‘The travels of Sig. Pietro della Valle, a noble Roman, into East-India and Arabia Deserta. In which, the several countries, together with the customs, manners, traffique, and rites both religious and civil, of those Oriental princes and nations, are faithfully described: In familiar letters to his friend Signior Mario Schipano. Whereunto is added a relation of Sir Thomas Roe’s voyage into the East-Indies’ [‎89] (110/508)

Into the EAST-INDIES. ' 89
fame gallantry of Cariers and Drcffes, as are above defcrib'd,
faving that the Vice-Hoy heard Mais in the Church ot St. James.
fn the Evening, I went with Sig: Ruy Gomez Boraccio, a Prieft V,
and Brother of Sig: Antonio Btroccio to the Church of Saint
Vames. which (lands fomewhat diftant without the City, upon . y,
the edge of the Ifland towards the main Land oUdil-Sciah.^W^ ^
which is on the other fide of a little River, or Arm of the Sea. * "
For which reafon, theTfland is in this as well as many other dan- ^ a 1 '
gerous places fortift'd with ftrong walls 5 and here there is a Gate
upon thepafs, which is almoft full of people, going and coming
from the main Land, andiscall'd by the Indians Benajiarni, by
which name fome of our Hiftorians mention it in their wri
ting's concerning thefe parts ^ as Ojonus ^ A4ajf£us , occ. whic _
Gate as likewife many others, which are upon divers places ot
paiia^e about the iQand, is guarded continually with Souldiers,
commanded by a Captain who h^ththe care thereof, and for
whom there is built a fineHoufe upon the walls ot the Illand ,
- which in this place are very high, forming a kind of Baftion, or
rather a Cavaliero, or mount for, Ordnance ^ 0.91 very well^de-
fign'd, but fufficiently ftrong, whereip are kept pieces of Artillery
for defence of the place. We went to yifi^: t^e faid Captain,, who
was then Sig: Manoel Pereira de U Gerqla, and from the high Bal
conies of his Houfe and the Baftiqn, we enjoy'd the goodly pro-
fpeftofthe Fields roundabout, both of the Ifland and the Con
tinent, being difcernable to a great diftance^ i The Captaip en
tertain d us with • the Mufick of his three Daughters, whofung
and play'd very well after the Portugal manner upon the Lute,
after which we return'd home. About the Church of Saint
James are fome few habitations in fornvof a little Town, which is
alto callM Santiago and the way from thence to the City is a ve-
rv fine walkjthe Country being all green, and the way-fides belet
with Indian Nut-trees 5 (which the call and their
fruit Cocco) the Gardens andHoufes of Pleafure on either fide
contributing to the delightfulnefs. thereof, being full of lundry
fruit-trees unknown to us*, as alfo becaufe in Winter-cime the
very walls of the Gardens are all green with mofs, and other
herbs growing there, which indeed b onq, of the pleafantelt
fights that I have feen in my days, and the rather becaule tis
natural and without artifice. The fame happens, I believe, not
in this Ifland onely, but in all the Region roundabout. In the
field adioyning to the City, near the mines of a delerted build-
inu, once intended for a Church, but never fimfh d, is a work
of the Gentiles, fometimesJLords of this Country, namely, one
of the greatefl: Wells that ever I beheld, round 5 and about twenty /
of my Paces in Diametre, and very deep ^ it hath Parapets,
or Walls breaft-high round about with two Gates, atone ot
which is a double pair of ftairs leading two ways to the bottom, v
to fetch water when it is very low. the fix and twentieth,
I went out of the City to a place of pleafure in the luand, where