When I Was In This Country, The Chief Jesuit Residing At The Court Of
The Mogul, Was Francisco Corsi, A Florentine By Birth, Who Acted
Likewise As Agent For The Portuguese.
I wish I could confirm the reports
they have made of conversions; but the real truth is, that they
Have
merely spilt the water of baptism on the faces of a few, working on the
necessities of some poor men, who from want of means to live, with which
the jesuits supplied them, have been persuaded to wear crucifixes, but
who, for want of instruction, are only Christians in name. Of these few
mendicants, or so called by Christians, I noticed that five of them
would beg in the name of Maria, for one who asked in the name of Jesus.
I also desired to have put my hands to the holy work, but found extreme
difficulty in the way, owing both to the Mahometan laxity in regard to
the use of women, and the debauched lives of some unchristian
Christians. - May he who hath the key of David open their eyes, and in
his good time send labourers into this vineyard. Amen.
SECTION VIII.
JOURNEY OF THOMAS CORYAT BY LAND, FROM JERUSALEM TO THE COURT OF THE
GREAT MOGUL.[245]
INTRODUCTION.
Without proposing to follow this singularly bold English traveller and
whimsical writer, in all his crudities, as he has quaintly termed his
own writings, it has seemed proper to give some abbreviated extracts of
his observations, which may serve in some measure to illustrate those of
Sir Tomas Roe and the Reverend Edward Terry. - E.
[Footnote 245: Purch. Pilgr. I. 607. In regard to this short article,
see introduction to the immediately preceding Section. - E.]
Sec.1. Letter from Ajimeer, the Court of the Great Mogul, to Mr L.
Whitaker, dated in the Year 1615.
My last letter to you was from Zobah, as it is called by the prophet
Samuel, B. II. ch. viii. v. 3. now named Aleppo, the principal emporium
of all Syria, or rather of the eastern world; which was, I think, about
fifteen months ago. I returned from Jerusalem to Aleppo, where I
remained three months afterwards, and then departed in a caravan bound
for Persia. Passing the river Euphrates, the chiefest of the rivers
which irrigated the terrestrial paradise, when about four days journey
from Aleppo, I entered into Mesopotamia, or Chaldea. Hence, in two days
journey, I reached Ur of the Chaldees, where Abraham was born, a very
delicate and pleasant city.[246] I remained here four days; and in other
four days journey reached the Tigris, which I also passed, at a place
where it was so shallow that it only reached to the calf of my leg, so
that I waded over a-foot. I then entered into the greater Armenia; and
thence into lower Media, and resided six days in its metropolis,
formerly called Ecbatana, the summer residence of Cyrus the Great, now
called Tauris. More woeful ruins of a city I never beheld, excepting
those of Troy and of Cyzicum in Natolia.
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