384 The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book I 
Such as are lame, or have any other Weaknefs or In- 
firmity of Body, according to the fevere Law of their 
Country, are put to Death. They write not crofs the 
Sheet, as we do, but begin at the Top of the Leaf, and 
fo, in a dired Line, down to the Bottom. They have a 
Law, that they may live to fuch a certain Number of 
Years, when, tho* icarce expired, they difpatch them- 
feives by a ftrange kind of Death •, for there is an Herb of 
fuch a Nature, that grows among them, upon which, if 
any one lies down, he filently paffes away, and dies with- 
out any Senfe of Pain, as if he were in a fweet Sleep. They 
never marry, but make ufeof Women promifcuouily ; and 
breed up the Children, fo begotten, with equal Care and 
Aided ion to one, as well as to another: The Children, 
while they are Infants, are often changed by the Nurfes ; 
fo that they cannot be known by their Mothers : And 
therefore, by that means, there being no Ambition 
among them, they live in great Concord and Amity, with- 
out any Seditions or Tumults. 
1 here are Beads among them very fmall, but of an ad- 
mirable Property as to their Flelli, and the excellent Virtue 
of their Blood. Their Bodies are round, and fomething 
like to a Tortoife, divided by two Streaks, which run 
down the Back : At each End of every Streak, they have 
an Eye, and a Mouth ; fo that they have four Eyes to fee 
with, and four Mouths to feed with : But the Meat they 
eat, is conveyed through one Throat, and thence into the 
Belly, the common Receptacle of all ; and fo, in like 
manner, they have but one Gut, and the reft of the inner 
Parts : They have many Feet, placed round their Bodies, 
and make ufe of them to go on what Side they will. There 
is this wonderous Virtue in the Blood of this Creature, that 
it prefently, in an Inftant, clofes all Wounds in every 
Body that has ftill Life in it ; and if a Hand, or any other 
Member, that is not vital, be cut off, by the Application 
of this Blood, while the Wound is yet green, it heals up 
again. 
There are certain great Birds kept by each Tribe, cn 
purpofe to try the Tempers of their Children ; for they fet 
them, when young, upon thofe Birds ; and if, in flying 
in the Air, they fit faft, and without Fear, they bring 
them up •, but, on the contrary, if their Hearts fail them 
through Cowardice, they caft them away, as unworthy of 
Jiving any longer, and unfit for any Exercife of the 
Mind. The antienteft Man of each of thefe Tribes com- 
mands, as a King, over the reft ; but when he has accom- 
plifhed the Age of one hundred and fifty Years, he is 
obliged to kill himfelf, and the antienteft, next to him, 
fucceeds in the Principality. The Sea that wa flies the Coaft 
of this Ifland is very ftormy and tempeftuous, but the Water 
of it is not fait ; yet, by reafon of this Agitation, the Tides 
rife high, and are very irregular •, the Conftellations about 
the North Pole are not viflble here. 
It is neceffary to inform the Reader, that there feems to 
be here a Chafm in the Relation ; at leaft, fo many Com- 
mentators think. But, perhaps, the Reader may be of a 
different Opinion, and believe, that the Author is only a 
little abrupt in his manner of Expreffion. He goes on 
thus : 
Theft Blands are feven in Number, equal in Big- 
nefs, and of the fame Diftance from one another, and 
the fame Laws and Cuftoms are ufed in all of them •, 
and, though thefe Iffands afford Plenty of Provifion, out 
of the natural Growth of the Country, to all the Inha- 
bitants, yet they ufe them not luxurioufly, but are frugal, 
and take only fo much as will ferve their Turns : They do 
indeed drefs for themfelves Flefh-meat, and all Sorts of 
Victuals, both roafted and boiled ; but for Sauces, and 
other delicate Inventions of that Kind by Cooks, and the 
various Taftes and Savours contrived for curious Palates, 
they are altogether ignorant of them. 
They worfhip, in the firft place, the whole Frame of 
Heaven, becaufe it comprehends all Things •, and, next 
to that, the Sun, and then all the celeftial Bodies. By 
various Ways of FiJliing and Fowling, they catch Fifh. 
and Fowl of all Sorts. There are among them abundance 
©T Fruits, Vines, and Olive-trees, whence they draw great 
s Prims V dims delh Navigationi G 
I 
Quantities of Oil and Wine. There are here very great 
Serpents, which yet do no Harm to any body, nay, their 
Flefh is good Meat, and fweet. They make their Gar- 
ments of a foft fine Cotton, contained in certain Reeds and 
Canes. This Cotton they dye with the Shell-fifties called 
Oftreftes, made up in Balls, and mixt and wrought anion oft 
the Wool; and fo, with great Pains, make themfelves 
Garments of a purple Colour. The living Creatures here 
are of fuch different Natures from all others, that, ftiould 
we mention them, it would feem incredible, becaufe they 
are unufual. 1 
Their way of feeding is according to a prefcribed Rule; 
for they do not eat all Sorts of Meats together at one and 
the fame time, nor always the fame ; but, upon fome cer- 
tain Days, Fifh ; upon others, Fowl ; iometimcs the 
Hefti of Land-cattle ; at ether times Olives ; and, 
on other Days, very low Diet : They help each other in 
their Callings by l urns ; fome employ themfelves in Fifti- 
ing, others in Manufactures, and fome in other Things, 
ufeful and profitable to the Commonwealth. Some exer- 
cife public Offices, except rhofe who are grown old. Upon 
their Feftival-days, and invoking their Gods, they cele- 
brate them i raifes in Songs ; efpecially the Sun, to whom 
they devote themfelves, and their Ifland. Their Dead 
they carry to the Sea-lhore, at the Fall of the Tide, cover- 
ing them with a little Sand, that, at the time of full Sea, 
Heaps of Sand may be raffed higher upon them. Thofe 
Canes, whence they gather Fruit to eat, are about an Inch 
in Thicknefs. They affirm, that, towards the Full of the 
Moon, they incrcafe ; and, towards tire New-moon, they 
proportionally decreafe. The Water of their hot Springs 
is fweet and wholfome, and ever continues warm, never 
growing cold, unl'efs it be mixed with Wine, or cold 
Water. 
^ After Iamhilus , and his Companion, had continued in 
this Ifland^ feven Years, they were compelled to depart, as 
Perfons of a vicious Life, and not to be broken of foreign 
Cuftoms. Their Ship therefore being again fitted out 
for them, and well furnifhed with Proviftons, they were 
conftrained to put to Sea ; and, after continuing their 
Voyage for above four Months, they fell, at length, upon 
the Tandy Shallows of India , where his Companion was 
drowned, and himfelf was afterwards caft aftiore near a 
ceitain Village, and carried away by the Inhabitants of the 
Place, to the King, then at a ^ity called P olybothia, or 
Polimbothra , many Days Journey diftant from the Sea 5 
where he was kindly received by that Prince, who had a 
great Love for the Grecians , and was ftudious in the Li- 
beral Sciences. At length, having obtained Provifion from 
the King, he firft failed into Perfia, and from thence fafely 
arrived in Greece. It was Iambulus himfelf, who com- 
mitted the Subftance of this Account to Writing ; and 
thereby communicated to the World many Particulars in 
relation to India , which were abfolutely unknown before. 
In the celebrated Collection of Voyages by Battifta 
Ramufw a , this Voyage of Iambulus is inferred at large ; 
and I have been very careful in comparing the Translations. 
As it is the Cuftom of that Writer to illuftrate the Rela- 
tions he inierts, by Difcourfes of his own ; in which, with- 
out Doubt, he has given the higheft Proofs of his Capa- 
city, as well as Diligence, fo in that, upon this Voyage, he 
has been peculiarly careful, not trailing to his own Judgment 
alone, but having recourfe to a Portuguefe Gentleman cf 
his Acquaintance, who had been long in the Indies , was 
perfectly acquainted with the Navigation in thofe Seas, 
the Seafons of the Year, and the Cuftoms and Manners 
of the People, to whom he read over his Tranfiation of 
this Voyage, in order to have his Opinion as to the Places, 
and, as to the Adventures that are mentioned in it. On 
this Examination it appeared clearly to them, that the De- 
fire of pleafingly furprifmg the Reader had produced fome 
extraordinary Paflages in this Narration ; but that, upon 
the Whole, it was highly probable the greateft Part of it 
was true ; and fo much the more probable, becaufe, con- 
fidering the Lights they had in thofe Days, it was fcarce 
poflible for any Man to feign it. 
Viaggi, f. 174. 
As 
