'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.' [‎137] (808/1024)

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The Paradife of Indoftan.
The firft of his demands is, Whether it he true, that in the Kingdom of Kachemire
there ate Jews fettled there from immemorial times > and tf fo, whether they have the Holy
Scripture, and if their Old T eft ament be altogether conform to ours ?
The Second is, That l would give yon an account of what I have ohferved touching the
Mounfons, or the Seafon of the ordinary Rains in Indies.
The Third is, That I would give you my Ohfervatrons, and declare to you my Thoughts
concerning the wonderful regularity of the Current of the Sea, and the Winds in the Indies.
The Fourth is. Whether the Kingdom of Bengale is fo fertile, fo rich, and fo beautiful^
as Tis jaid to be ?
The Fifth is, That I would at length decide unto you the old Controverfie touching the
Cmfes of the Increafe ef the Nile.
Avfver to the fir ft Demind, concerning the Jews.
I Should indeed be very glad, as well as Monfieur The, venote that there were Jews to
be found in the Valley of thofe Mountains, who might be fuch, as I believe he
would have them > I mean, of thofe Ten Tribes tranfported by Salmanaffen But you
mayaffurehim, that if anciently there have been of them in this place ( as there is fome
reafon to believe there were, ) there are none of them at prefent, and all the inhabi
tants of it are now either Gentiles or Mahumetansi and that perhaps Tis China, where
leymay be found. For I have lately feen,in the hands of our Reverend Father,thejefuit
of Vehli, fome Letters of a German Jefuite written from taking notice that he had
there feenfome of them,that had preferved the Jewifh Religion and-the Old Tdfament,
that knew nothing of the Death of JESUS CHRIS T, and that they would even have
made this Jefuite their Kacan, if he would have forborn to eat Swines fldh.
Mean time bere ztto are not wanting feveral marks of Judaifm. The firfi is, that at
the entring into this Kingdom, after having paffed the Mountains of Pire-penjale, all
the Inhabitants I faw in thefirft Villages feemed to me to be Jews, in t heir garbe and
meen, and in Something peculiar, which maketh us often difeern Nations frome one
another. I am not the only perfon, that hath had this thought j our Father, the Je
fuite, and many of our Europeans had the fame before me. The fecond is, that I have
obferv’d, that among the meaner fort of the people of this Town, though they be
Mahumetans, yet the name of Moufa, that is Mofes, is much ufed. The third, that
commonly they fay, that Salomon came into their Country, and that it was he that cut
the Mountain of Baramoule to give an outlet to the waters. The fourth, that they fay,
Mofes died at Kachemire, and that his Tomb is one league diftant from this Town.
The fifths that they pretend, that that little and very ancient Edifice, which appears
from henpe upon an high mountain, was built by Salomon^ and that thence they call
it to this i^ery day the Throne of Salomon. So that 1 would not deny, but that fome
Jews may have penetrated hither i and that in length of time they may have loft the
purity of their Law, turned Idolaters^ at laft Mahumetans. Inftiort, we fee ftore of
the Jewilh Nation that have pafled into Per/?*/to Lar, Ifpahan, and alfo into Tndojlatt
on the fide of Goa and Cochin: \ have been informed, that there were of them in
Ethiopia, even gallant and military men, and fome of them fo confiderable and po
tent, that there was one of them, fifteen or hxreen years agoe, that had attempted
to make himfelf King of a little Country of the Mountains of a very hard accefs j if
it be true, what two Ambaffadours of the King of JEthiopia, that were lately in this
Court, related to me.
Anfwer'to the Second Demand, about the ftated Rains in the Indies.
t He Sun is fo ftrong and violent in the Indies all the year long, and principally
for the fpace of eight months, that he would burn all, and render the Country ,
barren and inhabitable, if Providence had not particularly provided and difpoTed things
in fo admirable a way, as that in the month of July, when the heats are moft violent,
Kains begin regularly to fall, which continuing for three months together, do temper
the Earth, and render it very fruitful^ and fo qualifie the Air that it may be endured*
Yet are not thefe Rains fo regular, that they fall always juft at the fame time, of which
^ have, made many obfervatiens in different places, and principally atVehli, where I
hvf'jd s lone while. The like i$ found in other Countries, and there is always fome
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