A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Ix Part 10

This town of _Nuraquimire_ is within three days journey of Tatta, and to us, after coming out of the desert, seemed quite a paradise. We agreed with a kinsman of the Rajah, or governor, for twenty _laries_, or shillings, to conduct us on the remainder of our journey. We accordingly departed on the 8th, and travelled ten c. to _Gaundajaw_, where we had been robbed but for our guard. The 9th we were twice set upon, and obliged to give each time five _laries_ to get free. We came to _Sarruna_, a great town of the _rajputs_ with a castle, fourteen _coss_ from Tatta. We visited the governor, _Ragee Bouma_, eldest son to sultan _Bulbul_, who was lately captured by the Moguls and had his eyes pulled out, yet had escaped about two months ago, and was now living in the mountains inviting all his kindred to revenge. The _Ragee_ treated me kindly as a stranger, asking me many questions about my country. He even made me sup with him, and gave me much wine, in which he so heartily partook, that he stared again. A banian at this place told me that Sir Robert Sherly had been much abused by the Portuguese and the governor of _Larry Bunder_, having his house set on fire, and his men much hurt in the night; and that on his arrival at Tatta, thirteen days journey from thence, he had been unkindly used by the governor of that city. He likewise told me of the great trade carried on at Tatta, and that ships of 300 tons might be brought up to Larry Bunder; and advised me to prevail upon _Ragee Bouma_ to escort us to Tatta.

According to this bad advice, we hired the _Ragee_ for forty _laries_ to escort us with fifty hors.e.m.e.n to the gates of Tatta. We departed from _Sarruna_ on the 11th January, and having travelled five coss we lay all night by the side of a river. Departing at two next morning, the Ragee led us in a direction quite different from our right road, and came about daybreak into a thicket, where he made us all be disarmed and bound, and immediately strangled the two merchants and their five men by means of their camel ropes. After stripping them of all their clothes, he caused their bodies to be flung into a hole dug on purpose. He then took my horse and eighty rupees from me, and sent me and my men up the mountains to his brothers, at the distance of twenty coss, where we arrived on the 14th, and where I remained twenty days a close prisoner.

On the 7th February, an order came to send me to _Parkar_, the governor of which place was of their kindred, and that I should be sent from thence to Rhadunpoor; but I was plundered on the way of my clothes and every thing else about me, my horse only being left me, which was not worth taking away.

Arriving at Parkar on the 28th February, and finding the inhabitants charitable, we were reduced to the necessity of begging victuals; and actually procured four mahmoodies by that means, equal to as many shillings. But having the good fortune to meet a banian of Ahmedabad, whom I had formerly known, he relieved me and my men. We were five days in travelling from Parkar to Rhadunpoor, where I arrived on the 19th March, and went thence to Ahmedabad on the 2d April, after an absence of 111 days. Thence to Brodia and Barengeo, thence sixteen c. to Soquatera, and ten c. to Cambay. We here crossed the large river, which is seven coss in breadth,[100] and where many hundreds are swallowed up yearly.

On the other side of the river we came to _Saurau_,[101] where is a town and castle of the _razbootches_ or rajputs. The 16th of April I travelled twenty-five coss to Broach. The 17th I pa.s.sed the river [Narbuddah], and went ten c. to _Cossumba_; and on the 18th thirteen c.

to Surat.

[Footnote 100: The great river in the text is a.s.suredly the upper part of the gulf of Cambay, where the tide sets in with prodigious rapidity, entering almost at once with a vast wave or bore, as described on a former occasion in the Portuguese voyages.--E.]

[Footnote 101: Probably Sarrode, on the south side of the entry of the river Mahy.--E.]

According to general report, there is no city of greater trade in all the Indies than Tatta in Sinde; its chief port being Larry Bunder, three days journey nearer the mouth of the river. There is a good road without the river's mouth, said to be free from worms; which, about Surat especially, and in other parts of India, are in such abundance, that after three or four months riding, were it not for the sheathing, ships would be rendered incapable of going to sea. The ports and roads of Sinde are said to be free. From Tatta they go in two months by water to Lah.o.r.e, and return down the river in one. The commodities there are _baffatys_, stuffs, _lawns_ [muslins], coa.r.s.e indigo, not so good as that of Biana. Goods, may be carried from Agra on camels in twenty days to _Bucker_ on the river Indus, and thence in fifteen or sixteen days aboard the ships at the mouth of the Indus. One may travel as soon from Agra to Sinde as to Surat, but there is more thieving on the Sinde road, in spite of every effort of the Mogul government to prevent it.

The inhabitants of Sinde consist mostly of Rajputs, Banians, and Baloches, the governors of the cities and large towns being Moguls. The country people are rude; going naked from the waist upwards, and wear turbans quite different from the fashion of the Moguls. Their arms are swords, bucklers, and lances; their bucklers being large and shaped like bee-hives, in which they are in use to give their camels drink, and their horses provender. Their horses are good, strong, and swift, and though unshod, they ride them furiously, backing them at a year old. The Rajputs eat no beef or buffalo flesh, even worshipping them; and the Moguls say that the Rajputs know how to die as well as any in the world.

The Banians kill nothing, and are said to be divided into more than thirty different casts, that differ somewhat among them in matters of religion, and may not eat with each other. All burn their dead; and when the husband dies, the widow shaves her head, and wears her jewels no more, continuing this state of mourning as long as she lives.

When a Rajput dies, his wife accompanies his body to the funeral pile in her best array, attended by all her friends and kindred, and by music.

When the funeral pile is set on fire, she walks round it two or three times, bewailing the death of her husband, and then rejoicing that she is now to live with him again: After which, embracing her friends, she sits down on the top of the pile among dry wood, taking her husband's head on her lap, and orders fire to be put to the pile; which done, her friends throw oil upon her and sweet perfumes, while she endures the fire with wonderful fort.i.tude, loose not bound. I have seen many instances of this. The first I ever saw was at Surat, the widow being a virgin of ten years old, and her affianced husband being a soldier slain in the wars at a distance, whence his clothes and turban were sent to her, and she insisted on burning herself along with these. The governor refused to give her permission, which she took grievously to heart, and insisted on being burnt; but they durst not, till her kindred procured leave by giving the governor a present, to her great joy. The kindred of the husband never force this, but the widow esteems it a disgrace to her family not to comply with this custom, which they may refrain from if they choose: But then they must shave their heads, and break all their ornaments, and are never afterwards allowed to eat, drink, sleep, or keep company with any one all the rest of their lives. If, after agreeing to burn, a woman should leap out of the fire, her own parents would bind her and throw her in again by force; but this weakness is seldom seen.

The Banian marriages are made at the age of three years or even under; and two pregnant women sometimes enter into mutual promises, if one of their children should prove male and the other female, to unite them in marriage. But these marriages are always in the same cast and religion, and in the same trade and occupation; as the son of a barber with the daughter of a barber, and so on. When the affianced couple reach three years of age, the parents make a great feast, and set the young couple on horseback dressed in their best clothes, a man sitting behind each to hold them on. They are then led about the city in procession, according to their state and condition, accompanied by bramins or priests and many others, who conduct them to the paG.o.da or temple; and after going through certain ceremonies there, they are led home, and feasts are given for several days, as they are able. When ten years of age, the marriage is consummated. The reason they a.s.sign for these early marriages is, that they may not be left wifeless, in case their parents should die. Their bramins are esteemed exceedingly holy, and have the charge of their paG.o.das or idol temples, having alms and t.i.thes for their maintenance; yet they marry, and follow occupations, being good workmen and ready to learn any pattern. They eat but once a day, washing their whole bodies before and after meat, and use ablutions after the natural evacuations.

The _Baloches_ are Mahometans, who deal much in camels, and are mostly robbers by land or on the rivers, murdering all they rob; yet are there very honest men among them in Guzerat and about Agra. While I was in Sinde, they took a boat with seven Italians and a Portuguese friar, all the rest being slain in fight. This was ripped up by them in search of gold.[102]

[Footnote 102: This is obscurely expressed, leaving it uncertain _what_ was ripped up in search of gold: The boat, the bodies of the slain, or the prisoners.--E.]

John Mildnall, or Mildenhall, an Englishman, had been employed with three other young Englishmen, whom he poisoned in Persia, to make himself master of the goods. He was himself also poisoned, yet, by means of preservatives, he lived many months afterwards, though exceedingly swelled, and so came to Agra with the value of 20,000 dollars. On this occasion I went from Surat for Agra, on the 14th May, 1614. I arrived first at _Bramport_, [Bushanpoor] where Sultan _Parvis_ lives, situated in a plain on the river _Taptee_ or of Surat, which is there of great breadth, and at this place there is a large castle. Thence I went to Agra in twenty-six days, having travelled the whole way from Surat to Agra, which is 700 coss or 1010 English miles, in thirty-seven days of winter, during which time it rained almost continually. From Surat to Burhanpoor is a pleasant champain country, well watered with rivers, brooks, and springs. Between Burhanpoor and Agra the country is very mountainous, not pa.s.sable with a coach, and scarcely to be travelled on camels. The nearest way is by _Mando_, pa.s.sing many towns and cities on every day's journey, with many high hills and strong castles, the whole country being well inhabited, very peaceable, and clear of thieves.

Agra is a very large town, its wall being two coss in circuit, the fairest and highest I ever saw, and well replenished with ordnance; the rest of the city being ruinous, except the houses of the n.o.bles, which are pleasantly situated on the river. The ancient royal seat was _Fatipoor_, twelve coss from Agra, but is now fallen into decay. Between these two is the sepulchre of the king's father, to which nothing I ever saw is comparable: yet the church or mosque of _Fatipoor_ comes near it, both being built according to the rules of architecture. In Agra the Jesuits have a house and a handsome church, built by the Great Mogul, who allows their chief seven rupees a-day, and all the rest three, with licence to convert as many as they can: But alas! these converts were only for the sake of money; for when, by order of the Portuguese, the new converts were deprived of their pay, they brought back their beads again, saying they had been long without pay, and would be Christians no longer. In consequence of the Portuguese refusing to deliver back the goods taken at Surat, the king ordered the church doors to be locked up and they have so continued ever since; so the _padres_ make a church of one of their chambers, where they celebrate ma.s.s twice a day, and preach every Sunday, first in Persian to the Armenians and Moors, and afterwards in Portuguese for themselves, the Italians, and Greeks.

By them I was informed of the particulars of Mildenhall's goods, who had given them all to a French protestant, though himself a papist, that he might marry a b.a.s.t.a.r.d daughter he had left in Persia, and bring up another. The Frenchman refusing to make rest.i.tution, was thrown into prison and after four months all was delivered up.

Between Agumere and Agra, at every ten _coss_, being an ordinary day's journey, there is a _Serai_ or lodging house for men and horses, with hostesses to dress your victuals if you please, paying a matter of three-pence for dressing provisions both for man and horse. And between these two places, which are 120 coss distant, there is a pillar erected at every _coss_, and a fair house every ten coss, built by Akbar, on occasion of making a pilgrimage on foot from Agra to Agimere, saying his prayers at the end of every coss. These houses serve for accommodating the king and his women, no one else being allowed to use them. The king resides at Agimere on occasion of wars with _Rabna_, a rajput chief, who has now done homage, so that there is peace between them. I made an excursion to the Ganges, which is two days journey from Agra. The Banians carry the water of the Ganges to the distance of many hundred miles, affirming that it never corrupts, though kept for any length of time. A large river, called the _Geminie_ [Jumna], pa.s.ses by Agra.

On the 24th of May, 1616, while on our voyage home to England, we went into Suldunha bay, where were several English ships outwards bound, namely, the Charles, Unicorn, Ja.n.u.s, Globe, and Swan, the general being Mr Benjamin Joseph. We arrived safe at Dover on the 15th September, 1616.

John Mildenhall, mentioned in the foregoing article, left England on the 12th February, 1600, and went by Constantinople, Scanderoon, Aleppo, Bir, Caracmit, Bitelis, Cashbin, Ispahan, Yezd, Kerman, and Sigistan, to Candhar; and thence to Lah.o.r.e, where he arrived in 1603. He appears to have carried letters from Queen Elizabeth to the Great Mogul, by whom he was well received, and procured from him letters of privilege for trade in the Mogul dominions. He thence returned into Persia, whence he wrote to one Mr Richard Staper from Cashbin, on the 3d October, 1606, giving some account of his travels, and of his negociations at the court of the Mogul. This letter, and a short recital of the first two years of his peregrinations, are published in the Pilgrims, vol. I. pp. 114--116, but have not been deemed of sufficient importance for insertion in this collection.--E.

SECTION XIX.

_Eleventh Voyage of the East India Company, in 1612, in the Salomon_.[103]

We sailed from Gravesend on the 1st February, 1611, according to the computation of the church of England, or 1612 as reckoned by others. We were four ships in company, which were counted as three separate voyages, because directed to several parts of India: The James, which was reckoned the _ninth_ voyage, the Dragon and Hosiander the _tenth_, and our ship, the Salomon, as the _eleventh_.

[Footnote 103: Purch. Pilgr. I. 486. This unimportant voyage is only preserved, for the sake of continuing the regular series of voyages which contributed to the establishment of the East India Company. We learn from Purchas that it was written by Ralph Wilson, one of the mates in the Salomon, who never mentions the name of his captain. This voyage, as given by Purchas, contains very little information, and is therefore here abridged, though not extending to two folio pages in the Pilgrims.--E.]

I would advise such as go from Saldanha bay with the wind at E. or S.E.

to get to a considerable distance from the land before standing southwards, as otherwise the high lands at the Cape will take the wind from them; and if becalmed, one may be much troubled, as there is commonly in these parts a heavy sea coming from the west. Likewise, the current sets in for the sh.o.r.e, if the wind has been at N.N.W. or W. or S.S.W. And also the sh.o.r.e is so bold that no anchorage can be had.

The 18th October, we espied the land, being near _Celeber_ in the island of Sumatra, in about 3 of south lat.i.tude. The 2d November, coming between Java and a ragged island to the westwards of the point of _Palimbangan_, we met a great tide running out so fast that we could hardly stem it with the aid of a stiff gale. When afterwards the gale slacked, we came to anchor, and I found the tide to run three 1/2 leagues in one watch. I noticed that this tide set outwards during the day, and inwards through the night. This day at noon the point of Palimbangan bore N.E. by E. three leagues off, and from thence to the road of Bantam is five leagues, S.S.E. 1/3 E. The lat.i.tude of Bantam is 6 10' S. and the long. 145 2' E. This however is rather too much easterly, as I think the true longitude of Bantam is 144 E. from Flores.[104]

[Footnote 104: The long. of Bantam is 106 E. from Greenwich. That in the text appears to have been estimated from the island of Flores, which is 31 20' W. from Greenwich, so that the longitude of Bantam ought to have been stated as 137 20' E. from Flores, making an error of excess in the text of seven or eight degrees.--E.]

The 7th March, at five p.m. while in lat. 20 34' S. we descried land nine leagues off, N.E. 1/2 N. The S.E. part of this island is somewhat high, but falleth down with a low point. The W. part is not very high, but flat and smooth towards the end, and falls right down. The south and west parts of this island is all surrounded with shoals and broken ground, and we did not see the other sides; yet it seemed as if it had good refreshments. The longitude of this island is 104 from Flores, but by my computation 107.[105] In these long voyages, we do not rely altogether on our reckoning, but use our best diligence for discovering the true longitudes, which are of infinite importance to direct our course aright.

[Footnote 105: No island is to be found in the lat.i.tude and longitude indicated in the text.--E.]

SECTION XX.

_The Twelfth Voyage of the East India Company, in 1613, by Captain Christopher Newport_.[106]

The full t.i.tle of this voyage, as given in the Pilgrims, is as follows:--"A Journal of all princ.i.p.al Matters pa.s.sed in the Twelfth Voyage to the East India, observed by me _Walter Payton_, in the good ship the _Expedition_.--Whereof Mr _Christopher Newport_ was captain, being set out _Anno_ 1612. Written by the said _Walter Payton_." The date of the year of this voyage, according to our present mode of computation, was 1613, as formerly explained at large, the year being then computed to commence on the 25th March, instead of the 1st January.--E.

[Footnote 106: Purch. Pilgr. I. 488.]

--1. _Observations at St Augustine, Mohelia, and divers Parts of Arabia_.

The 7th January, 1613, we sailed from Gravesend for India, in the good ship Expedition of London, about the burden of 260 tons, and carrying fifty-six persons; besides the Persian amba.s.sador and his suite, of whom there were fifteen persons, whom we were ordered to transport to the kingdom of Persia, at the cost of the worshipful company. The names of the amba.s.sador and his people were these. Sir Robert Sherley the amba.s.sador, and his lady, named Teresha, a Circa.s.sian; Sir Thomas Powell, and his lady, called Tomasin, a Persian; a Persian woman, named Leylye; Mr Morgan Powell; Captain John Ward; Mr Francis Bubb, secretary; Mr John Barbar, apothecary; John Herriot, a musician; John Georgson, goldsmith, a Dutchman; Gabriel, an old Armenian; and three Persians, named Nazerbeg, Scanderbeg, and Molhter.

In the morning of the 26th April; we fell in with a part of the land of Ethiopia, [Southern Africa,] close adjoining to which is a small island, called _Conie island_, [Da.s.sen island] all low land, and bordered by many dangerous rocks to seawards. It is in the lat. of 33 30' S. The wind falling short, we were constrained to anchor between that island and the main, where we had very good ground in nineteen or twenty fathoms. We sent our boat to the island, where we found Penguins, geese, and other fowls, and seals in great abundance; of all which we took as many as we pleased for our refreshment. By a carved board, we observed that the Hollanders had been there, who make great store of train-oil from the seals. They had left behind them the implements of their work, together with a great copper cauldron standing on a furnace, the cauldron being full of oil; all which we left as we found them.

Having spent two days here at anchor, and the wind coming favourable, we weighed and proceeded for the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived, by G.o.d's grace, at Saldanha on the 30th of April, where we found six ships at anchor. Two of these, the Hector and James, were English, and the other four Hollanders, all homeward bound. We here watered, and refreshed ourselves well with reasonable abundance of the country sheep and beeves, which were bought from the natives, and plenty of fresh fish, which we caught with our seyne. The 10th May the Pepper-corn arrived here, likewise homewards bound; and as she was but ill provided with necessaries, we supplied her from our scanty store as well as we could spare.

Being all ready to depart with the first fair wind, which, happened on the 15th May, we then sailed altogether from the bay, taking leave according to the custom of the sea, and we directed our course for St Augustine. In our way we had sight of _Capo do Arecife_,[107] part of the main land of Africa, in lat. 33 25' S. on the 24th May, the compa.s.s there varying 6 9'. The 15th June we got sight of the island of St Lawrence or Madagascar, and on the 17th came to anchor close beside port St Augustine, meaning to search the soundings and entrance into the bay before we went in, as there was no one in the ship well acquainted with it. Having done this, we went in next day, and came to anchor in ten fathoms, yet our ship rode in forty fathoms. We had here wood and water, and great abundance of fresh fish, which we caught in such quant.i.ties with the seyne as might have served for six ships companies, instead of our own. But we could get no cattle from the natives, who seemed to be afraid of us; for, though they came once to us, and promised to bring us cattle next day, they seemed to have said so as a cover for driving away their cattle, in which they were employed in the interim, and they came no more near us. Some days after, we marched into the woods with forty musketeers, to endeavour to discover some of the natives, that we might buy cattle; but we only found empty houses, made of canes, whence we could see the people had only gone away very recently, as their fires were still burning, and the scales of fish they had been broiling were lying about. We also saw the foot-marks of many cattle, which had been there not long before, and had to return empty handed.

[Footnote 107: The lat.i.tude in the text indicates Burtrenhook, near the mouth of the Groot river, this being probably the Dutch name, while that in the text is the Portuguese.--E.]

The entry into the port of St Augustine resembles that of Dartmouth haven; and on going in, you must bring the wood, called Westminster-hall, to which it has some resemblance, to bear N.E. by E.

and then steer due E. borrowing a little towards the south side of the bay, where your soundings will be thirteen, nine, eight, and seven fathoms, all good ground, till you be shut within the shoal. After this you have deep water till you come into the road, and then have seven, eight, and ten fathoms. But if you go too far behind the hill on the larboard hand, which resembles an old barn, you shall then have thirty and forty fathoms. St Augustine is in lat 23 30' S. the var. being 15 40'.[108]

[Footnote 108: Long. 44 20' E. from Greenwich.--E.]

We sailed from St Augustine on the 23d June, directing our course for the island of Mohelia, and on the 3d July we had sight of an island called Juan, nine or ten leagues E. by S. from Mohelia. We came also this day to anchor at Mohelia, between it and some broken land off its southern side. We had here great abundance of refreshments, and very cheap; for we bought five bullocks in exchange for one Levant sword, and had goats, hens, pine-apples, cocoa-nuts, plantains, oranges, lemons, and limes, for trifles worth little. Such bullocks as we had for money cost a dollar each, or ten pieces of 4-1/2d.; at which rate we purchased forty-one beeves. The natives of this island are chiefly Moors [negroes], but there are Arabians, Turks, and others also among them; and they are much engaged in wars with the people of _Juan_, [Hinznan or Johanna,] and Comoro islands in their neighbourhood. They told us that the king of the island died the day we arrived, being succeeded by his son, _Phanehomale_, who was only of tender years, and was to reign under the protection of the queen his mother. His brother-in-law, as chief man, accompanied by several other people of condition, came down to bid us welcome, and used us very kindly. Both he and many others of the islanders spoke tolerably good Portuguese, so that I had much conversation with them, and was informed of every thing I wished to know.

In this island they build barks, in which they trade along the coast of Melinda and Arabia, disposing of slaves and fruit, by which means they supply themselves with dollars, and with such articles as they need. I suspect also that they have some dealings with the Portuguese, but they would not let us know this, lest we might suspect them of treachery.

They told me that we were welcome, and that the whole island was at our command to do us service; but, if we had been Portuguese, they would have put us all to the sword. In my opinion, however, it would be dangerous to repose too much confidence in them. The king's brother-in-law shewed me a letter of recommendation of the place, written in Dutch, and left there by a Hollander; and he requested of us to leave a letter to the same purport, certifying their honest and friendly dealings, that they might be able to show to others of our nation. To this we consented, and I gave them a writing, sealed by our captain, expressing the good entertainment we had received, and the prices of provisions; yet recommending to our countrymen, not to trust them any farther than might seem consistent with their own safety. They speak a kind of Moorish language, somewhat difficult to learn; so that I could only pick up the few words following, which may serve to ask for provisions and fruits, by such as do not understand Portuguese, or in speaking to any of the natives who have not that language.

_Gumbey_, a bullock.

_Buze_, a goat.