Chap. II. ’ of the East InDie s. 
Confer) t and Privity $ wherefore the Mohammedan Docftors 
of Siraf ftricliy warn yourlg People not to go that Way 
60. In the Indies there are heavy Rains, which the Peo- 
ple of the Country call Jafara \ they laft three whole 
Months during Summer, inceffantly, Night and Day, and 
fcarce does the Winter ftop them. The Indians , to the. 
bell of their Abilities, prepare themfelves againft thefe 
Rains fame Time before they fall ; and no fooner do they 
come on, than they fhut themfelves up in their Houfes, 
made of Wood and Cane, interwoven, and thatched with 
Loaves ; they ftir not out during all this Time, and no 
Soul is feen abroad, no, not even the Artificers, who 
now do their Work at home ; and during this Seafon, 
they are fubje< 5 t to feveral Sorts of Ulcers in the Soles of 
their Feet, caufed by the Damps. The Rains are the 
Life of the Indians ; were they to fail, they would be re- 
duced to the utmoft Want, for their Fields, Town with 
Rice, are watered only by Rains, and are rendered fruitful 
thereby ; for if great Store of Water lie upon the Rice- 
grounds, they need no other Help either from Induflry or 
Art ; but when the Rains are plentifully poured down, the 
Rice fiourifhes abundantly, and even becomes much bet- 
ter in kind. It never rains in this Country in the 
Winter. 
6 1. The Indians have devout Men, or Docftors, known 
by the Name of Bramins . They have Poets alfo, who 
compofe Verfes, fluffed with Flattery in Praife of their 
Kings. They have alfo Aftrologers, Philofophers, Sooth- 
fayers, and Men who obferve the Flight of Birds ; and 
others who pretend to the Calculation of Nativities, parti- 
cularly at Kanuge , a great City in the Kingdom of 
Gozar n . 
In the Indies there are certain Men called Bicar °, who 
go all their Life-time naked, and fuffer their Hair to 
grow till it hides their hinder Parts, and the reft of their 
Body. They fuffer alfo their Nails to grow fo that they 
become pointed, and fharp as Swords ; nor do they ever 
cut them, but leave them to break and fall off as it hap- 
pens s and this they obferve as a religious Duty : Each of 
them has a String about his Neck, to which hangs an 
earthen Porringer, and when they are preffed by Hunger, 
they ftop at the Door of fome Indian Houfe, and tllofe 
within immediately, and with much Satisfaction, bring 
out Rice to them, believing there is great Merit in fo do- 
ing, while they eat out of the Porringer and withdraw, 
never returning to make the fame Requeft, if not urged 
thereto by downright Want. 
6 2. The Indians have many Laws, and religious Pre- 
cepts, by which they imagine they pleafe God ; of fuch 
as thefe it is written in the Koran, The Wicked are mighty 
in Pride. One Part of their Devotion confifts in building 
of Kans , or Inns upon the Highways, for the Accommo- 
dation of Travellers, where alfo they fet up a fort of Ped- 
lars, of whom the Paffengers may purchafe whatever 
they may happen to want. p . 
They there alfo fettle publick Women, fuch as are in 
the Indies , who expofe themfelves, to Travellers ; all 
which the Indians number among their meritorious Deeds. 
But they have befides thefe in the Indies , publick Women, 
called Women of the Idol , the Origin of whofe Inftitution 
is this ^ when a Women has laid herfelf under a Vow, that 
£he may have Children, if it happens that fhe brings forth 
a handfome Daughter, fhe carries the Child to the Bod , 
(fo they call the Idol they worfhip) and there leaves her. 
When the Girl has attained a proper Age, fhe takes an 
Apartment in this publick Place, arid Ipreads a Curtain be- 
fore the Door, and waits the Arrival of Strangers, as well 
Indians , or Men of other Se£ls, to whom this Debau- 
chery is made lawful ; fhe proftitutes herfelf at a certain 
Rate, and delivers her Gains into the Hands of the Idol’s 
Prieft, to be by him difpofed of for the life and Support 
of the Temples We praife the Almighty and Glorious 
God, who hath chofen us to be free of the Sins which de- 
file the Man involved in Infidelity ! 
Not very far from Almanfm , there is a famous Idol 
called Multan > whither they refort in Pilgrimage from 
the remoteft Parts, even from Diftances of feveral Months 
Journey: Some of the Pilgrims bring with them fome of 
the Oderiferous Wood Hud. al Camruni , fo called from the 
City of Camrun ; where they have an excellent Wood- 
Aloes, which they offer to this Idol, delivering it to 
the Prieft of the Temple that he may burn it before his 
God. Some of this Wood is worth two Hundred Dinars 
the Man r , and is commonly marked with a Seal to diftin- 
guifti it from another Sort of the fame Wood, but of left 
Value : It is ufual for Merchants to buy it of the Idolatrous 
Priefts. 
63. There are likewife among the Indians certain Men, 
who make Profeffion of Piety, and whofe Devotion con- 
fifts in feeking after unknown Elands, or fuch as are newly 
difeovered, there to plant Cocoa-nut-trees, and to fink 
Wells of Water for the Ufe of Ships that fail to thofe 
Parts. There are People at Oman , who croft over to the 
Hands that produce Cocoa-nuts, carrying with them Car- 
penter’s Tools, and having felled as much Wood as they 
want, they let it dry, and then ftrip off the Leaves, and 
with the Bark of the Tree they fpin a Yarn, wherewith 
they few the Planks together, and fo build a Ship ; of the 
fame Wood they cut and round away a Mail ; of the 
Leaves they weave their Sails, and the Bark they work 
into Cordage : Having thus compleated their Veffel, they 
load her with Cocoa-nuts, , which they bring and fell at 
Oman. Thus it is, that from this Tree. alone, fo many Ar- 
ticles are derived, as fuffice not only to build and rigg out 
a Veffel, but to load her alfo when fhe is compleated, and 
in a Trim fit to Sail 5 . 
64. The Country of the Zinges or Negroes, is of vaft 
Extent ; they there commonly fow Millet which is the 
chief Food of the Negroes. Sugar Canes alfo they have, 
and other Sorts of Trees, but their Sugar is very black. 
Thefe 
m This is very agreeable to that Severity of Manners, for which the Mohammedans were remarkable in thefe early Ages ; and it fhews how careful 
they were to preferve the Morals of the younger fort of People uncorrupted. It was upon the fame Principle that the old Spartans did not admit of 
any Commerce at all, as defiring rather to be known to Pofterity by the Fame of their Virtues than of their Wealth ; and being more affiduous to 
tranfmit to their Descendants Freedom, and the Power of maintaining it, than fine Palaces ; and that Ability of living luxurioufiy, which ends fooner 
Or later in abject Poverty. 
n The Reader has been fo fully informed ef the State of the Brachmans among the ancient Indians, and of the Communities formed by them for 
the promoting of Science, that there is no Need of infilling long upon this Settlement of the Bramins, which, without doubt, was a Remnant of fome 
ancient Univerfity in the fame Place. Some of the Arabian Geographers allure us, that this City of theKanuge lies between two Branches of the River 
Ganges in the Latitude of 27 0 , and in the Longitude of 1 3 1 0 , Other Eaftern Writers inform us, that Kanuge is alfo a Royal City, the King of which 
■Is it Led the Kanuge, according to the common Cuflom of the Indies. It is very difficult to fay when Or how," this Kingdom and Univerfity was ruined ; 
but, at preient it is very clear, that there is no fuch Eftablifhment as in the Text is mentioned. 
0 Thefe are no other than the affociated Bramins, or Indian Pilgrims, or Penitents, mentioned by moil; Travellers, who relate very extraordinary 
Things with refpett to the Aufterity of their Manners, and the Severity of their Penances, as the Reader will fee in the fubfequent Part of this Work. 
p 1 here are many Foundations of this fort in the Indies, as well as in Turky, Perfea , and Moguliftian ; not to mention the many Hofpitals in the 
Indies for fick Animals. Tbe-venot obferves, that the Charity of the Indians of Cabul, confifts in digging of Pits, or finking of Wells, and in erod- 
ing a Number of finall Receptacles on the Highways, for the Accommodation of Travellers . 
s This infamous Pra&iceis of old Handing in the Eaft. Herodotus has a Story of this kind of the Women, who proftitued themfelves in honour of My- 
littia, who by the Analogy of the Chaldee mull be Venus ; and the Tents or Tabernacles of thefe Women were much like thofe deferibed by our Au- 
thor. In Marco Polo we read, that the People of the Province of Cainda, did the fame Thing, expofing their Women in honour of their Idols: 
Tavernier fpeaks of a Pagod near Cambaya, whither moft of the Courtezans of the Indies repair to make their Offerings, and adds, that old Wo- 
men, who have feraped together a Sum of Money, buy young female Slaves, whom they train up to wanton Songs and Dances, and all die Allure- 
ments of their infamous Calling; and that when the Girls have attained their eleventh or twelfth Year, their Miftrefs conduits them to this Pagod? 
under a Notion that it is a Happinefs for them to be offered and delivered up to the Idol. 
r As this kind of Money is very often mentioned, both in the former Treatife, and in this, it may not be amifs to fay fomething of its Value : 
The Dinar is of very fine Gold, and according to the Proportion which that Metal bears now to Silver, that Coin ought to be reckoned at about nine 
Shillings ; from whence we conceive at once the Value of the Copper-Money of China, fince a thoufand of thefe Copper Pieces were equal only to one 
Dinar ; from whence it follows, that nine of thefe Pieces of Copper-Money, called by the Arabs Falus, were worth about One penny. 
5 ThisPafiige is very lingular, but the Fads contained therein are inconteftably true : The Cocoa-Tree furnifhes every thing neceffary for building 
and rigging fuch Ships as are ufed in the Indies, and foraCargoeof confiderable Value when built. The Body of the Tree furnifhes Plank, Mails, 
4 . Anchor, 
