'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.' [‎104] (775/1024)

The Gentiles of \ n & Q $ Lan ,
come, and much made of-, they betog efkem’d a Bldling to the Houle. They are by
no means to" be accufed of any thing, though it be well enough known, what in fueh vl
fits among the Women paffeth. But 5 tis the cuhom,they are in poffellion of being Saints
for all that, and any Houfe thinks it felf honour’d with their vifit. But it is not only
there fo j many other places there be in the World, where things are not fo ftri&ly
look’d to. But that which I find molt ridiculous in thofe people is, That they are im
pertinent enough, to compare themfelves with our Religious Men, they meet with in
the Indies. I have often taken pleafure to catch them,ufing much ceremony with them,
and giving them great refped i but 1 foon heard them fay to one another, This Fran-
g«i.f'knows'who we are, he hath been a great while in the Indies, he knows that we
are the Padrys of the Indians. A fine comparifon, faid I within my felf, made by an
impertinent and idolatrous rabble of Men!
But we (lay too long upon thefe Heathen-Beggers : Let us go on to their Boo\s of Law
and Sciences: you may afterwards judge, whether mofi: of what I am going to fayofit
may be put, as l think it maf, in the number of Extravagancies.
Do not wonder, if, though I know not the Hanfcrit, the language of the Beam’d
("of which fomewhat may be faid hereafter, and which is perhaps the lame with that of
the old Brahmans ) do notwithfianding tell you many things taken out of Books written
in ti at Tongue. For you muft know, that my Agah Vanechmend-tyn, partly upon'my
felicitation, partly out of his own curiofity, took into his ferviceoncof the famoufelf
Fendets that was in all the Indies, and that formerly had had a Penfion of Vara, the
Elddf Son of King Chah-jehan and that this Pendet, befides that he drew toour Houfe
all the mofi Learned Pendets, was for three years confiantly of my converfation. When
i was weary of explaining to my Agah thofe late difcovcrks 'ot' Harvey and Pecquet in
Anatomy, and of difeourfing with him of the Philofophy of Gajfmdi and Vef-cartes,
which 1 tranflated to him into Perfian ( for that was my chief employment for five or
fix years ) that Pendet was our refuge, and then he was obliged to difeourfe, and to re
late unto us his fiories, which he deliver’d ferioully and without ever fmiling. Tis
true, that at lafi we werefo much difgufted with his tales and uncouth reafonings, that
wefcarce had patience left to hear them.
They fay then, that God, whom they call Achar, that is to fay, Immoveable or'im
mutable, hath fent them four Books, which they call Beths, a word fignifying Science,
becaufe they pretend that in thefe Books all Sciences are comprehended. The firft of
thefe Books is call’d Athen-babed, the fecond Zager-bed, the third Retybed, the fourth
Sama-bed. Conform to thedo&rine of thefe Books,this people ought to be difiinguilh’f,
as really they are, into four Tribes : The firft is of Bracbmans, Men of the Law, the fe
cond of Quetterys, Men of Arms j the third, Men of Befcue or Traficty commonly called
Banians j and the fourth, Men of Seydra, that is, Handy-crafts Men and Labourers. And
thefe are fo diferiminated, that thofe of one Tribe cannot marry into another, that is, a
Brahman cannot marry with a Woman Quettery, and fo of the reft.
They all agree in one Do&rine, which is that of Pythagoras concerning the Metem-
pfyebojis or Tranfmigration of Souls, and in this, that they muft not kill or eat of any
Animal. However there are fome of the fecond Tribe that may eat of them, provided
it be neither Cows nor Peacocty-ftetth they all having a great veneration for thefe two
creatures, efpecially the Cow, becaufe they fancy I know not what River lying between
this Life and that to come, which they are to pafs by holding themfelves faftonaCows-
tail. Poifibly their ancient Legiilators had feen thofe Shepherds of Egy/tf, crofting
the Nile, by holding with their left-hand the Tail of an Oxe, and in their right-hand
a Stick to guide him with i or rather they have imprinted in them this refpecl: for
Cows, becaufe they draw from them Milk and Butter, which is a great part of their
fubfiftance i and becaufe alfo they.are fo ferviceable for the Plough, and confequently for
the Life of Man i and that the rather becaufe it is not fo in the Indies as in our Parts, for
maintaining fo great a number of Cattle as we do : if but half as many of them Ihould
be killed in the Indies, as there are in England or France, the Country will quickly be
deftitute of them, and the Land remain Untilled. The heat is there fo violent for eight
' mopths.of the year, that all is dry, and that Oxen and Cows are often ftarved, or dye of
eating trafhin the fields like Hogs. And ’tis upon the account of thefcarcity of Cat-*
tie, that in the time of Jehan-Guire, the Brahmans obtain’d an Ed Eft, that no Cattle
fhould be kill’d for a certain number of years, and that of late they prefented a Petition
to Ameng-Zcbe, and offered him a confiderable fum, if he would make the like Pro
hibition.