I Was There
At The Return Of The King In Triumph From This Conquest, And His Entry
Into Pegu Was A Goodly Sight, Especially The Vast Number Of Elephants
Laden With Gold, Silver, And Jewels, And Carrying The Noblemen And Women
Who Were Made Captives At Siam.
To return to my voyage.
I departed from Malacca in a great ship bound
for St Thome on the coast of Coromandel, and as at that time the captain
of Malacca had intelligence that the king of Acheen meant to come
against Malacca with a great fleet and army, he refused to allow any
ships to depart. On this account we departed from Malacca under night
without having made any provision of water; and being upwards of 400
persons on board, we proposed to have gone to a certain island for
water, but by contrary winds we were unable to accomplish this, and were
driven about by the tempests for forty-two days, the mountains of
_Zerzerline_ near the kingdom of _Orissa_, 500 miles beyond St Thome,
being the first land we got sight of. So we came to Orissa with many
sick, and had lost a great number for want of water. The sick generally
died in four days illness. For the space of a year after, my throat
continued sore and hoarse, and I could never satisfy my insatiable
thirst. I judged the reason of this hoarseness to be from the continual
use of sippets dipped in vinegar and oil, on which I sustained my life
for many days. We had no scarcity of bread or wine; but the wines of
that country are so hot that they cannot be drank without water, or they
produce death. When we began to want water, I saw certain Moors who were
officers in the ship who sold a small dish of water for a ducat, and I
have afterwards seen a _bar_ of pepper, which is two quintals and a
half, offered for a small measure, and it could not be had even at that
price. I verily believe I must have died, together with my slave, whom I
had bought at a high price, had I not sold him for half his value, that
I might save his drink to supply my own urgent wants, and save my own
life.
SECTION XVI.
_Of the Kingdom of Orissa and the River Ganges_.
This was a fair and well regulated kingdom, through which a man might
have travelled with gold in his hand without danger, so long as it was
governed by its native sovereign who was a Gentile, and resided in the
city of _Catecha_[161] six days journey inland. This king loved
strangers, especially merchants who traded in his dominions, insomuch
that he took no customs from them, neither did he vex them with any
grievous impositions, only that each ship that came thither paid some
small affair in proportion to her tonnage. Owing to this good treatment
twenty-five ships, great and small, used to lade yearly in the port of
Orissa, mostly with rice and with different kinds of white cotton
cloths, oil of _zerzerline_ or _verzino_ which is made from a seed, and
answers well for eating or frying fish, lac, long pepper, ginger, dry
and candied mirabolans, and great store of cloth made from a kind of
silk which grows on trees requiring no labour or cultivation, as when
the _bole_ or round pod is grown to the size of an orange, all they have
to do is to gather it.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 151 of 441
Words from 78512 to 79104
of 230997