'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.' [‎101] (772/1024)

knowing tiiat they cr.nnot be received again amongftthe Gentiles, nor live with them ’
becaufe they repute them infamous, after they have committed fuch a fault, and brought
fuch a difgrace upon their Religion, fuch Women, I fay, are ordinarily the prey of
this kind of Men, who are alfo counted infamous in theMer, and that have nothing
to loofe. A Mogolian durll not fave, nor receive any, for fear of bringing himfelf into
great trouble. Some Patuguefes living in Sea-ports, where they were ftrongeft, have
fometimes carried away fome of them. For my^part, I have often been fo enraged a- 1
gainft thofe Brahmins , that if I durif, I had ftrangled them. I remember, among c-
thers, that at Labor, I faw a very handfome and a very young Woman burn 5 d :I be
lieve (he was not above twelve years of age. This poor unhappy Creature appear’d
rather dead then alive, when (lie came near the Pile i (he (hook, and wept bitterly :
Mean time three or four of rhefe Executioners, the Brahmans , together with an old
Hag, that held her under the Arm, thruii her on, and made her (it down upon the
Wood, and lead (he (hould run away, they tied her Legs and Hands, and (o burn’d her
alive. \ had enough to do to contain my (elf for indignation •, but I was forced to content
my felf with detefting this horrid Religion, and to fay by my felf, what the Poet
once faidof fuch another, upon the occaiion, of Ipbigenia, whom her own Father dga-
memnon facrihced to Diana, for the intereif of the Grecians, amongft whom he was one
of the principal Leaders.
—'Lantum Religio potuit fuadere malorum !
' ■ - r .. / ■ •
Thefe are certainly very barbarous and very cruel Cuftomes, but that which the Brah
mans do in fome other places of the Indies \s yet more fo : For inftead of burning thofe
Women that will dye upon the death of their Husbands, they bury them in the ground
alive up to the very Throat, and then two or three of them fall at ofice upon them,
and wring their Neck round, and fo choakthem, covering them quickly with fome
earth, and then marching over their Heads. But let us pafs to fome other Guftomes of
thofe Countries.
Moft of the Gentiles burn their dead * but fome there are, that do no more than with
fome Straw broil them on a Rivers fide, cafiing them thereupon from the height of a
deep Bank into the Water : Which I have often feenupon the River G^/zger.
Some of thefe Gentiles there are, who, when they perceive a lick perion near death
carry him to the fide of a River (at which barbarous adfion I have been once prefent)
and then firft put his Feet into the Water, and afterwards let him Hide down as far as
to his Throat, and then when they think he is now expiring, they fink him quite un
der Water, and there leave him, after they have made a great clamour, and clapping
with their Hinds: Andthis 5 fay they, to the end that the Soul leaving the body may be
wafti’d trom all the impurities, (he may have contra&ed in the Body. And this is not
only areafon given by the Vulgar i fori have fpoken with the moft Learned of them,
who deliver’d the fame with great ferioufnefs. But let us go on to other extravagan
cies.
Amongft that vaft number and great variety of Fatyres, Derviches, or R-digous Hea
thens of the Indies, there is abundance of them that have Convents, in which there are
Superiours, and wherein they make certain vows of Chaftity, Poverty,and Obedience,
leading foodd a life, that I doubt whether you can give credit to it. Thefe are com
monly called Jauguis, as if you (hould fay, Vnited to God. You (hall fee many of them
fit (lark naked, or lie days and nights upon Allies, and commonly enough, under fome
of thofe large trees, that are on the (ides of the "Talabs or Ponds, or elfe in thofe Gal
leries that are about their Deum or Idol-temples. Some of them have their Hair hang-*
ingdown to the middle of their Legs,and that wreathed into feveral parcels, as the large
Main of our Barbes, or rather as the Hair of thofe that have the iicknefs of Poland caA-
led the Of thefe I have feen fome in divers places, who held one Arm, and
fometimes both, lifted up perpetually above their Heads, and that had at the end of their
fingers wreathed Nails, that were longer by meafure than half my little finger. Their
Arms were fmall and lean as ot hedfica! perfons, becaufe they took not fufficient nou-
Vifemem in that forced pofture, and they could not let them down to take any thing with
them, either meat or drink, becaufe the Nerves were retired, and the Joints were filled
and dried upiwherefore alfo they have young Novices, that ferve them as Holy men with
very great refpedf. There is no Megera in Hell fo terrible to look on, as thofe Men arc, all