as _Josephus_ testifieth;
and it is so decay’d that there is nothing more extant than a large and
high tower, which the inhabitants still call _Dortaite_. In this country
when the Jews took _Canaan_ the Land of Promise, they let the inhabitants
remain, as you may read in the first chapter of the _Judges_.
At a leagues distance from thence, you see the ancient and famous town
_Cæsaria_ of _Palestine_, situated by the sea on a high bank, which King
_Herod_ did renew; and call’d it after the Emperor _Cæsarea_, which still
to this day, among the _Turks_ and _Moors_, retaineth it’s ancient name
_Kæsarie_. In this town did live the pious centurian _Cornelius_, who
was baptized there with his whole family by _Peter_ the Apostle, who was
call’d thither from the town _Joppe_. There did also live _Philip_ the
Evangelist, one of the seven Deacons, into whose house the holy Apostle
_Paul_ did go, and staid there some days; where also the Prophet _Agabus_
did foretel him, That he was to be made a prisoner at _Jerusalem_. Now
although this town in those days was very well built, as one may still
see by the important and stately antiquities that are still remaining
there, yet now in our times it is in walls and buildings so mightily
decay’d, that it is hardly fit to be inhabited, much less to be defended,
or to make any resistance. And for all that it is still pretty large, but
so lonesome and so depopulated, that we could hardly see any body in the
large and broad streets thereof as we passed by.
For some leagues before, or about it, I saw nothing remarkable, only a
_Turkish_ Mosque, or church, in the height upon a hilly shore, where they
meet to worship _Mahomet_.
When the evening broke in, we had still ten leagues to sail to the port
or harbour of _Joppe_, where the pilgrims use to go ashore to travel by
land to _Jerusalem_, yet the wind drove us on with such a force, that we
got into it two hours after sun-set.
CHAP. II.
_A short relation of my travels by land from the harbour of ~Joppe~, to
the city of ~Jerusalem~._
In the morning early as soon as the day did appear, which was the
thirteenth day of _September_ 1575, we got on shore, and dispatch’d
immediately some to the town of _Rama_, two leagues distant from thence,
to get us a safe conduct or pass, from the Sangiack, and to bring along
with them some Mockeri, or ass-driving carriers, to provide us carriage
to _Jerusalem_. In the mean while we stay’d upon the high rocky shore,
where the town _Joppe_ did stand formerly, which at this time was so
demolish’d that there was not one house to be found, where the pilgrims
at their arrival could shelter themselves, save only three large vaults,
which went very deep into the hill, and extended themselves towards the
sea. Into these are sometimes the Pilgrims let in, but being that at that
time, a great deal of corn was laid up there, whereunto they still daily
added, on purpose to supply _Constantinople_ during the scarcity, it was
forbidden that any body should be let in.
The town _Joppe_, by the inhabitants call’d _Japha_, is by it’s old
name very well known to us, by the books of the Prophets and Apostles,
_&c._ where we read, That the Prophet _Jonas_, when the Lord bid him to
preach to the _Ninevites_ desolation and destruction, for fear did retire
thither, and there took ship, where he was thrown out into the seas in
the great storm and tempest, and swallow’d up by a great fish; and after
he had been there for three days and nights he was vomited out again.
And we read also in the _Acts of the Apostles_, in the ninth and tenth
chapter, from _Peter_ the Apostle, That he lay, or tarry’d, for a while
at the house of _Simon_ the Tanner, where he raised the sister _Tabitha_
from the dead, _&c._
_Joppe_ at that time was very well built and fortify’d, which doth
appear, because a good many of the Jews did, at the time of the
desolation of _Jerusalem_, retire thither, to defend themselves against
the might of the _Romans_, although it was but in vain; for being that
the time of the punishment, that was to befall them, was at hand, the
city therefore was two several times one after another, besieged and
taken, and demolish’d, and as _Josephus_ testifieth, about 12600 Jews
were kill’d in it. We also read, That after the time of _Gotfrid de
Boullion_, when the Christians lost again the Land of Promise, that
then this town was also retaken again by the infidels, and razed to the
foundations; so that now there are no antiquities at all to be seen. And
I should have doubted very much whether there did ever stand such a town
there, had I not seen some large pieces of the ancient town walls still
remaining, which are so near to the sea, that there is hardly room to go
at the outside of them.
Hard by this I suppose was the habitation of _Simon_ the Tanner, where
_Peter_ sojourn’d, because the Evangelist St _Luke_ saith, That it was
near to the sea shore.
Above it on the height stand two towers, where some watchmen attend to
look after the vaults and ships in the harbour, that they may not be
assaulted by the pirates; this harbour, although it is surrounded with
rocks and banks, yet it is but very slightly secured, and very narrow and
shallow, so that ships of any great bulk or heavy laden, cannot ride in
it.
Near to them groweth the _Hemerocallis_, which I have also found about
_Montpelier_ and _Aigemort_ near to the sea. And also in the adjacent
moist and mashy meadows, I found a delicate kind of _Limonium_ which
hath about ten or twelve _Aspleniun_ or _Cetarach_ leaves on both sides;
these proceed from a long root of a brown colour without, and red within;
between them sprout out two three-square stalks, about a cubit high, with
a great many joints, that have three long small leaves, and are adorn’d
at the top with beautiful and stately blue and purple colour’d flowers;
they are of a drying nature, and the inhabitants use to eat them in
sallads.
Presently after dinner our men return’d, and brought along with them
the pass and the carriers; our master of the ship left some of the crew
in his _Caramusala_ to look after it in our absence; we mounted and
went away, and came soon into the plain fields where _Jonathas_, slew
_Apollonius_ the Captain, as is said in the first of _Maccabees_ the
tenth chapter.
Soon after we saw a pleasant village call’d _Jasura_, and when we came
a little nearer, a camp of a great _Turkish_ Lord, who sent (as soon
as he espy’d us on the road, and found that we were pilgrims) some of
his men to us, to call us before him, and also to tell us, That he was
one of them to whom the Grand Sultan had given charge of the Temple and
the mount _Calvaria_, with strict order to let no Pilgrim in before
they had paid a certain sum of money. So we went along with them, and
appeared before him in his tent, put our right hand on our breast,
bended ourselves forwards, and made him, according to their custom, his
compliments. After he had look’d upon us for a great while, he bid his
men to receive the money of us; so each of us paid him nine ducats that
had their full weight, except the _Grecian_ who paid only five, and at
their request we staid with them all night, because their master intended
to send a Janizary with us the next day, to let us into the temple. This
Lord, who was an Eunuch, had a great many offices; for in these countries
they are by the great ones, as Bashaws, Sangiacks, Cadees, _&c._ so much
esteem’d, that in their absence they make them stewards over all their
goods and chattels, wives and children, _&c._
At that time he was there to gather great quantity of corn from these
fruitful countries, it being harvest time, and to send it from thence to
_Joppe_, to go by sea for _Constantinople_.
After midnight we mounted again, and came early in the morning to the
town _Rama_, and went into the house of the pilgrims, which _Philip_
Duke of _Burgundy_ bought, and gave it to the Pilgrims as their inn.
This is very large, and hath a great many arched chambers within, and
a fine well; within the inner court is a pretty large place, all grown
over with green Aloës, the juice whereof is brought over to us in large
pieces, from the eastern countries, and is very useful in many tedious
distempers; _Nicodemus_ did also bring with him, together with myrrh, to
the quantity of one hundred pounds, to the grave of _Christ_ our Lord,
to bury his body decently according to the Jewish fashion, as you may
read in the nineteenth chapter of St _John_. Here we staid almost three
days, and had all along enough to do to agree with the Cadi, Subashaw,
Clerks, Janizaries and Paityfs, _&c._ about our free passage; so unjust,
malicious, and infidel a people are they, that one would hardly believe
it.
The town is situated on an ascent in plain fields, as is before said,
which extend themselves for two leagues to the hill of the city of
_Jerusalem_. These fields are very fruitful, and very well till’d
and sown with corn, cotton, and _Indian_ millet. Hereabouts do also
grow _Indian_ muskmelions in great quantity, by the _Arabians_ call’d
_Batiere_, which are very pleasant and well tasted, chiefly those that
are red within; so that in all my travels I hardly met with the like.
The town is pretty large, but very open like unto a village, very
pitifully built, where one may still see here and there some signs of old
building.
From thence northwards within half a league lieth the town _Diospolis_,
formerly call’d _Lidda_, where _Peter_ did visit the Saints, and cured
one named _Æneas_, that had had a palsie for eight years. Nothing else is
to be seen there, but the church of St _George_, whom the _Turks_ chiefly
honour, as a Knight and _Hero_, before all other Saints. After they had
quite tired us, during this time, with their continual impertinencies, we
agreed with them, and went away early in the morning, and came in good
time over the plain, to the mountain of the city of _Jerusalem_, to which
we had still four leagues to travel. By the way there appeared presently
on the mountains several _Arabians_, and ran before us in great clusters
to cut us off in our way, with such violence, that we were almost forced
to come to our defence, and to push our way through them by force; for
our Janizaries had already flung their iron club into the backside of
one of them, and had almost spoil’d him. When they found us to be in
earnest, they took something to drink of us and let us alone. So we must,
before we arrived at the old destroy’d and ruinated _Jerusalem_ (where
there is no joy nor hopes to get any thing, as is in the Heavenly one)
soon one after another pay them, just like boys that have lost their game
and run the gauntlet.
After we had endured all these brushes we went on, and came to the middle
of the way of the mountains, where it was very rough and stony, into a
small village call’d _Anatoth_, lying on a height, where we rested a
little, and water’d our beasts at a very rich spring, that runs through
it by an ancient little church down the hill; this is situated (as
_Josephus_ writes in his tenth book and tenth chapter of his Antiquities,
or Ancient History) within twenty furlongs of _Jerusalem_. There was born
the holy Prophet _Jeremiah_, as you may see in his first chapter; and it
is also call’d by _Esaiah_ a pitiful village, which, together with the
town _Rama_, did formerly belong to the inheritance of the children of
_Benjamin_. Thither went also _Abiathar_, when King _Salomon_ did depose
or exclude him from his priesthood, to live on his own ground. A little
before it they shew’d us at the top of the height of _Silo_, of mount
_Ephraim_, some relicts of the grave of the Holy Prophet _Samuel_, where
we could look about for several leagues round, which was of _Ramatha_,
or _Arimathea_, as also _Joseph_ the Just, who helped to take _Christ_
down from the cross, and did put him into his own new grave. The town was
underneath the mountain where the Prophet _Samuel_ was buried at first,
but carry’d up to _Silo_, after the town was taken.
Just when you come to _Jerusalem_, _Nicopolis_ lieth on the left hand
upon the height, formerly call’d _Emmaus_, from _Jerusalem_ threescore
furlongs distant, as the Scripture telleth us; whither _Christ_ did
accompany the two disciples, and explained the Scriptures to them, and at
last made himself known to them. We left it and went up to _Jerusalem_,
which is now call’d _Gotz_ by the _Arabians_ and _Turks_. The road is
very rough and rocky; so that we saw very little, but on each side in the
valleys many delicate large olive-trees, and some few vineyards.
The city lieth on the height of the mountains, as the 125th Psalm
testifieth. It is not to be seen, until you come over the bare and rough
mountains intercepting the prospect of it on this side.
Just before it without on the top of mount _Gihon_, are to be seen still
some antiquities of the town _Helia_, which _Adrian_ the Emperor built
after the desolation of _Jerusalem_, and called it after his own name
_Helia_. This was first taken by _Cosroë_, King of _Persia_, in the time
of the Emperor _Heraclius_ who did overcome him again, and afterwards by
_Homar_ the third King of the _Saracens_, who demolish’d it; afterwards
it was more contracted, and somewhat built again in it’s old place. In
these days it is, as well as all that country, under the dominion of the
_Turkish_ Emperor.
Before it we dismounted, for no outlandish man hath permission to ride
into their towns, and went under the gate _Hebron_, to stay there for the
Father Guardian, to whom we had by one of our carriers given notice of
our arrival, and also desired him to get us license from the Sangiack to
come in. In the mean time some Mendicant Friars came out of the monastry,
and received us very kindly. Soon after the Ermin came also riding with
his clerk, and ask’d us from whence we came, how many there were of us,
and what our names were. And after they had written it down, and every
one had paid him his due, to have safe conduct to see the holy places,
the Ermin promised it us, and put his right hand upon his head, which is
the fashion in these countries, and bended forwards to let us know that
we might confide in his promise. Then they let us pass, and the Friars
conducted us in, towards the left hand, through some small streets or
lanes into the monastry, which is behind on the town-wall towards the
west.
This although it is not large and spacious, yet is it very handsome and
strong built; we went into lodge there as all Pilgrims do that come
there, where Father _Jeremy_ of _Brixen_, a brother of the order of the
_Minorites_ of St _Francis_, a Guardian of the holy mount _Zion_, who
had been president of this monastry of _Jerusalem_, and of the other of
_Bethlehem_ for eighteen years together, received us very kindly. There
are but very few Monks in it, and they are of all sorts of nations, as
_Italians_, _Spaniards_, _French_, and _Germans_, yet of the last named
I found not one when I arrived there. These lead the Pilgrims about,
together with an interpreter or _Truschemant_, that understands the
_Arabian_ and _Turkish_ language, and shew them the holy places as well
within as without the city. But before we went out the Father Guardian
admonish’d us, that we must have a care, and not go to the graves of the
heathens, which are almost throughout _Turkey_ without the towns near to
the highways; for if one or more should, before he was aware of it, which
may easily happen, go to them, the _Turks_ would be very much offended
at it, partly because they take any one that is not circumcised to be
unclean, and so they fear that they might make them also unclean; partly
because they are very jealous of their wives, wherefore they permit them
not easily to walk or appear in the open street, except they have a mind
to go into the bath or bagnio, or to visit the graves of their deceased
parents or relations; and where women are present, every one had best to
come away, to avoid danger.
After he had said this he went on, saying, That if any should be among
us, that were come over the sea, hither, that could not bring very good
proof, that they did appear before his Holiness the Pope at _Rome_,
and were there absolved by him, that such were in his Holiness’s
excommunication, and therefore could not be admitted to see those holy
places, much less obtain the indulgences, which in former ages had been
left with them, out of great kindness of the Popes, to be distributed
among the Pilgrims, wherefore he desired, that every one might shew
him their certificates. All these points he used to propound to every
one that cometh there, in course, as I had heard before of several
that had been there formerly; that they were very glad to see Pilgrims
arrive, and that they used to shew the holy places to them also that
bring no recommendation from his Holiness the Pope, hoping that they
will recompense them at their departure. Wherefore I did not much mind
this excommunication, but let that remain in it’s ancient credit; but
my comrades, two whereof were Priests that used to say mass, were very
much astonish’d at it, and full of trouble, that they should be under his
Holiness’s excommunication before they were aware of it; wherefore they
began to excuse themselves, and said, That they did not know any thing
of it, neither had they had any opportunity in their travels to come to
_Rome_; but although this had been omitted before their arrival, yet
they would certainly do it as they went back. Notwithstanding all this
the Guardian seem’d to be very earnest, and made shew as if he could not
absolve them; yet at last, after he had long enough kept them in this
fear, he began to declare, that he had also received full power from his
Holiness, and the whole _Roman Catholic_ church, to absolve all those
that did not bring any certificates. And so at last absolved us in the
cloisters of his monastry in _Latin_ with these words: _I absolve you of
all your sins in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost._
And with this he concluded his speech.
[Illustration]
CHAP. III.
_A plain description of the city of ~Jerusalem~, as it was to be seen in
our time; and of the adjacent countries._
The glorious and kingly city of _Jerusalem_ (which formerly the
_Saracens_ called _Kurzitadon_, but now is named _Chutz_ by the
inhabitants) is still situated in the old place, in the middle of _Judea_
on the high mountains, and as the head is extolled above the rest; which
may be concluded, partly because from thence you may see all the country
as from a center, partly also because the springs rise here, and so run
down, as from a higher place, every way and to every part thereof; as
the holy Prophet _Ezekiel_ doth testify in his fourteenth chapter, where
he saith; _That at that time fresh streams shall flow from Jerusalem,
half thereof to the sea toward the east, and the other half towards the
farthest sea_. There are also many other places of Scripture that[4]
testify the high situation of _Jerusalem_, as in the eighth chapter of
the _Acts_, verse 26. where the angel of the Lord spake unto _Phillip_,
saying, _Arise and go towards the south, unto the way that goeth down
from Jerusalem unto Gaza_, &c. And in the tenth chapter of St _Mark_,
and the thirty-second verse, _And they were in the way going up to
Jerusalem_. And the tenth chapter of St _Luke_, verse 30. _A certain man
went down from Jerusalem to Jericho._ And verse 31. _And by chance there
came down a certain priest that way_, &c.
The situation of _Jericho_, together with the great plains thereabout,
through which the river _Jordan_ runs from the north towards the south,
together with the Dead-sea, where formerly _Sodom_ and _Gomorrah_
stood, you see from the town, over a barren hill below, so plainly,
that one would think we might go thither with ease in three hours,
and yet it would require a whole day’s journey. Beyond the river that
separateth _Arabia_ from _Judæa_, lie the high hills _Abarim_ and _Nebo_,
over-against _Jericho_, whence _Moses_, (as is said, _Deuteronomy_ the
32d and 34th chapters) had a full prospect of the land of _Canaan_,
promised to _Abraham_, _Isaac_ and _Jacob_; one may see them thence
so plainly, as also the mount _Seir_, which toucheth them beyond the
Dead-sea in the land of the _Moabites_ and _Ammonites_, that one would
also think they were very near.
They bring yearly a vast quantity of sheep to _Jerusalem_ from off the
mountains, which feeding upon the fragrant, delicate and hearty herbs
that grow there, have meat that tastes very pleasantly, the tails thereof
are very fat, above half a span thick, and one and a half broad and
long. The Levetical Priest (as we read in _Leviticus_ the ninth chapter,
and other places) used to burn this together with all the fat of the
entrails, and the two kidneys for a sin-offering.
There are also goats, with hanging ears almost two foot long. And
therefore some _Arabians_, called _Balduini_, keep in the desarts, that
have no certain abode, but lie continually in the fields, and go from
country to country in great numbers, wheresoever they find good pasture
for their beasts and camels. I have met with many of them in my travels,
and have some time staid with them all night in their tents, they are
commonly soldiers armed usually with bows and long pikes made of cane, as
the other _Arabians_, and because of their nimbleness and courage they
are very much preferred before the rest.
This Holy Land (which, according to the promise made to the Patriarchs,
was for many years in the possession of the _Israelites_) was, as you
read in _Deuteronomy_ chap. viii. a most fruitful and rich country,
abounding with corn, fruits, wine, and all that is required to the
maintenance of man’s life. So the Lord himself saith, _That he will
give them a land, that still floweth with milk and honey_. For it hath
rich valleys, hills, fields and gardens, richly adorned with fountains
and trees, so that it was very well chosen to be the worldly Paradise,
wherein _Adam_ and _Eve_ did live, honour and serve God. Now as the
land in it’s goodness surpassed other lands, so did _Jerusalem_ excel
all other cities in building, glory, fortification, and number of
inhabitants. Moreover God visited the _Israelites_ from the beginning,
and had a house built in this city for himself, which he chose before all
others to sanctify his name there. And above all this he provided them
with High Priests, Kings and Prophets, until God the Father did send his
only begotten Son, our Lord _Jesus Christ_ in the flesh, to reveal to
them his will with teaching and miracles.
But when they would not acknowledge his merciful visitation, nor receive
his messengers, but did rather abuse, ridicule, and kill them, rejected
the Lord of Glory himself, and adhered to, and adored strange Gods and
served them; God did reject and disperse them among the heathens, burnt
and destroyed their city and temple, and reduced their fruitful country
into barren desarts and a desolate wilderness, and so the punishment
came upon them, which the holy Prophet _Esaiah_ did foretel them in the
thirteenth chapter, and ninth verse, saying, _Behold the day of the Lord
cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate;
and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it_. And further in the
twenty-fifth chapter, and second verse, _Thou hast made of a city a
heap; of a defenced city a ruin; a place of strangers to be no city, it
shall never be built_. And _Daniel_ also maketh mention of this in his
ninth chapter, _&c._ This ought to serve us and all men as an example
of the fervent anger of God, to be a warning to us for ever. For if of
the glorious city of _Jerusalem_, which God had chosen before others,
and of it’s vast buildings that made her famous before her desolation,
there is at this day nothing at all to be seen, so that one might very
well doubt whether it ever stood there, were it not for some holy places
and it’s situation, that give us demonstration thereof. If I say this
worldly _Jerusalem_, because of it’s unbelieving inhabitants, that would
not acknowledge the Blessed _Messias_, nor adhere to his doctrine to
their salvation, is quite rooted out; and instead thereof, the way of
the heavenly _Jerusalem_ opened to us heathens by the holy apostles:
_How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?_ This way to our
Lord _Christ_, hath for many years past been shewed us sincerely by the
ministers of the holy word of God, but we do not only not much care for
it, but seek rather other by-ways, that lead us to idolatry, sin and
vices, nay, to our utter ruin. Wherefore it is to be feared, that if
we do not repent in time, and return to God again, that he will come
upon us with his wrath (as he hath already begun) and deliver us up
into the hands of our adversaries, that we may fall by their swords (as
_Ezekiel_ doth threaten us in his thirty-ninth chapter) and to punish
us according to the deserts of our sins. Wherefore we ought to lay to
heart the terrible example of the _Jews_, and turn from our evil ways,
that we may avoid the punishments that befel them. We see that those who
were formerly the people of God, are now come to be so blind, and full
of errors, and of so depraved a life, that there is hardly any like them
to be found even among the infidels and impious. Wherefore they are by
all men despised and hated, chiefly by the _Turks_ (who hate them more
than any other nation) so that they would not let them live among them,
if the _Turkish_ Emperor had not for a great sum of money given them a
peculiar freedom. And besides all this, now-a-days, their towns and
countries are inhabited by _Turks_, _Moors_, and _Arabians_, that do not
love to till or cultivate the ground, but will rather starve than take
pains to get a good livelihood by their hand-labour. And although the
country about _Jerusalem_ is very rocky, rough, stony, and ill managed,
yet notwithstanding they will not endeavour to mend and improve it, but
find out the fruitful lands that are here and there, and over-run the
country like grashoppers, so that you may observe it yearly to decay more
and more. Seeing then that there is but little tillage about the city,
therefore the product of the earth there is but very small, so that they
must have almost all necessaries brought them from other places.
The town of _Jerusalem_ which is still pretty large; but very ill built,
hath within it’s wall, which the _Turkish_ Emperor caused to be built
about twenty years ago, large places that lie desolated, and are so full
of stones and rocks, that one can hardly walk in them. The gardens (even
those that are within the city, and are but ill managed) are surrounded
with mud walls, not above four foot high, so that one may climb over them
without any difficulty. These are washed down again by rain in a very
little time, so that they want mending continually.
Their habitations are also little and low, have clay walls, and many
of them are decayed, some lie quite in a heap. The churches of the two
Apostles, that of St _John_ and St _Peter_, are in the same condition, as
also the prison where St _Peter_ was kept, the habitation of _Veronica_,
which the Cordeliers shew us for them, and a great many places more. In
some streets chiefly near to their _Batzar_, or exchange, are very old
vaults, part whereof are decayed and broken, part filled up with dust,
which runs out into the streets; wherefore (chiefly in the summer) the
dust lieth so thick in them, that you may see every step in it, as in
snow or sand.
All which sheweth, that the _Turks_ destroy or ruin more than they
build; wherefore they are deservedly called _Turks_, that is to say,
_destroyers_. The present town, as to the extent of it’s walls, is not
much less than the old one was, wherefore one should admire, considering
how it is built now, how it was possible it should hold so many people as
it is said were in it at the time of it’s desolation, _viz._ a million
of men, or as _Josephus_ and _Eusebius_ say, three millions. _Jerusalem_
was formerly surrounded with very steep cliffs, deep ditches and vallies,
chiefly on three sides towards the south, east and west, so that one
could not easily get up to it but only on the north side, where the town
was low, lying in a plain; therefore did _Titus_ first attack it in a
place near the village called _Scapas_, seven miles distant from it,
and afterward advanced and took it; which the holy Prophet _Jeremiah_
did foretel many years before, in the first chapter and twelfth verse,
saying, _Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the
inhabitants of the land_.
These ditches and vallies are now quite filled up with the ruins of the
broken walls and buildings, so that one may go into the town, as into
an open village, without any hinderance or pain. But when the Grand
Signior, after he had taken it, saw that the town was open, and that
the Christian Pilgrims came thither in great numbers from all places
and countries, he feared that they might make themselves masters of it
again, as they had done some years agone, wherefore he ordered it to be
surrounded again with new walls, which although they are very high, yet
they are so thin and slight, that they are not able to withstand the
least violence. But as the town was anciently built four square, so it is
now built more round, chiefly towards mount _Calvaria_, which formerly
was without the town, but now is walled in; so that you may still see two
corners, one whereof is towards _Galilee_, where the gate of that corner
is which is still open, and almost one of the handsomest, through which
you go to _Nazareth_, distant three days journey; as also to _Cæsarea
Philippi_, which is now called _Balbec_, where still are to be seen some
very fine antiquities; and also towards _Damascus_, which is six days
journey distant from _Jerusalem_, and from thence six days journey more
to _Aleppo_, the greatest town for trade in all _Syria_. _Jeremiah_
maketh mention of this gate in his 31st chapter and the 38th verse.
_Behold the days come saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the
Lord, from the town of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner._ And also
_Zacharias_, in his 14th chapter, and in the 2d book of _Chronicles_,
the 26th chapter, and 9th verse: It is said _Uzzia_ built towers in
_Jerusalem_ at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, _&c._ The second
corner mount _Zion_ maketh, where it doth end toward the south, whereon,
as also on the mount _Moria_, the city is rising towards the north. The
old city had twelve gates, as you read in the _Revelation_. The 1st,
the _Fish-gate_, which was also called the gate of _Hebron_, because
the road of _Hebron_ went through it, which is about seven or eight
hours walking distant from it. 2. The _Old-Gate_. 3. The _Prison Gate_,
whereof _Nehemiah_ maketh mention in his 12th chapter, through which
our Saviour Christ carried his cross. 4. _Rayn-Gate._ 5. The Gate of
_Ephraim_, before which St _Stephen_ was stoned to death, as you may read
in the 2d book of the _Ecclesiastical History_ in the 1st chapter. 6.
The Gate of _Benjamin_, where the holy Prophet _Jeremiah_ was taken and
imprisoned, as he saith himself in the 37th chapter. 7. _Corner-Gate._ 8.
_Horse-Gate._ 9. _Valley-Gate_, thro’ which they went into the valley of
_Josaphat_. 10. _Dung-Gate_, through which the water carried out all the
soil into the valley of _Josaphat_; and about this river is still to this
day a great stink. 11. _Sheep-Gate._ 12. _Fountain-Gate_, which is now
walled up. The Prophet _Nehemiah_ maketh mention of them in his 3d, 8th,
and 12th chapter, so that it is not needful to say any more. These gates
are so mightily decayed, that there is not to be seen the least of the
old buildings. The _Turks_ have instead of them, built others in the new
raised wall, but yet not half so many in number, whereof some (according
as the town is inlarged in some places, and contracted in others) are
displaced; others are erected again in the same places, according to
the old streets, _viz._ 1. The _Fish-Gate_, which is still standing
towards the west behind mount _Sion_, and over-against mount _Gihon_,
as you may conclude out of the words of the 2d book of _Chronicles_ in
the 33d chapter and 14th verse. _Manasses_ built a wall without the city
of _David_, on the west side of _Gihon_, in the valley, even to the
entring in at the _Fish-Gate_. This gate hath it’s name, because they
brought many fishes from the sea side through this gate into the city.
So is also still standing, on the outside of the valley _Tiropæon_(which
distinguished the two mounts, _Sion_, and the temple mount called
_Moriah_) the gate of the fountain, which hath it’s name because it
leadeth towards the fountain of _Siloah_, which _Nehemiah_ his 2d
chapter, verse 14. calleth the _King’s Pool_. Through this was our dear
Lord _Christ_, the true promised _Siloah_, brought a prisoner bound from
the mount of _Olives_ over the brook _Kidron_, into the house of _Hannas_
and _Caiphas_ in the upper town, as we read in the 12th chapter, verse
37, that by the _Fountain-Gate_ they went up to the city of _David_. The
same way also the two disciples, _Peter_ and _John_, were sent to bespeak
the paschal lamb by _Christ_, where they met the man with the pitcher of
water.
The _Sheep_, or _Beast-Gate_, is also still standing by _Moriah_, the
mountain of the temple, which the _Turks_ have taken to themselves, and
have built on it a _Turkish_ mosque, or temple, because that God Almighty
hath done many and great miracles on this mount; and besides _Mahomet_
did find himself again on this mount, after he had been carried up (as
his lying writings tell us) through the heavens before God by the angel
_Gabriel_. Wherefore they take this mount to be holy, so that none that
is not circumcised and so unclean, dare approach or come near it, nor
take the nearest way without over the height of the mount as _Nehemiah_
did, as you may see in the before quoted place; so that the Christians
must take a farther way about, and from the gate _Siloah_, go below
through the valley of the brook _Cedron_, between this and the mount of
_Olives_ to the _Beast-Gate_, which hath it’s name because the beasts
that were to be offerr’d in the temple were driven through it.
Near the gate you see still the sheep pond, which is large and deep,
yet hath but little water in it, wherein the _Nathineens_ used to wash
the beasts, and then to give them to the priests. And also immediately
within towards the north, a conduit, which was the pool by St _John_
the Evangelist (in the 2d verse of his 5th chapter) called _Bathesda_,
erected by King _Ezechia_; _that had five porches, wherein lay a great
multitude of impotent folk, that waited for the moving of the water_.
Through this gate is the straight way over the brook _Cedron_, by the
mount of _Olives_ toward _Bethania_, down to _Jericho_ on the river
_Jordan_, into the valley of _Josaphat_, wherefore this also, being
nearer now in these days, is called the _Valley-Gate_.
There is also still the _Corner-Gate_ in it’s old place, where the north
and east walls meet on large and high rocks, and is called still by some
the gate of _Napthali_.
This I thought convenient to say of the city of _Jerusalem_ in the
general of it’s buildings, fruitfulness, and adjacent countries; what
famous and holy places are within and without the city, thereof I intend
to treat in particular.
[Illustration]
CHAP. IV.
_Of Mount ~Sion~, and it’s Holy Places._
Mount _Sion_, very famous in holy Scripture, hath round about it steep
sides, high rocks, deep ditches and vallies, so that it is not easy to
climb up to it, only on one side towards the north, where it buts upon
the lower town, so that the castle and town of _David_ situated on it,
was very strong, and almost invincible, as you may read in the 48th
Psalm, verse 2. _The joy of the whole earth is mount Sion, on the sides
of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her places for
a refuge, for the Kings were assembled_, &c. Seeing then that the castle,
and the upper town _Millo_ was so well fortified with towers and walls,
that it was not easily to be taken, the _Jebusites_, after that _Canaan_
the whole Land of Promise, together with the town of _Jerusalem_ was
taken, did defend themselves in it against the whole force of _Israel_
for a long time, although they often attempted to take it, and called the
town of _Jerusalem_ after their name _Jebus_, until the kingly Prophet
_David_ came, who took it by force; and after he had rebuilt the upper
town, and joined the castle with it into one building, and surrounded it
with walls, he called it after his own name, The city of _David_, and
kept his court there, and gave also lodgings to his hero’s and officers,
whereof _Uriah_ was one, who had his lodgings near to the King’s
palace, wherein the King walking on the roof of his house, saw the fair
_Bathsheba_ his wife, and committed adultery with her.
These their habitations, as they are still built in these days, have
instead of thatch or tiles, plaistered roofs, so that one may walk on
them, as you may see here, that King _David_ walked on it. And also in
the second chapter of the book of _Joshua_, where is said, That when
the two spies sent into the Land of Promise to _Jericho_, came into
_Rahab_’s house, and the King sent to search after them, they went at her
request up to the roof of the house, where she hid them with the stalks
of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. But seeing there
is nothing so strong in this world that is not transitory, therefore
is also this worldly mount _Zion_, together with it’s strong building
and fortification (which was rather a type of the true rock in _Zion_,
_Christ_ our Lord, and his heavenly kingdom and holy church that was
built thereon) so ruined and desolated, that the greatest and highest
part thereof before the town, except a _Turkish_ mosque, some tile
houses and a few acres of it, lieth quite a desart, covered with rocks
and stones. So it is come to pass, what _Micah_ in his third chapter and
the twelfth verse predicted: ‘Therefore shall _Zion_ for your sake be
plowed as a field, and _Jerusalem_ shall become heaps, and the mountain
of the house, as the high places of the forest.’ And _Jeremiah_ in his
_Lamentations_, chap. 5. verse 18. saith, ‘The mountain of _Zion_ which
is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.’ And _Isaiah_ in his thirty-second
chapter, verse 14. ‘The palaces shall be forsaken, the multitude of the
city shall be left, the forts and towns shall be dens for ever, a joy of
wild asses, a pasture of flocks.’
The great castle of the _Turks_ is situated at the top of the inward
part of the mount, towards the west side near the _Fish-Gate_, which is
also newly built, and very well surrounded with walls and ditches; under
the gate are several great guns to frighten the Christians that come
thither in great flocks, chiefly against great feasts from all nations,
_Armenians_, _Georgians_, _Abyssins_, _Latinists_, &c. for they fear that
else the town might be taken from them again.
Within the fort near the _Fish-Gate_, is still a strong high tower, built
up with great free-stone, which is quite black through age; wherefore
some say, that it did anciently belong to the fort, and was built by one
of the Kings of _Juda_.
So much I thought convenient to mention of mount _Zion_, concerning other
famous places that are to be seen upon and about it, I will only mention
the chiefest thereof.
First, As you go out of the _New-Gate_ of mount _Zion_, there is a long
street wherein on the left hand is an ancient church, of the holy Apostle
_James_ the Greater, brother of _John_, which _Helena_ the mother of
_Constantine_ the Emperor, as also many more did build on the market
place of the upper city where he was beheaded. The _Armenians_ that have
possession thereof, did conduct us into it, shewed us the building, and
the place where the holy Apostle was beheaded with the sword (as you read
in the _Acts of the Apostles_, the twelfth chapter) by order of _Herod
Agrippa_, to whom he was delivered out of spite, as a seditious person,
by the High Priest _Abiathar_.
Then we came to the place of the habitation of _Hannas_, whereto _Christ_
our Lord was first of all brought a prisoner and bound, or fetter’d,
wherein was nothing observable, only a large court, and in it an old
chapel, called the _Angels_, which we soon left, and went out of the
gate of mount _Zion_ to the habitation of _Caiaphas_, where we saw an
orange tree planted in the place where the holy apostle _Peter_ did
warm himself when he denied our Saviour the third time; farther within
a chapel, called St _Salvators_, where, in former ages was the place
of the High Priest, where _Christ_ was severely accused by _Caiaphas_,
and by his servants mocked, spit upon, and beaten; wherein is an altar,
whereon the great stone of the grave still lieth, that stopped the door
of the sepulchre, which is very like unto the rock of the grave in
it’s breaking. That the habitation of the High Priest was in the upper
city, _Josephus_ does testify in the seventeenth chapter of his second
book of the _Desolation_ of _Jerusalem_, where he saith thus: ‘When the
rebellious _Jews_, that had the lower town in possession with the temple,
did undertake to possess themselves also of the upper town, they did
assault it with all might and power, and at last take it; then they drove
out the soldiers, which had the chief priests and men in power with
them, out of the upper town, set the habitation of _Ananias_ the High
Priest on fire and burnt it.’
Before this, on the top of the mount, stands on the plain a large church,
which the _Franciscan_ monks had not long ago in possession, and lived in
it, wherefore their father did call himself a Guardian of the holy mount
_Zion_. But after that the _Turks_ did about twenty years agon possess
themselves of it, and kept it to themselves, and made a _Mahometan_
mosque of it; the monks were forced to fly, and take the habitation where
they now live instead thereof.
Of this church or mosque, we saw only the outside of the habitation of
_Caiaphas_, for no Christian is allowed to go into it. It was built
many years agone by _Helena_, mother of _Constantine_ the Emperor, as
_Nicephorus_ testifieth in the thirtieth chapter of his eighth book;
wherein is also included the habitation the Disciples were lock’d up in
for fear of the _Jews_; and also the paved dining room, or hall, wherein
_Christ_ with his Disciples did eat the Passover; where he also washed
their feet, and sent the Holy Ghost after his ascension to them; where
also _James_[5] the _Lesser_ was elected Overseer, and first Bishop of
_Jerusalem_. In this temple, which is above a thousand paces distant
from _Golgotha_, or the place of a skull, was, for some time kept the
stone pillar, whereto _Christ_ our Lord and Saviour was tied and whipped.
Near unto this, in the place of the palace of _Caiaphas_, the same Queen
_Helena_ ordered a church to be built for the holy Apostle _Peter_, and
many more, whereof mention is made at large in the above quoted place.
This mount extendeth itself towards the south, out before the city, and
hath on the other side where it is highest, other higher ones about
it, distinguished with ditches and vallies, viz. towards the west
mount _Gihon_, at the bottom whereof _Solomon_ was anointed King by
the Priest _Zadock_ and the Prophet _Nathan_, as we read in the first
chapter of the first book of _Kings_; upon this, at the top towards the
road of _Bethlehem_, lieth the field of blood, in their language called
_Hakeldemas_, that was bought for thirty silver pieces to bury the
pilgrims there, where you see still to this day here and there large and
deep holes, and one among the rest very big, wherein are still to be seen
several whole bodies lying by one another.
A deep valley separates this mount from mount _Zion_, which beginneth at
the _Fish-Gate_, and goeth down to the brook _Cedron_; in it is a conduit
by the upper pool called _Asuia_ in the third chapter of _Nehemiah_,
which is pretty large, yet without any water, which receiveth it’s water
from the high spring of _Gihon_, this was covered by King _Hezekias_,
and laid down to the town of _David_, as we read in the second book of
_Chronicles_, chap. 32. The holy Prophet _Isaiah_, chap. 7. verse 3.
mentioneth it, when the Lord saith to him; ‘Go forth now to meet _Ahaz_,
thou and _Shearjashub_ thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper
pool, in the path of the fullers field, _&c._’ And in the fourth book
of _Kings_, in the eighteenth chapter, verse seventeen: ‘The King of
_Assyria_ sent a great host against _Jerusalem_, and when they were come
up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the
high way of the Fullers field.’
Before mount _Zion_, towards the south, at the other side of the rivulet
_Kidron_, lieth the mount of _Transgression_, in the fourth book of
_Kings_, chap. 23. called _Mashith_; between this and mount _Olivet_ is a
valley, through which goeth down the road by _Bethania_ to _Jericho_, &c.
This is higher and steeper than any hereabout. There you see still some
old walls of the habitation wherein the concubines of _Solomon_ did live,
after whom the King ran in his old age; and they did so possess him, that
they turned his heart from God Almighty after their gods, and so he did
that that did not please the Lord God, as you may read in the first book
of _Kings_, chap. 11. verse 4.
Underneath the mount was the valley _Benhinnom_, wherein the Kings of
_Jerusalem_ did build a temple to the idol _Moloch_, and did worship him,
_viz._ _Solomon_, _Ahaz_, _Manasseh_, &c. whereof we read in several
places in the holy Scripture, _Levit._ 18. 21. ‘Thou shalt not let any
of thy seed pass through the fire to _Moloch_.’ And also _Jerem._ 7. 30.
‘And they have set their abominations in the house which is called by
my name to pollute it. And they have built the high places of _Tophet_,
which is in the valley of the son of _Hinnom_, to burn their sons and
their daughters in the fire, which I commanded them not, neither came it
into my heart, therefore behold, the days come saith the Lord, that it
shall no more be called _Tophet_, nor the valley of the son of _Hinnom_,
but the valley of slaughter; for they shall bury in _Tophet_ till there
be no place.’ And also 2 _Chron._ 18. 2. ‘_Ahaz_ made molten images for
_Baalim_, and burnt incense in the valley of the son of _Hinnom_, and
burnt his children in the fire after the abominations of the heathen.’
The holy Prophet _Amos_ doth also make mention of these abominable
idolatries in his fifth chapter; which St _Luke_ in the seventh chapter,
verse the forty third, of the _Acts_ doth thus explain: ‘Ye took up the
tabernacle of _Moloch_, and the star of your god _Remphan_, _&c._’ which
the holy Prophet calleth _Sicchuth_ and _Chiun_: But the heathen called
them _Jupiter_ and _Saturn_, the Devourer of children, and so he is also
painted. This statue was hollow within, of cast brass, whereinto they did
put the children, and burnt them alive, and did believe they served God
in it, as _Abraham_ when he would sacrifice his son _Isaac_; they had
also kettle drums and other musical instruments which they played on,
that the parents might not hear their children cry; wherefore _Christ_
gave unto hell itself, and it’s perpetual flames, the name of the valley
_Benhinnom_, calling it _Gehenna_; to give us warning and exhortation,
that we hate false and abominable idolatries, introduced contrary to his
command, worse than the devil himself.
Besides this, there is little else seen hereabout, only above on the
steepest and highest part of the mount many little tents and habitations,
as if they hung at it, which in these times are not inhabited either
by _Turks_ or _Moors_; in the valley you see the rivulet _Kidron_,
where over they brought our Lord Christ bound as a prisoner, from
mount _Olivet_; this proceedeth only from rain water near to the place
_Gethsemane_, and runs without by the town from south to west. Beside
this brook did King _Asa_ burn the images of _Priapus_ as _Josias_ and
_Hezekiah_ the idols of _Baal_, all incenses and uncleannesses that are
found in the temple of the Lord.
Farther towards the east you see from the top of mount _Zion_ the
fountain and pool of _Siloah_ below in the valley, call’d by _Josephus_
_Tiropæon_, which divideth this and the temple mount, and becometh to be
very narrow between them, and extendeth itself from the rivulet _Kidron_
towards the north to the place of skulls, where it groweth so large
again, that the lower town of _Jerusalem_, (by _Isaiah_ in his tenth,
and _Zachariah_ in his ninth chapter, call’d _The Daughter of Zion and
Jerusalem_) was situated therein. Out of which near to the gate of the
fountain of _Siloah_, which is now wall’d up, the way goeth up to the
gate of _Zion_ into the upper town, thro’ which two our Lord Christ was
brought a prisoner to the houses of _Hannas_ and _Caiphas_.
This valley hath been since the desolation so fill’d up, that no depth
at all appeareth in our days; but only without the fountain-gate by the
fountain _Siloah_, that is very rich of water, where is still the pool
wherein the blind man wash’d his eyes, that were anointed with clay and
spittle, St _John_ ix. 6. according to the command of our Lord, and did
see.
Just by it are still the two hills whereof _Josephus_ maketh mention,
with a very steep cliff, very rocky on both sides, one whereof towards
the east, call’d the rock of the pidgeons, hath a great cave, out of
which the fountain springs, and runs off immediately below through a
channel, that goeth so strait and smooth through the rock, as if it had
been made on purpose.
Near to the fountain and gate of _Siloah_, stood the tower of _Siloah_,
that killed eighteen men, as we read in St _Luke_, chap. xiii.
Without between the fountain and stream of _Kidron_, they shew a great
mulberry-tree, fenced in below; this stands in the place where the holy
Prophet _Isaias_ was buried, whom the King _Manasse_ ordered to be cut in
pieces with a wooden saw, as being an Heretick.
This may suffice of mount _Zion_, it’s situation and some adjacent places.
As we went about, and came to one of the places, the Monks did shew the
Pilgrims in each of them, the number of the years for the pardons laid
there by his Holiness, as in some seven years and seven indulgences;
but in some others, as in the place where the Holy Ghost was sent,
where Christ did eat the Passover with his disciples, and wash’d their
feet, and where he at several times appeared when the doors were shut;
and where also, as _Nicephorus_ saith, the Virgin Mary, after the
resurrection of Christ her dear child, did dwell for fourteen years,
_&c._ full absolution and indulgences from all sins and facts for ever.
Now that all those that come there, may receive it more worthily, the
monks exhort them to kneel down before every of such places, and to pray
the Lord’s Prayer and Ave Maria with devotion; and that when they have
done so, they need not to doubt, but that they have fully received the
absolution that was given for that place by his Holiness. After they had
thus pray’d in several places, some of our company rejoiced mightily,
and confessed, that after it they were holy, and so innocent, that
if they should die then, they were secure, that their soul should go
immediately out of their mouth into heaven, and eternal life. To this I
answer’d them: That I expected remission of sin no other ways but only
in the name and for the merits, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that I
had not undertaken this pilgrimage as they did, to get any thing by it
as by a good work; nor to visit stone and wood to obtain indulgence; or
with opinion to come here nearer to Christ; because all these things
are directly contrary to Scripture. As the Lord himself saith: ‘Time
will come that you shall neither on this mount nor at Jerusalem worship
the Father.’ And he also forewarneth us of those that say: ‘Lo Christ
is here, Christ is there, he is in the desarts, he is in the chamber;’
that we should not believe them, nor go out, but rather confide on his
promise, that he will be with us, to the end of the world; and where two
or three are met together in his name that he will be in the middle of
them. Wherefore our dear Lord Christ hath no need, because he is himself
present with them that believe in him, of any Vicegerent, that should
on earth usurp such power, and take such honour and glory to himself,
as to give indulgence at his pleasure; because all these things belong
only to God. When I saw, that they did not much mind this my discourse,
I let them alone in their opinions, but yet I saw here and there all
these places, and considered by myself what our Lord Christ had, by his
bitter sufferings and death, by his glorious resurrection and ascension,
procured us from his Heavenly Father. When the Pilgrims came to one of
the above-mention’d places of mount _Zion_, and had said their prayers,
they went into it, and contemplated it, fell down again before it, and
kissed it with great submission and devotion; pull’d out several pieces,
_viz._ beads and rosaries turned of the wood of the trees of the mount
of Olives, some wrought points, laces, _&c._ tied together in bundles,
to touch the holy place with it; they also knock’d off in some places
(where they might) some small pieces, to take them along with them as
consecrated sanctuaries, to distribute them among their friends at their
return.
All the while that they were thus busy, I consider’d rather standing
behind, what our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ had suffered for us in
these places, how he had humbled himself, and came down to us miserable
sinners, to help us, and to extol us that were fall’n, and to make us
free of the heavy burthen of our sins; how he was led before the seat
of judicature of _Caiphas_, that we might not be led before the severe
Judgment-seat of the Almighty God; that he suffer’d himself to be led
captive and bound, to deliver us from the bands of the devil and death,
and to save us from the jaws of hell; and as _Esaias_ saith in his fifty
third chapter vers. 5. ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him,
and with his stripes we are heal’d.’ But that our dear Lord Christ was
delivered to the high Priest, and Scribes, _&c._ for our sakes, and that
he was obedient to his Heavenly Father, unto death, even the death of
the cross, to deliver us from the curse of God and eternal death. And
to make us certain, that he had procured these his unspeakable benefits
and heavenly treasures for us, and that we really should be partakers
thereof; before his passion he did institute his holy Supper upon the
mount, in the large upper room, wherein he doth not only communicate
them to us, but giveth us also (if we receive the holy broken bread, and
the blessed cup with true faith according to the institution) his real
body and blood, to feed us to eternal life; where we then shall sit with
our Lord Christ, and all the elected ones (after this life) as coheirs
in the high upper room of his Heavenly Father, at his table, to eat and
drink it with him anew. And that we might heartily comfort ourselves with
these his unspeakable benefits, he also, after his ascension, sent us
on the day of Pentecost his Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, to incline
our hearts, to believe steadfastly all that he hath promised us in his
holy Word and Sacraments. So the sending of the Holy Ghost, which was
long before predicted by the holy Prophets was fulfill’d on this mount;
whereof we read in several places of the holy Scripture, _viz._ _Joel_
ii. 28. ‘And it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my
spirit upon all flesh, _&c._ For on mount _Zion_ and in _Jerusalem_, must
be a deliverance according to the promise of the Lord.’ And _Isaiah_
ii. 3. ‘Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, _&c._ For
out of _Zion_ shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from
_Jerusalem_.’ So that the preaching of Christ’s holy Gospel, and his
kingdom did begin from _Zion_ and _Jerusalem_, and was afterwards spread
abroad by his holy Apostles throughout the whole world.
‘Grant then, O our dear Lord Christ, unto us, thy Holy Ghost; that he may
keep us in the knowledge of thy holy Word, and that he may so strengthen
and comfort us in it, that we may freely and without any fear confess
it before the face of our enemies and adversaries; and if they offend
and prosecute us, that we may overcome our crosses and persecutions with
patience; that thy honour may be advanced, and our constancy appear.
Grant us also that he may plant these thy graces in our hearts, that we
may comfort ourselves with the hope and expectation of those treasures
which thou hast by thy death and passion merited and purchased for us. So
that we may abide in thy Tabernacle, and dwell in thy holy Hill for ever,
_Amen_.’ _Psalm_ xv. 1.
CHAP. V.
_Of the mount ~Moria~ and the glorious temple of ~Solomon~._
Within the city near, to mount _Zion_ lieth another call’d _Moria_,
divided from it by the valley of _Tiropæon_, which is now fill’d up and
made even with the top, as I have said before, that hereabouts is hardly
any depth or unevenness to be seen. This as well as the other meets with
the rivulet or brook of _Kidron_ towards the north, and on both of them
the town lieth on the sides or descent. This is very famous in the holy
Scripture, as you read _Genesis_ xxii, That the pious Patriarch _Abraham_
was ready to offer his son _Isaac_ on this hill, for a burnt-offering
to the Lord; whereon _Melchisedec_ the first founder and King of the
town _Salem_, and Priest of the Almighty God, did first build a temple,
and therefore named the city _Jerusalem_. So we read in the second book
of _Chronicles_, chap. iii. That on the same holy mount King _Solomon_
did begin to build a house for the Lord, at _Jerusalem_, many years
afterwards. This was formerly very high, surrounded with deep ditches
and cliffs, so that it would make a man giddy to look down from the top
into the depth. Wherefore _Pompey_ and _Titus_ took a great deal of
pains before they could get upon it, to take and destroy that glorious
and well-built temple, which was in the last desolation, as well as
before in the first burnt by _Nabuchodonosor_, demolish’d and razed to
the foundations, as Christ foretold them, _Mark_ xiii. ‘That there
should not be left one stone upon another that should not be thrown down,
because they did not acknowledge the gracious time of their visitation.’
And that all hopes might be taken away from the Jews to return and to
build the temple again, to re-establish their worship; _Hadrian_ the
Emperor to prevent all, order’d, in the year of Christ 134, all to be
broken down that was left, and to root it up, to demolish all heights, to
fill all ditches, to level cliffs, and to make the ground even all over;
he did also alter the name and religion of the inhabitants, and instead
thereof introduced the heathenish idolatry. In the place of the grave
of Christ he built a temple for the idol _Jupiter_; on mount _Calvaria_
another for the idol _Venus_; and another at _Bethlehem_ to the idol
_Adonis_; and at last in the place where formerly in the temple of
_Solomon_ did stand the _Sanctum Sanctorum_, he erected his own image on
a high column for his memory, which was still standing, in _Hieronymus_’s
time. The height of this mount cannot be observed any where else now than
without by the fountain _Siloah_, and in the valley of _Benhinnom_, and
so it did remain desolate to the times of the great Emperor _Constantine_.
After that when the Jews undertook to re-build the temple at the charge
of _Julian_ the Apostate, who would make Christ a liar, the Lord having
said that their house should be left unbuilt, a great earthquake (when
they had open’d the ground to lay the foundation) did move and shake the
whole place to that degree, that every thing was turn’d upside down, and
abundance of Jews did perish in it. But when the Jews did not matter
this, but endeavour’d to go on with the work in hand, the next day flames
of fire broke out of the ground, and fiery beams struck down from Heaven,
which destroy’d more than the earthquake, and burnt all their tools,
_viz._ saws, axes, shovels, hammers, &c. When the Jews would not leave
their error for all this, the night following some small glittering
crosses like stars fell down upon their cloaths, which they could not
wash off the next morning, nor get out by any means; and an earthquake
and such a violent hurricane came upon it, that it dissipated all their
mortar and other materials into the air, so that frightened and full
of fear, they were forced to confess, that Christ, whom their ancestors
crucified, was the true and only Lord and God.
Seeing that the temple, together with the mount it stood upon, are razed
and desolated, so that one can hardly now discern what they have been
anciently, every one that goeth by, because the Lord did not favour his
own house, where his name was sanctify’d, hath reason to be astonish’d at
it, and to call to mind the strange anger of God against those that leave
the Lord their God, and adhere to other gods, serve and adore them.
Now a-days the _Turks_ have taken possession of this mount, and all the
ground whereon _Solomon_’s temple did stand, and have built a _Mahometan_
Mosque on it; which _Homar_ the third after the great Imposter _Mahomet_
built when he had taken the holy land and the city of _Jerusalem_. This
is not very large nor high, but fine and cover’d with lead, hath a great
court-yard about it, paved with white marble, and here and there orange
and date-trees are planted in it, which is very pleasant; about the sides
thereof are some high towers and gates, one whereof is vastly bigger
than any of the rest, which is near to their Batzar or exchange, which
is very old, high, and hath very good workmanship in it, wherefore the
_Franciscan_ Monks shew it instead of the gate of _Solomon_’s temple,
before which lay the man that was lame from his mother’s womb, that
begg’d alms from _Peter_ and _John_, to whom _Peter_ said: ‘Silver and
gold I have none, but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus
Christ of _Nazareth_, rise up and walk.’
At the end of the gate of this yard, as commonly in all their
church-porches, hung some lamps. I could have willingly gone in before
them, to see the rock and fountain, whereof _Ezek._ in his forty seventh
chapter maketh mention, together with the inward building, but because
according to their _Mahometan_ laws, all those that are not circumcised
are accounted to be unclean, therefore going into their churches is
forbid to Christians: if any one is catch’d within, he is in danger of
his life, or else he must deny his faith, and be made a _Mamaluck_ or
_Renegado_.
In this court-yard is still another gate, call’d the Golden Gate by the
_Franciscans_, but because it stands just over against the mount of
Olives, therefore it is to be taken to be the gate _Sur_, or rather, as
_Nehemiah_ iii. _Ezek._ xlvii. and 2 _Chron._ xxxi. say, for the gate of
the stairs, which _Semia_, the son of _Sahamia_, the keeper of them did
build; thro’ which our Lord Christ did go into the temple on Palm-day, to
drive out the buyers and sellers. Now altho’ this is wall’d up in the new
town wall, so that you cannot go either out or in; yet considering it’s
ancient arches, it looketh rather like a church than a town-gate.
In the middle of the yard stands a _Turkish_ Mosque or temple, call’d the
Rock; this is esteem’d very much by the _Turks_, and next to those of
_Mecca_ and _Medina_ reputed to be the most holy. Because God Almighty
hath wrought many great miracles there; and that there _Mahomet_, as
they falsly write of him in their books, call’d by God to be the last
and greatest Prophet, did ride from _Mecca_ to that of the holy Rock of
the temple of _Jerusalem_, which is forty days journey, on a very swift
beast call’d _Elmparae_, conducted thither by the Angel _Gabriel_, who
at his arrival did help him off of his beast, ty’d it up, and then led
him by the hand into the temple, where he found many Prophets standing
together in a circle, which God had resuscitated for his honour, and to
receive him, and to acquaint him with new good tidings, and what God had
prepared for him, (I suppose ever burning flames of fire): Among the rest
he did also find _Abraham_, _Moses_, and Jesus the son of _Mary_, each of
them presenting him, first _Moses_ with a fatt of wine, _Abraham_ with a
fatt full of milk, and Jesus with a fatt of water. Then a voice spake to
him from heaven saying ‘If thou chusest the fatt with wine, thou and thy
people shall perish; if thou chusest the fatt with milk, thou shalt also
perish; but if thou chusest the fatt of water, thou and thy people shall
be saved eternally.’
These and many more insipid lies of their _Mahomet_, which are very
ridiculous and silly fables, are believed to be as true as the Gospel by
the _Turks_, _Moors_, and _Arabians_, &c. They also certainly believe
(chiefly these that live at _Jerusalem_ as the Pilgrims know) that on
the last day their _Mahomet_ is to come and seat himself on the rock of
the temple of _Moria_, and Christ on the other side of the valley of
_Josaphat_ on the mount of Olives, over-against him. Then when all the
people of the earth shall appear before the Lord of Judicature, he shall
ask _Mahomet_, who the rest are (meaning the Christians that have been
under the yoak of the _Turkish_ Emperor) then shall _Mahomet_ answer and
say, _They are these that served me faithfully_; whereupon Christ shall
let them pass into Paradise and eternal felicity; which they believe to
consist in gratifying fleshly lusts and desires, in eating and drinking,
fine cloaths, costly jewels, gold, silver, pearls, pleasant spring
gardens, beautiful and cleanly women. Therefore the temple is so highly
esteem’d by the _Turks_ and others of the same faith, and believed to be
so holy, that they go into it on their bare feet with great devotion,
and come twice a year thither in pilgrimage in great Caravans from
all places, moved thereunto by the great zeal they have towards their
_Mahomet_; but chiefly these Pilgrims that have been at _Madina-Talnabi_,
and _Mecca_, that is three days journey farther, who return by the way
of _Jerusalem_ (which is now by them call’d _Chutz_) to say also their
prayers there, and are of opinion that if they should do otherwise,
than to come thither, their peregrination would not be acceptable to
God. Amongst these are a good many Renegado Christians, that go with
them to _Mecca_, to get by their devotion into greater preferment and
wealth, wherefore they are esteem’d by them as holy and creditable ones,
although they are full of knavery and roguery, as those that come from
_Mahomet_’s own blood; they keep them very honourably, and pray for them
as their victors, and endue them with great and peculiar privileges, so
that their single witness is as valuable as three, four, six, or ten of
others, according as they have been oftner in these places. And that
every body may know them, they put upon their turbants on their heads,
their _Mahomet_’s green colours, as those of their priests do, who
esteem themselves to be his relations, who are only permitted, (as the
_Persians_ wear their red colour) to wear such turbants. Wherefore the
_Turks_ believe it to be a sin to cover those members, which nature hath
made secret, with that colour which their Prophet did bear on his head.
When the before-mention’d Renegado Christians are come to this degree,
they are bought by every body for money, to bear witness before the
Cady, or any other _Turkish_ magistrate, and that even in causes whereof
they have not the least knowledge. So it happens daily, that those that
give larger bribes to the magistrate, and do exceed their adversaries in
number of witnesses, make their lost and foul cause good; and of this
they make no conscience, because their _Koran_ teacheth them, that God
does not impute to them perjury, but only if they do not invoke him;
so that it is full satisfaction, if they feed ten poor ones for this
transgression, or if they cloath them, or if they redeem one prisoner;
but if they are not substantial enough to do this, they fast three
times. This is of a very ill consequence, because they are not afraid to
be perjur’d and to cheat others. And although these and other the like
sins, are very common amongst the _Turks_, _viz._ robbing, and to break
their faith, _&c._ which are directly against God, yet for all that
these (because they have lost all remembrance of confession, penitence
or mending of their lives) exceed them in this by far. Besides all this
they do not let the Christians know who or what they are, but rather
study to their utmost power, to abuse and hurt them as often as they find
an opportunity, nay they would not spare their very lives, if they dare
do it for fear of the _Turkish_ magistrates. In this they are very like
unto the _Abyssins_, who in former ages were subject unto the _Soldans_
of _Ægypt_, and did live on the south side of mount _Libanus_, who, as
defenders and protectors of their own religion, were set out before other
_Saracens_, to murder and kill clandestinely all those that did oppose
their _Mahometan_ laws and religion. But after the _Turkish_ Emperor did
beat the _Soldan_, and took his dominions from him, the fury of these
assassinators was also soon quelled; for the great _Turk_ doth not allow,
in any of his provinces, of murthers, as the _Saracenes_ did, but punish’d
them severely, and keepeth very strict laws that no body may hurt the
other; which you may conclude by this, that if one doth but fetch blood
from the other in the least, he is not only mulcted in one or two ducats,
but sometimes in forty, fifty, nay sometimes in a hundred, according to
the heinousness of the crime, and the ability of the offender; and so he
keepeth subjects in peace and quietness.
Besides these Pilgrims that go to _Mecca_, there are many others in their
great Caravans, that rather, like unto pedlers, endeavour to get thither
with small charges, by the help of their _Carvatschares_, or Inns, and
Hospitals, to make good profit there, by buying and selling, than out
of devotion to wait on their _Mahomet_, and amongst them there are also
sometimes Christians, but at their arrival they must not visit the holy
places, much less touch them. Wherefore they buy before hand all sorts of
merchandizes, chiefly at _Cayro_ (from whence to _Jerusalem_ it is ten
days journey) to sell or swap them at _Mecca_, and other places. Which
custom we need not think to be strange among the _Turks_, seeing that a
great many are found among the _Roman_ Pilgrims, that pretend to be good
Christians, that go pilgrimages to _Rome_, St _Jacob_, _Jerusalem_, &c.
not only to get his Holiness’s absolution and indulgences, but rather to
make good profit of goods they buy for that purpose; or which is more,
they pass over their estates during their absence, into the hands of
others, to reap the benefit thereof with this condition, that if they
return home from these places where they vow’d to go to, they shall have
them restored again with great profit. Now as among all these Pilgrims,
chiefly those that have been oftnest at _Mecca_ are by the _Turks_ in
greatest esteem, and that green colour (which only belongeth to the
Priests to wear) is the sooner allow’d them, whereby they may be known,
as the brothers of St _Jacob_ are known, by the scallop-shells. The fame
it is also with their camels, for on the lower part of one of their
fore-feet you may see as many small chains hung as they have been times
there in Caravans, so that you also may soon discern them.
And that I may return to my purpose again; near to the _Turkish_ Mosque
of the holy Rock, is also another church, which by the Christians, when
they were in possession of _Jerusalem_, was call’d the _Virgin Mary_’s
church, which is very well built, rather bigger than the _Turkish_, and
stands without towards the south on the place of the great porch of the
_Israelites_, which is several times mention’d in the Scriptures _Viz._
_Joh._ x. _Matth._ xxi. where it is calleth the temple and porch of
_Solomon_, where Christ did preach, and drove out the buyers and sellers,
_&c._ Underneath it is a great cave, so wide that some hundred horses may
with ease be drawn up in battalia therein. This is also in the possession
of the _Turks_, and the Christians dare no more come in here than in the
other. By this prohibition _viz._ That the _Mahometans_ shall admit into
their churches or porches thereof no strangers which according to their
laws are not cleansed and washed, you may easily see, that the _Turks_
have taken many ceremonies and laws from the Jews, and according to their
depraved understanding and mind, transcribed them into their _Koran_; so
we see that anciently they have their circumcision, offerings, washings,
fasts at certain times of the year, marrying more than one wife, not
eating any thing that is unclean, or pork, or what is suffocated, not
having bells, nor drinking wine, as the _Levitical_ Priests must not do,
derived from the Jews; but this last law concerning not drinking of wine,
is not only not kept, for they drink thereof without mixture, let it be
as strong as it can, more than any other nation. It being then true that
they choose the fatt with wine presented them by _Moses_, as is before
said, to their own ruin and destruction, wherefore I pray that God may
fulfil their prophecy, _Amen_.
[Illustration]
CHAP. VI.
_Of the ~Saracens~ and ~Turkish~ religion, ceremonies, and hypocritical
life, with a short hint how long time their reign shall last after
~Mahomet~’s decease._
Seeing I have here above made mention, amongst the rest of the places and
churches of _Jerusalem_, of the _Turkish_ Mosques, and also of _Mahomet_
their Prophet; I cannot but also relate something of their hypocritical
and superstitious life and belief, as I have observed in my travels, and
during my stay among them, chiefly something of their outward ceremonies,
good works, wherewith they think to fulfil the laws, to cleanse
themselves from their manifold sins and transgressions, and to obtain
God’s mercy and love. Wherefore they strive that they may be found always
busy in these good works, whereof they reckon the chiefest to be; alms,
pilgrimage, fastings, to make offerings, to abstain from certain food or
drinks, frequent washing, praying, upon which two last they look most of
all, as the true means, by which, if they keep them diligently, they may
be freed and absolved from their sins, according to the promises of their
dear Prophet _Mahomet_. Such and the like have also the Jews had in the
Old Testament, where without doubt their Prophet, being by his mother
an _Ishmaelite_, had them also. But seeing that he also attributeth to
these absolution and satisfaction for our sins, and also consequently
salvation and everlasting life; therefore all those that follow and
believe his doctrine, miss the only Mediator and Saviour Jesus Christ,
of whom as well as of his holy word, they else have a good opinion, as
appeareth by their _Koran_, in whom God the Almighty Father will only
be known, invoked and adored. As St _John_ saith Chap. v. 23. ‘He that
honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father that hath sent him.’
And chap. xiv. 9. where Jesus saith, ‘He that hath seen me hath seen the
Father.’ And in _Acts_ iv. 12. it is said, ‘There is no Salvation in any
other, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men, whereby
we must be saved.’ Wherefore although _Mahomet_ doth greatly command
and teach, that we must adore the only God, yet they do not know the
true God, that will only be adored and honour’d in his beloved Son; and
besides _Mahomet_ will not allow that God hath a Son, and much less that
Christ is the true God, in whom we shall believe. For in his diabolical
and blasphemous mind and thoughts he hath this precaution, that if God
should have a Son he might come to be disobedient unto him, as happeneth
sometimes chiefly amongst them, to worldly Princes, which would expose
all creatures in heaven, as well as on earth unto great danger. So he
denieth the Deity of Christ and esteemeth him to be no more (as _Arius_
doth) than a great Saint and meer Man. So he hath the same opinion with
_Macedonius_, of the Holy Ghost, whom and Christ he sometimes maketh
but one person. And so the _Turks_ know no more, by the instruction of
their cursed Prophet, of the true living God (that is one in his essence
and three in person) than when they adored the fire, water and other
elements, nay heaven and earth, (as also the _Persians_ have done) before
they come over to the _Saracens_, and adhered to the doctrine of their
_Mahomet_. And besides they have no more comfort in our Lord Christ, than
the Jews, because they do not believe that Jesus the Son of the _Virgin
Mary_, and messenger of God, was crucify’d, dead and bury’d, but that
another, that was very like him, suffer’d instead of him, because he
was seated in Heaven (where into God received him, and that he was to
return again at the end of the world) a great deal higher than that he
could be so shamefully kill’d by the Jews that impious people; wherefore
the _Turks_ admire it very much, that so many Pilgrims of all nations,
come to see the grave of Christ with so great a devotion, which is not
his. And although the _Turks_ prefer their _Mahomet_ before Christ, and
also do not believe right neither of his essence nor of his person, so
that therefore all their worship, with what devotion soever performed,
is null and in vain, because it is not in Christ: Yet for all that they
praise and esteem Christ very high, and extol him far beyond any man,
as one that was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin _Mary_,
and that hath here on earth carried on his doctrine, and confirm’d it
with powerful miracles. Wherefore they esteem the books of _Moses_, and
the other writings of the Prophets, but chiefly the four Evangelists,
which they call the book _Jugilis_ (and the books of _Moses_ _Thresit_)
as true and godly. And sometimes they pretend so fairly, that an
ordinary Man that is not well instructed in the chief articles of
Christianity, although there is so great a difference, might easily
be seduced, and perswaded. Besides the _Turks_ will not allow, neither
to _Jews_, _Moors_, nor _Christians_, nay not to their own Nation, to
say any thing ill of Christ, nor to curse him, but if any body should
presume to do it, the soles of their feet are struck very severely with
many blows, and he is fined besides according to his ability. So their
Prophet _Mahomet_ commends the holy Scripture very much, and saith,
that it containeth truth and happiness.
If they would but often look into it (as their _Koran_ teacheth them in
several places) to read in it, and mend their lives according to it,
they might easily be brought to the right way again; but he himself doth
not stand by his words, but falleth off again from them afterwards, and
speaketh quite otherways of the holy Scripture, and that so differing,
that he quite contradicts himself. For as he did commend it before, so
now he discommendeth it again, when he saith, that it hath been (because
it is too difficult to be kept) long since quite out of doors, chiefly in
those parts where is written, that we must do good to our enemies; leave
all for his sake; love God with all our heart, _&c._ and our neighbour
as our own self. And that therefore he, _Mahomet_, was peculiarly and
purposely chosen by God Almighty, to bring down with him the _Koran_,
and communicate it to the world (that was then drown’d in lusts, sin and
vices) to reform and bring it to rights again. Besides this, he knew
very well how to disguise his tricks, and how to behave himself in his
life and conversation, devoutly and discreetly towards the people, and
how to blind them under this pretence, that they did believe him, and
receive him the sooner to be a great Prophet and Messenger from God.
When he found that he had got a good party, and a great many adherents
that impowered him, he studied daily more and more to order his laws
so, that they might be acceptable and pleasing to all the world. And
thus he got in a great many places such a fame, that, to our grief in
these times, he hath seduced and possessed a great part of the world
with his erroneous and poisonous doctrine, the _Turks_ closely adhering
to this doctrine, therefore their hearts are so blinded with darkness,
that they cannot have any true knowledge, either of God the Father,
or the Son, or the Holy Ghost, and so they miss of the right way that
would bring them to the knowledge, and acknowledgment of their sins,
and consequently to the remission thereof, and so make them children of
God, and heirs of life everlasting. But on the contrary, they remain
impenitent, and persist in their sinful life with such a confidence and
security, that they know not when they commit sins; as to take a man’s
property and goods away by force; to destroy his house and lands; to
undermine his life and livelihood; and also, to contaminate themselves
with uncleanness, whoredom, sodomy; not to keep an oath that hath been
taken, to revenge themselves, from whence results, envy, hatred, anger,
contention, murder, _&c._ as we hear, what injustice and violence the
Grand Signior committeth daily upon our brethren and sisters, that border
upon his dominions; which we need not to wonder at, because, if they fall
out amongst themselves, they try all unjust means to revenge themselves.
Wherefore they accuse their adversaries often falsly (because they dare
not offer any violence) before their Judges, and so bring them to damage,
trouble and pains. But when they have committed one of these, or the
like facts, and have a mind to free themselves of it, or to be absolved,
they go after their own invented devotion, to good works, alms, prayers,
fasting, redeeming of captives, _&c._ to make satisfaction to God for
their committed sins, as their _Koran_ teacheth them. And so they lead
a life of good outward conversation, and are very diligent in their
devotion, chiefly in going to their prayers at the five customary hours
of the day, when they leave their work and go to church. And seeing that
in these countries they have neither clocks nor watches to tell them the
time of the day and prayers, instead of them they have their priests
(called _Meitzen_ by them) on the steeples, which are ordered to cry out
the hours with a loud voice, that you may hear them as far almost as the
ringing of a bell, even throughout the whole town. The first hour of
prayers is an hour and half before day-light: The second is about noon:
The third (which the _Arabians_ call _Latzera_) is about three o’Clock
in the afternoon: The fourth is at sun-set; and the fifth when after the
sun is down, the twilight, or whitishness of the skies is gone, and the
stars appear clearly. Sometimes two of these priests sing together, which
is common in great towns, and they sing almost as with us they sing a
ballad, so that while the one is singing, the other may fetch his breath;
and so they sing by turns, until the song is at an end. When I came
first into these countries, and hear’d them sing about that time in the
morning, I believed the _Turks_ did it that they might brisk themselves
up to go to work, until I heard them do the same at other hours in the
day time, and understood they were their priests. So they sing about five
o’clock at night very well, and sometimes something longer, because of
the sick that live near, which desire it of them, to make them cheerful,
and to have a good heart, which we need not to wonder at, for their
clergy (which are not wiser, or more learned than the laymen) know not
how to comfort them, or to make them joyful, much less how to give good
and wholesome instruction out of the word of God (although they believe
it to be true) how to obtain forgiveness of sin, and God’s mercy, love,
or commiseration, but think it to be sufficient, if they admonish them
that lie a dying to think of God, and to pray to him that he may have
mercy upon them; and afterwards to wash their body to cleanse them quite
from all sins, according to the law of their _Mahomet_, which they highly
esteem, and that the rather, because they serve not only the living,
but also the dead; wherefore the _Turks_ wash themselves daily, chiefly
at the hours of their prayer, when they are a going to church, and that
very carefully and diligently, _viz._ Their hands, privy members, head,
neck, feet, nay the whole body, according as they are contaminated or
become unclean. So in consideration of their sins, they have three sorts
of washing; whereof one is that of the whole body, which those must make
use of that are not married, and contaminate themselves with concubines;
wherefore the baths are kept continually in an equal heat, and are open
to any body both by day and night, that those that have occasion to
wash their whole body, may not be hindered in their devotion, but soon
go to church again. The second is performed on the organs of the five
senses, and the head, to cleanse them from all spots and blemishes, which
are contracted by ill thought and frivolous and unseemly discourses;
wherefore there are several cisterns here and there, but chiefly in their
churches and chapels, where they wash themselves first, that being clean,
they may be worthy to come to church to prayers, for if they should omit
it, they believe that their prayers would not be acceptable to God, and
so he would not hear them. So they begin first with washing of their
hands, then they lift up the water with the hollow of their hands, and
so let it run down to their elbow; then they wash their mouth, nose,
eyes, ears, head, neck, and at last their feet, and speak some peculiar
words with it. When they have no water, which often happeneth in large
desarts in _Arabia_, they are allowed by their laws instead thereof, to
rub these members over with sand. But that they may not be hindered by
their cloaths from coming to these members, they wear such ones that have
wide sleeves, no gatherings about their neck, nor have any strings about
their drawers. The third sort is also esteemed to be very necessary, and
is made use of as often as they empty their body by stool or urine, or
belching, and so they wash themselves squatting down before the cisterns,
publickly without shame, both before and behind, in the sight of every
body. According to what hath been said, we see that they mind only the
outward cleansing of their body, and so they look also upon the outward
circumcision, rather than to think how they ought, according to God’s
commands, to cleanse themselves from their inward leprosy, by the bath
of regeneration, and to circumcise their hearts by an inward spiritual
circumcision, whereof they know nothing. When their clergymen have cried
out the hours from the steeples to the _Batzars_, or Exchanges, _&c._
and the _Turks_ have washed and cleansed themselves, they go into their
chapels, which are in the middle of their great Camps, or _Carvatschars_,
where I could see it best, because I durst not go into their mosques.
After they have left their shoes at the gate, they do not turn nor look
back for one another to speak, but go strait forwards, until they come to
their places where they stand still, and look upon their priest that is
before them, and mind him when he beginneth the prayers, that they may
say it after him, and imitate his ceremonies or means, whereof he maketh
use, as the lifting up his hands, stroking over his forehead, bending
his whole body forwards, falling down upon his knees, kissing the earth;
and at length when the _Leila hillalla_ beginneth, turning their heads
from one side to the other, whereby they give a hint, that they are in
peace and good will with God and their neighbours. While they are in
their holy places, you shall hear none of them sneeze, cough, hawk or
spit, for they are of opinion, that if they should do so, God would not
hear their prayers so effectually, because they should not be perfectly
clean. They have no set form of their prayers, and pray generally for
good fortune and other worldly welfare; for victory for their Emperor;
that God may send great divisions amongst us Christians, that so they may
have a better opportunity to fall upon us, and to beat us. They suffer no
images in their temples or chapels, and are only for adoring the true and
only God, Creator of heaven and earth; and so instead of them, they have
pictures of fine plants or flowers, _viz._ of roses, _&c._ and writings
of their Prophet _Mahomet_; and so you find on their gold and silver
coins no pictures or images of their Emperors, as upon ours, but only
the names of them, or of the towns where they are stamped, in _Arabian_
letters, (which are common to both nations) together with the date of
the year, which they begin from the time when _Mahomet_ fled into the
desarts, which for that reason they call the year of _Hegira_, where he
got a great number of adherents, and was made by them a King; this was
done in the year of _Christ_ 622. After they have ended their prayers,
they begin to talk to one another, and so every one of them goeth home
to work again; and they are allowed on their feast days (which they keep
on _Friday_, as we do on _Sunday_, and the _Jews_ on _Saturday_) to open
their shops again after prayers, and to go work, because they say that
idleness may the easier draw them into sins. So one may easily know by
their shops, according as they are opened or shut up on these three days,
whether they belong to Christians, _Turks_, or _Jews_; besides, none
of these forceth one to observe the others holydays, and so they live
peaceably and quietly together. Before the _Turks_ holiday beginneth,
they light on _Thursday_ night before, as soon as it beginneth to be
dark, upon their high steeples, many lamps, whereof they hang without
on the galleries round about, three rows one above the other, so that
as you look upon them in the night, they look like unto a threefold
garland; they let them burn so long until they go out of themselves
one after the other. The same lamps they also light every night during
their _Lent_, which beginneth in their month _Romadan_, so called by the
_Arabians_, and doth last all that month long. Their year consisteth
of twelve months, which they account by the moon-lights; so that their
months do not agree with ours, (for theirs have not, one with the other,
above twenty-nine or thirty days) and consequently their years want
between ten or eleven days of ours, so that their _Lent_ falleth at an
uncertain time, sometimes in the spring, and sometimes in the summer,
_&c._ so in my time it began in _December_, and ended in _January_.
During all this time they are very devout, and strive to be at the
prayers and duties; for if any body should die in _Lent_ time, that had
used not to frequent them, they would look upon him as a lost and damned
man, and doubt whether they should bury him or no. During their _Lent_,
they eat nothing before night; when the stars appear, then every one
goeth home to eat, or else in the great _Batzars_ to a cook’s shop, to
buy victuals, where all night long is so great a throng of poor people,
that have nothing to eat at home, that they lift one another almost up;
there you see one eating, another drinking, another crying out, others
quarrelling, which causeth such a crowd and noise, as is enough to make
one deaf and giddy. When _Lent_ is at an end, then they begin their
_Easter_ feast (which they call _Ulubaira_) which they keep with great
solemnity for three days, salute one another very kindly, and with one
the other all health and happiness, as we do on new year’s day: They
also seek all sorts of pastime, chiefly the Janizaries, which in great
places erect gibbets three fathoms high, to the top whereof they tie
strong ropes, almost like as the children do in our country, where they
swing others for a small recompence; when any body sits in it, two stand
ready with a broad string, one on each side, which they fling before
him, and fling him backwards with it, and so set him a swinging. Others
run before the people that are walking, and sprinkle them with sweet
smelling water, to get a little spell of money out of them, chiefly the
Christians, which they will not easily leave before they have satisfied
them; wherefore they are necessitated to stay at home on these days.
Not long after, they keep another peculiar feast, called _Chairbairam_
where they also use all sorts of gesticulations, which were too long to
relate here; they do not fast on those days, but they sacrifice young
steers and wethers, _&c._ cut them into small pieces, to distribute them
among the people, for the honour of _Abraham_, because he did obey God,
and would have sacrificed his son _Isaac_ to him: At this abundance of
heathens congregate themselves in certain places before the towns, to go
in pilgrimage to _Medina-Talnabi_, _Mecca_, and _Jerusalem_, for love to
_Mahomet_. Amongst them many are found, that are recovered again from
dangerous distempers, or delivered from great dangers, and then did make
a vow, either to go on pilgrimage to one of these places, or else to kill
such a number of beasts to distribute among the poor as an alms.
According to what I have said before, that they compute their months
more by the moon-light, and so account twelve of them to a year; they
observe mightily the change of the moon, chiefly the new moon, to see it
again. Wherefore at that time they go often in great numbers out, unto
the next hill, to observe it the better, after sun-set. He that seeth
it first sheweth it with great rejoycing to his companions. In their
prognostications they also mind the moon’s light, and according to that,
they make their account, to know then if any thing shall happen. They
have also (as some of them have told me) a peculiar book, which they keep
very close to themselves, wherein is briefly written, what shall happen
to them every year, whether it be good or bad: This beginneth in the same
year with their Prophet _Mahomet_, and continueth for 1000 years, when
this is at an end they have nothing more of that nature worth any thing.
And being they go no farther, some will deduce or conclude from thence,
that their reign will soon have an end, when those years are passed.
Wherefore they fear the Christians very much, and confess themselves,
that they expect to suffer a great blow from the Christians: And this
one may see or conclude from hence, for on their holidays in the morning
about nine of the clock, they shut up the gates of the towns, great
champs, and other publick habitations, as I found at _Aleppo_, so that
many times I could not get either out or in until they opened them again,
for they fear at that time to be assassinated by the Christians.
Being then that their term of years is near expired, for when I lived
in these places in the year 1575, they writ 982 of this same term, so
that there was not quite 18 years more to come. Now if we compare these
1000 years with those whereof _John_ the Evangelist and Apostle, maketh
mention in his _Revelations_, chap. xx. 7, saying, ‘When the thousand
years are expired _Satan_ shall be loosed out of prison. And shall go
out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth,
_Gog_ and _Magog_ to gather them together to battle’ (as also is written
in this same book of _Revelations_ in chap. ix. and by the holy Prophet
_Ezekiel_, in chap. xxxviii. xxxix.) ‘The number of whom is as the sand
of the sea, _&c._’ We find not only that they may also be interpreted and
applied to the _Turks_ and their adherents, but also that they have begun
their reign almost at the same time when _Mahomet_ and the _Antichrist_
should appear, about the year 666 as we read in the 13th chapter and the
last verse of St _John_ in his _Revelation_. And besides, it looketh in
these miserable times (when it seems as if every thing would turn topsy
turvy) that these years are passed, and that Satan is loosed, as if
our dear Lord God would make an end of this malicious world. Add, that
some learned Mathematicians do prognosticate that at these times, but
chiefly in the year 1588. great alterations will be in all the parts
of the world. When we add to this date the 42 months, or 1260 days, or
three years and a half, whereof the Prophet _Daniel_, and also the holy
Evangelist and Apostle _John_ in his _Revelation_ makes mention, the 18
years that are still wanting of the 1000 years of their _Mahomet_ (as is
above said) will be compleated, so that these two years numbers do very
well again agree together.
_God the Almighty preserve us in all adversities, that we may persevere
in the acknowledged truth of his Holy Gospel, and send us penitent
hearts, that we may be sensible of his merciful visitations, and also
overcome the two last woes that are not quite over, with patience.
~Amen.~_
[Illustration]
CHAP. VII.
_Of Mount ~Bethzetha~, and the two Houses of ~Pilate~ and ~Herod~._
From the temple mount towards the north, you come presently towards
the house of judicature, where _Pontius Pilate_ did live, and condemn
innocent Lord _Christ_, to that heinous death of the cross. But because
the house hath been since surrounded with high walls, we saw in the court
(where the Soldiers did clothe our Lord _Christ_ with the purple cloak,
and put upon his head the crown of thorns, and afterwards did spit upon
him, and mock, beat and whip him) nothing remarkable, but only without
a very old and high arch, like unto an arched bridge. This is almost
black with age, and so artificially erected, that one can hardly find any
juncture, where the stones are put together. This was the High Place,
as it is said, before the Judgment Hall, whereon the condemned men use
to be exposed to the sight of the people, because the _Jews_ durst not
go into the House of Judicature at their high feasts, as _Easter_ and
_Whitsuntide_ (as you may read in St _John_, chap. xviii.) that they
might not make themselves unclean, but eat of the Paschal Lamb: Wherefore
_Pilate_ did several times go out to the people to shew them our Lord
_Christ_, and sit down in the Judgment seat, in a place that is called
the Pavement, but in the Hebrew _Gabbatha_, as you read in St _John_,
chap. xix. ver. 13. This arch is open at the top in the middle, and hath
two other small arches about the wideness of an ordinary door one by the
other supported by a marble column, in one of them stood _Christ_ with
his crown of thorns on, and _Pontius Pilate_ in the other, when he said
to the people, _Behold the man_.
Hard by at the other side of the arch, on the right hand, on an ascent,
they shew the habitation of King _Herod_, which is still very fine, and
gloriously built of marble. Wherefore, although it is not the same, which
hath been burnt long agone by the _Jews_, and afterwards rooted out by
the _Romans_, yet it is built in the same place, where the King’s palace
did stand, on the height of mount _Bethzetha_, as _Josephus_ testifieth,
from the north over against the temple, and the fort _Antonia_, where our
dear Lord _Christ_ was mocked and abused by _Herod_ and his servants, and
had a white garment put upon him, and so was sent back again to _Pilate_.
In these habitations, chiefly those of _Pilate_, are still to this day,
_Turkish_ magistrates, Sangiacks, Cadis, and Soubashaws dwelling, that
keep courts of judicature there; and therefore nobody is admitted to come
in before he hath gratified the master and servants. These magistrates
are very severe, and punish their subjects for no great matter, either
in their body or purse, or with a certain number of stripes, which they
give with straps of rough neats leather upon the soles of their feet,
fewer or more, in proportion to their committed crimes more or less;
which sort of punishment is very common to all eastern countries. This
sort of punishment is very ancient, and mention thereof is made in
_Deuteronomy_ chap. xxv. ver. 2. ‘And it shall be, if the wicked man be
worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to
be beaten before his face, according to his fault by a certain number,
forty stripes he may give him and not exceed; least if he should exceed,
and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem
vile unto thee.’ So the holy Apostle St _Paul_ hath received them several
times, whereof he maketh mention in II. _Corinthians_ chap. xi. ver. 23.
where he saith, ‘I am in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure,
in prisons more frequent, in deaths often. Of the _Jews_ five times
received I forty stripes save one.’
When we came back from these habitations, we saw some more remarkable
places, which are usually shewn unto pilgrims, some whereof are mentioned
in Scripture, _viz._ the iron gate, through which the angel of the Lord
did conduct St _Peter_ out of prison: The habitation of _Mary_ the mother
of St _John_, where the holy Apostle _Peter_ did knock at the door: The
temple of St _John_ the Evangelist, whereof the Knights of the order of
St _John_ call themselves, and several others, which are for the most
part fallen down, and lie in ruins. But because in these times, it is
uncertain in what condition they were then, I also omit to say any more
of them. After we had seen these two places with their habitations; we
returned back again at night, according to the appointment of the father
Guardian, to go with us into the temple of mount _Calvaria_.
CHAP. VIII.
_Of the Mount ~Calvaria~, and the Holy Grave of our Lord and Saviour
~Jesus Christ~._
On the 27th of _September_ in the year 1575 after dinner, the father
Guardian did send to the other Lords of the temple, to let us into
the temple of mount _Calvaria_, which the _Turks_ keep always locked
up. But we and some other friars in their own habit, went with their
father Guardian to the temple of the mount, which first of all the
pious Queen _Hellen_, mother of the great Emperor _Constantine_ (after
she had destroyed the temple of _Venus_ that was built upon the place
of the grave) did build, as she did also build several churches in
several places, _viz._ That at _Bethlehem_, where _Christ_ was born:
That of the holy Apostle _James_ the Great, in the place of the upper
town where he was beheaded: And another on the mount of Olives, where
_Christ_ did ascend into heaven: As also another at _Bethania_, where
_Christ_ did raise _Lazarus_ his dear friend from the dead, and in many
other places, at _Nazareth_, and on the mount _Thabor_, &c. But when
afterward the city of _Jerusalem_ was many times besieged, and at length
taken from the Christians, by the unbelieving _Saracens_, _Hequen_ that
malicious King of _Ægypt_, did in the year of Christ 1011, demolish
these churches, and so they remained until after his decease his son
_Daber_ came to the government, who afterwards in the year 37. did give
leave to _Constantine_ the Emperor of _Constantinople_ (when he renewed
with him their old correspondency) to rebuild it again at his own cost
and charges. In these our times, when it remaineth in the possession of
the _Turks_, free egress and regress is quite denied to the Christian
Pilgrims that come to see the holy places: For when they saw that many
Christians came yearly thither from all places, _viz._ From _Armenia_,
_Æthiopia_, _Syria_, _Ægypt_, _Greece_, _Italy_, nay from all places of
_Europe_, they have put a certain sum of money (according as they are
near, or farther off, under his dominions or not) to be paid by them,
to be admitted. For some pay two or three seckins or ducats, others
four and five; but we that are outlandish, as _Italians_, _Frenchmen_,
and _Germans_ (as well knowing we do not spare for money) must pay
nine seckins a piece, and that without any remission, must be paid in
weighty _Turkish_ or _Venetian_ ducats: And they keep the temple locked
up close, until every one of them has paid their due: By these means
the Grand Signior hath acquired himself a considerable yearly revenue,
which amounts to several thousand ducats yearly. But yet it is now-a-days
nothing near to what it hath been formerly, when all was under Popish
darkness, and the Pilgrims used to flock thither in great numbers.
For since in our time, by the Grace of God, the holy Gospel hath been
brought to light again, and began to be preached, (which sheweth us a far
nearer and better way to find Christ, and to have true and full pardon
and remission of our sins) so that daily more come to the knowledge of
the truth, and return to the Lord, his revenues decrease as much as the
number of the Pilgrims that used to resort thither.
When we came pretty near to the temple, and expected to have seen mount
_Calvaria_, the _Franciscans_ told us, that this mount, together with the
holy grave, and the garden (wherein Christ did first appear unto _Mary
Magdalen_) were intirely taken into the temple, so that no heigth at all
was to be seen without.
Just when we came into the court of the temple there appeared an old
heathenish prison, wherein are prisoners kept to this day, near which
did stand the _Prison-gate_ (whereof we saw still some part of the wall
up in the wall of the church) through which Christ did carry his cross
to the place of sculls, which in former days was without the town, as
you may clearly see in St _Mark_, chap. xvii. 20. where he writes: ‘And
they led him out to crucify him.’ And in _Hebrews_, chap. xiii. 12. where
it is plainly writ, that ‘Christ suffered without the gate.’ But when
afterwards the Emperor _Adrian_ did rebuild and enlarge the desolated
town, he did also surround with a wall the place where our Lord Jesus
Christ did suffer, which was without towards the north-west, beyond the
mount _Moria_, so that now it is situated almost in the middle of the
city of _Jerusalem_, and because of this inlargement he call’d the town
after his sir-name _Helia_.
We staying a great while at the gate, before they did open it unto us,
several Oriential Christians, to wit, _Greeks_, _Jacobites_, _Armenians_,
&c. came to us to visit their Priests, and to perform their devotion in
it, so that about three-score went in with us.
The building of the temple is very large, of strong walls, and so thick,
that it taketh away the Light within: it is richly covered with grey
marble within and without, and supported by some marble pillars about
a fathom and a half thick, so strongly, that one may conclude from
thence, that neither labour nor costs were spared in it’s building. Yet
the _Turks_, (notwithstanding the holy places and the costliness of the
building) have in some places spoiled and demolished some part of the
walls thereof, so that now they are no more like to the old ones that
were before, and besides (as the Guardian told us) half of it is hardly
remaining. Yet it is still very large, and so well closed up again, that
one can hardly perceive the loss thereof.
As we went through, we passed by the grave of Christ, in a glorious large
chapel, called our _Ladies_, which the _Franciscans_ have in possession,
and is hung with tapestry very well wrought. Within it is a great altar,
on each side whereof is to be seen a nick, artificially made of white
marble, the windows whereof are very well guarded with iron bars: In that
towards the left hand is kept a piece of the column whereon Christ was
whip’d; it is of a reddish colour, three spans long, and four over. In
the other on the right there is a small crucifix, in the middle whereof
is in-laid a small piece of the true cross of Christ.
From thence we went farther into the vestry; which hath several large
rooms, where we staid until the _Franciscans_ had put on their usual
habits to go their rounds with us, and to shew us the holy places with
the usual ceremonies. When they had made themselves ready we came out
again into the church, and left the chancel of the _Græcians_, that is
in the middle, and the holy grave upon our right hand, and went to the
left to another chapel, whereby the _Græcians_ have an altar without,
by which, in the marble floor, are two holes to be seen, wherein they
pretend that Christ was detained prisoner until they had fixed the cross
for him on the place of the sculls. This chapel is within very deep, and
so dark, that when you go into it you believe that you go into a cave,
where the _Romanists_ believe (as I understood by a _French man_ of their
convent, who was in a Priest’s habit, and as we went about, standing
before the altar, did tell us, what they had done to Christ our Lord, in
every place) that they did detain Christ (as in a place where-into they
threw their dust) to mock him, until his cross was got ready for him.
Just by the chapel behind the chancel they shew on a high arch another
place, where the soldiers did share Christ’s cloaths amongst them, and
cast lots for his coat.
Somewhat farther about they shew a pair of stairs of twenty nine steps,
which we descended, and came into a great chapel of Queen _Helen_,
situated underneath mount _Calvaria_, wherein is still towards the right
hand of the altar, a glorious and beautiful high seat of marble whereon
the Queen used to sit, when she had a mind to overlook the workmen, to
see whether they went on right; for she loved building mightily, as
appeareth still to this day by the number of her mighty buildings. Behind
this seat are eleven steps, which go farther down mount _Calvaria_, where
the cistern hath been, wherein Queen _Helen_ found the cross of Christ.
Underneath on the altar, ’tis true, there stands one, but it is new, and
therefore to be supposed, to be put there of late years. At the bottom
of the stairs do also appear very plainly the crack’d rocks, as it is
mentioned in Scripture: _And the rocks rent._ And these rents or cracks
are a foot wide, and so deep as to reach from the top to the bottom of
the rocky mount of _Calvaria_.
When we came up into the church again, they shewed us at the bottom of
mount _Calvaria_, a chapel that was locked up, and in it underneath the
altar a large blackish stone with some reddish spots upon it, in the
shape of a piece of a pillar, which was brought thither from _Pilate_’s
house of Judicature, whereon our Lord did sit, when the soldiers did put
the crown of thorns on his holy head, and did salute him as a King with
their knees bended, and did also mock him, spit in his face, and whip
him. This crown was twisted out of thorns, called by the _Arabians_,
_Nausegi_ and _Athausegi_; and by the _Græcians_ and _Latanists_, which
have kept the same name, _Rhamus_, whereof there are three sorts, the
first of which is the true one (which is also common in _France_ and
_Italy_) which doth not only grow without, but also within the town of
_Jerusalem_ plentifully; this puts out early in the spring, into long,
thin and pliable twigs, with a great many long and strong prickles. Just
by it cometh out above from the chancel of the _Græcians_, a path up to
mount _Calvaria_, which they forced from the _Georgians_, as they did
before from the _Armenians_, by giving money to the _Turks_; which is
very common in these countries; for if one hath any business to be done
by the _Turks_, it cannot be easier obtained, than if you bribe them more
than your adversary, wherefore it happeneth very often that such places
are taken away from one nation, and given to the other.
Underneath this way or gallery you ascend nineteen steps to go up to
the mount _Calvaria_, where we saw two chapels one behind the other,
which were open, and had a very delicate floor, artificially inlaid with
flowers of several colours, the like whereof is hardly to be seen any
where else.
At the top of the stairs we left our shoes, and went in, and attended
the Priest, who did also there, as he had done in other places before,
give us a short account of what had been done to our Lord Jesus Christ in
these places, _viz._ that in the hindmost chapel his hands and feet had
been extended, and sharp nails drove through them, and so with a great
deal of indignation he was fixed to the cross. And that in the foremost
our Lord Christ did hang on the cross between the two malefactors, where
there was still to be seen the hole wherein the cross of our Lord did
stand. He also briefly repeated to us the seven words which he did say
when he was upon the cross; and for a conclusion he told us, that his
holiness the Pope had laid there indulgences for ever, for all sins and
transgressions, to be distributed among the pilgrims.
When we had done we went farther into the chapel, and saw first a place
two cubits high, which was also covered with fine ashen-coloured marble,
watered with blue, in the middle whereof was a round hole about a span
over, and was lined with tin, wherein did stand the cross of our Lord
Christ, which is so closely tipped and lined, that the pilgrims can take
neither much nor little of this, nor any other place, as the holy grave,
or _Bethelem_ where Christ was born, _&c._ Wherefore notwithstanding the
pretence of the _Franciscans_, that in their _Agnus Dei_’s and crucifixes
are little pieces of the fore-mentioned places, it is all false and
nothing of truth in it, which they must confess themselves, it being all
covered with marble. Near to this hole, both to the right and left, where
the crosses of the two thieves did stand, in the room of them two others
are erected, where hard by that on the left at the inside, is to be seen
a long and large fissure in the rock of the mount, which the Queen left
on purpose open in the marble pavement, so that you may very plainly see
it, and it goeth down very deep, as I have told you before.
When we came down again from the mount, and come out behind the chancel
towards the gate of the great church, there lieth in the pavement a fine
and large marble, which is surrounded, or taken in, with iron barrs in
the same place, where _Joseph_ and _Nicodemus_, the two disciples of
Christ, did wrap up the body of Christ, after it was taken down, in
linnen with spices.
From thence as we went farther towards the grave of our Lord Christ,
we left below towards the left on the place of sculls, another chapel,
wherein are the graves of some Christian Kings, _viz._ _Gottofredi_,
and _Baldewin_, _&c._ which took the Land of Promise by force from the
Infidels, and came towards the right by the chancel of the _Greeks_ into
a great round and high building of the holy grave, which butts upon the
church, and is below towards it, it standing upon very strong double
marble pillars, quite open: it is covered with lead, and hath at the top
a great window, where the light falleth in, which is four fathom square,
where underneath is the holy grave of our Lord Jesus Christ under the
open sky, so that at all times, both rain, dew and snow fall upon it.
Before the passage into the Sepulchre is a small chapel, wherein is
nothing of any moment to be seen, but a square stone, just before the
door of the grave; this is of the true rock of the grave, about eight
inches thick, whereon (as some say) the Angel of the Lord, that rolled
back the stone from the door, did sit. This was also useful and did
serve to keep the great grave-stone, that was before the door of the
grave (which is hardly three foot high) steady, that it might not give
backwards. That the door was but low, and that the stone did lean before
it, you may sufficiently see out of the holy Evangelist St _Luke_, chap.
xxiv. 12. when he saith: ‘Then arose _Peter_, and ran unto the Sepulchre,
and stooping down, _&c._’ And also in St _John_, chap. xx. 11. where you
read: ‘But _Mary_ stood without at the Sepulchre weeping: and as she
wept, she stooped down, and looked into the Sepulchre.’ And also the holy
Apostle and Evangelist St _John_ came before _Peter_ to the Sepulchre,
and looked into it, and saw the linnen cloaths, but did not go in
himself. And we read also of the door of the Sepulchre, and that the
great stone before it used to be rolled. When you will go into the door
you must stoop very much, and rather creep than go into it. The Sepulchre
within is even with the floor of the chapel, and of the whole church, and
is so large, that four persons may stand very easily by one another.
After the Priest had ended his speech which he made in the Sepulchre, of
the Resurrection of Christ, which we heard without in the chapel, and
had also proclaimed the Pope’s indulgences for ever, we went in also,
and looked upon the rock whereout the Sepulchre was cut, and found it
underneath on the right hand (altho’ it had been very much torn by the
Infidels) still in very good order, so that we could discern it still
distinctly, where now the monks have made an altar, and covered it with
a large fair marble. Over it hung about twenty lamps, which made the
Sepulchre (which else is very dark) very light; one whereof belongeth to
the Catholic King of _Spain_, another to the Christian King of _France_,
and others to other Princes; they look very carefully after them, because
they bring them in a considerable revenue yearly. The holy Sepulchre
is lined within and without with grey marble, and chiefly without some
adorned with carved columns that stand between it.
On the outside of the door of the Sepulchre doth hang a fine golden
piece, wherein our Lord Christ is very artificially wrought, as he did
appear after his Resurrection unto _Mary Magdalen_ first, and afterwards
also to the women: At the top of the Sepulchre is also a small round
steeple, which is covered with lead, and upheld with six double marble
columns: Besides this there is at the back of the Sepulchre another
plain chapel, wherein the _Jacobites_, as I was informed, perform their
Devotion.
More at the left hand, as we went out of the Sepulchre again, near to it
in the pavement, are two large circles, rarely inlaid of _Mosaic_ work,
in the middle whereof are two round stones of marble, one whereof is
white, and the other red, lying in the same place of the garden, where
_Mary Magdalen_ turned about, and took our Lord Jesus Christ to be the
Gardener. Thus much I thought convenient to relate of these places that
are shewn in the circuit.
When I found myself to be in those places where our dear Lord Christ did
walk about, teach, and by his passion, death, resurrection and ascension
work our redemption, and procure and purchase our salvation, from his
heavenly father again, I did remember and rejoice at these incomparable
benefits, and merciful treasures with all my heart; for it cannot
otherwise be, but that every true Christian, that is upon this mount of
_Calvaria_, and thinks there of the cross of Christ, and in the Sepulchre
of his glorious resurrection, must find great passions within his breast;
as you also read in the last chapter of St _Matthew_, vers. 8. of the
women, where you find these words: ‘And they departed quickly from the
sepulchre, with fear and great joy.’ This I found also in my heart and
mind, so that it was, as if I saw our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the
Almighty God, to humble himself, and to become obedient to his heavenly
Father, even to death, nay, to the death of the cross, to bring us
miserable sinful men to rights again, and to deliver us clearly from all
debts and punishments, and so to procure us the only and true indulgences.
After we had seen mount _Calvaria_, the Sepulchre of Christ our Lord, and
other places, we went into the vestiary again to eat our supper.
After supper they led us up into the gallery, which is in the round
building over-against the holy Sepulchre, to stay there all night; but
some of the eastern Christians sung below in the church, others did
grumble together, and play’d with their sweet-sounding cymbals, (which
were made of pure metal about the bigness of a large wallnut-shell) so
pleasant tunes or musick, that I rather look’d on them, and minded their
musick than slept.
The next morning my comrades, after they had been at confession, and
received the Sacrament upon mount _Calvaria_, came to me into the church
again, with an intention to go round once more. So we saw the holy places
once more, and at last also the chapel, which we left the day before
at the foot of the hill on our left hand belonging to the _Grecians_;
they let us in very willingly, because of our chaplain, who was also a
_Grecian_, and shew’d us in it, at the farthest part where it was pretty
dark, a large and deep crack of the rock; afterwards also on each side
some fine and high tombs of some Kings, _viz._ that of _Gottefrid de
Boulion_, and others, which were for some time possessed of the Land of
Promise; these stand on delicate columns, cut out of curious grey marble,
whereon are some epitaphs, which I thought to set down here underneath,
together with a short relation when they did take the Land of Promise,
and the famous city of _Jerusalem_, how long they were possessed of it,
and how many Kings did succeed one another in it.
_Plants observed by Monsieur ~Belon~, to grow about some of the holy
Places._
_Near ~Jerusalem~ on the ~Mounts~, ~Hills~, and ~Valleys~._
_Adrachne seu Arbutus folio non serrato_, _Picea_, _Aria_, _Ilex
cocci-glandifera_, _Terebinthus_, _Lentiscus_, several sorts of _Cistus_,
_Capparis Spinosa_, _Paliurus_ or _Christ_’s Thorn, Fig-trees, Olives,
Almonds, a sort of wild Peach, _Jujubes_ or _Zizyphus_, _Esculus_
or Dwarf-oak, _Alaternus_, white Mulberry for the Silk-worms, the
inhabitants trading a little in Silk and _Kermes_, which they gather
from a Holm-oak: _Sesamum_, _Gossipium seu Xylon_, _Thymbra_, _Marum_,
_Origanum Heracleoticum_, _Tragoriganum_, _Salvia_, _Stachys_, _Ruta
Sylv._, _Trifolium Asphaltites_; a rare sort of _Hyosciamus_ on the walls
of _Jerusalem_; _Azadarach Arbor in Palestinâ secundum D. ~Monconny~_.
_Between Mount ~Sinai~, Mount ~Oreb~ and ~Suez~._
_Oenoplia_ a sort of _Zizyphus_; _Arbor Lanigera_ or Cotton-tree; _Glans
seu Nux Unguentaria_, call’d _Balanus Mirepsica_, _Alcanna_ a _Species_
of _Ligustrum_, of great use and sale for dying and colouring; _Senna_,
Rose of _Jericho_, or _Hiericho_ a sort of _Thlaspi_, _Colocynthis_,
_Ambrosia_, or Oak of _Cappadocia_.
Some Plants mention’d by _Breynius_, and taken out of _Rauwolff_’s _Hort.
Sic._ or else found in those Countries where _Rauwolff_ travell’d.
_Acaciæ similis Mesopotamica minutissimis foliis, siliquâ integrâ
contortâ, crassâ, & obtusâ; sive siliqua Nabathæa nobis._
_Azadirachta foliis ramosis majoribus ~Syriaca~ sive vulgaris flore
cæruleo maj. ~Perlato~ falso Sycomorus Italorum. ~Bellon.~ ~Astergir.~
~Rhasis~, & incolis ~Zenselacht~ ~Rauwolff.~_
_Horminum Syriacum, tomentosum, foliis Coronopi, sive profundè
laciniatis ~Breyn.~ Horminum rarum foliis laciniatis ~Rauwolff.~ in
Herbar. vivo._
_Lapathum Rotundifolium montis Libani, semine maximo ~Breyn.~ Ribes
Arabum ~Rauwolff.~_
_Lycium Buxi foliis angustioribus Syriacum ~Breyn.~ Lycium Dioscoridis
~Rauwolff.~ in Herbar. Hadhad Arabibus, & Zaroa incolis montis Libani,
ejusdem. In Syriâ & Palestinâ observavit ~Rauwolffius~._
_Lycium Buxi foliis rotundioribus Syriacum vel Persicum ~Breyn.~ Hoc
Lycium apud ~Rauwolffium~ cum priore confunditur._
_Marrubium villosum Syriacum, sive montis Libani ~Breyn.~_
_Melanthium Syriacum minus frutescens latifolium, Rutæ flore, fructu
tricapsulari, ~Breyn.~ Ruta vocata Harmala ~J. B.~_
_Melilotus minima Syriaca. Nephel sive Naphal, Ibenbaithar & Malasesæ._
_Plantago angustifolia minor lanugonisa Syriaca & Cretica, pediculis &
capitulis maturitate ad terram inflexis ~Breyn.~ Leontopodium ~Alpin.
Exot.~ Leontopodium Creticum ~C. B.~_
_Plantago angustifolia peniculis Lagopi ~C. B.~ Plantago quinquenervia
cum globulis albis pilosis ~J. B.~ Catananche Dioscoridis ~Rauwolff.~ in
Herbario vivo._
_Satureia frutescens Arabica folio fimbriato hirsuto ~Breyn.~ Sathar
Arabum ~Rauwolff.~_
_Tithymalus (vel Tithymalo affinis) aphyllos dictus major latifolius,
flore sanguineo aviculæ capitulum repræsentante ~Breyn.~ An Planta
lactaria Xabra & Cammaronum Rhasis ~Rauwolff.~_
_Jacea maxima Hierosolymitana ~Alpin. Exot.~_
_Marum Syriacum foliis incisis._
CHAP. IX.
_Here follow some Epitaphs of the Christian Kings of ~Jerusalem~,
together with a short Relation of their reigns and mighty deeds._
In the year of our Lord Christ 1096, when _Henry_ the fourth was Emperor
of the west, and _Alexius_ the _Grecian_ Emperor at _Constantinople_ in
the east, Pope _Urban_ the second call’d a council at _Claremont_ in
_France_, where they consulted together which way the Land of Promise
might be deliver’d again from the hands of the Infidels. Where it
was concluded and agreed upon, to take the field in common, and for
their general they chose _Gottefrid de Boulion_, Count of _Bononia_ in
_France_. Along with him went many Princes, Counts and Noblemen, _viz._
_Baldwin_ and _Eustachius_ his brethren, and many more, and brought
together an army of six hundred thousand foot, and one hundred thousand
horse; so they went in several parties through _Hungaria_, _Greece_,
_&c._ till they had passed the _Hellespont_, and came into _Asia the
Less_, now call’d _Natolia_, and belonging to the _Turks_, where they
joined again, and took some towns, to wit, _Nicea_, _Tarsis_, and also
_Antiochia_ situated in _Cælosyria_. Yet in these actions were a great
many Christians slain by the way, others were taken prisoners, some were
starved, a great many dy’d of sicknesses, that came by changing of the
air in these hot countries; so that in three years time, for so long
dured this march, there were hardly forty thousand men (as some write)
left, of the afore-named sum that did arrive in the Land of Promise.
These went with their master and general _Gottefrid de Boulion_ before
the city of _Jerusalem_, wherein were a great number of the infidels, to
defend it; yet they surrounded the city, and took it in a little time,
and kill’d a great number of them. When they had taken the town on the
fifteenth day of _July_, in the year 1099, and had reduced it, they
laid down their armors and arms, and went to visit the holy Sepulchre
with great devotion, and chose there unanimously their general King of
_Jerusalem_, who at their request undertook the government, would not be
call’d King, nor crown’d with a golden crown in that place, where our
Saviour that Arch-King had worn one of thorns. After he had obtained
this victory, he also subdued some adjacent towns, _viz._ _Joppe_
call’d _Jaffa_, _Porphria_ situated at the foot of mount _Carmel_, the
_Arabians_ and _Turks_ call’d _Hayphe_, _Tiberias_ and the confines of
_Galilea_. He also overcame with a handful of his men, the Captain of the
Sultan, who had a great number of men with him, and kill’d above thirty
thousand of them. But as nothing is lasting in human affairs, he dy’d in
the eleventh month of his reign, and was bury’d in the above-mention’d
chapel, and upon his tomb-stone is still to be read this following
epitaph.
_Hic jacet inclitus dux ~Gottefridus de Boulion~, qui totam
istam terram acquisivit cultui Christiano: cujus anima regnet
cum Christo. ~Amen.~_
After his decease the Christians unanimously chose his brother _Baldewin_
King of _Jerusalem_ in his place; he overcame with a small number of men
the King of _Egypt_, that was twenty two thousand strong, and kill’d the
greatest part of his men. And when he dy’d in the eighteenth year of his
reign, they chose his cousin _Baldewin_ of _Burgo_, the second of that
name, King. This was a great warrior, and did many heroick deeds with
few men against the Heathens; he overcame and took prisoner _Gatzim_ the
_Turkish_ Prince of the _Lesser Asia_, with a great number of men; but
soon after in the fifth year of his reign, he was beaten in a battle by
the King of the _Parthians_, and carry’d away prisoner. In the mean time
the _Venetians_ and _Genoese_ came with two hundred and seventy ships,
and dispersed and beat the Armada of the _Saracens_, and sunk many of
their ships and took also the strong town of _Tyrus_, so that both by
sea and land there was abundance of blood shed. When the enemies saw
this, that they set the King at liberty again in the eighteenth month
of his imprisonment, for a sum of money; after that he did execute in
the six following years of his reign, in order to an enlargement of
his kingdom, many glorious and famous deeds. He overthrew the King of
the _Ascalonites_, who was assisted by the _Egyptians_, and fell upon
_Jerusalem_ in one single battle, and also beat the King of _Damascus_ in
three several ones, as you may see by his epitaph here underneath written:
_Rex ~Baldewinus~, ~Judas~ alter ~Machabæus~,_
_Spes patriæ, vigor ecclesiæ, virtus utriusque_
_Quem formidabant, cui dona, tributa ferebant_
_~Cedar~, & ~Ægyptus~, ~Dan~, & homicida ~Damascus~_
_Proh, dolor, in modico clauditur hic tumulo._
In the year 1131, the crown was presented to _Fulcon_, count of
_Andegavia_, and son-in-law to the before-said _Baldewin_, who also
obtain’d several victories against the _Persians_ and _Turks_. But in
his time there arose some differences among the Christians, and some
conspiracies, which proved afterwards very disadvantageous to him; he
lost also _Edessa_, a city in _Mesopotamia_, which King _Baldewin the
first_ had conquer’d before, which the _Turks_ took by force from him.
This King left two sons, _Baldewin_ and _Alamric_, and after he had
reigned eleven years, he fell dead when he hunted a hare on full speed.
After him his Son _Baldewin the third_ was crown’d, who also dy’d in the
twenty fourth year of his reign, after he had fought several battles, and
taken some towns. Then his brother _Alamric_ came to the crown, who was a
great warrior, so that he was very fit for this dignity, he obtain’d many
victories against Sultan _Saladin_. But afterwards when the scales were
turn’d, he dy’d also after his return from _Egypt_ in the year 1178, his
son _Baldewin the fourth_, and the seventh King, undertook the government
of the Kingdom in the thirteenth year of his reign. This, although he
was leprous, yet he manag’d his business very well, and defended his
dominions courageously and gloriously against the infidels. And because
he would not be marry’d by reason of his distemper, therefore he marry’d
his sister _Sibylla_ to a Marquis of _Monteferrato_, call’d _William_.
She was brought to bed in the first year of a son, and call’d him after
his uncle _Baldewin_. But when _William_ dy’d, he marry’d her again to
_Guido_ of _Lusignan_, Count of _Joppe_; with this condition, that after
his decease he should rule the kingdom for his son-in-law, and be his
guardian so long until he came at age. But he behaving himself very ill
in the mean while, the King grew so angry with him, that he would by no
means suffer him to live in his dominions, and order’d another to fill
up his place, one _Raymond_, a Count of _Tripoli_. Soon after the King
dy’d before his son was quite twenty years old, and was also bury’d in
the temple of the holy Sepulchre. Within eight months after, did also
die the true heir of the crown, the son of _Sibylla_ his sister, and was
also bury’d by the other Kings; so that we find still on three several
tomb-stones that stand close one behind the other, _viz._
_Septimus in tumulo puer hic regnum tumulatus_
_Est, ~Baldewinus~ regum de sanguine natus._
_Quem tulit è mundo sors primæ conditionis_
_Ut Paradysiacæ loca possideat regionis._
So by the incitation of his mother, _Guido_ was proclaim’d the last King.
_Raymund_ the Count of _Tripoli_, was extremely disgusted at this
election, being that the Kingdom was already recommended to him,
wherefore he resolved to go to war with him, and that he might be strong
enough for him, he made a league with Sultan _Saladin_, to his own grief
and ruin; for when the Sultan saw these differences between them two, he
raised suddenly a great army, and took _Jerusalem_, and the whole country
by force of arms. So the kingdom of _Jerusalem_, after the Christians had
been possessed of it eighty eight years and nineteen days, was re-taken
again by the infidels, not without great loss and damage.
Not long after, the infidels did pull down the walls of the city, turn’d
the churches into stables, saving the temple of _Solomon_, and spoiled
the holy Sepulchre of our Lord Christ, which in all the other wars did
still remain intire, so that only one side of the rock thereof is now to
be seen. This was done by the infidels on purpose to shew us the foolish
zeal we have to conquer and visit the holy grave and city, as if Christ
were still in it. This and other places had been quite demolish’d also,
had it not been for the eastern Christians, the _Armenians_, _Syrians_,
_&c._ which did stop their fury, by giving of them a great sum of money,
and so redeem’d it.
CHAP. X.
_A common account of several sorts of Christians, but chiefly of them
that are always to be found in the temple of mount ~Calvaria~; and also
how these, and many other strangers, are treated by the ~Turkish~ Emperor
(as by their chief head, to whom they generally are subjected) and his
officers._
In the temple of mount _Calvaria_ live Christians of several nations; as
_Latins_ or _Italians_, _Abyssins_, _Græcians_, _Armenians_, _Georgians_,
_Nestorians_, _Syrians_, _Jacobites_, &c. which for the most part are
Priests and Friers, who are of so different opinions in many articles
of faith, that many of them might sooner be reckon’d amongst the
superstitious and hereticks than Christians; wherefore each of them
have their peculiar habitation and chapel, that they may perform their
devotion undisturbed by one another. The _Turkish_ Emperor also lets them
alone, and doth not at all trouble them for their religion, nor endeavour
to bring them over to the _Mahometan_ religion and _Koran_; and is very
well contented to receive his yearly tribute, which is exactly demanded
as it cometh to be due. I have seen many of them in the temple to go
up and down in their peculiar habit, and once I did attend at their
devotion, so that I easily passed away the times that the _Turks_ kept us
locked up in it.
Their Pilgrims resort thither yearly, chiefly against the great feasts
or the holy days, in great numbers to see the holy places, not only from
the eastern, but also from the western countries: Those that are under
the subjection of the _Sultan_, which they are almost all of them (except
the _Latins_ and _Abyssins_) must pay him yearly the fourth part of all
their revenues: He that hath four Olive, Almond, or Quince-trees, must
yield one of them to be the Emperors. So in their harvest, every fourth
sheaf is also his; their harvest beginneth in the beginning of _April_,
and endeth in _May_, as you may see, _Deut._ chap. xvi. 9. ‘Seven weeks
(that is from _Easter_ to _Whitsunday_) shalt thou number unto thee:
begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put
the sickle to the corn.’ Besides this imposition, they have another;
that is, They must pay yearly for every head that is male, the poor
as well as the rich, one ducat, and sometimes two, chiefly when the
_Sultan_ intendeth to go to war with the Christians; then he beginneth
to lay these taxes upon them a year before-hand, and hath it gather’d
in. He that hath not wherewithal to pay it, is forced either to sell
one or the other of his children to perpetual slavery, or else to give
one of them to the Grand _Turk_, according to his liking to be his
own for ever: And what is more, he sendeth every fourth or fifth year
through all his dominions his Emissaries, _viz._ _Wallachia_, _Servia_,
_Bosnia_, _Albania_, _Colchid_, &c. to fetch away every third son of his
Christian subjects, and they always chuse that which they like best; and
so they bring together a great number, and call them _Azanoglans_, and
give them to the _Janizaries_ to be their servants. These have in some
chief places their exercises from their infancy, that in time they may
be fit to be made Officers and Commanders in time of war. In this the
_Turks_ exercise great cruelty and pride, they spare no body, for if a
Christian doth possess some small matter of riches, he must either keep
it very privately, or else with a great deal of discretion say, That it
is all belonging to his Emperor and him. So if the _Grand Signior_ hath
occasion for any thing of theirs whatsoever, it must be granted him
without any refusal: But what a trouble and heart-breaking this must be
to the poor parents, not only to have their children which are free by
nature, forced to such a brutal way of life and education, but, what
is more, taken away from baptism to circumcision, from the Christian
congregation and faith, into a severe slavery and superstition, wherein
they are brought from their duty to their parents, into a mortal enmity
against them and their other relations, every Christian may with himself
consider.
The _Turks_, where there is choice, take them that are single and young,
because, they being still infirm, and but slightly grounded in their
faith, they are the sooner seduced, chiefly if they are instructed in
their _Mahometan_ laws, and educated therein for a while, for then they
soon forget their own faith, and grow in theirs, and so as they grow up
in years, they also grow in their malice, and become to be worse than
they themselves, as daily experience doth sufficiently testify.
Of the same stamp are also the Christians, that after they have been
taken prisoners in the war, turn _Mamalucks_ (which they call in
their language _Haracs_) and are circumcised. These are free from all
imposition as well as the _Turks_, save only the tenth, but dare not
go away without their master’s leave, upon pain of death; if they are
taken, they are according to their law, without any tryal, sentenced and
condemned to be burnt. And these also are confirm’d and obdurated in
their impious and base life, that they forget God and themselves, never
think of coming home again to hear the Gospel preached, or to see their
friends and relations again. Yet the prisoners are not so very much
pressed by the _Turks_ to deny their faith and turn, except there should
be found one or more great persons among them, for such they always use
to press more, and endeavour to turn them one way or other, and promise
them great preferment if they will declare for their religion; for they
are in hopes, that if they could persuade them, a great many more of the
little ones would also come over with them. If such are persuaded by
them and turn, they are entertained by the _Turks_ very honourably, and
called _Tscheleby_, that is gentlemen, and endued with great revenues,
but yet they do not easily confide in them, or put any trust into their
hands, and do not esteem such inconstant and faltering men in their
heart, although they carry themselves very friendly before their faces,
for they make account, That he that will easily deny his religion, will
also betray his Prince and country if occasion should serve. I have known
in these countries some slaves, whom their masters that bought them as
their servants, did very much press to be circumcised, but when they did
mightily resist, and excuse themselves, and say, That they could not
admit thereof with a safe conscience, and if by force, they should take
away their prepuce and circumcise them, that notwithstanding all that,
they could not circumcise their hearts, and therefore they desired them
not to trouble themselves any farther with them, they were for all that
ready and willing to serve them honestly and faithfully to the utmost
of their power: So their masters have been satisfied with this answer,
and have pressed them no more. But if it should happen that a Christian
should be taken in one of their _Mosques_ (for they, as unclean men, are
forbid to come there) or should dispute with them, or speak ill of their
Prophet _Mahomet_ and his laws, or should pronounce these words, which
are almost written every where in their churches, and underneath their
gates, in their _Arabian_ language, _Leila hillalla Mahammet rasur alla_;
that is to say, _O God, only God, and Mahomet a Prophet of God_, he must
(because they are an epitome of their religion, confession, belief and
laws) suffer himself to be circumcised, or else lose his life. For being
that _Mahomet_ did defend his false doctrine described in the _Koran_,
rather with the sword than with reason and true grounds, that it might
not be discovered, and so his adherents leave him. _Mahomet_ to prevent
this, by the devil’s inspiration, hath strengthen’d it with strong points
and articles, _viz._ That no body shall discourse or dispute with any
Sectaries whatsoever, much less believe them, or read their books, as
such wherein is no ground to be found, because all that is good and true
in the old Testament, testified by the _Jews_, and in the new one, by the
Christians, is by him taken out and transcribed into his _Koran_, and
therefore it must be believed and kept as the word of God, without any
scruple or search; and he that speaketh or writeth against it, must fall
by the sword, and besides be damned for ever.
Who doth not see that this subtile _Mahomet_ did this, that any body
that he gets once into his snares, or that falls into his net, might
be so entangled, that he must be forced to keep there to perish and to
be damned for ever; notwithstanding all his sweet promises of great
privileges, salaries, and permission of _sodomitish_ sins, robbing,
burning, perjury, _&c._ which transgressions they regard but very
little, seeing that according to their Prophet’s promise, if they pray
but often, and wash themselves often, they do not only not hurt them,
but by continual usage of the before-mentioned means, they become to be
cleaner than we Christians from our sins, in the bath of regeneration. To
these traditions of _Mahomet_, the _Turks_ and _Moors_ stick so close,
and believe them implicitly, according to the commands of _Mahomet_;
so that one, although he be of another opinion, because they will hear
no contradiction nor objection, is forced to hold his tongue and say
nothing. And in case you should ask them why they are forbid to eat pork,
or drink wine? they answer and say, That their Parents did so before
them, partly because they are unclean, and partly because they are forbid
it in their _Koran_; or else that if they should over-fill themselves
with it, so that they should bring it up again, it might contaminate
their cloaths, and so they should commit a great rusticity; so that they
know not how to give any reason concerning their religion. Wherefore
their law ought to be called or reputed cruel, and a tyrannical one,
that is rather upheld by the sword than by reason and justice; which
also appeareth from thence, that they carry a naked scymiter before
the noblemens sons, when they carry them about the streets in order to
be circumcised; and also their Priests, chiefly those that are called
_Antippi_, after prayers and sermon, shew unto the people from a high
place, a burning torch in one hand, and a naked scymiter in the other,
to encourage their own adherents, and to frighten those that are of
a contrary opinion; and so _Mahomet_ pretends to his adherents, that
God hath bidden him to conquer all other nations by the sword, until
they confess that there is no other God besides God, and _Mahomet_ his
Prophet; or else agree to pay him yearly tribute, and to be his obedient
subjects; if they follow his directions, his laws will endure so long
as they defend them by the sword. Now how strictly they have hitherto
prosecuted these his commandments, the inhabitants of the eastern
countries have formerly, to their grief, sufficiently experienced, _viz._
_Asia_, _Syria_, the _Land of Promise_, _Ægypt_, _Thracia_, _Greece_, &c.
which they have not only conquered, and to their own great improvement
subdued, but have also infected them with their poisonous doctrine to
such a degree, that in these our times there are but very few to be found
in those parts, that do adhere unto the true religion.
It being so then, that God Almighty hath visited them with these great
punishments, by reason of their manifold sins and ingratitude, for his
holy and sacred word, and that we also are guilty of these and the like
sins and vices, we cannot wonder that the Almighty and Just God, should,
according to our demerits, send also such a horrid tyrant against us,
to terrify us very much, and come so near to us, that we must expect
every moment (except we amend) the like punishments and executions. And
so we hear daily, to our grief, that this potent tyrant is continually
at work, and taketh one strong town after another; and what is more,
they take often in their excursions, a great number of our brethren and
sisters, part whereof they murder barbarously, others they carry away
into perpetual slavery. When they have obtained a victory, and have
got booty, there is ready, and at hand, several Sutlers, that drive a
great trade by buying and selling poor prisoners; these buy them of
the Soldiers, chain them (after they have given the Grand _Turk_ the
tenths thereof, according to his choice and pleasure) together with long
chains, and so drive them away miserably, as if they were beasts, to the
chief trading towns, to sell them with profit again to others, that come
thither from foreign countries. There you find weekly, in their _Batzars_
or Exchanges, many prisoners of several nations, viz. _Christians_,
_Moors_, _Arabians_, _Indians_, _Abyssins_, and amongst them young and
old, men and women, some whereof are white, and others black; thither
come the chapmen and cheapen them; they have liberty to look upon their
naked bodies, as if they were beasts, and to feel them, whether they are
sound in their limbs, or whether they have any defect, which they always
fear. If they like their bargain, the buyers take them home with them
into their small habitations or tents, and put them (chiefly those that
are given to idleness, and have learned no trade) to any sort of hard
labour, and all that they get so belongeth to their master, who disposeth
of it as he pleaseth. Wherefore those that keep many men and maids,
esteem themselves richer for it; and sometimes they marry them together,
and when they beget children, they are slaves as well as themselves, and
he hath power to educate them, and to dispose of them as he pleaseth.
Wherefore the Christians (that to their temporal punishment, they may not
also acquire eternal ones, for their childrens sake) in these countries
do seldom marry, but rather study how to make their escape, if they are
not hindered for want of that language, and by unskilfulness of the
roads; or else they go with their master before a Justice, in their
language called _Cadi_, and there buy their liberty for a sum of money,
or else agree with him for a certain time, and so make a contract with
him concerning their liberty, which commonly those do that intend to
persevere in their Christian religion, or undertake to get something by
their handy-work, that when the time is past, or the money paid, the
Justice may, according to the instrument before made by him at their
request, declare him free, and give him a pass, to shew upon the road,
that he may not be molested. Other ways to get their liberty there are
but very few, except their master should happen to dye, which commonly in
their last will, declare that their bought servants, after the opening of
it, shall have their liberty. Sometimes it happens, that from others they
buy false letters (which are soon found out in these countries) and so by
the help of them get away clandestinely.
But yet that but a few slaves come from thence to us again, the chief
reason is not, as many think, because the _Turks_ press them to change
their religion; for although they sometimes threaten them, as they
use to do, or treat them somewhat more hardly than is usual in their
servitude, as Christians also do very often, but rather their secure
and impenitent life which they lead, forgetting God and his holy Word
to that degree, that they know not how to give an account of their
Christian faith and religion; nay, (what is more) they know not the
difference between these two religions, which are so vastly differing,
although they would, if they did know it, rather suffer death than be
seduced from the true religion, and precipitate the soul, together with
the body, into damnation. When then the knowledge of the truth is gone,
and faith almost, if not quite extinguish’d, so that there is but little
hope left of their salvation, they daily forsake their religion as fast
as worm-eaten fruit falls from the tree; begin to think how to compensate
their bodily suffering, they may lay up and get money by robbing and
burning, and so get privileges, to live according to their own will and
pleasure, like beasts in daily uncleanness; and when they are harden’d
in it, they come at last to such a degree of sottishness and brutality,
that (as St _Peter_ saith) they believe the chief good of this world to
consist in voluptuousness, wherein they perish at length, and must expect
the wages of unrighteousness with the rest.
When the _Turks_ have conquered one or more (which they discern at first
by their fore-finger, which those that have a mind to turn use to shew
to them first, as a token, by lifting of it up over their heads, chiefly
in their _Mosques_) they rejoyce in them mightily, and are clearly of
opinion, That this their work is precious and good before God, and
that their religion is confirmed and upheld by the assenting of many;
wherefore they soon meet together to confirm these turn-coats with their
usual ceremonies, and so to make them true _Turks_. First they lay before
them a cross, whereon they must trample three times, spit upon it, and
repeat every time some words after them taken out of the _Koran_; so
the Christians that will be made _Turks_ pronounce them after them.
When this is done, three of them are ready with their bows, and shoot
together up, and give them before the arrows fall down again _Turkish_
names: then (if they be men) they set them up upon high horses, put them
on their best cloaths, and dress them neatly, and so lead them for two
days together through all the streets, that every body may see them, and
know them to be such as do adhere to their religion, and so to be free to
walk and deal among them without any hinderance. If they are of an higher
degree, and of great authority, sometimes ride along with them some
_Turkish_ gentlemen of quality, in their best dress, accompanied by many
_Janizaries_, who fire here and there in the streets for joy, but chiefly
in those places where they spy Christians. They have with them all sorts
of musical instruments, _viz._ The drums, great drums, and little drums,
(which they beat at the same time both above and below) hautboys, and
others: They also carry in this their procession long streamers upon
long poles, almost like unto them that we see in the cross-walks in our
Frieries; and besides, the rabble that run before and behind make such
a noise, that one cannot hear the other. When all this is over, they
circumcise them at last on the third day, and then they reckon such an
one to be a true _Musulman_, that is, a circumcised one, who hath leave
to go to their _Mosques_ without being hindered, to buy their books and
writings, and to read them, which must not be sold to others that are not
of their religion, upon pain of great punishment, that they may not come
into unclean hands, or to be trod upon as writings of no worth.
Their _Jews_, whereof there are a great many among them, and are called
by them _Choifut_ or _Choifoutler_, excel ours in cheating and cozening
by far, and there is no doubt but they would oftentimes renounce
their religion to make profit: But the _Turks_ envy them more than we
Christians, they do not trust them, they reckon them not worthy to eat
with them as they do with us Christians, nor marry with them; much less
will they receive them as any thing related to their religion, except
it be, that before for some days they have frequented the Christian
churches, and there are baptized, and have often eaten pork, that unclean
meat, that is also forbidden unto them. When they have done thus, they
proceed with them after the same manner as is before-said.
Concerning the Christians that live among the _Turks_, as the _Surians_,
_Armenians_, &c. they have here and there in great trading cities, their
peculiar streets which they inhabit, and they are commonly without in
the suburbs; and thereabout are also small and low churches, where they
perform their devotions. When they begin to be decayed of age, or are
burnt by fire, or destroyed in war time, if they will have them built up
again, they must have leave first of the _Turkish_ magistrate, and lay
down a good sum of money, which grants nothing except you grease them
well.
The _Turks_ (to save charges) suffer no bells nor clocks, neither in
their own nor other temples, nor will they give leave to the Christians
to ring to church with them, so that all day long you neither hear a bell
toll, nor a clock strike. Instead thereof, the _Turks_ have, according to
their _Koran_, their five hours set, which their Priests call out from
the high steeples, and in the exchanges, with a loud voice, and with
stopped ears, and cry, _Alla Haickbar_, that is, _God is true_; and then,
_Leila hillalla, Mahammet rasur alla_; each of them he repeats twice, to
call the people to their devotions. But the Christians have a servant,
that at the hours of prayers and sermon goeth about with a strong cudgel,
and striketh, in every street, on one or more doors made strong for that
purpose, as if it were upon an anvil, several times, which resounds
through all the street.
When the Christians pray, they observe almost the same ceremonies with
the _Turks_, _Persians_ and _Arabians_, _&c._ they turn themselves
towards the south, they speak low in the beginning, lift up their hands,
bend their heads and whole bodies downwards; then they fall down upon
their knees, kiss the earth several times, and pray with great devotion;
which custom the _Jews_ keep also, and that without doubt, because the
Patriarchs used the same in their prayers, as we read in _Genesis_ chap.
xvii. verse 3. and 17. ‘And _Abraham_ fell on his face: _Exod._ xvii.
11. When _Moses_ held up his hands _Israel_ prevailed:’ And in 1 _Kings_
xviii. 42. is said, ‘And _Elijah_ went up to the top of _Carmel_, and he
cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees:’
And also _Nehemiah_ viii. 6. ‘And all the people answered, Amen, Amen,
with lifting up their hands; and they bowed they heads and worshipped the
Lord with their faces to the ground.’ So did _Christ_ himself, lying on
his face, vehemently pray the third time. If we Christians did but mind
the fervency and zeal of the heathens and superstitious in their prayers,
we should see what reason we have to awake from our laziness and coldness
in our prayers, and to pray with earnestness. There live in _Turky_ so
many Christians, that they inhabit the greatest part of that country;
wherefore considering their great number (to speak according to all human
probability) it would be an easy matter to subdue the _Turks_ without the
assistance of any outlandish power, and to drive them out of their own
countries, did not God Almighty, who visiteth us for our manifold sins,
set them over us as a punishment: For although the _Turkish_ Emperor
sets his Beglerbys and Bashaws, as great and mighty lords here and there
over great provinces and countries, to rule them with great zeal and
severity, and to order all business according to his pleasure, so that
among so great a number of people, and considering their severe reign and
government (where small transgressions are vigorously punished) there
is not easily to be feared an insurrection; yet he could not be half so
strong, without the help of the Christians that live amongst his people,
nor be able to bring together such mighty and numerous armies of good and
experienced soldiers.
The Christians, for the most part, wear as well as the _Turks_ long
cloaths, and gird their loins with fine and soft rollers, some of silk,
and others made of cotton; in them they keep still to this day their
money, chiefly the poor, as some with us, that have no pockets, do in
their handkerchiefs, tied up in a strong knot; the same without doubt
did the ancients wear, as the words of _Christ_ our Saviour, _Matth._ x.
9. give us to understand, where he speaketh to his disciples, and sends
them into the world, saying, _Provide neither gold nor silver, nor brass
in your purses_. (In the _German_ bible, we read girdles.) With such a
one, without doubt, the Prophet _Agabus_ did tie the hands of the Apostle
_Paul_ in _Cesarea_ in the house of _Philip_, when he would make him
to understand, that the _Jews_ at _Jerusalem_ would take and tie him,
and at length deliver him up into the hands of the heathens, as you may
read in _Acts_ xxi. Now altho’ the Christians go as well as the _Turks_
in long cloaths, so that that way they are hardly to be distinguished
from one another; yet they are distinguished by the peculiar colours of
their turbants, which they wear; for the _Turks_ wear white ones, as
also do the _Arabians_ and _Persians_, only these put behind to it a
red coloured cloth, and the others make it up in another form, and let
one of the ends hang down behind to defend their naked necks from the
excessive heat of the sun. But the uncircumcised that have a differing
religion, are not allowed to wear a white one, unless another colour
be mixed with it, much less a green one; which colour being their
_Mahomet_’s, and esteemed to be holy, is not allowed to be worn by any
body, neither _Turks_ nor Christians, (except to their Priests and some
Pilgrims that have been on pilgrimage to _Mecca_) neither in turbants
nor other cloaths. So the _Armenians_ have blue, the _Nestorians_ flesh
coloured, the _Grecians_, _Maronites_, _Surians_, and others have white
ones with blue lists wrought into them. But the _Jews_ have yellow ones,
as they have in our country yellow bonnets; yet when they have a mind to
travel afar off, as into _Mesopotamia_, _Assyria_, _Persia_, or into the
_Indies_, &c. (seeing that the _Turks_ hate them, that so they may travel
the securer, and with little charges) they put on white ones by the way,
and pretend to be _Tschelebys_, or noblemen, nay, sometimes messengers
of the _Cambre_, which they may easily do, because they understand the
languages, yet not without great danger. But they stay not long in a
place, that they may not come to be known.
There are also some _Jewish_ Physicians, which instead of the yellow
turbants, wear red high hats of scarlet, they exceed in number the
_Turkish_ ones, that go cloathed like the common people. They are
commonly more able and learned, because they can read the physical books
of _Galen_ and _Avicenna_, &c. in their original languages _Greek_ and
_Arabick_; which they generally understand. But for the _Latin_ tongue,
very few of them understand that, neither have they any good books in it,
but what they have received in the taking the island _Cyprus_.
So much of the Christians in general. But because I have made mention
of Christians of several nations, that inhabit the temple of mount
_Calvaria_, what places in and without the town of _Jerusalem_ each
of them are possessed of, and with what errors in religion they are
contaminated, I cannot but relate in particular of each of them, as much
as I could understand and learn in that little time.
[Illustration]
CHAP. XI.
_Of the GREEKS._
As the ancient _Greeks_ in former days did excel almost all other nations
in wisdom and understanding, and used to have their children instructed
at home in their own universities in all manner of learning; so in
our times we find the contrary; for in all _Greece_ there is not one
university to be found, where such discipline and learning flourishes
as did anciently; just so is the desire of learning, and instructing
their children extinguished in them. They take greater delight in idle
discourses, and rather love idleness, which they have learned very well,
since they truckle under the _Turkish_ yoke. ’Tis true, they write the
_Greek_ language, but which is as corrupt and different from the ancient,
as the _Italian_ is from the _Latin_. The _Turks_ despise them for their
laziness and cowardise, and on the contrary they love the _Germans_,
_French_ and _Italians_, and praise them, saying, That they are stout
and courageous soldiers; they call them all by the same name _Franci_,
because the divisions of our country are unknown to most of them.
In former ages they had here and there in large and eminent towns,
instead of the Pope (whom they will not obey, nor be subject unto) their
Patriarch, Archbishops and Bishops, whereof some are still kept up; but
after the _Turks_ did take and possess themselves of their country, there
is fewer of them in number, and they have smaller revenues.
Without their country, they have in great trading Cities, as _Cairo_,
_Aleppo_, _Antiochia_ of _Syria_, _Venice_, &c. their peculiar churches,
and chiefly in some holy places in the Land of Promise. As at _Jerusalem_
the temple of mount _Calvaria_, the place of Skulls, whereon _Christ_ was
crucified; and also the beautiful chancel that is in the middle of the
church; wherein is a round hole about a span over in a stone, which is,
as they pretend, the middle of the earth, according to the words of the
kingly prophet _David_, when he says: ‘God, who now is my King from the
beginning, has wrought our selves on the middle of the earth.’ Besides
these, they have another called the Holy Cross, about an _English_ Mile
out of town, which, as they pretend, is built on the same place where the
tree did grow whereof they made the cross of _Christ_. Besides this, they
have a great many more which I reckon unnecessary to mention here.
Some of their church doors are so low, that you must stoop when you will
go through them.
They believe that the Holy Ghost doth proceed only from the Father, and
not from the Son. They keep yearly two great fasts, and they eat flesh
upon the sabbath, or saturday, at pleasure; they sing the mass in their
own language, that every body may understand it. In their churches they
suffer no embossed work, nor carved images, but have plain pictures on
boards, or on the walls. They do not believe in Purgatory, as the Papists
there, called _Latini_, do; nor that our praying, fasting or offering for
the dead can do them any good. And they are mightily displeased, that the
_Roman_ priests do not, according to the plain words of St _Paul_, marry
as well as they, nor give the Lord’s Holy Supper in both kinds, as our
Lord himself did institute it. Wherefore they condemn such errors of the
_Popish_ church, and excommunicate the Pope and his adherents on the Holy
Friday yearly. And because they reckon them to be superstitious, they
will not permit them to say mass upon their altars; but if they should do
it, they accuse them before the _Turkish_ magistrates.
So it happened when I first came over, that they were very angry with
a Papist that had said mass upon their altar, and so had profaned it,
wherefore they did immediately consecrate the altar again, and had the
Priest before the Cadi: and they brought it so far, that he was mulcted
five hundred ducats, to pay in a short time. When he thought that the
punishment was greater than the tresspass or transgression, he did seek
for help at _Aleppo_ and _Tripoli_, by the _French_ and _Italian_
Consul, but did obtain no great matter, so that he was still in election
to pay the forfeiture.
CHAP. XII.
_Of the ~Surians~ that esteem themselves to be ~Christians~._
Among the eastern _Christians_, we also find them that are called
_Surians_, whereof there is a great many, but chiefly in _Syria_. They
have like unto the _Jews_ in several towns their peculiar churches. In
_Jerusalem_ they live in the church of St _Mark_, which stands in the
place, where the house stood formerly, at the door whereof St _Peter_ the
apostle did knock when the angel had delivered him out of prison.
In their religion they follow for the greatest part the _Greeks_; they
administer the Sacrament in leavened bread; and they say their masses
like unto them in the vulgar _Arabian_ tongue. They are a sort of poor
naked, covetous, and helpless people; their gowns reach only to their
knees, as those of the _Maronites_, some whereof are wrought of coarse
goats hair, striped black and white, such as the _Arabians_ make use of
commonly, and almost alike unto their _Mescha_, which they use for sacks
and tents, and they wear nothing underneath them, but shirts without
neckbands, as is usual in all the eastern countries, they wear high
shoes, which serve them for stockings and breeches also, being tied up
with straps. They are subject unto the _Turks_, who make use of them as
labourers both by water and land. They also mind their trade more than
their religion; wherefore having lived so long among the _Turks_, they
have already assumed their customs and manners in temporal and spiritual
affairs, and are thereby become so confident and secure, that now-a-days
the difference between these two religions are esteemed by them to be
small and frivolous. If a Christian hath to deal with them, and desireth,
to buy something of them, either Opium, Scammony, or any other the like
drug, which they commonly falsify, he must look to himself as if he had
to deal with _Jews_.
CHAP. XIII.
_Of the GEORGIANS._
Near unto the glorious city of _Trapozinta_, situated on the _Euxine_
sea, beginneth the country of the _Georgians_, and buts toward the south
upon _Armenia_. These are very civil and simple people, but yet strong
and brave warriors; they esteem and honour among other saints, but
chiefly for warlike businesses, as their patron, the Knight St _George_,
from whom they take their denomination. Their Merchants come very often
in great caravans to _Aleppo_, and are, according to all appearance,
in their shape and posture like unto the _Persians_, only that these
are more whitish, and the others more tawny and browner: they wear also
like them, short flying coats, and long and wide drawers, _&c._ They
have, as the rest, their Patriarchs and Bishops, who, altho’ they are
differing and dissenting in some points; yet for the most part they
follow the doctrine and errors of the _Grecians_, and so they have and
use the same writings and offices. Their priests are, as well as those
of the _Armenians_, allowed to be married; but yet if either of them
should happen to die, they must not marry again. In _Jerusalem_ they are
also possessed of their peculiar places, wherein they sing and exercise
the offices, and chiefly of one in the church of mount _Calvaria_, in
the place near the sepulchre of our Lord _Christ_, where he did first
appear unto _Mary Magdalen_ in the similitude of a Gardener after his
resurrection.
CHAP. XIV.
_Of the ARMENIANS and their religion._
The _Armenians_ possess a large country, which is chiefly divided into
two parts, _viz._ The lesser _Armenia_, which is now subject to the
_Turks_, and the greater, now called _Turco-Mannia_ by some, which is
partly belonging to the Sophy King of _Persia_. In it arise two great
rivers, the _Euphrates_ and the _Tygris_, which run a great way toward
the south, mix together below _Bagadet_, and at length fall into the
_Persian_ gulf, by the town _Balsora_ or _Batzera_. They are pious and
honest people, innocent, but very zealous in their religion, and receive
strangers readily that come to them, and give them lodging, as I have
often found it in my travels. They are also very much inclined to help
and assist the poor slaves that are under _Turkish_ confinement, and
ready to help them out. Their Merchants, whereof there are many amongst
them, are dispersed not only over all _Turky_, but also _Persia_, the
_Indies_, and many other countries; wherefore they have in all chief
towns of trading, as _Antiochia_, _Aleppo_, situated in _Cœlosyria_,
_Orpha_, &c. their peculiar warehouses and churches; and also in
_Jerusalem_ (whither they go in great numbers) the beautiful church of St
_Jacob_ the Greater; and also below near to the place of Skulls, another
chapel locked up, _&c._ and have commonly before their chancels large
hangings, behind which the priests keep separated from the people.
These, although they agree in very many points and articles exactly with
those of the reformed religion, yet notwithstanding they have some errors
worth to be rejected, and some scandalous customs besides. So you may
see them here and there cry over the graves of their deceased friends;
for to give them visits, they go out in the morning early, the greater
part of them old women, and there they make such mourning and howling,
that the travellers that come by (for their graves or burying places, are
generally out of town near the highways) may hear them a great way off.
There you shall see them sit, some folding their hands over their heads,
and looking mournfully; others fetching great sighs, beating on their
breasts; others spreading themselves over the graves, as if they would
embrace their friends and take them in their arms. In the mean while,
their priests go about among them reading and praying, and sometimes
they speak to some of them. When they have done mourning thus, and cast
sorrows from their hearts sufficiently, they sit down together, eat,
drink, and be merry.
They do not at all esteem the Popes of _Rome_, but have their own
prelates, which they honour with great and peculiar reverence; neither do
they believe any indulgences, nor purgatory.
Their priests go in plain habits; they have wives as well as their
laymen; they let their hair and beards grow; they keep on _Easter-day_
a great feast, and soon after beginneth their Lent, which they keep
strictly, and therein, as also on Wednesday and Friday all the year
round, they eat neither eggs nor flesh, nor any thing else that ever had
life in it, only Saturday and Sundays they are allowed them, to refresh
themselves; other feasts and holydays they do not keep any at all. In all
these points, they rather agree with the _Abyssins_ than the _Romans_;
and also in these following, _viz._ That they eat not of unclean meats
that are forbidden in the Old Testament; they admit to the communion
young and old without distinction; they baptize their children in the
name of the Holy Trinity; they believe the articles of our Christian
faith; they preach, sing, pray, and perform all their devotion in the
vulgar tongue, that every one may understand it; they use for the
interpretation of the word of God, the writings of _John Chrysostom_, and
_Gregory Nazianzen_; they dare not, no more than all the other nations
that live amongst the _Turks_, except the _Maronites_, make use of any
clocks, to call people to church, in place whereof they have strong
wooden tables, or some house doors prepared, several in each street,
whereon they strike several strokes with a great cudgel, and so call
people to church.
CHAP. XV.
_Of the NESTORIANS._
Towards the east, are other people which esteem themselves Christians,
and among the rest, chiefly the _Nestorians_ called after the Heretic
_Nestorius_, who was a Bishop at _Constantinople_. Some of their priests
live upon the mount _Calvaria_ in the temple, and there are a great many
adherents to this sect, most of them living in _Mesopotamia_, _Chaldea_
and _Assyria_, but chiefly in the mountainous country of the _Curtans_,
called _Carduci_ by _Ptolomy_, which they almost quite possess, and
have poisoned with their base and obnoxious error, as if it were by an
infectious air; for in passing through, I have found many of them in
their cities, as _Hapril_, _Carcuck_, _Mosel_, formerly called _Nineveh_.
They are strong and warlike people, but full of vices, and from their
infancy given to robbing. They inhabit towards north and east, as is
before said, upon the _Armenians_ and _Medes_; and they are a very
ancient people, whereof chiefly _Xenophon_ maketh mention under the name
of _Carducci_, and are called to this day _Curters_. They speak their
peculiar language, which neither the _Arabians_, _Armenians_, nor _Turks_
do understand; they are of a brownish colour, like unto the _Surians_
and _Maronites_, and wear the same cloth or habiliments that one cannot
readily discern or distinguish one from the other, save only by their
flesh coloured lists in their turbants. The Grand Signior is their head,
whom they obey, and they are kept and respected very well by the _Turks_,
partly that he may not give them occasion for an insurrection, because
they are upon the borders, and partly because _Mahomet_ hath charged them
to be kind to them before others, and that the rather, because he had
a frier of their sect called _Sergius_ for his tutor, who did baptize
him, and counselled and assisted him to make such laws, and to give them
to his adherents; and so you may still see, that they agree more than
any other sect with the _Saracens_. For whereas they believe, that in
Christ, according to his two natures, are two distinct persons, one of
the Godhead, the other of the Manhood. They will not allow, any more than
_Mahomet_, the Virgin _Mary_ to be the mother of God, but the mother of
Christ, according to his human nature. They have a Prelate instead of
the Pope, whom they call _Jacelich_. They bless and give the Sacrament
as the _Surians_ do, and use in their spiritual services the _Chaldean_
language, else they speak the common of their provinces, _viz._ in
their own country, as is abovesaid, their own language; in _Chaldea_
and _Mesopotamia_, commonly the _Arabian_ and _Saracen_ language. So
in _Assyria_ beyond the river _Tygris_, where the two mighty Princes
the _Turk_ and the King of _Persia_ do border upon one another, the
language of the _Turks_, _Persians_ and _Medes_, although they are quite
differing. These and other languages the holy Apostles did understand,
and in them they did speak on the day of Pentecost, when they received
the Holy Ghost, as you may read in _Acts_ ii. verse 5. where it is thus
written: ‘And there were dwelling at _Jerusalem_, _Jews_, devout men
out of every nation under heaven, each whereof heard the Apostles speak
in his own language wherein he was born, as that of the _Parthians_,
_Medes_, _Elamites_, or _Persians_, that of those also that live in
_Mesopotamia_ and _Judea_, &c.’ This sect was rejected and condemned in
the council of _Ephesus_.
[Illustration]
CHAP. XVI.
_Of the ~Jacobites~ called ~Golti~._
In the temple of mount _Calvaria_ also live, in the chapel behind the
Sepulchre of Christ, another sort, that boast to be Christians, call’d
_Jacobites_, after _Jacob_ the Heretic, who was a pupil of the Patriarch
of _Alexandria_. They pretend to have been first converted to the
Christian Religion by the holy Evangelist and Apostle _Matthew_; but they
did not adhere to it, but fell afterwards into a great many errors, so
that in our time they are divided into other sects and orders. For some
have assumed the order of St _Macharius_, who with _Eutichius_ did own or
believe no more but one nature in Christ; others that of St _Anthony_,
who was an Eremite in the year of our Lord Christ 324, in _Egypt_. Others
have their male children circumcised; but others, and the greater part,
have their children baptized with fire, and have crosses made on their
foreheads or temples, according to the words of St _John_ the _Baptist_
in the third chapter of St _Matthew_ v. 11. _He that cometh after me,
shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire._ They live chiefly
in _Egypt_, and in other adjacent places. They are generally subject
unto the _Turkish_ Sultan, and speak the vulgar _Arabian_ language, and
agree in most points, partly with the _Abyssins_, and partly with the
_Surians_. We saw many of their wives go about in the temple, they wear
hats near a span high, which at top have a broad brim like unto our
bonnets, else they are habited like unto the _Surians_. This Heresy was
rejected and condemn’d in the _Chalcedonian_ council.
CHAP. XVII.
_Of the ~Abyssins~, Priest ~John~ called ~Lederwick~, subject unto the
King of the ~Moors~._
These live at _Jerusalem_ in the temple of mount _Calvaria_, just by the
church door towards the left, and have through their lodging a peculiar
way, so that without hindrance, according to their pleasure they may go
in and out; and pretend that their King hath made a peculiar agreement
to let his subjects have free egress and regress. According to all
appearance they are a naked people, yet for all that they may be rich
and able; they are of a dark brown colour. When we spoke to them by an
interpreter, they shew’d themselves very kind and friendly, and always
did give with a great deal of discretion such answers to our questions,
that one might easily conclude that they were of good understanding, and
well instructed and grounded in their religion. To their King is given,
in the beginning of his reign, the sirname of _David_, which else are
call’d _Lederwick_, and by the _Persians_, _Amma_, to shew and to make
known by it, that they are derived from the kingly race and stem of
_David_ and _Solomon_; and to prove this, they alledge the history of
the Queen of _Sheba_, call’d _Merquerda_, who, as we read in Scripture,
came from rich _Arabia_, with many camels laden with gold, spices, and
precious stones, to _Jerusalem_, to see the great wisdom and glory of
_Solomon_, whereof she had heard much. When she had been there a good
while, and in the mean time was got with child by _Solomon_, and brought
him a son into the world call’d _Meytich_, she left him at _Jerusalem_,
but she return’d into her own country again. Many years after, when the
son was grown up, and came to his understanding, his father, seeing he
had more sons, was persuaded to send him home to his mother, who had a
greater kingdom than he. So he did dispatch him, and sent along with him
the chiefest of his courtiers, and sent him away with a great train, as
did become a King. When he was come into his kingdom, he entertained
these lords and gentlemen very honourably, and promoted them before all
others to the highest and best places, that they might the willinger
stay with him. But all this would not prevail with them, but they grew
daily more tired, and unwilling to stay longer in these strange and
unaccostum’d countries; and this encreased daily more and more, and
at length to that height, that they resolved that, if the King would
not give them free leave, they would endeavour to make their escape
clandestinly against the King’s will to _Jerusalem_ in _Judea_. When
this their design came before the King he was very angry, and order’d
immediately, that a mark should be burnt on their foreheads, that every
body might know them; and issued a proclamation. That all his subjects
might watch them, and if any of them, that were a going away should be
taken, they should detain them, and send them to him again. Now as at
this time the marks did begin, and then those had them that were of a
great race, so they are retained by their posterity to this very day,
as we still see in these times, that their nobility have them on their
foreheads towards the right; yet not all, for there are some that wear
them rather upon their shields and arms, &c. These marks are not all
alike, for in some you see a bear, a dragon’s head, &c. in others a lyon,
a wolf, or three crossed arrows, &c. because every one hath that made
that they give in their coats of arms; they colour it with an oil which
they call _Achalcinte_, and is brought to them from _Greece_. Besides
this custom, they still keep in many things to the ancient ones of the
Jews, for they keep the Sabbath for their peculiar holiday; and also
they do not eat all sorts of flesh, nor any of them that are forbid as
unclean in the Old Testament; they pretend that the holy Apostle _Philip_
hath, when he travell’d with the Chamberlain of _Candaces_ Queen of
the _Moors_ to _Gaza_, and converted him there, allow’d them this and
other things, being born Jews. Circumcision they believe unnecessary,
and that it can neither profit nor hurt a Christian. And again, Baptism
they believe to be necessary, wherefore through all his large dominions
they bring their children to it on the third day, and baptize them yet
with fire, in the name of _God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost_,
whom they believe to proceed only from the Father, and not from the Son,
according to the words of St _Matthew_, chap. iii, vers. 11. _He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire._ They take the oil of
_Achalcinte_, dip a stick into it, and lay frankincense upon it, and set
it on fire; and so they let some drops fall down, which do not hurt the
children, being mix’d with the oil; and at last they make a cross with it
upon the left side of their forehead near unto the temple.
They begin their _Lent_ about _Easter_, as the _Armenians_, wherein the
lay-men eat nothing else but fruit, herbs, and pulse; but their Priest
generally nothing but bread and water, and so they do every Wednesday and
Fryday throughout all the year. They marry also according to the words of
St _Paul_, that a Priest shall be a husband of one wife; they give the
Lord’s Supper to young and old alike in leaven’d bread in both kinds; and
they confess their sins like unto the _Jacobites_, to no body but only
God. The _Portuguese_ that go to the _Indies_ know them very well, and
love them for being good soldiers, and are glad if they will live among
them, and go out and in with them.
[Illustration]
CHAP. XVIII.
_Of the MARONITES._
Besides all these there is also a sort of Christians, who first after
_Maro_ the Heretic were call’d _Maronites_; who believed that there is
but one Nature, Understanding, and Work in Christ, according to the
opinion of _Macharius_ the Heretic, whom he followeth diligently; but
since they have by degrees left this, and are return’d to the Popish
religion again. And although they are still of it, yet they give the
Sacrament in both kinds to the lay-men, as almost all other nations
do, according to the words of the institution of our Lord Christ. In
all other points they follow the _Roman_ religion more than any other
nation. Their Priests wear over their cloaths black hair vestments. They
live for the most part in _Syria_, but chiefly upon the promontory of
mount _Libanus_, whereupon they have a monastery within a day’s journey
of _Tripoli_, call’d _Our Lady_’s, which is situated underneath a large
rock, wherein their Patriarch dwelleth, whom they respect very much,
and kiss his hands with their knees bended, _&c._ whereof I have made
mention here before. The Patriarchs are still to this day chosen by the
commons, and afterwards confirmed by the Pope; and so this (when he
after the decease of his predecessor, came into a dispute with one of
his competitors concerning the election) did presently, unknown to his
adversary, go to _Rome_, and so obtained in person the patriarchal sea
from the Pope.
The common people are in their shape and habits so like unto the
_Surians_, and their neighbours the _Arabians_, that except by their
turbants none can know them from each other. They are a couragious and
war-like people, very well provided with guns and other arms, as well as
their confederates the _Trusci_; and because they are not subject, nor
pay any contribution unto the _Turkish_ Sultan, therefore they still
keep their bells and other privileges.
They speak the _Arabian_ language, and their books are also written (as
many as I could see of them in their churches) with _Arabian_ characters
or letters, which they always kiss with great reverence when they take
them up, or lay them down, according to the custom of all other eastern
people or nations, as well Heathens as Christians.
They keep a very severe order, and never eat flesh, and on their
fasts neither butter nor eggs, but live upon fruits, as beans, peas,
_French_-beans, and such other common victuals. But yet if any Merchants,
or Pilgrims, come from _Tripoli_, or any other places, they let them want
neither for meat nor drink; nay, they shew themselves to every body so
benevolent (as I have found it three several times) and civil, that one
would wish to stay some time with them. These live not continually in the
temple of mount _Calvaria_, but go often thither on pilgrimages.
CHAP. XIX.
_Of the ~Latinists~ or ~Papists~._
The _Latinists_ or _Papists_, living at _Jerusalem_ in the often
before-named temple, are Friers of the order of the _Lesser Franciscans_;
they chiefly possess the holy Sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
they keep in very good order, and read their _Hora_’s diligently,
wherefore their father stileth himself Guardian of the holy Sepulchre
and mount _Sion_. Besides this, they are possessed of more holy places,
as at _Bethlehem_ the stable wherein our dear Lord Christ did lie in
the manger with the Ox and the Ass; in the mountains of _Judea_, the
temple of St _John the Baptist_; in _Bethania_, the Sepulchre wherein
_Lazarus_ had lain four days when Christ raised him from the dead, and
here and there many others. These, as all know, are dispersed in a great
many places and kingdoms; nay, almost thro’ all the world. Their head
is the Pope of _Rome_, who pretends to be the Vicegerent of Christ,
and taketh upon himself so much power, as to prescribe to all men laws
according to his own pleasure, which Christendom finds every day to it’s
great grief. Wherefore in the mean while they are grown into so many
divisions, idolatry, and ceremonies, that they quite out-do all the
before-named nations. But being that they are in these our times so very
well described, that, thanks to God, they are very well known to every
body, therefore I forbear to write more of them, and will only before
I conclude, make mention of these brethren that live at _Jerusalem_,
only in a few points, and say that these that live in the monastery at
_Jerusalem_ are about twenty in number more or less, according as they go
and come, and among them are _Spaniards_, _Italians_, _French-men_ and
_Germans_, &c. that commonly are sent thither by Kings and Princes; but
being that they have more churches and places in and without _Jerusalem_
to provide for, their Father Guardian distributeth them, sends some to
_Bethlehem_ to look after the manger of Christ, others upon the hills of
_Judea_; to the mount of _Olives_, and towards _Bethania_, &c. but before
all others, always two and two into the temple of mount _Calvaria_, to
stay there for fourteen days together. But being that the temple is
always lock’d up, that the Priests that are within it may not want for
food, as well as others that are with them, therefore three holes, one
bigger than the other, are made in the great door of the church, that
thro’ them all necessaries of meat and drink may be convey’d to them.
Those that are thus lock’d up in the temple, do but look diligently after
the holy Sepulchre, and read their _Hora_’s, with singing and praying,
and to look after the lamps; but chiefly those that hang in the Sepulchre
of Christ to illuminate it. There are about twenty of these lamps, one
better and clearer than the other; they belong for the most part to
great persons, as Kings and Princes, whereof they have their yearly
revenue, that is sent them by their brethren; but chiefly from _Italy_
and the _Italian_ Princes, and the most Catholic King of _Spain_. But
from _Germany_, _England_, and also now _Cyprus_ the isle since it hath
been taken by the _Turks_, they complain they have nothing as they had in
former ages; and the most Christian King of _France_, doth also already
begin to forget them, which they have found some years since; and the
number of the Pilgrims doth also decrease, which formerly used to flock
thither in great numbers, and sometimes to reward them, besides meat and
drink, very nobly, which they find very prejudicial to them, seeing they
have no revenues of any other lands or the like.
They receive the Pilgrims, that come in to them, very kindly, and
treat them very well with meat and drink, and shew them all the holy
places, and keep them so long until they have seen every thing to their
satisfaction, and are willing to depart.
They are but very meanly cloathed, like unto poor Mendicants; they live
very privately, and keep their concerns very close, because of the
_Arabian_ horse-men or _Beduins_, that fall upon them daily, and ravage
these countries continually, wherefore they are in great danger. When
they come, you must at least give them meat and drink, if not other
booty, as I saw my own self at _Bethlehem_ when I first arrived there,
that twelve horse-men, with guns, arrows, and darts, very well armed,
came to the gates of the temple, and they were forced to satisfy them,
before they would leave them, and to give them good words besides. So
that they are not only sufficiently plagued by them, but also by the
Sangiacks and Cadis, the _Turkish_ magistrates at _Jerusalem_, who have
continually their eyes over them that are well to pass; for covetousness
is so great with them, that if they can but hear of one that hath money,
they study night and day, how (if possible they can) they may right or
wrong make him punishable. So they lately accused the Eastern Christians
falsly, and punish’d them in some hundred ducats; whereat the Bashaw of
_Damascus_, under whose command _Jerusalem_ is, did wink, in hopes to
have a great snack out of it.
[Illustration]
CHAP. XX.
_Of the Knights of the temple of ~Jerusalem~, the Order of the
~Johannites~._
Having made mention of these, I remember still another Order, that is,
the _Johannites_, or _Knights Templars of Jerusalem_, which did first
begin in the reign of _Baldewin de Burgo_, the second of that name, and
the third King of _Jerusalem_. This Order is more secular than divine,
and therefore quite differing from all the rest, for they need not to say
Mass, nor perform any other devotion; but when they have heard Mass, and
said so many _Pater-Nosters_ and _Ave-Marias_, they have sufficiently
discharged their office. This Order was first invented by his Holiness
the Pope to that end, and endow’d with many privileges, that they might
resist and oppose the _Turks_, and that all Infidels and Heretics might
by them and their adherents, by force of arms, be driven and routed out
of the _Roman_ empire. And that he might promote this design of his more
earnestly, he took in those chiefly that were well born, and had great
revenues (as Princes, Counts, and other Noblemen). So it hath often
happen’d formerly, chiefly when Popery was in a flourishing condition,
that along with the Pilgrims, that had a mind to see the holy places,
and to go to the Land of Promise, many persons of quality came, moved
thereunto out of great zeal, together with them, to see them also, and to
take upon them the order of that Knighthood, in the Sepulchre of our Lord
Christ, as the proper place for that purpose. And besides that, other
considerations there were which moved them to it, _viz._ The high title,
and the authority of the place, and great privileges, whereby they hoped
to be still preferr’d to greater dignities. Now as every one of them
had laid before them to consider these points and articles, which every
one must promise and take an oath to keep them strictly, some great
and potent men found it so severe and hard, as you may see by that what
followeth, that they were not only astonish’d at it, but refused openly
to take it upon them. But what is laid before them that are made Knights,
and also what ceremonies are used in it, I thought convenient to mention
here briefly.
[Illustration]
If there be one or more of them ready for it, that have at the instance
of the Guardian, according to the ancient custom, been at confession,
and also received the Sacrament, _sub una Specie_, under one species, on
mount _Calvaria_, they are with great ceremonies conducted from thence
into the holy Sepulchre, whither are also convey’d some other things that
belong thereunto, _viz._ A fine book, a sword richly tipp’d with gold,
with a red velvet girdle, a chain weighing about a hundred _Hungarian_
ducats, whereon hangeth a golden cross of this form and shape, a pair of
spurs with red velvet straps, which are laid down one by another upon the
altar of the Sepulchre. As soon as the Gentleman cometh into it, they
begin immediately to say Mass, and after that they sing without some
Latin Psalms. In the mean while the Gentleman lieth down upon his knees
in the Sepulchre before the Guardian, until the Friers have done singing.
Then the Guardian bids all that stand about, to say _Our Father_ and an
_Ave-Maria_, in behalf of the Gentleman that is to be knighted. When
this is done, he admonish’d the Gentleman, before he taketh the oath, to
consider upon what condition he is admitted there; when this is done, he
bids the standers-by pray for him once more, and then admonisheth the
Gentleman again, and telleth him also, that hereafter he must be in all
things subject and obedient to the _Roman_ church; that he must fight
and resist the _Turks_ and _Lutherans_ as Enemies and Heretics, so long
as his blood and heart is warm. Then the Guardian asketh him farther,
whether he doth receive all these points, (as they are written word by
word in that book, and order’d by his Holiness the Pope, and subscribed
by his own hand) and whether he will swear by the holy Sepulchre to keep
them. Whereupon he consents to it presently, and promiseth with great
eagerness and joy to keep it with all his heart, and thanketh God that he
hath made him worthy of this blessing, and for having made him capable of
it. After this the Monks begin again a long song; and then the Guardian
taketh up the three pieces, the chain, sword and spurs, and puts them on
him, and so adorneth him as beginning Knight. At last he taketh also the
book, and puts it before him, and telleth him once more what he is about,
and what he is going to swear. When he hath understood it, he kneeleth
down again, and puts out his two fingers, which the Guardian puts upon
the red cross in the book, and readeth to him the oath; the contents
whereof are these:
_First_, That upon his conscience he do swear there to these following
words, Not with a false heart, but that he doth confess out of zeal,
with great eagerness, and with a clean heart, and also swear by God’s
Omnipotence, the See of _Rome_, and his Holiness the Pope, that he is a
good Catholic, educated in that religion from his infancy to that present
hour; and that he never will go from it so long as he liveth, but will
always defend and protect the _Roman_ church against the _Lutheran_,
and their adherents, with words and deeds, so long as his heart is
warm; and that he will never be in a place where any evil is taught, or
spoke of his Holiness the Pope. _Secondly_, That he doth swear by God’s
Omnipotence, and the Pope at _Rome_, and the Cross of _Jerusalem_, that
he is a nobleman in the fifth generation, both by Father and Mother.
_Thirdly_, He sweareth also, that he hath so good income that he need
not to follow merchandizing, or any other trade, nor to borrow money,
or to ask others for help, but that he hath so much that he can live
upon his revenues, and keep three horses besides from year to year, for
the service of the church of _Rome_; nay, if necessity should urge, and
others should rise against the _Roman_ church to molest it, that he will
then always be willing and ready, besides the three horses, to assist
her with all his utmost power. He must also promise that he will so long
as he shall live, diligently attend at Mass, and hear four or five every
day, and also that he will keep the fasts zealously, and eat neither
flesh, nor butter, nor cheese, nor eggs, on them; and also that he will
confess and receive the Sacrament once a month, or every six weeks at
farthest, and send his family at least once a year in Lent-time to do the
same. And also that he will not forget, to the honour and encrease of the
said church, to remember her in his last will; that he will protect and
provide for the widows and fatherless; that he will maintain the Friers
and Nuns, and their monasteries; and if by the Seculars any thing should
be taken away from them, that he will not conceal it, but endeavour to
the utmost of his power, as if it were his own, to recover it again. That
he will assist those that would willingly turn _Roman_ Catholics, and
endeavour to bring them over; but that he will keep none in his service,
nor any ways assist them that do not firmly adhere unto it. Then there is
also inserted, That he will say forty nine _Pater-Nosters_ and as many
_Ave-Marias_ every day, and visit his Holiness the Pope once a year, and
come into the seven church processions and perform his office; and also
assist at the Sacraments and other ceremonies with due reverence; and
also respect and honour the holy water. At length, to conclude, he is
forbid to talk idly, to be drunk, to live loosely, and to commit sodomy,
that he, being knighted, may not lead a disorderly life, and give to
others ill example.
When then the Guardian hath read the oaths that are written upon
parchment out of the book, the Chevallier kneeleth down again, and when
he bendeth his face down, and leaneth with both his arms on the book,
which lieth on the altar-stone of the Sepulchre, the Guardian bids the
Friers and Monks again to pray; then he draweth out the sword, and maketh
with the flat side of it three crosses upon his head and shoulders,
saying: At the command of God, and the See of _Rome_, and for the
encrease of the church of _Rome_, I create you _N. N._ now a member of
the Roman church, a Knight, in the name of the _Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost_. And farther he adds: That in the room of his Holiness the Pope of
_Rome_, he doth absolve him of all his sins; and that he doth also give
him leave, and command him, by the oath he hath taken to his Holiness the
Pope, to wear the usual red cross, as a sign whereby he may be known,
publickly in his coat of arms, and on his cloaths. Also if he please, to
put him in mind, as often as he shall look upon it, what he hath sworn,
and to keep it the firmer. When all this is over, and they have pray’d
again, the Guardian wisheth him joy of his Knighthood, and rejoyceth
with the whole convent that he is come to this acknowledgement, and is
become a true member of the _Roman Catholic_ church: that he and all his
brethren will always pray for his long life, and that God may keep him
in health, to the comfort of the See of _Rome_. Immediately approach to
him all the Monks, while he is still standing in his ornaments, and call
him Brother; and when they have also wish’d him joy one after the other,
the Guardian beginneth the _Te Deum_, &c. and then he taketh all the
ornaments away again from him. Afterwards he leadeth him about with the
Vicar in procession to the holy places, to invest him also in every one
of them; when that is done they go to dinner.
Altho’ in former years every body was not presently admitted (as you may
see by what hath been here before-said) except he were a Nobleman for
several generations; yet in our time it is come to that pass, that they
admit every body to it without any strict examination, that can pay the
money, which amounts to eleven or twelve ducats. Nay, every Pilgrim that
doth intend to take upon him that Knighthood, doth pray and persuade his
companions by the way that they would do the same, that he may in case of
necessity still have some friends to assist him, for his Holiness wants
champions, because he taketh upon him the Civil Government as well as
the Ecclesiastick, that when they can defend and prove their religion
no longer by Scripture, they may defend and uphold it by power and
strength of arms. Now as the Guardian, according to ancient custom, gives
attestates to every Pilgrim concerning their pilgrimage, under his great
Seal, that they may have it to shew, so he giveth also one to the Knight
of the Order of St _John_ of _Jerusalem_, and bids them to carry the
letter themselves in person to _Rome_, to shew it to the Pope. This is
sufficient of the temple of mount _Calvaria_, and it’s holy places, and
the Christians that are dwelling there, of their chapels, and of their
errors.
CHAP. XXI.
_A short description of some Places, Hills, Valleys, &c. that lye near
and about ~Jerusalem~. Of the mount of ~Olives~, and it’s holy places._
I having hitherto briefly described the situation of _Jerusalem_,
and also related what buildings and holy places are still in being,
and to be seen there, after it hath sustain’d so many wars, assaults
and desolations, I cannot but speak of some adjacent places before I
conclude. And so I begin with the mount of Olives, which lieth towards
the east before the Temple-hill, over-against the Sheeps-gate, on the
other side of the brook of _Cedron_, as the holy Prophet _Zachariah_ xiv.
4. testifieth, when he saith, ‘And his feet shall stand in that day upon
the mount of _Olives_, which is before _Jerusalem_ on the east.’ This
mount is about a quarter of a league, or as St _Luke_ saith, A Sabbath
day’s journey, distant from _Jerusalem_, pretty high, rough and stony,
full of pleasant Olive-trees, from whence it hath it’s name, and also
others; as Fig-trees, Lemon, and Orange, and Citron, and _Siliqua_-trees,
by the inhabitants call’d _Charnubi_, Turpentine-trees, and Palm-trees;
the like I have seen but few, _&c._ There are also some good herbs,
_viz._ a strange _Origanum_, _Tragoriganum_, _Roman Mother of Time_,
_Spicanardi_ and a peculiar sort of _Coniza_, &c.
At the foot of the mount they shew us first a great church, between the
rivulet _Cedron_ and the valley of _Josaphat_, which was so cover’d with
earth, that you could see nothing of it but the entry, and before it
without a large place three steps deep. This church was build by Queen
_Helena_, mother of _Constantine_ the Emperor, and call’d, the Sepulchre
of our Lady the Mother of God; to go into it, you must go down forty
four steps. Within it towards the right, there is a small chapel, where
they say our Lady was buried; and therefore, by the benevolence of the
Pope, there is distributed and given to the Pilgrims, full forgiveness of
all transgressions and punishments for ever. Some are of opinion, that
this church did formerly stand even with the ground, and that after the
devastation of _Jerusalem_, when part of the valley of _Josaphat_ was
fill’d up, it was cover’d thus over. This church stands (as _Nicephorus_
saith in his eighth book and the thirtieth chapter) on that place where
the village _Gethsemane_ stood, whereby the garden was whither our dear
Lord Christ did, just before his passion, go with his eleven disciples,
after he had eaten the Paschal Lamb with them, and given thanks,
according to his usual custom, over the rivulet _Cedron_, to regain us
that which was formerly lost by our ancestors in the garden. There he
left his eight disciples, while he went to pray, as the Scripture tells
us; when he took with him _Peter_, _James_ and _John_, the two sons of
_Zebedeus_, and began to mourn, to quake, and to tremble, and said to
them, ‘My soul is sorrowful unto death, stay here, watch with me, and
pray that you enter not into temptation;’ and he withdrew from them about
a stones cast, where he kneeled down, fell three times on his face, and
pray’d to his heavenly Father, where he wrestled with death, and sweat
a bloody sweat, so that an angel must come down from heaven at last to
comfort him. This place is underneath a great rock that hangeth over a
great cave, just at the entry of the valley of _Josaphat_.
This valley is still, where it cometh down from the mount of _Olives_,
pretty deep, and is call’d by the holy Prophet _Joel_, chap. iii. 14,
_the valley of Judgment_; which words of _Joel_ give us to understand,
that the Lord, as he was (when he first came upon the earth) in this
valley taken prisoner, bound and carry’d away to the place of his bitter
suffering, crucifixion and dying, so he shall in his second and glorious
coming, appear in this valley of _Judgment_ again to judge all people of
the whole earth, _&c._ that then the impious shall see whom they have
pierced. _Zacharias_ speaks also of it in the above-mention’d place.
As you go from thence to the mount of _Olives_, you see below towards
your left hand, near unto the bridge of the river _Cedron_, an old
square building like unto a steeple. This altho’ it is believed to this
day not only by Christians, but also by _Turks_ and _Moors_, to be the
grave of _Absalom_, as you shall see them sling stones into it as they
go by, to revenge his undutifulness shewn to his father King _David_,
yet notwithstanding he was not bury’d there, as we read in the second
book of _Samuel_ xviii. 17. ‘And they took _Absalom_ and cast him into a
great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him.’
Yet for all this, when _Absalom_ was alive (as you may farther read in
the before-mention’d chapter) he erected a column in the king’s dale,
for he said, ‘I have no son, therefore this shall be for a remembrance
of my name,’ and call’d this pillar after his name; and it is still
call’d to this day _Absalom_’s place. Of this pillar writes also
_Josephus_ in the seventh book of his Antiquities and the tenth chapter,
saying, And _Absalom_ did erect a kingly column of marble in the valley
(_Genes._ xiv. it is call’d the King’s valley) that is two furlongs
from _Jerusalem_. Just by this pillar beginneth a very steep foot-path,
which parts a little above it into two, one whereof goeth southward, at
the bottom of the mount of Olives towards _Bethania_ and _Jericho_, &c.
down thro’ the valley that is made by this and the other part of the
hill, call’d _Mashit_ in the fourth of _Kings_, chap. xxiii. but the
other goeth over the height of the mount of Olives out by _Bethania_ to
the house of _Mary_ and _Martha_. A little higher on this hill did our
Saviour sit, over-against the temple, when he foretold his disciples that
shewed him the glorious buildings thereof, ‘That not one stone should
remain upon another that should not be thrown down;’ and did also tell
them at length, the terrible and prodigious signs, that should come to
pass before the desolation of _Jerusalem_, and the end of the world. To
this day we still see into the _Turkish_ mosque, with it’s large paved
court-yard, over the walls thereof so perfectly, that you may distinguish
almost the persons that walk there. From thence, when you go up to the
hill, which is very steep and rough, there is a large plain, from whence
our dear Lord Jesus Christ was taken up, and ascended into Heaven, as
you may see by the words of the holy Evangelist St _Luke_, in his first
chapter of the _Acts_, vers. 9. where he saith, ‘And he was taken up,
and a cloud received him out of their sight,’ and verse 12. ‘Then
return’d they unto _Jerusalem_ from the mount call’d Olivet, which is
from _Jerusalem_ a Sabbath-day’s journey.’ On this place, as _Nicephorus_
mentioneth, did Queen _Helena_ also afterwards build a stately church,
which now is so decay’d, that there is no more to be seen of it but a new
built chapel in a large yard surrounded with a wall. Just by it on a hill
of the mount towards the north and _Galilea_, there is an old and decay’d
building, which was formerly (as my guide inform’d me) an inn for the
_Galileans_, where commonly did take up those that went to _Jerusalem_
from _Galilea_. Wherefore they are of opinion, that some of them were
there in the time of Christ, that also were spectators of his glorious
ascension, as it doth appear by the words of the two Angels, that spoke
to them, and said, ‘You men of _Galilea_, why stand you here gazing up
into heaven, &c.’ But if you duely consider these words, you will find,
as you read it in the _Acts_ ii. 7. that the Apostles themselves were
these _Galileans_, where it is written: ‘Behold, are not all those which
speak _Galileans_? and how hear we every man in our own tongue, &c.’ So
did also the holy Angels speak to the Apostles after the same manner,
and call’d them _Galileans_, rather to bring them, as Elders of the
Christian church, off their worldly thoughts, which they had conceived
in their hearts, of the restoring of the worldly regiment or kingdom
again, which they should have left, and instead thereof look’d upon the
heavenly kingdom, whereinto Christ was ascended, into the kingdom of
God, whereinto they were received as members, which is a more spiritual
kingdom, that doth not consist in outward things, eating and drinking,
_&c._, but in a clean and faithful heart. After this they ought to
strive, and to make it their only business, that it may be notify’d to
all men, and be spread abroad all the world over.
From the top of the mountain, you have a prospect over all the holy land,
towards the north over the valley _Josaphat_, which is just at the bottom
of the hill, into the country of _Galilea_; towards the east, over some
naked mountains, down into a large field which extends itself to the
Dead Sea, that is, as _Josephus_ mentioneth, twenty nine leagues long,
and fifteen broad, whereof the Scripture maketh mention, chiefly the
books of _Macchabees_, and in the second of _Samuel_, chap. xv. where it
is written, That when King _David_ did fly from his son _Absolon_, he
tarry’d in the plain fields until he had intelligence of him. In these
is still remaining the pillar of salt that _Lot_’s wife was turn’d into,
when she, against the command of God, turn’d to look back to the city.
The famous Historiographer _Flavius Josephus_ did in his time see it in
his own person; and the Pilgrims visit it to this day, and beat off of it
some small pieces, as they do every where, chiefly in holy places, and
yet it is found still whole, and without any defect; which did put some
Pilgrims, that went to the Dead Sea, into great admiration. Now that they
might be certain and be assured of the truth of the common assertion,
That whatsoever was broken off of this pillar, was always found whole
again; they did, chiefly one of them, (as I was informed by one that
had been there before) knock off a whole hand, and took it away with
them. Now after they had been at the end of their journey, and came back
again, and went to look for it on purpose, they found it whole again, and
exactly like unto the old one as it had been before. Farther beyond the
plain fields, at the other side of _Jordan_ that runs thro’ it, there
appear the _Arabian_ mountains, that were inhabited by _Ruben_, _Gad_,
and half the Tribe of _Manasse_; they are very high, and afford very
good pasture for the cattle; some among them were much noted and famous
of old, as the mountain of _Seir_ beyond the Dead Sea, mount _Garizim_
and _Ebal_, whereof is made mention in _Deuteronomy_ chap. xxvii. and
also chap. xxxii. of mount _Abarim_, _Nebo_, and the point of _Pisgah_,
situated in the land of the _Moabites_, over-against _Jericho_, which
together with all the adjacent places are very well seen; as well as
towards the west the rivulet _Cedron_, and the situation and largeness
of the city of _Jerusalem_. After we had look’d about sufficiently, we
went down to the place of the village _Bethphage_, which is at the other
side on the ascent of mount Olivet, and belongeth to the Priests of
_Jerusalem_; this is so ruin’d, that now-a-days there is nothing left
of it save only a few foundation-walls. Into this did Christ send his
disciples, to loosen the she-ass and the colt which was ty’d to the door
in the road, and to bring them to him, whereon our Lord Christ also did
ride to _Jerusalem_ five days before he suffered, being the true Saviour.
Before it the mount is pretty plain, and is very rough and rocky, wherein
_Bethania_ lieth on the right hand upon one ascent, of the other part of
mount Olivet, as is before said, but the village of _Mary_ and _Martha_
(whereof you read in the Gospel of St _John_, chap. xi.) is farther out
by the beginning of the road towards _Jericho_, which is still very
dangerous, because of the _Arabian_ vagabonds. In these habitations did
our dear Saviour oftentimes take up his lodgings with them; and in the
same did _Mary_ the sister of _Lazarus_, and _Martha_ anoint the feet of
our Lord Christ with a precious ointment of _Nard_, and dry them again
with her hair; in our days they are quite desolated, and nothing left
thereof but ruins. Near it as you come back again to _Bethania_, in the
plain lieth a large stone, where also you may see the above-mention’d
places very plain; where they say that _Martha_ did meet the Lord, when
he came up the steps, and rested on the mount, and talked with him of the
resurrection of her brother, before her sister _Mary_ did know any thing
of the arrival of the Lord. Wherefore she went back again into their
village, to call her sister _Mary_ secretly, who, when she heard that our
Lord Christ was near at hand, did hasten and went to him, for he was not
yet come into the village, and fell down at his feet, and said weeping,
‘Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not dy’d;’ then he groaned
in his spirit, and enquired presently after the place where _Lazarus_
his dear friend was laid, and went with them to it to _Bethania_ that
village, distant a league, (about an hours going,) or as the Scripture
saith: about fifteen furlongs from _Jerusalem_ on an ascent; wherein
was a small chapel, and underneath it a deep cover’d cave, wherein
_Lazarus_ had lain four days, as you may also see in the before quoted
chapter, where it is in the thirty eighth verse said: ‘It was a cave,
and a stone lay upon it.’ When the _Franciscan_ Friers would go to the
grave of _Lazarus_, they were forced to go through this village, and a
great concourse of the poor inhabitants used to flock about them, and
did surround them, and detained them till they gave them something to
be distributed amongst them; that they might evade this trouble, and
not be necessitated to go thro’ this village, when they go to the grave,
they have made behind at the other side on the height another avenue,
but they do not escape the _Mobile_ for all that, for they meet them
notwithstanding, chiefly, if they know or have intelligence, that any
Pilgrims came along with them to see the grave; so we did find it, for
they came and kept us lock’d up in it so long, till we had given them so
much as did satisfy them. As you come out again from _Bethania_ towards
_Jerusalem_, the Friers shew an old building, where _Simon_ the Leper
did dwell, in which when Christ was at the table, _Mary_ the sister of
_Lazarus_ did come, and did break again, yet several days after, a glass
of precious unguent of _Nard_ over his head, which fill’d the whole house
with a fragrant scent; which pleased Christ so well, that he took her
part against his disciples, and commended her proceedings so highly, that
it is recorded to her perpetual memory. From thence if you come nearer
into the valley between thee mounts of Olives, there is still to be seen
several fig-trees whereabouts Christ did curse one of that kind, because
he found no fruit thereon when he was hungry. Just at the coming out of
the valley near unto the steps of mount Olivet, you see the city again,
but chiefly the mount of the temple and gate where you go up, walled up
in the new wall. From this valley, when our Lord Christ came in sight,
and came down the mount Olivet, the people, as he came riding along,
cry’d, saying, ‘Hosanna, to the Son of David, _&c._’ and a little after
when he came nearer unto it, he lamented with tears also their future
misery, and the terrible destruction of the town, and went in from thence
towards the golden gate into the temple and drove out the buyers and
sellers.
[Illustration]
CHAP. XXII.
_Of the ~Bethlehem~, the mountains of ~Judea~, and their famous places.
Where also is made mention of my returning back from ~Jerusalem~ to
~Tripoli~._
_Bethlehem_, formerly called _Ephrata_, is situated towards the south,
twenty furlongs, or a _German_ mile distant from _Jerusalem_. The nearest
way to it, you go through the gate of _Hebron_, and come to the right by
the upper mote, and the bloody field, up the steps over mount _Gihon_,
where just before you see a cistern with good fresh water near the path,
made of white stones, and well prepared; near which the star did appear
again unto the three wise men of the eastern countries, and led them
into _Bethlehem_. Near it there groweth a Turpentine-tree larger and
higher than any that ever I saw elsewhere in my life. Farther, about half
way, you pass over a hill, at the top whereof you may see both towns,
_Jerusalem_ and _Bethlehem_. Before you is a large valley, which, altho’
it be rocky, yet it is fruitful both of corn and wine. In it, towards
the right hand near the road, is an acre called the _Cicer_ field, which
had it’s name (as I was informed) from the following transaction. It is
said, that when _Christ_ went by at a certain time, and saw a man that
was sowing Cicers, he did speak to him kindly, and asked him what he was
a sowing there, the man answered scornfully, and said, _He sowed small
stones._ _Then let it be_, said our Lord, _that thou reap the same seed
thou sowest._ So they say, that at harvest time, he found instead of the
Cicer-pease, nothing but small pebbles in shape, and colour and bigness,
like unto them exactly. Now whether there be any thing of truth in it or
no I cannot affirm; but this I must say, that there are to this day, such
stones found in this field. For, as we went by, some of us went into
it, and did gather a great many of them that were in bigness, shape and
colour, so like unto these Cicers (by the _Arabians_ called _Ommos_, and
in _Latin_, _Cicer arietinum_) that we could hardly distinguish them from
natural ones.
Hard by it, you shall see still some old ruins of old stones, where first
_Abraham_ the Patriarch did build a tent as you read in _Genesis_ xii.
8. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of _Bethel_,
and pitched his tent, having _Bethel_ on the west, and _Hai_ on the east.
_Senacherib_, the King of _Assyria_, when he went before _Jerusalem_, did
come into this valley with all his might and power; and had by the angel
of the Lord in one nights time, one hundred and eighty-five thousand
men slain; and still to this day, there are two great holes to be seen,
wherein they flung the dead bodies; one whereof is hard by the road
towards _Bethlehem_, the other towards the right hand over-against old
_Bethel_; which town fell to the children of _Benjamin_, and is called
still to this day _Bethisella_, and is situated half a league farther
towards the west, at the foot of the hill, in a very fruitful country.
There did _Jacob_ the Patriarch when he fled from his brother _Esau_, see
in his sleep the ladder which reached up into heaven, whereon the holy
angels ascended and descended, wherefore he erected there a stone for a
mark, and called the place _Bethel_, which was called _Luz_ before, as
you may read in _Genesis_ xxviii. As you come nearer to _Bethlehem_, you
see the grave of _Rachel_ at your right hand near the road, which _Jacob_
did erect there, when his wife died in labour with _Benjamin_, as you
read in _Genesis_ xxxv. 16. ‘And they journeyed from _Bethel_, and there
was but a little way to come to _Ephrath_:’ and verse 18. ‘And it came
to pass as her soul was in departing (for she died) that she called his
name _Benoni_; but his father called him _Benjamin_; and _Rachel_ died,
and was buried in the way _Ephrath_, which is _Bethlehem_. And _Jacob_
set a pillar upon her grave; that is the pillar of _Rachel_’s grave unto
this day.’ Before you come quite thither, there is just by without it,
on the left, a good rich cistern, which is deep and wide. Wherefore the
people that go to dip water, are provided with small leathern buckets and
a line, as is usual in these countries; and so the Merchants that go in
carravans through great desarts into far countries, provide themselves
also with these, because in these countries you find more cisterns or
wells, than springs that lie high. This was formerly under the gates of
_Bethlehem_, whereof King _David_ longed to drink; wherefore his three
champions did break into the camp of the _Philistines_, and did dip some
water out of the well, and brought it to the King; but the King would
not drink of it for certain reasons, as you may read in _Samuel_ chap.
xxiii, and in I. _Chronicles_ chap. xii. From thence we went by the path
of the mount into _Bethlehem_ the town of _David_, where he was born and
anointed King by the Prophet _Samuel_; it lieth upon an ascent, it’s
buildings, town walls and towers are so decayed, that now it is quite
open, and nothing at all to be seen, except the well and monastery, but
ruined cottages.
Just without _Bethlehem_, at the other side of the path, towards the
east, for formerly the town reached so far, they shew still the stable
under a large rock, wherein _Jesus Christ_, the promised _Messias_, God
and Man, was born of the immaculate Virgin _Mary_, and laid in a manger.
Of his coming, and the place where he should be born, the holy prophet
_Micah_ long before prophesied in his fifth chapter, and second verse,
saying: ‘But thou _Bethlehem Ephrata_, though thou be little among the
thousands of _Juda_, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that
is to be ruler in _Israel_; whose goings forth have been from of old,
from everlasting.’ On that place hath _Helena_, mother of _Constantine_
the Great, also build a stately church; but since it is so ruined and
demolished, that hardly half of it is left, as one may see by the old
walls of the foundation, and other places and arches that are still left
without; yet that part that still remaineth standing, is very large,
covered with lead at top, and is so glorious a building, that one shall
hardly find a better any where. For within it is paved with white marble
all over, and upheld with a great many large and high marble pillars,
each whereof is about nine spans in diameter; I told about fifty of them,
they stand without before the chancel (and underneath them is the place
of the holy and joyful birth of our Lord _Jesus Christ_) in four rows one
behind the other, and so give a glorious ornament to the whole church.
There are also to be seen on the arches and the walls about, some fine
histories taken out of the Old Testament, made in _Mosaick_ work, laid
in with colours very artificially; and are still so plain to be seen
and discerned, as if they were made but the other day. The cave wherein
_Christ_ was born, hath without, on each side of the chancel, underneath
which is a peculiar way into it, one against the other, the doors thereof
are commonly locked up, because behind the church, there is still
another, through which they generally go down into it; therein is below
at the right hand still another less one, going down two steps more,
which is the true stable, wherein our Saviour _Jesus Christ_ did lie in
the manger between the ox and ass; so there is still in the same place
made a marble one very well wrought. Without before it we put off our
shoes, and went in with the father Guardian into the holy place. Where,
when I considered the joyful birth of our Lord _Jesus Christ_; where he,
as the true long before promised _Messias_ and Saviour was born; I was
affected, as if I saw the child wrapt up in swadling cloaths, and lying
in the manger, disguised in our mortal flesh and blood, yet without sin,
that we as children of wrath and eternal damnation, might be received
again by God his Heavenly Father, as his children unto everlasting
salvation; that did humble himself so low, as to be born in a dark stable
in the miserablest poverty, that he might bring us out from the filth
and mire of sin wherein we lay, into the parlour of his Heavenly Father.
‘Seeing then, my dear Lord _Jesus Christ_, that thou art come to us
into the world, as the true light, to make of us, that were children of
darkness and eternal damnation, children of light and eternal salvation
and felicity; I return unto thee, O Lord, for these thy unspeakable
benefits, eternal praises, and seeing that thou hast assumed our flesh
and blood, and hast also caused these thy merits and benefits to be by
thy holy angels proffered to me; therefore I pray thee let me come to
thee with the poor shepherds, and see thy saving incarnation, give me and
us all thy grace and holy spirit, that we may comfort our selves with
this thy blessed birth, against our sinful and impure one, constantly and
without cessation, that we may rejoice in it, in good and bad times, in
tribulations and adversities, in prosperous success and ill fortune, in
the time of this temporal life, heartily, until at length we shall, in
the life to come, see thee with all the elected ones, face to face, to
all eternity.’ Amen.
This cave is underneath about the walls, lined with long tables of grey
marble, adorned with blue, artificially laid in; the rock that cometh
out over the stable only excepted. Just by the furthermost entry of the
fine chapel there are others, in one whereof St _Jerom_ did live, and did
translate the Bible out of the _Hebrew_ and _Chaldean_ languages into
the _Latin_. In another near it, lieth buried the noble pious _Roman_
lady _Paula_, with her daughter _Eustachia_. Who, after the decease of
her husband, went thither to St _Jerom_, where she led all the rest of
her days in Christian piety, until at length she died in the Lord. From
thence we came up again into the church, wherein without close to the
chancel each side, were to be seen two altars, covered with good large
marble; on one thereof on the left, the father Guardian did shew me the
effigies of the old _Simeon_, holding the child _Jesus_ in his arms,
and in the manger still another, with this admonition. ‘That from hence
we may see, conclude and learn, that it is not culpable at all to have
images, seeing that nature itself alloweth so much unto stones, that
images may grow in them. Wherefore they are not only not to be forbidden,
but rather to be honoured.’ What every Christian ought to think of this,
being quite contrary to the holy Scripture, every child that hath but
begun to learn the Catechism, can easily and sufficiently decide. The
_Franciscan_ monks have near the church, a large and pleasant habitation,
and also by it great gardens (rich of fine plants and good fruits)
defended round about with high walls, against the incursions of the
_Arabians_, which they make daily. _Bethlehem_ lieth high, surrounded by
the hills of _Judæa_, as you may see by the words of _Jeremiah_, chap.
xxxi. verse 15. where he doth prophecy the murdering of the children,
which cruel tyranny _Herod Ascalonit_ did a great while after in Christ’s
time execute, the words are these: ‘Thus saith the Lord, a voice was
heard in _Ramah_, lamentation and bitter weeping: _Rachel_ weeping for
her children, refused to be comforted for her children because they
were not.’ In this monastery, because it lieth at the top of the path,
you see with pleasure, as well as on mount _Olivet_, the confines of
_Jericho_, and the Dead Sea, and the mountains of _Arabia_, but chiefly
within the space of a league and a half towards the south, a great and
high hill, which extends itself much farther than the rest; whereupon,
in former years, the strong and mighty castle of _Theckoa_ was built,
whereof the holy Prophet _Jeremias_ maketh mention in his sixth chapter,
and also _Amos_ (who did prophecy there) in his first chapter. The
Christians had this in possession a great while, and did keep it against
the Infidels and Heathens for above thirty years after _Jerusalem_ and
the Holy Land were taken; for they had corn, wine, water, and other
necessaries, abundantly of their own growing, so that they might have
kept it longer, if a great contagious distemper had not got among them,
which did increase to that degree, that they were forced to leave it, and
to retire to more healthy places. When the Heathens did understand that
the Christians were marched off, they fell into the castle with a great
multitude, tore it all to pieces, and did demolish it to the very ground,
so that now one cannot discern that such a one did stand there before.
But this lost troop of the Christians, did at length settle themselves on
mount _Libanus_, and began to inhabit it, where they are still remaining
in our times, and call themselves (as I have told you before) _Trusci_.
About _Bethlehem_, there are some valleys very well tilled with corn and
vines, and among the rest a very pleasant and fruitful one that beginneth
immediately by the church and fountain, and runs down towards _Jericho_
and _Jordan_. This is below pretty wide, full of Olive and Fig-trees,
it also bringeth forth some comfortable herbs, _viz._ some strange
_Origanums_, _Tragoriganum_, _Roman Serpillum_, which the _Arabians_
call _Sathar_, _Absinthium Santonicum_, which groweth every where in the
Holy Land, this hath small ash coloured leaves, very like unto them of
ours, and many small stalks full of small yellowish seeds, it is of an
unpleasant smell, very bitter, with a saltish sharpness, wherefore it is
reputed to be the _Scheba_ of the _Arabians_; from whence our Wormseed
cometh.
In this valley were the shepherds, to whom the angels of the Lord did
appear, and declared to them the saving birth of our Lord _Jesus Christ_,
saying, ‘Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people; for unto you is born this day, in the city of _David_, a
Saviour, which is _Christ_ the Lord, _&c._ and suddenly there was with
the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying:
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.’
In that place, which is about half a league below _Bethlehem_, is still a
church, which also Queen _Helena_ did build, as _Nicephorus_ testifieth
in the thirtieth chapter of his eighth book, this is for the greatest
part fallen in, so that nothing more but a small arch is to be seen of
it. Hard by it did stand the tower _Ader_, as St _Jerom_ writes, whereby
_Israel_ did erect a tent, (as you may read in _Genesis_:) and looked
after the sheep with his twelve sons. This is in our time so demolished,
that it lieth quite in ruins. Beyond it, in another valley, not far from
_Bethlehem_, they shew still to this day a large orchard full of Citron,
Lemon, Orange, Pomegranate, and Fig-trees, and many others; which King
_Solomon_ did plant in his days, with ponds, canals, and other water
works, very pleasantly prepared; as he saith himself in _Eccles._ chap.
ii. verse 5. ‘I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in
them of all kind of fruits; I made me pools of water, to water therewith
the wood that bringeth forth trees.’ This is still in our time full of
good and fruitful trees, wherefore it is worthy to be seen for their
sakes, and also for the ditches sake that are still there. Wherefore I
really believe it to be that same whereof _Josephus_ maketh mention in
his eighth book of the _Jewish Antiquities_, and the seventh chapter;
saying, ‘And the King rode in a chariot, cloathed in white, and it was
his custom to ride early in the morning to a place called _Hetten_, a
hundred furlongs from _Jerusalem_, where he had a garden with water
pools and works very pleasant, and rich. Thither went the King for his
pleasure; and did always use great diligence and consideration in all
things, and took delight to see every thing neat and handsome.’ _&c._
After we had seen the chiefest places within and without, near and afar
off _Bethlehem_, we returned to _Jerusalem_ again by another way, that
was near as far again about, and went over the mountains of _Judea_,
which have first as you come from thence very good and fruitful valleys,
full of vines and corn, but the nearer you come to _Jerusalem_, the
higher and rougher are the mountains. In this way, half a league from
_Nebeleschol_, the friers shewed us a well very rich of water, just by
the road that goeth down to _Gaza_, this runneth into a small rivulet,
wherein the holy Apostle _Phillip_ did baptize _Candaces_ chamberlain
to the Queen of _Ethiopia_; by it, is nothing else to be seen but a
small church and a fish pond. From thence we came over high, rough and
steep hills into the deserts, where St _John_ the _Baptist_ did lead his
life in his young age, there is nothing to be seen but a very ancient
chapel, and hard by it a delicate spring on the top of the hill, where
we went up to refresh ourselves a little, with eating and drinking of
what we had taken along with us. About the roads grow many trees, by the
inhabitants called _Charnubi_, the fruit whereof is called _St John_’s
_Bread_ in our country, and is brought to us in great plenty. From thence
we had still a very rough and hilly way to the church and habitation
of _Zachary_, whither the Virgin _Mary_ did come (climbing over the
hills) to give _Elizabeth_ a visit, _&c._ Before it, a league distance
nearer to the town, at the end of the valley _Raphaim_ (whereof the holy
Scripture maketh often mention, _viz._ in _Joshua_ xv. and xviii. and
in I _Chronicles_ chap. xii.) stands in a very pleasant and fruitful
place, the church of St _John_ the _Baptist_; and by it, before you
come quite to it, falleth down the spring of _Nephthaah_, that is very
rich of water. This church is very ancient, but yet pretty well built,
and hath on the left hand as you go in, a deep and hidden cave, wherein
_Elizabeth_ did hide herself with _John_ her child, that it might not
be slain with the children of _Bethlehem_ by the servants of _Herod_,
whereof you may read more in the _Proto-Evangelium_ of St _Jacob_, where
it is thus written: ‘When _Elizabeth_ did hear, that among the rest of
the innocents which _Herod_ had commanded to be killed, her son _John_
was also searched for, she did climb up the hills, and looked about her
where she might hide him; but when she saw no place there where she could
preserve him, she sighed, and cried out with a loud voice, saying: _O ye
hills of ~Gad~, take both the mother and the child_; for she could not
ascend them; the hill did open itself instantly, and took them into it,
_&c._’ But how afterwards _Herod_ did search for _John_, and how he did
threaten and exhort his father _Zachary_ to tell him where his son was,
and also how his servants did kill _Zachary_ (not being satisfied with
his answer) for it in the porch of the temple is at length related in the
books of the martyrs of the learned and reverend _Ludowich Rabus_. As you
come from the beforementioned church, nearer to the town of _Jerusalem_,
there is still seen a large pillar, that is of great antiquity, and lieth
very high between the mountains on a high hill, five furlongs off of
_Jerusalem_, wherefore some take it to be ruins of the fortification of
_Betzura_; but as far one can understand by the books of _Maccabees_,
that is situated more towards the east behind mount _Olivet_. Just before
it, within, stands in the valley (that is full of pleasant Olive-trees)
a very old, yet well built church, called the Holy Cross, whereof some
_Greek_ friers are possessed; they pretend, that in that place the tree
did stand, that was made use of for the cross of Christ: this we did
soon leave, and went over a small height through the gate of _Hebron_
again into _Jerusalem_, and made ourselves ready to return the next
day again to _Joppe_ towards our ship. And so we rewarded the father
Guardian, their interpreter, and others that had conducted us, for their
faithfulness and services done us according to our ability, to their
full content and satisfaction, wherefore the father Guardian did freely
give to each of us a certificate under his usual seal, that we had seen
all the holy places which were named in it. This done, we went away,
and came the next day to _Rama_ towards _Joppe_. By the way, I found
some _Lentiscus_’s, from whence the _Mastich_ cometh, _Arbutus_, _Ilex_,
and a strange sort of Willows, by the inhabitants called _Sassaf_, but
by _Theophrastus_, _Elæagnus_, some Olive-trees, Palm-trees, white
Mulberry-trees, _Sumach_-trees, and _Styrax_, from which cometh a sweet
smelling Gum, called by the same name, that is brought from thence into
our country; _Spartium_, _Lycium_, which is a strange shrub, and the
juice thereof retaineth the same name, and is found sometimes in our
Apothecaries shops; the King and Prophet _David_ maketh mention thereof,
under the _Hebrew_ name _Hadhadd_, by which also the _Arabians_ call it,
their speech running much upon the _Hebrew_. Hereabout grow also very
many fruits (called _Siliquæ_ by the _Latins_, and κερατιὰ and κερατονία
by the _Greeks_, but by the inhabitants _Charnubi_) whereof many are
brought out to us, and are very well known by the name of St _John_’s
_Bread_. These are so common in these countries, that they esteem them
less than we do the worst fruit we have, wherefore they give them to the
cattle to eat. Wherefore it is probable, that the prodigal son desired to
fill his belly with these fruits, which, as it appeareth by the _Greek_
text, the hogs did eat, and yet could not have enough of them to satisfy
his hunger. Besides these, I found also by the way many Turpentine-trees,
by the inhabitants called _Botin_ and _Albotin_, which are very common in
_France_, chiefly about _Montpelier_, they have small green kernels, that
are of a reddish colour, and hollow within, and are oftentimes basely
sold and used by the Apothecaries for the true _Carpabalsamum_; for these
and others abovementioned, as we read in _Nehemiah_, chap. viii. the
_Israelites_ did take bows, and made themselves tents of them to live
in, during their great feast of Tabernacles. I saw also chiefly between
_Rama_ and _Joppa_ some white _Barberry_-trees, which I took first for
_Paliurus_, the third kind of _Rhamnus_, unto which they are very like,
except the fruits whereby I did discern them first, and besides, they are
much higher, and their branches covered with a white bark. Now although
they are not to be taken for the same, yet they are very like unto the
second _Paliurus_, whereof _Theophrastus_ maketh mention in the fourth
chapter, and the fourth verse. Among the corn, I did find a strange
_Origanum_, _Serpillum_; _Smilax aspera_, _Triones_ of _Theophrastus_,
whereof I have made mention above.
After we had made our selves quite ready to sail for _Tripolis_, whither
we had about forty _German_ miles, we went aboard the ship, and set sail
with a fair wind. But this did not last long, for, as soon as we were
out at sea, there arose one that was so contrary to us, that we hardly
reached the confines of _Tirus_ and _Sidon_ the fourth day, where we
arrived in our former voyage at night, as I have said before. I saw
nothing of any buildings on the shoar, but some small houses in the place
where formerly the town _Sarepta_ did stand, which (as you may read
in St _Luke_, chap. iv. and in III _Kings_, chap. xvii.) was situated
near unto _Sidon_, or as _Josephus_ writes in his eighth of the _Jewish
Antiquities_, chap. xiii. between _Tyrus_ and _Sydon_, in the country of
_Phœnicia_, wherein the holy prophet _Elias_, during the great scarcity,
did live a great while with a widow, and did restore her dead son to life
again.
Departing thence, the night befel us before we gat overagainst _Sidon_,
but we went so near the town, that we could see the houses, and some
rocks butting upon them by moon-light. From thence, the nearer we came to
_Tripolis_, the more the wind was for us, so that we arrived there on the
first of _October_ in the year 1575, in very good health and condition.
Wherefore I give eternal thanks, glory and praise unto the Almighty God
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. _Amen._
CHAP. XXIII.
_How I took ship at ~Tripolis~ in ~Syria~, and sail’d back from thence to
~Venice~, and travell’d home again to my own relations at ~Augspurg~._
At my arrival at _Tripolis_, when I hoped that something might have
been done for the good of _Hans Ulrich Krafft_, whom I left in prison
behind, as is above mention’d, towards his deliverance; that we, seeing
we came out together, might have remained together a while longer, and
have ended our journey to our content, I found there was not only nothing
done to the purpose, but his cause came to be worse and worse, so that
it was even or odd whether I should not have been cast into prison also,
and beaten severely to boot. When thus he was detain’d in prison, I
receiv’d a letter and command, as well from his adversary, as from my
own friends, desiring me to take the cause in hand earnestly, to bring
them both to an accommodation; and that if I would do so, I should do him
greater service, than if I should stay a whole year longer at _Tripoli_,
expecting his deliverance. Now altho’ many means were used after my
departure, for his liberty, yet they proved all fruitless, unsuccessful
and vain, so that he was forced to spend three intire years miserably in
this severe _Turkish_ imprisonment, until at length he was miraculously
deliver’d. Wherefore I got everything ready for my departure, and went
aboard the ship called the St _Matthew_, on the day of St _Leonhard_,
being the sixth day of _November_ in the year 1575, having first taken my
leave of the above-mention’d my dear friend _Hans Ulrich Krafft_, whom I
loved as my own brother, and the next day we put out, having a very good
wind. So our navigation proceeded in the beginning very successfully,
and we discover’d on the third day early the great island of _Cyprus_.
But when we approach’d unto it, a hurricane arose suddenly, and blew so
fiercely upon us, that it wound our great sail round about our main
mast, so that it was a wonder to me, that it did not bring it by the
board, or (as it would if the seamen had not struck it down immediately)
turn the ship over, and sink her. These winds arise from a wind that
is call’d by the _Greeks_, _Typhon_; and _Pliny_ calleth it _Vertex_
and _Vortex_; but as dangerous as they are, as they arise suddenly, so
quickly they are laid again also. The seamen pretend, that one shall
sooner perceive them in the ship below, because they come up from the
depth of the sea, than above deck. After this had continued about a
quarter of an hour it was quite over, so that it was perfectly calm,
and the sea very quiet. So our seamen hoisted up their sail again, and
steered towards the _Capo del Græco_, with an intention to run in still
before sun-set into the harbour of the metropolis call’d _Famagusta_;
but before we were aware of it, another wind arose that did send us back
again, so we stood out at sea, and went on with it so well, that we
passed the island that is one hundred and sixty _Italian_ miles long.
Not long after the wind did change, and it came to be foul weather, and
so contrary to us, that we went on but very slowly, and we were forced
to drive upon the sea only for several days, until at length we came
before the land of _Pamphylia_ and _Lycia_, which came in sight now and
then, nearer to the island of _Rhodes_; then arose a northerly wind that
helped us into our true road again, and blew so fresh, that in a few
hours we went by that mountainous island _Scarpanthus_, and afterwards by
_Solomon_’s point of the isle of _Candia_ out towards the south, which
is forty leagues farther; and we had been almost quite thrown over into
_Africa_, if we had not sheltered ourselves under the next mountains, so
we got clear of the noise and turbulency of the wind and sea; but instead
of that our ship came so near unto the shoar of _Candia_, that we feared
every moment to have been shipwreck’d, which had certainly befallen us,
if our _Nacchier_, that managed the sails, with his seamen (who wrought
very hard, until they brought the ship out at sea again) had not for
two days and nights done their utmost endeavour. When we kept thus out
at sea, foul weather befel us again, and contrary and rough winds blew
afresh, so that it was very dangerous sailing; wherefore our master as
well as the men thought it best to get into an harbour; but finding that
it was very dangerous to get in there, they went back again to the island
_Calderon_, which lieth not above a _German_ mile from _Candia_, to land
there, and to stay for better weather. This island is small, and so rough
and sandy within, that it cannot be inhabited; but yet being full of
bushes, those of _Candy_, turn, chiefly in the summer, their cattel into
it. Here I found a kind of Mandrake with blew flowers in great quantity,
and also very many _Oxycedri_ like unto our Juniper bushes, which are
almost as high as our Pine-trees. When we, during this hard weather, were
in this island _Calderon_ for shelter, we saw sometimes clouds in the
shape of a pillar, that came down from the skies to the next mountain,
and so extended themselves sloping down into the next sea. _Pliny_ makes
mention also of them in his forty ninth chapter of the second book. When
this did touch the sea, it begun to suck, as it were, thro’ a spout so
fiercely, that the water began to move in that place, as if it were in a
storm, so that we could not only hear the noise, but also see the great
motion thereof. In the beginning it was pretty clear, but the longer it
remained there the darker it grew, until at length it arose up again and
ascended into the skies like unto a thick cloud. Wherefore it may very
well be, that sometimes worms, frogs, fungusses, snails, muscles, _&c._
may fall down with the rain, chiefly in those places that are near to the
sea; for I have myself seen it many times in my travels between _Bononia_
and _Florence_ on the high mountains, where I have found several of them.
When the wind blew fair for us again, and we had sufficiently provided
ourselves with wood and fresh water, we hoisted up our sails again and
came away; and at length, not without great labour and changing of the
wind, we got out before the island of _Candy_, which is about two hundred
and fifty _Italian_ leagues long, into the open sea, with an intention to
go strait away for _Venice_. In the mean time one of our seamen did catch
on a hook, that he had baited with some meat, a large fish, by the Latins
call’d _Lamia_, but this fish being of some hundred weight in bulk, he
brought him upon the hook by degrees to the ship, then they fastened a
rope about his gills, and so drew him up very safely. When they did cut
it open to salt it, I found that it’s bones were but very small, and not
harder than a cartilage. They gave us now and then some of it to eat,
but it was so much salted, that we could not eat it, so that at last
they were forced to leave it. Soon after one of the Pilgrims, that was
a Priest at _Lille_ in _Flanders_, got a bloody flux so violently, that
he was in danger of his life, so I took care of him, and gave him what
physic I had by me in the ship. When we came to the island of _Cerygo_,
else call’d _Cithera_, belonging to the _Venetians_, lying near to the
_Morea_, (from whence _Paris_ took away the Queen of King _Menelaus_,
and carry’d her to _Troy_) upon a sudden a hurricane arose towards night
with blowing, thundering and lightening, so that we at several times did
despair of our lives. For when the waves swelled as big as large rocks,
and pressed very hard upon our ship, so that they did fling it now on
this, and then on the other side again, with great violence; so that
not only our goods, arms, trunks, and boxes were tumbled up and down in
the ship, but that also we were forced to take great care of ourselves
during this tempest, that we might not tumble over board, of which we
were in great danger. But how terribly soever this looked in the dark
night, yet it still increased; for in a little while after the place that
held the cannon shot that were near unto the steerage, where I had my
cabin, broke open, so that the balls ran up and down over all the ship
according as she rolled. Soon after the beating of the waves knock’d off
the garland that was behind at the outside of the ship, and left some
nails about a finger thick, that held it in the wood, with such a power,
that one might hear it almost all over the ship. After all this the great
sail was also torn off and fell down into the sea, so that we thought
no less than that we were all lost; for then the ship was wholly left
to the mercy of the roaring waves, that flung her, and tossed her about
like a football from place to place, (which you may deduce from thence,
that the Guardian that held himself fast by the main mast upon the deck,
was sometimes above a man’s depth under water) so that every moment we
expected to be overturned, and drown’d. Yet in all this calamity, we
did not give over all, but did what we could for our safety, seeing that
we could not do what we would, we stood together and pulled the sail
out again, yet we did not all pull together, for it was so dark that we
could not see one another but when it lightened, and in the place of the
torn one we put up another new one; for generally in such ships they are
provided with two sails, and also with two masts and rudders. After the
seamen had put on the new sail, not without great labour, difficulty
and danger, they fell down upon their knees, and began to pray to their
intercessors and patrons, which every one chused for himself, by their
names, some to _Peter_, others to St _Paul_, others to the holy Virgin
_Mary_, but chiefly and before all the rest to St _Nicholas_, who in the
like imminent dangers, necessities and calamities, hath oftenest before
all the rest shew’d himself by sundry tokens, according to their opinion,
ready to assist and to help, so that they might be sure of his help, and
so comfort themselves with a certain deliverance.
After they had said their prayers, they let me understand that they had
seen three burning candles on the top of the main mast, wherefore some of
them for joy vowed solemnly to go a Pilgrimage to certain Holy Places,
or else to give a certain Sum to one of their churches. This tempestuous
weather held on all the night long and also for a great part of the next
day, so that the seamen prayed three several times; I cannot justly tell
whether I was more astonished at their prayers or at the tempestuousness
of the sea, but chiefly when I understood, that they sought, without
_Christ_ our true Saviour and Helper, in this great danger to others,
and such that did not only know nothing of us, as we may see by the
words of _Esaiah_, when he saith, _Abraham knoweth nothing of us, and
Israel doth not know us_; but that they also (if they had been still
alive) would have directed us themselves to the true and only Mediator
_Jesus Christ_. And so we read, That the virgin _Mary_ her self did not
know what was become of her Son, until she found him sitting amongst
the teachers in the temple of _Jerusalem_: and also at the wedding of
_Cana_ in _Galilea_, she did direct the servants (that told her that
they wanted wine) herself to her son our Lord _Christ_, (that they might
not look upon her any more) when she saith to them, _What he bids you
so do_. Seeing then that the saints will not receive such honour that
only belongs unto the Lord, and on the contrary, the Lord bids us come
to him, I turned from them all to _Christ_ (when our ship was almost
quite covered over with the waves) to awake the _Lord_ as his Disciples
did when he was asleep, saying, _Lord help us or else we perish_; and
with the Apostle St _Peter_, _O Lord save and deliver us, let us not sink
down quite, but draw us out from the depth of the sea, and preserve
us graciously in this great danger_. This tempest made our seamen so
distracted, that they did hardly know whether, and how far the weather
had drove us out of our way, until we came quite about the _Morea_, and
saw the Island _Zant_ (formerly called _Zacynthus_). This we left on our
right, and did go strait forwards to the next Island of _Cephalonia_.
This is about 250 leagues distant from _Candy_, and doth belong as well
as _Zant_, to the _Venetians_, and had over against us a fine large and
strong port called _Argostala_, before which it was 14 days before we
arrived: towards the left, a ship (being under full sail before a strong
wind and missing the entry) was staved all in pieces. Into this we got
(the Lord be thanked) safe, and remained there for some days to refresh
ourselves. Just behind this island is the channel _Viscardo_, wherein the
great _Armada_ of the _Christians_ did ride against the _Turkish_ ones,
until at length it came to a fight before it, where the _Christians_
obtained a glorious victory. After we found our selves in a safer and
quieter place than we were before, and did hope quickly to get good
bread also, instead of our old black and worm-eaten biskets (which had
been loaden in _Spain_ a great while agone, wherewith we had made shift
a good while) some of us went the next morning into the next village
(which was pretty large) to buy some. But we did miss our aim very much;
for being that the inhabitants continually and hourly feared that the
_Turks_, whose _Armada_ was not far off, would make a descent, upon
them, therefore they conveyed all the goods they had into the castle,
that we could see lye very high beyond the great harbour, and had kept
no more but what was necessary for their daily use; so that no provision
at all was to be had or found: And they had so little bread, that we
went about in the village from house to house and could hardly get for
money as much bread as would serve us for our dinner. But as for wine
they let us have what we would, which was red, and very good, which the
Merchants knew very well, wherefore they bought a considerable quantity
thereof, to carry to _Venice_, and so did our ship’s master also. We also
found many small grapes growing there, on the vines, as many as I saw of
them, are rather less and lower than ours in our vineyards. During this
our tarrying, our pilot being sick, so that he was not able to direct
the ship any farther according to the compass, our master strove to get
another, and that the rather, because the _Adriatick_ sea, whereinto we
expected to come daily, is very dangerous, because of it’s narrowness,
plenty of islands, and hidden rocks, to navigate. So we got a _Greek_,
and after the weather began to be fairer, we put out to sea again. But
this did not continue long, for when we came a little out of the harbour,
we had other winds upon the sea, that were rather contrary to us, and
hindered us so very much in our navigation, that after many days we
arrived only before the fort of _Corfu_, otherwise call’d _Corsica_,
which we could hardly see in that misty and foggy weather, not without
great pains and labour. This ill weather, with the contrary wind, lasted
very long, and encreased more and more, the wind continuing high; so that
we had almost been cast over into _Apulia_ against our intention, chiefly
between _Cataxo_ and _Ragusa_, which _Ptolemy_ called _Epidaurus_, had
we not quickly made the island of _Meleda_. So we spent our time in this
navigation, not only in hard and contrary winds, with great pains and
labour, but were besides obliged to be above deck, because she was filled
up with goods all within to the weight of above twelve thousand centners,
where we endured great cold, and must remain there in all the rain and
storms.
After this we went into a small channel between this and another island,
where we lay at anchor all night; early in the morning we saw a galley
coming from the sea upon us. As soon as we saw her, before we could
well discern her, because of the too great distance, we made all ready
for our defence to resist her; but when she came nearer to us, and we
found by her flags that she was our friend, we were at rest again, and
discharged, when she went by us, three great guns to salute her according
to the usual custom of the sea. When she was past by, we weighed our
anchor also, and sailed to _Curtzola_, another island and town, towards
_Dalmatia_, call’d _Corcyra nigra_, which is very strong, and formerly
did belong to _Ragusa_, but now it is subjected to the _Venetians_. This
we left on the left hand, and went towards another, now call’d _Liesana_,
by _Ptolomy_ call’d _Pharia_, which lay about fifty leagues nearer to us.
This we did soon make, and arrived in the port on Christmass-eve, which
is close by the town, so that one can look very pleasantly into the wide
open place. In the morning early at the breaking of the day, those in the
town discharged some great guns for joy, which were in the next church
standing near to the harbour, according to their ancient custom on such
great holy-days. When these had begun, those also that were upon the
castle, which is very strong, and lieth close to the town walls up very
high, did discharge some; after them, those also that were upon the six
gallies, that arrived in the harbour after us, did the same; at length
it came also to our turn, that lay at anchor in the harbour, as well
the little as the great ones, whereof there was a great many; there it
began to bounce and crackle, for in our ship we had sixteen great ones,
and it made such a noise in the harbour, that one would have thought
all the buildings fell over one another. This shooting also occasioned
so great and thick a smoak, that we could hardly see one another. After
dinner we went ashore to buy good new bread, instead of our worm-eaten
biskets, whereof, God be thanked, we found enough, which did refresh us
very much. In this time the Priest that was dangerously ill of the bloody
flux, was so well recover’d of it, that he with his comrades went over
to _Ancona_, to go from thence to _Rome_. After we had rode at anchor
in this harbour for four days, by reason of bad weather, we weighed at
length, and came away to the ancient and famous town _Zara_, by _Ptolomy_
call’d _Jadera_, which is thought to be one hundred and fifty leagues.
Between _Liesana_ and _Zara_ there lie abundance of small islands, where
a great many pirates shelter themselves, that are call’d by a peculiar
name _Scacki_. These sleep in the day time, and are here and there on
high places, to take notice of the ships that go up and down, that they
may fall upon them in the night, and take them at a disadvantage, so that
it is very dangerous to ride there; and that so much the more, because
the sea is hereabouts very narrow, by reason of the many islands that
lie in it, wherefore the pilots must daily take care to get in good time
into a port, where they may ride securely all night; nay, sometimes even
the ships in the harbours are not secure from these _Scacki_ or pirates,
for so it happened that we were once in a port at anchor in our voyage,
which although it was very well secured and strong, yet we were not
secure there from the _Scacki_’s; as it had happened in this same harbour
but a year before, to a ship called _Cantarena_, (which the _Scacki_ did
get into by night,) which came off greatly by the loss, so that they had
great occasion to remember it; wherefore we divided ourselves into four
parts, and so kept watch by turns all night long. While we thus kept
watching, we saw them several times come in small boats, as if they were
fisher-men, yet as I am informed, there are often forty, fifty and sixty
men that lie hid in these small boats, and watch their opportunity to get
near to the great ships, to board them, and enter upon them. Wherefore
as soon as we saw that they would come to us, we cry’d out: _Fuoco,
fuoco_, that is to say, _Fire_, to shoot off the guns at them; when they
heard this, they presently answer’d: _Amici, amici_; that is to say, _we
are friends_, and so they went away again. Now when we believed that we
were escaped all danger, we got into a greater one by the oversight of
our pilot; for when he had order to go to _Zara_, he did not obey this
command, fearing that our ship-master would put him out there because
of his ill behaviour, and take another in his room, wherefore that he
might stay longer with us, he steered for the islands of _Vergetes_,
thinking that because he could get over with gallies (whom he had all
along generally served) he might also get over with a merchant-man (that
was heavy laden, and so drew more water) safe and without any danger. But
this did not succeed well, for when we sailed along between the islands,
we lost the depth of water by degrees, and at last struck with a great
cracking, so that we could expect nothing but shipwreck, which would of
necessity have followed, if our rudder had not remained whole in this
striking, and lifted up the poop of the ship, and so shoved the fore-part
sidewards into the depth; to which success the swelling sails did not
also contribute a little. So did God, our dear Lord, miraculously send
that the ship, chiefly by the help of the rudder, which was at least
three spans deeper in the water than the ship, got off and went on her
way. Having escaped again this great misery and danger, we landed in
another island, that was not far off; over-against which, on the side of
_Dalmatia_, lieth the village _Mortera_, between two famous towns, _viz._
_Zara_ and _Sebernis_, by _Ptolemy_ called _Ficum_, on a mountain of this
island, behind which lieth a good village, you may pleasantly see the
whole situation, together with the confines of the _Turks_, very plainly;
in this village we took up and lodged in it, until our sloop, that we had
sent out to _Zara_ for another and more expert pilot, came back again.
As soon as they arrived with the new pilot, we broke up again, embarked
and sailed for _Venice_, whither we had about two hundred and fifty
_Italian_ leagues. When we came out before the castle of St _Michael_,
which lieth in the sea over-against _Zara_ on a high mountain, a north
wind arose, with such a tempestuousness, that it had almost cast us
towards _Italy_, had not our pilot (who knew the shores, and landing of
ships, better than the former) done his best, and landed presently, which
could not be done but with great might and labour, for we were bound to
go against the wind, yet we accomplish’d it; which you may easily guess,
for of those six gallies that met us in _Liesena_, but two could make our
harbour (because they were not strong enough for the wind, altho’ they
used their utmost force in rowing) the rest were forced to go back again,
and shelter themselves behind the outward islands.
Into the same harbour was also just before us run in, to shun the ill
weather, a yatcht, that had about eleven men on board; they did pump out
the water that was run in, and dry their sails upon the land, by which we
did conjecture that they also had not been in small danger. We did send
some of our men on board of them to know who they were; and they answered
us, That they had letters from the Great Sultan, to their masters the
_Venetians_, concerning a peace that was agreed upon, which their envoy
at _Constantinople_ had sent by land to _Cattaro_, one of their towns,
where they were delivered up to them, to carry them to _Venice_ with all
possible speed. After this great storm was over, we went on again in our
voyage. By the way I saw nothing worth mentioning, but now and then a
village, where sometimes, if convenient, we landed, and staid there all
night. In one of them, I found a great deal of saffron, which was very
like unto that of _Vienna_, both in look and goodness. So at length we
came to the large and very-deep Gulph, _Carnaro_, by which within lieth
the town _Segna_, where the Windy-country endeth, and the _Hister-land_
beginneth. This Gulph is about an hundred miles long, and thirty broad,
so that in clear weather one may see very well over it, but it is very
dangerous to sail over it, and because of it’s great motion, it is easily
discern’d from the sea from without; over this we came, God be thanked,
very well, and landed at _Rovigna_, a small town situated on a high rock.
This belongeth, as well as others thereabout, as _Pola_, _Parentza_,
&c. to the _Venetians_, from whence to _Venice_ we have still about an
hundred miles. But being that it is very dangerous to go from thence with
large and loaden ships to _Venice_, therefore that republic doth keep
there always several experienced pilots (to prevent farther mischief)
that do nothing else but conduct the ships that arrive in _Histria_
safely thither. And these do not easily put off, unless they have very
good mild and clear weather; which was the occasion that our ship did
tarry there; so that we all, except the seamen which we left in the
ship behind, went into a barge on the fourteenth day of _January_ late,
and went all night long to _Venice_, where we all safely arrived the
fifteenth of the same month about noon.
At my arrival I met with some very good friends and acquaintance, with
whom I stay’d for several days, to refresh and rest myself after the
great hardships I had endur’d, and dangers I had passed. After they had
made me very welcome, and shewn unto me all kindness and civility, and I
had rested myself sufficiently, I resolved to travel with a _Venetian_
post into _Germany_ again; so we travell’d together from thence to
_Treviso_, _Trent_, _Botzan_, _Inspruck_, _Amberga_, &c. (whereabouts I
found my cousin _Hans Widholtz_, and _George Hindermayer Botzen_ riding
by him, who kept me all that night with them in their inn) so at length
I arrived on the twelft day of _February_ 1576, at _Augsburg_, my dear
native country, to the great rejoycing of my dear parents and relations,
which I found all in indifferent good health. I thank the Almighty,
merciful and good God, that is one in his Essence, and three in Person,
for all his mercies he hath bestow’d upon me, in all my great dangers and
necessities, both by sea and land, for his dear Son Jesus Christ’s sake.
Praise, glory, and thanks be unto him, for ever and ever. _Amen._
_End of Dr ~Rauwolff~’s Travels._
[Illustration]
A
COLLECTION
OF CURIOUS
TRAVELS and VOYAGES.
VOL. II.
CONTAINING
OBSERVATIONS
MADE
_By several Learned and Famous MEN_,
In their Journeys thro’ the LEVANT.
_VIZ._
The ISLE of CANDY, GREECE,
ÆGYPT, ASIA MINOR, _&c._
By Mons. _Belon_, _Prosper Alpinus_, Dr _Huntingdon_,
Mr _Vernon_, Sir _George Wheeler_, Dr _Smith_,
Mr _Greaves_, Father _Vansleb_, and others.
To which are added,
Two Itineraries to _Mecca_, and into _Æthiopia_.
[Illustration]
A
COLLECTION
OF CURIOUS
TRAVELS and VOYAGES.
VOL. II.
CHAP. I.
_Mr ~Belon~’s remarks in the island of ~Crete~ or ~Candy~._
The roots of mount _Ida_, call’d now by the natives _Psiloriti_, extend
to both the shores of the island; when I was at the top, I not only saw
under me all _Candy_, but some adjacent islands, as _Milo_, _Cerigo_,
&c. The snow lies all the year long on this hill, whilst the plains
underneath are extreamly scorch’d, and burnt up; it is so cold, that the
shepherds cannot inhabit it in the summer-time, but are forced every
night to descend, and leave their flocks of goats and sheep feeding. This
mountain on one side, abounds with pleasant springs, woods, many sorts
of trees, shrubs, and herbs, as Maples, _Ilices_ or Holm-oaks, _Arbutus_
and _Adrachne_, _Alaterni_, _Cisti Labdaniferi_, _Firrs_, _Cypress_,
_Chamælea_, _Thymelea_, _Oxycedrus_, _Nerion_ or _Oleander_ with a white
flower, _Olive-trees_, _Vines_, many _Legumes_ and _Pulse_.
Near round this famous mountain _Ida_ are found _Salvia Pomifera_,
which is carry’d to all the markets, _Caper-shrubs_, _Mandragora
Mas & fœmina_, two kinds of _Pæony_ with a white flower, _Tragium
seu Androsæmum fœtidum_, _Leontepetalum_, _Melilotus vera Odorata_,
_Trifolium Mœnianthe_ (perhaps our _Palustre_) _Heliocryson_, which
grows so thick as to cover and shelter the hares; _Stæchas Citrina_,
two kinds of _Tragacanth_, which yield no gum in this island; _Staphis
agria_, common up and down; _Coris_, a sort of _Hypericum_, with leaves
like Heath or Tamarisks, grows plentifully, the root hath an unpleasant
taste, and vomited me. The _Anagyris_ stinks so upon the roads, that it
causes the head-ach, and scarce any animal will touch it. _Tithymalus
Dendroides_, _Thapsia_, _Ferula_, _Libanotis_, and _Seseli_ abound.
_Agriomelea frutex_, a sort of _Sorbus_ or _Cotonaster_; a fourth species
of _Aristolochia_ different from those three describ’d by the ancients;
it scandent like a Smilax. The _Coccus Baphica_ or _Kermes_ is found
plentifully here upon an _Ilex_, the shepherds and boys gather it in
_June_, separate the red animalcules from the vesicle or excrescence
by sieves, and form them into balls very gently for sale, for if they
are squeezed or press’d, they dissolve, and the colour perishes. The
_Dictamnus_ grows only between the fissures of the rocks, but the _Pseudo
dictamus_ in other places. _Lotus Arbor_, _Zizyphus_ or _Jujube_,
_Scolymnus Chrisanthemos_, call’d commonly _Ascolimbros_, whose milky
root and young leaves make a common dish, _Tithymalus Myrsinites_
and _Paralius_ in the mountainous and maritime places, as also a
_Gnaphalium candicans littoream_, and a wild _Brassica_, _Chamæsyce_
and _Soldanella_, a _Dracunculus_ with an Ivy-leaf; the _Halimus_ makes
their common hedges up and down the island, the tops are edulous; _Agnus
Castus_, _Sedum fruticescens_, _Thymum legitimum_, which last serves
them for common fuel; the _Thymbra_ or _Satureia vulgaris_, all loaded
with _Epithymum_ or _Didder_; the _Tribulus Terrestris_ is very noxious
to their fields, and Pulse; _Scammonea_ or _Schammony_ in hilly places,
_Sesamum_ and _Xylon_, or Cotton, are sown in _April_; Pitch is boyl’d
out of the Pines on the mountains. There is none of our _Asparagus_,
but instead of it two prickly kinds, call’d _Corruda_ and _Politricha_.
Ten varieties of wild _Anemone_’s. There is a sort of Artichoak, call’d
by the shepherds _Agriocinara_, whose turbinated root is sold by many
Druggists for the _Costus Indicus_, the tops are eaten, the flower is
white, sometimes purple. There is a sort of _Carline_ thistle, call’d
_Chamœlion Albus_, whose odorate root sweats out a Gum which the women
in _Candy_ chew, as they in _Scio_ do Mastich, or they in _Lemnos_ the
Gum of a _Condrilla_. Two sorts of _Acanthus_, one soft, the other
prickly. The inhabitants have not left off the old manner of preserving
the tops of an _Anonis_, as also the tender shoots of an _Eryngium_.
The island affords three kinds of _Origanum_, a sort of Squill or
Sea-onion, _Orobus_, _Securidaca_, and many other legumes. It abounds
with _Terebinths_ and Mastich-trees, Laurels, Styrax, and arborescent
_Ricinus_, or _Palma-Christi_; _Aspalathus_, and a _Genisto spartium_
call’d _Echinopoda_.
The _Ibex_, or _Steinbock_, a swift nimble animal, whose horns are heavy
and long for the bulk of the creature, frequents the rocky mountains;
there is also the _Strepsiceros_, a sort of _Gazella_.
The bird call’d _Merops_ and _Apiastrum_, or _Beeater_, a sort of
_Woodpecker_, is common in the island, catches Bees, and feeds on them in
the air. The _Attagen_ and _Francolino_, as also a white large Partridge,
frequent the mountains; Eagles, Vultures, and Falcons build on the rocks.
The fish call’d _Scarus_, which I never observed in the _Euxine_,
_Propontis_, or any other part of the Mediterranean-sea, is common on the
coasts of _Candy_, and is generally taken at the same season that the
inhabitants rake and gather their sweet _Labdanum_, or _Ladanum_; the
only bait for this fish is made of the leaves of a _Phaseolus_, which
they swallow very greedily.
I observed only three kinds of Serpents in this island, the first is
call’d by the country people _Ophis_; the second _Ochendra_; the third
_Tephloti_; but none of these is venemous; I saw one bite and draw
blood, but without any harm. Hence the ancients might say, that _Crete_
nourish’d no poisonous animal.
The _Phalangium_ is common up and down; it weaves webbs like other
Spiders, to catch it’s prey, as Butterflies and Flies, and other insects.
It lays about sixty eggs, carries and hatches them under it’s belly; it
fights much with the _Ichneumon_ Wasp.
The stone call’d _Dactylus Idæus_, or _Belemnites_, erroneously taken and
sold for the _Lapis Lyncis_, is plentiful on mount _Ida_.
The _Vinum malvaticum_, or _Pramnium_, as also the _Moschatell_, are made
here, and transported up and down.
For a full catalogue of such vegetables as grow in the island of
_Candy_, together with their synonymous names and places, the reader
may be pleased to consult Mr _Ray_’s _Collection of Exotic Catalogues_,
publish’d this year at _London_, and annex’d to the end of this Second
Volume, amongst which the _Cretic_ plants are all drawn together out of
_Bellonius_, _Honorio Belli_, _Alpinus_, _Pona_, &c.
[Illustration]
CHAP. II.
_A Description of mount ~Athos~, commonly call’d ~Monte Santo~, by Mr
~Belon~._
This famous mountain so celebrated by the ancients, stands in a peninsula
or promontory of _Macedonia_, stretching out into the _Ægæan_-sea; it’s
shadow reaches to _Lemnos_ or _Stalamine_; it is inhabited only by
monks, call’d _Caloyers_, who never marry, tho’ other priests of the
_Greek_ church do. These _Caloyers_ abstain from all flesh, and even from
sanguineous fishes in Lent-time; they live very hardly and severely;
their ordinary dish is pickled Olives, not green like ours, but black
and ripe, dry’d without pickle. There are about six thousand of these
Monastics, that inhabit several places of this mountain, on which are
seated twenty four large old monastries, encompassed with high and strong
walls, for defence against pyrates and other robbers, tho’ they who spare
nobody are kind and indulgent to the _Caloyers_.
In these monastries the ceremonies of the _Greek_ church are most
diligently and strictly observed, and these _Caloyers_ or monks are
the most reverenced of any belonging to that communion; the _Turks_
themselves will often send them alms, being taken with the sanctity of
their lives; and the monks who inhabit mount _Sinai_, mount _Libanos_,
the desarts of St _Anthony_, _Jerusalem_, and other holy places, are
always the more valued and respected, if they have lived before on mount
_Athos_, which is in as great esteem and veneration amongst the _Greeks_
as _Rome_ among the _Latins_. This place is under the jurisdiction of
the Patriarch of _Constantinople_, who pays about twelve thousand ducats
_per Anum_ to the Grand Signior, upon the account of the _Europæan Greek_
church. The Patriarchs of _Alexandria_, _Damascus_, _Antioch_, &c. give
also their particular sums to the _Turk_, who gives liberty of religion
to all that pay tribute.
Of these six thousand religious, or _Caloyers_ of mount _Athos_, none
lead idle lives, as most of the monks in other places do, but every one
hath his daily employment; some labour with the ax, spade, and sickle,
dress their vineyards, cut trees, build fishing-vessels; others carry
sacks full of provision, bread, and onions; some spin and weave, their
distaff being made of the _Arundo Donax_, and their spindle of the herb
call’d _Attractilis_; some are Taylors, Bricklayers, and Carpenters; they
are generally cloath’d like hermits.
This mountain is about three days journey long, and may be seen about
thirty leagues off at sea; the monastries are at some distance; they
give such provisions as they have _gratis_ to all travellers whatsoever,
as pickled or dry’d olives, raw onions, salted beans, bisket, salted
fish, sometimes fresh, for they often go a fishing, their vessels or
boats being cut without great difficulty out of the thick trunks of
Plane-trees; their nets, for want of Cork, are supported with _Gourds_,
as they are in the _Propontis_ with the bark of _Pines_. The chief
monastry is call’d _Ageas Laura_, and fronts the isle of _Lemnos_, it
contains about three hundred _Caloyers_ or _Greek_ monks; those that look
towards the continent of _Macedonia_, have all their peculiar names,
and contain some two hundred, others one hundred and fifty _Caloyers_.
Formerly there were good _Greek_ manuscripts in these monastries,
but now none at all, unless of Theology; no Poets, no Historians, no
Philosophers, not one of the monks learned, of six thousand scarce above
two or three know how to write or read, so degenerated and depress’d is
the _Greek_ nation at present; they use wax candles and lamps in their
churches, as also statues, pictures and bells; they have no poultry,
pigeons, or any other birds; nor sheep nor cows, nor goats; because
they abstain from all flesh; they hunt no game, tho’ there is great
variety and plenty, only fish near the shore. I observed abundance of
those birds, call’d _Molliceps_, a sort of Chaffinch, as also of the
_Torquilla_, or _Wrynecks_. No people have the privilege of living on
this mountain but these _Caloyers_.
Mount _Athos_ abounds with many rare plants, but because many of them
are already mentioned to grow near mound _Ida_ in _Candia_; I shall
industriously omit to name such of them in this place. I observed here
the _Apion_ (a sort of knobbed _Spurge_) which the _Caloyers_ themselves
know to be purgative. _Hippoglossum_ or Horse-tongue, _Veratrum nigrum_,
or black Hellebore, common in the valleys; Beach, Hornbean, Service,
Oleaster, Myrtles, Oleander with a red flower, several Bindweeds running
up to the high tops of the Plane-trees, which here vie in height with the
Cedars of _Libanus_, or the Firs of _Olympus_.
There is a sort of _Cantharides_ on this hill call’d _Buprestis_, of
a yellowish colour, very fœtid, feeding on brambles, succory, nettle,
conyza, and other herbs; if any beast swallow this insect, they swell
and die. There is a sort of Cray-fish in the fresh rivulets, which the
_Caloyers_ eat raw, and I myself found the taste of them very sweet and
pleasant; they do not crawl up from the sea, but breed in the streams
above. There is a plant in the valleys call’d _Elegia_, perhaps a species
of _Arundo_, whose branches serve instead of writing-pens, for neither
the _Turks_ nor _Greeks_ know the use of quills.
The _Caloyers_ brought us several things to eat, as rocket, roots of
smallage, the bulbs of leeks, cucumbers, onions, garlic, which we eat
without either oyl or vinegar; black olives, course bisket and wine; they
also regaeld us with salted and dry’d fish, _Sepia_’s, _Polypi_, and
_Loligines_, Crabbs, and other crustaceous and testaceous animals. These
monks had rather die than eat flesh upon any occasion.
We ascended to the very top of mount _Athos_, where we could not long
endure the cold; we saw from thence many adjacent provinces and islands,
as _Cassandria_, _Scyton_, _Lemnos_, _Thasson_, _Samothracen_, _Imbron_,
&c. In our descent we observed Firrs, and Pitch-trees, which differ’d
a little from those of mount _Ida_, for in these the cones adher’d so
close to the branches, they would not separate; besides, these were very
smooth, whereas the others were scabrous.
There being no haven under this mountain, the _Caloyers_ are forced to
draw their fishing-vessels ashore, and place them behind iron gates,
lest the pyrates should set fire to them. They exchange their grapes,
olives, figgs, onions, garlic, beans, and legumes with the mariners, who
bring them some wheat; they have mills on the streams of the hill. They
press an oil out of their Bay-berries, which they send into _Wallachia_,
_Bulgaria_, and _Servia_, where it is sold. They take abundance of the
long Oyster or _Langouste_.
The multitude of springs and streams, the variety of herbage and
ever-greens, the woods and pleasant shoar, do all render mount _Athos_
one of the most charming places in the world.
[Illustration]
CHAP. III.
_An account of a journey by land from mount ~Athos~, to ~Constantinople~;
wherein the gold and silver mines of ~Macedonia~, together with many
antiquities and natural rarieties are described._
Leaving mount _Athos_, we travelled in two days to _Saloniki_, formerly
called _Thessalonica_, and in two days more we reached _Siderocapsa_,
the _Chrysites_ of the ancients, where now the _Turks_, and many other
nations work the rich ores, which afford yearly a very considerable
treasure, and make the place much frequented and resorted to. ’Tis
situated amongst the valleys, at the foot of high mountains, and yields
monthly to the Grand Signior, for his share only, above 18000 gold
ducats, and sometimes 30000 clear of all disbursements. There are about
five or six hundred furnaces dispers’d up and down these mountains, which
abound with great varieties of _Pyrites_, _Marchasites_, and other ores,
which they work in a different manner from the _Germans_ and _Spaniards_:
Their furnaces and work-houses are all placed on the sides of rivulets,
for all their bellows play with wheels turn’d by streams of water. The
white foot of the chimneys is called _Spodus_ and _Pompholix_, as it
differs in colour, of which above ten pounds may be gathered every week.
They separate the lead from the gold and silver by particular fusions,
then the silver from the gold by _Aqua fortis_: Out of the gold, they
coin their ducats, which are very flexible, and esteem’d the purest gold
in the world, always clean and resplendent.
From these metallic mountains we saw mount _Athos_, and great part of
_Macedonia_, which appear’d hilly. I observed here two serpents never
seen before by me; the _Greeks_ called them _Sapidi_ or _Sapiti_, which
comes near to _Seps_, or _Sips_. The inhabitants of _Syderocapsa_ gather
abundance of the _Rhus_ or _Sumach_, which they use in preparing their
skins, and tanning their leather, which the _Ægyptians_ do with the pods
of their _Acacia_, the _Natolians_ with the cups of the acorns of a
dwarf Oak called _Esculus_, the _Illyrians_ with a black Myrtle (perhaps
the _Rhus Myrtifolia_), the _French_ with Oak bark, the _Lesbians_ and
_Phrygians_ with the bark of the _Picea_.
The workmen use several machines in working and drawing up the ores,
according as the veins lie: These works employ above 6000 men.
In a lake near _Syderocapsa_, I took notice of several fishes, as one
called _Laros_ by the natives (because the Gulls feed much upon it) by
the _Latins Gania_, by the _French_, _Mouatte_, by those of _Diepe_
and _Newport_, _Marue_. Another called _Claria_, by those of _Lyons_,
_Lotte_; by the _Parisans_, _Barbotte_. Also the _Liparis_, the Perch,
young Mullets, _&c._
In the adjacent country, there are fallow Deer, Buffalo’s, wild Boar,
Goats, red Deer, and our roe Deer, Porcupines, Urchins, Wolfs, Foxes,
Hares; the _Chamois_, or _Rupicapra_; the _Tragelaphus_ different from
the _Hippelaphus_.
Leaving _Syderocapsa_, we spent two days in getting to _Cavalla_,
anciently called _Boucephala_, whereas we might have gone by sea in half
a day: In this journey we saw the river _Strymon_, and on it Swans, and
other birds like Pelicans: At the mouth of this river, are seen the
remains of a place called by the natives _Chrysopolis_, tho’ _Pliny_ puts
it not far from _Chalcedon_. We saw _Ceres_ the _Cranon_ of the antients;
afterwards _Tricala_, and so by the side of the mountain _Despota_, thro’
a great plain to _Philippi_, near which are many villages and several
mines. We observed hereabouts Misseltoe on the Oak, as also in many other
places of _Macedonia_, where they make birdlime. The ground is very much
over-run with the _Paliurus_ and _Rhamnus_.
The ruins of _Philippi_, are about two days journey from _Trica_ or
_Tricala_, and _Philippi_ scarce three more from _Philippolis_. These
were great roads in the time of the _Roman_ empire, now heaps of rubbish,
and sepulchres of marble with inscriptions. The isle of _Tasso_ is but
six hours distant, and from thence this great quantity of white marble
might have easily been fetch’d. The magnificence of _Philippi_ may be
guess’d at from the number of these noble monuments and inscriptions,
from the fair amphitheatre still entire with it’s marble seats; ’Tis
not oval, as those at _Otricoli_ and _Rome_, but spherical, as those at
_Verona_ and _Nismes_: There are also _Doric_ and _Ionic_ pillars, with
many statues belonging to the temple of _Divus Claudius_. At _Cavalla_,
or _Boucephala_, there are still great cisterns of hardened Cement (as at
_Baiæ_) and _Aquæducts_.
Departing from _Cavalla_, we pass’d by mount _Hæmus_, over the river
_Nesus_, and came to _Bouron_ on the salt lake of _Bisto_, near a moist
plain, full of _Cytisus_, _Halimus_, _&c._ as about _Philippi_. Here
are taken great quantity of Dace, or Dare, which they pickle as we do
Herrings, as also smoak and dry them. The fishing on this lake is very
considerable, for from hence they supply many distant places. About six
hours from _Bouron_, we came to _Commercina_, where they sell great
variety of provisions; from thence we went to _Cypsella_, where they make
Alum by gently calcining the stone, and letting it dissolve afterwards
in the air by the dews and rains, and then boiling and crystallizing
the impregnated water. In this journey we saw many old _Roman_ highways
pav’d with great stones. We passed the _Marisca_, of old _Hebrus_, in
a ferry, and came to _Vire_; here they wash some gold out of the sand,
but are often forced to use Quicksilver in the separation. The water of
_Hebrus_ is very cold in the middle of summer, and the banks are set
with Tamarisks; King’s-fishers build they nests in holes on the sides,
they make them of the bones and scales of little fishes. The natives
hereabout often leave their habitations to work in harvest time: Their
sickles differ from ours, and their corn is not thresh’d but trodden with
cattle. In this journey we found great variety and plenty of _Jaspars_
and _Chalcedony_.
The _Thracians_ and _Macedonians_ gather all the galls or excrescences on
the Turpentine-trees, which they sell at _Prusa_, for the dying of silks.
This country abounds much with Tortoises, for the _Greeks_ never eat nor
destroy them, unless they catch them in their gardens or plantations of
Cotton and _Sesamum_.
We left the road of _Gallipoli_ on the right, and came to _Rodesto_, the
old _Perinthus_, from thence we left _Heraclea_ on the left, and past
_Selibria_, a days journey distant from _Constantinople_. The honey of
_Heraclea_ is said to be pernicious, perhaps because the country abounds
with the _Chamæleon niger_ (a sort of _Carlina_) to whose root adheres a
very venomous excrescence called _Ixia_, which may affect the Bees that
feed on that plant.
I found hereabouts a milky plant (perhaps an _Apocynum_) with the leaves
and flower of a _Nerion_, or the purple _Lysimachia_.
_Thrace_ is an open country without trees, like _Picardy_; the great
plains are divided here and there with ridges and little hills: About
three miles before we came to _Constantinople_, we pass’d two long wooden
bridges that run over the salt marshes, upon which are many boats and
mills, with eight wings or arms: On these lakes there is a great fishery,
as also on the _Propontis_, for the Oriental People (as other nations of
old) are more delighted with the fish diet than with that of quadrupeds
or birds. This may be one reason why the books of the ancients treat more
of fish than of fowl, or any other animals.
[Illustration]
CHAP. IV.
_The ways of fishing on the ~Propontis~, the ~Bosphorus~, and
~Hellespont~; as also of the fishes taken. By M. ~Belon~._
These seas abound extremely with fish that pass between the _Euxine_
and _Mediterranean_, into which abundance of great fresh rivers empty
themselves. The streights and shoars are full of little wood cottages
(wherein the Fishermen watch and observe the several shoals) and great
variety of nets, both loose and fastened to poles, of several figures,
for the taking both of great and small frys: There is also the hook and
bait-fishing up and down with long lines; the train and hand-nets, _&c._
Besides all these ways, they practise another manner of fishing by
lighted torches in dark calm nights, whereby they find the great fishes
asleep, and strike them very silently with sharp tridents and hooked
engines: This they find the most convenient for taking the greater sorts
of fish, which often break their nets and lines.
The common fishes of these _Streights_ are, the Tunny, and the Pelamis,
Mackrel, Scads, Giltheads, Mullets, Gurnards, Sheath-fish, Sword-fish,
the Dolphin, different from our Porpess, the Wolf-fish, Lampreys, the
Muræna, Sphyrena, Melanurus, Salpa, Sargus, Mena, Atherina, Exocætus
which serve for baits to catch Congers, Celerinus, Sardina, Polypus,
Loligo, Erythrinus, _&c._
The Garus, so common in the shops of _Constantinople_, is prepared here
only out of the sanies, or, ichor of the salted intestines of the Mackrel
and Scads. The red Cavear is not made of the eggs or roe of the Sturgeon,
but out of the _Cyprinus_. (Q. _Whether the author means the Bream or
Carp._)
CHAP. V.
_Of some Beasts and mechanic trades at ~Constantinople~._
Near the _Hippodromus_ at _Constantinople_, I observed some rare animals,
which the _Turkish_ Emperors are much delighted with, as the _Onager_,
the _Hystrix_, the _Lupus Cervarius_, the _Lynx_, the _Ponticus Mus_, or
_Ermine_, many rare Weasils and odd Cats.
The _Turks_ not using the Printing Trade, they levigate and polish their
writing paper in box frames, by rubbing it with the _Chalcedony_ and
Jaspar-stones, put at the end of sticks. They damask their cymeters
with a blewish colour, by macerating _Sal Armoniac_ and Verdigrease in
vinegar, and steeping the blades in this mixture, often pouring fresh
upon them, this acts upon the steel, and renders it of that colour upon
polishing. They granulate leather for scabbards. In the Cutlers shops
one sees great variety of Horns, Teeth, _&c._ as of Bufalo’s, Gazels,
Morse-teeth, and other Tusks. They colour their linnen with great
variety, and with many figures, which they cut in wood and there paint,
afterwards stamp and press it upon the linnen, or silk, as in printing
upon paper, they first polish their linnen or cottons with pastes of
fine flower. The inhabitants on these _Streights_, gather abundance of a
broad leaved _Alga_, which they mix with a fat earth, and so cover their
houses with it: The current running so strong, casts out great variety of
marine productions, as _Alcyonium_, or _Arkeilli_, _Antipathos_ (a sort
of Coralline.)
_Mr ~Francis Vernon~’s Letter, written to Mr ~Oldenburg~, ~Jan. 10.
1675/6~, giving a short account of some of his Observations in his
travels from ~Venice~ through ~Istria~, ~Dalmatia~, ~Greece~, and the
~Archipelago~, to ~Smyrna~, where this letter was written._
_SIR_,
I must beg your excuse for not having written to you in so long a space:
The little rest I have had, and the great unsettledness of my condition
is the reason. Neither have I now any great curiosities to impart to you;
only some small circumstances of my journey I will run over.
From _Venice_ I set out with those gallies which carried their Embassador
that went for the _Porte_. We touch’d at most of the considerable towns
of _Istria_ and _Dalmatia_ by the way. In _Istria_ we saw _Pola_, an
ancient Repuplic. There remains yet an amphitheatre entire; it is of
two orders of _Tuscan_ pillars, placed one over another, and the lower
pillars stand on pedestals, which is not ordinary; for, commonly they
have nothing but their bases to support them. There is, besides a temple
dedicated to _Rome_ and _Augustus_, a triumphal arch, built by a lady
of the family of the _Sergii_, in honour of some of her kindred, which
commanded in these countries; besides several inscriptions and ancient
monuments, which are in divers parts of the town.
In _Dalmatia_ I saw _Zahara_, which is now the metropolis of the country.
It was anciently called _Jadera_. It is now very well fortified, being
encompassed on three sides with the sea, and that part which is toward
the land extremely advantaged by all the contrivances of art, having a
castle and a rampart of very lofty bastions to guard it. I found here
several ancient inscriptions, by me copied, which will not find room
in the compass of a letter. We pass’d in sight of _Zebenico_, and saw
three forts, which belong to the town, St _Nicolo_, St _Gioanni_, and
_la fortezza Vecchia_; but we went not ashore. That which is most worth
seeing in _Dalmatia_, is _Spalatro_, where is _Dioclesian_’s palace,
a vast and stupendious fabric, in which he made his residence when he
retreated from the empire; it is as big as the whole town, for the whole
town indeed is patch’d up out of it’s ruins, and is said by some to take
it’s name from it. The building is massive; there is within it an entire
temple of _Jupiter_, eight square, with noble porphyry pillars, and
cornish, worth any body’s admiration. There is a court before it, adorned
with _Ægyptian_ pillars of that stone called _Pyropoicilos_, and a temple
under it, now dedicated to St _Lucia_; and up and down the town several
fragments of antiquity, with inscriptions and other things worth taking
notice of.
Four miles from _Spalatro_ is _Salona_, which shews the ruins of a great
town. About as much farther from _Salona_, stands _Clissa_, upon a rocky
hill, an eminent fortress of the _Venetians_, which is here the frontier
against the _Turk_, from whence they repulsed him in their late wars
with great honour. I was at _Lesina_, where is nothing very remarkable;
but _Blondi_, that hath written our _English History_, was of it. _Trau_
is ancient, and hath good marks of it’s being so. Here I spoke with Dr
_Stasileo_, who put out that fragment of _Petronius Arbiter_, and I saw
his manuscript.
I was in the Harbour of _Ragusi_, but not in the town, because we made
no stay there. From hence we pass’d the gulph of _Budua_, and saw the
mountains of _Antivari_, the plain of _Durazzo_ and _Apollonia_, and
came to _Sassino_ a small island, from whence we could see the town of
_Valona_, and the mountains _Acroceraunii_, which are very near, and are
now called mountains of _Chimæra_.
I staid a fortnight in _Corfu_, and had time to view all that was
considerable in the island, particularly the gardens of _Alcinous_,
that is, the place where they are supposed to have been, now called
_Chrysida_, a most delicious situation: The ancient port, now called
Νεκροθάλατσα and several foundations of ancient fabrics. In _Zante_ I was
likewise a fortnight, where I saw but little of Antiquity: What is modern
is very flourishing, and the island rich and plentiful.
I went from _Zante_ to _Patras_, a town in _Achaja_, of good note among
the ancients. Near it is a great mountain, mentioned by _Homer_, by the
name of _Petra Olenia_. In the town are several massive ruins, which few
there know how to give any account of. There are the remains of a large
church, dedicated to St _Andrea_, who, they say, was martyr’d there. This
is the first town I saw on the continent of _Greece_. The plain about
it is very fruitful, full of springs and rivulets; finely wooded with
Olive-trees, Cypresses, Orange and Lemon-trees. The Citrons here are
counted among the best of the _Turkish_ empire, and are sent for presents
to _Constantinople_. So are all their fruits in very good esteem.
In _Athens_ I have spent two months. Next to _Rome_ I judge it most
worthy to be seen for antiquities of any I have yet been at. The temple
of _Minerva_ is as entire as the _Rotunda_. I was three times in it, and
took all the dimentions with what exactness I could; but it is difficult,
because the castle of _Athens_, in which it stands, is a garrison, and
the _Turks_ are jealous, and brutishly barbarous, if they take notice
that any measures it. The length of the _cella_ or body of the temple
without side,
is 168 } Feet _English_.
The breadth 71 }
The _portico_ of the _Doric_ order, which runs round it, hath eight
pillars in front, seventeen on the sides; the length of the _portico_
is 230 feet _English_. I have taken all the dimensions within, with
those of the προναὸς and _porticos_; but they are too long for a letter.
The _fuste_ or shaft of the pillars is 19½ feet in circumference: The
_intercolumnium_ 1¼ of the diameter of the pillars. These measures you
may rely on as exact to half a foot.
The temple of _Theseus_ is likewise entire, but it is much less, though
built after the same model. The length of it’s _cella_ is but 73 feet,
the breadth 26. The whole length of the _portico_, which goes round it
123 feet. ’Tis a _Doric_ building, as is that of _Minerva_. Both of them
are of white marble.
About the cornish on the outside of the temple of _Minerva_ is a _basso
relievo_ of men on horseback, others in chariots, and a whole procession
of people going to a sacrifice, of very curious sculpture. On the front
is the history of the birth of _Minerva_.
In the temple of _Theseus_, on the front within side the _portico_, at
the west end, is the battel of the _Centauri_, and at the east end seems
to be a continuation of that history: But there are several figures of
women, which seem to be _Pirithous_’s bride, and those other ladies which
were at the wedding. On the outside the _portico_, in the spaces between
the _Triglyphi_, are several of the prowesses of _Theseus_, most in
wrestling with several persons, in which he excelled: All his postures
and looks are expressed with great art. Others are monsters, which he is
made encountering with, as the bull of _Marathon_, the bear of _Calydon_,
_&c._
There is a temple of _Hercules_, a round fabric, only six feet diameter,
but neat Architecture. The pillars are of the _Corinthian_ order, which
support an _urchitrave_ and _frise_, wherein are done in _relievo_ the
labours of _Hercules_. The top is but one stone, wrought like a shield,
with a flower on the outside, which riseth like a plume of feathers.
There is yet standing the tower of _Andronicus Cirrhestes_, which is an
octogon, with the figures of eight winds, which are large, and of good
workmanship; and the names of the winds remain legible in fair _Greek_
characters, where a house, which is built against it on one side, does
not hinder, as ἁπηλίωτης, ευρος, βορεας, σκιρων, ζεφυρος· Each wind
placed against it’s quarter in the heavens: And the roof is made of
little planks of marble, broad at bottom, and which meet all in a point
at top, and make an obtuse parymid of 32 or 36 sides.
There is a delicate temple of the _Conic_ order in the castle, whether of
_Pandrosus_, or whom, I cannot tell, but the work was most fine, and all
the ornaments most accurately engraven:
The length of this temple was 67 }
The breadth 38 } feet.
These pillars, which remain of a portico of the Emperor _Adrian_, are
very stately and noble: They are of the _Corinthian_ order, and above 52
feet in height, and 19½ in circumference: They are cannellate, and there
are now standing seventeen of them, which part of their cornish on the
top. The building to which they belonged, I measured the area of, as near
as I could conjecture, and found it near a thousand feet in length, and
about six hundred and eighty in breadth.
Without the town, the bridge over the _Elissus_ hath three arches of
solid stone work; the middlemost is near 20 feet broad. There is the
_stadium_ yet to be seen, whose length I measured, and found it 630 feet,
near to what the precise measure of a _stadium_ ought to be, _viz._ 625.
Towards the southern wall of the castle, there are the remains of the
theatre of _Bacchus_, with the portico of _Eumenes_, which is near it;
the semi-diameter, which is the right sine of the demi-circle which makes
the theatre, is about 150 feet, the whole body of the scene 256. Monsieur
_de la Guilliotiere_, in that book he hath written of _Athens_ hath made
a cut of a theatre, which he calls that of _Bacchus_, which is a meer
fancy and invention of his own, nothing like the natural one, which by
the plan he has drawn of the town, I judge he did not know. I give you
this one hint, that you may not be deceived by that book, which is wide
from truth, as will appear to any body who sees the reality, though to
one who hath not seen it, it seems plausibly written. I have dwelt long
on _Athens_, but yet have said nothing. This town alone deserves a whole
book to discourse of it well, which now I have neither time nor room to
do; but I have memorials by me of all I saw, which one day, if it please
God, I may shew you.
_Thebes_ is a large town, but I found few antiquities in it, excepting
some inscriptions and fragments of the old wall, and one gate, which,
they say, was left by _Alexander_, when he demolish’d the rest. It is
about fifty miles distant from _Athens_, as I judge.
_Corinth_ is two days journey distant; the castle, or Ἀκροκόρινθος,
is standing, which is very large. The main of the town is demolished,
and the houses, which now are scatter’d, and a great distance from one
another. So is _Argos_, which to go round would be about four or five
miles, as the houses now stand; but if they stood together, they would
scarce exceed a good village. _Napolo della Rumilia_ is a large town, and
full of inhabitants, and the Bashaw of the _Morea_ resides there: It is
but very few leagues distant from _Argos_.
_Sparta_ is quite forsaken, and _Mestra_ is the town which is inhabited,
four miles distant from it: But one sees great ruins thereabout;
almost all the walls, several towers and foundations of temples with
pillars and chapiters demolished: A theatre pretty entire. It might
have been anciently nigh five miles in compass, and about a quarter of
a mile distant from the river _Eurotus_. The plain of _Sparta_ and of
_Laconia_ is very fruitful; and long, and well watered. It will be about
eighty miles in length, as I judge. The mountains on the west side of
it very high, the highest I have yet seen in _Greece_; the _Maniotes_
inhabit them. But the plain of _Calamatta_, which anciently was that of
_Messene_, seems rather richer. _Corone_ is very abundant in Olives.
_Navarrino_, which is esteemed the ancient _Pylos_, hath a very strong
castle, fortified by the _Turks_, and is the best port in all the
_Morea_. _Alpheus_ is much the best river, and the deepest, and with
great reason extolled by all the ancient Poets, and chosen for the seat
of the _Olympic_ games, for it is very pleasant. The plains of _Elis_ are
very fine and large, fit for to breathe horses in, and for hunting, but
not so fruitful as that of _Argos_ and _Messene_, which are all riches.
The best woods I saw in _Peloponnesus_, are those of _Achaia_, abounding
with Pines and wild Pear, the _Ilex_ and _Esculus_-trees, and, where
there runs water with Plane-trees.
_Arcadia_ is a champain fine country, and full of cattle, but is all
encompass’d with hills, which are very rough and unhewn. _Lepanto_ is
very pleasantly seated on the Gulph, which runs up as far as _Corinth_;
and without the town, is one of the finest fountains I saw in _Greece_,
very rich in veins of water, and shaded with huge Plane-trees, not
inferior in any thing to the spring of _Castalia_ on mount _Parnassus_,
which runs through _Delphos_, except in this, that one was chosen by the
Muses, and the other not; and poetical fancies have given immortality to
the one, and never mentioned the other.
_Delphos_ itself is very strangely situated on a rugged hill, to which
you have an ascent of about two or three leagues, and yet that is not a
quarter of the way to come up to the pique of _Parnassus_, on the side of
which hill it stands: It seems very barren to the eye, but the fruits are
very good, where there are any. The wines are excellent, and the plants
and simples, which are found there, very fragrant, and of great efficacy.
About _Lebadia_, and all through _Bæotia_, the plains are very fertile,
and make amends for the barrenness of the hills which encompass them: But
in winter they are apt to be overflown for that reason, and to be turn’d
into lakes, which renders the _Bæotian_ air very thick, and so were their
skulls too, if the ancients may be believed concerning them; though
_Pindar_, who was one that sublimated poetry to it’s highest exaltation,
and is much fancied and imitated in our age, as he was admired in his
own, was born there: And _Amphion_, who was said to be so divine in his
music, that he ravished the very stones, had skill enough to entice them
to make up the walls of _Thebes_: So that not every thing that is born
in a dull air is dull. These vales I found much planted with Cotton,
_Sesamum_ and _Cummin_, of which they make great profit, and a great
trade at _Thebes_ and _Lebadia_.
I went from _Thebes_ into the island of _Eubæa_, or _Negropont_, and saw
the _Euripus_, which ebbs and flows much after the nature of our tides,
only the Moon, and sometimes Winds, make it irregular. The channel,
which runs between the town and a castle which stands in an island over
against it, is about fifty feet broad; and there are three mills on it,
which shew all the changes and varieties that happen in the current. Near
the _Euripus_, and opposite to the town, they shew a port, which they
say was _Aulis_, and it is not improbable, for it must be thereabouts,
Between _Negropont_ and _Athens_, is a high hill, called Ἀγιομακοῦρι,
formerly very dangerous, but now guarded by _Albaneses_. It is part of
mount _Parnasse_, and near it, on the left hand, lies mount _Pentelicus_,
from whence the _Athenians_ anciently fetch’d their stone, and now there
is a convent of _Caloyers_ there, one of the richest of all _Greece_.
In going from _Athens_ by sea, I embarked in a port, which lies just by
_Munichia_. That which they call _Porto Pyræo_, lies behind it a mile
distant, which is a large port able to contain 500 vessels. There are
the ruins of the town yet remaining, and of the walls, which joined it
to the city of _Athens_. I sailed by _Porto Phalero_ the ancient haven
of _Athens_, which is rather a road than a port. I saw an island called
Φλέβες, where the _Athenians_ had anciently mines. I went ashore on the
promontory of _Sunium_, to view the remains of the temple of _Minerva_,
which stood on it. Hence I sailed among the isles of the _Archipelago_,
_Macronesia_, _Thermea_, _Serphanto_, _Siphanto_, till I came to _Melo_.
From _Melo_ I sailed through the _Cyclades_ to come hither. I pass’d by
_Andros_, _Tenos_, _Mycone_, _Delos_: _Nuxia_ and _Paros_ I saw at a
distance. We sailed near the northern cape of _Scio_, and the southern of
_Myteline_ or _Lesbos_, and so came into the gulph of _Smyrna_. Within
this gulph stands _Burlæ_, near some small islands, which is judged to
be the ancient, _Clazomenæ_: _Foja_, which is same with the ancient
_Phocæa_. Near this, the river _Hermus_ discharges itself into this gulph.
In this my journey, I had some misadventures. My companion, Sir _Giles
Eastcourt_, died by the way. At sea I was plunder’d by the _Serphiotes_,
where I lost all my letters, and yours among the rest, which you sent to
my Lord Embassador at _Constantinople_, and Consul _Rycaut_, whom I find
here a very civil and knowing gentleman, and am much obliged to him for
his favours.
I have been as curious as I could in taking the latitudes of some
remarkable places: As I find them, I shall give them you.
_Gr._ _M._
_Athens_ 38 5
_Corinth_ 38 14
_Sparta_ 37 10
_Corone_ 37 2
_Patras_ 38 40
_Delphos_ 38 50
_Thebes_ 38 22
_Negropont_ or _Chalcis_ 38 31
I desire you to present my humble services to the gentlemen of the _Royal
Society_.
_I am_, &c.
[Illustration]
_Some plants observed by Sir ~George Wheeler~, in his voyage to ~Greece~
and ~Asia minor~._
In the _Scoglio_, or island of St _Andre_, on the shore of _Istria_,
_Scorpioides Limonii foliis, floribus luteis_. _Limonium reticulatum._
_Sideritis spinosa._ _Draba cærulea Cretica._ _Convolvulus rectus
argenteis foliis._ _Polium Creticum, &c._
On the rocks near _Pota_ in _Istria_: _Cassia Poëtarum._ _Trifolium
Saxatile hirsutissimum._ _Genista montana arborescens._ _Tordilium sive
Seseli Creticum._ _Tragoriganum Creticum, vel potius Satureia hyberna
nostras._ _Polium Rorismarini foliis._ _Salvia fruticosa._ Abundance of
_Samphire_, and a curious bulbose plant, crested with little flowers
striped with white and cinnamon colour.
Near _Mortaro_, thirty miles from _Zara_: _Planta lactescens Altheæ
foliis_; it was not blown, (it might either be a _Tithymal_, an
_Apocinum_, or _Campanula major lactescens Lobel_.) _Eryngium luteum
monspeliense, &c._
On the great rock near _Clissa_: _Aster verbasci foliis._ _Jacea incana
seu argentea Alpin. in Exot._ _Lotus odoratus._ _Horminum creticum._
_Satureia citrii odore._ _Aster montanus folio odorato, forsan Aster
montanus luteus glabro Salicis folio ~Bauhin.~_ _Libanotis Ferulæ facie._
_Linum flore luteo._ _Hieracium flore incarnato._ _Thlaspi Saxatile folio
Poëtarum._ _Caucalis platyphylla ~Column.~_ _Caucalis magno flore &
fructu._ _Planta Equiseti frutescentis facie_, on the steeple and hard
walls, (perhaps a species of _Tithymal_) it was without leaves, but full
of joints, with abundance of yellow scaly knobs by pairs, between which
issue forth three or four little _Tetrapetalose_ flowers. Of this I saw
an _Arborescent_ one near _Troy_.
On the mountain near _Lesina_, in the island _Pharos_: _Aconitum
Lycoctinum flore Delphinii, vel Napelli Species._ _Aloë_ in flower.
_Asphodelus minor Junci folio, fistulosâ non bulbosâ radice._ _Malva
Romana rubra._ _Juneperus major seu oxycedrus._ _Genista Spartium
Septimo ~Bauhini~ simile_; the root is hot of a spicy taste.
_Pilosella major pilosissima, &c._
In the Island of _Corfu_: _Thymus capitatus Dioscoridis._ _Lysimachia
Hysopi folio._ _Scabiosa caule altissimo, flore nigrescente, fortè
peregrina ~Bauhin.~_ _Cyperus grumineus miliaceus._ _Scammonea._ _Acarna
flore patulo rubente._ _Centaurium major. album._ _Centaurium rubens
Spicatum._ _Centaurium ramosum rubens._ _Centaurium ramosum album._
_Vitex flore cæruleo & albo._ _Consolida regalis fœtida._ _Glicyrrhiza._
_Pulegii Species erecto caule, latifolia, incana, & hirsuta._ With many
others mention’d before.
In the island of _Zant_: The Curran Grape. White and yellow Melons.
A large thin-skinn’d Lemon without either seed or stone, as also the
Curran Grapes are. _Genista seu spartium foliis argenteis._ _Convolvulus
Sagittariæ foliis._ _Prunella spinosa._ _Coris Matthioli._ _Gossipium seu
Xylon._ _Glaux Dioscoridis._ _Cistus plantaginis folio._ _Cicer Creticum,
&c._
In the isle of _Cerigo_: _Dictamnus falsus._ _Chamædrys Alpina minima
hirsuta._ _Thymi capitati secunda species foliis minoribus densius
Stipatis._ _Salvia pomifera seu gallifera._ _Stæchas citrina._ That
species of Thyme is in Dr _Plukenet_’s _Phytographia_, _Tab. 116. F. 4._
In the isle of _Tenos_ or _Tine_: _Limonium caule sinuato._ _Frutex
Spinosus Jaceæ albæ capitulis._ _Stachys parva foliis argenteis._
_Genista spinosa floribus rubris._
Near the ruins of _Troy_: _Quercus glande majore._ _Gossipium._
_Sesamum._ _Anguria._ _Tragacantha._ _Tartonreira Massiliensium seu
Thymelæa incana Sericea, longifolia & latifolia._ _Pastinaca echinifera
~Colum.~_ _Jacea lutea capite spinoso._ _Papaver corniculatum flore
tricolore._ _Pancratium_ in flower. _Verbascum marinum laciniatis foliis._
Near _Constantinople_: _Abrotanum humile flore Chamæmeli._ _Serpilli
species foliis Satureiæ._ _Androsamum flore & thecâ omnium maximis._
_Guaiacum Patavinum._
On mount _Olympus_, near _Bursa_ or _Prusa_: _Abies conis sursum
spectantibus, foliis subtus argenteis._ _Cistus laurinis foliis._
_Aster montanus, Linariæ folio, flore flavo._ _Coris seu Hypericum
foliis crispis._ _Hypericum foliis hirsutis, margine crinifero._
_Aster Conyzoides ~Gesn.~_ _Astragalus Matthiol. flore cæruleo._ _Pyrola
frutescens Arbuti folio._ _Gentianella verna._ _Senecio incana pinguis._
_Cerinthe minor._ _Cistus argenteis foliis._ _Cymbalaria Italica._
_Calamintha montana præstantior._ _Elichryson sive Gnaphalium comâ
aureâ._ _Gramen junceum Echinatum._ _Millefolium nobile odoratum._
_Hypericum seu Ascyron magno flore._ _Panax Heracleum._ _Gnaphalium
repens._ _Herba Tuitia Auriculæ Affinis._ _Tragacantha._ _Helleborus
niger._ _Ephedra seu Polygonum Scandens bacciferum_; climbing
up to the tops of the vast Plane-trees, according to _Bellonius_.
In our Journey to _Mandragorai_ and _Courougouli_: _Scordium lanuginosum
sive Creticum._ _Alsine Lotoides seu Anthylloides, sive spergulæ facie
~C. B.~_ _Gingidum Hispanicum._ _Leucoium Alyssoides Clypeatum maj.
~C. B.~_ _Origanum Spicatum Montis Sipyli foliis glabris._
Near _Thyatira_: _Spartium alterum Monospermum, Pseudospartium Hispanicum
Aphyllon._ A _Thapsus minor longifolia_; or rather a _Sideritis_ or
_Stachis foliis Salviæ argenteis pilosis mollibus_; which is the
_Panacea_ of the country people. _Scabiosa argentea min._
About _Smyrna_: Two kinds of _Jujubes_ or _Ziziphus_. Turpentine-trees,
and Mastich-trees. _Smyrnion Creticum._ _Origanum perenne lignosum
odoratissimum._ Several sorts of Olive-trees. _Tamarisk_ and _Ricinus_,
or _Palma Christi_.
Near the gulph of _Lepanto_: _Tithymalus Spinosus._ The Fust or yellow
wood used to die with, call’d by the _Greeks_ _Chrisoxulo_. _Cedrus
Lyciæ._ _Arisarum angustifolium._ _Lamium moschatum foliorum margine
argentato._
About mount _Parnassus_, _Athens_, and other places of _Attica_ or
_Achaja_: _Stachys viscoso flore luteo, odore Narcissi juncifolii._
_Petromarula Cretica_ or _Rapunculus Pyramidalis altera_. _Sabina._
_Crocus Albus & Luteus._ _Poterion Plinii_, smaller than _Tragacanth_.
_Polium Gnapholoides._ _Ilex Chermifera._ _Acacia Secunda Matthioli._
_Anemones_ of all colours. Many _Asters_ and _Arisarums_. _Aristolochia
Clematitis._ Two _Asphodils_. _Brassica frutescens._ _Borago variegata
Cretica._ _Cneorum Matth. & Clusii, sive Thymelææ affinis facie externâ._
Several _Cisti_. _Jacea Moschata_, with other knapweeds. _Leontopetalum_
all over the plain of _Athens_. _Oleander._ _Scilla._ _Scorzonera
Cretica Asphodeli sistulosi facie_, _Galocorta Græcorum_, it is the
womens _Cosmetic_, and Milk-plant. _Siliqua Edulis_ or _Carob_. Two
_Thymelæa_’s, _argentea_ & _tomentosa_. _Tithymalus Spinosus._ _Equisetum
frutescens Aphyllon_ (perhaps a sort of _Tithymal_) _Lychnis frutescens_:
With many more, which we have either mention’d in other places, or else
were doubtful of, as a kind of small silver-leaved _Scabious_, and a
_Dandelion_ or _Hieracium_, with Pilewort or small Colts-foot-leaves,
with a root like so many Scorpions following one another. A sort of
_Medica lunatâ siliqua_, or _Loto affinis siliquis hirsutis circinatis_.
_Astragalus argenteus_ or _Syriacus_.
Near _Corinth_ and the _Isthmus_, _Pinus Maritima_ with small cones.
_Cedrus Lycia vel Sabina baccifera._ _Ceratia_ or _Siliqua Arbor_.
_Lentiscus._ _Olea Sylv._ _Scabiosa argentea petræa._ _Aristolochiæ
Clematitis species._ _Linaria latifolia valentina Clusii_, the flowers
beautiful with three colours. _Androsemum umbelliferum._ _Scorzonera
bulbosa._ _Arbutus folio non serrato_, _Comarea Dioscoridis Adrachne
Theophrasti_.
For these the reader may consult Mr _Ray_’s _Collection of Exotic
Catalogues_, especially the _Oriental_ one, where the synonymous names
are added.
[Illustration]
_Historical Observations relating to ~Constantinople~. By the reverend
and learned ~Tho. Smith~, D. D. Fellow of ~Magd. Coll. Oxon.~ and of the
~Royal Society~._
_Constantinople_, formerly _Byzantium_, was by _Constantine_ the Great
called so after his own Name[6], who being mightily pleased with the
beautiful and advantageous situation of the place between two seas,
and defended by narrow streights on both sides, removed the seat of
the Empire hither, and laid the foundation of it’s future splendor and
greatness. It was also by a special Edict or Law of the same Emperor[7],
which he caused to be engraven on a marble pillar, placed near his own
statue on horseback, in one of the piazza’s of his new-built city called
_Strategium_, where the Souldiers used to muster as in the _Campas
Martius_, called _Second_ or _New Rome_, in emulation of old _Rome_,
which he designed and endeavoured this should equal in all things.
Accordingly he endowed it with the same Privileges and Immunities, and
establish’d the same number of Magistrates, and Orders of People, and
divided the whole extent of it into fourteen Precincts or Regions[8],
according to the division of _Rome_. And the _Greek_ writers were as
elegant and extravagant in their commendations of it; but the usual
title in their ordinary discourses and writings, when they had occasion
to mention it without any flourish, was ἡ βασιλεύουσα, or ἡ βασιλὶς,
that is, the imperial city, to the same sense with that of _Sidonius
Apollinaris_[9].
_Salve scepturum columen, Regina orientis,_
_Orbis Roma tui._
The country about it was afterwards called _Romania_ in a limitted and
restrained sense, (for that _Romania_ was anciently the same with _Orbis
Romanus_, seems clear from _Epiphanius_[10]) and the people Ῥωμαῖοι. But
I suppose this was not done till about the middle times of the empire,
when it began to decline. The _Greeks_ still retain this name: For if
you ask any of the _Greeks_ born upon the continent of _Thrace_ what
countryman he is, he answers forthwith, Ῥωμαῖος, _Romios_, for so they
pronounce it. The _Turks_ in like manner called a _Greek_ Christian _Urum
Gaour_, or the _Roman Infidel_, as they will call sometimes the Emperor
of _Germany_, _Urumler Padisha_, or Emperor of the _Romans_. Hence it was
that the latter _Græcian_ Emperors stiled themselves βασιλεῖς Ῥωμαίων,
Kings of the _Romans_, that is, such as were born in _Romania_, and
the other countries, which made up the eastern division of the empire.
Though perchance by this flourishing title they pretended a right to the
government of the west; upon which vain presumption they assumed also
the title of Κοσμοκράτορες, or _Emperors of the World_, as if they had
been true successors of _Augustus_, and the western Emperors, usurpers;
whom they called by way of contempt and indignation, Ῥῆγες, _Reges_, as
_Luitprandus_[11] informs us in the account of his embassy to _Nicephorus
Phocas_, and afforded the people of _Italy_ no other title than that
of _Longobards_ or _Lombards_[12]. The present _Greeks_ call all the
western Christians Λατῖνοι, or Φράγγοι, _Latins_ or _Franks_, the
_Turks_ only making use of the latter, when they speak civilly of us, and
calling _Christendom_ _Phrenkistan_, in the present _Greek_ Φραγγία. The
_Turks_ now as proudly call _Constantinople_, _Alempena_, or the refuge
of the world; where indeed seems to be a medly of all or most nations
of three parts of it, and of all religions, which are allowed to be
publickly profest and exercised every where throughout the empire, except
the _Persian_. For they look upon it as a corruption of, and deviation
from the rules and doctrine of _Mahomet_, their great false Prophet,
and therefore absolutely forbid it, as repugnant to, and destructive of
the doctrine of life and salvation, as they speak. And accordingly they
condemn with all imaginable fury the professors of it, who pretend to
follow _Ali_, as sectaries and apostates, and entertain worse opinions of
them, than of _Christians_, or _Jews_, or _Infidels_. The _Persians_ are
not behindhand with them in their hatred and disrespect, deriding them as
gross and stupid, and looking upon them as little less than barbarous:
Interest and zeal for their several tenents heightening their differences
so much, that in time of war they destroy one anothers mosques. I
remember, that there was a great discourse in _Constantinople_ among
the _Turks_, concerning an impudent hot-headed _Persian_, who publickly
in the new mosque, built by the mother of the present Emperor, asserted
that _Ali_ was equal to _Mahomet_. But it seems he very luckily made his
escape out of their hands, at which the priests and the more zealous
_Turks_ were very much scandalized.
The _Greeks_ have twenty six churches within the walls of the city,
besides six in _Galata_, of which I have given an account elsewhere. They
have also two churches at _Scutari_, one at _Kadikui_ or _Chalcedon_. So
at _Staurosis_, _Chingilkui_, and several other villages upon the _Asian_
shore of the _Bosphorus_, as at _Beshictash_, _Ortakui_, _Chorouch
chesme_, which church is dedicated to St _Michael_ the Archangel,
_Jenikui_ or _Neochorion_, _Therapia_, _Bujukdere_, and other villages on
the _European_ side. They have also a church at _Haskui_, where is their
burying-place, and another near the _Bagno_, dedicated to St _Parasceve_.
And at _Tatoula_ about a mile from _Pera_, upon a hill, which from the
name of the church is thence called by the _Greeks_ and _Franks_, St
_Demetrius_’s _hill_. Next to the holy Virgin, St _Demetrius_ and St
_George_ have most churches dedicated to them.
The _Armenians_ have not, if I remember aright, above seven churches,
they being few in number in companion of the _Greeks_.
The _Jews_ may have in the city and places adjacent between twenty and
thirty synagogues, this being the greatest shelter of that accursed and
contemptible people in the Grand Signior’s dominions, next to _Caire_
and _Saloniki_; and I believe there may be about twenty or thirty
thousand families of them. They are of great use and service to the
_Turks_, upon _account_ of their brokage and merchandise, and industry in
several mechanical trades. All these I look upon as natives, or slaves
rather, each paying money for his head every year. The _Jews_ indeed
very wisely collect this tax among themselves, and according to an
agreement made with the _Tefterdar_ or Treasurer, pay a certain sum in
gross for their whole nation residing there; by which piece of cunning
they are great gainers, and spare the poor among them less able to pay,
by a contribution of the rich to make up the sum. The _English_ and
_Dutch_ Embassadors have their chapels in their palaces common to their
respective nations.
The churches and chapels of the western _Christians_ of the _Roman_
communion in _Galata_, are,
St _Peter_’s, belonging to the _Dominicans_, where is the famous piece
of _Madonna di Constantinopoli_, as the _Italians_ call it, or of the
Blessed Virgin holding the holy child _Jesus_ in her arms; which they
pretend to be drawn by the hand of St _Luke_, celebrated by some of
the later ecclesiastical writers to have been a famous Painter. Out of
respect to this idle tradition, the credulous and superstitious _Latins_
and _Greeks_ of the _Roman_ communion shew great veneration to it, which
otherwise hath little in it of proportion, art, or beauty to derive any
reputation upon the designer, or upon his work.
St _Francis_, belonging to the _Conventuali_, Friers of the order of
St _Francis_: The ground of this by the wise conduct and intercession
of _Cavaliere Molino_, the _Venetian Bailo_, after the surrendry of
_Candia_, upon the peace made by the Republic with the Grand Signior,
was procured to be restored, and a handsome church rebuilt, with the
large contributions of money sent out of _Christendom_.
St _Benedict_, belonging to the _Jesuits_, where is a rich altar
curiously adorn’d with several figures in _Mosaic_. This convent was
purchased for them by their great benefactor, _Henry_ the fourth of
_France_.
St _Mary_, belonging to the _Observantines_ or _Zoccolanti_, a branch of
the order of St _Francis_, so called from their going in _Zoccoli_ or
wooden clogs.
The _Capucines_ have a little chapel dedicated to St _George_, hard by
the _French_ Embassador’s palace.
St _Ann_, a chapel frequented by the _Petrots_.
St _Paul_ and St _Anthony_ were both taken away some years since from
the Christians, and turned into mosques. The former of which is now
known by the name of _Arab Giamesi_, or the mosque of the _Arabians_.
Our interpreters mentioned also to me the church of St _John_, which the
_Turks_ have seized upon for their use, St _George_, which the Jews are
possessed of, and St _Sebastian_, which was used to be visited chiefly on
holy-days.
The north wind blows for the most part at _Constantinople_, which must
be ascribed to it’s nearness to the _Euxine_ sea, which bears that point
from it. So that for want of a southwardly wind, ships have been forced
to lie a month or two sometimes near the mouth of the _Hellespont_; this
was taken notice of long since by _Eunapias_, in the life of _Ædesius_
who ascribes the seldom blowing of the south wind to the situation of the
mountains, whereas it is checked and overpowered by the exuberence of the
vapours continually sent forth from the _Black_ and _Great Sea_, as the
_Greeks_ call it in comparison of the _Mediterranean_. _Vide ad finem
Codini de Origin. Constantinopol. Edit. ~Paris.~ pag. 80._
The _Hellespont_ is about forty miles in length, and at the castles of
_Sestos_ and _Abydos_ the streight may be about three quarters of an
_English_ mile over, or less.
The length of the _Propontis_ is about a hundred and fifty miles, both
shores may be seen in the middle of it. In it are
_Cyzicus_ an island near the _Asian_ shore, to which it is joined by two
bridges. It still retains it’s ancient name Κυξικὸ, and is the seat of a
Bishop, being inhabited by a considerable number of _Greeks_.
_Proconnesus_, not far from the former; now, as for some centuries past,
called _Marmora_, from the excellent quarries of marble there found, the
_marmor Cyzenicum_ also being famous in the time of _Pliny_.
_Besbycus_, now called by the _Greeks_ καλόλιμνο, or the good
haven, not far from the entrance into the bay of _Montanea_ to the
north-and-by-east; the _Turks_ call it _Imramle_.
There are several islands over against the bay of _Nicomedia_; formerly
called _Sinus Astacenus_, according to _Strabo_, about six or seven
leagues from _Constantinople_[13].
_Prote_, so called because they approach first to it, coming from
_Constantinople_, to the south of this _Prencipe_ and _Pytis_, which
I take to be the same with _Pyrgos_, that lies inmost toward the bay:
_Chalcitis_, in modern _Greek_, _Chalce_ or _Chalcis_. _Oxia_ and _Platy_
to the north-west. I have expressed the _Turkish_ names of the lesser and
uninhabited islands elsewhere, which perchance were fantastically imposed
by some _Franks_.
The _Seraglio_ is at the extream point of the north-east angle of
_Constantinople_, where formerly stood old _Byzantium_, within which,
towards the haven is a stately _Kiosk_, or Summer-house, from whence the
Grand Signior usually takes barge, when he passes into _Asia_, or diverts
himself upon the _Bosphorus_, at which time the _Bostangibashi_, who hath
the principal care of the Emperor’s palace, and hath the command of the
_Bosphorus_, sits at the helm and steers.
The seven towers are at the south-east extremity.
The only suburbs are to the north-west, along the haven-side; for above
the hill, where the three walls begin, lies an open champaign country,
except that here and there at considerable distances farm-houses are
Scattered.
The haven runs in from the west, and so opens east.
At the east end of _Galata_ is _Tophana_, where they cast their great
guns.
_Pera_ and _Galata_ have about six gates to the seaward. The whole tract
of ground was anciently, before the times of the Emperor _Valentinian_,
who enclosed and fortified _Galata_ with walls and towers, stiled
Περαῖα πέραν τῆς πόλεως, on the other side of the city to the north;
which is the reason of it’s name, seated on higher hills, and whose
ascent is more steep and difficult.
Our modern _Geographers_, such as _Mercator_ and _Ortelius_, who
herein follow _Ptolemy_, place _Constantinople_ in the latitude of 43
degrees and 5 minutes: the _Arabian_ and _Persian_ Astronomers, as
_Abulfeda_, _Nassir Eddin_, _Vlugh Beigh_, and so the πρόχειροι κανόνες
of _Chrysococcas_, translated out of the _Persian_ tables, place it more
northerly in 45°. But by later and better observation it is found, that
they have erred in assigning the latitude of this city, as of several
other places. To salve these differences, there is no just ground of
pretence to say, that the _Poles_ are moveable, and have changed their
situation since their time; whereas it may be better imputed to their
want of due care, or to their taking things upon trust, from the reports
of _Travellers_ and _Seamen_, not having been upon the places themselves;
which certainly is to be said for _Ptolemy_, whose Observations, as
to places more remote from _Alexandria_, are far from being accurate
and true. The learned Mr _John Greaves_, as I find in a manuscript
discourse, very worthy of being printed which he presented to the most
reverend and renowned archbishop _Usher_, took the height of the Pole
at _Constantinople_, with a brass sextant of above 4 feet _radius_,
and found it to be but 41°:6′; but by the observation we made in our
court-yard at _Pera_ with a good quadrant, we found but 40°:58′ of north
latitude.
There is no place between the _Propontis_ and the walls of the city,
except just at the _Seraglio_ point, which may be two hundred paces in
length, where they have raised on a platform a battery for great guns;
but from the point to the end of the haven west, the space to the gates
is unequal in some places about twenty paces broad, in others three or
four times as many more.
The distance between _Constantinople_ and _Chalcedon_, upon the opposite
_Bithynian_ shore, may be about three or four miles.
In the walls are engraven the names of several Emperors, who reigned
toward the declension of the _Græcian_ empire, as _Theophilus_,
_Michael_, _Basilius Constantinus_, _Porphyrogenitus_, by whose care, and
at whose expence the several breaches caused in them, by the sea, or by
earth-quakes, were repaired.
_Kumkapi_, or the sand-gate, lies toward the _Propontis_; this the
_Greeks_ call in their vulgar language Κονδοσκάλι, _Contoscalium_, or the
little scale or landing-place. Here formerly was an Arsenal for gallies
and other small vessels it being a convenient passage over sea. Over this
gate was anciently engraven a curious inscription, still preserved in
that excellent collection publish’d by _Gruterus_[14].
_Jedicula Kapi_, or the Gate of the seven towers, so called from it’s
nearness to that _Acropolis_, is that, I guess, which the _Greeks_
formerly called Χρυσῆ or the golden gate, and by some late _Latin_
writers _Chrysea_, in _Luitprandus_, _Carea_, by a mistake either of the
Transcriber or Printer, for _Aurea_, for so certainly it must be mended.
Over this gate was this Inscription;
_Hæc loca Theodosius decorat post fata Tyranni,_
_Aurea secla gerit, qui portam construit auro._
cited by _Sirmond_, in his notes upon _Sidonius_[15]. This gate is in the
twelfth region, and was also called ὡραῖα from it’s beautiful and curious
structure.
The gun-gate, formerly called _Roman-gate_, not because it leads towards
the continent of _Romania_ or _Thrace_, but from St _Romanus_[16] where
the last Christian Emperor was killed at the assault which the _Turks_
made to force their way into the city by it.
Near _Adrianople_-gate is a fair large mosque called _Alibassa_, upon a
hill accounted the highest in the city.
The distance between tower and tower in the upper wall to the landward,
may be about ninety of my paces; the space between that and the second
wall about eighteen paces over.
The place, where the Lyons, Leopards, and such like wild creatures are
kept, (where I saw also several Jackals) was formerly, as the _Greeks_
told me, a Christian church dedicated to Παναγία, or the Blessed Virgin,
where this verse is still legible:
Κατὰ Σκυθῶν ἔπνευσας θερμὸν ἐν μάχαις.
There is no tide or running back of the water on any side of the
_Bosphorus_, into the _Black_ sea, as[17] some have imagined, whose
mistake might possibly arise hence, that the wind being at north, and
blowing hard, the current sets more violently at such times against the
several headlands, jetting out into the channel, which admits of several
turnings, and so the waters are forced back to some little distance: or
else because when the south-wind freshens and grows boisterous, it makes
a high rolling sea in the _Propontis_ and _Bosphorus_, and being contrary
to the current, gives a check to it, so that it becomes less sensible,
and is easily stemmed. Where it is narrowed, the distance seems to the
eye to be scarce a mile over from one shore to another; where broadest,
not much above a mile and a half, unless where it runs into the deep
bays, which by reason of their shallowness only harbour boats.
The channel certainly is natural, and not cut by art, as some have idly
fancied, not considering how the _Euxine_ sea should discharge itself
otherwise of those great quantities of waters, poured into it by the
_Ister_ and _Tanais_, now called _Don_, and the other rivers, whereby it
becomes less salt, even very sensibly to the taste, than several parts of
the _Mediterranean_.
The fish, by a strange kind of instinct, pass in vast shoals twice a
year, autumn and spring, through the _Bosphorus_, that is, out of one sea
into another; of which the _Greeks_, who live several months of the year
upon them, take great numbers, and supply the markets at easie rates;
the cormorants and other ravenous water-fowl, which the _Turks_ will not
suffer to be destroy’d, or otherwise molested, preying also upon them.
The weather in some months is very inconstant, great heats and colds
happenning the same day upon the change of the wind.
The winters at _Constantinople_ are sometimes extraordinary severe. I
have heard it related by several old _Greeks_, as a thing most certain,
that the _Bosphorus_ was frozen over in the time of _Achmed_, and that a
Hare was coursed over it. It happened thus; that upon a thaw, huge cakes
of ice came floating down the _Danube_ into the _Black Sea_, and were
driven by the current into the _Bosphorus_, where, upon the return of
the frost, they were fixed so hard, that it became passable. In the year
1669, there was ice in the haven, to the great amazement of the _Turks_;
and some were so frighted at this unusual accident, that they look’d
upon it as a dismal prodigy, and concluded that the world would be at an
end that year. The _Aguglia_, or Obelisk, in the _Hypodrome_, is betwixt
fifty and sixty foot high.
The historical pillars in _basso relievo_, raised in honour of the
Emperors _Arcadius_ and _Honorius_, may be in height about an hundred and
forty seven feet.
_Alexus Comnenus_, lies buried in the patriarchal church against the
wall, and his daughter _Anna Comnena_, the historian, who lived about
the year of _Christ_ 1117. They pretend to shew there, the relics of St
_Anastasia_, who suffered martyrdom under the Emperor _Valerianus_, and
of St _Euphemia_, virgin and martyr, who lost her life most gloriously
for Christ’s holy religion at _Chalcedon_ under _Dioclesian_.
In _Sancta Sophia_, there are pillars so great, that a man can scarce
fathom them at twice. At the end of the gallery that joins the other
two, each about thirty of my paces wide, there is a piece of transparent
marble, two or three inches thick. In the north gallery, upon the
pavement, is a reddish sort of a marble stone, brought, as the _Turks_
and Christians relate, from _Palestine_, on which they fable, that the
Blessed Virgin used to wash the linnen of our Saviour.
I observed but one step from the body of the church to the _Bema_, or
place where the altar formerly stood.
The great mosque at _Chasim-bassa_ on _Pera_ side to the west, was
formerly a church dedicated to St _Theodosia_.
_Gianghir_, a mosque so called upon a hill at _Fondaclee_ near _Tophana_.
In _Constantinople_ there are several narrow streets of trade, closed
up with sheds and penthouses, which I suppose were in use before the
_Greeks_ lost their empire, and are the same with the σκεπαστοὶ καὶ
φρακτοὶ δρόμοι, in _Chrysalaloras_’s Epistle, p. 119. But besides these
places, several trades have their distant quarters. The streets are
raised for the most part on each side for the greater convenience.
Not far from _Suleimania_, is the house of the _Aga_, or General of the
_Janizaries_, which so often changes it’s masters.
_Pompey_’s pillar, as the _Franks_ erroneously call it, is of the
_Corinthian_ order, curiously wrought, about eighteen foot in height, and
three in diameter.
_Beshiktash_, a village within three or four miles of _Constantinople_,
towards the _Bosphorus_, where lies buried the famous pirate _Ariadin_,
whom the Christian writers call _Barbarossa_, who built here a handsome
mosque, having two rows of pillars at the entrance. The captain Bashaw
usually, before he puts to sea with his _Armada_ of gallies, visits the
tomb of this fortunate robber, who had made several thousand Christians
slaves, and makes his prayers at the neighbouring church for the good
success of his expedition.
They reckon in the city above a hundred public baths, every street almost
affording one. They are esteemed works of great piety and charity, there
being a continual use of them, not only upon the account of religion, but
of health and cleanliness: For their diet being for the most part hot
spiced meats in the winter, and crude fruits in the summer; their liquor
fountain water or coffee, to which we may add their lazy kind of life
(for walking is never used by them for digestion, or otherwise in the way
of diversion) frequent bathing becomes necessary.
There are several receptacles of water under ground, and one particularly
under the church of _Sancta Sophia_, as I was informed; but I did not
think it worth my curiosity to descend into it. These were of great use
to the poor _Greeks_ in the last fatal siege; but the _Turks_ are so
secure, that they do not think that they deserve either cost or pains to
keep the waters sweet, or the cisterns in repair.
The aqueducts, which answer to those glorious aqueducts near _Pyrgos_,
and convey the water to the great cistern near Sultan _Selim_’s mosque,
are in that part of _Constantinople_ which lies between the mosque of
_Mahomet_ the Great and _Shazade_.
The _Turks_ began to besiege _Constantinople_ on the fifth of _April_,
and took it the twenty-ninth of _May_, on _Whitsun_-tuesday morning,
1453, or as the _Turks_ reckon in the year 857, of the _Hegira_, or
flight of _Mahomet_, the twenty-second day of the first _Jomad_.
The chapel where _Ejub Sultan_ is interred, at whose head and feet I
observed great wax candles, is inclosed with latten wire grates, for
the better accommodation of such religious _Turks_, as come to pay
their respect to the memory of this great Musulman Saint. In the middle
of the area, there is raised a building sustained by excellent marble
pillars, ascended by two several pair of stairs, where the new Emperor is
inaugurated, and where he usually goes in _Biram_ time.
[Illustration]
_An account of the city of ~Prusa~ in ~Bythinia~, and a continuation of
the historical observations relating to ~Constantinople~; by the reverend
and learned ~Tho. Smith~, D. D. fellow of ~Magd. Coll. Oxon.~ and of the
~Royal Society~._
_Montanea_, formerly called _Nicopolis_, according to _Bellonius_, or
rather _Cios_, the bay hence called _Sinus Cianus_, lies in the bottom of
a bay about fourscore miles from _Constantinople_, and is the scale or
landing place for _Prusa_, from which it may be about twelve miles; in
the middle way to which, is the village _Moussanpoula_.
_Prusa_, now call’d by the _Turks_ _Bursia_, the chief city of _Bythinia_,
is seated at the foot partly, and partly upon the rising of the mount
_Olympus_, which is one of the highest hills of the lesser _Asia_. It’s
top is covered with snow for nine or ten months of the year, several
streams of water flowing down the hill continually, accounted very
unwholsome from the snow mixed with it. In the upper part of the city
to the north-west, lies the Seraglio, which is walled round; but the
Emperors not residing here since their acquists in _Thrace_, or scarce
making visits to this imperial city, and none of their sons living here
of late, according to the former policy of the _Turkish_ Emperors, who
did not permit their sons, when grown up, to be near them, but sent them
to some honourable employment, accompanied with a Bashaw or Cadi, to
instruct them in the arts of war and government; it lies now neglected
and despoiled of all it’s ornaments.
In this part also are the sepulchres of _Osman_, the founder of the
family which now reigns, and his son _Urchan_, who took the city, near
a mosque, formerly a Christian church dedicated to St _John_, and where
was formerly a convent of religious, built by _Constantinus Iconomachus_,
where I saw the figure of a cross still remaining upon the wall. Here
hangs up a great drum of a vast bigness, such as they carry upon the
backs of camels, and I suppose is one of those which they used in the
taking of the place.
In the lower part, near the bottom of the hill, _Norad_ II. the father
of _Mahomet_ the Great, lies buried; near whereunto was formerly
the metropolitical church of the holy Apostles. The _Bezesten_, or
exchange, seems to be much better and larger than the great one at
_Constantinople_, as are the several _Caravanserais_ built for the use
and accommodation of Merchants and travellers; in one of which, the
Rice-chane, I took up my quarters.
Without the city, toward the east, is the mosque and sepulchre of the
Emperor _Bajazid_ I. whom the _Turks_ call _Jilderim_, or lightening,
and the _Greek_ writers λαίλαψ. Not far from hence, is the mosque of
_Mahomet_ I. and his sepulchre. Toward the west, upon the side of
the hill, is the mosque of _Morad_ I. whom they call _Gazi_, or the
Conqueror, near which he lies buried. There are in the whole about 124
mosques, several of which were formerly Christian churches, and between
fifty and sixty chanes. The castles built by _Osman_, when he besieged
the city, are slighted and altogether unfortified, the one to the north,
the other to the south-west.
At _Checkerghe_, about a mile and a half out of town, are the hot baths,
much frequented both by Christians and _Turks_. They are made very
convenient to bathe in, and are covered over, that they may be used in
all weathers. Among others, there is a large round bason, where they
usually divert themselves by swimming.
What opinions the _Turks_ have of our Blessed Saviour, and the Christian
religion, I shall briefly shew, as they lie dispersed in several chapters
of the _Koran_, according to which they frame their discourse whensoever
either zeal or curiosity puts them upon this topic; for _Mahomet_,
upon his setting up to be the author of a new religion, finding such a
considerable part of the world professing the doctrine of Christ, with
all the mysteries of faith therein contained, was cast upon a necessity
of saying something both concerning him and it. By which it will appear
how great the power of truth is above imposture and subtility, and that
as the devils in the possessed confessed, though against their wills,
Christ to be the son of God, so this _Dæmoniac_, in the midst of all his
forgeries and lyes, and ridiculous and childish narratives, not being
able to contradict the universal belief of the Christians of that, and
the preceeding ages, founded on the history of the Gospel, hath been
forced to give testimony to several particulars of it.
They confess then, that Christ was born of a pure spotless Virgin, the
Virgin _Mary_, chosen by God, and sanctified above all the women in the
world; and that the angel _Gabriel_ was dispatched out of heaven, to
acquaint her with the news of it. That such a kind of miraculous and
supernatural birth never happened to any besides, and that Christ was
conceived by the Holy Ghost, and that he wrought mighty miracles, for
instance, that he cleansed lepers, gave sight to the blind, restored sick
persons to their health, and raised the dead.
That he is a great Prophet, sent by God to convert men from the vanity
and error of their false worship to the knowledge of the true God, to
preach righteousness, and to correct and restore the imperfection and
miscarriages of human nature; that he was of a most holy and examplary
life; that he was the true Word of God, the Apostle, or Embassador of
God; that his Gospel was revealed to him from heaven, and that he is in
heaven standing nigh to the throne of God. They blaspheme indeed with a
bruitishness and stupidity only befitting _Turks_, the mysteries of the
Holy Trinity, and of the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour, and deny that
he was put to death, and say, that another in his shape was crucified
by the _Jews_, and that he himself was assumed into heaven in his body
without dying at all, and consequently they will not own, that he
satisfied Divine Justice for the sins of the world; so great an affinity
is there between the heresy of _Socinus_ and professed _Mahometism_.
I could never yet see any _Turkish_ translation of the _Koran_: they cry
up the elegance of the stile, which being enthusiastic and high flown,
by reason also of the tinkling of the periods, is very delightful to
their ears, who seem to be affected with rhime mightily. Though I suppose
it is upon a more politic account, that they are so averse, as to the
translating it into their vulgar language, not out of respect to the
sacredness of the original only, whose full commanding expressions they
think cannot be translated without a great diminution to the sense; but
to keep it in greater veneration among the people, who might be apt to
slight and dis-esteem it, should it become thus common among them. It is
enough that the Priests and learned men explain the difficult passages
of it to the people, and write commentaries for the use of the more
curious and inquisitive. The _Persians_ on the contrary, think it no
disparagement to the _Arabic_, or profanation of the sense, to translate
this cursed book into their own language, and copies are frequent among
them.
The Grand Signior’s women are usually the choicest beauties of the
Christian spoils, presented by the Bashaws or _Tartars_. The present
_Sultana_, the mother of the young Prince _Mustapha_, is a _Caddiot_,
the _Valide_, or the Emperor’s mother, a _Russian_, the daughter of a
poor Priest, who with her relations were seized upon by the _Tartars_,
in an incursion which they made into the _Muscovites_ country. She being
received into the Seraglio by her beautiful complexion and cunning
behaviour, gain’d the heart and the affection of Sultan _Ibrahim_, (a
man wholly addicted to soft pleasures, and who seldom cared to be long
absent from the womens apartment, but chose to spend his time among
them.) Having the good fortune to be the mother of the Prince _Mahomet_,
the eldest son of his father, who now reigns, she had all the honours
that could possibly be done her, and was the beloved _Hazaki_, or chief
concubine. During this height of splendour and glory, the court removing
from _Constantinople_ to _Adrianople_, distant about an hundred and
twenty miles, as she was passing in great state, attended with her guards
through the streets of the city, in a coach much like our carriage
waggons, but that they are letticed to let in the air, for no one must
presume to stare or scarce look upon the women, much less must they
themselves suffer their faces to be seen in this jealous country, she
out of curiosity looking through the holes, saw a poor Christian slave
in a shop where sugar and such like wares were sold. Upon her return
she sent one of her Eunuchs to enquire for the person, and to ask him
several questions about his country, relations, friends, and the time
when and how long he had been a slave; his answers were so particular and
satisfactory, that she was soon convinced of the truth and certainty of
her apprehensions, when she first cast her eyes upon him, that he was her
brother, and accordingly it proved so. Whereupon acquainting the Emperor
with it, she immediately redeem’d him from his patron, and having made
the poor wretch turn _Turk_, got him considerably preferr’d.
The Bashaws for the most part are the sons of Christians, taken into the
Seraglio, near the Emperor’s person, and so are preferr’d to considerable
governments, or else they raise themselves by their conduct and valour.
_Mahomet_ Bashaw, in the time of _Achmet_, whose eldest daughter he
marry’d, was the first natural _Turk_ that was made chief Vizier, having
before been Captain Bashaw. The chief Vizier _Mahomet Cupriuli_ (who
settled the empire in the minority of this Emperor, when it was ready to
be shaken into pieces, and dissolved by several powerful factions in the
state, and by the mutinies and discontents of Janizaries and Spahis, who
drove different ways) was an _Albanese_ by birth, the son of a _Greek_
Priest, whom out of the height of his zeal for _Mahomet_, he made turn
_Turk_ in his old age, and converted the Christian church in the village
where he was born into a mosque. This man also forbad the Dervises to
dance in a ring and turn round, which before was their solemn practice
at set times before the people, which they would do so long, till they
were giddy by this swift circular motion, and fell down in a swoon, and
then oftentimes upon their recovery from such trances, they pretended
to revelation. The church-men are not very kind to his memory, looking
upon him as a man of little or no religion; and they give out that if he
had lived, he would have forbid their calling to prayers from the spires
of their Mosques, and hanging out lamps; both which they look upon as
solemn and essential to the exercise of religion; but he as the effect of
bigottry and superstition.
They have a mighty honour and esteem for Physicians, for tho’ they are
of opinion, that they cannot with all their art prolong life, the period
and term of it being fatal, and absolutely determin’d by God, yet they
often consult them upon any violent sickness or pain, in order to make
the time allotted them in this world more pleasant and easy. It is
extraordinary rare, that a natural _Turk_ makes Physic his profession
and study. They who practise it among them, when I was in _Turkey_, were
for the most part _Greeks_ and _Jews_, who know nothing of chymical
medicines, but follow the usual methods, which they learn’d in _Italy_
and _Spain_, the former having study’d in _Padua_, and the latter in
_Salamanca_, where they pass’d for good Catholics. And I remember I met
with a certain Jew Physician, who had been a Capucine in _Portugal_.
During the tedious siege of _Candia_, the Vizier, what with melancholy,
and what with the ill air of the camp, finding himself much indisposed,
sent for a Christian Physician, Signior _Massalini_, a subject of the
Republic of _Venice_, but marry’d to a _Greek_ woman, by whom he had
several children, who was our neighbour at _Pera_, an experienced able
man, to come speedily to him, and made him a present of about a thousand
dollars, in order to fit himself for the voyage, and bear the expence
of it. By this worthy gentleman’s care he recover’d his health, and
would not permit him to depart till after the surrender of that city,
which might be about seven months after his arrival there, treating
him in the mean while with all imaginable respect. During our short
stay at _Bursia_, one of our Janizaries accidentally discoursing with a
_Turk_ about us, whom they knew to be _Franks_, told him that there was
a Physician in the company, who had been lately at the Grand Signior’s
court at _Salonichi_ with the _English_ Embassador, and was now upon his
return from _Constantinople_ to _Smyrna_, where he lived. This presently
took vent, and the _Turks_ thought that they had got a man among them
that could cure all diseases infallibly; for several immediately came
to find us out in behalf of themselves or their sick friends, and one
of the most considerable men upon the place, desired the Doctor to go
to his house to visit one of his women sick in bed, who being permitted
to feel her naked pulse (for usually they throw a piece of fine silk or
curle over their womens wrists at such times) soon discover’d by that
and other symptoms and indications of her distemper, that opening a vein
would presently give her ease, and recover her; which he did accordingly;
for which he received an embroidered handkerchief instead of a fee, and
gained the reputation of having done a mighty cure.
They have little of ingenious or solid learning among them; their
chief study next to the _Koran_, being metaphysical niceties about the
Attributes of God, or else the maintenance of other odd speculative
notions and tenents, derived down to them from some of their famed
masters and holy men, whom they pretend to follow. Their knowledge of the
motion of the heavens, for which the _Arabians_ and the other eastern
nations have been so deservedly famous, as their Astronomical Tables of
the Longitude and Latitude of the fixed stars, and of the appulse of the
Moon to them, fully evince, is now very mean, and is chiefly studied for
the use of Judiciary Astrology. The great instrument they make use of is
an Astrolabe, with which they make very imperfect observations, having
no such thing as a Quadrant or Sextant, much less a Telescope, or any
mechanical engine, to direct and assist them in their calculation. Their
skill in Geography is as inconsiderable; I remember I heard the Captain
Bashaw, whom they stile Admiral of the Black and White Seas, meaning
the _Euxine_ and the _Mediterranean_, ask this silly question, Whether
_England_ were out of the Streights? and another time the _Caymacan_,
or Governor of _Constantinople_, hearing that _England_ was an island,
desired to know how many miles it was about, in order, we supposed, to
make an estimate of our King’s greatness and strength, by the extent and
compass of it.
One of the great Astrologers of _Constantinople_, having heard that I had
a pair of globes in my chamber, made me a visit on purpose to see their
contrivance, being introduced by a worthy gentlemen of our own nation.
After the first ceremonies were over, I took my terrestrial globe, and
rectify’d it to the position of the place, and pointed to the several
circles both without and upon it, and told him in short the several uses
of them; then shewed him how _Constantinople_, beared from _Candia_, at
that time besieged, _Cair_, _Aleppo_, _Mecca_, and other chief places of
the empire, with the other parts of the world; at which he was mightily
surprized to see the whole earth and sea represented in that figure, and
in so narrow, a compass, and pleased himself with turning the globe round
several times together. Afterwards I set before him the celestial globe,
and rectify’d that, and shew’d him how all the noted constellations were
exactly described, and how they moved regularly upon their poles, as
in the heavens; some rising, and others setting, some always above the
horizon, and others always under, in an oblique sphere, and particularly
what stars would rise that night with us at such an hour; the man seem’d
to be ravish’d with the curiosity of it, turning this globe also several
times together with his finger, and taking a pleasure in viewing the
motion of it; and yet this silly animal pass’d for a conjurer among the
_Turks_, and was look’d upon as one that could foretel the events of
battels, the fates of empires, and the end of the world.
They have no genious for sea-voyages, and consequently are very raw and
unexperienced in the art of navigation, scarce venturing to sail out
of sight of land. I speak of the natural _Turks_, who trade either in
the Black Sea or some part of the _Morea_, or between _Constantinople_
and _Alexandria_; and not of the pyrates of _Barbary_, who are for the
most part renagado’s, and learnt their skill in Christendom, which they
exercise so much to the terrour and damage of it. A _Turkish_ compass
consists but of eight points, the four cardinal and four collateral; they
being at a mighty loss how to sail by a side-wind; when by hauling their
sails sharp they might lie their course, and much more, when they are in
the winds eye, not knowing how to make tacks and boards, but chuse rather
to make haste into some neighbouring port, till the wind blows fair. An
_English_ and _Turkish_ vessel, both bound for the bay of _Salonichi_, at
the time of the Grand Signior’s being there, pass’d together out of the
_Hellespont_, but foul weather happening, the _Turk_ got into _Lemnos_;
while our men kept at sea, and pursued their voyage, and after three
weeks stay returned back to us, observing in their way, that the _Turks_
remained in the same place where they left them, for want of a fore-wind
to put to sea in.
They trouble not themselves with reading the histories of other nations
or of ancient times, much less with the study of chronology, without
which history is very lame and imperfect; which is the cause of those
ridiculous and childish mistakes, which pass current and uncontradicted
among them. For instance, they make _Job_ one of _Solomon_’s Judges,
and (_Iscander_) _Alexander the Great_, Captain General of his army.
They number _Philip_ of _Macedon_ among the ancestors of our Blessed
Saviour, and believe that _Sampson_, _Jonas_, and St _George_ were
his contemporaries. In this they are more excuseable than their false
Prophet _Mahomet_, who in his _Koran_ has perverted several historical
notices in the writings of the Old Testament, and is guilty of vile and
absurd _Pseudo-chronisms_. To remedy this defect, of which he was very
conscious, and the better to understand the state of Christendom, and
the particular kingdoms and republics of it, the late great and wise
Vizier _Achmet_, made his interpreter _Panagiotti_, a learned _Greek_,
at leisure hours, even at the siege of _Candia_, as well as at other
times, read several ancient histories to him, and render them _extempore_
into the _Turkish_ language, and particularly _Blaeus Atlas_, with which
he was mightily pleased, and made great use of, and truly gained the
reputation of a solid and judicious Statesman, as well as Soldier among
the Christian ministers, who in the ordinary course of their negotiations
apply’d themselves to him.
Tho’ their year be according to the course of the moon, and so the
_Turkish_ months run round the civil year in a circle of thirty three
years and a few odd days, yet they celebrate the _Neuruz_, which
signifies in the _Persian_ tongue, the New-year, the twenty first day of
_March_, (on which day the Veneral Equinox was fixed by the _Greeks_ and
other _Oriental_ Christians, in the time of the Emperor _Constantine_,
who made no provision for the προήγησις ἰσημερινὴ, or procession, which
in process of time the inequality between the civil and astronomical
year must necessarily produce) at which time the Cadi’s and other annual
magistrates, and farmers of the customs take place, and reckon to that
day twelve month again.
In their civil deportment and behaviour one towards another, the left
hand is the more worthy and honourable place, except among their
Ecclesiastics; and the reason they allege is, because they write from the
right hand, and the sword is worn on the left side, and so is more at his
disposal, who walks on that hand. The chief Vizier accordingly in the
Divan sits at the left hand of the Mufti, each maintaining their right of
precedence, according to this way of decision.
In their Mosques they sit without any distinction of degrees.
Some of the more zealous _Turks_ cause to be engraven on their scymeters
and bucklers a sentence out of the sixty first _Surat_, which is
concerning fighting or battle-arrey, and contains encouragements to fight
in the way and path of God, as the Impostor’s words are; for which he
assures them, besides assistance from heaven, to help them to get the
victory over their enemies, and that God will pardon their sins, and
bring them to Paradise. Thus spirited with zeal, a _Turk_ lays about him
with fury, when he is a fighting, and seems ambitious of dying to gain
the delights of Paradise, at least indifferent whether he dies or lives.
The _Turks_ are, as to their temper serious, or rather enclining to
morosity, seldom laughing, which is accounted an argument of great vanity
and lightness. They perform the exercises which they use in the way of
diversion, as shooting and hunting, with a great deal of gravity, as
if they designed them more for health than for pleasure; and this too
but seldom. The better and richer sort who have nothing to do, sitting
all day at home, lolling upon a Sofa, or raised place in their rooms,
and taking tobacco, which their slaves fill and light for them; and if
they retire in the Summer or Autumn for a week or fortnight, to some
convenient fountain in a wood, with their women, it is chiefly to enjoy
the refreshments of the cool air. In the times of triumph indeed for some
great success obtained against the Christians, when the shops are open
for three nights together, and hung with lights, as well as the spires
of the Mosques in curious figures, they are guilty of extravagant mirth,
running up and down the streets in companies, and sometimes singing
and dancing after their rude way; but this fit being over, they soon
return to their former melancholy. In the coffee-houses where they use
to resort to tipple, there is usually one hired by the owners to read
either an idle book of tales, which they admire as wit, or filthy obscene
stories, with which they seem wonderfully affected and pleased, few of
them being able to read. These are the schools which they frequent for
their information, tho’ in times of war when things went ill with them,
their discourses would be of the ill government; and the Grand Signior
himself, and his chief ministers, could not escape their censures,
which manifestly tending to sedition, and to the heightning of their
discontents by their mutual complaints, and by this free venting of their
grievances during the war at _Candia_, the wise Vizier seeing the evil
consequences that would follow, if such meetings and discourses were any
longer tolerated, commanded that all the public coffee-houses should
be shut up in _Constantinople_, and several other great cities of the
empire, where the malecontents used to rendezvouz themselves, and find
fault upon every ill success and miscarriage, with the administration of
affairs.
The custom of the _Turks_ to salute the Emperor, or the Vizier Bashaws,
with loud acclamations and wishes of health and long life, when they
appear first in their houses or any public place, is derived from the
_Greeks_, who took it from the _Romans_. This was done by them in a kind
of singing tone; whence _Luitprandus_, Bishop of _Cremona_ tells us,
that in a certain procession (προέλυσις) at which he was present, they
sang to the Emperor _Nicephorus_ πολλὰ ἔτη, that is, Many Years, (which
_Codinus_, who lived just about the taking of _Constantinople_ by the
_Turks_, expresses by τὸ ψάλλειν τὸ πολυχρόνιον, or by τὸ πολυχρόνιζειν,
and to wish or salute by πολυχρόνισμα) and at dinner the _Greeks_ then
present wish’d with a loud voice to the Emperor and _Burdas_, _Ut Deus
annos multiplicet_, as he translates the _Greek_.
The _Turkish_ coin in itself is pitiful and inconsiderable, which I
ascribe not only to their want of bullion, but to their little skill in
matters relating to the mint. Hence it comes to pass, that Zecchines and
Hungars for gold, and _Spanish_ Dollars and Zalotts for silver stamped
in Christendom pass current among them, most of the great payments being
made in them, they not caring either through ignorance or sloth, to
follow the example of the _Indian_ or _Persian_ Emperors, who usually
melt down the Christian money imported by the Merchants into their
several countries, and give it a new stamp. The most usual pieces are the
Sheriphi of gold, somewhat less than a _Venecian_ Zecchine, and Aspers,
ten of which are equal to six pence _English_ and some few Asper pieces.
A Mangur is an old ugly copper piece, eight of which make but one Asper,
and is not I think a _Turkish_ coin, but rather _Greek_. They have no
arms upon their coin, only letters embossed on both sides, containing the
Emperor’s name, or some short sentence out of the _Koran_.
The _Turks_ look upon earthquakes as ominous, as the vulgar do upon
eclipses, not understanding the philosophy of them. During my stay in
_Constantinople_, which was above two years, there happen’d but one,
which was _October_ 26, 1669, about six o’clock in the morning, a stark
calm preceding. It lasted very near a minute, and we at _Pera_ and
_Galata_ were as sensible of it as those who were on the other side of
the water; but, praised be God, nothing fell, and we were soon rid of
the fears in which this frightful accident had cast us, being in our
beds, and not able, by reason of the surprize, in so little a space to
have past thro’ a gallery down a pair of stairs into the court, if we
had attempted it. The _Turks_ made direful reflections on it, as if some
calamity would inevitably fall upon the empire, quickly forgetting the
great triumphings and rejoicings which they exprest but a few days before
for the surrender of _Candia_. In the year 1668, in _August_, the earth
shook more or less for forty seven days together in the lesser _Asia_
at _Anguri_ (_Anoyra_) and for fifteen at _Bacbaser_, as we heard from
a _Scotch_ Merchant, who lived there; and particularly, that at this
latter place, on the second of _August_, between three and four o’clock
in the afternoon it lasted for a quarter of an hour; several houses were
overthrown, and some hundred of chimneys fell (it being a very populous
town) and yet there were but seven kill’d. The trembling being so
violent, both _Turks_ and Christians forsook their houses, and betook
themselves to the fields, vineyards and gardens, where they made their
abode for several days.
Their punishments are very severe, this being judg’d the most effectual
way, to prevent all public disorders and mischiefs. They use no great
formality in their processes; if the criminal be taken in the fact, and
the witnesses ready and present to attest it, and sometimes if there
be but probable circumstances, without full conviction, condemn him;
and soon after sentence, sometimes an hour or less, hurry him away to
execution. For an ordinary crime, hanging is the usual death; but for
robbery and murder committed upon the highway, by such as rob in parties
and allarm whole provinces, or for sacrilege, or for any heinous crime
against the government, either gaunching or excoriation, or cutting off
the legs and arms, and leaving the trunk of the body in the high-way, or
empaling, that is, thrusting an iron stake through the body out under the
neck or at the mouth; in which extreme torment the miserable wretch may
live two or three days, if the guts or the heart happen not to be wounded
by the pointed spike in it’s passage. This punishment seems to have
been in use among the _Romans_, _Seneca_’s Epist. 14. _Cogita hoc loco
carcerem, & cruces, & eculeos, & uncum, & adactum medium hominem, qui per
os emergat, stipitem._ And so in his book _De Consolatione ad Marciam,
cap. 20_. _Alii capite conversos in terram suspendere; alii per obscena
stipitem egerunt, alii brachia patibulo explicuerunt._ Murder is seldom
pardon’d, and especially if the relations of the murder’d person demand
justice.
The Circumcision, though it be a sacred rite, is perform’d in their
private houses, and never in the Mosques.
The women colour their eye-brows and lids with an ugly black powder, I
suppose, to set off their beauty by such a shadow; and their nails with
the powder of _Kanna_, which gives them a tincture of faint red, like
brick, as they do the tails and hoofs of horses, which they look upon as
a great ornament. Their great diversion is bathing; sometimes thrice if
not four times a week. They do not permit them to go to church in time of
prayer, for fear they should spoil their devotion; the _Turks_ being of
so brutish a temper, that their lust is raised upon the sight of a fair
object. They are call’d oftentimes by the names of flowers and fruits,
and sometimes fantastic names are given them, such as _Sucar Birpara_, or
bit of sugar, _Dil Ferib_, or ravisher of hearts, and the like.
Their skill in agriculture is very mean. In their gardens they have
several little trenches to convey water where it may be most necessary
for their plants and flowers. They know little or nothing of manuring
their grounds; sometimes they burn their fields and vineyards after
harvest and vintage, partly to destroy the vermin, and partly to enrich
the soil. They tread out their corn with oxen, drawing a square plank
board, about a foot and an half or two foot over, studded with flints,
and winnow it upon their threshing-floors in the open air, the wind
blowing away the chaff. They feed their horses with barley and chopt
straw, for I do not remember ever to have seen any oats among them; and
they make but little hay.
For draught of great weight in their carts they make use of Buffalo’s.
Camels will travel four days together without water, and will eat tops of
thistles, shrubs, or any kind of boughs: They are very sure footed, and
kneel when they are loading, and live to a considerable number of years,
some even to sixty.
The chief furniture of their houses are carpets, or matts of Grand
_Cairo_, neatly wrought with straw, spread upon the ground; they having
no occasion for chairs, couches, stools, or tables, their postures
within doors being different from ours. They have no hangings, but their
walls are whited and set off with painting, only adorned with a kind of
porcelain; no beds closed with curtains.
They seal not with wax, but ink, at the bottom of the paper, the
Emperor’s name being usually written with flourishes and in perplex’d
characters; nor have they any coats of arms upon their seals, there being
no such thing as gentility among them.
Some of them, notwithstanding their zeal for _Mahomet_ and the religion
by him establish’d, retain not only a favourable and honourable opinion
of our Blessed Saviour, but even place some kind of confidence in the
usage of his name, or of the words of the Gospel, though it may seem
to be wholly in the way of superstition. Thus in their amulets, which
they call _Chaimaili_, being little bits of paper about two or three
fingers breath, rolled up in pieces of silk, containing several short
prayers or sentences out of the _Koran_, with several circles with other
figures, they usually inscribe the holy and venerable name of _JESUS_, or
the figure of the cross, or the first words of St _John_’s Gospel, and
the like. They hang them about their necks, or place them under their
arm-pits, or in their bosom near their hearts, (being the same with what
the _Greeks_ call ἐγκόλπια) and especially when they go to war, as a
preservative against the dangers of it; and indeed against any misfortune
whatsoever. Some have them sow’d within their caps; and I heard of a
_Turk_ who was so superstitious herein, that he always pluck’d it off,
and was uncover’d, when he had occasion to make water. Some are such
bigots in their religion, and so furious against Christians, that not
only they treat them with all imaginable scorn and contempt, but take
it ill to be salam’d or saluted by them, as if it were the effect of
sawciness and unbecoming familiarity. Their malice against the Christians
makes them envy the rich furs they line their vests with, and it is a
trouble to these hypocritical zealots to see _Franks_ ride upon their
fine _Arabian_ horses.
The respect which they shew the _Koran_ is wonderful, they dare not open
the leaves of it with unwashen hands, according to the advice and command
written in _Arabic_ upon the cover, _Let no one touch this book, but he
that is clean_. They kiss it, and bend their heads, and touch their eyes
with it, both when they open and shut it.
The Janizaries, when they attend upon Christian Embassadors to their
audience, seem to appear in their bravery, and in a habit far from that
of a soldier, being without either fire-arms or swords, which latter
are not worn but in time of service, or when they are upon a march, or
embodied, wearing a cap made of camels hair, with a broad flap dangling
behind, a gilt embroider’d wreath running round it, and an oblong piece
of brass rising up from the middle of their forehead near a foot, with a
great club in their hand, like inferior officers of the civil government.
But when they are in the camp, they throw off their upper vest and
turbants, which they wear at all other usual times, as troublesome, and
put on a fez or red cap, which fits close to their head, and tuck up
their _Duliman_ or long coat to their girdle, that they may be the more
quick and expedite in their charge.
They affect finery and neatness in their cloaths and shashes; not so much
as a spot to be seen upon them, and in rainy or suspicious weather are
very careful how they go abroad without their _Yamurlics_, which is a
kind of coat they throw over their heads at such times.
Their pans and dishes are for the most part of copper, but so handsomely
tinned over, that they look like silver.
There are thousands of Gypsies or _Zinganies_ in _Turkey_, who live the
same idle nasty kind of life as they do in Christendom, and pretend to
the same art of telling fortunes; and are look’d upon as the off-scouring
of mankind. It is accounted the extremest point of human misery, to be a
slave to any of this sort of cattle.
The _Haggi_ or Pilgrims, that have been at _Mecca_ and _Medina_, forbear
to drink wine most religiously, out of a persuasion, that one drop would
efface all the merits of that troublesome and expensive journey; and some
have been possest with such a mad zeal, that they have blinded themselves
after their having been blest with the sight of _Mahomet_’s sepulchre.
After _Jatzah_, that is, an hour and an half in the night, throughout the
whole year, there is as great a silence in the streets as at midnight.
The Emperor _Achmet_, in the year 1611, having made an order, that no
one should presume to be out of his house after that time, which is to
this day most punctually observed. The _Bostangi bashi_, who has the
command of all the _Agiamoglans_ in the Seraglio, the _Topgibashi_, or
such great officers, attended with a great train of armed men, walking
the rounds, and drubbing such as they find abroad at unseasonable hours,
of what nation or quality soever, except Physicians, Chirurgions, and
Apothecaries, whom they allow at all times to visit the sick.
The _Turkmans_, (for so they are peculiarly called, as if they were the
true descendents of the old _Turks_ or _Scythians_, whose wandring kind
of life is described by the Poet,
Ἁμαξόβιοι { _Nulla domus, plaustris habitant, migrare per arva_
{ _Mos, atque errantes circumvectare penates._)
have no fix’d residence any where, but travel with their families and
cattel from place to place, carrying their wives and children upon
camels; they pitch their tents usually near rivers and fountains, for the
conveniency of water, and according as their necessities require, make a
longer and shorter stay. Their whole estates consists in their numerous
flocks and herds, which they sell upon occasion, to supply themselves
with what they want, at the towns they pass by. Their only concern is,
how to enjoy the benefits and blessings of nature, without the troubles
and turmoils and disquiets of life, being contented and happy in one
anothers company, void of all ambition and envy, courteous and humane to
strangers, that may want their help and assistance, kindly entertaining
them with such provision as their folds afford. I have met with some
companies of these harmless wanderers in my travels. The country lies
open without any enclosures, and the property not being vested in any
one, they travel thro’ the plains unmolested, and find excellent pasture
every where. The _Turks_ till no more ground than will serve their
necessities, being supply’d with corn from _Egypt_, and from _Moldavia_
and _Wallachia_, by the way of the Black sea, letting vast traces of
ground lie waste and uncultivated; so that their sloth herein sometimes
is justly punish’d with dearths.
They have nothing to shew for their houses and possessions, but an
_Hogiet_, or piece of paper subscribed by the Cadi, if they have acquired
them by their money, or that they were their father’s before them.
The Dervises generally are melancholy, and place the greatest part of
their religion in abstinence and other severities. Some cut their flesh,
others vow not to speak for six or seven years, or all their lives long,
though never so much provoked or distressed. Their Garments are made of
a coarse sort of wool, or goats hair: They are tied up by the vow of
their order ever from marrying. Several of this sect, in the height of
their religious phrenzy, have attempted upon the lives of the Emperors
themselves (at whose government they have taken disgust) as _Mahomet_ II,
and _Achmet_, as if such desperate attempts were fatal to bigots in all
religions.
They pay a mighty veneration to any relic of _Mahomet_, his banner is
still preserved in the treasury of the Seraglio, and is looked upon as
the greatest security of the empire. They believe that it was sent from
Heaven, and conveyed into the hands of _Mahomet_ by the Angel _Gabriel_,
as a pledge and sign of success and victory in his battels against
the Christians, and all other enemies of the _Musulman_ faith. It was
sent to _Candia_, to encourage the Soldiers to endure the fatigue of
that long and tedious siege; and when it was brought thence after the
surrender of that city, to be deposited in it’s usual place, the Vizier
gave several Christian slaves, that row’d in the galley that was fraught
with this holy ware, their liberty. They pretend to have some rags of
_Mahomet_’s vest, to which they ascribe great virtue. In confidence of
which the Emperor _Achmet_, in the time of a great fire, which raged at
_Constantinople_, when all other means failed, dipt part of them in water
to be sprinkled upon the fire to abate the fury of it.
Next to the Mufti or Cadaleskiers are the Mollas, of which these four are
the chiefest in dignity. The Molla of _Galata_, _Adrianople_, _Aleppo_,
_Prusa_; and after them are reckoned these eight, _Stambol Ephendi_,
_Larissa_, _Misir_ or _Cairo_, _Sham_ or _Damuscus_, _Diarbeker_ or
_Mesopotamia_, _Cutaia_, _Sophia_, _Philippi_.
The Priests have no habits peculiar to their profession, whereby they
are distinguished from others. If they are put from their Mosque for
miscarriage or neglect of doing their duty, or if they think fit to
resign and be Priests no longer, they may betake themselves without any
scandal to secular employments, their former character and quality wholly
ceasing. While they remain Priests, they counterfeit a more than ordinary
gravity in their discourse and walking: And affect to wear turbants
swelling out, and made up with more cross folds; which was all the
difference which I could observe by their head-attire, which is various,
though I could not find that this was constantly and strictly observed.
In _Byram_-time, which is the great festival of the year, at which time
every one looks cheerfully and merrily. Among other signs of mutual
respect, they besprinkle one another with sweet water: They indulge to
several sports; and some are mightily pleased with swinging in the open
air, the ordinary sort of people especially, paying only a few Aspers for
the diversion.
The government is perfectly arbitrary and despotical; the will and
pleasure of the Emperor having the force and power of a law, and
oftentimes is above it. His bare command, without any process, is enough
to take off the head of any person (though never so eminent in dignity;
though usually for formality, and to silence the murmurings of the
soldiery and people, the sentence is confirmed by the Mufti.) Sometimes
Bashaws, who have amassed great treasures in their governments, are cut
off in their own houses in the midst of their retinue, the messengers of
death producing the Imperial Command, usually sent in a black purse, and
not a sword drawn in their defence. Others, if they are obnoxious to the
least umbrage or jealousy, though dismist the Seraglio with all possible
demonstrations of the Grand Signior’s favour, and with rich presents
in order to take possession of places of great command in the empire,
before they have got two or three days journey from _Constantinople_,
have been overtaken and strangled. In the army commands are given
according to merit; courage and conduct are sure to be rewarded, the way
lying open to the meanest soldier to raise himself to be the chief of
his order. But other preferments depend upon meer chance, and upon the
fancy of the emperor, whether the person be fit or no, and they are as
soon lost. The least ill success or miscarriage proves oftentimes fatal,
and a more lucky man is put in his place, and he succeeded by a third,
if unfortunate in a design, though managed with never so much prudence
and valour. They admit of no hereditary honours, and have no respect
to descent or blood, except the _Ottoman_ family; he only is great and
noble whom the Emperor favours, and while his command lasts. According
to a tradition that passes current amongst them, a Bashaw’s son by a
_Sultana_, or a daughter or sister of the Emperor, can rise no higher
than to be a _Sangiachi_, or Governor of some little province, much
inferiour to a Bashaw, and under his jurisdiction. Being born of slaves
for the most part, they do not pride themselves in their birth, very few
among them being scarce able to give any account of their grandfathers.
They have no sirnames, but are distinguished by their possessions and
places of abode, and enjoying by law a liberty of having what women they
please, they have little or no regard to alliance or kindred.
Their empire owes the continuance of it’s being to the severity of the
government, which oftentimes takes place without regard either to justice
or equity, and to their frequent wars, which prevent all occasions of
mutiny and faction among the Soldiers, which happen frequently when
unemploy’d. So that tho’ ambition may put a warlike Sultan upon enlarging
his territories by new conquests, yet reason of state forces a weak
and effeminate Prince, such as was _Ibrahim_, to make war for his own
security. Their politics are not owing to books and study, and the
examples of past-times, but to experience, and the plain suggestions
of nature and common sense: They have rules of government, which they
firmly adhere to, holding the reins streight, especially being cruel
and inexorable to criminals of state, who never are to expect any mercy
or pity. Their councils formerly were open, and their designs known,
and proclaimed before-hand, as if this had been a bravery becoming
their greatness, and that they scorned to steal a conquest. But they
have learned since the art of dissimulation, and can lye and swear for
their interest, and seem excessive in their caresses to the ministers
of those countries, which they intend to invade. But their preparations
for arming are made with so much noise, that an ordinary jealousy is
soon awakened by it to oppose them, in case of an attack. They seldom
or never care to have war at both extremes of the empire at the same
time, and therefore they are mighty sollicitous to secure a peace with
_Christendom_, when they intend a war upon the _Persian_; and as much as
is possible, they avoid quarrelling with two _Christian_ Princes at once,
being usually at league either with _Poland_ and _Muscovy_, when they
war upon _Hungary_, and so on the contrary; dreading nothing more than a
union of the _Christian_ Princes bordering upon them, which would prove
so fatal to their Empire, and quickly put a period to their greatness;
for hereby they would be put upon a necessity of making a defensive war,
to their great loss and disadvantage, and at last either be forced to beg
a peace of the Christians, or run the hazard of losing all by a farther
prosecution of war.
This they are very sensible of, and therefore as they take all occasion
to promote quarrels and dissentions in _Hungary_ and _Transilvania_, so
they greatly rejoice, when the Christian Princes are at war one with
another. This is their great time of advantage, and they know, that it is
their true interest to pursue it, tho’ they do not always, by reason of
the ill condition of their own affairs make use of it. During the civil
wars of _Germany_, the Bashaws and other commanders of the army were very
importunate with the Grand Signior, to make a war on that side, and to
enlarge his conquests as far as _Vienna_, no conjuncture having been ever
so favourable to consumate such a design, in which _Solyman_ so unhappily
miscarry’d. They promised him an easy victory, assuring him, that the
animosities of the Princes of the empire were so heightened, that there
was no room left for a reconciliation, that he was but to go in the
head of an army to take possession, and that _Austria_ would surrender
at the first news of his march towards it. The Emperor was not to be
moved at that time by these insinuations and plausible discourses; being
continually urged, he as often deny’d. One day when they came to renew
their advice about the _German_ war, he having given order before, that
several dogs should be kept for some days without meat, commanded that
they should be brought out, being almost starved, and meat thrown among
them; whereupon they snarl’d and bit one another; in the midst of their
noise and fighting he caused a bear to be let loose in the same area;
the dogs forgetting their meat and leaving off their fighting, ran all
upon the bear, ready to pray upon them singly, and at last killed him.
This diversion the Emperor gave his Bashaws, and left them to make the
application.
A certain prophecy of no small authority runs in the minds of all
the people, and has gain’d great credit and belief among them, that
their empire shall be ruin’d by a northern nation, which has white and
yellowish hair. The interpretation is as various as their fancy. Some
fix this character on the _Moscovites_; and the poor _Greeks_ flatter
themselves with foolish hopes, that they are to be their deliverers,
and to rescue them from their slavery, chiefly because they are of
their communion, and owe their conversion to the Christian faith, to
the piety and zeal of the _Grecian_ Bishops formerly. Others look upon
the _Sweeds_ as the persons described in the prophecy, whom they are
most to fear. The ground and original of this fancy, I suppose, is owing
to the great opinion which they have of the valour and courage of that
warlike nation. The great victories of the _Sweeds_ in _Germany_, under
_Gustavus Adolphus_, were loudly proclaim’d at _Constantinople_, as if
there were no withstanding the shock and fury of their arms; and their
continued successes confirmed the _Turks_ in their first belief, and
their fears and jealousies were augmented afterwards, when _Charles
Gustave_, a Prince of as heroic a courage, and as great abilities in
the art and management of war, as the justly admired _Gustavus_, entered
_Poland_ with his army, and carry’d all before him, seized upon _Warsaw_,
and drove _Casimire_ out of his kingdom, and had almost made an entire
and absolute conquest, only a few places holding out. This alarmed the
Grand Signior and the Bashaws of the _Porte_, as if the prophecy were
then about to be fulfilled, who did not care for the company of such
troublesome neighbours, who might push on their victories, and joining
with the _Cossacks_, advance their arms farther, and make their country
the seat of war, which might draw after it fatal consequences. To prevent
which couriers are dispatched from _Constantinople_ to _Ragotzki_, Prince
of _Transilvania_, then in concert with the _Sweeds_, to command him to
retire with his army out of _Poland_, as he valued the peace and safety
of his own country, and the friendship of the Grand Signior, whose
tributary he was, and by whose favour he had gained that principality;
and the _Crim-Tartars_, the sworn enemies of the _Poles_, who at that
time lay heavy upon them, were wrought upon by the same motives and
reasons of state, to clap up a peace with them, that being freed from
these distractions, they might unite their forces the better together,
and make head against the _Sweeds_.
The Embassadors of Christian Princes, when they are admitted by the Grand
Signior to an audience, their presents being then of course made, which
are look’d upon as due, not to say as an homage, are dismist in few
words, and referred by him to his _Wakil_ or deputy, as he usually stiles
the chief Vizier, and a small number of their retinue only permitted the
honour of kissing his vest, and then rudely enough sent away.
The Grand Signiors keep up the state of the old _Asiatic_ Princes; they
do not expose themselves often to the view of the people, unless when
they ride in triumph, or upon some such solemn occasion; when they go
to the Mosques, or divert themselves in the fields, either in riding
or hunting, they do not love to be stared upon or approached. It is
highly criminal to pry into the sports, such an insolent curiosity being
often punished with death. The story is famous of _Morad_ the third,
who baiting a bear in the old palace with a mastiff, and espying three
fellows upon the tower of _Bajazid_’s Mosque, who had planted themselves
to see the sport, commanded their heads to be struck off immediately and
be brought before him, which was done accordingly. Instances of such
capricios are frequent in the _Turkish_ history; this following happen’d
during my stay at _Constantinople_.
Upon the return of Vizier _Achmet_ from _Candia_, after the surrender of
that city, and a happy end put by him to that tedious and bloody war, he
acquainting the present Emperor, then at _Adrianople_, with the history
of that famous siege at large, made such terrible representations of
their and the _Venetians_ mining and countermining one another, that the
Emperor was resolved out of curiosity to see the experiment made of a
thing that seemed to him almost incredible. A work was soon raised and
undermined, and above thirty murderers and robbers upon the highway,
and such like villains were put into it, as it were to defend it. The
Grand Signior stood upon an eminence at some considerable distance,
expecting the issue of it: upon a signal given, the mine was sprung, and
the fort demolish’d, and the poor wretches torn peacemeal, to his great
satisfaction and amazement.
The moon is the auspicious planet of the _Turks_; according to the course
of which they celebrate their festivals. They begin their months from the
first appearance of it, at which time they chuse, except a delay brings a
great prejudice and inconvenience with it, to begin their great actions.
The crescent is the ensign of the empire, which they paint in their
banners, and place upon the spires of their Mosques. Next to the day of
the appearing moon, they pitch upon Friday, to fight upon, to begin a
journey, and especially their pilgrimage towards _Mecca_, or do any thing
of great consequence, as very lucky and fortunate.
[Illustration]
_An account of the latitude of ~Constantinople~ and ~Rhodes~; written by
the learned Mr ~John Greaves~, sometime professor of astronomy in the
university of ~Oxford~, and directed to the most reverend ~James Usher~,
Archbishop of ~Ardmagh~._
Upon intimation of your Grace’s desires, and upon importunity of some
learned men, having finished a table as a key to your Grace’s exquisite
disquisition, touching _Asia_, properly so called; I thought myself
obliged to give both you and them a reason, why in the situation of
_Byzantium_, and the island _Rhodus_, (which two eminent places I have
made the παραπήγματα, and bounds of the chart) I dissent from the
traditions of the ancients, and from the tables of our late and best
Geographers, and consequently dissenting in these, have been necessitated
to alter the latitudes, if not longitudes, of most of the remarkable
cities of this discourse. And first for _Byzantium_, the received
latitude of it by _Appianus_, _Mercator_, _Ortelius_, _Maginnus_, and
some others, is forty three degrees and five minutes. And this also
we find in the _Basil_ edition of _Ptolomy_’s Geography, procured by
_Erasmus_ out of a _Greek_ MS. of _Pettichius_. The same likewise is
confirmed by another choice MS. in _Greek_, of the most learned and
judicious Mr _Selden_, to whom for this favour and several others, I
stand obliged. And as much is expressed in the late edition of _Ptolomey_
by _Bertius_, compared and corrected by _Sylburgius_, with a MS. out of
the _Palatine_ library. Wherefore it cannot be doubted, having such a
cloud of witnesses, but that _Ptolomy_ assigned to _Byzantium_ as our
best modern Geographers have done, the latitude of 43° 5′. And this will
farther appear, not only out of geography, where it is often expressed,
but also out of his μεγάλη σύνταξις, or _Almagest_, as the _Arabians_
term it, where, describing the parallel passing διὰ Βυζαντίου, he assigns
to it 43° 5′. What was the opinion concerning _Byzantium_ of _Strabo_
preceding _Ptolomy_, or of _Hipparchus_ preceding _Strabo_, or of
_Eratosthenes_ more ancient, and it may be accurater than all of them,
(for _Strabo_ (_lib. 2._) calls him τελευταῖον πραγματευσάμενον περὶ
τῆς γεωγραφίας) though _Tully_ (_lib. Ep. ad Att._) makes _Hipparchus_
often reprehend _Eratosthenes_, as _Ptolomy_ after him doth _Marinus_,
their writings not being now extant, (unless those of _Strabo_) cannot
be determined by us. But as for _Strabo_, in our enquiry, we can expect
little satisfaction; for his description of places, having more of the
Historian and Philosopher, (both which he hath performed with singular
gravity and judgment) than the exactness of a Mathematician, who strictly
respects the position of places, without inquisition after their nature,
qualities, and inhabitants, (though the best geography would be a mixture
of them all, as _Abulfeda_, an _Arabian_ Prince in his _Rectification of
Countries_, above three hundred years since hath done;) I say for these
reasons, we can expect little satisfaction from _Strabo_, and less may
we hope for from _Dionysius Afer_, _Arrianus_, _Stephanus Byzantinus_,
and others. Having next therefore recourse to the _Arabians_, who in
geography deserve the second place after the _Grecians_, I find in
_Nassir Eddin_ the latitude of _Byzantium_, which he terms _Buzantiya_,
and _Constantiniya_, to be 45 degrees, and in _Ulug Beg_’s Astronomical
Tables the same to be expressed. _Abulfeda_ chiefly follows four
principal authors as his guides, in the compiling of his Geographical
Tables, those are _Alfaras_, _Albiruny_, _Hon Saiid Almagraby_, lastly,
_Ptolomy_, whose geography he terms a _Description of the Quadrant_,
(or the fourth part of the earth) inhabited; and all these, according
to his assertion, place _Byzantium_ in 45 degrees of latitude. And here
it may justly be wonder’d how this difference should arise between the
_Greek_ copies of _Ptolomy_, and those translated into _Arabic_ by the
command of _Almamon_, the learned Calife of _Babylon_; for _Abulfeda_
expressly relates, that _Ptolomy_ was first interpreted in his time, that
is, in the computation of _Almecinus_, in _Erpenius_’s edition, and of
_Emir Cond_, a _Persian_ Historiographer, more than 800 years since;
concerning which, _Abulfeda_ writes thus, _This book_ (discoursing of
_Ptolomy_’s Geography) _was translated out of the ~Grecian~ language
into the ~Arabic~ for ~Almamon~_: And, in this I find, (by three fair
MSS. of _Abulfeda_) _Byzantium_ to be constantly placed in 45°, and as
constantly in the _Greek_ copies in 43° 5′. But in the πρόχειροι κανόνες
of _Chrysococca_, out of the _Persian_ tables, (made about the year
1346, in _Scaliger_’s calculation) it is placed in 45°. To reconcile the
difference between the _Greeks_ and _Arabians_, may seem impossible, for
the common refuge of flying to the corruption of numbers by transcribers,
and laying the fault on them, which sometimes is the author’s, will not
help us in this particular; seeing the _Greek_ copies agree amongst
themselves, and the _Arabic_ amongst themselves.
The best way to end the dispute, will be, to give credit concerning the
latitude of _Byzantium_, neither to the _Greeks_ nor _Arabians_. And that
I have reason for this assertion, appears by several observations of mine
at _Constantinople_, with a brass sextant of above four foot radius.
Where, taking in the summer solstice, the Meridian altitude of the Sun,
without using any προσθαφαίρεσις, for the parallax and refraction, (which
at that time was not necessary) I found the latitude to be 41° 6′. And in
this latitude in the chart, I have placed _Byzantium_, and not in that,
either of the _Greeks_ or _Arabians_. From which observation, being of
singular use in the rectification of geography, it will follow by way of
corallary, that all maps for the north-east of _Europe_, and of _Asia_,
adjoining upon the _Bosphorus_, _Thracius_, the _Pontus Euxinus_, and
much farther, are to be corrected, and consequently the situation of most
cities in _Asia_, properly so called, are to be brought more southerly
than those of _Ptolomy_, by almost two entire degrees, and than those of
the _Arabians_, by almost four.
Concerning _Rhodes_, it may be presumed, that having been the mother
and nurse of so many eminent Mathematicians, and having long flourished
in navigation, by the direction of these, and by the vicinity of the
_Phœnicians_, they could not be ignorant of the precise latitude
of their country, and that from them _Ptolomy_ might receive a true
information. Though it cannot be denied, but that _Ptolomy_, in places
remoter from _Alexandria_, hath much erred. I shall only instance in our
own country, where he situates λονδίνιον, that is _London_, in 54° of
latitude, and the περὶ μέσον, or the middle of the _Isle of Wight_ (which
in the printed copies is falsly termed οὐίκτησις, but in the MSS. rightly
οὐῆκτις) in 52° and 20′ of latitude. Whereas _London_ is certainly known
to have for the altitude of the pole, or latitude of the place, only 51°
and 32′; and the middle of the _Isle of Wight_ not to exceed 50°, and
some minutes.
But in my judgment _Ptolomy_ is very excusable in these and the like
errors, of several other places far distant from _Alexandria_, seeing he
must for their position, necessarily have depended either upon relations
of travellers, or observations of Mariners, or upon the longitude of the
day, measured in those times by _Clepsydræ_; all which how uncertain they
are, and subject unto error, if some celestial observations be not joined
with them, and those exactly taken with large instruments, (in which kind
the ancients have not many, and our times (excepting _Tycho Brayhe_, and
some of the _Arabians_) but a few) I say no man, that hath conversed with
modern travellers and navigators, can be ignorant. Wherefore to excuse
these errors of his (or rather of others fathered by him) with a greater
absurdity, by asserting the poles of the world since his time, to have
changed their site, and consequently all countries their latitudes,
as _Mariana_, the master of _Copernicus_, and others after him have
imagined; or else to charge _Ptolomy_, being so excellent an artist, with
ignorance, and that even of his own country, as _Cluverius_ hath done,
from which my observations at _Alexandria_ and _Memphis_ may vindicate
him; the former were too great a stupidity, and the latter too great
a presumption. But to return to _Rhodes_, an island in _Eustathius_’s
Comment upon _Dyonisius_’s περιήγησις of 920 furlongs circuit, where
according to _Ptolomy_, the parallel passing διὰ ῥόδου, hath 36° of
latitude, and so hath _Lindus_, and Ἰηλυσσός the chief cities of the
island; the same is confirmed by the MS. but where the printed copy and
_Eustathius_ read Ἰηλυσσὸς, which _Mercator_ renders _Talyssus_, the MS.
renders Ιλισὸς. _Abulfeda_ in some copies, situates the island _Rhodes_,
(for he mentions no cities there) in the latitude of 37° and 40′: And the
geography of _Said Ibn Aly Algiorgany_, commended by _Gilbyrtus Gaulmyn_,
in 37°, if it be not by a transposition in the MS of the numerical
letters in _Arabic_, 37 for 36, which, by reason of their similitude,
are often confounded in _Arabic_ MSS. By my observations under the walls
of the city _Rhodes_, with a fair brass _Astrolabe_ of _Gemma Frisius_,
containing 14 inches in the diameter, I found the latitude to be 37°
and 50′. A larger instrument I durst not adventure to carry on shore
in a place of so much jealousy. And this latitude in the chart, I have
assigned to the city _Rhodes_, from the island so denominated, upon
which, on the north-east side, it stands situated, better agreeing with
the _Arabians_ than with _Ptolomy_, whom I know not how to excuse.
[Illustration]
CHAP. VI.
_Some Observations made in a voyage to ~Egypt~. By M. ~Belon~._
In our sailing between _Rhodes_ and _Alexandria_, a sort of Falcon came
and sate two hours upon our sails. Abundance of Quails flying from the
north, southwards, fell into our ship. We observ’d in our sailing many
Pelicans, and some unknown birds.
At _Alexandria_, I observ’d them to burn the _Kali_ for fuel, wood being
scarce; they calcine lime with the ashes, then call it _Soda_, and sell
it to the _Venetians_, who melt it with a particular stone brought from
_Pavia_, by the river _Tesino_, and so make their famous chrystal glass
at _Muran_; but the _French_ find the sand brought from _Estampes_ to
serve as well as the _Pavian_ stone. From this place they send their
commodities and merchandize into all parts of the world.
In my passage to and from Grand _Cairo_, and during my abode there, I
observed besides other things, the animals and Plants.
As the _Garaffa_, or _Camelopardalus_; the _Bubalus_ of _Afric_,
different from the Buffalo; flocks of the _Oryx_, and of _Gazells_ which
they shoot; the _Axis_, a most beautiful creature (_by the description it
may be the ~Zebra~, or ~Zembra~ of ~Afric~_) great varieties of Monkeys
at _Cairo_; the _Hippopotamus_ about the lakes and rivers; Goats with
very long ears hanging down almost to the ground; Sheep with great tails,
and vast laps under their chin; the _Ichneumon_ tame in their houses like
cats; this animal destroys Rats and Mice like Weasils, hunts Serpents
which the people eat, destroys Camelions and other Lizards, it creeps
and darts upon it’s prey; ’tis bigger and much stronger than a Cat. I
observ’d at _Cairo_, many Civet-Cats.
Two kinds of Camelions frequently sitting on the _Rhamnus_, catching
of insects with their tongues as they fly by; Crocodiles common in the
lakes and rivers; the little _Lacerta Chalcidica_, hunts insects under
the walls; the _Stellio_ or swift Lizard, is common about the Pyramids,
and the other Sepulchres, where it runs after Flies; the excrement of
this animal is sold up and down for an excellent Cosmetic: I saw also the
Serpent call’d _Cerastes_. The great Bats abound in the caves.
Amongst the Birds, the Ostrich, whose skins and feathers are in use
amongst the _Turks_, the Pelican, with whose bills and bags, the watermen
of the _Nile_ throw the water out of their boots; the _Vulp-Anser_ is
common in the watery places. I observed also the _Crex_ and the _Ibis_.
The inhabitants never hatch their eggs under hens, but all in ovens or
furnaces.
The common trees are the Tamarisk, loaded with galls, or animal
excrescencies; the Date-Palm; the _Acacia_, or Gum-_Arabic_-tree; the
_Cassia Solutiva_; the Tamarind; the true Sycamore, or _Pharaoh_’s
_Fig_-tree; the _Musa Arbor_, or the Plantane; the _Siliqua_, or _Carob_;
yellow Jessamine, and yellow Roses; _Syringa_; _Alcanna_, a sort of
_Ligustrum_, Cotton-trees, _&c._
The most remarkable Herbs I took notice of, were the _Papyrus Nilotica_
(a sort of _Cyperus_ out of whose threads, or filaments, the ancients
made their paper.) The _Colocasia_, or great _Egyptian Arum_, whose
root they boil with most of their meats: The Sugar-cane, or Reed, by
the fuel whereof they melt their Metals, wood being scarce in _Egypt_;
_Hyoscyamus niger_, out of whose root they prepare an oil for their
lamps and other uses: A milky _Convolvulus_ on the walls (perhaps an
_Apocynum_ being podded;) several _Phaseoli_ or Kidney-beans; Gourds,
Pumpions, Thorn-apples, _Coloquintida_; many _Ocimums_ or wild Basils;
the _Harmala_, common about _Alexandria_ (a sort of Rue, with great white
flowers) the _Abrus_, two _Senna_’s, _Bammia_, _Melochia_, _Stratiotes_,
&c.
The Eagle-stone is found up and down _Egypt_ in very great plenty.
MORE
OBSERVATIONS
MADE IN
_EGYPT_,
BY
Guilandinus, Alpinus, _and others_.
CHAP. I.
_Of the weather and seasons in ~Egypt~._
The months of _January_ and _February_ make the spring in _Egypt_, the
trees beginning to germinate and put forth, and the herbs to flower, so
that then the fields and gardens are in their glory.
They reckon two summers, their first is in _March_, _April_, _May_, which
is the most inconstant, unequal, and most sickly season of the year, as
also the hottest and most scorching; which is imputed to the east and
south winds, that blow generally for fifty days together over desart
sandy places, accompanied with a hot burning sand, that spoils all their
eyes; Strangers during this season, retire into grotts and subterraneous
places, and drink much of the water of the _Nile_, which is excellent in
quenching epidemical thirst at that time.
Their second summer is in _June_, _July_, _August_, which is equal,
constant, and healthful, the wind blowing then from the north over
sea, the _Nile_ also swelling and overflowing by the rains falling in
_Ethiopia_, and the air moist and refreshing. Now all the people abstain
from business and labour, follow spectacles, games, plays, _&c._ the land
being under water.
_September_ and _October_ make their autumn, at the end whereof they
sow their wheat, which they reap in _March_ following. This autumn is
temperate and salubrious.
_November_ and _December_ are their winter; ice, snow, and hail are
seldom or never seen: Rain falls rarely in the inner parts of _Egypt_,
only a dew; but at _Alexandria_, and other places near the sea they have
rain, and a more healthful air; these showers come most in _November_.
CHAP. II.
_Of the meats and drinks of ~Egypt~._
The inhabitants, especially the Mahometans, live abstemiously, eat
little and often; their diet is generally simple, abhorring mixtures and
variety. Rice boiled in mutton broth, Lentils, Pulse, and legumes; Bete,
Mallows call’d _Bamia_, Cucumbers, Melons, Citruls, Dates, Figs of the
Sycamore, Plantanes, Pomegranates, Grapes, Oranges, Lemons, Citrons,
Sugar-canes, _Colocasia_-root, _&c._ make up the greatest part of their
diet.
The richest sort eat mutton, poultry, and several sorts of fish from the
_Nile_, which tho’ fat, are not esteemed wholsome, because the bottom of
that river is very muddy, and the water much troubled. All their bread
is made of Wheat, and they make abundance of milk-meats. Their kitchen
herbs are water’d every day, all their gardens being planted near the
banks of the _Nile_, which is one reason that their salleting is more
watry and insipid than in _Italy_; yet if they did not water them every
day in _Egypt_, they would soon be dried up. There are no gardens but
near the river, because there is no rain nor fresh water in other parts.
The ordinary people will eat Camels, Buffaloes, and Crocodiles. The
water of the _Nile_, purged and clarified, either by standing in jars,
or precipitated with powder and pastes of sweet Almonds, is the general
drink of the country, being esteem’d the lightest, the most nutritious,
and the most refreshing liquor in the world, the water running so far
under a hot sun, and falling down so many cataracts.
The inhabitants sleep little, indulge venery, having many wives and
concubines, are generally idle, yet live long, and see more years than
the _Poles_, _Germans_, and other northern nations, where gluttony and
drunkenness are much more in fashion than in the _Egyptian_ climate. The
_Jews_ and Christians, as also the _Turkish_ soldiers, will often debauch
at Grand _Caire_, with those rich wines brought from _Candy_, _Rhodes_,
and _Cyprus_; those from _Italy_, _Corfou_, and _Zant_, will not keep in
_Egypt_, the heat soon pricking them.
[Illustration]
CHAP. III.
_Of the diseases, and physic._
The most epidemical and endemical distempers of _Egypt_, are sore eyes,
from the east and south winds bringing along with them a burning sand
and piercing nitre mix’d with it, which makes them frequently wash and
cleanse their eyes with the _Nile_ water at that season. Leprosies from
their salt and rotten fish. Inflammatory phrenzies, killing in three or
four hours time. A pestilential small pox, and pestilential feavers,
especially at _Alexandria_ in autumn. Ruptures are very common, by
reason of their moist and watry diet: But that which destroys most is
the plague, which they take no care to obstruct or avoid, depending upon
their principle of inevitable fate and predestination; therefore in the
year 1580, they lost above 500,000 souls in six or seven months time, in
the single city of Grand _Cairo_.
The plague in _Egypt_ rages for the most part from the beginning of
_September_ to _June_, at which time it never fails to cease, the wind
turning then to the salubrious quarter of the north, and the _Nile_
swelling with fresh streams.
They reckon this plague is constantly brought either from _Barbary_,
_Lybia_, or other _African_ countries, or else from _Syria_ or _Greece_;
that from _Barbary_ is most furious and pernicious, the other two mild
and gentle.
Their practical physic consists in Phlebotomy, which they administer
universally in almost every disease; in cauterizing or burning, in
scarrifying, in cupping, bathing in a few lenative purgatives, and
cooling quieting alteratives.
They bleed by cutting or pricking the veins and arteries themselves in
most parts of the body; yet in eunuchs, women, children, and other soft
constitutions, they take away blood by scarrifying the thighs, ears,
lips, nostrils, gums, _&c._ They generally bleed after meat. Their
cupping-glasses are of different figures from ours, and their cautery is
Cotton set on fire.
They have a gross way of cutting in dropsies to let the water out.
Their manner of extracting stones out of the bladder, is by blowing
and extending the _Urethra_, then pressing the stones to the neck of
the bladder, by their fingers put into the _Anus_, or fundament, and
afterwards sucking them out through the expanded passages.
Their women bathe very much, and use all manner of arts to soften and
plump their bodies.
They abstain from all hot or violent purgatives, as _Scammony_,
_Coloquintida_, _Elaterium_, Hellebores, _Cataputia_, _Metezon_, &c.
and use only the most gentle lenitives, as _Cassia_, Tamarinds, Manna,
_Myrobalans_, sometimes Rheubarb and a little _Sena_, as also cooling
clysters.
Their alterative physic consists of coolers and anodyns, as _Nymphæa_,
Poppy, Endive, Lettice, Berberries, _China_-root (never _Guaicum_ or
_Sursa_) _Opium_, flowers of the _Alcanna_, Coffee: The women will eat
_Hermodactyls_ like roasted Chesnuts at night. They have few compound
medicines, unless a _Theriaca_ different from the _Venetian_, or that
of _Andromachus_, in the preparing of which, they seem very careful and
ceremonious. Some amongst them pretend to many _Arcanums_ against feavers.
For a full catalogue of such trees, shrubs, and herbs as grow in _Egypt_,
together with their synonymous names and places, the reader may consult
Mr _Ray_’s _Collection of Exotick Catalogues_, published at _London_
1693, and annexed at the end of this work, amongst which he will find an
_Egyptian_ one.
The manner of hatching chickens at Grand _Cairo_, with a particular
delineation of the ovens, fire, mats, _&c._ may be read at large in Mr
_Greave_’s _Relation_, printed in the _Philosoph. Trans._ Nᵒ 137. pag.
923, 924, 925.
Several conjectures and experiments upon the _Egyptian_ nitre, commonly
call’d _Natron_, (found floating on the lake _Latron_ near _Nitria_,
a town lower upon the _Nile_ than Grand _Cairo_) may be read in the
_Philosoph. Trans._ Nᵒ 160. from pag. 609. to pag. 619. also in Nᵒ
167, pag. 837, 838. where ’tis proved to be little different from _Sal
Armoniac_, and may owe it’s original to a natural union or mixture of
the fossile salt of the lakes with the urinose one, that comes from the
Crocodiles, _Hippopotami_, and other animal inhabitants of those waters.
[Illustration]
_Of the PYRAMIDS of ~Egypt~: By Mr ~Greaves~, Professor of Astronomy in
the University of ~Oxford~._
_A description of the Pyramids in ~Egypt~, as I found them in the 1048th
year of the ~Hegira~, or in the year 1638, and 1639 of our Lord, after
the ~Dionysian~ account._
_A description of the first and fairest Pyramid._
The first and fairest of the three greater Pyramids is situated on the
top of a rocky hill, in the sandy desart of _Lybia_, about a quarter of
a mile distant to the west, from the plains of _Egypt_, above which the
rock riseth an hundred feet or better, with a gentle and easy ascent.
Upon this advantageous rise, and upon this solid foundation the Pyramid
is erected; the height of the situation adding to the beauty of the
work, and the solidity of the rock giving the superstructure a permanent
and stable support. Each side of the Pyramid, computing it according to
_Herodotus_, contains in length 800 _Græcian_ feet; and in _Diodorus
Siculus_’s account 700. _Strabo_ reckons it less than a furlong, that is
less than 600 _Græcian_ feet, or 625 _Roman_. And _Pliny_ equals it to
883. That of _Diodorus Siculus_, in my judgment, comes nearest to the
truth, and may serve in some kind to confirm those proportions, which
in another discourse I have assigned to the _Græcian_ measures; for
measuring the north side of it near the Basis, by an exquisite Radius of
ten feet in length, taking two several stations, as Mathematicians use
to do, when any obstacle hinders their approach, I found it to be 693
feet, according to the _English_ standard; which quantity is somewhat
less than that of _Diodorus_. The rest of the sides were examin’d by a
line for want of an even level, and a convenient distance to place my
instruments, both which the Area on the former side afforded.
The Altitude of this Pyramid was long since measured by _Thales
Milisius_, who according to _Tatianus Assyrius_ lived about the fiftieth
Olympiad, but his observations are no where by the ancients express’d;
only _Pliny_ tells us of a course proposed by him, how it might be
found, and that is by observing such an hour, when the shadow of the
body is equal to it’s height. A way at the best, by reason of the
faintness and scattering of the extremity of the shadow, in so great an
Altitude, uncertain, and subject unto error. And yet _Diogines Laërtius_,
in the life of _Thales_, hath the same story, from the authority of
_Hieronymus_, who reports, that he measured the Pyramids by their
shadow, marking when they are of an equal quantity. Wherefore I shall
pass by his, and give my own observations. The Altitude is something
defective of the Latitude; tho’ in _Strabo_’s computation it exceeds; but
_Diodorus_ rightly acknowledges it to be less, which if we measure by
it’s perpendicular, is 481 feet; but if we take it as the Pyramid ascends
inclining, as all such figures do, then it is equal, in respect of the
lines subtending the several angles, to the Latitude of the Basis, that
is to 693 feet.
What excessive heights some fancy to themselves, or borrow from the
relation of others, I shall not now examine. This I am certain of, that
the shaft or spire of St _Paul_’s in _London_, before it was casually
burnt, being as much or somewhat more than the Altitude of the tower now
standing (1647) did exceed the height of this Pyramid. For _Cambden_
describes it to have been in a perpendicular 520 feet from the ground.
If we imagine upon the sides of the Basis, which is perfectly square,
four equilateral Triangles mutually propending, and enclining, till they
all meet on high as it were in a point, for so the top seems to them
which stand below, then shall we have a true notion of the just dimension
and figure of this Pyramid: the Perimeter of each triangle comprehending
2079 feet, besides the Latitude of a little plain or flat on the top,
and the Perimeter of the Basis 2772 feet; whereby the whole Area of the
Basis (to proportion it to our measures,) contains 480,249 square feet,
or eleven _English_ acres of ground, and 1089 of 43560 parts of an acre.
A proportion so monstrous, that if the ancients did not attest as much,
and some of them describe it to be more, this age would hardly be induced
to give credit to it. But _Herodotus_ describing each side to contain 800
feet, the Area must of necessity be greater than that by me assigned,
the sum amounting to 640,000, or computing it as _Diodorus Siculus_
doth, the Area will comprehend 490,000 feet, and in the calculation of
_Pliny_, if we shall square 883, which is the number allotted by him to
the measure of each side, the product 779,689, will much exceed both
that of _Herodotus_ and this of _Diodorus_. Tho’ certainly _Pliny_ is
much mistaken, in assigning the measure of the side to be 883 feet, and
the Basis of the Pyramid to be but eight _jugera_, or _Roman_ acres; for
if we take the _Roman jugerum_ to contain in length 240 feet, and in
breadth 120, as may be evidently proved out of _Varro_, and is expressly
affirmed by _Quintilian_, then will the superficies or whole extention of
the _jugerum_ be equal to 28,800 _Roman_ feet, with which if we divide
779,689, the result will be 27 _Roman jugera_, and 2089 of 28800 parts
of an acre. Wherefore if we take those numbers 883 of _Pliny_ to be
true, then I suppose he writ 28 _jugera_ instead of 8, or else in his
proportion of the side to the Area of the Basis he hath erred.
The ascent to the top of the Pyramid is contrived in this manner: From
all the sides without we ascend by degrees; the lowermost degree is near
four foot in height, and three in breadth. This runs about the Pyramid
in a level, and at the first, when the stones were entire, which are now
somewhat decay’d, made on every side of it a long but narrow walk. The
second degree is like the first, each stone amounting almost to four feet
in height, and three in breadth; it retires inward from the first near
3 feet, and this runs about the Pyramid in a level as the former. In the
same manner is the third row placed upon the second, and so in order the
rest, like so many stairs rise one above another to the top. Which ends
not in a point, as mathematical Pyramids do, but in a little flat or
square.
Of this _Herodotus_ hath no where left us the dimensions, but _Henricus
Stephanus_, an able and deserving man, in his comment hath supply’d
it for him; for he makes it to be eight _orgyiæ_; where if we take
the _orgyia_, as both _Hesychius_ and _Suidas_ do, for the distance
between the hands extended at length, that is for the fathom, or 6
feet, then should it be 48 feet in breadth at the top. But the truth
is, _Stephanus_, in this particular, whilst he corrects the errors of
_Valla_’s interpretation, is to be corrected himself; for that Latitude
which _Herodotus_ assigns to the admirable bridge below, (of which there
is nothing now remaining) he hath carry’d up, by a mistake, to the
top of the Pyramid. _Diodorus Siculus_ comes nearer to the truth, who
describes it to be but 9 feet. _Pliny_ makes the breadth at the top to
be 25 feet, _Altitudo_ (I would rather read it _latitudo_) _à cacumine
pedes 25_. By my measure it is 13 feet, and 280 of 1000 parts of the
_English_ foot. Upon this flat, if we assent to the opinion of _Proclus_,
it may be supposed that the _Egyptian_ Priests made their observations in
Astronomy; and that from hence, or near this place they first discovered,
by the rising of _Sirius_, their _annus_ κυνικὸς, or _Canicularis_, as
also their _periodus Sothiaca_, or _annus magnus_ κυνικὸς, or _annus
Heliacus_, or _annus Dei_, as it is termed by _Censorinus_, consisting
of 1400 sidereal years, in which space their _Thoth Vagum_, and _fixum_,
came to have the same beginning. That the Priests might near these
Pyramids make their observations, I no way question, this rising of
the hill being, in my judgments as fit a place as any in _Egypt_ for
such a design, and so much the fitter by the vicinity of _Memphis_. But
that these Pyramids were designed for observatories, (whereas by the
testimonies of the ancients I have proved before, that they were intended
for sepulchres) is no way to be credited upon the singular authority of
_Proclus_. Neither can I apprehend to what purpose the Priests with so
much difficulty should ascend so high, when below with more ease, and
as much certainty, they might from their own lodgings hewn in the rocks
upon which the Pyramids are erected, make the same observations; for
seeing all _Egypt_ is but as it were one continued plain, they might
from these cliffs have, over the plains of _Egypt_, as free and open a
prospect of the heavens, as from the tops of the Pyramids themselves. And
therefore _Tully_ writes more truly, _Ægyptii, aut Babylonii, in camporum
patentium æquoribus habitantes, cum ex terra ad nihil emineret, quod
contemplationi cœli officere posset, omnem curam in siderum cognitione
posuerunt._ The top of this Pyramid is covered not with one[18] or
three[19] massy stones, as some have imagin’d, but with nine, besides
two which are wanting at the angles. The degrees by which we ascend up
(as I observed in measuring many of them) are not all of an equal depth,
for some are near four foot, others want of three, and these the higher
we ascend, do so much the more diminish; neither is the breadth of them
alike, the difference in this kind being, as far as I could conjecture,
proportionable to their depth. And therefore a right line extended from
any part of the Basis without, to the top, will equally touch the outward
angle of every degree. Of these it was impossible for me to take an exact
measure, since in such a revolution of time, if the inner parts of the
Pyramid have not lost any thing of their first perfection, as being not
exposed to the injury of the air[20], yet the outward parts, that is
these degrees or rows of stone, have been much wasted and impaired by
both. And therefore they cannot conveniently now be ascended, but either
at the south side, or at the east angle on the north. They are well
stiled by _Herodotus_ βωμίδες, that is, little altars, for in the form of
altars they rise one above another to the top; and these are all made of
massy and polish’d stones, hewn according to _Herodotus_ and _Diodorus_,
out of the _Arabian_ mountains, which bound the upper part of _Egypt_,
or that above the _Delta_, on the east, as the _Lybian_ mountains
terminate it on the west, being so vast, that the breadth and depth of
every step is one single and entire stone. The relation of _Herodotus_
and _Pomponius Mela_ is more admirable, who make the least stone in this
Pyramid to be thirty feet. And this I can grant in some, yet surely it
cannot be admitted in all, unless we interpret their words, that the
least stone is thirty square, or to speak more properly, thirty cubical
feet; which dimension, or a greater, in the exteriour ones, I can without
any difficulty admit. The number of these steps is not mentioned by the
ancients, and that caused me and two that were with me, to be the more
diligent in computing them, because by modern writers, and some of those
too of repute, they are described with much diversity and contrariety.
The degrees, saith _Bellonius_, are two hundred and fifty, each of them
single contains in height forty five digits, at the top it is two paces
broad; for this I take to be the meaning or what _Clusius_ renders thus:
_A basi autem ad cacumen ipsius supputationem facientes, comperimus
circiter, 250 gradus, singuli altitudinem habent 5 solearum calcei 9
pollicum longitudinis, in fastigio duos passus habet._ Where I conceive
his _passus_ is in the same sense to be understood here above, as not
long before he explains himself in describing the Basis below, which
in his account is _324 passus paululum extensis cruribus_. _Albertus
Lewenstainius_ reckons the steps to be 260, each of them a foot and an
half in depth. _Johannes Helfricus_ counts them to be 230. _Sebastianus
Serlius_, upon a relation of _Grimano_ the Patriarch of _Aquileia_,
and afterwards Cardinal, who in his travels in _Egypt_ measured these
degrees, computes them to be 210, and the height of every step to be
equally three palms and a half. It would be but lost labour to mention
the different and repugnant relations of several others; that which by
experience and by a diligent calculation I and two others found, is this,
that the number of degrees from the bottom to the top is 207, tho’ one of
them in descending reckoned 208.
Such as please, may give credit to those fabulous traditions of some,
that a _Turkish_ archer standing at the top, cannot shoot beyond the
bottom, but that the arrow will necessarily fall upon these steps. If
the _Turkish_ bow (which by those figures which I have seen in ancient
monuments, is the same with that of the _Parthians_, so dreadful to the
_Romans_) be but as swift and strong as the _English_; as surely it is
much more, if we consider with what incredible force some of them will
pierce a plank of six inches in thickness, (I speak what I have seen) it
will not seem strange, that they should carry twelve score in length,
which distance is beyond the Basis of this Pyramid.
_The description of the inside of the first Pyramid._
Having finish’d the description of the superficies of the greater
Pyramid, with the figure and dimensions of it, as they present themselves
to the view without; I shall now look inwards, and lead the reader into
the several spaces, and partitions within; of which if the ancients have
been silent, we must chiefly impute it to a reverend and awful regard,
mixed with superstition, in not presuming to enter those chambers of
death, which religion and devotion had consecrated to the rest and quiet
of the dead. Wherefore _Herodotus_ mentions no more, but only in general,
‘That some secret vaults are hewn in the rock under the Pyramid.’
_Diodorus Siculus_ is silent, though both enlarge themselves in other
particulars less necessary. _Strabo_ is also very concise, whose whole
description both of this and the second Pyramid is included in this
short expression: ‘Forty stadia, or furlongs, from the city _Memphis_,
there is a certain brow of an hill, in which are many Pyramids, the
sepulchres of Kings, three of them are memorable, two of these are
accounted amongst the seven miracles of the world; each of these are a
furlong in height; the figure is quadrilateral, the altitude somewhat
exceeds each side, and the one is somewhat bigger than the other. On
high, as it were in the midst, between the sides, there is a stone that
may be removed, which being taken out, there is an oblique, or shelving,
entrance, for so I render that which by him is termed σῦριγξ σκολία
leading to the tomb.’ _Pliny_ expresses nothing within, but only a well,
(which is still extant) of 86 cubits in depth, to which he probably
imagines, by some secret aqueduct, the water of the _Nile_ to be brought.
_Aristides_ in his oration entituled Αἰγύπτιος, upon a misinformation of
the _Egyptian_ Priests, makes the foundation of the structure to have
descended as far below, as the altitude ascends above. Of which I see
no necessity, seeing all of them are founded upon rocks; his words are
these: ‘Now as with admiration we behold the tops of the Pyramids, but
that which is as much more under ground opposite to it, we are ignorant
of, I speak of what I have received from the Priests.’ And this is that
which hath been delivered to us by the ancients, which I was unwilling to
pretermit, more out of reverence of antiquity, than out of any special
satisfaction. The _Arabian_ writers, especially such as have purposely
treated of the wonders of _Egypt_, have given us a more full description
of what is within these Pyramids; but that hath been mix’d with so many
inventions of their own, that the truth hath been darkn’d, and almost
quite extinguish’d by them. Which traditions of theirs are little better
than a _Romance_; and therefore leaving these, I shall give a more true
and particular description out of my own experience and observations.
On the north side ascending thirty eight feet, upon an artificial bank
of earth, there is a square and narrow passage leading into the Pyramid,
through the mouth of which (being equidistant from the two sides of the
Pyramid) we enter as it were down the steep of an hill, declining with
an angle of twenty six degrees. The breadth of this entrance is exactly
three feet, and 463 parts of 1000 of the English foot; the length of it
beginning from the first declivity, which is some ten palms without, to
the utmost extremity of the neck, or streight within, where it contracts
it self almost nine feet continued, with scarce half the depth it had at
the first entrance, (though it keep still the same breadth) is ninety
two feet and an half. The structure of it hath been the labour of an
exquisite hand, as appears by the smoothness and evenness of the work,
and by the close knitting of the joints; a property long since observed,
and commended by _Diodorus_, to have run through the fabric of the whole
body of this Pyramid. Having passed with tapers in our hands this narrow
streight; though with some difficulty (for at the farther end of it we
must Serpent-like creep upon our bellies) we land in a place somewhat
larger, and of a pretty height, but lying incomposed: Having been dug
away, either by the curiosity or avarice of some, in hope to discover an
hidden treasure; or rather by the command of _Almamon_, the deservedly
renowned Calife of _Babylon_. By whomsoever it were, it is not worth the
enquiry, nor doth the place merit describing, but that I was unwilling
to pretermit any thing, being only an habitation for batts, and those
so ugly, and of so large a size, (exceeding a foot in length) that I
have not elsewhere seen the like. The length of this obscure and broken
space containeth eighty nine feet, the breadth and height is various,
and not worth consideration. On the left hand of this, adjoining to that
narrow entrance through which we passed, we climb up a steep and massy
stone, eight or nine feet in height, where we immediately enter upon
the lower end of the first gallery. The pavement of this rises with a
gentle acclivity, consisting of smooth and polish’d marble, and where
not smeared with dust and filth, appearing of a white and alabaster
colour; the sides and roof, as _Titus Livius Burretinus_, a _Venetian_,
an ingenious young man, who accompanied me thither, observed, was of
impolish’d stone, not so hard and compact as that on the pavement, but
more soft and tender; the breadth almost five feet, and about the same
quantity the height, if he have not mistaken. He likewise discovered some
irregularity in the breadth, it opening a little wider in some places
than in others; but this inequality could not be discerned by the eye,
but only by measuring it with a careful Hand. By my observation with a
line, this gallery contained in length an hundred and ten feet. At the
end of this begins the second gallery, a very stately piece of work, and
not inferiour, either in respect of the curiosity of art, or richness
of materials, to the most sumptuous and magnificent buildings. It is
divided from the former by a wall, through which stooping, we passed in
a square hole, much about the same bigness as that by which we entred
into the Pyramid but of no considerable length. This narrow passage lieth
level, not rising with an acclivity, as doth the pavement below and roof
above of both these galleries. At the end of it, on the right hand, is
the well mentioned by _Pliny_, the which is circular, and not square, as
the _Arabian_ writers describe: The diameter of it exceeds three feet,
the sides are lined with white marble, and the descent into it is by
fastening the hands and feet, in little open spaces, cut in the sides
within, opposite and answerable to one another in a perpendicular. In
the same manner are almost all the wells and passages into the cisterns
at _Alexandria_ contrived, without stairs or windings, but only with
inlets and square holes on each side within, by which, using the feet
and hands, one may with care descend. Many of these cisterns are with
open and double arches, the lowermost arch being supported by a row of
speckled and _Thebaic_ marble pillars, upon the top of which stands a
second row, bearing the upper and higher arch: The walls within are
covered with a sort of plaister for the colour white, but of so durable a
substance, that neither by time, nor by the water is it yet corrupted and
impaired. But I return from the cisterns and wells there to this in the
Pyramid, which in _Pliny_’s calculation is eighty six cubits in depth,
and it may be was the passage to those secret vaults mentioned, but not
described by _Herodotus_, that were hewn out of the natural rock, over
which this Pyramid is erected. By my measure sounding it with a line,
it contains twenty feet in depth. The reason of the difference between
_Pliny_’s observation and mine, I suppose to be this, that since his time
it hath almost been dammed up, and choaked with rubbage, which I plainly
discovered at the bottom, by throwing down some combustible matter set on
fire. Leaving the well, and going on strait upon a level, the distance
of fifteen feet, we entered another square passage, opening against
the former, and of the same bigness. The stones are very massy, and
exquisitely jointed, I know not whether of that glistering and speckled
marble I mentioned in the columns of the cisterns at _Alexandria_. This
leadeth (running in length upon a level an hundred and ten feet) into an
arched vault or little chamber, which by reason it was of a grave-like
smell, and half full of rubbage, occasion’d my lesser stay. This chamber
stands east and west; the length of it is less than twenty feet, the
breadth about seventeen, and the height less than fifteen. The walls are
entire, and plaister’d over with lime; the roof is covered with large
smooth stones, not lying flat, but shelving and meeting above in a kind
of arch, or rather an angle. On the east side of this room, in the middle
of it, there seems to have been a passage leading to some other place,
whither this way the Priests went into the hollow of that huge _Sphynx_,
as _Strabo_ and _Pliny_ term it, or _Androsphynx_, as _Herodotus_ calls
such kinds (being by _Pliny_’s calculation 102 feet in compass about
the head, in height 62, in length 143, and by my observation made of
one entire stone) which stands not far distant without the Pyramid,
south-east of it, or into any other private retirement, I cannot
determine; and it may be too this served for no such purpose, but rather
as a _Theca_ or _Nicchio_, as the _Italians_ speak, wherein some idol
might be placed; or else for a piece of ornament (for it is made of
polish’d stone) in the Architecture of those times, which ours may no
more understand than they do the reason of the rest of those strange
proportions that appear, in the passages and inner rooms of this Pyramid.
Returning back the same way we came, as soon as we are out of this narrow
and square passage, we climb over it, and going straight on, in the
trace of the second gallery, upon a shelving pavement (like that of the
first) rising with an angle of twenty six degrees, we at length come to
another partition. The length of the gallery from the well below to this
partition above, is an hundred fifty and four feet; but if we measure
the pavement of the floor, it is somewhat less, by reason of a little
vacuity (some fifteen feet in length) as we described before, between
the well and the square hole we climbed over. And here to re-assume some
part of that, which hath been spoken, if we consider the narrow entrance
at the mouth of the Pyramid, by which we descend, and the length of the
first and second galleries, by which we ascend, all of them lying as
it were in the same continued line, and leading to the middle of the
Pyramid, we may easily apprehend a reason of that strange eccho within,
of four or five voices, mentioned by _Plutarch_, in his fourth book _De
placitis philosophorum_; or rather of a long continued sound, as I found
by experience, discharging a musquet at the entrance; for the sound being
shut in, and carried in those close and smooth passages, like as in so
many pipes or trunks, finding no issue out, reflects upon it self, and
causes a confused noise and circulation of the air, which by degrees
vanishes, as the motion of it ceases. This gallery or _Corridore_, or
whatsoever else I may call it, is built of white and polish’d marble, the
which is very evenly cut in spacious squares or tables. Of such materials
as is the pavement, such is the roof, and such are the side-walls that
flank it; the co-agmentation, or knitting of the joints is so close,
that they are scarce discernable by a curious eye; and that which adds
a grace to the whole structure, though it makes the passage the more
slippery and difficult, is the acclivity and rising of the ascent. The
height of this gallery is 26 feet, the breadth is 6 feet, and 870 parts
of the foot divided into a thousand of which three feet, and 435 of 1000
parts of a foot, are to be allowed for the way, in the midst; which is
set, and bounded on both sides with two banks (like benches) of sleek
and polish’d stone; each of these hath one foot 717 of 1000 parts of a
foot in breadth, and as much in depth. Upon the top of these benches near
the angle, where they close, and join with the wall, are little spaces,
cut in right angled parallel figures, set on each side opposite to one
another, intended, no question, for some other end than ornament. In
the casting and ranging of the marbles in both the side-walls, there is
one piece of Architecture, in my judgment very graceful, and that is,
that all the courses or ranges, which are but seven, (so great are those
stones) do set and flag over one another about three inches, the bottom
of the uppermost course oversetting the higher part of the second, and
the lower part of this overflagging the top of the third, and so in order
the rest, as they descend.
Having passed this gallery, we enter another square hole, of the same
dimensions with the former, which brings us into two _Anticamerette_, as
the _Italians_ would call them, or _Anticlosets_, (give me leave in so
unusual a structure to frame some unusual terms) lined with a rich and
speckled kind of _Thebaic_ marble. The first of these hath the dimensions
almost equal to the second; the second is thus proportioned, the Area is
level, the figure of it is oblong, the one side containing seven feet,
the other three and an half, the height is ten feet. On the east and west
sides, within two feet and an half of the top, which is somewhat larger
than the bottom, are three cavities, or little seats, in this manner,
[Illustration]
This inner _Anticloset_ is separated from the former, by a stone of red
speckled marble, which hangs in two mortices, like the leaf of a sluce,
between two walls, more than three feet above the pavement, and wanting
two of the roof. Out of this closet we enter another square hole, over
which are five lines cut parallel and perpendicular.
Besides these, I have not observed any other sculptures or engravings in
the whole Pyramid, and therefore it may justly be wondered whence the
_Arabians_ borrowed those vain traditions I before related, _That all
Sciences are inscribed within in Hieroglyphics_. And as justly it may be
questioned, upon what authority _Dio_, or his epitomizer _Xiphilinus_,
reports that _Cornelius Gallus_ (whom _Strabo_ more truly names _Ælius
Gallus_, with whom he travelled into _Egypt_, as a friend and companion)
_ingraved in the Pyramids his victories_, unless we understand some other
Pyramids not now existent. This square passage is of the same wideness
and dimensions as the rest, and is in length near nine feet, (being all
of _Thebaic_ marble, most exquisitely cut) which lands us at the north
end of a very sumptuous and well proportion’d room. The distance from the
end of the second gallery to this entry, running upon the same level,
is twenty four feet. This rich and spacious chamber, in which art may
seem to have contended with nature, the curious work being not inferiour
to the rich materials, stands as it were in the heart and center of the
Pyramid, equidistant from all the sides, and almost in the midst between
the basis and the top. The floor, the sides, the roof of it are all made
of vast and exquisite tables of _Thebaic_ marble, which if they were not
vailed, and obscured by the steam of tapers, would appear glittering and
shining. From the top of it descending to the bottom, there are but six
ranges of stone, all which being respectively sized to an equal height,
very gracefully in one and the same altitude, run round the room. The
stones which cover this place are of a strange and stupendious length,
like so many huge beams lying flat, and traversing the room, and withal
supporting the infinite mass and weight of the Pyramid above. Of these
there are nine which cover the roof, two of them are less by half in
breadth than the rest, the one at the east end, the other at the west.
The length of this chamber[21] on the south-side, most accurately taken
at the joint or line, where the first and second row of stones meet, is
thirty four _English_ feet, and 300 and 80 parts of the foot divided into
a thousand (that is 34 feet and 380 of 1000 parts of a foot). The breadth
of the west side at the joint or line, where the first and second row of
stones meet, is seventeen feet, and an hundred and ninety parts of the
foot divided into a thousand (that is 17 feet, and 190 of 1000 parts of a
foot). The height is nineteen feet and an half.
Within this glorious room (for so I may justly call it) as within some
consecrated oratory, stands the monument of _Cheops_, or _Chemnis_,
of one piece of marble, hollow within, and uncovered at the top, and
sounding like a bell. Which I mention not as any rarity, either in
nature or in art; (for I have observed the like sound in other tombs
of marble[22] cut hollow like this) but because I find modern authors
to take notice of it as a wonder. Some write, that the body hath been
removed hence, whereas _Diodorus_ hath left above sixteen hundred years
since, a memorable passage concerning _Chemnis_ the builder of this
Pyramid, and _Cephren_ the founder of the next adjoining. ‘Although
(_saith he_) these Kings intended these for their sepulchres, yet it
happened that neither of them were buried there: For the people being
exasperated against them, by reason of the toilsomness of these works,
and for their cruelty and oppression, threatened to tear in pieces their
dead bodies, and with ignominy to throw them out of their sepulchres.
Wherefore both of them dying, commanded their friends privately to bury
them in an obscure place.’ This monument, in respect of the nature
and quality of the stone, is the same with which the whole room is
lined; as by breaking a little fragment of it I plainly discover’d,
being a speckled kind of marble, with black, and white, and red spots,
as it were equally mix’d, which some writers call _Thebaic_ marble;
though I conceive it to be that sort of porphyry which _Pliny_ calls
_Leucostictos_, and describes thus: _Rubet Porphyrites in eadem Egypto,
ex eo candidis intervenientibus punctis Leucostictos appellatur.
Quantislibet molibus cædendis sufficiunt lapidicinæ[23]._ Of this kind
of marble there were, and still are, an infinite quantity of columns
in _Egypt_; but a _Venetian_, a man very curious, who accompanied me
thither, imagined that this sort of marble came from mount _Sinai_[24],
where he had lived amongst the rocks, which he affirmed to be speckled
with party colours, of black and white, and red, like this. And to
confirm his Assertion, he alledged, that he had seen a great column left
imperfect amongst the cliffs, almost as big as that huge and admirable
_Corinthian_ pillar[25] standing to the south of _Alexandria_, which by
my measure is near four times as big as any of those vast _Corinthian_
pillars in the _Porticus_ before the _Pantheon_ at _Rome_, all which
are of the same coloured marble with this monument, and so are all the
obelisks with hieroglyphics, both in _Rome_ and _Alexandria_. Which
opinion of his doth well correspond with the tradition of _Aristides_,
who reports, that in _Arabia_ there is a quarry of excellent porphyry.
The figure of this tomb without is like an altar, or more nearly to
express it, like two cubes finely set together and hollowed within: It
is cut smooth and plain, without any sculpture and engraving, or any
relevy and imbossment. The exteriour superficies of it contains in length
seven feet three inches and an half. _Bellonius_ makes it twelve feet,
and Monsieur _de Breves_ nine; but both of them have exceeded. In depth
it is three feet three inches and three quarters, and is the same in
breadth. The hollow part within is in length, on the west side, six feet
and four hundred eighty eight parts of the _English_ foot divided into a
thousand parts, that is[26] 6 feet and 488 of 1000 parts of a foot, in
breadth, at the north end two feet, and two hundred and eighteen parts
of the foot divided into a thousand parts, (that is[27] 2 feet, and 218
of 1000 parts of a foot.) The depth is 2 feet and 860 of 1000 parts of
the _English_ foot. A narrow space, yet large enough to contain a most
potent and dreadful monarch, being dead, to whom living all _Egypt_ was
too straight and narrow a circuit. By these dimensions, and by such other
observations, as have been taken by me from several embalmed bodies in
_Egypt_, we may conclude, that there is no decay in nature; (though the
question is as old as _Homer_) but that the men of this age are of the
same feature, they were near three thousand years ago; notwithstanding St
_Augustine_ and others are of a different opinion, _Quis jam ævo isto non
minor suis parentibus nascitur?_ Saith _Solinus_.
It may justly be questioned how this monument could be brought hither,
since it is an impossibility that by those narrow passages before
described, it should have entered. Wherefore we must imagine, that by
some _Machina_ it was raised, and conveyed up without, before this
oratory or chamber was finished, and the roof closed. The position of it
is thus, it stands exactly in the _Meridian_, north and south, and is as
it were equidistant from all sides of the chamber, except the east, from
whence it is doubly remoter than from the west. Under it I found a little
hollow space to have been dug away, and a large stone in the pavement
removed, at the angle next adjoining to it; which _Sands_ erroneously
imagines to be a passage into some other compartiment, dug away, no
doubt, by the avarice of some, who might not improbably conjecture an
hidden treasure to be reposited there.
The ingenious reader will excuse my curiosity, if before I conclude my
description of this Pyramid, I pretermit not any thing within, of how
light a consequence soever. This made me take notice of two inlets or
spaces, in the south and north sides of this chamber, just opposite to
one another; that on the north was in breadth 700 of 1000 parts of the
_English_ foot, in depth 400 of 1000 parts; evenly cut, and running in a
straight line six feet, and farther, into the thickness of the wall. That
on the south is larger and somewhat round, not so long as the former; and
by the blackness within seems to have been a receptacle for the burning
of lamps. _T. Livius Burretinus_ would gladly have believed that it had
been an hearth for one of those eternal lamps, such as have been found
in _Tulliola_’s tomb in _Italy_, and, if _Cambden_ be not misinformed in
_England_, dedicated to the urns and ashes of the dead; but I imagine the
invention not to be so ancient as this Pyramid.
_A description of the second Pyramid._
From this Pyramid we went to the second, being scarce distant the flight
of an arrow from it; where by the way, I observed on the west side of
the first, the ruins of a pile of building, all of square and polished
stone; such as _Pliny_ calls _Basaltes_, and describes to be _ferrei
coloris, & duritiæ_;—_of an iron colour and hardness_. Formerly it
may be some habitation of the Priests, or some monument of the dead.
To the right hand of this, tending to the south, stands this second
Pyramid, of which besides the miracle, the ancient and modern writers
have delivered little. _Herodotus_ relates, that _Cephron_, in imitation
of his brother _Cheops_, built this, but that he fell short in respect
of the magnitude. _For_ (saith he) _we have measured them._ It were to
be wished, for fuller satisfaction of the reader, he had expressed the
quantity, and also the manner how he took his measure. He adds, _It
hath no subterraneous structures, neither is the ~Nilus~ by a channel
derived into it, as in the former_. _Diodorus_ somewhat more particularly
describes it thus: That _for the architecture, it is like unto the
former, but much inferior to it in respect of magnitude: Each side of the
basis contains a ~Stadium~ in length._ That is, to comment on his words,
of _Grecian_ feet, six hundred; of _Roman_, six hundred and twenty-five.
So that by this computation, each side should want an hundred _Grecian_
feet of the former Pyramid. _Pliny_ makes the difference to be greater,
for assigning eight hundred eighty-three feet to the former, he allows
to the side of the basis of this, but seven hundred thirty-seven. By
my observation, the stones are of colour, white, nothing so great and
large, as those of the first and fairest Pyramid; the sides rise not with
degrees like that, but are smooth and equal, the whole fabrick (except
where it is opposed to the south) seeming very entire, free from any
deformed ruptures or breaches. The height of it, taken by as deliberate
a conjecture as I could make (which it was easy to do, by reason of the
nearness of this and the former, being both upon the same plain) is not
inferior to it; and therefore _Strabo_ hath rightly judged them to be
equal. The sides also of the basis of both are alike, as, besides the
authority of _Strabo_, the _Venetian_ doctor assured me, who measured it
with a line.
There is no entry leading into it, and therefore what may be within,
whether such spaces and compartments, as I observed in the former;
or whether different, or none, I must leave to every man’s private
conjecture, and to the discovery of after-times.
This is bounded on the north and west sides, with two very stately and
elaborate pieces, which I do not so much admire, as that by all writers
they have been pretermitted. About thirty feet in depth, and more than a
thousand and four hundred in length, out of the hard rock these buildings
have been cut in a perpendicular, and squared by the chessel, as I
suppose, for lodgings of the Priests. They run along at a convenient
distance, parallel to the two sides we mentioned of this Pyramid, meeting
in a right angle, and making a very fair and graceful prospect. The
entrance into them is by square openings, hewn out of the rock, much of
the same bigness with those I described in the first Pyramid. Whether
these were symbolical, as the theology of the _Egyptians_ consisted much
in mysterious figures, and the depressure and lownes of these were to
teach the Priests humility, and the squareness and evenness of them, an
uniform and regular department in their actions, I leave to such as have
written of their Hieroglyphics to determine. The hollow space within of
them all, is somewhat like to a square and well proportioned chamber,
covered and arched above with the natural rock: In most of which, as
I remember, there was a passage opening into some other compartment,
which the rubbage and darkness hindered me from viewing. On the north
side without, I observed a line, and only one, engraven with sacred
and _Egyptian_ characters, such as are mentioned by _Herodotus_ and
_Diodorus_, to have been used by the Priests, and were different from
the vulgar characters in civil affairs: In which former kind _Justin
Martyr_ makes _Moses_ to have been skilful, as the Scripture makes him
to have been learned in all the wisdom of the _Egyptians_. These ran not
downwards, as the _Chinese_ in our times write, but were continued in a
straight line, as we use to write; and are to be read (if any understand
those mysterious sculptures) by proceeding from the right hand to the
left, and, as it were imitating the motion and course of the planets: For
so _Herodotus_ expressly informs us, That the _Grecians_ write and cast
account, going from the left hand to the right, the _Egyptians_ from the
right hand to the left. And this is that which in an obscure expression
is also intimated by _Pomponius Mela_: _Egyptii suis literis perverse
utuntur._ A manner practised by the _Hebrews_, _Chaldeans_, and _Syrians_
to this day, and not unlikely to have been borrowed by them from the
_Egyptians_, to whom the _Chaldeans_ also owed their first skill in
astrology, as the _Grecians_ did their knowledge in geometry, the former
being attested by _Diodorus_, and the latter confessed by _Proclus_ and
other _Grecians_. And surely in imitation of these, or of the _Jews_, the
_Arabians_ neighbouring upon both, have taken up this manner of writing,
and continued it to our times, communicating it also by their conquests,
to the _Persians_ and _Turks_.
[Illustration]
_A description of the third Pyramid out of Mr ~Belon~ and ~Greaves~._
Amongst many modern writers, none deserves to be placed before
_Bellonius_, or rather before _P. Gillius_. For _Thuanus_ makes the
other to have been a _plagiarius_, and to have published in his own name
the observations of _P. Gillius_, a man very curious, and inquisitive
after truth, as appears by his _Typography_ of _Constantinople_, and his
_Bosphorus Thracius_, to whom _Bellonius_ served as an _Amanuensis_:
‘The third Pyramid is much less than the former two, but is a third part
greater than that which is at _Rome_, near the _Mons testaceus_, as you
pass to St _Paul_’s in the _Ostian_ way. It is still perfect, and no more
corrupted, than as if it had been newly built; for it is made of a kind
of marble, called _Basaltes_, or _Ethiopic_ marble, harder than iron
itself.’
It will be in vain to repeat the traditions and descriptions of
several others; all which by a kind of confederacy agree in the same
tale for substance, only differing in some circumstances: So that I
shrewdly suspect that _Diodorus_ hath borrowed most of his relation
from _Herodotus_; and _Strabo_ and _Pliny_ from _Diodorus_, or from
them both; and the more learned Neoterics from them all. For else how
can it be imagined they should so constantly agree in that, which if
my eyes and memory extreamly fail me not, is most evidently false? And
therefore I have a strong jealousy, that they never came near this
third Pyramid; but that they did, as I have observed all travellers in
my time in _Egypt_ to do, fill themselves so full, and, as it were, to
surfeit with the sight of the greater and fairer Pyramid, that they had
no appetite to be spectators of the rest, where they should only see the
same miracle, for the Pyramids are all of the same figure, the farther
they went, decreasing, and presented as it were in a less volume. Or if
they did view this, it was _quasi per transennam_, very perfunctorily
and slightly, and that through a false and coloured glass; for they have
mistaken both in the quality of the stone and colour of the Pyramid. I
begin with _Herodotus_, who, by a notable piece of forgetfulness, if it
be not a σφάλμα in the copies, makes the dimensions of each of the sides,
in the basis of this, to be three hundred feet, and yet want but twenty
of the first Pyramid, to which he assigns before eight hundred feet; an
impossibility in arithmetic; and therefore it will be no preemption to
correct the place, and instead of ἐείκοσι ποδῶν καταδέουσαν, to write,
πεντεκοσίων ποδῶν καταδέουσαν. I know not how to palliate or excuse his
other error, where he makes this Pyramid to be built as far as to the
middle of it, with _Ethiopic_ marble. If this sort of marble be _ferrei
coloris_, as it is described by _Pliny_, and granted by _Diodorus_ and
_Strabo_, both of them expressing the colour to be black, and the latter
bringing it from the remotest mountains of _Ethiopia_, where the marble
hath the same tincture and colour with the inhabitants, then can this
relation of _Herodotus_ no way to be admitted; for the whole Pyramid
seems to be of clear and white stone, somewhat choicer and brighter
than that in either of the two other Pyramids. And therefore I wonder
that _Diodorus_, _Strabo_, and _Pliny_, and amongst later authors,
_Bellonius_, _Gillius_, and several others, should have all followed
_Herodotus_, when with a little pains and circumspection, they might have
reformed his, and their own error. It may perhaps be alledged in their
defence, that they mean the buildings within are erected with black and
_Ethiopic_ marble; and yet if this be granted, since there is no entrance
leading into this, no more than is into the second Pyramid, what may be
within depends upon the uncertainty of tradition or conjecture, both
which are very fallible; though it cannot be denied, but that close by
this, on the east side of it, there are the ruins of a pile of building,
with a sad and dusky colour, much like that we described in passing to
the second Pyramid, which might be the ground and occasion of this
error. I cannot excuse the ancients, but _Bellonius_ or _Gillius_, for
it is no matter which of them owns the relation, when both of them have
erred, are far more inexcusable, because it might have been expected from
them what _Livy_ supposes, _Novi semper scriptores, aut in rebus certius
aliquid allaturos se, aut scribendi arte rudem vetustatem superaturos
credunt_. Whereas these on the contrary have depraved what hath been
in this particular with truth delivered by the ancients; for whereas
_Herodotus_ and _Diodorus_ equal the side of the basis to three hundred
feet, and _Pliny_ extends it to three hundred sixty-three, these make it
only a third part greater than the Pyramid at _Rome_ of _C. Cæstius_,
near the _Mons testaceus_. So that either they have much enlarged that
at _Rome_, or shrunk and contracted this; for the Pyramid at _Rome_,
exactly measured on that side which stands within the city, is compleatly
seventy-eight feet _English_ in breadth, to which if we add a third part
of it, the result will be an hundred and four; which should be equal to
this _Egyptian_ Pyramid in the notion and acception of _Bellonius_.
_Of the rest of the Pyramids in the ~Lybian~ desart._
I have done with these three Pyramids, each of them being very
remarkable, and the two first reckoned amongst the miracles of the
world. The rest in the _Lybian_ desart, lying scattered here and there,
are, excepting one of them, but lesser copies, and, as it were, models
of these: And therefore I shall neither much trouble my self, nor the
reader, with the description of them. Though to speak the truth, did
not the three first, standing so near together, obscure the lustre of
the rest, which lie far scattered, some of them were very considerable.
And therefore I cannot but tax the omission of the ancients, and the
inadvertency of all modern writers and travellers, who with too much
supineness have neglected the description of one of them; which in my
judgment is as worthy of memory, and as near a miracle as any of those
three which I have mentioned. And this stands from these south and by
west, at twenty miles distance, more within the sandy desart, upon a
rocky level like these, and not far from the village whence we enter
the Mummies. This as the _Venetian_ doctor assured me, and as I could
judge by conjecture at a distance, hath the same dimensions that the
first and fairest of these hath, graduations, or assents without, and of
the same colour like that, but more decayed, especially at the top, and
an entrance into it on the north side, which is barred up within; and
therefore whatsoever is spoken of the first, in respect of the exterior
figure, is applicable to this. _Bellonius_ exceeds in his computation of
the number of them, who thus writes: _Above an hundred others are seen
dispersed up and down in that plain._ I could not discover twenty. And
long since, _Ion Almatoug_, in his book of the _Miracles of ~Egypt~_,
reckons them to be but eighteen: _There are in the west side no more
famous buildings than the Pyramids, the number of them is eighteen; of
these there are three in that part which is opposite to ~Fostat~, or
~Cairo~._
[Illustration]
_In what manner the Pyramids were built._
We had ended our discourse of the Pyramids, but that I find one scruple
touched upon by _Herodotus_, _Diodorus_, and _Pliny_, which is worth
the discussion as a point of some concernment in architecture; and
that is, in what manner these Pyramids were built; and with what art
and contrivance the stones, especially those vast ones in the first
were conveyed up. _Herodotus_, who first raised the doubt, gives this
solution: ‘They carried up the rest of the stones with little engines
made of wood, raising them from the ground upon the first row: When the
stone was lodged upon this row, it was put into another engine, standing
upon the first step, from thence it was conveyed to the second row by
another: For so many rows and orders of steps as there were, so many
engines were there; or else they removed the engine, which was one, and
easy to be carried to every particular row, as often as they moved a
stone. We will relate that which is spoken of either part; therefore
those in the Pyramid were first made, which were the highest, then by
degrees the rest, last of all, those which are nearest to the ground,
and are the lowest.’ The first part of this solution of _Herodotus_ is
full of difficulty. How in the erecting and placing of so many machines,
charged with such massy stones, and those continually passing over the
lower degrees, could it be avoided, but that they must either unsettle
them, or in danger the breaking of some portions of them; which mutually
would have been like scars in the face of so magnificent a building? His
second answer is the sounder; but I conceive the text to be imperfect.
_Diodorus_ hath another fancy: ‘The stones, (saith he) at a great
distance off were prepared in _Arabia_, and they report, that by the help
of _Aggeres_ (engines not being then invented) the work was erected. And
that which begets the greatest admiration is, that so vast a structure
was perfected in that place, which is all about replenished with sand,
where there appears not any relics, either of the _Aggeres_, or of the
hewing and polishing of the stones; so that it seems not piecemeal by
the industry of men, but altogether, and at once, the whole pile, as it
were by some God, was erected in the midst of the sands. Some of the
_Egyptians_ relate wonders of it, and endeavour to obtrude I know not
what fables; namely, That these _Aggeres_ consisting of salt and nitre,
were dissolved by letting in the river, which wholly consumed them
without the labour of hands, leaving this structure entire. But the truth
of the business is not so, but that those multitudes of men which were
employed in raising the _Aggeres_, carried them away unto their former
places: For, as they report three hundred and sixty thousand men were
employed in these offices, and the whole work was scarce finished in the
space of twenty years.’ _Pliny_ partly agrees with him, and partly gives
another answer, _the question is, by what means the cement is conveyed up
to such a height_ (he rather might question how those vast stones were
conveyed up,) _some say, that banks of nitre and salt were made up as
the work rose, which being finished, they were washed away by the river
~Nilus~. Others imagine that bridges were made with brick; which, the work
being ended, were distributed into private houses: for they conceive that
the ~Nilus~ being much lower, could not come to wash them away._ If I
may assume the liberty of a traveller, I imagine that they were erected,
neither as _Herodotus_ describes, nor as _Diodorus_ reports, nor as
_Pliny_ relates, but that first they made a large and spacious tower in
the midst reaching to the top; to the sides of this tower, I conceive,
the rest of the building to have been applied, piece after piece, like so
many buttresses or supporters, still lessening in height, till at last
they came to the lower-most degree. A difficult piece of building taken
in the best, and easiest projection; and therefore it is no wonder if
it were not often imitated by the ancients, and no where expressed or
commended by the great Master of architecture _Vitruvius_. Yet surely if
we judge of things by the events, and if we reflect upon the intention of
monuments, which are raised by the living, to perpetuate the memory of
the dead, then is this as commendable a way as any. And therefore we see
at _Rome_, that though by the revolution of so many ages the _Mausoleum_
of _Augustus_ be almost decayed, and the _Septizonium_ of _Severus_ be
utterly lost, both intended for lasting and stately sepulchres, yet the
Pyramid of _C. Cæstius_ stands fair and almost entire; which is no more
to be compared, either for the vastness of the stones or the whole bulk
and fabric of it, with these, than are the limbs and body of a dwarf to
the demensions of a giant, or some large _Colossus_.
I have done with the work, but the Artizans deserve not to be
pretremitted; concerning whom the observation of _Diodorus_ is as
true, as it is boldly delivered by him. ‘It is confessed, that these
works, (speaking of the Pyramids) far excel the rest in _Ægypt_, not
only in the massiness of the structures, and in the expences, but also
in the industry (and skill) of the artificers.’ The _Egyptians_ think
the Architects are more to be admired than the Kings, who were at the
expence; for they by their abilities and study, these by their wealth
received by inheritance, and by the labours of others erected them.
_The Conclusion._
And thus much of the _Sciography_, or of the artificial and
architectonical part; I shall shut up all with one observation in nature
for the recreation of the reader, recited by _Strabo_ in these words. ‘We
ought not to omit one of the strange things seen by us at the Pyramids:
Some heaps of stone, being fragments hewn off, lie before the Pyramids,
amongst these are found little stones, some in the similitude and bigness
of lentils, some as grains of barley, which appear half unscaled; They
report these are some relics of the provisions, which were given to the
workmen, and have been petrified; which seems probable enough.’
These, if they were ever any such, are either consumed by time, or
scattered by the winds, or buried with those tempests of sand, to which
the desarts are perpetually exposed: But _Diodorus_, who not long
preceded him, was not so curious as to deliver this relation. And were
not _Strabo_ a writer of much gravity and judgment, I should suspect
that these petrified grains (though I know such petrefactions to be
no impossibility in nature; for I have seen at _Venice_ the bones and
flesh of a man, and the whole head entirely transmuted into stone; and
at _Rome_ clear conduit water, by long standing in Aqueducts, hath been
turned into perfect alabaster) are like those loafs of bread, which
are reported to be found by the Red Sea converted into stone, and by
the inhabitants supposed to be some of the bread the _Israelites_ left
behind them, when they passed over for fear of _Pharoah_. They are sold
at Grand _Cairo_, handsomely made up in the manner of the bread of these
times, which is enough to discover the imposture; for the Scripture
makes them to have been unleavened cakes: _And they baked unleavened
cakes of the dough which they brought fourth out of ~Egypt~._ Or else
_Strabo_’s relation may be like the tradition of the rising of dead mens
bones every year in _Egypt_[28]; a thing superstitiously believed by
the Christians and by the Priests, either out of ignorance or policy,
maintain’d as an argument of the resurrection. The possibility and truth
of it, _Metrophanes_, the Patriarch of _Alexandria_ thought, but very
illogically; might be proved out of the Prophet _Esaiah_: ‘And they shall
go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed
against me, for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be
quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.’
But I have digressed too far; the confutation of these, and the
description of the Mummies, or of the rest of the _Egyptian_ sepulchres,
for from thence comes the matter of this their supposed resurrection, and
that infinite mass and variety of hieroglyphics, which I have either seen
there, or bought or transcribed elsewhere, may be the argument of another
discourse[29].
[Illustration]
_Of the ~Pyramids~, ~Sphynx~, ~Mummies~, &c. By Father ~Vansleb~ and
others._
In my first voyage to _Egypt_ I had seen the Pyramids, but having another
opportunity offer’d to me, I went thither to view again these rare
monuments of antiquity, to see whether I might not observe something more
than I have taken notice of in my first relation.
On the 27th of _April_ I went thither in the company of the _French_
Consul and many other Merchants, and with almost all his houshold; we had
with us three Janizaries to guard us, so that we were in all about fifty
Cavaliers well mounted upon asses, taking with us provisions sufficient
for three days.
1. When we were come to the Pyramids, and had observed exactly every
thing, I took notice that the place where they stood was a burying-place.
This is plain to any that see the place; and doubtless it was the
burying-place of the old city of _Memphis_; for all the _Arabian_ history
inform us, that this city stood where the Pyramids now are, over-against
old _Cairo_.
2. I took notice, that all the Pyramids have an entrance that leads to
a low alley, which is very long, and at the end is a chamber, where the
ancient _Egyptians_ did place the bodies of those persons for whom the
Pyramids were built. This entrance is not to be seen in every one of the
Pyramids, because the wind hath stopt them with sand. I saw upon some of
them some Hierogliphic characters, but I had not time to write them out.
3. I took notice, that all the Pyramids were built in very good order;
and that each of the three greatest were at the head of ten lesser, which
are not well to be distinguish’d, because of the heaps of sand; one may
yet imagine, to see the place, that in former ages there have been here
one hundred Pyramids little and great.
4. I took notice, that they are all built upon an even rock cover’d
over with white sand; so that it is very probable that the stones have
been taken from the place, and not brought from far, as some travellers
imagine, and old writers, for the greatest is nothing but a rock cut as a
Pyramid, and cover’d over with a wall of stone.
5. I took notice, that of all the stones of the greatest there is scarce
one intire, but either worn out with the weather and time, or broken by
some other accident; so that tho’ one may ascend on all sides to the top,
yet not in all places with the same ease.
6. I have taken notice, that none of the Pyramids are alike, or perfectly
square, but that all have two sides longer than the others. I intended to
measure the greatest; for that purpose I had with me a string of about
thirty land-yards, but because the winds have heaped about it mountains
of sand, I could not possibly draw a line straight from one angle to the
other.
On the 28th of _December_ I went to see the Pyramids the third time with
some strangers. In our way we were mightily troubled with a very thick
mist, which lasted till ten in the morning; and we found a great deal of
mud in the trenches and ditches, which was not yet dry since the retreat
of the river, so that we were carry’d over upon the _Moors_ backs that
were with us.
At this time I went up to the top of the great Pyramid, and I observed
as at the first, that the place where the Pyramids stand is a pure rock,
cover’d over with white sand, which appears sufficiently by the ditches
and caves round about the Pyramids cut in the rock.
2. The rock is to be seen, upon which stands the greatest Pyramid, by a
hole at one of the angles, between the east and the north sides.
3. The Pyramids are not built with marble, as some say, but with a white
sandy stone very hard.
4. The greatest hath but two hundred and six steps; and tho’ Monsieur
_Thevenot_ saith that it hath two hundred and eight, this proceeds from
his not taking notice that two steps are broken into four.
5. On the top of the greatest Pyramid there was anciently a statue or
_Colosse_. This appears, because it is not sharp as the others but plain;
and there are yet to be seen great pits, which were to keep fast the
_Colosse_ from falling.
At present there is nothing on the top but many letters of the names of
persons of all nations, who have left them to witness that they had been
there. There is no sign of the play at _Manacala_, which a _Coptie_ told
me was there imprinted in the days of the _Pharaohs_.
6. The Stones of the biggest Pyramid are not equal, for some of the
undermost are four foot high, some three foot and an half, and five foot
long. The stones of the middle are three foot and five inches high, and
the uppermost stones are but two foot high, and three and an half long.
7. The sides of the Pyramids are not equal; for in the greatest it is
visible, and so in the others, that the north side is longer than that
which stretches from east to west.
8. In all the Pyramids there are very deep wells cut in the rock square;
as I have seen in more than ten.
On the 26th day of _June_ I went the fourth time to see the Pyramids, in
the company of Monsieur _Sabatery_ Vice-consul of _Alexandria_.
In the passage to old _Cairo_, on the other side of the river, I took
notice of one thing very remarkable in it’s channel; the water was
perfectly green, as a cake cover’d over with green grass. This was the
first time that I saw it of this colour; which caused me to ask of the
boatmen what this green colour was; they told me, that the river _Nilus_
did then putrify, that it had continued so fifteen days, and would be so
five more. Some of them said, that there was none could remember to have
seen the river so green as that year, 1672.
To return again to the Pyramids, I went up this time to the top of the
highest Pyramid, I entered into the chamber, but saw no new thing which
could cause me either to change or add to my former observation. It is
needless to speak of it’s dimensions, seeing so many travellers have
already publish’d them, as Monsieur _Thevenot_ in his _Levant_ travels.
From the Pyramids we went to take a view of the caves that are adjoining.
There are many, all cut in the side of a rock; their outsides are out of
order, without any proportion, but their inside very equal and polish’d.
In every one there is a deep square well, cut in the rock, where the
_Egyptians_ did put the body of that person for whom the cave was made;
for it was their sepulchre. The walls of many of these caves are full
of hieroglyphic figures carved in the rock. In some they are but small,
in others very lively. In one I numbered sixteen great figures, that
represented eight men and eight women, holding one another by the hands,
with many other small figures or shapes, on both sides.
The great Pyramid is five hundred and twenty foot high upon a base of six
hundred and eighty two foot square; the platform at top is sixteen foot
and two thirds square, and is composed of twelve large stones, yet this
from below appears to the eye a sharp point. A strong man cannot throw a
stone from the top, so as to make it fall beyond the steps or basis of
the Pyramid.
[Illustration]
_Of the SPHYNX._
We saw next the _Sphynx_, near the Pyramids, on the east side. On the top
stands the head of a woman of an extraordinary bigness and height. The
_Arabians_ call it _Abul-hon_, or _Abul-houl_.
_Pliny_ saith, that it was the tomb of King _Amasis_. I imagine that this
_Sphynx_ was a sepulchre, but we cannot understand that it belonged to
_Amasis_; for all the records and traditions of this _Sphynx_ are lost.
That it is a tomb may appear, first by it’s situation, which is in a
place that was in former ages a burying place; and near the Pyramids and
mortuary caves. Secondly, it is to be imagined that it was a sepulchre
from it’s building. In the hinder part is a cave under ground, of a
bigness answerable to that of the head, into which I have look’d by an
entrance that leads into it, so that it could serve to no other purpose,
but to keep a dead corps.
Some _Franks_ have, out of an excess of curiosity, climb’d up by the
means of rope-ladders, to see whether this head was hollow, or massy, and
they have found it to be hollow, but filled at present with sand.
The neck is worn out round about, which causeth men to imagine that it
will not be able to support the weight of that great head.
[Illustration]
_Of the wells where the ~Mummies~ are._
When we had fully view’d this _Sphynx_, we took the road that leads to
_Saccara_, a village, at four hours travelling from the Pyramids, and
about eight from _Cairo_ towards the south. The burying-place of the
Mummies is near adjoining to this village.
And because it was very late, and that we were to agree with the
_Arabians_ of the village about the price, the number and quality of
the wells that they were to open for us, we stopt there all night, and
the next morning we took with us twelve horsemen, to guard us, of the
_Arabians_; with them we went to this burying place, where the Mummies
are in caves under ground.
The first well that we saw was that of birds embalm’d; when we had
caused the sand that stops the well’s mouth to be removed, through which
we were to go down, and from thence to enter into the cave, we caused
ourselves to be let down one after another, by tying a double rope about
our middles. As soon as we were at the bottom, and that every one had
lighted his taper, and several matches that we had brought, we went into
the cave creeping upon our bellies. The cave is an alley in the rock,
about the height of a man, and about the breadth of a perch, and of an
extraordinary length. We found there many other allies on both hands, cut
in the rock, where were many large stores full of earthen pots, covered
over with coverings of the same substance. In these pots were embalm’d
birds of all kinds, every bird in it’s own pot. And as I thought that the
remembrance of a custom so ancient and superstitious was worthy of our
notice, I brought about half a dozen with me, some I have sent to the
King’s library. We found also some hens-eggs empty, but entire, without
any ill smell or crack.
When we had view’d sufficiently this cave, we returned up in the same
manner that we went down, and found another open’d, called the _Virgin_,
which is that was never opened before. According to our orders to the
_Arabians_, Monsieur _Tiger_ and the others went down in the same manner
as into the former, I alone could not follow them, because of a _quartan_
fever, which had troubled me fourteen months, and took me at that very
moment; but I lost nothing by that; for these gentlemen told me at their
return, that they found an horrid stench and a close air, that put out
their candles and their matches also, every time that they endeavour’d to
light them, which caused them to get up again without entring farther.
They told me that this well was much deeper than the former.
We caused another to be opened, which was not a Virgin-well, as the
former, because it was not so deep. I ventured into that, notwithstanding
my indisposition.
We found there two Mummies, a great one and a little one of a child, both
in coffins; the greatest was of marble, upon the covering it had the
likeness of the person for whom it was made. We caused these biers or
coffins to be open’d, but found nothing extraordinary, therefore we made
no account of them, and left them where we found them.
We went down next into a cave, call’d _The Church_, which was not so
deep as the former. It was nothing but a long alley under ground, well
plaistered, and painted all over with hieroglyphic figures round about
the sides. It was almost all full of sand, which caused us to creep along
upon our knees.
If the reader desires a prospect, and a description of this ancient
burying-place, let him think upon a boundless champain, even and covered
over with sand, where neither trees, nor grass, nor houses, nor any such
thing is to be seen; let him represent to himself the superficies of
this large field full of dry bones of arms, legs, feet, and heads; full
of scattered pieces of wood of coffins, of little idols, some of wood,
others of plaister embolish’d with green, and mark’d before and behind
with hieroglyphic letters. These idols the _Arabians_ have taken from
the broken Mummies, which they have cast away. In some places you may
see great tomb-stones, full of cyphers and enigmatical figures, that
represent something of chymistry, and of other sciences and mysteries,
and full of strange characters that are no Hieroglyphics. Whilst I was
looking upon this spectacle, the _Arabians_ brought me two, whereof I
caused the copies to be drawn as soon as I was returned to _Cairo_.
You have here a description of some relicts of the grandeur and vanity of
the ancient _Egyptians_, and the mournful signs of man’s mortality. The
first sight is able to dash a person newly arrived out of countenance,
and to affright him; I mean the sight of so many bones all scattered up
and down, one would think that here hath been a grievous fight.
In this champain or field here are fifteen Pyramids; three are of an
extraordinary bigness, which seem to have been favoured by time; for
they appear entire without much decay. Here is also an entrance into
every one, that shews a long alley which leads to a chamber; Monsieur _de
Tiger_ went into that which is farthest from the village, commonly named
_The Pyramid of Rodope_, where he found nothing in the chamber.
This Pyramid is built as a pavillion. The _Franks_ say, that _Rodope_,
a famous strumpet, caused it to be built with the money that she had
gotten with the loss of her honour. But this is doubtless an error, if it
be true what _Pliny_ saith, that the Pyramid of _Rodope_ was but small,
though very beautiful; therefore this, which is one of the greatest
in all _Egypt_, cannot be that of _Rodope_. These are the words of
_Pliny_: _Supremumque illud ne quis Regum opes miretur, minimam extitisse
laudatissimam à Rodope meretricula factam. Æsopi fabularum Philosophi
conserva quondam, & contubirnalis hæc fuit, majore miraculo tantas opes
meretricio esse conquisitas quæstu._
For the others that are in the same field, time hath almost worn them
out; for they are but so many heaps of sand, which have scarce the shape
and shadow of what they have been heretofore.
Here is also a square heap of very great hewn stones. The _Arabians_ name
it _Mastabet Faraoun_; for they say, that when the _Pharaohs_, Kings of
_Egypt_, were to declare and give a new law to the people, they stood on
the top of this heap. But these are the traditions of the poor _Arabians_
that have nothing of certainty.
To return to the wells of the Mummies; as soon as the _Franks_ have
visited any, the wind, or the _Arabians_ fill the entry again full of
sand, to get a little money at the second opening: This is the greatest
gain of these wretches. The least they take for to open a Virgin-well is
thirty piasters, because they that cause the well to be opened, have the
liberty to carry away all the curiosities and Mummies that he finds there.
[Illustration]
_A description of an entire body of a ~Mummy~._
This was a long and large body, in a very thick coffin of wood, shut
close on all sides; the timber was not at all rotten, and we found it
to be Sycamore-wood, which in _Egypt_ they call _Pharaoh_’s fig-tree,
that does not rot so soon as other wood. Upon the coffin the face of
him that was within it was cut in embossed work. Some coffins there are
also of stone, with the face of the person within, cut in boss, and
Hieroglyphics all along the length of it. There are two of these stones
in the house of Monsieur _Fouquet_ at St _Mande_, and I had two of them
also, of which one was broken at _Alexandria_, and the other, I brought
home with me very whole, which weighs betwixt seven and eight hundred
weight. Some of these coffins are made of several pieces of cloth pasted
together, which are as strong as the wooden ones. I have one of this
kind in my closet, made of above forty cloths glew’d or pasted together
in thickness, which are not in the least rotten; it is cover’d all over
with Idols and Hieroglyphics, painted on a very thin plaister, with
which the outside cloth is daub’d over, but it is a little spoil’d, the
plaister in some places being rubbed off. Among these figures there is a
compartment at the lower end, two inches broad, and a foot long, being
painted cross-ways over the coffin, wherein may be seen the manner how
the ancient _Egyptians_ embalm’d dead bodies. In the middle of this
compartment there is a long table shaped like a lion, on the back of
which the body that is to be embalm’d is laid at length, and hard by
there is a man with a knife in his hand opening the body; this man hath
on a vizard mask, shaped like the beak of a sparrow-hawk, which without
doubt was the custom of their embalmers, who made use of that kind of
mask, that they might not breathe in the corruption that might evaporate
from the death bodies, as the Physicians of _Italy_ do at present,
who in time of a plague never stir abroad without a mask of this kind,
in the long nose of which they put perfumes; though I make no doubt,
but the mask I speak of is the head of _Osiris_, which the _Egyptians_
represented with the head of a sparrow-hawk, as they did _Anubis_ with
the head of a dog, the _Nile_ with a lion’s head, _&c._ But as a surer
mark that it is an embalming, there are four vessels without handles
upon the aforesaid table, which could be nothing else but the vessels
wherein the necessary drugs were kept not only for embalming, as _Balm_,
_Cedria_, _&c._ but also for the wrapping up and incrustation of the
body, as _Bitumen_ and others; by the sides of the table there are
several persons standing and sitting in divers postures. Within this
coffin is the figure of a naked maid with her arms stretched out.
But to return to my first discourse. This wooden coffin I mention’d being
broken to pieces with hatchets, we found an entire body in it, which
lay in this manner: The face was cover’d, as commonly all the rest are,
with a kind of head-piece of cloth fitted with plaister, on which the
countenance of that person was represented in gold, and when we took off
the helmet, we found nothing of the face remaining, which is commonly
reduced to ashes; I believe it is, because it will not admit of gumming
so well as the other parts of the body. However, I brought to _Paris_
the head of a Mummy whole and entire, but it is all covered with fillets
of cloth, so neatly fitted, that they hinder not, but one may see the
shape of the eyes, nose, and mouth. The rest of the body was swathed with
little bands of cloth very neatly made, but wrapped about with so many
casts and turnings, that I believe there were a thousand ells in it;
and certainly it is so rare a way of swathing and binding, that I think
it cannot be imitated at present, as many Chirurgions have acknowledged
to me. Along the brest and belly there was a band of cloth three good
fingers broad, and a large foot and an half long, it was fastened to
the other bands, and upon it were several Hieroglyphics done in gold. I
took this writing and folded it up, that I might the more conveniently
carry it up with me. I hoped to have found idols in that coffin, knowing
that they interred many with their dead, either of stone, copper, or
green earth, as I have several that have been found in these bodies, but
finding none, I thought there might be some within his body; for after
they had embowel’d them, they often enclosed idols within their bellies;
for that end I had it broken up, but we could find nothing. I considered
then that balm which is now quite lost, it is black, hard, and shines
like pitch, having much such a smell, but more pleasant, that kept bodies
entire, and, I believe, the sand contributed not a little thereto, for
even in the greatest desarts of _Arabia_, sometimes the dead bodies of
men and dogs, are found entire, who falling asleep, and staying behind
the caravans, are covered over with an ocean of sand driven by the high
winds in which the bodies being bury’d, are by the dryness and salt
that is in the sand, which dries up all the humidity of them, preserved
entire, and are afterwards found, when another wind blowing, carries off
the sand again. Many think that the bodies so dry’d are the true Mummy;
it is a mistake, and that which Merchants bring into Christendom, to be
used in medicine, is the Mummy we first described. Near the room I went
into there were several other full of bodies, but seeing the entries into
them were full of sand, I call’d to them above to pull me up again by the
same rope, with which I was let down, being much dissatisfy’d with my
_Moors_, who had open’d so sorry a pit for me. When I was got up I look’d
upon my cloth, whereon were characters of gold, but was much vex’d to
see that all the letters disappeared, and that by my own fault, because
I had folded it together when it was very humid, and so all the gold and
paint stuck to the opposite sides; whereas I should have brought it up
open and dry’d it in the sun. But I have others that are finer, which
are only a little spoiled in the bringing. I brought with me also some
hands of Mummies, which are as entire at present as ever they were. I had
also the good fortune to buy upon the place some idols of the _Moors_,
who come and sell them to the _Franks_ in the city. These idols are of
several sorts, and in many postures, there are of them of copper, of
several sorts of stone, and several sorts of earth also; at least I have
some of all these kinds, all which I am very sure have been taken out of
Mummies, and cannot be said to be counterfeit, for besides that they have
not the art to do it, they sell them at so easy a rate, that the very
materials are worth more. This is all I could observe of the Pyramids
and Mummies; and hence it appears, that the ancient _Egyptians_ spent
more in their tombs than during their whole lives; and one reason they
gave for that was, that their houses were only for living a short time
in, and their tombs the palaces that were to be inhabited by their souls
for many ages. Not far from these Mummies, towards the _Nile_, are some
remains of a large town, which was _Memphis_, the inhabitants whereof
were buried there, the ancients never burying their dead within towns,
for fear of infecting the air, none but Christians, who mind not that,
bury their dead any where. Now, to prove that these great ruins are the
remains of _Memphis_, _Pliny_ affirms it, when he says, that the Pyramids
are betwixt the _Delta_ of _Egypt_ and the city of _Memphis_ on the side
of _Africa_. At length we returned by old _Cairo_, and saw all that is
curious, or worth being seen in it.
[Illustration]
_A Letter from ~Dublin~, concerning the ~Porphyry Pillars~ in ~Egypt~. By
Dr ~Huntingdon~._
_SIR_,
You engage me after a very undeniable manner, as I perceive by the
minutes of your philosophical society, to send you some account of the
porphyry pillars in _Egypt_; and though I could have satisfied your
curiosity much better in this matter, had you thought of it when I was
amongst my papers in _Oxford_, yet rather than hazard your good opinion,
or give the least pretence of disrespect to your worthy company, for
whose persons and designs I have so just an esteem and veneration: I
here send not what’s fit for me to write, or you to read, but what I can
remember upon this subject.
Nor do I intend to speak concerning the nature or composition of stones
in general, or of porphyry more particularly, but meerly as to matter of
fact, so far chiefly as it fell under my own cognizance, _i. e._ if you
please, rather like an Historian than a Philosopher.
In the first place then, I think it may be taken for granted, that there
is no such quarry, or rock of stone rather, in all the lower parts of
_Egypt_; for so far as the _Nile_ overflows is perfect soil. A sample
whereof I hope you still retain, and let me entreat you to be very exact
in weighing it this year, that you may be sure whether it be heavier in
the time of the inundation, as is generally believed, than before or
after: And when, and in what proportion it increases.
The boundaries of this overflow, which are never ten miles from the
channel, that I saw, generally scarce half of it, and in some places but
a mile or two (the _Delta_ still excepted, which is universally covered,
all but the north side to the sea, and a little to the east for some
miles above _Damiata_) are rising hills of sand, beyond which is perfect
desart, upon the _Afric_ side, the _Lybian_. [Higher south I have been
told, there are rocks nearer the river, and in some places straiten
it.] But under those sands is a yielding stone, not much harder than
chalk, though not so white, and very easily managed, as at the _Mummies_
deep spacious vaults, which were the old repositories for the dead. And
the like also may be said of those cells or sepulchres which are hewn
purely out of the rocky earth three quarters of a mile on the south of
_Alexandria_. Albeit nearer the sea there are stones of a harder kind,
and with which they build; but by their mouldering away, as appears by
the remains of houses within the walls of the city, ’tis plain they
can’t endure the weather, which is sufficiently corroding there. The
iron which once plated their thick wooden gates being mostly eaten away,
and the deep characters upon the sides of these very porphyry pillars
exceedingly defaced. Indeed about _Memphis_, _i. e._ by the Pyramids,
they have a milder air, and the hieroglyphics cut in those stones will
last well enough, till they shall be removed into a rougher: But then
they’ll crizle and scale, as I found by sad experience. For having
procured four stones, the best marked with those figures of antiquity I
could meet with, and sent them down to _Alexandria_, in order to their
transportation for _England_, I found them, upon my second voyage into
_Egypt_, very much injured, being put into the custom-house-yard (where
they lie still embargo’d) by the _Aga_, who demanded an intolerable sum
for liberty to ship them, as you may remember I told you the story.
But yet farther in the country there are mountains of harder stone: In
the _Nitrian_, now the desart of St _Macarius_, and not far from the
lake where the latroon or true nitre incrustates upon the top of the
water, there are many, and some of them not utterly unlike porphyry. That
which nearest resembles it’s colour, though not it’s consistence, is
the vein that produces the eagle-stone, of which there are many in the
_Bahr Batama_, a great sandy valley: But these stones are of a different
complexion from porphyry, as you may perceive by those I sent you, which
also will assist your conjectures of their original.
However, I can’t pronounce that there is no porphyry hereabouts; for
in the chief monastery of the four now remaining (of 366, as many as
are days in the longest year) dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; the two
stones which secure their entrance are of the like, if not the very
same substance; which I more particularly observed upon the account of
their ingenious contrivance; for these poor people, lying otherwise at
the mercy of the roving _Arabs_, with these two mill-stones (for that’s
their make) thus make good their gate against them, (or rather their
passage) into which they run them, and then drive a great wooden wedge
between them on the inside, which so fastens them, that they cannot be
loosed, but upon the inside neither. And of such a sort of porphyry is
the noted _Sphynx_ (a mighty head and shoulders one hundred and ten feet
in compass) yet standing by the northern Pyramids.
I have indeed been told of the place upon mount _Sinai_, whence this
porphyry came, but so they shew the very rock where the two excellent
double rows of pillars in the church of _Bethlehem_ were hewn; though
I went away satisfy’d that it was a quite different sort of stone.
Another tells of a pillar of the same make yet lying there; and if this
be certain you need seek no farther. Albeit, I must tell you, that the
stones brought thence with the representation of a buck (it must needs be
call’d) upon them, some of which you had, though reddish, are of a much
finer and more even texture.
_Wansleben_ writes of a great many more southerly; but I know him to well
to believe all that he says for Gospel. And a more sober man, Father
_Carlo Francisco d’Orleans_, now superior of the _Capucines_ at _Cairo_,
who went three hundred leagues up the _Nile_ in the year 1569, told me of
many temples, statues, and pillars at that distance; though I cannot be
sure he said there were any of porphyry. But since it was in _Thebais_,
why may we not suppose them of that black, white, and red speckled
_Thebaic_ marble, famous in the world, and wherewith the lesser Pyramid
perhaps was crusted, yet to be seen upon the ground about it, and when
polish’d looks finely.
Those which I have myself seen, are one of them at the _Matarea_, three
or four miles east of Grand _Cairo_, and two at _Alexandria_, just within
the wall upon the north side of the city; for _Pompey_’s Pillar, as they
call it, half a mile without the gate to the south, is quite of another
make and matter; one of these is thrown down and broken into pieces, but
was of the same dimensions for breadth and thickness with the other. The
_Franks_ call them _Aguglia_’s, the _English_ particularly _Cleopatra_’s
needles, but the inhabitants content themselves with the general name
of Pillars. They have no Basis nor Pedestals above ground; and if they
never had, they must needs be very deep in the earth. The draughts I here
send you will excuse all farther description. One of them was very well
taken by Monsieur _Brute_ a _French Druggerman_, the other by a _Dutch_
Painter, who, you will see, has but little commended his art.
If you have a fancy, upon the sight of them, to sift out the Hieroglyphic
character with which they are engraven, perhaps you will find it to
be the ab-original _Egyptian_ letter, long since worn out of common
use in the country, as the _Samaritan_ (so it is now generally call’d)
was amongst the Jews; and that it bears proportion with the _China_
now in use, where each note represents a word, or rather an entire
signification. And moreover, that it is wrought the same way too, from
the top to the bottom; as you have seen in the board I brought from a
door in the village _Succara_, which is next to the Mummies, the largest
piece of _Egyptian_ writing, perhaps at this day in _Europe_. I confess
that in the vaults or Priests chambers cut out of the rock, close by the
second Pyramid, the whole walls are inscribed therewith, but I speak of
an original. And if all that is there written were but exactly copy’d, it
might be then lawful to hope, that the language so long since dead and
bury’d in the house of bondage, might have it’s resurrection in the land
of liberty.
That such vast monuments might be removed from place to place, is
difficult indeed, but not impossible. And if one _Archimedes_ (as
_Athenæus_ preserves the story for us) could launch the vast ship of
_Hiero_, which all the strength of _Syracuse_ was not able to bring to
sea; what might not many great masters in the same art perform, and
upon their own dunghill too? For I may call _Egypt_ the mother of the
Mathematics.
Besides, some of these mountains are near the Red Sea, and _Suss_ from
_Cairo_ but two or three days, from _Nile_ less; and how possible it is
to convey mighty weights by water, let the Obelisks at _Rome_ declare;
which were all of them brought from this very country; and that such
things may be done by land too, tho’ not by every one, is plain enough,
because we see they have been done. At _Baalbec_, which is fourteen hours
from _Damascus_, for thence I went, accompany’d with Mr _Anth. Balam_ and
Mr. _Jo. Verney_, both now in _England_, whom I thought fit to name for
my Compurgators, if you should question the credit of the story; there is
a stone about sixty six foot long on the north side of the castle-wall,
and two more of sixty each; and I believe we saw the way they travel’d,
having left one of their company, tho’ not quite so big in the road, as a
monument thereof to this very day.
If you have got the piece of this _Aguglia_, (for I have nothing here)
you will thereby best discern it’s colour and composition. It is
something more lively than the Porphyry of St _John_’s font (for by that
name it is known) at _Ephesus_, much more vived than those four tall
square pillars at _Tadmore_ (in it’s middle age _Palmyra_) which are each
of them but of, I think, one piece, whilst all the rest, exceeding many,
of another sort of stone, are of several pieces, and round. If you will
attribute the clearness of their complexion in part to the air, which
corrodes them especially upon the north and east; I impose not upon the
liberty of your reason.
If the _Ichnography_ of them (which I desire you to reserve for me) won’t
excuse me from any farther description, I beg your pardon that I have
said thus much, and hazarded my judgment to demonstrate my affection, how
much I am, and endeavour to be,
_Your faithful Friend_,
_And humble Servant_,
R. H.
_The cuts of these pillars are not prefixt to this paper, because
engraven and publish’d elsewhere. See ~Philosophical Transactions, Nᵒ
178. p. 1252~._
‘Monsieur _Cuper_, in his letter to _l’Abbe Nicaise_, informs the
world, that he had received letters from _Aleppo_, which say, that some
_English_ Gentlemen, out of curiosity, going to visit the ruins of
_Palmyra_, had found four hundred marble columns, of a sort of Porphyry,
and also observed some temples, yet entire with tombs, monuments, _Greek_
and _Latin_ inscriptions, of all which he hopes to get copies. _Journal
des Sçavans_, Nᵒ 25, _Anno 1692_.’
[Illustration]
_A journey from ~Grand Cairo~ to ~Mecca~._
The day that the _Emir-Adge_ parted from _Cairo_, he encamped in tents,
close by the city, and a few days after he encamped at the _Birque_,
which is a great pond about twelve miles from _Cairo_, near to which they
encamp. This place is the rendezvouz of all the Caravans. The _Emir-Adge_
parted from thence with the whole Caravan, Wednesday the eighth of
_August_, it being the custom for the Caravan of _Cairo_ to set out
fifty seven days after the beginning of the _Ramadam_, that so it may be
there punctually at the time. It is very pretty to see them encamped in
the night time, because of the infinite number of lamps that are in the
tents and pavilions. Next day, the ninth of _August_, the Caravan of the
_Magrebins_ parted also from the _Birque_, and there all of _Barbary_,
who intend to make the journey, meet, and make a distinct Caravan; which
depends not on the _Emir-Adge_ of _Cairo_, but have a chief of their own.
That Caravan never sets out, but a day after the Caravan of _Cairo_; they
travel commonly by night, and rest in the day time, as all other Caravans
do, 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 ty’d tail
to tail, so that let them but go, and there is no trouble of leading them.
Here I will give the reader an account, how many stages there are betwixt
_Cairo_ and _Mecca_, 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_, who made that journey whilst I was at _Cairo_. From _Cairo_
to the _Birque_ it is reckon’d four hours journey; there is fresh water
there. From the _Birque_ to _Misana_, that is to say _Cistern_, ten
hours; no water there. 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 _Castel of Palmes_, fifteen hours; there they stay a
day, and have fresh water. From the _Castle of Nahhal_ to _Abiar Alaina_,
fourteen hours; only bitter water there. From _Abiar Alaina_ to _Sath
el Acaba_, that is to say, the _Plain of the Hill_, fifteen hours; no
water there. From _Sath el Acaba_ to _Kalaat el Acaba_, that is to say,
the _Castle of the Hill_, (that is upon the side of the 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 Akabe_ to _Dar el 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 call’d _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_, fourteen
hours; fresh water there; that is the country 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 a 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, _Gulph_, twelve hours and an half; no water there. From _Hank
Krue_ (going to _Hhawre_, they enter into the territory of _Mecca_) 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 Nabathæaque 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 _Soucaif_, thirteen hours; no water there. From _Soucaif_
to _Bedar 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 _Bedar Hunein_ to _Ssbil el Mouhsin_, that is to say, the _way of
Benefaction_, or _Benefit_, fourteen hours; fresh water there. _Rabii_
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 call’d _Haramein_, _Sacred Places_, to wit, _Mecca_ and
_Medina_, that is to say, which are two holy places, where one should
take heed not to set his foot, unless he be well wash’d from all sin.
From _Rabii_ to _Kawdire_, fifteen hours, no water there. From _Kawdire_
to _Bir el fan_, fourteen hours, fresh water there. From _Bir el fan_ to
_Vadi fatima_, fourteen hours, fresh water there. From _Vadi fatima_ to
_Mecca_ six hours.
_Of the ~Aga~ sent to meet the Caravan upon their return._
About six weeks after the setting out of the Caravan of _Cairo_, when
they know that it is ready to return from _Mecca_, an _Aga_ goes from
_Cairo_ to guard the fresh provisions that the people of the country
send to their friends and relations in the Caravan, every one sending
according to their abilities and friendship, all which are well sealed
up, and delivered to those they belong unto. For this effect the _Aga_
has many camels with him, and gets considerably by the Caravan, which
he meets half way. This year it returned on Tuesday the thirteenth of
_November_, and encamped at the _Birque_, where the Caravan of the
_Magrebins_ arrived the day before. Several come to _Cairo_ the same day,
and their friends go as far as the _Birque_ to welcome them; whereupon
meeting, they kiss again and again five or six times, and all who know
them salute and kiss them in the same manner; and indeed, for some days
after there is nothing to be seen in the city, but people kissing one
another, or lamenting their relations who dy’d in the journey, men, women
and children, who howl and make fearful gestures, when they hear the
news from the first of the Caravan whom they meet. These Pilgrims are
forty five days in going, and as much in coming back to _Cairo_, besides
some days they stay there; but they make but easy journeys, it being
impossible that so great a body should march fast, for they must often
stop to load the camels whose loads have fallen off, to unload those that
fall or die, or to bury their dead, and a thousand such other accidents;
and when one camel stops, all the rest must wait. They travel commonly,
as I said, in the night time with links, that they may avoid the heat.
In this journey they find but little water, and that exceeding bad too;
as for fresh provisions, they find none, and eat only what they carry
along with them; but the worst thing they meet with in the journey, are
certain hot winds, which stifle the breath, and in a short time kill a
great many people. The Prince of _Tunis_ told me, that in one day several
hundreds died of that wind, and that he himself was much afraid, that he
should have been one of the number. In fine, in this expedition there
died six thousand, what of fatigue, thirst, and these hot winds. In that
journey people are to be seen riding on camels, and singing verses of the
_Koran_, who suddenly fall down dead. Those who return with life are so
altered and extenuated, that they can hardly be known; and nevertheless
vast numbers of people from all parts yearly perform that pilgrimage,
and there passes not a year wherein women and little children do not
make it. They who have performed that journey are call’d _Adgi_, that is
to say, Pilgrims, meaning tho’ only the pilgrimage of the _Kiaabe_, and
they are much respected by all as long as they live, and highly credited.
The _Emir-Adge_ gains much by this journey, for the goods of all that
die belong to him, besides a vast deal of other profits that he makes on
several occasions; and it is thought, that every expedition he gets above
an hundred thousand piasters, but this year he got above three hundred
thousand, for many people died. The greatest prerogative of this office
is, that during the whole expedition he is absolute master of the field,
and administers justice as he thinks fit.
Having in my hands an exact description of _Mecca_, and considering that
few or no travellers have spoken of it with any certainty, I thought it
would not be amiss to add it, and make a particular chapter thereof.
_Of ~Mecca~ and ~Medina~._
_Mecca_ is thirty seven days journey from _Cairo_, and all over desarts;
it is a days journey from the Red sea; the port of it is call’d _Gidde_,
which is a little town, wherein are two castles on the two sides of the
port, one on each side, and the _Turks_ say that _Eve_ lies bury’d there;
they shew her sepulchre, which is in length thirty eight or forty steps
of a man’s walk, and hath no other ornament but a stone at each end.
_Mecca_ is about the bigness of _Marseilles_, in the middle whereof is
the _Kiaabe_ or _Beytullah_, that is to say, the _House of God_, which
the _Turks_ say, was first built by the Patriarch _Abraham_. This house
is about fifteen foot in length, eleven or twelve in breadth, and about
five fathom high. The threshold of the door is as high from the ground as
a man can reach his hand, being within filled up even with the threshold.
The door is about a fathom and an half high, and a fathom wide, and is in
the corner to the left hand, when one faces the house. This door is of
beaten silver, and opens with two leaves; they go up to it by a ladder
supported by four wheels, two whereof are fastened to the lower end of
the ladder; and the other two to two wooden posts about the middle of it,
by means of which wheels the ladder is run to the wall, when any body is
to enter into the _Beytullah_.
This house has a flat roof, supported by three pillars of an octagon
figure, which are of Aloës-wood, as big as the body of a man, and about
three fathom and a half long; they are of one entire piece each, and yet
run in a straight line the length of the building, which is hung with red
and white stuff, having here and there these words upon them, _La Illah
Illallah, Mouhammed Resoul allah_.
At the same corner where the door is (but on the other side of the wall)
is the black stone, which they call _Hadgiar Asuad_, and is had in
veneration by them, because (as they say) _Abraham_ stood upon it when he
built that house, and that it served him for a scaffold, to the end he
might make no hole in the wall, it rising higher or lower as he pleased,
and being for that purpose brought him by the angel _Gabriel_.
There is a court about this house, which the _Turks_ call _Haram_, and
it is encompassed with walls, with three rows of pillars, and arches on
the inside of it. The four sects of _Mahometanism_ have their places of
prayer in this court, which are the _Hanifi_, _Chafii_, _Maliki_, and
_Hambeli_, each in one of the four parts of the court, with their faces
turned always towards the _Beytullah_, or _House of God_.
This house is begirt with two belts of gold, one below, and the other on
high. On one side of the terrass that covers the _Beytullah_ there is a
spout of beaten gold, about a fathom long, that jets out, to carry off
the rain-water that falls upon the terrass.
The same house is covered on the outside with hangings of black silk,
which is a kind of damask, and every year there are new ones sent from
_Cairo_, at the charge of the Grand Signior.
Ten days journey from _Mecca_, upon the road to _Damascus_, is the city
of _Medina_, three days journey from the Red Sea; the port of it is
call’d _Iambo_, which is a little town of the same shape and bigness as
_Gidde_.
_Medina_ is about half as big as _Mecca_, but it hath a suburb as
big as the town itself; much about the middle of that town there is
a Mosque, in a corner whereof is the sepulchre of _Mahomet_, covered
in the same manner as the monuments of the _Turkish_ Emperors are at
_Constantinople_. The sepulchre is in a little tower, or round building,
covered with a dome, which the _Turks_ call _Turbe_. This building is
quite open, from the middle up to the dome, and all round it there is
a little gallery, of which the out-side wall has several windows with
silver grates to them, and the in-side wall, which is that of the little
tower, is adorned with a great number of precious stones, and that place
which answers to the head of the tomb. There are rich things there also,
of an inestimable value, sent by the _Mahometan_ Kings, during so many
ages, which are fasten’d within this gallery, all round the said turret.
Among others, at the place which answers to the head of the tomb, there
is a great diamond, half as long as ones fore finger, and two fingers
broad, over which is the diamond which Sultan _Osman_, the son of Sultan
_Ashmet_, sent thither, and is equal to that which the _Ottoman_ Emperors
wear on their finger. These two diamonds were heretofore but one, which
Sultan _Osman_ caused to be saw’d in two in the middle. Lower down there
is a half moon of gold, set with diamonds of great worth.
The Pilgrims see not _Mahomet_’s tomb, because that turret wherein it is
enclosed hath no windows, being only open above, as hath been said; but
such as make any stay at _Medina_ have liberty and leisure to enter into
the _Turbe_, and see it, when there is no clutter of strangers there,
that is to say, three or four months after the departure of the Pilgrims,
who see no more but the aforesaid gallery, and the riches that are within
it, thro’ the silver grates of the windows, which we mention’d before.
Those then who enter into the _Turbe_, see that the tomb hangs not in
the air, as many have falsly written, and (which is more) never did hang
so, but is upon the flat ground raised and cover’d like the tombs of
_Turkish_ Emperors and Bashaws.
The _Turbe_ is hung all round with hangings of red and white silk, like
damask, which cover all the wall, except at the place where the great
diamonds are, for there they are tuck’d aside, that the diamonds may not
be cover’d. Round all these hangings are the aforemention’d words in
characters of gold, _La Illah Illallah, Mouhammed Resoul allah_. These
hangings are renew’d every seven years by the _Ottoman_ Emperors, unless
when a new Emperor succeeds, before the seven years be accomplish’d, for
in that case the Emperor renews them so soon as he comes to the throne.
The door by which they enter into the gallery is of silver, and so is the
other that goes out of the gallery into the _Turbe_.
When the Pilgrims (to the number of two hundred thousand souls) are come
to _Mecca_ at the usual time, which is a short while before the little
_Bairam_, and that it is the day before the vigil of the said _Bairam_,
they go and lie at a place call’d _Myne_, half a league from _Mecca_,
and next day being the vigil of _Bairam_, they go half a league farther
off, to another place call’d _Arafa_, which is a great plain, in the
middle whereof there is a rock, or rising hillock, and on the top of it
a _Member_, or place for preaching in, into which steps a _Scheikh_, who
preaches to all the people about in the plain.
The Pilgrims being return’d to _Mecca_, divide themselves in several
Caravans, because of the different countries they come from, and are to
go back to them again. The Caravan that met at _Damascus_, upon their
return pass by _Medina_, and visit _Mahomet_’s tomb, seeing it is upon
their road. Of the rest, those who are prompted by devotion go thither,
but a great part return back to their several countries, without turning
out of their way to visit the said sepulchre, their law not obliging them
to that, as it does to visit the other places above mention’d; so that
they are grosly mistaken, who have affirm’d, that the pilgramage of the
_Turks_ is to the sepulchre of _Mahomet_, who oblig’d them to it. For
that false Prophet told his followers, when he drew near his death, that
if any one returning from _Mecca_, had the curiosity to come and see his
sepulchre, he should say a _Fatha_ for his soul (which is a prayer taken
out of the _Koran_, resembling in some manner our _Pater Noster_) and be
gone. _Mecca_ is the place of _Mahomet_’s birth, _Medina_ of his burial.
_An Extract of a Journey thro’ part of ~Arabia Felix~, from the copy in
~Ramusio~’s collection._
We travell’d in most places of _Arabia_ by the help of a compass, and
were forty days and forty nights in going between _Damascus_ and _Mecca_;
port _Ziden_ is forty miles distant from _Mecca_, from whence it receives
the greatest part of it’s provisions by the Red Sea, from _Egypt_,
_Æthiopia_, and _Arabia Felix_, the numbers of Pilgrims and camels being
incredible, and fresh water very scarce, and as dear as wine in _Europe_.
I stole away secretly from _Mecca_ in the disguise of a _Mammaluck_, to
_Ziden_, in order to pass round _Arabia_ by sea into _Persia_. _Ziden_
contains about 500 houses; there lay at anchor almost 100 brigantines and
foysts, with divers barks of sundry sorts, both with and without oars.
After six days sailing we came to _Gezan_, a fair commodious port full
of vessels; the soil is very fruitful and delicious, abounding with many
rare fruits and flowers; the inhabitants for the most part go naked.
Leaving _Gezan_, in the space of five or six days, we reach’d an island
named _Camaran_, ten miles in circuit; in it is a town of 200 houses,
the inhabitants are _Mahometans_; it hath great store of flesh and fresh
water; the haven is eight miles from the continent, and is subject to the
Sultan of _Arabia Felix_. In two days sailing we came to the mouth of the
Red Sea.
The day after our arrival at _Aden_, I being suspected for a _Portuguese_
spy, was cast into heavy chains, and thrown into Prison: After fifty five
days Imprisonment, I was set upon a camel with my shackles, and in eight
days journey came to _Rhada_, a city where the Sultan then lay with 30000
men, to make war against the Sultan of _Sana_ three days distant from
_Rhada_. The Sultan’s guard were _Æthiopians_, with short broad swords,
painted targets and darts, slings and ropes made of cotton. Having
obtained my liberty, I pass’d through _Almacaran_ and _Laghi_, to _Aden_,
where I embark’d for _Persia_.
In this journey I observed many monkeys, lyons, sheep with prodigious
great tails; variety of spices, sugars, and a sort of grape without
stones, very delicious; many strange gum-trees, as the Balsam, the
Myrrhe, Frankincense, Coffee, Cocoes, _&c._
[Illustration]
_Some observations made by Sir ~Henry Middleton~ and other ~Englishmen~,
in ~Arabia Felix~, when they were most treacherously seized, and led
prisoners from ~Moha~ and ~Aden~ up to ~Zenan~. Also Captain ~Payton~’s
and Captain ~Heyn~’s observations in some parts of ~Arabia Felix~._
We were fifteen days in going from _Moha_ to _Zenan_, which is about 180
miles distant N. N. W. it lies in 16 degrees and 15 min. Lat. We were
carried about our Christmass-time, and were almost starved with cold,
there being hoary frosts and ice at _Zenan_; some of our men got furrs,
this was wonderful in such a latitude; we fed much upon _Dates_ and
_Plantanes_.
_Zenan_ appeared to me bigger than _Bristol_, it’s situation is in a
stony valley, encompass’d with high hills, with many gardens and places
of pleasure. The buildings are of good stone and lime.
_February_ the seventeenth, we obtain’d our liberty, and began on the
eighteenth our journey from _Zenan_ to _Moha_; that night we came to
_Siam_, 16 miles, some on asses, others on camels; on the nineteenth
to _Surage_, 18 miles; on the twentieth to the city _Damare_, in a
plentiful country 20 miles from _Surage_; on the twenty first we arrived
at _Ermin_, 15 miles, here we staid the twenty second; on the twenty
third we came to _Nagual Samare_; the twenty fourth to _Mohader_, 13
miles from _Nackelsamar_; on the twenty fifth to _Rabattamain_, 16 miles
from _Mohader_; here they make opium of a poppy, but it is not good.
The twenty sixth we came to _Coughe_, call’d _Meisadine_, 16 miles from
_Rabattamain_. On the twenty seventh we were at _Tayes_, half as large
as _Zenan_, here they make _Indigo_ out of an herb. _March_ the first,
we travell’d from _Tayes_ to _Eufras_, 16 miles distant; the second
to _Assambine_ 11 miles; on the third to _Accomoth_; on the fourth to
_Mousa_, 17 miles; here we observed them steeping the _Indigo_ plant; on
the fifth we got to _Moha_.
_Moha_ is less than _Tayes_, but very populous, it stands close by the
sea in a salt and sandy soil, unwall’d; yet it hath platforms and forts;
abundance of shipping resort thither from _India_, and great Caravans by
land from _Syria_ and _Mecca_, to trade and exchange commodities.
_Aden_ is the greatest port of _Arabia Felix_, it is situated at the foot
of vast high mountains, which rise up with pikes, and run with great
promontories into the sea; these hills were call’d _Cabubarre_, according
to the journal of Don _John_ of _Castro_ the _Portuguese_. Captain
_Dunton_, of Sir _Henry Middleton_’s fleet, observed _Aden_ to lie in
12° 35′ of N. Lat. The variation westerly was 12° 40′. It flows upright
between 6 and 7 foot water on the change day. The canoes came about the
_English_ ships with _Indigo_, _Olibanum_, and _Myrrhe_, but none trade
with them by reason of their treachery. _Aden_ has been a great city of
above 6000 houses, but Captain _Dunton_ found the buildings much decay’d,
and many of them sunk. Captain _Sharpeigh_ was the first _Englishman_
that ever landed at _Aden_, he had been there 16 months before, in the
year 1610.
The afore-mention’d parts of _Arabia Felix_ were at that time under
the subjection of the _Turks_, who had got possession of them from the
_Arabians_, by tricks and treachery, whom they kept in awe by many
castles built on hills and passes, and by the many captives they always
kept as pledges. Sir _Henry Middleton_ observed many of the mountainous
parts to be under the dominion of the _Arabians_, who are very populous
in all the places where he passed, and are at frequent wars with the
insolent _Turks_, who pretended secret orders from the Grand Signior,
to destroy all Christians that came ashore, lest they should go up to
_Mecca_ and _Medina_, to ransack and burn them.
Capt. _Walter Payton_, in the year 1613, found great hospitality and
ingenuity in some parts of _Arabia Felix_, nearer the _Persian_ gulph,
especially at _Doffar_, a very good road for ships, and a fair city,
where the _Arabians_ presented his crew with bullocks, sheep, hens,
goats, sugar-canes, plantanes and cocoes. This _Cape_ stands in 16° 38′
of N. Lat. and is free from the _Turkish_ yoke.
Capt. _Edward Heyns_ anchored before _Moha_ or _Mocha_, in _Arabia
Felix_, _An. Dom. 1618_, the governor sent him, as presents, a young
bullock, two goats, mangoes, limes, cucumbers, water-melons, quinces,
rack made of rice, _&c._ He went freely ashore, and found it a very
neat, populous and flourishing town, built of brick and stone, curiously
plaister’d over like _Paris_, two stories high with flat roofs and
terrasses on the top, whereon they build summer-houses with canes and
matts, wherein they sleep and receive the fresh breezes in the great
heats. They excus’d the cruelty to Sir _H. Middleton_, laying it on the
cruel governor at that time.
_Of the ways and roads between ~Egypt~ and ~Ethiopia~._
In the month of _October_ an embassador of _Ethiopia_ came to _Cairo_,
with several presents for the Grand Signior, and among others an ass
that had a most delicate skin, if it was natural, for I will not vouch
for that, since I did not examine it. This ass had a black list down
the back, and the rest of it’s body was all begirt with white and tawny
streaks, a finger broad a piece; the head of it was extraordinary long,
striped and partly colour’d as the rest of the body; it’s ears like a
buffle’s, were very wide at the end, and black, yellow, and white; it’s
legs streaked just like the body, not long ways, but round the leg, in
fashion of a garter, down to the foot, and all in so good proportion and
simetry, that no lynx could be more exactly spotted, nor any skin of a
tyger so pretty, this may be the _Zembra_. The embassador had two more
such asses, which dy’d by the way, but he brought their skin with him,
to be presented to the Grand Signior, with the live one. He had also
several little black slaves of _Nubia_, and other countries, confining
on _Ethiopia_, _Civet_, and other costly things for his present. These
little blacks serve to look after the women in the Seraglio, after that
they are gelded. The embassador was an old man, and had the end of
his nose, part of the upper and under lip cut off, but was otherwise
a shapely man, and of a very good presence; he was cloathed after the
_Coptish_ fashion, wearing a turban like them, and spoke very good
_Italian_, which gave me the opportunity of conversing with him; he
told me his name was _Michael_, that he was a native of _Tripoly_ in
_Syria_, and that he had made three or four voyages into Christendom;
that eighteen months before he had parted from _Gontar_, the capital
city of _Ethiopia_, and was so long retarded by the way, because of the
contrary winds he met with on the Red Sea, by which he came. That of an
hundred persons whom he had brought along with him, of his own servants,
and the slaves he was to present to the Grand Signior, thirty or forty
were dead. If he had come by land, he had not been so long by the way;
for from _Gontar_ to _Schouaquen_ it is about six weeks journey, and from
_Schouaquen_ to _Cairo_ forty or fifty days by camels; but he could not
take that way because of his train. He told me many things relating to
the kingdom of _Ethiopia_, which I shall here give the reader an account
of.
But first, of the ways of passing out of _Egypt_ into _Ethiopia_. The
Merchants setting out from Grand _Cairo_, are carry’d up the _Nile_
against the stream, as far as _Monfallot_, and thence travelling in
Caravans, first come to _Siint_, and so in order to the following towns:
_Wack_ three days journey; _Meks_ two days; _Scheb_ three; _Sellim_
three; _Moschu_ five; _Dungala_ five, accounted to be the Metropolis of
_Nubia_, then they come into the kingdom of _Sennar_; from _Dungala_
they travel to _Kshabi_, three days journey; _Korti_ three more; _Trere_
three; _Gerry_ one; _Helfage_ one; _Arbatg_ three; _Sennar_ four; from
_Sennar_ in fourteen days they arrive at the confines of _Habessinia_,
the entrance is call’d _Tshelga_. The passage by sea is various, for the
Merchants embark in several ports on the Red Sea, as _Suesso_, _Gidda_,
_Alcossir_, and so coast it to _Suaquena_ and _Matzua_. The safest way of
travelling into the kingdom of _Prester John_, is with some metropolitan
or embassador. Some land at _Baylar_, a port belonging to the King of
_Dengala_, in amity with the _Habessins_, but the journey thence by land
is tedious, and infested by the _Gallons_. ’Tis but three months travel
by land from Grand _Cairo_ to _Gontar_, the chief city of _Ethiopia_.
_Of ~Ethiopia~: By ~Michael~ of ~Tripoly~, Embassador from the
~Habessine~ Emperor to the Grand Signior._
_Ethiopia_, or the country of the _Abyssins_, called in _Arabic Abesch_,
from whence comes the word _Abyssin_, is a great empire, being above
seven months travel in circuit: On the east side it is bordered by the
Red Sea, and _Zanguebar_, on the south with _Zeila_, _Avousa_, _Naria_,
_&c._ On the west by the country of the _Negroes_ and _Nubia_, and on
the north, with the country of _Nubia_ and _Bugia_, because to come from
_Ethiopia_ into _Egypt_, one must cross _Nubia_ down the _Nile_. About
an hundred years ago, _Greyu Mahomet_, King of _Zeila_, of which the
inhabitants are all _Moors_, invaded _Ethiopia_, and forced the King to
save himself on a mountain, from whence he sent to demand assistance of
the King of _Portugal_, who immediately sent it him, but hardly was he
who commanded these auxiliaries enter’d the country, when he resolved
to return back again, finding that they eat raw flesh there: However,
his brother Don _Christopher_ had more courage, and would not return
without doing some exploit: He marched up into the country with about
three hundred musqueteers, fought, vanquished, and killed the _Moorish_
King, and then re-established the lawful King of _Ethiopia_: For reward
of which service, the King of _Ethiopia_ gave lands and estates to all
the _Portuguese_ that staid within his dominions, and their offspring are
still in that country. The father of this present King was a Catholic,
but he dying about thirty odd years ago, the Queen his wife, who was
a great enemy to the _Jesuits_, and no Catholic, and who suffered
impatiently, that they should govern, as they pleased, the late King her
husband, wrought upon her son that succeeded him, to persecute all the
_Roman_ Catholics, in such a manner, that the _Jesuits_ were obliged to
make their escape, and he put to death all the Capuchins whom he found.
Since that time, three Capuchins more were put to death at _Schouaken_;
for the King of _Ethiopia_ knowing that they had a mind to come into
his kingdom, sent to the Governor of _Schouaken_ praying him to put to
death those three religious _Franks_. The Governor of _Schouaken_, caused
their heads to be immediately struck off, and sent them to the King of
_Ethiopia_, who, as a reward, made him a present of three bags of gold
dust, promising him as many bags of gold dust, as he should send him
heads of _Franks_. And fifteen or sixteen years since, two others have
been put to death in the province of _Oinadaga_, whose names were Father
_Fioravanti_, and Father _Francesco_. In short, this King is a declared
enemy to all _Franks_, whom he accuses of being heretics, and of having
conspired to put the crown upon the head of one of his enemies: So that
a _Frank_ who would go into that country, must pass for an _Armenian_ or
_Cophte_, for the King and his people are of the _Cophtish_ Religion.
They believe but one nature in _Jesus Christ_. At the end of eight days
they circumcise as the _Jews_ do, and baptize a fortnight after. Before
the _Jesuits_ went thither, they baptized none before they were thirty
or forty years of age. They say mass as the _Cophtes_ do, but their
church books are in the _Ethiopic_ language. Their Patriarch depends on
the Patriarch of _Alexandria_, and when the Patriarch of the _Abyssines_
dies, they send deputies to _Alexandria_, to entreat the Patriarch to
send them another, and he convocating his Clergy, chuses out the fittest
among them, whom he sends, but is never any more heard of in _Egypt_,
till he be dead.
There are four Kings that pay tribute to the King of _Ethiopia_, to wit,
the King of _Sennar_, who pays his tribute in horses. _Sennar_ is a very
hot country. The King of _Naria_, who pays his tribute in gold. The King
of _Bugia_, and King of _Dangala_. _Naria_ is a good country, and in
that country are the mines out of which they have the gold that passes
on the coasts of _Soffala_ and _Guiney_. These mines are not deep, as in
many other countries. From that country also comes the civet. I think
it will not be amiss here to say somewhat of Civets, which so rare in
our country, as that they deserve to be taken notice of where one can
find them. They are called Civet Cats, come from _Naria_, (as I just now
said) and are taken in snares. The _Jews_ in _Cairo_ keep many of them
in their houses, where for buying a few drachms of civet one may see
them. It is a beast almost as big as a good Dog: It hath a sharp snout,
small eyes, little ears, and mustachios like a Cat: The skin of it is
all spotted black and white, with some yellowish specks, and hath a long
bushy tail, almost like a Fox. It is a very wild creature, and I believe
the bite of it would put a body to no small pain. The _Jews_ keep them
in great square wooden cages, where they feed them with raw mutton and
beef, cut into small pieces. When they would get from them that which is
called civet, and is the sweat of this beast that smells so sweet, they
make him go back with a stick, which they thrust in betwixt the bars of
the cage, and catch hold of his tail; when they have that fast, they
take hold also of his two hind legs, pulling him half out of the cage
by the door, which falls down upon his back, and keeps him fast there,
then another opens a certain cod of flesh that these beasts have, which
is shaped like a split gyserne, and with an iron spatula scrapes all the
sweat off it within. The males have that piece of flesh betwixt their
stones and yard, which is like a Cat’s. The females have it betwixt
their fundament and privities, and it is emptied of the sweat but twice
a week, each beast yielding about a drachm at a time, by what I could
discern. When that sweat, or excrement is taken out, it is of whitish
grey, but by little and little, in some short space, it turns to a very
brown colour. It smells very sweat at a distance, but near hand it stinks
and causes a head-ach. There are as many kinds of civet sweat, as there
are of Civet Cats, for it is more whitish, greyish, or yellowish, and
drier in some than in others, and yet they mingle all together. After
all, it is in vain to think to have pure civet, for the _Jews_ falsify
it; and if a man imagine it to be pure, because he has seen it taken
from the beast, he is mistaken, for before people come to their houses,
they rub the inside of that piece of flesh, with a little oil, or some
such stuff, that so the sweat and it together may make more weight, but
when nobody is present, they take it out pure, and mingle it afterwards.
To find out the truth of this, I went one day to the house of a _Jew_
that kept Civet Cats, without giving him notice before, (for because I
had bought a little of him, and promised to come again another time,
he asked me as often as he saw me, what day I would come) and having
desired him to get me some fresh civet, he told me, that it was not the
day he used to take it out; and having returned without acquainting him
before, upon one of the days when he said he was accustomed to gather
it, he refused then also to do it, pretending business, which confirmed
all that had been told me of that matter. In the mean time they hold
these beasts very dear; for having asked that _Jew_, and others also,
how much they would have of me for a Civet Cat, they all told me, an
hundred chequins. _Dangala_ is the capital city of _Nubia_, the King of
_Dangala_ is King of the _Barberins_, who are a kind of blacks, of the
Musulman religion, that came in crowds to _Cairo_, to get services; they
are somewhat silly, but very faithful, and serve for a small matter,
for two maidins a day, or a maidin and their diet: You may make them do
whatsoever you please. They wear a blew shirt, plat all their hair in
tresses, and then rub it over with a certain oil, to keep their head from
being lousy. At _Cairo_, when they have any falling out, they go before
the _Scheiks_ of their own nation, who make them friends, and if they
think it convenient, adjudge them to pay a fine, with which they feast
and make merry together. They are great lovers of Crocodiles flesh; and
when any _Frank_ has got one for the skin, they come and beg the flesh,
which they dress with a pretty good sauce. When these blades have scraped
together ten or twelve piastres, they return home again wealthy to their
own country, provided they escape being robbed by the _Arabs_ upon the
way, who many times serve them so, therefore they commonly return in
companies, as they came. The King of _Dangala_ pays his tribute to the
King of _Ethiopia_ in cloth. The provinces of _Ethiopia_ are _Gouyan_,
(where the King keeps a Viceroy) _Beghandir_, _Dambia_, _Amara_ (which
is a great province, full of mountains and good castles) _Damoud Tegre_,
and _Barnegas_. Besides, there are several provinces governed by Princes,
who are vassals to the King of _Ethiopia_. In short, the kingdom of
_Ethiopia_ comprehends twenty-four _Tambours_, or Vice-roys. The capital
city is called _Gonthar_, and is in the province of _Dambia_. _Ethiopia_
(as the Embassador told me) is as cold as _Aleppo_ or _Damascus_, only
the countries near the Red Sea, and the country of _Sennar_ are hot. The
King of _Ethiopia_ has above an hundred wives, and keeps no Eunuchs to
look after them, because they look upon it as a sin to geld a man; so
that the women have the same liberty there as in _Christendom_. He is a
King of very easy access, and the poorest have the freedom to come and
speak to him when they please. He keeps all his children on a mountain,
called _Ouhhni_, in the province of _Oinadaga_, which is a mountain two
days journey distant from _Gonthar_; there is a place like a cistern on
the top of the mountain, into which they are let down every night, and
taken up again in the day-time, and suffered to play and walk about.
When the King dies, they chuse out one of the wittiest of them, and
make him King, without any regard to birthright; and when he comes to
have children, he sends his brothers prisoners to some other place, and
places his children at _Ouhhni_. The place where the Kings are buried,
is called _Ayesus_, and is a kind of grott, where the aged are laid in
one side, and the young in the other. Heretofore there was a church there
of the same name, in time of the Jesuits; and in the same place there is
a library. The Embassador assured me, that he had been in that library,
and I fancy it is the old library of the ancient _Ethiopians_. _Ethiopia_
is a good and fertile country, producing wheat, barley, _&c._ The
greatest desarts of it are not above three or four days journey over; and
nevertheless, when the King makes any progress, he lodges in tents. The
houses of the great lords are like those of _Cairo_, that is to say, very
mean, in respect of the houses of _Europe_, and the rest are only of mud.
The country affords men of all trades, except watch-makers. They have no
camels there, but mules, asses, oxen, and horses. All the people of this
country eat raw flesh, except the King, who has it dress’d, and drinks
wine of grapes; the rest drink only wine made of millet, or sarasin
wheat, but as strong as ours, and brandy made of the same grain. They
are cloathed after the fashion of the _Franks_, and wear cloth, velvet,
and other stuffs imported to them by the Red Sea. They have harquebusses
from the _Turks_, and of those people there are not above three or four
hundred who serve in the wars with harquebusses. In trading, they make no
use of coined money, as the _Europeans_ do, but their money are pieces of
fifteen or twenty _Pics_ of cloth, gold, which they give by weight, and
a kind of salt, which they reduce into little square pieces like pieces
of soap, and these pass for money. They cut out that salt upon the side
of the Red Sea, five or six days journeys from _Dangala_, as you go from
_Cairo_, and the places where they make it are called _Arbo_. Among them
is the nation of the _Gauls_, whom in _Ethiopic_ they call _Chava_, and
are a vagabond people in _Ethiopia_, as the _Arabs_ are in _Egypt_. These
_Gauls_ are rich in cattle, and are always at wars with the _Ethiopians_.
They have no harquebusses, nor other fire arms, but make use of lances
and targets. After all, they speak so many different languages in
_Ethiopia_, that the Embassador said to me, _If God hath made seventy-two
languages, they are all spoken in ~Ethiopia~_. I asked his Excellency if
he knew any thing of the source of the _Nile_, and this he told me,
concerning it: The head of _Nile_ is a well that springs out of the
ground in a large plain, where many trees grow; this fountain is called
_Ouembromma_, and is in a province called _Ago_. It makes that a very
delightful place, casting up water very high in several places: And this
Embassador of _Ethiopia_ assured me, that he had been above twelve times
with the King of _Ethiopia_ to spend several days about that fountain,
which is twelve days journey from _Gonthar_.
_More Observations of ~Ethiopia~, by Father ~Lobo~, Father ~Alvarez~,
Father ~Tellez~, and others; extracted from their ~Portuguese~ voyages._
The rains begin to fall in _June_, and continue _July_, _August_, and
part of _September_, which make the _Nile_ swell and overflow in those
months. Father _Tellez_ says, the mountains of _Habessimia_ are much
higher than our _Alps_ and _Pyrenean_ hills; these render the country
more temperate and healthful, and make that torrid climate tolerable
to the _European_ bodies: There is plenty of good springs and herbage.
In the midst of the plains there rise up many steep rocks of wonderful
figures and shapes, on the tops whereof are woods, meadows, fountains,
fish-ponds, and other conveniences of life: The natives get up to them
by ropes, and crane up their cattle: These are like so many fortresses,
which defend the natives against the sudden incursions of barbarous
nations on all sides.
This kingdom abounds with metals, but they neglect to work them, lest
_Turkish_ or other invasions would follow, if such baits were discovered.
Their winter is from _May_ to _September_, the sun then passing and
repassing perpendicular over their heads. During this season, once every
day it rains torrents, and thunders most violently, which are accompanied
sometimes with sudden and furious hurricanes.
The Jesuits residing in the province of _Zambea_, observ’d both the
poles, the antartic higher with his cross stars: In this tract of heaven,
there is, as it were, a cloud, or blot full of little stars, as our _Via
Lactea_.
The animals of this vast kingdom are, the _Hippopotamus_, or river-horse,
which makes great devastation in their plantations, Crocodiles,
_Rhinocerots_, Elephants, Lyons, Tygers, Panthers, _Camelopardalus_,
_Gazels_, _Zembra_’s, Civet Cats; great varieties of Monkeys, Apes, and
Baboons; Ostriches, _Cassowars_, Turtles, Locusts in prodigious numbers.
The ordinary trees are, the Date, Coco, Tamarind, _Cassia_, Oranges,
_Musa_, or Plantane, Cotton trees, with many others peculiar to the
climate and region.
In one year they will have three several crops of rice, millet, tef-seed,
(their common food, ten times less than mustard seed) of wheat, and other
_European_ grain, yet the locusts often devour all, and bring on famines.
They make a drink of honey, burnt rice, water, and a wood call’d _Sardo_.
They have no mills, but grind all their grain with the hand.
Great caravans pass up and down the country, to and from the sea ports,
with merchandise. In many places the towns and villages are extremely
thick, and very populous.
Snow sometimes lies on the high mountains of _Ethiopia_, especially those
called _Semain_ and _Sallent_, or the _Jews_ hills. This part of _Afric_
called _Habessinia_, is much the highest of that quarter of the world,
the great rivers running east, north, and west, as _Hawas_, _Hanazo_, the
_Nile_, _Niger_ or _Gambia_, the _Zaire_, _&c._ taking their rise in it.
_Ludolfus_ in his late learned Commentaries on his _Ethiopic_ History,
figures several animals proper to these _African_ regions; as, 1. _Tygris
orbiculis minutis variegata._ 2. _Tigris maculis virgatis._ 3. _Pardus
maculis seu scutulis varius._
The _Habessine_ ports towards the Red Sea are very ill guarded, therefore
the _Turks_ are in possession of _Arkiko_ and _Matzua_. The _Habessines_
are not addicted to navigation, they trade only with the _Arabians_, and
carry their goods to _Suoquena_, _Arkiko_, and _Matzua_: The _Arminians_
often get entrance into the country, where they are very well received.
The _Arabians_ come in their barks cross the Red Sea, from _Mocha_,
_Aden_, _Ziden_, _Cameron_, and other ports. Few of the _Habessines_ pass
over into _Arabia_, and when they do, they dissemble their religion, and
disguise themselves in the habits of Musulmans. This comes from _Hubert
Klock_, in his letters to the _Dutch East India_ Company. _Anno 1685._
Father _Hyeronymo Lobo_ observ’d the Red Sea to be navigable only in the
middle, in which are some small islands and rocks above water, of little
danger in clear weather: The two shoars of _Arabia_ and _Ethiopia_ are
of very bad passage, full of shoals, rocks, and corals. The entrance of
this sea is the clearest and deepest on the side of _Arabia_, and is
the ordinary passage for ships of burthen, the other part of the mouth
towards _Ethiopia_, is full of flats and shoals, so that none ventures
through but little vessels: The pearl-fishing is near the island of
_Daleca_. On several parts of this sea we observed abundance of reddish
spots made by a weed resembling _Cargaco_ (or _Sargosso_) rooted in the
bottom, and floating in some places. Upon strict examination it proved to
be that which we found the _Ethiopians_ call _Sufo_, us’d up and down for
dying their stuffs and cloths of a red colour, (perhaps this may be one
of the _Rocoella_’s _in Imperati_, _a fucus_ or _Alga tinctoria_.)
_FINIS._
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES
[1] _~I~ guess them rather to have been ~Cormorants~; no ~Eagles~ having
long Necks._
[2] _Rauwolff_ was here too credulous and facil to suffer himself to
be abused and imposed upon by these relaters; for that there neither
are, nor ever were any animals with more heads than one naturally, I do
confidently affirm.
[3] Too soon, for that there are no such creatures in the world as
either _Unicorn_ or _Griffin_, I am as sure as I can be of a Negative.
Nay, Dr. _Brown_ hath well demonstrated, that there cannot be such a
creature as the common pictures of him represent the _Unicorn_. I cannot
again but wonder at the credulity of so curious and inquisitive a man as
_Rauwolff_, in believing the idle stories of such a vain and lying fellow.
[4] Though _Jerusalem_ might be situate in the highest part of _Judæa_,
yet are not the following places of the Scripture a sufficient proof
of it. For because it was the capital, and supreme town, in regard
of greatness, multitude of people, strength, jurisdiction, and other
privileges, though it’s site was not higher than that of other towns,
yet might people well enough be said to go up thither, it being highest
in respect of dignity, though not of place. So we make no scruple to
say in common speech, that whosoever travels up to _London_, goes up
thither; and whosoever travels from thence, goes down into the country,
let his habitation be never so much higher situate than _London_. Yet
was _Jerusalem_ situate on a hill, which is enough to verify all those
expressions, though that hill were not the highest in _Judæa_.
[5] _James_ the Son of _Alpheus_, one of the Apostles, was usually called
_James_ the _Less_; but it was not he that was elected first bishop of
_Jerusalem_, but _James_ the _Just_, who was called the Lord’s brother,
and was none of the Apostles.
[6] Κατὰ τὴν ἐπώνυμον ἡμῖν πόλιν. So the Emperor _Constantine_ in a
letter to _Eusebius_, _de Vita Constantini, lib. 4. cap. 39. & apud
Theodoritum Histor. Eccles. lib. 1. cap. 16. v. etiam Socrat. Scholast.
Hist. Eccles. lib. 1. cap. 16._
[7] V. _Socratem ibidem._ _Et Theophanem in Chronographia_ XXV. _anno
Constantini_.
[8] The Italian word _Rione_ is a manifest corruption of the Latin word.
[9] _In Panegyrico, quem Romæ dixit Anthenio Augusto, his consuli._
[10] _Hæresi_ lxix _quæ est Arianorum. Sect. 2._ where he says a sad
dismal fire was kindled by _Arius_: πῦρ οὐ τὸ τυχὸν ὃ κατείληφε παρὰ τὴν
Ῥωμανίαν σχεδὸν, μάλιστα τῆς ἀνατολῆς τὰ μέρη, which seized almost upon
all _Romania_, or _Universum Romanorum Imperium_, as _Petavius_ renders
it, but especially the eastern parts of it.
[11] Pag. 144, 152, 155.
[12] Pag. 139.
[13] _Vid._ _Gillium de Bosp. Thracii_, l. III c. 12. &c.
[14] Pag. 169. Num. 3.
[15] Pag. 121.
[16] Vid. _Historiam Politicam Constantinopoleos apud Crusium in
Turco-Græcia_, pag. 9.
[17] This was an old error: for thus writes _Dionysius Byzantinus_ in his
little book of the _Bosphorus_, Τοῦ ῥεύματος τὸ μὲν πλεῖον κατιόντος ἐστὶ
δὲ ὅτε κατ’ ἐπικράτειαν ἀναστρέφοντος·
[18] _Les voyages de Seign. Villamont._
[19] _Sands_’s Travels.
[20] The air of _Egypt_ is confessed by the ancients to be often full of
vapours; which appears both by the great dews that happened after the
deluge of _Nilus_ for several months; as also in that I have discovered
at _Alexandria_, in the winter time, several obscure stars in the
constellation of _Ursa major_, not visible in _England_; the which could
not be discerned there, were there not a greater refraction at that time
than with us, and consequently a greater condensation of the _medium_ or
air, as the optics demonstrate.
[21] These proportions of the chamber, and those which follow of the
length and breadth of the hollow part of the tomb, were taken by me with
as much exactness as it was possible to do; which I did so much the more
diligently, as judging this to be the fittest place for the fixing of
measures for posterity. A thing which hath been much desired by learned
men, but the manner how it might be exactly done, hath been thought of
by none. I am of opinion, that as this Pyramid hath stood three thousand
years almost, and is in no whit decayed within, so it may continue many
thousand years longer: And therefore that after-times measuring these
places by me assigned, may hereby not only find out the just dimensions
of the _English_ foot, but also the feet of several nations in these
times, which in my travels abroad I have taken from the originals, and
have compared them at home with the _English_ standard. Had some of the
ancient Mathematicians thought of this way, these times would not have
been so much perplexed, in discovering the measures of the _Hebrews_,
_Babylonians_, _Egyptians_, _Greeks_, and other nations. Such parts as
the _English_ foot contains a thousand, the _Roman_ foot on _Cossutia_’s
monument (commonly called by writers _Pes Colotianus_) contains nine
hundred sixty seven. The _Paris_ foot a thousand sixty eight. The
_Spanish_ foot nine hundred and twenty. The _Venetian_ foot one thousand
and sixty two. The _Rhinland_ foot, or that of _Snellius_, one thousand
and thirty three. The _Bracio_ at _Florence_ one thousand nine hundred
and thirteen. The _Bracio_ at _Naples_ two thousand one hundred. The
_Deran_ at _Cairo_ one thousand eight hundred and twenty four. The
greater _Turkish Dike_ at _Constantinople_, two thousand two hundred.
[22] As appears by a fair and ancient monument brought from _Smyrna_ to
my very worthy friend Mr _Rolt_, which stands in his Park at _Woolwich_.
[23] _Plin._ lib. 36. cap. 7.
[24] Which may also be confirmed by _Bellonius_’s observations, who
describing the rock out of which, upon _Moses_’s striking it, there
gushed out waters, makes it to be such a speckled kind of _Thebaic_
marble: _Est une grosse pierre massive droicte de mesme grain & de la
couleur qu’est la pierre Thebaique._
[25] The compass of the _Scapus_ of this column at _Alexandria_ near the
_Tarus_ is 24 _English_ feet: The compass of the _Scapus_ of those at
_Rome_ is fifteen _English_ feet, and three inches. By these proportions,
and by those rules which are expressed in _Vitruvius_, and in other books
of Architecture, the ingenious reader may compute the true dimensions of
those before the _Pantheon_, and of this at _Alexandria_, being in my
calculation the most magnificent column that ever was made of one entire
stone.
[26] Six feet ⁴⁸⁸⁄₁₀₀₀.
[27] Two feet ²¹⁸⁄₁₀₀₀. In the reiteration of these numbers, if any shall
be offended either with the novelty or tediousness of expressing them
so often. I must justify my self by the example of _Ulug. Beg._ nephew
to _Timurlane_ the great (for so is his name, and not _Tamerlane_) an
Emperor of the _Moguls_ or _Tartars_, (whom we term amiss the _Tartars_)
for I find in his astronomical tables (the most accurate of any in the
east) made about 200 years since, the same course observed by him,
when he writes of the _Grecian_, _Arabian_, _Persian_, and _Gelalean_
Epocha’s, as also of those of _Catæa_ and _Turkistan_. He expresseth
the numbers at large, as I have done, then in figures such as we call
_Arabian_, because we first learned these from them; but the _Arabians_
themselves fetch them higher, acknowledging that they received this
useful invention from the _Indians_, and therefore from their authors
they name them _Indian_ figures. _Lastly_, He renders them again in
particular tables. Which manner I judge worthy the imitation, in all
such numbers as are radical, and of more than ordinary use: For if they
be only twice expressed, if any difference shall happen by the neglect
of Scribes, or Printers, it may often so fall out, that we shall not
know which to make choice of, whereas if they be thrice expressed, it
will be a rare chance, but that two of them will agree; which two we may
generally presume to be the truth.
[28] _Sands_ in his Travels writes _That they are seen to rise on Good
Friday._ A _Frenchman_ at _Grand Cairo_, who had been present at the
resurrection shewed me an arm which he brought from thence; the flesh
shriveled and dryed like that of the Mummies. He observed the miracle to
have been always behind him: once casually looking back, he discovered
some Bones, carried privately by an _Egyptian_ under his Vest, whereby he
understood the Mystery.
[29] An argument intended by me and for which I made a collection of
several Antiquities, in my Travels abroad, but these (and I wish only
these) have unfortunately perished at home amidst the sad distractions of
the time.
STIRPIUM ORIENTALIUM.
RARIORUM
CATALOGI TRES.
_Stirpium Orientalium rariorum Catalogus, præsertim Græciæ, & Syriæ,
provinciis nascentium._
A.
Abrotanum fœmina verum Dioscoridis _Zanoni_ _v._ Heliochrysum Abrotani
fœminæ facie.
Acaciæ foliis frutex Mesapotamicus _Col. Annot._ in Res medicas _Novæ
Hisp. Recchi_. Acaciæ similis Mesopotamica, minutissimis foliis, siliqua
integra contorta, crassa & obtusa, seu siliquæ Nabathæa _Breyn. prod.
2._ Juxta Tigridem fluvium in Mesopotamia, & Euphratem in Arabia deserta.
Ageratum Persicum _Breyn. Prod. 2._
Alhagi Maurorum _Rauwolf._ Genista spartium spinosum foliis Polygoni
_C. B._ Spinosum Syriacum _Park._ Agul & Alhagi Arabibus, planta spinoso
Mannam resipiens _J. B._ Manna in hac arbuscula invenitur _Tereniabin_
aut _Trungibin_ Arabibus dicta. In Persia & circa Halepum. _Rauw._ p. 84.
152. 206.
Alcea Indica parvo flore _C. B._ Ægyptia _Clus._ Ægyptiaca _Ger. emac._
Bamia _J. B._ Bamia seu Alcea Ægyptia _Park. parad._ Trionum Theophrasti
_Rauwolf. Lugd. app._ Non in Ægypto tantum sed etiam in Syria invenitur.
_Rauwolf_, p. 167.
Alcea arborescens Syriaca _C. B._ Althæa arborescens glabra, Ketmia dicta
_J. B._ Althæa frutex 2 _Clus._ Frutex flore albo vel purpureo _Park._
_Rauwolf._ p. 54. Circa Tripolin Syriæ observavit.
Androsæmum Constantinopolitanum fore maximo _Wheeler._ Flore & theca
quinque capsulari omnium maximis _Maris. Hist._ p. 473. Non est hoc
Ascyron magno flore _C. B. prod._ Notæ enim non conveniunt. Circa
Constantinopolin, eundo inde ad Pontum Euxinum, secus vias, & alibi
copiosè.
Anemone maxima Chalcedonica _Park._ Latifolia maxima versicolor _C. B._
Maxima Chalcedonica polyanthos _Ger._ Latifolia pleno flore 1 _Clus._
Anetho similis planta semine lato laciniato _J. B._ Gingidium folio
Fœniculi _C. B._ Verum, sive Syriacum _Park._ Dioscoridis _Rauwolf.
Lugd. app._ In monte Libano, locis præruptis, p. 234.
Anonis lutea annua siliqua glabra breviore _Moris. Hist._ Halepo
transmisit D. _Rob. Huntington_.
Apocynum folio subrotundo _C. B._ Folio rotundo, flore ex albo
pallescente _J. B._ Latifolium non repens _Park._ Periploca latifolia
_Ger._ Syriæ & calidiorum regionum incola esse dicitur.
Apocynum repens & scandens _Rauwolf._ Monte Libano observavit Autor Itin.
p. 233. Arbores tegit ut Ephedra.
Arbutus (Κόμαρος) Dioscoridis vera _Wheeleri_. Folio non serrato _C. B._
Adrachne _Park._ Adrach. Theophrasti _J. B._ Ἀδράκλα Græcis modernis,
_Bellonius_ multis locis in sua peregrinatione observavit. D. _Wheelerus_
in Achaia prope montem Pentelicum.
Arisarum angustifolium _Wheeleri_ itiner. p. 309. Caule folioso pingitur.
Propè Panthæam inter Amphissam & Naupactum.
Aristolochia Maurorum _C. B._ Peregrina Rauwolfii _Clus._ Rhasut & Rumigi
à Mauris nominata _Rauwolf. Lugd. app._ Aristolochiis similis _Rhasut_
& _Rumigi_ Maurorum _J. B._
Aristolochia clematitis Attica, foliis in summo bifidis seu crenatis
_Wheeleri_. Θερώκαλο Græcis. In monte Hymetto.
Arum auriculis longis, Ovidne dictum, Chalepense _Rauwolf._ p. 104.
Aster luteus angustifolius _Park._ _J. B._ Luteus Linariæ rigido glabro
folio _C. B._ 6 Clusii _Ger._ In monte Olympo Asiæ. _Wheel._
Astragalus Syriacus hirsutus _C. B._ Syriacus _Lob._ _Ger._ _Park._ _J.
B._ Astrag. Dioscoridis, vulgò Christiana radix _Rauwolf. Lugd. app._
p. 105. D. _Wheelerus_ Itin. p. 435. Astragalum quendam describit &
depingit, quem in Græcia propè Megaram invenit, & argenteum vocat. Qu. An
Syriacus sit?
Atractylis Cypria _Ang. Lugd._ Purpurea _C. B._ Purpurea Cypria _Park._
Atractylis vera Antiquarum, cujus caulibus profusis utuntur
mulieres Græcæ D. _Covel._ An Atractylidi & Cnico sylvestri similis
_C. B._ Calochierny carduus Cretensibus _J. B._ In Thracia prope
Constantinopolin. V. Hist. nost. p. 304.
Avellana Byzantina _J. B._ Pumila Byzantina _Clus._ _Ger. emac._
Peregrina humilis _C. B._ Nux Avellana Macedonica seu Byzantina _Park._
Azadirachta foliis ramosis majoribus Syriaca, seu vulgaris flore majore
cœruleo _Breyn._ Azedareth arbor, Fraxini folio, flore cœruleo _C.
B._ Azadaracheni arbor _J. B._ Azadarach. Avicennæ _Park._ Zizipha
alba _Ger._ Fructus hujus arboris venenatus est, & canes interficit.
_Rauwolf._ p. 51. In Syriâ & Palestinâ.
B.
Baccharis Dioscoridis Rauwolfio _Park._ Gnaphalio montano affinis
Ægyptiaca _C. B._ Rauwolfius in Syria observavit, & Monte Libano, _Itin._
p. 233.
Balsamum verum _J. B._ Genuinum Antiquorum _Park._ Rutæ folio, Syriacum
_C. B._ Balsamum Alpini _Ger. emac._ Bellonius & Alpinus Arabiam
Fælicem Balsami locum patrium semper fuisse, nunquam Judæam aut Ægyptum,
comtendunt.
Behmen abiad, i. e. Ben album _Rauwolffii_ _Park._ Serratulæ affinis
capitulo squamoso luteo, ut & flore _C. B._ Ad pedem montis Libani humido
& umbroso loco, p. 235.
Bellis Chalepensis præcox _Kusan_ & _Surugen_ dicta _Rauwolf._ p. 109.
Borago variegata Cretica _Wheel._ Muralis variegata flore odorato Cretica
_Zanoni_. In monte Hymotto Atticæ. Folia maculis albis variegata sunt:
flores (qui candidi) maculis & striis purpureis cæruleisve.
C.
Calamus aromaticus Syriacus vel Arabicus supposititius _Park._ Syriacus
_C. B. prod._ A Paludano ex Ægypto reduce habuid _C._ Bauhinus.
Camarronum Rhaûs _Rauwolf._ _v._ Tithymalus.
Capparis arborescens fructu Juglandis magnitudine _C. B._ Arabica non
spinosa _Park._ Cappares arborescentes _J. B._ In Arabia observavit
Bellonius, Obs. l. 2. c. 20.
Castanea equina _Ger._ _Park._ Equina folio multifido _J. B._ Folio
multifido _C. B._ Constantinopoli & in Creta nasci fertur: certè
Constantinopoli ad nos transmissa est.
Catanance Dioscoridis _Rauwolf._ est plantago quinque nervia cum globulis
albis pilosis _J. B._ Consule Breynii Prod. 2. in Plantago.
Caucalis Syriaca cum maximo semine _J. B._ Gingidium latifolium _Ger._
Latifolium Syriacum _Park._ Foliis Pastinacæ latifoliæ _C. B._ Semen ex
Syria allatum J. Bauhino Rauwolfius communicavit.
Cedrus magna conifera Libani _Park._ Magna sive Libani, conifera _J. B._
Conifera folio Laricis _C. B._ In monte Libani, ubi sponte oritur, 24
tantum arbores supputavit _Rauwolffius_, nec plures _Melchior Lussy_, ast
_Bellonius_, qui non multo antea peregrinatus est, circiter 28, qui & in
Amano & Tauro montibus se Cedros observasse scribit; ut Libano propriæ &
peculiares non sint. V. _Rauwolf._ p. 229.
Cedrus Lycia retusa dicta & nonullis Cedrus Phœnicia, Galliæ etiam &
Germaniæ communis est. _V._ Cat. general.
Charnubi Arab. i. e. Siliqua, p. 21. V. Synonyma in _Cat. gen._
Chomæleon niger Dioscorides _Rauwolf._ p. 51. 233.
Chondrilla altera Dioscoridis _Rauwolf._ p. 106. _Clus._ Conyza marina
_Lugd._ _C. B._ _J. B._ At nostro judicio descriptio Rauwolfii illi non
convenit.
Chondrillæ alterius aliud genus _Rauwolf._ aliud genus Dioscoridis
_Lugd._ Bulbosa, Conyza facie major, foliis latioribus _C. B._ Bulbosa
altera latiore folio _Park._ Qui præcedentem bulbosam Syriacam
angustifoliam vocat. Utramque invenit Rauwolfius circa Halepum Syriæ,
alteram in arvis, alteram in locis saxosis, p. 106.
Chrysocome vera. Dioscoridis _Zanoni_, Helichrysum Persicum nonnullis.
Chrysocome Syriaca candidissimis floribus _Breyn. cent._ In saxosis
Libani montis _Rauwolf._ herbar. sicc. Gnaphalium _Rauwolf._ p. 232.
Chrysogonum Dioscoridis, _Rauwolf. Lugd. app._ Quibusdam _J. B._ _Ponæ
Ital._ Leontopetalo affinis foliis quernis _C. B._ In Syria segetes
_Rauwolf._ p. 108.
Cistus folliis maurinis. In Olympo Asiæ monte observavit _Wheelerus_ 4.
Invenitur prope Monspelium & in Hispania. V. _Cat. Gen._
Clinopodium Dioscoridis _Rauwolf._ 52.
Cneorum _Matth._ In Hymetto Atticæ Monte invenit _Wheelerus_.
Colchicum Fritillaricum Chiense _Park._ Variegatum _Cornut._
Convolvulus Hederæ foliis _Rauwolf._ _Itin._ p. 113. Cæruleus Hederaceo
anguloso folio _C. B._ Trifolius s. hederaceus pupureus _Park._ Cæruleus
_Ger._ Nil Arabum quibusdam s. Convolvulus cæruleus _J. B._ Halepi in
hortis.
Convolvulus purpureus folio subrotundo _C. B._ Cæruleus major
rotundifolius _Park. parad._ Cæruleus folio subrotundo _Ger. emac._
Campanula Indica _J. B._ Ex Syria & Orientalibus delatum aiunt.
Convolvulus Sagittariæ foliis flore amplo purpureo _Wheeleri_. Zacynthi
ad puteos bituminosos.
Convolvulus Marinus Soldanellæ affinis _J. B._ Soldanella maritima major
_Park._ Soldanella vel Brassica maritima major _C. B._ Brassicæ maritimæ
genus _Rauwolf._ p. 47. _Lugd. app._ In Syria circa Tripolin. Folia in
summo bifida sunt seu crenata.
Convolvulus Arabicus seu Ægyptius _Alpin. exot._ 186. _Park._ Hujus semen
ex Ægypto accepit Pr. Alpinus Convolvuli Arabici nomine.
Conyza Syriæ quibusdam _J. B._ Minor _Rauwolfii._ _Park._ Major altera
_C. B._ Circa Tripolin Syriæ observavit _Dasylycus_. Conyza Dioscoridis
_Rauwolf._ p. 48.
Conchorus Plinii _C. B._ Conchorus sive Melochia _J. B._ In hortis Halepi
_Rauwolf._ p. 67. _v._ _Cat. Ægypt._
Coris foliis crispis montis Olympi Asiæ _Wheeler_ p. 220. An Hypericum
foliis parvis crispis seu simulatis Siculum _Hist. nost._ p. 1018.
Coris legitima _Clus._ Hypericoides quorundam _J. B._ In Hymetto Atticæ
monte _Wheeler._ v. _Cat. Cret._
Corona Imperialis _Ger._ _Park._ Cor Imper. sive Tusai aliis _J. B._
Lilium sive Corona Imperialis _C. B._ Hujus bulbos ex Persia primò
Constantinopolin delatos sibi persuadet Clusius, quoniam cum eos primùm
accipiebat, inter reliquas hæc fuit Inscriptio, _Tusai fior Persiano
rosso o discolorito con la Testa abasso_. h. e. Tusai flos Persicus ruber
aut decolor nutante Capite.
Cyanus floridus odoratus Turcicus major & minor _Park._ Variat floris
colore albo.
Cyanus floridus odoratus Turcicus latifoliis laciniatus _Hort. Paris._
Cyanus Orientalis alter seu Constantinopolitanus flo. fistuloso
candicante _Hort. Reg. Par._
Cyclamen Antiochenum autumnale flore purpureo duplici _Park._
Cyclamen Autumnale, folio subrotundo locido molliore & crenato
suave-rubente flore, Syriacum _Hort. Reg. Par._
Cyclamen hyemale, orbiculatis foliis, inferius rubentibus purpurascente
flore. Coum Herbariorum _Ejusdem_.
Cycl. hyeme & vere florens, folio anguloso, amplo flore albo, basi
purpurea, Persicum dictum _Ejusdem_.
Cycl. Autumnale, orbiculato, circumroso folio, subtus rubente,
odoratissimo flore _Ejusdem_.
Cyperus rotundus odoratus Syriacus major _Park._ Orientalis major vel
Babylonius _Rauwolf._ Rotundus orientalis major _C. B._ Rotundus Syriacus
_Ger. emac._ Syriaca & Cretica rotundior _J. B._ In Babylonia circa
urbem _Bagadet_ muscosis humidis copiosè _Rauwolf._ In _Ægypto_, locis
paludosis _Alpin._
Cyperus rotundus Orientalis minor _C. B._ Rotundus odoratus Syriacus
minor _Park._ Minor Creticus _Ger. emac._ In Syriæ montosis udis.
Reperitur etiam in Italia.
Cytisus folio argenteo montis Olympi _Wheeler._
D.
Daucus Tertius Dioscoridis Rauwolf. p. 105. Folio Coriandri, flore luteo
_J. B._ _v._ Cat. Cret. Halepi in colle quodam juxta fluvium observavit
Rauwolfius. Radices _Zarneb Melchi_ Turces dicuntur.
Dictamnus Origani foliis Montis Stipuli _Flo. Bat. fl._ Origanum spicatum
montis Sipyli foliis glabris _Hist. nost._ In monte Sipylo copiosè
_Wheeler itin._
Draba Chalepensis repens humilior, foliis minus cinereis & quasi
viridibus _Moris. Hist. D. Huntingdon_. Hujus semen circa Chalepum
collectum misit.
E.
Ephedra _v._ Poligonum.
Eruca Chalepensis, caulibus & Siliquis hirsutis, foliis inferioribus
maculatis _Moris. hist._ Chalepo semen à _D. Huntingdon_ transmissum est.
Eruca Chalepensis, flore dilutè violaceo, siliquis articulatis _Moris.
hist._ Hæc etiam ab eodem missa, & ejusdem loci est.
Eryngium stellatum capitulis cæruleis _Rauwolf._ Halepi inter segetes
observavit Autor p. 107.
F.
Ficus Cipria _J. B._ _Rauwolf._ Sycomorus altera seu Ficus Cypria _Park._
Ficus folio Sycomori, fructum non in caudice gerens _C. B._ Circa
Tripolin p. 50.
~Fustick Wood~, Chrysoxylon _Wheeleri_. In rupibus Peloponesiacis.
G.
Garab. s. Garb. v. Salix.
Genista spinosa floribus rubris _Wheeler._ In Insula Teno.
Genista-spartium spinosum foliis Poligoni _C. B._ v. _Al-hagi_.
Gingidium folio fœniculi _C. B._ _v._ Anetho similis, &c.
Glans unguentaria _C. B._ Nux Ben sive Glans unguentaria _Park._ Nux
unguentaria _J. B._ Balanus myrepsica _Ger._ In Arabia prope _Pharagou_
in itinera à Cayro ad montem Sinai _Bellon._
Gnaphalio affinis Ægyptiaca _C. B._ Baccharis Rauwolfii _Lugd. app._
_Clus. Hist._ Dioscoridis Rauwolfio _J. B._ Gnaphalium foliis Auriculæ
subrotundis, flore duplici niveo in Monte Libano observavit _Rauwolf._ p.
232. v. Chrysocome.
H.
Habhel Assis Tripolitanis, sive Granum Altzelem Arabum Rauwolfii p. 55.
_i. e._ Trasi veronensium _Lob._
Hacub seu Silybum quibusdam _J. B._ Circa Halepum locis asperis. p. 66,
67.
Harmala _v._ Ruta Syriaca.
Helichrysum Abrotani fœminæ foliis _Boccon._ Abrotanum fœmina verum
Dioscoridis _Zanoni_. Ex semine Perside allato in horto M. Ducis Etruriæ
succrevit.
Helichryson Orientale _C. B._ Heliochrysum Orientale, sive Amarantus
luteus _Park. parad._ Stœchas citrina floris & magnitudine & colore
speciosa _J. B._ An Chrysocome vera Dioscoridis _Zanoni_? Helychryson
Orientale à Cretica specie diversum nobis esse videtur.
Hesperis Syriaca _J. B._ Syriaca Camerarii _Park._ Peregrina siliquis
articulatis _C. B._ Leucoium Melancholicum _quibusdam_. In Syriæ montanis
oritur teste Clusio.
Hieracium echioides, capitulis Cardui benedicti majus, Arabicum, folio
sinuato _Hort. Edinburg._
Horminum sativum genuinum Dioscoridis _Park._ Sativum _C. B._ Sylv.
foliis purpureis _Ger._ Comâ purpuro violacea _J. B._ In Insula Lesena &
universa Græcia.
Horminum Syriacum _C. B. prod._ _Park._ Gallitrichum exoticum flore
magno albo _J. B._ Bisermas Camerarii Aman quibusdam. Paludanus è Syria
redux hujus semen attulit.
Horminum Syriacum tomentosum foliis Coronopi sive profundè laciniatis
_Breyn. prod. 2._ rarum foliis laciniatis _Rauwolf._ p. 107.
Hyacinthus comosus Byzantinus _Clus._ _Ger._ _Park._ Comosus albus
Byzantinus _C. B._ Comosus Byzantinus candicans cum staminulis purpureis
_J. B._
Hyacinthus racemosus moschatus _C. B._ Botroides major moschatus, sive
Muscari flore cinericeo _Park._ Odoratissimus dictus Tibcadi & Muscari.
_J. B._ Muscari obsoletiore flore _Clus._ Muscari Clussii _Ger._ E
vicinis Constantinopoli hortis, ultra Bosphorum in Asia sitis primùm
Europæ communicata est _Clus._
Hyacinthus Orientalis, quibusdam Constantinopolitanus _J. B._ Orientalis
_C. B._ cujus duodecim aut tredecim, recenset species: plures
Parkinsonus. Alii enim latifolii sunt, alii angustifolii. Horum alii
floribus purpureis sunt, alii albis vel exalbidis. Utriusque generis alii
polyanthes sunt floribus vel in unum latus propendentibus, vel in omnem
partem æqualiter sparsis; alii pauciores producunt flores. Circa Halepum
copiosiss. _Rauwolf._ p. 109.
Hyacinthus stellatus Byzantinus _J. B._ Stell. Byzantin. nigrâ radice
_Park._ St. Byz. nig. rad. flore cæruleo _Ger._ Stellaris obsoletè
cæruleus vel major _C. B._
Hyacinthus Stellatus Byzantinus major flore Boraginis _Ger._ St. Byz.
alter s. flore Boraginis _Park._ St. Byz. alter elegantissimus serotinus
bullatus _J. B._ Stellaris cæruleus amœnus _C. B._
Hyacinthus eriophorus _Park. parad._ Bulbus eriophorus _Clus._ _Ger._
Eriophorus Orientalis _C. B._ Constantinopoli sæpius missus est _Clus._
Hyacinthus Tripolitanus _J. B._ Exoticus flore Phalangii _C. B._ Florebat
Aprili Hepali, ubi observavit Rauwolfius. Hyacinthus Halepi _Ayr_ dictus
Rauwolfii p. 109.
Hyoscyamus Ægyptius cauliculis spinosissimis _Moris. hist._ Ægyptius,
cauliculis spinosis _C. B._ Peculiaris flore purpurascente _J. B._ Et
Hyoscyamus Syriacus _ejusdem_ & _Cam._ Ex femine Halepo à D. _Huntingdon_
misso Morisono ortus est. Eundem observavit etiam Rauwolfius in arvis
circa Halepum. p. 111.
Hypericon montis Olympi _Wheeler._ An Ascyron magno flore _C. B._? In
Olympo Asiæ monte.
Hypericum Syriacum _Ger._ Syriacum & Alexandrinum _J. B._ Folio breviore
_C. B._
I.
Jacea Babylonica _C. B. prod._ _Park._ Hujus Folium C. Bauhinus ex
horto Contareni habuit.
Jacea maxima _Alpin. exot._ Ex seminibus Hierosolymâ delatis enata est.
Jaccam laciniatam capitulis luteis & jaceam capitulis purpurascentibus
Monte Libano observavit _Rauwolf._ p. 231, 232. Vide Catalogum generalem.
Jasminum sive Sambac Arabum Alpino _J. B._ Sambac Arabicum s. Gelseminum
Arabicum _Alpin. Ægypt._ Syringa Arabica foliis Mali Aurantii _C. B._
Jasminum Persicum _v._ Syringa.
Iris bulbosa Persica _Park. parad._ Persica variegata præcox _Ferrar.
Flor._
Iris Chalcedonica _Ger._ Chalcedonica s. Susiana major _Park._ Susiana
flore maximo ex albo nigricante _C. B._ Latifolia major Susiana vel
Chalcedonica, flore majore variegato Clusia _J. B._ Constantinopoli
delata est.
Iris Asiatica cærulea Polyanthos _C. B._ Asiatica cærulea omnium
amplissima, Dalmaticæ affinis _J. B._ Constantinopoli accepit Clusius.
Iris Byzantina purpuro cærulea _C. B._ Major latifolia Byzantina,
Dalmaticæ minori similis _J. B._ Major Latifolia 18. _Clus._
Iris Asiatica purpurea _C. B._ Asiat. purp. major. latifolia _J. B._
Major latif. 5. sive Asiatica purp. _Clus._
Iris Damascena polyanthos _C. B._ Major latifolia 4. s. Damascena _Clus._
Major latif. sive Damascena cærulea _J. B._
Iris Tripolitana _Clus._ Tripolitana foliis longissimis, flore aureo _J.
B._ Media longissimis foliis lutea _C. B._
Iris tuberosa _C. B._ _Ger._ _Park._ Tuberosa Belgarum _J. B._ Ex Arabia
& regionibus Orientalibus.
K.
Kali Arabum primum genus _Rauwolf. Lugd. app._ _C. B._ Juxta Tripolin
copiosissimum observavit Rauwolfius p. 33.
Kali Arabum secundum genus _Rauwolf. Lugd. app._ Kali geniculatum
alteram vel minus _C. B._ Cali Arabum aliud _J. B._ Circa Tripolin Syriæ
_Rauwolf._ ibid.
Kismesen vel Kesmesen _Bellonio_. Acacalis quorundam s. Kesmesen foliis
Ceratiæ _J. B._ Siliquæ Sylvestri similis, an Dioscoridis Acacalis _C.
B._ Semen hujus Cayrinæ & Kismesen nomine à Paludano ex Syria reduce
accepit C. Bauhinus.
L.
Lamium moschatum, foliorum marginibus argentatis _Wheeler._ Circa
Panthæum inter Amphissam & Naupactum in Græcia.
Lapathum Chalepense folio acuto, seminum involucris profundè dentatis
_Moris. hist._
Laserpitium _Alpin. exot._ _Bod. à Stapel._ Comm. in Theophr. hist. _lib.
6. p. 588._ Ex seminibus à Thracia delatis ortum est.
Lathyrus ἀμφίκαρπος s. supra infraque terram siliquas gerens _Moris.
hist._ An Araco similis planta ex Hispania missa _Bod. à Stapel._ In Asia
Syriaque provenit Semina ab urbe Chalepo à D. _Roberto Huntingdon_ ad
Morisonum transmissa fuere.
Laurocerasus _Clus._ _Ger._ _J. B._ Cerasus folio Laurino _C. B._
Cerasus Trapezuntina s. Lauro-cerasus _Park._ A Trapezunte primo in
Constantinopolin illata dicitur, inde in Europam.
Leontopetalon _Ger._ _Park._ _C. B._ quorundam _J. B._ Assab Syrorum.
Circa Halepum _Rauwolfius_ reperit. D. _Wheelerus_ per totam planitiem
Atticam inter Athenas & Hymettum _Rauw._ p. 108.
Lepidium Dioscoridis _Zanoni_, Planta Persica. Maximum Chalepense, primis
foliis minoribus & serratis; secundis majoribus & profundè sinuatis,
spissis incanis _Moris. hist._
Leucoium Alyssoides clypeatum majus _C. B._ Alysson Dioscorides. Ad
_Conrongeli_ pagum in Bythinia _Wheeler._ Monte Libano _Rauwolf._ p. 231.
Libanotis latifolia Aquilegiæ folio _C. B._ _Park._ _J. B._ Ligusticum
Rauwolfii foliis Aquilegiæ _J. B._
Lilium album Syriacum Rauwolfii _J. B._ Album Byzantinium _Clus._ _Park._
_Ger._ Album floribus dependentibus seu peregrinum _C. B._ Sultan
_Zambach_ & Martagon Constantinopolitanum flore albo _Clus. hist._
Halepi locis aquosis.
Lilium Byzantinum miniatum _C. B._ Flore miniato nutante, sive
Hemerocallis Chalcedonica quibusdam _J. B._ Lil. rubrum Byzantinum s.
Martagon Constantinopolitanum _Park._
Lilium Susianum _Clus._ Persicum _Ger._ _Park._ _C. B._ Persicum sive
Susianum _J. B._ Susianum dictum est, quod Susis Persiæ urbe delatum
fuerit.
Linaria annua Chalepensis, minor, erecta, flore albo, lineis violaceis
notato, calyci ex quinis foliis constanti insidente _Moris. hist._ A D.
_R. Huntingdon_ semen accepit.
Linariæ purpurascentis ducas species Monte Libano observavit _Rauwolf._
p. 232.
Lupinus peregrinus pentaphyllos _C. B._ Arabicus, sive Pentaphyllum
peregrinum _Ponæ Ital._ Pentaphyllum peregrinum Siliquosum bivalve minus
_Moris. hist._ Ex semine Chalepo Syriæ urbe transmisso Morisono enata est.
Lychnidis Chalcedonicæ umbellâ Phlomos Lychnitis altera Syriaca _Lob._
Phlomos Lychnitis Syriaca _Ger._ Verbascum acuto Salviæ folio _C. B._
Foliis Salviæ enuifoliæ Syriacum _Park._ Verb. Lychn. Syriacum incanum
summitate floris Hierosolymitanæ _J. B._
Lychnis Chalcedonica _Ger._ _Park._ Hirsuta flore coccineo major _C. B._
Flos Constantinopolitanus miniatus, albus & varius _J. B._
Lychnis flore punctato _Wheeleri_. In Insula Zazyntho.
Lychnis Sylvestris hirsuta annua, flore minore carneo _Moris. hist._
Semina à D. _Huntington_ Chalepo transmissa sunt.
Lychnis Chalepensis annua, foliis parum hirtis & angustis, flosculis
carneis, pediculis biuncialibus insistentibus, capsalis fere rotundis
_Moris. hist._
Lycium Dioscoridis _Rauwolf._ Buxi foliis angustioribus Syriacum _Breyn.
Prod. 2._ Hadhad Arabibus & Zaroa incolis montis Libani _p._ 233.
Lycium Buxi foliis rotundioribus Syriacum vel Persicum _Breyn. prod.
2._ quem consule.
Lycopsis Dioscoridis _Rauwolf. Lugd. app._ Lycopsis Ægyptiaca _C. B._
p. 109. Circa Halepum in arvis.
M.
Majorana Syriaca vel Cretica _C. B._ Marum Syriacum _Ad. Lob._ _Ger._
Syriacum vel Creticum _Park._
Malva hortensis seu rosea folio subrotundo caulescens, flore simplici
minore luteo-pallido Chalepensis _Moris. hist._
Marrubium villosum Syriacum seu montis Libani _Breyn. prod. 2._
Medica trifolia soliis dissectis _Rauwolf._ p. 107.
Medica siliquis compressis viridibus longitudine & latitudine Siliquarum
Senæ _Rauwolf._ ibid.
Medium Dioscoridis Rauwolfii _J. B._ Viola Mariana laciniatis folios
peregrina _C. B._ Mariana peregrina _Park._ v. viola.
Megasac Arabum, _i. e._ Poterium _Matth. Raw._ 106.
Melantzana vel Melongena _v._ Solanum pomiferum.
Melilotus curvis siliquis biuncialibus Syriaca s. Chalepensis major
_Moris. hist._ D. _Huntington_ misit.
Melilotus Syriaca _Park._ Syriaca odora _Ger._ Melilotus corniculis
reflexis major _C. B._ Non Syriaca tantùm est, sed & Italica, verum in
Syriaca siliqua videtur magis curva falcatave _Lob._ Melilotus siliculis
pendentibus longis, curvis ex eodem centro ortis Germanica seu Italica
Syriacáve recta _Moris. hist._ D. Huntington semen ex Halepo transmisit.
Melilotus lutea minor, floribus & siliculis majoribus, spicatim & rarò
dispositis, foliis angustioribus, maculis sub exortum notatis _Moris.
hist._ Hanc etiam speciem semine à D. _Huntington_ accepto debemus.
Melilotus minima Syriaca. Nephel sive Naphal Iben baithar & Malasesæ
_Breyn. prod. 2._
Melissa Turcica _Ger._ Turcica multis dicta _J. B._ Turcica flore cæruleo
& albo _Park._ Peregrina folio oblongo _C. B._ Ex Moldavia ad nos primum
deleta est.
Melissa Moluca lævis sive Syriaca lævis _Park._ _Rauwolf._ p. 49.
Mel. Molucca lævis _Ger._ Molucana odorata _C. B._ Asiaticæ originis
est, Constantinopoli primùm delata, unde & nonnullis Melissa
Constantinopolitana dicitur. Ejusdem loci & originis est Melissa Molucca
asperior; quæ & in Sicilia spotanea est _v._ Cat. Sic.
Melochia _v._ Corchorus Plinii.
Mes sive Meisce Avicennæ _v._ Mungo.
Morgsani Syrorum _Rauwolf._ i. e. Capparis Portulacæ folio _C. B._
Capparis fabago _Ger._ Fabaginea seu Peplis Lutetianorum _J. B._ Fabago
s. leguminosa _Park._ Telephium Dioscoridis & Plinii _Col._ Circa
Tripolin invenit Rauwolffius.
Mosselini seu Muslin panni linei è Gossipii quadam specie facti, & à
regione _Mossoli_ dicta in Mesopotamia denominati.
Mungo _Col._ _Clus._ _J. B._ _Garc._ Fructus niger Coriandro similis _C.
B._ Mes sive Meisce Avicennæ _Rauwolf._ p. 68. Nasci ferunt in Palæstina
Halepi observavit Rauwolffius; ubi semina Turcis in pretio sunt, & cum
Oryza mixta in deliciis habentur.
Myagyrum Arabicum Rosa Hierichuntina perperam dictum Zanoni _v._ Rosa
Hierichontica.
Myrtus fructu nigro cæruleo, Sorby magnitudine eduli _Rauwolf._ p. 65. An
Myrtus angustifolia Bætica _C. B._ _Clus. hist._
N.
Narcissus Persicus _Clus._ _Park._ _Ger._ Colchicum melino flore _C. B._
Nasturtium Babylonicum _Lob._ Est Draba umbellata s. Draba major
capitulis donata _C. B._
Negil _Rauwolf._ Grammini rubro loliaceo affine p. 195. Pecori exitiale.
O.
Olea sylv. folio molli incano _C. B._ Zizyphus Cappadocia quibusdam olea
Bohemica _J. B._ Zizyphus alba _Bellon._ Seisesun _Rauwolf._ Monte Libano
aliisque Syriæ locis observavit _Rauwolf._ p. 101, 226.
Origanum Smyrnæum _Wheeleri hist. nost._ p. 540. Smyrna in monte cui Arx
inedificatur copiosè.
Ornithogalum Arabicum _Clus._ _Park._ Majus Arabicum _Ger. emac._
Umbellatum maximum _C. B._ Lilium Alexandrinum s. Ornithog. maximum
Syriacum _J. B._
Onobrychis major annua, siliculis articulatis, asperis, clypeatis,
undulatim (i. e. antrosum & retrosom) junctis, flore purpuro-rubente
_Moris. hist._ Ex semine Chalepo à D. _Huntington_ transmisso in horto
Academico Oxoniensi errata est.
P.
Parma major _C. B._ Palma Dactylifera _Jonston_. In Syria frequens.
Panax Syriacum Theoph. est Panax Pastinacæ folio sive Heracleum majus; in
Sicilia nobis observatum. v. _Cat. gen._
Papaver Corniculatum flore sanguineo _Wheeleri_. In Attica circa Hymettum.
Persea _C. B._ _J. B._ Arbor _Ger._ Arbor _Clus._ _Park._ In Persia oriri
dicitur & venenosa ibi esse, cum in Ægypto nata innocens sit.
Periploca latifolia _Wheeleri_ itin. p. 223. Ad vias publicas prope
Prusiam Bythiniæ urbem.
Petromarula Cretica in monte Parnasso è rupium fissuris exit _Wheeler._
Phaseolus Turcicus flore flavo _Rauwolf._ p. 49.
Planta lactaria Xabra & Camarronum Rhasis &c. _v._ Tithymalus.
Pistacea _Ger._ _J. B._ Nux Pistacea _Park._ Pistacea Peregrina fructu
racemoso, sive Terebinthus Indica Theophrasti _C. B._ Multis Syriæ locis
abundat, ut circa _Sermin_ urbem, inter Tripolin & Halepum, ubi integræ
earum Sylve sunt necnon circa Tripolin ipsam p. 59, & 64.
Polium Gnaphaloides _Alpin. exot._ _Park._ Wheelerus in Monte Parnasso
observavit, unde Plantam à Gnapholio maritimo vulgari distinctam esse,
contra quam aliquando opinati sumus, verisimile est.
Polygonum bacciferum scandens _C. B._ Ephedra sive Anabasis Bellonii
_Park._ Ad pedes montis Olympi & in monte Hæmo, item circa Tripolin Syria
_Rauwolf._ p. 49.
Polygonum maximum, longissimis cauliculus & foliis _Moris. hist._ Circa
Halepum Syriæ urbem invenitur.
Poterium _Matth._ i. e. Tragacanthæ affinis lanuginosa sive Poterium _C.
B._ Circa Halepum observavit _Rauwolf._ p. 107. _v._ _Cat. Hispan._
Prunella Spinosa _Wheeler._ In Atticæ monte Himetto.
Pseudo dictamnus acetabulis Moluccæ _C. B._ Alter Theophrasti Ponæ
_Park._ In Cithæra Insula _Wheeler._
Pulsatilla rubra _Ger._ _J. B._ Flore rubro _Park._ Flore rubro obtuso
_C. B._ Ex Halepo habuit Lobelius.
Q.
Quadrifolium annuum Persicum Zanoni.
R.
Ranunculus Asiaticus grumosa Radice 1 _Clus._ Tripolitanus _Ger._
Tripolitanus flore Phœnicio _J. B._ Asiaticus sive Tripolitanus flore
rubro _Park._ Grumosa radice, flore Phœniceo minimo simplici _C. B._
Ranunculi Asiatici plurimæ seu species, seu varietates in hortis aluntur,
quas omnes recensere nimis Longum foret. Consulantur Clusius, C.
Bauhinus, Hortus Regius Parisiensis, aliique.
Raphanistrum monospermon maximum Chalepense, flore luteo, capsula rotunda
striata _Moris. Hist._
Rhamnus spinis oblongis, flore candicante _C. B._ Hauset & Hausegi sive
Rhamnus primus _Rauwolf._ Circa Tripolin.
Rhaponticum Thracicum s. Hippolapathum maximum rotundifolium exoticum,
Rhabarbarum verum nonullis falsò creditum. In Rhodope Thraciæ monte
_Alpin._
Ribes verum Arabum _J. B._ Arabum, foliis Petasitidis _C. B._ Lapathum
rhotundifolium montis Libani semine maximo _Breyn. prod. 2._ An Ribes
Belloni de Coniferis? _Rauwolfius_ in monte Libano observavit, & figuram
ejus exhibuit. p. 220, 230, 231.
Rosa Hierichontea vulgo dicta _C. B._ _Park._ Thlaspi Rosa de Hiericho
dictum _Moris. Hist._ Myagrum Arabicum Rosu Hierichuntina perperam dictum
_Zanoni_. Circa Hiericho nusquam reperitur, sed in Arabia deserta ad
litora maris in fabulo. _Bellon._
Rosæ Hierachonteæ altera species sylvestris _C. B._ _Park._ Myagrum
Syriacum semine spinosa _Zanoni_. In Syriæ tectis & ruderibus invenit
Rauwolfius.
Ruta quæ dici solet Harmala _J. B._ Sylvestris Syriaca sive Harmala
_Park._ Sylv. flore magno _C. B._
Melanthium Syriacum minus frutescens latifolium, Rutæ flore, fructu
tricapsulari _Breyn. prod. 2._
Ruta Chalepensis tenuifolia, florum petalia villis scatentibus _Moris.
Hist._ _Cat. Hort. Lugd. Bat._
S.
Salix Arabica folio Atriplicis _C. B._ Humilis Arabica folio Atriplicis
_Park._ Garab Maurorum, Salicis genus _J. B._ Garab Maurorum _Rauwolf.
Lugd. app._ p. 101. Garb Itinerar. _Rauwolf._ p. 159.
Salix Syriaca folio oleagineo argenteo _C. B._ Ægyptiaca & Syriaca
_Park._ Salsaf Syrorum, Salicis species _J. B._ Circa Halepum.
Salvia Syriaca Cisti fœminæ foliis, acetabulis moluccæ _Breyn. cent._
Hujus meminit Rauwolfius in Hodœporico p. 108.
Satureia frutescens Arabica folio fimbriato hirsuto _Breyn. prod. 2._
Sathar Arabum _Rauwolfii_, Hyssopum montanum Cilicium quibusdam _J. B._
Hyssopus montana angustifolia aspera _C. B._ Montana vel de Cilissa
_Park._
Scabiosa argentea petræa. In isthmo Corinthiaco.
Scabiosa argentea minor montis Sipyli _Wheeleri itin._ p. 239.
Scammonia Syriaca _C. B._ Syriaca legitima _Park._ Syriaca flore majore
Convolvuli _J. B._ Scammonium Syriacum _Ger._ In calidis pingui solo exit
ut in Asia & Syria, & Bellonio teste etiam in Creta.
Schamuth Arabum seu Schack _Rauwolf._ p. 103, 152. C. Bauhino Acacia
Ægyptiaca habetur; nobis tamen aliter videtur, ut ex siliquæ descriptione
apparet.
Scorzonera radice rotunda _Wheeleri_. _Galacorta_ Græcis modernis. In
Attica circa Hymettum montem.
Scorzonera foliis fistulosis, _Galacorta_ etiam dicta _Wheeler._ Cum
priore.
Scorzonera Orientalis _Vesling_ notis in _Prosp. Alpin._ de Plant. Ægypt.
In Palæstina & finitimis Ægypti. An Scorzonera Chalepensis flore purpureo
_Rauwolf._ p. 104. Alteram Scorzoneram floribus luteis monte Libano
observavit _Rauwolf._ p. 230.
Scordium lanuginosum alterum verticillatum _C. B._ Scordotis tomentosa
Cretica _J. B._ Prope Mandragorui vicum in Phrygia observavit D.
_Wheelerus_.
Sebestena domestica an ὁμομαξὶς Athenæo _C. B._ Mixa sive Sebesten _J.
B._ Myxos sive Sebesten _Park._ Sebestena, Myxa s. Mixara _Ger._ In Asia
& Ægypto _Rauwolf._ p. 21.
Secacul Arabum. _v._ Sisarum.
Secudes Arabum. _v._ Stœchadi serratæ affinis.
Seisesun _Rauwolf._ Halepi in locis humidis & sepibus frequens, est Olea
Bohemica _Matth._ _Rauwolf._ p. 101.
Sepha, seu Persea Arbor Venenata _Rauwolf._ p. 197.
Sideritis Persica odorata _Zanoni_. An Herba venti Monspeliensium?
Sisarum Syriacum _C. B._ Alterum Syriacum _Park._ Secacul Arabum &
Mauritanorum, sive Pastinaca Syriaca _Rauwolf. Lugd. app._ _J. B._
_Rauwolf._ p. 66.
Sisyrinchium Persianum _C. B._ Flos Persicus Sisyrhinchio congener
_Clus. Hist._
Sisyrhinchium Chelepense _Tharasalis_ dictum _Rauwolf._ p. 104.
Solanum pomiferum fructu incurvo _C. B._ _J. B._ Melantzana Arabum
Rauwolfii _Lugd. app._ Halepi. p. 66.
Solanum pomiferum fructu spinoso _J. B._ Melantzana nigra _Rauwolf.
Lugd. app._
Sorghi album, Milium Indicum _J. B._ Milium Arundinaceum semine plano &
albo _C. B._ Dora _Rauwolf._ p. 171. In Arabiâ circa Anam.
Spartium alterum monospermon, semine reni simili _C. B._ Secundum
Hispaniacum _Clus._ Prope Thyatiram in Asia invenit D. _Wheelerus_. _v._
_Cat. Hispan._
Speculum Veneris Thracicum flore amplissimo. Inter segetes propè
Constantinopolin invenit D. _Covel_ SS. Theolog. Doctor, & Collegii
Christi in Cantabrigia Præses dignissimus.
Stachys viscosa flore luteo _Wheeler._ In monte Parnasso.
Stœchadi serratæ affinis _C. B._ Tragium alteram Dioscoridis quibusdam,
folio Trichomanis _J. B._ Secudes & Sucudus Avicennæ _Rauwolf._ _p._ 112.
_Lugd. app._
Sycomorus _J. B._ _Jer._ Sycomorus sive Ficus Ægyptia _Park._ Ficus folio
Mori, fructum in caudice ferens _C. B._ In Syria & Palæstina non minùs
frequens est quàm in Ægypto. p. 50. 51.
Syringa Persica sive Lilac Persicum incisis foliis. Jasminum Persicum
dictum _Park._ Agem Lilag Persarum, s. Lilac inciso folio _Cornuto_
Ligustrum foliis laciniatis. _C. B._ Syringa Persica purpurea duplex,
foliis laciniatis, & foliis integris.
T.
Terebinthus Indica major fructu rotundo _J. B._ Peregrina, fructu majore.
Pistaciis simili eduli _C. B._ latifolia _Ger._ _Park._ Indica prior
Theophrasti, major _Rauwolf. Lugd. app._
Terebinthus Indica, fructu parvo ad cœruleum accedente _J. B._ Peregrina
fructu minore cœruleo & eduli _C. B._ Hujus fructus _Botn Soagier_
illius _Botn quibir_ Arabibus dicitur. _Rauwolf._ p. 193. 205. In Persia
Mesopotamia & Armenia.
Tereniabin Mannæ genus _v._ Alhagi. _Rauw._ p. 85.
Tharasalis _v._ Sisyrhynchium.
Thlaspi fruticosum Persicum foliis Keiri _Zanoni_. Fruticosum Leucoii
folio _C. B._ _Park._ Latifolium platycarpon Leucoii foliis _P. Boccone_.
Thlaspi verum Dioscoridis s. Persicum _Zanoni_. Thlaspi Alexandrinum _C.
B._ _Park._ Alexandrinum Cortusi Jo. Bauhini _J. B._
Thymus verus Dioscoridis, Hasce Arabum _Rauw._ p. 52.
Tithymalus spinosus Creticus _Alpin._ Maritimus spinosus _C. B._ Marit.
Creticus spinosus _Park._ In Græcia, plurimis in locis.
Tithymalus (vel Tithymalo affinis) aphyllos dictus major Indicus,
latifolius, flore sanguineo aviculæ capitulum repræsentante _Breyn._ An
Planta lactaria, Xabra & Camaronum Rhasis _Rauwolf._ & _C. B. pin._
Tragacantha humilior floribus luteis _C. B._ Syriaca flavescens _Park._
Trag. _Rauwolfius_ _J. B._ In monte Libano _Rauwolf._ p. 230.
Tragacantha Syriaca purpurascens _Park._ Tertia _Rauwolfii_. In eodem
monte.
Tragium alterum Dioscoridis _Rauwolf._ _v._ Stœchadi serratæ affinis.
Trionum Theophrasti _Rauw. Lugd. app._ Est Alcea Indica parvo flore _C.
B._ i. e. Bamia _v._ Alcea.
Trunschibil Mannæ genus _Rauw._ p. 84. _v._ Alhagi.
Tulipa Persica _Park._ Variegata Persica _C. B._ Persica præcox _Clus.
cur. post._
Tulipam omne genus colorum circa Halepum observavit _Rauwolfius_ p. 109.
V.
Verbascum subrotundo Salviæ folio Syriacum _C. B._ Salvifolium exoticum
cistoides _Park._ Sylvestre Salvifolium exoticum; folio rotundiore _J. B._
Viola Mariana laciniatis foliis peregrina _C. B._ Medium _Dioscor._ &
Mindium _Rhasis_ _Rauwolf._ p. 232. Monte Libano observavit _Rauwolf._
Trachelii seu Campanulæ species est.
Vitex trifolia minor _C. B._ Agni casti species multò minor cæteris,
tribus tantùm firmis foliis donata _Rauwolf._ p. 153.
Z.
Zarneb & Zarnabum Arabum _v._ Salix Sassaf.
Zarneb melchi _v._ Daucus tertius Dioscoridis.
Zaroa. _v._ Lycium.
_Stirpium Ægyptiacorum Catalogus._
A
Abdellavi _v._ Melo Ægyptius.
Abelmosch. _v._ Alcea Ægyptiaca villosa _C. B._
Abrus _v._ Phaseolus Indicus ruber _Bontii_.
Absynthium Santonicum Ægyptiacum _Park._ _C. B._ Ægyptium quibusdam _J.
B._ Abrotani fœminæ species secunda _Zanoni_.
Absus seu Lotus Ægyptiaca _Park._ Absus _Alpin. Ægypt._ _Vesling._ Loto
affinis Ægyptiaca _C. B._
Abutilon Avicennæ _Ponæ Ital._ _Alpin._ Est Abelmosch seu Alcea Indica
Moschata.
Acacalis est Kismesen _Bellon._ _v._ _Cat. Orient._
Acacia vera _J. B._ Vera sive Spina Ægyptiaca _Park._ Dioscoridis _Ger._
Foliis scorpioidis leguminosæ _C. B._
Achaovan _Alpin. Æg._ Matricaria inodora _C. B._ _Park._ Parthenium
inodorum sive Achaovan Ægyptiorum _J. B._
Agihalid Ægyptiaca Lycio affinis _Park._ Ægyptium folio buxi, an Lycium?
_J. B._ Lycio affinis Ægyptiaca _C. B._ Uzeg Alpini affinis & similis
est, si non eadem.
Alcanna _v._ Ligustrum Orientale.
Alcea Ægyptia villosa _C. B._ Ægyptia moschata _Park._ Belmuscus Ægyptia
_Honor. Bell._ _J. B._ Ab-el-mosch sive Mosch Arabum _Vesling._
Alchimelech Ægyptiorum _v._ Melilotus Ægyptiaca.
Amomum Plinii _Ger._ Solanum fruticosum Americanum, dictum Amomum Plinii
_Park._ Fruticosum bacciferum _C. B._ Strychnodendros _J. B._ In Ægypto
passim _Vesling._
Arum maximum Ægyptiacum, quod vulgo Colocasia _C. B._ Ægypto rotunda &
longa radice vulgo Colocasia dicta _Park._ Colocasia _Clus._ _J. B._
Ægyptiaca _Ger._
B.
Balsamum verum antiquorum nec Ægypti nex Judææ indigena est, sed Arabiæ
Fœlicis _v._ Cat. Oriental.
Bammia _J. B._ Seu Alcea Ægyptiaca _Park. Parad._ Alcea Ægyptiaca
_Ger. emac._ Indica parvo flore _C. B._ In Ægypto frequentissima.
Ban vel Bon arbor _J. B._ Item Buna, Bunnu & Bunchos Arabum _ejusdem_.
Bon arbor cum fructu suo Buna _Park._ Euonymo similis Ægyptiaca, fructu
baccis Lauri simili _C. B._ Male Ægyptiacam vocat neque enim spontanea,
neque culta in Ægypto invenitur sed in Arabia Fœlice tantum Bunnu
Rauwolfii, Buna ex qua in Alexandria fit potio [~Coffee~ dicta.]
Ban seu Calaf _Alpin._ Sassaf Syrorum _Rauwolf_ vel eadem est, vel ei
valde affinis. v. _Cat. Orient._
Baobab _Alpino_, Baobab sive Abavus _Clus._ _J. B._ Abavo arbor radice
tuberosa _C. B._ Abavi Æthiopicus fructus bello _J. B._ Guanabanus
Scaligeri huic Eadem arbor esse videtur. Æthiopiæ natales debet, Ægypto
advena est.
Beidelsar Alpini, seu Apocynum Syriacum _J. B._ Apocynum Syriacum Clusii
_Ger. emac._ Lapathum Ægyptiacum lactescens siliqua Asclepiadis
_C. B._ Paul Hermannus in _Cat. Hort. Leyd._ Plantam hanc ab Apocyno
majori recto Syriaco _Cornut._ Specie diversam facit; quo cum consentit
Commelinus in _Cat. Hort. Amstel._ Jac. Breynices in _Prod. 2._ Veslingum
reprehendit quod quo Apocyno hoc Apocynum majus Syriacum rectum Cornuti
posuerit. Verum in titulo Apocyni hujus non omnino consentit cum Hermanno
& Commelino: Siquidem hi, ut & Scholæ Botanicæ Tournefortii, Apocynum
latifolium Ægyptiacum, incanum, erectum, floribus spicatis maximis
pallide violaceis, siliquis folliculatis rugosis hoc vocant: Breynius
autem, Apocynum erectum majus latifolium Ægyptiacum flore luteo spicato.
Apocynum autem illud latifolium, &c. floribus pallide violaceis, &c.
_Hermanni_ & aliorum. Indicam & distinctam plantam facit, titulo Apocyni
erecti majoris latifolii Indici flore concavo amplo carneo suave-rubente
& cum antecedenti _i. e._ Ægyptiaco non confundendam monet.
Brassica spinosa _C. B._ Ægyptiaca _Alpin. exot._ _Park._ In Ægypto,
Æthiopia & Syria.
C.
Caova _Alpin._ i. e. ~Coffee~ Potio.
Capparis non spinosa fructu majore _C. B._ _Park._ Alpinus Cappares
Alexandriæ majores quàm alibi inveniantur provenire scribit.
Carob s. Carub _i. e._ Siliqua dulcis in Syria & Palæstina, & circa
Hierosolymam multò frequentior est quàm in Ægypto.
Cassab & Darira _Alp. exot._ Lysimachia lutea Ægyptiaca _Hist. nost._ p.
1022. In Ægypto, locis humidis, inque judæa circa lacum Gennesareth, &
multis Syriæ in locis.
Cassia fistula Alexandrina _C. B._ Fistula _Ger._ Purgatrix _J. B._
Solutiva vulgaris _Park._ In Ægypto aliisque regionibus calidioribus.
Chate _Alpin._ Cucumis. Ægyptius Chate _J. B._ Cucumis Ægyptius
rotundifolius _C. B._
Caucalis Daucoides Tingitana _Moris. præl._
Chamædrys arborea Ægyptiaca. _C. B._ Arborea in Insula Corcyra _Alpin._
Nescio cur C. Bauhinus hanc Plantam Ægyptiacam denominet, cum Alpinus in
Ægypto nasci non affirmit, sed in Corcyra insula.
Colocasia _v._ Arum Ægyptiacum.
Convolvulus Ægyptiacus quinquefolius C. Bauhini _J. B._ Foliis
laciniatis, vel quinquefolius _C. B._ Major Arabicus sive Ægyptius
_Park._ Ægyptius _Veslingii_ qui vix dari cultiorem in Ægypto hortum
scribit cui non ornamentum commodet.
Cyperus rotundus Orientalis major in Ægypto etiam copiosè provenit. _v._
Cat. Orient.
Cyprus _i. e._ Alcanna seu Elhanne _v._ Ligustrum Orientale.
D.
Datura _v._ Stramonium.
E.
Elhanne _v._ Ligustrum Orientale.
F.
Faba Ægyptia _Bod. à Stapel._ Faba Ægyptiaca Dioscoridis affinis _C. B._
Fructus valde elegans, Faba forte Ægyp. Diosc. _J. B._ Alpinus Fabam
Ægyptiam pro Colocasia habet. Nascitur in paludosis & ad fluviorum ripas
in India Orientali, an in Ægypto nescio. Nymphææ speciem faciunt qui de
ea scripserunt.
Felfel-tavil seu Piper longum Ægyptium Alpini & Veslingii qui in
maritimis Africæ locis plantam satis frequentem esse ait.
Ferula Tingitana, folio latissimo lucido _Hort. Edinburgh._
Ficus Ægyptia seu Sycomorus _Park._ Folio Mori fructum in caudice ferens
_C. B._ Sycomorus _Ger._ _J. B._ In Ægypto & Syria copiosè.
G.
Gossipium arboreum caule lævi _C. B._ Xylon arboreum _J. B._ _Park._ In
Ægypto invenitur.
Gramen erucis sive Neiem. el. salib. Alpini _J. B._ _Bont._ dactylon
Ægyptiacum _C. B._ _Park._ In Ægypto frequens.
Gramen Stellatum Ægyptium _Veslingii_. Dactylon Ægypt. _Park._ Qui in
præcedentis descriptione hujus quoque meminit. Circa Heracleam seu
Rossetum oppidum.
H.
Hyacinthus Mauritanicus _Clus. Hist. app. 1._ Oblongo Flore fusco _C.
B._ Ex ea Mauritaniæ parte ubi urbes Fessa & Marochum sita sunt delatus
est.
Hyoscyamus Ægyptius _Park._ Rubello flore _Ger._ Peculiaris flore
purpurascente _J. B._ Et Hyos. Syriacus _ejusdem_. Cauliculis
spinosissimis Ægyptiacus _C. B._ Et rubello flore _ejusdem_. Hyoscyamus
albus Ægyptius _Alpin. Æg._ & _Exot._ _Vesling._ Juxta Pyramides Ægyptias
majores.
K.
Kali Ægyptiacum foliis valde longis hirsutis _C. B._ An Psyllium minus
quod Gottne rubri & Botrio rubro nomine accepit C. Bauhinus? Kali tertia
species _Alp. Æg._
L.
Lablab seu Leblab Alpini _v._ Phaseolus.
Lathyrus Tingitanus flore amplo ruberrimo. Semina hujus Plantæ, ut &
aliarum rariarum D. Alex. Balam è Tingi urbe Africæ in Angliam primus
detulit.
Libanotis cachryophoros semine sulcato lævi _Moris. prælud._ E Mauritania
Tingitana attulit _D. Alex. Balam._
Ligustrum Orientale sive Cyprus Dioscoridis & Plinii _Park._ Ligustrum
Ægyptiacum latifolium & angustifolium _C. B._ Alcenna & Elhanne Arabum,
nunc Græcis _Schenna Rauwolfii_.
Lotus Ægyptia _Alpin. exot._ Nymphæa seu Neufar Ægyptium _Vesling._
Nymphæa alba major Ægyptiaca sive Lotus Ægyptia _Park._ In aquis.
Luffa Arabum seu Cucumis Ægyptius reticulatus _Vesling._ In horto Arabis
cujusdam prope Cayrum vidit _Veslingius_.
Lupinus Ægyptius Sylvestris Veslingii _v._ _Cat. Oriental._ In villarum
sepibus prope Heracleam seu Rossetum.
Lycium Indicum creditum Alpino _Park._ Indicum Alpino putatam _J. B._
Indicum alterum (Useg) _C. B._ Supra ripas rami Nili Calig. vocati 10. ab
Alexandria m. p. invenit Alpinus.
Lycopsis Ægyptiaca _Park._ _v._ Cat. Orient.
M.
Marum Ægyptiorum _Alpin. exot._ l. 2. c. 10. Ægyptiorum Alpino _Park.
app._ _Vesling._
Musa arbor _J. B._ _Park._ Musa Serapionis _Ger._ Mauz Musa _Alpin._
Palma humilis longis latisque foliis _C. B._ In Ægypto frequens.
Melilotus Ægyptiaca _Park._ Ægyptia Alchimelech vocata _J. B._ Corniculis
reflexis minor _C. B._
Melo Ægyptius _C. B._ Melones Abdellavi Ægyptii _J. B._
Melochia _Alpini_. Corchorus _Ger._ Plinii _C. B._ Cor sive Melochia
_J. B._ _Park._ Olus Judaicum nonnullis. In cibis nihil est ea Ægyptiis
familiarius aut gratius _Alp._
Moly Africanum umbella purpurascente _C. B. prod._ Africum umbella
purpurascente _Park._
N.
Nabca folio Rhamni vel Jujubæ _J. B._ Nabca Paliurus Athenæi credita
_Alpin._ Oenoplia spinosa & non spinosa _C. B._ _Ger. emac. app._
Spinosa & non spinosa, sive Napeca, sive Zizyphus alba _Park._ In Ægypto
folia per totum annum retinet, at in Creta, observante Bello per hyemen
amittit. Ægyptus, Syria & Armenia hac arbore abundant _Bellon._
Nymphæa seu Nuphar _Vest._ _v._ Lotus.
O.
Ocimum Ægyptium Alpini _Rihan._ dictum _Herm. Hort. Acad. Leyd._
Oenoplia _v._ Nabca.
Oenanthe altera minor Africana _Park._ Item tenuifolia altera Africana
_ejusdem_ p. 895. E Barbaria Africæ regione attulit _Gulielmus Boëlius_.
P.
Paliurus Athenæi Alpino _v._ Nabca.
Palma _Ger._ _C. B._ vulgaris _Park._ Major _C. B._ Dactylifera major
vulgaris _Jonst._ In Ægypto & Syria.
Papyrus Nilotica _Ger._ _J. B._ Antiquorum Nilotica _Park._ Nilotica
seu Ægyptiaca _C. B._ Provenit etiam in Siciliæ palustribus _v._ Cat.
Sicularum rariorum. _P. Boccone_.
Phaseolus indicus ruber _Bontii_. Pisum Americanum coccineum, aliis
abrus. _J. B._ Abrus. _Alpini de Plant. Ægypt._ Glyzyrrhiza Indica vulgò.
Phaseolus Lablab Alpini _J. B._
Phaseolus Ægyptiacus nigro semine _C. B._
Polium montanum pumilum tenuifolium Africum _Park._ A Guil. Boëlio circa
Tunisium urbem collectum est.
R.
Ruta Sylvestris quæ dici solet Harmala _J. B._ Juxta Alexandriam _v._
Cat. Orient.
S.
Sabina Ægyptia _Lob._ est Abrotanum fœmina Sabinæ folio _C. B._
Sebesten _v._ Cat. Orient. Non enim in Ægypto tantum sed & in Asia
provenit.
Secamone _Alpin. Ægypt._ Apocynum angusto Salicis folio _C. B._ Apocyno
affinis Secamone flore albo _J. B._ An Apocyni Secundi species altera
_Clus._
Sena _J. B._ _Ger._ Alexandrina _Park._ Alexandrina sive foliis acutis
_C. B._ In Syria, Persia, Arabia nasci aiunt, unde Alexandriam defertur.
Sesamum _J. B._ _C. B._ _Park._ & _aliorum_. Myagrum Ægyptiacum _Zanoni_.
Sesban _Alpini. Ægypt._ Sesban sive Securidaca Ægyptia articulata _Park._
Galega Ægyptiaca siliquis articulatis _C. B._
Sinapi maritimum Ægyptiacum _Alpin. exot._ l. 2. c. 19. Ex seminibus
Ægypto delatis enata est.
Sonchus froticosus Africanus petræus spinosus _Park._ In petrosis circa
Tunis & Sapphi à Boëlio inventus & ad Parkinsonum delatus est.
Sophera Alpini & Bellii _J. B._ Galegæ affinis Sophera dicta _C. B._
Sophera seu securidaca Ægyptiaca villosa _Park._ Hoxocoquamoclit _Cam.
hort._
Stramonium minus flore geminato purpurante _Park._ Fructu rotundo, foliis
per ambitum Xanthii modo incisis _Col._ Solanum fœtidum pomo spinoso
rotundo. semine pallido _C. B._ Datura Ægyptia _Vesling._ Contarena
_Alpin. exot._
Stratiotes Ægyptia _J. B._ Aquatica vera Dioscoridis & Ægyptiaca _Park._
Lenticula palustris Ægyptiaca, sive Stratiotes aquatica foliis Sedo
majore latioribus _C. B._ Aquis innatat sine radice, ut aiunt.
Stratiotes Ægyptia Dioscoridis _Vesling._ Hæc & superior vel Nilo, vel
fossis inde deductis supernatat, nec radice in terram demissa firmatur,
sed huc illuc fluitat.
Sycomorus _v._ Ficus.
T.
Tamarindus _Ger._ _Park._ _J. B._ Siliqua Arabica quæ Tamarindus _C. B._
Ex Æthiopia in Arabiam & Ægyptum delatam nonnulli volunt.
Tamariscus Ægyptia gallifera _J. B._ Tamaria Ægyptia arbor _C. B._
Ægyptia gallas ferens _Park._ In Ægypto locis humidis secus flumina
oritur, non raro etiam aridis & fabulosis. _Bellon._
Thlaspi Alexandrinum _C. B._ _Park._ Alexandrinum Cortusi _J. B._ Verum
Dioscoridis _Zanoni_.
U.
Uzeg arbor _v._ Lycium Indicum.
Z.
Zatar-hendi Origanum Indicum Alpini & Veslingii Origano congener
Zatar-hendi _C. B._ Zatarendi herba _J. B._ Planta Ægyptiaca non est, sed
ex India illuc deportata, ut nomen arguit. Cœterum. Zatarendi _Alpin._
_Stirpium Creticorum rariorum Catalogus._
A.
Abellicea Cretica sive Santalus adulterina _J. B._ Pseudo-santalus
Cretica, Abelicea dicta _Park._ Pseudo-santalum Creticum _C. B._ In
montibus Leucis, eorumque jugis altissimis.
B. Absinthium Ponticum Creticum grati odoris _C. B. prod._ In viridi
saltem amaritudo nulla percipitur, unde ab Asinis, pecoribus, omnibusque
Brutis valde expetitur.
Acanus Theophrasti _Park._ _vid._ Agavanus Cretensium.
Acanthus spinosus in agris & juxta semitas frequens est _Bellon._
Acetosa Cretica semine aculeato _C. B._ Mihi descriptiones utriusque
conferenti eadem aliquando visa est cum Acetosa Neapolitana Ocimi folio
βουκεφαληφόρῳ _Col._ Verum peritissimus Botanicus D. _Jacobus Breynius_,
qui utrumque coluit, & observavit, nos erroris insimulat, & distinctæ
species cum sint, à me perperam confundi scribit; cui non repugno, cum
nec initio id fidenter, sed timide affirmaverim.
Achlades _Bellon._ Pyri sylvestris genus.
Adrachnæ _Park._ Theophrasti _J. B._ Arbutus folio non ferrato _C. B._
Adracla Græcis. In Creta, montibus Leucis, & alibi inter saxa.
Aga Cretensium _C. B._ i. e. Silybum minus Bœticum _Park._ Carduus
lacteus peregrinus Camerarii _J. B._ albis maculis notatus exoticus _C.
B._
Agasuga _Bellon._ i. e. Pyra sylvestria Cretica.
Agavanus Cretensium i. e. Acanus Theophrasti _Park._ Agavanus Cret. forte
Acanys Theophr. _Hon. Belli_ ep. 5 ad Clusium, & _Ponæ_ Ital. Carduus
latifolius echino; obsoletæ purpuræ ferens _C. B._ Vulgaris est notitiæ
in Creta.
Agriocinara Cretica _Ponæ Ital._ Cinara Sylvestris Cretica _C. B._
_Park._ Carduus Agriocinara Cretensium, ex quo Costus niger Officianarum
_J. B._ Agrioanzinari Cretensium _Bello_ ep. 2. ad Clusium. An Cinara
sylv. Bætica _Clus. cur. post._ Supra _Chisama_ arcem _Bellon._
Agriomelea _Bellonii_, quam in Cretæ montibus invenisse scribit,
exiguorum malorum Pyris formà similium feracem, an Cotoneaster _Gesn._
_v._ _Cat. gen._
Agriostari seu Frumentum sylvestre Creticum _Ponæ. Ital._ _Bell._
Althæa fruticosa Cretica _Park._ Frutex 3 _Clus._ Hanc cum Althaæ
frutescente Bryoniæ folio _C. B._ s. frutescente folio acuto, flore
parvo. Althæa Olbiæ perperam dicta, eandem putamus. V. _Cat. Sic._
Ammi Creticum _Ger._ _Park._ Creticum aromaticum _Lob._ odore Origani _J.
B._ Alterum semine Apii _C. B._ Semen ex Alexandria Ægypti adfertur.
Anchusa humilis _Alpin. exot._ Humilis Cretica _Park._ In locis montosis
& sylvis Cretæ.
Anemone tenuifolia Cretica albo magno flore _C. B. prod._
Anthyllis falcata Cretica _Park._ Trifolium falcatum _Alpin. exot._
Anthyllis _Alpin. exot._ In maritimus copiosé. Accedit ad Anthyllidem à
Clusio & J. Bauhino descriptam.
Arachydna aut Aracoides Honorii Belli, _J. B._ Cretica _Park._ Viciæ
similis, supra in fráque terram fructum ferens _C. B._
Archontoxilon, i. e. Ebenus Cretica.
Arcturus Creticus Belli _v._ Blattaria pilosa Cretica.
Aristolochia polyrrhizos _v._ Pistolochia.
Aristolochia clematitis serpens _C. B._ Reliqua Synonima _v._ in _Cat.
Hist._ Arbores scandit Ephedræ aut Smilacis modo _Bellon._
Arundo graminea aculeata _Alpin. exot._ In locis humidis supra terram
serpit.
Asclepias Cretica Clusii _J. B._ _Park._ Siliquâ bifido mucrone _C. B._
Ascolimbros Bellonii non est (ut puto) Scolymus chrysanthemos s. Eryngium
luteum Narbonensium, sed Carduus Siculus chrysanthemus procerior caule
eduli _Hist. nost._ p. 258.
Ascyroides Cretica _Alpin. exot._ Cretica major _Park._ Hanc plantam in
hist. nost. eandem putavimus cum Androsæmo Constantinopolitano flore
maximo _Wheeler._; icon tamen non respondet, at neque descriptio: ut nunc
muratâ sententiâ diversam suspicer.
Aspalathus secundus Creticus _Alp._ _v._ Cytisus.
B.
Blattaria pilosa Cretica sive Arctos quorundam _J. B._ Verbascum humile
Creticum laciniatum _C. B._ Verbasculum sylv. Creticum _Alpin. exot._
Blattaria Cretica incana, rotundo laciniato folio _Park._ Arcturus
Creticus. _Belli._ Provenit inter saxa & super parietes.
Blattaria Cretica spinosa _Park._ Leucoium Creticum spinosum _Clus._ _J.
B._ Creticum spinosum incanum luteum _C. B._ Spinosum Creticum _Ger._
Spinosum cruciatum _Alpin._ Glastivida Cretensium _Belli_.
Borago Sylvestris annua Cretica _Zanoni_. Buglossum procumbens annuum
pullo minimo flore _Moris. prælud._
Borago muralis variegata, flore odorato Cretica _Zanoni_. Buglossum
Lusitanicum bullatis foliis _Moris. prælud._ In muris urbis Candiæ ex
ipsis petrarum fissuris exit.
Borago sylvestris Cretica flore rubro cremesino perennis, eadem videtur
Echio Cretico latifolio rubro _C. B._
Buglossum Creticum verrucosum, perlatum quibusdam _Schol. Bot._ seu Hort.
_Reg. Par. Tournefort._
Bryonia Cretica _Pon. Ital._ Cretica dicoccos _Park._ Cretica maculata
_C. B._ Alba maculata _J. B._ In Creta frequens est.
Buphthalmum Creticum Cotulæ facie _Breyn._ Flore luteo & albo.
C.
Calamintha Cretica _Cam._ Folio & flore parvo incana _J. B._ Incana Ocimi
foliis _C. B._ Minor incana _Park._ Montana vulgaris _Ger._ Ex semine è
Creta misso Camerario succrevit. Lobelius tamen cautibus Linguagetticis
calidarumque regionum innasci scriptum reliquit.
Calochierni carduus Cretensibus _J. B._ Atractyli & Cnico sylvestri
similis _C. B._ Forte Atractylis major è cujus caulibus mulieres fusos
efficiunt. Atractylidi vulgari similis, not tamen eadem _v._ Hist. nost.
p. 304.
Caloschirrida _v._ Echinus Creticus _Alpin._
Carduus pinea Theophrasti _Alpin. exot._ pinea seu Ixine Theophrasti
_Park._ Chamæleon albus gummi ut mastix ferens _Bell._
Carduus Eryngoides capite spinoso _Alpin. exot._
Caryophillus arborescens Creticus _C. B._ Sylvestris arboreus _Alpin.
exot._ Nostrâ sententiâ. Betonica coronaria arboreo Cretica _J. B._ In
montibus Cretæ oritur.
Caucalis Cretensium & Græcorum i. e. Sesely Creticum.
Cerasus Alpina Cretica, seu Idæa _Alp. exot._ Vitis Idæa Cretica elatior
_Park._ Agrifolii folio. In monte Idâ Cretæ familiaris est. An Agriomelea
Bellonii.
Chamæcerasus Idæa _Alp. exot._ Vitis Idæa Cretica humilior _Park._ In
monte Ida nascitur.
Chamæcistus _Alpin. exot._ An Chamæcistus Serpylli folia floribus carneis
_C. B._ Serpylli folio, flore carneo _J. B._ 7. _Clus._
Chamædaphnoides Cretica, seu Laureola Cretica humilis _Alp. exot._
Chamædaphnoides sive Laureola Cretica _Park._ In Cretæ montanis.
Chamædrys spinosa Cretica _Park._ Spinosa _C. B._ _J. B._ Ex horto Bembi
Patavio accepit _C. B._
Chamægenista Cretica _C. B._ _Park._ Parkinsonus pro Spartio Cretico
_Alp. ex._ hanc habet.
Chamæpeuce Plinii _anguillaræ_, _v._ Stœba fruticosa Cretica.
Chamæpytis fruticosa Cretica, _v._ Stœbe capitata Rosmarini foliis Ponæ.
Chrisocome Cretica _Clus._ Elichrysum Creticum _C. B._ Stantolina Cretica
_Alpin._ Hanc plantam pro Stœchade citrina alteri inodoræ Lobelii affini
capitulis brevioribus _J. B._ habemus _v._ Hist. nost. p. 282. In
montosis Cretæ.
Cichoreum spinosum Creticum _Park._ _Pon._ In maritimis, inque siccis
collibus & arenosis locis. Hanc speciem in Sicilia observavimus. _v._
_Cat. gen._
Cissampelos ramosa Cretica _Park._ Helxine Cissampelos ramosa Cretica
_Ponæ_. Convolvuli species.
Cistus Ledon Cretense _C. B._ Led. latifolium Creticum _J. B._ Ladanisera
Cypria _Park._ Item ledanifera Cretica vera _ejusdem_. Ledon 4 Clussii
_Ger._ Descriptionem _v._ in _Alpin. exot._
Clinopodium Creticum _Alpin. exot._ Persimile est, si odorem excipias,
Acino vulgari.
Cneoron album folio Oleæ argenteo molli _C. B._ _v._ Convolvulus rectus
odoratus _Ponæ_.
Cnicus singularis _Alpin. exot._ alter Creticus _Park._
Colutea Scorpioides Cretica odorata. _Alpin. exot._
Convolvulus ramosus incanus, foliis Pilosellæ _C. B._ Helxine Cissampelos
ramosa Cretica _Pon. Ital._ _Park._
Coris legitima Cretica Dioscoridis _Belli_ _Ger. emac._ _Park._ Item
Coris Matthioli _ejusdem_. Nos enim has non distinguimus. C. Hypericoides
quorundam _J. B._ Lutea _C. B._ In collibus fœcundis copiosè.
Coronilla frutescens coronata glauco folio Cretica, flo. luteo odorato
_Breyn. prod. 2._
Cyanus arborescens longifolia _Alpin. exot._ In montanis Cretæ nascitur.
Cyanus arborescens altera, Styracis folio _Alp. exot._
Cyanus tomentosus _Alp. exot._
Cyanus lanuginosus spinosus Creticus, & Cyanus fruticosus Creticus, _v._
Stœbe fruticosa Cret.
Cynara sylvestris Cretica _C. B._ _Park._ Carduus Agriocinara Cretensium,
ex quo Costus niger Officinarum _J. B._ An Cinara sylv. Bœtica _Clus.
cur. post._ Supra Chisami arcem, &c. _v._ Bellon.
Cynoglossum Creticum secundum Clusii _J. B._ Creticum alterum _Ger._
Cret. latifolium _Park._ Latifolium fœtidum _C. B._ Cynoglossæ alteri
mediæ fructu cotylode sive Lychniode _Col._ eadem videtur planta.
Cynoglossum Creticum angustifolium _Park._ Creticum argenteo angusto
folio _C. B._ Creticum 1. _Ger._
Cyperus rotundus odoratus Creticus _Cam._ _Park._
Cytisus Creticus, Aspalathus secundus _Alpino_ dictus. In loco _Fraschia_
dicto propè Cretam urbem. Aspalathus 2. Dioscoridis Bello & aliis. _v._
_Cat. gen._ Acacia trifolia.
D.
Daucus Creticus _Ger._ Creticus verus Dioscoridis _Park._ Non videtur
diversus à Dauco Cretico semine hirsuto _J. B._ seu Dauco montano umbellâ
candidâ _C. B._ _v._ _Hist. nost._ p. 463.
Daucus stellatus _Alpin. exot._ _Park._ Planta à Dauco longè diversa est.
Daucus tertius Dioscoridis Bello _Ponæ_ _Park._ Tertius folio Coriandri,
flore luteo _J. B._ Creticus nodosus umbellâ luteâ _C. B._
Dictamnus Creticus _C. B._ _Park._ Dict. Cretica seu vera _J. B._
Dictamnum Creticum _Ger._ In monte Ida; in scopulorum fissuris, nec
usquam alibi.
Dorycnium Creticum _v._ Convolvulus rectus.
Dorycnium Dioscoridis fortè Ponæ _Park._ Jaceæ oleæ folio affinis _C. B._
Item Cneoro albo affinis _ejusdem_. Hujus semina è Creta ab Honorio Belli
ad se missa _Lagochimicæ_ nomine scribit C. Bauhinus in Pinace.
E.
Ebenus Cretica _Alpin. exot._ Cytisus Creticus incanus sive Ebenus
Cretica Belli _Park._ _C. B._ Barba Jovis lagopodoides Cretica frutescens
incana, flore spicato purpureo amplo _Breyn._
Echinopoda Cretensibus _J. B._ Echinop. frutex Creticus _Park._ Genista
spartium spynosum aphyllum, tribus aculeis semper junctis, floribus
luteis _C. B._
Echinus Creticus _Park._ Echinus seu Tragacantha alia humilior & spinosor
_Alpin. exot._ Græci _Caloschirrida_ vocant.
Echium Creticum latifolium rubrum _C. B._ _Park._ An Echium Candiæ flore
pulchre rubente _J. B._ _V._ _Cat. gen._
Echium Creticum _Alp. exot._ Creticum album _Park._ Echium pumilum flore
luteo _C. B._ _Park._ h. e. Echium flavo flore _Clus. cur. post._ huic
idem videtur.
Echium nigro flore eleganti _Alp. exot._ Creticum nigrum _Park._
Echium Creticum angustifolium rubrum _C. B._ _Park._ Creticum 2. _Clus._
Habetur & in Sicilia. _Cat. Gen._
Equisetum montanum Creticum _Park._ _Alpin. exot._ In montanis Cretæ.
Flores fert circa virgarum geniculos, quo ab Equisetis differt. Tragi
sive Uvæ marinæ species est.
Eruca maritima Cretica siliquâ articulatâ _C. B._ E Creta Honorius Belli
misit.
Eryngium trifolium _Alpin. exot._ _Park._ In locis asperis.
Erysimum Dioscoridis _Zanoni_ Erysimi annui Creticæ nomine missum.
F.
Fœnum Græcum sylvestre policeration majus Creticum _Breyn. Cent._
Frutex pulcherrimus _Belli_ i. Stœbe fruticosa latifolia Cretica.
Fumaria major Cretica _Park._ Altera tenuior Syriaca _Cam._ minor folio
oblongo capillaceo _C. B._ Capnos Cretica _Clus._ An Fumaria nostra major
scandens?
G.
Gaiderothymum _v._ Stachys spinosa Cretica.
Galastivida Cretensium prima _v._ Blattaria spinosa.
—— Altera _v._ Tithymalus marit spinosus.
Gallium montanum Creticum _Alpin. exot._ _Park._ In montanis Cretæ
abundat.
Genista arborea Cretica, foliis semper virentibus _Zanoni_.
H.
Habbures _Cam._ i. e. Leontopodiam Creticum aliud.
Hedysarum argenteum, _Alpin. exot._ argenteum Creticum _Park._
Hieracium majus Creticum _Park._ Majas folio Sonchi, semine curvo _C.
B._ Item Sonchus asper laciniatus Creticus _ejusdem_. Chondrillæ Creticæ
nomine missa, semine crispo _J. B._ Sonchus Creticus foliis laciniatis
vulgò.
Hieracium parvum Creticum _Park._ _Clus._ Minor flore, ex albo carneo _C.
B._ Intybaceum, non ramosum _Ponæ_.
Hieranzune Cretensium est Lotopisum Belli. _v._ _Cat. gen._
Hippomarethrum Creticum _C. B. prod._ _Park._ Daucus 3. Creticus, aliis
Seseli nodosum & Hippomarathrum _Ponæ. Ital._ Κουρνόποδι vulgo, i. e.
Pedes corvini. Fœniculum magnum sive Hippomarathrum _J. B._ Libanotis
cachryoph. sem. sulcato aspero _Moris. Hist._
Holosteum sive Leontopodium Creticum _C. B._ _Park._ _Ger._ Leontopodium
Cretense _Clus._
Holosteum _Alpin. exot._ quod ab Holosteo Salmanticensi Clusii differre
contendit. Plantago angustifolia minor lanuginosa Cretica vel Syriaca,
pediculis & capitulis maturitate ad terram inflexis _Breyn. prod. 2._
Horminum comâ rubrâ _J. B._ vulgo Horm. Creticum.
Horminum minus supinum Creticum _Clus._ _C. B._ _Park._
Hyoscyamus Creticus luteus major _C. B._ Luteus minor _J. B._ Creticus
_Park._ Creticus alter _Clus._ Hæc species in Italia & Gallia Narbonensi
occurrit. _v._ _Cat. gen._
Hyoscyamus aureus _Alp. exot._ Creticus luteus minor _C. B._ 4. s. albus
Creticus _Clus._ Albus Creticus _Ger. emac._
Hyssopus Græcorum _Alpin. exot._ An Hyssopus Origani folia _Dalech._ _J.
B._
J.
Jacea incana Cretica, flore luteo medio purpureo, squamis in molliores
spinas abeuntibus _Herman. Hort. Lugd. Bat._
Jacea Cretica _Park._ laciniata squammata _C. B._ Squammata Cretica,
quibusdam Scabiosa Cretica dicta _J. B._
L.
Lachryma _Jobi_ Sesamum annuum _Zanon._ in Creta copiosé.
Lagochymica Cretensium est Dorycnium Dioscoridis _Ponæ_. Bellonius
Heliochryson vulgò _Lagochymithia_ dictum scribit, quòd leporibus cubilia
grata præbeat.
Lamium fruticosum non maculatum Creticum _Zanon._
Lauras Sylvestris Cretica _Alpin. exot._ _Park._
Lazegiri Cretensium i. e. Lycium Creticum alterum.
Leontopetalon crassa radice _Bellon._ In Ida monte hyeme floret.
Leontopodium Creticum _Clus._ _v._ Holosteum.
Leucoium Creticum Thlaspifolium _C. B._ Marinum Creticum majus _Park._
Marinum Creticum 1 _Clus._
Leucoium Creticum floribus minoribus _C. B._ Creticum minus _Park._
Marinum Creticum 2 _Clus._
Leucoium Creticum foliis oblongis crenatis _C. B._ Creticum oblongis
foliis crenatis _Park._ Creticum 3 _Clus._
Leucoium Creticum minimum folio subrotundo _C. B._ Creticum cæruleum
marinum _Alpin. exot._ _Park._
Leucoium album odoratissimum folio viridi _C. B. prod._
Leucoium Creticum luteum utriculato semine _Alp. exot._ _Park._
Leucoium spinosum Creticum _Clus._ Est Blattaria spinosa seu Glastivida.
Libanotis Apii folio semine aspero _C. B._ Theophrasti Apii folio Cretica
_Park._ Rosmarinus foliis Selino similibus _Bell._
Linaria Cretica latifolia major _Clus._ _Park._ Latifolia triphylla major
_C. B._
Linaria Cretica angustifolia _Clus._ _Park._ Quadrifolia, exigius
flosculis cinereis _C. B._
Linaria perennis fruticosa Cretica _C. B. prod._ Cui & Linaria
latifolia Dalmatica magno flore dicitur.
Linum arboreum _Alpini exot._ Arboreum Creticum luteum _Park._
Lotus πολυκέρατος. Cretica fruticosa argentea, siliquis longissimis
propendentibus rectis _Moris. Hist._
Lotopisum Belli i. Lotus edulis Creticus _v._ Cat. gen.
Lutea maxima Cretica Honor. Belli _J. B._ Luteola herba folio Cannabino
_C. B._ Maxima Cretica fœcunda & sterilis _Park._ Cannabis lutea fertilis
& sterilis Contareni _Alpin. exot._ Inter montes in Aquis nascitur, loco
quodam Ὀφιδόσερμα dicto, tertio ab urbe Cydonia lapide _Bell._
Lychnis Cretica angustifolia _Park._ Hirsuta angustifolia Cret. _C. B._
Ocymoides flore rubro minus Creticum _J. B._ sylv. 7. _Clus._
Lychnis Auriculæ ursi face _C. B._ Sylv. latifolia Clusii. sive muscipula
Cretica Auriculæ ursi facie _J. B._ Sylv. latifolia Clusii _Ger. emac._
Lychnis viscaria maxima Cretica _Alpini_. Viscaria maxima Cretica Alpini
_Park._
Lycium Cretense sive Berberis Cretica _J. B._ Creticum primum Belli
_Park._ Berberis Alpina Cretica. _C. B._ Lycium Creticum s. Berberis
Alpina Belli _Bon._ In montium altissimorum convallibus.
Lycium Creticum alterum _Park._ Λαζηγίρι & Πετροαμύγδαλα _i. e._
Amygdala Petræa, licet cum Amygdalis nihil commune habeat _Bell._ Ep. 1.
M.
Majorana Cretica vel Syriaca _C. B._ Marum Creticum _Alp. exot._ Syriacum
_A._ _Lob._ _Ger._ Syriacum vel Creticum _Park._
Mandragora mas & fœmina _Bellon._ In monte Ida. Quæ quamvis in Hispania
etiam & Italia sponte proveniant, quia tamen rariores sunt omittere
nolui. Vid. _Cat. Hispan._
Marrubium Creticum _Ger._ _Park._ Album angustifolium peregrinum _C. B._
Album angustiore folio _J. B._
Marrubium Creticum angustifolium inodorum _Park._ Album peregrinum
brevibus & obtusis foliis _C. B._
Marrubium nigrum Creticum _Alp. exot._ _Park._ Planta Alpino descripta
imperfecta erat, absque flore & semine.
Melilotus quædam Cretica _Alpin. exot._ Est lotus Siliquis singularibus
vel binis tenuis _J. B._
Melilotus vesicaria Cretica _Hort. Altdorf._
Meum alexiterium Creticum _Park._ _Alpin. exot._
Millefolium Creticum _J. B._ Incanum Creticum _C. B._ _Park._ Stratiotes
Millefolia _Belli ep. 2._ ad Clusium _Alpin. exot._ Parkinsonus ex
hac planta duas facit: priorem Millefolium incanum Creticum vocat,
posteriorem Stratiotem Millefoliam Creticam.
Muscipula Cretica &c. _v._ Lychnis.
Myrrhis syl. Cretica nodosa, seminibus asperis annua, semine striato
aspero oblongo, nodosa. _Moris._
N.
Napus Sylvestris Cretica _Park._ _C. B._ Bunias agrestis Belli, qui ad
_C._ Bauhinum è Creta misit.
Nardus montana Cretica _Alpin. exot._ An Valeriana Cretica tuberosa
_Park._? Nardus Cretica _Belli_. Cretica Filipendulæ radice _C. B._?
Nardus tamen Cretica _Belli_ diversa videtur à Nardo montana Cretica
_Alpini_.
Nigella Cretica _C. B._ Melanthium simplici flore Creticum _Clus._
Nigella Cretica inodoro semine _Park._
Nigella Cretica latifolia odorata _Park._ _Ponæ Ital._ Alba simplici
flore _Alpin. exot._
Nigella Cretica altera tenuifolia odorata _Park._ Cretica folio Fœniculi
_C. B._
Nigella Cretica odorata, foliis Lini, seminibus biformibus _Park._ Malè
inscribitur Nigella. Melanthium odoratum _Alpin. exot._
O.
Oenanthe stellata Cretica _Alpin. exot._ _Park._
Oenanthe Cretica prolifera _Park._ Apula prolifera _C. B._
Oleander Creticus fruticosus major fœtidus _Zanon._
Origanum Creticum _J. B._ _Ger._ Sylvestre Syriacum _Lob._ Onites _C. B._
_Matth._
Ornithogalum Creticum & Pannonicum flore albo _J. B._
P.
Pæoniæ duo genera candido flore _Bellon._ Græcis Psiphædile. In omnibus
humidis vallibus montis Idæ.
Pastinaca tenuifolia Cretica, radiis umbellæ Gingidii longioribus _Moris._
Petromarula Cretica i. e. Rapunculus Creticus.
Petroselinum Creticum _C. B._ _Park._ Agriopastinaca vulgò in Creta
_Bello_ ep. 5. ad Clusium, cui Busalinon Plinii videtur. In montibus
Cretæ & Dalmatiæ. Duplex genus est, radice nigra, & rad. ruffa.
Phyllitis alata sive ramosa _Alpini_; an & quomodo ab Hemionitide
multifida differat inquirendum. Alpini icon plantam distinctam
repræsentare videtur: & Jac. Breynius longè diversam esse ait.
Pistolochia Cretica _C. B._ Cretica semper virens _Park._ Aristolochia
Pistolochia altera _J. B._ Diversa est a Pistolochia Virginiana,
Polyrrhizos dicta, ex accurata observatione & descriptione ad me missa
incomparabilis Botanici D. _Joan. Bannister._ tristissimo casu nuper in
Virginia rebus humanis erepti.
Polium latifolium incanum Creticum _C. B._ _Park._ Ad Polium montanum
luteum vulgare proximè accedere videtur. Circa Cydoniam urbem.
Polium angustifolium Creticum _C. B._ _Park._ Erectum Creticum & fortè
frutescens Dioscoridis Ponæ. In Creta ad maris littora frequens.
Polium gnaphaloides _Alpin. exit._ _Park._ Gnaphalii marini species est.
In maritimis Cretæ. Gnaphalium marinum Clusii esse pernegat.
Polygonum Creticum Thymi folio _C. B._ _Park._ Non multum abludit à
Poligono nostrate parvo, flore albo verticillato.
Pimpinella spinosa _Park._ Poterio affinis folio, Pimpinella spinosa _C.
B._ Poterium quibusdam, sive Pimpinella spinosa _J. B._ Poterion Lobelii
sive Pimpinella spinosa Camerarii _Ger._ Stœbe legitima Dioscoridis
_Bello_. In Creta perpetuo viret, & multos annos durat.
Poterium _Alpini_. Tragacanthæ species, multis Cretæ Insulæ in locis
invenitur.
Pseudostachys Cretica _v._ Stachys.
Pseudocistus Ledum _Alpin. exot._ 1. _Park._
Pseudocistus Ledon alterum _Alpin. exot._ 2. _Park._
Pseudodictamnus Cydoniæ seu Ps. 2. Theophrasti Ponæ, _i. e._ Pseudod.
acetabulis Moluccæ _C. B._
R.
Ranunculus echinatus Creticus _Park._ Stellatus echinatus Creticus _C.
B._ Creticus echinatus latifolius _Alpin. exot._
Ranunculus Creticus albo flore, majore quam Papaveris Rhœades. _J. B._
Ranunculus Creticus latifolius _Clus._ _Park._ _Ger. emac._ Asphodeli
radice Creticus _C. B._
Ranunculus Creticus grumosa radice, flore niveo _Clus._ Grumosa radice,
flore niveo _C. B._
Rapunculus Creticus seu Pyramidalis alter _C. B._ Creticus Petromarula
_J. B._ Petrom. Cretica sive Rapunculus Creticus _Park._ Petromarula s.
Lactuca petræa _Pon. Ital._ _Bell._
Rosmarinus Selini folio _Bell._ _v._ Libanotis &c.
Rosmarinum Stœchadis facie _Alpin. exot._ Potiùs Euphrasia Stœchadis
facie.
Rubia argentea Cretica _Alpin. exot._ _Park._ Cruciata argentea.
Rubia arborescens Cretica _Alpin. exot._ Lævis arborescens Cretica
_Park._ An & quomodo à Rubia Sylvatica lævi _J. B._ differat inquirendum.
S.
Salvia Cretica pomifera _Clus._ _Ger._ Baccifera _C. B._ Gallifera _J.
B._ Major Cretica latifolia & angustifolia, aurita & non aurita, pomifera
& non pomifera, nam specie conveniunt, Bellonius poma hæc esui apta esse
scribit, eáque rusticos legere solere, iísque plenos Saccos in proximas
urbes venum deferre: quod mirum, cùm nihil aliud sint quàm Gallæ, seu
morbosi tumores ab Insectis excitate _Park._
C. Salvia Cretica angustifolia, _Clus._ Tenuifolia _J. B._ Angustif.
ferrata _C. B._ Angustif. non aurita _Park._ Semine è Creta accepto nata
est.
Sandalida Cretica est Lotus siliquis quadripinnat. in _Catal. general._
Santolina Cretica _Alpini_. _v._ Chrysocome.
Satureia Cretica _C. B._ _Ger. emac._ Cretica legitima _Park._ Thymbra
Græca _J. B._ Hoc genus Alpinus Tragoriganum esse contendid, non
Thymbram, cujus rationes vide.
Satureia Cretica spinosa _Ponæ_.
Saxifraga Cretica prior _Park._ Saxifraga _Alpin. exot._
Saxiphraga altera _Alpin. exot._ Cretica altera _Park._
Scabiosa arborea _Alpin. exot._ Arborea Cretica _Pod._ Peregrina _Ger._
Fruticosa, folio non dissecto peregrina _J. B._ Stellata folio non
dissecto _C. B._
Scammonea macrorrhizos _Alpin. exot._
Scandix Cretica major _C. B. prod._ _Park._ Pecten Veneris Creticum _J.
B._
Scordium alterum languinosum verticillatum _C. B._ Scordotis Plinii prima
_Park._ _Ponæ._ Tomentosa Cretica _J. B._
Scordotis Cretica _C. B. prod._ Altera Plinii _Ponæ. Ital._ _Park._
Scordotis _Alpin. exot._
Scrophularia Cretica 1. _Clus._ Cretica latifolia _Park._ Indica _Ger._
Foliis Filicis modo laciniatis, vel Ruta canina latifolia _C. B._
Sesely Creticum majus _C. B._ _Ger._ Creticum, sive Tordylium majus
_Park._ An Caucalis Lusitanica _Alpin. exot._
Seseli Creticum minus _v._ _Cat. gen._
Seseli Cretense nodosum _Park._ Myrrhis Sylvestris Cretica nodosa,
seminibus asperis _Hist. nost._ p. 432.
Sideritis viscosa Cretica bitumen redolens _Zanoni_. Glutinosa bitumen
redolens _Moris. Prælud._
C. Siler Creticum quibusdam, foliis Cicutæ, semine longo crispo _J. B._
Sil. 2. foliis Cicutæ _C. B._
Solanum somniferum Antiquorum _Alp. exot._ Somniferum Antiquorum verum
_Park._ Item Solanum somniferum _Park._ Verticillatum _J. B._ Somniferum
verticillatum _C. B._ In Cretæ locis maritimis.
Spartium Creticum _Alpin. exot._ _Park._
Spartium spinosum Creticum _Alpin. exot._ _Park._
Spartium spinosum secundum _Alpin. exot._ Spinosum aliud Creticum _Park._
Spica trifolia Cretica _Alpin. exot._
Stachys Cretica major seu latifolia _Hort. Reg. Par. Tournefort. Cat._
Stachys Cretica _C. B._ Stachys sive Pseudostachys Cretica _Park._ _C.
B. prod._
Stachys spinosa _Park._ Spinosa Cretica _C. B._ _Ger._ Spinosa _J. B._
_Gaidarothymo_, i. e. Asininum Thymum rusticis Cretensibus.
Staphis agria in monte Ida passem sponte provenit _Bellon._ v. _Cat. gen._
Stœbe fruticosa latifolia Cretica _Park._ Frutex rotundo argenteo folio,
Cyani flore _C. B._ Cyanus fruticosus Creticus Candiæ _Ponæ Ital._ Frutex
pulcherrimus _Bello ep. 2. ad Clus._
Stœbe spinosa Cretica _Park._ Spinosa _J. B._ Spinosa maritima _C. B._
Cyanus spinosus Creticus _Ponæ_ & _Alp._
Stœbe angustifolia Cretica i. Stœbe capitata Rosmarini foliis _Ponæ_.
Forte Chamapeuce _Alpin. exot._ Chamæpitys fruticosa Cretica _Belli_.
Jacea fruticans Pini folio _C. B._
Stœbe Plantaginis folia _Alpin._ _Park._
Stratiotes Millefolia Cretica _Alpin._ _v._ Millefolium.
T.
Teucrium Creticum _Clus._ _Park._ _J. B._ Creticum incanum _C. B._ Ex
semine è Creta misso Chamædryos majoris appellatione Clusio enatum est.
Thlaspi Creticum umbellatum flore albo odorato _Park._ Umbellatum
Creticum flore albo odoro minus _C. B._ Parvum umbellatum flore niveo
odorato _J. B._
Thlaspi clypeatum arborescens Creticum _Alpin. exot._ _Park._ Qu. An non
idem sit cum Thlaspi fruticoso altero _Lob._ aut fruticoso folio Leucoii
marini minoris _J. B._
Thymbra _v._ Satureia.
Thymbra _Alp. exot._ Cretica vera Alpino _Park._
Tithymalus cyparissias Creticus _Alpin. exot._
Tithymalus arboreus _Alpin._ Dendroides ex codice Cæsareo _Lugd. Dod._
In hort. Reg. Paris. colitur, & pro distincta à Tithymalo Dendroide
Matthioli specie in _Schol. Bot. Par._ ponitur.
Tithymalus maritimus spinosus _C. B._ Maritimus Creticus spinosus _Park._
An Tithymalus spinosus Creticus _Alpin._
Tragacantha altera seu Poterium densiùs ramificatum _Alpin. exot._
Tragacantha humilior floribus luteis _C. B._ Tragacantha _Alpin. exot._
Tragacantha Cretensis aut Idæa nigra, tota echinata _Moris._ Tragacantha
altera _Alpin. exot._
Tragacantha humilior & spinosior _v._ Echinus.
Tragacantha quarta seu Spartium spinosum alterum _Alpin. exot._ Nec
flores nec fructum hujus plantæ vidit Alpinus, proinde ad quod genus
referenda sit certò nequit definiri.
Tragoriganum Creticum _C. B._ _Park._ Cretense _Ger._ Quibusdam nigrius
folio duro, flore purpureo _J. B._
Trifolium spinosum Creticum _C. B._ _Clus._ _Park._ _Ger. emac._
Aculeatum Creticum _J. B._ Ὀρβιτόκορτο Cretensibus _Bell._
Trifolium peltatum Creticum _C. B._ _J. B._ Odoratum peltatum Creticum
_Park._ Rusticis Cretensibus Μασσουρίας _Bell._
Trifolium falcatum Creticum _Alpin. exot._ Anthyllis falcata Cretica
_Park._
V.
Valeriana Cretica tuberosa _Park._ Nardus montana Cretica _Alpin. exot._
Nardus Cretica _Belli_. q. _v._ Nardus.
Viscaria Cretica Maxima Alpini _v._ Lychnis.
[Illustration]Project Gutenberg
Mr. Ray's travels, Vol. 2 : $b A collection of curious travels and voyages. Containing Dr Leonhart Rauwolf's journey into the eastern countries, viz. Syria, Palestine, or the Holy Land, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Chaldea, &c., translated from the Original High Dutch, by Nicholas Staphorst. And also, travels into Greece, Asia minor, Egypt, Arabia felix, Petræa, Ethiopia, the Red Sea, &c. Collected from the observations of Mons. Belon, Prosper Alpinus, Dr. Huntington, Mr. Vernon, Sir George Wheeler, Dr. Smith, Mr. Greaves, and others. To which are added three catalogues of such trees, shrubs, and herbs, as grow in the Levant. By the Rev. John Ray, F.R.S.
Ray, John & Rauwolf, Leonhard