Volume 2 — MORE OBSERVATIONS MADE IN EGYPT, BY Guilandinus, Alpinus, and others. (continued 2)

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.’

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.

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.