The Entire Title, As Given In That Early And
Curious Collection, Is "_The Voyage And Travel Of M. Cesar Fredericke,
Merchant Of Venice, Into The East India And Beyond The Indies:
Wherein
are contained the Customes and Rites of these Countries, the Merchandise
and Commodities, as well of Golde as Silver, as Spices, Drugges,
Pearles, and other Jewels.
Translated out of Italian by M. Thomas
Hickocke_."
[Footnote 120: Hakluyt, II. pp. 359 - 375. Ed. Lond. 1810.]
In adapting the present chapter to the purposes of our Collection, the
only liberty we have taken with the ancient translation exhibited by
Hakluyt, has been to employ the modern orthography in the names of
places, persons, and things, and to modernise the language throughout.
As in the itinerary of Verthema, to avoid the multiplication of notes
unnecessarily we have corrected the frequently vicious orthography of
these names as given by Cesar Frederick and his original translator,
either by substituting the true names or more generally received modern
orthography, or by subjoining the right name in the text immediately
after that employed by the author. When the names employed in the
original translation of this Journal are so corrupt as to be beyond our
power to rectify, or where we are doubtful of our correction, we have
marked them with a point of interrogation, as doubtful or unknown, as
has likewise been done in our version of the Itinerary of Verthema.
These two journals, besides that they coincide with the plan of our
arrangement of giving as many appropriate original journals of voyages
and travels as we can procure, contain a great number of curious
particulars, nowhere else to be met with, respecting the manners and
customs of various parts of India, between the years 1503 and 1581,
with many intersecting notices respecting its history, production, and
trade.
We learn from the following journal, that Cesar Frederick began his
peregrination in 1563; and, as he informs us in his preface, that he was
continually employed in coasting and travelling for eighteen years, he
could not have returned to Venice before the year 1581. In the
publication of this journal in the Collection of Hakluyt, it is very
irregularly divided into fragments, upon no apparent principles of
regular distribution; but on the present occasion it has been arranged
in sections, so as to suit the general plan of the present work. - E.
_Cesar Frederick to the Reader._
Having for the space of eighteen years continually coasted and travelled
over almost all the East Indies, and many other countries beyond the
Indies, both with good and bad success; and having seen and learned many
things worthy of notice, which have never been before communicated to
the world; I have thought it right, since the Almighty hath graciously
been pleased to return me to my native country, the noble city of
Venice, to write and publish this account of the perils I have
encountered during my long and arduous peregrinations by sea and land,
together with the many wonderful things I have seen in the Indies; the
mighty princes that govern these countries; the religion or faith in
which they live; their rites and customs; the various successes I
experienced; and which of these countries abound in drugs and jewels:
All of which may be profitable to such as desire to make a similar
voyage: Therefore, that the world may be benefited by my experience, I
have caused my voyages and travels to be printed, which I now present to
you, gentle and loving readers, in hopes that the variety of things
contained in this book may give you delight.
SECTION I.
_Voyage from Venice to Bir in Asia Minor._
In the year 1563, while residing at Venice, being desirous to see the
eastern parts of the world, I embarked in a ship called the _Gradaige_
of Venice, commanded by Jacomo Vatica, bound for Cyprus, taking with
me certain merchandise. On arriving at Cyprus, I left that ship, and
went in a lesser to Tripoli in Syria, where I made a short stay. I then
travelled by land to Aleppo, where I became acquainted with some
Armenian and Moorish merchants, and agreed to accompany them to Ormuz.
We accordingly departed together from Aleppo, and came to the city of
_Bir_ in two days journey and a-half.
Bir is a small city in which provisions are very scarce, situated in
Asia Minor, [in lat. 37 deg. 5' N. long. 38 deg. E. from Greenwich], the river
Euphrates running near its walls. In this city, the merchants who intend
to descend the Euphrates form themselves into companies or associations,
according to the quantities of merchandise they possess, and either
build or buy a boat to carry themselves and their goods down the
Euphrates to Babylon[121], under the care of a master and mariners hired
to conduct the boat. These boats are almost flat-bottomed and very
strong, yet serve only for one voyage, as it is impossible to navigate
them upwards. They are fitted for the shallowness of the river, which in
many places is full of great stones which greatly obstruct the
navigation. At _Feluchia_ a small city on the Euphrates, the merchants
pull their boats to pieces or sell them for a small price; as a boat
that cost forty or fifty chequins at Bir sells only at Feluchia for
seven or eight chequins. When the merchants return back from Babylon, if
they have merchandise or goods that pay custom, they travel through the
wilderness in forty days, passing that way at much less expence than the
other. If they have no such merchandise, they then go by the way of
Mosul in Mesopotamia, which is attended with great charges both for the
caravan and company. From Bir to _Feluchia_. on the Euphrates, over
against Babylon, which is on the Tigris, if the river have sufficient
water, the voyage down the river may be made in fifteen or eighteen
days; but when the water is low in consequence of long previous drought,
the voyage is attended with much trouble, and will sometimes require
forty or fifty days to get down.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 63 of 226
Words from 63342 to 64366
of 230997
