‘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’ [‎91] (112/508)

Into the EAST-INDIES.
at length©fthefe Carriages, becaufe they are unknown in our
Countries, although I remember to have feen in Italy the Effigies
of a Net or B~ete , engraven in certain Maps of the World, and,
if I mi flake not, amongft the ways of travelling in Brafil, : where
I believe they are usM i and indeed this mode of Carriage is very
II fual io India, notoncly in Cities, but alfo in journeys and thofe
offufficient length , wherefore to make experience of it, I was
minded to have my feif carry'd this day after the manner which .
I have defcrib'd ^ nor mufi: I omit, that the Men who bear fuch
Carriages are fatish'd with a very fmall reward. Going in Pa-
lane lino, in the Territories of the PortugJs in India, isprohi- .
bited to Men, becaufe" indeed ^tis a thing too effeminate % never-
thelels, as the Portugals are very little obfervers of their own
Laws, they began at firft to be tolerated upon occafion of the \
Rain, and for mvours or prefents, and afterwards become fo
common^ that they are us'd almoft by every body throughout
the whole year. . . ; * ' ^
On the tenth of Augufl, 1 believe,, the Sun was in the Zenith "Vl^
oiGoa, returning from the Northern lignqs, and paffingto the
Southern t yet tor the day. and precife hour, I refer my felf to a
better Calculation, according to the good Books which I have
not here with me. On the eleventh of the iame Monethj Ifaw
at Goa a Carncro, or Weather without horns, which they told
me was of the Kace of Balagat^not great but of ftrong limbs, har-
nefs'd with a velvet faddle, crupper, head-ftall, bridle, ftirfups,
and all the accoutrements of aHorfe^ and it was ridden upon
by a Portugal Youth of about twelve years old , as he went and
came from his own Houfe to the School of Giesii, which low
School of Reading and Writing, the laid Fathers keep for more
convenience of Children, not at the Colledge which ftands in
the edge of the City where the higher Schools are, but at the
Church of Gicsk, which is the Profefs'd Houfe, and ftands in the
middle of the City,whither the abovefaid Youth rode daily upon
his Martin 5 and I obferv'd, that the beafl: being us'd to the
place, knew the way fo well that he went alone at night from
the Houfe to the School to fetch the Youth , without anybody
holding or guiding him before the fervant which drove him^ as
they do many Hories. I took the more notice of this trifle, be
caufe it feem'd a new thing to ride upon fuch creatures, for al
though in cur Countries,Dogs and Goats arefometimes feen with
faddlesand Horfe furniture, running, leaping, and capring, yet
'tis onely for fport, and with puppets upon the faddle 5 but
this Martin was ridden upon by fuch a boy aslhavemention'd,
although the beaft was but of a very ordinary bignefs. On the
ievententh otAugnji, the Gentile-Indians kept a kind ot Feftival,
to which a ^reat number of them came to a place in Goa, which flftyrv#
they call iiarve, or as the vulgar corruptly fpeak Narvk, as it
were for pardon or abfolution, and many came in pilgrimage
from far Countries to wafti their bodies here 5 plunging them-
N 2 felves