'The VOYAGES and Y R A F E L S Book I. 
Aticeftoi's from many Defcents r. But as to their Religion, 
'or rather Superftition, they worfhip the Sun, and have 
many and great Altars built along the Coaft about half a 
Mile without the City. Early in the Morning therefore 
they go in Crouds to pay their Devotion to the Sun, to 
whom upon all the Altars there are Spheres confecrated, made 
by Magic, refembling the Circle of the Sun ; and when 
the Sun riles, thofe Orbs fee m to be inflamed, and turn 
round with a great Noife z . They have every one a Cenfer 
in their Hands, as well Women as Men, and all together 
offer Incenfe to the Sun ; fuch and fo great is their Folly. 
But among thefe People the Jews, who are fettled, at the 
moil amount to a thoufand Families in all ; they are of as 
black a Colour as the Inhabitants themfelves, yet are never- 
thelefs good honed Men, and ft rift Obfervers of the Com- 
mandments of the Law of Mofes ; and are not altogether 
unfkilfol in the Books of Dodtrine and Cuftoms commonly 
called the Talmud. 
From this Country in two and twenty Days I failed unto 
the Iflands Cinrag , the Inhabitants of which worfhip the 
Fire, and are called Dogbiim , among whom twenty-three 
thoufand Jews are fettled. The Dogbiim have Priefts in 
every Place to officiate in their Temples j and thefe Priefts 
are the molt fkilful Sorcerers and Inchanters in the whole 
\jforld. Before every Temple there is a large Pit, in 
■which a mighty Fire is lighted every Day, which they call 
Alhuta , and they make their Children pals throught his 
Fire to purge them, and alfo caft their Dead into the midft 
of this Fire to be there burned : Nay, there are fome of 
the Nobility who folemnly devote themfelves to be con- 
firmed in this Fire alive. 
When a Man, who has taken this Refolution, declares 
fuch his intended Devotion to his Acquaintance and Kin- 
dred, they prefently falute him in thefe Words : Bleffed 
art thou, and it ffiall be well with thee. On the Day the Vow 
is to be performed, having firft given an Entertainment, 
he is carried, if rich, on Hprfe-back •, but if he be poor, 
he is brought on Foot, accompanied with a Multitude of 
his Friends and others unto the Brink of the Pit, from 
whence beginning his Career, he leaps into the Fire, at 
which all his Friends and Kindred rejoice exceedingly, and 
with all forts of Mufick and Dancing, celebrate the Feaft, 
until he be wholly confumed. But the ftrangeft Part of the 
Story is to come •, for three Days after two of the Chief 
Priefts going unto his Houfe, command the whole Family 
to prepare for the Reception of their Father, who is coming 
to vifit them the fame Day, and declare to them what they 
are to do on this Occafion : They call to them certain Per- 
fons to be Witneffes out of the City, and bring fomething 
refembling the Deceafed, of whom the Wife and Children 
demandeth how it fareth with him in the other World, to 
whom he anfwers, I came unto my Companions, by whom 
I am not received until I difcharge my Duty to my Friends 
and Kindred. He then diftributes his Goods to his Chil- 
dren, and orders all the Debts to be paid to his Creditors, 
and whatever is owing to him to be demanded, the Wit- 
neffes fetting down in Writing all his InftrufUons, of whom, 
notwithftanding, he is not feen ; and then faying he will 
go his way again, he vanifheth a . By thefe Arts, (in which 
there is nothing but Juggling and Collufion) the Priefts 
govern all. 
In the Space of forty Days one may travel from hence 
by Land to the Frontiers of Tzin , that is* to the Borders 
of China , which is the very Extremity of the Eaft. Some 
hold that this Country is walked by the Nikpha , or coagu- 
lated Sea, which is liable to prodigious Storms, by which 
when Mariners are furprized, they are call frequently into 
fuch Streights, that not being able to get out, they are, after 
expending all their Proyiftons, miferably ftarved to 
Death b . 
At firft Sight there is nothing in this Paffage that wil| 
feem very extraordinary to the Reader, and yet after a little 
Reflection it will appear of confiderable Ufe. This coagu- 
lated Sea is no other than the icy or frozen Sea on the Coaft 
of Tart ary and Raffia to the North of China , and through 
which the North-eaft Paffage, fo often fought to little Pur- 
pofe, is fuppofed to lie. It appears clearly from hence, that 
before this Time fome Attempts had been made on that 
Side, and that feveral Ships had been frozen, and their 
Crews perifhed ; whence the Oriental Name of Nikpha , or 
congealed Sea, which Benjamin gives it. It muft be 
cqnfeffed, that our Author has a very romantick Way of 
expreffing even the plaineft FaCls ; but at the fame time we 
ought to confider, that this was not only the Vice of all 
the Writers of his Country, but of the Age in general in 
which he flourifhed, fo that he is the more excufable ; and 
at the fame time the Reader will be fo juft as to remember, 
that we do not infert his Travels as the beft, but as the only 
Travels we have in this Period of Time, which muft acquit 
us in the judgment of the Impartial from all Objections 
that might be otherwife made from the Contents of this 
Performance. But to proceed. 
ii. It is three Day’s Journey to Gingala , where there 
are about a thoufand Ifraelites : From thence in feven Days 
you fail to Coulan , where there are none of our Country- 
men. It is from thence twelve Day’s Journey to Zabid„ 
where there are fome few Jews. It is from thence eight 
Day’s Journey to the Indies on the oppofite Coaft (by 
which our Author means Ethiopia). In this Country there 
are very high Mountains inhabited by Multitudes of Israel- 
ites , who are not under the Yoke of the Gentiles , but 
have here great Cities, and ftrong Fortreffes. They de~ 
fcend from thence in Parties into the flat Countries of 
Abyjfmia , which are under the Dominion of the Edomites , 
(which is the Name the Jews bellow upon all Chriftians) 
where having acquired as much as they can by Plunder, 
they, return with their Booty into the Mountains, where 
they are abfolutely fafe from all Purfuits. Many of thefe 
Jews travel on the fcore of Commerce into Perfia and 
Egypt c . 
It is from thence to the Land of Afvan twenty Day’s 
Journey through the Defarts of Saba, which lie on the 
River Phifon , which comes from the County of Chus \ the 
Inhabitants of which are fubjeft to a Prince, who is ftiled 
Shah-Abafch , i. e. the King of Abyjfmia . Part of the In- 
habitants of this Country live like Bealls, they feed only on 
the Grafs and Herbs that grow along the River-fide, are 
quite naked, and as if their Miferies had deprived them of 
common Senfe, they propagate their kind with their Sifters, 
and neareft Relations, without the leaft Shame or Scruple, 
The Climate of this Country is exceffively hot. When the 
People of Afvan make their Expeditions into thefe Parts 
r It appears from this Account, that thefe People were Per fees, neither is there any thing in what he relates that is not very eafily reconcilable to 
the Truth ; for all Writers that pretend to give us any Account of the Religion of the ancient Per/tans agree that they did not bury their Dead, but 
left them expofed to the Elements, from this Principle, that the living Man being a Compound of all the Elements, it was but reafonable, after he 
was dead, that each Element fhould recover its own. - v .. 
z This is another Je<wijb Notion agreeable to their Ignorance in thofe Days, which made them afcnbe every thing they did _ not perfectly 
underhand to Witchcraft. As to thefe Spheres they were really very wonderful things, being fo contrived as to fhew the Rifing and Setting of the bun, 
and the Motions of the heavenly Bodies. They were made and kept by the Magi, who made ufe of them to ftrike the V u gar with iom men , an 
to inftruft their Difciples in the Science of Aftronomy. „ , , „ , „ . • , * 
a This is pretty evident from the Manner in which Benjamin tells this Story, that he fufpefted the Pnefts lmpofed upon t e eop > i 
doubt they did. The Witneffes were Perfons in the Confederacy, and the Terror of the Family was probably fo great, and their Prejudice fo ftrong, 
that with tolerable Management this Scene might be carried through,, and little or nothing of the Fraud be difcovere e 1 es, w aever a 
tempted to difclofe the Cheat, would have been confidered as an impious Perfon, aad a declared ..memy to the Religion o . Y\ - . 
no difficult Matter to (hew from the Abfurdities that have pafied upon other Nations the Poffibility of tranfa&mg an Impofture of this kind, as the n- 
ICl ^Qur Author haf added a Story here concerning the Gryphons, fo very ridiculous, and of fuch an Extent that I could not prevail upon myfelr to 
infert it. * It is plain enough from his Account, that he does not pretend to have travelled into China , but h|ely to relate what he had heardof 
it. The Extent of his Travels feems to have been Cape Commorin, or fome of the Countries near it, from whence he took Shipping for the oppq- 
ilte c Ther^is no^doubt to be made from what Benjamin relates, that he followed the old Opinion, according to which Ethiopia was looked, upon as 
part of the Indies ; and with regard to what he tells us of the Jews being fettled in the Mountains there, it is fully juftified both by the ancient and 
modern Accounts of that Country, as is alfo the following Circumftances in relation to the Paffage of Caravans through the De&ns, and th e Accident 
to which they are fomedmes fubjeft in paffing through them. His Readinefs to aicribe the Slavery of the Negioe-s to tl e Curfe pronounce / 
®n Ham and his Pofterity, is very agreeable to the Divinity and Spirit of the Jevss, 
y 
f 
