'Collections of travels through Turky into Persia, and the East Indies. Giving an account of the present state of those countries, as also a full relation of the five years wars, between Aureng-Zebe and his brothers in their father's life time, about the succession. And a voyage made by the Great Mogul (Aureng-Zebe) with his Army from Dehli to Lahor, from Lahor to Bember, and from thence to the Kingdom of Kachemire, by the Mogols, call'd, the Paradise of the Indies. Together with a relation of the Kingdom of Japan and Tunkin, and of their particular manners and trade. To which is added a new description of the Grand Seignior's Seraglio, and also of all the Kingdoms that encompass the Euxine and Caspian Seas, being the travels of Monsieur TavernierBernier, and other great men.' [‎152] (477/1024)

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Trawls in India.
fiave afTur’d me they would fometimes give 20000 Crowns for fuch a piece Ard
m wonder they will give fo much Money for a piece of Coral, who defpifing ^
other Jewels and Pearls 5 care for nothing but that which isinnoefteem anywher*
dfe. They fet a great value upon the Skin of a certain Filh which is rougher
than a Seal-skin. Upon the back of theFifh there are 1 ft little holes, and fo me
times eight, fomewhat elevated, with another in the middle} in the form of a
Rofe. They make Scabberds for Swords of the Skin *, and the more thofeholg*
grow m the form of a Rofe > the higher value they put upon them ^ having
ten-thoufand Crowns fora Skin. To conclude the difeourfe of Coral, you rnuft
know that the meaner fort of people ufe it for Bracelets and Neck-laces, all over
efpecially toward the Northern Territories of the great Mogul*, and all
along the Mountains as you go to the Kingdom of u 4 fen and Bout an.
. Yellow-Amber is only found upon the Coaft of Prujfia in the Baltick^Sea^h^
*lhe Sea throws it upon the Sand when fuch and fuch winds blow. The Ele&or
of Brandenburghy who is Sovereign of that Coalt, farms it out for 20000 Crowns
a year, and fomttimes 22000. And the Farmers keep guards on both Tides of
the fhoar,,in regard the Sea calls it up fometimes upon one fide, and fometimes
upon the other, to prevent the Healing of it.
-7 Amber is nothing but a certain congelation made in the Sea,like a certain Gum
for you lhall find in feveral pieces,Flies,Gnats,and other infedls congeal’d therein.
I faw feven or eight Flies, fo congeal'd in one piece.
In China, when any great Lord makes a Feait, it is for his Grandeur and Mag.
nificence to caufe three or four feveral forts ofPerfuming-pots to be fet upon the
Table, and to throw into every one of them a vaft quantity of Amber; for the
more, it burns, and the bigger the pieces are, the more magnificent is the Enteiv
tainment accounted. The reafon of this cuflom is, bccaufe they adore the fire ^
and befides, that the Amber calls forth a feent pleafing to the Chmfesjhzxthv
kind of Oil in it, that flames after a more unufual manner than other materials of
fire. This wall of Amber makes it the bell Commodity that could be imported
into China the Trade were free for Strangers. At prefent the Hollanders have
engrofs’d all this Trade to themfelves, and the Chinefes come all to Bataviai®
buy it.
As for Amber-grife *, there is no perfonin the World that knows either what it
is, or where, or how it is produc’d. But the faireft probability is,that it multbe
only in the Eallern-Sea .• though fome parcels have been found upon the Coaft of
£ngldnd,%nd in fome other parts of Europe. The greatefl quantity^ found upon
the Coaft of Melinda,hut more efpecially in the mouth of a River call'd Bio de Sena.
The Governor of Mozambique gets in the three years of his Government above
30000a Pardo’s of Amber-grife, every Pardo containing 27 Sous of our Money.
Sometimes they meet with very large and very confiderable pieces. In the year
1-627 a Portugal Getting Sail from Goa to the Manilles, after he had pall the
Streight of Malacca, was by tempeft driv’n near an unknown Ifland, where they
came to an Anchor. Several of the Ship’s-Company ventring^a-fhore, met with
a River j and going to bath themfelves in it, one of them found a great piece 01
Amber-grife that weigh’d thirty-three pounds; but falling together by the ears
about their fhares, the Captain, to reconcile them,told them ’twaspitty to deface
it, in regard it was a Prefent fit for the Kingand therefore advis’d them to prefent
it to the Vice-Roy, who would no doubt reward them for their pains. By that
means the Captain got the parcel out of their Clutches, and prefentingit tothj
Vice-Roy,got a reward for himfelf % and the Party that found it .* but the reft had'
nothing at all. . r
In the year 1646 or 1647, a Middkburgher of good quality found a piece or
forty-two pounds upon the Coaft of the llland of St. Maurice, where he c on }'
nianded for the /M^W-Corapany, Eaft of the Ifland of St. Lawrence, and lent 1
to Batavia: but there being a mark, as if fbme piece of it were broken ofi,t c
Zdander, was accus’d to have taken half,, and turn’d out of his Command) wna -
ever he could fay to juftify himfelf. ^ ^ «' f ,