SECTION XVI. Of the Kingdom of Orissa and the River Ganges
   This was a fair and well regulated kingdom, through which a man might have travelled with gold in his hand without danger, so long as it was governed by its native sovereign who was a Gentile, and resided in the city of Catecha161 six days journey inland. This king loved strangers, especially merchants who traded in his dominions, insomuch that he took no customs from them, neither did he vex them with any grievous impositions, only that each ship that came thither paid some small affair in proportion to her tonnage. Owing to this good treatment twenty-five ships, great and small, used to lade yearly in the port of Orissa, mostly with rice and with different kinds of white cotton cloths, oil of zerzerline or verzino which is made from a seed, and answers well for eating or frying fish, lac, long pepper, ginger, dry and candied mirabolans, and great store of cloth made from a kind of silk which grows on trees requiring no labour or cultivation, as when the bole or round pod is grown to the size of an orange, all they have to do is to gather it. About sixteen years before this, the Pagan king of Orissa was defeated and slain and his kingdom conquered, by the king of Patane162, who was also king of the greatest part of Bengal. After the conquest of Orissa, this king imposed a duty of 20 per centum on all trade, as had been formerly paid in his other dominions. But this king did not enjoy his acquisitions long, being soon conquered by another tyrant, who was the great Mogul of Delhi, Agra, and Cambaia, against whom the king of Patane made very little resistance.
   Departing from Orissa I went to the harbour of Piqueno in Bengal, 170 miles to the east from Orissa. We went in the first place along the coast for 54 miles when we entered the river Ganges. From the mouth of this river to a place called Satagan, where the merchants assemble with their commodities, are 100 miles, to which place they row up the river along with the flood tide in eighteen hours. This river ebbs and flows as it does in the Thames, and when the ebb begins, although their barks are light and propelled with oars like foists, they cannot row against the ebb tide, but must make fast to one of the banks of the river and wait for next flood. These boats are called bazaras and patuas, and row as well as a galliot or any vessel I have ever seen. At the distance of a good tide rowing before reaching Satagan we come to a place called Buttor, which ships do not go beyond, as the river is very shallow upwards. At Buttore a village is constructed every year, in which all the houses and shops are made of straw, and have every necessary convenience for the use of the merchants. This village continues as long as the ships remain there; but when they depart for the Indies, every man goes to his plot of houses and sets them on fire. This circumstance seemed very strange to me; for as I passed up the river to Satagan, I saw this village standing, having a great multitude of people with many ships and bazars; and at my return along with the captain of the last ship, for whom I tarried, I was amazed to see no remains of the village except the appearance of the burnt houses, all having been razed and burnt.
   Small ships go up to Satagan where they load and unload their cargoes. In this port of Satagan twenty-five or thirty ships great and small are loaded yearly with rice, cotton cloths of various kinds, lac, great quantities of sugar, dried and preserved mirabolans, long pepper, oil of Verzino, and many other kinds of merchandise. The city of Satagan is tolerably handsome as a city of the Moors, abounding in every thing, and belonged formerly to the king of Patane or Patna, but is now subject to the great Mogul. I was in this kingdom four months, where many merchants bought or hired boats for their convenience and great advantage, as there is a fair every day in one town or city of the country. I also hired a bark and went up and down the river in the prosecution of my business, in the course of which I saw many strange things.
   The kingdom of Bengal has been long under the power of the Mahomedans, yet there are many Gentile inhabitants. Wherever I speak of Gentiles I am to be understood as signifying idolaters, and by Moors I mean the followers of Mahomet. The inhabitants of the inland country do greatly worship the river Ganges; for if any one is sick, he is brought from the country to the banks of the river, where they build for him a cottage of straw, and every day they bathe him in the river. Thus many die at the side of the Ganges, and after their death they make a heap of boughs and sticks on which they lay the dead body and then set the pile on fire. When the dead body is half roasted, it is taken from the fire, and having an empty jar tied about its neck is thrown into the river. I saw this done every night for two months as I passed up and down the river in my way to the fairs to purchase commodities from the merchants. On account of this practice the Portuguese do not drink the water of the Ganges, although it appears to the eye much better and clearer than that of the Nile.
   "Of Satagan, Buttor, and Piqueno, in the kingdom of Bengal, no notices are to be found in the best modern maps of that country, so that we can only approximate their situation by guess. Setting out from what the author calls the port of Orissa, which has already been conjectured to be Balasore, the author coasted to the river Ganges, at the distance of 54 miles. This necessarily implies the western branch of the Ganges, or Hoogly river, on which the English Indian capital, Calcutta, now stands. Satagan is said to have been 100 miles up the river, which would carry us up almost to the city of Sautipoor, which may possibly have been Satagan. The two first syllables of the name are almost exactly the same, and the final syllable in Sautipoor is a Persian word signifying town, which may have been gan in some other dialect. The entire distance from Balasore, or the port of Orissa, to Piqueno is stated at 170 miles, of which 154 have been already accounted for, so that Piqueno must have been only about 16 miles above Satagan, and upon the Ganges163."-ED.

SECTION XVII. Of Tanasserim and other Places
   In continuation of my peregrinations, I sailed from the port of Piqueno to Cochin, from whence I went to Malacca, and afterwards to Pegu, being 800 miles distant. That voyage is ordinarily performed in twenty-five or thirty days; but we were four months on the way, and at the end of three months we were destitute of provisions. The pilot alleged that, according to the latitude by his observation, we could not be far from Tanassery, or Tanasserim, a city in the kingdom of Pegu. In this he was mistaken, as we found ourselves in the middle of many islands and uninhabited rocks, yet some Portuguese who were on board affirmed that they knew the land, and could even point out where the city of Tanasserim stood. This city belongs of right to Siam, and is situated on the side of a great river, which comes from the kingdom of Siam. At the month of this river there is a village called Mirgim, Merghi, or Morgui, at which some ships load every year with Verzino, Nypa, and Benzoin, with a few cloves, nutmegs, and mace, that come from Siam; but the principal merchandise are Verzino and Nypa. This last is an excellent wine, which is made from the flower of a tree called Nyper. They distil the liquor prepared from the Nyper, and make therewith an excellent drink, as clear as crystal, which is pleasant to the taste, and still better to the stomach, as it has most excellent virtues, insomuch that if a person were rotten with the lues, and drinks abundantly of this wine, he shall be made whole, as I have seen proved: For when I was in Cochin, the nose of a friend of mine began to drop off with that disease, on which he was advised by the physicians to go to Tanasserim at the season of the new wines, and to drink the Nyper wine day and night, as much as he was able. He was ordered to use it before being distilled, when it is most delicate; for after distillation it become much stronger, and is apt to produce drunkenness. He went accordingly, and did as he was directed, and I have seen him since perfectly sound and well-coloured. It is very cheap in Pegu, where a great quantity is made every year; but being in great repute in the Indies, it is dear when carried to a distance.
   I now return to my unfortunate voyage, where we were among the uninhabited rocks and islands far from Tanasserim, and in great straits for victuals. From what was said by the pilot and two Portuguese, that we were directly opposite the harbour of Tanasserim, we determined to go thither in out boat to bring provisions, leaving orders to the ship to await our return. Accordingly, twenty-eight of us went into the boat, and left the ship about noon one day, expecting to get into the harbour before night; but, after rowing all that day and the next night, and all the ensuing day, we could find no harbour nor any fit place to land; for, trusting to the ignorant counsel of the pilot and the two Portuguese, we had overshot the harbour and left it behind us. In this way we twenty-eight unfortunate persons in the boat lost both our ship and the inhabited land, and were reduced to the utmost extremity, having no victuals along with us. By the good providence of God, one of the mariners in the boat had brought a small quantity of rice along with him, intending to barter it for some other thing, though the whole was so little that three or four men might have eaten it all at one meal. I took charge of this small store, engaging, with God's blessing, that it should serve to keep us all in life, till it might please God to send us to some inhabited place, and when I slept I secured it in my bosom, that I might not be robbed of my precious deposit. We were nine days rowing along the coast, finding nothing but an uninhabited country and desert islands, where even grass would have been esteemed a luxury in our miserable state. We found indeed some leaves of trees, but so hard that we could not chew them. We had wood and water enough, and could only row along with the flood tide, as when it ebbed we had to make fast our boat to one of the desert islands. On one of these days, it pleased God that we discovered a nest or hole, in which were 144 tortoise eggs, which proved a wonderful help to us, as they were as large as hens eggs, covered only by a tender skin, instead of a shell. Every day we boiled a kettle full of these eggs, mixing a handful of rice among the broth. At the end of nine days, it pleased God that we discovered some fishermen in small barks, employed in catching fish. We rowed immediately towards them with much delight and thankfulness, for never were men more glad than we, being so much reduced by famine that we could hardly stand on our legs; yet, according to the allotment we had made of our rice, we still had as much as would have served four days. The first village we came to was in the gulf of Tavay, on the coast of Tanasserim, in the dominions of Pegu, where we found plenty of provisions; yet for two or three days after our arrival none of us could eat much, and most of us were at the point of death. From Tavay to Martaban, in the kingdom of Pegu, the distance is 72 miles164. We loaded our boat at Tavay with provisions sufficient for six months, and then went in our boat to the city and port of Martaban, in the kingdom of Pegu, and arrived there in a short time. But not finding our ship there as we hoped, we dispatched two barks in search of her. They found her in great calamity at an anchor, with a contrary wind, which was exceedingly unfortunate for the people, especially as they had been a whole month without a boat, which prevented them from making any provision of wood and water. The ship, however, arrived safe, by the blessing of God, in the harbour of Martaban.

SECTION XVIII. Of Martaban and the Kingdom of Pegu
   On our arrival at Martaban we found about ninety Portuguese there, including merchants and lower people, who had fallen at variance with the governor of the city, because certain vagabond Portuguese had slain five falchines, or porters, belonging to the king of Pegu. According to the custom of that country, when the king of Pegu happens to be at a distance from his capital, a caravan, or company of falchines, is dispatched every fifteen days, each of them having a basket on his head full of fruit or some other delicacy, or clean clothes for the king's use. It accordingly happened, about a month after the king of Pegu had gone against Siam, with 1,400,000 men, that one of these caravans stopt at Martaban, to rest for the night. On this occasion a quarrel ensued between them and some Portuguese, which ended in blows, and the Portuguese being worsted, returned upon the falchines in the night, while they were asleep, and cut off five of their heads. There is a law in Pegu, that whosoever sheds the blood of a man, shall pay the price of blood according to the rank of the person slain: but as these falchines were the servants of the king, the governor of Martaban durst not do any thing in the matter without the king's orders. The king was accordingly informed of the affair, and gave orders that the malefactors should be kept in custody till his return, when he would duly administer justice, but the captain of the Portuguese refused to deliver up these men to the governor, and even armed himself and the other Portuguese, marching every day about the city, with drums beating and displayed colours, as in despite of the governor, who was unable to enforce his authority, as the city was almost empty of men, all who were fit for war having gone with the vast army against Siam.
   We arrived at Martaban in the midst of this difference, and I thought it a very strange thing to see the Portuguese behave themselves with such insolence in the city of a sovereign prince. Being very doubtful of the consequences, I did not think proper to land my goods, which I considered in greater safety on board ship than on shore. Most part of the goods on board belonged to the owner, who was at Malacca; but there were several merchants in the ship who had goods, though none of them had to any great value, and all of them declared they would not land any of their goods unless I landed mine; yet they afterwards neglected my advice and example, and landed their goods, all of which were accordingly lost. The governor and intendant of the custom-house sent for me, and demanded to know why I did not land my goods, and pay the duties like the rest; on which I said that I was a stranger, only new to the country, and observing so much disorder among the Portuguese, I was afraid to lose my goods, which I was determined not to bring on shore, unless the governor would promise me in the king's name that no harm should come to me or my goods, whatever might happen to the Portuguese, with whom I had taken no part in the late tumult. As what I said seemed reasonable, the governor sent for the Bargits, who are the councillors of the city, who engaged, in the name of the king, that neither I nor my goods should meet with any injury, and of which they made a notarial entry or memorandum. I then sent for my goods, and paid the customs, which is ten per centum of the value at that port; and for my greater security I hired a house for myself and my goods, directly facing the house of the governor.
   In the sequel, the captain of the Portuguese and all the merchants of that nation, were driven out of the city, in which I remained, along with twenty-one poor men, who were officers in the ship I came in from Malacca. The Gentiles had determined on being revenged of the Portuguese for their insolence, but had delayed till all the goods were landed from our ship; and the very next night there arrived four thousand soldiers from Pegu, with some war elephants. Before these made any stir in the city, the governor issued orders to all the Portuguese, in case of hearing any noise or clamour in the city, not to stir from their houses on pain of death. About four hours after sunset, I heard a prodigious noise and tumult of men and elephants, who were bursting open the doors of the Portuguese warehouses, and overturning their houses of wood and straw, in which tumult some of the Portuguese were wounded, and one of them slain. Many of those who had before boasted of their courage, now fled on board some small vessels in the harbour, some of them fleeing naked from their beds. That night the Peguers carried all the goods belonging to the Portuguese from the suburbs into the city, and many of the Portuguese were likewise arrested. After this, the Portuguese who had fled to the ships resumed courage, and, landing in a body, set fire to the houses in the suburbs, and as these were entirely composed of boards covered with straw, and the wind blew fresh at the time, the entire suburbs were speedily consumed, and half of the city had like to have been destroyed. After this exploit, the Portuguese had no hopes of recovering any part of their goods, which might amount to the value of 16,000 ducats, all of which they might assuredly have got back if they had not set the town on fire.
   Understanding that the late seizure of their goods had been done by the sole authority of the governor of Martaban, without authority from the king of Pegu, they were sensible of the folly of their proceedings in setting the town on fire; yet next morning they began to discharge their cannon against the town, and continued their cannonade for four days, yet all in vain, as their balls were intercepted by the top of a small hill or rising ground which intervened, and did no harm to the city. At this time the governor arrested the twenty-one Portuguese who were in the city, and sent them to a place four miles up the country, where they were detained till such time as the other Portuguese departed with their ships, after which they were allowed to go where they pleased, having no farther harm done them. During all these turmoils I remained quietly in my house, under the protection of a strong guard appointed by the governor, to prevent any one from doing harm to me or my goods. In this manner he effectually performed the promise he had made me in the king's name; but he would on no account permit me to depart till the king returned from Siam to Pegu, which was greatly to my hindrance, as I remained twenty-one months under sequestration, during all which time I could neither buy nor sell any kind of goods whatever. Those commodities which I had brought with me were pepper, sandal wood, and porcelain of China. At length, when the king came back to Pegu, I made my supplication to him, and had liberty to go when and where I pleased. Accordingly, I immediately departed from Martaban for Pegu, the capital city of the kingdom of that name, being a voyage by sea of three or four days. We may likewise go by land between these two places, but it is much better and cheaper for anyone that has goods to transport, as I had, to go by sea.
   In this short voyage we meet with the Macareo, or bore of the sea, which is one of the most marvellous of the works of nature, and one of these hardest to be believed if not seen. This consists in the prodigious increase and diminution of the water of the sea all at one push or instant, and the horrible noise and earthquake which this Macareo produces when it makes its approach. We went from Martaban in barks like our pilot boats, taking the flood tide along with us, and they went with the most astonishing rapidity, as swift as an arrow from a bow as long as the flow lasts. Whenever the water is at the highest, these barks are carried out of the mid-channel to one or other bank of the river, where they anchor out of the way of the stream of the ebb, remaining dry at low water; and when the ebb is completely run out, then are the barks left on high above the water in the mid-channel, as far as the top of a house is from the foundation. The reason of thus anchoring so far from the mid-stream or channel is, that when the first of the flood, Macareo or bore, comes in, any ship or vessel riding in the fair way or mid-channel would surely be overthrown and destroyed. And even with this precaution of anchoring so far above the channel, so that the bore has lost much of its force before rising so high as to float them, yet they always moor with their bows to the stream, which still is often so powerful as to put them in great fear; for if the anchor did not hold good, they would be in the utmost danger of being lost. When the water begins to increase, it comes on with a prodigious noise as if it were an earthquake. In its first great approach it makes three great waves. The first wave washes over the bark from stem to stem: The second is not so strong; at the third they raise the anchor and resume their voyage up the river, rowing with such swiftness that they seem to fly for the space of six hours, while the flood lasts. In these tides there must be no time lost, for if you arrive not at the proper station before the flood is spent, you must turn back from whence you came, as there is no staying at any place except at these stations, some of which are more dangerous than others, according as they happen to be higher or lower. On returning from Pegu to Martaban they never continue more than half ebb, that they may have it in their power to lay their barks high upon the bank, for the reason already given. I could never learn any reason for the prodigious noise made by the water in this extraordinary rise of the tide. There is another Macareo in the gulf of Cambay, as formerly mentioned, but it is nothing in comparison of this in the river of Pegu.
   With the blessing of God we arrived safe at Pegu, which consists of two cities, the old and the new, all the merchants of the country and stranger merchants residing in the old city, in which is far the greatest trade. The city itself is not very large, but it has very great suburbs. The houses are all built of canes, and covered with leaves or straw; but every merchant has one house or magazine, called Godown, built of bricks, in which they secure their most valuable commodities, to save them from fire, which frequently happens to houses built of such combustible materials.
   In the new city is the royal palace, in which the king dwells, with all his nobles and officers of state, and attendants. While I was there the building of the new city was completed. It is of considerable size, built perfectly square upon an uniform level, and walled round, having a wet ditch on the outside, filled with crocodiles, but there are no draw-bridges. Each side of the square has five gates, being twenty in all; and there are many places on the walls for centinels, built of wood, and gilded over with gold. The streets are all perfectly straight, so that from any of the gates you can see clear through to the opposite gate, and they are so broad that 10 or 12 horsemen may ride abreast with ease. The cross streets are all equally broad and straight, and on each side of all the streets close to the houses there is a row of cocoa-nut trees, making a most agreeable shade. The houses are all of wood, covered with a kind of tiles, in the form of cups, very necessary and useful in that country. The palace is in the middle of the city, walled round like a castle, the lodgings within being built of wood, all over gilded, and richly adorned with pinnacles of costly work, covered all over with gold, so that it may truly be called a king's house. Within the gate is a large handsome court, in which are lodges for the strongest and largest elephants, which are reserved for the king's use, among which are four that are entirely white, a rarity that no other king can boast of; and were the king of Pegu to hear that any other king had white elephants, he would send and demand them as a gift. While I was there two such were brought out of a far distant country, which cost me something for a sight of them, as the merchants were commanded to go to see them, and every one was obliged to give something to the keepers. The brokers gave for every merchant half a ducat, which they call a tansa, and this produced a considerable sum, as there were a great many merchants in the city. After paying the tansa, they may either visit the elephants or not as they please, as after they are put into the king's stalls, every one may see them whenever they will. But before this, every one mast go to see them, such being the royal pleasure. Among his other titles, this king is called King of the White Elephants; and it is reported that if he knew of any other king having any white elephants who would not resign them to him, he would hazard his whole kingdom to conquer them. These white elephants are so highly esteemed that each of them has a house gilded all over, and they are served with extraordinary care and attention in vessels of gold and silver. Besides these white elephants, there is a black one of most extraordinary size, being nine cubits high. It is reported that this king has four thousand war elephants, all of which have teeth. They are accustomed to put upon their uppermost teeth certain sharp spikes of iron, fastened on with rings, because these animals fight with their teeth. He has also great numbers of young elephants, whose teeth are not yet grown.
   In this country they have a curious device for hunting or taking elephants, which is erected about two miles from the capital. At that place there is a fine palace gilded all over, within which is a sumptuous court, and all round the outside there are a great number of places for people to stand upon to see the hunting. Near this place is a very large wood or forest, through which a great number of the king's huntsmen ride on the backs of female elephants trained on purpose, each huntsman having five or six of these females, and it is said that their parts are anointed with a certain composition, the smell of which so powerfully attracts the wild males that they cannot leave them, but follow them wheresoever they go. When the huntsmen find any of the wild elephants so entangled, they guide the females towards the palace, which is called a tambell, in which there is a door which opens and shuts by machinery, before which door there is a long straight passage having trees on both sides, so that it is very close and dark. When the wild elephant comes to this avenue, he thinks himself still in the woods. At the end of this avenue there is a large field, and when the hunters have enticed their prey into this field, they immediately send notice to the city, whence come immediately fifty or sixty horsemen, who beset the field all round. Then the females which are bred to this business go directly to the entry of the dark avenue, and when the wild male elephant has entered therein, the horsemen shout aloud and make as much noise as possible to drive the wild elephant forward to the gate of the palace, which is then open, and as soon as he is gone in, the gate is shut without any noise. The hunters, with the female elephants and the wild one, are all now within the court of the palace, and the females now withdraw one by one from the court, leaving the wild elephant alone, finding himself thus alone and entrapped, he is so madly enraged for two or three hours, that it is wonderful to behold. He weepeth, he flingeth, he runneth, he jostleth, he thrusteth under the galleries where the people stand to look at him, endeavouring all he can to kill some of them, but the posts and timbers are all so strong that he cannot do harm to any one, yet he sometimes breaks his teeth in his rage. At length, wearied with violent exertions, and all over in a sweat, he thrusts his trunk into his mouth, and sucks it full of water from his stomach, which he then blows at the lookers on. When he is seen to be much exhausted, certain people go into the court, having long sharp-pointed canes in their hands, with which they goad him that he may enter into one of the stalls made for the purpose in the court, which are long and narrow, so that he cannot turn when once in. These men must be very wary and agile, for though their canes are long, the elephants would kill them if they were not swift to save themselves. When they have got him into one of the stalls, they let down ropes from a loft above, which they pass under his belly, about his neck, and round his legs, to bind him fast, and leave him there for four or five days without meat or drink. At the end of that time, they loosen all the cords, put one of the females in beside him, giving them meat and drink, and in eight days after he is quite tame and tractable. In my opinion, there is not any animal so intelligent as the elephant, nor of so much capacity and understanding, for he will do every thing that his keeper desires, and seems to lack nothing of human reason except speech.
   It is reported that the great military power of the king of Pegu mainly depends on his elephants; as, when he goes to battle, each elephant has a castle set on his back, bound securely with bands under his belly, and in every castle four men are placed, who fight securely with arquebusses, bows and arrows, darts, and pikes, or other missile weapons; and it is alleged that the skin of the elephant is so hard and thick as not to be pierced by the ball of an arquebuss, except under the eyes, on the temples, or in some other tender part of the body. Besides this, the elephants are of great strength, and have a very excellent order in time of battle, as I have seen in their festivals, which they make every year, which is a rare sight worth mention, that among so barbarous a people there should be such goodly discipline as they have in their armies; which are drawn up in distinct and orderly squares, of elephants, horsemen, pikemen, and arquebuseers, the number of which is infinite and beyond reckoning; but their armour and weapons are worthless and weak. Their pikes are very bad, and their swords worse, being like long knives without points; yet their arquebusses are very good, the king having 80,000 men armed with that weapon, and the number is continually increasing. They are ordained to practise daily in shooting at a mark, so that by continual exercise they are wonderfully expert. The king of Pegu has also great cannon made of very good metal; and, in fine, there is not a king in the world who has more power or strength than he, having twenty-six crowned kings under his command, and he is able to take the field against his enemies with a million and a half of soldiers. The state and splendour of this kingdom, and the provisions necessary for so vast a multitude of soldiers, is a thing incredible, except by those who know the nature and quality of the people and government. I have seen with my own eyes these people, both the commons and soldiers, feed upon all kinds of beasts or animals, however filthy or unclean, everything that hath life serving them for food: Yea, I have even seen them eat scorpions and serpents, and all kinds of herbs, even grass. Hence, if their vast armies can only get enough of water, they can maintain themselves long even in the forests, on roots, flowers, and leaves of trees; but they always carry rice with them in their marches, which is their main support.
   The king of Pegu has no naval force; but for extent of dominion, number of people, and treasure of gold and silver, he far exceeds the Grand Turk in power and riches. He has various magazines full of treasure in gold and silver, which is daily increased, and is never diminished. He is also lord of the mines of rubies, sapphires, and spinels. Near the royal palace there is an inestimable treasure, of which he seems to make no account, as it stands open to universal inspection. It is contained in a large court surrounded by a stone wall, in which are two gates that stand continually open. Within this court there are four gilded houses covered with lead, in each of which houses are certain heathen idols of very great value. The first house contains an image of a man of vast size all of gold, having a crown of gold on his head enriched with most rare rubies and sapphires, and round about him are the images of four little children, all likewise of gold. In the second house is the statue of a man in massy silver, which seems to sit on heaps of money. This enormous idol, though sitting, is as lofty as the roof of a house. I measured his feet, which I found exceeded that of my own stature; and the head of this statue bears a crown similar to that of the former golden image. The third house has a brazen image of equal size, having a similar crown on its head. In the fourth house is another statue as large as the others, made of gansa, or mixed metal of copper and lead, of which the current money of the country is composed, and this idol has a crown on its head as rich and splendid as the others. All this valuable treasure is freely seen by all who please to go in and look at it, as the gates are always open, and the keepers do not refuse admission to any one.
   Every year the king of Pegu makes a public triumph after the following manner. He rides out on a triumphal car or great waggon, richly gilded all over, and of great height, covered by a splendid canopy, and drawn by sixteen horses, richly caparisoned. Behind the car walk twenty of his nobles or chief officers, each of whom holds the end of a rope, the other end being fastened to the car to keep it upright and prevent it from falling over. The king sits on high in the middle of the car, and on the same are four of his most favoured nobles surrounding him. Before the car the whole army marches in order, and the whole nobles of the kingdom are round about the car; so that it is wonderful to behold so many people and so much riches all in such good order, especially considering how barbarous are the people. The king of Pegu has one principal wife, who lives in a seraglio along with 300 concubines, and he is said to have 90 children. He sits every day in person to hear the suits of his people, yet he nor they never speak together. The king sits up aloft on a high seat or tribunal in a great hall, and lower down sit all his barons round about. Those that demand audience enter into the great court or hall in presence of the king, and sit down on the ground at forty paces from the king, holding their supplications in their hands, written on the leaves of a tree three quarters of a yard long and two fingers broad, on which the letters are written or inscribed by means of a sharp stile or pointed iron. On these occasions there is no respect of persons, all of every degree or quality being equally admitted to audience. All suitors hold up their supplication in writing, and in their hands a present or gift, according to the importance of their affairs. Then come the secretaries, who take the supplications from the petitioners and read them to the king; and if he thinks good to grant the favour or justice which they desire, he commands to have the gifts taken from their hands; but if he considers their request not just or reasonable, he commands them to depart without receiving their presents.
   There is no commodity in the Indies worth bringing to Pegu, except sometimes the opium of Cambay, and if any one bring money he is sure to lose by it. The only merchandise for this market is the fine painted calicos of San Thome, of that kind which, on being washed, becomes more lively in its colours. This is so much in request, that a small bale of it will sell for 1000 or even 2000 ducats. Also from San Thome they send great store of cotton yarn, dyed red by means of a root called saia, which colour never washes out. Every year there goes a great ship from San Thome to Pegu laden with a valuable cargo of these commodities. If this ship depart from San Thome by the 6th of September, the voyage is sure to be prosperous; but if they delay sailing till the 12th, it is a great chance if they are not forced to return; for in these parts the winds blow firmly for certain times, so as to sail for Pegu with the wind astern; and if they arrive not and get to anchor before the wind change, they must perforce return back again, as the wind blows three or four months with great force always one way. If they once get to anchor on the coast, they may save their voyage with great labour. There also goes a large ship from Bengal every year, laden with all kinds of fine cotton cloth, and which usually arrives in the river of Pegu when the ship of San Thome is about to depart. The harbour which these two ships go to is called Cosmin. From Malacca there go every year to Martaban, which is a port of Pegu, many ships, both large and small, with pepper, sandal-wood, porcelain of China, camphor, bruneo165, and other commodities. The ships that come from the Red Sea frequent the ports of Pegu and Ciriam, bringing woollen cloths, scarlets, velvets, opium, and chequins, by which last they incur loss, yet they necessarily bring them wherewith to make their purchases, and they afterwards make great profit of the commodities which they take back with them, from Pegu. Likewise the ships of the king of Acheen bring pepper to the same ports.
   From San Thome or Bengal, out of the sea of Bara ? to Pegu, the voyage is 300 miles, and they go up the river, with the tide of flood in four days to the city of Cosmin, where they discharge their cargoes, and thither the customers of Pegu come and take notes of all the goods of every one, and of their several marks; after which they transport the goods to Pegu to the royal warehouses, where the customs of all the goods are taken. When the customers have taken charge of the goods, and laden them in barks for conveyance to Pegu, the governor of the city gives licences to the merchants to accompany their goods, when three or four of them club together to hire a bark for their passage to Pegu. Should any one attempt to give in a wrong note or entry of his goods, for the purpose of stealing any custom, he is utterly undone, as the king considers it a most unpardonable offence to attempt depriving him of any part of his customs, and for this reason the goods are all most scrupulously searched, and examined three several times. This search is particularly rigid in regard to diamonds, pearls, and other articles of small bulk and great value, as all things, in Pegu that are not of its own productions pay custom both in or out. But rubies, sapphires, and spinels, being productions of the country, pay no duties. As formerly mentioned respecting other parts of India, all merchants going to Pegu or other places, must carry with them all sorts of household furniture of which they may be in need, as there are no inns or lodging-houses in which they can he accommodated, but every man must hire a house when he comes to a city, for a month or a year, according to the time he means to remain. In Pegu it is customary to hire a house for six months.
   From Cosmin to Pegu they go up the river with the flood in six hours166; but if the tide of ebb begin it is necessary to fasten the bark to the river side, and to remain there till the next flood. This is a commodious and pleasant passage, as there are many large villages on both sides of the river which might even be called cities, and in which poultry, eggs, pigeons, milk, rice, and other things may be had on very reasonable terms. The country is all level and fertile, and in eight days we get up to Macceo which is twelve miles from. Pegu, and the goods are there landed from the barks, being carried thence to Pegu in carts or wains drawn by oxen. The merchants are conveyed from Macceo to Pegu in close palanquins, called delings or doolies, in each of which one man is well accommodated, having cushions to rest upon, and a secure covering from the sun or rain, so that he may sleep if he will. His four falchines or bearers carry him along at a great rate, running all the way, changing at intervals, two and two at a time. The freight and customs at Pegu may amount to 20, 22, or 23 per centum, according as there may be more or less stolen of the goods on paying the customs. It is necessary therefore for one to be very watchful and to have many friends; for when the goods are examined for the customs in the great hall of the king, many of the Pegu gentlemen go in accompanied by their slaves, and these gentlemen are not ashamed when their slaves rob strangers, whether of cloth or any other thing, and only laugh at it when detected; and though the merchants assist each other to watch the safety of their goods, they cannot look so narrowly but some will steal more or less according to the nature or quality of the goods. Even if fortunate enough to escape being robbed by the slaves, it is impossible to prevent pilfering by the officers of the customs; for as they take the customs in kind, they oftentimes take the best, and do not rate each sort as they ought separately, so that the merchant is often, made to pay much more than he ought. After undergoing this search and deduction of the customs, the merchant causes his goods to be carried home to his house, where he may do with them what he pleases.
   In Pegu there are eight brokers licenced by the king, named tareghe, who are bound to sell all the merchandise which comes there at the current prices; and if the merchants are willing to sell their goods at these rates they sell them out of hand, the brokers having two per centum for their trouble, and for which they are bound to make good all debts incurred for the goods sold by them, and often the merchant does not know to whom his goods are sold. The merchants may indeed sell their own goods if they will; but in that case the broker is equally intitled to his two per centum, and the merchant must run his own risk of recovering his money. This however seldom happens, as the wife, children, and slaves of the debtor are all liable in payment. When the agreed time of payment arrives, if the debt is not cleared, the creditor may seize the person of the debtor and carry him home to his house, and if not immediately satisfied, he may take the wife, children, and slaves of the debtor and sell them. The current money through all Pegu is made of ganza, which is a composition of copper and lead, and which every one may stamp at his pleasure, as they pass by weight; yet are they sometimes falsified by putting in too much lead, on which occasions no one will receive them in payment. As there is no other money current, you may purchase gold, silver, rubies, musk, and all other things with this money. Gold and silver, like other commodities, vary in their price, being sometimes cheaper and sometimes dearer. This ganza money is reckoned by byzas, each byza being 100 ganzas, and is worth about half a ducat of our money, more or less according as gold is cheap or dear.
   When any one goes to Pegu to buy jewels, he will do well to remain there a whole year; for if he would return by the same ship, he can do very little to purpose in so short a time. Those who come from San Thome usually have their goods customed about Christmas, after which they must sell their goods, giving credit for a month or two, and the ships depart about the beginning of March. The merchants of San Thome generally take payment for their goods in gold and silver, which are always plentiful in Pegu. Eight or ten days before their departure they are satisfied for their goods. They may indeed have rubies in payment, but they make no account of them. Such as propose to winter in the country ought to stipulate in selling their goods for payment in two or three months, and that they are to be paid in so many ganzas, not in gold or silver, as every thing is most advantageously bought and sold by means of this ganza money. It is needful to specify very precisely both the time of payment, and in what weight of ganzas they are to be paid, as an inexperienced person may be much imposed upon both in the weight and fineness of the ganza money; for the weight rises and falls greatly from place to place, and he may be likewise deceived by false ganzas or too much alloyed with lead. For this reason, when any one is to receive payment he ought to have along with him a public weigher of money, engaged a day or two before he commences that business, whom he pays two byzas a-month, for which he is bound to make good all your money and to maintain it good, as he receives it and seals the bags with his own seal, and when he has collected any considerable sum he causes it to be delivered to the merchant to whom it belongs. This money is very weighty, as forty byzas make a porters burden. As in receiving, so in paying money, a public weigher of money must be employed.
   The merchandises exported from Pegu are gold, silver, rubies, sapphires, spinels, great quantities of benzoin, long-pepper, lead, lac, rice, wine, and some sugar. There might be large quantities of sugar made in Pegu, as they have great abundance of sugar-canes, but they are given as food to the elephants, and the people consume large quantities of them in their diet. They likewise spend many of these sugar-canes167 in constructing houses and tents for their idols, which they call varely and we name pagodas. There are many of these idol houses, both large and small, which are ordinarily constructed in a pyramidical form, like little hills, sugar-loaves or bells, some of them being as high as an ordinary steeple. They are very large at the bottom, some being a quarter of a mile in compass. The inside of these temples are all built of bricks laid in clay mortar instead of lime, and filled up with earth, without any form or comeliness from top to bottom; afterwards they are covered with a frame of canes plastered all over with lime to preserve them from the great rains which fall in this country. Also about these varely or idol-houses they consume a prodigious quantity of leaf gold, as all their roofs are gilded over, and sometimes the entire structure is covered from top to bottom; and as they require to be newly gilded every ten years, a prodigious quantity of gold is wasted on this vanity, which occasions gold to be vastly dearer in Pegu than it would be otherwise.
   It may be proper to mention, that in buying jewels or precious stones in Pegu, he who has no knowledge or experience is sure to get as good and as cheap articles as the most experienced in the trade. There are four men at Pegu called tareghe or jewel-brokers, who have all the jewels or rubies in their hands; and when any person wants to make a purchase he goes to one of these brokers, and tells him that he wants to lay out so much money on rubies; for these brokers have such prodigious quantities always on hand, that they know not what to do with them, and therefore sell them at a very low price. Then the broker carries the merchant along with him to one of their shops, where he may have what jewels he wants according to the sum of money he is disposed to lay out. According to the custom of the city, when the merchant has bargained for a quantity of jewels, whatever may be the amount of their value, he is allowed to carry them home to his house, where he may consider them for two or three days; and if he have not himself sufficient knowledge or experience in such things, he may always find other merchants who are experienced, with whom he may confer and take counsel, as he is at liberty to shew them to any person be pleases; and if he find that he has not laid out his money to advantage, he may return them back to the person from whom he had them without loss or deduction. It is reckoned so great a shame to the tareghe or jewel-broker to have his jewels returned, that he would rather have a blow on the face than have it believed that he had sold his jewels too dear and have them returned on his hands; for which reason they are sure to give good bargains, especially to those who have no experience, that they may not lose their credit. When such merchants as are experienced in jewels purchase too dear it is their own fault, and is not laid to the charge of the brokers; yet it is good to have knowledge in jewels, as it may sometimes enable one to procure them at a lower price. On the occasions of making these bargains, as there are generally many other merchants present at the bargain, the broker and the purchaser have their hands under a cloth, and by certain signals, made by touching the fingers and nipping the different joints, they know what is bidden, what is asked, and what is settled, without the lookers-on knowing any thing of the matter, although the bargain may be for a thousand or ten thousand ducats. This is an admirable institution, as, if the lookers-on should understand what is going on, it might occasion contention.

SECTION XIX. Voyages of the Author to different parts of India
   When I was at Pegu in August 1569, having got a considerable profit by my endeavours, I was desirous to return to my own country by way of St Thome, but in that case I should have been obliged to wait till next March; I was therefore advised to go by way of Bengal, for which country there was a ship ready to sail to the great harbour of Chittagong, whence there go small ships to Cochin in sufficient time to arrive there before the departure of the Portuguese ships for Lisbon, in which I was determined to return to Europe. I went accordingly on board the Bengal ship; but this happened to be the year of the Tyffon, which will require some explanation. It is therefore to be understood that in India they have, once every ten or twelve years, such prodigious storms and tempests as are almost incredible, except to such as have seen them, neither do they know with any certainty on what years they may be expected, but unfortunate are they who happen to be at sea when this tempest or tyffon takes place, as few escape the dreadful danger. In this year it was our evil fortune to be at sea in one of these terrible storms; and well it was for us that our ship was newly over-planked, and had no loading save victuals and ballast, with some gold and silver for Bengal, as no other merchandise is carried to Bengal from Pegu. The tyffon accordingly assailed us and lasted three days, carrying away our sails, yards, and rudder; and as the ship laboured excessively, we cut away our mast, yet she continued to labour more heavily than before, so that the sea broke over her every moment, and almost filled her with water. For the space of three days and three nights, sixty men who were on board did nothing else than bale out the water continually, twenty at one place, twenty in another, and twenty at a third place; yet during all this storm so good was the hull of our ship that she took not in a single drop of water at her sides or bottom, all coming in at the hatches. Thus driving about at the mercy of the winds and waves, we were during the darkness of the third night at about four o'clock after sunset cast upon a shoal. When day appeared next morning we could see no land on any side of us, so that we knew not where we were. It pleased the divine goodness that a great wave of the sea came and floated us off from the shoal into deep water, upon which we all felt as men reprieved from immediate death, as the sea was calm and the water smooth. Casting the lead we found twelve fathoms water, and bye and bye we had only six fathoms, when we let go a small anchor which still hung at the stern, all the others having been lost during the storm. Our anchor parted next night, and our ship again grounded, when we shored her up the best we could, to prevent her from over-setting at the side of ebb.
   When it was day, we found our ship high and dry on a sand-bank, a full mile from the sea. When the tyffon entirely ceased, we discovered an island not far from us, to which we walked on the sand, that we might learn where we were. We found it inhabited, and in my opinion the most fertile island I had ever seen. It is divided into two parts by a channel or water-course, which is full at high tides. With much ado we brought our ship into that channel; and when the people of the island saw our ship, and that we were coming to land, they immediately erected a bazar or market-place with shops right over-against the ship, to which they brought every kind of provisions for our supply, and sold them at wonderfully reasonable rates. I bought many salted kine as provision for the ship at half a larine each, being all excellent meat and very fat, and four wild hogs ready dressed for a larine. The larine is worth about twelve shillings and sixpence. Good fat hens were bought for a byza each, which does not exceed a penny; and yet some of our people said that we were imposed upon, as we ought to have got every thing for half the money. We got excellent rice at an excessively low price, and indeed every article of food was at this place in the most wonderful abundance. The name of this island is Sondiva or Sundeep, and belongs to the kingdom of Bengal, being 120 miles from Chittagong, to which place we were bound. The people are Moors or Mahometans, and the king or chief was a very good kind of man for a Mahometan; for if he had been a tyrant like others, he might have robbed us of all we had, as the Portuguese captain at Chittagong was in arms against the native chief of that place, and every day there were some persons slain. On receiving this intelligence, we were in no small fear for our safety, keeping good watch and ward every night, according to the custom of the sea; but the governor of the town gave us assurance that we had nothing to fear, for although the Portuguese had slain the governor or chief at Chittagong, we were not to blame, and indeed he every day did us every service and civility in his power, which we had no reason to expect, considering that the people of Sundeep and those of Chittagong were subjects of the same sovereign.
   Departing from Sundeep we came to Chittagong, by which time a peace or truce had been agreed upon between the Portuguese and the chiefs of the city, under condition that the Portuguese captain should depart with his ship without any lading. At this time there were 18 Portuguese ships of different sizes at that port, and the captain being a gentleman and a brave man, was contented to depart in this manner, to his material injury, rather than hinder so many of his friends and countrymen who were there, and likewise because, the season for going to Western India was now past. During the night before his departure, every ship that was in the port, and had any part of their lading on board, transshipped it to this captain to help to lessen his loss and bear his charges, in reward for his courteous behaviour on this occasion. At this time there came a messenger from the king of Rachim or Aracan to this Portuguese captain, saying that his master had heard tidings of his great valour and prowess, and requesting him to bring his ship to the port of Aracan where he would be well received. The captain went thither accordingly, and was exceedingly well satisfied with his reception.
   The kingdom of Aracan is in the mid-way between Bengal and Pegu, and the king of Pegu is continually devising means of reducing the king of Aracan under subjection, which hitherto he has not been able to effect, as he has no maritime force, whereas the king of Aracan can arm two hundred galleys or foists; besides which he has the command of certain sluices or flood-gates in his country, by which he can drown a great part of his country when he thinks proper, when at any time the king of Pegu endeavours to invade his dominions, by which be cuts off the way by which alone the king of Pegu can have access.
   From the great port of Chittagong they export for India great quantities of rice, large assortments of cotton cloth of all sorts, with sugar, corn, money, and other articles of merchandise. In consequence of the war in Chittagong, the Portuguese ships were so long detained there, that they were unable to arrive at Cochin at the usual time; for which reason the fleet from Cochin was departed for Portugal before their arrival. Being in one of the smaller ships, which was somewhat in advance of our fleet from Chittagong, I came in sight of Cochin just as the very last of the homeward-bound fleet was under sail. This gave me much dissatisfaction, as there would be no opportunity of going to Portugal for a whole year; wherefore, on my arrival at Cochin, I was fully determined to go for Venice by way of Ormuz. At that time Goa was besieged by the troops of Dialcan [Adel-khan], but the citizens made light of this attack, as they believed it would not continue long. In the prosecution of my design, I embarked at Cochin in a galley bound for Goa; but on my arrival there the viceroy would not permit any Portuguese ship to sail for Ormuz on account of the war then subsisting, so that I was constrained to remain there.
   Soon after my arrival at Goa I fell into a severe sickness, which held me four months; and as my physic and diet in that time cost me 800 ducats, I was under the necessity to sell some part of my rubies, for which I only got 500 ducats, though well worth 1000. When I began to recover my health and strength, very little of my money remained, every thing was so scarce and dear. Every chicken, and these not good, cost me seven or eight livres, or from six shillings to six and eightpence, and all other things in proportion; besides which the apothecaries, with their medicines, were a heavy charge upon me. At the end of six months the siege of Goa was raised, and as jewels rose materially in their price, I began to work168; and as before I had only sold a small quantity of inferior rubies to serve my necessities, I now determined to sell all the jewels I had, and to make another voyage to Pegu; and as opium was in great request at Pegu when I was there before, I went from Goa to Cambay, where I laid out 2100 ducats in the purchase of 60 parcels of opium, the ducat being worth 4s. 2d. I likewise bought three bales of cotton cloth, which cost me 800 ducats, that commodity selling well in Pegu. When I had bought these things, I understood the viceroy had issued orders that the custom on opium should be paid at Goa, after which it might be carried anywhere else. I shipped therefore my three bales of cotton cloth at Chaul, in a vessel bound for Cochin, and went myself to Goa to pay the duty for my opium.
   From Goa I went to Cochin, in a ship that was bound for Pegu, and intended to winter at San Thome; but on my arrival at Cochin I learnt that the ship with my three bales of cotton cloth was cast away, so that I lost my 800 seraphins or ducats. On our voyage from Cochin to San Thome, while endeavouring to weather the south point of Ceylon, which lies far out to sea, the pilot was out in his reckoning, and laying-to in the night, thinking that he had passed hard by the Cape of Ceylon; when morning came we were far within the Cape, and fallen to leeward, by which it became now impossible to weather the island, as the wind was strong and contrary. Thus we lost our voyage for the season, and we were constrained to go to Manaar to winter there, the ship having lost all her masts, and being saved from entire wreck with great difficulty. Besides the delay and disappointment to the passengers, this was a heavy loss to the captain of the ship, as he was under the necessity of hiring another vessel at San Thome at a heavy charge, to carry us and our goods to Pegu. My companions and I, with all the rest of the merchants, hired a bark at Manaar to carry us to San Thome, where I received intelligence by way of Bengal, that opium was very scarce and dear in Pegu; and as there was no other opium but mine then at San Thome, for the Pegu market, all the merchants considered me as a very fortunate man, as I would make great profit, which indeed I certainly should have done, if my adverse fortune had not thwarted my well-grounded expectations, in the following manner: A large ship from Cambaya, bound for Assi [Acheen?] with a large quantity of opium, and to lade pepper in return, being forced to lay-to in crossing the mouth of the bay of Bengal, was obliged to go roomer169 for 800 miles, by which means it went to Pegu, and arrived there one day before me. Owing to this circumstance, opium, which had been very dear in Pegu, fell to a very low price, the quantity which had sold before for 50 bizze having fallen to 2-1/2, so large was the quantity brought by this ship. Owing to this unfortunate circumstance, I was forced to remain two years in Pegu, otherwise I must have given away my opium for much less than it cost me, and even at the end of that time I only made 1000 ducats by what had cost me 2100 in Cambaya.
   After this I went from Pegu to the Indies170 and Ormuz, with a quantity of lac. From Ormuz I returned to Chaul, and thence to Cochin, from which place I went again to Pegu. Once more I lost the opportunity of becoming rich, as on this voyage I only took a small quantity of opium, while I might have sold a large quantity to great advantage, being afraid of meeting a similar disappointment with that which happened to me before. Being now again resolved to return into my native country, I went from Pegu to Cochin, where I wintered, and then sailed for Ormuz.
 

SECTION XX. Some Account of the Commodities of India
   Before concluding this relation of my peregrinations, it seems proper that I should give some account of the productions of India.
   In all parts of India, both of the western and eastern regions, there is pepper and ginger, and in some parts the greatest quantity of pepper is found wild in the woods, where it grows without any care or cultivation, except the trouble of gathering it when ripe. The tree on which the pepper grows is not unlike our ivy, and runs in the same manner up to the top of such trees as grow in its neighbourhood, for if it were not to get hold of some tree it would lie flat on the ground and perish. Its flower and berry in all things resemble the ivy, and its berries or grains are the pepper, which are green when gathered, but by drying in the sun they become black. Ginger requires cultivation, and its seeds are sown on land previously tilled. The herb resembles that called panizzo, and the root is the spice we call ginger. Cloves all come from the Moluccas, where they grow in two small islands, Ternate and Tidore, on a tree resembling the laurel. Nutmegs and mace come from the island of Banda, where they grow together on one tree, which resembles our walnut tree, but not so large. Long pepper grows in Bengal, Pegu, and Java.
   All the good sandal-wood comes from the island of Timor. Camphor, being compounded, or having to undergo a preparation, comes all from China. That which grows in canes171 comes from Borneo, and I think none of that kind is brought to Europe, as they consume large quantities of it in India, and it is there very dear. Good aloes wood comes from Cochin-China; and benjamin from the kingdoms of Assi, Acheen? and Siam. Musk is brought from Tartary, where it is made, as I have been told, in the following manner. There is in Tartary a beast as large and fierce as a wolf, which they catch alive, and beat to death with small staves, that his blood may spread through his whole body. This they then cut in pieces, taking out all the bones, and having pounded the flesh and blood very fine in a mortar, they dry it and put it into purses made of the skin, and these purses with their contents are the cods of musk172.
   I know not whereof amber is made173, and there are divers opinions respecting it; but this much is certain, that it is cast out from the sea, and is found on the shores and banks left dry by the recess of the tides. Rubies, sapphires, and spinells are got in Pegu. Diamonds come from different places, and I know but three kinds of them. The kind which is called Chiappe comes from Bezeneger, Bijanagur? Those that are naturally pointed come from the land of Delly and the island of Java, but those of Java are heavier than the others. I could never learn whence the precious stones called Balassi are procured. Pearls are fished for in different places, as has been already mentioned. The substance called Spodium, which is found concreted in certain canes, is procured in Cambaza, Cambaya? Of this concrete I found many pieces in Pegu, when building myself a house there, as in that country they construct their houses of canes woven together like mats or basket-work, as formerly related.
   The Portuguese trade all the way from Chaul along the coast of India, and to Melinda in Ethiopia, in the land of Cafraria, on which coast are many good ports belonging to the Moors. To these the Portuguese carry a very low-priced cotton cloth, and many paternosters, or beads made of paultry glass, which are manufactured at Chaul; and from thence they carry back to India many elephants teeth, slaves, called Kafrs or Caffers, with some amber and gold. On this coast the king of Portugal has a castle at Mozambique, which is of as great importance as any of his fortresses, in the Indies. The captain or governor of this castle has certain privileged voyages assigned to him, where only his agents may trade. In their dealings with the Kafrs along this coast, to which they go in small vessels, their purchases and sales are singularly conducted without any conversation or words on either side. While sailing along the coast, the Portuguese stop in many places, and going on shore they lay down a small quantity of their goods, which they leave, going back to the ship. Then the Kafr merchant comes to look at the goods, and having estimated them in his own way, he puts down as much gold as he thinks the goods are worth, leaving both the gold and the goods, and then withdraws. If on the return of the Portuguese trader he thinks the quantity of gold sufficient, he taketh it away and goes back to his ship, after which the Kafr takes away the goods, and the transaction is finished. But if he find the gold still left, it indicates that the Portuguese merchant is not contented with the quantity, and if he thinks proper he adds a little more. The Portuguese must not, however, be too strict with them, as they are apt to be affronted and to give over traffic, being a peevish people. By means of this trade, the Portuguese exchange their commodities for gold, which they carry to the castle of Mozambique, standing in an island near the Continental coast of Cafraria, on the coast of Ethiopia, 2800 miles distant from India.

SECTION XXI. Return of the Author to Europe
   To return to my voyage. On my arrival at Ormuz, I found there M. Francis Berettin of Venice, and we freighted a bark in conjunction to carry us to Bussora, for which we paid 70 ducats; but as other merchants went along with us, they eased our freight. We arrived safely at Bussora, where we tarried 40 days, to provide a caravan of boats to go up the river to Babylon [Bagdat], as it is very unsafe to go this voyage with only two or three barks together, because they cannot proceed during the night, and have to make fast to the sides of the river, when it is necessary to be vigilant and well provided with weapons, both for personal safety and the protection of the goods, as there are numerous thieves who lie in wait to rob the merchants: Wherefore it is customary and proper always to go in fleets of not less than 25 or 30 boats, for mutual protection. In going up the river the voyage is generally 38 or 40 days, according as the wind happens to be favourable or otherwise, but we took 50 days. We remained four months at Babylon, until the caravan was ready to pass the desert to Aleppo. In this city six European merchants of us consorted together to pass the desert, five of whom were Venetians and one a Portuguese. The Venetians were Messer Florinasca, and one of his kinsmen, Messer Andrea de Polo, Messer Francis Berettin, and I. So we bought horses and mules for our own use, which are very cheap there, insomuch that I bought a horse for myself for eleven akens, and sold him afterwards in Aleppo for 30 ducats. We bought likewise a tent, which was of very great convenience and comfort to us, and we furnished ourselves with sufficient provisions, and beans for the horses, to serve 40 days. We had also among us 33 camels laden with merchandise, paying two ducats for every camels load, and, according to the custom of the country, they furnish 11 camels for every 10 bargained and paid for. We likewise had with us three men to serve us during the journey, which are used to go for five Dd.174 a man, and are bound to serve for that sum all the way to Aleppo.
   By these precautions we made the journey over the desert without any trouble, as, whenever the camels stopt for rest, our tent was always the first erected. The caravan makes but small journeys of about 20 miles a-day, setting out every morning two hours before day, and stopping about two hours after noon. We had good fortune on our journey as it rained, so that we were never in want of water; yet we always carried one camel load of water for our party for whatever might happen in the desert, so that we were in no want of any thing whatever that this country affords. Among other things we had fresh mutton every day, as we had many shepherds along with us taking care of the sheep we had bought at Babylon, each merchant having his own marked with a distinguishing mark. We gave each shepherd a medin, which is twopence of our money, for keeping and feeding our sheep by the way, and for killing them; besides which the shepherds got the heads, skins, and entrails of all the sheep for themselves. We six bought 20 sheep, and 7 of them remained alive when we came to Aleppo. While on our journey through the desert, we used to lend flesh to each other, so as never to carry any from station to station, being repaid next day by those to whom we lent the day before.
   From Babylon to Aleppo is 40 days journey, of which 36 days are through the desert or wilderness, in which neither trees, houses, nor inhabitants are anywhere to be seen, being all an uniform extended plain or dreary waste, with no object whatever to relieve the eye. On the journey, the pilots or guides go always in front, followed by the caravan in regular order. When the guides stop, all the caravan does the same, and unloads the camels, as the guides know where wells are to be found. I have said that the caravan takes 36 days to travel across the wilderness; besides these, for the two first days after leaving Babylon we go past inhabited villages, till such time as we cross the Euphrates; and then we have two days journey through among inhabited villages before reaching Aleppo. Along with each caravan there is a captain, who dispenses justice to all men, and every night there is a guard appointed to keep watch for the security of the whole. From Aleppo we went to Tripoli, in Syria, where M. Florinasca, M. Andrea Polo, and I, with a friar in company, hired a bark to carry us towards Jerusalem. We accordingly sailed from Tripoli to Jaffa, from which place we travelled in a day and a half to Jerusalem, leaving orders that the bark should wait for our return. We remained 14 days at Jerusalem visiting the holy places, whence we returned to Jaffa, and thence back to Tripoli, and there we embarked in a ship belonging to Venice, called the Bajazzana; and, by the aid of the divine goodness, we safely arrived in Venice on the 5th of November 1581.
   Should any one incline to travel into those parts of India to which I went, let him not be astonished or deterred by the troubles, entanglements, and long delays which I underwent, owing to my poverty. On leaving Venice, I had 1200 ducats invested in merchandise; but while at Tripoli in my way out I fell sick in the house of M. Regaly Oratio, who sent away my goods with a small caravan to Aleppo. This caravan was robbed, and all my goods lost, except four chests of glasses, which cost me 200 ducats. Even of my glasses many were broken, as the thieves had broken up the boxes in hopes of getting goods more suitable for their purpose. Even with this small remaining stock I adventured to proceed for the Indies, where, by exchange and re-exchange, with much patient diligence, and with the blessing of God, I at length acquired a respectable stock.
   It may be proper to mention, for the sake of others who may follow my example, by what means they may secure their goods and effects to their heirs, in case of their death. In all the cities belonging to the Portuguese in India, there is a house or establishment called the school of the Santa Misericordia comissaria, the governors of which, on payment of a certain fee, take a copy of your testament, which you ought always to carry along with you when travelling in the Indies. There always goes into the different countries of the Gentiles and Mahometans a captain or consul, to administer justice to the Portuguese, and other Christians connected with them, and this captain has authority to recover the goods of all merchants who chance to die on these voyages. Should any of these not have their wills along with them, or not have them registered in one of the before-mentioned schools, these captains are sure to consume their goods in such a way that little or nothing will remain for their heirs. There are always also on such voyages some merchants who are commissaries of the Sancta Misericardia, who take charge of the goods of those who have registered their wills in that office, and having sold them the money is remitted to the head office of the Misericordia at Lisbon, whence intelligence is sent to any part of Christendom whence the deceased may have come, so that on the heirs of such persons going to Lisbon with satisfactory testimonials, they will receive the full value of what was left by their relation. It is to be noted, however, that when any merchant happens to die in the kingdom of Pegu, one-third of all that belongs to him goes, by ancient law and custom, to the king and his officers, but the other two-thirds are honourably restored to those having authority to receive them. On this account, I have known many rich men who dwelt in Pegu, who have desired to go thence into their own country in their old age to die there, that they might save the third of their property to their heirs, and these have always been allowed freely to depart without trouble or molestation.
   In Pegu the fashion in dress is uniformly the same for the high and low, the rich and the poor, the only difference being in the quality or fineness, of the materials, which is cloth of cotton, of various qualities. In the first place, they have an inner garment of white cotton cloth which serves for a shirt, over which they gird another garment of painted cotton cloth of fourteen brasses or yards, which is bound or tucked up between the legs. On their heads they wear a tuck or turban of three yards long, bound round the head somewhat like a mitre; but some, instead of this, have a kind of cap like a bee-hive, which does not fall below the bottom of the ear. They are all barefooted; but the nobles never walk a-foot, being carried by men on a seat of some elegance, having a hat made of leaves to keep-off the rain and sun; or else they ride on horseback, having their bare feet in the stirrups. All women, of whatever degree, wear a shift or smock down to the girdle, and from thence down to their feet a cloth of three yards long, forming a kind of petticoat which is open before, and so strait that at every step they shew their legs and more, so that in walking they have to hide themselves as it were very imperfectly with their hand. It is reported that this was contrived by one of the queens of this country, as a means of winning the men from certain unnatural practices to which they were unhappily addicted. The women go all barefooted like the men, and have their arms loaded with hoops of gold adorned with jewels, and their fingers all filled with precious rings. They wear their long hair rolled up and fastened on the crown of their heads, and a cloth thrown over their shoulders, by way of a cloak.
   By way of concluding this long account of my peregrinations, I have this to say, that those parts of the Indies in which I have been are very good for a man who has little, and wishes by diligent industry to make rich: providing always that he conducts himself so as to preserve the reputation of honesty. Such, persons will never fail to receive assistance to advance their fortunes. But, for those who are vicious, dishonest, or indolent, they had better stay at home; for they shall always remain poor, and die beggars.
   End of the Peregrinations of Cesar Frederick.

CHAPTER VII.
EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES TO GUINEA, AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA



INTRODUCTION
   On the present occasion we are principally guided in our selection by chronological order, owing to which this Chapter may have an anomalous appearance, as containing the early voyages of the English to the Western or Atlantic coast of Africa, while the title of the Book to which it belongs was confined to the Discoveries and Conquests of the Portuguese, and other European Nations, in India; yet the arrangement has been formed on what we have considered as sufficient grounds, more especially as resembling the steps by which the Portuguese were led to their grand discovery of the route by sea to India. Our collection forms a periodical work, in the conduct of which it would be obviously improper to tie ourselves too rigidly, in these introductory discourses, to any absolute rules of minute arrangement, which might prevent us from availing ourselves of such valuable sources of information as may occur in the course of our researches. We have derived the principal materials of this and the next succeeding chapter, from Hakluyt's Collection of the Early Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries of the English Nation, using the late edition published at London in 1810, and availing ourselves of the previous labours of the Editor of Astleys Collection, published in 1745. Mr John Green, the intelligent editor of that former collection, has combined the substance of the present and succeeding chapters of our work in the second book of his first volume, under the title of The First Voyages of the English to Guinea and the East Indies; and as our present views are almost solely confined to the period which he embraces, we have thought it right to insert his introduction to that book, as containing a clear historical view of the subject175. It is proper to mention, however, that, while we follow his steps, we have uniformly had recourse to the originals from which he drew his materials; and, for reasons formerly assigned, wherever any difference may occur between our collection and that of Astley, we shall subjoin our remarks and references, at the place or places to which they belong. –E.
   "Although the Portuguese were the first who set on foot discoveries by sea, and carried them on for many years before any other European nation attempted to follow their example; yet, as soon as these voyages appeared to be attended with commercial gain, the English were ready to put in for a share. The Portuguese discovered Guinea about the year 1471; and only ten years afterwards we find the English making preparations to visit the newly discovered coast176. In the year 1481, John Tintam and William Fabian were busy in fitting out a fleet for the coast of Guinea; but whether on their own account in whole or in part, or solely for the Duke of Medina Sidonia in Spain, by whose command they are said to have done this, cannot be now determined. It is possible, as the Spaniards were excluded by the Papal grant in favour of the Portuguese from trading to the East Indies, that they might endeavour to elude this authority by employing Englishmen in that navigation. However this may have been, Joam or John II. king of Portugal, sent two persons on an embassy to Edward king of England, to renew the ancient league of friendship between the crowns, and to move him to hinder that fleet from putting to sea. The Portuguese ambassadors had orders to acquaint the king of England with the title which the king of Portugal derived from the Pope, to the exclusive sovereignty and navigation of Guinea, and to demand that Edward should prohibit his subjects from sending any ships to that country. This was accordingly done, and the purposes of that intended voyage were frustrated. This is an authentic testimony of the early attempts of the English, which is related at length by Garcia de Resende, in the life of Joam II. Ch. 33177. To this, or some similar circumstance, it may have been owing that the English desisted so long from sailing to the southwards, and turned their endeavours to the discovery of a passage to India by some other way.
   "It appears by a memorandum or letter of Nicholas Thorn, senior, a considerable merchant in Bristol, of which Hakluyt gives the contents178, that in 1526, and from circumstances for a long time previous, certain English merchants, among whom were Nicholas Thorn and Thomas Spacheford, had frequently traded to the Canary islands. In that letter or memorandum, notice was given to Thomas Midnal his factor and William Ballard his servant; residing in St Lucar in Andalusia, that the Christopher of Cadiz bound for the West Indies, had taken on board several packs of cloth of different fineness and colours, together with packthread, soap, and other goods, to be landed at Santa Cruz in Teneriffe. They are directed to sell these goods, and to send back returns in Orchil179, sugar, and kid skins.
   "At length, about the middle of the sixteenth century, the English spirit of trade, meeting with favourable circumstances, began to exert itself, and to extend its adventures to the south as well as the north. About the year 1551, Captain Thomas Windham sailed in the ship Lion for Morocco, whither he carried two Moors of the blood-royal. This was the first voyage to the western coast of Africa of which we have any account, and these are all the particulars to be found respecting it; except that one Thomas Alday, a servant to Sebastian Cabot, in a letter inserted in Hakluyt's Collection180, represents himself as the first promoter of this trade to Barbary, and observes that he would have performed this voyage himself, with the sole command of the ship and goods, had it not been that Sir John Lutterel, John Fletcher, Henry Ostrich, and others with whom he was connected, died of the sweating sickness, and he himself, after escaping that disease, was seized by a violent fever, so that Thomas Windham sailed from Portsmouth before he recovered, by which he lost eighty pounds.
   "In the next year, 1552, Windham made a second voyage to Zafin or Saffi and Santa Cruz without the straits, which gave so much offence to the Portuguese, that they threatened to treat the English as enemies if found in these seas. Yet in the year following, the same Thomas Windham, with a Portuguese named Antonio Yanez Pinteado, who appears to have been the chief promoter of the attempt, undertook a voyage to Guinea, with three ships having an hundred and forty men; and having traded for some time on the coast for gold, they went to Benin to load pepper: But both the commanders and most of the men dying of sickness, occasioned by the climate, the rest returned to Plymouth with one ship only, having burnt the other two for want of hands, and brought back no great riches. In 1554, Mr John Lok made a voyage with three ships to the coast of Guinea, whence he brought back a considerable quantity of gold and ivory. These voyages appear to have been succeeded by others almost every year. At length, upon application to Queen Elizabeth, two patents were granted to certain merchants. One in 1585, for the Barbary or Morocco trade, and the other in 1588, for the trade to Guinea between the rivers Senegal and Gambia181. In 1592, a third patent was granted to other persons, taking in the coast from the river Nonnia to the south of Sierra Leona, for the space of 100 leagues, which patents gave rise to the African company. In all their voyages to the coast of Africa they had disputes with the Portuguese. Several of these voyages have been preserved by Hakluyt, and will be found inserted in this chapter, as forerunners to the English voyages to the East Indies.
   "The views of the English extending with experience and success, and finding the long attempted north-east and north-west passages to India impracticable, they at length determined to proceed for that distant region round Africa by the same course with the Portuguese. In 1591, that voyage was undertaken for the first time by three large ships under the command of Captain Raymond; and in 1596, another fleet of three ships set out on the same design under Captain Wood, but with bad success. In the mean time several navigators were employed to discover this course to the East Indies. At length in 1600, a charter was obtained from Queen Elizabeth by a body of merchants, to the number of 216, having George Earl of Cumberland at their head, under the name of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, for carrying on a trade to the East Indies. From this period ships were sent there regularly every two or three years; and thus were laid the foundations of the English East India commerce, which has subsisted ever since under exclusive chartered companies.
   "Long before the English sailed to India in their own ships, several English merchants and others had gone to India from time to time in the Portuguese ships, and some overland; from a desire to pry into and to participate in the advantages of that gainful commerce. Of those who went by land, several letters and relations remain which will be found in the sequel: But of all who performed the voyage as passengers in the Portuguese vessels, we know of only one who left any account of his adventures, or at least whose account has been published; viz. Thomas Stephens. To this may be added the account by Captain Davis of a voyage in the Dutch ship called the Middleburgh Merchants in 1598, of which he served as pilot, for the purpose of making himself acquainted with the maritime route to India, and the posture of the Portuguese affairs in that country. Both of these journals contain very useful remarks for the time in which they were made, and both will be found in our collection.
   "Although the first voyages of the English to the East Indies are full of variety, yet the reader is not to expect such a continued series of new discoveries, great actions, battles, sieges, and conquests, as are to be met with in the history of the Portuguese expeditions: For it must be considered that we made few or no discoveries, as these had been already made before; that our voyages were for the most part strictly commercial; that our settlements were generally made by the consent of the natives; that we made no conquests; and that the undertakings were set on foot and carried on entirely by our merchants182. On this account it is, probably, that we have no regular history extant of the English Voyages, Discoveries, and Transactions in the East Indies, as we find there are many such of the Portuguese and Spanish. It may be presumed, however, that as the East India Company has kept regular journals of their affairs, and is furnished with letters and other memorials from their agents, that a satisfactory account of all the English Transactions in India might be collected, if the Company thought proper to give orders for its execution183." –Astley.

SECTION I. Second Voyage of the English to Barbary, in the year 1552, by Captain Thomas Windham184
   Of the first voyage to Barbary without the straits, made by the same Captain Thomas Wyndham, the only remaining record is in a letter from James Aldaie to Michael Locke, already mentioned in the Introduction to this Chapter, and preserved in Hakluyt's Collection, II. 462. According to Hakluyt, the account of this second voyage was written by James Thomas, then page to Captain Thomas Windham, chief captain of the voyage, which was set forth by Sir John Yorke, Sir William Gerard, Sir Thomas Wroth, Messieurs Frances Lambert, Cole, and others. –E.
   *****
   The ships employed on this voyage were three, of which two belonged to the River Thames. These were the Lion of London of about 150 tons, of which Thomas Windham was captain and part owner; and the Buttolfe of about 80 tons. The third was a Portuguese caravel of about 60 tons, bought from some Portuguese at Newport in Wales, and freighted for the voyage. The number of men in the three ships was 120. The master of the Lion was John Kerry of Minehead in Somersetshire, and his mate was David Landman. Thomas Windham, the chief captain of the Adventure, was a gentleman, born in the county of Norfolk, but resident at Marshfield Park in Somersetshire.
   The fleet set sail from King-road near Bristol about the beginning of May 1552, being on a Monday morning; and on the evening of the Monday fortnight we came to anchor in the port of Zafia or Asafi on the coast of Barbary, in 32° N. where we landed part of our cargo to be conveyed by land to the city of Marocco. Having refreshed at this port, we went thence to the port of Santa-Cruz, where we landed the rest of our goods, being a considerable quantity of linen and woollen cloth, with coral, amber, jet, and divers other goods esteemed by the Moors. We found a French ship in the road of Santa-Cruz, the people on board which being uncertain whether France and England were then at peace or engaged in war, drew her as near as possible to the walls of the town, from which they demanded assistance for their defence in case of need; and on seeing our vessels draw near, they shot off a piece of ordnance from the walls, the ball passing through between the main and fore masts of the Lion. We came immediately to anchor, and presently a pinnace came off to inquire who we were; and on learning that we had been there the year before, and had the licence of their king for trade, they were fully satisfied, giving us leave to bring our goods peaceably on shore, where the viceroy, Sibill Manache came shortly to visit us, and treated us with all civility. Owing to various delays, we were nearly three months at this place before we could get our lading, which consisted of sugar, dates, almonds, and molasses, or the syrup of sugar. Although we were at this place for so long a time during the heat of summer, yet none of our company perished of sickness.
   When our ships were all loaded, we drew out to sea in waiting for a western wind to carry us to England. But while at sea a great leak broke out in the Lion, on which we bore away for the island of Lançerota, between which and Fuertaventura we came to anchor in a safe road-stead, whence we landed 70 chests of sugar upon the island of Lançerota, with a dozen or sixteen of our men. Conceiving that we had come wrongfully by the caraval, the inhabitants came by surprise upon us and took all who were on shore prisoners, among whom I was one, and destroyed our sugars. On this transaction being perceived from our ships, they sent on shore three boats filled with armed men to our rescue; and our people landing, put the Spaniards to flight, of whom they slew eighteen, and made the governor of the island prisoner, who was an old gentleman about 70 years of age. Our party continued to chase the Spaniards so far for our rescue, that they exhausted all their powder and arrows, on which the Spaniards rallied and returned upon them, and slew six of our men in the retreat. After this our people and the Spaniards came to a parley, in which it was agreed that we the prisoners should be restored in exchange for the old governor, who gave us a certificate under his hand of the damages we had sustained by the spoil of our sugars, that we might be compensated upon our return to England, by the merchants belonging to the king of Spain.
   Having found and repaired the leak, and all our people being returned on board, we made sail; and while passing one side of the island, the Cacafuego and other ships of the Portuguese navy entered by the other side to the same roadstead whence we had just departed, and shot off their ordnance in our hearing. It is proper to mention that the Portuguese were greatly offended at this our new trade to Barbary, and both this year and the former, they gave out through their merchants in England, with great threats and menaces, that they would treat us as mortal enemies, if they found us in these seas: But by the good providence of God we escaped their hands. We were seven or eight weeks in making our passage from Lançerota for the coast of England, where the first port we made was Plymouth; and from thence sailed for the Thames, where we landed our merchandise at London about the end of October 1552.

SECTION II. A Voyage from England to Guinea and Benin in 1553, by Captain Windham and Antonio Anes Pinteado185
   PREVIOUS REMARKS.
   This and the following voyage to Africa were first published by Richard Eden in a small collection, which was afterwards reprinted in 4to, by Richard Willes in 1577186. Hakluyt has inserted both these in his Collection, with Eden's preamble as if it were his own; only that he ascribes the account of Africa to the right owner187.
   "I was desired by certain friends to make some mention of this voyage, that some memory of it might remain to posterity, being the first enterprised by the English to parts that may become of great consequence to our merchants, if not hindered by the ambition of such as conceive themselves lords of half the world, by having conquered some forty or fifty miles here and there, erecting certain fortresses, envying that others should enjoy the commodities which they themselves cannot wholly possess. And, although such as have been at charges in the discovering and conquering of such lands, ought in good reason to have certain privileges, pre-eminences and tributes for the same; yet, under correction, it may seem somewhat rigorous and unreasonable, or rather contrary to the charity that ought to subsist among Christians, that such as invade the dominions of others, should not allow other friendly nations to trade in places nearer and seldom frequented by themselves, by which their own trade is not hindered in such other places as they have chosen for themselves as staples or marts of their trade188. But as I do not propose either to accuse or defend, I shall cease to speak any farther on this subject, and proceed to the account of the first voyage to those parts, as briefly and faithfully as I was advertised of the same, by information of such credible persons as made diligent inquiry respecting it, omitting many minute particulars, not greatly necessary to be known; but which, with the exact course of the navigation, shall be more fully related in the second voyage. If some may think that certain persons have been rather sharply reflected on, I have this to say, that favour and friendship ought always to give way before truth, that honest men may receive the praise of well-doing, and bad men be justly reproved; that the good may be encouraged to proceed in honest enterprizes, and the bad deterred from following evil example.
   That these voyages may be the better understood, I have thought proper to premise a brief description of Africa, on the west coast of which great division of the world, the coast of Guinea begins at Cape Verd in about lat. 12° N. and about two degrees in longitude from the measuring line189; whence running from north to south, and in some places by east, within 5, 4, and 3-1/2 degrees into the equinoctial, and so forth in manner directly east and north, for the space of about 36 degrees in longitude from west to east, as shall more plainly appear in the second voyage190.
   *****
   Brief Description of Africa, by Richard Eden191.
   In the lesser Africa are the kingdoms of Tunis and Constantina, which latter is at this day subject to Tunis, and also the regions of Bugia, Tripoli, and Ezzah. This part of Africa is very barren, by reason of the great deserts of Numidia and Barca. The principal ports of the kingdom of Tunis are, Goletta, Bizerta, Potofarnia, Bona, and Stora. Tunis and Constantina are the chief cities, with several others. To this kingdom belong the following islands, Zerbi, Lampadola, Pantalarea, Limoso, Beit, Gamelaro, and Malta; in which the grand-master of the knights of Rhodes now resides. To the south of this kingdom are the great deserts of Lybia. All the nations of this lesser Africa are of the sect of Mahomet, a rustical people living scattered in villages.
   The best of this part of Africa is Mauritania, now called Barbary, on the coast of the Mediterranean. Mauritania is divided into two parts, Tingitana and Cesariensis. Mauritania Tingitana is now called the kingdoms of Fez and Marocco, of which the capitals bear the same names. Mauritania, Cesariensis is now called the kingdom of Tremessan, the capital of which is named Tremessan or Telensin. This region is full of deserts, and reaches to the Mediterranean, to the city of Oran with the port of Mersalquiber. The kingdom of Fez reaches to the ocean, from the west to the city of Arzilla, and Sala or Salee is the port of this kingdom. The kingdom of Marocco also extends to the ocean, on which it has the cities of Azamor and Azafi. Near to Fez and Marocco in the ocean are the Canary islands, anciently called the Fortunate islands.
   To the south is the kingdom of Guinea, with Senega, Jalofo, Gambra, and many other regions of the black Moors, called Ethiopians or Negroes, all of which regions are watered by the river Negro, called anciently the Niger192. In these regions there are no cities, but only villages of low cottages made of boughs of trees, plastered over with chalk and covered with straw; and in these regions there are great deserts.
   The kingdom of Marocco includes seven subordinate kingdoms, named Hea, Sus, Guzula, Marocco proper, Duccula, Hazchora, and Tedle. Fez has an equal number, as Fez, Temesne, Azgar, Elabath, Errif, Garet, and Elcair. Tremessan has only three, being Tremessan, Tenez, and Elgazair; all the inhabitants of all these regions being Mahometans. But all the regions of Guinea are peopled by Gentiles and idolaters, having no religion or knowledge of God except from the law of nature.
   Africa, one of the three great divisions of the world known to the ancients, is separated from Asia on the east by the river Nile, and on the west from Europe by the Pillars of Hercules or the Straits of Gibraltar. The entire northern coast along the Mediterranean is now called Barbary, and is inhabited by the Moors. The inner part is called Lybia and Ethiopia. Lesser Africa, in which stood the noble city of Carthage, has Numidia on the west and Cyrenaica on the east.
   On the east side of Africa, to the west of the Red Sea, are the dominions of the great and mighty Christian king or emperor Prester John, well known to the Portuguese in their voyages to Calicut. His dominions reach very far on every side, and he has many other kings under his authority who pay him tribute, both Christian and Pagan. This mighty prince is named David emperor of Ethiopia, and it is said that the Portuguese send him every year eight ships laden with merchandise. His dominions are bounded on one side by the Red Sea, and stretch far into Africa towards Egypt and Barbary. To the southwards they adjoin with the great sea or ocean towards the Cape of Good Hope, and to the north are bounded by the great and dangerous Sea of Sand, lying between the great city of Cairo in Egypt and the country of Ethiopia; in which are many uninhabitable deserts continuing for the space of five days journey. It is affirmed, if the Christian emperor were not hindered by the deserts, in which there is great want of provisions and especially of water, that he would ere now have invaded Egypt. The chief city of Ethiopia, in which this great emperor resides, is called Amacaiz, being a city of some importance, the inhabitants of which are of an olive complexion. There are many other cities, such as the city of Sava on the Nile, where the emperor ordinarily resides during the summer. There is likewise a great city named Barbaregaf and Ascon, whence the queen of Saba is supposed to have gone for Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of Solomon193. This last city though little is very fair, and one of the principal cities of Ethiopia. In this province there are many very high mountains, on which the terrestrial paradise is supposed to have been situated; and some say that the trees of the sun and moon which are mentioned by the ancients, are to be found there, but no one has ever been able to go to them, on account of great deserts extending to an hundred days journey. Also beyond these mountains is the Cape of Good Hope.
   Journal of the Voyage.
   On the 12th of August 1553, there sailed from Portsmouth two goodly ships, the Primrose and the Lion, with a pinnace called the Moon, all well furnished with 140 able bodied men, and with ordnance and victuals fitting for the voyage. They were commanded by two captains; one of whom was a foreigner named Antonio Anes Pinteado, a native of Oporto in Portugal, a wise, discreet, and sober man, who, for his skill in navigation both as an experienced pilot and prudent commander, was at one time in such favour with the king of Portugal, that the coasts of Brazil and Guinea were committed to his care against the French, to whom he was a terror in these seas. He had been likewise a gentleman of the household to the king. But as fortune ever flatters when it favours, ever deceives when it promises, and ever casts down whom it raises, so great wealth and high favour are always accompanied by emulation and envy; in like manner was he, after many adversities and malicious accusations, forced to take refuge in England. In this golden voyage Pinteado was ill-matched with an evil companion, his own various good qualities being coupled with one who had few or no virtues. Thus did these noble ships depart on their voyage; but previously captain Windham put out of his ship at Portsmouth a kinsman of one of the head merchants, shewing in this a sample of the bad intention of his mind, which grew from this small beginning to a monstrous enormity; yet happy was that young man for being left behind.
   Arriving at the island of Madeira, they took in some wine for the use of the ships. At this island was a great galleon belonging to the king of Portugal, full of men and ordnance, which had been expressly fitted out to interrupt our ships in their intended voyage, or any others that might intend a similar expedition; for the king of Portugal had been secretly informed that our ships were armed to attack his castle of Mina, though no such thing was intended; yet did not that galleon attempt to stay our ships, nor could she have been able to withstand them if that had been tried.
   After their departure from Madeira the worthy captain Pinteado began to experience affliction from Captain Windham, who had hitherto carried a fair appearance of good will, but now assumed to himself the sole command, setting both captain Pinteado and the merchants factors at nought, giving them opprobrious words and sometimes abusing them most shamefully with threats of personal ill-treatment. He even proceeded to deprive captain Pinteado of the service of the boys and others who had been assigned him by order of the merchant adventurers, reducing him to the rank of a common mariner, which is the greatest affront that can be put upon a Portuguese or Spaniard, who prize their honour above all things. Passing the Canaries, they came to the island of St Nicholas, one of the Cape Verds, where they procured abundance of the flesh of wild goats, being almost its only produce. Following their voyage from thence, they tarried by the way at certain desert islands, not willing to arrive too early on the coast of Guinea on account of the heat. But being under an arbitrary rule, they tarried too long, and came at length to the first land of Guinea at the river Cesto194, where they might have exchanged their merchandise for a full lading of the grains, or spice of that country, which is a very hot fruit and much like figs; the fruit being full of grains which are loose within the pod195. This kind of spice is much used in cold countries, and may be sold there to great advantage in exchange for other commodities. But, by the persuasion or command rather of our tyrannical captain, our people made light of this commodity in comparison with the fine gold for which they thirsted, wherefore they made sail an hundred leagues farther till they came to the golden land or gold coast.
   At this part of the coast, not venturing to come near the castle of St George del Mina belonging to the king of Portugal, they made sale of their goods only on this side and beyond that place, receiving the gold of the country in exchange to the extent of 150 pounds weight196, and they might have bartered all their merchandise for gold at that place, if the pride of Windham had allowed him to listen to the counsel and experience of Pinteado: but not satisfied with what he had got or might still have procured, if he had remained in the neighbourhood of Mina, he commanded Pinteado to navigate the ships to Benin under the equinoctial, 150 leagues beyond the Mina, where he expected to have laden the ships with pepper. When Pinteado urged the lateness of the season, and advised that instead of going farther they should continue to dispose of their wares for gold, by which great profit would have been gained, Windham flew into a passion, called Pinteado a Jew, and gave him much opprobrious language, saying, "This rascally Jew promised to conduct us to places that either do not exist or to which he knows not the way, but if he does not I will cut off his ears and nail them to the mast." The advice given by Pinteado, not to go farther, was for the safety of the mens lives, which would have been in great danger at that late season, during their winter or rossia, not so called on account of cold, but from the heat accompanied with close and cloudy air, alternating with great tempests, during which the air was of so putrifying a quality as to rot the clothes on their backs. He had formerly lingered by the way, to prevent them arriving too soon on the coast, when the heat of the sun is scorching and unbearable.
   Thus constrained contrary to his wish, he brought the ships to anchor off the mouth of the river Benin, whence the pinnace was sent 50 or 60 leagues up the river. They then landed, and Pinteado, with Francisco another Portuguese, Nicholas Lambert a gentleman, and other merchants were conducted to the kings court, ten leagues from the river, where they were brought into the kings presence by a great company. The king was a black Moor or negro, though not quite so black as the rest, and sat in a long wide hall having earthen walls without windows, roofed with thin planks open in many parts to let in air. These people give wonderful reverence to their king, even the highest of his officers when in his presence never daring to look him in the face, but sit cowering on their buttocks with their elbows on their knees, and their hands on their faces, never looking up till the king commands them. When coming towards the king they shew him the utmost reverence from as far off as they can see him; and when they depart they never turn their backs towards him. In the communication of our men with the king, he used the Portuguese language, which he had learnt when a child. Commanding our men to stand up, he inquired the reason of their coming into his country; on which he was answered by Pinteado, that we were merchants who had come from a distant country into his dominions, to procure the commodities of the country in exchange for wares which we had brought from our own country, to the mutual convenience of both countries. The king had then 30 or 40 quintals or hundred weights of pepper, which had long lain in a store-house, which he desired our people to look at, and that they should exhibit to him such commodities as they had brought for sale. He likewise sent some of his officers to conduct our people to the water-side, and to carry our wares from the pinnace to his residence. These things being done, the king engaged to our merchants that in 30 days he would provide a sufficiency of pepper to load all our ships, and in case our merchandise might not amount to the whole value of the pepper, he promised to give credit till next season, and immediately sent orders over all the country to gather pepper, so that in 30 days 80 tons of pepper were procured.
   In the meantime our men lived without any rule, eating without measure of the fruit of the country, drinking the palm wine which runs in the night from the cut branches of that tree, and continually running into the water to assuage the extreme heat of the season; and not being used to these sudden transitions, which are excessively dangerous, they fell into swellings and agues, by which about the end of the year they were dying sometimes 3, 4, or 5 in a day. When the 30 days were expired, and Windham saw his men dying so fast, he sent orders to Pinteado and the rest to come away without any more delay. Pinteado and the others wrote back to inform him of the large quantity of pepper already gathered, and that they looked daily for more, desiring him to consider the great praise they would all get on their return if the voyage turned out profitable, and the shame that must attend returning without a full loading. Not satisfied with this answer, more especially as the men continued to die in great numbers, Windham sent a second message ordering them to return immediately, or that he would go away and leave them. Thinking to prevail upon him by reasonable means, Pinteado returned to the ships under an escort provided by the negro king.
   In the mean time Windham, enraged at Pinteado, broke open his cabin and all his chests, spoiled all the cordials and sweetmeats he had provided for his health, and left him nothing either of his cloaths or nautical instruments; after which strange procedure he fell sick and died. When he came on board, Pinteado lamented as much for the death of Windham as if he had been his dearest friend; but several of the mariners and officers spit in his face, calling him Jew, and asserted that he had brought them to this place on purpose that they should die; and some even drew their swords, threatening to slay him. They insisted that he should leave the coast immediately, and though he only requested them to wait till those who were left at the court of the king of Benin could be sent for, they would by no means consent. He then prayed them to give him a boat, and as much of an old sail as might serve to fit her out, in which he proposed to bring Nicholas Lambert197 and the rest to England, but even this they would not consent to. Finding all his representations in vain, he wrote a letter to the merchants at court, informing them of all that had happened at the ships, promising, if God spared his life, that he would return as soon as possible for them.
   Pinteado, thus kept on board against his will, was thrust among the cabin-boys, and worse used than any of them, insomuch that he was forced to depend on the favour of the cook for subsistence. Having sunk one of their ships for want of hands to navigate her, the people departed from the coast with the other. Within six or seven days, Pinteado died broken-hearted, from the cruel and undeserved usage he had met with,-a man worthy to have served any prince, and most vilely used. Of 140 men who had sailed originally from Portsmouth on this unfortunate and ill-conducted voyage, scarcely 40 got back to Plymouth, and many even of those died soon afterwards.
   That no one may suspect that I have written in commendation of Pinteado from partiality or favour, otherwise than as warranted by truth, I have thought good to add copies of the letters which the king of Portugal and the infant his brother wrote to induce him to return to Portugal, at the time when, by the king's displeasure, and not owing to any crime or offence, he was enforced by poverty to come to England, where he first induced our merchants to engage in voyages to Guinea. All these writings I saw under seal in the house of my friend Nicholas Lieze, with whom Pinteado left them when he departed on his unfortunate voyage to Guinea. But, notwithstanding these friendly letters and fair promises, Pinteado durst not venture to return to Portugal, neither indeed durst he trust himself in company with any of his own countrymen, unless in the presence of other persons, as he had secret intimation that they meant to have assassinated him, when time and place might serve their wicked purpose.
   *****
   The papers alluded to in this concluding paragraph by Richard Eden, do not seem necessary to be inserted. They consist of, a commission or patent dated 22d September 1551, appointing Pinteado one of the knights of the royal household, with 700 rees, or ten shillings a month, and half a bushel of barley every day so long as he should keep a horse; but with an injunction not to marry for six years, lest he might have children to succeed in this allowance. The second document is merely a certificate of registration of the first. The third is a letter from the infant, Don Luis, brother to the king of Portugal, dated 8th December 1552, urging Pinteado to return to Lisbon, and intimating that Peter Gonzalvo, the bearer of the letter, had a safe conduct for him in due form. From the introduction to these papers, it appears that Pinteado had suffered long disgrace and imprisonment, proceeding upon false charges, and had been at last set free by means of the king's confessor, a grey friar, who had manifested his innocence. –E.

SECTION III. Voyage to Guinea, in 1554, by Captain John Lok198
   As in the first voyage of the English to Guinea, I have given rather the order of the history than the course of navigation, of which I had then no perfect information; so in this second voyage my chief purpose has been to shew the course pursued, according to the ordinary custom and observation of mariners, and as I received it from the hands of an expert pilot, who was one of the chiefest in this voyage199, who with his own hand wrote a brief journal of the whole, as he had found and tried in all things, not conjecturally, but by the art of navigation, and by means of instruments fitted for nautical use200. Not assuming therefore to myself the commendations due to another, neither having presumed in any part to change the substance or order of this journal, so well observed by art and experience, I have thought fit to publish it in the language commonly used by mariners, exactly as I received it from that pilot201.
   *****
   On the 11th October 1554, we departed from the river Thames with three good ships. One of these named the Trinity, was of 140 tons burden; the second, called the Bartholomew, was 90 tons; and the third, called the John Evangelist, was 140 tons. With these three ships and two pinnaces, one of which was lost on the coast of England, we staid fourteen days at Dover, and three or four days at Rye, and lastly we touched at Dartmouth. Departing on the 1st November, at 9 o'clock at night, from the coast of England, off the Start point, and steering due south-west all that night, all next day, and the next night after, till noon of the 3d, we made our way good, running 60 leagues. The morning of the 17th we had sight of the island of Madeira, which to those who approach from N.N.E. seems to rise very high, and almost perpendicular in the west. To the S.S.E. is a long low land, and a long point with a saddle through the midst of it, standing in 32° N. [lat. 32° 30' N. long. 16° 12' W.] And in the west part are many springs of water running down from the mountain, with many white fields like fields of corn, and some white houses in the S.E. part. Also in this part is a rock at a small distance from the shore, over which a great gap or opening is seen in the mountain.
   The 19th at noon we had sight of the isles of Palma, Teneriffe, and Grand Canarea. The isle of Palma rises round, and stretches from S.E. to N.W. the north-west part being lowest. In the south is a round hill over the head-land, with another round hill behind and farther inland. Between the S.E. end of Madeira and the N.W. part of the island of Palma, the distance is 57 leagues202, Palma being in 28°.(lat. 28° 45' N. long 17° 45' W.) Our course between the S.E. end of Madeira and the N.W. part of Palma was S. and S. by W. so that we had sight of Teneriffe and the Grand Canary. The S.E. part of Palma and N.N.E. of Teneriffe lie S.E. and N.W.(rather E. and W.) distance 20 leagues(33 leagues.) Teneriffe and Grand Canarea, with the west part of Fuertaventura, stand in 27° 30'203. Gomera is a fair island, but very rugged, W.S.W. from Teneriffe, the passage between running from N. by W. to S. by E. In the south part of Gomera is a town and good road-stead, in lat. 28° N. Teneriffe is a mountainous island, with a great high peak like a sugar-loaf, on which there is snow all the year, and by that peak it may be known from all other islands. On the 20th November we were there becalmed from six in the morning till four in the afternoon. On the 22d November, being then under the tropic of Cancer, the sun set W. and by S. On the coast of Barbary, 25 leagues N. of Cape Blanco, at 3 leagues from shore, we had 15 fathoms water on a good shelly bottom mixed with sand, and no currents, having two small islands in lat. 22° 20' N.204 From Gomera to Cape de las Barbas is 100 leagues (116), the course being S. by E. That cape is in lat. 22° 30,(22° 15') all the coast thereabout being flat, and having 16 and 17 fathoms off shore. All the way from the river del Oro to Cape Barbas, at 7 or 8 leagues off shore, many Spaniards and Portuguese employ themselves in fishing during the month of November, the whole of that coast consisting of very low lands. From Cape Barbas we held a course S.S.W. and S.W. by S. till we came into lat. 20° 30', reckoning ourselves 7 leagues off shore, and we there came to the least shoals of Cape Blanco. We then sailed to the lat. of 13° N. reckoning ourselves 20 leagues off; and in 15° we did rear the crossiers, or cross stars, and might have done so sooner if we had looked for them. They are not right across in the month of November, as the nights are short there, but we had sight of them on the 29th of that month at night. The 1st of December, being in lat. 13° N. we set our course S. by E. till the 4th at noon, when we were in 9° 20' reckoning ourselves 30 leagues W.S.W. from the shoals of the Rio Grande, which extend for 30 leagues. On the 4th, being in 6° 30', we set our course S.E. The 9th we changed our course E.S.E. The 14th, being in lat. 5° 30' and reckoning ourselves 36 leagues from the coast of Guinea, we set our course due E. The 19th, reckoning ourselves 17 leagues from Cape Mensurado, we set our course E. by N. the said cape being E.N.E. of us, and the river Sesto E. The 20th we fell in with Cape Mensurado or Mesurado, which bore S.E. 2 leagues distant. This cape may be easily known, as it rises into a hummock like the head of a porpoise. Also towards the S.E. there are three trees, the eastmost being the highest, the middle one resembling a hay-stack, and that to the southward like a gibbet. Likewise on the main there are four or five high hills, one after the other, like round hummocks. The south-east of the three trees is brandiernaure? and all the coast is a white sand. The said cape stands within a little of six degrees (lat. 6° 20' N. long. 10° 30' W.) The 22d we came to the river Sesto or Sesters, where we remained till the 29th, and we thought it best to send our pinnace before us to the Rio Dulce, that they might begin the market before the arrival of the John Evangelist. At the river Sesto, which is in six degrees less one terce, or 5° 40', we got a ton of grains205. From Rio Sesto to Rio Dulce the distance is 25 leagues, Rio Dulce being in 5° 30' N. The Rio Sesto is easily known by a ledge of rocks to the S.E. of the road206, and at the mouth of the river are five or six trees without leaves. It is a good harbour, but the entrance of the river is very narrow, and has a rock right in the mouth. All that coast, between Cape Mount and Cape Palmas, lies S.E. by E. and N.W. by N. being three leagues offshore207, and there are rocks in some places two leagues off, especially between the river Sesto and Cape Palmas.
   Between the river Sesto and the river Dulce are 25 leagues. Between them and 8 leagues from Sesto river is a high land called Cakeado, and S.E. from it a place called Shawgro, and another called Shyawe or Shavo, where fresh water may be had. Off Shyawe lies a ledge of rocks, and to the S.E. is a headland named Croke, which is 9 or 10 leagues from Cakeado. To the S.E. is a harbour called St Vincent, right over against which is a rock under water, two and a half leagues from shore. To the S.E. of this rock is an island 3 or 4 leagues off, and not above a league from shore, and to the S.E. of the island is a rock above water, and past that rock is the entrance of the river Dulce, which may be known by that rock. The N.W. side of the haven is flat sand, and the S.E. side is like an island, being a bare spot without any trees, which is not the case in any other place. In the road ships ride in 13 or 14 fathoms, the bottom good ouse and sand. The marks for entering this road are to bring the island and the north-east land in one. We anchored there on the last day of December 1554, and on the 3d of January 1555 we came from the Rio Dulce. Cape Palmas is a fair high land, some low parts of which by the waterside seem red cliffs, with white streaks like highways, a cables length each, which is on the east side of the Cape. This is the most southerly land on the coast of Guinea, and is in lat. 4° 25' N. From Cape Palmas to Cape Three-points or Tres puntas, the whole coast is perfectly safe and clear, without rock or other danger. About 25 leagues to the eastward of Cape Palmas the land is higher than in any other place till we come to Cape Three-points, and about ten leagues westward from that Cape the land begins to rise, and grows higher all the way to the point. Also about 5 leagues west from that Cape there is some broken ground with two great rocks, within which, in the bight of a bay, there is a castle called Arra belonging to the king of Portugal, which is readily known by these rocks, as there are none other between Cape Palmas and Cape Three-points. The coast trends E. by N. and W. by S. From Cape Palmas to Arra castle is 95 leagues, and from thence to the western point of Cape Three-points it is S.E. by S. and N.W. by N. This western point of Cape Three-points is low land, stretching half a mile out to sea, and on the neck nearest the land is a tuft of trees.
   We arrived at Cape Three-points on the 11th January, and came next day to a town called Samma or Samua, 8 leagues beyond, towards E.N.E. there being a great ledge of rocks a great way out to sea between Cape Three-points and that town. We remained four days off that town, the captain of which desired to have a pledge on shore, but on receiving one he kept him, and refused to continue trade, even shooting his ordnance at us, of which he only had two or three pieces208. On the 16th of the month we came to a place called Cape Corea209, where dwelt Don John, and where we were well received by his people. This Cape Corea is 4 leagues eastward from the castle of Mina. We arrived there on the 18th of the month, making sale of all our cloth except two or three packs. On the 26th we weighed anchor and went to join the Trinity, which was 7 leagues to the eastwards of us, and had sold most of her wares. Then the people of the Trinity willed us to go 8 or 9 leagues farther to the east, to sell part of their wares at a place called Perecow, and another called Perecow-grande, still farther east, which is known by a great hill near it called Monte Rodondo lying to the westwards, and many palm trees by the water side. From thence we began our voyage homewards on the 13th of February, and plied along the coast till we came within 7 or 8 leagues of Cape Three-points. About 8 in the afternoon of the 15th we cast about to seawards. Whoever shall come from the coast of Mina homewards, ought to beware of the currents, and should be sure of making his way good as far west as Cape Palmas, where the current sets always to the eastwards. About 20 leagues east of Cape Palmas is a river called De los Potos, where abundance of fresh water and ballast may be had, and plenty of ivory or elephants teeth, which river is in four degrees and almost two terces, or 4° 40' N. When you reckon to be as far west as Cape Palmas, being in lat. 1° or 1° 30' N. you may then stand W. or W. by N. till in lat. 3° N. Then you may go W. or N.W. by W. till in lat. 5° N. and then N.W. In lat. 6° N. we met northerly winds and great ruffling tides, and as far as we could judge the current set N.N.W. Likewise between Cape Mount and Cape Verd there are great currents, which are very apt to deceive.
   On the 22d of April we were in lat. 8° 40' N. and continued our course to the north-west, having the wind at N.E. and E.N.E. sometimes at E. till the first of May, when we were in lat. 18° 20' N. Thence we had the wind at E. and E.N.E. sometimes E.S.E. when we reckoned the Cape Verd islands E.S.E. from us, and by estimation 48 leagues distant. In 20° and 21° N. we had the wind more to the east and south than before; and so we ran N.W. and N.N.W. sometimes N. by W. and N. till we came into lat. 31° N. when we reckoned ourselves 180 leagues S.W. by S. of the island of Flores. Here we had the wind S.S.E. and shaped our course N.E. In 23° we had the wind at S. and S.W. and made our course N.N.E. in which direction we went to 40°, and then set our course N.E. having the wind at S.W. and the isle of Flores E. of us, 17 leagues distant. In 41° we had the wind N.E. and lay a course N.W. Then we met the wind at W.N.W. and at W. within 6 leagues, when we went N.W. We then altered to N.E. till in 42° where we shaped our course E.N.E. judging the isle of Corvo to be W. of us, 36 leagues distant. On the 21st of May we communed with John Rafe who judged us to be in lat. 39° 30' N. 25 leagues E. of Flora, and recommended to steer N.E.
   It is to be noted that in lat. 9° N. on the 4th of September, we lost sight of the north star. In lat. 45° N. the compass varied 8° to the W. of N. In 40° N. it varied 15°. And in 30° 30' N. its variation was 5° W.
   It is also to be noted that two or three days before we came to Cape Three-points, the pinnace went along shore endeavouring to sell some of our wares, and then we came to anchor three or four leagues west by south of that cape, where we left the Trinity. Then our pinnace came on board and took in more wares, telling us that they would go to a place where the Primrose210 was, and had received much gold in the first voyage to these parts; but being in fear of a brigantine that was then on the coast, we weighed anchor and followed them, leaving the Trinity about four leagues from us. We accordingly rode at anchor opposite that town, where Martine, by his own desire and with the assent of some of the commissioners in the pinnace, went on shore to the town, and thence John Berin went to trade at another town three miles father on. The town is called Samma or Samua, which and Sammaterra are the two first towns to the N.E. of Cape Three-points, where we traded for gold.
   Having continued the course of the voyage as described by the before-mentioned pilot, I will now say something of the country and people, and of such things as are brought from thence211.
   They brought home in this voyage, 400 pounds weight and odd of gold212, twenty-two carats and one grain fine. Also 36 buts of grains, or Guinea pepper, and about 250 elephants teeth of different sizes. Some of these I saw and measured, which were nine spans in length measured along the crook, and some were as thick as a mans thigh above the knee, weighing 90 pounds each, though some are said to have been seen weighing 125 pounds. There were some called the teeth of calves, of one, two, or three years old, measuring one and a-half, two, or three feet, according to the age of the beast. These great teeth or tusks grow in the upper jaw downwards, and not upwards from the lower jaw, as erroneously represented by some painters and arras workers. In this voyage they brought home the head of an elephant of such huge bigness that the bones or cranium only, without the tusks or lower jaw, weighed about two hundred pounds, and was as much as I could well lift from the ground. So that, considering also the weight of the two great tusks and the under jaw, with the lesser teeth, the tongue, the great hanging ears, the long big snout or trunk, with all the flesh, brains, and skin, and other parts belonging to the head, it could not in my opinion weigh less than five hundred weight. This head has been seen by many in the house of the worthy merchant Sir Andrew Judde, where I saw it with my bodily eyes, and contemplated with those of my mind, admiring the cunning and wisdom of the work-master, without which consideration such strange and wonderful things are only curiosities, not profitable subjects of contemplation.
   The elephant, by some called oliphant, is the largest of all four-footed beasts. The fore-legs are longer than those behind; in the lower part or ancles of which he has joints. The feet have each five toes, but undivided. The trunk or snout is so long and of such form that it serves him as a hand, for he both eats and drinks by bringing his food and drink to his mouth by its means, and by it he helps up his master or keeper, and also overturns trees by its strength. Besides his two great tusks, he has four teeth on each side of his mouth, by which he eats or grinds his food, each of these teeth being almost a span long, as they lie along the jaw, by two inches high and about as much in breadth. The tusks of the male are larger than those of the female. The tongue is very small, and so far within the mouth that it cannot be seen. This is the gentlest and most tractable of all beasts, and understands and is taught many things, so that it is even taught to do reverence to kings, being of acute sense and great judgment. When the female is once seasoned, the male never touches her afterwards. The male lives two hundred years, or at least 120, and the female almost as long; but the flower of their age is reckoned 60 years. They cannot endure our winter or cold weather; but they love to go into rivers, in which they will often wade up to their trunk, snuffing and blowing the water about in sport; but they cannot swim, owing to the weight of their bodies. If they happen to meet a man wandering in the wilderness, they will go gently before him and lead him into the right way. In battle they pay much respect to those who are wounded, bringing such as are hurt or weary into the middle of the army where they may be defended. They are made tame by drinking the juice of barley213.
   They have continual war with dragons, which desire their blood because it is very cold; wherefore the dragon lies in wait for the passing of an elephant, winding its tail of vast length round the hind legs of the elephant, then thrusts his head into his trunk and sucks out his breath, or bites him in the ears where he cannot reach with his trunk. When the elephant becomes faint with the loss of blood, he falls down upon the serpent, now gorged with blood, and with the weight of his body crushes the dragon to death. Thus his own blood and that of the elephant run out of the serpent now mingled together, which cooling is congealed into that substance which the apothecaries call sanguis draconis or cinnabar214. But there are other kinds of cinnabar, commonly called cinoper or vermillion, which the painters use in certain colours.
   There are three kinds of elephants, as of the marshes, the plains, and the mountains, differing essentially from each other. Philostratus writes, that by how much the elephants of Lybia exceed in bigness the horses of Nysea, so much do the elephants of India exceed those of Lybia, for some of the elephants of India have been seen nine cubits high; and these are so greatly feared by the others, that they dare not abide to look upon them. Only the males among the Indian elephants have tusks; but in Ethiopia and Lybia, both males and females are provided with them. They are of divers heights, as of 12, 13, or 14 dodrants, the dodrant being a measure of 9 inches; and some say that an elephant is bigger than three wild oxen or buffaloes. Those of India are black, or mouse-coloured; but those of Ethiopia or Guinea are brown. The hide or skin of them all is very hard, and without hair or bristles. Their ears are two dodrants, or 18 inches in breadth, and their eyes are very small. Our men saw one drinking at a river in Guinea as they sailed along the coast. Those who wish to know more of the properties of the elephant, as of their wonderful docility, of their use in war, of their chastity and generation, when they were first seen in the triumphs and amphitheatres of the Romans, how they are taken and tamed, when they cast their tusks, and of their use in medicine, and many other particulars, will find all these things described in the eighth book of Natural History, as written by Pliny. He also says in his twelfth book, that the ancients made many goodly works of ivory or elephants teeth; such as tables, tressels or couches, posts of houses, rails, lattices for windows, idols of their gods, and many other things of ivory, either coloured or uncoloured, and intermixed with various kinds of precious woods; in which manner at this day are made chairs, lutes, virginals, and the like. They had such plenty of it in ancient times, that one of the gates of Jerusalem was called the ivory gate, as Josephus reports. The whiteness of ivory was so much admired, that it was anciently thought to represent the fairness of the human skin; insomuch that those who endeavoured to improve, or rather to corrupt, the natural beauty by painting, were said reproachfully, ebur atramento candefacere, to whiten ivory with ink. Poets also, in describing the fair necks of beautiful virgins, call them eburnea colla, or ivory necks. Thus much may suffice of elephants and ivory, and I shall now say somewhat of the people, and their manners, and mode of living, with another brief description of Africa.
   The people who now inhabit the regions of the coast of Guinea and the middle parts of Africa, as inner Lybia, Nubia, and various other extensive regions in that quarter, were anciently called Ethiopians and Nigritae, which we now call Moors, Moorens, or Negroes; a beastly living people, without God, law, religion, or government, and so scorched by the heat of the sun, that in many places they curse it when it rises. Of the people about Lybia interior, Gemma Phrysius thus writes: Libia interior is large and desolate, containing many horrible wildernesses, replenished with various kinds of monstrous beasts and serpents. To the south of Mauritania or Barbary is Getulia, a rough and savage region, inhabited by a wild and wandering people. After these follow the Melanogetuli, or black Getulians, and Phransii, who wander in the wilderness, carrying with them great gourds filled with water. Then the Ethiopians, called Nigritae, occupy a great part of Africa, extending to the western ocean or Atlantic. Southwards also they reach to the river Nigritis or Niger, which agrees in its nature with the Nile, as it increases and diminishes like the Nile, and contains crocodiles. Therefore, I believe this to be the river called the Senegal by the Portuguese. It is farther said of the Niger, that the inhabitants on one side were all black and of goodly stature, while on the other side they were brown or tawny and of low stature, which also is the case with the Senegal.215 There are other people of Lybia, called Garamantes, whose women are in common, having no marriages or any respect to chastity. After these are the nations called Pyrei, Sathiodaphintae, Odrangi, Mimaces, Lynxamator, Dolones, Agangince, Leuci Ethiopes, Xilicei Ethiopes, Calcei Ethiopes, and Nubi. These last have the same situation in Ptolemy, which is now given to the kingdom of Nubia, where there are certain Christians under the dominion of the great emperor of Ethiopia, called Prester John. From these towards the west was a great nation called Aphricerones, inhabiting, as far as we can conjecture, what is now called the Regnum Orguene, bordering on the eastern or interior parts of Guinea. From hence westwards and towards the north, are the kingdoms of Gambra and Budamel, not far from the river Senegal; and from thence toward the inland region and along the coast are the regions of Ginoia or Guinea. On the west side of this region is Cabo Verde, caput viride, Cap Verd, or the Green Cape, to which the Portuguese first direct their course when they sail to the land of Brazil in America, on which occasion they turn to the right hand towards the quarter of the wind called Garbino, which is between the west and south.
   To speak somewhat more of Ethiopia, although there are many nations called Ethiopians, yet is Ethiopia chiefly divided into two parts, one of which being a great and rich region, is called Ethiopia sub Egypto, or Ethiopia to the south of Egypt. To this belongs the island of Meroe, which is environed by the streams of the Nile. In this island women reigned in ancient times, and, according to Josephus, it was some time called Sabea, whence the queen of Saba went to Jerusalem to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. From thence, towards the east and south, reigneth the Christian emperor called Prester John, by some named Papa Johannes, or as others say Pean Juan, signifying Great John, whose empire reaches far beyond the Nile, and extends to the coasts of the Red Sea and of the Indian ocean. The middle of this region is almost in 66 degrees of E. longitude, and 12 degrees of N. lat.216 About this region dwell the people called Clodi, Risophagi, Axiuntiae, Babylonii, Molili, and Molibae. After these is the region called Trogloditica, the inhabitants of which dwell in caves and dens, instead of houses, and feed upon the flesh of serpents, as is reported by Pliny and Diodorus Siculus, who allege, that instead of language, they have only a kind of grinning and chattering. There are also people without heads, called Blemines, having their eyes and mouths in their breast. Likewise Strucophagi, and naked Gamphasantes; satyrs also, who have nothing of human nature except the shape. Oripei likewise, who are great hunters, and Mennones. Here also is Smyrnophora, or the region of myrrh; after which is Azania, producing many elephants.217 A great portion of the eastern part of Africa beyond the equinoctial line is in the kingdom of Melinda, the inhabitants of which have long been in use to trade with the nations of Arabia, and whose king is now allied to the king of Portugal, and pays tribute to Prester John.
   The other, or interior Ethiopia, being a region of vast extent, is now only somewhat known upon the sea-coast, but may be described as follows. In the first place, towards the south of the equator, is a great region of Ethiopians, in which are white elephants, tigers, (lions) and rhinoceroses. Also a region producing plenty of cinnamon, which lies between the branches of the Nile. Also the kingdom of Habesch or Habasia,218 a region inhabited by Christians, on both sides of the Nile. Likewise those Ethiopians called Ichthyophagi, or who live only on fish, who were subdued in the wars of Alexander the Great219. Also the Ethiopians called Rapsii and Anthropophagi, who are in use to eat human flesh, and inhabit the regions near the mountains of the moon. Gazatia is under the tropic of Capricorn; after which comes the front of Africa, and the Cape of Good Hope, past which they sail from Lisbon to Calicut: But as the capes and gulfs, with their names, are to be found on every globe and chart, it were superfluous to enumerate them here.
   Some allege that Africa was so named by the Greeks, as being without cold; the Greek letter alpha signifying privation, void of, or without, and phrice signifying cold; as, although it has a cloudy and tempestuous season instead of winter, it is yet never cold, but rather smothering hot, with hot showers, and such scorching winds, that at certain times the inhabitants seem as if living in furnaces, and in a manner half ready for purgatory or hell. According to Gemma Phrisius, in certain parts of Africa, as in the greater Atlas, the air in the night is seen shining with many strange fires and flames, rising as it were as high as the moon, and strange noises are heard in the air, as of pipes, trumpets, and drums, which are caused perhaps by the vehement motions of these fiery exhalations, as we see in many experiments wrought by fire, air, and wind. The hollowness also, and various reflections and breakings of the clouds, may be great causes thereof, besides the great coldness of the middle region of the air, by which these fiery exhalations, when they ascend there, are suddenly driven back with great force. Daily experience teaches us, by the whizzing of a burning torch, what a noise fire occasions in the air, and much more so when it strives and is inclosed with air, as seen in guns; and even when air alone is inclosed, as in organ pipes and other wind instruments: For wind, according to philosophers, is nothing but air vehemently moved, as when propelled by a pair of bellows, and the like.
   Some credible persons affirm that, in this voyage to Guinea, they felt a sensible heat in the night from the beams of the moon; which, though it seem strange to us who inhabit a cold region, may yet reasonably have been the case, as Pliny writes that the nature of stars and planets consists of fire, containing a spirit of life, and cannot therefore be without heat. That the moon gives heat to the earth seems confirmed by David, in the 121st psalm, where, speaking of such men as are defended from evils by the protection of God, he says, "The sun shall not burn thee by day, neither the moon by night220." They said likewise, that in some parts of the sea they saw streams of water, which they call spouts, falling out of the air into the sea, some of them being as large as the pillars of churches; insomuch that, when these fall into ships, they are in great danger of being sunk. Some allege these to be the cataracts of heaven, which were all opened at Noah's flood: But I rather consider them to be those fluxions and eruptions said by Aristotle, in his book de Mundo, to happen in the sea. For, speaking of such strange things as are often seen in the sea, he writes thus: "Oftentimes also, even in the sea are seen evaporations of fire, and such eruptions and breaking forth of springs, that the mouths of rivers are opened. Whirlpools and fluxions are caused of such other vehement motions, not only in the midst of the sea, but also in creeks and straits. At certain times also, a great quantity of water is suddenly lifted up and carried about by the moon," &c. From these words of Aristotle it appears, that such waters are lifted up at one time in one place, and suddenly fall down again in another place at another time. To this also may be referred what Richard Chancellor told me, as having heard from Sebastian Cabot, as far as I remember, either on the coast of Brazil or of the Rio de la Plata, that his ship or pinnace was suddenly lifted from the sea and cast upon the land, I know not how far. Which, and other strange and wonderful works of nature considered, and calling to remembrance the narrowness of human knowledge and understanding, compared with her mighty power, I can never cease to wonder, and to confess with Pliny, that nothing is impossible to nature, whose smallest power is still unknown to man.
   Our people saw and considered many things in this voyage that are worthy of notice, and some of which I have thought fit to record, that the reader may take pleasure, both in the variety of these things, and in the narrative of the voyage. Among other matters respecting the manners and customs of these people, this may seem strange, that their princes and nobles are in use to pierce and wound their skins in such way as to form curious figures upon it, like flowered damask, which they consider as very ornamental221. Although they go in a manner naked, yet many of them, and the women especially, are almost loaded with collars, bracelets, rings, and chains, of gold, copper, or ivory. I have seen one of their ivory armlets weighing 38 ounces, which was worn by one of their women on her arm. It was made of one piece of the largest part of an elephant's tooth, turned and somewhat carved, having a hole through which to pass the hand. Some have one on each arm and one on each leg, and though often so galled by them as to be almost lame, they still persist to use them. Some wear great shackles on their legs of bright copper, and they wear collars, bracelets, garlands, and girdles of certain blue stones, resembling beads. Some also of their women wear upon their arms a kind of fore-sleeves222, made of plates of beaten gold. They wear likewise rings on their fingers made of gold wire, having a knot or wreath, like those which children make on rush rings. Among other golden articles bought by our men, were some dog-collars and chains.
   These natives of Guinea are very wary in driving bargains, and will not willingly lose the smallest particle of their gold, using weights and measures for the same with great circumspection. In dealing with them, it is necessary to behave with civility and gentleness, as they will not trade with any who use them ill. During the first voyage of our people to that country, on departing from the place where they had first traded, one of them either stole a musk-cat or took her away by force, not suspecting that this could have any effect to prevent trading at the next station: But although they went there in full sail, the news had got there before them, and the people refused to deal with them until the cat were either restored or paid for at a fixed price. Their houses are made of four posts or trees set in the ground, and are covered with boughs; and their ordinary food is roots, with such fish as they take, which are in great plenty. Among these are flying fishes, similar to those seen in the West India seas. Our people endeavoured to salt some of the fish which they caught on the coast of Africa, but some said that they would not take salt, and must therefore be eaten immediately; while others alleged that, if salted immediately when taken, they would keep good for ten or twelve days. Part of the salt meat taken by our people from England became putrid while on the coast of Africa, yet turned sweet again after their return to a temperate region. They have a strange method of making bread, which is as follows: They grind, with their hands, between two stones, as much corn into meal as they think may suffice the family, and making this flour into a paste with water, they knead it into thin cakes, which are stuck upon the posts of their houses and baked or dried by the heat of the sun; so that when the master of the house or any of the family are in want of bread, they take it down from the post and eat.
   They have very fair wheat, the ear of which is two hand-breadths long and as big as a great bulrush, the stem or straw being almost as thick as a man's little finger. The grains are white and round, shining like pearls that have lost their lustre, and about the size of our pease. Almost their whole substance turns to flour, leaving very little bran. The ear is inclosed in three blades, each about two inches broad, and longer than the ear; and in one of them I counted 260 grains of corn. By this fruitfulness, the sun seems in some measure to compensate for the trouble and distress produced by its excessive heat. Their drink is either water, or the juice which drops from cut branches of the palmito, a barren palm or date tree; to collect which they hang great gourds to the cut branches every evening, or set them on the ground under the trees, to receive the juice which issues during the night. Our people said that this juice tasted like whey, but sweeter and more pleasant. The branches of the palmito are cut every evening to obtain this juice, as the heat of the sun during the day dries up and sears over the wound. They have likewise large beans, as big as chesnuts, and very hard, having shells instead of husks or pods. While formerly describing the fruit containing the grains or Guinea pepper, called by the physicians grana paradisi, I remarked that they have holes through them, as in effect they have when brought to us; but I have been since informed, that these holes are made on purpose to put strings or twigs through, for hanging up the fruit to dry in the sun. This fruit grows on a plant which does not rise above eighteen inches or two feet above the ground.
   At their coming home, the keels and bottoms of the ships were strangely overgrown with certain shells, two inches or more in length, as thick as they could stand, and so large that a man might put his thumb into their mouths. It is affirmed that a certain slimy substance grows in these shells, which falls afterwards into the sea, and is changed into the bird called barnacles223. Similar shells have been seen on ships coming from Ireland, but these Irish barnacles do not exceed half an inch long. I saw the Primrose in dock, after her return from Guinea, having her bottom entirely covered over with these shells, which in my judgment must have greatly impeded her sailing. Their ships also were in many places eaten into by the worms called Bromas or Bissas, which are mentioned in the Decades224. These worms creep between the planks, which they eat through in many places.
   In this voyage, though they sailed to Guinea in seven weeks, they took twenty to return; owing to this cause, as they reported, that about the coast at Cape Verd the wind was continually east, so that they were obliged to stand far out into the ocean, in search of a western wind to bring them home. In this last voyage about twenty-four of the men died, many of them between the Azores and England, after their return into the cold or temperate region. They brought with them several black slaves225, some of whom were tall strong men, who could well agree with our meats and drinks. The cold and moist air of England somewhat offended them; yet men who are born in hot regions can much better endure cold, than those of cold regions can bear heat; because violent heat dissolves the radical moisture of the human body, while cold concentrates and preserves it. It is to be considered as among the secrets of nature, that while all parts of Africa under the equator, and for some way on both sides, are excessively hot, and inhabited by black people, such regions in the West Indies [America], under the same parallels, are very temperate, and the natives are neither black, nor have they short curled wool on their heads like the Africans; but are of an olive colour, with long black hair. The cause of this difference is explained in various places of the Decades. Some of those who were upon this voyage told me that on the 14th of March they had the sun to the north of them at noon.