'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.' [‎96] (767/1024)

Dehli and Agra capital
Garden, and then to defire you'to judge, whether I had reafon to fay, that the Maufol
um, or Tomb of Taje-Mehale, is fomething worthy to be admired. For my pa rr \ a
not yet well know, whether I am not fomewhat infedfed fiill with Indianifme i’butl
mufi needs fay, that I believe it ought to be reckoned amongft the wonders of th-
World, rather then thofe unfliapen maffes df the ^Egyptian Pyramids, which I was
weary to fee after I had feen them twice, and in which I find nothing without but
pieces of great Stones ranged in the form of fteps one upon another, and withi/i nothing
but very little Art and Invention. ^
A Letter written to Mr. Chapelain, fent from
in P-erJia, O&ob. 4.1667. concerning the Super-
fiitions, ftrange Falhions, and Dodrin of the Na
tive Indies, or Gentiles ofWhence may
be feen, that there are no Opinions lb ridiculous
and fo extravagant , which the fpirit of Man is
not capable of.
SIR,
I F ! fhould live whole ages^ I know not whether I could ever forget thofe two
Eclipfes of the Sun, of which I faw one in France in the Year 1654. and the 0-
ther in the Indies at Debit in the Year 1666. if I remember aright. The former
feemed very remarkable to me upon the account of the childifli credulity of oar
common people j and of that pannick terror which had fo feized the heart, that
ome bought Drugs agaihfi the Eclipfe> others kept themfelves clofe in the dark in
^ j* r > veS5 anc ^ thefr well-clofed Chambers j others caff themfelves in great multi*
u es into the Churches ; Ibofe apprehending fome malign and dangerous influence,
and ^fe beheving thatthey were come to their laft day, and that the Eclipfe would
!? a lS e v 1 , 6 r° un aations of Nature, and overturn it, notwithfianding any thing that the
aJJendiS) Rohervalf 3 and many other famous Philofophers could fay or write againft
t is perfwafion, when they demonlfrate, that this Eclipfe was of the fame nature with
o many others that had preceded without any mifehief, and that it was a known acci-
ent, torefeen and ordinary , which had nothing peculiar, but what fome cheating
Attrological Mountebanks might have deviled.
That which I faw at Debit feemed alfo very confiderable to me, by reafon of the ri-
icu ous Errors and Superfiitions of the Indians. At the time when the faid Eclipfe
was to appear, I went up to' the Terraffe of my houfc, which was feituate on the fide
o the River Gemna y thence I faw both fides of the River, for near a league in length,
covered with the Heathen Idolaters, that flood in the water up to their girdle, demure-
y ooking up into the sky, to the end that they might plunge and waih themfelves at
the moment when the Eclipfe fhould begin. The little Boys and Girls were dark naked i
the men were almofVfo too, but that they had a kind df fcarf round about their thighs
tocover their nakednefs : and the married Women, together with the young Maids that
were not above fix or feven gears' old, were, covered with a fingle cloth. Perfons of
condition, as the Rajas, or foveraign Princes of thofe Gentils, (who commonly are about
T C f, 5 anc ^ * n t ^ ie P a y anc l fhe Serrahs or Exchangers, the Banckcrs,
j ewellers, and other great Merchants, were mofi of them gone to the other fide ot the
waterwith all their family, and had there put up their Tents, and faftnsd in the River
certain Kanates, which are a kind of skreens, to perform their Ceremonies, and conve-
n.enf y to wafh themfelves with there Wives,foas not to be feen by others. Thefe I^o-
iaters no fooner faw the Eclipfe begin, but they raifed a great cry, and all at once plunged
themielves wholly into the water,l know not how many times one after another > hand-