silke. 1583. of Bristow, and walled about, though the walles be of no great force. The chiefe strength of the place is in a Citadell, which standeth on the South side within the walles, and overlooketh the whole towne, and is strongly kept with two hundred Janisaries and good artillery. A river passeth thorow the midst of the city, wherewith they water their gardens and mulbery trees, on which there Store of white grow abundance of silke wormes, wherewith they make great quantity of very white silke, which is the chiefest naturall commodity to be found in and about this place. This rode is more frequented with Christian marchants, to wit, Venetians, Genouois, Florentines, Marsilians, Sicilians, Raguses, and lately with English men, then any other port of the Turks dominions. From Tripolis I departed the 14 of May with a caravan, passing three dayes over the ridge of mount Libanus, at the end The city of whereof we arrived in a city called Hammah, which Hammah. Cotton wooll. standeth on a goodly plaine replenished with corne & cotton wooll. On these mountaines which we passed grow great quantity of gall trees, which are somewhat like our okes, but lesser and more crooked: on the best tree a man shall not finde above a pound of galles. This towne of Hammah is fallen and falleth more and more to decay, and at this day there is scarse one halfe of the wall standing, which hath bene very strong and faire but because it cost many mens lives to win it, the Turke will not have it repaired; and hath written in the Arabian tongue over the castle gate, which standeth in the midst of the towne, these words: Cursed be the father and the sonne that shall lay their hands to the repairing hereof. Refreshing our selves one day here, we passed forward with camels three dayes more untill we came to Aleppo, where we arrived the 21 of May. This is the greatest place of traffique for a dry towne that is in all those parts: for hither [II. i. 269.] resort Jewes, Tartarians, Persians, Armenians, Egyptians, Indians, and many sorts of Christians, and injoy freedome of their consciences, and bring thither many kinds Aleppo. 1583. of rich marchandises. In the middest of this towne also standeth a goodly castle raised on high, with a garison of foure or five hundred Janisaries. Within foure miles round about are goodly gardens and vineyards and trees, which beare goodly fruit neere unto the rivers side, which is but small; the walles are about three English miles in compasse, but the suburbs are almost as much more. The towne is greatly peopled. We departed from thence with our camels the last of May with M. John Newbery and his company, and came to Birrah in three dayes, being a small towne situated upon Birrah. the river Euphrates, where it beginneth first to take his name, being here gathered into one chanell, whereas before it commeth downe in manifolde branches, and therefore is called by the people of the countrey by a name which signifieth a thousand heads. Here is plenty of victuals, wherof we all furnished our selves for a long journey downe the aforesayd river. And according to the maner of those that travell downe by water, we prepared a small barke for the conveyance of our selves and of our goods. These boats are flat bottomed, because the river is shallow in many places: and when Euphrates men travell in the moneth of July, August, and September, the water being then at the lowest, they are constrained to cary with them a spare boat or two to lighten their owne boats, if they chance to fall on the sholds. We were eight and twenty dayes upon the water be- Eight & tweene Birrah and Felugia, where we disimbarked our twenty dayes journey by selves and our goods. Every night after the Sun setteth, river. we tie our barke to a stake, go on land to gather sticks, and set on our pot with rice or brused wheat, and having supped, the marchants lie aboord the barke, and the mariners upon the shores side as nere as they can unto the same. In many places upon the rivers side we met with troops of Arabians, of whom we bought Arabians upon milke, butter, egges, and lambs, and gave them in barter, the river of Euphrates. (for they care not for money) glasses, combes, corall, amber, to hang about their armes and necks, and for shallow. 1583. women weare scribed. churned milke we gave them bread and pomgranat peeles, wherewith they use to tanne their goats skinnes which they churne withall. Their haire, apparell, and colour are altogether like to those vagabond Egyptians, The Arabian which heretofore have gone about in England. Their women all without exception weare a great round ring golde rings in their nostrels. in one of their nostrels, of golde, silver, or yron, according to their ability, and about their armes and smalles of their legs they have hoops of golde, silver or yron. All of them aswel women and children as men, are very great swimmers, and often times swimming they brought us milke to our barke in vessels upon their heads. These people are very theevish, which I proved to my cost for they stole a casket of mine, with things of good value in the same, from under my mans head as he was asleepe and therefore travellers keepe good watch as Euphrates de- they passe downe the river. Euphrates at Birrah is about the breadth of the Thames at Lambeth, and in some places narrower, in some broader: it runneth very swiftly, almost as fast as the river of Trent: it hath divers sorts of fish in it, but all are scaled, some as bigge as salmons, like barbils. We landed at Felugia the eight and twentieth of June, where we made our abode seven dayes, for lacke of camels to cary our goods to Babylon: the heat at that time of the yere is such in those parts, that men are loth to let out their camels to travell. This Felugia is a village of some hundred houses, and a place appointed for discharging of such goods as come downe the river: the inhabitants are Arabians. Not finding camels here, we were constrained to unlade our goods, and hired an hundred asses to cary our English marchandises onely to New Babylon over a short desert, in crossing whereof we spent eighteene houres travelling by night, and part of the morning, to avoid the great heat. Felugia. The ruines of In this place which we crossed over, stood the olde olde Babylon. mighty city of Babylon, many olde ruines wherof are easily to be seene by day-light, which I John Eldred 1583. have often beheld at my good leasure, having made three voyages betweene the new city of Babylon and Aleppo over this desert. Here also are yet standing the ruines of the olde tower of Babel, which being upon a plaine ground seemeth a farre off very great, but the nerer you come to it, the lesser and lesser it appeareth; sundry times I have gone thither to see it, and found the remnants yet standing above a quarter of a mile in compasse, and almost as high as the stoneworke of Pauls steeple in London, but it sheweth much bigger. The bricks remaining in this most ancient monument be halfe a yard thicke, and three quarters of a yard long, being dried in the Sunne onely, and betweene every course of bricks there lieth a course of mattes made of canes, which remaine sound and not perished, as though they had bene layed within one yeere. The city of New Babylon joyneth upon New Babylon. the aforsayd small desert where the Olde city was, and the river of Tigris runneth close under the wall, and The river they may if they will open a sluce, and let the water Tigris. of the same runne round about the towne. It is above two English miles in compasse, and the inhabitants generally speake three languages, to wit, the Persian, Arabian and Turkish tongues: the people are of the Spaniards complexion: and the women generally weare in one of the gristles of their noses a ring like a wed- [II. i. 270.] ding ring, but somewhat greater, with a pearle and a Turkish stone set therein: and this they do be they never so poore. This is a place of very great traffique, and a very great thorowfare from the East Indies to Aleppo. The towne is very well furnished with victuals which come downe the river of Tigris from Mosul which was called Ninive in olde time. They bring these victuals and divers sorts of marchandises upon rafts borne upon Rafts borne goats skins blowen up ful of wind in maner of blad- upon bladders ders. And when they have discharged their goods, they of goats skins. sel the rafts for fire, and let the wind out of their goats 1583. Eight & twenty dayes journey more by river, from Babylon to skins, and cary them home againe upon their asses by land, to make other voyages downe the river. The building here is most of bricke dried in the Sun, and very litle or no stone is to be found: their houses are Seldome rain. all flat-roofed and low. They have no raine for eight moneths together, nor almost any clouds in the skie, night nor day. Their Winter is in November, December, January and February, which is as warme as our Summer in England in a maner. This I know by good experience, because my abode at severall times in this city of Babylon hath bene at the least the space of two yeres. As we come to the city, we passe over the river of Tigris on a great bridge made with boats chained together with two mighty chaines of yron. From thence we departed in flat bottomed barks more strong & greater then those of Euphrates, and were eight and twenty dayes also in passing downe this river to Balsara, but we might have done it in eighteene or lesse, if the water had bene higher. Upon the waters side stand by the way divers townes resembling much the names of the olde prophets: the first towne they call Ozeah, & another Zecchiah. Before we come to Balsara by one dayes journey, the two rivers of Tigris and Euphrates Curna Castle. meet, and there standeth a castle called Curna, kept by the Turks, where all marchants pay a small custome. Here the two rivers joyned together begin to be eight or nine miles broad: here also it beginneth to ebbe and flow, and the water overflowing maketh the countrey all about very fertile of corne, rice, pulse, and dates. The towne of Balsara is a mile and an halfe in circuit: all the buildings, castle and wals, are made of bricke dried in the Sun. The Turke hath here five hundred Janisaries, besides other souldiers continually in garison and pay, but his chiefe strength is of gallies which are about five and twenty or thirty very faire and furnished with goodly ordinance. To this port of Balsara come monethly divers ships from Ormuz, laden with all sorts of Indian marchandise, as spices, drugs, Indico and Balsara. |