QUINTIN CRAUFURD — FRANCIS BERNIER. [The Tomb of Mahomet the Third.] "THE dead body of Mahomet the Third lieth buried at Constantinople, in a fair chapel of white marble, (near unto the most famous and beautiful church of S. Sophia,) for that only purpose by himself most sumptuously built, about fifty foot square, with four high small round towers, about the which are certain small round galleries of stone; from which the Turkish priests and church-men, at certain hours, use to call the people every day to church; for they use no bells themselves, neither will they suffer the Christians to use any. But the top of this chapel is built round, like unto the ancient temples of the heathen gods in Rome. In the midst of this chapel, (being, indeed, nothing else but this great Sultan's sepulchre,) standeth his tomb, which is nothing else but a great urn, or coffin, of fair white marble, wherein lieth his body, covered with a great covering of the same stone over it, made rising in the midst, and stooping on each side; not much unlike to the coffins of the ancient tombs of the Saxon kings, which are to be seen on the north side of the quire of S. Paul's Church, and in other places of this land; but that this coffin of the great Sultan is much greater, and more stately than are those of the Saxon kings, it being above five foot high at the end thereof, and by little and little falling toward the feet, covered with a rich hearse of cloth of gold down to the ground; his turbant standing at his head, and two exceeding great candles of white wax, about three or four yards long, standing in great brass or silver candlesticks gilded, the one at his head, the other at his feet, which never burn, but these stand for shew only: all the floor of the chapel being covered with mats, and fair Turkey carpets upon them. And round about this his tomb, even in the same chapel, are the like tombs for his wife and children, but nothing so great and fair. Into this chapel, or any other the Turks' churches or chapels, it is not lawful for either Turk or Christian to enter, but 513 first he must put off his shoes, leaving them at the church or chapel gate, or carrying them in his hand. Near unto this chapel, and the great temple of Sophia, are divers other chapels of the other great Turks; as of Sultan Selim, this man's grandfather, with his seven and thirty children about him; of Sultan Amurath, this man's father, with his five and forty children entombed about him. And in other places, not far from them, are the chapels and sepulchres of the rest of the great Sultans; as of the Sultan Mahomet the Great, Sultan Bajazet, Sultan Selim the First, Sultan Solyman; all by these great Mahometan Emperours built, whose names they bear. And being all of almost one form and fashion, have every one of them a fair hospital adjoining unto them, wherein a great multitude of poor people are daily still relieved.”—QUÆRE ? [Custom of Shaving the Head among the Hindoos.] "ALMOST all the Hindoos shave the head, except a lock on the back part of it, which is covered by their turbans; and they likewise shave their beards, leaving only small whiskers, which they preserve with neatness and care.". - QUINTIN CRAUFURD, ut suprá. [Aureng-Zebe's Horsemen, and the Eastern Amazon.] "WHEN Aureng-Zebe made war in the country of the Usbec Tartars, a party of twenty-five or thirty Indian horsemen came to fall upon a small village. Whilst they plundered and tied all those whom they met with to make them slaves, an old woman said to them, 'Children, be not so mischievous! my daughter is not far off, she will be here very shortly, retreat, if you be wise, you are undone if she light upon you.' They laughed at the old woman and her advice, and continued to load, to tie, and to carry away herself; but they were not gone half L L 514 VOLNEY-TAVERNIER. a mile, but this old woman, looking often backward, made a great outcry of joy, perceiving her daughter coming after her on horseback, and presently this generous sheTartar, mounted on a furious horse, her bow and arrows hanging at her side, called to them at a distance that she was yet willing to give them their lives if they would carry to the village all they had taken, and then withdraw without any noise. The advice of this young woman affected them as little as that of her old mother; but they were soon astonished, when they found her let fly at them in a moment three or four great arrows, which struck as many of their men to the ground, which forced them to fall to their quivers also. But she kept herself at that distance from them, that none of them could reach her. She laughed at all their efforts, and at all their arrows, knowing how to attack them at the length of her bow, and to take her measure from the strength of her arm, which was of another temper than theirs; so that after she had killed half of them with her arrows, and put them into disorder, she came and fell upon the rest with the sabre in her hand, and cut them all in pieces."-FRANCIS BERNIER. [Inland Tribes' Astonishment at the Buildings of Acre, and at the Desert of Water.] "SOME horsemen of one of those tribes which dwell in the depths of the deserts, and never approach the towns, once came as far as Acre. They were astonished at every thing they saw; they could neither conceive how the houses and minarets could stand erect, nor how men ventured to dwell beneath them, and always on the same spot; but above all, they were in an ecstacy at beholding the sea, nor could they comprehend what that desert of water could be."VOLNEY. [Raisins of Persia.] "THERE are twelve or fourteen sorts of raisins in Persia. The most esteemed are the violet, the red, and the black: they are so large, that one of them is a good mouthful. They preserve grapes all the winter in Persia, putting them up in paper bags on the vines, in order to preserve them from the birds. In Courdestan, and about Sultania, where they have abundance of violets, they mingle their leaves with the dry raisins, which at once give them a fine taste, and render them more wholesome."-Universal History. "THE best grapes, in the neighbourhood of Spawhawn, are found on the vines belonging to the Gaurs, or ancient Persians; for they, being permitted by their religion to drink wine, take the more pains in cultivating these trees, which, for the same reason, are neglected by the Mohammedan Persians."-Ibid. [Les toiles peintes de Seronge, qu'on apelle Obites.] "SERONGE est une grande ville dont la pluspart des habitans sont marchands Banianes et artisans qui y sont de père en fils, ce qui est cause qu'il y a quelques maisons de pierre et de brique. Il s'y fait un grand negoce de toutes sortes de toiles peintes qu'on apelle Obites, dont tout le menu peuple de Perse et de Turquie est habillé, et dont l'on se sert en plusieurs autres païs pour des couvertures de lit et des napes à manger. On fait de ces mêmes toiles en d'autres lieux qu'à Seronge; mais les couleurs n'en sont pas vives, et elles s'en vont en les lavant plusieurs fois. C'est le contraire de celles de Seronge; et plus on les lave plus elles deviennent belles. Il y passe une rivière dont l'eau à la vertu de donner cette vivacité a ces couleurs, et pendant la saison These people had never heard of Maho- des pluyes qui durent quatre mois, les ou met. vriers impriment leurs toiles, selon que les marchands étrangers leur en donnent la Arslan-Ula-the Lion's Mountain. "THE eastern declivity of this rocky dorset has a very singular appearance. As the sand-stone has probably in several places been soft, it is apparently corroded with various small globular cavities resembling grotto-work. It is obvious that this uncommon formation of sand-stone could be "Ils y vont un a un de la Presqu' Isle de l'Inde, du Bengale, de la Tartarie : j'y ai vu jusqu'à des Chretiens Noirs. A plusieurs cosses de Jagrenat, les Tchokis exigent d'eux des droits assez considérables qui font partie du revenu du Rajah, qui releve de Katek. Ils sont encore obligés de payer deux roupies par tete aux Tchokis qui sont à l'entree de la ville, et de pre-produced by no other cause than the power senter au moins une demi-roupie au premier Brahme de la Pagode, pour être admis en la présence de Jagrenat. Comme alors ils ne sont pas les plus forts, ils donnent ce qu'on leur demande et se dédommagent, au retour, de cette manière. Après avoir fait leurs dévotions, ils s'assemblent tous à quelques cosses de Jagrenat, et choisissent un chef auquel ils donnent l'équipage d'un général, des gardes, un elephant, des chameaux, &c. Les Pelerins qui ont des armes, forment ensuite une armée partagée en differents corps, qui marchent asses en ordre, mettent à contribution les villes des environs, pillent et brûlent les Aldeis. Quelquefois même le Rajah est obligé de se racheter du pillage. Ces violences durent jusques assez avant dans le Bengale, où, à cause des fortes garnisons et des troupes qu'ils sont exposées à rencontre, ils se dispersent, et portent ensuite chacun dans leur les indulgences pays de Jagrenat. De cette manière, le Rajah, les Brahmes et les Pelerins s'enrichissent, pour ainsi dire, par une convention tacite; et c'est comme ailleurs le peuple qui paie. "L'armée des Fakirs que je rencontrai, of the dashing waves, at a time when the whole steppe formed part of the Caspian Sea; for these excavations cannot be discovered on the higher parts of the sandbank. On the plain extending towards the saline lake, there are scattered several fragments of cliffs which appear to have been entirely covered by water. Among these we met with globular pieces of various sizes, which, on breaking them, were partly hollow, and contained sand not unlike regular geodites. During the prevalence of easterly winds, that blow with violence against this grotto work, the highest part of which is toward the south, it appears to a person standing on its summit, as if he heard the distant murmuring of many hundred voices joined in prayer. The phenomenon was particularly striking on the day when I visited this region, during a violent storm from the north-east. "The credulous Kalmuks are told by their priests, that the tutelary spirit of the mountain, or, the white old man, whom they call Tzaghan Ebughen, resides in a large cavern beneath this mountain; and that this is the chosen abode of saints, who 516 NIEBUHR-BELL-STAVORINUS. are engaged in continual devotion and spi- | Supreme Being will create a set of new ritual songs."-PALLAS. w wwwww [The Arab's Accoutrements.] "L'ARABE porte toujours dans sa ceinture sur le devant du corps son grand couteau large et pointu, nommé Jambea. Il est plus armé encore, lorsqu'il va faire des courses dans le desert. Alors il porte son sabre suspendu à une bande de cuir, qu'il passe par dessus l'epaule droite. Quand ils sont a cheval, ou montés sur leurs chameaux, ils sont toujours armés de lances, et ceux qui marchent a pied, en ont quelquefois aussi, avec cette difference, qu'elles sont plus courtes."-NIEBUHR. [Petrifying Springs near Tauris.] "ABOUT four or five leagues from Tauris, in a plain called Roomy, there are several springs of water that petrify wood, and I have been informed, even reptiles, such as lizards. One thing is certain, that after a stagnation of this water for a certain time, there is a substance like marble found at the bottom, which the Persians cut into any breadth or length at pleasure. I have seen of it two or three inches thick. It is easily polished, and is diaphonous, but not transparent. After sawing it into slabs, they fix them for windows in their bagnios and private apartments."-BELL. [Hindoo Notions of the End of the World.] "BEFORE the end of the world, we con gods, and these new gods will form all sorts of mineral, vegetative, and animated beings, much the same as they were before." Letters from the Heathens to the Danish Missionaries. The Zodiacal Light. "THE time when I saw this appearance at the strongest was on the 21st January, at half-past seven in the evening, in N. latitude 8° 30′ abreast of Coylang, on the coast of Malabar, three leagues off. It then appeared as light and clear as the breaking of the day about a quarter of an hour before sunrise. Its base stood upon a dark cloud, such as the seamen call a fog-bank, which rose about three degrees above the horizon. The breadth of the light was, at the bottom, nearly ten degrees, and it was visible to the height of forty degrees, where it terminated in a pyramidal form. It was still visible at nine o'clock, but not half so bright as before. It darkened the lustre of most of the stars that were within its range. I never saw the Zodiacal light without a cloud or fog-bank upon which its basis rested." "This was in the west, in October he had seen it in the east."-STAVORinus. wwwww [Rice Planting.] "THE best rice, when planted, is set nearly under water, so that the tops just appear above the surface. The plants would otherwise die, for being too weak to stand against the wind by itself, the plant stands in need of the surrounding water to support it." stantly believe, that the north, south, east, and west seas, shall be all blended together, and make but one great sea; and that then all living creatures, the inferior gods "THE other sort, which is planted in the themselves not excepted, shall cease to be rainy season, on high ground, and upon the distinct separate beings, by being swallow-mountains, receives the moisture it requires ed up into the nature of the One only God, solely from the rains, but it is not so good the primary cause of all things. And there as the former sort."-Ibid. will be immediately a new creation, the WILCOCKE-TAVERNIER-DU HALDE. [Borassus Flabelliformis of Ceylon, &c. used instead of Paper.] "Ar Ceylon, and on the adjacent continent, the leaves of the borassus palm tree, (borassus flabelliformis,) and sometimes of the talpat tree, (licuala spinosa,) are used instead of paper. The leaves of both these palm trees lie in folds like a fan, and the slips stand in need of no farther preparation than merely to be separated and cut smooth with a knife. Their mode of writing upon them consists in engraving the letters with a fine pointed steel; and in order that the characters may be the better seen and read, they rub them over with charcoal, or some other black substance. The iron point made use of for a pen, is either set in a brass handle, and carried about in a wooden case, of about six inches in length, or else it is formed entirely of iron, and, together with the blade of a knife, designed for the purpose of cutting the leaves and making them smooth, set in a knifehandle common to them both, and into which it shuts up. When a single slip is not sufficient, several are bound together, by means of a hole made at one end, and a thread on which they are strung. If a book be to be made, they look out principally for broad and handsome slips of talpat leaves, upon which they engrave the characters very elegantly and accurately, with the addition of various figures, by way of ornament. All the slips have then two holes made in them, and are strung upon a silken cord, and covered with two thin lacquered boards. By means of the cords, the leaves are held even together, and by being drawn out when they are wanted to be used, they may be separated from each other at pleasure."-WILCOCKE, Note to STAVORINUS. [Palanquin Bearers.] "C'EST une manière de couchete de six ou sept pieds de long et de trois de large avec un petit balustre tout autour. Une 517 sorte de canne nommée bambouc que l'on plie de bonne-heure pour luy faire prendre au milieu la forme d'un arc, soûtient la couverte du pallanquin qui est de satin ou de brocart, et quand le soleil donne d'un costé, un valet qui marche près du pallanquin à soin d'abaisser la couverture. Il y en a un autre qui porte au bout d'un bâton comme un rondache d'ozier couvert de quelque belle étofe, pour parer promptement celuy qui est dans le pallanquin contre l'ardeur du soleil, quand il se tourne et qu'il luy donne sur le visage. Les deux bouts du bambouc sont attachez de costé et d'autre au corps du pallanquin entre deux bâtons joints ensemble en sautoir ou en croix de S. Andre, et chacun de ces deux bâtons est long de cinq ou six pieds. Il y a tel de ces bamboucs qui coûte jusques à deux cens écus, et j'en ay paye d'un cent-vingt-cinq. Trois hommes pour le plus se mettent à chacun de ces deux bouts pour porter le pallanquin sur l'épaule, l'un sur la droite, l'autre sur la gauche, et ils marchent de la sorte plus vite que nos porteurs de chaise de Paris, et d'un train plus doux, s'estant instruits à ce mestier-là dés leur bas âge." TAVERNIER. [Strange Hair-Dressing.] "THE head-dress of the women of Myau-tse of Hu-quang has something in it very odd and whimsical. They put on their heads a piece of light board above a foot long, and five or six inches broad, which they cover with their hair, fastening it with wax, so that they seem to have hats of hair; they can neither lean nor lie down, but by resting on their necks, and they are obliged to turn their heads continually to the right and the left, on the roads, which in this country are full of woods and thickets. The difficulty is still greater when they would comb their hair, for they must be whole hours at the fire to melt the wax; after having cleaned their hair, which trouble they are at three or four times a year, |