The Commentaries of D. García de Silva y Figueroa on his Embassy to Shah ʿAbbās I of Persia on Behalf of Philip III, King of Spain 9004346317, 9789004346314

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The Commentaries of D. García de Silva y Figueroa on his Embassy to Shah ʿAbbās I of Persia on Behalf of Philip III, King of Spain

European Expansion and Indigenous Response Editor-in-Chief George Bryan Souza (University of Texas, San Antonio) Editorial Board Catia Antunes (Leiden University) João Paulo Oliveira e Costa (CHAM, Universidade Nova de Lisboa) Frank Dutra (University of California, Santa Barbara) Kris Lane (Tulane University) Pedro Machado (Indiana University, Bloomington) Malyn Newitt (King’s College, London) Michael Pearson (University of New South Wales)

VOLUME 26

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/euro

The Commentaries of D. García de Silva y Figueroa on his Embassy to Shah ʿAbbās I of Persia on Behalf of Philip III, King of Spain Translated from the Original Spanish Manuscript by

Jeffrey S. Turley Edited, with an Introduction and Annotations, by

Jeffrey S. Turley and George Bryan Souza

LEIDEN | BOSTON

Cover illustration: Walking Shah (Darius I or Xerxes I) accompanied by attendants with parasol and fly-whisk. Drawing, unknown artist, Persepolis. The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2017014469

Brill Open Access options can be found at brill.com/brillopen. Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1873-8974 isbn 978-90-04-34631-4 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-34632-1 (e-book) Copyright 2017 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.

To our families and our wives, Caroline Eve Cohen Henriquez de Souza and Susan Marie Quebbeman, whose unending patience and enthusiastic support stimulated and permitted us to finish this exciting and challenging task

∵

Contents General Editor’s Preface ix Acknowledgments xii List of Tables, Maps, and Plates xiv Measurements xvi Monies xviii Abbreviations xix Introduction 1

The Commentaries of D. García de Silva y Figueroa on his Embassy to Shah ʿAbbās I of Persia on behalf of Philip III, King of Spain Book I

[The Voyage to India April–November 1614] 51

Book II

Description of the Island and City of Goa 160

Book III

[Goa to Hormuz 21 March–12 October 1617] 244

Book IV

[Journey to Qazvīn and Meeting with Shah, 12 October 1617–1618] 287

Book V

[Report on the Regions of the Persian Empire] 508

Book VI

[Long-delayed Meetings with Shah ʿAbbās I in Eṣfahān and Return to Goa, 27 July 1618–15 December 1620] 631

Book VII

[First Attempt to Return to Spain and Forced Return from Mozambique to Goa. Account of Loss of Qeshm and Hormuz. D. García de Silva y Figueroa’s Final Departure from Goa. 19 December 1620–28 April 1624] 770

Bibliography 863 Index 893

General Editor’s Preface Over the past half millennium, from circa 1450 until the last third or so of the twentieth century, much of the world’s history has been influenced in great part by one general dynamic and complex historical process known as European expansion. Defined as the opening up, unfolding, or increasing the extent, number, volume, or scope of the space, size, or participants belonging to a certain people or group, location, or geographical region, Europe’s expansion initially emerged and emanated physically, intellectually, and politically from southern Europe—specifically from the Iberian peninsula—during the fifteenth century, expanding rapidly from that locus to include, first, all of Europe’s maritime and, later, most of its continental states and peoples. Most commonly associated with events described as the discovery of America and of a passage to the East Indies (Asia) by rounding the Cape of Good Hope (Africa) during the early modern and modern periods, European expansion and encounters with the rest of the world multiplied and morphed into several ancillary historical processes, including colonization, imperialism, capitalism, and globalization, encompassing themes, among others, relating to contacts and, to quote the EURO series’ original mission statement, “connections and exchanges; peoples, ideas and products, especially through the medium of trading companies; the exchange of religions and traditions; the transfer of technologies; and the development of new forms of political, social and economic policy, as well as identity formation.” Because of its intrinsic importance, extensive research has been performed and much has been written about the entire period of European expansion. With the first volume published in 2009, Brill launched the European Expansion and Indigenous Response book series at the initiative of wellknown scholar and respected historian, Glenn J. Ames, who, prior to his untimely passing, was the founding editor and guided the first seven volumes of the series to publication. George Bryan Souza, who was one of the early members of the series’ editorial board, was appointed the series’ second General Editor. The series’ founding objectives are to focus on publications “that understand and deal with the process of European expansion, interchange and connectivity in a global context in the early modern and modern period” and to “provide a forum for a variety of types of scholarly work with a wider disciplinary approach that moves beyond the traditional isolated and nation bound historiographical emphases of this field, encouraging whenever possible nonEuropean perspectives … that seek to understand this indigenous transformative process and period in autonomous as well as inter-related cultural, economic, social, and ideological terms.”

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General Editor ’ s Preface

The history of European expansion is a challenging field in which interest is likely to grow, in spite of, or perhaps because of, its polemical nature. Controversy has centered on tropes conceived and written in the past by Europeans, primarily concerning their early reflections and claims regarding the transcendental historical nature of this process and its emergence and importance in the creation of an early modern global economy and society. One of the most persistent objections is that the field has been “Eurocentric.” This complaint arises because of the difficulty in introducing and balancing different historical perspectives, when one of the actors in the process is to some degree neither European nor Europeanized—a conundrum alluded to in the African proverb: “Until the lion tells his tale, the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” Another, and perhaps even more important and growing historiographical issue, is that with the re-emergence of historical millennial societies (China and India, for example) and the emergence of other non-Western European societies successfully competing politically, economically, and intellectually on the global scene vis-à-vis Europe, the seminal nature of European expansion is being subjected to greater scrutiny, debate, and comparison with other historical alternatives. Despite, or perhaps because of, these new directions and stimulating sources of existing and emerging lines of dispute regarding the history of European expansion, Souza and the editorial board of the series will continue with the original objectives and mission statement of the series and vigorously “seek out studies that employ diverse forms of analysis from all scholarly disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, art history, history (including the history of science), linguistics, literature, music, philosophy, and religious studies.” In addition, we shall seek to stimulate, locate, incorporate, and publish the most important and exciting scholarship in the field. Towards that purpose, I am pleased to introduce volume 26 of Brill’s EURO series, entitled The Commentaries of D. García de Silva y Figueroa on His Embassy to Shah ‘Abbās I of Persia on Behalf of Philip III, King of Spain. One of the EURO series’ initial objectives envisaged translation projects of original manuscripts in a variety of languages that would enhance and facilitate studying the history of European expansion and indigenous response. This volume introduces and provides a first-ever, complete English language translation and annotation of a rare and an impressive early seventeenth-century Spanish manuscript dealing with European travel literature, encounters, and the ways of world-making produced during an embassy from Europe to Persia and return. The annotated translation of the Commentaries was a large-scale and complex project that exceeded the efforts made by the same team in producing the EURO series volume 20 (i.e., the Boxer Codex). The project was designed and performed by

General Editor ’ s Preface

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a well-qualified collaborative team of two specialists, one a Romance language linguist and philologist and the other a historian of early modern Asia and European Expansion. Its selection for inclusion in this series was logical, since many scholars of early modern historical contacts of Safavid Persia and Europe have some familiarity with it but only in its original Spanish. Although there have recently been a flurry of essays concerning its author, the work, and its historical importance, this is the first-ever English translation and annotation of the Commentaries. The editors of this volume believe it will provide nonRomance language reading specialists of this period as well as non-Iberian historians examining the same period and societies from a non-European perspective with a thorough modern edition consisting of a first-rate translation, glossary, and extensive annotations that will permit additional scholarly examination of how significant this work is in general and in comparison with other late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century European, Ottoman, Mogul, and Persian accounts. This work, hopefully, will be widely used by historians, ethnographers, and literature specialists and enjoyed by general readers interested in early modern European accounts of the worlds and peoples that Europeans and others encountered throughout the world over the early modern period in general and especially within and between the Portuguese and Spanish Empires in Asia and Safavid Persia. George Bryan Souza

Acknowledgments This project received support from numerous institutional and collegial sources and individuals in disparate locations and venues. They are too numerous for us to mention all of them individually. We hope that they will accept our apology for omitting to name them publicly and accept this general acknowledgment. We do know that they know who they are. Without their generosity, we would have been unable to complete this challenging work. We do feel, however, that it is imperative for us to name and acknowledge a number of key relationships and sources of support that we received over the course of this project. Based upon our reliance on materials located in Spain and during our visits to that country, we received encouragement early on from José Manuel de Bernardo Ares and support in the form of microfilm copies of pertinent materials and photographs of the illustrations and permission for their reproduction from the Director and the staff of Biblioteca Nacional (Spain), an informative interview with José María Moreno González in Zafra, and via electronic correspondence with the Patrimonio Nacional of Spain in our attempts to locate additional information about some obscure references in the Commentaries. Additional and invaluable copies of archival holdings and rare published secondary materials were obtained from other Spanish, Portuguese, and French institutions and individuals, Rui Manuel Loureiro in Portugal in particular. The librarians at our affiliated institutions at Brigham Young University and the Asien-Orient-Institut, Tübingen University, attended with alacrity to our avalanche of requests in locating materials and obtaining others via interlibrary loan. Financial aid and administrative support for this project was forthcoming. Turley was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Translation Grant, and his institution, the College of Humanities at Brigham Young University, generously provided financial support and time away from teaching obligations to facilitate his participation in its completion, which also included funding for the reproduction of microfilmed material by the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University and useful and practical help from the Brigham Young University Faculty Editing Service. Our thanks to Farhad Hakimzadeh of the Iran Heritage Foundation and to Rudolph (Rudi) P. Matthee and Jorge Manuel Flores, the organizers of the Portugal, the Persian Gulf, and Safavid Persia Conference in Washington, DC, in 2007, for the opportunity to present some preliminary results of our work at that venue, which produced useful observations and permitted us to develop invaluable contacts with other scholars.

acknowledgments

xiii

During the preparation of the translation and the annotations, we received extensive support and encouragement from colleagues, in particular Lynn Williams, Robert Heaton, Maren Busath Brinkerhoff, Sarah Chow, Allison Hill, Laura Rawlins, Stephen F. Dale, Richard L. Kagan, Carla Rahn Phillips, Aurelio Espinosa, Francisco Contente Domingues, Richard Barker, Charlene Villasenor Black, Aaron Olivas, and Hans Ulrich Vogel. Michael Guymon kindly and generously assisted in the early iterations and preparation of our maps, and we wish to express our deep gratitude to him for that assistance. We also wish to thank Joyce Lorimer for her extensive and constructive comments on an early version of our work. We gratefully acknowledge (once again) and thank Marti Huetink, Brill’s Publishing Director, for his interest, enthusiastic support, and technical publishing experience and expertise, which he shared with us during several substantive meetings. In particular, we thank him and Brill for arranging the preparation of the final drafts of the maps that accompany this work and obtaining observations from two blind peer reviewers, which we have incorporated. Finally, our thanks to the experts at TNQ Books amd Journals for their assistance with producing maps. While we are indebted to many, we alone are responsible for the contents of this work.

List of Tables, Maps, and Plates Tables 1 2 3

The shahs of Safavid Persia, 1501–1629 16 A timeline of prominent events, exchanges, and embassies between Europe, the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia, circa 1400–circa 1624 18 The Lords, Counts, and Dukes of Feria, circa 1370–1634 30

Maps 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

The reconstructed route of the embassy’s outbound voyage from Lisbon to Goa, 5 April–6 November 1614 48 India, the Estado da Índia, and the Mughal Empire, circa 1614 162 The embassy’s outbound voyage from Goa to Hormuz, 21 March–12 October 161 251 The embassy’s journey from Gamrū to Qazvīn, 12 October 1617– 15 June 1618 288 Ottoman and Safavid empires, circa 1614 306 Timur’s expeditions and the Timurid empire, circa 1405 512 The Macedonian empire and Alexander the Great’s expeditions, 333–323 BC 620 The embassy’s journey from Qazvīn to Gamrū, 27 July 1618–18 October 1619 632 The embassy’s return voyage from Hormuz to Goa, 7–25 April 1620 751 The reconstructed route of the embassy’s aborted return voyage, 19 December 1620–28 May 1621 771 The reconstructed route of the embassy’s return voyage from Goa to Lisbon [cessation of written entries], 1 February–28 April 1624 852

list of tables, maps, and plates

xv

Plates 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Manuel Godinho de Erédia’s map of Goa and its surroundings, circa 1616 161 Aerial photograph of Persepolis (Schmidt, Treasury of Persepolis, fig. 1) 374 Croquis of Persepolis (Schmidt, Treasury of Persepolis, fig. 5) 375 Column with rampant horse, Persepolis 376 Cuneiform, Persepolis 377 Enthroned Darius I with crown prince Xerxes standing behind, treasury room, Persepolis 378 Walking Shah (Darius I or Xerxes I) accompanied by attendants with Parasol and fly-whisk, Persepolis 379 Serpent amulet, Persepolis 380 Hammer bearer, Persepolis 381 Cup bearer, Persepolis 382 Staff bearer, Persepolis 383

Measurements arrátel(-eis) arrobas

one English pound (454 g) 32 arráteis (14.7 kg), or a quarter of a quintal for the Portuguese; see also arrátel(-eis) azumbre(s) 8 arrobas (2.05) liters cuartilla one-fourth of a fanega, or approximately 1.5 kg; see also fanega cubit(s) derived from the forearm; varying at different times and places, but usually about 18–22 inches escudo(s) the diameter of the coin known by this name, estimated at 1 inch (2.5 cm) fanega fourth part of a load carried by a mule (app. 3 kg) fathom(s), long imprecise; slightly larger than 8 spans, 5.78 feet, or 1.76 m fathom(s) 5.78 feet, or 1.76m; presently 6 feet, or 1.83 m; see also span(s) finger(s) two-thirds of 1 inch, or 1.65 cm foot (feet), long imprecise; slightly larger than 12 inches, or 305 mm foot (feet), Roman one-fifth of an inch less than one English foot, see also foot (feet) foot (feet) 12 inches, or 305 mm league(s) 3.2 miles mile(s), Italian a thousand paces of five Roman feet, or 1.5 km; see also foot (feet), Roman mile(s), Roman one thousand steps; see also stadium (stadia) pace(s) imprecise and variable; could be 2, 2.5, or 3 feet depending upon what was being measured pike(s), handle imprecise; estimated to be around 2 or 3 inches, or 5 to 7 cm pike(s) the length of a lance; according to Silva y Figueroa, 16 feet, or 4.9 m pound(s) 16 ounces, or 454 g quintal(s) 132 pounds, or 60 kg real(-es) half a real; the diameter of the one real Spanish silver coin, estimated at 1 inch, or 2.5 cm; therefore, half a real was .5 inch, or 1.25 cm shot(s), cannon imprecise, variable, and indeterminable; the distance that a cannon shot carried

measurements

shot(s), musket

xvii

probably imprecise and variable; Silva y Figueroa states the distance as 300 yards, or 274.32 m span(s) although there are different names and measurements for a span in both Spanish and Portuguese, in our judgment Silva y Figueroa is referring to the most common expression of the term (palmo), which is 8.7 inches, or 22 cm stade(s) imprecise and variable; equivalent to the estimated height of a human being, or between 5′7″ (1.7 m) and 6′2″ (1.9 m), or 5′7″ and 7″ (2.1 m); the length covered by outstretched arms; since Silva y Figueroa consistently uses braza for fathom, he does not equate stade with fathom or stadium; see also fathom(s), stadium (stadia) stadium (stadia) one-eighth of 1 Roman mile, or 125 steps (yards) or 114.3 m; see also mile(s), Roman terçia imprecise and variable; a third of a vara, which was approximately equivalent to a yard; it measured anywhere between 26 to 35 cm. ton(s) the cargo carrying capacity of a ship, a calculation of space or weight based on the tonel, approximately 1.5 m × 1 m (four spans of 245 mm each), or 793 kg (13.5 quintals); see also quintal(s) and span

Monies ʿabbāsī Persian silver coin, 300 réis in Portuguese India cruzado(s) Portuguese silver coin, originally gold, whose value was fixed at 400 réis during the sixteenth century ducat(s) Venetian gold coin widely circulated throughout Europe and elsewhere, especially after it was imperially sanctioned in 1566; see also venetian escudo(s) Spanish gold coin introduced in 1566; worth 16 reales or 2 pesos larin(s) Persian silver coin, peculiarly formed; possibly named after the city of Lār, where it was reportedly first coined; circulated widely in the Persian Gulf and western India; estimated weight of five grams; fluctuating exchange rate and value from 60 to 100 réis in Portuguese India maravedí Spanish copper coin at this time; the smallest Spanish unit of account, the thirty-fourth part of a real pataca(s) Portuguese silver coin equivalent to one Spanish peso peso Spanish silver coin, worth 8 reales; hence, also known as a “piece of eight” real(-es) Spanish silver coin, 8 of which were worth 1 peso, issued in units of ½, 1, 2, and 4 reales réi(s) Portuguese copper coin that originated in the reign of Manuel I (1495–1521) and circulated in Portuguese India sharifi see xerafin(es) tanga(s) Portuguese copper coin that circulated in Portuguese India with a value of 60 réis. tuman(s) Persian gold coin, equivalent to 20 cruzados, or 8,000 réis in Portuguese India. venetian(s) apparent synonym used for the ducat xerafine(s) a silver coin that was minted and circulated in Portuguese India that was equivalent in value to 5 tangas or 300 réis

Abbreviations DA Real Academia Española, Diccionario de Autoridades Dalgado Dalgado, Glossário luso-asiático DCECH Corominas and Pascual, Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico DLMAA Leitão and Lopes, Dicionário da linguagem de marinha antiga e actual (2nd ed.) DRDA Pato and Rego, eds., Documentos remetidos da Índia ou Livros das Monções Lagoa Lagoa, Glossário toponímico da antiga historiografia portuguesa ultramarina MS Silva y Figueroa, Comentarios de D. García de Silva y Figueroa de la embajada que de parte del Rey de España don Felipe III hizo al rey Xa Abas de Persia OED Oxford English Dictionary Y&B Yule, Burnell, and Crooke, Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial AngloIndian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive

Introduction This edition is the first complete English translation of the monumental Commentaries of Don García de Silva y Figueroa on his embassy for Philip III of Spain to Shah ʿAbbās I of Persia over what was to be the tumultuous last decade of Don García’s life (1614–1624). In addition to being a well-connected aristocrat, Don García was a paragon of the Spanish scholar-soldier who was also a diplomat bureaucrat. His memoir displays the workings of a keenly observant and brilliant mind, as well as those qualities one typically associates with the Spanish nobleman of arms: honor, courage, and mesura (moderation and self-restraint). It is no exaggeration to conclude, as others have done, that the Commentaries are “one of the most important [works] in all of European travel literature”1 because of their comprehensive scope and penetrating depth, matchless among memoirs of its class.2 Typical of travel accounts from the early-modern period, the Commentaries are in part a diary of Silva y Figueroa’s itinerary of maritime voyages and overland journeys, climaxing with his detailed relation of the embassy’s sojourn inside Safavid Persia (October 1617 to October 1619) and concluding with the relation of the bitter loss of Hormuz, the pathos of an aborted return voyage to Europe, and, finally, the description of his last voyage, cut short by his death. But the Commentaries are much more than a travel log. We contend, echoing the opinions of others, that their importance extends well beyond the literary to the historical and historiographical. The Commentaries are profound: their author meticulously observes the new worlds he encounters from a vantage steeped in ancient natural and political history. But the breadth is also panoramic and encyclopedic, qualifying the work as an archetypal early-modern treatise of the geography, ethnography, and history of South Asia, Safavid Persia, and the Portuguese Empire in Asia.3 The introduction is divided into three sections: (1) Our Project and This Work; (2) Empires, Embassies, and Silva y Figueroa’s Embassy; and (3) D. García de Silva y Figueroa: The Man and Author. In the first section, we comment on the origin of our project and describe its structure and execution. The second section provides historical context for Don García’s embassy by examining the complex relationships among competing global (and important regional) 1  See Córdoba Zolio, “Algunas notas sobre Don García de Silva,” 1:353–61. 2  The Commentaries are also remarkable because they contain drawings of Persepolis by an artist who was part of the Ambassador’s retinue; see pp. 376–83. 3  See Bernardini, “D. García de Silva y Figueroa,” 422–26.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi ��.��63/9789004346321_002

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Introduction

gunpowder empires with the aim of understanding the Spanish embassy’s objectives and its ultimate failure to achieve them. That context necessarily includes the actions of the emissaries of the rulers (kings, sultans, and shahs) of these empires. In the final section, we focus more intensely and directly on our assessment of Don García as a person and as an author capable of producing such a magnificent work.

Our Project and This Work

This project was envisaged in the late 1970s, when George Bryan Souza consulted the original manuscripts of the Commentaries housed in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid and was immediately impressed by their extraordinary breadth and depth. After subsequent examinations of it and further evaluation of the literature dealing with early-modern encounters of Europeans with Persia,4 Souza became convinced of the historical importance of the Commentaries and of the utility of producing an English translation aimed at both the academic community and the general reading public. Because the kind of project that would do justice to Don García’s opus presented formidable challenges in translation and annotation, Souza was forced to wait until an opportunity presented itself in the mid-2000s. From the beginning, it was clear that the project would benefit enormously from the inclusion of a qualified Romance scholar, and thus an ideally qualified colleague, Jeffrey S. Turley, was invited to collaborate. The team eventually arrived at the following division of labor: Turley would produce an English translation, and Souza would prepare an index, illustrations, maps, and glossaries. Turley and Souza would also collaborate in the editing of the translation and in the writing of the introduction and annotations. Though the importance of the Commentaries for the history of Safavid Persia has long been recognized by specialist scholars, especially those whose expertise in Spanish enabled them to read and consult the original text, their broader scholarly significance was not established until relatively recently. Indeed, for many years the Commentaries had not garnered the same degree of acclaim as 4  For a general introduction to early modern cross-cultural encounters in Asia, see Silva, “Beyond the Cape,” 295–322. For the specific discussion of European travel literature as ethnography for South India and Sri Lanka, see Rubiés, Travel and Ethnology in the Renaissance, and Flores, Olhos do Rei. For an insightful discussion of Indo-Persian travel literature, observations on the subgenre embassy account, and a comparison of Indo-Persian with European travel literature, see Alam and Subrahmanyam, Indo-Persian Travels, 332–61.

Introduction

3

Adam Olearius’5 and Jean Chardin’s6 accounts of seventeenth-century Persia. This may prove surprising in view of the fact that the Commentaries have been available in French since the 1667 publication of Abraham de Wicquefort’s7 translation. However, though widely cited, Wicquefort’s translation suffers from serious shortcomings that were probably never perceived by his readers and that may have actually contributed to the relative neglect of the Commentaries. The least of Wicquefort’s deficits is his habitual glossing over of opaque passages in the source text. More seriously, his translation is actually an abridgment; it was based on a copy of the original (MS 17629 in the Biblioteca Nacional [Spain]) from which the first two books of the Commentaries are absent.8 There are other puzzling lacunae as well. For instance, Wicquefort omits pivotal exchanges between the Ambassador and the shah that form the crux of the embassy’s mission. These conversations, which are the only instances in which Silva y Figueroa replicates actual dialogue in the Commentaries, address central points of tension between Spain and Persia.9 Over the past decade or so, there has been a dramatic reversal in scholarly appreciation for the Commentaries and their author. This trend is a consequence of a tremendous upswing in scholarly interest and research on Safavid Persia, in Portuguese imperial activities in the Persian Gulf, and in Spanish and Portuguese imperial relationships during the union and dissolution of the 5  Adam Ölschläger (1599–1671), German scholar, geographer, author, secretary to the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and ambassador of Frederick III to the Duke of Muscovy and to Shah Ṣafī of Persia (1633–1635; 1635–1639). See Olearius, Offt begehrte Beschreibung der Newen Orientalischen Reise, reprinted as Vermehrte, newe Beschreibung der Muscowitischen und Persischen Reyse; Olearius, Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors; Weiss, In Search of Silk; and Brancaforte, Visions of Persia. 6  Jean-Baptiste Chardin, also known as Sir John Chardin (1643–1713), French jeweler, traveller, and author of one of the most highly regarded works of early Western scholarship on Persia and the Near East; see Chardin, Voyages. 7  Dutch diplomat, translator, and author (1606–1682); see Olearius, Voyages en Moscovie (tr. by Wicquefort); and Silva y Figueroa, Wicquefort, L’ambassade de don Garcias. 8  Wicquefort translated Books III to VII only. 9  The omissions containing these crucial exchanges correspond to some forty manuscript pages skipped over by Wicquefort (fols. 301v–333r and 489r–498r). These gaps have led one historian to aver that the shah gave the Spanish Ambassador just two audiences, and that the monarch concluded the second one by coldly turning his back on the Spaniard, which is precisely the opposite of how their final meeting concluded; see Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 252–53. Another oddity of Wicquefort’s translation is its fictitious happy ending, in which the Ambassador successfully arrives in San Sebastián instead of being laid to rest in a watery grave off the Azores.

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Introduction

Spanish and Portuguese crowns (1580–1668).10 This rise in scholarly attention has dramatically enhanced Don García’s reputation and the importance of his work as an indispensable source for understanding this historical period. Our project has benefited tremendously from these activities and has, in turn, stimulated scholars working in this field. As mentioned in the Acknowledgments, in 2007 we wrote an essay on our project’s existence and its preliminary results for a conference on Portugal, the Persian Gulf, and Safavid Persia sponsored by the Iran Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. Since that paper was an early iteration of this introduction, we chose to withhold its publication. We also benefited from a parallel project led by Rui Manuel Loureiro and a group of multinational collaborators who critically re-examined, edited, and published a Spanish transcription of the Commentaries. They also published an accompanying volume of useful essays relating to the Commentaries. While the work of Loureiro et al. marks a considerable contribution to the body of knowledge concerning the Commentaries, we believe that our offering, created independently of theirs, stands on its own merit in that it solves the problem of inaccessibility that has long plagued this work. In sum, we are convinced that our efforts to produce a first-ever English translation of the Commentaries in their entirety will be of great value to general and specialist readers alike for whom the original version or its seventeenth-century abridged French translation may be linguistically inaccessible. Our translation and annotations are primarily based on MS 18217, housed at the Biblioteca Nacional (Spain), which is the complete original Spanish manuscript of the Commentaries. This manuscript comprises 541 folios, representing over 1,000 manuscript pages. As mentioned above, the Biblioteca Nacional also possesses a true but incomplete copy (MS 17629) of the original manuscript, which was probably created soon after the original came into existence. In addition to the lacunae mentioned above, this latter copy also omits the lengthy descriptions of the outbound voyage from Lisbon to Goa and the sections dealing with Goa and its environs. The acquisition of MS 17629 by the Biblioteca Nacional may or may not have antedated that of the original MS 18217, since both appear to have once belonged to the eminent Spanish historian Pascual de Gayangos y Arce.11 Evidence suggests that Gayangos y Arce purchased the 10  For example, see the following, listed in general chronological order of their production and publication: Gil Fernández, El imperio luso-español; Couto and Loureiro, Revisiting Hormuz; Loureiro et al., Comentarios; Matthee and Flores, Portugal; Floor and Herzig, Iran and the World; Martínez Shaw and Martínez Torres, España y Portugal; and García Hernán, Cutillas Ferrer, and Matthee, Spanish Monarchy. 11  See Roca, Catálogo, 9.

Introduction

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original manuscript (MS 18217) in 1852 from a book shop in Madrid that specialized in antique books and manuscripts. At some later point, the manuscript entered the holdings of the Biblioteca Nacional. The contents of MS 18217 were not published until the beginning of the twentieth century, when a team under the direction of Manuel Serrano y Sanz, on behalf of the Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, studiously and painstakingly transcribed and published it in its entirety in two volumes (1903 and 1905).12 We have examined and consulted both manuscripts at the Biblioteca Nacional on multiple occasions, as well as microfilm copies of them, in addition to physical and digital copies of Wicquefort’s translation and Serrano y Sanz’s transcription of the original manuscript (MS 18217). Because of the high quality of both the Serrano y Sanz transcription and the new transcription under the guidance of Loureiro et al., we decided that there was no need to publish another transcription along with our translation, especially because (a) Serrano y Sanz’s version is now in the public domain and can be found and consulted online, and (b) Loureiro’s version is still in print. Where relevant, we have indicated in our annotations our disagreements (which are minimal) with the transcriptions published by these two teams. After examining the original manuscript (MS 18217), we concur with Serrano y Sanz that it is an autograph of Don García. The hand is uniform throughout, and all marginal addenda or emendations are in the same hand as the text. Some of the author’s deletions are heavily inked over, making their deciphering impossible. While not a diplomatic transcription, Serrano y Sanz’s published version is loyal to the manuscript; he indicates in footnotes instances in which Silva y Figueroa deleted or struck out a word or passage, or where he added a correction above a strike-out, though Serrano y Sanz’s team did not indicate these superscripted corrections as emendations. In the manuscript, marginal addenda are usually found in the left margin, although they also occasionally appear in the right margin or at the foot of the page. Their location for inclusion is normally signaled by a superscripted cross in the text, although one sometimes sees in the text the use of quotation marks that have been placed around both the marginal addendum and the location for inclusion. In some cases, in which the addendum is lengthy, a line has been written to connect a cross in the margin with a cross in the text. As mentioned, the marginal addenda are in the same hand as the text. The author’s instructions on the handling of marginal addenda were clear enough that the published transcription does not register their occurrence. Dates are included in the margins in the same hand as the text, usually in the form of a numerical date without reference to 12  See Silva y Figueroa, Comentarios.

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Introduction

the month or year. We have indicated in our translation the locations of marginalia, superscripted corrections, and strikeouts in the belief that this information may be of interest to some readers. Based on the evidence of MS 18217, the Commentaries, like most substantive pre-modern works, were divided into books. The rubrics for each book (e.g., Book I, Book II, etc.) appear without a summary or a description of the content (with one exception, as indicated below). Two blank folios appear between Books I and II, and another two blank folios separate Books II and III. The rubrics for Books I, II, and III are prominently situated at the top of their respective pages, set off from the text that follows. However, from the beginning of Book III onward, it appears that the separations between books may have been an afterthought. In the first place, no more blank folios are used to signal the breaks between books after the beginning of Book III. Further, there are no rubrics after this point; instead, the book titles (Book IV, Book V, and so on) have been inserted between lines of the text. Book II is the only one to bear a title: De la discripçion de la isla y çiudad de Goa (Description of the Island and City of Goa). Bearing in mind that MS 18217 is necessarily a draft because Silva y Figueroa died before its completion, we believe that he planned to entitle each of the seven books in the work, mainly in view of the title found at the heading of Book II. We have therefore retained the title that he provided for Book II and have supplied our own summaries for the remaining books, set apart by square brackets at the beginning of each one. Based on the evidence found in MS 18217, Silva y Figueroa originally divided the Commentaries into seven books. In their published transcription, Serrano y Sanz’s team decided to create an additional book by dividing Book IV into two parts; Book IV is twice as long as the average length of the remaining books in the original manuscript. This was done for ease of reference and because of practical considerations by the publisher concerning where and how to separate the work into two volumes. For the same reasons, Serrano y Sanz divided each book into chapters. Out of deference to Silva y Figueroa and because of what we believe his original plan to have been, we have organized our annotated English translation of the Commentaries into seven books and have chosen to eliminate the chapter divisions introduced by Serrano y Sanz. Both MS 18217 and its copy, MS 17629, contain illustrations drawn by an anonymous artist at Persepolis at the time of the embassy; efforts to discover his identity have proved unsuccessful. It is certain that the artist was not the Ambassador himself, since Silva y Figueroa mentions in the Commentaries that he brought an artist in his entourage for such an eventuality. The nine drawings from Persepolis were apparently copied, since a set was included with both manuscripts. Interestingly, the original drawings, which, as would be expected,

Introduction

7

are higher quality than the copies, seem to have been placed with MS 17629 instead of with Don García’s complete autograph manuscript 18217. The reason is simple: MS 17629 is a clean copy, written in a careful and beautiful hand in comparison to the autograph manuscript. Unlike MS 18217, it has no corrections or addenda and was obviously prepared for the eyes of its intended recipient, which was probably Philip III and his council. MS 18217 also contains a high quality fold-out map of Goa, drawn by the celebrated Portuguese cartographer Manuel Godinho de Erédia. Evidence in the Commentaries suggests that Erédia created this map in Goa around 1616, just prior to the Ambassador’s arrival, or perhaps slightly afterward. There is no indication in the Commentaries that Don García intended the map to be included with his memoir; rather, it was likely found among his personal effects and inserted into the manuscript. The reason it was inserted into the draft MS 18217 instead of the “clean” partial copy MS 17629 remains unknown. We have chosen to label the map and the illustrations as plates and to identify each of them with a title created from subjects depicted therein. Punctuation practices among early seventeenth-century Spanish writers pose certain challenges to the modern reader, one of them being the lack of paragraph divisions. Serrano y Sanz’s published transcription is accurate in this regard. For example, in Book I, which is a ship log, the entries are separated by dates. There are no paragraph divisions within entries for a given date in either the original manuscript or the published transcription. It should be noted that even where the transcribers created a “false” chapter division, they did so in the middle of what was a paragraph in the original manuscript; for example, see the break between chapters 1 and 2 of Book II. Paragraph breaks only begin to appear in the original manuscript in Book II, which is no longer in ship-log format. The first break is found on fol. 102v. Paragraphs are quite long, sometimes filling as much as sixteen manuscript pages. Later, during overland journeys inside Persia, Silva y Figueroa reverts to a date-log format, and again there are generally no paragraph divisions. In the true but incomplete MS 17629, roughly half the paragraph divisions found in the original manuscript are ignored, though the same divisions are consistently respected in the sections with a date-log format. We have introduced paragraph divisions where they seem logically appropriate. Silva y Figueroa’s prose is representative of a courtly gentleman of his time. The language of Spanish courtiers of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries was heavily influenced by humanists such as Antonio de Nebrija and Juan Luis Vives, who introduced new Latin vocabulary and rhetorical patterns into Castilian. Unsurprisingly, Silva y Figueroa’s prose style is laced with these classical features, though not as abundantly as what one finds in writers of

8

Introduction

the preceding generation. For example, the Commentaries are sprinkled with Hispanized Latin neologisms, such as aparato, “supplies” (from Lat. apparātum, “tools, implements, engines”), congiario (from Lat. congiārium, “gift of grain or money”), edituos (from Lat. aedituōs, “sacristans”), exarcola, “military cap” (a medieval Latin nonce found only in the Latin works of the medieval historian Paulo Giovio), fulvo (from Lat. fulvum, “tawny”), hinible (from Lat. hinnīibilem, “hinnible, capable of neighing or whinnying”), jactación (from Lat. iactātiōnem, “tossing, jarring motion”), pelices (from Lat. paelicēs, “concubines”), provento (from Lat. prōventum, “yield”) and quasación (from Lat. quassātiōnem, “violent quaking; affliction, disturbance”). While we cannot be certain that Silva y Figueroa coined these Latinisms, they are not found in literary works antedating the Commentaries, and, with the exception of hinnible (the modern spelling), they failed to find a permanent home in the Spanish lexicon after his death. Silva y Figueroa also makes liberal use of paired synonyms, a rhetorical flourish used by Cicero and other classical writers that was often employed by writers from the Spanish Golden Age of literature. For example, in describing the color of a particular fish, called a gilthead, the Ambassador writes (fol. 14r) that they possess … las vislunbres del iris ó arco que parece en el ayre despues de la tenpestad (“… the shimmering hues of an iris, or rainbow, that appears in the sky after a storm.”) On the next page (fol. 15v), he tells us that the Guadalupe, a ship belonging to his fleet, “was seen and found … within less than a hundred paces of the flagship” and as a result the people comenzose a turbar y alborotar (“… became alarmed and agitated”). These two Latinizing features are typical of the written and even spoken courtly language of the Habsburg period. In particular, Don García seems to have Caesar’s Commentaries in mind as he writes, as noted by Serrano y Sanz in his 1903 introduction: both works are autobiographical, rhetorically unembellished (except for the use of paired synonyms noted above), contain occasional digressions, and are delivered in a style that is vigorous, direct, clear, and unemotional. And like Caesar, Don García refers to himself in the third person (as “the Ambassador”), though for reasons we cannot explain, he occasionally slips into the first-person singular. One of the foremost challenges facing the English translator of this work is the author’s ubiquitous practice of Hispanizing personal, place, and ship names and, less generally, the names of artifacts and non-Iberian cultural practices. In our translation and annotations, we have adhered to the following conventions in this regard: (1) the names of Europeans, Persians, and Arabs have been rendered in keeping with the orthographic conventions of their respective languages; (2) since a substantial number of toponyms pertain to the Portuguese Empire, and because all of the ships were Portuguese, these have been rendered with modern Portuguese spelling; and (3) in all other cases,

Introduction

9

every attempt was made to identify English equivalents of personal and place names, as well as of descriptions of objects or non-Iberian societal practices. When such was not possible, we report as much in the notes. Finally, we have added a glossary of measurements and monies that the author employed and a series of maps to facilitate and provide orientation for the reader of the locations that the author mentions throughout the Commentaries. Portuguese and Italian, the two other languages besides Latin and Greek with which Silva y Figueroa had at least some familiarity, leave their mark, however faintly, on the Commentaries. A handful of Italian words are found in the work, all of which, with the exception of muso, “snout,” and bugiardos, “liars,” are also erudite Latinate forms: ignavo, “lazy”; intemeratamente, “chastely”; querula, “plaintive”; sacello, “chapel”; and preside, “ruler.” None of these, apart from préside, which is sparsely attested in Golden Age Spanish, can be found anywhere else in Spanish literature. Lusisms are slightly more abundant in the Commentaries. Most of them are nautical and military expressions, which is to be expected, given the fact that the Ambassador sailed on Portuguese ships and wrote about Portuguese fortifications. Examples include acarretar, “transport by cart”; andor, “sedan chair”; arrombar, “break, destroy”; cabre, “cable”; caiz (from Portuguese cais), “quay”; demander, “head for”; fraco, “feeble” (applied to winds); portañola (from Portuguese portinhola), “porthole”; roquera, roquería (from Portuguese roqueira), “petrary”; and viración (from Portuguese viração), “sea breeze.” Other Lusisms likely stem from Silva y Figueroa’s long sojourn in Goa: agasajar, “take shelter” (contrast Spanish agasajar, which means “lavish, regale”); alfándiga (from Portuguese alfândega), “customs house”; chapelero, “hatter”; fechar, “close”; invio, “impassable”; pagoda, “pagoda”; and varzia (from Portuguese várzea), “holm.” Because MS 18217 lacks a title page, we cannot be sure what Silva y Figueroa intended to call his memoir. However, its copy, MS 17629 (which also dates to the seventeenth century), is titled Comentarios, and that is how the work has been known ever since. Whoever it was that styled the work as “commentaries” (very likely Don García himself) was simply following an established convention that dates to the classical period and was resumed by early modern writers. The most famous classical examples are Julius Caesar’s Commentarii de bello gallico (Commentaries on the Gaulic War) and Commentarii de bello civili (Commentaries on the Civil War);13 of the many examples from the 13  The Latin tradition of commentarii (commentaries or notes) was in turn based on Greek hypomnemata (memoirs, or notes to assist the memory), such as Hegesander’s Hypomnemata (“Commentaries”) and Strabo’s lost Historika hypomnemata (“Historical Anecdotes”).

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Introduction

early modern period that could be cited, two that are actually mentioned in the Commentaries are Rui González de Clavijo’s account of his embassy to Timūr at Samarkand in Central Asia in the early fifteenth century,14 and Paulo Giovio’s history of the Ottoman Empire, the Commentario de le cose de’ Turchi (Commentary on Turkish Affairs).15 Although the Commentaries are his sole major work, Silva y Figueroa was not a novice writer. His first and only other book-length work is the Latin Hispanicae historiae breviarium (Compendium of Spanish History).16 In its brief 130 pages, Don García provides a chronological overview of the reconquest of Muslim Spain by Castile’s Christian monarchs; it also includes comments on the Phoenicians and Romans from AD 411 to 1492. Silva y Figueroa had prepared and begun writing the Hispanicae historiae breviarium before accepting his post as ambassador to Persia and apparently continued working on it during his outbound voyage to Asia; he completed it in Goa in 1615. The details surrounding Don García’s arrangements in Lisbon with his publisher, Manuel de Silva, remain unknown, as do the particulars regarding Don García’s relationship with the dedicatee, Don Vicente Nogueira. We do know that Silva y Figueroa and Nogueira, in addition to being notable bibliophiles, were also friends. Nogueira, an open homosexual and pedophile, was an author who aspired to greater recognition. It is unknown if his friendship with Silva y Figueroa was platonic or if it entailed a sexual dimension, though such seems improbable given what we know about Don García. What is certain is that the Hispanicae historiae breviarium was published in Lisbon in 1628, around four years after Silva y Figueroa’s death in 1624. The dedication to Nogueira in the long title suggests that Silva y Figueroa had either sent him the manuscript in Lisbon before initiating his return voyage, or that it had been in Silva y Figueroa’s surviving personal shipboard effects and was delivered to Nogueira in 1624 or shortly thereafter.17 The only other remaining published writings by Silva y Figueroa consist of a letter and extracts of the Commentaries. The Epistola de rebus persarum (A Letter Concerning Persian Matters) was written in 1619 by Silva y Figueroa while in Persia and describes his mission and the Persians. It was addressed to his friend D. Alfonso de la Cueva-Benavides y Mendoza-Carrillo, the first 14  See Markham, Narrative. 15  See Giovio, Commentario. 16  See Palau y Dulcet, Manual, 21:244; for additional discussion concerning this work, see Gil Fernández, “D. García de Silva y Figueroa,” 41–426. 17  For a discussion of Nogueira and his relationship with Silva y Figueroa, see Gil Fernández, “D. García de Silva y Figueroa,” 426–50.

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Marquess of Bedmar, who was residing in Antwerp at the time. It is unclear if Silva y Figueroa wrote the letter and the passages in Spanish or if it was translated from Spanish into Latin by the Marquess of Bedmar. Under the auspices of the latter, it was published in Latin in Antwerp in 1620.18 Because of its notoriety, it was translated into English and published by Samuel Purchas in 1625.19 Silva y Figueroa wrote at least one other letter, addressed to his cousin Jerónimo de Silva, which is similar in content to the Epistola de rebus persarum; this unpublished letter, which is divided into two parts, is found in the Biblioteca Universitaria of Salamanca.20 Another unpublished description of the embassy, of uncertain authorship, is housed in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.21 There exist four other documents predating the twentieth century that contain references to Silva y Figueroa’s embassy. The first is a series of extracts from the Commentaries published in 1782 by the Spanish historian Eugenio Llaguno y Amírola. Llaguno y Amírola was interested in Timūr and in one of Castile’s embassies to Timūr’s court in the early fifteenth century; Llaguno y Amírola consulted, transcribed, and published passages about Timūr that he apparently found in the incomplete copy of the Commentaries (MS 17629), which is presently located in the Biblioteca Nacional (Spain).22 There are also three other contemporary manuscripts that contain descriptions of the embassy, none of them authored by Silva y Figueroa. Two are found in the British Museum23 and were penned in 162024 by Saulisante, one of Silva y Figueroa’s secretaries. Their style closely resembles Silva y Figueroa’s, and in a few places the narrative structure parallels what is found in the Commentaries. The remaining manuscript is found in the Biblioteca Nacional (Portugal).25 The suggestion has been made that its author was a Spanish soldier, Gutierre de Monroy, who accompanied the embassy and is mentioned in the Commentaries.26 It is also 18  See Silva y Figueroa, Garciae Silva Figueroa. For a transcription and thorough discussion of this letter, see Gil Fernández, “La epistola de rebus persarum,” 61–83. 19  See Silva y Figueroa, Purchas, “A Letter from Don García Silva Figueroa.” 20   See Biblioteca Universitaria, Salamanca, Manuscritos 2299, fol. 158v, and 2496, fols. 197v–232v. 21  See Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Fonds portugais 27, fols. 212v–230v. 22  See Silva y Figueroa, “Noticias del Gran Tamorlan,” 221–48. 23  See British Museum, Additional Manuscripts or Add 28461, fols. 185r–209v and 10262, fols. 107r–153r. 24  For the transcription, exemplary handling, and critical comparison and merging of these two copies, see Rubiés, “Relación,” 135–72. 25  See Biblioteca Nacíonal, Lisboa, Fundo Geral 580, fols. 34r–83v. 26  See Gil Fernández, Imperio luso-español, 2:482–508.

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Introduction

clear from García’s own words in the Commentaries, as well as from his correspondence, some of which is penned in his own hand and some in that of one of his secretaries, Juan de Ozaeta, that the Ambassador established and maintained a relatively high level of contact and between himself and the Spanish Crown and its bureaucracy during his mission, especially during its first five years or so.27

Empires, Embassies, and Silva y Figueroa’s Embassy

In this section we will provide an overview of the historical context of Silva y Figueroa’s embassy. We will concentrate on the differing geostrategic conditions, rationales, and capabilities of three empires (the Luso-Spanish, the Safavid Persian, and the Ottoman), all of which played primary roles in a major and dramatic Eurasian conflict that unfolded over the entire sixteenth century and spilled into the early seventeenth century; the Commentaries provide glimpses of the repercussions of this conflict. Our brief summary will examine diplomatic exchanges and embassies sent between Spain and Persia prior to Don García’s embassy, the objective of which, from the Spanish perspective, was to forge a functional alliance against the Ottomans, their common foe and mortal enemy. We shall conclude this section with some brief comments on Habsburg Spain’s specific diplomatic efforts in the form of Silva y Figueroa’s embassy. While we concur with modern historians that the embassy was doomed to failure from the outset,28 we nevertheless reconsider it in light of the Ambassador’s own comments, highlighting its objectives, the causes of its failure, and the resulting implications for the Habsburg Luso-Spanish and Safavid Persia empires.

27  See, for example, his and Ozaeta’s reports to the Spanish Council of State, which we have examined, that are found in the Archivo General de Simancas, Estado 437, documents 13–17, 56–60, 75–76, 81–82, 104–114, 146–148, 173, 175, 195–196, 201, 205–210, 213–216, and 238–239. 28  Silva y Figueroa himself displays not only his sense of futility regarding his mission, but also his awareness of the eventual frustration of his efforts, when he writes, “What a disparate relationship! His Majesty [Philip III] was seeking the friendship and alliance of someone [Shah ʿAbbās I] who, despite his outward show of amity, was in reality his enemy” (see p. 286, fol. 191r). In a forthcoming article in the Journal of Early Modern History, Joan-Pau Rubiés calls Silva y Figueroa’s embassy a fiasco; see Rubiés, “Political rationality.” We thank Professor Rubiés for sharing an early draft submission of this manuscript with us.

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The raison d’être for the Spanish embassy may be sought in the complex and interconnected history of early modern empires. In general, these empires were adversarial, although all were adept at diplomacy and at formulating, implementing, and maintaining strategic alliances and relationships. According to the traditional narrative, Europe was pitted against the Muslim powers. However, it is more accurate to sort the principal actors into three groups: (1) two European Catholic world powers, Spain and Portugal (which, from 1580 to 1640, were joined under one crown); (2) three (chiefly Asian) Muslim polities—the Ottomans, Safavid Persia, and the Mughals;29 and (3) two emerging northern European Protestant sea-powers, England and the Dutch Republic. Fernand Braudel writes the following in a poignant chapter entitled “The Origin of Empires,”30 fond in his seminal work The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II: We must go far back in time, to the beginning of a long process of political evolution, before we can achieve a valid perspective on the sixteenth century. Spain … was already an association of kingdoms, states and peoples united in the persons of the sovereigns. The sultans too ruled over a combination of conquered peoples and loyal subjects, populations which had either been subjugated or associated with their fortunes…. So the rise of empires in the Mediterranean means essentially that of the Ottoman Empire in the East and that of the Habsburg Empire in the West…. The emergence of these twin powers constitutes a single chapter in history …31 Considering that Silva y Figueroa is dealing with a much broader geographical expanse (Europe, Asia, and portions of Africa), Braudel’s observations concerning the Spanish and Ottoman Empires in the Mediterranean toward the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries only partially frame our discussion. Although the seaborne early modern European world empires, whose impact extended beyond Europe into Africa, America, and Asia, rose to power much later than the Eurasian steppe empires of the Mongols (whose control spread as far as China) and the Timurids, they were 29  For two excellent examinations of all three of these empires and of the Ottoman and Safavid Empires, see Dale, The Muslim Empires, and Faroqhi, “The Ottoman Empire.” 30  For Braudel’s discussion of Spain and its empire and the rise of the Ottoman Turks and their empire from their inception to the seventeenth century, see Braudel, The Mediterranean, 2:661–703. 31  See Braudel, The Mediterranean, 2:657, 659.

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Introduction

contemporaneous with the so-called “gunpowder empires”: the Ottomans in Eurasia, the Mughals in India, and the Safavids in Persia. Interestingly, Silva y Figueroa does not limit his observations on power and imperial relationships to a constricting dichotomy, but includes all the protagonists we have mentioned above, and more (e.g., Romanov Russia). Consequently, we must briefly examine the historical reality of shared and divergent diplomatic interests of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires on the one hand, and of the Safavid Empire in Persia on the other, in order to fully understand the purpose of the Spanish embassy and the selection of Silva y Figueroa as Philip III’s emissary to Shah ʿAbbās I. Braudel echoes Silva y Figueroa’s sentiment that Iberian strategic and political interest in Asia in general and Persia in particular antedates the time of Silva y Figueroa’s embassy; in fact, this concern reaches back several hundred years before the dawn of the seventeenth century. Don García himself calls attention to the earliest Castilian attention concentrated on Asia in his brief mention of Ruy González de Clavijo’s embassy to Timūr in Samarkand (Central Asia) in 1403–1405 on behalf of King Henry III of Castile; the need for this embassy arose after Timūr had rapidly transformed himself into the fulcrum of power in central Asia.32 In another series of passages, Don García makes brief allusions to the all-embracing Christian European (and more concretely Spanish Habsburg) geopolitical quest to maintain and strengthen an anti-Ottoman alliance with Shah ʿAbbās I’s Safavid Persia. He also succinctly describes the origins and rise to power of the Ottoman Empire during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, which has recently been evocatively characterized as a “war machine.”33 The rise of the Ottoman Empire had a profound effect on Europe and the Habsburg Empire: the Ottomans became powerful enough to constitute a direct military threat in the West, and its power encouraged the enemies of the Habsburgs to ally themselves with the Turk, as did France in 1538. There was a parallel rise in power of the Ottomans vis-à-vis the neighboring polities and borderlands to the east, especially a re-emergent Persian Empire after the Safavids came to power in 1501. Indeed, the Ottomans were powerful enough to pose a direct and almost constant military threat to the Safavids. Don García understood this. He stressed the military and naval

32  See pp. 545–46 [fol. 354v]. For a detailed discussion of Silva y Figueroa’s engagement with Timūr in the Commentaries, see Loureiro, “History of Tamerlane,” 177–98. 33  See the History Channel’s 2014 popular documentary entitled The Ottoman Empire: The War Machine. For an interesting scholarly treatment of the historical reality with regard to this point, see Ágoston, Guns.

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15

capabilities of the Ottomans,34 especially in his comments about their military organization and the prowess of the Janissaries.35 He also mentions the Ottomans’ successful invasion of south-eastern Europe in the latter half of the fourteenth century in the context of the Ottoman rout of an allied crusader army at the battle of Nicopolis (25 September 1396).36 The Ottoman successes in the Balkans resulted in a reduction of the Byzantine Empire and the eventual Ottoman occupation of Constantinople in 1451, which increased Ottoman wealth and intensified the development and expansion of their empire. A few words are now in order regarding the rise of the Safavids as a major regional power and their diplomatic and political relations with the rest of the world. Around 1300, Sheikh Ṣafi-al-Din (1252–1334) founded a mystical religious political order that was located in and around Ardabīl in the north-west of Persia. The supporters of this order took the name Safavid out of respect for their founder. The Safavids gradually evolved from a messianic movement under the power of a sheikh to a political dynasty led by shahs. This process, which began with Ṣafi-al-Din and his son Ṣadr-al-Din (1391–1392), continued over the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries under Ṣafi-al-Din’s heirs Ḵᵛāja ʿAli, Jonayd, and Ḥaydar. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Persian society witnessed the demise of Mongol rule and the rise and fall of Timūr’s control, a fact of which Silva y Figueroa is plainly aware in the Commentaries. Some of the idiosyncratic characteristics of the Safavid state— notably the tribal roots of its competing dynasties and its ambulant court— can be traced to pastoral nomadism, a way of life that harmonized much better with the arid land of Persia than did farming. The dynamic nature of the Safavid state reflects its origins in the syncretism of traditions and currents adopted from its neighbors on all sides, resulting in a complex interweaving of “Islamic traditions of governance, ancient Persian notions of kingship, and Central Asian, Turco-Mongolian principles of legitimacy and power.”37 Naturally, the strongest currents of influence on the Safavids flowed from their neighbors to the east and west, Mughal India and the Ottoman Empire. For example, though in principle a new shah was chosen through primogeniture, the Ottoman pattern of succession, marked by violent and prolonged power struggles, left its imprint on the transfer of power among the Safavids. The Persian territory that the Safavids inhabited were in the main ruled by a confederation of Turkmen tribes, the Āq Qoyunlu and the Qara Qoyunlu (also 34  See, for example, Casale, The Ottoman Age of Exploration. 35  See p. 609 [fol. 393r ff.]. 36  See p. 528 [fol. 344r]. 37  See Matthee, “Safavid Dynasty.”

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Introduction

known as White Sheep and Black Sheep Turkmen, respectively). Against the backdrop of the Qoyunlu tribes, the Qezelbāš,38 a class of seminomadic warriors from diverse Turkmen tribal groups that inhabited Persia, were central in the Safavid rise to power. From the time of the ascension to power in 1501 of Ḥaydar’s son, Esmāʿīl I, the Safavids ruled Persia uninterruptedly until 1722. Table 1 lists all of the Safavid shahs between 1501 and the death of ʿAbbās I in 1629. The Safavids established political control over most of Persia by appointing a Qezelbāš clan leader as governor in each region they conquered. In this way, the Qezelbāš came to exert so much influence over the shahs that by the time ʿAbbās I came to power, they viewed him as a mere puppet. He surprised them when he severely restricted their power by appointing governors and officials from the ranks of the non-Turkmen ḡolām, forced converts to Islam (see below for further discussion). All of the Safavid shahs initiated and reciprocated diplomatic overtures from a broad number of states, including the Luso-Spanish Empire, apparently for many of the same reasons the Europeans did, though it is highly probable that the Safavids, based on their geopolitical situation, envisaged a different outcome to some of them. Although there were diplomatic and commercial interactions between Persia and Europe throughout the Safavid period, ʿAbbās I, as Silva y Figueroa observed, was an astute and consummate practitioner of diplomacy. Table 1

The shahs of Safavid Persia, 1501–1629

Shah Esmāʿīl I (17 July 1487–23 May 1524) (r. 1501–1524) Shah Ṭahmāsp I (22 February 1514–14 May 1576) (r. 1524–1576) Shah Esmāʿīl II (r. 1576–1577) Shah Moḥammad Khudā-Bandah (also known as Solṭān Moḥammad Mīrzā/ Shah; 1532– 1595 or 1596) (r. 1578–1588) Shah ʿAbbās I (27 January 1571–19 January 1629) (r. 1588–1629)

38  The term qezelbāš, meaning “redheads” because of the distinctive red headgear these warriors adopted at the time of Ḥaydar, was originally a derogatory epithet coined by the Ottomans. But over time it was embraced by these warriors themselves. Actually, this label collectively applied to several rival clans, only some of which were loyal to the Safavid cause. For further details, see Matthee, “Safavid Dynasty”; for Silva y Figueroa’s observations on this group, see pp. 444–45 [fol. 297r].

Introduction

17

Similarly, over most of the sixteenth century, both Spain and Portugal responded to the potential threat to their interests in Europe and the Indian Ocean posed by the Ottomans through diplomacy with the shahs of Safavid Persia, whom they hoped would be their friend: although the Persians were their enemy, the Ottomans, the more immediate threat, were their enemy’s enemy. In Europe, by virtue of birth and by election, Charles I became the ruler of both the Spanish Empire (1516) and, as Emperor Charles V, the Holy Roman Empire (1519). Until Charles’s abdication as emperor in 1556, the Turks were on the offensive over the Great Hungarian Plain, threatening to take Vienna. While they were ultimately unable to do so, their navy was active and partially successful, especially in the eastern Mediterranean. There are instances during Charles’s reign and during that of his successor, Philip II of Spain, of combined efforts between the Habsburg ruler and Safavid shahs to establish lines of communication, exchange letters, encourage diplomatic contacts, and receive embassies from each other to discuss the possibility of coordinated military efforts in two theaters of conflict, one headed by the Spanish Empire (and subsequently the Luso-Spanish Empire) in the West around the eastern Mediterranean, and the other in the East on the Ottoman-Persian borderlands. To provide a wider frame of reference for our ensuing discussion of the events, exchanges, and embassies that form the backdrop for the embassy of Silva y Figueroa, we present a timeline of Spanish-Persian diplomatic relations prior to the accession of ʿAbbās I and during the period in which his reign overlapped with that of Philip III of Spain (see Table 2).39 We also believe that the reader should be aware of these events because Silva y Figueroa alludes to or discusses nearly all of them in the Commentaries. There is no evidence of direct contacts between Iberia40 and Persia until the late fifteenth century, when King Dom João II of Portugal (r. 1481–1495) dispatched Pêro da Covilhã to reconnoiter that part of Asia, which he did twice in 1491–1492.41 The three succeeding monarchs of the House of Avis (Manuel I, o Afortunado, João III, and Sebastião I) reigned over the kingdom of Portugal and were responsible for establishing, expanding, and defending a maritime empire in the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, and the South 39  This timeline is based primarily on Matthee, “Safavid Dynasty,” Slaby, “Austria” and Cunha, “Portugal.” For the classic book-length study of Shah ʿAbbās’s relations with the Ottomans and Europe, see Steensgaard’s Carracks, Caravans and Companies. 40  It is important to remember that the legacy of Spanish and Portuguese marital alliances in the early sixteenth century produced a union of the two crowns in 1580 that was to endure until 1640. This union had profound implications for our understanding of LusoSpanish imperial relations with the Safavids and vice versa. 41  See Ficalho, Viagens de Pêro da Covilhã, 95–124.

18 Table 2

1396

Introduction A Timeline of prominent events, exchanges, and embassies between Europe, the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia, circa 1400–circa 1624

Battle of Nicopolis: Ottoman rout of an allied crusader army in the Balkans. 1402 Battle of Ankara: Timūr defeats Ottoman forces under Bāyezīd. 1403–1405 Ruy González de Clavijo leads King Henry III of Castile’s embassy to Timūr. 1451 Ottomans occupy Constantinople. 1489–1492 King João II of Portugal dispatches Pêro da Covilhã, who reconnoiters parts of the Persian Gulf twice in 1491–1492. 1497–1499 Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer, initiates the Cape of Good Hope route from Europe to Asia. ca. 1499–1622 The Portuguese design and execute a strategic plan, heavily influenced by Afonso de Albuquerque, that establishes an imperial presence in Asia, which they call the Estado da Índia (State of India). They occupy the island of Hormuz and establish a protectorate over it at the entrance to the Persian Gulf from 1507–1515; in 1622 it was lost to an AngloPersian force. 1501 The Safavids establish their dynasty in Persia under Shah Esmāʿīl I. 1504 Venetian and Papal attempts to establish alliances with Shah Esmāʿīl I reported. 1511 Albuquerque dispatches an unsuccessful embassy to Esmāʿīl I to discuss an anti-Mamluk alliance. 1514 Battle of Chaldiran: Ottoman forces under Selim I decisively defeat Safavid forces led by Shah Esmāʿīl I on 23 August and sack Tabrīz on 5 September 1514; Ottomans annex eastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia from the Safavids. 1514–1515 Albuquerque dispatches another embassy, led by Miguel Ferreira, to Esmāʿīl I, which is also unsuccessful. Ferreira leaves Persia accompanied by a Persian envoy to discuss with Albuquerque the possibility of a Portuguese-Safavid alliance, unaware of the Safavid defeat at Chaldiran. Had the Portuguese been aware of the outcome of Chaldiran, it is unlikely they would have bothered to pursue negotiations.

Introduction

1515–1516 1516 1519 1516–1519 1516

1517 1523–1524

1523–1524

1526 1529

19 Albuquerque dispatches Fernão Gomes de Lemos to negotiate a treaty with Esmāʿīl I against the Mamluks. Charles I ascends to the throne of Spain. Charles I becomes Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. Charles V apparently sends an envoy to Esmāʿīl I proposing a formal alliance. Louis II of Hungary duplicates the ambassadorial mission of Charles V by sending Petrus de Monte Libano, a Maronite friar, to Persia. To our knowledge, neither of the missives of these rulers has survived nor has the official Safavid reply been found. Ottomans occupy Mamluk Egypt and seize its navy, which permits their naval activities in the Indian Ocean. Dom Duarte de Meneses, Portuguese governor in India, sends Baltasar Pessoa to Persia to disentangle Safavid involvement in Hormuz. Pessoa reaches the shah’s camp in 1524, but Esmāʿīl’s death ends his mission. Shah Esmāʿīl I sends a letter to Charles V, using Petrus de Monte Libano as his return emissary, and the Safavids agree to coordinate military operations against the common Ottoman enemy. Esmāʿīl I’s envoys find Charles V in Burgos in March 1524, but these exchanges come to naught, since the death of the shah in the same year quashes any agreement that might have been reached. Battle of Mohács: Ottoman forces led by Sultan Sūleyman the Magnificent defeat Hungarian forces led by Louis II, which leads to the partition of Hungary. Charles V sends a letter and an emissary, John of Genoa, to Shah Ṭahmāsp I. An agreement is reached to attack the Ottomans on both fronts the following year, but because the emissary fails to return to Europe in time to inform the Habsburgs, Ṭahmāsp I make peace with the Ottomans in order to quell the Shaybanid Uzbek threat on the Safavid’s eastern border.

20 Table 2

Introduction A Timeline of prominent events, exchanges, and embassies between Europe (cont.)

ca. 1529–1533 Charles’ brother, King Ferdinand I of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia and King of the Romans, reportedly sends three embassies, one lead by Pietro da Negro and Simon de Lillis, to Persia. All were formally unsuccessful, but Europe would benefit from hostilities that reinitiated between the Ottomans and the Safavids. 1529 Ottoman siege of Vienna 1532–1555 Ottoman-Safavid War 1534–1704 Ottoman occupation and administration of Mesopotamia / Iraq 1536–1798 Franco-Ottoman Alliance 1539–1543 Michele Membré’s embassy to Persia on behalf of Venice ca. 1544–1546 The Safavids consolidate their presence around Dezful, which provokes Ottoman intervention and conquest of Basra and provides the Safavids with a Persian Gulf seaport. 1547 France sends the embassy of Gabriel de Luetz to Sultan Sūleyman the Magnificent; Luetz accompanies the Ottoman forces to the siege of Vān. 1550–1551 King João III of Portugal orders the Estado to send an envoy to Persia to secure Shah Ṭahmāsp I’s support for attacking the Ottomans, but Henrique de Macedo’s mission fails because of Safavid displeasure concerning the conversion to Christianity of the wife of one of the shah’s envoys en route to India at Hormuz. 1555 The Treaty of Amasya ends the Ottoman-Safavid War (1532–1555), introducing twenty years of peace. The treaty defines the border between Persia and the Ottoman Empire: Armenia and Georgia are divided in half, the west going to the Turks and the east to the Safavids; the Ottomans gain almost all of Mesopotamia and the Safavids stay in control of Tabriz and other areas of north-east Caucasus. 1556 Philip II succeeds Charles I as king of Spain. 1560 Philip II organizes the Holy League to secure portions of the Mediterranean from the Ottomans. 1560 Battle of Djerba: The Ottomans defeat the Holy League.

Introduction

1565 1571 1572–1576

1578–1590 1580–1640 1585 1585–1587 1590

1598 1599–1615

1601–1602

21 Ottoman siege of Malta, relieved by Spanish and Portuguese forces Battle of Lepanto: The Holy League defeats Ottoman naval forces. King Sebastião I of Portugal dispatches Miguel de Abreu de Lima to Shah Ṭahmāsp I to discuss support for Portuguese projects in the region and in the western Mediterranean basin. The embassy reaches Persia in 1574 and is a failure because it arrives during the twilight of Ṭahmāsp I’s life and reign (d. 1576). Ottoman–Safavid War. A succession crisis in Persia allows Ottoman Sultan Murād III’s forces to successfully invade Persia. The Union of Spain and Portugal; Philip becomes Philip I of Portugal. Philip II signs a peace treaty with the Ottomans that recognizes the de facto status quo between Spain and the Ottomans in the Mediterranean. The papacy sends Giovanni Battista Vecchietti as its emissary to Persia in the attempt to secure the continuation of Safavid military actions against the Ottomans. The Treaty of Constantinople (also known as the Treaty of Ferhad Pasha) ends the Ottoman-Safavid War; the Ottomans take effective control and rule over Āzarbāījān and the Caucasus as far as the Caspian Sea. Philip III succeeds Philip II as king of Spain and its empire and becomes Philip II of Portugal. Shah ʿAbbās I dispatches five embassies from Persia to the Luso-Spanish Empire: Ḥosayn-ʿAlī Beg with Sir Anthony Sherley (1599–1603), Bastāmqolī Beg (1604–1605), Pākiza Emāmqolī Beg (1607–1610), Sir Robert Sherley (1608– 1615), and Čenḡiz Beg (1610–1613). Shah ʿAbbās I’s forces under the command of Allāhverdī Khān, governor of Shīrāz, conquer the province of Fārs, ending the reign of Ebrāhīm Khān, the last independent ruler of that littoral area on the Persian side of the Gulf. His forces also take Bahrain.

22 Table 2

Introduction A Timeline of prominent events, exchanges, and embassies between Europe (cont.)

ca. 1602–1622 Bandel War: Portuguese and Safavid forces exchange hostilities at different locations along the Persian Gulf littoral. After Safavid forces take Bahrain, which was a Portuguese protectorate, Portuguese forces take the port of Gamrū, renamed “Bandel do Comorão,” in 1612. Safavid forces retake the port of Gamrū (the future Bandar-e ʿAbbās) in 1614. The Portuguese build a fortress on the island of Qeshm, which Anglo-Safavid forces attack and destroy prior to taking Hormuz in 1622. 1602–1748 Shah ʿAbbās I permits the Augustinians, who had visited Persia in 1583, to establish a convent in Eṣfahān in 1602, which would remain open until 1748. Several Augustinians, like adherents of another Catholic missionary order, the Carmelites, are involved in diplomatic contacts among the Safavids, the Luso-Spanish Empire, and the Portuguese Empire in India; these religious include Fr. Simão de Moraes (1582–1584), Nicolau de Melo (1599), and António de Gouveia (1602 and 1609–1612). 1603 Luís Pereira de Lacerda is sent as an emissary to Shah ʿAbbās I with the objective to recover Bahrain and improve Persian-Portuguese relations; his mission is unsuccessful. Accompanying Lacerda is Ḥosayn-ʿAlī Beg, who is returning to Persia from his mission to Europe. 1603–1618 Ottoman-Safavid War: Shah ʿAbbās I’s forces are victorious, and the Ottomans return all the territories they had claimed as a result of the Treaty of Constantinople in 1590. The Ottoman-Safavid borders revert to those established by the Treaty of Amaysa of 1555. 1604–1752 Pope Clement VIII, with support from Sigismund III Vasa of Poland, dispatches some Discalced Carmelites to Persia as his emissaries. Shah ʿAbbās I permits them to settle in Eṣfahān in 1608, where they maintain a missionary presence until 1752. They, like the Augustinians, are involved in diplomatic contacts. 1615 Austrian Habsburgs sign a twenty-year peace treaty with the Ottomans.

Introduction

1615

1616 1617–1619 1622 ca. 1623

1629

23 ʿAbbās I permits the English East India Company (EIC) to operate out of Bandar-e Jāsk, which ultimately results in the Safavids allying with them against the Portuguese and Hormuz. Battle of Swally: EIC naval forces defeat a Portuguese fleet off the coast of western India near Surat, Gujarat, which portends the end of Portuguese maritime hegemony. García de Silva y Figueroa’s embassy in Persia An Anglo-Persian force attacks and takes Hormuz from the Portuguese and their allies. Persian forces invade Oman and briefly occupy Ṣoḥār. ʿAbbās I fails to secure English assistance to take Muscat, and the Dutch East India Company (VOC), newly arrived in Persia, refuses to support the shah’s expansionism in the Gulf in exchange for commercial privileges. Death of Shah ʿAbbās I

China Sea that rivaled the Spanish Empire. As a result of Vasco da Gama’s arrival in India via the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 and the subsequent energetic flurry of largely successful military and naval efforts lead by Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese captured and established a string of strategic fortresses and naval bases at diverse geographical locations, or chokepoints, in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. These efforts resulted in the establishment of a Portuguese imperial presence in Asia called the Estado da Índia (State of India). In 1507, the Portuguese attacked and occupied Hormuz because of the island’s strategic and defensible location and the influence of its rulers in the Persian Gulf. Afonso de Albuquerque reportedly met with Safavid officials sent by the governor of Shīrāz, Ḵalil-Solṭān Ḏuʾl-Qadar, on the mainland closest to the island in 1507. From them Albuquerque learned that the ruler of Hormuz, Seyf-al-Din Abā Nażar (r. 1505–1514) had recently recognized Shah Esmāʿīl I’s suzerainty over the island. It is understood that these officials were on a mission to collect the moqarrariya that was owed the shah.42 This tense political contest and irritant to the maintenance of good relations between the Portuguese and the Safavids, which occasionally 42  A moqarrariya is defined by Cunha as “a tribute paid by Hormuz to the neighboring sovereigns to allow the passage of her commerce, which allowed them to trade tax free until

24

Introduction

erupted into military conflict, held during the entire sixteenth century and survived past the conquest of Hormuz by an Anglo-Persian force in in 1622. Despite tensions between the Portuguese and Safavid Empires that arose from periodic disturbances and concerns (e.g., Persian influence over the neighboring states and empires in India), the two powers managed to forge a modus vivendi during the sixteenth and into the seventeenth centuries. Simply put, as long as the relationship yielded mutual benefit, the Safavids could set aside their resentment born of lost prestige and irredentist interests in exchange for the rewards of cooperation. As a consequence, the prospect of the Portuguese becoming allies of Safavid Persia emerged shortly after the Portuguese occupation of Hormuz because Shah Esmāʿīl I thought the Portuguese would support his projects of expansion at the expense of the Mamluk sultans in Cairo. The shah, like his Portuguese counterpart, King Manuel, had, in the words of Cunha, “messianic plans of conquest, and he found in Portugal’s monarch a keen listener, and eventually an ally.”43 The timeline presented in Table 2 documents that the real or imaginary alliance between the Safavid Persian Empire and the Luso-Spanish Empire was not entirely a chimera created by mindless bureaucrats, nor was it the wishful thinking of rulers in the East and West who faced an implacable adversary in the Ottomans. Clearly, efforts had been made by both sides, and each side benefited at different times from the other’s hostilities against a common enemy. However, regardless of the frequency and intensity of LusoSpanish and Safavid Persian contacts and efforts to construct a functional anti-Ottoman military alliance over the course of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was still a formidable foe that spanned three continents and controlled much of south-eastern Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa, although some historians argue that Ottoman weaknesses were beginning to become evident around the end of that century.44 If the Ottomans were weakening relative to their previous level of power and authority, this did not automatically provide the necessary conditions for ensuring the safety and security of the Safavid state or of its ruling regime. In October 1588, by fortuitous coincidence, ʿAbbās, the third son of the weak, partially blind, and practically ineffectual Safavid ruler Solṭān Moḥammad Shah, accepted the abdication of (some would prefer the phrase “usurped a certain amount, varying according to their importance.” See Cunha, “Portugal”; for additional information about this practice, see Floor, Persian Gulf, 43. 43  Cunha, “Portugal.” 44  An example of this position may be construed based on the military revolts that the Ottomans faced around 1600, which, quoting Faroqhi, “otherwise might have spelled the end of the empire”; see Faroqhi, “The Ottoman Empire,” 328.

Introduction

25

the throne from”) his father and embarked upon the consolidation of his own power and that of the Safavids. It was a critical moment in the fortunes of Persia and the Safavid dynasty. As we have already mentioned, ʿAbbās understood that in order to escape being a tool of the Qezelbāš and to continue in power, he needed to find a way to control or manage them. He thus created a standing army, a move that diminished the previous near total reliance upon Qezelbāš troops. The manpower for such a reform came from the ḡolāmān-e ḵāṣṣa-ye šarīfa (“crown servants”), imprisoned Christians from conquered border lands—Georgia, Circassia, and Armenia—who had been forced to convert to Islam and were trained for service in the royal household or in courtly administration. The ḡolāms represented a political benefit for ʿAbbās because they were outsiders who were loyal to the person of the shah instead of to a tribe. ʿAbbās cleverly created funding for the army and his administrative reforms by creating additional provinces through transforming mamālek (“state”) lands into ḵāṣṣa (“crown”) lands.45 While these efforts of ʿAbbās would revitalize the Safavid state in general and his own power and authority in particular, Safavid Persia faced implacable enemies on its western and eastern borders. The shah needed time to establish, organize, and consolidate his political power and control. He made peace with the Ottomans in 1590, allowing him to fight exclusively on his eastern front. This strategy allowed him to defeat the Uzbeks in 1598. In the same year, he transferred his capital from Qazvīn to Eṣfahān. As Silva y Figueroa informs us, ʿAbbās was almost obsessed with beautifying his new capital, along with the rest of Persia, with grand architectural projects. By forcibly relocating large populations of Armenians from Julfa in Āzarbāījān to New Julfa, a newly developed quarter of Eṣfahān, he famously made the manufacture and sale of silk a royal monopoly and the central instrument of his diplomatic and political economic strategies for strengthening his rule and the fortunes of Persia.46 In commerce, as in politics and diplomacy, Shah ʿAbbās I was a realist and pragmatist. As Savory says, he was famed for the severity of his justice, and was implacable in his punishment of disloyal officers. On the other hand, his affection for old and tried retainers was strong and lasting. To men he trusted, ʿAbbās was ready to delegate wide powers—the mark of a great leader.47

45  See Savory, “ʿAbbās I.” 46  For detailed discussions concerning this commodity and these policies, see Matthee, The Politics of Trade, and McCabe, The Shah’s Silk for Europe’s Silver. 47  Savory, “ʿAbbās I”.

26

Introduction

Silva y Figueroa comments on ʿAbbās’s abnormal fear of his sons, a fear that perhaps stemmed from how ʿAbbās himself had ousted his own father in his ascent to power.48 ʿAbbās eventually had his sons either put to death or blinded; thus, at his death in 1629, he had no son capable of succeeding him. Shah ʿAbbās I, as our timeline suggests, was also responsible for an extraordinary level of intense and frequent diplomatic activity between Persia and the Luso-Spanish Empire. However, it should be recalled that ʿAbbās participated in the exchange of diplomatic emissaries with all of Persia’s neighbors and allies, and even with some of her adversaries. Seeking the most advantageous political and economic outcomes for his regime in both the short and long terms, Shah ʿAbbās I sent three nearly simultaneous embassies to Spain and Austria in the early seventeenth century in order to lobby Philip III and the Habsburg Austrians. Philip III’s Habsburg cousins were inclined to support Persian overtures for a more aggressive anti-Ottoman alliance between the Habsburgs and the Safavids. And so, after repeated contacts between the two empires, and confronted with an insistent Persian diplomatic presence that wanted recognition, Philip III became convinced that it was necessary to send an emissary to Persia, appointed directly by him, into whose hands he would place exchanges concerning pending political, economic, and military issues between the LusoSpanish Empire and the Persian Empire. In the Commentaries, Silva y Figueroa reports on his conversations concerning these matters with ʿAbbās. The shah and the Ambassador agreed that both parties were dissatisfied with the state of affairs of Luso-Portuguese and Safavid Persian relations, which had been relegated to multiple embassies to Persia from Portuguese India led primarily by religious representatives. Although Silva y Figueroa’s written observations on this point are perhaps clouded by his virulent anti-Portuguese bias, he also states that the shah shared his complaint that those emissaries had lacked the requisite power, stature, and commitment to the importance of the strategic relationship.49 Whether the shared opinion of the shah and the Ambassador was entirely accurate or not, by the early 1610s, Philip III had decided to respond to Persian overtures and had his bureaucracy initiate the process of appointing an appropriate candidate to lead such an embassy, organize its finances, and prepare political instructions to local Portuguese imperial administrators in India, upon whose support the embassy ultimately depended. After reviewing and vetting potential candidates, Philip III selected D. García de Silva y Figueroa as his ambassador. In the next section, we will review what we know about the life, career, intellect, and personality of this emissary.

48  See p. 477 [fol. 313r]. 49  See p. 669 [fol. 435r].

Introduction

27

Because the Commentaries themselves provide a detailed narrative of how the embassy unfolded and also contain the reasons for its failure, we will not enter here into an excessively long discourse on those points. While the relationship between Spain and Persia was more complex than we can suggest in this brief overview, there were three competing positions that contributed to the failure of Silva y Figueroa’s embassy, a failure that was a political event with major strategic and political economic repercussions. The first was that Spain and the Catholic powers of Europe were incapable of committing meaningful military and naval forces to the struggle against Ottoman power in Europe in a coordinated manner that could immediately alleviate the Ottoman threat toward Persia. In the first decades of the seventeenth century, Habsburg Spain, in contrast with Habsburg Austria, was ambivalent about breaking its peace treaty with the Ottomans, although it would demand consideration of certain protestations. These almost insurmountable obstacles were only exacerbated by the lengthy delays in overland and maritime communications between Europe and Asia. It was impossible to communicate and coordinate the command and control over conjoined military operations that would have been needed in two or even three theaters of operation separated by considerable geographical distances (the Ottoman-Safavid borderlands, eastern-southeastern Europe, and the Mediterranean) and contrasting environments (on land and sea). As allies, Europeans and Safavids could and did simultaneously wage war against the Turks, but communication between these allies could be exchanged only through emissaries or messengers with letters who had to move over land or sea through or around Ottoman territories. For example, communication between Europe and the Portuguese Empire in Asia via the Cape of Good Hope route in just one direction took around six months. Thus, because of the need to wait for the change in prevailing wind directions, as much as eighteen months were necessary for a two-way exchange of news; the delay could have been even longer if a ship had to return to port or winter at a location other than its final destination. The overland route was significantly shorter by comparison but was problematic because of the threat of capture or other impediments.50 The second reality was that, as a result of the incorporation of the Crown of Portugal into the Spanish Empire, the Portuguese opposition to Silva y Figueroa as an intruding representative of Spain was greater than he could have imagined. In the next section, we examine Silva y Figueroa’s anti-Portuguese bias 50  For examples of accounts of the trials and tribulations that befell travelers on the overland route from Europe to India and back again, see, for example, Godinho, Relação do novo caminho da Índia, Manrique, Itinerário de Sebastião Manrique, and São Bernardino, Itinerário da Índia por Terra.

28

Introduction

and the feelings that individual Portuguese administrators reciprocated toward him. It is clear from the Ambassador’s narrative that the efforts by the Spanish Crown to exert control and influence over Portuguese imperial administration were detrimental to the functioning of Luso-Spanish diplomatic efforts and military operations in general. They specifically interfered with the objectives of the Ambassador’s efforts in Persia. The third reality that had to be confronted was the emergence of Spain’s Protestant European adversaries, England and Holland, who possessed significant maritime capacity in Asia. Their prowess emerged at the precise moment when an absence of effective Habsburg control and coordination over Portuguese military and naval forces in Asia became evident. The incursions and commercial competition spearheaded by English and Dutch naval forces and merchants led to tension and severe stress within the entire Luso-Spanish Empire in Asia. Although Anglo-Dutch attitudes and actions toward the LusoSpanish Empire added to the Ambassador’s list of challenges in general, it was the emergence of significant English naval capability and interest in establishing an effective commercial relationship with Safavid Persia that threatened Silva y Figueroa’s mission the most from a European perspective. From the Safavid Persian perspective, the Anglo-Dutch program harmonized with ʿAbbās’s objectives and goals almost perfectly in the Persian Gulf and beyond. For the Ambassador, the English threat was embodied in the persons of the Sherley brothers, Anthony and, especially, his younger brother Robert. In the roughly twenty-five manuscript pages Silva y Figueroa commits to discussing the Englishmen, he provides a complete and accurate summary of their dealings with the Safavid court.51 He has an especially low opinion of Robert Sherley, calling him a bandido (“brigand”) and an hombrezillo vagabundo (“contemptable little vagabond”); in fact, Silva y Figueroa records that he not only refused an invitation to meet with Robert while both were residing at Goa in 1614 because of the Englishman’s machinas y dañosas chimeras (“machinations and alarming chimeras”), but actually attempted to have the viceroy expelled from the city.52 Don García’s antipathy is understandable. In the first place, aware that Sherley’s proposals to re-route Persian silk through Hormuz and India had been rejected in Madrid, D. García saw that the Portuguese in Goa supported Sherley, naïvely believing his promises that the shah would accept this scheme in return for the restoration of Bahrain, Qeshm, and the Bandel to Portugal. But Silva y Figueroa’s dislike of Robert Sherley was also personal. While Sherley was in Spain in 1622, he wrote a letter to the shah urging 51  See especially pp. 485–93 [fols. 318v–323v]. 52  See p. 490 [fol. 321v].

Introduction

29

the latter to detain Silva y Figueroa in Persia until Sherley sent word to free him. In this, Sherley was attempting to pressure the Spaniards into giving him a more favorable stipend while in Madrid.53 Adding insult to injury, Sherley signed these letters “Bezabda,” the Persian name given him by the shah, confirming Don García’s suspicions of Sherley’s true loyalty. In the end, the Ambassador was hamstrung when confronted with Shah ʿAbbās I’s interest in evicting indigenous political leadership and Portuguese forces from Gamrū and the Persian Gulf, and in expanding Safavid Persian control over the island of Bahrain and portions of the eastern littoral of the Persian Gulf. Recognizing that his mission faced such realities, and lamenting the absence of better lines of communication and support from home, Silva y Figueroa trudged onward through his diplomatic mission that was clearly headed for failure from its inception. Whether his persistence was motivated by perseverance and self-sacrifice or by megalomania and self-service, we will never know. In the next section, however, we shall learn more about the identity and life and career of the Ambassador, which may permit the reader to form a personal appraisal about this man after reading his book.

Don García de Silva y Figueroa: The Man and the Author

The question of the identity and character of Don García de Silva y Figueroa, the last emissary from the Catholic Monarchy54 to Persia, begins with his family and kinship ties. The matter of Silva y Figueroa’s background and heritage was raised in a meeting between Pietro Della Valle, the traveler and adventurer from Rome, and Shah ʿAbbās I in 1618. During that meeting, the shah, spurred by curiosity regarding the life history of this emissary from Spain, asked Della Valle if Silva y Figueroa “was a great man.” Della Valle “replied that he was, and that … his house and kinship were of the most noble of Spain.”55 To the degree that the available historical evidence permits, Della Valle’s claims have been generally, albeit loosely, corroborated. We will briefly evaluate some of that evidence below. Table 3 (The Lords, Counts, and Dukes of Feria, circa 1370– 1634) is presented to permit the reader to follow more clearly our comments about Don García’s parents, his extended family, the house of Feria, and our 53  See Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 253. 54  The designation for the Spanish crown from 1580 to 1640, when Spain and Portugal were unified. 55  See Valle, Journeys of Pietro della Valle, 162, 166. For a detailed discussion of the encounters between Della Valle and Silva y Figueroa, see Brancaforte, “The Encounter,” 405–9.

30 Table 3

Introduction The Lords, Counts, and Dukes of Feria, circa 1370–1634

Lorenzo I Suárez de Figueroa, Thirty-third Master of the Order of Santiago Gómez I Suárez de Figueroa (1382–1429), first Lord of Feria Lorenzo II Suárez de Figueroa (1408–1461), second Lord of Feria and first Count of Feria Gómez II Suárez de Figueroa (1461–1506), second Count of Feria Lorenzo III Suárez de Figueroa (1506–1528), third Count of Feria Pedro I Fernández de Córdoba y Figueroa (1518–1552), fourth Count of Feria (1528–1552) Gómez III Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba (1523–1571), fifth Count of Feria (1552–1567) and first Duke of Feria (1567–1571) Lorenzo IV Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba (1559–1607), second Duke of Feria (1571–1606) and first Marquess of Villalba (1567–1607) Gómez IV Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba (1587–1634), first Duke of Feria (1607–1634) and second Marquess of Villalba (1607–1634)

annotations concerning his genealogy, as well as the impact of the family on Silva y Figueroa’s life and career. García de Silva y Figueroa was born on 29 December 1550 in Zafra, a small but strategically located town in Extremadura, close to the border of Spain and Portugal. He was christened on 20 February 1551 in Zafra. According to his baptismal certificate and subsequent identification by Córdoba Zolio and others,56 Silva y Figueroa’s father was Don Gómez de Silva and his mother was Doña María de Figueroa.57 Based on a document written by Silva y Figueroa on 28 July 1611 that was recently located by Luis Gil Fernández, some additional but contradictory information about his parents may be advanced. The precise language that Silva y Figueroa uses in this letter does not coincide with the information contained in his baptismal certificate nor with some of the evidence concerning the individuals he alludes to in that missive. In the letter, the purpose of which was to document Don García’s career in royal service to that date and outline his ancestry, he states that he was the grandson of Don García de Toledo and the son of Don Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa. The Don García de Toledo to whom he refers and whom he claims is his grandfather was almost certainly Don 56  For his baptismal certificate, see Gil Fernández, Epistolario diplomático, 169. The original is found in Zafra, LB 2, 20/ii/1551. 57  See Córdoba Zolio, “Caballero español,” 649.

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García Álvarez de Toledo y Carrillo de Toledo (ca. 1424–1488), second Count of Alba de Tormes and first Duke of Alba de Tormes (1472–1488). Don García de Toledo’s marriage to María Enríquez de Quiñones y Toledo produced nine legitimate children. One of their daughters, María Álvarez (or María Enríquez) de Toledo, who went on to become a lady in the court of Queen Isabel, la Católica, married Gómez II Suárez de Figueroa, the second Count of Feria, in 1491. The couple had four children, and their first-born son, Lorenzo III Suárez de Figueroa, inherited the title of third Count of Feria. An alternative account is that the Don García de Toledo to whom our Ambassador refers in his 1611 letter was Don García de Toledo, Lord of Benadalid y Benalauría, second-born male child of Gómez II Suárez de Figueroa and María Álvarez (or Enríquez) de Toledo. This Don García de Toledo subsequently married Mencia Manrique de Benavides. In 1862, Vilar y Pascual claimed that they were the parents of Don García de Silva y Figueroa.58 However, the Don Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa whom Silva y Figueroa claims was his father in his 1611 letter was almost certainly Don Lorenzo III Suárez de Figueroa, the third Count of Feria (1506–1528), who married Doña Catalina Fernández de Córdoba y Enríquez (1495–1569), the second Marchioness of Priego in 1518, a union that produced six children. Based on the somewhat convoluted and contradictory biographical evidence that we have just outlined, we are inclined to believe that for some reason that we cannot imagine or explain, Silva y Figueroa was imprecise in the missive that he wrote in 1611 in his use of the term grandson and in his description of his relationship to Don García de Toledo, who more than likely was his great-grandfather; he also appears to be imprecise in his use of the term son in describing his relationship with Don Lorenzo III Suárez de Figueroa, who, in view of his age, would have been Silva y Figueroa’s grandfather. There is some intriguing additional circumstantial evidence that can be advanced for this last possibility. The marriage that lasted from 1518 to 1528 between Don Lorenzo III Suárez de Figueroa, the third Count of Feria (1506–1528) and Doña Catalina Fernández de Córdoba y Enríquez (1495–1569), the second Marchioness of Priego, produced six children; the first two were sons and the third was a daughter, María, who must have been born between 1519, the birth year of this couple’s first child, and before her father’s death in 1528. However, while this María is María de Toledo y Figueroa and would have been at birthing age and thus capable of producing a child around Silva y Figueroa’s birthdate (1550), it is an established fact that María de Toledo y Figueroa was married to Luis Cristóbal Ponce de León, the second Count of Arcos, and produced an heir for that line, and therefore could not be the mother of Don García. 58  See Vilar y Pascual, Diccionario histórico, 6:146.

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Before setting aside our examination of the vexed question of the identity of Silva y Figueroa’s parents, there is one additional bit of important information about his relationship with his extended family that should be examined. To do so, we have to return to the evidence provided by the celebration of his baptism, which occurred in Zafra on 20 February 1551. In the Catholic practice of compradrazgo, the parents of an infant choose a padrino (“godfather”) and a madrina (“godmother”) for their child from among their friends or relatives at baptism. These godparents enter into a reciprocal symbolic or sometimes actual kinship relationship with the child (their godchild) and accept the responsibility to raise the child in such a way as to ensure that he or she will practice the faith and have a successful life through education, an advantageous marriage, and personal and career development. Don García’s godfather was Don Pedro I Fernández de Córdoba y Figueroa (1518–1552), the fourth Count of Feria (1528–1552) and a knight of the Golden Fleece59 (1546–1552). The christening record states that “D. Lorenzo Fernández” was also present at the christening. This was apparently Don Lorenzo Fernández de Córdoba-Figueroa y Ponce de León (1548–1551), the son and heir of the fourth Count of Feria. The record also states that his godmother was “D. Catalina,” the daughter of the fourth Count of Feria and his wife, Ana de la Cruz Ponce de León, Doña Catalina Fernández de Córdoba-Figueroa y Ponce de León (1547–1574), the third Marchioness of Priego. Although we cannot conclusively identify Silva y Figueroa’s ancestors or precisely trace how he was related to the Suárez de Figueroa family and to the Counts or Dukes of Feria,60 it is undeniable that he was born into or had intimate contact and a close relationship with the Suárez de Figueroa family, which was probably Galician in origin. The family was extraordinarily influential and politically well-connected in late medieval and early modern Spain. It was probably because of the service of Lorenzo I Suárez de Figueroa, the twenty-third of the Order of Santiago, to the Castilian Crown (nobleza de servicio, “nobility of service”) that this family’s presence and influence was firmly established toward the beginning of the fifteenth century in southern Extremadura.61 Don Lorenzo II Suárez de Figueroa, the second Lord of Zafra, Villalba, and Parra, was named first Count of Feria by the Crown of Spain on 59  For the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece, see Grierson, King of Two Worlds, 52, 72, 87, 142, 149, and 205. 60  See Gil Fernández, “Biografía,” 8–9. 61  For the lineages (Suárez de Figueroa and Fernández de Córdoba) that founded and maintained the Lords, Dukes and Counts of Feria, see Rubio Masa, Mecenazgo artístico and Valencia Rodríguez, Poder señorial.

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17 May 1460.62 Subsequent members of the Suárez de Figueroa family followed their tradition of service to the Spanish Crown. After some ten years of marriage and six children with Doña Catalina Fernández de Córdoba y Enríquez (1495–1569), D. Lorenzo III Suárez de Figueroa, the third Count of Feria, died in 1528. With his passing and on account of the marriage contract giving primacy to the name of his mother’s family of the firstborn male child, Pedro I Fernández de Córdoba y Figueroa inherited the title at that time and became the fourth Count of Feria. However, when Pedro died in 1552, his brother Gómez III Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba (1523–1571) became the fifth Count of Feria (1552–1567) on account of the premature death of Pedro’s only son in 1551 and because of this noble family’s strict adherence to the rules and practices of inheritance that followed the male line. Pedro’s rights to the marquisate of Priego passed to his sister, Catalina. Don Gómez III Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba was a favorite of King Philip II, and before his brother’s death, he was the Spanish ambassador (1558–1559) to England. While in that country, he broke his family’s marriage contract after the death of Queen Mary I in 1558 and married Jane Dormer, one of Mary’s former ladies-in-waiting and daughter of Sir William Dormer, a Buckinghamshire landowner and staunch supporter of the English Catholic Church.63 Philip II named him first Duke of Feria (1567–1571) and Grandee of Castile on 27 September 1567.64 His marriage to Jane Dormer produced at least one child, Don Lorenzo IV Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, whom Philip II named first Marquess of Villalba (1567–1607) on 28 September 1567. Upon the death of his father in 1571, D. Lorenzo IV Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba became the second Duke of Feria (1571–1607).65 There are a number of reasons for the provision of this litany of names and our extensive discussion concerning the potential relationship of the Feria to Silva y Figueroa. First, they establish who on the Suárez de Figueroa side of his extended family came to possess extraordinarily powerful political connections. They also illustrate how these connections may have aided Silva y Figueroa in the advancement of his career and his knowledge of power and familiarity in the use of personal contacts in that pursuit. Though hard evidence is wanting, it appears more than likely that Silva y Figueroa’s extensive family connections facilitated his advancement in society and the rise of his career in the courts of Philip II and Philip III. For example, as has already been mentioned, after the death of Silva y Figueroa’s godfather, his godfather’s brother, 62  See Atienza, Nobiliario español, 862. 63  See Bowler, “Dormer,” 138. 64  See Atienza, Nobiliario español, 862. 65  See Atienza, Nobiliario español, 1002.

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Don Gómez III Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, became the fifth Count of Feria (1552–1567), first Duke of Feria (1567–1571), and a grandee of Castile. He was a favorite of King Philip II and possessed significant influence and power, although less than that of the Duke of Lerma66 and the Duke of Olivares, the favorites, or validos, to Philip III and Philip IV. To the degree that the fifth Count of Feria would have honored his brother and favored his godson, Silva y Figueroa would have had access via his extended family contacts to other influential individuals and families with political power and influence, who would have aided him in advancing his career in the service of the Crown. Silva y Figueroa’s life and career followed the deep-rooted tradition of service to the Spanish Crown shown by both sides of his family. While not as illustrious, the legacy of his Silva familial connections should not be overlooked. One of Silva y Figueroa’s nephews, Lorenzo de Silva, was appointed to accompany and stand in for the Ambassador in the event of his demise. Lorenzo declined the appointment and left Spain for Italy during the protracted period of negotiation between Silva y Figueroa and the Crown regarding his appointment as ambassador prior to the embassy’s departure from Europe. Silva y Figueroa appointed Fernando de Silva, another of his nephews, to accompany him and be prepared to take his place as ambassador upon his death. Fernando did accompany his uncle in this capacity, although the Commentaries are moot on this appointment, as well as on any other particulars about him. Fernando de Silva became embroiled in a controversy in Goa over the murder of one of the embassy’s servants in India and departed the embassy’s company for the Philippines. He appeared in Manila shortly thereafter and left for New Spain (Mexico) in 1621. Subsequently, he was named interim governor of the Philippines by the viceroy of New Spain, Rodrigo Pacheco y Osorio, third Marquess of Cerralbo,67 and sailed on the Manila galleon that departed from Acapulco, Mexico, on 6 April, arriving at Cavite in the Philippines on 8 July 1625. He was interim governor of the Philippines from July 1625 to July 1626. In addition to these nephews, two additional relatives, who were Silva y Figueroa’s maternal cousins, and possibly a third nephew, served throughout the Spanish Empire in Asia during the time of Don García’s embassy. The two Silvas, who are without any doubt Silva y Figueroa’s maternal cousins, and who are mentioned in the Commentaries, however briefly, are Juan de Silva, Knight of the Order of Santiago and an officer who commanded Spanish troops in Flanders, and Jerónimo de Silva, Knight of the Order of St. John, who was also appointed in 1609 to command Spanish forces in the Malukus on Ternate and 66  Interestingly, Silva y Figueroa actually mentions the Duke of Lerma; see p. 327 [fol. 220r]. 67  See Atienza, Nobiliario español, 844.

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eventually became the interim governor of the Philippines upon the death of Juan de Silva in 1616.68 Juan de Silva would go on to become the governor of the Philippines from early 1609 to 1616. The third person, Gonzalo de Silva, bishop of Melaka, although of Portuguese nationality, was probably a maternal cousin of Silva y Figueroa; he was also present in Asia at some time prior, during, or immediately after Don García’s embassy to Persia.69 Silva y Figueroa’s illustrious heritage and familial connections produced important advantages for him; he was well-placed through his familial connections on both sides to rise in status and power in Spanish society. Despite this, relatively little reliable information is available to document his early life and career. It is clear though that the young Silva y Figueroa lived literally and figuratively on several frontiers.70 Geographically, he was raised in the border region between Spain and Portugal and had experience in cross-cultural contacts between Catholic and non-Catholic society within Spain. Intellectually, he was educated as a man of letters who was trained in the art of war and in service to his king. As a male member of a household who from a tender age was taught courtly manners, he was schooled in Latin, which would have introduced him to the world of the written word.71 His linguistic formation apparently included Greek, and it has been repeatedly suggested that he studied at the University of Salamanca. One scholar claims that Pietro della Valle, in a report of his meeting Silva y Figueroa in Goa on 26 September 1623, said that the Spaniard had been a page at the court of Philip II and had distinguished himself in the war in Flanders.72 Both attributions are possible, yet unfortunately remain uncorroborated. Philip II’s household, as early as 1543, included “the occasional services of seventy-three pages, sons of the aristocracy and of bureaucrats,”73 and because of his familial ties to the king, Silva y Figueroa certainly could have been counted in this number, although this observation by Grey is not repeated or discussed by Silva y Figueroa’s biographers since it cannot be documented. 68  Silva y Figueroa’s correspondence with Jerónimo de Silva has survived; see Gil Fernández, Epistolario diplomático, 174–75, and Salamanca, Manuscritos 2299, f. 158v and 2496, fols. 197v–232v. 69  See Gil Fernández, El imperio luso-español, 2:243–44. 70  For the formation of the Portuguese-Spanish boundary and the role that geography played on the Extremaduran frontier, see Stanislawski, Individuality of Portugal, 177–82. 71  See Chartier, “Crossing Borders,” 37–50, and Chartier, Order of Books. 72  See Valle, Travels of Pietro Della Valle, 1:188–89, n. 4. There are a number of errors in this note, such as the date of Silva y Figueroa’s birth and death. We have been unable to confirm that he was one of Philip II’s pages. 73  See Kamen, Philip of Spain, 9.

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Existing documentation of Silva y Figueroa’s military, administrative, and diplomatic career appointments in the service of the Catholic Monarchy corroborate that, especially during the reign of Philip III, he was considered a man of truth and integrity who could be counted on to execute the king’s will and command. Entering crown service and its imperial bureaucracy at an imprecise date, he was apparently employed in Madrid in the influential Council of State.74 He was appointed corregidor (essentially chief magistrate) of Jaén and Andújar and their surroundings in 1595 via a royal provision dated 27 February 1596; his term lasted until 1597.75 During his tenure at Jaén, an Anglo-Dutch force under Robert Devereux, the second Earl of Essex, attacked and sacked Cádiz in late June or early July 1596. Under orders of Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia, Silva y Figueroa raised and apparently led or sent troops and cavalry to the aid of Cádiz and Gibraltar.76 He was subsequently appointed corregidor of Toro (1601–1604) and of Badajoz (1607?– 1610). After his tenure at Toro and prior to his Badajoz appointment, it is known that he resided in Madrid in 1606.77 There is also some uncertainty surrounding the Ambassador’s personal and family life. It has been advanced that he was the brother-in-law of Don Álvaro II de Bazán Benavides78 (1571–1646), second Marquess of Santa Cruz,79 which suggests that Silva y Figueroa had at least one sister who was married. Silva y Figueroa did not marry, although he had a liaison that produced a son, Don Antonio de Silva, who followed in his father’s footsteps and entered crown service as a soldier in the Sicilian Corps. In consideration of Silva y Figueroa’s service and possibly as an enticement for him to accept the appointment to lead the embassy to Persia, King Philip III granted Silva y Figueroa’s son a supplemental salary of eight escudos per month in 1612. While the historical record is largely silent concerning Don García’s personal life and professional career, what we do know is that when the Crown was in need of a well-considered, competent confidant to conduct an embassy to Persia in the early 1610s, after lengthy discussion and negotiation over 74  For the importance of all fourteen councils at this time and their role in supplying a great number of the Crown’s imperial political and administrative appointees, see Feros, Kingship and Favoritism, 12, 24–26, 84, 87, and Williams, “Philip III.” 75  For a discussion of the corregidor and the significance of the office and the confidence that the Crown placed in the appointee, see Lunenfeld, Keepers of the City. 76  See Gil Fernández, Epistolario diplomático, 27–28. 77  See Gil Fernández, “Biografia,” 14–20. 78  See Atienza, Nobiliario español, 232. 79  See Gil Fernández, “Biografia,” 11.

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the practical issues of remuneration, finance, and support for the mission, an aging Silva y Figueroa (he was 63 at the time) accepted his king’s appointment and prepared to be Philip III’s ambassador to Persia in 1614.80 Silva y Figueroa remained devoted to his nuclear and extended family throughout his life. After completing his embassy to Persia and sensing his mortality or impending demise, or simply being practical (he was 71 at the time), he prepared his last will and testament at Goa on 11 November 1622.81 His devotion to his family emerges in that document. The primary stipulation of his will was the donation of a rather large sum of money in memory of his parents and his brothers toward the restoration and accommodation of the chapel that his father had built in the convent of St. Francis in Zafra. Silva y Figueroa no doubt honed his considerable literary skills, which are evident not only in his style but in the organization of the Commentaries, during his career in the Spanish imperial bureaucracy. It has been suggested that during the embassy, and while composing the Commentaries, he employed at least two secretaries, a modus operandi he probably employed and developed as a bureaucrat. While he enigmatically does not mention his Basque secretary, who has been identified as Juan de Ozaeta,82 he does name his Armenian secretary, Saulisante, and reports that the latter had been employed primarily during most of the embassy’s time in Persia as the Ambassador’s messenger to Spain. We will never how Don García went about composing the Commentaries. He may have worked from notes, and as far as the actual writing is concerned, he could have dictated to his secretary or worked from his own drafts that he later revised. In any event, the Commentaries were a work in progress. There are, however, clear signs that Don García revisited sections to emend them or to include additional information. Despite historical and personal accounts that further illuminate the Commentaries, questions remain about Silva y Figueroa’s motivation for writing them. Rather than having one clear purpose, the Commentaries potentially fulfill several. The first possibility is that they were politically motivated, a treatise prepared to justify and protect Don García from repercussions if the embassy were to fail. Such was a common rationale for some of Silva y Figueroa’s

80  For a detailed description of the negotiations between Silva y Figueroa and the king and his bureaucracy, see Gil Fernández, “Biografia,” 22–44. 81  For his last will and testament, see Gil Fernández, Epistolario diplomático, 175–76. The original document is found in Zafra, LF 2, folio 111, n.° 280, Goa, 11/xi/1622. 82  See Gil Fernández, Epistolario diplomático, 30.

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contemporaries, who also wrote personal memoirs.83 Yet the circumstances of life, including Don García’s age and close relationship with Philip III, would suggest that he would not suffer serious consequences from a failed embassy, so this was not likely his primary motivation. Another possibility is that he was driven to seek relief from boredom through writing, which became an intellectual pastime to occupy his mind; or perhaps by writing, he sought personal and intellectual satisfaction, or possibly the hope of achieving fame. The length and quality of the Commentaries and Don García’s frequent reworking of them suggest both possibilities. Finally, Don García’s conscientious life of service to the Spanish crown could explain his commitment to simply creating the best intelligence report possible for his king. Whatever his actual motivations, Silva y Figueroa displays extraordinary erudition in the composition of the Commentaries. Following humanist conventions typical of authors of his time, he drew extensively from the Bible and classical works. The Hebrew Bible, particularly those books that treat the neoAssyrian, neo-Babylonian, and Achaemenid empires,84 as well as the historians of Greek and Latin antiquity, were his ultimate standard against which reports of diverse personalities, geographical locations, and natural calamities and, to a lesser degree, the material culture and description of ancient women were compared.85 Yet Don García also exceeded the prevailing humanist conventions by drawing from relatively recent historical and contemporary works.86 His purpose in doing so was to comment on other embassies, on events in Byzantine, Ottoman, Timurid, and Safavid history, and on the natural world.87 83  This was the motivation for the accounts left by two Portuguese leaders connected with the fall of Hormuz, Rui Freire de Andrade and Fernão de Albuquerque; see Andrade, Commentarios; Andrade, Commentaries; and Azevedo, Apologéticos discursos. 84  To wit, I and II Chronicles, I and II Kings, Jonah, Isaiah, Baruch, Jeremiah, Esther, Daniel, Ezekiel, Nahum, Zephaniah, Tobit, and Ezra. 85  The Commentaries contain at least twenty-six references to classical Greek and Roman authors, including, in chronological order, Herodotus, Xenophon, Dicaearchus, Polybius, Cicero, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Quintus Curtius, Mucianus, Pliny the Elder, Josephus, Juvenal, Plutarch, Tacitus, Appian of Alexandria, Ptolemy, Arrian, Cassius Dio, Justin, and Ammianus Marcellinus. 86  See Rubiés, “Travel Writing and Humanistic Culture,” 131–68. 87  The list is of European authors he cites is impressive: Aldo Manuzio, João de Barros, Marco Polo, Antonio Bonfini, Johannes Dubravius, Niketas Choniates, António de Gouveia, Johannes Leo Africanus, Nikephorus Gregoras, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Johan and Olaus Månsson, Bartholomew of Bologna, Johannes Kantakuzenos, Paulo Giovio, Cesare Federici, Johannes Saxo Grammaticus, Polydorus Vergilius, Hector Boethius, Marcin Kromer, and Aeneas Sylvius [Piccolomini]. He also cites the translator Bolognese Angelo Cospi, which suggests that he may have read Diodorus Siculus and Quintus Curtius in Cospi’s contemporary Latin translation. See Diodorus Siculus, Cospi, Libri duo.

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On the imperial history of Byzantium from the early twelfth to the midfourteenth centuries, Silva y Figueroa draws on three historical Byzantine authorities: Niketas Choniates,88 author of the Imperii graeci historia, which treats the history of that empire from 1117 to 1203, ending just prior to the sack of Constantinople by the Venetians; Nikephorus Gregoras,89 whom Silva y Figueroa considers as having continued Choniates’s history, probably referring to Gregoras’s primary work, the Roman History, which covers the period from 1204 to 1359; and Johannes Kantakouzenos.90 Kantakouzenos, a soldier, scholar, and theologian, was a most unusual Byzantine emperor. Reigning from 1347 to 1354, he authored the Histories (his personal memoirs), which complement Gregoras; taken together, they constitute the primary sources for fourteenthcentury Byzantine history. For the history of the Ottoman Empire from Orchan to Sūleyman “the Magnificent,” Silva y Figueroa relied upon “the most popular [published, European] source of information on the Turks in the 16th century,”91 Giovio’s Commentario de le cose de’ Turchi. Giovio was the first European historian to integrate the contemporary history of Muslim empires with states or empires in eastern and western Europe,92 and Silva y Figueroa does the same, integrating contemporary history of Muslim nations with Europe in the Commentaries. Yet Giovio’s intellectual influence on Silva y Figueroa seems to have gone further; the latter uses information gleaned from interviews in a manner similar to Giovio’s proto-journalistic style. The two also shared interest in history, literature, geography, exploration, medicine, and the arts. Giovio’s biographies of historical figures, Elogia virorum bellica virtute illustrium (Praise of Men Famous for their Valor in War), which includes a treatment of Alexander the Great, appeared in 1575. It was the first work published in Europe to provide illustrations of its subjects, which were drawn by Tobias Stimmer from portraits that Giovio had in his possession.93 Lamentably, the anonymous artist under Silva y Figueroa’s instruction did not include portraits of kings or other persons

88  See Choniates, Imperii graeci historia MCXVII–MCCIII. For further discussion, see Brand, Byzantium Confronts the West; and Harris, “Distortion, Divine Providence and Genre,” 19–31. 89  See Gregoras, Romanae. 90   See Trone, “The History of John Kantakouzenos,” Miller, “The History of John Cantakuzenus,” Kantakouzenos, Geschichte; and Nicol, Reluctant Emperor. 91  See Navari, The Ottoman World, I, 264. 92  For an excellent recent biography of Giovio, see Zimmermann, Paolo Giovio. 93  See Giovio’s Elogia virorum illustrium and Elogia virorum literis illustrium, both of which are illustrated; the first treats famous military and political figures, and the second, literary figures; see Gragg, An Italian Portrait Gallery.

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of rank in the Commentaries, but we submit that the drawings that were included may have been in imitation of Giovio. Though Silva y Figueroa cites numerous Persian sources, he neither spoke nor read Persian, depending instead on translators of whom he had a number in his entourage, or on the reading or interviewing of other European authors and informants, such as António de Gouveia.94 For Timurid95 and early Safavid96 historiography, he mentions Persian-language historians. In his account of Timūr,97 Silva y Figueroa provides a detailed description of the battle of Ankara, mentioning Ghiyās al-Dīn Muḥammad Khwāndamīr’s Ḥabīb as-siyar (Friend of Biographies).98 Khwāndamīr lived in Herat, the center of Perso-Islamic culture during his time. His patrons were initially the Timurids, subsequently the Safavids, and finally the Timurids in India. The Ḥabīb as-siyar is a universal history based mainly upon other universal and local histories. Khwāndamīr included original or expanded biographies of important men; in addition, he incorporated earlier work of other famous historians, such as the Rauzat-us-Safa (The Garden of Purity), a universal history by his own grandfather Mīrkhwānd, a conscientious, independent-minded historian and astute commentator; the Jami al-Tavarikh (Compendium of Chronicles) by Rashīd al-Dīn Fadhl-allāh Hamadānī (ca. 1300); and the Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā (History of the World Conqueror) by ʿAṭā Malek Joveynī (ca. 1260). The third notable fifteenth-century Persian historian mentioned by Silva y Figueroa is a figure he calls Caliph Emir Alixir, whom we identify as Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī,99 author of the Zafar-Namah (Book of Victory), written circa 1425. These Persian authors and our brief description of their writings are significant and central, in our minds, to understanding Silva y Figueroa’s comprehension of Safavid society and Persia’s history in general. They are all historical works that deal with early Eurasian global empires. Each of these authors approached history as universal, and since their subject was global in scope, we shall argue and 94  See São Bernardino, Itinerário da Índia por terra; Gouveia, Iornada, especially the last chapter, and Gouveia, Relacam. 95  See Woods, “The Rise of Tīmūrid Historiography,” 81–108. For a discussion of Timurid art and culture, see Lentz and Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision. 96  To be precise, the third volume of Khwandamir’s Ḥabīb as-siyar is the only work of the three mentioned above that discusses early Safavid history. 97  See Manz, The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. 98  See Khwandamir, Ḥabīb as-siyar. 99  See Yazdi, Histoire de Timur-Bec, an important contemporary Persian biography of the great Mongol warlord with five oversized folding maps depicting the areas of Timur’s expeditions and conquests; see also Yazdi, Pétis de la Croix, and Darby, The History of Timur-Bec.

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discuss in some additional detail below Silva y Figueroa’s encounter with these sources and their influence on him as an observer and author. Silva y Figueroa comments extensively on the villages, shrines, and caravansaries where he took lodging, and on several Persian cities he visited, including Lār, Shīrāz, Kāshān, Qazvīn, Qom, and Eṣfahān. These sections provide much detailed information relating to Persian geography, history, and ethnography. He takes his readers on several historical excursuses, one of which, drawing on Persian sources, details the Battle of Ankara between Timūr and Bāyezīd I. His depiction of Shah ʿAbbās I’s court has been advanced as his most important contribution, though it has been accused of being underdeveloped.100 He is also keenly interested in contemporary culture; prime examples include his commentary on the sport of organized bullfighting in Persian towns and his description of falconry as practiced by Persians, which reveals his own expertise in that art. A notable example of one of his many ethnographic contributions is the portrayal of non-Muslim communities, such as the Armenians in Julfa and New Julfa. He offers a comprehensive explanation of each new group of people he encounters: details about their clothing (including descriptions of each class), modes of transportation, religious beliefs and practices, and social organization and history. Silva y Figueroa was not immune to contemporary prejudices, including an elitist Spanish bias against the Portuguese and superior attitudes about race and religion. However, compared to nearly all European male authors of his time, his mind seems remarkably open. Evidence from the Commentaries suggests that he managed his prejudices to an admirable degree, no doubt to avoid clouding his powers of observation and judgment in his exposition. Bearing in mind that Silva y Figueroa was born on the Luso-Spanish border and that he and his extended family had numerous political, military, and commercial contacts—and possibly even ties—with Portugal and the Portuguese, it seems strange that he would display such a marked elitist bias against the Portuguese. Some of his observations are rather petty, suggesting mere spite and prejudice. For example, while he was on the East African coast, he writes, “Even though the residents are quite indolent, there are Spanish fig trees … [and] many other kinds of fruit from Spain [that] would grow there if the Portuguese were better gardeners,”101 even though he must have been aware that all white settlers in the tropics, including the Spanish, relied on enslaved labor to perform the most menial of tasks. His disdain for Portuguese 100  For a general overview of the royal court, see Floor, “At the Royal Court of Shah ʿAbbas I (1589–1629),” 279–98. 101  See p. 795 [fol. 510r].

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ship pilots, who prized their personal honor above all else, is palpable in the following passage: Our chief-pilot was greatly distressed when he saw that these two carracks had progressed so far ahead of us … It seemed to be a direct affront and offense to him that the other carracks had outsailed the flagship, of which he was the pilot … He thought that because of this he would lose all of his honor and credibility, a thing so highly prized and important to the Portuguese pilots that this is why they are all so tremendously and horribly stubborn. And so it is impossible for them to admit their ignorance about anything, [which is] … extremely normal in every kind and quality of people from the Portuguese nation …102 He further shows his disdain in a diatribe against Portuguese navigators, asserting that “although all the rutters for this voyage [the Carreira da Índia] around the outside of São Lourenço [Madagascar] make mention of this island,… the Portuguese have never set foot upon it … [and] because they have never reconnoitered this island as they have all the other coasts where they continue to sail, their negligence and lack of sailing expertise is so great that … this has given rise to several shipwrecks. The Portuguese have always been ignorant of information that is of the utmost importance.”103 He saves some of his choicest invectives for many of the Portuguese aristocratic imperial administrators, bureaucrats, and officers that he encountered, especially those who, in his eyes, were to blame for the loss of Hormuz.104 While Don García makes it clear that he personally believes the religious customs on which he comments to be in error, especially Islam and Hinduism, his reports are accurate enough to suggest that he commanded a basic understanding of them (despite the fact that he consistently equates Shiʿa Islam with Sufism). We may cite just two examples to illustrate this point. Silva y Figueroa records that he received “… a little book in Persian [from the Mufti of Eṣfahān105] that narrated the life and death of Ḥusayn, [the Shiʿa hero] …,” which was read and gave him great pleasure, since “… it explained the causes 102  See p. 93 [fol. 36r]. For other similar passages that make the same observations about Portuguese pilots, see pp. 804, 858 [fols. 515r and 539v]. 103  See p. 855 [fol. 538r]. 104  See p. 495 [fol. 325r]. 105  Based upon the internal evidence provided by Silva y Figueroa and the surrounding historical circumstances of the age and description of his visit to this “mufti”, it is most likely that he met with Shaykh Bahʾ-al-dīn ʿMelī (1547–1621), who was born near Baalbek in Lebanon; see Kohlberg, “Bahāʾ-Al-Dīn ʿĀmelī,” and Abisaab, Converting Persia, 2–3, 36–7.

Introduction

43

and origins of the great differences between the two opposing factions of Arabs who were followers of Muḥammad [i.e., the Sunnis and the Shiʿa], but also because of the zeal and great passion with which the mullah read it.”106 The second example is his tolerance of the Christian celebrations practiced by the Armenian community of New Julfa, and his direct participation in one of their processions in Eṣfahān. And while he mentions the color bar in reference to certain individuals or peoples, the fact of their darker skin color does not ipso facto relegate any individual or people to an inferior status; only the reported action and its evaluation does that in Silva y Figueroa’s mind. Even his dislike of the Portuguese is sometimes tempered when he comments on the stoic nature and courage of ordinary individuals or soldiers and sailors, or, for example, when he lauds the charitable, communal, and institutional activities of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia (Holy House of Mercy) in Goa. But perhaps Silva y Figueroa’s broadmindedness is most evident in his unusually open attitude toward women. While he is highly critical of what he perceives as the immodest attire of Portuguese women in Goa,107 the Commentaries are filled with dozens of extremely positive descriptions, anecdotes, and comments regarding ancient and contemporary women. Two examples are the warrior queen Zenobia of Palmyra and the filicidal Queen Ketevan of Khaketi [eastern Georgia], not to mention other, sometimes more humble contemporaries, such as the anonymous “modern-day Andromeda,”108 whom he witnesses participating in a ritual Hindu bathing ceremony off the coast of Goa. In the case of Zenobia of Palmyra, although D. García held the incorrect opinion that she and Zabba are two distinct individuals, when in reality they are one and the same, he fulsomely praises her character and military prowess, writing that she “… entered Upper Syria … razed it … forcing [the Roman emperor and commander] Aurelian to give her battle in Asia … After he overcame her near Emesa of Phoenicia, though the battle was arduous and almost indecisive, he laid siege to her in Palmyra, where she defended herself obstinately for a long time.”109 In the case of Ketevan, he mentions her in three different passages and extols the rectitude of her behavior toward her family and country as mother and queen of Khaketi [eastern Georgia], as well as her fortitude while a political prisoner of Shah ʿAbbās I (she was subsequently put to death 106  See p. 430 [fol. 430v]. 107  “… when they [Portuguese women] are in their houses,… they wear a most ghastly, bestial, and completely barbaric, if not indecent, outfit,… a tightly worn multicolored piece of cotton cloth that they wrap around themselves … from their waists … to … a little below their calves….”. See p. 231 [fol. 143r]. 108  For the passage that mentions this Andromeda, see p. 242 [fol. 155r]. 109  See p. 596 [fol. 384v].

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Introduction

at his command).110 Silva y Figueroa, upon learning of her captivity at Shīrāz, writes that “… she was the mother of Teimuraz, lord of eastern Georgia … Being a woman, she was not to blame for the insurrection of her son, but the king of Persia was so incensed over his failure to capture him that after destroying and sacking that entire region and after taking captive 80,000 of the miserable souls who inhabited it, he also took this poor woman prisoner, along with two children who were eight and nine years old, her grandchildren and the children of Teimuraz.”111 The Ambassador is also an expert on military science, assessing in several passages the strengths and weaknesses of some of the fortresses he inspects. Although there is no record of his having served at sea, he is an informed and opinionated navigator with a formidable knowledge of astronomy, maritime history, and the handling of large sailing craft, sometimes to the deep chagrin of the Portuguese pilots who were recipients of his usually unsolicited recommendations. Given his background as soldier and government official, Silva y Figueroa’s interest in what we might anachronistically term the social and military sciences is to be expected. An accurate portrait of the Ambassador would be incomplete if it failed to include his passion for observing and reporting the natural world that unfolded before him on his voyages and journeys, as well as the creations of the human inhabitants he encountered. His eye was honed by years of contact with natural and physical phenomena as soldier and civil administrator. Little, whether animate or inanimate, escapes his gaze, on land or at sea. The Commentaries are replete with observations of the flora and fauna of every clime he visits. He is at one turn the botanist who describes cashews, jackfruit, and pineapples in India, or the date palms in southern Persia, and at another turn the biologist who examines the domesticated and wild animals of India and Persia, including bulls, hyenas, and a species so new and strange that it defies identification. Interspersed among these offerings is evidence of his fascination with the arts. The aesthetic lens through which Silva y Figueroa perceived Persian and Asian architecture and art generally has a Eurocentric tint, the exception being his observations of the ancient marvels of Persepolis, which he approaches with seemingly modern objectivity. He again transcends humanist classical

110  See pp. 362–63, 570–72 [fols. 244v and 369r–369v]. 111  See p. 363 [fol. 244v]. Silva y Figueroa does not use vali, the Persian term that partially explains the practice of taking prisoners or receiving family members of foreign political leaders as hostages to the Shah to guarantee present and future political and diplomatic behavior, in this instance, of Georgia toward Persia.

Introduction

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convention by making reference to Sebastiano Serlio,112 which suggests that he may have read or consulted and been influenced by Serlio’s contemporary work on the categorization of architecture. Silva y Figueroa recognized the high standards and qualities of Asian artisans and craftspeople in their production of material culture. Despite his love of European painting—he owned a small art collection, including the Immaculate Conception by Velázquez’s son-in-law, Francisco Pacheco del Río, which he took with him on the embassy—he paid relatively little attention to Asian painters or paintings. In one elliptical reference, Silva y Figueroa mentions a painting of one of Hercules’s labors by subject or title, Hercules with the Hydra, possibly by Rubens, which he may have referenced simply for its beauty or as an early use of Hercules as a Spanish political allegory.113 In addition to art, Silva y Figueroa also references numismatics, architecture, music, and dance throughout the Commentaries. A humanist and a true Renaissance polymath, his pursuit of knowledge went unchecked by the boundaries of specialization that define the modern intellectual. Silva y Figueroa was a bibliophile and probably a noteworthy collector, although no autobiographical catalog of his library has emerged.114 His respect for the written word can be clearly seen in several places in the Commentaries. For example, in a conversation in Goa with a Brahmin “doctor” named Rama, Silva y Figueroa mentions that he possesses a “… keen desire to inquire into the views held by the Brahmins and other scholars regarding their professed philosophy …”, but “… although he [Rama] promised to bring me [Silva y Figueroa] some books, he never did so. It was thus evident that what knowledge he had had come from tradition and from what he had managed to learn in the common language.”115 In a second example, in an interview in Persia with a friar from the order of St. Basil, who was a messenger from the captive Queen Ketevan of Kakheti, Silva y Figueroa was presented with two exquisitely bound and gilded volumes containing a translation of portions of the Old and New Testaments. To summarize, the Commentaries have not received their due appreciation, no doubt due to their limited availability to an international readership. Yet Silva y Figueroa’s opus is worthy of the highest accolades, for the following four reasons. First, they merit mention among the finest examples of early modern memoirs by Europeans who traveled to the East because of the unusual flair, 112  See Dinsmoor, “The Literary Remains,” 55–91. 113  For the use of Hercules as a Spanish political allegory, see Brown and Elliot, A Palace for a King, especially chapter 4, “Hercules Hispanicus.” 114  For further discussion, see Loureiro, A biblioteca do embaixador. 115  See p. 223 [fol. 136r].

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dexterity, accuracy, and depth with which Silva y Figueroa treats a staggeringly broad range of topics. Secondly, the Commentaries contain a treasure trove of ethnographic information regarding Safavid Persia and Indian Ocean regions and societies. On a related note, Silva y Figueroa is also recognized as the first Western traveler to identify the ruins at Naqš-e Rostam as Persepolis, the ancient capital of the Achaemenid Empire. Although two of his contemporaries had already identified the cuneiform inscriptions at Persepolis as an ancient script (António de Gouveia in 1602 and Giambattista and Girolamo Vecchietti in 1606), Silva y Figueroa was the first Western observer to describe and reproduce their appearance, instructing his artist draw them and insert them into the Commentaries.116 Third, the Commentaries emerge as an important source of information concerning the Portuguese Empire in Asia and its relationship with the Luso-Spanish Habsburg Empire. We also learn a great deal from them about Portuguese colonial society and about the Portuguese imperial project, especially Portugal’s encounters with local and regional Asian societies from an elite Spanish perspective, which is rare, if not unique, for the early seventeenth century. While other sources already offer a good deal of information about the Carreira da Índia, the designation by which the Portuguese voyages between Lisbon and Portuguese India (Goa and Cochin) are known,117 Silva y Figueroa’s lengthy and highly informative descriptions of his voyages, which are found in Book I, parts of Book III, and the final portions of Books VI and VII, are unique. Most of what we know about the Carreira comes from narratives describing shipwrecked voyages. The Commentaries provide details regarding shipboard practices, conditions, and daily life that are generally wanting in shipwreck accounts. The Ambassador also supplies us with a few extensive accounts of Portuguese intra-Asian voyages, and since all of his return voyages from India to the Persian Gulf were by sea, his observations of the organization, handling, and functioning of vessels other than carracks are of particular interest and extraordinary importance.118 Silva y Figueroa, as we have already mentioned, also provides a vitally important historical account of the Portuguese Empire in Asia at Goa, in the Persian Gulf at Muscat and Hormuz, and in East Africa at Mozambique in Book II, Book III, and portions of Books VI and VII. In 116  See Plate 5. Cuneiform, Persepolis. 117  See Duffy, Shipwreck and Empire, and for translations of contemporary Portuguese accounts of the shipwreck experience and ethnographic observations of the peoples encountered by the survivors, see Brito, Tragic History of the Sea and Further Selections. 118  His description of his voyage from Goa to Hormuz on a patache and the loss of another is an important example of this point; see pp. 252–54, 264–65 [fols. 163v–164r and 172v–174r].

Introduction

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Book II he also gives a rare contemporary eyewitness ethnographic account of Portuguese society and the peoples and kingdoms of south-western India. Silva y Figueroa’s account of Goa, in our view, compares favorably with and may even surpass the two most famous and renowned works written about that Portuguese city that were authored in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries by two other non-Portuguese observers, Jan Huyghen van Linschoten and Pietro Della Valle.119 All three of these writers cover topics and provide observations about the Portuguese that are notably absent or scarcely dealt with in Portuguese accounts. While each of the three works contains its own biases, they are useful and informative additions that contribute significantly to our understanding of the Portuguese Empire in Asia and its encounters with local and regional Asian societies during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Spanish authors, with their strong pro-Spanish perspectives, have tended to concentrate on their national activities in Asia, especially in the Philippines and, to lesser degrees, in China and parts of Southeast Asia, making the Commentaries one of only two Spanish works to deal broadly with the Portuguese imperial project in Asia, the other being the account by Martín Fernández de Figueroa120 concerning the Portuguese capture of Melaka by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1511. Though Silva y Figueroa’s descriptions of the Portuguese in the Persian Gulf at Muscat and in East Africa at Mozambique are briefer than his comments about Goa, they also offer rare contemporary eyewitness glimpses into those parts of the Portuguese Empire. Those sections of the Commentaries (Books III and portions of Books VI and VII) provide invaluable corroborative evidence and observations about conditions, actions, and personalities prior to, during, and after the fall of Hormuz to combined Safavid Persian and English forces in 1622. Our fourth and final consideration deals with Silva y Figueroa as an author and a human being. He was a complex man and a keen observer with an inquisitive and relatively open mind that enabled him to produce one of the most important works of early modern European travel literature, chiefly because of its cross-cultural encounters. Finally, Silva y Figueroa possessed a mind and an intellect that permits us to categorize him as a precocious early modern European global historian. His Commentaries are an extraordinary and formidable example of an early modern global history.

119  See Linschoten, Burnell and Tiele, Voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten; Della Valle, Journeys of Pietro della Valle, and Della Valle, Travels of Pietro della Valle in India. 120  See Figueroa, A Spaniard in the Portuguese Indies.

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map 1  The reconstructed route of the embassy’s outbound voyage from Lisbon to Goa, 5 April–6 November 1614.

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The Commentaries of D. García de Silva y Figueroa on his Embassy to Shah ʿAbbās i of Persia on behalf of Philip iii, King of Spain

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[The Voyage to India April–November 1614] [fol. 9r] By the beginning of March of 1614, five carracks1 had been fitted out [margin: in the river of Lisbon]2 [text blacked out] in time for the voyage to India. But it proved impossible to clear the bar that month because of the constant blowing of the south and south-west winds and the endless rains. And although the weather [text blacked out] was fair for a short time at the beginning of the following month, it soon turned foul again. By this time most of the people doubted that a voyage could be made that year, until the fifth of April brought a wind out of the north and two pieces of artillery were fired to signal to those who had not yet done so to come aboard the flagship. But the wind blew veered to the south-west, and hence there was no making sail that day nor the two days following. Finally, on the night of the 7th, the wind backed to the north by north-east and north, giving a more assured hope of departure the following day. [margin: 8 April 1614] And thus on Tuesday morning at eight o’clock, three ships made sail from the harbor across from São Paulo:3 the flagship Nossa Senhora da Luz, the rear-flagship Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, and Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe. These had to be towed by 1  Nao in the MS. According to Boxer, a nao, called a carrack or great ship by the English, was a “large merchant vessel, broad in the beam, with three or even four flush-decks, but lightly gunned for her great size, and a sluggish sailer,” with a burden at this time that “usually averaged about 1,200 or 1,600 tons” (see Boxer, Great Ship, 13). This fleet of 1614 was composed of five carracks, whose Portuguese names, with their corresponding commanding officers, are as follows: Nossa Senhora da Luz (D. Manuel Coutinho, captain-major, flagship); Nossa Senhora dos Remédios (Paulo Rangel de Castelo Branco, captain, second in command of the fleet, rear-flagship); Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe (João Soares Henriques, captain); São Boaventura (Luís Ferreira Furtado de Mendonça, captain); and São Filipe (Manuel de Vasconcelos, captain). 2  The Tagus, the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. It rises in the mountains of Spain that divide the Atlantic and Mediterranean watersheds. Flowing through Spain toward Portugal and forming a portion of the border between the two countries, it divides Portugal in half and traverses two regions that take their names from it: the Alentejo, from the Portuguese Além Tejo, meaning “beyond the Tagus,” and Ribatejo, from Arriba Tejo, meaning “upper Tagus.” At its mouth, near the port city of Lisbon, it forms a large estuary and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. 3  In 1620, São Paulo was one of Lisbon’s forty parishes or neighborhoods. It was located roughly to the west of and opposite the São Jorge Castle; see Oliveira, Livro das grandezas, 524–32.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi ��.��63/9789004346321_003

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galleys4 because of the feeble airs. They made it safely around the bar, while the São Boaventura and the São Filipe remained anchored next to Belém,5 having to set off the next day for the want of galleys to tow them. Once outside the bar, the north-easter freshened and we stood to the south-west, pursuing the same heading [margin: most of the] following night under a north wind and on a smooth sea. The Remédios, the first to clear the bar, led the others by two leagues,6 [fol. 9v] even though the year before, in 1613, when the same fleet had been forced to abandon its voyage and return to Lisbon,7 she had been [superscript: conspicuously outsailed] by the other ships, and it was feared the same thing would happen on this voyage. However, her masts had been replaced and trimmed, and ever since then she proved to be the best sailer during this voyage. The captain-major—or as the Portuguese put it, the capitão mor8—was D. Manuel Coutinho, even though he had been seriously weakened by a grave and dangerous illness. Also aboard the flagship were D. García de Silva y Figueroa, whom His Majesty9 was sending as his ambassador to the king10 of

4  Silva y Figueroa uses the Spanish term galera (Portuguese galé) for these relatively lowhulled, two to three masted, oared, and occasionally armed crafts used in war and for commerce; see DLMAA, 284. 5  The first of six fortresses strategically situated on the coast from Lisbon to Cascais to protect the entrance to the city and impede the possibility of troop landings. Considered part of the city of Lisbon, it was located at its western boundary; see Oliveira, Livro das Grandezas, 540–41. 6  See “Measurements.” 7  The 1613 fleet had been composed of four carracks (Luz, Remédios, Boaventura, and Filipe); see Sousa, Subsídios, II: 646–47. As a general rule, if a fleet departed “late” in the monsoon season, meaning April or May, it ran the risk of encountering contrary winds in the vicinity of Cape St. Augustine in Brazil, which necessitated that it abort its voyage and return to Lisbon. 8  Silva y Figueroa uses the terms capitán general and capitán mayor interchangeably as translations of Portuguese capitão-mor, meaning “captain-major,” or the supreme commander (i.e., admiral) of a Portuguese fleet. 9  Philip III “the Pious” of Spain (1598–1621), who was simultaneously Philip II of Portugal. Silva y Figueroa uses this term as well as “His Catholic Majesty” in referring to this king, though sometimes “His Majesty” also refers to the Shah of Persia. 10  Silva y Figueroa generally refers to the shahs of Persia as kings, but he employs Xa, meaning “shah,” when referring to an individual ruler, particularly in the case of Shah ʿAbbās I (1587–1629), the shah alluded to in this passage. For a biography of Shah ʿAbbās I, see Bellan, Chah ʿAbbās I.

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Persia, and the king’s factor,11 the Armenian12 Khoja Safar.13 The latter had just returned after a long stay in Venice, where he had been sent to bring back weapons and other European curios. Upon his return to Spain from Italy, His Majesty ordered him to embark once more in the company of the aforementioned ambassador. In the afternoon of the same day we observed that the beautiful soaring Sintra Mountains were left far behind and became hidden from view because of the global convexity of the ocean. The wind freshened at nightfall, and while the sea was heavy and swollen under a menacing sky, several boats reached the flagship, bringing many of the people who had been left on shore, who with great effort and in great danger managed to take ship. All that night we sailed under the same north wind heading with the same south-by-south-west heading. [margin: 9.] On the 9th, we sailed in the same conditions until nightfall, at which point the wind began to slacken, heavy swells breaking almost directly against the bow, and thus the ship made little headway, rolling so much that it was difficult to remain in bed, or anywhere else for that matter, without being thrown to the ground. [margin: 10.] On the 10th, we sailed south-east day and night under the same north wind, and later [fol. 10r] to the south-east under a following northeast wind, which made for less rolling. That night, the chief-pilot,14 Gaspar Ferreira,15 an extremely cautious and experienced man in his profession, ordered the topsails shortened to half-mast in order to wait for the São Filipe and the São Boaventura, which had remained behind in the port of Lisbon, 11  A mercantile agent. 12  For the position of Armenians and their employment by the Shah in Safavid diplomacy, commerce, and politics, see Herzig, “Armenian Merchants,” McCabe, Shah’s Silk, and Matthee, Politics of Trade. 13  According to Dalgado, the first element of this person’s name, khoja, was a Persian honorific title meaning “wealthy merchant”; see Dalgado, I: 295. For more information regarding this important representative of the Armenian diaspora in Persia and leading merchant and envoy of Shah ʿAbbās I to Venice and Spain from ca. 1608 to ca. 1614, see Zekiyan, “Xoga Safar,” 357–67, and Aslanian, “From the Indian Ocean,” 68. 14  The Portuguese title was piloto-mor; the other two principal ship (and/or fleet) officers were mestre, “master,” and capitão(-mor). For a discussion of the three main officers, see p. 58, n. 35. 15  Gaspar Ferreira Reimão, a Portuguese navigator and author. Drawing from his extensive experience, he wrote and published a rutter (sailing instructions) in Lisbon in 1612; see Reimão, Roteiro da Navegaçaõ. It cannot be established whether Silva y Figueroa was familiar with this work or whether he had a copy of it in his possession during the voyage to India.

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although the monsoon was so far advanced that at the time it seemed illadvised to wait instead of forging ahead with the two reserve ships, the Remédios and the Guadalupe. Thus far these two ships had been leading the flagship by two musket shots,16 the Guadalupe a little farther behind, and thus we sailed the rest of the night despite a heavy swell. [margin: 11.] Shortly after daybreak on Friday the 11th, the aforementioned ships were sighted behind the flagship, with the Remédios the farthest back, not from necessity or because she sailed slower, as later became clear, but rather because the flagship determined that they should wait for the other two that had remained in port, and so they remained more than two leagues behind. [margin: 12.] Saturday the 12th, with the same north wind, bearing southwest. The two ships were now closer, their topsails somewhat shortened, by which it became immediately clear that they could have sailed faster had they so desired. Yesterday and today it was impossible to take the sun’s altitude, but it was obvious from the recent wind that the flagship was positioned on an east-to-west line with the coast of Barbary,17 a little south of the Mamora River.18 The pilot and the other seamen, whose profession bestows on them a certain degree of credibility, are boastful and think [fol. 10v] their reputations are greatly besmirched if they deign to answer any questions put to them. Most of the time this display of arrogance is a façade, because they conceal their great ignorance behind their dissembling silence, though the facts eventually contradict them. This afternoon some small brown birds of almost the same size and coloring as sparrows were spotted flying around the ship. One of them flew onto the

16  See “Measurements.” 17  Barbary included all lands inhabited by Berbers, including the Atlas Mountains along coastal and non-coastal regions of North Africa, which extend deep into Africa. For more on the Berber people, see p. 180. 18  The present-day Sebou. Silva y Figueroa applies the Spanish name of the town located on the western bank and mouth of the Sebou on the northern coast of Morocco to the name of the river found at that location. This town had been occupied since the fifth century BC by the Carthaginians and was subsequently named Al-Maʿmura, meaning “the well-populated” in Arabic. The Portuguese captured and renamed it São João da Mamora in 1515. By 1550, the Portuguese were forced to abandon this fortified town as well as other fortresses on this coast, with the exception of Ceuta, Tangier, and Mazagan. The Spanish occupied and exercised sovereignty over this location from 1614 to 1681, calling the town Mamora or Mehedía, and its harbor San Miguel de Ultramar. Present-day Mehdya reverted to local Alaouite rule in 1681 when it was conquered by forces under the command of Moulay Ismaïl ibn Sharif.

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balcony where the Ambassador19 was conversing with an Augustinian20 friar named António de São Vicente,21 and perched on the latter’s shoulder, where it remained as long as a Hail Mary. After resting there a while [margin: it flew away from the ship and off it went], having alighted there so it would not fall into the sea from exhaustion. By this it was clear that these birds had come from either the coast closest to Barbary or from the island of Porto Santo,22 both of which were almost equidistant from the ship. At three o’clock in the afternoon a caravel23 hove into view that had set sail from Lisbon on the ninth, one day after the departure of the three ships. Coming close enough to speak to the flagship, she reported that the São Filipe and the São Boaventura had attempted to make their offing from the bar that same day, but had instead lain anchor because of the lack of wind. This information, which was quite vague and confusing because of the brevity with which it was transmitted, was subsequently confirmed by another caravel that arrived later, having departed two or three hours after the first. This one reassured everyone who was vexed about the danger in which those two ships found themselves, reporting that they were now outside the bar, although afterward it was uncertain which of the two stories was true. This same day, [fol. 11r] ten sailing ships were sighted at nine o’clock in the morning to larboard at a distance of more than four leagues. The two biggest ones approached the flagship and then headed farther out to sea with the others, pursuing the same course as our ships, and because they were smaller and outsailed us, they soon disappeared from sight. According to what was afterward determined, they turned out to be small galleons24 that must have set sail the same day the flagship 19  In the Commentaries, Silva y Figueroa refers to himself most often in the third person as “the Ambassador,” although occasionally he refers to himself in the first person singular. 20  The Augustinians are a mendicant Catholic religious order founded in the thirteenth century that follows the rule of St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354–430); the order’s original Latin name was Ordo Eremitarum Sancti Augustini, meaning “Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine,” abbreviated as O. E. S. A. Their present name in Latin is Ordo Sancti Augustini, abbreviated as O. S. A. 21  São Vicente was a Portuguese Augustinian author who wrote an unpublished manuscript account about his missionary activities in Georgia entitled “Memorial das cousas deste reyno”; see Machado, Bibliotheca Lusitana, I: 416. 22  The most north-eastern island of the Madeira archipelago, located at 33°5′4″N, 16°19′20″W. 23  A relatively small, two- or three-masted lateen-rigged vessel, with one and a half to two decks, and a castled poop; see DLMAA, 137–40. 24  Based on Silva y Figueroa’s identification in the next sentence regarding who was on board one of these ships, we are convinced that both of them were actually hulks bound for Mozambique. Hulks were large merchant vessels, broad of beam, used primarily in

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and the other ships made their offing from the bar. Aboard was Rui de [superscript: Melo] de Sampaio,25 captain of the fortress of Mozambique,26 with 200 men. The other smaller crafts were caravels that were headed for the mine27 of Cape Verde28 and São Tomé.29 [margin: 13.] On the morning of the 13th, another caravel reached the flagship. She had left Lisbon the day after our ships, and from her we learned that the São Filipe and the São Boaventura had begun to clear the bar on the same day, but that they had anchored there because of the lack of wind and were in great danger of running aground. This accorded with what the first caravel had said the day before, causing everyone great worry, the more so because another new caravel that arrived in the afternoon of the same day confirmed this last news. Today the altitude of the sun was taken at 34 and a third degrees, on the Low Countries to carry troops or slaves. The Boa Fortuna was captained by Melo de Sampaio and the Conceição by Francisco de Sousa Pereira. See DLMAA, 524; and Sousa, Subsídios, II: 648. 25  Rui de Melo de Sampaio was a Portuguese administrator who captained the fortress of Daman in 1607. For details of that earlier captaincy and his tumultuous administration in Mozambique, see DRDA, I: 145, and Bocarro, Década, II: 486–90, 532–34, 665–68, and 715–19. 26  Silva y Figueroa is not referring to the present-day nation-state of Mozambique, but rather to the island, located at 15°02′12″S, 40°43′58″E, where the Portuguese built a fortress that become the primary center for their activities in East Africa and a principal port of call of the Carreira da Índia, the Portuguese name for the sea route to and from India; see Boxer, Moçambique, 95–132. 27  The allusion to a mine in this passage is puzzling because there was no known mining activity in Cape Verde. A possible solution is that around this time the Spanish word mina could also refer to a great quantity of money; see DA, IV: 571. Silva y Figueroa thus could be alluding to the commercial profitability of agricultural production and slave trading centered at Cape Verde. 28  An archipelago of ten islands of volcanic origin in the central Atlantic Ocean, located at 14°55′00″N, 23°31′00″W, 350 mi (570 km) off the coast of western Africa. Three of the islands (Sal, Boa Vista, and Maio) are fairly flat, sandy, and dry; the others are generally rockier and have more vegetation. The largest of the ten islands is Santiago. This archipelago, which was uninhabited at the time, was discovered and colonized by the Portuguese during the fifteenth century. Its prosperity centered on the slave trade. Under authority from Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Drake twice sacked the then-capital Ribeira Grande on the island of Santiago in the 1580s. 29  São Tomé refers to both an archipelago and to its small main island in the Gulf of Guinea off the western coast of central Africa, located just north of the Equator at 0°20′00″N, 6°44′00″E. São Tomé also includes another archipelago, Príncipe; both were Portuguese colonies. The Portuguese named São Tomé in honor of St. Thomas, which is not to be confused with the town, province, and coast of the same name in south-eastern India.

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an east-west line with the Mamora River, whose mouth is at this latitude, although on the day previous the mariners had calculated our position as being a little farther along. This mistake caused the chief-pilot to hesitate and sail with lowered topsails while waiting for the two ships that had remained behind in Lisbon. [fol. 11v] [margin: 14.] On the morning of Monday the 14th, we sighted Porto Santo, the first island discovered in this great ocean after D. Henrique of Portugal30 began his propitious discoveries. This island is situated at 33 degrees latitude from the Equator. The land is mostly elevated, with heavily forested mountains. It is larger than what reports have stated, since from what could be determined by sailing all that day within sight of it, it measures more than six leagues from one end to the other. It has no inhabited areas apart from a few country houses and shepherd huts with abundant flocks from Madeira,31 which is located at a distance of fifteen leagues to the south-west. Most of this day we sailed in north-east and east winds, with a big swell and the wind blowing more during the night after having left Porto Santo far behind. It was an east wind that blew across from Madeira, and because of the carelessness of the [margin: helmsmen]32 that night, the ship came perilously close to it, and thus around midnight they were replaced by the pilot and the other officers who labored and struggled greatly to steer the bow south and south by southwest until they rescued the ship from danger. [margin: 15.] A little before dawn on the next morning, the 15th, the north wind freshened, and after daybreak Madeira was sighted on our right-hand side. Its mountains were only just visible through the fog. It lies at 32 and one third degrees. From here we began heading southward under a press of sails [fol. 12r] into a heavy swell and cold weather, which seemed unusual for these waters. And although the sailors did not think the ship would sail that quickly, others thought the eighty leagues between Madeira and the Canaries33 could

30  D. Henrique de Portugal (1394–1460), Portuguese infante, “prince,” known in English as Prince Henry the Navigator. He was a promoter of early European oceanic explorations and the formation of the Portuguese Empire. For a recent biography, see Russell, Prince Henry. 31  A Portuguese archipelago whose main island, Madeira, is located at 32°39′4″N, 16°54′35″W. The archipelago was an important source of sugarcane. 32  In the MS timoneros, “helmsmen,” is written over another word and then re-written in the margin. 33  A Spanish archipelago, whose main island, Gran Canaria, is located at 27°58′32″N, 15°46′06″W. During the age of sail, the Canaries were an important stopping point for ships headed to the New World.

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be traversed in less than two days, and that is precisely what subsequently transpired. [margin: 16.] On the 16th, the wind freshened, and after nightfall it blew with even greater force so that the pilot had to take in the bonnet34 from the mainsail and lower the topsails to half-mast, carrying the flagship even closer to the Guadalupe. The Remédios remained more than two leagues behind, though her topsails were nearly fully shortened. She was clearly waiting for the other two ships, for she could have sailed past us with her better sailing advantage. We sailed all night in this blustery and heavy wind, the pilot being very attentive. Although we did not make the Canaries until the following day, the pilot paid watchful heed to the helm all night. As a careful sailor, he feared what befalls those who sail too close to islands [margin: at night] in the kind of storm that was raging at that moment. [margin: 17.] On the 17th, at dawn, with the same north wind, bearing south by south-west, we could see that we were leaving the Canaries behind on our left side. It was then that the captain-major read His Majesty’s instructions, which he had been ordered to open as soon as we passed the aforementioned islands. It was the recommendation of the pilot and the master35—as well as the gentlemen36 who sailed on that ship37—[fol. 12v] that we either wait for 34  Bonnets were sail extensions fastened to the bottom of the courses; see Fernández de Navarrete, Diccionario, 101. 35  The Portuguese title was mestre, “master of the ship,” the ship’s economic administrator and the officer responsible for the implementation of the pilot’s sailing instructions by the ship’s crew. The identity of this particular mestre is unknown. A mestre’s duties were distinct from those of the capitão, who was exclusively responsible for the military affairs on the ship under his command, and from those of the pilot, who was responsible for the navigation of the ship. The offices of captain and pilot also existed at the fleet level (capitão-mor and piloto-mor, respectively); these officers were responsible for the fleet and for their individual ships. See Pérez-Mallaína, Spain’s Men of the Sea, 83. 36  The MS has cavalleros, “knights,” which we have chosen to translate as “gentlemen” because not all the passengers on board who were in the service of the crown were high nobility; see the following note. 37  The reference here is to a shipboard council, the common practice of bringing together a group of officers in crown service to make decisions regarding future actions of the fleet, though the captain-major could also make decisions without consulting others. Councils of this type were also common on land. While some of the gentlemen being included in the council described here were formally knights, others were fidalgos, “lesser nobles” (lit. “sons of property”). While the etymology of fidalgo has been popularly understood to be “son of someone,” philologists reject this notion, “son of” being figurative here, patterned after Arabic use, meaning simply that the person was known to possess a certain characteristic. The second element, algo, does not mean “someone,” but rather retains its

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the ships that still lagged behind, or make our way to India with just the ships in our convoy, the others following us as best they could. It was agreed by all the officers that the voyage continue with the flagship and the Guadalupe in convoy without waiting for the rest of the ships because of how much more time might be lost, since it was already rather late in the season and there was danger of failing to arrive in India that year. The first of the Canary Islands is situated at 28 degrees,38 and the islands farthest to the south and closest to Africa39 are located at 27 degrees. It is important to consider, as has already been mentioned, that at this latitude, which marks the second clime, so close to the Tropic of Cancer, and especially at this date, which was April 17th, it was so [superscript: cold] that not only was it necessary to dress warmly by day, but at night we had to wear as much clothing to bed as in Madrid in the middle of the winter. At night the wind blew with so much fury that we headed south by south-west all night with no topsails. [margin: 18.] On the 18th, the Remédios caught up with the flagship, and the voyage continued in convoy with her and the Guadalupe, proving that she had not remained behind out of necessity. The wind veered east by north-east, and we headed south-west, the sea calmer; the sun’s altitude was taken today at nearly 26 degrees. [margin: 19.] On the 19th, a stronger north-east and north-by-north-east wind, still bearing south-east; the sun’s altitude was taken at 24 degrees minus a third, with no noticeable difference in climate resulting from our new position. [fol. 13a–r]40 [margin: 20.] On the 20th, north-east wind, bearing south by south-west; cloudy skies prohibited taking the sun’s altitude today at noon. [margin: 21.] On the 21st, sailing with the same wind and heading. The sun’s altitude was taken at 26 degrees minus 10 minutes.41 While no fish had been sighted since leaving Lisbon, today some were seen jumping out of the water,

medieval sense of “riches, possessions, property”; see DA, I: 204 s.v. “algo”, and DCECH, III: 359–60. 38  Alegranza, whose actual coordinates are 29°23′56″N, 13°30′43″W. 39  Throughout the MS, Silva y Figueroa uses Africa for North Africa, Guinea for West Africa, and Æthiopia in its classical sense of sub-Saharan Africa. 40  The MS has two contiguous folios numbered 13; we have designated the corresponding pages as fol. 13a–r, 13a–v, 13b–r, and 13b–v. 41  Based on the ship’s course and the earlier and later sightings of 18, 19, and 24 April, the sighting on 21 April appears to be an error introduced by Silva y Figueroa. The actual sighting was probably closer to 16°N.

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and from the ship some bonitos42 and cachorras,43 which is what the sailors call them, were caught with lines; the largest were as big as shads44 and the smallest the size of trout. [margin: 22.] On the 22nd, the [superscript: north-by-north-east] wind, which had started to gust, grew stronger, followed by a softer east wind, the bow pointing to the south-west. During the night, which was very dark, there was a small downpour accompanied by a little heat and a very weak breeze; we could now feel the difference in climate, though it was quite tolerable. [margin: 23.] On the 23rd, gentle east-by-north-east airs and the same course. At night, close to the opposition of the moon,45 the north-east and the east-by-north-east winds picked up and we headed south-east.46 [margin: 24.] Today, on the 24th, after the sun’s altitude had not been taken for two days, it was measured at 14 degrees, which seemed to some not enough altitude, since the wind had been weak on the 23rd and the night before, unless the reading had been erroneous—as it often is—when it was taken the previous days. We now found ourselves well within the Torrid Zone47 and closer to the Equator than to Cape Verde, and although we experienced some heat,

42  Bonitos are probably the Atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda), though they could also be the Plain bonito (Orcynopsis unicolor), which inhabits Atlantic waters off the coast of Africa. 43  Spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula). Cachorra means “female puppy” in Spanish and Portuguese, but only in Portuguese does it also mean “dogfish.” Elsewhere in the MS Silva y Figueroa also employs the Spanish terms caçón (modern Spanish cazón, “smooth dogfish”) and tollo. 44  Shads, or alosinae, are a subfamily of pelagic schooling fish belonging to the herring family Clupeidae. It is difficult to be more specific, since Silva y Figueroa does not offer additional information; world-wide this subfamily contains seven genera and nearly thirty species. 45  That is, the moon was 180° from the sun, making it “full.” The moon is in conjunction when it is 0° from the sun, in which case it is “new” and is invisible from the earth. 46  Throughout the Commentaries, Silva y Figueroa assumes a relationship between the phases of the moon and the wind, the new moon coinciding with less wind and the full moon with more. There may be some scientific basis to his observations—though not at all well established—namely, that as low tides expose more land mass, the heated land leads to rising air and increased winds; see Hogg, “The Moon and the Weather.” 47  Aristotle classified the world based on climates and divided it into three zones (Torrid, Frigid, and Temperate). The Torrid Zone is the region from the Tropic of Cancer (23.5°) in the north, through the equator (0°), to the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5°) in the south. The Frigid Zone is the area north of the Arctic Circle (66.5°N) and south of the Antarctic Circle (66.5°S). The Temperate Zone is the area lying between the two Tropics and the Arctic and Antarctic Circles.

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it was not bothersome, considering that it was no hotter than it usually is in Spain at the beginning of spring in Extremadura48 [fol. 13a–v] or Andalusia. [margin: 25. 26. 27. 28. 29.] On the 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th, we sailed in east and east-by-north-east winds in company with the two aforementioned ships, finding much greater difference in climate; it was now as hot as in Extremadura around the time of St. John.49 The wind gradually died down until we were becalmed on the last day mentioned. As a sure sign of the heat, sharks began to appear around the wake of the ship; we were now beyond doubt in the environs of the coast of Guinea, so vexing and arduous for those who sail there. Our position was taken at 8 and one third degrees from the Equator. On the 30th, the wind was so imperceptible that we were unsure we had made any headway at all. The sun’s altitude was taken at less than 8 degrees. These readings are taken by the pilots, and a few of the other seamen, with astrolabes50 so small—they are less than a span in diameter—that as little as half a degree of difference can be discerned with them. Nevertheless, the pilots record not only thirds and sixths of a degree, but 4 and 5 minutes on their rutters,51 even though it is impossible to take such precise measurements without instruments that are incomparably larger. And yet these mariners record sixths, eighths, and tenths of a degree, and often 1 or 2 minutes, even though they are fortunate if they occasionally [text blacked out] achieve a correct reading within several whole degrees [text blacked out] as they take52 shoot the midday altitude of the sun with their small instruments, because [superscript: then], by subtracting or adding to their figure the latitude to the north or south with respect to the Equator, they can find a few or even many minutes in the tables of [fol. 13b–r] that latitude; otherwise, it is impossible to determine, because their astrolabes can barely indicate 30 minutes, which is equivalent to half a degree. On this same day, the 30th, the ships were completely becalmed from twelve o’clock on; it was very hot, with an awful stench from all the offal 48  A province in south-west Spain, home to Silva y Figueroa. 49  St. John the Baptist. Silva y Figueroa is alluding to the feast day of that saint, which is celebrated on 24 June. 50  The mariner astrolabe was a compact and mostly accurate instrument for observing the positions of celestial bodies; it was later superseded by the sextant (see DLMAA, 66). For a seminal study of this instrument, see Stimson, Mariner’s Astrolabe. 51  Written sailing guides (not charts or maps) prepared by pilots with nautical and physical observations concerning the routes of a voyage, also known as “ruttiers”; see Boxer, “Portuguese Roteiros,” 171–86. For a classic study of the production and use of these guides by Europeans, see Waters, Rutters of the Sea. 52  M S: The phrase a tomar was inserted in the margin and then stricken out.

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and waste from the ships, and there was not even the hint of a breeze. But even considering the discomfort of the ship caused by the great number of people on board and her lack of protection against the sun, it was not nearly as hot as it is in Spain during the summer months in the hottest provinces. A great number of sharks followed the ships, but they are much smaller than what people usually imagine. They actually closely resemble a tollo or caçón,53 with blades or fins all over their bodies, especially below their heads and on their tails, where their fins are bigger. Sharks have a large mouth, though positioned very low toward their bellies. Their mouths are merely extensions of their heads, this being their widest part. And their teeth, though quite numerous, are also small, not so different from those of caçones. But these sharks are so voracious and gluttonous that they not only shred and destroy the meat that the sailors desalinate by dragging it through the water on cables, but they also tear up and often swallow shirts and other pieces of fabric that are hauled through the water to be washed. They are on average [fol. 13b–v] a little longer than seven or eight spans,54 not counting their tail fins. Their heads are blunt and bigger than their bellies, and as has been mentioned, their mouths are so low that sometimes they have to lay on their backs in order to grab the aforementioned items or the bait of pork fat that are put on hooks to catch them. They are so brutish, reckless, and dim-witted that when they are lifted up alongside the ship, they shake free with their great strength, and are caught again two and even three times until they are finally captured once and for all. No small number of them are caught in this way, as many as the seamen desire, because they continuously encircle and surround the ships. Sailors eat the lower part toward the tail, but the smaller ones, which are like large caçones, they eat whole. The only difference between the two types is their size. One quite astonishing thing worthy of mention regarding these fish is that two kinds of small fish follow them around and eat other tiny fish; the first are very white, the size of sardines, the second somewhat bigger, with brown and white coloring. They swim all around the sharks’ bodies, especially around their heads and the fins close to them. They never stray far from the sharks, swimming very close to and in front of them, most of the time above their heads. They can do this because they are safe—the sharks are incapable of catching them—and because they live off the tiny and almost imperceptible bits of flesh that the sharks tear to pieces while they eat. They are never seen without sharks, and sharks are never [fol. 14r] seen without them; they are 53  See n. 43 above. 54  See “Measurements.”

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always in each other’s company—four, six, or more of them above each shark. The seamen call the colored ones romeiros,55 the white ones also receiving this appellation, but the big ones have such a subtle and excellent flavor that they are possibly the best tasting fish found in salt or fresh water. They are caught only very rarely, and only with great attention and care because of their great quickness and speed on the one hand, and because of the head, fins, and back of the shark on the other hand. They are caught with little harpoons, which usually hook the sharks and miss the romeiro on account of their small size. [May 1614] [margin: May] Thursday, May 1st, much albacore56 and gilthead57 began to be caught in these waters. Both of these are large fish, a little smaller than sharks, though not as broad, especially in the head. Dorados are the celebrated and appreciated aurata58 of the ancients, of extraordinary shape and color, very beautiful and pleasing, and completely different from all other fish. They are golden and green or blue in color, containing the shimmering hues of an iris, or rainbow, that appears in the sky after a storm; their meat is very white, healthy and pleasing to the taste, which is why the ancients fished for them with so much effort and care. By this time we all yearned for a rainstorm, not only to make sail, but also for some respite from the intense heat. At last one began a little after noon with a wind from the north-west, where the clouds began to gather. It rained for a while, [fol. 14v] thick and fine with no thunder, the ship running south-west before a following wind. This downpour lasted four hours, but instead of producing the kind of thick drops that fall during rainstorms in Spain in the summer and very often in the West Indies and Ethiopia, the rain was similar to what falls in Europe during the winter when the sky is completely overcast. Our desires for rain were satisfied. The storm was replaced by an intolerable and terrible calm as soon as the moisture stopped falling from the sky. On the 2nd, at ten o’clock in the morning there was another downpour, or trovoada59 as the Portuguese call it, with an east-by-north-east wind, stronger than yesterday, although without thunder; the rain was fine, like before, and lasted until evening. We sailed south-west and west, and then with less wind for two hours after nightfall. 55  Portuguese for “pilgrims”; this is the pilot fish (Naucrates doctor). 56   Thunnus alalunga, a species of tuna. 57  The gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata). 58  Latin for “gilded”; also the Latin name for the gilthead. 59   Silva y Figueroa actually supplies the Portuguese term here in the MS, meaning “thunderstorm.”

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[margin: 1.3. 3] On the 3rd, there was less calm and the sun’s altitude was taken at 5 degrees. In this location the faint airs that had followed yesterday’s storm ceased altogether; there ensued an absolute calm that halted the ships’ progress completely until the 12th of the same month of May. [margin: 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.] On the 12th, during this terrible calm, the sun’s altitude was taken at 4 degrees and 10 minutes, there having fallen today and during the previous days a few slight drizzles from an overcast sky, with no breeze at all. At this point the captain-major sent a few of the sailors in one of the flagship’s boats to the rear-flagship and to the Guadalupe in order to bring the pilots and captains back to the flagship in the same boat to discuss and debate whether it was wise to continue our voyage with each ship waiting for the others, given that we were waiting [fol. 15r] for the general winds, or whether it would be better for each ship to proceed as best she could, whichever ship having the best weather arriving first in India. After the captains arrived, namely Paulo Rangel de Castelo Branco, captain of the rear-flagship Remédios, and [ ],60 captain of the Guadalupe, together with their pilots, they met with the captain-major and Gaspar Ferreira of the flagship and the new plan was proposed. The Ambassador’s opinion was also sought. He pointed out that of the five great ships that were supposed to travel to India that year, two had remained behind in the river of Lisbon, with no reliable reports of their having cleared the bar. Rather, it was suspected that they would not be able to sail that year. It was therefore agreed that every possible measure should be taken for the three ships to remain together, each one waiting for the others as much as possible until it became absolutely clear that one of them could not keep up, in which case the other two should continue their own course and make their way to India, even if it were in October. Moreover, sailing together was safer for all three in the event of a hostile encounter or shipwreck, for the ships would be able to provide whatever aid they could to each other, thus saving the people and salvaging the money from the one that foundered. As we shall see, this recommendation ultimately went unheeded, though it was carried as orders for the pilots of the ships at that time, resulting in great damage and loss. [fol. 15v] On the 13th and 14th, the same calm continued with drizzling rain; we were dead in the water with no wind at all. The heat was intolerable, and the stench of the ship severe. The night of the 14th, a little after midnight, the sky being heavily overcast with thick clouds, there commenced a distant and tremendous thunder and lightning storm. That afternoon, before nightfall, the 60  A space is left in the MS. As we have already noted, the captain of the Guadalupe was João Soares Henriques; see p. 1 n. 1.

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two carracks had ended up far from the flagship at a distance of more than two cannon shots.61 During the calm described above, the Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe, the biggest in the fleet,62 started to draw alongside the flagship, where no lamp had been lit because of the dead calm. The sailors reckoned there was no danger of one ship colliding with another because of the calm. But apparently, either on account of the slight current along the coast of Guinea or

61  See “Measurements.” 62  See p. 51 n. 1 for the composition of the 1614 fleet. Silva y Figueroa has already informed us that Gaspar Ferreira Reimão was the chief-pilot and will inform us that Matias Figueira de Samarro was the second or assistant pilot, both of whom were on board the flagship, Nossa Senhora da Luz, which had a cargo capacity of 1,400 tons and measured 200 long feet from bowsprit to balcony. According to other sources, all of the captains in the fleet had experience at sea and on this route, including some in successful naval encounters against the Dutch East India Company. All of the ships had been in service on this route. The São Filipe was probably the newest, since she was reportedly new when she was part of D. António de Ataíde’s outward and return fleet of 1611–1612. Bocarro wrote that the total number of crew and passengers aboard the fleet exceeded 3,000 people. Silva y Figueroa informs us (see p. 102) that the São Filipe and the São Boaventura had over 900 and 600 people aboard, respectively. The Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe was reportedly the largest of all the carracks in this fleet, but neither her size nor complement of crew and passengers are specifically mentioned nor can they be determined; she was shipwrecked off the coast of Malindi on 31 October 1614, and the crew survived with some cargo (money). They travelled overland to Mombasa, where they were eventually able to find passage to Goa. According to Bocarro, the total number of crew and passengers in the three carracks that arrived in India in November 1614 was around 1,500, and according to Silva y Figueroa toward the end of Book I (see p. 159), over 1,200 of them were sent to hospital. The subsequent fate of the ships that composed the 1614 fleet is a stark reminder of the perilous nature of this voyage. The Nossa Senhora da Luz was again the flagship of the 1615 return fleet, with D. Manuel Coutinho in command and Gaspar Ferreira Reimão as chief-pilot. She foundered off the island of Faial in the Azores on 7 April 1615, with heavy loss of life and property, although Ferreira Reimão survived. The São Boaventura, with a new captain, was also part of this fleet, but shortly after her offing from India, she began to ship water near the Maldives and foundered on 22 March 1615, although most of her crew was saved. The rear-flagship of the 1614 fleet, the Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, with Paulo Rangel de Castelo Branco as captain and second in command, did not sail with the return fleet of 1615. She sank during a storm while preparing for departure in the Goa harbor on 28 January 1616. Most of the return cargo was lost, but the crew was saved. See Bocarro, Decada 13 da História da Índia, I: 323–27; Souza, Subsídios, II: 647–48; Leitão, Viagens do Reino, I: xv, xviii, xx, xxii; and Guinote, Frutuoso, and Lopes, Naufrágios, 240–41.

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the coast of Paria,63 or more likely because of the pitching of the ships, which is normal in calm waters, and which causes one body to attract another, it was suddenly revealed in the brightness of the lightning that the Guadalupe had come within just over 100 paces64 of the flagship. As soon as each ship realized the danger, four lamps were lit, one on each bow and stern, and two on the waists, the ships drawing closer and closer together. At once the people on both ships became alarmed and agitated. The sides of the ships were now only fifty paces apart, and by the lightning one could clearly see the people on both ships, despite the blackness of the night. It was most mysterious how these two great ships could come to assail each other after being so [fol. 16r] far apart [text blacked out] with more accuracy than if each had aimed for the other with all the diligence and skill her sailors could muster and with the wind in their favor. At one point they drew so close together that the space between them was as narrow as the width of one of them amidships, their lateen yards and rigging almost touching. The calm made it impossible to use the sails or the rudder. All the sailors and the rest of the people from both ships were screaming and displaying extraordinary distress, confusion, and agitation, especially the women on board the Guadalupe with their shrieking and wailing, many of whom stood dishevelled on the balcony. There was no separating the ships, which were thought to surely lose their rigging and much of their freeboard when all was said and done. But the reason this did not happen, even in the face of such manifest danger, was that while the ships were so close together, their pitching and the attending slight movement of the water allowed the flagship to answer her rudder, and she veered ever so slightly to port, just enough to separate her stern and side from the Guadalupe, which was now directly upon her to starboard. So with this almost imperceptible movement, the bowsprit of the Guadalupe passed under the forecastle of the flagship, the channels almost touching, despite anything man could do to prevent it. After the sailors had suffered a long while from great fear and confusion, the ships ended up a slight distance apart, and come daybreak the Guadalupe was found to be about 200 feet65 from the bow of the flagship, a zephyr having blown a little before

63  Silva y Figueroa provides two geographical reference points in this passage to suggest an imaginary line upon which the position of the ship might be, which stretched in the east from the west coast of Africa (Guinea) to the west on the eastern coast of the New World or America, specifically the Paria peninsula, located at 10°42′00″N, 62°30′00″W on the coast of present-day Venezuela. 64  See “Measurements.” 65  See “Measurements.”

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which was nearly indiscernible, but necessary for maintaining the ships at that distance. [text blacked out] Early the next morning, the 15th, the captain-major sent [fol. 16v] the boatswain of the flagship, a fine swimmer, to the Guadalupe with the message that the captain and the pilot should take great care to avoid that kind of danger in the future, and to keep their distance from the other two ships, even though the incident was unavoidable by them or by the other ships, so accidental and extraordinary were the events of that night. This sailor stripped down to almost nothing and set out, seated on two boards lashed together to make what they call a jangada,66 which he steered with a paddle or small shovel-shaped oar. After reaching the ship with great speed and delivering his message, he returned to the flagship with the same confidence and daring, even though by that time a quiet breeze had begun to raise a slight swell and the sharks had started to cut him off on both sides of his raft and swim alongside him until he climbed on board ship. Most seamen seem to think that these monstrous fish, or marine animals, are fierce and dangerous to people, and they tell stories about men who have fallen overboard or who have jumped into the ocean to go swimming during a calm have been torn to pieces. But these stories are clearly untrue, because these large fish, which they mistake for sharks, are what people on the coast of Spain and on other Mediterranean coasts call marrajos.67 These are extremely ferocious animals, bigger than sharks, with longer heads and pointed snouts, uglier by far, and their mouths contain two or three rows of larger sharp teeth. While rarely seen on the high seas of this great ocean, if ever, they are found along the coast of India or the islands near it, particularly in Mozambique, where they very often cause great harm by biting off the arms and legs of those who bathe in the ocean while washing. The same thing happens in India [fol. 17r] and on other islands. Sharks, which by their very [text blacked out] nature populate the high seas, are never spied off shore, and judging from many observations during many voyages to the East and West Indies, they seem to be more gentle than ferocious, although people do not regard them as such 66  A raft made by placing wooden planks across two canoes; see Dalgado, I: 482–85; and Y&B, 450, s.v. “jancada.” 67  Spanish for “mako” (Isurus oxyrinchus), a type of mackerel shark. The DA defines it as “a kind of shark that resembles a sea-calf [i.e., a seal], though it is much larger and more ferocious, and not as light. It is covered with a thick and hard leather, and its mouth is armed with nine orders of teeth; it is normally found in the Indian Ocean, and its flesh is not edible” (translation ours); see DA, IV: 503; see also DCECH, III: 858. Silva y Figueroa obviously errs in his assertion that the mako is not a shark.

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because they appear to be so voracious and greedy. For instance, not only do they ferociously attack meat that the sailors drag through the water, tearing it to pieces and gobbling it up, as has been mentioned, but they also strike at shirts and other articles of clothing that the sailors haul through the water to launder them, carrying them off and swallowing them, together with anything else that is tossed overboard. But quite apart from their enormous lust for food, they are of all animals the most indolent and dim-witted. They are very easily caught and you haul up hauled into the ship with a hook and a line no thicker [text blacked out] than a straw or a thick stalk of wheat, or with a noose that is easily slipped around them; they make no attempt to escape from these haphazard and obvious traps despite the hollering of the ship-boys and grummets.68 So the effortless catching of these sharks and their docility allow for an endless number of them to be killed on each ship. In fact, they have never been known to attack or harm those who dive into the sea during a calm, which people do frequently, though all who do so are extremely wary of them. But although many people swim about and refresh themselves in this way, the sharks do not shy or swim away; in fact, they brush up against people [fol. 17v] with the greatest of confidence. And if the chary swimmers did not keep clear of them as they do, they could easily reach out and touch them with their hands, as happened one calm day when a group of sailors and soldiers jumped into the water for a swim and a nearby shark not only did not take fright and flee, but swam over to one of them, sidling up so close to him that he kicked it as he swam. His companions closest to him shouted out to warn him, and much alarmed, he paddled away from it. The shark displayed no intention of attacking, and in fact continued to swim about quite docilely among the rest of the swimmers, who took fright and fled from it. Men often have the bad fortune of falling overboard, and if their ship happens to be becalmed, most people can be rescued because the ship [text blacked out] is almost motionless. But if there is even the slightest breeze, a man overboard, even if he attempts to remain afloat, is left far behind and can never be rescued and will eventually drown from exhaustion. Such things have been seen to happen many times to unfortunates who end up in just this way. The sharks will circle and remain close to them, without a single one touching them [text blacked out]; instead, they swim right next to these men. However, the mariners, in order to defend their opinion that sharks are ferocious, say that sharks will not attack or harm a man while he is alive but will do so as soon as they sense that he is completely drowned, though the sailors confess that they have never seen this happen. 68  A man or boy apprentice seaman with limited or no experience at sea who performed the most menial tasks aboard ship; see Brito, Tragic History, 9, n. 3.

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And from what has been learned to date about these fish, not only do I not regard them as dangerous and harmful to people, but I believe they are very tame and [fol. 18r] friendly. Other sea and river animals attack people, tearing them to pieces and killing them. For example, as soon as people enter a river or an ocean where there are caimans,69 or crocodiles, and marrajos, they are attacked with great fury, being torn ferociously to pieces, although the caiman kills its prey by carrying it to the depths until it is drowned, be it man, ox, or horse, and then eats it on the riverbank. This is why Nature has endowed these wild animals with not only a large body and four legs and a tail like a land lizard’s, but also a huge mouth filled with a profusion of massive long teeth. Marrajos, though so much smaller and weaker than caimans, have the advantage over them in the thrust and speed with which they attack and snap off arms, legs, and, at times, half a body in the water, but these animals are strictly speaking fish, and very similar to sharks, with little difference between them, although as has been mentioned, they are much bigger than sharks; the latter do not exceed six or seven feet in length, and have much fewer teeth than marrajos. [margin: 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.] On the 15th, we found ourselves in the same calm which grew ever deeper until the 22nd of the same month, our position being 3 degrees and 30 minutes from the Equator. The mariners began to fear that they would be forced to turn back to Portugal because it was so late in the year, just as they had the year before. They said that normally the currents in this place run [fol. 18v] toward the coast of Paria in America, or the West Indies, and that if the calm persisted, the currents could carry the ships so close to that shore that they would be forced to make landfall, as indeed all four ships did last year. This fear, which was not completely unfounded in view of how late we had departed from Lisbon and how long the calm lasted, was further justified by the news delivered by all the experienced sailors that our ships were located on an east-to-west line with the Rocks or Crags of São Pedro,70 which were thirty leagues off, and if the general winds that run east to west did not pick up, the currents would certainly waft us to the coast of Brazil, where we would have to make landfall because we would not be able 69  Strictly speaking, caimans are limited to Central and South America. While there are three species of crocodiles in India, the only one native to the Goa region is the mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris), which is usually about 3.7 m (12 ft) in length. 70  Arquipélago de São Pedro e São Paulo (St. Peter and St. Paul Archipelago). Silva y Figueroa uses the synonyms peña and peñedo, both meaning “crag, rock,” and omits the reference to St. Paul. The archipelago is a group of fifteen small islets and rocks located at 0 5̊ 5′1″ N, 29 2̊ 0′4″W in the central equatorial Atlantic Ocean.

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to make sail from there. This notion was held not only by the common people, but also by all of the more experienced officers on the ships. In this state, hoping for a heavy storm to pick us up and take us away from that place, around nightfall a small south-western began to blow sporadically, but it was so feeble and delicate that it was hardly noticeable, though we were helped along by the current enough to make a little headway to the south-east and south. And thus, by the next day, the altitude of the sun indicated that we were 3 degrees from the Equator. [margin: 263. 24. 25. 26. 27.] On the [text blacked out] 23rd,71 the calm returned with the same or increased intransigence. We perceived that our ship made some intermittent headway until the 27th, when the hint of a breeze, which was too feeble to be called a wind, ceased altogether. Everyone began to fear and doubt that we would be able to cross the Equator, even though that day it was only two thirds of a degree away. Very late that night it happened that in the intolerable heat a young soldier twenty years of age [fol. 19r] fell on the lateen yards that are often lashed to the sides of ships; these were on the starboard side of the flagship, and apparently while sleeping he rolled over onto the outer edge and fell into the sea. The splash he made against the side of the ship awoke those closest by, and they, together with others who ran over to help, threw him a line so he could grab hold and be hauled up on board. But he was so dazed, either by the impact or by the confusion of finding himself in such danger, that he neither responded nor made any gesture of saving himself, and thus he fell farther and farther behind the stern of the ship till he finally disappeared. It seemed clear that with the currents alone the ships were making some small progress southward. On the 28th, the flagship’s pilot took the sun’s altitude very carefully and found that we had crossed the Equator, something strongly desired by all, this being a major source of anxiety for those who make this voyage. And even though it seemed impossible that we could have traveled two thirds of a degree in one day, we actually had done so on account of the currents that ran the same direction as our course, this being sufficient cause for this miracle. On Thursday the 29th, the south-westerly began to freshen a little; we sailed close-hauled to the south-west, the wind backing at times during the remainder of this day and during the night to the east by south-east, maintaining the same heading. On the 30th and [superscript: the 31st], [superscript: we sailed] with southeast and east-by-south-east winds, maintaining the same bearing. 71  M S: The 2 of the number 23 is superscripted.

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[June 1614] The 1st of June, we sailed under an east-by-south-east wind, which was easy but favorable. The altitude of the sun was taken at 3 [fol. 19v] degrees to the south. In this place the seamen began to experience the same fear and doubt as before about crossing the line: they said that we were positioned east by west with the island of Fernando de Noronha,72 which is only fifty leagues from the great continent of the West Indies, and that our ships could be so close to it that we would be forced to turn back to Portugal, as had happened the previous year to the captain-major D. Manuel de Meneses.73 The fear generated by what the sailors were broadcasting would have been justified if the chief-pilot, who shared the same worry, had not held to the left, heading us toward the coast of Guinea and placing us windward to the course we had been traveling with the general winds, which, as has been mentioned, blew out of the south-west and the east by south-east. The pilot claimed that we had passed that island, which lies 3 degrees from the Equator to the south by southwest of the east-west latitude of America between the great Marañón River74 and the island of Trindade,75 more than 100 leagues east of it. This is a small and unpopulated island where there is some rainwater, or where water can easily be found by digging two feet down, though there is never a lack of small ponds and pools that are filled from time to time with rainwater. It is completely forested, with countless birds that are easily caught in the hand without taking fright, very different in plumage and shape from European birds, both large and small, and many of them of good and pleasant taste. The sailors say they have stopped here, and that it is inhabited by a Portuguese man who was

72  Fernando de Noronha is not only an island, but an archipelago of twenty-one islands and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, 354 km (220 mi) off the coast of Brazil, located at 3°51′14″S, 32°25′26″W. 73  Meneses was commander of the 1609, 1613, and 1616 fleets. 74  In this passage, Silva y Figueroa is demonstrating his knowledge of New World geography and his preference for using terms that bolster the Spanish imperial project by identifying the Amazon River as the Marañón. It rises about 160 km (100 mi) north-east of Lima, Peru, flows along the eastern base of the Andes mountain chain in a north-westerly direction until it reaches 5°36′S, where it makes a great bend to the north-east. After flowing through the inland Andean plains, it joins the Ucayali River. It is at the confluence of the Marañón and the Ucayali in Peru where the resulting downstream river becomes known as the Amazon. 75  Trindade, not to be confused with the island of Trinidad in the West Indies, is the largest of a group of five small islands known as Trindade and Martim Vaz that form an archipelago in the Southern Atlantic Ocean at 20°31′30″S, 29°19′30″W, about 1,200 km (740 mi) off the south-eastern coast of Brazil.

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exiled there for his crimes.76 He and a couple of blacks who accompany him look after a great number of [fol. 20r] cows and sheep that easily support them in their solitary existence, although they are deprived of other comforts. Four days earlier, the other two ships in the convoy had passed in front of the flagship, and on this day they were lost from sight. Aside from the first days after leaving Lisbon, when the Guadalupe stayed even with the flagship and the Remédios lagged somewhat behind her, it became obvious during the rest of the voyage how much faster the other ships sailed, and it also became clear that during the first days of the voyage they could have sailed even faster had they tried. The deficiency of the flagship was readily apparent, though this was difficult to accept in view of the reputation she had acquired of a great sailing ship a year earlier when the fleet had been forced to return to port. Everyone professed that at that time she enjoyed a great advantage in both sailing and handling over the other three ships—the Remédios, the São Boaventura, and the São Filipe. In the end, however, all recognized the truth, and after discovering the flagship’s shortcomings in both aspects, the heaviest objects were moved from one place to another until finding good distribution in the hold for them, particularly in the bow where almost all the sailors said that the weight was best stowed. To confirm their opinion, they said that a year earlier, when the flagship proved to be so good in the sail and in the rudder, she carried much more weight in her bow than during this voyage. This seemed to be strongly contradicted by the disposition and posture of the ship, since the bow always dug deeply into the water and the ship sailed notably by the head compared to others [fol. 20v] of her design and large dimensions; hence it was feared by many in Lisbon that she would not be able to withstand heavy winds. Actually the reverse turned out to be true, since that was precisely when she enjoyed her best sailing. And so, against the wishes of the pilot, the cables and anchors were stowed in the bows and to the section of the waist closest to them, the result being that not only did this not improve the situation, but with the wind we had experienced earlier, and the wind we were experiencing at this time, she now sailed slower than ever. On the 2nd, the general south-east wind continued and we headed south by south-west until two hours after midnight when, accompanied by a sudden squall with an east-by-north-east wind, the gale snapped the sheet of the main topsail from the foremast, although this short storm passed quickly and the voyage was immediately resumed to the south-east, following the same course. [margin: 3.] On the 3rd, the sun’s altitude was taken at 5 degrees. 76  For a complete and thorough discussion of the use of degregados, “criminals,” in the Portuguese Empire, see the first four chapters of Coates, Convicts and Orphans, 3–102.

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[margin: 4.] On the 4th, the same wind and course; the sun’s altitude was taken at 6 degrees and 15 minutes. [margin: 5.] On the morning of the 5th, the Guadalupe was found to be at a distance of five or six leagues to leeward of our ship, although at the time we could not verify whether she was the Guadalupe or the Remédios, but later we saw her beat up against the wind until she entered the wake of the flagship before nightfall less than two leagues away. [margin: 6.] The next day, the 6th, it was noticed and confirmed after daybreak how slowly [fol. 21r] the flagship was sailing; the Guadalupe was half a league to windward, and the sailors on our ship were most abashed, especially the chief-pilot. A piece of artillery was fired from the flagship and the boatswain came over with two or three other sailors. The captain-major ordered them to continue their voyage and told them to advise the Remédios to do the same if they came across her, for the flagship could not keep up with them. The sailors returned to their ship with this order even though the Ambassador insisted to the captain-major that the Guadalupe should sail in convoy with our ship, even if she had to wait for us. It seemed that the Guadalupe desired our company because of the lack of confidence in her pilot, and because of the good opinion that everyone had of Gaspar Ferreira, our chief-pilot. This later proved to be the case, as the Guadalupe sailed close to the flagship all day without bonnets and with her main topsail shortened, even after she had bidden us farewell. On the 7th, the south-east wind continued, and the Guadalupe had yet to pull away from our ship. It seemed likely that she was waiting these two days for an order to remain with us. These days were harbingers of the disaster that was later to befall her.77 We sailed all night with the same wind. On the 8th, the Guadalupe was no longer to be seen, and a measurement of the sun’s altitude put us at 10 degrees. By then we had doubled Cabo de Santo Agostinho,78 [fol. 21v] the pilot calculating that we were more than 100 leagues eastward of it, though with the little certainty and confidence with which these things can be known. Cabo de Santo Agostinho is 8 degrees 30 minutes south; it is the easternmost part of the great land of America, or the New World, 400 leagues—or 350 leagues, in the opinion of some—from the westernmost point of Ethiopia. 77  This is a reference to the future shipwreck of the Guadalupe at Malindi off the eastern coast of Africa on 31 October 1614; see Guinote, Naufrágios, 240, and p. 272 n. 78. 78  Cape St. Augustine, the most prominent and eastern headland of north-eastern Brazil. It is located at 8°15′23″S, 35°01′48″W, approximately 35 km (22 mi) south of the city of Recife in the present-day state of Pernambuco.

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The flagship having now been deserted and abandoned by the other two ships in the convoy, her cargo was redistributed from the bows to between the stern and the mainmast, each sailor and officer offering a different opinion, until after immense labor the cables and anchors were again stowed in the waist of the ship. On the 9th, the south-easterly, which had always blown feebly, was perceived to be weaker than ever because of how overladen the ship was. On the 10th, the sun’s altitude was taken at 12 degrees [text blacked out] [superscript: 15 minutes];79 now the south-east and the east-by-south-east winds began to blow and freshen somewhat, the pilot steering the ship south and south by south-west. On the 11th, the wind began to abate, ceasing completely during the night. An intense heat ensued, which seemed to steadily increase after we doubled Cabo de Santo Agostinho. The heat was absolutely contrary to our expectations, as we now found ourselves at a higher altitude toward the south and farther from the sun, which was passing through the northern signs. On the 12th, extremely feeble east-by-south-east airs; the tremendous evening heat continued. On the 13th, the sun’s altitude was taken at 16 degrees; in the judgment of the pilot we had passed [fol. 22r] Ascension Island80 to leeward. At this latitude begin the Abrolhos81 shoals82 next to the coast of Brazil, which extend along it for forty leagues, and even though they are so well known and indicated on the charts, they are not dangerous, there being enough depth above them for great ships to pass over.

79  M S: 15 minutos is superscripted above a heavily blacked out phrase. 80  Ascension took its name from the day of its recorded discovery. It is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, located at 7°57′40″S, 14°22′05″W, some 1,600 km (1,000 mi) from the coast of Africa and 2,250 km (1,400 mi) from the coast of South America. 81  The Abrolhos Bank takes its name from the Portuguese word that means “sharp rocks awash.” It is actually an archipelago formed by a group of five small islands with coral reefs off the southern coast of Bahia in north-east Brazil, located between 17º25′–18º09′S and 38º33′–39º05′W. 82   Baxos in the MS. Throughout the Commentaries, Silva y Figueroa uses two closely related terms, baxo and parçel, both of which are defined as “shoal” or “bank” in modern dictionaries. However, Silva y Figueroa uses the Lusism parçel exclusively for sandbank, reflecting common usage during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Parçel has a Castilian equivalent, placel, “sandbank,” which was fairly common during his time; see DCECH, IV: 576.

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On the 14th, the same feeble breeze and sailing as the previous days and with greater heat at night. On the 15th, after taking the sun’s altitude we found ourselves at 18 degrees, having left the shoals behind; in the afternoon an east-by-south-east wind freshened somewhat with some tempering of the air, but at night after the wind diminished to a total calm, a sudden and fierce heat overtook us that was no less than what we had endured on the coast of Guinea. But here it struck us with much more force because it was so less expected; it caused everyone to lose almost all hope for the voyage. The sharks had abandoned us a few days earlier, but here large quantities of them appeared anew with great schools of dolphins;83 whereas these last are normally seen in the Mediterranean when a storm is threatening, in this ocean they always made their appearance just before a calm.84 These fish might represent a different species from the dolphin, though they are very similar. Sailors call them toninhas,85 hardly distinguishing one species from the other, and although it was said that on other voyages some of them were killed from the ships, such did not happen on ours, [fol. 22v] neither could their shape or size be seen very well because they never swam close to us; the closest they came was 100 paces from the ship. But by the appearance of their backs, which were completely black and which protruded out of the water, and from what could be determined from this distance, they were bigger than sharks. Everyone was anxious because we were waiting in this place for westerly winds that would waft us to the Cape of Good Hope,86 but not only were they not blowing, but we had by now spent nearly fifty days becalmed off the coast of Guinea with feeble airs afterward, which did not seem to come directly from the monsoon. This extraordinary calm that ensued was unprecedented in any of the other voyages that had been taken to India.

83  Probably the Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis). 84  See p. 77. 85  The MS has toñina for Portuguese toninha, which ranges in meaning from “tuna” to “young tuna” to “dolphin.” In this instance, the last meaning is clearly the one intended. See DA, DRAE, CORDE, and Bluteau and de Morais Silva, Dicionário, 466. 86  Originally called Cabo das Tormentas, meaning “Cape of Storms,” by the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, it is located at 34º21′29″S, 18º28′19″E. This headland is not the southernmost tip of Africa, as popularly conceived; rather, the southernmost tip of the continent where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet is Cape Agulhas (see p. 103 n. 152). The name Cabo das Tormentas was later changed by John II of Portugal to Cabo da Boa Esperança, meaning “Cape of Good Hope,” in optimistic recognition of the opening of a new route from Europe to Asia.

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[margin: 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.] On the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st, the vexing and terrible calm persisted with no more wind than a few intermittent small puffs of extremely faint air, and we made little or no headway. For in addition to the fact that the weather and the prevailing winds were of no help, the weight and poor handling of the ship were becoming more obvious with each passing day, although logically it seemed that these things should have improved, since during the two and a half months since our departure from Lisbon we had consumed great stores of water, wine, and supplies, which was most of our cargo and which should have been enough to lighten or buoy up any ship, no matter her original weight. But what was discovered about our ship during this voyage was quite different from how she had sailed in the past. The only way the difference could be explained was if many causes [fol. 23r] had combined to create it, the most essential one being the poor stowage and distribution of the cargo, not to mention how polluted everything was below the water line, which was clearly seen when the ship pitched; at such times an infinite number of shells and small shellfish came into view along with other filth. It was so thick that it was obvious why the ship did not just slip along, especially with such weak and sporadic winds: she had sat in port in Lisbon for sixteen months after the abortive voyage without being careened or tended to as was needed for such a long and difficult voyage. Furthermore, as she answered the helm so poorly, it was impossible for her not to have all these deficiencies and delays, especially since she had sailed almost the entire voyage close-hauled. A little after midnight on the same day of the 21st, a light breeze directly out of the north-east partially broke the great calm, which was a huge relief for those who had suffered such vexation and travail as a result of it; we headed south. On the 22nd, we sailed with this good wind due south, the wind almost following us. All were heartened by the ship’s good sailing and because the air was tempered from the great heat of before, and having taken the sun’s altitude, we were found to be at 20 degrees. This good wind continued until three o’clock in the afternoon, at which time one squall broke out from the direction of the wind and another opposite to it from the south at the same time, with a blanket of storm clouds and extreme tempest from both directions, and with terrible crashing of waves, the violence from the south finally conquering and prevailing, [fol. 23v] as it was in its own regions and district, though we had to beat up eastward into the wind; thus we continued the rest of that day and the following night. On the 23rd, the wind from this great storm abated and thus we veered to the west for the rest of this day and night in order to not drift off course.

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On the 24th, St. John’s Day, the wind died down even more, and even though it came directly against the prow, the ship lay to, making small tacks to both sides. On the 25th, the south wind died out completely and the sea flattened, the heat the same as on days previous, a sure sign of which were the many dolphins or toninhas. In the afternoon, close on nightfall, a gentle south-westerly began to blow against the prow, with which the ship bore south-west, though it died a little later, the rest of the night being extremely hot. This night and all the nights leading up to the big storm were so peaceful and clear that the constellations in this southern hemisphere unfamiliar to us could be easily seen and observed. Many days earlier we had lost the Pole Star87 of our North Pole from view, which marks the end of the tail of Ursa Minor; we had sunk it completely in the waters off the Peña de São Pedro, 2 degrees before reaching the Equator. The guards,88 or as they are commonly called, the Mouth of the Dipper, appeared lower and lower on the horizon each night until we doubled Cabo de Santo Agostinho at 8 degrees south, where they disappeared completely, Ursa Major remaining so close to the horizon that at eleven o’clock in the evening [fol. 24r] [margin: the star of that constellation] with the highest altitude finally set below the horizon. All of the more northerly constellations, such as Draco, Hercules, Ariadne’s Crown,89 and Boötes, moved so low in the sky that they sank below the horizon before nightfall, the last one setting two hours after midnight, although Boötes had already begun setting before dark by the time we were 8 degrees from the Equator. Canis Major, Piscis Austrinus, and Scorpius, which in Spain lie in the southern sky, reach their zenith at this latitude of 20 degrees and 21 degrees, quite close to the Tropic of Capricorn, more or less along the line of midnight, though Canis Major passes closer to the north and can only be seen just after sunset. A first magnitude star as bright and luminous as Boötes or Lyra sets close to sunset at this meridian, which is apparently the same point where it sets during the equinoxes in Spain. It is bright silver in color, similar to the radiance of the planet Venus, and because of its greater altitude, which is probably 60 degrees, it can be confidently supposed to be the celebrated star Canopus,90 which some claim to have seen in Spain from the farthest point of Promontorium Sacrum,91 or Cabo de São 87  Polaris, or the North Star. 88  Of Ursa Minor. 89  Corona Borealis. 90  Canopus is the brightest star in the constellation Carina. 91  Cabo de São Vicente, located at the south-westernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula at 37°01′23″N, 8°59′47″W. Considered the western end of the world by the ancient Romans, it

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Vicente. Lyra, Cygnus, and Aquila, which in Spain travel through the zenith of Madrid, appear in this clime at a little more or less than 30 degrees from the horizon in the [margin: northern sky]; Aquila, the [fol. 24v] easternmost of these constellations, sets at three hours after midnight. It should come as no surprise to find so much difference in the rising and setting of these stars in this place, for not only do we find ourselves at this writing almost directly beneath the Tropic of Capricorn, but this meridian is 44 degrees west of the longitude that runs through Madrid, where the sun reaches its highest point three hours earlier. The Southern Cross, a big, beautiful constellation [text blacked out] in this new hemisphere, comes into view as one passes between the promontory of the Hesperides,92 or the islands of Cape Verde, and Santiago.93 The Cross consists of nine stars, four of which make a square of unequal sides; sailors call it this because of its configuration. Of these nine stars, the one at the foot of the cross farthest from the transept is a first magnitude star;94 it is very beautiful and bright and is the largest star in this Southern Hemisphere, being as big as Canis Major. Of the remaining eight, three make up the Cross; they are between first and second magnitude, somewhat brighter than Aquila, and are extremely bright and beautiful. The Milky Way passes right through this signal constellation and through another one composed of stars of secondary magnitude somewhat to the west of it. The stars that make up the latter shine so brightly that their light is mirrored in the sea as far as the eye can see [fol. 25r] with the same shape and composition it has in the sky. And although this great star at the foot of the Cross—taking well into account how much farther to the north it lies than the others, which do not appear in our hemisphere—might be taken for the aforementioned star Canopus, and not the one just mentioned, it can undoubtedly be affirmed to be one of these two notable stars. The biggest one at the foot of the Cross can be seen after the first few nights of sailing from Spain, either on this voyage or on the routes that lead to our Indies, to Brazil, to Cape Verde, or to the coast of Guinea. [margin: However, it should be noted that this big star, which, as has been stated, lies at the foot of the Cross, is not was later named after the fourth-century martyr St. Vincent, whose body was believed to be brought to shore at this location. Silva y Figueroa displays his hegemonic perspective by identifying this cape as being part of Spain. 92  Gardens inhabited by nymphs in a far west corner of the world, thought to be Cape Verde by the ancients; see Pliny, Natural History, V: 3. 93  One of the largest of ten islands that form the Cape Verde archipelago, its name means “St. James.” It is located in the central Atlantic Ocean 570 km (350 mi) off the coast of western Africa at 5°6′53″N, 23°38′12″W. 94  Arcrux.

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one of the stars that comprise the aforementioned square, but rather the one that lies farthest from it, and the other stars are between it and the square.] The part of this hemisphere that is closer to the South Pole, and which surrounds it, is notably lacking in stars that resemble figures; and quite apart from the fact that stars in this southern zone form no known constellations and have no known names, the ancient Chaldeans95 and Egyptians knew nothing about them. And still today the constellations in this region could not be named because they are still unknown, save for a very small number of them that are so small that they are very difficult to distinguish and make out. [margin: 26. 27.] On the 26th and the 27th, we sailed by the weak south-east wind, heading south-west, at times becalmed. On the afternoon of the 27th, two big whales were seen together a little more than 100 paces off the starboard side of the ship. The one closest to us was the bigger of the two. It proved to be incredibly large, for even though its head was completely submerged, at times one could see most of its back and [fol. 25v] upper body, which had a huge hump, projecting out of the water, and when its fin surfaced, which whales have in the center like other fish, we thought it was one of its tail fins; these appeared to be longer than a long fathom.96 But then the rest of this prodigious leviathan began to materialize, the visible portion being as big or bigger than the part that had already become come into view, not including the tail, of which we never saw a glimpse. Judging from how much of it we could see and how much was hidden from view [text blacked out], many people calculated that it was as long as our ship, which besides weighing 1,400 tons97 [text blacked out], measured 200 long feet98 from bowsprit to balcony. Others believed the whale to be much smaller. On the morning of this same day three or four other whales were seen less than thirty paces from the ship, without counting many others from previous days since reaching the coast of Guinea, but they were incomparably smaller than this one. Some of them raised their heads out of the water and shot two thick spouts of water high into the air. On the 28th, the wind started to blow a little after sunrise, though gently, from the north-east and east by north-east, wafting the ship south by 95   Chaldean refers to what modern historians call the Neo-Babylonian Empire, whose capital was Babylon and which flourished between 636 and 539 BC. We attribute Silva y Figueroa’s mention of Chaldean astronomers to his thorough familiarity with classical Greek and Latin authors, who frequently allude to the ancient Chaldean astronomers of Mesopotamia. 96  See “Measurements.” 97  See “Measurements.” 98  See “Measurements.”

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south-west, but these feeble airs died out within three or four hours and were replaced by a calm that was considered and felt by all to be more arduous than what we had experienced off the coast of Guinea. Sunday the 29th, on St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Day, the same wind began to gust at the same time of day, though it did not last nearly as long; at least [fol. 26r] we did not suffer the same calm as the day before. There were a few very weak south-east breezes that barely wafted us south-west. The sun’s altitude was taken today at 23 degrees. We made scarcely any headway during these last days, and what little progress we did make was due to the current more than the wind. [margin: 30.] On the 30th, it was cloudy at daybreak with some south-east airs as on previous days, though very feeble; they later died out. The same calm ensued, causing everyone to be rather doubtful about this changeability and lack of a good storm, which was unheard of in this clime. We reached the point of debating whether to winter in Mozambique or not. And it was not so strange that we should have had so little hope of this voyage being successful, considering the adverse weather and our experience with the weight and sluggishness of the ship. And so beginning today it was necessary to give the order to limit and cut the rations for the sailors and soldiers. The sun’s altitude was taken at 23 degrees 30 minutes, placing us beneath the Tropic of Capricorn, though some of the sailors thought we were at a lower altitude. [July 1614] The 1st of July, a good north-east wind; we had good sailing south by south-east until midday, at which point the wind died out, the calm returning until five in the afternoon. The sun’s altitude was taken at 24 degrees 25 minutes. After five o’clock the wind returned from the same direction, though quite feeble, which slowly wafted us all night south by south-east. On the 2nd, north-east and north-by-north-east winds, a long run south-east and east by south-east. By the afternoon the ship was becalmed as on the other days, with great heat, and at night a slight breeze came up and she seemed to [fol. 26v] make some headway. [margin: 3.] On the 3rd, the same north-easter continued, though very weak and paltry, dying out completely at times, and in the afternoon the same calm settled in as on other days. Many sea crows99 flew and swam near the ship, some of them coming within thirty or forty paces. They seemed as small or 99  Based on Silva y Figueroa’s description, we believe this bird is the European or common shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis), which can be as large as 78 cm (31 in) in length and whose wingspan can be as wide as 1.1 m (3.6 ft). Shags, in general, are commonly conflated with cormorants, the etymology of which actually traces back to Latin corvus marinus; see DA, II: 691, s.v. “cuervo marino.”

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smaller than the ravens100 or rooks101 of Spain, but they were actually much bigger: one of them managed to fly next to the stern gallery and got its wing tangled in a line that was hanging there, wrapping itself around it a couple of times so that it could not extricate itself. It was hauled up captive, and its size, shape, and color were carefully examined. It was as big as the biggest crows102 in Spain, not as black in color, but tending toward brown, the neck and the head the same size, and the beak not as thick next to the head, but more curved and thick at the tip. Its shanks were like those of other crows, and its feet, which were also dark, had the same kind of membranes between its toes as ducks and other water birds, with delicate claws designed for snatching. It made no protest or movement after being taken captive. The Ambassador had it released and as soon as it sensed its liberation, it perched on the water below the same gallery where it swam for a long time without moving away. It is quite common for these crows to come into view close to ships at latitude 20 degrees. It dives underwater to fish, Nature having endowed it with a beak and claws for survival. [fol. 27r] On the 3rd,103 an hour after sunrise, the north-east and north-bynorth-east [winds] began to blow with conspicuous improvement compared to days past, until one o’clock in the afternoon when they suddenly ceased altogether; they were immediately followed by the usual calm and considerable heat. The sun’s altitude was taken at just under 26 degrees. The calm lasted all day and most of the night, during which the ship, since it would not answer the helm, wore completely around to the north as if it had drifted free, so that from the stern gallery it was seen that the whole southern sky was clear of clouds. This region is mostly dark and cheerless, lacking stars that would beautify and brighten it. The Southern Cross is quite big and bright at its zenith on the horizon, and by looking carefully at where the South Pole would be, two very small clouds could be distinguished that were of the color of the Milky Way and which could be judged to be 25 or 30 degrees from each other. The one farthest to the south-west was incomparably larger, for if the observer were to fix his eyes toward the south, though he were shortsighted, he would not fail to see it clearly and distinctly. The other one, which lay more to the south-east, was tiny, and its light was so dispersed and intermittent that one had to gaze 100  Common ravens (Corvus corax). 101   Corvus frugilegus. 102  Carrion crows (Corvus corone), which can be as large as 53 cm (21 in) in length and whose wingspan can be as wide as 1.04 m. (3.4 ft). 103  There are two entries for 3 July, each providing distinct descriptions and details for the same day.

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carefully in order to make it out. They must have been more or less 20 degrees above the horizon at nearly the same elevation. As has been noted, one could not make out any stars close to them except for two very small ones [fol. 27v] of fourth or fifth magnitude, one of which—the bigger of the two—was above the smaller cloud; the other star was between the little clouds, somewhat closer to the bigger one and at the same elevation. This one appeared to be the star that made the smallest orbit around the South Pole. In the westernmost part of the sky, at an elevation of 15 or 30 degrees from the bigger cloud, that very bright star appeared that could be taken for Canopus, as has been explained before; to the south-east of these little clouds at an equal distance from the smaller ones, another first magnitude [text blacked out] star104 [text blacked out] arose at the same time as the setting of Canopus, being just as big and beautiful. Another star of third magnitude was found 3 degrees to the side of both of these notable stars. These three stars were the only ones that shone in that part of the southern sky. The distances and elevations of these and other stars that have been mentioned were not observed with any sort of mathematical instrument, but only with what could be estimated [superscript: with] the naked eye. These judgments were based on what had been observed and known of the constellations and stars in Europe by the man who offered these estimates, which might have been rough and approximate. On the 4th, three hours before dawn, a following wind began to blow directly out of the north-west; the ship stood to the south-east till three in the afternoon, when the wind unexpectedly veered to the south-west and then south; at night it veered to the south by south-east with heavy seas, which made the ship roll horribly; bearing east and east by north-east. On the 5th, the same storm continued, and the ship wore [fol. 28r] west and west by south-west. The air, which was hot the day before, suddenly turned very cold. In the afternoon the wind backed south and south by south-west, and the pilot wore the ship around to the east by south-east, with the same cross seas and rolling of the ship. During these days the sharks had abandoned us as a result of the change in weather. Save for a few short periods, they had followed us continuously from the area around Cape Verde. They were now replaced by a huge number of marine crows, whose appearance has already been described; these are as gluttonous and careless as sharks. The mariners hunt them with hooks and lines from the sides and stern of the ship where they persistently congregate with great speed without scaring off, and although many were captured and some got away, these very birds were once again caught with the same bait, along with some others. They were much more numerous in the 104   M S: The first letter of estrella is superscripted.

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afternoon between a little before sunset and nightfall. With them were other birds the size of turtledoves, white and brown of very beautiful appearance, which the sailors call feijões105 because they have the same coloring as a kind of bean that is stored with the other legumes on the ship and has this name. But none of these birds came close to the ship because they are extremely chary, and thus not one of them was caught. On the 6th, the day began with better weather, an eastern wind blowing by which we sailed south with calmer seas. The sun’s altitude was taken at 27 degrees, the heavy, cross seas having prevented our progress during the last three days. The temperature dropped steadily, although the cold was more tolerable than the heat and the calm from before. After midday, while [fol. 28v] some of the Ambassador’s servants were standing at the stern gallery, they called him over to observe an extremely large shark that was different from any that had been seen to date. A close inspection of it—for it was directly below the stern gallery—clearly revealed that it was not a shark, because it was incomparably large. It looked to be ten or twelve feet long. Its head was not round and blunt like a shark’s, but much longer, with a very large and pointed snout or muzzle, and the blades or fins on its head and back were much bigger. All this led one to conclude that it was not a shark, but one of those extremely ferocious fish that in Italy and Spain are called marrajos, which have been described in such detail above. This fish attacked a large piece of salted meat that was hanging from a line and then carried most of it off without showing itself again. Seeing this fish here, we inferred that we were quite close to the coast of Brazil, contrary to the opinion of the chief-pilot, who was certain that we were in the middle of the ocean, far from land. The first theory was eventually confirmed beyond doubt because of how long it later took us to reach the Cape of Good Hope from our present position, though with such a strong following wind that any other ship not as big and strong and capable of taking strong gales as ours would have considered it a great storm. We ran all day and a little past midnight in front of this long and favorable wind [fol. 29r] until we were suddenly becalmed and the cold let up a little, the heat returning somewhat, though without the vexation of the previous days. [margin: 7.] On the 7th, we stood south-east under a north-east wind with waves crashing against the bows. Having sighted an alcatraz106 [text blacked out], many believed that we were closer to the coast of Africa or southern Ethiopia than to the continent of Brazil. On this same day the sun’s altitude was taken at less than 28 degrees. The hunting of crows continued, and one 105  Portuguese for “beans.” 106  Probably the Cape gannet (Morus capensis).

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was caught from the poop deck that was extraordinary in size and color compared to the rest: it was as big as a large goose, but with bigger wings and a thicker head and neck. Its beak was mostly white, but greenish toward the tip, a half a foot long and two fingers wide,107 with a small protuberance halfway up. It had two holes in the end through which it breathed. The tip or end of the beak was sharply curved, ending in an extremely sharp tip just like on a gyrfalcon.108 Its shanks and black feet were at least as big as a goose’s, with webbing and sharp claws like large birds of prey. Its color was not between brown and black, like that of those other smaller crows, but pitch black; its plumage was as shiny as jet. The mariners say [fol. 29v] they often catch bigger ones, which in their Portuguese tongue they call corvos taxugas.109 They eat them with relish, first peeling off their skin, which is thick and hard. Because the plucked skin is like thick and soft wool that can be used for treating the common cold or for any other disease, it is carefully preserved by the sailors. In the afternoon, the wind died away a little before sunset, and the sea became like glass; the air warmed a little, and in this condition we spent the rest of the night. On the 8th, the same calm persisted until just before nightfall, when a light north-west wind seemed to steer the ship a little, and we spent the whole night with these confusing oscillations between calm and feeble winds, hardly pushing forward at all. On the 9th, we began to notice a little improvement in the weather with a small north wind that wafted us east and south-east and that freshened somewhat later in the day. As we held the same course, those who were experienced and accustomed to this voyage were greatly amazed and afraid to see that at 28 degrees, where at this time of year it was always stormy and cold, it now seemed to be summer, with calms as at the Equator, and without a west wind or its collaterals, which are so common in these waters. Normally ships sail here in heavy and violent storms. And because the sailors were afraid of [fol. 30r] the fury of these seas, where the dead of winter strikes in the month of July, after reaching 17 degrees of latitude, they dismantled the artillery and reinforced the carrack at intervals athwartships with extremely thick cables, 107  See “Measurements.” 108   Falco rusticolus. 109  Based on the description provided by Silva y Figueroa, these birds are probably the Cape cormorant (Phalacrocorax capensis), though we have been unable to document the designation taxuga. The Cape cormorant is 64 cm (27 in) long with a wingspan of 1.09 m (3.6 ft). As mentioned on p. 80 n. 99, the European shag can be as long as 78 cm (31 in) and its wingspan can be as wide as 1.1 m (3.6 ft).

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even though the ship was strong and new, with all the other tasks and preventions that mariners are wont to take against the violence and fury of such ferocious seas. The north wind that had blown so weakly before now freshened a little before midday, and we ran east and south-east until the first watch,110 when the wind died down considerably. It resumed before midnight and we sailed under it on the same course until just before dawn, when it changed just like it had at eight o’clock the night before. [July 1614] At eight o’clock in the morning of the 10th, the fair weather returned. The wind blew from the north-west, and we sailed under it with a slack bowline,111 heading east. The sun’s altitude was taken at 28 degrees 30 minutes. After proceeding under this favorable wind well into the afternoon, the ship suddenly ceased to answer the helm and failed to steer for two full hours. This frightened everyone, especially since the wind came from the north almost directly at our stern, and the seas were completely flat. And although the wind gradually died out not long after sunset, continuing to diminish all night, as on the immediately preceding days, it later freshened again so that we could have made some headway had it not been for the failing of the ship, which would not answer the helm well at all. On the 11th, the sky, having been very clear at daybreak, suddenly grew dark with clouds. A light shower began to fall, which gave force to an [fol. 30v] escalating wind that blew from the north-west and west; it was more enduring and favorable than any from days previous, and in the absence of a cross sea we sailed east under a low sky with a few light showers. We sailed by this wind

110  This term is part of the standard night watch system employed on board both Spanish and Portuguese ships. The nocturnal hours between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. were divided into four watches, called quartos or quarters, each lasting three hours. The first watch (quarto de prima or prima noche) went from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.; the second watch (quarto de la modorra, meaning “drowsy quarter”) ran from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.; and the third watch (typically referred to as the quarto de la modorrilla, meaning “slightly or less drowsy quarter”) ran from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. The fourth watch (quarto de alba, meaning “dawn quarter”) ran from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. However, when manpower was scarce, it was common, especially on smaller vessels, to employ a three watch system, which Silva y Figueroa also refers to in the Commentaries; see pp. 124 and 267 and DA, IV: 585–86 s.v. “modorra”; V: 379 s.v. “prima noche,” and V: 455 s.v. “quarto.” 111  The MS reads con bolina larga, lit. “with a long bowline.” Bowlines were attached to the weather-leeches (the aft edges) of the sails. When a ship sailed close-hauled (i.e., into the wind), the bowlines were pulled taut toward the bow to keep the sail as flat as possible in order to prevent flapping, but on a broad reach (i.e., with the wind blowing over the quarter, between the beam and the stern), the bowlines were slackened, or left “long.”

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past noon until close to sundown, at which time it began to gradually wane as the night wore on; the heat was intense and palpable. On the 12th, we were wafted along by these north-west airs, which reversed direction around midday and began blowing just as faintly from the southeast, the ship’s bow heading north-east and east until the wind died completely just before nightfall. This left us in a cruel calm, indeed the worse we had experienced thus far on our voyage. The sun’s altitude was taken at 29 degrees and a third. [margin: 13.] On the 13th, we awoke to the same calm. At nine o’clock there was some movement of the air, but so delicate that the helm could only respond [superscript: to] a faint north wind that was so weak it barely ruffled the sails. Our bows headed east by south-east. A little before midday the north wind freshened somewhat until nightfall, at which point it followed the same pattern as on previous days: the sea remained calm until two hours after midnight, at which time a north-wester braced up until daybreak. [margin: 14.] On the 14th, the north-wester stiffened until it became as strong as we had experienced during the entire voyage. As our stern was to the wind and we had no cross seas, we were able to stand to the south-east under a full press of sails. The sea looked almost completely white from all the [margin: foam], which the sailors call cabrilhas112 in their vernacular. After midday [fol. 31r] the wind veered west by north-west and west, increasing in fury, and the topsails had to be shortened; later, since the wind blew even harder, we had to furl them completely and strike the bonnets. We ran before the wind in this massive storm until nightfall, at which point its fury abated somewhat and the wind veered south-east and south by south-east, forcing us to steer close-hauled against heavy beam swells, which caused the ship to roll violently. Throughout the day’s storm, the sky was thickly overcast and there were heavy downpours. Later the sky turned clear and cloudless, and a wind gusted from the south by south-east, though later the sky become once again covered with delicate white clouds through which the moonlight penetrated. Two hours before midnight the wind braced up, though it was weaker than it had been during the day, and so the topsails were raised again to half-mast; it was colder than it had ever been. We headed south-east against the same heavy swells. [margin: 15.] Daybreak on the 15th brought clear and cloudless skies with the same south-by-south-east wind and little or no swells, bearing east, the intense cold becoming as extreme as in Castile during the winter when the north, or Mistral, winds blow; this clime was even harsher now than on previous voyages. Here the sun’s altitude was taken at 31 degrees 20 minutes, and in 112  Portuguese for “goat kids.”

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the opinion of the chief-pilot, we were a little to the east of the meridian that passes through the islands of Tristan da Cunha,113 which are located at latitude 35 degrees south of the Equator and 350 leagues west [fol. 31v] of the Cape of Good Hope. The wind gradually abated as the day wore on until the feeble breeze that remained veered south and south-east. The air was very calm with almost no cold. This weather, which was fair, though terrible for sailing, lasted all night. There was just enough wind to allow the ship to steer a little; we crept along bearing east and east by north-east. On the 16th, we had the same weather until midnight, at which point we became completely becalmed, and remained so with the same moderate temperature all day and night; the sky was clean and clear. On the 17th, the sea being extremely flat and glassy, a few whales appeared close to the ship. In the afternoon the southerly wind freshened a little, and we sailed east and south-east. Once again we were all amazed that never in any previous voyage had we seen such singular and unusual tranquillity and fair weather in this clime at this time of year. The westerly winds, normally quite forceful and necessary for finding and doubling the Cape of Good Hope, which is most desirable on this voyage, had completely died out. The sun’s altitude was taken in this location at 32 degrees 15 minutes. At the beginning of the first watch, the wind began to freshen out of the south and continued to stiffen as the night wore on; it then backed to the west, so that just before dawn we were running before a stronger north-wester. [margin: 18.] On the 18th, the pilot, not wishing to run with the wind and thus increase our latitude, sailed with a slack bowline,114 and even though the wind stiffened, the ship was able to carry a press of sails; we sailed in this manner all night. On the 19th, the north-wester backed to the north, gaining more ferocity than on the previous night and day. The ship carried a press of sails: only the [fol. 32r] topsails were shortened to less than half-mast. The sky was heavily overcast, with a few light showers. Today and yesterday the sun’s altitude could not be taken because of the darkened sky, but since we had been heading east, it was assumed that we had gained little or no latitude. Despite all these storms 113  Tristan da Cunha, located in the south Atlantic at 37°4′03″S, 12°18′47″W, is the world’s most remote inhabited archipelago. It is approximately 2,816 km (1,750 mi) from South Africa and 3,219 km (2,000 mi) from South America, and consists of the main island, Tristan da Cunha, and five smaller islands. The location given by Silva y Figueroa for these islands, 35°S and 350 leagues west of the Cape of Good Hope, is off by approximately 2° latitude and 13.5° longitude. 114  See p. 85 n. 111.

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and heavy skies, a great number of those small white and brown birds115 flew and swam near the ship, though the ones in this latitude were a little bigger, like large doves. A good number of crows had also been seen, but they had disappeared from view a few days earlier. At this time everyone was watching for the signs of land that usually come into view 200 leagues from the Cape of Good Hope on every voyage to the Indies. And in the opinion and estimation of the pilot, we were even closer than that, although afterward it became obvious that he was mistaken. At nightfall, even though the fury of the wind had abated somewhat, the topsails were shortened to [margin: half-mast for safety’s sake], and thus we passed most of the night, until three o’clock in the morning, when, after the third watch, a gust of wind snapped the sheet of the main topsail. Afterward the sea flattened. [margin: 20.] On the morning of the 20th, the westerly wind blew with less force than the winds on previous days, with heavy seas; our bearing was east and north-east. The sun’s altitude was taken at 30 and a half degrees. The pilot’s plan struck some as extraordinary: finding ourselves, as he thought, very close to the Cape, not far from its latitude, instead of heading straight for it, he steered toward the land that was this side of it, a practice that all those who undertake this voyage assiduously try to avoid. Today a wider variety of birds [fol. 32v] were seen, some [text blacked out] as small as thrushes but very white. Also seen were the large and small crows116 that have already been mentioned, [text blacked out] which induced the pilot and many others to believe that we were very close to land, especially because we also saw two large birds, the size of swans, whose wings were half black. These were thought to be those well-known and noteworthy birds that sailors call mangas de veludo,117 a sure and true sign of having doubled the Cape, or of being very close to it. This afternoon the topsail, which had been torn during the gust of wind from the night before, ripped from top to bottom, even though today’s wind was light. At night the westerly wind freshened, and we sailed east better than we had all day until just before dawn. On the 21st, just after daybreak, the sea was calm for the space of two hours; afterward a cold wind freshened strongly from the south and the south-east, wafting us eastward. The wind continued to stiffen until it backed to the west, 115  See p. 80 n. 99. 116  See p. 80 n. 99 for the larger birds Silva y Figueroa is referring to in this passage and p. 81 n. 102 for the smaller ones. 117  Portuguese for “velour sleeves,” the wandering albatross (Diomedia exulans). See Dalgado, I: 21 and Lockhart and Costa, Itinerário, 21–22. Its wingspan ranges from 2.5 m (8.3 ft) to 3.5 m (11.5 ft), and its body ranges from 107 (3.5 ft) cm to 135 cm (4.4 ft).

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when it began to gust even harder without ceasing the rest of the day. The sun’s altitude was taken at just under 34 degrees. During the [margin: night]118 the ship drove ahead with her topsails very low and with no bonnets on the mainsail. Even though the wind was quite strong, as has been mentioned, and the sea very heavy, the ship handled much better than she did with a light following wind and a flat sea; this was confirmed afterward when we began to run into heavy storms. After midnight, the topsails were taken in because the westerly wind, which was still blowing, was at this time much more furious, with a few very cold downpours and intensely cold air. On the 22nd, the same heavy storm continued. We sailed with the topsails somewhat lowered, the wind grew in force, pushing the prow toward the east and north-east. And though it seemed that by pursuing this course we would not only fail to increase our latitude, but might [fol. 33r] even become lost, we gained more latitude, first, because of the drift of the ship, and second, because in this latitude the compass needle was off by a quarter of a degree to the north-east. The wind was still blowing from the west and sometimes from the west by south-west with the same force as on the previous night. Very late in the evening it turned much more violent, and we had to completely lower the topsails. There were several rainstorms a little before midnight. The wind became so ferocious and severe that even though we were running almost completely with the wind, the freeboard began to creek and groan terribly. And while the helm answered admirably in this terrible storm, the wind started blowing even harder. In consequence of this and the crashing of several heavy waves, together with the fact that the ship was slightly lying to in a heavy and swollen sea, the foresail ripped to shreds; the mainsail would have done the same had it not been quickly lowered to half-mast. We proceeded the whole night through in this manner with a few thick and cold downpours. [margin: 23.] On the 23rd, though the wind was very strong, its ferocity abated somewhat. The day was noticeably cold and dark and thus the sun’s altitude could not be taken, the same as yesterday. But because we had driven before a stiff wind, the pilot reckoned our position at 35 degrees, [text blacked out] [superscript: somewhat] farther south than the Cape. Thus, because not only had the wind abated, but also because we needed to make headway, we raised the topsails, [margin: al]though the mainsail and foresail were clewed up a little. There fell an almost ceaseless icy and fine rain, the kind that falls in Spain when the Mistrals blow from the north-west and its collateral directions. In spite of all the cold, dampness, and darkness of the day, everyone on board watched with special care for the usual signs of land that have always become 118  M S: Just the che of noche is in the margin.

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visible on previous journeys. But because at that time we could not see any of those roots that rise up above the water, which the sailors call trombas,119 nor any other signs of land, we all resigned ourselves to the fact that our location had been far to the west of the islands of Tristan da Cunha, [fol. 33v] whereas our chief-pilot thought we were on a north-and-south line with them, for even though we had run due east before a heavy following wind for ten days, we still failed to see the coveted signs of land, though the islands of Tristan da Cunha are only 350 leagues from the Cape and lie at almost the same latitude. The world received news of these islands during the first years of the discovery of India. Tristan da Cunha120 was the captain-major121 of a fleet in which Afonso de Albuquerque122 sailed, who went on to greatly magnify and glorify our nation of Spain throughout the East with his magnificent accomplishments. They descried a large forested landmass in this place, and, after sailing toward it for a number of hours, it was discerned to be an island. But because the seas were heavy and rough, they decided not to inspect it any closer. Instead, passing by it to starboard, they continued their journey, only to discover another island of nearly the same proportions with a few small islands close by. From that day forward, all of them have borne the given name and surname of the captain-major of that fleet. Ships have sailed close by those islands during the 100 years or more since that voyage, but not a single one has been curious enough to stop and explore them, either because of the danger and violence of the sea, or, what is more likely, because no one wants to incur a delay, time always being of the essence on such a long voyage. A year after their discovery, a famous and widely known calamity befell Jorge de Aguiar,123 the general of four carracks. One night during a heavy storm in this location, he [fol. 34r] failed to see these islands, and his ship was smashed to pieces. The other ships in the fleet failed to see or hear the accident, only learning of the disaster from the many fragments of planks and boxes and the bundles of pikes 119  Lit. “elephant trunks.” 120  Tristão da Cunha, Portuguese capitão-mor, meaning “captain-major” or “supreme commander,” of the 1506 fleet. For further biographical details, see Andrade, História de um fidalgo. 121  See p. 52 n. 8. 122  Afonso de Albuquerque (1453–1515), Portuguese administrator, naval and military commander, and strategist who established the Portuguese Empire in Asia. For his memoirs and correspondence, see Birch, Commentaries, and Pato and Mendonça, Cartas. 123  Portuguese administrator and naval commander of the 1508 fleet who lost his ship and his life in a shipwreck off the Tristan da Cunha Islands in June 1508. For details of his life and career, see Guerreiro and Leitão, Carta Nautica, 84–92, and Cortesão, Portuguese Cartography, II: 207, 212–16.

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that were seen floating on the water the next day. Almost all the fleets that sail to India pass very close by these islands, which are nevertheless [superscript: almost] never sighted because the skies are perpetually overcast, even though the sailors are very careful and watchful, especially at night. But with a little effort they could be seen, since they lie at 35 degrees from the South Pole, and ships usually sail very close to that latitude as they steer toward the Cape of Good Hope. Judging from reports by those who have seen them, the two biggest islands measure twenty leagues in diameter and the other a little less. To this date it has not been observed or otherwise determined if they are populated, but they do afford a very pleasing and beautiful panorama because of their green and gentle wooded landscape. But it can be easily inferred that because of their size they are not far from the southern coast of the mainland that runs from the Straits of Magellan to the eastern region, which on this voyage is always to starboard, even though we have not seen it. For one thing, the great cold that is found in this clime is usually accompanied by the southerly wind and its collaterals, a sure sign that this unknown coast is not far from the course we are sailing. Moreover, islands as big as these are always discovered to lie close to the mainland; all other islands situated on the high seas turn out to be small. And it is [fol. 34v] true that the sailors on those journeys, who were not as experienced as those of the present day, would sail to much higher latitudes in order to double the Cape without running into it. They rarely made it to 40 degrees from this pole without hastening away from such high latitudes because of the intolerable cold and great quantities of snow that they encountered there. But the reason those who sailed on these voyages failed to catch sight of the coast is that in the 350 leagues [margin: that lie between] the islands of Tristan da Cunha and the Cape of Good Hope, the southern mainland recedes and curves farther to the south, so that ships arriving at 40 degrees have been unable to see it, even though they pass close by them. We sailed in this severe storm, which, though it brought a following wind, grew in fury during the night, the seas being so heavy and high that the waves covered the ship from one side to the other, creating a lake in her broad waist, the water reaching so high on the quarterdeck that it drenched everyone on it. The high water in the waist, which was more than two feet deep, made the carrying out of tasks difficult. But the enormous spirit, promptness, and skill of the sailors were admirable: though wet and working nearly naked in such harshly cold weather, they did not cease dealing with anything that needed attending to or repairing, nor did they let any of these obstacles impede them. The storm would have been considered very great on a smaller and weaker vessel, but not on ours. Those who remained in their cabins perceived no noticeable tossing or turbulence. For even though the seas were heavy, terrible,

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and high, the [fol. 35r] sides of this great ship [text blacked out] contracted and curved inward from the widest point of her broad waist all the way to the gunnels, their great strength withstanding the force and fury of the sea. Thus, even though the swollen and terrible waves crashed against her with all their might, she continued to make headway, untroubled and unhindered. The worst difficulty we encountered was all the water that collected in her waist. [margin: 24.] On the 24th, the same storm continued. A gust of wind ripped the foremast topsail to shreds and carried it out to sea. But after that burst, the wind moderated, and by nightfall it was very weak, though still blowing out of the west. [margin: 25.] After nightfall on the 25th, St. James’s Day, the little wind that remained died out completely. The pilot and the other sailors were greatly confused because there were still no signs of land. Considering the severe storm that had been hammering at our stern, they calculated that we had already doubled the Cape of Good Hope, especially since we had sailed so many days at its latitude after calculating our position at a north-and-south line with the islands of Tristan da Cunha. But it is only by chance and with great uncertainty that even the most experienced sailors are able to calculate the precise distance to sail by longitude. And even though they are so familiar with this voyage, which they have completed so many times, our chief-pilot Gaspar Ferreira committed an error of over 400 leagues, notwithstanding his reputation [fol. 35v] as a great sailor. In addition to the great variability and discrepancy in the Atlantic currents, the cause of this colossal mistake, which would have been enormous even for an inexperienced sailor, was the false conviction held by the chief-pilot ever since we [text blacked out] [margin: crossed] the Equator that we were far at sea and had traveled a long distance. This will be made clear in the following short digression. As has been mentioned, the carracks Remédios and Guadalupe left Lisbon together with our flagship. It had been obvious from the outset that they could outsail the flagship, and, after crossing the Equator, the captain-major ordered them to sail on ahead because it was inappropriate for them to lose time waiting for the flagship, even though, in the Ambassador’s recollection, they had all agreed to stay together. After these two ships had headed off and become lost to sight for several days, the Guadalupe wore around in search of the flagship until she was ordered a second time to continue her journey so that in case the flagship failed to reach India this year, at least those two ships would be able to. The pilot thought the ships that had remained in the river of Lisbon had no hope of completing the journey, and thus the great ship Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe, having received these second set of orders, sailed with

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slack bowlines124 under a press of sails and was that day lost to sight, though heading more toward the land of Brazil. Our chief-pilot was greatly distressed when he saw that these [fol. 36r] two carracks had progressed so far ahead of us, given that during the abortive voyage of the previous year the flagship had sailed so much more swiftly than they. It seemed to be a direct affront and offense to him [text blacked out] that the other carracks had outsailed the flagship, of which he was the pilot, because he knew and claimed to know so much about his art. He thought that because of this he would lose all of his honor and credibility, a thing so highly prized and [text blacked out] [superscript: important] to the Portuguese pilots—[text blacked out] [margin: this is why they are all] so tremendously and horribly stubborn. [text blacked out] [superscript: And so] it is impossible for them to admit their ignorance about anything, to the point that under no circumstance will they accept advice or warning from someone else, even from a friend who is experienced in the same profession, and even if there is obvious danger in situations in which the most confident mariners would accept recommendations from their inferiors. This parlous and obstinate ignorance, though quite normal in every kind and quality of people from the Portuguese nation, and which is the cause of the great misfortunes which have befallen it, is greater by far among almost all pilots and mariners, who will go down with their ships before heeding the advice of any of their companions, even if they clearly see that doing so would save them. This is why any number of ships have been lost, this voyage being so dangerous, risky, and long. Not many people have survived these shipwrecks who can give an account of how or where they transpired, although those who managed to survive some [fol. 36v] of the wrecks that took place between São Lourenço125 and the eastern coast of Ethiopia, because of their propinquity to land, claim that the wrecks owed less to the many sandbanks and shoals that lie in this channel and more to the stubbornness and obstinacy of the pilots. And even though Gaspar Ferreira, the subject of this aside, cannot be denied his great prudence and caution, as well as his vast experience and familiarity with this voyage, on the present trip, for the reasons mentioned earlier, he revealed himself to be just as arrogant and presumptuous as other pilots. For 124  See p. 85 n. 111. 125  Present-day Madagascar, the fourth-largest island in the world, located off the coast of south-east Africa in the Indian Ocean at 20°00’S, 47°00’E. São Lourenço is Portuguese for “St. Laurence,” on whose day (10 August) Madagascar was discovered in 1500 by Diogo Dias. The Portuguese did not have much direct contact with the fragmented assortment of shifting socio-political alliances that ruled the island until the late eighteenth century.

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even though he could have sought the opinion of the ship’s officers and other mariners who had made several journeys to India—following both the inner and the outer routes126—thus [text blacked out] [superscript: benefiting] from whatever advice they had to offer relevant to the voyage, he never did so during the entire trip, even when there arose urgent cases in which he was under obligation to do exactly that, and for which cause he fell into several notable errors and lapses of judgment. But afterward, as always happens in all cases of good fortune, the happy outcome of the voyage, though coming late and after much difficulty, convinces one to regard as good and wise that which in misfortune would have been considered madness and folly. And so, as has been stated, when our Gaspar Ferreira saw the Guadalupe outsail us and fade from sight, he became so noticeably woeful and cheerless that, directing his fiery gaze at her and tugging his beard, he shouted at her in Portuguese: Andai embora, que eu andarei por o atalho!127 It was this great ship and the Remédios, which had already moved so far ahead of us, sailing with slacker [fol. 37r] bowlines than ours,128 that were always ahead of us, though farther to leeward and heading for the coast of Brazil. The chief-pilot was always extremely cautious about sailing too close to that coast because that is what had been the cause of the aborting of the fleet’s voyage the year before. And because it seemed to him that the course taken by these two ships was longer, and would even incur the danger of an abortive voyage, his passion prevented him from realizing the necessity of following that route, which had always been taken by every fleet over the course of so many years. In the middle of that great sea one finds only very feeble winds that are incapable of moving such large ships, and thus, out of sheer necessity, one must draw near to the coast of Brazil in order to find wind, avoiding of course the difficulty and danger of running into it, so that after doubling Cabo de Santo Agostinho, one arrives at latitude 28 or 30 degrees, from where one can cross the great expanse of sea with the westerlies and its collaterals, heading for the Cape of Good Hope. But our pilot had the idea that his skill and diligent effort could overcome all these obstacles, and that he could stay on the high seas, being wafted toward this great promontory from our current location by the delicate and feeble south airs that were blowing at that time, thus doubling it much earlier than the two ships that were ahead of 126  The inner route was through the Mozambique Channel, the portion of the Indian Ocean located between Madagascar and Mozambique, and the outer route was around Madagascar. 127  The Portuguese in the MS reads, Anday embora, que eu andarey poro atallo! which translates as “Go on ahead, I’ll take the shortcut!” 128  See p. 85 n. 111.

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him, even though they were farther from us and [text blacked out] [superscript: closer] to the coast, [margin: where] he thought they would have to turn back to Portugal. With this conviction he steered our great ship east and south-east so close to the wind that not even a caravel could have moved or made any headway, much less such a great and heavy carrack whose cargo was as poorly stowed as was ours. In addition to the shame and great arrogance of the chiefpilot, it is an undisputed point of honor [fol. 37v] among every one of those of his profession to be the first to reach India. It is also a great advantage for them to be the first to sell their merchandise that they bring from Portugal at a higher price and to purchase goods from India more cheaply, for if a ship arrives a few days before the others, time is on their side for both activities, there being fewer buyers of precious stones, clothing, and native drugs,129 as well as fewer sellers of items that are brought from Spain. [text blacked out] [margin: And thus] not only are the ship’s captains, pilots, and officers extremely interested in this profit, as are the many passengers and merchants on board, but also most of the poor sailors to whom this privilege should rightly be granted, considering the intolerable and tremendous hardships they endure on such a long and dangerous voyage. With the flagship pursuing [superscript: the] course that has been described, everyone had the idea that we were headed straight for the Cape, especially since each time the sun’s altitude was taken as we pursued our present course, we were found to be closer in latitude to the South Pole. This became increasingly obvious after doubling Cabo de Santo Agostinho. But we did not realize that because we were sailing130 so close to such a feeble wind—the pilot had us almost completely close-hauled—it was impossible to have traveled that far unless we had headed due south. This miscalculation of how far we had traversed with respect to latitude fooled the pilots and many others: they thought that not only were we making good headway southwards, but that we were also gaining on the Cape of Good Hope to the east. This assumption brought [fol. 38r] great joy to the pilot, who promised and assured us that not only would we arrive in India well ahead of the other ships that had gone before us, but that because of [text blacked out] the poor navigation to leeward, they would obviously have to return to Portugal. Despite his conviction and belief that we had passed far to the right of the Abrolhos shoals, as well as the

129  Silva y Figueroa uses this term for spices, which were perceived as having medicinal properties. 130   M S: The underlined portion of the word nauegaua is inserted in the margin.

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islands of Trindade131 and Ascension, and despite having calculated our position at more than 100 leagues east of the easternmost of them, the reality was that the currents had not only carried us imperceptibly close to the Abrolhos, they had actually carried us over the top of them, so that we ended up so far to their left132 that we did not catch sight of a single one of them. And this was the main cause of the pilot’s error: he believed we had sailed far from land, as has been explained. But he later discovered that we were very close to the coast of Brazil, not far from Rio de Janeiro, as was plainly borne out by what unfolded during the rest of the voyage, and later confirmed by reliable and infallible logic, because from the latitude of this river we sailed toward the Cape with favorable winds, following almost the same course for forty days. And although on some of those days we sailed but little by night because of calms, the remaining days were full of such mighty and furious winds that they made up for the calm days. Afterward, the pilot himself admitted that had he known we were so far from the Cape and so close to the coast of Brazil when we picked up the westerly winds, [fol. 38v] he would have fully doubted that we would have been able to reach India and we would have been forced to turn back to Portugal. In this consisted the error of Gaspar Ferreira: he had become convinced that we were at the same longitude as the islands of Tristan da Cunha when we were actually more than 400 leagues west of them, and because he desperately hoped to have passed the other two ships, he pursued a course that was different from the usual proven one. Because if after doubling Cabo de Santo Agostinho he had sailed with slacker bowlines133 before the south-east and easterly winds, even if they had been feeble, he would have been able to in part overcome the force of the currents and put greater distance between himself and the coast of Brazil. But since he believed that he could save time with the bow pointed almost directly into the wind, he attempted to sail on such a close reach that it was as if the ship were lying to with no sails, the currents carrying her very close to the coast, as has been mentioned. And because it was in this place where the pilot realized his mistake when signs of the Cape still failed to appear, this digression and explanation have been offered.

131  See p. 71 n. 75 for the identity of these locations. By right, Silva y Figueroa means to the east of them, obviously taking his perspective from one who is inspecting a map. 132  I.e., to the west of them. 133  See p. 85 n. 111.

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[margin: 26.] On the 26th, the following wind veered to the north and we headed south-east; all were greatly confused and amazed because there were still no signs of land. On every voyage these signs are recognized more than 200 leagues from the Cape. [margin: 27.] On the 27th, we began to spot some [margin: cuervas] blancas134 with yellow [fol. 39r] beaks; the wind continued from the north. [margin: 28.] On the 28th, the wind coming out of the north; we headed south-east with the high and swollen seas that one would expect to find in this clime, seeing how this is the season for the greatest force and severity of winter. [margin: 29.] On the 29th, the northerly wind continued, a little stronger, and the much pitching and rolling of the ship caused the spritsail to rip. After darkly overcast skies dumped a thick and cold downpour on us, the weather calmed; but there was such a heavy, cross sea, with the ship pitching and rolling so terribly, that [text blacked out] no one on board could escape experiencing great discomfort and hardship. At that point what was most vexing was the intolerable cold, especially after midnight, when the wind veered to the south. [margin: 30.] On the 30th, bearing east in the same southerly wind. Many birds flew close to the ship and rested on the water, some being caught. One monstrously large one was ensnared with a line. It was mostly white, with a few black feathers on its wings. It has the same form as one of those large cuervos negros,135 except that this one was much larger, being the size of a great bustard,136 though with much shorter legs and neck, larger wings, and smaller feathers. These birds were so large that they had a wingspan of eighteen spans.137 Their beaks were white and yellow with a streak of green, extremely strong, thin and curved at the end, and more than a half-foot in length. Their legs were short, like a [fol. 39v] duck’s, and their feet were webbed like other water fowl, with large and sharp claws. Because they are quite plump, the sailors skin and eat them. When plucked, their skins are thick and strong with such a white, 134  Rooks, lit. “white crows.” Silva y Figueroa’s description actually matches that of the cuervo blanco, or pied crow (Corvus albus), except that the pied crow has a black beak. Elsewhere we interpret cuerva to refer to the rook (Corvus frugilegus). 135  See p. 84 n. 109 for the cuervo taxuga, or Cape cormorant. 136  The great bustard (Otis tarda) is a flying land bird that can measure up to 1 m (3.3 ft) in height and almost 1.2 m (4 ft) in length, with a wingspan of up to 2.7 m (8.9 ft). A fully grown male can weigh up to 18 kg (40 lbs), perhaps qualifying as the world’s largest flying animal. 137  Based on the definition of a common span that we are using, 18 spans is equivalent to approximately 4 m (13 ft).

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soft, and thick fleece that it looks like felt.138 It is useful for treating the same illnesses that the skin of the cuervos negros is used for, as was mentioned earlier.139 The sun’s altitude was taken today at 34 degrees and 30 minutes, which is almost the same latitude as the Cape. The pilot, still not completely liberated from his mistaken conviction, calculated that we were very close to it and almost surrounded by the Saldanha140 watering station, though in reality we were 250 leagues from it at this time, and so as to not run into it, as he thought, he lay to. [margin: 31.] On the 31st, as we attempted to sail in a slight south-westerly, the wind suddenly ceased altogether, rendering the ship motionless and becalmed, although it was very cold all night long. [August 1614] [margin: August 1.] August 1st. The sky was so overcast that the sun’s altitude could not be taken. Everyone was watching attentively for the yearned-for signs of the Cape. We did not see those trombas,141 which are so well known on every voyage, though some of the sailors claim that that morning they saw some roots, which they call mangas de Bretão,142 which are also very desirable signs. But neither of these appeared, nor did those flocks of little white birds. The failure of these signs of land to appear, coupled with the lack of wind, made everyone watch the sea with great care, [fol. 40r] attentiveness, and vigilance. Then, at midday a wind began to blow out of the south-west, and we headed south by south-east in order to avoid running into the Cape, from which we were in reality still so distant. At the beginning of the first watch, the sky suddenly clouded over, the same wind braced up again, and we sailed all night on the same south by south-east course. Many lights were seen under 138  While there is some doubt regarding which bird Silva y Figueroa is actually referring to in this passage, we believe it is a member of the albatross family, since albatrosses are the only bird of the size and description consonant with his description. And while the specific species he describes here does not seem to match that of the wandering albatross (Diomedia exulans) he gives earlier when describing the mangas de veludo (see p. 88 n. 117), there are two other species of albatross in the South African region that he could be referring to: the Northern royal albatross and the Southern royal albatross. The former has a wingspan ranging from 2.7 m (8.9 ft) to 3 m (9.8 ft) with an average length of 1.2 m (3.9 ft), while the latter has a wingspan ranging from 2.9 m (9.5 ft) to 3.3 m (10.8 ft), with an average length of 1.2 m (3.9 ft). 139  See p. 84 n. 109. 140  Saldanha Bay, on the south-west coast of South Africa, located at 33º00′59″S, 17º57′02″E. 141  See p. 90 n. 119. 142  Lit. “Breton sleeves.” Apparently there was something about the dress of people from Brittany that resembled the floating vegetation that is alluded to here and which we have been unable to identify.

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the water, which the sailors call “bad waters”;143 they consider these one of the surest signs of land, though they are found farther from land than the others. [margin: 2.] On the 2nd, the sun’s altitude was taken on a very clear day at 35 degrees and two thirds. We sailed in a moderate south-westerly on the same bearing until the first watch, at which point the wind faded out completely, the ship stopping dead in the water. The air was very cold. [margin: 3.] On the 3rd, bearing east and north-east in a north-westerly. After taking the sun’s altitude at 36 degrees and 10 minutes, the weather being calm and clear, from the main topsail a large ship that was following the same course as ours became visible in the distance off the bow. But she later disappeared at the waning of daylight, leading all to believe she was a just a cloud. The pilot and the other sailors were feeling happy today because they saw swarms of small white birds they call borrelhos.144 [fol. 40v] They thought we had already doubled the Cape because they also said they had seen some trombas and mangas de Bretão two or three days earlier. But, on the other hand, there was so much confusion and difference of opinions, mainly because of the bewilderment of the pilot, that neither he nor anyone else dared assert anything with certainty or confidence. Indeed, until land is sighted, there is very little certainty on this or any other voyage while sailing east to west on the Atlantic Ocean. The nights were very long and cold, so much so that they were [margin: incomparably] colder and longer than Spanish nights during the winter solstice in the region of Castile or in the kingdom of Toledo. The astronomical cause of this is clearly the nadir of the sun, but for Europeans who find themselves in a climate opposite from what they are used to, it no doubt strikes them as new and strange to experience such weird and unfamiliar nights. [margin: 4.] On the 4th, heading east in a north-easter [margin: northwester]. The altitude of the sun could not be taken today because of the overcast sky. During the afternoon it cleared up considerably, and the ship that had been sighted off the bow [text blacked out] [superscript: the] day before hove distinctly into view. Immediately the sailors began to argue, each defending his own opinion. Some said she was the great ship Nossa [41r] Senhora de Guadalupe, while others maintained that she was one of the two great ships that had stayed behind in the river of Lisbon. The pilot was of the same mind as those who thought she was the Guadalupe, for he could never tolerate that one 143  The Portuguese would have been águas más. We concur with Loureiro et al. that this is a reference to the Medusa jellyfish (Pelagiidae noctiluca); see Loureiro et al., Anotações, 6. 144  The MS has borrallos. It appears that Silva y Figueroa has confused borrelhos with borralhos, Portuguese for “embers.” These birds are the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus).

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of the other ships might have gone on to India ahead of him. He was extremely happy to have caught up with her, considering this a great and distinguished victory. He also fervently declared that not only was she the Guadalupe, but that he was certain that the rear-flagship, the Remédios, which had been so far ahead of us at the moment of our crossing the Equator, had turned back to Portugal, and that the São Filipe and the São Boaventura, which had stayed in port, could not have sailed from the bar this year, and thus the ship we had seen could not be one of them. Gaspar Ferreira, satisfied with this, and with his honor salvaged by having caught up with the Guadalupe, said very merrily that his would be the first ship to enter the bar of Goa.145 In the evening the ship we had sighted signalled us by lamplight, confirming that she was one of ours; some had been saying that she could have been Dutch, although the Dutch usually embarked on their voyages earlier than we did, it now being too late in the year for them.146 [margin: 5.] On the 5th, the ship was half a league [text blacked out] from the flagship, but [fol. 41v] she could still not be identified. The pilot continued in his usual insistence and fervor, obstinately arguing that she was the Guadalupe. At this time some persisted in their conviction that she was one of the ships that had remained behind in the river of Lisbon. Their reasoning was that since both the Guadalupe and the Remédios were such better sailers than the flagship, and since they had traveled so many days with this advantage, they must have already put into Mozambique, or, if they had gone around São Lourenço, they would have made great progress along that course. They also argued that it was impossible for the ships that had stayed behind in Lisbon not to have left the bar in four or six days, or not to have overtaken our ship, which was sailing so poorly, in ten or twelve days, much less not to have done so in four months. And thus it was very likely, or most certain, that this ship was the São Filipe or the São Boaventura. We had arrived at our present location under a northeaster. It was planned to send a greeting reconnaissance party to the other ship at nine o’clock in the morning. With all the sails lowered, a south-eastern wind began to blow across the bows and so to avoid drifting, all the sails of our ship were taken in and we lay to. The wind being so strong, the ship rolled with such violent motions that no one [fol. 42r] could keep his feet without laying hold 145  For a description and geographical location of Goa and its environs, see p. 160 n. 1. 146  Dutch East India Company shipping generally sailed for Asia around the New Year (December/January) and around Easter (April/May). The Dutch took just under 160 days to make the Cape of Good Hope. By early August, Dutch shipping sailing early from Europe were usually long past the Cape, and those sailing late from Europe were usually not near the Cape. See Bruijn, Gaastra, and Schöffer, Dutch-Asiatic Shipping, I: 56–76.

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of something firm. The altitude of the sun could not be taken today because of the darkness and cloudiness. [margin: 6.] On the 6th, we lay to all day because of the same south-east wind. The altitude of the sun was taken at 35 degrees and 40 minutes; we remained in the same position all night. [margin: 7.] On the 7th, the south-easterly ceased and a light wind freshened slightly from the east, but it was so weak that we could almost call it a calm; the sea was very flat and glassy. Up to this point, the ship that we had sighted was less than half a league from us, also lying to; she had yet to identify herself. Then a grummet verified that it was the São Boaventura, explaining that he could clearly see her masts, and that she could not be the São Filipe, because he knew that the latter bore a large cross of Christ on the main foresail, and that a cross was wanting on the ship we could see at that time. At this the pilot lost his head, screaming insults at the grummet. He finally desisted, and the matter was put to rest, as the ship that had provoked so many speeches dropped a boat into the water and sent some sailors over, who, after arriving on the flagship, affirmed that she was indeed the São Boaventura. The report they gave was this: both the São Boaventura and the São Filipe had remained at [fol. 42v] anchor in Belém on April 8th. With the spring tide having just ended, they were unable to clear the bar the day the flagship had made sail with the two other ships in her company. On the next day, the 9th, they attempted to leave the bar, but as they did so they were met with a headwind. The São Filipe laid anchor on ahead and the São Boaventura anchored very close to the shoals of Cabeça Seca,147 which nearly put her in danger of running aground; but at midnight of the same date she weighed anchor and uneventfully headed out to sea. They sailed large148 for four [margin: days], managing to pass Madeira during that time; the next day they passed the Canaries and thus had by this [margin: that] time already overtaken us. Off the coast of Guinea many people began to fall ill on the São Boaventura, and after crossing [text blacked out] the Equator on May 29th, they reached the Abrolhos on June 18th. It was there that most of the sailors and soldiers had by this time fallen ill, some of them dying, and as they reached latitude 28 degrees south, many more began to die.

147  Cabeça Seca is the fourth of six fortresses strategically sited on the coast from Lisbon to Cascais to protect the entrance to the city, which has shoals in front of it; see Oliveira, Livro das Grandezas, 541. 148  Running large means that the wind was coming at the ship’s beam, which was the most favorable point of sail; see OED, s.v. “large.”

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Among them was Francisco Furtado de Mendonça,149 captain of the ship, and two Franciscan150 monks. So many were sick that at times not even ten healthy men could be found to man the tiller and the sails; but not many died—no [fol. 43r] more than thirty, including those who were lost overboard. The São Filipe remained in her convoy, with less illness on board, but with so little sea biscuit—she carried more than 900 people—that twelve days before she had left the other ship, being a better sailer, in order to arrive in Mozambique earlier so her people would not die of hunger. They also reported that those who were afflicted with the disease on that ship had for the most part recuperated; the total number of people on board totalled 600. They had sighted the flagship three days earlier, though they had not known who she was. They had been waiting for her until the last day, thinking that the São Filipe could not have sailed so far ahead. And while this was good news, for it meant that all five ships could arrive this year in India, some were saddened by it; our chief-pilot was so greatly abashed that he spoke not a word. According to this report, the São Filipe overtook the flagship on the very day that our pilot had calculated our position to be even with the Cape and ordered the ship to lie to151 the first time. These sailors reported that the pilot of the São Boaventura calculated her position at fifteen leagues to the south of the Cape and just as many west of the meridian that passes through it, although in this he had made the same mistake as had the pilot and sailors from our ship. [margin: 8.] On the 8th, we lay to until midday. The sun’s altitude was taken [fol. 43v] at 36 degrees and 10 minutes. Later a north-easter began to blow, by which the two ships headed south-east and east. It freshened by the afternoon, stiffening even more in the evening; we maintained the same heading. [margin: 9.] On the 9th, the wind continued to stiffen from the north by north-east; we headed east and south-east. The sun’s altitude was taken at just a few minutes shy of 36 degrees, but a little after midnight a freshened wind 149  Luís Ferreira Furtado de Mendonça, whom Silva y Figueroa inaccurately calls Francisco. Upon Mendonça’s demise, Diogo de Sousa de Meneses replaced him as captain of the São Boaventura; see Bocarro, Década, I; 325, and Sousa, Subsídios, II: 642. 150  A Catholic mendicant religious order that adheres to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of St. Francis of Assisi (1181–1226). It comprises three groups—Observants, Capuchins, and Conventual Franciscans—that have been considered separate religious orders. Silva y Figueroa’s mention of the Franciscans is in reference to the most prominent group in this religious order, the Observants, who are normally simply called Franciscans and informally referred to as brothers or friars. Their name in Latin is Ordo Fratrum Minorum, meaning “Order of Friars Minor,” commonly abbreviated as O. F. M. 151  A ship is said to lie to when she comes “almost to a standstill, with her head as near the wind as possible, by backing or shortening sail”; see OED, s.v. “lie to.”

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began to gust from the west by south-west, and we maintained the same heading as on the previous day. [margin: 10.] On the 10th, St. Laurence’s Day, everyone thought we were on a north-and-south line with the meridian of Cape Agulhas.152 A large sea wolf153 appeared to starboard. [text blacked out] [margin: It was] very different in appearance from those that are usually seen in this location. All the sailors said it was not a wolf, but rather some weird sea monster because of its size, and because it had raised itself so far out of the water. But it was in fact a sea [margin: wolf] of the kind found in this ocean, called a vitulus, or sea ox, by the Romans. This particular one was of monstrous dimensions. It revealed its body as it stretched out and swam about, and we could see its arms or fins as it broke the surface of the water. It lifted itself half a fathom154 above the surface, showing a large and very round head, big and frightful eyes, with thick long whiskers crossing its mouth like the ones seen on [fol. 44r] wildcats or tigers. In sum, this sea wolf looked exactly like the many others that are ordinarily seen in all or most of the unpopulated islands of our West Indies. And while this same species of sea ox, called vitelli by the Italians, is found in the Mediterranean, they are incomparably smaller than these of the Atlantic Ocean. There are other sea wolves in the Mediterranean that are much smaller than the vitelli, which the Italians themselves call lupi, and they are much more common. [text blacked out] There was a very unusual sighting of a Mediterranean vitellus in El Grao, Valencia, in 1599, the year His Majesty was married in that city, but it was very small and had a different appearance from the ones found in this ocean, especially the one that appeared on this day, which was dark brown in color. It twice swam all the way around our ship very close to it. Some of the sailors who were present said that in 1609, when D. Manuel de Meneses was the captain-major of the ships of that voyage, another wolf similar to this one appeared in this same location of the Cape of Good Hope, although the mariners did not call it the same thing. Since they are seen so rarely it was 152  A rocky headland on the gradually curving coastline on the southern tip of Africa at 34°50′00″S, 20°00′00″E, which is the official dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It is 170 km (105 mi) south of Cape Town. The Portuguese named it Cabo das Agulhas, “Cape of the Needles,” because magnetic north coincides with the north indicated by the magnetic compass needle. The waters off its coast are quite shallow and form the Agulhas Bank. 153  Probably the Cape or Brown fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus). In the following discussion of seals, Silva y Figueroa also uses the Latin term vitulus, meaning ‘ox’ and the Hispanized Italian words vitellos and lupos, meaning ‘oxen’ and ‘wolves’, respectively; elsewhere he reports that the English call them “sea hounds” or “sea dogs.” See p. 109 n. 177. 154  See ‘Measurements’.

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name taken155 for a monster; the wolf swam to the bow of the flagship, and apparently must have been exhausted from swimming [fol. 44v]—they do not swim far from shore because of their great size and weight—and, grabbing onto the timber underneath the bowsprit with its arms, stayed there until a sailor stabbed it in the head with a half pike, causing it to bleed profusely; the pain caused it to let go, and it disappeared by diving under the water. After this particular wolf appeared, many people thought it was a sea horse156 because of how big and fat it was. The Portuguese are very familiar with this animal, which is commonly seen in the Cuama157 River between Sofala158 and Mozambique, for a vast quantity of hippopotamuses—or fluviatile horses—live in this river, which is one of the biggest and most famous in the world. They are incomparably larger and more ferocious than those of the Nile159—the ones found there being no bigger than an average young bull calf, while the ones from the Cuama are larger than very big bulls. They have very large heads and distorted tusks that extend a good span’s distance from their mouths. And they are so fat and heavy that when they come out on the riverbank to graze on herbs and roots, they walk most clumsily and slowly on their very short and thick feet, so that they hardly move very far from the water. On land they are dim-witted and cowardly, but once in the river they swim with great speed and agility, often showing signs of attacking ships [fol. 45r] that sail on it to the fortresses of 155  M S: the se of dandosele is superscripted. 156  I.e., a hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius). 157  Silva y Figueroa uses the name Cuama for the present-day Zambezi River, a region which was known to medieval geographers and the Portuguese as Monomotapa (Mwene Mutapa). For a thorough discussion of the region and early contacts between the Portuguese and Mwene Mutapa, see the first four chapters in Newitt, Portuguese Settlement, 1–69. 158  For a discussion of Sofala and the different port and inland cities of the Swahili Coast is East Africa mentioned by Silva y Figueroa, see Pearson, Port Cities and Intruders, 36–100. 159  Originating south of the Equator, the Nile (the longest river in the world at 6,650 km or 4,132 mi) flows northward through north-eastern Africa and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. Silva y Figueroa’s comments and comparisons of hippopotamuses from the Nile with those of the Zambesi present some issues. There are only two living species of hippopotamuses in two genera: the common hippo, Hippopotamus amphibius, which is primarily found in sub-Saharan Africa and the Nile River, and the pygmy hippo, Choeropsis liberiensis, which is found only in west-African forests. Even if he possessed knowledge of one of the common hippo’s now extinct sub-species, the Nile or Great northern hippopotamus, which was found in Egypt and south along the Nile to present-day Tanzania and Mozambique, his comparison of hippos from the Nile with those of the Zambesi does not appear to be accurate.

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Sena and Tete.160 Because of their shape and great size, the name given to these great aquatic animals is perfectly justified: elephantes fluviatiles.161 The only property they share with horses is that they are hinnible, that is they produce a great neighing like land horses, and this is why the Greeks called them hippopotamuses, which means river horses. And as the Portuguese have seen these kinds of hippopotamuses many times on the Cuama, and because the portion of their bodies that was visible above the water looked like those of a sea wolf, both in size and in the shape of the head, the two not being very different from each other, they thought that a hippopotamus had swum out from one of the rivers that runs between the Cape of Good Hope, the False Cape,162 and Cape Agulhas and made its way far out to sea. But that is absolutely contrary to their nature [text blacked out]; they never leave fresh river water except to venture onto the closest banks. The place where this sea wolf appeared must be at the meridian of the Cape, or very close to it, because the compass needle normally used by sailors there showed little or no difference, and so the chief-pilot estimated our position to be at the meridian of Cape Agulhas.163 And even though we had just barely left the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope behind, everyone had the idea that the ship was already very [fol. 45v] close to it, even though two signs that they consider indisputable and infallible were wanting: the herds of sea wolves of a very different species from the one that had been seen, and some large white birds, smaller than antenales,164 without a trace of black except on the tips of their wings, which are very black; 160  Two towns in central Mozambique on the Zambezi River where the Portuguese had established fortresses for access to Mwene Mutapa’s gold trade by the early 1530s. 161  Lit. “river elephants.” 162  False Cape, known today as Cape Hangklip, is located at 34°13′11″S, 18°38′24″E. It is the headland at the extreme south-west of South Africa, and its name arose because sailors confused it with either Cape Point or with the Cape of Good Hope. The bay defined by the Cape of Good Hope and False Cape is False Bay, which was also confused with Table Bay. 163  See p. 103 n. 151. 164  As late as the 19th century, the observations of Portuguese sailors from the age of expansion were still being repeated in which the antenal and the manga de veludo were said to be the same bird. However, in this passage Silva y Figueroa clearly distinguishes between them. While he may be in error, recall from p. 98 n. 138 that there are three species from the albatross family in the Cape region whose size and coloring corroborate Silva y Figueroa’s understanding. The term antenal is Silva y Figueroa’s Hispanization of Portuguese antenal (plural antenais), which, according to Leitão and Lopes, appears most frequently as entenal / entenais; see also Bluteau, 509. The word is derived from Portuguese antena ‘mast / yardarm’, presumably because these birds would alight on the masts of ships. Leitão and Lopes provide the genus (Diomedea), which includes several varieties of albatross, but not the specific species name. A further complication is that in this passage

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this is why the sailors call them mangas de veludo. These birds and animals, though they are sometimes seen between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas, are more commonly and more likely found in the latter location, not much farther at sea than the sandbank that extends from the Cape itself and which is formed by a large river that falls into the nearby sea. This shoal extends twenty-five or thirty land leagues to the south, and surely all the fleets that sail to India pass over it; though it is close to land, it is deep enough for such large ships. On this day the São Boaventura caught up with the flagship. Later, the wind freshened somewhat, resulting in our having to lower the topsails and strike the bonnets. [margin: 11.] On the 11th, the same north-by-north-east wind; our bearing was east and north-east. Our pilot had completely lost his patience because we had not seen the expected signs of the Agulhas Bank165 and wondered if we had already passed it, the needle having given some indication of this. [margin: 12.] On the 12th, St. Claire’s Day, sure signs of the sandbank were [fol. 46r] seen at eight o’clock in the morning, as well as mangas de veludo and sea wolves. At this point the pilot, finally certain of our position, ordered us to cross [text blacked out] ordered a sounding to be taken; it measured seventy fathoms over a floor of fine white sand. It had been impossible to persuade the pilot to take a sounding during the previous three or four days when we had no idea if we were before or behind the Capes. A sounding could have confirmed whether or not we were positioned close to them, because by measuring the depth of the water he could have inferred and judged if he was close to land. But he must have thought his reputation would be questioned or blighted if he harbored doubts about anything, this being the height of ignorance and madness. He would never do it, saying very angrily that his honor would have been besmirched if by taking a sounding he had failed to find bottom as he had expected. He refused to consider that given such sure signs and being in a location so well-known and familiar it was no longer necessary to take a sounding. [text blacked out] This common recourse was practiced by all the most experienced sailors in all the seas the world over where there is a chance of there being shoals, or where the depth of the water can be an indication of how far the ship is from the land one is searching for or sailing away from. Cape Agulhas is nine or ten leagues from the position where the sounding was taken and thirty leagues from the Cape of Good Hope. There are no mountains or Silva y Figueroa states that the antenal is bigger than the manga de veludo, while in reality the inverse is true. See Viana, Apostilas, I, 71; and Leitão and Lopes, 46, 231, 337. 165  The Agulhas Bank is located south of Cape Agulhas at 35°30′00″S, 21°00′00″E. Broad and shallow, it extends some 250 km (160 mi) out from the South African continental shelf.

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highlands close to Cape Agulhas, at least no indications of such could be seen from there. Nor was the ocean around the sandbank a different color than it was on the [fol. 46v] high seas; here it was so blue and clear [text blacked out] [margin: that it looked no] different than it had during the entire voyage. And although the sailors had been claiming earlier that water more than forty leagues from land looked heavier, thicker, and darker, they were mistaken, for such could only be true in seas fed by freshets from great rivers, such as the Zaire, the Gambia, and the Cuama166 in Ethiopia, and the Plata, the Marañón, the Orinoco, and the Magdalena167 in the West Indies, even at the distance from land that they had been claiming. But the same thing could also occur close to land if the normal [margin: rainfall] and resulting [text blacked out] turbulence altered the water next to the coast. These sea wolves, which are sure to be found by the herd on this sandbank, clustered together like dolphins. The Portuguese sailors call them lobos marinos, having never seen their like elsewhere. They were spotted close to the ship today by most of the people on board, but they swam in a way that concealed their shape and size, save for a few nibs or points that resembled a shark’s fins, or blades, except that these seemed to be covered with thick hair, or fleece, that was interlaced and entangled like the large matted tufts one sees on spaniels. The sailors most familiar with this journey said they had sometimes seen their entire bodies exposed to view on the surface of the water, reporting that they were as big as small 166  In the first part of this passage, Silva y Figueroa mentions the great rivers of Africa. The Zaire, known today as the Congo, is the deepest river in the world and the third largest by volume of water discharged. The Gambia, a major river in West Africa, runs some 1,130 km (700 mi) from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and the Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean. The Cuama, now the Zambezi River, is the fifth longest river in Africa and the largest African river that flows into the Indian Ocean. 167  In the second part of this passage, Silva y Figueroa mentions the great rivers of the New World or West Indies. The River Plate is an estuary of the Paraná River, one of the world’s longest, and its main tributary, the Paraguay River; it is also fed by the Uruguay River, as well as by other smaller streams, all of which form at the confluence on the border between present-day Argentina and Uruguay, forming the second largest drainage basin in South America (about one fourth of the continent’s surface). The Marañón, which for Silva y Figueroa is equivalent to the Amazon (see p. 71 n. 74), is the second longest river in the world, largest by volume of water discharged, and the largest drainage basin of all of the world’s rivers (covering about 30% of South America and draining from west to east, from Iquitos in Peru and across Brazil to the Atlantic). The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at 2,140 km (1,330 mi), with a drainage basin covering 880,000 sq km (340,000 sq mi); 76.3% of it runs through Venezuela and the remainder through Colombia. The Magdalena runs northward in western Columbia for 1,428 km (949 mi), draining a basin of 273,000 sq km (105,406 sq mi).

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mastiffs, though with smaller heads, and that from the shoulders up, including their necks, they are covered with tufts as on water dogs and lions; also, from the shoulders down they have the shape and form of fish, although their necks were covered with very short and thick hair. On the tips of their tails were two points or fins like those of other fish. Accordingly, what we could see of these sea wolves at this time was either their tufts of hair or the tips of their tails. And even though ships have been making this voyage to India continuously for 120 years, no one [fol. 47r] has ever seen these big or small sea wolves on islets or sand hills in the vicinity of the Capes, neither east nor west of them. But surely there are some islets which are inhabited by both kinds of sea wolves, for these creatures do not stray very far from land, and the smaller variety, as well as some of the larger ones, has been seen here on every voyage. Returning from his first voyage on which he discovered India, Vasco da Gama168 was running low on provisions, and since he was close to land near the watering station of São Brás,169 he wanted to give the Kaffirs170 there a few items in exchange for cattle; but he instead became the only one to find an islet near the coast that contained many sea wolves, as well as a large number of birds of a certain species with the most extraordinary appearance. They had the same size and shape of geese, though they lacked large feathers on their wings, which were instead covered with a very fine and thick fleece, along with the rest of their bodies. They made so much noise when they cawed that it sounded like the braying of donkeys. Vasco da Gama made jerky out of these birds for the rest of his voyage, which for some unknown reason the Portuguese at that time called sotilicairos,171 he did the same with sea wolves, though to this day it has not been determined which kind they were. But from what is known about the voyages made by foreigners, it seems that on those 168  Portuguese commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India (ca. 1460– 1524). He became the first Count of Vidigueira. For two recent biographies, see Ames, Vasco da Gama, and Subrahmanyam, Career and Legend. 169  São Brás (St. Blaise) is the name given by the Portuguese to this bay and headland, which is located on the Southern Cape of the coast of South Africa at 34°11′00″S, 22°8′00″ E. The Dutch East India Company’s ships frequented it from the late sixteenth century forward, renaming it Mossel Bay for the abundant mussels and oysters found there. 170  This word, derived from the Arabic word for “infidel,” was originally applied disparagingly to Christians by Muslims; it was later directed at pagan Africans by African Muslims. In the eighteenth century, Christian missionaries in South Africa picked up the term from the Portuguese and used it against the “heathen” Bantus. In English it has become an abusive sobriquet for any South African black. See Y&B, 140–42, s.v. “caffer, cafre, coffree.” 171  Cape penguins (Spheniscus demersus). See DCECH, V: 296. For descriptions by early modern explorers, see McClymont, Early Ornithology, 5–6.

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undertaken by Thomas Cavendish172 and Olivier van Noort173 a few years after Francis Drake174 embarked on and completed, [fol. 47v] to his great fame, his long voyage to the Southern Ocean175 through the Straits of Magellan, some islets were discovered near the bay of San Julián176 that were filled with these smaller sea wolves; their necks and shoulders were covered with long tufts of thick and rough hair, similar to a lion’s mane, the rest of their bodies looking like what has been described concerning the sea wolves in the Agulhas Bank. They were so awkward and dim-witted that the sailors and grummets easily killed them with sticks. The English call these animals canes or perros marinos177 because their upper bodies resemble spaniels. They also found on the same islets many of the sotilicairos that Vasco da Gama had found near the watering station of São Brás. The English called these animals penguins178 because they are so fat. And because these birds lacked feathers, the English slaughtered them and made jerky out of them because they could not fly. These same penguins were found by the aforementioned captains, and later by many of the Dutch on several islands within the straits, along with a quantity of large sea wolves of the same species that were seen on the Cape on St. Laurence’s Day. Since this is a frigid climate, many of the natives on both sides of the straits dress in skins made out of them. Several years before any of the English or Dutch sailed through the straits, captain Pedro Sarmiento179 had traveled 172  English privateer and explorer (1560–1592), commander of the third expedition to circumnavigate the globe (1586–1588) and the first that deliberately set out to do so. For biographical information and a description of this voyage, see Maxwell, “Cavendish.” 173  Dutch admiral (1588–1627), author and commander of the fourth expedition to circumnavigate the globe (1598–1601). For biographical information and a description of this voyage, see Ijzerman, De Reis. 174  Sir Francis Drake, English privateer (1540–1596) and commander of the second expedition to circumnavigate the globe (1577–1580). For biographical information and a description of this voyage, see Drake, World Encompassed, and Thrower, Sir Francis Drake. 175  The Pacific Ocean was first called the Southern Sea by Balboa, a tradition followed by Silva y Figueroa. 176  Puerto San Julián is located at 48°18′22″S, 67°43′36″W and forms a natural harbor in Patagonia in the present-day province of Santa Cruz, Argentina. 177  Lit. “hounds or sea dogs” (i.e., Cape seals); see p. 103 n. 153. 178  The MS has pinguinas. Silva y Figueroa’s comment is interesting because sixteenthcentury naturalists coined the term on the basis of Latin pinguis, meaning “fat, greasy”; see DCECH, IV: 555. 179  Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, Spanish administrator, explorer, and author (1532–1592), began his career as an explorer by joining the Álvaro de Mendaña expedition that sought the Terra Australis Incognita but instead discovered the Solomon Islands in 1568. When Sir Francis Drake threatened and attacked the coasts of Peru and Mexico in 1578, Sarmiento

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through them from the Southern Ocean to the Northern Ocean,180 suffering great hardships before managing to pass through them because of the many islands, both large and small, that he found near the entrance, and that [margin: create] many blind channels, making [fol. 48r] the passage uncertain and precarious. Before finding the entrance to the strait, Sarmiento found that many natives were dressed in these big skins made from vituli, or sea wolves, because of the excessive cold; and he found many more on the smaller islands after entering the straits, some made from sotilicairos, or penguins. A myriad of these sea wolves are found on all or most of the coasts and islets and shoals that have been discovered in the West Indies of the New World, both in the Northern and the Southern Oceans. Many were seen and killed in the particular case of the pitiable shipwreck in which D. Alonso de Suazo181 was stranded on the Alacranes182 reefs on a journey from Santo Domingo to New Spain,183 not long after the conquest of that kingdom. Fifty people survived that shipwreck on a sandbank or sand islet, living for four months on birds, tortoises, and sea wolves that came out to sleep by day and night on that bar, and were so fierce and big that at first they scared the poor people. But their great need finally caused them to lose all their fear, and they began to easily kill the animals with sticks and the few swords they had salvaged from the wreck. The sea wolves found there are of the largest variety, called vitulos or sea oxen, and are of a very different kind from those that are [fol. 48v] seen around the shoals of Cape Agulhas, which are the only ones the Portuguese sailors know anything about. The former are of the same size and shape and the same species as the ones found by the English and Dutch in the port of San Julián, allowing for was appointed the commander of the Spanish naval station in the Pacific. He failed to capture Drake, although he explored the southern Pacific coast of South America, mapping the Straits of Magellan from west to east, and navigated the Atlantic Ocean from south-west to north-east for the first time. See Markham, Narratives of the Voyages, and Bobb, “Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa,” 269–82. For the contemporary account of his voyage, to which Silva y Figueroa may be referring, see Argensola, Conquistas de las Islas Malucas (2009), 108–26. 180  A traditional synonym for the Atlantic. 181  Alonso de Suazo, Spanish administrator (lawyer, colonial judge, and governor) in New Spain and Santo Domingo (1466–1539). According to Oviedo y Valdés, Suazo was shipwrecked en route from Cuba to New Spain in January 1524. Silva y Figueroa’s information about Suazo, his shipwreck, the survivor’s tribulations, and their subsequent rescue was probably also taken from Oviedo y Valdés, Historia general y natural de las Indias. 182  The Alacranes are five coral reefs and islands located at 22°29′23″N, 89°41′45″W, about 130 km (81 mi) from the port of Progreso on the Yucatan Peninsula. 183  The official Spanish name for Mexico after the conquest until independence in 1821.

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variation in size according to the differing climates and seas where they live, the same as we see happen with almost all species of land animals. On this same day of the 12th on which a sounding was taken on the reef, we continued [text blacked out] [margin: sailing] east by south-east without stopping, covering the distance between us and the Cape with a favorable following wind from the north-west. The sun’s altitude was taken at 36 degrees and 10 minutes. In the afternoon, the wind veering west, we sailed by it until midnight; it shifted to the south, bringing an especially vehement downpour. We sailed close-hauled east by south-east. It rained through the night until daybreak. The great ship São Boaventura, unable to sail as close to the wind as the flagship, lagged behind by two leagues under our lee and closer to land. The wind was so stiff that we could sail only under the courses at half-mast. [margin: 13.] On the 13th, we sailed with the same wind, maintaining the same heading until nightfall, at which time the storm abated somewhat. During the second watch, the wind slackened to a faint breeze and the ships were almost becalmed. After two o’clock the wind started to gust with increasing strength from the west. [margin: 14.] On the 14th, a moderate wind began to blow [fol. 49r] from the west by north-west a little after [text blacked out] [margin: noon], which was very favorable for our voyage. The sun’s altitude was taken at 37 degrees minus a sixth, this being the highest latitude toward the South Pole we reached at any time during the voyage. The flagship took in her main topsail in order to wait for the São Boaventura; once she caught up we got underway under a full press of sails bearing east and south-east. We ran by the coast of the land of the Kaffirs, which was to larboard and stretched north and north-east, keeping a good distance from it. In the afternoon, a little before sundown, the air being very clear, we could make out a great ship off the bow a little to leeward. Later it was determined by her size that she was one of the missing ships from our fleet. The seamen began to argue heatedly, as is their custom, stubbornly defending a variety of opinions and placing many wagers with no basis in reasoned arguments, each one simply following his whim. Some claimed she was the São Filipe that had left the São Boaventura twenty days earlier, sailing ahead of her; others said she was one of the two great ships that had passed ahead of us shortly after crossing the Equator. Our pilot fervently desired for this latter theory to prove certain for the reasons enumerated above. He was unable to dissemble the hatred that he had come to feel for those two great ships. After the ship was sighted, the flagship steered for her until it got dark and she was lost from view. [margin: 15.] On the 15th, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, this carrack hove into sight two leagues off the stern of the flagship. The flagship and

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the São Boaventura struck their [superscript: topsails] to [fol. 49v] wait for her. At noon the ship that we had awaited pulled up close to the flagship with a great artillery salvo. Soon it was recognized as the great ship São Filipe because of the large cross of Christ that it bore on her foresail, just as the grummet had said. Finding and joining up with these two ships was a most fortunate event. The ships could now help and succour each other if any difficulty arose during the voyage, whereas had they been separated, each on her own, the chances of them becoming lost would increase; this has happened on many extremely tragic occasions. The three great ships got underway, the wind veering from west by north-west to north by north-west, and later north, and under it we sailed to the east, and then, with slack bowlines,184 to the south-east. [margin: 16.] On the 16th, the west-by-north-west wind returned, freshening. We continued on the same bearing until evening; all night we sailed in a westerly wind. [margin: 17.] On the 17th, bearing east, the wind blowing out of the north. The ships crowded on all sail, even in a stiff wind. For two days another remarkable and strange species of crows had been sighted in this latitude, different from the kind we had heretofore seen. They were as big as the biggest eagles185 in Spain and the same color, perhaps somewhat lighter and tawnier. Some of their beaks were white, mixed with yellow and green, while others were completely black—they were extremely strong and thick, curved at the tip as on antenales and black crows. Their heads and necks were thicker and more massive than those of eagles. The shape of their bodies, legs, and feet were like geese, and they had long claws; their skin was like that of antenales and large black crows with that [fol. 50r] same kind of thick fleece, which served the same advantageous function as has already been described.186 Today the captain-major, the chief-pilot, and the other ship’s officers decided to take the route around the outside of São Lourenço in accordance with an order from His Majesty, which dictated that if we had not passed the Cape of Good Hope by July 25th, we were to take the outer route [text blacked out]. Over the years, beginning shortly [margin: after] the discovery of India, there have been many shipwrecks and calamities along this outer route, the location and causes of which have never been determined, because no one has survived from the many ships that have foundered to the bottom of this great, blind, and immensely dangerous sea. And some of these dreadful disasters could be and 184  See p. 85 n. 111. 185  The eastern imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca), which can be as large as 90 cm (35 in) long and whose wingspan can measure as much as 2.16 m (7.1 ft). 186  See pp. 88 and 98 and n. 117 and 138, where we advance the possibility that Silva y Figueroa identifies all three species of the albatross family found in the environs of South Africa.

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could have been beneficial to those who sail along this absolutely terrifying route had any survivors of these wrecks been able to give an account of the shoals and other obstacles that fail to appear on the existing charts, and that have sent many carracks [text blacked out] to their perdition without knowing where or how shallow they were. But it is impossible for anyone to survive shipwrecks such as these because they all occur on unpopulated islets and sand hills that provide nothing for sustenance but crabs and birds. And the worst part of it is that the great ships run aground so far from the isles that everyone who tries to swim to them drowns first. Thus I make bold to aver that it is very rare for carracks that embark on this voyage to arrive at their destinations safely unless God [fol. 50v] is pleased in his Divine Providence to protect them. For even if the shoals that are marked on their charts and rutters are not very large and do not fill out much area in the ocean, there are infinitely more of them that are not charted, as can be inferred from the number of great ships that are lost, and because more and [margin: more] shoals are being discovered all the time besides the ones that are already known. And while it is true that along this outer route ships can sail on a broader reach and with more dependable winds than on the inner route of São Lourenço, especially for those who make a late voyage, the outer route is nevertheless so much longer, so unhealthy, and so full of manifest danger that everyone knows it is imprudent to follow it. The great ships can avoid this formidable difficulty by leaving Lisbon earlier in the sailing season with the monsoon. On this day of the 17th, there was a swollen head sea, and the ships pitched and rolled to the great discomfort of all aboard. The sun’s altitude was taken at 37 degrees minus a fourth. In the evening we were overtaken by a fierce storm, the wind stiffening greatly. Our prow headed east in a terrific thunderstorm and downpour, the topsails and bonnets having been struck. [margin: 18.] On the 18th, bearing east in the same northerly wind [margin: as yesterday], but moderated, the other ships drawing near the flagship. [margin: 19.] On the 19th, winds from the west and west by south-west, the bows heading north-east and east. [margin: 20.] On the 20th, the São Filipe was running two leagues ahead of the flagship and was signalled with an artillery salvo to wait. We sailed east and north-east in a west-by-south-west wind. The sun’s altitude was taken at 36 degrees, and according to the joint reckoning of the pilots, we were 200 leagues from the Ethiopian coast of the Kaffirs, called [fol. 51r] the land of Natal187 by 187  Portuguese for “Christmas,” so named because Vasco da Gama sighted it on Christmas Day in 1497. This name is still used for the long south-eastern coast of Africa, which is today a province of South Africa (Kwa-Zulu Natal) that borders Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho.

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the sailors. In the afternoon we maintained the same heading in a north-west wind. In the afternoon the wind moderated more, and by the first watch could hardly be perceive at all. By the second watch, it calmed as much as it had on the coast of Guinea. [margin: 21.] On the 21st, the same calm, which lasted twenty-four hours, the temperature very mild. [margin: 22.] On the 22nd, a little before daybreak the wind started blowing from the north, the ships sailing together, whereas before they had been somewhat separated, their bows heading east and south-east. [margin: 23.] On the 23rd, the same northerly wind, bearing east and northeast close to the wind, the temperature mild. [margin: 24.] On the 24th, a strong north-west gale, bearing east and northeast. The sun’s altitude was taken at 34 degrees and 40 minutes. Today there was a strong downpour and thunderstorm with the same wind. [margin: 25.] On the 25th, a south-east headwind, and so as to avoid drifting off course the ships lay to. [margin: 26.] On the 26th, a gentle breeze from the north, [text blacked out] but so extremely light that the ships, unable to sail in it, lay to all day and all night. [margin: 27.] On the 27th, the light breeze freshening somewhat around noon, we began to sail south-east with sails unfurled, though making little headway, the weather noticeably mild and gentle in this clime. By the third watch, the sea was [fol. 51v] once again becalmed, and the air very hot. [margin: 28.] On the 28th, at daybreak the wind came out of the west by south-west and we headed east. Later it shifted to the south for two hours, then south-east and freshened, such that it was necessary to lie to again, and thus we remained the rest of the day and all night. [margin: 29.] On the 29th, the same south-easterly, veering later in the day to the east by south-east, which is completely unheard of on the outer route. This frightened everyone, especially since supplies were running low. And forasmuch as the São Filipe was in especially great want of provisions, it was necessary for our ship to succor her with a few sacks of biscuit, wine, and other gifts; the same items were provided by the São Boaventura, which carried fewer people by far. [margin: 30.] On the 30th, a wind arose from the north by north-east, and we sailed by it to the east and south-east, the skies clear, and the two great ships in convoy with the flagship. [margin: 31.] On the 31st, the same wind, though very weak and with heavy seas against the bow. In the afternoon we sailed by a northerly wind east and north-east on a close reach, making very little headway because of the

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feebleness of the breeze. In the evening we made hardly any headway with a gentle, weak north-wester. [September 1614] [margin: September 1.] On September 1st, the same northwester, with as little effect as on the previous day, making some progress to the east by north-east, the ships becoming becalmed in the afternoon and remaining thus all night. [margin: 2.] On the 2nd, at daybreak a wind arose from the north by northwest, and we sailed east by north-east and north-east. The sun’s altitude was taken at 32 degrees and 40 minutes, and since the São Boaventura [fol. 52r] was two leagues behind, the flagship took in her topsails, the São Filipe doing likewise. At this point a few fish began to appear, none having been seen for more than fifty days, although later they disappeared again without our identifying them. In the afternoon the sea was becalmed, and none of the great ships had steerage way, and none made any headway. [margin: 3.] On the 3rd, a gentle breeze arose from the west by north-west, so feeble that we were unable to make any headway at all; we were becalmed all afternoon and all night, with the same mild temperature that is found in Spain around the vernal equinox. [margin: 4.] On the 4th, a gentle northerly breeze by which we made some headway to the east, but in the afternoon and all night the ships were becalmed. Many people were beginning to fall sick on our ship, all having been healthy to this point except for a few soldiers who had been mildly ill. It became quite clear that the monsoon had ended two or three days after the fleet had sailed past the Agulhas Bank, and although it had been decided that the outer course would make for a safer and more reliable arrival in India, it was fraught with the same insecurity and unpredictability as the inner route, the voyage taking just as long. The advantage of taking the outer route is the wider and more spacious sea, but, as has been noted, there is also the danger of shipwreck from sailing blind, the channels and islands near the shoals not being clearly marked. The chances are about even of clearing them or running aground. [fol. 52v] Furthermore, when the fleet is late in embarking, the winds are not as dependable as is commonly reported, as we saw on this voyage. The south-easterly and its collateral winds, which are normally favorable until latitude 28 degrees, the same latitude as the southernmost tip of São Lourenço,188 have not saved our voyage a single day. In fact, during this entire voyage there has not been a sure monsoon except for during the first twenty days after our embarking from Lisbon, and the strong storms before and after the islands of Tristan da Cunha. 188  In a later passage in the Commentaries, Silva y Figueroa identifies the southernmost tip of Madagascar as St. Roman; see p. 121 n. 202.

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Our voyage was impaired not only because of our late departure, but also because the weather has been unfavorable for sailing this year, being particularly inconstant. Of course it is natural for the weather to be unpredictable, and the differences are particularly marked at sea; the ocean is intrinsically changeable and variable, especially in so many different climes. So if one fails to embark from Lisbon early in the spring, closer to winter, there is no depending on the monsoon, whether the course is through the channel or around São Lourenço. Embarking late in the season is so detrimental to the voyage that those who are responsible for such a great error hope it will be remedied by favorable storms along the outer course, not considering the clear danger the fleet is exposed to by this plan. The greed of the officers and captains of the great ships also plays a role in following this route, for when they see that they will be late in arriving at the Cape [margin: of Good Hope], they risk the outer course, even under the threat of losing their ships, without stopping to winter in Mozambique, where [fol. 53r] they lose so much time and profit from not investing their assets in India. To conclude this aside, great trouble and harm is to be feared on both the inner and the outer routes when the Cape is doubled late in the year. It would not only be imprudent, but downright reckless to equate or compare the suffering caused by wintering in Mozambique, the Quirimbas,189 or Mombasa190 with the tremendous catastrophe and misery resulting from the loss of one or more carracks, without even the trace of a small board or piece of rigging being left behind. [margin: 5.] On the 5th, a good northerly wind, improving later into a northwester, and finally freshening with a small downpour, at which time it grew stronger until backing south-west; we ran before it bearing north-east and east. In the evening the wind blew from the same direction and the flagship answered the helm poorly, chapeling191 and lying to many times, something 189  The Quirimbas is an archipelago consisting of twenty-seven islands off the north-eastern coast of Mozambique, stretching from 10°46′8″S to 12°36′41″S. 190  A historic port city and trading center strategically located at 4°3′00″S, 39°40′00″E on the east coast of Kenya and bordering on the Indian Ocean. In the early sixteenth century, the Portuguese attacked, sacked, and intermittently occupied the city prior to their reoccupation in 1589 and their building of Fort Jesus shortly thereafter to protect and administer their interests. The Portuguese were ultimately evicted from Mombasa in 1698 by forces under the influence of the sultanate of Oman. 191  The MS has la nao Capitana gouernaua muy mal tomando por dauante; Fernández de Navarrete (Diccionario marítimo, p. 67) defines tomar por avante / davante as hacer capilla, or “chalpeling” or “building a chapel,” which is when a ship turns complely around when close-hauled because of a sudden loss of headway or through the negligence of the helmsman. See OED, s.v. “chapel.”

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she did during the voyage anytime there was a following wind. The exception was during those powerful storms off the coast of Brazil and the islands of Tristan da Cunha when she steered admirably, aided, against all reason, by the violent swells. But during almost the entire voyage, except for the occasions just mentioned, she always steered with difficulty, whether in a strong wind or a weak one. And even though the cause of this was discovered after crossing the Equator, namely that too much weight was stowed above and below in the stern, no solution was sought, although one was offered to the captain and officers many times by the other mariners. [margin: 6.] On the 6th, bearing north-east, the wind blowing out of the south and moderating. The sun’s altitude was taken today at 31 degrees. [fol. 53v] [margin: 7.] On the 7th, a south-easterly wind, bearing north-east and east. The sun’s altitude was taken at 30 degrees. The pilot did everything in his power to divert us from the passage leading to São Lourenço, since the currents were drawing us strongly in that direction. The pilot and other mariners said that the general winds, which were southerly and south-easterly, began at this latitude, and that they were favorable for approaching and crossing the Equator. But on this voyage only intermittent southeasters were encountered, which did not begin to blow with any sustained frequency until later on. [margin: 8.] On the 8th, bearing north-east and north in a freshened east-bysouth-east wind. This day was spent under heavy cloud cover and some cold. [margin: 9.] On the 9th, the same wind and bearing, the sky less overcast, though partially cloudy, which prevented taking the sun’s altitude; the air more temperate. [margin: 10.] On the 10th, bearing north and north-east, the wind from the east. The sun’s altitude was taken at 25 degrees. The days are now hot, though somewhat temperate. [margin: 11.] On the 11th, the same east wind, the ship’s bearing the same as yesterday. The wind later subsided. The sun’s altitude was taken at 23 degrees and 40 minutes. In the evening a wind arose out of the east by south-east, but later died out completely, the sea becoming flat. [margin: 12.] On the 12th, a light breeze from the north-east and the same calm. Later in the day the breeze veered north, carrying the ship’s bows to the east. The sun’s altitude was taken at 23 degrees. And since we made so little [fol. 54r] headway to the north because of the feeble airs, it was feared that the currents would carry us toward the islands and shoals on the eastern side of São Lourenço. The wind was so imperceptible all that day and night that the ships maintained hardly any steerage way. This revealed how uncertain and scarce the general winds are; throughout this voyage they have only been noticeably variable and weak. This same inconstancy and weakness of the winds, though

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harmful to our voyage, [text blacked out] was [text blacked out] [superscript: also] advantageous to a certain extent, because these same weak [marginalia illegible] winds were the headwinds that impeded our swift sailing, since we had been a little more than seven points from close-hauled during most of the voyage. And it was noted with particular concern that inasmuch as most of this voyage to India is made in an easterly direction, albeit via different routes in accordance with the winds, it has always taken longer to sail due east than to sail toward or away from the equator, that is, drawing closer to or moving away from one of the poles; this is the case even when the winds or the currents are just as favorable or even when they give the advantage to sailing eastward. And although the measurements taken while sailing east are very uncertain and not well understood, while by contrast no error is possible when traveling south since the position is confirmed by the sun’s altitude, this eastern route has been recorded on the charts based on the vast amount of experience collected from so many voyages, [fol. 54v] the degrees of longitude [text blacked out] [margin: being shown] as clearly as those of latitude, though without precise distances. But it is more difficult and time-consuming to traverse the degrees of longitude, as has been mentioned, even in favorable winds. This can be caused by one of two things, if not by both: either the daily motion of the Primum Mobile192 slows a ship’s progress because it is contrary to it, or, what might prove to be more certain, the route is longer than what the Portuguese pilots indicate on their charts, India being farther to the east. What favors the theory regarding the Primum Mobile, or motus raptus,193 is the very easy and certain voyage undertaken by those who sail from Peru or New Spain to the Philippines or the Malukus194 in the Southern Ocean, following the same movement of the air as the Primum Mobile. This is because of the general 192  The Prime Mover, the tenth and outermost sphere of the Ptolemaic geocentric model of the universe in medieval and Renaissance astronomy; see Grant, Planets, 517–23. 193  The MS has movimiento rrapto [sic] “dragging motion,” which the DA equates with movimiento violentus, “violent motion.” In the Ptolemaic model of the universe, the Primum Mobile provides a power that drags (hence raptus) all the celestial spheres in a westward diurnal motion (motus), against their natural tendency (hence violentus); see Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo, 71. 194  The Malukus, previously known as the Moluccas, are islands in an archipelago of the same name in Indonesia, located at 2°0′00″S, 128°0′00″E, east of Sulawesi, west of New Guinea, and north-east of Timor. Famous historically and collectively for their spices (nutmeg, cloves, and mace), they were also known as the Spice Islands. Silva y Figueroa may be conflating them, however, with Banda, a group of smaller islands in this archipelago, located at 4°35′00″S, 129°55′00″E, which at this time were the world’s only source of mace and nutmeg.

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eastern winds that continually blow in that enormous expanse of open sea. However, the winds are so contrary on the return trip that carracks embarking from the Philippines are forced to sail at latitude 40 degrees where the Arctic winds blow in order to complete [margin: their voyage], even though this results in much lost time and countless tribulations during this long and difficult voyage. The second theory, namely that the route to India is farther than what is [margin: published] by the Portuguese sailors, has been well corroborated. Their intention is to move the coast of the Indian mainland much closer to the meridian that [text blacked out] [superscript: divides] the eastern from the western routes, so that the entire southern archipelago, including [fol. 55r] the Malukus and the Philippines, plus the remaining Spice Islands,195 fall within their boundaries. [margin: 13] On the 13th, bearing north-east in a light north-wester. At daybreak the sky was very overcast and heavy rain fell so that the sun’s altitude could not be taken. The sea was becalmed most of the day and all night, the ships unable to make sail. [margin: 14] On the 14th, the same light north-wester as on previous days, followed by calms. Today a big marrajo, known to the sailors as a tintoreira,196 appeared to starboard. At first it was thought to be a shark because they had been ubiquitous and irritating before heading into cold waters, although they had completely disappeared thereafter, as had all other kinds of fish. The marrajo that was seen here at this time was incomparably larger than the sharks seen during the entire voyage to that point. It was so gullible and careless that even though it was twice caught on a fat hook that some of the grummets had tied to a strong line, each time freeing itself after hanging from the hook for several minutes, it was finally caught [text blacked out] after taking the hook a third time. Another line was looped around it, and with great effort more than twenty men hoisted it onto the deck of the ship where they killed it with a hatchet. It measured more than ten feet in length, including the tail, and two feet wide. Besides its size, it differed from sharks in that its head was very long and extended with a big protruding muso197 or snout, and its teeth, which lay in two rows in its large mouth, were bigger than a shark’s teeth, though [fol. 55v] not as big as one might think considering its ferocity or how quickly and violently it can bite a man’s arms and legs off. The sailors, who had been craving fish, ate all of it except the head, not having dined on fish for many 195  The Malukus were the same as the Spice Islands; see p. 118 n. 194. 196  Perhaps related to tinturar, “to dye”; this is the shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus), also known as the Blue pointer. 197  Italian for “snout.”

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days. According to the sailors it tasted like shark’s meat, though tougher. Today the sun’s altitude was taken at 22 degrees and 50 minutes, which is between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Equator; we had been wafted north-east by gentle airs. At first watch, the south-by-south-west wind freshened a little and then stiffened more by the second watch. We sailed large, bearing north-east and east all night long. [margin: 15] On the 15th, the sun’s altitude was taken at 22 degrees; the same bearing and wind as yesterday. [margin: 16] On the 16th, the same bearing as yesterday. The sun’s altitude was taken at 20 degrees and a third. The chief-pilot ordered careful watch to be made from the bow and the topsails for Diogo Rodrigues,198 which he reckoned was closer off the bow than Swan Island,199 which, according to his calculations, was far astern and off to the left. [margin: 17] On the 17th, the wind, having veered to the south for a few hours, settled in from the south-east, freshened and favorable. The sun’s altitude was taken at 18 degrees and 30 minutes, our bows [fol. 56r] heading northeast and east. The pilot calculated our position as lying on a north to south line with the channel that runs between the Grajao Shoals200 and the Nazareth Bank,201 having passed, in his opinion, Diogo Rodrigues on the right without having seen a sign of land or shoal. 198  Rodrigues is an island that forms part of the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Cargados Carajos shoals, and Réunion) located at 19°43′00″S, 63°25′00″E in the Indian Ocean, approximately 650 km (400 mi) east of Mauritius. The island is named after Diogo Rodrigues, a sixteenth-century Portuguese explorer and naval and military commander. 199  Present-day Mauritius, located approximately 2,000 km (1,200 mi) off the south-east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean at 20°10′00″S, 57°31′00″E. Silva y Figueroa identifies it using the contemporary Portuguese term Cisne. The Dutch East India Company renamed it after Prince Maurice of Nassau in 1598. 200  There is incontrovertible evidence from elsewhere in the MS (see p. 121) that Grajão is St. Brandon (Cargados Carajos), an archipelago consisting of about sixteen small islands that includes the island of St. Brandon and islets on an extended reef in the Indian Ocean northeast of Mauritius; it is located at 16°35′00″S, 59°37′00″E. While we are uncertain why Silva y Figueroa called these shoals the Grajao, it is possible that the Portuguese called them this after the common tern (Sterna fluviatilis), known in Portuguese as either garajau or grajao; see Bluteau and de Morais Silva, Dicionário, 666, Campbell, “The Animals Columbus Saw,” 6, and Olson, Northmen, 96. 201  The Nazareth Bank is part of the Mascarene Plateau, a large submerged bank in the Indian Ocean. The coordinates for its center are 14°30′00″S, 60°40′00″E, approximately 1,040 km (646 mi) east of northern Madagascar. These shoals extend from these coordinates about 176 km (109 mi) north to south and some 87 km (54 mi) east to west. The closest land to

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[margin: 18] On the 18th, the south-easterly braced up even more; our bows were heading north and north-east, the other two great ships following in the wake of the flagship. The sun’s altitude was taken at 17 degrees. According to the pilot’s reckoning, we were now sailing near the channel of the shoals, although we had not sighted Diogo Rodrigues, which the pilot had calculated as being very nearby; neither had we seen Swan Island before that. One could not refrain from condemning the dangerous overconfidence of our pilot and of the other pilots who sail to India. Without sighting land, the appearance of which is predicted by all of their rutters, they rashly sail among these shoals unaware of their identity, [text blacked out] [superscript: blindly] and recklessly casting themselves into them. This is exactly what our pilot did at this time. He had been anxious to raise Swan Island ever since he calculated that we were on a north-to-south line with the Cape St. Roman,202 which is on São Lourenço, though he was unsure about this. Then, after passing it without sighting it, he was very keen on raising Diogo Rodrigues, so that from that point he could enter the channel of the Grajao shoals without danger. But he also failed to sight that island, nor any other sign of land. So neither he nor any other of the pilots from the other two ships in our convoy [fol. 56v] had any human way of knowing which channel or shoal we were sailing through. For in order to sail between the Grajao shoals and the Nazareth Banks, which are 150 leagues east of São Lourenço and fifty leagues north of Diogo Rodrigues, it is necessary to locate the latter island with precision, just as it is also necessary to locate Swan Island earlier on in order to sail between the Nazareth Banks and the island of Agaléga.203 These islands must be well marked, and one must be well acquainted with their locations beforehand. These channels, together with the one that runs between São Lourenço and the Agaléga shoals204—the one in which we are currently sailing in this author’s opinion—are, according to the charts, thirty leagues wide. But this is impossible: they must be at least forty or fifty leagues wide, otherwise few if any of the great ships would survive this voyage, since many currents run toward these shoals; there are also strong winds them is St. Brandon (Cargados Carajos), which is 140 km (87 mi) to their south-west, and the Saya de Malha Banks, approximately 280 km (174 mi) to their south. 202  The name used by the Portuguese at this time, according to Silva y Figueroa, for the southernmost headland on the island of Madagascar, located at 25°36′15″S, 45°12′06″E. It later became known as Cap Sainte Marie and is today known as Cape Vohimena. 203  Agaléga is in actuality composed of two nearly connecting islands located approximately 1,000 km (620 mi) north of Mauritius at 10°25′00″S, 56°35′00″E. 204  While there are shoals in the vicinity of Agaléga, to our knowledge it is the island alone that is called by that name.

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that drive ships swiftly through them, like what happened thirty years ago to Manuel de Sousa Coutinho,205 the former governor of India, on a voyage to Portugal. The most unfortunate thing about this tragic shipwreck, besides the loss of the governor and all the people and merchandise from two ships, was the demise of the most important and skilled pilot who has ever lived since [fol. 57r] the discovery of this voyage, the great Vicente Rodrigues,206 whose rutters207 are the ones normally used by all pilots. The general view is that the loss of these and many other ships that have completely disappeared on this voyage was due to the lack of wind between these channels and the deceiving shoals toward which the currents carry ships to their destruction. Heedless of all these difficulties, our pilot, displaying the usual bravado of all those in his profession and confident of his good fortune, maintained our previous heading and steered north and north-east toward the easternmost channel of the shoals that runs between the Nazareth Bank and the Grajao shoals, where we could have easily been endangered inasmuch as this channel was unfamiliar to him and to the other pilots. In regions where there is so much doubt and so much risk of shipwreck, any nearby landmass needs to be thoroughly marked and charted so that after it is sighted, a ship can enjoy good sailing. This is normally what happens on this voyage when the channel on the inside of São Lourenço is taken. All the vessels first sight the island in order to sail safely between it and the Bassas da Índia,208 thus avoiding running aground on them or on the Sofala Bank or Cape Correntes.209 And if this route, which is flanked by 205  The Portuguese Sousa Coutinho (1540–1591) was governor of India from 1588 to 1591; see Martins, Crónica dos Vice-Reis, 314–15. 206  Portuguese pilot, navigator, and author; see Machado, Bibliotheca Lusitana, III: 787; and Rodrigues, “Roteiro da Carreira da India,” 15–89. 207  See p. 61 n. 51. 208  Bassas da Índia is an uninhabited, roughly circular atoll and shoals consisting of ten barren rocky islets and totaling 0.2 sq km (.08 sq mi) in area. It is about halfway between Mozambique and Madagascar in the southern Mozambique Channel, located at 21°28′57″ S, 39°40′19″E. When the Portuguese first encountered the atoll in 1506, they called it the Baixos da Judia, meaning “Jewess Shoals,” which was inadvertently changed via transcription error by cartographers to Baixos da Índia, meaning “India Shoals.” 209  Cape Correntes (Portuguese Cabo das Correntes, meaning “Cape of the Currents”) is a headland located in Mozambique at 23°55′36″S, 35°31′48″E, the southern entry of the Mozambique Channel. During the age of sail, Cape Correntes was regarded as a terrifying obstacle because of the exceptionally fast southward current that sweeps past this headland, forming eddies and producing violent winds. Such conditions made it difficult for sailing ships to clear the cape and led to them being pushed backward by the swift contrary current and complicated winds. Sailing in the other direction was even more dangerous because the velocity of the current at the cape could easily throw a ship headlong

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land so closely on [fol. 57v] both sides, makes all of this caution necessary, how much more need for caution should there be when one recognizes a familiar sign in the middle of the wide and blind ocean? All the pilots are just as careful when returning to Portugal from India, because well before entering the channel between São Lourenço and the coast of Ethiopia, they sight the desert on the coast of the mainland in order to determine the distance they are sailing from it; they then sight Cape Delgado,210 which is a little before Mozambique, in order to avoid sailing carelessly between the Comoros Islands211 and São Lourenço, where there is well-known danger of running aground on its shoals and sandbanks. This is precisely what happened to Brás Teles de Meneses212 in [margin: 1608] as he set sail from Goa on his return to Portugal as captain-­ major of two carracks. After sighting the desert on the mainland, he veered too far to the left, due to the negligence of his pilot, and sailed between the Comoros and São Lourenço, believing that a cape that he saw on one of the islands on the right side was Cape Delgado, being very sure and confident that his ships were on course. And so, being too far to the left, but thinking he was withdrawing from the coast of the Kaffirs where Mozambique is located, the flagship ran aground on a sandbank at night less than [fol. 58r] a league from the coast of São Lourenço, where the ship was stranded for eighteen days, though it was later salvaged with a warping capstan, the sea being gentle where she had run aground. But our pilot, who thought he was blessed with better fortune, was now sailing between these shoals without seeing any sign of them except some birds, some of which were very white, the size of kites,213 with very thin tails half a fathom or more long, which is why the sailors call them into the numerous shoals that are found on this coast. As Silva y Figueroa reports, concern over the treacherous conditions in the Mozambique Channel led Portuguese pilots and authorities to chart a course in particular for shipping returning to Europe from Asia via the “outer route” (i.e., east of Madagascar) in order to avoid the treacherous conditions around Cape Correntes. 210  Cape Delgado (Portuguese Cabo Delgado, meaning “thin cape”) is a coastal delta promontory formed by sediment deposited by the Rovuma River as it empties into the Indian Ocean. It is located at 10°51′36″S, 40°38′24″E, the northernmost point in Mozambique on the border of present-day Mozambique and Tanzania. 211  The Comoros are a group of volcanic islands that form an archipelago, situated off the south-eastern coast of Africa to the east of Mozambique and north-west of Madagascar at 11°41′00″S, 43°16′00″E. 212  Portuguese naval commander of the outbound 1605 fleet and the 1608 return fleet. 213  Either the black kite (Milvus migrans) or the red kite (Milvus milvus). A kite is a mediumlarge bird of prey; the black kite is slightly smaller and in flight appears to have a less forked tail.

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colas de junco.214 They fly very high, staying far from the water as do all the other species of bird seen up to this point. In the evening all sail was taken in on each of the ships, and sailing under just the main course, we put about and returned by the same route we had followed during the day, fearing that if the ships were to lie to, the currents would bring them alongside the shoals. At the third watch, the flagship shot an artillery salvo to signal for the other ships to return, and an hour before daybreak and according to the pilot’s reckoning, they arrived at [margin: nearly] the same place from which they had sailed at the first watch. And since it seemed to him that we had waited long enough, and since the moon had risen, we set sail to the north and north-east. [margin: 19.] On the 19th, the same broad wind blew directly out of the south-east, the bows heading north-east. The sun’s altitude was taken at 15 degrees and 30 minutes. Even in a stiff wind, we crowded on all sail throughout the night. [margin: 20.] On the 20th, a strong and freshened south-easterly, our bows heading north-east, [fol. 58v] the pilot reckoning that we were now free of the channel of the shoals. The sun’s altitude was taken at 13 degrees and 40 minutes, and after noon, as we were sailing in this wind, the pilot ordered us to stand over to the north-east and east. This afternoon it happened that a twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy, a servant of one of the soldier’s, had gone down to the fore channels to wash out a wooden bowl and tragically fell into the sea, and although an attempt was made to rescue him, with everyone moved to great pity for him, the ship was flying along so swiftly that in an instant [superscript: he was] far away off the stern until he finally disappeared from view. The poor boy kept himself afloat by swimming as long as he could be seen. [margin: 21.] On the 21st, the same wind and bearing. The sun’s altitude was taken at 12 degrees and 30 minutes, the two other carracks drawing quite close to the flagship. [margin: 22.] On the 22nd, a moderating south-easterly, the [margin: bow] of the flagship heading toward the head or channel of the shoals called Saya de Malha,215 the sun’s altitude being taken at 11 degrees. The south-easterly 214  Lit. “reed-tails,” also frequently known as rabo de junco; probably the white-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus). 215  The Saya de Malha (meaning “chainmail skirt”) Banks are the largest submerged banks in the world and are part of the vast undersea Mascarene Plateau. Located at 10°30′00″S, 61°21′36″E, they lie east of Madagascar, south-east of the Seychelles, and north of the Nazareth Bank, St. Brandon (Cargados Carajos shoals), and Mauritius. The closest land to these banks are the tiny islands of Agaléga. Some 500 years ago, while traversing the deep

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freshened as on the days when we sailed through the shoals, heading northeast. At night, from what could be inferred from the course we had been following, according to the pilot’s reckoning, the ships passed over the channel of the aforementioned Saya de Malha [margin: shoals], though without a sign or trace of them. Past these shoals, which are deep enough to present no danger, and on the right, there is an islet [fol. 59r] called San Miguel216 at latitude 8 degrees, which has sandbanks and shoals. On the left side there are some very dangerous shoals, though farther away from our course, called the Seven Brothers,217 of which our pilot was very wary and vigilant until we passed by them because they lay to leeward in relation to our heading. And even though they lay far from our course, as has been mentioned, there were strong currents and winds heading in their direction. Hence we stood to the north-east and east without fear of approaching the shoals of San Miguel, since they were windward to our course, and thus we could easily distance ourselves from them if necessary. But one of the things that most strongly contradicted and cast doubt on the idea that we had passed between the Grajao Shoals and the Nazareth Bank was that not a sign of the Saya de Malha shoals been seen; we should have come upon them immediately after leaving the channel of the Grajao Shoals, and since the channel of the Saya de Malha shoals took up so much space in the sea, it seemed impossible to not have seen any indications or signs that shoals usually make in the water, even being as deep as these are, since they are and have always been noticeable from the way the waves look as they pass over them. As for the objection that we may have passed all of them by night, one could respond that we should have sailed so close to San Miguel that it would have been [fol. 59v] impossible to miss it, since it is visible from a great distance, and thus one is completely justified in doubting that we had not followed this course on our voyage.

blue waters of the Indian Ocean, Portuguese sailors encountered these banks between the Cape of Good Hope and India. Finding themselves sailing over a shallow area covered with swaying green seagrass, they apparently compared it to the movement of a woman’s skirt. 216  Diego Garcia, a footprint-shaped coral atoll located south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean at 7°18′48″S, 72°24′40″E. It is part of the Chagos Archipelago and is approximately 3,650 km (1,970 mi) from the east coast of Africa and 1,790 km (967 mi) south by south-west of the southern tip of India. 217  The Seychelles, located at 4°37′00″S, 55°27′00″E. The Portuguese called these islands the Sete Irmãos (meaning “seven brothers”) because of the seven primary islands at this location in the archipelago. Elsewhere in the MS Silva y Figueroa gives the name as Siete Hermanas, meaning “seven sisters”; see Lagoa, II: 137.

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On the 23rd, the same south-eastern wind blew, the bow heading north-east and east. The number of sick people on both the flagship and the other ships was increasing. Apart from many cruel fevers, two other diseases that are not accompanied by fever are common in this clime on both the inner and the outer routes, though they are more frequent and more dangerous on the outer route. The first disease causes the gums of the victim to swell and putrefy, producing a terrible odour and leading to death in some victims and to the loss of teeth in others. But although this disease is so troublesome and vexatious, most of the afflicted are cured by cutting away the damaged and putrid flesh that grows on the gums and applying vinegar compresses to the remaining tissue. The second disease, commonly known as the mal de Loanda,218 is usually very dangerous and terrible. It causes swelling of the legs and thighs, where a horrible and mysterious black or purple rash develops and then gradually spreads up to the abdomen and the chest, at which point it kills the victim without any other symptoms of pain or fever; the only survivors are those with a strong constitution. In some victims the rash does not spread beyond the thighs, and they are cured without treatment, [fol. 60r] the disease being unresponsive to any such; no effective medicine has been discovered during the past 100 years since this very dangerous route to India was discovered. In the present voyage, the ship’s surgeon, Jerónimo Gomes,219 took to making incisions on the affected part of the legs and thighs and then setting leeches on them, and although he happily applied this remedy to many people, bringing [text blacked out] [superscript: some] of the ill back to health, the majority died under his care, the rash not even spreading upward. I therefore consider this treatment to be not just uncertain or indifferent, but actually harmful because it aggravates the disease even more. But it was noticed with particular attention that it afflicted the sailors less than the others, even if the latter were comfortable and well fed. This can be attributed to the fact that the sailors’ bodies are well conditioned by their continuous toil on the ship, and so they are generally much stronger during the entire voyage. This disease and the other one mentioned above more 218  Lit. “malaise of Luanda” (Angola). In the ensuing passage, Silva y Figueroa accurately describes scurvy, or vitamin C deficiency, the major contemporary life-threatening disease for sailors on long voyages. He also correctly notes the ineffectiveness of Jerónimo Gomes’s treatment. What Silva y Figueroa believes are two separate diseases are in effect one and the same, since what the Portuguese called the mal de Luanda was none other than scurvy. Ironically, according to Gil Fernández (“Embassy,” p. 177), this is the disease to which Silva y Figueroa himself would succumb on his return journey to Portugal in 1624, although we find no internal textual evidence or contemporaneous reports to corroborate this claim. 219  We have been unable to find any further particulars on this person.

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frequently afflict the poor and the poorly fed. The sun’s altitude was taken at 9 degrees and 40 minutes. We waited for the São Boaventura, which sailed noticeably slower than the other ships. On the 24th, bearing north-east and east with the same wind, passing very close to the shoals of San Miguel off to the right, according to our pilot, but without seeing a trace of them. The sun’s altitude was taken at 8 degrees and 45 minutes. [fol. 60v] On the 25th, sailing by the same south-eastern, bearing north-east and east. The sun’s altitude was taken at 6 degrees and a third. A great storm struck at the first watch, unleashing a downpour. We sailed through it to the [illegible marginalia blacked out] [margin: north and north-east] with the topsails taken in. By the dawn watch, the wind shifted to the south-east again with another downpour and overcast skies. On the 26th, the sea was flat and glassy, a sure portent of the great becalming that we were to later endure. The pilot had been greatly afraid all night because the storm had been carrying us through the shoals of the Seven Brothers, which we had not yet passed. The wind, though it had backed to the southeast, was much lighter, but later freshened a little, and we sailed under a full press of sails. The sun’s altitude was taken at 4 degrees and 20 minutes, and before nightfall we passed the shoals on the left, clear of all danger from them. These islets are situated at latitude 4 degrees. [margin: 27.] On the 27th, a lighter south-east wind, the sea very flat in the morning, the air temperate. A little before midday the wind began to die down, blowing very gently. The sun’s altitude was taken at 2 degrees and 45 minutes. We made little headway the rest of the day and all night. The heat was now very great, and its effects were more keenly felt because everyone was convinced that on this outer route the wind [fol. 61r] never failed. [margin: 28.] On the 28th, the gentle south-easterly breeze we had began to die away completely, although we were wafted some distance by it bearing north-east and north. In the evening the breeze was so feeble that the ships made hardly any headway at all, the calm and the heat growing excessively. On the 29th, St. Michael’s Day,220 the gentle breeze that was blowing veered south, and it being favorable, we sailed a little faster, bearing north-east. The sun was already at our zenith and thus its position could not be taken; [text blacked out] neither could it be taken yesterday. The heat was now intolerable, its effects the more keenly felt because of the many sick people and because of the lack of proper maintenance of the ships. 220  St. Michael the Archangel, whose feast day is 29 September, is the patron saint of sailors and other groups.

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[margin: 30.] On the 30th, a great and terrible calm, and the heat so intolerable that the previous becalming was lost to memory, and the sick who were subject to them were all the thinner and weaker. [October 1614] [margin: October 1.] On October 1st, the great calm continued, with two downpours but no wind. The heat reached its apex, and no one could sleep by day or by night. [margin: 2.] On the 2nd, the calm became more entrenched, deep rooted, and cruel than ever before. There were no clouds covering the sun, which was searing in its terrible brutality. The number of sick people increased, some dying. Immediately after noon the air began to stir because of some distant [fol. 61v] showers that failed to reach our ship. We continually hoped that these showers would bring a wind so that we might make sail and the people might have a chance to breathe, being worn out and unable to withstand the great heat. The breeze that began to waft down from the north-east off the bows was so light that the ships lay to. The São Boaventura and the São Filipe were a good way off behind us, the exhausting calm lasting all night. The morning of the 3rd began with the greatest heat ever, and although the sun’s angle was taken, the pilot and the other sailors failed to agree on our position, some saying that we had crossed to the north of the line, others saying that we were still below it. But besides the intolerable heat and lack of health, what was most to be feared was that because the ships were becalmed, they would be carried by the current to founder on the Maldives221 or the shoals at our current position before reaching them. More and more people fell sick every day, and there was no suitable manner to care for them; a few individuals died. In the afternoon a gentle breeze blew out of the west by north-west, occasioning a downpour that could be seen far off in the distance, but failed to reach our ship. And though the wind was weak, we sailed with it all night, the São Boaventura remaining four leagues behind us. [fol. 62r] On the 4th, the calm returned, and it seemed that we could neither live in it nor escape from this kind of vexation. The sun’s altitude was taken at latitude 1 degree and 40 minutes north. In the afternoon some of the grummets who were perched atop the mizzenmast of our ship saw some thick and heavy smoke coming from the São Boaventura, which was more than five leagues distant. From this it was surmised that she had fired an artillery salvo as a signal 221  The Maldives consist of a double chain of twenty-six atolls, oriented north-south, that lie between Minicoy (the southernmost part of Lakshadweep, India) and the Chagos Archipelago. They are about 700 km (430 mi) southwest of Sri Lanka and 400 km (250 mi) southwest of India, located at 3°12′00″N, 73°13′12″E.

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for us to help her or wait for her. The flagship, being so far away that we could not hear the firing of the artillery, had been wafted by a gentle west wind that brought a rainstorm; she lowered her topsails and waited for the Buenaventura all night long. During the night the wind freshened a bit and we headed northeast and east. [margin: 5.] The morning of the 5th began without the light breeze from yesterday and with the usual calm and heat. The São Boaventura was a little more than a league away from our ship. A few sailors were sent over to her in a small boat to find out what she needed, and when it approached within about a half league of her, the craft suddenly capsized. Some of the sailors who were manning it had moved carelessly to one side, the boat being very small and carrying two sails. Those who knew how to swim quickly grabbed hold of it and tried very hard to right it, but they could not do so because the sails had become submerged, and [fol. 62v] in order to save themselves they had to climb up on the keel. Some of the soldiers who did not know how to swim had also climbed up on the keel as soon as the boat capsized. The boatswain of the flagship, who had been aboard the boat, which he owned, was a natural and brave swimmer. Leaving those who were in danger behind, he swam to the São Boaventura to seek help for them. Meanwhile, the São Boaventura, recognizing the calamity that had befallen the boat, had begun to draw near it on her lee. But because the wind had come up, he reached the ship before she arrived at the boat, and he boarded her with a rope that they threw down to him. He and some other sailors launched a boat and saved the others together with the capsized boat. The men from the São Boaventura said the reason they had fired two artillery salvos the day before was to signal us to wait for them because they had so many sick people on board. At three o’clock in the afternoon, the overcast sky having made it impossible to take the altitude of the sun, it started to rain lightly, first off the bow. Then the wind began to blow, suddenly changing directions until it became very heavy and furious, backing westward and lasting for more than three hours. The rainfall tempered the heat, and we ran before the westerly wind north-east and north all night, the light rain continuing until [fol. 63r] morning. On the 6th, the westerly wind continued with intermittent rain showers most of the day, the sun’s altitude being taken at 3 degrees and 30 minutes, which placed us a little more than 200 leagues from the closest coast of India. But the combination of the great heat, the humidity from all the rain, and the ship’s waste produced an intolerable and deadly stench that could be perceived throughout the ship, this being one of the main reasons why the number of [margin: sick] people continued to rise; they suffered all the more because of the

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lack of doctors and medicine. The wind died out in the afternoon, close to sundown. It freshened again after the second watch, blowing variously from the south and the east against the bow. Later a light breeze from the west by southwest began to blow and we headed north-east and north by north-east. [margin: 7.] On the 7th, the same heading with the same wind until nine o’clock in the morning. We were once more becalmed, with a fine rain falling; we made no headway at all. The sky was overcast, which prevented us from taking the altitude of the sun. In the evening a hint of a breeze was discernible from the west. It continued to freshen until, by the third watch, it had become favorable, and we sailed large heading north-east. [margin: 8.] On the 8th, the same westerly wind, our bows pointing to the north-east and east. The ships were now at the most 150 [fol. 63v] leagues from the coast of India. The sun’s position was calculated at different altitudes. The pilot, who always calculated our latitude to be higher or lower than anyone else, reckoned it at no more than 5 degrees, while the calculations of the sailors placed it at 6 degrees. It was very easy to err because of the small dimensions of the instruments.222 The wind continued in the same manner until just before nightfall when it veered north-west, the bow heading north-east and east. Our pilot feared that this route would take us to Kochi223 instead of Goa, or that a strong southerly wind would pull us over to Socotra224 or Mombasa. We ran all night before a north-west wind, continuing the same heading. [margin: 9.] On the 9th, the sun’s altitude was taken at 6 degrees and 20 minutes. The wind blew out of the north-west and north-by-north-west all day and all night, our bows heading north-east and east. [margin: 10.] On the 10th, the same wind continued, our bows heading north-east. The sun’s altitude was taken at 7 degrees and 10 minutes. The ships were now not far from the Mamale Islands,225 which are reached by running

222  See p. 61. 223  Kochi was where Pedro Álvares Cabral founded the first European settlement in India in 1500. It was also the site of a Portuguese fortress from 1503–1663. 224  The largest island of four in the Indian Ocean that lie some 240 km (150 mi) east of the Horn of Africa and 380 km (240 mi) south of the Arabian Peninsula, and that form the Socotra Archipelago, located at 12°30′36″N, 53°55′12″E. 225  Present-day Lakshadweep, located at 10°34′12″N, 72°37′48″E. Mamales was the name used by the Portuguese for a group of islands known as the Laccadives, which are now one of three island groups (Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi) that form the Lakshadweep Archipelago. They lie 200 to 440 km (120 to 270 mi) off the south-western coast of India. See Lagoa, II: 225.

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north-west by south-east from the Padua226 shoals to the first of the Maldives, no more than forty leagues from the coast of Malabar.227 [margin: 11.] On the 11th, the moderate wind died out after we had [text blacked out] sailed large228 the previous night before a stead and favorable west-by-north-west wind. But it slackened as the day wore on [fol. 64r] until it faded completely. The sun’s altitude was taken at 8 degrees, and we were becalmed all day and all night. It was excessively hot. On the 12th, the same calm continued, although we took some small advantage of the currents that ran to the Mamale Islands, the bow heading northeast. The sun’s altitude was taken at 8 degrees 20 minutes, the wind beginning to gust somewhat from the north-east during the second watch; it had begun to freshen a little after sundown, and it continued to do so all night. On the 13th, a little after dawn the north-west wind veered north, and we sailed east and north-east, heading for the Mamales, which lie forty leagues from the city of Kochi on an east-to-west line with it. The sun’s altitude was taken at just short of 9 degrees, but it was uncertain [text blacked out] [superscript: how far] off the aforementioned islands were. It has been difficult or impossible throughout this voyage to calculate even approximately how far we have sailed east to west. And although this is the most problematical and mysterious challenge of the whole voyage, there are men who are as ignorant as they are reckless, as there always has been in all ages and regions of the [fol. 64v] earth, who offer to perform to perfection that which is impossible. During our present age and even at the same time that this relation is being written, there are those who have rashly promised to demonstrate their solution to this mystery. In 1609 and 1610 a Portuguese named Luís de Fonseca229 arrived in Madrid 226  Munyal-Par, or the Padua Bank, are shoals located off the south-western coast of India at 13°05′00″N, 72°25′00″E and form part of the Lakshadweep Archipelago. 227  See p. 128 n. 221. 228  See p. 101 n. 148. 229  Luís de Fonseca Coutinho, Portuguese pilot and author. Here and later in the manuscript, Silva y Figueroa provides a fascinating eyewitness account of shipboard meetings and dealings with him and with António de Mariz Carneiro (see p. 133 n. 230), two subsequently famous Portuguese pilots who were involved in early seventeenth-century Spanish efforts to calculate longitude. Silva y Figueroa viewed both as little more than arbitristas (“schemers”), although both had careers that arguably belied his characterization. Fonseca Coutinho authored an unpublished manuscript entitled Arte de agulha fixa, e do modo de saber por ella a longitud (The Art of the Fixed Needle and the Method of Finding the Longitude with It), a copy of which, as we understand, is found in the Navarrete collection in the Museo Naval in Madrid. For biographical notes and further

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with some well-crafted metal navigational instruments of his own design. It seems that he intended to convince people through his demonstrations that he could manipulate and magnetize lodestones or needles, which are so useful and advantageous for all nautical voyages, in such a way that without varying to the right or left of the Arctic Pole, they would point directly at it without any north-westing or north-easting, as the seamen put it in their vernacular. Had he limited himself to perfecting the lodestone to some degree or another, or perfecting the way the needle is magnetized with it, this would have been appreciated, and he would have retained his credibility. Instead, he exceeded himself, claiming that with his compass the degrees of longitude, referred to by sailors as east to west altitude, could be determined perfectly and accurately. The simple invention and novel claims of this exceptionally ignorant man incited the admiration of some of His Majesty’s [fol. 65r] ministers, who, after receiving him, gazed admiringly at his models, which seemed to them a marvellous and extremely useful secret, especially for the benefit of fleets sailing east and west from Spain every year on the great expanse of sea, upon which rests the greatest and most essential part of her realm. But the most amazing thing about this charlatan, and what gives one pause, is that none of the many people who resided at court knew him. He had never been seen nor heard of on any of the many voyages that had ever sailed east or west, and he himself confidently and firmly asserted that he had no experience or practice whatsoever in sailing, by his own confession. However, when several people who wanted to learn more about him asked him if he knew or had received any training in mathematics or simple navigational theory, he admitted that he had studied neither of those disciplines and knew nothing about either of them, but that his invention had been given to him via a private and hidden revelation from God. This shameless and ignorant confession was sufficient cause for dismissing and ignoring such a lie and deception and to cease considering his useless and vain claim. Instead, his assertion accrued to his favor, and those who paid heed to him [fol. 65v] came to greatly admire him, though such an obvious fraud and species of blasphemy was in reality deserving of punishment. He deceived his supporters with so transparent an artifice because of the great benefit that might result from being able to determine, completely or partially, degrees of longitude. And that is why his claim was considered in the first place and why an order was given for experiments to be performed technical discussion of the importance of this pilot, see Machado, Bibliotheca Lusitana, III: 95; Viterbo, Trabalhos Náuticos, 78–80; and Leitão, Uma carta de João Baptista Lavanha. For a thorough discussion of Fonseca Coutinho’s instruments and efforts in regard to finding longitude, see Crossley, Hernando de Los Ríos Coronel, 95–99.

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using the secret abilities of this remarkable compass, particularly on voyages to the East Indies, to see if it really did point steadily to the North Pole, and if it really could be used to discover the secret of the degrees of longitude. In the event of it being tested positively he was promised that he was promised great rewards and compensation in His Majesty’s name. Such men deceive kings and their ministers quite commonly through the novelty of their marvellous supernatural promises, especially when these might accrue to great advantage and utility for these rulers. But the truth is that it has always been and continues to be extremely inadvisable and harmful to receive and give credence in any republic to these kinds of men who go around the world deceiving people; they are the worthless scum and refuse of society. Clear and incontrovertible experience has shown [fol. 66r] many times that such men are the authors of great deceptions, impostures, and thieveries, bringing society to ruin along with the individuals who listen to them and allow themselves to be persuaded by them. In sum, this man, in whom there was surely more ignorance than malice, quit Madrid, leaving many unfulfilled promises in his wake, in order to seek opportunities to experiment with his mysterious secrets. And from what could be later surmised, all of his promises were so much hot air, since he disappeared with his compass and was never heard from again. On the present voyage, a man named António de Mariz230 became conspicuous [margin: on the flagship] a few days after the fleet set sail from Lisbon. He had been commended to the Ambassador by the Provincial and the friars of Nossa Senhora da Graça,231 but the Ambassador had not been informed what his profession or trade was; in fact, the Ambassador had no recollection of the

230  António de Mariz Carneiro (15??–1642). Silva y Figueroa provides unique information about this Portuguese pilot, who was later appointed chief cosmographer of Portugal. Carneiro’s more significant published works include Descrição da fortaleza … (1639); Regimento de pilotos e roteiro … (1625); and Regimento de pilotos, e roteiro das navegaçoens da India Oriental (1642). See Machado, Bibliotheca Lusitana, I: 321; Silva, Dicionário bibliográfico português, I: 203–4. 231  Silva y Figueroa’s reference in this passage to the Provincial and the friars of Nossa Senhora da Graça alludes to how António de Mariz Carneiro was commended to him in Lisbon and how he introduced himself to the Ambassador on board ship. A provincial is the superior or governing authority of a religious order charged with the oversight of houses, monasteries, or convents belonging to that order in a particular province or jurisdiction. In this specific case, although we have not found his name, the provincial and his brothers in question were from the church and monastery of Nossa Senhora da Graça in Lisbon, which was the seat of and belonged to the Province of Portugal of the Augustinian order.

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commendation. This António de Mariz was of a melancholic complexion,232 small of body and sparing of words. Most people did not know his real name, calling him instead Agulha Fixa,233 a soubriquet to which he answered with satisfaction and confidence. He had spent a few months in Madrid before the beginning of the voyage, according to his report, reviving and publishing the claim that Luís de Fonseca had apparently failed to make good on. He did not want for supporters, either. He came aboard the flagship, supported by a stipend from His Majesty, to prove with [fol. 66v] experiments that his compass could reveal degrees of longitude with precision without declining to one side or the other from the Pole. [text blacked out] The Ambassador conducted a series of private interviews with him to discover from whom he had learned this hidden mystery, suspecting that he may have been sent or influenced by Luís de Fonseca. But he insisted that it was his own invention, discovered by him, and that to the best of his knowledge, no one else knew anything about it. He also claimed that he did not know Luís de Fonseca. The Ambassador was amazed that no one in Madrid had heard of this new Archimedes.234 Had he [text blacked out] or anyone else publicly discoursed on this topic, people would not have failed to take notice, especially those who regularly [text blacked out] consult with Portuguese ministers235 and conduct business in their offices. Hence, he must have presented his claim with so much secrecy that no one had noticed or paid attention to him, and in fact his common and nondescript appearance allowed him to [text blacked out] [superscript: remain inconspicuous] and undetected in public. What prevented him from being as welcomed as Fonseca was his lack of the latter’s commanding presence. And besides not publishing his revelations [text blacked out], [margin: he had no] finely crafted instruments such as those displayed by Fonseca, who was able to 232  Silva y Figueroa is drawing on a pre-modern medical theory known as humorism, which dates back to Hippocrates, according to which human beings are composed of four humors (blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm), one of which dominates the others depending on the season in which the person is born. Each humor is associated with a natural temperament (i.e., a disposition and appearance). Those born under the influence of Saturn were melancholic (from Greek melan cholē, lit. “black bile”), meaning that not only were they given to sullenness, ill temper, and brooding, but they were also dark complected. For an overview of how the theory was interpreted in early-modern Spain, see Soufas, Melancholy and the Secular Mind. 233  Portuguese for “fixed needle.” 234  Archimedes of Syracuse (ca. 287 BC–ca. 212 BC), Greek mathematician, astronomer, and inventor. 235  This term refers to those members of the Spanish imperial bureaucracy in Madrid who were involved in the administrative control over Portugal; see p. 247 n. 12.

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astonish those lacking even the most fundamental acquaintance with mathematics [fol. 67r] because they thought his instruments concealed some great mystery. Returning to the other man who is the subject of this aside, he had just two or three compasses that showed the usual points of the winds. But these were so small in circumference, being no bigger around than a real or a simple escudo,236 that they were almost useless for their intended task, which he had publicly claimed and promised he could prove. [text blacked out] [margin: When asked by his acquaintances why he had not brought bigger compasses, [superscript: he answered] [text blacked out] that while in Lisbon he had forgotten to purchase the normal maritime compasses and that the smaller ones were less expensive. His peculiar instruments had iron rings no bigger than half a real237 running through them along their north-south axis, as well as through all thirty-two points of the compass. At the place where these rings converged at the circumference of these tiny and opaque compasses, they were so tightly packed together that they became all muddled together, making it nearly impossible to tell them apart or see which of them the needle was pointing to. This obscurity and confusion was much greater along the north-south axis and the axis closest to it, the one running north-east and north-west, because the rings covered up the lines. [fol. 67v] It is very likely that these rings, which were placed there for this express purpose, could have also been intended to detain the needle itself along the north-south axis. It must have occurred to the inventor of this subtle invention that since lodestone attracts iron, the rings that ran around the compass [text blacked out] might have had the same property of detaining the needle directly along the north-south line. It was also obvious that he had failed to bring on board the bigger compasses that were necessary for navigation not by neglect, but by design—if such a term can be used to describe the simplistic and crude ruse he concocted in such a significant enterprise. This António de Mariz possessed no knowledge of letters, and he spoke in a fumbling and confusing manner about circles and the composition of the globe, revealing the absence of art or of a solid foundation for his knowledge of the subject. He possessed some tables showing the declination of the sun from the Equator like those used by sailors, but displayed no greater understanding of their very common and simple rule than they did. He also claimed to have other tables, which he failed to produce, that showed the points where the sun touched and cut below the horizon when it rose and set in order [margin: to determine the difference among the artificial days]. And though he proved 236  For the use of the diameter of this coin as a term of measure, see “Measurements.” 237  See “Measurements.”

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himself superior to [fol. 68r] Luís de Fonseca in these meager demonstrations, he was his inferior by far, what with Fonseca’s finely crafted, marvellous instruments, his daring and calm eloquence, and, most importantly, his divine revelations that gave him so much credibility at the beginning of his campaign in Madrid. Mariz was so timid that it took him a long time to utter a single word, which he did with the same confusion and clumsiness with which his compass was fabricated, and thus it was difficult for anyone to understand him. When the Ambassador asked him who had favored him at court and given him the means for this voyage and his new enterprise, while he did not remain silent, he answered in such a perplexing manner that it was impossible to perceive or understand anything for certain. The captain-major and the other sailors on our ship who had some experience with navigation examined his compass many times, but since it was so small and incomprehensible, they were very suspicious of it, saying sometimes that it pointed due north and other times that it showed north-westing and north-easting like the rest of them. It is very easy for completely simple and ignorant men to be deceived by the indistinct appearance of things that lie beyond their [fol. 68v] ken. He did not discuss degrees of longitude except in very basic terms, clearly because when he realized that day after day his experiments contradicted what he claimed they could show, these claims being complete nonsense, he kept silent about it, although he still hoped to obtain perfect knowledge of the unknowable, as well as the reward that was promised in return for it. People’s confidence in the ability of his compass to point toward the Pole without deviation steadily decreased with each passing day, because not only did its defects prevent it from functioning, as has been explained, but because the Ambassador, desiring to put it to the test, looked to see if the ordinary and usual compasses used by the sailors pointed directly at [margin: the Pole] at the meridian of the Agulhas Bank. After verifying that they exhibited very little north-westing, or none at all, he found by gazing attentively at this man’s compass that, even though it was so confusing and small, it could still be seen to reveal almost two compass points difference to the north-east. Thus, [margin: both of his claims] were found to be worthless and baseless. But even if one conceded that his steady needle was extremely accurate with respect to the Poles, no advantage could be expected of it except as a portable sundial, and it would be useless for navigation. In fact, using it would prove very harmful. The common and ordinary compass, which deviates to one side of the Pole or the other, is the only solution, and a useful one at that, [fol. 69r] to the problem of judging [margin: and finding] the admittedly imprecise and approximate distances between islands, shoals, and coasts of the mainland that are well marked by experienced sailors, since it is known

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how many degrees our usual compass shows north-westing and north-easting, this being indicated and designated on the rutters. As long as the sun’s altitude is accurately taken on a given day, it can be known if one is near, far, in front of, or behind islands, shoals, and coasts, allowing one to be watchful of them and to remain safe from them. [margin: 14] On the 14th, the northerly wind slowly [text blacked out] died out until the sea flattened. The sun’s altitude was taken at 9 degrees and 10 minutes. At nightfall the calms grew exasperatingly and insufferably hot; it seemed we had never experienced heat comparable to this. [margin: 15] On the 15th, there was no apparent movement at all on the sea, which was flat and ashen as far as the eye could see. It wearied and afflicted our eyes as much as the heat did our spirits. Not a single bird appeared in the inflamed sky, nor was there a trace of fish in the sea. [margin: 16] On the 16th, the terrible heat reached the absolute zenith of its intensity, the air being dark and overcast, not with clouds, but with a thick fog that could not be distinguished from the water, which had the same ashen color as the sky and was [fol. 69v] completely238 becalmed. The number of diseased people in this intense and harsh heat greatly outnumbered the healthy and those who convalesced from illnesses. Each day [margin: some] of the dead were thrown into the sea. There were no victuals or suitable sustenance on the ship for the ill who were dying. [margin: 17] On the 17th, the calm, the heat, and the darkness of the air [superscript: reached] their acme, although they still seemed to increase every day. There was a range of opinions, as is usual when sailing close to the landfall that one is searching for. The chief-pilot offered his opinion hesitantly and indecisively, not daring to affirm whether we were between the coast of India and the Mamales or outside them still on our approach. The angle of the sun, having been taken at a little under 9 degrees, was less than when the becalming began, clearly showing that the waters, in spite of how still they were, were carrying the ships leeward toward Kochi. [margin: 18] The 18th, St. Luke’s Day, began with a slight north wind that in spite of its weakness was enough to give the ship steerage way and brought some remission of the heat, which was most encouraging to all. The air also had a better quality, free of the pestilential fog, though there were clouds that prevented taking the altitude of the sun. At the order of our pilot we had been watching day and night from the topsails and the bowsprit to see if land [fol. 70r] was visible, or signs of it, when a piece of artillery was fired from the São Filipe, which was a league to the lee of the flagship. At that signal all those 238   M S: The underlined letters in un mínimo mouimiento are superscripted.

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who had been carefully watching from the flagship started to shout, “Land! Land! Land!” But if land had been as certain as many thought, it would have appeared leeward, toward the Maldives. Thus it was more probable that the São Filipe, which sailed closer to that region, sighted land first, even though the São Boaventura, which was one more league farther to leeward, and thus closer to these islands, had not emitted a signal at all. But at that point all the sailors on our ship began saying that they could clearly descry land toward the direction of the São Filipe. And they were not the only ones persuaded of this, the pilot also believing it was the mainland of India between the cities of Kullam239 and Kochi. But they failed to consider, as someone pointed out later, that had it been the mainland it could not have been sighted in that direction, which was to the right, but rather off the bow, and that it was impossible for us to have passed through the Mamales without sighting one of them. It was more likely that what they affirmed to be the mainland was actually one of these islands. It was very strange that sailors who were so practiced and experienced on this route would be so uncertain about which of the channels formed by these islands the ships [fol. 70v] should have entered, even though the channels were much wider than the charts show. The sailors remained in this doubt and uncertainty for more than four hours, growing more quiet and less boisterous, some hotly contesting that what they thought they saw was the mainland, and that they could see the tallest of the palm trees, though had it really been the mainland it would have been more reasonable to first see the highest peaks of the Ghat Mountains,240 which run increasingly closer to the coast as one approaches the end of Cape Comorin,241 where they come to an end. Finally, the land they thought they were seeing turned into clouds, completely draining everyone of cheer. The ill were particularly distressed, only shortly before having been greatly heartened. The rest of the day and all night the temperature moderated somewhat, though we made very little headway, the bow heading east and north-east; a slight breeze, which was said to be a land wind, blew from the north. [margin: 19] The morning of the 19th was somewhat ashen, and the sky grew increasingly overcast until it became the darkest it had been on the entire voyage. Finally, a terrible and thick downpour erupted with enormous force, accompanied by a northern gale that was so strong we had to take in the topsails. Then a headwind from the north-east freshened, and in order to avoid drifting 239  Previously known as Quilon, a port city on the coast of Kerala. 240  Western Ghats; see p. 162 n. 2. 241  Known locally as Kanyakumari, a headland and town that lie at the southernmost tip of mainland India, located at 8°4′41″N, 77°32′28″E.

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off course, the ships lay to. At two o’clock in the afternoon the storm ceased, and as the sky cleared, though some clouds remained and the sea was flat and glassy, those who were [fol. 71r] on the deck of the flagship242 thought they saw a falcon that had perched on a yard of the mizzenmast; it could also be seen from the balcony of the same ship. Many thought it was a falcon, as was mentioned, while others thought it was a goshawk243 or a sparrow-hawk,244 and others a kite, a great dispute breaking out among the Ambassador’s servants over the question, even though from their position on the poop deck they were very close to it—the end of the yard where the bird had alighted was just over their heads. A sailor fired a harquebus at it from the poop deck, and though he was at close range he missed, knocking only some of its feathers off, the falcon or whatever it was remaining motionless, not flying away. Those who saw this from the stern poop deck and the balcony were astonished, believing that something supernatural had transpired. But they were even more frightened when the same sailor fired a second time and missed, and it again remained just as it was. Now everyone was convinced it was the devil. The same sailor who had begun the hunt was now trembling; he fired the harquebus a third time, and though he was only ten paces away, he missed again. Now everyone, without exception, believed the bird to be an evil spirit, although the Ambassador, who because of an ailment in one foot and not had not been able to raise himself up to see it, laughed and said that the bird had come [fol. 71v] from one of the islands, exhausted from flying through the storm that had just passed, and that because of its fatigue it would let itself be captured with bare hands to avoid falling into the water. At this another sailor, more daring than the first, climbed up to the yard and grabbed it. It was brought to the Ambassador, who identified it as a marsh harrier245 like those found in Spain, its chest completely white and its legs and feet covered with a very fine plumage. It was in every respect quite different from a falcon. So poor is the judgment of ignorant people most of the time, even in matters more plain than this one! All night the ships were becalmed and could not sail. [margin: 20] On the 20th, a weak wind began to blow from the north a little before dawn. The sky turned overcast until it was as dark as on the previous day. The north wind freshened and was accompanied by a heavy thunderstorm that lasted for three straight hours. After this violent storm passed, which had 242  M S: Nao capitana; capitana is superscripted. 243  Probably the crested goshawk (Accipiter trivirgatus indicus). 244  Probably the Eurasian or common sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus). 245   Circus aeruginosus, once commonly found around the Mediterranean. The Spanish aguililla ratera in the MS literally means “small mouse-hunting eagle.”

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refreshed everyone during the time it lasted, especially because of the hail that cooled the water down, we were assailed by a grievous calm and a heat so blasting that it seemed to completely destroy and dissolve our vital spirits. On this, the last time that we suffered such a plague, the heat began to increase even after the sun set. This caused most of the last of the healthy to take sick, [fol. 72r] the nights were cruel being cruel and terrible for all aboard, no one being able to sleep or rest, not only because of the excessive heat, but also because of the pestilential and utterly intolerable odor that had grown because of the contamination of the sea after the rainstorms, this being worse than ever, because being at the end of a long voyage, everything was sour and infected. What added to these hardships was our having to endure a plague of innumerable mice, from which no one could defend himself during these last days, this being one of the greatest calamities we suffered during the entire voyage. It gave one pause to consider that these imperfect and utterly filthy little animals possess an instinct for the multiplication of their bothersome and disgusting species that is as developed as the instinct possessed by the most perfect animals for propagating and preserving their own. For it is common knowledge that the first of these mice breed in the lower bilges of ships, thriving on the putrid, hot, and humid air that is trapped down there, even before the ships are dry docked and then launched into the sea. The first to breed are bigger than those that are born later, the former being not only larger, but their [fol. 72v] brown coat lighter; they also have white spots on their chests and abdomens. They then begin their multiplying with so much diligence and speed that it is incredible to see how industrious and clever they are—if such a term can be used—in raising their little offspring, leaving no area of the ship unpopulated by their nests, whether above or below, even in very exposed and public places. They take everything into their nests that can be of use for food and bedding for their young. In two nests that were next to the bed where the Ambassador sleeps there were found, in addition to several little mice, a great number of papers, whole sheets taken from rutters and devotional books, both in Latin and Romance, as well as profane books, caps, kerchiefs, linen handkerchiefs, and slippers. They made nests out of these things and there raised their young. They also used other softer and more comfortable materials, such as an entire silk stocking, a garter, and a quantity of ribbons and feather pens—they were especially fond of these [margin: last] two items, which [margin: no one] was able to guard or defend from them. It would have been possible to tolerate all of their nuisance and annoyance, including the shrieks [fol. 73r] they made all night long, were it not that they are so taken to having commerce and communication with men, especially at night, for then, especially when it is the hottest, great packs of them, large and small, run across people’s beds, as well

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as the faces and heads of their occupants. Not only is their foul odour annoying and wearying, but they even brazenly attack and bite many people on the feet, hands, and faces, and anywhere else that is uncovered. A huge mouse latched onto the middle finger of one of the flagship’s carpenters, from which he was forced to shake it off with great force; this caused [superscript: him] immense pain, and he required two stitches to close the wound created by the mouse’s teeth. And one of the Ambassador’s chamber boys tried to grab hold with his hand of a very large one that had fallen into a trap, and it bit him so hard on the finger that its teeth broke through his skin and made him shriek with pain. It took a long time to stanch the blood. Indeed, it seemed impossible during these past days to endure or bear this tremendously irritating plague any longer. We awoke on the morning of the 21st to the same calm. At once everyone aboard the ship started to shout that they could see two sails off the bow. But [fol. 73v] because there was no indication or sign that these belonged to a large ship, people said the vessels must have been small foists246 or rowboats. And since everyone was so uncertain regarding our present location, the officers of the ship, with the permission of the captain-major, decided to send a reconnaissance party out to these sails. And to that effect a shallop247 set out with one soldier and nine or ten of the bravest and stoutest sailors that could be found, carrying their muskets and harquebuses. Although the boats were more than three leagues off, and by that time had begun to turn back, having spotted the São Filipe and the São Boaventura, the crew of the shallop rowed very swiftly toward the area where they had been sighted. Once the other carracks saw the flagship’s shallop heading for the boats, they sent their own boats out on the same course with soldiers and sailors. But the closer the poor blacks saw our boats approaching them, the faster they fled, until after seven hours our shallop, which was small and was pulled by strong oarsmen, arrived within cannon range of them. When they saw that there was no escape, they lashed their boats tightly together side by side and took up a few ineffectual weapons with the intent of defending themselves. Our sailors communicated to them with words and gestures to yield. Upon refusing to do so, several musket shots

246  The MS has fustilla, diminutive of fusta, a ship or galley with shallow draft powered by both oars and sail; see OED, s.v. “foist.” 247  A vessel with upward of two masts, fitted with oars. On the flagship carrying Silva y Figueroa, a shallop and a skiff (see p. 146 n. 265) were carried on board, the former being larger than the latter. Alternatively, the term shallop was used for a larger ship type. See OED, s.v. “shallop.”

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were fired over their heads, scaring the sixty or seventy [fol. 74r] naked Moors248 who were in the two boats into capitulation; they waited patiently for the sailors to board them without defending themselves. The sailors, after having overpowered the vessels in which they had come, determined through poorly understood signs where the blacks hailed from, where they were headed, and what place they were in at that time. The naval party finally managed to gather that the poor Moors, native Indians who lived on the Mamales, had set out from Kannur249 about six days earlier. They had gone there to sell coir250—rigging and ropes made from the outer layer of coconut shells—and were now returning to the island of Maliku,251 where they were originally from, with their meager and insignificant merchandise of green bananas, coconuts, rice, a few betel252 leaves, and something shaped like oak apples,253 which they called areca.254 Mixing the last two items with lime, they place this substance in their mouths and leave it there, like all people do in India, especially the natives. After concluding their account, the blacks fell silent, offering just one more piece of information, namely that there were Dutch on that coast of India, which was only twenty leagues from their position. Earlier they had shown the sailors two letters of safe-conduct, one signed by D. Luís Lobo,255 captain of Kannur, and the other from certain Dutch256 captains in the name of Count 248  For a discussion of how a European like Silva y Figueroa would have understood and used this term, see Y&B, 581–83, s.v. “moor, moorman, moorish.” 249  A port city, known in Portuguese as Cananor, in Northern Kerala where the Portuguese maintained a fortress from 1505–1663. 250  See Y&B, 233–34, s.v. “coir.” 251  The southernmost atoll of Lakshadweep, formerly known as Minicoy, located at 8°17′41″N, 73°03′40″E; see Lagoa, II: 259. 252  Betel (Piper betle) is the leaf of a vine found in south and south-east Asia that belongs to the Piperaceae family, which also includes pepper and cava. Valued for its mildly stimulative and medicinal properties, this euphoria-inducing psychostimulant can be addictive. It is consumed by chewing and creating a quid to which the areca nut, slaked lime, and, at times, tobacco are added. For the practice of betel chewing transitioning to tobacco smoking, see Reid, “Betel Chewing,” 529–47. For the subsequent transition from tobacco chewing to opium chewing to opium smoking, which originated with the use of betel leaves, see Souza, “Developing Habits,” 39–56. 253  Oak apples are insect galls found on oak trees that contain the larvae of gall wasps (Cynips gallae tinctoriae); see OED, s.v. “gall.” 254  Areca nut, the seed of the Areca palm (Areca catechu). It is not a true nut, but rather a drupe (i.e., a stone-fruit); see above, n. 252. 255  We have been unable to find any further particulars on this person. 256  Unfortunately, Silva y Figueroa does not name the Dutch captains who were signatories on the cartazes, or passes, in question. For the Dutch East India Company’s activities in this part of Asia at this time, see Terpstra, Opkomst der Westerkwartieren.

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Maurice.257 For defense, both boats carried five disassembled [fol. 74v] harquebuses with no ammunition, a few swords, and some bucklers fashioned from palm wood. Later our shallop returned, the sailors having purchased a few bundles of rice and many coconuts and bananas, which the Portuguese call figos da Índia,258 at what they considered to be a fair price. At that point the shallops from the other two carracks reached the two Indian boats, or chaupanas,259 and attempted to board them in order to engage in the same kind of commerce. Captain Tarauste, the soldier who commanded the flagship’s shallop, was moderate and fair on this occasion, not permitting the black Indians to be mistreated; all the sailors came to his aid in this matter, demonstrating such piety that they set an exceptional and unprecedented example for generations of seamen to come of the great justice and mercy that our sailors and soldiers display in similar situations. They returned to the carrack with this report after ten o’clock at night, having failed to learn from the blacks if any great ship had reached India from Portugal, if the viceroy260 was in Goa, or if his fleet of oared vessels was traveling around the coast of Malabar in order to protect it, as was the custom every summer. Since those poor Indians could not be understood, the sailors were also unable to determine from them which island Maliku was, although it was readily [fol. 75r] determined by their course that it must be one of the first islands of the Maldives or one of the last islands of the Mamales. Everyone on board was noticeably heartened because we seemed to be quite close to the coast of India. The pilot was especially encouraged, since our location accorded with his opinion and calculations. The intolerable heat of that night was much worse than on all previous nights, such that news of being close to land did not compensate for it; we could barely sleep or breathe all night long. [margin: 22] On the 22nd, even though the calm continued, we made some slight headway with a faint sea breeze from the north, which freshened in the afternoon and wafted us east by north-east, the sun’s altitude having been taken by some at 9 degrees and 30 minutes and by others at a little over 9 degrees, which was the surer reading according to what our heading had been to 257  Maurice of Nassau (1567–1625), stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (1580–1625). He was a prince and not, as Silva y Figueroa has it, the Count of Orange (1618–1625). 258  Portuguese for “Indian figs,” these are bananas of the genus Musa. The actual variety he describes here could be any of a number of species. 259  A type of indigenous boat; see Dalgado, II: 570. 260  D. Jerónimo de Azevedo (1540–1625) was the Portuguese viceroy of India from 1612–1617. For his administration, see Martins, Crónica dos Vice-Reis, 326–27. For a contemporary chronological history and treatment his administration, see the entire two-volume account written by Bocarro, Década.

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that point. But the wind was so weak that we made hardly any headway, and as has been said, the heat increased after sunset, the air remaining hot all night. At the second watch, the sky being overcast, a light breeze began to waft out of the north by north-east, but veering later to the east by north-east, [text blacked out] and the ship made no headway all night, thus confirming our worst fears. [margin: 23] On the 23rd the wind began to blow from the east, [text blacked out] which was worse for our progress. In order to avoid being blown back, we headed north and [fol. 75v] north-east; more accurately, we made no headway whatsoever, fearing, and justifiably so, that if this wind continued to stiffen, the ships would be blown to Socotra or Mombasa. [margin: 24] On the 24th, an hour after dawn, a grummet called Lobato, who had been watching from the top of the main topsail, shouted that he saw land. This happened sooner than what had been anticipated during the previous several days. Within an hour the land was clearly visible, even though we were sailing in a light breeze. It was round, low, and forested. The wind slowly died out, and since we could not draw closer to it, we could not see or determine if it was an island or the coast of the mainland. It had been sighted to starboard of the flagship, and could still be seen in that direction, becoming increasingly visible until the branches of the highest palm trees could be descried. And even though everyone had wondered earlier if it was an island or not, at that point most of the sailors, together with the pilot and the master of the ship, agreed that it was without a doubt the mainland of India. And when another low and smooth section of land also came into view next to the first, it was said that the waters that could be seen between both sections of land was the Kochi River,261 and that the city of Kochi was on the first portion [fol. 76r] of land that was raised. The second islet, appearing on the right side of the first, was thought to be the mainland that runs northward toward Cranganore262 and Calicut.263 This error was greater on the part of the experienced seamen, many of whom had traveled this route several times on the way to India, and yet did not know that if the land that came into view had been the mainland, one would have of necessity been able to see mountains or highlands [margin: as well]; plus, land would have been visible much earlier on. Moreover, the coast would have been seen to run southward as well as northward. This was all very obvious. But when this was expressed and pointed out, most of them did not believe it, even though there were others who held the same opinion. There 261  We interpret that Silva y Figueroa is actually referring to Vembanad Lake, India’s longest lake, which is fed by ten rivers, including the six major rivers of central Kerala. 262  Present-day Kodungallur, Kerala. 263  Present-day Kozhikode, Kerala.

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was no doubt that those sections of lands were islands, and that we were still outside the Mamales and within sight of them. Amid all this uncertainty the wind died out completely until just before midnight, when a heavy and sudden storm from the east by south-east wafted the ships northward, leaving those islands behind to starboard that everyone had confidently asserted to be the mainland. [text blacked out] [margin: 25] On the 25th, the wind, which had been strong, abated after daybreak, and after heading north and north-east, an islet was seen two leagues off the bow that was round and even flatter than the ones sighted yesterday; it was also thick with palms and other trees. And even though these signs were very familiar to all, even to those most ignorant of maritime matters, [fol. 76v] it was stated by many that the island was a continuation of the same mainland that was discovered earlier. The chief-pilot screamed at the top of his lungs that they could cut his head off if it wasn’t the coast of Malabar. Just then we saw an almadia,264 a species of very small boat, approach the flagship from the islet. As it drew near, four black and naked Indians could be seen rowing very swiftly. This vessel was long and very narrow, nearly the shape and size of the canoes of our West Indies. They were fashioned with two boards sewn together with coir and tar, creating an angle in the parts that touch the water. The other part opens to a width of two feet from side to side, the bow and stern being very narrow. They were painted black and white all over, and though the oars were thin, the ends that break the water were very broad, like oven pallets. The Indians who came in these boats were of almost the same color as the Kaffirs of Ethiopia, or like the Malabars; there was no separation between the hair of their heads and their beards, as with these and all Indians. They brought bunches of bananas, small chickens, coconuts, and eggs to sell to the people on the great ship, boarding her with great confidence. One of these blacks spoke a little Portuguese, having visited Kannur and Goa many times. He said that even though this island was small, there were a lot of those kinds of foodstuffs on it, including a quantity of cows and goats. Those who had earlier affirmed that this [margin: island] was the mainland were astonished, [fol. 77r] and the pilot was visibly ashamed because of what he had said. At this point some of the young noblemen, friends, and relatives of the captain-major became excited and said they wanted to visit the island and bring back some of those provisions. He happily assented without seeing the harm that would result from losing a day’s sailing, when it was so needful to gain time. So fifty soldiers and

264  A raft or dugout canoe; the latter is clearly intended here. See Dalgado, I: 25.

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sailors set out on the skiff265 and the shallop from the ship and went over to the island, accompanied by the little boats belonging to the blacks. The pilot and sailors complained that without her boats, the ship was exposed to great jeopardy and risk from whatever danger might arise. They soon reached the island, which was a little more than a league away, and the flagship and the São Filipe waited with almost all sail furled, slowly moving toward the islet to recover their skiff and shallop when these returned. At this time the São Boaventura was a league ahead of the flagship, the islet a good cannon shot off to port. It was about ten o’clock at night when she fired a gunshot, followed by four more, one after the other. She then put about with her small boat close to her, showing indications of taking a sounding. After recovering it, and signaling with another [fol. 77v] piece of artillery, she put out to sea, leaving the island behind to starboard and heading north-east in a better south-west wind than we had seen in many days. No one with even average powers of reason harbored any doubt that so many repeated signs and signals were meant to warn the other ships that she had found a dangerous shoal. But in spite of this, the great vigilance and watchfulness of our pilot— though at this time there was much less to be feared—and that of the other officers and sailors aboard ship were insufficient to detect that which was so plain to understand. The Ambassador discerned the intent of the first salvos and told them that the meaning behind such vivid and repeated signals was either that an enemy fleet had been encountered or that there was a shoal, and that if there had been an enemy, the ship would have returned to the others or taken in sail and waited for us. However, since she headed off to starboard, it was clear that she was fleeing from a shoal she had encountered. But the passion for ambition and desire of seamen to be the first to reach India is so great that it blinded all the sailors on our ship, convincing them that those on board the São Boaventura were attempting to get ahead of us in order to deliver the welcome on behalf of the fleet. And thus [fol. 78r] the captain-major was informed that the São Boaventura had mutinied and was acting against orders, and this he accepted as true without question, ordering her captain, Diogo de Sousa de Meneses,266 to face charges along with the other officers of the ship,

265  The MS has bajel, a small seagoing boat used as a tender for larger ships; see OED, s.v. “skiff.” Though DA says that a bajel is larger than a batel, Silva y Figueroa uses the two terms interchangeably, though actually they are etymologically unrelated; see DA, I: 574, 579, s.v. “batel” and “baxel”; and DCECH, I: 461, 544. 266  Diogo de Sousa Meneses, Portuguese military commander. He was a passenger on board the São Boaventura. Upon the death of that ship’s captain, Sousa de Meneses took

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by way of punishment for this. The sun’s altitude was taken at 11 degrees, nearly the same latitude as the fortress of Kannur. At this point another small boat reached the flagship with the same kind of fruit and refreshment as the others. By this time, it was three o’clock in the afternoon, and a sounding still had not been taken, nor did we know how deep the water was from seven o’clock in the morning, when the sounding was sixty fathoms, or since sighting the island from which we were now half a league distant. For one of the most brutish pretensions of some of these pilots is that they consider it a great blow to their standing and reputation if they do not know the depth of waters that are close to land, when that information has been made available, thus giving the impression that they already know what the depth is. This is such a pernicious and perverse practice that they deserve capital punishment for it. But the pilots of all three ships were so ignorant that neither today nor yesterday were they able to perceive or know if these islands, which were so round and low, were in fact islands, believing they were the coast of Malabar. But it seems that God [fol. 78v] inspired the soul of a sailor who was born on Madeira, named Manuel Gomez or Pombo, who by chance and out of curiosity, and not on order from the pilot, the master, or any of the ship’s other officers, began taking a sounding from the bow, the São Filipe being less than 300 feet to port while everyone was carelessly gazing at the green and pleasant view of the island, which was full of many orange, banana, and palm trees. Suddenly the aforementioned Manuel Gomez began [margin: shouting] at the top of his lungs: “Shoals! Shoals!” This caused great confusion and uproar, everyone thinking we were lost, especially since the great ship had come to rest in less than seven fathoms above a ledge of rocks that runs north to south in front of the same island, the same position from which the São Boaventura had so clearly warned us to steer clear of, as has been mentioned. In the midst of all this alarm, the pilot quickly ordered to veer to port, and in a flash an expert and brave sailor named Matias Figueira,267 acting second pilot, dove into the water from the poop deck of the ship with a cable that had a lead at one end, with two other sailors following him. Matias swam over to one of the small boats belonging to the blacks who were still close to the side of the ship, and climbing on board, took repeated soundings near the bow of the flagship, the first one measuring eight fathoms. He signalled with hand [fol. 79r] motions and words for the ship to follow his lead on the small boat. The next sounding was command. For his birthplace and insights on his family and their careers in service to the Portuguese crown, see Souza, “Portuguese Colonial Administrators.” 267  Matias Figueira de Samarro; see p. 65 n. 62.

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nine fathoms, then ten, until the ship came into fifteen fathoms, free from that great danger, the São Filipe doing likewise; had the latter traveled alongside the flagship she would have run a greater risk, having penetrated farther inside the shoal. The ships lay to far from the rocky ledge and the island, and finally at ten o’clock at night, the skiff and the shallop arrived. The absence of these boats, as well as the skiff and small boat from the São Filipe that joined them on their memorable voyage, nearly caused the wreck of the great ships. It was most fortunate that the small raft belonging to the blacks happened to be close enough on that occasion that Mathias Figueira could do what he did for the benefit of all. The south-east wind had been freshening from the beginning of the first watch, and the ships made their offing from the island toward the north-east, though under shortened sail since we were waiting for the boats, which had still not arrived. At ten o’clock the flagship’s boat and shallop returned, bringing some small cows and chickens, and numerous coconuts, eggs, and bananas; the boats from the São Filipe remained on the island. This islet is not on the route followed by those who take the outer course, as our ships were doing; according to what the blacks indicated, the course normally taken by ships bound for Kochi or farther on for Goa is one degree farther to the south than the first two islands that [fol. 79v] were seen yesterday; hence they had no memory of a Portuguese carrack coming within sight of their island, which, as has been stated, is small and round, its circuit no more than a half league at its widest place. It is replete with palm, orange, lime, and banana trees, the fruit of which, together with rice and a little milk, sustains its poor inhabitants, the number of which might reach 800 people, including those of both sexes and all ages. The men are naked except for a simple piece of cotton cloth in the front, a bit more than a foot in length, which they fasten with a thin cord that is attached to it and wraps around their waists; a narrow strip of the same cloth extends downward and is pulled toward the back. It is fastened with the same cord, barely covering the back part between the buttocks since it is no more than two fingers wide. The women cover themselves from the waist to mid-thigh with a piece of cloth that is white or dyed with color designs. Others wear another article of clothing that goes from below their right arms to where it is clasped over their left shoulders. They wear their hair long, and have lighter skin than the men. One was observed to be dressed in the Portuguese style,268 [fol. 80r] by which it was judged that she was the wife of the chief black man who ruled over them, he no doubt being some Moor from Kannur. The houses in which these poor people dwelled were round like big huts. Their stone and 268  While we are uncertain what exactly Silva y Figueroa means by “the Portuguese style,” see pp. 231–32 for a description of how Portuguese women at Goa were attired at this time.

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lime foundations projected above the ground two or three feet, from which many palm branches extended upward and came together at one point like a pyramid. This structure was then covered with palm and banana leaves that protected it from the sun and the rain. Some of these houses had two or three rooms [text blacked out] and an enclosure that served as a garden, consisting of banana and orange trees, a few legumes, and a well with very good water; this was surrounded by tree branches that functioned as fences. Outside this fence there was another enclosure where they gathered their cows, goats, and chickens at night. They professed the Moorish faith: although they were originally Gentiles269 like those of the Malabar Coast and other Indians, contact over the years with the Moors who have resided and lived in India for so many years and have traveled to this island has caused them to follow their false religion, the same as all those who live on the countless neighboring islands of the Maldives and the Mamales. The mosque that they have on this islet is made from the same materials as [fol. 80v] their houses, but is much larger and has a higher and stronger foundation. Its minaret and most prominent sections are imitations of those found on other Moorish and Turkish mosques. These houses are not grouped together in a village, but are spread out all over the island, separated fifty or 100 or more paces from each other, and others even farther than that. The ground all over the island [text blacked out] is very pleasant, being covered with pleasing and beautiful greenery. The thickness of the banana, orange, lime, and palm trees prevents the sun from wilting or drying out the abundant fresh herbs, much of which are very similar to the Spanish trefoil or clover. [text blacked out] [superscript: Here] some springs were found with extremely clear and excellent water, the ground around it being dry, thick, and sandy, though it was covered with herbs. The populace earns its living by making ropes and rigging from the outer layer of coconuts;270 these are strong and useful on any kind of ship. The people travel in canoes to Kochi, Kannur, and Goa to sell them, bringing back cheap cotton cloth. They live happy and free lives, supporting themselves with this commerce and with the sparse and poor provisions supplied by their island. When the people from our ships arrived at the island, they found that a kind of trench had been fashioned from [fol. 81r] stone and sand in the harbor. The islanders must have constructed this weak and feeble defense as soon as they had seen our ships in the morning. The men who could [text blacked out] [superscript: fight] were gathered closely together, of which there were 269  An ethnoreligious designation to refer to non-Muslims, primarily Hindus. See Y&B, 367–69, s.v. “Gentoo.” 270  Coir; see p. 142 n. 250.

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no more than 200; only twenty bore arms: a few bows and arrows and javelins. The others, together with the aforementioned twenty, held large bucklers that protected their whole bodies. These bucklers had only one handle, like shields, making it very easy to knock them out of their hands. They also held naked cutlasses, like the Nairs271 of the Malabar. Their captain was dressed in a long black and white cabaya,272 or doublet, that reached a little below his knee, and on his head he wore a similarly colored hat that was wrapped once or twice around his head. He wore another doublet, which was girded around his body with a scimitar hanging from it. He sat in a painted Chinese wood chair with as much solemnity and courtesy as if had been the Adil Khān,273 or king of the Mughals.274 As soon as they set foot on the island, Lourenço Pires de Carvalho275 and D. Pedro de Azevedo,276 the commanders over those who were on the ships’ skiffs, were escorted by the arms, each man held by two Moors, and ordered to sit apart from each other on a bench. The other Indians formed a circle around their captain, those with bucklers standing behind him and guarding him with 271  The ruling caste in the Malabar; see Y&B, 615, s.v. “Nair.” 272  A word of uncertain origin, possibly from Arabic kabā, meaning “article of clothing.” Silva y Figueroa uses it as a synonym of aljuba, meaning “jubbah”; see Y&B, 137, s.v. “cabaya”; and Dalgado, I: 158–59. 273  The Portuguese used the term Hidalcan in reference to both the founder of the Muslim dynasty of Bijapur, which rose at the close of the fifteenth century on the dissolution of the Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan, and to the dynastic name of his successors; see Y&B, 431–32, s.v. “Idalcan, Hidalcan.” Silva y Figueroa follows Portuguese custom in employing this title in reference to the founders of the Adil Shahi dynasty who ruled the Sultanate of Bijapur from 1490 to 1686, located in the western Deccan region of southern India. After the founder of the dynasty, Yusuf Adil Shah (1490–1510), was appointed Bahmani governor of the province, he transformed it into a de facto independent Bijapur state. Goa was a major port of the Bahmani (1347–1518) and Bijapur (1518–1686) sultanates. It was conquered by Portuguese forces under Albuquerque in 1510. The Bijapur Sultanate’s northern boundary remained relatively stable, straddling contemporary Maharashtra to the south and Karnataka to the north. It had expanded southward prior to Silva y Figueroa’s embassy with the conquest of the Raichur Doab following the defeat of the Vijayanagar Empire at the Battle of Talikota in 1565. Bijapur was bounded on the west by the Portuguese state of Goa and on the east by the Sultanate of Golconda, and was ruled by the Qutb Shāhi dynasty. Bijapur was eventually absorbed into the Mughal Empire after being conquered by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1686. 274  The term Mughal means “king of the Timurid dynasty or Mughal Empire.” For other Portuguese usages of this term, see Dalgado, II: 63–64; Y&B, 570–73, s.v. “Mogul.” 275  Portuguese soldier and official who, after arriving in India, was sent to Sri Lanka; see Bocarro, Década, II: 702–6. 276  We have been unable to find any further information about this person.

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[fol. 81v] their javelins at shoulder level. The women and children stared at our sailors and soldiers from a distance, clearly astonished by the sight of people that seemed so strange to them in dress, figure, and color. At eleven o’clock at night the skiff from the São Filipe reached the flagship [margin: partially awash] because of how many passengers and goods it carried and because the wind, which was [text blacked out] [superscript: stiff], had dumped a good deal of water into it. And since the night was very dark and no signal light could be seen from the São Filipe, they were thrown a cable to secure the boat from the bow of our ship [text blacked out]. Soon after eleven o’clock the wind veered south, and we stood over to the east and east-by-northeast, everyone being on guard and watchful because of the proximity of the rest of the islands that were located in this clime. [margin: 27.] At dawn on the 27th, all of the darkness, wind, and clouds from the previous night were transformed into a heavy rainstorm that lasted until nine o’clock in the morning, the sky remaining notably overcast. At that point the São Filipe headed for its skiff, which was positioned at less than a league from the flagship on the port side. Because of the cloudy sky, the altitude of the sun could not be taken. [margin: 28.] On the 28th, the winds shifted and changed directions all day until midnight, [fol. 82r] blowing from the south-by-south-east, south-east, east-by-south-east, and east. We sailed back and forth toward the coast of India. After midnight we headed north-east and east in a gentle south-easterly breeze. Today the sun’s altitude could not be taken again because of the clouds. [margin: 29.] On Wednesday the 29th, after the break of day, one of the crewmembers of our ship sighted land seven or eight leagues off the bow. [margin: Within a half an hour everyone began to see it clearly], with its great and towering mountains, the highest being covered in places with thick fog. We knew without a doubt that it was the coast of the mainland of India, being noticeably and clearly different from the flat and smooth islets we had seen [margin: previously]. At noon the sun’s altitude was taken at 11 degrees and two thirds, almost the same latitude as the fortress of Kannur. The familiar, high Ghat277 Mountains ran from north to south as far as the eye could see. At four o’clock in the afternoon the ocean water began to look dark and cloudy, and soon thereafter even more so—the same way the Tagus River causes the sea to look in Lisbon during the time of the great freshets. Since the sea breeze was favorable, we sailed north-east, being four leagues from the coast. The water, which was full of debris, now looked so red and thick that it was obvious how swollen the rivers were that emptied into the sea along that coast. The land 277  The Western Ghats; see p. 162 n. 2.

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gradually rose up [fol. 82v] from the beach in cultivated hills full of palms and other trees, standing right next to each other in rows that led [text blacked out] [superscript: all the way to] the foothills of those great mountains. And judging from how great the spates of the rivers were and the recent rainstorms we had had, the winter in India had not yet come to an end, even though the end of October was near. And although these rivers are small, having little current, it rains so much in the mountains that as long as the winter lasts, they carry great quantities of water into the sea. At eight o’clock in the evening, the sky became covered with thick, dark clouds, followed by thunder and a heavy rainstorm. And even though the wind was weak, we made headway, finding ourselves no more than three leagues from land and in thirty fathoms of water when the storm began. The storm abated and we sailed north-east in a land wind all night. [margin: 30.] On the 30th, the flagship was more than four leagues from land at daybreak, Mt. Deli278 now to starboard. On this coast, the mountain has a point or cape that juts far out into the sea so that it looks like an island that is connected to the coast. It can be seen from afar by [fol. 83r] all those who sail in this latitude, which is so traveled and familiar to our fleets. With the sea breeze blowing from the south-east, the ship stood to the north-east, now with sure hopes of soon reaching Goa, although it had been agreed earlier to drop the sick off at Kannur. It would have been a great error for so many people from all three ships to arrive in Goa when only a few of them could walk on their own power. Two or three people were given up to the sea every day, more from the São Filipe and the São Boaventura than from our ship. The disease, as stated above, was cruel and terrible, no certain cure being found for it, and no one who [text blacked out] [superscript: suffered from] it showed any improvement whatsoever, let alone recovery. And yet it brought no fever or headache, just that malignant infection and perverse quality that carried people to an almost sudden death. At this time the ocean water would turn somewhat murky as we passed by the mouth of a river, be it large or small. Since the mountains were so close to places where the water runs continually, these freshets lasted just a short time, the rivers returning immediately to their original size. The sun’s altitude was taken at 12 degrees and 25 minutes, and we were three leagues from land, at the

278  Known locally today as Ezhimala Hill and known to the Portuguese at the time of the embassy as Hili, the hill is located on the Malabar littoral at 12°02′00″N, 75°11′00″E; see Lagoa, II: 116.

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same latitude as Mt. Formoso279 [fol. 83v]; our sounding was thirty fathoms, and our bow headed north-by-north-east and east by north-east [superscript: north]. At five o’clock in the afternoon, having sailed four leagues past Mt. Formoso, the flagship drew within two leagues of the coast. The nearby plains and foothills of the mountains came into view, which were very cultivated and green and full of palm trees. The waves broke on the beach with such fury that they raised great sprays of white foam into the air that could be seen from a distance, offering to the eye magnificent revelations of what they were. At the first watch, the sky become overcast with thick clouds from the south and [superscript: south] by south-east; this was at three leagues from Cape Mangalore,280 which is a low and flat piece of land and is very different from the land we had left behind along the same coast. The wind braced up, though without the storm from the night before; even so the topsails were shortened to half-mast, and the bonnets were struck from the main course, and we continued our voyage to Goa in this manner, keeping the coast at a distance of three leagues to starboard. But since the wind was somewhat contrary, and because our ship was in no more than thirteen fathoms, the pilot headed farther out to sea, distancing himself from land more than he should have, our sounding being at first twelve fathoms, then fifteen, then twenty. At this point, as he attempted to put about toward the land, [fol. 84a-r]281 a strong current made the carrack lie to of her own accord, and even with a strong and favorable wind, she was not steerable for six hours until the break of day. On the 31st, the same conditions persisted until suddenly there befell a great calm that extended ten or twelve leagues out from the land. [margin: Later], a land wind began to blow at one o’clock in the afternoon that wafted the ships north-east north by [superscript: north-west], each moment drawing us closer to Goa. The sun’s altitude was taken at 13 degrees and 20 minutes, the pilot

279  Portuguese for “beautiful.” This mountain is situated four leagues to the south by southeast of Mangalore and ten leagues to the north by north-east of Mt. Deli. It appears in contemporary Portuguese rutters as one of the prominent locations on the Malabar littoral, or southwest coast of India, suggesting close proximity to land and possibility of an imminent landfall. It is located near Fort Bekal, which had not been built by this date, at 12°23′32″N, 75°1′57″E; see Lagoa, II: 54. 280  A headland on the south-west coast of India, located at at 12°52′12″N, 74°52′48″E. Mangalore is also the name of a major port city at this same location. In 1526 Portuguese forces under Viceroy Lopo Vaz de Sampaio defeated the Bangara king and his allies and conquered the town. The Portuguese built a fortress and maintained a presence there until 1640, when the Keladi Nayaka kingdom evicted them from the town. 281  There are two consecutive folios numbered 84.

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believing that we had already passed the fortress of Barcelor282 on the way to Baticala.283 At eight o’clock in the evening, with a sea wind and strong currents, the flagship and the São Filipe found themselves in an inlet that they had carelessly ventured into shortly before sunset; the entire thing could be called a shoal, though it presented no danger as it was between ten and fifteen fathoms deep. This inlet, which is between Barcelor and Mangalor, makes a greater incursion along the coast than what is indicated on the sailing charts. This became plainly evident this evening because of the many lights that shone along the coast to starboard, both ahead and astern; these are the regular signals that the Moors on the Malabar give their corsairs [fol. 84a-v] to warn them of the presence of one of our fleets off the coast. At ten o’clock at night, the sounding from the flagship was eleven fathoms. She cast anchor there, this being the first time she had done so after leaving Lisbon. The São Filipe, which was a quarter of a league behind the flagship, also found herself in shallow waters and without a land wind in which to put out to sea; she sent a shallop over to the flagship to ask the captain-major if she should come to anchor or shorten sail and lie to. This happened before the flagship had taken in sail or thrown anchor. But the answer to their question came from both the poop deck and the captain-major’s balcony, and was so confusing and impulsive that the captain and the pilot of the São Filipe did not know what to do. And so our carrack moved closer to the flagship to seek clarification, discovering that she was already anchored. Thus, in the time it took the São Filipe to take in sail, she sailed past our ship, and without seeing us because of the great darkness of the night, she came to anchor in seven fathoms. At that point there ensued a calm that lasted till the break of day. [November 1614] [margin: November 1.] November 1st, All Saints’ Day. The São Filipe found herself skimming the surface of some large and dangerous projecting reefs, some of which jutted [fol. 84b–r] out of the water, others lying just below the surface, the flagship being less than a quarter of a league off. The São Filipe fired three artillery salvos in a plea for assistance. Immediately the skiff and the shallop were sent over from our ship with thirty sailors and grummets to help her clear that shoal. After the flagship had sent this aid, she headed even farther into the inlet because there was no wind in which to sail 282  Present-day Barsur, previously known as Vasupura, a historic port town where the Portuguese maintained a fortress between ca. 1568 and ca. 1652. It is located on the banks of the Varahi River on the Kanara coast of southwest India. At the time of Silva y Figueroa’s embassy, this port was famous for its trade in rice; today it is a small, obscure village. See Lagoa, I: 88, 123. 283  Known locally as Bhatkal, a port city on the southwest coast of India. See Lagoa, I: 96.

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out of it. She now found herself very close to the same danger the other ship was in, this being a very big problem. And thus because a sea wind and the currents were drawing her toward land, she ended up being positioned only two leagues from the other ship and was forced to come to anchor in twelve fathoms. It became surely and eminently clear how uninformed the sailors are who sail on the great ships from Portugal regarding this outer course, [margin: and what is especially even more astounding], regarding India and the coast itself: in the 100 leagues that lie between Kochi and Goa, they did not know how deep the water was, even though they could have easily found this out from the sailors, Moors, and Gentiles who live on the mainland and who usually serve in our fleets, especially in a region so well known as this between His Majesty’s fortresses of Barcelor and Mangalor. Seeing the São Filipe in the [fol. 84b–v] danger described earlier, the flagship dispatched her skiff and shallop; she was no more than one ship’s length from the rocks called the islands of Santa Maria.284 After they reached her, they towed her, the skiff mooring itself to an anchor and helping with the capstan until, after great difficulty and effort, they removed her from the great and evident risk she had been in. Then, in order to avoid falling into the same risk again, she sailed inside the inlet until she was three leagues from our ship, our skiff and shallop becoming lost to view during this time. Today the sun’s altitude was taken at 13 degrees and 40 minutes. At nine o’clock in the evening, the flagship still at anchor, we started to perceive a slight land breeze, but the chief-pilot refused to weigh anchor, having been offended by the captain-major for having sent another small boat belonging to the master, the only one remaining on the ship, to Barcelor so that his arrival in Goa could be announced from there. At about midnight, the São Filipe, taking advantage and availing herself of this light breeze, put out to sea, passing the flagship. There was still no sign of our [fol. 85r] skiff and shallop, and we assumed that they had been lost to prows,285 or foists,286 belonging to Malabar corsairs. [margin: 2.] On the 2nd, with Matias Figueira de Samarro acting as pilot, the flagship sailed around and around in a gentle sea breeze from the south, trying to escape the inlet. At one o’clock in the morning the skiff and shallop arrived. They had been unable to reach us until now because of the headwind and because of the great exhaustion and suffering [text blacked out] they experienced in towing the São Filipe. Our ship began to gradually leave the inlet in a light 284  Present-day St. Mary’s Islands, four small islands off the coast of Karnataka, India, located at 13°22′46″N, 74°40′23″E. See Lagoa, III: 138. 285  Small vessels, usually galleys. See Y&B, 733–34, s.v. “prow, parao”; and Dalgado, II: 170–72. 286  See p. 141 n. 246.

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south wind, finding greater and greater depth as we went until the sounding was sixteen fathoms. Then, after a sea wind began to blow, the sounding found us in more than twenty fathoms, and we finally escaped from the inlet. The São Filipe was three leagues ahead of us, though farther out to sea and farther from land. [margin: 3.] On the 3rd, the sea breeze freshened, and at daybreak the small islands of Baticala [margin: came into view]. At noon we were even with the biggest one of these, which was six leagues to starboard. It is round and so high that it can be seen from a great distance. The sun’s altitude was taken at this location at 14 degrees and 20 minutes. In the afternoon a raft with blacks arrived from Barcelor with chickens, eggs, [fol. 85v] and bananas, [text blacked out] [superscript: delivering] the news that the small boat that had been sent two days earlier by the captain-major had reached that fortress. These blacks also said that there was no news at that point, and that they had no news of any great ship having arrived from Portugal. In the afternoon we began to sail in a light wind, the coast of Kanara287 to starboard, until arriving at three leagues from Onor,288 the homeland of Timoja,289 the famed Kanaran corsair who served the valiant Afonso de Albuquerque so well during the first attack and conquest of Goa. We were wafted along all night in such light airs that it was almost calm, and even though the sailors calculated that we were so far along that we would find ourselves at the Anjadip Island290 at daybreak, the next morning found us six leagues from them. The São Filipe sailed three leagues to port, farther from land. [margin: 4.] On the 4th, the São Boaventura was seen more than six leagues ahead of us. She had gained this advantage because, having arrived at the Bay of Mangalor after being just as many leagues behind us, she decided not to stand into it even though she had seen our ships anchored there. She thus sailed past us, by chance having heard the news that the land wind was too weak to carry a ship out of the bay, and thus she and the São Filipe entered [fol. 86r] the bar of Goa a day before our ship. At the first watch we were at the 287  Kanara is the coastal portion of Karnataka. 288  Present-day Honnavar, a port town of Karnataka, India, located at 14°16′48″N, 74°26′38″E. 289  Timoja, as Silva y Figueroa correctly reports, was a Hindu privateer who collaborated with Portuguese forces under Albuquerque in the conquest of Goa in 1510. He was rewarded for his services by the Portuguese and later served for a short time in an administrative post. 290  Anjadip is an island located in the Arabian Sea. Located off the Karnataka coast of India at 14°45′24″N, 74°6′45″E, it was part of the Estado da Índia; the Portuguese had a fortress built on it. There are two Catholic shrines located on the island, one dedicated to Our Lady of Brotas and another to São Francisco de Assis. The island is still administered by the state of Goa.

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same latitude as Anjadip [text blacked out] Island, four leagues from the land and no more than twelve leagues from the bar of Goa. These islands are well known for the abundance of good water. [margin: 5.] On the 5th, we awoke very far from land because our pilot, finding himself during the previous night very close to these islands and fearing that a current or sea wind would carry the ship to wreck on them, pulled away from land as far as possible, and, as a result, found ourselves six or seven leagues distant at daybreak. There was little or no wind all day long, and therefore the ship gradually sought the coast in order to make some headway in the land wind; we thus we made little progress all night. Our bow was heading straight for Goa, with land three leagues to starboard. [margin: 6.] On the 6th, the flagship was within view of some small islands that are a little more than two leagues from the bar, close to the Salcete Peninsula,291 which is on the mainland. The São Filipe, which had sailed ahead of us by putting farther out to sea [fol. 86v] after leaving the Bay of Mangalor, fell three leagues behind the flagship, the same distance it had been ahead of us. But at this moment, which was shortly after noon, we saw the highest point of the island of Goa and the white church and venerable convent Nossa Senhora do Cabo.292 We sailed by a gentle breeze until we sank these islands to starboard. As the harbor came into view, we saw the São Boaventura anchored in it, with many small row boats heading toward her from Goa. Some of these belonged to the natives of the island and were full of numerous supplies and fresh water; others belonged to Portuguese, both religious and secular, on their way to visit their friends and relatives aboard our ship. One of these boats arrived, a big [superscript: one] that was painted with many colors and covered with a crimson silk awning, bearing members of the Society of Jesus,293 who are called apostles in Portugal and India, who were making loud music by

291  The Portuguese spelling of this peninsula varied: Erédia spelled it Salcete, whereas other Portuguese sources have Salsete; see Lagoa, III: 129. For a description of this peninsula and its relationship to Goa, see p. 160 n. 1. 292  Portuguese for “Our Lady of the Cape.” This headland is located on the westernmost portion of the island of Goa. There is indeed a convent and church at this location that commands a panoramic view of the Indian Ocean, the Mandovi River bay, and Fort Aguada. Being such a prominent landmark, it has served seafarers for centuries as an imminent sign of landfall for Goa. 293  Jesuits, a Catholic religious order whose Latin name is Societas Jesu, often abbreviated as S. J. Established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in the mid-sixteenth century, they are also known as the Company of Jesus, or simply “the Company.” For an overview of their activities in Goa, see Alden, Making of an Enterprise, 41–52.

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singing and playing their instruments. And thus did the ship enjoy this good company until the setting of the sun on the harbor. We dropped anchor 200 feet from the São Boaventura, [fol. 87r] across from Fort Aguada.294 It was Thursday, November 6, 1614—two days short of seven continuous months [margin: after] this great ship left the bar of Lisbon with two others that did not arrive in India this year. The harbor for the carracks is between the point of Nossa Senhora do Cabo, which is on the part of the island of Goa that extends the farthest into the sea, and another point that forms part of the mainland, called Bardes,295 where Fort Aguada is located. [margin: The rest of] this island is enclosed and surrounded by the mainland, separated from it by an ocean channel that [margin: almost completely] encircles it.296 The mouth of this channel on the right-hand side of the island lies between the point of Nossa Senhora do Cabo and the aforementioned Fort Aguada on Bardes, while the mouth on the left-hand side opens up between Nossa Senhora do Cabo and Stete [margin: Salsete], this last forming the port of Old Goa.297 These three capes—the two on the mainland and Nossa Senhora do Cabo, which creates the island—are nearly even with each other, though Nossa Senhora do Cabo juts out somewhat more into the sea, causing and forming two large ports. The first one [text blacked out] is where [fol. 87v] we cast anchor and is the one more commonly used for entering the right-hand opening to the channel, which has just been described, to the city of Goa, three leagues distant.298 It offers no safety for any kind of ship during the winter; the second is on the left-hand side on the beach of Old Goa, fit and safe all year round. The second harbor is where the carracks that [margin: arrive late after wintering in 294  This fortress is located on a headland opposite Nossa Senhora do Cabo. The Portuguese completed construction of the fortress in 1612. Strategically located on the mouth of the Mandovi River, it envelops the entire south-western tip of the Bardes Peninsula, which is situated to the north of Goa. It was built to protect the city from attacks from the sea by English, Dutch, or Maratha forces and to protect one of the locations that provided safe berthing for Portuguese shipping. The fortress was given the name Aguada (“watering station”) because of the spring located on the site and the capacity for storing significant quantities of fresh water that was developed there. Like Nossa Senhora do Cabo, it became a reference point for Portuguese seafarers. 295  For a description and geographical location of the Bardes Peninsula and its relationship to Goa, see p. 160 n. 1. 296  Silva y Figueroa’s spatial perspective here and in the ensuing description of Goa is from a ship approaching Goa. Northern and southern locations are, respectively, on his left and his right. See also Plate 1: Manuel Godinho de Erédia’s Map of Goa and Its Surroundings. 297  For a description of Old Goa, see p. 160 n. 1. 298  The anchorage near Fort Aguada; see above, n. 294.

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Mozambique], or arrive late [margin: too] early from Portugal, take shelter and refuge when the bar in the first port is closed.299 Night having already fallen upon her arrival, the São Filipe dropped anchor two leagues before the entrance to the harbor, where those aboard were also visited regaled by the people and residents of the city, who brought them supplies. These victuals and warm welcome were sorely needed because of the many sick people aboard all three ships. Of these there were more than 1,200; they were all taken to be treated in the celebrated Hospital Real.300 This is not to lessen our praise for the great charity that the inhabitants of Goa displayed as a whole, and do always display when the fleets arrive from Portugal in such great need, and especially the charity shown at all times by those who direct the great, magnificent, and sumptuous hospital and fraternity of the Misericórdia,301 whose exceptional example [fol. 88r] and true zeal for Christian humanity is worthy of [margin: perpetual] praise, and is esteemed [text blacked out] and imitated with virtuous emulation by all the other nations of Europe. Goae, IV Kalendas Februarii, 1615.302

299  For a description of these two anchorages, see p. 165 n. 7. 300  Portuguese for “Royal Hospital.” For its location in Goa, see Plate 1. For further details concerning this institution, see Silva Correia, Hospital Real de Goa. 301  Santa Casa da Misericórdia, meaning “Holy House of Mercy,” a Portuguese charitable lay brotherhood and institution that provided medical assistance and care for widows and orphans in Portugal and throughout its empire; see Russell-Wood, Fidalgos and Philanthropists, 1–41; and Sá, Quando o rico se faz pobre, 149–211. 302  The translation of this Latin phrase is “At Goa, the fourth day of February, 1615.” The text of the Commentaries clearly confirms that the ship carrying Silva y Figueroa arrived in Goa on 6 November 1614; see p. 158. Since Silva y Figueroa did not indicate how he wrote or edited the Commentaries, we believe that this Latin phrase endorses that this is the date when the author finished his revision of Book I. This endorsement was also included in the author’s missive to the Marquess of Bedmar, which the latter published in Antwerp in 1619.

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Description of the Island and City of Goa [fol. 90r] The island of Goa,1 which has always been prized and venerated by the Indian Gentiles of the East as a sacred and religious object, is located on 1  Goa was called Tiçuari by the Portuguese, which was anglicized as Tissuary; it is known today as Tiswadi. Portuguese Goa consisted of the island referred to here and several smaller islands: Chorão, Divar, and Jua. Tiçuari was bounded to the north by the Mandovi River and to the south by the Zuari River. The port city of Goa was located on Tiçuari. In 1510, Portuguese forces under Albuquerque wrested Goa from the sultan of Bijapur. Then, in 1543, the Portuguese acquired two more districts as buffer zones on the mainland: Bardes to the north and Salcete to the south. These three districts—the Ilhas, Bardes, and Salcete—are referred to as the Velhas Conquistas (“old conquests”); see Pearson, Portuguese in India, 89. Silva y Figueroa included in his Commentaries Manuel Godinho de Erédia’s map of Goa, the administrative center of the Portuguese Estado da Índia (see Plate 1), and also provided a physical description of the city in the text. Unfortunately, both the map and the prose description are confusing on two counts. First, as already mentioned, Silva y Figueroa’s descriptions are oriented as one approaches the land from the sea, which should not prove overly problematic, per se. But it is difficult to follow the author’s descriptions on Erédia’s map because, while the compass rose is clearly pointing north, most of the writing perversely reads south to north instead of north to south. The interested reader can best follow Silva y Figueroa’s description on Erédia’s map by turning it upside down. Second, because the author’s physical description of Goa is rather confusing, a few comments on its historical geography are in order. Many of the locations we have already mentioned appear on Erédia’s map: the island of Goa is written as i. de Goa; Chorão is written as Choram; today’s Jua is identified as Iunga: maior and S. Estevão (for further details, see p. 166 n. 12 and p. 167 n. 15). Neither the Mandovi River nor the Zuari River is found on the map. Silva y Figueroa generally equates the term Old Goa with the first district (Portuguese Ilhas, meaning “islands”) acquired by the Portuguese, and in particular with the port and its edifications that were seized from the sultan of Bijapur. Today, while Old Goa may mean the same thing it did to Silva y Figueroa, it may also refer to the old capital of Portuguese India, which, because of public health concerns, was moved to New Goa, or the new capital of Panjim, known locally as Panaji, in the mid-eighteenth century. Many of the locations mentioned in Silva y Figueroa’s description of Goa are found on Erédia’s map. In order to further facilitate cross-referencing between the two, we have generated “master” notes when Silva y Figueroa’s narrative first mentions: (1) the island of Goa, as in the present note; (2) subdivisions, parishes, or neighborhoods, prominent landmarks (churches, convents, monasteries, hillocks) on the island of Goa, anchorages (see p. 165 n. 7), crossings (see p. 170 n. 22), streets (see p. 197 n. 105), locations outside the walls of the city (see p. 164 n. 5); and (3) the lesser islands (see p. 166 n. 12), which were territories that were integrated into their colonial administration in this region.

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plate 1  Manuel Godinho de Erédia’s map of Goa and its surroundings, circa 1616.

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book ii India, the Estado da Índia, and the Mughal Empire, circa 1614 70°E

80°E

90°E

Badakshan

Kabul

Herat

Kandahār

30°N

30°N Delhi

Indus

Mughal Empire Ganges

Sindh Thatta

Bengal Khambhat

Surat

20°N

Diu Daman

20°N

Mumbai Chaul

Deccan

Dabhol

St Mary

Bijapur Kharepatan

Karna

Mormugão Goa

Honnavar

taka

Anjadip Angidivas

Ka

Munyal-Par

na

Mangalore Kannur Kozhikode Kodungallur

São Tomé de Meliapor

ra ar

Palk Strait

Lakshadweep N W

lab

Kochi Laccadives

10°N

Ma

10°N

Maldives

E

Bay of Bengal

Coromandel

Vengurla

Mughal Empire

Cape Sri Comorin Colombo

Estado da India

Lanka

Cities River

S

70°E

80°E

90°E

map 2  India, the Estado da Índia, and the Mughal Empire, circa 1614.

the coast of Kanara on the Indian mainland in a large gulf or inlet created by the ocean from the south-west to the north-east, a little more than three leagues in length, which is just shy of how far the island runs in this south-west to north-east direction.2 This inlet is roughly a league and a half across at its 2  In the following passage, Silva y Figueroa refers (as he does repeatedly elsewhere) to the geography of the coasts and interior of India. What follows is a brief summary of these terms, including how Silva y Figueroa employed them and how they are used today; see Map 2. Present-day southwest India comprises the states and territories of Maharashtra, Gujarat,

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widest spot. Ignoring for the moment the channel that encircles it, the island sits in a gulf that runs from east by south-east to west by north-west, the opening to this channel measuring between 400 and 600 paces from the island to the mainland, though in some places it is much less. This gulf has two mouths that are located at the beginning of the island at a latitude [margin: 10 minutes shy] of 16 degrees and 50 minutes on the Arctic Pole side, and approximately 160 degrees from the meridian of longitude.3 It is flanked on the right side, [margin: from the perspective of the ocean], by the Salcete peninsula and the fortress of Rachol,4 and on the left side by the land and villages of Bardes and Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Goa, Orissa, and Lakshadweep. Silva y Figueroa treats Karnataka and Kerala as regions: Karnataka is bordered by the Arabian Sea and the Laccadive Sea to the west, Goa to the north-west, Maharashtra to the north, Andhra Pradesh to the east, Tamil Nadu to the south-east, and Kerala to the south-west. Kerala, according to Silva y Figueroa, is bordered by Karnataka to the north and north-east, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Laccadive Sea to the west. The coastline of the Karnataka region was called the Konkan (present-day Karavali) and runs from the Thane district in northern Maharashtra to Mangalore, the former South Kanara district in southwestern Karnataka. Kanara (Canara or Canera in the MS) is a subregion of Karnataka that forms the southern part of the Konkan coast; the length of this subregion is around 300 km (186 mi) from north to south and varies from 20 mi to 68 mi (30 km to 110 km) in width. The coastline of the Kerala region is called Malabar; Kerala also refers to the entire coastline from Konkan (Conchan and Choncham in the MS) to the tip of India (Cape Comorin), although in an historical context it has also been used confusingly to refer to the narrow coastal plain of both Karnataka and Kerala between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. Conversely, India’s south-eastern coastal plain between the Eastern Ghats and the Indian Ocean (Bay of Bengal) from its southern boundary at Cape Comorin to its northern boundary in the state of Andhra Pradesh at False Divi Point is known as the Coromandel Coast. Behind these regions and coastlines is a large plateau, the Deccan, which makes up most of the southern part of India that is located between the two Ghats ranges, the Western and Eastern Ghats. Each range rises from its respective nearby coastal plain, almost joining at the southern tip of India. The Deccan is separated from the Gangetic plain to the north by the Satpura and Vindhya Mountains, which form its northern boundary. The Deccan plateau has the form of a downward-pointing triangle. 3  New and Old Goa are located at 15°30′00″N, 73°57′00″E and 15°25′00″N, 73°50′00″E, respectively. The latitude calculated and reported by Silva y Figueroa is only marginally inaccurate, but the magnitude of the error in his calculation of longitude is inexplicably large, even if he meant to write 60 instead of 160 degrees. 4  Built by the Muslim Bahmani kingdom prior to the arrival of the Portuguese, the fortress of Rachol was captured from the sultan of Bijapur by Hindu Vijayanagar forces, which subsequently ceded the location to the Portuguese in 1520. Situated on the heights above the left bank of the Rachol River in Salcete, the fortress, which now lies in ruins, is located some 7 km (4 mi) from the town of Margao. By all reports it was an imposing edification that encircled

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Fort Aguada; these are the points and ends of the continent that encircle and receive this gulf into itself. The beginning of the island juts out somewhat to sea before it meets the harbor for the heavy carracks, where there is also a cape or high [fol. 90v] promontory which the natives call Talangan.5 The Portuguese call it Nossa Senhora do Cabo after a hermitage of the Virgin, which is now a convent of Discalced6 Franciscans; it is visible at a distance of six leagues from sea by those sailing toward this island, affording an inspiring and pleasing view. On the right part of this strait, which is usually referred to as a river because it swells with the winter rains, there is a large inlet, with the aforementioned promontory on its left; it provides safe anchorage all year round, especially in the winter, which corresponds to our summer in Europe, because during that season the usual anchorage next to Fort Aguada cannot service ships of any class, there being the hill on which the Jesuit-built Rachol Seminary still stands. This particular location is not found on Erédia’s map, although the map does show the Rachol River. 5  Known as Taleigão to the Portuguese, a town and a taluka (a subdivision of a district and a group of villages organized for revenue purposes) located on the island of Tiswadi near the capital of Panaji in Goa. It holds a first paddy (rice) harvest festival annually in mid-August, which was awarded to the area in recognition of its role in supplying Portuguese forces during the seizure of Goa. There are two places on Erédia’s map with the name Taleigam. The first is just behind the designation for N. S. docabo (Nossa Senhora do Cabo), which is the location that Silva y Figueroa is referring to in this passage; it is so called because of its location on a prominent elevated headland on the island of Goa. The second is just below and down the slope from that headland on the curvature of the beach, which may or may not coincide with the location today of this town on the island of Goa. The following list identifies the names of the locations found outside the walls of the city on the island of Goa that are mentioned by Silva y Figueroa and are also found on Erédia’s map: Agaçim (MS), Agacain (Erédia’s map), present-day Agaçaim; Nuestra Senhora de Ayuda (MS), N.S. dajuda (Erédia’s map), presentday Nossa Senhora da Ajuda (Our Lady of Help); Nuestra Señora del Pilar (MS), N.S. do Pilar (Erédia’s map), present-day Nossa Senhora do Pilar (Our Lady of the Pillar); Nuestra Señora del Cabo (MS), N.S. docabo (Erédia’s map), present-day Nossa Senhora do Cabo (Our Lady of the Cape); Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (MS), N.S. Guadalupe (Erédia’s map), present-day Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe); Panelin (MS), Panelín (Erédia’s map), present-day Panelim; Pangin (MS and Erédia’s map), present-day Panaji, Portuguese Pangim; Ribanda (MS), Rabandar (Erédia’s map), present-day Ribandar; Sancta Ana (MS), S. Anna (Erédia’s map), present-day Santana (St. Ann); San Lorenço (MS), S. lourenco (Erédia’s map), present-day São Lourenço (St. Laurence); San Matias (MS), s. mathias (Erédia’s map), present-day São Mathias (St. Matthias); and Talangan (MS), Taleigam (Erédia’s map), present-day Taleigão or Taleigao. 6  The term discalced applies to those religious congregations of men or women who go entirely barefoot or wear sandals, with or without other covering for the feet.

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a manifest danger of shipwreck.7 Near this port, the city of Old Goa was situated on the beach that faces Salcete. Its remains can now be seen at the foot of the hill called Nossa Senhora do Pilar.8 From here the channel surrounds the entire island from the aforementioned beach until it opens out on the left side between the mainland at Bardes and the island on the right [text blacked out]. On this shore, just before Fort Aguada and directly across the channel from it, one can discern the foundation of a fortress, begun a few years ago but never completed out of [fol. 91r] negligence. It was intended to defend the entrance of the river leading into the city. In addition to the channel that makes a long semicircle around the island of Goa, there is another one that cuts straight through it, dividing it into two parts along its longest side. The channel is called the Pangim River9 by natives and Portuguese alike, because this straight channel, which separates the island from the circular tributary that encircles it, as described above, begins at the place where the old fortress of this name was located. The portion of the island that falls to the right of the Pangim River is known as the island of Goa proper, because it is bigger, and because the city is located there. The left side is known as the island of Chorão.10 It is smaller and less populated. This island is further divided by still another, smaller channel that forks off from

7  In this passage, Silva y Figueroa is alluding in general to Goa’s primary anchorages and shipping roadsteads, as well as to the two Indian monsoons: the south-west, or summer, and the north-east, or winter monsoons. Both of the anchorages he mentions are represented on Erédia’s map with an anchor symbol (see Plate 1). The first of these, which he does not identify by name, is depicted on Erédia’s map in the bay below (i.e., to the north of) Murmvgam (Mormugão, present-day Marmagao), a city in the south Goa district of the Indian state of Goa and Goa’s main port. He is correct that it connects with the Zuari River and that it was open to shipping the entire year. The second anchorage is the roadstead in the harbor of the Mandovi River under Fort Aguada, labeled on Erédia’s map as castelo do farol, meaning “lighthouse castle.” Silva y Figueroa is also correct in his observation regarding the south-west monsoon, which occurs from June through September. The winds were of such force and direction that they effectively threatened any ship with destruction if she attempted to anchor at that location, which is the point the author is making about this anchorage; see Pearson, Portuguese in India, 89. 8  Meaning “Our Lady of the Pillar.” 9  The use of the name Pangin, present-day Panaji, to designate the river presumably stemmed from the name of the old fortress that had protected the mouth of the Mondavi before Portuguese settlement in the region. This area of Goa is labeled Pangin on Erédia’s map, and the position of the fortress is clearly indicated by the tip of an inverted fleur-de-lis. 10  As already noted, Chorão appears as Choram on Erédia’s map.

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the Pangim River across from Cape Ribandar11 and Nossa Senhora de Ajuda, forming what are known also as the island as the [margin: islands12 of Divar] and Espírito Santo, the latter name applying specifically to the smaller portion of the island that lies between this third and last channel just mentioned and the great Pangim River. This smaller section of Chorão is divided by a small channel at its farthest end where a very narrow point of land is separated off from the rest, and where the fortress of Narva,13 or Espírito Santo, is located, [fol. 91v] together with its small village and church, the aforementioned section of the island being named after it. It was formerly known as Narva, after the fortress, as was the nearby mainland. The fortress of Narva is small and of archaic construction. It has two towers and is surrounded by a narrow redoubt, or barbican, that was apparently built by the Moors when they became lords over the island 200 years ago,14 wresting it from the Gentiles who were its ancient and native inhabitants. 11  On Erédia’s map, the headland mentioned here by Silva y Figueroa is the promontory below (to the north of) the area labeled Rabandar where the church N.S. dajuda (Nossa Senhora de Ajuda) is found, marked by a dot outside the walls of the city on the island of Goa. Ribanda, meaning “royal landing place,” was part of the city and port of Goa prior to the arrival of the Portuguese; see Fonseca, Historical and Archaeological Sketch, 328. 12  Silva y Figueroa confusingly conflates the names of islands with the names given to portions of them. For example, Espírito Santo, meaning “Holy Spirit” and abbreviated as spú. sancto on Erédia’s map, was how the Portuguese referred to a portion of the island of Divar where a pre-Portuguese fortress was located. More broadly in this and in subsequent passages, Silva y Figueroa describes the relationship between the island of Goa (Tiçuari or Tiswadi) and other islands from which it was separated by the Mondavi River: Chorão, Divar, Jua, and several lesser islands. The following list identifies the lesser islands or portions of the same located near Goa that are mentioned by Silva y Figueroa and are also found on Erédia’s map: Choran (MS), Choram (Erédia’s map), present-day Chorão or Chorao; Luna Conbar and Luna la menor (Lesser Moon) (MS), Cvmbar (Erédia’s map), present-day Jua; Diuar (MS), Divar (Erédia’s map), present-day Divar; Narua (MS), Noroa (Erédia’s map), present-day Naroa; San Esteuan (MS), s. estevão (Erédia’s map), São Estevão (St. Stephen), present-day São Estevão or St. Stephen [Jua]; and Spiritu Sancto (MS), spú. Sancto (Erédia’s map), present-day Espírito Santo (Holy Spirit), near Narve on Divar. 13  This fortress, known today as Narve, Naroa, or Naroe, was called Narva prior to the arrival of Portuguese forces. Silva y Figueroa calls it Narva, though for the Portuguese it was Naroá or Noroa; this last spelling is how it appears on the island of Divar on Erédia’s map, as mentioned in the previous n. 12, where the lesser islands of Goa are identified. 14  Silva y Figueroa is likely using 200 years in an approximate sense, since the events to which he is alluding in this passage had transpired closer to 250 years earlier. In 1352, Muslim forces under the Bahmani Sultan Ala-ud-Din Ḥasan Gangu vanquished Goa, which was part of the Kadamba kingdom, destroying numerous Hindu temples. Fifteen years

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In addition to the islands of Chorão and Espírito Santo, which are separated from the island of Goa and considered portions and subdivisions of it, there are three other individual islands as well. After the Pangim River creates the separations described above, it follows a straight course until it flows into the strait and the circular channel that surrounds the island of Chorão next to the fortress of Narva, where it joins with the channel that comes from Cape Ribandar, separating Chorão from Espírito Santo. All these waterways create a great and spacious lake between the mainland and the islands of Chorão, Espírito Santo, and Santo Estêvão, the latter known to the natives by the ancient name of the Island of the Moon.15 Its outer point faces the mainland and is separated [fol. 92r] off by a small narrow channel that dries up when the tide goes out. This island portion, which has been given its own name of Ilha de Dom Bernardo, produces incredibly beautiful mangoes,16 the most highly later, Goa was reconquered when the Bahamani Sultanate’s forces were defeated by the Vijayanagar king Harihara Raya I, who permitted the restoration of most of the destroyed Hindu temples. These temples were later destroyed by the Portuguese. 15  In this and in several subsequent passages, Silva y Figueroa alludes to portions of one of Goa’s lesser islands, present-day Jua. All of these locations appear on Erédia’s map, though not all are labeled. Furthermore, while both Silva y Figueroa and Erédia represent them as belonging to separate islands, to the best of our understanding of Goa’s geography, they are not treated as such today. For example, present-day Jua apparently corresponds to what Erédia labels as cvmbar, ivnga: maior and ivnga: minor and to what Silva y Figueroa calls the Islas de la Luna, meaning “the Islands of the Moon.” The lesser of those islands is labeled on Erédia’s map as cvmbar (Luna Conbar in the MS) and ivnga: minor. The greater of those islands is labeled ivnga: maior and is referred to by Silva y Figueroa as San Esteuan (Portuguese Santo Estêvão, meaning “St. Stephen”) after a portion of the island, which also appears on the Erédia map as a church called s. estevão; this church, that is, St. Stephen, remains standing today. In mentioning the Isla de don Bernardo, meaning “Dom Bernard Island,” Silva y Figueroa is again confusingly offering the name of a portion of an island as the name of an entire island, which appears unlabeled on the Erédia map as the small islet in the channel off the tip of the island of the Greater Moon (Santo Estêvão or Jua) and the mainland. 16  The mango is native to South Asia, from where it has been diffused worldwide to become one of the most cultivated of tropical fruits. It grows on numerous trees of the genus Mangifera in the flowering plant family. The common, or Indian, mango (Mangifera indica) is the only one commonly cultivated. In Hinduism, the perfectly ripe mango is often depicted as being held by Lord Ganesha, symbolizing the devotee’s potential attainment of perfection. Mango leaves are used to decorate archways and doors in Indian houses and during weddings and celebrations, and mango motifs are widely used in Indian clothing and embroidery. In Tamil Nadu, the mango is reputed to occupy first place in terms of sweetness and flavor, and is considered one of three royal fruits, along with the banana and the jackfruit.

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praised fruit of India. The circular channel continues to run between this little islet, Santo Estêvão, and the nearest coast of the continental mainland, although with much less water. It also wraps around the island of Nuno de Acosta,17 known to its inhabitants as Luna Conbar, which means the Lesser Moon, in contrast to the first island, which, as mentioned earlier, is called the Greater Moon, or Santo Estêvão. These two Islands of the Moon are separated by another small channel that branches off from the one that circles around it and separates it from the mainland. Their inhabitants are considered the most bellicose, or more accurately, the least timid, of all the inhabitants of Goa and its neighboring islands. This has been the general opinion since time immemorial. They are thus allowed to bear arms, along with the inhabitants of Santo Estêvão, or the island of the Greater Moon, both peoples taking pride in their soldiery, which they have proved on several occasions when Moors from the mainland have come over to these two islands, being as near as they are, to plunder their poor houses. There are probably two thousand men [fol. 92v] on both Islands of the Moon, who are armed with harquebuses, bows, and bucklers, the usual weapons found along this entire coast of India. Here the branch or big channel that bisects the island of Goa near Pangim and separates it from Chorão and Espírito Santo also separates these two small islands from the island of Goa; the other part of the straight channel continues on to join with the circular strait next to Narva, as has been explained. This big channel contains [text blacked out] [superscript: a large] sandbank18 right before the point where the other channels branch off from it, [margin: not far from Fort Aguada and the point of Bardes], all of its waters flowing together; it is very dangerous for those who do not know how to navigate it. It is almost straight across from the fortress on Bardes and the foundations of the fortress that were described above. But the water is deep enough [superscript: on both sides] of this [text blacked out] sandbank, both toward [margin: the fortress of Bardes on one side and toward the island of Goa] on the other, for a ship of any class to enter, provided it is not a heavy carrack, especially on the right side, which is the most frequently travelled because the river contains an extremely safe port any season of the year, [text blacked out] [superscript: especially during the winter]. The only other shelter is the bay of Old Goa, whose port is little used because 17  We have been unable to identify the life and career of the Portuguese official or officer for whom this island was named. 18  On Erédia’s map, this sandbank is the V-shaped symbol found at the mouth of the entrance to Tiçuari (the island of Goa) between the island and Bardes; it is labeled parcel, Portuguese for “sandbank.”

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of its inconvenient location. The bar of this river is closed between the two aforementioned sandbanks after winter sets in, when the sea, driven by the violence of the south and south-east winds, [fol. 93r] gathers together and heaps up the sand into a thick wall so that even a small raft cannot pass through. And so before winter sets in, which usually happens around the first of June, ships of all sizes sail up river, [margin: the biggest ones wintering between Nossa Senhora de Ribandar19 and Panelin.20 The rest] winter in the main harbor of the bank of the city. At high tide this large channel is 600 paces across at its widest point and a little more or less than that at other places. Its banks are extremely cool and green on both parts [superscript: sides], thick with small leafy trees that rise right out of the water and the riverbanks, especially on the Goa side, which contains an abundance of palm orchards and other, taller trees. The aforementioned fortress of Pangim, after which this river and principal channel is named, is of archaic construction. It was built by the Moors, like the fortresses of Narva and Espírito Santo. The entire edifice consists of no more than a single small, two-story tower made [superscript: of] square stone, a little more than twenty feet in diameter, not counting the thickness of the walls. The first story is round, and from there to the top it has [superscript: six] angles. An observation platform, which encircles most of it, [fol. 93v] not only defends the tower’s gate, but also functions as a flank and defense for the other sections. The tower is surrounded by a barbican made from the same stone, leaving scarcely any room or place between it and the tower itself. It is surrounded by a moat and an escarpment in the rampart. This tower is now boarded up, and is only kept standing now as a monument to Afonso de Albuquerque’s conquest of yore, when, unable to leave the bar, he wintered in the river near this fortress. His ships had been suffering great damage from the fortress, so he took a shore party, scaled the fortress, and expelled his enemies, manning it with a garrison until the close of winter, when the bar opened again. Now, in the year 1616, this tower has a different structure: a beautiful house with quite 19  As discussed on p. 166 above, the church located on the promontory, known as Ribandar, is the Nossa Senhora de Ajuda, meaning “Our Lady of Help,” and not Ribandar as suggested by Silva y Figueroa, although he was aware of this distinction. It is likely that Ribandar was a well-known substitute name for Nossa Senhora de Ajuda. The promontory and the site of the church are both found on Erédia’s map. 20  Panelim is a section of Old Goa just behind Ribandar that was occupied by the Portuguese and was the site of the Dominican convent of St. Thomas of Aquinas. It is found on Erédia’s map behind Rabandar and appears as part of or near the fortresses’ walls labeled Panelín.

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luxurious apartments has been added to it by the Senado da Câmara21 for the amusement of the viceroys. There are also other houses belonging to the Portuguese, including one belonging to the captain of that crossing,22 as well as a small native village, most of the inhabitants of which are now Christians. Here there are a few shops where foodstuffs are sold, the city’s location being more than a league distant. And even though from here all the way to Goa there are houses that belong to the same natives of the island, who live in poverty among the palm orchards, and many Portuguese estates as well, [fol. 94r] the main reason Pangim has the semblance of a city, with its judge and jail, is because of its trade with the Gentiles and Moors from the mainland; provisions and other goods are brought in by engaging in commerce with Portuguese and natives. Heading upstream along the Pangim are the islands of Espírito Santo and Chorão on the left side and the island of Goa on the right. 21  Portuguese for “municipal council,” defined as an institution of elected citizens responsible for the control of the finances and interests of a municipality; for the municipal council of Goa, see Boxer, Portuguese Society, 12–41. 22  By “crossings,” Silva y Figueroa means the various fords or ferries that allowed passage over the rivers and creeks that separated the islands from the mainland. Most had a guard house, if not a more significant fortification, and each crossing had a captain, an official with the responsibility for the defense of these strategic locations and who was a crown appointee. Silva y Figueroa mentions all five of the primary crossings on the islands of Tiçuari (or the island of Goa) and Divar, all of which are also found on Erédia’s map. Three are represented by a drawing of a small building with an opening in the fortress’ walls, and all of them are marked with a small red cross with a superimposed circle at its center. If the reader consults Erédia’s map and approaches the shoreline of Tiçuari from the sea via the Mandovi River, passing Divar on the left, the first crossing that Silva y Figueroa mentions is the Daugin, identified elsewhere in the MS as Augin, or Madre de Deus crossing from Tiçuari to Divar; on the map it is labeled Davgín and madredeús. The second crossing, whose precise location is not entirely clear, is Narva, marked by the red circlecross and labeled Noroa on the map. It is probably the crossing from Divar to the mainland and the islands of Tiçuari and Chorão. The third is the Dry or São Brás Crossing (San Blas in the MS) and is located on Erédia’s map approximately halfway between Davgín and Gondalin, slightly retired from the beach and fortress wall. The fourth is known as the Banastarin or São Tiago Crossing (Banastarín and Sanctiago in the MS), both of which are found on Erédia’s map behind the fortress walls just below (to the north of) the ilha dos Mortos, meaning “island of the dead.” The fifth and final crossing identified by Silva y Figueroa is the Agaçim or São Lourenço Crossing (Agacain and s. lourenco on the map, and San Lorenço in the MS), which on Erédia’s map is located around the point of the island of Tiçuari facing the unlabeled Zuari River, diagonal to the labeled Rachol River, with Salcete on the opposite bank.

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A rocky and dry mountain ridge traverses Goa, beginning at Nossa Senhora do Cabo. Its slopes, which run down to the Pangim River as well as to the channel that curves around the island on the east and east by south-east side, are completely covered with beautiful palms and many other kinds of trees that are green all year round and heavy with the fruit that India produces. Chorão and Espírito Santo are for the most part bare, with few trees. But the latter has a large vega or várzea23 between the Pangim River and the other channel that separates these two islands; here its inhabitants grow rice, which is their common and ordinary sustenance. This field and the others found on the island of Goa, as well as on the Pangim River and the circular channel that surrounds the island, are flooded and irrigated in the winter when these channels swell and overflow because of the frequent and abundant rains. For although all of the said channels [fol. 94v] and branches are filled with sea water that flows in and out with the usual tides, the many freshets that empty their water into them during the winter from the rivers on the mainland render much of the water fresh, especially on the surface. This surface water is what irrigates the said islands and the remaining low areas of the islands and makes them fertile. During this time of the heaviest rains, the vegas, or várzeas as they are called by the natives, are flooded, especially in Santa Ana, which is across the island from the Pangim River, on the east by south-east part of the island, because it is lower there. That is why the inhabitants of this part of the island who work and cultivate these várzeas have made roads between them to walk and cross over from one to the other. The roads also serve as boundaries and divisions between the parcels that each one cultivates. They have the form of small dikes that rise up three feet above the water and the ground of the várzea on both sides, and are no more than four feet wide along the base or foot. On the highest part they are not too narrow for one man to walk comfortably, but a horse can be ridden there only with great difficulty. The channel, or Pangim River, continues, passing the city of Goa on the right [fol. 95r] and Espírito Santo behind on the left, where the hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Piedade24 is situated across from the bank of the city on an eminence. The river then reaches the Madre de Deus, or, in the language of this land, the Daugin Crossing. From this point, part of the river runs directly to the north-east as far as the Narva Crossing, making a little jog to the left, and between the fortress and the nearby mainland, it mixes and joins with the

23  Portuguese várzea, meaning “lowland” or “holm” (lowland that is periodically flooded). 24  Portuguese for “Our Lady of Piety.” It is located, as Silva y Figueroa indicates, on the island of Divar and is labeled N.S. da Piedade on Erédia’s map.

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circular channel that, as has been explained, encircles the entire island, dividing it from the remaining islands. These two branches travel together from this point, the continent on the left and the islands of the Moon, both the Lesser and the Greater, on the right, though now narrower and containing less water than any of the aforementioned channels, apparently because of the kind of ground the water runs in. The aforementioned Daugin Crossing is the busiest of all, being used by most of the Moors and Gentiles who come and go from Bicholim25 and Ponda26 and all the other localities on the Balaghat27 mainland, the most populated and richest part of this continent, and where, on the other side of the Ghat Mountains, lies the great city of Visapor,28 capital of the kingdom and court of the Adil Khān.29 From this, the Madre de Deus Crossing, another channel branches off from the [fol. 95v] Pangim River to the right toward the south, bathing the walls of the city, or to put it more accurately, the walls of the entire island. Construction of this rampart was begun more than forty-five years ago for the protection of the island by the Viceroy D. António de Noronha.30 The channel passes by the two Islands of the Moon on the left, by this time carrying only a small amount of water, as does the channel that circles around them and the continent, until it arrives at the São Brás,31 or Dry Crossing. It is called the Dry Crossing 25  Silva y Figueroa is here alluding to cities and towns that were not occupied by the Portuguese in the outlying region of Goa. Bicholim is a town located some 30 km (19 mi) to the north-east of Panjim. Not part of the Portuguese Empire at the time of the writing of the Commentaries, it is located in one of seven districts that make up the Novas Conquistas, meaning “new conquests,” the last seven districts of the actual state of Goa that the Portuguese occupied during the eighteenth century. 26  Ponda is a town located some 29 km (19 mi) to the south-east of Panjim. As in the case of Bicholim, it was not part of the Portuguese Empire during Silva y Figueroa’s stay in Goa and is also located in one of seven districts that the Portuguese occupied in the eighteenth century. 27  Balaghat, meaning “above the ghats (passes),” is the name of a city located at 21°48′00″N, 80°11′00″E. Today, it is an administrative district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. We interpret Silva y Figueroa to be using the term more figuratively than literally. In other words, for him Balaghat refers generally to the mainland or hinterland of Goa rather than to a specific location in central India. None of these locations fall within the borders of Erédia’s map, although the river leading to Bicholim is labeled Rio de Vicholi. 28  The name of the former Bahmani provincial capital of Bijapur, which gave its name to and remained the capital of the sultanate throughout its existence; see p. 150 n. 273. 29  See p. 150 n. 273. 30  Portuguese administrator (1510–1574) and viceroy of India (1571–1573); see Martins, Crónica dos Vice-Reis, 305. 31  See p. 108 n. 169.

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because the river or channel becomes so narrow that the aforementioned walls and the island of the Lesser Moon are little more than 100 paces apart here, and at low tide it is so shallow that one can walk from one side to the other in water that reaches not much higher than one’s knees. Two hundred paces past the Dry Crossing, the city walls extend into the fortress of São Brás, which is no more than a round bastion of crude and archaic workmanship, though capable of accommodating artillery, with a house for the alcaide,32 or captain of the crossing.33 From here the river becomes even more narrow between the rampart and the aforementioned island until the Banastarin, or São Tiago, Crossing, where there seems to be more defense than at the other crossings, though it consists of no more than a square and very tall bastion that creates a flank for the entrance of the fortress on one side and the rampart on the other, which runs from the [fol. 96r] bastion itself toward the south. It houses two pieces of artillery, the first made of iron in the old style, short and wide of mouth, the second a supremely beautiful and heavy bronze basilisk, more than twenty spans long, which appears capable of firing a seventy-pound ball. But forasmuch as there is no other artillery in this bastion, though much could be placed here, these two pieces can serve only to inflict harm on enemy forces and dislodge them from the mainland, because there, a little below the bastion of São Brás, the circular channel that runs between the mainland and the two islands of the Moon joins the river that is being described herein, although here at the São Tiago bastion, where both channels combine, it is no more than 100 paces wide. Facing the mainland, and touching the water of this channel, there is a hillock, or small round knoll, from which, during the time of the Viceroy D. Luís de Ataíde,34 the Adil Khān besieged the city of Goa and attempted to batter down the said Banastarin bastion, sustaining personal injury in the process. This bastion is famous because there was once a fortress there with a heavy garrison of Moors that was taken by the great Afonso de Albuquerque when he took control of this island and the city of Goa the second time. Downriver from Banastarin, [fol. 96v] with the aforementioned city walls on the right and the mainland on the left, is the São Lourenço, or Agaçim, 32  An alcaide was an officer of the king whose responsibility was to protect and defend a city, town, fortress, or castle, or as in this case, a strategic location; see DA, 1:176. 33  Portuguese capitão do passo; see p. 170 n. 22. 34  Viceroy D. Luís de Ataíde, Portuguese administrator (1517–1581), twice viceroy of India (1568–1571 and 1578–1581), third Count of Atouguia, and first and only Marquess of Santarém; see Martins, Crónica dos Vice-Reis, 303–4, 308–9; Zûquete, Nobreza de Portugal, 2:331–37; Pereira, História da Índia.

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Crossing. The city walls come to an end just before this point, and not because their cost is too great—the city contributes very willingly toward their construction—but because of the neglect of the viceroys and governors35 who have succeeded those who built them. Somewhat farther along from this crossing, where there is only one house for the captain and the guards, and on the right-hand side, is the island [margin: of João Rangel,36 and thereafter, Mercantor Island, popularly known as] the Ilha dos Mortos.37 These are separated from the mainland by a narrow channel that is easily forded at low tide. The Ilha dos Mortos, which is small and unpopulated, acquired its name because of the great number of Moors who perished there during the aforementioned siege. The channel widens considerably after this crossing. On both banks are thick forests with a variety of trees, most of which do not bear fruit, but which are most pleasing to the eye because of their very beautiful green color and the great diversity of birds that dwell in them, completely different in shape and coloring from those of Europe. All the trees that cover the banks of these rivers and channels are assiduously protected; cutting their branches is prohibited in case they are needed for firewood if the Moors lay siege to the island from the mainland. Normally firewood is [fol. 97r] brought from the mainland in abundance. The river becomes increasingly wide because of the tides that reach it from the ocean, which is nearby at this point, until its bed finally measures half a league in width and forms the magnificently beautiful beach of Guadalupe38 35  For details on the evolution of the administrative structure of the Portuguese Empire in Asia, see Thomaz, De Ceuta a Timor, 207–43. 36  Silva y Figueroa creates some confusion in this and the next passage where he mentions the locations of two islands, Juan Rangel (Portuguese João Rangel) and Mercantor, or the Island of the Dead. Contra Silva y Figueroa, neither island is found downstream from Banasterin or near the São Lourenço or Agaçaim Crossing. On Erédia’s map, João Rangel is an unlabeled islet found upstream from Banastarín in the middle of the channel between Cvmbar and the mainland. See Lagoa, 2:157. 37  Mercantor, or Island of the Dead, is labeled by Erédia as the ilha dos Mortos; it is located at 15°28′43″N, 73°57′16″E in an indented portion of the channel between Carãbolin and São Tiago on Erédia’s map. See Lagoa, 2:262 and 282. 38  This beach is located on the southern shoreline of the island of Goa where several interconnected beaches are located. It is most probable that the beach mentioned in this passage is indicated on Erédia’s map with a red dot above (to the south of) the church of N.S. de Guadalupe. However, since there are a number of overlapping beaches along this shoreline, and lacking more precise details from Silva y Figueroa, we are unable to advance a name with any degree of certainty. It might seem reasonable to speculate that it is Bambolim, but that beach seems to be too remote from the one being referred to in this passage.

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on the island of Goa. This beach’s beauty and pleasantness cannot be praised too highly. It has very fine sand, and at high tide the sea extends widely over this very low spot. Low tide leaves the sand very solid, dry, and flat. The people who live in this area stroll along the beach and amuse themselves without a care; in fact, doing so calms their spirits. Many of them have beautiful villas and gardens with very fine and comfortable houses where they spend the winter and the rainy seasons, which in India are when people take their recreation in their houses with their families. Here the channel that we have been describing, which nearly circles around the entire island, comes to an end. In this place the sea makes a large inlet that takes in the beach of Guadalupe on the right side, continuing to the last point of Nossa Senhora do Cabo, and includes the Salcete Peninsula on the left. This creates a safe port near the coast for the heavy carracks from Portugal that cannot return the same year because they arrive too late. [fol. 97v] Moving inland from the beach of Guadalupe, and passing through palm orchards populated by natives of this land and by villas belonging to Portuguese, as has been mentioned, one soon arrives at the ruins of the archaic city of Old Goa, which is near the hillock where the church and convent of the Discalced of Nossa Senhora do Pilar is located. At the ruins, one can see the vestiges of a house belonging to the Gentiles who were lords of this island many centuries before it fell into the hands of the Arabs and Moors. Next to the visible remains and indications of this ancient house, which can be seen to this day, there is a large and deep pool that dates from that time; it is rimmed all around by rocks and is always full of water. It is populated with fish and a few caimans, or small crocodiles, that measure no longer than five or six feet, and hence do no harm to people; in fact, the native women normally wash their clothes in this pool. It appears that it is not filled by a spring, but merely by winter rains. Yet since it does not dry up in the summer, and actually contains much water during that season, water must seep into it from the bottom, especially since it stands hard by the foot of the hillock or knoll of Nossa Senhora [fol. 98r] do Pilar. Despite being rather insalubrious and hot, this place receives many visitors because of its pleasant beach, its large forests of palms and many other fruit trees, and because of the devotion that everyone feels for Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe, the first Portuguese inhabitants of Goa having founded a beautiful church there in her honor. And so during the winter, which is the coolest season and the time for recreation because the air is tempered by the constant rains, this place is so frequented and full of people that it takes on the appearance of a highly populated area. This pleasant beach of Guadalupe follows along the right-hand side, curving and bending somewhat toward the island’s interior, leading to a place known as Santa Ana. The beach is much lower here and becomes flooded by the fresh

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waters that flow from the mainland into the inlet, thus irrigating all of its vega and greatly fertilizing the fields that belong to the natives. From here, which is the final and westernmost point of the island, one arrives at the point or promontory of Nossa Senhora do Cabo, where the sea surrounds it completely. [fol. 98v] Most of the central part of this island of Goa is occupied by a hill that runs along its longest side. As has been mentioned, it is rocky and dry except for a few places that are thickly covered with brush where one would expect to find [margin: game], but in fact none is found save the occasional hare from those that have been brought over from the mainland, though a few partridges and rabbits have also been caught. While the very nature of the land is unsuitable for game, a more probable reason is that the brush and thickets of this hill are home to a large number of jackals.39 There are two species of these animals. The first is small, somewhat larger than a fox and having almost the same shape and coloring; the second is much larger than a true hyena, which is mentioned quite frequently by ancient authors who write about the nature of animals. This second kind is much bigger, though it resembles the first in shape and in the color of its fur. It looks like a big wolf or an even larger animal, with a thick and wide belly that gives it the appearance of being low set, almost dragging on the ground. It resembles a wolf in that its hind legs are noticeably shorter than its forelegs, though wolves are much thinner and livelier. Hyenas, or the large jackals we are speaking of, are so heavy, potbellied, and sluggish that a man can easily overtake them, even if he is not very fleet of foot. But for their own protection, nature has endowed them with [fol. 99r] cleverness and a natural instinct that always keeps them from getting into harmful situations: they constantly stay close to caves and thick underbrush where they can hide. When they need to come out at night to search for food, which usually consists of dead human bodies, they can detect the scent of humans on the breeze from far away, and thus they easily protect themselves by maintaining a distance from them, even though they move [superscript: at an] unhurried and sluggish pace. The smaller jackals are not as cautious: being so much quicker, 39  Silva y Figueroa fails to distinguish between two separate species, jackals and hyenas, believing that the former are simply small hyenas. The species mentioned here is probably the golden jackal (Canis aureus), also known as the common jackal, Asiatic jackal, or gold-wolf. The golden jackal probably emerged from Asia, which explains some of its differences from African species. Despite its name, the golden jackal is more closely related to the grey wolf and the coyote than it is to other jackal species, which may be why Silva y Figueroa elliptically attributes wolflike features to it. What he calls hyenas are more than likely the striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), which is the species of true hyena native to the Indian subcontinent. It is the smallest of the true hyenas and, while primarily a scavenger, large specimens have been known to kill their own prey and in some rare instances to attack humans. The striped hyena features prominently in Asian folklore.

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they hazard climbing all the way down the hill to search for food among the palm orchards and huts belonging to the natives, emitting loud and exceedingly plaintive cries in concert, which closely resemble the howling of dogs. In order to protect themselves from the latter, they band together in large packs to defend themselves and come to each other’s aid. It is remarkable to hear them at night, which is when they come down from the brush, calling out and warning each other with a variety of mournful howls. Driven by hunger, they often make their way to the villas and yards of the city. As most of the city is dispersed and spread out, there are palm orchards and groves of other trees interspersed within it, and thus these animals can move easily from one group of trees to the next. The odor of dead bodies buried in the church graveyards, which they routinely dig up and eat, attracts them from great distances. This happens more than usual in the parish of São Pedro40 at the city’s [fol. 99v] border, being located next to the hillock and its palm orchards whence the jackals emerge immediately after nightfall. And so great is their voraciousness and blind lust for disinterring and eating the dead, that many people, including Friar Cristóvão de Lisboa,41 archbishop of Goa, insist that one night these filthy animals dug up a cadaver and ate it just outside the door of the Sé Cathedral42 in the very heart and center of the city’s population. Hyenas, which are bigger than these jackals, though both kinds of animals are known by the same name, do not penetrate as far into the city. Since they are more careful to protect themselves, they do not stray from the deepest thickets of the forests unless it is into unpopulated areas. They stuff their fat bellies with the cadavers of the Gentiles and Moors, there being a great number from both groups living in the city. Their dead are buried in a great plain

40  Portuguese for “St. Peter.” A parish is a religious and administrative subdivision or neighborhood. It was very common in Iberian society for the term parish (Spanish feligresía, Portuguese freguesia) to stand as a synonym for a neighborhood, since the members of a specific congregation usually lived in close physical proximity to their church. Although Silva y Figueroa writes here that São Pedro is found outside the walls of the city of Goa, it is actually located inside the walls and is labeled as S. Pedro on Erédia’s map. 41  Cristóvão de Sá e Lisboa, O. S. H., Portuguese cleric, administrator, and author. After the death of D. João Ribeiro Gaio in 1604, he was appointed bishop of Melaka in Lisbon and left for Asia in the 1605 fleet. He was the bishop of Melaka for five years. After the death of D. Friar Aleixo de Meneses, he was archbishop of Goa in 1610 until his death on 31 March 1622. He temporarily replaced the viceroy (D. Jerónimo de Azevedo) during the latter’s absence in 1615 and while Silva y Figueroa was in Goa. For details of his life and writings, see Machado, Bibliotheca Lusitana, 1.581; for additional information on Ribeiro Gaio, see Souza and Turley, Boxer Codex, 439–501. 42  The Sé Cathedral is found inside the walls of the city of Goa on the Erédia map.

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at the crest of the hillock as one travels from the city to Guadalupe and Santa Ana. Here the hyenas gather in the middle of the night, making great and terrible cries, greatly differing in this respect from jackals or smaller hyenas. The size and shape of these large hyenas have led some of the Portuguese, who have seen them on repeated occasions, to incorrectly believe that there are bears on this island; others mistake the hyenas for wolves. But it is certain that there are no bears in all of India and in most of the East, [margin: including the woods of the Gate Mountains, where these hyenas are also found]; the exception is the cold provinces and the provinces adjacent to them. Neither have bears ever been reported in the many regions of Ethiopia and Barbary, even though Europeans have so often made incursions into and explored these regions. And those who claim to have seen wolves in [fol. 100r] other parts of India are deceived; when they see these hyenas, they think they are wolves because they look so much like them, although they are actually quite different; wolves are thinner and lighter, and hyenas thickset and heavy. The belief on the part of some people that they have seen bears on this island is [margin: There are also wolves in the heaviest thickets of the island, especially on the Bardes peninsula, where they inflict damage on smaller livestock, as happens in most parts of the world. And although bears have never been seen, many people are convinced they exist]. Because some of these hyenas have been spotted from houses in the country, and since they are of the size that has been described, and because they are potbellied and [margin: their hind legs] are short, they do closely resemble bears, especially in their large muzzles, or snouts, like those found on bears and pigs. In general, both kinds of [margin: hyenas] are filthy and cowardly. Many of the smaller ones have been killed by dogs, although few of the latter are very useful in India, most of the species being small and indistinct compared to the European varieties such as mastiffs, hounds, and small yappers. There has been no report of a large hyena being killed by dogs. This is not only because of their remarkable ability to protect themselves, but also because dogs dare not attack them. There has been one reported case in which hyenas, driven by hunger, intentionally lay in wait in the thickest part of the woods day and night, listening for the passing of small dogs, which they hunt down and eat. They also deceive these dogs by imitating their howls and luring them to where they lie in wait for them. As far as other poisonous animals that many people have dubiously [fol. 100v] and fantastically claimed live in India, I have not received reports that any are found on this island except for three species of snakes or serpents.43 The first of 43  There are actually five species of highly venomous snakes in South Asia: (1) the Indian, Asian, or spectacled cobra (Naja naja); (2) the king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah); (3) the

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these has the same size, shape, and color as the varieties found in Spain; their venom is extremely poisonous and quick acting, killing those they bite within twenty-four hours, and sometimes in less than five or six, if their victims are not administered the treacle and antidotes that are available here for this purpose. The Portuguese call these poisonous serpents cobras de capelo44 because their heads and a portion of their necks look like the headdresses or mantillas worn by the women in Portugal and India. These headdresses are made from ruffled veils and wimples that are usually called toalhas45 in Portugal. They attach them to the top of their coiffures (women wear their hair piled up high, especially here in India) and let them drape down on both sides, pulled well back from their faces and necks, and reaching below their breasts, which are left exposed along with their throats. For anyone who has never seen this kind of headdress, the capelo of this snake bears a close resemblance to the hoods or cowls worn by monks, if one pictures them as being wider and pulled back from the face, and longer, extending to the chest. These [fol. 101r] snakes or vipers have been seen taking on this aspect and peculiar quality when they raise their heads and necks high off the ground as they endeavour to flee quickly from a human being or when they attempt to strike and bite someone, because then they raise up a foot or a foot and a half off the ground and, contracting their muscles, open the folds or the cavity of the skin of their heads and necks, adopting the form and shape that I have just described. Some of these snakes that I saw in Goa did not seem to me to be any different from those of Spain, or those that are seen in houses or the countryside, save for this specific quality they possess, for when they crawl slowly with their heads down, the aforementioned cavity does not expand, and they look very much like other snakes. But when the Moorish street entertainers or charlatans threaten or irritate them by touching them, they expand and assume the posture described above.

common krait (Bungarus caeruleus); (4) Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii); and (5) the Sawscaled viper (Echis carinatus). In this passage, Silva y Figueroa is referring to the Indian, Asian, or spectacled cobra (Naja naja); see following n. 44. 44  Portuguese for “hooded cobra.” Based on this description, Silva y Figueroa is obviously referring to the Indian, Asian, or spectacled cobra (Naja naja). This species, often associated with snake charmers, is revered in Indian mythology and culture, since Hindus believe that the two circular ocelli patterns connected by a curved line that are found on the rear of this snake’s hood, evoking the image of glasses or spectacles, are the footmarks of Krishna. Its hood, its most distinctive and impressive characteristic, is formed by the snake raising the anterior portion of its body and spreading some of the ribs in its neck region when it is threatened. 45  Portuguese for “mantles.”

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These Moors possess many of these tame snakes, which let themselves be handled without striking. The Moors make their living with these and other ruses, as did the Marsi46 of ancient Italy, and as in our day do the Spoletines.47 And while some people believe that these snakes have had their fangs removed to render them harmless, and though ignorant folk are convinced that they are charmed—this being the popular opinion—the truth is that the snakes [fol. 101v] have been tamed and domesticated by these charlatans, as is seen today in many of the mountainous regions of Barbary, whose inhabitants are called Berbers,48 who are actually the ancient and true Africans, though they are now poor and rustic. They keep snakes in their homes that are as tame and domesticated as cats; their children handle them and play with them without receiving any injury whatsoever. Similarly, I saw one of these capelo serpents in Goa, owned by one of the aforementioned Moors, which was so tame that it was wrapped twice around the neck of a little black boy who looked no more than three years old. This child was hopping around and playing while one of his hands was wrapped around the snake’s neck, right next to its head, his other hand grasping it by the tail, and the snake did not bite him or hurt him, even though it still had all its fangs, just like untamed ones. The second kind of venomous snake is longer than those found in Spain, or perhaps a tad shorter, not exceeding a foot and a half in length, and thinner; most of these have a black hide or skin on top, [margin: where others have brown] and white skin and are white on their lower surface with a few black or yellow marks.49 Their venom acts much faster and is more efficient than 46  An ancient people of Italy reported to be adept in handling poisonous serpents; see Pliny, Natural History, 7.2. 47  Residents of the Perugian city of Spoleto. 48  An ethnic group from North Africa that is continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa Oasis in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River, although Berbers are concentrated in the region of the Atlas Mountains that Silva y Figueroa is referring to in this passage, a range that stretches across north-western Africa for approximately 2,500 km (1,550 mi) through the Maghreb (present-day Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) and separates the coastlines of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean from the Sahara Desert. 49  While the description of this snake in not sufficiently detailed to arrive at a conclusive identification, not to mention that Silva y Figueroa’s account presents discrepancies with snakes found in Goa today, we believe that the species he is describing is the Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii). This species strikes with such speed that its victim has little chance of escaping, and its venom is a powerful coagulant, causing pain, swelling, and bleeding. Another candidate is the Saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus) on account of its size, habitat, behavior, and venom. While Russel’s viper is the smallest of the possible species, it

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that of capelo serpents. After they bite, [margin: blood oozes from their victim’s mouth, nose, eyes, and ears,] and the person dies within just a few hours if he does not receive immediate attention. These deadly asps, or vipers, possess a remarkable property by which they demonstrate their great virulence and malice: they wrap themselves around tree branches and wait for a person or [fol. 102r] animal to pass by, and then fling themselves swiftly and speedily onto their victim as he draws close, jumping as if propelled or flung with violence, biting him in the same instant before they hit the ground. Other times they hide in the grass and propel themselves in the same way, biting people’s legs or feet. Judging from the characteristics, shape, and size of these vipers—some of which have green skin on their upper surface—and the way they bite, we can conclude without a doubt that they are the very same serpent described by the ancients, called a jacule [margin: or a haemorrhoïs];50 they attribute to this creature the same size, the same violence, and the same property of its venom. In addition to these two species of venomous snakes, there is another one that lives in houses, called a singapor51 by the Moors and the Gentiles of this land. It is said that its venom is much stronger than that of other snakes. But it is so small that it is no more than a span or a little more in length; it is thinner than the thinnest part of one’s little finger, and black with yellow marks on its upper surface, and white with the same marks on the bottom. Experience teaches us that these small snakes rarely or never inflict injury, according to the few reports that one has received about them; they are also very seldom sighted. However, one night, during the first year I spent in Goa, I was about to sit down to table when one of my servants saw one of these small snakes close to a chair and killed it with a stick. It had either fallen from the rooftop of the is closer to the described size than the others (the spectacled cobra, the King cobra, the Common krait, or Russell’s viper; see p. 179 n. 43). Most importantly, Russel’s viper is a tree climber, especially during the monsoon. When threatened, it forms a double coil in a figure eight, with its head poised in the center, which permits it to lash out like a released spring. Furthermore, its venom produces hemorrhage, vomiting, coughing, and coagulation of blood. Silva y Figueroa advances the description of a third venomous snake below that because of its size could only be the saw-scaled viper, which makes it difficult determine the name of the snake in this passage. 50  The jacule, from Latin iaculum, meaning “thrown object,” was a small mythical serpent, sometimes known as the javelin snake or dragon. It was said to hide in trees and to spring out at its victims. It was also known as a haemorrhoïs because its bite produced unstanchable bleeding; see Pliny, Natural History, 20.23. 51  This small snake seems to most closely resemble the Saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus), see above n. 49, though we have not been able to find a correlation between the singapor and its name in any of the indigenous languages.

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chamber or had come in from some other room. [fol. 102v] It had the same size, color, and proportions as those described above. There are other kinds of snakes on this island and in most of the houses, which are similar to the ones in Spain and the rest of Europe, but these have no virulence or venom whatsoever and only inflict harm on birds and small mice, on which they feed for the most part. The blacks often find them by day and by night in their poor houses and beds, right next to them and their children, and they present no danger to them at all. However, it is quite amazing and worth mentioning, but very commonplace and familiar, that many of these harmless snakes that lack venom have two heads, one being somewhat bigger than the other, the extremities that the heads are attached to being almost equal in length. Besides this they are no different from other snakes, except that they travel toward the direction of the larger head.52 There are other small animals that have the shape and coloring of lizards in Spain, though they are somewhat smaller and not so green. These live in the walls and trees of the yards or gardens. A row of spines begins at the front of their heads and continues down to the end of their tails in the very manner that serpents are popularly depicted. But they are very tame, living off flowers and tree leaves. The Portuguese call them camaleões, even though they do not change their color by imitating things close to them, which is the popular belief; the Indian variety always stays the same color.53 [fol. 103r] At this juncture I should also mention what was seen shortly after my arrival in India in a garden or patio of my house in Goa, which is hard by the bank of the Pangim River on one side and directly flanked by the hillock where the church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário54 is situated on the other. Soon after disembarking, I spent a few days in the Colégio de São Tomás,55 both to convalesce from my illness and to wait for a comfortable house to be found for me. After recovering from my illness, I went to my house and found my servants, who had already been living there a few days, in a very agitated and frightened 52  Silva y Figueroa appears to be referring to a harmless species of snake commonly called the Indian sand boa, the Red sand boa, or the Brown sand boa (Eryx johnii), which is found in Iran, Pakistan, and India. When alarmed, it coils and raises its tail, which resembles its head, and hence in Hindi it is called do-muha, meaning “two-headed.” 53  While the Indian chameleon (Chamaeleo zeylanicus) can change the color of its skin, it does not do so to match the background color for purposes of camouflage, so Silva y Figueroa may be correct in his description. 54  Portuguese for “Our Lady of the Rosary.” It appears that the place name mentioned by Silva y Figueroa in this and the subsequent sentence are found inside the walls of the city of Goa and are labeled on Erédia’s map as simply Rosario and S. Thomas. 55  Portuguese for “College of St. Thomas,” a Dominican college.

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state. Some of the native servants, both men and women, had told them that there was a great capelo serpent in the garden, relating many other fantastical things about these snakes, further averring that shadows and visions were frequently seen at night in the same garden and in neighboring areas. While it is true that the masses are always ready and quick to believe anything that has to do with this or any other kind of superstition or deception, in India they do so more earnestly than anywhere else. Those who are born and raised here are wholly subject to these and many other vain beliefs and persuasions. And whether my entire entourage felt apprehensive and afraid because of what the blacks had told them, or whether something really had been seen, [fol. 103v] two servants, one an Italian named Cesare, who served me as confectioner, and the other a Portuguese named Simão, who served at table for the other servants, declared that one morning as they went into the garden to pick flowers, they saw, over by some bushes next to the wall of the corral, a small animal the size of a barn owl, though its head was smaller. Its eyes were very bright and flecked like those of a small common owl, and its mouth was curved downwards like a cock’s beak. The hide of its body was black all over, dappled with many colors, its tail turned up, with two wings that were partially unfurled and fashioned like a bat’s wings, and its feet like those of a duck. They inspected it very carefully and saw that, in addition to these other features, it had a red and forked crest around and on top of its head. The creature did not hide or take fright until they began to throw rocks at it. This was later related to the other household servants, causing them to be warier and more fearful of the hooded serpent than before. That is because I teased some of them by saying that what Cesare and Simão had said was true, and that without a doubt the animal was a basilisk, which was by far more poisonous than all the vipers and serpents in India. At that point the whole household became much more frightened, and some of the staff, except for the two who had first seen it during the day, began saying that they had seen it at night under a low window that faced the same garden, and that it fled as soon as it heard people, not running quickly and close to the ground like other animals, but leaping and throwing itself into the air like [fol. 104r] a frog or a toad. I asked those who had last seen it how big it was, how it was shaped and what color it was. They said that because it was night and there was no moon, they had not been able to determine its appearance very clearly, even though they were close to it, but that it looked black or brown and a little fatter than a cat, though not as long. According to their description I was able to infer that it must have been a rabbit that had come in through a hole or from one of the neighboring yards, since the neighbors normally raise tame rabbits that multiply rapidly like the household varieties in Spain, although the Indian variety is better tasting, differing little or none at

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all from wild rabbits except that they are very fat and much larger. And in order to confirm that this was the case, or to determine that what my servants said was true, I attempted to watch and see it for myself. And thus after nightfall I set myself in a chair by the garden gate and waited with a harquebus for a good while, watching the place where this creature was allegedly seen most often, which was at the foot of a palm tree fourteen or fifteen paces from where I was waiting. But even though I waited for almost an hour that night, nothing at all appeared. The next night I carried out the same task, and having tired after a long wait, I handed the harquebus to a Piedmontese servant of mine named Giuseppe56 and ordered him to stay there and watch carefully to see if anything came close to that spot, and that if he saw the thing that had reportedly appeared, he was to fire the [fol. 104v] harquebus at it. Very soon thereafter as I was strolling around a nearby patio, a report from the harquebus was heard, followed by the shouting of the other servants who had been giving heed and were waiting to see what would happen. They said that Giuseppe had killed the mysterious animal. Many of them ran immediately into the garden, followed by me, but there was no sign of it, though many claimed that it jumped around and ran wildly among them. They claimed it was brown, almost as long as it was wide, and was shaped like a large toad, and that it lifted itself high off the ground when it jumped. Giuseppe himself and a Portuguese servant named Lobo, the first to come in, said that after the harquebus was fired at it, it was so injured or stunned by the discharge or the report that it remained still for a while, and that it was almost right under their feet, but that after everyone surrounded it, they and the others dared not touch it from fear of the poison that I had told them it possessed. In the end it got away from them and never returned. What caught my attention at first about the report I was given concerning this creature, if what the first two servants had said was accurate, was that even though these two were ignorant people, and only one of them could barely read at all and thus had no awareness of letters, not even of the [fol. 105r] most popular sort, their description of the creature’s form and size matches that given by Pliny57 and all the other ancients who portray and describe the basilisk, or regulus,58 as having a crest or crown similar to the one seen on this creature 56  Below we learn that this is Giuseppe Salvador. 57  Pliny [the Elder] [Gaius Plinius Secundus] (AD 23–79), Roman author. 58  It is impossible to accurately determine which animal or creature the informants or the author are describing in this passage. The basilisk or regulus (meaning “little king” in Greek and Latin, respectively) was the reputed legendary king of serpents, which possessed the power to bring death with a single glance; it was also known in English as

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in my garden. And as I related the case to people in Goa, they confirmed to me that some creatures with the same appearance had been seen in Melaka, but that they were harmless and that no poisonous effect had been detected in them, this being very different from the amazed and exaggerated reports of the ancients concerning its quality and nature. A Dominican59 monk named Friar Francisco de Avalos60 told me that while he was in Manila,61 from where he had come to Goa, a sewage pipe in a house close to the cathedral collapsed from the heavy rains, and that many people who were present, including the friar, saw the same kind of creature in the pipe, and that it possessed the same features: wings, crest, tail, and beak, although it was somewhat smaller than the one that appeared in my residence. Accordingly, one can conclude that this creature, while possessing the same form and size of a basilisk, or regulus, is completely different in its effect. Very often facts learned from distant sources that are not based on a true knowledge of them are doubtful and baseless. The sides and foothills of this small mount, in which [fol. 105v] there are also a few gorges and valleys, are filled with beautiful palm orchards and many other kinds of trees that bear the fruit that the land normally produces. The most common ones, after mangoes,62 which are the most common, are the cockatrice, e.g., “the death-darting eye of Cockatrice” (Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet, 3.2.47). According to Pliny the Elder, it “is produced in the province of Cyrene, being not more than twelve fingers in length. It has a white spot on the head, strongly resembling a sort of a diadem. When it hisses, all the other serpents fly from it: and it does not advance its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but moves along upright and erect upon the middle. It destroys all shrubs, not only by its contact, but those even that it has breathed upon; it burns up all the grass too, and breaks the stones, so tremendous is its noxious influence. It was formerly a general belief that if a man on horseback killed one of these animals with a spear, the poison would run up the weapon and kill not only the rider, but the horse as well. To this dreadful monster the crow of a rooster is fatal, a thing that has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self.” See Pliny, Natural History, 8.21, and Moure, “Basilisco.” 59  The Dominicans are a Catholic religious order founded in France in 1216 by the Spanish priest St. Dominic de Guzmán. Their Latin name is Ordo Praedicatorum, meaning “Order of Preachers,” hence the abbreviation O. P. used by members to identify themselves. 60  We have yet to trace any further information concerning the life and career of this Dominican friar. 61  Capital of the Spanish colony of the Philippines. 62  See p. 167 n. 16.

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jambos63 and cashew apples.64 Jambos have a white and red rind, and they look like the small apples or small peros65 that are sold in Madrid at Easter and in the spring. Cajus are like large Pippin apples66 and have nearly the same color, but they have a thick nut on the outside of the upper surface like a chestnut. Mangoes are approximately as big as a quince.67 They are most pleasing to the eye. In color they are green, mixed with yellow and pink, especially when ripe, and have the form of an oval or obtuse pyramidal figure, with symmetrical firm and round ends,68 except that one is bigger than the other. The skin is removed as on a very ripe peach, its meat being of the same color, though softer and so juicy and moist that the skin is difficult to peel without a very sharp knife. The pit is so big around and long that it takes up a third or almost half of the fruit. The meat or flesh of most of them is so fibrous and stringy that it is difficult to eat. There is another fruit that is of extraordinary and prodigious size, being bigger than [fol. 106r] large melons; the tree that produces it is as big as the chestnut trees in Spain and has leaves of similar shape, though greener and thicker. Nature, being such an excellent provider in all things, has arranged for this heavy and large fruit to grow, not on the branches or between the leaves on the extremities of the branches, but rather on the forks and divisions where the heaviest branches project from the trunk; otherwise it could not be supported because of its weight and size. Its shape and form is like that of a melon, except that is lacks sections. Its thick rind is green and yellowish, but very uneven, 63  Jambos (Syzygium jambos), also known as Malabar plums or rose apples, produce an edible fruit containing one or two large unarmored seeds about 1 cm (.4 in) in diameter, lying loose in a slightly fluffy cavity when ripe. They are shaped like guavas, a plant with which it is fairly closely related, although the jambo’s fragrance, flavor, and texture are different. 64  Silva y Figueroa is apparently oblivious to the cashew’s relatively recent arrival to India. The cashew, a fruit-bearing tree, is native to north-eastern Brazil and was brought to India by the Portuguese via Goa during the second half of the sixteenth century; from there it spread throughout South and South-east Asia and eventually to Africa. Its botanical name, Anacardium occidentale, refers to the shape of the fruit, which looks like an inverted heart (ana means “upward” and cardium means “heart”). The English name for the tree, its apples, and its nuts is derived from caju, which itself is derived from the indigenous Tupi word acajú, reportedly meaning “nut that produces itself.” 65  An unidentified variety of apple; see DA, 5:229. 66   Malus domestica or Malus sylvestris. 67  Quince (Cydonia oblonga), also called membrillos in Spain, are small deciduous trees that produce a pome (i.e., apple-like) fruit. 68  The translation of noteretes here is approximate, since we have been unable to identify this word.

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with very thick bumps or warts; it is like the rind of a squash and is just as hard. One breaks it open and eats the meat found on the inside, which is very abundant. It looks almost exactly like blancmange, though perhaps a bit more yellow. In the middle there are ten or twelve nuts, if not more, that look like chestnuts, and there is another small fruit inside of those the size and flavor of almonds, which are also edible. This prodigious and extraordinary fruit, called jacas69 here in India, [fol. 106v] has a harsh and nasty smell and an unpleasant taste, as does nearly all the fruit from India, though none smells quite as awful as the jaca. But the local people eat them quite readily, although this fruit seems completely repugnant to the appetite and nature of people who are not habituated or accustomed to them. Mangoes are by far the most prized of all Indian fruit, and are particularly praised by the Portuguese. There are also other small fruits of lesser renown. Two species lack the terrible odor and unpleasant taste of the others. The first has the same color as the blackthorns70 or dark plums from Spain, but is smaller and rounder. They taste almost like medlars71 or rowanberries;72 one must soften them with the fingers before eating them. The second variety is of the same color and size as small elongated apples and tastes much like the jujubes73 that are found in Spain and Barbary. Its pit is of commensurate proportions, considering its size. Both of these fruits are sweeter and better when they are fully ripe. The first one is called a jangoma,74 and the other a boran.75 The latter resembles apples and, hence, are so called by the Portuguese. In addition to these fruits, which grow on big and leafy trees, there are found not only on this island and on almost all the other islands in this part of the East, but also on the mainland, a large amount of citrons and big, beautiful limes. The citrons [fol. 107r] are as big, and in some cases bigger, than the largest jackfruit, whose enormity has already been mentioned. They are also so soft that they surpass the ones from Spain and Italy, which are considered the best citrons in the world. There are also many oranges, though very small and juicy, which have a very thin peel. The sweeter ones are a little less bitter than the others, and their peels, which contain the fruit, are most difficult to remove. 69  Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is the largest tree-borne fruit. 70  The MS has andrinas, modern Spanish endrina (Prunus spinosa). 71  Common medlar (Mespilus germanica). 72   Sorbus aucuparia. 73  The MS has açofeyfas, modern Spanish azufaifas (Ziziphus jujube); its bush is a species of buckthorn used primarily to provide shade, but also bears fruit that resembles the date. 74  Governor’s plum (Flacourtia jangomas). 75  Indian plum (Ziziphus mauritiana).

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Each section contains a great many plump seeds. In sum, they are insipid and vastly inferior in taste and size to those of Spain. Nature has endowed these Eastern regions with a great abundance of these three kinds of trees, in addition to others, and if these oranges were tended by European orchard men and gardeners, they would be very good, and the others, although they are quite good, would be even better. There are two more kinds of very common fruit in India. They do not grow on trees like the rest; rather, they bear a close [fol. 107v] resemblance to legumes. The first of these is known as figos da Índia by the Portuguese and quelen by the natives.76 They are more accurately the same as the bananas of our West Indies, or the musas77 of Cyprus,78 Syria, and Egypt. The trunk of its tree is usually as big around as a man’s arm or leg and is approximately one fathom tall. Its flesh is soft and squishy like a cabbage, but its leaves are a fathom or a fathom and a half long and three feet wide, so that the entire plant is two are three fathoms tall,79 the leaves creating a pleasantly green, large bush, though the top is thin. A stalk as thick as a pike’s handle80 forms and then shoots up from the center, which hangs [superscript: bears] the weight of a large bunch of these figs, or bananas, most of which number approximately 100. Some bunches are bigger than others, depending on the kind or the size and fertility of the plant. The smaller ones are considered healthier and better tasting. When fully ripe they turn yellow, and many of them are [fol. 108r] dried after being picked from the plant, like the dried figs in Spain, except that 76  See p. 143. 77   Musa (derived from Arabic mouz, meaning “banana”) is a genus of the Musaceae family that includes bananas and plantains. Today, almost all modern edible seedless bananas come from one of two wild species, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. As there is no sharp distinction worldwide between bananas and plantains, the old scientific names that attempted to establish this differentiation (Musa sapientum and Musa paradisiaca) are no longer used. Native to tropical south and south-east Asia, edible species of Musae spread to Africa, portions of Europe, and the Americas coincident with the spread of Islam and the dawn of European expansion (between the eighth and sixteenth centuries). The Portuguese began cultivating the fruit in West Africa, from where they introduced it into the Atlantic islands and the Americas, particularly in Brazil. 78  Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, located south of present-day Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, north-west of Israel, north of Egypt, and east of Greece in the Aegean Sea at 35°0′0″N, 33°0′0″E. Because of its strategic location, it has a long and turbulent history of being seized by competing empires. Present-day Cyprus is a republic that is de facto partitioned between itself and Turkey. 79  The MS has supe, corrected to sube, meaning “rises.” 80  See “Measurements.”

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the Indian variety is harder and more difficult to eat. But since they do not spoil, they may be used for provisions on long voyages and are considered good and healthy sustenance. The smaller ones are a bit more than four fingers long and a little over a finger-width across. The peel or skin is removed the same way as on European figs, revealing a very soft flesh or meat that is buttery and somewhat insipid, tasting somewhat like bad Spanish figs, but lacking the unpleasant odor of the tree-borne fruit. They taste best when cooked in sugar, making a very good jam. To all appearances they are the most healthful fruit in India, growing everywhere [margin: in every season] in great quantity and abundance. Some of these banana trees produce much bigger bunches, their figs being correspondingly larger, two or three times fatter and longer than the others. But they are not considered as good or good tasting as the smaller ones, although the ones grown in Kannur, despite being bigger than those from any other region, surpass all the rest in their perfection, [fol. 108v] as well as in taste. The other plant or tree is shorter and its leaves are lower, nearly reaching the ground like the kinds of bulrushes81 or reeds that grow in swampy and moist areas. The fruit grows on a straight stalk in the center of the bush, just like an artichoke,82 having the size, shape, and color of a large pine cone, as well as scales, and, except for its softer rind, one cannot tell them apart. When ripe in season, it turns yellowish-green with a touch of pink. Peeling it like a pear or a pippin reveals a white and yellow substance. It has no pit, just a few small seeds that are spread throughout. Its faint flavor is at best indifferent, tasting somewhat like watermelon83 or squash, though lacking the strong smell of cashews, jambos, mangoes, and jackfruit. In the East Indies this fruit is called an ananaz,84 and in the West Indies the Spanish call them piñas because of their appearance.85 It is widely held in this city of Goa that the seeds of these piñas, or ananazes, came from Brazil, from the continent of Peru,86 and from the remaining provinces of the [fol. 109r] New World. They are very numerous both here and there, growing with the greatest ease wherever they are planted, which is done by burying an actual pineapple in the earth, leaving only the top part, or crown, exposed. As soon as the stalk sprouts, a small 81   Typha latifolia or Typha angustifolia. 82   Cynara carcundulus var. scolymus. 83  The MS has balançia (see DA, 1:533); the modern Spanish word is sandía (Citrullus lanatus). 84  Pineapple (Ananas comosus). The Portuguese word ananás derives from the indigenous name given by the Tupi of Brazil. 85  I.e., they somewhat resemble pinecones (Spanish piña). 86  I.e., South America.

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bunch of leaves grows on it; these are like those located on the lower plant and are very similar to the leaves of wild onions or sea onions87 found in Spain, though not as green. The stalk then grows very tall and produces the pineapple itself. Each plant produces only one of these fruits at a time. When the stalk is cut, another fruit grows in its place, and so the stalks multiply, with the result that a single planted pineapple ends up looking like a giant reed plant, as has been described. These pineapples are praised in Spain as one of the finest and most delicious fruits in existence. But myself, after learning how bad it really is, concluded that those who thought it was so good held that opinion because they were forced to eat it on long voyages and arduous pilgrimages through the vast western wasteland, and because most of the best European fruit was unavailable on journeys through the East. It is usually necessity, not choice, that gives [fol. 109v] pineapples or ananazes such a good reputation in the face of all reason. [margin: Among the abundant] infructiferous trees on this island, there are in many places two kinds [superscript: varieties] that deserve special mention; they are noteworthy because of their natures and properties. The first is very big, like the large walnut trees of Europe.88 Numerous fibers or thin strands hang down from its branches, and as these touch the ground they take root; shortly thereafter shoots spring out of them that, if they are not cut, grow into as many trees. The ones that grow next to the trunk stick to it and become intertwined with it, and so the trunk looks as if it had grown from a single base. Thus many of these trees are enormously thick. The rest of these fibers or roots, that is those hanging farther away from the trunk, are cut from above so that they do not hinder people who wish to enjoy the shade, which is created by the thickness of the leaves and branches and the abundant upper section. Many of these trees are well known because of their great size. Among them is the famous and noble tree of Chapora,89 a village on the Bardes peninsula; the native Moors and Gentiles customarily hold their markets and fairs under it because of its great size. The other kind of tree is commonly called the triste.90 But [margin: This name] is most inappropriate, since it has a very beautiful [fol. 110r] green 87  Sea onions or sea squills (Urginea maritime). 88  This is the banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis), which is native to the Indian subcontinent, where it is considered sacred, and, based on size of canopy cover, are among the world’s largest trees. 89  Silva y Figueroa also identifies this village as Chaphora. 90  Known by Portuguese writers as the árvore triste, meaning “sad tree” (Nyctanthes arbortristis), so called because it was believed to flower only at night; see Y&B, 34, s.v. “arbol triste”; and Dalgado, 1:62.

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coloration. It is of the same size and shape as the quinces91 in Spain, its [margin: upper] branches being somewhat sparse, [superscript: but] its base is low and near to the ground. Its leaves are also similar, though greener and more pleasing. It produces flowers that have the same pattern and size as jasmines, and almost the same scent, and since they are quite delicate and unable to withstand the force of the sun, most of them wilt as soon as they are touched by sunlight, just as with jasmines in Spain. But the flowers of these Indian triste trees that are partially or completely covered by thick leaves can survive into the evening on certain days. When the sky is cloudy—for these trees cannot endure any injury from the sun—they are always beautiful, being completely covered in flowers and giving off a striking scent and fragrance. Most of the vegetables known in Spain grow in abundance on this island all year round, especially squash and cucumbers, of which there are three or four kinds, though there is no cabbage, lettuce, cardoons,92 or endives unless the seeds are brought from Portugal. [superscript: Of] these, only lettuce and cabbage can be harvested the first year they are planted, which is done as soon as the carracks arrive; after that they are of no benefit, and even the first year they are not as [fol. 110v] big or good as their European counterparts. As far as the fruits brought from Spain are concerned, the little or complete lack of diligence on the part of the Portuguese and the natives is the reason why only figs grow here. Many more fruits could be cultivated, but as it is they are quite scarce; the scrawny trees that produce them are no bigger than eggplant bushes or plants in Spain, although the few figs that do grow are rather tasty and flavorful. The same can be said regarding grapes, which are not found on this island save for a few vines, because grapes never fully ripen here. Again, the reason is that the inhabitants of this island lack the industry and art necessary to compensate for nature’s shortcoming in this hot and humid climate. And throughout this island there are beautiful and suitable valleys where many of the good fruits from Europe could grow with a little industry. Yet vain conceit, even among the lowest folk who come from Portugal, does not allow or permit anyone to devote himself to such an honest and useful occupation—they all dedicate themselves instead to commerce and war. They would not deign to engage in tilling the ground, even in their own gardens and farms, even though this way of life has been so valued and [fol. 111r] praised by the most virtuous of men in ancient and modern times. And to illustrate that the only reason grapes do not grow on this island is the lack of even a moderate amount of care, I saw some magnificently beautiful ones in the month of April of this year, 1615, 91  Quinces; see p. 186 n. 67. 92   Cynara cardunculus.

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very ripe and tasty, on a vine that the captain of the fortress of Narva kept in his house, who exercised no more diligence than having it watered a few days each week during the summer, which, unlike in Europe, occurs between October and June, the rain falling [margin: less steadily] during these eight months. [margin: Some very fine grapes grow in some of the gardens of Pangim [margin: and Bardes, which I saw in May of 1620]. The same thing could happen with the other vine arbors and other fruit trees from Spain if they were properly cared for. Our account of the vegetables, plants, and fruits of this island will conclude with that most useful, fertile, and beautiful tree, the palm. Many Spaniards have written different things about it, both those who have travelled to the western islands of the New World and those who have come to greater and lesser India and to eastern Ethiopia. The palm trees that grow on this island, which form beautiful and shady groves in the valleys and foothills of the hillock, are of the same shape and size as the palms that are found in Barbary, Syria, Cyprus, and Egypt. There are also some in Spain, but their base or trunk is more uneven and rough, while the branches and leaves of the Indian variety are softer and [fol. 111v] more spread apart, without the barbs and spines at their base found on the Spanish variety. Finally, although their appearance and shape are identical, they are different species. The fruit they produce and yield is different, too: the palm trees from Barbary produce dates, while these Indian palms bear great clusters of what are known as coconuts,93 each cluster containing ten or twelve of them, and sometimes more, and each palm tree bearing six or seven clusters. At first, these coconuts, which the Portuguese call nozes da Índia,94 are very green and soft in both their inner and outer shells, just like walnuts when preserves are made from them. The outer shell, which turns as hard as bone when the fruit ripens, is very soft and tender. Many people eat it as a dessert in India because it tastes like artichoke or cardoons. The substance that is found in the cavity of this shell, despite being very soft and sweet, is not considered very nourishing because the coconut is still so unripe; the same can be said for its milk. During the second growing phase, the coconut grows to its full size, though its [text blacked out] outer shell is still somewhat unripe [fol. 112r] and mostly yellow, and its inner shell hard, though not as much as it will become later on, as we see when we eat them while still unripe. At this time the milk that is contained in the inner shell is very tasty and nourishing, this phase being 93   Cocos nucifera, a member of the palm family. The term can refer to the entire tree, the seeds, or the fruit. 94  Portuguese for “Indian nuts”; for further details, see Dalgado, 1:290–92.

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when it reaches its highest quality, although the meat or flesh that is attached to it is still not considered very nourishing because it is still soft and viscous, but it is not considered as bad as it is when the coconut is still unripe. During this second phase the natives call coconuts by their original name, lanhas,95 the meat being better than the milk at this point, [text blacked out] and [text blacked out] better tasting than during the first growing phase. During the third growing phase, these coconuts, or nozes da Índia, as the Portuguese call them, turn completely yellow, and after they are very dry they turn almost brown, which is when they are fully ripe. After the outer shell is removed, which is now soft and spongy, it is prepared for making coir,96 which is used as hemp for all kinds of ropes, riggings, and cables that are utilized and are so necessary for navigational or any other purposes. The inner shell is by this time as hard as it will ever be, and the meat that is in the shell is now completely ripe, though somewhat hard, its taste similar [fol. 112v] to that of dried hazelnuts or almonds. The milk is now good too, though not as clear as it was during the second growing phase. Including the shells, these coconuts, or nozes da Índia, grow to be more or less as big as a man’s head, although those that grow on the palms found on the Maldives tend to be much bigger, the meat on the biggest ones normally reaching a finger in thickness and the meat on the smaller ones half a finger. There is on these same islands a certain species of coconut that is highly valued throughout India, whose meat or substance, when dried, according to popular belief, can be used to combat any kind of poison and is a well-known antidote for the bite of any poisonous animal. Coconuts grow in clusters, as I have heretofore described, on the highest branches of palm trees, each one producing on average five or six clusters, depending on the size and fecundity of the tree; these clusters hang from a thick and supple stalk. Sometimes this stalk is cut while it is still tender, before it begins to produce coconuts; the natives place the cut end in large pots or gourds and distil its essence, from which they make wine, vinegar, [fol. 113r] and sugar. The sugar, though dreadful, is used as a substitute for honey by the natives of this land. The flesh and meat of coconuts, after being thoroughly dried and removed from the hard shell to which it is attached, is ground in ox mills or in small hand mills and made into good oil, especially for lamps and lanterns; it has a delicate, good scent and is very pure, giving off a clear and pleasant glow. The common name that these Indic nuts have acquired is coco, the same word that in Spanish refers to any small worm or creature because it has two small marks at the base of its hard shell that look like eyes, and another, bigger 95  Portuguese for “fruit of the coconut tree when it is tender and green” ’; see Dalgado, 1:510. 96  See p. 142 n. 250.

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marking next to the base that is as wide as one’s little finger and that looks like a mouth. These three markings, just as they appear in nature, create the appearance of the mouth and eyes of a coco, or live worm. The larger marking or hole is covered by a somewhat soft substance, the rest of the shell being extremely hard; a hole can be made in it with a punch or the tip of a knife through which the milk is drunk or drained. Because of this similarity and resemblance to a mouth and eyes, the Portuguese called these nuts cocos, and for this same reason the Spaniards who first discovered the West Indies felt obligated to call them the same thing. In the Konkani97 language, they were originally called naren.98 The other applications of palms that are commonly reported [fol. 113v] are very true and worthy of praise, not only for their excellence, but also because they thoroughly meet the domestic needs of so many poor and unfortunate people such as those who live where these palms grow. They also live on its fruit and rely on it for everything else connected to their living and profession, precious little being necessary to satisfy their brief and fleeting lives. But what cannot be denied is that even in the largest and most opulent regions of India, the leaves of these palms are absolutely essential for the manufacture of all kinds of baskets and hampers, which are so customary and necessary for every household chore among both rich and poor. Dried palm leaves are especially valuable for the innumerable hats or large and small sunshades that are used as a protection from the sun, which is so hot in this climate; without them it would be impossible for most people to survive. A few small animals live in many of these palm trees. They are somewhat smaller than the squirrels99 that dwell in the pine groves in Castile, but possess the same appearance, having very soft and yellowish fur. They jump from one palm tree to another along the branches. Some of them are hunted with

97  The MS has canara. Konkani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken along the western coast of India, including the state of Goa. 98  We have been unable to corroborate that naren is the term or an approximation of a term for coconut in Konkani. Certainly the tree, its leaves, and fruit are central to the material culture and life on this coast. We understand that one of the names for the coconut tree in Konkani is kalpa vriksha, meaning “universal provider.” 99  It is possible that Silva y Figueroa is referring to the five-striped palm squirrel (Funambulus pennantii) in this passage; it is found primarily in northern India but does range as far south as Goa. However, we are inclined to believe that he more probably is referring to the three-striped palm squirrel (Funambulus palmarum), known more commonly as the Indian palm squirrel, which is found south of the Vindhya Mountains.

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harquebuses, [fol. 114r] and popular opinion has it that they taste better than young rabbit. The Portuguese call squirrels bichos de palmeira.100 I will also mention here a noteworthy species of weasel because of the resemblance it bears to squirrels. While they are as big as the martens of Spain and are the same color, they are so quick that they almost deceive the eye. They are extremely vigorous, much more than what their size and paltry strength would suggest, fearlessly attacking any other animal; yet they are extremely gentle with people, even when they are untamed and newly captured. They only differ from the Spanish variety in that they are thinner and have a longer tail, but unlike the martens, squirrels, and weasels of Europe, the fur on the tails of these Indian animals is thicker toward the base and then gradually tapers out toward the end, like a cat’s. Another variety of these martens, much larger than the first, lives in the countryside; though they have the same shape, their fur is between brown and white, while the color of the smaller ones is like that of pine martens or squirrels. Most of these live in houses or in the gardens or the palm orchards found therein. Both [fol. 114v] species have a generous, gentle, and tame temperament that can be compared to that of the ichneumon101 of Egypt, which is extolled by the ancient and modern writers of that region.102 Now that the coast of this island has been treated, most of what is found on the island has already been described, since the island itself is no wider than three fourths of a league, though it is more than three leagues long, as has been stated. A jagged and rocky mountain ridge separates and divides the island into two halves along its entire length, excepting the part occupied by the lagoon, described below. A quantity of rock is quarried from it with which all of the public and private buildings of the city of Goa are built. This rock is mined from quarries and later worked with great ease, most of it being red, dark, light, and porous, but so fragile and brittle that any moderate blow easily chips off the part that is struck. Some of these rocks have veins that are thicker and more massive than the granite of Spain, having the same color, and some of these are better than others. In the absence of marble, they are utilized on 100  Silva y Figueroa gives the actual Portuguese here, meaning “palm creatures,” instead of a Hispanized version as he usually does in similar cases. 101  Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon); ichneumon means “tracker” in Greek. The ancient ichneumon Silva y Figueroa refers to in this passage was a mythical creature that, in addition to killing snakes, as does the modern Egyptian mongoose, also reputedly attacked and killed dragons and crocodiles. 102  Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, 87.

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the doorways and frontispieces of buildings, but they are more expensive and difficult to work. This mountainous ridge also produces something that is most essential for living, and that is an abundance [fol. 115r] of excellent water. The underground streams on the sides and bases of the ridge supply plentiful irrigation water for the gardens and villas belonging to many of the citizens, as well as for many monasteries of the religious orders of this city that have beautiful houses in several locations on the island. But the depths and bowels of this ridge, which is continuously scorched by the heat of the sun, discharges this healthful water at such a high temperature all year round that it cannot be drunk unless in case of extreme need. It cools off a short time after it is collected from its springs, although the residents of India are so accustomed and habituated to drinking it this way that they have made this deficiency more feasible and tolerable. But newcomers to the island chill it with saltpeter, there being an abundant supply of this substance from the mainland that is white and highly refined. Whether because in India the water cools more easily than in Europe, or whether necessity makes it seem that way because the rest of the water is so hot, the water that is cooled after the saltpeter achieves its maximum effect differs little or not at all from the ice water that is consumed in Spain. While all of this inconvenience with the water lasts most of the year, there are two or three months when the saltpeter treatment is unnecessary [fol. 115v] because the land winds, which blow from the north by north-east and north, cool it to the temperature of the water that issues from the mouths of springs in Spain during the summer. These winds begin to blow around the beginning of November and continue until almost the end of January. During this interval, especially in the mornings, the spring water is almost as cold as the water that is cooled with saltpeter, but it is so harmful and of such poor quality that it causes terrible pains in the intestines, sides, and stomach; many people become sick and die from it during that season. That is because this cold, which is brought by the winds that blow during this season, possesses an especially venomous malice, and is not, as it should be in keeping with the natural order of things, a remedy and an antidote for the heat that one suffers continuously both indoors and out in such a hot climate. Those who are born here or who have lived a long time here in India avoid placing water in the windows where it is exposed to the wind, and not only do they shield it from the wind, but they have large silver vessels with coverings made for this purpose in which they store it so it will not get so cold; the clay makes it even colder. They are right in doing this: I was very afflicted by this disease twice because I was not careful, having drunk a quantity of this cold water without the caution the natives have.

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[fol. 116r] The city of Goa, named after the island itself, is the metropolis and capital of the colonies possessed by the Spaniards of the Crown of Portugal in India.103 It is situated along the banks of the Pangim River, extending from the parish church of São Pedro to shortly past Santa Lúcia,104 a distance of half a league. The buildings that comprise the part of the city at the mouth of the river are few and are limited to the riverbank. And, although for the most part good houses are found in the city, as a whole it is chaotic, disorganized, and scattered, especially at its edges, with many palm groves and other kinds of trees growing among the buildings. Most of the streets twist and turn with no order or harmony of any kind.105 With the exception of the small portion of it that lies within the archaic ramparts, the city looks more like a big crowded hamlet set among the palm trees than an ordered city. Its heart and central part, which, as was mentioned, is contained within the ramparts, is what was seized from the Moors by the famed captain Afonso de Albuquerque. The buildings resemble each other and are built close together. Although the central sector that was contained within the ramparts is populous compared to the rest of the city, it is quite small and difficult to discern because the houses and buildings that have subsequently been added onto it have swallowed up most, if not all, of the walls. But a careful inspection [fol. 116v] clearly reveals that this ancient rampart begins its course at the fortress and the Viceregal House near the Casa da Pólvora106 and the Manduin107 Square, from 103  With this phrase Silva y Figueroa candidly reveals his Spanish, pro-Habsburg, imperial, and xenophobic bias against the Portuguese people, crown, and empire. His private view appears to be that Portuguese nationality had come to an end with the union of the two crowns, meaning that the Portuguese people had simply become Spaniards. Such a view was not only out of harmony with official Habsburg policy, but would have been anathema to most Portuguese at the time and, if manifested publicly by the ambassador in Portugal or in Portuguese Asia, would have produced a virulent antipathy toward his person and mission. 104  Portuguese for “St. Lucy.” 105  This pejorative characterization of the layout of the streets of Goa stands in marked contrast with the reasonably ordered disposition of streets seen on Erédia’s map. In any event, because the streets on Erédia’s map are unnamed, and since Silva y Figueroa provides their names and plots their paths, the text in the Commentaries can be used to identify the streets on the map. Specifically, Silva y Figueroa usually mentions the prominent landmarks that stand at either end of any given street, and those same landmarks appear on Erédia’s map. 106  Portuguese for “Gunpowder Magazine.” 107  Probably the customs house or bazaar area in Goa under the Adil Khān; see Dalgado, 2:24–25.

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there encircling the esplanade of the fortress and the entire street on the right. It continues on close to the other main streets and side streets until it reaches the Porta da Misericórdia.108 And there, passing the monastery of Bom Jesús109 on the left, it runs along the side of that whole neighborhood, that which is the most populous of the entire city, where it is engulfed and absorbed by houses until it emerges again next to São Francisco.110 From there it leads to the Bazarinho,111 encompassing the said monastery of Santa Catarina112 and the cathedral. It also encircles the bustling [margin: Praça] do Leilão113 and the old houses of the Sabaios,114 stretching almost [margin: as far as] the marina. From there, after supporting the outer walls of the Hospital Real,115 it runs along the bank as far as the dockyards, where it continues on until it rejoins the same fortress. The area enclosed by this small circuit is no bigger than what could contain 500 or 600 houses, including the space for the esplanade of the fortress. The rampart is built with square stones and fashioned with battlements, turrets, and loopholes like the old fortresses of Spain, following the tradition of the Moors from Asia and Barbary in their fortifications. Many centuries ago, a great number of these Moors came to India from Egypt [fol. 117r] and Arabia across the Red Sea, either to establish trade or to enter the pay of its kings, and took possession of much of the great kingdom of Khambhat116 and most of the 108  The full Portuguese name was Porta da Santa Casa da Misericórdia, meaning “Gate of the Holy House of Mercy.” 109  Portuguese for “Good Jesus.” This church fails to appear on Erédia’s map. The reference could be to a specific site or the general neighborhood where the Jesuit’s professed house was located; see p. 208 n. 137. 110  Portuguese for “St. Francis.” This location is found inside the city walls of Goa on Erédia’s map. 111  Portuguese for “little bazaar.” 112  Portuguese for “St. Catherine.” 113  Portuguese for “Auction Square.” 114  The term used by the Portuguese for the rulers of Goa, the Adil Khān; see p. 150 n. 273. 115  Portuguese for “Royal Hospital”; see p. 159 n. 300. 116  By using this expression, Silva y Figueroa is suggesting that he was not completely or correctly informed about the history of that location, although elsewhere he seems to know better. Khambhat (Cambay) is a city in Gujarat that was formerly an important maritime trading center. He is using the name of the city for the kingdom, which in fact was Gujarat. Gujarat was incorporated into the Delhi Sultanate toward the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries. As a result of Timūr’s sacking of Delhi at the end of the fourteenth century, Gujarat’s Muslim Rajput governor Zafar Khān Muzaffar (Muzaffar Shah I) was able to restore the sultanate of Gujarat with Ahmedabad as its capital and Khambhat (Cambay) as its most important trade port. Although briefly occupied in 1536, the Sultanate of Gujarat remained independent until 1576, when the Mughal

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mainland that comprises Konkan, [margin: Deccan]117and Kanara. They also seized this island of Goa that is attached to it, where, a little more than 100 years before it was conquered by Afonso de Albuquerque, they founded this small city, fortifying it with the aforementioned rampart and with the Bardes, Pangim, and Narva fortresses for the security and defense of the river. And although these sites were chosen because of their easy access to the river crossings that lead to the mainland in so many places, and which are needed for the movement of goods and services between the city and the whole island, experience clearly showed over time what a poor decision it was to abandon the site of Old Goa on the opposite coast from this city. The ancient residents of this island learned from certain and true experience over countless centuries that it was incomparably wiser to establish a city on the site of the old city, not only because the air was better and healthier, but also because of the safety of the port and harbor for all kinds of ships in any season. The site of the old city would [margin: also] have been a wiser choice because it would have accommodated far greater [superscript: many more houses and people] than this one that was founded there, as was done [fol. 117v] than what is possible in the city founded by the Moors at the current location. Not enough men and women arrive every year from Portugal to prevent the native Portuguese from becoming outnumbered by the many mestizos and other native people who dwell here because so many people are continually dying due to the city’s bad climate and faulty layout. Soon after the Portuguese came to power, they began building rich and luxurious monasteries and parish churches that have been added onto since that time, new ones also having been established. Members of the Society of Jesus compete with the religious of other orders in this expansion with a pious ambition, so that today this city can be compared to some of the most famous cities of Europe as far as the size, decoration, and magnificence of its churches are concerned, as well as in the number of its monks and other churchmen. There are more than five thousand houses in the city, although no more than a thousand of them belong to native Portuguese residents. The rest of the population are mestizos whose fathers are from Portugal or some other European nation and whose mothers are natives; there are also natives whose parents and grandparents were Christians, [fol. 118r] and who are so numerous that emperor Akbar the Great conquered and annexed it into the Mughal Empire. The port of Khambhat (Cambay) declined because of silting and its preeminent maritime trading position was replaced by the port of Surat. 117  For further details concerning these south-western India coastal and interior locations, see p. 162 n. 2.

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they work in all the trades of the city. There are also in the city a large number of gentile Banias118 who monopolize the trade of all kinds of merchandise; they are also the brokers through whom all manner of spices and gold and silver jewelry are bought and sold, plus every other kind of riches and precious stones with which all of Asia so richly abounds. The longest side of this city, as has been mentioned, extends from São Pedro to just before Santa Lúcia and São Brás Street; its widest part extends from the Hospital Real to the outermost part of the neighborhood of Nossa Senhora da Luz,119 the latter being close to the hillock that runs through the island and divides it into two portions. The buildings of the city become more numerous moving from the south-west to the north-east, the aforementioned hillock sitting on the right side, with the Pangim River, which we have mentioned so many times already, on the left. And while the hillock could stand as a cavalier120 over a large portion of the city, especially the neighborhoods and churches of Nossa Senhora da Luz and Trindade,121 fewer houses were built in these districts during the initial years of the establishment and population of the city because they are not as healthy. And even though this hillock would pass as a poor excuse for a commanding position if the city was fortified the way it should be, [fol. 118v] most of the residents of the aforementioned [margin: parishes] necessarily live outside the city walls, and thus the artillery would be farther away, so that no matter how weak the fortification was, an enemy battery 118  Bania (as known as Baniya, Vani, and Vania; from Sanskrit vāṇijya, meaning “trade”) is an Indian caste generally comprising merchants, bankers, money-lenders, dealers in grains or spices, and, today, owners of commercial enterprises that are found chiefly in northern and western India. To be precise, many mercantile communities are not Bania and, conversely, not all Banias are merchants. The term is apparently used in a wider sense in Bengal than elsewhere in India. Banias are generally Vaishnavas, or worshippers of the Hindu god Vishnu. 119  Portuguese for “Our Lady of the Light.” 120  According to the DA, the Spanish word caballero used here by Silva y Figueroa has a secondary meaning beyond the primary meaning “knight”; it can also refer to a portion of a fortification or “a work that is raised above the terreplein of the Square … [it is] called a Knight because just as a man on horseback towers over those who are on foot, so this Knight dominates the entire high Square.” Its English cognate is cavalier, which the OED, citing Stocqueler, defines as “a work generally raised within the body of the place, ten or twelve feet higher than the rest of the works … to command all the adjacent works and country round.” This is precisely the meaning intended by Silva y Figueroa, since the hillock functions as a raised section of the fortress that commands the surrounding countryside. See DA, 2:6–7, s.v. “caballero”; OED s.v. “cavalier.” 121  Portuguese for “Trinity.” This location is found inside the city walls of Goa on Erédia’s map.

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would inflict little damage on it, save for the damage some of the houses would suffer from stray shots. But this is always bound to happen anywhere, no matter how strongly and cleverly defended a place is. The city continues along the Pangim River to the fortress that has been the normal residence of the viceroys for the last fifty years. Before that they dwelled in the houses of the Sabaios, the former lords of Goa, in the Praça do Leilão, which are now home to the Inquisition. The fortress was built by Moors, as was the rampart. These people were the first ones on this island to construct buildings with some care and art. Now the only remaining structure that resembles a fortress are a few blocks of scarped and thick stone from the walls that support the walls of the house, plus a square bastion in which living quarters and a small garden have been made. It commands a beautiful panorama of the river and its anchorage, and of Chorão and the nearest mainland. The city stretches from here to the church of Santa Lúcia, which is the last part of the city along the waterfront. From this point there is a great interstice and space devoid of houses all the way to the small neighborhood of Madre de Deus, where, with the exception of the monastery of [fol. 119r] the Discalced Friars Minor and the houses belonging to the Captain of the Crossing and his other officers, most of the residents are native Indian Christians or Moors, and Gentiles, destitute and impoverished people. Continuing on to the right toward the hillock past the neighborhood of Nossa Senhora da Luz, one arrives at the neighborhood of Trindade, which is the farthest district from the main body of the city, most of which is now deserted. The remains of many houses can be seen, some of them lavishly constructed out of square stone. They have many windows, evidence that they were once inhabited by wealthy people when this district of the city was more populous. The handful of humble inhabitants who remain here now say that the reason this place was abandoned, despite being so pleasant and attractive, was that a big elephant that worked on the riverbank in the dockyards, having been harshly punished by its Indian handler, became enraged and killed him. It later felt so remorseful about this that it stopped eating for many days and came to this part of the hillock close to the aforementioned neighborhood and there gave itself up to die. And because it could not be satisfactorily covered with earth because of its great size, it contaminated [fol. 119v] the entire area with its corruption, causing a terrible epidemic in the entire neighborhood and adjoining regions, most of its residents dying as rapidly as if from the plague. The disease persisted for a few years with the same severity until the district fell into the abandoned state visible today. And while the main cause of the disease that ran rampant during that first year could have been the contamination of the air, it seems impossible that after its toxicity

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dissipated, as it logically must have given the heat and efficiency of the Indian sun, the quality of the air would have been able to perpetuate the same disease. The air would have been free from pestilence because it is always so hot: it consumes and dissolves any corrupt and noxious superfluity contained in it in just a few days. And so one must understand that this belief was vain, as many other beliefs tend to be among the common people. The bad quality of the air is due to the noxious heat caused by the poor location and situation of this neighborhood. It is abandoned, together with another major section of the parish of Nossa Senhora da Luz because, the ground being low and concave, the winter [fol. 120r] waters have no place to drain, and thus many streets become swamped and muddy, which causes the air to become corrupted and contaminated. The north wind and its collaterals cannot cleanse and purify the atmosphere by dissipating or clearing away the corrupted air because the aforementioned hillock lies on the other side of the neighborhood. And therefore there are usually more prolonged and dangerous diseases all year round in this part of the city and in the section between the Praça do Pelourinho Novo122 and the whole of the neighborhood of São Paulo than anywhere else. This district is infamous for its insalubrity, which is why most of the members of the Society of Jesus have abandoned the distinguished Colégio123 de São Paulo and have built the Colégio de São Roque124 on a high and prominent site where they enjoy purer and healthier air. Despite the fact that the neighborhood of 122  Portuguese for “New Pillory Square.” The pillory was a stone column found in a square or public place in Portugal and throughout its empire where criminals were displayed; see Coates, Convicts and Orphans, 26. Erédia’s map identifies neither the New nor the Old Pillory Square, but does contain a location called forqa (modern forca, meaning “pillory” or “gallows”), confirming that this location is either the New or the Old Pillory Square. 123  Colleges were institutions founded by a specific Catholic order, such as the Jesuits in this instance, but also by Augustinians, Dominicans, and Franciscans, including the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor Conventual of St. Bonaventure. 124  Portuguese for “St. Paul’s College” and “St. Roch’s College.” The original college of São Paulo in Goa was the most important Jesuit center east of the Cape of Good Hope. Before becoming a Jesuit college, the structure was used to train secular priests from various parts of Africa and Asia for service among indigenous peoples; see Alden, Making of an Enterprise, 44–45. After the Jesuits took possession of the complex in 1551, it expanded to include a residence, administrative offices, a training facility, an orphanage, a catechumenate, a novitiate and a hospital. In 1610, well before Silva y Figueroa’s arrival, the Jesuits founded New St. Paul’s, Portuguese São Paulo o Novo, meaning “St. Paul the New,” at a healthier site on a hill a few kilometers from the original college. In this passage Silva y Figueroa is clearly referring to the Old St. Paul’s and is using the officially correct name for the college (St. Roch’s College), whose name was commonly accepted later as New St. Paul’s College.

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Trindade has been deserted, it contains beautiful green orchards of palms and other trees that make it especially pleasant and attractive all the way to the lagoon, which is located in the open countryside where the view takes in a large area clear of palm trees or [fol. 120v] other obstacles, creating a beautiful panorama with its green background. The lagoon is situated in the center of this large plain, taking up most of its area. Because it is the lowest and deepest part of the entire interior of the island, all the excess and overflow of water and humidity from the whole island runs into it like into a ship’s bilge. Its water is shallow but so swampy and mucky that it can only be forded very close to its edges. It is full of thick slime and vegetation whose roots reach up from below and terminate in big, round green leaves, approximately one foot in diameter, that rest on the surface of the water. During the summer months, which, as explained above, correspond to winter in Europe, these leaves produce many white flowers, so that the whole flat area that rests on the surface of the water appears to be covered by them with a verdure that resembles a flowery meadow.125 During the Indian winter all the rainwater that collects in the streams from all over the island drains into this lagoon, it being the lowest point. The water level rises much higher than usual during this season, covering most of the aforementioned slime and vegetation. Many aquatic birds migrate here in the winter, among them a few ducks that are somewhat smaller than the wild ducks of Spain. The lagoon has a few mediocre fish of which only the destitute and impoverished native people [fol. 121r] avail themselves. Some of these people dwell in nearby houses. At the end of the summer in India, which is spring in Europe, almost the entire lagoon dries up and its putrid vapours and fumes create an extremely heavy and terrible odor that pervades the area and its neighboring regions. Yet despite this great obstacle, some of the wealthy residents have constructed country villas and gardens with good and comfortable houses near this lagoon, which is more accurately a dreadful swamp, where they live most of the year. And it is highly remarkable that during this season, the lagoon, after the water and the mire in it become corrupted, is found to be generally healthy, whereas people should logically experience not only unhealthy effects, but even pestilent or harmful ones as they do during the rest of the year. That is because it is always cleansed by the Mistral winds that blow from the north-west and north by north-west more than usual in India. All of the other winds also blow freely here because it is a very exposed and open area. And even though the 125  Silva y Figueroa is most probably referring to the white water lily or white lotus (Nymphaea pubescens), which is native to India and is mentioned in ancient Hindu literature.

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neighborhood of São Paulo, which is so infamous for its insalubrities, is situated far away from this lagoon, it is nevertheless the closest neighborhood to it of any other in the city, and thus this defect is attributed [fol. 121v] to it. But this is not the real cause of the foul odor, the true reason being the one given above: namely, that the aforementioned winds do not cleanse it well because they are hindered by the hillocks of São Amaro and Nossa Senhora do Monte,126 something that does not happen in the lagoon, despite the fact that it is in a lower and deeper area and that the most putrid and heavy fumes are produced there. Approaching the lagoon from Trindade, as has been explained, and emerging from among palm orchards and other trees into the flat and exposed area, there is a dike or embankment no more than a fathom and a half tall from its flattest and lowest surface, a little less than four fathoms wide at the base and a bit more than two fathoms across at the top, allowing one cart or two men on horseback to travel comfortably on it side by side. On its right side there are some extensive várzeas, or very low vegas,127 where the panorama broadens and stretches out. Here is where the natives have their rice fields, this vega being the largest, and to all appearances, the most fertile and productive, of several on the island. Most of the year they are flooded under a foot or more of water that enters and is channelled in at the lowest point of the dike from the same lagoon, which is on the left side, this being the reason why the várzeas or vegas are so productive. And it is likely that many centuries ago, considering the location of this place, the ancient inhabitants of this island ingeniously [fol. 122r] reclaimed this great plain, which must also have been a lagoon, by separating it off with the aforementioned dike in order to make use of its fertile soil, as has been done so many times in Italy, in the Netherlands, and in other places of Europe. And for greater convenience, and so that there would always be water to irrigate these great low plains, they let what is now a lagoon remain on the left side, the ground there being more uneven and swampy. The winter streams and floods empty into it, and from them the aforementioned rice fields, which produce two harvests every year, are fertilized just as often. And so that the great abundance of water from the rains does not spill over or break the dike in consequence of the continuous and heavy rainfall during the winter, the lagoon has a drain at its farthest end where the water runs out and empties into the sea, which is not far off. Without this drain, not only the várzeas and cultivated fields, but also the houses close to the lagoon would become flooded. 126  Portuguese for “St. Amarus” and “Our Lady of the Mount,” respectively. As mentioned above, both of these locations are found inside the city walls of Goa on Erédia’s map. 127  See p. 171 n. 23.

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At the end of the dike there is a small bridge that crosses over the place where the water drains out. After crossing it, one returns to the city by keeping the lagoon to the left; on the right one first encounters some houses belonging to natives, and then other well-built houses [fol. 122v] with opulent and pleasant accommodations for its residents that belong to the noble and rich people of the city. After traveling a good distance from here one arrives at the first houses of the neighborhood of São Matias.128 It is here where a very long street begins that is inhabited by Banias and native people, as well as by Portuguese. This street goes to the Colégio de São Paulo, after which the whole surrounding area and the broad and beautiful street are named. From here one passes through the busiest and most populous section of the city before arriving first at the slaughterhouses, known as the Açougue,129 and afterward at the Praça do Pelourinho.130 Turning to the right from there, one arrives at the famous and celebrated Hospital da Misericórdia,131 which is so called not necessarily because the sick are cured there, but rather because those who belong to that brotherhood use their great wealth to perform many works of Christian charity and mercy. After passing through a gate in the wall, one enters this holy house and convent that takes in Portuguese maidens until they are of marriageable age, as well as married women whose husbands are abroad. At this point, Rua Direita132 begins, which is aptly named, since it is completely well proportioned and level its whole length until it empties into the [fol. 123r] esplanade or courtyard of the fortress. The fortress is spacious and big enough for any kind of infantry or cavalry celebration or drill. Beginning at the far end of this esplanade and walking to the right, one passes some narrow lanes until reaching the Manduin, which is a thinly inhabited neighborhood, most of the residents being impoverished natives. In it there is a square, or more accurately a field, surrounded by a few houses in which fruit, vegetables, fish, and other foodstuffs are sold. There are many taverns and inns in the rest of this area, as well as on the nearby streets. On one street in particular there are all kinds of kegs and barrels, plus many other items made from wood, being close to the waterfront where most of the seamen work and live. What stands out above all else in this vicinity is the neighborhood of the monastery of São

128  Portuguese for “St. Matthias.” As already mentioned, this location is found inside the city walls of Goa on Erédia’s map. 129  Portuguese for “slaughterhouse”; see p. 211 n. 155. 130  Silva y Figueroa does not specify whether this is the New or Old Pillory Square. 131  See p. 198 n. 108. 132  Portuguese for “Straight Street.”

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Domingos,133 which can compete in size and quality with many of the buildings in the major cities of Spain, despite its age, dating from the first years of the founding of this city. There are good houses all around this monastery. From here a very long street leads to Santa Lúcia, and from there another broad street runs a very long [superscript: way] to São Brás, the saint after whom the street [fol. 123v] is named. On the right, going from the Manduin to São Domingos, one can see the hillock of São Amaro. The street of Nossa Senhora do Monte runs between it and the aforementioned monastery from the church of São Aleixo.134 It is considered one of the finest streets in the city, being very long and full of good houses. Starting at one end, it slopes gently upward, becoming gradually steeper until its terminus at the foot of the hillock, [margin: where] the road is the steepest, though it can be climbed on horseback without much difficulty through trees that form a street all the way to the top to the hermitage of Nossa Senhora do Monte. The hill has been named after her because the hermitage was founded there, the whole city being particularly devoted to her. From here much of the island can be seen, including the city, the rivers, and the mainland, this being its highest point. From the hermitage, the same hill continues to the east for a space of more than 400 paces, its apex being nearly even with the hermitage, at which point there is a giant wooden cross. From there it slopes downward into foothills that face the river and are covered with groves of trees. Finally, at this point, where it is completely jagged and rocky, it comes to an end close to the São Brás Crossing. Looking toward the western part of the city from the hermitage and the peak of this hill, [fol. 124r] the aforementioned hillock of São Amaro can be seen, the highest point of which is 500 paces from the tree-lined street that leads up to the church of Nossa Senhora do Monte. The top of this hillock is split into two little hills that are separated a good distance from each other. On the highest one, which is next to the neighborhood of São Matias, there is another cross that resembles the one behind the hermitage of Nossa Senhora. On the other little hill is the church of São Amaro, surrounded by an abundance of trees. It overlooks the street of Nossa Senhora do Monte, the Manduin, and São Domingos. The sides of this hillock, beginning very close to the church of São Amaro, are covered with houses and gardens, as is the entire valley that lies at the foot of these little hills. These are crammed so close together that 133  Portuguese for “St. Dominic.” This location is found inside the city walls of Goa on Erédia’s map. 134  Portuguese for “St. Alexius.” This location is found inside the city walls of Goa on Erédia’s map.

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they could be considered a single hill if the highest part of them weren’t so far away, the churches of São Amaro and Nossa Senhora [superscript: if they were not separated by a small ravine that functions like a valley where one can walk up to the church of Nossa Senhora]. And because of how they lie, they appear to be connected to the hill that reaches from the very tip of Nossa Senhora do Cabo all the way across the island next to the lagoon. Judging from the location of the lagoon, and its cavernous, swampy, and soft floor, it also seems that Mother Nature has ordered things so that at the beginning of its creation the lagoon was not to endure the heavy weight and solid mass of the hill; rather, [fol. 124v] the part of the hill where the lagoon now lies became hidden and sank into the bowels of the earth through the chance occurrence of a great earthquake, the same thing that has been witnessed many times in diverse places in the world, the ground ending up much lower [margin: than that of the city.] Continuing down Rua Direita, one arrives at the esplanade and house of the viceroy, where the street turns to the right until it reaches the cathedral, where this grand, magnificent, and finely designed temple is under construction. Here many masses have been celebrated since the time of Goa’s founding and expansion by the Portuguese. But it is very different from the churches that have been built since then in the monasteries and in some of the parishes, especially those of Nossa Senhora da Encarnação135 and Nossa Senhora da Luz. On the other side of a large clearing south of the cathedral sits the monastery of São Francisco, where ninety or a hundred monks dwell, and its beautiful church. The house is big enough to accommodate many more. After São Francisco, which is near the shore, there is a small square that bears the Arabic name Bazarinho,136 in which all manner of native fruits and vegetables are sold, [fol. 125r] as well as fish and other food, this square being where these items are found in greatest abundance. In particular, many fried mixtures made from fruit and rice are sold here. This fare is what many of the poor people typically subsist on, as well as those who have no one to prepare their meals for them in their dwellings. In Goa these kinds of dishes are the equivalent of the pastries, pies, and cakes served in the courts and great cities of Spain.

135  Portuguese for “Our Lady of the Incarnation.” 136  Portuguese for “little bazaar;” the actual source for this word is Persian bazar, meaning “market.”

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A rather short street runs from the left-hand side of the Bazarinho, facing it from São Francisco, to the esplanade of the Bom Jesús, which is the Casa Profesa da Companhia.137 This is by far the best church in this city and among the most excellent ones that the Society possesses, even in comparison with those of Europe, not only because of its size, beauty, and capacity, but also because of the perfection of its superb architecture. It was also established and situated in the center and busiest section of the city. Somewhat farther on from the Bom Jesús is the Armazén de Contratação138 and shops belonging to the Banias. [fol. 125v] Many of these merchants are found here, together with their brokers, with large quantities of all kinds of silks and golden fabrics from both Chaul139 [margin: and] China, as well as Mecca and other places. All kinds of taffeta and grosgrain, both plain and embroidered, are woven with the perfection found in Spain and Italy. European fabrics are by no means superior to those that are produced in these provinces insofar as the quality and beauty of their workmanship and their coloring are concerned. Inside the Armazén and on another very long street that runs from here to Pelourinho Novo, known as Rua dos Banianos140 because many such people live on it, there are also numerous goldsmiths, silversmiths, and jewelers, who, while lacking the creativity of European craftsmen, fashion any kind of jewelry from a pattern or sample quickly and easily as soon as it is shown to them. It is quite remarkable to see them create all manner of jewelry with such meager and modest equipment. These poor Indians function without the furnaces, worktables, and counters, not to mention the quantity and variety of burins, files, and other tools used by the goldsmiths and silversmiths of Europe, making do with a couple of lumps of coal set in [fol. 126r] a clay pot or on a piece of broken tile placed on the ground that a boy heats by blowing through a tube. The goldsmith sits on his heels, using no more than three or four crude and badly shaped iron instruments and an anvil weighing 137  Portuguese for “Professed House of the Society,” a Jesuit residence. In 1586 the Jesuits established in Old Goa the order’s professed house, known in Portuguese as Bom Jesús. Today it houses the remains of St. Francis Xavier and is the only surviving example of a Jesuit structure or architecture in that area. For further particulars, see Alden, Making of an Enterprise, 45. 138  Portuguese for “Trade Exchange Warehouse,” a warehouse where trade goods were stored and negotiated over, probably those belonging to the Crown. 139  A port city in western India located 60 km (37 mi) south of Mumbai (Bombay), occupied by the Portuguese from 1521 to 1740. Chaul was one of the cities that formed the Northern Province (Província do Norte) of the Portuguese Empire in India, which extended from Chaul to Daman in the north, with Bassein as its central entity; for Bassein, see p. 249 n. 17. 140  Portuguese for “Bania Street.”

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no more than two pounds,141 which is also set on the ground, and with nothing more than these instruments, everything he makes is worked to perfection, even pieces of very fine and delicate workmanship. And seeing how these artisans labor [superscript: with] such ease and at such low cost, if they were to work as steadily and constantly as is done in other countries, they would make a most abundant and prosperous living, but in general they show no energy in any of their actions, displaying a certain impotence and little natural steadfastness. From the Praça do Pelourinho,142 where, in addition to other foods, all the live game that comes from the mainland is sold, the Rua dos Chapeleiros143 returns to the Bom Jesús, and from there to the Rua dos Toneleiros,144 and from the latter to As Tres Boticas,145 this neighborhood being one of the most oftvisited and where some of the best built houses in the city are found. From here, climbing the Rua da Cruz146 and passing the Rua dos Carregados147 on the left, one arrives at a clearing called Nossa Senhora da Graça,148 which is an open field devoid of houses, though it is ringed by some, at the crest and most eminent point of which is the beautiful and attractive monastery of the Augustinian Order, which holds second place in the city in size, magnificence of construction, and number of [fol. 126v] monks. On the right-hand side of this large field sits the convent of Santa Mónica,149 where nuns from this order live and which was founded not very many years ago by D. Friar Aleixo de Meneses150 while he was archbishop of Goa and 141  See “Measurements.” 142  Silva y Figueroa fails to specify whether this is the Old or the New Pillory Square; we assume it is the latter because it was the last mentioned. 143  Portuguese for “Haberdashers Street.” 144  Portuguese for “Coopers Street.” 145  Portuguese for “The Three Pharmacies.” 146  Portuguese for “Street of the Cross.” 147  Portuguese for “Carrier Street.” 148  Portuguese for “Our Lady of Grace.” This location is found inside the city walls of Goa on Erédia’s map. 149  Portuguese for “St. Monica.” 150  Aleixo de Meneses, O. E. S. A., Portuguese cleric and administrator (1559–1617), governor of India (1608–1609). He was installed as archbishop of Goa in Lisbon in 1595, the same year he arrived in Asia. He returned to Portugal in 1610, where he was appointed archbishop of Braga and took possession of that see in 1612. Shortly thereafter he was called to Madrid by the king and appointed viceroy and president of the Council of Portugal, holding these two most important administrative positions in the Hapsburg scheme for the governance of Portugal until his death. See Machado, Bibiotheca Lusitana, 1:88–92, and Martins, Crónica dos Vice-Reis, 321–22.

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governor of India. The street continues past this esplanade until it reaches the church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário, where the ascent ends in a very beautiful view of the river and the islands of Chorão and Espírito Santo. The said church is a little more than twenty paces opposite from the Colégio do Noviciado da Companhia de Jesús,151 a strong and beautiful building with room for many members of this order. This college and Nossa Senhora do Rosário sit on the point of a high bend or arm that juts out from the highest hill that runs through the island and ends here on the highest point of the entire city. From a small clearing that surrounds the section of this church that faces the river, a very craggy slope with huge precipices plummets almost straight down to the street of the Colégio de São Boaventura,152 and although this hill or slope is quite steep, it is full of palms and other leafy trees that are green and thick. From the aforementioned Colégio da Companhia, which is known as São [fol. 127r] Roque in imitation of the one in Lisbon because of its elevated location, one continues to climb the previously mentioned arm of the hill, passing on the right the church of Santo António153 and the convent of Nossa Senhora da Graça, which has already been mentioned, until one reaches the college of the same order. The latter is connected to the professed house by a vaulted arch that spans the crossing and road, which are oft frequented, and leads to Rua de Manganil,154 [margin: as well as to another vault or underground passage that goes underneath the same crossing]. This college, housed in a great and magnificent building, is perched on the highest point of the city, commanding a most beautiful and agreeable vista of every part of it and the Pangim River. And since it obtains such a magnificent panorama of the city, the river, and other parts of the island, it bears a faithful resemblance to a strong citadel, with towers on its four corners. Next, past the college, a wide street begins that leads to Manganil Springs, for so they are called. This region is the last part of the city, the street coming to an end at a large and leafy tree under whose shade many male and female slaves [fol. 127v] of the sort that carry water hither and thither from these springs are often seen resting. A short distance past this tree on the right-hand 151  Portuguese for “Seminary College of the Society of Jesus.” As discussed on p. 202, n. 124, the Jesuit College at Goa came to consist of several units. During the sixteenth century, the Jesuit novitiate was part of St. Paul’s College. However, by the early seventeenth century (at the time that Silva y Figueroa was writing and based upon the locations that he is using), the novitiate had been moved. It does not appear on Erédia’s map. 152  Portuguese for “College of St. Bonaventure.” 153  Portuguese for “St. Anthony.” 154  Portuguese for “Manganil Street”; manganil is the indigenous term for “spring.”

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side, [margin: passing the poor neighborhood of Mata Vacas]155 on the left, one descends into a valley that rests halfway up the hill, in which these abundant and beautiful springs are located. One must walk a very long way down an extremely wide and beautiful road before reaching the springs. The road is laid with square stone, as is the wall on its side, making the descent and the ascent much easier. After reaching the springs, one climbs down nine or ten steps from the road where there is a thick and high wall made out of the same stone and a finely worked frontispiece. From its lowest part, six or seven heavy streams of water come gushing out through bronze grotesques, emptying into a large pool that runs along the long end of the wall. According to the inscription on the frontispiece, which is decorated with cornices and pediments of passable architecture, the fountains and road were built less than fifty years ago by D. António de Noronha,156 the viceroy of this Estado da Índia.157 [fol. 128r] Besides producing good water, these remarkable springs are exceedingly profuse, especially in the summer, which is the rainy season in this climate. During that season the water empties from the aforementioned pool into a large and beautiful stream that flows down the ravines of the valley. The valley [margin: and] the street that we have already described are also [superscript: both] named after these springs. After the force of the rains dissipates at the beginning of the Indian spring or summer, which correspond to our autumn, the volume and abundance of the water that issues [superscript: from] these spouts gradually tapers off in proportion to how quickly or slowly summer comes on. By the end of summer, the great aridity of the earth, caused by the intense heat from the sun, consumes and diminishes the output of most of these springs, and it becomes very difficult to collect water from them, though they were so copious before, because not only is their volume greatly diminished

155  Lit. “cattle killing,” an extremely rare designation for a slaughterhouse in Spanish (the usual contemporary and modern word being matadero); the Portuguese label would have been açougue, abatedouro, or matadouro. Silva y Figueroa is using this rare Spanish designation to allude to the Azougue, or the slaughterhouse district or neighborhood of Goa, see p. 205. 156  D. António de Noronha. Although the MS reads D. Antonio, and despite the existence of a viceroy named António de Noronha, based on Silva y Figueroa’s description and the time frame, he must have confused D. António with another viceroy with the same surname, D. Antão de Noronha (1520–69), Portuguese viceroy of India (1564–68). See Martins, Crónica dos Vice-Reis, 302–3; Zûquete, Nobreza de Portugal, 3:523–28; Eça and Goertz, Relação dos Governadores, 15–17. 157  Portuguese for “State of India,” the formal name the Portuguese used for their empire in Asia.

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during that season, but, as a rule, nearly the entire city drinks the water they produce because it is so delicious. Next, between the Colégio de São Roque and the Colégio de Santo Agostinho,158 the Rua da Calçada,159 which is wide and [fol. 128v] filled with fine houses, branches off steeply downhill to the right, eventually terminating in a flat area where there is a small bridge that spans an estuary or inlet of salt water formed by the tides of the Pangim River. The Manganil stream also empties into it, its brief course terminating here. Past this bridge there are houses that continue along the left-hand side, the open beach of the same river lying to the right, until one reaches the Colégio de São Tomás of the Dominican Order. A little farther along, one encounters the church of San Pedro on the western boundary of the city, though coming from Pangim it is the beginning thereof. Before A short way before reaching the small bridge that spans the estuary and the Manganil stream, coming from the direction of the Rua da Calçada, the street of the Colégio dos Frades Menores de São Boaventura,160 branches off to the right. [margin: It is very] long and narrow because the hill where Nossa Senhora do Rosário and the Colégio de São Roque are located is on the right, while the Pangim River is on the left. There are many good houses on it, though they lie somewhat outside the boundaries of the city. The ones facing the river have access to it, since they have palm orchards and gardens to their backs. A short distance down this road, a little more than 100 paces from where [fol. 129r] it branches off, the Colégio de São Boaventura is being constructed at the time of the writing of this account. It will be a beautiful and spacious building with a magnificent panorama of the river, in a location that, while low, is healthy and pleasant. From here the road continues on, and because many of the seamen reside on it, all kinds of fruits, vegetables, fried fish, bread, and rice cakes, which have already been described, are sold here. The residents can quickly find something to eat here at any time of day. As one turns off this street and heads toward the Rua dos Toneleiros, one can veer off to the left onto another narrow street that leads to the beach, close to the hospital and hermitage of Santa Catarina, where the offices of the artillery foundry, the dockyards, and the royal warehouses are located.

158  Portuguese for “College of St. Augustine,” which was owned and operated by the Augustinians; see p. 55 n. 20. 159  Portuguese for “Paved Street.” 160  Portuguese for “College of the Friars Minor of St. Bonaventure.”

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The inhabitants and residents of the city of Goa, apart from the Portuguese clergy and lay people, both men and women, who have come from Portugal on various voyages, or who were born and raised in India, consist of the following: mestizos who have some Portuguese or European blood, Christians who are native to this land, Banias and Brahmins,161 Gentiles, and a few Moors. Fewer than 800 Portuguese heads of families reside here, counting both citizens and nobles, all of whom earn their living by commerce and trade; [fol. 129v] they lack any other holdings in India from which they can live by virtue of their social standing alone. The native Christians are either newly converted or are children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren of those who became Christians when this island and city were taken from the Moors. They are therefore held in higher esteem than others of the same stock. These Moorish Christians, and others, take more pride in themselves the farther back their parents or grandparents became Christians, just as the mestizos fancy themselves more honorable the more European the blood that runs in their veins. Among the mestizos there are many respectable and honorable men and women who have now been admitted into public ranks and offices, and some even figure among the body and number of the nobility. In particular, almost all the clerics, of which there are many in this and the other cities possessed by the Portuguese in India, are taken from the ranks of these mestizos. Many of the mestizos support themselves from commerce, like the rest of the citizens, while others devote themselves to different occupations and professions associated with navigation and sailing, or to the manual trades and the legal professions of this republic. Very few of the remaining native Christians form part of the body of the [fol. 130r] city, those who do having learned a trade. All of the rest, who live among the palm groves on the outskirts of the city, are destitute and half naked and usually work as sailors and fishermen, or carry canopies, palanquins, and litters, there being many who engage in these sorts of occupations. Some haul water, stone, and other materials for different buildings, or anything else that needs to be transported from one place to another, often using pack oxen for this purpose. These animals are most docile, many of them 161  Hindus are divided into four major castes, or varna. A Brahmin refers to an person from the highest priestly or scholarly caste. The remaining castes, in descending order, are Kshatriya (warriors and princes), Vaishya (farmers or merchants), and Shudra (servants and sharecroppers). Brahmins follow a rigorous spiritual discipline and pursue the highest levels of spiritual knowledge (brahmavidya) through study of the Vedas. Their occupations range across many professions, from priests, ascetics, and scholars, to warriors and business people. The occupational subdivisions Silva y Figueroa reports observing within the Brahmin caste accord with modern definitions.

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of considerable size; they are used especially for hauling foodstuffs to the city from different parts of the island. They are different from the European variety: in addition to their docility, they also have a large hump over their foreribs next to their necks or napes. Their horns are also different—they curve harmlessly over their backs, both bulls and cows being alike in this regard. The apparel of the mestizos, even those of the lowest occupations, is identical to that worn by the Portuguese men and women, while the native men of the island and the city, who nowadays are all Christians, go about half-naked while they work because of their poverty, wearing only [fol. 130v] a very small piece of cotton cloth, secured with a very thin string they wrap around themselves, which serves to cover their private parts. Sometimes they wear baggy trousers and a shirt made from the same kind of linen. The women wear a large sheet made of the same material that is longer than it is wide with which they cover themselves from their waists to mid-calf, wrapping the rest of it under their right arms and around their chests and left arms, covering their heads with the end of it. Both men and women normally go barefoot. The Banias fall into three classes: the lowest comprises tradesmen, fishermen, and sailors; the middle class is made up of doctors, barbers, and herbalists; and the highest class consists of merchants, farmers, and brokers. These occupations and walks of life have been passed down from father to son since time immemorial, with no possibility of change, although sometimes the doctors, who have acquired their skills through study, raise their status by marrying into the highest caste of Banias, whereas the rest of them are prohibited from marrying outside theirs; in fact, many of them are constrained to marry within their own occupation or profession. But all of the Banias always regard each other with a certain degree of respect, though there is a difference between the [fol. 131r] most honorable occupations and those that are not quite so honorable. This difference is especially apparent in that someone from one class will never eat anything in the houses of his inferiors, no matter how little, while an inferior will always do so in the houses of his superiors. Without exception, Banias are always found wearing the same apparel they have always worn from the dawn of human memory: a white linen tunic that reaches to their feet and another long section of the same linen that they wrap around their bodies, drape over their left shoulders, and then pass underneath their right arms. It is obvious that the purpose of this garb is to allow them to decorously conceal things they need to carry from one place to another, the brokers in particular using their clothing to hide all kinds of wares and merchandise. They cover their heads completely by wrapping another piece of linen around them three or four times, the resulting turban being no bulkier

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than the headdresses worn by the Moors of Barbary. On their feet they wear the same kind of sandals evident in ancient paintings and statues, especially those seen on female figures. These sandals do not completely cover the top part of their feet; rather, a few intertwining ribbons or slender straps [fol. 131v] are fastened to their ankles to support their heels. The best-dressed Bania men wear these sandals with great elegance, weaving colorful silk strings or ribbons in with the straps. But their wives, daughters, and sisters go barefoot, according to ancient and timeless custom, because they have no need to step foot outside the house, demonstrating in this and in every other way a rare and remarkable modesty. It is essential to note that according to the traditions and memories from ancient Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Greece that have been passed down to us, especially from the statues and coins that long centuries have been powerless to destroy, the use of this kind of footwear seems to have spread across the Red Sea to the provinces just referred to from these Eastern regions, the custom enduring only in its region of origin, having died out everywhere else in the world. We have sure knowledge from writings, both sacred and profane, that sandals were the usual footwear of women, but a true depiction of them, apart from what is found in paintings and statuary, is provided to us by the Greek author Dicaearchus,162 who, in a passage in which he describes the true Greece that lies between the mountain at Thermopylae and the Isthmus of Corinth, discusses the clothing, [margin: coiffure,] and footwear of Theban women, [fol. 131r]163 praising their beauty and grace and averring that they are further worthy of this description because the mothers of their gods lived among them, an allusion to Semele and Alcmene, the mothers of Bacchus and Hercules. And this Greek author says that not only did the women of Thebes possess the grace and refinement that has been referred to, but that in contrast to the austere and semibarbaric nature of the men, they were the most elegant, beautiful, and wise of all the people in Greece. Their sandals or slippers were not high like the buskins164 of the Nymphs or girded women, but very low, with many small slits or openings, so that they showed most of their feet with grace and charm. And in order to prove that this footwear was elegant and beautiful 162  Dicaearchus of Messana (350–285 BC), Greek philosopher and historian; see Müller, Geographi graeci minores, 1:258. 163  There are two consecutive folios numbered 131. 164   Coturnos in the MS, which, according to the OED, s.v. “buskin,” is a cothornos or buskin, i.e., “a thick-soled boot reaching to the middle of the leg, worn by tragic actors in the ancient Athenian drama.”

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on women, it is praised with great propriety and force in scripture in just a few words in Judith,165 [margin: as well as by Strabo in Book 17].166 In present-day India only these Banias and Brahmins wear them, though their women, as has been mentioned, go barefoot; but all the women who live in nations farther to the east bedeck their sandals with gold and gems according to their conditions and means. They are more attentive to this and to the adornment of their hair than to anything else. The Brahmin caste is the most prestigious and dignified among these Eastern Gentiles. They fall into three categories. Members of the lowest category, excepting the odd merchant, [fol. 131v] are by profession notaries, accountants, and publicans who tend and administer the accounts from public revenue, with which revenue they finance different princes and lords. Those of lesser wealth and ability teach numbers and letters to boys, not unlike the custom in European schools. As with the Banias, these people are not allowed to ply a trade different from that of their ancestors or to marry outside their class. The second class is comprised of farmers and stock breeders; this class, while much more prestigious than the former, is still subject to the same rules. Neither of these classes carries out the servile and lowly tasks performed by the inferior classes of Banias, neither do they eat in their houses, this being one of the traditions by which the difference in standing between these groups is most clearly manifest. This custom is observed and obeyed without fail, as are the others possessed by these Gentiles. The members of these two classes do not eat anything that possesses a spirit, although some members of the lowest class eat fish that has no blood, that is, shellfish. Their main and ordinary sustenance is milk and other products made with it: rice, bread, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables, and other mixtures of these items. Although the two lower classes of Banias eat all kinds of fish, and some eat meat, no one eats the flesh of oxen or cows, this being considered an abominable [fol. 132r] sacrilege because these animals are considered holy and sacred. This veneration of 165  Judith 16:11. The Vulgate reads sandalia eius rapuerunt oculos eius “her sandals ravished his [Holoferne’s] eyes.” It is more than likely that the Bible used by Silva y Figueroa was the Vulgate. Although Casiodoro de Reina’s translation of the complete Bible to Castilian had been published as early as 1569 and was arguably available to the ambassador, it is improbable that a defender of the Catholic faith such as he would have owned or used such a manifestly Protestant work, especially since Casiodoro was tried in absentia at an auto-da-fé in 1563 and all his works were placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Furthermore, the Vulgate was the Bible used in the Catholic liturgy, and there is ample internal evidence in the Commentaries that Silva y Figueroa was fluent in Latin. 166  Strabo, Greek historian and geographer (ca. 63 BC–AD 24); see Geography, 17, 3:33.

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cows and oxen is an ancient and timeless custom, not only among Banias and Brahmins, but even among the most rustic of all the Indian Gentiles. When some cows and calves were to be slaughtered at my house in Goa to provide some of the normal sustenance for my entourage, some of these Banias who had come to call with merchandise, and for other purposes, tearfully begged me with great insistence not to allow such a grave offense against God to be committed in my presence, and that if it could not be prevented, that they at least be killed outside the house. Their pleas caused such a vexing disturbance in the house that I agreed to their petition. And while this digression might seem unimportant, I believe that two observations should not be passed over in silence at this juncture because they demonstrate not only the great veneration that all of these Asian Gentiles give to this species, but also the naïveté and false conviction behind their belief and understanding of their religion, despite the fact that they are so shrewd and rational in other respects.167 The first point is that when one of these Brahmins is on the brink of death, an ox or cow is brought very close to him, and, grasping its tail in his right hand, he remains in this posture with the appearance of being extremely devout until he gives up the ghost. They think that through this action they achieve an irremissible [fol. 132v] indulgence of their all of their guilt and sins. And the more dutiful the Brahmins and Banias are in their religions, and the more honorable they are considered, the more exact they are in observing this ceremony. The second observation is that all the Gentile kings of Malabar and Kanara, as well as all the other Indian kings that are not of the sect of the Mūhammadans, have the floor or pavement of all of the rooms in which they normally dwell very carefully stained and adorned with the dung or excrement of cows and oxen, the women being the ones who see to this task with special devotion, as is done in the villages in many parts of Spain, especially Extremadura, where the farmers’ wives cover the floors of their houses with mud and polish them. The Indian women here do this with great skill. They believe that this dung makes their houses not only sacred, but also healthier, cleaner, and sweeter smelling, and the floor more beautiful and pleasing. This is the custom not only in the dwellings of their royalty and highest nobility, but also in their temples 167  The Hindus venerate (but do not worship) the cow as a symbol of divine and natural beneficence. Some of the reasons advanced on the origin of this belief stem from early Hindu societal reliance on the animal for sustenance (dairy products), labor in tilling the fields, and excrement for fertilizer and fuel, which led to its identification as a maternal figure and association with various deities, notably Shiva (whose steed is the bull Nandi), Indra (closely associated with Kamadhenu, the wish-granting cow), and Krishna (a cowherd in his youth).

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and pagodas; it has also been adopted by native-born Portuguese Christians who live in [fol. 133r] India, as I myself saw in the church of the Colégio Real dos Três Reis Magos,168 belonging to the Order of the Friars Minor, which is next to the fortress of Bardes in which I spent Holy Week of 1616. I observed that the floor of the church was polished with the same kind of dung, making it black and very smooth, and creating an exceptionally agreeable scent and a pleasant appearance. And the reason these Gentiles take such great pains to polish the floors of their houses and temples with dung—besides the fact that they venerate this species of animal so much—is that since these animals are so extremely tame and useful to people, these Indians, who for their part are also merciful and most compassionate, have acquired the reputation of being just as venerated, loved, and respected as these animals in matters religious. The highest class of Brahmins comprises their priests and wise men, who are just as dedicated to the sciences and to the knowledge of natural phenomena as they are to service and worship in their temples, some of them being quite distinguished in both professions. As far as their religion is concerned, they have always been extremely devout, and continue so to be now, even though they are oppressed in those provinces and kingdoms that are under Moorish rule [fol. 133v], as well as in those parts of India owned by the Portuguese. They have lost ground in the natural sciences and arts because, after operating open schools since time immemorial in the great city of Bisnagar, in the province and great kingdom of Narsinga,169 the principal city in all of Hindustan (the region that lies between those two renowned rivers, the Indus170 and the Ganges171), 168  Portuguese for “Royal College of the Three Wise Men.” Located on the Bardes Peninsula (where it is found on Erédia’s map), this college (see p. 202 n. 123) at Goa was owned and operated by the Franciscans. 169  Bisnagar and Narsinga are actually not separate entities; Narsinga was the name that the Portuguese used for Bisnagar, which was the city and empire of Vijayanagara; see Y&B, 97, s.v. “Bisnagar, Bisnaga, Beeja-Nugger.” 170  The Indus derives its name from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, meaning “river, stream, or ocean,” cognate with Old Persian Hindu, Ancient Greek Indós, and Latin Indus. India takes its name from the name of this river. Originating in the Himalayas, Karakoram, and the Hindu Kush ranges of Tibet, the Indus supports ecosystems of temperate forests, plains, and arid countryside. It runs through western Tibet, Northern India, and Pakistan; from there it courses through the Ladakh region of Jammu, Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, continuing in a southerly direction along the entire length of Pakistan until it flows into the Arabian Sea near Karachi. 171  The Ganges is the longest (2,525 km or 1,569 mi) river in India and is sacred to Hindus. It originates in the western Himalayas and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain

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the greatest and best part of this country was subdued by the Moorish kings of several Arab nations and by Persians and Tatars,172 who removed and eliminated the most powerful Gentile kings that dwelt there. With this transformation—new religions always cause great changes—the faith of the Eastern Gentiles fell into decline, many of them embracing the new faith implanted by these, their newfound enemies, who usually usurped their temporal estate from them and forced them into slavery and obedience to their laws. Over time, the empire of the Moors sank increasingly deeper roots in Hindustan, but despite the fact that the great kingdom of Khambhat fell under its sway, together with most of the provinces of Konkan, Deccan, and Kanara, and that kings were enthroned in these places, the heart of Hindustan still had a king of its own nationality and religion; he was so powerful that in addition to his possessions in many regions of Deccan and Kanara, he was lord [fol. 134r] over the great kingdoms of Bisnagar and Narsinga, as well as many other kingdoms as far as the waters of the Ganges, and was hence the most feared and honored king in India, even up to the time of the arrival of the Portuguese. The Gentiles were not ill-treated with violence in any province under Moorish rule, being allowed the freedom to use and administer their temples. But in this powerful and great kingdom of Narsinga, where a native-born king professed his own religion, the Brahmins and Banias flourished even more, enjoying greater freedoms because this was their native soil, their heartland. There were universal schools in the city of Bisnagar, the capital of this empire, in which different subjects were taught. These were supported by the kings with endowments and special stipends. But the core of the curriculum in this university, this most archaic seminary of their divine and human philosophy, centered on the essence, the infinite power, and the righteousness and eternity of God, of North India into eastern Bengal (present-day Bangladesh). Hindus worship it as the goddess Ganga, and many former provincial or imperial capitals have been located on its banks. 172  Tatars, traditionally but incorrectly known as Tartars, apparently originated in the fifth century AD as a confederation of nomadic Turkic and Mongolic peoples in the northeastern Gobi Desert. They were incorporated into Genghis Khān’s army in the early thirteenth century, at which time the Mongolic and Turkic elements of this group fused. Europeans began calling them Tatars during the latter’s participation in the Mongol invasion of Europe, and in particular of Rus and the Carpathian Basin. With the dissolution of the Mongol Empire, the western part of it (i.e., the Golden Horde) was linked with the Tatar populations that comprised the former Kazan, Crimean, Astrakhan, Qasim, and Siberian khanates.

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and all things that were created by him, which corresponds to our theology, astrology, and physics. This is why Bisnagar came to be known as the City of the Sciences, which is what Bisnagar means173 in their ancient tongue, according to immemorial tradition. This great Gentile king, [fol. 134v] who was the lord of such a magnificent kingdom and powerful empire, was nevertheless impotent to retain his ancient supremacy, finding himself hemmed in from all sides by other kings who became his open enemies because they were Moors, professing a different religion and different customs from his own. These included the king of Khambhat to the west and the Mughal174 to the north. At first these were very much his inferiors, but his power grew to match theirs in terms of dominion, and was superior in military strength. Those to his south, closer to the seacoast, despite being less powerful as far as the size of their kingdoms and their armies were concerned, had the advantage over him in warfare when they were all joined together and united; plus, many Arabs, Turks, apostate Abyssinians,175 and Persians were in their employ. And so just under seventy years ago, three petty kings—Niza ul-Mulk,176 king over a large region of the Deccan and the kingdom of Delhi that borders on Chaul; Adil Khān, king of the Konkan and Kanara (neighboring kingdoms to Goa on the mainland); and Qutb Shah,177

173  Vijayanagar actually means “city of victory”; see Sewell, Forgotten Empire, 7. 174  Mughal, a term related to Mongol, can refer to the South Asia Mughal Empire, to the emperor, to the tribe, or to an individual of this ethnicity. Silva y Figueroa uses it in reference to those Turkic Muslims who were direct descendants of Genghis Khān and his son Chagatai Khān, through Timūr, and who had begun to establish an empire in northwestern India. At the zenith of its power in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the Mughal empire included most of the Indian subcontinent, extending from Bengal in the east to Baluchistan in the west and from Kashmir in the north to the Kaveri basin in the south. 175  In this passage, Silva y Figueroa is suggesting that Abyssinians, who had resided in Ethiopia and had belonged to its Orthodox Christian Church, renounced their faith and migrated to western India to participate in and contribute to the rise to power of the Muslim Ahmednagar and Golconda dynasties during the sixteenth century. 176  One of the chiefs at the court of the Bahmani king of the Deccan, whose son Ahmed established the Ahmednagar dynasty; see Y&B, 628, s.v. “Nizamaluco.” 177  Sultan Quli Qutb Mulk (1518–1543), founder of the Golconda dynasty, which, like the other Muslim kingdoms of South India, was formed on the disintegration of the Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan; see Y&B, 264–65, s.v. “Cotamaluco.”

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king of the coast178 of São Tomé179 and the Bay of Bengal,180 no one of them much more powerful than the other two—after seeing the weakened condition of the king of Narsinga after his defeat at the hands of the Mughal, joined forces and waged a tremendous war against him. The king of Narsinga joined in the thick of the battle and was defeated and slain, and his thriving and most opulent kingdom [fol. 135r] became subject to all the hardship, plunder, and destruction that is always the lot of the conquered. The deplorable desolation suffered by the city of Bisnagar was considered especially piteous; its wealth, both that accumulated by previous kings and the treasures belonging to the regular inhabitants, was so great that it cannot be praised too highly in human terms, and a day does not go by without its loss being remembered and lamented by the Gentiles.181 In the main, what the Gentiles say is certainly plausible, for the wealth of these kings of Narsinga stemmed from two of the 178  The Coromandel coast. 179  Portuguese for “St. Thomas.” The reference here is to a town, province, and coast of southeastern India known historically as Vedapuri, an ancient port with a flourishing trade with the Roman Empire. The coast was known as the Coromandel, as noted above. It dates from around the first century BC, if not earlier. This location was known to the Tamils as Mailapur, meaning “town of peacocks,” and according to Ptolemy, by the second century AD the Greeks and the Romans rendered the name as Maliarpha. Known in English as Mylapore, the name of this location was conflated with that of the apostle St. Thomas because it was reportedly the site of his martyrdom and interment. It is understood that Arabic travel and merchant accounts began to mention the association of St. Thomas with Mylapore sometime in the ninth or tenth centuries, and that Marco Polo visited the town in the late thirteenth century. The Portuguese occupied it in 1523 and ruled from that date until 1749, with a slight interruption between 1662 and 1687 caused by the occupation of the French. Known to the Portuguese as São Tomé de Meliapor, it was also the site of a Christian diocese and missionary activity. The English East India Company took possession of the town in the name of the Nawab of Arcot in 1749 and immediately incorporated its administration into the Presidency of Madras. Today this location is also known as Thirumayilai, and since it is physically in close proximity to Madras, locally known as Chennai, Mylapore has been incorporated into that city, becoming a southern suburb of it. 180  Bay of Bengal. 181  This passage refers to a major military defeat of the Vijayanagar Empire by the Deccan sultanates at the Battle of Talikota in 1565. Although this empire would survive until 1646, the decline of its power and influence in the region dates from this battle. Much of the available information concerning this period comes from European accounts, especially the sixteenth-century chronicles of two Portuguese authors, Domingos Paes and Fernão Nunes; see Sewell, A Forgotten Empire, 108–16.

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most highly prized and treasured enterprises that exist and have ever existed in the East, namely the mining of diamonds and the farming of pearls from the channel that runs between the coast of Coromandel and the island of Sri Lanka,182 which attracted merchants to an emporium and market of extremely precious items from all of the provinces of Asia and Europe, and even from the most remote regions of China and Cathay.183 As Bisnagar was nearly laid waste, most of these Gentiles lost all the glory and greatness of their schools. And because the population as a whole was greatly diminished, those who continue to teach the aforementioned subjects are nowadays very few in number; most of them are Brahmins, who learn them by tradition, very few receiving theoretical training. Most of these Brahmins live in the interior of Hindustan, and hence information about them is sparse and confusing. And even though there are still Gentile kings in Bisnagar, they are much inferior in power and dominion compared to the ancient and renowned kings of Narsinga. In our present day they reside in [fol. 135v] the mountainous region that originates in the high Ghat Mountains between the city of Bisnagar and the province of São Tomé, not far from the city of the same name, which the Gentiles call Mailapur,184 a most noble Portuguese colony that deserves to house the body of this saint. Aside from the everyday language185 spoken by the Brahmins and the Banias, another language186 is spoken by them, which they have learned according to the precepts of grammar, without which it cannot be understood, much like Latin for us. Their books of learning are written in this language, [superscript: which] is taught in their schools; but the alphabet,187 which is common to all, is made with very beautiful figures, similar to those of the Armenian language. It is learned by all the merchants, notaries, and accountants, as well as by those who administer public revenues, exclusively for the purpose of reading, writing, and counting with skill, while the scholastic language is reserved for scholars and priests. And although the characters and the manner of writing are so elegant and ancient that they can be considered among the finest in the world, as has been noted, they bear no similitude or resemblance whatsoever to the Hebrew, Syriac, or Arabic scripts. And since these were the first alphabets known to mankind, and from which all Asian and 182  Known to the Portuguese as Ceilão. 183  See p. 516 n. 31. 184  See p. 221 n. 179. 185  Probably Konkani, the common language of the Karavali of the Konkan coast of India. 186  Probably Sanskrit. 187  The Devanagari alphabet, a type of Brahmi script that developed around the thirteenth century; see Masica, Indo-Aryan Languages, 133–50.

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European alphabets were learned, they must have borne some resemblance to the Brahmi script. For it seems that those who flourished afterward learned from the sciences and arts of the Brahmins, given the antiquity, excellence, and precision of their observations. Their alphabet has only twenty-two elements or characters, and while they are [fol. 136r] fewer than the number of letters in the Greek and Latin alphabets, their alphabet is much more complete and easier to learn and speak because all the vowels come in pairs. As for the consonants, there are only three or four basic characters, the rest being indicated by just a few pen strokes that convey different meanings and pronunciations when they are read out loud. It was my keen desire to inquire into the views held by the Brahmins and other scholars regarding their professed philosophy, but a Bania doctor named Rama who looked after my servants was unable to declare anything with certainty or sophistication on the subject, and although he promised to bring me some books, he never did so. It was thus evident that what knowledge he had had come from tradition and from what he had managed to learn in the common language. The same thing is true of all the other Brahmins who live in this city. But what is widely held by them, excepting the most rustic of their number, is that the souls of men are immortal and eternal, and that they transmute from one body to another, sometimes to the body of a rational human being and sometimes to that of a brute animal, depending on the virtues or shortcomings of each individual. While the Greeks ascribed this belief to Pythagoras188 as if it were one of his own inventions and particular doctrines, it was in fact imitated and borrowed from [fol. 136v] these most ancient Eastern philosophers, from whom the other arts passed to the Chaldeans and Egyptians and from them to the Greeks, among whom they flourished for so many centuries. This firm and accepted belief, which persists to this day among Gentile commoners, is the reason they are so kind and compassionate toward any sort of animal, even filthy ones, so that under no circumstances do they kill any living thing; they are persuaded that the spirits of all living things harbor a rational soul, and that the souls that enter into cows and bulls are the most perfect and blessed of all. Friar João de São Matias189 of the Order of the Friars Minor taught me many things regarding their religion and how they envision the number and movement of the celestial spheres and their first creation, plus other beliefs of theirs. He has been assisting in the conversion of the Gentiles from the mainland area of Bardes, next to the island of Goa, for more than twenty years. But although 188  Pythagoras (ca. 570–ca. 495 BC), Greek philosopher and mathematician. 189  We have been unable to find additional information about this Franciscan friar.

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this monk could not fully inform me regarding this matter beyond what a man would know who could speak, read, and write their vulgar language perfectly, and who had seen some books in that language like those commonly found in Europe that contain devout and pious contemplations, he shared some of his opinions with me as a simple monk, without artifice, [fol. 137r] which accorded completely with the ones I had heard tell of and which the aforementioned doctor Rama had told me. They firmly believe that the world originated from an eternal, ineffable, immense, and incomprehensible intelligence without beginning or end, to which they ascribe the greatest kindness and justice, and that after four ages—each one supposedly consisting of an infinite number of years—this entire ethereal and elementary machine must needs come to an end and vanish away when the highest intelligence and great god shall appear in the form of fire, assigning an eternal reward to the good, and eternal punishment to the evil. They have special terms for all of these teachings that they use to clearly express and understand each other in the same way that I am writing about them here, except their language, being so much more lavish, defines and communicates them more accurately. They also believe that before the creation of the world there was only a single formless and disordered substance, with no distinction between elements or heavenly bodies, until the beginning of all things, at which point this great intelligence created light, separating it from darkness, and subsequently created everything else in the same order that we are taught in the first chapter of Genesis.190 And it is quite amazing that these Gentiles possessed and still possess this first knowledge of God [fol. 137v] and His Divine Providence, thus granting them so much enlightenment and knowledge that are quite similar to the fundamental tenets of our true Christian religion. They distinguish between the elements of fire and air, but they confuse and merge the elements of earth and water, assigning them a single name. They claim that these two are united and subsumed within each other, forming a perfectly spherical globe, both parts being common to each other. They arrange the orbs of the seven planets in successive order, in accordance with our common doctrine, using the same figures, although with different names and with their own representations of the qualities and natures of each one: the moon is the first, being the closest to the elementary region, and Saturn is the highest. Above this they situate the firmament of the eighth sphere, with its perfect composition of circles and the altitude of the zodiac, within which are found the same twelve signs that we have, each represented by the same characters 190  See the Vulgate at Genesis 1:4: et vidit Deus lucem quod esset bona et divisit lucem ac tenebras (“and God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness”).

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and figures, though bearing names in their own language, each one with a particular meaning that matches the image corresponding to each sign. They begin counting the days of the year on the vernal equinox, when [fol. 138r] the sun enters Aries. They consider this day, together with the day on which the sun enters Libra on the autumnal equinox, to be lucky and fortunate, as are the two days on which the solstices occur. Names and designations have also been given in their language to the other images and constellations that lie outside the zodiac, similar to how other nations of the world understand them in their own languages. And although this good religious man lacked experience and knowledge in even the most basic principles of the composition of this eighth sphere, he said that even the most rustic of these Banias and Brahmins were familiar with the constellations of Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Draco, Hercules, and others that are seen around and near the northern sky, which is what he called the Arctic Pole in his common language. They also have an accurate knowledge, according to very simple formulas that they have passed down from one generation to another, of the conjunctions and oppositions of the sun with the moon.191 They divide the year into twelve moons, assigning thirty days to each moon and adding an extra moon at the year’s end every certain number of years, a little more or a little less time if it becomes necessary to reconcile the year [fol. 138v] with the observed variations caused by the motion of the heavenly spheres, as well as with the differences in the movement of the apogee of the sun. And in order for the calculations to come out precisely and reliably, they have added many more spheres to the number accepted by the common doctrine of the astrologers of our day, bringing it to twenty-three, the two elements of fire and air being included in this. This is how they perfectly harmonize the counting of their years.192 This highest class of Brahmins is so religious and abstinent that they restrict their diet to herbs, vegetables, and fruits, always practicing great modesty and holiness in their habits. Their apparel and attire is like that of the Banias, having maintained the same style from time immemorial: it is the same garb 191  See p. 60 n. 45. 192  Silva y Figueroa’s description of Indian astronomy is perfectly accurate. The earliest surviving Indian treatise that proposes the kind of geocentric model reflected in this passage of the Commentaries is the Aryabhatiya of the astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata (AD 476–550). The resemblance between certain features of this model and Greek astronomy are probably not coincidental, no doubt resulting from the Hellenic presence in north-western India following Alexander’s campaign in the early fourth century AD. See Ansari, “Aryabhata,” 10–18, and Subbarayappa, “Indian Astronomy,” 25–38.

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they wore when Alexander the Great193 entered India, as related by Quintus Curtius in Book 8 of his History.194 There are some among them who follow an extremely harsh lifestyle, wholly austere and penitent, surpassing that of the ancient hermits, to judge from what has been written about the latter: apart from going about half-naked, exposed to the ravages of the sun and perpetually sleeping [fol. 139r] on the floor, they intentionally let their bodies become soiled and filthy with dust and ashes, including their hair and beards, which are very long and bushy. Some of them shave their heads and beards because of some particular observance. They cover their private parts with a mere piece of leather or palm matting. It is most incredible to hear them tell of their periods of abstinence, as they fast for days on end. And what is perhaps the most amazing thing of all is that the memory we have of the prodigious penances performed by the fathers of the primitive Church in the wilderness, such as living on top of a column, is nowadays a very normal kind of penitence practiced among these yogis,195 which is what these Indian hermits are called. The columns on which they perch for such long periods of time are so small around that they barely provide enough room for sitting; they are ringed by small iron rods tipped with very sharp barbs so the yogis cannot lie down or sleep. Many of them freely offer themselves to any kind of death, no matter how cruel, in the service of their idols to whom they sacrifice themselves, and they do so with a cheerful and happy countenance. With this in mind, [fol. 139v] the Brahmin Caranus’s Calanus’s196 suicide by publicly burning himself in a great bonfire in the presence of Alexander the Great in Babylon [superscript: Persia] should not create great astonishment, although many people refuse to believe it, nor should the fact that Zarmanochegas197 performed an identical act in the 193  Alexander II of Macedon (356–323 BC). 194  Quintus Curtius Rufus (d. AD 53), Roman author; History of Alexander, 8.9.21–24. 195  Ascetic practitioners of meditation (yoga), a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline that originated in India. It is one of the sixāstika (orthodox) schools of Hindu philosophy, practiced in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. 196  According to Arrian (Silva y Figueroa’s probable source), Calanus was an Indian holy man who was led captive to Persia by Alexander the Great. While in Persia, Calanus fell ill, something he had never before experienced. Deciding he did not want to live as a sick man, he chose to end his life through immolation. Alexander was unable to dissuade him from his determination and thus had a funeral pyre constructed for him. Calanus was carried to the spot in solemn procession and reportedly never flinched after the torches were applied to the pyre. See Arrian, Anabasis, 7.3.1–3. 197  Quoting Strabo: “From one place in India, and from one king, namely, Pandion, or, according to others, Porus, presents and embassies were sent to Augustus Caesar. With the ambassadors came the Indian gymnosophist, who committed himself to the flames at

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presence of Caesar Augustus198 in Athens, both of these men being Indians from this same profession of philosophers. But an event that occurred in Melaka 100 years ago deserves pride of place above the acts that are so extolled and praised by the dignified authors of antiquity, because it was motivated by an honorable and righteous indignation and not by the vain ambition of the aforementioned ancient Brahmins. Furthermore, it transpired at a time closer to our own, thus supporting and authenticating those stories that appear to be incredible because of their antiquity. After Afonso de Albuquerque so valiantly and laudably vanquished the city of Melaka, the Aurea Chersonesus199 of Ptolemy,200 he rebuilt it to function at once as fortification for protection and as source of public revenue and protection of the rights of merchants. To accomplish the first of these purposes, he appointed a brave Portuguese captain and a suitable number of soldiers; for the second—namely, the management of the treasury—he named a rich and powerful Gentile merchant [fol. 140r] from the Brahmin caste and vocation named Nina Chatu.201 At the time, those who devoted themselves to this occupation were called Bandara,202 and they enjoyed the highest level of honor next to the king, when there was one. After Afonso de Albuquerque took Melaka and expelled the kings, the office of Bandara retained the same status of high regard and honor as before. After Afonso de Albuquerque departed for Goa, the captain who remained behind in Melaka instead favored the enthroning of a petty king, called the king of Johor, who lived very close to Melaka and who occupied the same office of Bandara. The captain did this either as a result of negotiations or because he simply thought it the right action to take. The king earnestly sought this honor, offering his navy and soldiers to assist the Portuguese who were in the city. When the captain communicated such in a letter to Afonso de Albuquerque in Goa, the latter ordered that it be so done in view of the aforementioned reasons. News of this then reached the Bandara Nina Chatu, and without petitioning the captain or making any other gestures of courtesy, he ordered that a very long street that ran from the fortress to his Athens, like Calanus, who exhibited the same spectacle in the presence of Alexander”; see Strabo, Geography, 15, 1:73. 198  Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Divi Filius Augustus (63 BC–AD 14), Roman emperor (27 BC–AD 14). 199   Aurea Chersonesus, Latinized Greek for “golden peninsula,” refers to the Malay Peninsula. 200  Claudius Ptolemaeus, Greek author (ca. 90–AD 168); see Ptolemy, Geography, 155–56. 201  For particulars on the career of this person, see Thomaz, De Ceuta a Timor, 487–512. 202  This is Silva y Figueroa’s rendering of Portuguese bendara, which refers to a Malay title for minister of state (bendahāra, meaning “lord”), which in turn stems from Sanskrit bhāṇḍārin, meaning “steward or treasurer”; see Y&B, 84, s.v. “bendára.”

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house be magnificently and richly fitted with an awning [fol. 140v]. Then, after ordering a great bonfire of sandalwood and eaglewood to be built at the door of his house, he threw several different perfumes on it of the many kinds that abound in that part of the East. Next, he emerged from his house bedecked with jewels, having donned a covering of extremely rich brocade over his usual Brahmin robe. According to João [superscript: de] Barros,203 a famous author from that time, he uttered a solemn yet brief prayer to his children, grandchildren, and wives; also present was his numerous household of slaves, totalling 10,000. After invoking the power and justice of God, and threatening whoever had wronged him with divine punishment, he threw himself onto the bonfire, many of his slaves and wives immolating themselves with him as well. It has been particularly important to make this digression here, not only because it is warranted by the generous and heroic spirit of this Brahmin, but also because within a very few years Afonso de Albuquerque was deposed as governor of India; his great merits, earned from such celebrated victories that made his nation famous among all of these Eastern peoples, availed him nothing, nor did the reverence and fear inspired by his courage. He later died, less from his disease than from the anguish and insults that were heaped upon him, for he perceived that his enemies, of which he had acquired not a few, had avenged themselves on him, not because he had offended them [fol. 141r], but because they resented his splendid courage, which is normally the case; the virtue found in exceptional men is envied and abhorred the world over. But even allowing that the yogis we are discussing might be the most penitent and sober of all these Brahmins, there is found in some of them, quite apart from the rigor and severity of their lives, gross and horrific vices of every description. These they conceal under the false appearance of holiness so as to create more opportunity to commit and perpetuate them. Among the Turks and Moors there are many hermits and ascetics, called dervishes,204 who wantonly go about naked, deceiving ignorant people with the same displays as the Indian yogis, the first group being just as steeped in all kinds of wickedness and sin as the second.

203  Portuguese historian and humanist (1496–1570). For his writings, see Barros, Décadas de Ásia. For biographical information and discussion of his importance as a historian, see Boxer, João de Barros and “Three Historians,” 15–44, and Harrison, “Five Portuguese Historians,” 155–69. 204  Sufi mendicant ascetics.

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As a privilege and emblem of their dignity and lineage, all Brahmins wear three or four white cotton strings205 next to their skin, no thicker than those used by shoemakers, which they wrap around their chests and backs from their right shoulders to below their left arms; these are never removed at any time. Brahmin wives, especially those of the most honored class, wear the same clothing as the Banias. But the women live more secluded lives, looking after [fol. 141v] everything that pertains to their homes and families with great care. They especially concern themselves with serving and waiting on their husbands, only rarely leaving the house, and when they do, they bedeck themselves with jewelry, never venturing farther than their pagodas or temples. In spite of their modesty, purity, and supreme chastity, they fall prey to the deception and pretence of their yogis and other ministers of their religion, something that has been very common and widespread in all ages. Brahmin men and women are not as dark as other Indians. Some of them are almost white, having good features and good political and human customs, which are not wanting among the yogis and hermits referred to above who take vows of nakedness and penitence, because all of the latter, [margin: with] the few rare exceptions who lead clean lives, are the most debauched and dissolute men in the world. The custom of the Brahmins and Banias of burning women, though less common among the latter group, was quite widespread in Hindustan, especially among the upper class. These women would willingly immolate themselves by leaping onto a pyre where the corpses of their husbands were being cremated, completely adorned with jewels and displaying every sign of 205  Hindu and Buddhist communities celebrate an initiation ritual called upanayana, which generally symbolizes the transfer of spiritual knowledge. While this ceremony is known by a variety of names and has several variants, a constant feature is a thin, consecrated cotton cord called a yajñopavītam, which is given to the initiate to wear for the rest of his life; the ceremony is only rarely performed for females. The yajñopavītam represents coming of age, although its symbolic meaning varies according to community and region. The sacred thread has three strands: a bachelor wears only one (three strands); a married man with one wife wears two (six strands); and a married man with two or more wives wears three (nine strands). In this passage, however, Silva y Figueroa is referring to a version of the sacred thread ceremony practiced by the Brahmin caste. Brahmins, along with the Kshatriyas, are dvijas, meaning “twice born.” The males of these castes are born twice, once in their mother’s womb and again during the upanayana ritual when they are introduced to the concept of the nature of Brahman, the ultimate reality, and are presented with the yajñopavītam. Silva y Figueroa’s description of how these sacred cords are worn—around the chest and back from the right shoulders to below the left arm—is accurate; judging from number of cords mentioned, the wearer was a bachelor.

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happiness.206 But this very inhuman and cruel practice has by now fallen largely into disuse because the women who performed this horrible act on themselves, while to all appearances doing so voluntarily, in reality were persuaded to do so by their parents, siblings, and other relatives [fol. 142r] to whom it seemed honorable for these hapless women to perform such a cruel manner of sacrifice. Such women were obligated to do this because of their idle and foolish yearning to leave behind an everlasting reputation of chastity and honor and to rejoice in eternal [margin: immortality] with their husbands. What has further contributed to the disuse and palliation of this terrible sort of obsequy is that it is not tolerated by the Moorish kings of India or by the Portuguese in their colonies. Soldiers from their nation who, because of their crimes, serve in the armies of some of these kings or in the armies of some of the Gentile kings—there are many such soldiers throughout India—have on several occasions saved these women who, amid music and dancing, appeared to go quite cheerfully to their incineration, but were afterward very happy and thankful that it was thwarted. And according to what I have learned from many of these Brahmins, the truth is that even though many women have been persuaded to immolate themselves, and seem to possess a vehement yearning to do so, very few actually do it nowadays; those who do have been shamed through some ignominy into which they have fallen or have ended up poor and childless after the death of their husbands, with no one to protect them. The male inhabitants and soldiers of Goa, like all the other Portuguese men of India, follow the modern style of dress used in Portugal, subject to allowing variation in the weather, except that their breeches are completely novel and unique compared to what is customarily worn in other nations of the world, being so long that they reach [fol. 142v] to the ankles and so wide that when pleated they create a very narrow opening; when they are tied around the ankles they become so bulky and wide at the bottom, even though they are made out of very thin silk, that from a distance they look like a woman’s skirt, the feet hardly showing at all. And despite being such an unwieldy article of clothing, everyone wears them because of the heat, since the men can thus avoid wearing stockings and garters. Neither do they hinder riding horseback, which many men do. Other men are carried in palanquins, a kind of sedan used quite often by both men and women in India. These palanquins are covered by giant straw canopies as protection against the sun and are carried by slaves or by natives who are hired for this purpose. 206  This is an accurate description of a social funeral practice among some Indian communities, called sati or suttee, in which a recently widowed woman would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre.

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Portuguese women, those who have come from Portugal and those who were born in India, dress in the same style and fashion as the most important and respectable women in Portugal, for in this respect the women here are peers, even if they are of unequal social status. But when they are in their houses, or [margin: visiting their friends or relatives], or when they go to their country estates to pass the time and take a dip, they wear the ghastliest, most bestial, and completely barbaric, if not indecent, outfit, in which even a trace of beauty is wanting. It consists of a tightly worn multicolored piece of cotton cloth that they wrap around themselves several times and which hangs down [fol. 143r] from their waists evenly to where it reaches a little below their calves, with part of their legs remaining uncovered. On their feet they wear slippers or pianellas207 made of black, green, [margin: or brown] velvet that cover little more than their toes, the most costly ones being set [superscript: with] many little golden tacks. In addition to this they wear a little smock made of very thin and transparent fabric or gauze that completely fails to shield their bodies from view. They wear these smocks mostly open in front down below their breasts, which are in plain view of all. These smocks, which in India are known by the Malay term bajus,208 are so short that often they do not touch the cloth that the women wear wrapped around themselves. And since they are worn loosely, without a covering, even if they were not so clear and transparent, any small movement has the same effect of displaying the nudity of the wearer. The noblest women, as well as those who are somewhat less so, if they are young and take pride in their beauty, wear blouses that have been embroidered with silver and gold, like Italian and Spanish gauze, with very tight sleeves that almost reach to their hands, leaving their wrists bare. On their wrists [fol. 143v] they wear many golden bracelets and circlets—not only on their wrists, but on their arms all the way up to their elbows as well—some of these bracelets being encrusted with gems after the custom of Indian women. They also wear pearl and diamond necklaces and two or three pairs of earrings made of the same materials, to which they pay particular attention. The women, including slaves and those of an inferior situation, consider it the height of poverty and destitution if they lack jewelry or if they are not ornamented with it. They wear their hair with no art or elegance whatsoever. Most of the women are fair haired, either naturally or by artifice. They pull their hair up and wrap it around their crowns, or the tops of their heads, and tie it off in a thick knot in which they also put ribbons with pearls and gems, [margin: or a golden pin 207  Italian for “chopines,” wooden or cork platform shoes that might be covered with leather or fabric. 208  See Y&B, 46–47, s.v. “badjoe, bajoo.”

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with a flat round head as big as a real,209 set with diamonds], spending more on this than what is required of them by their station in life. The cloth they wrap around themselves covers them from the waist to a hand’s span above their ankles, and while this fabric is very thin and sheer, it does not permit one to see through what the women are wearing as do their little smocks or bajus. But since they go about this fabric [superscript: is worn] snuggly wrapped [fol. 144r] around their bellies, hips, thighs, and legs, it readily and plainly reveals all of these parts as if they were covered by a single piece of thin linen, because this fabric, called zarazas210 in the Malayan tongue, is very supple and soft. And in addition to having the qualities just mentioned, these wraps lack form or shape of any kind; they have no hem or cavity along the bottom like the women here [margin: like] the petticoats, underskirts, and skirts worn by European women, but are left just as they come off the loom, or as if just enough were cut from a piece of cloth or linen in order to allow two or three revolutions to be made, which is in fact precisely what the women do, starting at their waists and ending at the part of their legs that has been mentioned, resulting in a tightly bound fit. If these wraps were not so supple and soft, they would be too tight for the women to walk in. As it is, they create an abominable, indecent, and ugly appearance, like that of the black slaves from Ethiopia who are brought from Portugal to be sold in Castile. Yet in spite of all this unsightliness, which in India passes for the greatest [fol. 144v] beauty and elegance, the ladies and beautiful girls decorate these fabrics with gold and silver, even at great cost, or with flowers of the same materials that are woven and embroidered on them. And although they wear their mantillas and the rest of their Portuguese outfits when unfamiliar guests come to their houses, or when they go openly to Mass on feast days, their bodices and wimples are so open and unfastened that their bodies are completely uncovered all the way to their waists, their breasts being completely revealed, and since these are never bound or constrained, they are excessively large and oversized, even if the women are very young and unmarried, priding themselves on their size. On other days, unless the women attend an event such as the wedding or baptism of a relative or friend, they always dress in the Indian style, as has been mentioned. They also dress like this on many of the feast days when they do not wish to be out in the open, going out in their sedans, or palanquins, often well before dawn. But if the weather is fair, they go on foot accompanied by their female slaves, which tend 209  See “Measurements.” 210  The MS has çaraça (spelled zaraza in modern Spanish), an anaptyctic variant of zarzahán, from Andalusian Arabic zardaḥan; see DCECH, 6:103 and Y&B, 201–2, s.v. “chintz.”

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to be great in number, as well as with their male slaves and servants who carry pikes and halberds for the protection of their persons and for pageantry. By day even the poorest among them are carried about in their litters on the shoulders [fol. 145r] of slaves, wearing either the first kind of dress mentioned, or the second, but always protected from view, the litter being totally covered by palm mats. The mats on the sides have little flaps that open when the women want to see something or be seen by some person who comes into view. However, this seldom happens because they maintain a great deal of composure, poise, and decency in all public places. We have been obligated to discuss the informal apparel of Indian women with such precision and at such length because of how shocking, outrageous, outlandish, and bizarre it is, and also in order to show how quickly and easily all women accept and embrace whichever licentious and immodest customs common use gives rise to, even those that are entirely indecent and unchaste, such as those connected with the sacrificial festivals of Bacchus and Sybil, and others that were even more [text blacked out] [margin: detestable], in which all kinds of women would participate with a great display of piety, and this in such well-ordered republics as were those of the Greeks and Romans. Most of the houses in Goa are spacious and well built, their chambers being larger and higher than the rooms that people typically use and inhabit in Spain. [fol. 145v] They have big windows and passageways to allow the benefit of a breeze at all times; without this, life would be more than just bothersome and difficult—it would be impossible. And since the city covers such a vast area, everyone has extensive grounds and gardens, full of palms and other trees. But for this same reason, the city is so weak and vulnerable that it could easily be sacked and burned by any sudden enemy attack, as it lacks any sort of natural or man-made defense. Aside from the churches and the fortress, the city lacks public buildings of any kind, except perhaps for the Palácio da Inquisição,211 the former residence of the Sabaios, who were the first [superscript: most recent] lords of Goa. And even though this palace is of Moorish construction, being spacious and tall and having a long stairway that leads from the ground to the door, it looks majestic and pleasing. The windows are built after the same style as what is still seen on the great old houses of Spain, or in the chambers of its chief fortresses from the same time period, clearly proving that these Arab Moors who came [fol. 146r] to India were the same ones who invaded and conquered Africa and Spain, for from that time forward these Moors have everywhere maintained the same style of building and manner of dress. The style of clothing worn throughout 211  Portuguese for “Palace of the Inquisition.”

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Arabia and India is exactly the same as that which is generally seen in Barbary, and which the Spanish Moors wore before [superscript: their] expulsion from the kingdom of Granada. The Praça do Leilão, where these old grand palaces212 of the Sabaios are located, is the busiest square in Goa. There are no other gathering places as spacious as this one anywhere else in the city, for not only is it located between the Sé Cathedral and the Rua Direita, but a general fair or market is held there every day from sunup till ten o’clock. All kinds of usual domestic items are sold there, as well as all manner of food, to people of every stripe. In particular, household furnishings and other finery are sold in this square. Many of these items are sold at auction, and so great are the crowds that throng to these auctions that it is very difficult to pass through them on foot or on horseback. The square is completely [fol. 146v] surrounded by fine houses and is becoming increasingly beautiful because not only is it a public place, but it is also located in the center and heart of the city. The square was not included in our earlier description of the city, and so it is well that the present relation and report of it has been made. One of the most amazing characteristics of this city is that an enormous quantity of lime is used on the numerous and magnificent churches, as well as on the private houses, all of which, even those belonging to the poorest and most destitute, are made out of stone and lime. And all of this lime is derived exclusively from oyster shells, no other material of any kind being added to it. As incredible as this may sound, seeing is believing: every day this kind of lime is used in the building and construction of the many new houses and churches that every [margin: that are continuously being built]. And what merits particular mention is that this lime is not employed in a limited or stingy manner, but rather generously and abundantly. Not only is the entire edifice held together with lime, which is even used to polish the walls afterward both on the inside and out, but the floors of all the rooms and balconies are also paved with it in the following manner. On the floors of the houses belonging to the Portuguese residents, as well as on those of many of the mestizos of some [fol. 147r] means, a thick crust of lime is first laid down, to which another very fine white layer is added, which is buffed and polished with a certain mixture of egg whites, [margin: sugar,] and other substances until it is so smooth and white that it looks exactly like high quality burnished marble. The same method is used on the stairways of all the monasteries and houses, except those belonging to the very poor. And this is why, during the first days after 212  For the palaces and architecture of Goa and other parts of Portuguese Asia, see Carita, Palácios de Goa; and Rossa, Cidades indo-portuguesas, 41–53.

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my arrival in Goa, I thought that the stairways in the Colégio de São Tomás, where I was a guest, were made wholly of marble. I was astonished to learn that the steps, which were quite wide, had been made from a single stone. Such an immense quantity of oysters is gathered from the Pangim River and other sea channels and inlets that surround the island and partition it into different regions. Not only are there enough oysters to provide all the lime that has been referred to, but also enough to make glass from it for the innumerable windows, passages, and corridors of the aforementioned buildings, by removing the inner tunics of the oysters where their flesh is connected to their shells.213 There are so many of these windows, which are deep and huge [fol. 147v] in order to let air in at all times, that more could not be seen anywhere else in the world. And although these windows are not diaphanous—objects on the other side of them cannot be seen—they are more transparent than the windows used in Spain that are fashioned out of linen or waxed cloth instead of glass, and they last longer. The ones in Goa are made from little square pieces of these coverings that are three or four fingers wide. These are set between two thin wooden dowels that form the panels of the window. These windows are closed in the winter during the violent and constant rains, or when one desires to keep the sunlight out, but they remain open day and night the rest of the time to let the air in, as has been described above. We shall conclude our description of this island and city of Goa by noting how intensely all the Gentiles of Hindustan are devoted to it, which is why, as was stated at the outset, they considered it holy and sacred, revering it as a religious object. The reason for this devotion is the following. [fol. 148r] As one sails from the Daugin (or Madre de Deus) Crossing toward the Narva (or Espírito Santo) fortress, there is a cliff on the left side of the river that falls almost vertically into the sea. From its base at the surface of the water to its highest point, it probably measures no more than two pike lengths.214 It faces the Ilha de Dom Bernardo, which, as has been explained, is the tip of the greater Island of the Moon, or Santo Estêvão, which is closer to the mainland. Halfway up this cliff there is a cave whose entrance is fifteen or sixteen feet in diameter. The cave faces squarely to the east and is somewhat wider than it is deep, so that its interior is clearly visible to those who sail past it. Its floor is level, and the ceiling, which was carved into the very rock without human workmanship, is so high one cannot touch it with his hand. A vertical slab or crag sits above the entrance and supports the part above it like an architrave, 213  Nacre, or mother-of-pearl. 214  See “Measurements.”

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part of it jutting outward like the brim of a cap or hat. Inside, opposite the entrance, there is another very small cave in which a man can fit most of his body, the cavity and space there being [fol. 148v] six or seven feet square. Here there is nothing more than a hole in the floor that is a little more than a foot in diameter, which, according to the Gentiles of the island, leads to a great abyss, or chasm, that emerges at the foot of the mountain on the opposite side from the cave’s entrance. Although the climb looks difficult from the vantage of the sea, the cave can be reached from the base of the cliff with little effort: the entrance is no more than a pike’s length above the surface of the water. The climb from the cave’s entrance, which leads toward the left on the way to the summit and the highest part of the cliff, is somewhat more difficult than the first climb. The upper surface of the cliff is flat and covered with grass. From here the ground descends along a gentle slope, nearly devoid of rock, to the flattest area, in which there is an abyss or a very deep and waterless pond. As has been stated, this is where the hole leads to, which could be seen in the smaller cave, meaning the one that is located inside the bigger cave, all of this situated behind the cliff on the side that faces west. This cave is greatly venerated, not only by all the Gentiles of Hindustan, but also by those from other more eastern [fol. 149r] provinces on the far side of the Ganges, so much so that every year a myriad of them come here on a specially designated day that usually occurs around the month of August. This feast and memorable day of theirs falls sometimes at the beginning of this month, give or take a few days, but other years around the beginning of September or the end of July, depending on very punctual and precise calculations of the days of the moon of their priests [margin: performed by their priests]. And the devotion and intense veneration the Gentiles feel toward this sanctuary is so much the greater because it was not built with human hands like the countless other rich and magnificent temples and pagodas of India, but by the mind and will of God alone, and thus they have never desired to add to or embellish what was found in its natural state and whose origins date from time immemorial. The knowledge they have of it is also immemorial in their scriptures as well as in their ancient traditions. What was specifically worshipped in this cave was the figure of a golden snake of that deadly and poisonous species that the Portuguese here in India call the capelo,215 known as [fol. 149v] a çoropo in the Kanara language.216 And 215  The Asian or spectacled cobra; see p. 179 n. 44. 216  Based on Silva y Figueroa’s description, there are multiple reasons for deducing that the lesser island of Goa he refers to here is Divar: (1) Naroa, as mentioned previously, is located on that island; (2) Divar is the only island that matches the location described

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not only was the image of this snake the object of their outward worship, but they all believed that God appeared to them in the form of a live snake in that cave because one of them had been seen there; of course it is entirely plausible that this kind of snake should inhabit such a place. And this is what the common people were told by their priests, who produced revelations and answers to their every question concerning good and bad outcomes, just like in Delphi, [margin: where] the Greeks found themselves in such great deception for such a long time. To the left of the entrance to this cave, a little to the north-east and at its same level, there are three entrances or doors in the same side of the cliff, which, from what can be judged, seem to have been [margin: created] artificially. The one in the middle is much bigger than the others, allowing two men to enter it shoulder to shoulder. The entrance is too tall for one man to touch the top of it by extending his arm over his head. The entrances on either side are much smaller; a man can only enter them by ducking his head. It is impossible to tell from the outside how big the cavities are that lie behind these entrances because they are more than a pike’s length up the sheer side of the cliff, [fol. 150r] but some of the Gentiles have said [margin: that] they have seen it and that it is a little smaller bigger than the first cave. From the placement and layout of this second cave, it seems that it was the ancient dwelling place of yogis, the purpose of which was the service, rituals, and worship associated with this, their much venerated sanctuary. The ceremony they would perform when a certain number of people would come here was for all to wash themselves, both men and women, at the foot of this cliff, believing that this absolved them of all their guilt and sins except deceitfully stealing and usurping from others. They would then go up and worship the cave with great displays of devotion, leaving the offerings that corresponded to the social position and by Silva y Figueroa with respect to Dom Bernardo or the smaller Island of the Moon; and (3) Divar is a famous site for Hindu pilgrimages. In all likelihood, then, the location of the cave described by Silva y Figueroa is near the landmark labeled Pagode on Erédia’s map on the island of Divar. But it is impossible to ascertain the precise location of the cave, since by the mid-sixteenth century the Portuguese had already demolished three of the most famous Hindu temples on Divar (Shree Saptakoteshar, Shree Ganesh, and Shree Dwarkeshwar), though there are a number of Brahmin caves in the area surrounding the Saptakoteshar temple. The festival during which Hindus worship nagas (cobras) is Nāg Panchamī, celebrated on the fifth day after Amavasya of the month of Shraavana, which falls in July or August. It is certain that the golden snake figure mentioned by Silva y Figueroa is the Indian, Asian, or spectacled cobra (Naja naja). It is improbable that çoropo is the term (or an approximation of it) for that snake in Kannada because this cobra is called nagara haavu in that language.

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means of each person, and then happily return to their houses as if from a great and holy jubilee. During the entire time the island of Goa belonged to the Gentiles before the arrival of the Moors, this pagoda of theirs flourished and was frequently visited by all the eastern Indian nations, even though it is quite rustic and poor in appearance. But after the Moors from Konkan and Deccan, which are next to the island, took possession of it, this pilgrimage of theirs fell into somewhat of a decline because of the [fol. 150v] trials and tribulations that the poor pilgrims received at the hands of their lords, even though they were allowed their ceremonies in the cave as they had always performed them. But after Afonso de Albuquerque, who took possession of Goa from the Moors over 100 years ago, and after the city of Goa became populated by the Portuguese, by no means would the archbishops allow this superstitious custom and Gentile corruption to continue to be practiced on the same island. They refused to allow it to stand in the way of the conversion of its inhabitants who began to embrace the Christian religion. But this measure fell short of preventing Indians from many provinces in whose souls the devotion to their pagoda has been established and entrenched since time immemorial to abandon their time-honored pilgrimage and penitential journey. And seeing that they were banned from coming over to the island and visiting the cave after washing themselves at the base of it, they continued in their vain worship from the seashore on the mainland that borders the cliff, about 500 paces off, which is the width of the strait that circles around the island and separates it from the mainland. On this beach, from which the cave’s entrance can clearly be seen, though somewhat at an angle, they constructed five [fol. 151r] or six steps of more than 100 paces in length, so that at high tide all the pilgrims can enter into the water and comfortably bathe while seated on the steps, or, alternatively, at low tide they can walk down to the water’s edge for the same purpose. During the two and a half years I spent in Goa, I twice witnessed this great crowd of people, and I confess that I did so with great pleasure and curiosity. The first time was in the year 1615. At that time their jubilee fell on a Sunday, the 15th of August. On that day a great number of people turned up, though not as many as the inflated amount stated in previously published reports, but enough to reasonably estimate their number at 15,000 or 16,000, counting men and women and people of all ages. Most of these were extremely wretched and poor, if such could be judged by their naked appearance, and black, while others resembled the mulattoes of Spain, being more or less yellowish brown in color because of the location of the provinces to which they are native. Many

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were of the same color as the Moors of Barbary; few or none of them were fairer skinned. But all of them demonstrated such singular and extraordinary devotion that the enthusiasm we Christians display on similar occasions [fol. 151v] would seem halfhearted by comparison. They situate themselves in chest-high water by sitting on the steps or by standing at the foot of them. The men wear a small piece of linen in front, while the women wear larger pieces of cloth that cover them from the waist to mid-calf, the rest of their bodies naked and their hair loose, yet maintaining great modesty and decorum. They first wash themselves thoroughly and then, their hands pressed together in the posture used by Christians when we pray, they remain in the water and pray for a long time with great fervour and zeal while gazing intently at the cliff where the caves are located, which, as has been stated, are 500 paces from where they wash. From time to time they bend down and immerse their heads in the water, repeating this ceremony many times, some spending more and some less time at this, depending on the devotion felt by each one. While they are thus engaged—they also gaze repeatedly into heaven and pray—they throw small pieces of fruit, grains of rice, and betel217 leaves into the water in the direction of the cave as a kind of offering; betel leaves are the green leaves that they regularly and usually chew on. And with this their ceremony draws to a close. But there is one more thing about this ceremony that merits comment, and that is that along the entire length of the steps, [fol. 152r] whether partially in the water or out of it, there are many Brahmins, or priests, who lay their hands upon the heads of those who are about to enter the water to bathe as well as upon those who are bathing closest to them, especially the women, and pray as if to give absolution, and they do this with great force of spirit, both the Brahmin and the penitent praying so loudly that both can be heard. These priests are well known and famous among the rest of them, both because of this act of superstitious absolution and because their robes, which are white or decorated with colors, are shorter and more close-fitting than the ones worn by the other Brahmins so that they do not interfere with this exercise of worship during these festivals. They also differ from the others in that they wear bigger headdresses and have long, thick beards. They also bear large leather pouches that hang from a ribbon in which they carry the small pieces of fruit, betel leaves, and seeds that have been mentioned. These things are given to the penitents after they have been absolved [fol. 152v] so they can throw them into the sea as offerings from that place, since they cannot move any closer to their sanctuary. All these people, especially the priests, wear beads around 217  See p. 142 n. 252.

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their necks, this being a very common practice of theirs in general, even on occasions different from this one, for the Gentiles throughout the East offer a great number of prayers with them, as happened was the custom of the great Mughal Akbar,218 grandfather to the one who now reigns in that great empire,219 who, being more Gentile than Moor, would use large beads to offer 400 prayers to the sun. The part of the mainland closest to these steps where this celebrated ablution is performed juts up from the sea into an uneven hill, though it is covered with a few trees and bushes so that the summit extends a good way over the beach. From there the entire mountainside and slope of the small mountain can be seen all the way to the summit itself, having the form of a theater. In the roughest part of the descent are some steps made from stone or dug into the side of the mountain that lead to the bottom all the way to the beach and to the lower steps that go right to the water, [fol. 153r] the entire slope and summit being covered by a quantity of pilgrims who climb down to bathe or head back up the mountain. And although many set out for the closest places where food and drink are found as soon as their services draw to a close, many others stop on the side of the same hillock in order to seek shelter under the trees or in huts that they make out of branches or linen. The view of this mountainside is indeed impressive from the sea. But bringing to a close the disquisition presented here on the devotion that these Gentiles display in all matters pertaining to their religion, two things in particular captivated the attention of those who were present [margin: that day] and remained fixed in their mind’s eye. The first was a yogi who was encountered on the mountaintop. His hair and beard were so long they reached to his waist, and so coarse and filthy that he seemed to have groomed them that way on purpose in order to create for himself a frightening and savage mien. He wore a thick palm covering no bigger than a small cape or cloak, [fol. 153v] and his arms were extended in the attitude of one who is about to give an embrace, his face turned upward as he stared intently at the cliff where the pagoda was and at the sky right above it, and this he did with such strange rapture and wonder that he truly looked to be completely entranced. He held perfectly still, even while many of the pilgrims circled around him and then 218  Akbar the Great [Abuʿl-Fatḥ D̲ j̲alāl al-Dīn Muḥammad] (1542–1605), third Mughal emperor (1556–1605). 219  Akbar’s actual successor was his son D̲ j̲ahāngīr, also known as Jahangir [Nur-ud-dīn Muḥammad Salīm] (1569–1627), fourth Mughal emperor (1605–1627). Silva y Figueroa refers always to this emperor as Xa Selin.

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came quite close to him. Judging from the reverence in which he was held by all the other Gentiles, they must have done this in order to touch him as if he were a sacred object. And since I deeply desired to more closely inspect this singular hermit of such remarkable appearance, I asked some of the soldiers who were present among the remaining crowds of Gentiles (these soldiers were on the mainland after having been expelled from Goa because of infractions they had committed) to attempt to bring this yogi over to me, which they endeavored to do with great diligence. But not only did he refuse to move from his long-held position and posture, but he also made no gesture to look at them nor to take his eyes from the spot at which he had fixed his gaze with such concentration [fol. 154r], even though the soldiers threatened him with daggers at his throat. When his resolve became clear, I ordered that someone shout to the soldiers to leave him alone. This yogi remained in the same attitude he had been in for the space of two hours, which was how long I stayed in that place, without moving his eyes or his arms from the position described above. The rest of his body was naked, and although he was not very [superscript: black], he looked so filthy, gaunt, and emaciated, from what could be seen from that distance, that one could clearly discern the false persuasion and ardent hypocrisy with which these yogis profess and hold to their fraudulent belief, giving themselves over to it to the point of suffering a cruel death. And despite all of this incredible penitence of theirs, they cover up all that is opposite and contrary to what they profess under its false appearance. For just as demonstrations of counterfeit virtue have always persisted and continue to prevail in our age more than ever before, serving as a veil and a cloak for great vices, so there are found many within the ranks of these most penitent and austere Gentile hermits who are full of all manner of abominable [fol. 154v] and dissolute habits. The second amazing thing that was witnessed on this day was a wonderfully beautiful woman. The sight of her could not have been an optical illusion, because she was situated at a distance of less than ten paces, unless this unexpected novelty and rareness among destitute, poor, and [text blacked out] black people forced and obligated all of us who were present to believe what was contrary to the truth, or at least led us to judge the qualities that this graceful Indian woman displayed at that time to be more praiseworthy and laudable than they in fact were. There was next to the steps that lead to the seashore a group of women who had formed a ring around a woman who later came into view, but who until then had not revealed herself or let a trace of her appearance be seen. There were also many of those holier-than-thou Brahmins, whom I have described above, among these same women, making so much noise that it forced me and my companions to look in their direction over by the bow

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of the manchua220 or felucca221 that was next to the steps. The Brahmins and the women were making all this commotion and noise to prevent the woman they had surrounded from bathing, from attempting to defy them and enter the water. Against their efforts, they being powerless to stop her completely, she uncovered her forehead and eyes and part of her hair. These, as well as her hands, which [fol. 155r] she used to break free from those who were obstructing her, were so lovely that all of us who were present turned to gaze at her, amazed at what we saw. It is natural for all women, especially beautiful ones, to enjoy being looked at and praised. The same thing was true of this one, for when she became aware of the attentiveness of our gaze, she struggled strenuously to break free from those who held her back in order to reveal her face and head by removing her yellow cotton or taffeta scarf. Covered only by a sort of tunic made of blue gauze, she threw herself into the water with her hair loose and only her face and throat and part of her arms showing. Having made such an escape, this modern-day Andromeda revealed such perfect beauty and elegant grace that she warranted the epithet of a most beautiful woman anywhere in Europe. She looked even more so on that occasion because her visage was flushed from her demonstrations of anger and force against those who would prevent her from bathing. The colorings of her face, hands, throat, and hair were just like those of Spanish women, but her skin was not as white as the Flemish, English, or Germans. Her hair was long, brown, and lustrous, and her hands, arms, and throat were actually white. But what really captivated those of us who were present were her beautiful eyes and features, [fol. 155v] though her emergence and appearance was so sudden and brief that there was no chance to perceive these qualities of hers that have been mentioned, although afterward some of the men related and described some additional details, especially the finery of the jewels she wore, something that I was unable to see or perceive. Because as soon as she entered the water, all the women that had been surrounding her, some dressed and the rest partially naked, rushed into the water after her and made a circle around her, concealing her from view, the Brahmins who were with them [margin: joining them]. They did so with such a distinct expression of indignation for what she had done, [text blacked out] seeing how attentively she was being gazed at, that in order to cause them no more worry and to cease from disturbing their worship, I ordered my boat to withdraw, especially since the Indian woman was completely hidden from 220  A large, flat-bottomed boat with one mast and a square sail, frequently used in south-west India for landing cargo; see Y&B, 549–50, s.v. “manchua,” and OED, s.v. “manchua.” 221  “A small vessel propelled by oars or lateen sails, or both, used, chiefly in the Mediterranean, for coasting voyages” (OED, s.v. “felucca”), or foist; see DCECH, 2:843, and p. 141 n. 246.

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view owing to the great number of Brahmins who went over and formed a ring around her, all raising their arms high above their heads to block the view so that not even the other women could be seen. I later sent a sailor from a palm grove where I had gone to eat on Santo Estêvão to learn what province of India this woman was from, and what her position and status were, but after asking the same questions of many people, they all refused to tell him anything, even though she had finished bathing and was no longer to be seen, with the exception of an old peddler of betel leaves from Balaghat who told him that he had heard that this woman was from very far away. [fol. 156r] And even though other blacks from the island went back to seek further enlightenment, they failed to bring back any information, nor could anything more be learned. What could be deduced from how light this woman’s skin was, the color of which was so different from that of others on the island, and what could be further deduced from what the old peddler of betel leaf had told the sailor, she might have been from one of the northernmost provinces under the rule of the Pathans222 or Mughals, close to the great Mount Imeon,223 which runs from the Caspian Sea eastward to the eastern Indian Ocean, and which separates Tatary224 from India. In the year 1616 this indulgence fell [text blacked out] on a Thursday, the 4th of August, and although a great number of pilgrims turned up, there were not nearly as many as the year before because of the heavy rains that fell continuously during this whole month and during the entire month of July; they were the heaviest rains that have been known to fall in India for many years.225 GOAE ORIENTALIS MARITIMAEQUE INDIAE METROPOLIS, NONIS IANUARII, ANNO 1617226

222  The Pashtun peoples who settled in the Punjab region of eastern Pakistan and northern India. 223  Ptolemy used this term to refer to a complex of mountain ranges—the Hindu Kush, the Pamir, and the Tian Shan—which formed the northern border of India. 224  See p. 219 n. 172. 225  Folios 156v, 157r/v, and 158r/v are left blank. 226  Latin for “In Goa, the Capital of Eastern and Maritime India, January 9th, 1617.” See p. 159 n. 302 on Silva y Figueroa’s conclusion of Book I that was similarly penned in Latin, including the date of completion of the book. As we have already suggested, there is strong evidence that although the author may have finished a nearly complete draft of this part of the MS, he added emendations to the text after this date.

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[Goa to Hormuz 21 March–12 October 1617] [fol. 159r] Three or four days after the carracks arrived in India, it was learned from letters sent from Hormuz1 that the king of Persia was waging war on that kingdom. The governor2 of Fārs3 had sacked Qeshm4 and then laid siege to the fortress of Gamrū.5 This fortress, despite being most ineffectual, consisting [superscript: of] just a few [text blacked out] [superscript: feeble] [text blacked out] [superscript: mud walls] and lacking a moat or terreplein,6 nevertheless proved tremendously important for providing shelter for caravans traveling between Persia and Hormuz, and [text blacked out] for facilitating passage and safe [margin: transport] of all kinds of supplies at any time from the mainland, [margin: which is just over three leagues away]—especially water, which is completely wanting on the island of Hormuz. The island of Qeshm was also not far off and just as capable of providing these necessities. [margin: In the absence of these two essentials], the city of Hormuz itself would suffer the vexations of a siege, as it were. The news of this war, plus the fact that His Majesty’s ministers in India viewed the Ambassador’s embassy to Persia with distaste, gave rise to their placing so many obstacles in the way of its timely completion. For even though the viceroy, who at that time was D. Jerónimo de Azevedo,7 gave his word to 1  An island and city located at 27°05′43″N, 56°27′09″E that was seized and fortified by the Portuguese in 1515; see Disney, History, 133. 2  The actual title governador that appears throughout the Commentaries probably represents khān; see p. 339 n. 112. 3  Fārs was the original center of the Achaemenid kingdom. The word Persia is derived from Parsis, the Greek rendering of Pārsā; the name of the Persian language, Farsi, is also derived from the name of this province. Silva y Figueroa uses Lara in reference to both the province (or kingdom) of Fārs and to the city of Lār, which is found in that province. 4  The island of Qeshm lies off the Iranian mainland south-west of Bandar ʿAbbās at 26°41′43″N, 55°37′06″E. In 1614 Shah ʿAbbās I instructed Emāmqolī Khān, his governor-general of Fārs, to recover the island of Qeshm from the Portuguese and attack them at Gamrū [Bandar ʿAbbās]; see p. 246 n. 11. See Jackson and Lockhart, Timurid and Safavid, 391–92. 5  Present-day Bandar ʿAbbās; Gamrū was the Persian port that was known to the Portuguese as Comorão or Cambarão, to the English as Gamrun or Gumrun, and to the Dutch as Gombroon. It was subsequently re-named after ʿAbbās I. 6  A “level space where a battery of guns is mounted”; see OED, s.v. “terreplein.” 7  See p. 143 n. 260.

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provide the Ambassador [fol. 159v] with everything he needed to set sail for Hormuz during the February monsoon, he subsequently failed to make good on his promise; neither did he leave orders for the archbishop of Goa,8 who [text blacked out] [superscript: filled] his place after embarking for Surat,9 to do so either. Upon his arrival in Goa, the Ambassador spent many days in a precarious state of health in the Colégio de São Tomás, where he disembarked and convalesced. After beginning to display signs of improvement, on several occasions he implored the viceroy, who was [text blacked out] [superscript: making preparations] for his journey, to send the entire fleet to Hormuz, for at that time there was no other fleet in India. The Ambassador pointed out that the force of the powerful fleet that the viceroy had at his disposal at that time could be employed to the greater service of His Majesty. Thus, the viceroy spent the entire month of November and most of December, until setting sail on the twenty-seventh, making preparations, although it was obvious that the only reason for his delay was to stall [superscript: until the English left]. Whose [superscript: This strategy] did not prove to be in his best interest. [text blacked out] It also brought more shame and disgrace on him than would have been received possible [margin: on anyone in a similar situation] at any time in history. During these months, the Ambassador, whose health was by then completely restored, implored the viceroy, both personally and through some veteran captains who were slated to sail [margin: in the same fleet] [text blacked out], to ignore the English ships that were in Surat, for they did not come as enemies, [fol. 160r] but rather to engage in trade in that port. He beseeched the viceroy to instead sail to Hormuz to personally defend that kingdom, which was the most valuable, important, and beneficial undertaking he could perform in all of India, giving him many reasons that are not suitable for inclusion in this report. In the Ambassador’s view, the viceroy vacillated and was incapable of making a decision whenever addressed on this subject. On some occasions, the viceroy told the Ambassador that he would do as he was asked, and at other times he said it was inopportune for him to travel so far from India. But [margin: it was clear] from [text blacked out] [superscript: his halfhearted preparations] that he intended to while away his time, [margin: until], after several conversations, it [superscript: finally] [margin: 8  See p. 177 n. 41. 9  See p. 198 n. 116 for the emergence of this important port city in Gujarat. As a result of the English defeat of the Portuguese at the naval battle of Swally in 1612, the English East India Company was able to negotiate permission from the Moghul to establish its factory at this strategic point. For a thorough discussion of those negotiations by the company’s ambassador, see Roe, The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe.

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became clear] [text blacked out] that his attitude stemmed not from hesitation or uncertainty, but from a firm resolve to wait until the English finished loading their ships and set sail so that he could give the appearance of completing his mission without ever engaging them. Even more compelling evidence of his scheme was the fact that the fleet was not fitted out with all the essential and necessary things that are always needed when one expects to enter into action against an enemy; instead a great number of ships [marginal text blacked out] were manned with [text blacked out] inexperienced and frightened people. By now the Ambassador doubted that the viceroy had ever really intended to make a journey to Hormuz. He therefore proffered on several occasions to accompany him, thinking that if he could reach as far as Surat or Diu,10 he would have completed so much of the [fol. 160v] journey to Hormuz that the viceroy would dispatch him the rest of the way, for notwithstanding the [margin: Bandel] War,11 it was in the best interest of His Majesty’s service that the embassy, which had already been the cause of so much trouble and expense, should be completed. But the viceroy was not to be persuaded, offering the excuse that the Ambassador was still too weak to travel by ship, when in reality the viceroy did not want to take him as a witness of the disastrous event that was to later befall him, he even made overtures of friendship to him during the two and a half years he spent in Goa, being embarrassed for him because of his failure in every point, unable to keep from falling into such wellpublicized weaknesses [superscript: fearing that he would be forced to fight, which was what he most abhorred.] And lest anyone cling to the hope of a happy conclusion to this tale, the viceroy set sail on December 27th, as has been noted, and there is no reason to take 10  An island lying off the Kathiawar Peninsula on the southern coast of Gujarat at 20°42′36″N, 70°58′48″E, it is also the name for a town and fortress built by the Portuguese in 1535. 11  In diverse passages of the Commentaries, Silva y Figueroa clearly outlines the objectives of Shah ʿAbbās I and of Safavid foreign policy towards the Kingdom of Hormuz and the Portuguese presence, both in the Persian Gulf as well as along the Persian littoral, from the dawn of the seventeenth century to the time of Silva y Figueroa’s embassy, which coincided with the loss of Hormuz to Safavid and English forces in 1622. On several occasions Shah ʿAbbās I sought to recuperate lost territory and regain influence and control over the southern Persian Gulf. In referring to the general area of the Persian littoral, Silva y Figueroa employs the Portuguese term Bandel, based on Persian bandar (meaning “harbor city”); this region corresponds to the present-day Iranian province of Hormozgān, which faces the Persian Gulf near the Straits of Hormuz (see p. 244). Here and elsewhere Silva y Figueroa describes Safavid hostilities c. 1614 against territories and locations of the Kingdom of Hormuz and the Portuguese as ‘war.’ At that time, Shah ʿAbbās I’s forces successfully recovered control over the island of Qeshm and evicted the Portuguese from their fortress at Gamrū [Bandar ʿAbbās].

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the time here to [margin: describe his] journey, since it does not pertain to the embassy, [text blacked out] [superscript: which is] the focus of this account, and also because of the adverse events that do no good in the hearing and telling of them; it is better to pass them over in silence than to make them public. During the whole time the viceroy was on the north coast, the Ambassador continued to importune the archbishop regarding his, the Ambassador’s, departure, and as was related above, the archbishop made excuses, saying that the viceroy had not given orders that this should be done. This proved once and for all—not with conjecture, but with evidence—how much the Portuguese disapproved of the Ambassador’s arrival in [margin: India and Persia]. The viceroy returned around the beginning of April of 1615 with the news that the fortress at Gamrū had been lost and that most [fol. 161r] of the people of the people who had surrendered to the enemy had been massacred. And even though it was no longer possible to sail to Hormuz because the monsoon was completely over, the Ambassador once again did his utmost to convince the viceroy to prepare whatsoever was necessary for the Ambassador’s journey as soon as the harshness of winter (which in India is during the summer months) was spent, during which time sailing is impossible, because no matter how matters stood in Persia, it was important to make the journey, for its outcome could not be as bad as wasting time in India. This request [was ignored], though it was made many times both verbally and in writing [text blacked out], and was reported to His Majesty by the ships that come and go between India and Portugal every year, as well as by land post. Nevertheless, the Ambassador was forced to remain in Goa from the 6th of November of 1614 until the 21st of March of 1617, without managing to prevail upon the viceroy to dispatch him. And even though all of the arrangements and funding for this embassy, which were already in progress, were to have been managed by the Council of Portugal12 and the ministers of India,13 having been 12  After the Iberian Union (1580), Philip II of Spain (Philip I of Portugal) established a ruling body or council in 1582 to govern Portugal and its empire. Based upon the model of the Council of Castile and located in Madrid, its objective was to provide as much autonomy as the Spanish Crown deemed possible and permissible in the governance of Portugal and its empire in order to assuage Portuguese objections to the union. One of Portugal’s leading imperial administrators, Aleixo de Meneses, archbishop of Goa (1595–1610) and governor of the Estado da Índia (1608–1609) (mentioned by Silva y Figueroa in the Commentaries) was appointed viceroy and president of this council (1612–1617). Despite such an institution, Spanish rule faced substantial resistance, leading to the dissolution of the council after Portugal successfully rebelled against the union in 1640, which Spain only formally recognized in 1668 after the long Restoration War. 13  Silva y Figueroa is being a bit opaque here in his allusion to Indian ministers, as he is in general when referring to ministers elsewhere. The Crown had ministers in Madrid as well

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previously approved by the Council of State,14 the notices that were delivered to His Majesty [margin: in this respect] proved completely ineffectual, as did those that were sent to him [text blacked out] [superscript: in writing] by the Ambassador and by many other people regarding the precipitous ruin of that state. The Ambassador finally received a letter from His Majesty on October 22, 1616, [fol. 161v] specifically ordering him to undertake his journey because the war in Persia had made it necessary, and to facilitate this he ordered the viceroy to provide the Ambassador with all the resources [margin: in Goa] necessary for this purpose. And though the Ambassador was wary of communicating this to the viceroy, being well acquainted with his ill will, he brought up the matter of the voyage once more without managing to convince him to provide him with the necessary means; and after much delay and wasted time, one day followed the next through the end of the year 1616. The viceroy wasted time [superscript: let the first days of the year 1617 slip by, while placating the] Ambassador with the same deceit and dissimulations that might very well have been used against an enemy of his own king. The Ambassador therefore determined to set sail [text blacked out] on whatever vessel the viceroy might grant him, provided the ship was suitable [superscript: for the purpose] to do it, since the monsoon [text blacked out] for leaving Goa that begins on February 15th had begun and would come to an end at the end of March; after that, the Ambassador would be prevented from departing until the October monsoon. Many months earlier the viceroy had promised him a as in the Americas and Asia who handled issues concerning both of the Indies. In general, unless otherwise noted, what he means by “Indian ministers” are Portuguese appointees of the Crown responsible for the administration of the Portuguese Empire in Asia. 14  The Spanish Crown, as mentioned on p. 247, n. 12, created councils (ruling bodies) for governing the state and different regions of its empire. This was also common practice in Portugal and its empire prior to and during the union (see p. 29 n. 54). Charles I, however, established the Council of State (Consejo de Estado) in Spain in 1522 to deal primarily with international issues. At the acme of its influence during the reigns of Charles I and Philip II, the Council of State functioned as a supreme consultative council for the monarch, advising him on a broad range of state issues. While Philip III sought the advice of favorites on state matters, Silva y Figueroa documents that the king sometimes turned to the Council of State for guidance as well. It should also be recalled that Silva y Figueroa, together with nearly every male member of his extended family, were employed in this and other levels of service to the Crown. Silva y Figueroa also informs us that while he resided in Madrid in the early seventeenth century, he dealt with the second Marquess de Velada (D. Gómez Dávila y Toledo [1541–1616]), who was the Crown’s chief steward and a member of the Council of State; see p. 542 n. 118. For further particulars about Spanish political culture at this time, see Martínez Hernández, El Marqués de Velada.

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well-armed patache15 that had come from Bengal the year [superscript: before] [text blacked out], but he later offered the excuse that she was needed for some other purpose. He did the same thing regarding a galley that he had begun to fit out, saying that she was unsuitable because she was unarmed. He denied her to the Ambassador [margin: after having promised her to him], raising several objections. Finally, after the Ambassador saw that he had been deceived in [superscript: every way] [text blacked out] possible and that most of the month of March had slipped away, he put out to sea in a naveta16 from Bassein17 of less than [fol. 162r] 200 tons burthen, carrying just his entourage and twenty Moorish sailors, with no artillery or soldiers. [margin: 19 March] On the evening of March 19th of 1617, our naveta set sail from the harbor next to the quay pertaining to the Ambassador’s house. Because she was laden, she had to be towed by three or four boats until we passed the bank in the middle of the river opposite from Panelin, and at ten o’clock she laid anchor by the tower and new house of Pangim in order to wait there for the outward evening tide so as to clear the bank of the bar. [margin: 20] On the 20th, Palm Sunday, the Ambassador left very early in the morning in a manchua with his chaplain and a few of his servants and headed to the Colégio dos Tres Reis Magos,18 which was half a league down river from the harbor, and there he confessed his sins, received communion, and heard Mass, and after participating in the Palm Sunday procession, he bade farewell to the monks and returned to his ship. At the same time as the previous evening, a little past eight, the boats once more towed the naveta, or patache, and after passing the bank of the bar with great effort, she laid anchor 300 paces from Fort Aguada at shortly before eleven o’clock at night. We had to spend one more day there in order to take in water for the journey to Hormuz. [margin: 21] On the 21st, we stocked up with water, which was very close by and thus easily accessed, and at nine o’clock in the evening, after having weighed [fol. 162v] anchor, we made our offing, and doubling the point of the

15  A two- or three-masted armed vessel; the Portuguese term was pataxo or patacho; see DLMAA, 398. 16  A small armed sailing vessel with proportional similarities to a carrack; see DLMAA, 371. Silva y Figueroa equates the naveta with a patage (pataxo). 17  Present-day Vasai, a village located to the north of Mumbai (Bombay), which was occupied by the Portuguese in 1535; the Portuguese also built a fortress there called São Sebastião. The village and fortress were later occupied by the Marathas from 1739 to 1818, and subsequently integrated into British India. 18  See p. 218.

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Bardes mainland, the patache stood out to sea, wafted by a fresh south-east wind, bearing west by north-west, maintaining this heading all night. [margin: 22] On the 22nd, at daybreak we were so far at sea that land could not be seen, and in order to withdraw farther from the coast, the pilot steered one compass point to the west, the same wind continuing all day and night. [margin: 23] On the 23rd, the wind veered east by north-east, the ship’s bow heading one point north-west of west; the sailors calculated our position as being no closer than twenty leagues from land. The wind later shifted [text blacked out] to the north-east, and we sailed with slack bowlines19 with the same heading in flat seas fair and fair weather. [margin: 24] On the 24th, the same north-east wind, the ship’s bow pointing now to the north-west, the pilot thought it best to head for higher latitude in case the wind was favorable for doubling Cape Rosalgat20 before sighting any other land along the Arabian Coast. [margin: 25] On the 25th, the wind was blowing out of the north-east and east by north-east; our bearing was north-east in a very calm sea. Some fish began to appear. [margin: 26] On the 26th, wind from the east by north-east, bearing northwest. Some gilthead were caught from the patache today that tasted better, though they were not as big as those from the coast of Guinea and Brazil. We coasted more than forty leagues from land, which was to our right side. [margin: 27. 28. 29] On the 27th, 28th, and 29th, the wind gusted out of the north-east and one point north-east of east; we continued [fol. 163r] to bear north-west. Enough gilthead were caught to feed everyone on board, including some of the passengers, totalling 107 people. [margin: 30] On the 30th, the wind began to fall off. It later veered to one point north of north-east, and we sailed on a close reach bearing north-west. It was clear that the patache sailed poorly when close-hauled, either [superscript: because] [text blacked out] of the poor distribution of the cargo or because the sails were slack and worn. [margin: 31] On the 31st, the wind blew from the same direction, backing one point for a few hours. The sea was flat and calm, favorable for sailing, and the temperature milder than in Goa because we were in higher latitude.

19  See p. 85 n. 111. 20  Also known as Ra’s al-Hadd, Oman, located at 22°32′19″N, 59°47′37″E, on the eastern coast of Oman, the most easterly point of the Arabian Peninsula; see Y&B, 769, s.v. “Rosalgat, Cape.”

W

100

1 inch = 144 miles

19-22 Apr

60°0'0"E

200

6 Apr

Cape Gwadar

16 Apr

14 Apr

Outbound Voyage

8 Apr 7 Apr

irāh

Cape Rosalgat

Khurīyā Murīyā

Cape Matraca

Cape Guardafui

22 Apr

Jazirat Limah Cape Jask 26 Apr

Daymānīyāt Muscat Quryat Qalhat

Sohar

29 Apr

29 Apr – 2 Oct 1617

Khorāsān

Kermān

Sindh

65°0'0"E

Thatta

Goa

Bhatkal

Dep. 21 Mar 1617

Kharepatan

Anjadip Angidivas

Vengurla

Bassein Chaul

St Mary

Diu

Khambhat

Munyal-Par

Indus

The embassy’s outbound voyage from Goa to Hormuz, 21 March–12 October 1617.

Qatif

Persia

65°0'0"E

India

70°0'0"E

70°0'0"E

20°0'0"N

25°0'0"N

To Hormuz ]

Map 3

25°0'0"N

Euphrates

Fallujah

Tigris

60°0'0"E

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[margin: 1 April] On the 1st of April, the wind blowing one point north of north-east, we headed north-west. Today some seagulls and an alcatraz21 were seen, and many gilthead continued to let themselves be caught, with no other kind of fish being seen at all. [margin: 2] On the 2nd, the wind backed east by north-east, but we were wafted by such light airs that even though we sailed with a slack bowline,22 we made little headway. All those aboard the ship were healthy. It felt somewhat hotter in the evening. [margin: 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th.] On the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th, we sailed under an east by north-east wind, and sometimes by an east or a north-east wind with the same north-west heading, making little headway because of the feebleness of the airs. There were no more gilthead, but more alcatrazes could be seen, and the water was deep blue. There were no signs of land. The altitude of the sun had not been taken because there was no astrolabe aboard the patache, and our pilot, a native Persian [fol. 163v] named Mustafa, from Mogostan,23 on the mainland next to Hormuz, had not brought one, nor any other instrument [text blacked out] to take the altitude of the sun or of the stars by night, except for a very strange and crude apparatus that looked like a comb with strings hanging from it with a lot of knots tied in them.24 With this method, which is ordinarily used by all the muʿallamūn,25 or Arab sailing-masters, our Mustafa would take the altitude of the Pole Star or one of its guards, as well as that of one or two stars in the south, usually some that were to the [margin: right] of the Cross,26 and he would do so at any hour of the night. The muʿallim’s calculations were highly accurate for determining how far we had sailed and if we were far from land or near thereto. But on this last day, the 6th, he took fright 21  See p. 83 n. 106. 22  See p. 85 n. 111. 23  Present-day Hormozgān, a primarily mountainous province located at the southern tip of the Zagros range on the Persian Gulf littoral, stretching from beyond Cape Jask in the east to well beyond Qeshm in the Persian Gulf. 24  This appears to be a reference to the kamal, an Arab device used for finding latitude by measuring the distance between the pole star and the horizon. A flat rectangular piece of wood was cut to a size to fit between the horizon and pole star at the home port. To keep the wood at a uniform arm’s length from the eye, a string was attached to a hole in the center of the board. A knot in the string could be added for the latitude of various destinations, known from established tables. 25  Plural of muʿallim, Arabic for “teacher”; the full designation for a sailing master was muʿallim al-baḥr. See Tibbetts, Arab Navigation, 10; Dalgado, 2:16–17, and Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Sulaimān.” 26  The Northern Cross, Cygnus.

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because land had not been sighted, neither Cape Rosalgat nor other areas near to it. Normally the winds that blow in this place are weak and scarce, especially during this monsoon season, which is the last one of the year, but at this time they were much better. Two days earlier there had been found in the possession of one of the Ambassador’s servants an inferior wooden quadrant27 of less than a sixth of a semidiameter that had been given to him in Goa by one of his acquaintances in the company, and he had been given some instruction in how to use it to take the angle of the sun. But he must have learned these instructions poorly because he did not have any tables showing the position of the sun or its declination from the equator as shown in the usual tables used by European pilots. Instead, two or three days earlier he attempted to take the sun’s altitude alone, without revealing to anyone that he had this quadrant. And when his calculations did not make sense, as he later confessed, sometimes [fol. 164r] resulting in 50 and sometimes 60 degrees or more, he approached me and revealed the secret of how the quadrant had come into his possession, the appearance of which has already been described. And because it was shortly before midday, the Ambassador asked him to take the sun’s angle there [text blacked out] [superscript: in his presence], but he had no idea how to even hold the quadrant, and did not know if the elevation of the sun should be measured at the noon hour or at some other time, for he had previously attempted to do so at different times of the day. And so we strove greatly with it, even though the Ambassador did not wish to expose himself to the sun to take its angle that day, knowing that the faulty instrument was so inaccurate. Nevertheless, because the sun was not very far from the equator, the Ambassador hazarded a guess, even without tables, allowing for wiggle room28 (to use the colloquial expression), that we were at a lower latitude than what the pilot claimed. The Ambassador judged that [margin: we were probably at] approximately 18 and a half degrees, and therefore on an east to west line with Khurīyā Murīyā29 or Madrakah30 on the Arabian Coast. And even though the pilot, who was well acquainted with the route, was normally too obstinate and arrogant to accept any suggestions, this time he was open to the Ambassador’s 27  The quadrant gave an angular elevation by reading where the plumb line swung across an engraved metal plate when the latter was sighted on the sun at noon. 28  The Spanish expression in the MS translated here is con lo que a montón. 29  The islands and bay of present-day Khurīyā Murīyā, Oman, situated at 17°31′34″N, 56°03′01″E and 17°52′14″N, 55°31′47″E, respectively. 30  Cape Madrakah, also known as Ra’s al-Madrakah, Oman, located at 18°58′31″N, 57°48′27″E, a headland lying approximately halfway between the Khurīyā Murīyā islands and the island of Maṣirāh; see p. 254 n. 32.

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recommendation, [margin: which was that we head] directly toward land, one point north-west of west, for thus we would make more headway by sailing on a broad reach.31 The muʿallim did this, though he was quite vexed that he should be given advice concerning anything at all, and under an east by northeast headwind we sailed the rest of that day and night. [fol. 164v] [margin: 7] On the 7th, many more alcatrazes were spotted, and the sea seemed so much heavier that by the afternoon it began to look somewhat green; the flocks of alcatrazes increased in number, and the pilot calculated our position as being on an east-to-west line with Cape Maṣirāh,32 one degree higher than where the coast was subsequently sighted. [margin: 8] On daybreak of the 8th, we began to see the highest point in the mountain range along the Arabian Coast, as well as the islands of Khurīyā Murīyā, which were six or seven leagues off. The pilot then steered north-west till we reached a spot three leagues from land that afternoon, and from there we sailed north by north-west under the wind from the east by north-east with the coast on our left side until we passed Cape Madrakah that night. [margin: 9] On the 9th, the wind, which had blown from one point east of north-east, faded and was weaker than on any of the days previous; the west and west by south-west winds that are usually encountered along this coast of Arabia failed to blow. The heat was by now very great, with the unpleasant sight of those most gloomy mountains of red sand on which no green thing or sign of human presence could be seen. [margin: 10] On the 10th, the ship was almost completely becalmed and the heat continued to rise. Nevertheless, we sailed a small distance after midnight until, at daybreak, a small breeze wafted up from the east and east by north-east. [fol. 165r] [margin: 11. 12] On the 11th and 12th, we were completely becalmed except for two or three hours before dawn when the same breeze blew from the same direction. During those hours the bow of the patache was pointed one point north-east of north, with no sign of fish in the sea or life on the coast. 31  The MS has con viento más largo, lit. “with longer wind.” To this point the ship was sailing on a beam reach, i.e., with the wind perpendicular to the heading. Silva y Figueroa is recommending that they turn the ship one point westward from their current heading. With the wind blowing from the east by north-east and north-east, they would then be sailing slightly away from the wind on a broad reach, which for many ships is the swiftest point of sail. 32  The island of Maṣirāh, Oman, located just off the Al Hikman Peninsula at 20°25′15″N, 58°47′42″E, roughly 500 km (300 mi) south of Muscat. Silva y Figueroa is confusing the island for the headland.

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[margin: 13] On the 13th, we headed northward under an almost following breeze that began to blow from the south-west, everyone watching carefully that we not enter [superscript: run] aground on the inlet of Maṣirāh, which, because it runs far inland and because the mountains on the coast there are much lower, has deceived many who enter therein and are exposed to the danger of its shoals, apart from not being able to navigate through the blind channels created by them. And so our pilot headed north-east farther out to sea this afternoon in order to escape this danger. [margin: 14] At daybreak of the 14th, we found ourselves doubling the cape that is past the aforementioned inlet; the Bay of St. Peter33 was now coming into view. We headed northward, wafted along by a wind that blew out of the west and one point south-west of west. In the afternoon we sighted Cape St. Peter, which lay to our north-west according to the route we were following. [margin: 15] On the 15th, with the wind blowing from the same direction as yesterday, just after dawn we sighted the palheiros,34 which is what the Portuguese sailors call certain hills that can be seen on the mountaintops; they look like the sheaves of wheat [fol. 165v] or barley in Spain that are normally raked into piles to separate the chaff from the wheat. There are three or four of these small hillocks in plain sight of those who sail past them. These palheiros come into the view of those who sail with a favorable monsoon on this voyage before any other section of land along the Arabian Coast. After midday the pilot steered north-east, heading farther out to sea in order to safely double Cape Rosalgat that night. [margin: 16] Shortly after midnight of the 16th, we doubled Cape Rosalgat with the wind blowing out of the south-west, but after daybreak it became almost lost from sight because the land that comprises this cape is lower than the land that surrounds surrounds it, and because we had sailed so far out to sea the night before, we were also unable to see the city of Qalhat,35 which is two or three leagues past the cape itself on the easternmost point of the great expanse of land that makes up the extensive region of Arabia. Thus the 33  It is not known to which bay and cape Silva y Figueroa is referring. Three possible headlands lying on the coast of Oman between the island of Maṣirāh and Cape Ras al-Hadd suggest themselves: Ras as-Saqiah, Ras al-Ashkharah, and Ras al-Jinz. 34  Portuguese for “haystacks.” 35  Qalhat, Oman. Now in ruins, the ancient city was a vibrant trading port for many centuries and was the second city of the Kingdom of Hormuz. It was sacked in 1508 by Afonso de Albuquerque and its beautiful mosque destroyed. After recovering a measure of its medieval splendour, it was again attacked and taken by the Turks in 1550. By Silva y Figueroa’s day the city was barren and unpopulated. See Agius, “Qalhat,” 25–29.

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meridian that passes through it is the one that touches First India36 to the west of the Indus. [margin: 17] On the 17th, the wind that had begun to slacken the previous afternoon failed us completely. The patache’s skiff had already been prepared, and it began to tow us for brief periods in order to make some headway, the currents aiding us in this. The shore was quite close by, but no boats came out to the ship from any of the coastal towns [fol. 166r] with supplies from the mainland, which thing was desired by all. Even though these towns—Qalhat, Tiwi, and Quryat—fall within the jurisdiction and lordship of Hormuz, as do also all other towns along the Arabian Coast all the way to Cape Musandam,37 in practice they lie just outside its authority, so diminished is the strength of the Portuguese in this kingdom because of their damaged reputation. Qalhat used to be a very big town with a large population, but now it and these other towns are nearly completely destroyed and deserted. On the first watch a gentle land breeze began to blow, and for as long as this breeze blew, which was three hours, the skiff helped our progress some by towing the patache. [margin: 18] On the 18th, gentle south-east airs, almost calm, the ship’s bow heading one point west of north-west. At eight o’clock in the morning a large ship was sighted on the left side very close to the coast, sailing in the opposite direction to ours. Some of the sailors had sighted her much earlier in the day heading straight toward us, but she then veered and headed for land so that, by the time everyone saw her, she was no more than half a league from the coast, attempting to flee from our patache. This led us to believe that she belonged to European corsairs because, more than a month earlier, an English ship had been seen around Cape Jask,38 which is on the coast of Mogostan, twenty-five leagues from the city of Hormuz, where she remained for a few days. Some men were seen to go ashore with loads of merchandise. The waters [fol. 166v] where this ship was sighted were off Tiwi, an insignificant little town pertaining to the same kingdom of Hormuz on the coast of Arabia. It is situated in a little hollow in that steep and immense continuation of rocks, three leagues from where we were sailing. A very clear and excellent spout of water spills into this ravine, forming a stream that is so deep and wide that small boats can sail a way into it. It can easily supply water to any large fleet that goes there. This town comprises 150 poor shacks made of mud and thin wood, which is what all the Arabs live in. The town was not visible from our patache, and neither was 36  I.e., Hindustan. 37  The headland of the Musandam Peninsula, Oman, that juts into the Strait of Hormuz at 26°21′40″N, 56°24′25″E. 38  Also known as Rās-e Jask, province of Hormozgān, Iran, located at 25°38′50″N, 57°45′50″E.

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the mouth of the stream where it empties into the sea. All that could be seen was the narrow ravine in the rocks and thick green groves of trees, which were palms, orange trees, and lemon trees and not a few oranges, which were given, according to those who had visited this place. They said that [margin: the kind of oranges that grow here are so excellent that the likes of the ones that were given to the Ambassador] are [text blacked out] not to [superscript: be found] in Spain, neither in size nor in any other respect; some of them were given to the Ambassador in Muscat,39 which is nine or ten leagues farther along from this fresh and pleasant stream. And they were just like I was told They were not very round, but rather somewhat elongated, and a little bitter, but so full of juice that it seemed like a miracle of nature that they should grow in such a sterile and dry soil. [margin: 19] On the 19th, though it was shortly before dawn, we were struck by a small squall from the east by north-east, which ceased at the break of day. Most of the day we were totally becalmed until very late when a wind began to blow from the east. We headed west by north-west, the jagged mountains of Muscat now coming into view. We sailed in these conditions until the evening. At that time the same wind [fol. 167r] began to freshen, forcing us to take in the topsails and strike the bonnets until we drew very near to Muscat. Then the easterly wind backed to the north-east and died out, preventing us from putting in at the main harbor, which is at the foot of the fortress.40 And since the weather was stormy, and a strong storm was feared, we laid anchor among some high cliffs that nevertheless provided a safe harbor close to the old fortress that faces east by south-east. [margin: 20] On the 20th, the Ambassador wished to go ashore to attend Mass, and so he did at seven o’clock in the morning, 200 paces from where we had lain anchor on a narrow stretch of flat beach, less than forty paces long between two extremely tall rocks, there being no other entrance. From there the sheer cliffs gradually leveled out on both sides to where they gave way to a short stretch of ground at the widest part that was 200 paces wide and between 500 and 600 paces long. At the end of this expanse the rocks came together again, rising to a much greater height, then forming another narrow opening that resembled the opening at the ship’s landfall, but very steep; there were many passageways that wound up through it and found their way down to the flat land of Arabia. When the Ambassador went ashore on the skiff, he met the 39  Muscat is located in north-east Oman, within proximity of the Strait of Hormuz; it was an important trading port between the East and West. 40  Afonso de Albuquerque took Muscat in 1507. The Portuguese held the port until 1650, although it was taken twice by Turkish forces in 1552 and 1581–1588.

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captain of the fortress, João de Quadros,41 who was accompanied by two other citizens and a few soldiers, but mainly there were a great number of Arabs and Moors who had come to see the people who were disembarking, [fol. 167v] as is their custom on the arrival of a ship. Also present were some Portuguese with the Augustinian prior42 and monks who came to receive and accompany the Ambassador, who, after arriving at the [margin: parish] church and offering prayers, headed to the monastery of Santo Agostinho, surrounded by a great number of Moors. There, after attending Mass, he bade farewell to the captain and the rest, intending to rest a little and then return to the patache to dine. But the monks urged him to stay and dine with them with such persistence that he agreed to remain, not only to dine with them, but also to see the fortress before setting sail again. He kept two or three of his servants with him and sent the rest back to the patache to eat. The sea was still agitated from the night before. The pilot [text blacked out] [margin: sent word to the Ambassador] that they would have to wait another day to see how the moon came in, since it was in conjunction,43 and if the heaviness of the sea, which had begun to increase, were to ease off, he wanted to secure the patache by bringing her into the main port that afternoon. This is precisely what the captain announced when he returned to the monastery with a few Portuguese sailors that were there. At one o’clock in the afternoon the north by north-east wind freshened, preventing any of the sailors or the Ambassador’s servants who had remained with him on shore from returning to the ship, as well as precluding any news from the ship being sent ashore. All they could do was moor themselves to another anchor because, even though they thought the harbor was safe, they feared lest the anchor [fol. 168r] they were moored to should be dragged into dangerous waters near the cliffs that were less than seventy paces away. The fierce storm lasted more than two hours, and afterward the sea was still so agitated that not a single boat risked making for the patache that day. Seeing that he was compelled to remain there that day by stress of weather, the Ambassador wished to go up and see the fortress, which was and remains to this day absolutely impregnable because of its extraordinarily [text blacked out] [superscript: precipitous] location, which has been enhanced artificially. It and its small population merit particular description.

41  We have been unable to find any further information about this person. 42  Sebastião de São Pedro, O. E. S. A., prior of the Augustinian monastery at Muscat from 1616 to 12 November 1618. He was archbishop of Goa until his death in 1629; see Rego, Documentação, 11: 168. 43  I.e., there was a new moon.

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As has already been explained, the city of Muscat was founded on a small open plain, nestled among massive and imposing cliffs. It is a town of 300 houses that are so small and penurious that the grandest ones are no bigger than what farmers in Spain call casas delanteras,44 referring to the entryways of the poorest houses, and even these Spanish structures are made with thick mud walls and stone. But the houses of these poor Arabs are made with bundles of thin stalks or sticks that they cover with palm leaves. The residents make a large rain gutter on the roofs to prevent water from seeping through. They shore up their houses at the base with little rocks and clay that also protect them from rainstorms, which tend to be violent and heavy. The houses are so closely packed together that one can scarcely walk between them. Their proximity creates the impression that the city is smaller than it really is. The exception [fol. 168v] is the sector where the church, monastery, and fortress are located, because in this spot there are terraced [margin: stone-and-lime] houses that belong to the Portuguese. There are also shops belonging to Indians and Banias. The streets are wider here, this being the best part of the city. The monastery of Santo Agostinho was established here a few years ago, with a reasonable church and a house big enough for a dozen monks. It has a beautiful garden with a few vines and fruit trees, but most of it is full of palm trees. The soil is so fecund and fertile that despite the small size of the palms, which are no taller than a pike, having been planted just six or seven years ago, are loaded in season with great bunches of dates that possess all the virtue and goodness of those that grow on large and well-tended palm trees. During the Ambassador’s visit, these bunches were just beginning to ripen. They grow in such great abundance that they caused him great amazement, especially because the bedrock lay just two or three feet under the surface of the soil. This garden was irrigated by a well that produced a copious amount of fresh water. All the rest of the water in the city, even the well water, was good and safe to drink. Next to the well in the garden of this monastery, the monks have a big and beautiful pool, which they cover because of the heat of the sun; it is where they usually bathe because of the extreme summer [fol. 169r] heat. Summer here does not coincide with summer in India, falling instead during the same summer months as in Europe. Less than fifty paces across from the monastery [text blacked out] of Santo Agostinho stands the crag on which the fortress45 has been erected. The first path leading to it starts at a thatched porch that faces south-east, toward the 44  Lit. “front portions of houses,” usually delantera de casa; see Covarrubias, Tesoro, 301. 45  Silva y Figueroa does not identify the fortresses by name, which the Portuguese called São João, meaning “St. John,” also known as Al Jalali.

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wharves of both ports, both the one where the Ambassador came ashore as well as the main one that is much closer to this path. Under this shelter, several soldiers or native Christians stand guarding the entrance. From there, one begins an ascent of twenty or thirty steps that leading to the first ravelin,46 which rises approximately two pike lengths from the ground, with its upper and lower embrasures. This is where the rampart begins, with its very stout gate. After passing through it, one continues to climb, this time up some very uneven stone steps, sixty [text blacked out] [margin: or seventy] in all. These lead to the second ravelin, which has the same embrasures and defense as the first, but commands a view of almost the entire plain, which is surrounded by the cliffs as well as the wharves of both ports, as has been described. Past this second ravelin, or more accurately, inside it, begins the second rampart, with its gate; next, there is another flight of stairs, this one having more steps, steeper than the first. It leads to the main floor and square of the fortress. Its courtyard is only big enough for a very moderate-sized and narrow house for the governor or captain and two or three ammunition magazines. The defense of the upper part of this fortress is a tower [fol. 169v] that overlooks the monastery and the city. From here, the entire opening between the cliffs can be seen, as can the wharves, all the way to the entrance to the flat plain of Arabia. Thus it is impossible for anyone to become visible in any of these places without coming into easy range of the artillery, which is plentiful and of high quality. And what makes this fortress most unassailable is that due to its layout and location, the rampart that surrounds it is not straight, but because the terrain over which it runs is at times quite steep [margin: and irregular], it creates many recesses and corners, both exterior and interior ones, which function as flanks and fortifications for each other with embrasures for artillery, although none of this is understood as well as it should be and is advisable to be. Yet with all that, the fortification of the place compensates for whatever defects it might have. From the tower run two sections of rampart for nearly thirty paces along the rim of the aforementioned cliffs; they are an extension of the wall that the rest of the fortress is built on. At one end of this wall there stands another great tower that overlooks the plain and the monastery to the south and the great gate to the north, commanding a view of the harbor, both its entrance and its wharf. The reason this tower was erected here was that a towering mountain range of sheer rock runs west to east from the pass that opens onto the Arabian plain and comes to an end at a peak that is not as high as the rest of it, where the fortress is built. Since this part of the peak where the 46  According to the OED, s.v. “ravelin,” “a detached outwork, constructed beyond the main ditch and in front of the curtain, and consisting of two faces forming a salient angle.”

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second tower [fol. 170r] was made [superscript: built] is higher than the floor of the fortress itself, the tower was built there with upper and lower embrasures all around it, creating a flank for the first tower and the curtains that connect them, as well as for all the other essential areas of the port, as has been explained. The summit ridge of these mountains would be extremely difficult to traverse on foot, as can be seen from a distance. It would be difficult dangerous to walk single file from the summit to the foot of this second tower, and this would be impossible to accomplish by day; even experienced mountaineers would certainly fall if they attempted it at night. But even though this summit and these knife-sharp crags are so sheer and punishing, the fortress would be most inadequate without this formidable tower. Ten or twelve steps lead from the captain’s house up to the highest part of the fortress, where there is a small courtyard with a diameter of thirteen or fourteen paces. Beneath this there is a wide and deep cistern that can provide enough water for 300 men for two years. From here three or four more steps lead up to a chapel with a bell for keeping watch; it also features a window with seats. If one gazes directly at the old fortress, one can also see the harbor where we had landed the night before and the main port. But because the old fortress is so far away, the fortress is incapable of functioning as a commanding position of any consequence over it. [margin: Here there is another tower that faces the aforementioned places, having the same defenses, though it is not as tall as the first two.] On the other side from where one ascends from the captain’s house, there are another twelve or fourteen steps that lead from this small courtyard where the cistern is located [fol. 170v] down to the wall that faces north and that overlooks the main port. Although this port is not very big, it is one of the best and safest in the world because of these two walls, which are by nature extremely strong. On the northern side one of them runs from the height of the very steep, rough ground of the old fortress and smaller port to the north-west, curving around and creating a big recess. The other runs from the high tower to the mountains and sheer cliffs, making a wide turn to the west by north-west and north-west, then veering northward. They meet to form a narrow entrance less than 200 paces wide. Ships of any kind, no matter how big, are able to come to anchor in any part of this [margin: most secure] port. Descending a few more steps from the wall that overlooks the aforementioned port, one arrives at a small courtyard where there are a few shacks for the soldiers and two vaults for firewood and ammunition. There are also embrasures in the parapet of this small courtyard where artillery can be placed since it commands a view not only of the port, but also of the high sea for a great distance. From here an almost sheer vertical stairway with very high

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steps winds down the side of a cliff at an angle greater than 60 degrees. It leads to a large platform [margin: or ravelin] where much heavy artillery is trained on every section of the port. From here, another stairway, straighter and longer than the first, leads down to the second platform that is so low and close to the water that, with its plentiful artillery, any small unfriendly skiff [fol. 171r] that might hazard entering the port would easily come within range. The tall tower that reaches as high as the mountaintop, which is sheer and abrupt on both sides, as has already been described, creates a flank for these two platforms, especially for the lower one; an even closer flank is provided by the section of wall that connects with the aforementioned tower. There are very suitable loopholes in the lowest part of the same rampart, as well as in the opposite side, that overlook the city and the monastery of Santo Agostinho. This section of the rampart has two curtains, one that faces the city and one that faces the port, with enough space between them so that people can walk about with protection, and the artillery, which flanks both sides, can be discharged and handled for the security of the fortress, despite the fact that in and of itself it is not very strong, as has been mentioned. After the Ambassador finished inspecting the fortress, he climbed back up to its highest point. It was by now very late in the day to see if the patache had cast off from the smaller port where she had lain in order to go over to the main port to find protection from the storm that was gathering strength that evening. But from there he could see how a galliot47 was laboring to tow her—with her foresail and spritsail unfurled— but she could not double the point of the cliffs on the right side [margin: of the port], even though the wind was blowing from the east by north-east. However, she finally made the port almost at nightfall after the wind veered somewhat to the east. And so the Ambassador repaired to the monastery, after bidding farewell to the captain. [fol. 171v] Apart from three or four houses belonging to Portuguese casados48 and a few soldiers, [margin: all] the other residents of Muscat are Arab Moors (the natives of this land), Gentiles, or Jews. The Portuguese and the Gentiles, as well as some of the wealthy Moors, engage in trade in Hormuz [margin: and

47  According to the OED, s.v. “galliot,” “a small galley or boat, propelled by sails and oars, used for swift navigation; in English applied esp. to Spanish and Mediterranean vessels.” 48  Lit. “married men.” Within Portuguese colonial communities, one of the preferred methods of tracking population figures was marital status; in this system casado contrasts with solteiro, meaning “bachelor.” While casados could be married to Portuguese women, the scarcity of such women in Portuguese settlements led to many men marrying indigenous women.

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Sindh]49 and along the coasts of Arabia and Persia. The Jews, who might own fifteen or twenty houses, are exceedingly destitute and so rustic that they are Jewish in name only. Their make a living selling food, and they speak Arabic like everyone else, bringing into their hovels Moorish women of ill repute who come to Muscat from the closest inland cities when news spreads of the arrival of the fleet, or any other merchant ships. The rest of the natives are extremely poor, subsisting on no more than dates and milk and, during celebrations, a little rice. The men and women wear the same style of clothing as other Arabs, like those of Fez and Morocco, or those who dwelled in Granada before the expulsion of the Moors after the uprising,50 [margin: except that the clothing of these people is wretched and poor]. There are also many Arabs who are popularly known in Barbary and Spain as alarbes51 who dwell in dawārs,52 or camps, in the countryside with their herds, moving from place to place in search of better pasture. Not only do these people consider themselves better and more honorable than the urban Arabs, but they are also quite different from them in their manner of dress, which consists of a [fol. 172r] long white robe made of goat wool and coarse linen that reaches to the ground, with sleeves that are as wide as or wider than those worn by friars or Benedictine or Cistercian monks,53 having the same kind of hood. They all wear their beards long and look so proud, composed, and dignified that each one of them could pass for the abbot of a monastery of the kind of monks just mentioned. Some wear a black hood, which signifies a special dignity among these people, either because the wearer is an al-faqīh54 or the head of a dawār within his sect. All these Arabs carry a small, slender spear in their hands. Their women wear the same long robes, without even letting their feet show, and their faces are completely covered so they cannot be seen, but not with such large hoods as worn by the men. The more honorable and wealthy women embroider different colors of silk thread into their robes or tunics. 49  The lower Indus region of coastal Pakistan. 50  For the Muslim uprising in Granada ca. 1499, see Coleman, Creating Christian Granada, 37–41. 51  Lit. “Arabs”; Spanish alarbe (from al-árabe) was a medieval and early modern equivalent to árabe, meaning “Arab.” Here it probably refers to Bedouins. 52  A dawār was an encampment of Bedouin Arabs in which tents were placed in a circle as close as possible to a source of water; the enclosure was protected by a barrier of thorny brushwood; see Waines, Food Culture, 82. 53  Silva y Figueroa refers to the monks as benitos or bernardos, using the names of the founders of the orders, St. Benedict of Nursia and St. Bernard of Clairvaux, respectively. 54  Arabic for “theologian; jurist.”

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As soon as these people hear that ships have landed in Muscat, they come in from their dawārs to sell chicken, young birds, goats, and dates, which are commonly called tamrahs,55 and to buy rice and coarse cloth from India, and thus there were many of these rustic Arabs in the city at that time. It is extremely hot in Muscat because it lies directly beneath the Tropic of Cancer, and thus, beginning around the first of May, everyone sleeps on their terraces, which are on the rooftops of the houses, the people having constructed large fences in a fashion that will be described below in the description of the city of Hormuz, and [fol. 172v] there they spend their nights all summer long, [margin: until late in] the month of September, when summer ends. [margin: 21] On the 21st, the weather was very calm, with no sign of the previous squall, and so the Ambassador expressed his wish to set sail early in the morning, but the pilot and the master of the patache, who wanted to remain in the city that day, came to tell him that since there was a new moon, they would have to wait [margin: until] the following day. Their cause was aided by the fact that the owner of the ship wanted to load more ballast on it, fearing, as he said, that a squall would blow up, and we should suffer the same misfortune that had befallen a carrack from Chaul after she had rounded Cape Rosalgat, nine or ten days before our patache passed by there. This was reported to the Ambassador by the prior of the monastery, who narrowly survived that heartrending shipwreck. It happened that this great ship was sailing from Chaul with 120 people and a great deal of merchandise. They doubled Cape Rosalgat with good and clear weather, but the next day a terrible and sudden storm hit them from the north by north-west, known among the sailors who are from that strait as a shamāl,56 which is what they also indiscriminately call the north and the north by north-east wind. The gale struck her full on the beam, and because they had crowded on all sail, the mariners were powerless to take in any but the topsails. Instead of ballast, this carrack carried a heavy load of rice, which is quite normal for all Indian merchant ships, their greed blinding them so that they expose themselves to considerable danger of losing [fol. 173r] not just their goods, but their lives as well, which is precisely what happened to the poor folk who were aboard this particular vessel. They thought the same load and weight that should have come from stone ballast could be turned to their profit if it were replaced by the equivalent weight in rice. And so the ship was completely laden with rice, without a bit of stone, but thrown in loosely, the way wheat grain is normally piled up in a granary, not in small bundles 55  Arabic for “date palms” (Phoenix dactylifera). 56  Arabic for “left hand”; a hot, dry wind that produces dust storms and that blows almost continuously in June and July.

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for carrying as is the usual and safe [text blacked out] custom for carrying a shipment of rice, [superscript: in addition to] carrying stone ballast, which is what ships that transport rice normally do. So when the ship whose tale we are recounting was struck by the force of a furious wind, she broached-to [margin: and heeled over], all the loose rice shifting and piling up on one side. And since there was not enough weight over the keel to right her, she capsized and foundered in a flash, her keel in the air, mercilessly taking the merchants and sailors who could not swim down with her. Among the other people on this hapless ship that was sailing from Chaul was the prior who had been [margin: elected] by his order to serve in Muscat. As the ship was capsizing, he found himself next to the gunwale opposite the side that had begun to lift up into the air. He and six or seven other sailors grabbed onto the outer edge and clawed their way to the top of the keel. [fol. 173v] They were rescued and saved by two sailors in a skiff that was passing the cape and heading for their ship. The force of the storm blew this skiff to the coast of Persia between Gwadar57 and Cape Jask, from where they reached Muscat two days before the arrival of the Ambassador. The prior, who was very ill after of the ordeal he had suffered, related the events that are recorded here of this tragic shipwreck to the Ambassador. The report of this accident instilled in the ship’s owner a desire to place more ballast in his ship, since he was also carrying loose rice as ballast. The Ambassador, try as he might, had been unsuccessful in persuading him to place normal stone ballast in the ship at Goa, but the owner, whose greed rivaled that of the people who perished, had approached the Ambassador with pilots and other experienced seamen, among them the master shipwright, who was also the chief-pilot, in an attempt to convince him that loose rice would be quite safe as ballast. The Ambassador replied that that was impossible, because such an amount of rice would take up much more space, and all of that weight would have to fit into the lowest part or keel of the patache, with a small quantity of rice having to provide a great deal of weight. In the end he succeeded only in having several hundredweight of lead placed there, but this was very little for, and so in Muscat, despite how badly he desired to get underway, he waited until the afternoon so that a boatload of stones could be brought aboard ship. It was almost nightfall by the time the Ambassador, who was quite annoyed, was able to set sail [fol. 174r] because the pilot and the other sailors failed to appear, and it was impossible to carry the stones onto the ship, even though the Ambassador had gone to great lengths to have this task completed. 57  A headland on the coast of present-day Balochistan province on the littoral of southwestern Pakistan, located at 25°05′39″N, 62°19′19″E.

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[margin: 22] On the 22nd, the absent sailors turned up shortly after nine o’clock, but it was impossible to leave the port or make sail until three o’clock, when a light fresh wind finally began to blow out of the east-south-east, wafting the patache one point north-west of north by north-west and north. The wind freshened even more, and we ran along the Arabian Coast, which was on our left side, for a little more than half a league. We could see a few small villages nestled in the hollows of the cliffs next to the sea that contained the same kinds of huts or shacks found in Muscat. In some of these hollows, palm and orange trees could be seen, along with other varieties of trees, as well as a few streams of water that Nature has provided in such a punishing desert so there will be no lack of inhabitants there, and thus these narrow and seemingly barren valleys displayed a pleasant and agreeable verdure amid the bleak prospect of their arid cliffs. There are two reasons why many of these narrow valleys along the coast of Arabia are fertile and populous all the way from Suez, the last recess of the Red Sea, to Cape Musandam in the Strait of Hormuz, a distance of more than [text blacked out] [superscript: 800] leagues. First, they contain natural streams [fol. 174v] of water, though without the industry and labor of men, these alone would not have sufficed to render this rugged and arid ground fertile, had Nature in her providence not compensated for this lack, carrying [margin: rainwater] down to the hollows and valleys from the highest peaks of these cliffs to the narrowest and subtlest ravines. And because this process has repeated itself since time immemorial, enough soil is found in these hollows so that [margin: not only] can every kind of vegetable be planted, but in many places there is even enough soil to support great trees. That is why many of these aforementioned small villages can maintain themselves, especially since their residents, though impoverished, are content with insufficient and inferior sustenance. Our journey continued in the afternoon, and before nightfall we passed the islet of A Vitória58 on the left, which is near the mainland. It is a small [text blacked out] [superscript: crag] with a very small amount of sand around it, yet quite famous because more than fifty years ago it was taken in a fight against nine Turkish galleys by D. Fernão de Noronha, son of D. António de Noronha,59 the viceroy of India. We sailed successfully all through the night with the wind blowing from the same direction and with the same heading.

58  A Vitória Island appears to be one of the Daymānīyāt Islands, located off the coast of Oman at 23°51′19″N, 58°05′22″E. 59  See p. 211.

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[margin: 23] On the 23rd, the wind blowing out of the east and east by northeast, heading one point north of north-west. Land was less than two leagues off. Late in the afternoon [fol. 175r] the wind died out almost completely, requiring the sailors to tow the patache with the skiff. We made little or no headway. We were now more than twenty leagues from Muscat, and that night, at the end of the second watch, the wind from the east by south-east once more freshened a bit, though it died out completely before the end of the dawn watch. [margin: 24] Dawn of the 24th brought the towering Lima Mountains60 into view at a distance of one league or thereabouts. These mountains are higher and brush up closer to the sea than any others we had seen on our journey to date, and the sea was deeper at their base than anywhere we had seen along this coast. Indeed, we could have lain anchor there in seventy or 100 fathoms, had it been necessary. And this is why the mariners who follow this route are always ready and prepared to put about if they are running along the coast on a beam reach, even if it means going back the way they came. But the winds that blow from the east, east by south-east, or east by north-east are so mild that sailors do not fear them at all. The really strong winds blow out of the north, the north-west, and the north-east, or the collaterals of the north wind, all of which are referred to indifferently by the Arabs with the same name, shamāl. Yet these winds have never caused a shipwreck on either coast, though they have forced ships to put about on the opposite track. [fol. 175v] On more than one occasion, vessels have sailed many leagues past Cape Rosalgat in order to maneuver, there being no sea-room to do so on these coasts because of their proximity. And when these storms are violent and furious, it is not safe to lie to and wait them out, even if the ship is a very good one. We were becalmed all the rest of that day, and in the afternoon we were wafted along by a gentle breeze until we arrived within a league of the tallest peak of the aforementioned Lima Mountains, at the foot of which there sat an islet or small pinnacle a pike’s length in height, forming a narrow channel between it and the foot of the mountain that the ship’s terrada,61 or skiff, could have passed through. At 60  Present-day Hajar (meaning “stone”) Mountains, the highest mountain range in the eastern Arabian Peninsula, lying 50 to 100 km (31 to 62 mi) from the Gulf of Oman and separating the coastal plain from the high desert plateau. By Silva y Figueroa’s observation of the Isla de los Ratones and his sighting of the impressive height of the mountains, we assume that he is observing the summit of this mountain range, the elevation of which is 2,980 m (9,834 ft). 61  A large, undecked, masted boat fitted for rowing used in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Silva y Figueroa also refers to a terranquin or tarranquin, which are similar; see Boxer, Commentaries, 318, and Dalgado, 2:361.

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sundown the sailors rowed the skiff in order to tow the patache for two hours, exerting great effort, because the faint airs that had been blowing died out. We remained completely becalmed through the rest of the night. [margin: 25] On the 25th, we awoke to the same calm and a blistering heat, with no trace of wind and incapable of gaining even a yard of headway, even though an attempt was made to tow the ship. And since the wind was not helping, we were becalmed until past sundown. The same gentle breeze came out of the south-east as on the previous day, and with the aid of the skiff we made a little progress, though not enough to enable us to extricate ourselves from the environs of these forlorn and lofty peaks, which lay a bit more than half a league to the left side. We [text blacked out] [margin: endured] the same calm all night, the same as the night before. [fol. 176r] [margin: 26] On the 26th, the calm was worse than on previous days, and even though we made little headway with a meager wind during the afternoon and even for one or two hours into the evening, the head currents pushed us back, so that the next morning we found that the patache had been driven back a league, next to the aforementioned islet, causing the sailors to doubt the success of the voyage. They were so tired from rowing in the afternoons and mornings, to no effect, that they would have refused to stand duty had some of the Ambassador’s servants and other passengers he was supporting on this voyage not shared in the rowing and the other onboard duties. We endured these difficulties the whole night in this calm. [margin: 27] On the 27th, the calm continued worse than ever, this latitude being the most vexing of any that are found on the route from Goa to Hormuz. The sailors who are familiar with it always seek the shelter of this extremely steep coastline lest a heavy storm from one of these shamāl hits them in middle of the channel and blows them outside the strait, as has been described. The most frequent and usual winds here blow out of the south-east, the east, and the east by north-east, but they are too feeble to be of any benefit. The mountains weaken them even more because they lie perpendicular to the wind, completely blocking it. The winds from the west, the west by northwest, and the west by south-west, which would be very providential for making headway, [fol. 176v] are obstructed by the height of the same mountains. The winds from the south and its collaterals, which would be the best and the most favorable, are the least certain and frequent in this channel. For five days now we had been less than a league from the Lima Mountains and began losing hope of the success of the voyage. The dry crags presented us with a disagreeable and depressing panorama. As has been mentioned, the cliffs in Muscat appeared sandy and reddish in color, and up close they were almost black; one could not spot a trace of verdant valleys among these

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cliffs where we were now detained. It is worthy of note that over a distance of so many leagues, Nature has surrounded the entire coast of Arabia with this strong and steep wall of cliffs, while the hinterland is so different in climate, appearance, and fertility from what is promised by the cliffs—it is truly amazing to anyone who has ever seen it. For not only is the summer heat quite moderate, but the winter is also very mild because the sun does not move very far away, and the soil is so fertile that it produces a quantity of wheat and barley, and all the fruits [margin: and vegetables] found in Europe, and of the finest quality, especially the figs, grapes, and pomegranates, which are the best in the world. Thus the ancients were not deceived when [fol. 177r] they called this great and central region happy and blessed.62 And even with this being the case, it is unavoidable that in such a great and extensive land there would be some sterile and uninhabited areas, as there are in all the most fertile and fecund provinces of Europe and Asia. Arabia in particular has this flaw in its outermost regions that face southward, abutting the Euphrates River,63 Syria, and Egypt. But the area that lies between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, which, like a miracle of Nature, is surrounded by these terrible cliffs in such a burning climate, deserves the name it has been given since time immemorial [margin: with respect to other regions]. This day passed in the great calm that has already been mentioned, and after sunset, after the Salve Regina64 was sung on the sterncastle of the ship, where the Ambassador had his cabin and balcony, a light wind arose from the north against the bow. It suddenly braced up so forcefully and heavily that it only gave us enough time to take in the topsails, driving the ship back impetuously. The pilot shrieked wildly to strike the bonnets, but since the storm was so violent and all the courses were set, we would have been in danger of foundering or running into the dangerous coast, which was less than a league away, had the Ambassador not seen the danger [fol. 177v] and hastened to give the order that all sail be quickly shortened and struck, as was done. And as the fury of the storm drove the ship back, much against our will, in a moment’s time she was much farther [text blacked out] [superscript: below] the islet, and thus in order 62  Silva y Figueroa is here alluding to the ancient Latin name of this part of the Arabian Peninsula, Arabia Felix, meaning “Blessed Arabia,” so called because of its comparative advantage in climate and agricultural production. 63  Originating in eastern Turkey, the Euphrates is the longest and historically one of the most important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it defines Mesopotamia. These two rivers run parallel to each other, connecting at Shatt al-Arab, and then empty into the Persian Gulf. 64  “Hail the Holy Queen,” the final prayer of the Rosary.

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to continue making headway, which had required so much effort to that point, and to prevent us from running back, potentially as far as Muscat, the pilot lay the patache to, and despite being a small ship, she endured it for more than the three hours that the harshness from the north lasted, giving all on board great peace of mind. The wind finally died down completely after veering east by north-east, resulting in a deep calm. At eleven o’clock in the evening a fresh wind blew out of the east by south-east, and we stood north under a full press of sail. A south-western picked up a little after one o’clock and lasted [margin: until] the dawn watch, but it died out completely two hours before dawn. [margin: 28] On the 28th, the dawn found us shortly past the aforementioned Lima Mountains, sailing a little better than on the previous day, but with a terrible calm, the heat intensifying as the day wore on. Since the 26th, a big pinnacle had started to appear off the bows, very close to the coast of Arabia, and though it had not been completely visible, being more than four leagues distant, today it could be seen most clearly. It was round and very high, [fol. 178r] and all the mariners and passengers who make this voyage are very well acquainted with it because they always pass within sight of it or even very close to it. They call it the Isla de los Ratones,65 and their opinion is that sailing is good in its environs. This islet is six or seven leagues from Cape Musandam, and so close to the coast that at low tide a channel opens up that is barely wide enough for a foist to pass through. Finding ourselves thus becalmed, the air began to stir faintly from the south at nine o’clock, but the breeze was so faint that it failed to ruffle the sails, nor did the ship make any headway; but the air and the ambient were noticeably cooler, which was encouraging to all, since two hours earlier the heat had been intolerable. It seemed as though the sea became rougher with each passing moment, and finally at eleven o’clock we began to make noticeable headway, the wind blowing from the south and the pilot steering one point north-east of north. And notwithstanding the mildness of the wind, it was suitable for our course. By vespers66 we had passed the Isleta de los Ratones, and by sundown we could distinctly see Cape Musandam, which is on the Arabian Coast at the opening of the Persian Gulf. This cape, together with Cape Rosalgat, are the lowest places on the entire coast between here and Khurīyā Murīyā. The coast of Mogostan, which is incorrectly called [fol. 178v] the coast of Persia, came into view on the right side, though it still lay a good distance off; only the tops 65  Lit. “Isle of Mice,” elsewhere in the MS Isleta de los Ratones, present-day Jazirat Limah, located at 25°56′32″N, 56°28′14″E. In maritime argot, ratones also meant “sharp–pointed rocks that scrape a ship’s cables”; see Fernández de Navarrete, Diccionario, 453, and RAE, Diccionario, 4th, 716. 66  Vespers was the liturgical prayer sung at sunset.

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of the highest peaks could faintly be seen. In the afternoon we could make them out more clearly, but they were still more than six leagues away. That night the same south wind began to freshen, carrying the bow of the patache north-east. We sailed thus all night with a very the most favorable wind that we had experienced during the entire voyage. [margin: 29] On the 29th, dawn brought the island of Larak67 into view three leagues off the bows, the highest ground of the great island of Qeshm is being visible behind it, and since Larak is much larger than Hormuz, and its arm that extends off to the right lies in front of Hormuz, nothing could be espied of the latter until at nine o’clock. After passing Larak on the left side, the white salty hills of Hormuz came into view at a distance of no more than three leagues, together with the opposite coast where its port, city, and fortress are located. The celebrated wells of Turun Bāḡ68 are located on the first stretch of coast that was sighted. Before Larak was lost to view shortly after ten o’clock, our position being two leagues from Hormuz, the good wind we had enjoyed since the day before suddenly slackened, followed by a most intolerable heat. At this point, it would be fitting to describe [superscript: Larak]. The island is three leagues long and more than one league wide. Its landscape is composed of steep [fol. 179r] hills and a number of small valleys, [text blacked out] [superscript: all of which] are filled with low and sparse brush teeming with gazelles,69 which are like the deer70 of Spain, as well as hares and a great number of partridges. All of this game is exceptionally tough and flat to the taste, especially the partridges, which are so tough and dry that they can hardly be eaten except in times of great necessity. The land is completely desolate, and while it is suitable for raising cattle, having water wells and firewood, no one lives there. That is because it is portless, and thus no large towns can be settled there; its residents would be exposed to great danger from the many Nautaque71 or Nakhīlū72 corsairs from the coast of Persia and island of Qeshm, as well as from the rest of this Arabian Coast and sea, who regularly ply these waters in their terranquins, wreaking havoc on everything they come across. 67  Larak Island; it lies close to the islands of Qeshm and Hormuz in the Persian Gulf at 6°51′19″N, 56°21′23″E. 68   Bāḡ is Persian for “garden”; these wells are located on the south-east corner of Hormuz, reportedly 6.5 km (4 mi) from the fortress. 69  Possibly the Arabian gazelle (Gazella arabica). 70  Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), relatively small, reddish and gray-brown, and widespread in Europe. 71  Nautaque was the name given by the Portuguese to the Baloch inhabitants of the Makran Coast, Pakistan, between Jask and Gwadur; see Floor, Persian Gulf, 43–46. 72  The Nakhīlū were Huwala, Sunni Arabs who relocated from Arabia to Persia; see Floor, Persian Gulf, 43–46.

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The calm continued until three o’clock in the afternoon, when a fresh wind returned from the south, carrying the bow of the ship one point north-east of north. We sailed completely around the island and passed all of what could be seen of it off the larboard side of the ship. After reaching the hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Esperança,73 the port came into view, together with a section of the city and the fortress. From here we passed close by the aforementioned hermitage, which was a bit more than a fourth of a league off, and also that of Nossa Senhora da Penha,74 which sits on a steep hill made of salt, the highest one on this island, and at this point the entire city came into view, [fol. 179v] but [margin: because of the lack of wind,] we could not enter the harbor normally used for big ships, and so the patache laid anchor at five o’clock in the afternoon across from the hermitage of Santa Lúcia,75 less than a fourth of a league from land. And since it had been made known that the Ambassador was arriving, Miguel de Sousa Pimentel,76 the vedor de fazenda, came immediately out to the ship in his manchua with the prior77 and some of the monks from Nossa Senhora da Graça of the Order of Santo Agostinho, because the Ambassador planned on staying in their monastery while his lodgings were being prepared. One of the servants of D. Luís da Gama,78 the captain of the 73  Portuguese for “Our Lady of Hope.” 74  The complete name was Nossa Senhora da Penha de França, Portuguese for “Our Lady of the Peña de Francia”; Peña de Francia is a peak near Salamanca, Spain, home to its Black Madonna, Our Lady of Peñafrancia, and to the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Peña de Francia. 75  Portuguese for “St. Lucy.” 76  Portuguese administrator and, as Silva y Figueroa indicates, already vedor da fazenda (inspector of the treasury, an official appointed by the Crown to administer the collection of customs, duties, and rents) at Hormuz in April 1617. Contemporary Portuguese records document that Sousa Pimentel had difficulties with the captain of Hormuz, Luís da Gama, over his failure to pay crown duties on his private trade. This led to a dispute between the two men and to Sousa Pimentel’s removal from Hormuz to Muscat, where he died in late 1618 or early 1619. See DRDA, 5:66–68. 77  João Pinto, O. E. S. A., was the prior of the monastery of Our Lady of Grace at Hormuz from 14 December 1616 to 11 November 1618; see Rego, Documentação, 11:149. 78  Luís da Gama, Portuguese administrator and commander; ca. 1617 the Relação (High Court) at Goa had found Gama responsible for the loss of the carrack Salvação off the east coast of Africa at Malindi and condemned him to exile in Ceylon. Prior to that judgment, Gama had been appointed captain of the fortress of Hormuz. As Silva y Figueroa reports, Gama initiated military actions against the Persians in 1614, which caused serious concerns for the Estado da Índia and, together with his judicial problems, forced the viceroy, D. João Coutinho, fifth Count of Redondo, to remove him and appoint D. Luís de Sousa as captain of the fortress of Hormuz in 1619. See DRDA, 7:73–75.

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fortress, also came out to the ship, having been sent in his manchua. The Ambassador was conveyed in it to shore with all those who had come out to receive him, and made his way to the said monastery before nightfall, nearly all of his servants remaining on the ship. The island of Hormuz, [margin: known as Gerun by the Arabs, is in the Persian Gulf, twelve leagues past its opening]. Its shape is triquetrous, or triangular, and its greatest length runs south-east to east-west [margin: north-west]. Its longest side, which mostly faces east by north-east, runs from the hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Esperança at one end to the bend or point where the fortress is situated, which is the part of the island closest to the mainland, approximately a league which faces the north-west [margin: from where the fortress of Gamrū once stood]. The other side begins at the aforementioned hermitage and runs to the south-east, then [superscript: south], and finally south-east, terminating at the point or bend of the Caru. From here, the last side of the triangle runs from the west by [text blacked out] [margin: south-west] to the west and then back [fol. 180r] to the said fortress. Other cities on the mainland of Mogostan, which is normally considered part of Persia, are located at a distance of two leagues, and in some places less. The coastline of this island, whose perimeter cannot measure much more than two [superscript: three] leagues, is not as sheer as the coast of Arabia, the mountains of which were accessible from Hormuz, but the rest of the island is full of high red and white mountains, most of them consisting of a very fine salt. This small islet is wholly sterile: what few trees are found here and there do not bear fruit, except for the occasional palm tree [margin: or berries produced by some spiny bushes] whose leafy green leaves provide some measure of shade. There are other plants as well, which are really more bushes than trees; these produce a few leaves, though they are tiny and sharp. And [margin: so] all of these bushes, some of which are large and have thick trunks, are thick with thorns and are most woeful to gaze upon. The island’s dry and sterile soil is also produces a few herbs. Thus A few small streams of clear water run down the mountainsides that face east and [superscript: and] south, but this water is completely salty, and thus along the banks there are great piles of very fine, white salt. During the summer most of these streams are dry, the lines of dry salt indicating where the currents normally flow. On the highest peak of this mountain there is a hermitage that is dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Penha, and since [fol. 180v] most of the mountain is made of salt, it is quite apparent that this hermitage has been rising for the last few years as the mountain peak grows higher. This phenomenon is completely plausible because so many of these mountains are composed of salt rock, sulfur, and saltpeter. The way to the hermitage, which is highly revered by the

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residents of this city, runs up the mountainside, making many turns along the way because of its steepness. Since it is so easy to dig into the side of the cliff, the path has been rerouted from time to time to make the way more level and easy [superscript: comfortable]. A short distance from the high peak where this hermitage is located, there is a large, round, and high hill that comes to a point at the top, like a pyramid, and the whole thing from base to peak is composed wholly of salt that is as white and pure as possible, such that it looks exactly like a snow-covered round hill. This remarkable hillock is not far from the hermitage of Santa Lúcia, behind some towers that are by now old and in ruins, where the ancient kings of Hormuz, after blinding their brothers, kept them prisoners. Aside from the saltwater that runs in the aforementioned small streams, there is no other water except what can be found in some deep wells, and this is fairly salty too, though in times of need, it can be drunk at low tide. The farther these wells are from the mountains, [fol. 181r] the saltier the water. At the halfway point along the road that leads from Nossa Senhora da Esperança to the city is the hermitage of Santa Lúcia, which is surrounded by a few houses. Some of the residents of Hormuz take refuge there from the intense summer heat. There are many such houses in numerous other places close to the beach on the island, most of them built from reeds, branches, and palm leaves, like the houses in Muscat. Between the city and the mountains on the Santa Lúcia side, there begins a plain in which there are many cisterns covered by vaults that belong to the residents of the city. They are under lock and key, and even though the water that fills these cisterns is collected from the rains that fall close to them where the ground is salty, which all the land of the island is, when it settles it is not [margin: much] better than the well water from the island, but less [superscript: not as good as] the water that is brought over from the mainland and Qeshm. The rest of this plain is filled with the tombs of Moors, Gentiles, and Jews, there being no distinction among them as far as their burial is concerned, those of one group mixing indifferently with those of the other two. Many of the tombs have been carved to form chapels that are open on all four sides, like Christian shrines. It is quite a memorable event to see the many women from these nations who come to visit the tombs [fol. 181v] in the afternoons. Women of all kinds, both maidens and matrons, seat themselves around them, most of them carrying food offerings on small plates and trays. This is the usual custom among nearly all the women, one that they learned from the Moors and Jews, but mainly from the Gentiles, who are unshakably faithful in their religion. They visit these tombs, paying particular devotion to them because

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they belong to some ascetics who are highly venerated among both Moors and Gentiles owing to their reputation for great holiness. Past this place the same plain continues, still between the mountains and the city. The Moors call it by Ardemira, which in the Persian tongue means “flat and pleasant-looking field.”79 There the Moors who belong to the household of the king80 and the vizier81 play polo82 on horseback. The king himself often joins in, even though he is one of the fattest men in the world. This plain comes to an end close to the western sea next to the road that leads to a place called Caru. This passageway is frequently traveled and very pleasant. Behind the mountains on the south, south-west, and west by south-west lies the section of the island that is opposite to the place we have been describing. It contains a place known as Turun Bāḡ.83 Although While all of this region is much narrower, there being very little gap [superscript: space] between the mountains [fol. 182r] and the sea, it is very well known, first of all because this is where the ancient kings of Hormuz had a pleasure house with a few small trees [margin: and even fifty palm trees], and also because there are two deep and wide wells that provide abundant water, called the wells of Turun Bāḡ because of their location. The water they produce is the least offensive and salty of any found in the wells that anyone has tried to dig on the island. A pool of water 79  We have not been able to corroborate whether this toponym is Persian, Arabic, or from a local dialect. 80  The last king of Hormuz, Mohammed Shah IV (1609–1621); see Floor, Persian Gulf, 207–35. 81  Vizier derives from Arabic wazīr, meaning “porter,” which developed into the notion of “one who bears the burden of government.” While we cannot identify the individual vizier in this instance, the title means, quoting the OED, s.v. “vizier”: “In the Turkish Empire, Persia, and certain other Muslim countries: a high state official or minister, freq. one invested with vice-regal authority; a governor or viceroy of a province (now hist.). Subsequently: the chief minister of the sovereign … Grand vizier the chief minister or administrator of a Muslim ruler, esp. of the Sultan of Turkey.” Arabic wazīr is the basis of Spanish alguacil, meaning “constable or bailiff,” and Portuguese guazil, aguazil, and alvazil, meaning “alderman”; see Y&B, 967, s.v. “vizier, wazeer.” 82  The MS has chueca, a term found in DA, 2:337, Covarrubias’s Tesoro, and Diego de Gaudix’s Diccionario. Chueca refers to a game played by “laborers” in Castile that resembles lacrosse more than it does polo, inasmuch as the players are on foot and not on horseback. Polo, called chogān in Persian, was probably invented in ancient Persia, from where it spread throughout the ancient world. It is not impossible that it made its way to Moorish Andalusia and from there entered Castile; in fact, there may by a heretofore unexplored etymological relationship between chogān and chueca. Polo was played in the Maidān; for more information, see p. 413. 83  See p. 271 n. 68.

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found in the aforementioned pleasure house is filled with water drawn from these same wells, or from a small stream close by that originates in the closest part of the mountains and whose water is not as salty as what is found in the other streams that flow on the opposite coast and on the part of the island that faces east and east by north-east, which becomes salty. This house has become increasingly dilapidated as its owners have come down in the world and suffered a reversal of fortune from their previous status, although a few structures remain standing where the king of Hormuz goes to escape the enormous summer heat. In Turun Bāḡ there are also fifteen or twenty small houses made of wattle and palm branches. They are bunched close together, constituting a kind of town where a few Moors live with their families; the residents are destitute. There are more houses of this sort on other parts of the island, especially between Nossa Senhora da Esperança and Santa Lúcia, [margin: and between Turun Bāḡ and A Esperança]. Many residents [fol. 182v] of the city come to Turun Bāḡ to spend the summer, even though they have good houses in the city. They settle into some of these poor palm houses, which they build for this purpose, and there they sit out the hot season with their wives, children, and slaves, despite the discomfort, because either from the experience of many years or from the tradition of the Moors since time immemorial, they consider the air in the countryside more salubrious than that of the city during the hot season, this being contrary to what occurs everywhere else in the world. [margin: Some of these citizens take shelter under the shade of the trees that are found here because of the scarcity of houses to enjoy the air more fully; they set off private areas with linen and poles where they accommodate themselves with their wives and children [superscript: families]]. In a place called Caru, which sits on the western part of the island where the mountains end, there are more Moorish houses made of the same poor materials, though less than in Turun Bāḡ. In addition to these, there is a house that belongs to the Augustinian monks of Nossa Senhora da Graça, which, though small, is where some of the monks go for relaxation. It has a very fine pool with shade trees, as well as a great cistern filled with rainwater that provides them with abundant drinking water for many days and is used to fill the pool. There has been mentioned in the description of this island the existence of luxuriant trees in many parts of it, some of them quite large. This contradicts the descriptions provided by everyone else who has written about Hormuz, which aver that there is not a green thing to be found anywhere, [margin: while in fact many gazelles and a few hares live in the hollows of the mountains and the foothills]. According to the Portuguese, when the fortress, which constitutes the defense of the entire kingdom of Hormuz [superscript: the city of Hormuz],

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[fol. 183r] was first built by Afonso de Albuquerque, it consisted of no more than two small towers that are now situated behind the first gate at the back of a small plaza. There was, as there still is, an armed figure of Afonso de Albuquerque [superscript: of this famous captain] on the main wall of the first tower. Later, this very narrow square was thought to be too small for even a small number of soldiers, so the fortress was enlarged, the old one being swallowed up by the expansion.84 After the course of many years and under the command of many captains, it ended up being situated where it now is, which is at the end of the point of the north-east part of the island, surrounded on both sides by the sea. The inland side faces the city. There is a very large plaza more than 400 feet square in front of it. The fortification has very little space, with four bastions in which there is hardly room to maneuver the little artillery the fortress possesses. It also lacks a terreplein. The curtains between them, apart from being completely [superscript: and bastions] are feeble, having been constructed with small stones and mortar prepared from lime and sea water, so that in many places and on diverse occasions a large section of it [superscript: great sections of both the curtains and the bastions] have collapsed, though they were later repaired, but with the same materials as before. The ditch is very shallow [text blacked out], though it could easily be widened and deepened, and a sufficient amount of sea water enters into it [fol. 183v] from both sides. Yet the general opinion among the Portuguese is that this fortress is unassailable. But we shall pass over its many additional and fundamental defects in silence, for several reasons, particularly so that what is written here will be taken as a true account and not construed as invective [superscript: criticism of particular individuals]. The city begins at the perimeter of this large plaza. This first section is dominated by the skyline, which is created by finely crafted houses with many windows that belong to the wealthy citizens, together with the church, the Misericórdia, and the chief mosque of the Moors, although the latter is, for the most part, damaged and in ruins. From its present condition, however, it can be seen that it was once a great and magnificent edifice. An extremely high minaret, or tower, which is beautifully carved on its outer surface, is still standing, and it is a magnificent sight as one approaches the city from afar, being the first building to come into view. This great mosque was destroyed not so many years ago through a lapse in judgment on the part of some of the ministers, causing great anguish and much indignation, not only among the Moors 84  The fort of Nossa Senhora da Vitória (Our Lady of Victory) was established by Afonso de Albuquerque on Hormuz in 1507. Forced to withdraw, he returned and established Portuguese overlordship in 1515 and had the fortress completed; see Disney, History, 133.

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who live in the city, but also among those that live on the nearest mainland, especially the king of Persia himself. It has also led to the infliction of plainly visible damage to the city and to the loss of the Portuguese possessions on the mainland. On the left side of this panorama of buildings as one faces away from the fortress, right up against the shore, are the king’s warehouses and the Casa da Alfândega do Rei.85 [fol. 184r] Here begins the part of the city that faces the sea to the north-east, east by north-east, and east. The coastline withdrawing [superscript: withdraws] sharply, creating a large inlet. At high tide the waves batter the houses, while at low tide the water is so shallow that one can walk more than 150 paces from the shore without the water touching his knees being more than, the length of beach being just as long. These houses are the best constructed in the entire city; [margin: they] extend all the way to the monastery of Nossa Senhora do Carmo,86 and from there to the road to Santa Lúcia, which leads to the Ardemira and the field of the cisterns and tombs, which has already been described. There is a large populated section of the city here, but apart from a few houses made of stone and lime, the houses are made of reeds, palm leaves, and mud at their bases, like those of the Moors in Muscat. Here one sees many small inns and shops selling refreshment, namely meat and fish garnished with fresh and dried fruit. Apart from these suburbs, the entire body of the city consists of tall houses two or three stories high, most of them made of lime and stone with numerous windows, all of which are latticed. But almost all of these houses, with the exception of those belonging to the Portuguese, have very small and cramped living spaces, [margin: even though they are multistoried and have numerous windows], and the streets are so small narrow that no more than two men can walk side by side on any of them, and only one man on horseback. But [fol. 184v] these narrow streets and tall houses serve a purpose: during the summer, whose harshness lasts [superscript: whose severe and blistering heat endures for more than five months], the houses generate shade for pedestrians at all hours of the day. The narrowness of the streets also creates fresh air that flows more temperately and delicately through the narrowest cross streets than through the main streets. While the houses are indeed very tall, their height appears enhanced by the windcatchers87 that stand on the rooftops like small towers. Necessity, which

85  Portuguese for “Royal Customs House.” 86  The complete Portuguese name was Nossa Senhora do Monte de Carmo, meaning “Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.” 87   Catavientos in the MS, lit. “wind-sampler,” called a bādgīr in Persian.

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is the mistress in [superscript: the defects] of Nature,88 appealed to artifice [superscript: and art] and prevailed against the unflagging and intolerable heat of summer, which occurs during the same months as in Europe, and erected structures such as these to trap the wind, which blows almost constantly. And though the wind is rather hot—indeed very hot at times—without it, life here would be impossible. These windcatchers are open on all four sides, which are of unequal length, two of the sides being [text blacked out] [superscript: longer] than the other two, like on the common chimneys of Spain. That is, each windcatcher is partitioned by a very thin panel on its long side such that the area of each length, or the partition of each length, varies with the breadth of the room that lies beneath it. These partitions make a pair; for example, one might face to the north and the other to the south. Each length is further divided by other [fol. 185r] smaller panels into three, four, or five partitions, according to the size of the windcatcher. These smaller partitions are two [margin: or three] feet square, and as long or tall as the windcatchers, which are normally two fathoms tall, some even more. The roof of this structure is covered on every side and tightly fastened with another panel so that the windcatcher is open and hollow on each of its four sides, being partitioned only by those thin and small panels, because the other two narrower sides that face each other in contrary directions to the other sides (for example, westward and eastward) are partitioned by only one panel, leaving two divisions or chambers along the breadth that are of the size and shape of those that are found on the longer sides, which, as has been explained, are two and three feet square, but partitioned off from them with another panel so that each of these narrow sides only has two chambers or divisions that are open only in the front, and closed off on the remaining three sides and on the top by the said panels. This mechanism receives the wind through the open part, and since the air cannot escape from any of the remaining three sides or out the top, all of these avenues being closed off, it must seek a way out against its very nature and is thus forced downward through the lower part of the windcatcher, which is open, having no floor. The air then [fol. 185v] flows into the room for which it has been built. Windcatchers are normally constructed against the narrowest wall of the room, on which there are two rows of big holes, each being two [superscript: or three] feet square, as has been mentioned, each row containing three, four, [text blacked out] [superscript: or five] holes. These are separated from each other by panels halfway up the wall as far as where the windcatcher enters the room from above. The air flows through the room to other rooms below, 88  The resemblance between this sentiment and Leonardo da Vinci’s aphorism “necessity is the mistress and guide of Nature” seems more than coincidental; see da Vinci, Notebooks, 8.

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[margin: becoming cooler as it descends], even if the wind is very hot outside. It is remarkable to see how quickly one can feel the effects of this kind of shield against the heat in a room that is equipped with a windcatcher, no matter how faint the wind, and to see the people breathing the cool air that comes in. Without this relief it does not seem possible that anyone could live in Hormuz. But although this device is adequate for enduring the heat of the day, though with great difficulty, from the middle of May until the middle of [superscript: end] of September or the end of [superscript: the beginning of October], everyone is forced to climb up to their rooftops as soon as the sun sets and sleep on their terraces in order to withstand the intense heat of the nights. This is why their houses do not have tiled roofs. And this practice is so general that [fol. 186r] not a single person remains below in the rooms of the house, not even a dog or a cat or a single living thing, these being the first to go up to the roof, though everyone comes back down after sunrise. The mass of terraces looks like a different and distinct city because of the furnishings that are taken up there to endure such a long summer. The people build supports out of light pieces of wood [margin: to raise their beds up higher], and surround them with screens that resemble lattices made from reeds and palm branches to block the view from nearby terraces, but without blocking the air. But the people remain in plain view of their families because they sleep so close together. Some of the men and women sleep half naked; others can endure nothing more than a nightshirt, while others, especially those born and raised in Hormuz, sleep with nothing on at all. The houses are connected by walkways from one terrace to another, and though this would appear to greatly ease and facilitate theft and other offenses, especially between people of different nations, this does not happen, because people practice the precepts of their religions, which dictate that they maintain good neighborly and reciprocal relations among themselves. The port is in the bay between the two capes, the Cabo de Nossa Senhora da Esperança89 and the fortress, though it is much closer to the city, and thus the harbor for heavy ships, galleys, and other small ships lies across from the side of the city that faces east by north-east [fol. 186v] and north-east between the monasteries of Carmo and Santo Agostinho. And although this area is where the bay cuts into the shoreline the most, and, when the tide is in, the surf pounds against the bases of the houses three or four feet high, the water in this inlet is so shallow that at low tide the beach extends out for 200 feet, and 89  Based on Silva y Figueroa’s description, this headland is located on the island of Hormuz at 27º06′18″N, 56º27′10″E.

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for another 150 feet the water only reaches one’s knees at the deepest point. Therefore, the heavy ships lay anchor almost outside the bay, 600 paces from the city, and the galleys at a distance of 500 paces, which means that when the east wind blows [superscript: gusts] with great fury, this port is not safe at all, several ships having come into danger here. It would have been even more dangerous for them if the fury of the sea had not been tempered by the coasts because of the proximity of the mainland toward the east and north-east and by the island of Qeshm toward the north and north-west. Much firewood is collected in all parts of this inlet all the way to the Cabo de Nossa Senhora da Esperança and from there along the coast of the island; most of it is very small, but it is solid and uncorrupted. It comes from the shore of Persia opposite the island, which is two, three, and four leagues off, being washed into the sea by the freshets from the rivers that flow down from the mountains, although this is unique and contrary to what is known to happen on other islands that are close to a mainland or to other [fol. 187r] large islands. Normally, a good deal of firewood, both large pieces and small, are washed into the sea by freshets, just like here, but all of it floats on the surface, and when it is found on the beach clear of the water, much of it is old and rotten. But the firewood found close to this island lies underwater and is unspoiled. Since most of it is small and twisted in the shape of roots, it leads many to think that this wood grows underwater, this being the popular belief, which has the appearance of being certain. The mysteries of nature are great and not fully understood. Also beneath the water is a large amount of loose rock with the size and appearance of the sort of pumice stone that is always found next to volcanoes. These stones lie under water along the entire coastline of this island. But they are completely white, and are thus different from other pumice stones, which are black or brown, though they are spongy and light like other pumice. There is a great abundance of them. They are used in the construction of windcatchers because they weigh less heavily on the houses: they are light and can absorb a great deal of lime in their pores, while as a building material they are so strong and tough that they resist the fury of the wind that sometimes blows impetuously on this island, especially during the seasons of harsh weather. The population of the city of Hormuz is between 2,500 [fol. 187v] [margin: and 3,000] households, although there seem to be much fewer because of the narrowness of the streets. The houses lack gardens or yards of any kind, but some have a small patio. Perhaps around 300 have the same layout as the houses in Muscat. This is where the poorest people in the city live, at the edge of the city, past the monastery of Carmo, near the road to the field where the cisterns are found. Most of the residents of this city[—except the many native

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Christians]—are [superscript: Arab] Moors, but they speak the Persian language. The rest are Indian Gentiles from the province of Sindh, though a few are from Khambhat.90 [margin: The general population numbers upward of 40,000 souls]. Most of them are wealthy merchants who conduct trade in Persia and Arabia with merchandise they purchase from the Portuguese. The rest are tradesmen of all kinds, and though they are skillful and deft when working at their craft on the basis of the experience and knowledge they already possess, they are the best craftsmen in the world when it comes to working from a drawing or any other model that is shown to them. There are [superscript: just under] forty or fifty [superscript: 100 houses] belonging to the Jews who live among these Moors and Gentiles, most of them destitute and poor, though a few have some wealth. They and the Gentiles dress in the same style as the Moors, except for the Indian gentile Bania merchants who dress in the usual manner of the Banias, which is also how some [fol. 188r] of the wealthy tradesmen dress. [margin: The women from these three nations all wear the same style of clothing, covering themselves with large white and blue cotton shawls down to their feet with only their eyes showing, and wearing a golden nose pin]. The Jews are such in name only, for they do not know Hebrew and are also ignorant of anything pertaining to their religion aside from a few ceremonies that are mixed with those of Moors and Gentiles. The exception was a broker [margin: named Isaac], who came to the Ambassador’s house with another man of the same profession and who spoke his own language very well. Despite his youth he showed himself to be well versed in the Old Testament. He and a few others speak Spanish91 among themselves. Their ancestors came from Aleppo and Tripoli and some from Constantinople, but over time their language has been lost because all of them speak Persian, as has been mentioned. The Portuguese citizens who reside in Hormuz comprise no more than seventy [superscript: 200] households or families; [text blacked out] [superscript: added to] that number are a few soldiers who are casados.92 They all earn their living by trading with their neighboring Persian citizens and with the city of Basra,93 and by trading in merchandise that is shipped to them from India and the province of Sindh. But none of the Portuguese are very wealthy, and in fact they are getting poorer all the time because the captain of the fortress takes all the profits for himself. All matters pertaining [superscript: to] this city, both 90  See p. 198 n. 116. 91  Probably Ladino, the variety of Castilian Spanish spoken by Jews in diaspora. 92  See p. 262 n. 48. 93  A major port city that, in antiquity, had direct access to deep water, which it probably still had in the seventeenth century; it is located on the Shatt al-Arab River in Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq.

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secular and ecclesiastical, are subject to the captain’s prerogative, whether for good or for ill, and yet almost [fol. 188v] every citizen keeps his horse at the ready for whatever eventuality of war might present itself. Every citizen also has many male and female slaves, and his wife and daughters never leave the house except to hear Mass on festival days, and this before dawn; [margin: during the day they go out to the countryside in palanquins]. They wear the same styles and customs as the [margin: Portuguese] women in India, except that the women who have been born and raised in Hormuz speak Persian, which they learn through contact and communication with women from the mainland. The style of the men’s clothing is also identical to that of India. The Portuguese men and women of Hormuz have much darker skin than the Portuguese who live in India because not only have many of them intermarried with people from the mainland, but also because this island is situated such that it is harshly scorched by the sun, despite being located at latitude 25 degrees [margin: and 40 minutes] from the Arctic Pole. But considering its clime, it should not be as hot as it is, and the people should not be as brown as in Goa, which is located at [margin: less than] 16 degrees latitude. Having mentioned the pumice stones found in the ocean next to the island, [margin: from which the windcatchers are constructed], it is fitting to discuss their provenance, for as soon as the Ambassador was made aware of them and saw them, he concluded that sometime in the past the mountain that has been described must have erupted in fire. This is quite credible because of its nitrous makeup and because of the great amount of salt that can be seen on its surface. But after attempting to find out from some of the Portuguese residents [margin: if this had ever happened during their lifetimes], they said [superscript: responded] [fol. 189r] that they had no memory of any such event. Even so, the Ambassador never lost his conviction that such an eruption must have preceded [superscript: taken place] in previous centuries, and that over the course of countless years, the mountain must have spewed all of the rocks that are found piled up in the sea. This conclusion was confirmed when it was observed that during the hottest nights of the summer when everyone sleeps on their terraces, a most severe sulfurous odor is wafted over on the south by south-east and south by south-west winds that blow from the mountains, and this occurs and repeats itself continues many times during a single night as long as the said winds blow. But when the south wind passes over closer to the middle of the mountains, this effect was not produced; in fact, it was the least warm of all the winds, as is described below. The mystery of this volcano was discovered during the present year of 1617, when the Ambassador spent the summer in Hormuz. His servants and some of the monks from Santo Agostinho had persuaded him to pay a visit to the hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Penha, not only because of the great veneration in

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which it is held, but also because of the singularity of its location: it was built on the highest peak of this mountain. And he would not have bothered to do so, mostly because of the difficulty of the ascent, were it not that one week before the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, which falls on the 8th of September, the Augustinian monks from the monastery of this city, to whose charge this [fol. 189v] hermitage falls, brought the image down to the bottom of the mountain, as they are wont to do every year, and built a large shelter for it that was solidly built and beautifully decorated. The image is kept there for a full week, until the end of the festival, during which all the residents of Hormuz come to visit it day and night. On the afternoon of one of these days, the Ambassador went to pray and visit the image, and after having said his prayers, he went out to see the entrance to the path that leads up the mountain, which, as has been noted, begins at this very shelter. And just as he gazed in that direction, he noticed a little to the left of the path that led up to the hermitage, on the steepest part of the mountain, a large quantity of stone that was as black as coal and stretched from the highest peak down the same mountainside all the way to the flat ground, where a quantity many of these stones were seen to be piled up on each other. And though at that time he did not remember the stones that were found in the sea, he asked a native Christian, a permanent hermit in the hermitage and by appearances a holy man, if he knew where all the burned black rocks that appeared [superscript: could be seen] on the mountain came from. He replied that though he was old, he did not remember seeing where they had come from, but that when he was young he had heard many people say that at times much fire and smoke and many of the [fol. 190r] black rocks were spewed forth from the highest part of the mountain, but that no eruptions had been witnessed since the Christians had taken Hormuz. With these few words of explanation from the hermit, one could clearly infer the truth of what the Ambassador had suspected, or rather what he knew for certain and what conformed to natural reason, namely that it had been a very long time since the thick smoke, which is trapped in the bowels of those caverns, had been expelled. And in light of the fact that the top of that mountain is swelling and being lifted up, as was mentioned during the earlier description of the hermitage, one can fear the eruption of a great earthquake in which the mountain will spew forth a great quantity of fire. [margin: The reason these rocks on the beach were white, whereas the ones on the mountainside were black, is that they have been bleached by the continuous action of the tides over the course of many years.] Although the summer heat is so harsh and blistering in Hormuz, [margin: published writings] and descriptions of this city are incorrect when they say that the heat forces one to sleep both by day and by night in a washtub filled

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with water, in which one supposedly also spends a good portion of the day. It is true that not only is the heat extremely intense, significantly lowering one’s spirits and morale, but also that Nature herself beckons one to enter the water [margin: in this kind of weather]. Thus, it is good to bathe once in a while, even though all the water in Hormuz is drawn from wells or is brought from the Bandel94 on the mainland and stored in cisterns. Alternatively, it is brought from Qeshm, but since water from there is not softened by currents, nor cured by the sun like river water, it is not healthful for bathing. But necessity makes it good in this city, as has been stated, and the people bathe often, though not with the [fol. 190v] same frequency as the Portuguese who are raised in India and Hormuz, this being not so much a necessity as a dissolute habit in them. In sum, here in Hormuz it is necessary to immerse oneself in the water, but the people here avoid this as much as possible because this is their fresh water, if that is what one can call it, having the quality that has been described—it is so full of clay that well water that is newly poured into a bathtub is as white as milk. After it settles, even if it turns clear, there are two inches of mud at the bottom of the bathtub or the vessel used for storing drinking water. When the temperature reaches its peak, which is the season of more than three months, native men and women of all ages fill the ocean, which is quite close to many of the houses, but the Europeans avoid doing so because the water is so salty it causes their skin to peel. In conclusion, everything else that is reported about the heat is an exaggeration: the Ambassador endured the hottest nights of the summer he spent in Hormuz, though he was still uncomfortable, by dampening his sheets and pillows by sprinkling water on them. It is amazing how varied and diverse the winds are that blow during the summer in this place, because one can sense very different effects of the shifting of the wind just a half a compass point. Some winds are warmer than others, causing people to perspire, while the others obstruct one’s pores and dry up wells, even though these are the hottest winds. The winds that blow during this season are from the east, the south-east, the south-west, and the west by south-west. The south wind blows less frequently of all, but notwithstanding its great heat, it does not slacken or fall off like the others. This last-named wind has such a bizarre nature that when it hits water stored in vessels, the water becomes chilled. This is contrary to what is claimed by those who are clearly deceived, who claim that it is the rooms that are cool. But this difference in temperature is really only found in the vessels. 94  The Persian word bandar, meaning “harbor city,” refers to the Persian littoral around Gamrū [Bandar-e ʿAbbās]; see Y&B, 58, s.v. “bandel.” For the province in which the Bandel is located, see p. 246 n. 11.

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[fol. 191r] Not only was the Ambassador in Hormuz at the beginning of the hot season, but he encountered the same difficulties here as in Goa. The main reason the Portuguese were delaying his journey was the enormous greed of the ministers in both places, and hence he was forced to tarry the entire summer in that uncomfortable place. And since embassies such as this one are favorably or unfavorably received depending on how much the princes that send them respect and esteem the ones [margin: to whom] they are sent, in the Ambassador’s opinion the king of Persia and his vassals held a dark view of the present embassy: the fortress of Gamrū on the coast of the mainland, three [superscript: four] leagues from Hormuz, had been lost three years earlier, resulting in the death of most of the garrison that was stationed there and the placing of the inhabitants of Qeshm under tribute. And Qeshm is the source for the water and most of the provisions for the city of Hormuz. This embassy would have given way to other, more pressing matters [text blacked out] had His Majesty, after learning that war had broken out, not written to the Ambassador before the latter left Goa, expressly [margin: ordering] him to continue his journey and carry out his embassy, recent events notwithstanding. What a disparate relationship! His Majesty was seeking the friendship and alliance of someone who, despite his outward show of amity, was in reality his enemy. But neither those orders [fol. 191v] nor a repetition of them in another letter that the Ambassador received in Hormuz from his lord and king would have been sufficient for him to resolve to continue his journey to Persia, had the ineffectuality and negligence that he saw in the [superscript: that] city and fortress of Hormuz not obligated him to do so: he would have received all the blame for any risky or unfortunate outcome in Persia, which was inevitable, since the king of Persia, [margin: according to reports], had come to peaceful terms with the Turk. And thus as soon as the harsh weather eased off he hurried and his preparations for the journey were completed, he wrote to the khāns of the Bandel,95 Lār, and Shīrāz,96 requesting that they prepare his camels and other necessary baggage animals on the nearby mainland by the first of October, and as soon as he received news of their arrival, he loaded the items he had brought from Spain and India for the king of Persia on behalf of His Majesty on the ship, together with his personal articles from his house and chamber, in order to set sail from Hormuz the following day.

95  See p. 246 n. 11. 96  One of the oldest cities of Persia and capital of Fārs province, a leading center of arts and letters.

BOOK iv

[Journey to Qazvīn and Meeting with Shah, 12 October 1617–1618] [October 1617] At eight o’clock in the morning of October 12th, after the Ambassador heard Mass in St. Augustine, where D. Luís da Gama, the captain of the fortress, went to bid him farewell, he set sail with some of his servants in the galley São Francisco, which was well armed with soldiers and artillery. And though the journey should have taken just a few hours, there was no [margin: wind] or current, and thus the galley becalmed for a period of six as long as the ebb tide lasted. After laying anchor in little more than four fathoms in the middle of the channel, we came within sight of three islands—Hormuz, Larak, and Qeshm—as well as the mainland. All the channels running between these islands and the mainland [fol. 192r] are quite shallow, measuring four to five fathoms at most. And although it was by then the middle of autumn, the heat we experienced until the return of the tide and wind was unbearable. Finally some light airs began to stir out of the south-east and the galley got under way. We sailed close to the coast of the Bandel, where we were to make landfall. People could already be seen on shore. In order to avoid beaching the galley on the beach, the Ambassador stepped into a manchua that was in tow while the galley fired [superscript: fired a salvo], which was answered by the fortress that the Persians have constructed in the Bandel. As he came ashore, the Ambassador was met by Ḥasan Beg,1 the governor of that land under the king of Persia, together with the soldiers from the garrison and many other people from nearby cities, all of them armed with bows and harquebuses. The governor and another five or six men were mounted on horses and dressed in the Persian style, wearing colored silk jubbahs2 and headdresses decorated with gold. Their scimitars were more curved as those used by the Turks, but not as heavy. The handle of the sword belonging to the governor’s guard was made of gold and studded with turquoise and rubies, as was the handle of his dagger. And because the 1  Ḥasan or Ḥosayn Beg, an official under Emāmqolī Khān, the beglarbeg (governor-general) of the city of Lār in the kingdom of Fārs. 2  According to the OED, s.v. “jubbah,” “an outer garment worn by Muslims and Parsees, consisting of a long cloth coat, open in front, with sleeves reaching nearly to the wrists.” Silva y Figueroa uses this word synonymously with cabaya; see p. 150 note 272.

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Kura

Julfa

38°0'0"N

Ardabīl

Tabrīz

38°0'0"N

Caspian Sea

Khorāsān Gīlān

Māzandarān Solţānīyeh 15 Jun – 27 Jul 1618

Qazvīn

Astarābād

Abbas Abad

Shīrvān Mashad

Khorāsān

Farahābād

Alborz

Pir-e Yūsefiyān

36°0'0"N

Mohammadābād

36°0'0"N

Kilan

Ārāsanj-e Pā’in

Dung Sāveh Hamadan

Ja’farābād Qom

Hasanābād

Hoseynābād-e Mishmast

Sensen 34°0'0"N

34°0'0"N

Kāshān

Ali Abbas Naţanz

Dowlatābād Es¨fahān

Euphrates

Persia 1 – 28 May 1618

19 Apr – 1 May 1618

Shahristān

Zāyandeh

Mahyār 32°0'0"N

32°0'0"N

Qomīsheh Khuzestan

Kārūn

Zagros

Ahvāz

Yazd

Izadkhāst Dehgerdū Kūshkeźar Āspās Ūjan

Basra

Mā’in Kalantar Zarqān 24 Nov 1617 – 5 Apr 1618 Shīrāz

30°0'0"N

Zafarābād

Emāmzāda Esmāʿīl Kermān

Naqsh-e Rostam Persepolis 7 Apr Marvdašt Ochiar

30°0'0"N

Maharlou

Jahrom Joyom

Bonāruye Bariz Dehkūyeh Chaki Hormozgān Hormud-e Mir Khund Jeyhūn Kahūrestān Tang-e Dālān Gamrū Gachīn-e Pā’īn Hormuz Bandar-e Nakhīlū Qeshm Larak Straits of Hormuz

28°0'0"N

Persian Gulf

Qatif Bahrain

26°0'0"N

N W

E

1 inch = 119 miles 0

Depicts Route

100

200

S

48°0'0"E

Map 4

50°0'0"E

28°0'0"N

28 Oct – 9 Nov 1617 Fārs

52°0'0"E

54°0'0"E

56°0'0"E

The embassy’s journey from Gamrū to Qazvīn, 12 October 1617–15 June 1618.

12 – 19 Oct 1617

26°0'0"N

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governor dismounted from his horse and came over to receive the Ambassador with great demonstrations of courtesy, the latter did not wish to enter the palanquin, or sedan, that his servants had prepared for him until the governor had mounted his horse again. He accompanied him with everyone else to the entrance of his tents to the firing of loud harquebus salvos. The tents were pitched next to the remains of the fortress of Gamrū, the same one that had been so infamously lost three years earlier,3 the blame for which falls [margin: less heavily] on its defenders [margin: than upon those who failed to come to its aid]. [fol. 192v] The Ambassador was forced to tarry in this location for a few days in the blistering heat because horses had to be purchased for his servants and for the monks he had brought with him for the journey to Lār and Shīrāz. Also, although the camels had already arrived, they had to be brought from their pasture, which was a good distance off. The coast and shoreline as far as the eye could see were of the same nature and quality as that of Hormuz: the land is dry and saline, and, aside from a few palm trees, completely sterile. Three hundred paces from the ruins of our old fortress and from the Ambassador’s tents sits a town of 200 houses belonging to the poverty-stricken native Moors. Before, when the fortress was under the rule of His Majesty, this town was always [superscript: gave] recognition and obeisance to the local captain, as did the neighboring towns in the same district. But as soon as the Persians and their captain ʿAlī Beg, the governor of Shīrāz, seized control of the fortress, he razed it and had another one built 300 paces from the sea, leaving a garrison and a captain there to govern the land. The fortress is small and is built with stone [superscript: adobe walls] and mud, though it is well constructed, being designed like the old fortresses built by the Moors in Europe, especially in Spain. It is surrounded by a barbican with its own ditch, which is narrow and three fathoms deep. The fortress itself provides very little defense, there being nowhere to fire artillery from except a few small loopholes for a few halfpounders or muskets. But in order to be taken, it would have to be battered down; the mud used in the [text blacked out] [superscript: construction] of the inner and outer walls is [margin: highly resilient] because it is mixed with fine straw, a frequently used method in all of the buildings of the kingdoms of Fārs, Kermān, and Persia. [fol. 193r] [margin: The interior walls are also quite thick.] The site of the old fortress that was lost by the Portuguese is on the western side of Hormuz on a minor elevation of the beach, but at high tide the waves beat against its rampart so that boats and terradas can easily come up to the fortress. From what can be judged by its ruins, it was big enough to house a garrison and accomodate the caravans that came down from Persia. Almost half 3  See p. 246, n. 11.

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of it was surrounded by the sea, and on the landward side, it had an elevation and a ditch, although the latter was filled in at the time the fortress was lost; it could have been a great advantage to the besieged had it been cleared and dug out. The Portuguese would not have been defeated had they paid as much heed to matters that were of grave importance as they did to other things, for the site of the fortress is strong and suitable enough to provide defense and receive assistance. The land in this part of the kingdom of Fārs [text blacked out] [margin: is quite poor], as is the rest of this sterile province, being very similar to Hormuz, the difference being that fresh water can be found in the wells that are dug here, though only along the seashore, this commodity wanting inland. In compensation for which [margin: many of the things that are lacking in this land], nature has endowed it with a great number of palm trees that provide a very abundant date crop, the main source of sustenance for all of its inhabitants, who also benefit from trading dates in other places. [fol. 193v] Anciently, all of this land, which runs along the coast of the Persian Gulf from Cape Jask [margin: Gwadar]4 to the mouth of the Euphrates, was known as Carmania5 Deserta. On its northern borders lie the provinces of Assyria6 and [margin: Babylonia 4  See p. 265, n. 57. 5  A province or satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, which is thought to have roughly corresponded to the boundaries of present-day Kermān province, Iran, although the exact boundaries of ancient Carmania are still under discussion. Silva y Figueroa’s description of it in this and subsequent passages is fairly unambiguous. He follows Ptolemy’s division into two subregions: Vera (meaning “proper”), although he uses the adjective fertile when referring to it, and Deserta (meaning “desert, wilderness”); see Ptolemy, Geography, 140. According to Silva y Figueroa, at the time of Alexander the Great, Carmania Deserta was to be found on the Persian Gulf coast west of Hormuz, and, at the time of his embassy, he believed it corresponded to the kingdoms of Fārs and Ahvāz (the latter being incorporated into the province of Khūzestan) in the same way that Fertile Carmania corresponded to the province of Kermān. 6  A major Mesopotamian east-Semitic kingdom and empire that was centered on the Upper Tigris River in northern Mesopotamia (present-day northern Iraq, north-eastern Syria, south-eastern Turkey, and the north-western edges of Iran). Named after its original capital, Aššur, it existed as an independent state from the middle of the Early Bronze Age through the Iron Age. At the height of its power, the Assyrian Empire stretched from Cyprus to Persia, including present-day Armenia, Āzarbāījān, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, and eastern Libya. From the mid-second century BC to the late third century AD, Assyria became the birthplace of the Church of the East and a leading center of Syriac Christianity in the Middle East. The demonym Assyrian was applied to those peoples from northern Mesopotamia as early as the Neo-Assyrian Empire period (935–605 BC), if not before. However, during the Seleucid Empire (323–150 BC), the name was applied to its original area in northern Mesopotamia and

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and Susiana] Persia and fertile Carmania, [margin: which the Persians now call Kermān]. This is where Alexander the Great stopped and rested with his army on his way from India. And because the designation or appellation Deserta sounds like the word for Arabia and means the same thing,7 we would be justified in calling them by this name now, had the ancients not chosen the particular name Carmania to distinguish it and separate it from the rest of Arabia. It is inhabited by the same people [margin: who wear the same style of clothing, speak the same language,] and have the same [text blacked out] customs as all other Arabs. The ancient Carmania [superscript: Deserta] contains two very prominent kingdoms or provinces: the kingdoms of Fārs and Ahvāz,8 popularly known as the kingdom of [superscript: the] Mombareca9 [margin: or the land of Mogostan].10 The kingdom of Fārs, which is our current object of description, was occupied sixteen years ago by Shah ʿAbbās, the current king of Persia, [margin: as was the rest of the eastern coast as far as Cape Gwadar], thereby expelling from these kingdoms the proper and natural kings who have possessed them for over 2,000 years.11 The kingdom of Ahvāz and Mombareca had been in a state of distress [superscript: confusion] and discord a few days before the Ambassador’s departure from Hormuz because after the death of its king, Asid Mubarak, the Arabs there desired to appoint one of his younger sons as successor. The eldest, who was under the power of the king of Persia, renounced his kingdom in his favor, perhaps willingly, or—what is more to colonized areas (during the periods of the Middle Assyrian Empire, 1366–1020 BC and the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 911–605 BC) in the Levant that corresponded to biblical Aramea. The use of the term for northern Mesopotamia was extinguished by the Parthians after Assyria became part of the Parthian Empire (247–225 BC). However, the Parthians instituted the practice of using the aphaeretic form Syria, applying it exclusively to those areas in the Levant. Silva y Figueroa’s use of Assyria and Syria throughout the Commentaries follows this Greco-Roman practice. 7  Silva y Figueroa appears to be referring back to the Persian toponym Kermān, which bears some resemblance to the Greek erēmia, meaning “desert or wilderness.” 8  Ahvāz, in the province of Khūzestān, had been an important medieval center for the cultivation of sugarcane and was home to many Islamic scholars. 9  The popular name of a people and kingdom derived from the name of its ruler, Asid Mubarak. Silva y Figueroa represents that these (probably Arab) people had, prior to this time, resided toward the mouth of the Persian Gulf in the Persian province of Mogostan. But by the time of his embassy, they had founded a kingdom in a city and region north of Basra called Ahvāz (see p. 630). See Gil Fernández, “Ormuz,” 185. 10  See p. 252 n. 23. 11  In 1600 or 1601, Shah ʿAbbās removed the last king of Fārs, Ebrāhīm Khān II, from power; see Munshī, History of Shah ʿAbbās, 2:802–8; Farmayan, Beginnings of Modernization, 14.

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creditable—under duress. At the time of this writing, no further news is known about the outcome of this situation. The Ambassador stayed in the Bandel while the camels and other necessary baggage animals were gathered together, their number totalling approximately 400. [fol. 194r] He also needed to buy horses for his servants. [margin: 19] He finally departed on October 19th at four o’clock in the afternoon, heading toward Band ʿAlī, a small caravanserai three leagues from the Bandel.12 The caravan, which contained most of his retinue, had departed two hours earlier. By nine o’clock in the evening, the caravan had still not found the caravanserai because of the darkness. The Ambassador caught up to where the caravan had stopped amid some shrubs and small trees where the heat was immense; everyone was laid out in the sand, there being no comfortable place to rest. [margin: 20] As soon as the moon rose, the journey continued until eight o’clock in the morning, at which point the caravan reached the caravanserai of Gachīn,13 which is four leagues from Band ʿAlī. The sea was always on our left side, more than a [superscript: not even] half a league from the caravanserai. On both sides of the road there are great bald mountains on which not a trace of brush or grass can be detected; instead the ground is white, with no rocks on the surface. These mountains open up to a great valley of varying breadth that runs right through their center, terminating at the point where the mountains join together, then descending to where it converges with another valley. The road runs through this kind of territory not only here, but also throughout the kingdoms of Fārs and Persia. This land is completely desiccated, being bereft of grass. The only trees area a few spiny and forlorn specimens with very small leaves. There are also some [superscript: very small] spiny shrubs that are smaller than the gorse in Spain, though very prickly; these are used as [fol. 194v] forage for camels because of the absence of grass. Then, after passing through the Bandel, where there are freshwater wells, this commodity is completely absent, the only water being that which is collected from the rain in great cisterns, which can be found all the way from this caravanserai of Gachīn to Lār and Shīrāz. Shortly before this caravanserai, there is a beautiful new cistern that contains an enormous quantity of very cold and clear water, sufficient for travelers and several small Arab villages in the vicinity, even before the beginning of the rainy season. This cistern was built with alms donated by a merchant from Lār. The other cisterns were also 12  For descriptions and early twentieth century photographs of the route taken by Silva y Figueroa, see Wilson, “Notes on a Journey from Bandar Abbas,” 152–69. 13  Present-day Gachīn-e Pāʿīn, meaning “Gachin of the Sea”; see Speelman, Joan Cunaeus, n.p.

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constructed with charitable donations and bequests left by religious people.14 The same is true of nearly all the caravanserais or inns throughout Asia. There tends to be little water The water level tends [superscript: to be very low] in most of the cisterns before the rains come, which are normally meager in this land, and hence a lot of muck and slime settles to the bottom. But these Arabs use an ingenious and convenient device for drawing water [margin: that does not] stir up the mud as they fill their jugs and bottles. It consists of a round and flat piece of leather, two feet in diameter, with many thin cords attached around the circumference. These are bound together a semidiameter’s length from the end of each cord, the knot falling on the precise center of the piece of leather when it is held level and flat. Another thick and long cord, like the kind [fol. 195r] used everywhere for drawing water from wells, is tied to the knot where the ends of the thinner cords come together. The piece of leather is rapidly dropped into the cistern, and as it falls in the water flat on the surface of the water, no matter how little it is submerged, it gathers enough water along its circumference so that when the thick cord is pulled up, all the smaller cords are drawn close together and, because of the weight of the water that collects in the center, the leather takes on the shape of a large bag that holds a good jugful of water. So without being dipped into the cistern more than a few inches it draws clean and pure water without stirring it up or hitting the muck on the bottom. The caravanserai of Gachīn has the same layout as the others that lie between there and Lār, while the ones that are located beyond that point have a different design, [superscript: because] [text blacked out] this caravanserai is built like the transept of a church with four doors, one on each side. There is a dome in the center, under which is the most comfortable spot because air enters in from all sides, which is necessary most of the year. The building is square on the outside and raised two or three feet off the ground to keep camels and other animals out. A stone ledge runs around the outside, functioning as a trough; one must climb onto it to gain entrance to the caravanserai and to seven or eight small rooms whose doors open onto it. These rooms are built in each of the four corners of the transept, making it square on the outside, as has been explained. The interior is pleasant because of the cooler air, but there is no place that affords [fol. 195v] any privacy; the entire area can be seen from the four doors. Thus, whenever the Ambassador came to one of these caravanserais, he found it necessary to draw a curtain or screen across the arms of the 14  This is an instance of waqf, a provision under Islamic law of charitable donations for public good, which Silva y Figueroa noticed and clearly about which he formed a favorable opinion; see Kuran, “Provision of Public Goods,” 841–98.

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transept, since none of the small rooms were suitable, as they were located [superscript: outside]; they were always allocated for the use of his servants. And although this land is exceptionally poor and dry, in some of the Arab dawārs and villages where the people have no more possessions than a few goats, the best and tastiest kid-goats in all of Asia are raised. Shortly after midnight, it being very hot, [margin: 21] the caravan departed from Gachīn, which in the local language sounds like the word for goat.15 The mountains, small trees, and spiny shrubs looked like the same ones from the day before, but the sight of a vast number of partridges in such a sterile and dry land was amazing. Shortly after dawn, a servant of the governor of Kahūrestān arrived with a message for the Ambassador, announcing that he was sending a horse and was coming out to receive him. Later, half a league from the city, the governor arrived with three or four horsemen, showering him with courtesies and compliments, and since the Ambassador was riding in a sedan, or palanquin, the governor and the others rode ahead of him, accompanying him as far as the caravanserai, which was next to the city and had the same design as the one in Gachīn, though it was smaller. [fol. 196r] The governor was a young man of twenty-four years; he was large of stature and had an agreeable appearance. As the Ambassador stepped from his palanquin, the governor offered him his house, bade him farewell, and left. A little while later he sent him abundant refreshment: partridges, chicken, kids, and lamb, with lots of fruit, plus the horse that he had promised him along the way, and although the Ambassador would have liked to decline, he was obligated to accept it because refusing an offer constitutes a grave offense for the Persians. This small town of Kahūrestān is situated on a great plain formed by mountains that are separated by more than a league at this location. Because of the particular lay of the land there are several wells here, though their water is partially saline, but it is drawn with a waterwheel and is adequate for irrigating and fertilizing a large portion of the plain where the local inhabitants possess fields of barley, legumes, and a few herbs from which they derive profit. The water also enables many of the spiny trees that were found along the roadside to grow, though these were leafier and provided more shade; the Ambassador’s servants and everyone else in the caravan sought refuge from the sun under them. In the afternoon the governor visited the caravan and earnestly entreated the Ambassador to remain there three or four days, offering to take him to some nearby hills where there was much game, including gazelles, deer, and boar, though this seemed incredible, since all the other hills [fol. 196v] we had 15  Possibly in a local dialect, but not Persian, in which the word for goat is buz.

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seen to that point had no trees or brush of any kind where game of that sort could inhabit. The Ambassador would have tarried there out of courtesy to this Persian, but his haste to complete his journey forbad it, and so he excused himself, thanked the governor for his goodwill, and bade him farewell. The Ambassador wanted to call on him at his house, and so he paid him a visit with some of his servants. The design and extreme narrowness of his house were remarkable. In order to ascend into the upper part of it, one had to use a small ladder so steep and narrow it was very difficult to climb. It was even more difficult to pass through two or three doors [also] before entering a small open terrace; one had to practically crawl to get through them. These doors were no better constructed than the crude holes Spanish farmers make in the mud walls of their straw lofts. The entire house was built in this fashion. Once on the terrace, there was a reasonable bed with pillows and a taffeta spread where the Ambassador sat because he was so tired. The governor and two other Persians sat down on the floor on a mat as is their custom, begging the Ambassador to honor them by allowing his servants to dine there. The Ambassador responded by saying that would please him very much. Immediately a great [margin: metal] lamp was brought out, night having already fallen, together with a huge pot brimming with chicken, mutton, and rice. One of the governor’s servants [fol. 197r] squatted down and commenced serving the contents of the pot into large tin and brass plates with a long wooden ladle. He was followed by others who brought bowls and carafes of wine newly squeezed from grapes. Seeing the generosity and good will with which this banquet was offered, the Ambassador tasted a little rice and had a drink. He then ordered his servants to eat, which they did with great satisfaction. [margin: The meal] concluded with dates and melons. Afterward, because of the hour, we crawled down through the holes again, expending the same effort as before. Descending the ladder was more difficult than climbing it had been. The Ambassador did not allow the governor to see him home, so the latter bade him farewell and ordered his servants to accompany him by torchlight to the caravanserai. The Ambassador [distributed] [margin: ordered that they be given] headdresses, cabayas,16 and a little money, and with these gifts they went home very satisfied. [margin: 22] The following [superscript: next] day we left Kahūrestān under a bright moon two hours after midnight, traveling on a good road, though it ran through the same mountains. After daybreak we saw large blocks on the road. They had broken free and fallen from the mountaintops to the road below, presenting us with an astounding sight: there were pieces of mortar that seemed to be of Roman origin, being composed of large and small pebbles, most of which 16  See p. 150 n. 272.

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were round [fol. 197v] like the ones that are washed out of big streams by the great winter freshets. These pebbles were joined and stuck together with that white and clayey soil of which all those mountains were made, creating something that was [superscript: nearly] as durable and strong as Roman masonry, and resembling it closely enough to deceive anyone, no matter how carefully he inspected it, unless he were to see not only a great quantity of these pieces that stretch out over many leagues, but also the places on the mountainside from which they have obviously become detached and fallen. Today, two leagues before drawing within sight of the caravanserai, the mountains, which to that point had been very close together, opened up onto a plain almost one league wide and two leagues long. Although rain hardly ever falls here in the winter or summer, this plain appeared to have once been a lake bed. Its surface is covered with the same kinds of large and small pebbles of which the broken pieces of rock were made, that is, the bits of rock described above that had fallen from the mountainside. There were also indications of salt water among these rocks, which were the same kind found in salt marshes or places that have been inundated with sea water. This was the case not only on the plain, but even in more elevated areas. But although it seemed most likely that this had been caused by the runoff from the summits of so many and such high mountains and then collected in this plain, despite the fact that there was very little rainfall the year round, even so it looked like [fol. 198r] the true cause could have been something even greater. It seemed to the Ambassador, who had been observing the lay of this land very carefully, that the mountains did not look the same way now that they must have looked when they were first created. Rather, they appeared to have been refashioned and altered afterward by some great impetus or violence from the sea, which is just a few leagues distant. We walked all the way from the Bandel to Lār next to the sea, which was always on our right [superscript: left] side and seemed to be just under one [superscript: half a] league off. Later that afternoon the road veered away from the sea, and we lost sight of it before nightfall, and before arriving in Band ʿAlī, the mountains grew higher and higher, blocking our view. So inasmuch as we traveled this due west—or occidental equinoctial— all the way to Lār,17 and since [margin: most of] this sea of the Persian Gulf extends from east-south-east to north by north-west, it would seem that not only should we not have lost sight of it by looking westward, but that we should have actually run into it, our way being blocked. But this gulf, beginning at its narrowest opening between Cape Musandam and the facing coast 17  Actually, the road from Kahūrestān to the city of Lār in the kingdom of Fārs runs not due west, but west by north-west.

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of Mogastan, near Hormuz, runs to the west by south-west as far as Nakhīlū,18 forming a giant inlet more than thirty [superscript: fifty] leagues in size running next to the coast of the great island of Qeshm. From there, as has been described, it doubles back, most of it running to the west by north-west all the way to Basra and to the mouth [fol. 198v] of the Euphrates. In the middle of this gulf, which is much longer than it is wide, sits the fertile island of Bahrain,19 [margin: called which was referred to as Tyre20 by Strabo and Pliny], and which was famous throughout the East for its extremely rich pear harvest. This is why, as we departed from the Bandel with the sea to our left, it was gradually lost from sight, for as we headed due west, as mentioned above, the coast of this gulf runs west by south-west, so that on the journey being described here the sea was approximately [text blacked out] three leagues from our road, with the [margin: mountains] blocking our view of it. That morning, before reaching the caravanserai, Giuseppe Salvador,21 one of the company’s interpreters, came over to the litter in which the Ambassador was riding and from which he was [superscript: at that time] examining the lay of the land. Armenian by birth, Salvador was nevertheless very experienced, having been in Spain many times and having followed this route many times [superscript: on several journeys]. He began to entertain the Ambassador as he had done other times [superscript: on other occasions] by regaling him with unsolicited tales about Persia. On this occasion he told him that a few years before, as he was traveling along this road with the bishop of Cyrene,22 they happened to see a large defile that had been carved out of one of the mountains; it was a league from the sea. The Persians say that this piece of workmanship was very old and had been executed at the expense and under the direction of an unmarried woman from Shīrāz who was so wealthy that she was able to undertake and complete such an [fol. 199r] expensive project. And because the 18  Present-day Bandar-e Nakhīlū. 19  A small island of the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Persian Gulf located at 26°1′39″N, 50°33′0″E. The Portuguese, who received support from allied forces from Hormuz, seized the island in 1521. They held sway over it and benefited from its commercial position and worldwide reputation of pearl production until 1602, when Safavid forces under Shah ʿAbbās I’s instructions expelled them. 20  Tyre, Lebanon. See Strabo, Geography, 16:1–4, 3:4, 4:27 and Pliny, Natural History, 16:80. 21  This is the Ambassador’s interpreter, to whom he refers sometimes as Giuseppe Salvador and sometimes as Giuseppe Armenio. 22  Catholic missionary activity, which in this instance was under Portuguese crown patronage, was organized into bishoprics that took their names from geographical locations during the early years of the Church, as was Cyrene in Libya. For the bishop referred to here, see p. 396.

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Armenian was garrulous loquacious and keen to tell what he knew and had heard, he continued his tale, saying that this woman had spent her entire fortune on carving an opening through the mountain in order to leave a memorial to herself and to drain the land in that region, which had become a sea, so that people from that district could live there. And so all the water ran into the sea through the opening she had made in the mountain, the soil drying out for many leagues around. This story accorded perfectly with what the Ambassador had been observing, despite the fact that it had been told by such a common man, and so he asked him where he had heard it. He responded that it was an old story that was very well known, having been passed down from father to son in the kingdoms of Fārs and Persia, where the memory of this celebrated woman was greatly revered as one in whose soul was found great generosity and majesty, as if she were a second Rhodope.23 Well before noon we reached the caravanserai of Jeyḥūn,24 which was somewhat larger and of the same style as the rest; it was very hot there. Refreshment for that day was brought in from the closest villages and dawārs. [margin: 23] The next day, the 23rd, the caravan stopped at a caravanserai called Tang-e Dālān. The valley through which we were traveling narrowed there, the mountains being closer together. We saw [text blacked out] [superscript: in this place], for the first time, salt water running in a stream [fol. 199v], though there was so little of it that the camels could barely wet their feet, but the whole plain seemed to be covered with the sort of round pebbles that are usually found in river bottoms. Next to this caravanserai there were two large cisterns full of good water. But the water that was channelled down from the mountain on the right side in an aqueduct, which was open in spots, was absolutely perfect and as cold as the coldest cisterns later found in Fārs. As is related below, these cisterns are the best in the world, even though the ground the water ran along was scorched by the sun; also, it was afternoon, when by rights the ground should have been even hotter. After passing [text blacked out] through the length of the valley, this very copious aqueduct, or channel of water, emptied out at the foot of the facing mountain and flowed into an underground conduit that runs underneath the whole thing and emerges on the other side into a very spacious field in an area of two leagues. From there it splits off into several smaller channels for the irrigation of cultivated fields and

23  Queen of Thrace and wife of Haemus, who in myth compared themselves to Hera and Zeus, respectively. The offended gods transformed Haemus into the Balkan Mountains and Rhodope into the Rhodope Mountains; see Ovid, Metamorphoses, 192. 24  See Speelman, Journaal der Reis, n.p.

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a few vegetable gardens belonging to the local residents.25 The whole area had previously been uninhabited and completely uncultivated. By means of a bequest and a charitable donation left by a wealthy citizen of Fārs, the water was channelled and transported from one mountain to the other, and this conduit was constructed. Some of the Ambassador’s servants ventured into it and said that it was big enough for two men to walk through it side by side all the way to the plain. It was a quarter of a league long and so [fol. 200r] straight that, from the entrance, they could distinctly see all the way to the exit. All those who stop at this caravanserai of Tang-e Dālān use this aqueduct as an open and level road when they go to the villages that were founded on the plain for supplies, thanks to the same aqueduct. [margin: 24] We departed from here after midnight, traveling almost until daybreak through a very rough and narrow valley, the mountains leaving very little space between them. The valley was obstructed by many of those round stones or pebbles, although the stream that was forded the day before was more of a nuisance because it made countless twists and turns through a narrow passageway. We were forced to walk alongside it, crossing it many times, and although the water was somewhat higher at that time of year, what created the greatest hindrance were the many rocks that filled the salty stream bed. [margin: 25] On this day and the next, we stopped and rested at caravanserais that resembled previous ones, all of them having good cisterns close by, and the nature of the land being the same regarding the composition of the mountains and the small trees with meager and spiny leaves that were occasionally found next to the road. [margin: 25] On the 25th, we began our journey after midnight because of the usual intense heat, [margin: from the second caravanserai the entire caravan setting off together from this second caravanserai]. Later, after daybreak, palm trees—none of which had been seen since leaving the Bandel—could be spotted in the distance. We then passed through great orchards of these palm trees that lined both sides of the road, [fol. 200v] where there were also a few cows and goats. [margin: Next we passed right next to] a field fenced off with loose rock and that contained palm trees and cattle. It was evident how 25  The conduit described by Silva y Figueroa is undoubtedly a qanat, part of an ancient Persian irrigation system that relies on gravity to carry water originating in an aquifer through a subterranean channel from a mountainous area to a neighboring plane. A series of well-like vertical shafts are dug at regular intervals along the length of the gently sloping horizontal channel to supply ventilation. An equally ancient system of surface aqueducts carried the water extracted from the qanats to cultivated areas. See Bazza, “Overview of the History,” and Wulff, “Aqueducts of Iran.”

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this small piece of land had been improved by the benefit of nature through the industry of its inhabitants who had populated and improved [superscript: cultivated] it. The caravan then arrived at another caravanserai that was near a village of seventy shacks that had been badly constructed out of mud walls, but its location was pleasant and beautiful, surrounded by many palm and other kinds of trees that were green and leafy, notwithstanding it was so late in the fall. This village is called Hormūd26 because of the great abundance of its dates. In addition to two great cisterns, it also has several freshwater wells on its perimeter that irrigate its cities [superscript: gardens] and a few small barley fields. The people are poor and destitute, as are the rest of the Arabs throughout this land, even though aside from having palm trees, which is the common source of sustenance for everyone, they also raise goats and cows, these being no bigger than the yearling calves of Spain. Their horns are no more than a few inches long, but these cows are so tame, as are their oxen, which are the same size, that they are used as donkeys. The Ambassador ordered a stop to be made here until the next afternoon to give the camels a rest and to let everyone cool off. [margin: 26] On the 26th, we left this village at three o’clock in the afternoon [superscript: after noon ] because we needed to cross one of the mountains that was three quarters of a league away. This had to be done during the day, even though it was very hot. The way up the mountain was not very steep, but afterward, the road took so many twists and turns and led through such narrow and steep passes that we suffered great hardship getting through [fol. 201r] them. There were many great piles of the kind of ancient mortar described above; it had recently fallen from the highest peaks onto both sides of the road, even striking and blocking the road itself. This, coupled with the narrowness of the way, made progress difficult and rough; the camels and other baggage animals had to walk single file. The Ambassador therefore ordered that not only the camel drivers, but everyone in his retinue spread out throughout the caravan so that none of the baggage train would be lost in the ravines in which there were shrubs and spiny trees, and also so that an exit could be made in good time from those difficult passes while the sun still shone. At the vanguard of the caravan went the Ambassador’s master steward, a Spaniard from Ledesma named Pedro Jiménez. We often had to wait for the camels to pass by, since they were walking single file. On one occasion he was forced to halt on horseback for a while in a tight pass where one wall almost touched the other. There were several of those great piles of mortar, or to put 26  Hormūd-e Mirkhoyi; Silva y Figueroa may be correct in his translation of the Persian word for date palm.

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it more accurately, pieces of the mountain, and he saw something shining among the rocks in one of them. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that it was a seashell, but in order to make sure, and having time to do so because of the slow pace of the caravan, he dismounted from his horse and dug with his dagger with great force until he managed to [fol. 201v] pry three or four of these shells loose. None of them were intact; they were all broken into pieces, some large and some small. They were exactly like the ones found and produced in the ocean, having the same design as the shells that the devotees and pilgrims on the road to Santiago27 [superscript: in Spain] wear sewn on their hats. He later said that these shells were so fused with and incrusted into the rock and the soil that constituted these mountains that they all seemed to be of one piece. He twisted and broke the tip of his dagger while digging to remove them. Four days later this same Pedro Jiménez gave these shells to the Ambassador; he asserted that he had found large oyster shells in the same place from which they had been taken, but that he could not pry them loose because they had been so firmly encrusted in the rocks and earth. Certainly such an amazing and remarkable thing would be unbelievable if the smaller shells that the Ambassador has in his possession were not proof of it, as there is clay and white soil still attached to them. And passing over for now whatever reflections this might occasion in view of the fact that the sea is at least seven leagues from that place and that the shells had been on one of the highest ravines of that mountain, and [text blacked out] [superscript: that there were] even taller mountains between this one and the sea, one can and should simply consider the immense [text blacked out] grandeur [margin: and majesty] of nature in whose deep breast greater things are hidden. This mystery at least is believable and accords with what the Ambassador had been pondering on his journey after leaving Kahūrestān, as has been discussed.28 Before the setting of the sun, we exited from these mountains and difficult passes and then headed down [fol. 202r] along a graduated and smooth slope, the mountains gradually opening up into a great plain that measured more than two leagues around. We traveled through it until reaching a caravanserai that was partially in ruins, and because it offered poor lodging, the Ambassador spent the night in his litter. Since the nights were beginning to grow cold, even though the days were hot, the others dug up some of those small and spiny 27  Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) often wore the image of a scallop shell on their hats and capes. The shell is the vieira, or “pilgrim’s scallop” (Pecten jacobaeus), a traditional symbol of St. James the Greater. Many pilgrims also carried an actual shell that benefactors would fill with food and beverage. 28  For the geology of this region, see Harrison, “Geology,” 111–85.

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gorse bushes with mattocks and made several fires out of them to make themselves comfortable. [margin: 27] The next day, three hours before dawn [text blacked out] [margin: two hours after sunrise], the caravan reached Charcaph,29 a league from Lār, where the governor of the city sent word inviting the Ambassador to come visit him, and requesting that he not enter the city until the next day at eight or nine o’clock because he wished to offer him a reception. That afternoon Friar Belchior dos Anjos30 arrived from the ordu31 or real32 of the king of Persia, with a gift of abundant provisions sent by the king himself, which in the Persian tongue is known as a parvāna,33 so that the Ambassador and his entire entourage, his camels, and his baggage animals could be given nourishment and everything else they needed for their journey, even though they had always been supplied with these things before [margin: by the simple command of the king], Emāmqolī Khān,34 the sultan of Shīrāz, whose jurisdiction extends throughout the kingdom of Fārs, including all the newly acquired territory along the coast of the Persian Gulf and island of Bahrain, in addition to [margin: a large portion] of the kingdom of Persia itself. On that day, the most beautiful grapes, dates, and melons were brought from Lār, all of this [fol. 202v] fruit being the best that had been seen to that point, together with other gifts,

29  Possibly present-day Chuki. 30  Belchior dos Anjos, O. E. S. A., Portuguese missionary (1562–1644), diplomat. and author. Born Belchior Soares in Lisbon, he took the name dos Anjos after entering the Augustinian order in 1586. He was the prior of the Augustinian convent at Eṣfahān twice, from 1 December 1609 to 12 November 1612 and again from 5 December 1616 until an undetermined date, when Friar Sebastião de Jesus became prior; see Silva Rego, Documentação, 11:206. For details of Anjo’s life and time in Persia, see Gulbenkian, L’Ambassade en Perse, 57–65. For his critical appraisal of Silva y Figueroa, see British Museum, Additional Manuscripts or Add MS 28461, fols 153r–4v; Anjos, “Relación de la jornada,” 139–40. 31  An ordu is a royal camp, as opposed to a dawār, a simple camp. 32  Spanish real is a blended word from Andalusian Arabic rahal “village, sheepfold” and Latin regalis “royal,” meaning “the royal tent in a military camp”; see DCECH, 4:853–55. 33  In Persia, a parvāna was a particular kind of farmān, an edict or decree issued exclusively by the Shah, in which permission is given; see Munshī, History of Shah Abbas, 2:1388, Fragner, “ “Farmān,” and Hinnells, “Parsi Communities.” Silva y Figueroa confuses here the name of the decree with the gift giving and supply of provisions that was ordered through its emission. 34  Emāmqolī Khān, son of Allāhverdī Khān (see p. 305 n. 39), beglarbeg (military governorgeneral) of Lār, Kuh Giluya, Bahrain, and Jahrom, and khān of Shīrāz. He was responsible for the construction of numerous caravanserais in Shīrāz and elsewhere. Shah Ṣafī had him murdered in 1633; see Matthee, Politics of Trade, 83, 106, 110, 124, 135.

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the best of which were many pitchers of the most excellent water, which was quite cold even though it was a very hot day. [margin: 28] The next day, the 28th of the same month of October, the day of the apostles St. Simon and St. Jude, the caravan and the officers of his retinue having gone [superscript: traveled] on ahead, the Ambassador mounted a horse and set out for the city. Half a league from the city he met Chanberbec,35 the governor, with many men on horseback, dressed magnificently in colorful [margin: silk] cabayas or jubbahs and golden headdresses, with scimitars and daggers decorated with gold and silver. Preceding the horsemen came 400 Persians, most of them harquebusiers, and the rest archers with their quivers full of arrows. These constitute the guard, not counting the ones that the governor keeps in the city. The governor came forth to speak with the Ambassador, together with the captain of the fortress, the treasurer and other prominent individuals. And besides the people just named, another great number came out from the city, blocking the road and the surrounding plain. To enable us to go [superscript: continue] on, many porters and other government officials began clearing the way by dealing out blows with their clubs. But this violence and other threats and cries were insufficient to dissuade the people from their conspicuous desire to inspect at [fol. 203r] close range the style of clothing worn by the Ambassador and his servants, which was novel to them. After being detained a while, we resumed our progress toward the city, the Ambassador keeping the governor on his left and the others in front with his servants, surrounded on all sides by the aforementioned harquebusiers and archers. Then there was heard music from trumpets, bagpipes,36 and six or seven tambourines. This ensemble resulted in a confusing and bestial concert [superscript: din], though such [superscript: is] customary and well received among [margin: these] Persians. It was so loud that it thundered across the plains, with no semblance of harmony. These tambourines, their most common instrument, look like the sieves used in Spain to sift flour, only much larger, except that their rims are not as high, and a membrane or piece of leather is fastened down on one side like on a drum; this part is beaten with the hands with great force when it is played. The other side is open, having no piece of leather there, and around the rim there are large metal clappers. This crude and barbaric instrument, [superscript: widespread] throughout the East, must have been introduced into Spain 35  Possibly Khān Ber Beg, as reconstructed from Chanberbec found in the MS. Nothing further is known regarding this official. 36  Bagpipes were used in ancient Persia. Silva y Figueroa refers to the instruments as gaytas, comparing them to gaitas gallegas, or Galician bagpipes.

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by the Moors; not many years ago they were oft used [superscript: very common] in the peasants’ dances and festivals in many villages of Extremadura. But in every province [fol. 203v] of Persia, they are considered so pleasant to the ear and so generally prized that no celebration or dance is carried out for their rulers unless many of them are played simultaneously. A Georgian boy fourteen or fifteen years of age began to dance to this music. He had long hair like a woman’s while sporting a short basquiña37 that fell to just above his ankles in order to not impede his movements, and hence many thought he was a woman. He held two bells in his hands instead of castanets, making so many gestures by moving his torso, arms, and head that they looked just like those made by dancing women who perform in plays in Spain. And although, after a long time, we finally came very close to the city, the dust cloud that had been kicked up by so many people was so great that nothing of the city could be seen except a steep and tall hill that lay at the foot of it, as well as some of the closer high mountains. Amid the great heat, dust, loud noise from the bagpipes and tambourines, and the incessant dancing of the Georgian, we entered the city along the narrow and drab streets of Lār and stopped at a great field situated to the side of it, at the far end of which the Ambassador’s tents had been set up [margin: the day before]. Here he dismounted from his horse, exhausted after bidding farewell to the governor and the others who had accompanied him to this place. [fol. 204r] The city of Lār, the capital of Carmania Deserta, is most ancient and is greatly esteemed by all the local Arabs. It is situated at the end of a large plain where the mountains, which run continously to this point, withdraw on both sides, and the terrain flattens out and opens up, creating an area more than three leagues wide. The mountains draw closer together again a little way past the city, creating a narrow pass or gorge through which the road leads to Shīrāz. Lār is a little smaller than Hormuz, though its streets are not quite as narrow, nor are the houses as nicely built. The houses of Lār all have mud walls, plastered on the inside with that mud mixed with small bits of straw that was mentioned in the description of the fortress of Bandel. So on the outside they appear to be poorly constructed, while on the inside most of them are whitewashed with lime, and many are painted with Moorish designs and have flooring made from smooth and tightly packed brick. Few of them have more than one story. They have small windows that are tightly closed with shutters or mats, and in general they have terraces, as in Hormuz. Some houses—those belonging to the leading families—have the same kind of windcatchers as 37  Spanish for “skirt,” derived from vasco, meaning “Basque.”

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well, though most do not, this being an indication that the heat is less punishing in Lār. While most of the surrounding terrain is flat, like the area right next to the fortress, part of it is somewhat elevated near the mountainside, especially where the road climbs up, which [fol. 204v] one can ascend on horseback, though with difficulty. This is the normal route for the caravans or companies that travel between Persia, Kermān,38 and other places to Hormuz, and from there and Arabia to the same provinces just mentioned. Hence there are many Persian, Arab, Gentile, and Jewish merchants here, this city boasting large caravanserais to accommodate them and their merchandise. However, what really distinguishes and sets this city apart now is an enormous and magnificent [margin: market]place, which in Arabic is known by the popular term bazaar, built by Allāhverdī Khān,39 the sultan of Shīrāz. It is one of the most superb and remarkable buildings that can be found in Asia, and is comparable to many of the most celebrated structures of Europe. The exterior of this building is square, with soaring white walls made of extremely hard carved stone. Each side is 150 paces long and has a large guarded doorway; from each doorway there leads a street toward the center, where the streets intersect and from where each of the four doorways can be seen. This intersection is covered by an exceptionally high dome, or cupola, with a great number of skylights all around it through which a great deal of light pours in. Extending out from the dome over each of the four streets are vaults made of the same square, white stone mentioned above, but so polished and finely wrought that it looks like fine marble. The interior walls are made from the same material. Round skylights are spaced out along [margin: the upper part of] these vaults, letting in a great amount of light. This bazaar, or marketplace, is protected from the sun and the rain during every season of the year. The floor, [fol. 205r] or pavement, is completely covered with square and very smooth flagstones made of the same stone used in the construction of the rest of the building. In the four smaller squares formed by the intersection, there are four other small 38  See p. 290 n. 5. 39  Persian governor, military commander, and ruler of Shīrāz. A Georgian by origin, he was from the ranks of the ḡolāmān-e ḵāṣṣa-ye šarīfa, Persian for “slaves of the royal household” (i.e., a person of non-Muslim origin who entered either the Safavid military or the civil establishment). He and his forces occupied the province of Fārs in 1601, and seized Bahrain from the Portuguese in 1602. He rose to one of the highest ranks of the army reorganized by ʿAbbās I, and along with Qarchaqāy Beg, a ḡolām of Armenian origin, won a decisive battle against the Ottomans at Sefyan near Tabrīz in 1607. He became the commanderin-chief of the Safavid army until he was replaced by Qarchqāy Beg in 1613. See Matthee, Politics of Trade, 79; and McCabe, Shah’s Silk, 50–51, 134.

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Ukraine

Dnieper Semendria

Don

Dniester

Sea of Azov Strait of Kerch

Caffa Danube

Serbia

Black Sea

Nicopolis

Sinop Macedonia

Toro

Rio

Samsun Amasya

Bithynia Kutahya Ephesus Aydin

Sicily

Caria Ariana Medea

Ankara

Anatolia Asia Minor

Cappadocia

Nyssa Konya Akşehir

Erzincan

Kayseri

Gaziantep Birecik

Lycia

Orontes Alexandretta

Rhodes

Mediterranean Sea

Mt Lebanon Tripoli Phoenicia Damascus Acre

Cyrene

Palestine

Rashid

Jerusalem

Alexandria Cairo

Egypt

Ottoman Empires

Nile

Safavid Empires Rivers Mountains

Sawākin

Battlefields Cities

N W

Red E

S

Map 5

Ottoman and Safavid empires, circa 1614.

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Scythia

Don

Aral Sea

Astrakhan

Sea of Azov

Volga

Strait of Kerch

Jaxartes

TRANSOXIANA

Circassia Āmū Daryā

Rioni

Caspian Sea

Trebizond

Bākū

Amasya Erzurum

Malatya Samosata Melitene Birecik

Bukhara

Cyrus

Erzincan

Araxes

Diyārbakr

Şanliurfa

Aleppo Haran Orontes Syria Alexandretta Hamath Palmyra Mt Lebanon Tripoli Riblah Phoenicia Damascus Palestine Jerusalem

Khoy

Tabrīz

Phraata Solţānīyeh

Nineveh Mosul

Margiana

Māzandarān

Mashad

Ja’farābād

Qatif Bahrain

BADAKSHAN Balkh

Atropatene Alborz Parthia Qazvīn Kilan Hatra Sāveh Band ‘Ali Hamadan Qom Hasanābād Hoseynābād-e oseynābād-e Mishmast Sensen Euphrates Naţanz Baghdad Kāshān Dowlatābād Ctesiphon Tigris Persia Esfahān Choaspes Shahristān Zāyandeh Susa Fallujah Mahyār Qomīsheh Yazd Babylon Izadkhāst Shūsh Assyria Ojān Naqsh-e Rostam Kārūn Āspās Kufa Persepolis Zagros Mā’in Zarqān Basra Shīrāz Kermān Marvdašt Zafarābād Jahrom Maharlou Joyom Fārs Persian Gulf

Medina

Shīrvān

Golestān Astarābād

Gīlān

Beriz Dehkūyeh Hormud Tang-e Dālān

Herat

Hari

Kabul

Lahore

Kandahār Balochistan

Hormozgān

Jhelum

Susana

Thoi

Indus

Gachīn-e Pā’īn Bandar-e Nakhīlū Cape Musandam

Sindh

Gehun

Cape Jask

Mecca Jeddah Muscat Hajar

Qalhat Cape Rosalgat

Cape Masirah Red Sea

Cape Matraca Khurīyā Murīyā

Surat

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intersections, each one with its own cupola, and from each one, four smaller streets radiate out, these also being covered with skylighted vaults. This makes a total of twenty streets: the four big ones that begin at the four doorways, and the sixteen small ones. In this bazaar all sorts of merchandise is sold in the shops that line every street. Above each one there is a high-ceilinged room with windows and balconies that overlook the streets; this is where foreign merchants keep their goods that they bring into the city. The merchants occupy these rooms by day, and by night they are all locked up and guarded by the magistrate of the bazaar and his watchmen, who guard them with the same vigilance and attention [margin: as in the alcaicería40 of Granada]. There are also many shops where fresh and dried fruit is sold, and bakeries where the local bread, called hapas,41 is made. Those that bring these things to sell but do not own their own shops place them in baskets on both sides of the streets, leaving room in the middle where people circulate around the bazaar, which is full of people all day. The streets coming off the intersection are more than twenty feet wide, and the smaller streets measure less than fifteen or sixteen feet. They are very well maintained [fol. 205v] and clean at all times; no one is allowed to enter the bazaar on horseback—even the governor himself obeys this law. Inside this great building, to one side, there is a door that leads to the confectionery, which contains five or six rooms with vaulted ceilings made from the same stone and with the same design as the bazaar, with skylights at the top and other lower vaults or curves. Here sugar is refined and all sorts of sweets are prepared. In short, the majesty of this structure would ennoble the biggest city in the world, though Lār is incapable of such majesty and greatness. Naturally the soil in the proximate environs of the city is as inherently dry and sterile as that found throughout the kingdom, offering no other benefit than a few partially saline wells that are nevertheless sufficient for irrigating many vegetable plots and gardens. There is an abundance of vegetables since they grow quite well in addition to the water that is produced in the ground itself [superscript: in that dry earth, which is repeatedly worked and irrigated]. For in addition to the well water, which is drawn with oxen, from time immemorial an irrigation channel has been bringing water that is better than what is drawn from the wells to the city and the neighboring plain, though it 40  From Andalusian Arabic al-qaysaríyya, itself borrowed from Latin Caesarea, meaning “imperial market” (derived from Caesar “emperor”). The alcaicería was a section of the city of Granada that specialized in the trading, purchasing and processing of raw silk; see DCECH, 1:126, and Dickie, “Granada,” 96–8. 41  Possibly chapaat, or Persian flatbread, now more commonly known as chapati.

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is still not very good for drinking. Some of it is taken by the governor’s house and some of the other private dwellings, while the rest is distributed among the vegetable plots and gardens, some of the latter being places of much recreation. And since all of these Arabs are so [fol. 206r] diligent and industrious when it comes to having an ample supply of water, not only for the purposes already explained, but also for their pools and fountains, which are their particular delights and amusements, and because they had good drinking water [superscript: is in short supply], there are a great number filled of large and small cisterns [superscript: filled] with the very best water in many of the private houses and throughout the plain outside the city that the Ambassador passed through until arriving at his tents. Because in addition to the cisterns that previous kings and governors of Fārs have made for the public weal, these being indispensable for the residents of the city and the huge number of travelers, other cisterns have been constructed with the bequests left in the wills of many other pious people who are devout in their sect, according to the means of each one, which is why some are big and others are small. But they are so numerous that the field is full of them, and even though there was not very much water in them at the time the Ambassador arrived—the water that had been collected that [superscript: that] year in them some having already been consumed—their water was so clear and cold, even though the weather was extremely hot, that nowhere in the world could better [superscript: water] be found. That is because this city is so careful and attentive about cleaning all the cisterns every year before the rainy season, which is usually during January and February, so that even when there is only a span of water left in the bottom of them before they run out completely, it is still extremely clear and pure. During the Ambassador’s stay in Fārs, which lasted as long as it did for the reasons already specified, [fol. 206v] the water was colder than at any other time of the year because there was so much space between the opening of the cisterns and the level of the water. And on this particular day, it seemed to be as cold as ever because of the late hour of the day and because the entrance into the city had been so laborious and hot. This water was the main reason [margin: that] the meal the Ambassador’s servants had prepared for him in his tent seemed especially lavish and pleasing. [margin: 29] The next day the governor came to visit the Ambassador before the latter heard Mass, and so his visit was brief; the meetings of all these Persians are very brief in any case. Afterward, since the Ambassador wished to eat, many of the governor’s servants appeared with a great number of brass and tin platters on which they served a very generous meal, prepared in their style, though almost all of it was of the same kind: it consisted of a generous amount of rice of several colors with which was mixed a great deal of stewed

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and roasted chicken and chunks of mutton; the plates were heaping with this fare, somewhat resembling pyramids. The covers of the serving dishes were very tall, easily covering the platters. These platters were very large, each one holding enough to feed many people, and when the great quantity of all kinds of fruit and [margin: wine] were added to that, not only the Ambassador’s entourage, which numbered at least 100 people, but also the camel drivers, of which there were at least that many, ate their fill. The Ambassador was already seated at table, and though he did not partake of any of those dishes because they were unfamiliar to him, he made a display of tasting some of them in order to please the Persians there present, praising the food and saying that it was the natural [fol. 207r] and suitable sustenance for men, especially for warriors such as they, [margin: and in fact it did so seem to be], as it accorded with the description of the nourishment of the heroes and athletes of antiquity. The Ambassador [text blacked out] [superscript: then] ordered a sum of money to be distributed among those who had brought the platters, together with other items, including satin jubbahs and headdresses decorated with gold and silk. They were to be given to other Persians who had accompanied the first ones; in the end, everyone was quite content. So many people had come to see the tents, especially the one in which the Ambassador was staying, that neither his servants who were stationed at the entrance nor the governor’s guards were able to detain them. Many poor people also came seeking alms, and others to play their instruments and dance. During the twelve days of the Ambassador’s stay, he ordered that maravedíes and silver larins42 be distributed to them. [margin: 30] On Monday the 30th of October, [margin: certain Moors came to play music for the Ambassador him on their tambourines. The same Georgian youth who had come out to greet him danced for him. After he finished, he came over to the Ambassador with a small basket of flowers that another boy was holding for him. Among the flowers there was an image, a little over a span in width, of a nude woman who was holding a nude child in her arms, yet even though the image was after this manner, it was not indecorous at all, since her right leg was crossed over her left. The boy knelt before the Ambassador and with tears in his eyes presented him with the basket with the image in it, saying through the interpreter that it was Our Lady, and that he had brought it from his country as a Christian, even though he had been compelled to not be one, and that since he no longer deserved to keep that holy image in his possession, he was offering it to the Ambassador so that it might be more highly venerated. The Ambassador accepted it, said a prayer to it, and ordered that it be kept in a safe place.] 42  For these terms, see “Monies.”

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The Ambassador [superscript: then] went to visit the governor, who was seated on a carpet next to a large cistern of water, most of which was uncovered. The governor, in keeping with his custom, was seated with his legs tucked under, like a woman. And since the Persians tend not to have chairs of any kind, two cushions were brought to the Ambassador from the palanquin in which he had arrived. He gave one to the governor and seated himself on the other one. Although the house was made of mud walls and had low and small rooms, the walls were well polished and the floors were paved with brick. There was a large patio at the entrance where the stables and the servants’ rooms were located, and a few rooms [fol. 207v] on the upper floor in the most secluded part of the house. This was where the women lived; they never allowed themselves to be seen in public. All these Persians, Arabs, and Turks are most vigilant about this. The governor was young, around thirty years of age, handsome, and fair skinned, and though quite heavy for his age, he was in superb condition. He immediately called for two of his musicians. One of them played a large tambourine of the same size and shape as those played by the people who had come out to receive the Ambassador on his arrival. The other played a vihuela43 that [text blacked out] [margin: looked like] a zither, except that its neck was much longer and it had three or four metal strings. Its sound was completely dissonant, as was the voice of the tambourine player, who began singing such a plaintive and cheerless tune that it would have been fitting and suitable [margin: at Niobe’s44 wedding] or at the funeral rites and ceremonies [margin: at the death] of Hector in Troy. And although it was dissonant and completely bereft of euphony and harmony, the Persians who were there listening made great signs and demonstrations of approval. The governor praised the musicians’ great skill and told the Ambassador that he could send for them as often as he wanted them to play and sing for him. The captain of the fortress requested that the Ambassador go up to see said fortress, a request with which he complied the next morning. The ascent was steep and long. The fortress covers the whole mountaintop, which is oval in shape. The wall is made of lime and stone, as on the old fortresses in Spain during the time of the Moors. [text blacked out] It has crenellated parapets with small loopholes from which harquebuses can be fired, but no suitable place where a half-pounder can be fired or discharged; [fol. 208r] thus the position 43  Early form of the guitar. 44  In Greek mythology, Niobe, daughter of the king of Tantalus and wife of the king of Thebes, gave birth to seven sons and seven daughters, all of whom were slain by Artemis and Apollo after Niobe boasted of her fertility. Niobe fled back to her home, Mt. Sipylus (present-day Mount Spil), where she was transformed into a weeping stone.

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of the fortress is its only strong point. It also has a good deal of open space and a well, which provides a great amount of drinking water of fairly good quality in times of need, even though it is only 200 fathoms deep. The captain took the Ambassador to see a beautiful, soaring tower built on an angle of the wall; it overlooks the city on the side of the ascent that leads up to the fortress. According to the captain, the king ordered that another low wall be built at the foot of the tower to prevent enemy forces from mining it, seeing how they could draw up right next to it under the cover of the houses most of the way, and the rest of the way by digging a trench. But this seemed to be a needless project, because even if the tower were undermined and collapsed, the remaining cliff would be so sheer and abrupt [text blacked out] [superscript: that it would be nearly] as tall as the tower itself. Moreover, the ground between the tower and the houses there are is so craggy and hard that it would be impossible to excavate there or construct any defensive works. After the Ambassador viewed the surrounding field, which affords a beautiful view because of its many gardens—vegetable and otherwise—from a covered terrace that sits on the highest part of the tower, the captain took him to his house, which is on the opposite corner of the fortress, and there he served the Ambassador’s servants dinner. Afterward, he saw him to the gate of the fortress, which is guarded by a detachment of soldiers; near there is the aforementioned well. All the water that is needed is easily drawn from it, using the same kind of waterwheels as in Madrid and a single ox, despite the fact that the well is as deep as the lowest level of the city. [fol. 208v] This city had its own kings, as has been noted, for many hundreds of years, until a little less than twenty years ago, when Allāhverdī Khān, the Sultan of Shīrāz, usurped and seized it from Ebrāhīm Khān,45 its last king, by the command of Shah ʿAbbās, the current king of Persia. This poor Arab had been accused, rightly or wrongly, of robbing and assaulting the merchants who traveled to and from Persia through this city, and he was suddenly attacked by a great army. And although he could have defended himself, insomuch as he had an impregnable fortress on another mount that was much steeper and higher, 600 paces from the one where the present fortress was constructed, [text blacked out] when he saw that his forces were inferior and that he had been given bad advice, he capitulated, surrendering and handing over a great sum of money [margin: and jewelry] that he had accumulated. But the promise made to him by Allāhverdī Khān was so poorly kept that [margin: within a 45  Ebrāhīm Khān II (born Mīrzā ʿAlāʿ al-Mulk), ruler of Fārs until 1601, when Shah ʿAbbās relieved him of his rule and all his property because of his alleged treachery against Allāhverdī Khān. See Munshī, History, 2:805–8, and Bembo, Travels and Journeys, 292–93.

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short time] he was dispossessed of both his kingdom and his life, the ancient line of Arab kings coming to an end with him. [November 1617] The Ambassador stayed in Lār from October 28th to November 9th because of the difficulties he encountered in finding so many camels and horses. During that time it was still extremely hot during the day, and since the tents had been pitched rather far from the city in a low hollow where, as usually happens at the conclusion of autumn, the air [text blacked out] [superscript: is] thick and unhealthy, many of his servants took sick from the excessive heat. And because of the heat, they could not keep from eating fruit, which was good and plentiful [fol. 209r], and thus some of them were very sick until they arrived in Shīrāz, not recovering from their illness for many days, although some were quickly relieved by being bled many times. And although, as has already And, as has been stated, the days were [superscript: though the days] [text blacked out] [superscript: at this time] were so hot, [superscript: nevertheless] the nights were beginning to cool [margin: off], so that it was necessary to wear heavy clothing to bed. And thus the entire entourage became quite anxious because the slaves and the servants from Hormuz [margin: and India] had noised it about that even [superscript: that it was very cold] in Persia; they based this both on what they had heard about the kingdom of Fārs and on the fact that some of them had actually been there. The main cause of their anxiety was that Hormuz had such a hot climate, and although India, where the Ambassador’s servants had lived for three years, was not quite as hot, it seemed to them that any kind of cold would kill them. And so it was most remarkable to see the care everyone took to bundle themselves up, for which purpose the Ambassador ordered that they be well provisioned. Subsequently, even though it was blistering hot by day, all were seen to be wearing a new manner and style of clothing, wrapping themselves up in big cloaks and sheepskins with furlined bonnets, there being a great abundance of these things in Fārs because it was the beginning of winter, or more accurately, the end of summer [superscript: summer].46 So compelling is the force of persuasion on men, even when it is false, that the caution and fear of the cold felt by these Indians and Arabs, who were raised half naked in such sweltering climes, spread to the Europeans, many of them [fol. 209v] who had been born in Old Castile,47 Flanders, and Lombardy, especially when they saw that the Ambassador, even at his age, was wearing a simple taffeta outfit and laughing [margin: and enjoying] the unseasonable dread he witnessed in all of his servants. 46  In the MS, the more common word verano is stricken out and the less common synonym estío is written above it. 47  North-central Spain.

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Allāhverdī Khān had begun construction of a house in this city that was well crafted and very beautiful. It was now being finished by his son, Emāmqolī Khān, the sultan of Shīrāz. Even though it is small, it is well adapted to both winter and summer. The bottom floor has delightful vaults with fountains in them, and on the same level there is a very cool garden with a goodly number of orange, lemon, and citron trees, as well as several other fruit trees. Inside the entrance to the house, which has been constructed with [margin: white] stone according to the same design as the bazaar, there is an elevated or raised area where a carpet can be laid for public audiences. On both sides of the entrance there are small chambers, extremely well crafted, that must be intended for the use of some of the ministers of justice. Outside, there is an extremely large patio, or square, lined all round with alcoves that merchants use for their shops and where those who come to do business or make purchases from the shops can can comfortably stroll. It is regal and magnificent, as are all the buildings that this renowned and dynamic man has constructed in the kingdoms of Persia and Fārs. After visiting this house, the Ambassador went to see a garden that was a harquebus shot from the city. Aside from having countless big and lush fruit trees, including the most [fol. 210r] beautiful palms imaginable, loaded with dates, there was in the middle of it a large, perfectly round pool, and arising out of its center a covered golden pavilion with many doors that opened onto the pool. A small wooden bridge with walls on both sides led out to the pavilion. It is a very pleasant and cool place in the summer. Among all the varieties of fruit that were seen in this city, and later in all of Persia, which are myriad, by far the finest are the dates that grow on the palm trees. They exceed all others in the world in size, color, and superb taste. They are as big as very large monk or friar plums,48 as they are commonly called in Spain, sharing their same color when they are very ripe and good, although the dates here have a brighter hue, like fine gold. And while the dates from [margin: Basra] and Babylon receive a great deal of praise at the present time, and although Xenophon49 makes particular mention of them in his account of the expedition of Cyrus the Younger,50 they pale in comparison to the ones from Fārs, which were perfectly ripe and delicious while the Ambassador was there. They are just as soft as the aforementioned plums. 48   Bunchosia armeniaca. 49  Greek historian (431–355 BC); see Xenophon, Anabasis, 1.5.10; 2.3.10, 14–16; and Cyropaedia, 6.2:22. 50  Persian prince and general (d. 401 BC), one of the sons of Darius II, brother of Artaxerxes and pretender to his throne.

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[November 1617] On November 9th, after the camels were gathered together, the Ambassador, having ordered that this be done with dispatch, [fol. 210v] ordered the tents struck because he wanted to set out that afternoon regardless of the circumstances. While waiting for this to be accomplished, he approached a small vault that had been constructed over the transept of a large and beautiful cistern, which, despite covering a narrow space, was spacious enough to accommodate a comfortable dining area and a cot or bed. The cistern was in the shape of a cross, at the center of which was the small vault mentioned previously and under which the arms of this cross came together, the water flowing along each one of them. Each of the arms was fifty feet long, not counting the area [text blacked out] beneath the vault, which was the center and the part that was common to them all—it was fifteen or sixteen feet wide and three fathoms deep. At that time, however, since it was the season when the cisterns run out of water, it was only a little more than a foot deep. Even so, the water was extremely clear and cold. [text blacked out] Under the vault, on each side of the cistern, there was a bench that was two feet high. The rest of the area was open, [text blacked out] so that from each of the four entryways that were located at both ends of the junction, from where water was drawn with ropes, the vault was in plain sight and visible to all, and thus the whole time the Ambassador was there, he was constantly pestered by poor people who, though at a distance, begged for alms from the entrances in loud voices. There was an entrance from the outside through a very small door at one of the corners of the junction through which one of the Ambassador’s porters and two other slaves [fol. 211r] kept people from entering. The little bridge was covered with a large linen parasol. The vault that covered all four parts of the junction was a fathom tall, or a little more, while the vault, or center of the junction, where the Ambassador found himself, was half as high, forming a kind of dome or cupola that was taller than the rest. And because [superscript: on] that very hot day [margin: it] was a very pleasant and cool place, and because the cistern was beautiful and spacious, very much [text blacked out] [superscript: resembling] the crossing of a cathedral, it seemed appropriate to describe it in so much detail. After exhorting the camel drivers, who did not wish to depart until the following day, the Ambassador left Lār at sundown, ordering the caravan to go on ahead of him, and although the journey threatened to be long and the road rugged, we had hoped it would go better for us than it actually did, considering that there was a bright moon. But after gradually climbing [margin: a high mountain] for two leagues on a tolerable road, we turned to the right toward the east in search of a suitable route for returning to the same elevation [text blacked out] [superscript: from which we had begun our climb], but instead,

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as soon as we began our descent, the incline was so steep and rough that the Ambassador had to step out of his litter; soon he did not even risk traveling in his palanquin and began to walk. Less than a third of the way down this precipitous and lengthy incline, the moon, which was already in the western sky, became completely covered by the mountain peak [fol. 211v] that was now at our backs, the mountain effectively forming an extremely high wall that left those at its feet in shadow. But those who were by this time making their descent were worse off: the only thing that met their gaze was total darkness on that great precipice, with a terrible abyss in front of them. The darkness only intensified as they continued their descent into the valley. The moon was now completely hidden from those who remained behind and had not yet begun to climb down the mountain. [superscript: Two] thirds of the way down it was necessary to take a road on the hillside belonging to a different mountain that was situated to our right, and it was so narrow that the camels and the people on horseback could travel only single file. On the left there was a nearly sheer and vertical cliff many pike lengths high into which several bundles of cargo inevitably fell. Many of the boxes containing the Ambassador’s tableware and personal belongings were broken, and some of the camels were in danger of falling as well. Those who managed to walk after having fallen and plummeted down that steep hillside took the way down to the deepest part of the valley, and emerged the next day after having wandered around lost all night and experiencing great vexations because they were unacquainted with the land. The rest, after escaping from that terrible passage and traveling on level ground, finally arrived, with most of the caravan, in a small town consisting of just a few houses, called Dehkūyeh, next to which there was a caravanserai in partial ruins—it would be impossible for anyone to seek shelter there—and so everyone made themselves as comfortable as possible in the [fol. 212r] open air amid the cargo, the Ambassador climbing into his litter to rest a while. [margin: 10] The next day lodging was sought for the Ambassador in that poor town, but absolutely nothing comfortable was found except a house that a rich Moor had built thirty years earlier as a sepulcher for himself, his wife, and a few of their children, all of whom were interred there in stone tombs three or four feet off the ground and decorated with painted plaster. The floors of the rooms and a small patio were paved with brick, and the walls were whitewashed and polished with lime. Paying no heed to superstition, the Ambassador stayed that day and the [margin: next] night in one of the rooms that was devoid of tombs while waiting for those who had remained behind and become lost as they crossed [margin: that steep mountain]. And since the temperature was [margin: now much cooler] than in Lār, and because everyone was tired from walking all night, the Ambassador ordered that the

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remaining legs of the journey be completed by day, and that his servants and the rest of the party in the caravan dine at the break of day. [margin: 11 of November] On the 11th of November, we left this spot and reached Berīz early in the morning. This was another small town like the one we had left behind, and we spent just one night there. The Ambassador’s lodgings were not as good [superscript: here] where as the house with the sepulchers, [margin: 12] and since the next day’s journey was to cover six long leagues, we dined very early and immediately set out into countryside that was very similar to that of the [fol. 212v] rest of the kingdom of Fārs, although the mountains were widely spaced apart, forming more flat places between them. Our direction of travel between the Bandel and Fārs was occidental equinoctial,51 but after leaving Fārs we began heading north by north-west and at times north-west; hence we were continually moving away from the sea. Today we reached Bonāruye, a town somewhat larger than the two we had passed. It lies at the foot of a towering mountain, at the top of which [text blacked out] there stood not long ago a very strong and impregnable fortress that was surrounded by a thick wall made of stone and lime. Its ruins and its impregnable location can now be seen to cover the entire summit. It had a very large square and was spacious enough to defend a large number of people. In the center of the square was an extremely deep cistern. Encircling the wall of this fortress at the highest point of the mountain was the ancient city of Bonāruye, whose population was much larger than the town that is currently located below. Most of its houses were large caverns dug into the side of the mountain, which consisted of a very soft rock that carved readily and could easily support the weight of whatever was on top of it, like an extremely strong vault. These caverns had several dwelling places where the inhabitants of the town could live quite comfortably and safely protected from any enemy, not only because of the security of that location, but in consequence of the fortress itself, which is above it and enjoys a commanding position over anyone who might attempt to ascend it. [fol. 213r] The upper part of this mountain is visibly covered with holes that were once doors to their ancient and secure dwelling places. At one time almost all the brigands and thieves in the kingdom of Fārs banded together in this city and fortress and, either because the kings were too weak to suppress their attacks or because they endured them, they would stage robberies from there against caravans or any other travelers who passed close thereby, withdrawing immediately afterward to their fortress on Gabril, which is what they called the mountain where the city was founded. But as Allāhverdī Khān, the sultan of 51  I.e., due west; see p. 296.

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Shīrāz, who had by then cultivated a great desire to take control of the kingdom of Fārs, could not tolerate the great audacity of these bandits, he came against them with six or seven thousand horsemen and harquebusiers on foot, bringing artillery as well. And although these ignorant yet obstinate and ferocious people could have easily defended themselves against a much bigger army from their well-defended place, they furiously rushed forth onto a great plain that is on the road to Joyom,52 a league from their fortress, to fight against Allāhverdī Khān, who had the advantage over them in numbers, quality of weapons, and soldiers. They were crushed during the first charge leveled against them by the cavalry, and paid the penalty for their rashness and crimes. The bravest of them had been slain in this first encounter and the rest abandoned their caves and shut themselves up in the fortress; but, [margin: after] the unhappy outcome of the disastrous attack, they all lost heart, especially since there were no provisions for so [fol. 213v] great a number of inept people who had taken refuge there, and thus they surrendered this place that would have been completely impregnable had they been competent defenders. The most guilty having been killed, Allāhverdī Khān ordered the rest to go down to the plain at the foot of the same mountain, where he forced them to found the new town of Bonāruye after first completely demolishing the fortress, though the wall was so strong that it took several days to accomplish this. Great pieces of the foundation were left intact so that the memory of what had been there before would not be lost. We found good lodging and all kinds of provisions in this town, and although after leaving Fārs we never found such good water in the other cisterns because they were old and small, there was very good well water in the two previous cities, and especially here we found very delicate and cold water in a nearby spring. On the 13th, we left Bonāruye a little later in the day, the journey being less than four leagues and on a flatter road than any we had traveled up to this point. It passed through a large plain that measured four long leagues along its breadth and length, much of it sown with rice and cotton. It was irrigated by several small canals of water that were the remnants of the many irrigation 52  Loureiro et al. equate this toponym with present-day Qir in Qiorkārzin County, Fārs Province (Anotações e estudos, 51). However, while Qir may be a slightly better phonetic fit with the name Guin in the MS than Joyom, it is a worse geographical fit. Silva y Figueroa states below that this town is less than four leagues (approx. 20.6 km, or 12.8 mi) from Bonāruye, yet Qir is closer to 80 km (50 mi) away. Furthermore, the route from Bonāruye to Jahrom passes directly through Joyom, whereas a route from Bonāruye to Qir to Jahrom is circuitous, involving considerable backtracking.

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channels that we later saw in Joyom, the city where we were planning on stopping that afternoon. Two leagues before arriving there we sighted a thick and green palm orchard. After reaching it, we traveled with it on our left side a little [text blacked out] [superscript: toward] the direction where the sun was setting; it afforded us pleasant and beautiful shade on this day, [fol. 214r] which was blistering hot on the great plain. It was beautiful to see the great quantity of dates that hung in thick bunches from these palm trees; the date harvest had not yet come to a close here, and so they were of a perfect golden color and perfectly [superscript: fully] ripe. And although all the land we had traversed up to that point was inherently barren and dry, as has been mentioned, wherever it was watered, it became extremely fertile. This was seen in Hormud and Lār, and now it was witnessed again in this thick and verdant palm orchard close to Joyom, owing to a very wide canal of water that has been flowing since antiquity from the westwardfacing mountains. It branches off into a series of smaller canals, and not only does it irrigate the fields of wheat, barley, and palm trees, but it also continuously propels several watermills. The land that is near to where the water does not reach is dry and produces nothing more than those sharp, spiny shrubs. While we were still a fair distance from Joyom, the governor came out to greet us with one of his sons, a boy sixteen years of age, together with nine or ten men on horseback, all of them richly attired in silk jubbahs and headdresses decorated with gold. Besides them there were fifteen or twenty harquebusiers on foot. The governor informed the Ambassador that he had come to accompany and guide him along a better road, because shortly before arriving at the city, they would have to cross one of the canals referred to above, and a great bog had been created by the press of the caravan that had gone on before. So he guided us to the left side [fol. 214v] through the palm orchard, away from the road, and we managed to make our way through it only after great difficulty, the way often being obstructed by several irrigation ditches and canals that carried water to the mills. Part of the caravan that had remained behind followed us along the same path. We came up very close to the city just as the sun was setting, and although it was small, it was especially pleasant to the eye, nestled among many palm and other green trees. As we entered the city, a very old mosque with a tile-covered cupola was seen on the right side. Its exterior walls were covered with the same tiles, although it was partially in ruins and had large gaping breaches in it. The Persians said the building was more than 800 years old, and yet it was still deeply venerated by all of those people. Two small canals full of potable water ran through the city, on the banks of which we saw something we had not

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hitherto seen in any part of the East we had visited, namely many poplar53 and willow trees like the ones in Spain. This small town was unlike any we had hitherto visited, both in climate and in the less rustic dress of the men and women. Women’s clothing in the towns between Lār and here consisted of a very ample smock of thick cotton fabric that reached to a little above the ankles and had very long sleeves, like those worn by Bernardine nuns,54 not unlike the clothing worn by the Arabs we saw in Muscat, and headdresses that were tied under the chin. In this respect the women resembled poor peasants from Extremadura in Spain, although their trousers reach all the way to their feet, this being a [text blacked out] [superscript: sacrosanct] custom in all of Asia and Barbary, and among all Europeans who belong to the sect of the Mūhammadans. [fol. 215r] Joyom is the first city of Persia proper [on this journey], while Bonāruye, with its old fortress of Gabril, is the last of the cities of the kingdom of Fārs, even though the two are quite close to each other on this vast plain that has already been described. Joyom is separated from the rest of Persia by towering mountains55 to the north-west as one journeys to Jahrom, as well as to the east or orient, which are crossed by the road that the caravans take through the desert. And we can infer that in antiquity this city was acquired and populated by a colony of Persians, because its people are more industrious and orderly than the neighboring Arabs; they especially resemble Persians in the whiter shade of their skin and the common dress of the women. Here [in Joyom] the Ambassador was regaled with many varieties of fruit and very good water. But his caravan could not take the most direct route to Jahrom, for two reasons: first, it was unable to manage the rugged mountains, and second, the governor of that city needed to order that provisions be given us in the cities that lay within his jurisdiction on the other side of the desert, [margin: where none can be found]. The Ambassador therefore ordered one of his gentlemenin-waiting to left [supescript: leave] for Jahrom first thing in the morning with an interpreter in order to circumvent this obstacle, as the alternative would have been to take a long three-day detour through unpopulated regions. In this entire wilderness where we would be spending the first two nights, there were only two wells and no provisions or places to take shelter, and thus that [fol. 215v] night the Ambassador ordered that mutton and much chicken and 53  Silva y Figueroa is elliptically referring to one or more species of populus, a genus of deciduous flowering trees in the Salicaceae family, which include a number of poplars, aspens, and cottonwoods. 54  Bernardines are Cistercian nuns, known sometimes as “white nuns” because of the color of their habits, which also had ample sleeves; see France, Cistercians in Medieval Art, 140. 55  Probably the Zagros range; see Fisher, “Physical Geography,” 27.

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fruit and barrels of water be taken along, each servant hanging a leather flask that held four to six azumbres56 from his saddle tree. We did not have very many barrels of the good biscuit that had been brought from Hormuz for just such a necessity. [margin: 14] On the 14th, we departed from Joyom, turning to the right and heading eastward, the caravan going on ahead. Several Armenians who were in charge of the Ambassador’s tents left three or four hours earlier, because that night and the following one we had planned on stopping out in the open. And after advancing approximately half a league, we began to climb a gentle hillside. From there we arrived at a gap or pass that led through the tall mountains. They were so high that they had come into view a little earlier in the day. It did not seem that even very agile climbers could pass through them safely, but we followed the road as it twisted and turned through those ravines up and down the mountain without any difficulty at all until we descended into the plain, even though there were other mountains very close by on either side of us. These did not seem as white and barren as the others we had seen in the kingdom of Fārs, but the ground was covered with those same small, spiny shrubs that grew on the plains. Some of the Ambassador’s servants had rushed ahead in order to arrive in time to prepare his meal and bed, taking the baggage animals with them that carried the items needed for this purpose and which were under their care, [margin: and thus] almost everyone else went on ahead as well, including [fol. 216r] Friar Manuel del Populo and Friar Luís de Ribeira, Augustinian monks the Ambassador had brought with him from Hormuz on this journey, and Vicente Sorrentino, his chaplain. The Ambassador had warned them and all the others before they left the city that under no circumstances should they become separated from the caravan, because the guides were traveling with it, and that if they did, they should surely become lost, even if the moon was shining, because they were traveling at night in such a deserted and desolate place. But the monks and the chaplain, together with the others mentioned above, proceded to put a great distance between themselves and the caravan, hoping to arrive before anyone else and set up camp, as we were to spend the night under the stars. The Ambassador had ordered that only two tents be pitched, the smallest ones, one for his person and the other for the ill. And because the Ambassador had decided to stay behind in order to gather everyone together farther down the road, fearing the confusion that might arise during the night, especially among inexperienced travelers, he could not see how far those aforementioned men had gone on ahead, although he had sent word to them 56  See “Measurements.”

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before they began climbing the mountain that they travel with the caravan, or at least that they not lose sight of it. Traveling until sunset, we finally emerged onto the plain that lies between those great mountains, and leaving the royal highway, which was at that point very wide and well traveled, the guides at the head of the caravan turned toward the left, which was where we had planned on stopping [fol. 216v] for the night, and we continued on until ten o’clock in the bright moonlight, the road, though level, being covered with rocks. After catching sight of firelight from a distance, we arrived at its source, finding the two small pavilions set up among the rocks and spiny shrubs and the rest of the caravan unpacked. There was no other firewood there except for those small, spiny gorse bushes, many of which had been dug up with mattocks by those who had arrived there first, the Ambassador having ordered them to do so before leaving Joyom so that everyone would have some protection against the great cold that was beginning to set in during the evenings. Thus firelight could be seen coming from several places, but the Ambassador’s bed and meal were not to be found, nor was the meal for the few servants who accompanied him, nor victuals for the sick; all the baggage animals that had been carrying these items and the officials and servants who had them in their care were missing. And so finding nothing more than a cold chicken and a little bad bread, the Ambassador sampled two or three bites and, fully dressed, took himself to bed in someone else’s cot that was found among the cargo. That night the rest of the party had to make do with biscuit, eggs, and a little fruit. There was a well not far off with a good supply of water where the caravans that traveled through the desert routinely made stops. The monks, the chaplain, and the rest of them, twenty horsemen in all, not counting the baggage animals and the boys who were on foot, had pressed forward with great haste, the churchmen hurrying along so they could set up their camp in good time before anyone else, as is typical of these self-serving [fol. 217r] people, and the Ambassador’s servants walking [superscript: walking] quickly in order to prepare everything that was necessary for him. They had left the lead camels far behind them and had turned onto the wide and straight road well before nightfall, having no guide with them who was familiar with it, nor did they suspect that they should have turned onto the second narrow road that led off to the left, and thus did they continue on, walking as fast as they could. And so even past eleven o’clock not one of them had become convinced he was lost. The worst part of it was that they were not traveling together, but were widely spread out. Finally, after having walked till almost midnight on that wide road that led straight to Kermān, one of the monks who was in the front with Gutierre de Monroy, one of the Ambassador’s

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gentlemen-in-waiting, became convinced that they could not have possibly failed to reach camp, since by then they had been walking for twelve [superscript: twelve] hours straight, and so they stopped where the road, which had been level to that point, began to descend through some sheer cliffs into a deep ravine that would have been hard to follow even during the day with a good guide; it would have been all the more difficult at night for people who were as unfamiliar with that road as they were. And since they hesitated for a long time, unsure what to do next, Monroy resolved to head down that precipice. According to what the monks later recounted, he rolled down the steep side of it, and though he and his horse came to a stop at a fair distance from them, he was fortunate that neither he nor his horse were seriously injured. [fol. 217v] But his situation was such [superscript: such]57 that no matter how loud his companions shouted down to him he did not respond, and thus, concluding that he was dead, they did not risk going down to search for him lest the same misfortune befall them, the deep darkness being all the [superscript: more] terrifying because the moon having [superscript: had] now set. So they retraced their steps and wandered aimlessly about without locating any of the other lost members of their party. Suddenly they saw a big fire off to the left and hastened over to it, thinking it was the caravan. But they realized they had been deceived as soon as they stumbled into a dawār of drowsy Turkmens.58 The latter, being frightened by the clothing worn by the monks, which was strange to them, and not understanding a word of their language, kept repeating the same thing over and over again: Franqui, Franqui, Franqui,59 which is how they refer to all Europeans. Finally, the monks, using hand signals and displaying their money, managed to communicate that they had become lost from a caravan that was headed for 57  In the MS manera is stricken and replaced by its synonym suerte. 58  Turkmens, also known as Oguzes, are members of a historical Turkic tribal confederation that originated in the Aral steppes of Central Asia; after conflicts with the Uigurs, they migrated westward beginning around the ninth century AD. By the tenth century they inhabited the steppe region of present-day Kazakhstan, and by the eleventh century, one of their clans entered Persia after having embraced Islam, and founded the Seljuk Empire. At roughly the same time, another of their clans overthrew the Pecheneg and established supremacy over the Russian steppe. The descendants of this Turkic tribal confederation subsequently founded the Ottoman Empire. It is understood that from the mid-tenth century, the Turks began call themselves Oghuz instead of Turkmen or Turcomen; this process was completed by the beginning of the thirteenth century. Their descendants are found in the following present-day regions and nation-states of the Middle East: Turkey, Turkmenistan, Āzarbāījān, Khorezm, Afghanistan, Gagauzia, and Iranian Āzarbāījān. 59  Franks, i.e., Europeans.

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Shīrāz, and that they would reward whomever could guide them back to it with money, offering them an ʿabbāsī,60 which is a silver coin worth somewhat more than two Castilian reales. At this, one of these shepherds arose and wandered about with them for quite a ways, making them stop many times while he ran on ahead, stopping at intervals and remaining extremely attentive, like a hunting dog trying to find a trail, sniffing for the scent of camels. Finally, after more than a league, running about just out of sight of the monks, he ran back to them, making signs of great joy and indicating that he had found the caravan’s trail. He then guided them along on a straight path without taking twists and turns as before, the three of them [fol. 218r] striding forward very quickly, the monks believing they would soon find the company. But after walking briskly for more than a good hour without seeing a trace of it, they lost confidence in the Turkmen, fearing that they had been deceived, even though he reassured them with gestures and appeared to be very happy. Finally, an hour before dawn, and without having heard any sounds from the caravan, they ran into thirty or forty camels from the caravan that had wandered off and were grazing and gnawing on spiny shrubs. The guide then took them off to the left for about a league and, just before sunrise, he placed them within sight of the fires and tents; he then returned to his camp very happy and content with his payment. This story has been related in so much detail in order to corroborate a case that Johannes Leo Africanus61 relates in his description of Africa. He says that while he was part of a great caravan that was traveling between Fez and Cairo through the interior of Barbary, they completely lost their way [superscript: because] the journey was so long and difficult. The pathfinders were unable to determine their location, even with the help of a sea compass. But a Moor named Humen, blind in both eyes, mounted a camel at the head of the caravan, and as he rode forth he ordered some of the men who accompanied him on foot to hand him fistfuls of sand from time to time, which he would sniff. After two days of his careful guidance he led the caravan to a poor Arab hamlet that none of the other caravans had ever heard of. From there they were directed back onto their [fol. 218v] true course. The other men who in their foolish haste got lost [margin: that night] arrived the next day, some later than others. They related several events of that night, as if they had survived a terrible 60  For this unit of currency, see “Monies.” 61  Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad al-Wazzān al-Zayyātī (or al-Fāsī) (ca. 1492–ca. 1550), Arab traveler and author of The History and Description of Africa. The Moor mentioned by Silva y Figueroa (called Hamar in Africanus’s account) was not a guide, but an explorer; see Africanus, History and Description, 3:801–2. For an engaging discussion of the work, see Davis, Trickster Travels.

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shipwreck, or as if their pilgrimage had lasted many years, especially the man who had fallen into that deep ravine—he said that after becoming totally lost at the bottom of that valley, he had miraculously found a path, and that without any other assistance he found the caravan very late in the day. But the most humorous, or perhaps pitiful, thing was that though it was getting very late, João Gonçalves, [margin: one of the] stewards, was still missing, and as the Ambassador was quite worried that he had not yet turned up, he sent one of the Moorish guides to look for him. After noon he finally came into view a great way off, part of the caravan having already set off. After everyone had gone out to greet him and congratulated him for having made it back, he not only failed to make any response, but when he came over to where the Ambassador was, who had summoned him to his litter in order to ask him how he was faring, he replied not a word, nor showed him any courtesy. Instead, the Ambassador was met with a blank stare. It was clear that the poor man was completely out of his mind and beside himself from the suffering he had endured. And from that time forth no one has ever been able to wrest an answer from him regarding where he went and what happened to him that night, though he has been asked many times, while his companions have related [margin: much about] what they saw and heard. [margin: 15] Because we had left so late, today’s journey, which was to be as [fol. 219r] long as yesterday’s, ended up taking till eleven o’clock at night, the condition of the road being the same as yesterday. We pitched our tents next to a well, the ground being as rocky there as it was where we had spent the previous night. And as the air was extremely cold, it became clear that we would need to cut some firewood near [margin: a valley] where they had said there were large bushes to supplement the spiny shrubs we would normally pull out of the ground. The Ambassador promised some of the camel drivers and other servants money to this end, and very soon a great quantity of firewood appeared out of which big fires were made that protected everyone from the cold and the discomfort of that harsh night. [margin: 16] The next day we arose early because the distance we were to travel was just four or five short leagues. At sunrise the caravan set out for Hormud, expecting to arrive in time to dine there. This city is so named, as is the other city between Kahūrestān and Lār, because of the great quantity and quality of its dates. No more than half a league into the journey we entered a small valley where the land began to take on a different aspect, one that was supremely pleasant to the eye. It was completely full of thick green reeds and rushes through which there ran a stream of crystalline water that could be seen in places where the thickness of the reeds allowed it. On either side of this stream there were big shrubs and broom trunks like the ones grown in Madrid

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gardens, and a great number of lentisks,62 many of them as big as averagesized holm oaks,63 but different from the Spanish variety, [fol. 219v] which are not so much trees as they are shrubs. Their trunks grow in large dense clusters and were not very thick, and their leaves were small and thick and reached all the way to the ground. Each tree was so thick that three, four, or more people could hide or conceal themselves in it. The ones we saw in this spot and on the road all the way to Shīrāz were only a foot around, as thick as a holm oak; their branches were near the top, the lowest of which were within arm’s reach of a standing man. Their leaves were bigger than those of a holm oak, and round, though they were the same color as the leaves of the lentisks in Spain, and were just as astringent. Also, a certain kind of resin that closely resembled mastic oozed from their trunks, and it is either this very substance [margin: or the Persian incense praised so highly by Strabo] that is used in Persia to treat leather bags and flasks for carrying water on their journeys.64 We followed the stream a quarter of a league uphill to its source, where a jet of beautiful cold water as thick as a man’s arm shot out of an opening in the side of the cliff, a man’s height from the ground, and created and produced the little stream; it cheered and refreshed everyone who reached it more than anything we had seen since leaving India. We pressed onward through the same valley, with two moderately high hills on each side. There were some small green shrubs, though most of the vegetation consisted of the usual thorny bushes. But on the valley floor there were many lentisks, brooms, and other shrubs that looked like the jaramagos65 of Spain. Two leagues farther along we arrived at a spring that was much bigger than the first. It gushed out of another cliffside with such force that it could have driven a mill. The water was so good and clear that it was quite difficult [fol. 220r] to say which was better, this one or the one we had seen earlier, and thus many people emptied their flasks, which were full of the water from the first spring, and filled them with this water. [margin: By contrast with the previous spring], the present one created an average-sized stream in which there were found the same kind of reeds and rushes as well as some very thick grass. This vegetation was much more abundant because of the moisture received by the soil. What was most worthy of notice in this place was that half a league 62   Pistacia lentiscus. 63  Also known as the evergreen or holly oak, the holm oak (Quercus ilex) takes its name from the name used for holly. Native to the Mediterranean area, it is a member of the white oak section of the genus. 64  See Strabo, Geography, 15, 1:37. 65  Hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale of the family Brassicaceae).

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downstream from the source of the stream, there were some large myrtle bushes with [superscript: with] big green leaves; they were somewhat smaller than the big myrtle trees that are grown in Spanish gardens, but they were laden with the same kind of fruit, although the fruit of these myrtle bushes was much larger and better tasting. After crossing this beautiful stream, we parted company with it, our path leading in the opposite direction. We had found this path by traveling to the north-west, and we now turned to the west by north-west, passing through an orchard of lentisks, though the landscape here was not as pleasant as it had been in the two valleys that now lay behind us. On the left side of the road we ran into a dawār of Turkmens from whom we purchased some sheep. Then, after seeing some singularly large wild goats and sheep on the mountaintops, we entered a plain where some big palm orchards began to come into view, and where the land was cultivated; there were also some horned cattle, horses, and sheep. These things are always signs that the land is populated, owing to the beneficence of springs and freshwater wells, as this region was. On the right side of the road, less than a quarter [fol. 220v] of a league away, there came into view a refreshingly cool town that was surrounded by palm trees and gardens full of pomegranate, orange, and citron trees. According to Friar Manuel del Populo and others who went out to see it, it was most delightful and full of good houses, as far as the houses in this land go. When they asked for the name of the town, they were told it was called Denia; not one of its syllables had changed, from which it can be concluded that the Arabs who founded Denia66 in the kingdom of Valencia had come from here. The Valencian city is very well known to the Duke of Lerma,67 who 66  The present-day city located on the Spanish Costa Blanca halfway between Alicante and Valencia. It was part of the Visigothic kingdom of Iberia prior to the Muslim conquest of Iberia (AD 711–788). In this passage, Silva y Figueroa is incorrectly suggesting that warriors from a town with the same name in Persia had founded this city during the conquest of Iberia, which is impossible because not only did Denia exist long before the Muslim conquest, but most of the early Muslim forces involved in the conquest of Iberia were Berbers from North Africa, recent adherents of Islam. 67  Denia was reconquered by Christian forces in 1244. The city was a part of the kingdom of Valencia, and both the city and kingdom were eventually returned to the crown of Aragon (1455), which itself was merged via dynastic union with the crown of Castile to form the kingdom of Spain. The city became a fief to the Sandoval family in 1431 and, subsequently, a marquisate in 1487. In this passage, Silva y Figueroa mentions the first Duke of Lerma (1599–1625), who was also the fourth Count of Lerma (1575–1599), and the fifth Marquess of Denia (prior to the crown awarding it to his son), D. Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas (1553–1625), a leading Spanish politician and favorite of Philip III. For a discussion of his life, times, and influential career, see Feros, Kingship and Favoritism, 32–47.

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in consequence of his greatness and his prosperity, is at present in higher favor and grace with the king than anyone else in this great realm. A little farther on from that point, Hormud appeared; this is where we had planned on stopping for the day. Shortly before entering the city, we were greeted by its governor and five or six other Persians who accompanied the Ambassador to a [margin: small] tent that his servants had pitched in a palm orchard next to the town. This place was more beautiful than any other we had seen thus far: the ground was covered with thick, green grass, and it was nestled among a great number of palms that were laden with the most beautiful dates imaginable. Also, a spring-fed brook ran just two harquebus shots from the tent lines; another spring fed into it six or seven paces from the door of the tent. The water from both springs was most excellent. Shortly before our arrival, the servants the Ambassador had sent from Joyom to the city of Jahrom returned. They came with a good deal of supplies and an order from the governor that we should be given supplies in every city until we reached Shīrāz. The Ambassador [fol. 221r] was also regaled with wine and fruit, including great bunches of dates that were as big and tasty as the ones from Fārs. The dates from Jahrom and from this small town of Hormu are generally praised and prized more than any others. Just as the Ambassador was about to dine, there arrived a dervish or hermit that lived by himself in a nearby hermitage, and who was considered by all the Persians to be a holy man. He offered the Ambassador a few dates and almonds, and then, adopting a contemplative attitude, began to pray, asking, as reported by the Persians who were present, that God grant the Ambassador long life and a happy conclusion to his journeys. Since he was old and had a very long beard and was poorly dressed, his overall physical appearance resembled that of one of the ancient anchorites of Thebaida,68 and with some ʿabbāsī that the Ambassador ordered to be given him, he promised to say the same prayer every day. [margin: 17] On the 17th, we departed from Hormud two hours after sunrise. Even though we were now in the land of Persia, as dry as the kingdom of Fārs, the mountains we traveled through looked exactly like the mountains of Fārs; yet, as has been mentioned, the same small and thorny shrubs that were on the plain could be seen on their slopes. Also, lentisks were found at intervals along the road. They must have been planted there to provide shade for travelers. This was a very long journey. Even though the road was flat, we did not reach the caravanserai that was our goal and destination until after sundown. This caravanserai was quite different from the others we had seen in the kingdom of Fārs. It was [fol. 221v] square and had four symmetrical strong 68  Early Christian anchorites in Egypt in the region surrounding Thebes.

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and high walls. There was one big gate where one could enter on horseback. Inside there was a square big enough for many people, horses, and the rest of the baggage animals. In the center of the square was a square stone ledge two feet high and over twenty feet wide and long, where a few people could take their leisure. Surrounding it on all sides were mangers where the travelers’ horses and mules could feed. There were chambers on all four interior walls of this large square, each of them two feet off the ground. Their entryways were as big as the chambers themselves, and these were consequently completely open to view, though they were covered by a vault. Some of them had a narrow little bedroom big enough for two beds and nothing else, with doors so narrow and low that they were exactly as big as a man. These rooms were especially intended for women to stay in so that they would not be in plain sight while they were inside the chambers. There were [margin: other] smaller chambers in this caravanserai, especially near the entranceway, that were reserved for peddlers who sold their hapas, which is the common bread, and all kinds of fresh and dried fruit, eggs, cheese, and meat, and straw and barley for mules and horses. [margin: 18] The next day we traveled the same distance as the day before through land that had the same quality and appearance as on the previous day, but later on there could be seen, about a league off to the left, an expansive grove of trees that surrounded a number of small towns. The terrain was noticeably better for a considerable distance until it faded into a ravine in the mountains, this difference clearly resulting from the benefit of some big river. The Ambassador asked Giuseppe Armenio,69 one of the interpreters, if some kind of watercourse ran through that [fol. 222r] area. He answered that it was the Sivan70 River, which came from very far away, and that numberless ages ago a great channel had been carved through a mountain that lay on the other side of it. This channel gave access to the river so that it could irrigate the plains. From there to where it falls into the Persian Gulf, almost directly across from Bahrain, there is no end to cities and cultivated plains wherever it flows. The city that appeared to be the closest to us, which was next to the mouth of the channel where the river emptied into the plain, was the most heavily populated of all the cities we had hitherto visited, besides Lār. It was so lovely and well situated that the whole thing looked like a garden. After we passed by the foothills of the mountain where the channel had been dug, we descended into another plain. We could see how the river fertilized those plains almost 69  Silva y Figueroa is probably referring to Giuseppe Salvador; see p. 297 n. 21. 70  The Pulvar, a main tributary of the Kor, on the banks of which the ancient necropolis of Naqš-e Rostam is located.

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the whole way to the caravanserai where we had planned to stop. To the left of the caravanserai was a green and beautiful orchard of palm, cypress, orange, and many other kinds of trees. The vista was so pleasant and beautiful to the eye that anything we had hitherto seen paled in comparison. About 100 small houses are nestled in this most pleasant wood, as well as a beautiful and ancient mosque. This small town Çafhra is called Zafarābād71 in the Arabic tongue, which means “fair” or “market.”72 Not far off is the Sivan River, which the locals divert into channels and ditches to irrigate their gardens and fields. At sundown we reached the caravanserai, which resembled the one we had left that morning. It was 400 [fol. 222v] [margin: paces] from the city and its gardens, and there were two small Turkmen dawārs next to it. Since everyone in the caravan was exhausted after so many long days of travel after leaving Joyom, the Ambassador ordered all to rest the next day and take advantage of the opportunity to see the city and its gardens. It was considered good fortune and a good omen for our journey that the city was called Zafarābād, this being the name of the town in which the Ambassador was born and raised,73 in the province of Extremadura in Spain, capital of the Duchy of Feria and principal residence of the lords of that most illustrious and noble family of which he is a descendant.74 Here the Ambassador and his servants were generously regaled with the fruit of the land by the governor and factor—pomegranates, lemons, sweet limes, and a few quinces, and the most beautiful grapes ever seen. There were several species and colors with an admirable and smooth taste, and a more pleasant scene could not have been presented to the eye. The perfect workings of Mother Nature surpass all human art and industry. [margin: 19] [superscript: The next day] the Ambassador was given a tour of the city. Most of its [margin: small] houses were scattered and spread out among the beautiful gardens and orchards, which were continuously intersected by myriad canals. Even though most of the fruit had been picked with the conclusion of October, the vines were still in full leaf and were so laden with every kind of grape that they seemed to have gone untouched. The same was true of the pomegranates, which were so plentiful, large, and delicious that 71  This location seems a better fit than Khafr, proposed by Loureiro et al., Anotações e estudos, 24. 72  This comment by Silva y Figueroa is puzzling, since Arabic zafra is the feminine form of an adjective meaning “yellow.” 73  In the MS, Zafarābād is given as Çafhra or Çafra, a homonym of Zafra (Extremadura); Silva y Figueroa also spells the name of his native city Çafhra. 74  Silva y Figueroa’s link to the dukes and counts of Feria was through his father; see Cooper, Castillos señoriales, 1:283–86.

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they were no less amazing than the orange [fol. 223r] and lime trees, which were heavily laden with fruit. In the center of these delightful groves and this small town, there is a mosque that, while not very big, is of beautiful craftsmanship, which its great age has not succeeded in diminishing. Many portions of it are still golden. Its floors are paved with tiles, and, for even greater devotion, carpeted with fine matting. In the center, which is well illuminated by high glass windows, is a stone sepulcher three-feet high with many carved decorations, on top of which are a great number of books written in Arabic, some of them extremely old and unbound, though they were still quite legible. When a hermit who lived in the mosque was asked about the content of those books, he said that some of them were commentaries on their Ḳurʾān, while the rest described miracles and works of the great saint who had been buried there for more than 600 years, the mosque itself being much older than that. There was a tiled patio at the entrance with a pool in the center and two or three extremely tall and thick cypress trees on one side, which were the first we had seen in Asia; another one stood outside, near the entryway to the patio, and it was so thick that two men could not wrap their arms around it. Besides this city, there is no record of a city with the name of Zafra in all of Africa or Asia. And even though it is small, we can be certain that because of the great antiquity and nobility of Persia, [margin: one of] the founders of the city of Zafra in Extremadura must have come from here. In times of old, the latter city was not located where it is now, but rather more than half a league up a cliff on the side of a high mountain [margin: called the Castellar],75 which is very green because it is covered all the way to the summit with oak, cork, [fol. 223v] [margin: and wild olive trees, called acebuches.76 At the summit there is a high quay of cliffs that are so uninterrupted and sheer that they look like a wall or a crown that adorns the mountain]. This is where Zafra was located in olden times, as recorded in the chronicles of the ancient Arab kings of Cordova.77 During the internecine wars of succession in that kingdom, Muḥammad alḤamar,78 one of the pretenders to the throne, was defeated in a battle by his enemies and sought refuge and defense on the Castellar of Zafra. Since this place, though small, was very well defended, as can be seen today from its ruins, and because many years thereafter the inhabitants of the town that was situated [margin: at the foot] of the Castellar had begun committing raids and 75  An elevated place where a castle was located. 76  Wild olives (Olea europa var. sylvestris). 77  We have been unable to locate a specific Arabic chronicle or passage referring to Zafra. 78  Muḥammad I of Granada [Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAḥmar ibn Yusuf ibn Nasr] (1232–1273), founder of the Nasrid dynasty, who was known as al-Aḥmar (“The Red”) for his red beard.

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robberies, a little over 300 years ago the kings ordered that it be destroyed and completely dismantled, and that the population be relocated from the foot of the mountain to where it was previously located, where the eminent and populous town of Zafra is now. This little village in Persia could rightly take pride [margin: in being a colony of it], as could any of the biggest cities in the world. [margin: 20] On the 20th, we made another long trek, part of it through very rough and dry land. We saw only a few big lentisks by the side of the road, and before sundown the caravan stopped at a caravanserai that was bigger than any of the others we had hitherto seen. Apart from having a more spacious patio and more chambers and bedrooms, it had very high and thick stone walls with two turrets on both sides of the gate and four more on the four corners, each of them fitted with loopholes, so that the whole thing was fashioned like a great fortress. It was constructed for just this purpose, namely, the safety of the merchant caravans, so that they could protect themselves from the many brigands who once roamed the countryside staging hold ups. Close to the gate of this caravanserai, where there were also supply shops, a copious spring had its [fol. 224r] origin. The water that poured from it [text blacked out] formed a big pool on the plain that was full of reeds and other marsh plants. Here a great number of aquatic birds lived and visited, as well as others that were not aquatic; large flocks of thrushes and sparrows could also be seen. The people who ventured deeply into it hunted a great quantity of small fish between the mire and the plants, though they were of poor quality, as all fish tend to be that live in these kinds of waters. [margin: 21] As we departed the next day, we came across a big dawār of Turkmens with their wives and children and extensive flocks of cattle. They used oxen and cows instead of donkeys to carry their families, tents, and other paltry possessions. The great docility of these cattle is amazing to behold— each cow or ox carried two or three very young children. These animals were so tame and gentle that the children were always placed on them for their greater safety, the donkeys and workhorses being reserved for other functions. The Turkmens dress like Persians, though more poorly. The clothing of the women is extremely crude and poor, more closely resembling the garb of [text blacked out] [margin: Scythia]79 than that of Tatary, only it is shorter and closer fitting, while the children mostly go about naked until they are older. Many of them are exceptionally white and have very blond hair. The life of these people consists of wandering from one place to the next with their cattle, always in search of better grazing weather; they have no fixed cities or dwelling places, much 79  The Scythians were nomads who lived on the central Asian steppes north of the Jaxartes River, also known as the Sacae, which is possibly derived from their word for “archers.”

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like the country Arabs or the Tatars, [fol. 224v] from whom they originate, and thus they wander about in dawārs or ordus80 like these other peoples. They shelter themselves from the rain, sun, and cold in small tents made from thick camel and goat wool that is woven by the women. These tents are mostly black, but some are made of leather. They are all so small and low, being no more than four or five feet tall, that six or seven people can barely crowd into one of them at the same time, even when huddled closely together. Those who own camels or oxen or donkeys use them to transport these little tents. These animals are found in abundance, and they use great mastiffs like the European varieties to guard them. But the oxen and cows, most of which are black, are much smaller, with very short and thin horns, the biggest measuring no more than a span in length. Their docility is truly amazing. What is even more astonishing is how generally content these people are to live without desiring another way of life, if there is one that could possibly be better and more stable than theirs. No one can doubt that this wandering nation of Turkmens comes from Scythia or from Asian Tatary, or that they are the true and ancient Turks, for in addition to their name and their way of life, which they have invariably followed ever since, the traditional story of their origins is generally accepted by them and the Persians. And although at first their hordes gave rise to suspicion and all the kings of Asia desired their extermination, in the course of a little more than 100 years, they became lords over several provinces and kingdoms by dint of their own valor. It was they who overthrew the [margin: kingdom of the Arabs] and reduced the Greek Empire to a [text blacked out] [margin: poor and miserable] state, an empire that for many [fol. 225r] years had taken over the what remained of the realm of the Romans. They wrested from the Arabs not only all of Asia Minor, but also many provinces of greater Asia as far as the banks of the Tigris River.81 However, just as time elevates and expands some empires and then overthrows and completely annihilates them a few short years later, so did the same happen to these first Turks. For after taking total control of Persia, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt under several kings, a series of events caused them to begin to weaken. The first decline in their empire took place when 80  See p. 302 n. 31. 81  The eastern member of a pair of rivers (the other being the Euphrates) that historically define Mesopotamia. Originating in present-day eastern Turkey in the Taurus Mountains, it flows south through Iraq and empties into the Persian Gulf; it is 1,850 km (1,150 mi) in length. As Silva y Figueroa indicates, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia are to be found near this river or on its very banks. Today, it joins the Euphrates near al-Qurnah to form the Shatt-al-ʿArab around Basra.

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the Franks82 and other European nations undertook that pious and noble expedition of conquest in the Holy Land. From that point, having lost so many provinces and finding themselves occupied with defending Syria and Egypt from the Europeans, it happened that their strength in the kingdoms they held farther to the east began to slacken, and the Scythians and Tatars descended into Asia and stripped them of their possessions that they had seized so many years earlier. And so, that which they had so violently seized from the Persians [margin: and Arabs] as they came out of Scythia was wrested from them by other, more truculent nations from the same region, turning the same violence against them. They became subject to them and were reduced to grazing their cattle [margin: in the fields], being reduced to a profusion of divided roving dawārs. After the taking of Persia and most of Asia by Baiju,83 Abagha,84 and Ghazan,85 [text blacked out] [superscript: followed by] Timūr,86 supremely powerful Tatar princes, and since the successors of Timūr lacked the valor and the fortune of their father, [fol. 225v] the Tatars easily resigned themselves to retaining possession of only the northernmost provinces of this great empire that bordered on Tatary itself. And thus they made room for the [margin: Armenians], Medes, Persians, and Assyrians to emerge from their prolonged servitude and establish their own kings, until the expansion that we see of this realm, especially because of the great valor of Ūzūn Ḥassan87 and his grandson Shah Esmāʿīl Ṣūfī.88 The latter founded and established his kingdom with the 82  In this instance, Silva y Figueroa uses francos to refer to the French; elsewhere he designates them as françeses. 83  Mongol commander in Persia (ca. 1230–1260) and conqueror of the Seljuks in Asia Minor. 84  Abagha (1234–1282), second Mongol ruler of the Persian Ilkhanate (1265–1282), son of Hulagu, and great-grandson of Genghis Khān. 85  Mahmud Ghazan (1271–1304), seventh Mongol ruler of the Persian Ilkhanate (1295–1304); he converted Mongol Persia to Islam. 86  Timūr Beg Gurkani (1336–1405), reigned 1370–18 February 1405, known historically as Tamerlane‪ (i.e., Timūr[-e] Lang, lit. “Timūr the Lame.” He was a Turco-Mongol conqueror of west, south, and central Asia who founded the Timurid dynasty (ca. 1370–ca. 1500) and was the first ruler of the Timurid Empire in Persia and Central Asia. Some forty-one manuscript pages of the Commentaries are dedicated to his story (see pp. 521–50). 87  Turkmen ruler (1423–1478), sultan of the short-lived Āq Quyūnlū (White Sheep) dynasty (1453–1478). He defeated Jahan Shah, prince of the Qarā Quyūnlū (Black Sheep) federation in 1467. A series of European embassies were sent to his court, the best known being that of Ambrose Contarini (1473–1476), which was apparently the source of Silva y Figueroa’s knowledge of Ūzūn Ḥassan. 88  Shah Esmāʿīl I [Esmāʿīl Abuʿl-Mozaffar bin Sheikh Ḥaydar bin Sheikh Junayd Safawī] (1487–1524), shah of Persia from 1502 to 1524. Silva y Figueroa normally substitutes the titles Sufi or Sophi for “shah” in reference to him. He was the founder of the Safavid

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forces of the new religion that his father, [text blacked out] [superscript: Shah] Ḥaydar,89 [margin: lord] of Hardabīl [margin: or Ardabīl [margin: , had taught to all the aforementioned nations, and now, during these times, this religion is defended with the utmost constancy by their most valiant prince, Shah ʿAbbās, against the unparalleled forces of the Turkish realm. And thus have these poor Turkmens been made subject to the same people from whom they wrested their empire, the one they possessed for so many years, only to be reduced to the same state they had been in when they first emerged from Scythia. And even though these magnificent princes possessed so many and such opulent cities, and their military leaders and nobles from the upper echelons of their society did not [margin: personally] revert to a pastoral and nomadic way of life while they attended to war and to political rule, the vast majority of their nation pastured cattle in the same way they do now. And yet many valiant men rose from the ranks of these very people, who, as the heads of their ordus and dawārs, rose up against their own kings at different times, as has been seen of late when Shah ʿAbbās put down a massive plot and rebellion against him with the deaths of many of these Turkmens. The Turks, who have dwelt in the provinces of Asia Minor for more than 600 years, are now divided into many ordus after losing their ancient kings and sultans in so many regions, as when the Christians waged war on them in their wars overseas, as has already been treated, sharing out among themselves [fol. 226r] the rule over the weak and effeminate nations they came across. Thus, even though there were numberless petty kings and lords among them, none was strong or valiant enough to rise up over the others and seize their possessions. Each one resigned himself to what fortune had dealt him, being content with raising and preserving his herds. They were so disunited that the emperors of Constantinople could have retaken all of Asia, Scythia, and the Taurus,90 for these regions belonged to them. But they were so weak and timid, their ancient valor having completely vanished, that they succeeded in recovering no more than a few coastal cities in Ionia,91 Caria,92 and Lycia,93 with the Empire and was instrumental in the conversion of Persia from Sunnism to the sect of the Twelvers, the largest branch of Shiʿism. 89  Turkmen military commander and spiritual leader of the Safavids (1460–1488). 90  The region of the Taurus Mountains in southern Anatolia. 91  Ionia, Caria, and Lycia are Greek names for certain ancient regions of Anatolia (Asia Minor). Ionia was a narrow western coastal strip lying between the gulf of Smyrna (Izmir) and the gulf of Mandalya (Didim), and included the islands of Chios and Samos. 92  Caria lay between Lake Bafa and Lake Köycegiz in the present-day Turkish province of Muğla. 93  Lycia corresponded to the present-day southern Turkish provinces of Antalya and Muğla.

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help of the Latins, for the Latins, or Europeans, who were traveling overland to Syria took no interest in undertaking any conquests that did not contribute to their subjugation or defense of the Holy Land. They thus limited themselves to clear the way with their arms, regularly crushing the Turks who tried to block their way. In the end, the French and [margin: the other Latins] were expelled from Syria, having lost the cities of Antioch, Tripoli, and [margin: Ptolemaida],94 while the Greeks continued to decline. Osman,95 a Turkish petty lord who possessed part of what was ancient Bithynia,96 eventually got up the ambition and courage to become a prince and began dispossessing his neighbors, who were of his own nation, of their holdings in that province. And although he and his son Orhan,97 and after him, his grandson Murād,98 whom John Kantakouzenos99 calls Amurio, expanded their power by seizing all of Bithynia and part of Phrygia100 from their neighbors, they never exercised their arms to the exclusion of the pastoral life. Thus, while the city of Bursa,101 the metropolis of Bithynia, was the capital of Murād’s kingdom, and although he had designs for moving on into Greece in person, he made sure to leave his flocks of [fol. 226v] goats and sheep [margin: 94  Ptolemaida (more properly Ptolemais) is ancient (and present-day) Acre, Israel. It was renamed Ptolemais after the Macedonian General Ptolemy I Soter (ca. 367–ca. 283 BC); during the Crusades, it was known as St. Jean d’Acre after the Knights Hospitaller of St. John, who were headquartered there. The crusader principality of Antioch fell in 1268; St. Jean d’Acre, the last holdout of the Christian crusader kingdom of Jerusalem, fell in 1291, and Tripoli, capital of the crusader kingdom of the county of Tripoli, fell in 1289; see Richard, Crusades, 446–69. 95  Osman I [Osman Gazi] (1258–1324), ruler (1280–1324) and leader of the Ottoman Turks, who declared the independence of their small kingdom from the Seljuk Turks in 1299, and founded the Ottoman dynasty and empire. 96  An ancient region, kingdom, and Roman province corresponding roughly to north-­ central Turkey, situated on a fertile plain between Asia Minor in the west, the mountains of Galatia in the south, Pontus to the east, and the Black Sea to the north. 97  Orhan I [Orhan Gazi] (1281–ca. 1360), second Ottoman ruler (1324–1360). 98  Murād I (1326–1389), son of Orhan I, third Ottoman ruler (1360–1389), and the first to use the title sultan in reference to territories previously held by Christians. 99  John VI Kantakouzenos (ca. 1292–1383), Byzantine emperor (1347–1354), and chronicler; see Trone, “History of John Kantakouzenos,” and Miller, “History of John Cantakuzenus.” John VI Kantakouzenos was actually the father-in-law of Orhan, who married Kantakouzenos’s daughter, princess Theodora Kantakouzene in 1346. 100  An ancient kingdom located to the south of Bithynia in the west central part of Anatolia in present-day Turkey. 101  An ancient city in north-western Turkey that became the first major capital city of the early Ottoman Empire following its capture from the Byzantines in 1326.

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well attended to], grazing on Mount Olympus, near the boundary of Phrygia and Bithynia, because of its cool weather and abundance of fertile pastures in the summer. And during the many following years, he never ceased from this ancient and natural custom that his ancestors had brought with them from Scythia until, after having moved on to Europe and becoming a powerful ruler there because of the dissensions of the Greeks, Serbians, and Bulgarians, he traded the life of a shepherd for that of a great prince, having conquered most of Thrace,102 Serbia,103 and Macedonia,104 in which place he established himself and laid the foundations for the great realm that subsequently expanded so greatly. Bāyezīd Yïldïrïm,105 his son, and Murād II,106 his grandson, with all their successors up to the present day, after completely abandoning their dwelling place in Asia and settling in Europe, as if they were now natives of it, established a new military force from the nations they had subjugated, in keeping with ancient Asian custom. This force thenceforth constituted the main strength and vigor of their army, the native and true Turks having by then 102  A historical and geographic region in south-east Europe that generally corresponds to present-day Bulgaria; it is bordered by Greece and Turkey. In antiquity, Thrace was bounded to its north by the Balkan Mountains, to its south by the Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea, and to its east by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. 103  Situated at the crossroads between central and south-east Europe, Serbia covers the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Present-day Serbia is a landlocked state that borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; Macedonia to the south, and Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro to the west. From the sixth century onward, migrations of Slavic peoples to the Balkans produced several states in this region, which were recognized as the Serbian Kingdom around the beginning of the thirteenth century and a short-lived Serbian Empire by the mid-fourteenth century. The Ottomans successfully annexed Serbia into their empire by the mid-sixteenth century. 104  A kingdom on the northern periphery of the Greek peninsula. At some point prior to the fourth century BC, it was subordinate to Achaemenid Persia and generally did not engage with the dominant Greek city-states of Athens, Sparta, and Thebes. After developing innovative military tactics and a well-trained army, Philip II (359–336 BC) led Macedonia to victory over Athens and Thebes. His son, Alexander the Great, completed his father’s dream of controlling all of Greece and the entire Greek world. For a relatively brief period, Alexander established the Macedonian Empire that overthrew the Achaemenid Empire and that stretched to the Indus River. 105  Bāyezīd I (1360–1403), son of Murād I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1389–1402), nicknamed Yïldïrïm, meaning “thunderbolt.” 106  Murād II (1404–1451), son of Mehmed I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1421–1444, 1446–1451). He was not, as Silva y Figueroa states, the grandson of Murād I, but rather his great-grandson.

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fallen into contempt, most of them remaining in the provinces of Asia Minor (commonly known as Anatolia) in their ancient profession of sheepherding, scattered among numberless dawārs in the same fashion as the Turkmens in the provinces and extensive regions of greater Asia. And the disdain that the new European Turks feel at the present time for the Asians, whom they call Romelia or Romania,107 is so great that they do not consider them worthy of the title of soldier, and so they usually call them jackals, using them as sappers in land wars and as galley slaves in the navy. Accordingly, the usual name used by the Persians and the other nations under their rule, as well as in India and in the rest of greater Asia, when referring to the Turks, is rumis or rumes,108 because they inhabit the same provinces and kingdoms that once belonged to the Greeks or the Romans after them, whom the Asians always considered their enemies, and also because the Turks [fol. 227r] esteem themselves and take pride in the most noble, ancient, and venerable Roman realm, and very rightly so. Three leagues into our journey we arrived at the [text blacked out] [superscript: Pasa] River, [margin: which is the same as the Pasargadae].109 Even though the water was low because the rainy season had not yet begun, the river was very wide, having clearly flooded over onto the plain and inundating the countryside to such an extent that it would have been impossible to cross it without a bridge. And thus when the Ambassador arrived, he too would not have been able to cross the plain without the bridge because of the big swamps that had formed there. The bridge that spans this river—both river and bridge having the same name—was very long and barely wide enough for one cart. The bridge had been built next to the entryway of a small caravanserai [margin: of the same name], both having been erected by virtue of a bequest left by a wealthy woman from Shīrāz. Most charitable donations come from the last wills of women, from which the caravanserais and cisterns found by the side of this road were built, as has been already mentioned. Very close to the bridge on the banks of this river, which flows into the Sivan two leagues downstream, 107  Turkish for “land of the Romans,” referring to portions of the Eastern Roman Empire subdued by the Ottomans. The designation came to refer more specifically to the southern Balkan regions of the Ottoman Empire, which remained largely Christian. 108  The English equivalent is Roumi (see OED, s.v. “Roumi”); the term refers to what had been part of the Roman Empire after falling into the hands of the Turks. See Y&B, 767–69, s.v. “Room.” 109  Present-day Lake Maharlou, the shallow river basin in which Shīrāz is located. During Silva y Figueroa’s time, it was probably known by the name of the nearby ruins of Pasargadae; Fisher, “Physical Geography,” 23.

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were several grey herons, and not too far from them, five or six storks of such impressive dimensions that they instilled great wonder in us. This river, or more precisely this lagoon, also attracts big flocks of wild geese and many other river birds, especially cranes. All winter long [margin: this game] is rousted out and hunted with falcons and azores110 that are bigger than the European varieties. Two hours before sunset, with the city of Shīrāz now in sight, we reached a village a league’s distance from it called [text blacked out] [margin: Ochiar].111 The caravan stopped there because the Ambassador wanted to make sure that a house had been prepared for him that was big enough for his entire entourage, since he would be staying in that city for two to three months. To this end, he had sent one [fol. 227v] of his gentlemen-in-waiting that morning to ʿAlī Beg, one of the sultan’s lieutenants, with an interpreter. [margin: This lieutenant now goes by the more dignified title khān]112 [text blacked out] [superscript: and governs] the kingdoms of Persia, Fārs, and the island of Bahrain [superscript: in the absence of the sultan] who was absent. This town lies in a large and fertile plain that is irrigated with many canals, and although it consists of just a few peasant houses, it is nevertheless very pleasant because of its beautiful location. The entire town can be seen from here, with the high minarets and cupolas of its mosques, which are covered with tiles of different colors. [margin: 22] The next day, the governors of Shīrāz came to visit the Ambassador on behalf of the lieutenant, bringing him gifts and also offering him whatever he needed for his entire entourage. After the Ambassador presented them with a gift of Spanish sweets and wine, they made to leave, saying they wanted to return and escort him when he entered the city, for that was what the king had ordered them to do. By this time, the servant the Ambassador had sent to ʿAlī Beg had returned with the message that he, the Ambassador, could stay in some houses just outside the city amid some big and pleasant gardens belonging to the king, and since the Ambassador’s house in Shīrāz had to be furnished and cleaned, the Ambassador stayed there [in Ochiar] that day and the next. [margin: 23] It was starting to get cold, especially at night, and thus he thought it would be more comfortable to sleep in one of those poor little shacks than in tents out in the open.

110  Probably Northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis). 111  Unknown location; Loureiro et al., Anotações e estudos, 77, conjecture that this location may correspond to Barmshour Olya, which is approximately one league south of Shīrāz. 112  The title khān, meaning “chief,” is probably of Mongol origin and spread throughout central Asia and Persia. In Safavid Persia, a khān was a provincial governor of rank below that of the beglarbeg and above that of the sulṭān, or deputy governor; see Elisséeff, “Khān.”

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Next to this hamlet there were two Turkmen dawārs. Although these people are destitute and shabbily dressed, they have any number of offspring—countless naked children who very closely resemble the gypsies of Spain, except that their skin is white. The women are constantly busying themselves with spinning sheep wool and cotton into the aforementioned thick cloth from which they fashion their tents. They also spin other coarse fabrics [fol. 228r] used for clothing, no other artisans being necessary to provide for every need of their families. During the three days the Ambassador stayed there, many people came out from the city, especially dancers and other performers who played the same kind of tambourine as in Lār; others played strange bagpipes that had what looked like big wineskins at one end as in [superscript: like the ones] used in Spain, but they did so without any harmony at all, shouting loudly as they sang over the loud noise of the pipes. The governors visited the Ambassador again, asking him when he planned to enter the city, for they wished to fête him. When they learned that it would be first thing in the morning, they departed with some of the Ambassador’s servants, who went on ahead to prepare his accommodations. [margin: 24] On the 24th, the day before St. Catherine113 the Martyr’s Day, after sending his personal effects ahead with the baggage train early in the morning, [text blacked out] the Ambassador was notified that the governors wanted to come out from Shīrāz to greet him. Riders incessantly carried messages back and forth on horseback so quickly that, although it was only a little past noon, and the city was only a league distant on a level road, he soon mounted a horse and began riding with his servants. Immediately, he immediately met up with [superscript: a great number of people began to arrive] on horseback and on foot to see what, for them, was a novelty. Less than halfway there, he came upon the governors and other leading citizens of the city, accompanied by a great many horsemen, many of whom had bows and arrows and were all splendidly attired, together with a good-sized assemblage of harquebusiers on foot. The [fol. 228v] governor who held that office at the time was a young man who was dressed very elegantly in a jubbah of cloth of silver and a golden headdress. The guards of his dagger and scimitar were made of gold and were studded with gems. His bow and quiver were also golden and his horse’s crownpiece and breast strap were plated with silver. A vast concourse of people then began to arrive, and with the field being so wide, our progress was impeded. Many of the soldiers had to make way by force of cudgels. And thus did we advance to 113  St. Catherine of Alexandria (AD 287–305), an early Christian martyr.

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the gates of the city where we were to enter. Here there was a throng of women on both sides of the road who were so completely covered with white linen cloaks that it was impossible to discern the color of their skin. A marabout,114 called a mullah by the Persians, preceded the Ambassador the whole way, shouting in a loud voice in Persian, [superscript: giving] praises to God and praying that He would preserve and give long life to his king. These supplications continued until the moment of our reception. The gate by which we entered the city, [margin: which in Persian is called Darvāzeh Pasa, meaning Gate of Pasargadae], was small; some sections of the wall were made of mud. The streets lacked any grandeur and the houses were quite shabby. Thus the city, which when seen from afar in its totality [margin: created such a resplendent image] and looked so magnificent, was revealed to have a poor and wretched appearance, as is true of all Eastern cities. After winding our way along many back streets through throngs of people and clouds of dust, we arrived at a large square, or expanse, where the finishing touches were being put on a magnificent mosque that had been begun by Allāhverdī Khān. It was made entirely of white stone and [text blacked out] was surrounded by many chambers that were intended for use by both its mulas and by the [fol. 229r] pilgrims who sought shelter there. From thence we passed into an even larger square where the sultan’s house was located. It had a beautiful balustrade and belvedere, the latter being completely painted and decorated in gold. We then passed through a gate opposite the one through which we had entered. On the way, we passed several streets that were similar in appearance to the first ones. A countless number of women, most of them covered under white shawls, could be seen lining the tops of the terraces and walls of the houses, and others at their windows, which are very narrow and covered with crude mats or shutters. Many older women appeared at the doors with their hands stretched to heaven, either praising God and asking that He bless and keep the Ambassador, or bitterly cursing him, according to the disposition of each one. This was not only heard by interpreters, but was clearly evident from their gestures and tone of voice. The Persians call this gate, which faces to the west by north-west, the Darvāzeh [text blacked out] [margin: Aheni, meaning the Iron Gate]. A very long street nearly 2,000 paces long and ninety paces wide extends from the gate to the king’s houses, where the Ambassador was to take his lodgings. The street was extremely straight and level; it was flanked by whitewashed walls as high as a pike on both sides, but no houses. Behind the walls there were vast fruit orchards and gardens and just two pleasure houses two-thirds of the way down the street, one in front of the other. These houses, 114  I.e., a Berber mullah, a Muslim hermit, or holy man.

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[margin: which also belonged to the king] and contained [text blacked out] just a few chambers, were nevertheless beautifully constructed, with huge verandas and belvederes [fol. 229v] that faced the street. The Persians practice running their horses and shooting their bows on this street because it is so wide and level, as are the cultivated gardens that extend for many thousands of paces in every direction. Six pairs of white marble columns, each two feet around and half a pike tall, line the center of the street from end to end. Each pair of columns is evenly spaced fifteen or sixteen paces apart. They are used as obstacles for the riders who run their horses in the aforementioned exercises. Next At one end of this street, just past the gate, the lieutenant and the governors had prepared a welcome banquet in honor of the Ambassador. While it was not as lavish as European banquets, it actually seemed better, considering the good will with which it was prepared and the fact that these people gave it their utmost; the Ambassador was manifestly very grateful and well entertained. The entire street was filled with people on foot or on horseback. In their midst were two groups of dancers, the first consisting of women, and the second of six or seven boys with hair as long as a woman’s. They wore ankle-length skirts of the same kind worn by the Georgian youth in Lār, being from that same nation, though they were renegades115 as white as Europeans. The women had a rather dark complexion and seemed to be poor and poorly dressed. Both groups spun around very fast while they danced, making grandiose gestures to the music of many tambourines after the fashion of the musicians in Lār. They also played those pipes that looked like large wineskins and sang in the same manner as the others. The Ambassador walked along very slowly with those in his company because of the dancers who went before them. They arrived within thirty or forty paces of the entrance to the Royal Palace,116 which, [fol. 230r] with the beautiful and magnificent appearance created by its verandas and belvederes, and especially its great loftiness, loomed over the long street at its farthest end. Two or three steps led up from the gate to an area that was a little [superscript: slightly] elevated from street level so that a horse would not be able to enter the hallway. In the center of [margin: this area] there was an octagonal pool where water never ceased to flow. The Ambassador dismounted at the foot of these two or three steps, where he stood a while and observed some highly skillful wrestlers and fighting bulls, and some very large rams that 115  A renegade (Spanish renegado, from renegar, meaning “reject, deny, apostatize”) was normally a Christian who renounced his faith and converted to Islam; here the term is being used the other way round. 116  Silva y Figueroa uses “royal residence’ ” interchangeably with “royal palace” without referring to the Persian term dowlatkana.

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also fought with admirable ferocity. Next, the dancers, tambourine players, and pipers resumed their performances, after which the Ambassador went up to his chambers. And although he would have liked to rest after such a blistering journey, there was no time for it because of the many visitors who came to see him and speak to him. The governor had provided large carafes of wine with which everyone made toasts and drank liberally, and even though the Ambassador did not imbibe, he could not forbear from tasting a little in order to please them. The next day, ʿAlī Beg, the sultan’s lieutenant, paid a visit to the Ambassador while the latter was still abed and apologized for not having come out to receive him the day before, illness having prevented him from doing so, and he offered him anything from the city of which he might stand in need, this having been ordered by the sultan before leaving for the wars against the Kurds.117 He was [margin: a native of Circassia [margin: a man of seventy years and a former servant of Allāhverdī Khān; he later went on to rule through the latter’s son, Emāmqolī Khān. He is a most cunning man of treacherous wit, and these qualities, in addition to the fame he acquired as a good soldier, mainly because of the great riches he accumulated, enabled him to rule over everything with absolute power, even though he was greatly detested in the kingdoms of Fārs and Persia. After gratitude was expressed for his visit and for the warm [fol. 230v] welcome of the day before, he bade his farewell and departed. All these Persians make very little use of ceremony in their visits, which they always conduct in the morning in order to keep the rest of the day free for their usual entertainment, which normally consists of [text blacked out] [margin: dancing] women and long conversations accompanied by drinking, although this ʿAlī Beg never drinks wine, being a very religious man who observes his law. The house and garden where the Ambassador took his lodgings is the creation of the great Ṣūfī Esmāʿīl,118 and while the house does not occupy very much ground, it is quite tall, reaching as high as a great three-storied tower. A narrow spiral staircase—all the staircases in Persia are spiral—leads to the top. Not much attention is given to the exterior appearance, and this is true not only in this kingdom, but in Asia in general. On the second floor, where the best rooms are located, there is a beautiful and spacious hall, bigger than the ones in the royal palace of Madrid. It has a domed, vaulted ceiling, and the 117  An Iranian, Middle-Eastern ethnic designation comprising several related groups and that inhabit Kurdistan (see p. 557 n. 179); the Kurdish dialects comprise the north-western sub-group of the Iranian language group. 118  Shah Esmāʿīl I.

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only adornment gracing the rest of the hall is its gleaming white marble, polished with lime. The upper section has windows that let the light in. In these windows, as well as in those in the rooms that are connected to the hall, are many painted images of women, most of them with Italian-style clothing and headdresses. Their heads are finely adorned with bows and flowers, and some wear laurel wreaths like in ancient medallions. It was obvious from the style of the paintings that they had been executed by the hands of Italian artists, very possibly Venetians, who likely could have been summoned by such a renowned king. A series of doors that line the hall lead to other smaller rooms with balconies and verandas, so that in the summer the palace is kept quite cool and comfortable, no matter how hot the outside air. But in the winter, which is when the Ambassador was there, it [superscript: was] a harsh dwelling. [fol. 231r] Among the belvederes of this summer palace, two are larger than the rest. One overlooks the gate and the big street by which we had entered. From here the gate of the city can be distinctly seen, and since it faces south by southwest, it is exposed to the sun most of the day. No matter how little the sun shines, this area is always the warmest part of the palace. It was designed to function as a heliocaminus, or sun stove,119 because its exterior wall, which makes up the front of the building, does not form a straight line, but rather zigzags and twists. In its center there is a large veranda, with smaller ones on either side of it, and the [superscript: sun] strikes the central one with greater force, filling it completely with its rays. The other veranda, or belvedere, which lies opposite the one just described, overlooks both the door that leads to the garden and the garden itself, and has the same design and appearance as the first one. Facing squarely west by north-west, it lets in all the cool breezes that blow during the summer from the north-west and the north. This veranda, together with two smaller ones on either side of it, [superscript: affords] a view from the same height of a most beautiful street lined with very tall and thick cypresses [margin: and plane] trees that are so pleasant and agreeable that this street cannot be praised too highly. Each of these two larger verandas has a row of three doors that are perfectly in line [margin: with each] other, so that as one stands in the great hall that lies between them, one can clearly distinguish both streets through any of these three doors, either down the one by which we arrived or the one that passes through the cypresses and gardens, and by looking [margin: through either of the central doors], one can see all the way down both of these streets to their ends, either the one that leads [margin: to the city 119  Silva y Figueroa gives the literal translation of Latin heliocaminus; Roman heliocamini were essentially solariums or sun-parlours.

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gate], or down the other that leads to the harem, or seraglio, that runs through the middle and center of the gardens. It would be more accurate to call these gardens a great and very thick forest because of the immense [fol. 231v] variety of its myriad fruit trees, as well as other luxuriant shade-giving trees that line countless major and minor streets, all level and laid out in straight lines and crossing and intersecting each other, creating separate squares in these immense gardens. The largest of these streets is the one mentioned above that passes through cypresses and [margin: many large plane120 trees]. Nine hundred paces long and thirty paces wide, at one end of it stands the gate of the hallway that leads to the garden. It is so straight and level that the Seraglio Gate at the end of the street, and even the city gate, the Darvāzeh Aheni where we entered, can be clearly and distinctly seen from either [superscript: of the] gates of the hallway, a distance of an Italian mile. Both sides of this street are lined and embellished with the tall cypresses that have already been referred to, so luxuriant and thick that three men cannot together put their arms around the trunks of many of them. They are so straight and incredibly tall that they look like immense obelisks. And the street, though level, is a foot higher than the surface on both sides next to the bases of the cypresses, and extends as much as five or six feet in width so that two men can comfortably stroll abreast on each side without stepping foot on the center part of the street. This center part is always kept very green with exceedingly fine grass, the leaf of which [margin: resembles a clover], so that the throngs who come from the city, both men and women, can sit there and relax. This is why the gardeners are most careful to maintain this space in the center of the street, irrigating it from time to time so that the grass is always green, for in addition to being tidy and particular when it comes to their flower and vegetable gardens, Persians and Arabs are especially mindful of the many people who come here to rest and spend their time, a practice that they [fol. 232r] call in the Persian language tamasha.121 They use this word to refer to all of their pastimes and entertainments. On both sides of the street, two abundant perennial canals flow away from the row of cypresses [margin: and plane trees] before branching off into other smaller canals that flow into different parts of the garden. 120  The Platanaceae, which is known as the “plane-tree family,” is a family of flowering trees that belongs to the Proteales order. It consists of only a single extant genus, Platanus, with seven accepted species. They are all tall trees that are usually native to temperate and subtropical regions. On the North American continent, they are known as sycamores. The Oriental plane, however, occurs in the region that Silva y Figueroa mentions. 121  Persian and Urdu, from the Arabic tamāšā, meaning “walk about together.”

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At the end of this street is the aforementioned seraglio, or harem, which is a palace after the same design and appearance as the first one, but somewhat smaller and not as tall, and hence it has fewer rooms; it also has many belvederes, balconies, and verandas with heavy wooden shutters. It is a dwelling designated exclusively for women, since Persian men are very careful to keep the women separated from the houses where they normally live. This seraglio is built on a flat area paved with large square bricks that is seven steps higher than the floor of the garden. The paved area is so ample that it extends forty feet outward from all sides of the house. Ten small octagonal pools are spaced evenly within it, each being a little more than half a stade,122 with very clear water flowing from one to the next through a series of small interconnected channels half a foot wide and just as deep. The upper roof of this seraglio has no tiles, but is covered with mud and fine straw that forms a layer so strong and compact that, no matter how much rain falls, water does not leak through [text blacked out] or moisten the wooden ceiling or the brick vault underneath it. Instead, it drains outside through channels that are built into the walls on all sides, even though the whole upper roof is uniformly level. On top of this house, as is the case with all the other leading houses, there sits a [fol. 232v] section of a marble column, three or four feet long and a foot around. Every year when another layer of mud and straw is placed on the roof, this cylinder or fragment of a column is rolled over it to make it more level and compact, giving it a very pleasing and spacious appearance and providing a marvelously beautiful spot for viewing every part of the garden and making it a pleasant spot to spend afternoons and evenings during the summer and sunny days during the winter. As the big house where the Ambassador stayed was much larger than the seraglio, its terrace was so spacious and high that it looked like a great square and afforded a view of all the gardens, both the royal garden and many other private ones, for a distance of three leagues, covering a large portion of the city. And since barley and other seeds were found in the straw that was mixed with the mud, a few days after the surface became sufficiently moistened by the first rains, it was completely covered with grass, interspersed with many flowers. Although it was the end of November when the Ambassador arrived, the garden was still quite green and the trees were in full leaf because of how amazingly cool the air was, even though during the summer months the entire region of Persia that borders on Arabia [text blacked out] [superscript: is] excessively hot. But because a vast amount of water is carried to the garden all year round by numerous irrigation canals, the air remains pure, with very little 122  See “Measurements.”

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variation throughout the year. And so the fruit stays good most of the winter, and some of it even well into the spring. [fol. 233r] The incredible quantity of fruit produced by just this one royal garden is marvelous. For not only is the garden so big that it looks like a thick forest, but the trees on the squares created by the many streets lined with poplars [margin: and plane trees] are so dense and compact that it seems impossible for them to receive enough nourishment from the little soil in which they stand. Nevertheless, they produce so much fruit that their branches can hardly bear it. There is as much diversity of fruit as in Europe, and much of it is of much better quality, especially the pears and all the varieties of grapes, which are of remarkable taste, size, and beauty, and a plethora of pistachios, almonds, and walnuts that are of better quality than any others in the world. Sixty or seventy paces from the women’s harem, or seraglio, which has already been described, and to one side of it, there is a beautiful large pool that is reached by climbing up four or five steps from the floor of the garden. It is surrounded by a walkway that is more than twenty feet wide, paved with square bricks in the same fashion as the seraglio. The pool is just under 100 paces long [margin: on each side], and is decorated with marble stones all around. It is more than three stades deep, but throughout it there are benches spaced every three feet deep that are three feet wide, creating a kind of theater with an open area in the deepest part that takes up a fourth of the total area. It is provided with two or three large boats that can be used for recreation and amusement when there are women in the harem, being intended exclusively for their use. But seeing that there were no women in it when the Ambassador came [fol. 233v] to pass a few moments in its garden, [margin: the pool] and the seraglio [margin: itself] were available for him and his servants, and so those for whom there was not enough room in the big house stayed there. As has been noted, three quarters of this pool was four or five steps higher than the ground, and one quarter of it was even with the level of the floor of the garden. This was where a great stream of the purest and most beautiful water poured into it through a marble channel that was more than three feet wide and half again as deep and that kept it constantly filled to the brim of the brick path. The water that fills the pool spills out through another channel across from the first one, having the same dimensions as the first. It cascades onto the floor of the garden over another marble stone that is as wide as the channel and that is covered with sculpted images of seashells. Even though it falls only a short distance, the cascading water creates a variety of beautiful shapes, as if of very pure crystal. Branching off from the door of the seraglio and facing the other door that leads up to it from the street—that is, the street lined with the cypresses described above—there is another street lined with cypresses, poplars,

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[margin: and plane trees]. It is just as long as the first one, leading all the way to the fence of the same garden. From this street, other streets lined with very straight and smooth white poplars branch off in all directions, intersecting each other and dividing the garden into many large square groves, as has been described. These streets are lined on both sides by big and thick hedges of rosebushes, from which, according to what the gardeners say, innumerable roses are picked. So much rosewater is distilled from them that a great quantity is taken to Hormuz and to many parts of India, where it is sold at a very low price, even though Hormuz is so far from Persia. These roses are known in Spain as Rose of Alexandria; here [fol. 234r] the purgatives made from it perform the same function. But even though this rosewater has the quality of a hot medicine, it is also made into a cool drink in the same way that ordinary distilled roses are in Europe. And it is very commonly used this way, doctors and surgeons alike being known to use it quite frequently both in external applications, as dressings in the treatment of erysipelas,123 and hot discharges, as well as administering oral dosages of it to cool and relieve high fevers, as was done for some members of the [superscript: Ambassador’s] entourage. I will add by way of conclusion to this section concerning the garden that there is a big and very thick patch of rosebushes and brambles in a certain part of it where a number of thin stalks grow like the ones that are found on some riverbanks. Here a vast number of jackals or [margin: small] hyenas hide and take shelter. They are the same kind as those mentioned in the description of Goa.124 Immediately after nightfall they go out in packs, foraging for food. When the Ambassador was in On one of the Ambassador’s [superscript: visits] to this garden, the kitchen being close to the house and near the lair of these jackals, they came to eat the bones and refuse that were tossed out the door, making loud shrieks and howls and filling the entire evening with their music. Most of the time they sounded like reapers or farmhands who banter with each other in the field, ribbing each other, as they say in the vernacular. As has been mentioned, nature has made these animals extremely clever and cunning for their own protection, [fol. 234v] but they are so ravenous and gluttonous, or perhaps more accurately, they are driven by such intense hunger, that they sneak into houses they find open, and when they encounter something to eat, they give off their customary shrieks to call the others, this being part of their very nature—in all other respects they are cunning, but not in this. And so a few times when they entered the Ambassador’s kitchen and stable and started 123  The OED defines erysipelas as “a local febrile disease accompanied by diffused inflammation of the skin, producing a deep red color; often called St. Anthony’s fire, or ‘the rose.’ ” 124  See pp. 176–78. Both jackals and hyenas are found in Iran.

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their howling, the kitchen servants heard them and, slamming the doors shut, clubbed them to death. Thus did the beasts pay for their boldness. These jackals are bigger than the smaller species found in Goa. They look like big hounds, although no one has ever seen any of the larger variety, [text blacked out] but the natives say that much larger ones can be found in more distant groves and gardens of the city. One day the Ambassador’s servants took some dogs over by the thick brush where the jackals hide by day, and many of them worked their way into it, though with great difficulty; some of the jackals ran out, but always by a path that served as an escape route. The dogs did not risk attacking them, even when they managed to catch up with them. The jackals had such a developed instinct that they always escaped from the brush on the side opposite from where they sensed the Ambassador’s big and ferocious mastiff would be, so that when it would chase after them, they would already be out of harm’s way. They had burrowed caves and holes in the ground close by in the garden where they would hide. [margin: Most of them] are the same color as the ones from Goa, and many are whitish and look somewhat like dogs, because, according to the gardeners [fol. 235r] who tended this garden, they naturally interbreed with dogs, though this seems unlikely because they are a completely different species. Nevertheless, the two animals closely resemble each other in color and size. The city of Shīrāz [text blacked out] [superscript: is the same] as the ancient Cyropolis in Pasargadae [margin: in the region of Pasargadae, which is renowned because of the tomb of its founder, Cyrus].125 It is situated on a vast and beautiful green plain, surrounded by high mountains except on the side that is approached from the Pasa Bridge, this being the same road that leads to Lār. These mountains are one, two, and three leagues from the city, and the ones to the north are less than half a league away. [margin: Fourteen or fifteen leagues] to the east is the city of Pasa, which is ancient Pasargadae,126 and [margin: farther on] is the province of Kermān, or fertile Carmania, which lives up to its name in everything having to do with human life. To the west are Ahvāz and Basra, [margin: Arab] cities that enjoy such frequent mention these days. To the south is part of the same Arabia, or Carmania Deserta, and beyond that lies the Persian Gulf. To the north, or the Septentrion,127 on the road to

125  Cyrus II the Great (ca. 600–530 BC) of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. 126  Cyrus the Great’s capital city and the location of his tomb, today ruins located in northern Fārs 40 km (25 mi) north of Persepolis. 127  Ursa Major (consisting of seven visible stars), and by extension, the north.

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Eṣfahān,128 lies the village of Chehel Minar129 [margin: or Margascan],130 and the Bendemir River.131 This locale is very similar to the city of Cordova in the province of Andalusia in Spain, and the city is [margin: nearly] the same size, but because of the vast cultivated area that surrounds it, in which are situated a few villages and many other attractive and beautifully constructed houses of entertainment, it seems bigger and more populated, even though for the most part it is comprised of poor, destitute, and uncouth people. Because of the splendid plain created by its beautiful river, it is called Irum Zami132 in the Persian tongue [fol. 235v], which means “flat city,” and even though the soil of the entire fertile plain enclosed between the aforementioned mountains and the Pasa Bridge is naturally arid and sterile, differing very little if at all from the soil of the kingdom of Fārs, it is profusely irrigated with many canals and wide ditches that since time immemorial have delivered fresh and very good water from several springs that are many leagues distant. These same mountains have been [text blacked out] [margin: tunneled through] to make way for these canals, which render this beautiful countryside splendidly fruitful. And even though according to the written history kept by the inhabitants of this city, it was founded at the most no more than 700 years before the Arabs began to rule over Persia, the memory contained in their ancient tradition would place the founding much earlier. 128  Shah ʿAbbās I made Eṣfahān his capital city in 1598. 129  Chehel Minar is Persian for “forty columns”; this was a name for Persepolis from the thirteenth century forward. Naqš-e Rostam is a nearby site containing the tombs and reliefs of four Achaemenid kings (Artaxerxes, Darius I and II, and Xerxes I). See Bembo, Travels and Journeys, 325. 130  The precise identity of this place is unknown, though we agree with Loureiro et al., Anotações e estudos, 67, that it is probably related to present-day Marvdašt, lit. “plain of grasses,” the region in which Persepolis was built. We also note that the first element of Marvdašt, meaning “grasses,” bears tantalizing resemblance to the first syllable of Silva y Figueroa’s Margascan. Silva y Figueroa refers elsewhere to the plains of Margascan, lending further justification for equating Margascan with Marvdašt. 131  The Bendemir, referred to here, is actually the Kor; see p. 369 n. 175 below. Silva y Figueroa is confusing the name of a bridge and dam that spans the Kor, called the Bendemir, lit. “bridge of the prince” (present-day Band-e Amīr), with the name of the river itself. The same mistake was to be repeated later by Ambrosio Bembo; see Bembo, Travels and Journeys, 307. According to Barthold, this area was considered sacred and was visited by pilgrims (An Historical Geography, 24). In a later passage, Silva y Figueroa equates this river with the Araxes, following the lead of ancient authors such as Diodorus Siculus and Quintus Curtius; see p. 370 n. 178. 132  While zamin indeed means “earth”, we have been unable to identify or corroborate the meaning of irum.

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Everyone tells stories about the magnanimity and amazing feats of an extremely ancient Asian monarch called Genpsit,133 and although no one agrees on when he was king, those who reckon his reign as having occurred the most recently say that it was a thousand years after the universal flood, and thus one can deduce that his was that first and greatly renowned realm of the Assyrians. To him are attributed the great and marvelous aqueducts that carry such an abundant quantity of water to the entire fertile countryside surrounding the city of Shīrāz, and the cutting and tunneling through the mountains through which they run, as can be seen in our day. Although this water comes from a variety of sources, it is so abundant that if all the canals were put together, they would form an average-sized river. In short, anything that can be seen in this kingdom that manifests something of the marvelous is considered to be a creation of Genpsit, especially other aqueducts, second only to the more famous ones, that lead from the road [fol. 236r] to Chehel Minar and [superscript: from which] a great stream of [margin: the most excellent] water also issues forth like a copious stream and proceeds to irrigate the gardens and cultivated fields on the eastern side between the city and the mountain where its ancient and now dilapidated fortress can be seen. [margin: This celebrated city] was surely once bigger and filled with better buildings than it is today, as confirmed by the many ruins that are found on every side within and without its fallen walls. The latest calamity took place not many years ago, soon after the current ruler, Shah ʿAbbās, began his reign. He squashed a great rebellion headed by the lord of this city Shīrāz, Yaʿqūb Khān,134 by tearing down the last part of the wall that was still standing and filling in a great moat that surrounded it; a few deep cavities still remain that are full of the water that flows in from the nearby canals and ditches. And even though the rebel surrendered in order to save his life after defending himself [margin: and withstanding] a long siege in the aforementioned fortress, the king ordered that he be beheaded. From that time forth the residents of Shīrāz have been disloyal and disobedient to him, much to his misfortune. 133  We have been unable to identify this king. 134  According to Eskandar Beg Torkamān Monši, Yaʿqūb Khān was executed by the elders of his tribe, the Ẕuʾl Qadars. Silva y Figueroa’s version, however, is more realistic and is corroborated by modern sources, one of which relates that after the Shah arrived in Fārs province, he summoned Yaʿqūb Khān to his court; after fêting the khān for three days, the Shah had him executed and defended his action by pointing out that his amnesty was only valid for three days. See Munshī, History, 2:611; Farmayan, Beginnings of Modernization, 12–13. For a thorough discussion of the historical context and the gruesome details of Yaʿqūb Khān’s execution, see Matthee, “Loyalty, Betrayal, and Retribution.”

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[margin: Next to the stream or canal that comes from the environs of the road that leads to Chehel Minar, almost half a league from Shīrāz, there is a very ancient mosque that is highly venerated in all of Persia because a great holy man, to whom the Persians attribute many miracles, is buried there. There are some rooms in the mosque where hermits reside who read the life and miracles of their saint to everyone who visits there, as they did when the Ambassador frequented it to see a stream that passes underneath the mosque through a very deep aqueduct and creates a square pool of crystal-clear water in front of the door, and that contains a vast number of small and large fish. A very deep stairwell with many steps next to the wall of the house descends to a small patio that is enclosed by towering walls; it is nearly completely filled by another pool that is smaller than the one that is outdoors, though there are more fish in it. These fish are so docile that they can be grasped in one’s hand. Both of these pools and the ones outdoors are highly venerated as sacred objects. A little downstream from the hermitage, this stream serves as a public washing place.] All the people in this city are very observant in their religion, and there are many mosques inside and outside its walls, some of magnificent and costly construction, especially their main temple, which is of notable size, with a minaret that is incomparably taller than those of the rest of the mosques. These minarets, some of which are taller than others, are very narrow high towers encircled by two or three walkways from which [fol. 236v] their marabouts and priests sing out their regular prayers three times a day. They do so in a sonorous and grave tone while walking around the railings or walkways in order to be better heard on all sides. Except for the mosques, there is hardly an attractive building to be found, and not a single one can compare to European edifices, even those that lie in ruin. [text blacked out] [superscript: The exceptions are] two or three of the king’s palaces, two of which are situated outside the city; the other is where the Ambassador stayed—the main one of the three that have already been described in detail—in addition to the houses of the khān or sultan, which, while not being very appealing on the outside, are quite spacious and long on the inside, with several painted and gilded rooms and verandas, not to mention spacious patios and vegetable and flower gardens. The rest of the houses, including those belonging to the leading men of the city, are all quite ordinary, and except for a long hallway and one or two average-looking chambers, the remaining sections of their houses are more cramped and narrow than what one generally finds among the poor tradesmen in Europe. In sum, this city, which is one of the most famous and celebrated in the East, is now completely dilapidated and lies mostly in ruins. All the other houses suffer greatly from this unsightly appearance.

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But there is such an abundance of foodstuffs here that even with such an abundant population there is enough and to spare at any time of day or night [text blacked out] in several squares and bazaars, and at very low prices. Since everything is so inexpensive, one can always find food that is clean and well prepared, and thus most of the common and foreign people exercise this [fol. 238r]135 occupation in their homes. There are fat and very large sheep, which are the most common source of food, and a great abundance of chickens; both of these are as good as the ones in Spain [margin: or better], and the young lambs here are just as good as the best kids in Europe. There are no rabbits or hares, and very few partridges, even though there is an almost unlimited number of them in the kingdom of Fārs. The explanation is not that they are foreign to the surrounding area, but that a serious penalty is exacted of those who hunt them. As has been said, they abound in the [margin: aforementioned] great royal garden, as do pheasants,136 [superscript: francolins,]137 [margin: and woodcocks],138 although the ones that can now be seen multiply and are preserved as if in a safe reserve. Neither are any domesticated pigs found in the city or in the nearby villages because of the great loathing all these Arabs and Persians feel toward them as a rule. But when it was discovered that the Ambassador and his entourage had been seeking pork, it was continually delivered to him during his sojourn in Shīrāz, which lasted for more than four months. Very big and fat wild boars had been slaughtered ten and twelve leagues from the city in the mountains that are covered with oak and lentisks, although not with very many trees [margin: from where very sweet and thick acorns were also brought]. [superscript: These mountains gradually give way to other taller ones] along the road to Shūshtar, which is the ancient capital of Susa [margin: in Susiana].139 These wild boars were still quite fresh when they arrived because it was winter and the temperature was dry and cold. They were eaten for many days, almost without being salted at all, and the cured pork that was made from them was better than any of the European varieties. It was particularly tender and delicious, and as word spread that they were being eaten, not to mention that they were so affordable—the first ones cost just eight or nine reales, and the cured ones only three or four—all the kitchen and stable servants, in addition 135  The foliation numbering in the MS omits fol. 237. 136  Any of a number of genera in the subfamily Phasianinae. 137   Francolinus francolinus. 138   Scolopax rusticola. 139  The town identified by Silva y Figueroa as Suster is known today as Shūsh, located near the ruins of ancient Susa. The surrounding region, known in antiquity (after Ptolemy) as Susiana, is more properly identified as Elam.

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[fol. 238v] to the other servants, ate wild boar. But nowhere was the great abundance and fertility of the soil of this city more evident than in the unfathomable quantity of all kinds of milk. There is a kind of sour milk that is frequently prepared and is as thick as cream. In spite of its bitterness, these Persians and Arabs consider it very healthful and flavorful, according to their taste, though it is highly disagreeable to those who are not accustomed to it. Great quantities of a wide variety of confections are also made with sugar, many of which are covered with syrup and honey [margin: so they last longer]; there are whole streets where nothing else is sold.140 The honey that is produced here is copious and extremely white, thanks to the big and thick groves of fruit trees whose rich abundance of flowers gives it its fine quality. The same is true of the beeswax, which is also [margin: almost] completely white without further processing. This city has been given to observance of its law for a very a long time because of the many eminent men who have lived in it, not only because of their rectitude, but also because of their austere and penitent lives. They are buried in many of the mosques within and without the city and are held in great veneration by the natives and residents. Especially worthy of note is a renowned hermitage that was built directly into the side of a high mountain. It is visible from the vegetable garden and house where the Ambassador stayed, being situated half a league toward the north and a little past a very old house in another garden that is described below and that is at the foot of the mountain where the aforementioned hermitage is located. And even though the road that led up to it was overgrown and the going difficult [fol. 239r] because one had to wind his way along the highest part of the mountainside, the Ambassador wished to see it. Because of its location and notable and rare antiquity, it merits its own particular and detailed description. Halfway up the steepest crag of the mountain, there is a stone ledge that, either by nature or through some artifice, is big enough to create an expansive, level, and pleasant terrace from which the entire great plain in which the city is situated can be seen, including all of its orchards, gardens, and houses. It provides one of the most beautiful and delightful views in the world. In the foremost part of this terrace there is a small enclosure situated almost at the very edge of the mountainside that is twenty feet in length, ten feet wide, and two feet high, on the edge of which people can sit. Some sections of felt are placed there that serve as mats or carpets where people can recline or sit, after the Persian custom—in other words, these carpets are simultaneously seats and beds—from which the panorama can be taken in. There is not a single 140  Silva y Figueroa is obviously referring to yogurt.

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notable building in the city or in any of its surrounding gardens that cannot be seen clearly and distinctly from there. To the left of this pleasant shelf, and very close to it, there is a small brick house with mud walls, very well constructed, that contains three or four small rooms that are nevertheless very clean. They are completely unoccupied and empty, save the mats on the floors. Their intended use is the [fol. 239v] lodging of travelers who come to see the sanctuary and pay a devotional visit to it. And as the summer heat is intense in Shīrāz, especially because this spot faces directly into the south, there is an ancient cypress very close by that gives shade for the aforementioned terrace and the shelf. Its trunk is so thick that four men can only just wrap their arms around it. Its branches, besides being very tall and thick, jut out exceptionally far, as if it were a big walnut or oak tree, so that its unending shade spreads over not only the shelf and the small house, but also most of the terrace. On the right side of the reclinatory, shelf, or platform, five or six square stone steps ascend to a small area nine or ten feet square surrounded by a parapet, and at that spot a beautiful spring of excellent water can be found, the water issuing from the same right-hand side of the mountain, which is mostly solid rock. During the Ambassador’s visit there, which was in the winter—the mountain peak being covered with snow—this water had the same very moderate temperature as other springs tend to have during that season. But according to the hermit, it was so excessively cold during the summer that it was almost intolerable to put one’s hand in it for even a brief moment. At this point the hermit came out to converse with the Ambassador. He had a long and venerable beard, and his clothing was well-groomed and clean, not mended or dirty like that of a dervish. He showed considerable propriety in every respect. He was very close to sixty years of age. After we exchanged [fol. 240r] courtesies, he offered the Ambassador a plate of dates and pistachios, served with a bunch of fresh grapes that he had ordered to be cut from a vine that grew at the entrance of the terrace. [margin: Although this terrace was small, it was just big enough to house a well-situated and beautiful garden,] and since Christmas was approaching and nearly all the leaves had fallen from the vine, the bunches had been covered with small linen sacks that were tied snugly around the stalk in order to preserve the grapes that still remained, and therefore they were fresh and green. After the Ambassador tasted the dates and grapes and quaffed a jug of water, which was stored in very clean jars made of white clay to keep it cold, the hermit sent a servant boy down to his room, described below. The latter soon returned with a wax candle painted all in green, the same size as the taller candles that are typically placed among smaller ones during the

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Tenebrae141 service in Spain. The hermit offered it to the Ambassador with great devotion, like a sacred object. When asked by several people what powers this candle possessed, he responded in much the same way a very devoted and religious prelate from the great sanctuaries of Europe might have done regarding our truly blessed and holy candles. A long way from there, on the steepest part of the mountain, we could see a sort of church with a high cupola on one side. The hermit said that a great saint—that is, a saint according to their religion—was buried there who had come from the province of Shīrvān more than 600 years earlier and was a native of the city of Bākū142 on the coast of the Caspian Sea; he was known [fol. 240v] by the name of that city. According to what the hermit said, this holy man, who was called Sheikh ʿAlī Baku,143 chose this site to serve God in solitude and poverty, and so he carved and built this hermitage out of the very rock of the mountainside and planted this tall cypress tree with his own hands, which, as was obvious from its great age and its wide trunk and thick branches, was as old as the hermit said it was. He also declared that according to tradition, it had never been struck by lightning. If all this was true, then our laurel trees could rightly feel abashed that such a wretched tree enjoyed the same immunity that they do.144 The hermit concluded his tale by adding that his saint had performed great miracles in life and in death, and that he was buried in that hermitage that could be seen above us. [text blacked out] He added that from the time of his death to the present day there had always been men in the service of his important basilica who were proven to have lived a holy and penitent life. One of these had been Sheikh Baba, his father, who died at almost 100 years of age, and whom he, Sheikh Muḥammad Jahan, had succeeded twenty years before. The Ambassador decided he would like to visit this famed tomb, [text blacked out] and so despite the seemingly impossible ascent to the hermitage, he began climbing anyway, following the hermit from the shelf, or small terrace, where the spring was located. They climbed some big steps, each one nearly two spans tall, that had been carved into the side of the rock itself, so 141  Latin for “darkness, gloom.” Tenebrae is the name given to the service of Matins and Lauds on the last three days of Holy Week (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday). The characteristic feature of this service is the gradual extinguishing of candles in commemoration of the darkness at the time of the Crucifixion. 142  Bākū, Āzarbāījān. 143  Nothing further is known concerning this individual. 144  It was believed that lightning never struck the laurel; hence it was used to guard the doorways of great men’s houses; see Pliny, Natural History, 2.52; 15.40.

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straight and steep that the going was very difficult. [fol. 241r] Every so often they would rest at an area that looked like the landing of a staircase. After climbing ninety-six of these stairs, or steps, they finally reached the hermitage. The hermit opened his sanctuary, which sat on a space that was only big enough for the building itself; it was [text blacked out] [superscript: narrow] and long and close to the edge, surrounded by sheer vertical cliffs that plunged into an immense abyss. The first section of this hermitage was a vaulted passageway of archaic workmanship. It was made of unpolished stone and was twenty feet long by ten or twelve feet wide. There was a stone ledge at the entrance. To the right of it and in front of another small door, which was locked, there was a marble tomb sitting three feet off the ground. It was finely finished and painted, and it was there, according to the hermit, that a disciple of the first great saint Sheikh ʿAlī Baku was buried. Continuing on, at the entrance of the small door, a tombstone lay flat on the ground, fashioned from the same marble, but smooth and lacking any special carving. According to what the hermit said, a leading woman was buried there, daughter of the king of Bākū. She had decided to come from afar to do penance, having heard the news that had spread through all of Asia of the great holiness of this Sheikh ʿAlī. [text blacked out] [margin: Not only] were both of them natives of the same land, but she also came to serve the pilgrims who came there to visit his tomb. Next, with great veneration and respect, our hermit took out a key and opened the small door of the interior chapel. Before going in, he asked that no more than two or three people enter with the Ambassador. There appeared before us a small chapel, twelve [fol. 241v] or fourteen feet square in size, the floor covered with colored reed mats, and in the center, another tomb situated somewhat higher than the one outside the door, but more finely crafted. It was set on a marble pedestal covered with engraved Arabic characters that sang this saint’s many praises and miracles and recorded the date of his arrival there, plus his age and the year of his death. The upper surface of the tomb, which was flat, was covered with a very old, smooth green cloth, on top of which two or three very long strings of beads the size of walnuts were laid out. They were so long that they ran along the entire length of the cloth that covered the tomb. [margin: This celebrated saint once used these beads to pray, especially at the beginning and the conclusion of the pilgrimages he made to the city of Mecca, and thus they were held in great veneration—it was considered sacrilegious to touch them. And so] when Friar Manuel del Populo, one of the men who had come in with the Ambassador, made a gesture of approaching the beads and handling them to see what they were made of, the hermit became quite indignant and upset, and the Ambassador had to lead him away from them. The walls of this small chapel were gleaming white

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and decorated with gilded and painted plaster. The chapel had a very high cupola, given its diameter, with windows that were richly colored and gilded all around. The older building had been on the verge of ruin, and these improvements had been made just a few years earlier by an Abyssinian named Malik Aslan, an agent in Shīrāz of Āḡā [margin: Liza], at his own expense. The latter was an extremely wealthy merchant who resided in India and was governor of the city of Dabhol145 under the Adil Khān. He was famous throughout India, Arabia, and Persia—he was a native Persian—for his lucrative trading in bulk and coarse commodities. After descending the dangerous stairway, we had yet to inspect the hermit’s private and secret dwelling. He declined to show it to us even after some of the Ambassador’s servants asked him to take [text blacked out] them to his cell, which, judging from the configuration of the parapet on the terrace that overlooked his abode and from what could later be seen when the Ambassador started to climb down the mountainside, must have been very secure, [fol. 242r] comfortable, and pleasant, and built [text blacked out] with the same care as the rest of the complex. Below the terrace, the parapet turned into a well-crafted stone wall, a pike and a half tall and as long as the terrace. It had four windows, which may have belonged to the same number of averagesized chambers behind them. At night the hermit would place four candles in these windows, which were of very fine shape and size, and they would burn most of the night through. They could clearly be seen from the windows and verandas of the house where the Ambassador lived, which was almost half a league distant, and this is how the Ambassador learned of the hermitage and how he developed his desire to visit it, the lights in the windows being visible on many evenings. The hermit’s dwelling was very warm and sheltered during the winter and cool in the summer because it was carved into the very rock of the mountain underneath the terrace. It commanded a beautiful vista, overlooking the entire plain of cultivated fields and the city itself. It was entered on the left side fifteen or twenty paces before climbing up onto the terrace. For its protection it had a very strong and good door. On its right were two [margin: small] caves that had been carved into the side of the cliff, the first functioning as a kitchen and the second as stables where the good hermit kept a little mule for going down to the city. He also kept his wife in the underground cell, or dwelling. The woman was very young and attractive, according to the Ambassador’s servants who saw her when they came up. She had been accompanied by a middle-aged maid who attended her. Thus, considering his location and comfort, the lifestyle of this venerable penitent was not 145  An important medieval Konkan port; see Schoff, Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, 201.

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unpleasant. He received regular donations—in fact, the one the Ambassador gave him at the time was very generous, [fol. 242v] as were the others he gave him during the following days whenever the hermit visited him and brought him water from that good spring. [margin: A short distance past the foot of this mountain as one approaches it from the house where the Ambassador lived, there is a big garden with many groves and streets lined with cypress and poplar trees. At one end there is a pool so large that each side measures 130 paces, and it is a stade and a half deep. The water that feeds it comes from a very high crag less than twenty paces away, on top of which an ancient house is perched. Its front outer wall is completely covered with beautiful tile, and though most of the house is still standing, the rest now looks unsightly, having been reduced to rubble. It has a small porch in front, a big square with a fountain in the center, and two wellconstructed rooms on the sides, one large and the other small, each one as well having high windows that appear to have been filled with stained glass. The porch and the windows of the house overlook the big pool, the garden, and the city, affording a beautiful view of the entire area. And although this house can be reached on horseback up the back way that faces the mountain from [continued in the margin of fol. 243r] the garden and the pool, the rock is sheer and three pikes high, and thus one has to climb the first half of the distance by stairs that are carved directly into the rock. At the top there is a big spring covered by a vault from where the water spills into the pool. At that point the stairs come to an end, and one completes the ascent of the rock in order to reach the house with the assistance of holes that are carved into the rock wall and that are grasped, securing one’s hands and feet, with considerable danger of falling. In a terrace on the side of this house, which anciently must have been a garden and where there are some broken and dry fountains, there can be seen three huge, black marble pedestals that are as hard as steel. They are of ancient workmanship, and it is very commonly believed that this building dates to the time of the cafares, a term that means the same thing as Gentiles. The marble of these pedestals is of the same sort and workmanship that was later seen in the great buildings of Chehel Minar; [continued in the margin of fol. 243v] this leads us to the iron-clad conclusion that the tomb of the famed Cyrus of Persia was situated on this rock. It was he who built this city of Shīrāz, which even today bears his name, though in a corrupted and altered form.146 This city later came to serve as his tomb, which, as can be ascertained through sure conjectures, was intact when Alexander 146  Silva y Figueroa thinks the name Shīrāz is a corrupted version of Cyrus. This is impossible given that the city’s name is attested on Elamite tablets dating from as early as 2,000 BC.

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the Great had it opened as he came to Pasargadae from Kermān, the region farthest to the south-east of Persia.] [Back to fol. 242v] The kingdom of Persia itself, as well as Fārs and the island of Bahrain, are lifelong possessions of Emāmqolī Khān, son of Allāhverdī Khān, because it is the custom of Persian kings to give complete power over [margin: many of] the provinces of their kingdoms to their chief men who serve them well in war. No other governor succeeds them during their lifetime unless it is through their own unworthiness. This Emāmqolī Khān was given dominion over the aforementioned provinces because of the great service rendered by his father, and also because of the great treasure his father [text blacked out] [margin: left him at his death]. This treasure was copious and opulent, his father having despoiled Ebrāhīm Khān,147 the king of Fārs, of his many riches. He was also given the charge to be ready to come to the king’s aid with 10,000 armed men on foot and on horseback if war broke out. All the governors live under the same obligation of providing more or fewer soldiers than this, depending on the capacity of each province. And thus this sultan, whose office earns him more than two million escudos148 every year, has a permanently plentiful and brilliant court consisting of both military personnel and household servants. In all things he behaves like a magnificent prince, though life is precarious for all these Eastern kings because most of these great and exalted governors are so subject to the calumnies of others that they often lose their great estates, or even their lives, for trivial reasons. The lifestyle of this sultan is regal, as is that of his peers: they spend all their time when not at war in [fol. 243r] perpetual banquets, with music and dancing women and boys, although in public fêtes the boys do not dance as much as they perform their main responsibility, which is to serve big carafes of wine; it is always these boys who serve drinks to kings, governors, and their guests. They are always very finely adorned and handsome, all of them wearing their hair long like women. And not only do they serve these carafes of wine during banquets and normal meals, but they also carry them around as they follow their masters wherever they go. So except for the very early morning hours during which these sultans grant audiences in a state of sobriety, they spend the rest of the day [margin: and most of the night] drinking and being entertained by the aforementioned music and dances. This particular sultan sometimes goes hunting with falcons, possessing some very fine ones, taking his dancing women, musicians, and pages bearing carafes, one activity never interfering with the performance of the other. 147  See p. 312 n. 45. 148  For this unit of currency, see “Monies.”

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Among this sultan’s hawks, there are many fine falcons and several beautiful goshawks149 that are much larger than the European varieties. Most of the falcons are merlins150 and hobbies,151 plus a few sakers152 that he uses to rouse partridges, [margin: ducks,] and herons before they rise from cover, their most usual game being cranes and wild geese that are roused with goshawks and bigger falcons, with greyhounds and other hounds coming to their aid. But there is no rousing of kites or flying herons, as in Europe. The usual dress and clothing of Persians, though similar to that of the Turks, is somewhat different because their jubbahs are not as long, and neither are the robes they wear in place of capes. Furthermore, Persian turbans are multicolored and decorated with gold, while Turkish turbans are whiter and rounder, and their jubbahs have [fol. 243v] buttons or fasteners all the way down. The Persians fold one section over another and tie them on the left side with sashes. Both groups have curved scimitars, but Persian scimitars are more agile and light, and while they are very well tempered and sharp, their blows are not as weighty as those delivered by Turkish scimitars, nor do they inflict as much damage against a foe who wields defensive weapons. The Persians wear long-footed leggings that also serve as stockings, but they are so long and wide that they do not interfere with any exercise on horseback or on foot, especially because they are very loose and comfortable for sitting on the ground with the legs crossed and curled up, as is their custom and the custom of all other followers of the Muḥammadan sect. The women wear the same jubbahs and leggings as the men, and both men and women wear leather shoes of different colors that are very stiff and hard, with low heels so that one can put them on and take them off with great ease like one of our slippers. Despite being very pointy and the back part higher, they have lots of tacks on the sole. The women cover themselves so thoroughly from their heads to the middle of their calves with white linen sheets, or cloths, that one can barely see their eyes, in the same style as the Moorish women of Granada. Most of them are dark like the women of Barbary, although there are many white women, mostly those of the Georgian and Armenian races. There is no small number of women who are nearly as black as the Moors who live in Hormuz and along the entire nearby coast of Arabia. The women who are wives or daughters of lower class tradesmen stroll in great throngs around the city, gardens, and baths, but the wives and daughters [fol. 244r] of honorable men, that is, of those who 149  Northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis); see p. 339 n. 110. 150   Falco columbiaris; see Newcomer, “Neblí, baharí, tagarote,” 146–47. 151   Falco subbuteo; see Newcomer, “Neblí, baharí, tagarote,” 147–48. 152   Falco sacer.

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hold some kind of position, never leave their houses. They are well guarded and shut in at all times, having their own private baths. The Persians, more than any other people in Asia, protect their women and keep a watchful eye on them. And even so, common women are allowed to become courtesans. These are the ones who always dance at the banquets and parties of viceroys and other lesser officers, as has been mentioned, and of other people who pay them for doing so [margin: according to] the dancer’s ability and price. Every Friday, many of the residents of the city empty into the long and wide street that, as has been described, runs between the Darvāzeh Aheni and the royal palace, to pass the time on foot and on horseback, for this day of the week is a holiday for all Persians. Soldiers and leading people of the city come here as if to a public square to run their horses and play polo,153 which is their usual form of sport. After watching the game for a while, the men and women pedestrians take a stroll in the garden. The custodians of the gardens and orchards, who fear the harm that the trees might come to, do not prevent people from doing this, for the king has ordered that anyone who desires to engage in such recreation should be allowed to do so. Also, the horseback riders, now tired from running their exercises, dismount and walk a good distance to the gate that enters the garden, where they take their afternoon refreshment. As a rule, they all bring carafes of wine in with them. Much [fol. 244v] wine is made in the district of this city, it being the best in all the provinces of this part of the East. A few months before the arrival of the Ambassador in Shīrāz, the Begom,154 that is, the queen or princess, was brought captive there.155 She was the mother of Teimuraz,156 lord of eastern Georgia or Georgistan,157 which is ancient Asian 153  See p. 275 n. 82. 154  This Persian title begom is the feminine form of beg. The masculine form, adopted from Turkish, was equivalent to Arabic-Persian amīr, meaning “lord” or “chief.” The feminine form was applied to royal Safavid ladies; see Jackson, “Beg.” 155  Silva y Figueroa is referring to Ketevan (1565–1624), queen of Kakheti (eastern Georgia), married to David (Daud), prince and future king of Kakheti (ca. 1581). She and her husband (who ruled only briefly in 1601–1602) were the parents of two sons (Teimuraz, the future King Teimuraz I of Kakheti, and Vakhtang, who died in 1604), and a daughter, Helene, who was given in marriage to ʿAbbās I. 156  Teimuraz I, Georgian ruler (1589–1663), son of David I and Ketevan, who ruled, with intermissions, as king of Kakheti (1605–1648) and Kartli (1625–1633). 157  Eastern Georgia was part of a united Georgia under the Bagrationi house in the ninth century AD until its fragmentation from the late fifteenth century onward into three kingdoms (Kakheti, Kartli, and Imereti), which continued to be ruled by different branches of the Bagrationi house in the Transcaucasus region.

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[text blacked out] [margin: Albania]. Being a woman, she was not to blame for the insurrection of her son, but the king of Persia was so incensed over his failure to capture him that, after destroying and sacking that entire region and after taking captive 80,000 of the miserable souls who inhabited it, he also took this poor woman prisoner, along with two children who were eight and nine years old, her grandchildren and the children of Teimuraz. And though she repeatedly entreated the Ambassador to visit her after his arrival and continued to do so [margin: during] the rest of his sojourn there, he declined, not daring [margin: to visit her] or to have anything to do with her beyond conveying his gratitude for her courtesy by means of the same servants who delivered her messages to him, for the Persians, who are so obedient to their kings, disapprove if anyone enters into communication of any sort with a prisoner, especially a Christian. One of the messengers was her confessor, a friar from the Order of St. Basil,158 named Mousen,159 [text blacked out] who greatly resembled those holy monks of the primitive church by virtue of his few and modest words and his venerable appearance, that of a true friar. In addition to these external signs, there shone in him a purity and simplicity of manner that was worthy of imitation by our European monks. And one day when the Ambassador invited him to dine, he accepted on the condition that he would not be obligated to consume meat or fish, since his usual fare was exclusively herbs, fruit, and a few dairy items. After dinner he had two great tomes brought in, both exquisitely bound [fol. 245r] and gilded: the first contained the Old Testament and the Psalms of David, and the second, the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles of St. Paul. Both volumes were written in his vulgar Georgian tongue with its own special characters, quite different from Armenian, Chaldean, and Syrian [superscript: Hebrew], and written from left to right like Greek and Latin, the reverse of how Arabs, Turks, and Persians write. The Ambassador also encountered a boy fifteen or sixteen years of age in this city named Badia Zaman, son of Nur Muḥammad Khān,160 king of the 158  A Catholic and Greek Orthodox monastic religious order, known as the Ordo Sancti Basilii Magni (O. S. B. M.), or Order of Saint Basil the Great, based upon the rule of the ascetic St. Basil the Great (ca. AD 329–379), one of the Cappadocian Fathers (along with Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa). At this timethe order operated in central and eastern Europe, and, as Silva y Figueroa correctly states, was present and influential in Georgia. 159  The Greek form of the name Moses. 160  Nur Muḥammad Khān bin Abul-Muḥammad Khān was the ruler of Urganj (present-day Kunya-Urgench), Merv, Abivard, and Nesa (present-day Turkmenistan), and a descendant of Genghis Khān. As Silva y Figueroa correctly reports, his son was Badi al-Zaman. See Munshī, History, 2:637–42, 748, 791–96; McCheseney, “Four Sources,” 106.

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Chagatais, who are the ancient Sogdians.161 This king, after being driven out from his kingdom through the sedition of his vassals, who favored someone to whom the crown did not rightfully belong, came into the favor of Shah ʿAbbās, who has been the king of Persia for twenty years now, while the latter was laying siege to Melicarcham,162 [margin: king of the Uzbeks], in Balkh, capital of ancient Bactria.163 Taking pity on his wretched state, the king allotted him part of the province and great kingdom of Khorāsān,164 which includes ancient [text blacked out] [margin: Parthia],165 so he could retain some, if not all, of his 161  Sogdia was an ancient province of the Achaemenid Empire, which at different times included territories around Samarkand, Bukhara, Khujand, and Kesh (present-day Uzbekistan). It became a Mongol khanate under Chagati, the second son of Genghis Khān, and was fully independent from the 1220s to the late seventeenth century. At its height in the late thirteenth century, the Khanate extended from the Āmū Daryā, south of the Aral Sea, to the Altai Mountains in the border of present-day Mongolia and China. The western half of the khanate was lost to Timūr in the 1360s, after which the Chagatai khāns that remained in control of the eastern half alternated between allying with and fighting against Timūr’s successors. 162  This name might refer to either Emāmqolī Solṭān or Nadr Muḥammad Khān. First and more probably, since we interpret the first part of this name to be Silva y Figueroa’s rendering of Emāmqolī, and since the title khān may be interchanged with sultan, this person is Emāmqolī Solṭān, the nephew of the Uzbek Vali Muḥammad Khān, against whom Imām-Qulī Solṭān rebelled in Khurāsān, taking Balkh in the process. Silva y Figueroa may have altered the form of his name to avoid confusion with Emāmqolī Khān bin Allāhverdī Khān. The problem with this theory is that we cannot find that Shah ʿAbbās laid siege to Balkh, much less while Emāmqolī Solṭān occupied it. The second possibility is that this person was Emāmqolī Solṭān’s brother, Nadr Muḥammad Khān, who, during most of the period in question, was governor of Balkh, although his name bears even less phonetic resemblance to Melicarcham; see Munshī, History, 2:1039–57, 1184–85, 1204. 163  Bactria, an ancient name of a region in Central Asia located between the Hindu Kush Mountains and the Āmū Daryā (Oxus) River that corresponds today to Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and portions of Turkmenistan. Silva y Figueroa also refers to this region as Batra and Bactra. 164  Khorāsān, meaning “land where the sun rises” and an equivalent term, “the eastern land,” is a historical geographic region spanning present-day north-eastern Iran, northern and western Afghanistan, as well as southern Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Khorāsān also referred to a larger region that encompassed all of Transoxiana and Sogdiana in the north, extended westward to the Caspian Sea, southward including the Sistan deserts, and eastward to the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan. Arab geographers wrote that it extended to the Indus Valley. 165  An ancient region and satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire that roughly corresponded to the western half of Khurāsān, which extended from the Kopet Dag Mountains in the north, the Dasht-e-Kavir desert in the south, Media in the west, Hyrcania in the

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lost dignity. But because this Nur Muḥammad Khān not only failed to reciprocate with the appropriate gratitude, but actually attempted to take control of the whole kingdom of Khorāsān in which he had been so amicably received, the king abruptly turned on him and brought him with his wife and two small children as prisoners to this city of Shīrāz, where he died a few years later, together with his young sons, leaving behind this boy, Badia Zaman, who was at the time only a few months old, and who is now his mother’s only comfort in her exile.166 [fol. 245v] The king gives them no more than what they can live on in poverty and austerity, and they live in constant fear of death. He visited the Ambassador’s house on a regular basis, clearly revealing his royal lineage by his generous and good character. He told the Ambassador many times how he longed to return to Spain with him, and he showed a particular inclination for our customs, habits, and way of life. Knowing him as one did, it would have been easy to bring him to the true knowledge of our faith. Since Āḡā Liza, the governor of Dabhol, was mentioned earlier, he should [margin: be commented on in more detail here]; it is also fitting to include in this itinerary a description of the famous mosque167 he is building in this city. This man, [margin: the son of a poor butcher], left Shīrāz, the city of his birth, in his youth and ventured to India to earn his living in the wars, as many have done and still do. During his many years of fighting under the Adil Khān, lord of the provinces of Deccan and Konkan, he earned a good name and a reputation as a good soldier with the king, displaying industry and quick judgment in his duties. He also amassed great riches and managed to invest and increase them, India being an opportune place for all kinds of commerce. He thus became one of the richest and most powerful [margin: private men] in India. And since he had not only acquired a great sum of money, but also had an expansive and generous heart, a few years ago he undertook the building project referred to above as a personal legacy and to show his gratitude for his native land, erecting such a superb and magnificent building that the remaining edifices in this city pale in comparison in size and elegance. For [fol. 246r] not only is the interior graced with much golden ornamentation, but the exterior also manifests a majestic grandeur: the entrance and main gate, where there is a beautiful colonnade, has two very tall minarets [margin: paved from top to north-west, Margiana in the northeast, and Aria in the south-east. At times, Hyrcania was considered part of it. The Silk Road traversed it from Media to Margiana. The present-day region corresponds to north-eastern Iran. 166  In the lower margin of this folio, there are six lines of finely written text that have been stricken out, most of which is illegible. 167  This is the Anda Masjid mosque, which still stands in Dabhol.

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bottom with beautiful tiles]. They are generously adorned with ornamentation and verandas that encircle them almost all the way to the top. They can be seen from a great distance as one approaches the city from any direction. [margin: The city of Shīrāz is 28 degrees and 44 minutes from the equator as one approaches the North Pole, as the Ambassador observed many times].168 The Ambassador remained in Shīrāz from the 24th of November of 1617 until the 4th of December April of the following year, both to make preparations for certain things that he had been unable to attend to in Hormuz, as well as to spend the rigors of winter somewhere that was not as cold as Eṣfahān. But the main reason for his prolonged stay in Shīrāz was that it incurred no loss of time because the king was not to be found at court there, and it would have been impossible to meet up with him on the road to Faraḥābād [margin: on the coast of the Caspian Sea], his whereabouts at that time, because of the many snowfalls and the roughness of the road. More than a month after the arrival of the Ambassador, Emāmqolī Khān, the sultan of the city, came to see him. He had been in Armenia for many days, on the border of the land of the Kurds and Georgians. These two nations had been waiting for reinforcements from the Turkish army. The Ambassador paid him a visit after a few days, and as it is the custom of these Asians to visit each other in the forenoon so that they can invite each other to dine together later in the day, the Ambassador had to meet with him in the morning so as not to miss him, though this was not to his liking. The Ambassador was first received with great ceremony by the sultan’s entire entourage and guards, and then, after passing through several terraces and gardens, he climbed a very narrow staircase and passed through [fol. 246v] two small rooms whose walls were plastered and painted, and whose floors were covered with carpets. He then entered an average-sized square that was gilded and painted all over. Its beautiful windows were decorated with gold, blue, and other colors, and the floors were covered with beautiful carpets from Kermān. The sultan was standing to one side of the front of this square when the Ambassador entered. He received him with great courtesies and demonstrations of joy, though without moving or leaving his place. It is customary for Persians to not advance even a few feet when receiving visitors, nor do they accompany them even an inch when bidding them farewell. They use no ceremony whatsoever in these greetings and farewells. Social inferiors may even remain sitting while bidding farewell to their superiors. The sultan then asked the Ambassador to invite all of the servants who had accompanied him 168  The actual coordinates for Shīrāz are 29°37′12″N, 52°31′43″E.

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to enter the square, and although the interpreters told the sultan that such was not the custom in Europe, he persisted in insisting until not only did the gentlemen-in-waiting come in, but the pages and footmen too. They were all seated on the carpets that covered the floor of the square, according to local custom. A most sumptuous feast was then provided, though it was quite tiresome and disagreeable, especially for the Ambassador, whose only desire was that it promptly come to an end. In addition to the discomfort of sitting on the floor—thank goodness his back was against the front wall of the square!—all the food was served on the floor, according to the usual custom of Asians and Africans, and it was prepared completely differently from the European manner, not to mention that there were no napkins or tablecloths for cleaning oneself. In this banquet were golden ewers and carafes, and [fol. 247r] golden cups studded with precious stones; in particular, two of them that the Ambassador was given to drink from were decorated with rubies and emeralds, and in the bottom of one a pearl was set that was very fine and round, the size of a goodsized hazelnut. And the sultan, who showed the Ambassador great courtesy in every way during the meal, ordered that the women he had arranged to dance and play music not be brought in for entertainment, because he knew that the Ambassador had refused to have them in his house, because all those who perform in this way are harlots and very low people, even though for Eastern kings and lords, this is the preferred form of entertainment. The fête ended [text blacked out] [superscript: after a few hours], and after the sultan and the Ambassador toasted the health and prosperity of their respective kings, the latter returned to his lodgings completely spent. The next thing the Ambassador did was take measures for obtaining camels and other baggage animals, in addition to a few horses, for his departure for Eṣfahān; he was by this time well-aware of the unhurried pace with which the Persians proceed in all matters. And while the sultan was most compliant and well-intentioned, ʿAlī Beg, who held complete sway over him, was not, displaying in all things a heart full of craftiness and malicious guile, with very definite animosity for and loathing of the word Christian, and thus he attempted to obstruct the preparations for the Ambassador’s departure, though he pretended to favor it in public. But when his intentions were finally made known, the Ambassador sought the sultan’s ear in private through one of his interpreters, entering into complete confidence with him, though in his audiences [fol. 247v] ʿAlī Beg was always present in whatever place they happened to be, so it better suited the Ambassador’s purposes to talk about nothing in particular through the interpreters [margin: only] and wait for an opportunity when ʿAlī Beg would not be with the sultan. And finally, after suffering many days of great difficulty, the horses, camels, and baggage animals were

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granted, though not as many as were needed. ʿAlī Beg clearly demonstrated in all this that, because of some hidden purpose of his, he intended to obstruct the Ambassador’s departure. The Ambassador always viewed this man with deep suspicion and dissatisfaction. [April 1618] [margin: 1618 Apr. 5] The Ambassador left Shīrāz on the afternoon of April 5th, leaving some of his servants behind with the more than 150 bundles of pepper that were to be taken to the king of Persia, because the camels and baggage animals that were needed had not yet arrived. He told his servants to catch up with him the next day and departed from the city, taking the road to Eṣfahān, which is extremely level and pleasant because of the many houses and gardens that have already been built alongside it, and continue to be constructed from day to day. We began to climb and traverse the mountains that surround the city on the north side. And though the road was rough and rocky the whole way, a big canal flowed alongside it that brought water from a great distance and irrigated the gardens and orchards that lined the street we had followed on our departure from the city. From this vantage the city was visible half a league away. It was a most beautiful sight, though the houses, when inspected up close, proved to be most unattractive, as has been mentioned. We traveled until eight or nine o’clock in the evening under an exceedingly bright clear moon, covering just three short leagues, and stopped at a caravanserai that lay mostly in ruins, although its former capacity was easily imagined from what remained of it. [fol. 248r] It had great vaults throughout, some of which were still intact, plus a few smaller ones, but all of them were very dirty because camels and other baggage animals from the caravanserai have been stabled there. And because there were no other suitable accomodations where the Ambassador could spend the night, drapes were thrown over the floor, though it was quite filthy, and there he supped and took shelter [superscript: remained] until the next day. Immediately after daybreak, some of his servants [text blacked out] arrived who, on his orders, had remained behind to visit the sultan, although [margin: the rest of] the caravan and those who had remained with it were unable to depart from Shīrāz that day. Therefore, we traveled no more than three short leagues, stopping early in a poor hamlet called Zarqān at the foot of a high mountain.169 There the Ambassador took shelter with some of his servants in a mosque in which there were fairly good accommodations, the caravan and the rest of his people remaining on the plains. That night the Ambassador ordered the caravan and most of his servants to proceed directly to Māʿin, which was six leagues [text blacked out] away, and to wait there for him and for the other cargo that was still behind them, for he wished to visit 169  Mt. Zarqān, elevation 5,577 ft (1700 m.).

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Margascan170 that [superscript: the next] day, which was four leagues from [margin: that village], to see the great and celebrated ruins of Chehel Minar, which in the Arabic tongue means “forty minarets” or “forty columns.”171 And so, with some of his servants and a dervish or hermit that was in that [fol. 248v] mosque whom he took along as a guide, he departed [text blacked out] until the next day [margin: first thing in the morning] by a road that branched off to the right, heading east by north-east. The road between Shīrāz and Eṣfahān, by contrast, headed north [margin: and north by north-east]. The road was level the entire journey and was the most agreeable one that we had seen to that point [margin: or that we would ever see again] in Persia, for the ground was exceptionally even and covered with a very fine green grass, like the pastures and meadows of Extremadura in Spain. And on both sides of the road, a little ways off, there were big lakes of very clear water, with myriad grebes172 and other smaller ducks called marrecos173 in Portugal, as well as great flocks of wild geese and abundant cranes, herons, and storks—nowhere in Europe could more game of this kind be found. And, though they are not very deep, some of these lakes blocked the road in some places and thus long and useful bridges had been built, enabling trouble-free progress, even though it was winter and there was much water—some of these meadows are usually inundated because there is not outlet for the water. These bridges and all the other structures found in the provinces of Persia were built by Allāhverdī Khān.174 In fact, anything of significant size or brilliance in these provinces owes its existence to this great and famous man. About halfway to our destination, we descended a ways from this beautiful plain and arrived at the Bramir River,175 which, while not very wide, [fol. 249r] conveys a heavy flow of water through a tight space that is enclosed between deep, high banks. Its turbulent water resembles that of great rivers, but it is extremely healthful and of the highest quality. It also provides astonishing fecundity to the fertile and extensive countryside through which it flows. The banks are bedecked with green shrubs and small trees, very pleasing to the 170  See p. 350 n. 130. 171  Silva y Figueroa is partially correct: while the second element, minar, is derived from the Arabic word for minaret or column, the first element is actually Persian for “forty”; this numeral was a figurative way of expressing the notion of “many” in Persian. See Hobhouse, Gardens of Persia, 108. 172  Little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis). 173  Teals (Anus platyrhynchos). 174  See p. 305 n. 39. 175  From Silva y Figueroa’s description, this must be the Kor River in the Fārs province of present-day Iran, which in antiquity was known as the Kyros.

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eye, and although the Persians are not very given to or fond of fishing, the river produces very delicate and delicious fish. For these reasons, and because it is the biggest river that runs through the kingdoms of Persia and Fārs, it deserves to be praised as much in our day as it was anciently when it was memorialized by venerable authors. Quintus Curtius,176 Diodorus Siculus,177 [margin: and Strabo] call it the Araxes,178 but it differs from the great and famous Araxes that divides the provinces of Greater Armenia and Middle Armenia—the river we are referring to here runs much farther to the south, or meridian. It rises in the mountains of the ancient Uxians,179 who caused so much trouble for the army of Alexander the Great on his march from Susa to Persepolis.180 These mountains, which lie between Shūshtar and Margascan, two of the world’s most famous and celebrated cities of antiquity, are where our Araxes or Bramir rises. At the point where the Ambassador crossed, it is not as wide as the Genil River in Spain when it runs between the town of Palma [del Río] and the city of Écija, [margin: although its current is much more forceful]; but the two are quite similar as far as their banks, the quality of their water, [margin: and their width] are concerned. There is a new bridge over this river, although because of the impetus and force of the water during this, the rainy season, and because the river runs through such a constricted space in this place, as has been 176  Quintus Curtius [Rufus] (d. AD 53), Roman biographer of Alexander the Great. 177  Diodorus Siculus (Diodorus of Sicily), Greek historian (ca. 80–20 BC) who lived in Sicily and wrote forty books of world history. Silva y Figueroa also simply refers to him as Diodorus. 178  See Quintus Curtius, History of Alexander, 7.3.19, Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 17.69.2, and Strabo, Geography, 11.1:5, 3:2–5, 4:2, 8:9, 11:2, 11:3, 13.4:5, 13. As Silva y Figueroa notes, Quintus Curtius and Diodorus Siculus inaccurately call this river the Araxes; Strabo is the only one of the three to call it the Cyrus, which is the origin of the present-day name Kor. This river must not be confused with another ancient river named after Cyrus, the Kura, which flows south of the Greater Caucasus Mountains and which Silva y Figueroa calls the Çiro or the Cur; see p. 555 n. 167. 179  From the middle of the third millennium BC until the coming of Cyrus the Great, southwestern Iran was referred to in Mesopotamian sources as the land of Elam. A heterogeneous collection of regions, Elam was home to a variety of peoples, including the ancient Uxians, who were divided into two groups: those of the plain who obeyed the Persian satrap, and those of the hills or highlands who did not. Alexander the Great campaigned against both. As Silva y Figueroa relates, the highland Uxians, in particular, caused him problems. See Potts, Archaeology of Elam, 349; Arrian, Indica, 40:1–8. 180  Silva y Figueroa, as has been amply observed, was the first European to correctly identify the ruins of Chehel Minar as Persepolis, the religious and political capital of the Achaemenid Persians, which was constructed over the course of two centuries beginning in the sixth century BC.

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mentioned, the bridge has been breached and threatens to collapse in a few places. [fol. 249v] Another bridge a few paces upstream from this newer one appears to have given way for these very reasons; remnants of its ancient foundations can still be seen. After flowing out of the mountains, the Bramir runs to the south and then, making a wide turn toward the east, [margin: divides] the ancient province of Susiana181 from western Carmania Deserta. It then enters the kingdom of Persia, and afterward, after collecting other smaller rivers, there being no others in all the provinces referred to that match it in size, it runs through the middle of Kermān, which, as has been said, is the fertile, or blessed, Carmania. And since at that point some extremely high and steep [superscript: mountains] obstruct its course, blocking its route to the sea, it turns back in great fury toward the north-east, now very heavy and swollen with water. It finally runs through ancient Gedrosia182 toward the south where it empties into the eastern Indian Ocean near the Gwadar inlet; the mouth of the river here is wide and its current strong. [margin: While he was in Shīrāz and Margascan, the Ambassador found an account of the course of this second, smaller Araxes, but later, in Eṣfahān and on the way from Qazvīn, he asked some merchants and soldiers from the city of Kermān if they had crossed it on their journey from Eṣfahān to Kermān. They all stated that they had not, nor had they crossed any other river. And since this was impossible according to the above description—since if one followed that route, he would have to cross it—this difficulty was solved by assuming that either its waters were entirely emptied by the many ditches and canals that consumed its waters before flowing into the sea, though this seemed impossible given its size, or that in the border region between Pasargada and Kermān, near Carmania Deserta, it entered the Persian Gulf not far from Hormuz, where there was no notice of such a river entering the sea. But later in Eṣfahān the Ambassador asked some citizens of Hormuz if a river or small stream emptied into the sea near the land of Brami, which is in Mogostan, four leagues from the city itself, and they affirmed that this was true, because they had seen with their own eyes that a very large river emptied into the sea there with two mouths, one larger than the other, both big enough for ships to sail into, and that its water was admirable. They also said that it [continued in the margin of fol. 250r] abundantly irrigated and fertilized the surrounding area, and that the land on both sides of it was called Bramir,183 after the river. After the Ambassador returned to Hormuz, he became more informed about all this 181  I.e., Elam; see p. 353 n. 139. 182  The present-day province of Balochistan, Iran; see Arrian, Anabasis, 3, 28:1–2; 6, 22–8. 183  What Silva y Figueroa is calling Bramir is in fact Marvdašt; see p. 350 n. 130.

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by sending some of his servants there, it being so close by. They praised the many palm trees and fruit orchards that are irrigated with that good water for their beauty and pleasant appearance, especially the many orange and lemon trees, which produced sweet lemons. These can be compared to the ones from Valencia, Spain; in fact, they may even be better. And thus it can be concluded without a doubt that this river is the Araxes, and that because Alexander the Great crossed a bridge over it near Persepolis, this shows us where the true location of that great city was.] After crossing the Bramir, we traveled through a beautiful vega where [superscript: the river] fed many streams and ditches. Many populated villages and large herds of cattle of all kinds could be seen. Finally, the refreshing and pleasant town of Margascan came into view. From a distance, it was only visible through a thick forest of orchards at the foot of a tall mountain; we could also see the highest of the columns or minarets of Chehel Minar. The Ambassador reached the village an hour before noon, where he found a very good house and a great store of food. The air was so good and of such moderate temperature, and the water so delicious and cold, that this village ranked much higher than all the other villages and cities in Persia. [margin: 7 April 1618] And since he harbored [fol. 250r] no doubts that this was the location of ancient Persepolis, the Ambassador desired to know exactly how far it was from Shīrāz to the north and south, and taking the angle of the sun very carefully, he found that it was 28 degrees and 58 minutes toward the North Pole,184 fourteen minutes farther from the equator than the city of Shīrāz.

Sovereign and Ancient Buildings of Chehel Minar

After the Ambassador had eaten and rested, he was filled with the desire to see this famous and great structure that was so worthy of examination and study, not only because of its antiquity, but also because of its stupendous and magnificent size, especially since no one else had ever written the kind of accurate and erudite description it deserved, even though a wide variety of opinions had been offered by those who had seen it. And so, departing from the village [margin: at three o’clock in the afternoon] with the servants who had accompanied him that day, he reached the foot of the mountain a fourth of a league from where this magnificent structure had been founded on the first and lowest foothill. 184  The actual coordinates for Persepolis are 29°56′01″N, 52°53′23″E.

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A very thick wall made of square marble stones enclosed a large area at the foot of the mountain; it was of marvelous dimensions, standing over two pikes tall. While it had no towers, the straight line of its curtain was interrupted here and there by projections and angles so that the curtains were capable of protecting each other, having been constructed with admirable symmetry and beautiful proportions. The bench on which the structure was erected projected farther out than the others, like a bastion that projects out from its wall, enhancing its grace and beauty. [fol. 250v] On the side of the wall, facing the direction from which we approached, there were two beautiful and ample stairways, one on the right and the other on the left, which led to a level area. One side of these stairways was built right next to the wall, and on the other there was a veranda or parapet made from the same kind of marble. Halfway up these stairways, both being of identical shape and size, there was a table or landing as wide as space permitted. From there another section of stairs identical to the first one continued to the top. These beautiful and superb stairways were forty feet wide. Each stair was no more than four fingers high and [margin: a little more than] two spans deep; the stairs were so level that one could easily climb them on horseback. But what was even more amazing was the size of the stones out of which the stairways were made: not only were they forty feet [margin: wide], but five or six stairs were cut from a single stone and so closely fitted that only after careful examination could the juncture of the stones be perceived. Many of those who saw these stairways thought they had been carved from a single stone or from the side of one of the nearby cliffs. And while some of the stairs showed signs of deterioration, which was to be expected after the course of so many centuries, it was so slight as to be almost imperceptible. In fact the stairway as a whole seemed to have been finished just yesterday. The stone used in both the wall and the stairways was [text blacked out] black marble, [fol. 251r] of such unmatched solidity that of all the other things we managed to witness in this great and wonderful structure, none inspired such awe—for incalculable centuries it had resisted the ravages of time, which erodes and consumes all things. We climbed both stairways to find [text blacked out] [margin: an extremely level square] and a portico, or entrance, supported by two huge horses that were constructed from white marble, each of them bigger than a large elephant. They did not look like actual horses, having been sculpted after the heroic fashion, with enormous wings and lionine ferocity. This portico was covered at the top by a massive architrave whose cornice had been cut from the same marble as the rest [margin: of the portico]. It was constructed with straight lines and angles that were as well proportioned and perfect as the most

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[text blacked out] consummate Roman architecture that has survived to our day. The marble of the portico, as well as that of the horses, was engraved with minute decorations that were so well preserved and distinct that they seemed to have been completed just yesterday. Ten or twelve paces past them a huge column stood on a pedestal, as tall and thick as the ones described below. Two thirds of it was striated, and the top third was replete with ornamentations beyond all measure and proportion compared to our capitals, resembling them not at all, because intermittently, [margin: over a] span of three fathoms, these ornamentations, which were of varying size, extended outward at right angles to the column by as much as two or three feet. But they [fol. 251v] and the columns were not made of black marble like the wall and the stairways, but rather of a very white marble, though judging from the dust and dirt that had adhered to it, mostly because of the rain, it had once been whiter than it looked to us. Ten paces past the column was another portico that resembled the first, also supported by big horses; thus both porticoes were spaced equidistant from the column. The two porticoes and the column created two entrances to a large surface or platform where there were twenty-seven columns rising from their bases. As has been mentioned, the Persians and Arabs call this place [margin: Forty] Minarets because of its size. [margin: As was explained in the description of Shīrāz], minarets are towers that are built onto the principal mosques, especially in [text blacked out] big cities, and are quite narrow, notwithstanding their great height. These columns were situated and planted in six rows, eight columns per row. From what one could discern from their pedestals or bases, there were forty-eight in all, [margin: counting the column between the porticoes]; the remaining ones had been destroyed by earthquakes that had most assuredly occurred over the course of so many centuries. Some of them were seen to be broken and partially buried in the ground, and big pieces of others were spread around all over the plain.

Plate 2

Aerial photograph of Persepolis (Schmidt, Treasury of Persepolis, fig. 1).

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Croquis of Persepolis (Schmidt, Treasury of Persepolis, fig. 5).

These columns were not uniform. The ones on the right, closest to the stairs, toward the direction from which we came, were striated all the way to the top and lacked capitals or ornamentations, except for one, [margin: on top of] which half a horse could be seen that was made [margin: from the same marble]. From what could be ascertained, it had broken from what it was constructed the rest of it having been constructed, not completely, but from pieces of the marble and fallen because of one of these earthquakes, or, perhaps more likely, it [fol. 252r] had been struck by lightning. For not only is the front part of

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Column with rampant horse, Persepolis.

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Cuneiform, Persepolis.

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Enthroned Darius I with crown prince Xerxes standing behind, treasury room, Persepolis.

the horse all that remains of it, [margin: having been severed from the rest and lacking hooves] and head, but half of the part that remains extends outward from the column so far that the column [margin: seems] to be on the brink of collapse. Looking upward from below, it seems impossible that it can [margin: remain] supported, being as heavy as it is, especially considering how huge the whole horse must have been. According to its orginial proportions, revealed by its remains, it could not have been smaller than the horses that support the porticoes. Consequently, we can infer that statues of all kinds, both of men on foot and on horseback, must have been used as capitals and ornamentations on the other columns,185 the same way they were in Rome and Costantinople, though in much later times. Because the columns on the right side were so precisely and perfectly striated to the very top, they created a most beautiful sight of marvelous proportion and symmetry, notwithstanding the lack of ornamentation on the capitals—it is very difficult to detect any unevenness in 185  See Plate 4. Column with Rampant Horse, Persepolis.

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Walking Shah (Darius I or Xerxes I) accompanied by attendants with Parasol and fly-whisk, Persepolis.

them from top to bottom except for that small amount that is necessary for adding to their perfection and beauty. And they are not carved from a single stone—their very size precludes this—but rather from three or four sections that are so closely joined together in a straight line that if the columns were not inspected very closely they would appear to be made from a single slab of marble. Time has not worn or eaten away [text blacked out] their [margin: essential or] visible parts: the striae are as intact and perfect as if at that time they had just been fashioned [superscript: when the columns were freshly created], such is the remarkable durability and permanence of the marble. On only one or two of the columns, close to the top, does a thin layer appear to have peeled off from the stone, but so closely to the surface that it fails to detract from [margin: the perfection of] the furrows that constitute the striae. All of the columns are of equal [fol. 252v] thickness and height except for the ones on the right side, which, lacking ornamentation, seem thicker and taller than those [margin: on the left side]. The height and beauty of [margin: the latter], though they are striated, is undermined by the ornamentations and decorations that

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Serpent amulet, Persepolis.

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Hammer bearer, Persepolis.

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Cup bearer, Persepolis.

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Staff bearer, Persepolis.

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are after the fashion [margin: of those found] on the first column, which sits between the two porticoes. As can be clearly seen from below, each column is of a height between sixty and seventy feet tall, not counting the bases or pedestals. No more than a scant six feet of the pedestals can be seen because of all the rubble and dirt that has accumulated on the floor of the terrace where they sit. The seats on which the columns rest are nine feet in circumference, and since the lowest and widest part of the columns measure [text blacked out] a full seven [superscript: and a half] feet across, the difference between the two diameters leaves an empty space between the base and the columns. In the center of each column is a square hole measuring half a foot, just like the big stones of Roman workmanship that can be seen in Europe to this day. Iron or lead was passed through these holes to hold the structure together. Many of these holes were found in the sections of columns that had fallen down. In fact, the diameter of the columns was measured with these fallen pieces. All the bases are of the same shape: they are round, and about half way up, where they join with the columns, they begin to taper and draw in the same distance all around until they are only seven and a half feet around, the same diameter of the columns. In the other direction they grow thicker until their lowest point on the ground, where they are more than ten feet in diameter, as calculated from their circumference. The bases were twenty paces apart, [fol. 253r] each pace measuring two and a half feet. Thus, seeing that there were forty-eight bases and columns in all, laid out in six rows of eight columns each, or eight rows of six, the whole area of this building, according to the surface of the flat area in which it is now [superscript: between] one base and another and [text blacked out] [superscript: the seat of] each of them, [text blacked out] was four hundred [text blacked out] [superscript: and thirty] feet in length by 310 in width, forming a perfect square, though of uneven sides. And even though the floor and pavement are not visible for reasons already enumerated, considering the splendor and grandeur of this structure, it must have been covered with tiles and slabs of the same marble, which, as has been mentioned, is mostly black, as are the bases of the columns; only the columns themselves are made of white marble. Moving away from this square, or patio of columns, one encounters another wall, enclosed within the first and bigger wall, and though it is no more [superscript: no taller] than a pike, it is made of finer stone, with many decorations sculpted [text blacked out] [superscript: in] demirelief that depict men and animals of different kinds. The marble is so polished and glossy that everything was as clearly depicted as in a high-quality painting. This wall measured approximately a hundred paces on equal sides each side [superscript: from one corner to the next], and it was of the [margin: aforementioned] height from

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the platform where the columns are [text blacked out] [superscript: based]; the platform is uniformly even with the highest part of the big wall. A wonderfully beautiful stairway leads to this second structure, and while it was not as tall or spacious as the ones on the big wall—it was no more than twenty-[fol. 253v] four feet wide—and did not have as many stairs because its wall was not as high, it was much more skillfully and beautifully made. On the walls and parapets there was sculpted in a very lifelike manner a tribute or procession of men dressed in different habits and robes. The figures were wearing certain insignias and carrying offerings, which will be described below. They were followed by a horse-pulled cart that held nothing more than a small altar from which a flame arose. On another section, fighting animals [text blacked out] [superscript: were depicted]. [margin: A ferocious] lion tearing a bull to pieces [margin: is sculpted] [text blacked out] [margin: with great perfection], so lifelike and with such ferocity and savageness that it actually looked alive. No matter how closely we inspected it, we could see no damage or erosion of even the thinnest and most delicate parts of the sculpture. The stairs, which are as level and low as on the first stairway, lead to a patio that is enclosed on all four sides, situated above the level of this second wall. It is composed of four enclosures with double walls that must have been where apartments were built, all of them made of the finest marble, smoother and more polished than any we had seen before, with so many relief figures sculpted [margin: on the] upper part that it would take several days to see and inspect them all. The enclosures and the patio were accessible via four doors, and even in the absence of the kinds of sections that would [margin: normally] be found in archaic architecture, they were beautifully constructed, everything displaying a wonderful symmetry and proportion, the sure evidence of which is its power to captivate the attention of the viewer. The architraves that cover the doorways are decorated [fol. 254r] and engraved with many leaf motifs, and in some places with inscriptions of completely unknown writing, more archaic than Hebrew, Chaldean, or Arabic, and resembling these not at all. They looked even less like Greek and Latin.186 Each of the enclosures was approximately seventy paces long, a little more than twelve paces wide, and six or seven feet thick. There was no vault or anything else to cover the empty space between the walls; it was completely exposed for a height of a pike and a half, or twenty-four feet. The highest part had obviously fallen in. The patio was filled with mounds, or heaps, of partially buried pieces of decorated marble. Clearly the rubble had formed from the upper structure, which had caved in. In addition to the aforementioned doors, 186  See Plate 5. Cuneiform.

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several windows were placed at certain intervals to [text blacked out] [superscript: give access] to the sides from the outside platform, which was also on the same level and even with this second wall, and there were other windows that led from the enclosures to the patio that were set more than three feet off the ground and were just as wide and nearly six feet tall. The inner surfaces of these doors and windows, which were as thick as the walls, were decorated with exquisite demireliefs, infused with so much beauty and variety that none of the many objects that I [margin: have been] seen or described in ancient records are able to instill such great [text blacked out] wonder in the beholder. This was due to the convergence of many factors: the quantity and great variety of the figures; the perfection and vividness with which they were fashioned; [fol. 254v] the durability, smoothness, and beauty of the stone; and, above all, the clothing and venerable attire of the men of that most ancient era, so different from what they have worn or now wear in Asia, as far as memory permits one to say. While the rest of this notable building was made [text blacked out] from the kind of black marble that has already been described, these figures had been embossed and worked in a different [superscript: white] marble that was just as hard and flawless white as the marble of the columns. [margin: It was] set in the black marble in the inner surfaces of the walls, doorways, and windows, but only in the upper sections. The lower sections were set with slabs of black marble that were so burnished and polished that anyone who stepped close to it [text blacked out] could see his reflection [margin: in them] as clearly [text blacked out] and distinctly as in a very clear steel mirror. It happened that the Ambassador’s mastiff, which had [text blacked out] [superscript: accompanied] the members of his entourage, jumped through one of these windows from the outside (recall that they were somewhat raised off the floor), saw its own reflection in the inner surface and side of the window, and then passed all the way through to where the Ambassador was. As it gazed at its reflection, it began snarling and showing his teeth, as [text blacked out] [superscript: when these] big and ferocious dogs are about to attack and fight each other. And since its shadow and reflection performed the same actions, it attacked with great impetus and fury, attempting to bite the marble slab, and rising up on its hind legs, it scratched and went after what he thought was another mastiff. Finally, after laboring at this for quite a while, much to the mirth of those present, it leaped through the window, and, by now quite excited and barking loudly, ran behind the same wall and all around the compound looking for the dog whose lifelike image it had seen. This entertainment continued for a long time, for no one was able to calm it down, until finally the Ambassador ordered it to be tied up and [fol. 255r] led away.

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Apart from the beauty of these stones and extraordinary quality [superscript: of these] stones—[superscript: by what could be judged] of them they did not seem to be subject to deterioration or alteration of any kind—the fact that they were still as polished, supremely clean, and shiny as when they were newly fashioned appeared to be an incredible miracle of nature. It was impossible to determine exactly how old they were, except to say that they dated from the time of the monarchies of the Assyrians, Medes, or Babylonians, and judging from the attire and the position of the figures as described below, they appeared to be even more ancient older than that. Amid the great [superscript: variety of] images and forms that could be seen in this place there was one exceedingly venerable personage seated on a high bench or throne whose feet were resting on a footstool, or low bench, that was no more [margin: than a terçia187 or a common foot high], according to the proportions of the man seated on the throne.188 It was expertly carved, its feet appearing to have been turned on a lathe. Behind the throne, which had a back or a rest that was taller than average, [margin: pyramidal in shape] like episcopal thrones, there stood another personage with the same clothing and authority as the seated figure. Both of them had long beards that hung below their chests. Their hair was long, covering their ears, the napes of their necks, and part of their lower necks, as is currently seen in the portraits and medallions from most of the nations of Europe from one or two hundred years ago. They wore short round caps on their heads, and ample pleated robes that reached their feet, not completely unlike the togas and ancient attire of the Romans, [margin: or more accurately, like those of magnificent Venetian senators]. Their long sleeves were so ample at the opening that they hung down to their knees. The seated figure held a staff or rod in his left hand, and in his right, a section of staff. It appeared that a flaming glass bowl had been set into its upper part or head, [fol. 255v] as if a fire had been lit there. The figure standing behind the throne carried a similar emblem in his right hand. In another section there was a man whose hair, beard, and manner of dress were identical to those just referred to.189 He seemed to be carrying a staff in his left hand, since his arm was outstretched, though the stone on which the figure was carved did not extend out far enough for his hand to be seen. His right 187  See “Measurements.” 188  See Plate 6. Enthroned Darius I with Crown Prince Xerxes Standing Behind, Treasury Room, Persepolis. 189  See Plate 7. Walking Shah (Darius I or Xerxes I) Accompanied by Attendants with Parasol and Fly-Whisk, Persepolis.

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hand could not be seen either, though one supposes that he carried the same kind of blazing emblem as the first two statues. This last figure wore a slightly different kind of cap; it projected forward a little from his head, creating an angle, though it was flat on the top like the rest. Behind this last personage, who seemed to be moving forward with supreme solemn dignity, came two others side by side dressed in the same kinds of long robes with ample sleeves, but with shorter hair and beards. Their caps were taller and a little different: one of them had a flap [margin: on the front] like a hunting cap. [text blacked out] [margin: The one on the left] carried a parasol or umbrella with a long shaft in both of his hands, shading the personage in front of him, which is the same custom today in all of India. The companion figure to this one and a little more than a finger around carried a turned and decorated rod in his right hand that was two feet long [margin: and a little more than a finger around]. Tied to the end of it was a bundle of long horsehairs that he held with outstretched arm over the head of the venerable man, as if he were shaking the horsehairs as a fan or to shoo flies away, a practice that is also normal in India with kings or aristocrats, especially with those who travel on horseback. Without fail, Portuguese, Moors, and Gentiles alike have some of their slaves carry horsetails on their shoulders that are attached to marble or ebony handles, identical to the one sculpted here. And both [fol. 256r] the horsetails and the caps are very ancient customs that have existed in India since time immemorial, the sun being so scorching in every season that it would be dangerous for anyone to go out of doors without shade, except if the clouds shielded one from the sun’s force during the frequent summer rains. And since Persia and other southern countries like Susiana,190 Babylonia, and the two Carmanias [text blacked out] are so hot, it would have been plausible for parasols or umbrellas to have been oft used in these regions, even had these sculpted figures not been seen. This is proven with greater evidence [superscript: This was proven to be the case] when the Ambassador entered the city of Eṣfahān on the first day of May, as will be recounted below, when it was already very hot; he had brought a parasol from India and an Indian to carry it who was experienced in this duty. One of the governors, whose name was Totan Beg, was close by and told him through the interpreter that in the time of Shah Tahmāsp, the grandfather of the present king, parasols were used like the one that was being held for him. The Ambassador ordered an artist he had brought along to draw the figures that have been described here, [margin: of which the last three wore footwear in the form of sandals]. He [superscript: also] had him make lifelike drawings of the other four that were carved into the triumph of the stairway. One of 190  I.e., Elam; see p. 353 n. 139.

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these carvings was of a common and lowborn man in a very tight tunic that reached no farther than the middle of his leg, and another shorter one on top of that one with short sleeves, though they had wide openings, and came to a point in back. He wore stockings or low boots that came up a little higher than his ankle, and a skullcap that closely fitted his head; a few tufts of hair curled upwards and peeked out in front and on the sides so that it covered the border or circumference. His hair was longer in the back, covering half of his neck, and his beard was much shorter that those of the solemn [fol. 256v] personages, but just as long as the ones who carried the horsehair fan and the parasol. [margin: In each hand] he held a finely crafted ring, identical to those attached to coffers or desks and used to transport them from one place to another. The ends, which come together to become fastened and secured to some object, were made to look like the heads of serpents, just as these kinds of rings or other kinds of locks are seen to be fashioned in our day, when they are elegantly constructed.191 The other man wore a very short and tight skirt that barely reached to midthigh; his arms and legs were naked. It was tied with a rolled and twisted cloth, and on his head he wore a cap that looked like the first man’s, except that it was fastened with a band, the ends of which could be seen behind his head; a wide flap, the bottom of which was semicircular in shape, hung down and completley covered his neck, like what is seen nowadays on the exarcolas,192 or military caps, worn by Janissaries. His hair and beard looked like the first man’s, and he held two hammers, each of them having two faces like the wooden mallets used by carpenters, engravers and sculptors.193 The attire of the third man was identical to that of the first, as was his posture and the length of his beard and hair, but his cap was very tall and pyramidical, the point falling slightly toward the back. It was also decorated at even spaces with horizontal stripes. He carried two bowls in his hands that looked like wide-rimmed cups. They were a little narrower in the middle than at the top, like the normal type used for drinking water.194 The clothing of the fourth of these figures was completely different from that of those just described: it was not as flowing and spacious [margin: as that of the first figures], and was only as long as his ankles.195 But it 191  See Plate 8. Serpent Amulet, Persepolis. 192  A Medieval Latin nonce, found only in Giovio, clearly Silva y Figueroa’s source for it; see Giovio, Historiarum sui temporis, book 4, also widely circulated in Italian and Spanish translation, and Du Cange, Glossarium, s.v. “exarcola.” 193  See Plate 9. Hammer Bearer, Persepolis. 194  See Plate 10. Cup Bearer, Persepolis. 195  See Plate 11. Staff Bearer, Persepolis.

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was covered with stripes and decorations from top to bottom. A long cape fell over his shoulder that was fastened in front, like those worn by bishops over a surplice [margin: or cope]. It was much longer than his waist, so that as he stretched out his arms, only his hands could be seen showing from under his cape. In his right hand he held a staff, his left hand remaining open [fol. 257r] and outstretched. His beard and hair resembled those of the last three figures, except his hair was not covered by the rim of his headdress, which was much taller that those of the first two figures: it was flat on the upper surface, but had stripes or grooves running vertically from the top to the bottom, all the way to where it met his hair. On his shoulders, over his cape, he wore a necklace that hung to his chest. It looked just like those worn by members of the Order of the Golden Fleece.196 There was a design or hieroglyph on his cape that began [margin: at] the collar and extended downwards. It looked like the half cross worn by members of the Order of St. John,197 with two small triangles that were slightly off to the side of what must have been the foot of the cross. These triangles were part of the said hieroglyph because they are components of characters or letters, more about which will be discussed below. The hieroglyph was so big that it covered part of his chest and most of his belly. It extended to the border of his cape, which was cut in front in the shape of a semicircle. This figure wore shoes like sandals with cords and knots, [margin: like the three figures with the parasol], as seen on ancient statues. [margin: In conclusion, this figure, dressed in such strange and unique attire and with such singular insignias, seemed to represent some kind of office or rank of his time.] Each of these nine figures, which have been drawn just as they were sculpted, has been included below [superscript: on the following pages] so that what has been written here may be better understood. About a hundred paces toward the mountain on the platform with the columns and the second wall, there was another building made with the same kind of stone, style of workmanship and design as the one we have just now described, only much bigger. It formed a perfect square with sides of a hundred paces each, though it was not completely enclosed. It had the same kind of doors and windows as the structure which has already been described. There were many massive remnants of columns strewn about the patio, which was large and spacious; most of them were buried and covered with dirt. They displayed the same size, design and were made of the same marble of the ones 196  A chivalric order founded in 1430 by duke Philip III of Burgundy; see Faivre, Access to Western Esotericism, 180. 197  Knights of the Hospital of St. John (or Knights Hospitaller), a military religious order founded in Jerusalem during the eleventh century.

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that still stood. Besides these, there was much rubble and many fragments of ruins that had fallen from the highest part of that magnificent structure in different times and centuries. [fol. 257v] In the center of this great patio there was another mound, or heap, like the one that we had seen in the smaller patio, but this one was bigger and higher, like a great pile of wheat, the upper part resembling the top of a pyramid. One surmised that there must have been a large structure there which, after many years, had fallen in and become covered with earth, or alternatively, as was said concerning the smaller patio, this mound had been created by the amassing of pieces from other ruins into one pile. On the walls, which were thicker than the first ones, but made with the same kind of jasper and marble, many other figures were carved in demi-relief, some of them as big or bigger than the normal stature of men. They seemed to be fighting vigorously with fierce and terrible animals that looked like lions with great wings. Others fought with serpents, in the heroic style and in the manner of the paintings of Hercules with a many-headed Hydra.198 These virile figures wore clothing that closely resembled the first type described above, though much shorter, and they had long beards and hair. With almost dauntless and terrible countenances, and nearly embracing the beasts, they stabbed them with daggers, using no other weapons longer than these in this dangerous combat; their daggers, in size and shape, very closely resembled those used by Persians to this day. On some of the architraves and doorways there were inscriptions created with the same type of letters that we reported being used on the triumph that was carved into the stairway; in fact, they were exactly the same kind of letters. And though in many places one could see smaller inscriptions made with different kinds of letters and characters, namely Arabic, Armenian, Indian and Chaldean, the latter being the same as Syrian, [text blacked out] it was clear that these had been placed there during later centuries and ages by peoples who have gathered here to witness these miraculous and forgotten ruins of such unknown and completely obscure antiquity. For quite apart from the fact that these many different kinds of characters corresponded to languages commonly known today, they were not [fol. 258r] etched very deeply into the extremely hard marble, but rather merely scratched, or rather painted, on the surface, their authors wishing to leave their mark, as is commonly seen nowadays on the walls of the caravanserais and mosques of these Eastern regions where very similar inscriptions are left by pilgrims and merchants. 198  Silva y Figueroa does not identify the artist or where he saw this painting; we have not conclusively located either, although he may be referring to a painting by Rubens he saw in El Escorial or in Madrid.

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And because it is fitting that the exact shape of the characters from some of these inscriptions of this most ancient building be known and understood, the Ambassador ordered the same artist who drew the images shown above to also reproduce, as accurately as possible, a line of a large inscription that was carved into the triumph of the stairway. This inscription was in the center of the triumphal procession found on a slab of the polished marble that was four feet tall and a little less wide than that. The letters, etched and carved very deeply into the stone, consisted of nothing more than small pyramids placed in different patterns such that each character could be distinctly differentiated from the others, just as they are represented below. The first, bigger wall ran very close to this last structure and surrounded everything that we have already described; both ends of it buried themselves into the mountainside, which functioned here as a wall and defense for this small section, [text blacked out] the only area within this entire platform or surface of the building that the wall itself failed to enclose. On the hill, or section of mountainside, that lay between the arms of the wall a certain raised structure could be seen that was four or five fathoms tall. A stone stairway led up to it, which appeared to be carved from the side of the mountain itself. But since some big pieces of rock had fallen onto the platform, each one of them comprising three or four steps, and since part of the upper section of the stairway was in ruins, the stairway latter must have been constructed of marble that was brought in from somewhere else. At the top of the stairway [fol. 258v] there was a wall thirty feet [text blacked out] [superscript: tall] and just as wide built into the mountain. It was made from the black marble stone used in the rest of the structure and contained many carved figures made of white marble, though they were in a higher relief than the rest. Those who saw and inspected them could not identify the distinctive attire, nor could they explain what they stood for, except that on the highest part of the sculpture there was a dignified personage, like a king, seated on a throne or chair, surrounded by many other shorter figures on foot, in the midst of which there was an altar with a flame, as if for making a sacrifice. In the space between the stairway and the wall, which must have been a large table or stair landing, a rectangular box seven or eight feet long and three feet wide had been carved into the crag—it looked like it had served as a tomb. It was full of rain water that had run off the mountain, and was, despite this, clean and clear, and turned out to be good and delicious when drunk. Forty or fifty paces to the east of this tomb there was another building similar to the last one, with the same kind of stairway and figures in relief, whose content we were unable to decipher because there was no one who could provide a good or true explanation. Since the Ambassador was by then tired

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from walking for so long while inspecting everything, and since it was getting late, he declined to go up to see these last two buildings on the side of the mountain. But it was quite remarkable that in this entire complex and wonderful structure, where there were so many male images and figures, not a single woman was depicted from which the attire and clothing of women from that time could be examined and contemplated. However, it can be solidly inferred from the clothing of the men, which was so respectable, proper and majestic, that the women’s apparel must also have been exceptionally decorous, genteel and beautiful. This would be especially confirmed [margin: by the fifteenth chapter of Esther199 and] by the [fol. 259r] opinion of Homer whenever he describes the Asian women of Troy,200 depicting them as well attired in respectable and long dresses, so different from the indecency and supreme hideousness of the feminine clothing that has been rife throughout the East for many centuries. After closely observing the location of Margascan, with its beautiful and fertile countryside, and the proximity of the ancient Araxes River, not only was there no doubt that this was once the site of the great and celebrated Persepolis, but anyone who sees these superb and magnificent monuments of such ancient majesty can declare it to be such with certainty. For as we first learned of the past antiquity of Nineveh and Babylon through Holy Scripture and through the little that has come down to us from our profane authors, namely, that Nineveh was annihilated and completely destroyed by that great flood of the Tigris, as clearly related by the prophet Nahum and by Diodorus Siculus,201 and that all the miraculously long walls and cisterns of untold depth [margin: in Babylon], plus the Hanging Gardens, were built from nothing but brick, we should not require that the antiquity and greatness of these two magnificent cities depend on the evidence of their visible remnants and signs of their destruction and annihilation. But since in the immense and poorly understood vastness of the ages great mysteries can be hidden from men, [margin: one] can also [margin: assume] that these almost eternal monuments of Chehel Minar, the city of Persepolis, though less famous and more recondite and remote in this part of the East, are more ancient than those any others in the world of which we have knowledge. Memphis never ceded pride of place to Nineveh or Babylon as far as its antiquity or the glorious succession of its kings 199  See Esther 5:1–3. Esther has only 10 chapters; Silva y Figueroa mistook chapter 5 for ­chapter 15. 200  See, e.g., Iliad, 6.522–25. 201  See Nahum 1:8; 2:6; and Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 2.27–28.

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are concerned, and although some of its miraculous pyramids have remained to this day, [margin: they do not reveal these things to us]; they are no more than great piles of rubble. [fol. 259v] They do not show of themselves [margin: bear witness] of any elegance, beauty, or variety of workmanship; they [margin: only] amaze us and have acquired great fame among the nations of Europe because of their vastness, and this because of the many reports that have been received about those in Egypt. But in Chehel Minar, an array of things are worthy of notice in our present day: there is such a great variety of statuary and excellent architecture witnessed here, not to mention the perfection, durability and beauty of so many pieces of marble and jasper, that by rights every column should be judged and esteemed as a consummate, rare, and stupendous creation. Tucked into the side of the mountain one can see what appear to be royal tombs;202 they are so close to this complex that one might suppose that the whole thing was intended as embellishment for them so that the creator of this splendid and magnificent structure could leave his posterity an eternal monument to his power and majesty, this being the same desire that [superscript: moved] the ancient kings of Egypt to build and erect their [margin: labyrinths and] pyramids. But when one carefully considers that the complex is divided into separate sectors that are widely separated from each other, all of them surrounded by such a thick and strong wall, its very form and appearance truly demonstrate that it was the royal palace and fortress of Persepolis, whose memory has been preserved by the most distinguished authors of antiquity. These authors described the annihilation of the great Persian Empire by Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia. And though Arrian,203 Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch204 and Quintus Curtius earnestly extol and praise the great grace and beauty of this magnificent palace as the principal capital of the realm of all Asia, only Diodorus depicts it [text blacked out] as being supremely elegant, as has now been confirmed for us by the magnificent evidence of it that remains.205 Because besides the fact that the [fol. 260r] great wall contains 202  These are the royal tombs of Naqš-e Rostam (meaning “Pictures of Rostam”) on the southern tip of the Ḥosayn Kuh mountains, 4.8 km (3 mi) north-west of Persepolis. The identify of the ruler buried in just one of the tombs (Darius I) has been confirmed by inscriptions. Other tombs are believed to correspond to Xerxes, Artaxerxes I, and Darius II. See Von Gall, “Naqš-e Rostam.” 203   Arrian [Lucius Flavius Arrianus], historian with Roman and Athenian citizenship (AD 86–160). 204  Plutarch, Greek author (AD 46–120); see Plutarch, Lives, VII, Alexander. 205  See Arrian, Anabasis, 3, 18:10–12; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 17.70.1–6; Plutarch, Lives, 7, Alexander, 37.1–2; Quintus Curtius, History of Alexander, 5.7.3–8.

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within itself the other (second) interior wall in which the stairway of triumph is located, in many parts extremely hard pieces of jasper and porphyry can clearly be seen to have been seared and burned on their surfaces, though they are intact in their main body and substance and thus have not been worn away, but rather have withstood with their admirable strength the great violence of the fire that consumed and destroyed most of this [text blacked out] [superscript: great] structure. And as for the fact that it was burned, all the aforementioned authors and the rest who have written about the deeds of Alexander the Great not only say this, but also tell when and how this fire was set, attributing this feat—if such it deserves to be called—to the Athenian Thaïs206 as revenge for another similar fire by which her homeland had been anciently destroyed by the Persians. And while Diodorus writes that this fortress had three walls or ramparts, each one enclosed within the next, this discrepancy, which is not great, can be attributed to the massive changes and alterations that have taken place over so great a time, and to the fact that this author flourished many centuries later. It is also very plausible that because Diodorus Siculus was not well informed, he mistook the second quadrant of the structure closest to the mountain for a third wall, and indeed because of the thickness and strength of its walls it may merit this label. Diodorus also writes something else that further confirms that this was in truth the fortress of Persepolis, namely that after he completes his description of it he adds that to the east of it, about 400 feet distant, there is a mountain called the Royal Mountain, and that halfway up one of its cliffs there were several royal tombs. He says that the caskets and the bodies they contained were taken up the mountain by means of certain wooden structures, leaving us to understand that there were no stairs.207 This account accords quite well with what can now be seen in the structure on the mountain and with such clear [margin: and sure] evidence [fol. 260v] of the site and the distance from the palace and fortress, though this author does not indicate or make any reference to the stairs and the ease of the ascent that now exists to take the aforementioned bodies up the mountain. But here we can appeal to the same explanation that was offered concerning the question of whether there were two or three walls anciently surrounding the entire edifice of the fortress [margin: or whether the stairway was constructed afterward]. Alternatively, it is plausible

206  Thäis was a Greek courtesan of Alexander the Great and a lover of his general Ptolemy I Soter. She convinced Alexander to burn Persepolis after a drinking party; see Plutarch, Lives, VII, Alexander, 38.1–4. 207  See Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 17.71.3–8.

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that Diodorus was misunderstood by the Bolognese Angelo Cospi,208 and that he meant something else in the original Greek. And since the commodity of books to which one can refer here in Persia, where the present account is being written, is completely wanting, the original version cannot be consulted with more promptness; it is precisely for this reason that Angelo’s translation was brought from Spain. [margin: The Ambassador] had seen and noted the passage in Diodorus where he describes the Royal Fortress of Persepolis and the nearby mountain tombs. He had also heard of them through the report that Friar António de Gouveia,209 bishop of Cyrene, made to him in Spain concerning this magnificent structure, though in an unclear and confusing manner, many years before he or anyone else imagined that the Ambassador would ever come to Persia. This structure has been buried and has been so remote among these barbarian nations for so many centuries, with so little and such obscure and confusing descriptions, that the Bolognese Sebastiano Serlio,210 in his ancient and modern architecture, published only knew a little about it, though his was such an ignorant and barbarous account that in his description of this structure he says there are forty small columns, failing to indicate their true dimensions. On the contrary, [margin: he depicts] the columns as having Corinthian capitals and remains tacit about the rest of their design, though he furnishes the correct name for the place, calling it Forty Columns, which, as has been mentioned, means the same thing as forty minarets in Arabic and Persian. For its antiquity, elegance and the grandeur of its construction, in the elegance and beauty of its beautiful architecture, as well as the perfection and the imperishability of the material of which it is built, not only does Persepolis 208  Angelo Bartolomeo Cospi, Italian rhetorician (1430–1516), born in Bologna, translator of classical works from Greek to Latin, who published Libri duo, primus de Philippi Regis Macedoniae, aliorumque quorundam illustrium ducum, alter de Alexandri filii rebus gestis (Two Books, the First Regarding The Deeds of Philip, King Of Macedonia, and of Certain Other Distinguished Leaders; the Second Regarding the Deeds of His Son, Alexander), Vienna, 1516. See Taylor and Cosenza, “Library News,” 170. 209  António de Gouveia, O. E. S. A., Portuguese missionary, diplomat, and author (1575– 1628), who visited Persia three times between 1602 and 1613 and published Jornada and Relaçam. See Matthee, “António de Gouvea,” 177–79. 210  Sebastiano Serlio, Italian Renaissance architect and author (1475–1554), born in Bologna; his practical treatise on architecture, I sette libri dell’architettura, also known as Tutte l’opere d’architettura et prospettiva, pioneered the use of high quality illustrations to supplement the text. Silva y Figueroa was familiar with and probably consulted his work, since five books of his treatise had been published in Europe at intervals from 1537 forward; see Rosenfeld, Serlio on Domestic Architecture, 12–26.

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compare with the Seven Wonders and miracles regarding which the ancients left us so many records, but very justly deserves [fol. 261r] to be awarded pride of place ahead of the rest as something unique and rare, incomparable to any of the other wonders that antiquity has bequeathed to us in the records and traces of them that exist in the world. Just before nightfall, the Ambassador returned to Margascan, finding a great number of storks on the way that also took to their nests that were perched on the highest parts of all of those great columns. [margin: 8] On the 8th day of April, the Ambassador departed from Margascan, but because of the late hour he covered no more than three leagues through the fertile and flat countryside. [margin: With the Araxes River just a league to his left], he arrived at the base of a very steep and high mountain where an archaic fortress had been erected. Its extremely rugged setting rendered it very strong and absolutely impregnable: the sides of the mountain were so completely sheer on all sides that it could only be reached by ascending along a great number of switchbacks, and that with great difficulty. And although a high, strong wall ran across the top of the mountain, and although the fortress was protected by regularly spaced towers, what really made it impregnable was the fortification with which nature has endowed it. But even though it was at that time open and unguarded, no one wanted to take the trouble to see it. At the foot of this mountain is a field of fine and green grass, and there the Ambassador spent the night in his litter close to two dawārs belonging to Turkmens, who always proved to be good neighbors. [margin: 9] Before dawn on the 9th, we continued our journey, and after passing the aforementioned mountain and fortress on the left, we proceeded a good distance with the Araxes, or Bendemir,211 [superscript: visible] on the left. [superscript: Here its course broadened and became more beautiful], both of its banks being thick with green shrubs. This river has a certain pleasing quality, and it bestowed especial pleasure on all those who saw it and strolled along its banks. At nine o’clock [margin: in the morning] we reached Māʿin after crossing a small river [fol. 261v] in which there flowed cold, clear, crystalline water and whose banks abounded with dense groves of green trees. Māʿin lies in an open plain and comprises 500 or 600 houses, all of which are nestled among myriad gardens and orchards consisting mostly of walnut trees, which create the appearance of a thick forest. In addition to the native residents, there was a large colony of Circassians in this town, because two years earlier the king of Persia sacked a major portion of Georgia, or Georgiana, and brought its inhabitants back as captives. Among them was a great number of these poor 211  This is actually the Kor River; see p. 369 n. 175 and p. 170 n. 178.

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Circassians, [margin: who were also forced to emigrate] and were scattered throughout different parts of Persia. And the destitution of these pitiable people was all the greater because, while escaping the plague and sufferings of the war that had so recently broken out among the natives of Circassia, they fled with their women and children to the region closest to Georgia, attempting to avoid siding with one faction or the other, but the danger in that region turned out to be even greater and more certain. All of these Circassians were white and attractive. Their harsh fortune and extreme poverty would move anyone to compassion, and so the Ambassador donated a good sum of money to many of them. [margin: 10] The next day, the 10th, the Ambassador, together with the whole caravan, which had formed up in the aforementioned village, traveled three leagues to Emāmzāda,212 a village consisting of just a few houses that were clustered in a caravanserai, which was in turn enclosed within a good wall. Inside the caravanserai was also a large and affluent mosque. According to ancient custom, its revenue supplied food for three days for all pilgrims and poor travelers. The Persians and Arabs held this, their temple, in great veneration because a great and venerable saint had been [margin: interred] in his tomb here, and thus it had benefited from several bequests and donations. Just inside the entrance to the caravanserai was a beautiful and abundant spring; the force of its current was so strong outside the caravanserai that it could have driven a mill. Most of the road from Māʿin to this caravanserai [fol. 262r] was steep and rugged, with high mountains on the left side that were covered with a few small shrubs. Their peaks were still covered with snow, even though summer had already come. The Ambassador spent the rest of this day, which was Tuesday of Holy Week, the 10th of April, in this caravanserai. The caravan had planned on setting out at nine o’clock that evening, but there occurred a terrible disaster that greatly upset and saddened the Ambassador and all of his entourage. It happened that Giuseppe Salvador, [margin: the previously mentioned] Armenian who was much beloved by the Ambassador, not only because of his faithful service as interpreter, but also because of his great experience in these Eastern countries, had gone ahead of the caravan alone in order to escort a Moorish Gentile [margin: or Indian] woman of low reputation who, by order of the Ambassador, had been expelled from the caravan when her scandalous behavior and poor 212  Emāmzāda Esmāʿīl. In Shiʿism, an emāmzāda is a shrine where a saint is buried; emāmzādas once served a refuges for travelers and the distressed. This accords with Silva y Figueroa’s description of Emāmzāda Esmāʾīl. Esmāʾīl was one of the Seven Imams in the Esmāʿīli tradition; see Katouzian, Persians, 70.

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example became public. This Giuseppe, who had traveled openly with her from Shīrāz, was found beheaded 200 paces from where he had set out by those carrying the first of the caravan’s supplies. In the uproar that ensued from such a horrible incident, everyone ran to tell the Ambassador, who was sleeping in anticipation of the caravan’s scheduled departure [margin: the next morning] although. Amid the sudden alarm, he ordered that no one make inquiries or try to determine the identity of the guilty parties, judging that another incident, worse and more serious than the first, could be feared from those who had perpetrated this act with such impunity. A vigilant guard was kept all that night, and the next morning, after the deceased was interred, nothing else was discovered concerning his death beyond the fact that very shortly before his departure and his separation from the caravan [fol. 262v], two troops of horsemen with harquebuses, bows, and scimitars had hurried past. It was generally believed that it was these men who had killed him. But no one could imagine what offense that poor man could have given, nor could anyone suspect where [superscript: who] had killed him so cruelly, carrying off his head while leaving behind his money and the jewelry he was wearing, except to say that his assailants had been many. The Ambassador decided that it would be best to move on in silence since they were in a place where such was the necessary course to follow. On Wednesday, the 11th of the same month, we traveled three leagues to a small village called Ūjan.213 Two leagues of this journey were extremely rugged because we had to go up one side of a mountain and down the other. The road was so uneven and crowded with large boulders that we experienced great hardship, especially in the ascent. A number of men carried the Ambassador’s empty litter while he rode a horse with great difficulty. The south side of this mountain was not bare like almost all the other mountains in Persia, but rather filled with lentisks of the large variety, described above, from which a great quantity of mastic is collected. There was also much broom. But the north side where we came down was as bare as any of the other mountains, save for a few small, spiny shrubs. The Ambassador spent the night in this village in a room built adjacent to a mosque, which the natives of this land hold in great devotion because a great saint is buried here, a descendant of ʿAlī and

213  Present-day Kenās-e Soflā. Silva y Figueroa’s contemporary Thomas Herbert, a member of the English ambassador Sir Dodmore Cotton’s entourage, described it as “a village consisting of thirty families, most of them Prophets or Prophets’ children [see the following note on sharīfs]. We still found least profit where such Prophets dwelt, seeing they drunk no wine, nor were grapes allowed to grow amongst them” (Travels in Persia, 117).

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Fātimah, the daughter of Muḥammad.214 No sooner did the Ambassador arrive than the hermit or dervish of the mosque came to pay him a visit and told the Ambassador about this saint. He also swore that many sick, blind, and palsied, both men and women, had been restored to health [fol. 263r] by the intercession of that great saint, whose miracles were recorded in a great catalog and index that was in his possession. This village and mosque is situated on a plain through which there flows a mid-sized swampy stream full of fish, and which may be crossed on a stone bridge not far from the village. We departed from here on the 12th, Maundy Thursday, and traveled four leagues to a big and beautiful caravanserai and its contiguous hamlet; the latter was surrounded by the remains of a mud wall. In its center, in an area that was slightly more elevated than the rest, were the ruins of a fortress that was in partial collapse. Surrounding it, and within the first wall of the village, there were close to 100 houses, most of them belonging to Circassians who had gone there during the same migration as those from Māʿin; they were a most destitute and impoverished people. For this reason, and out of due veneration for the day, the Ambassador ordered a certain amount of money to be distributed as alms among all these people. This village is called Āspās, and although its location is flat and low, it is surrounded by high mountains, the tallest of which is covered in snow,215 the area between them being low and marshy. The whole plain where the caravanserai and village are located collects a huge amount of runoff from the mountains, in addition to being traversed by the same stream that passes through the village, and any number of springs burst forth everywhere. And while the water looks clear and fresh, it produces the opposite effect on anyone who drinks it. For even though by nature it is not completely unhealthy, it percolates through the mountain earth and rock, and the quality of the ground where it breaks through is extremely septic and noxious, especially that pestilent stream that [fol. 263v] pollutes the air throughout the entire [text blacked out] [margin: district]. Even the fish that live in it are pestilential, a fact that was confirmed the day the Ambassador passed through. Every member of his entourage caught a good number of large fish in it, and most of the servants were sick by the time they departed from there the next day. They did not heed the Ambassador’s warnings to abstain from eating those fish—he had noticed their repugnant yellowish coloring. Next to the caravanserai there is a large garden that Allāhverdī Khān had ordered to be cultivated just before 214  The MS has Mahamet ó Mohoma. A descendant of Muḥammad through ʿAlī and Fātimah is called a sharīf, meaning “noble, glorious,” and is accorded authority and special preeminence by Muslims; see Dalgado, 2:426–27. 215  The highest peak near Āspās, at 3,185 m (10,449 ft), is Chāhārbid in the Zagros Range.

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his death. It contains a great number of all kinds of fruit trees and wide straight streets lined with poplars, [margin: plane,] and cypress trees, though because they were just freshly planted, they are rather small. [margin: 13] On the 13th, we arrived in Kūshkeźar early in the day. It is a good caravanserai and village built in the form of a fortress. The entire length of the road is low and marshy, with big lagoons and swamps, and the air is as bad, or worse, than that of Āspās, the village from where we had come that day. The name Kūshkeźar, which the Persians had given to this caravanserai and village, was fitting, for in the [text blacked out] Persian tongue it means “pestilent and noxious place.”216 The Ambassador fell ill that day, as did his servants, the sickness persisting through the following evening. They felt awful for two or three days, as though seasick in a great storm. Considering that the two most basic forms of sustenance are air and water, and that in this place both of these elements are so foul and noxious, the result is that not only are they vile, but they also have the particular quality of causing these kinds of afflictions. [margin: 14] On the 14th, Holy Saturday, the Ambassador arrived in Dehgerdū where there is a big caravanserai and another town enclosed in a moderately sized fortress. Seeing that there was a small but well-built house there, though it had very small chambers, the Ambassador spent the night in it. [fol. 264r] The better air helped him and all the others to recover somewhat from their affliction and indisposition of the past few days. [margin: 15] On the 15th, Easter Sunday, the caravan reached Izadkhāst after a journey of eight long leagues. While traveling on level ground, we suddenly chanced upon a particularly high cliff, so steep and difficult to descend on all sides, including the one the pass was on, that it took us a long time to get to the bottom, where there was a very flat valley and vega 200 paces or more wide by 500 paces long, [margin: stretching onwards with those same proportions for a few more leagues]. It was irrigated by a few small canals. On the other side of the vega was another sheer cliff similar to the first, so that the vega located at the bottom looked like a very wide and deep pit. On top of the highest and steepest cliff that was next to the vega, a village had been established. Despite its small size, it was set in an extremely well-protected location. Its houses were several stories high and contained countless small windows that from a distance resembled bird nests or the lairs of wild animals. We passed through the valley, crossing a stream that ran through and irrigated the vega, and then began climbing the very steep hill on which the fortress was set, coming at it around the mountain from the north. The great height of the houses 216  The name of this village in Persian actually means “golden pavilion”; see Le Strange, Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, 282.

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presented a remarkable sight. They were tightly packed together, forming a wall with countless windows through which many women and children could be seen; the women were whiter than any witnessed in Persia to that point. The entrance to this extraordinary city was across a very narrow drawbridge that lacked hand rails [fol. 264v] and that spanned an extremely deep abyss. The previous afternoon, a horse that belonged to one of the Persians who had been preparing the Ambassador’s chambers had fallen from there and was dashed to pieces. That evening the Ambassador had very poor lodging [superscript: accommodations], as was normal given the great poverty of the village. [margin: 16] On the 16th, the caravan traveled seven leagues to a hamlet that was much more wretched and squalid than the previous one, and whose name is not worth remembering. But at a little past the midpoint of the journey, we passed a very spacious and beautiful caravanserai. It was newly built completely out of stone, with great towers on the corners. In short, it was the best of all the caravanserais we had seen or later saw on this journey, at least from what could be judged from the outside. [margin: It was also one of Alaverdechan’s projects, undertaken at his own expense.] Across from the caravanserai the road passed directly through a large, new, and strong fortress that contained a small village. The fact that there were so many fortresses on this desolate and isolated road was an indication of how many thieves traveled on it, preying on poor laborers as well as merchant caravans. [margin: 17] On the next morning, the 17th of the same month, the Ambassador set out with the caravan from the poor hamlet where he had stopped the day before, and after covering six leagues on a level road and through good land, though bereft of trees, he arrived in a good-sized town that the locals considered a city, called Qomīsheh,217 which had a population of 400 or 500 inhabitants. The surrounding countryside, as well as a good portion of the land leading up to it, was tilled and worked for wheat and barley, the soil appearing to be thick and thick [superscript: fertile], though it was very compact and loamy. [fol. 265r] It was irrigated with many canals that delivered water from a great distance; as has been said a number of times already, without this water nothing would grow or flower in Persia at all because of the dearth of rain. The soil is so naturally dry that not a single tree or bit of greenery grows on the mountains or plains except for the lentisks that are harvested for their mastic, or the few spiny and bare trees that have also been mentioned. The Ambassador spent that night in the home of a resident who had a modest house, while the members of his entourage stayed in other houses nearby. 217  Present-day Shahreẕā.

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In the morning, a fine rain began to fall, though the weather had seemed to be settled upon his arrival, with only light clouds in the sky. It was expected that this rain would last only long enough to lay the dust, as the popular saying goes. But soon things were seen to be otherwise, for though it lasted the afternoon through without growing heavier or thicker, the water began to run off everywhere in copious amounts without soaking into the ground. As was mentioned, the soil was loamy and chalky, and it quickly turned into a thick mud that was so slick that those who hurried to cover or move the baggage (most of which was by now laying in water or mud) to an old caravanserai had difficulty staying on their feet. In the midst of the inevitable confusion that ensued, the Ambassador [fol. 265v] hurried as quickly as possible to see to the baggage, especially to the gifts he was carrying to the shah, while everyone kept on slipping and falling in the thick and slippery mud. The more they dug in and planted their feet, the harder they fell to the ground. The mules and donkeys that were brought over to quickly haul some of the baggage to the caravanserai were not only ineffectual, slipping and falling more than the men, but many of them were rendered completely useless for the rest of the journey to Eṣfahān because of the terrible falls they took. Finally, after the packages containing the king’s gifts, consisting of clothing, silks, and scarlet fabric, plus some of the Ambassador’s personal effects, were safely stowed in the caravanserai and in some nearby houses, the remaining packages, which totaled more than 300, not counting the bundles and boxes belonging to the servants, were gathered into a great pile out in the open and covered with large felt tarps with which the Ambassador had ordered the caravan be provisioned in Shīrāz for just such an eventuality. The host of the house where the Ambassador stayed was a great artisan, a bow maker, and because of this he received a certain stipend from the king. He brought the Ambassador a beautiful and strong bow, richly decorated with gold plating. It greatly pleased the Ambassador, who was most thankful for it and who afterward gave some money to the host’s young children and grandchildren who came over to a window of the Ambassador’s chamber, which was covered by a wooden lattice and which led to a garden of the main house. This opened the way [fol. 266r] for all of the girls and women—some veiled and others uncovered (not only those pertaining to the household, but many more from all over the neighborhood)—to come to the same window, where a lengthy congiarium218 took place to the great delight and laughter of the Ambassador. 218  Latin for “largess for the soldiers or the poor.”

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[margin: 18] On the 18th, we left Qomīsheh a little before noon on a road that was very wet and muddy, being flat and consisting of the same loam, and the more we advanced, the muddier it got. It was obvious from the many swampy areas that it had rained heavily for many days, the rain having been thicker and harder there and having lasted many hours longer, as was verified by some of the stewards who had been sent to Eṣfahān a couple of days earlier. An hour before nightfall we reached another village, called Mahyār,219 in the same vicinity of the one we had departed from early that same day, and while there was a good caravanserai there, the Ambassador and many of his servants spent the night comfortably in the best houses of the citizens. [margin: 19] Early on the morning of Thursday the 19th, we departed for Eṣfahān, which was six leagues distant, and since the Ambassador wished to stop for a few days in a nearby village or orchard where he could find comfortable refuge before entering the city, well before daybreak he sent the officers and servants on ahead who were responsible for this so they could prepare his meal for him in a good village, [fol. 266v] called Jarustān,220 a short league from Eṣfahān. He gave the same notice to those who were to lead out at the head of the caravan. But these men, two Persians who had from Shīrāz accompanied the Ambassador from Shīrāz for the purpose of preparing his chambers and providing the necessary protection on the road, misunderstood the interpreter and led the caravan to some orchards that were less than half a league from Eṣfahān and where their overseer, named ʿAlī Beg, had a house, unaware that that the Ambassador’s servants had had gone to another place to prepare the Ambassador’s chambers. That day most of the road, though level, led through a difficult pass that [superscript: dropped] almost a fourth of a league down a steep hillside covered with rocks, at which point the Ambassador was forced to alight from his litter. Shortly before, there was a large cistern full of very good water. Half a league from the great plain on which the city of Eṣfahān is situated, we crossed an easy mountain, the road presenting no difficulties. It was followed by a series of low hills that blocked our view of the city until we passed the last one. The ground of this whole mountain was composed of a kind of stone that was so soft that it crumbled into tiny little pieces, like very soft gravel. After making our way across the mountain, there were a large group of Persians appeared, up to twenty or thirty of them, most very young. They 219  Apparently all travel between Eṣfahān and Shīrāz passed through this village; see Floor, “The Bandar ʿAbbās-Isfahan Route,” 70. 220  Loureiro et al., Anotações e estudos, 57, believe Jarustān corresponds to present-day Shahristān (or Shahrestān), which means “city proper” or “county.”

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were on foot, unarmed, and in a great hurry. They observed the area near the Ambassador’s litter and closely searched the entire surrounding area. Finally, when asked what it was they were seeking, they [fol. 267r] answered that they had come to see Roland,221 pronouncing this name very distinctly. This Roland after whom they inquired was the Ambassador’s big mastiff mentioned above, who, because he weighed so much and was footsore after such a long journey, had been carried from Fārs by men who were brought along for just this purpose on a sedan, or palanquin, like those used in India. At that moment Roland was at the back of the entire retinue, and these young Persians went looking for him. They soon returned all grouped around him, and so many more people flocked to marvel at him that by the time he reached the orchard where the Ambassador stopped that day, the mastiff was accompanied by a very large entourage. After we crossed all those low hills, an extremely broad vega came into view that stretched for many leagues around. It was full of countless orchards and gardens, and even though the city is built on a rise, the hills blocked our view of it; only the minarets were visible. There some of the servants who had arrived with the caravan informed us of the error of preparing the Ambassador’s chambers in a different spot near our present location, and thus they went to notify the others who were at that place, which was no more than half a league from the orchard. They had found a little hut for the Ambassador that had only one room, so narrow that it was scarcely [fol. 267v] big enough for his bed. It was a beautiful thing to see the great coolness and shade offered by the trees that stood by the wayside, and the throngs of people that came out to see us, for even though the city was half a league distant, these orchards were brimming with houses, and thus one did not feel the lack of the city because of how tall the nearby buildings were. A vast quanitity of many women wearing white shawls could be seen lining all the fences and garden walls on both sides of the road. The Ambassador spent two very uncomfortable days in the cramped quarters of that orchard. It contained a significant amount of roses and flowers: apart from the usual red roses, there were some white ones that were somewhat smaller and that had a weaker scent that the rest, but were very beautiful and pleasing to the eye. The plums and apples, though green and unripe, were already fat, and it was the custom to eat them as if they had been completely ripe; not much fruit lasts to that point, most of it being consumed while still quite unripe and bitter, the general opinion [superscript: among] the Persians being that eating it this way does no harm. 221  Given as Roldan in the MS, the Castilian form of this name.

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That afternoon the friars from the Augustinian and Carmelite222 monasteries in Eṣfahān came to see the Ambassador, and later that morning he was visited by the dārūgha223 and the vizier, the supreme governors [fol. 268r] of the city, and in the afternoon by the Europeans who were living there: ten or twelve Englishmen, two Germans, and three or four Italians. The Ambassador took his leisure with them in order to hear the news from Europe, though a caravan had not arrived from Baghdad or Aleppo for many days, and so no news had arrived besides what had been written about these places in the gazettes224 the year before, which only related news from the beginning of the year 1616. The Ambassador relocated to another orchard that was closer to the city and where there were three new and fresh chambers that afforded enough comfort for his person. Nine or ten tents were pitched in a flat area next to the orchard. One of them, very large and well equipped, was intended [superscript: for the] [margin: personal use of the Ambassador. It was big and comfortable enough to celebrate Mass.] The rest of the tents were intended for his servants. It was incredible how many people came to call; the number of porters and guards stationed by the governors were insufficient to stop them. For in addition to main the city of Eṣfahān, which is populous and occupies a large area, there are also four densely populated colonies in the environs of the orchard where the Ambassador was staying. The inhabitants had been brought there by the king four years earlier from the cities of Yerevan225 and Julfa in Armenia, and from the proud but now destroyed Tabrīz226 in Media.227 Another colony had

222  A Catholic mendicant religious order established in the Holy Land during the thirteenth century that was subject to major reforms in the sixteenth century following the pattern established by the Spanish saints St. Teresa of Ávila and St. John of the Cross, becoming known as the Discalced Carmelites. 223  A town governor, which is how Silva y Figueroa primarily uses the title. It can also refer to a police officer, which is how Silva y Figueroa uses it, in one instance, to describe a governor with judicial authority. 224  In early-modern Europe, gazettes were subscription-based, handwritten news publications, usually written on quartos and issued once a month; see Barbarics-Hermanik, “Handwritten Newsletters,” 155–78. 225  Yerevan, Armenia. 226  Tabrīz, Iran. 227  Taking its name from the ancient Iranian people known as Medes, during the Safavid period Media was a region that corresponded to present-day north-western Iran. During the much earlier Achaemenid period, it corresponded to present-day Āzarbāījān, Iranian Kurdistan, western Tabaristān, and beyond.

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been created from a great many gabrs.228 All four of these [fol. 268v] colonies, which were spaced very closely together, each one almost blending into the next, comprised a separate city that was as big as or bigger than Eṣfahān. This being the first time we have mentioned [superscript: here] the gabrs, which in the Turkish and Persian languages means “lawless people,” or Gentiles, it seems fitting to identify them here before discussing the remaining items [superscript: concerning] the city of Eṣfahān. These people are remnants of the ancient and original inhabitants of Persia. Persia was occupied and controlled first by Arabs, and later by Turks and Tatars for many centuries, as were the remaining provinces of Asia that had been part of its great realm. Afterward, it underwent a notable change in language, dress, and customs, as is evidenced today by the fact that barely a trace of its former greatness remains. That this is a credible thesis is evident from the fact that Persia has been invaded and assimilated by the most uncivilized and barbarous nations in the world. Vanquishers who establish empires are immediately imitated by their conquered subjects in the aforementioned ways, even if these customs are completely uncivilized, vulgar, and crude. This was clearly seen in Italy, France, and Spain when, after the final fall of the Roman Empire, these nations were invaded by the Vandals, Goths, Alans, Franks, and Longobards, resulting in the complete obliteration of the finer arts of war and peace in these lands, after [fol. 269r] having flourished so brilliantly. The same thing happened in Persia and its neighboring countries. Nowadays, after a careful examination of these lands, one could reasonably [text blacked out] [superscript: doubt] that there ever existed in them the kind of brilliance, law and order, and greatness that was so praised by the ancients. The poor and the destitute always preserve something during these transformations by dint of the selfsame poverty in which they always live, and thus in the easternmost region of Persia, and in the province of Kermān that borders it [superscript: on the Asian side], there remained many ancient and true Persians. Although the rest intermixed and commingled with their conquerors, becoming one with them, these have retained their ancient customs, habits, and religion with unwavering constancy. For just as the ancient Persians worshiped the sun and fire at the height of their greatness, so these people keep a constant flame burning in their homes, taking great care that it is never 228  Originally applied to Zoroastrians, this term came to denote any non-Muslim, although here it retains its original meaning. The colony described here is Gabristān, which, during the reign of Shah ʿAbbās I, was a Zoroastrian suburb, as is made clear by Silva y Figueroa’s ensuing description of their beliefs, which include the use of fire for ritual purification; see Shaki, “Gabr,” and Barthold, Historical Geography, 176.

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extinguished, just like the vestal virgins did in Rome. But because they are rustic people who have lived in constant servitude for so many years, they have forgotten most of their ancient ceremonies. Now they [margin: only] remember to always keep a flame burning and to worship the sun when it rises. They also remember the manner of burying their dead. After dressing them in their finest clothing, they bind them in a standing position to the walls of large enclosures, or corrals, that are kept for just this purpose [margin: in the country], away from [fol. 269v] their houses, and there they leave their dead to be devoured by crows, jackdaws,229 and other birds of that kind. The language they speak differs very little from Persian, and the men’s garments are quite similar to those of Persian men, though shorter and tighter, the usual clothing of the poor; they also wear a piece of linen tied around their heads. The women generally dress differently from Persian women, for though they wear zaragüelles,230 over these they also don a sort of very wide and loose cassock, or soutane,231 with no belt and wide sleeves, that is closed at the bottom and that reaches to their ankles; in this respect they resemble Arab women. They also sport big headdresses that are so long that they hang down to their knees in the front and the back and cover their hands, even when their arms are fully extended. These headdresses cover everything but their faces: not a hair on their heads can be seen, neither can their throats, the same as with the matrons or widows in Spain, except that the headdresses of these gabr women have no folds; this garment gives them an especially respectable and grave appearance. These headdresses are usually the color of their hair, which has a more or less light hue, the majority being dark yellowish in color. Their color normally sets them off from the cassocks, which tend to be of a lighter shade. All of these people are completely guileless, in contrast to all other Asian people who are followers of the sect of Muḥammad. The men are either day laborers, camel drivers, or field workers, or else artisans; even fewer are merchants, owing to their great poverty. The women spin and weave, exercising and plying these crafts while sitting in the doorways of their [fol. 270r] houses like the poor women in the villages of Extremadura, Spain, are wont to do. They spin and wind their thread on skeins and then use it to weave their fabric. They all closely resemble one another in facial features, coloring, and the simplicity of their customs. Their 229  Eurasian jackdaws (Corvus monedula). 230  Spanish for “trousers with baggy pleated legs,” derived from Andalusian Arabic sarawil (cf. general Arabic sirwāl). 231  The MS has lobas o sotanas; according to the OED, a soutane is “a long buttoned gown or frock, with sleeves, forming the ordinary outer garment of Roman Catholic ecclesiastics, and worn under the vestments in religious services; a cassock.”

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town or colony, which was just a stone’s throw from where the Ambassador was staying, comprised three thousand houses of moderately good construction, with wide, long, and straight streets along which shade trees were evenly spaced. This town had the appearance of a large and beautiful city, despite the fact that the king of Persia had forced its inhabitants to migrate from their homeland only ten years earlier in order to aggrandize the city of Eṣfahān. And because of the simplicity and lack of maliciousness of this people, they are ready and could easily be taught and converted to the Christian religion if our monks in the city of Eṣfahān were to attend to it with the zeal and diligence demanded by their profession. The Ambassador remained in these orchards from the 19th of April to the 1st of May. During this interim, a house was sought for him in the city, but a suitable one was not to be found because under no circumstances could the governors offer up or prepare any of the houses belonging to the powerful men of the city, called khāns, even though many of them were empty, without the express order of the king. And while the Ambassador, for this reason and in order to carry out [fol. 270v] his embassy, desired to press on to Faraḥābād in Hyrcania,232 where the king was at that time, the governors would not consent to it until they had apprised the king of his arrival. And so, two days after the Ambassador’s arrival, knowing that the governors had sent their correspondence, he also sent a shatir,233 or courier, to the king and to Āḡā Mir,234 his 232  The ancient Greek name, meaning “wolf-land,” for the Caspian Sea and the surrounding region. Also the name of a satrapy located between the Caspian Sea in the north and the Alborz Mountains in the south and west, the present-day Iranian provinces of Golestān, Māzandarān, and Gīlān, and part of Turkmenistan. To the north-east the region is open to the Central Asian steppe. 233  The MS has suxatel. 234  It is not entirely clear whether Silva y Figueroa’s use of Āḡā Mir refers to the name of the secretary of state or to the title for this official, since āḡā, meaning “lord, chief, master,” and mir, meaning “noble or chief,” which in Persian implies “a leader with secretarial ability,” are found as an equivalent or literal translation of both a title and a common name for people. However, we have not found any prominent person with this name in contemporary sources dealing with the court of Shah ʿAbbās I. It is our understanding that there were other secretaries of state at the court. Furthermore, Silva y Figueroa later introduces a man whose name is clearly Sara Khoja as the chief secretary of state. We are inclined to suppose in these instances where Āḡā Mir is mentioned that Silva y Figueroa is referring not to the chief secretary of state but to the position of secretary of state, which during all or part of his embassy was held by Sara Khoja. For more on the use of āḡā and mir as titles for a civil or military official and as an integrated title placed after the name of military and civilian functionaries in Safavid Persia and the Ottoman Empire, see Dalgado, 1:13; 2:54.

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secretary of state, informing him of his arrival in Eṣfahān, and lodging a specific complaint concerning the death of Jusepe Salvador, his interpreter. He did this not only because he expected justice, the crime being such a serious one, but also because it would have harmed the Ambassador’s reputation to pass over it in silence, though it was widely believed that the king was doubtless already apprised of the case. In the interim, before he entered the city, a crowd of people came out to see the Ambassador at his residence and inspect the tents. They came not only from Eṣfahān, but also from the aforementioned colonies, which were closer. Most were women and children who, in addition to their desire to observe the novelty, came seeking alms; they were mostly poor and needy. And together with the Armenians from New Julfa,235 there was [superscript: also] a great colony of other Christians from Assyria and Diyābakr236 composed of Nestorians,237 Syriacs, and Maronites.238 Countless of these visited the tents, especially when Mass was celebrated for the Ambassador, at which times they displayed great devotion, although they can said to be Christians in name only. Many [fol. 271r] Georgians also came, they and the Armenians being the most frequent and well-received visitors. It is unfathomable how many people from these nations have been gathered into the city of Eṣfahān. They do not have their own houses, and the many large caravanserais among in [superscript: the] city are too small to accommodate them. But by far the most frequent visitors were gabr women and children who came to see the Ambassador and his servants many times a day; there were not enough Persian guards to detain them, 235  In 1606, Shah ʿAbbās I established New Julfa in Eṣfahān with 150,000 residents of old Julfa whom he forced to relocate there. 236  A capital city and a province of the same name, located on the west bank of the Tigris in south-eastern Turkey; see Krikorian, Armenians, 18. On p. 559 Silva y Figueroa equates this province with Nisibis (present-day Nusaybin). 237  An early Christian group that became the Nestorian Church, which follows the East Syrian rite tradition. Nestorians embrace a doctrine espoused by Nestorius, the patriarch of Constantinople (AD 428–431), who emphasized the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus. Declared as heretical by the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, Nestorians were persecuted in the Byzantine Empire; they then migrated to Mesopotamia and spread their beliefs to Persia, India, China, and Mongolia. The name initially referred only to the followers of Nestorius’ teachings, but it later came to be associated with all adherents and churches that follow the East Syrian rite tradition. 238  An early Christian group who followed the West Syrian rite tradition and are identified as followers of the Syriac Christian St. Maron, who formed the Maronite Church in the Levant. Originally from the area around Antioch, they migrated to present-day Lebanon, i.e., the regions around Mt. Lebanon.

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for even though the visitors were obliged to stand out in the field in the sun, they would wait there for a good portion of the day. But the Ambassador, who enjoyed the particular simplicity and novelty of these people, often ordered that they be allowed to come in and receive alms from him, this being their purpose in persisting on visiting him there so often. Two moderate-sized houses that stood side by side and had a common door were made ready in Eṣfahān for the Ambassador’s residence. [May 1618] On the afternoon of May 1st, the Ambassador made his entrance into the city, accompanied by the governors and other royal officials, with many other people on horseback, including the monks from the Augustinian and Carmelite orders, as well as the other Europeans—English, Italians, and Germans. After crossing the river over the old bridge and after passing a [superscript: proceeding down a] [fol. 271v] long street lined with many plane trees, he entered the city along narrow roads lined with houses that lay in partial ruin. They were even more poorly constructed than those of Shīrāz. He eventually reached a bazaar filled with shops, the majority of which sold all kinds of dried fruit. Most of this fruit was unripe and very bitter. Great amounts of other food was also sold, including roasted, stewed, and fried meats, and many varieties of soft and delicious bread. In the center of this bazaar, which is like a very long street covered with a vault in which skylights have been placed, there is a big, splendid new caravanserai that was ordered to be built a few years ago by the current king, Shah ʿAbbās, in his name and at his expense. Near here is the Maidān,239 a square, also built by the king, where horse riders perform their exercises; it is more fully described below. On the main side of this square, on the left as one emerges from the bazaar, the king has also ordered the construction of a supremely magnificent mosque, now nearing completion, because of his particular devotion to his prophet ʿAlī.240 As one crosses the Maidān, he cannot avoid passing in front of the royal palace on the left side, which the king has enlarged and aggrandized with new buildings. The governors approached the Ambassador and informed him that it was a time-worn custom in Persia for an Ambassador to dismount and bow before 239  A prominent feature of Safavid urban planning for public space, in particular in the cities of Eṣfahān and Qazvīn. The Maidān of Eṣfahān was known as the Maidān-e Naqš-e Jahān, meaning “Image of the World Square.” It was constructed during Shah ʿAbbās I’s transformation of Eṣfahān into the new Persian capital. 240  ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (ca. AD 600–661), cousin and son-in-law of Muḥammad, considered by Sunni Muslims to be the fourth and last of the Rashidun (“Rightly Guided Caliphs”), and by Shiʿa Muslims to be the first imam, whose descendants are the rightful successors to Muḥammad.

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the palace, [text blacked out] [superscript: uncovering] and bowing his head at the gate [fol. 272r] in order to display the respect that was due the king, and that all the vassal khāns and sultans, including the king’s own sons, always bowed to the ground and kissed the threshold or entrance of the palace gate after dismounting from their horses. The Ambassador replied by instructing them to proceed with their ceremony, because that being the case, in order to serve the king, he would use more respect [superscript: he would show an even greater display of courtesy] in his palace than what he would normally show to his own monarchs in Spain, who were greatly venerated and reverenced by their vassals. When the governors insisted that he dismount because they wished to accompany him, the Ambassador answered resolutely that he would not, and begged that they go on ahead. He informed them that as he passed in front of the palace, he would show the proper courtesy. Accordingly, and because the people were on their feet, the governors and other Persians on horseback dismounted in the middle of the square and walked over to pay their respects. The Ambassador ordered that none of his servants dismount, and they continued on past the palace. When the Ambassador was directly even with the palace gate, which, as mentioned, was on the left side, he turned his horse’s head to face it and removed his hat and put it back on, and waited there a while for the governors to remount their horses after they had bowed down and kissed the ground at the palace entrance. After all had crossed the Maidān to the blaring of trumpets and the beating of kettledrums, they entered another bazaar where there was also much food and sweet dairy delicacies for sale, and where the usual [fol. 272v] bagpipe and tambourine music was being played, as it is all over Persia. From here they passed between two great mosques and arrived at the houses that had been prepared as the Ambassador’s residence. The king’s gift had been delivered there earlier that morning, as had the Ambassador’s personal belongings and the rest of the items from his house. After bidding farewell to those who had accompanied him, he dismounted and undressed, being quite fatigued from the day’s heat. The houses seemed better to him than they had been described: they were ample enough for him and his entourage. They also had fountains brimming with water, and a large rose garden. As far as its original population is concerned, the city of Eṣfahān is a little smaller [superscript: as big as] Shīrāz,241 though much more decayed and dilapidated. However, when one takes into account its nearby colonies, which function as suburbs, it is easily the largest city in all the provinces that are subject to the king. And although it contains many mosques, not one of them 241  According to Barthold (Historical Geography, 177), the population of Safavid Eṣfahān reached around half a million.

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is of noteworthy construction; in fact, many have fallen into the same kind of disrepair as the private houses, with streets so narrow, uneven, and twisted that not a single one merits being called such. The city’s appearance is most unsightly and loathsome. Anything in it worthy of consideration has been built and produced by the present king of Persia, such as the Maidān and the renovations of the [fol. 273r] ancient royal palace, not to mention the new mosque and caravanserai described above. Exceptions are the aforementioned colonies and their surrounding areas, as described below. The Maidān is a large square, more than 200 400 [superscript: 600] paces long and [text blacked out] [superscript: 300] wide, rectangular in shape, and lined on all sides with merchants’ shops, with verandas and small rooms in the upper stories, but no other notable houses; the buildings that house the shops are very low and humble. As was mentioned before, it is used as a place to exercise horses, the usual equine activity being polo and the shooting of arrows at a very high beam that has been planted in the middle of the square, the same as was done in Shīrāz. And to ensure the suitability of the ground of the square, which is even and flat, for equitation, and to prevent the horses from slipping, it is covered with fine gravel in both winter and summer. The palace and the royal houses are situated on one of the long sides of this square, the one that is on the left side as one enters the square from the new mosque. It has a square, vaulted portico at the entrance, with a veranda above it, both of which are gilded and painted, which is the custom in Persia. Farther inside there is a large and beautiful square [superscript: reception hall or entranceway] or square, in which this king receives ambassadors of the same workmanship with many doors and small chambers that are gilded and decorated around the same square, which commands them. The interior of this palace, in keeping with the customs of the kings of Asia, is inaccessible because of the seraglios or harems in which a great number of women are kept, especially by this king, who has more in this city of Eṣfahān than other kings; the women are from all nations and are under extremely close and strict watch. [margin: Above this square, or more accurately this vestibule, there are five or six floors with several chambers, though they are so small that the house takes on the appearance of a tall tower with golden verandas on each floor. It faces the Maidān, while the back overlooks the garden and harems. The last and uppermost story forms an exquisite golden square, the floor of which is covered with very fine carpets. As mentioned, it has two verandas, one of which is so high that it commands a view of the entire city, including the royal orchards and gardens and the harems that lie within them. On the sides of this square were eight small rooms twelve or thirteen feet square, four on each side, constructed with the same [fol. 273v] workmanship as the square; the lower part was painted. Each

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of these little rooms has a small chimney built into the walls, plus a small window with golden latticework. A larger room was built over the Maidān and the gardens so that the king’s favorite wives could watch the exercises performed in the Maidān. In the deepest part of the aforementioned orchards and gardens are the seraglios, or harems, which are completely inaccessible to all but the king and his eunuchs,242 who guard them with the severity common to all Asians. There are many women from different nations in these harems; lately their numbers have increased with the many Georgians and Circassians that the king has brought in over the last few years.] The wall that surrounds the house and the harems has a wide circuit, since it needs to enclose the great and spacious gardens and orchards. This great size can be inferred from what was seen in Shīrāz, though Shīrāz has been completely forgotten and deserted by its kings for many years now due to their particular loathing of it. The new mosque, which [superscript: at present] remains unfinished, looks like it will be a beautiful building, with an entrance, or portico, whose dome, which is very tall and lofty, and is completely gilded with many decorations. It sits at the head of one of the two shorter sides of the Maidān. [margin: Beautiful slabs of marble and jasper of several colors are being cut and polished for this building. This is a rare sight, seldom seen in the East.] The king’s new caravanserai, which, as has been pointed out, was in the middle of the bazaar near the gate of the city through which the Ambassador entered, is supremely elegant. It has a very high cupola that is completely gilded. It is partitioned into a good number of rooms where a great quantity of visitors from every nation can easily be given lodging, especially merchants, and in fact they can lodge with great comfort. In short, it is a grand and royal building. There are many other caravanserais in the city, which—though not as beautiful or grand as this one—are spacious and commodious enough for the stay of anyone to be comfortable, and many of them are full of a good number of Armenians and Syrians who do not have their own houses. And thus the [fol. 274r] rabble that can be seen all over the city are destitute and numerous, most of them women and halfnaked children. These people have no shelter save these caravanserais, which are funded for this purpose by religious and pious people. Many of these mosques have very tall minarets, most of them covered on the outside with tiles. Those not so covered are so old that their tiles have peeled and fallen off, though in every other respect they stand straight and strong. They are all made from brick and are structurally very sturdy, but so narrow 242  Silva y Figueroa briefly mentions eunuchs and alludes to their importance in ʿAbbās’s court; for additional discussion, see Babaie, Babayan, Baghdiantz-McCabe, and Farhad, Slaves of the Shah, 30–48.

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that it seems impossible for them to support such great height. Extremely narrow spiral staircases lead from the bases to the tops, though they are so narrow that it is difficult for even one man to fit inside them. The remainder of the brickwork makes up the thickness of the walls, which become thicker thinner as they ascend. One of the minarets of the city’s chief mosque was so close to the Ambassador’s room that only a single very narrow street separated the two. It was as tall as the bell tower on the cathedral of Seville,243 which is the tallest in Spain. Every morning, noon and afternoon a dervish or hermit would climb to the top and at the top of his lungs sing out the [text blacked out] [superscript: customary] salah.244 He did this during the length of the Ambassador’s stay in Eṣfahān, being convinced, as he himself said, that he was going to convert [fol. 274v] all those Franks, meaning the Ambassador’s servants. The clothing worn by this dervish was very torn and dirty, and although he was very old, he wore bird feathers of different colors around his turban. He did this out of disdain for the world. His outer appearance was that of the simplest of men, or perhaps of one who was had lost his mind, but he was greatly respected by all the Persians, who considered him a holy man, filled with the divine spirit and completely unencumbered by temporal concerns. And thus the alms that the Ambassador ordered to be given him every day as he came there, as well as those he received from other people, he later passed on to the neediest people he would meet up with, he himself eating only a little moldy bread. He spent most of his time in these constant supplications, which he continually offered at the top of his lungs while he stood on the highest wall of the minaret, his arms outstretched and waving in all directions. It seemed to all those who saw him that at any moment he was going to hurl himself down from that great and sublime height. Two acrobats also displayed their prodigious agility at this minaret, and because their performances were truly amazing, a description of them is included in this account. Their feats, though they may strain belief, were witnessed by so many thousands of people in this city, not counting the hundred or so that comprised the Ambassador’s entourage, that there is no reason to refrain from writing [margin: or telling] about them. Both acrobats wanted to display their skill as soon as the Ambassador arrived, and since there was serious contention between them over who should be first—each one performed a different routine, a few days passed until the order of their performances was finally settled on. 243  The Giralda, the minaret of a twelfth-century mosque that was converted to a bell tower for the cathedral in 1568. It is 97.5 m (320 ft) tall. 244  Arabic for “prayer”; this is the adhan, or Muslim call to prayer.

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The first to perform took a rope that was no thicker than the kind used in Spain, especially in Madrid, by porters to drag hamstrung bulls from the bullrings, tying it off on the veranda that rings the minaret six or seven fathoms from the ground. This rope then stretched for more than 400 paces, where its other end was affixed to the top of a house. No matter how taut it was pulled with a winch, it remained loose enough that it [fol. 275r] vibrated and swayed back and forth because of the distance between the two ends. He then threw another rope, just as thick, over the first [superscript: 100 paces from the minaret] almost at the halfway point and tied it off. The other, lower end was fastened to the ground directly under the spot where it was tied to the first rope. The upper section of the first rope, which was already quite steep, now had an even sharper slope and was just as high, if not higher, than before. The acrobat then walked on this upper section of rope and executed somersaults, even though he was as high off the ground as the cupola on the tower of the Santa Cruz245 in Madrid. This acrobat, who was called Ḥaydar, a young man of thirty, was of Chagatai or Sogdian nationality. Beginning at one end, he walked along the entire length of the rope, which was longer than what has been described, with great confidence, carrying a stick in his hands that was so [margin: a little less] as than an arm’s width in circumference and almost as long as half a pike, swinging and moving from one side to the other. It seemed miraculous that a man could remain standing on this rope. And as was already mentioned, it was very steep. He ascended along it to the point where the other rope that came up from the ground was tied to it. From that point, the incline leading up to the veranda of the minaret where the rope was attached created an angle that was as sharp, and would have been as hard to climb, as the line that divides a perfect square from one angle to its opposite angle. But it turns out that not only did he climb all the way to the end of the rope, much to the amazement and horror of the spectators, but after reaching it, he walked back down the rope backward [text blacked out] [margin: to where the it was tied with the other one that was attached to the ground]. He then climbed back up, without stopping, to the veranda, where he rested a while. He finally laid his stick down, and having by then offered amazing evidence of his great agility, there was no one who did not desire that the demonstration cease, for it seemed to all that at any moment he would fall and be dashed to pieces. But the most [fol. 275v] extraordinary thing this man did was fall from the rope, feigning total exhaustion. Everyone was convinced he would hit the ground. But suddenly he grabbed the rope with no more than the insteps of his feet, which were not crossed, but 245  A church in Madrid, near the Plaza Mayor, the bell tower of which is 80 m (263 ft) tall.

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rather separated from each other, his entire body hanging upside down and his hands clapping together. Then, with great agility, he grabbed the rope again; it was difficult to say which of these two feats was the most difficult. Two or three days later, the second acrobat turned up with two big iron spikes as thick as two fingers, [margin: each one four spans long]. Carrying a heavy hammer, he walked over to the foot of the minaret and drove one of the spikes into the wall [margin: as high as his arms could reach], the spike being quite solidly placed, a third or more of it being driven into the wall. He then grabbed onto it, pulled himself up, and stood on it. He then drove the second spike into the wall, once again as high as he could raise his arms, and letting himself fall, he hung from the higher spike by just the insteps of his feet, his entire body, arms, and head hanging down. Then, very slowly, he reached down as far as he could and struck the other spike on one side and then on the other until he could wriggle it back and forth and loosen it and remove it with his other hand. Next, with the hammer in one hand and the spike in the other and spike in one hand, he grabbed onto the other spike from which he was secured by hanging from just his insteps, and stood up on it. He continued in this manner for a long time, driving in one spike and hanging from it in the fashion described until he removed the other and drove that one in again higher up, thus climbing all the way up to the veranda. What this man did seemed to be an extraordinary miracle. After climbing onto the veranda and resting a while, he lashed [fol. 276r] a thick stick between it and the wall of the minaret so that it extended past the veranda by [margin: more than] a fathom. To this stick he then attached two ropes, each a fathom in length and separated by a span of two feet, and through these ropes he inserted two sticks as thick as the first one, each at least a pike in length, to fashion a kind of ladder. Sitting on one of these sticks while grasping the other stick or step above his head, he then executed some revolutions that were as agile as they were tremendously dangerous, casting himself downward a number of times head first, with great force, while hanging on to the ends or tips of the ladder, his whole body extended. From there he propelled himself with extraordinary speed, and slipping between the two sticks of the ladder, turned ten or twelve revolutions very quickly, throwing himself downward and coming up again so that he looked like a rapidly spinning windlass. The final, greatest, and most dangerous feat of the day was that, after being handed a bow and five or six arrows, he tucked them into his belt, and while seated on the highest rung of the ladder, threw himself downward and grabbed onto the lowest rung, hanging from the insteps of his feet. And while his whole body hung upside down, extended as far as possible, he removed the bow from his belt, and, grasping it with his left hand, drew out the

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arrows one at a time and launched them a great distance with as much force as if his feet had been firmly planted on the ground. This day, the Ambassador had invited the governors of the city and other leading Persian men to his house to dine. After dinner they watched this celebration with great pleasure. Both this acrobat and the first one went around collecting whatever money the many people who had watched them could afford to give them, and [fol. 276v] seeing that the celebration had been held in the Ambassador’s [text blacked out] [superscript: honor], he ordered that both men be given a goodly sum of money. It seemed appropriate to relate here the great agility of these men because Nikephorus Gregoras,246 an extremely respected author who continued Niketas Choniates’s247 Greek history, relates and writes that during the reign of Emperor Andronikos,248 in whose time he wrote his History, a great company of acrobats came to Constantinople from Egypt, and he claims to be a very particular eyewitness to the kind of feats they performed, and though they were quite remarkable and worthy of being written about, the feats of these Persians can rightly be said to outshine them. Twenty years ago, Aleixo de Meneses,249 the archbishop of Goa, sent Friar António de Gouveia, who is now the bishop of Cyrene, to this [text blacked out] [superscript: present] king, Shah ʿAbbās, with a gift in order to persuade him to allow monks of his Order of St. Augustine into Persia. The petition was granted, and they were permitted to establish the church in the city of Eṣfahān. And thus, from that time forth, there has been a small sort of monastery there, though with very few monks, where the Divine Office is celebrated, much to the devotion [margin: consolation] of several Portuguese who arrived with merchandise from Hormuz, and to that of other European merchants. A few years later, when it became known in Europe that this king, though an infidel, had displayed ostensible signs of favoring Christianity in these regions, the Supreme Pontiff Clement VIII,250 in an effort to derive added benefit from the preaching of more friars, sent letters to the king via Friar Juan Thadeo de 246  The Byzantine historian (1295–1360) whose chief work, Roman History, in thirty-seven books, covers the period 1204–1359; see Nikephorus Gregoras, Nicephori Gregorae, 1:348–50. 247  The principal work of this Byzantine historian (ca. 1155–1215/1216) treats the period 1118– 1207 in twenty-one books. See Niketas Choniates, Nicetae Choniatae historia; Magoulias, O City of Byzantium; Wolf, Imperii Graeci historia. 248  Andronikos II Palaiologos (1259–1332), Byzantine emperor (1282–1328). 249  See p. 247 n. 12. 250  For diplomatic contacts between the papacy and the Persian Empire, see Lockhart, “European Contacts with Persia,” 385–89.

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San Eliseo,251 a reformed Discalced Carmelite, exhorting the king to advance farther along the good course on which he had embarked when he supported European Christianity, and offering him the assistance of his kings in waging war against the Turk, this being the pope’s principal goal. Friar Juan Thadeo traveled [fol. 278r]252 with another brother from his order through Germany, Poland, Muscovy, and Tatary, finally reaching Astrakhan, close to where the Volga River,253 known among the Tatars and Muscovites as the Edil, empties into the Caspian Sea. Here they passed through the Iron Gates254 [margin: and the city of Derbent] into Persian territory. They were received by the king with the same display of pleasure given to the Augustinian friars, and he even gave them some property and a house where they could build a small church. What eventually happened to both these groups of friars will be treated below. We will conclude the description of the old city of Eṣfahān with the founding of these two small monasteries. Inside the Maidān, the angle created between the new mosque and the king’s palace leads to a small bazaar. From there, as one passes the wall and fence of the gardens and [text blacked out] [margin: harems] on the right, one leaves the old section of the city and enters the new section, where the additional colonies belonging to this king are located. Between them and the river [text blacked out] [superscript: that divides Julfa from Tabrīz] lies an extremely beautiful street of recent construction.255 It is more than 1,500 paces long and 500 paces wide. Running down the center of it is a waterway, or canal, twelve or fourteen feet wide and six feet deep, built of white stone. The same kind of stone adorns the walkways on each side where people can stroll. The remaining surface area on either side is lower, this being where those on horseback travel to and fro. All along this street, which is uniformly straight and level on both sides, there are many orchards and gardens. One enters them through a number of houses, [fol. 278v] some privately owned, others belonging to the 251  The Spaniard Juan Roldán e Ibáñez, after entering this order, took this name, which in English is “Friar John Thaddeus of St. Elisaeus”; see Chick, Chronicle of the Carmelites, 2:920–34, and Currier, History of Religious Orders, 293–95. 252  The foliation numbering in the MS omits fol. 277. 253   Originating to the north-west of Moscow some 320 km (200 mi) south-east of St. Petersburg, the Volga is Europe’s longest river; it drains most of western Russia and flows into the Caspian Sea. Silva y Figueroa is correct in suggesting that it was also known as the Edil, which is one of its present-day renderings in Kazakh. 254  These are the legendary Gates of Alexander referred to by Marco Polo. 255  The Čahārbāḡ, lit. “four gardens,” so called because a fountain in the center is channelled outward in four directions, dividing the street into four sections; see Pinder-Wilson, “The bagh and chahar bagh,” 71–85, and Pinder-Wilson, “Timurid Architecture,” 774–810.

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king, and though most of them are small and have verandas, and serve mostly to beautify the street and give entrance to the gardens, they indeed create a beautiful sight. Apart from these houses, or, more fittingly, their façades, there are many others [superscript: with] shops and small rooms where artisans live; here, more curiosities are sold than expensive items, chiefly fruits and a great variety of sweets. This street can be seen to be frequented day and night by innumerable people of every stripe and station in life. Found along it at regular intervals are a great many poplar [superscript: plane] and other green trees, and at the end of the street lies the magnificent bridge256 that spans the Zāyandehrūd.257 It is one of the most celebrated constructions and buildings in this entire Persian kingdom, being comparable, if not superior, to the famous bazaar of Lār that was described earlier. It was built by the selfsame great Allāhverdī Khān, although—since virtue never lacks opposition—his adversaries maintain that its construction was financed by the king, and yet they admit that he was the creator of such a great piece of workmanship. But the common and popular opinion is that Allāhverdī Khān built it at his own expense. The Zāyandehrūd runs through here at a low level, with wide and extended banks. The volume of water that flows under the bridge does not seem to be [margin: greater] than that of the Genil in Spain as it passes by the city of Écija,258 or at the confluence of the Carrión259 and the Pisuerga.260 But here, as I have said, since the Zāyandehrūd runs so wide and flat, it might seem bigger 256  The Allāhverdī Khān Bridge, also known as the Sio-se Pole or “The Bridge of Thirty-Three Arches,” which was commissioned in 1602. It begins at the terminus of the Čahārbāḡ, the main boulevard of Shah ʿAbbās’s urban project for Eṣfahān. Spanning 300 m (985 ft) over the Zāyandehrūd, it connects Eṣfahān to the Armenian neighborhood of New Julfa. 257  Persian for “life-giving river.” It rises in the Zagros Mountains and flows 400 km (248 mi) eastward, dividing the city of Eṣfahān and ending to the south-east of it. It is the largest river in the Persian central plateau. During the Safavid period, the volume of water flowing in the Zāyandeh was significant and continuous (today it runs dry on account of excessive extraction of water before reaching Eṣfahān), unlike other rivers in Persia that were then and still are seasonal. Historically, it was important for providing water to the populated areas of Eṣfahān and Yazd, which permitted their urban development. ʿAbbās I and Safavid elites had a series of architecturally imposing bridges designed and built, as well as a system of canals (maadi) to connect and distribute water to Eṣfahān’s suburbs. 258  An Andalusian city 95 km (59 mi) south by south-west of Córdoba on the Genil River, which rises in the Sierra Nevada and is the main tributary of the Guadalquivir. 259  The Carrión is a tributary of the Pisuerga, which is the second largest tributary of the Duero; their confluence is in the town of Dueñas (Palencia), northern Castile. 260  Originating in the Cantabrian Mountains, the Pisuerga runs approximately 270 km (167 mi) through northern Spain, turning southward shortly after passing through the city of Valladolid and then flowing into the Duero/Douro.

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to some people; after all, the bridge is more than 300 paces long. It was built on high and large arches of white stone, and is wide enough that two coaches can pass each other [fol. 279r] on it. The wall or parapet on each side is a pike high, and there are large windows or railings with a view of the river and the new colonies or towns that have been established on its banks. The walls or parapets of this bridge are so thick that, along its entire span, it is possible to pass through the width of the bridge from one veranda to another through small doorways and vaults that cut right through the width of the wall. They do not come into contact with the roadway of the bridge, or hinder pedestrians or horseback riders who are constantly crossing it. And since this route is chiefly designed for pedestrians, there are also secret stairways that lead from all the verandas, or great windows, down to the river, which runs under the archways and vaults of the bridge itself. These archways afford places to sit next to the water for people to while away the time and take fresh air. Also, at the entrance to both ends of the bridge, there are two stairways, one on each side, that lead to the top of the parapets, which, as has been stated, are one pike high and fourteen or fifteen feet wide at the top, the same width as the parapets. Two additional high bridges have been built on top of them, each with its own smaller parapet, one overhanging the river and the other over the bridge itself. So at any given moment there are five places where the bridge can be crossed: the main bridge in the center, the two that cut through the width of [superscript: each] wall [superscript: on] both sides, and the two on top. The higher two are much more agreeable than the lower ones because they command an unobstructed view. [fol. 279v] The beautiful view offered by this bridge in all directions is rendered even more magnificent by the colonies that sit on either bank of the river, which are visible from the right side of the bridge. The one closest to the city, butting right up against it, pertains to the people of Tabrīz, comprising most of the merchants and distinguished people who were brought from the city of Tabrīz, considered by many to be the ancient city of Ecbatana,261 the capital of the great province of Media. The other colony, opposite this one on the other side of the river, is New Julfa. The king completely dismantled the original capital of Greater Armenia and transported her richest citizens here, assigning them this location. Many of them have become extremely wealthy through their trade and business; the rest have been moderately redeemed 261  An ancient city in Media, in present-day western Iran. Scholars today believe that it was located at Tell Hagmatan (Tappe-ye Hagmatāna), near Hamedan. As Silva y Figueroa suggests, Ecbatana’s location and the history of the city were controversial and continued to be well after he wrote the Commentaries.

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after their miserable migration. These two new towns contain spacious and extremely beautiful houses that extend all the way down to the river. Some were built by the inhabitants of the towns themselves, and others by those of greater means: sultans, ministers, grandees, and other powerful aides to the king. They were constructed at great personal cost because of their location, which in and of itself is pleasant and beautiful. They have also done this in an attempt to flatter and please the king, noting his inclination to expand and aggrandize the city of Eṣfahān. These colonies and the colony of the gabrs, which has already been described, boast houses and streets that are incomparably better than any found in the rest of the old city. The religion of the gabrs262 has already been discussed, and the religion of the people of Tabrīz is the same as all the other Persian Sophies.263 But since the inhabitants of New Julfa are native Armenians, they are Christians, holding the [fol. 280r] beliefs that the Supreme Pontiffs have decreed permissible for them to have, though some [supercript: very few] have resolved [superscript: to accept them]; [superscript: instead, nearly every member of this nation strictly observes] [superscript: his own ancient religion] or his own ancient religion, which most observe obstinately and strictly. Some of the bishops and other priests from this nation have relocated to Europe, some as vagabonds, [superscript: because] of their extreme poverty, others because of the many [superscript: great] persecutions that this entire nation they have suffered and continue to suffer as a consequence of the continuous wars between the Turks and the Persians. And while on many occasions they agreed to accept obedience to the Roman Church, in the end wanted they have refused to capitulate, yielding strict and tenacious obedience to their patriarch and upholding their ancient rites and ceremonies. And although this is how matters stand among the Julfans, as well as among most of the Armenians who remained behind in the district Greater Armenia, there are nevertheless certain towns, perhaps totaling a dozen villages, near the city of Nakhchivān,264 within its district and jurisdiction, where [margin: 262  I.e., Zoroastrianism. 263  The MS has sophianos. As the relevant entry in the DA makes clear (6, 20, s.v. “sophi”), early-modern Spaniards confused Sufism, the mystical Islamic phenomenon usually characterized by asceticism and a renunciation of the material world, with the label given by Europeans (cf. OED, s.v. “sophy”) to the Shahs of the Safavid dynasty; this last meaning derives from the title Sufi given to Shah Esmāʿīl I. The conflation of these two notions is understandable in view of the fact that Shah Esmāʿīl instituted Twelver Shiʿism as the official version of Islam in Persia. Silva y Figueroa usually uses sophiano (a neologism coined by him) as an equivalent for “shiʿa Muslim.” 264  The landlocked exclave of Āzarbāījān that borders on Iran, Armenia, and Turkey.

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two days’] journey from the city of Yerevan, called Terva by Ptolemy,265 which in former ages was a major city in Armenia, and is still such at present, where many or most of the inhabitants recognize the Roman rite. In some of these villages there are monasteries of Dominican friars who also follow the Roman rite. And although their superior is a bishop from their own nation of Armenia, he is a friar of that same order; he has no wife, and while saying the Divine Office, he recites the same prayers that friars of that order do in Europe. But due to the past and present wars that have taken place in this miserable province, which is continually subject to such calamities, these Frankish Armenians, as they are called because of the true [fol. 280v] faith professed by them, have become reduced to just over a thousand people of all sexes and ages. A year before the arrival of the Ambassador in Eṣfahān, a monk named [text blacked out] [margin: Paulo] [text blacked out] [superscript: Maria] came to Eṣfahān. A Dominican friar and a most learned man, who had led an exemplary life, he had been sent by the Supreme Pontiff Paul V so that through his teaching and preaching the aspects of these rites that had become altered and forgotten would once again be restored. This handful of Armenians have continued and preserved the Roman rite from the time of the great Ūzūn Ḥassan,266 king of Persia, because he was married to Despina,267 a Christian of the Greek Church and daughter of Comnenus, Emperor of Trebizond, and she, despite being married to an unbeliever, practiced the religion in which she had been raised, always [superscript: favoring] western Christians, in particular the ambassadors that the Venetian senate sent [margin: at that time] to the aforementioned Ūzūn Ḥassan. And as The Supreme Pontiff [superscript: Sixtus] IV268

265  See Ptolemy, Geography, 5.13. 266  See p. 334 n. 87. 267  The Hispanized form of Greek despoina, meaning “queen, lady or mistress.” Her name was Theodora Comnena, daughter of John IV Comnenus, penultimate Greek Byzantine ruler of the Trebizond Empire (1403–1458), who reigned ca. 1429–1458. Geographically located on the southern coast of the Black Sea, Trebizond was one of three successor states of the Byzantine Empire, founded in April 1204 by Alexius I Comnenus and conquered by the Ottomans in 1461, sometimes called the Comnenian Empire after the dynasty. After her marriage to Ūzūn Ḥassan, Theodora Comenena was known as Despoina Hatun. Their daughter, Halima, married Sheikh Ḥaydar, and from that union sprang the founder of the Safavid dynasty, Shah Esmāʿīl I; see Nicol, Byzantine Family, 252. 268  Born Francesco della Rovere (21 July 1414–12 August 1484), Sixtus IV was pope from 1471 to 1484.

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[margin: and Philip,269 Duke of Burgundy], also sent Friar Bartholomew of Bologna,270 a friar of the aforementioned Dominican order and highly prominent in sacred letters, to exhort him to take up arms with the Christian princes of Europe against the Grand Turk Mehmed;271 this Father played a role with his doctrine and holy persuasions on one hand, and the high favor in which he was held by the queen, on the other, in bringing private ambassadors at the very same time. [margin: More than 150 years earlier, during the papacy of John XXII, a holy man, a Dominican friar named Friar Bartholomew of Bologna,272 had brought these few villages mentioned above into] the bosom of the Roman Church. And since their original spiritual founder had been this Dominican friar, in concert with a few European monks of the same order, three or four monasteries have been [fol. 281r] preserved and continued to the present day, though in dire poverty and subject to harassment by both Persians and Turks. Their superior is called the bishop of Nakhchivān, after the nearby neighboring city. The colonies of Tabrīz and Julfa, as well as the colonies of the native gabrs from Yazd273 and Kermān, contain a total of 8,000 or 9,000 [superscript: 9,000 or 10,000] houses. But these colonies are so big and spacious, with their plentiful orchards and gardens, that they appear to contain a much larger number of inhabitants. Also, the houses are of better quality and construction than those 269  Assuming that Silva y Figueroa is referring to the Duke of Burgundy who was a near contemporary of Pope Sixtus IV, this duke would have been Philip III, also known as Philip the Good (31 July 1396–15 June 1467). He became duke in 1419 and reigned until his death in 1467. 270  Silva y Figueroa’s striking out of Bartholomew of Bologna and his subsequent mention of him in this passage suggests that he confused events of Bartholomew of Bologna that occurred in the fourteenth century with other events and embassies that actually transpired in the fifteenth century. 271  Mehmed II “The Conqueror” (r. 1451–1481). 272  Bartholomew of Bologna (also known as Bartholomaeus Parvus [i.e., “The Short”]), O. P. (?–1333), Dominican missionary. As Silva y Figueroa correctly states, he was sent by Pope John XXII (r. 7 August 1316–1334) to preach and administer the Catholic church’s contacts with ruling Mongols and Armenians in diaspora in Cilician Armenia (a principality formed by Armenian refugees fleeing the Seljuk invasion of Armenia ca. 1030 that was located in the Cilicia region [i.e., north-west of the Gulf of Alexandretta], which functioned until 1375) and Armenia proper. After being consecrated bishop, he reached Maragha in Armenia proper ca. 1320, when he began his missionary work and supervised the building of a monastery. At a later date, he transferred his see to Nachidiewan, where he died in 1333. 273  Present-day Yazd, Iran. Located 270 km (170 mi) south-east of Eṣfahān, it is also the capital of a province with the same name.

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in the old city, which is connected to these new colonies by the beautiful and long street that has already been described, and which is known by the popular name of Čahārbāḡ,274 which means “four gardens” in Persian. Anciently, when it acquired this name, there were just four of the many spacious gardens that can be seen along it now. Toward the right side of the old city, where the Ambassador had made his entrance, there is a great fortress. Although the original structure is of ancient construction, the two previous kings, Shah Ṭahmāsp275 and Moḥammad Khudā-Bandah,276 respectively the father and grandfather of the current king,277 repaired and refortified it in its present form. [text blacked out] [superscript: It is situated on] a square plane, each side and curtain of the wall being 400 feet [fol. 281v] long. The entire structure is surrounded by a moat that is constantly fed by water, though it is very shallow and in some places fallen in ruin. It has no escarp or counterscarp,278 and hence it provides no defense. Entrance to this fortress is along a bridge that spans the same moat. On the other side, there is large gate fitted with thick plates or sheets of iron. It is protected by big towers that [superscript: stand] at the four main corners of the breastwork or barbican that surrounds the entire fortress at a distance of fourteen or fifteen paces. There is in The breastwork [superscript: is] a long pike tall, and a series of smaller towers are set at intervals between the taller towers, forming flanks along the length of the curtain of the wall such that from any one of the towers anyone would have a clear shot with a harquebus [margin: of the one next to it]. This first wall must be ten or twelve feet thick, not counting the part of it that makes up the parapet and that might extend the width by three or four feet. The whole wall is composed of strong earthwork, covered here and there with that coating of pressed mud mixed with fine straw, which, as was mentioned previously, the Persians are accustomed to daub on the walls of their fortresses and private dwellings to keep them from dissolving in the rain. Next, fourteen or fifteen paces away, the distance referred to above, there stands another massive wall that is twice as high as the aforementioned barbican, with 274  See p. 419 n. 255. 275  Shah Ṭahmāsp I (r. 1524–1576). 276  Solṭān Moḥammad Shah (Solṭān Moḥammad Mīrzā, also known as Moḥammad KhudāBandah, 1532–1595/6), fourth Safavid Shah of Persia (1578–1587). Son of Shah Ṭahmāsp I and a Turkmen mother, Solṭānum Begom Mawsillu, and grandson of Esmāʿīl I, founder of the Safavid Dynasty. He succeeded his brother, Esmāʿīl II, in 1578 and was overthrown by his son, ʿAbbās I, in 1587. 277  While ʿAbbās I’s father was indeed Solṭān Moḥammad Shah, his grandfather was Esmāʿīl II (r. 1576–77), and not Ṭahmāsp I, who was actually his great-grandfather. 278  The interior and exterior sides of a moat.

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four towers on the corners that are not as thick and wide as the lower ones. Both these and the curtains of this second wall are covered with the same kind of mud. On its upper portion is the parapet with its merlons. [fol. 282r] The fortress has the same design as the other fortresses that have been seen in Persia in the kingdom of Fārs, which is the same design found among fortresses from former ages in Spain. But because of its size and the supreme strength of its heavy terrepleins, and its layout, which is highly suitable for a deep and well-defended moat, its strength is unmatched among the fortresses with this same design that we have heretofore seen, with the exception of the impregnable fortress of the city of Lār, which was described earlier. The terreplein of the second wall, according to what the governors told me [margin: the Ambassador] the day he was invited to visit it, is thirty feet wide and consists of a mud wall that is so strong and ancient that it can easily withstand a heavy barrage. This was demonstrated in the year 1615, when the Turks attacked the city of Yerevan,279 for though the wall was only ten feet thick, it was constructed with this same kind of mud and old-style terreplein, and the effect of the enemy’s artillery, which was heavy and extensive, was inconsequential. After entering the first gate of this fortress, there are several doglegs through narrow passageways that lead to a second gate that looks the same as the first. It is wholly reinforced with iron battens. Beyond it sits a third gate, protected and armored in exactly the same fashion. Several sentries and a few guards are stationed at each of these gates. In the courtyard, which is large enough to hold many people, there are forty or fifty pieces of artillery. The biggest are demicannons, while the rest are falconets. Most of these were seized from the Turks by the present king when he took the fortresses of Tabrīz and Yerevan. But his real trophies are several [fol. 282v] small pieces [margin: mounted on carts] that were seized from our own Portuguese at the fortress of Gamrū. [superscript: The remaining] pieces of artillery simply rest on the ground without further apparatus because, firstly, an enemy’s position would be quite removed from the courtyard, and secondly, the Persians do not know how to fire them, and so they are generally of little use to them. [margin: Only a few smaller pieces, such as esmeriles280 and demi-falconets, have been mounted in the lowest turrets close to the moat for appearance’s sake]. In the center of the fortress, there is a beautiful house with several galleries and low verandas, where there are several small pools and fountains that shoot 279  According to Eskandar Beg Torkamān Monši, the attack actually commenced in August of 1616; see Munshī, History, 2:1119. 280  Half pounders. Both esmeriles and demi-falconets fired a half-pound ball up to 700 m (2,297 ft); see Manucy, Artillery, 34.

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water high into the air and collect the water it again without it overflowing their rims. The Ambassador was able to get a closer look at these fountains one day when he was hosted by the governors in one of these very big and spacious pavilions. The floor was covered with the most exquisite carpets, and the fountain in the center was adorned with a great variety of roses and other flowers. This pavilion or veranda overlooked a garden that was full of many fruit trees and a wide assortment of herbs and flowers, this being the general custom among all Persians and Arabs, this being [superscript: as is] the use of baths, for which they all display a predilection [margin: for which they all display a predilection] because of the many women they possess. The banquet given in honor of the Ambassador was similar to those staged by the sultan of Shīrāz. It consisted of large platters of chicken, mutton, and rice, all combined and jumbled together. The only way to distinguish one dish from another was by the different colors of rice, this being the main ingredient in most of their dishes. Dessert consisted of plums and green apricots that were a long way from ripening. Many grapes were also served that had been picked while still unripe, the theory being that they increase one’s thirst, and indeed the drinking continued throughout the four hours of the banquet’s duration. [fol. 283r] Two companies of boys and girls also danced during the banquet. They were dressed in satin jubbahs and golden fabrics dyed with many colors. The boys’ hair was as long as a woman’s, worn in the same style that has already been described. Their gestures and movements were womanly and effeminate. The best looking boys and girls served as cupbearers. The Ambassador was extremely uncomfortable and on edge with these servants. And because he was so tired of sitting on carpets on the floor, he asked for something elevated to be seated on. Someone happened to find a European-style chair in the fortress that had been plundered from the fortress of Gamrū, and he rested in it, a little removed from the conversation, until the conclusion of the festivities. At this juncture one should not fail to mention that on this day, it was confirmed that the Ambassador’s reputation had preceded him, spreading not only to this city, but to every city in the kingdom of Persia; the rumors about him had originated in and spread from Shīrāz while he was there. What was behind these rumors was that the day before he entered the city of Shīrāz, the governors came out to visit him at a village where he had made a stop, and among other things they offered him for his refreshment [text blacked out] were several women, in order to comply with the codes and laws of hospitality. In response, the Ambassador said that, due to his age, he no longer required that kind of entertainment, a remark that struck his hosts as incredible, even though they could see the Ambassador’s hoary hair [fol. 283v] and beard. During the following days he spent in Shīrāz, many people came to visit him.

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Among them were several medical doctors and others whose profession it was to know a great deal about their own ancient and modern history. [margin: The Ambassador] asked them detailed questions about the names of the provinces, rivers, and cities of this eastern empire, based on what he had learned from reading the reports and descriptions penned by [margin: ancient] authors. As a result of the conversations these men had with the Ambassador, they learned [text blacked out] that he knew more about things Persian than they did themselves, especially because he was able to tell them everything that had occurred during the reigns of Esmāʿīl Ṣūfī and his father, Sheikh Ḥaydar,281 as well as that of Esmāʿīl Ṣūfī’s son, Shah Ṭahmāsp, respectively the great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and grandfather of the present king. When news of his knowledge spread throughout the city, it was concluded that the Ambassador had served as ambassador in these kingdoms of Persia on another occasion over a long time, and that he had done so at least during the reign of Shah Ṭahmāsp, more than eighty years before; further, it was said that he must have been around forty years of age at that time. Adding these forty years to the eighty would have put his age at 120, and some people thought he was even older than that, because otherwise how could he have possessed such detailed knowledge of things of which even the eldest of them were ignorant? This was confirmed with even more vehement conviction after the news spread that the Ambassador [text blacked out] did not enjoy having women visit him, which thing was attributed not to his virtue, but to the frailty that accompanied his advanced age, which [superscript: seemed] quite plausible. And so many of the leading men were curious about him, [margin: interrogating] not only his servants but the Ambassador himself [fol. 284r] in order to confirm such a great miracle of nature. When the Ambassador got wind of their notion, he [margin: deliberately] answered them in an ambiguous and confusing manner, saying that he could not remember exactly how old he was, nor did he remember having previously been in Persia, since it had been so many years earlier. With this they became entirely convinced that the general opinion about him was true. This view was reinforced by the fact that he had ordered that the dancing boys and girls not be sent to his place of residence. And this was the good reputation that preceded the Ambassador to Eṣfahān. Meanwhile, his age had been greatly multiplied. During the banquet in the fortress, the dārūgha, who was one of the governors, came over to where the Ambassador was sitting with only his interpreter and made him the same offer that had been made to him in Shīrāz. He told the Ambassador that if he wanted women to visit him, they would not be from among the ordinary and common ones dancing at the banquet, 281  See p. 335 n. 89.

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but rather the much more beautiful ones who never left their houses, adding more [superscript: further] comments along the same lines. The Ambassador concluded the matter by thanking him for his good will [text blacked out] [superscript: and explaining] that he was now far too old to enjoy the company of women, no matter how young and beautiful they might be. After this, the people of Eṣfahān became even more [text blacked out] [superscript: firmly] convinced than the residents of Shīrāz that the Ambassador had been in Persia eighty years previously, [fol. 284v] during the reign of Shah Ṭahmāsp—they thought this was why he was so informed regarding the provinces and kingdoms of its kingdom. And because they considered it was impossible for a man so old to walk and ride a horse as spryly as they saw him do, they attributed his skill to some trick, or supernatural magical art; they are all very superstitious and are easy prey to these kinds of deceptions. The chief governor, whom they call a vizier,282 is the captain and castellan of this fortress, inside [superscript: of which] he lives permanently with a few soldiers and some of his ministers. During the Ambassador’s stay in the fortress, a great many houses of passable quality were being built between the fortress and the city. They were destined to form another colony of Armenians, whom the king had ordered to be brought to the city from Ervan. But despite his efforts to expand and glorify Eṣfahān, the city would have been much greater than it is today had this king not been distracted by attempting to do the same thing in Faraḥābād, a city in the province of [margin: ancient] Hyrcania on the coast of the Caspian Sea, as we shall discuss in further detail below. The residents of Eṣfahān, which is currently the metropolis and chief capital of the Persian Empire, have a better temperament and nature than the people of Shīrāz, mainly [fol. 285r] because there is a mixture of so many nationalities, especially Armenians, Georgians, and Syriac Christians, and thus they are pleasant and open in their dealings with all kinds of outsiders and foreigners. The style of dress of both men and women is identical to that of Shīrāz, which has already been described. In truth, the dress [margin: of the women] from these Christian nations differs very little from that of the Persians, though, in general, Armenian women do not wear white veils; instead, they wear long black or brown robes and headdresses that resemble the ones used by Spanish peasant women. But they all wear long stockings like other Persian and Arab women. As finery, each and every young woman wears a band of colored taffeta bound [margin: tightly] around her forehead, into which some of the wealthier women insert a small bit of golden lace fashioned from the same fabric as both the bands. These headbands are tied in back like earflaps, like the ones on the 282  The MS has vizir o goazil.

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helmets worn by our infantrymen. They pass under the chin next to the throat, pushing against the women’s jaws and enlarging their faces, making them look very round, this being the effect they are most keen on achieving. The result is completely hideous and exactly the opposite of what European women strive for: fine and delicate facial features. Among the men, there is no considerable difference in the style of dress, which is fairly uniform, except to say that they dress better or worse depending on their degree of wealth. Men and women have separate baths, and only ordinary and common women frequent public baths. The leading women, and even those of somewhat lower consideration, have baths in their own homes, as was mentioned concerning the women of Shīrāz. This is an inviolable custom not [fol. 285v] only in Persia, but everywhere else in the world where the sect of Muḥammad is followed [margin: and the lords are Arabs], Tatars, or Turks. And although every kind of sensual vice is commonly practiced in all these Asian countries, vice is particularly deep rooted mainly in this city because of the vast assemblage of foreigners, as well as an abundance of beautiful and comely white slaves, both male and female, which were brought from Georgia, Circassia, and Russia, the numbers of which have increased over the past few years because the shah has transported innumerable young boys and girls from all of the [text blacked out] [superscript: aforementioned] nations. But something that is totally abominable and bestial, even [margin: among] these infidels, takes place here, namely that there are men of some means in this city who purchase many of these boys and make them grow their hair long like women and dress them in women’s clothing, and then teach them how to dance. They then put them in public houses, as is done with women in European brothels. It is most pathetic to see so many boys purchased for this purpose. This practice alone would suffice to pronounce this king guilty of the greatest possible impiety. He has devastated and brought into the most miserable servitude most of the pitiable inhabitants of Georgia or the provinces of Georgiana. Most of the Circassians and Muscovites have been carried off by their neighbors, the Tatars, [margin: Laz,] and Cossacks; some of them have even been abducted by their fellow Georgians. They are all brought to Derbent to be sold. Every year, the governor of Shīrvān sends many of them to the king along with other slaves that are continually brought in by diverse merchants. As a result, these provinces of Persia are brimming with these slave boys and girls. After the Ambassador had been in Eṣfahān a few days, [fol. 286r] an order arrived from the king for him to travel to Qazvīn. And so, after first visiting the Augustinian and Carmelite monasteries, it took him just a few days to quickly

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prepare for his journey because of the good and necessary assistance he received from Totanbec, the governor over criminal matters of that city. [margin: May 28] On the afternoon of Sunday, the [text blacked out] [superscript: 28th] of May, the Ambassador departed from Eṣfahān, accompanied by the governors and other people. His party advanced there only so far [margin: as a mosque] that was just outside the city walls, which was where they stayed that night and the following day while they waited for the camels and mules to be made ready. He was given acceptable lodging in the houses there, while the rest of his retinue stayed in tents that were pitched close to the mosque. Endless masses of the destitute sought him out, both natives of the city as well as people from the aforementioned Christian nations. Each one of them was given alms, according to the usual practice followed in the city [text blacked out] every day. [margin: March 29] On the [text blacked out] [superscript: 29th], the Ambassador traveled to a village that was three leagues away, called Dowlatābād, where there was a small house belonging to the king, consisting of just one room surrounded by four pavilions and a painted closet of very ancient workmanship. It was used for hunting parties and banquets with dancing women, which is the general custom of these people. [margin: March 30] On the [text blacked out] [superscript: 30th], with the caravan maintaining its distance one or two leagues ahead of the Ambassador, he traversed six leagues to a half-ruined caravanserai. [fol. 286v] What was worse was the bad water there, though some water had been brought from Eṣfahān for the Ambassador’s table, plus two loads of the kind of ice that is used to cool things down in Persia, and which provided great relief from the heat of the journey. [margin: 31] On the 4th,283 we made a stop at another caravanserai that was in better repair than the previous one, and though a very copious spring was found at its entrance, from which issued clear and icy water, it was of such poor quality that all who drank of it developed a terrible aching of the head and stomach. All the water between there and Qazvīn that poured out onto the earth was as malignant as could be, except for some that was found [margin: in Emāmzāda284 and Naţanz] in some very deep wells, and which was not quite as bad as the rest. [June 1618] [margin: The first of June] On the first day of June, the Ambassador arrived in a caravanserai and a village six [superscript: three] 283  While the date given in the MS is the 4th, the numeral 31 appears in the margin next to the entry for this day. 284  Emāmzāda ʿAlī ʿAbbās.

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leagues away called Tajur Abat. It consisted of a few houses, and though the caravanserai was barely adequate, he and several of his servants were put up in an exquisitely beautiful garden that belonged to the king; it had been laid out and planted just a few years earlier. In it was a house that, while small, was the most beautiful thing we saw on the entire journey; it was extremely clean and beautiful. It could not have measured more than twenty-five square paces in area, including the thickness of the strong and well-built walls, which were made of baked brick. The floor was a square ten paces long and eight paces wide.285 The walls were decorated from floor to ceiling—a distance of ten feet—with many golden flourishes, and in the spaces between these, there were some very lovely paintings that were incomparably more beautiful than those normally seen in Persia. They depicted women, banquets, carafes of wine, and the [fol. 287r] kinds of dances that are customary in these environs. Beginning at the frieze, which ran around the whole room at a height of ten feet, the vaulted ceiling was lavishly decorated with gold and blue and so polished that it dazzled the eyes of the beholder giving a very beautiful view of itself. This square area was surrounded on all sides by four pavilions, and in each corner there were four closets or small chambers. Everything was decorated, gilded, and painted in the same way as the square, which, besides having four doors, each one opening onto the pavilions, let in light and air. Above each door was a window with exquisite golden decorated window panes. These also overlooked the pavilions, allowing the interior area to be brightly illuminated. And when it was cold, the interior was kept snug because the doors were very tightly set in their wooden jambs, as found in the best-built houses in Spain. The master artist of these paintings was a Greek man named Giulio, who had been raised in Italy, and had died just a few days before the Ambassador’s arrival in Qazvīn. The king ordered him to work on these paintings for many days. It was obvious that he had once lived in Europe, for not only were many of his works painted in the Italian style, but others showed a style of clothing currently worn by Christian women in Greece. This beautiful house, though it was no bigger than what has been described here, boasted a very spacious garden full of trees that were heavily laden with many different kinds of fruit. Shade was provided by a great number of plane and elm trees that were spaced throughout, and at certain intervals there were a great many fountains and small pools for bathing. The largest pools were not yet finished. [fol. 287v] The garden had been laid out and planted just a short time earlier, though a few years before the construction of the house, and since the trees were new, they 285  There is an obvious lapse here because the area of this house fails to correspond with the dimensions provided.

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were covered with a pleasant and beautiful verdure and had begun to produce early fruit that was just beginning to ripen, including some white mulberries of admirable taste. [margin: (text blacked out) 2] Just before sunset, the Ambassador departed from this place, issuing the same marching orders as on previous days. Most of the journey was to be hilly, the road running over one hill or hillock after another; but as these were low and easily traversed, a coach or a loaded cart would have been able to cross all of them without too much difficulty, had such been found in these provinces of Asia. We had been passing through hills like this for the last two days, which made for more or less easy travel, and looked forward to another three days on the same terrain, which was for the most part sterile and desolate, except for a few spots where there ran underground streams that provided stopping places for caravans. This These impoverished and sterile mountains, where not a tree or green bush could be seen, are what divide the two eminent provinces of Persia and Media. Very late in the evening, after midnight, we arrived in another of the king’s orchards, and though it had been recently planted, its trees lacked the beauty of the previous one, and there was no better lodging than a small room to which the Ambassador retired. Everyone else made themselves comfortable under the trees and in the adjoining ruins of a caravanserai until the following day[margin: 3], when [fol. 288r] we began our journey from this ruined habitation, called Abas Asad,286 on the 7th of the aforementioned at the same time we had left the day before. We took the road through the aforementioned hill country, where there are many wolves, not so much because of the ruggedness of the terrain as for its solitude. An especially large wolf was seen shortly after sunset quite close to the road. It did not scare or run off until several of the Ambassador’s servants began chasing it on horseback. As is usually the case [margin: among common people], there were some who claimed it was a lion, while others thought it was a tiger, though its true nature would have been easily discovered even from a greater distance. This leg of the journey was very long, and we spent most of the night traveling. We finally reached another extremely pleasant orchard belonging to the king where the Ambassador took lodging with his entire retinue, though the rooms were only partially finished and had yet to be plastered. This orchard and the house are called Emāmzāda.287 A wide canal that conveys very good water [margin: from afar] to irrigate the orchard runs directly in front of it. The orchard has only a few very small trees. Unfortunately, we spent the rest of the night plagued by swarms of white 286  Present-day Ḩasanābād. 287  Emāmzāda [ʿAlī ʿAbbās?].

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mosquitoes, so small that one could neither see them nor feel them unless he looked carefully in a good light. They attacked those who had settled down to sleep, whether or not they were covered up, in undetectable silence. They mainly bothered one’s neck, face, hands, and wrists, causing such itching and burning [fol. 288v] that not only did these parts of one’s body seem to burn, but one’s spirits were deeply afflicted as well. No matter how much a person probed with his hands, he could never feel these mosquitoes, and thus the Ambassador concluded that the only cause of this suffering was the air, which was particularly corrupted. But the next day a man who lived in the same orchard, who had heard their complaints, opened the tiny buds found at the base of the leaves of a certain species of mulberry tree, revealing that they were swarming with these tiny atoms [text blacked out] that would have remained invisible had they not been massed together. [margin: 4] The next day, the governors of the famous city of Kāshān sent a messenger announcing their visit to the Ambassador [text blacked out] [superscript: with] two loads of fruit and one load of ice, all of which provided wonderful relief from the excessive heat. Kāshān lies just four short leagues from the orchard and is the first city one encounters in Media after leaving Persia. And because they had anticipated the Ambassador’s arrival in this city, they requested that he enter it by day, having heard that he was wont to arrive before dawn in the cities where he made breaks in his journey. And though this was extremely wearisome for the Ambassador because he was most fatigued after a long journey, and it was time for him to retire, having traveled all night, he agreed to their request, [fol. 289r] understanding that this ceremony of receiving him in every city was in keeping with the king’s express orders, which they could not fail to obey. The Ambassador departed from this orchard a little before midnight, which one encounters after crossing the mountain described above; [margin: 5] he arrived at a spot less than half a league from Kāshān a little before dawn, as the four intervening leagues were not very long. The caravan had gone on before him, and there he stopped until daybreak. At that point several people came over from the city, followed soon thereafter by the governors, who rode up on their horses with many other Persians, who were very splendid and magnificent, in the same style that has been described above. Accompanying them was a great troop of more than 500 harquebusiers and a throng of commoners. At the front were the usual musicians playing their tambourines, and of course the dancing women and boys. But the most impressive sight was a band of women on horseback who appeared to be more affluent than the others. They were dressed in their usual style, with a great many pearls on their foreheads and necks. Their hair was very long and suavely coiffed, and though it was dark, as is usual, [margin: one of them was very blond, her skin remarkably white and fair].

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We entered the city [superscript: Kāshān], where we saw scores of other women who were covered with white veils; they appeared on the walls, verandas, and other high places. And thus did we enter the city, though at a point outside the section that is enclosed within the city walls, which are high and well constructed. We continued on to the Maidān along a long street, which, though not as long as the one in Shīrāz, was wider. [fol. 289v] Trees lined each side of the street at the foot of the walls, which enclosed several houses with their big orchards. But what makes the plaza really beautiful and noble is the great royal caravanserai, which had been built a few years earlier and which was big enough to accommodate a great number of people and which contained fountains and rooms that were most beautiful and comfortable. Beyond the caravanserai is the entrance to the king’s residences. And though the façade of the entrance is not much to look at, just inside there is a spacious and beautiful garden and one of the best and most commodious houses owned by the king. It is new, having been constructed with elegant and careful workmanship. This garden is followed by another garden that is even better than the first. Here there is another house of the same size and design as the previous one. It is the harem, or where the women live in seclusion.288 The garden, which at that time was full of fruit, is enclosed within smooth and straight walls two pike lengths high that had been built with the care that is usual among these Eastern kings. Actually, the Ambassador did not inspect these gardens at this time, nor the house or the harem, though they were shown to him the next day. On the first day [margin: he was satisfied] with observing them from the outside. He only examined some of the rooms on the ground floor of the harem, which were painted and gilded; most of them had fountains made of marble and multicolored jasper. The day the Ambassador made his entrance into the city with great pomp and ceremony, he stopped on horseback for a short while in front of the gate of the main entrance to the royal palace, while the women who had ridden in on horseback dismounted and performed another dance. At that point, the governors guided him to his lodgings, which were not far from the Maidān. It was very comfortable and spacious enough for [fol. 290r] himself and most of his retinue. The others were provided with a nearby caravanserai that was spacious and comfortable. The next day, the governors and several other leading Persians called on the Ambassador because they wanted to celebrate a festival in his honor in the Maidān. They dismounted in front of the royal palace and exhibited it to him, first pointing out the harem and the gardens, as has been mentioned. They informed him that there was to be a fierce combat between rams and bulls, 288  Serrano y Sanz erroneously transcribed rrecogimiento here as corregimiento.

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which they claimed were champion fighters, and asked if he would like to watch from a gallery that overlooked the square, or remain below. He chose the latter option, and so they immediately ordered that the multitude that had crowded and pressed together in the Maidān, where the contest was to take place, be cleared away, including countless women dressed in white cloaks. Two groups of men immediately entered from either side. Each party accompanied two individuals, each of which led a stout ram. The necks and horns of these animals were adorned with strings of flowers. The men began inciting and prodding their animals to fight by softly whispering a few words directly into their ears. At this the rams began butting heads, smashing into each other with great force. Although this is what rams are wont to do, these particular animals fought with more than the usual rage and fury, being more accustomed to it. And while this in itself was not much of a show, it was very interesting to see note the expressions of glee or gloom on the faces of the rams’ owners, depending on whether their champion [fol. 290v] was prevailing or being forced back by the other one. Many of the victor’s backers cheered wildly, the others accepting the outcome in pained silence. This was because before the outcome became known, large bets had been laid by both factions. At the conclusion of the first contest, the owners of two huge bulls entered the square. These were bigger than any we had seen to date in Persia, though their horns were of only average size, measuring less than a span. These animals were as big as most of the bulls from Jarama289 that are run during the festivals in Madrid, having the same black color. They had been heavily decorated with flowers and colored ribbons, and their owners were much better accompanied than the owners of the rams. The entire population of the city was divided into these two factions, the spectators filling most of the great square. All of these men carried a stick in their hands the size of an average staff, except for the owners of the bulls, who carried neither staff nor any other weapon. But the expression on each one’s face was so worried and anxious, it seemed as though they themselves were going to fight, for they consider it a great affront and terrible misfortune if their bull suffers defeat. Since time immemorial, this type of bullfight, while common in all parts of Persia, has always been the usual and particular entertainment [margin: in this city]. Some of the ordinary citizens are so fanatical about it that they go off in search of famous bulls, often at great cost and traveling long distances, for most of their respect and honor rests on this.

289  During the seventeenth century, bulls raised near the Jarama River northeast of Madrid were considered light and fierce; see Leralta, Madrid, 167.

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And while it is common for sects and parties to arise in human society, divisions become even more passionate in cities and large towns whenever there are competitions and rivalries, not only over substantial matters such as defending one’s honor or avenging affronts [fol. 291r] and offenses, but even over contentions associated with festivals and public entertainment because of the particular preference people have for this or that faction, just the way it was for many ages in Rome between supporters of the Prasini and the Veneti.290 This is precisely what happens here in the city of Kāshān; the entire populace is divided into factions that favor one group of fighting bulls or another. The same thing happens with rams, though to a lesser extent, the competition sometimes reaching the point where many of those involved becomes severely injured. And what fires their passions more than anything else, even to the point of bloodshed, though the men are armed with nothing more than sticks, is that if no clear victor emerges from a bullfight—that is, if neither bull is forced to retreat from the square by its stronger opponent— their owners, who remain next to them during these fights, fall to fighting each other, first with words, each praising and defending his own bull, then with fists, administering heavy blows and kicks to each other, as in the ancient pancratium of the Gymnasium [margin: Olympic and Isthmian games,]291 when crowds would immediately gather and the supporters of each side would cheer on their favorite. Finally, the scrap and street brawl builds up until most of the partisans are knocked to the ground with bloodied heads, the governors, soldiers, and ministers being unable to break it up. But the owners of the bulls have the worst of it. They are often carried from the fight half dead, so great is their rage and fury during these brawls. The women, who also take sides, remain a fair distance away from this [fol. 291v] spectacle, and while they do not engage in fisticuffs, they do aid those who are on their side with a great hue and cry of happiness or despair, depending on which side emerges victorious. They, along with the children, stand apart from each other depending on which side they support. The bulls finally arrived at the square and, after being spurred on by their owners, charged at each other head on with great fury, their horns becoming tightly locked together. They continued to go after each other in this way to the 290  The “greens” (Prasini) and the “blues” (Veneti) were two of the four teams of charioteers in the Roman Circus, their colors representing the conflict between the earth and the sea. The hostility between their supporters often led to bloodshed; see Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall, 5:48–49. 291  The pancratium was a Greek sporting contest involving both wrestling and boxing; the Isthmian games took place at the Corinthian Isthmus at the temple of Poseidon; see Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 707.

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great applause and shouting of the two parties, especially of the owners themselves who urged them on with all kinds of gestures and words. But what really escalated the celebration, and was easily the most amazing aspect of it, were the women who supported their respective favorites with shrieks and shouts, though they were a good ways off, all the while seated in an orderly manner and wearing their white cloaks. And though the bulls became exhausted after contending with each other for a long time in this manner, giving off tremendous snorts, they were still not allowed to stop fighting. The bulls finally separated, sweat pouring off them and bleeding from numerous wounds on their foreheads and around their ears. The Ambassador, desiring that they be separated permanently because they had performed their duty as good fighters, ordered that a certain sum of money be given to their owners. But when the owners learned of this, they stormed over to him with many of their supporters and begged him at the top of their lungs not to dishonor them. The racket and uproar increased on both sides until finally the governors ordered that the bulls resume their engagement, [fol. 292r] informing the Ambassador that unless one of the bulls clearly emerged as the loser by backing away from the other one, their owners and supporters would continue the fight, and considering how fierce the riot with sticks would be, neither he nor the Ambassador would be safe. And so, with the bulls resting very close to each other during the pause in the fight, each of their owners crept very quietly to the hind part of his bull and, crouching low, made grand gestures with his head and arms and, in voices so soft as to go unheard even by those closest to them, incited his bull to resume the fight. These gestures [superscript: gesticulations] had great effect, just as if a man were trying to move another to compassion and pity. The words they uttered, though inaudible, were effective and well suited to their purpose, and when they were finally disclosed to all, they were very well understood. According to what the governors told [superscript: related] to the Ambassador, each owner had told his bull to fight vigorously until it chased the other one off. These bulls had cost their owners so much, and had been so finely decorated, that they and their friends did not wish to lose their honor. Then they made different gestures and gesticulations, angry ones, threatening and shouting at the bulls, [fol. 292v] telling them in a manner that was still indiscernible that they were cowards and that if they failed to chase their opponent from the square they would be castrated and yoked to a plow. The bulls, because of their natural instinct to fight, and because of the gestures and gesticulations that incited them to do so, not to mention the sound of the words, advanced, determined to fight again. And thus they began to snort and face off against each other, pawing and digging up the ground with their fore

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and hind legs until their horns were once again entangled and ensnared. The pleas and threats of their owners did not cease, and neither did the thunderous applause of their supporters. Until [superscript: Finally] one of the bulls, somewhat larger than the other one, struggled with his opponent for a while until it drove it off and caused it to flee. At that point all those on the side of the victor, both men and women, let out loud cheers and yells, and, surrounding the owner and his bull, carried them off to their house with great celebration and cheering. This digression may seem rather lengthy, and the facts uncharacteristic and beyond what would be expected from the instincts of these animals, if dog fights were not so common and usual all over Europe, especially those involving the fiercest dogs, such as our wolf-hounds in Spain or mastiffs and greyhounds from other countries. We have often seen that men who carefully search them out and keep them in order to enter them in contests of strength will passionately incite them to fight viciously, and, in the end, it is clear that their words, apart from the presence of their owners, are what fills them with the desire and rage [text blacked out] to fight with the greatest fury, [fol. 293r] as if they could understand the language used to incite them. In every province and great kingdom of India where kings train elephants for use in war, a quite common form of entertainment and celebration is to incite these great beasts to fight each other. Those that emerge as better and braver fighters command much higher prices and are more highly esteemed. These animals respond to so many exhortations and words used by their trainers and handlers to incite and motivate them to fight that they must have more natural instinct than the rest of the irrational animals, to such a degree that it seems impossible that they are completely lacking in reason. [text blacked out] [superscript: And] we see this instinct and nature to fight contentiously not only in bulls, dogs, and elephants, which are ferocious animals with aggressive natures, but the same desire to fight can be instilled and provoked in even submissive and gentle animals that are used to patiently carry heavy burdens, such as camels, which are regularly scheduled to fight in all the Eastern provinces. Moving now from land animals to fowls, it is well known what a usual and common practice it was among the ancients to hold fights among cocks, partridges, and quails; these birds were trained with exquisite craft to do this. And even though these types of contests are also quite common in Persia and in the other kingdoms subject to its rule, as well as in all lands held by the Turks in Asia, they are even more popular in India, especially in the city of Goa, where [superscript: some of the] private houses [fol. 293v] have spacious and great patios for this purpose. On holidays great crowds of people gather, Christians, Moors, and Gentiles alike, bringing a great quantity of cocks that were artfully

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trained to fight. Their owners and the onlookers would place large bets on which one would emerge victorious. It is amazing to see the rage and fury with which these cocks they fight, often both being killed because, [margin: apart] from the bloody wounds they [margin: inflict on each other] with their spurs and bills, they have been carefully trained to slice each other to pieces with small blades that their owners tie to their spurs and feet, some of them displaying admirable skill in this style of fighting. At the conclusion of the bullfight, which must have been superb, judging from the applause and the contention among the people, all the women who had ridden out to receive the Ambassador on horseback the day before began to dance. They were adorned with rich jewels and clothing, and after the Ambassador [margin: ordered] that a good amount of ʿabbāsī292 be distributed to them, he returned to his lodgings with his retinue. The city of Kāshān, though not as big as the greatest of the main cities of Media, belongs [margin: to the second tier]. It has always been highly esteemed by her [margin: kings], not only because the people are peaceful and good natured, but also for her trade and great wealth, which are the result of the variety and quantity of silks that are woven and embroidered into the finest rugs, both in Kāshān and in the surrounding villages and territory. These, together with those from Eṣfahān, are the [fol. 294r] best in all the East. The smallest section of the city is surrounded by a wall, and that is where [text blacked out] [superscript: most] of the looms and other trades related to the production of silk are located, as well as the dwellings of the wealthiest merchants. But the best houses and caravanserais for the lodging of foreigners are situated outside the wall, and hence this area is more pleasant and pleasing to the eye than the portion enclosed inside the wall. A great quantity of fruit is found near its border, as well as in the gardens and orchards between it and the city, most of it consisting of very fine grapes and melons and one or two varieties of apricots that are found here, one of which is quite similar to a Spanish damson in taste, but much larger and smoother, like a plum. They have a beautiful hue midway between pink and yellow, and it is thus no wonder that they are highly regarded, though their growing season is so short. The water here is delicious and salubrious, emanating as it does from wells, though there is a notable lack of it on the road from Eṣfahān to Qazvīn. In many places this bane is offset by the snow that is found there or not far off, for despite the fact that the ground is extremely hot and dry, there is snow year round on the mountaintops. There are approximately 4,000 or 5,000 houses in this city situated on a flat plain, 292  See “Monies.”

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which is therefore very hot, besides the fact that the Arctic Pole does not rise more than 32 degrees and 5 minutes above its horizon. [margin: 6] The Ambassador left Kāshān in the afternoon after the setting of the sun, and though he traveled almost all night in great heat on level ground, he [superscript: did not] reach a small village called Sensen [margin: until just before] [text blacked out] daybreak. The road, which ran closely alongside the mountains, was sulfurous and nitrous; [fol. 294v] the air was most vexatious, having been polluted with these noxious qualities. By day the sun became so blazing hot that our party experienced great hardship, having nowhere to shield and protect itself, save for the partially ruined walls of an old caravanserai. The Ambassador sought shelter in the mosque of the village, which was no bigger than a narrow monk’s cell. The walls were thin and filled with big windows. The mayor of the village came to visit the Ambassador very late in the evening with three or four of the least impoverished residents of the village, informing him of a great calamity to which they were being subjected at the time. They said that about fifteen or twenty days earlier most of the inhabitants, mainly women and children, had contracted a terrible and dangerous illness. It was characterized by a burning fever and severe headache, and most of those who [margin: contracted] it perished five to seven days later. The Ambassador asked them if the afflicted became delirious, [margin: and if the illness was contagious]. They responded that by the second or third day they went raving mad and would break out in black spots all over their bodies, that many who tended them came down with the same disease, and that these people were the ones who died the quickest. In short, they told him that of the 150 people who lived in that village, thirty had died and that approximately thirty more had contracted the disease, and that others had escaped death with no more treatment than covering themselves well and sweating. The Ambassador, who realized from [superscript: the] report of these people that this was a malignant variety of fever and that it was as bad or worse than Spanish typhus, felt great compassion for them, especially since no one [fol. 295r] but a barber who could bleed them could cure them. And thus he persuaded some of them to go to Kāshān for that purpose, assuring them that most of them would recover with two or more bleedings. Later this proved to be a complete cure for those who contracted this fever, as will be related below, when the Ambassador passed through this same village on his way back from Qazvīn. He gave alms to all those who set out for there, most of whom went on foot; he then departed from that destitute shelter. [margin: 7] The caravan departed just before nightfall of the 7th. The road was even worse than the night before. We traveled with the same hardship for another six leagues, which is just as far as we had traveled previously,

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finally arriving in another village that was a little larger than Sensen, called Ḩoseynābād,293 and there we received better accommodations and more generosity in the house of some poor women and in other houses close by, though because the water in this and the previous village was extremely bad, it was brought in from Kāshān, and thus its lack was not felt as keenly. [margin: 8] On the 8th, we began our journey at the customary hour, but we progressed slowly, as Qom was only four leagues off. Before midnight, a party representing the governors of this city came out to meet us, asking whether the Ambassador would not like to enter the city by day, since doing otherwise would be an affront to them. So in the end he conceded, though he was greatly annoyed and peeved. Since it was thus still early, he decided to stay in some gardens a quarter of a league from the city, where he rested part of the night [margin: 9] until daylight. After sunup, the governors arrived at the same gardens with so many people on foot and horseback that they filled the entire [fol. 295v] field, just as had happened in the other cities visited previously, though here the throng was greater, and the caravan moved toward the city with the usual dancing and tambourine music. But no matter how much the gatekeepers and other government ministers beat people off with sticks, no progress was made because of the throngs that continued to appear; covering that short distance therefore took a very long time. And although there arrived men in great numbers, not a single woman appeared during the first several hours after people started coming in—such a thing had never happened in the other cities—until the Ambassador reached his residence. He became increasingly amazed at the size of the city and the great number of people he saw, not having been warned in advance how populated and large it was. Qom’s buildings and the materials they are made from are similar to those of other Persian [margin: and Median] cities, with big bazaars. The men who have lived there and continue to do so are among the most bellicose and the best soldiers in all the provinces that are subject to this empire, as they prove themselves to be in all times of war, not only in our present day, but anciently as well. These are the ones who offered the great Timūr the greatest resistance, though this led to the total destruction of their city. But [margin: because] of the fertility of its plains and the industry and great vigor of its inhabitants, who had twice endured this piteous desolation, it has been restored to the same level of population one sees today. It is one of the greatest cities possessed by the king of Persia, though it is less famous. It lies 33 degrees and 4 minutes north of the equator. 293  Present-day Ḩoseynābād-e Mishmast.

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After the Ambassador settled into his residence, [fol. 296r] the governors whiled away the time with him, though he would have preferred to undress and rest. One of them, the vizier, told him not to marvel at the fact that no women had been seen on his arrival, since one of their particular religious vows was that they not be seen by foreigners, especially Franks. The Ambassador asked which vow this was, and they answered that in that city there was a renowned mosque that was dedicated to an extremely holy woman named Layla, granddaughter of the Prophet Muḥammad, daughter of his daughter Fātimah and ʿAlī. She made her way to this city of Qom from Babylon after the martyrdom and death of her brothers Ḥusayn294 and Ḥasan.295 They say that after she built a great hostel and caravanserai for pilgrims and the sick, and having followed a temperate life, she took ill and was at the brink of expiring. At that point God took her and carried her off, and no one knows to this day to where she has been taken—such has been and continues to be the extent of the false resemblance and similarity of appearance between the false and the true. In short, this Persian attempted to explain that the women of Qom, out of devotion to their saint and with singular mortification, secluded themselves and refused to make themselves visible to anyone except their own people. [text blacked out] The purpose of this fantastic story was to mask the many lengths he and the others had been going to since the previous day to prevent any of the women from being seen. This pleased the Ambassador no end, causing him great mirth, as he saw [superscript: recognized] this artless deception for what it was. After the Ambassador had dined and rested, he sent for the woman who owned the residence, as he wished to speak with her. She and her family had withdrawn to several rooms that were closed off from the rest of the house; these rooms opened onto a garden. She was a middle-aged widow [fol. 296v] 294  Ḥusayn (Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlīibn Abī Tālib, 4 March AD 625–629 or 30 March 670), grandson of the Prophet Muḥammad, son of his adopted son, cousin, and son-in-law ʿAlī (ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib) and Muḥammad’s daughter Fātimah. 295  In this passage Silva y Figueroa commits two historical errors. First, regarding the identity of Layla, he is repeating an apparently popular belief that ʿAlī and his wife Fātimah Zahra, the daughter of the Prophet Muḥammad, had a third daughter named Layla, in addition to Zaynab and Umm Kulthum, which is generally accepted by historians. Actually, Layla (Layla bint Abi Murrah bin ʿUrwah bin Masʿud al-Thaqafi) was Muḥammad’s daughterin-law, one of four wives of his son Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, the third Imam of Shiʿa Islam, whose mother was Fātimah Zahra. Secondly, the shrine in Qom referred to here is undoubtedly the one dedicated to another Fātimah, Fātimah Maʿsumeh (“Fātimah the Innocent”), sister of the eighth imām of Twelver Shiʿa Islam, ʿAlī ibn Mūsā al-Rezā. This shrine is indeed highly revered by Iranians.

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who supported herself mainly by dressing and adorning brides, though she also kept two looms for weaving carpets in her house. She entered with two of her children, wearing a bandage on one hand and arm to make a great show of the pain she was in. An interpreter who had been sent for said that a porter of the dārūgha, one of the governors, had struck her hand with a rod because she declined to give up her house the previous afternoon on the grounds that she had two grown daughters; he added that her hand was in a sorry state. The Ambassador, sensing that this was her demure way of requesting payment for his lodging, ordered that she be immediately given fifty reales. But after accepting the money, the woman did not take her leave, but instead related how much the house had cost her to build. At that point more people, mostly elderly women and children, began entering through the same door she had used, most of them looking [margin: destitute]. More and more people continued to crowd into the Ambassador’s room, which was quite large, until it was completely filled. Among the last to enter were some younger women with fairer visages who came in with a daughter of the proprietress. This daughter was more beautiful than all the women who had been seen to that point in those regions, if any of them could be considered beautiful, considering the hideous and abominable clothing they wore. All [margin: Most] of these people had come through the walls of the proprietress’s garden in hopes of seeing the Franks, since they had not been allowed to do this in public. The rest of them came looking for a handout from the Ambassador, and this desire spread to the rest of them, whom which was understandable considering their ill fortune and appearance. A sizeable quantity of money was distributed to everybody, including the boys and girls. And still these women tarried, their number continually increasing because the proprietess had told her eldest daughter to come and collect what she could of the congiarium, or disbursement, that was still in process. The daughter, being a grown woman—and a beautiful one at that, at least by local standards—had been fixing herself up with some other young ladies in order to present a better appearance, particularly [fol. 297r] because she had heard that the Ambassador had praised her sister’s beauty. But at that moment a loud noise was heard at the main door of the house, one room from their present location. The Ambassador sent someone to investigate its cause, and was informed that a Persian, one of the king’s chief soldiers, who most people called qezelbāš,296 whom desired to come in and 296  Turkmen tribal aristocracy. The term refers to their distinctive headdress, which had earlier been associated with Iranian Twelver Shiʿism. It consisted of twelve gores or slashes, symbolizing the twelve imams, with a spike above it. The word is derived from the Ottoman Turkish for “red or crimson head,” which was initially pejorative but later

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pay him a visit, and that though the porter would not let him enter, he refused to leave. The Ambassador, surmising what all this might be about, invited him to enter and take a seat next to him. He remained there speechless, gazing intently at all those women. Judging from his silence and from the uneasiness displayed by the proprietress, it was obvious that either she was somehow acquainted or familiar with him, or that he was a close relative of hers, and so the Ambassador asked him through an interpreter if the latter was the case. He responded that he was not a relative, but a resident of the city who was seeking the hand [margin: of the proprietress’s] eldest daughter. At this, everyone left in a most disorderly fashion. It turned out that the soldier, who had persistently sought this union for some time and had offered the mother a dowry for that purpose, on this very day and for the first time set eyes on his intended’s sister, who was seated near the Ambassador, and took such a liking to her that he later gave her mother twice the dowry he had promised for her elder betrothed sister. After marrying her, he took her away to a village [margin: two leagues from Qom] that the king possessed had given him as a stipend for his wages, as is customary in Persia. [margin: 8] On this day, the 8th of the same month, the Ambassador departed from Qom very late in the day. He was well escorted after leaving for a good distance from the city, which from that vantage seemed larger [text blacked out] than it had that morning. After leaving the walled and more populated part of the city, he reached a [fol. 297v] very large bridge that spanned the bed of a river, which at that time carried no water, although judging by its depth and breadth, it must have borne [superscript: a] more great deal of water when it rained or when the snow melted at the beginning of the summer. After crossing the bridge, [margin: one of the governors directed the Ambassador’s attention to] a most magnificent building on the left side, next to the city. From what could be judged from that distance, it appeared to be larger and more spacious than any other building in all of Persia. It had very high cupolas and minarets covered with multicolored tiles. These Persians made grandiose claims about its opulence and the many [superscript: great] miracles that were witnessed there from day to day, whereby great numbers of people suffering from a variety of illnesses were healed. All of these miracles were attributed to the merits of its great saint, who has already been described, and to the fact that this was

proudly embraced by the Qezelbāš as a moniker for themselves. It refers to the distinctive red spike on the headgear worn by the Qezelbāš, the tāj-e ḥaydar, lit. “Ḥaydar’s crown” (in reference to Sheik Ḥaydar; see p. 335 n. 89), which became associated with the Safavid dynasty during the reign of Sheik Ḥaydar’s son, Shah Esmāʾīl I.

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her mosque. Next and adjacent to it were situated the caravanserai and the hospital built by her. At this point, the governors having taken their leave, the Ambassador pressed on until the city was half a league behind him, and notwithstanding that much of that distance was filled with suburbs, he arrived at a very small mosque that lay partially in ruins, where a dervish, or penitent saint, dwelled. Upon catching sight of the people, this dervish ran to fetch water from a very deep well across the way under a giant tree right next to the road. And though it was still extremely hot, in spite of the sun having already set, the well was so deep that the water extracted from it was so cold it was almost undrinkable, and the good dervish, who said he had chosen that life in order to serve God by giving travelers water to drink, nevertheless not only accepted the alms that everybody gave him, but even asked for more from those who were not so quick to give him any. After traveling most of the night under a very bright moon, though the ground was covered with sulfur and saltpeter, [fol. 298r] a high and round mountain was discovered on the right side; it was separate from the other mountains, standing alone and independent. We drew gradually closer until we were even with it; it was a quarter of a league from the road we were traveling on. A number of the Armenians in the service of the Ambassador had begun to circulate tall tales regarding this mountain, as had some of the Moors and Persians. All agreed that it had been deeply enchanted since time immemorial, and that no one dared scale it, not even its lowest foothills, lest he never return; either he would be swallowed up by the earth, or he would witness dreadful and terrifying visions and, as a result, die from fright. And as it is the most ordinary thing in the world for these kinds of fables to be believed, all of the Ambassador’s servants innocently accepted this story, especially since there were so many who swore to its veracity, and some of the more curious among them came over to the Ambassador’s litter, where he was resting, to tell the Ambassador [superscript: him] about it as if it were some marvel. The Ambassador, having heard all the commotion, took great pleasure in their eager and simple naïveté, and told them that there had always been mountains like that in many parts of the world. The men who were circulating this fable added that the mountain was called Jaʿfarābād in Persian, meaning the “Devil’s Mountain.”297 Just then, the road being at its closest point to the mountain, two of the Ambassador’s servants who considered themselves the bravest of all galloped off toward the mountain to take stock of it. But in no more time than it would 297  Ja’farābād actually means “the village founded by Jafar.” The mountain in question is possibly the volcanic peak Mt. Damāvand.

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have taken to ride there and back, they returned, extremely frightened. They said that as they began their climb, the [fol. 298v] ground underneath them began to open up and fall away so that the horses could no longer run. In the end this excuse was granted them to prevent their further embarrassment, [superscript: but] everybody ended up was more convinced than ever that the mountain was enchanted, and, as additional evidence, they averred, in accordance with what the Armenians, Arabs, and Persians had said, that when anyone looked at it from afar during their journey, it took on a different shape and size: now round, now oblong, sometimes higher, sometimes lower; and this is what caused them to marvel more than anything else. And though the Ambassador told them that those [margin: changes] were due to their different perspectives from which they looked at it, perpendicularly while they were not far off and from a different angle as they advanced past it, he could not dispel the fear that had [margin: taken root] in the breasts of all. While at first he was amused by the illusion they labored under, the Ambassador found that his explanation—namely that the loose and squashy quality of the earth was no doubt a consequence of its high levels of sulfur that ensued from numerous fires, as has happened many times on many occasions in Naples and Sicily and its proximate islands—was insufficient to his purpose of expelling these erroneous ideas from them. A little before sundown, at the conclusion of this conversation and many other stories along the same lines of night visions and apparitions, the party reached a caravanserai with the same name as the [superscript: aforementioned] mountain referred to above. [margin: We spent] all of the next day there in terrible heat and little comfort. In the afternoon, a Persian arrived on horseback with several loads of fruit. He had been sent to visit the Ambassador by the governor of Sāveh,298 a city five leagues distant. He extended the same request that had been heard in other cities, namely that we please enter by day. The Ambassador had retired to a platform of the caravanserai to dine in a small chamber situated on it. He desired to obtain information from this Persian, seeing he was an experienced resident of this land, regarding the nature of the mountain referred to previously, which was a little more than a league away. The Persian answered that according to [fol. 293r-b]299 well-established popular belief, it was enchanted, and hence its name Devil’s Mountain, but that the truth was that it frequently erupted in smoke, but without flame, and that in some places the earth was therefore burnt and covered in ashes so that those who happened to pass by got bogged down as if the road were marshy. He 298  Sāveh in present-day Markazi Province. 299  At this point, the foliation numbering for fols. 293–98 is repeated.

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added that there was a small shallow salt lake at the top that dried up in the summer, leaving great quantities of salt that nearby villagers gather by climbing to the summit on pathways with which they are acquainted and where the ground is firm. Near the lake and in the area surrounding, it was where most of the smoke streamed forth and where the earth was the most scorched. [margin: 9] On the 14th 9th, the Ambassador departed from the caravanserai of Ja’farābād in the company of the Persian from Sāveh, and after five short leagues, he arrived within a league of the city two hours before sunrise, reaching as far as a partially ruined mosque that was surrounded by several trees. The Persian informed him that the Ambassador could rest there a bit while he himself returned to Sāveh to announce the Ambassador’s arrival, and that after daylight he would return ahead of those who would be coming out to receive the Ambassador. At this point the Ambassador and several of his servants dismounted and entered a garden or patio of the mosque to sleep the rest of the night, the others going [margin: moving on] with the caravan. But immediately everybody was attacked by a countless number of invisible mosquitoes, so many that their number in the orchards just before entering Kāshān was modest and moderate compared to the relentlessly cruel stinging of the present ones, though both are of the same basic nature. The Ambassador’s bedding, consisting of pillows on a small carpet, had been placed under one of these infernal trees. Perceiving the din of everyone’s complaints and laments, and no longer able to withstand it, he arose, the others doing the same, since they were besieged less when standing than when lying down. It was remarkable that [fol. 293v-b] despite the vast number of mosquitoes, nobody could touch or feel even the tiniest atom of them with their hands, no matter how hard they tried. And thus we spent the rest of the night, which was very clear, walking about until morning. At daybreak, the Ambassador mounted his horse, and halfway to the city, which was a half-league away, he came upon the governor and several soldiers, who looked very gallant on their fine horses. They were accompanied by a great many people, more than how many were expected from the sparse population that was just then coming into view. That whole plain was all marshy and swampy, though the soil was already dry in many places, with great films of saltpeter on the surface; it was covered with water during the rainy season, which turned it into a lake, and to drain it were many canals with small bridges that several times intersected our road. Among the people who had come from the city were two very solemn and commanding Negroes riding on very fine horses with silver saddles and harnesses. They themselves were elegantly dressed. Their turbans were decorated with golden crests that contained great bunches of kingfisher plumes. The

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handles of their scimitars and daggers were made of gold, as were the handles of their iron maces. And after they spoke to the Ambassador, delivering grand orations like articulate and [text blacked out] [margin: erudite] men, the governor explained that they were two of the king’s best soldiers, and that while they had previously served the Turks, they had been in the service of the king since the time of the rebellion of the pasha of Aleppo.300 One of them had the same features, a wide nose and thick lips, and the same color as the blacks from Western Ethiopia, or Guinea, as it is popularly known, that are regularly seen in Spain. The other was not [fol. 294r-b] as dark, and had features that were not as thick, though both of them had kinked hair. They seemed to be about forty years old. Earlier, they had said they were Abyssinians [margin: and that they had been brought to Cairo at a young age]. But their hair and their facial features did not seem to be Abyssinian, so the Ambassador asked them through his interpreter—they both spoke Turkish very well—if they were from the kingdom of Bornu or Nubia.301 Upon hearing this, they very gladly repeated the same names, the darker of the two signaling that he was from Bornu, and his companion from Nubia. It was very common for merchants to bring many of these slaves to Cairo in the caravans that go to and from these provinces of Ethiopia closest to Egypt. Owing to the small size of this city and the poor quality of its houses, the Ambassador took up residence outside the city in a garden pertaining to the sultan of Shīrāz, where there were two or three rooms. There the two Ethiopian soldiers took their leave with many courteous speeches, [margin: saying that later that day they were to rejoin the army]. In every respect they seemed much more courteous and experienced than the people of Persia. Sāveh is located at 33 degrees and 18 minutes.302 [margin: 10] On the 10th, just before sunset, the Ambassador departed from Sāveh, and because the road was poor, we traveled all night until daybreak to traverse five long leagues. Upon his arrival in Dung, which is no more than a 300  Sultan Ahmed I (1603–1617) appointed a member of the Kurdish Canpulatoğlu clan, Hüseyin, as governor of Aleppo in 1604. After Hüseyin was executed the following year for treason, his nephew ʿAlī Canpulatoğlu rallied his fellow clansmen in revolt. (This ʿAlī is the pasha referred to by Silva y Figueroa.) The rebellion spread throughout northern Syria, and some Kurds hoped ʿAlī would establish a Kurdish principality. In response, Sultan Ahmed I appointed ʿAlī governor of Aleppo in 1606 to buy time, then raised an army and crushed him in 1607. See Masters, Arabs of the Ottoman Empire, 37–38. 301  Bornu was a medieval African kingdom and region incorporating areas that are today parts of Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. Nubia was an African kingdom and region in the south of Egypt along the Nile and in northern Sudan. 302  The actual coordinates are 35°01′19″N, 50°21′15″E.

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caravanserai, though a big one, being quite old and ruinous in places, he dispatched one of his gentlemen-in-waiting to Qazvīn, which is only three days’ journey from there, to give the king notice of his coming, as he had previously been ordered to do. [margin: 11] On the 16th 11th, he departed from the caravanserai with over an hour of sunlight remaining, and though the caravan traveled at a quick pace the night through, it only managed to reach the village where we were to rest from our travels an hour after sun-up. The village, which was nine leagues away, was called Ārāsanj.303 Here the Ambassador took suitable lodging with a [fol. 294v-b] large family consisting of a poor man and his three married sons. They fully extended to him the same generosity he received elsewhere. [margin: 12] On the 12th, we left at the same time as yesterday, since we faced the prospect of covering eight leagues, and at sunrise the Ambassador arrived in Moḥammadābād,304 another village, where he also took reasonable lodging. Although the water there was horrible and pestilential, they served the best mutton, with the most savory and delicate taste, that had been eaten anywhere, being equal to the best in Spain. [margin: 13] [text in margin blacked out] [margin: 14th] The next day, the 13th, the Ambassador having spent the entire previous day in Moḥammadābād departed from that village a little after sunrise, [margin: having rested there], the journey ahead being no more than two leagues of average length, and thus just before sunset we reached Pir-e Yūsefiyān, a small village two leagues from Qazvīn. There we were to await the order the king would give as we entered the city. [margin: The houses in] this village and in the two previous ones were not covered with flat roofs, like those normally seen in Persia and Media. Instead, they have the kind of domed roofs that are frequently seen in Spain, and thus they present a strange appearance, somewhat like the many huts or tents seen in Arab dawārs. In the afternoon, the Ambassador’s servant who had been sent to Qazvīn returned with a servant of the dārūgha, or governor, of the city with several loads of fruit and snow, and an order from the king that the Ambassador enter Qazvīn [margin: the next morning] at seven or eight o’clock. [margin: 15] The Ambassador set out on a crystal-clear day from the aforementioned village on the 15th of June with most of his servants. He had sent the rest of his party on ahead with his wardrobe and the gifts that had been brought from Spain for the king. Not only were all of his servants 303  Present-day Ārāsanj-e Pāʿin. 304  Loureiro et al., Anotações e estudos, 71, identify this village as Mubaraka, though Moḥammadābād is a better fit phonetically with the form Monbara found in the MS and is located where Silva y Figueroa says it is.

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neatly and elegantly dressed, decked with crests of different colors in their hats, [fol. 295r-b] but he himself wore different clothing than what suited his age and personal taste, seeing that this reflected the dignity and honor of the embassy. Halfway there a very smart and polished company of horses came into view. Riding with them was Daud Khān,305 the son of Allāhverdī Khān, and brother of Emāmqolī Khān, the sultan of Shīrāz, who was ordered by the king to come with many other leading men to receive and escort the Ambassador. As they drew near, the governor of the city and Ḥosayn Beg,306 the royal chamberlain, very well received and favored by the king, positioned themselves in front of the others. The chamberlain was under orders to find accommodations for the Ambassador and regale him, and hence he had already prepared the biggest and best house for him in all Qazvīn, which belonged to the king’s general factor himself. After all these men finished speaking and pronouncing their grand speeches, Daud Khān did the same and then came around to the Ambassador’s left side, the others leading the way, [superscript: many of them] wearing jubbahs made from gold fabric; the handles of their scimitars and daggers, which were also made of gold, were studded with many rubies, turquoises, and emeralds. Their crests, which were also made of gold, held great tufts of very beautiful heron plumes from Muscovy and Tatary.307 Daud Khān was festooned not only with the finery just described, but incomparably more magnificently and splendidly than the rest, with a great number of the gems 305  Daud Khān Undiladze, Georgian, Safavid military commander and administrator, the second son of Allāhverdī Khān and younger brother to Imām-Quli Khān. Unlike his father and older brother, Daud maintained closer ties with the country of his origin. While he emulated his father and brother in the commissioning of the building of public projects, unlike them, he patronized Catholic missionaries and their activities in Georgia and Ganja; see Gabashvili, “Undiladze Feudal House,” 37–58, and Maeda, “Ethno-Social Background,” 243–78. Silva y Figueroa also uses Daur Cham elsewhere when referring to David I, ruler of Kakheti (1601–2) and husband of Ketevan, see p. 362 n. 155. 306  Ḥosayn Beg Zuʿl-Qadar. Silva y Figueroa identifies him as the aposentador mayor (“royal chamberlain”); his Persian title was mehmāndār, meaning “master of ceremonies,” the officer responsible in the Safavid bureaucracy for the care of state visitors; see Munshī, History, 2:1093, 1389. 307  Silva y Figueroa is using a term that designates large tracts of land stretching from the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains to the following present-day areas: the PonticCaspian steppe, Volga-Urals, Caucasus, Turkestan, Mongolia, Manchuria, and Siberia. These lands were largely inhabited by Tatars, i.e., Turkic peoples who had entered the region during Mongol-Turkic invasions during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Tatary may be equated with the Mongol Empire, which did not always retain its geographical unity and often fragmented into subdivisions based upon names of competing ruling power groups over different geographical locations.

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just mentioned in his turban. He said, on behalf of the king, that only those closest to the king had been sent to receive the Ambassador because everyone else was in the army. There was no throng of commoners as in other cities, none of them daring to come outside, as it was made known that anybody who did so would be put to death. There was only this beautiful company of horses, which numbered approximately 200. And thus [fol. 295v-b] we entered the city, which has no walls and contains as many dilapidated and unattractive houses as Eṣfahān and Shīrāz, even though it is one of the biggest and most important cities in Persia, so much so that her kings made it their main residence and court after the Turks began to overrun Media, sacking the fabulously rich city of Tabrīz. Immediately after entering the city, one sees a great mosque on the left side. Its cupola, which is very tall, is covered with tile, and because it is the most august of all the mosques in the city, close to which the al-faqīh,308 or chief sayyid,309 whom [margin: they call a mufti],310 has his house [superscript: near there]. This man is a venerable and very old Arab of the caste and lineage of Muḥammad. And since the house where the Ambassador would be staying was less than a hundred paces from it, he took his leave from the men who had accompanied him, dismounted, and went inside. The Ambassador was so impatient to be quit of the obligation of his embassy that no sooner did he arrive, he ordered the gifts that he had brought from Spain to be taken out and set in order. Despite having been transported for such a long time and through such varied climes, they were undamaged, even the easily corruptible ones. That afternoon the mehmāndār, or aforementioned royal chamberlain, called and said that the king wished [margin: the Ambassador to] see him on Sunday, two days thence, and that on the morrow, he, the royal chamberlain, would come inspect the gifts, which had already been removed from their boxes. And so he did the following morning. The Ambassador delivered everything that, as far as he could recall, had been brought from Spain. He would have liked them to be taken to the king immediately thereafter in order to be free to visit him the next day with fewer encumbrances, but this was denied him by the royal chamberlain, who said that it was customary for ambassadors to accompany their gifts. And thus the Ambassador remained there that night until the following day, Sunday. The chamberlain returned early the next morning with more than 600 men so that each [fol. 296r-b] could hand-carry a single item, no matter how small, even though the Ambassador insisted that the smaller items be carried together to 308  See p. 263 n. 54. 309  A sayyid is a direct male descendant of Muḥammad. 310  A mufti is an Islamic scholar who expounds sharia (Islamic) law.

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create a better presentation. But since he was unable to persuade the royal chamberlain to comply, all of the gifts were divided among as many men and boys as could be found. The gifts were as follows: many pieces of scarlet and fine fabrics; gold plush and satins in a variety of colors; flowered satins from Italy; large urns; goldplated platters and pitchers; a large brazier; a silver desk; a chest with seventy pieces of gilded silver, replete with all necessary tableware, ideal for travel or dining at home; six beautiful cups made of gold and crystal, and another two made of pure gold; a sword and dagger and their belts, trimmed and adorned with gold; a small chest of golden-white silver, exquisitely adorned with designs carved in relief, containing twenty-three enamelled gold chains, ten of them with large gems of very fine emeralds with pearls as pendants; [margin: eight rings set with large emeralds]; four sets of golden and silver festive horse furniture, the caparisons embroidered with the same materials; six hauberks of fine chainmail; fifty harquebus barrels; another fifty harquebuses with [superscript: gold] damascened stocks, the barrels, which were long for hunting, and their well locks also damascened in gold, with gold-trimmed carrying cases; and several pistols and small muskets for warfare, the stocks and flasks exquisitely worked. Besides these, there were a hundred arrobas311 of steel [margin: and a very large crate full of all manner of tools for woodworking, metalworking, and for use in performing surgery]. There were also five large barrels containing thirty arrobas of cochineal, the substance from which a superb crimson dye is produced, which is highly regarded and was one of the most valuable items of all of the gifts.312 And because the king desired that the Ambassador’s personal gifts be included with all this, they were also [fol. 296v-b] taken. [margin: They consisted of two portraits of women with Spanish dress and hairstyle, one of the princess of Spain, and the other of the queen of France];313 [text blacked out] twelve spears from the island [margin: of Sri Lanka] with very strong shafts and silver damascened tips; four harquebuses from Sri Lanka that could shoot 300 paces, the barrels of which measured seven spans and required only 311  See “Measurements.” 312  Silva y Figueroa is highlighting only some of the gifts he delivered. One estimate suggests a partial value at 30,600 ducats for purposes of exempting the collection of customs duties in India; this estimate also includes Silva y Figueroa’s personal effects and gifts. In addition to gifts that were brought from Europe, Portuguese authorities in Goa were instructed to add shipments of pepper and cinnamon. See DRDA, 3: 27–29, 118–22. 313  The princess referred to is Maria Anna of Austria (1606–1646), who eventually married Ferdinand III, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire; the Queen of France, Anne of Austria (1601–1666), who married Louis XIII of France, was her elder sister.

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a small charge, with very beautiful stocks and flasks adorned with silver and silver chains; another harquebus from Sri Lanka, the same length as the others, but much broader, with gilded marble flasks; and a gift that might perhaps be held in the highest estimation, namely a great, ferocious mastiff, brought from Spain, of notable pedigree and strength.314 All of these goods were first carried through the most public squares and streets of Qazvīn and, afterward, the men carrying them halted one street before the garden and house in which the Ambassador was to be received. The Ambassador left his residence at four in the afternoon accompanied by the governor and the royal chamberlain and many other soldiers and servants of the king, as well as the Ambassador’s servants. The latter were bedecked in livery that was different and more expensive than what they wore on the day of their arrival. It was possible to move along the streets only with great difficulty because of the pressing crowd that had come to see men with such an alien and different style of dress. [margin: Advancing] along the street where the procession [superscript: had stopped], the Ambassador halted thirty feet from the house and garden where the king resided. Dismounting, he seated himself on some rugs that had been placed beneath a tree for that purpose. A bench two feet high had been placed around the trunk, similar to those found in many towns and small villages in Spain. The patio in front of the door of the house was replete with very elegant people, all the leading citizens, including those who had accompanied the Ambassador. They stood at attention, [margin: forming a pathway] that led from the Ambassador to the door where he was to enter. And after waiting there for half an hour on a very uncomfortable chair, and feeling tired and constricted in his gala suit, one which he was not accustomed to wearing, the Ambassador called for the royal chamberlain. He requested that the chamberlain go to the king and beg [superscript: tell] him on his behalf that he was very weary and exhausted from wearing the childish suit of clothing he had donned that day in his capacity as public servant, just so that His Highness315 might be able to see what kind of clothing [fol. 297r-b] Spaniards wore to celebrate the births and marriages of their royalty. He instructed him to supplicate the king to receive the Ambassador, [margin: and should he refuse, the Ambassador would return to his residence]. His unwillingness notwithstanding, the chamberlain carried this message to the king, returning a while later with the answer, saying that the king had commanded him to enter. By this time, the Ambassador was quite put out, not 314  This is the mastiff referred to earlier as Roland; see p. 349. 315  Here and elsewhere, Silva y Figueroa consistently addresses the Shah as “Your Highness.”

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so much because of his fatigue but because of the haughty and arrogant custom of these Eastern barbarians to force ambassadors to be detained and wait for them, and especially because the Ambassador suspected that he had been commanded to wait because the Turk’s çavuş316 had arrived at the same time and had not yet been given a private audience. The Ambassador made his entrance accompanied by the most prominent men there present, together with his most trusted servants, and advanced to the garden, which was very dense and lush. There Āḡā Mir, the secretary of state, and [text blacked out] [superscript: Yusef] Āḡā,317 who, though a eunuch, commanded great authority under the king, came forth to greet him. The entourage walked a good distance down a street lined with very tall cypress trees and beautiful plane trees. The procession gradually dwindled until the Ambassador was left with no more than his servants and the aforementioned ministers. Afterward, the group veered left away from the spacious street and entered a smaller one lined with luxuriant trees. On leaving this street the party came upon a large, beautiful pool of water in the shape of a perfect square, each side measuring more than 100 paces. In the center was an open air pavilion and a cupola supported by four sturdy wooden pillars. The pavilion was approached by means of a small path or bridge four or five feet wide, with handrails on both sides. Before arriving within sixty paces of the pool, the Ambassador’s servants were ordered to remain behind, and one of his interpreters who knew the king, having spoken with him many times, pointed out to the Ambassador that the king was present. The king had emerged from the pavilion alone, not having been [fol. 297vb] visible inside it, and stood about forty paces from the pool. At that point the Ambassador removed his hat and knelt on one knee and saluted the king with his right hand, bringing it to his mouth, and afterward placing it on the sleeve of the king’s jubbah or robe and kissing it again. After kissing the letter he had brought from His Catholic Majesty, he placed it in the king’s hand. The king accepted the letter and displayed great demonstrations of gratification to the Ambassador, telling him how pleased he was by his arrival. He inquired after His Majesty’s health, noting how long it had been since he had received 316  The envoy or ambassador of the Ottoman sulṭān or vizier. 317  It is unclear when ʿAbbās I appointed Yusef Āḡā the chief guard of the harem (ešīk-āqāsībāšī-e ḥaram); other particulars about his career are also unknown. Although the position of eunuch has been understood to belong to the lower ranks of the Persian court, Silva y Figueroa’s observations about this eunuch’s relative importance at ʿAbbās’ court is correct. Being responsible for guarding and controlling entrance to the Shah’s harem bought this official into ʿAbbās’ confidence, and such access and trust made him influential at court.

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letters from him. The Ambassador satisfied his questions with the few words that time allowed, after which the king then headed toward the pavilion, motioning for the Ambassador to follow him. After ascending the two or three steps at the end of the bridge, the Ambassador encountered five or six Persians, who, despite being young men, presented a very dignified and solemn appearance. Their garments were fashioned from gold brocade, longer than the usual jubbahs. All of them were standing, and the two on the right side of the pavilion placed the Ambassador between them and then sat on rugs that covered the floor of the pavilion. A short while later, after the Ambassador had been uncomfortably seated—he was still wearing his sword and breeches—the Turk’s çavuş318 entered, wearing no more than a very long, tawny-silk robe that reached almost to his ankles, and an entirely white turban, as is customary with the Turks; he was not wearing a scimitar. Because of his manner of dress, as well as his long beard, and his modest restraint upon entering, the Ambassador mistook him for a holy man or an Arab priest from Ahvāz, the city where the Mombareca319 resides. But then the Ambassador’s interpreter, who was standing in the middle of the pavilion, informed him that this man was the ambassador of the Rume,320 the name used throughout the East to refer to the Turks, just as Europeans are referred to as Franks. Although the çavuş hesitated for a moment after entering [fol. 298r-b] and seeing the Ambassador’s garb, which for him must have been quite novel, he passed in front of the Ambassador with great poise and composure. Afterward, another two Persians who stood on the left side of the pavilion placed him between them, and the Ambassador chatted through his interpreter with the men on either side of him. One of them was the governor or sultan of Gīlān,321 and the other an important figure among the Kurds, the inhabitants of the mountains that run through the middle of the province of Susiana, now called Susien [margin: or Shūshtar].322 The second man asked the Ambassador what he thought of the çavuş, and since he asked this with a chuckle, the Ambassador replied that he seemed to him an honorable and venerable mullah, the Persians [superscript: Persian word] for priest or holy man. The Persians laughed a great deal at this response and would have continued the conversation had the king not entered at that moment. He was carrying 318  See p. 455 n. 316. 319  See p. 291 n. 9. 320  See p. 338 n. 108. 321  The present-day Iranian province that borders the Caspian Sea and the Republic of Āzarbāījān to the north. 322  Present-day Khūzestān, which corresponds to ancient Elam; see p. 353 n. 139.

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one of the harquebuses from the collection of gifts in his hands. Because of its [margin: moderate] length and large caliber—it was designed for cavalry charges—it had seemed to him the best one. He ordered everyone to remain seated, conveying this with gestures, and asked the Ambassador if the harquebus was of the type the Spaniards used in battle, to which the Ambassador replied that harquebuses of that length and caliber were used by the infantry, and that slightly shorter ones were used by the light cavalry. The king then lifted it to his shoulder and aimed it. He afterward handed it to one of the young men who had accompanied him and were with other of the king’s servants who stood along the fenced path surrounding the pavilion, which was slightly wider than the path or bridge leading up to the pavilion. After handing the youth the gun, the king seated himself between two Persians who stood next to the Ambassador and the çavuş, apparently as a safeguard to his person; this practice seemed to be an ancient ceremony and custom of theirs. [fol. 298v-b] The king was dressed in a jubbah fashioned from the same kind of cloth worn by poor common Persians, which is green in color,323 and on his head he wore a turban, around which was wrapped an inexpensive piece of cloth fringed with green and crimson silk, in the manner worn by the leading Sophy men and soldiers as a sign of their religion, who in the Turkish tongue are called qezelbāšís. This headdress is made of thick red felt on the outside and is lined with a heavy layer of cotton so that it can withstand a strong blow from a scimitar. Its opening is so narrow that it is very difficult to place it on one’s head; but it [superscript: gradually widens] toward the top—it is more than half a foot tall—and the top is very flat and round. Several pleats fall from the top, like on the pointed hoods worn by mourners in Spain, or like the customary headdresses worn by commoners of La Mancha or Old Castile. The aforementioned pleats in the headdress amount to precisely twelve in number, this being a unique practice among Sophies of the new order established by Sheik Ḥaydar from Ardabīl. In the center [margin: of the surface] of the headdress, where the pleats meet, there was a sturdy and well-anchored spike, about three inches high and half an inch thick, extending out a little above the pleats, and flat, like the rest of the helmet. Twelve grooves ascended from the base to this spike and met in the upper middle part of it, where both the twelve pleats and the hood were exposed together where the spire emerges; both hood and spire were of the same red color. Several folds [margin: of cloth] were wrapped around this headdress, according to the Asian custom, resulting in a magnificent turban, but always in such a way that the top flat part of 323  The color green signifies direct descent from the Prophet Muḥammad; see Stillman and Stillman, Arab Dress, 148.

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the turban is exposed in which the twelve pleats are formed, even though in most cases only the spike is exposed, [fol. 299r] the rest being covered with the highest pleats of the cloth, which are slightly elevated above the highest part of the headdress.324 The king’s scimitar complemented the modesty and reserve of his dress, the guard being black and the sheath made of black leather. Neither did the king portray the decorum or majesty of a great king in his appearance or carriage. He was smaller than average, thin, although robust and sinewy, with a hooked nose and gaunt features, fairly white skin, and sparkling greenish eyes. Since he daily performed much physical exercise, not shielding himself from the sun or the weather, his face was tanned, making him look darker than he really was. However, his most prominent physical defect was his coarse and unsightly hands, which were notably small, broad, and black, like the hands of a coarse, vulgar shepherd. Immediately after the king came into the pavilion, there entered a young man of refined bearing and very white skin. He appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, and wore a most ordinary green jubbah and white turban. He did not sit, but rather approached the pillar on the right side of the pavilion, where he remained staring at the ground without looking at or speaking to anyone, nor did anyone address him. The Ambassador’s interpreter surreptitiously informed him that the young man was the king’s son325 and that he should in no way reveal that he knew this, as the king wished it thus. It was manifest that no one show any sign of respect [superscript: present] displayed their knowledge of this, treating him as if he were one of the pages or servants through the course of the evening. It was almost nightfall and the procession of gifts began to pass by in a long train in front of and along both sides of the pool, and so innumerable [fol. 299v] lights were instantly lit. First, several big, silver lamps were lit around the pool, followed by a set of silver candelabras [margin: with wax candles]. Close by, a great number of people were seated on rugs that completely surrounded the pool, separated from each other by about ten or twelve paces, forming a kind of amphitheater with a vast throng of spectators. Near the path or bridge stood the Ambassador’s servants, and despite being newly arrived guests, they occupied a choicer spot than everyone else. Next to and a little behind them were the servants belonging to the çavuş’s retinue, who were few in number and decidedly and notably unpolished. To brighten up the garden, behind this multitude there was a great quantity of some type of silver candlesticks or sconces, similar to those carried by altar boys in cathedrals. There were numerous thin 324  See p. 444 n. 296. 325  Imām-Qulī Mīrzā.

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iron rods surrounding the top of them with some kind of flammable material inside which made a huge flame, as big as one produced by four to six sconces combined. But the most remarkable thing that night was a certain woman, the only one present among so many men at this great gathering. She was seated on a rug, slightly more removed from the pool than the rest of the crowd. She was seated in front of a house that was not very large or well decorated, but which had several trellised windows and verandas. This house was later revealed to be the king’s harem. The woman to whom I am referring wore a white cloak, like all Persian women, though her whole face was exposed. She looked to the Ambassador to be over fifty years of age. She was heavy in the face, which was longer than it was round, and her skin was dark and reddish in color. She exuded [fol. 300r] so much authority through her bearing and her extraordinary solemnity that it seemed as though the pomp and ceremony surrounding the presentation of the gifts had been prepared and ordered specifically so that she might witness it. There was no one close to her, but there was a large gold urn, more than two feet tall, directly in front of her, and twenty paces from where she sat stood numerous soldiers well armed with bows, arrows, and scimitars, guarding her with great veneration and respect. The procession of people bearing the gifts, whose number has already been given, passed by opposite her, but they then turned toward the side of the pool where she was seated, and eight to ten paces before reaching her, turned slightly away and passed between her and the house, with her back to the house. She did not make a single motion during this entire procession, nor did she [margin: even] glance at any of the gifts.326 Shortly after the king of Persia arrived, those who were present in the pavilion, which by this time was very well lit, told him what the Ambassador had said about the Turk’s çavuş. At this he burst out in hearty laughter and made a few witty remarks about it through his interpreter to the Ambassador, but in the Georgian tongue so that the çavuş would not understand, though the king’s dissimulation and artifice soon became apparent. Although he attempted to acclaim and honor the Ambassador with as many outward signs and expressions as possible, his inner and fundamental intent was to make the çavuş notice the Ambassador’s presence, as well as that of the procession of gifts that was passing before them [margin: with] great pomp and ceremony, and that was why the çavuş had not been given an audience, even though he had arrived in [fol. 300v] Qazvīn nine or ten days before the Ambassador. 326  Probably Zainab Begom (1550–1641), one of ʿAbbās’s most trusted and intimate counselors; she was banned from the court upon the succession of Shah Safī. See Szuppe, “Women in 16th-Century Safavid Iran,” 144, 162.

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The king then began to converse with the çavuş regarding the affairs he had come to discuss, which affairs he must have already been aware of, since the çavuş had already revealed them to the king’s ministers. The discussion was quite lengthy. The king spoke several times with angry gestures, and according to what the interpreter told me, he was making grave threats, telling him that the Turks ought not to deal with him as they had with his father, KhudāBandah,327 who was blind and frail, and from whom they had taken Media and Greater Armenia, territories that he had recovered from them with the sword and claimed as his own, and for which he was not obliged to offer any kind of compensation whatsoever. Even though these things were discussed quietly and the king and the çavuş sat close together, everyone was grouped so closely that the interpreter could not help overhearing. He inferred from the conversation that the çavuş had requested that those provinces be handed back to the Turks since they had been taken during time in which they had a treaty with them. By that time, it was two hours past nightfall, and several young men entered. They had long hair that spilled out from underneath the sides of their turbans and hung down to their necks. Because the area they were to serve in within the pavilion was so narrow, instead of wearing the usual long robes, which would have gotten in the way, they wore a short garment made of gold cloth that did not quite reach to mid-thigh. Their breeches, which were made from the same material, were very tight fitting, like leggings, with the stockings connected to the breeches, although not as tight fitting, creating a laughable form and appearance. After entering, the aforementioned young men, along with a few other servants, spread long linens made of a light material of silk and gold for the banquet before the king and his visitors, the same kind that were used during the banquet given by the khān or sultan of Shīrāz. After spreading out the linens, the young men covered them with large, thin portions of a [fol. 301r] bread-like substance, which could be easily folded without breaking. Besides serving as food, they could also be used as napkins by those so inclined to use them as such, although the Persians, Moors, and Turks make little effort to remain clean while eating. The dinner was very simple, plain, and straightforward, more closely resembling the modest and [margin: laconic] parsimony of the ancient Lacedaemonians328 than the splendor and opulence of the Persians of that time ancient Persians, a way of life that was smothered and suffocated by the poor, coarse, and rustic customs of the Arabs in most of Asia. For example, the dinner comprised little more than 327  Moḥammad Khudā-Bandah; see p. 425 n. 276. 328  Spartans.

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a few large platters of rice, chicken, and beef all mixed together, as well as some beginners and desserts, such as half-ripe plums, radishes, and cucumbers. By the frugality of the dinner, the king undoubtedly wished to demonstrate to his guests the inclination and conduct [text blacked out] that [superscript: he has and exercises] as a soldier on all occasions. And while it is true that the food itself was very plain and simple, some of it even common and coarse, the tableware was regal and lavish. The cups, pitchers, and dishes were made of thick, heavy gold, not only in the pavilion where the king sat, but in all the other areas surrounding the pool where the throng of people also dined. Since it is customary among the Persians to discuss serious matters as well as to simply while away the time during a banquet, the king spent the greater part of the banquet near the çavuş in earnest discussion. However, on two occasions the king offered a toast to the Ambassador, once to the health of the king of Spain, to whom he always referred as his brother, and another to welcome the Ambassador. The Ambassador, although he did not [fol. 301v] customarily drink wine, toasted the king in turn, once to his health and to the success of his business at hand, and again to the çavuş’s beard, ordering his interpreter to say this last phrase very close to him in the Georgian tongue, after which the king struck his forehead with his palm, and laughed exceedingly, even though his laugh is difficult to interpret and is untrustworthy. Despite the çavuş’s great restraint and gravity, he ate a little of the food before him, but the king’s son did not move; he remained standing in the same posture he had assumed upon entering. The aforementioned woman did not move or eat either, but sat as still as a statue. The dinner ended before midnight, and since the Ambassador was extremely fatigued and tired, not only because he was not used to the sitting posture he had been required to assume, but also because of the ceremonial clothing he had worn that day, he beseeched the king to allow him to retire to his quarters to rest. The king granted him his wish and commanded the governor and royal chamberlain who had come with him earlier to see him home. After bidding the king farewell, the Ambassador left the well-illuminated garden with his servants, who carried torches, and discovered as many people in the garden and on the streets as if it were midday; he arrived at his residence after midnight. No sooner had the Ambassador arrived in Qazvīn than rumors began to circulate that the king would depart within three or four days for Solţānīyeh, a two-day journey in the direction of Tabrīz. The main body of the army was being assembled there from all sides against the Turkish army in defense of Armenia and Media. This greatly concerned the Ambassador, [fol. 302r] who had strong suspicions that the king would depart abruptly, which is exactly how things turned out, not only [margin: before] they could conclude their

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business, but even before being granted an audience. And so the next morning, when the chamberlain paid him a visit—something he did every day during the Ambassador’s stay in Qazvīn, the Ambassador profusely begged and pled with him to beseech the king on his behalf to grant him an immediate audience, as he had been traveling for more than four years to carry out through much travail [superscript: to carry out] the embassy from His Majesty the king. Even though the chamberlain assured him on that and on subsequent occasions that the king would see him and grant him all the audiences he wished, the Ambassador’s suspicions grew as he saw that the king refused to set a specific date for an audience, especially because it became increasingly clear that he was engaged in intense discussions with the çavuş regarding a treaty, or at least a truce, seeking for some type of recognition for the provinces recently recovered by the king, it being understood that peace was greatly desired. This deeply troubled the Ambassador, since one of the primary objectives of his embassy was to prevent just such a truce from being signed, although he had little hope of persuading the king of this, seeing how he was most irritated and displeased with the Christian princes, especially the emperor,329 because at the same time the king was fighting against the Turks and conquering and reclaiming the aforementioned provinces from them, the emperor signed a truce with them after so many years of war in Hungary. But this was not the only reason for the king’s distrust; what had really incensed him was having witnessed with his own eyes that, ever since the signing of that peace, the sultan had continuously deployed most of his forces in an effort to retake Armenia, yet in all that time neither the [fol. 302v] emperor nor the king of Poland,330 the neighboring rulers of the sultan’s domains, [text blacked out] [superscript: would have] enjoyed a riper opportunity to recover from the Turks at least that part of Hungary that had been taken from them. Even the Cossacks, as weak and few in number as they were, had inflicted great harm on the Turks, and continue to do so, along the coasts of the Black Sea and on the ships that sail upon it. For all these reasons, which, when carefully weighed are right and legitimate, this king has a very different attitude regarding our interests than in the past, even though it is true—based on what was later witnessed—that the king had always held the name Christian in the deepest contempt. And if this 329  Silva y Figueroa seems to be referring to Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), the actual signatory with Sultan Ahmed I of the Peace of Zitava in 1606, ending the Fifteen Years’ War between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs. He could, however, mean Matthias of Austria (1557–1619), Archduke of Austria (1608–1619), who became Holy Roman Emperor (1612–1619). 330  Sigismund III Vasa (1566–1632), king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1587–1632).

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was belied by his actions—the monks in Persia actually came to believe that the king himself was going to accept and receive our Holy Religion—it was because he wanted the Holy Father and the other Christian princes to believe this so they would pursue the war against the Turk in Europe with increased zeal. As time dragged on, the Ambassador failed to obtain an audience with the king, no matter how much he insisted and importuned the royal chamberlain Ḥosayn Beg.331 He was put off from one day to the next, until he was finally told that he would be seen immediately, right after the dismissal of the çavuş. In the meantime, he was instructed to bide his time by visiting all of the city’s gardens he wished, particularly the Maidān, which was frequented every afternoon by the king and was where riding exercises were held. At that the Ambassador lost all hope of achieving any positive results, and he responded to Ḥosayn Beg, who was the only person appointed by the king to handle all of the Ambassador’s necessary business, that he could by no means take pleasure in any activity if the king did not permit him to discuss with him matters relating [fol. 303r] to his embassy, after traversing so many thousands of leagues over land and sea. Most afternoons the king went to the Maidān, where many people in the city congregated on horseback, both the inhabitants of the city and the servants and soldiers of the king who accompanied him. Other courtiers from diverse parts assembled there as well. Since the square was large and spacious, many of those who gathered there played polo, and the king would often play with them, as he was very experienced and skilled in the equestrian arts. But the Ambassador refused to leave his residence, and one day Ḥosayn Beg, having noticed his absence, came to ask, obviously having been ordered to do so, that all of the Ambassador’s servants present themselves that afternoon in the Maidān because the king wished to see them there, dressed in their finery. And since the Ambassador soon realized that the reason behind this request was that the çavuş, who also frequented the Maidān, might see the Europeans making an appearance like everyone else, he ordered his servants to ride there [margin: on horseback], [margin: that is to say, all those healthy enough to do so], as many had fallen ill, even those who did not customarily accompany him or go out in public, [text blacked out] [superscript: and thus] all who were able to do so went. From what the Ambassador understood from them on their return late that night, the royal chamberlain had directed them to a very favorable spot, and as the king was present in the square, he showed them the favor of coming over to them, the Turk’s çavuş being close by, and after speaking to them with great benevolence and sincerity, ordered wine to be served, for whenever he goes to the square he always keeps many pages close at hand with 331  See p. 451 n. 306.

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pitchers and cups of gold [fol. 303v] with which to offer drink to whomever he pleases. On that occasion, the king, after ordering that he be served a cup of wine, offered a toast to the health of His Majesty and ordered all to drink, without exception, which they did, appearing very content, as if there were nothing more to the event than what could be seen on the surface. The Ambassador was not only upset because he was not achieving his purpose, but he was also [margin: particularly] embarrassed and angered that the king was publicly stalling the audience in plain view of the çavuş, giving the latter to think that the king wished to flatter him, as at the time there were so many Europeans present in Qazvīn. Besides the six or seven Englishmen who had been sent to this king on behalf of English merchants who were in the port and city of Surat in India, and who were highly favored of him for reasons that will be explained later, there were also some Venetians and Germans, as well as other Italians from various parts of Italy, not including the foreigners who were staying in his home. And as it was common knowledge by then that the king wished to dismiss the çavuş and then depart for Solţānīyeh, where the army was gathering, the Ambassador resolved to seek out the king so that he might request a decree, or parvāna,332 as they call it in Persia, from him to recover several bundles of letters that the Ambassador had written to His Catholic Majesty. The carrier had made his way back to Hormuz with them after traveling three or four days from Baghdad. The Ambassador was greatly perturbed by this affair, having gone to great lengths to recover his letters. Both of these concerns moved the Ambassador to seek out the king [fol. 304r] one early morning, twenty days after his arrival in Qazvīn. When he did not find the king in the garden of his residence, he went to the Maidān, along with a few of his servants and Ḥosayn Beg, where he was informed by the doormen that the king had left the premises. But the Ambassador happened to run into the king at the entrance to a bazaar that was right next to the Maidān, appearing to take great pleasure at this meeting. The Ambassador begged pardon for visiting the king without his command, but explained that he had just learned of the sudden flight of the man who carried letters from the Ambassador to His Majesty, the king of Spain, and thus supplicated the king to order a parvāna so that as soon as the courier was intercepted, the letters would be seized from him and given to one of the Ambassador’s servants, who was being sent for just that purpose. The king told him not to worry, that he would immediately dispatch a soldier from his own guard, who was his most 332  See p. 302 n. 33.

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reliable parvāna.333 He then asked him if he would like to linger a while with him in one of his gardens in the Maidān. Seeing that the longed for opportunity had finally presented itself, the Ambassador responded that he would do as His Highness ordered. So they entered the square, and at the door of a reasonably agreeable house, the king dismounted without a footman, having ridden with the Ambassador at his side, with the Ambassador’s servants and the king’s entourage following behind; the Persians do not use footmen, and thus the Ambassador had ordered his to be left behind. Instead, the king and other dignitaries in Persia generally retain several tireless men who are fleet of foot, called shatirs, meaning couriers, who dress in a short damask-colored jubbah that extends to the knee. On their turbans they wear a big plume of feathers that reaches down to their shoulders, and their belts hold several tiny bells and a type of iron hatchet. Their function is to carry caparisons, or the coverings they place on their horses after the riders dismount. [fol. 304v] They [margin: also] deliver letters and other messages with the greatest of speed. The king called for the Ambassador after dismounting, and with the rest of the group following, they passed rapidly through the house and repaired directly to a garden. They walked along a cobbled pathway that made its way through the trees, beside which flowed a small channel of water, and made their way to a small pavilion with a fountain in the center. The king then sat down on some crude and poorly crafted mats that lay on the floor, and asked the Ambassador to seat himself next to him. He then began to discuss why the European kings did not wage war on the Turks, which is the standard timeworn contention of the Persians, and one which has been the aim of so many Persian embassies, just as the Europeans have always importuned the Persians to go to war with the Turks. Yet the mutual goal of both parties remains the same, namely that the forces of the Turks be partitioned and divided. The king asked why the Pope, inasmuch as he commanded obedience of all Christians as head of their religion, did not convene, persuade, and gather them together so that they might wage a mighty war against the Turks, or at least retake the territory the Turks had seized in Europe? For if they were to do this, he would continue the war on his part and thus debilitate, or weaken, their power. He added that his brother, the king of Spain, was so powerful that he should be the principal instigator of this war, and should not remain content with the little damage he inflicted on the Turks by privateering with galleys, but should

333  Silva y Figueroa is here confusing the name of the decree with its courier.

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instead endeavour to take Cyprus, Rhodes,334 or Negroponte.335 These desires expressed by the king of Persia did not originate with him, but rather with several of the Europeans who wander about the East with the aim of flattering and praising him by exaggerating his forces, saying that he alone had succeeded in doing [fol. 305r] more than all the kings of Europe combined. The Ambassador, attempting to satisfy the king as best he could, responded that even though the wish of the Pope and his predecessors had always been that the forces of Europe would unite to bring about the demise and ruin of the Turkish realm, which thing they had attempted several times, they were not always successful in this noble pursuit because not all the Christian princes recognized the Pope, not even in strictly spiritual matters. And even the Catholics, who obeyed him [text blacked out] as head of the Church in spiritual matters, did not recognize his authority in temporal matters, and neither group could come to sufficient unity and conformity so that being of one mind they might combine forces to fight a war so far from their homeland. Moreover, each of these princes had his own particular aims and objectives, none trusting the others; they even waged war against each other, mostly between neighboring kingdoms, not only in order to extend their borders by occupying their neighbor’s lands, but also because of differences in religious opinion. And the king had a similar example clearly before his eyes, since for both of the aforementioned reasons he had fought continuous and fierce wars with his those perpetual enemies [margin: of the Persians], the Turks, and the Uzbeks, both of which were such close neighbors, one on the west and the other on the east, as had previous rulers for so many years. But be that as it may, the forces of His Majesty the king of Spain and those of the Pope, as well as those belonging to the other potentates of Italy, had always been united. They were simply waiting for a suitable opportunity to wage a mighty war against their common enemy. Over the course of many years, His Majesty the king, along with the Italian galleys, had sailed to the east, causing great damage to the dominions of the Turks, both to their galleys and to their island ports, as well as to the ports on 334  The largest of the Dodecanese islands, located northeast of Crete and south-east of Athens in the Aegean Sea just off the Anatolian coast of Turkey at 36°10′0″N, 28°0′0″E. 335  Present-day Euboea, the second-largest Greek island, which is long, narrow, and seahorse shaped. Located at 38°30′0″N, 24°0′0″E, it faces the mainland and is separated from Boeotia by the Euripus Strait in the Aegean Sea. The name Negroponte (lit. “black bridge”), which entered Europe during the fifteenth century, stems from the well-fortified Venetian city Negroponte (also known as Chalcis) on the island. The entire island was taken by the Ottoman forces of Mehmed II in 1470. The term Negroponte ceased to be used in Europe by the nineteenth century.

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the mainland of Greece and Barbary, which [fol. 305v] [text blacked out] had kept the enemy on perpetual guard, employing the best of his forces in defense of the aforementioned areas. Arrogance [margin: was] a natural characteristic of this king, as it was of all those of his nationality. This hubris, together with the hate and abhorrence he feels towards those called Franks, or Europeans, though he endeavours to disguise it, in many instances prevents him from abstaining from boastfully praising the successes he has had against the Turks, and to scorn our successes. He claims that these triumphs over the Turks are due to his sword and good fortune, and not to the European kings who have deserted and abandoned him to face their common enemy. And since he would not diverge from this subject, nor cease talking about it no matter how many of his objections the Ambassador responded to, the latter finally declared that the same criteria should be appealed to in determining what was an acceptable course of action for both of these rulers, who were friends, and that as he had come to speak with His Highness regarding matters pertaining to His Majesty the king, as his ambassador, he asked with all due respect whether he had ever waged war against the Turk for any reason other than to recover what had previously belonged to him, or to defend what he already owned. This being the case, not only was it incumbent on his His Majesty the king of Spain to fight for the defense of his homeland, but to wage war in Turkish territory as well, both because of the animosity he felt towards the Turk as well as to fulfill his promises. Therefore, His Highness should consider dispassionately which of the two rulers was under the greater obligation to the other. While this subject was being discussed, [margin: the king] had sent for a Discalced Carmelite friar by the name of Friar Juan Thadeo, vicar of the monastery of this [fol. 306r] order in Eṣfahān. Friar Juan had arrived in Qazvīn two or three days after the Ambassador settled into his residence. The reasons this pious man had been sent for were, first, the king always sought to make an outward show of extending him a warm reception, and second, he wanted him to bring a copy of the Psalms of David and the New Testament written in the Persian language, beautifully bound in two volumes, which had not been delivered to the king until now, even though he had been requesting them through Ḥosayn Beg and the secretary of state, Āḡā Mir. This seemed to the king a timely occasion to summon him, for two purposes, which later became apparent: first, he wanted to prevent the Ambassador from asking him about Robert Sherley’s336 diplomatic errand to Spain or about the part of the kingdom of 336  The brothers Anthony (ca. 1565–ca. 1635) and Robert (1581–1628) Sherley were English travelers and adventurers who conducted diplomatic missions to Europe on behalf of

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Hormuz that he had taken by force, a matter that by no means did he want discussed; second, he wanted the Ambassador to see his display of reverence for the Holy Scriptures. And so, intentionally ignoring what the Ambassador had just said, he changed the subject and slyly redirected the conversation with the customary shrewdness and artifice he exercises in all matters until the friar arrived with the books, which the king opened and kissed with the semblance of as much devotion as if he were the most pious and penitent Capuchin in all of Europe; he went so far as to shed an abundance of tears. The king’s actions, which might appear respectful and reverential to all [margin: those unaware of his true character], were considered thoroughly detestable by the Ambassador because they revealed his resolute deceit and malignant pretence. But despite all this, the Ambassador, in order to create an impression that was contrary [fol. 306v] to his true feelings, praised the king’s great devotion and the high esteem that his approval of our Catholic and Christian religion has earned him in all parts of Europe. The king did not let the books out of his hands, even though he did not know how to read his own language, much less any other, and after removing his turban, he leafed through them again and again. The Ambassador’s servants stood near the pavilion, astounded at what seemed to them a miraculous event, even though the king’s own servants, who found themselves [margin: were] also not far off, were quite confident and certain that we Christians were being duped by him. Nevertheless, the omnipotence of God can work even greater miracles than the softening and converting the hard obstinate heart of this powerful king to true submission. According to usual Persian custom, the servants and ministers of the king, at his order, began to lay out the banquet linens, which, as already mentioned, are made of a golden and silken fabric called mileque.337 These were then covered with the large, soft, thin pieces of bread-like substance which also serve as napkins. Along with this they also brought three or four types of unleavened bread, which was very well cooked and very thin. While they laid out the banquet, the king gazed at the Ambassador’s sword, which was of the kind commonly used in Spain. It was narrow and light, and the handle was black, since that day the Ambassador was wearing a black cloak like those ordinarily worn in Madrid. On noting his interest, the Ambassador removed it from his sword belt, kissed it and handed it to the king.338 The latter removed it from its sheath and Shah ʿAbbās I. See Ross and Powers, Sir Anthony Sherley; Davies, Elizabethans Errant; Raisewell, “Sherley, Sir Anthony’ and ‘Sherley, Sir Robert’. 337  A fine Persian golden or silver fabric; see Hosten, Travels of Fray Sebastião Manrique, 215. 338  Kissing a sword was a sign of acknowledging the authority of the one receiving the sword over the giver of the same.

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examined it very intently, fingering the tip. He then returned it, and with great disdain asked if Spaniards used such swords in battle. The Ambassador responded that they did indeed, [margin: particularly] the infantry [fol. 307r], but that cavalrymen used broader, shorter swords. The king, with the same show of disdain, and revealing his contempt, then said, “These swords, what harm can they do? They are worthless.” The Ambassador responded to this, recognizing the spirit with which the king had spoken [margin: text blacked out in the margin]: “We know how to use them when necessary; while the scimitars of the Persians and the Turks create deep wounds by slashing with the edge, our swords kill with the tip.” At this the king could not contain himself and blurted out most angrily, “And these others, should they be sleeping and allow themselves to be slain?” The Ambassador, seeing that he was agitated, laughingly replied: “The danger of war is the same for all who fight, and the swiftest and luckiest have the advantage over the rest.” At this the king calmed down and [text blacked out] the banquet commenced. It was no more elaborate or sumptuous than the banquet that had been served by the pool in the pavilion. The king exchanged the solemnity and devotion he had previously expressed with merry conversation and amusement. He toasted the Ambassador three or four times, asking him how he liked the wine. Since the Ambassador praised it, even though he knew little of that métier, the king informed him that he would send him more whenever he wished, along with anything else he found to his liking. The Ambassador replied that he would accept His Highness’s favor, and that in the future he would request some of the thin bread cakes, as they were very good and delicious. But the Ambassador did not drink the wine except when [fol. 307v] the king toasted him. Friar Juan Thadeo also dined with them, who, though thoroughly sober [text blacked out] [margin: in keeping with his dignity] as a Discalced Friar, was a native of La Rioja and compensated for the Ambassador’s shortcomings in this area, as well as his lack of knowledge of the Persian language, since he [Friar Juan] commanded a good understanding of it, [superscript: having] lived in Persia for many years. As the banquet progressed the king mentioned Spanish wine, saying it was very strong and was hence bad for the head. On hearing this, the Ambassador offered him a barrel of wine which was likely quite mellow and mature in consequence of having been in his care since the beginning of his voyage. After accepting the Ambassador’s offer, the king in turn ordered the hunters who were always in his company to go to the nearby hills and kill two wild boars and then deliver them to the Ambassador’s house. During the last course of the dinner the king suddenly became extremely contemplative and devout, like he always did when he was about to drink, and with cup in hand and turban removed, he raised his eyes to the heavens and prayed for a long while with

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copious tears streaming down his cheeks. Since this happened every time he drank, it was inevitable that the conversation should turn from festive and joyful, as it had been, to serious and contemplative. After [margin: this], the king queried the Ambassador regarding the damage inflicted by the galleys belonging to His Catholic Majesty, since he had heard that it was of little or no consequence. The Ambassador then extensively recounted the campaigns undertaken by the Spanish Navy, both in the East and in Barbary during the last twenty years, leaving the rest unmentioned, beginning with the taking and sacking of the city of Patras in Morea.339 After requesting that an account of this [fol. 308r] be written in the Persian language, the king asked, off [superscript: not] exactly [margin: a propos of the topic], why the Spaniards were so little known in Constantinople, adding that the çavuş who was there present claimed to know nothing of them or who they were. The Ambassador responded by saying: “How does Your Highness expect a poor doorman of Khalīl Pasha340 to be aware of the Spaniards, when he is not even a man of war? The sultan’s old soldiers have faced off against them many times, much to their ill fortune, and they are acquainted with them now. And one way in which the greatness of My Lord the king of Spain is most apparent is that even though almost all the Christian princes and republics of Europe [margin: keep] ambassadors in Constantinople, neither my king, nor his predecessor kings of Spain have ever had an Ambassador there. And not only is this why the çavuş has not seen us, even unarmed, it is also why Your Highness should hold in high esteem His Catholic Majesty and all of his vassals and prize his amity: he is the ancient and perpetual enemy of the same enemies as Your Highness.” The king’s countenance seemed to brighten with this saying. He only added that the çavuş, whom he called ambassador, was the chief steward of the Grand Turk, to which the Ambassador chose not to reply other than with a chuckle, although he wanted to return to the topic of the recent past in hopes of finding an opportunity [margin: to discuss] the matter of the kingdom of Hormuz. But this was a subject that the king, so prudent and astute, wished to avoid altogether, and so he resumed the earlier topic, which was devout and spiritual, [margin: again shedding tears] until the conclusion of the banquet. As he continued to proclaim the great respect he had always 339  Morea was the name by which the Peloponnese Peninsula was known during the Middle Ages and early modern period. Patras, the capital of Morea, was taken by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II in 1458, and was subsequently sacked by the Spanish fleet in 1595 and again in 1603, though it remained in Ottoman hands until 1828. 340  Ottoman military commander and grand vizier (1616–1619) to Sultan Aḥmed I and later (1626–1629) to Sultan Murād IV.

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[margin: felt and held] for Christian temples and their images, which is completely contrary to what was known of him, the Ambassador remarked that he was rightly [fol. 308v] considered the head of his religion, since after-dinner conversation ordinarily centered on light and festive [margin: topics], yet His Highness steered the conversation again towards heavenly and spiritual subjects, thereby setting the example for the Christian Franks who were present. Having already given great praise to Our Lady, he then praised the humanity of Christ our Lord, something which Persians and other Muslims do not customarily do. When the moment seemed opportune, the king arose and took his leave. The Ambassador [text blacked out] [superscript: asked] to be introduced to Ṭahmāsp Beg,341 son of Amīr Guna Khān, who two years before had so valiantly defended the fortress of Yerevan against the Turks. He wished to see him not only because of his father’s reputation as a fine soldier, earned during such a perilous siege, but also because the son had defended it as well, and also because this young man was a very valiant soldier and highly admired and favored of the king. After the youth arrived in order to speak with the Ambassador, the king, after praising Ṭahmāsp Beg’s father in the highest terms, told the Ambassador that he did not consider Ṭahmāsp Beg to be the son of his father, even though for that reason alone he deserved great respect, but rather as his own son. The Ambassador also asked to see Tahmūraṯ, an old yet very courageous soldier who was particularly famous in Shīrāz for having served for many years in the war and for saving his captain, the great Allāhverdī Khān, from imminent death during a great war battle against the Tatars in the kingdom of Khorāsān. Tahmūraṯ also appeared at the king’s command, and the Ambassador embraced him and offered himself [fol. 309r] as a true friend, in return for which Timūr expressed his great esteem and gratitude with courteous words and gestures. This good and honorable soldier looked to be about fifty years of age and had a venerable military disposition. He was tall and dark with a hooked nose; one could see that his physique matched his reputation. Even though he had the means to rest and live comfortably in Shīrāz, the king always kept him near his person in a position of honor and esteem. The king then mounted his horse, as did the Ambassador, who wished to accompany him to his garden, but as they had left the Maidān and arrived at a crossroads that led to the Ambassador’s residence, the king did not permit him

341  Ṭahmāsp Beg was, as Silva y Figueroa reports, the son of the Amīr Guna Khān; Shah ʿAbbās I had appointed him amīr of Yerevan around 1604; see Ye’Or, Kochan, and Littman, Decline of Eastern Christianity, 367.

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to continue with him beyond that point, and so the Ambassador returned to his abode home. Even though each day from that time forward the king inquired after the well-being of the Ambassador, daily sending him many varieties of bread and wild boar, it proved impossible to persuade him to grant the Ambassador an audience to discuss [margin: the arrival of the English and the Hormuz affair], despite receiving the king’s assurance many times before he took his leave in the garden that he would concede him another audience. His excuse was that he wanted to conclude his business with the çavuş first in order to be less occupied. The Ambassador saw that further efforts to arrange an audience would prove fruitless, at least regarding war against the Turks, since the king yearned for peace in order to preserve the lands he had won back, the same lands that his father had lost to the Turks. But the Ambassador still wished to [at least] discuss the other points [fol. 309v] of his embassy, though he had little or no confidence that any such discussion would lead to a successful outcome. The rumor persisted that as soon as the king had dispatched the çavuş he would leave to join his army. And since most of the [margin: Ambassador’s] entourage had fallen gravely ill from Qazvīn’s awful air, and its worse water, and as [the Ambassador] he himself was not in complete health due to the same reasons, he focused his attention on how to depart from there, fearing, justifiably so, that the king himself would suddenly depart and leave him in that unsanitary place with the matters he needed to discuss with him unresolved. Within three or four days, when the çavuş was about to take leave of the king, Ḥosayn Beg came to ask that the servants of the Ambassador present themselves in the Maidān that afternoon as they were accustomed to doing. Upon their arrival, the king entered the square. The çavuş arrived soon thereafter wearing a brocade robe which the king had sent him that day. He was on horseback when the king, who rode down the middle of the square, came abreast of him. The çavuş dismounted and walked towards the king. On [walking] reaching his stirrup, he kissed the king’s foot and the king commanded him to mount his horse. For a great while afterwards they rode about together, followed close behind by some of his servants. This was apparently the çavuş’s final audience with the king, because two or three days afterwards he departed from Qazvīn without the two of them concluding any sort of agreement regarding peace or a treaty, other than sending a soldier with the king who normally serves among his guards with the order, as far as it was understood, that a tribute of a hundred loads of silk be made each year so that peace could be achieved with Khalīl Pasha, the Turk’s general, who had already arrived in Vān with the greater part of his army. Vān is a strongly fortified city in Greater

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Armenia, not far from the [fol. 310r] borders of the province of Diyābakr, which was formerly ancient Mesopotamia. With the çavuş now dismissed, the king was left with no excuse for refusing the Ambassador an audience, having promised him one so many times. Nevertheless, his empty words made it seem increasingly unlikely that he would keep his promise, even though the gifts of game and many varieties of bread continued to arrive at the Ambassador’s residence. And since the royal chamberlain, Ḥosayn Beg, would often convince the Ambassador that the king wanted to meet him in the Maidān on certain afternoons, though the Ambassador would have liked to refuse, he would tell Ḥosayn Beg that he would agree to present himself there whenever the king commanded it; he did this in order to not appear obstinate and thus impede the fulfillment of his responsibility. Later that day Ḥosayn Beg returned, saying that the king had ordered the Ambassador to accompany him because he wished him to see the gifts that the governor of Shīrvān had sent him, and so the Ambassador went to the square, which was crowded with people. From a watchtower that stood at one end of the Maidān there sounded many drums as well as large and small trumpets that were greatly different from European instruments; in truth there was no resemblance at all. The Ambassador was ushered to the choicest part of the square, and directly after his arrival the king also arrived with several of his servants who always accompany him. The king came directly over to the Ambassador and greeted him lavishly, something which he does liberally and too artificially. After inquiring after the Ambassador’s health, the king ordered his servants to give him wine from the pitchers and cups that constantly accompany him in accordance with ancient Persian custom. [fol. 310v] He then drank to the health of his brother the king of Spain, and the Ambassador did likewise. Then some of the several pages who were present brought two gold plates laden with green plums and unripe grapes, which are the fruits they always eat while drinking extemporaneously. Afterwards, the procession of gifts began to file past, beginning with several small horses or ponies with long thick manes and tails. There were also several enormous walrus tusks. The walrus is a monstrous marine animal the size of hippopotamuses or sea horses, of which there are many in the [margin: northern] seas of Tatary and Muscovy. There were also many cushions fashioned from a certain white cloth stuffed with tiny soft feathers, and a great number of sables. However, what was of greatest note, even though it caused great sympathy in the Europeans there present, were the thirty or forty Circassian and Muscovite children, boys and girls, between the ages of six and fourteen. They were very beautiful, with white complexions and fair hair. Both the boys and

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the girls had long hair and wore colored velvet caps lined with sable fur. During the course of their customary raids in the bordering countries of Muscovy and Circassia, the rapacious nations of the Tatars and the Laz342 abduct a great many of these children of both sexes, bringing them to sell in Derbent and Bākū at a low price, as if they were cattle. And this king, in imitation of the ancient Parthians or sultans of Egypt, buys them to later make soldiers of them, and he buys the girls, most of whom are very beautiful, to keep them shut up in his harems, as is the custom among Asians. The king spent that whole afternoon and two hours into the night either strolling with or talking to the Ambassador with much familiarity. The entire time he was in the square he kept Mehmed Āḡā, a Tatar, by his side. [fol. 311r] He had been sent to the king by Tatar Charu, brother of the king of Caffa.343 This Mehmed Āḡā had been defeated the year before on the border of Podolia,344 or Lesser Russia, by the prince of Poland, and was held in disgrace by his brother. Mehmed Āḡā had travelled with three thousand horses through the strait of the Tana Sea, known anciently as the Cimmerian Bosphorus,345 to serve the king. He was forty or fifty years old and of elegant bearing, although, like most Tatars he had a swarthy complexion and a round face, small eyes and wide nostrils. He was nevertheless gracious, graceful, and well spoken. Because he was standing so close to the Ambassador, he struck up a conversation with him, so courteously that the Ambassador perceived him to be a practical man with different customs from the Persians. And having already noticed his form and figure—he did not wear a turban, but rather a pyramid-shaped cap lined with sable fur, like the Tatars and Russians—the Ambassador asked the interpreter who this man was, suspecting him to be an Uzbek or Chagatai, who, as inhabitants of the Scythian nation, look and dress the same as the rest of the 342  The Laz of the Black Sea coastal regions of Georgia and Turkey. 343  Ancient Theodosia (present-day Feodosiya), a Greek colony founded in the sixth century BC. Located in the Crimea on the coast of the Black Sea, it was a thriving trading port, control of which alternated between Venice and Genoa. Caffa placed itself under the protection of King Casimir IV of Poland in 1462, but it was seized by the Ottomans in 1475. The king or ruler mentioned by Silva y Figueroa has not been identified. 344  A very fertile agricultural area and historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, extending for 320 km (200 mi) on the left bank of the Dniester. 345  As mentioned above, the Tanais is the present-day Don. The Tana Sea is the present-day Sea of Azov, and the strait mentioned by Silva y Figueroa here is the present-day Strait of Kerch, which was known anciently as the Cimmerian Bosphorus. The Cimmerians were an ancient tribe of equestrians that resided near it and in the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea.

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Tatars. On discovering that he was a Perekopan346 European, the Ambassador carried on a steady conversation with him whenever the king left his side. He found him to be generally very well informed about European affairs, especially the Hungarian war, where he had gone six times with the assistance of the Tatars who had been sent there by the king of Caffa, at the expense of the Turk, throughout the entire course of the war. He described the armies and strongholds of that kingdom, those possessed by the Turks as well as those belonging to the emperor, and many of the most celebrated captains, including Germans, Italians, and Hungarians. He said that he was greatly surprised that despite [fol. 311v] the reputation of the Spaniards as great soldiers, he had not seen any of them in that war; he was the more surprised because all the other nations were involved in it, and he was thus most desirous to acquaint himself with them. To this the Ambassador responded—very pleased at this good news—that His Majesty the king had stationed Spanish forces in many of the fortresses in the provinces and kingdoms that he possessed outside of Spain, as well as in the vast and extensive navies that plied the Pacific Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, but that many of the soldiers that served the emperor in that [margin: war] were vassals of the king of Spain from the Low Countries. There were also other soldiers whose salaries he had paid at great expense, so he was indeed helping the emperor. The Tatar was very satisfied with the Ambassador and counted him as his friend, telling him that though he would like to visit him every day at his residence, he did not dare do so because of the suspicion this would arouse in the king. There were other foreigners there [margin: who also wanted] to visit him but who refrained for the same reason. At nightfall many lights were lit around the square and the king spent the rest of the night speaking with the Ambassador while standing or on horseback until very late. The king, showing his satisfaction and good humor, asked the Ambassador many things about Spain, mostly regarding the women: their manner of dress, their way of life and how they were treated, especially the leading women. After the Ambassador [margin: responded] as he deemed most appropriate, the king laughed and mocked this information for a great while. However, as it was past ten o’clock in the evening, the king gave the Ambassador leave to return to his residence, not permitting that the ambassador should accompany him. Instead, he sent all of the sconces with him, carried by men on horseback. The torches were of the same kind as those already mentioned in the garden the night of the banquet in the pavilion by the pool.

346  Silva y Figueroa applies the name for the Isthmus of Perekop, which links the Crimea to Ukrainian mainland, to a people located on and in the environs of the Crimean Peninsula.

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Three days later, the king ordered [fol. 312r] the Ambassador to return to the square the following afternoon, which was now even more crowded than on his previous visit. After arriving at the same spot where he had been earlier, the king made his appearance, accompanied by several of his favorites. He approached the Ambassador and toasted him, as was his custom under such circumstances. He then spurred his horse on two or three times, saying he wanted the Ambassador to watch him play polo so he could display his riding skills for him. Many of the gentlemen present rode into the square and picked up their sticks, the king already having his in hand, and they played the game on horseback. It is the same game played by laborers in small Spanish villages on foot, with the same aggressiveness and determination. [margin: At each] end of the square were two columns half a spear in height and spaced nine or ten feet apart through which the teams attempted to send the ball; this was made of wood and was about the size of the inflated balls used in Spain. The sticks are almost the same as European mallets, but here the players do not strike the ball with the fore part, but rather with the side, as in the game of pelotas in Spain, though these Persian mallets, or sticks, are not as strong and are thus more easily broken. The king, who was one of the more skillful and proficient of all the players, succeeded in catching up to the ball very close to where the Ambassador was sitting, and while shouting the name Santiago347 in a loud and distinct voice, struck the ball so hard that he sent it to the other end of the square. All Persians share the firm belief that Santiago, the apostle and patron saint of Spain, is the selfsame ʿAlī, their highly praised and venerated prophet, and thus he is always depicted on horseback with weapons of war, fighting his enemies or wild beasts. [fol. 312v] They recount the marvellous deeds and heroic acts of their prophet, and no amount of persuasion can convince them of their error, even though one lived 600 years later than the other. They harbor the same erroneous belief regarding St. George, insisting that he is none other than one of their valiant saints whom they call Al-Khidr.348 The Turks concur with the Persians in this respect, and both groups tell many remarkable fables about him. As the game continued, the king also invoked the name of ʿAlī. The Ambassador’s interpreter, who was seated close by—only two Persians sat between them—informed him that the king’s two sons were present. They were separated by two other men on horseback, neither of them important or well 347  St. James the Greater, the patron saint of Spain, whose name was the battle cry raised by Castilian Christians during the religious wars against their Moorish opponents. 348  Arabic for “the green one.” The story of Al-Khidr and Moses is found in the Ḳurʾān, 18:60– 83; see Rippin, Blackwell Companion to the Qur’an, 257. For the association of al-Khidir with St. George in Islam, see Pringle, Churches of the Crusader Kingdom, 167.

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known. The Ambassador cast a furtive glance in the direction indicated by his interpreter and [recognized] saw the king’s young son whom he had seen in the pavilion at the pool the day he presented the king with his gifts. He immediately recognized him as the same young man he had seen on that earlier occasion. Close by was his brother, who appeared to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years old; he was swarthy and muscular, and sported a thick moustache. Both of them looked very submissive: nobody who stood near them or passed by them exchanged a word with them or showed them any sign of courtesy, so that not only did they not seem to be the king’s sons; they actually appeared to be rather inferior to anyone in the Maidān with any sort of title at all. And so the Ambassador took leave of the king after asking him to permit him an audience, which the king promised to do the next day. As he was leaving the Maidān, accompanied by the same kind of lamps as the time before, the young man rode alone very quickly past the Ambassador, and lowering his head in a sign of courtesy, he watched him and his servants with great interest. He then passed by again a little farther off [fol. 313r] with the same reserve as before. This young man, as already mentioned, was about sixteen years old and very white and handsome. As the son of a Christian woman—his mother was of Georgian nationality—he possessed a certain natural tenderness and kindly disposition. His name was Emāmqolī Mīrzā, and his older brother was Ḵhudā-Bandah, and though sons of the king in name, they live without the appearance or status of royal dignity, since everyone avoids communicating with them or showing them any respect; in fact, they prefer this because of their grave fear of suffering the same miserable death as their older brother Safī Mīrzā.349 The Ambassador clung to some hope of obtaining an audience with the king and receiving his leave so he could depart for Hormuz in time to reach India before the ships sailed for Spain in late December or early January. However, the same delays continued to detain him and the rumors of the king’s departure continued to spread. And because many of his soldiers had already begun to leave Qazvīn, the Ambassador began to suspect that the king intended to leave him in this city with its exceptionally pestilent air and water. Thus, even though the Ambassador conducted his affairs through Ḥosayn Beg, and even though Āḡā Mir, the secretary of state, refused to deal with him, not having 349  These are the three sons of ʿAbbās I who survived past childhood: Safī Mīrzā [Moḥammad Bāqir Mīrzā] (1587–1615), Moḥammad Mīrzā [Ḵhudā-Bandah] (1591–1632), and Emāmqolī Mīrzā) (1602–1632); see Munshī, History, 2:1099–1100. ʿAbbās I ordered the murder of his son Safī Mīrzā after learning of rumors that he was implicated in an assassination attempt against his father.

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been authorized by the king to do so, the Ambassador resolved to pay a visit to Āḡā Mir one morning at his house. After the Ambassador expounded to him what he thought needed to be done in order for him to receive his leave to depart, Āḡā Mir promised to relay the information to the king and bring back word, even though this would contravene his orders. The Ambassador also made the same request to Ḥosayn Beg, who paid him a visit every day to tell him, on behalf of the king, to rest assured that the latter would not [fol. 313v] depart without granting the Ambassador a leisurely audience and dismissing him as he wished. However, given the king’s wavering and unreliability, this seemed doubtful, even though he continued to send the Ambassador gifts every day and offered him, through Ḥosayn Beg, to choose whichever gift he most desired or seemed the best one to him among those he had seen in the procession in the Maidān. The Ambassador, who was extremely distressed and angry because the king would not grant him an audience, told Ḥosayn Beg to kiss the hands of His Highness for him because of the favors and kindness he had showed him, but that there were other urgent matters at hand by which he could show him even greater favor, and that he begged him to fulfill his promise that he would receive him, which he had given as the word of a king. By this time nearly all the members of the Ambassador’s entourage had fallen gravely ill, and there was almost no one to assist and serve him. Those who had taken ill upon arriving in Qazvīn had still not recovered, having relapsed repeatedly, such was the poor quality of the air and water in the city. And even though the Ambassador alleviated the problem somewhat by sending for water from various springs a league from his residence, the ill did not recover, suffering from burning fevers and diarrhea. The best and [superscript: most] effective remedy for these ailments was to drink very little, which gave the patients a raging thirst and left them unable to eat anything, and since it was the hottest part of the summer, this caused them much vexation and difficulty. The sick were also greatly terrified because of the vast number of people that died each day in the city, including several of the king’s servants and favored attendants. The most robust patients improved a little by abstaining from drink and having their blood let, [fol. 314r] but their recovery was insufficient for them to be entirely relieved from such an awful disease, though, thanks be to God, there were no deaths from among those belonging to the Ambassador’s entourage. According to what the residents of Qazvīn said, this epidemic normally afflicted the entire population every five years, killing many people whenever it attacked, with the same kinds of symptoms just described, and if it was accompanied by a terrible headache, the danger was known to be even greater. Athough [superscript: Besides] the poor quality and nature of the air and water, which became even worse in the summer during this epidemic,

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the climate of Qazvīn, despite being situated deep inside Media, is hot or hotter than coast of Barbary closest to Spain. Since the heat is insufferable at night in one’s sleeping quarters, however good they may be, everyone tends to sleep on the flat roofs and terraces of their houses, as they do in Hormuz and in the rest of Arabia and Persia. Āḡā Mir carried out his charge extremely well, and within two days he came to visit the Ambassador, confirming that the king would grant him the opportunity to speak with him as he wished, and that this interview would take place early the next day. Ḥosayn Beg told him the same thing. But even so the Ambassador was still not fully convinced, being quite familiar with the king’s shrewd and canny resolve to avoid discussing the matter of Hormuz with him: the more blameworthy and indebted the king realized he was, the more he refused to discuss it. Because during the time of peace and back-and-forth exchanges of embassies between the king of Persia and His Catholic Majesty over the past seventeen years, the king has taken Bahrain, with its profitable pearl industry, by subterfuge, [fol. 314v] and a few years later he occupied the region around Mogostan and recently taken the fortress of Gamrū and the island of Qeshm. The only thing that remained unvanquished in the entire kingdom [margin: of Hormuz] was the city itself and the small barren island on which it sat. Suddenly the king’s wardrobe and other of his personal effects were being taken from his house in Qazvīn to Solţānīyeh, and word spread that within three days he would be making his departure. Consequently, the Ambassador’s only object was to get out of that city, having lost all hope of being given permission to depart, because the disease was raging in his household. He himself was so ill and weak that he was unable to digest the little sustenance he was living on, even though water was being delivered to him from the Jahrom River,350 which was known for being very delicious and beneficial, despite the fact that it was a two-days’ journey distant. In the midst of the great haste and confusion surrounding the king’s departure, the Ambassador received word that the king wished to grant him an audience that very day, and that the royal chamberlain would come to escort him at the appointed time. The Ambassador waited for notice until very late. Just before sunset, the chamberlain finally appeared, accompanied by two other Persians on horseback. He instructed the Ambassador, on behalf of the king, to head directly to the Maidān to spend a few moments 350  While the MS clearly shows Jarun, we are convinced, based on the location and the quality of its water, that this river is the Kārūn, the lower course of the Choaspes, which was believed to have magical curative properties because it flowed through one of the gardens of Eden; see p. 620 n. 416.

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there with the king, who would speak to him the next day without fail. The Ambassador came close to refusing, and would have, had it not seemed too insolent to do so, for well he knew from long experience how unprofitable a discussion of the topic of Hormuz would be, even if he were granted not one, but many audiences. But he went ahead anyway in order to facilitate his departure from Qazvīn, having recently heard reports that the king intended to leave him behind. The Ambassador thus set off for the Maidān with the few men strong enough to mount a horse, where he found the king with his usual entourage. The king immediately ordered the trumpets and drums that normally filled the square with music to cease playing while he was there, and gestured that he and the Ambassador should take a ride together. The Ambassador, immediately realizing that this was how the king wished to hold the audience, called [fol. 315r] for one of his interpreters and threatened him with his life unless he explained clearly and precisely everything he said to the king, and that though the Ambassador did not speak Turkish or Persian, he would be able to detect from the king’s answers if the interpreter had faithfully fulfilled his duty. The interpreter took his place between them, and the king and the Ambassador began their ride. The king told the Ambassador that he could bring up whatever topic he wished then and there, since time was running so short. Immediately after saying this, he cut the Ambassador off without giving him a chance to say a word and intentionally launched into a discourse dealing with the very same issues the two had treated at length in the Maidān in the [margin: same] garden just a few days earlier, namely the refusal of the European princes to unite and wage war with common consent against the Turks. The Ambassador cut the king’s artful monologue short, remarking that he had already satisfied His Highness sufficiently on these matters and asked, due to their limited time, that the king allow them to turn to the remaining points that he had been commissioned by His Majesty the king to discuss, and which had yet to be addressed. Ignoring the Ambassador’s request, the king quickly returned to the same subject as before, extolling his own victories over his enemies, the Turks in particular, adding that the lazy Christian kings were not preparing to do anything, while he, with so much risk to his own person and to that of all his vassals, alone waged war against their common enemy. And since he spoke incessantly, leaving no opportunity for the interpreter to relay any message to him, the Ambassador could clearly detect—although he did [trext blacked out] [superscript: not yet] know for certain—that under no circumstances would the king entertain any conversation regarding the restitution of what had been unjustly usurped from the kingdom of Hormuz, and that for that reason [text blacked out] he was cunningly attempting to stall and let time play out until

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day’s end—it was already almost [fol. 315v] sundown—and thus conclude this spurious sham of an audience. As has been mentioned Even though the king rode with the Ambassador and his interpreter completely alone, as has already been mentioned, occasionally one or two other Persians who normally rode closest to his person approached them and fell in not far behind, returning after a time to whence they had come. A short while later, other Persians approached them in the same manner. The entire square, despite its huge dimensions, teemed with courtiers and foreigners, and despite their great numbers, there reigned a remarkable and profound silence. Among the foreigners was ʿAlī Pasha,351 one of the king’s favorites at that time, despite the fact that he was a Turk. Having lost the fortress of Tabrīz, where he had been captain, and fearing the punishment the Grand Turk would mete out to him if he returned to his homeland, he entered into the service of the king of Persia his service. Realizing that night had all but fallen, the Ambassador implored the king to permit him a few words regarding the kingdom of Hormuz. He assured him that he would retain the matter of the war against the Turk well enough in his memory to put it in writing and relate it to his king just as His Highness had explained it to him. The king acquiesced to the Ambassador’s request with ill will and a worse countenance. The Ambassador asked His Highness to consider that it was not beneficial to the friendship he professed to maintain with the king of Spain that at the same time embassies were being sent back and forth between the two nations to confirm their mutual peace and friendship; he reminded the king that he had occupied Bahrain, the best [fol. 316r] and greatest part of that empire, and later the region around Mogostan, and then the fortress of Gamrū and the island of Qeshm, and that he had done all this without the Ambassador’s king having given him any cause, but rather having kept their friendship sacrosanct. The king angrily interrupted, declaring that whatever part of the kingdom of Hormuz he had seized had in no way belonged to the king of Spain, but to men under his law and his vassals and to the vassals of the kings who had gone before him, and that thus he had only taken back what was already his. The Ambassador quickly replied that it was a well-known fact that it been a possession of the kings of Spain and Portugal for the past 110 years, during which time no king of Persia, past or present, had any rights or possessions pertaining to it, and that not only had the very ancient kings not extended their dominion to the coast of the sea, but neither had Ṣūfī 351  Alī Pasha, Ottoman general captured in 1603. Actually he was captured on his way back to the fortress in open battle with the Shah before the siege of the citadel of Tabrīz. He served as the Shah’s negotiator during the siege; see Munshī, History, 2:830–31.

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Esmāʿīl, Shah Ṭahmāsp, and Moḥammad Khudā-Bandah,352 respectively the great-grandfather, grandfather, and father of the present king. The pitiful interpreter, a Syrian born in Orrha353 but raised in Hormuz, was pale and trembling, but in spite of his chagrin, he interpreted what had been said. And the message was clearly understood, for as soon as the king heard it, he replied not a word and furiously turned his horse around and left. The Ambassador returned to his residence. And since the royal chamberlain accompanied him, he gave him, on behalf of the king, one of the ponies that had been brought from Shīrvān and several dozen sable furs for clothing liners. The king must have determined to give the Ambassador these gifts before their [fol. 316v] taxing and arduous audience. From the day the Ambassador arrived in Eṣfahān, and especially since he had arrived in Qazvīn, several of the religious who traveled with him had told him how poorly the king would take it if the Ambassador spoke to him about the restoration of those parts of the kingdom of Hormuz that had been taken over by him. An Italian from Rome, named Pietro Della Valle,354 was particularly vocal on the subject. He, like many others possessed of the curiosity or natural inclination to wander and roam the world, had spent a few years in Constantinople, Syria, and Egypt. He then traveled from Aleppo to Baghdad, where he married a poor woman, a Nestorian Christian. After bringing her and one of her sisters to Eṣfahān, they joined the flock of our Roman Catholic religion through the efforts of the local religious. However, all three of them dressed in the Persian style and for some unknown reason traveled with the court of the king. He always took the two women with him, though he was told a number of times that if he had no specific business with the king, he should go back or stay in Qazvīn. But [margin: after] extensive negotiations with several ministers, he went along with the army, and the rest of the king’s retinue, brimful of confidence because of the reception he had been given earlier in Faraḥābād, when he spoke from his own experience, instructing the king regarding life in Europe and the royalty there. The next day, Ḥosayn Beg came to tell the Ambassador, on behalf of the king, that the latter would be leaving early the next day for Solţānīyeh, a twoday journey. There he was to receive an embassy from Shah Salīm,355 the king 352  Moḥammad Khudā-Bandah; see p. 425 n. 276. 353  The ancient Greek name for Edessa, present-day Şanliurfa. 354  Italian author (1586–1652) who traveled extensively throughout Asia and in Persia, and India in particular; see Della Valle, Journeys of Pietro della Valle; Della Valle, Travels of Pietro della Valle. 355  See p. 240 n. 219.

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of Lahore, more commonly known as the Great Mughal, and consequently he would be pleased if the Ambassador would accompany him for three or four days, after which he would arrange for him to return to Hormuz via Eṣfahān. The Ambassador responded that he would do according to His Highness’s wishes, even though nearly all his servants were ill and he himself was in poor health. Ḥosayn Beg thanked him again on behalf of the king for [fol. 317r] his reply, adding that the latter would make provision for the members of his entourage who could not walk to be sent to Eṣfahān in complete safety, and ordered that all arrangements be made immediately for both things. Yet although the Ambassador was overburdened with so many sick people, all of them became so afraid upon learning that they were being sent to Eṣfahān, though it was a much better and healthier place, that they suddenly arose and got dressed, saying that they felt fine and that they wanted to go to Solţānīyeh. They then started stumbling around, packing their clothes, belongings, and other items they would need while in the Ambassador’s service, and by the next day everything was ready. According to Ḥosayn Beg, the king was very grateful and pleased that the Ambassador wished to be with him until he received the Indian embassy and delegation. However, the king changed his mind when, on the same day, he received a hurried message from Qarchqāy Beg,356 the governor of Tabrīz, with a clear warning that Khalīl Pasha, the Turkish general, had come from Kara Amid357 to Vān with an army of 20,000 men, not counting volunteers. And so the king sent word to the Ambassador explaining why he was forced to depart for Ardabīl, where he would lead the resistance against the enemy. As there was no time for stopping in Solţānīyeh or for receiving the Mughal’s ambassador, the Ambassador could depart for Eṣfahān and wait for him there, because [fol. 317v] the king thought he himself should be able to reach Eṣfahān soon if the war in which he was now engaged allowed it. The Ambassador was greatly saddened by the news, because it thwarted his fondest hopes. The king had now made it impossible for him to reach Hormuz in time to travel on to India early enough to sail for Spain on the ships that were expected that year. None of the setbacks and difficulties he had undergone thus far in his travels weighed on him as heavily as this one, as 356  Qarchqāy Khān, an Armenian formerly known as Qarchqāy Beg; he was a Safavid military commander, administrator, and contemporary of Allāhverdī Khān. The two together won a decisive battle against the Ottomans at Sefyan near Tabrīz in 1607. Qarchqāy Khān replaced Allāhverdī Khān as the commander-in-chief of the Safavid army in 1613, and was apparently also appointed sultan or khān of Tabrīz; see Matthee, Politics of Trade, 79; McCabe, Shah’s Silk, 50–51, 134. 357  Diyārbakr.

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it would delay his return to Spain, something for which he greatly yearned, by at least a year. The king left Qazvīn later that afternoon and repaired to an orchard two leagues from the city. A few days earlier he had sent his aunt the Begom358 to Eṣfahān, along with a great many [of the] other favored women, all under the protective care of Lala Beg,359 one of the king’s most trusted and faithful servants. And although the king returned to the city the following morning, apparently to visit several members of his harem, he set off shortly after midday under a scorching sun to meet the army, part of which had already begun marching back from Ardabīl. The Ambassador began arranging his departure for Eṣfahān with the ministers who had remained behind and to whom was given the authority to grant the Ambassador his leave to depart, among which were the governor and the general agent. The Ambassador was quite anxious to depart from there because the sick who had perked up for the journey to Solţānīyeh, fearing that the Ambassador would leave them helpless in Qazvīn, as explained above, took a turn for the worse, and others who had been healthy fell ill. He was certain that they would recover upon moving to where the air was healthier, which later proved to be true. [fol. 318r] In addition to his own entourage, which totaled [superscript: more than] eighty people, many others gathered at the Ambassador’s residence. Apart from foreigners from Eṣfahān who had come to Qazvīn, there were several Portuguese soldiers and religious who were traveling overland from India to Spain. There were also some Castilians who were making their way from the Philippines along the same route, having missed the ships in Goa. And since they had completely blocked the road to Baghdad, all these people had come to the Ambassador for help in facilitating their journey; the Ambassador had secured safe passage and passports for them to safety, and thus the governors of Susiana360 could not stand in their way. Among the group who were en route from the Philippines were Friar Hernando de Moraga,361 the guardian of the Discalced Friars of St. Francis of that province, and Captain Mondragón, who was carrying letters from Jerónimo de Silva,362 the governor 358  See p. 439 n. 326. 359  Though nothing further is known regarding this person, this name roughly translates as “official tutor.” 360  I.e., Khūzestān; see p. 353 n. 139. 361  Hernando de Moraga, OSF. See Crossley, Hernando de los Ríos Coronel, 150–52, 158, 162. 362  Spanish commander and administrator, uncle of Juan de Silva, and one of Silva y Figueroa’s maternal cousins. He was in charge of military affairs in the Malukus and the Philippines, and, on the death of Juan de Silva, was appointed interim governor of the Philippines

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of those islands, notifying [margin: His Catholic Majesty] of the victory of a small number of soldiers and residents from Manila over the Dutch fleet in Playa Honda in April of last year, 1617. The Ambassador was greatly pleased and cheered by this news because the reputation of the Portuguese fleet had been dashed to pieces in India ever since the unfortunate episode in Surat three years earlier,363 though this could more accurately be attributed to the great cowardice and total incompetence of D. Jerónimo de Azevedo, viceroy of India and commander of that great navy, than to a lack of bravery on the part of his soldiers, who had previously shown great courage on every occasion presented to them. [fol. 318v] The victory in Manila was even more outstanding because the soldiers had gained it after the death of D. Juan de Silva,364 their governor and commander-in-chief. D. Jerónimo, [margin: known] to be his replacement, had not yet arrived from the Malukus, leaving the small Spanish force without a legitimate commander in such a parlous situation. And since these religious and soldiers reached Qazvīn bearing a lengthy account of the events a few days before the departure of the king, together with a painting, or image, showing how the battle had unfolded, [margin: the Ambassador] relayed their story to the king and showed the painting to the royal chamberlain and the secretary [of state], even though they were completely ignorant regarding maritime matters. He did so because they and the king esteemed the English very highly—and the Portuguese not at all—because of the report given by the Englishmen who were traveling with the royal court in which they exaggerated their victory at Surat. To this point there has been no mention of the cause for the arrival of these Englishmen in Persia. It is therefore fitting to tell part of their story, since it (1616–1618). Jerónimo de Silva was absent in the Malukus when Spanish forces under Juan Ronquillo defeated a Dutch East India Company force under Spielberg at Playa Honda, near Manila, on 14 April 1617. Jerónimo was imprisoned by the Audiencia Real for failing to capture or destroy the Dutch force but was reinstated and served, again, as governor (1624–1625). 363  The reference is to the Battle of Swally, 29–30 November 1612, near Surat, in India, in which four galleons of the English East India Company defeated four Portuguese carracks; the battle marked the beginning of the end of Portugal’s commercial monopoly over India. 364  Spanish commander and administrator, nephew of Jerónimo de Silva, and one of Silva y Figueroa’s maternal cousins. He died on 19 April 1616. A native of Trujillo and knight of the Order of Santiago, Juan de Silva arrived with substantial reinforcements at Manila in 1609. He was the governor of the Philippines (1609–1616), and an active and relatively successful military leader of Spanish and combined Luso-Spanish expeditions against Dutch East India Company forces in the Philippines and other parts of southeast Asia.

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is somewhat relevant to the present embassy His Catholic Majesty has dispatched to the king of Persia. Nearly twenty years before the Ambassador’s arrival, two English brothers named Anthony and Robert Sherley arrived in these regions with several of their countrymen.365 They decided to remain [margin: in Persia], offering their services to the king, either because they were keen to travel, as are many Europeans, and to observe and take note of regions and nations far from their own, or because they had embarked on their journey with the special purpose of beginning [their] a new career for themselves, as the subsequent development of their lives seems to indicate. As they were young, and especially because Anthony spoke easily and eloquently [fol. 319r] about many facets of Europe, having spent some time in Italy, the king admitted them into his court and kept them there. The more the brothers offered him, the more favor the king bestowed on them. They volunteered themselves to be his envoys to the pope and to all the princes of Europe in order to promote an alliance, or union, with him, so that by common consent they might wage mighty war against the Turk. But since the schemes and designs that these kinds of people always propose to kings carry the promise of illusory grandeur and profit, especially because their authors inveigle rulers into believing that the benefits will present no risk to them or their vassals, the creators of these machinations are usually well received and rewarded. Thus these English brothers easily persuaded the king that Anthony, the elder of the two, should be sent to Europe as the king’s ambassador, accompanied by a Persian named Ḥosayn Beg,366 who was appointed to the same mission and honor.367 Meanwhile, Robert Sherley was to stay at the king of Persia’s court.368 Their journey would take them through Tatary, Muscovy, and Germany, and from 365  The Sherley brothers reached Persia in December 1598, around nineteen years before Silva y Figueroa’s arrival there. 366  Ḥosayn Alī Beg Bayāt; see Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 115; Savory, Iran under the Safavids, 109–10. 367  This embassy covered the years 1599–1602. As Silva y Figueroa reports, once in Rome Anthony and Ḥosayn Alī Beg had a falling out over the question of which of them was the “real” ambassador, unaware that the shah had purposefully assured each of them of this status. For an account of the embassy by Ulugh Beg (also known as Don Juan of Persia), who accompanied it and remained in Europe, see Juan de Persia, Don Juan of Persia, 3; see also Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 133–40. 368  Robert Sherley remained in Persia between 1599 and 1608 as a hostage against his brother Anthony’s return, a fact that apparently had little effect on the promptness with which Sir Anthony dispatched the shah’s errand. For Robert’s exact words communicating his bitter feelings to Anthony in this regard, see Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 169–70. Unsurprisingly, the brothers remained unreconciled and bitter enemies as long as they lived.

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there to Italy and Spain. But as it turned out, the ambassadors quarreled on the way to Rome. So while the Englishman remained in Italy, the Persian went on to Spain, and after he and his entourage were fêted and remunerated by His Catholic Majesty, he sailed from Lisbon to India, and from there he returned to Persia via Hormuz. A few years later, Anthony Sherley made his way to [fol. 319v] the Spanish court, which had moved from Valladolid to Madrid.369 Through His Majesty’s ministers, Sherley arranged to enter the king’s military service by dint of his skillful cleverness and keen intelligence [and profession]. He achieved this by overstating his experience and understanding of naval practice, making several proposals in this regard with which he also cozened the counselors who had welcomed and accredited him. The upshot of these [margin: proposals] was that after His Majesty equipped several galleons in Sicily at great expense, with Anthony being appointed admiral, this fleet disintegrated and disappeared within a few short days, with no results and to no effect, notwithstanding his earlier bold promise that he would harass and inflict great damage on the Turk along the Greek coasts and seas as well as on the islands of the archipelago. But although his machinations and ill-approved fabrications turned out to be absolutely dubious, he proved to be such an adroit negotiator after returning to court that His Majesty favored him with an honorable and ample annual stipend and a residence in Granada, and there he was living at the time the Ambassador of His Catholic Majesty [Silva y Figueroa] left Spain. It was said that he was engaged in the search for gold and silver mines in the towering and rugged mountains of that kingdom.370 A few years after his brother’s journey, Robert Sherley also became an ambassador of the king of Persia to Europe. He followed the same route through Muscovy, and after visiting the courts of the emperor and of the pope, he went on to Spain, where he spent fourteen months, during which time the ministers and officials [fol. 320r]371 of His Catholic Majesty ceaselessly provided for all his 369  While the court was transferred to Madrid in 1561, Silva y Figueroa is referring to its temporary relocation to Valladolid between 1601 and 1606; see Brown and Elliot, A Palace for a King, 4. 370  According to the English ambassador to Spain at the time, Sir John Digby, Anthony Sherley had interest in a copper mine near Baeza, Granada, which brought him 3,000 ducats per annum; see Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 280. 371  At this juncture in the MS Silva y Figueroa mistakenly copies and then strikes out several lines that had already appeared on fol. 318r, the translation of which is as follows: In addition to his own entourage, which totaled eighty people, many others gathered at the Ambassador’s residence. Apart from foreigners from Eṣfahān who had come to Qazvīn, there were several Portuguese soldiers and religious who were traveling overland from

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needs, as well as those of his entire entourage, in great abundance and in grand style. More than 30,000 ducats were spent in this and other favors received by him. Matters relating to his embassy that he proposed and discussed during this time were the same ones that he had presented to the king of Persia, every last one of them useless and baseless, as will be explained shortly. And because several months after his arrival he was finally proven to be full of deceitful fabrications, he began to be treated with greater caution, until finally several of his letters were intercepted. From these, and from information received from Holland, it was learned that he had been discussing matters with those states that were highly injurious to His Majesty and completely incompatible with the stated intention of his embassy. The letters revealed that the chief aim of his visit was to achieve a peaceful settlement between the king of Persia and the said states, and to that effect he was endeavoring to slip away from court, where he had been devoting his time to fraudulently proposing ventures so impossible that none of them could have ever been consented to or carried out. Now that the suspicions that had been held concerning this pernicious rogue were confirmed, it was the opinion of some that he should be apprehended and administered a punishment fitting the gravity of his crime without honoring his immunity as ambassador. Yet others thought that his immunity must be respected, even if he did justly deserve [fol. 320v] condign punishment, so that those who were abroad, and thus not yet aware of his lies, would not think that their universal and eternally inviolate rights had been violated. And thus he was quietly given leave to depart from the court without anything regarding his intentions or actions having been made public; in fact, His Majesty ordered that he be given a goodly sum of money for his journey. As soon as this was offered him, he set sail from Spain for Holland, and once in those states, he described the advantages that would accrue to them from making friends with the king of Persia, such as being able to import each year on their ships all the silk that was being transported on caravans from the vassal provinces of that kingdom to Aleppo and Damascus,372 it being the king’s intention to remove this trade from the lands of the Turk and redirect it to Europe on ships that plied the Atlantic Ocean. Also Furthermore, the ships that would transport this silk could also conduct trade in the port of Surat in the kingdom of

India to Spain. There were also some [margin: Castilians] who were making their way from the Philippines along the same route, having missed the ships in Goa. 372  Located in present-day south-western Syria on a plateau of the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains 80 km (50 mi) from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, Damascus is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities.

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Khambhat,373 which is subject to the Mughal. There they would be able to sell the merchandise they brought from Holland, Flanders, and England, and thus greatly increase the huge profits they would reap from this trade. The states accepted none of these proposals because it was easily recognized how feeble the baseless reasoning behind them was. Or perhaps they were busy with the voyages they were already making to the abundantly wealthy eastern islands off the southern coast of the mainland of India, or there could have been a host of other unknown or unspoken reasons. But whatever the reason, they did not want to employ their fleets in any venture besides the one that yielded them so much wealth and profit every year. From Holland, Sherley then moved on to England and made the same offer to the English king, but because of the new friendship and alliance [fol. 321r] he had just forged with His Catholic Majesty, and in order to avoid accrediting him, not only did the king not receive him, but he forbade him to appear before him while dressed in the Persian garb he and his servants donned in public with conspicuous impudence in Spain and in other parts of Europe. Finding himself frustrated over what he had unsuccessfully attempted to do twice now, and in order to leave nothing untried, he first proposed to the Prince of Wales,374 through several of his favorites, that in his name and under his protection, several merchants to whom he had already offered a sure profit could undertake this maritime trade with India if they invested as much capital as was needed to send two or three ships laden with merchandise to Surat and bring silk back from Persia. This prince, who was just reaching the age of manhood and was possessed of a lofty and generous disposition, was inclined to go along, and thus three ships began to be fitted out to test how the promises of these journeys might play out and what profit might be yielded from them. Yet this first plan unraveled at the sudden and [margin: premature] death of the prince, though afterward Sherley transacted so much business through several of the prince’s relatives and was able to promote his proposition so well that the greedier merchants threw in their lot with him and pooled their resources to fit out two or three ships; the architect and promoter of this enterprise set sail on one of them. During the course of the voyage, a storm separated one ship from the other two, and it ended up on the inner route of São Lourenço, on the western coast that faces the coast of the Kaffirs375 and Cape Correntes.376 There they discovered a bay that was fed by [fol. 321v] a large, freshwater river 373  See p. 198 n. 116. 374  Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales (1594–1612). 375  I.e., Natal, south-east Africa. 376  See p. 122 n. 209.

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and that would suit as a safe anchorage for a ship of any size. The other two ships landed in Surat, where they loaded up with cotton clothing, which is cheap and plentiful there. As they were about to set sail from the port, they ran into several galleons that had come after them from Goa, but slipping through them with great speed and skill, they sailed on to the Spice Islands, where they purchased a great deal of spice with the clothing brought from Surat. The ships then returned to England with the profit. Sherley mapped his course from São Lourenço to Cape Rosalgat, and after doubling the cape, he ran up the coast of the Persian mainland and sounded the inlet of Gwadar, and later that of Jask. Because the last-named place was closer to the kingdom of Persia, he thought it would be a more suitable location for docking the ships and loading the silk that he planned to purchase and ship to Europe in keeping with the strategy he had presented to his king. From there he sailed without interruption along the coast of Sindh and up the famous river with the same name, which is the ancient Indus, to the city of Thatta,377 a well-known emporium in ancient India. And since he thought it wise to see if he could convince the Mughal to agree to some of his schemes, he also took with him several jewels and precious stones from Europe, like a man who was experienced in the profession of that art. He then made his way to the court of that great prince, where he resided and remained for a time. What he discussed there the author of this relation does not know nor does he wish to know, but since this contemptible little vagabond always strove as far as he was able to harm and annoy any of His Catholic Majesty’s interests in return for the splendid accommodations and victuals he received in Spain, it can be safely assumed that his proposals were very similar to those he made to others other kings, and that they were hardly advantageous to the Estado da Índia,378 which is so close to the kingdom of the Mughal. After leaving the Mughal’s court, he returned to Persia via the road to Kandahār and Khorāsān, laden heavier than ever with schemes and empty [fol. 322r] fabrications. He immediately began to present these to the king through several of his ministers. The king, who was by then acquainted with his manner of living, did not take him into his good grace as before. But in royal courts, bestowing gifts on ministers can achieve as much as negotiations and forceful arguments, and since Sherley was an admirable craftsman of this art, he liberally dispensed a large part of what he had brought from the court of the Mughal to those he thought it most opportune to do so. For at the court 377  A historic town and city located in the province of Sindh, Pakistan, it may be the site of ancient Patala, the main port on the Indus during the time of Alexander the Great. 378  See p. 211 n. 157.

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of the Mughal, he had crowed triumphantly about his achievements, saying he was a great English lord who had come to serve the Mughal, and claiming that several Portuguese soldiers in the port of Sindh had robbed him of 200,000 ducats in sundry gems and coins, most of which he had intended to present to the Mughal. The latter, while not believing all of these impudent and brazen claims, nevertheless ordered that he be given a certain sum of money and an elephant to ride to Persia. With that money, he succeeded in gaining the king’s ear, having first ingratiated himself with his advisors, mainly by saying that he had some recommendations [margin: for the king] that would greatly enlarge his state and guarantee injury to his enemy, the Turks, and [margin: insisting] that for his recommendations to be successfully carried out he would offer once more to travel to Europe as his emissary and because these things. After being granted an audience, he took out a large piece of paper written in Persian that contained the following points: that in order to deprive the Turks of the bulk of the trade and commerce with Aleppo in silk, and in view of the fact that almost all of it originated in the kingdoms and provinces that were subject to Persia, he proposed that it be transported by English merchants to the port of Jask so it could then be shipped to Europe and purchased from the king’s vassals [fol. 322v] at a higher price and with more profit than what Armenian and Persian merchants who transported it to Aleppo and Damascus were paying for it. He further proposed that all the cloth and other merchandise that the English shipped to Aleppo on the Mediterranean be shipped instead to Jask on the Atlantic Ocean, as this would greatly benefit all of Persia. He also proposed that in addition to this merchandise, a fleet of galleons be sent from England or Holland, seeing that His Catholic Majesty would not support such a thing, to hinder navigation on the Red Sea, thereby preventing ships to sail from India to Jedda or Suez, or any other Arabian or Egyptian port, and thus, because the Turks would lose trade with Cairo, where most of their riches came from, their strength would weaken and wane. He had the audacity to propose that he would persuade the kings of Europe to suddenly attack the coast of Egypt with a large fleet and take Damietta, Rashid,379 and Alexandria, and to erect fortifications in these ports, thus dispossessing the Turks of the richest province in their empire. And lastly, once silk was prevented from going to Aleppo and shipping was halted in the Red Sea, as described above, the Turks would become impoverished, lacking the power that stemmed from the money with which they waged war against Persia every year. Moreover, this plan would wrest from the Turks the trade that the English conducted with Constantinople, Aleppo, and Cairo and other cities within Turkish domains, and all of it would be rerouted 379  Rashid, also known as Rosetta, Egypt.

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via the Mediterranean Atlantic Ocean to Jask, thus aggrandizing and glorifying that port. He also promised, as if it were a simple task, that the king of England would order the departure of his ambassador from Constantinople, which was his normal residence, and that he would instead send an ambassador to the king of Persia’s court, to remain there permanently in great splendor and magnificence. [margin: The king approved all of these proposals], which in and of themselves were patently ridiculous and could never be reasonably accomplished. He did so not so much because of the benefit they would bring him, but because of the harm they would inflict on the Turks by [fol. 323r] denying them trade with Cairo and Aleppo. The king also considered that he had little to lose by dispatching this man back to Europe, as was later confirmed in Persia; in fact, it would even be a convenient way of getting rid of him, since he did not know what other task to give him. Even though the king had already appointed one of his Persian vassals to the same ambassadorial mission,380 the embassy of Sherley was greatly facilitated by the noble efforts of Friar Juan Thadeo, the prior of the Discalced Carmelites mentioned above, who was the chief force behind these negotiations with the king and his ministers. This friar’s motive for becoming so actively and energetically involved in this kind of enterprise, which was so foreign to the way of life he professed, was the rivalry between himself and the Augustinian monks, or to put it more accurately, the rivalry between them on one side, and himself and the other members of his order on the other. By that time, the Augustinians had been maintaining monasteries in Hormuz and Eṣfahān for many years. They were disgruntled because the Carmelites had their own monastery in Eṣfahān, so they openly made every possible effort in Hormuz to have the Carmelites removed from a 380  Actually, Shah ʿAbbās sent several embassies to Europe at this time, as was his custom, no doubt to compare the reports of several ambassadors against each other. One embassy consisted of Robert Sherley and his Circassian wife Teresia or Teresa (née Sampsonia), which was followed slightly later by the embassy of Fr. António de Gouveia and Dengīz Beg Rūmlū, the Persian mentioned in this passage. Robert Sherley communicated the Shah’s offer of awarding Spain the silk trade through the Red Sea on very favorable terms in exchange for Spain’s renewal of hostilities against the Ottoman. The Spanish court declined. Shortly after this exchange, Gouveia and Dengīz Beg arrived in Spain. Gouveia gifted the king and his favorite, the Duke of Lerma, fifty of the 100 bales of fine silk (worth 200,000 ducats) the pair had brought from Persia (Dengīz Beg sold the other half for his own profit). But because ʿAbbās had instructed them to sell the silk and use the proceeds to purchase items in Europe for the Shah, they faced a less than red-carpet reception upon their return to Persia: Gouveia was asked to reimburse the Shah for his half of the silk, and Dengīz Beg was summarily beheaded. See Munshī, History, 2:1074–76, and Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 225–41.

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small church they had built there as a hospice, claiming that it had been built without authorization from His Majesty. This rivalry, which later gave rise to an enormous scandal, is what motivated Friar Juan to find patrons at the courts of both Spain and Rome who could work toward getting [Carmelite] monasteries established in Hormuz and Eṣfahān. To that effect, it appeared reasonable to the king to send Sherley to Spain by way of India [fol. 323v] as his ambassador, especially since it was widely known that such was Sherley’s deepest desire, which Sherley himself had gone to great lengths to realize. Furthermore, D. Luís da Gama, the captain of Hormuz, professed great friendship and particular devotion to the Carmelite friars, who had begun building a monastery in that city, and since he was not on good terms with the Augustinians because of his antagonism with Friar António de Gouveia—the bishop of Cyrene and a friar of that order—he [Luís da Gama] aided Friar Juan Thadeo as much as possible, who, as mentioned above, was in Eṣfahān. From Eṣfahān, Friar Juan informed D. Luís of Sherley’s design, and the two agreed to try and facilitate his journey to Spain. They also resolved that one of these same Carmelites, one of Friar Juan’s companions, [margin: named Friar Redento de la Cruz],381 should accompany him in order to lend him more status and credibility, and so they procured from the king that Friar Redento be appointed coadjutor, or assistant, to Sherley in the embassy. As has been mentioned, the Carmelites’ interest in all this was to defend themselves against the Augustinians. The motive of the captain of Hormuz was for there to be people at His Majesty’s court who could answer and vouch for him as credible witnesses, supposing these men were able to act as such, and who could testify that they were told by the king and understood from him that the captain was not to blame for starting the war in Bandel382 nor for the resulting losses. They wanted to deny their culpability by casting the blame squarely on the bishop of Cyrene, whom they claimed had suddenly come rushed to Persia in order to persuade Michel Angelo, a Syrian who was highly favored by the king, to initiate the war against the captain’s [fol. 324r] will and without his knowledge, after which he, the bishop of Cyrene, fled to the city of Hormuz. But no one in that city or in Persia, not even the same people who concocted and fabricated this tale, could be persuaded to believe it, for it was general knowledge and quite well known that D. Luís da Gama not only initiated that battle, but that his incompetence was to blame for the loss of two extremely important possessions: the fortress at Gamrū and the island of Qeshm. And therefore a very concise epilogue of the events of that battle is given here. 381  See Gil Fernández, “Embassy of Don García de Silva y Figueroa,” pp. 163–73. 382  See p. 246 n. 11.

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A few days after the bishop of Cyrene arrived in Hormuz from Persia, the captain was notified that several merchants from Nakhīlū,383 Basra, and Qatif were on their way to Hormuz with four or five terranquins full of merchandise and supplies, something they had done many times before. Moved by the covetous desire to despoil these unfortunates of their merchandise, or, as was claimed in Hormuz, by an excessive desire for vengeance (twenty-four years earlier some Nakhīlū had slain the captain’s brother Rodrigo da Gama), he sent two oared vessels with fifty soldiers to cruelly slit the throats of those poor merchants, [margin: over seventy in number], and seize all their cargo. Making no attempt to defend themselves, these merchants sank to their knees and pled for their lives. The women and relatives of the victims—forty people in all, including a few women and children—appealed to the king of Persia, to the khān of Shīrāz,384 and to the governor of the district for redress. These in turn ordered ʿAlī Beg, the lieutenant of the khān, or sultan, residing in Shīrāz, to immediately dispatch soldiers from the city of Lār and other cities in that kingdom to lay siege [fol. 324v] to the fortress of Gamrū on the mainland coast of Bandel. In part, this siege was carried out all the more quickly because the king of Persia was looking for the right circumstances to justify taking the fortress, and partly because the sultan of Shīrāz and his aforementioned lieutenant were highly offended at D. Luís da Gama’s response to a citizen of Lār whom they had sent to ask for tribute money.385 This sum was paid annually in Hormuz to the governors of Fārs by the merchants who lived there for protection from thieves as they transported all kinds of merchandise between Persia and Hormuz in caravans. The payment of this tribute money had been suspended for several years, and D. Luís refused to pay it. His defiance might have turned out well for him if he had only had the courage to pull it off, but he also responded to the collecting agent with unreasonable and extremely ignorant threats, along with grave discourtesies to the khān of Shīrāz, to which the latter took deep offense. Therefore, as soon as the families of the slaughtered boat owners lodged their appeal, which took place in the latter part of October of 1614, Dauris Beg386 arrived at the fortress of Gamrū with 3,000 Arabs from the kingdom of Fārs. The captain of the fortress at the time was André de Quadros,387 a complete ignoramus, unacquainted with even the type of warfare generally employed in 383  Bandar-e Nakhīlū; see p. 271 n. 11. 384  Allāhverdī Khān; see p. 305 n. 39. 385  The Persian term for this practice is moqarrariyeh; see Floor, Persian Gulf, 43. 386  No further information is available regarding this official. 387  Portuguese administrator and commander and captain of the fortress of Gamrū, which was taken by the Persians 21 December 1614. See Bocarro, Década, 2:344–49.

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India. He only strove to [superscript : His only aspiration] was to garner influence and make profit from his post, which was suited exactly for the purpose of trading—none of the captains who took that command ever paid heed to anything else, though even a little attention to their duties would have made that fortress unassailable. Sixty Portuguese soldiers were on hand to defend the fortress, [fol. 325r] who, along with several native Christians [margin: and Arabs from Mogostan and their] slaves, amounted to just over 100 people. Yet they had almost no artillery, nor a suitable place to situate it. There were no more than two falconets and three or four half-pounders. The fortress, which was such in name only, had very weak walls. Its foundation, which was about three feet high, was made of small rocks and mud, on top of which was built a thin wall a half pike high and two small towers at the corners facing inland, the rear part of the fortress being protected by the sea. Reinforcements to the beseiged army could not be prevented from being transported from Hormuz, a mere four leagues away, which was easily accomplished every time it was attempted. And even with such feeble fortification, those few soldiers defended themselves valiantly. Having no artillery, the Arabs were kept at a good distance from the wall with harquebuses. Thus, it would be inaccurate to say that the Portuguese were in combat—really they were under siege for nearly two months. On receiving word of this in Shīrāz, ʿAlī Beg with 2,000 men in the city [margin: sent several soldiers as reinforcements], most of them harquebusiers, [text blacked out] [superscript: who swiftly reached] the battlefield, carrying with them strict orders [margin: from ʿAlī Beg] as well as from the sultan to Dauris Beg that he was not to return without capturing the fortress. The king of Persia had assured him that he would regret it if things turned out otherwise, and so the lives of both men were in jeopardy. Soon afterward [text blacked out] [margin: Dauris] Beg began to dig several trenches in order to provide his soldiers with cover, so that by using picks they could topple the poorly constructed wall. Since it was made of the already mentioned material, they easily undermined it and supported the tunnel with posts. After the tunnel was finished, they left a space through which they could begin the attack. The Portuguese, who [fol. 325v] were few in number, did not risk making sorties, and they lacked the necessary tools or skill to dig countermines. Instead, they hurled fire grenades at the enemy closest to the wall and fired their harquebuses at those farther away, killing many. Certainly if they had had a captain equal to their circumstances, and had they received even a little aid, they would have honorably defended their fort. But the captain’s spirit and courage were so wanting that he had neither the sense nor the vigor to confront or stand up to the danger before him, and besides, being ill—not so much in body as in

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spirit—he begged D. Luís da Gama several times to replace him with someone with the competence to defend the fortress because he was incapable of assisting in its defense and allow him to leave it in order to convalesce in Hormuz [margin: because he was incapable of assisting in its defense]. But D. Luís failed to take the necessary steps to remedy this awful danger. The loss of the fortress seemed unimportant to him, since the most vital stronghold, in his view, was the island, city, and fortress of Hormuz, which gave him complete possession of the entire mainland coast, the source of water and all the provisions for the city; that was also where tribute was collected from the caravans that came from Persia. With so many individuals counseling and begging him to send relief to the poor soldiers who were in such great danger, he finally ordered sixty or seventy men over in four ships. Thirty of them were Portuguese and the rest native Christians and Moors from the Hamadi388 Mountains, near the fortress of Bandel. One night, João de Sousa, a good soldier, took these men [margin: close to the fortress] at the beginning of the dawn watch. But even though they and a few of the besieged soldiers attacked the trenches occupied by the Arabs and Persians, [fol. 326r] driving them out with their brave fighting and killing many, the skirmish had almost no effect, though it might have had it been carried out with more soldiers. It is thought that had such been the case, they could have forced their enemies to completely renounce their intentions: the fear felt by the enemy from that sudden attack, even though it was carried out by so few, was so great that most of them fled in great disorder to the village in the Bandel where [text blacked out] [margin: Dauris] Beg was lodging. This village comprises about 200 dwellings, and is less than 200 paces from the fortress. But the greatest error—to avoid using an even uglier word—committed by this illustrious captain D. Luís was that not even these few soldiers who had acted so valiantly were given the order to go in and defend the fortress. Instead, it was abandoned and left in the hands of the enemy. And so, João de Sousa returned to his ship, having lost almost none of his men, with only a few wounded, he himself having been shot in the leg with a harquebus. Among those who stood out most in this sortie—their action merits this label—were [margin: Marcial de Gouveia] and the scribe of the fortress, António Dias, who joined in the fray along with five or six others and [text blacked out in the margin] had his nose cut off. André de Quadros, captain of the abandoned fortress at Gamrū, continued importuning D. Luís to remove him from the fortress or to send him acompanying [superscript : a companion] and some soldiers as reinforcements. To the first request, D. Luís responded by saying that one who 388  Silva y Figueroa is obviously using a local term for the southernmost tip of the Zagros mountain range, which traverses western Iran north to south.

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swears an oath of fealty, which for us Spaniards is equivalent to a military oath or sacrament [margin: to defend a fortress], the same should be the one to defend it, for he did not want to be responsible for the loss of the fortress. As to the second request, he could not send soldiers because he needed them to defend the city and his fortress at Hormuz. [margin: Meanwhile, ʿAlī Beg received news of how the besieged soldiers had defended themselves and of the harm his troops had suffered in the aforementioned battle, and fearing the penalty with which he had been threatened if he did not take the fortress, he departed from the city of Shīrāz immediately for the Bandel with 2,000 harquebusiers, with which he greatly tightened the siege and dug two more tunnels.] [fol. 326v] Only a few days before the aforementioned events, Fernão de Silva,389 captain of that gulf, had been tragically burned within sight of a fleet of enemy terranquins, and the ship in which he was fleeing plus two others were lost. These events greatly discouraged the people of Hormuz and increased the confidence of the Persians. The situation grew even worse as further acts of the captain of Hormuz revealed the full extent of his foolishness. The besieged soldiers of Gamrū found themselves at the end of their rope, not so much because of the pressure ʿAlī Beg exerted on them, but because they lost hope of receiving reinforcements. [text blacked out] [superscript: Seven] small foists were fitted out in Hormuz, [margin: along with twenty terranquins], and [text blacked out] [margin: Domingos] Nunes, the captain-[major] of the [Arabian and Persian] sea who succeeded Fernão de Silva, fled; under no circumstances would he risk arriving at the fortress, nor bringing reinforcements to it. But if he did not find more than thirty terradas, he would engage them set sail with 300 soldiers under the strictest orders from the captain that if, on arriving in sight of the besieged fortress, the enemies’ enemy’s fleet consisted of more than thirty terranquins, by no means should he risk engaging them, but instead he should return immediately without reinforcing the fortress. Domingos Nunes did just that, not daring to defy orders. Upon approaching close to the fleet, which comprised no more than sixty terranquins, each manned by just a few Arabs, most of them unarmed, he turned his ships about and fled in great haste. The few sailors and fisherman in the boats were very alarmed and frightened when they first discovered the approach of Nunes’s ships, and began to flee. But when they saw the Portuguese retreat first, they plucked up their courage and, grabbing their oars, pursued them while shouting awful insults over the course of that whole section of ocean, which is 389  According to Silva y Figueroa, Fernão de Silva held the title of Portuguese naval commander generally, and apparently for operating in the Persian Gulf and environs based at Hormuz.

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more than three [superscript: four] long leagues, [fol. 327r] almost underneath [superscript: as far] as the wall of the fortress of Hormuz. These events broke the spirits of the soldiers besieged in the fortress, who until then had bravely defended themselves. The weakest of heart, especially their pitiful captain, [superscript: attempted to] plead for surrender with some, mainly [superscript: as] their enemies breached the zariba390 and occupied it. A zariba is a corral or patio surrounded by simple walls, built against one side of the fortress’s wall, where merchant caravans group up. Even though this was but a small loss, what most terrified them was the fact that at about the same time one of the fortress’s towers or bastions collapsed, which the enemy had mined extensively. Yet even at this juncture, valor was not lacking in some of the soldiers, who, in addition to reproaching the cowardice of those who wished to surrender, set about vigorously repairing and defending the broken tower, enclosing it with barrels filled with sand and bundles of the very provisions upon which in such miserable conditions they depended for sustenance. The Persian soldiers of Shīrāz attacked the portal with great fury before the defending soldiers could repair the breach and fortify it, both sides fighting long into the night. Marcial de Gouveia, the aforementioned Portuguese, and Melchor Rodríguez, a Castilian, [margin: and Fernão Rodrigues de Faria], sergeant major of the soldiers stationed in Hormuz, merit particular mention. The next day, ʿAlī Beg offered the besieged soldiers the chance to freely depart from the fortress with whatever possessions they had. Seeing that they were past hope of gaining outside help, they surrendered. But the cruel [fol. 327v] barbarian, a mortal enemy of Christians, broke his promise and threw them all in prison and looted everything in the fort. Afterward, he began to tear it down, employing all of his people at his disposal. When twelve ships filled with most of the people from Hormuz came within sight of this horribly sad spectacle, they did not have the courage to intercede, even though they could have burned and destroyed all of the enemy’s terradas. Instead, they returned in shame after witnessing the destruction of that miserable fortress. Not only did ʿAlī Beg break his word and promise that he had given to his prisoners, but, as it is rumored, two days later he commanded the inhuman decapitation of sixty of the prisoners, almost half of them Portuguese, in retaliation for those whom D. Luís da Gama had commanded to be killed in the terradas, which had been the cause of this war. And thus, being weighed down with the spoils of Gamrū, not sparing the icons and the altarpiece of the church, he set out victoriously for Shīrāz, together with his prisoners. This loss was even greater, 390  Here and elsewhere, Silva y Figueroa correctly defines and describes this term in Arabic for a type of corral.

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since soon after the beginning of the siege, they began looting the entire island of Qeshm, which had been a tributary of Hormuz and from which a great amount of water and provisions are sent every day, as well as all the firewood that is consumed. [margin: Qeshm subsequently fell into the hands of the king of Hormuz, from whom a certain amount of tribute was demanded in return.] In truth, it can be said that this island is the storehouse and primary supplier of provisions for Hormuz, which from that point on came under the control of the Persians, [margin: in the manner that has been described]. Being free to venture out into the unguarded sea, with no more than their flimsy ships, the Persian soldiers were then free to cross the gulf and sack the city of Julpha on the coast of Arabia, which also belongs to the kingdom of Hormuz, taking many as slaves, and the remainder, which were many indeed, [fol. 328r] died when the enemy cruelly set fire to their houses. What happened in this war was unprecedented. Up to that time, the Portuguese had been lords of that ocean, standing head and shoulders above all potential challengers because their fleet and army were vastly superior to [margin: the] enemy’s. And yet they lost everything without the least amount of resistance. And what they lost was hugely important, for without it the city of Hormuz and its fortress became subject to the whims and will of the Persians. This loss was not due to the weakness of the Portuguese soldiers, seventy of them having defended themselves for three months behind an adobe wall, [margin: without a captain or anyone else to lead them], but rather to the extreme ignorance and insane idiocy of the captain of Hormuz. And as has been mentioned, even though the error—or more accurately the many errors—committed by the captain of Hormuz in this instance were completely [in]excusable,391 Luís da Gama determined that Sherley and Friar Redento de la Cruz, which, [superscript: as has been mentioned], was [margin: the name of] the Carmelite friar, could lend credence to him pardon him and lay the blame on someone else while at the court of His Catholic Majesty. And thus the aforementioned friars, in keeping with their aspiration for new monasteries, requested a visit from Sherley and his colleague, who departed without delay from Shīrāz and headed directly for Hormuz. News of this reached Goa, where His Majesty’s Ambassador [Silva y Figueroa], sent by him to Persia, had just passed through the initial days of his long delay there. And though the Ambassador quickly sent a letter to Hormuz warning the captain that, for many reasons, it was inadvisable for Sherley to proceed to India, or from there to Spain, and [margin: though] he also wrote a letter to the king of Persia 391  Silva y Figueroa uses the word for “excusable” in the MS, which we identify as an error, since it is obvious that the opposite is meant here.

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himself in which he requested that the king not send [fol. 328v] an embassy to His Majesty the king led by a man who had actually done His Lord the king such a disservice, the captain refused to listen to him because he saw that the embassy was in his own best interest; he had other reasons as well, which will be explained below. Moreover, the letters that had been addressed to the king of Persia were never delivered because of the dealings between D. Luís and the friars. Instead, Sherley was received with so much fanfare in Hormuz that the captain ordered all the artillery in the fortress to be fired in salute; he was greeted with great joy and given a warm welcome, as if he had come to redeem the people from all their previous setbacks. Sherley then made his way to Goa early enough that he could have had time to sail to Spain, as the Spain-bound ships had not yet set out; nevertheless, he remained in Goa until the following year. During that time, he engaged in constant overland correspondence with the English merchants who lived in the port city of Surat, receiving full permission to do so from the viceroy, a fact that was publicly known. Sherley arranged for them to send one of their ships loaded with merchandise and several experienced men to Cape Jask so they could strike an agreement with the king of Persia along the lines [Sherley] had worked out with him before his departure. His Majesty’s Ambassador, aware of his machinations and alarming chimeras, refused to meet with him in Goa, and warned the viceroy how damaging it was to allow that man to remain in the city for many clear reasons, which he supplied him with, among which was his correspondence with the Englishmen in Surat and his occasional soundings of the Pangim bar and river. The Ambassador advised the viceroy that it would be best to have [Sherley] placed under house arrest outside the city, and that, meanwhile, he should write a letter to the king of Persia informing him of how many ways that [fol. 329r] man had so shamelessly attempted to undermine His Majesty, and that in view of the circumstances, and because Sherley, in the name of the king of Persia, as his ambassador, had ceased representing the said king’s best interests in Spain, as set forth above, it was entirely improper to dispatch such a dishonorable man, who was unworthy of any credibility because of his way of life. He advised the viceroy to inform the king that if he chose to send another of his vassals, that he do so immediately and revoke the Englishman’s mission, for anyone who came and went to Spain would be very well received. The viceroy, who at first promised the Ambassador he would do as he was advised soon after Sherley’s arrival in Lisbon [superscript: Goa], changed his mind a few days later and openly gave him his favor, causing a great scandal throughout the city. The reason was no secret, for quite apart from his insatiable and profound greed—though there was precious little he could stand to gain from Sherley—he took up D. Luís da Gama’s cause, for the

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viceroy had been charged with just as many offenses as D. Luís, if not more, and he also wanted someone in Spain to proclaim the [superscript: complete] opposite and converse of what he was known to have done in order to make his faults appear smaller. Because the word of such a brigand [as Sherley] was worth very little in the Spanish court, especially because of his widespread reputation as a fraud, the viceroy decided that his companion, the aforementioned Discalced Carmelite friar, would be the suitable means for achieving this end, especially because of his reputation as a good monk, which he had earned in Hormuz and Persia. Mainly by awarding this friar [superscript: Thus by awarding this friar], who possessed such extraordinary ambition, the title of ambassador, which title he also assumed for himself, he [the viceroy] imprudently and ignorantly exaggerated [fol. 329v] what a tremendous service it would be to God to send Sherley to Spain, telling everybody that he was a saint, and that he could not reveal the great benefits that would accrue from his embassy because of its great secrecy. And though His Majesty’s Ambassador attempted to dissuade the friar from his impetuous and vain legation whenever he came to call at his residence, he was so committed to it that no one could change his mind. He insisted [text blacked out] that wonderful consequences would ensue from Sherley’s holiness and good will. The Ambassador, by this time irritated by [text blacked out] [superscript: his] [the friar’s] insolent folly, asked him that since holiness was the prime motivation in this situation, why not look for another person less suspicious than this drifter, who had not only spent his life among infidels, but who had also left [margin: a son] behind in England to be raised by them,392 and who, furthermore, had a Persian name and wore Persian clothing? These criticisms were confirmed by the fact that the king of Persia called him Bezabda, which was the same name Sherley used to sign his correspondence with the king and his ministers.393 Friar Redento’s visits to the Ambassador’s house subsequently ceased, but as a result of that conversation, Sherley appeared in public [margin: a few days later] dressed in Spanish garb, 392  According to the English author John Chamberlain (1553–1628), Robert and Teresia left their son Henry (b. 1611) in the care of his godmother, Queen Anne; see Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 239. 393  Below (see p. 655) we read that the name Bezabda was not chosen by Sherley, but was given to him by Shah ʿAbbās. Bezabda was the eventual name of what was initially a Roman fortress, called Phoenicia, on the upper Tigris, in which the Legio Armeniaca was garrisoned and which was taken by the Persians in AD 390. Bezabda is a corruption of Syriac beit-zabda, meaning “house of Zabdeni”; the fortress was situated in territory occupied by the Zabdeni tribe. See Smith, Dictionary, 1:400.

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for it was quite easy for this man to transform himself, like Proteus,394 into different and varied forms. The Ambassador, in addition to knowing His Majesty’s will concerning the matter, feared that some accident or mishap might befall Sherley on his journey to Spain, as often happens in these kinds of voyages, or that if he was not well received, the Ambassador would have to remain in Persia as hostage [fol. 330r] for his security. In fact, this was precisely why Sherley was so highly confident about undertaking this journey. But none of the many measures taken by the Ambassador to hinder it, whether personally in India or by correspondence in Persia or Hormuz, were successful. On the contrary, things [margin: turned out] the way one would [margin: reasonably] fear that they would under the circumstances. The Ambassador first learned in Eṣfahān that these Englishmen, who had already been with the king in Faraḥābād, were highly favored of him. Now, a few days after arriving in Qazvīn, they were still in his good graces, but with less credibility than before because the ships had not come [margin: with the monsoon the year before], as they had previously promised they would, [text blacked out] to buy the silk that the king of Persia had sent to the port of Jask. Nevertheless, they were received with a much warmer welcome than what was warranted by their social standing, seeing that they were nothing more than ministers and envoys of the merchants who resided in Surat. And as Sherley had previously made so many promises to the king, and as the trading of silk could not have been that important to him, one could easily infer, [margin: given the king’s great ambition], that he had much grander aspirations than those he manifested outwardly, especially because he considered the English to be such skilled sailors after gaining a favorable reputation after the battle of Surat, which they achieved not so much because of the Portuguese as because of the unprecedented cowardice of their captain,395 D. Jerónimo de Azevedo. For it was well known, and proven, that he could not deceive anybody: the silk that was shipped from Shīrvān, [margin: Gīlān, and Māzandarā], provinces of the kingdom of Persia, to Aleppo is much [fol. 330v] cheaper than what is transported to Jask, because the road is shorter, smoother, and more frequently traveled. Moreover, the English merchants who live in Jask transport silk from there to Alexandretta,396 from where they sail to Aleppo, which is only three 394  The Greek god of rivers and oceans, who would change his shape to avoid telling the future to those who sought it from him. 395  Silva y Figueroa uses the term captain here for the person in charge or in authority, namely the viceroy. 396  Present-day İskenderun, a city at the foot of the Nur Mountains in the Turkish province of Hatay in front of a gulf of the same name on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.

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short days’ travel away, and forty days later they arrive in England and other parts of Europe, a journey that cannot compare with plying the Atlantic in terms of time and danger—so much shorter, safer, and advantageous is the Mediterranean route. And as for the merchandise that the English can transport to Jask via the Atlantic route—the most important being fabrics, of which the Persians purchase very little—the merchandise that caravans bring from Aleppo through Baghdad is sold in Eṣfahān for much less and in much better condition than what the very same English, [margin: or the Venetians and the French], can ship on the Mediterranean, not to mention the damage that is occasioned by such a long journey. Other sorts of merchandise, except perhaps certain kinds of tin, have very little value in Persia. Items produced natively are much cheaper, and no one buys the other curiosities from Europe. During the entire time the Ambassador spent in Shīrāz, Eṣfahān, and Qazvīn, he found that he could purchase any item in Persia that was commonly found in any European city. And thus trade and commerce in Jask could not possibly be profitable enough for the English or the Persians to justify the great demonstrations of friendship made by the king of Persia to these merchants, unless of course more important matters were lying under the surface, such as the conquest of the kingdom of Hormuz, which the king had had his eyes on for quite some time. The English would also stand to benefit from helping [fol. 331r] the king further his plan. They would have also greatly [margin: benefited from taking to pillage like pirates], but for the present we shall forebear from discussing that out of due respect. Suffice it to say that what they would gain from trading in the port of Surat is very well known: they would buy cotton clothing there at a low price and exchange it in the southern isles, this being the currency they use to purchase all the spices there, as well as the other curiosities from China and Japan that accrue them such huge profits in Europe. This was the state of affairs of these Englishmen when the Ambassador arrived in Qazvīn after they went to great lengths to have the Ambassador detained in Hormuz, or at least not well received, before his arrival in Eṣfahān, working through some of the king’s servants whom they had swayed with great sums they offered and gave to them. And though they publicly denied this, they later just as publicly stated, in no uncertain terms, that the Ambassador was coming to Hormuz to attempt to take [margin: the island of] Bahrain back by war, as well as other lands that the king had taken in the kingdom of Hormuz. Others helped spread

Its historical name, Alexandretta, meaning “Little Alexandria,” was assigned to it after Alexander the Great.

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this rumor, but we will refrain from revealing their identity in order to avoid a great scandal. [text blacked out] [margin: When] the Ambassador arrived in Qazvīn, [superscript: there was] a Cossack called Georgio [superscript: Stephan] who had come via Circassia and Georgia. He had been sent by the Cossacks who live in that part of Russia where the Borysthenes River empties into the Black Sea. This people, famed pirates on land and sea, had sent this member of their company to offer whatever assistance they could give to the king of Persia, because, aware of the war against the Turks, their perpetual and principal enemies, they thought he could give them financial assistance to arm ships [fol. 331v] and buy off the nomadic and homeless tribes who flocked to them from neighboring nations under the name of Cossack, and thus carry out the kind of raiding and plundering in which they normally engage along the coast of the Black Sea with even greater force. And even though there are other groups of Cossacks who pursue the same vocation of brigandage and who reside on the banks of other rivers that empty into the Black Sea—namely the Duna,397 which is the Danube; the Dniester,398 which is the Tyra; and the Don, which is the Tanais399—this group that lives on the Borysthenes,400 which is called the Nipro by the Russians and the Perekop Tatars, are easily the most numerous. Over the past few years they have undertaken greater ventures against the Turks [text blacked out] than what their weak forces can support. From such humble beginnings, and being nourished by their raids, the Cossacks of our day have been shown to propagate and become formidable predatory 397  The Danube, the second longest river in Europe after the Volga. It originates in the Black Forest in western Germany and flows 2,850 km (1,770 mi) through ten present-day European countries to its mouth on the Black Sea. 398  Silva y Figueroa also refers to it by its name from the ancient Greek, the Tyra. It is the second longest river in Ukraine and the main water artery of the Moldova region. The Dneister originates on the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, and flows south and east 1,353 km (840 mi), emptying near present-day Odessa in the Black Sea. 399  Silva y Figueroa also refers to the Don, one of the great rivers of Russia, as Tanam. It originates near the present-day city of Novomoskovsk in the central Russian upland and flows 1,870 km (1,162 mi) in a southerly direction, where it empties into the Sea of Azov. It lies between the Volga in the east and the Dnieper in the west. 400  The Borysthenes. Silva y Figueroa also uses Nipro to refer to this river. The Dneiper is the fourth longest river in Europe after the Volga, Danube, and Ural. Silva y Figueroa is correct in suggesting that it was known by the name Borysthenes in ancient Greek. It originates on the southern slope of the Valdai Hills of Russia (some 240 km or 150 mi or so west of Moscow) and flows in a generally southerly direction 2,200 km (1,367 mi) through present-day western Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, where it empties into the Black Sea.

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bands, producing the same kind of anxiety and apprehension in the Turkish powers that the Isaura and Cilician401 pirates did in the Romans. For not only are they bold enough to assail unarmed merchant ships that ply the Black Sea and attack unwalled cities along the coast, but they also attack armed Turkish galleys with their foists, defeating them in battle. [margin: Further], they sack many fortified cities on the coast of the same sea. Their audacity, which contributed to the success of these pirates, reached such a height [margin: two years before this account was written] that after sacking and burning Sinop and Amison—these are the celebrated ancient Greek colonies of Sinope and Amisos402 on the coast of Anatolia—with the same triumphant outcome, they suddenly attacked the city of Caffa403 in the early dawn, which was anciently a Genoese colony and is at present the court and capital city [margin: of the king] of the Perekop Tatars, fiercely storming the city and sacking it, resulting in the death of many Tatars and Turks. They attack with extreme swiftness, giving battle with amazing alacrity and [fol. 332r] skill, making use of the copious information they collect regarding every coast of the Black and Tana Seas, together with all the river channels that feed into them. The vessels they use are very small foists, each one carrying no more than thirty or thirty-five men; all of these men perform equal duty as rowers and soldiers. They carry no more equipment or supplies than what is absolutely necessary for their scant sustenance. Their weapons are scimitars and short flint harquebuses like those used by bandits from Catalonya or the kingdom of Naples, each man carrying two or three harquebuses; they are also highly skilled marksmen. In short, they are separated into small groups that operate along different rivers, but if they were united and took orders from a single leader, they would be formidable, not only against their neighbors, but even against distant foes. They have no 401  Cilicia is the ancient name for southern Asia Minor or Anatolia. Isaura was a city in the region that became a stronghold of pirates that was subsequently eradicated by the proconsul P. Servilius Vatia in 75 BC; see Crook, Lintott, and Rawson, Last Age, 210, 232–33. 402  Sinop and Amisos, two Greek colonial settlements located in Paphlagonia and Pontus, respectively, on the southern coast of the Black Sea or present-day north-eastern Anatolia on the coast of Turkey from east of the Halys River to slightly west of the Iris River. (Paphlogina is derived from the Greek name of the legendary son of Phineus, Paphlagon, while the name of the Pontus region refers to the Greek name for the Black Sea, Pontos Euxeinos, meaning “hospitable sea.”) While these two port cities were frequented by the Greeks from ca. 1,000 BC, they became solidified colonial cities only by the eighth and seventh centuries BC, with the Greeks coming initially from the city of Miletus. Sinop was apparently the older of the two, and had been used by the Hittites as a port because of its location on the caravan route from the upper Euphrates valley. 403  Present-day Feodosiya; see p. 474 n. 343.

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leader, neither over their piratical militia nor their destitute and bestial dwellings. They are completely bereft of association or social order, having no populated towns where they can lead their lives in comfort, or fortresses to defend themselves from their enemies. Instead, they live like wild animals whenever they are not out pillaging, hiding out in the brush of the forests or the reeds and cane thickets of the aforementioned rivers. Whenever the occasion arises, they choose temporary captains for a few days who seem the most suitable at the moment, choosing others later, none of them having a set or limited time of service. They do not have their own women, and after making use of the ones they capture during their raids and attacks at land and sea, they sell and trade them with those from neighboring lands, if it is possible that another nation would wish—or would be able—to have commerce with such a wild and brutish race of men. And in order to enhance [fol. 332v] the reputation of their barbaric and loathsome republic—if that is what one could call this thieving rabble—they have recognized and, they claim, are under the protection of the Polish kings because of their proximity to Podolia and Lesser Russia, who secretly give them arms and ammunition. And it seems incredible that such a small number of men can support themselves in the countryside without any sort of human device, relying only on river weeds, as they go against such powerful and immediate enemies as the Turks and the Tatars, who could obliterate and destroy them, the latter as lords of the plains and of both banks of the Dnieper, and the former from their castles in Alba and Moncastro.404 But experience has shown the great harm they inflict daily on these two nations while suffering few losses themselves. This Cossack, a man of average to stocky build, with a fierce and leonine gaze, came to visit the Ambassador’s residence in Qazvīn several times, where he was always given a hand with what he needed. The Ambassador had already 404  Present-day Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Ukraine. By referencing two names in this passage for the same historical location, Silva y Figueroa may be incorrectly suggesting that Alba and Moncastro were two separate settlements on the Ukrainian coast, when in fact they were only one Genoese commercial base. He also errs in identifying the river as the Dnieper, whereas Alba was actually located on the banks of the Dniester in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It came under the control of Genoa as the result of the Treaty of Nymphaion in 1261 until 1359, when it was integrated into Moldavia. The Genoese used it for trading with the Mongol and Byzantine Empires. Silva y Figueroa’s potential confusion may stem from the fact that his rendering(s) for this location (Alba and Moncastro) in their original Latin or Greek meant, respectively, “white castle” and “black castle” (Castrum Album / Asprokastron and Maruicastro / Maurokastron) and were apparently used interchangeably in Europe in reference to the same place.

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given him his verbal recommendation, and when the king was about to depart, he recommended him especially to the royal chamberlain, Ḥosayn Beg, saying that since the king faced such numerous and powerful enemies in the Turks, he should not slight or disparage the friendship of these valiant men, no matter how few they were in number. Qazvīn is of the same size and population as Eṣfahān, [margin: and is perhaps somewhat smaller] if one does not count the adjunct colonies. But it has fallen to greater ruin and there are much smaller gatherings of people. After the Grand Turk Sūleyman405 sacked Tabrīz, Shah Ṭahmāsp moved his regular residence and court to this city, which lies in the center and heart of the noble province of Media. And despite the fact that it now lacks any splendor, except for its Maidān, it enjoys a pleasing location in a great plain that extends for many leagues in every direction, with a mountain range less than a halfday’s [fol. 333r] journey to the north. It is surrounded by vineyards and villages shaded by groves and gardens. And although it was the court of the said Shah Ṭahmāsp and later of his son Moḥammad Khudā-Bandah for so many years, there is no royal residence or palace to be seen, not even for a captain or governor who might take up residence here. What was seen in the garden where the Ambassador was received, which must have been the king’s best, was a small and ramshackle dwelling. The kings who held court here, being given exclusively to fine and idle living, were satisfied to live in the harems of their women that are scattered throughout the immensity of the royal garden. During the summer the air is unbearable, being excessively hot, as the Ambassador and his entourage experienced [margin: discovered by their own experience and at their own expense], and the water is thick, heavy, and pestilential. In short, there is nothing about Qazvīn to justify its reputation for greatness in Europe, nor of the court of such great kings. It is situated at 35 degrees and 28 minutes latitude this side of our Arctic Pole.406

405  Sūleyman I, known as “the Magnificent” and “the Lawgiver” (1494–1566), great sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1520–1566) during the acme of Ottoman power. His reign saw the flowering of an Ottoman golden age of arts and letters and social and civil reform. Sūleyman also made military incursions into Europe, dominating Belgrade, Rhodes, and most of Hungary; his expansion into Europe was not impeded until the unsuccessful Turkish siege of Vienna in 1529. 406  The actual coordinates for Qazvīn are 36°16′02″N, 50°00′16″E.

BOOK v

[Report on the Regions of the Persian Empire] As this city of Qazvīn was the last of the provinces of Persia visited by the Ambassador, it is fitting that he should give a brief report of what he learned there concerning the remaining regions of this empire that he was unable to see or visit during his sojourn. Such an account would be necessarily inaccurate if it were based solely on interviews, [margin: even] if these were to be conducted with men who in our own day have carefully examined and observed these regions. Instead, we must make good use of the lessons of history, which are what bestow true light and knowledge on everything we need to know about the world. Thus, the setting for this Eastern realm, so renowned and distinguished throughout the ages, and which so many important authors have memorialized for future ages, is the Caspian Sea, [fol. 333v] which laps at several of the most celebrated kingdoms and principalities of the earth. It is well first to understand its location and contours, which are quite different from how geographers and many historians of most recent times have depicted it. We will also need as guides four or five rivers, so familiar to ancients and moderns alike that even the most ignorant are acquainted with them because of their great size and because they bear the same names today as in the past. To begin, the Caspian, or Hyrcanian, Sea, which is nowadays called the Bākū Sea, lies mainly along an axis extending from the north-west to the south-east, which are respectively equivalent to Mistral and Sirocco.1 The Sea extends so far to the south that its most austral point is located at just a few minutes higher than 36 degrees, judging from what [margin: we know] to be the precise location of the city of Qazvīn and how far it is from the sea, this being calculated from the lay of the land as one travels between the two points.2 Ancient historians and geographers paid attention to overland distances only, focusing on the names of provinces, the names of the mountains and rivers that divided them, and the names of the principal cities that lay within them. They did not attend to how a place was situated with respect to the heavens, nor its meridian parallels, by which its precise location can be determined. And we find that most of

1  Silva y Figueroa interestingly uses these wind names for intercardinal directions. 2  Qazvīn is indeed situated at 36°16′02″N, 50°00′16″E.

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the tables of Ptolemy,3 the only source for this kind of knowledge, are so faulty and defective that they offer very little in the way of certainty. I was thus greatly astonished to find, contrary to my original understanding, that this southern part—which is such a noble and renowned region of Asia, comprising the area between the Caspian Sea and the heart of Persia—lies so much farther to the south, not only by a few minutes but by many degrees. The chief reason for this great error is the pure and delicate air. This entire region, though very mountainous, is dry to the last degree. It produces no woods or trees naturally; the only ones are those found in orchards and gardens, which are the product of human industry, aided by water channeled from nearby or from some distance. The air here is so delicate and uncontaminated [fol. 334r] that although in the summer it preserves things for a much longer time than in other places without them becoming altered or corrupted, it is incomparably colder during the winter than in other climes that are higher and closer to our pole. This cold turns most of the usual rains to snow , which is so abundant that the mountains, or more accurately, hills of no great height, which lie at 30 and 32 degrees, are capped in snow most of the summer. And thus in the city of Shīrāz, which is the same as ancient Cyropolis, founded by Cyrus and ennobled by the tomb of this great king,4 it was colder in the winter than in any clime situated at 40 degrees, though its position lies at no more than 28 degrees and 44 minutes, as was already mentioned when that city was described more specifically. [margin: The ten leagues] from Shīrāz to Margascan,5 which is near what must certainly be the ruins of Persepolis, takes one to the north-east and east by north-east, which in Greek are respectively [ ]6 and Levant. From there one heads north-west and north by northwest to Eṣfahān, and at the end of the journey a short distance due north. Hence the first two cities mentioned above are definitely farther to the east than Eṣfahān, and thus it cannot be that both of these cities, being so close together, are actually within the so famous and renowned realm of Persia. According to the shared doctrine of the ancients, Media was directly north of Persia, so that if the city of Eṣfahān is not part of Media, it should be considered part of Persia 3  Astronomical calculations prepared by Ptolemy in tabular format to determine the positions, movements and opposition of heavenly bodies. 4  There are two points of confusion here. First, Cyropolis was located near present-day Istaravshan or Kurkath in Tajikstan; second, Cyrus’s tomb is near Pasargadae, which is close to Shīrāz but very far from Cyropolis. See P’yankov, “Cyropolis.” 5  See p. 350 n. 130. 6  A blank space is found here in the MS; Silva y Figueroa assuredly intended Gregale (Spanish “gregal”), the name for the north-east wind; see his mention of the “Greek wind” on p. 548.

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itself, which it is, in its northernmost region. Accordingly, this realm as a whole stretches from north by north-west to south by south-west, these being equivalent, respectively, to Mistral Tramontane7 and southern Sirocco.8 The realm of Susiana, which is modern Susien,9 sits in the west. Media is in the Septentrion, or north, as was mentioned from the province of to the east of Parthia, now Khorāsān, and to the south of Carmania, now Kermān.10 According to the opinion of modern geographers, the city. [margin: Part of the ancient and great kingdom of Parthia, which is modern Khorāsān, and Eastern Carmania, which is modern Kermān, are in the east; and Carmania Deserta, or the kingdom of Fārs, is in the south. According to later geographers, the city] [fol. 334v] of Eṣfahān is located within ancient Parthia [margin: or Khorāsān]. But they fail to recognize that this great province, seat of power of the Arsacids,11 the Eastern realm that was hostile to the power of Rome, was anciently bordered on the east by the province of Aria,12 [margin: present-day Herat] on the east, itself bordering on First India,13 on the south by Kermān, on the west by Persia, and on the north by Hyrcania, [margin: known] in our day as Astarābād, and part of Bactria, which [text blacked out] [superscript: today] goes by the largely unchanged name of Balkh. Thus the ancient name of the powerful realm [margin: of Bactria, as well as] that of its capital city and the river that runs next to it, is very similar or even identical to its modern name, though time has changed the designation Bactrian to Uzbek because this realm was overrun by Scythians or Nogai Tatars,14 perpetual enemies of the Persians.

7  The Tramontane is a Mediterranean north wind; thus, a Mistral Tramontane is a Mediterranean wind blowing out of the north by north-west. 8  A southern Sirocco is a Mediterranean wind blowing out of the south by south-west. 9  Present-day Khūzistān, corresponding to ancient Elam; see p. 353 n. 139. 10  Kermān; see p. 290 n. 5. 11  The ruling dynasty of the Parthian Empire (247 BC–AD 224). 12  Named after the Hari River, a region described by Ptolemy and Strabo lying to the east of Parthia. 13  There is no single clear definition of First India, as European labels for the regions of India were puzzling and contradictory; see Polo, Book of Ser Marco Polo, 425–26. Nevertheless, Silva y Figueroa explains that he understands First India to comprise the Paropamisus, Aria, Ariana, and Arachosia. 14  The Nogais inhabited the lower Volga region, but Silva y Figueroa equates them with the Scythians, who for centuries dominated the Central Asian (Pontic-Caspian) steppes.

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Through the northernmost part of this region flows the great Āmū Daryā River,15 the renowned and ancient Oxus, which divides this region from that of the Chagatai Tatars, the ancient Sogdians, whose main capital is Samarkand, the ancient Maracanda, which despite having been greatly built up by Timūr Lang, lord of all Asia, has in the [margin: more than] 200 years since been reduced to three or four villages, each with a small and impoverished population. This great realm of Sogdia, which is comprised of other smaller provinces that constitute the wide and spacious plains belonging to the Scythians and the Nogai Tatars, is divided by the Calama River,16 which is the Jaxartes that Alexander the Great crossed when he went against the Scythians. He wrongly believed and was convinced that it was the Tanais River,17 which divides Asia and Europe. It is in this region where these two rivers empty into the Caspian Sea,18 though the Oxus19 carries [text blacked out] [superscript: much more] [margin: water], seeing that it is one of the largest rivers in all of Asia, [which] and therefore where it empties into the sea its bed is so deep and wide that it can provide a sure port to very heavy ships. The coastline between the [margin: Āmū] Daryā and the Calama is the westernmost part of Sogdia, [fol. 335r] or the region of the Chagatais; anciently it was known as Margiana.20 True to its ancient name, it produces excellent iron ore for the production of all kinds of weapons. The Chagatais boasted a much more excellent reputation in the age of their famed king Timūr than they do today; whereas in the past they victoriously prevailed over all of Asia by their valor and military glory, for many years now most of their might has been passed on to their neighbors the Uzbeks. The main reason for this is that the Uzbeks and the Bactrians are united under a single king, and thus their two wealthy capital cities, Balkh and Bukhara, have increased and grown tremendously in size and population. By contrast, the former [superscript: reputation] 15  Historically known by its name in Latin, the Oxus, it is a major river in central Asia formed by the junction of two rivers in present-day Afghanistan (the Vakhsh and the Panji) that flow from there into the Aral Sea. 16  This is a puzzling reference, since the Jaxartes [present-day Syr Daryā] was never known by this name. 17  See p. 504 n. 399. 18  Here Silva y Figueroa falls into error: the Oxus (Āmū Daryā) and the Jaxartes (Syr Daryā) empty into the Aral Sea, not the Caspian. In his defense, the ancient sources he is dependent on conflict with each other (and sometimes themselves); see Holt, Alexander the Great, 11–32. 19  The present-day Āmū Daryā. 20  Also known as Margu, a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire; its capital was Merv.

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and glory power of the Chagatais have diminished because these people have been divided and have lived under the domination of different lords, thereby reducing [margin: Samarkand], once one of the greatest and richest cities in all Asia, to a humble village. The kingdom and province of Khorāsān, which, as was mentioned is ancient Parthia or Parthiene, is now one of the most important, wealthy, and powerful of all the provinces of this realm. Those who equate it with Aria are greatly deceived: the latter is beyond doubt the province of [margin: Arat—the name nearly retains its original and ancient form]— which borders on First India, known today as [superscript: the province of Kandahār]. Now [margin: In our times] it is where all the merchant caravans from the kingdoms of Sindh, Lahore, Agra,21 and Khambhat22—all of which are subject to the Great Mughal—pass through either going to India or coming from Persia. The [text blacked out] three provinces referred to above—Parthia, Bactria, and Sogdia—comprise the region of Asia where Alexander the Great was delayed the longest, not only because of the ferocity of its inhabitants, being the most bellicose in all of Asia and consequently rising up in rebellion many times, but also because of the extensive preparations he made there for the conquest of India. It seems that his army, so many times conqueror, tarried so long there that the fierce and unconquerable spirit of these nations became implanted within the breasts [fol. 335v] of Alexander’s closest advisors and servants to such an extent that their Hellenic temperament was supplanted by the spirit of those barbarians, and they impiously and cruelly devised to kill their king a number of times. This cruel spirit was also adopted by the king himself, who had a wrathful and violent character, resulting in the deaths of some of his noble and brave captains. The whole rank of ancient historians—Justin,23 Arrian, Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, and Quintus Curtius—agree that Alexander entered India from Sogdia, and thus it can be assumed [margin: that it was] through the kingdom that is known today as Badakhshan,24 and that he first conquered the kings who ruled over the northernmost part of it. Next, navigating down the

21  Located in northern India in the present-day state of Uttar Pradesh on the banks of the Yamuna River, this city was the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1658. 22  See p. 198 n. 116. 23  Marcus Junianus Justinus, Roman historian (ca. second century AD); see Justinus, Epitoma, 12.5.13. 24  A historic region corresponding to present-day north-eastern Afghanistan and southeastern Tajikstan.

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Hydaspes25 and the Indus Rivers, he waged war against the southernmost kings until he arrived at the sea, where he ended his memorable expedition. According to the accounts left to us by the aforementioned authors, he erected great altars and columns with inscriptions of his arrival and an account of his conquests in that part of Sindh where the Indus falls into the sea.26 It has been desirable to include this brief digression here, though it interrupts somewhat the description of the provinces that comprise the kingdom of Persia. Several of the Portuguese soldiers who frequently sail from Goa, Diu, and Hormuz to Sindh to protect and guard the merchant ships that engage in trade there—including Rui Gonçalves de Sequeira,27 captain of the fortress of Tidore in the Malukus, and later the general of the fleet that sailed from Spain to the Philippines in 1614—affirm having seen that they have seen these altars and columns intact near the mouth of the Indus, which is popularly known by the same name as the province of Sindh. They also say that they are half a pike in height and that the inscriptions are in Greek, [fol. 336r] though these soldiers, not being familiar with these characters, did not know if they were Greek or some other language. Yet Rui Gonçalves, despite having little education, said that they were, and that there were some people in India who had read them, and that they call Alexander the Son of Jupiter Ammon,28 a title he had avidly sought, and one for which many people who mocked it paid dearly. It has also seemed appropriate to write here, before moving on to other topics, that each year a large merchant caravan travels from [margin: Samarkand], Bukhara, and Balkh, the aforementioned cities of ancient [margin: Sogdia and] Bactria, which now belong to the realm of the Uzbeks, and makes its way to Cathay and its principal city, Khanbaliq, [margin: which Marco Polo29 called Canbalu].30 And while for several years now the fathers of the Society of Jesus who live in India, and especially in the city of Macau—the famous trading 25  The Greek name for the Jhelum, which flows in present-day India and Pakistan; it is the westernmost of the five rivers of Punjab. Alexander the Great and his army crossed it and defeated the Indian king Porus in battle at that site in 326 BC. Alexander had a city built there, which he named after his famous horse; see Arrian, Anabasis, 4.29. 26  See Justinus, Epitoma, 12.5.13; Arrian, Anabasis, 4.16–20; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 17.86.3–5, 96.1–2, 97.1; Plutarch, Lives, 7, Alexander, 57–58; Quintus Curtius, History of Alexander, 7.10.13–16, 11.1–2. 27  Silva y Figueroa’s summary of Gonçalves de Sequeira’s career is accurate. 28  The Roman name equating the Egyptian god Ammon with Jupiter, reflecting Alexander’s desire to receive recognition via universal symbols. 29  Venetian merchant, traveler, and author (ca. 1254–1324); see Yule and Cordier, Book of Ser Marco Polo. 30  Khanbaliq, Marco Polo’s designation for Beijing.

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port of China—have made it known throughout Europe that this kingdom of Cathay never existed, but that the country that some people have wanted to identify by this name was actually none other than the kingdom of China,31 it is so certain and indisputable among modern Persians that it does exist, and that it is just as powerful, if not more so, than China, that it would not be obstinacy but patent insanity to deny it. What could have persuaded these fathers to adopt this negative view is what they say in an account that was brought from the city of Lahore by some fathers who live there, Jerónimo de Javier and Manuel Pinheiro, whom [margin: the Ambassador] met and spoke with in India, that is to say after their mission there was completed. Everything that was written in that account had come from a fantastic memoir written by a certain Armenian who went from the aforementioned city of Lahore with Brother Góis32 and succeeded in making his way into the Imperial court of China where Father Matteo Ricci33 and other fathers had been for several days. Brother Góis was never seen again, and a while after [fol. 336v] the Armenian’s return, his memoir or account came to light, in which he says that there was no Cathay, nor had it ever existed. And although Father Jerónimo de Javier, being a supremely moderate and kind [margin: father], talked about this subject most unwillingly when [margin: the Ambassador] asked him what he knew about it [text blacked out], and told him and answered him differently, the other monks insisted that without a doubt China and Cathay were one and the same. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not prevail upon them to give him the 31  Silva y Figueroa is raising the issue of whether Cathay and China were in fact the same geographical entity. With the collapse of the Tang Dynasty around the ninth century and the expansion of the Qi-Tan or Tatars into China, the latter employed the term Cathay for the territory that they held and administered for about two centuries, which divided China into two parts (northern and southern), with greater direct control by the Tatars in the north and coexistence with the Sung Dynasty in the south. Consequently, for contemporary and later European travelers, there was confusion as to whether Cathay and China were distinct. Silva y Figueroa perpetuates this confusion, positing that they were two separable geographic regions, although, as we know, the position advanced by the Jesuits was correct. 32  Bento de Góis, Portuguese Jesuit lay brother, missionary, and explorer (1562–1607). As the first-known European to travel overland from India to China via Afghanistan and the Pamirs, his expedition conclusively proved that Cathay and China were one and the same; see Yule, Cathay, 2:529–96. 33  Matteo Ricci, S. J., Italian (1552–1610), one of the founding members of the Jesuit China Mission, which was under the Portuguese Crown’s patronage. For additional biographical notes, see Pfister, Notices Biographiques, 1:22–42, and for an English translation of some of his writings, see Ricci, China in the Sixteenth Century.

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accounts they had just received from the fathers who had left Khanbaliq, the court of that great realm, after the death of Matteo Ricci; the latter had passed away after living a pious life in that city, though without reaping the fruit for which he had labored so long and diligently. Quite apart from the proof and certainty that is now to be had in these regions regarding the powerful monarch of Cathay, the view shared by all European authors during the last 300 years should suffice, who without exception have made particular mention of his greatness. And whereas many people consider the Armenian Hayton34 and the Venetians Niccolò, Maffeo,35 and Marco Polo to be apocryphal in several particulars, we cannot deny the much illumination and information that they have given us regarding this vast and opulent region, although one is amazed and astonished to find so many marvels and riches crammed into such a short small memoir, which is why, even during their lifetimes, their own countrymen gave them the nickname millions or liars.36 But like all the other authors, some of whom are even earlier than these Venetians, they write so deliberately and carefully about the miserable fall and devastation of so many noble European provinces, also explaining precisely the purpose and cause held in the minds of the aggressors. And as is the case with all great [fol. 337r] conquests, which this one was—and by so distant a nation, for it scorched and destroyed the whole earth like a terrible inferno from the almost easternmost corner of Asia all the way to the westernmost borders of Hungary and Silesia37 [text blacked out]—we must [margin: also] accept that a people who caused such universal destruction must have had a great and powerful origin, and must have been derived from some mighty 34  Hayton of Corycus, Armenian monk and historian (d. ca. 1308), author of La Flor des Estoires de la Terre d’Orient, translated to Latin under the title Flos Historiarum Terrae Orientis. 35  Niccolò and Maffeo Polo were the father and uncle, respectively, of Marco Polo. They reached Khanbaliq in 1266; they later took Marco on a second journey to China, which became the subject of Marco Polo’s Travels. 36  Il Milione is the Italian title of The Travels of Marco Polo, which was translated from the original medieval French Livre des merveilles du monde. It is debated whether Il Milione is a shortened form of the family’s nickname Emilione, or if it refers to the myriad stories he told of his travels. He himself was known as Marco Milione or simply il Milione (“the Man with a Million Stories”), and the courtyard of his home was the Corte del Milione. 37  A region of Central Europe located along the Oder River in present-day Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany, Silesia was a hereditary possession of different noble houses. In the twelfth century it was divided and became a Piast duchy, and during the fourteenth century it became part of Bohemia, passing to the Habsburg monarchy in 1526.

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kingdom that was equal in every respect to all it gave birth to, filling all of Asia and Europe with incredible terror and appalling calamity. The source of such a great transformation, referred to by the entire rank of modern writers, was the great renowned Genghis,38 who was later given the epithet Khān, which in the Scythian or Tatar language means lord. Although he came from a very humble line and profession—it is said he was a blacksmith—and as an old man, small of stature, his was such a great [margin: and generous] spirit, combined with such rare wisdom, that in the space of a few short years he founded and created an empire that remained unparalleled in the whole world, in power and in all the excellent political and military arts [margin: with which such empires rise to greatness]. And since it lies outside our purpose here to discuss this illustrious man’s triumphs—neither do we possess an extremely clear account of them—we can only state that within a few years and with the sole help of poor rustic Tatars of Mongol, his native country, he established that great kingdom with so firm a foundation that his first successors were then able to send countless armies to conquer almost the entire East and a large portion of the West. [fol. 337v] They fought for three uninterrupted years in Europe and in all the provinces of Upper and Lesser Russia, destroying and sacking the kingdoms of Hungary and Poland with unimaginable brutality, including the duchy of Silesia. But while they inflicted such great affliction and misery upon these regions during that time, leaving them desolate and empty, in the end the invaders returned to their native lands, carrying off vast plunder. Excepting the destruction suffered in Europe, the devastation was greatest and deepest in the Eastern provinces. There the Tatars sank roots, and the military commanders who had conquered and laid waste to these lands founded their own kingdoms and domains in their place because they were closer to Mongolia and Cathay—[margin: their places of origin]—than were the lands of Europe; these regions were also better suited to their way of life. And though they inhabited Persia, Media, Assyria, and Mesopotamia for many years, nations that before had belonged to the Arabs, and that at the time of their conquest belonged to the Turks, who ruled over all Asia, the regions where they established themselves and settled permanently were the provinces of Sogdia and Bactria, which remain under their rule to this day.

38  Genghis Khān [Temüjin] (ca. 1162–1227), member of the Borjigin clan, unifier of many of the nomadic tribes of north-east Asia, founder, ruler, and emperor of the Mongol Empire. This became the largest contiguous empire in history, by conquest, occupation, and the creation of vassal states over substantial portions of Eurasia, from Korea, China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

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Later, in the first years following the Tatars’ general expedition and conquest, rulers from all over the world sent envoys to them because they feared and dreaded them. Among these we have specific information regarding embassies dispatched by His Holiness, Innocent IV,39 consisting of Franciscans and Dominicans, whose orders were just then beginning to flourish. Friar Juan de Frioli,40 a Friar Minor, was sent to the supreme king and ruler of Cathay, the head of this great realm of the Tatars, while Friar Ascelin41 and his Dominican brethren were dispatched to the Cathay captain Baiju,42 who had occupied and taken possession of the previously mentioned kingdoms of Persia. [fol. 338r] It happened during this mission [margin: that] Baiju, with enormous arrogance, decided to put these holy monks to death because they refused to worship him. He kept them in a very crowded prison, but in the end chose not to take their lives before consulting with the supreme ruler of Cathay, to whom he was subject. And although the couriers traveled as fast as possible, and the answer took a few months to reach him because of the immense distance, the explicit order arrived that the prisoners be released, under pain of death, which was obeyed to the letter. It would be unnecessary to digress even farther on the vast dominions of Cathay, a subject so intrinsically broad and well known, had the Jesuits not become recognized throughout Europe as authorities, even on topics that lie outside their specific profession. [text blacked out] [superscript: But] what has happened is that many people accept the opinion of these Indian monks because of their doctrine and knowledge of the world, [superscript: which is] generally endorsed. It would be well for those who accept their views to understand that not only the kings and heads of the great ordus of Tatary—for thus are their large armies, dawārs and congregations called that wander from one place to another—[superscript: but also] all the Asian princes, including those in the easternmost reaches of India, adopt the title khān as a mark of supreme 39  Sinibaldo Fieschi, Genoese (ca. 1195–1197 December 1254), Pope Innocent IV (1243–1254), responsible for dispatching four embassies to the Mongols; see Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys. 40  We believe that Silva y Figueroa is referring to John of Pian de Carpine, O. F. M., (ca. 1180– 1252), who was not from Friuli, as Silva y Figueroa believed, but was one of four envoys dispatched by Pope Innocent IV to the Mongols in 1234; see Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, 84–111. John of Pian de Carpine was the author of the Historia Mongalorum; see Carpine, Story of the Mongols. 41  Ascelin of Lombardia, O. P. (also known as Nicolas Ascelin or Ascelin of Cremona), one of Pope Innocent IV’s envoys to the Mongols. He left Europe in 1245 and met with the Mongol ruler Baiju at his camp in the valley of the Arax River in 1247. He was accompanied by four others, including Simon of St. Quentin, who wrote Historia Tatarorum, an account of the mission; for that account see Richard, Histoire des Tartares. 42  See p. 334 n. 83.

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dignity, an indication of how great a reputation has become attached to this title that they adopt because of the excellence of the great Cathay monarchs! Furthermore, there is not a single prince, king, or great lord found in Asia today, including [fol. 338v] India, who is not proud to claim to have descended from the lineage and blood of Genghis Khān, the previously mentioned little old blacksmith, founder and architect of the said kingdom; anybody who does not descend from his line is held in absolute disregard. For example, this is why the Tatar Mehmed Āḡā,43 while conversing with the Ambassador in Qazvīn, greatly extolled the virtues of Tatar Khān, a brother of the king of Caffa, making much of the fact that both he and his brother, as well as the other distinguished men from his ordu of Perekop Tatars, descended directly from Genghis’s line. Without exception everyone called him this because of his greatness. The king of Persia is prouder of this lineage than anything else, as were the kings of the Uzbeks, the Chagatai princes, the kings of the Mughals, and the princes of the ordus from Mongolia, Nogai, and Khassam,44 famous kings throughout the ages in the world of Tatary and Asiatic Scythia. The word for the king of Persia’s military laager, or camp, at the time of this writing is ordu. It is an ancient Scythian word, which as has been explained, means congregation and great assembly of people in the form of a republic or city. [margin: Thus] the Scythians, or Tatars, like [margin: the Arabs] in every region of Arabia, Egypt, and Barbary, who move about the countryside as nomads in [margin: dawārs] and tents, also wander through the vast length and breadth [margin: of Tatary] with their women, children, and the herds they raise in abundance, moving from one place to another as it suits them because of the change in seasons or to find better pastures. The big ordus of Tatary, which are like capitals or settlements of the main provinces, or extended regions, can consist of an almost countless number of people who live in perfect order and harmony; they function exactly like [fol. 339r] large cities. Other smaller ordus are subject to each of these bigger ones. When they move from place to place, they transport their families and their small pavilions made of felt and leather in large horse-drawn carts. Their native country is no less than the immense countryside of Scythia. Their household and domestic furnishings amount to no more than their meager and crowded tents and a few coarse and plain receptacles with which, lacking any other luxury or hygiene, they satisfy their natural needs in a limited fashion. But the Tatars who settled in the realms and provinces of Persia with Baiju discovered an opulence 43  See p. 474. 44  The Kazan Khanate (1438–1552), as Silva y Figueroa states, was established in Volga, Bulgaria, by khāns who were direct descendants of Genghis Khān.

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and luxury that were unknown in the Tatar countryside. They adopted and became familiar with the new ways and began to adopt humane and civilized customs. And thus in the course of several years, the natives rose up in rebellion against them, forcing them to abandon most [margin: of what they had] conquered. They eventually retreated [margin: to the] aforementioned large and wealthy provinces of Bactria and Sogdia where they thrived. They lived and intermarried with the natives of these lands, who, as close neighbors to the Scythians, were very similar in nature. These were the Tatars who, after their memorable expedition, remained in the region of Asia that was previously subject to the Persian Empire. They founded and established the kingdom of the Uzbeks and that of the Chagatais, or [margin: Jagatais], though the latter were more renowned and reputable than the former; [margin: the Chagatais were the ancient Sakas, or Sogdians], whose chief and capital city was Samarkand, [fol. 339v] which, as mentioned previously, was anciently called Marakanda and was the capital of Sogdia. This is the origin of the rivalry and perpetual animosity between Persians on the one hand, and these Chagatais and Uzbeks on the other—those usurpers of foreign kingdoms and provinces—a rivalry that perpetuates the [text blacked out] [superscript: interminable] wars between them to the present day. For besides the question of sovereignty, even though they are all Muslims, they understand their law to be subject to different [margin: interpretations]. The Tatars are Sunnis, following the doctrine of Abū Bakr,45 ʿUmar,46 and ʿUthmān,47 while the Persians, who are qezelbāš,48 follow that of ʿAlī.49 Returning to the matter at hand, it should be mentioned that the celebrated and renowned Timūr, whom our European historians called Timūr Lang, was of Chagatai origin and a native of the city of Samarkand.50 His people were from the region of Scythia on the far side of the Jaxartes River, known as the Calama in our day.51 The information we possess regarding this illustrious and worthy prince, though abundant, is [text blacked out] so confusing and 45  Abū Bakr ʿAbd Allāh in Abī Qhuḥāfah (ca. AD 573–634), father-in-law and confidant of the Prophet Muḥammad. 46  ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, AD 577–644. 47  ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, AD 577–656. These three, together with ʿAlī (ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, see p. 411 n. 240) are held by Sunni Muslims to be the first four caliphs, known as the Rashidun, meaning “Rightly-Guided Caliphs.” 48  See p. 444 n. 296. 49  That is, they are Shiʿa; see p. 411 n. 240. 50  Although Samarkand was Timūr’s capital, he was actually born near Kesh, present-day Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan. 51  See p. 511 n. 16 and n. 18.

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[margin: imprecise] that we might be accused of great negligence, if it is true, as well it must be, that the virtue and courage of illustrious men merit being recorded for posterity—for his [margin: heroic] and valiant deeds and heroic spirit have come down to us in the most obscure and dim form. Moreover, he is universally depicted as fierce and barbarously savage, almost completely bereft of any of the humanity and clemency that so greatly ennobles such a great monarch, as he was, with the other virtues worthy of such a prince. But the memory of him in this kingdom of Persia, both traditionally and among historians who have written specifically about his life, is still so alive and fresh that everyone is familiar with it. He is like a folk hero; even [fol. 340r] women and children recite romances and sing ballads about his great feats. From all this one gathers that he in no way resembled the general picture Europeans have painted of him. For quite apart from his great humanity, [margin: liberality], and mercy toward the conquered, he maintained justice above all [superscript: with] general equality [margin: equity], and was so religious, though within his false and deceitful sect, that he never went into battle without first praying to God for victory, with the same acts of devotion that a very religious and Catholic Christian might perform today. And though he was quite proud and arrogant, he also attributed all of his triumphs to God, having achieved them only through His power, neither taking any credit for himself nor becoming conceited over them. And the most admirable thing about this great king, who is compared to Alexander the Great by all the Persian and Arab authors who write about his life—this opinion being shared by our historians—is that despite the common view that when he took the [margin: Grand Turk] Bāyezīd Yïldïrïm52 prisoner during the Battle of Ankara,53 he placed him in a cage and toted him all over Asia, the Asian authors who most astutely and cogently depict that great battle [in great detail] in which Bāyezīd was defeated and taken prisoner tell it quite differently. For besides Khwāndamīr54 and Mīrkhwānd,55 highly regarded 52  Timūr took Bāyezīd Yïldïrïm prisoner in the battle of Ankara. 53  Battle of Ankara (1402), in which Timūr defeated Ottoman forces under the command of Bāyezīd. 54  Ghiyās ad-Dīn Muḥammad Khwāndamīr, Persian historian (ca. 1475–1534); for an English translation, see Khwāndamīr, Ḥabīb as-siyar. 55  Muḥammad ibn Khawand Shah ibn Maḥmūd, Persian historian (1433–1498), author of a universal history under the patronage of the Timurid sultan Ḥusayn Bayqarā, the last volume of which was probably completed by his grandson, Khwāndamīr; for a complete translation and discussion of this history, see Muhammad ibn Khāvandshāh, Rauzat-us-Safa.

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authors in these Eastern lands, [margin: Caliph] ʿAlī Yazdī,56 who has also left us an account, though in his Persian tongue, testifies along with the rest of them that he was an eyewitness to both [fol. 340v] the battle and subsequent events, especially when Bāyezīd was brought captive before Timūr. He reports the very words and deeds that transpired during that difficult encounter. His capture did not take place the day he was defeated in battle but the next day on a hillock to which Yïldïrïm, as they called Bāyezīd,57 had retreated with some of his men who survived the rout. And when Timūr saw that the Tatars who had seized him were transporting him in his disheveled state with his hands bound, he reprimanded them, dealing them harsh words. He ordered the sultan to be loosed immediately and even placed him at his side. He then addressed many courteous words to him and consoled him after the adverse fortune he had recently suffered, saying that both good and ill fortune befall everyone, even great rulers. Afterward, Timūr admitted him into his entourage during his campaigns of conquest against the leading cities of Anatolia, namely Ankara—which was close to the battleground—Kutahya, Konya, Aydin, and Bursa, allowing him to remain unshackled, though under guard, and treating him with dignity and complete respect. And his wife, who was not taken captive by the army [margin: the day of the battle] but several days later in Bursa, was freely and chastely delivered back to him. One of his grown daughters was also captured in the same city and was taken to wife by Mīrzā Pīr Muḥammad,58 Timūr’s eldest son, the one who had vanquished Bursa and taken both women captive. The present author agrees with the other two just mentioned and with European historians in saying that this wife of Timūr59 was Greek, [fol. 341r] the daughter of the king of the Bulgarians or tribals; [margin: Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī calls her Sophia].60 All three make particular mention of how well these tribals whom Yïldïrïm had brought from Greece fought together the day he was defeated. They were in the right flank of the battle with his son Mīrzā 56  Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī, Persian historian (early fifteenth century), author of the ZafarNamah (“Book of Victory”); see Miller, “Tamburlaine,” 256. Silva y Figueroa refers to him as (Calipha or Califa) Emir(i) Alixir. 57  See p. 337 n. 105. 58  Mīrzā Pīr Muḥammad was a grandson, not the eldest son of Timūr. Jahāngīr (1356–1376) was Timūr’s eldest, who predeceased Timūr. Mīrzā Pīr Muḥammad was one of Jahāngīr’s sons. 59  The MS clearly has Tamur, which we interpret to be an error, since the reference is clearly to the wife of Bāyezīd, who is mentioned a few lines earlier. She was taken captive by Mīrzā Pīr Muḥammad and was not one of Timūr’s wives. 60  Bāyezīd’s Christian wife was not Sophia but Maria Despina, daughter of Prince Lazar of Serbia; see Shaw and Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire, 1:29.

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Çelebi.61 They also describe their attire and the arms they bore at the time. And despite the fact that this great and celebrated battle was one of the most [margin: renowned] of any that have ever been fought in the history of the world, and that the opposing forces were headed by two of the greatest princes the world has ever known, and was remembered throughout Europe, almost none of our historians make any special account of it, ignoring as well the other celebrated exploits of Timūr, as has been mentioned. But the previously mentioned Persian historians [margin: make very particular mention of it], especially Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī, who describes it with such elegance and accuracy that he has no cause to envy any of the ancient Roman or Greek authors. He says that it took place close to Ankara, which was [margin: was known] in earlier centuries as Ancyra of Galatia. Yïldïrïm Bāyezīd was on his way to the city to defend it from Timūr, who had already drained the moat and begun to scale the walls. The Persian historians claim that the number of soldiers from both sides who fought in this battle was much lower than what our writers say. According to Khwāndamīr, Timūr routed the Turkish army with only 60,000 elite [margin: cavalrymen], all of them Chagatais and Uzbeks, respectively the ancient Sogdians and Bactrians, as mentioned above, whom he had chosen because they were bravest in his entire army [fol. 341v] and because they were his compatriots and veteran soldiers in whom he placed particular trust because of their virtue and valor. But this author is stretching the truth when he says that during the course of the battle the hill the Turks took from behind was completely surrounded [margin: by many cavalrymen] who shot a great number of arrows at them from a distance. And it appears, according to this account, that the 60,000 elite cavalrymen were ordered to fight hand to hand, having been armed with steel-plate morions corselets and helmets, [margin: their horses similarly armored]. These soldiers fought and gave battle that day with no more than scimitars, routing and scattering their enemies. Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī says that Timūr engaged 300,000 men in battle, omitting the number of Turks, though he adds that the Greeks and Bulgarians who came to their aid [margin: the Greeks and Bulgarians who came to their aid numbered 20,000]. He agrees with Khwāndamīr in saying that the Turks were surrounded on the hill such that Bāyezīd could not escape and that his army surrendered out of thirst, lacking drinking water. According to this account it is clear that the Turkish army had much fewer soldiers and much less courage than the Tatar army. Timūr’s army was extremely valiant, having trained continuously for many years in their prudent and wise captain’s art of war. Both sides used 61  Mehmed I (1382–1481), sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1413–1421), nicknamed Çelebi, or “gentleman.”

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the same battle formation, consisting of four squadrons of cavalry: an avantgarde, the central battalion and a rearguard—the avant-garde being separated a good distance from the body of the battalion or the central s­ quadron—and another squadron to reinforce the [margin: rearguard]. But in addition to these reinforcements, Timūr added two smaller squadrons to reinforce both flanks of his battalion. And thus even after the Bulgarians and Greeks had shattered his left flank, inflicting great slaughter and creating disorder in the other squadrons, [fol. 342r] the reinforcements that had been assigned to this defeated flank pressed so hard against their pursuers, who were by then quite confident of victory, that the tide of the battle began to turn in favor of the Tatars. In the end Timūr’s astonishing military expertise and discipline in arranging and ordering his squadrons and rallying them to fight, not to mention in choosing a suitable and [text blacked out] [superscript: higher] position for his army, reinforced with moats, trenches, and chains that he kept for this purpose, so that with these defenses, together with his soldiers’ experience and courage, he—as always—managed to gain the advantage over his enemies. Whether he was in sight of his enemies or marching his army, the enemy still at a distance, he never ceased to reinforce the field of battle with moats and trenches, no matter how short a time he stopped to rest, so that after each day’s march he fortified his position as if he were halting there for a long time or as if he were in sight of the opposing forces. In his youth Timūr took to pillaging and plundering with a few individuals who joined forces with him. During those first years he had already earned a solid reputation for his bravery and shrewdness in all his undertakings. He was assisted in these early military exploits by the valor and great industry of a brother-in-law named Amīr Ḥusain.62 But when a number of armies were amassed against him by the captains and governors of the land, he was not powerful enough to resist them. Gathering those who desired to follow him, and accompanied by his aforementioned brother-in-law, he retreated to the farthest confines of Bactria, where he managed to collect contributions of great sums of money from all the neighboring cities. With these riches he raised even more soldiers [fol. 342v], which, added to his original forces, amounted to 10,000. With these he laid waste to and overtook the entire region

62  Ruler of Balkh and leader of the Qarāʾūnās of Transoxiana. Timūr was married to his sister (Öljei Terken/Aljai Turkhan Āḡā). Eventually, Amīr Ḥusain became irreconcilably hostile to Timūr and his forces were overcome by those of Timūr during the siege of Balkh; see Marozzi, Tamerlane, 30–43.

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of Badakhshan,63 [margin: anciently part of the Paropamisus],64 its king becoming his tributary. This was the beginning of all his greatness, for with his spirits now raised by these successful forays, from there he attacked the [superscript: remaining] petty kings and lords of First India, [margin: which comprises the Paropamisus, Aria, Ariana,65 and Aracosia],66 instilling terror in all; from that point it was a simple matter for him to lay waste and plunder the entire region, destroying its principal cities. He returned to his native land with the great riches he acquired during his campaign, as well as a reputation of great wisdom, military valor and, [margin: even more, his unmatched generosity]. Because of these traits, so many soldiers joined his ranks that without much difficulty he became lord over all those that previously had been his enemies. He went on to conquer the rest of the provinces bordering on Persia and subsequently the rest of [margin: Greater] Asia. For in all of Asia there was none who could withstand him, except the sultans of Egypt; yet he defeated even them in two great battles and stripped them of their chief cities in Syria, forcing them to become his tributaries. This left only the grand Turk Bāyezīd, known as Yïldïrïm, which means “thunderbolt” in the Turkish language, who was [margin: subsequently] defeated and taken captive in the aforementioned battle, as recounted above. Timūr’s conquest of all of Asia Minor was without doubt the greatest of his feats. The city in this part of Asia that offered Timūr the most resistance after the capture of Yïldïrïm was Smyrna,67 on the coast of the archipelago, in the ancient province of Ionia. At that time it was in the possession of the Knights of the Order of St. John, [text blacked out] [superscript: who] had settled on the island of Rhodes after having lost Ptolemaida68 many years earlier. Smyrna was the only [fol. 343r] city in Anatolia or Asia Minor controlled by our European Christians. These knights defended it courageously against the fury and force 63  See p. 514 n. 24. 64  Paropamisus is the ancient Greek name for the region of the Hindu Kush Mountains around Kabul and Kapisa, which corresponds roughly to present-day Bagram, Afghanistan. Silva y Figueroa gives the name of the region as Paropamissas or Paropamisas. 65  See Strabo, Geography, 15, 2:1–10. It is uncertain what Silva y Figueroa means by this term. Other ancient Greek geographers designate it as “all the country between the Indian Ocean in the south and the Indus in the East, the Hindu Kush Paropamisus in the north, the Caspian gate, Karamania, and the mouth of the Persian Gulf in the west;” see Balfour, Cyclopaedia of India, 177. 66  An Achaemenid governorate that was centered on Kandahār, which corresponds today to the district of Arghandab, Afghanistan; see Ptolemy, Geography, 147–48. 67  Present-day İzmir, Turkey. 68  See p. 336 n. 94.

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of the Turks, not only during the time of Bāyezīd, who continuously besieged them and waged cruel war against them before he fell captive to Timūr, but also during the lifetime of Bāyezīd’s father, Murād,69 whose forces they repeatedly withstood, defending not only Smyrna but also the castle of St. Peter on the coast of Lycia, which faces Rhodes. Timūr ordered that this city acknowledge him just as the other Asian cities that had yielded to him without resistance had done. He considered it an affront to his greatness and glory that [text blacked out] [superscript: it alone] should remain immune and free from the subjection it owed him as conqueror of the entire Orient. The members of this military order answered with great dignity that they recognized nothing but their own religion. They were already well aware of what was needed for their defense, having withstood such a powerful enemy as the very Turks who lived closest to the city and with whom they had, until a short time before, been engaged in ceaseless warfare. For so great was the general fear, even in the interior of Greece, when it was learned that Bāyezīd had been defeated and taken prisoner, that the Turks nearest to Smyrna immediately made peace with that city’s Latin Christians; a great many of them came into the city so that both parties could jointly defend it in case Timūr besieged it. A great number of [superscript: Many] Turks from all over Anatolia came to seek refuge with their former enemies. Many went beyond Smyrna to the closest islands in the archipelago, and another large group [fol. 343v] who did not fit inside Smyrna erected a fortress on a nearby mountain, close to the city where they sought to protect themselves with their industry, which was mandated by the present need as well as with the ruggedness of the terrain. Earlier on, the Orthodox and other European Christians closest to the coast of Asia experienced the same terror, though not with such manifest cause, when they first heard that Timūr had entered Amasia—a terror that intensified when word reached them that he had taken the city of Sebaste, anciently called Caesarea, and known today as Kayseri70 in Persian and Arabic. At that time Bāyezīd had clamped down on Constantinople with a very close siege. The Turks and the Greeks agreed to set their enmity aside; the Greeks forgetting for the moment their proximate peril and the Turks their ambition, they forged a temporary alliance to resist and oppose that great storm of war that had swept over so much of the world, even though just a short while earlier the Christians had been shaking with fear of Bāyezīd because of the parlous straits in which he had placed 69  Murād I; see p. 336 n. 98. 70  Timūr occupied the city in 1402 before the siege of Ankara; see Shaw and Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire, 1:35. It is unclear why Silva y Figueroa equates Kayseri with Sebaste, which was never a name associated with this city.

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Constantinople, and also because of the crushing blow he had just dealt the Hungarians, Germans, French, and Bulgarians near Nicopolis, inflicting great damage on the Christian republic. Even so, many of these same nations entered into his service against Timūr—in fact these Christians are those who excelled the most in that great battle. The Persian authors fail to specify which European nations these Christians were from; the only ones they mention by name are the Bulgarians. Of the rest they merely state that many Franks came to the aid of Bāyezīd, and that among them were the vassals of the father of Sophia, his wife, and one of his brothers. By Franks one understands [fol. 344r] Bulgarians or Tribals, since Bāyezīd was married to a daughter of the Bulgarian monarch. They particularly describe their garb, specifying that it was black, and that it seemed strange for military activity, since by that time this nation, as well as those from Lower Moesia,71 no longer wore black in battle the way their neighbors, the ancient Thracians, did. In this same passage the aforementioned Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī also states that many Franks wore heavy armor that even covered their legs and feet. He marveled at how it was fastened in such a way that no one but the knights themselves could imagine how it could be put on or taken off. From this one can infer that not only did Greeks and Bulgarians participate in this battle, but that French and German, or Bohemian, horsemen must have also fought on Yïldïrïm Bāyezīd’s side, for the Greeks, Thracians, and Bulgarians do not wear that kind of armor, it being their custom to fight with light armor. And if news of Timūr’s victories had instilled so much terror into these nations that they were compelled to join forces to assist Bāyezīd, their principal and cruel enemy, who at the time still retained possession of all the forces of his empire, the Turks living in the northern part of Anatolia had even greater cause to unite and form an alliance with the Latins who were defending the fortress at Smyrna after Bāyezīd’s defeat and capture. The knights who had defended this city for so many years against Bāyezīd and his [fol. 344v] father, Murād, were known for their courage throughout Asia, and this reputation, above all else, is what provoked Timūr to undertake its conquest. And thus, as soon as he learned of the determination of the knights inside the fortress to defend themselves, he fell upon the city with all the force of his army, even though it was the [text blacked out] [superscript: harshest] part of winter. As soon as he arrived, he began digging mines along the side that faces the continent, most of it being surrounded by a wall despite the great depth of the moat, and simultaneously erecting, [margin: at the edge of the moat], three enormous bastions, 71  An ancient region of the Balkans situated along the Danube River corresponding to northern Bulgaria and coastal Rumania.

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or mountains of wood and earth, that projected far above the wall. And even though a great number of arrows were flung from these bastions, wounding and killing the city’s defenders, the knights and soldiers, who had prepared themselves in every way from the sea, courageously defended themselves, employing to this effect ancient machines, such as scorpions72 and catapults, with which they shot thick and long arrows that no armor could withstand, as well as ballistas or trebuchets that threw giant stones, both of these weapons killing many of the attackers. In discussing this kind of ancient artillery, Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī, who recounts in more detail than the others the taking of Smyrna, says that such devices were armed and fired with windlasses that were given many turns. Our Spanish historians call these devices that cast stones, often breaching and opening up walls, trebuchets, while they classify catapults and scorpions as propelling ballistas. But these last-named machines were crudely and coarsely fashioned, lacking the art and style with which the ancients constructed and employed them. He extols the considerable [superscript: great] strength of the city and the courage and spirit of its defenders, saying that its normal population was [fol. 345r] a thousand garrisoned Frankish soldiers— not counting the regular citizens—who were in the pay of the lord and main captain to whom they answered, meaning by this the Grand Master of the Order of St. John, though he fails to specify where he [the Grand Master] [text blacked out] [margin: resided],73 or anything else concerning Rhodes, which was where the headquarters of those knights was located at that time. But he does also write that in the same city of Smyrna they had a church that was highly venerated and to which they all brought offerings from other places. After the defenders repulsed repeated attacks aimed at them from the three bastions, what finally brought Smyrna down were the mines the attackers continued to dig from the outset of the siege. They undermined the whole section of wall on the side of the fortress facing inland, shoring it up with heavy supports; they then filled the empty space with dry firewood, soaked in oil and resin, and set it ablaze while the fighting between the bastions and the walls was at its fiercest and noisiest. Once the supports had burned, the wall suddenly caved in, and Timūr’s bravest soldiers charged, the entrance having been leveled out when the rubble of the wall filled in the hole. The besieged soldiers, who had by this time smelled the smoke, gave themselves up for lost. Many of them escaped in the ships and galleys that were prepared to set sail 72  A light piece of Roman artillery, like a giant crossbow, capable of the precise firing of a bolt. 73  The palace of the grand master of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller, located in Madraki Harbor on Rhodes.

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while the rest fought [text blacked out] [superscript: doggedly] [margin: on], courageously manning the artillery. These final defenders were beheaded and the city was overrun and sacked. After the enemy’s occupation of the city, a large ship arrived with reinforcements, apparently from Rhodes. Those aboard were [margin: terrified] when they witnessed the destruction of their fellows, [fol. 345v] especially when their enemies began launching the heads of the dead at them from the wall. With that they turned back. Those who escaped by taking to sea took refuge in a castle a day’s sailing from Smyrna that must have also belonged to their order. But Timūr sent his son, Pīr Muḥammad,74 against it, and because they yielded to him at once, Timūr received the soldiers kindly and gave them monetary assistance; he also granted them permission to safely take up residence once again in Smyrna, which they did. This extremely arrogant prince was very content and vainglorious because of the victory he had achieved over this city. The surrendered castle, which is called Fugia by Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī, does not appear to be the castle of St. Peter, for two reasons: first, the latter is farther away, in the channel that separates Rhodes from the coast of Lycia; second, because our historians say they were always able to defended themselves against any of their enemies until the ultimate decline of their order on Rhodes. The terror and fear along that whole stretch of coastline extending to the Strait of Gallipoli was so great that everyone surrendered to the victorious Timūr without resistance. And although it seems that the island of Chios75 should have been able to defend itself because of the great channel separating it from the mainland, especially in view of the fact that the Tatars had no navy, its governor went over to the continent and, surrendering, offered it to Timūr with many great gifts and acts of submission. But the latter’s sole objective was the perception that no one could resist him, and so he was easily satisfied and appeased with any subservience shown him. He thus extended the governor great clemency and gave him gems and other valuable gifts. None of the Persian writers refer to Chios by its proper name, calling it Hamet [margin: Sakiz] in their Persian tongue, which means incense [fol. 346r] or mastic.76 They also add that her governor and inhabitants were Franks, which allows us to firmly deduce that it is this very island, since at the time, and for many years thereafter, Chios (including its capital city) was in 74  As noted above, Mīrzā Pīr Muḥammad was a grandson of Timūr; see p. 523 n. 58. 75  Known as Sakiz Adasi in Turkish, present-day Chios is Greece’s fifth largest island; it is located in the Aegean Sea 7 km (4.3 mi) off the coast of Anatolia at 38°24′00″N, 26°01′00″E. 76  Persian for “mastic” (Pistacia lentiscu); see Steingass, Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary, 686. Chios is the world’s only source of mastic and is famous for its production; see Langenheim, Plant Resins, 385–88.

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fact in the hands of the Genoese. Further proof is that this island is known to produce a great deal of mastic. Timūr returned to Amasia, ancient Cappadocia, quite contented, bringing along Bāyezīd, who was constantly treated with honor in his company, until the latter’s noble spirit could no longer bear to remain under the power of the one who had unseated him from such greatness. Accordingly, he suffered a brain hemorrhage that gave rise to what doctors call a cynanche, or angina, [margin: which in Persian is known as a hanak],77 and thus he stayed in a village not far from Caesarea, called Akşehir.78 Timūr, deeply sorrowful because of Bāyezīd’s illness, left two excellent physicians with him who are mentioned by Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī; the first was a Persian from the city of Shīrāz named [text blacked out] [margin: Massoud] and the other an Arab named Shalal adDin.79 But although they treated him with the utmost care, the angina was so serious that it killed him within a few days. Before Bāyezīd died, Timūr received word that Bāyezīd [margin: had survived the peril he was in] and had him sent for with all haste. But when Timūr learned of Bāyezīd’s death, he became visibly distressed, telling his captains that he regretted the death of Bāyezīd very deeply because it was his desire and aim that the whole world know that he had encountered no one else who dare resist him, and that after subjugating the rest of Asia Minor he had intended to turn his entire kingdom over to him after receiving some kind of submission and recognition. And it seems from subsequent events that such could have been the case, for in just this way did he leave his kingdom to Bāyezīd’s son Çelebi.80 This prince, who was under Timūr’s power just like his father had been, could never have responded to the situation in Europe when [fol. 346v] Sigismund,81 king of Hungary and Bohemia, learned of Yïldïrïm’s defeat and entered the province of Serbia with a great army in order to take it back, along with the other lands in Greece taken by the Turks, at such an advantageous time. But Çelebi, having been generously freed by Timūr and awarded Anatolia by him,82 rushed to battle with all of his forces to defend his possessions in 77  Persian hanak actually means “palate.” 78  Timūr’s imperial camp in Anatolia. 79  These physicians have not been identified and their names are hypothetical reconstructions based on the names appearing in the MS: Masaut and Xelaladin. 80  Mīrzā Çelebi. 81   Sigismund (1368–1437), king of Hungary (1387–1437) and Holy Roman emperor (1433–1437). 82  The events narrated here, which took place during the so-called Ottoman Interregnum (1402–1413), are confused or oversimplified. Bāyezīd had four sons (Süleiman, Mehmed, Musa, and İsa) who competed for power. Silva y Figueroa implies that Mehmed I was

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Europe, defeating Sigismund in a great battle near Semendria.83 Sigismund enjoyed no better fortune there than at the Battle of Nicopolis a few years earlier.84 Because otherwise it does not seem credible that Çelebi—who was permitted [margin: to succeed] his father [text blacked out] in his father’s empire by the beneficence of his enemy—would have left his ancient patrimony of the provinces of Anatolia in the hands of the Tatars after the [text blacked out] [superscript: departure] of Timūr in order to defend lands that his father and grandfather had been able regain in Europe. Fortune, which had bestowed on Timūr such happy success, decreed that he should also taste some of her reverses, and thus about this time, just a little [margin: after] the death of Yïldïrïm, and in the very city of Ankara, his second son Sultan Muḥammad,85 [text blacked out] whom he dearly loved, became gravely ill and died a few days later. Timūr was so deeply grieved over his [text blacked out] [margin: death] that the greatness of his heart failed him, as did the composure and dignity of such a great monarch to whom the entire East paid obeisance; greatly overwhelmed and overcome with grief, he impetuously removed his turban from his head and [text blacked out] [superscript: given control by Timūr over Anatolia and Ottoman Europe (known as Rumelia), when actually Timūr distributed these lands among Bāyezīd’s surviving sons. The eldest, Süleiman Çelebi, was awarded northern Greece, Bulgaria, and Thrace; İsa Çelebi was given the rest of Greece and western Anatolia; and to Mehmed Çelebi went the rest of Anatolia, including the ancient capital Bursa. After a series of conflicts and alliances in which Ottomans joined forces with Christians to contend against other Ottomans, Mehmed I emerged victorious in 1413. 83  The fortress and erstwhile capital of Serbia, present-day Smederevo. Silva y Figueroa is confused: Sigismund was not defeated by Mehmed I at Semendria; instead, Süleiman, Mehmed, and Musa all formed alliances with various neighboring Balkan leaders to advance their own fortunes, thus preventing the formation of a Christian coalition. In fact, in 1413, Sigismund entered into an alliance with Mehmed and Christian Slavs against Musa. Silva y Figueroa’s account is also anachronistic, since the fortress of Semendria (Smederevo) was not built until 1430 by the Serbian George Brankovich. Silva y Figueroa may be referring to the siege of Semendria by Sultan Murat II in 1439, by which time Sigismund had been dead for two years. See Fine, Late Medieval Balkans, 503–31. 84  In what is known as the Last Crusade (called by Pope Boniface IX), Sigismund headed a Christian army consisting of soldiers from France, Hungary, Germany (the Rhineland, Bavaria, and Saxony), Knights Hospitallers of Rhodes, and Venetian ships against the Ottomans. In September 1396, Bāyezīd I resoundingly defeated them at the Danubian fortress of this name in present-day Bulgaria. 85  Mīrzā Pīr Muḥammad, one of Timūr’s grandsons, the eldest son of Jahāngīr and Timūr’s heir apparent, who died of wounds sustained in the battle of Ankara; see Marozzi, Tamerlane, 358–60.

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cast it aside]. And with great lamentations and piteous shrieks, he threw himself on the ground and, losing all composure, rolled around on the floor. Those who were present at the time of the pitiful news were unable to pacify him or prevent him from striking himself repeatedly. But after fury of the pain subsided, [fol. 347r] he regained control of himself and with audible groans cried for [superscript: very tenderly and piteously] [margin: shed copious tears] for a long time, saying and declaring many things in praise of his son, by which all those who heard him moving them [superscript: were moved] to compassion and tears themselves. According to Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī, everything Timūr said while weeping and mourning was in rhyming verse; when read in Persian, it sounds very brief, containing but a few syllables, very similar to our old Spanish dirges, which are the hendecasyllabic lines [superscript: of the] ancients.86 Some would consider this kind of sentiment in such a great and powerful king a barbarous lack of composure had he not been accompanied in this behavior by such illustrious and distinguished men from past centuries. For if we look at the first laments of which we have knowledge, we find those of Achilles for Patroclus,87 of Cyrus the Great for Abrabdatas,88 of Agesilaus for Cleonymus,89 [margin: of Pericles for his son Paralus],90 of Alexander the Great for Cleitus and Hephaestion,91 of Massinissa for Sophonisba,92 of [margin: Marcus Cato Uticensis for his brother Caepio93 [margin: and of Caesar Augustus for the army he lost in Germany]. These men solemnized the deaths 86  I.e., lines of eleven syllables, frequent in Greek and Latin poetry. 87  For the tale of these legendary Greek warriors and comrades in the Trojan War see Homer’s Iliad; Murray, Iliad, 19.321–25 and 334–37. 88  Cyrus the Great (ca. 600–530 BC), Shah of Persia and king of Susa, and Abradatas, his fictional close political and personal ally; see Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 7.3.6–12. 89  Agesilaus (444–360 BC), king of Sparta, and Cleonymus, the boon companion of his son Archidamus. Cleonymus fell in the Battle of Leuctra (6 July 371 BC); we have been unable to locate any mention of Agesilaus’s lament in ancient sources; see Plutarch, Lives, 5, Agesilaus, 25–28; Xenophon, Hellenica, 5.4.25–32. 90  Pericles (ca. 495–429 BC), Athenian statesman, orator, and general at the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. Paralus was one of his two legitimate sons (the other being Xanthippus); see Plutarch, Lives, 3, Pericles, 1.36.4–5. 91  Alexander slew his friend and general Cleitus “the Black” (ca. 375–328 BC) in an intoxicated rage; Hephaestion (ca. 356–324 BC) was another of Alexander’s generals and friends; see Plutarch, Lives, 7, Alexander, 52; Arrian, Anabasis, 7.14.1–10. 92  Sophonisba, a Carthaginian noblewoman, was betrothed to Massinissa, king of Numidia (ca. 240–148 BC); see Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 27.7; and Appian, Roman History, Punic Wars, 27–28. 93  Cato the Younger [Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis] (95–46 BC) and his half-brother Quintus Servilius Caepio; see Plutarch, Lives, 8, Cato the Younger, 10.

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of their friends and soldiers not with mere tears and moans but with deep sobbing and wailing. Furthermore, since Caesar Augustus’s was both a [text blacked out] public and a private loss, there having been in that veteran army such distinguished men that few of them could have [margin: failed] to be connected to him through [text blacked out] [margin: family] and blood ties, his lack of composure was commensurate with his greatness, his great prudence and age being greater than that of the others mentioned above. His sudden grief knocked him so senseless when he was told the news of the rout that, momentarily forgetting that his general Quinctilius Varus94 had died with his army, he struck his head against the wall and cried for [fol. 347v] him to return to him the army he had given him. Reflecting on this, [text blacked out] I noticed in Madrid [margin: I have often recalled] the many praises that have been bestowed upon several of the noblest ladies there of the great court [margin: of Madrid] upon losing their husbands, for in the face of their husbands’ deaths not only did they not weep—for which they would have been amply excused—but they appeared so composed that not even a tiny moan was heard to escape their lips, nor a single visible tear shed. And though much of this affected and perverse composure could [superscript: might be] attributed to the ambition that is normally found in all important women, especially those who are brought up and who live in the courts of the great princes and kings, it may appropriately be observed that some women possess very little feeling, and others cannot counterfeit sentiment, or even such a natural human act as weeping, upon finding themselves free from the obligation [text blacked out] being [margin: relieved of the vexing and unpleasant company of their husbands]. Moreover, [text blacked out] the women in these [superscript: circumstances]—whom the common man praises as courageous, [margin: employing this word inappropriately and vulgarly]—would not receive my endorsement for this composure, or rather hardness, of theirs; for humans ought to hold and express their passions in proportion to the magnitude of the emotions that move them, [margin: unless by some rare, unnatural miracle, these women happen to possess such an incredible and exceptional dispassion as that which Cicero,95 following the doctrine of the Stoics, so vehemently attempts to establish in the Tusculan Disputations].96 In Italy, not only in recent centuries, but also today, many leading gentlewomen endowed with singular virtues have outclassed those of other parts of the world in displaying 94  Publius Quinctilius Varus (46 BC–AD 9), Roman general, who lost three legions during the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (AD 9). 95  Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC), Roman senator and philosopher. 96  See Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, 3.1–34.

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this magnitude of spirit in overcoming the grief that has completely subdued and overwhelmed [superscript: overcome] men of exceedingly great strength and wisdom; but because now it would not do to judge what transpired so long ago and so far away, the censure will not come forward; I can only state that it has been transferred moreover, [margin: we can affirm with great certainty that this] [superscript: affected shadow] of strength courage [margin: has been transferred] [fol. 348r] [text blacked out] from Italian to Spanish women. [text blacked out] And yet Blanca Maria Visconte,97 duchess of Milan, one of the most illustrious and distinguished ladies of her time, failed to bring it off or set an example for the Spanish ladies when she attempted to look upon the dead body of her husband, Francesco Sforza,98 with composure and strength of character, showing no signs of tears or sorrow, as was de rigueur at that time; in the end, overcome with grief, as she rightly should have been in the face of her loss, she fell to the ground and completely collapsed into abundant tears and piteous weeping. More fortitude was seen many years later in [text blacked out] Vittoria Colonna,99 Marchioness of Pescara. Although she set a rare [margin: example] of every kind of virtue for all of the illustrious matronas of her time, she was also one whom many others have sought to imitate because of the outward feeling outwardly insensitive expressions with which she masked [margin: her grief over] the premature death of her husband, even though the remainder of this remarkable and noble woman’s life could be imitated by only very few women. And so that no one will be inspired to hate or blame because of this [superscript: censure], I would like to cite here in their defense of these [margin: insensitive, or resigned, women], the judgment that that woman was made [superscript: concerning the] greatest [superscript: most] respected and highly regarded and noble woman who could be found lived during the era in which the Roman republic [text blacked out] prospered [margin: at] the height of her power and greatness, and when the customs of those [superscript: its] ancient matronas were still intact, free from the inconstancy and alteration they subsequently underwent. I refer to the [margin: great and memorable]

97  Bianca Maria Visconti, Italian noblewoman (1425–1468), born in Lombardy, duchess of Milan (1450–1468). 98  Francesco I (1401–1466), Italian nobleman, Duke of Milan and founder of the Sforza dynasty. 99  Vittoria Colonna, Italian noblewoman (1490–1547), born in Rome, married in 1509 to Francesco Ferrante D’Avalos (1489–1525), the Marquess of Pescara. For an introduction to the Colonna family, see Dandelet, Spanish Rome, 22, 27, 49, 133, 213.

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[text blacked out] Cornelia,100 daughter of Scipio Africanus the Elder101 and mother of Sempronius and Gaius Gracchus, who died [text blacked out] during the seditions and civil turmoil that centered on the promulgation of the Agrarian Laws. [text blacked out] As Some years after the [fol. 348v] death of her sons she would receive visits from all the kings and other illustrious people who came to Rome because of the memory of her father and [text blacked out] her husband, Tiberius Gracchus.102 And [superscript: because] she spoke with great fortitude, poise, and composure [text blacked out] [margin: about that woeful event that had so greatly affected her], many people concluded that she had lost a good portion of her sanity [margin: because of the calamities she had suffered], for they considered it impossible for such a pitiful narration to go unaccompanied by tears. And to conclude my commendation of Timūr’s lament over the death of his son [text blacked out] [margin: as completely proper to our human nature], I will add that David,103 who was deserving of the favor and love of God because of his prudence, singular fortitude, and great holiness, mourned with the tenderest laments the deaths [margin: of Abner and] for his son, Absalom.104 And finally, nobody can deny that Christ, our Lord and Savior, wept with audible groans and visible tears, in accordance with man’s sensible nature, over the death of his friend Lazarus.105 Some years before the war with Bāyezīd, Timūr had embarked on a task worthy of his great courage and expansive spirit, namely the campaign against the Nogai Tatars,106 followed by another campaign against the Mongols, the

100  Cornelia Africana (ca. 190–100 BC). Both she and her mother, Aemilia Paulla, or Tertia, were important role models for many elite Roman women because of their attitudes regarding duty and family. 101  Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236–183 BC), Roman general and statesman, best known for defeating Hannibal in the Second Punic War, which earned him the cognomen Africanus. 102  Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (ca. 168–133 BC), Roman tribune and husband of Cornelia Africana, best known for his reforms of agrarian legislation. 103  The biblical King David. 104  See II Kings 3:28–39, 18:11 for King David’s laments for Absalom and Abner. 105  See John 11:35. 106  Earlier, Silva y Figueroa equated the Nogais with the Scythians. However, the Nogais are actually the Kipchaks, a blend of nomadic peoples of Turkish origin—Bulgars, Kazaks, Kyrgyz, Alans, Kangalis, and Mordovians. The campaign that Silva y Figueroa is referring to here is against Tokhtamïsh, a descendant of Genghis Khān; Tokhtamïsh united previously independent tribes of the Golden Horde and in 1388 rebelled against his erstwhile mentor Timūr; see Marozzi, Tamerlane, 157–200.

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ordu from whose line sprang great Genghis,107 as mentioned above. [margin: He made preparations for the first campaign with admirable prudence, gathering together the following supplies, war machines, and many provisions: scores of mattocks, large picks, iron shovels, [text blacked out] hatchets, and all kinds of other tools; panniers, large baskets, carts, and all manner of other field gear; many cords, both thick and thin, and every sort of shoe leather; also a great number of beams, planks, and chains.] Timūr penetrated so deeply into that vast region that after he defeated the invincible Tatars and the erstwhile unconquered ancient Scythians that he reached the northernmost region of Scythia where the sun does not dip below the horizon during the three months of summer, which leads one to deduce that the land lay well within the Arctic Circle on the same parallel as the islands of Rust,108 Greenland, and Nova Zembla.109 Northern Tatary, or Scythia, is populated even to this point, and farther on until just beneath the North Pole. Seeing that these [fol. 349r] barbarous and primitive inhabitants are susceptible to all kinds of harm and violence, the Tatars conduct continuous raids and incursions against them, seizing great masses of the destitute inhabitants to sell into slavery; there they also trap the best sables in the world to sell. The Tatars perpetrate these raids during the winter when the rivers, lakes, marshes, and terrain are frozen over and more easily traversed. Since it is perpetual night during most of the winter because of the high latitude, the Tatars and the Muscovites call this region the Land of Darkness. And although during the other half of the year it could be called the Land of Light for the same reason—the sun never disappearing below the horizon during this season—the invading nations cannot travel there in the summer, the ground being impassable and boggy because the heat of the sun turns the great quantity of ice and snow to water, and thus [margin: this most distant land] is named after just the dim and dark time of year when it is robbed and plundered. Those who live in less northern climes than the Muscovites and Tatars, and who inflict so much harm on these poor people, their closest neighbors, [text blacked out] might also [text blacked out] be considered to dwell in a land of darkness, or of much light, depending on the season in which they are encountered. Such was the opinion of Timūr’s army concerning these northern Mongolian Scythians; when the [margin: Chagatais and Uzbeks] witnessed so many days without a single night, they were deeply amazed by this unprecedented miracle of nature. And their [margin: 107  Genghis Khān; see p. 518 n. 38. 108  An island in the Lofoten Archipelago, Norway. 109  An Arctic archipelago that forms part of the northernmost border of Europe; it separates the Barents Sea from the Kara Sea.

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amazement] would have been equal had Timūr made his journey in the winter, finding [fol. 349v] [superscript: as many] nights without a day. In accordance with the above account, the aforementioned authors Khwāndamīr [margin: and Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī], while writing about this and others of Timūr’s conquests, assert that Tatary is attached to and contiguous with Greenland and the rest of the land below the Arctic Pole, in spite of the opinions of many others who are convinced that there is a channel for passage from the Northern Scythian Sea110 to the Indian Ocean and the coast of China and Cathay. Although for several years His Catholic Majesty’s ministers attempted to block shipping through this Northeast Passage, [text blacked out] [superscript: which is to the] right of the pole, as well as through the Northwest Passage111 between Greenland and Estotiland112 to the left, and although a special embassy was sent to the king of England in this regard, seeing as the English at that time stubbornly continued their expeditions to discover a passage to the Eastern Sea,113 I asserted many times that finding such a passage was impossible. For besides the fact that these parts of the world that have been known for centuries, must form a single continent, especially considering that all the inhabitants of our newly discovered West Indies bear such a manifest similarity in appearance to the Tatars, the experience of so many sea voyages that searched in vain for this passage for over a hundred years without finding it confirms the correctness of my view. The aforementioned forays of the Tatars into this land beneath our pole clearly prove that there is no passageway to the Indian Ocean, at least not by the north-east. Although we have less sure proof of it, the north-western route, which the English [fol. 350r] have discovered in the last few years, is incomparably much narrower. There are channels, or more accurately, completely blind coves and inlets with no outlets, plus great and terrible island-like masses that block and close off these channels almost all year round. Because if there were a passageway through this land from one sea to the other, the tide alone, with the massive current that would be 110  In using this expression, Silva y Figueroa is equating the sea north of the Tatar-occupied Eurasian land mass with the present-day Arctic Ocean. 111  By Northeast Passage and Northwest Passage, Silva y Figueroa is alluding to the directions in which early mariners attempted to find routes by circumnavigating continental northern land masses by sea in easterly and westerly directions. In a subsequent passage, Silva y Figueroa equates the Northern Passage with attempts to circumnavigate continental northern land masses by sea in both easterly and westerly directions. 112  Silva y Figueroa’s knowledge of Estotiland likely stemmed from fifteenth-century maps drawn by Nicholas and Anthony Zeno; see Traxel, Footprints of the Welsh Indians, 33–35. 113  A term used most probably for portions of the Pacific Ocean, especially the East China Sea.

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produced in such a passage, would carry these ice masses from one side of the open sea to the other, and its continuous motion would dissipate them, as we see in the Straits of Magellan. And though this is not at the same latitude as the land of Estotiland, the highest being 53 degrees, we see from sure experience that it is much colder in the corresponding region of the Antarctic Pole, even at a much lower latitude than in the northern climes of the Arctic Pole, such that those who attempt to round the Cape of Good Hope far from land, as far as 38 degrees, require [superscript: cannot] remove the heavy snow from the decks except with great difficulty, the cold being so intense that they cannot man the sails. Both the English and the Dutch have attempted to discover this passage, testing their hearty sailors to the limit, the English to the left of the pole and the Dutch to the right, but in the end their efforts were in vain, neither nation being able to discover such a passage, by which experience both can attest that it does not exist. But as I repeatedly told many people in Madrid that were steadfastly convinced that it did exist, even assuming that they were right, and even if everyone knew about it, what mariner would risk sailing through it, [fol. 350v] unless he were completely ignorant, given the frigid and stormy climate and so few days suitable for sailing—even if there were not such a huge obstacle as the ice and snow that are found there at the present time? Furthermore, everyone who thought the voyage to India would be abbreviated by following that route was in error, for it is well known that one would have to climb to 75 degrees or more, and then, after making several twists and turns to arrive at the opposite meridian, descend to the equator, where the Spice Islands are located, unless he wished to continue on to other parts of India or engage in trade there. And once one was satisfied with his trading in Cathay, China, and Japan, his journey home would be much longer because of the vast difficulties in sailing [margin: and because he would be forced to winter there], though according to the arrangement and distances of the globe that make up the land and the water, the journey would seem to be shorter. And accordingly, His Catholic Majesty could surely share and offer this route to those who are not his friends, thereby aiding them if they did not wish to travel via a different route. But the day someone’s good fortune miraculously smiles upon him and he finds this passage that has been long searched for and desired, all that man will be have to do is bestow his name on the passage in order to be [fol. 351r] famed among future generations; but he would not be able to envy the name that Fernão de Magalhães114 bestowed, along with his eternal memory, on that 114  Fernão de Magalhães (ca. 1480–1521), Portuguese explorer in the service of King Charles I of Spain (Charles V, Holy Roman emperor). In search of a westward route to the Spice Islands in Indonesia, his voyage of 1519–1522 was the first expedition to sail from the

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austral strait of the Antarctic Pole. Many travelers—not only those who forge overland through vast and unknown regions, but also those who sail uncharted waters—have been deceived at such great cost to themselves that they have lost both their possessions and their lives, after insisting on carrying out such enterprises. This has been seen to happen many and sundry times in the West and South Indies of the New World because of the immensity and vastness of the earth and because of ambition and greed, passions so powerful in man that they easily persuade him to pursue desire, though it is wholly opposed to reason. To aid in this persuasion and deceit, there has never been a scarcity of liars115 [superscript: charlatans] and swindlers, many of them quite ignorant, who venture to concoct great schemes and frauds that give the appearance of leading to such great outcomes that in every age they have often met with acceptance. And so as not to duplicate what [text blacked out] [superscript: has already been] treated in the book preceding this one, I will refrain from expounding on this topic, though one could fill much space here telling many describing countless similar cases in the world perpetrated by this kind of impostor. But I shall limit myself to just one case because of its relation to the Northern Passage, the topic of this very long digression. In the year 1609, [margin: a few months before] I came to Madrid, a man from our own nation arrived in the city, unknown to [fol. 351v] all. He identified himself only as having been raised in Flanders and several Hanseatic cities, saying he had vast experience and knowledge regarding maritime matters, and that through his labor and industry he had discovered the much sought-after passage that the English were looking for at that time. And as word of this began to spread throughout the court, many people sought him out, believing him to be an exceptional seaman, especially because he claimed that ships leaving Spain could arrive in the Philippines and the Malukus within three months. He also [text blacked out] insinuated that he had uncovered other great secrets of nature. With this public favor he resolved to send memoranda to several ministers, claiming that His Majesty’s fleets could sail through this passage not only to the places already mentioned but also to all regions of India in much less time and at much lower cost. He further claimed that he himself had traveled all the way Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean by the straits and passage that were given his name and located immediately south of mainland South America and north of Tierra del Fuego. He was also the first European to cross the Pacific. The expedition also completed the first circumnavigation of the globe, although Magalhães was killed at Mactan in the Philippines in 1521. 115  In the MS, bugiardos, Hispanicized Italian for bugiardi “liars, imposters.”

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through this passage [margin: to emerge] on the coasts of China and Japan, and that the strait was very wide, clear, and completely free of obstacles. And being such an ignoramus, he thought his claims would be more credible if he performed some kind of demonstration. And so he made many drawings of it that were small enough to fit on less than a half sheet of paper, and that not only betrayed his ignorance but were dreadfully executed, without a trace of resemblance or likeness to the lands or seas that he there indicated. But after this initial fame, he was attended to and sought after with ever-increasing enthusiasm, and so he went on to reveal even greater mysteries. He said that he alone knew the secret for [fol. 352r] deciphering the clavicula116 of Solomon that had allowed him to attain and complete the true lapis,117 never fully discovered by alchemists over the long centuries. And this tale, told in such a coarse style and manner of speaking, was more worthy of ridicule than acceptance because his claims were so inflated. For example, when he claimed that he could turn the humblest of metals into gold, someone ended up offering him satisfactory lodging and enough money to get his laboratory up and running. All these avaricious alchemists prolong their undertaking in order to better deceive the greedy people they exploit, explaining that the transmutation of metals takes a long time. This is exactly what this man did, stringing along those who supported him and giving him such a long-term pension for more than two years, telling them that the miraculous birth was very close and about to come to light. During this time, which was when Fonseca was going around proclaiming his fixed needle as described in Book I (see the account of the sailing journey), an acquaintance of mine brought this great sailor-alchemist [text blacked out] to my lodgings as if he were an important man of great genius so that he could certify to me from personal experience that the aforementioned passage lay above the lands of Labrador and Estotiland, knowing that I held the view that such a thing did not exist. I do not recall the name he went by at that time, only that he dignified it with the military rank of captain, as do so many of these charlatans [fol. 352v] without ever having received as much as a private’s wage. But he entered the room with as much gravity and composure as if he had already proved and verified all his claims. Not broaching the topic of alchemy, because to do so would not have suited my purpose, I asked him during which season he had sailed through the passage, and how long it had 116  The Clavis salomonis, a medieval grimoire attributed to King Solomon. There was also a briefer version called the Calviculus salomonis; see Bailey, Magic and Superstition, 103. 117  The lapis philosophorum, or the philosopher’s stone, was believed to be capable of turning base metals into gold; see Ragai, “The Philosopher’s Stone,” 58–77.

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taken him to reach the Eastern Sea, and also at what degree of latitude both the entrance and the exit were situated. He replied with great calm and confidence that the entrance was at 78 degrees and the exit at 75, and that he had sailed it in a little more than thirty days during the months of November and December. I was amazed at such a bald-faced lie and was embarrassed for my friend, who, though very experienced in his profession, had very little knowledge of [text blacked out] sailing [margin: and cosmography], though he was more than a little inclined toward the transmutation of metals. At this point the conversation was interrupted and abruptly terminated, and [text blacked out] though this man remained in Madrid many more months, I never saw him [text blacked out] again. But when the Marquess of Velada,118 the [margin: chief] steward [margin: and a member of His Catholic Majesty’s Council of State], showed me one of this man’s sketches of the Strait of Anián,119 which is what he called it, and told me what the man’s intentions were and how much he was going to charge for his services, I undeceived him, telling him how I felt about this man’s ignorance and what could be [text blacked out] expected of him and the way [margin: and] of others, past and present, of his profession. This alchemist [margin: slunk away] and disappeared. It went better for him than for others of the same line of work who have paid for their lies with their lives, for he was never heard from again, and I never learned what became of him or of his [margin: contemporary] [text blacked out] Fonseca and his fixed needle. [fol. 353r] It is amazing that these kinds of men, who are for the most part absolute idiots and completely lacking in wit, still manage to deceive and win serious-minded people over to their cause, people who have the reputation of being upright and prudent because of their experience and understanding of worldly affairs. But on deeper reflection, this is not so amazing after all, considering that deception does not originate with the [margin: industry of] swindlers but with the fervent passion of the one who hears them out and then surrenders, blindly yielding [margin: his will] to their schemes. This is precisely what has happened to many people in our day with Bragadino120 118  D. Gómez de Ávila y Ávila; see Atienza, Nobiliario español, 995. 119  A supposed, and much hoped for, passage connecting northern California with Hudson Bay. An account of Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado’s 1588 reputed voyage through the Strait of Anián began to circulate in the early seventeenth century; the strait also appeared on Mercator’s 1606 map of the Arctic. See Williams, Voyages of Delusion, 20–21, 423–30. 120  “Count” Marco Bragadino (1545–1591), alias Marco Antonio Mamugnà, Cypriot-Italian alchemist and imposter. After being forced to flee Venice in 1590, he was executed in Munich by Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria for chicanery; see Kallfelz, “Der zyprische Alchimist,” 475–500.

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in Venice, just as it did in ancient Rome during the time of Nero,121 as described by Cornelius Tacitus,122 when so much credence was given to an impostor [margin: named Caesellius Bassus],123 who claimed to be able to unearth from among the ruins of Carthage the great treasures belonging to its [margin: original] founder, Elissa Dido,124 the existence of which were, according to him, certain and secure. And thus the imperial ministers allocated these treasures to paying off the many debts that their princes had acquired through their prodigality [margin: because of the promise of vast riches, a great deal of money was spent, more prodigiously than ever before, and the emperor thereby ran up a mountain of debt]. The conqueror Timūr, not content with control over all of Asia after overcoming the Mongolian Tatars who lived in almost the farthest reaches of the north, returned to the west and subjugated the entire region of Tatary as far as the Volga River. And neither did the great size of this river detain the course of his victories; he continued to forge ahead making war on the Western Tatars belonging to the ordu of Kazan,125 whose territory ends at the Tanais River, now known as the Don126 by Tatars and Muscovites. This war caused such widespread terror, not only among the Tatars of that ordu, but also among the Muscovites and other Ruthenian127 peoples, that they all joined forces and, with the help of other neighboring peoples, gave Timūr battle. But when their army was defeated and most of their forces lost, the rest escaped into the dense forests. Eventually these people met the same fate as the rest. They later placated the fury of the conqueror [fol. 353v] with gifts. And although the aforementioned authors fail to specify which nations came to assist the Muscovites, it can be gathered from Marcin Kromer,128 Matthias

121  Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (AD 37–68), Roman emperor (AD 54–68). 122  Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (AD 56–117), Roman senator and historian of the Roman Empire; see Tacitus, Annals, 16.1–3. 123  He was identified by Tacitus as a native Carthaginian. 124  Dido, mythical founder and first queen of Carthage, also known as Elissa in some sources. 125  The Kazan Khanate; see p. 520 n. 44. 126  See p. 504 n. 399. 127  So called because it corresponds to the land of the Rusi (present-day northern Ukraine, north-western Russia, Belarus, and parts of Finland, the Baltic States, Poland, and Slovakia). 128  Polish historian and statesman (ca. 1512–1589); see Cromerus, Origine et rebus gestis polonorum.

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Corvinus,129 and Antonio Bonfini,130 though vaguely and obscurely, that it was chiefly Vytautas,131 Duke of Lithuania, who came to their aid. One of the most highly distinguished and bravest European warriors of his day, he raised a great army of his Lithuanians, Poles, and Prussians to stand up to the notoriety of this great firebrand that had scorched all of Asia and now threatened Europe as well. Our historians are vague about whether he gave aid to the Muscovites, who at that time had yet to attain their future greatness; they limit themselves to saying that he went on to wage war against the Tatars, and though they extol the size and great numbers of their army, led mainly by such a famous and hitherto undefeated captain, they succinctly and in very few words recount his defeat, along with the loss of the better part of his army, the captain himself only narrowly escaping with swift relay horses. Since, taking into account the battle’s duration, it does not seem possible that this could have happened so easily, but rather only by force. We cannot but attribute this rout, lamented by all as painful and great, to the invincible army and singular military expertise of Timūr;132 his power was incomparably greater than Vytautas’s. Moreover, one of the aforementioned authors also names and makes mention of Timūr with the same brevity and confusion, because in that barbarous time, with nations as barbarous as those found on this journey, no one could offer a more accurate narration than [margin: this one]. The Persian authors did not describe it either because of the little, if [fol. 354r] any, information they had regarding the nations and rulers of Europe. As human happiness knows no fixed limits, just as the aspirations of men can never be fully satisfied, Timūr’s conquest of all Asia was not enough to pacify and appease him. Instead, feeling the weight of years and perceiving that no one remained to contend with, he set his sights on the great empire of Cathay, [margin: despite] [text blacked out] the tremendous difficulties such an enterprise presented, especially at his age and at such a distance. And since ministers and counselors are always willing to accommodate and adjust their opinions to match the inclination of their ruler who commands them, when 129  His life dates are 1443–1490; he was king of Hungary from 1458 to 1490. 130  Italian humanist (1434–1503) and court historian for Matthias Corvinus; see Bonfini, Rerum Ungaricum, 417–18. 131  Vytautas the Great (1350–1430), Grand Duke of Lithuania (1401–1430). He sought, in alliance with Tokhtamïsh, to restore his rule over the Tatars of the Golden Horde but was defeated at the Battle of the Vorskla River in 1399. 132  It was not Timūr, but Qutlugh Timūr, the khān of the Golden Horde, who defeated Vytautas at the Battle of the Vorskla River. It is clear that Silva y Figueroa was unaware of the existence of this second Timūr.

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Timūr called a council and put it to his captains whether it would be wise to undertake this journey, they unanimously agreed that it should be done. With the mutual ambition of all his military commanders, they immediately began preparing for this arduous and dangerous enterprise. The army was raised and assembled in Samarkand and its surrounding regions; the aged soldiers, veterans of so many victorious wars, did not think any human power could withstand them. Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī exalts the magnificence, the high morale and the great arrogance of Timūr’s chief captains to such a degree that in military expertise, fame, and great wealth, he considers them equal to their emperor himself; throughout the history of the world this [margin: has always] been the case [text blacked out] with great and distinguished [fol. 354v] armies. During the preparations for this notable expedition, which is what it would have been had it been executed and carried out, the second embassy of king Henry of Spain133 reached Timūr, although the Persians do not identify our kings or the province of Europe from which their ambassadors are sent by particular names, only saying that it was an embassy from the Franks. They called all the European nations indiscriminately by the same name, especially the Latin nations, because of the scant knowledge they had of us at that time, believing we were all subject to a single king and lord. But based both on the time during which Khwāndamīr and Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī make reference to this embassy and on the account of it left by one of its members, Ruy González de Clavijo,134 in the old Castilian language, one gathers clearly and beyond a doubt that it was the embassy sent by king Henry [margin: the Sufferer], because our Castilian gentleman agrees with the Persians when he says that after the ambassadors arrived in Samarkand they were received, not in the city, but in spacious pavilions in a nearby field.135 Furthermore, Ruy González adds one more notable detail, [margin: being seconded in this by Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī]; namely, that during a great feast that Timūr offered [margin: in his] tents [superscript: to all] the ambassadors [margin: that were in his court at that time, the representatives of the great khān136 requested that 133  Henry III (1379–1406), king of Castile (1390–1406), also known in English as Henry the Sufferer; his first ambassador to Timūr was Hernán Sánchez Palazuelos. 134  Castilian diplomat, traveler, and author (d. 1412), ambassador of Henry III of Castile in 1403–1405 to the court of Timūr at Samarkand; see Clavijo, Narrative of the Embassy. 135  This feast, celebrating Timūr’s victory over Bāyezīd I, took place on the plains of Kān-i Gil (lit. “Rose Mine”); see Stier, Tamerlane, 298. 136  Meaning the “emperor of China,” in this instance, Zhu Di (1360–1424) or the Yongle (1402– 1424), who, as the prince of Beijing, wrested the emperorship from Jianwen and became the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

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Timūr ­recognize their emperor, just as his predecessors had done before him]. His response was to threaten them most arrogantly and haughtily, saying that he would ruin and destroy the empire of Cathay. The Persian writers describe in detail the gifts that our [Spanish] ambassadors presented to Timūr from our king, including the excellence of the figures and painting on some of the tapestries and also the relief work [text blacked out] [fol. 355r] on the golden and silver goblets on which very natural figures could be seen. The Persian historians extol these things as some great wonder of their time, for their own paintings and sculptures were devoid of any artistry, and their goblets, basins, and cups were crude and clumsily made. After granting the ambassadors leave to depart, Timūr commanded his son Mīrzā Shāhrukh137 to accompany them as far as their first day’s journey and ordered that they be attended to every step of the way just as he himself would be. He then accelerated his preparations for the journey [superscript: expedition] to Cathay, which he was eager to get underway, and for this he selected 380,000 of the bravest men with the most military experience from among all those in his employ in both the regular army that resided with him and the army that was garrisoned in the nearest provinces, [superscript: which] was 800,000 strong. Some of these were infantrymen that he used to great effect in most of his maneuvers; a practice that ran contrary to Asian custom. These infantrymen did not use bows, spears, or other throwing weapons. Instead, they fought with nothing more than scimitars behind the protection of great shields, just like the ancient Romans. The rest of the soldiers, among whom were counted the bravest of his veterans, were mounted on horseback, wearing strong armor and helmets. And though the most common weapon for most of them were bow and arrows, many carried shields and no other defensive armor so that, protected from archers, they might fight with less peril to themselves with their heavy scimitars. He had 312,000 sappers and other support personnel for this army, all of whom he then ordered to begin marching with his son Ibrāhīm;138 he himself would follow closely behind with his court. But after marching for twenty days from Samarkand, they reached a town called

137  Shāhrukh Mīrzā (20 August 1377–13 March 1447) was the fourth and youngest son of Timūr; he was appointed by his father to rule the eastern portion of the Timurid Empire and as a result governed most of Persia and Transoxiana between 1405 and 1447. Clavijo does not mention that he accompanied him on the first day of his return journey; see Clavijo, Narrative of the Embassy, 179. 138  Ibrāhīm Sultān, one of Timūr’s grandsons (1394–1435), a son of Timūr’s third son, Shāhrukh Mīrzā; see Marozzi, Tamerlane, xii.

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Āqsūlād,139 where the [fol. 355v] winter rains and snows were the heaviest they had been in many years. And though it was against his will he was forced to halt; [margin: his son],140 who was several days’ journey ahead of him, informed him that it was impossible for the army to pursue its course because of the exceedingly inclement weather. This so quelled Timūr’s passionate spirits that he impatiently lamented his ill fortune. How could his journey be checked and so totally obstructed on this occasion for which he had so deeply yearned? According to the writings of Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī, this took place in the cold of winter; the sun had entered the sign of Pisces, and thus it must have been the end of January [superscript: almost the middle of February]. And apart from the fact that the weather that year was extraordinarily turbulent, the cold in that region, well within [margin: within the boundaries] of Scythia, was especially intense and severe. And thus, with a great sadness entering Timūr’s heart because of this delay, he began to find no solace or peace in his resting hours, and soon he developed a fearful insomnia. Adding to his vexation were the domestic quarrels of his sons and grandsons. Things could not have been otherwise, there being so many of them, and so many of them grown men vested with great dignity. At that time Timūr had thirty-six sons and grandsons from several wives, to whom he had given the principal provinces of his empire to rule and hold for life, according to the very ancient and generous custom of the Persian kings. Pīr Muḥammad, his eldest son, whom he had named as his successor, had been given rule over Samarkand and the entire province of the Chagatais, which, as has been mentioned, is ancient Sogdia. And when [fol. 356r] news reached Timūr that a daughter of this Pīr Muḥammad had had indecent and secret commerce with her uncle, another of Timūr’s sons named Shah Malik, he was noticeably upset by it, above even the worries, insomnia, and disappointment caused by the frustration of the enterprise he so longed for.141 But being a most 139  Located on the near side of the Jaxartes (Syr Daryā) from Samarkand. 140  To the best of our knowledge, no son of Timūr was in command of part of the army in the aborted China campaign, but two of his grandsons were: Kahlīl Sulṭān (son of Mirān Shah) and Sultan Ḥusayn (son of Timūr’s daughter Āḡā Beghi); see Marozzi, Timūrlane, xii. 141  The ensuing account of this familial conflict is incorrect. The actual story involves one of Timūr’s grandsons, Khalīl Sulṭān (son of Mirān Shah), and not Amīr Shah Malik, who was one of Timūr’s trusted amīrs. Khalīl Sulṭān took to wife a certain Shadi Mulk, concubine of the Egyptian khān Amīr Saif ad-Din without Timūr’s knowledge or permission. Timūr would have had her executed save for the intervention of his heir apparent, Pīr Muḥammad. After Timūr reached Āqsūlād, Khalīl Sulṭān still defied his grandfather’s wishes by refusing to give his wife up. Timūr was only dissuaded from ordering her

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prudent man, he attempted to straighten out this domestic turmoil with as little scandal as possible. And so he met with Shah Malik, and, without saying a word or reprimanding him regarding the situation, he persuaded him to marry, since he had no wife. But when Shah Malik declined, saying it was against his wishes, his grandfather ordered him to do it, and he conceded, so long as it was with a certain woman, a native of the province of Khorāsān, whose identity he revealed to Timūr. The latter perceived the corruption and malice of the lad, and replied by asking him why he did not choose one of the women of his own blood. But in the end Shah Malik insisted that he desired that woman and no other because she was a very wise and reserved maid. Timūr was deeply distressed by the lad’s disobedience and insolence, and though he keenly desired to have him executed, he dared not, knowing it might provoke a seditious plot among the men of war; he also did not wish to make the cause of the punishment public. And adding to this his love for his son, he desisted from revealing his true feelings and sent for the maid in Khorāsān with all celerity and bestowed many jewels on her. He granted his son permission and ordered him [fol. 356v] to go and marry her, giving him no more than a tacit reprimand, warning him to watch himself carefully from then on, for men were obligated to control their eyes, tongues, feet, and hands, and to bring them under the control of reason, not only in the homes of their kinsmen but also in the homes of their friends. The incredible fury of the snow and rain continued, and Timūr, in an attempt to defy fate, but lamenting that he could not repair the damage created by his son, continued his journey [margin: all the way to the interior of Scythia] to a great river. As it lay to the north-east of Samarkand, or toward the Greek wind,142 and followed the [margin: road] that leads to Cathay, it must have been the Jaxartes or another river that feeds into it; and although this river is very deep, it was completely frozen, the ice being ten cubits143 thick, so that the carts and all the rest of the military equipment passed over it safely. But in the end the insuperable fury of the weather, which raged furiously, overcame Timūr’s determination and burning desire, forcing him to stop seven days’ journey from Āqsūlād in another town called Otrar.144 There he was defeated by the pain of seeing his great plans frustrated; he took ill with a most serious and mortal disease that began with a discharge or flow down the left side of his body, execution a second time by the news that Shadi Mulk was pregnant with Khalīl Sulṭān’s child; see Marozzi, Tamerlane, 398. 142  The Gregale; see p. 509 n. 6. 143  See “Measurements.” 144  Otrar, Kazakhstan.

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extending to his leg and accompanied by intense pain. He was then struck with a burning fever, together with two abscesses, one on his liver and another on his left side above his groin. Because of the extent of these symptoms, the disease was diagnosed as incurable; moreover, he himself lost all hope of recovering [fol. 357r]. The doctors performed their duties, but they met with complications: as many new symptoms were added to those already mentioned, their treatment contradicted the treatment of the original symptoms. Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī heaps the highest praise possible on one of these doctors, Achim Tazladin,145 saying he was an exceptional and outstanding member of his profession, a great philosopher and astrologer. What this author says is worthy of note because he praises our sacred religion, and thus I shall reproduce the words he uses to extol and magnify the wisdom and skill of this physician. In fact, this is why I have related in such detail what appears to have caused the death of Timūr, besides the fact that no less is worthy of the memory of such a great and powerful king. He says that just as Christ was resurrected and gave the gift of life to men after they die, in the same way Achim Tazladin, with his art and great knowledge, restored [margin: life] and complete health to those who were so close to death they were already being mourned. By this time, Pīr Muḥammad, Timūr’s eldest son, had arrived from Samarkand after hearing the news that his father had taken ill in Āqsūlād, as well as news that he had sent his entire harem back to Samarkand from Āqsūlād, including his chief wife, Sarāī Mulk Khātūm, so they would not be an obstacle to him on such a long journey. Before he [Timūr] died, he named his firstborn son, Pīr Muḥammad, successor to his entire kingdom and kept the others in their satrapies and governorships as they were before. He specifically appointed Mīrzā Jaru, whom he deeply loved, to the satrapy of Khorāsān. [fol. 357v] Timūr sent for him as soon as he realized he was seriously ill, though he [Shāhrūkh] was unable to arrive until a few days after his father’s death. This Mīrzā Jaru was the one who many years later was to send a very solemn embassy to the Great Khān of Cathay,146 as [text blacked out] [superscript: mentioned] specifically by Mīrkhwānd’s, who continued the history of Khwāndamīr [margin: in a] thorough and elegant manner,147 and by Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī Alixir, to whom we have referred so many times already.

145  This is very probably Timūr’s favorite physician Mevlana Fazlullah of Tabrīz; see Marozzi, Tamerlane, 401; and Stier, Tamerlane, 306. 146  See p. 545 n. 136. 147  There is confusion here, because Khwāndamīr was Mīrkhwānd’s grandson; it was the former who continued the general history of Persia begun by the latter.

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Timūr died on the eleventh,148 his passing [text blacked out] lamented and mourned by all, at the age of seventy-one, having been king for thirty-seven years after putting to death his brother-in-law, Amīr Ḥusain, who had succeeded his uncle Amīr Qazarghan149 in the kingdoms of Khorāsān, Balkh, and Samarkand. Timūr was of Scythian build and constitution, small in stature—though with burly members—white complexion, a large face and head and a thick neck, small eyes, and a prominent and wide forehead. He was beardless, with just a few whiskers on his chin. From birth he limped a little on his left foot, and thus he received the nickname Lang, which in Persian means lame. This invincible and famous king was the first to make use and advantage of artillery in Asia; fourteen years before the War of Chioggia150 between the Genoese and the Venetians, which was the first time it was introduced in Italy, he made use of it against the city of Torsis151 in the province of Aria; at around the same time he also used infantrymen with harquebuses in the war of the Mongol against Tokhtamïsh,152 and in other military campaigns. Although the preceding digression on the life of Timūr may have appeared lengthy, it seems to have served its purpose, seeing as Parthia, Bactria, and Sogdia—these easternmost provinces of the ancient and great Persian Empire—were the origin and, later, the beneficiaries of his first great successes. In our day these provinces are ruled by the Uzbeks and Chagatais, who are unduly hostile and antagonistic to the Persian kings. The border of the wooded province of Hyrcania runs from the north-east to the mouth of the Oxus River, then to the south, following the jagged coastline 148  Timūr actually died on 18 February 1405. 149  Amīr Qazarghan (d. 1358), Chagatai amīr and leader of the Qaraʿunas troops. He was probably Amīr Ḥusain’s grandfather, not uncle; see Manz, Rise and Rule of Tamerlane, 47. 150  This coastal town in the Veneto region of northern Italy was taken by the Genoese in 1378; the battle referred to by Silva y Figueroa took place in June 1380 when the Venetians wrested control of the town from the Genoese. 151  We have been unable to identify Torsis. We do not concur with Loureiro et al., Anotações e estudos, 104, who aver Torsis is Tabrīz, because the latter city is not located near Herat and was taken without a fight in 1386. Herat itself was the only city taken by Timūr that submitted to him without engaging in battle. While Tabrīz rebelled against Timūr, two years later Timūr’s son Mirān Shah was dispatched to put down the rebellion. In neither case, as far as we can gather, was artillery used. 152  Nogai Tatar Khān (d. AD 1405). Originally one of Timūr’s protégés, after uniting most of the faction of the Golden Horde (with Timūr’s assistance), he turned against his mentor in a series of confrontations during the early 1390s. Timūr prevailed against him once and for all at the battle of Terek in 1395; see Marozzi, Tamerlane, 157–200.

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of the Caspian Sea, and terminates in the confines of Media. It is full of large, thick forests and resembles quite closely the descriptions given by ancient authors, according to whom it is populated by countless tigers, wild boars, and bears, as well as plentiful game of all kinds. The trees are so thick, lush, and tall that for the most part these woods are perpetually dark and dim. These tigers well deserve the reputation they have gained over the centuries: besides being extremely ferocious, they are [fol. 358r] extraordinarily large, according to what was seen of one that was taken to the Ambassador’s house in Eṣfahān, bound by two chains. It was the size of a yearling calf, or somewhat longer; its coat was a reddish hue, like that of the light-coated oxen of Spain, and along the length of its body, from its neck and head to the end of its hindquarters, ran jet black stripes, or streaks, the width of two fingers. [margin: Also], its whole tail, which was very long, like a lion’s, was completely striped, but much thinner than a lion’s. The form and build of its body was were identical to those of a lion, but it was larger and fiercer, with no difference in the positioning of the head and ears, except that it lacked the mane of African lions. These beasts are quite different from the tigers of our West Indies, the latter being incomparably smaller, with round heads and bigger eyes, their skin dark brown with round spots, as seen in many of the pelts that have been brought to Spain.153 But all the ones that inhabit these forests of Hyrcania and the rest of the East, particularly India, are as big as the one seen in Eṣfahān, if not much longer. While the Ambassador was in Goa, a tiger pelt was brought to him of such monstrous size that it was as big as a huge cowhide. This tiger had been killed on the mainland with two harquebus shots fired by certain Indians in the Ghat Mountains not far from the island. The skin was seven spans wide and nine spans long, and of the same color and black stripes as the tiger from Hyrcania that was taken to Eṣfahān that was shown in Eṣfahān at the house of the Ambassador. This whole province is much longer than it is wide, taking in more than 200 leagues of the coast and shoreline of the Caspian Sea. Because this is lowland and has at its back great and high slopes [superscript: mountains],154 though they are not steep, more than a day’s walk distant, and because of the greatness and thickness of [fol. 358v] the trees, the weather is noticeably temperate. The north and north-west winds are not strong, being blocked by the aforementioned slopes and [text blacked out] lush forests, which deprive them of their harshness and chill. The winter air is quite gentle and mild. Among Hyrcania’s

153  Silva y Figueroa may be referring to the jaguar (Felis or Panthera onca) or to the striped and spotted ocelot (Felis or Leopardus pardalis). 154  These are the Alborz Mountains.

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minor constituent provinces are Astarābād155 and Mazandarān, which, being the closest to Media and Persia, are the most renowned. The lands to the east [margin: and the north] are much less well-known, since they are less populated and their inhabitants are less cultured. At present, the name generally used to refer to the entire province of ancient Hyrcania is Astarābād, a region that includes the great city of the same name in which a large quantity of silk is grown and worked; both the province and the city are commonly known as Astarābād. On the border, the king of Persia keeps one of his chief governors, called khāns, to defend the province from the Uzbeks. Mazandarān, which lies to the west of Astarābād and borders the easternmost part of Media, is more renowned now because of the special attention of the present king of Persia, who has made his residence in Faraḥābād156—the capital and seat of said province—for most of the last few years. What led this ruler to abandon his normal court at Eṣfahān and enjoy this hideaway, which is the most remote and least distinguished part of his whole kingdom, besides his affinity for the hunt, as some have suggested, is that he is a native of the region,157 his mother158 being from Faraḥābād. And so for this reason as well as the particular fondness he has gained for this city, he continues to enlarge it with new colonies of Armenians, Georgians, Circassians, and Syrians. It thereby competes in size with the biggest [superscript: largest] and leading cities of the empire, [margin: surpassing them in its growth]. Laying aside for the moment the great number of people, the sumptuous buildings [text blacked out] under construction, and the great number of gardens, the whole seashore and nearby forests are covered with flowers for most of the year and [fol. 359r] with countless roses in the spring. And although this land is widely praised for its agreeableness and tranquillity, the king himself extols it [text blacked out] with an even more particular fondness. 155  Present-day Golestān Province, Iran. 156  Originally called Tahān, Shah ʿAbbās ordered the construction of a royal palace there in 1611 or 1612 for use as a winter capital; see Savory, Iran under the Safavids, 96, and Newman, Safavid Iran, 114–16. 157  ʿAbbās I was born in Herat in present-day Afghanistan. 158  Khayr al-Nisa Begom (d. 1579), known under the royal title Mahd-e ʿOlyā, meaning “the highest-ranked cradle,” was the daughter of the sayyid (descendant of the prophet) Mir Abdullah Khān, who claimed descent from the fourth imam of Twelver Shiʿa Islam (Zaynal-ʿAbedīn) and was governor of Māzandarān province. Khayr al-Nisa Begom was the wife of Shah Moḥammad Ḵodā-bandah and mother of Shah ʿAbbās I. During her husband’s reign she was the de facto ruler of Persia between February 1578 and July 1579. For an account of her attempts to shape the course of Safavid political history, see Savory, Iran under the Safavids, 69–71.

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When the Ambassador had an audience with the king in Qazvīn, the latter told him that he would not find another paradise like it on earth, and that he wished very much that he could see it someday to witness its beauty. The Ambassador responded that while he could not go at the time, as it was summer, he would very much like to see what His Highness had so highly praised, especially because it was the work of such a [superscript: great] powerful king. By dint of his great power and remarkable industry he had taken what for hundreds of years had been nothing but a refuge for exiles and a dwelling-place for wild beasts and turned it into a pleasing and functional territory. The shoreline of the Caspian Sea is what most sets this area off because of its captivating view and abundant fish, even in the absence of any type of sea trade. In the rivers that empty into it, large numbers of sturgeon,159 [margin: salmon], and other, smaller and extremely tasty fish are [superscript: easily caught] by fishing. The Persians are not much given to such delicacies, and abstain from fish unless necessity demands they partake of it. From the sturgeon, which are so highly esteemed and sought after in Europe, only the roe is collected; the rest goes to waste. The eggs are usually packaged in vinegar, after the manner of some Europeans, and then transported to Eṣfahān, Baghdad, Shīrāz, and Hormuz, where the Portuguese, English, and Venetian merchants, who highly value fish roe, commonly call it caviar.160 But with the onset of the summer heat, especially when the sun enters the sign of Cancer, the intense humidity along the coastlines of Astarābād [text blacked out] [superscript: and] Mazandarān renders the air [fol. 359v] infected and corrupted because the land is low and there are bogs and marshes in many places, so much so that it causes grave and perilous illnesses. This was seen last summer, [text blacked out] [superscript: in 1617, and it led to a huge and dangerous plague in many parts of that province]. The province of Mazandarān extends from the westernmost borders of Hyrcania to the easternmost side of Media. Its existence has been well known since ancient times, and in recent centuries it is famous for its nobility and prominence. In magnificence and fertility, it has a notable advantage over all the other provinces of Asia. From Hyrcania, [margin: its] boundary follows the jagged coastline of the Caspian Sea. Its northernmost region, on the [margin: coast] of the sea, is [superscript: now] called the kingdom or province of Gīlān, which abounds in all kinds of staple foods, primarily rice, which is collected in large quantities, and vast quantities of oil, a rarity throughout the Persian realm—though it is not like the oil from Spain. But this is more a result of the 159  Huso huso. 160  From Persian khaya, meaning “egg,” via Turkish khaviar.

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ineptitude of those who process it than of the plants’ nature; the olives that are brought to Eṣfahān are delicious and lack the bad taste that one finds in those that give bad oil. In sum, the most delightful things come from Gīlān, and much dry fish is brought from its seaside, [margin: including a large quantity of salmon in the winter]. As was previously stated, the Persians care little for salmon and thus expend little effort in catching it, [text blacked out] [margin: despite how delicious it could be, considering that the air between the sea and Eṣfahān is so cold and arid that, although the road is more than a hundred leagues long, the fish could be delivered there much more freshly]. There is also a massive cultivation and harvest of silk throughout this province from which its residents greatly [fol. 360r] benefit; this silk is equal to or better than that of Mazandarān and Astarābād. The shoreline of Gīlān runs [margin: to the west] more than a hundred leagues until the mouth of the Araxes River,161 which in our day conserves its ancient name almost invariably, while the Armenians, Medes, and Persians [text blacked out] [margin: call] it the Aras. In the western part of Gīlān, this river divides northern Media from Greater Armenia. For many years now the province of Gīlān had its own kings, although they were subordinate to the kings of Persia. But the present Shah ʿAbbās suddenly banished the last one of them, named Ahmad Khān,162 from the province as soon as he inherited the kingdom, barely leaving the poor man the chance to save himself. Shah ʿAbbās did this despite the fact that this king was married to his aunt,163 the daughter of Shah Ṭahmāsp. [margin: A short two-day journey from the sea coast lies the city of Ardabīl, a sacred and highly venerated city among Persians because of the tombs of Sheik Ḥaydar and his son Esmāʿīl Ṣūfī].164 Inland and more toward the south of Media [text blacked out] are the great cities of [superscript: Tabrīz], Solţānīyeh and Qazvīn, and farther along the road to Eṣfahān, which is in the outer limits of Media and borders on Persia, are the cities of Qom and Kāshān. Tabrīz, a most splendid city and seat of the kings—and in recent years the greatest of all cities under Persian rule—is now desolate and in complete ruins. 161  Silva y Figueroa’s earlier references to the Araxes actually describe the Kor, which he equates with the Bendemir; see p. 378 n. 178. In this passage, Araxes denotes the Aras, the main tributary of the Kura, which drains the southern side of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains. 162  In 1592 the Shah sent troops to confront Ahmad Khān, who was attempting to deliver Gīlān into the hands of the Ottomans. The Shah’s Qezelbāš troops routed his forces and he fled to Shīrvān. See Munshī, History, 2, 621–25. 163  Maryam Solṭān Begom (d. ca. 1608); see Munshī, History, 2, 623, and Szuppe, “Women in 16th-Century Safavid Iran,” 146. 164  Shah Esmāʾīl I; see p. 444 n. 296.

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It was sacked several times by the Turks during the last century, and as a result of this calamity, it was abandoned by Shah Ṭahmāsp and his son Moḥammad Khudā-Bandah, as well as by its richest and most important citizens. Yet enough of its original size and appearance remain to give an idea of what it must have been like originally, even [fol. 360v] considering that afterward it fell into even greater decline and ruin after being taken and sacked by Osman Pasha.165 But in the present year of 1618, while the Ambassador was in Qazvīn, Khalīl Pasha forcefully entered with two armies by way of Armenia [margin: and Media], and the king of Persia—not daring to resist him in battle—commanded that everything be destroyed and dismantled, including the fortress that had been erected close by, even though it was strong and well situated. And although many have claimed that the city is older—according to current European opinion, it is the ancient royal city of Ecbatana, capital of the empire of the Medes—on closer analysis, if it does not lie within the borders of Armenia, or at least it is very close to them, and within the first borders and westernmost part of Media, [margin: called Atropatene,166 [margin: it does not seem it [superscript: is] unlikely that Tabrīz was Ecbatana. [margin: It seems impossible] that this city, so famous and familiar to the ancient historians, it does not seem possible from them that it was so far to the west as Tabrīz could have had its name so thoroughly extinguished and forgotten after the Roman armies repeatedly and triumphantly crossed Armenia and much of western Media, with their being no memory of it [margin: called Atropatia, or Atropatene. Modern historians fall into serious error in attempting to give this name, Atropatene, to the northernmost part of Greater Armenia, now known as Shīrvān, between the two rivers Cyrus167 and Araxes]. Lucius Lucullus,168 the first Roman captain to traverse Mt. Taurus and its springs [superscript: with an army], pressed on much farther than Artaxata,169 the capital of Armenia at that time, after his impressive victories over Tigranes170 165  Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha, statesman (1527–85), military commander and grand vizier (1584–1585) to Murād III, son of Selim II sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1574–1595. He conquered Tabrīz in 1585; see Finkel, Osman’s Dream, 171–72. 166  A satrapy established under the Seleucids and region corresponding to present-day Iranian Āzarbāījān, Iranian Kurdistan, and part of the Āzarbāījān republic. 167  Ancient Greek for the Kura, an east-flowing river south of the Greater Caucasus Mountains that drains the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus east into the Caspian Sea and to the north side of the Lesser Caucasus. 168  Lucius Lucinius Lucullus (118–57 BC), Roman politician and general; see Plutarch, Lives, 2, Lucullus, 6–20. 169  Present-day Artashat, Armenia. 170  Tigranes II (ca. 140–55 BC), known as “the Great,” king of Armenia.

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and Mithridates,171 but he found no trace of Ecbatana. It is impossible that the city had completely vanished by that time. And the village of Khoy in Armenia, so famous today, which was Artaxata in ancient times, is not more than three days’ travel by caravan from Tabrīz, which is fifteen [margin: And the little village of Pracala, which is on the Araxes River where the ancient city of Artaxata was located, and whose site retains its ancient name even to this day, is no farther from Tabrīz than a short three-day journey by caravan, which equals fifteen] [fol. 361r] or sixteen Spanish leagues. Moreover, given that Lucius Lucullus [margin: later] the sacking of sacked Tigranocerta,172 a new [margin: and] noble city founded by Tigranes himself, he would not have left Ecbatana free and exempt from the same calamity, for surely he would have passed very near to it, in view of the fact that both his own greed and that of his army, already fattened on the riches of Asia, compelled them to take the city of Nisibis173 by storm and sack it as they crossed the Tigris, thereby risking a war that could have been as dangerous as the one they would have waged on the Parthians. Furthermore, we hear nothing of the name Ecbatana from the historians that made particular mention of Mark Antony’s174 journey when he came to bring war against this [superscript: nation] Parthos many years later by way of Media, penetrating its interior as far as the city of Phraaspa.175 It is impossible that all trace of such a distinguished city should disappear when just a hundred years earlier it was still very well known. And it does not seem likely that [superscript: Appian],176 Justin, Plutarch,177 Diodorus Siculus and Dion, who made such extensive mention earlier in their histories of Ecbatana, [margin: and Dio,178 who so painstakingly wrote about this war], would have [margin: kept silent] about [text blacked out] [superscript: Ecbatana] if it were situated at the present location of Tabrīz. If one were to counter that the city lay in complete ruins by their time, the road that Mark Antony and his army followed from 171  Mithridates VI (134–63 BC), known as “the Great,” king of Pontus. 172  The Armenian ruins of Tigranakert are located in present-day Āzarbāījān. 173  Present-day Nusaybin, Turkey. 174  Marcus Antonius (83–30 BC), Roman general and statesman. 175  Also known as Praaspa in some ancient sources; possibly the present-day archaeological site at Takht-i-Soleiman, western Āzarbāījān. 176  Appian of Alexandria, Greek historian (AD 95–165) who wrote a comprehensive history of Rome in Greek; in reality Appian never wrote about the wars between Parthia and Rome; see Appian, Roman History, xi. Silva y Figueroa also refers to him elsewhere as “of Alexandria” and uses the spelling Alexandrino for Alexandria in those instances. He never uses the spelling for the city in any of the other instances. 177  See Plutarch, Lives, 9, Antony, 39–50. 178  Lucius Cassius Dio, Roman historian (ca. AD 163–229); see Dio, Roman History, 40, 26–28.

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Armenia must have been close to where Tabrīz now stands, this being [margin: at the present time], [superscript: as] it was then, the most level and easy entrance to Media [margin: Atropatene]. That is because one of the other two passes that allows access to [superscript: it], which lies farther to the south, must have connected it to one of two cities, either Vān or Bitlis, near the mountains of Kurdistan,179 or farther north, passing the Araxes River, which divides the most northern part of Armenia from Media, or what is now the aforementioned province of Gīlān. And from the above-cited authors as well as from Appian and Dio it is plainly manifest [text blacked out] [superscript: now] that the city of Phraaspa, attained by Mark Antony, was many leagues inside Media: he spent [margin: twenty-seven days] [text blacked out] on the road before returning to Armenia, even though he went around the [fol. 361v] mountains of Gīlān, this route being safest from the Parthian cavalry and providing the most convenient location to defend himself from them with his infantry. And after such a long and dangerous journey, the Roman soldiers were relieved of the travail they had suffered for so many days when they arrived at the Araxes River, because the Parthians, who had been harassing them all along that lengthy retreat, ceased following them and let them pass safely by, without harm, as they approached the river, because it marked the limit of Parthian jurisdiction. Who could convince himself that the noble and distinguished name of Ecbatana, on the same border and limit of Armenia as Tabrīz is now— since we are attempting to place it in Media—could have remained hidden from Lucullus, Pompey,180 and Mark Antony, and from their respective lieutenants Murena,181 Afranius,182 and Canidius,183 who crossed through Armenia so many times with their armies? But if these arguments and reasons are not sufficiently convincing, perhaps the authority generally afforded by all in our age to Cornelius Tacitus may be. It seems that he documented nothing more carefully than the two journeys [text blacked out] that Domitius Corbulo184 made from Syria to Armenia, conquering these nations and adding to his own great reputation and military grandeur. We learn from this most weighty of authors 179  The homeland of the Kurds in the north-western Zagros and eastern Taurus mountain ranges, an area that roughly corresponds to parts of present-day eastern and south-­ eastern Turkey, western Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria. 180  Gnaeus Pompeius, Roman military and political leader (106–48 BC), member of the First Triumvirate (60–53 BC). 181  Lucius Licinius Murena (105–22 BC), Roman consul (62 BC) and a legate of Lucullus. 182  Lucius Afranius, died 46 BC, Roman legate of Pompey. 183  Publius Canidius Crassus, died 30 BC, Roman legate of Mark Antony. 184  Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo (ca. AD 7–67), Roman general and consul.

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that Domitius Corbulo destroyed the city of Artaxata, which was so close to Tabrīz that the author, in keeping with his meticulousness, would [text blacked out] not have [superscript: passed] over Ecbatana in silence, but rather would have used it as one more example of Corbulo’s victories, whom he was attempting to aggrandize, and rightly so.185 The most detailed account that we have in Europe regarding Tabrīz begins during the time of Ūzūn Ḥassan,186 king of Persia, and [margin: continues] to the present time, especially covering the sack of Tabrīz by Selim I187 after he delivered a crushing blow to Ṣūfī Esmāʿīl. Assuming then that this city of Tabrīz is the same one we are discussing here, and that it lies just fifteen [superscript: ten] short leagues from Khoy,188 and just as far from Julfa, and considering that it is such a well-known Armenian city, [margin: lying at the banks of the Araxes]—though its residents have been [fol. 362r] transferred to Eṣfahān—how could anyone who thinks it is Ecbatana fall into this error? The only reason could be that in recent years Tabrīz has become a great and populous city, and since Ecbatana was so celebrated in ancient times, it is [text blacked out] assumed to be the same city— but this is the very observation that most contradicts such an idea! For common experience teaches us quite clearly that very ancient cities, particularly those as old as Ecbatana, are completely desolate or retain no more than a few vestiges of their former glory; they have been completely desolate not only in our day, but for many [text blacked out] centuries. We will exclude Rome from this category—though on second thought we [margin: should perhaps] include it, considering its [margin: ancient] grandeur. This category includes the great cities of Carthage, Syracuse, and Athens, and, in Asia, Alexandria, Antioch, Babylon, Nineveh, [margin: Susa], and Persepolis. All of these cities enjoy enduring fame because in different eras they all held a vast portion of the world subject. But they are now reduced to very small villages, and some have left almost no trace of their former glory. On the other hand, the great cities of this time are almost all newly founded or have grown from humble beginnings: in Asia and Africa this has happened since the Muḥammadan sect began to expand and gain strength [margin: in these parts of the world], and in Europe, since the notorious fall of the Roman Empire. There is, however, one exception, and that is Damascus, which because of its special endowment from 185  See Tacitus, Annals, 11.18–20; 13.8–9, 34–41; 14.23–26; 15.1–31. 186  Ūzūn Ḥassan; see p. 334 n. 87. 187  Selim I (ca. 1465–1520), Ottoman sultan (1512–1520), nicknamed “the Grim.” He defeated Shah Esmāʿīl I at the battle of Chaldiran (23 August 1514) and sacked Tabrīz on 5 September 1514; see Savory, Iran under the Safavids, 40–43, and Finkel, Osman’s Dream, 105–6. 188  Khoy, Āzarbāījān.

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nature, has continued to conserve its dignity and luster from earliest antiquity. Not even [margin: in ancient times] could Constantinople be included in the ranks of the aforementioned cities, nor could it now. If one were to number it with those, one would find that it fails to retain any of its impressively noble and grandiose beginnings, excepting the temple of the Hagia Sophia, which for the most part is collapsed and in ruins. The same thing [fol. 362v] has occurred in the ancient cities of Asia, in addition to those already named, Artaxata and Tigranocerta, although they are not as old as Ecbatana. From these we can guess what happened to [margin: Ecbatana], as will be mentioned later with respect to the site and place where we can more truly and appropriately assume the city stood. For the many orchards, gardens, fountains, and canals found in Tabrīz show us that it was founded after the Arabs arrived and made themselves masters of all the provinces of the Persian domain. There are no vestiges of antiquity to be found there as there are in the ruins of the other named cities. It would be a much smaller error to believe, as some have, that Tabrīz was Terva189 or Artaxata, the latter because it is so close, and the former because it is [margin: much] less distant than Ecbatana. But the Araxes River, which runs alongside Artaxata, [margin: now Pracala], removes this doubt. We can also be certain that Terva, which was an ancient Armenian metropolis, is the same as modern Yerevan, which continues to be a metropolis today and the capital of Armenia, as it was in centuries past. Those who judge Tabrīz to be Tigranocerta are even more deceived, because [margin: according to] all the authors previously mentioned, Tigranocerta is much farther south and lies within the borders of Armenia and Mesopotamia: [margin: after] [text blacked out] Lucullus sacked the city, he crossed the Tigris River and stormed and sacked the city of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, now known as Diyābakr. For many years afterward, Nisibis was the border between the Roman Empire and the Parthians and Persians. And that there was little distance between Tigranocerta and Nisibis—only 37,000 paces, equal to a little more than nine Spanish leagues—is especially confirmed by Cornelius Tacitus, [margin: in addition to what Strabo writes], who also says that these two cities were close neighbors.190 But in light of these doubts, how could anyone, no matter how ignorant he was concerning ancient history, possibly assert that Tabrīz was the city of Susa, the winter seat and court of the first [margin: and powerful] kings of Persia? Ecbatana filled that role in the summer; and Tabrīz ’s [fol. 363r] climate, [margin: which] was even colder than Ecbatana’s, was therefore the opposite of that of Susa, which 189  See p. 423 n. 265. 190  See Tacitus, Annals, 15.5; and Strabo, Geography, 16, 1:23.

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was blistering hot in the summer as it is now. Moreover, there is a good stretch of land between these two cities. Seventy leagues to the south-east of Tabrīz now lies the ruined city of Solţānīyeh, which has been almost completely destroyed and reduced to little more than 300 houses. However, the large ruins throughout the fertile and lovely plains clearly reveal and confirm the city’s ancient dignity and glory. Some mosques still stand, especially [margin: one] that is so splendidly constructed that it is said to be one of the most venerated and illustrious of the East. Vast fruit orchards extend as far as the eye can see, as do many fresh gardens with salubrious air and a delightful variety of beautiful fountains. [margin: Most of this location is surrounded by such lofty and pleasant mountains] that at present this place it can comfortably sustain a heavily populated city while at the same time preserve in perpetuity the memory of its ancient majesty. And given that the ruins of Solţānīyeh are found at the heart and center of the kingdom of Media, and also because of its noble name, which in Arabic [margin: Turkish] means lady or queen, it is made clear and evident that this truly was the ancient city of Ecbatana. It is much more plausible that the Medes would have selected the interior of this region to be the seat and capital of their realm than the interior of Armenia; even today it is doubtful that Tabrīz lies within the borders of Armenia. The Arabs, who made themselves lords over all these eastern provinces, held Solţānīyeh in the highest esteem and reverence. It was the main seat of their kings for many years, particularly in the summer,191 as it had been in ages past [fol. 363v] for the Medes, Persians, and Parthians, [text blacked out] because it was situated in such a convenient spot for those who traveled from Susa, Seleucia,192 and Babylonia. In this time In our era we could [superscript: have seen] much of its ancient magnificence had the Tatars not destroyed it upon meeting resistance during their calamitous entrance into Asia under Baiju, as was already mentioned. But now, [text blacked out] besides the few residents, there is nothing in these beautiful plains except massive ruins and thick groves of orchards that are very similar to the gardens and parks of Ecbatana that have been so renowned throughout history, mostly because of the great captain Parmenion’s193 death by execution that was carried out there. Giovio [superscript: Some] who describe the site of Solţānīyeh claim that it was where the city of Tigranocerta was located. This is clearly a major error, since Solţānīyeh lies much farther to the east, in the center of Media, 191  The MS has particularmente de verano y estío; the last two words are written in the margin. It is difficult to distinguish between the synonyms verano and estío in English. 192  An ancient city that stood opposite Ctesiphon on the west bank of the Tigris River. 193  Macedonian general under Alexander (ca. 400–330 BC); see Arrian, Anabasis, 3.26.

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while Tigranocerta sits within the borders of Armenia and Mesopotamia in the same place in which he writes; hence they are separated by a great distance. He also says [margin: Giovio194 writes that] [superscript: during] the war of 1535, Sūleyman the Turk195 waged war against Shah Ṭahmāsp, king of Persia, and that Sūleyman’s army suffered grave damage one night from a terrible storm that overcame them at the ruins of Solţānīyeh. But judging from the route of that journey, it does not seem plausible that the Turk penetrated so far into Media. [margin: He [Giovio] also says that Solţānīyeh was close to Tabrīz], but, as stated earlier, Solţānīyeh the two cities are really seventy or more leagues apart Tabrīz. After [margin: Sūleyman] sacked this city Tabrīz, it being the last city [text blacked out] of the Persian kingdom that [superscript: he] could attain, he turned from there to Assyria and Mesopotamia, which have been subject to the Turkish Empire ever since. In addition to this reasoning, which cannot [fol. 364r] be disputed, Solţānīyeh is within fourteen or fifteen short leagues of Qazvīn, which was already the established seat and court of Shah Ṭahmāsp. It was an open city with no defenses other than those that the Persian army had made in the plains, and since the Turks were the lords of this city, and their enemies had retreated far enough away that they would not have to engage Tabrīz [margin: them] in battle, it would have been very easy for them to sack Solţānīyeh, which was so close, [text blacked out] [margin: accruing to] the [text blacked out] [margin: great fame] of the Turkish king. The Ambassador went to great pains to inquire of the elderly people of Qazvīn and Eṣfahān whether the Turks had at some time arrived in Solţānīyeh, but that event was not part of their lore. [text blacked out] However, it was widely known that when Khalīl Pasha, the Turkish general, arrived last September (in 1618) within six or seven leagues of Tabrīz [margin: on the road] to Ardabīl— where the Turkish vanguard had a bloody encounter with the Persians—the Turkish army had never penetrated so far into that territory. It is possible, and it seems more reasonable, that the aforementioned storm [margin: overcame] the Turks close to where Tigranocerta was located anciently; coming from Mesopotamia as if to enter Armenia, or from here to Assyria or Mesopotamia, one had to pass very close to the ruins of this city, although their location is not known for certain. And so, by sound reasoning, [superscript: one can] deduce that, as they were so close to Nisibis anciently, these ruins can be found on the road that runs its course from Vān, [margin: called Veran by Strabo], and Bitlis 194  Paulo Giovio, Italian historian (1483–1552), native of Como. The work Silva y Figueroa is probably referring to is his Comentario de le cose de’ Turchi, written for Emperor Charles V and first published at Rome in 1532. 195  Sūleyman I; see p. 507 n. 405.

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in the easternmost part of Mesopotamia. From Solţānīyeh and Qazvīn, which has already been described in detail, crossing the Curdos Mountains, which are between Following the coast of the Caspian Sea northward from the mouth of the Araxes River, which from as far as the province of Gīlān divides [margin: western] Media—[margin: known anciently as Atropatia]—from [fol. 364v] Greater Armenia, one enters the northernmost part of this great and memorable province, which is a smaller province contained within [margin: it], now called Shīrvān by the Persians. It is exceedingly fertile country, full of many forests. Huge quantities of silk are cultivated and harvested there. The Araxes enters the Caspian Sea near the city of Bākū, after which the ocean itself is today commonly and popularly called, which today is commonly called Bākū, between East and South, one long day’s journey from the city of Shamakhi, carrying within its bed the Kura River, which was anciently called the Cyrus, but before the rivers converge these two rivers are they [superscript: are] very different in nature, though nearly identical in the volume of water they carry. The Kura, which springs from the Caucasus Mountains in that place where it divides the northernmost Georgians from the Laz, first runs through Georgia toward the south, then turns eastward through Shīrvān, becoming greatly enlarged by smaller tributaries and carrying a huge volume of water in its deep bed, its banks so wide that everywhere along the river its currents appear very swift and murky. And so, whether because of the river’s unpleasant appearance or because its appearance betrays its true nature, its waters are considered unhealthy, as are the fish that are taken from it. Many people consider it bigger than the Araxes, not only because of its swift current, but [margin: also because it cannot be forded anywhere without considerable danger] because of its great depth and turbulence. On the other hand, the Araxes, which rises at the highest point of Armenia, flows placidly and calmly in a wide and pleasant bed, and besides carrying exceptionally clear and healthy water, both of its banks [text blacked out] [superscript: are] gracefully adorned by delightfully green and beautiful groves and forests. And thus the Persians praise and celebrate it in their poetry and songs—to which most of them are inclined—in the same way the ancient Greeks praised the Pineiós,196 the Alfeiós,197 and the

196  The Pineiós runs through the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece, which was made famous in Greek mythology, since it, together with the Alfeiós, were the two rivers re-routed by Heracles in his fifth labor. 197  The Alfeiós is the longest river of the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece; see the previous note for the explanation of its fame.

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Achelous,198 and as our Spaniards do the Pisuerga, the Tagus, and the Henares.199 This river produces very good and delicious fish, and although it flows less calmly and peacefully once it connects with the Kura, or Cyrus, because of the latter’s strong and magnificent current, [fol. 365r] by the time it falls into the Caspian Sea near [margin: the city of] Bākū, the waters at its mouth fan out beautifully and placidly and are dissipated, mixing with seawater, which it converts wholly into fresh water for a long stretch. A great many sturgeon, [superscript: salmon], and other kinds of [superscript: good] fish of admirable flavor are taken from this mouth of the Araxes, although, as has been mentioned, fish from the Araxes are held in low esteem by the Persians and the other nations of their empire, and most of them go to waste—the Persians take only their eggs for caviar, which is transported from there to be sold in places frequented by European merchants. From Bākū, the coast of the Caspian Sea gradually runs to the north-west, and then north by north-west and north, the city of Shamakhi200 lying two days’ journey inland [margin: to the left]. Shamakhi, the capital of Shīrvān, is a large and populous city in which, in addition to the great abundance that comes from the fertile [superscript: surrounding region], [text blacked out] much silk is cultivated that the Armenian and Persian merchants transport to Amasia, [margin: Anatolia], and Syria in their caravans. This entire region enjoys a temperature that is remarkably delightful and mild because of its proximity to the sea, whose warmth softens and improves the air, and because of Caucasus [superscript: Mount Caspius].201 Both sea and mountain provide protection from the severe northern chill, even though the area is so much higher in altitude than Persia’s other provinces. The city of Derbent is located where Caucasus [superscript: Mount Caspius] [margin: meets] [text blacked out] the sea; the rest of this range is too steep to cross anywhere else. In the local language, Derbent is called [margin: Demir Capir, which in Turkish and Persian sounds like the Iron Gates],202 because of the pass that is protected and enclosed within a solid [margin: double] wall all 198  The Achelous is a river in western Greece that empties into the Ionian Sea. Named for the river god of the same name, it was venerated in antiquity and formed the boundary between Acarnania and Aetolia. 199  A river in central Spain that originates in the Sierra Ministra and is a tributary of the Jarama, which is also a tributary of the Tagus. 200  Shamakhi is in present-day Āzarbāījān. 201  The Greater Caucasus Mountains that are situated to the north of the Kura River plain in which Shamakhi is located. 202  While Silva y Figueroa is correct about the term in Turkish, Persian for “iron gates” is darvāzeh aheni, as he himself observes earlier; see p. 341.

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the way to the sea. The gates in the wall, like the ones in Scythia or Tatary, are covered with iron plates and are under constant guard. And while this pass, when guarded, is capable of detaining merchant caravans to exact taxes from them, it is insufficient for checking the entrance or exit of any mid-sized enemy force, unless whoever was in possession of the city was able to drive it back [margin: with superior forces]; otherwise, an enemy could easily batter down [text blacked out] the wall and the gates [fol. 365v]. And thus the oft-repeated story that it was Alexander the Great who built this wall and gates [superscript: defensive structure] in order to keep the Tatars and other nations of Scythia from breaking through to molest the provinces of the Persian Empire at will appears to be nothing more than legend. Not only has it not been confirmed by any author with any authority at all, but it is also well known that whenever the Tatars, Turks, and Comnenians203 have wanted [superscript: attempted] to enter Asia with their armies, they have managed to do so with little or no resistance at all. Derbent, though small, is very securely situated, and its air is so pleasantly temperate that besides producing many good grapes, it also yields a prodigious amount of oranges, citrons, and lemons under the shelter and protection of the Caucasus Mountains, just as Lombardy, with its lakes Como and Maggiore, is sheltered by the Alps; these two regions having very similar climates. In antiquity, the portion of Shīrvān that lies between Shamakhi and Derbent on one side and Georgia, or Georgiana, on the other, was inhabited by the Albanians, who are very similar in dress, language, and custom to the Iberians, their neighbors. [margin: Both of these] peoples [superscript: are] the Georgians of our day who were both of them vanquished in many battles by Gnaeus Pompey and afterward by his legate Lucius Afranius. All the land that lies between the sources of the Kura and the Araxes Rivers,204 which is subsequently embraced by the better part of their riverbeds, is former Eastern Iberia, now [margin: Georgia], [text blacked out] or Georgiana. [text blacked out] In our present age it is renowned because of the suffering of its residents, which has resulted in so many pitiable calamities. This entire region, though frigid [text blacked out] because of its location and climate, still enjoys a more temperate climate and more clement skies than Shīrvān, and is so abundant in all that nature can so generously provide to mankind that all other provinces in the East pale in comparison to it. The rest of the country is comprised of lowlands and is surrounded on all sides by tall mountains, most especially the Caucasus range, which falls to its north, or the Septentrion, dividing it, on that line, from the Laz and the Circassians. The 203  See p. 423 n. 267. 204  See p. 554 n. 161.

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land receives [fol. 366r] two important benefits from the mountains: the first is protection from the northern winds, this being mostly why it is so warm, and secondly, they are a natural defense, so that with little effort the country can be protected from the northern nations that might wage war against it. Because it is so balmy and warm, there are dense and beautiful forests everywhere that produce an incalculable number of fruit trees of all kinds that, without any kind of nourishment other than the water that falls from the sky, spontaneously yield all manner of the most perfect fruits, and from wild vines a great abundance of wine is made. Thus, nature, unaided by the labor of man, is so favorable and kind to him that that she can feed him, not meagrely, but in a way that in other regions would be considered abundant generous [margin: and abundant]. And thus, because the people of this region are so fond of leisure and little inclined to work, they do not attempt to set their hand to anything but enjoying what the earth offers them. But when those who wish to be even a little industrious [text blacked out] tend to their vines and fruit orchards or plant wheat or barley, it is amazing how gratefully and bountifully their fertile soil responds. There are no cities in this province aside from Tbilisi, Gremi,205 and Zugdidi,206 nor are there any large towns, for the Georgians are scattered throughout these big forests in small hamlets, most of which consist of five, six, ten, or twenty wooden huts. Each person takes what he needs from the forests and groves according to his station and means, fencing them off with hedges made from the branches of the many available trees, or by placing markers, if there are many people, so that everyone knows what belongs to whom. And this is only the case for land located close to their small villages, because territory farther away is common property to all, not only areas that produce lumber and fruit, but also pasture for great herds [margin: of cattle, sheep and, above all], domestic hogs, of which they have a great number. Their thick woodlands [superscript: yield] [text blacked out] a vast number of trees: [fol. 366v] ilex, oak, hazel, and chestnut, not to mention all the fruit trees that are chiefly known in Europe, among which there is an infinite quantity of all kinds of pear and apple trees, and not wild ones, but [margin: trees so tall and beautiful they seem to have been] cultivated with great care and art by human hands. And since the countryside is also thickly covered with woods, an amazing quantity of game of all kinds is found, creatures both terrestrial and airborne. It is no wonder that all these people are avid hunters, and there is a great number of [margin: many] species of dogs and falcons that are among the best in the world that are used 205  Most likely Gremi, the capital of Kakheti in eastern Georgia. 206  Capital of Samegrelo (Megrelia) in western Georgia.

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quite routinely to trap quantities of wild boar, fallow deer, and deer. [margin: They also have the best falcons in the world that they use to hunt] [text blacked out] the many pheasants, francolins, and partridges that fill the woods in every direction one looks. Not only do the Kura and the Araxes bathe the boundaries of their province, but many other smaller rivers and streams of very clear and excellent water run through the middle of it. In short, this whole region is so bountiful and pleasing in everything necessary for supporting human life that it is markedly superior to all other eastern nations. And though in general their structures are built in the fashion that has been described, some of the more noble and powerful inhabitants have stone houses with tile roofs, as in Europe, and their churches are for the most part elegantly constructed—they are tall with thick walls made of lime and stone or brick and their roofs are either vaulted or made of [text blacked out] finely worked wood. The men are well proportioned and robust, with white complexions and a refined bearing: they are quick to fight and high spirited, and thus, aided by the protection of their thick forests, they have always been able to defend themselves from their enemies, except at times when their unity was shattered and they splintered into different factions. [fol. 367r] During such periods, they have been pillaged by the Persians and the Turks. But while they are brave and daring, essential qualities for good soldiers, they are on the other hand indolent, resisting all [text blacked out] forms of obedience and good discipline, and therefore lacking order of any kind; neither do they have even the appearance of a political or military republic. And thus few, if any of them, are wealthy. They are content with feeding themselves just enough to not have to work, the very bounty and fertility of the land being the main contributors to this attitude. Almost all the women are large, white, and beautiful, though lacking the grace and beauty of our European women. They are just as idle and wanting in ambition as their men-folk. These people spend most of their time thronging together in the forests to feast and celebrate in their rustic way; both the men and the women are notably given to wine from their earliest childhood. The elite women practice falconry while riding on horseback, and when they are not carrying their falcons in their own hands, they sport [superscript: bows] [text blacked out] and arrows for hunting other game, many of them being quite skillful in this pursuit. And since the attire of the women [text blacked out] is so similar [margin: to that of the men], as is described below, they can ride horses with great agility, but in order to appear more graceful, they wear their hair loose and flowing down their backs, [text blacked out] this being something in which all of them [superscript: they] take great pride. They do

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everything within their power [text blacked out] [superscript: to make themselves] look more refined and beautiful. The clothing of both men and women is identical to that of the Persians, consisting of turbans, jubbahs, and trousers; the latter also function as stockings. The jubbahs or cabayas207 have very wide sashes that they wrap [fol. 367v] around their waists the same way they would a turban. These sashes, made of gold or silver, are interwoven with silk of different colors, and are rather bulky around their waists. They wear them quite low, just above their rumps and crotches. Instead of donning turbans, the women wear caps, [margin: as do many of the men]; these are quite wide at the base and come to a point at the top. The caps worn by the elite women match their jubbahs. They are fashioned from golden fabrics, or mileques,208 and are lined with marten or other expensive fur. But the maids simply wear their hair in braids, their heads devoid of any other decoration. The people entertain all strangers kindly and with simple good will, and if their houseguests are genteel, these are allowed to speak and communicate with their wives, sisters, and daughters, though without overstepping their bounds. Their womenfolk are noticeably drawn to travelers. Thus when Ghiselin de Busbecq,209 the envoy in Constantinople of Emperor Ferdinand I210 and his son, Maximilian II,211 writes about the Western Georgians who inhabit the area that extends all the way to the Black Sea, those whom the Italians [margin: and people from other nations who reside in Constantinople] call the Megrelians, and who possessed the same nature as the ones under discussion (anciently these people were called the Colchians,212 famous from the enterprise of the Argonauts), he says, civilly and facetiously,

207  See p. 150 n. 272. 208  See p. 468 n. 337. 209  Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1520–1592), Flemish diplomat and author; see Busbecq, Turkish Letters, 130. 210  Ferdinand (1503–1564) was the younger brother of Charles V, succeeding him as Holy Roman emperor (1558–1564). 211  Maximilian II (1527–1576) was the son of Ferdinand I and succeeded him as Holy Roman emperor (1564–1576). 212  Natives of the Colchis region. They probably established themselves on the Black Sea coast as early as the Middle Bronze Age; it is understood that they were early Kartvelianspeaking tribes. Silva y Figueroa’s observation is correct: the region and the peoples are found in Greco-Roman mythology as the kingdom of Medea where the Golden Fleece, which the Argonauts sought, was to be found.

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that since there are Jasons who put in at that port, there must be a few Medeas213 there as well. In addition to the fertility of this land in which there are also lots of cattle and sheep, much silk is also produced there, which is worn by the wealthiest elite. A great amount of it is also traded to Armenian, Persian, and Turkish merchants in exchange for money and cloth from Aleppo, or linens and other textiles from India worn by poor people. As far as their religion is concerned, they are Christians, though plagued by the errors common to all these Eastern Christians. Their beliefs are closer to those of the Greeks and Armenians than to the Jacobites,214 Maronites, and Nestorians. They look to St. George as their particular advocate, [fol. 368r] whose name is taken by all these eastern and western Georgians, which is why they are called Gurgians, [margin: despite the fact that in Strabo’s description of this province he calls it Gogarena].215 Anciently, [superscript: this nation] was divided among the Albanians, the Iberians, and the Colchians. And though even the more genteel among them have little furniture and household items in their houses, they prove to be more lavish in the decoration of their churches, treating sacred things with reverence, and thus they wear capes, dalmatics, and chasubles, though these have a different appearance from ours, being made of silk, gold and silver fabrics, and many of their Bibles, missals, and breviaries are bound with velvet of various colors and have golden clasps and locks. And though they greatly

213  In Greek mythology, Medea was a sorceress, the daughter of Aeëtes of Colchis, who used her supernatural powers to help Jason obtain the Golden Fleece; in some accounts the pair married and had children, though he later abandoned her. Busbecq is facetiously comparing Mingrelian women to Medea in that they consort with the sailors (the “Jasons”) who put in at port. 214  An early Christian group who founded the Jacobite Church of the West Syrian Rite tradition in Antioch and surroundings in present-day Syria. Jacobites subscribe to monophysitism, the notion that in the person of Jesus Christ there was only one divine nature rather than two, divine and human. This belief was declared to be heretical by the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. There are several theories regarding the origin of their name. One is that it comes from the name of their spiritual leader, Jacob Baradi, a monk from Edessa, who, after pleading their cause in Constantinople in AD 540, was imprisoned for a lengthy period and upon release became their bishop. Another theory is that the name is derived from the biblical patriarch, Jacob, and was applied to them by their Greek Orthodox rivals—the two groups were embroiled in a theological and ethnic cultural rivalry for nearly the next millennium. 215  See Strabo, Geography, 11, 14:4–5.

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venerate St. Gregory, I have not been able to determine which of the doctors of the Greek Church [margin: with this name] this saint is, whether it is Gregory of Nazianzus216 or the one from Nyssa,217 but the Georgians take pride in the fact that he was the first [margin: to preach] [superscript: the Christian religion] [text blacked out] in their land, and the Armenians boast that they have [margin: the relic of one of his arms, which they guard very carefully in the three churches in the environs of Yerevan, which is now kept by the Julfans in Eṣfahān in the main church in their new colony. Based on these facts, it appears to be most likely that this saint was Armenian]. As has already been stated, these three provinces, which all Asians now call by just one name, Georgia, have the same customs, [text blacked out] lifestyle, language, and dress. They display a remarkable degree of Christian charity to each other, their cooperation being a rare example of human kindness as they take turns lending and providing each other with the things in which they stand in need, and thus they live in accordance with the simple, true, and good nature that the first humans undoubtedly had when they shared all things in common. And though it cannot be denied that these people are barbarous and that they profess an erroneous religion, at least in this respect it seems that they comply with one of the most essential points of their religion and are in harmony with the doctrine of the apostles, which is something greatly wanting among us. And although it is a very domestic point Among the many animals [fol. 368v] and domesticated birds that the Georgians keep in their houses are a great number of very large hens. As the natural habitat of these fowls is, for the most part, the thick forests that have been mentioned, they make their nests in the tops of the trees, flying a great distance from one to the next, and thus they are more savory and healthful than any others. We find that in the ancient [superscript: heroic] age of Greece there were [text blacked out] [superscript: Amazons], pugnacious women who lived independently of the common and ordinary relationship with men. Knowledge of them goes back no farther than the age before the Trojan War. Everyone who writes about these women say that they are from the easternmost part

216  Also known as Gregory the Theologian (ca. 329–90), archbishop of Constantinople, one of the Cappadocian Fathers, together with St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Basil of Caesarea. 217  St. Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 335–94).

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of Cappadocia,218 which is modern day Amasya,219 beyond the Thermōdōn.220 The reason they were thought not to live further east was that in those primitive times, the Greeks had no notion of what lay beyond that frontier. But after they penetrated Asia Minor, vanquished everything as far as the coast of Ionia, and built the memorable Temple of Diana in Ephesus, they left a more certain record of them. And because the reports that are heard in our day throughout Georgia of the many manly acts performed by Georgian women are no doubt certain, given their robust and self-assured character, it may not be too bold to suggest that this region is the true and natural native home of these Amazons. Of course the greatest difficulty with this theory is whether the Amazons ever actually existed. We shall not appeal here to the authority of Plutarch’s biography of Gnaeus Pompey, in which we find that it was commonly believed that women fought against him during his conquest of the Albanians.221 Instead, we shall adduce here the evidence of a well-known case that took place yesterday [margin: in our own time], in order to corroborate what the ancients believed, though it might be considered unsubstantiated and the stuff of fantasy by many people, though quite wrongly so. [fol. 369r] After the imprisonment and death of the valiant Simon [superscript: Khān]222 in Constantinople, Alexander Khān223 remained in the region of Georgia between the cities of Zagan224 and [superscript: Gremi] [text blacked out]. And because Shah ʿAbbās, the present king of Persia, who had been seeking total subjugation of this people, was suspicious of the loyalty of this Alexander, [margin: since the latter had professed his friendship with the Turks], the king secretly bribed and cajoled Alexander’s 218  A historical region in present-day Central Anatolia, Turkey, which at the time of Herodotus reportedly consisted of the lands from Mt. Taurus to the Black Sea. 219  A city in northern Turkey in the region of the Black Sea. It has been suggested that its name comes from Amasis, the queen of the Amazons, who, as Silva y Figueroa suggests, reportedly lived there. 220  The present-day Terme, also known as Thermōdōn in ancient Greek, located in northcentral northern Turkey between the present-day cities of Ordu and Samsun. Silva y Figueroa correctly links it to the Amazon legend in this passage, since in Greek mythology the capital of the Amazons, Themiscrya, was reportedly found on its banks. 221  See Plutarch, Lives, 5, Pompey, 35. 222  Simon I (1537–1611), ruler of Kartli (1557–1569 and 1578–1599). He was captured by the Persians in 1569 after waging wars of rebellion against them. After the Ottomans occupied Georgia in 1578, he was released and returned to Kartli. The Ottomans seized him in 1599 with collaboration from Mingrelian nobles, and he languished and died in prison in Istanbul; see Suny, Gregorian Nation, 47–50. 223  Alexander II (1527–1605), ruler of Kakheti (1574–1605). 224  A city located in the historic province of Semegrelo in western Georgia.

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eldest son Constantine Mīrzā225 to kill his father, promising that he would give him not only his father’s kingdom but all of Georgia in exchange. The cruel and heartless son committed patricide against his innocent father and then fled to the king of Persia, returning a short time later with 14,000 Persian cavalry to receive his promised kingdom as reward for his wickedness. But Ketevan Kanu226 (Kanu being the equivalent of [margin: the Persian title begom]),227 the wife of Alexander and the mother of Constantine, mourned the death of her husband, over which she was justly indignant. As has already been related, this was the woman the Ambassador met in prison in Shīrāz. She resolved in a manly fashion to avenge her husband, even though the object of her revenge would be her own son. She also wanted to defend her homeland from people of such a different religion. And thus as quickly as possible she gathered together 6,000 brave men on horseback who promised to follow her and valiantly sallied forth to face her enemies, who had already crossed the border into Georgia. And determined to do what was necessary, armed with her bow and arrows, and brandishing a scimitar, she secretly stashed a keen dagger in the sleeve of her jubbah. She then sent a message to her son, suggesting that they should forge an agreement in order to spare the lives of so many Georgians and Persians, and accordingly, said that if he would enter her territory [margin: peacefully], they could exchange a few private words with each other in view of both of their armies. The unwary Constantine trusted in his mother’s request, and as [fol. 369v] he drew close to her in order to listen carefully to what she had to say, she quickly drew out her [text blacked out] [superscript: dagger] and stabbed him in the belly; the wound proving mortal. At that instant the Georgians charged at the Persians, who were astounded and frightened by 225  Constantine I (1567–1605), usurper and ruler of Kakheti (1605). He spent most of his childhood as a hostage in Persia, where he converted to Islam and was incorporated into Shah ʿAbbās’s service; see Suny, Georgian Nation, 48–50. 226  Ketevan (1565–1624), queen of Kakheti (eastern Georgia), see p. 362 n. 155. Her husband’s brother killed their father, the reigning monarch Alexander II, and usurped the throne as Constantine I in 1605, with Safavid support. Ketevan rallied opposition to the patricide and routed Constantine. She became regent, negotiated with Shah ʿAbbās I, and confirmed that her underage son, Teimuraz I, would be named king of Kakheti. After Teimuraz reached his majority, Ketevan and her two sons were sent to Shah ʿAbbās as hostages in 1614 to prevent a Persian attack on Kakheti, and it was under those circumstances that Silva y Figueroa met her in Shīrāz. After refusing to renounce her Christian faith at the order of Shah ʿAbbās I in 1624, she was tortured to death. Soon thereafter, she was canonized as a saint in the Georgian Orthodox Church. See Suny, Georgian Nation, 49–51; Rayfield, Literature of Georgia, 105–6. 227  See p. 362 n. 154.

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such a startling act, and though the Georgians were greatly outnumbered, they put the Persians to flight while this brave and true Amazon urged them at the top of her lungs to chase their enemies down until they slew as many of them as possible.228 [margin: This story is known by the Persians and Armenians to have happened exactly as it has been written here, though several ladies from the same nation, close relatives of this Ketevan Kanu, who formed part of the migration from Georgia to Eṣfahān, would often visit the Ambassador’s house to hear Mass; they told him a different version of this story, saying that this brave Georgian woman was not the wife of Alexander, who had been slain by her own son Constantine Mīrzā, but rather his sister and the wife of another great Georgian nobleman named David Khān.229 This story seems more plausible, since it is more likely that she would have killed her nephew instead of her own son]. It is known publicly by all that It is just as well known that many Georgian women have fought at the side of their husbands on different occasions of war. It may be these very women who Giovio says were found dead by the Turks as they collected the spoils left by the Persians who were killed in the battle of the fields of Chaldiran.230 It is not only in Asia where these kinds of warlike women have been known to exist through the ages but also in our own Europe [superscript: we find] even more particular examples of women just like them, because in addition to the accounts of them by Johannes Magnus231 and Olaus Magnus,232 which are suspicious because of their unreasonable prolixity, the authority of Johannes Saxo233 is sufficient to credit what he writes in his history, in which he praises, among other bellicose and manly women, the singular strength of Alfhild.234 228  While this version of the story of Ketevan contains certain accurate elements, below Silva y Figueroa alludes to another version, which is much closer to the known historical facts. 229  Here Silva y Figueroa is referring to David I (1569–1602), ruler of Kakheti (1601–1602) and husband of Ketevan. 230  This refers to the battle of Chaldiran fought between the Ottoman and Safavid armies in 1514. 231  Johan Månsson (1488–1544), also known as Johannes Magnus, Swedish Catholic archbishop and author; see Magnus, Historia de omnibus gothorum. 232  Olaus Månsson (1490–1557), brother of Johan Månsson, also known as Olaus Magnus Gothus; see Magnus, Historia de gentibus, 27–32. 233  Saxo Grammaticus (ca. 1150–ca. 1220), historian and advisor to King Valdemar I of Denmark. 234  According to Saxo Grammaticus, Alfhild was the daughter of King Sigvarth of Götaland, who took to pirating to escape the wooing of the pirate Alf, whom she later married. She is one of several women warrior-pirates mentioned in the Gesta danorum; see 9.7.6 (1:471–77).

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Furthermore, Hector Boece235 and Vergil Polydore,236 writing about the perpetual bloody wars between the Picts and Scots, and the war between the latter and the English, tell us that women fought many times in armed squadrons of men. Although the greatest cause for doubting that there ever were any Amazons is that [margin: many] people consider it impossible that a nation could survive without the presence and aid of men—the examples and cases [fol. 370r] related above contribute nothing to shore up the general tradition of antiquity—not even the most skeptical person could deny that the women who flourished in Bohemia 400 years ago were very much like Amazons, much to the detriment of that kingdom. Although many other authors could be cited, two will be mentioned here for the record who write with great distinction regarding these notable women, namely Enea Silvio, Pope Pius II,237 and Johannes, bishop of Olomouc,238 in his history in which he writes particularly about the kingdom of Bohemia. One gathers from both of these most worthy men that these bellicose women survived in that kingdom for many years, where, by dint of their great prudence and military valour, they defeated the Bohemian men in great conflicts and battles, and their nation would have continued for many centuries more had King Przemysław239 not deceitfully exterminated them. Although known as Georgians, the Megrelians reside in the western land that continues to the Black Sea, and, as noted above, they are the ancient inhabitants of the province of Colchis240 [text blacked out]. In their religion, customs, 235  Scottish philosopher and author (1465–1536); see Boethius, Scotorum historiae. 236  The historian Polydore Vergil, also known as Polydorus Vergilius (1470–1555); see his Anglica historia. 237  Enea Silvio Barolomeo Piccolomini (1405–1464), elected as Pius II (1458–1464), author of an autobiography and a history of Bohemia; see Piccolomini, Historia bohemica, 54–66. 238  Jan Skála z Doubravky, also known as Johannes Dubravius (1486–1553), Czech humanist and author. He was the bishop of Olomouc, Moravia. See Dubravius, Historiae regni boiemiae. 239  Przemysław II, also known as Presmislaus (ca. 1422–1477) was not a king but the duke of Cieszyn (southern Poland). 240  Colchis (also known as Lazica in late antiquity, i.e., the late Roman republic period) was an independent kingdom until its annexation by the kingdom of Pontus in 164 BC. It was situated in the southern Caucasus on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, corresponding to present-day western Georgia. Below, Silva y Figueroa also correctly refers to geographical locations between the first century BC and the first century AD from the south of the Greater Caucasus to the north of the Lesser Caucasus, which were divided between Colchis in the west, Caucasian Iberia in the center, Caucasian Albania in the east, Armenia to the south-west, and Atropatene to the south-east.

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and way of life they are very similar to those we have just described. Their capital city, [text blacked out] which lies at the mouth of the Phasis,241 commonly called the Phasus,242 just as it was in antiquity, bears the same name. These western Georgians, while not as proficient [fol. 370v] in battle as the central Georgians, and inferior in nature to them, are nevertheless somewhat more refined, and are all subject to one king. This is because they enjoy the maritime commerce of the Black Sea at the mouth of the Phasis, and thus have frequent intercourse with the Greek and Latin merchants who live in Constantinople, as they did many years ago with the Genoese and Venetians when they possessed the cities of Caffa243 and Tana as lords over that sea. Consequently, with the royalties on the merchandise that comes to Phasis, their king is wealthier than the other lords of Georgia, though his land is not as fertile. He recognizes the Turk as his suzerain, and therefore this group has not been bothered by the Persians in recent years like their neighbors have. Also, their land is much farther away from Persia than is the rest of Georgia. They were also not molested by the Turks in the continuous wars of Tblisi, Tabrīz, and Shīrvān. These Megrelians are indolent and drink to excess, squandering most of their time in this way, and therefore nobody esteems them worthy of official positions in peace or in war. [margin: It would be more reasonable] to praise the women of this region [margin: over the men]. [text blacked out]. Perhaps because of this, or because of a special nature and quality they possess, the women are all so fertile that many of them have children at ten years of age. This region is colder than eastern Georgia because it has steeper mountains and fewer forests, but the cold is compensated for by the advantage of the sea, which allows much wine and food to be brought from many different places. All of Georgiana, which was anciently divided into Albania, Iberia, and Colchis, runs almost directly along one [fol. 371r] parallel from west to east, from the Black Sea and mouth of the Phasis to the Kura and the province of Shīrvān. Thus to the east and south lies Greater Armenia, whose northernmost part is Shīrvān, as previously stated, to the west is the Black Sea, and on the north are the Laz and the Circassians, although they are separated from this region by mount Caucasus.

241  Rioni, the main river of western Georgia that originates in the Caucasus, drains the western Transcaucasus into the Black Sea, which it enters near ancient Phasis. 242  Phasis, an ancient and medieval city that lay on the banks of the Rioni on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, near present-day Poti, Georgia. 243  See p. 474 n. 343.

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The Circassians, Bosphorans, and Cimmerians of former ages, [margin: later called Cumans],244 have been known the last 500 years [text blacked out] (but not anciently) for the calamity and misfortune that has befallen them in their miserable and destitute liberty, [margin: if such a name can be given to what they possess]. Since Nature has endowed them with the gift of a rare beauty and a gentle disposition, and as they are an extremely simple and uncivilized people, they are perpetually subject to pillaging and sudden attacks by Turks, Cossacks, Tatars, and Laz pirates, [margin: after which they] [text blacked out] are enslaved and sold everywhere at a higher price than many other slaves. When the Venetian and Genoese fleets were lords of the Black Sea, they made a great profit from people they seized and others they bought from their neighbors, the Muscovites and the Tatars. The majority of these captives were young boys and girls. At the time of the empire of the Egyptian sultans, particularly after power was transferred from the Arab Caliphs to the Turks, [margin: the majority] of these slaves were taken there and trained as the elite backbone of their main army. However, this was not for the reason given by Giovio and many others. These historians were convinced that when Saladin’s245 successors [fol. 371v] were faced with a lack of soldiers [superscript: during] [text blacked out] their wars with the Franks and the rest of the Latins of Syria, they looked to the Circassians for aid out of necessity. But doing this could not have been immediately beneficial to them, since it would have been necessary to spend many years forming and training such an army. Rather, it is unquestionably certain that those sultans and caliphs had purchased these slaves a long time earlier in order to use them in war, in keeping with the ancient custom of the Parthians and [margin: their successors the Persians]. After the latter overthrew the Macedonian Empire in Asia, these slaves constituted the largest part of their army. Successive Persian rulers continued this practice, as did the Arabs and Turks who [superscript: followed as the masters of Persia]. [text blacked out] And thus the name Mamluks, which Giovio claims was first employed when these slaves began choosing kings from among their own ranks and thereby became the sultans and princes of Egypt, had already been familiar in Asia for many

244  Silva y Figueroa’s use of this term is ambiguous. It has been used to refer either to the Golden Horde or to the earlier Cuman-Kipchak confederation, a khānate that flourished in Eurasia between AD 900 and 1220, just before the first Mongol invasions. 245  Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb (1137/1138–March 1193), first sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and at the time the leader of the Muslim world’s opposition to the Crusades in the Levant.

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years, at least from the time that Nūr ad-Dīn,246 king of Damascus, went to war against the Christians of Syria. And [margin: this custom of the Parthians and Persians] of taking slaves from the vassal nations of their empire was so thoroughly imitated and accepted by the Arabs after they vanquished the provinces of Persia that—according to St. Eulogius,247 the only and true beacon of light of the history of those times—the powerful ʿAbd al-Raḥmāns248 of Cordova were already using slave armies when they conquered Spain so easily and quickly and founded their great and powerful empire there, after having subjected [margin: the majority of Asia and Africa] to their rule. This blessed martyr elucidated the matter further, saying that they were instructed from a young age in military arts and exercises and that all of them were the children of Christians who were raised in the palaces of their kings. Further, many of them were Christians not only by birth, but by profession. These slaves constituted the main strength of their armies. So those who claim that the Mamluks [fol. 372r] of Egypt came to be after the death of Malik al-Ẓāhir,249 and that the Janissaries among the Turks originated after Murād II,250 are considerably deceived, because this very ancient custom has been imitated since the realm of the Parthians in Asia by the Arabs and Turks, as previously stated. The coastline of the Black Sea circles around westward from Megrelia [text blacked out] to the Cimmerian Bosphorus,251 where it doubles back to the east. The coast is bathed by the Zabacha Lagoon,252 or the Tana Sea. This area, along with the land contained between both coasts, is inhabited by these poor Circassians, a white and [margin: primarily] light-haired people who enjoy excellent and robust health. And although they are the most uncivilized and rustic of all the Georgians, both the men and women became more sensible and good natured after dealing and interacting with more refined people, surpassing not only the Georgians and the Megrelians but even all the [superscript: 246  Nūr ad-Dīn Abū al-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿImād ad-Dīn Zengī (1118–1174), who reigned from 1146 to 1174, was a member of the Turkish Zengid dynasty that ruled the Syrian province of the Seljuk Empire from Damascus. After inheriting a portion of his father’s kingdom in 1146, he immediately launched attacks on the principality of Antioch, a crusader state. 247  St. Eulogius of Córdoba, one of the forty-eight Christian martyrs in Cordova in 859. 248  The Umayyad caliphate of al-Andalus (AD 929–1031), whose capital was Córdoba; four of these caliphs were named ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. 249  Baybars I, al-Bunduqdārī al-Ṣāliḥī, al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn (1223–1277), founder of the Bahri Mamlūk dynasty and sultan of Egypt and Syria (1260–1277). 250  After 1451. 251  Present-day Strait of Kerch; see p. 474 n. 345. 252  Zabacha was an occasional medieval name for the Sea of Azov. Silva y Figueroa inexplicably employs the term laguna (“lagoon”) here.

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other] [text blacked out] slaves from the East, and so they are commonly worth a higher price than the rest. Circassia is bordered on the west by the Cimmerian Bosphorus and the [margin: Tauric Chersonese],253 on the south by the Black Sea, on the north by the Tana Sea,254 and on the east by the region of the Laz. This last-named people dwell between the Circassians on the west and the Caspian Sea [margin: on the east], with Mount Caucasus to the south and the Kazan Tatars to the north, and although they more closely resemble Georgians and Circassians, their customs and way of life—they survive by constantly stealing and pilfering from their neighbors—remind one more of the Tatars and the Scythians. They also use the same types of arms—scimitars, bows, and arrows—general to all Asian nations. For the last [margin: 120] years they have been incessantly at war with the Muscovites of Astrakhan,255 who took the fortress of Xacitarxan.256 The Laz retook it after the current king of Persia succeeded his father to the throne. This [fol. 372v] fortress is situated on a large inlet of the Caspian Sea that penetrates deeply into Lazica,257 making the overland distance between the end of the inlet and the Black Sea just about sixty leagues. The Laz in the environs of Xacitarxan recognize the Persian sovereign because of their proximity to the city of Derbent, which is within a day’s voyage by sea. Thus the prisoners that the Laz take from among the Circassians and the Muscovites are sold in Derbent; for example, the boys and girls that the Ambassador saw in the Maidān of Qazvīn were from this group, the captain of Derbent having sent them, along with other merchandise, as a gift to the king. Although the Georgians and their neighboring Circassians are Christians, the Laz are Muḥammadans. However, in the time of Justinian the Elder258 and his nephew, Justin II,259 they were Christians, serving the Greeks in their wars against the Persians. The whole shore of the [superscript: Caspian Sea], from the great mouth of the Volga to Derbent, is [text blacked out] mostly fresh water because of the vast quantities of water dispersed by this enormous river, as well as from others that flows into the aforementioned inlet. The [margin: fluvial] 253  The Crimean Peninsula. 254  The Sea of Azov; see p. 474 n. 345. 255  Astrakhan, southern Russia, which lies on two banks of the Volga River. 256  Hajji-tarkhan, also known as Xacitarxan, located near the Volga Delta on the Caspian Sea. It was an important trade center of the Golden Horde. After being sacked by Timūr in 1395, it was rebuilt by the Astrakhan Khānate. The event referred to by Silva y Figueroa is the seizure of the fortress in 1547 by the Crimean khān Ṣāḥib Girāy (1501–1551); see Finkel, Osman’s Dream, 156. 257  The traditional name for the territory of the Laz people; see p. 573 n. 240. 258  Justinian I (483–565), Eastern Roman emperor (527–565). 259  Flavius Justinus Junior Augustus (ca. 520–578), Eastern Roman emperor (565–578).

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water flows closer to land, as it is lighter, and floats over the surface of the salty water. This also occurs in the Black and the Tana Seas near the drainages of the Tana, Borysthenes, and the Danube Rivers. Returning to Derbent, and continuing from there through Shīrvān, one arrives at the city of Yerevan, which Ptolemy calls Terva. It is now a metropolis of Greater Armenia. And although to this day it retains both its name and its ancient dignity, it is a small town. It is famous for having resisted the attack and close siege laid by Mehmed Pasha260 with an army of 200,000 Turks, in the year 1616, a little over two years before this work was written. When the Turks besieged this little city, [margin: it lacked], as it still does, any defense, except for an earthen wall of ancient construction that was eight or nine feet thick, without traverses or moat. But it was garrisoned with a full battalion of 10,000 harquebusiers chosen from the province [fol. 373r] of Khorāsān—which, as previously mentioned, was ancient Parthia—who obstinately and valiantly resisted the enemy’s many onslaughts and attacks. And since the terreplein, or earthen part of the wall, was many years old, the Turkish artillery did not damage it enough to afford the Turks easy access for attack, despite having several cannons of significant size. These cannons can now be seen in the Maidān of Eṣfahān in front of the king’s palace. They are among those that [margin: were] won from the Turks twelve years before in the same city of Yerevan. Seeing that their artillery had little effect, and that they only brought down the parapet and battlements of the wall, the Turks began to dig tunnels, cutting into the stone foundation of the wall. It was easy enough work as there was no moat to make their labor especially difficult or strenuous. The Persians valiantly impeded their efforts by digging countermines, but mainly they held them off with many sudden sorties in which they killed a great number of Turks. With great prudence and strength, Amīr Guna Khān, governor of the city and captain of its battalion, in spite of his eighty years, encouraged them in all these attacks, for he had a robust, warlike nature. It was very late in the autumn by that time, and since several of the Turks’ attacks were unsuccessful because of their few artillery batteries, because they [margin: had] run out of food, and because many soldiers were dying of illness in their camp, their general, Mehmed Pasha, decided to retreat and lift the siege. But the āḡā of the Janissaries strongly objected: he thought that if the soldiers could endure just a few more days of hardship, they could dislodge the Persians from the 260  Öküz Kara Mehmed Pasha, Ottoman military commander (d. 1619) and grand vizier twice (1614–1616 and 1619). During the reign of Ahmed I, he led an army that invaded Persia but failed to take Yerevan. After he agreed to a truce with the Safavids, Ahmed I replaced him with Khalīl Pasha; see Sicker, Islamic World in Decline, 7–9; Munshī, History , 2:1119–27.

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wall, which the latter were repairing with great vigilance and swiftness from an earthen bastion that had been erected [fol. 373v] outside and that stood as cavalier261 over the ones on the inside of the rampart. It was the āḡā’s valor that sustained that siege, and his conviction might have materialized had the ball from a distant falconet from the wall not taken his head off as he was walking about surveying the scene and giving orders of how to best mount another attack. At that, the Pasha took up his camp without further delay and returned to Erzurum via Dmanisi and Kars, unable to convince the Turks to remain any longer at siege. With the onset of November and the Armenian winter cold being so severe, they refused to put up with the discomfort of the campaign any longer. Most of them found themselves far away from the provinces from which they had been taken to fight in this war, which in the main proved to be a failure for them. Amīr Guna Khān earned the reputation of a valiant and prudent captain in the eyes of his king and all those who learned of this siege because a stronghold protected by no more fortification than a simple earthen wall and such scant and feeble artillery had been defended from a vast enemy army with an enormous battery of artillery, engineers, and munitions. Through this we see the importance of the most essential of all factors in the defense of any stronghold, however weak it may be: the number and dependability of the soldiers. Nowadays, a day’s journey to the east and south of Yerevan, one can see the ruins of the great city of Artaxata that are very close to the banks of the Araxes River. Its fame is preserved among the Armenians even now, although there are no more than forty or fifty small houses belonging to poverty-stricken people in that whole place. It lies a fourth of a league from the Araxes. The Armenians call this village Pracala, because not far off is a rundown castle of earthen walls. [margin: Pracala] [text blacked out] means earthen fortress or castle in their language. But the surrounding territory is populated by many other villages [text blacked out], [superscript: as it is] more fertile and abundant than any other territory in that entire [fol. 374r] kingdom. Khoy, a large and populous town, is a two-day journey from Procala on the road to Tabrīz, and although it is not considered a city because it is unwalled, it has two thousand houses and its land is extremely fertile. [superscript: Due to] the unwavering esteem in which it has always been held by the Persians and the Turks, it has not suffered from desolation and relocation as have other cities in Armenia. I do not know what could have moved Giovio to write that Khoy is the location of ancient Artaxata—while the Araxes River once ran alongside Artaxata, its course lies many leagues distant from Khoy. Rivers are 261  See p. 200 n. 120.

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what reveal to us [margin: in these latter times] the true locations of the cities that have been ruined and ravished by time. Westward from Khoy, after leaving behind the strongholds of Dmanisi and Kars, and before arriving at Erzurum, one finds the sources of those two very memorable rivers, the Euphrates and the Araxes. Their origins are found in a high and flat, yet not mountainous terrain. They burst forth with great energy and [margin: copious] [text blacked out] water from several springs or small lagoons. The sources of these rivers are six or seven leagues apart, with the Araxes farther north and the Euphrates to the south, leaving this space unoccupied for the passage of the many armies that have marched through here to enter Armenia. It seems that by natural destiny this has always been the parade ground of those easterners and Westerners who have held dominion and control over Asia. [superscript: Gnaeus Pompey] crossed the Euphrates here very close to its origin, [margin: as did Lucius Lucullus afterward, and the armies] of the emperors of Constantinople crossed it many times farther along while trying to retain Armenia and defend it from the Persians, [text blacked out] Arabs, and Turks. While the Romans did traverse Asia many times in order to extend the limits of their empire in the face of resistance from the Parthians and the Persians [fol. 374v] over the course of many centuries, they came by way of Mesopotamia and Assyria because of the convenience of the Euphrates River, as will be expounded more fully below. And Lucullus and Pompey would not have made their entrance through this part of Greater Asia either, had they not been waging war against Mithridates, and later against his sonin-law, Tigranes. More recently, however, the Turks have followed this route with [margin: more frequency], beginning in the time of Selim I [superscript: and his son Sūleyman], [text blacked out] who marched against Ṣūfī Esmāʿīl and Shah Ṭahmāsp.262 And in our present age, Sinan Pasha263 and ʿUthmān,264 generals of Murād III265 in the intractable war with the Persians, were the ones who followed this route, [margin: although Sinan Pasha, who was first to be sent to this war, seems to have crossed from Erzurum to headwaters of the Araxes.] This river begins to flow a little to the north, and [superscript: later] its current flows eastward to the right, dividing Greater Armenia into two parts. Afterward, it returns from the ancient and desolate city of Julfa directly north, 262  Respectively Shah Esmāʾīl I and Shah Ṭahmāsp I. 263  Koca Sinan Pasha, Ottoman military commander (1506–96) and grand vizier (five times from 1582–1595) during the reign of Murād III. 264  Özdemiroğlu ʿUthmān Pasha, Ottoman military commander (1526–85) and grand vizier (1584–85) during the reign of Murād III. 265  Murād III (1546–1595).

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making a large turn; it is the limit of the northernmost part of Armenia and Media in that region, until it falls into the Caspian Sea near the city of Bākū. The Euphrates, which is so much larger, as well as being more celebrated and illustrious because Sacred Writ makes mention of it so many times, as does Roman history, first runs to the west [margin: until it nearly reaches] the city of Erzincan and the borders of the province of Amasia, [superscript: or] [text blacked out] ancient Cappadocia. It then winds its way south, [superscript: separating] Amasia and Lesser Armenia on the west and [margin: south] from Greater Armenia on the east. The aforementioned passage contained between these two rivers lies very close to the city of Erzurum, which has been a port of call [margin: and boundary] for the Turks in all the recent years of conflict with Persia. [margin: Farther north, and not far from here], is where ancient Greek armies were led up to Babylon under the command of Clearchus,266 who had been in the pay of Cyrus the Younger to wage war against the latter’s brother, Artaxerxes II,267 king of Persia. They were forced to retreat, with Xenophon as their personal guide and general. [fol. 375r] These valiant soldiers escaped destruction during a long and difficult retreat by bravely fighting their way through the mountains of Kurdistan, which run from Assyria and Babylonia itself to Media. Their safest route [margin: headed] through the mountains and the most rugged parts of Media and Greater Armenia, though they had many perilous encounters with Persian cavalry. Yet they vanquished all who tried to stop them, eventually entering the region of Armenia located at the headwaters of the aforementioned rivers, emerging near the city of Erzurum, even though at that time knowledge of this city had been lost among the Greeks. Finally, from the highlands, they caught sight of the Pontus Euxinus, the Black Sea of today. Great cheers and applause were heard, beginning with the first of the soldiers marching in the vanguard and spreading and crescendoing until it reached the last soldiers of the rearguard. [margin: All of them wept for joy]. Their longed-for view of the sea lay between the city of Trebizond, a Greek colony that at that time was named Trapezounta, and the mouth of the Phasis River. The soldiers, fatigued from such a long journey, knew they would receive aid from this colony as well as from the other two called Amisos268 and

266  Fifth-century BC Greek commander of the mercenary Spartan army employed by Cyrus; see Xenophon, Anabasis, Books 1 and 2 (53–59; 69–73). 267  Artaxerxes II Mnemon, king of Persia (ca. 405–359 BC); see Plutarch, Lives, 11, Artaxerxes, 1–30. 268  Present-day Samsun, Turkey.

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Sinope,269 which lay on the coast of this sea, as could be expected from fellow Greeks. Erzurum, the same city discovered by these soldiers on the closest shore of the Black Sea, is now a two-day journey [margin: by caravan], and Trebizond is a four-day journey. [margin: This is the] coldest and poorest stretch of land in all of Greater Armenia, and [fol. 375v] in the winter it is traversed only with great difficulty, due to the frequent snows, as those good Greek soldiers found on that journey [margin: through Armenia]. Many of them lost their sight because of the endless whiteness that covered the mountains and plains where they walked. After leaving the two Armenians behind on either side of its banks, the Euphrates River continues its course to the south, entering Comagene Syria,270 and lapping [margin: on its right side], or flowing very close to, the cities of Melitene,271 Zeugma,272 and Samosata,273 the latter being the ancient capital of this province and homeland of the extremely astute Lucian.274 The river brushes Mesopotamia along its left side until it reaches Bir,275 ancient Birtha, which is located at the same distance from the river as the road that extends from the city of Orrha276 to Aleppo. This last-named city, which in size, population, and extensive and prosperous commerce is one of the greatest of all the East, was the ancient Heliopolis. It has grown much during [text blacked out] the last 300 years because of the collapse and destruction of Antioch. Because of its renown among other nations of the West as a center of commerce and government, we will not make more specific mention of it here, as there may be many who will reasonably criticize our description. Surely, though, it can be said that in temperateness of climate, abundance of all resources, and convenience of location—being situated at the center of the world—it is one of the richest and most celebrated cities in the entire world. However, we can also affirm that all these vast riches were taken as lavish spoils from the extremely populous and renowned Antioch, whose ruins lay a [text blacked out] [superscript: two]-day journey from Aleppo in the present day. These ruins 269  Present-day Sinop, Turkey. 270  An ancient Armenian kingdom of the Hellenistic Age (ca. 323 BC–AD 17). 271  Present-day Malatya, Turkey. 272  Present-day Gaziantep, Turkey. 273  An ancient city on the west bank of the Euphrates at the site of the present-day (now destroyed) city of Samsat, Turkey. 274  Lucian of Samosata (ca. AD 120–ca. 200), considered the supreme Greek satirist. 275  Present-day Birecik, Turkey; Silva y Figueroa is correct that it was also known as Birtha and was located on the banks of the Euphrates in the province of Şanliurfa. 276  Present-day Şanliurfa; see p. 482 n. 353.

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include the city’s great high walls, which for the most part still stand intact, although not a house remains standing and unruined. The city is also completely desolate. This most noble of cities thrived [fol. 376r] during the flowering of the Roman Empire in Asia, and even continued to do so for many years after Rome’s well-known decline. For many centuries it was the main seat and court among the other eastern provinces. And although there is no great memory of it left in Arab realms, as it was left totally bereft of its ancient grandiosity and majesty, it is common knowledge that when it was overtaken by Europeans during the conquest of Syria and given to Bohemond the Norman,277 it was still a great city retaining most of its ancient splendor even then. After having wrested it from the western Europeans, the Egyptian sultans completely dismantled and destroyed it in order to eradicate Christianity from it, which they so greatly abhorred, and also to prevent European nations from recapturing it given its proximity to the Mediterranean. For the same reason, they repeated this action in [margin: Tripoli], Acre, and [superscript: Tyre], [text blacked out] along with the rest of the cities of the coast of Phoenicia.278 And thus the entire coastline of Syria [margin: from the Gulf of Lajazzo]279 to the borders of Egypt, whose many wealthy cities once boasted flourishing populations, is now barren. This blight also affects Antioch because of its propinquity to the sea. The fact that Aleppo is so susceptible to earthquakes, several of which wrought catastrophic destruction upon it, may also have contributed to this distinguished city’s complete desertion, along with the other causes that have been mentioned. Yet despite all these reasons, it is unjustifiable that the name and memory of such a famous city of Roman antiquity [margin: should be [margin: [text blacked out] extinguished, considering that it was once the capital of the Asian Empire under Alexander the Great’s successors. Several Venetians and other Europeans that have now seen it [fol. 376v] report that it is utterly vacant [margin: except for its vast ruins, among which there still stand several domecovered dwellings of admirable size]. A little more than half a league from here are several villages and settlements with immensely fertile plains of abundant vineyards, as well as fig and olive orchards.

277  Bohemond IV (1172–1233), of Norman origin, three times ruler of the principality of Antioch between 1201 and 1233. 278  The renowned ancient Semitic thalassocracy known for its intrepid and distant forays from its geographic base. It was located on the western coast of the Levant, corresponding to present-day coastal Lebanon, Israel, and Syria. 279  Ancient Aegae or Ayas, known today as Yumutalik. It is situated across the Gulf of Iskenderun.

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No sign or trace of that famous grove and nymphaeum of Daphne,280 which was so close to the city, is said to be found now, and therefore it must have already disappeared by the time the Christians seized it from the Turks in their foreign wars. According to the same account, it was destroyed many years earlier by the Arabs during their first years in power after taking Syria from the Greeks. And because these uncouth barbarians, after accepting the Muḥammadan sect, abhorred pagan ceremonies and myths as much as the Christians of the primitive Church did, upon discovering this forest full of pagan rites, they completely annihilated them for being so contrary to their belief. And although the believers in Antioch were the first to use the name Christians,281 and, due to the preaching of the apostles, it was the first city in the world where so many Christians began publicly professing the principles of Christianity, there was never much animosity or hatred toward these pagan rites and ceremonies. Thus, these rituals remained ingrained among these same Christians for many centuries afterward. Consequently, there were always many pagans in Antioch that collectively maintained and revered this beautiful and pleasant forest until many years after the time of Theodosius the Elder.282 This [superscript: happened] not only in Antioch, [text blacked out] but also in many other cities of the world, even as recently as our day, because of the love men have for that which is ancient and familiar in their native homelands. As a result, various myths [margin: and rites] of the pagan beliefs of years past have been perpetuated and retained, even though those who cherish and value them are Catholics and true Christians. [fol. 377r] And while the Christians of Antioch also take delight and enjoyment in their nymphaeum forest, which they find so suitable for their recreation, especially the common people, who were always free and unregulated in [margin: Antioch] to the point that they often disrespected their own princes, it is also true that at various times there have been in this great city saintly and exemplary men, virtuous in every way, who renounced the frequenting of this forest as a particular place of vices, having grown up surrounded by the doctrine and legacy of the pagans that persisted there. Ultimately, the nymphaeum of Daphne was destroyed either by the Christians or the Arabs out of religious zeal, for it was 280  A minor figure in Greek mythology who was a naiad—a type of female nymph associated with fountains and all other bodies of freshwater. 281  See Acts 11:26 (Vulgate), et docuerunt turbam multam ita ut cognominarentur primum Antiochiae discipuli Christiani (“and they taught a great multitude, so that at Antioch the disciples were first named Christians”). 282  Flavius Theodosius, known as Theodosius the Elder, senior Roman military officer and father of the emperor Theodosius the Great (347–395).

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no longer in existence by the time of the western Europeans. This ended the very long and stubborn conflict in Antioch that the Christians, who advocated more piety and holiness, sustained with the pagans regarding its removal or protection. It came to an end when the stunning temple of Apollo, to whom the aforementioned forest was specifically dedicated, burned to the ground in a terrible fire after much sedition and general uproar. Emperor Julian283 was in Antioch at the time, and that godless prince attributed the fault for this misdeed to the Christians, if the zeal of those believers can be called a [superscript: fault], who [superscript: were so numerous] [text blacked out] and so powerful in the city that the emperor, though [text blacked out] a sworn enemy of theirs, did not dare punish them beyond demanding that they close their main church for a time. Besides the great size of the splendid walls of Antioch, the Orontes,284 with its abundance of large and beautiful eels, clearly indicates its true location. Let us now return to the Euphrates, which constitutes one of the borders of this city and divides Mesopotamia from [superscript: Lesser] Syria as one arrives at Bir. The river parts the road that runs from Orrha to Aleppo in equal halves, so that there is a three-day [fol. 377v] journey by caravan between Aleppo and Bir and another three-day journey from there to Orrha. This last city was formerly the renowned Edessa, which is famous in our day both because it is now a populous, large city, and because of the legend of the patriarch Abraham. [margin: Although he was a native of Carrhae],285 his memory is preserved here in the form of a large, lovely temple that is currently owned by the Turks but venerated equally by both them and the Christians. This temple is afforded more particular respect because, besides the adoration of that most holy father, there is a celebrated pool here in which all the Christians and Mūhammadans of Asia have so much faith and render it so much devotion that they are convinced that by bathing in its waters they will recover from any ailment. The water of this pool originates outside the city on a high hill, very close to the city wall. It gushes out in a thick jet and enters the temple through an iron latticework in the city wall, where it is collected in a large pond. From there it is divided into separate portions for the mosque and the fountains of the city, and the remainder [superscript: benefits] the gardens, [margin: mills], 283  Julian the Apostate [Flavius Claudius Julianus Augustus] (ca. AD 331–363), Roman emperor (AD 361–63). 284  A northward flowing river found in the Levant, it originates in present-day Lebanon and flows through Syria and Turkey before entering the Mediterranean. Silva y Figueroa is correct in his assertion that ancient Antioch was located on the eastern bank of the Orontes. 285  Present-day Haran.

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and fields. In the pond there are countless fish, which are likewise held in great esteem, and no one dares harm or touch any of them, because it is generally believed that by so doing one would soon fall victim to some harsh punishment or unusual calamity. Thus these fish are so tame and confident that they swim up to the pilgrims and eat bread out of their hands, as they do to others as well who come to bathe. The common people tell remarkable fables about this. The water is quite excellent for drinking; it is very cold in the summer and lukewarm in the winter and all the water in the nearby springs is usually just as good. And because of its excellence, the many orchards and gardens produce admirably delicious fruit. Orrha is about the same size as Jaen in Spain, or [margin: L’Aquila in the kingdom of Naples], [text blacked out] [superscript: though] not quite as populated. [superscript: But because of the great circumference] [text blacked out] of its wall, much of the city is empty and void of houses, and so the residents use [fol. 378r] this space for growing food. Thus if the people find themselves besieged by enemies, this resource cannot be taken from them. This was demonstrated in the year 1600 when Murād Pasha286 besieged Karayazici.287 Karayazici, [margin: which means dark-skinned or black scribe], captain of the rebels against the Grand Turk Mehmed,288 defended the city and endured eight months of siege. The city wall of Orrha is very strong. Its workmanship is Roman, [margin: if not more ancient]. It is constructed from square stones twelve and fourteen feet in length, width, and depth, in keeping with the proportions of good architecture. Given the great size of these stones, the residents of Orrha believe that the wall was built by giants, and they tell great fables and ancient stories about Nembroth,289 a very [margin: widespread] and prevalent tradition among the Chaldeans and the Syrians. This wall occupies a large portion of a mountain slope upon which the city is built, including on the peak. The foot of the mountain lies outside the wall. This is where the abundant and healthy spring that enters the mosque of Abraham originates, as previously stated, and where there is found a hermitage of St. George dating back many years to times of yore. Although the inhabitants of 286  Kuyucu Murād Pasha, Ottoman military commander and grand vizier (1606–1611), who was employed in the suppression of the Jelali Revolts during the reign of Ahmed I. 287  Karayazici Abdülhalim, leader of one of the four Jelali revolts, which were a series of rebellions in Anatolia of irregular troops led by provincial administrations against Ottoman authority during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Arising in part to procure tax privileges, the second revolt to which Silva y Figueroa is alluding occurred between 1595 and 1610. 288  Mehmed III (1566–1603), son of Murād III, Ottoman sultan (1595–1603). 289  Nembroth, a Greek variant of the name Nimrod, traditional founder of Babylon and creator of the tower of Babel, great-grandson of Noah; see Genesis 10:9–10.

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this ancient Edessa honor this hermitage very much, since time immemorial they have all venerated another one even more. This other hermitage lies a half league from the city and is dedicated to the apostle St. Thomas. The Christian Armenians, Jacobites (or Syrians), and Maronites, with which this city is mainly populated, frequently go there to offer prayers. [fol. 378v] There is [superscript: no other] city to be found in all the East where there is as much recognition and veneration for the name Christian as in this city at this time. Antioch and Alexandria had a greater number of the faithful anciently—being much more populated cities—but they also had a greater mixture of pagans, and usually most of the people in each city were thoroughly insolent and seditious. Leaving Edessa and heading east by north-east, or Greek east,290 after a six-day journey one reaches the city of Amida, now called Kara Amid291 by the Turks. It is famous for the long siege opened there by Shapur,292 king of Persia, in the time of Emperor Constantius.293 At that time it was lost and left in ruins, though it was defended with admirable courage and determination. But it had been such an important stronghold that soon after the loss of Nisibis a few years later, it was repaired and repopulated with much care. This was primarily due to the richness and fertility of its land, which, besides producing an exceptional abundance of the kinds of food necessary for human life, also yields the biggest and best melons in the world. The wall of this city is more complete than that of Orrha, although it does not enclose as much territory, nor is it as ancient. The population [text blacked out] is also greater and more often frequented by neighbors of other cities, being the seat and court of the Pashas, or governors, of Diyābakr, the ancient province of Mesopotamia. The stones of this wall are somewhat smaller than those in Orrha, and [superscript: appear] to be black, either because of age or because of their own natural properties. Consequently, the Turks call this wall Kara Amid, which [fol. 379r] means Amida the Black in Turkish. The gate of this city through which one enters when coming from Orrha [text blacked out] is called Rumi Capir by the Turks, Armenians, and Syrians, meaning the Roman Gate, for this gate is used when coming from Antioch of Syria, where, as previously mentioned, the court 290  Gregal; see p. 509 n. 290. 291  Kara Amid, present-day Diyārbakr. 292  Shapur II, Sassanid emperor (309–379), known as “the Great.” He shattered the peace established between Narseh and Diocletian during a twenty-six year-long campaign against Roman rule in Mesopotamia and Armenia. 293  Constantius II [Flavius Julius Constantius Augustus] (317–361), Eastern Roman emperor (AD 337–361), who inherited the eastern portion of the empire after the death of his father Constantine I. Part of his reign was spent defending the eastern border from Shapur II.

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of the rulers and governors of the East once was. Inside and adjacent to this gate there is a church dedicated to Our Lady, which is the parish where the Armenians hold their worship services; there are other churches belonging to the Jacobite Syrians, in addition to the many mosques of the Turks and Arabs. The houses are built with extremely refined workmanship of square stone. Some of their roofs are covered with lead, [text blacked out] which indicates that they date from the times of the Romans after the empire was transferred to Constantinople. Although this city was dismantled by Shapur after he vanquished it because he was disinclined to maintain it, there are those who question whether the current city walls are the same ones that were standing when the city was taken, or if only the houses were torn down and burned when the Emperor Constantius passed through the city some time later to go to war on the border of Persia. [text blacked out] The Persians could not bring down the walls with mines or other of the artifices for seizing cities that were used in those times. Rather, the city was taken with a [superscript: large] [fol. 379v] mound of earth that was built up alongside the moat; even then the city would not have been lost if a very high cavalier294 that the defenders had [margin: also] built up over the wall had not collapsed in the fury of battle from the excessive weight of the machinery and soldiers that it supported. [margin: The rampart’s ruins] filled up the moat and the rest of the space between the top of the mountain, or bastion, and the city walls, making a bridge and a level passageway for the enemy. Kara Amid lies on very flat terrain on the side coming from Orrha, but on the other side one sees a deep gorge and a very steep precipice where the Tigris River flows. This location and placement is very similar to that of the city of Toro, Spain: those who enter Toro when approaching from Valladolid travel along [margin: a very even and pleasant road], with the Duero River running along the opposite side. However, the Duero does not run through a valley but on a plain in a deep and large chasm. Approaching Kara Amid from Orrha, almost halfway along the road at a distance of three or four leagues on the right-hand side, is the ancient city of Carrhae. It is quite famous [margin: both because of Holy Scripture, which] calls it Haran,295 and because of the Roman histories that describe the death of Marcus Crassus296 and the terrible rout his army suffered there. In our day 294  See p. 200 n. 120. 295  See Genesis 12:4–5. 296  Marcus Licinius Crassus (ca. 115–153 BC), member of the First Triumvirate (60–53 BC) with Gaius Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus; see Cassius Dio, Roman History, 40:16–30.

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it is reduced to a small village of a hundred houses, but it has extremely fertile soil all around it, with many gardens and abundant fields for planting wheat and barley. These fields are irrigated by several fountains or small canals that originate from the neighboring hills and mountains. In the outlying areas, there are always roaming bands of Arabs who harass and frequently accost their few neighbors, [fol. 380r] this being the reason why this poor settlement, which was once such a large and renowned city, has dwindled so. And while it is clear from Plutarch, Cassius Dio, and Appian of Alexandria that the portion [margin: of Mesopotamia] to the south of Carrhae is made up of very flat and extensive sandy plains, which was the main reason for the Roman army’s defeat there, we also gather from these authors that this city is not far from where the battle with the Parthians took place that day, because the captain of the battalion in Carrhae received notice of the calamity that very night.297 We also learn that there were mountains and rugged highlands close to this city, for Marcus Crassus withdrew to one of them where he could have defended and saved himself had he not imprudently turned himself over to his enemies by going down to the plain, where they killed him. Gaius Cassius298 [superscript: had] more courage and better fortune [text blacked out] [margin: at that time], safeguarding himself in those same mountains until arriving in Syria with the remnants of the army. They later proved important for the defense of that province. This small place, the well-known motherland of the patriarch Abraham, is now called Carrhae by Syrians, Arabs, and Armenians, who have barely changed the city’s ancient name. Four-days’ travel on the road from Kara Amid heading east by south-east, the direction from which the Sirocco blows, we find in [text blacked out] our day the unmistakable vestiges of the formidable and celebrated city of Nisibis, which, despite being on the frontier of the Roman Empire for so many years, has retained its own name. It is a large [fol. 380v] town of 300 to 400 houses, although it lacks a wall. The population is comprised of Armenians and Nestorians, along with Arabs and Turks. These peoples add just one consonant to the ancient name, calling the city Nisibis. The surrounding countryside, while flat and extremely [superscript: fertile], is constantly harassed by the Arabs. Despite this nuisance, its inhabitants are sufficiently supplied with life’s essentials because the people harvest a large quantity of rice and cotton that supplies much of Mesopotamia and neighboring Armenia. The copiously fertile plains also yield a great deal of wheat and barley. A large aqueduct flows steadily from the Tigris River to these plains of Nisibis, so that if the Arabs, who 297  See Plutarch, Lives, 3, Crassus, 28–29; and Dio, Roman History, 40:22–23. 298  Gaius Cassius Longinus, Roman senator and commander (ca. 85–42 BC).

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rule the countryside, did not steal the water, as they do most of the time, the region could provide all the sustenance for the people of a city of any size. And from what can be gathered from ancient sources, it seems that after Nisibis surrendered to the Persians according to the terms of peace they made with Emperor Jovian,299 [margin: its own residents] abandoned it, rendering it practically desolate. The city declined so much in just a few years that almost no knowledge of it remains. At the time it fell into the hands of their perpetual enemies, the [margin: inhabitants] [text blacked out] were mostly Greeks who had consistently maintained their friendship with the Romans for 500 years. They were forced to abandon the city, and the Persians used it [margin: only] as a stronghold and border against the Daras300 fortress, which the Romans and Greeks fortified with a full garrison of warlike people in opposition to the very Nisibis they had just lost. This resulted in the first decline of their empire. Today, [margin: a two-day journey to the east by north-east of Kara Amid brings one to the city of Mardin,301 ancient Martinopolis, which has a lush countryside full of crops and all kinds of foodstuffs]. [text blacked out] Although the Tigris River does not [text blacked out] [superscript: flow] farther north of Nisibis than a one-day ride for a man on horseback, on the eastern side [fol. 381r] it lies four days’ travel away. This whole stretch of land consists of desolate plains on which nothing is found save a few Arab dawārs. Almost at the midpoint of this road, on a high hill, there once stood the mighty and well-fortified [superscript: city] of Hatra,302 which put up such fierce resistance against the victorious armies of Trajan303 and Septimius Severus304 because of the strength of its walls and the courage of its defenders, though today no information can be found regarding its vestiges and remains. Walking from Atra directly to the east, one reaches the location on the bank of the Tigris where the 299  Flavius Jovianus Augustus (AD 331–364), Roman emperor (AD 363–364) who succeeded Julian the Apostate and reinstated Christianity in the empire. 300  Located near the present-day village of Oğuz in Mardin Province, Turkey, Daras, as Silva y Figueroa correctly indicates, was an important and strategic East Roman walled fortresscity in northern Mesopotamia on the border with the Sassanid Empire (AD 224–641). It was also involved prominently in Roman-Persian conflicts of the sixth century and was the site of the famous Battle of Dara in AD 530. 301  Mardin is actually east by south-east of Kara Amid [Diyārbakr]. 302  An ancient city in present-day Iraq whose ruins lie 290 km (180 mi) north-west of Baghdad and 110 km (68 mi) south-west of Mosul. It was also known as al-Ḥaḍr. Silva y Figueroa’s comments about its resolute defense from Roman attacks are historically correct. Today, these ruins have suffered serious degradation and depredations by ISIS. 303  Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trajanus (AD 53–117), Roman general and emperor (98–117). 304  Lucius Septimius Severus Augustus (ca. 145–211), Roman general and emperor (193–211).

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Roman army crossed the river as it retreated from the disastrous campaign undertaken by Emperor Julian305 against the Persians, the only noteworthy outcome of which was his ill-fated death, followed by the fall of Nisibis, [margin: which was handed over] to the Persians by Jovian, his successor to the throne. The Tigris flows past here on its course toward the south, arriving a few leagues later at the ruins of the great and most ancient city of Nineveh,306 which was the capital of the Assyrian realm. Much is said about this city in many passages of Holy Scripture, particularly in the books of Jonah307 and Tobit.308 [margin: Its destruction and downfall] is more specifically mentioned in the books of the prophets Jeremiah,309 Zephaniah,310 and Nahum.311 Less than a league from these ruins, which are now visible and identifiable on that same [margin: eastern] bank of the Tigris, there is presently a medium-sized city named Mosul, which is populated by Jacobite and Nestorian Christians, as well as some Turks and Arabs. Containing more than two thousand houses, it is a good, fertile [superscript: region] with many gardens and plains, from which a large quantity of fruit, wheat, rice, and cotton is harvested, similarly to the aforementioned fields of Nisibis. This city was once under the rule of the pasha of Baghdad, but for the last few years it has had a governor and pasha of its own, as have the rest of the lands and settlements up to the mountains of Kurdistan and the borders of Media. Traveling south from Mosul [margin: with the flow of the Tigris] for two days, [fol. 381v] some large ruins can be seen on its eastern bank, vestiges of what was once a great and heavily populated city, judging from the vast space occupied by them. Because of their location one cannot only guess but actually affirm that this was the city of Seleucia, founded by Seleucus,312 one of Alexander the Great’s captains. On the death of Alexander, the majority of the Asian realm fell on his shoulders. Although it was among the most distinguished and powerful of all the cities of the East, and seat of the Parthian Empire, it was quite short lived. It stood little more than 300 years from its origins to its destruction 305  See p. 585 n. 283. 306  Modern archaeologists have situated the ruins of Nineveh upriver from Hatra, across the Tigris from Mosul, Iraq. 307  See Jonah 1:2; 3:1–10; 4:1–11. 308  See Tobit 1:3, 10–17; 14:2–15. 309  Jeremiah deals with the imminent fall of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah to the Babylonians, but does not mention Nineveh. 310  See Zephaniah 2:13–15. 311  See Nahum 1:1, 11, 14; 2:2–14; 3:1–19. 312  Seleucus I Nicator (ca. 358–281 BC), Macedonian commander and founder of the Seleucid Empire.

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by Avidius Cassius,313 legate and general of the Emperor Lucius Verus.314 Since then it has remained in its completely destroyed and ruined state, which is why nothing was written about it in Roman histories after that point. For example, Ammianus Marcellinus315 makes no mention of it when recounting how Julian’s army crossed the Tigris and entered Susiana; instead, he describes a large forest and park that was near its location. [margin: Seleucia is less than ten leagues from Babylon, according to Strabo.]316 At this juncture it seems fitting to explain the origins of the Tigris River. It rises in the southernmost part of Greater Armenia, close to the mountains that divide Armenia from Mesopotamia, not far from the meridian of Orrha. By the time it reaches Kara Amid, it is already big enough to be navigable. It flows a long way to the east and east by south-east, and soon after passing Kara Amid, its course jags to the south-east. It then returns to the south, continuing the same course, after leaving the city of Nisibis behind by a short two-day journey in caravan. According to historical reports, this is near the place where Emperor Julian’s army crossed the river when his successor, Jovian, shamefully turned the city of Nisibis over to the Persians as part of a peace accord so that they would give him safe passage across this river. From Kara Amid, [margin: the Tigris] becomes impetuous and turbulent—it cannot be navigated, even in big flat-bottomed boats. Consequently, the merchants who bring their wares to Mosul and Baghdad [fol. 382r] from Armenia and other parts of Diyābakr,317 particularly from Kara Amid, [margin: travel on] large rafts, which are made of many inflated leather bags that they lash firmly together. They transport cargo on these rafts, navigating with such swiftness and velocity that it blurs their vision. The fury and power of the river is so immense that these rafts often capsize and sink, with the loss of both men and merchandise, despite the skill of the rafters. Once they arrive around the bend from Baghdad or Mosul, the merchants either sell the leather bags that were used on the rafts, or they buy baggage animals in those cities and send the empty flasks back with their other merchandise. And thus, because the Tigris cannot be navigated against its current, they spend many days in the [superscript: return] [text blacked out] 313  Gaius Avidius Cassius (ca. AD 130–75), legate during the Roman-Parthian war (AD 161– 166). He proclaimed himself Roman emperor in AD 175, his so-called “reign” lasting for approximately three months. 314   Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus (AD 130–169), co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius (AD 161–169). 315  Ammianus lives between ca. 325 and 391; see his History, 24–25. 316  See Strabo, Geography, 16, 1:4–5. 317  Diyābakr; see p. 410 n. 236.

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journey after having arrived so quickly. The famed geographer Strabo mentions this manner of traveling on the Tigris, although he reports some difference in the structure of these rafts, saying that they were boats made of thin sticks and covered in leather.318 However, [margin: in conjunction with what has been said] about returning the leather bags on land by baggage train from Babylon, which at that time still had residents in a large portion of the great city, the remainder of the Tigris’s course will be described hereafter in the description of the Euphrates, where the conjunction of these two famous rivers is taken up. They are both eternal witnesses of the perseverance and admirable valor of the Roman republic and realm. From Bir, the Euphrates flows to the south by south-east, or toward the [superscript: southern Sirocco], [fol. 382v] and then toward the Hiemal east, or east by south-east. Here lies the end and border of Arabia Deserta and Mesopotamia. And because it was on this river, as well as on both of its banks, that the Roman armies so many times followed their journeys and enterprises against the Persians and Parthians, and it was on this route that they suffered their greatest losses, we will now make a more extensive account of the Euphrates than what was previously given. The Romans followed three distinct routes to wage war against the Parthians, and later against the Persians, though these were basically one and the same enemy. The first [margin: was by way] of Greater Armenia, while the second passed through Mesopotamia. The first route was considered safer, for the region was populated and had abundant provisions for feeding the armies, and also because its terrain was mountainous and rugged, and thus the infantry, which was always the Romans’ chief strength, could prevail against the enemy cavalry. The Mesopotamian route was justly condemned and because it was dangerous and because it lacked the qualities just enumerated regarding Armenia. It runs [margin: through] a flat region, most of it desert. [margin: Almost everyone still retains memories] of [superscript: the] pitiable calamities that befell Marcus Crassus and [margin: Emperor Valerian],319 who were so unfortunate as to take this route. And though Armenia provided the aforementioned advantages, it also presented major difficulties to armies that passed through it: first, the huge stretch of open terrain that the army had to traverse in order to enter Media—it was the custom of the Persians in those days to abandon their territories in time of war, as it is today when enemies invade their territory. Second, it was impossible to carry all the necessary provisions 318  See Strabo, Geography, 16, 2:42. 319  Valerian I [Publius Licinius Valerianus Augustus] (ca. 200–260), Roman emperor (253– 260), who was captured by Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa (259) and died in captivity.

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for maintaining such a large number of people. Furthermore, it was just as impossible, [margin: if not more so], to transport the amount of military machinery that the Roman legions carried on their expedition—[superscript: hence the futility of Mark Antony’s expedition in Media]. And therefore, given these obstacles, which were so grievous and difficult, and also because armies were always amassed [fol. 383r] very close to the Euphrates by the emperors or their generals in Syria, the Romans considered the third route to be the safest and the most convenient. They would march their troops along the banks of this river or transport them down the river itself in large fleets of small ships. Their advance proved to be easier this way because they could reach the most important and opulent enemy cities so much more rapidly, not to mention that they could transport [margin: more supplies] in these fleets. [margin: Machinery was also transported] more easily as was the rest of the encumbrances pertaining to any army of that size. And thus Trajan, who was the first to really wage war against the Parthians using the power and strength of the empire, led most of his army along the Euphrates. The same practice was followed in the many ensuing years by Avidius Cassius, legate of Lucius Verus, Septimius Severus, [margin: Alexander Severus],320 Gordianus,321 Odaenathus of Palmyra,322 Carus,323 and Julian. And though it is true that these journeys were safer and surer when undertaken on the river, war was waged on the aforementioned region mainly because of the fame and riches that could be obtained by sacking the great cities of Babylon, [superscript: Ctesiphon],324 [text blacked out] and Seleucia, and it is also why these cities mostly lay in ruins during that time, and why the Emperor Diocletian325 moved against the Persians by passing through Armenia and the northern borders of Mesopotamia. And so, although Galerius 320  Severus Alexander [Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander Augustus] (AD 208–235), Roman emperor (AD 222–235), whose weak rule was marked by conflict with the Sassanids in the east and German invaders in the west. 321  Gordian III [Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius Augustus] (AD 225–244), Roman emperor (AD 238–244). He defeated the Sassanids at the Battle of Resaena (AD 243). 322  Lucius Septimius Odaenathus (ca. AD 220–267), ruler of Palmyra (AD 260–267). He supported Rome against Shapur I after the defeat of Valerian and succeeded in restoring Edessa, Nisibis, and Carrhae to Roman rule. 323  Marcus Aurelius Carus Augustus (ca. AD 230–283), Roman emperor; triumphant in military campaigns into the heart of Sassanid Persia during 283, for which he was called Persicus Maximus. 324  Ancient capital of the Parthian and Sassanian Empires. 325  Diocletian [Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Augustus] (AD 244–311), Roman emperor (AD 284–305). After repulsing the aggression of the Sassanid king Narseh, he managed to establish a lasting peace with the Sassanids.

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Maximianus Galerius,326 [margin: who was caesar, compatriot, and declared successor] [text blacked out] to the said emperor, was defeated in battle against the Persians, he later routed them memorably, taking the women and children of their king, Narseh,327 captive. The Roman Empire expanded more than ever before with the five provinces on the far side of the Tigris, which constituted a large portion [fol. 383v] of Assyria and Media. Constantius,328 son of Constantine the Great,329 then continued the war in Mesopotamia. The eastern region close to the Tigris River had been taken over by Shapur, king of Persia, during the discords and civil wars that Constantius fought against his brothers. Even though he came off victor, he always had bad fortune with the Persians in the war of the East, especially near Singer,330 where he lost a large part of his army. Finally, at that juncture, so close to the fall of the empire, the route by way of the Euphrates and borders of Arabia [margin: was forsaken because those great cities were barren], due to the reasons already mentioned. But Julian chose to follow it, and based on his subsequent actions, he seems to have had the intention and purpose of penetrating into the interior of Persia, seeking whatever was still left intact after the looting from past wars. And so, recklessly burning the fleet in which he had arrived at [superscript: Ctesiphon], he pressed forward well into the provinces of [margin: Stacie]331 and Susiana, where he was killed in that bloody encounter with the Persians. With the ensuing danger and retreat of his army, Nisibis was lost, along with the region east of the Tigris, which had been won in the time of Diocletian. [text blacked out] As has been mentioned, the Euphrates runs to the east by south-east, with Mesopotamia on its left side and Arabia Deserta on its right. A one-day [margin: journey] from the river on the road from Aleppo to Baghdad, in that very desert, there is a town named Thebe—[margin: Cicero calls it Tyba (Epist. I,

326  Galerius [Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus Augustus] (ca. AD 260–311), Eastern Roman emperor (AD 305–311), commander of the Eastern Roman forces under Emperor Diocletian, defeated by the Sassanid king Narseh in Roman Mesopotamia. He later defeated Narseh in two battles, and advanced along the Tigris to the Sassanid capital at Ctephison. 327  Sassanid emperor (AD 293–302), son of Shapur I. 328  Constantius II; see p. 587 n. 293. 329  Constantine I, the Great [Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus] (ca. AD 272– 337), first Christian emperor (AD 306–337). 330  A strongly fortified position south-east of Nisibis, taken from Constantius II by Shapur II in 359. 331  See Strabo, Geography, 11, 2:11.

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Bk. 15)]332—consisting of little more than a hundred houses. It is populated by Arabs because of its convenient location amidst the passing caravans that always pass to and fro between these two cities. Although these townspeople are poor—all the inhabitants of their nation generally are—and the place is unsanitary, it has the special natural [fol. 384r] gift of producing women who are on the whole remarkably lovely, albeit they are few in number, and thus even while wearing their filthy, poor attire, which is so repulsively ugly, the merchants of Europe and the other travelers that frequently pass through this place never fail to extol the grace and beauty of these Arab women. However, it is much more certain that they have fallen prey to a false notion of the sort to which people lacking in sure or true judgment succumb, judging from the fact that they also claim that the men are extremely uncivilized, ugly, and foulcoloured, even though both the men and the women are very hospitable and kind to travelers. It has been believed from time immemorial that this small, poor town is so ancient that by the reckoning of its inhabitants, in which all Arabs are most precise, it is more than 4,000 years old. And in fact those who reside in the towns of Arabia, as well as those who live in desert dawārs, consider themselves to be the first and most ancient inhabitants of the world. Nowadays, there is within eyeshot of the same road that leads to Baghdad—a [margin: short] journey from Thebe, [margin: Cicero’s Tyba]—a large remnant of wall constructed with square stones and towers, and in the façade of the doors there are engravings of some inscriptions in the Greek tongue. This is sure evidence that there was once a large and important city here. And as it is uncertain what the inscription says, in similar cases one could only rely on conjecture, but, according to this city’s location, we can assume it was Palmyra. It is famous because of the reputation of Zenobia333 and her husband Odaenathus, and especially because of the stiff resistance with which the Emperor Aurelian334 met when the city was taken. The Greek letters do not seem to disprove that it was Palmyra; some people conclude that [fol. 384v] 332  See Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, 15.1.2. Tyba was situated about 8 km (5 mi) north of Gazientep, Turkey (ancient Doliche) and 40 km (25 mi) west of the Euphrates on the Marsyas River; see Talbert, Barrington Atlas, map 67. 333  Born Julia Aurelia Zenobia (240–274), her full name in Arabic was al-Zabbaʾ bint Amr ibn Tharab ibn Ḥasan ibn ʿAdhina ibn al-Samida, commonly shortened to al-Zabba. After her marriage to Septimius Odaenathus, who became king of Palmyra, she was known as Septimia Zenobia and became queen of Palmyra (267–274). She took control of the kingdom after the death of her husband until she was defeated by Aurelian in 274. 334  Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus (ca. 214–275), Roman emperor (270–275). As emperor he restored the Gallic and Palmyrene Empires, which had been lost during the decades preceding his emperorship.

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the Arabs who inhabited it could not have possessed the knowledge or sophistication necessary to use such an alphabet, but since many centuries before the transmigration from Babylon, this city had always been oft visited, despite being in the desert. It was founded by Solomon in the desert, Arabia, or in the wilderness—all three of these words having the same meaning, as corroborated by III Kings and II Paralipomenon.335 In antiquity, all the Arabs bordering on Syria, Mesopotamia and Egypt had more urbane and sophisticated customs than they now possess. For one thing, they inhabited walled cities, as in the case of the Ammonites,336 Moabites,337 and Idumeans,338 who lived so close to the Promised Land, or Palestine. Alexander’s Greek successors, whose empire survived in Syria for so many years, continued to have abundant trade, traffic, and inhabitants in Palmyra. This was shown later in the Roman histories in which we find mention of the noble city Palmyra. According to their accounts, its ruler, Odaenathus, as a soldier of the empire, not only defended his city against Shapur,339 king of Persia, with what was left of the army of Emperor Valerian, [margin: whom he succeeded in the Eastern Empire], [text blacked out] but, after defeating Shapur in a great battle, he chased him all the way back to [superscript: Ctesiphon]. What is known even more clearly is that after the rebellion of Zenobia, wife of Odaenathus, she entered Upper Syria [text blacked out] and razed it with [margin: the help of Zabba, another valiant woman ruler of the troglodyte Arabs], forcing Aurelian to give her battle in Asia.340 After he overcame her near Emesa of Phoenicia, though the battle was arduous and almost indecisive, he laid siege to her in Palmyra, where she defended herself obstinately for a long time. Flavius Vopiscus341 says two things worth mentioning about this siege: first, that the defenders of the city had so much machinery 335  See I Kings [Vulgate: III Kings] 10:13 and II Chronicles [Vulgate: Paralipomenon] 9:14. 336  An ancient Semitic people that resided near Rabbath, Palestine. They were in perennial, though sporadic, conflict with the Israelites. After a long period of seminomadic existence, they established a kingdom north of Moab during the thirteenth century BC that was eventually captured by King David. 337  A West-Semitic people who lived in the highlands east of the Dead Sea (in present-day west-central Jordan) who flourished during the ninth century BC. 338  Inhabitants of a land bordering ancient Israel, also known as Edomites, in present-day south-western Jordan between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. They probably occupied that area from around the thirteenth century BC. 339  Shapur I, Sassanid emperor (ca. 215–270). 340  Silva y Figueroa is confused on this point, suggesting that Zabba was another person; see p. 596 n. 333. 341  One of six noms de plume used for the Roman author(s) of the Historia Augusta, a history of Roman emperors and usurpers from AD 117 to 284; see Magie, Historia Augusta, 26:1–5.

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mounted on the city walls and so much expertise in their defense, that not only did they launch the large rocks and heavy arrows that were the custom at that time, in keeping with what the Greek and Roman militia used, but, more impressively, they hurled fireworks along with arrows [fol. 385r] with the intention of burning the Roman ranks. Hardly any other nation had used such weapons in this way before. The second thing that Vopiscus writes is that Zenobia received help from the Blemmyes in this war.342 He praises their valor, though he does not mention what type of soldiers they were or what nation they were from. And although we can assume that they were Arabs because of whom they fought against, [superscript: where] the war was waged and [margin: the region that Strabo343 places them in]—Heliodorus344 and Vopiscus were the only ones to make mention of the courage of this people of such a distant occasion and time, and [superscript: Heliodorus’s mention was in] the Persian war with the Ethiopians—it can be concluded that the Blemmyes were of Ethiopian nationality. In both accounts the authors describe them as strong and valiant soldiers. [text blacked out] The shortest and safest road to Baghdad is the one that runs through the desert, passing through Thebe, though it is more inconvenient, solitary, and lacking in water; nothing but [superscript: rubble] is found in some very deep wells. Yet this route is chosen by travelers to escape from being held up by Arabs. The route along the banks of the Euphrates, while more convenient because of the populated towns that accompany it, is all the more infested with these thieves. The people do not travel closely in caravans, and even when they do, they often face great danger. The same is true of those who travel on the river, which is only done by day because of the many twisting and blind channels where the loaded boats are often capsized. Each night the merchants disembark to sleep on land, where, on both the Arabian and Mesopotamian banks, they are often assaulted and stripped of everything they carry with them. These bands of Arabs most frequently inhabit the land on both sides [fol. 385v] of the river in the winter and spring because of the much fodder that is available there for their livestock. During the hot season they move to the mountains over Nisibis, Kara Amid, and Orrha345 in the northernmost part of Mesopotamia, where they find a cooler area more suited to their way of life. 342  For the Blemmyes, who, as Silva y Figueroa reports and suggests, were a nomadic Nubian tribe and perpetual enemies of the Romans from the third century AD onward, see Pliny, Natural History, 7.23, and Magie, Historia Augusta, 33:4; 41:10. 343  See Strabo, Geography, 17, 1:53. 344  Heliodorus of Emesa, Greek author (ca. fourth century AD); see Heliodorus, Æthiopica, 9. 345  Edessa, present-day Şanliurfa; see p. 482 n. 353.

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Since the name Arabia might give rise to confusion and uncertainty for many who do not know which areas are collected under that term, it should be understood that it is not a specific name that designates just one, two, or three provinces, as is generally assumed by many other authors; rather, it is a general region comprised of many provinces. Nevertheless, the three Arabias are given special particular designations: Felix, Petra, and Deserta.346 These constitute that vast region delimited by the Persian Gulf on the east, the Red or Eritrean Sea on the west, the Indian Ocean on the south, and the [margin: Euphrates] [text blacked out] on the north. These are the main borders of the three Arabias, although they also border on other specific places, like Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. But taking into consideration the type of people, language, customs, and lifestyle of these Arabs, we see that they extend into and occupy many other parts of the world that are adjoined continuations of this particular, spacious land, which is Arabia of the three mentioned names. Therefore, the label Arabia should comprise all of that region of Ethiopia between the Red Sea and the Nile extending down to [margin: the city of Sawākin],347 along with what extends from the Nile through the interior of Africa for so many leagues until reaching the Atlantic Ocean, because it is inhabited by these same Arabs, despite having the names of so many different provinces. We have even more reason to say the same thing concerning the southern part of Mesopotamia on both sides of the Euphrates and the [margin: Tigris], this being a usual and natural dwelling place of the Arabs, as is all the land [margin: from Babylon and Basra] to the borders of First India on the eastern side of this river, [fol. 386r] and more particularly up to the cape and inlet of Gwadar, where the kingdoms of Ahvāz and Fārs and the province of Mogostan begin. This region on the opposite side, with the Persian Gulf in the middle, falls to the far east of Arabia Felix, which ends at Cape Rosalgat. [text blacked out] Leaving behind the desert road, in which there are only a few bands of Arabs, who would just as readily rob travelers as lodge them, and continuing near the Euphrates, we arrive at a large fortress of ancient construction made of pure brick; the river almost laps at it, although the fortress is situated on a high, raised part of the Arabian bank. There is currently a battalion of Turks garrisoned in this fortress, and at its foot a town of 200 poor Arab houses. The 346  The actual Latin designations were Arabia Felix (Blessed/Fortunate/Fertile Arabia), Arabia Petraea (named after its capital, Petra), and Arabia Deserta (Desert Arabia). 347  Also known as Suakin, a port city lying on the coast of the Red Sea, present-day Sudan. It is understood that it originated in the twelfth century and emerged as a successful rival to ʿAydhāb to the north. By ca. 1428 it was the chief African Red Sea port, serving as the major pilgrimage crossing point on the route to Mecca.

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thick, ancient wall of this remarkable fortress reveals that in other ages it was more important than it is now. The Arabs and Turks now call it Raba, and although in matters of antiquity the mere coincidence of names is often deceiving in the absence of further probable conjectures. Many things concur with the [margin: name] of this fortress, indicating that the city of Riblah may have stood on this site, or close to it. This was where Jehoahaz, son of Josiah,348 was turned over to [margin: Necho, king of Egypt, and where, twenty-two years later, king Zedekiah and his sons were brought to Nebuchadnezzar [margin: as prisoners in the last captivity of Babylon and destruction of Jerusalem. In the [text blacked out] [margin: twenty-third and twenty-fifth] chapters of IV Kings [text blacked out] and in the fifty-second chapter of Jeremiah, the Holy Scriptures name it as such, adding to the name of the city that of the province, and calling it the land of Hamath,349 which, according to the said passages and the eighth chapter of II Kings, we infer was the part of Arabia Deserta that borders on the Euphrates.350 For coming from Syria and Palestine to Babylon, the Raba fortress is on the same road where Nebuchadnezzar, during the long and close siege of Jerusalem, awaited its outcome so he would [fol. 386v] not stray too far from Babylon. And when scripture refers to this province of Hamath, it seems very much to border with Syria and Babylon, the former lying to the west and the latter to the east, not only because of what is said concerning Zedekiah’s prison, but also because of the aforementioned eighth chapter of II Kings, which says that [text blacked out] [margin: after King David defeated the Philistines and the Moabites, he waged war on Hadadezer, king of Zobah]. It also says that having brought Hadadezer under his rule, [margin: as well as men from Damascene Syria who had come to his aid], and stripping them of their many riches, he [David] marched through all of [margin: Lesser] Syria, conquering everything up to the Euphrates. Upon hearing the news of these victories, Toi, king of Hamath and enemy of Hadadezer, known as king of Zobah in the aforementioned chapter of the [text blacked out] [margin: scriptures], sent his son Joram to David to congratulate him.351 And notwithstanding that according to the account found there and in the tenth chapter of the same book, it appears that Zobah and Rehob were contained within [superscript: Lesser] Syria, [margin: as were] other cities and nations that are mentioned. It also 348  King of Judah (641–609 BC). 349  Present-day Hama on the Orontes River in west-central Syria; it is referred to as Hamath in the Hebrew Bible. 350  See II Kings [Vulgate: IV Kings] 23:19, 25:21; Jeremiah 52:9–10; II Samuel [Vulgate: II Kings] 8:9. 351  See II Samuel [Vulgate: II Kings] 8:10.

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stands to reason that Hadadezer was their king, as well as the king of other cities [margin: on the Mesopotamian side of the Euphrates].352 And so Toi, king of Hamath, was not only his neighbor, but his enemy, as is normally the case with all kings whose provinces and kingdoms adjoin each other. And as part of his celebration of his enemy’s defeat, he sent messages of congratulations to David.353 Likewise, Ezekiel places the road that leads to Hamath] to the north of the city of Damascus in chapter forty-eight.354 Accordingly, it can be clearly seen that no part of Eastern Asia is as close to [superscript: Lesser] Syria and Mesopotamia as Arabia Deserta, [superscript: according to what is indicated] in the Holy Scriptures. Doubtless, the land of Hamath, [text blacked out] in which Zedekiah was taken captive when they [margin: slit his sons’ throats and put out his eyes] in the city of Reblatha, was the same province of Hamath that was home to king Toi, enemy of Hadadezer. Consequently, that [superscript: same] [text blacked out] Hamath must have been Arabia Deserta, [margin: or at least the part of it that we have indicated] that spreads so expansively down along the Euphrates between the east and the south as far as Assyria and Babylon, [margin: and then much farther down along the whole coast of the Persian Sea]. And though the Holy Scriptures provide sufficient evidence of this, Polybius,355 [fol. 387r] a highly respected author and one of the leading writers of antiquity, in his fifth chapter also situates Riblah within Arabia, in that same part of Arabia close to Commagene or [superscript: Lesser] greater Syria, and on the road that leads from there to Babylon, but with some change in the spelling from how it is found in the Holy Scriptures. Leaving Raba, the Euphrates makes many turns, at times entering both Mesopotamia and Arabia before reaching the city of Ana, which is quite familiar to all who make this journey by way of either the desert or the river. This entire city, or, more aptly, this huge village, is made up of only one street that extends along both sides of the Euphrates, so that the river runs for more than a long league between two strips of houses. All the houses have large gardens and orchards containing a large number of palm, lemon, orange, and citron trees. The residents also cultivate a good deal of very fine grapes, figs, and pomegranates, among other fruits. There is an abundance of water from both the river’s aqueducts and the waterwheels that they use to draw water from it. These wheels, which are small and easily moved by an ox, like the ones found on waterwheels in Spain, are used when the Euphrates is low, but when 352  See II Samuel [Vulgate: II Kings] 10:6–8. 353  See I Chronicles 18:9–10. 354  See Ezekiel 48:16–17. 355  Greek historian (ca. 200–118 BC); see Polybius, Histories, 5:3–267.

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the river runs very high—and the water consequently very deep—enormous wheels many fathoms in diameter are employed that are driven by the current alone, similar to the waterwheels of the Tagus on the vega of Toledo. Those who dwell on the banks of the Euphrates use them to water their gardens and their sown fields [fol. 387v] from Bir to Babylon and from there to the city of Basra. The town of Anah, though having only one street, contains more than 1,500 houses. And as it sits on both sides of the river, as mentioned, it is on the border of two provinces: Mesopotamia and Arabia Deserta. The houses are all low, constructed of poor materials such as earthen walls and adobe, like most of the houses of the East, but, with a view that encompasses the Euphrates and the many orchards, the town presents a remarkably cheerful and delightsome appearance. Apart from the Arabs, who constitute the majority of the inhabitants, there are many Jews in the town, and almost all of them speak Spanish. They, as well as the rest of the residents, are very kind and hospitable toward travelers, especially those from Europe to whom they and the rest of the easterners refer with just one generic name: Franks. And being such a large town, Anah is the special seat of the most powerful āmir, or sheikh,356 of all the nearby Arabs on either bank and of the rest of the peasants that dwell with [margin: their] tribes and livestock in those long, spacious plains of Mesopotamia and Arabia. The emir enjoys the same way of life; he rarely resides in settlements, as is consistent with ancient custom. Traditionally, Anah is esteemed and considered a very ancient place of great importance by the local Arabs. This can easily be corroborated by the eighteenth chapter of IV Kings, where Rabsaris,357 Sennacherib’s358 satrap, mentions it as he tries to persuade the people of Jerusalem in the presence of the ministers of Hezekiah359 to surrender to his king as their powerful and merciful master. 356  A general term meaning “the chief of an Arab family or tribe; the headman of an Arabian village; an Arab chief; an Eastern governor, prince, king. Now also used among Arabs as a general title of respect” (OED, s.v. “sheikh”). Therefore, strictly speaking, a sheikh is not synonymous with amīr. See also Y&B, 825, s.v., “sheikh” and Encyclopedia Islamica, s.v. “shaykh.” 357  One of three officers Sennacherib sent to Lachish with a message of warning; see II Kings [Vulgate: IV Kings] 28:17. 358  Sargonid ruler of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (705–681 BC). He invaded Judah in 701 BC in response to the decision of King Hezekiah of Judah to stand up to Assyrian dominance. While dozens of smaller cities and towns were taken, besieged Jerusalem held out, or (contra the biblical account in II Kings [Vulgate: IV Kings] 8–10), was never besieged at all, but rather enclosed by small fortifications; see Young, Hezekiah, 61–87. 359  King of Judah (716–697 BC).

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[margin: Much farther along the Euphrates and to the west of this town is a small, high island where one can now see a great fortress and many houses, all in ruins, which fill the place. The former was evidently the famous citadel of Circesium360 built by Diocletian, for many years an impregnable defense on the border with the Persians.] From Anah, the Euphrates runs eastward, jogging [fol. 388r] a few times to the north. Because the soil here is soft and cavernous, the course of the river has changed over the [text blacked out] [superscript: years], especially when it runs impetuously, swelling and overflowing its banks after heavy runs or the summer [text blacked out] snowmelt. But while this has happened several times, the river never strays far from its ancient course, much or most of the time returning to it. Where it enters the most ancient and renowned province of Assyria, the ground is especially cavernous and oily, [margin: and therefore] soft and crumbly, and thus the riverbed changes course even more frequently. But even though most of the soil in Assyria has these properties, there are sections of the Euphrates where its current crashes against sections of tall, steep, and craggy mountains that block its course. In these places the riverbanks are extremely high, with cliffs falling sheer over the river. At their highest point these cliffs are so much closer together than they are at the surface of the water that they seem to be on the verge of collapse, and hence those who travel through these places where the river is deep and navigable gape with utter horror at these astoundingly high cliffs that seem to be detached from the rest of the mountain, and which line the deep and sheer gorges that appear to be on the brink of toppling over on top of them. In many places there are giant carved stones set in the bed of the river in the main current that look like bridge cutwaters,361 with thick iron points mounted on their leading edges [fol. 388v] that face into the current, so that those who would desire to negotiate those sections of the river are prevented from doing so. That is because the stones are so big and thick that when the water level is high, a large cargo boat would be prevented from floating over the top of them, and when the level is low, no boat, however small, would be able to navigate between one stone and the next, especially because of the iron points that face against the current. But since the Euphrates has such large avenues, with some of its channels being closed off while others are as open as the width of its bed, many of these stones are now on almost dry land, while others are in removed areas, and thus merchants can navigate [text blacked out] the river in their vessels, in 360  Present-day Deir ez-Zor, Syria. 361  A cutwater is the “wedge-shaped end of the pier of a bridge that serves to divide the current” (OED, s.v. “cutwater”).

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which they bring their merchandise from Syria and Armenia. However, these crafts are much smaller than the vessels used by the Romans to navigate on the Euphrates in their expeditions. This river projects so far to the east that it almost flows into the Tigris. Nature has [margin: left] no more than a slender interstice of land between these two rivers, measuring no more across than a Spanish league. The principle cities of the Parthians were Seleucia and [margin: Ctesiphon]. The latter was situated on the banks of the Tigris where it could not be molested by the Roman fleets that [margin: transported] [text blacked out] machinery and encumbrances of war down the Euphrates to come up against them. And thus Trajan, the first emperor to undertake the destruction of this Eastern realm, dug a large navigable canal from the Euphrates to the Tigris on which his fleets floated easily over to the Tigris and the war came to a happy conclusion for him as he sacked the two aforementioned cities [text blacked out]. Babylon suffered the same destruction [fol. 389r] during that war. By then this last-named city was bereft of inhabitants, as has been mentioned, most of its grandeur having been transferred to [superscript: Ctesiphon] [text blacked out] and Seleucia, which flourished at that time over all other cities of the East. All subsequent captains and emperors continued to use [margin: this canal], which connected one river with the other, for as long as they continued fighting the same war. And so, seventy years after Trajan, Avidius Cassius used this passage when he conquered and destroyed Seleucia. Septimius Severus did the same when he captured Ctesiphon, as did Aurelius Carus when he took the same [superscript: Ctesiphon] and Coche.362 When the Persians saw how much damage was being inflicted on them because of this navigable canal, they attempted to obstruct navigation on the Euphrates by laying down the great cluster of stones described above, although nowadays no one remembers why they were placed there. Those who navigate the river simply marvel when they [margin: see] how carefully manufactured they were and how precisely they were placed in such a particular arrangement in the channel of the river. But anyone with even a passing familiarity with antiquity will perceive that they were fashioned for the aforementioned purpose of obstructing navigation. When the ever-ambitious Emperor Julian embarked on the same journey that was undertaken by Emperor Carus more than eighty years earlier as he made his way to the Tigris, he found the canal blocked and full of rocks and 362  Silva y Figueroa is technically correct in assuming that Seleucia, founded by Seleucus I, Nicator, was distinct from Coche, a nearby village that was no doubt absorbed into it. See Erickson, “Compendium of Roman History,” 170–72; Den Boeft, Philological and Historical Commentary, xix, 102, 152–53, 204.

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other debris, [fol. 389v] and thus in need of clearing. And though the canal was dry as a bone, the Euphrates ran deep and clean. The water rushed in with great force, giving free passage to his fleet, which easily crossed over into the riverbed and current of the Tigris. At that time this renowned canal was called the Nahr Malcha363 in the Persian tongue, [margin: or in whatever language was in use at the time], [text blacked out] meaning “River of the Kings,” because it had been built by such great and powerful princes and because they made use of it in their great military enterprises, something that added to their military glory. And though ancient sources do not indicate that the Persians blocked the Euphrates by placing big stones in its riverbed, when we see the way they are situated today with their iron points facing into the current, it seems clear enough that they were placed there for defense, so that the Euphrates could not be navigated. This must have been their purpose, to assiduously impede navigation on the canal, or the River of the Kings, which is what Ammianus Marcellinus calls it, [margin: and surely the stones Julian found there that blocked it off were of the same kind that are now seen in the riverbed of the Euphrates.]364 And the fact that this author, or any other, fails to mention that the flow of the Euphrates was obstructed, it must be because its bed is so large and spacious that those big stones could have been removed with little effort, as they have been in several places, or because another canal could have been dug next to the one that was filled with stones, on which his fleets could have easily navigated, though they may have been blocked up with the passage of time. [fol. 390r] Many people are convinced that all of the water from the Euphrates empties into and joins with the waters of the Tigris in this location, and that these two rivers run together through Baghdad. And while this last city is erroneously believed to be identical with ancient Babylon, especially by [margin: many] Europeans, such a notion is clearly false. It is now well known that the Euphrates carries all of its water in its own riverbed through the ruins of the true Babylon, which will be described below. And when part of the river was diverted into the Tigris during the times of the great captains, it was done by violently breaking up the short interstice of land mentioned above so that their fleets could pass from one river to the other through a canal that was not natural, but man-made, and this passage could always be obstructed or checked by throwing all manner of debris into it. This canal, which is one league long, can still be [margin: clearly] seen today just as it was described by Ammianus Marcellinus. In many places it is blocked up and obstructed, though when the 363  Persian for “Royal/King’s Canal.” 364  See Ammianus Marcellinus, History, 24.6.1.

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Euphrates and the Tigris swell significantly, as they do during the winter because of the rains and at the [margin: beginning of spring] when the snows from Armenia melt, the water, which is then much higher than usual, flows into this great ditch or canal, enabling mid-sized boats to pass over from the Euphrates to the Tigris, or vice versa. And this is the cause for the error referred to above: being people believe that the two rivers come together at this juncture, when their actual confluence is at a point many leagues downriver from [fol. 390v] the ruins of Babylon. After following the length of this memorable canal where it enters the Tigris, if one travels upriver a short distance, one enters the region where our previous description of the ruins of Seleucia left off. As has already been explained, these ruins are situated on the eastern bank of the canal, and very close to it. Logically, this is where that great and opulent city must have been located, because after the canal was dug for the purpose of conquering Seleucia and [margin: Ctesiphon], the Tigris was used to transport the fleet to this last-named city and, with the current in its favor, the fleet arrived easily in a short time. But it would have been difficult to navigate the Tigris upstream to Seleucia, since its current is so rapid and violent, as has been mentioned, and so a canal became necessary, which according to solid and rational conjecture, would have been dug very close to the [margin: boundary of] where Seleucia was situated. The richness and grandeur of Seleucia is recognized and measured by the number of people that died in it or were taken captive when it was captured and destroyed by Avidius Cassius, the legate of Emperor Lucius Verus. Its demise actually began with the [superscript: universal] [text blacked out] great and lasting plague that raged during the reign of Marcus Antoninus,365 the Philosopher, and during the lifetime of Galen366 himself, the physician who was so celebrated and famous [margin: not only] in Europe, but in many other parts of the world because of his elegant and erudite art. All of the campaigns carried out by the aforementioned princes and their legates against the Persians were magnificent, heroic, and worthy of a special chronicle. And that is all the more reason why the succinctness of the accounts that have come down to us is so bizarre. Although praise is due these great emperors [text blacked out] [fol. 391r], what we actually find are accounts that are by and large false. All the writers contemporary with them come up short. All one manages to find in them is a brief and deeply confusing epitome, absolutely lacking in the kind of order or knowledge of military art that should 365  Marcus Aurelius [Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus] (121–180), Roman philosopher, emperor (161–180). 366  Aelius Galenus (129–ca. 200), Roman physician of Greek origin.

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be included in histories of this sort. This shortcoming appears most frequently when the victories that were wrested from that Asiatic realm, the rival of the Roman Empire, were so much more laudable than many others, which, though less noble and glorious, were described with such prolixity. And it certainly can be affirmed that the histories that were written regarding that time are so dry, so sterile, and so confusing that one begins to yearn for something that resembles one [text blacked out] of the many histories that were penned on the occasion of Trajan’s grand victories over the Parthians, even if they were authored by such ignorant and highly inept writers, as Lucian367 tells us there were during that period, of which he was a contemporary. Brief and obscure are the accounts of the enterprises of the emperors from Trajan to Avidius Cassius and Septimius Severus. While the descriptions of the war between Alexander Severus and Artaxerxes may be confused and imprecise, there is practically nothing written concerning the wars that Gordian and [margin: Odaenathus] fought against Shapur, despite the fact that he was such a truculent enemy and that the victories wrested from him were all the more illustrious because they avenged the miserable imprisonment of the Emperor Licinius Valerian,368 an ignominious footnote to the greatness of Rome. The only [fol. 391v] thing anyone ever wrote about the Emperor Aurelius Carus is that after he pressed on to the east to wage war against the Persians, he reached as far as [margin: Ctesiphon], and after pitching camp on the banks of the Tigris, he was killed by lightning as he lay ill in [margin: his tent]. Only Eutropius369 elaborates somewhat on this in his too brief Compendium by saying that Carus’s unfortunate death took place after he had taken the cities of Coche and [margin: Ctesiphon]. And though this author’s [superscript: treatment] of these events is so succinct and laconic, he is to be given credit, especially since other authors, while they do not [margin: deny these events], omit them altogether, even though they followed in his footsteps just eighty years later when Julian invaded Persia, [text blacked out] accompanied on the same journey by his companion Ammianus Marcellinus. These authors even cite the name of the city and fortress of Coche. It is not clear whether it was on the Ctesiphon side of the river or the Seleucia side, or whether it was upstream or downstream from them on the Tigris, although according to Ammianus it seems that it was very close to the park or woods that Julian’s army found by the banks of the same river, unless during the time of Emperor Carus it had been [superscript: 367  Lucian of Samosata; see p. 582 n. 274. 368  Licinius I [Gaius Valerius Licinianus Licinius Augustus] (ca. 263–325), Roman emperor (308–324), colleague and rival of Constantine I. 369  Flavius Eutropius (ca. 320–378), Roman historian.

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rebuilt] [text blacked out] and had gone by a different name, being the same as the ruins of Seleucia.370 Since we have referred to the death of this prince, it seems fitting to include a record of how it took place, according to Flavius Vopiscus, though the latter fails to mention that Carus captured either Coche or [margin: Ctesiphon]: Testimonii cuiusdam Julii Calphurnii, qui expeditioni interfuit, Vopiscus ait Carum usque ad Ctesiphonm pervenisse. Scripsisseque Calphurnius ad urbis Prefectum, aegrotanti imperatore, ad Tigrimque castra metanti, tantam repente caliginem obortam fuisse, cum vibrantium fulgurum [fol. 392r] tonitruumque horrendo fragore, ut imperiali in tentorio, vix alter alterum, quanis herentes inter se, agnosci se potuisset; tum Carus, extreman agens animam, discussa caligine mortus repertus est, cui cubicularii, sive prae mestitia sui imperatoris morte, vel, ut credibilius est, tempestatis magnitudine consternati, ardentibus cereis tentorium incenderunt; unde fama oborta imperatorem fulmine absumptum.371 These are almost Vopiscus’s exact words, [superscript: wherein he says] that one Julius [margin: Calphurnius], a participant in the campaign, wrote an account of it to the prefect of the city of Rome, saying that Emperor Carus had reached [margin: Ctesiphon], and after finding himself ill after pitching his royal camp on the banks of the Tigris, the sky suddenly became dark, with terrible lightning and thunder. Those who were in the praetorium, or the imperial [margin: pavilion], could scarcely recognize each other, even when standing very close together. After the sky cleared, Emperor Carus, who had been in the throes of death, was found dead. And his chamber servants, either in consequence of their grief and pain on seeing [margin: their emperor dead], or more likely, being terrified by the fury of the storm, in their alarm set fire to the tent linens, from which the report spread that the emperor had died after being struck by lightning. From the terminus of the canal one can reach Baghdad in less than two days on the Tigris by [margin: floating] [text blacked out] with the current. But the overland journey takes three days, and pressing on to Mosul takes another three days, starting from the same canal, and this is not traveling in a caravan but in moderate daily stages on horseback. Today, Baghdad is a large, famous, and heavily populated city. [fol. 392v] It is the customary residence of the Turkish pashas, or governors, from the entire province that at the present encompasses Assyria and Babylon and a large portion of Arabia Deserta and Susiana. The Tigris runs through this city, and most of its populace lives 370   See Erickson, “Eutropius’ Compendium of Roman History,” 9:14:1, and Ammianus Marcellinus, History, 24.6.2. 371  See Magie, Historia Augusta, 30.8.2–7.

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on the eastern side. There is only one small neighborhood of poor people on the west side, [margin: which is where there are a few caravanserais in which travelers stay], and where boatmen and fishermen live, as well as other Arabs who serve as guides for those merchants who traverse the desert from Aleppo to Damascus, or to Eṣfahān, Qazvīn, and Basra, when they, or other travelers, do not travel in caravans. This poor neighborhood is joined to the rest of the city by a bridge that spans the Tigris. The bridge is made of floats, though the force of the current often breaks it up, as often happens where there are rivers of comparable size and ferocity. The city is big and heavily populated, bigger than Damascus, and its government enjoys a much better reputation. It is inhabited mostly by Arabs, many of whom are Nestorian Christians, while the remainder are native Janissaries, descendants of Turks and indigenous women they have been taking as wives since the city was captured by the Persians. These people are hostile toward the Turks and Janissaries that come from Constantinople with the pashas to rule that province. Nature has proved to be more powerful at close range than from afar. No more than 400 of these Janissaries are allowed in at a time, and all of these return with the governor [fol. 393r] at the end of his term, at which time another 400 are permitted to enter, this pattern never varying. There are upward of 8,000 to 10,000 of these native Janissaries, between foot soldiers and cavalry. As has been explained, they are half Arab. Most of them are highly skilled harquebusiers, and the rest are proficient archers or dexterous with the long pikes that are made from Indian stalks, like the ones used by desert Arabs. And since the main force and defense of the city falls to them, they are inclined to lose respect for their viceroys and refuse to obey them, rising up and rioting against them at the slightest provocation, so that the pashas are often forced to gently negotiate with them, giving them liberal payments that they demand so they are not thrown out of the city, as has happened on occasion. [margin: Next to and within the city walls] is a fortress, complete with moat and numerous pieces of artillery. This is where the pashas, or viceroys, live with their households, as do some of the European Janissaries. As they are few in number, the rest of them dwell in houses next to the fortress. Whenever a disturbance arises between them and the inhabitants of the city, they take shelter in their barracks and defend themselves with cover of the artillery from the fortress. The native men and women of Baghdad are generally dark skinned like the Berbers who live on the Mediterranean [margin: coast]. They are enormously agreeable and friendly to foreigners, especially to Europeans. Baghdad, [fol. 393v] of all the cities in the East, extends visitors the safest and most pleasant welcome and is to be praised for its kind hospitality, which it seems to have inherited from nearby Babylon, now in ruins, [margin: in which guests

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were always treated very well at the peak of its ancient opulence and grandeur]. The houses are built in the same style, and suffer from the same lack of cleanliness, as the ones in Shīrāz, Eṣfahān, and Qazvīn, although many of them have been constructed with bricks that are regularly removed from the ruins of Babylon, which is only six or seven leagues away. And since the only place that is hotter than this city is Hormuz, all the houses have underground rooms where people can find protection during the summer from the severe heat of the day. After sunset they return upstairs to sleep on their roofs and terraces, as in Hormuz, Basra, and Lār, and in the other cities mentioned earlier. Food is plentiful and good, especially several kinds of big fat pigeons, a great many of which are raised by the city’s residents, who are very partial [text blacked out] to them, as are all easterners. And while fruit is not as abundant as in Shīrāz and Eṣfahān, there is no lack of very good grapes and figs, or of the biggest and best pomegranates found anywhere. Above all, there are excellent dates; date palms, from which they are harvested, fill the surrounding plains. The Tigris supplies the inhabitants with good fish, particularly a certain kind they call phrate, and which the Europeans call the phrat fish, because many of them are also found in the Euphrates. This fish is as big as a salmon, but is very white, fat, and has an excellent flavor. The Tigris looks as big here as the Rhône [superscript: just] before it reaches Avignon,372 and though its bed is not as big as that of the Euphrates [fol. 394r], it is not considered to carry less water, since its current is so rapid. Its water, after it settles, is very good and healthy, much better than that of the Euphrates, and everyone compares it to that of the Nile, so famous and celebrated the world over. Judging from Baghdad’s location and size, and from the fact that it was for so many years the seat of one of the two caliphates, or ecclesiastical and temporal principalities, it is almost unquestionably the ancient famed city of Ctesiphon, which has been mentioned so many times.373 Not only is it the case that the latter is located on the far bank of the Tigris, very close to the ditch, or defile, that joins the two rivers, but it is also true that all of that area was frequently traversed by the Roman armies [margin: who marched upon this city and Seleucia during their aforementioned expeditions and wars]. And those who persist in stubbornly denying that it ever was Ctesiphon are forced to assert that it has remained completely desolate, just like Seleucia and Babylon, ever since those days, and that Baghdad was founded by the Arabs [margin: in a different location] after the introduction of the sect of Mohammed.

372  The comparison is to the Rhône near Avignon. 373  The ruins of Ctesiphon are actually approximately 35 km (22 mi) south of Baghdad.

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More credible is the view of those who hold that Ctesiphon was intact during the time of the Emperor Julian, and that later, the Arabs, Turks, or Persians, who embraced their sect, built it up it and named it Baghdad. This view accords with the first opinion, namely that Ctesiphon and Baghdad are one and the same. But what can be asserted with certainty is that Baghdad was founded later, being founded and later restored [superscript: expanded] or restored from the rubble and ruins of Babylon, though it may have suffered some subsequent destruction, [margin: just as the city of Seleucia had been built up before it, becoming a great city when many of the inhabitants of Babylon were relocated there, as Pliny says].374 In fact, even in our day much brick is taken from those most ancient foundations and solid structures for use in the construction of [fol. 394v] every new building in Baghdad, or to repair the ones that in consequence of their age collapse and fall in ruins. From what can be gleaned from ancient sources, it appears that Ctesiphon was never completely destroyed, even though it was captured by Trajan, Septimius Severus, and Carus, for when Julian approached the city, leaving his fleet behind and engaging the Persians who had come forth from the city, he did not attempt to capture it, even though he routed them and forced them to retreat back into the city. Instead, he pressed on, his journey resulting in the outcome that has already been described. It is unimaginable that during the 200 short years between those events and the time of Muḥammad such a noble and great city would have come to an end or been annihilated, considering the rich and fertile expanse of land in which it is situated, and especially considering how tremendously beneficial the Tigris River is to it. It is also known that Ctesiphon was not founded by the ancient Persians, nor by any of Alexander’s successors; in fact, scarcely any reference is made of it before Trajan. [margin: Strabo says that in his time it was already a great city].375 All that is said is that this brave emperor took it or captured it, in addition to Seleucia and Babylon, the last named city by this time surely being so desolate and deteriorated that after that date no more mention of it is made in Roman histories. It seems that after Trajan’s war, Babylon became wholly desolate and uninhabited. The populace who survived its destruction [text blacked out] [superscript: sought refuge] in Ctesiphon, which was a safer place during the war with the Romans because it was on the other side of the Tigris. And it is clearly understood that there was no trace of population in Babylon [margin: with any name] attached to it during the ages that followed Trajan, from the fact that no reference or mention is made of Babylon [margin: after Odaenathus [margin: and Gordian 374  See Pliny, Natural History, 6.30. 375  See Strabo, Geography, 17, 1:16.

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defeated Shapur, [fol. 395r] forcing him to flee to Ctesiphon, because by that time the few remnants of the ancient [text blacked out] [superscript: populace] of Babylon had been relocated in Ctesiphon, which was at that time a new and well-populated city and a more secure frontier in the war that the Romans had so many times waged against them. The Tigris continues its course to the south of Baghdad for several leagues, where its main channel is rejoined by a branch that was earlier derived from it. Before reaching the canal, or channel, that comes from the Euphrates, it veers to the south-east by south of [superscript: south-east]. In ancient times this branch, or arm, was called the Pisitigris,376 because it originates and derives from its own bed, as will be further explained below. From the Nahr Malcha, that oft-mentioned canal, the Euphrates continues its course to the south and south by south-east through the fertile plains of Assyria and the province of Babylon. In many places a multitude of channels, or minor canals, branch off from it to irrigate these plains. The closer one approaches the great ruins of the famed city of Babylon, the denser and richer the countryside appears, becoming thick with giant palm trees in many places, while other areas abound in bitumen springs, with which the celebrated and magnificent walls of Babylon were anciently constructed, as were other miraculous buildings in that illustrious city. Its desolate location on the western bank of the Euphrates, next to which there is now a small village, is one long day’s journey through the desert downriver from the town of Fallujah, [fol. 395v] which is where those who travel [margin: through the aforementioned town of Anah cross the river] on their way from Aleppo and Damascus to Baghdad. Farther along, on the right side and toward the south, large sections of the massive foundations of Babylon can be seen on either side of the [superscript: Euphrates], though they have been mostly worn away because of the enormous amount of brick that is continuously chipped away for construction projects in Baghdad, which was founded and built up with this ancient and most noble rubble. These bricks, which are not as big as most people might imagine, are half a foot longer than the usual ones, their width being proportional to their breadth. The bitumen with which they were joined together is almost imperceptible, having decomposed because of its extreme age. The farther these ruins extend to the south, the bigger are the sections of wall lying on the ground. The Arabs and [margin: Nestorian Christians] who dwell in the surrounding countryside, as well as the residents of Baghdad, have preserved much lore in their living memory, most of it fabulous, but some is corroborated by Holy Scripture, though the people point out places where these events took 376  The present-day Kārūn.

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place, which appear to be highly dubious, reciting these tales to pull travelers in and extract something from them. For example, they point out the oven into which Daniel and his companions were thrust, the pit or cistern of lions into which the same Daniel was thrown, the judgment and salvation of Susana, the dungeon of king Manasseh,377 as well as other antiquities about which there can be no certainty, because among those vast ruins there is no evidence whatever that attests to them.378 Quite apart from the lack of inscriptions, there is not a single rock or column that remains as proper authentication. From what one gathers from [fol. 396r] ancient sources, as well as what the visible ruins show us in our day, this monumental city, including its walls, temples, [superscript: houses], Hanging Gardens, bridge and immense cisterns, which collected water from the flooding of the Euphrates, was constructed entirely with bricks. [margin: But according to Quintus Curtius, the bridge that spans this river, serving as a sturdy support of the Hanging Gardens, was made of stone.379 The city’s foundations can now be seen to extend for [superscript: more than three leagues], and in the center of this space there still stands an extremely tall dome or cupola that rests on thick brick walls. The commoners claim it is the tower of Babel, where the confounding of languages took place, though some people, [margin: like the Venetian Cesare Federici,380 who seem much closer to the truth, say it is part of the temple of Bel, so highly venerated by the Babylonians assert that the remains of this tower are on a high hill visible far in the distance in the midst of a plain on which there are many ruins of mud bricks strewn about, though it is more probable that this hill is the ruined pyramid that Alexander attempted to repair in Babylon, according to book 16 of Strabo.]381 [text blacked out] But because the remains of the tower, though its original existence could not and should not be denied, date back to its construction during the primordial era of the world, so proximate to the universal flood, it was no doubt completely consumed by the deluge, together with the passage of so many centuries. Not a trace of it was left in the age of Herodotus,382 not to mention the time of Alexander. Nowadays, many people 377  King of Judah. 378  See Daniel 3:19–20; 6:7–24; 13:1–64; and II Chronicles [Vulgate: Paralipomenon] 33:11. 379  See Quintus Curtius, History of Alexander, 5, 1:17–33. 380  Venetian traveler and author of an account of his journey from Venice to Burma and return (1563–1581); see Pinto, Viaggi di C. Federici, and Charpentier, “Cesare di Federici,” 146–53, and 156–57. 381  See Strabo, Geography, 16, 1:5. 382  Herodotus, Greek historian from Asia Minor (484–435 BC); see Herodotus, Persian Wars, 1.178–83.

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visit and inspect these ruins because they lie on the only road from Baghdad to Aleppo, which is traversed not only by numerous caravans belonging to Arabs, Armenians, and Persians, as well as travelers [superscript: from] other parts of the East, but also by caravans in which [margin: Europeans] regularly set out from [superscript: Persia], Hormuz, India, and the Philippines on their way to Spain and [margin: other parts of Europe] via Aleppo. It is quite remarkable how use has facilitated this overland route, making it familiar, even though it runs so extensively through enemy territory, [fol. 396v] traversing a large portion of the realm of Persia, and subsequently the lands of the Turk. But what is even more amazing is that many men travel it alone, without any knowledge whatsoever of the language or customs of such hostile nations, with only an Arab or Persian as guide, who are like the mule boys in Spain. And it is even more amazing, even beyond compare, that these Arabs execute their duty with those whom they guide with the utmost loyalty until they fulfill the terms of the voyage, though they should travel through vast barren wastelands. Anciently, Babylon was located on the boundary between Arabia and Assyria, where its ruins still lie to this day, more specifically on the boundary of the province of Babylon, which is the southernmost part of Assyria. Its grandeur and the astonishing strength of its walls, along with its other miraculous buildings, are mentioned both in general and in detail by all the most important authors of antiquity. From them this knowledge spread until it filled the most remote corners of Europe. No sacred writings from any city in the world, not even all of them put together, mention Babylon as much as do the Holy Scriptures from Jerusalem, which even inform us that the Euphrates River, which we have discussed at such length, and continue to discuss, ran through it. And though Babylon still retained its celebrated grandeur during the time of Alexander the Great, when it boasted a vast population and was replete with the riches and delights of Asia, it had by then been greatly diminished and reduced from its former state after [fol. 397r] suffering such pitiful destruction at the hands of Cyrus the Great, king of the Persians, more than 200 years earlier. A chronicle of this war, which was fought between such powerful princes and was hence very long and filled with several parlous moments before the fall of Babylon, can be found in Herodotus, Xenophon, Pompeius Trogus,383 and Diodorus, who were the ones [superscript: among] the surviving ancient authors who managed to leave us an account of it, which was [margin: so

383  Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus (late first century BC), of Celtic origin, Roman historian whose lost work was transmitted via Justin’s Epitoma.

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unclear] to them that they treat it in a most succinct and brief manner.384 In his fiftieth and fifty-first chapters, [margin: the great tragic prophet Jeremiah depicts for us with great accuracy all the events and incidents that took place the night of the fall of this most noble city], [text blacked out] [superscript: though he does so artistically], yet much [superscript: more] insistently and clearly. He says the city’s defenses were penetrated via the riverbed of the Euphrates. Herodotus concurs.385 The prophet Daniel, in the fifth chapter, tells us that after he interpreted the miraculous writing for king Belshazzar,386 which the latter was made to see during his banquet, the king was killed [text blacked out] [superscript: during the same night], and that the Medes and Persians were responsible for his death and the sacking of Babylon. And from what can be gathered from the same chapter and the one that follows, Darius,387 the king of Media, succeeded him on the throne of the kingdom of the Babylonians.388 Xenophon writes that while the king of Babylon was at a banquet that had continued on into the night, news reached him that the city had been invaded by the enemy.389 Thus Daniel and Xenophon agree with the prophet Jeremiah that this incident took place at night while the king was caught off guard during a banquet. Jeremiah emphasizes his sudden alarm when many people [superscript: stumbled over each other] to deliver the news to the king that the city was being invaded. One gathers from Jeremiah that the main reason the inhabitants of the city were so careless while it was under enemy siege is that a great festival [fol. 397v] was being celebrated that day, [margin: as later happened in Syracuse and Carthage]. During that sumptuous last banquet, which lasted far into the night, all the magistrates, captains, soldiers, and other leading people of the city [margin: were] buried in sleep because of their much drinking. And as is the norm in unexpected and sudden circumstances, they lacked the [superscript: determination] and spirit to defend themselves, quite apart from

384  See Herodotus, Persian Wars, 1.189–91; Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 7.5.1–36; Justinus, Epitoma, 1.7; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 14.19–31. 385  See Jeremiah 50:1–46; 51:1–58. Jeremiah does not mention the Euphrates river bed as the access route to Babylon; see Herodotus, Persian Wars, 1.191. 386  See Daniel 5. In reality Belshazzar was never king, but rather a regent crown prince, son of King Nabonidus, who reigned 556–539 BC; see Fried, Priest and the Great King, 38. 387  Biblical scholars agree that it is impossible to equate the biblical king known as Darius the Mede mentioned in the book of Daniel (5:31; 6:1, 6, 9, 25, 28; 9:1; 11:1) with any of the kings of Babylon; see Berquist, Judaism in Persia’s Shadow, 51–53. 388  See Daniel 5:30; 6:1. 389  See Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 1.7.5.

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the general dissipation of all. The same prophet says that the Babylonians displayed the weakness and cowardice of women on this occasion.390 And though the Persians and Medes entered the city that night via the riverbed of the Euphrates, which appears to have been diverted during the siege, [margin: as also described by Herodotus], our great and divine historian explains to us that mines had secretly been dug, as is usual in time of war, and that part of the [margin: thick and sturdy] wall had already caved in, its gates [text blacked out] [superscript: also] having been shattered and burned. And since we cannot assume that the mined walls had collapsed and that the gates had burned before that night in which the city was invaded because of the overconfidence and carelessness of the Babylonians, it is most likely and logical that both of these things were performed or executed from inside the city itself [margin: after the mines were dug] and the enemy had entered the city through the river. Because otherwise, how would it have been possible for the Babylonians to have felt so secure and careless, even though they were in the middle of a great religious festival, if their wall had been breached and their gates burned, and their city surrounded by such a powerful army that was numerous enough to completely surround [text blacked out] the biggest city in the world, as Jeremiah says? In short, Babylon had been besieged for many days, for during that time her enemies were able to dig a new riverbed to divert such a great river as the Euphrates and undermine her thick, strong walls. And that night the effect of these mines was felt, or, as very often happens in these kinds of situations in war, some part of the wall was previously pulled down and repaired from within, which [fol. 398r] gave the Babylonians the sensation of security during the attack. A large number of people must have been required to storm such a great and mighty city all at once, for whose defense most of the forces in the empire must have been summoned. The Persians and Medes also took advantage of the occasion [margin: offered them by the festival that its inhabitants were celebrating]. And thus Jeremiah says that the city was overrun through the breach in the walls, through the riverbed, and through the gates the night Belshazzar died, together with such a great number of men and women [margin: of all kinds], as he repeats several times in his pitiful and tragic declamation. It was a time-honored tradition among the Assyrians, Medes, Babylonians, and Persians to give their kings many names, which was a sign of their majesty and might. One of these names was the given name and the others were designations, following no particular pattern: a monarch could be called by his given name, by a designation, or at times by both. And though this difference 390  See Jeremiah 51:30.

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was greater among the Persians after Cyrus the Great conferred the empire of Asia upon his countrymen, which had earlier belonged to the Medes and the Babylonians, Holy Scripture also reveals to us in many places that the same thing was done when the first great monarchs among the Assyrians came up to battle so many times against the Syrians and Hebrews in Syria and Palestine. This is shown more clearly in the account that has been given of the invasion, plunder, and destruction of Babylon, when Daniel called the king who lost the city and was killed in it by the name [margin: Belshazzar], [fol. 398v] son of Nebuchadnezzar, in the fifth chapter, as has been related. The first chapter of Baruch calls this king and his father by the same names, without mentioning the fall of Babylon, nor the king’s death.391 But Jeremiah, in the aforementioned fiftieth chapter, calls him Merodach.392 Thus these two names, Belshazzar and Merodach, indubitably refer to the same king.393 In IV Kings, the twentyfifth chapter, the name Evil-Merodach,394 king of Babylon, is found. In the first year of his empire and the thirty-seventh year after the transmigration of Jehoiakim,395 he released the latter from prison. It is also unquestionable that Merodach and Evil-Merodach refer to the same person, for Holy Scripture situates him consecutively after Nebuchadnezzar the Great without giving or identifying another successor between them.396 And since both Daniel and Baruch call the king Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar (the one who died Daniel during the fall and destruction of Babylon), and since Belshazzar was also called Merodach by Jeremiah, Merodach and Evil-Merodach and Belshazzar 391  The Book of Baruch (= I Baruch) is a deuterocanonical book of the Bible found in the Septuagint and in the Vulgate. In Baruch 1:11–12, Belshazzar is erroneously reported to be the son of Nebuchadnezzar II. 392  The reference in Jeremiah 50:1 is not to a king of Babylon, but rather to Marduk (whose biblical name is Merodach), the patron deity of the city of Babylonia; see n. 396 below. 393  Correcting for his error in conflating Marduk and Amel-Marduk (see n. 396 below), Silva y Figueroa is technically correct: in two biblical books (Daniel 5, 7, 8 and Baruch 1), the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar II is said to be Belshazzar, while in Jeremiah (chapters 1 and 52) it is Evil-Merodach (= Amel-Marduk). 394  See II Kings [Vulgate: IV Kings] 25:27 and Jeremiah 52:31. Amel-Marduk (d. 560 BC), whose name means “man of Marduk” and whose biblical name is Evil-Merodach, was the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of the Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean Empire. 395  King of Judah (608–598 BC), son of Josiah. His name appears as Joiachin in the Vulgate. 396  Silva y Figueroa errs by assuming that Marduk (Merodach) and Amel-Marduk (EvilMerodach) refer to the same person, the king of Babylon. In reality, Marduk is the name of the patron god of the city of Babylon, while Amel-Marduk is the name of Nebuchadnezzar II’s son and successor to the Babylonian throne.

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must all refer to one and the same king.397 In the reckoning of years, not moving beyond the destruction of Babylon, it seems that after Daniel was taken from Jerusalem with others during the [text blacked out] [superscript: first] transmigration to Babylon in the time of Jehoiakim, [margin: son of Josiah and father of Jeconiah],398 he lived for more than ninety years, until the first year of the reign of Cyrus the Great and the liberation of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and thus he must have been no more than [margin: fifteen] at the time of his captivity. He therefore witnessed the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar, the latter’s son Balthazar or Merodach, that of Darius, son of Astyages, [fol. 399r] or Ahasuerus, as Daniel calls him in his ninth chapter, and the first year of the reign of Cyrus.399 Although Josephus400 inserts two other kings after Nebuchadnezzar, not only does this contradict the manifest language of Holy Scripture, which must be adhered to, but it does not conform to reason when one reckons how long the [margin: Babylonian captivity lasted after the death of Belshazzar], and the years, though few in number, that elapsed between that point and the remainder of the life of Darius, son of Astyages, until Cyrus took over the entire kingdom, an event that took place during the first year of his reign and the seventieth year of the captivity of the two Tribes [margin: (Isaiah chapter 13; Jeremiah chapter 50).]401 Naturally, the prophets referred to above accentuate the great overthrow and downfall of Babylon. Even 1 Ezra402 reports that it was already occupied by Darius Hystaspes403 less than fifty years after its destruction, at which point Alexander the Great entered the city after his victory at Gaugamela404 and found it so diminished from its original ancient grandeur that not even a fourth

397  See Baruch 1:11–12; Daniel 5:1–2, 9, 22, 29–30; 7:1; and 8:1. 398  Also known as Jehoiachin, king of Judah (598–597 BC), son of Jehoiakim. 399  See Daniel 1:1, 21; 9:1. 400  Titus Flavius Josephus, also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu, Jewish historian (first century AD); see Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 10.11.2. 401  See Isaiah 13:1–22; Jeremiah 50:2. As mentioned above, most historians view Darius the Mede as a fictional literary character. Balthazar (Greek for Belshazzar), the son and successor of Nabonidus (r. 550–539 BC), was immediately succeded by Cryus the Great; see p. 615 n. 387. 402  See 1 Ezra 4:5. 403  This name for Darius I the Great (ca. 549–486 BC) is found in Pliny, Natural History, 6.31, and in Herodotus, Persian Wars, 3–6. 404  Alexander the Great’s invading army met Darius III’s Persian army near Gaugamela (close to the present-day city of Erbil) in 331 BC. Although heavily outnumbered, his army emerged victorious, which led to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire.

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part of it was inhabited, and that part was not continuous or intact.405 Because of the 360 stadia406 of wall that were torn down, [margin: though some report even more], only ninety remained standing, with gaps between sections of intact wall where the city was still populated. Yet in spite of this diminution, people from all the nations that made up that [margin: conquering] army were genuinely astonished at the city’s magnificence and size. The rest of the ground that was surrounded by those portions of the wall that were still intact was being ploughed and worked as if it were a very wide and extended plain. The area inside the walls was reported to measure more than [margin: eleven] Spanish leagues in length by three leagues in width. These dimensions [superscript: are attested to and certified] by the ruins that [margin: presently] reveal [text blacked out] [superscript: the city’s ancient grandeur]. The ruins extend outward from both sides of the Euphrates to fill this space, in which there would have been ample room to keep ostriches and lions, in addition to the other beasts the prophets refer to, as in the [fol. 399v] nearby Arabian plains in our day, especially in the extensive thickets and reed beds that grow on the riverbanks and in the pools created when the river overflows. From the ruins of Babylon, the Euphrates runs to the south by south-east and south-east, spilling out great quantities of water on the right bank a few leagues downstream when it swells and overflows, flooding a vast stretch of the plains. The excess water creates big interconnected lagoons, though sometimes they are linked by narrow and crooked channels, with many islets and parcels of land in between. On the banks of these lagoons, islands, and channels, extensive and dense clumps of fluvial trees grow, along with thin reeds of the kind typically found in most lagoons and lakes. Here not only do many animals, including a great many lions, lie in wait for prey, but it is also where numerous thieves secrete themselves, waiting to ambush those who pass through unawares, or merchants traveling on the river who come up on the banks at night to sleep. These lagoons, which have existed since time immemorial, have been reported since the earliest records of Babylon. And it is more than certain that they match the description given of them here, for according to Diodorus Siculus, Alexander the Great desired to see and navigate them out of curiosity a few days before his death in Babylon, and was lost in them for three days and nights with his companions, during which time he was uncertain he would ever find his way out again. This could not have happened if their banks had not been covered and overgrown with this herbage, which was also what caused him to fall into the water when the royal headdress he 405  See Arrian, Anabasis, 3.7–16. 406  See “Measurements.”

S

E

Map 7

W

500 km

BITHYNIA

Syene

Thebes

Side

Cilician

Gaza

Sidon Tyre

Palmyra

NABATAEANS

Red Sea

Petra

Damascus

SYRIA

31

Babylon

IA

ARABIA

Euphrates

Tigris

TA M

PO

O

ES

M

Arbela

Gaugamela

ARMENIA

Nisibis

Amida

3 Nicephorion

Edessa

333 A.

Trapezunt

IBERIA

COLCHIS

Caucasus

SARMATIANS

Phasis

Tanais

Issus

Jerusalem

1

33

Gates

Byblos

Tarsos

CYPRUS

PAMPHYLIA

PONTOS Comana CAPPADOCIA

CILICIA

Ancyra

Sinope

Black Sea

Panticapaion

BOSPORAN KINGDOM

PAPHLAGONIA

PHRYGIA

333

Gordion

Nil

Memphis

EGYPT

331

A.

LYCIA

CARIA

LYDIA

Sardis

MYSIA

Granicus

Olbia

Chersonesos

Heraclea

Odessos

Byzantion

Paraetonion

Halicarnassos

Miletos

Ephesos

llion

334

THRACE

Danube

GETAE

SCYTHIANS

4

32

A. in Susiana 330

Caspian Gates

PERSIS

Persepolis

A. in Carmania

324

Pasargadae

Kavir Desert

MARGIANA

Harmozia

325

CARMANIA

Lut Desert

Susia

Oxus

Rou

f Cra

s

GEDROSIA

teru

326

Indian Ocean

Rhambacia

Taxila

Indus

Taklamakan

INDIA

Hyphasis

A. on the Hyphasis

Himalaya

A. on the Indus

Multan

Pattala

325

Nicaea 32 6

Yarkand

Kingdom of PORUS Hydaspes

Bucephala

Arigaeum Khyber Pass

7

Bolan Pass

Mulla Pass

Pamir

Tian Shan

GANDHARA

32

ARACHOSIA

A.

sh Kabul ku

A. in Arachosia

du Hin

Fleet of Nearchus

Pura

te o

DRANGIANA

325

Drapsaca

A. on the Caucasos

BACTRIA

328

A. on the Oxos

A. Eschate

Fergana

SAKA

SOGDIANA

Maracanda

Bactra

Prophtasia

A. in Aria

ARIA

329

Yaxartes

Nautaca

MASSAGETAE

A. in Margiana

PARTHIA

Hecatompylos

NIA

CA

R HY

Aspardana

324

Aral Sea

KHWARAZMIANS

Zadracarta

Persian Gulf

SUSIANA

Susa

Zagros

330

Rhagae

Alborz

Caspian Sea

Ecbatana

MEDIA

BABYLONIA

Opis

The Macedonian empire and Alexander the Great’s expeditions, 333–323 BC.

0

A. Alexandria

Persian royal road

Greek colony

Mountain pass

Settlement of existing town

Town founded by Alexander

Siege

Sparta

Athens

Chaeronea

AmmonOracle

Cyrene

CYRENAICA

Conquest course of Alexander

Battle

Pella

GREECE

EPIRUS

MACEDON

Mediterranean Sea

Epidamnos

The Empire of Alexander 334-323 B.C.

Syracuse

Taras

ILLYRIANS

2

33

N

LIBYANS

Tripoli

Carthage

Rome

CELTS

9 32

Nicaea

332

331

6

330

32

The Macedonian Empire and Alexander the Great’s Campaigns, 333-323 BC

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wore as an insignia became entangled in a branch that hung over the water. And what was interpreted as a portent of the death of this great monarch and renowned [text blacked out] [superscript: captain], [fol. 400r] along with other evil omens, was that because his royal insignia, which the Persians called a cidaris,407 was made of delicate veils, as are the turbans worn in our time by nearly all the Asians, after it fell in the water it floated on the surface. And when one of the men who was rowing Alexander’s craft saw it, he jumped into the lagoon and placed the headdress on his own head so that his hands would be free for swimming and then returned to the king’s boat. According to the same author, this and everything else that happened to Alexander that day was taken as a portent of his death, which the [margin: Chaldeans] had already predicted. Nowadays these lagoons look like a boundless sea from a distance. They supply sure and true evidence of Babylon’s location, being much more everlasting and perpetual memorials than all the wonderful and miraculous buildings combined, for the ruins have already been buried and consumed by time, while the lagoons will endure [margin: as long as the world remains.] The Euphrates continues its course to the east and south until it converges with the Tigris, and from there the confluence, which runs proudly in its wide bed, can be navigated all the way to Basra. A little farther on, the Persian Sea receives the vast quantity of water from these two rivers. And though Basra is not on the riverbank, a canal that branches off from the main river allows merchant boats from Baghdad to travel from the river to the city, or from the sea as they come from Hormuz, Qatif, and Bahrain. This last named city, though in decline, is still one of the biggest ports of call in all of Asia. All the merchants generally call the river between the confluence of the two rivers and the point where it falls into the Persian [fol. 400v] Sea by the single name Tigris, though the [margin: Euphrates] is so much greater in size and dignity because of its ancient fame, and thus throughout antiquity it kept its own name after receiving the Tigris into its bed and discharging it into the Persian Sea. But Babylon, which glorified it even more, has lain in total ruins for so many centuries that the surviving portion of its ancient grandeur was transmitted to Baghdad, through which flows the Tigris, and from there all the caravans headed for Basra either navigate the Tigris or travel overland. And where the Tigris joins with the Euphrates, all the merchants and other travelers continue to call it the Tigris, since they have been traveling on it since Baghdad. And that is why the fame of the Euphrates has dimmed on this route and journey to Basra, and from there back to Baghdad; the waning of its eminence followed on the destruction and demise of the great Babylon. 407  A royal tiara worn by the ancient Persians.

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One can travel on the river from Baghdad to Basra in eight or nine days because the current will be in his favor, but the journey upstream, which is long and tedious, can take upward of thirty or forty days. At night, travelers always climb up onto dry land to sleep, watching carefully for the many thieves that lie in wait on the riverbanks in the trees and brush. And not only do they remain alert and on guard against these brigands but also against the danger of the lions that dwell on both sides of the river. Few of the people who travel by boat hear the lions that live on the banks, but occasionally those who sleep there are killed. There are a few small towns along this route belonging to miserably poor Arabs, though on the left bank, which belongs to the realm of the sovereign of Ahvāz, commonly called Mombareca, the Arabs have several fortresses [fol. 401r] on the river from which they rob and despoil the merchants of their goods on the pretext of exacting tariffs and duties from them, a practice that has hindered commerce between Baghdad and Basra over the last few years. But when the pasha of this government perceived how such practices were choking the duties and public revenue from these two cities, and especially his own profits, during the last year of 1618, after the Ambassador entered Persia, he seized these fortresses from the Arabs, even though relief was sent from Ahvāz, resulting in a return to free navigation of the Euphrates as in former times. Basra is a large town situated [margin: one long day’s journey from the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers], and although it is smaller than Baghdad, it has a sizeable population and is continuously frequented by merchants, as has been mentioned, which is why after the Turks seized control of Baghdad they attempted to occupy Basra as well, seeing that it was such an important center of trade for all the merchandise that comes from India, which at that time was even more opulent and booming than it is today. Its buildings are extremely poor in quality, but they harbor numerous gardens and palm orchards, which abound even more outside and around the city because of the easy access to irrigation water for the orchards and thick palm forests in which the region abounds. The soil between here and the ruins of Babylon, which in many places is extremely fertile, produces these trees, and their fruit is of a perfection not attained anywhere else in the world. Experience now bears out that the dates praised so highly by Xenophon408 are in fact flawless and excellent, even though all the dates in the world seemed to pale in comparison [fol. 401v] to the ones the Ambassador found in the city of Lār on his way to Persia. 408  See Xenophon, Anabasis, 2.3.15–16.

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There is in Basra a lesser sanjak 409 or pasha, subordinate to the pasha of Baghdad, who is only allowed to bring a certain reduced number of Janissaries into the city with him as he seats a new government. The rest constitute his army, which comprises three thousand Turkish soldiers. Turkish soldiers have been intermixing with the local natives for many years now. And though Basra was a perfectly suitable location from which the Turk could seize control of all shipping and trade in the Persian Sea, and though it boasted an abundance of resources, one important resource was completely wanting, namely timber for the construction of galleys and other light sea vessels, and thus one scarcely sees more than a single galley with fifteen or sixteen benches in Basra. It is truly remarkable that His Catholic Majesty, who has dominion over Hormuz, and who, at no further cost than what is already tied up in that city, could so easily also become the absolute master over the entire Persian Sea, has failed to become such. This is because the situation is not understood in this way, or, more accurately, because the paltry value of the realm of Hormuz has accrued to the [margin: profit and private benefit] of those from the realm of Portugal who assume command of the fortress of Hormuz every three years, which has led to the unhappy state in which the fortress currently finds itself, an account of which follows. The native people of Basra have dark skin, like all Arabs, and resemble the inhabitants of Hormuz and Lār, despite the fact that those who come from the Turkish caste have lighter complexions and are better soldiers than the others. There is little or no difference between the general attire worn by both men and women here and in the other two cities that have been mentioned. And since the air is no less hot here than in Hormuz, fans, or flabella,410 of all shapes and sizes are made here out of very fine palm leaves of many colors, with different designs on them. They are then sent in [fol. 402r] great quantities to places where there is great need for them, such as Baghdad, Ahvāz, Lār, and Hormuz, from where [text blacked out] they are also distributed to many other parts of the world, especially to Spain, where their use is widespread. One league below Basra, where the Euphrates falls into the Persian Gulf, there is an islet a little more than two leagues in diameter. It is quite fertile, with a few palms and other uncultivated trees. It is practically uninhabited, being home to no more than a few shacks belonging to some poor fishermen and boatmen. For a number of years, the sovereign of Ahvāz, who had dominion over Basra until the Turks took it from the Portuguese who resided in Hormuz, offered to erect a fortress on this island. And though what he offered was no  

409  Properly speaking, an administrative district in the Ottoman Empire. 410  Latin for “small fans.”

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longer his, it would have been a very easy thing for the governor of Hormuz, with a minimum of diligence, to construct a fortress there and divert all the commerce from Basra, which he could have done as true lord of those seas. The island of Bahrain, which is celebrated throughout the world because of its extremely fertile harvest of pearls—the finest in all the East—is located in the aforementioned Persian Gulf, almost halfway between Hormuz and Basra, though it lies closer to the Arabian coast than to Carmania Deserta, or to the kingdoms of Ahvāz and Fārs, which is the part of Arabia lying on the eastern side of the Euphrates. This island is twelve leagues long from east to west and between six and eight leagues wide from north to south—most of the length of the Persian Sea lies on a line [text blacked out] that runs from the east by southeast to the west by north-west. It is fertile ground for fruit and livestock, and [text blacked out] [margin: a great deal] of wheat and barley is also harvested, as are a great many dates from the many palms that produce them. The main fruits are figs, grapes, and pomegranates [fol. 402v], which are flawless and excellent. But the water there, though not completely bad, constantly gives rise to dangerous fevers in the fall, and hence during that season the island is considered pestilential and injurious, especially for outsiders. But this fever is caused not so much by the water as it is by the carelessness of the inhabitants, because lacking the industry to divert the water with small canals to use it for irrigating their orchards and gardens and then to store it so it will drain into the sea, they allow it to collect in the plains in several places on the island close to its sources, and there it rots and becomes corrupted in the summer heat, polluting the air to such a degree that it causes the aforementioned fall epidemic. But the island is healthy the rest of the year. While the Ambassador was in Shīrāz [text blacked out] toward the end of [margin: 1617] and at the beginning of 1618, he was visited several times by Sheikh Muḥammad, the sovereign of the Arabs that live on the island of Bahrain. He came to Shīrāz with pearls that had been harvested and gathered that year. After reporting to the Ambassador what the attitude and disposition of his people were toward the Persians and the state of the fortress there, he said that the Portuguese were the ones who most defamed Bahrain as unhealthy, for the island was only plagued by these fevers between the middle of September and the end of October, at the latest. The fever normally brought on a chill, and if the patients were kept sheltered from the air and placed on a diet, they quickly recovered, and very few died from it. The afflicted usually recovered from the disease soon after breaking into and retaining a sweat. The Ambassador asked this Arab many questions about the fortress and the Persians, to which he responded [fol. 403r] prudently and discreetly, hinting at his great desire to break free from Persian subjugation. And after he finally

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informed the Ambassador of this aspiration, the latter was very cautious with him, since all Arabs are so unstable and fickle, and thus he refrained from continuing that topic of conversation that the sheikh himself had initiated, namely that the inhabitants of his island were genuinely willing to bravely and resolutely lend the Portuguese their help to wrest the fortress from the Persians, as they had done several years earlier from the Turks. On the occasions that this sheikh met with the Ambassador, the latter was extremely circumspect, since no one else was present but a single interpreter. And in view of the fact that the difficult situations in both Hormuz and [margin: India] do not seem to be heading toward any kind of resolution, and because there were not enough forces to attempt such an enterprise—in fact, doing so might even provoke the enemy—he ceased discussing the matter with that Moor. Instead, he thanked him for his good will and told him that he had only asked him those questions out of curiosity because the island of Bahrain was well known in Europe, where its rich and beautiful pearls are so highly appreciated. The fortress that the Persians possess on this island, though they have control over it, was captured by them only twenty years ago. Before that time, it was under the rule of Hormuz. For even though the Portuguese wrested it from the Turks, who had taken it over from Basra many [superscript: several] years earlier, spilling much of their own blood in the enterprise, they handed it back over to the Moors of Hormuz, who had lost it for some unknown reason, even though as an asset, it is important and rich. And although the vizier—the next office after king—of this city kept a castellan there with no more than fifteen or twenty Arabs, Allāhverdī Khān, the sultan of Shīrāz, [fol. 403v] who by that time had wrested control of the kingdom of Fārs, the coast of which was so close to said fortress, captured it with little effort and even less trouble. He sent a few Persians there who slyly insinuated themselves inside by claiming to be merchants, and then killed the castellan. By this stratagem they managed to take control of the army and the whole island. Afterward, none of the captains of Hormuz did anything of consequence about it, though it would have been quite easy to remove the Persians by sending any kind of fleet over and cutting off relief from the mainland, because then the Arabs on the island would not have received any supplies. And thus Bahrain has remained in the hands of the king of Persia, and the profit he has reaped from it and from the harvesting of pearls amounts to more than 200,000 ducats, not counting the great value of the pearls that he selects out before the rest are sold to Arab, Turkish, Portuguese, and Persian merchants. The fortress is very small. It has been built with mud walls in a location that is a little higher than the surrounding area in the same fashion as those that can be seen in Persia and Arabia in a location that is a little higher than the

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surrounding area. The countryside is flat all around it, and it is almost completely surrounded by the sea. And though it has a moat on the land side, it is so narrow and shallow that it can easily be blocked off, especially since the rampart is only big enough for small pieces of artillery. It also lacks a traverse or other special defenses, except for a few loopholes that have been placed in two small turrets that protect it. The fleet that maintains and defends this island consists of nothing more than a few terranquins that come out from the mainland to service those who are on garrison duty in the fortress—no more than 200 Persians. The island is twelve leagues from the coast of Carmania Deserta, or the realm of Ahvāz in Arabia to the north. On the south is the singular and particular Arabia Felix, which is no farther off than four or six leagues. Its western side faces the city of Califa, which lies in an [fol. 404r] inlet or bay that penetrates deeply into the aforementioned Arabia the Blessed. This city is currently a possession of the Turks, though it was also captured by the Portuguese after they took the fortress at Bahrain. In the channel that runs between this coast of Arabia and the island of Bahrain is where the customary and heaviest harvesting of pearls takes place, though they are also collected along the entire Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf as far as Cape Rosalgat, though they are scarcer and do not approach the excellence of those that are found here. The method used in this harvest will not be described at present because it is widespread and quite well known, both in this sea as well as in the Indian Ocean, in the channel between the island of Sri Lanka and the coast of Coromandel. But people are even more familiar with it because of the stories that have made their way to Spain of the great quantity of pearls that are harvested off the coast of Paria in the West Indies, near Cubagua, Santa Marta, and Margarita. And though these western pearls are whiter than the ones from Bahrain, and for that reason more prized by many women in Europe, they are nevertheless markedly inferior to the Eastern variety, especially those from the Persian Sea, which have incomparably more luster and a marble-like whiteness and clarity, and are thus more beautiful and admired by all Asian princes and lords. And so prized have pearls become among them in our time that they draw a much higher price in Asia than in Europe; in fact, many people come from Europe to sell them in Persia and all over India, from which the merchants derive a notable profit. There is a remarkable spring a quarter of a league off the eastern coast of this island on the bottom of the ocean. And despite the fact [fol. 404v] that its source lies ten fathoms below the surface of the water, it is of such excellent quality that the Arabs, with their long experience swimming under water as they hunt for pearls, also have the ingenuity to dive deep down to the spring’s source and fill large leather bags with the purest of water, without a trace of

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salt in it. This is a very usual and familiar practice; indeed, the ships that sail from Hormuz to Basra water there. Thus this ocean off [margin: the coast of Bahrain] contains another Arethusan spring,411 as in [margin: Syracuse of] Sicily. Califa is a small town with poor and decrepit houses. A few Turks are garrisoned there who are subordinate to the sanjak of Basra. Its only resources are the harvesting of pearls and the occasional caravan making its way to Mecca. These caravans also pass through the kingdoms of Ahvāz, Fārs, Persia, and Kermān. This is the shortest route followed by those who make this celebrated pilgrimage, because Mecca lies no more than fifteen or sixteen regular days’ journey away on camelback, which amounts to less than a hundred leagues. This journey is made through the Chersonese,412 or the widest expanse of Arabia between the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. The only thing that remains to be described of the Persian dominion, or realm, is the province of Susien, or Sophien, which is the famed ancient Susiana, whose capital was the great city of Susa, so renowned in antiquity because it was the seat and court of the mighty kings of Persia, the lords of all of Asia. Susiana is flanked on the east by Persia, on the south by part of Carmania Deserta, or that part of Arabia that pertains to the realm of the sovereigns of Ahvāz, on the west by the province of Babylonia, and on the north by the mountains and highlands of [fol. 405r] Kurdistan. Two or three days’ journey eastward from Baghdad and ancient Ctesiphon runs the Pisitigris River, whose wide riverbed and swift currents allow for no crossing [margin: except at great peril] and thus those who travel from Persia and Media to Baghdad cross it over a bridge or on boats. And though its name so closely resembles that of the Tigris, and since it runs so close to it through the mountains of the Kurds, many people insist that it is derived from it, and is one of its branches. Yet it is more certainly a different river, and it probably rises in those same mountains, which are not all that rugged. In fact, they are inhabitable, containing many valleys and plains, and so spacious and tall that they are home to other smaller provinces as well, each the possession of its own sovereign. The Pisitigris runs southward and then jogs south by south-east until several leagues below Baghdad, where it joins with the Tigris, carrying excellent and healthy water. As was mentioned earlier, a force of Greek soldiers who were brought by Clearchus to relieve Cyrus the Younger were later commanded by Xenophon; after being harassed and chased across the Tigris by the Persians, they desired 411  Arethousa, in Greek mythology, was a nymph who was transformed into a fountain. The spring alluded to by Silva y Figueroa is an undersea freshwater spring. 412  From Greek Chersónēsos, meaning “peninsula,” an ancient term for the Arabian Peninsula.

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to cross the river and take refuge in the mountains of the Kurds in order to defend themselves from the enemy cavalry in that broken and rugged terrain, thus increasing their advantage. But Xenophon himself states that as they attempted to ford the river, they [superscript: found] that the water ran fast and deep, [margin: and thus,] even though the mountains were farther away, they were forced to retreat while fighting on the plain for several days with the Pisitigris on their right hand, facing upstream. And there can be no doubt that this is the route they followed, or that they had already crossed the Tigris, [fol. 405v] for as they entered Kurdistan, or the land of the Kurds, whom Xenophon calls the Carduchi,413 they pressed onward without crossing the Tigris, leaving it behind on their left, and continued to fight several parlous battles against those bellicose mountainous people. And thus after having traversed that whole region without being harassed, except by the natives, the Persians having desisted from pursuing them, they made their way into Greater Armenia, [margin: leaving behind] the headwaters of the Pisitigris River on the right. And thus they did not re-cross the Tigris during this valiant and celebrated retreat, nor was it necessary for them to ford the Pisitigris. Rather they marched between these two rivers into Kurdistan, whose mountains occupy a large portion of the northernmost part of Susiana, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, as well as the southern part of Media and Greater Armenia, which is why the Kurds are both neighbors and inhabitants of all of these provinces just mentioned. The Pisitigris bathes the borders of Susiana and Babylonia, [margin: which belonged to ancient Sittacene], with various channels that are diverted from it, rendering this inherently dry and sterile plain significantly fertile and pleasant as far as [margin: three] or four days’ journey to the east of Baghdad. It also appears that, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, the retreat of the Roman army after the death of its emperor, Julian the Apostate, was also realized between these two rivers. After marching several days and fighting continuous skirmishes with the Persians who did not cease attacking them, [margin: the Romans] turned to the left and crossed the Tigris, thereby entering Mesopotamia.414 The region of Susiana continues eastward several days’ journey from the Pisitigris, [fol. 406r] or Pigretes, as it is called by Xenophon,415 though the countryside is sterile and dry, as far as the famous Choaspes River,416 which is 413  See Xenophon, Anabasis, 3.5.15, 17; 4.1.8–11, 3:1–30, 4:1; 5.5:17. 414  See Ammianus Marcellinus, History, 25.6.3; 26.6.1–15, 7.1–14. 415  See Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 1.8. 416  Choaspes is the Latinization of Greek Choáspēs, a name that was applied to three ancient rivers, the first in present-day southern Iraq, the second in present-day northern Iran, and the third south of the Hindu Kush. In this passage Silva y Figueroa is clearly referring to

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not so memorable for its size as it is for its excellent and delicious water. The ancient great monarchs of Persia would drink water from no other river. The Choaspes, [margin: called the Koranghekaru417 by the Arabs and Persians of our day,] meaning gentle and meek, is somewhat larger than the Pisitigris or the Araxes, which flows through the immensely fertile plains of Margascan418 or ancient Persepolis, as has been mentioned. Many canals, or irrigation ditches, are also diverted from it, thus rendering fertile the entire countryside surrounding the city of Shūshtar, the ancient city of Susa. This city, though it is now so inferior in size and eminence, has two thousand houses, with many orchards and an abundance of foodstuffs because of the fecundity of the huge vega in which it is situated, and also because it is bathed by the waters of the Choaspes, which were so highly prized and famous in antiquity that no matter how far away from them the kings of Persia traveled in their journeys and expeditions, they refused to drink from any other river. Herodotus underscores this point emphatically, relating that when Xerxes419 turned his hand to the [margin: memorable] conquest of [superscript: Greece], [text blacked out] carts loaded with silver urns filled [margin: with water] from the Choaspes were brought to him during a considerable part of the journey.420 This curious and luxurious custom was perpetuated by subsequent kings. Everyone who [text blacked out] [margin: travels] to Baghdad from Shīrāz and Qazvīn must cross this river, which also rises in the easternmost mountains of Kurdistan, and thus [fol. 406v] our Spaniards and other Europeans who travel westward the first, the Choaspes of Susiana: he mentions that (a) Susa, the ancient Elamite capital, was located on its bank, (b) it was renowned for its water quality, and (c) the Achaemenid kings drank exclusively from it. The overall hydrography of the area changed repeatedly in ancient times, which makes it difficult to be precise about its course. It rose in southern Media in the land of the Uxians. Different classical sources made conflicting claims about its course: that (a) it flowed into the Tigris above the so-called “Chaldean lakes,” (b) it flowed directly into the Persian Gulf near the Tigris estuary, and (c) this Choaspes, the Eulaeus (the present-day Dezfūl River in Ḵūzestān) and the Tigris all flowed into a lake before they reached the sea. Today, however, we understand that this river corresponds to the Karḵa River in its upper course and to the Kārūn River in its lower course; see p. 479 n. 350. For further details, see Schmitt, “Choaspes.” 417  We have not been able to corroborate this word’s meaning in Persian, in a local dialect, or in Arabic; however, the consonants of the first element of this word are suggestive of the word Kārūn, and the last syllable is quite similar to the Persian word for river, rūd; see p. 479 n. 350. 418  See p. 350 n. 130. 419  Xerxes I the Great, emperor of the Achaemenid Empire (485–465 BC). In 480 BC he attacked Sparta at Thermopylae and contended against a Greek alliance at Salamis. 420  See Herodotus, Persian Wars, 1.188.

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from Persia, Hormuz, and India through Baghdad and Aleppo are quite familiar with it, and though they have no knowledge of the ancient reputation of its water, they praise it, extolling its clarity and taste, especially because how cold it is in the summer. The Choaspes is crossed by bridge both in Shūshtar and on the road to Baghdad, though it is fordable in some places during the summer, even when the water level is high, as high as the chest of a horse, as far as Susa, or Shūshtar. [text blacked out] From that point it runs straight, heading mainly to the south, even though its course takes many turns, [text blacked out] like all rivers. It enters Arabia in the kingdom of Ahvāz, making the poor and sterile soil fertile and abundant wherever it flows with its freshets, or where canals are dug to irrigate other fields. Like a second Nile, it gives sustenance and life to this region, not only bestowing upon it the great boon of its fecund waters, but also fortifying and defending it from foreign enemies, for the natives can easily knock down the high berms and banks of some of the canals and flood the plains wherever they see fit, flooding out those who invade it. This is why the domain of the sovereign of Mombareca is immensely powerful; it has always defended itself in this manner against opposing dawārs and factions of Arabs, and especially against the Turks, their sworn enemies, even after the fall of Basra. The city of Ahvāz, the provincial capital, is as big, or somewhat bigger, than the city of Lār, though it consists of poor small houses, [fol. 407r] most of them thatched with palm leaves and branches, their walls made of crumbling mud, or long stakes, or mud-smeared thin poles. Others are made of sundried bricks, which is the most frequent building material in Arabia and Persia. Its kinglet is poor, according to the Arabs, and though he occasionally holds court in Ahvāz, he spends most of his time in the countryside in keeping with the time-honored customs of his nation. The usual road that is used to travel from Hormuz and India to Aleppo and Baghdad once passed through this city [margin: and Basra] without crossing into Persia, and because of that traffic, the city was once more heavily [text blacked out] [superscript: populated] with merchants than it is now, and hence of more profit to its owners. The Choaspes runs eastward from Ahvāz, and although many canals are diverted from it, it falls with great force into the Persian Sea a long day’s journey from the mouth of the Euphrates.

BOOK VI

[Long-delayed Meetings with Shah ʿAbbās I in Eṣfahān and Return to Goa, 27 July 1618–15 December 1620] [July 1618] The Ambassador departed from Qazvīn on Thursday afternoon, July 27th. The envoy1 of the king of Lahore, or the Mughal, as he is popularly known in India, was expected to arrive the following day, and thus several tents came into view soon after we set off a fourth of a league’s journey from the city. One of the tents, red and bigger than the rest, was where he was to spend the night. At daybreak the next morning, the Ambassador finally reached Moḥammadābād after a journey that should have only been four leagues. The long delay was the fault of the guides, who lost their way. From Moḥammadābād we travelled for two long days on the 28th and 29th, making our way to an immense caravanserai where we had not stopped on our journey to Qazvīn. It had the biggest and best lodgings of any we had encountered on our entire journey, having been constructed by the mother of the present king; she was a native of the province of Māzandarān. These lodgings were spacious enough for a great many people who had come to Eṣfahān, [fol. 407v] with room to spare, even though over 1,000 people took their lodgings there, with nearly as many baggage animals. In addition to the Ambassador’s coterie and that of [margin: Alam Khān]2 [text blacked out], the kinglet of the Kurds from the mountains to the north of the province of Shūshtar, or Susiana, and the retinue of other Georgian gentlemen, which the king of Persia was sending as prisoners to Eṣfahān, there were [margin: many] other merchants and travelers, all of whom were accompanied by their corteges, including their wives and children. This grand caravanserai contained abundant supplies of all kinds, and although the nearby spring water was extremely vile, it was good enough for the horses, camels, and other baggage animals. Everyone carried 1  Later Silva y Figueroa also refers to the Mughal ambassador as the ambassador of Lahore. The Mughal emperor at the time was D̲ j̲ahāngīr; see p. 240 n. 219. 2  Persian for “lord of the earth” (modern Persian Khān-e Alam). The name of this kinglet of Kurdistan has been phonetically reconstructed based on another variant of the name used by Silva y Figueroa below (Helanchan, a Mughal ambassador), for which he gives the translation “lord of the earth.” We have not found any further particulars about Alam Khān, the Kurdish kinglet.

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The Embassy’s Route from Qazvīn to Gamrū, 27 July 1618 – 18 October 1619 50°0'0"E

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Abbas Abad

Shīrvān Khorāsān

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Hoseynābād-e Mishmast

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Ali Abbas Naţanz

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Ahvāz

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Izadkhāst Dehgerdū Kūshkeźar Āspās Ūjan

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Mā’in Kalantar Zarqān 8 – 20 Sep Shīrāz

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Zafarābād

Ochiar

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Jahrom Joyom

Bonāruye Bariz Dehkūyeh Fārs Chaki Hormozgān Hormud-e Mir Khund 11 – 16 Oct Jeyhūn Kahūrestān Tang-e Dālān Gamrū 17 – 19

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his day’s provision of water, which was acquired in Ārāsanj,3 the last village on the itinerary, in leather flasks and small wineskins, which most travelers carry, tied and hanging from their horses’ bellies. This means of transporting water, which is common practice in all Asia, was also customary in Strabo’s day,4 especially among Arabs, who, as a people that traversed many deserts without good water, have always employed this method, one which all other Asian peoples have adopted from them. The aforementioned caravanserai consists of a large square patio, 100 paces square, enclosed on each side by alcoves that are elevated two feet from the surface and floor of the patio, and within these alcoves, which are spacious and large, is a small niche where the women may retire, or where, during the winter, others may find shelter from the cold as they sleep. In addition to this patio, there are four high-ceilinged rooms, each one with four sleeping chambers. The first is as large as a midsized hall and has many windows for summer use. The other rooms are small and contain chimneys. The terraces, or roofs, of this lavish edifice are tiled and completely flat; they thus serve comfortably for passing the summer afternoons and evenings. Those who have no [fol. 408r] comfortable lodgings below can also sleep on the terraces, and, as is the custom in Asia, enjoy the coolness of night. In the middle of the patio is a large, square platform made of stone and brick, two or three feet tall, on which the travelers’ loads and clothing are placed. Many of the travelers sleep on it, which it easily accommodates, as it measures more than twenty paces square. All the camels and horses that can fit around the perimeter of this platform feed there. Others are fed along the outer walls and at the entrances of the alcoves. But often, as in the moment here recounted, there are so many people and baggage animals that the caravanserai’s interior cannot accommodate them all. For such an eventuality, other, smaller alcoves have been provided all along the outside, built into the wall, each one capable of holding two or three people and their clothing, with as much room for the camels and horses to feed as provided by the interior alcoves. And since the outside area of the caravanserai is so much bigger than the inside, there are enough alcoves that the travelers who take their lodgings in them are able to move from one spot to another one, which provides shade in the summer or shelter from the cold air in the winter. The Ambassador set off from this caravanserai on the 30th, a half hour after dawn. Even at that hour, the heat was almost unbearably intense. And as the caravan was so large, and the better part of the group had left earlier, the entire length of the road was filled with baggage animals, men on horseback, and 3  Ārāsanj-e Pāʿin; see p. 450 n. 303. 4  See Strabo, Geography, 16, 4:24.

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camel drivers traveling on foot, all of which caused the Ambassador’s servants great apprehension. This is because before they left, the other travelers had warned them not to pass close by the small litters—or, speaking more accurately, [fol. 408v] the cages—in which Kurdish, Georgian, and Persian women were being conveyed, since people from these nations are extremely sensitive about this. Oftentimes when the road was not wide enough, one had to overtake the camels that carried these litters, the men who guarded and accompanied them glowering at us, despite the fact that they were covered in such a way that it was impossible to see who was riding inside. It is a time-honored custom among all Asians to forbid anyone to come close enough to look at the women who are being carried in these small chairs on pain of the harshest punishment. Moreover, if the women are of some importance, eunuchs travel a good distance ahead of them, shouting out to all in the vicinity that they should turn their backs or withdraw to such a distance that the women cannot be seen, and this injunction is quickly complied with, even by men of importance, because failure to do so results in one’s being forced to the ground face down and being repeatedly beaten with a stick. And if a litter happened to be conveying ladies belonging to the king’s own harem, the offender would be put to death at once, with absolute disregard for his office or rank. This kind of litter, which is very common in these Asian environs, is patterned like a wooden box, three feet long, two feet wide, and one foot high, with many arches made of rods, or narrow boards, arranged across one another about the height of the coaches, which rise another three feet above the edge, or height, of the box. The litter is a little over four feet tall from the seat, the upper part being much longer and wider, as are the coaches themselves. The women ride seated in them, close to the front or rear, with their legs tucked in, knees up, facing up the road or down as they please. Two litters are placed lengthwise on a camel, one on each side, covered with colored felt or other cotton or silk sheets to offer protection from the sun or the cold. There was no difference between one litter and [fol. 409r] another, whether the women they carried were the king’s or the most common and lowly, except that in the former case, the number of guards and eunuchs was greater, and also the penalty was harsher for those that did not withdraw quickly enough. These litters were also used by travelers and merchants to cover great distances across the vast deserts of Arabia and many parts of Barbary and Egypt. They are used as a shield not only from the sun and wind, but also from the fine sand that blows up in a stiff wind. The women of Asia, no matter how grand and important they are, always travel in these simple and poor devices, as if covered and enclosed in boxes. It is true that not one of them by her own lights deserves any special kind of honor, for both rich and poor look exactly like slaves, with little or no difference among

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them, except those slaves who, because of their beauty or some other pleasing feminine quality, are held in greater esteem by their masters. We find that in ancient Asia, especially in this kingdom of Persia, the women who belonged to the kings, or their satraps that are subject to them, were awarded exceptional honor and greatness, notwithstanding the fact that the rulers had many concubines, as they continue to have today. But nowadays all such pomp and courtly opulence in this and all other domestic affairs has been reduced to a different and humble shadow of its former self, having died out with the introduction of the sect of Muḥammad. This new and sudden change, as has been stated elsewhere, had its greatest effect on the dignity and reputation of the women belonging to the king’s particular women. Not a single woman in Persia possesses and is honored by the title wife of the king, because many are they who bear it, with little or no difference between the wives and the paelices,5 or concubines, the latter often being inferior to the wives. For example, [fol. 409v] though the name and rank of begom,6 which signifies the highest ranking lady of the royal family and household, may be a great honor among the Persians, it does not apply to the wives of the king who presently possesses the kingdom, but rather to his closest relatives. This title was applied to Zainab Begom, aunt of [margin: the current ruler], Shah ʿAbbās, and to her sister Parī-Khān Khānum, daughters of Shah Ṭahmāsp, his grandfather.7 The Ambassador passed through this crowd of concealed women and eunuchs so quickly that he failed to notice that the Kurdish kinglet was riding his horse along the side of the road, accompanied by several servants. The kinglet sent word that he would visit the Ambassador, offering his services and excusing himself for being unable to keep pace with him because he needed to proceed slowly on account of a bad leg. The Ambassador returned the same courtesies to him, offering him his litter, explaining that it was perfectly adequate for his ailment because it was empty, and because the Ambassador preferred to travel to Eṣfahān, as he was already doing, on horseback. In addition to the litters, which were numerous, many women traveled on horseback, as well as the maidservants and slaves of the caged women. There were also other women of high station who preferred to travel on horseback, but they were always accompanied by their husbands, in addition to their guards, and they were wholly covered under shrouds and white veils. And because this journey 5  Latin for “mistresses, concubines”; the MS has pelices. 6  See p. 362 n. 154. 7  Both Parī-Khān Khānum (1548–1578) and Zainab Begom (1550–1641), as Silva y Figueroa states, were daughters of Shah Ṭahmāsp I, sisters of Shah Moḥammad Ḵodā-bandah, and aunts of Shah ʿAbbās I. They remained unmarried and childless.

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was nine leagues, it took all night, under clear skies, to reach Sāveh, although before morning there was a heavy thunderstorm. On July [margin: 31st], the Ambassador stayed in Sāveh at the Kurd’s request, since the latter was hampered not only by his bad leg, but by his age and his obesity as well. The accommodations given the Ambassador were the same he had used on the road to Qazvīn. He endured the immense [fol. 410r] heat of the day with the bounty of fruit and loads of snow he had brought on the journey. [August 1618] On [margin: August 1st], the Ambassador departed from Sāveh at the usual hour and in two days’ time arrived in Qom with his retinue and baggage animals. The rest of the caravan could not follow, having been hindered by all the Kurdish and Georgian women, and especially because of Alam Khān’s illness, with which his chief wife was also greatly afflicted. It was obvious that [margin: Alam Khān] loved her very much. The better part of the sick members of the Ambassador’s entourage began to arrive, by then nearly recovered from their illnesses, although they had left Qazvīn with little hope of regaining their health for many days, considering the dire prognosis that several of them had been given. However, on the second leg of the journey, when they found [text blacked out] [superscript: better] air, the importance of the quality of that element was discovered, and how harmful it can be when noxious. After experiencing a change of air, they began to breathe better and to enjoy generally improved health, despite traveling in the blistering heat with the continuous jarring motion of the camels as they rode in the aforementioned stretchers. On the next day, August 3rd, they left Qom, where the Ambassador was given the same kind of reception and was visited by most of the residents, though they did not approach his chambers; instead, they were given a certain sum of money through a window that faced a garden, which he ordered distributed among them and the other guests in the house. From Qom, the Ambassador traveled for three days to Kāshān, arriving two hours before dawn, with some rain showers and thunderstorms [fol. 410v] that much refreshed the air, the night’s heat having been excessive. The Ambassador slept the remainder of the night in his litter in the garden of the same house he had made use of earlier for his lodgings. The next day, August 6th, we made a stop in Kāshān at the request of the Kurd. We did not arrive until after midnight, because the Kurd was suffering with his leg and had a high fever. The Ambassador sent word to him that he was very happy to offer him his own litter, but he dared not accept, either out of courtesy, or—as it afterward became clear—out of fear of offending the king, since he was traveling as his prisoner.

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On the 7th, the Ambassador left Kāshān and was received so inhospitably by the brutal mosquitoes of the garden [margin: of Emāmzāda], four leagues from the city, where he had stopped on his approaching journey, that he decided to press on another four leagues beyond it to another of the king’s gardens. Although it was not very large and lacked a boarding-house, it was by all accounts pleasant, cool, and abounding in good fruit. The Ambassador chose to stop at that garden because the journey had been long and the sun had risen by then. And because there was no house there, but only the collapsed walls of a ruined caravanserai, he was provided with a tent inside the garden among some poplar trees beside a beautiful spring of very fresh and cool water. The water flowed so abundantly from the spring that it created a large channel that passed right through the center of the tent, dividing it into two parts; the Ambassador’s bed was on one side, and on the other there was enough space for writing tables and chairs. The surrounding area was refreshingly and calmly shaded by [fol. 411r] the many surrounding leafy trees. While the tent was being prepared and the Ambassador was resting on some pillows next to the spring, a chase was roused, with loud shouting throughout the garden; two servants and other members of the entourage had found two she-foxes while gathering fruit, which when finding them they [text blacked out] [superscript: pursued], cheering and shouting. In the end, because so many people were spread throughout the garden, they managed to kill one of them, even without dogs. The other fox, finding itself cornered, twice took shelter next to the Ambassador’s sleeping area between some grapevines and willow branches. The Ambassador awoke the second time and ordered them to leave it alone, not only because of this, but also because the gardeners had complained about the damage that was being inflicted on the vines that densely covered the garden floor and that were loaded with grapes. The gardeners were absolutely right, as there was nowhere more pleasant and suitable for people to take shelter and protect themselves from the sun, even with all the many good lodgings available. This was because they had built a canopy with sticks and rods over each pair of vines that was big enough for two men to rest under comfortably, either seated or lying down; each canopy covered the many leaves and green shoots in such a way that it completely blocked out the sunlight. And thus this garden afforded [fol. 411v] comfortable and cool accommodations for all; it abounded in grapes, melons, and figs, the latter being the best that had been found in Persia [margin: to that point]. For although Persian figs fall short of the excellence of other Persian fruit, the figs from this garden, which were white, could be compared in appearance and taste to the best ones Spain had to offer.

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On the 8th, after the gardeners were content with the compensation they received for the general destruction of their garden, which, along with the others that have been mentioned, belonged to the king, the Ambassador set off with only his retinue traveling six leagues to a spot near a cool and pleasant town called Naţanz, the rest of the caravan remaining a day’s journey behind. The Ambassador’s chamber had not been prepared, either because those who traveled ahead to arrange for his accommodations had, through their negligence, failed to do so, or because they had arrived while the governor was asleep. Therefore, he had to spend the remainder of that night outside the city sleeping in his litter next to a huge plane tree, by which run two wide canals. When the location became more clearly distinguishable after daybreak, it was seen to be so good and pleasant that the Ambassador did not want to enter the city; instead, he had a tent placed underneath another, smaller plane tree that was very close to the larger one. The two canals passed within the circle of the tent’s perimeter, delivering water that was good and quite cold. Part of his retinue settled themselves in a nearby grove, which, though enclosed by a rather high stone wall, could be reached through a breach in the wall. The deep [text blacked out] [margin: dimness of the garden [fol. 412r] caused by] the trees was remarkable. There were willows and poplars with several vines wrapped around them. The foliage was so dense that it should really be described as dark rather than opaque. The great plane tree provided ample and comfortable accommodation for the rest of the people, along with the camel drivers and servants. Since time immemorial, this tree has provided shelter to caravans that travel from Shīrāz and Eṣfahān to Qazvīn and Tabrīz. Below the branches of the plane tree—though a good distance from the trunk—was a little shack, where a few men sold barley and straw and a few things to eat to travelers. Naţanz is situated in a valley on the lowest foothill of a towering mountain to the south-west of the city. It is also hemmed in [margin: on the east and north] by smaller mountains, and thus it is surrounded on all sides. And although the mountains that divide Persia from Media are smooth and nearly lacking in crags, as was already discussed in the section treating the journey to Qazvīn, these mountains of Naţanz are extremely rough and rocky, though they create little difficulty for those coming and going on the road that cuts through them, and, as is little seen along the road from Eṣfahān to Qazvīn, there is a great abundance of good water. It flows from the peaks and highest slopes of the mountains into the depths of the valley, running parallel to the aforementioned road for over half a league. This abundant and delicious water remains on the right as one travels from Eṣfahān to Qazvīn and on the left on the return journey. This whole valley is so full of orchards that produce

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abundant good fruit, despite the fact that the ground is [fol. 412v] everywhere stony and rough, and the area around Naţanz is so surrounded by these groves and the fences [margin: of loose stone] that enclose them, that anyone who is unfamiliar with the lay of the land would be unable to determine how to enter the city or leave it, as happened the night the Ambassador arrived, [text blacked out] even though the moon was very bright. Naţanz lies near the end [superscript: opening] of this valley, as one travels from Qazvīn [margin: to Eṣfahān]. Just inside its gates sits a grand, tall mosque, which also provides lodging to pilgrims, mostly those traveling to places in the fulfilling of their duty according to their sect, this being the road leading to Solţānīyeh, Ardabīl, and Mashad, renowned holy places among the Persians. Many small villages are spread throughout the valley past Naţanz, among the same orchards, with little intervening distance between them. Besides their close physical resemblance, all the villages are called by the same name of Naţanz, as if they were its suburbs or neighborhoods. The night of his arrival, the Ambassador stayed 200 paces from the mosque and the entrance to Naţanz—which its citizens call a city—on the same side of the great mountains, the same spot that, as has already been stated, was the place where caravans stop because of the comfort provided by its large and beautiful plane tree. The tree is of such admirable and stupendous size that its shade can comfortably accommodate a very great number of men, horses, and camels without them running into or bothering each other. All around its wide base, which measures seven fathoms in diameter, is a great stone ledge with a flat, shiny surface of more than ten or twelve paces radius in all directions, measuring from the base of the plane tree out to the circumference of the [fol. 413r] ledge. Many people place their beds and clothing there, this spot being extremely pleasant and spacious, mostly due to the breezes that ordinarily waft through during the summer. The ledge is two or three feet off the ground according to the tree’s slope on either side, but on its highest side, the ledge is level with the ground. At that point, one of the previously mentioned canals enters the area near the base of the tree and exits through the opposite side, making this stopover more comfortable and pleasant for travelers. The long and thick branches of the tree project outward so far that at midday its shadow stretches [margin: out] for thirty paces in all directions, around and beyond the stone ledge, [text blacked out] [superscript: covering] the entire area and shielding it from the sun, so that camel drivers, camels, donkeys, and mules may rest in the shadow, eating or sleeping, even if they belong to a big caravan. The horses stand in a ring around the ledge, much closer to it, using its rim [text blacked out] [superscript: as a manger]; when the Ambassador arrived there before the rest of the caravan, there was room for all the horses,

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camels, and other baggage animals, which numbered upward of 200, to gather around this ledge. What was most amazing about this extremely great and spacious plane tree was that it seemed impossible for its trunk—[text blacked out] [margin: though] its great width has been described—to support the incredible weight of its very long and thick branches, each one of them being capable of functioning as the base of another large and sturdy tree. This tree is so ancient that some of the inhabitants of Naţanz claim that there is no [fol. 413v] known record of it or reference to it being [text blacked out] [superscript: any] younger or any smaller than it is today, and that this is plainly seen in its appearance, its leaves being on the whole small and meager, lacking the verdure, beauty, and length of other plane trees, no matter how old or big they are. But its many dense and thick branches compensate for this lack so that although it was not so leafy, the entire area filled by it was unbothered by the rays of the sun except for a small space at sunrise or sunset. This age-old tree seemed to merit the report that has been made of it here because of its vastness and prodigious size; it could be compared to the one that according to Pliny Licinius Mucianus8 [text blacked out] found in Asia Minor while traveling from Syrian Antioch to Rome, [margin: though the present one is bigger] [text blacked out]. Ḥasan Beg,9 the Persian guide for guide for the entire caravan, and one of the soldiers from the king’s guard, which are called qūrchīs,10 sent a message to the Ambassador with another soldier who traveled as his assistant, beseeching him to halt his progress that day because he would not be able to catch up with them until the next morning, since, like the Kurd, he was in poor health. The Ambassador, who became quite put out with him for suggesting that he travel at the pace of the others, replied that under no circumstances would he hold back any longer, but that they must set out that very afternoon. But with the soldier was a servant of the Kurd who also very insistently implored him to halt, insisting on how ill his master was, and so the Ambassador was forced to oblige. And thus the rest of the caravan arrived early the next day, with the Kurds and Georgians and a few more Persians, accompanied by their women. 8  Gaius Licinius Mucianus, first-century AD Roman general, statesman, and writer; see Pliny, Natural History, 12. 9; and Williamson, “Mucianus and a Touch of the Miraculous,” 219–52. 9  The Persian name of this soldier could have been either Ḥasan or Ḥosayn Beg. 10  Qūrchīs were royal bodyguards to the shah. While they were traditionally drawn from Qezelbāš units, Silva y Figueroa correctly observes below that during the reign of Shah ʿAbbās I, they were being drawn from ḡolām (meaning “slaves of the royal household”), regiments composed of soldiers of non-Muslim origin, mainly Armenians, Georgians, and Circassians, who had entered the Safavid military establishment and accepted Islam; see Savory, Iran under the Safavids, 65, 76–81, 92.

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They were on their way to Eṣfahān from Kāshān and Qom. This Kurdish kinglet, who has been mentioned so often, was lord of that part of Kurdistan that divides Media from Susiana and is thus the easternmost part of that region. This area was so [fol. 414r] close to the provinces under the king of Persia’s control that the Kurd always gave the appearance of being his confederate and friend with the deference that subordinates normally display to the more powerful. The same was true of the other lords of Kurdistan, some recognizing the very same king of Persia, others the Turkish sultan, according to the proximity and propinquity of their lands to the kingdoms and provinces of these great princes. Alam Khān, who, as was mentioned, was so indebted and proximate to Media and to the city of Hamadān on the Persian border, that in addition to contributing his annual concessions and vassalage, he sent his son, Mīrzā Khan, to sojourn at the court of the king in demonstration of his goodwill, and so he remained there for several years before the time at which this account is being written. But since the king of Persia was wary, perhaps because the Turkish king was getting closer and closer to Assyria and part of Susiana, or more likely, because he intended to force the son, who lived at his court, to depose his father, he sent for poor Alam Khān at about the same time the Ambassador reached Qazvīn in order to discuss some matters with him relating to the borders already spoken of. The sure news had already spread that the Turkish army was entering from Vān by way of Media. The Kurd dared not refuse his invitation to Qazvīn, fearing an even worse outcome in view of what had befallen other lords of Kurdistan at the hands of their neighbor, the king of Persia. And therefore, the Kurd arrived at the court at the aforementioned time, bringing his women and children along with the rest of his household, knowing what was most certainly about to happen. For once he entered the court, the king, after receiving him very well, told him that he wanted him to remain with [fol. 414v] him for some time so he could avail himself of the Kurd’s counsel regarding several important matters then in the offing. The king then turned around and sent the Kurd’s son to govern the estate and lands of his father. Later, when the king desired to depart for Solţānīyeh, he sent word to the Kurd saying that he did not want to burden him with having to accompany him in view of his advanced age, and that it would be better for him to wait for him in Eṣfahān, which was where the king desired to send him. The Kurd, who had anticipated much worse than this, willingly obeyed, bearing patiently his imprisonment. This all occurred at the time the Ambassador was making haste to leave Qazvīn for Eṣfahān. The king had charged Ḥasan Beg,11 the qūrchī soldier who 11  See p. 640 n. 9.

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has already been mentioned, with finding lodging for them and showing them the way. It is always the case that those appointed from [superscript: to] this office take advantage of the towns where they stop, demanding from their hosts much more than what they thereafter pass on to the members of the party that they lead, the present occasion being no exception. The qūrchī asked, as a favor to the king, that the Ambassador, who was going to Eṣfahān where the Kurds and Georgians were also obliged to go, provide accommodations for them all. And although the Ambassador was aware of this in Qazvīn, [text blacked out] they detained him for two or three more days [text blacked out] [superscript: in the city] while he waited for the Kurd to make his preparations, though the Ambassador concealed his knowledge of this. But as has already been stated, by this time the Ambassador was annoyed, seeing that they had forced him to travel more slowly [text blacked out]. Shortly before the time [text blacked out] [superscript: of] the Ambassador’s intended departure, the qūrchī, Ḥasan Beg,12 together with his companion, begged him to postpone their departure one more day because they had to [margin: now] turn back to search for one of the Georgians, who, it was reported, had taken flight. If they failed to do this, the king [fol. 415r] would have his head. He [text blacked out] [superscript: also] secretly threatened the camel drivers and other drivers of the baggage train with impalement if they made any sign of leaving. At this the Ambassador finally lost his patience, and by way of interpreters sent word [to the qūrchī] saying that he could go wherever he liked, but that the Ambassador was not a prisoner, nor was his [the qūrchī’s] company required, and that he wished to depart immediately, and that he [the qūrchī], a mere soldier, should take care not to try to threaten any member of the Ambassador’s caravan, because he would pay for it if he did. The interpreter found our qūrchī in the house of the town’s governor. This soldier was so out of his head from his drinking that he did not even wait for the interpreter to finish delivering the message before reaching for his scimitar to kill him. But the interpreter also [text blacked out] [superscript: unsheathed] his sword and defended himself; the governor and other Persians, who, though [text blacked out] [superscript: at this time] had [margin: also] been drinking [text blacked out], were more rational and kept their wits about them, succeeded in pacifying them. When news of this was made known [margin: to] the Ambassador, he ordered that they quickly pack their belongings, telling them that if the qūrchī were to show up and attempt to hinder them, they were to bind his hands tightly together. This proved unnecessary because just then the qūrchī arrived with the governor and three or four others, offering profuse apologies to the Ambassador, especially 12  See p. 640 n. 9.

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for having put his hand to his scimitar, saying that he had done so because he was offended that the interpreter, when offered drink, had not desired to partake. In the end, the soldier’s apo[superscript: logy] [text blacked out] was accepted and the Ambassador departed, taking with him the other soldier. Ḥasan Beg, hardly able to remain in his saddle, [fol. 415v] went back in search of the fugitive prisoner. It turned out that he found him very close by; nothing more remarkable had happened than that he had been obliged to make a stop earlier that day because his horse had tired out. The militia of the aforementioned qūrchīs is composed of renegade Armenians, Georgians, and Circassians. They fight on horseback, some with harquebuses, but mostly with bows and arrows, as well as their scimitars. The only other defensive weapons they use are a few steel plates about a span in diameter, one, two, or three of which are attached over their chests and abdomens, leaving the rest of their bodies bare. And although their turbans protect their heads, they leave their necks and throats uncovered so that a stroke of the scimitar to those parts proves fatal; they are obviously exposed to any other injury to the throat and neck. Officers equal or superior to the rank of captain wear chain mail, and their horses are armored with steel on their heads and chests. This is also the practice among the other Persian captains, more for ornamentation than to actually protect the horses themselves, since the latter are rather quick, and when their masters fight from a distance on them, they only need fear being pierced by arrows, from which they die only rarely. These praetorians have a corporal, or āḡā, among both the Turks and the Janissaries, called a qūrchībashī,13 which is one of the highest ranks now existing among the Persians. The officer who currently holds this rank is named Ṭahmāsp Khān,14 who, besides being highly favored and valued by the king, is married to one of his [fol. 416r] daughters and is always waiting on his person. As a special privilege, these qūrchīs always wear a golden feather in their turbans. They are extremely imperi[superscript: ous] and so arrogant in the execution of their tasks that they reward slow obedience with repeated beatings with sticks, even if their victims happen to be the very governors of cities, as happened on this journey. But whenever the Ambassador was present in 13  As mentioned earlier (see p. 640 n. 10), units of tribal cavalry were known as qūrchīs, which were headed by officers called qūrchībāshī. Silva y Figueroa’s earlier brief comments, as well as those he offers about them here concerning their military and political role in the Safavid Empire, are historically accurate. For further discussion and additional details, see Savory, “Provincial Administration,” 114–28. 14  The MS has Tamis Chan. Based on Silva y Figueroa’s rendering, we surmise that the Persian name of this qūrchībāshī is Ṭahmāsp Khān; nothing further is known about this person.

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these situations, he reined the qūrchī Ḥasan Beg in, since this soldier was often in a violent rage because of his constant drinking of wine, a vice to which all of them are noticeably given. The 9th and 10th. Just before sunset, the Ambassador set out from his accommodations at the big plane tree at Naţanz, though the weather was still very hot, leaving behind on the left the beautiful valley, filled with gardens and country houses. Before making a full departure from the valley, his party ascended the side of the same mountain that sloped gently up to the right. The ground was very agreeable because most of this mountain was covered with grass, and although the month of August was already well advanced, that rocky harshness found elsewhere was lacking here. A beautiful and extremely cold stream of water trickled down the slope from the top of the mountain. Although it was not very big, it served to irrigate a number of orchards, and its clearness compelled the Ambassador to stop a short while to drink from it in the shadow of [margin: one of the] many trees that thrived all along that slope. This tree was a beautiful sight, as were all the others [fol. 416v] we have described. At this point, an ancient dervish made an appearance. After [margin: receiving] alms from the Ambassador, he began to recount old tales from that valley that were held as tradition from long before the spreading of the Muḥammadan sect. His stories are not recorded here because they are common fables, to which all the people of Asia are strongly inclined to give full credit. On our journey to Qazvīn along this same route there was very little to mention regarding this place because we had been traveling at night and had been unable to observe its appearance. And although the great plane tree afforded much comfort, as has been mentioned, this place was incomparably better, not only because of the verdure of the land and the coolness of the trees, but also because of the quality of the water, there being none so good anywhere else, nor was there another place with so many orchards close by with such an abundance of all kinds of fruit. On this night we traveled a long way, passing on our left the king’s orchard and golden house, called the Tajir Abad, where the Ambassador had stayed on his way to Qazvīn. Shortly before sunrise, he reached the caravanserai with the fountain of vile water. Everyone arrived at this same judgment after comparing it to the excellent water we had left behind. The following was the Ambassador’s traveling routine: one hour before sunset his servants were ordered to dine; then, after the baggage train was walked a little ahead with the rest of the servants, he would ride on horseback with the others [text blacked out] and thus travel on until midnight. At that point he would repair to his litter to take a light repast from a meal basket, or eat local fruit and drink water

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from a Turkish bag that hung from one of the litter’s rods, which was still very cold at that hour. More often than not he either ate nothing at all or, in order to drink less, managed with only a little bread; he would then rest in the same litter until arriving at a stopping place, and there, finding his bed already made, [fol. 417r] sleep [text blacked out] until nine or ten the following morning, at which point he would spend the rest of the day eating and resting, ready to commence the journey at the usual hour. And thus, guarding themselves from the sun and the bad water, he and all his servants reached Eṣfahān in good health, those who left Qazvīn ill having recovered theirs on the way. The Ambassador left the aforementioned caravanserai on the [text blacked out] [superscript: 11th] and travelled all that day on horseback, a journey of seven leagues. We reached another caravanserai one day’s journey shy of the village of Dowlatābād. There the Ambassador received a courier from His Catholic Majesty, who had travelled from Aleppo to Qazvīn, having heard in Baghdad that the Ambassador was there, and though he hurried as fast as he could, was unable to arrive earlier. This courier, who was Armenian, was named Simon Barbuto. He had lived in Spa[superscript: in] [text blacked out] for two years, having been sent there by David, one of the Armenian patriarchs, with letters for His Majesty. In these letters, David had requested that His Majesty give him a favorable recommendation to the king of Persia concerning a dispute with Melchizedek15 over the patriarchate, which will be more fully recounted below. In the letter the Ambassador was given by this courier, His Majesty ordered the latter, among other things, if he had not yet visited Persia, to do so immediately, or, if he deemed it appropriate, to postpone his visit. This order, which the Ambassador had been expecting for many days, reached him too late. It had become abundantly clear to him after arriving in India and learning of the loss of the fortress at Gamrū that his embassy would be useless and would jeopardize His Majesty’s reputation. And [text blacked out] [superscript: had this] communiqué reached him in Hormuz, he would in no case have gone on to Persia. Rather, he would have returned to Spain, either directly from there or from India. On the [text blacked out] [margin: 12th], the Ambassador set out from the caravanserai and a little after [fol. 417v] midnight reached the village of Dowlatābād. Early the next morning, he sent some of his servants from there to Eṣfahān with his personal effects, to the same inn where he had stayed before leaving for Qazvīn.

15  Melchizedek Garnechi, katolikos (i.e., patriarch) of the Armenians at New Julfa; see Ghougassian, Emergence of the Armenian Diocese, 92–93.

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On the [margin: 13th], the Ambassador departed from the village on horseback, not riding in the litter, the journey being only three short leagues. He reached Eṣfahān at ten o’clock that night, though because it was so hot during those days, he wanted to continue directly on to Hormuz—that is how annoyed and displeased he was with the poor conditions in which he had found matters in Persia. Two or three days later, our qūrchī, Ḥasan Beg, arrived with the Kurd and sundry Georgians. Having been ordered by the king to find better lodgings for the Ambassador, these men set out to search diligently for a suitable house. And while they agreed on several that seemed adequate because of their large gardens and spacious, attractive rooms, none of them were sizeable enough to accommodate the Ambassador’s entire entourage. And so he determined to remain in his current lodgings and add to them a neighboring house, so that when the doors were open between them, it appeared to be a single residence, with comfortable and ample room for all. Although the Ambassador had little room of his own, the house was cool and pleasant, with two low terraces or verandas and a little patio, with a small pond on one of the terraces; the orchard was immediately at hand, and while its fruit was not in season, it was very green with its many trees and vines. The Ambassador’s lodgings were in the center of the city, close to the close to the chief mosque, as has been stated, and right next to a bazaar, where all necessary provisions were available. Between the main doorway of the mosque and the entryway to another sumptuously ornamented house of prayer belonging to these Persians was a spacious area, like a square; it was easily the most [fol. 418r] frequented concourse in Eṣfahān. Despite the inn’s proximity to the square, its entrance was quite out of the way, down a narrow alley. It was separated from the press of people who [margin: frequented] the mosques, square, and bazaar, but so close to the main mosque on one side that one could hear through the windows the voices of the mullahs or al-fuqahāʿ 16 who preached inside. [August and September 1618] During the rest of the month of August and the better part of September, news of the strife with the Turks arrived from the king’s ordu, or camp. These reports were received with no small degree of uncertainty, since not only were most of these Eastern people erratic and faithless, but not one of them dared contradict what they thought would please the king’s ministers, for fear of the consequences. Furthermore, the Persians are scrupulous in complying with whatever is commanded them regarding their king, especially if they are told not to reveal certain things to the Franks, whom 16  Plural of al-faqīh; see p. 263 n. 54.

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they consider to be inherently worse enemies than even the Turks. But soon letters arrived from the king for his vizier and governor that gave them a long account of his army’s encounter with the Turkish company’s front line, and that embellished and exalted the victory they had wrested from their enemies. This vizier and governor turned up afterward with one of these letters from the king, having been ordered to read it and relate the episode to the Ambassador, although afterward it seemed that what the letter said was exaggerated, recounting, in addition to the many deaths, how many pashas and great men had been captured, as if the entire Turkish army had been destroyed while fighting in just and open battle. The Ambassador [fol. 418v] gave the appearance of being greatly pleased, congratulating those who bore the news of their victory, wishing the same for the king, although matters in Hormuz were such that this news could have been considered unfortunate, judging from what might be feared from the king, who had now become unencumbered from other enemies. An account of the event as it took place, though not altogether true, began to be circulated, especially with the arrival of Friar Juan Thadeo17 in Eṣfahān at that time. He intended to follow the king’s ordu, or camp, from Qazvīn to Ardabīl. An even surer account was given the Ambassador by a servant of Emāmqolī Khān, the sultan or khān of Shīrāz, who was involved in the army’s engagement that day. He related the battle simply and without artifice, according to available information, saying that the king of Persia annihilated everything, not only the city of Tabrīz, which has been decimated so many times already, but also the nearby fortress that he had built, despite its sheltered location, and ravaged the entire countryside from there to Ardabīl. The king also began to raze this last-named city in an open exhibition of terror, despite its standing as a most venerated sanctuary of the religion of the Sophies, of which he himself is the principal head, or caliph, now where he is buried and in whose temple is buried Sheikh Ḥaydar, founder of their religion and father of the great Ṣūfī Esmāʿīl, along with all the kings of Persia that succeeded him. So great was the shock and uproar of the residents of Ardabīl, seeing that they were forced to abandon their houses and, what was worse, their famous temple, which was held in such veneration by all, that there was unrest among them. They displayed signs of rebellion, lacking only someone to incite them. This was particularly true of the women, who shouted and howled, and even screamed gross insults [fol. 419r] at the king himself in his presence. But the latter concealed his emotions and proceeded to exhume the bones of the aforementioned kings and remove the oblations and other riches from the temple, 17  De San Eliseo; see p. 419 n. 251.

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ordering all of it to be quickly carried to Faraḥābād, the new colony of Māzandarān mentioned earlier. He planned to follow them with the same haste, taking the few soldiers that were with him at that time, if he received word that the Turks were drawing nearer or that his army had had an unfavorable encounter with them. Ever since Qazvīn, it had become quite obvious that the king had a profound lack of confidence in himself and a great fear of the powerful Turkish army. But now, at less remove, it became even clearer, because of the obvious evidence that has been adduced, that the only kind of resistance he was able to rally was to present his enemies with land that was so barren and desolate that the lack of provisions would compel them to turn back. And while much of the reputation he had gained suffered on this occasion, not only for the reasons just given, but also because he was considered more cautious and wary and less [margin: determined and] fond of fighting, [margin: this] should really be attributed not only to his great prudence, for after sizing up his forces he realized that they were inferior in number and in other ways to those of the Turk. But even more importantly, he knew that no matter how greatly he was feared by his own people, he was loathed and hated by them even more because of how many of them he had put to death, and also because shortly before that he had for no apparent reason cruelly and pitilessly taken the life of his own son. It seemed to him, and justifiably so, that after an unfavorable encounter with the opposing army, most of his soldiers would desert him and join forces with either of his two remaining sons, both of which were old enough to be kings. Moreover, ever since Ṣūfī Esmāʿīl was routed [fol. 419v] by Selim18 near Khoy, on the plains of Chaldiran, all the Persian kings would invariably avoid coming to open battle with the Turks or other enemies much more powerful than themselves. Therefore, while some of the succeeding Persian kings, especially Shah ʿAbbās, who now reigns, would have been able could have to employ field artillery in battle because of their much intercourse and commerce with Europeans, especially the Portuguese, they refuse to implement a stationary military strategy that would hinder their quick retreat or a sudden attack on the enemy, which is their usual battle strategy. Furthermore, the Persians have waged this kind of warfare for centuries, and it has been the characteristic and distinctive method of all Asian peoples. It is how they defended themselves against the might of Rome, abandoning, as they do now, their richest and most opulent cities that so often fell to that enemy. In those days, the greatest damage they inflicted on Roman forces was to leave them with so much deserted and barren land that the Roman soldiers, with no enemies to fight, 18  See p. 558 n. 187.

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were overcome by the lack of victuals and the hard work of marching across such an extended area. And even though those great and incredibly powerful old Persian monarchs waged stationary wars, in accordance with the weapons that matched their enormous strength, once their realm was extinguished by Alexander the Great, the Parthians, one of the successors of that great empire that came to power after driving out the Greeks, always employed the style of warfare of the Scythians, from whom they had originated, though it was so inferior to that of the ancient Persians. This method [fol. 420r] continued in Asia after the Arabs became lords over most of the East, particularly of those provinces formerly ruled by the Parthians and ancient Persians. Succeeding the Arabs in these provinces were first the Turks, followed by the Tatars, both nations of Scythia, whose customs, language, and form of warfare are those same maintained today by the Persians, together with the religious beliefs and many other rituals of the Arabs, and between them, as has already been mentioned, the luster, order, and greatness of the ancient Persians has come to an end and been completely extinguished. Based on what has just been said, it would seem that the king of Persia was perpetuating this Asian military custom that he had inherited, especially after finding himself at such a disadvantage to the Turkish army. And thus after Khalīl Pasha arrived in Kara Amid,19 intent on invading Armenia and Media by way of Vān, [the king] went to great lengths to arrive at an agreement with him, even making concessions or accepting conditions, so long as they did not obligate him to give up territory in these two provinces that he had won back from the Turks in years past, or Shīrvān, which he had also retaken. For it seemed to him that even if he agreed to short-term truces, or treaties, which might compel him to pay tribute to the Turk with the express promise of recognition, the Turk would have undertaken this expedition in vain—not only would it have availed him nothing, it would have resulted in manifest harm to him because he would have wasted an immeasurable treasure and all the machinery of such a powerful army, which was incomparably the greatest of all time. But the enemy [margin: pasha] general, or sardār,20 aware of the artifice with which the king proceeded, and knowing from long experience how little trust could be [fol. 420v] placed in his promises, would never reach any agreement if 19  Present-day Diyābakr. There may be some confusion here on Silva y Figueroa’s part in his identification of this place, since Khalīl Pasha moved his troops via Hamadān before engaging the Safavid forces under Qarchaqāy Khān; see Savory, Studies on the History, 2:1149–58. 20  Often rendered incorrectly as sirdār, Persian for “commanding officer”; see Y&B, 841, s.v. “sirdar.”

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the first condition were not to restore that which the king had won back, especially the province of Shīrvān and that which he had taken [margin: wrested] from Teimuraz Khān21 in Georgia. This design of the king, along with the intentions of the Turks, was made known later in Qazvīn because of the extraordinary measures the king had taken with the çavuş, rushing couriers from there to Khalīl Pasha, who had reached Vān with his army. It was also said that the king secretly offered Khalīl Pasha a great sum of gold and had even given the çavuş some jewelry, which, as it would later appear, was the main instrument for settling treaties, or truces, although the reasons for this were greater and more urgent. All the foregoing caused the king of Persia to suffer no end of disgrace. In order to avoid engaging the Turks in open battle, he destroyed and abandoned much of Media, part of it where no Turks had previously entered in any previous wars, because the Persians were so outnumbered in cavalry and even more outmatched in the courage of their infantry, and lacking the great pieces of artillery boasted by the opposition. And therefore he expressly ordered Qarchaqāy Khān, the apostate Armenian and general of his army, on pain of losing his head, not to go up against the Turks for any reason, even if he had the opportunity and saw an advantage in it, but that he should rather be on the lookout with his swift and light cavalry, seeking only to destroy enemy scouts and errant soldiers, and razing the countryside, [fol. 421r] retreating while pushing the enemy inland as far as possible. In consequence of his own orders, the king was left with only enough manpower to raze Ardabīl, which he resolutely did. The number of cavalry that gathered in Solţānīyeh, fourteen or fifteen leagues from Qazvīn, could not be determined with certainty, and so has been estimated based on accounts that could be readily collected from people who saw them with the aforementioned Persian general; 5,000 or 6,000 poorly formed foot soldiers with harquebus and approximately 30,000 horse, along with the soldiers’ pages and servants. With such a strict order not to fight, as mentioned, Qarchaqāy Khān situated himself nearly halfway between Tabrīz and Ardabīl—the distance between these two cities is twenty-five leagues— and there he awaited [margin: intelligence] concerning the route the enemy camp was following. With him was the army’s second-in-command, Emāmqolī Khān, the khān of Shīrāz, son of Allāhverdī Khān, along with the warriors of Shīrāz and its surrounding area, which always has been considered home to be bravest soldiers in all of Persia. These soldiers, like the rest, carried only the bare essentials to facilitate a speedy quickly retreat once they were apprised of the enemy’s approach. 21  Teimuraz I, also known as Teimuraz Khān; this is the son of Ketevan, the queen of Kakheti in eastern Georgia; see p. 362 n. 156.

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Suddenly, several riders who were scouting about at a considerable distance in the direction of Tabrīz raised the alarm, signaling that the entire enemy army was approaching. And, as it happens, whenever an anticipated danger makes its sudden appearance, things seem greater and more terrible than they really are; just so, these Persian sentries [text blacked out], seeing such a sizeable cavalry, believed—as was very plausible—that the entire Turkish camp was approaching, whereas it was only its vanguard. [fol. 421v] Khalīl Pasha, after having joined with the rest of his numerous army the pasha of Erzurum and some Georgians and Kurds, received word that all the city and the fortress of Tabrīz were being razed, and headed straight for it. This most noble city had been sacked and its population much diminished, but there had always remained in it traces and much of the luster of its former greatness. But at this time, when the Turks found it totally abandoned and its most beautiful and fertile fields destroyed, not only did wonder come upon them, but also pity, more so in those who had been garrisoned there for many years. And the pasha also saw that the fortress was abandoned and destroyed, even though it could have been easily defended with a half-garrison because of its protected position, or at least from there an army could have spent and weakened the adversary’s army for many days. It became evident to him that the Persians were filled with fear, as truly they were, and that it was therefore an auspicious time to advance: the Persians could not yet procure more soldiers, time was on their side, his army was fresh and whole, and he had received word from his spies that the Persians anticipated the arrival of reinforcements from Hyrcania and Khorāsān. In order to carry out his plan, he sent forth the vanguard, in which there were 20,000 Tatars, along with the pashas and rulers of Vān and Erzurum, and Tamarascan with 3,000 Georgians, ordering them to send the Tatars ahead to scout [fol. 422r] out the location of the Persian camp along with the number and quality of their troops. As soon as the Turkish vanguard began their march, one day after leaving the body of their army behind, they discovered that Qarchaqāy [superscript: Khān] [text blacked out] was positioned ten leagues [superscript: away] with some of the enemies’ warriors, confirming to some that they numbered less than 20,000, and that his king, doubting their ability to defend the field, was abandoning Ardabīl to retreat farther inland. At that they pressed on, arriving within two leagues of the Persians, who were caught in their sudden fear, as mentioned above, the present danger giving no time for further discussion. They began to retreat with great speed and commotion, leaving behind the better part of their tents and in them those things that most hindered them. The women camp followers were the first to flee, with their personal belongings, their camels, and their servants, despite the arduous and dangerous circumstances, since these women traveled openly

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and on horseback, like men. However, as they had done after the first such movement, Qarchaqāy Khān took control of the right flank and Emāmqolī Khān, lord of Shīrāz, the left, and with the other Persian captains, they caused those fleeing to stop and, finding themselves in a clearing, put them in order, though they were now some distance from the body of their army. In order to reconnoiter from a closer position, the Turks sent 4,000 [fol. 422v] horses ahead with 2,000 harquebusier infantrymen and ordered them to return with a sure account of what they saw. And although the number of men in this reconnoitering party was large, consisting mainly of infantry who could not move to safety very quickly, it seemed afterward that Qarchaqāy Khān’s plan was to engage the enemy while organizing the rest of his troops, or to remove himself from danger with them, venturing to sacrifice for this purpose those he had sent ahead, since they were among the most expendable. This army [text blacked out] had been mustered from the cities of Eṣfahān, Yazd, and Kāshān and surrounding villages. A little over half a league from their position, they encountered the Tatars, who, [text blacked out] [superscript: as] has been said, as the most skilled soldiers, made up the front line of the Turkish advance guard. The Persians, without maintaining the order they had previously held, chose to attack the Ottomans, or what is probably more accurate, they were left no other choice, since the Tatars, according to their custom, had begun to assail them from the front and on the sides with a hail of arrows, breaking the ranks of the Persians and putting them to flight. They offered little resistance as they fled, and the Tatars decimated most of the band. This action was so sudden and quick that the noise and shouting, both of those fleeing and of those giving chase, reached the Persians’ left flank almost simultaneously, so that [fol. 423r] they were completely unable to retreat without putting all their lives in manifest danger, as they found themselves under attack and almost completely surrounded. Therefore, finding himself closest, Daud Khān, the brother of the khān of Shīrāz, led some veteran soldiers from the forces of his father, Allāhverdī Khān, and ferociously closed in on the Tatars, who were passing by in disorderly chase. He was immediately joined by his brother, Emāmqolī Khān—though the latter was impeded by his obesity—who saw that Daud Khān and his best soldiers were fighting with such great determination. Qarchaqāy Khān knew, as any good soldier must, that he had to either fight or die fleeing [margin: fleeing] with his back turned, though this was contrary to the king’s orders. He thus rallied the Persians under his command to fearlessly attack the Tatars, Turks, and Georgians who were chasing them, both sides joining in terrible battle. Since the Turks brought no artillery, both sides were evenly matched for a long time, but once the Persians had fired [margin: and spent] all their arrows,

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they engaged the Tatars in close combat with their scimitars and shed much of their blood. The Persians themselves also suffered almost an equal share of casualties because the Turks and Georgians, desiring to exact vengeance for the destruction they had suffered two years earlier in their province, fought valiantly until the Tatars were put to flight, and the rest did the same. But the Persians did not chase after those who fled [fol. 423v] for very long because they had lost many of their bravest soldiers. Moreover, they feared that the rest of the Turkish army was not far off, this being the first instance in which the enemies of the Turks did not suffer more casualties than the Turks themselves. And though the chase was brief, some Turks and Kurds were captured who, by the looks of their weapons and dress, appeared to be of high rank. The Persians boasted loudly about this, proclaiming that they had captured the pashas from Baghdad, Damascus, Kara Amid, Vān, and Erzurum in this encounter. This afterward proved to be untrue: only the capture of the pasha, or sanjak, of Vān was confirmed. Teimuraz, who had performed valiantly, was saved from danger by some Georgian soldiers after his horse died. In short, this engagement was much less important than what had been noised abroad, the damage done to both parties being about equal. The first news that reached Eṣfahān was that 20,000 Tatars and Turks had been killed. Later it was said that there were much fewer, until some came to say that among these and the Persians as well, no more than 10,000 had fallen. Everything these Eastern nations claim and proclaim is so doubtful and unbelievable that no certainty can be perceived in them because of the great confusion and instability of their words; they are all by nature great liars, especially regarding matters that might result in some detriment or some advantage for them. What happen was claimed [margin: and corroborated] a few days later was that neither the Turks nor the Persians [fol. 424r] sustained any notable setback from this conflict. Khalīl Pasha did not push forward, though he could have because he had his entire army at his command and the cold season had not yet begun in those provinces. Nor did the king of Persia break the peace treaty that had been signed in Qazvīn. On the same occasion, the çavuş, who had been a negotiator of the treaty, was found among the prisoners [text blacked out] [margin: in Qazvīn]. After he was brought to the king of Persia from Ardabīl, he was received kindly and was later returned very comfortably to the pasha. Afterward there was [superscript: This led to] a suspension of arms, and within a few days after the çavuş left and returned, the truces or treaties were concluded as the king of Persia intended, since thereafter no hostilities took place on either side, but the king sent considerable provisions to the camp of Khalīl Pasha, who had stopped a day’s journey ahead of Tabrīz. And without further

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ado, the war came to an end, one that had commenced with so much fanfare and from which much greater consequences were expected than from those of all the previous incursions of Turks into Armenia and Media. The king of Persia was content to hold on to what he had so happily taken from the Turks in years previous, and thus his only aim had been to check, tire, and wear out his enemies by attacking them from time to time. His reputation seemed to rise considerably, having regained what his father Moḥammad Khudā-Bandah had lost, and preserved it against a much more powerful enemy. There was a reason he longed for peace and went to such lengths to secure it, namely [fol. 424v] the deep hatred of his subjects, as has been mentioned. And although Khalīl Pasha’s army was full strength and he had adequate opportunity to not only send reinforcements to the greater part of Media, but also to sack the cities of Ardabīl, Solţānīyeh, and Qazvīn, the pressing and urgent reasons behind his hasty retreat were quite clear. Although the rumors circulating in Persia [superscript: had it] that he withdrew because of the money he had secretly accepted, the more likely cause for his retreat was the ascent of Osman the Young22 to the Turkish throne after the overthrow of his uncle Mustafa,23 together with the news that he received in Constantinople warning him that a powerful fleet had been fitted out in Europe by His Catholic Majesty, the king of France and the Venetians. The Ambassador waited in vain in Eṣfahān for the king of Persia’s order that he return to Hormuz in time to catch a ship that year in Goa and sail for Spain, as had been promised him in Qazvīn. For although the Ambassador had sent a letter to where he had gone since Ardabīl, the only response he received was that he would be arriving in Eṣfahān very soon and that he would give the Ambassador his leave to depart from there. It was later understood that he [the shah] desired to detain the Ambassador until he learned how Robert Sherley had been received in the Spanish court, which the Ambassador had always supposed would be the case. This was confirmed just a few days later when an Armenian visited the Ambassador himself with a sealed packet of letters, saying that they were given to him on the way to Baghdad by an Arab who had fallen very ill, and that because the letters were written in Frankish, [fol. 425r] he did not know to whom he was to deliver them. He asked the Ambassador to examine them so that they could be delivered to their addressee. The Ambassador very carefully asked the Armenian if he knew where that Arab was coming from and why it was that when he gave him [text blacked out] 22  Osman II (1604–1622), sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1618–1622). 23  Mustafa I Deli (ca. 1591–1639), twice sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1617–1618 and 1622–1623).

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[margin: received] the letters, he did not learn to whom he was to give them. He answered that because the man was so ill, he had not told him more than that he was to carry them to Eṣfahān. And since the packet [superscript: arrived] so well sealed and the envelope was printed in excellent Spanish and was addressed to Friar Juan Thadeo, the Carmelite prior, who has already been mentioned, the Ambassador knew for certain that the letters were from Sherley. This was further confirmed when he found two letters inside written in Persian [margin: once the packet was opened]. He then learned the Armenian’s name and that he was a resident of New Julfa in Eṣfahān. After the Ambassador had dismissed him, he sent one of the interpreters along with him to find his house and determine whether it was as he said. Once all this was confirmed, and after a Persian mufti24 or mullah who regularly visited their inn had read [margin: read] the letters, the Ambassador saw that one of them was addressed to the king of Persia, and the other to the aforementioned Friar Juan, and that they had been written by Sherley from Lisbon a few days after arriving there from India. The letter addressed to the king said that he had been looked down upon and very poorly received there,25 and that because he had officially requested that they allow him to leave to return to the Persian court, he implored [the shah] that, if [text blacked out] [margin: the Ambassador] reached Persia, he should detain us [superscript: him] and not allow the Ambassador him to depart until he [Sherley] sent him word. His letter to Friar Juan said nearly the same thing, and he signed it, as he had the first, Bezabda,26 a name the king of Persia had given him. He also mentioned other duplicates that he had sent by other means, without making mention of the person to whom he had given or directed the packet. [fol. 425v] And because the Ambassador had learned for certain in Qazvīn that Friar Juan had received letters there from Spain just days before the king’s departure for Solţānīyeh, the Ambassador was confident that he had received the same duplicate, which had just fallen into his hands in Eṣfahān, although until then he had always believed that Sherley’s departure, which was so favored and promoted by some of the ministers in India who felt such jealousy and little respect for His Majesty, must undoubtedly be the reason why the Ambassador had been detained in Persia, which the Ambassador had always resented so strongly. [November 1618] On the 8th or 10th of November of this year (1618), several of the Ambassador’s servants who arose earlier than the others came to tell him that two nights earlier they had seen [text blacked out] a very significant 24  See p. 452 n. 310. 25  I.e., in Spain. 26  See p. 501 n. 393.

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sign in the heavens three hours before dawn, and that on the next day other servants and some Armenians affirmed the same thing, though their stories contradicted each other, none agreeing on its shape or size. Although it was terribly cold, the following two nights the Ambassador, wrapped in heavy clothing, climbed up to a high terrace, where he was astonished to see a new and extraordinary comet. Despite its great size, filling nearly a fourth part of the sky, it was completely lacking in the brightness possessed by other comets, its color being that [text blacked out] of the smoke that good gunpowder produces, or like very light ash. It was shaped like an African cutlass that curves near the tip, the pointed end being much broader than the other end, which was very narrow. On the first night, the head of the comet sometimes looked like a few small flames, and it seemed as though this was the source of the rest of the comet. From its head, which was the beginning point, it swelled and swelled until it became, as has been said, very broad and curved at the tip, thus also resembling the top of a palm tree with its leaves curving back. It occupied the better part of the constellations of Virgo, Libra, and Scorpion, and to its left, where the summer sun rises, there was another comet, small and common, but very bright, which afterward disappeared along with the bigger one a few days later when the sun drew nearer.]27 The Ambassador spent the entire winter in Eṣfahān, enduring the long, harsh cold spells that are normal there during that season, without receiving any news whatsoever regarding the king’s arrival. This time was not exactly tranquil either, as the Ambassador’s entourage could not altogether avoid quarrelling and clashing with the contemptible people of the city, especially with the slaves and [text blacked out] servants from India. No harm befell anyone, except that a Persian soldier was once badly injured; the Ambassador had him treated and gave him all that was required for his comfort and, afterward, a certain sum of money. During those first days, a strange animal was brought for the Ambassador’s inspection. It was different than any that was [superscript: ever heard] of in the world. It was the size of a Spanish water or gun dog, but all four of its legs were so short that it seemed to drag its belly on the ground like a lizard. Its tail was fat near its body, then tapered down to a very narrow point like a lizard’s tail, though much shorter according to [superscript: in proportion to] its body. Its 27  This is the Great Comet of 1618, also known as the “Angry Star” because of its reddish hue and extremely long tail. It was later considered a harbinger of the Thirty Years’ War, which began the same year. Silva y Figueroa was actually the first European to describe this comet, which had only just begun to appear around the 10th or 11th of November, 1618. See Stoyan, Atlas of Great Comets, 67–70.

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head was small in size and girth, and it had a very short neck, [text blacked out] [fol. 426r] and its face [superscript: visage] face was so dirty and ugly that it was disgusting to look at. The hair on its body was so much shorter than that of a lobo marino28 that the creature looked hairless; [margin: rather] its skin resembled the leather that snakes are described as having. In fact, this animal rather closely resembled a snake, being entirely of a wet ash color that matched the rest of its disgusting and drab appearance [text blacked out]. Both its hind legs were secured by a sturdy cord brought from the field by a man, who could not hold it back, even when straining greatly with both hands, from violently throwing itself into a small fountain, [margin: or pond], nearly a stade deep in the Ambassador’s inn. The man dove in all the way to the bottom, and could not remove the animal until receiving the help of another laborer who had come with him. Once out, it made a fierce and courageous show of desiring to return to the water. None other than those holding it dared approach it, as it opened its mouth, revealing its big and strong teeth. When the Ambassador asked these men where they had found it, they said it was in an underground canal, or gutter, of which there are many in all of Persia, which they use to obtain and bring the water from far away, and with which they irrigate the orchards and seeded plains. They said that such an animal had never before been seen in that region, and they did not know of any that existed anywhere else. The story of these men, alongside the apparent nature and [fol. 426v] monstrous form of this bizarre creature, appeared to confirm that it was more likely produced in hidden crevasses of the earth than by partaking of the air or the waters of lakes and rivers. Giovanni Villani,29 in his Chronicle of Italy, makes mention of a great earthquake that occurred in his time [margin: throughout much of Italy] through which [superscript: that subsequently] spewed forth black and foul-smelling water in a few large spurts. In Mugello,30 a fertile region near Florence, the water brought forth, through cracks in the earth, these three four-legged serpents [margin: that were as big as dogs]. They must have been of the same shape and form as the one of which we have just spoken. In this winter at the end of 1618 and the beginning of 1619, two events were witnessed [text blacked out] in Eṣfahān, both of them having to do with religion, though one of the religions was wholly false and superstitious and the other, though true, is plagued by the failings and errors common to the Christians of Asia to one degree or another. The first of these matters was already touched upon in the discussion of the city of Shīrāz, namely that every 28  Lit. “sea wolf,” i.e., Cape seal; see p. 103 n. 153. 29  Florentine banker and author (ca. 1276–1348); see Villani, Selections, 140. 30  The Mugello region in northern Tuscany.

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year during the month of December, all these Sophies,31 the sect to which both Arabs and Turks belong, display their bitterness over the death of Ḥusayn, the son of ʿAlī and Muḥammad’s daughter, Fātimah, and their hatred toward the Sunnis who killed him. And since the Great Mosque32 was so close to the Ambassador’s house in Eṣfahān, as has been mentioned, he was able to give a more detailed account of how this commemoration unfolded.33 Many sermons were given in all the mosques, squares, and other public places in the city over the space of the ten or twelve days preceding the last and most important [fol. 427r] day of this festival, and these homilies were attended by a vast throng of both sexes. Those who deliver them are by profession scholars in the religion of the Persians, like priests among the Christians. They are commonly called mullahs, or qāḍīs,34 and they preach with great zeal from elevated locations in the places already mentioned, speaking at length with words charged with bitterness about the death of their great prophet. But the more dignified people, especially the women, worship at the mosques, an especially large assemblage congregating [superscript: at] this Great Mosque. They customarily send their servants ahead with carpets to carefully save a place for them before the sermons begin, with great pomp and ostentation, the more distinguished and prominent among them claiming the best locations, though this invariably leads to quarrels and disputes over who should have them. Around the top of the inside of this mosque there is a fairly wide balcony, or gallery, which was considered more comfortable and respectable than the ground floor below. Most of the ground floor was constantly filled with the wives of artisans and shopkeepers, though there were also some wives of merchants and other citizens; however, the latter were no more splendidly adorned than the others, both groups wearing black veils on their heads over which they wore white mantles, as has been described. The upper balcony, or gallery, was always reserved for courtesans and the leading public women, the latter generally more prominent and distinguished than the more common women because the king of Persia granted them important privileges and exemptions, both because of the profit [fol. 427v] he derives from them and because many of them follow the army around during times of war. The wives of ministers and men of 31  See p. 422 n. 263. 32  The Great Mosque of Eṣfahān, completed ca. 1130 after a long history of rebuildings, was one of the most influential of all early Seljuq religious structures; see Kuiper, Islamic Art, 173. 33  This is a reference to Ashura, which is celebrated on the tenth day of the Islamic month of Muharram. 34  A judge or expert in Islamic law; see Y&B, 177–80, s.v. “cazee, kajee.”

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more exalted position never, or rarely, appear in public unless they are traveling, since they are always confined in their harems under guard. Courtesans are [superscript: more] easily distinguished from the common women because they dress more splendidly and always have a train, often riding on horseback. Places are reserved for them in the upper balcony, and though they are dressed in mourning during this ceremony with their black veils, as has been described—though some of them wear yellow or tan ones—they are nevertheless very finely bedecked in silks and fabric entwined with gold in the Persian fashion, and their faces are for the most part uncovered. The women in both sections of the mosque paid rapt attention to the sermon that was preached during each of the aforementioned days. In this mosque these were always delivered by the most respected mullahs, or al-fuqahāʿ,35 in Eṣfahān, who preached with great zeal while seated in chairs like the ones seen in the choirs of cathedral churches, which had to be reached by climbing six or seven steps. They employed the same kinds of gestures and motions as our preachers in Europe. On these occasions all of them dressed more respectably than usual, wearing a big black hood over their shoulders, back and chest, from which there hung a hood, or humeral veil, one foot in width, and a black veil that covered most of their turban. They proceeded with their sermons thus dressed with these emblems of bitterness and sadness. Their addresses consisted, first, of roundly cursing Abū Bakr, uncle and father-in-law to Muḥammad and first successor in the caliphate, and ʿUmar36 and ʿUthmān,37 who in turn succeeded Abū Bakr in the same office. The doctrine of these figures [fol. 428r] is the one followed by the Sunnis. The sect of the Sophies,38 which is opposed to the Sunnis, contends that ʿAlī, Muḥammad’s first cousin,39 who was married to his daughter Fātimah,40 was the true successor in that office and rank, the which office fell to his sons Ḥasan and Ḥusayn after him as grandsons of their lawgiver, and that therefore it is their doctrine that should be followed. They condemn the doctrine of the other sect for contradicting the true teachings passed on by Muḥammad in their Ḳurʾān. The rest of the homily consisted of an extensive narrative of the death of Ḥusayn, which, though it happened while contending with the opposing faction during a time of war, was represented by them much more pathetically, saying that his enemies, who greatly 35  See p. 263 n. 54 and p. 646 n. 16. 36  ʿUmar I; see p. 521 n. 46. 37  See p. 521 n. 47. 38  See p. 422 n. 263. 39  See p. 411 n. 240. 40  See p. 443 n. 295.

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outnumbered his forces, seized the bank of the Euphrates River and prevented him from getting water, which could not be obtained elsewhere. And thus he was forced to fight desperately with only a few men so as to not die of thirst, their thirst having driven them to flee; he died while fighting bravely at the side of his men. These preachers first greatly exaggerate the great feats performed that day by Ḥusayn, and then they lament his cruel death at the hands of his enemies. [margin: And this is the main reason for the many bequests and legacies left by Persians that provide for the building of cisterns along the roads and in other places where water is wanting, namely so that travelers will not perish from thirst.]41 The preachers commemorated the memory of Ḥusayn with so many tears and so much deep feeling that all the women wailed loudly, furiously, and violently, beating themselves on the face and chest, as among us when the Passion is preached on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. And furthermore, the noise and lamentations in this mosque on these days of preaching were so loud that they could be heard clearly and distinctly in the most remote and isolated parts of the Ambassador’s house, [fol. 428v] while the very words of the preacher, many of which the Ambassador’s interpreter related to him, could be heard from the closest windows. All of the wailing and mourning came to end when the good and devout al-faqīh finished his sermon and went over to the door of the mosque, and while standing there with a sober and doleful expression on his face, everyone, especially the women, offered him money, turbans, and cabayas, which are the jubbahs or doublets they wear; the courtesans, being the richest, were the most generous in bestowing these on him. On some days, he [the al-faqīh] received fifty or sixty cabayas, in addition to money and turbans. During the first days of this ceremony, the Ambassador ordered that none of his servants enter the Great Mosque, anticipating the disturbance that might ensue if they did; neither did he allow them to stand close to it during the preaching. But the mosque’s sacristans and hermits, and even the mullahs who preached the sermons, began to approach them, asking and begging them to come listen to their sermons, either because they were convinced that their homilies would convert them into followers of their religion, or, what is more credible, because these Sophies are not as scrupulous in their religious observances as the Sunnis. And so to the great satisfaction of all, many or most of these servants entered the mosque and stayed there as long as they wished during the preaching. On the last day of this celebration, all the common people in the city gathered together, wearing feathers in their turbans, and large groups ran through 41  Silva y Figueroa, as previously mentioned, is again commenting favorably upon a common charitable practice, known as waqf, although he does not use that name for it.

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all the neighborhoods and public places beating their drums as they had on the previous days of the festival. At times, fights broke out among these groups, and those who were killed on these occasions were considered blessed because they perished on the anniversary of the death of their prophet Ḥusayn. [fol. 429r] On this, the last day of the celebration, they came at each other with greater force and fury than on previous days and moved outside the city to a spacious field, together with all the leading citizens, governors, and other ministers, who were on horseback. And at this place by the river, which was designated for this purpose, a camel bound by feet and hands with its legs bound together was placed in the center of a big circle formed by armed men. Then the vizier,42 who is the chief governor, entered the ring, stabbed the camel to death with a lance, and quickly ran out again. Immediately those who were closest to the camel came rushing in and furiously hacked it to pieces with their scimitars. But so great was the press and confusion on the part of all those who wanted to take part in this ritual that as people got in each other’s way, some were seriously injured and others were even killed. And after the camel had been chopped to bits, they put the fragments on the tips of their scimitars and began shouting through the streets, fighting among themselves with such great disorder that if the governors had attempted to restore order to this turmoil, they would have been struck with many sticks and rocks, though they were well protected by soldiers who bore no other arms than these, and thus they had to seek shelter, sometimes after being hit on the head, and let the people do as they pleased, for on this day the people are allowed to do this. The leaders excuse them, believing it is their great devotion that causes them to go mad with fury. During these holy days, many people go about many completely naked, dressed only in small loin cloths that cover their privates, as was explained in the description of Shīrāz. They also paint their bodies [fol. 429v] to look like black Ethiopians. They dance to the beating of crude kettledrums, and if they happen to collide with each other, they set to fighting, kicking, and punching, and if they chance to come across a dagger or knife, they kill each other. Those who die in this manner are considered holy and blessed. Others dig a deep hole in the busiest places in the city and, stripped naked, bury themselves up to their necks so that only their heads can be seen. Each of these people has a companion who collects the alms offered them by passersby. A very old Persian man endured this penitence not far from the Ambassador’s house during those ten or twelve days, and as the Ambassador passed by him on his way to Mass at the Augustinian or Carmelite monasteries—Christmas 42  The MS has guazil or vizir.

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and the New Year were fast approaching—he thought it incredible for such an old man to endure that kind of hardship, [margin: especially during the harsh winter]. But he later learned that before [text blacked out] being buried in the hole, the penitent had crawled into a basket built to his size, and that after sliding it into the hole, he tightly sealed off its opening. The space around the basket was then filled with dirt until it was even with the penitent’s chin. But later the evening his assistant would help him out of his cave, and after returning home to eat and sleep, he would return to his penitence the following morning. On the last day a big crowd thronged around him, and from then on he was considered by all to be a most holy man, even though he accumulated a great sum of money during that time. [fol. 430r] There are and always have been a great many impostors of this sort in many parts of the world who frequently deceive the common people and acquire a great name for themselves. Also during the days of this festival there are many women, most of them courtesans or those who have been granted more freedom than the rest, who travel around the city accompanied by only a male or female servant. They dress in elegant finery without mantles, wearing veils made of fine golden and silk gauze that cover their heads, faces, and most of their bodies, but which clearly reveal their beauty. They carry a small, gilded wood box in their hands, and as they come across men on their way, they demurely cast their eyes downward, not saying a word until they are offered some sum of money; this they donate to the most destitute and needy people they can find. [margin: The same thing happens in Madrid with women who have not professed this same degree of liberty, who nevertheless go about soliciting money for Masses]; and while they may be better accompanied, and dress as finely as their circumstances allow, also fully covering themselves with their mantles, they are essentially engaged in the same kind of activity, collecting money for the same purpose. It is quite remarkable that none of the women, not only those who have been described, but any woman, regardless of her marital state or status, ever took their mantles off inside their houses, even while engaged in their domestic chores, but remained just as covered up as when they went outdoors, even wearing their black veils underneath. The purpose of all this mourning apparel was to show their great sorrow. The mufti43 of Eṣfahān, who in Persia is the equivalent of an archbishop, had the reputation for being the most learned man in his religion and a great philosopher, at least according to him. He sent a message to the Ambassador, telling him that although he wanted to visit him, he dared not for fear of the 43  See p. 452 n. 310.

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king, who was suspicious and [fol. 430v] wary. Nevertheless, he sent him frequent messages, paying him his kindest respects, doing so by means of a mullah named Ḥusayn with whom the Ambassador was as familiar as he had been with the one from Shīrāz. During the days described above, the mufti sent the Ambassador, through this mullah, a little book in Persian that narrated the life and death of Ḥusayn, whose memory was being celebrated at that time. The mullah had been charged with reading it to the Ambassador, which pleased the latter no end, not only because it explained the causes and origins of the great differences between the two opposing factions of Arabs who were followers of Muḥammad, but also because of the zeal and great passion with which the mullah read it. He was very devout and religious in his false beliefs, and was one of those who preached in public outside the mosques. The Ambassador gathered from what was said in this little book that the lamentable death of Ḥusayn44 took place between Kufa45 and Damascus after he had left Medina46 with an army to fight against the Sunnis from these cities. The ceremony with the camel, which had not been celebrated in Shīrāz—nor was it performed anywhere else but in Eṣfahān—appears to be an ancient and immemorial custom, just as there are many age-old pagan traditions in many parts of Europe that have been passed down from one age to another, even in [text blacked out] places where our holy religion is practiced in its pure form. For when the Ambassador asked some in-depth questions concerning what was commemorated by this ceremony, no one could provide him with a suitable answer, though he suspected it was a pagan ritual that was performed on the last day of the festival to curse their enemies, the Sunnis—with this they leave a witness of their desire to take revenge on them in the same way they hack the camel to pieces; also, [fol. 431r] this [text blacked out] sacrifice was performed only in Eṣfahān, the leading and capital city of the Persian Empire. 44  Ḥusayn was killed during the Battle of Karbala on the tenth day of Muharram (9 or 10 October) 680, in which followers of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, the grandson of the Prophet, contended with Yazid I, the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. 45  Kufa, Iraq, about 170 km (110 mi) south of Baghdad, located on the banks of the Euphrates. It is one of five Iraqi cities that are of great importance to Shiʿa, the others being Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya, and Najaf. Founded in AD 639, Kufa was also the final capital of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. 46  Medina, Saudi Arabia, is a city in the Hejaz region, which contains al-Masjid an-Nabawi (lit. “the Prophet’s Mosque”), the burial place of the prophet Muḥammad. It is the second holiest city in Islam after the neighboring city of Mecca. Under Muḥammad’s leadership and then under the first four Rashidun caliphs (Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī), it became the capital and power base of Islam during the first century of its establishment and growth.

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The second thing, though so true and praiseworthy because it pertained to the ancient Christian religion practiced by all the Armenians, should have been discussed first, but as it took place subsequently to the event described above, though only by a few days, it was relegated to this point. Armenians celebrate the nativity of Christ our Lord following the old calendar, without inserting extra days depending on according to the true correction of the year, so that they celebrate Christmas on what would be the third of January of our calendar. According to their ancient custom, besides celebrating Christ’s birth on this day, they also commemorate the blessing of the water the same way Roman Catholics do on Holy Saturday. They also memorialize the baptism of Christ our Lord by St. John. On this same day, all Armenians gather together in the colony of Yerevan, both those who live in the caravansaries and other neighborhoods of Eṣfahān [text blacked out], as well as the great population of residents of Julfa.47 They gather between there and the Zāyandehrūd, this being the location of their metropolitan church and patriarchate. These Armenians asked the Ambassador, through the friars from both of the monasteries in Eṣfahān, to attend the blessing of the water, the procession, and other ceremonies; he was also asked to do this by the friars. He accepted their invitation to accompany them in such a pious commemoration, though [margin: in addition to] how bitter cold it was when they invited him, and would continue to be later, at the time of the gathering right after sunrise, there were other inconveniences: he did not know what consequences might ensue from his attendance, for the king of Persia [fol. 431v] takes great offense when European princes show any kind of respect or recognition of his Christian vassals, subjects of his empire, even if it is only in the spiritual domain, because he believes that such respect somehow diminishes and weakens their obedience in temporal matters, about which obedience he is highly vigilant. The Ambassador went out with the monks and the members of his entourage very early in the morning and found the Armenians waiting for him in that wide space between Julfa and the river, which was full of [margin: people] for as far as half a league, not only the Christian Armenians, to whom this celebration particularly belonged, but also all the Jacobites, Nestorians, and Georgians, plus a good number of Persian men and women, either because of their devotion or out of curiosity to see what such a large crowd of people was doing. The one who performed the service in the absence of Melchizedek, the Armenian patriarch, was a highly venerated old bishop from the same colony of Julfa. He was clad in a brocaded chasuble that was clearly very old, and a golden pectoral cross inlaid with several gems. And on his head he wore nothing but a cowl after the 47  I.e., New Julfa.

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rule of St. Basil,48 the order to which all the monks of the Eastern Church belong. Next to him were many other bishops, also wearing chasubles, which look like European choir capes, and a great number of priests who wore a certain kind of dalmatic, shorter than the chasubles, and small caps made of silver plates on their heads, most of them gold plated, with little crosses in the center. Some of these priests bore silver censers and naviculas filled with incense, and most of them carried lit candles. The rest of the churchmen [fol. 432r] consisted of a great number of acolytes and sacristans dressed in albs, wearing the same silver caps as the priests. Some of these acolytes carried two silver plates in their hands by their handles that they beat together to make sound. These plates were the size of carving platters, and some of them were made of metal. The rest of the acolytes carried crosses, like in processions in Spain, though these crosses were generally smaller. Yet they were most of them all made of finely gilt silver, and it was said that some were fashioned out of pure gold. It was apparent from the shape of these crosses that they were ancient, like the ones seen in certain very old altarpieces in Europe. Their bases and arms were nearly the same length, with triangles on the ends of the arms and the head. Many of them had two crossbars, making two crosses, the upper arms or bars being much shorter than the lower ones; they resembled the painted crosses of Caravaca,49 so popular among the women of Madrid at one time. The most amazing thing about this pageant was the more than 100 of these crosses, all of which were at least made of silver, with many other cups consisting of the same material. These poor Armenians had been able to save them after being plundered so many times by Turks and the Persians themselves, especially considering that these two last-named peoples are so extremely rapacious and greedy. The blessings and ceremonies of the water were performed at the bank of the river. [fol. 432v] Beginning at daybreak, many men stood naked in the [text blacked out] water, which was up to their chests. This required that ice, which was quite thick at that time, be broken in many places; the river was [text blacked out] icy as far as one could see, the cold being more intense than at any other time of year. The Armenians considered [text blacked out] [margin: this] an act of extreme penitence, and in truth, it proved to be such a harsh one that they could not help but earn a great reward from its performance—it seemed impossible that anyone could survive such an ordeal. And after singing 48  Basil of Caesarea (ca. AD 329–379), known as St. Basil the Great, the founder of Eastern monasticism. 49  A cross in the castle of the Vera Cruz in Murcia, Spain, to which miraculous healing properties had been attributed; as Silva y Figueroa describes, it has two crossbars, the upper bar being shorter than the lower one.

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hymns and psalms for a long time in the tone used by the Capuchins, we fell into procession behind the crosses, making our way to the cathedral, or patriarchate,50 while singing in the fashion described with the noise made by acolytes banging their plates, which was very moving to the Europeans who saw it. It seemed to them that what they were witnessing in those ancient and simple ceremonies was a commemoration and likeness of the primitive [superscript: Church]. [text blacked out] A great number of Persians were present, as has been related, not only in the field, and later, in the streets, but also in the windows and balconies of the Armenian houses, many of which were luxuriously built, their interior ceilings and walls being gilded and painted. In one of these verandas was the dārūgha, or magistrate, with the Englishmen. They were amazed that the Ambassador was participating in the procession with so much devotion and with his head uncovered in the way that was usual in solemn processions in Spain. On this day, the Armenian women, who, in keeping with Persian custom, either are not seen out of doors or else go out heavily veiled, had thronged to the streets, both married women and maids, with their heads uncovered and wearing no mantles. The married women had donned long robes like the peasant women of Castile, [fol. 433r] their headdresses wrapped so heavily that their mouths were covered, leaving the rest of their faces [margin: visible], like peasants from the villages of Extremadura, Spain. The maids wore these same kinds of headdresses with part of their hair showing, clad in cabayas and stockings like Persian and Georgian women, but lacking any elegance or feminine style. These Armenian women neglect themselves more than any others, though many of them are the most beautiful women in all of Asia. The Ambassador then accompanied the procession to their main church. He carefully inspected its interior, for besides being spacious and beautifully constructed, with a dome in the center like our newest cathedrals, the paintings in the altarpieces were most striking. They were so old and strange that it was apparent how many centuries had passed since their original creation. For despite the fact that this new colony of Julfa had been founded no more than ten years earlier, these Christians brought all the ornaments that were in their churches with them, among which were many lamps, most of which were made of silver, which could be seen in that church. They claimed 50  The Armenian cathedral in New Julfa was built on orders of Shah ʿAbbās I in 1614. He directed that the Armenian cathedral in Ejmiatsin be dismantled and the stones transported to New Julfa in Eṣfahān for use in the new cathedral’s construction. Since this would have meant the total destruction of the cathedral in Armenia’s holiest city, the shah was persuaded to abandon this plan; see Ghougassian, Emergence of the Armenian Diocese, 84–85.

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more such ornaments existed in their other churches. After the Ambassador bade farewell to the Armenian clergymen and the richest merchants who were present, he was as it was said given some blessed candles that the old bishop said he had brought from Jerusalem. The Ambassador accepted them with great respect, ordering that they be kept with the utmost care and that the sacristans who had brought them to him be granted a generous donation. Among the secular Armenians in the city, there was a brother and a son [fol. 433v] of Khoja Safar, an extremely wealthy merchant of the colony, who had died just a few days previously. His son had inherited most of his father’s very considerable estate, and the brother had succeeded him as civil magistrate of New Julfa, whereas a Persian had jurisdiction over criminal cases and other matters concerning the king. [margin: And because it has been said that Melchizedek, the patriarch of the Armenians, was absent during this ceremony, it is fitting to mention that he was attending the court of the king of Persia at that time, litigating against David51 for possession of the office of patriarch, the first one elected. And though David’s claim was more substantial, because his election had been more canonical, his claim was rejected, both because he had sought the support of the pope and His Catholic Majesty, and also because Melchizedek had offered a large sum of money to the king and his ministers, and thus the case was decided against David.] While Khoja Safar was alive, the king would often come to his house to dine, spending several days there, ordering that the most beautiful Armenian women, both married and single, be brought to him. None of their fathers and husbands dared refuse him this, although, as they told the Ambassador, they capitulated with the deepest pain and suffering imaginable. The king did the same thing the following summer when he came to Eṣfahān while the Ambassador was there. He ordered Khoja Safar’s son, who had the same name as his father, to bring the choicest women, both married and maidens, to his house, which was luxurious and beautiful, though many of these women hid behind the protection of their husbands and fathers, thus putting themselves at great risk, for if they had been discovered, they would have lost their lives and all their possessions. [margin: 1618–1619] The Ambassador was forced to spend the rest of that winter and almost the entire next summer in Eṣfahān, with no sure means of apprising His Catholic Majesty of the king’s unfavorable attitude, or of communicating the Ambassador’s need for financial aid from Spain, for he could expect none from Hormuz, since that city was no longer as wealthy as before. The difficulty in corresponding with Spain through letters grew more vexing 51  Julayechi, katolikos (patriarch) of New Julfa; see Ghougassian, Emergence of the Armenian Diocese, 106–7.

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with each passing day. What aggravated the problem was that D. Luís da Gama, the captain of Hormuz, [fol. 434r] and some of the Augustinian friars that lived in Eṣfahān, were going to extraordinary lengths to obstruct the post, and this with great vigor. They spent a great deal of money to this effect, paying off several people in Baghdad and Aleppo. They even bribed several Portuguese who were passing through Persia on their way to Spain from India, to whom the Ambassador had commended a few packets. There was no one more reliable with whom they could have been entrusted. And although it was clearly inconceivable that this course of action would have served the best interests of those who so assiduously pursued it, since what the Ambassador wrote in those letters was the very course of action they should have been following, the funds they committed to their scheme were absolutely incredible, with so much manifest passion and blind obstinacy that they could not see what a great disservice they were doing to His Majesty and how greatly they offended and discredited the whole nation, especially when one considers that this was done right before the very eyes of the Persians and all the Europeans who were in Eṣfahān, Baghdad, and Aleppo. It was widely known that the undertaking of such a scandalous—to avoid using a worse term—endeavour in so public and brazen a manner was powerfully encouraged and promoted from Spain, for those who performed this good work were far from being timid or hidden about it; they actually prided themselves on it, feeling certain that they were thereby serving their king, and they took pride in such service. And insofar as the inception of this matter dates far back to the occasion on which the Ambassador was dispatched on his journey from Spain by the council of state, as [fol. 434v] has already been mentioned, the crown of Portugal taking umbrage at his arrival here, it has seemed inopportune to treat it at length here out of respect for the many vassals of His Majesty who serve him well and faithfully, and, with regards to the aforementioned matter, neither consented to it nor had any part in it. The same thing can be said concerning the Augustinian fathers who reside in Portugal, virtuous and exemplary monks, whereas the ones in India, Hormuz and Persia, either because of their removal to new climes where they adopt the outlook and disobedience that is widespread among the lay people here, or for other, more immediate reasons which will not be expounded, were manifestly opposed to the Ambassador, damaging his credibility and the credibility of the purposes for which His Majesty sent him, even as far as his dealings with the Persians were concerned. [December 1618] At the beginning of December, the Ambassador dispatched Friar Belchior dos Anjos52 to Faraḥābād, where the king of Persia was residing, 52  See p. 302 n. 30.

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with a packet from His Majesty that had arrived overland via the council of Portugal, spelling out what Robert Sherley proposed at court in Madrid concerning the silk trade and the dispatching of a fleet to the strait of the Red Sea, a task that the council of Portugal had assigned to Friar Belchior inasmuch as the Ambassador was unwilling or unable to do so. And although the Ambassador knew how ineffectual this course of action was—in Qazvīn the king of Persia had already denied the Ambassador restitution of Bahrain and the fortress at Gamrū, as well as the island of Qeshm—he did not wish to be accused of failing to perform his duty, even if he lost credibility by fulfilling it. But Friar Belchior was so poorly received there that the king, refusing to speak to him directly, only responded to the letter he had brought from the Ambassador [margin: through Āḡā Mir, his secretary], saying that he had no need of a fleet for the Red Sea, nor a contract for silk, inasmuch as the Turks had conceded to his terms of truce and that he intended to send all the silk of his kingdom to Aleppo and Constantinople. Further, that he was under no obligation to give back a single span of land that he had taken. Friar Belchior, [margin: the chief minister charged with carrying letters regarding the business in question], returned with this dry response, though it was the expected one. He immediately began making preparations [fol. 435r] for conveying this answer to Spain. The Ambassador had already warned him how little an embassy could be expected to achieve with this king, [margin: who is easily annoyed that ministers of the crown of Portugal have any dealings with him at all, because when they referred to His Catholic Majesty, they called him the king of Portugal instead of the king of Spain, as they had done on all previous occasions when referring to him. And likewise on several occasions the king had become quite upset with the bishop of Cyrene, with Luís Pereira,53 and with the aforementioned Friar Belchior, speaking to them indecorously, and treating the letters he was given from His Majesty the same way, asking, “Why do you all refer to the king of Spain as the king of Portugal, making a small king out of such a powerful one?” And once when the Ambassador was discussing this same question with him in Qazvīn, the king was amazed that His Majesty would tolerate this practice, commenting that it was a smear on his reputation and on that of the Portuguese, expending many words on the topic. But even if what the king of Persia said were true, as it most surely is, many grave complications would arise if things were the other way around. The Portuguese not only detest the union with the kingdom of Spain, but under no circumstances do they wish to be called or considered Spaniards. 53  Portuguese ambassador to Persia 1604–1605; see Gulbenkian, L’Ambassade en Perse, 41–48.

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[January–March 1619] The arrival [superscript: of the king] in Eṣfahān was awaited all winter long. It was announced every day, although one always understood that the announcement would not materialize until the heat forced him to leave Faraḥābād, where he had received the Mughal’s ambassador at the end of January of 1619, because it seemed incredible that from Qom, where he had spent part of the winter and last summer, he should [margin: have gone on to Māzandarān.] And so the Ambassador suffered through the terrible cold in Eṣfahān, the force of the winter lasting well into March. It has been mentioned that this city lies at 31 and a half degrees latitude; that is how subtle and penetrating the air is in the region of the clime in which it is situated. And that is why fresh salmon could be eaten through much of Lent, though it took forty days to [text blacked out] bring it from coast of Gīlān in the Caspian Sea, the best ones being those caught in the mouth of the Araxes River. The Ambassador, his servants, and some of the Portuguese and Venetian merchants found themselves in both the Augustinian and the Carmelite monasteries of this city for the offices of Holy Week. There were also some Syrians and Georgians, not to mention a vast number of Armenians, and two young Englishmen, Calvinists, but who came quite regularly to hear Mass and to confess their sins in these monasteries, everyone dissembling ignorance. After Easter was past, a rumor began to spread that the king was coming to Eṣfahān to receive the Mughal’s ambassador with greater pomp and festivities, even though he had already seen him in Faraḥābād. He would also be receiving other ambassadors for the first time. He was planning on celebrating the arrival of all of them in this city because it was so large and populous. And to that end he ordered that the most splendid and well-armed residents of that city and its villages, as well as those from Kāshān, Qom, Yazd, [fol. 435v] and Shīrāz, prepare themselves with harquebus and scimitars, though most of the populace were officials and peasants. He also ordered that a great many lamps be placed along all the streets and bazaars, especially in the Maidān. The way festivities are celebrated in Persia is that great freedom and license is taken at night, and the much wine that is drunk is slept off later. Sure news of the king’s arrival finally arrived; it was reported that he was in Kāshān. [margin: The Ambassador] heard this from Totan Beg, the governor of the city, who went out to him in search of instructions as to what should be done at his coming. News also came in announcing the arrival of the ambassadors, who were five or six days’ journey behind the king. When the latter reached Tajir Abad, a three-day journey from Eṣfahān, the village with the golden house and garden that was described on the Ambassador’s journey to Qazvīn, the Ambassador sent his secretary to meet him in order to find out what he would order to be done at his arrival, this kind of recognition being the

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custom. The king responded that no one should seek him out or come to meet him unless expressly ordered to do so. The king suddenly entered the city a few days later with very few or no servants, and he spent the next five or six days ordering what should be done to prepare for the arrival of the ambassadors and for the visiting of his harems. There were many women in them who had been guarded most vigilantly and closely. Also, he rode with two or three servants on horseback, a jarchi54 going before, through the squares, down streets, and through the bazaars. When he rides in such a manner, no one dares speak to him, bow to him, or submit a request to him; instead, they make great shouts asking God to guard him. But even so, some of his lower officials [fol. 436r] keep him informed of everyone’s grievances. He also sets aside a few hours for granting audiences to commoners, though these are infrequent and very limited. But through his constant vigilance, he rarely remains uninformed regarding the affairs of his kingdom. What is more important, everyone believes that that is the case. [March 1619] Two or three days after the king’s arrival, he made an unannounced appearance at the Ambassador’s lodgings, accompanied by two of his servants who most frequently accompanied him. One of them was Yusef Āḡā, a eunuch who has already been mentioned, and the other Eskandar Beg.55 He also had a page that carried his bow and arrows in a quiver. Eskandar Beg is a nobleman, but he never takes interest in the king’s business nor seeks to take up any of it with him, either by design or because he was born into a good station. He is given solely to eating, drinking, and making merry, and is therefore quite obese. His only dealings with the king are those that the latter orders him to do, none of them having any importance whatsoever, such as laughing, drinking, and joking with him, and thus the king is never left without company. 54  A herald. 55  Eskandar Beg Torkamān Monši, Safavid soldier, bureaucrat, and historian (ca. 1560–ca. 1633), author of the chronicles of Shah ʿAbbās I (Tarik-e alamara-ye abbasi) and the first four years of the reign of his successor, Shah Safī. In his early years, he was a soldier, taking part in the battle of Saen Qala (1586). Afterward he entered the Safavid bureaucracy as a bookkeeper and obtained an appointment in the royal chancellery (daftar-kana-ye homayun). By ca. 1592, after a number of important appointments and transfers, he joined the rank of royal secretaries and entered the Shah’s personal service. For his career; see Savory, “Eskandar Beg Torkamān Monši,” 602–3. For his chronicles of Shah ʿAbbās, see Munshī, History. On the importance and influence of his writing on Safavid historiography; see Quinn, Historical Writing, 9–11. While it is clear that Silva y Figueroa had observed Monši at court and that they had probably met, it is not clear whether the ambassador had been informed of Monši’s role as a chronicler or whether the two had ever conversed about writing.

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The king did not want his servants who were standing at the entrance of the lodgings to say anything to the Ambassador. Suddenly, the king approached him while he was strolling through the orchard of the lodgings and told him that very close friends, like he and the Ambassador, could always call on each other with very little ceremony, as he had just done. He then seated himself on a cushion on a low corridor, and insomuch as the Ambassador did not wish to share his cushion, the king having removed his shoes—an inviolable custom among the Asian people—he placed him on [fol. 436v] a low stool of the kind women use in Spain, which are quite common throughout India. And there he asked him very particularly after his health, and how he had fared since arriving from Qazvīn, and told him that he should feel free to advise him through his royal chamberlain of whatever he might need for his comfort. After he ordered the Ambassador to tell him what news he had heard from Spain, especially concerning the health of his king, he unceremoniously stood up in the Persian manner and took his leave with the same haste with which he had entered, promising to visit him often and to give him long audiences to discuss anything he wanted. The Ambassador went out with him, intending to see him seated on his horse, but he would not allow it, making him turn back from the door of the entrance hall, to the backdrop of the loud ringing of the voices of men, women, and children who lined the walkways of the mesquite and the nearby street and terraces. The next day the king decided to celebrate festivities in his own honor, as he was wont to do whenever he came to Eṣfahān or whenever he visited any of the leading cities of his kingdom. On this occasion he issued an edict with a penalty of death and confiscation of the offender’s possessions that all the beautiful women in Eṣfahān, married or maids, of Persian or other nationality, be they Mūhammadans or Christians, were to present themselves at the gates of a certain bazaar that he indicated, where the most expensive goods are sold, so that the eunuchs who would be stationed there [fol. 437r] could identify and select certain ones. This bazaar was like an enormous caravanserai. It had two gates, as did other bazaars, but with a patio more than 100 paces square, completely ringed by corridors with a multitude of shops. These their merchant owners— Persians, Armenians, Arabs, and Jews, plus a few Venetians—had decorated with all the riches and curiosities that could be found in Eṣfahān, attempting to outdo each other in the process. All the corridors and shops, as well as a massive stone ledge situated in the center, had been painstakingly decorated with myriad lamps and so many little mirrors and gold plates that not a single spot was left uncovered on the walls and the columns of the patio. Every open space on the highest part of the patio was draped with silk awnings of various colors, and in each shop, wine, cold water, and all sorts of sweets were set out on rugs,

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with all the gold and silver that each person could possible own, more than the Venetians, who during their feasts, in keeping with European custom, would display their delicacies on tablecloths. And after the place was thus decorated, with the interiors and ceilings of the shops trimmed with the riches that each one possessed, the time came for the women to present themselves, which was immediately after noon. At that moment, every single male of any age left the caravanserai or bazaar. The only people that remained behind were a few young women, relatives, daughters, or sisters of the merchants. Another decree had been issued with the same attendant punishments: no one, regardless [superscript: of] status or rank, was to approach the nearby bazaars caravans. [fol. 437v] Armed guards were stationed at all the forbidden areas, beating with sticks anyone who even approached a place from which the gates of the bazaar could be descried. Nevertheless, the Ambassador’s servants were permitted, by order of the king, to observe the entrance of the gates, though from a distance. At each gate were five or six eunuchs clad in golden robes, wearing luxurious turbans and carrying gold-studded canes. At the appointed hour the women began to arrive. They were dressed according to the means of each one and were accompanied by their mothers, sisters, or female relatives, but not by a single man. The press was so great that all the big bazaars surrounding the Maidān and the entrances to them were packed. The women arrived in clusters of fifteen or twenty at each one of the gates, and the eunuchs, like connoisseurs of authentic and counterfeit coins, unveiled their faces, admitting entrance to certain ones of their choosing. The rest were dismissed, and many or most of them were deeply chagrined, as were their mothers, even though they had been forced to [margin: come] against their will. This perusal continued until eventide, with more than 3,000 from one social standing or another entering in. At the hour he deemed suitable, the king arrived with several of his favorite eunuchs and many of the courtesans in his retinue with the kinds of musical instruments used in Persia, the same ones that have been referred to several times already, and, ordering the gates shut, guards were stationed there until the king departed. Early the [fol. 438r] next morning there arrived the mothers and female relatives of the chosen ones who had been released early. Some Armenian women were retained, whom the king ordered to be taken to one of his harems, much to the distress of their parents. Especially grieved was a merchant from this same nation whose wife was in this last group, whom he had married only a few days before and whom he loved very much because of her great beauty. [May or June 1619] The day arrived [superscript: on which] the ambassadors were to make their appearance in Eṣfahān. The day before, the king sent seven horses to the Ambassador of His Catholic Majesty, complete with

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gold-embroidered caparisons and grand plumes on their foreheads. Yet their magnificent appearance promised more than they delivered, for after they were uncovered, they turned out to be very common hacks. The king then represented to the Ambassador that it would please him if the Ambassador were to accompany him outside the city to watch the entrance of the other ambassadors. His design was to station himself close to a garden next to the road on which they would enter the city through the Kāshān Gate. He said he would also like to see all the servants of the Ambassador ride out on horseback in the same way many of them had done to ride in Qazvīn. He formulated his request in this way because the custom in Spain and in other parts of Europe was that an ambassador’s footmen and pages accompanied him on foot. Later that morning the royal chamberlain arrived with several other Persians on horseback to guide and accompany the Ambassador, telling him to quickly mount his horse because the king was already waiting for him at a nearby side street in order to avoid the crowds of people that congregated in the main streets that led to the aforementioned Kāshān Gate. The Ambassador [fol. 438v] rode forth with a great troop: apart from his servants, who usually accompanied him, there were also several officials from his house, plus the Portuguese and other Franks who were living in Eṣfahān at that time. Absent were the English, who set out on their own with Totan Beg, who had been the dārūgha the year before in Eṣfahān. They did this even though the king had ordered them to join the Ambassador’s retinue—the latter was apprised of this later—either because they wanted to present themselves as a kind of embassy (they were bearing a letter from their king addressed to the king of Persia), or because the king thought that such a demonstration would enhance his authority and reputation. A vast number of people of all stripes filled the streets and bazaars between the Maidān, where the mansions of the king’s palace were located, as well as the area beyond the aforementioned gate, where the road to Kāshān and Qazvīn begins. Most of these people were actually armed soldiers who had been assembled for this reception. They stood at attention all the way from the village of Dowlatābād, three leagues from Eṣfahān, to the Maidān and the king’s palace on both sides of the street to make for better appearance. And thus it was impossible to break through the crowds in the streets, even though some of the men who had come with the mehmāndār56 cleared their way with clubs. From time to time, mounted men would find their way to the Ambassador and tell him the king was still up ahead, and that he had ordered the Ambassador to hurry and catch up. But since the king was running his horse, as was his 56  The royal chamberlain; see p. 451 n. 306.

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custom, and kept taking side streets, he could not be found. This was [fol. 439r] probably an accident, though some people suggested it was done on purpose. The Ambassador left the city through the aforementioned gate and found the entire area full of people on foot and horseback. Many of those belonging to the expected agent [superscript: retinue] of ambassadors were by then arriving, but their procession could not have been more unimpressive, being completely different from what had been publicized, especially regarding the previously extolled grandeur of the arrival of the ambassador from Lahore. The king did not turn up at any of these places, and when the Ambassador finally reached a mosque where he had previously stayed on his way out of the city as one heads towards Qazvīn, he turned and went home, quite perturbed with the mehmāndār, whom he asked, “For what purpose was I so misled, perhaps because of the sun?” which was at that time quite strong. But though he apologized and insisted that the king had been waiting for the Ambassador, but had taken wrong turns because of the crowds, the Ambassador returned [margin: to his lodgings], unable to withstand the great heat and the thick dust any longer, and began undressing. Suddenly several of his servants who had ridden on ahead came galloping over on horseback, accompanied by one of the king’s servants. They said they had located the king, who had been waiting for the Ambassador by an orchard where he had ordered dinner to be brought, but as the Ambassador had returned home because he had not found him, he [margin: requested that] but seeing that he had already been told in any event he present himself at the palace where the ambassadors, his newly arrived guests, had by then assembled, and that he himself would be arriving soon. Soon more and more messengers came, [fol. 439v] galloping up to the house in a great din. Among them was the mehmāndār, who was sweating and greatly distressed. He requested the same thing of the Ambassador with great insistence, for the king had threatened to beat him with sticks because of the inept manner in which he had guided the Ambassador that morning. So the Ambassador dressed again, and, [margin: remounting his horse], hurried to the palace. He found the Maidān completely filled with foot soldiers who were armed with scimitars and harquebuses, and after passing through the main door of the first room that looked like a tower, which was described earlier, he entered a garden. From there he took a walkway paved with marble and entered another room where there were many porters. Their āḡā, or chief, was Ḥasan Beg,57 the qūrchī who had been the Ambassador’s guide from Qazvīn to Eṣfahān. Also there by the king’s order was Daud Khān,58 the brother of Emāmqolī Khān, 57  See p. 640 n. 9. 58  See p. 451 n. 305.

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lord of Shīrāz, and Sara Khoja,59 one of the secretaries of state who, at that time, was one of the king’s favorites. The Ambassador was instructed to wait a moment, after which he was shown in by Timūr, chief doorkeeper,60 who asked the Ambassador to accommodate the entrance of the religious who had come with him. These were the Discalced Carmelites Friar Juan Thadeo and Friar Juan Leandro,61 together with the Augustinians Friar Diogo da Ressurreição,62 [margin: prior of the monastery of Eṣfahān], and Friar Bernardo de Azevedo.63 As only two of these friars were allowed to enter, the Ambassador chose Friar Juan and Friar Bernardo. From there they made their way down another walkway paved with fine jasper and white marble. The garden there was nice and cool, and noticeably dim because of the thick lushness of the trees, which seemed to be shade trees, as they bore no fruit. None of the [margin: sun’s] rays reached the ground in the entire area. On each side of the street, square pillars were placed at intervals to support the roof. They were made of the same jasper and marble, and were inlaid with gold. The roof consisted of a [fol. 440r] wooden lattice that was covered with jasmines and other flowers, this being the most delightful and beautiful thing in all of Eṣfahān, especially since it was the hottest season of the year. A water canal half a foot wide and just as deep ran down the center of the pathway, which was probably twenty-five feet wide. The water overflowed the canal here and there, spilling onto the walkway and filling some small fountains that were placed at intervals. The pathway eventually led to another room where the other ambassadors were waiting. This 59  Silva y Figueroa indicates that at the time of his embassy there was a chief secretary of state named Sara Khoja at the court of Shah ʿAbbās I and that there was at least one other person who was also considered a secretary of state and who bore the title Āḡā Mir; see p. 409 n. 234. He does not specify whether one or the other or both held, used, or was called by the Persian title majles-nevīs. 60  The title for this position at the Safavid court was qapuchibāshi, see Munshī, History, 2:1391. 61  The Spaniard Luis de Melgosa, who, after entering this Catholic order (the reformed order of the Carmelites), took a name whose English equivalent is Fr. Leander of the Annunciation; see Chick, Chronicle of the Carmelites, 2:948–52. Chick does not give his first Christian name as John, as cited by Silva y Figueroa. 62  Diogo da Ressurreição, O. E. S. A., Portuguese missionary (1585–1618), born in Vidigueira; Diogo Luís Rodrigues took this name after entering the Augustinian order; he died in Hormuz in 1618; see Rego, Documentação, 11, 374. 63  Bernardo de Azevedo, O. E. S. A., Portuguese missionary and diplomat. He was the prior of the Augustinian convent at Eṣfahān from 13 November 1612 to 4 December 1616. He traveled overland to Europe, as Silva y Figueroa indicates, and returned to Persia with correspondence for ʿAbbās. See Rego, Documentação, 11:206 and 12:147, 175, 189; DRDA, VI, 52.

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building was square in shape, between thirty and forty paces on all sides, and upward of three stades high. The upper floor was fashioned in the same way as in other buildings, with verandas all around and windows with very wide shutters; the outer wall was made of lime and bricks. One entered the building from the walkway that was paved with marble, which has been mentioned, by ascending a flight of stairs made of the same marble. The entire interior floor of the building also seemed to be paved with marble. The room had a vaulted ceiling in the shape of a transept a fathom and a half high. In the center was a cupola that extended a fathom higher than the rest of the roof, containing four small rooms that filled the empty spaces of the transept and filled out the exterior wall, as was seen in the caravanserais between Fārs and the Bandel. The floor under the transept was completely stuccoed and gilded, with jasper slabs half a stade tall placed all around next to the pavement, and carpets were laid out over the entire expanse except at the center directly under the cupola where there was a fountain made of the same jasper; it shot up a high jet of water through a golden metal ball. Facing the entryway, which is where the transept began, there was another door that led to the same orchard. The space in front of this door was designated for the arrival of the king. Its only decoration was a carpet, just as in the rest of the transept, or hall, where everyone else was to be seated, or where they were already seated. Between this area and the aforementioned fountain, there was only room enough for two rows of people to be comfortably [fol. 440v] seated. This area [text blacked out] was completely covered with golden vessels, among which, in addition to some large platters also made of gold, filled with all kinds of sugared fruits, there were a great many decanters and bowls of all kinds. In the midst of them was one fashioned out of gold that looked like a large, square brazier, between three and four feet in diameter; it had three or four tiers, each of which was four or five feet tall and smaller than the one below it. There were many other smaller decanters and glasses studded with precious stones that looked like rubies, sapphires, and emeralds and several large pearls; but diamonds there were none, because the Persians have no use for them, neither do they value them. As the Ambassador of [margin: His Catholic Majesty] made his entrance, they all stood up without moving from their places, though this is not the usual ceremony among Asians. They showed him the usual courtesies as he approached them, which is to put one’s hands on one’s chest while bowing one’s head. They executed this gesture with the greatest formality, as they would for their kings. The Ambassador, after removing his hat and bowing to them according to the European custom, took his seat, as indicated by Sara Khoja and Timūr, which was on the right row in front of the fountain and close to the head of the transept where the doorway and the king’s seat was positioned, as

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has been explained. Closer to this door was Mehmed,64 the Turkish çavuş, who had arrived with the rest of the ambassadors that day. As soon as His Majesty’s Ambassador was seated, which he could only accomplish by stretching his legs and feet in front of him, Sara Khoja also sat down on his [superscript: left] right side, the çavuş being seated on his right. Behind Sara Khoja was the ambassador from Muscovy,65 and between them sat the friars who had come with the Spanish Ambassador. Across from them, on the other side of the transept, which was on the left as one entered the room, sat the [fol. 441r] ambassador from Lahore,66 even closer to the king’s place, and then the ambassador of the Uzbeks, and not far from him the ambassador of the Perekop Tatars, neighbors of the Poles and the Muscovites. Yet the one who displayed the most presumption and composure, though he had a much more humble appearance, was an Arab, the brother of the caliph of Mecca,67 [margin: very brown and lean], who was seated behind the Perekop Tatar. This Arab, though a Sunni, whose religion was therefore incompatible with the king’s, had arrived that season as a special ambassador on behalf of his brother as a principal lord in spiritual and temporal matters in all of Arabia. He was wearing a very wide and long robe that [margin: fastened in front] with a black wool or silk sash, similar to those worn by Benedictine monks, with sleeves so wide that their openings reached almost to the ground. He wore a white headdress that was wrapped three or four times around his head and once under his chin; one end of it hung down from the top over his chest. The çavuş was a venerable old man with a long beard that reached almost to his waist. He wore a crimson velvet jubbah under a robe with long sleeves made of purple velvet, neither of which had any further adornment, and on his head a very large, white turban. Upon the arrival of His Majesty’s 64  The Turkish ambassador’s name was Ḥasan Aqa; obviously Silva y Figueroa either was ignorant of his name or had been misinformed of it. Alternatively, he may have confused the name of the Ottoman grand vizier at the time (Okuz Kara Mehmed Pasha) with that of this ambassador; see Munshī, History, 2:1149–52. 65  The Russian embassy is recorded by Eskandar Beg Torkamān Monši; see Munshī, History, 2:1160–62. 66  Silva y Figueroa does not name this envoy, although he suggests that he went by the name Khān-e Alam, or “lord of the earth”. He correctly notes the use of this epithet by this envoy. Eskandar Beg Torkamān Monši records that his name was Mīrzā Barkordar; see Munshī, History, 2:1158. 67  Silva y Figueroa appears to have confused the title of caliph with sharif in this instance, since there are no recorded caliphs of Mecca at this time. Therefore, we are inclined to believe that this envoy may have been the brother of Muhsin I ibn Ḥusayn, the sharif of Mecca (1610–1628).

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Ambassador, he paid him many compliments, addressing him most civilly and discretely, apprising him of the many communications he had had with Franks in Hungary, Poland, and Germany, where he had often visited on legations and particular errands for his king, and where he had seen and spoken with representatives from every nation in Europe, [fol. 441v] as well as in Constantinople, where there were ambassadors of every European king. But until now he had never laid eyes on a Spaniard, despite their great fame in the world, but he gave thanks to God that on that day he had seen such an important man, an ambassador of such a great monarch as the king of Spain no less. The Ambassador responded as courteously as he could, though with fewer words, not wishing to raise suspicions among those nearby who could hear him, such as Sara Khoja and Timūr. It seemed quite probable that the former had sat down so closely in order to overhear what was being said, the king being extremely suspicious about anything like this. The ambassador from Lahore also uttered some very courteous words from where he was seated, though more succinctly because of his lack of experience. He was a true Indian, both in the color of his skin and his attire. He wore a cabaya [text blacked out] made from a very fine, white fabric, like cambric, and on his head he wore a very small turban like the ones used in Sindh or in the kingdom of Khambhat.68 Around his body he wore another thin cloth with gold embroidery, in which he carried a dagger with a bejeweled handle. He also sported pearl earrings. He was a man of average stature, more heavyset than thin, and looked to be around sixty years old. He was the king of Lahore’s uncle, being the brother of Akbar [margin: Ḏjalāl al-Dīn],69 the king’s father, and so rich and powerful that the Indian merchants who lived in Eṣfahān said that he received more than a million in yearly revenue. The ambassador of the king of Balkh and Bukhara, or the king of the Uzbeks, had a flat face like the Tatars.70 His skin was a dullish white with a touch of yellow, his eyes and nose were small, and he wore the same or nearly the same apparel [fol. 442r] as the Persians, with a slightly smaller turban. But he was very elegant, cheerful, and well-spoken. The Perekop had almost the same facial features and attire, except that instead [superscript: of] a turban, he wore a pyramidal fur-lined cap on his head, though it was not very tall. None of these barbarians wore scimitars because it is the custom to not enter into such [superscript: places] while wearing them, and they also hindered their sitting

68  See p. 198 n. 116. 69  Akbar the Great; see p. 240 n. 218. 70  This is probably Payanda Mīrzā; see Munshī, History, 2:1184.

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on the floor; instead, they wore small daggers like the ones commonly seen in Persia. The ambassador from [margin: Muscovy] was accompanied by one of his colleagues.71 These men were tall, white, and fat, with great [superscript: stomachs] bellies and wide fleshy faces. Their silence revealed their rusticity and a Gothic and barbaric ferocity. They were dressed in long robes made of a dungrey fabric lined with brown velvet. They wore high collars embroidered with pearls, and on their heads, large sable hats almost two feet tall and just as wide and flat on the top. They seemed bigger than they really were because the sable hair was quite long, though it had a poor color because of the layers of dust they had collected as they entered the city that day. These enormous bonnets were of such prodigious size that they looked like a certain receptacle made of cork that the farmers in Extremadura use to measure wheat; it holds the fourth part of a fanega72 and is thus commonly known as a cuartilla. The two monks who accompanied [fol. 442v] the Spanish Ambassador sat down, [margin: as has been explained], between Sara Khoja and the Muscovite ambassadors. Suddenly, and without ceremony, the king came in through the closer door that opens onto the orchard. Two beardless pages [text blacked out] stood outside the door, one with a bow and a quiver full of arrows, and the other holding a long shotgun. The king was in a cheerful mood, and he called for the Spanish Ambassador to come and sit down beside him at his left hand at the head of the transept. On the other side, [margin: at his right hand, outside the head of the transept], sat the ambassador from Lahore. The king ordered the Turkish çavuş, who was seated behind the Spanish Ambassador, to come over to the right side between the ambassadors from Lahore and Balkh, or the Uzbeks, and the monks to sit between the Spanish Ambassador and the Muscovite. And seeing that the Spanish Ambassador was seated uncomfortably because he could not cross his legs, he quickly ordered that a low chair be brought, which appeared instantly. It was made of a kind of gilded wood, and was the sort of chair used in Hormuz and India by Portuguese women. The king had the Spanish Ambassador take his seat, and then asked him why he had declined to lunch with them that morning. The Ambassador replied that his guide, who had led him the wrong way through the press of the crowd, was to blame for his failure to receive such a great favor, but that His Highness had now showered even greater favor upon him; he would value it even more if the king ordered

71  The Russian ambassador was kniaz (prince) Mikhail Petrovich Bariatinsky. The companion mentioned in this passage was the nobleman Ivan Ivanovich Chicherin. 72  See “Measurements.”

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that the Augustinian prior73 and Friar Leandro, the companion of Friar Juan Thadeo, be admitted with the rest of the [margin: monks]. The king immediately ordered Sara Khoja, who had jumped to his feet to wait upon the king as soon as the latter entered, to lead them in. The monks, having resented being forced to remain outside, came in and, by order of the king, sat with the monks with whom they had previously entered. The king further ordered [fol. 443r] the Ambassador’s gentlemen-in-waiting to also be admitted and to be seated on the left wing or side of the transept, and the Englishmen, who presented themselves as an embassy because of the letter they bore from their king, to sit across from them. Friar Bernardo de Azevedo had brought a letter from His Catholic Majesty for the king of Persia. It was generally believed that this letter, besides conveying the usual compliments, referred to what the Spanish Ambassador had told His Majesty, for he, the Spanish Ambassador, had received another letter that spelled out what he was instructed to discuss with the king of Persia, namely, the proposals Robert Sherley had made in Spain. The Ambassador had already done this once in Qazvīn, and later, as has been mentioned, he had attempted to do so a second time in a letter that he ordered Friar Belchior dos Anjos to take to the king in Faraḥābād. And although the Ambassador thought it was useless to insist on this point once again with the king, and in view of the fact that this letter from His Majesty—from what could be determined by reading it—contained no more than greetings and amiable compliments, the Ambassador decided to defer discussing his commission with the king until a more suitable time and place, and having already informed him that he had a letter to give him and that he had been ordered to give it to him there, he asked Friar Bernardo to hand it to him. The Ambassador thereupon delivered it to the king with a deep bow. The king, appearing quite pleased, announced to all the ambassadors present that the letter was from his brother the king of Spain. He then handed it to Friar Juan Thadeo to read it sentence by sentence while translating it, since he knew the Persian language. The king then repeated each sentence in Persian in a loud voice so that everyone present could understand it. And then, turning to His Majesty’s Ambassador, he promised to give him a long audience, not only concerning the content of the letter, but regarding anything else he would like to tell him. Immediately afterward the banquet began, or more accurately, the collation, because apart from the sugared fruits, nothing more was served than [fol. 443v] cucumbers, unripe grapes, and green plums. [superscript: Yet] [text blacked out] there were also a lot of those golden decanters filled with different varieties of wine and ice water, although the water was offered to no one unless it was particularly 73  I.e., Bernardo de Azevedo; see p. 676 n. 63.

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requested. There were several doorkeepers and other ministers bearing batons inlaid with gold who stood somewhat to the side. But In front of the king, and each one of the ambassadors, sat a boy wearing a gold or silk garment and a golden headdress with long hair. They had long locks of hair falling down both sides of their heads, which, as has already been explained, was the custom in Persia. These boys sat on their heels with their legs crossed, and each one held one of the decanters, which have already been described, in one hand and a glass in the other, offering drinks to those who were being toasted, or to those who were not, without their asking. They themselves would drink from the cups and drink to those who were in front of them. The king made the first toast to the Spanish Ambassador, drinking to the health of his king. He then toasted the other ambassadors. The usual practice was to drink very often. This was a great nuisance to the Ambassador because he never drank wine except on these occasions. The king had told him at the outset that he could leave whenever he wished, and so, being very tired, he asked permission to do so, and shortly thereafter the others there began to do the same. As he entered the Maidān, riding toward his lodgings, he found it to be so full of the aforementioned armed men, with so many more having joined them, that there was but little open space: the entire area, measuring more than 600 paces in length and 300 in width, was so tightly packed with turbans, plumes, scimitars, and harquebuses that they hardly left any room to move. Some of the king’s servants had to go ahead, shouting and waving their clubs to make way for him and his servants. After the Ambassador took a short rest in his lodgings a little before eventide, [fol. 444r] the mehmāndār came to tell him that the king was expecting him, because that evening he wished to entertain his guests in the bazaar and caravanserai that has already been described and that he had ordered to be prepared many days previously for this purpose. And though this celebration would prove highly inconvenient to the Ambassador because of all the lights and severe heat, to his regret he had to dress once more and head to the Maidān at the close of day, where he met the king on horseback, somewhat removed from the other ambassadors and the great number of courtiers who were splendidly dressed and mounted on noble steeds; the soldiers who had been there earlier had already been removed. No sooner did the Ambassador arrive than the king rode forward and called out for him. They rode together down one side of the great square, the others following fifteen or twenty paces behind. It seemed that he had purposefully ordered five or six merchants from Bukhara and Samarkand, the capitals of the Uzbeks and Chagatais, to wait for him there, because he stopped quite deliberately and began talking to them, asking for news about those provinces, which, as has already been

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explained, are the ancient famed Bactria and Sogdia. And as the Ambassador later [margin: learned] from his interpreter, who had accompanied him, one item about which the king queried these merchants was the journeys they undertook in their caravans every year from Balkh, Bukhara, and Samarkand to Khanbaliq in Cathay, inquiring how long the outward and the return journeys were. And when it came time for the king to take his leave, he told them that the Ambassador at his side represented the king of Spain, the greatest of the Frankish kings—it was clear what the king was saying, because not only did he say in Persian the ilchi Hispania,74 meaning the ambassador from Spain, but as he did so, the [fol. 444v] merchants then deeply bowed their heads to him. The king then departed with great haste, apparently upset because those who had remained behind—mostly the other ambassadors and many other people associated with the king’s servants—had come closer than he had wanted them to. As he entered the big bazaar caravan that surrounds the Maidān on all four sides, a great disturbance was set off as the crowd of horses and people on foot pressed forward to follow him. And since the street that led to the bazaar was narrow [text blacked out], and the horses that were being spurred to run down it were crowding together, [superscript: several] many of their riders fell into the crowd of pedestrians who had come to see the king and his retinue. That evening the Spanish Ambassador was riding a Tatar horse the king had given him the year before in Qazvīn. And though in every other respect it was a good horse, it was shy of the shadows that the lanterns made at night, and thus it held back at the entrance of the bazaar; neither a riding crop nor kicks would induce it to advance. There formed a great throng of men and horses, and because the Ambassador’s footmen and heralds, with other men on foot, violently made way for him to pass, so many more men fell to the ground that the entryway became completely blocked. This great riot and disturbance heightened even more when the king, noticing that the Spanish Ambassador failed to appear, ordered those closest to him to go back and find him [fol. 445r] and bring him back with them. They were heard to cry as they approached, “the ilchi Hispania!,” and because they came hurrying in a mass, they ran into those who had fallen and could not move, and neither group could break free of each other. Finally, after great effort, the Ambassador moved forward to meet the king at the door of a house located inside the caravanserai itself, which is one of the most public and famous places in all Eṣfahān because that is where coffee is sold, which is a kind of beverage that Persians usually drink as medicine and for sustenance, and hence they call the caravanserai a coffee 74  Persian for “the Spanish Ambassador”; here and below, Silva y Figueroa writes el chi Hispania, perhaps misinterpreting ilchi for el chi.

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house. This beverage is a kind of black and very bitter water made with certain herbs. Everyone is convinced that it is very healthy and soothing to the stomach, and they drink it quite warm from small cups, sipping it a little at a time and blowing on it before each sip because it is too hot to drink any other way. A great number of boys from every nation are kept in this house, all of them Mūhammadans, even though many of them are native Circassian, Georgian, and Armenian Christians. The house is not only their residence, but also their public school where they learn prurient dances and many other worse vices, as was already mentioned in the description of Eṣfahān. The king had chosen this devout house [fol. 445v] to entertain the ambassadors that night. As soon as the Spanish Ambassador arrived, the king came in with the other ambassadors. He placed the Ambassador on his left side, which from time immemorial in Asia is the most honored position. The ambassador from Lahore was seated on his right. Although the king is a man of little ceremony, he changed the order of seating on this and subsequent evenings, while everyone else walked behind him. Everyone went into a large hall that had a fountain in the center. The entire room was filled with any number of lamps that were placed all the way up to the domed roof, with the kinds of little mirrors and other decorations that were mentioned earlier with respect to the bazaars. Apart from these there was no other ornament except a big stone ledge on one side that was three feet off the floor, onto which the king climbed and invited the ambassadors from Spain and Lahore to do the same. This last-named ambassador climbed up onto it while the other Ambassador sat on the edge because he was just tall enough to sit on it next to the king with his feet touching the ground. The ambassadors of the Turk and of the Duke of Muscovy,75 and from Balkh and Caffa, sat on the other side. The king wanted dinner to be served in such indecent premises as these. The meal was void of pomp and splendor; all that was served were two or three dishes of mutton and roast chicken. The king broke the meat apart, or more accurately, tore it to pieces, with his bare hands, serving it to those who were seated closest to him. The Spanish Ambassador excused himself from eating because he had just taken both lunch and dinner in his lodgings, but he drank twice when the king toasted his health. During this little more than military and laconic meal, [fol. 446r] a sizeable troop of boys danced. When they finished, [margin: the 75  The Duke of Muscovy at the time, whom Silva y Figueroa does not name, was Mikhail I Fedorovich Romanov (1596–1645), the first Russian tsar of the house of Romanov (1613– 1645). Of the two members of the Russian embassy, Bariatinsky and Chicherin, Silva y Figueroa is most likely referring to the former in this passage; see Minorsky, Chah ʿAbbas I, 457.

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king] ordered two of the dancers, who performed this exercise better than the rest, to dance alone. These dancers normally held competitions among themselves to determine the best performer, each one having his own supporters who cheered him on, and thus the king wanted these two to compete against each other, as in a duel. They entered the hall in their best dress. Although one of them was from Circassia, though a heretic, and the other was a young Persian man from that very city of Eṣfahān, the moves they made were those of very beautiful women. They performed for a long while, displaying their skills in various types of dances, though many of them were extremely indecent and as much a source of discomfort to some of those present as they were a source of attention and pleasure to others. The music was provided by one of those big tambourines that have been mentioned so many times, and by flutes that looked like flageolets. Most of those present praised the music as well as the dance. But what was most remarkable about all this, in addition to being the source of much laughter, was that the father of the Persian boy, who was present at this act, was a juggler and an acrobat—it was he who one day had entertained the Ambassador with his art in Shīrāz while the Ambassador was in that city the year before. He was so concerned—actually quite anxious—that his son receive more votes than the Circassian in the competition that during the whole dance, which lasted for more than an hour, he perspired and performed the same gestures with such a strange suspension of spirit that he made those who saw him laugh very hard. Standing somewhat apart from [fol. 446v] the king were his two sons. Not only did he show preference to all the ambassadors over them, but also to the other ministers and courtly personages. Nobody showed them the least sign of respect; they were very humble and submissive. The younger of the two, named Emāmqolī Mīrzā, held his father’s scimitar and [margin: shoes], and, as was mentioned in the account of Qazvīn, was very courteous. He had a white complexion and was seventeen or eighteen years old, but despite his tender age, he was married and already had two sons. The older brother [margin: of the sons of the king], called Khudā-Bandah,76 was between twenty-four and twenty-seven years old, and was also married with children. He was strong and dark, with two long, black moustaches. A certain ferocity could be detected in his eyes and in other parts of his face. He was completely different from his brother, who displayed a very cheerful and placid expression. When the king noticed that the Ambassador was looking at them, he said to him, “The younger of my sons, the one holding my scimitar, is a good man, and will continue to be one, but the other is a scoundrel and will never amount to anything.” 76  Moḥammad Mīrzā Khudā-Bandah; see p. 477 n. 349.

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The Ambassador replied that since both were his sons, they could not help but inherit some of their father’s great courage, and were sure to someday increase and honor the kingdom of Persia. But the king retorted by repeating that the eldest was a scoundrel.77 He then stood up and escorted the ambassadors from Spain and Lahore to the sides of the hall to look at the bazaars that were connected to it and that surrounded the entire Maidān. All the bazaars were thoroughly decorated in the way that has been described, with countless lamps, causing an incredible annoyance because of the great heat they gave off. The heat increased, not only because summer was by then being ushered in, but also because of the many people who had filed into the bazaars and had accompanied the king, quite apart from the households of all the ambassadors, [superscript: some] many of whom were frantically trying [fol. 447r] to move forward to find a better spot. And since he had spent most of the evening in this outing, and was on foot because all the merchants wanted to display the decorations and adornments of their shops, he finally reached the caravanserai where a few days earlier the celebration of the women had been held. This place was more beautiful and expensively decorated because the merchants there were so much wealthier. And though the air was less scorching in the patio because it was in the open, the Spanish Ambassador was by then exhausted, and so he asked the king for permission to return to his lodgings to rest. The king indicated the quickest way to his house, and told him not to leave Eṣfahān before talking to him at leisure. [June–July 1619] The king spent the next few days visiting his harems and attending to the affairs of the city, as he had not been to Eṣfahān for three years. He was also engaged in the preparation of a gift for Shiā Salīm,78 the king of Lahore, in recognition of the one the latter’s ambassador had brought to him, which though large—reportedly containing a great variety of items—was not overly expensive. It mostly consisted of a variety of [margin: several kinds of] animals and exotic birds, plus a few brown or black slaves. Since the king’s usual practice was to make a sudden departure at a moment’s notice, the Ambassador asked him through the mehmāndār to be granted another audience concerning the letter that Friar Bernardo had brought so that he could be given his leave to return to Spain, and be an eyewitness to [fol. 447v] His Majesty that a third attempt had been made with the king, though the first one was sufficient to divest the Ambassador of hope for a successful embassy. But according to what the mehmāndār said, he would not be 77  The shah would eventually become suspicious enough of these sons to blind them both, disqualifying them for the throne. 78  D̲ j̲ahāngīr; see p. 240 n. 219.

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permitted to see the king, who was inaccessible while in his harems, and so the Ambassador waited the entire month of June and part of July without being granted an audience. However, the king did send him a message through one of his doorkeepers, informing the Ambassador that without fail by the beginning of August he would give him his dispatch so that he could depart for Hormuz, arriving in Goa in time to sail for Spain in the first voyage of the following year. He also sent word that he wished to dispatch another ambassador with an impressive gift for His Majesty. The king thus desired that the Ambassador inform him which of the things in Persia would be best received in Spain, to which the Ambassador responded by thanking him for the favor he was showing him; this is what he desired most, and that, as far as the gift was concerned, it should be whatever His Highness thought best, for the value was less important than the good will that was due the Ambassador’s king and lord with which the gift would be given. A few days later the king notified all the ambassadors that on a certain afternoon they should present themselves at the Eṣfahān Bridge over the Zāyandehrūd, which has already been described. This is the bridge that separates the colonies of the Julfans and the gabrs on one side from those of Tabrīz and the rest of the old city of Eṣfahān on the other. Since time immemorial, this holiday has been celebrated in this river during the month of July, on a day particularly designated for it. It is very similar to our ancient Lupercalia,79 or Carnival. By public edict the entire population of the city gathers together, no matter what their nation or state of origin, without the participation of women. [fol. 448r] The women, who were veiled according to their custom, were only allowed to observe from the top of the bridge; naturally, only the commoners did this. On this day the men dress as commonly as possible, wearing clothing that is very different from their usual attire, with extremely short coats with almost no pleats and very tight breeches, like the galligaskins80 used in the theater, their only headdress a shoddy cap, so that in comparison with their usual garb they appear to be wearing ridiculous disguises. In this guise they all went down to the river, which, as it was fordable at almost any point during this season of the year, was completely filled with a countless number of men who were celebrating the Lupercalia. They commenced throwing water on each other with loud shouting that could be heard from a great distance. And to facilitate their activity, each one had a pot made of copper, tin, or 79  An ancient Roman pastoral festival in which the city was purified from evil spirits, liberating health and fertility. 80  The MS has botargas; according to the OED, s.v. “galligaskin,” “a kind of wide hose or breeches worn in the 16th and 17th c.”

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brass, with which they very quickly scooped up water and continuously threw it at each other. The stronger men would also throw the weaker ones into the river. Eventually some of the men began exchanging such strong blows with their pots that many of them were hit very hard on the head, leading to several deaths. On this designated day, though it was terribly hot, the mehmāndār rushed over to call on the Ambassador very early, saying that the king and the rest of the ambassadors were waiting for him at the bridge. This Persian presented a highly amusing sight, for although he was an extremely venerable man of more than sixty years of age, he came to call while sporting the outfit that has been described above. The Ambassador failed to recognize him at first, even after conversing with him. They rode to the bridge, which was a fair distance away, at a near gallop, seeing innumerous people on horseback and on foot rushing in a frenzy to the festival. The shouting in the river could be heard from [fol. 448v] a great distance. At one end of the bridge, where the Ambassador dismounted, several of the king’s servants told him that the king had ordered him to hurry. More servants joined them afterward, followed by still others, until they guided him to almost the middle of the bridge, and entering through one of the doorways through the thickest part of the eastern parapet, which has already been written about in the section where the bridge is described,81 there were many small, interconnected chambers that faced the river, each one nine or ten feet long by four feet wide, big enough to comfortably seat three or four people. After passing through the first chamber, the Ambassador saw in the second [margin: one] the king and the ambassador from Lahore. The ambassador of the king of Balkh was in the passageway to the next room. The king requested that the Spanish Ambassador be seated next to him, and asked him how he liked the celebration, which at the moment was at its highest pitch, with cries and noises so frightful that no one sitting above them could hear one another speak. Because of the din, and since many of the celebrants had had their heads cracked open, the king ordered that several horsemen, dressed in the same getup, go down and break up the crowd. Such an action was urgently needed, because in the heat of the competition to throw water on each other, people had begun exchanging blows, many of them having fallen into the deepest part of the river and partially drowned. The conversation turned calmer once most of the people had withdrawn, and many cups and decanters full of wine were immediately brought in, with no more collation than a few pistachios in their shells, [fol. 449r] and thus the usual pastime of drinking began in the king’s 81  See p. 420.

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chamber and in the rest of the connecting chambers, which continued all the way to the end of the bridge where the other ambassadors and other members of the court were taking their leisure. Because the king had always gone to great pains to entertain the servants of the Spanish Ambassador ever since Qazvīn, he asked them to be seated in the chambers that connected with his own next to the entrance to the bridge. That whole side faced eastward and was therefore protected from the sun during the afternoon. At that time, even with the sun blazing overhead, a fair breeze blew through the doors that led to the bridge and through those that led from one chamber to another. There were some awnings that offered some protection on the other side of the bridge that faced directly into the sun. Gathered in those chambers, which were the best ones in the morning, were many courtiers and foreign guests, among whom that day were found the English, who, as has been mentioned, were on a diplomatic mission. When the Spanish Ambassador arrived, there were two courtesans in the king’s chambers of the kind that regaled him with their dancing in public gatherings. On the present occasion they were dancing very close to the ambassadors from Lahore and Balkh. This entertainment caused the king much mirth. But as soon as the Ambassador arrived was seated, the king laughingly ordered them to leave and join the company of courtesans outside on the bridge. The king told all those present that the Spanish Ambassador, because of his advanced age, did not like watching dancing girls or being entertained by them. And turning to the Ambassador, he said: “It’s no good trying to deceive us, leading us to believe that your virtue is what keeps you from associating with these people, when we [fol. 449v] know that the real reason is the impotence of your advanced age.” At this he and the other two ambassadors burst into laughter. And because the year before in Qazvīn the king had mocked him in this very same way every time they were together, he answered in the usual way, saying that His Highness was quite right, that in such cases the Ambassador’s reticence should be attributed to the frailty of old age rather than to his virtue and prudence. But in order to further confirm greatly his age, and to provide the gathering even more reason to laugh at him on that occasion, which was a time for celebration and amusement, [margin: he added] that His Highness should show him some of the many women that he kept so hidden and shut away, because the ones that were exhibited so publicly on the present occasion did not deserve to be called women, nor could they cause [margin: even] the youngest of men to lose their composure. This so flummoxed the king that he immediately changed the subject. He was so embarrassed that he found himself at a loss for words, especially because the Mughal and the Uzbek shrieked with laughter at what the Spanish Ambassador had said.

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But since the Ambassador’s words were true as far as the king was concerned, the latter shifted to another topic of conversation, asking the Ambassador for his sword and, looking [superscript: at it] unsheathed, as he always did when they were together, he fingered the tip with great attention. He then asked to see a dagger belonging to the ambassador from Lahore, tapping the steel with the edge of his scimitar to prove which one was better tempered. [margin: The Ambassador], who was seated right next to him, saw the dagger, which had a marble handle and displayed the figure of a woman. To see it better, he asked the king if he could heft it. He saw that in fact the handle or hilt had been carved to scale like a statue in the form of a woman. Specifically, it was the figure of a matron stolata, resembling looking like some of the female statues that have survived from Roman antiquity. This one, though its scale was quite small, was a perfectly lifelike sculpture. And because the Ambassador thought it rare and strange that this kind of sculpture would be found in a region so far from Europe, he asked the ambassador [fol. 450r] from Lahore from whom he had obtained the handle of the dagger, or if it was known in Lahore or in another province of his king’s empire whether there were or had ever been women in Asia that wore that kind of apparel. The Mughal He responded in the negative, adding that his father had given him the dagger, telling him that [superscript: he had been informed] that ancient Rumes82 women looked just like that. The Ambassador wanted to ask him from whom his father had learned this, but seeing that the king had put an end to the conversation by raising new topics, he left off asking for the time being, inferring from what the Mughal ambassador had said that one of the foreign merchants who had visited Lahore during the reign of Akbar Ḏjalāl al-Dīn83 or his father, Pasha Muḥammad,84 could have brought the curio back with him, as could have one of the Jesuits that lived there for so long. But the figurine was so well sculpted and proportioned that it looked like it could have survived from antiquity, perhaps having remained in Asia from the era in which the Romans had subjugated most of that region, though not as far east as Persia or the realm of the Uzbeks and the Chagatais, from whom the Mughals pride themselves on descending. A few days earlier in Eṣfahān, the Ambassador had given the king one of the paintings he had brought from Spain, one that he valued highly. It was a portrait of Sabina Augusta, who could have been either the wife of Nero or

82  I.e., Roman. 83  Akbar the Great; see p. 240 n. 218. 84  Humāyūn [Nāṣir ud-Dīn Muḥammad Humāyūn] (1508–1556), Mughal Emperor (1530– 1540 and 1555–1556). Silva y Figueroa refers to him as Paxa Mahamut (Pasha Muḥammad).

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Hadrian,85 both of whom had the same name.86 This portrait was painted in Madrid many years before the Ambassador’s embassy by copying the image from a gold coin weighing three or four escudos of gold. The coin had come into the possession of a leading lady of the court who would not part with it for any amount offered her, so greatly did she covet it, unless it was for the purpose [fol. 450v] of allowing one of the great courtly painters to make a copy of it, which is what happened. Although one might suspect the coin to be an imitation, since many coins are forged in Italy, France, and Germany, anyone with even a passing familiarity with the many coins of every metal that have exactly the same form, weight ,and lettering as authentic ancient coins, which are constantly being found in Spain and in many other parts of the world, would not suspect that this one was a fake. What could be seen of this noble lady on the coin was her head, face, and neck, down to its base at the top of her chest, where a string or a small necklace of pearls could be seen. Her head was decorated with her own hair, arranged very loosely with great [margin: delicacy], part of which was braided with pearls wound once around her head, like the buns worn by Spanish women today, the rest hanging loose down the back of her neck and shoulders, which could be inferred even though the coin was not big enough to show this. Her face was perfectly beautiful, with a high and aquiline nose. Although one might believe that the subject was Popea Sabina, the wife of Otho,87 and later of Nero, both of them emperors, greatly beloved and esteemed by both and highly praised by ancient historians for her great beauty and wit, her first name was not Popea, but Sabina Augusta, and thus one infers that she was the wife of Emperor Hadrian. According to Spartianus,88 she was also distinguished and beautiful. None of the letters [text blacked out] [margin: on the reverse] of the coin were legible, and those on the front only spelled out her name, without specifying which of the emperor’s wife she was, though sometime after the Ambassador copied this medal, he chanced to find 85  Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus (76–138), Roman emperor (117–138). 86  Silva y Figueroa is actually referring to two Roman empresses in this passage. Initially he is confused as to which is which because they were both members of the Sabina family and used that family name; they were also known by the same title, Augusta (“Empress”). The first was Poppaea Sabina Augusta (AD 35–65), wife of Otho and Nero. It was Poppaea who was renowned for her beauty. The second was Vibia Sabina Augusta (AD 83–136/137), wife of Hadrian. 87  Poppaea Sabina was the wife of Otho [Marcus Salvius Otho Augustus] (AD 32–69), Roman emperor (69). 88  Aelius Spartianus was another of the six noms de plume used by the author(s) of the Historia Augusta. While Sabina Augusta is referred to in a section of that work about Hadrian, there is no mention of her beauty and wit.

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in the coin collection belonging to one of his gentleman friends, who prided himself on being an accomplished antiquarian, two copper or bronze coins depicting the same Sabina Augusta. On either coin nothing more could be [fol. 451r] read than Sabina Augusta, this being the name that history has given to the wife of Hadrian, while Nero’s wife is known as Popea Sabina. It seems more than likely that these two coins portray Sabina, the wife of Hadrian, because of the magnificence of this prince, who was remembered with much greater praise in every province of the Roman Empire than the very hateful and odious Nero because of the latter’s vices. But because of the greater renown of Popea, born of her many talents, the portrait that the Ambassador gave to the king of Persia has been attributed to her, though there could be, as in fact there is, some doubt about the matter. Since the coin showed only her face, head, and neck, the rest of her body was painted, including the fall of her clothing, though somewhat unnaturally, from a copy of a female marble statue that the Ambassador himself had acquired a few years earlier. He had found it in Mérida as he traveled around the city, inspecting with curiosity the great ancient Roman ruins that can be seen there. As he entered the manor house belonging to the Mejías family,89 he saw that there were big striated columns on all four sides of the patio with Corinthian capitals, which, though they were made of granite, were severely worn away in some places, and on one side he saw this statue on a small pedestal and thought it was truncated, the head and arms missing. It showed an incredible exquisiteness and beauty in its features and clothing, which consisted of the robes worn in Rome by noblewomen, which flow very sinuously with many pleats from their shoulders to the bottoms of their feet, and the waist very high, hitting just below the breasts, preserving the highest decency and perfection, qualities that are so agreeable in feminine apparel. And since the Ambassador wanted a copy made of it, just as it was in its ruined state, it having [fol. 451v] so greatly pleased him, he could find no one who could do it with the art and care that was its due, except for a mediocre painter who produced a portrait, which, though capturing something of the original essence, was unequal to what it could have been. Although a great master from Madrid later remedied some of the shortcomings of the first copy, the body of the portrait ended up being very different from the statue on which it was based, but the face, hair, and neck are the very likeness of the medal from which they were copied. The arms, for which there was no model to copy, 89  The Mejías family originated in Galicia and migrated to Castile, Murcia, and finally to the city of Mérida in Extremadura during the Reconquista. Many of them were members of the two most prestigious military orders in Spain’s, Santiago and Calatrava; see Atienza, Nobiliario español, 527.

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were left to the judgment of the artist, who inappropriately rendered most of them uncovered, as we commonly see in some of the modern Italian paintings that imagine how the ancients looked, and which give false names to many of the Roman empresses. There are many such portraits nowadays in Madrid, and they are different in every respect from the antiquity they seek to represent, if the aforementioned statue and several others with which one is familiar are representative. The statuette found at one end of the Mughal’s dagger was perfectly carved with great accuracy and likeness to the marble statue in Mérida, and though the Ambassador could not examine the hairstyle on that occasion because he had to inspect it so quickly, to see if it resembled, even partially, the figure on the medal, he remembered that her neck and throat were bare, and that her face was raised as if she were looking up; but he noticed very clearly that her hands were clasped a little below her waist and that they were covered by the sleeves of her robe in the manner that monks wear them in the presence of their superiors, with the same wide sleeves. [margin: Juvenal90 also confirms that women were completely covered up by their robes except for their faces]. Five or six years before the Ambassador left Spain on his embassy, he was traveling from Badajoz, where he had been corregidor,91 to Madrid. He saw in the houses of the town hall of Mérida another marble statue of a woman that had been found a few months earlier while earth and rock of the ancient masonry was being removed for the construction of [fol. 452r] the bridge. It had been lying among the huge piles of ancient masonry from the ruins of the Roman colony after being buried for many centuries. Once the statue was found intact, it was recovered and the town hall ordered that it be displayed publicly in the houses that were just mentioned. It bore a striking resemblance in attire and hairstyle to the statue that was found in the Mejía house, but was vastly inferior [margin: to it] in quality. Although its arms and head were missing, it was clear from this and from an inscription found on a small base next to the statue that it had been created and dedicated not even during the decline of the Western Empire, but while all its provinces were occupied by barbarians. It was dedicated to the memory of a leading woman by two of her slaves whom 90  Decimus Junius Juvenalis (ca. 60–140), Roman poet; see Braund, Juvenal and Persius, Satires, 5. 91  An important and high-ranking administrative position corresponding to a magistrate or governor, appointed by the Spanish Crown and charged with representing its interests and authority inside Spain, usually at the municipal level and in outlying districts. For the historical development of this administrative position within Spain prior to its incorporation and use in the Spanish Empire, especially in the New World, see Lunenfeld, Keepers of the City, 1–30.

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she had freed, and it was also noted that while, according to the inscription, she had died at fifty-six years of age, she still wore a youthful robe and hairstyle, with her hair and throat exposed, although, as it has been stated, the sculpture was coarse and crude compared to the other one, most of the best Roman art having been lost in Europe by then. The ambassador from Lahore was a very happy and festive man, and hence the king [margin: of Persia] took pleasure in teasing him, not only verbally, but also with his hands, grabbing his beard and slapping him on the back so that there was always laughter and delight wherever he happened to be. His name is Khān-e Alam,92 which among the Mughals means “lord of the earth.” He was the son of Pasha Muḥammad,93 king of Lahore, who seized and added to his empire, among other kingdoms, the great and fertile realm of Khambhat,94 and in so doing, [fol. 452v] it became one of the greatest in all the East, having few rivals. It is not only the common opinion among the Mughals, but also the view of the great Persian historian Mīrkhwānd,95 whose writings date from less than a century ago, that these kings of Lahore descend from Miran Shah,96 Timūr’s second son, regarding whom extensive mention has already been made. Alankar,97 one of the many children of Miran Shah, became impoverished after his father died in a battle with the Turks, and the possessions in Media and Hyrcania that should have fallen to him were taken over by others. And so he traveled to India with several others who decided to follow him and seek their fortune because of the wealth of that land, this being the same route that many Persians, Uzbeks, and Khorasans have followed after becoming destitute in their own countries. Just a few years earlier, the all-powerful kingdom of Delhi had broken up and separated into several provinces. Anciently, it had comprised all of northern India as far as the high the towering heights of Mount Imeon, in addition to the provinces of Sindh, Khambhat, and all the other southern provinces as far as the Malabar. Many lesser kingdoms were spawned from this great realm when the king’s captains and governors rose up against him. Some of these men were, as was mentioned in the description of 92  Khān-e Alam, Silva y Figueroa is correct about the meaning of his name, though the language is Persian; see p. 678 n. 66. 93  Humāyūn; see p. 690 n. 93. 94  Khambhat; see p. 198 n. 116. 95  See p. 522 n. 55. 96  Mīrzā Miran Shah Beg (1366–April 1408) was, as Silva y Figueroa informs us, a son of Timūr and a Timurid governor during his father’s lifetime. 97  Silva y Figueroa is correct in suggesting that Miran Shah [Mīrzā Miran Shah Beg] had numerous sons. Based on the transliteration that the Ambassador offers, the form Alucham in the MS is most probably referring to Alankar Mīrzā.

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Goa, Mūhammadans from the nations that were heretofore mentioned; many others were Turks, Arabs, and Abyssinians. At the fall of the kingdom, they all fought among themselves in order to increase the territories they had usurped. With the passing of a few years, in memory of his illustrious grandfather Timūr and by dint of his own valor, Alankar took possession of a large part of the northernmost region of the kingdom of Delhi, the capital of which shares the same name. Lying now mostly in ruins, it can be seen between Agra and Lahore. His successors gradually took control of the possessions belonging to their weaker neighbors, thereby becoming great and powerful kings, until the reign of Pasha Muḥammad, the father of the ambassador [fol. 453r] of Lahore, whom we have been describing. This last king increased the great fame and renown of the realm of the Mughals in Asia by adding to its vastness with [margin: the acquisition] of the kingdoms of Sindh and Khambhat. The borders of his kingdom extended to Mount Imeon in the north, to the Indian Ocean in the south, to the Ganges River in the east, and to the ancient provinces of [margin: Arachosia], Aria, and Bactria in the west. Their eastern neighbors were the [margin: Mughals], the Uzbeks, and the Persians. Since the king intended to spend all of that afternoon and evening in the Julfan colony, as was his wont, he arose and, wishing to discharge the ambassadors, promised the Spanish Ambassador to grant him another audience. The Ambassador responded as follows: “If Your Highness intends to leave Eṣfahān in a few days, as rumor has it, and will be unable to grant me this favor, all the main points that we could discuss, and the message that my lord the king has sent with the friar who has just arrived from Spain, are all essentially the same thing I raised with Your Highness in Qazvīn regarding the restitution of the seized portions of Hormuz.” The king pretended not to understand this. As the king began walking to the bridge with the other ambassadors, the ambassador of Lahore’s jester, who was considered [superscript: by] all to be a very amusing man, approached the Spanish Ambassador with the intent of conversing with him. His master told the Ambassador his name and profession, but the jester was so serious, stern, and composed that not only did he not look like a man of that profession, but he was the very picture of Antisthenes, Xenocrates, or Epaminondas,98 for his compliments were all so very serious that no one of his profession could have displayed such good charm, by art or by nature, better than this man. He was as old or a little older than the ambassador of Lahore 98  Antisthenes (ca. 445–365 BC), Greek philosopher and student of Socrates, considered the father of Cynic philosophy. Xenocrates (ca. 396–314 BC) was a leading scholar of the Platonic academy, and Epaminondas (c. 410–362 BC) was a Theban general and statesman.

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himself, and the resemblance between them was so close that as they stood side by side, one would not be deceived in taking them for the same person unless he were closely related to them. And in order to amaze and entertain [fol. 453v] the ambassadors at parties and meetings, the Spanish Ambassador would say that the ambassador from Lahore had deliberately exchanged identities with his jester, [superscript: each] playing the part of the other. The king stopped halfway over the bridge and waited for the other ambassadors to catch up with him. In the interval they all formed a ring around the king him on horseback. The king took the Spanish Ambassador by the arm and, pointing with his other hand to the ambassador of Lahore, said: “Do you see him there? If he doesn’t deliver Kandahār to me, I shall have to take it away from his king, along with anything else I find there, because my sons”—­ pointing to them, who were nearby, though outside the circle—“will not be cheated out of an inch of land that I have added to my kingdoms by force of arms.” Although uttered in such a public place, this comment seemed to be a veiled reference to what the Spanish Ambassador had said to him shortly before. Yet the Ambassador, not wishing to appear to understand this, replied that His Highness and his ambassador, Shah Salīm,99 who was present, would get on well together because he, the Ambassador, did not understand what this reference to Kandahār was all about. With that, [margin: the king] laughed along with everyone else, as he always does. He then bade farewell to all as he departed for Julfa, while everyone else went off to their lodgings, as it was almost dark. Seeing that it has been mentioned, Kandahār is a small city, though strong because of its location within the borders of Aria, which today is called Arat, and First India. It lies on the same merchant route that leads from Khorāsān and Persia to Sindh; from there, merchants go to Lahore, Agra, and other parts of India, and to the aforementioned kingdoms of Khorāsān, Media, and Persia. And because all the caravans that travel between India and Persia must follow this route, one that the king so carefully introduced to this area just a few years ago in order to cultivate maritime commerce from Hormuz, which accrued so greatly to his benefit, he placed a good garrison in Kandahār under a trusted captain. But the latter handed his forces over to the king of Lahore and changed his allegiance and began serving him together with his men, either because he took [fol. 454r] offense, or, what is more probable, because he and his soldiers received a great deal of money from the king. The salary offered by the prince is a typical practice among the Persians, Uzbeks and Khorasans, and many other peoples of Asia. 99  See p. 240 n. 219.

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Two days later the king arranged another celebration in the Maidān, ordering that many lanterns be hung from all the shops and high rooms around the square. The celebration itself was quite tedious and in poor taste: it consisted of the wrestling of several naked men, the fighting of rams that butted each other’s heads with great force, and the kind of bull fight that was described in the section corresponding to the Ambassador’s arrival in Kāshān. All the ambassadors were summoned together at the same hour in the evening. Such a large crowd was present, consisting of both natives and foreigners, that the Maidān was almost completely full, notwithstanding its size and capacity. As soon as the king made his appearance, the wrestling began, along with the butting of the rams. Both animals had many supporters, men and boys, who used all sorts of words and gestures to spur them to fight. And although this spectacle and entertainment, considering it was a festival put on by a king for the benefit of ambassadors of such great princes, seemed so tasteless and childish, at least it was carried out with some measure of tranquillity. It turned out that the most annoying aspect of it was the heat—it was the harshest part of the summer—augmented by the burning of the many lanterns. Then the bulls were brought out, which fought for a long time. The festival quickly became irritating and tedious. The bulls locked horns as they pushed against each other, [fol. 454v] as in Kāshān, and the people on foot and on horseback formed a dense crowd. The Ambassador found it necessary to move aside and retire to the place where the bulls were taken after they were separated from the other bulls. Their owners and handlers kept them there until they recovered their spirits enough to return and fight against the bulls that won earlier bouts. As the people on horseback would often gallop out of the way of the bulls, everyone ran into each other with great disorder and confusion, [margin: especially the many people on foot who had fallen down]. Since the king’s servants and many other people, including the king himself, galloped their horses all around the Maidān for the reason stated above, everyone rode toward him, trying to get close to him, knocking over and trampling many people. The very ambassadors were those who did this [margin: the most relentlessly] and caused most of the harm. Finally, after spending most of the night in this riotous and most irritating festivity, with some people wishing it would end, the king rode off away from everyone else and went through the door of his harem, at which point the ambassadors removed themselves to their respective houses. The next day the king sent a great number of sweetmeats to the Spanish Ambassador on platters much bigger than bucklers, and though there were so many different kinds of preserves and fruit pastes, they lacked the delicacy of those from Spain. But there were enough of them to give some to the monasteries, with an abundance left over for the Ambassador’s entire entourage.

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[fol. 455r] Many days earlier the king had sent a message saying that the Ambassador should request that any of the delicacies found in his house be sent to him, especially sweets, that this would give him great pleasure, and realizing that this had not been done, that day he had everything delivered at once. The Ambassador ordered that the bearers of this gift, of which there were many, be given a tidy sum of money. And so that one can understand how much these Persians venerate their kings, a case will be related here that took place soon thereafter. It so happened that a Persian weaver lived very close to the Ambassador’s house. [superscript: His wife], who practiced the same trade, [superscript: found herself in] the final stages of a most dangerous illness and had been unable to eat for many days. And as the neighbors were very well aware that the king had sent those sweets, they came begging one of the Ambassador’s servants on her behalf with great feeling that, for the love of God, he send her some of what was left over, because she thought she would then be cured. And after a good amount was taken to her, and after she ate some of it with great faith, she instantly began to feel that her health had been restored, and in three or four days she was completely healed, though the fruit was not the kind that should have been able to work such a miracle. Two days after the bull and ram fights, the king sent for the ambassadors one evening, and since the Spanish Ambassador [fol. 455v] arrived a little later than the others because he had stayed behind to dine, by the time he reached the Maidān, the king had already left for the bridge, and many men on foot and on horseback were running and galloping their horses in that direction, among them the ambassadors. When they reached the Čahārbāḡ, several of the king’s servants hurried over, one after the other, calling for the Spanish Ambassador, saying that the king was waiting for him on the bridge. The king had ordered by public edict that lanterns be hung that evening, not only in the private houses, mosques, and public places in the city of Eṣfahān, but also in the colonies of Tabrīz, Julfa, and Yerevan, and in the colonies of the gabrs. He had decided to have the festival, or tamasha, as the Persians say, in a new house belonging to a rich merchant between the old city of Eṣfahān and Tabrīz, next to the Čahārbāḡ. Although the other ambassadors had already caught up with the king and were all about to head off to the right toward the aforementioned house, the king rode a good way onto the bridge with the other ambassadors and waited there for the Spanish Ambassador. But while the latter ran his horse as fast as he could to the midpoint of the bridge, the king started back, retracing his steps, and with the ambassador of the Mughal at his side, shouted out “Hispania! Hispania!” calling the Ambassador by this title with a better Latin pronunciation than any Spaniard could have managed. By then, the Ambassador reached

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the king, and coming around to his left side, they left the bridge together, heading toward the house. An incredible number of people [fol. 456r] had gathered by then with so many lanterns and torch stands that it was as light as day. The king began asking the Spanish Ambassador for fresh news from Europe, because around that time the Venetians who lived in the city had received news from Baghdad and Aleppo regarding massive preparations for war in Italy on the part of His Catholic Majesty, the king of France, and the Venetians. Also, Maʿan,100 lord of Saida,101 or ancient Sidon, along with a group of rebellious Druze102 from Mt. Lebanon, had seized Beirut from the Turks. And though the Ambassador would have been happy to confirm this news, [superscript: he had no way of knowing whether it was certain]. Furthermore, he did not want to urge or press the king to declare war against the Turks, as on that occasion for he knew [margin: he was] strongly opposed to this. Neither did the Ambassador want him to have the same opinion of him as he did of the bishop of Cyrene in the event that the preparations for war in Italy failed to come to fruition and had a dubious outcome. [superscript: Finally], he had received no guidance whatsoever from His Catholic Majesty in this matter. And thus he limited his response to saying that any preparations for war, whether they were certain or not, would be a cause of concern for the Turk, and if the king wanted to attempt something against him, it would be much to his benefit. He chose not to go any deeper into the matter for the reasons expounded above. The king reached the house and after dismounting from his horse entered with the others. They climbed up many stairs, passing several floors, it being a very tall house, until they finally reached the roof or terrace, which was large and spacious, and where there were so many [fol. 456v] lights that although 100  Amīr Fakhr-al-Dīn Beg ibn Maʿan (1572–1635), ruler of Lebanon, allied with Venice in seeking independence from the Ottomans. 101  Saida, Lebanon. 102  An Arabic-speaking ethno-religious group from south-western Asia who live in presentday Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, and who are faithful to an esoteric set of monotheistic and Abrahamic religious teachings. Despite their relatively small population in relation to other larger communities, they have played an important role in influencing the history of the Levant. Their social customs differ markedly from those of Christians or Muslims. Considered infidels by Muslims, they were subjected to persecution by the Fatimids, the Mamluks, and the Ottomans. In this passage, Silva y Figueroa alludes to one of a succession of rebellions by the Druze and punitive expeditions by the Ottomans during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Unsuccessful in their attempts to crush Druze opposition, the Ottomans eventually made an arrangement that granted the leaders of the Druze a privileged status in maintaining law and order and the collection of local taxes.

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there was a faint breeze, the area being so high and open, the many lamps were a great nuisance. After the king sat down on the floor of the terrace with all those who accompanied him, a multitude of lights in the city could be seen, a sight that caused immense wonder. From that vantage in the center of the city, there were an incredible number of lights as far as the eye could see, not only in the city but also in the aforementioned colonies. At that point the common and ordinary entertainment of drinking began. There were many cups and wine-filled decanters, with platters filled with toasted pistachios in their shells, and the king, who was very merry, asked for the Spanish Ambassador’s sword, as was his wont, and grasping it by the hilt, he gazed at it carefully, unsheathed, the sword fingering the tip many times. After he returned it to him, he asked him and the others, “What do you all think about the news of Maʿan?” Several of them supplied him with an answer, since it is normal for people to exaggerate that which they desire, saying that this Druze would be able to take possession of the kingdom of Cyprus with the aid of the princes of Europe; others said that he was sure to have already done so, and that he was the lord of the battlefield, and that the pashas of Damascus and Aleppo would not resist him. And seeing that the Turkish çavuş made no reply, but only stared at the Spanish Ambassador and then broke into laughter, the king repeated his question to the Ambassador, asking him his particular view on the matter. He replied, understanding the malice with which the question was being asked, that he did not believe that Maʿan had enough funds and forces to be able to attempt, much less succeed, in such a massive undertaking as that, especially since he would need forces much stronger than the Turkish army, and that Maʿan could not possibly have such forces, nor was there news from Europe confirming that such had been sent to him. He added that what Maʿan would be capable of doing, even if, as it was said, he was superior on the battlefield to the pashas of Aleppo and Damascus, which did not seem credible, was take and sack Tripoli, [fol. 457r] the latter lying so close to Mt. Lebanon. Finally, the Ambassador told the king that he would be able to find more information regarding the matter from the çavuş Muḥammad, who was present, and who would be able to give a better account of everything that was being discussed. And seeing that the çavuş was annoyed and did not open his mouth, the king laughed heartily as if it had been a joke and then changed the subject. From the day of his first arrival, the ambassador from Lahore had the habit of smoking tobacco in these public functions, even though he was always positioned right next to the king. They would bring him an instrument that he used for smoking, a hollow tube made of gold, two feet long and less than an inch in diameter. One end was attached to a golden pot the size of an egg; it had many holes in it and contained burning tobacco. He put the other end in his

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mouth, and by alternating blowing and inhaling, a great deal of smoke would escape from the little holes in the pot, giving off such a foul odor that it would have been irritating and annoying to those farthest from him, let alone those right next to him, as was the king, even if it had not been the hottest season. And though from the beginning [margin: it seemed that] he was taking far too much license and, considering the setting, his behavior was considerably indecorous, some people attempted to excuse him, saying that because of his incessant habit of ingesting that smoke, he could not go for even a half an hour without fainting away. The king, while so humane and genteel with his guests, said not a word, but was noticeably irritated and annoyed at the Mughal’s form of recreation, for quite apart from the great discomfort caused him by the smoke, the king was well aware, being so sharp and perceptive, that those present noticed his discomfort. And that night while the Indian blew out and inhaled his smoke, the king turned his face [fol. 457v] the other way and, facing the Spanish Ambassador, asked him if people in Spain smoked tobacco, and if so, what sort of people ingested it. The Ambassador answered him, [margin: realizing his purpose in asking], that only Indians and blacks possessed and used that medicine. At that the king broke into laughter and slapped himself on the forehead, and while rising to his feet, said he would return shortly; he then removed the khān of Shīrāz’s103 turban from his head and went over to a section of the terrace where there was a small wall or parapet next to a staircase, [margin: and there he lay down on the floor] and went to sleep, using the turban that he had taken from Emāmqolī Khān as a pillow. A short time later the same khān came over to the Spanish Ambassador with his head uncovered and asked him, on behalf of the king, if he would be so kind as to tell him just one more time which sort of people smoked tobacco in Spain, and after the Ambassador answered exactly the same way as before, there came from the direction of the [margin: king] and from all those present long and loud laughter. All this time the ambassador from Lahore, either because he failed to understand what was being said about tobacco, which had been in Turkish, the lingua franca of the court, or because he dissembled a failure to understand, went on smoking his pipe, and continued to do so for the duration of the party. At this point, Eskandar Beg,104 the king’s favorite, approached the Spanish Ambassador’s interpreter, and furtively told him he could leave if he pleased. This was overheard by the Ambassador, who arose and left, bidding farewell with little ceremony to the others, who did the same, everyone removing to their respective lodgings, it being very close to dawn. 103  Emāmqolī Khān; see p. 302 n. 34. 104  Eskandar Beg Torkamān Monši; see p. 671 n. 55.

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The next evening the king requested that the ambassadors observe the same [fol. 458r] lamps from the terrace of his house, which, as has been stated, overlooks the Maidān. This terrace sits atop a tower many stories high that commands a view of that great square, and apart from the minarets, it is the most prominent place in the whole city. And to make it more comfortable for that evening, the king had ordered a few days earlier that a parapet be built all around it so his guests could stand next to it and watch the people and the lamps in the city square and in the colonies at their ease. He also placed many windows in the parapet so that those seated on the ground could enjoy the view from the terrace. The king ordered the ambassadors and other guests to assemble at the terrace of his house after nightfall. This group included the Englishmen and religious from both monasteries who were usually invited. The area closest to the parapet was covered with carpets, and as the king was not present that night to receive and host the ambassadors, many of his ministers and servants were there, among them Alam Khān, the kinglet of the Kurds, who had accompanied the Spanish Ambassador most of the way from Qazvīn to Eṣfahān, and Emāmqolī Khān, the sultan of Shīrāz. The terrace was much more pleasant than the night before because there were no lanterns above save the light of the moon; plus, it was so high that the cool air was refreshing to everyone, though the many decanters of wine warmed them up. The king also ordered the Spanish Ambassador’s entourage to come that night, and despite the fact that the celebration was so well prepared that the carpets [fol. 458v] that had been laid out before the company were covered with golden cups and decanters filled with many varieties of wine, the collation consisted of nothing more than a few platters of very fat plums that in the province of Extremadura in Spain are commonly called hartabellacos105 because they are the worst and coarsest species of plums, though the ones that were served that night, despite being of the same quality and size as the Spanish variety, seemed very tasty to those who ate them, either because there was nothing else to eat or because Persia does not produce good plums, though it does yield a bounty of other fruits in all their perfection, and so these seemed that night. The king sent his apologies for not making an appearance, saying that he was indisposed that evening, though it was known that he was in the farthest and highest room of the tower that lay directly underneath the terrace with several women from his harem, which had been [margin: designated] and prepared with great care

105  Hartabellacos, lit. “rogue stuffers.” In other parts of Spain, this term refers to a kind of vegetable fritter; see DCECH, 3:323.

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for these kinds of functions, as has already been explained in the description of Eṣfahān. Most of the night was spent there with a beautiful view of the many lamps and fireworks, as well as the great number of people who strolled around the Maidān. The fortress, though it was a fair distance off, was also very beautiful, its walls and towers covered with innumerable lights. The festivities were much better than before because the people had been told they did not have to retire to their homes so early. And with this the celebrations, which the king of Persia prepared for the ambassadors in Eṣfahān with as much care as possible, came to an end. They have been dealt with here at such length not because they were grand, but so that it might be understood that all these Eastern kings, while their outward appearance may seem barbaric, as judged by European standards, [fol. 459r] are essentially more attentive and moderate than the rulers of Western nations, and thus they celebrate their public festivities and entertainments with little splendor and at much more modest expense. [August 1619] Because their Lent and fast, called Ramadan,106 common to all Mūhammadans, was drawing near, and since the king wanted to leave Eṣfahān during that season, the Ambassador entreated him as often as he could to be given his dismissal so he could embark from Hormuz by the beginning of August, and thus the king ordered that all the farmān,107 or provisions, that would be needed for his journey be given him. And on August 2nd, the king sent word to the Ambassador, letting him know that he would be in the Maidān that evening because he wanted to give him and the other ambassadors an audience and bid them farewell. Thus, they all presented themselves in the Maidān at nine o’clock in the evening with many torches, which are a kind of lamp that has already been described. When the Spanish Ambassador arrived, everyone else was already mounted on horseback with many other people who had gathered next to the door of the harem, waiting for the king to emerge. There they waited for over an hour. The Ambassador, upon seeing the many lights and so many people gathered as they were at the door of the harem, and it being so hot, withdrew from the others to almost the center of the square. The priors from the monasteries and their companions had already made their way to the same place because the Ambassador was going to bring up the matter with the king of whether he would allow them to build their own houses, since to that point they had only 106  The ninth month of the Islamic calendar; it is observed as a month of fasting by Muslims in commemoration of the first revelation of the Ḳurʾān to Muḥammad. 107  As noted above, Silva y Figueroa demonstrates some confusion as to the relationship of a royal decree to actual provisions that were ordered by it; see p. 302 n. 33.

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been granted permission to reside in houses [not owned by them]. [fol. 459v] At this point the king began to ride out from his court on horseback with many of the ministers and servants, who carried a vast number of the silver lamps that were used the previous summer in Qazvīn. He was guided by the mehmāndār, and without stopping to talk to anyone else who was waiting for him by the door, he came directly over to where the Ambassador was and said the same thing he had on other occasions: “Hispania! Hispania!” After the Ambassador approached him and bowed before him, he asked: “What is it you wish to tell me on behalf of my brother the king of Spain? For I have come here to listen to you and to see if you wish to ask me for anything for yourself.” The Ambassador, thinking that he only wanted to hear him briefly and then take his leave, answered thus: “What I want to tell Your Highness on behalf of my lord is the same thing I put to you in the Maidān of Qazvīn, and later wrote in a letter I sent to Faraḥābād with Friar Belchior dos Anjos; and as for me, I only ask for your leave so that I may make my immediate departure for Hormuz, and that Your Highness grant these fathers permission and your blessing to build their monasteries.” To this the king replied: “I would like to hear you out more at leisure concerning this; let Friar Juan come with you along with a servant of your choosing.” And [superscript: leaving] the torches behind, he rode away from the rest of the people a good distance to another area of the Maidān, his only companions being Sara Khoja, the chief secretary of state, and Yusef Āḡā, the chief guard of the harem. Accompanying the Ambassador were Friar Juan Thadeo and Domingo Rodríguez, an interpreter native of Hormuz. The king dismounted without anyone holding the reins of his horse and sat down on the ground of the square, [fol. 460r] ordering the Ambassador to sit next to him. Sara Khoja, Friar Juan, and the interpreter sat facing them. Yusef Āḡā stationed himself about six feet behind the king, armed with his bow and arrows and his scimitar. The king then repeated the same thing he had said before, adding that he wanted the Ambassador to be satisfied, and that he should ask for anything he wanted on his own behalf [margin: because he considered him his father], saying this very amicably and graciously, which was quite different from how the Ambassador had been received in Qazvīn. The Ambassador, seeing that the moment was opportune, expounded to him in an unhurried fashion the whole matter of the war with the Turks, pointing out what a marvelous opportunity had presented itself for recovering what their common enemy had usurped from the Persian Empire, and recalling that they had deposed his grandfather Shah Ṭahmāsp from Assyria and Mesopotamia. He told him that the mere rumor that a powerful fleet was being prepared in Italy, Spain, and France, even if it turned out to be untrue, would prove to be a distraction and a source of grave concern for the Turks, no less because they were divided at

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that time over their choice of a new prince. The Turks were arguing over whether the successor should be Osman the Young or his uncle Mustafa, and the strife arising from the case, no matter how small, would be sufficient for the king to take possession of Baghdad, a city for which the Turks felt so little affection. The Ambassador added that because it was so close to their common border, it would be a simple matter to seize the city and reincorporate it in his realm. The king should also consider that such opportunities do not come along every day, even when one endeavors to seek for them—there would never be a time [margin: more favorable] than that moment. The Ambassador had recognized the king’s strong aversion to war with the Turk [margin: from the moment he had first made his acquaintance] for reasons that have already been expounded. Therefore, although the king pretended [fol. 460v] to consider carefully what was being said to him, he put an end to the discussion by coldly responding that if the Christian princes were to wage war against the Turks by moving powerful armies against them from Europe, he would also come against them with all his forces from Asia all the way to Jerusalem, which he would then hand over to the Christians. And with this curt and coarse reply, the king left off the discussion by reverting to his usual subject: that they had left him to his own lights without coming to his aid during a time of danger during war, and that what was worse, the emperor108 had made a truce with their common enemy. He added a boast that he had uttered on other occasions, that after the grace of God, he was only indebted to his own sword for the victory and dominion over the Turks in recovering what they had usurped from his father. The Ambassador then shifted to two particular topics that he had already discussed with the king, once face to face in Qazvīn and another time via letters he sent to Faraḥābād, namely that the king should prohibit the entrance of the English and other foreigners [into Persia], and that he should give Bahrain, Qeshm, and Gamrū back, which he had occupied at different times, from the kingdom of Hormuz. And though the king had been so impatient while he listened to these requests the year before in Qazvīn, as has been stated, this time he listened [superscript: with] a placid and calm countenance. The king responded to the last point by saying that it should not matter to his brother the king of Spain whether he, the king of Persia, or the king of Hormuz possessed those islands and fortresses, seeing that both he and the king of Hormuz were Mūhammadans. In fact, the other king was a Sunni and thus his religion was more inimical to the Franks than his own. The Ambassador thought, with good reason, that this response was most ridiculous. But although he had been convinced from the beginning that he would be unable to 108  Ferdinand II (1578–1637), Holy Roman Emperor (1619–1637).

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achieve anything with the king in this matter—for kings never return what they have usurped from others unless some urgent necessity forces them to do so—he answered that the king of Hormuz was a vassal of the king of Spain, his lord, and that His Highness was a friend and ally, if the friendship suited him and as such he should return that which did not belong to him. Although the Ambassador spoke this freely to him, [fol. 461r] the king’s expression showed no sign of disturbance, nor did he give a retort beyond saying that he was a much better Muḥammadan than the king of Hormuz. He then went off on a tangent, a tactic he always resorted to when he did not want to give a direct reply or concede anything regarding the subject at hand. In regard to trade relations with the English, it was revealed the minimal extent to which he was swayed by reason, for he never responded to the question, even though the Ambassador deliberately brought the subject up three or four times that evening. The king kept clouding the issue, and when he finally found himself at a loss to respond, he began praising the mercy of Christ and the purity of Our Lady. Nearly two hours into this audience, the king asked the Ambassador once more to consider whether he desired to request anything for himself, to which the Ambassador responded that he wanted nothing but provisions for his departure to Hormuz, which he intended to undertake three or four days thence, and permission for both the religious orders to build their monasteries in Eṣfahān, this being something that would greatly please his king, and for which he would be most obliged to His Highness. The latter responded that he would pay special attention to the matter, and urged him to request anything else he might desire. The Ambassador answered that he wanted nothing except to be dispatched as soon as possible. At that point the king stood up, and the Ambassador grasped the interpreter’s arm and asked him to help him up. At that the king grabbed hold of him with both hands and picked him up and embraced him, calling him father, and told him that he would always be his great friend. The Ambassador kneeled down and kissed his hand because of this particular favor the king had showed him, something that he had never before done. The king embraced him once more and bade him farewell. He then mounted his horse and left with the two men who had accompanied him. The Ambassador did the same thing, having first called his servants, and went home. It was quite remarkable that, [fol. 461v] even though the Maidān was full of people that night, nobody approached anywhere near the area where the king and Ambassador were, the entire area being so empty that no one could have heard them, even if they had spoken very loudly. A crowded throng of men and horses was pressed into the rest of the square around the door of the harem where the king was destined to return. The following day it was learned

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that the king had given a public audience to the rest of the ambassadors as they were seated on horseback, and that it was brief and summary, and that he had shouted angrily at the Turkish çavuş, who was asking him to return the province of Shīrvān, that he would not give him back a single stone that he had won. The next day the mehmāndār brought all the provisions ordered by the king that were necessary for the Ambassador’s journey. When everything was ready for his departure, the Ambassador was suddenly taken with a severe catarrh and terrible pains in both his feet that confined him to his bed for twenty days, as he was unable to stand up. The worst part of this inconvenience was seeing that his journey was delayed, for his time was running out for the monsoon to take him from Hormuz to India. The king departed from Eṣfahān during those first few days, having first sent the Ambassador two sections of brocade in which several figures of Persians, Georgians, and Franks were embroidered. He also sent him several other pieces of gold, silver, and velvet gauze,109 nine in all, a number that is and has always been a symbol of dignity and perfection among the Asians. To his servants he gave twenty-seven pieces of silver gauze, and others made of velvet. Although the Ambassador’s health had improved only a little, or not at all, he gathered his strength and had himself carried in a sedan to a village a league from Eṣfahān on the [superscript: 25th] of August in order to depart from there on the next day in the same sedan or in a litter. He was deeply moved to compassion by the many Armenians, Syrians, and Georgians of both sexes and all ages who came weeping to his house, as following that day they would no longer be receiving alms every day for their relief. The Ambassador thus [fol. 462r] ordered that a certain amount of money be distributed to them. And so he departed from Eṣfahān, accompanied by the mehmāndār and several other Persians, along with the priors of the monasteries and other Franks, reaching the village an hour after sunset, most of his servants having arrived earlier with his belongings. This village, which was nestled among many gardens next to the river, was called Jarustān.110 Here the Ambassador found a very good house with many ample rooms, the biggest of which repeated the style and design of the churches found in European monasteries, with many high windows. According to some of the older Persians, in Shah Ṭahmāsp’s day, this house functioned as a college for students, and the large chamber where the Ambassador took his lodgings had been the main lecture or seminar hall where they read and received instruction. The house was surrounded by a 109  Perhaps the mileque mentioned in two loci above; see p. 468 n. 337. 110  Perhaps present-day Shahrestān; see p. 404 n. 220.

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spacious garden through which a pathway ran; it was obvious that the garden had once been full of fountains, though they were now dry. In short, the village, which probably contained 500 inhabitants, enjoyed a cool temperature and had an abundance of fruit and all kinds of provisions. The Ambassador remained in this village for two days. He did not finish collecting his camels and other baggage animals until the afternoon of Tuesday the 27th. And with several of his servants taking almost all his weight, he was just able to enter his litter, and by this means he made his departure at sunset, the caravan having gone on ahead two hours earlier. As the road they had followed while coming to Eṣfahān circled around the city for a long league on its way to Mahyār, the Ambassador’s guides took him through several gardens and houses that formed part of a large village. The road was thickly obstructed [fol. 462v] by small bridges that spanned the many ditches, which, despite the brightness of the moon, were very difficult to cross. The village and orchard stretched out for more than a long league, and several times some good houses and bazaars were encountered with many things to eat. The residents knew that a good many of people would be passing through there that night to purchase food from them. [superscript: As the Ambassador could not] [text blacked out] leave his litter, he had to avoid a difficult pass through the mountains that he had experienced during the journey to Eṣfahān by skirting around it a half a league to the [text blacked out] left. One of the guards who turned up in the village served as a guide in finding this route. Because of this detour and the previous roundabout route, the trip to Mahyār took all night and one hour into the following day; had the road been straight, the journey would have been just eight long leagues. The Ambassador was so cold and his feet hurt so much that he began to doubt whether he would be able to continue on. He stayed in the same house where he had lodged on his way to Eṣfahān, which was one of the best he found during the entire journey. The host and the many other residents of the town were master fletchers who fashioned extremely beautiful arrows, and in Qomīsheh,111 a village we passed through on the next day’s journey, the residents made beautiful strong bows. On the 28th, we departed from Mahyār more than an hour after sunset, and because the moon had not yet risen, the caravan and the Ambassador’s litter were illuminated by those lanterns, which are the custom in Persia and which give off a great deal of light. And since the road was good and the distance to be covered was less than six short leagues, we reached Qomīsheh two hours before sunrise [text blacked out], the caravan putting in [margin: after] daybreak. Here the Ambassador felt the most exhausted he had ever [crossed out: 111  Present-day Shahreẕā.

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ever] been; he was barely able to sleep and eat that day, in which the entire household of the good host, which was very numerous—his married sons and daughters lived with him—paid another visit to the Ambassador a little before his departure, and he bestowed the same [fol. 463r] congiarium112 on them he had on his way to Eṣfahān. And although the pain in his feet and his frailty and weakness were so great that he asked to be carried in the litter, as he was leaving town just before sunset of the [margin: 29th], [text blacked out] he began to experience noticeable improvement, the catarrh letting up after midnight a half a league past the small village where he had stayed on his outward journey. The lodgings here were better. They consisted of an old caravanserai that was designed like a fortress, where ten or twelve very poor citizens lived in huts; their number totaled fifty souls, each of whom was given alms. As the Ambassador rested, he was suddenly completely relieved from his pains, the only bother being his inability to stand on his own feet. And due to the difficulties from the previous day, his servants wanted to travel no more than three leagues this day to the new caravanserai belonging to the khān of Shīrāz, but the Ambassador overruled them, insisting on extending the journey to Izadkhāst, seven long leagues distant. On the 30th, he departed from the caravanserai a little less than an hour before sunset, and with the camels that carried his litter walking at a good pace, he reached Izadkhāst two hours before sunrise. Because the cold was as biting as in Eṣfahān in midwinter, it was necessary to wear as much or more clothing to bed. The Ambassador stayed in the same house in which he had lodged on his way to Eṣfahān. The caravan arrived two or three hours later, even though it had left earlier. It consisted of five or six of the Ambassador’s servants, who were harquebusiers; two Persians on horseback armed with bows, arrows, and scimitars; and of course the domestics. This village, being so singular and strange, was described earlier when the Ambassador passed through it on his way to Eṣfahān,113 and thus nothing more will be added here beyond the general opinion held in Persia concerning it, namely that it produces [fol. 463v] the most beautiful women [margin: in Persia], and that the bread baked here is the whitest and has the best flavor, all of this despite the village’s shabby appearance; it looks more like the abode of beasts rather than men, and unpromising for two things as good as these. On the 31st [margin: of August,] the Ambassador left at the close of day, this being the longest leg of the entire journey, and after descending into the deepest part of the valley, which has already been described, his party ascended on 112  See p. 403 n. 218. 113  See p. 401.

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the left-hand side along a different path from the one on which it descended on its way to Eṣfahān, and although the road where it now found itself meandered and took longer to climb, this was done with with much less trouble. From the summit, the valley stretched out to the east farther than the eye could see. At its widest places, it extended more than 500, 800, and 1,000 paces. The source for the water canals used for irrigation is an average-sized stream that runs along its length, thanks to which the surrounding terrain is cultivated with fruit orchards and gardens that produce diverse vegetables; what remains is worked for the harvest of wheat, barley, and a sizeable quantity of rice. The valley continues for more than six or seven leagues in the shape of an extremely wide and [margin: deep] pit, flanked by high and craggy peaks, on top of which there are many inhabitants who live quite well on the food produced on their small parcels. Because this stage of the journey was so long, it was impossible to reach the village of [superscript: Dehgerdū] until sunrise. The cold was more intense than on the previous night when the party reached Izadkhāst, forcing everyone to bundle up. The Ambassador, who by now had almost completely recovered from his indisposition, lodged in the little house owned by the khān of Shīrāz, as he had done on his outward journey. All enjoyed themselves in this village because of its fine caravanserai and because the guides had arranged for a good amount of supplies to be brought, especially much good water from the abundant stream that ran through the orchard, which the Ambassador ordered to be carefully distributed to all, since the water that they would find during the four coming days of travel to Māʿin would be pestilential. [fol. 464r] Before leaving Eṣfahān, the Ambassador ordered all of his servants to make sure that everyone, including the domestics, carried not only their harquebuses, but also that everyone be supplied with a small canteen that could hold a little more than half an arroba of water and a parasol, for even though we were going to be traveling by night, the need might arise, as it sometimes does on journeys such as these, to travel [superscript: by day] by sunlight, which could be very dangerous, as it was the end of summer. The canteen was particularly necessary because of the profound lack of water, above all in the kingdom of Fārs, where rain had not fallen for two years and the merchant caravans had stopped passing through because the cisterns were dry. Since time immemorial the Arabs and Persians have had the custom of carrying these little canteens with them as they travel, a practice that stretches back to antiquity and continues to the modern day. They fasten them to both sides of their saddles with belts, letting them hang free below the undersides of their horses, mules, or mares a handspan’s distance from the hair of their bellies, and, as they swing

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back and forth in the air, they are cooled considerably. This method of carrying water is so ancient, especially among the Arabs, that the great geographer Strabo described it in exactly the same way we see it done today. And since there was such good water in this village, everyone filled their canteens and [margin: bottles], and other very large ones that were brought from Eṣfahān were carried on the camels. [September 1619] On the first day of September, a half hour before sunset, we departed from Dehgerdū, taking with us, apart from the Persians on horseback, several harquebusiers on foot whom the governor of the village had given us because of the danger of the road. The Ambassador ordered that they keep the caravan in sight in case of an incident, and thus almost everyone reached Kūshkeźar simultaneously at two o’clock in the morning, [fol. 464v] with great fear of the cold, which at this stopover was the most severe and the most harmful in all of Persia. Since it had been so cold on previous evenings, everyone was most wary about the great discomfort in which they were about to find themselves. And despite the fact that in past years it had been necessary to build large fires in Kūshkeźar in midsummer to fend off the cold, on this night while on the road, and after arriving at the caravanserai, the temperature was considerably temperate; no more nightclothes were needed beyond those worn in Eṣfahān during the final days there before the Ambassador’s departure. On the 2nd, knowing that the road from there to Āspās was terrible, winding through mountains and immense marshy gorges, we took our departure more than an hour before sunset in order to surmount a difficult pass before sunset. But farther on we encountered many more passes, worse than the first, through which it would have been impossible to pass without torchlight. [superscript: It is] impossible [text blacked out] to traverse this road by night in any other way. We reached Āspās before dawn, and though the next day we found abundant and clear, cold water in many springs, everyone stayed as far away from them as possible because of its poor quality, and also because of the foul fish in the stream; there were many big ones of that malignant color between yellow and black. The Ambassador did not allow any of them to be purchased because he remembered the bad experience all had had with the same water and fish on the journey to Eṣfahān. On the 3rd, at the setting of the sun, we departed, and because the next stage of the journey was to be much shorter than on nights previous, by midnight we reached the village with the mosque of the miracles that the dervish or hermit had described to the Ambassador on his outward journey, and there he was given lodging, just as before. It had [fol. 465r] good accommodations for him and his entire entourage.

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On the following day at nine o’clock in the morning, a soldier named João Carvalho Mascarenhas114 arrived from Hormuz with a packet from His Catholic Majesty that D. Luís de Sousa,115 the captain of Hormuz, had forwarded to him, thinking that the Ambassador had not yet left Eṣfahān. It had been brought from Spain via Basra by one Sebastião de Figuereido,116 who a year and a half earlier had carried letters written by the Ambassador and addressed to His Majesty and some of his ministers, which were dispatched from Shīrāz to Spain. Besides instructions and letters for the Ambassador, the packet contained two letters for the king of Persia, one from His Majesty and the other from Robert Sherley, his [the king of Persia’s] ambassador in the Spanish court, reporting what he had so pointlessly proposed in Spain, namely, that silk be shipped from Persia to Spain via Hormuz and India, and that His Majesty should send a fleet to cut off navigation in the Red Sea. And this man [Sherley], even though he was unworthy of even being given audience or being awarded any standing whatsoever, held [superscript: so] much sway over the ministers of [superscript: the] crown of Portugal (in this he was assisted by a Carmelite named Friar Redento de la Cruz, who accompanied him from Persia to Spain in the capacity of coadjutor) that based upon his representation of these matters, they conceded to send to the king of Persia that year five galleons to deter the aforementioned shipping in the Red Sea. And although all of this was clearly groundless in and of itself, the Ambassador having informed His Majesty thusly from India when Sherley put in to port there on his way to Spain (and later from Hormuz and Persia), he was nevertheless given much credibility. The aforementioned ministers were convinced that once these conditions were conceded to the king of Persia he would cede Bahrain, Qeshm, and the fortress of Gamrū, these being the items offered them by Sherley. But seeing that actions taken locally are usually more efficient than warnings sent from a distance, neither of these being awarded the attention that prudence requires, [fol. 465v] the proposal offered by Sherley and the friar was accepted and approved. This ambassador remained in Madrid while Friar Redento was dispatched in the aforementioned galleons to fulfill the terms of what had been agreed to with the king. And to speed things along, a duplicate set of the same messages were sent overland to Hormuz, in the belief that the Ambassador had not yet left Persia, so that from there the captain could send them to Eṣfahān. These were the same messages that the aforementioned João Carvalho had 114  We can find no further particulars about this person. 115  D. Luís de Souza, Portuguese administrator, captain of Hormuz as interim replacement for D. Luís da Gama from 1619 to April 1620, see DRDA, 7: 151–52. 116  Nothing further is known about this messenger.

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given to the Ambassador in this village. The Ambassador knew full well that it was extremely unlikely for the king to return possession of anything he had taken over in the kingdom of Hormuz, as by this time the Ambassador had already heard several denials. Moreover, the king of Persia [margin: had never mentioned] to the Ambassador the offers that [margin: Sherley] made in Spain in his name, and he refused to discuss them with him in Qazvīn or Eṣfahān. In fact, he had manifestly disabused Friar Belchior dos Anjos of this hope in Faraḥābād, saying that he neither wanted a fleet nor a contract for silk because he had reached a truce with the Turks. Yet in spite of all this, the Ambassador agreed to and thought it best to send the same João Carvalho on to Eṣfahān, in accordance with what His Catholic Majesty instructed him to say. Since he could not write on that day, and because it was unsafe to stop in that town with such bad air and worse water in such foul weather, he decided to press on that afternoon to Māʿin, and from there dispatch the aforementioned letter, for returning personally to Persia for such a lost cause would not only be folly, but manifest insanity. Māʿin lay two ordinary days of travel away for a caravan. On the first day they would have had to cross that extremely rugged mountain on a very long and difficult road, though they estimated that it was only three leagues to the caravanserai at Emāmzāda,117 where the Armenian interpreter died on the journey to Eṣfahān, as was mentioned earlier. [margin: And from there it was four more leagues to Māʿin. [margin: In spite of all this difficulty, the Ambassador decided to make these two journeys in one. [margin: And thus on the 4th of September], he set out from the village with two hours of sunlight remaining, having first found twenty men to carry his litter over the mountain. He first ordered the caravan to follow behind with the guard that usually accompanied it. And although [fol. 466r] they traveled at a good pace, by the time they reached the summit of the mountain, it was already close to twilight. The Ambassador had taken to his litter; while the climb was not as steep as the descent, it had become necessary earlier on for him to be carried. Coming down off the mountain was not as rough or difficult as it had been on previous occasions, because a few days earlier the khān of Shīrāz had ordered that the rough places be leveled out, and that some of the big crags be cut and knocked down, so that this section of the road, which in the past had always been the worst part of the journey, was more passable, even if it did take a long time to reach the plain where the Ambassador once again took to his litter and continued his journey while the torch bearers walked with them by night. Without their light it would have been impossible to complete this part of the journey. And while the caravanserai and village of Emāmzāda 117  Emāmzāda Esmāʾīl; see p. 398 n. 212.

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was less than a league off, many people went on ahead to drink some of the water from that copious spring and get something to eat, since we were not destined to stop until reaching Māʿin, which was another three [margin: or four] long leagues away. Before we reached the caravanserai, several men approached our train, who had been sent by the governor of the town, carrying some very long-burning mastic poles that were made from the many mastic [text blacked out] trees that grow in those mountains and that give off a great quantity of light. This is the tree that produces mastic resin, which gives the fires their long-lasting quality, burning without becoming extinguished. Thus we traveled comfortably the whole night through. Two hours before sunrise we reached Māʿin, the Ambassador taking his lodgings in the inn where he stayed on the outbound journey; he remained there the rest of that day and the following until the afternoon. There was a sufficient supply of food—good fruit and better water from the Māʿin River, which has already been described. From here the Ambassador sent João Carvalho118 to Eṣfahān, having first written to the king and forwarding the letters from His Majesty and his ambassador [fol. 466v] that were [superscript: addressed] to Friar Juan Thadeo, [margin: to whom he also wrote] so he would deliver the letters and read them as a close confident of his, though as has already been mentioned, this was certainly destined to be a wasted mission, just as all the others concerning this business had been. On the 6th of September, we departed from Māʿin a little before sunset, and after putting half a league between us and the river with the good water, which ran to [text blacked out] capacity because it was the end of the summer, we headed straight for the Araxes, or Bendemir, River.119 It was very late at night by the time we arrived. We had been able to hear the loud noise the river made as it ran furiously [text blacked out] past the pillars of the bridge, the middle section of which had collapsed. One of its arches was shored up with big beams, on top of which boards and dirt had been placed. To cross, one would have to walk over these boards and earth. But since this breach was very wide, and the beams, though thick and very long, warped and swayed as they were stepped on, especially by a loaded camel, the guides recommended that the Ambassador step out of his litter. And so he did, since to cap it all this entire difficult passageway had no handrails: it was flat on both sides, making the loud noise of the river and the great height at that point of the bridge even more frightening. It took almost all night to reach the village of Kalāntar, which

118  João Carvalho Mascarenhas. 119  The Kor; see p. 378 n. 178 and p. 554 n. 161.

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means “treasurer of the village,”120 and there the Ambassador stayed in a house owned by a caretaker and his wife. [text blacked out] It was so big that it easily accommodated his entire entourage, and he was given very nice chambers. All the caravans usually stop just under a league from the town at a giant tree that is next to the road because of the comfort afforded by a very abundant spring that has its origin at the foot of a small hill. Not only is the water cold and extremely good, but its force is so strong that it could easily turn a waterwheel. It creates a big pool more than a stade deep in which there are normally a great many fish, some of them very large, which apparently swim over from the Araxes River during the rainy season when the river, [fol. 467r] which is a league from here, overflows. The next day, just as the Ambassador was about to sit down to dinner, there approached a Persian dervish who followed a penitent life in a hermitage close to the village. He was carrying a large basket of black and white figs that were so beautiful and ripe that none better could have ever been found in Spain. They had just been picked from two fig trees that grew next to the hermitage of the dervish or hermit, and that were irrigated by a spring of very good, fresh water. There was so much of this good fruit that it supplied everyone most generously. Because of the figs and the admirable water, this place proved to be very pleasant indeed. On the 7th, just before sundown, the Ambassador departed from this village, when the sun set the caravan having gone on an hour before. He had determined to cover the two usual days’ journey to Shīrāz in one night. A short distance from the village, the Ambassador chose not to hazard crossing a small, weak bridge that spanned an irrigation canal in his litter, and so he mounted his horse. The camels fell while crossing the bridge, and because of these and other unfortunate events, the litter was in danger of breaking to pieces. He continued his journey without returning to his litter until they had crossed the plain, which was traversed in many places by other water canals. Past two o’clock in the morning they reached a huge bridge that had been built by Allāhverdī Khān. Its well-constructed span stretched more than a quarter of a league. The area was so marshy in both winter and summer that without the aid of the bridge, it would have been impossible to pass through it at any time of year. The bridge had some arches and open places on the bottom where the water ran through, which were so low that during the rainy season, they were completely covered with water. At daybreak, after crossing a high mountain, we reached the half-ruined caravanserai three leagues from 120  It is not clear which village this is. Persian kalāntar means “town mayor, village chief,” not “treasurer,” perhaps referring to the residence of the town mayor.

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Shīrāz, which has already been described. The sun began to rise over the top of a mountain that lay before us, and because we hurried our march, [fol. 467v] we reached the peak, which commanded a view of Shīrāz, just as we began to feel the biting rays of the sun. Although the city was only a league distant, it made for a difficult trek because of the heat. Kachi Beg, the main guide and chamberlain on the journey, was already in Shīrāz. He had gone ahead the afternoon before to prepare the Ambassador’s lodgings, which was the house where the Englishmen lived during the Ambassador’s last stay in Shīrāz. He arrived there at nine o’clock on the day of the birth of Our Lady, the eighth of September. [margin: Later, on the same day of the Ambassador’s arrival in Shīrāz, he learned of the distressing death of Mousen, whom the khān had ordered executed. He was the venerable friar confessor of the mother of Teimuraz Khān, who has been already mentioned. Next door to this woman’s house, where the friar also lived, was another house owned by Ḥasan Beg, the khān’s chancellor and a Persian by birth. This man had a very wealthy wife of Turkmen nationality who, though young, had been previously married. She stayed in close contact with the ladies-in-waiting who waited on the Georgian lady, and with the lady121 herself. The Persians say that it was through these communications that she ended up having an affair with the friar, claiming it was she who instigated it, and that when her husband discovered it, having been suspicious for some time because she seemed to be in love, one day he feigned to go early to the khān’s house, but instead returned immediately with five or six soldiers, and suddenly bursting into the friar’s bedroom—both houses being accessible by a single door—he discovered the friar Mousen122 half-naked, it being summer and siesta time, though he was alone, without any woman there with him. He rushed at him with scimitar in hand to kill him, but the friar wrested it from him and threw it out a window, though he could have defended himself with it. He then let the soldiers bind him and take him prisoner. Then Ḥasan Beg, grabbing a scimitar from one of his companions, went back into his house and tracked down his wife, believing she had jumped over a wall from the friar’s bedroom, and beheaded her. The khān ordered that Mousen be taken to the square in front of his house. There he tried to persuade him to renounce his Christian religion, offering him in exchange a pardon from the crime with which he had been charged and a vast sum of money. But the friar remained true to his faith, proclaiming it with a loud voice until the crowd stoned him and cut him to pieces with scimitars. This is how the Persians tell the story, and 121  The lady in question is the begom, or khānum Ketevan; see p. 571 n. 226. 122  Moses.

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not a single one of them claimed that the woman was found with him. Several Jews told the Ambassador in secret that the reasons for this good friar’s death were, first, that Ḥasan Beg wanted to inherit the many riches belonging to his wife, and so charged both of them with this crime; and second, to get rid of the friar because he had two boys in his charge, sons of Teimuraz Khān,123 whom the friar was teaching and raising in the Christian religion by order of their grandmother. The Persians wanted to convert them to their sect, this being one of the king and the khān’s most cherished desires.124 This was made abundantly clear to the Ambassador during the two weeks he spent in Shīrāz during this last visit: during that time no one was allowed to leave this Georgian lady’s house, guards having been placed there to that effect, though the Ambassador expressed his desire to interview any member of the household]. The Ambassador did not wish to take lodging in the houses in the orchard where he had stayed previously because they were so far from the city; he wanted to have everything closer by so he could soon resume his journey, thinking that two or three days would be sufficient to do so. But he had to find new camels and other baggage animals, and it was the intention of the Persian chamberlain to take advantage of him by retaining a large sum of money and then in turn paying it to the owners of the animals, a process that took several days. The supplications and measures taken by the Ambassador proved ineffectual, as was paying the dārūgha, or governor, of the city so that he would do it on the Ambassador’s behalf—in fact, this man took advantage of the Ambassador just as the other had. The larceny committed by all the khān’s ministers, made possible by the great laxness and carelessness of this man, was remarkable. This Kachi Beg was a steward and soldier of the khān, and after they took the fortress of Gamrū, he was made the first sultan and governor of the mainland of the Bandel, and was thus much practiced in this kind of thievery. The Ambassador was already annoyed with his mistreatment of poor villagers. He had reprimanded him several times over it, threatening to inform the king in writing about his activities if he did not desist from them. This checked him from committing a few robberies, but it was impossible to prevent him from committing many more. He was abetted in this by two others who were ostensibly guards. And after the death of the Armenian Giuseppe Salvador, the 123  Alexander and Leon were the grandsons of Ketevan and sons of Teimuraz I. 124  The khān here is clearly Emāmqolī Khān, the khān of Shīrāz, son of Allāhverdī Khān. Whether the idea of converting Teimuraz’s sons emanated from him or from instructions from Shah ʿAbbās I cannot be determined; it was or certainly became a Safavid policy objective, which was unsuccessful since they did not convert and eventually were castrated by order of the Shah in 1624.

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Ambassador became very wary and resentful of the khān because of that most atrocious and cruel crime. And even the king failed to condemn the crime, as he should have, no matter how much this would have tarnished his reputation, even though the Ambassador sent him three letters before his arrival in Qazvīn. Besides the fact that it was generally understood that it was he who had authorized the killing, soon after he arrived in Eṣfahān he informed the Ambassador several times in the presence of the other ambassadors that the khān of Shīrāz was his close friend; he even said this in the presence of the khān. On one particular occasion, the day of the arrival of the ambassadors [fol. 468r] in the garden house, the Ambassador had wanted to take his leave after his servants had already gone outside, as has already been recounted, but the king ordered them to take a seat and take part in the banquet. The Ambassador then called a doorkeeper over and told him very softly through the interpreter to find out if they had brought him any horses. The king was close enough that he overheard [margin: what he had said to the interpreter], and very quickly ordered Emāmqolī Khān himself to go out and see. The latter, though he was very fat and heavy, got up and ran from the pavilion or hall where they were seated, and without taking time to put his shoes on—he, like everyone else, had left them at the door—he raced down the marble walkway all the way to the gate of the first entrance to the Maidān, getting his feet wet in the process, and then, returning with the same speed, reported that the Spanish Ambassador’s horses were waiting there. Upon seeing his return, the king turned to the Ambassador and said: “Look what a great friend Emāmqolī Khān is to you! See how diligently he sees to your needs!” To which the Ambassador could not help but laugh, and said in reply: “His diligence must stem from the fear he must live in of Your Highness. In spite of his girth, it makes him grow wings on his feet!” to which the king replied, “No, it is because he is your good friend.” Both because of this and because the khān of Shīrāz had become more a favorite of the king than ever before, it seemed best to the Ambassador, considering that his return trip would have to be made through his territory, that despite the tragic case of the death of the Armenian, it would be in his best interest to win over the good will of that man, since the benevolence of the king was so variable and doubtful. Thus, on one of the last of these festival days, the Ambassador asked him for a servant who could prepare his lodgings on the road, this being the occasion on which the same Emāmqolī Khān had given him generous gifts. The khān then passed the request along to the aforementioned sultan Kachi Beg, and on the same day he sent a servant to the Ambassador’s lodgings, giving him the commission to prepare everything that might be necessary during the trip; this commission was confirmed by a second one from the king

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himself. But although people who exceed the terms of their commissions are severely punished in Persia, they are so wicked by nature that they fearlessly and shamelessly commit remarkable extortions and robberies, as did this man throughout the entire journey, even though the Ambassador did all he could to restrain him from doing so. The house where the Ambassador was now taking his lodgings was very old, though the section in which he was staying was newly refurbished. It had a reasonable orchard with lanes lined with plane trees [fol. 468v] and willows, plus a few walnut trees. The Ambassador’s room was a very beautiful hall, the biggest bedroom he saw in all of Persia; it was more than fifty feet long and thirty feet wide, with a vaulted ceiling and a skylight in the center. There were two good bedrooms on both sides and a veranda in the front that overlooked the orchard. On both sides of the balcony were two round, octagonal bedrooms like those in the royal house in the great orchard, though these in the present house were somewhat bigger, with many windows that faced the same orchard, on the outside of which there were thick and strong, wooden-slatted shutters, and on the inside, closed off by doors that fit snugly into their frames, several small alcoves built into the thickness of the wall between the doors and the shutters; each one was big enough to accommodate two people sitting in chairs, or a cot with a mattress. And one bedroom of the two in which the Ambassador slept was particularly well painted and decorated, with windows with linens painted like stained glass, depicting balls and banquets of the kind normally held in Persia. During the days the Ambassador spent in Shīrāz, he was visited often and regaled by the royal gardener with fruits from the royal orchard, which was outside the house in which he was guest; he was also given many gifts by the khān. He discovered an abundant spring with excellent water, to which the Persians paid no attention, much to their detriment, because they are partial to wine, and thus the last time the Ambassador was in the city, he had never been informed of this spring. On September 20th, the Ambassador left Shīrāz at sunset. He was able to ride a horse, having completely recovered from his illness, but even so could not make it past Ochiar,125 which was one league from the city and where he had stayed on his outbound journey. His guides made a stop there, asking him to tarry the night because the next day’s leg of the journey promised to be a long one.

125  See p. 339 n. 111.

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On the 21st, we departed from Ochiar under a bright moon, and after continuing one league past the [margin: Pasa River], which was completely dry, the caravan reached the caravanserai on the lagoon126 two hours before sunrise. On the 22nd, we set out for Zafarābād at sunset, and arriving there before sunrise, the Ambassador and his retinue were presented with excellent fruit, especially perfect grapes. While all Persian grapes are remarkably good, these were the best in the world. They came in several varieties: white, black, purple, some extraordinarily large. Also, [fol. 469r] everyone was able to lay in enough store of the good water from the Sivan River127 for two days of travel; it has already been noted that this river runs through this pleasant and cool village. On the 23rd and 24th, we traveled from Zafarābād to two caravanserais. The chamberlain had brought in plenty of stores from the outlying villages, but the water was terrible. We would have suffered great hardship had we not brought our own supply from Zafarābād. A little past the second of these caravanserais, the road to Hormud forks, one branch crossing the desert until it reaches Hormud after winding around for two very long days of travel, the other fork leading to the city of Jahrom, and from there, after crossing the rugged mountain, it ends at the same town of Joyom. And although the Ambassador had not intended to take that route, but rather the one that runs through the desert, which is the road he took on his journey to Eṣfahān, the guides saw fit to take the detour through the towns of Jahrom [superscript: or] [text blacked out] Hormud because it was less than a league and because the caravan could rest for a day and take in some of the stores they needed. On the 25th, we left this caravanserai an hour before sunset, using torches and guides in order to not lose our way until the moon rose. A league before reaching Jahrom, the Ambassador stepped out of his litter and mounted his horse because the countryside was broken up by many ditches and canals that served to irrigate the orchards and palm groves, making the way difficult because of all the footbridges and walkways that criss-crossed through them. We encountered the same difficulty, or a worse one, as we approached the city, which was situated in a very thick palm forest. Even though the moon was very bright, we could not manage to find our way into the city, especially because of the very narrow side streets that wound their way through the walls of the houses and stretches of palm forest. Everything was so opaque and dark that we had to look for guides from among the inhabitants of the city to find what they called the square, or bazaar, close to which there was a little space of open plains in the middle of that dense forest where caravans stopped. The 126  Maharlou. 127  The Pulvar; see p. 329 n. 70.

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Ambassador arrived after a long ride to where a suitable house had been prepared for him. He stayed there the rest of that day, and the two days following, and though the only fruit available there were grapes and [fol. 469v] melons, there was such a quantity and great variety of fresh dates, it being close to harvest season, that everyone was quite satisfied. This fruit in Jahrom was as excellent and abundant as it was in Basra, Fārs, and Babylon. This exquisitely beautiful palm forest lies on a plain at the foot of the rugged mountain on the way to Joyom. This mountain must be traversed by those who travel on foot or on horseback between Shīrāz and Lār. Caravans have to wind their way through the desert for almost twenty leagues because, as has been explained, camels cannot cross this mountain. And though this settlement, which was more an encampment than a town, technically lies within the boundaries of ancient Persia, it is located on a ribbon of land that winds around the mountain from the northernmost part of the kingdom of Fārs for a few leagues, which certainly makes it part of Arabia. This extremely fertile palm forest measures a full league in length and half a league in width, and contains a great number of wells with very good water. The entire forest, which is remarkably dense, is parcelled up by high mud walls between two and three stades high, according [superscript: in relation to] how many residents there are, who, according to what has already been stated, totaled more than 1,000. Each one of them possessed a corral or enclosed garden, the size of which depended on the resources of its owner. The man with the humblest means had twenty palm trees, while others boasted upward of sixty or seventy. Inside each enclosed garden was a house also made of mud walls, but even so they contained several spacious and reasonable rooms, and each enclosure had one or two wells. But what was worthy of even greater consideration was the size and great height of all the palm trees: most of them were as tall as the noblest towers in Europe, and the tops of them were so beautiful and luxuriant that it was amazing that they could support such heavy weight, considering that their bases were disproportionately narrow compared to their girth at the top, especially considering that the tops were so weighed down with their many large bunches of dates, or tamrahs.128 The number and density of the bunches depended on the size and fecundity of each palm tree, each producing from fifteen or twenty to fifty or more. And seeing the quantity hanging from each bunch, the Ambassador ordered an Arab to cut a bunch from [text blacked out] one of the smaller palms growing in the corral of [fol. 470r] his house. It turned out to weigh thirty pounds, while there were many others that weighed more than sixty, according to what the local inhabitants said. The biggest of these dates were like the ones from Lār that the 128  See p. 264 n. 55.

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Ambassador praised so highly, and others were just as big, but purple, and still others were totally black, but with an admirable flavor. What was most amazing was to see such a diversity of types of this fruit: some were very long, others more or less round. One species was most singular, the likes of which had never been seen before, very small and round, the size of sour cherries, and so much more delicate and tasty than all the others. The abundance, size, and great fertility of these palm trees stem primarily from the particular fecundity of their location and from the attention given them by the local residents, who irrigate them regularly with the plentiful good water available to them and who give them all the other care these trees require, these palms being the sole source of income for these destitute Arabs. If one were to catch a glimpse of this city, or even enter it, he would say that it does not merit that label, nor could it even qualify as a small village, since it lacks streets and the layout of a town. It consists entirely of these patches of palm groves. Each corral with its house gives the appearance of a small farm or country house. These dwellings, as has been stated, total about 1,000 in number. They are scattered throughout the forest, covering an area of more than one league by half a league. The inhabitants are poor—their only livelihood or source of income are the few palm trees owned by each resident. And though they normally speak Persian, their own native language is really Arabic, and thus both men and women consider themselves more natives of that nation, wearing the same apparel as the residents of the encampments of the kingdom of Fārs, which, as was explained earlier, is part of the ancient Carmania Deserta. Here we saw more blind people—men, women, and children—than in the rest of Persia, at least in the towns we visited during this voyage, and though the popular belief is to attribute this to the [fol. 470v] many flies, which are irritating beyond expression, more so than anywhere else in the world, it is much more likely that the cause is the foul and heavy air and its peculiar qualities. As the many thick branches of the palms spread out, most of them touch each other, casting dark shadows on the area below. The air is also infused with the odor of the many dates and their refuse, especially during and after harvest season. And yet it may not be untrue that the existence of so many blind people could also be attributed to the horde and plague of flies, which are beyond irritating: the two days the Ambassador spent there he could not defend himself from them; they stung him on the eyes, lips, and nostrils, and he could not drive them away with a fan or anything else. They were even more vexing at that time because the dates were in season, like when grapes are pressed in Spain to extract grape juice, though these were not as bad. Among these palm trees, especially in the small clearing where it was reported that caravans stopped, there were several groves of [margin: blackthorn] trees of the kind

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encountered in the kingdom of Fārs, except these trees of Jahrom were irrigated like the palm trees, and were thus much less thorny. They were hardy trees because of how frequently they were watered; they had more leaves and were greener and thicker than usual, even though by nature this kind of tree is so coarse and harsh. Both species of trees produce a small berry like a jujube, and though small and unripe, it has a pleasantly bitter taste, and is thus thought to be a cordial and a well-known antidote to malignant fevers. But when ripe, they have the same color and size as jujubes, and are just as sweet, with almost the same flavor. Since these trees from Jahrom are irrigated, their berries are bigger than the ones that grow in the desert. [fol. 471r] They are especially bigger than the ones that grow on the blackthorn trees on the island of Hormuz, whose little apples, or berries, which resemble jujubes, are commonly sold in local bazaars all winter. A great quantity of them are also brought in from the mainland of the Bandel and Mogostan, as well as from the islands of Qeshm and Larak. The Ambassador departed from Jahrom on the 26th a half an hour before sunset. Half a league along the road, after passing through the aforementioned forest, he encountered many bands of beggar women and children. Their dire need was evident from their nakedness, and the Ambassador ordered [text blacked out] [margin: money to be given] to all of them. With an hour of night remaining, we passed Hormu on our left, close to the road, and stopped before continuing our journey into the desert, not far from the fountain where we had paused on our journey to Eṣfahān, in the same resting place where there had been shops before. And though there was very good water here and the stream produced much sedge and green rushes that were used to cover the ground where we pitched out tents, we suffered from the intense heat all the next day. The Ambassador ordered everyone to stock up on water since it was so [text blacked out] [superscript: good] there, and since we would be stopping in the desert on [superscript: the next day’s travel] where there would be no guarantee of finding any. It was feared that [text blacked out] [margin: because of last year’s drought] those wretched wells would be dry. On the 27th the caravan departed a little before the Ambassador, with guides from Jahrom, at the same time as on the previous day, and after traveling most of the night, we reached a spot where the guides said caravans normally stop. They pointed out a well there, though it was dry. And because this did not seem to be the same place where we had stopped on our journey to Eṣfahān, the guides and several camel drivers who were familiar with the road began wildly riding off in every direction, madly looking for another well. And even though the moon was very bright, [superscript: they could not find the well] [fol. 471v] they were seeking, and so the Ambassador had to stop [margin: after

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traveling another long stretch]. They had moved with caution because they had not come across any dawārs of Turkmen in the desert, a clear sign that there was no water to be found there. [margin: Around that same time] one of the Ambassador’s servants turned up with some companions. They were very happy to report that they had found a well that was [margin: often used by caravans], and that they knew it had water, though very deeply inside the well because they had thrown rocks down it and heard the splash. At this the Ambassador ordered that the tents be pitched there, though he was dissatisfied with their report. He thought it best to look for a better supply in the morning. But after resting no more than an hour, the sun came up and another servant of the Ambassador came to tell him that one of the Arabs who looked after the horses went down into the well and found just enough water to fill two or three cauldrons, and that it was foul; also, they had not found another well—the one they had found was the usual watering station [superscript: known] for caravans. Seeing that there was no time to lose, the Ambassador immediately ordered all of his servants, except three or four who stayed behind to serve him, to ride their horses to Joyom because a little bit of pestilential water had been found there near a puddle for the camels and baggage animals. We had enough water for the camel and mule drivers to drink a canteen-full of water, though it was very little for them, and the Ambassador had two large copper pitchers full of water for himself. Because it had been very hot the night before, not only did each man drink the water he had brought, but also one of the large canteens that was carried on a camel. The distress and fear of failing to find more water had [margin: notably increased their thirst]. Everyone else immediately set off from there with the Persian guides, who did not take them straight ahead, but rather left the road and crossed a very rugged mountain, thus gaining half a day’s journey. They were given some relief by a wind, without which it would have been impossible for them to survive. The valets and [margin: camel drivers] who remained behind with the Ambassador refreshed themselves with the little bit of water they had and set off. Because the journey was eight long leagues, and they would have to keep up with the caravan, the Ambassador left this desolate wilderness with three hours of sunlight remaining on September 28th, passing the mountains behind on the right and crossing a [fol. 472r] vast plain more than four leagues in length in which the only greenery to be seen was a few blackthorn trees. The caravan remained in view half a league ahead. And though the sun was harsh [text blacked out] in that bleak expanse, a wind provided some relief. A great number of little black holes, smaller than a fist, could be seen on both sides of the road. Nobody had any idea what sort of creatures inhabited these warrens. The Ambassador put this question to one of the foot guides,

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who started to say [superscript: they] must be mice, when suddenly a great screech was heard like those emitted by the vermin found in India and Persia that look like big weasels, the ones that have already been stated to resemble what are called martens129 in Spain, one of which a page had brought with him from Eṣfahān. It was so gentle and tame that most of the time it rode in his saddle pouch or in [superscript: one of his saddlebags]. But at that moment the heat had brought it out onto the saddletree. As we approached this location, it tried to jump out and run away, and the page had to grab it. The reason it was making all that racket was that it wanted to get free. Finally, the page got annoyed and closed it back up in his bag where it kept making the same screeches. Suddenly [text blacked out] we saw another one identical to it with a long tail come out of one of the holes and dart into another one. It was then understood that the tame animal we carried with us was the same species as the ones that lived in those warrens, though we could not guess [margin: what they ate], there being so many holes in such a wide expanse. The caravan hurried to reach the royal highway [margin: that comes from Kermān] before nightfall. Just after sundown, an Arab was seen a quarter of a league off chasing a camel on the left side of the road. And since he was the first person we had seen since leaving Jahrom, the Ambassador sent a Persianspeaking Armenian on camelback to find out if he was headed directly for the road from Joyom. The Armenian galloped off and, after helping the poor man catch his camel, returned with the news that we were on the right road and that within two hours we would reach the royal highway. He also said that the Arab was from a caravan that was traveling from Lār to Kermān [superscript: Kermān], and that two leagues from there his camel had run away [fol. 472v] from the others. And so we continued our way until we arrived at the road that would take us to Joyom two hours after sundown, carrying torches in order to not lose our way, everyone [margin: traveling] together with the caravan. At midnight a messenger arrived on foot who had been sent by the governor of Joyom to invite the Ambassador to enter the city, where his servants had been since two o’clock in the afternoon, at which time they had been well received in the city. He also told him that very good lodgings had been prepared for him, much better than the residence he was given on his outbound journey from Hormuz. When his retinue had departed that morning for the desert, the Ambassador ordered that they wait for him in a palm grove close to Joyom and that they bring all the food and other supplies they would need from the city because he intended to spend the night there among the trees where there was 129  The European pine marten (Martes mustelidae).

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such a good supply of water. He did not wish to be detained in Joyom while fresh camels and horses had to be found, though these were the orders sent by the chamberlain from Shīrāz. But after the governor came out and [margin: invited the Ambassador’s servants into the city], telling them that both he and the chamberlain would be punished if it appeared that the Ambassador had not been well received and that they were to blame for it. They also assured them that [text blacked out] [superscript: by no means] would they be detained because of the baggage animals, promising that they would be ready to leave early the next day. And so they all entered the city. The governor [text blacked out] [superscript: sent] his messenger to request that he not set out for the palm forest as he had intended. A half a league farther on, the Ambassador encountered one of his servants, accompanied by one of the servants of the governor. They came running up on horseback to tell him the same thing and to show him the way, since for more than a league the plain was full of ditches that were crossed by many footbridges, and scattered with very deep wells, at the base of which there were wide canals that carried water to irrigate the countryside. After the Ambassador learned from his servant that they had arrived in the city, he told him of the difficulties they had experienced while going up and down the mountain, leading the horses much of the way by their bridles on foot, and everyone in the company was so thirsty by the time they arrived that both man and beast jumped into the many water canals that they found in the palm forest where they drank so much that nobody could move for a long time. After reaching the plain, they continued on under a bright moon until they reached Joyom very close to daybreak, where the Ambassador was given a beautiful room with a windcatcher like the ones used in Hormuz, though this was in the same house where [margin: he] had been given poor lodgings on [fol. 473r] the outbound journey. All that day he was given a good deal of fruit by the governor and other residents of the city, and though there was a bounty of water, which was reasonably good, he sent out for rainwater that was stored in a cistern, which proved to be excellent. He ordered that enough of it be stored for the four days’ journey to Lār. At sunset on the 29th, the Ambassador departed on horseback, having ridden most of the stages of the journey since Shīrāz, and after crossing a stream that separated Joyom from the palm grove, he passed the road that leads to Bonāruye behind on his right and proceeded to set up camp among some trees in order to spend the following day there. This was a spot where caravans usually stop because there is a big lagoon that supplies enough fresh spring water for many camels and other baggage animals. For although there was a good spring in Bonāruye, it was far from the city, and since at that time it only produced a little water, it would be insufficient for their needs.

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Since the journey was brief, we reached this spot a little after midnight. Among the several blackthorn trees there, we saw one that was of amazing size, even compared to those of a more noble species. For, although it was incomparably larger than the giant plane tree of Naţanz that we described on our journey from Qazvīn to Eṣfahān, this one, in spite of its humble and low nature—after all, it was no more than a blackthorn tree—was worthy of much greater wonder: by spreading out its very heavy and thick branches, despite being covered with such poor and small leaves, it produced abundant shade and could comfortably shelter many more than 100 men. It also bore scores of those little berries that were mentioned regarding the blackthorns of Jahrom. Here the Ambassador noticed, upon paying closer attention, that he had once seen some of these same kinds of blackthorn trees, which are so common throughout this region of Arabia and Persia, in Spain, especially in the province of Extremadura, but they were so small that few of them were taller than the height of a man; they produced more of the same small fruit, which were called manjolinas,130 than the eastern variety. It was quite remarkable that these blackthorns grow so much smaller in Extremadura, where the soil is so much more fertile, or more accurately, so less sterile. The essential quality of the soil in Arabia [fol. 473v] must be more natural and well suited to produce the larger trees of this species. The Ambassador’s tent was pitched next to this giant blackthorn tree, though he did not remain inside it because the coolness of the morning gave way to the great heat; and so he spent the rest of the day under the tree, the monks, and other people who were in the other tents doing the same. Some of them took shelter in the shade of other, smaller blackthorn trees. The lagoon was a little more than 200 paces distant from the giant blackthorn tree that served as a caravanserai. It measured thirty or forty feet square, and was three or even four feet deep, with a few small fish. It was fed by a spring of very clear and reasonably good water, with several reeds and rushes growing at its banks. On the 30th, we departed from there at six o’clock, the same way so many trips were begun, and because today’s stage was so short, we reached Berīz a little after midnight. Since there were no better lodgings in the entire city than the mosque, the Ambassador stayed there, though it rubbed the hermit the wrong way to allow anyone inside, he being a strict observer of his law, though he softened considerably after being offered money. This dervish was named Omar, and he was a descendant of his lawgiver, Muḥammad; hence he wore a green turban.131 He was not the only one to wear this sublime insignia, for the 130  Hawthorn berries (Crataegus monogyna). Manjolina is a regionalism from Extremadura. 131  This would make him a sharif; see p. 400 n. 214.

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next day some of his young daughters were seen to be wearing green veiled headdresses in the usual style worn by other Arab [margin: women], though not of that color. [October 1619] On October 1st, the Ambassador departed, the caravan having traveled on ahead for a good space of time. We kept the same order as during the trip from Qazvīn to Eṣfahān. As we left town, we saw on the right side, not far off, the site of a fortress that had been completely leveled by Allāhverdī Khān when he vanquished the kingdom of Fārs. This fortress was situated on a steep and high hill, nearly the whole of it having been built on the edge of a precipitous cliff. At one o’clock in the morning we reached the village of Dehkūyeh. The Ambassador, having sent some of his people ahead to prepare lodgings for him in the mosque and cemetery where he had stayed on his outbound journey, found his servants who had been sent ahead to do this standing at the gate. They had refused to enter upon learning that two corpses had been buried there less than a month before, one of them just a few days earlier; they were all very frightened by this. The Ambassador ordered them to open the gate all the same and to go in and carefully ascertain if there was a foul odor. They did so, but, offering different opinions on the matter, the Ambassador [fol. 474r] sided with those who thought there was no stench and ordered that they prepare his bed, and though he rarely dined at night, he had his supper prepared, though others present thought such a thing was an ominously horrible omen. But the next day these same men, after sleeping there that night, were perfectly calm, having overcome all their wariness. As soon as the Ambassador arrived that night, a woman who was the governor of that town came out to offer him the best provender that such a small village could afford; she was accompanied by the governors of three or four of the closest villages. She was so virile, agile, and [margin: self-assured], though an elderly woman of seventy years, [text blacked out] that she amazed everyone. She quickly offered everything that was necessary for the entire entourage, ordering that bread, eggs, and chicken be brought to them without delay, and in the morning many hens, goats, and lambs were delivered, along with fresh milk, because she heard that the Ambassador sometimes drank it. She requested that the Ambassador not allow that any of his servants or any of the Persians who accompanied him stay the night in her house because she had daughters and granddaughters living with her. The Ambassador assured her they would not do so, and [margin: that night and the next day] she waited on them so promptly, [margin: seeing to their every need], that many able men put together could not have arranged everything more providently, for not only did she provide the Ambassador’s retinue and the other people in the caravan bountifully with supplies, but also with guides so they could cross the

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difficult mountains [margin: that lay between this village and the city of Lār], plus twenty men to carry his litter by hand, an order that was promptly and cheerfully obeyed by those Arabs. She was a tall and heavy woman, though quite nimble, with a big manly face and an aquiline nose, and both from this and from the brightness of her eyes, she could be seen to be a woman of great courage, as was [text blacked out] [superscript: confirmed] by her visible works. Her name was Gul Khānum, which in Persian means “Lady Rose.” She was of Turkmen nationality, and had been a great favorite of Allāhverdī Khān, the sultan of Shīrāz, in her youth. He bequeathed to her a perpetual governorship of that and surrounding villages, where she maintained large herds of cattle that she divested herself of after the death of her husband and sons, and though they were gone, she was still beloved and obeyed by the people of that area. The Ambassador ordered that this woman be liberally rewarded for everything she had offered, without requiring her to simply give it to him in keeping with the obligation placed on the other towns on this route. He also distributed money to several of her young grandchildren. With good reason, a memory of such a distinguished woman is included [fol. 474v] in this account, though she is incomparably worthy of a greater fortune than this. On the 2nd, we [margin: left Dehkūyeh] a half hour before sunset, and just before nightfall, the people took a drink from a big cistern that was on the right side of the road close to the foot of the mountains, the water being cold and delicious. We then climbed that mountain, which had caused us so much trouble on our outbound journey; [margin: but this] time we made it through the difficult passes without any danger or trouble at all because we carried torches that had been prepared a short time earlier by order of the khān. At two o’clock in the morning we reached Lār, crossing in front of the foot of the mountain where the fortress is situated on the opposite side of the city, and the castellan—whether to regale the Ambassador or to show that he had cannons—fired them in a grand salute, though he might have spared him this honor, for the cannonballs went humming just over our heads. The Ambassador spent the night in the house of a wealthy Persian merchant named Khoja Nazar, who had previously done business in Hormuz. His room was very cool, the hallways being covered with vines. There was also a small patio that was sunk a stade and a half below the level of the rest of the house that was shady and dark and surrounded on all sides by lemon, orange, and other kinds of trees. There was room not only for the Ambassador, but also for the monks and several of his servants. The others stayed in a caravanserai close to the house. Early the next day after the Ambassador’s arrival, the governor came to visit. He was the same one who had been there when he arrived from Hormuz, and though the Ambassador had not wanted to stay there longer than the next day,

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they detained him [text blacked out] [superscript: five more days], so that altogether his sojourn in [text blacked out] [superscript: Lār] lasted [text blacked out] [superscript: eight] days, for the same reasons he was held up in Shīrāz. Finally, unable to stomach the malice and greed of these people any longer, he left the city one afternoon and headed for the place where the caravan was, and though the chamberlain and the governor secretly tried to prevent his departure, he had everything packed up and left almost by show of force, though it was past one o’clock in the morning. [margin: The altitude of the sun was taken very carefully, and the position of this city was found to lay at no more than 26 and one third degrees, twenty minutes less than Hormuz].132 In Lār the Ambassador learned from his host, Khoja Nazar, that a few months before the imprisonment and death of his king, Ebrāhīm Khān, a terrible earthquake had suddenly struck while the weather was calm. Tremors continued over the space of approximately one week, destroying most of the city and killing many people. The destruction would have been worse had [margin: most] of the surviving people not fled immediately to the countryside as soon as it struck. This [fol. 475r] was judged [margin: by all] to be an infallible omen, [margin: after] the imprisonment of their king, of his death and that his kingdom would fall into the hands of the Persians. And though these kinds of events are always taken as presaging signs outside the usual order of nature, the real portent of the fall of Ebrāhīm Khān was his immense greed and cruelty. He was abandoned by his vassals in the hour of his most desperate need because they detested him. It happened during this earthquake that all the houses with vaulted roofs, which are common in the kingdom of Fārs and throughout Persia, were completely destroyed, and those with wooden roofs, for the most part, remained standing. On October 10th, [text blacked out] the Ambassador left Lār at the hour indicated above. The domestics and some of the baggage had departed an hour earlier so a rest stop could be made that evening five leagues ahead in a reasonably acceptable caravanserai. Having ordered the chamberlain to see to it that food for the next day would be ready, the Ambassador revised his plan and decided to stop that night in another caravanserai that was no more than two leagues from Lār. He immediately ordered a fleet-footed Arab horseman to intercept with the caravan and tell them to stop at the first caravanserai; but it happened that the Arab took some of the opium that these people commonly use and fell asleep on the road, so that by the time we arrived at the stopping place the others had gone on ahead. However, they had by chance left the Ambassador’s bed behind, though everyone else was wholly uncomfortable, 132  The actual coordinates of Lār are 27°40′52″N, 54°20′25″E.

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and thus it was necessary to send money to some of the nearby villages less than a league distant to have them bring food the next day and to send messengers to those who had gone ahead, telling them not to come back, but to wait where they were until the Ambassador arrived. On the 11th, we left this caravanserai at the usual time and in five stages arrived in Kahūrestān a little past midnight. During this leg of the journey, and the next day, we suffered the worst heat that we had experienced in the entire journey, and though we had enough food, there was no other fruit besides a large number of melons, and not very good ones either. But they made up for what was lacking in fruit by how much they assuaged the discomfort of that harsh weather. [fol. 475v] On the 16th, the caravan departed from Kahūrestān. The Ambassador sent a messenger to Hormuz the same day so that the captain could order the equipment to be prepared to carry us across the short strait between the Bandel and the city, and before dawn we reached the caravanserai of Gachīn, the temperature gradually rising more and more with the passing of the day. Even though all the cisterns between Lār and this caravanserai were full, the water had a disgusting color and extremely foul taste because it rained heavily for a few hours in the middle of August throughout the entire kingdom, and though the cisterns had been almost dry, they were filled with rain water, though of very poor quality. The soil had been extremely dry because it had not rained in over two years, and the water had acquired that bad color, smell, and taste from it, though after letting it sit in any kind of vessel for a couple of hours, it lost much of its poor quality. This plague reached as far as Lār, where the water in the cisterns is normally as perfect and cold as was mentioned earlier, though the rain did not reach some of the cisterns; the water from these lasted until the Ambassador reached the Bandel. The places close to Gachīn where the Arabs make their dawārs were deserted because of the sterility and the lack of water for their herds during the last two years. Some of the herders moved on to Ahvāz and Shūshtar. There remained behind only a few poor and destitute people who lived off fishing on the seacoast, which was about two leagues from this caravanserai. Many women and children who heard tell of the Ambassador’s arrival came to call as soon as he arrived that morning, one group after another eating their fill of what was left over from the people in the caravan. The Ambassador ordered that each one be given alms of money, which pleased them no end. And though they were naked for the most part, save for a small piece of ragged cloth, they were asked if they suffered much from the heat because of this, to which they responded that it was the cold that killed them, and that was why they came out into the

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sun most of the morning to warm up. This was evidence of how great an enemy cold is [margin: to human and animal nature]. On the 17th, the Ambassador made his departure, covering the six leagues that lay between there and the Bandel, arriving just a few days past the second anniversary of his departure from there for Lār. He stayed in the same house where he had taken lodgings before while the tents were being packed up, though the accommodations were unsatisfactory since there was one common area for all the guests, like the large halls in Spanish inns, and it was necessary to hang curtains to partition off the Ambassador’s bed. The next morning the sultan of the Bandel, under whose jurisdiction [fol. 476r] falls the section of mainland between Gamrū and the island of Qeshm, came to call on the Ambassador, offering him all the dispatch necessary for him to embark with his retinue to Hormuz, and though this consisted of just five or six boats that the Ambassador had to pay for later, he started to create difficulties, shamelessly asking that he be sent a gift, which is the same thing the governor of Lār had done. But the Ambassador gave this governor the same answer he had given the previous one, namely that while merchants might pay him this kind of obeisance, as the ambassador of his king, he had brought gifts intended for the king of Persia alone, and these had already been given to him, and that if he had offered gifts to other governors or people on his outbound journey and as he entered each city in the kingdom of Persia, it was because he repaid them for the sustenance received by him and his servants or for the trouble these rulers or landlords had taken in giving them lodging, and not out of ceremony or to pay homage. Furthermore, he did not do this for this governor’s lord, the khān of Shīrāz, nor for his governor, ʿAlī Beg. In spite of all this, Allāhverdī Soltān133—the name of this khān—did not desist; rather, seeing that he would get nowhere with this strategy, he sent the Ambassador a decrepit hack, with the message that it was one of the best [margin: horses] in all of Persia, and that it was worth fifty tumans,134 which is equal to 800 patacas. This made the Ambassador extremely angry, and, wheeling his horse round to face them, told them [superscript: not to give him anything whatsoever, because] all he wanted was to inform the king of Persia who the khān was and how he was abusing his authority, and that he had been treated much better in the house of his [margin: master] Emāmqolī Khān.135 This struck fear into the hearts of those who had come for his reply. This Allāhverdī Soltān was serving as butler

133  Nothing more is known about this person. 134  See “Monies.” 135  Emāmqolī Khān; see p. 302 n. 34.

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in the khān’s house, being charged with the care of the sweet foods, while the Ambassador was in Shīrāz. Quite apart from his present effrontery, not to mention having insulted some of the Ambassador’s servants who traveled from Eṣfahān to Hormuz a few months earlier by violently taking money from them, he was at that time committing an even greater offense against Friar Dimas,136 a Discalced Carmelite monk. The latter, after asking the Ambassador’s permission in Kahūrestān to travel ahead in order to arrive two or three days earlier at his monastery in Hormuz, where he was to be vicar, had planned to ship out from the Bandel a day before the Ambassador’s arrival. But despite his poverty, he was detained and not allowed to leave until he [fol. 476v] paid out seven tumans, which was equivalent to more than a hundred reales de ocho,137 and since the poor monk did not have the money, he waited until the Ambassador came and related the tale to him. He also told him that the sultan’s pretext for exacting this fine from him was the accusation that he had intended to make the crossing with an Arab who had turned Christian, which was a lie. And since the insolence of these infidels was so manifestly plain, and grew greater by the day as they saw the weakness of the Portuguese in Hormuz—the captains were paying so much obeisance and tolerating so much just to maintain themselves—the Ambassador feared that their treatment of this monk was a mere prelude to greater excesses. Thus that afternoon, after learning that a citizen of Hormuz had arrived a few hours earlier who was about to return in the terranquin he had come in, the Ambassador himself took the monk to the beach and, though they tried to stop him, put him in the boat. This immediately set off a great uproar among the soldiers there, who quickly launched two terradas [text blacked out] to chase the terranquin,138 but by the time they had made this gesture, the Ambassador shouting all the while that they let him go, the terranquin had moved too far away from them, and so they returned to the fortress to complain to the sultan, an especially insolent rogue who said he had been struck several times during the disturbance. It became eminently clear to the Ambassador that he found himself in a most vexing situation. He would be unable to send part of his retinue to Hormuz that day because the natives dared not offer him boats or lend him their service, even if they were offered money. He therefore let it be known that if the sultan and his chamberlain, 136  Dimas de la Cruz, the Italian Giacomo Tonelli, who, after entering the reformed order of the Carmelites, took the name Friar Dimas of the Cross in English; see Chick, Chronicle of the Carmelites, 844–47. 137  Pieces of eight. 138  For the distinction between terradas and terranquins, see p. 267 n. 61.

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that scoundrel Kachi Beg, failed to dispatch him first thing in the morning, he was determined to send a messenger to the king with a report of how he had been ill-used by these men, whose design was to unceasingly annoy and detain him, granting no relief to his aggravation until they extracted money from him. But the Ambassador was determined to give them not a single larin. That night the terrible heat, which had been on the rise to that point, was insufferable. The first thing in the morning, the Ambassador had the most important pieces of baggage collected from his inn, and was about to put pen to paper to write a letter to the king when a delegation consisting of one of the sultan’s brothers, one of his lieutenants, and the chamberlain himself, came with great haste [fol. 477r] to tell him on behalf of the sultan that they had been sent by him so that, just as the Ambassador ordered, he could immediately embark with his entire retinue and horses, for everything was ready, and asked that he forgive him his tardiness up to that point. They showed such diligence, and so many people were sent to help him, that in a short time everything was shipped; he was also treated with noticeable deference. It turned out that this sudden change cost the Ambassador incomparably more for his departure than what he had asked for earlier, even though at the time they asked for nothing. After noon the Augustinian prior139 from Hormuz arrived with Friar Manuel de Santa María, one of monks who had come with the Ambassador from Eṣfahān and who had gone on ahead from Lār. Later in the afternoon a steward of the captain of the fortress came in a manchua to take him to a galley that was waiting for him half a league from land. Two well-armed galliots also appeared that stood in even farther; into one was stowed some of the clothing from the Ambassador’s personal effects and two or three servants who had not set sail with the rest of the retinue. On the 18th, the Ambassador set sail at sunset with the prior and monks who had gone on to Hormuz, and before nightfall he boarded the galley that night where he was berthed and made comfortable by her captain, André Coelho, brother-in-law to D. Luís de Sousa, captain of the fortress. We sailed under a light breeze for less than an hour, the galliots no more than a musket shot away. But then the wind backed and we were forced to lay anchor in four fathoms, and though we were becalmed, we spent the night better than in Gamrū. On the 19th, Hormuz could be seen no more than three leagues in the distance, and even though the wind began to [superscript: blow] a little and the foresail was raised, the galley slaves had to row in order to aid the ship’s progress 139  Vicente da Purificação, O. E. S. A., became the last prior of the Augustinian house at Hormuz on 12 November 1618 and was present at the fall of Hormuz; see Silva Rego, Documentação, 11:149.

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until we came within half a league of the city, at which point António Barreto da Silva,140 the chief magistrate of India, came out to meet us, followed by the vicar, in two separate boats. They accompanied the Ambassador to his lodgings, where he met Manuel Borges de Sousa,141 the inspector of the treasury, and he bid farewell to all, giving thanks to God that after so many struggles [fol. 477v] and having received so little assistance, he had fulfilled the obligation of his long and arduous journey, two years and seven days after setting sail from Hormuz on his way to the Bandel. It was still too early in the year to find carracks in this city to carry him to Goa, and in fact none were to be found, and though there could have been another explanation for this, the most likely one was that the Portuguese were afraid of a meeting with English carracks en route to Goa, that is, the ones that come each year at that time from Surat. And so the Ambassador was forced to spend the winter in Hormuz, which he regretted more than all the evil that had chanced to befall him on his journey, for quite apart from the many difficulties he had already encountered, spending another year in Hormuz and India, in addition [text blacked out] to the time he had already lost, meant irreparable harm to him, considering his age and his longing to return to Spain. And though winter was mild in this clime, albeit without the cold of Europe and the excessive summer heat, his time there, which was six months, was much more wearisome for him. [January–March 1620] It had not rained in Hormuz for more than two years, nor had it done so in the kingdom of Fārs or on the coast of Arabia, and hence there was absolutely no water in the cisterns. The people stood in dire need of it, since it had to be brought in at high cost from the mainland of the Bandel and from the island of Qeshm. And although there was a heavy thundershower one day a few hours before dawn [crossed out: a few] [superscript: several] days after the Ambassador’s arrival, its fury was spent after no more than a quarter of an hour, and thus the amount of water that was collected in the cisterns was minimal—in fact scarcely enough to dampen the earth, which was parched. But two months later, on January 2nd, the second day of 1620, a terrible storm struck at two o’clock in the morning. It was immediately preceded by a gale, and it brought an onslaught of rain and thunder the [fol. 478r] likes of 140  A Portuguese administrator who was, as Silva y Figueroa mentions, the ouvidor-geral of the Estado da Índia and a high court judge in Goa. He was in Hormuz for almost a year (late 1619 to late 1620), under orders from the governor of India (Fernão de Albuquerque), to investigate a number of judicial processes; see DRDA, 7:105–6 and 345–46. 141  Portuguese administrator and last inspector of the treasury at Hormuz; for details of his actions and his biography, see Andrade, Commentaries, 15, 51, 58, 232–30.

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which had not been witnessed in that city for many years. The heaviest force of the storm lasted two full hours, not only filling all the cisterns, but creating great pools of water all over the island. As soon as the sun rose, the weather being very clear and calm, it was quite remarkable to see great hordes of all kinds of people heading out to the countryside, all of them extremely happy, even those whose houses had been destroyed [text blacked out] by the storm. The people were accompanied by all kinds of animals on this expedition: camels, oxen, pigs, goats, dogs, and donkeys were all drinking and bathing in the pools of water they found. The reason this has been mentioned here, and justifiably so, is that this was the most solemn and celebrated day that had been seen in Hormuz for a long time; the scarcity of water on this island had been extreme and the fear had grown from day to day that the Persians would block its shipment from the mainland and from the island of Qeshm, which was also in their hands. This godsend was especially momentous for the poor people from the city and the villages on the island, for whom water was free of charge for several days as they drank what they were able to gather from lagoons, pits, and depressions in the barren countryside. Rain is rare in Hormuz and on the islands and coasts of Carmania and Arabia, but when it does rain, it never does so without thunderstorms, wind, and heavy hail, like the downpours or torrents in Europe during the summer, though it never rains more than three times a year like this. On a few occasions there will fall a light passing rain, unaccompanied by a storm, which does nothing more than lay the dust in the countryside and create loads of mud in the city. This is why the houses are not [fol. 478v] covered with tiles, but rather with flat earthen roofs; and as has been explained, this is where the people sleep, with very little draught. And though the floors of these roofs are not hard, and the mud they are built with is not mixed with straw as it is in all the provinces of Persia, the mud, though soft and loose, hardens after the first rain. Nevertheless, many of the roofs collapse during a long downpour, as on this occasion, even though they are built more sturdily than the ones in Persia. Most of the residents of Hormuz were convinced that the king of Persia would lay siege to this city, taking full advantage of the presence of the English, who were expected this year. This would be extremely consistent with what he had attempted and carried out in previous years, and would accord with the signals given off by the Persians who were based on the mainland of Gamrū. For example, just a few days before the arrival of the Ambassador, the governor of that district laid a much heavier tax on the water and provisions that were shipped to the city, at the same time behaving with the greatest insolence in all other matters, even though the captain of Hormuz conceded to him the

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presence of a storehouse, or a private house, where two of his Persian agents resided, in order to appease him so that he would not obstruct trade. Here they sold all kinds of merchandise, especially provisions, paying few or no tariffs. Quite apart from these speculations, which could have been more than mere assumptions, the English who were living in Eṣfahān declared, as mentioned above, that they [text blacked out] [superscript: expected] eight carracks from Jask during that monsoon with which they would sack Hormuz. All of this was confirmed by news that had [text blacked out] [superscript: arrived] a few days before the Ambassador left Spain to the effect that the English consul and the other Englishmen who were living in Aleppo had slipped out of that city [fol. 479r] and sailed for Tripoli. Even if this were true, the Portuguese should have been more concerned with the poor state [superscript: of the] city of Hormuz and its fortress and the great ambition of the king of Persia who coveted this fortress, and for good reason. For as far as the other matter was concerned, when one considered it carefully, it seemed clear that the English carracks fitted out by the London merchants would not want to spend the time that was regulated by the monsoons on such a voyage, since this would not only nullify their profits, but they would also end up spending their assets in helping the king of Persia take Hormuz. And if English carracks were to arrive for that purpose, they would not be the ones contracted by those merchants, but rather carracks commissioned by the favor and particular order of the king of England. This could also be feared, because the king of England could very well have received word of the weak state of all India, especially the city of Hormuz. And since [text blacked out] it is more than likely that this matter has been discussed with the aforementioned king, it could not have been kept so secret as to prevent news of it from leaking to Spain, and therefore also to Hormuz and India, where there were increasingly more suspicions of the friendship between the king of Persia and the English. The Ambassador had arrived at these conclusions for the reasons stated above while still in Eṣfahān, before leaving for Hormuz, and thus he had written to the captain of [text blacked out] [ superscript: the] fortress twice during his journey, advising him to be on guard against any eventuality, and after his arrival he tried to persuade him several times to consider defending the city by entrenching and closing off the entrances to the [fol. 479v] streets. The city’s configuration would have lent itself to this strategy because the streets were narrow and [margin: the stone houses tall], and their terraces were interconnected by walkways from which it would have been possible to prepare a strong defense. This would have been especially necessary in time of war, since the fortress, which was lacking everything it might stand in need of in order to merit that label, was not big enough to receive even a fourth

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part of those who would take refuge there, even if the Christian natives were left defenseless. And this current captain, [margin: like his predecessors, never thought to take steps to prepare] the churches or the beautiful houses of this city against an attack. The fortress itself was not stocked with enough food or water for even two weeks; all the people alluded to above would simply have to shut themselves inside without further consideration as soon as they received a report of enemy action, to which everyone paid close attention. The Ambassador became increasingly distressed that he had to wait more than a year before being able to return to Spain. And therefore he resolved to send a message to the port of Jask, inquiring whether the carrack the English expected to arrive, which was one of those that should have come from Surat that year, would by chance be heading back to England, because if her captain were paid enough, he might take him on board and drop him off anywhere along the coast of Spain or France. He wrote a letter to this effect to an English gentleman named Edward Monnox,142 who had gone to Jask in the capacity of an agent, and who had frequently come to call at his lodgings in Eṣfahān, even though all communications had been forbidden with the same Monnox and another Englishman named William, or any other Englishmen, after the capture of the galliots in Hormuz, as has already been stated. But despite this reason and the risk that he might run by entering into so much confidence with foreigners, [fol. 480r] or with mariners who look to their own profit, he remained firm in his resolve because, after all, they were vassals of the king of England, with whom his lord the king [of Spain] had every good association of peace and friendship, and because he considered these obstacles less objectionable than waiting another thirteen or fourteen months, especially because during that time many further nuisances and sorrows might easily assail him, if his previous experience was a reliable guide. But after writing the letter and preparing one of his servants, who was to convey it, reliable news reached Hormuz that very day that four English carracks and a patache had arrived at Jask. The news caused the Ambassador to completely chang his mind, for though he soon learned that all those carracks, which had arrived that year from Surat, had come in convoy to escort and secure the passage of the carrack that went to Jask every year—it it had become well known along the coast of India, as it must have been in England, that five galleons were planning to sail from Portugal to Hormuz—they could have come for another reason, and everyone 142  Factor of the English East India Company. For his journal of the siege of Hormuz; see Andrade, Commentaries, 254–310. William, the other Englishman mentioned by Silva y Figueroa, cannot be identified.

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in Hormuz was convinced that war was inevitable. He thus thought his plan unwise at that time, though he bitterly bemoaned his inability to execute it. This news caused great alarm among all the residents of Hormuz who justifiably feared what the king of Persia might do next in light of past rumors and the arrival of those five carracks. Captain Luís de Sousa ordered the ships to be reconnoitered, and the report was [text blacked out] [superscript: confirmed] that one of the carracks was quite large, carrying 300 hands and more than sixty cannon. But when it was learned from merchants and other passengers who arrived from Persia every day that no troops were being mobilized between there and Shīrāz, as they logically would be if the king of Persia had been attempting what everyone feared he was doing, the Ambassador’s view of what had happened was confirmed to be true, [fol. 480v] especially because of the letters he received during this period from Kay Solṭān,143 the ambassador who had been sent to Spain by the king of Persia. As he was leaving Eṣfahān for Shīrāz, he [Kay Solṭān] asked the Ambassador for information [text blacked out] regarding the time of the monsoon from Hormuz to Goa because he wished to sail in his company. [margin: A few days later,] the fear in Hormuz abated, for the sole intent of the English was to quickly unload merchandise from the contracted ship and lading her with articles they purchased in Eṣfahān. Neither was there any movement on the mainland that could be feared, though D. Luís de Sousa, the captain of Hormuz, attempted an artless and vain stratagem that could have stirred up the enemy and incited him to something he had until then not resolved to do. It went along the following lines: it was learned around that time that the Count of Redondo,144 the viceroy of India, had died during the month of November last in Goa, and that Fernão de Albuquerque145 had succeeded him in that office, being next in line. Without notifying the Ambassador, the captain of Hormuz announced that upon taking office, the new viceroy had put to sea with an enormous fleet of galleons and galleys, in addition to many 143  We propose this hypothetical reconstruction from the form Caya Soltan found in the MS. We have been unable to find further information regarding this person. Although Silva y Figueroa mentions him later as having arrived in Goa, it is unclear whether he actually continued on this mission. 144  D. João Coutinho (ca. 1540–1619), fifth Count of Redondo, Portuguese viceroy of India (1617–1619); see Ferreira Martins, Crónica dos Vice-Reis, 327–28; Zûquete, Nobreza de Portugal, 3:198. 145  Portuguese administrator, whose life dates are 1540–1623; governor of India (1619–1622). Prior to becoming governor of India, he had been the captain of Melaka, governor of Ceylon, and captain of Daman and of Goa; see Ferreira Martins, Crónica dos Vice-Reis, 327–28.

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other oared vessels, and was headed for Hormuz. The objective of the captain and his confederates in this scheme was for the English carracks to withdraw from Jask upon hearing rumors of this immense fleet, thereby relieving the Portuguese of the fear they harbored of the English. As soon as the captain notified the Ambassador of this, the latter detected his feeble and pathetic ploy, for he realized how impossible it was for the viceroy to set sail so quickly: it was doubtful that the fleet had even been fitted out; in India, military [margin: orders] are not executed very precisely or quickly because the Portuguese lack all that is necessary for carrying them out. Moreover, quite apart from the fact that the captain could not confirm [text blacked out] the name of the bearer of this news, it was well known that the viceroy was advanced in age, and was further hindered by his obesity. But later that same day, it was learned with greater certainty that the English carracks had turned back to Surat, and so the captain’s wild story about a war was no longer needed. In [fol. 481r] any event, it would have [superscript: harmed] his friends more than struck fear into the hearts of his enemies, who would have immediately seen through and mocked such a superficial ruse. News of the great fleet that was sailing from Goa to Hormuz, even as it began to fade away so that even the most common people, including Gentiles, Moors, and Jews, began to doubt it, caused concern among the Persians. The king of Persia and the khān of Shīrāz soon heard what had been noised abroad in Hormuz, and since those who want to protect and hold fast to their possessions, especially kings, do not care if what people say is true or not, if some harm can accrue to them because of it, they will take measures to prevent what might happen. Thus, as soon as the king of Persia found out what was being said in Hormuz about the arrival of the fleet, he ordered the khān of Shīrāz to prepare 300 terradas on the coast of Persia and [ superscript: 15,000] men to man them; he further ordered that this fleet be moved to the westernmost point of the island of Qeshm. When news of this mobilization reached Hormuz, it was believed that this army was going to attack the towns on the coast of the kingdom of Ahvāz. But when the fleet came within twenty leagues of Hormuz, the city was suddenly overcome with fright; all were convinced they would be overrun by the enemy that very night. Less than two hours after sundown, one of the Ambassador’s servants, named António Tavares, came running in to tell him that as he was walking by the fortress, two Arabs had brought this news to the captain, and that it quickly spread with great alarm in every direction, and that the captain immediately sent word to the king and the vizier that they should take refuge with their households in the fortress, at which point several other people began to do the same. [fol. 481v] At the same time, some number two or three citizens turned up bearing the same news,

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while the Ambassador had received no word at all from the captain, and in order to ascertain with more certainty the cause of such a remarkable disturbance, he sent the same António Tavares to request that the captain inform him about it; he sent another message as well, advising and begging him that under no circumstances should the king be allowed to take refuge in the fortress, nor should anyone else, lest the entire city become deserted that night. This message so troubled and bewildered our captain D. Luís that he was found at a loss for words. At that moment he was with the chief magistrate and the inspector of the treasury, along with many others who were fleeing to the fortress as their last refuge and sanctuary. Tavares returned without confirmation of the news. The city was by then ringing with great noise and shouting as rumors flew that the king and the vizier were taking refuge with the captain and that many other people were doing the same thing. There was a particularly great number of women running wild and screaming as if the city were being sacked. The Ambassador quickly wrote a message to the captain, protesting and begging him that no one be allowed to abandon his house because of the great harm that would ensue from this, for even if the warning that was radiated throughout the city were true, which he had difficulty believing, the city would fall into the hands of the enemies, only to be sacked and burned, to the great infamy of all when the fortress fell a few days later, as it surely would with so many people inside, as there no doubt would be. The captain, now more composed, finally responded [superscript: verbally] to this second message, saying that he would not permit anyone to enter that night, but that such a great number of people had already gone in with their money and jewelry that there was none of it left in the city. People sent came to the Ambassador’s house from [fol. 482r] all parts of the city, asking him if he was going to enter the fortress or if he was going to send any of [superscript: his personal effects] there, as the others were doing. He answered in the negative, since he had seen no military activity whatsoever, and he assured everyone that he did not believe the enemy was coming, and that if and when they did come, he was not going to abandon the city, but defend it to the death. As his words were repeated throughout the city, almost everyone calmed down, because otherwise the city would have been deserted that night. From the time the English carracks put in at Surat, the Portuguese citizens, together with the Arabs and Gentiles who were in Hormuz, were very pleased to see the Ambassador in their city, because they believed that his presence brought them greater security in the event that reports of a Persian attack proved true. The Ambassador ordered that four boats be fitted out that very night so that they and their crews would be ready and waiting on the shore at

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the foot of his house, the most important aspect of this precaution being that the mariners, who numbered fifty men, be ready at a moment’s notice, and to that end he ordered that they be well paid every day so they would not default on their duty. Early the next morning, the queen, having learned that the Ambassador had said that it was not fitting for the king and the vizier to enter the fortress so quickly, sent him a message with one of her servants, begging him that he not prevent her from taking shelter in the fortress with her husband and children because of the danger they were in. In response, the Ambassador said that such a decision fell to the captain, but that he could assure her that at present there was nothing to fear, and that if there were a real danger, there would be time she would have plenty of time to take refuge in the fortress. And because of the mounting disorder, and since the Ambassador desired to prove that he would not leave his house, he had some of the nearby streets closed off—two or three of the neighboring citizens helped do this with their slaves and servants—not so much because he thought such a small measure could be very effective in time of need, [margin: but rather] to make a point, and to dissuade everyone else [fol. 482v] from abandoning their houses. Some of the wealthier people who were very concerned and vigilant about keeping their money in a safe place, as they supposed, had brought it to the fortress as soon as the English arrived. The chief magistrate and the inspector of the treasury had been keeping their money and jewels inside there for three [margin: or four] days, and, following their example, everyone began doing the same thing. Although the Ambassador was never apprised of any course of action they decided on, and though his opinion was never sought, neither at that time nor afterward, he nevertheless presented himself in the square of the fortress where he saw the captain, with the king, the vizier, the magistrate, and the inspector. He offered his services as His Majesty’s vassal and those of his servants in whatever capacity might prove useful on the present occasion. At this the captain restrained himself became deeply disturbed: [text blacked out] one could scarcely understand a word he said in response; it was as if the Ambassador’s offer were intended to usurp his jurisdiction and divest him of his fortress. It is the rule in India for people to take offense at offers such as these, thinking their reputations besmirched if they are given advice, even during a crisis such as the present one, and this tendency [ superscript: is] so exaggerated with most of them, or nearly all of them, that they would risk losing everything before accepting help from anyone, especially if that person was not one of their fellow Portuguese; in fact, this happens quite regularly even among themselves. And thus our captain was [fol. 483r] deeply affected by these words, as was everyone else. He was also so greatly disturbed by the proximity of the Persian terradas that not only did he not respond to what the Ambassador told him,

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but he stalked off with the magistrate and the inspector, while discussing matters unrelated to what was essential for the defense of the city, if in fact their fears materialized and the enemy did attack. But as the Ambassador’s presence on that occasion specifically obligated him to fulfill his duty in the service of the king, and even though he recognized the obstinacy and ill will of those men, he called over some of the citizens who were present, together with the vicar who had just arrived, and approached the captain, D. Luís, as a delegation, and once again made the same offer to participate in any decisions that would be discussed, but he also warned him that the defense of the city depended on the sure preservation of the fortress. To achieve this, it was necessary and fitting, of course, that he [margin: do what he should have done] when the first news of the English was received, namely take roll of all the Portuguese citizens and their slaves in the city who could fight, and furthermore make an inventory of the arms they possessed, making and [superscript: take] roll as well of the Arab and Gentile residents. All of these people should be organized into eight or ten troops, with one capable soldier or citizen being designated as troop leader; then, each troop should be assigned a particular post [margin: in the city] to immediately begin the work of fortification and to stand guard day and night, and to erect breastworks [text blacked out] there, as well as at the entrance to all the streets in the city, which, by the way, would give them a very strong position in hand-to-hand combat, since the enemy would not be able to draw up their artillery. And if [fol. 483v] they followed this plan, which was in their best interest to do, it would be necessary to execute it promptly without wasting any time. When the Ambassador saw that once again they were going to pay no heed to his advice, he took his leave of them, telling them to notify him if they should change their minds, and went home, fully convinced that if the Persians were to attack amid such disorder and confusion, the city and the fortress would inevitably be lost. But for the reasons expounded above, they could never be persuaded to make more preparations beyond spreading the false rumor that a fleet of Portuguese galleons was coming to Hormuz from Goa. Meanwhile, the Persians, either because they wanted us to believe that they did not fear such a thing, or because they were actually following a direct order from the king, crossed that gulf and headed towards Julpha on opposite coast of Arabia.146 [margin: All the residents of Hormuz believed], with good reason, 146  We have been unable to identify this town. Gil Fernández (“Embassy of Don García de Silva y Figueroa”, p. 175) writes that the Persians “crossed over … to Arabia” to reach this place, implying that it was located on the Arabian coast, possibly near Bahrain. This seems reasonable, since Silva y Figueroa states that Persian forces “crossed that gulf,”

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that they were would sack and burn it as they had done during the Bandel War.147 And since that was the poor king of Hormuz’s last remaining possession in his entire kingdom, he threw himself into finding reinforcements that could be sent over, but this was impossible because there were scarcely any soldiers in Hormuz; there were only three foists and a galley, with no galley slaves or sailors. The rest of the foists and soldiers, accompanied by the acting captain-major,148 were sailing around Sindh, Basra, and the coast of Arabia, escorting the merchant ships that belonged to the captain and others of His Majesty’s officers who lived in Hormuz, so that Julpha was considered as good as sacked and burned. And since nobody doubted that such was the case, many people thought that the danger they had feared so much had been removed from them and was now concentrated on the destruction of those poor Arabs, though others were very unhappy because that is where much of their fortune was [fol. 484r] located in the form of money and merchandise. But this sense of relief proved short lived, for six or seven days later the Persian fleet returned to their previous position, having burned and razed a small village a league from Julpha to the ground, killing fifty or sixty Arabs from Nakhīlū149 without attempting anything against Julpha itself. The reason for this was that the king of Persia was angry with ʿAlī Kumal,150 an Arab from Nakhīlū on the coast of the kingdom of Fārs, because he had crossed over to the other coast of Arabia near Julpha to live with several people who chose to follow him with their families. There they founded a small village, using the poor building materials used in that nation. The reason this Arab left Nakhīlū151 was that since he was a valiant man, always ready for any military action, he had a falling out with the Persians because of their insolence and pride. He also feared that the khān of Shīrāz and the king would attempt to arrest him and remove him from there because of his military prowess, so that he would not which would seem to be the Persian Gulf. There is one insurmountable problem with this hypothesis, however, and that is that Silva y Figueroa states below that Julpha was “one league” (4,8 km or 3 mi) from Nakhīlū (present-day Bandar-e Nakhīlū) on the coast of Fārs. The shortest distance between the region around Nakhīlū on the coast of Fārs and a point on Arabia (which would actually be Qatar) is 220 km (170 mi). Therefore, the gulf referred to by Silva y Figueroa must be an inlet along the coast of Fārs, and Julpha must have been on the coast near present-day Bandar-e Nakhīlū. 147  This was in 1614 when Persian forces expelled the Portuguese from Gamrū; see p. 246 n. 11. 148  The Portuguese title was capitão mor do mar da Arabia e Pérsia, meaning “captain-major of the Arabian and Persian Seas”; see p. 90 n. 120. 149  Present-day Bandar-e Nakhīlū. 150  This is our hypothetical reconstruction from Alicamalun in the MS. 151  Bandar-e Nakhīlū; see p. 271 n. 11.

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attempt any foolishness with his natives who willingly followed and obeyed him. This seemed to be the most certain cause for his displacement, because he later talked to the king of Hormuz and the captain of the fortress, offering to serve His Majesty in any way he could in the defense of that kingdom against the Persians, provided he were given some sum of money to bring many of the Nakhīlūs around to serve him and to keep them in a state of readiness. He said he could do the same thing with other neighboring Arabs as well. But because the captains and other leaders of Hormuz, whose duty it is to look after matters such as these, [fol. 484v] are solely concerned with their own business and profit, none of these plans were ever executed, nor were the services of this bellicose man, so capable of bringing many other Arabs over to his side, ever appealed to, even though the amount that would have spent on this was so little. But here in India, where it is of the utmost importance to make frequent use of the natives, especially in Hormuz, against an enemy as powerful as the king of Persia, who is despised by all these Arabs, no skill or generosity is employed to prepare them during crises that so often present themselves with the Persians being so close by. The Nakhīlūs, who at first hesitated in the face of the Persian fleet, having heard many days earlier that it was heading for Hormuz, did not attempt to seek assistance from the neighboring Arabs living farther inland. Neither would it have been easy to persuade their lord and emir whom they obey, whose name was Cathane,152 to help him because he was poor and had nothing to offer those nomadic and mercenary people. But not fully convinced that after the enemies had taken Hormuz he would not be exposed to the same danger, he fortified the harbor that was next to his small and poor town as best he could with several terradas that he beached in the places with the easiest access, and then filled them with sand; he also dug several trenches in the sand. The Persians arrived one morning in 150 terradas manned by 5,000 men, many of them harquebusiers, with 200 horses. Thirty or forty paces from the shore, the coast being very shallow there, they leapt into the water, the first ones mounted on horseback, jumping out of their terradas into the water, which was up to their saddles, and attacked the few Arabs in a great rush from all sides. The Nakhīlūs who [margin: defended] [fol. 485r] themselves totaled no more than 200, and less than thirty of them were on horseback, but with intrepid spirit they received an enormous onslaught from the harquebuses and arrows their enemies let fly at them, and though all of them could have retreated earlier to their inland shelter where they had already sent their women and the other people unfit for battle, they fought the Persians off for a long time under the cover of their entrenchments, giving back as much harm as 152  No further information is available concerning this person.

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they received. But because they were so vastly outnumbered, and since their captain was wounded by one of the harquebuses, they retreated, aided by their agility and their familiarity with the land, some of them dying in the attempt as they were chased down by Persian horsemen. Counting those who were killed at first, there were sixty Arabs left and forty of the enemy. During this action the Nakhīlū performed everything that could possibly be desired from a brave and expert soldier, who preferred seeing and fighting his enemies to abandoning his poor huts, providing us with an example of what should be done in Hormuz, the defenders of which were wanting in every quality that this valiant Arab proved himself to possess. While the Persians were occupied in Arabia, nothing was done in Hormuz to defend the city, as if there were nothing to lose if the enemies [text blacked out] sacked it, though the fall of the city was sure to lead to the loss of the fortress, as has been stated. And because the most urgent and obvious dangers should be confronted first, the threat that plagued the city should have been faced before any other. To begin with, the city, which had no walls, was full of people, but almost no one was fit to defend it. In the second place, the Arabs from the kingdom of Fārs had planned on attacking the city many times, and just a few months earlier it was learned in Eṣfahān that the king of Persia also had his eye on it. It was said that he would leave the [superscript: pillaging] to the soldiers, reserving the women and children for himself, along with the artillery in the fortress, which he was certain would be handed over to him. We shall leave off this topic for the time being, adding only that this king yearned to take this city; the only reason he desisted from doing so originally was that the Ambassador was at his court. [fol. 485v]. He later forbore because he knew that the Ambassador was detained in Hormuz. A contributing factor was that the king did not want the English carracks to get involved in this action, [margin: for the reasons referred to above]. [text blacked out] [superscript: As far as] the defense of the city was concerned, which was essential, there arose many complications, as happens in all stressful situations. It has already been stated that there were insufficient supplies in the fortress for the great throng that would seek shelter: no water, food, or anything else needed in such a close siege had been laid in store. It would have been even more impossible for 40,000 souls to be fed [margin: in the city]—that is how many people were said to live there—if they had to depend on the enemy to bring them water and all the other supplies every day, for certainly all of these things would be wanting. But though this was the case, as it logically must have been, most or all of the Portuguese citizens, along with many of the Moors and Gentiles, were well provisioned with water they had stored for just such emergencies. Lacking cisterns, they stored it in large

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earthenware jars and casks and in big tarred wooden boxes they called pools, some of which can hold the equivalent of 1,000 or 2,000 pitchers. Furthermore, many or most of the houses in the city have wells, and while their water is brackish, it can be drunk if it is taken out at low tide. Some of the wells produce water that is almost fresh, and an effort could be made to locate and dig more wells. Similar comments apply to food, a large amount of which is usually stored in private houses, and though the residents of Hormuz purchase supplies every day for their families’ needs from people who come from the island and the mainland, stores are also preserved and kept for the same reason the water is. There are usually many pigs and cows inside the city, which are fed and fattened on shellfish from the beach, quite apart from the horses, camels, and donkeys, which in time of need could be used to feed the poor. And were the city to fall, all of this would pass into the hands of the enemy, together with the furniture in the houses. Thus, because [fol. 486r] such a great number of people would take refuge in the fortress, their only possessions that could be safeguarded there, and those with great difficulty—if, that is, the fortress could offer any defense at all—would be their silver and gold. But fleeing en masse to the fortress would be precisely the principle cause for it to fall into the hands of the enemy within a few short days. In addition to these arguments, there was one more very compelling reason why the city should be defended, namely that the Arabs, Gentiles, and Indians were extremely ready and willing to join forces against the common enemy, for even though these poor people were constantly humiliated and abused by the Portuguese captains, in the end they [text blacked out] retained a good share of their possessions and were allowed to keep what they earned and traded, the city being an advantageous place for that. But they did not expect to be allowed to continue to do this were the Persians to come to power, because they could readily see the example of the Arabs in the kingdom of Fārs, especially the plight of those who lived closest to Hormuz, as well as that of the people from the island of Qeshm, and the mainland of the Bandel and Mogostan: they are well aware of their experience of extreme oppression under the insolent, proud, and enormously greedy Persians, knowing these unfortunates are wholly oppressed under the cruelest servitude possible. And knowledge of this is so widespread that one hears nothing in Hormuz but the afflictions and similar lamentations of those who come into the city every day, which has caused [superscript: even] the Arabs, or Moors, including the king and the vizier, despite professing a different faith from ours, to be more loyal and united with the Portuguese than with the Persians at this time. This is because they are looking out for themselves. This became abundantly clear on the occasion that we are describing now, when they would not have refused to lend a hand to

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whatever was asked of them, if only they had had a capable person as captain and governor who knew how to give orders and to command. But nothing was done, even though more than 10,000 men could have performed a great deal of work. In an emergency, they could have fortified the city with a great moat and entrenchments all around it in three days, the houses and terraces serving as cavaliers153 because their back walls [margin: are so high]. [fol. 486v] The only defense of the city the captain actually ordered to be prepared was the fitting out of six foists, which in India are called navios, each one with twenty-five soldiers, in addition to the sailors, and a single galley that held fifty or sixty soldiers, with hardly any galley slaves. This was the feeblest of measures, one that promised to offer no resistance whatsoever, much less a defense of the fortress, because after so many past adversities in Hormuz and in India, the morale of those few soldiers was so low and they had so little confidence in a successful outcome, even in a much less dangerous situation than this one, that none of them paid attention to or cared about anything else but saving his own skin. His Majesty paid the salaries of 700 soldiers in Hormuz, but most of these salaries were collected by the captain, the vedor da fazenda and the ouvidor.154 Nearly all of the soldiers who actually received their salaries were continually escorting the boats that the captain sent laden with his own merchandise to India, Sindh, Qatif, and Basra, and to other cities in the strait, this being a well-established practice among the captains of the fortress. Around this time, notwithstanding the rumors that had been spreading for many months that the king’s soldiers were planning to come against Hormuz with the English—it has already been stated here that the Ambassador had warned the captain about this many times, first from Persia and later after he arrived in [ superscript: Hormuz]—the captain was so unprepared that he did not [text blacked out] have an army or navy, most of his ships and soldiers being put to use in what was just described, but the captain-major himself, the title used by the Portuguese, was also [text blacked out] absent from duty. And thus since there were no more than 200 soldiers arming those six ships and the galley, the rest of this muster was complemented by many of the citizens and other private men in Hormuz, who received no salary; these people were obviously the more experienced in battle, because the rest were merely local natives of whom not much was expected. The second measure [fol. 487r] taken after the fitting out of this fleet was to order the citizens to stand watch every night on the coast of the island at the places where the enemies would be expected to make landfall. Some of these 153  See p. 200 n. 120. 154  The inspector of the treasury and the chief magistrate.

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watchmen were on foot, while others rode horseback, not secretly and silently, as even the most barbarous nations do in time of war, but with each platoon beating a drum and firing harquebuses as they made their rounds. Guards were stationed half a league from the city, and at other stations even farther off. In case of an enemy landing, the men that made up this new military order had been given orders to immediately run with all haste through the city to sound the warning, without stopping anywhere to defend it, because as has been stated, nobody had been assigned a particular or general defensive station or post. And so the sole purpose of this whole arrangement was to warn everyone to abandon the city and flee to the fortress, causing great confusion, turmoil, and disorder. And while having watchmen was a necessary measure, their movements should have been silent and cautious. Much less of them would have sufficed, and they could have delivered a warning to the corps of guards that would have had to be posted [superscript: throughout the city where they should have been]. Moreover, it would have been necessary to have light terranquins posted at assigned intervals out to sea to give the first warning. It was obvious how deplorable our defense was, which consisted of just a few boats. In addition to the 300 terradas that the Persians had committed to the purpose described above—most of these boats were bigger and capable of holding many more people than ours—the Persians could also levy many more men from the provinces of Mogostan and the Bandel. Actually, given the state Hormuz was in, it could have been sacked by far fewer forces than those the Persians commanded at the time. The governor of the Bandel wrote the [margin: Ambassador] two letters during this time, sending him refreshments and requesting that he inform the captain that [fol. 487v] the latter’s measures were in vain, for it had not even entered the king of Persia’s mind to attempt anything against Hormuz, especially because his Lordship the Ambassador was there. Rather, the captain’s precautions, which were so inconsequential, might actually invite the king of Persia to do something he had not considered doing before. In addition to these letters, the Persian agents who were stationed in Hormuz by this governor visited the Ambassador every day, [text blacked out] relaying the same messages verbally, but the Ambassador referred them to the captain, telling them to try to convince him of it, because the Ambassador would not. The Ambassador wrote back to the governor of the Bandel, saying that the captain of Hormuz was obligated to take precautionary measures, and that the forces he had at his command for the defense of the island were more than sufficient to withstand even a bigger fleet than the one of the Persians. He also told the governor that he had nothing to fear, that he should disarm his men and return home, and that the Portuguese would do the same thing in Hormuz. The governor [margin: of

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the Bandel] had initiated this contact because the merchants from Persia and Hormuz dared not trade with each other for fear that war would break out, and he was thus losing much revenue from the tariffs that normally accrued to him from the caravans. And since the captain of Hormuz had the same interest for the same reason, and because the Persians were assured that the rumor of the fleet from India was false, they immediately disbanded their fleet, and all became calm, trade returning to its previous state. A few days after this turmoil abated, the Ambassador commenced his preparations for sailing to India, having sent his secretary Saulisante back to Spain much earlier with letters for His Majesty regarding what had taken place in Persia and the state of affairs in Hormuz. And though the journey would have been shorter by way of Basra, it seemed safer for his secretary to go through Persia, and so not passing through Lār or Shīrāz, but rather along the border of Kermān, he reached Eṣfahān at the end of February from where he notified the Ambassador [fol. 488r] of some things he learned there and about Friar Juan Thadeo and the Englishmen that resided at court. His secretary left for Baghdad, carrying a passport signed by the king of Persia guaranteeing him safe passage and also serving to liberate from prison a Discalced Franciscan named Friar Nicolás, a native of Genoa who had left Hormuz twenty days earlier to take the same route to Spain. This friar had been arrested and imprisoned between Eṣfahān and Hamadān by the Persian governor of that region. [March 1620] The carracks that usually put in at in Hormuz every year from Goa were expected around this time, but now that most of the month of March had passed, the Ambassador saw that the monsoon season was approaching and that still none of them had arrived. And so he decided to board a small patache that had put in from Kochi a few days before and intended to return forthwith. And since he had already prepared everything for the voyage, though he had done so without the help or relief from the substantial amount owed him in emoluments, he embarked in the patache one Sunday afternoon. He was so uncomfortable because of the narrowness of the vessel that he thought it would be impossible to endure the impending hardships of the journey, though it was not to last very many days. [April 1620] [margin: April 5th, 1620.] Close to midnight on this day, the 5th of April, an extraordinary calm suddenly settled in, and because we could not make sail, we suffered a most vexatious heat all night long. The Ambassador’s narrow cabin where he slept had just two small windows on the sides, and being unable to endure the heat, he climbed up to the poop deck of the patache where he spent most of the night.

W

E

0

100

1 inch = 144 miles

Cape Guardafui

60°0'0"E

200

Khurīyā Murīyā

Cape Matraca

Cape Masirāh

12 Apr

13 Apr

Return Voyage

Cape Rosalgat

Daymānīyāt Muscat Quryat Qalhat

Sohar

Cape Gwadar

14 Apr

Sindh

The embassy’s return voyage from Hormuz to Goa, 7–25 April 1620.

S

N

Khorāsān

Kermān

Hormozgān Bandar-e Dep. 6 Apr 1620 Nakhīlū Hormuz Qatif Persian Qeshm Larak Bahrain Gulf Cape Jazirat Limah Cape Jask Musandam 9 Apr

Khūzestān

Persia

65°0'0"E

Thatta

St Mary

Goa

Bhatkal

Ar. 25 Apr 1620

Dabhol

Kharepatan

Mumbai

Anjadip Angidivas

Vengurla

24 Apr

Bassein Chaul

19 Apr

Diu

Surat

Khambhat

Munyal-Par

18 Apr

Indus

65°0'0"E

India

70°0'0"E

70°0'0"E

20°0'0"N

25°0'0"N

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Map 9

20°0'0"N

25°0'0"N

Euphrates Basra

Fallujah

Tigris

60°0'0"E

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On the 6th, two carracks arrived from Goa early in the morning. They laid anchor next to the patache from Kochi. It was learned that D. Francisco de Sousa,155 the new captain of Hormuz, was traveling to Hormuz to take command of the fortress, and though the wind [fol. 488v] was blowing directly against her bow, our patache weighed anchor, and we got underway under the foresail and spritsail, sailing on a close reach until we reached the southern coast of the island a half league from the wells of Turun Bāḡ, and there we laid anchor, the wind not permitting us to make sail. We remained in that harbor the rest of the day and all the following night. It was a little less hot than on the night before. On the 7th, a terranquin pulled up beside us two hours before daybreak to speak to our ship, passing along the news that early on the previous evening one of the Ambassador’s servants, named Diogo Lobo, had died. He had remained behind in Hormuz with two other servants to load some horses onto two oared vessels three or four days later and bring them to Goa. The Ambassador was greatly saddened by this news, and he immediately sent two other servants who had sailed with him back to Hormuz in the same terranquin to secure the things that had been left behind. They found the wounded man still alive, though with no hope of survival. His story, which is quite extraordinary and unique, will be related below. This same day, with a southerly wind blowing directly against the bows of the ship and thus preventing us from making our offing from the harbor, the king of Hormuz came aboard to visit the Ambassador and bid him farewell once more, even though they had already done so a few days earlier in the same city. The south wind continued the rest of that day and through the next night. On the 8th, the same southerly wind persisted, but toward nightfall it began to back until two o’clock, by which time it was blowing out of the south-west. We weighed anchor and made sail, standing a point south-east of south, which for that patache was sailing with a slack bowline156—she was so narrow in the waist that if she sailed any larger than that, she would list heavily, the masts and spars dipping so far that at times it looked like she would capsize. We sailed in these conditions all night. On the 9th, just after dawn, Cape Musandam on the coast of Arabia was sighted two leagues off the right side. It is a big, [fol. 489r] somewhat elongated wall of rock that extends so far into the sea that it looks like an island. 155  Portuguese administrator and penultimate captain of the fortress of Hormuz. For details of his actions and his biography, see Andrade, Commentaries, 14–33, 62–69, 80–90, 226– 27; and DRDA, 7:209–10, 374. 156  See p. 85 n. 111.

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Afterward, we passed the Isla de los Ratones,157 which is another crag with almost the same size and dimensions, very close to the coast. It is exactly the same color as the mountains of Muscat and the entire coastline of Arabia there, which was described in Book III. This same wind blew all day, and that night we passed the fortress of Ṣoḥār158 to our right, though it was so far off that even though it was daytime, it could not be sighted. On the 10th, we continued along the same course, the wind blowing from the west by south-west. Two carracks hove into sight to [superscript: windward] a little before noon, one larger than the other. Although they could have come close enough to speak the patache, the wind being in their favor, they passed us by. It was assumed that the new captain of Hormuz was sailing in them from Goa. At two in the afternoon we were suddenly becalmed until the first watch, at which point the same west by south-west wind returned. We stood south by south-west, sailing very close-hauled, which was unusual for the patache. On the 11th, this wind was so weak and feeble that we made little headway until nine o’clock in the morning when it veered suddenly to the north-east, and though it continued to be very weak, we ran to the south-west, rolling heavily. That night the patache came within fifteen leagues of Muscat. On the 12th, bearing south by south-west under a west by south-west wind, the temperature very hot and the wind very weak, until at two o’clock it freshened so much that by sunset the ship was [margin: half a league] from the fortress of Muscat, which could be plainly seen. And because the Ambassador desired to take refreshment there and attend Mass the next day, which was Palm Sunday, he first ordered the topsails struck and then ordered two cannons to be fired as a signal so the captain would send out a craft to guide the patache into the outer harbor at the foot of the fortress. But the captain inhospitably failed to do so, though we came within a musket shot of the harbor under a very bright moon. We shortened all sail and waited more than half an hour, finally recognizing that the captain did not wish to entertain guests, [fol. 489v] and so we continued our journey with very little wind the rest of the night. At dawn on the 13th, the mountains of Quryat came into view. We were headed one point east of south-east with a north-west wind. Before sunset we lost sight of the coast and mountains of Arabia, passing the watering station and small village of Tiwi on the coast. We sailed all night with the same wind, though it was weaker, the temperature extremely hot. 157  See p. 270 n. 65. 158  Present-day Ṣoḥār, 220 km (124 mi) north of Muscat, a fishing town in the Gulf of Oman. The Portuguese occupied the town and its fortress in 1507.

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On the 14th, sailing with the same north-wester, though land was out of sight. The pilot placed us at the mouth of the straits. At noon he reckoned we were fifteen leagues from Cape Rosalgat. We sailed [text blacked out] southeast the rest of the day and all night, the heat slackening somewhat. On the 15th, the wind veered to the south-west and then south by south-west with big swells against the prow. We beat up against the wind, which freshened so much that it eventually became a howling storm. The patache took in her topsails and bonnets from the courses, the starboard side riding almost under the water and the ship rolling heavily several times all night long. We drifted two points to the east-south-east, the tremendous storm forcing us to follow this heading. On the 16th, after the storm strengthened all night long, it intensified even more by day, the wind picking up with such force that it was too strong for even the courses, and so they were lowered to half-mast. The patache kept drifting more and more as the wind veered south, and though this little ship was sailing so well on a close reach that her bows seemed to be pointing a point east of south-east, she could only progress one point south-east off east, with three points of leeway drift according to the compass. As has already been stated, this patache had such a narrow waist, and the wind forced her to list so far to starboard, that in a heavy swell the tips of her spars dragged in the water. Nobody could remain on their feet unless they were clutching the rigging, and only the sailors could do this because everyone else was either sitting down or leaning while hanging on for dear life so that one of the great swells that washed over the patache would not carry them overboard; everyone was soaking wet. But despite all this, the ship was [fol. 490r] graceful enough to make some headway, beating up against this heavy storm that had been raging for twenty-four hours, though it was very dangerous to do so. And not only did the storm not abate, it was clearly worsening. During the two days it lasted, it was impossible to light a fire [text blacked out], the terrible tempest making this impossible. Quite extraordinary was the absolutely serene and clear sky, which had none of the thick clouds that normally darken the sky during a storm and make the shadows darker in the water; at this time the sky was clear and the sun unobstructed, with no clouds blocking its rays, and yet the water was completely black, being chopped up into deep valleys with thick foam that the sailors commonly call cabrinhas159 because of their typical white color during a storm. But during this storm the swells were yellow, very dark, and heavy. Everyone was afraid that this weak 159  Portuguese for “kid goats”; Bluteau and de Morais Silva, Dicionário, 207, gives the figurative meaning ruivo, meaning “blondies” or “redheads.”

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little ship would break apart as we beat up against such a strong wind, and since she had such a narrow waist, the pilot did not dare lay her to lest we should capsize. The pilot had pointed this defect out to the Ambassador just after they set sail from Hormuz. And thus, if fortune continued to frown on us, we would be obliged to either run with the wind and let ourselves be blown back toward the coast of Sindh, or abort the voyage and head back to Muscat while waiting out the monsoon; in either case we would have to winter in one of those two places. Nightfall saw an ever greater increase in the storm, the south wind stiffening more by the hour. The sky, which had been clear, was beginning to darken with heavy clouds. Everyone was waiting for a heavy downpour that would slacken the storm somewhat, but these clouds did nothing more than make the night darker and more fearful. The sky seemed to be lit with fire with those quick flashes [margin: of lightning] that are often seen on some summer nights when the sky is covered with clouds, with no thunder or rain. And because that little ship carried many more people than she should have, with some standing in the waist, the quarterdeck, and on the bow, thus increasing the danger of capsizing, the pilot ordered most of them to go below, leaving only the sailors topsides with sheets and other heavy cables in their hands in case they had to quickly lower the few sails that were aloft. Most nights the Ambassador stayed [fol. 490v] on the poop deck to sleep, and by day he sought refuge there as well, as it offered a little shade, his cabin being quite narrow and hot. But that evening, when the pilot saw that the giant swells were only getting bigger, he told the Ambassador to take shelter below from the great danger, and this the Ambassador did, advising the pilot first that in no case should he put into port, except as a last resort. And though the pilot was a brave man and practiced in his art, he convinced the Ambassador that if the patache could not withstand even the little sail she carried, they would have to either turn back to Muscat or founder. At this the Ambassador retired to his cabin to lie down, fatigued from the much rolling of the ship and from lack of sleep the night before. He was overcome by sleep for more than four hours and did not wake up until the pilot, having recognized that though the wind had not died down, at least the swells had, roused the Ambassador at around three o’clock in the morning, telling him that the storm had calmed noticeably. This was immediately verified by the fact that the vessel ceased to pitch and roll as much, and before daybreak the wind abated so much that by dawn the sea looked almost flat. We crowded on all sail and stood east by south-east under the same south wind. On the 17th, a weaker south-westerly wind. Before noon the sea became completely flat until the south-westerly began to blow again two hours before sunset; we sailed close-hauled one point south-west of south. At midnight

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the wind backed west and west by south-west, and we headed south-east all night. On the 18th, the same wind and sea, the weather fair. The sun’s altitude was taken at 21 and a third degrees, the pilot calculating our position on an east-west line with Diu. In the afternoon the south-westerly freshened, and we headed south-east and east. All night a strong north-wester blew, backing to the south. On the 19th, the same north-wester blew, and we maintained the same heading as the day before. The sun’s altitude was taken at 20 degrees and two thirds, the pilot reckoning our position on a north-south line with Diu, less than twenty leagues from land, although it later became clear that it was much farther than he thought and that we were at a much higher latitude. The same wind continued [fol. 491r] the rest of the day, and because after sunset a large number of snakes were spotted on both sides of the ship, the pilot concluded that we were very close to land, though such signs are usually deceptive—in this case we were more than sixty leagues distant. However, based on that assumption, the pilot ordered that we head south by south-east and south all night and the rest of the following day. On the 20th, the same north-wester continued, heading south. Our position was reckoned at ten leagues from land. Since snakes were still visible in the afternoon, and everyone was still convinced that we were ten leagues from land at the same latitude as Goa, the pilot, wanting to avoid running across Malabar corsairs, steered the patache farther and farther from land, though this entire coast from the inlet of Khambhat to Cape Comorin is a line that runs from the north by north-west to the south by south-west. And so we should have headed not south, but south-east, because by now we were more than 100 leagues out to sea, very far from land, the Ambassador having warned the pilot of this several times. The sun’s altitude was taken today at 18 degrees, and we continued heading south. On the 21st, a north-west wind, heading south and south-west. The sun’s altitude was taken at 17 and one third degrees; there was less wind than on previous days, but we were far at sea. It soon became quite clear that we were 130 leagues from land. The pilot was a native from the Algarve named Pedro Jorge, and though he was a very experienced young man, and skilled in his art, as has already been stated, he had never made that voyage from Hormuz, having always served in the Philippines, Malukus, and New Spain. His outbound voyage to Hormuz had been from Bengal, far to the south of the shoals of Padua160 and the Mamales. He had the same stubborn and presumptuous character as 160  See p. 131 n. 226.

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other pilots, but after the Ambassador told him once more how far from land they were, he rather angrily ordered us to steer south-east after midnight; we sailed under the same wind. On the 22nd, we sailed large before a freshened north-wester, heading southeast, and the sun’s altitude having been taken at a little under 16 degrees, the pilot ordered that we head east by south-east, and later east, in search of land, even though we were quite insecure because of how much the patache pitched while running before the wind. We made extremely rapid [fol. 491v] progress the rest of that day and night. On the 23rd, running downwind full sail, with a very strong and brisk northwester, heading east. Later in the morning a snow-white turtledove flew over to us, which many people thought was a pigeon. It perched on the shoulder of one of the Ambassador’s pages, so fatigued from its long flight that it let itself be held in one’s hand. It was so tame after being placed in a cage with other turtledoves the captain had brought from Bengal that it immediately began eating as securely as if it had been raised in it for a long time. Land was not sighted all day or night, though a very careful watch had been kept and even though the patache was racing along, covering more than fifty leagues every turning of the glass. On the 24th, land was raised at eight o’clock in the morning. Everyone believed it was the coast of Banda, three leagues from the bar of Goa, and thus there were many who thought they saw the big and well-known tree of Chapora.161 But as the patache moved in closer to reconnoiter the coast, arriving within four leagues of land, the people realized they had been deceived as soon as they saw that it was beyond doubt the island of Kharepatan, twentyfive leagues from the bar. [superscript: Everyone] was suddenly filled with terror, because this was the most common haunt for Malabar prows and foists. Everyone thought that since this ship was the first to come from Hormuz this year, there must be many prows belonging to these corsairs lying in wait for her. But the Ambassador reprimanded them severely, quite annoyed at seeing that some of the people had lost heart and were exaggerating the courage of those Moors. He told them that the great courage of the corsairs, whom they so greatly feared, stemmed from their knowledge of that fear. What was more, [margin: it was well known that very few of those prows carried cannons, and the ones they did have were quite small], and, besides, they didn’t know how to use them. They also had few or no harquebusiers and fought naked, a permanent state for them, thus any wound would prove mortal to them. And with that he ordered the work of fortifying the sterncastle and forecastle be 161  The famous banyan tree; see p. 190 n. 88.

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completed, the sides of the quarterdeck having been [text blacked out] [superscript: covered] with cables two days before. He also urged all those with harquebuses to fight under the cover of those sides and the higher covering, which he had ordered to be heavily lined with crates and mattresses. The captain and owner of the patache was young, a native from Kochi. [fol. 492r] He was a very good man, named João Rodrigues de Lucena. Because of his generosity he let many more people into his patache in Hormuz than it could hold, even though the Ambassador warned him not to do it, but rather admonished him to take soldiers along who could fight in the event of an encounter with enemies. And though it was assumed that among 100 people who had come from Hormuz, in addition to those who ordinarily sailed on his ship, there must have been more than thirty Portuguese, it turned out there were only ten, the rest of the passengers being country Banias and black merchants. [margin: Apart from these], the captain had not brought more than five or six citizens of Kochi in addition to [margin: the pilot, the master, and the scribe]; these citizens were also merchants. One of them was called António de Almeida, a good soldier. The rest were Bengali sailors in addition to the pilot and the master of the ship. Outside this number there were upward of twenty of the Ambassador’s servants, all of them armed with harquebuses, in addition to several slaves who were given half-pikes and placed in the waist to guard the rigging the captain had ordered to be placed there, the gunwales of the patache being very low at that point. The captain, together with one of the men who came with him from Kochi, took charge of four iron falconets that threw balls weighing at least two pounds, and another four half-pounders. He also distributed a dozen heavy muskets on the quarterdeck and castles with several baskets of grenades. The Ambassador told them to keep them tightly covered and to use them very cautiously because of the danger that quite commonly accompanies them when they are ignited. He especially advised them to bring a large number of pots of water out onto the waist and the quarterdeck, and blankets and mattresses to drench with the water to extinguish any fire that the enemies might set, this being a very frequent tactic used by them when they encounter resistance from the ships [fol. 492v] with which they engage. Also with the Bengali sailors was a Japanese man who served as gunner. He had come from Manila to Spain via Mexico, having spent a few years in Spain. It was evident that he had been in Valladolid while the court was there. The Ambassador promised him a new suit of clothes and fifty ducats for the first cannonball he plugged into one of the enemy prows, and though the enemy never made an appearance, he paid him part of what he promised because the gunner promptly offered to do exactly that. Being prepared in this manner, everyone now had a different attitude and countenance from before.

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We ran before a freshened north wind within sight of land all day long, when at four o’clock we sighted the Queimados,162 so well known to those who come or go to Portugal via the inner route by the island of São Lourenço.163 We ran down the coast, which was on our left, for a little more than two leagues. The wind freshened so much that after passing these islands at five o’clock, we lost sight of them by six. After sunset the north-east wind picked up, and we sailed on a close reach to the south-east and east. But at midnight the wind veered east, and in order to stay close to the coast and not pass the bar, the pilot put the ship about and sailed back the way we had come, until, at the dawn watch, the wind backed again to the north-east and we stood to the south by southwest. By dawn the patache was three leagues from the bar, within view of the lighthouse, which did not fulfill its duty, its light not having been visible the night before. By seven o’clock we were one league from port, and several boats came out to greet us with fresh bread, water, and fruit from the mainland. The wind died out altogether at that point, and after it shifted around a little, we stood into the harbor at nine o’clock in the morning, laying anchor a little more than 100 paces from the Fort Aguada on Saturday [margin: April 25th, 1620]. [April–November 1620] The Ambassador sent one of his servants to Goa with a message for the governor, [fol. 493r] requesting use of the houses in Pangim to rest in for a few days while he sought permanent lodgings. After dining in the patache, he went over to the Colégio Real dos Reis Magos164 in a manchua with two of his pages, leaving orders that everything that had been shipped be delivered to Pangim that afternoon, and that in the event the governor should fail to grant him the houses, everything be taken to the Colégio de São Boaventura in the city until further notice. The Ambassador found that the Colégio dos Magos was packed with palm branches because the religious had been celebrating the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist.165 They welcomed him in and fêted him to the satisfaction of all to congratulate him on his arrival. He had set out from that very house more than three years earlier to set sail for Hormuz. On the afternoon of the same day, an order arrived from the governor, giving him the houses in Pangim, and thus the Ambassador’s personal effects, which had already been sent in several large boats, were taken immediately to the same houses, which had very large and comfortable bedchambers that commanded a pleasing and agreeable view of 162  The Portuguese name for Vengurla, a number of rocky islets located slightly above Goa on the western coast of India at 15°53′29″N, 73°27′45″E. 163  Madagascar; see p. 93 n. 125. 164  Colégio Real dos Três Reis Magos; see p. 218. 165  The feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist is 25 April.

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the sea, commonly known as the Pangim River. The beaches were also [superscript: covered] with many villas, palm orchards, and several other kinds of groves. The next day the Ambassador went to the bedroom that had been prepared for him. [margin: Hard upon his arrival] a house had begun to be made ready in his name where he would reside during his sojourn in Goa. It was on the same street as [margin: the Colégio] de São Boaventura, very close to the house where he had stayed before sailing to Hormuz. At this time the city of Goa was suffering from a terrible epidemic in which a great number of people died every day. Many people, especially those who owned country villas, fled the city because of the great fear that had gripped everyone. The disease had erupted in November of the previous year. Its first symptoms were a slow fever with a slight chill, accompanied by a great dissipation of the humors.166 [fol. 493v] On the third day, the afflicted became delirious, many of them dying on the same day. Most of the ill people did not live through the fifth day and almost no one endured seven days. And while many people survived, almost none [superscript: were] of those [text blacked out] who had been delirious; the disease was wholly fatal among this latter group. Some of the stricken people came down with other, more benign fevers from which it took them many days to recover, after twenty, twenty-five, or even thirty bloodlettings. This vicious epidemic would clearly have been identified as a terrible plague had it been highly contagious—though it certainly was contagious among those who contracted the malignant fever—and had parotids,167 or abscesses, [not] appeared on the glands. But among the rest of the vast numbers who were stricken and the many who died from it, it was certainly a plague in the truest sense of the word. It reached its pinnacle after seventy days, toward the end of January, after which point it began to abate somewhat. But later, around March, it returned more cruelly than before, persisting through [text blacked out] most of April, which was about the time of the Ambassador’s arrival in Hormuz. By then more than 2,000 people had died from the disease, not counting the natives of that land.168 The city was almost deserted, most of the citizens having fled with their families to the countryside, along with many of the soldiers who had come with the fleets. The malignant quality of the fever persisted until the onset of winter, which came on nearly a month earlier than usual. Winter normally begins between the 10th 166  See p. 134 n. 232. 167  The MS has parotidas, defined in the DA as “a preternatural tumor situated behind the ears” [translation ours]; see DA, 5:133, s.v. “parotida.” 168  Bubonic plague broke out in Goa in 1616, and lasted for eight years; see Smith, Oxford History of India, 390.

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and the 14th of June, but this year it burst forth with great fury on May the 15th, dumping heavy and continuous rain with terrible winds, the likes of which had not been seen for many years. The previous winter had seen only a very limited amount of rainfall, [fol. 494r] resulting in a general scarcity in the food supply, both in Goa as well as in the surrounding countryside. But despite the fact that the epidemic lessened noticeably with the change in the air, occasioned by the many rains and winds, the fevers did not altogether cease, many of which displayed the same malicious symptoms as before, whereas even the most vicious plagues are known to come to an end at the close of their limited period and time. The doctors could find no sure cure for this illness, especially during its zenith, [superscript: save] frequent bloodlettings. Many robust people and many who were not stricken with such a virulent strain of the disease lived through it, but only after twenty, twenty-five, or thirty bloodlettings. Many people even died because they were bled so much. But what became eminently clear was that almost everyone who was purged died soon thereafter, and hence the physics no longer used that treatment. It was also learned from experience that both purging and frequent bloodletting tended to kill the sick; in fact, fewer of the Kanarans and poor of the island died who were afflicted with the disease, even though they greatly outnumbered the Portuguese in the city, because they were so undernourished that hunger alone killed them. Yet what most warrants comment regarding this epidemic is that during all this time almost no one died on the greater island, whose palm groves are populated by an infinite number of these Kanarans, nor did the Portuguese who lived in the many country villas and houses scattered around it, the entire force of the disease having been concentrated on the residents of the city, not only because of its poor design and setting, which—[text blacked out] [superscript: as] has been mentioned in an earlier description—is pestilential and unhealthy, but also because of the treatments given to the diseased, which ended up harming more than helping them. Yet on the Bardes and Salcete peninsulas, so close to the island of Goa, no trace was found of the epidemic with the same poisonous quality as the disease that coursed through the city this year was found during this time, nor was it found on the whole of the more proximate mainland, though it is normal for several malignant fevers to strike there. But this year, because of some hidden evil quality, the city was more susceptible than in years previous. [fol. 494v] [May 1620] On the 9th or 10th of May, the servants who had remained behind in Hormuz arrived. Among them was one who, though [superscript: presumed] dead, was almost completely healed from his wounds. This brought great joy to the Ambassador’s house, and to him particularly, since [text blacked out] he had assumed that his servant was dead. His wounds had

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been more than dangerous; [margin: they] had been absolutely mortal, [superscript: considering] their location. The name of the servant who had sustained them was the aforementioned Diogo Lobo.169 He received his wounds on the evening of the same day the Ambassador’s patache set sail from the anchorage. He had been sitting in the doorway of one of the married settler’s houses with a friend, the owner of the house, which was next door to the Ambassador’s lodgings [text blacked out]. All the men were unarmed, and Lobo was so relaxed that he sat conversing with his back to the street, with the others facing it. Suddenly a man passed by who was so heavily cloaked that although it was not yet dark they could not recognize him, nor were they even aware of his approach. He turned into a narrow alley that led to the Ambassador’s house and came running back out into the street with two other men, one of whom had a sword in his hand. Diogo Lobo did not notice him and was unable to defend himself when the other stabbed him in the back right next to his spine. The sword not only passed right through his body, but also through his left arm, which was lying in front of him, leaving him with four wounds. And the sword was driven home so truly and with such force that the hilt struck the victim hard on his back, the entire blade protruding so far from the front of his body that [text blacked out] it easily could have also wounded one of his companions who was facing the street. The wounded man screamed, rose to his feet, and began charging up a stairway that led to his chambers to take up his arms when another of the three villains fired a harquebus at him from a distance of less than ten paces. Yet despite the close range, he missed; the ball struck a slave woman who belonged to the same married settler, whose name was Luís Gago.170 She had just stepped out of the house when the ball passed right through her arm. The two men who had been sitting with the victim did nothing but shout and duck for cover, [fol. 495r] as usually happens in the event of 169  Silva y Figueroa proceeds to relate the circumstances of the attack on this servant and his miraculous recovery. He does not mention Lobo’s nationality. His passing observations, here and elsewhere, about his household indicate a highly diverse group with multinational origins. It is clear that a reduced number of his household traveled from Europe on the outward as well as on the attempted and successful return voyage with him, which included a number of Spaniards. However, after arriving in India and in preparation for the embassy’s travels in Persia, the number of servants in his employment grew, which suggests a substantial increase in the number of Portuguese in his household and entourage. Since no other particulars about Lobo’s life, career ,or nationality are mentioned or available, we suggest that Lobo was most probably Portuguese and have suggested that possibility by providing a Portuguese spelling of his name in our index. 170  A Portuguese married settler, or casado, who fought and died at Hormuz; see Andrade, Commentaries, 220.

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sudden danger. The other men strolled slowly and confidently back to where they had come from. The injured man was given up for lost that night; he confessed his sins and was given the sacraments. But the next day he showed signs of recovery, and he improved for the next ten or twelve days, at which point the danger passed and he was able to sail to Goa. Two remarkable things should be commented about this case. First, nature highly favored the patient: his wound was situated at an equal distance between the lowest part of his back and his kidneys, the sword emerging six fingers above his navel in the central region of his stomach, and that is why he recovered so quickly. The second thing causes even greater amazement and would fly in the face of all reason even in the most barbarous nations in the world [text blacked out] where there is at least a shadow of equity and justice, and that is that even though the crime was so atrocious and was committed under such grave circumstances, not only were the essential measures not taken to solve it, but the victim and his companions were not even asked what happened, neither judicially nor extrajudicially. Two or three days before the onset of winter, the carracks and ships that had remained behind in Hormuz arrived. One of them carried Kay Solṭān, the ambassador sent by the king of Persia to Spain. During the period which the Ambassador D. García de Silva y Figueroa stayed in Pangim, which was until the 9th or 10th of June, [text blacked out] he crossed over to the other side of the river to the peninsula and land of Bardes one day at the beginning of winter, to watch a falcon hunting. It belonged to a Portuguese citizen from that place called Bernabé Ribeiro,171 who lived in a modest house on the shore 500 paces from Pangim, which is how far away the river, or sea, of Pangim is at that point. This falcon [text blacked out] [superscript: was much smaller than the tagarotes172 of Barbary] though it had the same form and appearance; it had already molted three or four times. It was captured in the air because there were no falcons on the island. It flew out of some palm groves and [fol. 495v] roused two jackdaws173 on a plain about half a league off. As has been stated, there are many of these all over the island; they are as big as the crows that are flushed by falcons in Spain, but these are harder to kill because they always find covert. In this case, in the place they were being roused, there were some thick and high thistles of the kind normally found all over India. They are green year round, and so prickly and thick that they create a kind of wall, which not only functions as a protection for the country estates, but also as a defense against 171  Nothing more is known of this person. 172  Barbary falcons (Falco pelegrinoides); see Newcomer, “Neblí, Baharí, Tagarote,” 147–48. 173  Eurasian jackdaws; see p. 408 n. 229.

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the enemy in fortresses. But the little falcon was so swift that it flushed the jackdaws from the thicket and delivered both of them to hand, and, because of the rain that fell later, it did not hunt a white heron174 that was spotted nearby, though Bernabé Ribeiro assured us that it could kill them quite easily. These falcons come to this island by crossing the mainland from the kingdom of Bisnagar175 and the coast of Mylapore176 in a heavy storm that normally hits on certain autumn days in India, especially on the coasts of São Tomé or Mylapore [text blacked out], known by the natives of India as Coromandel. They call this highly impetuous wind the Vara de Coromandel.177 It is intensely feared because of the many shipwrecks it causes among all those who sail these waters. The aforementioned Portuguese said that he had caught several merlins and hobbies, as well as some gyrfalcons of admirable size, some reddish and others white. This generous species is not wanting even in climes as hot as India—it is not only the cold northern regions that produce them. But what Don García de Silva enjoyed the most was a little sparrowhawk that had molted many times and that had also been captured in the air. It belonged to a young [margin: son] of the same man, and was so tame that it followed people while in the air without being tethered. He also claimed that it was a prima,178 but it was so small that it was no bigger than the tercels179 of Spain, though so spirited that people claimed he killed jackdaws with it, as well as the aforementioned white herons and ducks and small grebes. He said he had to secure it quickly because it was so spirited that it would attack any of these birds and bind them until it was secured. These white herons are as big as dorales180 [fol. 496r] or martinetes,181 and the small grebes are somewhat larger than teals.182 There are many of these birds in several marshes that are formed by the steady flow of water during the winter. The aforementioned Bernabé Ribeiro lives in the area described above, just within the limits of the city. He is married to a native woman by whom he has two sons, one thirteen and the other fourteen years old. Even at their young ages, they are formidable harquebusiers; their father is also extremely skilled, 174  Great egret, or the great white heron (Ardea alba). 175  See p. 218 n. 169. 176  São Tomé. 177  Lit. the “Rod of Coromandel.” 178  The first or second female falcon hatched in a nest. 179  In falconry, a male hawk of any species; see OED, s.v. “tercel.” 180  Iberian chiffchaffs (Phylloscopus ibericus). 181  Black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax). 182  Common or Eurasian teals (Anas crecca).

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and so they are able to kill every kind of animal that lives in the countryside. Apart from these they have every sort of net and other kinds of traps, with many varieties of decoys and lures that look like small owls and other caged birds. The man, his sons, and his two slaves are great masters in all these methods. The fish in the river are not safe from them either. They also have many fishnets and two boats, one much smaller than the other, with which they catch all kinds of fish. This good man fed himself and his family from this harvest and from the poor yield of a small palm grove, yet their lives were extremely happy and content. He was a little over forty years old, in extremely good health, and known by all to live a blameless life with no vices, a life that could quite justifiably be envied not only by those who endure so many dangers and troubles on such long journeys like the one from India, but also by those who are perceived to be happy and fortunate in the eyes of the world because of their great station in life and their bountiful temporal goods. After the Ambassador entered the city, the epidemic continued for many days, though it waned considerably after the heavy winter rains and winds had altered and improved the [noxious] harsh air. But the disease was not completely eradicated, for despite this year’s inclemency, Goa’s location is highly favorable for producing this very dangerous kind of malignant fever. At winter’s end everyone was particularly longing [fol. 496v] for the arrival of the great ships from Portugal. After the month of October passed, the Ambassador realized the great ships would be arriving late. But he wanted to set sail earlier than that. Since a new carrack that had been built in Pangim for the voyage would not be ready to sail until the end of January, he decided to prepare a caravel for his journey, despite her age and the inexperience of her crew. She had come from Portugal, bringing news that four carracks would be arriving in Goa that year. The Ambassador was also particularly persuaded to do this because he knew that the Indian ministers were ill disposed toward his departure, especially the governor, from whom he could detect not a hint of favorable response regarding the dispatch of the Ambassador or the amount of his stipend that he required from His Majesty for his journey. The Ambassador found it very difficult to get the governor to grant him even this undersized and ancient vessel, nor did the governor want her crew to sail back to Spain, arguing that they were needed in India. But in the end, through the intercession of some of the Ambassador’s friends, and especially because these sailors were paid enough so that their return voyage would not be hindered, the ship was finally given to him with the proviso that he fit her out at his own expense and that he pay [text blacked out] the sailors. All this took most of the month of November, during which time not a single carrack arrived—in fact, not a single one had come this whole sailing season.

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And although the caravel was in such a state that it seemed impossible to prepare her for enduring such a long voyage, the Ambassador made so much haste that, in a little more than twenty days, she was completely fitted out after being given two new side boards, many curved timbers, and a deck, despite the lack of soldiers, rigging, and sails. While everything necessary for the voyage was being prepared, several Portuguese who lived at the Banastarin Crossing and who were in contact with the Moors from the mainland offered to supply the meat that would be necessary for the ship’s stores. It would be smoke-cured to make it last longer and to render it more healthful than salted meat. It consisted of wild boar and beef from wild bulls and cows. In the foothills of the soaring Ghat Mountains, which lie six or seven leagues inland, there was an abundant supply of both kinds of meat, in addition to venison from deer and bucks, [fol. 497r] with many other kinds of game and other wild beasts, which have already been described. These hills are covered with very thick forests that are full of innumerable species of game birds, especially peacocks, pheasants, and francolins. The wild bulls and cows were a completely different species from domestic ones. Domestic bulls—not just the castrated oxen, but also those that were not—and cows are usually so tame that they are used all over India as baggage animals as well as for field work. And as was mentioned in the description of Goa, their horns curve toward their backs like goats and extend over their backs. They also have very [text blacked out] long heads and slender necks. These features, in concert with their other attributes, are evidence of their extreme docility. The wild oxen [margin: are] so big that each of them is as big as two big Spanish bulls. They are dark ash in color with a broad white stripe that begins at their mouths, runs down their necks and chests, and ends at their loins; some of them also have the same kind of stripe between their [superscript: nostrils] and their foreheads. Their heads, though massive, are not as big by far as those belonging to tame oxen, but they are incomparably wider, [margin: the nape of their necks and their necks being very thick, short, and erect], and their snout very blunt. Their horns are shorter, each one no longer than two spans, curving toward the front, and quite sharp at the tips. These horns are half a foot in diameter at the base, and all of them are pitch black. These animals are swifter than any deer or buck, and so fierce that quite remarkable claims are made about them; for example, it is said that they will furiously tear any man to pieces who is spotted by one of them. They are also very abundant, and to kill them hunters shoot them with muskets or harquebuses that are heavier than usual, firing from the tops of tall trees or from the thickest part of forests where they cannot be chased by the wounded beasts because the bases of the trees are so close together; from there they can safely fire their harquebuses as many

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times as necessary to bring them down. These wild bulls are so big, so fierce, and so different in shape and color from [margin: common domestic bulls] that they seem to belong to the same species as the famous bulls that inhabit the Hercynian Forest of Germany.183 Also found in these forests of the Ghats are great packs of wild dogs that resemble the mastiffs used to protect herds in Spain [text blacked out], though they are smaller. Almost all of them are dark brown, and judging from their bark as well as from all their other traits, they belong to the same species as tame dogs. They always travel in packs to defend themselves from tigers, which are huge and ferocious, as we have stated above, though not as terrible or as feared as the bulls. After the Ambassador had finished this account, he met a Portuguese soldier named [superscript: Fransisco] Carneiro de Alcaçova,184 who became highly skilled with a harquebus and killed many of these wild beasts [fol. 497v] while living in the countryside as a bandit and because of his inclination for hunting for many years. He informed the Ambassador that there were also several kinds of wild cats there, and that one kind in particular could fly 100 or 200 paces from certain trees, and that he had killed some of them. Their wings looked almost like those of a bat and were covered with fur like the rest of their bodies. And since this what was said to him seemed highly unlikely to the Ambassador, he begged the soldier to capture one of these cats dead or alive, which he did a few days later by sending one of his slaves, who was also a great hunter, to do so. He returned a short time later with one of them, which he had killed with a harquebus. It looked like a ferret, or one of those odd-looking creatures called a marten185 that one finds in large, old houses in Spain, which are [superscript: much] bigger than ferrets and weasels. The one delivered to the Ambassador was as fat as a cat, but longer; shorter in the feet with claws like a ferret; however, its tail bore an exact resemblance to that of a cat, only much longer. Its owner uses it to propel itself into the air, either from the ground or from the trees. Its head, ears, and snout looked like those of a marten, a ferret, or a weasel, and from both sides of its belly there originated a thick membrane covered with the same kind of fur that is found on the rest of its body. The membrane, which is four or six fingers thick throughout and 183  While we are unsure which species of bulls Silva y Figueroa is referring to in this passage, according to ancient writers, the western side of the Hercynian Forest was formed by the Black Forest of southern Germany. It followed the Rhine to the north and formed what was the accepted boundary of Europe at the time. It was not clear for them as to how far to the east this dense forest extended. 184  We have not found any additional information about this person. 185  The European pine marten; see p. 725 n. 129.

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as long as the distance between its hind and front legs, extends over its front and back feet. When it walks on the ground or in the trees, feeding exclusively on birds it finds there, it tucks these membranes up into its belly and pouch so that none of them can be seen. But when it flies, it launches itself by taking a great leap and stretching out its feet and hands like the wings of a bird. It then unfurls the membrane that was gathered beneath it on both sides, with which it takes to the air, sometimes flying even farther than what has been said, especially when it leaps from the top of a tall tree. The Ambassador ordered this remarkable animal to be skinned, and, after its hide was cleaned and cured, he ordered that it be preserved so it could be taken and displayed in Spain. Its fur is the same color as that of weasels and martens, but its tail had no more fur than that of domestic cats.186 In the foot and the foothills of these Ghat Mountains, opposite [margin: the island] of Goa, or the island of the Lesser Moon a little farther down, there springs a navigable river in which medium-sized boats can run, beginning one or two leagues from its source. Its water is so clear and pure that a very common tradition among all the Gentiles and Moors has it that it is a branch of the Ganges River, which runs through the kingdom of Bengal. And although [fol. 498r] the distance between the closest part of the Ganges and the springs that we are describing is 300 leagues as the crow flies, and although the two rivers are separated by mountains as high as the Ghats, these people are convinced that this river travels underground and emerges in the foothills on this side of these [margin: mountains] ten or twelve leagues before emptying into the sea, by which one means the strait that surrounds the island of Goa, as described above. What has convinced the Gentiles and Moors of this belief, which is an obvious delusion, is not reason or logic, but the simple conviction that the water of the Ganges is not only healthful, but, as all of them are convinced, divine and sacred. And since the water of this small river is also so clear and pleasing to the taste, and is shaded by the great variety of beautiful groves along its banks, they have not only decided that it derives from and has its origin in the Ganges itself, but they also call it by the same name. They travel by boat down this Little Ganges, as has been said, for nine or ten leagues, which has thick forests on both banks, as well as many other kinds of leafy fruit trees, such as orange, citron, and lemon, and the water is so unbelievably clear that, in addition to the fish that are seen in it, no matter how small, there is nothing on the bottom that cannot be seen clearly and distinctly, even though the water is two or three fathoms deep. And it can be determined from not only 186  This would appear to be a flying squirrel, species of which are found in the Western Ghats, including Petaurista philippensis and Petinomys fuscocapillus.

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how pleasant but also how cold the water is close to its springs, which is a very rare thing to find in India, if it exists at all, and from the further fact that no wild or harmful animals like crocodiles are found in it, that not only is it superior to the Ganges, but it is equal to the Pineios that runs through the Vale of Tempe187 in Thessaly. [margin: December 1620] The day before the Ambassador took ship, December 14th, the carrack Nossa Senhora da Penha de França188 arrived, captained by Diogo de Melo, with less than 200 men alive in her, and those very ill; more than 300 had died on the journey. They reported that after four carracks set sail from Lisbon at the end of March commanded by Nuno Álvares Botelho,189 a fierce storm separated them from the other ships before reaching the area around the islands of Tristan da Cunha, and they had taken the outer route around São Lourenço, not knowing where the other ships had arrived in port. 187  An ancient gorge in Thessaly celebrated by ancient poets as the hunting ground of Apollo. The Tempe Pass was the locus of several important battles in antiquity. 188  For the name of this ship, see p. 272 n. 74. 189  Nuno Álvares Botelho (1590–1631), Portuguese naval commander and administrator, and member of an interim governing council of India in 1629. He was one of the captains in the 1617 fleet to Asia and, as discussed by Silva y Figueroa, the captain-major of the 1620 fleet of a total of ten ships. For details of his actions and his biography, see Andrade, Commentaries, 194–317; Ferreira Martins, Crónica dos Vice-Reis, 334–5; Sousa, Nuno Álvares Botelho.

BOOK VII

[First Attempt to Return to Spain and Forced Return from Mozambique to Goa. Account of Loss of Qeshm and Hormuz. D. García de Silva y Figueroa’s Final Departure from Goa. 19 December 1620–28 April 1624] [December 1620] At daybreak on Saturday, the 19th of December, the caravel Nossa Senhora de Nazaré left the bar of Goa with a land wind from the north, standing west and north-west, but in such light airs that after three hours she made no more than one league from the harbor. The wind then veered to the south, though it too was so feeble that by five o’clock in the afternoon we had still not lost sight of land, which could not have been more than six leagues distant. [margin: The Ambassador] had fitted out this caravel, which had come that year from Portugal with advance warning, preparing her at his own expense to return to Spain. He had gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the caravel would be laden with nothing more than enough food and water for the sailors and his servants for the voyage. Yet she had been so greatly overburdened that as she made her offing from the bar, no room was found to mount eight small pieces of artillery that she carried for defense, even though two days earlier the Ambassador had ordered the master and the gunners to make them ready, as they would be necessary the first day of sailing in order to ward off Malabar corsairs, who always lay in wait just off shore. Sailing on this caravel were thirty-one mariners, along with the officers and three gunners, not to mention several slaves and fifteen or sixteen of the Ambassador’s servants, ten or twelve of his personal slaves and pages, and, lastly, the chaplain and a Franciscan Capuchin lay brother named friar Filipe. At the aforementioned time of day, the caravel being nearly becalmed, a grummet began crying out that he had sighted eleven Malabar prows off the bow. At once many others who were with him spied them as well. They approached us both under sail and rowing. There was much shouting amid general confusion and commotion on our ship. Everyone was caught off guard, and the small waist of the caravel was so crowded with bundles of cinnamon, boxes, and barrels that there was no room to prepare all that was necessary in such a short space of time. The racket brought the Ambassador onto the deck. After remonstrating the sailors and servants for the agitation he witnessed, he

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The Reconstructed Route of the Embassy’s Aborted Return Voyage, 19 December 1620 – 28 May 1621 20°0'0"E

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Malindi Mombasa Pemba 15 Feb – 14 Mar Mafia Kilwa Zanzibar Quirimba Ibo

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Map 10 The reconstructed route of the embassy’s aborted return voyage, 19 December 1620–28 May 1621.

ordered them to mount the biggest guns in the bow and to ready the stern guns to protect the helm; there was no room or place for the rest of the artillery. The master of the caravel wore her round, putting her stern to the wind in order to gain time to make things ready. During the short space of time this provided, the Ambassador ordered the sides, prow, and veranda1 of the caravel to be stacked with bundles, boxes, and all the ship’s bedclothes. He also ordered the few people on board to take their places at these posts with twenty muskets and nine or ten harquebuses, and the ship-boys and slaves to take their places 1  The ornately carved balcony on the outer stern of the ship common to caravels.

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in the waist. He then had [fol. 499v] all the cookware from the galley filled with water and brought out, together with all the blankets and other cloth, dripping with water, in order to extinguish any blaze that might be ignited by the many fire grenades these corsairs were known to throw into the vessels they attacked. The bonnets were struck immediately, since the most dangerous thing that could happen was for the boards and sails to catch fire.2 All this was accomplished in short order. The caravel then wore round again and resumed her previous course, heading straight for the enemy. But as soon as she began to put about, the enemy shortened sail and held fast, which was exactly contrary to what good logic dictated they would do. And when they saw us aim our bows at them, they stopped chasing us, made sail and headed for shore. The sun had set by then, and before long the master and several other seamen rushed over to the Ambassador to tell him in the most anxious tones that the pirate prows had again [margin: made sail] with the purpose of chasing us all night long with the little breeze that was blowing, sailing and rowing, in order to close in on us at first light and engage us, and that therefore it would be best to put about and make for port. It seemed highly unlikely to the Ambassador that, adding the distance we would be able to travel that night to our current distance from shore, which must have been six leagues, the corsairs would venture that far from land. But since the rest of the crew agreed with the master and the sailors, he would have ordered them return to port, recognizing that the mariners were afraid and disconcerted, if one of his servants, a Gutierre de Monroy by name, had not pointed out to him that the closer they got to shore the more certain a morning encounter between their caravel and the prows would be, and that by sailing farther out to sea they would find more wind later that evening. His observation, while perhaps not expressed as eloquently as merited by its content, was endorsed by the Ambassador, who ordered that they continue their course west by north-west, and that all hands keep watch all night long on the positions that had been assigned to them. On this occasion of vigilance and uneasiness, the Ambassador saw no one who was more ready, spirited, and self-assured than the Franciscan lay brother. Before nightfall the corsair prows were clearly seen to be heading back toward the coast near the area of the Queimados Islands. We sailed all night as a south by southwest wind increased a little. [margin: 20. 21. 22. 23.] On the 20th, 21st, 22nd, and the 23rd, we sailed under freshening south and north winds blowing from the sea and the land, somewhat brisker than the day before. On the morning of the 20th, the ship was sixteen leagues from land, with no enemies in sight. During the night the 2  Recall that bonnets were attached to the bottom edge of the courses.

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caravel was watched over on all quarters by the [margin: seamen] and the Ambassador’s servants. Neither the chaplain nor the friar were exempt from this duty, and by day one of them tended the fire. People were awake at all hours of the night, besides those who steered the ship. After the second day we stood west by north-west to give a wide berth to the shoals of Padua [fol. 500r] and north-west to the needle one point or more. The currents also ran toward this shoal, so that ships always steered west on this course. [margin: 21] On the 21st, St. Thomas’s Day, we were nearly becalmed until evening, after which the wind stiffened a little more than on previous days. [margin: 24] On the 24th , Christmas Eve, the wind veered northward, and though the breeze was light, we sailed close-hauled west and north-west. Several alcatrazes3 and frigate birds were sighted, probably coming from the shoals of Padua; no fish had been spotted to this point. The pilot took the sun’s altitude at less than 15 degrees, positioning us forty leagues from the closest shore, and sixty from the bar at Goa. At four o’clock in the afternoon, the north wind, which blew gently, stiffened enough that we knew the monsoon had arrived. We continued in the same fashion all night, the caravel rolling heavily, especially to [superscript: larboard], because the wind came across the opposite board and because she was slightly torqued in that direction, so that even when she was equally and well laden she always leaned over to that side. [margin: 25] On the 25th, the same north and north by north-east wind, with the same force as the previous night, though the sea was choppy and there was heavy rolling, and since the wind came more on our beam, we sailed better, our bows pointing westward. The sun’s altitude was taken at 15 scant degrees. [margin: 26. 27.] On the 26th and 27th, north-east and easterly winds, ­almost sailing with the wind, heading west and south-west with a very full monsoon. Still no fish to be seen, but a few alcatrazes and frigate birds in the air. The second of these two days the sun’s altitude was taken at 14 degrees and a third. [margin: 28. 29. 30. 31.] On the 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st, the same wind with high seas and the same heading as on the two days previous. There was no perceptible heat by day or night; rather, the weather was remarkably clement and the water quite cool. All drank much less these days than usual. The pilot ordered that between dusk and sunset a lookout be made for the desert shore, along which we had been coasting by day since the last day of this month, heading west and north-west, and by night steering south-west in order to not run imprudently aground on it. No fish of any kind were seen. The sun’s 3  Cape gannets; see p. 83 n. 111.

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altitude was taken on the last of these days at [margin: 11] degrees. We had already passed the island of Socotra and Cape Guardafui4 on the left-hand side, though the only signs of the latter were the abundant alcatrazes. [margin: 1 January 1621] 1 January 1621, the same north-east and east by north-east winds; the ship approached the coast by day and fell back by night in the directions that have been indicated. We were close to land by the pilot’s calculations, and he assured us we would raise it the next day. And though we were [fol. 500v] quite close to the Equator, not only was it not hot, it was actually cool, especially for those on the night watch. The altitude of the sun was taken at 10 degrees. A few small flying fish were sighted. [margin: 2] On the 2nd, just after sunrise land was sighted off [margin: starboard], a place that is commonly known as the Desert, a low sandy coast running north-east by south-west. We then stood south-west and south, and in two hours it was lost from sight. On that day, it happened that a cat, which had been brought on board from Persia by one of the Ambassador’s servants, was riding in the caravel’s starboard skiff with several grummets to whom the cat’s owner had entrusted it; four hours before land was sighted, it got up on the board of the skiff with its head raised and remained there for four hours, with its face fixed for a long time in the direction where land appeared, with no one able to remove it thence. One of the sailors [margin: present] deduced from this that the coast was very near. The altitude of the sun was taken at 8 and one-half degrees. [margin: 3. 4. 5. 6.] On the 3rd, 4th, and 5th, maintaining the same course, heading at times south by south-west, the gale freshening and blowing against the stern so much that the ship could hardly bear her sails. Through the last of these days we experienced the same kind of spring weather one finds in Spain, both by day and by night. The altitude of the sun was taken at 1 degree on the southern or Antarctic Pole side of the Equator, and an increasing number of birds and some fish were now seen. [margin: 7] On the 7th, the same wind, steering the same course to the south-west and south. The sun’s altitude was taken at 3 degrees. At five o’clock in the afternoon a great many dolphins were seen off the stern of the caravel, though because they were far bigger than usual, the sailors said they were the species popularly known as toninhas.5 They jump as high as a fathom out 4  Cape Guardafui is the headland of the Horn of Africa peninsula in north-east Africa that forms the easternmost geographical projection of that continent. The Horn of Africa is located to the south of the Gulf of Aden and projects hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea. Off the tip of this cape lies the archipelago of Socotra in the Indian Ocean. 5  The sailors’ preferred term for dolphin; see p. 73 n. 85.

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of the water and then dive back in head first, with their tails raised. They appeared to be a fathom and a half long. The second pilot joined the Ambassador on the veranda, and the latter, who was very closely observing the size of these dolphins, and their extraordinary leaps, told him that without a doubt the stiff wind was about to fall off. And suddenly, just after the second pilot responded that such was impossible, the wind did in fact fall off. It became as gentle and light as the first days after our offing from Goa and remained so all night. [margin: 8] On the 8th, less wind, inclining to calm. Later, an hour before noon, it resumed as feebly as before, falling off even more by evening, and though the air began to warm up, it was quite tolerable. The altitude of the sun was taken at 4 and one-quarter degrees, [fol. 501r] the cities of Mogadishu and Barawa having been left far behind on the right-hand side. The pilot calculated our position at forty-five leagues from the coast of Barawa, although it subsequently appeared to be much farther away. By this time, we were on an east-to-west line with the city of Barawa. The sailors began harpooning a few small gilthead, which they generally call palometas.6 [margin: 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.] On the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th, we sailed in light breezes, even though they blew out of the north and east by north-east. We were becalmed most evenings, but with the aid of the currents, which ran toward land to the west by south-west, we ended up at a little less than 10 degrees on an east-west line with Cape Delgado7 on the last of these days, leaving behind on the left-hand side the shoals of Patron8 and the Arco Islands,9 and on the right-hand side the islands of Zanzibar, Mafia,10 and Pemba.11 A good number of birds came into view, smaller and larger than alcatrazes. They looked like [margin: a cross] between geese and grebes, though their bills were longer and sharper with a little bend in the tip. They were so unsuspecting and incautious that they flew over and perched on the top of the 6  Lit. “little doves.” 7  See p. 123 n. 210. 8  Probably present-day Providence, an atoll found in the Outer Islands of the Farquhar Group of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, located at 9°14′S, 51°03′E. 9  The present-day Aldabra Islands, a group of uninhabited and extremely large isolated coral atolls found in the Indian Ocean off the coast of East Africa and to the north of Madagascar, part of the present-day Seychelles. They are located at 9°25′0.05″S, 46°24′59.94″E. 10  Mafia, like Pemba, forms part of the Zanzibar archipelago located off the Swahili coast of East Africa, located at 7°51′0″S, 39°47′0″E. This island has never been considered part of or belonging to Zanzibar. 11  Pemba, an island in the Zanzibar archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the Swahili Coast of East Africa located at 5°10′0″S, 39°47′0″E.

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mizzenmast. During this whole interval, the officers, the friar, and the chaplain stood on the poop deck that sits directly underneath the mizzenmast, together with several of the Ambassador’s servants. And here, by [margin: day] and by night, these birds allowed the grummets to catch them with their hands, without flying away. The birds would stare attentively at them as they approached, but as soon as they were captured they would let off loud, ear-splitting shrieks, pecking ferociously at those who held them in their hands. At times the people would disport themselves with them after tying their wings down and letting them loose in the ship’s waist, where the grummets and slaves would play with them. Some of the slaves were cruelly injured by the birds during this recreation because they were nearly naked and screeched almost as loudly as the birds. The birds pecked especially viciously at a little dog that was also sporting with them. The dog, which had been brought on board by his master, Francisco Muñiz, who traveled with the Ambassador’s servants from Goa, jumped overboard, the ship being very far from land. It swam for a long time until it was rescued by some people who had been moved to compassion. This was like the case of Xanthippus’s12 dog, when the Athenians fled from their city to the island of Salamis. But the dog on board the caravel met a happier end—it lived. These foolish birds continued to come and alight on the aforementioned place, more frequently during the day, though they were usually captured even though the Ambassador ordered that they not be harmed and that [fol. 501v] several be let go. But the sailors killed them in order to skin them. The soldiers were after the thick down that lay [margin: beneath their feathers], as has already been described regarding the birds called antenales and the crows from the Cape of Good Hope that were a well-proven protection against chills and a comfort to the stomach.13 It was quite remarkable that these birds, which might more accurately be called marine geese, could have perched much more safely farther away, say on the lateen or topmast yardarms. Yet they insisted on roosting very close to humans, three or four often huddling together while jostling and [margin: pecking at each other] to push each other off, though it

12  Athenian strategos (commander in chief or chief magistrate) of Athens (480–479 BC) during the Battle of Salamis (20 September 480 BC), and father of Pericles, not to be confused with one of the Pericles’ sons of the same name. Plutarch relates that Xanthippus was forced to leave his dog behind as the Athenians fled to the island of Salamis in the face of the Persian offensive. His dog was so devoted that it swam after his master’s trireme the distance of the mile-wide straits of Salamis and died from exhaustion as it reached the shore; see Plutarch, Lives, 5, Themistocles, 10. 13  See p. 105 n. 164.

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is a very hazardous place for them, so much more powerful was the novelty of the singular sight of men’s faces. [margin: 16] On the 16th, after having passed the previous evening in a great calm, which lasted until ten o’clock in the morning, we made very little progress, or none at all, with very gentle breezes. We headed west in order to catch sight of land, the current aiding our voyage. The sun’s altitude was taken at 10 and three-quarters degrees, between Cape Delgado and the Quirimba Islands.14 The feeble breeze waned just after sunset, and the sea became calm, remaining so all night long, the air feeling hotter. [margin: 17] On the 17th, the same breezes returned, though intermittent and meager; heading west. At daybreak it turned out that during the last days the ship had been far at sea, as subsequently became apparent by how long it took us to sight land. The pilot had been greatly deceived, thinking that after we had sighted the Desert, the currents were pushing us toward land. As a result, he endeavored to constantly steer away from land and so, doing so much more than was desirable. And whereas he thought land was only twenty or twenty-five leagues distant, it was later found to be more than sixty leagues off, for the coast runs west by south-west from Cape Guardafui and south-west after reaching the Equator until Cape Delgado. Yet by heading south-west we later found ourselves very far at sea. Also contributing to this situation were the currents, which were later clearly seen to run to the south-west down to the shoals of Pinda,15 which are located between the Quirimbas and Mozambique. From there, they were clearly seen to run south. At nine o’clock on this day, the Ambassador was on the veranda of the ship when a fish of remarkable size and very strange aspect appeared forty or fifty paces off the stern. Its head and part of its body were above the surface. It had a big fin like those of other fish. No one part of its body was more elevated than the remaining parts; rather, it was even all across, a fathom high and two fathoms long. The rest of its body was under water, but it swam close enough to the surface [fol. 502r] to reveal an indication of its monstrous size: it appeared to be more than seven eight [margin: or ten] fathoms long. Its head was disproportionally large compared to the rest of its body, [margin: though the part] of it which could be seen although from up close was bigger than half a hogshead, and it was quite bowed, making a deep turn toward its mouth, which was very 14  The Quirimbas archipelago off north-eastern Mozambique, close to Pemba; see p. 116 n. 189. 15  These shoals are formed by the coral reefs fronting the east African coast off Mozambique from Fernando Veloso Bay to Cape Loguno. They are a very dangerous navigational threat and are given a wide berth when possible. They are located from 14°13′–14°15′S and 40°47′–40°50′E.

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low, its snout facing upward. Its mouth could only be seen [superscript: occasionally] when it made heavy grunts and snorted like a pig, spouting a vast amount of water into the air, but not like a whale or other cetes16 and [margin: sea] monsters, which spurt water in sudden, thick concentrated spouts through a hole in the top of their heads. Rather, its spray was rather like that from a watering can, creating great clouds of fine mist with the huge quantity of water that it cast upward. As it did so [superscript: it did not expose] all of its mouth, but only its snout, or labium superior, which, together with the shape of its head, precisely resembled the depictions of dolphins as they are drawn in some books, especially those of Aldo Manuzio17 in Venice. This cetes came very close to the stern, within thirty paces. It headed directly for the stern, then veered off to the west while making great snorts and spraying water, as has been described. Within a quarter of an hour there appeared another fish that looked just like the first one, swimming in the direction the other had gone, and although it passed within 200 paces of our position, it was incomparably bigger than the first, both in its head and in what could be seen of its body and fin, much of which was visible in a great leap it made out of the water, causing a loud noise and spraying bigger clouds of mist and making louder grunts, though it was farther away than the first one.18 The altitude of the sun was taken at 11 scant degrees today. Our day’s progress was minimal, and we were becalmed all night, as on previous evenings. [margin: 18] On the 18th, daybreak was accompanied by the same calm until about noon when the faint breeze [margin: that usually blew freshened a little]. We followed the same course and there was no difference in the altitude of the sun. But after sundown the wind picked up somewhat. Everyone watched attentively for land, being convinced that he had sighted it, though later it turned out that from such a great distance what everyone had taken for mountains were actually clouds. The wind, though gentle, blew all night long, heading south-west. [margin: 19] On the 19th, calm at daybreak until an hour before noon when a north-east breeze began to blow; heading west. The sun’s altitude was taken 16  Latin for “large sea creatures,” which fall into the infraorder Cetacea, comprising whales, dolphins, and porpoises. 17  Italian humanist (ca. 1450–1515), printer, publisher, and founder of the Aldine Press in Venice, and inventor of italic type. Silva y Figueroa refers here to the printer’s device, a dolphin wrapped around an anchor, representing the motto Festina lente “Hasten slowly.” 18  While this passage does not provide sufficient information to identify this creature, the location, its size, and its ability to leap out of the water suggest it could be a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae).

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at a few minutes shy of 11 degrees, and at two o’clock in the afternoon the first of the Quirimba Islands were sighted. It is a lowland with a few palms. A good deal of gilthead was taken off the bow, one of them four feet long. We were becalmed almost all night. [fol. 502v] [margin: 20] On the 20th, a little before dawn, a north wind blew for two hours, followed by the same calm until eight o’clock, when it began to blow anew. We made more progress than on previous days, heading southwest. The sun’s altitude was taken at 12 degrees. The wind blew in the same direction all day and all night. The birds had by now left us, though more fish were sighted. At six o’clock in the afternoon we passed the last of the Quirimba Islands on our right side. [margin: 21] On the 21st, the same north and north-east winds, the coast being visible as well as a few high mountains inland, far from the coast. The sun’s altitude was taken at [margin: 13 and one-sixth degrees]. The pilot calculated our position at eighteen leagues from Mozambique. He ordered that we lay anchor that night in order to avoid passing Mozambique without sighting the harbor where its fortress is situated, and thus miss the opportunity for the Ambassador to inquire after the carracks that departed from Portugal last year, since, as has been mentioned, only one of them reached India.19 We ran down the coast at no more than a half a league’s distance, the land being covered with thick brush right up to the sea, most of it being trees, among which there were ebony20 trees where great herds of elephants and other wild beasts dwell. The land is completely flat, the verdure of the trees presenting a pleasant sight. There is good anchorage with a depth of twenty-five fathoms along this entire section of coast [margin: less than half a league from land], and no sandbanks or other shallows between here and the shoals of Pinda, which we left behind the day before. As soon as the sun set, the Ambassador suggested to the pilot that it would be entirely unsuitable to lay anchor unless such was absolutely necessary to avoid backtracking into the wind. Instead, it would be better to drift with the main topsails and take periodic soundings, and if the depth was shallow, we should head a little farther out to sea so that the next morning would find us 19  See p. 469. 20  A finely textured, dense black wood, capable of sinking in water, which is supplied by several different species of trees of the genus Diospyros. When polished, it produces a smooth finish that made it a valuable ornamental wood. Some of the species that Silva y Figueroa would have encountered might have included those native to Mauritius (Diospyros tesselaria) and those native to southern India and Sri Lanka (Diospyros ebenum) some of whose subspecies also yield a striped rather than an evenly black wood.

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close to the Mozambique inlet. The pilot agreed to this, and crowded on all sail until the end of the first watch, when the topsails were taken in. Just before the second watch, the second pilot, the master, and the other sailors determined that we were very close to Mozambique and that it was possible to pass it before daybreak without being able to put into bay there, and consequently they convinced the pilot to lay anchor. Thus at the aforesaid time they laid anchor in twenty-eight fathoms less than half a league from land. The Ambassador awoke to the noise made by the seamen. In answer to his query of what was happening, they informed him that they had anchored because they were very close to Mozambique. They did not dare enter the bay that night, and thus we remained there till morning. [fol. 503r] [margin: 22] At dawn of the 22nd, we found ourselves half a league from land. After weighing anchor and standing to the south in gentle east by north-east airs, we gradually made sail toward the coast, which was just as green and lush with trees as we had seen the day before. On a small stretch of beach, a great number of blacks, all of them naked, could be seen gathering shellfish. The altitude of the sun was taken at 14 and a half degrees. The pilot calculated that we were no more than four leagues from Mozambique. And since this day was the conjunction of the moon,21 at two o’clock in the afternoon the breeze, which as has been mentioned, wafted from the east by north-east, fell off even more, and in less than an hour blew from every direction: east, south-east, and south, until it finally settled on south by south-west, blowing directly against our bows and freshening until nightfall, when it veered south-west. And since the caravel was not strong enough to lie to, the decision was made to cast anchor in order to avoid losing our southing. This we did in twenty-two fathoms of good gravelly bottom, closer to land than the previous evening, and though we struck just one anchor and the wind freshened greatly, the sky being covered with clouds to the sound of distant thunder, the ship was secure with the prow always heading into the wind with the current flowing astern. The anchor dug in firmly without dragging at all. The Ambassador ordered that if the wind stiffened so much that the anchor began to drag, the pilot should not moor us to another one, but should rather weigh the first one and run with the wind all night because we were so close to land, and because the caravel was too old to withstand the mooring. But although the sea was heavy, the wind was doused by a heavy downpour off the bows and remained calm the rest of the night. [margin: 23] On the 23rd, the same south-west wind prevailed. The skies were very cloudy and drizzly, and though it seemed impossible to make Mozambique, which was approximately three leagues distant, the pilot ordered 21  I.e., there was a new moon.

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that we unmoor the caravel. We made sail, beating up against the wind, until we sighted the bay and the islands at its entrance. Tacking four or five times, we entered the bay after grievous toil and labor. At first the island of Mozambique came into view a league off, and then its fortress, and as the breeze was too feeble to sail by the inlet, we came within half a league of it and laid anchor in eight fathoms between the island of São Jorge and a point of the [margin: mainland] situated a thousand paces from it called Calabacera. There is another island [fol. 503v] about a thousand paces to the left of São Jorge called São Tiago. Both of them are small and deserted, though there are a few green trees. Cabaçeira, the Portuguese name, is a peninsula connected [superscript: to] the mainland of this the eastern coast of Ethiopia [superscript: by a] narrow strip of land that is occasionally covered by seawater at spring tide, though in such small amounts that one can walk across it without any difficulty whatsoever. Fruit that grows on the mainland is transported to Mozambique along here, as are Spanish grapes, figs, and legumes, and especially a great deal of drinkable water. [margin: It was reported] that there was no water on the island except what was stored in the cistern of the citadel.22 The island of Mozambique is so small23 that it is [margin: less than half a league long] and less than half that again in width. It lies north to south parallel to the mainland, [superscript: between the mainland and the island is the inlet that comprises the port]. The island is a desert, lacking water, and thus fails to produce victuals aside from a few palm trees. The rest of it is made up of flat sandy beaches. On the tip that faces north there is a reasonably good fortress,24 though not as well designed as present-day fortifications should be. And from what could be seen, and according to reports, its area is no bigger than that of the fortress of Hormuz, although the ramparts, which total four, are somewhat bigger and better shaped, having an acceptable terreplein. The same could be said for the curtains that run between them. On the landward side, the distance from sea to sea here being no more than 150 paces, whose defense is the biggest of the ramparts, called São Gabriel. And though a very wide and deep moat could have been dug for it across such a short distance when the fortress was being built, this was not done for many years until it was 22  Mozambique Island, located at 15°02′12″S, 40°43′58″E, a critical way station for the fleets of the Carreira da Índia, was too small to accommodate their needs. Cabaçeira and Mossuril on the mainland coast had supplies of fresh water and became sites for Portuguese settlement; see Newitt, History of Portuguese Expansion, 104. 23  The island is two miles long by a half mile wide. 24  Fort São Sebastião, constructed between 1588 and ca. 1608.

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besieged thirteen or fourteen years ago by the Dutch.25 After bombarding this rampart, the Dutch easily drew close to it and mined it, for though the fortress was built on stony ground, the rock was not solid; a few feet down they ran into loose gravel and earth. But the mine had little effect: as the few Portuguese and peaceful blacks that were inside the fortress defended it [margin: valiantly], the enemy withdrew and departed from the island after suffering heavy damage. Afterward, succeeding captains of the fortress have attempted to dig a moat on the aforementioned side, but the rampart, lacking an escarpment or sufficient base, grew weaker the deeper the moat was dug, and a [fol. 504r] large section of it fell in. At present a very large an escarpment [superscript: is being built] is being made from the base of the moat in order to remedy this damage. This task is being undertaken mainly at the hands of Jácome de Morais,26 an old soldier from India, who at that time was the castellan of this fortress. The harbor, which is between eight and ten fathoms deep, lies between the fortress and the mainland. The city can be seen from the port. The city consists of hundreds of just [margin: 150] houses, some of which are made of stone, but the rest have been built with sticks and have thatched roofs, like those in Muscat and those belonging to impoverished village residents on the island of Hormuz. The people of Mozambique are of mixed race, among which there are some Moors and a few Portuguese. The land is extremely poor and completely wanting in foodstuffs, which is the chief reason why so many people die who come here to winter from Portugal, being unable to make the coast of India in monsoon season. The climate of this island has been unjustly defamed. During the three days the Ambassador spent in this anchorage, it was much cooler even with the sun at its zenith than it was on the days after we reached the Equator and entered well inside the channel of São Lourenço.27 And because the wind, which, as has been mentioned, beat against the bows during this voyage, and because the Ambassador wished to know whether the carracks that had failed to reach India had put in at this island, or if anything was known about them or about the English and Dutch fleets, he ordered two signal cannons to be fired toward the fortress. Immediately the captain sent the constable of the city and another soldier out to the ship in a canoe. The 25  For accounts of the Dutch East India Company’s attacks on Mozambique in 1604 and 1607–1609, see Newitt, History of Portuguese Expansion, 169–71. 26  Jácome de Morais Sarmento, Portuguese administrator and captain of the fortress on the island of Mozambique. He had served in India, but he arrived in Mozambique in August 1620 from Portugal and apparently served there until he was replaced by Nuno da Cunha; see DRDA, 7:199–200. 27  See p. 93 n. 125.

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Ambassador wrote a message to the castellan and entrusted its delivery with the soldier, requesting that he inform him regarding these matters and that he send him five or six barrels of water, because the mariners had run out. [margin: 24] The next day, the 24th, the castellan sent the Ambassador all the victuals that would have been difficult to find even on a bountiful island, including the most beautiful and tasty figs that could ever be found in many parts of Spain. They were grown in corrals, or small gardens, belonging to some of the citizens who do no more than irrigate their fig trees with fresh water from the mainland. These residents of the island, both the Portuguese and the natives, have so little ambition that they grow just a small amount of this fruit, though they could have an abundance of it, as well as an abundance of native grapes, which the soil would easily yield with the same treatment. The south by south-west and southerly winds blew furiously, bringing a few downpours, [fol. 504v] the sky heavily overcast. The Ambassador waited there three or four days of the moon’s age to see if the storms would pass. On the morning of the 26th, the castellan wrote to tell him that the flagship carrack and the carrack São Amaro had gone on to Mombasa, and that the latter had foundered upon entering by the sandbank, the blame belonging to the pilots. The people, the cannons, and the king’s funds had been saved. He added that the rear flagship and the other ship, which as we have said reached Goa, had become separated from them off the coast of Guinea and it was not known what had become of them. He had not received any word regarding the Dutch or the English, besides what he had heard from a Moorish pangaio28 that came over from the Comoros Islands, namely, that two foreign carracks had put in at that island on their way to India, but it was not known what their nationality was. Among other refreshments that the castellan Jácome de Morais sent the Ambassador were some wild hens, freshly captured from the woods on the mainland. They looked [margin: very different] from the chickens that live in the Indian countryside. These are from Ethiopia, and though they are somewhat bigger, they are white and brown with very small spots. Their heads are smaller than those of domestic chickens, with a very short and thick crest that does not extend very far out from their heads, but which is bright red and covers most of their heads. Part of their necks is also covered with [margin: a blue and green membrane]. And though these birds are very strange and beautiful, and look quite wild and lively, when they are put in a cage they become very tame and gently eat whatever is fed them out of one’s hands.29 28  A kind of raft; see Y&B, 668, s.v. “pangara, pangaia.” 29  Probably a variety of guinea fowl of the Numididae family.

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[margin: 25. 26.] On the 26th, we set sail from the aforementioned anchorage under a south-west and south wind at six o’clock in the morning, heading south-east, but with very light airs, keeping the point of the mainland on the southern end of Mozambique Bay in sight all day, and making more headway with the currents than with the wind all night. By morning we had moved just far enough to lose the mainland from view. [margin: 27] On the 27th, wind blowing from the south-west and south, heading south-east and south by south-east with extremely light breezes and terrible heat. The sun’s altitude was taken at a little less than 16 degrees [superscript: from the Equator], though with great difficulty because it was so close to the zenith. It seemed impossible for us [margin: to have gained so much altitude], even with the aid of the currents. Almost completely becalmed that night with excessive heat. [margin: 28. 29.] On the 28th and 29th, the [superscript: same] foul weather with south, south-west, and south by south-west winds, which only succeeded in rippling the sails. We feared that the currents would fail to carry us as far as the Sofala Bank30 and that we would fail to raise the island and shoals of João da Nova31 leeward or windward, though the caravel made sail the little she could [fol. 505r] to the east by south-east and east, one point from true south-east. The people were all extremely fatigued, especially because of the great heat that increased with each passing day. They suffered the same travails by night. The pilot could not take the altitude of the sun on these two days as it followed us straight overhead, nor could we distance ourselves from it. There was no wind to carry us south except for the light breezes that had diminished as we approached the Equator. On the 30th, [margin: 30] at the beginning of the dawn watch, the wind rose in the north-east with a few clouds, a little less gentle than on previous days, but enough to make reasonable headway southward. It blew in this fashion until eleven o’clock in the morning, when it began to gradually reduce, until at two o’clock the sea became dead flat and the heat intolerable. We were unable to take the altitude of the sun, the same as on other days. A few alcatrazes and other birds were spotted, as well as small pieces of wood and plants, but one could not positively assert whether these signs proceeded from the island of João da Nova, the coast of the Kaffirs, or island of São Lourenço, nor could we ascertain which of these coasts was closest. Just before sundown, the sky being heavily overcast with thick and heavy clouds, a small breeze began to blow, 30  A shallow body of water whose average depth is 20 m (66 ft) and is located 148 km (92 mi) off the coast of Mozambique at 19°46′12″S, 35°47′24″E. 31  Also known as Saint-Christophe, located at 17°03′16″S, 42°43′30″E.

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just enough to allow steering of the ship. After nightfall we headed south-east, which was the worst possible bearing for our voyage. Later the breeze freshened and we made sail, heading south-west and south, with thick storm clouds and lightening striking [superscript: in a few] places. Before midnight the wind backed to the east by north-east, somewhat strengthened; we sailed with slack bowlines32 to the south and south-east, the topsails and spritsail furled, until a little before the dawn watch when a downpour from the north gathered so much strength that it was necessary to shorten the courses, running with just the foresail at half-mast, but after it dumped a great load of water, the wind backed again to east by north-east and diminished until it was milder than at sundown. We sailed under it following the same heading until daybreak. On the 31st, the same wind without strengthening, heading south. The sea to starboard was choppy and frothy, filled with grass and sticks. These were signs that we were not far from land, [margin: which the pilot thought] to be the coast of São Lourenço. The day was cloudy and consequently the altitude of the sun could not be taken well, though it was absolutely [fol. 505v] necessary to determine the altitude precisely in this perilous place. The same wind continued the rest of the day and all night without clouds or downpour. Heading south and south-west. [February 1621] [margin: 1] Daybreak of the first day of February saw a little more breeze from the west and north-west, heading south. At nine o’clock in the morning, a thick log more than two fathoms long was descried to starboard. It looked like it had been tarred and carved. There were two large birds on it, and since the caravel bore away to leeward, we could not get close enough to see if it was the wreckage of a ship. The altitude of the sun was taken at [superscript: 2] degrees [margin: and two thirds from the zenith]. The breeze slackened two hours after noon, veering to the west by south-west. The caravel beat up against the wind to the south and south-west, and at four o’clock the wind veered to the south, one board of the ship facing [margin: east by south-east and the other west by north-west]. At this point, immediately after sundown, we ceased making progress because the sea flattened out like glass. The air felt hotter these days than before, producing great languor in all. [superscript: Just] before the end of the second watch a breeze began to blow a little from the north by north-east; it subsequently freshened from the north. We ran before it heading south. This favorable wind continued to brace up until it became stronger than any we had seen after the monsoon ended before reaching Cape Delgado. We ran before it all night. 32  See p. 85 n. 111.

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[margin: 2] On the 2nd, the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady, the same north wind persisting. We continued along the same heading until four o’clock in the afternoon when the wind slackened considerably, with a few cross seas, the caravel rolling heavily. And though this stronger wind was following, when it came time to take the altitude of the sun, its position was found to be no more than 3 and a half degrees [from the zenith]. It could have been 5 degrees, according to the wind, because the tide may have risen directly from the south against the wind, preventing the ship from making more headway and causing it to pitch more. The rest of the day and all night we sailed with this spirited wind, the air clean and clear, though the head sea rose higher and higher. [margin: 3] On the 3rd, St. Blaise’s Day, the same north wind continued, the head sea increasing so much that no one could keep his balance because of the heavy pitching of the ship. It was by now obvious that an enormous storm was moving in from the south and that the heavy swells were being impelled from outside the channel by a wind much more furious than the one that was pushing us along, and thus when the altitude of the sun was taken at 4 and two thirds degrees [from the zenith], it was clear how much the head sea was hindering [fol. 506r] our progress. Even with such a fine following wind we were not moving any farther away from the Equator. In fact, at that time we were just a little over 21 degrees from it, to the north of the first of the frightening and dangerous Bassas da Índia.33 And although the pilot and his mate calculated our position as being very close to the coast of the island of São Lourenço, it had always seemed to the Ambassador that ever since we had made sail from Mozambique Bay we had sailed closer to the mainland of the Kaffirs, for in addition to having no wind the first days except for very light airs that were not strong enough to [superscript: prevail against the current], [margin: we also immediately saw sure signs of land: reeds, leaves, and other debris. This confirmed that we had not penetrated the channel very deeply], and that after [superscript: making sail all day from Mozambique], standing to the southwest, when night fell we had not lost the mainland from sight. It was plain that the currents had carried us close to the coast, and although we maintained the same course for two more [superscript: days] and continued to see the same signs of land, which obviously proceeded from the coast of the Kaffirs, the pilot believed they were from São Lourenço. It later became very clear that they were not, however, because these signs—or even a trace of them—failed to appear during the last three or four days, nor on the days just before that, while there should have been more of them, and bigger ones, the closer we came to the island, which the pilot and the second pilot calculated was so close. But if 33  See p. 122 n. 208.

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one considers the feeble breezes we had the first six days, and everything else that has been mentioned, it was more likely that our position at that moment and on the following day when the storm hit was almost in the middle of the channel, parallel with Cape Correntes and the Bassas da Índia, and very close to the shoal itself. It is a matter of great negligence on the part of those who have been sailing this route for so many years in this channel that not only the shoals of India and João de Nova, which lie on an [superscript: almost] north-to-south line in the middle of it, remain unmarked, as do the Sofala and the São Lourenço sandbanks, each of which extends between sixteen and twenty leagues into the sea. The rutters generally used by most of the pilots fail to indicate the depth of the shoals that lie farthest out to sea and in the middle of it, and of those closer to shore, [fol. 506v] and this is why so many ships have been lost on this route, the pilots being blind as to how deep the [margin: shoals] are that lie farthest out to sea, or in the middle of it, or closer to shore. The swells increased all of this day and the following night, despite the wind remaining the same. The caravel pitched and rolled so violently that it seemed it would break apart. [margin: 4] At dawn on Wednesday the 4th, the sky was overcast. The same north wind continued to blow, though much weaker than before. [margin: The swells] sea was [margin: were so thick and high] that a great ship under full sail could not be seen at less than a hundred paces. And the most remarkable and prodigious thing witnessed that morning was the swirling and roiling of the waves, crossing and running in every direction, and the water boiling hot as if heated by fire, which was verified when one of the Ambassador’s chamber boys scooped some up in a leather pail. In consequence of all this, especially from the appearance of the swells, the Ambassador speculated that a storm was very certain and proximate, and that it had commenced far away to the south, caused by a great underwater earthquake as is wont to happen with great storms. He had stepped onto the caravel’s veranda34 or corridor, as was his custom every day, which, aside from being bigger than what was necessary on such a small craft, was very low and close to the water, so that with the rolling of the ship—though the fury of the swells struck against the prow—the waves were as high as the planks underneath it, and so the Ambassador retired to his chamber. But no sooner had he done so when a heavy wave struck the starboard side of the balcony with such fury that it gave a mighty crash, filling the floor with water. It would have swept the whole thing away had 34  Balcony; see p. 771 n. 1.

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the battens35 securing it so firmly not been reinforced by two iron braces as high as the poop deck, which the Ambassador, seeing how low the balcony was, had ordered to be installed in Goa. At ten o’clock in the morning, the north wind that had been wafting us along suddenly failed and clouds darkened the southern sky. The mariners took in the spritsail, topsails, [margin: and bonnets], leaving only the courses, thinking the storm would be a short-lived squall. A little before eleven o’clock, such a ferocious gust struck from the south with terrible storm clouds and swells that it tossed the half-careened caravel and pushed her bows around to northward. The pilot, along with the [fol. 507r] others, thought we were close to the mouth of the channel, ready to pass the southern tip of São Lourenço, and were thus convinced of our successful passage. They therefore attempted to lie to in order to keep from drifting off course, thinking the squall would soon pass, and consequently they proceeded to put one board to the east. But the fury of the storm and the waves, though it had not yet turned as ferocious as it later would, quickly forced them to shorten the courses, and, with the lateen storm sail in the foremast, run with the wind. The wind grew harsher by the minute, and though there were still [margin: four hours] of daylight left, the sky was so black it was as dark as night. Immediately a thick and heavy downpour struck with such a din that it sounded like a horrible earthquake. Everyone believed that most of the storm would spend itself after unloading so much water, but the opposite proved true: it actually seemed as though the sea swelled with the vast amount of water that fell, altering it so much that high mountains were heaped up and deep vales were hollowed out. Night fell before its appointed time, pitch black and stormy. And still the downpour did not cease but continued to build. The caravel began to ship water. The battening of the hatches proved ineffectual—everything stowed below in crates and berths became soaked and ruined. The waist and [text blacked out] quarterdeck filled with water, for in addition to what fell from the sky, great torrents of sea water slammed against the ship from all sides—it would have been impossible for her to withstand such a massive and violent storm had she not been running with the wind, or had she been laden with more cargo. But with the storm increasing in ferocity with each passing moment, at around midnight, the Ambassador having taken himself to bed fully dressed to rest a while, a furious wave crashed against the larboard side of the poor caravel so violently that it sounded like it had splintered the stern dead-works36 next to the Ambassador’s berth. The caravel rolled to starboard, just short of capsizing. Not only the bed, but the chests 35  A strip of wood used to fasten canvas over the ship’s hatches. 36  The portion of the hull that rises above the water line.

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and everything else in the Ambassador’s berth were turned upside down. A pitiable cry was heard throughout the ship, for everyone thought we had capsized. The jolt was so heavy that it knocked two seamen who were manning the helm to their knees, and the ship began to drift. The wave also extinguished the lantern above the binnacle37 and knocked the needle clear, leading to great general confusion and tumult, with people screaming for a light. Fortunately the needle was later recovered, undamaged. There was much confusion and noise. The Ambassador, who had also fallen, got back on his feet and ordered that a lantern be brought from his berth [fol. 507v] that was always left burning at night. And though it had fallen and rolled onto the ground, the candle inside had not been extinguished. They used it to light several candles and pieces of torch that had been ordered to be prepared in Goa for just such eventualities. With the needle replaced and with illumination from the candles that several of the Ambassador’s servants held in their hands, the sailors took hold of the rudder once again and attempted to steer. But so terrific was the blow received by the ship that for a good length of time she stopped dead in the water.38 The caravel rolled heavily from side to side, and we were fortunate to not have been pummeled by another wave, because any significant wave would have completely capsized a ship even much bigger than ours. After this brief respite, the wind and rain returned with much greater fury and such tremendous noise that one thunderclap could not be distinguished from another. They merged into one frightful and confused roar, mixed with the deep cracking of the deadwork on the south-west side of the ship. Indeed, it seemed miraculous that the dead-work did not completely shatter and break apart. The sailors and the rest of the people were not sure whether the ship was still sound. They wondered if she had lost rigging, sails, yards, or masts, or if she could run with the wind, or if we were lost. They scurried to the poop deck for shelter, thinking it was the safest place on the ship. Many men went to the chaplain to confess their sins, while others, having lost heart, huddled together with some of the officers of the ship. But others attended to their assigned charges with lively promptness, though naked and so drenched with water that it was truly amazing how much they toiled that night. The Ambassador, fearing that the caravel was shipping water perilously from the beating of the giant waves, especially because she was so old, though she had been greatly reinforced in Goa, ordered the carpenter and another sailor to go below with a lantern to make a careful inspection. But finding the ship sound, with only some rain and seawater washing aboard from the waves, he encouraged everyone by telling them they need not fear 37  A wooden box that housed the ship’s compass. 38  I.e., the rudder was unresponsive.

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for the ship, for most of the water she had shipped was fresh, from what was sent down from the clouds, which at that time seemed ready to burst. This furious downpour continued for fourteen continuous hours. The rain did not cease for the next two days and nights, nor did the cruel wind slacken one whit but rather appeared to build up even more. The caravel could not hold up even under so little canvas on the foremast. The bowsprit was riding under the surface of the sea, and half the lateen storm sail was clewed up, rounding just enough to break the waves and fly through the sea. The rest of the night was spent amidst the shrieks of the crew, the confusion and the din in the air that has been described, until at daybreak, when it was only a little less dark and frightening than at night. [margin: 5] On the 5th, the waves and the wind continued with the same fury without abating as on the previous [fol. 508r] day and night; in fact, the mountains of water were even more terrifying, followed by depths equal to their prior height. It was well that the ship was small and lightly laden and that she could run with the wind. The heavy swells were unable to dash against her because they kept pushing her forward, and she glided over the surface of the sea, easily rising up each time, no matter how deeply she was thrust down. Today was felt to be an improvement because the rain did not pour down as heavily as on the previous afternoon and evening, though it never ceased. The storm did not subside at all, nor did the dark clouds clear from the sky. The night was very much like the preceding one, the storm continuing to build. Items were broken that had survived the previous night: chicken coops, crates, and barrels (in addition to what was below the deck), the waist, the awning, and the Ambassador’s berth. And the people were so exhausted and wet, some of them wounded by blows they received by the aforementioned objects, that it seemed too much to endure. The 6th, [margin: 6] to avoid repetition, this calamity was like the previous days and nights; no one could stay on his feet, because of both the continuous toil and for the fact that no one had eaten anything these last three days except biscuit soaked in the incessant rain. Nothing else could be done. The 7th, [margin: 7] Saturday morning, the rain stopped, though the foul weather continued. The sky was not as dark, and it gradually cleared until at noon the sun appeared and all were permitted a brief respite. We broke open some provisions to refresh ourselves somewhat. The sun’s altitude was taken at 1 degree from our zenith, though the pilot reckoned that we were half a degree from it, and according to his calculation we would not reach the latitude of the island and shoals of João da Nova [margin: until evening] because we were on an east-west line with it, most certainly nearer to the coast of Ethiopia, or the coast of the Kaffirs. The swells and wind continued, but in the light of day

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they did not seem as big as before. It was absolutely necessary for us to strive to make Mozambique, to wait out the fierce storm in that port. The Ambassador recognized that we were windward of the coast and that it would be best to stand into the mouth of the bay. He thus advised the pilot to steer one more point to north-west, because the wind, which was already blowing nearly out of the south-west, would cause us to bear away a whole point to north-east, and consequently there was no danger that night of [fol. 508v] running aground. But the pilot, a most loutish and obdurate man, either because he feared the Angoche Islands,39 or more probably because he was perverse, despite the fact that he knew what the best course of action was, aimed our bows northward as he had during this entire storm, without considering that the south-western gale that blew so ferociously would waft us to leeward, as mentioned above. The Ambassador [superscript: also believed that] since we were farther behind, we would not be able to attain the altitude of Mozambique Bay until noon of the following day if we continued sailing in the present way all night. On the 8th, [margin: 8] at the break of day we found ourselves more than ten sea leagues from the coast, not a single bit of it in sight except for one very tall mountain, many leagues inland, which the Portuguese sailors commonly call the Mesa40 because its top is an extended plain. This mountain is a sure sign for those sailing between Spain and India on this route. It signals to them that they are close to Mozambique because it can be seen from every angle and from a great distance. And although it is more than fourteen or fifteen leagues inland, the coast that lies opposite to it on a horizontal line is four or five leagues to the north of the island of Mozambique. There is another rounded mountain along the same line, even farther from the coast than the Mesa and much higher, which the seamen call the Pão.41 It is guaranteed that those who follow this course will not lose their way with such reliable landmarks. When the Mesa was sighted on this day, the swells being much smaller, we must have been even with it, meaning that the bay of Mozambique was to the south, more than fourteen leagues to leeward. The pilot was put out of countenance when he realized his [margin: error] in the previous night’s sailing—and a mistake it surely was—and he strove mightily to make the inlet on a very close reach, everybody toiling more than seven hours in the attempt. 39  The Angoche Islands are located off the northern coast of Mozambique at 16°14′38″S, 39°54′25″W. 40  Table Mountain, Nampula province, Mozambique, approximately 30 km (19 mi) northward of Mozambique Island; see Africa Pilot, pt. 3, 236. 41  Portuguese for “bread loaf”; this mountain is approximately 30 km (23 mi) to the west by north-west of Mozambique Island; see Africa Pilot, pt. 3, 236.

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But because of the wind, which was just a little weaker or sometimes even equal in force to the wind during the heavier part of the storm, not only was this [im]possible,42 but the wind was visibly wafting us to the north, farther and farther from Mozambique, so that before sundown it carried us within seven leagues of land, even with the Fernão Veloso River,43 which was 16 leagues distant. That morning the Ambassador kept an eye on the pilot, who was ashamed and harried. The Ambassador feared he might attempt to do [fol. 509r] something even more foolish in the hope of making amends for his previous errors. And so he sent word to him that he had no reason to be embarrassed about not reaching Mozambique, having performed everything possible within the limits of his station, for seeing that the wind was foul, it would have been impossible to stand in to the harbor, even if it had been close by and on his lee, and that he should therefore seek shelter in the inlet of the islands of Quirimba until the storm died out. But not only did he not do this, but, possessed by some evil spirit and overcome by some bestial obstinacy, ordered the [superscript: foresail] and mizzen sail set, and at sundown brought the bow around into the wind. Even though the waves were somewhat smaller, they were still huge and furious, striking almost directly against the prow. The pilot said he intended to resume the same course as before, beating up against the wind. The Ambassador, aware of what was happening, came out to prevent such immense temerity, if possible, but he could not because the pilot started yelling, insisting that he be allowed to perform his duty, and that he was determined to complete his voyage to Portugal, weather be damned. An agreement had been concluded in Goa by all the sailors and officers on that caravel, who together with the grummets totaled no more than thirty, as well as by all of the Ambassador’s servants, that each one would bring onto that little ship, which was already laden with the merchandise it carried, whatever profitable goods they had managed to obtain. They were all under obligation to repay loans made to them by a man called Francisco Muñiz to this effect once they reached Lisbon. The Ambassador had found room in the ship for this gentleman out of goodwill and because they had been neighbors in Goa, completely unaware of this arrangement he had made with his servants. In fact, the Ambassador had been especially particular in his orders that no one bring more than his usual clothing with him, because the safety of their small vessel 42  We have emended the MS, which has posible. 43  Fernão Veloso is the name of a city found today in Nampula province, Mozambique, approximately 40 mi north of Mozambique Island; see Africa Pilot, pt. 3, 236. Silva y Figueroa uses it to refer to the river and bay that are found there.

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could only be ensured by not overburdening the ship, so she could run lightly and speedily. He had repeated the same instructions to the mariners, conceding to each one space for just six quintales44 of cinnamon, which was more than His Majesty allows on the carracks returning from India.45 During the final few [margin: days before embarking], the Ambassador had been hurrying to make the caravel ready for sail and to get the governor to dispatch him; the latter kept saying he wanted to write a letter to His Majesty, but he never finished it, no matter how much the Ambassador pressed him. In fact, it seemed that it was his intent to detain him. This was confirmed to the Ambassador by several people. Finally the harbor master46 told him to make sail immediately and attempt to clear the bar. The time wasted in all this, though no more than five or six days, enabled each of his servants and the seamen, who saw that the Ambassador’s attention was diverted and occupied with this concern, to lade the ship with three or four times more merchandise than was allotted to each, and with no [fol. 509v] hindrance on the part of the servants he had delegated to prevent this, whom he had ordered to board the ship a week earlier than their date of departure from the bar. Thus on that same afternoon when the Malabar prows were sighted, not only was the entire waist of the ship encumbered with bundles, hampers, and barrels, but not a single piece of artillery had been made ready. Moreover, not a yard of open space was left for them on the first deck, for although the caravel had not been very heavily laden, as has been explained, and though later she was even less so, every vacant space had been filled with bundles of cinnamon, and these created more lading than the ship’s original burthen. The Ambassador was unable to detect or prevent this failing until the occasion that has already been described. During those final days all his attention had necessarily been focused on parting from Goa, the accomplishing of which appeared rather dubious. Everyone’s intense yearning to reach Portugal with his merchandise had blinded them all to what was such manifest madness, the blindness of the pilot leading even to rashness, to the degree that they all believed they could continue their journey from our current location against the winds and the waves. And thus the Ambassador desisted from preventing such great folly, so manifestly dangerous, and he returned to his cabin with great fear of being lost that night, during which the 44  See “Measurements.” 45  This is an allusion to liberdades, the common practice authorized by the Portuguese crown of allowing certain officers and sailors on Portuguese carracks to load and bring goods back to Portugal without paying excise duties; this was considered part of their compensation. 46  Portuguese patrão-mor.

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pilot attempted to tack to the south-east. The wind and the sea carried the caravel backward with such great fury that the next morning [margin: we found] that we had passed the Picos Fragosos,47 fifteen leagues from where the evening or night before the pilot had undertaken so unimaginable an enterprise. Afterward, almost everyone agreed that it had been a special beneficence bestowed by heaven that the ship had not capsized, not once, but many times. On the 9th, [margin: 9] with the seas flat and much less wind, we headed toward the Quirimba Islands two or three leagues from the coast, although it seemed less because of the land wind. And while we could have stood into the bay between Quirimba48 and Ibo49 on the first watch, we took in some sail, and arrived at daybreak within two leagues of it. At eight o’clock in the morning, we cast anchor in less than four fathoms, almost at low tide, a little [superscript: more than] half a league from Ibo, because it had a more comfortable harbor. These Quirimba Islands run more than thirty leagues to Cape Delgado in a bay that measures the same distance. There are many islands, some bigger than others, all of them more or less distant from the mainland, but with such narrow and shallow channels that one can wade across at low tide. And though each island has its own name, [fol. 510r] the Portuguese call all of them Quirimba indifferently because that was what the first one was called as one approaches from Mozambique. But as is noted, each has its particular name. Anciently they were inhabited by Arabs, as can now be seen from the many ruined houses and mosques that were carefully constructed out of lime, stone, and brick, as were the cities of Kilwa,50 Mombasa, and Melinde. But a few years after the Portuguese commenced their continual voyages to the Indies, they not only pillaged these cities, razing and burning them, but barbarously put their inhabitants to the blade with no regard to age or sex because of the ingrained hatred that Portuguese soldiers and sailors had for all the Mūhammadans. Even today a traditional fear caused by the wounds inflicted by Portuguese swords is preserved among some of the Kaffir and even Arab 47  The Portuguese called the Lupata Mountains in Mozambique the Picos Fragosos, meaning “craggy peaks.” 48  Quirimba is the name both of the archipelago and an island in it off the coast of East Africa; see p. 116 n. 189. 49  An island in the Quirimbas, off the eastern coast of Africa, located at 12°21′0″S, 40°38′0″E. 50  Kilwa is an island off the eastern coast of Africa that was occupied by the Portuguese in 1505. It is located at 8°57′36″S, 39°30′46″E. The captaincy was abolished in 1513 as the island of Mozambique became the base for the Carreira da Índia fleets.

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mestizos who currently reside on these islands. The islands remained desolate for many years until some Portuguese from Mombasa, Mozambique, and parts of India returned to live on them, driven by the thirst for extracting slaves and ivory, and the population grew to the current size, with a lord on each island. Each one is permitted dominion over his own island but is also subordinate to Mozambique, which is no more than sixty leagues distant, from where a judge comes to visit once a year. Each resident or lord of these islets has his own stone house made of lime and stone, and there he lives with his wife, children, male and female slaves, and several relatives or friends for company and security, since the blacks living on the coast are not far off at all. They are for the most part married to mulatto or black women. The lords of the islands share their profit with their suzerain in Mozambique. And because of the slaves they bring from India and their native Negro slaves, they are all furnished with harquebuses, muskets, and other weapons to defend themselves from the people on the mainland who from time to time attempt to come over and inflict harm on them. All of these islets are small, each of them with a circumference of a league or half a league. In most cases one can wade from one to the next at low tide, and though they are so small, they are very fertile, full of all kinds of trees— palm, orange, citron, lemon, and banana—as well as wells that give very good water. And even though the residents are quite indolent, there are Spanish fig trees that yield a crop twice a year, as well as grapes and every kind of garden vegetable legume found in India. Many other kinds of fruit from Spain would grow there if the Portuguese were better gardeners. Quirimba is the largest island [fol. 510v] in this small archipelago, and for this reason, and because it was the first to be settled, there are twenty-five or thirty houses on it belonging to Portuguese and mestizos with their wives and slaves. There are other separate houses on the other islets, but they are not placed together in the form of a village; rather they are grouped together in groups of two or three, the same as what was written concerning the island of Androth51 in Book I. But Quirimba has no single lord because there are so many residents. Each year one of them takes turn as judge. In addition to this preeminence, once every three years a Dominican friar comes from Goa to sing mass for them and administer the sacraments, for which purpose he has a hermitage in the midst of the houses. 51  A small, inhabited coral island located at 10°48′51″N, 73°40′48″E. Today it is incorporated into an area known as Lakshadweep, India, which is composed of thirty-six islands that were formerly divided into three groups of islands scattered throughout the Arabian Sea off the western coast of India approximately 198 km (123 mi) from Kozhikode and 293 km (182 mi) from Kochi. They were known as the Laccadives, Minicoy, and Amindivi.

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People also come there from the neighboring islands to confess their sins. Apart from the bountiful fruit and vegetables that grow on each one of them, beautiful cattle and goats are raised there and any number of birds, among which are found great flocks of wood pigeons and doves, so that the residents are luxuriously supplied with food, besides the flour and sugar that arrive from Goa with the sweets and dried fruit from Hormuz with which they are abundantly provided. The sea also supplies them with a profusion of good fish. The second of these islands is called Ibo. It is close to where the caravel weighed anchor, and while it is not as big as Quirimba, it has a more temperate and cool climate. It is one big garden with healthier water. The lord of this island, though his father was Portuguese, was born to a brown-skinned Indian mother, and he is half black, but an inherently good man. His name is Duarte Vieira,52 and he prides himself on being a nobleman because people with his last name come from the city of Porto in Portugal. This honorable man well deserves this modest accolade. He is [margin: like a second Mentor or Alcestis [margin:53 because of the particular compassion he shows to anyone who enters his harbor. None of the other islands affords a lee for ships to anchor save the one found in this inlet, though the ships have to be small; the bottom is no more than three fathoms at low tide in the deepest part of the channel. A few almadias arrived immediately from the islands of Quirimba and Ibo, having spotted the ship very early in the morning, suspecting at first that it bore enemies. But being assured that it was friendly, a clever and extremely sensible Portuguese youth from the company of Duarte Vieira came over to the caravel. He confirmed the news the Ambassador had heard in Mozambique, namely, that two great ships had reached Mombasa from Portugal [fol. 511r] and that one of them had been lost. These almadias54 are the kind used by the blacks who are subjected and enslaved to the Portuguese on these islands. These rafts are very wide on the topside, but their keels are very narrow. Some of the keels are so long that although they are made from just one piece, they are nearly as long as the canoes from side to side, like the ones from Goa, though the latter are wider in the mouth. Some of them are made of several boards lashed 52  We have been unable to find additional information on this person other than what Silva y Figueroa provides. 53  Odysseus placed his son Telemachus under the guidance and protection of his friend, Mentor. Alcestis, the title character in Euripedes’s play, volunteered to die in place of her husband; see Homer, Odyssey, 2.255–68; Euripedes, Alcestis, l.1–506. 54  Although almadia also means “raft,” it is clear that it is being used in reference to a canoe, which is its other meaning. Silva y Figueroa tends toward use of this term throughout for canoe.

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together with coir and caulked with pitch. The biggest ones are called coaches, although they roll so much they look like they will capsize at any moment. But the blacks consider them very safe, even in a rough sea, no matter how much cargo they load on them. That afternoon Duarte Vieira arrived, bringing the Ambassador water, oranges, lemons, coconuts, bananas, and several goats that were so good that not even the ones from the kingdom of Fārs or anywhere else in the world had the advantage over them. But the cow he sent over the next day was so excellent that no calf carefully fed with milk in Spain or Italy could compare in taste, tenderness, and color. And it was so fat that most of it was eaten roasted. And it is a very peculiar thing that even though these animals are calves, they do not attain this perfection until they are three, four, or even six years old of age, and even at that age they are not as big as most European calves, but provide more abundant food than all the tame and wild cattle that could ever be found there, no matter how good they might be. This excellent resident of Ibo has a very fine house consisting of rooms on both the ground and the second floors, big enough to accommodate his entire entourage, which is numerous and abundant. A fence made of stone and lime, two fathoms tall with its battlements, surrounds the house and a contiguous garden, serving as a parapet. He can easily defend himself with the weapons with which his household is always provided against however many blacks might come over from the mainland, though these are usually peaceful because of the trade they engage in, which has been explained. The Ambassador stayed there four days, during which time several Portuguese who lived on the closest islands came to visit, and from Quirimba, João Feijó, a servant who had served the bishop of Braga, D. Aleixo de Meneses, came to visit these islands in his capacity as the ordinary judge of Mozambique.55 And although he assured us that a fair wind could be expected for making sail any day now, everyone else insisted that the monsoon season was certainly over. Accordingly, the Ambassador’s desire was to wait in the harbor to see if the next moon would usher in the north and collateral winds needed to reach the Cape, and if it did not—that is, if all hope of the monsoon [fol. 511v] was lost—to head for Mombasa, and proceed from there to Goa in company with the carrack that had come from Portugal. And because of the reasons already referred to, the sailors and everyone else wanted to risk shipwreck by proceeding with their journey. The Ambassador would 55  D. Fr. Aleixo de Meneses was bishop of Braga; see p. 247 n. 12. Contemporary Portuguese documentation suggests that Feijó had been appointed the ouvidor (magistrate) for Mozambique and hence was not, as Silva y Figueroa suggests, the juiz ordinário (ordinary judge); see DRDA, 5:176, and 6:184.

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have liked to sail around the outside of São Lourenço, even though two difficulties would have to be surmounted: first, neither the pilot nor any of the sailors had ever taken this route beginning at the present coast; and second, this route was quite dangerous because it required negotiating all of the shoals alluded to earlier. However, following this outer route would take so long that when we finally reached the Cape of Good Hope, the caravel would not be able to weather the waves in a cross sea, in which case we would have to abort the journey and turn back to port. And thus he changed his point of view in the face of such evident danger, in possession of the further very reliable information that never had a ship put into that port and then taken the outer route around San Lourenço from Mozambique, Quirimba, or Mombasa, nor from any other city on this coast. During the four days we were detained, the reason being the high and low tides, which were more powerful than any in living memory, the caravel almost foundered twice at low tide. On one occasion, the rudder scraped bottom for a time, only to be freed up when the tide came in. In view of this difficulty, the bottom was sounded a little farther out, where two or three more feet of depth were found, the bay having an almost even depth, and the ship was anchored there, even though the advantage was slight. On the morning of Saturday, the 13th, [margin: 13] the pilot and the master told the Ambassador that there was a very good wind for continuing the voyage. Duarte Vieira wrote him a letter confirming the same thing from land, though this seemed improbable because the time of the new moon had coincided so closely with the south-west56 and south by south-west winds, and these winds had blown continuously for twenty-three days, counting today. Thus no noteworthy change could be expected until the next moon, when a change might take place, but which was also in itself quite dubious.57 And while fearing that all this would result in having to put in at Mozambique again and remain there many days, the Ambassador fearing this greatly because of its bad climate, he ordered that the ship make sail. [fol. 512r] We made our offing from the inlet under a land breeze, but no sooner were we less than half a league from the coast, the land breeze veered to the south-west and very shortly thereafter to the south by south-west, the same direction from which it had blown before. Everyone was despondent. A thick silence reigned, the Ambassador holding his tongue. The ship plied against the currents back to shore, and in five days stood into Mozambique Bay, casting anchor there at eventide, nearly in the same spot where we had anchored before.

56  The MS erroneously says south by south-west. 57  For the supposed relationship between a new moon and the wind, see p. 60 n. 46.

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On the 17th, the captain sent two pilots from land to bring the caravel into harbor as soon as he sighted her, for everybody was now saying that it was unavoidable to wait for a favorable wind, though as soon as the native pilots arrived they insisted that the monsoon had ended. The caravel was guided into port and laid anchor in eight fathoms of water 200 paces from the fortress and a little farther than that from the town, which at that time was seen to contain better houses than what had been determined earlier. The Ambassador spent twenty-four days there because the moon came in during this period with the same south wind, which was just as constant as ever. All the seamen in Mozambique, together with a pilot of a caravel that had arrived from Sofala during this time period, concurred with the black native pilots in thinking that it was by now impossible to round the Cape until the following year or until the end of the current year at the end of December. Although the Ambassador was convinced they were right for all the reasons just adduced, he chose not to enter the town, even though he was ailing and both the days and nights were excessively hot, because he was waiting to see if some favorable wind might not start to blow to attempt a passage through the channel, which is the most difficult aspect of this voyage. But the southerly winds continued without interruption. A hulk filled with Negroes that was headed for Brazil had left Mozambique together with our caravel when we put into port there the first time. She had desired to sail in our company until we rounded the cape. This cargo ship was one of two vessels in which [fol. 512v] the castellan of the fortress, Jácome de Morais, had arrived last year, the other having foundered in Luabo,58 one of the branches of the Cuama River. The hulk, which had made her offing at the same time as our caravel, was a large vessel of 500 or 600 tons. She carried that same number of slaves, plus sixty Portuguese, counting both sailors and merchants. By then they had been waiting several days for favorable weather for setting out with everyone aboard ship, and seeing that we had set sail, made her offing as well, though her pilot, who despite his tender years appeared [superscript: to be] conscientious in the fulfilling of his duty, had told the Ambassador the day before that the wind was unsuitable for making the voyage because it was too late in the season, and that he greatly feared that the monsoon had already come to a close. But since they had already loaded their merchandise and were consuming the stores they had stowed on board, they had to risk any danger in order to not run out. The hulk followed us steadily at a distance of one or two leagues. Since our caravel outsailed her, we carried our fore topsail shortened most of the time so we would not leave her behind, and, further, because the Ambassador wanted to sail in convoy with her 58  One of the mouths by which the Zambezi enters the Indian Ocean.

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as long as possible in case any mishap might befall them until she separated off and headed for Brazil. However, two days before the storm our pilot told the Ambassador that we were losing a great deal of time waiting for her, and that it would be better to hasten to reach sight of São Lourenço. Once there we could wait her for two or three days by sailing under shortened sail. As this seemed reasonable, we raised the sail that had been shortened, and in doing so lost the hulk from view. And as the [margin: storm that later struck] was so furious, everybody assumed that she had turned back to Mozambique or had been lost. And thus the Ambassador, along with everybody else, was anxious to discover news that day regarding the hulk. When they were told that nothing was known concerning her, everybody believed she had wrecked on one of the two shoals or banks, or that she had been swallowed up by the sea because she was so heavily laden with ebony and slaves. But the most plausible explanation was that, in view of how many people she had on board, she had been lost on the way back to Mozambique while risking the rounding of São Lourenço, taking the outer route, for although this would have taken much longer, it would have resulted in the shortest route to Brazil. During the time the Ambassador spent in the harbor he disembarked twice to inspect the fortress. It looked better than it had from a distance and better than the description of it he had been given, [fol. 513r] although it did have one defect, namely, the lack of a moat. And although another moat was being dug at that time, it failed to comply with the requirements of good fortification. Furthermore, the scarp of the São Gabriel rampart and the scarp of the curtain that runs to the Santo António rampart59 suffer from the shortcomings that have already been mentioned, to wit, they are shallow and weak. However, the most notable and visible drawback of this citadel, one which makes one wonder why it has not been remedied after all these years, is that almost directly over the moat, equidistant from both parapets, there is a small hillock that commands them and the same curtain. And though it gradually slopes away from it as it runs along the length of the São Gabriel rampart,60 it is never more than a little more than a hundred feet from it—in some places as close as sixty or seventy. It would hence provide any enemy not only with a secure defense as they took cover behind this hillock to escape fire from the fortress’s guns, but from there they could fire on the fortress with great ease, killing off the soldiers who defended it on the curtain and parapets. And since this whole hillock is made of soft earth, it would have been a simple matter to excavate 59  In the Iberian world, prominent parts of fortresses were commonly named after Catholic saints. 60  See p. 781.

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it and completely level it, leaving that entire area uncovered, especially with the great number of slaves in Mozambique, not to mention the many native peaceful Negroes from the Cabaçeira. And while both groups would work for low wages in labor of this kind, no effort has been made to initiate it, though even though it is so essential. During the siege the Dutch lay to this fortress just a few years ago, they fired at the fortress from this hill and then mined the walls. The hill, which lay so close to the fortress, also provided them with cover the entire time. During the Ambassador’s stay in Mozambique, and for some time before that, the moat was being dug at the same time repairs were being made from the damage inflicted on the São Gabriel rampart and the curtain that runs to the Santo António parapet by the Dutch with their mines and their artillery fire. During the siege, a long section of the parapet had fallen in that had supported the terreplain. But because the terreplain had remained standing, the Dutch called a halt to their assault, losing hope of taking the fortress. And though the [fol. 513v] broken and mined parapet was quite long, running the length of the whole fortress, it was the principal line of defense, and so the castellan lengthened it even more so it could accommodate more artillery and soldiers. The Dutch inadvertently left a significant boon to the town in compensation for burning it. Since they were soldiers, and as there was no water on the island, they dug several wells on the center of it at its highest part, finding quite a bit of fresh water in the wells, only digging what was needed for supplying water for the duration of their stay. Afterward, when the residents of the town left the fortress where they had taken refuge and returned to their houses, they were amazed to find so much fresh water in that part of the island, thinking it was a great miracle, because over all the years they had lived on the island there had never been enough drinking water, even in an emergency. But even though it is such an asset for them, they have neither dug the wells deeper nor reinforced them with stone around the perimeter or from the deepest part up so that they do not collapse and cave in, which is what is happening to them now as they begin to supply less water than they could, having been dug very close to the surface of the earth. And because they are so shallow, these wells are now commonly called as fontinhas, that is, the little fountains. The slave men and women who fetch water by hand have to dig in the sand to fill their water bags. Everybody claims that the water is as good as the water from the Cabaçeira and from even farther away, but even so the people lack the industry to provide themselves sufficiently with something as essential and necessary as water. The fortress has a cistern that is big enough to hold 20,000 barrels of water, which is collected from the copious rainfall, and after settling it is excellent, though not as cold as the water from the cisterns at Lār.

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Two days before the caravel arrived this last time in Mozambique, it happened that as a soldier was taking a dip in the ocean next to the fortress in water just above his knee, he was attacked by a marrajo61 that instantly tore him to pieces and ate him, the people near him unable to save him in time. And during the Ambassador’s sojourn there, these ferocious fish ate two blacks next to the town. They feed on human flesh, so that if someone falls into the ocean or goes in to bathe, he is instantly torn to pieces [fol. 514r] and eaten. This port is full of these marrajos, which, as has already been mentioned, are called tintoreiras by the Portuguese sailors.62 They have almost the same appearance as sharks, though they are much bigger and have bigger mouths and teeth. The year the Ambassador traveled from Hormuz to Persia, a few months after his arrival, two hideous fish were sighted close to the beach that faces west and runs behind the houses of the king and the vizier, close to the residence of the Dabholi, the agent from Dabhol who normally lives there.63 These fish were seen and observed very close to shore. Because they were so fat, it was surmised that they had eaten two or three boys and two sailors who were discovered missing around that time. It was believed by the residents of their houses that they had gone over to the mainland. But several Moors from Dabhol, having witnessed how big and ferocious these marine animals were, [margin: immediately grasped what must have happened]. After the agent gave them what they needed, [superscript: they made] two boats ready, and fastening a fathom of chain with thick hooks to the ends of two heavy, strong lines, and baiting each one with half a sheep, they positioned themselves close to where these creatures had been sighted. As soon as they cast their baited lines into the water, the fish instantly closed in and with great fury snatched the hooks and the meat without caution or fear of the many people that were in the boat. But though the fish fought violently after being hooked, the boats dragged them behind until they were exhausted, hauled to shore, and killed. It was said that they were a male and a female, and that nobody remembered having seen fish like them before. Their heads were round and bigger than a big bundle of rice, with mouths so huge they could swallow a sheep or a man. And though their teeth were no bigger than those of marrajos, they were arranged in several rows, beginning at the opening of their mouths and continuing far down their throats, the farther in the smaller. The size of their bodies was disproportionate to their heads, though the smaller of the two was twelve feet long and very narrow in the tail. Their bodies were black, yellow, and white. The 61  Mako; see p. 67 n. 67. 62  See p. 119 n. 196. 63  Dabhol is in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra in Konkan.

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sailors on our caravel claim to have seen two other fish resembling these swimming very close to the ship between Hormuz and Goa near Cape Musandam, though they thought they were much bigger and had the same coloring as the ones that were killed in Hormuz. The port of Mozambique is quite large. The coastline curves around toward the west one and two leagues from [margin: the island], and Cabaçeira is on the left side as one leaves the port, less than [margin: half a league] to the south, which is the other point of the mainland toward the São Tiago Island [fol. 514v]. There is actually another small island closer still that lies between them. [March 1621] Several days before our departure, two small galliots and a patache put in from Goa with south headwinds, but the currents helped them, though they had a rough time of it. The Ambassador, seeing that it was time to return to Goa, made haste to board the people who were on shore to make sail the next day, a fresh south-west wind blowing to make our offing from the port. On Sunday morning, the 14th [margin: 14] of March, we set sail from the bay under an overcast sky, and the south-west wind having freshened with our bows heading north-east, in less than two hours we sank the land, with only the top of the mesa remaining in sight. At four o’clock in the afternoon the wind veered to the east, bringing a darkened sky and then a heavy downpour, the wind strengthening so much that we were forced to shorten the topsails. The storm abated at the first night watch, and the wind backed to the southwest, wafting us north-east all night with a few light showers. On the 15th, [margin: 15] we followed the same course and wind, and at the same time as the day before and with the same easterly wind, we were hit by another squall the rest of the day, the wind remaining in the east for several weeks thereafter as the lord of this very vexing and scant monsoon. That night the wind turned contrary, blowing toward land, and so we steered to the south-west. From the [margin 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.] 16th to the 21st, becalmed, the wind sometimes varying between east by south-east and east by north-east, but so gentle during the short interval it blew that we scarcely made any headway at all, and thus we headed north-east or south-east very close-hauled. The pilot tried to make sail at night, heading east by north-east and east and north when the wind occasionally lifted back one or two points. But mostly we were becalmed at night, the air very hot. On the afternoon of Sunday, the 21st, a dark sky having threatened a storm all day from the east, the easterly wind finally unleashed a sudden and furious downpour, so unexpected that it granted no time to shorten the topsails, or, to speak more frankly, the obstinate hubris of the pilot was the cause of putting

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the caravel at significant risk of capsizing that day. The Ambassador had advised him earlier to shorten sail, seeing the darkness of the approaching storm clouds, but he refused to comply. [fol. 515r] All the Portuguese consider it great bravery and a point of honor not to shorten sail in a squall. But in an instant the wind veered with greater force to the north-west, blowing against the caravel under a full press of sails hard against her prow, and as the gale raged more furiously, the helm ceased to answer. The entire starboard side lay in the water with her yards and sails, and the ship almost completely capsized. Never had she been in such manifest danger of foundering. The officers and most of the sailors, thinking we were lost, could not manage to give nor carry out a single order that would improve our situation, and though others made an effort to shorten all sails, which were entangled because the wind had struck head-on, and because the masts were so far bent over, the caravel did not fall off the wind very quickly, and suddenly with a great crack the main yard came crashing down and the caravel righted herself and began to steer again. There was now time to shorten the rest of the sails and furl them, although the storm returned with the same fury of winds and waves from the east. The storm lasted for [superscript: almost] two hours, the ship running very close-hauled during this time north by north-east under just the foresail at half-mast. After midnight there was a new onslaught of wind and rain, though not as fierce, and of less duration. [margin: From March 22 to April 24] On the 22nd, the same easterly wind continued, but as gentle as on the first days, this breeze allowing some headway without our sighting the coast. The pilot reckoned our position at fourteen or fifteen leagues from land. The sun’s altitude was taken at 9 degrees. [March–April 1621] From [margin: March] 23rd to April 24th, the same easterly wind continued to blow, varying to the east by north-east and south-east. We either made precious little headway or sailed close-hauled, and some days we were becalmed in an intolerable heat, but well provisioned with excellent fish because of the many gilthead and albacore that were caught every day. Some of the latter were as big as tunas, the sailors barely able to land them, and the gilthead were the biggest that had ever been seen, some of them four and five feet long. On the afternoon of April 5th, while the Ambassador was on the balcony, the air nearly calm, he heard a loud noise to larboard. It sounded like many men jumping into the [fol. 515v] water at the same time. But when he got up to see what it was, assuming that some poor soul had gone overboard and that his fellows had dived in to rescue him, as often happens, he saw that the water in that spot was noisily churning, and that something was pushing great foaming plumes of water before it as when a big ship, rowed by good galley slaves,

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speedily breaks through the water. Just then a sea monster, whose shape could not be clearly determined, was spotted behind the foam and churning water, just over six feet from the balcony. All that could be seen of it was its back from its ribs or shoulders to the end of its spine, or the beginning of its tail. The part of it that could be seen was fatter than an elephant and more than four fathoms long. It was also the same color as an elephant, though a more fitting comparison might be with a large careened manchua, the biggest boats used in India, whose keels do not taper down at their lower ends but are arched like the underside of a dome, showing the black color of pitch. And though it was observed at such close range, there was no indication of fins or flippers like whales and other fish have; rather, it seemed to have the shape of a land animal by the way it swam and broke the water, swimming with four feet. The noise and the violent movement of the water it made were incredible. At the bottom of its back—nothing of its hips was visible—it had, instead of a tail, a certain thing that was pointed straight up and bent a little forward, of the same black color as its back, half a fathom long and thicker than a man. It did not taper off to a point but was like a section of round beam or the [superscript: base] of a fat tree trunk laid sideways or evenly sawed off. This kind of tail was no wider at its base than at its tip or end, but of even thickness at both ends. And even though nothing could be seen of its head, one could tell that it lay very close to its shoulders, like a pig or an elephant. From this point a great quantity of water shot up, not in spouts like whales, but in a spray. It emitted great snorts like the two big fish that looked like dolphins, [margin: or more accurately] [margin: physeteres],64 which were spotted on the journey from Mozambique and Cape Delgado. This prodigious [fol. 516r] monster was first spotted from the bow, and some of the Ambassador’s servants and some of the sailors came running to the balcony to see it better. They said they had never seen anything like it, nor had they [margin: ever heard that such a thing had been observed anywhere]. Even though the breeze was so gentle and contrary, after passing Cape Delgado, Kilwa, Mombasa, and Malindi, we crossed the Equator, arriving at 7 degrees to the north of it. [margin: 25 April 4th of May] On the 25th of April, until the 4th of May the same easterly wind, a contrary wind that blew toward the coast. Signs of land were spotted, and although our position was calculated at [text blacked out] [superscript: fifty] leagues out to sea, land was actually sighted four or five leagues to larboard, a flat and sandy coast. And though it was not directly ahead, the pilot became very agitated and turned us straight out to sea, standing to the 64  Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus).

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south by south-east for two days and nights straight. This caused us to drift so much off course that we subsequently found ourselves in danger of having to abort the journey. The Ambassador had vehemently insisted that the same course along the coast be held all day long in order to keep it in sight, and that at night we move away from land [superscript: under scant sail, holding the same south by south-east course], holding the course the pilot wanted and that at the break of dawn we turn back again to the north by north-west in order to find the coast again, which is what all the good pilots strongly urge should be done in this light monsoon. After sailing south by south-east and south-east for two whole days, the wind, which was blowing out of the east by north-east, suddenly veered to directly out of the south. At first it was gentle, but within a few hours it began blowing stoutly, and while it lasted, which turned out to be six days, we could have reached high enough latitudes to find a north-wester or one of its collaterals that would have wafted us to Goa within a few days. But though the Ambassador strenuously pointed this out to the pilot, begging him to follow his advice, emphasizing that the present wind would soon die out and that we should [margin: capitalize on it as long as it endured] to take us to a better location, he refused to do so, being a loutish and obstinate man. Instead, he headed straight for Goa, [text blacked out] steering east and east by north-east, confident that we would make better time sailing straight on, [superscript: unaware that experience had often shown that by following such a course] where the wind would take them we would drift south-west to where swift currents ran. This was confirmed the [fol. 516v] next day when the altitude of the sun was taken and we found ourselves a third of a degree farther to the south than on the day before. Two days later we had fallen off a full degree, so that not counting how much we drifted to the south by south-east and south-east during two turnings of the glass, we had drifted a total of one and a third degrees, despite the good wind. And though the pilot’s grave error was obvious, he stubbornly insisted on maintaining the same bearing as before. It was true that during the next three days, during which the south wind was not as strong as before, we fell off course much less because the currents, [margin: which ran contrary to this wind, increased in strength, overpowering the wind’s fury]. The wind finally died out after [superscript: the aforementioned] these six days, backing to the west by north-west, and the pilot, who partially admitted his error when he saw how far we had drifted off course, headed north-east and north by north-east, sailing with slack bowlines65 in a savage heat day and night. 65  See p. 85 n. 111.

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[May 1621] [margin: 26. 27. 28. 29. 30 of April. 1st, 2nd, 3rd of May] On the morning of the 4th, [margin: 4th of May] the island of Socotra was sighted six leagues to larboard, a very high and mountainous land like the coast of Arabia inside the Persian Gulf. The coast of this island that could be descried ran from the south-west to the north-east, and though we sailed within sight of it all day because of the feeble breeze, we failed to catch sight of its northernmost tip. But we could see that the farther we sailed the higher the coastal mountains became, until after nightfall we sank it under the horizon. Today the altitude of the sun was taken at 12 and a third degrees. At daybreak on the [margin: 5] 5th, the identical coastline appeared at the same distance that it had been sighted the day before, the end of the island to larboard still too far off to be visible, but at noon it was recognized that the mountains, which soared higher and higher, ended in a steep mountain whose peak and summit could not be seen because it was covered by a fog so dense it was like thick clouds. In the afternoon we saw that other very low mountains ran toward the north-west from the end of this towering high promontory.66 They faced the coast of Arabia and the kingdom of Kāshān to the north. We were by now so far at sea that by eventide the rest of the coast was lost from sight, but the highest part of the promontory was still visible, the summit of which was covered by clouds. Obviously this island was bigger than what was commonly believed, [fol. 517r] [margin: for] after it was sighted the day before, its one end at the south-west, more than thirty leagues of coast were seen, which is the length of the island on one side. That day the sun’s altitude was taken at 13 and a sixth degrees. On the morning of the [margin: 6. 7. 8.] 6th, we lost the island from sight, and heading north-east and east by north-east all that day and night, the heat very intense, the wind, though gentle, lifted back west by north-west, and we sailed by it the next two days and nights. On the second of those days the sun’s altitude was taken at almost 15 degrees. It was blistering hot all hours of the day, and there were fewer fish seen. On the 9th, the pilot considered that he was at a high enough altitude to position the course to the east and north-east, though the wind was weak. But because it was a following wind, he concluded that we would make more headway with that heading, especially because we had gained so much altitude, the sun’s altitude having been taken today at 15 and a half degrees. Today there began to appear a certain kind of white, round shellfish fringed with blue whiskers like bangs, which the sailors call tostões.67 They consider them a sign that 66  These are the Haghier Mountains. 67  Portuguese for “toasted,” usually referring to toasted bread or chickpeas.

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land is close, and many believed that it was close, especially in the afternoon when a serpent was seen off the bow. On the 10th, the wind dwindled a little before noon and we were becalmed the rest of the day and most of the night, deeply irritated not only by the heat but by the incredible number of mice and cockroaches. At the dawn watch, the west and west by north-west [wind] began to stir gently but almost dead against the bows. On the 11th, [margin: 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.] westerly and north-west [superscript: wind], and finding himself at the same latitude as Goa, 15 degrees and twothirds, the pilot aimed the prow due east, the wind now following us, but though we ran before the wind another four days—the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th—and in his estimation had sailed a fair distance, after everybody measured the altitude of the sun, it turned out that the ship had been gradually falling off course, losing altitude while she drifted to the south, and so we had [fol. 517v] to return to our previous height, losing several days doing so. On the [margin: 16. 17. 18.] 16th, 17th, and 18th, the pilot, shocked to see that we had drifted one and a half degrees off course, pointed the bows to the north-east, even though the Ambassador had been telling him for several days before this that in no case should he follow an easterly bearing, but rather that he should take us to 18 [margin: or 20] degrees latitude and closer to land, and from there steer south-east and east by south-east, in this way finding much surer and more certain sailing, for it was well known from much experience that in sailing west to east, which was the direction the pilot was following, one always encountered great difficulty, especially along a parallel equidistant from the Equator. And though there were mathematical proofs of this, such as contrary straight motion and sailing outside the center of the world on a lesser circle, these were not expounded to him because he was a boorish man who was completely incapable of comprehending them.68 Instead, the Ambassador strove to persuade him by telling him that all the other ships that sailed from Hormuz to Goa at this same time of year followed the same south-east and south by south-east course, making a speedy and happy voyage. But the 68  If a ship must cover a considerable distance (many hundreds of kilometers or more), the Ambassador’s approach would be much faster than beating against the wind, for two reasons. The meridians of longitude converge toward the poles; thus the closer one is to the Equator, the greater the distance one must traverse to accomplish a given change in longitude, which is what we take Silva y Figueroa to mean by “sailing outside the center of the world on a lesser circle.” Tacking is not only slow because one must take a zigzagging rather than a direct route, but also a vessel’s speed is much lower if it sails in a direction only 45 degrees from directly into the wind versus being driven by a tailwind. This may be what Silva y Figueroa is alluding to by “contrary rectilinear motion.”

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obstinacy of this enormously brutish man was so great that he could not be guided [margin: by any form of reason], and since there was no sailor on the caravel who knew how to assist at the needle, the Ambassador dared not order the ship to be steered as he saw fit. On the last of these days mentioned, the sun’s altitude was taken at a fourth of a degree shy of 16 degrees. On the [margin: 19] 19th, the same following westerly wind. No sign of land had been seen in nine or ten days, everyone being convinced that we were close to the coast of India, and almost upon the Queimados. But the Ambassador was of a contrary opinion, namely, that we were on the high seas, though not as far from land as it later turned out when it became evident that the signs of land we had seen so many days before had come from the coast of Arabia. And now because of the bewilderment and confusion of the pilot, many were becoming unsure of the success of the journey. Sometimes he would say we were 120 leagues from land and at other times, ninety leagues. The Ambassador, fearing the arrival of winter, having come into Goa last year at just about the same time, said we should attempt to make Bombay69 or Diu, or falling short of these, Muscat. The caravel still had victuals [fol. 518r] and water, although there was enough for many of the sailors for just a little more than two months until they would have to go on short rations. He decided to take the course that seemed best to him and ordered the helmsmen to steer north by north-east by day and east by north-east by night, the sun’s altitude being taken this day at 16 degrees. On the [margin: 20] 20th, being the conjunction of the moon,70 at the same point the wind died out, and we were becalmed most of the day and almost the whole night. No more fish were seen, though there continued to be a good number of alcatrazes and frigate birds, in addition to other smaller birds. The sun’s altitude was taken at 16 and one-third degrees. At the dawn watch on the [margin: 21] 21st, a north-easter began to blow a little. It gradually freshened until shortly past noon, when it veered [superscript: north] by north-west, the caravel standing to the east and north-east, and at three o’clock in the afternoon the [superscript: wind] strengthened and backed to the north and north-west; we continued along the same bearing. The sun’s altitude was taken at 16 and a half degrees. On the [margin: 22. 23. 24.] 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, the same wind day and night, strengthening more each day until the ship listed so far to starboard that it was impossible to remain standing [text blacked out] in the cabin or the balcony. Everyone was amazed that not only had we not raised the land, but that 69  Present-day Mumbai. 70  I.e., a new moon.

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no signs of it were seen. A sharp lookout was kept at night and soundings were taken on every watch to find bottom, and when it was not found in many fathoms, it seemed as though the coast of India was fleeing from us. And because the sun’s altitude was taken on Monday the 24th at almost 17 degrees, the pilot wanting to shorten the voyage, he steered the ship east and to south-east, failing to learn his lesson from the many other times we had drifted off course after heading so far out to sea. On the [margin: 25] 25th, the wind, almost from the north, strengthened even more. We sped along, but when the sun’s altitude was taken, it turned out we had lost a third of a degree of latitude. The Ambassador, quite upset at seeing the faulty course we were following, ordered the ship to return to an east and to north-east bearing. The pilot’s recklessness [fol. 518v] was by now plain to all, and though this was most inauspicious, what was feared even more was the lack of ballast and all the [superscript: cargo] weight stowed on the deck of the caravel, which caused the rudder to be unresponsive and the caravel to fail to steer in high wind. And to see if this last and greatest shortcoming could be remedied, the Ambassador consulted with the master and the carpenter of the patache, but they answered that nothing could be done, seeing that the ship, being so small, sailed with her sides as high out of the water [margin: as a great ship], having gone through her stores of food and water, and thus the rudder did not extend deep enough into the water, robbing it of its steering force. [superscript: Consequently], we sailed very cautiously, the sailors holding the sheets in their hands, especially at night when the heaviest gusts of wind came, and the night being especially dark with the new moon. And though it might have seemed reckless to not completely shorten the topsails, heading straight for land, this deficiency was compensated for by sounding many times a night, the Ambassador obliging the ship’s officers to join in doing so, for what was feared most at this point was running out of time before reaching Goa, winter visibly threatening with so much wind and darkened skies, though the southerlies had yet to begin to blow. During moments of clearing of the cloudy skies, the sun’s altitude was taken at what was already mentioned. Everybody was discouraged with the absence of signs of land. On the [margin: 26] 26th, a furious north by north-wester. Everyone doubted we would reach Goa before the onslaught of winter. It began drizzling at the dawn watch. And so when a south wind began to blow, the Ambassador discussed with several of the officers the possibilities of heading for Bombay as the weather cooled. From this point on no one drank water twice in one day. The sky was so black that the altitude of the sun could not be taken. We continued on the same east and north-east bearing. At midnight a strong gust of wind suddenly struck with a dark sky and some rain. The caravel would not steer

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when the rudder fell off to leeward, and the sails were not shortened quickly enough, and so she nearly capsized, the deadworks [fol. 519r] groaning loudly. Those who were asleep were startled awake, fearing shipwreck. On dawn of Thursday the [margin: 27] 27th, the sky was dark and stormy, the rain coming down in earnest, though it cleared up a little around noon. The sun’s altitude was taken at one-sixth of a degree less than 17 degrees, the wind steadily stiffening, the sea showing no sign of becoming heavier. At three o’clock in the afternoon a great quantity of something resembling white and yellow bunches of flowers were seen off the bow, like those that grow on the top of maize reeds or canes, and some thin cuttlefish husks or shells, both of these being sure evidence of land. Some of the people estimated that we were a little more than thirty leagues on an east to west line with Kharepatan.71 Towering clouds covered the sky, and we stood to the east less than a fathom with the topsails shortened, never letting the sounding line out of our hands, sailing now in a storm with strong winds, a heavy sea and a black sky. At the second watch the soundings failed to find bottom; during the drowsy-watch it was at sixty fathoms, and a little before the dawn watch it was at forty, and a little before daybreak, at twenty-five. Standing straight in, land was sighted, though in the rain and under dark skies, our position six leagues equidistant between Kharepatan and the Queimados. The land was high like the promontory of the Aguada and Nossa Senhora do Cabo. [margin: 28] On Friday the 28th, once the coast was sighted, though from afar, the pilot ordered that we head south-east. But the Ambassador, seeing that the wind was so furious that if we were to head too far away from the coast it could drag us so far out to sea that we would not be able to make the bar of Goa, ordered him to steer east by south-east, and, [margin: running with the wind, before noon the Queimados lay three or four leagues astern. The wind grew as the day wore on and] [superscript: leaving them behind by midday] much has been said of them by midday, [fol. 519v] the ocean looked greener and darker than any coastal waters we had seen on any previous voyage, and as we were aiming straight at the coast, in the afternoon the water changed color, appearing whitish like when rainwater mixes with seawater. From this the Ambassador realized that winter had arrived on the mainland and that outside the bar the Pangim River was overflowing with the rains it had collected, and because it was the first rain, it had washed down more debris than usual. The promontory and the lighthouse of the bar were clearly visible, and suddenly a ship was descried that looked to be very close to the mouth of the bar. At first nobody could ascertain whether she was an oared vessel or if she 71  The port of Kharepatan, some 30 km (19 mi) up the Vijaydurg River.

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had topsails. But soon it became clear that her sails were shortened, and given the great force of the gale, it seemed difficult to credit that she had cast anchor. Soon it became evident that though she was small, she had four masts and topmasts and that she could belong to European corsairs, and so the Ambassador ordered that his servants and the sailors take up their arms. Four pieces of artillery were made ready, the others being unserviceable, their portholes closed because of the heavy sea, but several petraries72 were loaded, and a good number of rocks were piled up in the waist for the slaves to throw by hand. During this time, we had approached within two leagues of the coast, just before drawing even with the Chapora tree, a well-known landmark for all who sail in these waters. Now closer to the bar, it could be seen that the other ship, which had appeared to be standing in at the promontory of the bar, was clearly more than three leagues from her, our caravel flying past at a mere 600 paces, and though she was moored to four anchors, she was lying to with great difficulty, being only a small patache. Some of the crew suspected she belonged to one of the Portuguese that come to the mainland to take contraband merchandise to the Persian Gulf. Others thought she was sailing from Goa, heading for [fol. 520r] some place in the north, and, unable to make headway against the headwind, was waiting for a south wind to make sail. We learned in Goa that the last explanation was the true one. On board was Francisco Manuel, who was going out to serve in the fortress of Chaul. As the sky cleared, the wind strengthened so much that we had to pull in close to land. It was such a strong following wind [margin: that it would have] taken us out to sea. When we reached the point of the promontory we were out just far enough on the east-west axis to be able to enter the bar. This would not have been possible had we headed south-east, in which case the wind would have hauled us violently out to sea, the sailors lacking the necessary experience to hazard making the Anjadip Islands—their only hope in such an event. Since the sea was so heavy, there were no manchuas or almadias of the kind that usually come out from the bar when a ship appears in this port. As we approached within 400 feet of the mouth of the bar, and in spite of the heavy breakers that shot up white foam in all directions, the harbor master put out from the bank in a well-manned manchua, as did the experienced pilots from Pangim in a sturdy almadia from the bar and the banks farther in, thinking that our caravel was one of the missing great ships from Portugal. The harbor master came on board with the pilots onto the stern balcony. The Ambassador asked them if the mouth of the bar and the banks had started to 72  The Portuguese term would have been roqueira or pedreiro, an iron cannon used for hurling stones.

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close. They [superscript: answered] that they had not, and that he could immediately pass the bank and lay anchor near the Pangim, [superscript: and thus] we stood into the mouth of the bar with the topsails and the spritsail taken in. Before the harbor master and the pilots came aboard, the Ambassador had decided to anchor next to Fort Aguada, then to send for the pilots in Pangim and stand in that night with the high tide if the bank allowed it; if not, the same pilots were to take him to Mormugão, the port of Old Goa, across from Nossa Senhora do Cabo. But the harbor master, so confident in his sailing prowess, ordered the main topsail to be hauled up [fol. 520v] so the caravel could glide into port more easily, although in the opinion of the pilots it would have been better to anchor near the fortress, because the tide was not completely in, and wait to pass over to the bank with the high tide, which would be at six o’clock in the afternoon. By that time, which was three o’clock, we were approaching very close to the entrance. The Ambassador, quite sure that a disaster could befall them, sent two hurried dispatches to the harbor master, warning him that the caravel steered with great difficulty to larboard, especially with a gale blowing as hard as it was. But the harbor master thought there was enough depth and that the caravel drew little water. And so, along with the pilots from the mainland, he ordered that she be steered to port in order to stand into the mouth of the channel more directly. But the wind gusted so hard against the topsail, which was new and very large, that though the helmsman steered as hard as he could to starboard so she would fall off on the opposite board, the rudder failed to answer. Everyone yelled at him to bear away, seeing that she was going to slam into the bank, to which she had already drawn dangerously close on that side, as it was learned afterward. And as the ship was now adrift, the fury of the wind drove her onto the point of the bank in two fathoms of water, the rudder making a loud crash as it struck full force and shattered to pieces, being the first thing to make contact. As it struck again, the helmsman was thrown into the water. At the same time the caravel’s keel struck five or six times with such terrible force that the dead-works shuddered, looking like they would shatter to pieces, [margin: as what happens] to buildings on land in a major earthquake. And so violent was the collision that the main mast with its yards and sails was thrust up more than a fathom into the air, though it fell back into its [margin: original seat]. The officers and other sailors ran over and began bringing the mainsail and the topsail down by cutting the tie-runners with hatchets, [margin: and down it came], but with it the yard, which had broken, though it did not fall suddenly, or damage the caravel any further: [fol. 521r] the sheets that secured the topsail to the main yard broke one by one. The blows received by the ship were such that the Ambassador was convinced that she had broken completely apart. Still on board, though

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disconcerted by the events, he quickly sent word that no one was to go down into the harbor master’s manchua. One of his servants approached him and, grasping him by the arm, told him to save himself before the caravel was lost. They went out to the starboard side of the waist, the side the manchua was on, and the Ambassador lowered himself down by a cable; another of his servants was there to receive him. He shouted up to the rest that no one abandon ship because he would be close by to save those who didn’t know how to swim if the ship broke completely apart. He did not allow anybody else to come down into the manchua, though the chaplain, who had been a Franciscan monk, had already made his way there, the first to get in. This all happened within 200 paces of the shore where everyone else could escape from the wreck. At the same moment, the ship was seen to drift into the channel of the bank, and being rudderless, the tide, which continued to rise, carried it away from the danger, assisted by a cable provided by the manchua. Some of the people on top said that not only had she not split apart, but that she was shipping no water; both things seemed like manifest miracles. Amid all the confusion, Francisco Dias, the master of the caravel, had fallen into the sea as he was cutting a cable on the topsail. When it came down, it hung over the starboard side and dragged into the water. And though he had been a sailor for many years, he did not know how to swim and would have drowned had he not been rescued by the manchua. And with no further danger than this, the ship moved free from the shoal and out of the channel and dropped anchor in the Poço,73 a secure berth next to the same shoal, with two anchors, until the evening tide when she was to be taken from [fol. 521v] there to Pangim. The Ambassador, seeing that the ship was safe, took those two servants to the Colégio dos Reis, which was not far off, ordering first that a desk containing his papers be brought down from the balcony of the caravel, together with a young slave from the Canaries who served as his chamber boy, and that under no circumstances should any of his other servants leave the ship until he so ordered, not having consented previously when he thought the ship was going down to any of his belongings being rescued.

73  Portuguese for “well.” As Silva y Figueroa suggests, this is an imprecisely identified location near Goa that was compared to a well because of its depth, allowing ships to safely anchor. Elsewhere Silva y Figueroa provides descriptions of several other anchorages at Goa, the locations of which are depicted in Godinho de Erédia’s map. It is not entirely clear from this passage whether Silva y Figueroa is referring to one of those anchorages or to another.

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[June–July 1621] [margin: The Ambassador] spent two days at the Colégio dos Reis, and then took up residence in the house of D. Jerónimo de Silveira74 on the same island of Bardes facing the river, in the middle of Pangim, from where he ordered that his clothing and servants be unloaded from the caravel. Since the night of the events narrated above, the ship had been anchored the ship in a secure berth between the houses of Pangim and those into which the Ambassador had settled. The Ambassador arrived just before the onslaught of winter. The very next day it began to rain, and though the same north wind was blowing, it was most furious, the bank now almost completely closed. It continued with even more force during the last two days of May. At noon on the first of June, rain having fallen from dark storm clouds since the night before, [margin: the wind] hauled around to the south. Such a great thunderstorm hit two hours before sundown that a like storm had not been seen for many years in India. It continued all night, and while it did not seem as heavy in the morning, it was severe enough that the flagship, which had set off from Mombasa around the beginning of May, arrived this morning between Banda and the tree of Caphora, drawing within four or five leagues of land, and not risking standing into port at Old Goa, and seeing that the bar at Aguada was completely closed, she hauled around and stood toward Bombay, where she put in with great difficulty. [fol. 522r] A few days later the Ambassador settled into the São Brás Street, and from there into Santa Lúcia [margin: in some good houses] on the outskirts of the city where they were less polluted by the foul heat than during the previous year. The Ambassador was shown no courtesy, nor was he given assistance of any kind from the governor or any other of the ministers in India. Instead, they immediately seized his caravel, which was duly his property, considering that he had invested so much money in her that she had been practically reworked from the bottom up, not to mention the disaster of his aborted voyage. But he dissembled his antipathy, not wishing to request anything in the way of his compensation, despite his desperate need, because he was sure the same would be refused him. The winter was as rainy as the previous one, if not more so, but so much cooler that it was possible to sleep with blankets on the bed, though these amounted to no more than a thin bedcover. And though every day many people died in the city, there was a noticeable decline in fevers after the middle of August, most of its malice spent. [August 1621] [margin: August 22nd] Sunday. At three o’clock in the afternoon, while the Ambassador was resting in his bed, he awoke to the sound of a 74  Nothing further is known about this person.

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deafening thunderclap that continued for a long time, as when a bolt of lightning strikes very close by. It was followed by a horrible shaking that seemed to knock the house down, and a [superscript: great] amount of dirt came flying through the windows, falling on the roof with immense force. Some of the servants came in, frightened and ignorant of the cause of such an extraordinary report. The Ambassador asked them if lightning had struck close by, and they told him that it had not, that it was a clear day with few clouds. Suddenly the air was covered with a thick darkness, and looking out the window to see what it was, he saw a vast thick cloud of smoke and dust that the east [superscript: by] south-east75 wind was blowing from the part of the city where the monastery of São Domingos and the Manduin Square were located. From these signs the Ambassador immediately deduced that the powder warehouse that stood on the same Manduin Square had caught fire, and that the nearby buildings had been destroyed. Many people were rushing about, trying to find out what had happened, and loud voices began to be heard, though confused and far distant. [fol. 522v] Shortly thereafter hordes of blacks and other native people came running, shouting that the city had been razed to the ground. But later the true cause of this great confusion was discovered. Earlier that day, the weather being sunny and calm, the governor had ordered that some of the powder be taken out to dry on the roof of a high tower where ammunition was stored. The administrator of gunpowder was not present, nor anyone else with common sense. The only people present were the slaves who performed that labor. One of them had taken a smoke of tobacco, as is their custom, but did so right next to the powder. A spark flew over and ignited the powder that was on the upper floor of the tower, which went up in a huge flame, though with little noise, blowing up the black man and another two or three men who were with him. The rest, who were somewhat farther off, ran through the powder house when they saw the first flames go up, fearing what had happened, and fled into the square, one side of which borders the viceroy’s palace, escaping from the danger just as the tower exploded. Because the door of the warehouse had remained open, which was in the lower part of the same tower, a little bit of the powder had fallen from the top of the tower when the rest was ignited. It too was ignited and spread to the ammunition through the same door, as if it had been left like that to supply a mine. And since more than 250 quintales76 of powder were stored in barrels there, when it all suddenly ignited, it ripped the tower and its closest rooms completely off of their lowest foundations and shot them into the air with a horrendous din and incredible fury, the force of 75  The MS erroneously says west by south-east. 76  Approximately 11,000 kg (12 tons).

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the blast shooting out into Manduin Square toward the gate of the customs house. This square is always brimming with people, mostly the natives of the island, Christians and Gentiles, plus a great number of slaves of all kinds, both men and women, many of whom sell fish, fruit, and legumes, and so this place is heavily frequented by these poor and lowly people, it being their marketplace and chief place of business. Many seafaring people congregate here as well, the shore being very close by, to lay in stores of the aforementioned articles that are dispensed in clay and wooden pots that are sold on the street, which is also called Manduin because it extends from the same square. In an instant, countless pieces of rubble shred almost everyone in the square to pieces, including those who were at the end of the street; very few, if any one, was spared. Almost all the houses close to the square as one goes toward São Domingos were destroyed, their inhabitants being buried in the rubble along with those who [fol. 523r] sought refuge in them after they saw the first flame of powder burning on top of the tower [superscript: when] later it ignited. And though few of the people who live in this sector died, the houses belonging to the Portuguese residents in that area suffered serious damage, especially those that face São Domingos and line either side of the Manduin. Not only did all of their roofs cave in, but many of the walls as well, even though they were thick and built out of square stone, such was the fury of the rock that flew through them, piercing clean through one and even two walls and embedded itself in the interior walls. The rocks and timbers that were blown up into the air caused significant damage to the roofs and second stories high platforms of houses in places much farther away, several people dying in them, among whom were several Portuguese. Some of these stones caused damage more than half a league away, and many more landed far inland in another sector close to Nossa Senhora da Merced. The house where the Ambassador lived, though it was new and sturdy and was located more than a thousand paces from the ammunition dump that exploded, shook so hard that two very strong locks on the door to his chamber and to another room flew off, and a fig tree in the garden was torn out by its roots, its companions coming through unscathed. The monastery of São Domingos, though nobody died there, was left with its roofs caved in and its doors and windows broken, and the wall that encircles the chapel, where one enters it, was damaged by the huge rocks that struck it after passing through the houses that stood in front of it and defended it. The destruction would have been far greater had this happened on a day that was not a holiday or, as this was, a Sunday, because in that case not only would countless numbers of people have been in the customs house, Portuguese as well as Gentile and Moorish merchants, but the Manduin Square and street would have been much busier. The lowest estimate of the number of people killed is between

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400 and 500. The ammunition depot, which is so close, remained standing, losing its roofs and some of the facing walls. Six or seven slaves and two mules perished there as well. In the Square of the Viceroys, every single window shattered, several roofs falling in as well; the same thing happened in other squares further distant. Several remarkable things [margin: happened] this day, one of which was that Dona [margin: Leonor] Tenreiro, wife of D. Lope de Almeida,77 captain of the fortress of Rachol, who lived across the street from Santo Domingo, had been delirious from a malignant fever for several days. A little before noon this lady started shouting at her slaves, ordering them to remove her from her room. But since they all thought that the violence of her illness had caused her take leave of her senses, which in truth she had, they ignored [fol. 523v] her demands until she screamed and insisted so much that her husband and one of her brothers removed her to another room farther away, where she calmed down somewhat. And when no more than three hours later the great tragedy that has been described took place, a giant rock flew through the air and fell squarely on the roof of the chamber where she had lain sick, completely caving in the roof and coming to rest on the floor where her bed was. The rest of the house nearly collapsed, since its roof was lost and many of its walls were knocked down, but despite all the sudden commotion, the great shaking and destruction, this woman, who was already being mourned, experienced a remarkable improvement and in a few days had achieved a total recovery. [September 1621–January 1622] At the beginning of the next month, September, everyone began waiting impatiently for the fleet to arrive from Portugal, and with it the viceroy because of the desperate need for government in matters of both war and peace. But as it turned out, only one small galleon arrived around the end of the month, captained by Luís de Moura Rolim,78 who said that he had set out in the fleet of Viceroy D. Afonso de Noronha,79 which consisted of five carracks and six galleons, and that he had fortunately become separated from them just after the viceroy had made his offing from 77  D. Lope de Almeida, as Silva y Figueroa indicates, was captain of the fortress of Rachol. 78  Portuguese captain of the galleon São João Baptista in the 1621 fleet. This was the only ship of that fleet to arrive in Goa on 27 September 1621 (the rest had to return to Portugal). The São João Baptista sailed from Goa for Portugal and was lost in battle to two Dutch East India men at the Cape of Good Hope in 1622. Rolim stayed in India and died, as Silva y Figueroa reports, in the defense of Hormuz; see Andrade, Commentaries, 219. 79  Although appointed viceroy of India in Portugal, this appointee never assumed his command since the two fleets in which he attempted to journey to Goa never completed their voyages.

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the bar of Lisbon, for the entire fleet, except for his galleon, had returned to port. But he was certain that the viceroy had set sail again and that he would reach India a few days thence, although the good news was spoiled by the bad [text blacked out] news he brought regarding His Majesty’s health, namely, that the king was on his deathbed. This caused every one great concern because the condition of India was so poor that any alteration or distraction in Spain would place it in grave danger. Everyone continued to await the viceroy’s arrival, which was understood to be most crucial, through the months of October and November. But subsequently it began to look doubtful, and a few days later was despaired of. It was believed that either he had not had time to make his offing from the river of Lisbon or that he had returned to port. The latter possibility seemed the less likely, [margin: though it turned out to be true], for so many sailing ships aborted their voyages without reaching India, most of these being galleons. Had they been lighter vessels, at least one of them could have reached Goa, even late in the season. The Ambassador, whose voyage was aborted as described above, longing intensely for the arrival of the viceroy so that he could secure passage in a ship for himself, had prepared what was needed for the voyage with special care. But when he saw time running out, he turned his hand again to making every effort through the secretary of state80 to get the governor to grant him passage on a new ship that had just been built in Pangim. But since the captain’s [text blacked out] berth had been sold to others by order of the same governor, and since the latter had not wished to accommodate him in anything better than a foul berth, the Ambassador was forced to write [fol. 524r] to Nuno Álvares Botelho, the captain of a ship that had failed to set sail from Mombasa the previous year and that had subsequently wintered in Bombay, where he 80  A crown-appointed official (secretário de estado) who was the secretary to the Council of State, a deliberative council, consultative to the viceroy or governor, composed of highly positioned crown officials at Goa from the secular (judiciary and administrative) and religious branches of governance. The secretary was responsible for the preparation of the minutes of the proceedings of those meetings and performed additional functions, such as liaison between the viceroy and the Ambassador. António Rodrigues de Guevara was the secretary of state that Silva y Figueroa is referring to in this passage and below. Guevara apparently replaced Francisco de Sousa Falcão as the secretary in 1620–1621 during the governorship of Fernão de Albuquerque (1619–1622), and he was still in that position upon Silva y Figueroa’s last departure from Goa during the second viceroyalty of D. Francisco da Gama, fourth Count of Vidigueira, 1622–1628. Guevara may have held the office before 1621, but the first published record of his being the secretary on or by that date is found in the assento of 11 March 1621. For evidence that he still was the secretary after Silva y Figueroa’s departure, see Pissurlencar, Assentos, 1:119, 202–4.

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remained, requesting half the poop and the balcony in exchange for whatever he deemed a fair price. The captain did not respond to this, though his intentions might have been good, nor did his agents who were in Goa, despite the Ambassador’s continuous beseeching and even though they were under orders to sell the ship’s berths. Further, the captain failed to respond [margin: through his agents], who deferred concluding the matter until the arrival of the aforementioned Nuno Álvares, which was expected around two weeks before Christmas. His agents said this around the beginning of December. The captain was actually detained in Bombay until the beginning of [margin: 1622] January of 1622 for some unknown reason. By then the Ambassador had despaired of securing passage, each passing day presenting him with more obstacles in finding a berth. His Majesty’s ministers, who were obligated to arrange acceptable passage for him and whatever was necessary for it, not only failed to do so, but actually chose to grant berths to others in one of the two ships, even though he had ascertained the price and paid it. And what will surely impress anyone as incredible, though it can be verified by creditable persons, measures were taken to prevent the Ambassador from securing passage, and though this was never explicitly stated, it was easily inferred from what was said. The Ambassador was so vexed by this ill treatment that it severely diminished and weakened his health, which grew worse by the day. It began to appear impossible for him to make the voyage even with more support and comfort, notwithstanding that Nuno Álvares, finally arrived from Bombay, offered the Ambassador what he had requested over two months earlier. By that time his agents could not sell those accommodations, despite the fact that they had offered them to several people. In spite of all this, and without scruples, the Ambassador resolved to make the journey, having everything already prepared, seeing that the ships would be able to depart around the middle of February. But soon a rumor spread, which some said was unintentional, but others thought deliberate, among the people who belonged to Nuno Álvares’s ship, that he would not be taking the outer route around São Lourenço early in the year but would wait until later when it would be safer. And this rumor grew to the extent that the captain himself, knowing that the ships could not set sail until the end of February, revealed his mind by saying that he would have to make a stop at St. Helena81 for one month in order to reach Lisbon around Christmastime, this being the safest measure considering both the weather and the corsairs. His decision finally wore away the Ambassador’s patience, who did not dare take such a long journey, especially in the face of so many other drawbacks. And thus, giving 81  An island in the southern Atlantic Ocean, located at 15°57′54″S, 5°42′47W.

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several of his servant’s permission to make the journey, he remained behind in Goa until such time as God should provide something else for him. The ships, which were not yet fitted out, could not make sail until the beginning of March. [March 1622] [fol. 524v] Two days after the ships made their offing, a foist arrived from Hormuz, relating that the fortress that Rui Freire de Andrade82 had built on the island of Qeshm was [margin: under siege] by troops sent over by the governor of Fārs, aided by sea by six English ships, and that the Portuguese soldiers who were inside the fortress had attempted to surrender, against the will of Rui Freire. And since it is fitting that the origin and cause of this war be understood, recalling that as its consequence the city and fortress of Hormuz were lost, together with any hope of their recovery, and since such is required of this account and commentary on the embassy with which the Ambassador was dispatched to Persia, a brief and entangled epilogue to what happened in this case is offered here. An extensive account has already been given of the king of Persia’s keen desire to reclaim what Spain had occupied in the kingdom of Hormuz around the end of the year 1614, not only Bahrain and the mainland of Mogostan, but also the fortresses of Bandel and Qeshm, the latter in fact having been seized after the Ambassador’s arrival in India. Robert Sherley’s embassy to Spain has also been recounted. He was not sent by preference of the king of Persia but rather through his own solicitation, his departure being facilitated by the Carmelite friars who lived in Eṣfahān and by D. Luís da Gama, the captain of Hormuz, for reasons that have already been elucidated. Enjoying the favor of the Indian ministers, he sailed for Spain from Goa, accompanied by Friar Redento de la Cruz, a Carmelite, who had traveled with him from Eṣfahān in the capacity of coadjutor to the embassy around the beginning of 1617, before the Ambassador set sail for Hormuz. It has also been stated that the Ambassador wrote several letters to His Majesty, warning him about this man’s return to Spain so that he might be on guard against Sherley’s recommendations. As this has already 82  Portuguese military commander whose life dates were ca. 1590–1633. He reached India around 1609 and served as captain of Daman, Chaul, the Malabar, and finally the province of the north. He was later captain of the return fleets for ten years prior to being tapped in Portugal to lead an expedition in 1619 to the Persian Gulf to evict the English from that region and to protect Hormuz from a possible Persian attack. His squadron was composed of two galleons and three hulks, which wintered at Mozambique. One of the hulks was lost by shipwreck off the Quirimbas. The force reached Hormuz in June of 1620. Boxer argues that Andrade was only indirectly the author of his Commentaries, which was produced from materials compiled and printed in 1647 by Paulo Craesbeeck, the famous Lisbon-based publisher; see Boxer, Commentaries, xv. For further details of Andrade’s life and career, see ibid., xv, xxv–li, and 311–12.

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been amply laid out, it will not be repeated here, except to say that the friar’s efforts, seconded by other parties, were so effective that even though Sherley was detained for many days in Lisbon,83 and was subsequently held up for another day before reaching Madrid, he was nevertheless given audience at court. His proposal was so well received that it was put into effect, even though it was pernicious in both essence and appearance. Accordingly, it was decided that Rui Freire de Andrade, who had come from India the year before, should sail for the mouth of the Red Sea with four galleons, this being one of Sherley’s chief suggestions. He first went to Hormuz in order to settle matters touching the trade of silk between Persia and Spain and the restitution of the fortress in the [margin: Bandel] and of the island of Qeshm, with the demolition of the fort that the Persians built in the same Bandel, promises that Sherley had made in the name of the king of Persia. Friar Redento de la Cruz returned on the galleons with Rui Freire in order to execute these recommendations, while Sherley remained in Madrid, not wishing to return to Persia. He claimed he needed to stay behind in case any unfinished business arose concerning the agreements that had been made, a lie that anyone could have seen right through, especially since everyone already knew the truth. Yet false persuasion and vehement passion prevailed over reason in this matter. Friar Redento died on the way, before Rui Freire reached Mombasa. And although this good monk led a blameless life, he later caused, not out of malice but through his imprudence, the calamitous destruction of the city of Hormuz and the loss of its fortress, to the great [fol. 525r] infamy of those who defended it from the inside, and this because he became involved in matters so foreign to his profession. The Ambassador had written to His Majesty several times from Hormuz and later from Persia, warning him about the manifest peril the city was in and the danger of the fortress falling into the hands of the Persians, and especially that the city would be lost and sacked the first day the enemies set foot on the island, as has been extensively explained above. This was easily foreseen, not only because the city was unwalled, and the fortress very weak and in want of a square big enough for far less people, but also because morale was low among its defenders, who lacked the resolution and determination that is necessary in these kinds of situations. Further, its captains, who succeed each other every three years in that fortress, were completely bereft of any practice or experience in warfare, and except for one very sick old man who did not know his office, there were no engineers or artillerymen.

83  This is an understatement. Robert Sherley was actually detained for five years in Lisbon (1617–1622) before reaching Madrid; see Floor, Persian Gulf, 221.

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In 1617, the year the Ambassador spent in Hormuz before going to Persia, he saw the poor design of the fortress, which had many defects, especially the walls, which were too high, and the moat, which was too shallow, being less than six feet deep. He thus often warned D. Luís da Gama, who was captain at the time, that another moat would have to be dug twenty or thirty feet from the first one in anticipation of a siege, with traverses and salients stretching from one shore to the other, and a good trench with solid walls being dug following the same contour as the moat. He repeated the same advice to D. Luís de Sousa, whom he found installed as captain upon the Ambassador’s return from Persia. But these men not only spurned his suggestions, but, as was learned later, they thought that the Ambassador’s recommendations were an affront to their honor. Furthermore, they and all the others who lived in India believed, with an obstinate, [margin: ignorant] and fatal confidence, that it was impossible for any of their enemies to attempt to lay siege to the fortress at Hormuz, much less succeed in taking it. A few days after the Ambassador set sail for India,84 [D.] Francisco de Sousa arrived in Hormuz and took possession of the fortress, D. Luís having left for Goa after completing the term that he had contracted. The Ambassador, seeing that Rui Freire had not yet arrived from Mombasa, and that his own time was running out, left a message with some of his neighbors that they should warn Rui Freire, on his behalf, to the effect that when he reached Hormuz under no circumstances should he endeavour to build a fortress on Qeshm, because it would be impossible to sustain it there, but that instead he should strengthen the defense of the city [Hormuz] as best he could. The Ambassador left this message not only with his neighbors, but with everybody he communicated with since the contents of letters that had arrived overland from Spain had been made known in Hormuz, to the effect that if the king of Persia did not restore Qeshm and the Bandel, as Sherley had promised, Rui Freire was to wage war against him and build a fortress at the watering station of Qeshm. Rui Freire reached Hormuz [superscript: at the end of June] of this year [1620],85 and learning that the king of Persia had responded so poorly to His Majesty’s letter, as has already been mentioned, he set himself to execute the orders given him by the Council of Portugal without further consideration. Everyone there had also become convinced that the fortress in Hormuz was not only extremely strong, but even impregnable [fol. 525v], even though they had been warned many times that just the opposite was the case.

84  The ambassador departed from Hormuz for Goa on 6 April 1620. 85  See Boxer, Commentaries, xxiv–xxv.

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I shall not describe here the design of the fortress that Rui Freire commenced building at the watering station of Qeshm, except to say that its walls were made of stone and mud as in the simple construction of a house, or like the first fortresses built in India, for it fell after the light and scarce battery the English threw up at it so that those inside surrendered before waiting for a charge, as described below. I shall also refrain from relating what preceded the untimely and insane operation of waging war against such a powerful monarch, on his own turf, as it were, and aided by a nation so experienced in warfare as the English, even if they were corsairs and merchants, with such weak forces that we had at that time in India, especially in the fortress and city of Hormuz, which were manifestly exposed to defeat against any enemy. First, a fortress was constructed on Qeshm, followed by an engagement at sea between Rui Freire and the English in Jask, which, [margin: according to what was reported], prevented the carrying of any silk out of Persia that year [margin: 1621]. The war then continued with the Portuguese inflicting damage on the Arabs of the kingdom of Fārs and Mogostan. They burned several villages on the sea coast, together with the terranquins and other boats that were found there, an action that did more than weaken the forces of these regions: it also provoked and thoroughly incensed the king of Persia, compelling him to take the subsequent actions that he did.86 Although the latter had long wanted to retake Hormuz, he had not as yet determined to assay anything beyond that, nor had he made any sign of mobilizing or preparing for war in Lār or Shīrāz, that is not until he was repeatedly provoked by the aforementioned attacks. And that this suspected state of affairs was actually true was confirmed when he sent two of the Augustinian monks who lived in Eṣfahān during this time to Hormuz to advise and warn the captain of the fortress and Rui Freire that in view of the fact that he [the shah] was keeping the peace to which he had agreed with His Majesty without disturbing it in any way, he asked them to do the same, and other things along these lines. I have been unable to determine what answer was given to him, except that without further consideration or dialogue, the Portuguese proceeded to wreak even more havoc on the aforementioned coastal villages mentioned above, as if the king of Persia had already capitulated. A few days later, [margin: a bundle of letters] arrived in Goa. The inhabitants of Hormuz ignorantly wrote that a fearful king of Persia offered them a truce and that they had rejected it, and out of the same ignorance, most of the people in this city believed these letters, exaggerating the great feats of Rui Freire. [margin: 1621] The English residents of Surat had made preparations, 86  See Boxer, Commentaries, xxvi–xxviii.

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not only considering what might happen that year with the expected arrival of the viceroy, but also having been persuaded to do so by the king of Persia, who was apprised of Rui Freire’s intentions, especially the building of a fortress in Qeshm, which was what vexed him above all else. And so when it came time for the English to sail to Jask to pick up the loads of silk from Persia, as was customary, they set off with four ships and two pataches, and though they were there for several days, they were not disturbed by the fleet that was stationed in Hormuz, neither did the king of Persia consent to handing the silk over to them until they first lent support to his captains to take the fortress that had been built on Qeshm. Around March of this same year, [margin: the governor]87 sent two beautiful and powerful galleons to Hormuz, each one armed with thirty pieces [fol. 526r] of artillery, most of them heavy, to reinforce Rui Freire’s fleet, but this was done so late and out of season that the English had already returned to Surat many days earlier after the engagement with our fleet in Jask. They arrived in Hormuz after the harsh summer had already set in, and thus not only were they of no help whatsoever, whereas they could have made a significant difference earlier, but many or most of the soldiers, sailors, and gunners, which were needed so keenly afterward, died in vain from malignant diseases they caught from the labor and terrible heat during the construction of the fortress of Qeshm. On his arrival in Goa from Hormuz around the month of April of 1620, the Ambassador met with the governor, as has already been explained, fully aware of the need to reinforce Rui Freire’s fleet when it arrived, for in view of His Majesty’s orders that he brought and the response from the king of Persia, the Ambassador was convinced a rift would ensue that would be clearly detrimental to our interests. During this interview, in addition to discussing items that concerned himself, the Ambassador apprised the governor of what was in the offing in Hormuz, saying that to expect [superscript: ensure] a favorable outcome it was necessary to fit out three heavy galleons that were wintering in the Pangim River, or at least two of them, and that by September they should be sent to Rui Freire in Hormuz with as many guns, sailors, and gunners possible, performing this with all possible dispatch. The Ambassador represented to him what was at stake if this support was not sent quickly. But the governor’s response was so lukewarm and vacillating, even though the matter at hand was of such great moment, that it became immediately clear how reluctantly he had consented, and how stubborn and recalcitrant he had been with many others who attempted to approach him about similar matters. 87  Fernão de Albuquerque; see p. 739 n. 145.

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[margin: For example], as soon as he arrived from Spain, he endeavored to dissuade Jerónimo de Azevedo, who was viceroy at that time, from engaging the English in Surat, as was treated at length above. And so it was that Fernão de Albuquerque refused to outfit these galleons, or to provide assistance of any kind. He finally dispatched them so late that it appeared that he intended their loss, together with their sailors, which were so badly needed. In consequence of the letters sent by Rui Freire from Hormuz to Goa in September [margin: 1621], in which he requested reinforcements because so many of the people he had brought with him from Spain had perished, and because he had lost those who had gone on the two ships to Goa, [text blacked out] [superscript: 300] men were readied, counting both soldiers and sailors, to man the heavy fleet in Hormuz, with Simão de Melo88 as general; the latter was under orders from the governor to succeed the captain of the fortress in the event of Francisco de Sousa’s death, since news had arrived concerning his very poor health. Francisco de Sousa did in fact die a few days after Simão de Melo arrived in Hormuz with the people mentioned above in a dozen foists and a carrack with provisions and several more soldiers and gunners. Simão de Melo began serving in his place as captain of the fortress according to the orders that had been given. This was deeply resented by Rui Freire de Andrade, and either because of this bitterness or perhaps because he perceived little will to engage in a naval battle among the soldiers on the galleons, it appears, based on subsequent events, that he lacked the promptness that he [fol. 526v] showed earlier while fighting the English in Jask with an even smaller fleet. The excuse he offered was that the orders he received from the governor contained precise instructions to do no more than what the captain of the fortress and the council, of which the captain himself was a member, commanded him to do, and this was clearly the cause for the tremendous disaster that ensued. This council, which both in Hormuz and India is called a Council of State,89 is comprised of the inspector of the treasury, the chief magistrate, who hears both civil and criminal cases, and the vicar and prior of the Augustinian friars, as well as the captain. One supposes that other more competent persons are normally not part of it. But because all those just named were completely ignorant of [margin: their] office, and since they were faced with imminent and extraordinary danger, it would have been fitting to involve not only Rui Freire in their deliberations, 88  Simão de Melo Pereira, commander and administrator (captain of Mombasa in 1614; captain of Hormuz, 1621–1622), responsible for the surrender of Hormuz to Anglo-Persian forces in 1622. For details of his actions and his biography, see Boxer, Commentaries, 86– 171, 182, 266–71, 314. 89  See p. 248 n. 14.

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mainly to hear his opinion, but also many of the other soldiers and residents of the city, together with whichever other people [superscript: were] present in the city at that time. And not only was Rui Freire convinced that he was obligated to defend the fortress in Qeshm, because he himself had constructed it, but the aforementioned council ordered him to come to its defense. I shall not venture to judge whether [margin: Rui Freire] willingly Rui Freire obeyed this order and command because he believed it to be the most appropriate course of action, or because he did not wish to be obligated to embark for the reasons adduced above. But it can be stated that his failure to do so led to the loss of the city, the fortress, and the fleet. [margin: And since he insisted on carrying out the order] of constructing a fortress in Qeshm, he was responsible, in the first place, to build it so that it could be defended with an average garrison for at least a few months, resisting the enemy there and holding out as long as possible before moving to the island of Hormuz, and second, if it became clear that the fortress had a defective design, as in fact it subsequently did when it proved incapable of defense, to demolish it and transport the artillery to Hormuz. Plans such as these, which are forged at a distance, always contain hidden flaws that only the person who is charged with executing them can see, [margin: at which point] he must make the decisions mandated by timing and the circumstances, as all valiant and prudent men have always done. In the end, Rui Freire decided to remain in Qeshm, and the galleons and galleys moved in as close as possible to the fortress at Hormuz with the foists, of which there were twenty, in order to be safer under the guns of the São Pedro bastion. No other precautions were taken, even though it was already known that the khān of Shīrāz was marching on Lār with a great number of infantrymen and cavalry, and that 3,000 men—Arabs from the same island and from the mainland close to the kingdom of Fārs—[superscript: were] already encamped 300 paces from the fortress of Qeshm and had commenced digging trenches so that with this protection they could approach closer to the fortress. There were in the fortress with Rui Freire a little more than 200 Portuguese and 250 Arabs. By order of the king of Hormuz, they had come from Julpha90 where they had dwelt since the Bandel War91 seven years earlier. Their native land was the Hamadi Mountains92 in Mogostan; their common name in Hormuz is the Hamadiz. These men had proved their bravery during the defense of the fortress of Bandel before it fell. [margin: In Qeshm] they had made several sorties in which they had killed many of the [fol. 527r] Arab enemies and had run 90  This is the Julpha in Fārs; see p. 743 n. 146. 91  See p. 246 n. 11. 92  See p. 496 n. 388.

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others off, taking over the closest trenches they had dug. Several Portuguese had gone with them on these actions. It has already been mentioned that the design of this fortress could not be properly described to anyone who had not seen for himself its feeble construction. It would have been stronger had it been constructed with fascines and earth fill, of which there was an abundance on the same island, or even with well-packed dirt. But an even greater defect became evident, namely, that its square was so small that even though there were no more than 200 Portuguese, it was too small for these few brave Arabs, who could have been of such great service in its defense. And so for these reasons, or for some other one about which I would rather not speculate now, an enclosure or corral—there is no better term to describe it—was built outside the walls right next to the fortress, closer to the enemy, with low and weak walls. [margin: In the fortresses of Arabia, this kind of corral, called a zariba in Arabic], functions as an enclosure for caravan camels. Meanwhile, the English, who had set out from the bay of Jask, stood into Hormuz so slowly that they stopped and anchored twice before entering the mouth of the strait. News had traveled overland from Jask that they had set sail in four great ships and two pataches. But the Portuguese were so negligent and naïvely overconfident that not only did they not take any precautions, but they also became convinced that the English had been frightened back to Surat, and they wrote as much in letters that were sent to Goa on a ship that had come into Hormuz at that time. After the English ships reached the strait, they waited two more days before coming into view of the fortress of Hormuz, no more than twelve miles distant, and passing the island on their right, their entire fleet laid anchor less than 300 paces from the fortress of Qeshm. Their arrival had not been known in Hormuz until they hove into view. At this point, unafraid of the inevitable, the Portuguese sent to Muscat, or placed in the fortress, part of the vast merchandise that was in the city. This was especially done by the plentiful and rich Indian Banias, not to mention the Portuguese, Arabs, and Jews. Almost simultaneously, Emāmqolī Khān, the khān of Shīrāz, reached the Bandel with 5,000 men. He sent some of them to the siege of the fortress of Qeshm with his captain, [margin: Emāmqolī Beg]. The English ships had already begun firing from the spot where they laid anchor. And though the distance was great and their guns were too small to batter their targets, sections of those weak walls began [margin: to collapse], causing the Portuguese inside the fortress to completely lose heart. Some of them immediately began discussing the possibility of surrender, without showing any signs of defending themselves. And because the cannonade that was being thrown at the fortress [margin: from the sea] was insufficient for mounting a satisfactory attack, the

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English placed six or seven of their biggest guns on a section of the beach to which the Arabs and Persians had advanced in their trenches to within just under a hundred paces from the fortress, and readying them with all possible dispatch and covering them with dirt-filled gabions,93 [fol. 527v] they started bombarding the fortress. And while the biggest balls weighed no more than [superscript: sixteen] pounds, one of the towers was completely demolished, having been battered down by the rest of the guns. When the Portuguese soldiers, many of whom had attempted to surrender earlier, witnessed the effect of this second battery, they rushed over to their captain, Rui Freire, and with one voice disrespectfully demanded that he surrender because they refused to risk their lives in the defense of such a weak fortress. [margin: According to some], he attempted to check this pernicious mutiny, first with threats, and then by attacking one of the men he thought was the most seditious with his naked sword. These people say that they held him back, seizing him and binding him. [margin: Others claim that he was of the same mind as the rest], though it is more likely that when he saw that they were determined to surrender, he surrendered along with them, fearing they would take his life. The exceptions were all those Arabs who had come to their aid, who, with their [margin: brave captains Amīr Genedin, ʿAlī Jamal, and Amīr Muḥammad],94 remained faithful to the end without displaying weakness of any kind [margin: during that entire siege]. The fortress was handed over to the English, who promised to take the prisoners unharmed to Muscat, since they did not want to be taken to Hormuz. But in this they were profoundly deceived, for these worthless people added to the burden and trouble of the fortress instead of increasing the numbers of its defenders, [margin: and so the English, in order to avoid wasting time, landed them on Hormuz, moving them subsequently into the fortress]. These men again were more criminals than soldiers. They belonged to the group that Simão de Melo had brought with him as reinforcements from Goa. Most of them were murderers who had repeatedly committed all manner of treachery. Even after repeating these and many other crimes, the governor pardoned them so that they could go serve in Hormuz. It was well known in Goa that many criminals who were guilty of even grosser crimes had purchased their liberty with money, as if these kinds of men could ever be of any use in war or in peace; they are actually harmful in both. The English transported the soldiers from the fortress in the two pataches. Before sailing from the harbor, the [margin: Persian] captain made his way 93  “A wicker basket, of cylindrical form, usually open at both ends, intended to be filled with earth, for use in fortification and engineering”; see OED, s.v. “gabion.” 94  Nothing more is known concerning these soldiers.

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there with several of his soldiers and beheaded the poor Arabs in view of all. Rui Freire protested and complained that the English had not kept their word. But they apologized, saying that they had no authority to prevent what was happening because those Arabs had previously been vassals of the king of Persia, and thus except for the fifteen or twenty [text blacked out] whom the English hid, the rest perished, the blame lying either with the men who surrendered or with those who assured their safety. This was the most heinous and infamous event of any that occurred in this miserable war, [margin: second only to the surrender of the king and the vizier, for they took Amīr Genedin before the khān and forced Shah Rial,95 the governor of Mogostan and his own son-in-law, to stab him to death]. Those in Hormuz could have saved the besieged people, for they had twenty foists and a galley, with enough people to man them, even if they had abandoned their artillery, the garrison having been reinforced appreciably by such a man as Rui Freire and those brave mountain men who had already proven their worth. Yet absolutely nothing was attempted or executed. Even before those in the fortress of Hormuz learned that the fortress of Qeshm had surrendered, they transported a great quantity of clothing to their fortress from the customs house, which was close by—such was their overconfidence, nay, the general confusion and terror. It was plainly obvious, even to people who lacked experience and knowledge of war, that some sort of defense needed to be made beyond the moat, as was mentioned previously, because the fortress’s cannons [fol. 528r] could not inflict any damage on the enemy from a distance of eighty paces, the walls being too high. But this defect was ignored, nor was anyone conscientious enough to take steps to remedy it, especially since they had no mattocks, picks or shovels, tools that throughout all the ages of the earth have always been essential and necessary for [margin: every art of fortification and warfare], and in the present age even more effective than artillery itself. I shall refrain from relating everything else that subsequently took place in Hormuz because of the uncertain and contradictory reports from eye witnesses, and also to avoid offending so many people that one would have to name individually. Suffice it to say that as soon as it was learned that the fortress of Qeshm had surrendered, a messenger was sent to the khān of Shīrāz in the name of the king of Hormuz, who, together with the vizier, was inside the fortress, and conditions of peace were immediately discussed with such shameful submission and obvious indications of fear that the Persians, who had at first been content with taking the [margin: fortress of] Qeshm, decided 95  This is our hypothetical reconstruction based on the form Xarial found in the MS.

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not to let such a rich prize as the city of Hormuz slip through their fingers, especially after they learned that the Uzbeks and Chagatais had come in from Khorāsān. And so without further delay, the khān dispatched 4,000 men, Arabs and Persians, in a good number of boats and several foists with the aforementioned Moḥammed [margin: Emāmqolī Beg], who had previously been in Qeshm. The latter, finding the city devoid of Portuguese residents, with only some of the Arabs and Gentiles remaining, nevertheless discovered that it was full of a great quantity and diversity of merchandise, for the poor residents did not have time to save anything. And since the enemies faced no resistance whatsoever while they dug trenches—no bombardment with artillery, nor firing of muskets from the fortress, no sorties being made from within—they secured the moat, which had offered such little defense, and after undermining the São Tiago bastion, they brought a large portion of it down, and finally took it, together with the closest part of the square. It is said that it was at that moment that the Persians knew they had vanquished the citadel. It is said that after that, since those inside had already scuttled the galley and their galleons, the Persians knew that they had vanquished the citadel. The Persians agreed to the terms of several truces that the Portuguese proposed, hoping they would surrender without the loss of life. Finally, on May 3rd [1622], more than 400 men gave themselves up, along with a great many women, children, and slaves; the rest of the population had gone to Muscat in phases beforehand. This surrender was finally achieved when the English offered to guarantee the lives of all these people and [superscript: transport] them in two of [margin: their pataches] to Muscat, where they would be set free. These terms were respected and observed, with no harm befalling anyone but the king and the vizier, with their women, children, and households; such a quantity of pearls and gold was appropriated that the value of these items alone was asserted without exaggeration to be more than 1,000,000, not counting the many precious stones lost by others. More than 300 pieces of artillery were also taken, most of them heavy ones. The king and the other Arabs were then shipped off to Persia, together with the vizier Raïs Murād,96 who was undeserving of such a calamity, for in addition to being a loyal vassal of His Majesty, he was a young man of the most genteel bearing—prudent and bursting with knowledge of Arab and Persian history; yet his vast riches were of no avail or benefit to him, even though he

96  The reconstruction of this name from Roix Noredim in the MS follows Boxer’s speculation as to the identification of this vizier; see Boxer, Commentaries, 173.

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offered 500,000 in gold escudos,97 in venetians,98 and xerafines99 [fol. 528v] in exchange for being sent to Muscat or Goa before the siege. The poor king also offered all his money with the same hope. But the Portuguese refused, under any circumstances, to do so just a thing for these men, notwithstanding they were under the protection of His Majesty. [superscript: In fact, it was strongly] suspected that such an infamous surrender and abominable treason had been arranged with the Persians [margin: after the first negotiations of truces] for those who had a hand in it to save their own lives and money. As so often happens in cases like these during times of war, among those who were tragically struck down were many brave men, though they had no one to lead or guide them. And [margin: although there] were less than forty of them, most merely wounded, those who died went down fighting with valor. Standing out particularly [superscript: in] this number were Baltasar de Chaves, captain of one of Rui Freire’s galleons; Luís de Moura Rolim; [margin: Francisco Muñiz, who later recovered from his wounds]; plus several residents of Hormuz, among whom are listed the following: Gaspar Ferrão, Jerónimo Ferraz, Luís Gago, Francisco Ribeiro, and Miguel da Silva, though this lastnamed gentleman survived, but with his right arm amputated at the shoulder.100 And so that everyone might receive his due, even after death, a soldier named Bernardo da Penha,101 who had been one of the Ambassador’s servants in Persia, Hormuz, and India, was the equal of the most distinguished soldiers, or, perhaps, none of the others could be preferred over him. While his mien was less than promising, his conduct during the siege was valiant. He fought so bravely that his death and the deaths of the others were sufficiently avenged. In Goa, after Simão de Melo was sent by the governor to succor Hormuz, as has been mentioned, the latter and his counselors were very satisfied and complacent, convinced that because of the high caliber of the captain and the soldiers, Hormuz had been sufficiently reinforced and was safe against any action the king of Persia or the English might attempt. And thus for four months no effort was made to ready a new fleet, neither with galleons nor with oared vessels, among which there were three of the sorts of galleys that would have been essential for the relief. 97  For this unit of currency, a Spanish gold coin, see “Monies.” 98  For this unit of currency, a synonym of the ducat (a Venetian gold coin), see “Monies.” 99  For this unit of currency, a Portuguese minted silver coin in India, see “Monies.” 100  For additional information concerning the Portuguese defenders of Hormuz (officers and married settlers) commended by Silva y Figueroa in this list, see Boxer, Commentaries, 122–44, 219–44. 101  Nothing more is known concerning this person.

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On the second day of March of the following year, 1622, news arrived on a ship from Hormuz that the English had come up against the fortress of Qeshm and that they had started to bombard it. The besieged were extremely afraid, as were the residents of Hormuz, and the fleet had been abandoned. Despite these desperate portents of the evil that could be expected—nay, of the sure evidence of it—the governor, inspector of the treasury, and the chief chancellor [at Goa] very slowly, and without listening to or even wishing to consult with a single other person in such a dire situation, decided to send ten or twelve relief foists, which, as has been explained several times, are nothing more than deckless boats manned by twenty-five or thirty men. And aside from the fact that this was such a weak and pathetic remedy for the struggle Hormuz found itself in, even if the reinforcements could have entered the fortress, which was by then impossible, they were dispatched with so little enthusiasm and promptness that the confusion and distrust—to avoid using an even worse epithet—felt by all toward their leaders was more than evident. In this cause they lacked that alacrity and military [superscript: fervor] that men are normally [margin: possessed of in times like these]. Twenty days passed before these few boats were fitted out. News finally arrived on Wednesday of Holy Week in a galliot from Muscat that the city of Hormuz had been sacked, that the Persians had moved in close to the fortress, and that it was as good as lost, considering its feeble defense. [fol. 529r] Yet eleven more days passed until finally, on April 2nd, the foists managed to set out from Goa with the new captain of the fortress of Hormuz, Diogo de Sousa de Meneses. The latter was being sent as captain of the relieving party, since D. Francisco de Sousa102 and Constantino de Sá103 both failed to appear. But because it was so late, the monsoon for Hormuz was spent, and there were such strong storms that not only did two or three foists put about to the northern coast after [superscript: failing] to follow the course, but after many days the rest of them reached the watering station of Tiwi, twenty miles from Muscat, some of them unrigged. And as is common when men get closer and closer to danger, even though they might be bold at the beginning, they begin to fear it. And thus, finding themselves so near it, and so uncertain and undecided as to their course of action, they stopped for many days at the 102  Silva y Figueroa is probably referring to Francisco de Sousa Falcão, since D. Francisco de Sousa was reported to have died earlier. 103  Constantino de Sá e Noronha, Portuguese commander and administrator, a passenger on the Nossa Senhora dos Remédios in the outward 1614 fleet. He had been appointed General of Ceylon in 1618 and, as mentioned here by Silva y Figueroa, in 1622 he was ordered to command the forces sent to relieve Hormuz; see Boxer, Commentaries, 315.

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watering station, waiting for word from Muscat or Hormuz regarding the condition of the besieged, having finally recognized, though tardily, the extreme ignorance or wickedness of those who were sending them to the scaffold, their deaths being absolutely in vain. After they had spent six or seven days there, a galliot arrived that had slipped out from the fortress of Hormuz at night with a few women and other people unfit for military action. The soldiers learned that the besieged were at the end of their rope, and that two days earlier people in the galliot had gone to Muscat, where they had joined forces with Rui Freire de Andrade, who, after fleeing from Surat where the English had been keeping him prisoner, had come there in a ship he fitted out in Daman in order to help and serve in whatever way he could. They decided to sail for Hormuz, and though they had resolved to enter the fortress or die trying, it was more certain that it had already been lost many days earlier, considering the condition it was in. And so two leagues from port, close to the islet of A Vitória,104 they encountered one of the pataches that was carrying those who had surrendered the fortress of Hormuz. The other one, which was carrying Simão de Melo, the ouvidor105 and the vedor da fazenda,106 had gone on to Guadel, and from there to Sindh, either by design or because a storm had blown him off course. The relief party and those aboard the patache returned to Muscat, where they spent the next two months until the harshness of the Indian winter passed, and leaving Martim Afonso de Melo behind, who replaced D. Manuel de Lima, and D. Alvaro Gonçalo de Silveira in that fort, they all returned to Goa in seven foists during the month of August, some earlier than others, but those from Sindh first, crowding the city with the miserable throng of these fugitives from Hormuz who added their numbers to the many poor people already there, even though many of them had been rich and opulent, with enviable luxury and comfort. And thus concludes the account of the unhappy tragedy of Hormuz, which when it was begun, I never thought would be so long. The rest of the winter [of 1622] was spent waiting for the great ships from Portugal, which were believed to have wintered in Mozambique with the Viceroy D. Afonso de Noronha. But it was learned from D. Francisco Coutinho,107 whom the governor had sent along the coast of Ethiopia to gather information 104  See p. 266 n. 58. 105  Magistrate; see p. 748 n. 58. 106  Inspector of the treasury; see p. 748 n. 154. 107  Fernão de Albuquerque, governor of India (1619–1622) had, as Silva y Figueroa states, dispatched two unnamed galliots from Goa to Mozambique in search of news of the viceroy and the fleet in late 1621 with Francisco Coutinho as captain-major in one and the other under the command of Gabriel Touro de Mendonça, see DRDA, 7:365–66.

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about the viceroy, that the latter had not [fol. 529v] arrived, nor had a single one of the ships of his fleet, and thus he was expected any day now, though some were of the opinion that since this gentleman had twice turned back without displaying much desire to continue on to India, another viceroy was sure to come in his place. During this period of waiting for the great ships, the governor and his council decided that it would be a most advantageous and shrewd strategy to spread the word that the city and fortress of Hormuz had been recovered from the Persians and the English by the great industry and valor of Rui Freire, aided by the few soldiers from Muscat, thinking that with this witless and simpleminded ruse they could accomplish two things: first, give encouragement to the residents of the city, and second, temporarily increase their standing with the kings of neighboring countries on the mainland. In order to lend credibility to their tale, they forged no small number of letters in which they spread the news of this miracle, adding that not only had they retaken the city and fortress of Hormuz, but that they had also burned the English carracks and the Persian terranquins. They then took great care to have these letters delivered overland from diverse places, because the seas were unnavigable in the winter. And though such a feat would have seemed completely impossible even to the most innocent women and children, the news was spread so suddenly and quickly that no one doubted it in the least, especially because the fathers of the Society of Jesus, who also endorsed this scheme and stratagem, broadcasted the fraudulent story in their sermons with great fervor and passion, praising Rui Freire as the author of such a memorable accomplishment. The same thing was being done by the monks of the other orders. Goa was brimming with joy and celebration. People galloped through the streets on horseback, notwithstanding the fact that this news would have been confirmed by then in letters from Aleppo and Marseilles written by His Majesty. To those unacquainted with the miserable condition of the people of India and their incredible ignorance in all things, lacking even the appearance of any kind of judgment, such simple gullibility might be understood. But anyone endowed with even a moderate and very common understanding would surely recognize that such a great and miraculous military action could never have been carried out by the fewer than 300 men stationed in Muscat who were fearful and discouraged after hearing news of the recent calamity, and a mere ten ships, most of which were unarmed, especially in light of the fact that 1,500 men, not counting the Arabs and residents of Hormuz, failed to defend what they claimed as their own for so many years with such a great fleet and a good number of all kinds of artillery. And not only were all the churchmen and laymen in Goa party to this deception, but they were also terribly vexed that the Ambassador would

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not join in the ruse, or worse, [fol. 530r] that he warned many of those who presented this plan to him of the great harm it might occasion. [text blacked out] And in fact, the result turned out to be the opposite of what they had wished. Spreading good news usually only induces the imprudent and the incautious to drop their guard, even if what is reported really happened. [August 1622] The first patache carrying those who had surrendered at Hormuz arrived from Sindh, and the whole city went profoundly silent, having been disabused of its false and empty conviction. But the next day, August 22nd, though the weather was still quite brisk and the Aguada harbor still not completely safe, the carrack São Tomé stood in, captained by Nuno Pereira.108 Aboard were Gaspar de Melo de Sampaio,109 who had gone to Spain the year before, and Nuno da Cunha,110 who came as governor of the rivers of Cuama and castellan of Mozambique. One piece of information among many that were received was that D. Afonso de Noronha, after finally setting sail once again from the bar at Lisbon at the end of April and [margin: reaching the coast of] Guinea, had turned back to Lisbon a second time with his entire fleet. And because of this and the steps taken by the aforementioned Gaspar de Melo, who had been sent from Goa for this very purpose, His Majesty ordered that the Count of Vidigueira111 be sent as viceroy to India. The year before, the latter had parted from Lisbon earlier than D. Afonso de Noronha with four great ships, two galleons, and a patache. The aforementioned São Tomé had become separated from [superscript: the viceroy’s flagship] along the coast of Brazil, and she had faded from sight along to leeward with the rest of the fleet. The São Tomé, hearing nothing more from

108  Nuno Pereira Freire, Portuguese naval commander, captain of the carrack São Tomé in the 1622 outward fleet from Portugal to India. 109  Gaspar de Melo de Sampaio, Portuguese nobleman, inhabitant and councilman of Goa, dispatched as the representative of the municipal council on the carrack Nossa Senhora da Penha de França to Portugal in 1621 to inform the crown of Goa’s situation and request for aid in the construction of an additional fortress for the city. He returned to Goa from Portugal, as Silva y Figueroa states, on the carrack São Tomé on 22 August 1622; see DRDA, 7:240–41 and 8:22–23. 110  Nuno da Cunha, Portuguese administrator who apparently, according to Silva y Figueroa, was to substitute Jácome de Morais Sarmento as the captain of the fortress of Mozambique and become the governor of the Portuguese settlements in the Zambezi. 111  D. Francisco da Gama (1565–1632), fourth Count of Vidigueira; twice Portuguese viceroy of India (1597–1600 and 1622–1628); see Ferreira Martins, Crónica dos vice-reis, 316–17 and 331–32; Zûquete, Nobreza de Portugal, 3:488–89. For details of the naval action that Silva y Figueroa is alluding to in this passage, see Boxer, “Dom Francisco da Gama,” 5–24.

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the viceroy, raised the land on July 26th near the Mogincual River112 between the islands of Angoche and Mozambique, and there she descried five great ships and one other vessel that appeared to have run aground on the shoals near the mouth of the river. Differing opinions were shared among those sailing on the São Tomé; some had wanted to reconnoiter the vessels, believing they were from the viceroy’s fleet, but the majority arrived at a more cautious resolution, and thus they headed farther out to sea. Because the monsoon was favorable, they reached port in Goa on the aforementioned date. They also said that the galleon Trindade, one of the two in the viceroy’s fleet, had sailed in convoy with them from close to Socotra, only to become [superscript: separated] again a few days earlier. Saying They had learned from those aboard that she had broken a mast a little before the opening of the channel between São Lourenço and the coast of Ethiopia, and that the viceroy had therefore continued his voyage, ordering them to press on to India, since he was to put in at Mozambique. [text blacked out] [margin: Short of eyewitnesses], there could have been no more convincing evidence that a tragedy had befallen the viceroy than what was gathered from this report, especially since two days later the galleon Trindade called in the port and [fol. 530v] her captain and officers said that the viceroy had been sailing two or three days ahead of them, which represented the time lost repairing their galleon. Reconciling this with the fact that the carrack São Tomé had seen the wrecks on the coast near Mogincual two or three days earlier, the viceroy must have made Mozambique. Almost simultaneously with the arrival of the galleon, a foist put in from the rivers of Cuama, bringing word that they had seen the same ships in the very same place near Mogincual, some of them being very big; they had also seen that a great ship had run aground on the shoals. They further reported that news ran all along that coast to the effect that those great ships were Dutch, and that six or seven months earlier they had been seen sailing back and forth between Mozambique and the Comoros Islands. This information should have given rise for concern in even the most incautious of hearts of any race of people, especially after several more days passed and the viceroy, who logically should have arrived first, having sailed on ahead, still failed to appear. But not only did this not upset anyone, even those who should have been the most vigilant declared with all the certainty and confidence in the world and with great pleasure and rejoicing that there was nothing to fear, because the viceroy’s flagship carrack alone was big enough to break up and drive away fleets much bigger than that one, and that the carrack 112  A river found on the east African coast between Angoche and Mozambique Islands.

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that was said to have run aground no doubt belonged to the Dutch. False and deceiving convictions like these have brought total destruction and ruin to a great many people in diverse parts of the world. [September 1622] Life continued on in Goa, the inhabitants neglecting to use their ingenuity or taking any action that might have been in their best interest, until around [superscript: the end] of September, when the disaster that had befallen the viceroy was confirmed by a patache that had sailed from Mozambique. She had learned of it [margin: from the galleon São Alberto.] While the viceroy was sailing in convoy with the great ships São Carlos and São José [superscript: and the aforementioned galleon] between the islands of Angoche and the Mogincual River, they came into action with five Dutch ships, and though it would have been less dangerous to put their bows about and fight them headlong, he tried to outrun them, thinking he could seek refuge in Mozambique Bay, and in so doing received the fire in what was more a chase than a naval engagement. The carrack São José, the flagship, desiring to fulfill her duty in leading the other ships, bore the furious brunt of the opposing force’s heavy and quick fire to such a degree that her pilot and pilot’s mate were killed along with many others. Since they had only a few inept gunners, only twenty and since the captain, Francisco Mascarenhas,113 was gravely ill, the remaining people put up such a weak defense that the enemy saw that her guns, which were unmanned, were harmless, and so they opened her up and destroyed her rigging from close range. She was then carried by the current onto the shoals of Mogincual. The Dutch, seeing that they could do the same thing to the other two great ships and the galleon, gave them chase, firing repeatedly [fol. 531r] on them until darkness fell, but not even then did they remove themselves very far. The viceroy, together with many of those who sailed with him on the flagship, later asserted that on this occasion in which the carrack São José was most sorely beset by the enemy, he ordered the flagship to put about to relieve her and engaged the adversary until nightfall. But as the next day unfolded it became clear that if the enemy were to bring their ships alongside our two carracks and board them, they would take them because of the chaos and fear of 113  Portuguese naval commander and administrator. Apparently he was the captain-major of the outward 1622 fleet and the flagship, the carrack São José, carrying the new viceroy, D. Francisco da Gama, fourth Count of Vidigueira, not D. Afonso de Noronha. He was to stay in Asia at Goa and by all accounts had difficulties in his dealings with the viceroy. In 1623 Mascarenhas was appointed and sent to China to become the first governor of Macau (1623–1626), replacing the previous practice of having the captain-major of the Japan voyage responsible for governing that city; see Souza, Survival of Empire, 20–22.

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those on board. The next morning, our carracks having outsailed the enemy ships all night, the enemy chased them down between four and six leagues from Mozambique, and there engaged them once again. And though they detected the weakness of our ships, they did not hazard coming alongside us, as they had not the day previous, either because they feared the danger of their own ships catching fire, or—as they themselves later recounted—because they were persuaded that D. Afonso de Noronha was aboard one of them, and that in the event of hand-to-hand combat, they would have encountered stiffer resistance and suffered greater harm. The flagship and the São Carlos, finding themselves in dire straits because of the enemy’s unrelenting cannonade, drew as close to the coast as possible because many of their sailors were more familiar with the coast than were the Dutch. They thought they could steer through the shoals and stand into Mozambique Bay, while their enemies would not dare chase them for fear of losing their ships. This second plan was more surely realized than the first, because the Dutch ships, afraid of running aground on that shoal-ridden coast after our fleet penetrated deeply among the shoals, let them go with more than three hours of daylight remaining and put out to sea. And since the entire coastline is extremely familiar to any Portuguese sailor, our two great ships could have very safely moved farther away from the coast and stood safely into Mozambique Bay; it was quite close and there was enough daylight remaining to do so. But the truth regarding this is not known, or perhaps it does not wish to be told, silence being maintained out of respect for some people. Or, perhaps everyone really was afraid that if they had steered clear of those channels the enemy would have come back to attack them, for they had yet to sail out of sight. And so they remained there until nightfall, and as they attempted to stand into the aforementioned bay, first the flagship and then the São Carlos ran aground on the shoals between the parts of the mainland called Cabaçeira Grande and São Tiago Island. The great ships broke up so quickly that with the exception of the people and the cargo on the lower deck, including most of the money, all was lost that night, though the cannons were later salvaged. After the ship ran aground, the viceroy hurried to the fortress that same night, which was a league and a half from the shoals, and thus despite the speed with which the captain Jácome de Morais reached the ship, he did not find him aboard. After the viceroy learned of the siege of Hormuz, the news of its fall not yet having reached the [superscript: region] of Goa, [fol. 531v] he sent the galleon São Alberto to Muscat with his Captain Paulo de Sequeira, having first reinforced it with people and guns from the two great ships, though it was generally assumed that the siege could not have been endured for so long a period, and thus most of those aboard the galleon died of hunger and sickness

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in Muscat. After the carrack São José ran aground on the shoals of Mogincual, there would have remained ample time the rest of that day and that night until eight or nine o’clock, and even into the next day, to use rafts and boats to bring everyone safely to land, in addition to the money; the blacks there being friendly. But [margin: the enemy] found most of the money and most of the people on board the ship [margin: with everything else that was left there], for she had not broken up as quickly as the others. The number of people lost totaled 150 men and four or five noblewomen and also some maidens who had been ordered by His Majesty to travel from Lisbon to marry in India.114 Captain Francisco Mascarenhas had already escaped, together with several other officers. Many people said that was why the women and most of the money were taken by the enemy, for there was no one left to defend them while these men were on shore. [text blacked out] [margin: After news of the tragic incident that befell the viceroy reached] [text blacked out] [superscript: Goa at the end of September,] it gave rise to a considerable amount of general amazement and fear. Nobody thought it possible for three great ships to become wrecked at the same time, no matter how big the enemy’s fleet, despite the many adverse events that succeeded each other in such a short space of time. And this simpleminded and vain confidence was widespread among all classes of people, even in the face of reports that the five enemy great ships had been sighted off the coast of Mozambique as early as the arrival of the carrack São Tomé and the galleon Trindade, and despite the fact that the viceroy had made sail four or five days before the aforementioned carrack and galleon. It was also very likely that he had encountered the enemy and had been lost, for there had been no word of him for so many days. But no one paid any notice to these facts; on the contrary, all were very pleasantly amused and entertained themselves in games and racing in the streets, waiting every day for the viceroy’s great ships. The Ambassador was most vexed, believing beyond a doubt that the viceroy had been lost or that he was under siege with his carracks in the port and fortress of Mozambique, and when he expressed his fears to several people who came to call on him during this time, they laughed at such a notion, [margin: saying what was reported above], namely, that the flagship alone would be enough to destroy much greater English or [fol. 532r] Dutch fleets. These extremely simpleminded, yet dangerous boastings are their common passion—they listen to and believe flattering notions that in the end prove to be most pernicious, and they shun

114  Silva y Figueroa is accurately describing a practice followed by the Portuguese crown to send women to aid in the imperial colonization project.

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warnings that they should heed and act upon. This has been the source of destruction of every republic. During those first days, the viceroy sent messengers to negotiate with the enemy to secure the release of those who had been taken prisoner from the carrack São José; the English also wishing to obtain the release of three or four of their fellow countrymen who were prisoners in Goa. In response they said that they were going to stand into the bar of Goa and negotiate the release of prisoners on both sides. When the viceroy saw that the enemy was heading for Surat, he set sail with most of his remaining people in two pataches that he found in Mozambique, and fearing that he would engage the enemy if he headed straight for Goa, he set his course around the Padua115 shoals and the Mamale Islands and arrived in Kochi, where he bided his time for a great while fitting out a naveta he had purchased from the king of that land, and sent her from there to Portugal. And though word of his arrival reached Goa a few days later, a fleet of galleys was sent to beg for him to come [to Goa], but this was done so slowly [text blacked out] that three months elapsed between their landing in Kochi and their return to Goa, which happened a few days before Christmas. [December 1622–April 1623] After the English and the Dutch had repaired to Surat from Mozambique and laid in stores of victuals and ammunition, they stood in and positioned themselves above the bar of Goa with ten great ships and a patache, after the fleet of galleys had already sailed for Kochi with many people from [margin: the city] in order to accompany the viceroy. The only precautions taken of the kind that are so necessary under like circumstances was to throw many sumptuous banquets. A great many friars and Jesuits had also set off with the rest, prepared to shower the new viceroy with all kinds of flattery and praise. And even if no one had been absent from the city, it could have been reasonably described as unarmed. But now that it was half-empty, it was so completely vulnerable that the only reason the enemy did not sack it was because they chose not to. They could have easily done so by landing 800 or 1,000 men on shore next to Nossa Senhora do Cabo, from where there would have been no obstacle preventing them from reaching the city. The preventative measures taken by the governor were to order that all residents of the city go out to Pangim and to its neighboring areas on either side of the river. He also sent out some foists and other boats to provide support in the same river, but they were nearly unarmed and lacked ammunition, nor was there anybody aboard who could competently navigate them. All the citizens, both nobles and commoners, thronged together according to the friendship 115  See p. 131 n. 226.

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or acquaintance they had with each other, their wives bringing a great deal of refreshments, and then scattered off into their country houses, fêting each other or playing games, [fol. 532v] so that the both the Pangim and Bardes beaches were the very picture of ancient [margin: saturnalias or bacchanals]. The many calamities they had suffered could not diminish their simpleminded confidence or make them be more cautious. In the interim, the enemy, which had been anchored in the mouth of the port for several days, did not attempt any kind of action whatsoever, nor could it be determined what their design was. It could only be assumed that they had come to redeem their prisoners in exchange for the ones they had taken from the São José and prevent the great ship São Tomé, the only one remaining from the fleet, from setting off for Portugal. In Fort Aguada was André Coelho with fifty or sixty soldiers and several knights who had volunteered to defend the fortress from inside, among whom were Francisco de Sousa Falcão,116 who during the time of the Count of Redondo117 was the secretary of this state. This man, together with four of his sons who were old enough to fight, served as reinforcements until the enemy departed. The carrack São Tomé, which was being fitted out for her voyage, seeing the danger posed by the proximity of the enemy, drew as close as possible to Fort Aguada for the protection and defense of its guns, the ship also making a traverse for the fortress. Rui Freire de Andrade was positioned inside the fortress to defend it; he had arrived from Muscat with fifty or sixty soldiers and citizens. This number diminished each day as many of them went back to the city to join the rest who were scattered among the palm groves and houses of pleasure in the city. And thus after those few first days only very few men remained in the fortress and everything was in disorder; there reigned confusion and manifest fear. Fort Aguada is really no more than a small platform situated on the foot of the hill or hillock where the fortress was to be built. Its location is a flat spit of land, highly suitable for guarding and defending the nearby anchorage of great ships. But this platform has no fortification at all, not even a simple bastion, and is thus at great risk of being occupied by any great ship with even a small army. On this present occasion, since their captain was in the city, there were never more than three or four native blacks manning the guns never finding a pilot. The top of the hill commands the fortress in a nearly vertical relationship, from which there is absolutely no defense or protection. The reason for this is

116  See p. 819 n. 80. 117  D. João Coutinho; see p. 739 n. 144.

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that André Furtado,118 who had wanted to make it a building project, was replaced by his successor, and what was now found there was nothing more than the initial design of a small, very narrow, and poorly conceived fortress, a design that was never acted upon, though a small tower was completed in which a fire was kept at night for ships coming to anchor. But this torch was never lighted again after this time, first, because the tower, having been continually unoccupied, collapsed from the force of the winter seas, and second, because many ships have come [text blacked out] in danger of wrecking several times as they approach the bar at night, [fol. 533r] thinking that this lantern, which was perpetually dark, would have been lit. This happened to the Ambassador when he sailed from Hormuz in 1620. His vessel was coming into port in the thick of a dark night, and seeing no signal from the hill, the pilot put the ship about and sailed back the way he had come until very late on the following day when he finally put into port. Because the Ambassador was well aware of this shortcoming and of the general inattention and negligence in Goa regarding the defense of this fortress, and of how important it was to erect a defense on the top of this hill where the lighthouse was, as well as on the lower platform, during his sojourn in Pangim he urged the archbishop119 to communicate to the governor’s council that it was his desire to serve the city by paying close attention to this place. He also ordered the master mason, who is called the chief engineer120 here [margin: in India], to fortify it, for with just a few stones a very small force could occupy and take the platform and fortress from above. And although the Ambassador already knew from his experience in Hormuz how poorly the governor and everyone else would receive his offer and goodwill, he did not wish to shirk his duty, aware that the city would be in such evident danger if an enemy set foot on land, and seeing that not only Goa but also the rest of this state lacked a competent person to develop even a very simple fortification. It was never learned what response was given to the archbishop, and neither did the latter wish to inform the Ambassador what it was, and the Ambassador never asked him, even though they met together several times thereafter. But a few days

118  André Furtado de Mendonça, Portuguese naval commander (1558–1611) and governor of India (1609). His successor, whom Silva y Figueroa does not name, was Rui Lourenço de Távora (1566–1616), viceroy of India (1609–1612); see Ferreira Martins, Crónica dos ViceReis, 323–25; Boxer and Vasconcelos, André Furtado de Mendonça. 119  D. Friar Cristóvão de Sá e Lisboa; see p. 177 n. 41. 120  Portuguese engenheiro-mor. Although unidentified by Silva y Figueroa, the chief engineer in Portuguese Asia at the time was Julio Simão; see DRDA, 7:239.

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later, the Ambassador discovered that what had been deserving of appreciation was received instead with spite and hatred. Returning to the earlier narrative: with the enemy ships lying to 500 or 600 feet off this platform, the captain and other noblemen who wanted to show how experienced they were decided that they could drive the ships farther away with the very heavy cannons on the platform. They fired some of the heaviest guns, forty- or fifty-pounders, which had no effect at such a long distance—they might have been capable of protecting the anchorage from ships that were 100 or 200 feet distant, but no more. And besides this difficulty, the gunners, who were completely ignorant of their office, aimed their heavy cannons at the carracks on a straight line, and since the platform was at water level, the balls barely reached halfway to the enemy ships, from which there emanated great laughter and derision. Our gunners and those with them thought the reason their shots fell short was that they had used too little gunpowder, and so they double-charged the cannons. The only effect of this was that two of the best cannons exploded; subsequently they made no further attempts. The next day, a patache arrived [fol. 533v] from Kochi, and wishing to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy, she attempted to put into the port of Old Goa when one of the great ships heaved on her mooring line in order to draw as close to shore as the depth of the water allowed, and fired a few shots at her. At this the patache headed closer to shore, attempting to put into port where the balls could not reach her. The Dutch, seeing that they could not manage to harm her with artillery fire, put a launch in the water with twenty or twentyfive men, pulling hard to board the patache. Two of the boats, or foists, which, as has been mentioned, had been armed for the defense of the bar, set out to assist. But as these boats and the launch came close to the patache, the carrack fired a few shots at her, though from a great distance, more to frighten her than anything else, and the boats took cover, running back to their original position. At this the crew of the patache lost heart, and though there were twenty men aboard, plus some sailors, they all jumped overboard, leaving their money and other merchandise on board, which were later seized by the enemy, who then set [margin: fire] to the patache. Four or five days before Christmas, the viceroy came from Kochi with fourteen or fifteen foists and manchuas, even less prepared to fight than the boats that went out from Goa to escort him. Furthermore, not all the foists arrived at the same time, some quickly far outstripping the others, but always hugging the coastline as close to the island of Salcete as possible. At this point something happened from which it could be reasonably inferred that the enemy had another purpose in coming besides exchanging prisoners, according to the message they had sent to the viceroy in Mozambique. For at the same time as

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the arrival of the viceroy, the flagship carrack was very close by and, with her many guns, could have perhaps not entirely checked his arrival, but at least confounded and damaged many of those chaotic foists. Yet, offering no sign of hostility on that occasion, she hauled on her mooring line and moved far out of the way, clearly demonstrating either courtesy or disdain, allowing them to enter in either case, out of what everyone considered fear. But it was quite clear that during the entire time these great ships stood outside the bar, a period of three months, they could have inflicted more damage than they did with their launches, backed up by their ship’s guns, as they had so easily demonstrated when they pillaged and burned the patache from Kochi. The Portuguese prisoners had already sent one or two letters in clay pots, which they had thrown into the currents, earnestly begging the governor, and, after his arrival, the viceroy, to secure their freedom in exchange for the few English and Dutch prisoners in Goa, which was a very moderate price. But in this as well as in many other matters which, during the Ambassador’s long stay in India, God seemed to allow these people to go blind, much to their own punishment and perdition, always choosing, not by chance, but according to their own free will, the course of action that was least in their interest: some of the people began saying that it would be disgraceful to the Estado da Índia, and to the viceroy himself, to redeem these prisoners. The Ambassador, seeing that this barbarous and destructive language would [fol. 534r] not only prevent such a pious act as freeing those poor men, but would also preclude him from being able to return to Portugal with the enemies remaining in port, he paid a visit to the viceroy two days after the latter’s arrival in the Colégio dos Reis, where he had taken his lodgings, his poor health notwithstanding. And although the visit was a formality, the situation at hand demanded that the Ambassador implore him, first, to consider the freedom of the prisoners forthwith, [superscript: the affront that this presented to everyone justifying this request], since three or four Portuguese women found themselves in highly shameful circumstances; and second, that he not be persuaded to do the opposite if he were told that it did not befit his authority to negotiate for their release, since he was indeed obligated to do so. While it was most probable that the enemy’s purpose in coming to Goa was nothing more than to exchange prisoners, as evidenced by both the initial discussions in Mozambique as well as their demonstration of courtesy the day the viceroy arrived in port, there was another question of great importance, and that was whether they also intended to blockade the bar so that neither the great ship that was anchored there nor a patache that the governor had ordered fitted out through the Ambassador’s efforts would be permitted to sail to Portugal that monsoon. And because the viceroy’s response was lukewarm

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and perplexing, the Ambassador offered that, if for some reason unknown to him, His Excellency did not wish to discuss the exchange, the Ambassador would, in order to do right by the prisoners, send someone on his behalf to fulfill the same mission, seeing that he had a person who was competent and experienced enough to complete such a task, and that once the prisoners were freed, either the enemies would leave or they would stay, by which it could finally be ascertained if they intended to blockade the bar with the purpose of waging war as they had in years previous. The viceroy seemed to consent to this, responding that he would advise the Ambassador early the next day. And with that, the Ambassador terminated his visit, raising these issues because if the enemies had no other end than the exchange, they would leave as soon as it was concluded and with the bar free he could make his voyage to Spain, for which he was entirely ready. Two days later, the secretary of state wrote to the Ambassador, saying that the viceroy was ordering him to prepare the person whom he wished to send to the enemies so he could be given his instructions. This seemed like weak resolve to the Ambassador, and the viceroy appeared too sluggish and not as sharp as the circumstances demanded. His estimation proved to be accurate, since the matter was never again taken up with the Ambassador and the viceroy continuously refused to discuss it. The viceroy entered the city with great pomp and festivities, though, for many reasons, during a time of great sadness and affliction. A few days later he sent for the brothers, or the fraternity of the Misericórdia,121 in order to negotiate with the English and the Dutch concerning the freeing of the prisoners on both sides. To accomplish this, they sent a native mulatto or mestizo. The enemy was so disconcerted that they sent him back without hearing him out. The same thing happened with another man, though I never learned what sort of person he was. Afterward, a message was sent in the name of the bishop of Kochi, who at the time administered the archbishopric of Goa after the death of the archbishop. [fol. 534v] It can be plainly inferred that these people were sent with the full knowledge that they would be rejected. The viceroy’s vain presumption, namely, that he did not want to be held directly responsible for the exchange, was well known by many people. It was considered dishonest and completely ignorant on his part. One assumes that the viceroy did not wish the Ambassador to perform this mission because he was Castilian, though such was never ascertained with certainty, and because he deemed it inappropriate for the Ambassador to become involved with or play a role in anything pertaining to the crown of Portugal. And this is the kind of barbarous 121  Santa Casa da Misericórdia (“Holy House of Mercy”); see p. 159 n. 301.

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and obstinate language that is so deeply rooted in the hearts of all, even with respect to cases similar to this one in which the Ambassador stood to gain so little, and they so much. Yet under no circumstances would they accept that benefit, even if by so doing it would free them from any number of vexations heaped on them by their enemies. [margin: On his part], the Ambassador did everything he could to persuade the viceroy to allow him to sail to Spain in the patache, for there were many reasons why His Majesty needed to be informed about the adverse events that had taken place in India. The Ambassador could not make the journey in the carrack because it was not yet fitted out, and in any event the voyage would have been blocked by the enemy. And though the patache might run the risk of being captured, the pilots and other sailors asserted that it would be easy to slip out if they were to set sail at night—every night being very dark at that time of year [superscript: and the wind being quite favorable]—especially in a small ship that was so well fitted out. But though the Ambassador struggled with this for an entire month, he was incapable of bringing the matter to a conclusion with the viceroy. Also, never during that entire time, nor for many days afterward, was it ever decided to attempt to liberate themselves from the siege their enemies had laid on them by exchanging prisoners. This mystery, though one could speculate about it, will be passed over in silence. Suffice it to say that it did not please the viceroy—or at least it pleased him very little— that this patache or any other one should set sail for Portugal during a suitable time and monsoon. The small vessel that he sent to Kochi went with the passengers and sailors who were answerable to him. He also removed many of them and ordered that others go in their place. Moreover, the galleon had arrived from Mozambique that was heading off to Muscat around the beginning of September. From there it was to hurry on to Basra and Aleppo on its way to Spain, and it was going to carry correspondence from the viceroy regarding his misadventure with his enemies. These letters did not leave until the month of January of this year, 1623. They traveled so slowly and were carried along such a torturous route that they were reportedly seen in the middle of June, or even later, near Mosul in a caravan that travels between Baghdad and Kara Amid, an itinerary that none who travels overland to Spain ever follows because it is so roundabout. [February–October 1623] Around the end of February, the enemies finally left the port they had occupied, either because they believed that the monsoon in which the São Tomé could have set sail was already well spent, or because they no longer thought the Portuguese wanted to exchange prisoners. By this time, they had laid in abundant [fol. 535r] provisions of water and stores from the nearby shore. And though the patache that had been ready for so many

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days could have set sail at the beginning of March, it did not do so until the first of April. It was said that the viceroy had wanted to perform an experiment to see if it were possible to complete a voyage to Portugal at that time of year. It was said that he had been advised of the possibility of setting sail from India in any season without waiting for monsoons and sail back again from Portugal. The Ambassador, though he had been invited to set sail in this unusual monsoon, did not wish to hazard it, even though words could never express how deeply he regretted it, as he also lamented the cause of his having to stay longer in India with such bad health and extreme discomfort, particularly because of the drawn-out events that transpired after the engagement and loss of the viceroy’s ships close to Mozambique, and his resultant ill-starred arrival in India. At present, the Ambassador is keeping silent about many things, since talking about them would be of no use whatsoever, and would rather cause much harm, even were it necessary to make them public. The Indian winter was spent waiting for the great ships from Portugal, which were to arrive at the end of that season, and since almost none had appeared during the last four years—and also because it was feared they would arrive late in the seasonhe Ambassador went to all necessary lengths to ensure that the São Tomé, which had been unable to set sail the year before, was fitted out so she could set off early that year. Additionally, some people thought it would be best for three of the heavy galleons that were in the Pangim River [superscript: to escort] the São Tomé because His Majesty’s treasure that was salvaged from the three shipwrecked carracks in Mozambique had been brought to Goa, as had their crewmen; after all, these galleons were not nor could they be of any use so early in the year in India. Yet the viceroy was loath to reply to this request, being completely occupied with siphoning money from the poor people of Goa through incredible and unheard-of extortions. The excuse given by him and by his flatterers, who were numerous, for why he was unable to approve this plan was that he had to make a journey to Ormuz for which the galleons would be necessary. He made it publicly known that as soon as he sent off the great ships that were expected that year, he would go reclaim the fortress and the city that had been lost to the enemy, though it was very well known that he was totally unprepared for such an action, besides the fact that his person inspired very little confidence for this kind of enterprise. But although all hope was lost that the carrack would set sail under the escort of these galleons, the viceroy promised that he would dispatch her by the end of November at the latest, so that she would [fol. 535v] surely and with all brevity [text blacked out] make sail without waiting for the great ships that were expected to arrive, for the latter usually parted from Goa very late.

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[October–November 1623] Toward the beginning of October, D. Filipe Mascarenhas122 entered the anchorage of the harbor in one of the galleons that had set out from Lisbon that year. She arrived late in the year because one of her masts had broken, and thus the rest of the fleet had sailed on ahead. She put into port at the time already mentioned with no more news than what she picked up from a patache she had encountered in Mozambique, saying that her people had become separated from the great ships on the coast of Guinea. Upon hearing this news, the viceroy changed his mind, saying that since this fleet was expected so soon, he wanted the carrack São Tomé to sail in convoy with it. This could have been considered a better decision if time had not proved just the opposite. All of this man’s machinations were directed toward his own private ends, to which he paid attention with the [text blacked out] [superscript: utmost] vigilance, even to the general destruction of that state. He proceeded to man the carrack very slowly and with notable apathy for the reasons already given. It was necessary to start almost from scratch because nearly all the berths were open, but he declined to assign places to those who were going to embark or to provide berths for the sailors or gunners that were needed on board, although all of these interested parties impatiently importuned him to do so. Word arrived of a small galliot that had put in from Mozambique. She had set off after the carracks and galleons from Portugal had determined to remain there, unable to continue on to Goa until the May monsoon. Now the viceroy had no excuse but to proceed with the dispatch of the great ship without delay, yet it seemed that this situation actually caused him further delay and postponement. He refused to make any decisions regarding the aforementioned questions, though everyone insisted more heatedly about it, saying how important it was that this voyage be made early, not only to take advantage of favorable weather but also to avoid encountering enemy ships. Since July, the Ambassador, though he had received messages offering him 122  Portuguese naval commander, captain-major on the galleon Santo André of the 1623 outward fleet. Contemporary records document that this fleet consisted of three carracks (the São Francisco Xavier, captain-major D. Antonio Telo de Meneses; the Santa Isabel, captain D. Diogo de Castelo Branco; the Nossa Senhora de Conceição, captain Francisco Correa da Costa), three galleons (the Santo André, captain-major D. Filipe Mascarenhas; the Nossa Senhora de Misericórdia, captain Francisco Borges de Castelo Branco; the São Simão), and two unnamed pataches (Cosmo Cassão de Brito and Manuel Pessoa, captains). The galleon Santo André lost some masts in a storm and was forced to return to Lisbon, resailing in the same year. See DRDA, 9:267–69.

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a berth in the carrack São Tomé, or in any of the other great ships that were expected to arrive, had gone to greater lengths than anybody to find a berth on that carrack, incessantly fearing that, considering what had happened in years previous, no fleet would arrive in time this year either. Yet no matter how much he insisted, it was impossible to convince the viceroy to assign him a place, notwithstanding that at the beginning he was given assurance with fine words. [December 1623] November came and went, and now there was great haste to [fol. 536r] find accommodations, what with so many people seeking to set sail on the carrack. And because [margin: it was quite clear] that one had to proceed with the viceroy in this matter with great caution, the Ambassador quickly sought out the master and the pilot of the carrack to purchase from them some of the berths of those that were available at whatever price they demanded, which was unreasonably excessive. This burden could have been born with patience had the ship been allowed to set sail as soon as possible, but even though many people desired so keenly to embark, her dispatch was delayed for no reason whatsoever, most of December having by then passed, and with it the better part of the monsoon that would take them along the inside of the island of São Lourenço. And the more time that was wasted, the more apparent it became that the viceroy was delaying. His intent became progressively more obvious, which was that he did not want this carrack to get underway, or at least he wanted it to depart very late. His object cannot be known with complete certainty, though the reasons are not very opaque, considering the great worry and care he continually lived with after the unfortunate turn of events in Mozambique. He did not want anybody to give an account of them in Spain except those designated by him and would be obligated by benefits to speak favorably about matters pertaining to him. And so, after it became public knowledge that he was sending one of his confidants quickly and quietly to the king of Bijapur, or Adil Khān, he sent him off [margin: by night] in a ship to Basra and from there to Spain with his letters and those of his friends, the kind of people who always endeavor to flatter and pander to their viceroys and governors, thereby taking advantage of situations such as these, causing great scandal and setting a bad example in this city. The previous narrative may seem superfluous and impetuous, but what was seen and learned concerning the Count of Vidigueira after his arrival in Goa stems from his liberty and tremendous insolence and surpasses all the limits of rapacity, inhumanity, and absence of fear of his king, overlaid on an exaggerated ignorance and weakness of character. This account would not have been written, notwithstanding its truth and the particular need for it to be made public, if concealing it would have led to the total destruction of this state,

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which has almost come to ruin because of the prodigious excesses that are multiplied every time someone comes to brazenly destroy and defend it. [January 1624] To summarize the tardy and belated departure of the carrack São Tomé, I will say that even though she was completely [fol. 536v] [margin: fitted out] by the beginning of January, her offing continued to be delayed, but never for a period longer than a day, until the 15th of the same month, when the Ambassador [margin: learned from] several people that the viceroy had little desire for the Ambassador to depart, and this was manifestly seen in a tacit, if not open, refusal to grant him what he had been promised. And fearing something worse, he left for Banda next to the Pangim River so he could quickly board the carrack. After attempting the same procedure for several days without the ship setting sail, he finally embarked on January 28th [margin: 28] in the berths he had previously purchased, with no more support from His Majesty’s ministers than a nook or cranny in which there was only room for fourteen casks of water. It was necessary to store the rest of the supplies for the voyage in the berths he had purchased with great discomfort. [February–March 1624] [margin: February 1st, 1624] The carrack made sail on the first day of February of 1624, having been detained for four additional days because the viceroy said that he had not completed his correspondence. It was amazing to see the great encumbrance and burden on this ship, not only on the decks and in the hold, where she was double laden, but also in the entire waist and under the awnings and on coiled cable. There was not an inch of free space where a man could lie down, nor for the necessary steering and handling of the ship. The reason for this disorder was that she was the only vessel that had been dispatched during the previous year besides the small craft from Kochi. But even more to the point was the excessive and extreme greed of the sailors and merchants in Goa who thought that they would fetch higher prices in Portugal for the merchandise they carried for the reasons outlined above. This avarice grew in all while the offing of the carrack was delayed to such an extent that after all the berths destined for cabins were sold, the agents began to sell spaces where water and victuals were to be stored at the inflated price that merchants and some of the passengers were willing to pay. And thus, since all the spaces that His Majesty concedes [margin: to these seamen had been occupied and sold], it was necessary to find more berths in the public spaces that should have remained empty and available. There was not even enough room for the many slaves. Also, on the outside of the ship, the sides and the castles on the bow and the stern were laden with innumerous bales, crates, and casks of water, and many cabins had been built like nests, a very usual practice on this voyage, to transport this blind people, lacking any semblance of good judgment, who overburden their carracks to great excess. But what resulted

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from this [fol. 537r] cannot be overstated, for even the area designated for the necessary requirements of nature was completely hindered. And not a single one of the ministers corrected these manifest irregularities. Rather, they themselves, from the viceroy down, permitted this state of affairs because much of the merchandise belonged to them. This is the main reason so many carracks from Portugal have been lost at sea: they lack sufficient defense against the sea or their enemies. And thus those of us who sailed on her were exposed to more evident danger than any other ship ever was. [margin: 5th February] The first five or six days of that month, the carrack almost failed to steer, the helm not answering on the larboard side, even though to head west we had such a favorable north-east by east by north-east wind. Many people had to help at the tiller to make any headway at all, until after passing the shoals of Padua the ship steered with a little less difficulty on the seventh of that month, sailing to the west by south-west with a following wind. This favorable wind continued until we crossed the line on the twentieth of the same month, and after passing the shoals of the Seven Sisters123 on the right hand side a few days later, within sight of them off to the south-west, we passed very close by the Saya de Malha Shoals, or perhaps right over it, passing the dangerous Chagas124 shoals and the shoals of Pedro de Banhos125 on the left, in the opinion of some, though others asserted they had been on the right—such is the confusion and uncertainty of this dangerous voyage. Our sailing was further aided by the good weather, though there were a few squalls, until the last day of February, which, being leap year, had twenty-nine days. On that day we made little headway because of the many thunderstorms and downpours with a gentle north-easter. At night there were a few sudden rainstorms, but never headwinds. From this place, which was 10 or 12 degrees from the Antarctic Pole, the pilot, in order to steer clear of the Grajaos Shoals126 more to windward, stood to one point south-east of south, endeavoring to pass

123  The MS has Siete Hermanas, Spanish for “Seven Sisters,” though earlier Silva y García refers to them as the Siete Hermanos, “Seven Brothers”; the Seychelles; see p. 125 n. 217. 124  The Chagas are a group of seven atolls comprising more than sixty individual islands that form shoals in the Indian Ocean about 500 km (310 mi) south of the Maldives, located at 6°0′0″S, 71°30′0″E. 125  Pedro / Pero / Peros dos Banhos is a medium-sized coralline atoll, circled by a regular coral reef, similar to those in the neighboring Maldives, in the Chagos Archipelago, located at 5°20′0″S, 71°51′0″E. It has a total area of 503 sq km (194 sq mi) but a land area of only 9.6 sq km (3.7 sq mi), made up of some thirty-two islets that reach a total of 490 sq km (189 sq mi), all of which are flat, sandy, and the largest covered with coconut trees. 126  St. Brandon (Cargados Carajos) shoals; see p. 120 n. 200.

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the island of Juan Brandon127 and the aforementioned shoals to our right. And two days later, a little farther than south by south-east, he and the other pilots reckoned our position at forty leagues to the east of it, though others thought, as was later proven to be true, that we were passing through the channel created by that island and the Grajao Shoals, which is fifty leagues wide and very close to them. [fol. 537v] [margin: March 13] Manuel dos Anjos came to pay a visit to the Ambassador’s cabin. He had accompanied the Count of Vidigueira the year before as the chief pilot. He was a very honest man, sound, and experienced in his sphere. As he was talking to the Ambassador about their voyage, he corroborated what Gaspar de Morais, the pilot of the carrack, had said, namely, that we were far from the island of Juan Brandon, which lay to the east, as far away as has already been mentioned. And just as the Ambassador was answering that it was impossible to have traveled so far in two days with such a gentle breeze, that the island was situated at a distance of many fewer leagues to the east, and that it was far more likely that [margin: they had sailed] through the channel, not very far from the already named shoals, a loud noise was heard on the poop deck of the ship. Everyone was shouting from the top of the mainmast that land had been sighted off the bow. It was, without doubt, the island of Diogo Rodrigues, and Manuel dos Anjos went up to verify it, descrying its highest and most inland part only a short distance away, as well as the elongated ridge of a high, though gentle mountain. We sailed most of this day within sight of the island, perceiving its size with increasing accuracy as the carrack drew closer, passing it to leeward at sunset at a distance of four or six leagues. From what could be estimated, it was fifteen or sixteen leagues long, though none of our sailors had ever set foot on it, despite the fact that India had been discovered so many years ago and that the ships always following this same route. Some people said that once or twice they had sailed within less than a league of it, reporting that it was very beautiful and full of forests, and that no shoals or reefs extended out from it. It had a very clean and safe anchorage along the whole coast that could be seen as we sailed along it. But it was learned from some Dutchmen who had been taken captive in the Philippines that on the opposite coast it had several very good ports and that all along it there emptied very large streams with an appreciable number of freshwater fish, not to mention many ocean fish. They added that the soil was so rich and full of such delectable jungles that all the species of fruit of India could also be found there, with many pigs and deer, and innumerous species of birds, especially wood pigeons and doves. And spread throughout those forests were 127  Probably one of the larger atolls of the St. Brandon shoals.

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many land tortoises of amazing size, with meat as delicate and delicious as the best veal [fol. 538r] in Europe. These tortoises graze and feed on grass like oxen and cattle. It is also said that in addition to the abundance of timber found there for the building of ships, there is a great quantity of ebony, finer than that of Mozambique. But what is most praiseworthy about it, besides the fact that it is only a little longer than it is wide, is that its air is of such a wonderfully healthy mildness that the Dutch make more frequent stopovers there than on Swan Island,128 with which they had become acquainted on first voyages to Sunda,129 thirty leagues to the west of this island of Diogo Rodrigues, but vastly inferior in size, fertility, and the beauty of its soil. During the last few years, the Dutch have brought a great number of chicken and partridges to it from St. Helena, along with several steers, sheep, and goats of the kind that they often carry for their sustenance. They have also brought to it a colony of poor men and women from Holland, these foreigners thereby displaying to us their great industry and foresight in finding shelter and protection in the middle of this immense and highly dangerous sea where so many of our ships have disappeared and in danger where shipwrecks are possible at any time on the many shoals that can be found not very far from these islands. Although all the rutters for this voyage around the outside of São Lourenço make mention of this island, advising ships to endeavor to keep it in sight in order to stay on the right course on both the voyage to and the return from India, the Portuguese have never set foot upon it, despite this having been so necessary to cure and find refreshment for the many sick people who reach these waters, and to find some relief from some of the many discomforts of such a long navigation. But because they have never reconnoitered this island as they have all the other coasts where they continue to sail, their negligence and lack of sailing expertise is so great that one would suppose they were never going to return to this location, and this has given rise to several shipwrecks. The Portuguese have always been ignorant of information that is of the utmost importance. By contrast, the foreign sailors who have followed this route during a much shorter time reconnoiter its entire course with special [fol. 538v] diligence and care, and are thus apprised of both its dangerous sections that they must watch for and the parts that are comfortable for taking shelter, and

128  Mauritius; see p. 120 n. 199. 129  Sunda, western Java, comprising the sultanates of Bantem and Jacatra from the Sunda Straits in the west to the region of Cheribon in the east. The Dutch had used the port of Banten as one of their early centers for trade until they established themselves at Batavia (present-day Jacarta) in 1619; see Lagoa, 2:152 and 3:176.

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they make good use of them. Their voyages are thus extremely safe, proving themselves to be the true and proper lords of the sea. There is an inlet called Masirah on the coast of eastern Arabia between the islands of Khurīyā Murīyā and Cape Rosalgat, as was described in Book III, which penetrates far inland, creating several reefs and shoals. These have never been reconnoitered by Portuguese sailors over the course of all the years they have followed this route. These reefs and shoals have caused many wrecks, even for small galleys. And even though the coast of Arabia has such a dearth of ports—for more than 300 leagues the only ports are Aden and Muscat—because of the same negligence, there is none in this inlet of Masirah, where a very secure and commodious port could have been established to complement the others that have been mentioned. Finally, in the year 1621, the English who conduct trade in Jask and Surat, having heard tell of this inlet on their occasional trips to or from the Strait of Mecca130 where they would go in search of prizes, reconnoitered it and sounded it out with their launches, discovering sure and clean channels among the shoals for their great ships. And thus they stopped at the island created by the inlet for four months, for at that time the Indian winter prevented them from reaching Surat. On that island they found not only a safe shelter for their ships, but also plentiful good water and a bounty of sheep, chicken, and goats, plus an abundance of dates, grapes, pomegranates, and oranges, the entire island being inhabited by Arabs, as was the mainland where all these things were produced. At dawn on March 14th, [margin: March 14] we left the aforementioned island behind and sailed west by south-west with south-east and south by southeast winds for nine or ten days until the [margin: 24th March] 24th of March, when we arrived at a north-south line with the southernmost part of São Lourenço. The pilot then put us farther out to sea to avoid the storms that blow in that clime, and thus we sailed clear of Cape San Roman, which is between 25 to 28 degrees south. From here we headed one point [fol. 539r] south-west of west, finding the air to be cooler, and by the end of March it was noticeably cold, though tolerably so. [margin: March 31st] [April 1624] After the first of April, the pilot continued to gain latitude, saying he wanted to stay out of sight of the cape of Lagoa Bay131 on the land of Natal, considering it safer to pass Cape Agulhas and the Cape of Good Hope without sighting land because of the possibility of enemy ships there, even though all the rutters warn that under no circumstances should 130  Silva y Figueroa is clearly equating the Strait of Mecca with the Red Sea; see Peters, Mecca, 168. 131  Maputo Bay, known as Lagoa at the time by the Portuguese.

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ships lose sight of the coast between 28 and 31 degrees, and that they should maintain their heading from that point within sight of land, but far enough away to be in forty to seventy fathom water so that the wind that blows in this dangerous place, which is usually a north-easter, will not carry them far to the south, not only because they would be blown way off course but because of the violent storms in those seas. The pilot followed this course for many days, heading west by south-west and later west and south-west. And since every day brought an increase in latitude toward the Antarctic Pole than what was promised by the great scarcity of wind, which only lengthened out as one headed north-west, he thought that with relation to the increase we were heading west, wasting so many days in this obstinacy until we reached 36 degrees and a third, encountering some very cold rainstorms along the way. He reckoned that we had by then reached the meridian that passes through the Cape of Good Hope. The other pilots observed that, because of both the position of the needle and the many other very patent conjectures, it was impossible that we had even reached the meridian of the closest coast of Natal, and the same thing was asserted by Father Cristoforo Borri,132 a Milanese, of the Company of Jesus, a great mathematician, according to what he had observed of a great eclipse of the moon that had been seen a few days earlier. But our pilot, despite his young age, prided himself deeply on his art with the stubbornness found in all Portuguese, and refused to heed or accept the opinions of another person, but continued his course with great self-assurance. 132  Cristoforo Borri, S. J. (1583–1632), also known as Christopher Borrus. Silva y Figueroa also renders the name of this famous Jesuit missionary, mathematician, and astronomer as Cristophoro Bruno. He entered the Society of Jesus on 16 September 1601 and in 1616 was sent from Macau along with Father Pedro Marques to initiate and establish Catholic missionary activities in Cochinchina (as central Vietnam was known at that time). He resided in Cochinchina at Hội An (Faifo) from 1618 to 1622. Silva y Figueroa’s encounter with him obviously occurs when they are shipmates on the return journey to Europe. Borri eventually took up residence in Coimbra, Portugal, where he taught mathematics until his death in 1632. In that same year he entered the Cistercian Order, taking the name of Father Onofrio. His most important work, the Relatione della nuova missione delli P.P. della Compagnia di Gesù al Regno della Cocincina (Rome, 1631, later translated into French, Dutch, Latin, German, and English), is considered one of the best sources for central Vietnam in the seventeenth century because of its detailed description of the physical, political, and ecclesiastical conditions of the country. For further particulars and references concerning his life and works, see Herbermann, ed. Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. “Christopher Borrus”; for an annotated English translation of the Relatione, see Dror & Taylor, Views of Seventeenth-Century Vietnam, 89–180.

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[margin: April 12] This continued until April 12th, very close to dusk, when— on account of the ship being [fol. 539v] so overloaded, pitching hard on a heavy swell, and sailing close-hauled—the mainstay made a loud cracking sound as one of its thick cables snapped. The mainmast began to wobble, the rigging unable to hold it steady. There was a great uproar and much alarm on the part of all, but with everyone diligently lending a hand, it was presently secured with many cables. And though night had fallen, a great many torches were lighted and everyone worked speedily without ceasing through the night, recognizing the great danger of not surviving another storm. By daybreak another mainstay made of three thick cables had been attached more securely than before. And all this haste was necessary, because while the sea had been fair during this task, afternoon huge swells began to rise up from the west, though unaccompanied by wind. But as soon as the sun set, the wind started to blow straight at us from the direction we were heading and went on to rage furiously, stiffening up before long with a very dark sky. The pilot dared not lie to, fearing that since we were so overladen the seas would tear the ship apart, thus he ran to the north under the foresail at half-mast. He was obliged to do this, not only because if he had worn the ship she would have lost headway, but also because heading to the south would incur the well-known danger of running into storms that were heavier and of longer duration. The furious west wind gradually stiffened more as the night wore on, bringing with it a few downpours, though intermittent and out of proportion to the heavy gale that threw huge breakers against the waist and the rigging, one of them carrying off the balcony of the poop deck with a terrible noise. The waves continued to smash against the ship through the rest of the night, washing many bundles and some of the quarters that people had built on the side of the ship overboard, though no one was harmed. [margin: 13th of April] On April 13th, the wind had not abated by daybreak; in fact, if anything, it had strengthened, but the skies were clear, bringing hope that the storm could not last much longer. The sun’s altitude was taken at a third less than 35 degrees, and with no land in sight it was certain that we were east of Natal. But the pilot, persisting in his deception, calculated that we had doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and thus, in order to prove he was right, he continued on the same course under a little more [margin: foresail], running due northward [fol. 540r] all day long. After sunset the wind quieted until it was gentle, veering west by south-west. And after setting the topsails [margin: and the spritsail] and taking a sounding, the bottom was not found at more than a hundred fathom water. We headed north by north-west all night till the sun rose, when a high and continuous stretch of land was immediately sighted more than ten leagues off. [margin: April 19] Some people believed it was the cape of the Lagoa Bay, but after taking the altitude of the sun at noon

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at 33 degrees and 30 minutes, this land was believed in more likelihood to be the closest part of the Bay of São Brás. This supposition was corroborated by the subsequent sighting of lobos marinos.133 And with the wind lengthening out to the south, though it was weak, we headed west and south-west for seven or eight leagues, keeping in sight of land, which was very craggy and high. The next day land could hardly be seen, a few light downpours falling from time to time in a very weak south-easterly wind, the prow pointing west by south-west, heading for Cape Agulhas over a bottom of seventy or eighty fathom of water. The seamen fished for bream and hake, but the latter did not resemble the ones from Spain in appearance or in taste. [margin: April 16] From the 16th to the 20th of April, finding ourselves at 35 and a half degrees, it appeared to the pilot that we had passed Cape Agulhas. This was because on that day and two days earlier, seals and some birds that were called mangas de veludo134 were spotted. In addition to the hake and bream, another kind of fish was caught, which in size, shape, and taste resembled the red bream in Santander, called bicas by the sailors. The next evening after the sky turned dark with thick clouds and a south-easterly wind blew up, it began to rain, and almost at the end of the second watch, the southeaster began to blow with such great fury that the foresail was taken in with the rest of the sail. We ran north-west and north by north-west. During the space of two hours, two or three thick downpours fell, the heaviest we had experienced during the voyage to that point, with big bolts of lightning, though without thunder. At that point, the familiar lights of the Holy Body, or St. Elmo,135 appeared around the topsail of the mainmast and the top of the mizzenmast. The sailors recited a prayer with a somewhat mournful and tragic tone until we passed through it. The wind and the rainstorms died down. At sunup we were becalmed. [margin: 21st of April] On the 21st of April, we sailed with the same southeasterly wind, heading north-west and west, almost out of sight of land, our position being a few more minutes greater than 35 degrees. The wind lengthened out and we continued our heading to the west and south-west all night long. [fol. 540v] A very craggy and high coast was sighted, but it was never precisely ascertained if we had passed Cape Agulhas or not, though lobos marinos and mangas de veludo were sighted, as they had been ever since the watering station of São Brás.

133  Lit. “sea wolves,” i.e., Cape seals; see p. 103 n. 153. 134  Wandering albatross; see p. 88 n. 117. 135  St. Elmo’s Fire.

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[margin: April 21–23rd] We spent the next two days, bringing us to the 23rd of the same month, with no wind and in sight of the same coast. At three o’clock in the afternoon, the wind picked up a little from the west without backing. The pilot hove the ship to, although the light wind died out completely, the ship laying to all the next night long. That night a furious [text blacked out] current, like the rapids of a river, carried her away as she lay to without anyone noticing. She lost so much westing [margin: that] the next day [margin: April 24th] at daybreak everyone saw that we were more than ten leagues to the east of Cape Agulhas. This caused general distress among all those aboard the carrack because, seeing that she was more than double laden, and that the burden was so unevenly stowed, and the rigging in such bad condition, it was feared, and justly so, that with winter coming on—it was already the end of April—we would be forced to turn back and put in at Mozambique. The calm continued, and the sailors and passengers were in this state of despair, when the aforementioned Father Cristoforo Borri persuaded everyone to commend himself to St. Francis Xavier,136 whose canonization was being celebrated in Goa as the carrack was making her offing. They asked God through his intercession to favor them with a fair wind in order to round the Cape of Good Hope. It was normal for people on board the carracks that make this voyage to chant the litanies of different saints for this purpose, making offerings and pledging many alms to the fraternities of these saints in Lisbon. In order to inspire the sailors even more, after the father delivered a brief sermon, he placed a relic of St. Xavier in the topsail of the mainmast. A wondrous thing then took place, because at exactly the same time, around five o’clock in the afternoon, a southeaster began to blow, and was so vigorous and splendid that the ship crowded on all sail and ran westward before a nearly following wind, which freshened all night long. The next day we found ourselves [margin: April 26th] [fol. 541r] farther ahead than where we were when the ship had lain to. Land was spied less than four leagues off, the weather being so clear that around noon the lowest part of it could be seen. Some people guessed it was the False Cape because of the towering mountains that ran westward. Finally, at two o’clock in the afternoon, there appeared a very thick and high piece of land. It was impossible to discern if it was the Cape of Good Hope, though by four o’clock in the afternoon several of the first people to sail to India were infallibly sure it was the cape, the evidences of it being so plain. From the highest 136  St. Francis Xavier, Basque (1506–1552), born Francisco de Jaso y Azpilcueta, follower of Ignacio de Loyola, Jesuit missionary to China; he spent three years in Goa (1542–1545) and was canonized by Pope Gregory XV on 12 March 1622.

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point of this promontory, or great headland, a thick section juts far out into the sea. Atop the promontory is a very flat and smooth table. According to reports from the first Portuguese, as well as from the Dutch and the English who just a few years ago climbed to the top of it from the Saldanha watering station, this table is a spacious and beautiful plain covered with basil and apple mint, but altogether lacking in bushes or trees. The closer the carrack moved to the cape, the more recognizable became the form of this table, until by sunset, sailing with such a favorable wind, we approached within four or five leagues of it. But most of the people remained unconvinced that it was the Cape of Good Hope because the same stretch of thick and high land continued westward past the promontory without coming to an end at a point or cape facing south, as they had imagined it would. The reason for this deception was that this promontory does not extend into the sea. Rather, a small point juts out from its thickest part and curves back toward the east like the nipple on a woman’s breast, so that those who sailed toward it were unable to see it unless they approached very closely on a clear day. On this occasion its shape, as just described, was not visible because night fell while we were more than four leagues from reaching it. Today the sun’s altitude was taken at 35 degrees minus 10 minutes. [margin: The 26th, the night before] On the 26th, having sailed [text blacked out] large before a freshened wind to the west all of it [margin: the whole night before], it was apparent at dawn that we had doubled the cape. Not a single sign of it, nor of its closest coast, could be descried [fol. 541v] because the land was covered by light fog, though a little after sunrise it could be seen quite clearly off the stern at a distance of more than ten or twelve leagues. The pilot ordered that we steer north-west, after everyone bade farewell to the cape, the success of our navigation now considered certain. We sailed in the same storm all that day and night, the sun’s altitude having been taken at 34 degrees and a third. On the 27th [margin: 27th of April], the same wind and course, which continued the whole night through, having taken the sun’s altitude at 33 degrees and a half. [margin: 28 April] On Sunday the 28th, we continued to run large, heading north-west before the same south-easterly wind until three o’clock in the afternoon when it began to die down; we were becalmed most of that night. The sun’s altitude was taken today at 32 and a half degrees.

Bibliography Manuscripts Spain

Archivo General de Simancas Estado 437, documents 13–17, 56–60, 75–76, 81–82, 104–114, 146–148, 173, 175, 195–196, 201, 205–210, 213–216, and 238–239 Biblioteca Nacional Manuscritos 17629 and 18217 Biblioteca Universitaria de Salamanca Manuscritos 2299, f. 158v; and Manuscritos 2496, fols. 197v–232v

Portugal

Biblioteca Nacional (Portugal) Fundo Geral 580, fols. 34r–83v



Great Britain

British Museum, London Additional MSS 28461, fols. 153–154v and 185r–209v

France

Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris Fonds Portugais 27, fols. 212v–230v



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Index ʿAbbās I 1, 14, 16, 17, 21–29, 246n, 291, 312, 335, 351, 364, 411, 418, 492n, 554, 570, 635, 648, 671n ʿabbāsī xviii, 324, 328, 440 ʿAbd al-Raḥmān 576 ʿAlī Beg 21, 22, 289, 339, 343, 367, 368, 404, 494, 495, 497, 498, 732 ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib 411, 443n, 521n, 663n ʿAlī ibn Mūsā al-Rezā 443n ʿAlī Jamal 829 ʿAlī Kumal 744 ʿAlī Pasha 481 Abagha 334 Abas Asad 443 Abner 536 Abradatas 533n Abraham 585, 586, 589 Abrolhos 74, 95, 101 Absalom 536 Abu Bakr [Abu Bakr ʿAbd Allāh in Abī Qhuḥāfah] 521, 659 Abyssinian(s) 220, 358, 449, 695 Acapulco 34 acebuches, see wild olive trees Achaemenid 38, 46, 244n, 290n, 337n, 350n, 364n, 370n, 406n, 511n, 526n, 618n, 629n Achelous 563 Achilles 533 Achim Tazladin [Mevlana Fazlullah?] 549 Acre 336n acrobat(s) 415–418, 685 Acts of the Apostles 363 adhan 415n Adil Khān 150, 172, 173, 197n, 198n, 220, 358, 365, 850 adobe 289, 499, 602 Afranius [Lucius Afranius] 557, 564 Africa 13, 24, 46, 47, 59, 83, 107n, 233, 331, 558, 576, 599 Africanus, Johannes Leo [Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad al-Wazzān al-Zayyātī or al-Fāsī] 38n, 334 āḡā 409n, 578, 579, 643, 675 Āḡā Beghi 547n Āḡā Liza 358, 365 Āḡā Mir 478, 479

Āḡā Mir [title] 409n Agaçaim [crossing, Goa], see also São Lourenço 170n, 174n Agaléga 121 Agesilaus 533 Agra 514, 695, 696 Agrarian Laws 536 Aguada [fortress, Goa] 158, 164, 165, 168, 249, 759, 813, 842 Aguada [promontory, harbor, bar, Goa] 811, 815, 836 águas más, see bad waters Aguiar, Jorge de 90 Agulha Fixa, see Carneiro, António de Mariz Agulhas [bank, shoals] 106, 109, 115, 136 Agulhas [cape] 75n, 103, 105–107, 110, 856, 859, 860 Ahasuerus 618 Ahmad Khān 554 Ahvāz 290n, 291, 349, 456, 599, 622, 623, 624, 626, 627, 630, 731, 740 Akbar the Great [Abuʿl-Fatḥ Ḏjalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad] 199n, 240, 679, 690 Akşehir 531 Alacranes [reefs] 110 Alam Khān 631, 636, 641 Alankar Mīrzā 694 Alans 407, 536 alarbes 263 Alba [Castrum Album / Asprokastron / Maruicastro / Maurokastron] 506 albacore 63, 804 Albania 363, 574 Albanians 564, 568, 570 Alborz 409, 551n Albuquerque, Afonso de 18, 10, 23, 38n, 47, 90, 150n, 156, 160n, 169, 173, 197, 199, 227, 228, 238, 255n, 257n, 277 Albuquerque, Fernão de 735n 739, 819n, 825n, 826, 834n Alcaçova, Francisco Carneiro de 767 alcaicería 308 alcaide 173 alcatraz(es), see Cape gannet Alcestis 796 alchemy 541

894 Alcmene 215 Aldabra, see Arco [islands] Aleppo 282, 406, 449, 482, 488, 491, 492, 502, 503, 568, 582, 583, 585, 595, 609, 612, 614, 630, 645, 668, 669, 699, 700, 737, 835, 847 Alexander II 570–572 Alexander the Great [Alexander II of Macedon] 39, 226, 291, 370, 372, 394, 395, 511, 514, 515, 522, 533, 564, 583, 591, 597, 611, 613, 614, 618, 619, 621, 649 Alexandretta 502 Alexandria 379, 558, 587 Alfândega do Rei [royal customs house, Goa] 278 al-faqīh 263, 660 Alfeiós 562 Alfhild 572 Al-Khidr 476n Allāhverdī Khān 21, 305, 312, 314, 317, 318, 341, 343, 360, 369, 400, 420, 451, 471, 494, 625, 650, 652, 715, 728, 729 Allāhverdī Khān Bridge, see Sio-se Pole Allāhverdī Soltān 732 alliance(s) 12–14, 18, 24, 26, 286, 486 almadias, see canoes Almeida, António de 758 Almeida, Lope de 818 almonds 187, 193, 328, 347 alms 292, 310, 315, 400, 410, 411, 415, 431, 441, 446, 661, 707, 709, 731, 860 alphabet(s) 222, 223, 597 Alps 564 Álvarez de Toledo y Carrillo de Toledo, García 31 Amasya 570 Amasya, Treaty of 20 Amazon [river] 71n, 107 Amazon(s) [warrior(s)] 569–570, 572, 573 amīr 362n, 547n, 602n Amīr Fakhr-al-Dīn Beg ibn Maʿan 699 Amīr Genedin 829, 830 Amīr Guna Khān 471, 578, 579 Amīr Ḥusain 525, 550 Amīr Muḥammad 829 Amīr Qazarghan 550n Amisos 581 Ammianus Marcellinus 38n, 592, 605, 607, 628 Ammon 515

Index Ammonites 597 Āmū Daryā, see also Oxus 364n, 511 Anah 602, 603, 612 ananaz(es), see pinapple(s) Anatolia 18, 338, 505, 523, 526–528, 531, 532, 563 anchorage(s) 164, 208, 490, 762, 779, 782, 842, 844, 849 anchorite(s) 328 Andalusia 61, 350 Andrade, Rui Freire de 38n, 821, 822, 826, 834, 842 Andromeda 43, 242 Andronikos II Palaiologos 418 Androth [island] 795 Andújar 36 Angelo, Michel 493 angina, see also cynanche 531 Anglo-Dutch 28, 36 Anglo-Persian 18, 22–24, 826n Angoche [islands] 791, 837, 838 Anjadip [islands] 156, 157, 812 Anjos, Belchior dos, O. E. S. A. 302, 668, 681, 704, 713 Anjos, Manuel dos 854 Ankara 524, 532 Ankara [battle of] 18, 40, 41, 522, 523, 527n Anne of Austria 453n Antarctic 539, 540, 774, 853, 857 antenales 105, 112, 776 antidote(s) 179, 193, 196, 723 Antioch 336, 558, 582, 583, 584, 585, 587, 640 Antisthenes 695 Antwerp 11 Apollo 585 apostate 220, 650 Appian of Alexandria 38n, 556, 557, 589 apple(s) 186, 187, 405, 565, 723 apricots 427, 440 Āq Quyūnlū (White Sheep Turkmen) 334n Āqsūlād 547–549 Arachosia 510n, 695 Aral Sea 364n, 511n Aras, see Araxes Ārāsanj-e Pāʿin 450n, 633 Araxes 370–372, 393, 397, 554–559, 562–564, 566, 579, 580, 629, 670, 714, 715 archbishop(s) 177, 209, 238, 245, 418, 662, 843, 846

Index Archimedes 134 architecture 394, 396, 586 architrave(s) 235, 373, 385, 391 Arco [islands] 775 Arcrux 78 Arctic 60n, 119, 132, 163, 225, 283, 441, 507, 537–539, 542n Ardabīl 15, 335, 651 Ardemira 278 areca 142 Arethusan 627 Argonauts 567 Aria 365n, 514 Ariana 510n, 526 Ariadne’s Crown, see Corona Borealis Aristotle 60n Armazém de Contratação [warehouse, Goa] 208 Armenia 20, 25, 366, 370, 406, 423, 461, 462, 473, 555–562, 581, 594, 604, 606, 649, 654 Armenian(s) 25, 37, 41, 43, 53, 222, 297, 298, 321, 334, 361, 363, 391, 398, 410, 414, 422, 423, 429, 446, 447, 483n, 491, 516, 517, 554, 563, 568, 569, 572, 579, 582, 587–589, 614, 643, 645, 650, 654–656, 664–667, 670, 672, 673, 684, 707, 713, 717, 718, 725 arrátel(-eis) 16 Arrian [Lucius Flavius Arrianus] 38n, 226n, 394, 514 arroba(s) 16, 453, 710 arrogance 54, 95, 467, 519, 545 Arsacids 510 Artashat 555n Artaxata, see Artashat Artaxerxes [II Mnemon] 314n, 350n, 394n, 581, 607 artichoke 189, 192 artillery 249, 260–262, 277, 287, 289, 318, 426, 495, 509, 529, 530, 578, 579, 609, 626, 648, 650, 652, 743, 746, 770, 771, 793, 812, 825, 827, 831, 835 artist(s) 1n, 6, 39, 46, 344, 388, 391n, 392, 432, 693 árvore triste, see sad tree As Tres Boticas [neighborhood, Goa] 209 Ascelin of Lombardia, O. P. 519 Ascension [island] 74, 96 ascetics 228, 275

895 Ashura 658n Asia Minor 333, 335, 338, 526, 531, 570, 640 Asid Mubarak 291 Āspās 400–401, 711 asps 181 Assyria 290, 333, 410, 518, 561, 580, 581, 595, 601, 603, 608, 612, 614, 641, 704 Assyrian(s) 38, 290n, 291n, 334, 351, 387, 591, 602n, 616, 617, 628 Astarābād 510, 552, 553, 554 Astrakhan 219n, 419, 577 astringent 326 astrolabe 61, 252 astronomy 44, 118n, 225n, 509n Astyages 618 Ataíde, António de 65n Ataíde, Luís de 173 Athenian(s) 395, 776 Athens 227, 337n, 558 Atlantic Ocean 99, 103, 488, 491, 492, 599 Atropatene 555, 557, 573n auction 234 audience(s) 3n, 314, 360, 455, 459, 462–464, 472, 473, 477–482, 491, 553, 671, 672, 681, 686, 687, 695, 703, 706, 707, 712, 822 Augustinian(s) (O. E. S. A.) 22, 55, 202n, 209, 258, 276, 284, 321, 406, 411, 419, 430, 492, 493, 661, 668, 670, 676, 681, 734, 824, 826 Augustus [Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Divi Filius Augustus; Gaius Octavius] 227, 533, 534 aurata, see gilthead seabream Aurea Chersonesus 227 Aurelian [Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus] 43, 596, 597 austral 508, 540 Austria 22, 26, 27 Avalos, Francisco de, O. P. 185 avarice 851 Avignon 610 Ávila y Ávila, Gómez de 542 Aydin 523 Āzarbāījān 21, 45, 290n, 323n, 356n, 406n, 422n, 456n, 555n, 556n, 558n, 563n Azevedo, Bernardo de, O. E. S. A 676, 681 Azevedo, Jerónimo de 143n, 177n, 244, 485, 502, 826 Azevedo, Pedro de 150 azores 339

896 Azores 65n Azougue [neighborhood, Goa] 211 azumbres 16, 321 Babylon 226, 414, 388, 393, 443, 558, 560, 581, 592–594, 597, 599–602, 604–606, 608, 610, 622, 627, 628, 721 Babylonia 388, 560, 581, 617n, 627, 628 Babylonian(s) 387, 615–618 Bacchus 215, 233 Bactria 364, 510, 514, 515, 518, 521, 525, 550, 683, 695 Bactrian(s) 511, 524 bad waters 99 Badajoz 36, 693 Badakshan 162 bādgīr, see windcatchers Badi al-Zaman 363, 365 Baghdad 406, 464, 482, 484, 503, 553, 591, 592, 595, 596, 598, 605, 608–614, 621–623, 627, 630, 645, 653, 668, 699, 705, 750, 847 bagpipes 303, 304, 340 Bahrain 21, 22, 28, 29, 297, 302, 329, 339, 360, 479, 481, 503, 621, 624–627, 669, 705, 712, 821 Baiju 334, 519, 520 baixo, see shoal bajus, see smocks Bākū 356, 357, 474, 562, 563, 581 Balaghat 172, 243 balcony 55, 66, 79, 139, 154, 269, 658, 659, 719, 787, 788, 804, 805, 812, 814, 820, 858 Balkans 15, 18 Balkh 511, 679, 684, 688 ballast 264, 265, 810 ballistas 529 Balochistan 265n, 371n Balthazar 618 banana(s) 142, 143, 145, 147–149, 156, 158, 189, 797 Banastarin [crossing, Goa] 170n, 173, 766, see also São Tiago Band ʿAlī 292, 296 bandar 246n Bandar-e ʿAbbās, see Gamrū Bandar-e Jāsk 256, 265, 290, 490, 491, 492, 502, 503, 737, 738, 740, 824, 825, 826, 828, 856

Index Bandar-e Nakhīlū 297, 494, 744 Band-e Amīr, see Bendemir and Kor Bandel 29, 285, 292, 296, 297, 317, 496, 497, 723, 731, 733, 735, 747, 749, 821, 827, 828 Bandel War 22, 744, 827 Bania(s) 200, 205, 208, 213–217, 220, 222, 223, 335, 229, 259, 282, 758, 828 Banianos [street, Goa] 208 banquet(s) 295, 342, 360, 362, 367, 427, 428, 431, 432, 460, 461, 468, 469, 475, 615, 681, 718, 719, 841 banyan 190n, 757n baptism 664 Barawa 775 Barbary 54, 55, 178, 180, 187, 192, 198, 215, 234, 239, 263, 320, 324, 361, 467, 470, 479, 520, 639, 763 Barbary falcons 763n barber(s) 214, 441 barbican 166, 289, 425 Barbuto, Simon 645 Bardes 158, 160n, 163, 165, 168, 176, 190, 192, 199, 218, 223, 250, 761, 763, 815, 842 Bariatinsky, Mikhail Petrovich 680n, 684n barley 255, 269, 294, 300, 319, 329, 346, 402, 565, 589, 624, 638, 710 Barros, João de 38n, 228 Barsur 154n Bartholomew of Bologna, O. P. 38n, 424 Baruch 617 basilisk 173, 183–185, see also regulus Basque 37, 304n, 860n basquiña 304 Basra 20, 282, 297, 314, 349, 494, 599, 602, 609, 610, 621–625, 627, 630, 712, 721, 744, 748, 847, 850 Bassein 249 Bastāmqolī Beg 21 bastion(s) 173, 201, 277, 373, 498, 528, 529, 579, 588, 831, 842 Baticala, see Bhatkal Baybars I [al-Bunduqdārī al-Ṣāliḥī, al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn] 576n Bāyezīd I 18, 41, 377, 522–524, 526–528, 531, 536 bazaar(s) 305, 308, 314, 353, 411, 419, 420, 442, 464, 646, 670–674, 682–684, 686, 708, 723 Bazán Benavides, Álvaro II de 36

Index Bazarinho [square, Goa] 198, 207, 208 bears [animals] 178, 551 beeswax 354 beg 362n beglarbeg, see governor-general begom 362, see also khānum Beijing, see Khanbaliq Beirut 699 Belém 52, 101 Belshazzar 615, 616, 617 belvedere(s) 341, 342, 344, 346 bendara 277n Bendemir [river] 350, 397, 554n, 714, see also Kor [river] Benedictine(s) 263, 678 Bengal [bay] 163n, 221 Benjamin 618 Berber(s) 54n, 180, 327, 609 Berīz 317, 727 Bernardine(s) 320 Bernardo [island, Goa] 167, 235 betel 142, 239, 243 Bezabda, see Sherley, Robert Bhatkal 154 Biblioteca Nacional (Portugal) 11 Biblioteca Nacional (Spain) 2–5, 11–12 Biblioteca Universitaria of Salamanca 11 Bibliothèque Nationale (France) 11 bicas, see red bream Bicholim 172 bichos de palmeira, see Indian palm squirrel Bijapur 150n, 850 Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, see Alba and Moncastro binnacle 789 Bir 582, 585, 602 Birecik, see Bir Birtha, see Bir biscuit 102, 114, 321, 322, 790 bishop(s) 35, 297, 390, 418, 422–424, 493, 494, 573, 664, 665, 667, 669, 699, 797 Bisnagar 218–222, 764 Bithynia 336, 337 Bitlis 557, 561 Black Sea 462, 504, 505, 567, 573–577, 581, 582 blacks 72, 141–148, 156, 182, 183, 243, 449, 701, 780, 782, 795–797, 802, 816, 840, 842, see also Negroes

897 black-crowned night herons 764 blackthorns 187, 722–724 Blemmyes 598 blockade 845, 846 bloodletting(s) 760, 761 blue pointer shark (also known as shortfin mako) 119, 802 Boa Fortuna 56n boar(s) 353, 469, 551, 766 boatswain 129 Boece, Hector (Boethius Hector) 573 Bohemia 20, 531, 573 Bohemian 528 Bohemond IV 583 Bom Jesús [church, monastery, neighborhood, Goa] 198, 208, 209 Bombay, see Mumbai Bonāruye 317, 318, 320, 726 Bonfini, Antonio 38n, 544 Boniface IX 532n bonitos 60 bonnet(s) [sail] 58, 73, 86, 89, 106, 113, 257, 269, 754, 772, 758 bonnets [headdress] 313, 680 Boötes 77 boran, see Indian plum borderlands 14, 17, 27 Bornu 449 Borri, Cristoforo, S. J. 857, 860 Borysthenes, see Dnieper Bosphorans 575 Botelho, Nuno Álvares 769, 819 bowline(s) 85, 87, 93, 96, 112, 250, 752, 785, 806 bowsprit 79, 104, 137, 790 bracelets 231 Bragadino, Marco 542 Brahmins 45, 213, 216–218, 222–229, 237, 239, 242, 243 Brami 371 Bramir [river] 369–372 Braudel, Fernand 13 Brazil 69, 74, 78, 83, 93, 94, 96, 117, 189, 250, 799, 800, 836 bread 212, 216, 308, 322, 329, 411, 415, 468, 469, 472, 473, 586, 616, 709, 728, 759 breeches 230, 456, 460, 657 British Museum 11 broad reach 254

898 broker(s) 200, 208, 214, 282 brothels 430 bucklers 143, 150, 697 Bukhara 511, 515, 679, 682, 683 Bulgarians 337, 523–525, 528 bullfight(ing) 41, 436, 437, 440 bulls 44, 104, 214, 223, 342, 416, 435–439, 697, 766, 767 bulrushes 189 Burgos 19 Bursa 336, 523 Busbecq, Ogier Ghiselin de 567, 568n buskin 215, see also cothornos Cabaçeira 781, 801, 803, 839 cabaya(s) 150, 295, 303, 567, 660, 666, 679 cabbage 188, 191 Cabeça Seca 101 cabrinhas 754 cachorra(s), see spotted dogfish Cádiz 36 Caepio [Quintus Servilius Caepio] 533 Caesar [Julius Caesar] 8–9 Caesarea 527, 531 Caesellius Bassus 543 Caffa 474, 475, 505, 520, 574, 684 Čahārbāḡ 419n caimans 69, 175 Cairo 24, 324, 419, 491, 492 Calanus 226 Calçada [street, Goa] 212 Calicut, see Kozhikode Caliph Emir Alixir [Calipha or Califa Emir(i) Alixir], see Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī caliphate(s) 610, 659 Calphurnius [Julius Calphurnius] 608 Calvinists 670 camaleões, see Indian chameleons Cambay, see Khambhat camel(s) 289, 292, 298, 300, 302, 310, 313, 315, 316, 322, 324, 325, 333, 368, 408, 631, 633, 634, 636, 638, 640, 642, 651, 661, 663, 708, 709, 711, 714, 715, 721, 723, 724, 725, 726, 747, 726 camp(s) 263, 302n, 321–324, 520, 578, 579, 607, 608, 646, 647, 650, 651, 653, 726 canal(s) 318, 319, 330, 339, 345, 346, 350–352, 368, 371, 401, 402, 419, 433, 448, 559, 589, 604–606, 608, 612, 621, 624, 629, 630, 638, 639, 657, 676, 710, 715, 720, 726

Index Canaries (Canary Islands) 57–59, 101, 814 Canidius [Publius Canidius Crassus] 557 Canis Major 77, 78 canoes 145, 149, 782, 796, 812 Canopus 77, 78, 82 canopy(-ies) 213, 230, 637 caparisons 453, 465, 675 Cape cormorants 84n, 97n Cape gannet(s) 83n, 773n Cape of Good Hope 18, 23, 27, 75, 83, 87, 88, 91, 92, 94, 95, 100, 103, 105, 106, 112, 539, 776, 798, 857, 858, 860, 861 Cape penguins 108n Cape seals 103n, 109n, 657n Cape Verde 56, 60, 78, 82 capelo, see Indian cobra capitão do passo, see captain of the crossing capitão-mor do mar, see captain-major of the [Arabian and Persian] seas capitão-mor, see captain-major Cappadocia 531, 570, 581 captain of the crossing [official, Goa] 173, 201 captain-major of the [Arabian and Persian] seas 744, 748 captain-major 51n, 52, 58, 64, 67, 71, 73, 90, 92, 103, 112, 136, 141, 145, 146, 154–156 Capuchin(s) 102n, 468, 666, 770 Caravaca 665 caravel(s) 55, 56, 95, 765, 766, 770–776, 780, 781, 784–790, 792–799, 802–804, 809–815 cardoons 191, 192 Carduchi 628 Cargados Carajos, see Grajaos and St. Brandon Caria 335 Carmania Deserta 291, 304, 349, 371, 510, 624, 626, 627, 722, 736 Carmelites (O. C. D.) 22, 406, 411, 419, 430, 467, 492, 493, 499, 501, 655, 661, 670, 676, 712, 733, 821 Carneiro, António de Mariz 131n, 133–136 Carnival 687 carrack(s) 51n, 84, 95, 143, 148, 153, 154, 264, 738, 765, 769, 783, 797, 826, 836–861 Carregados [street, Goa] 209 carreira da Índia 42 Carrhae 585, 588, 589 Carrión 420

Index carrion crows 81n Carthage 543, 558, 615 Carus [Marcus Aurelius Carus Augustus] 594, 604, 607, 608, 611 Carvalho, Lourenço Pires de 150 Casa da Pólvora 197 casado(s), see married settler(s) casas delanteras 259 cashew(s) 44, 186, 189 Caspian Sea 21, 243, 356, 366, 419, 429, 508, 509, 511, 551, 553, 562, 563, 577, 581, 670 Cassius [Gaius Avidius Cassius] 592, 594, 604, 606, 607 cassock(s) 408 caste 214, 216, 227, 452, 623 castellan 625, 729, 782, 783, 799, 801, 836 castellar 331 Castelo Branco, Diogo de 849n Castelo Branco, Francisco Borges de 849n Castelo Branco, Paulo Rangel de 51n, 64, 65n Castile 22, 86, 99 Castilian(s) 7, 14, 32, 324, 484, 498, 545, 846 Catalonya 505 catapults 529 Cathane 745 Cathay 222, 515–520, 538, 539, 544, 546, 548, 549, 683 cathedral 315, 415, 458, 659, 666 Catholic Feast and Saints’ Days All Saints’ Day (1 November) 154 Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist (25 April) 759 Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady (15 August) 111 Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady (8 September) 284, 716 Feast of the Purification of Our Lady (2 February) 786 St. Catherine the Martyr’s Day (25 November) 340 St. Claire’s Day (11 August) 106 St. James’ [the Greater] Day (25 July) 92 St. John [the Baptist]’s Day (24 June) 61, 77 St. Laurence’s Day (10 August) 93n, 103, 109 St. Luke’s Day (18 October) 137

899 St. Michael [the Archangel]’s Day (29 September) 127 St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Day (29 June) 80 St. Simon and St. Jude’s Day (28 October) 303 St. Thomas’s Day (21 December) 773 Catholic Monarchy 29 Cato the Younger [Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis] 533 Caucasus [mountains] 20, 21, 562–564, 574, 577 cavalier 200, 579, 588, 748 Cavendish, Thomas 109 caviar 553, 563 Cavite 34 çavuş 455–464, 470, 472, 473, 650, 653, 678, 680, 700, 707 cazón, see spotted dogfish cossack(s) 430, 462, 504, 606, 575 Čenḡiz Beg 21 Ceilão, see Sri Lanka Cetacea, see cetes cetes 778 Chagas [shoals] 853 Chagatai 364, 416, 474, 511, 514, 520, 521, 524, 537, 547, 550, 682, 690, 831 Chaldean(s) 79, 223, 363, 385, 391, 586, 621 Chaldiran [battle] 18, 558n, 572, 648 chapaat 308n chapeling [nautical term] 116 Chapeleiros [street, Goa] 209 Chapora 197, 757, 812 Chardin, Jean 3 charlatan(s) 132, 179–180, 540–541 Charles I 539n, see also Charles V Charles V 17, 19 Chaul 208, 220, 264, 265, 812 chaupanas 143 Chaves, Baltasar de 832 Chehel Minar, see Persepolis and Margascan Chersonese 627 chestnut(s) 187, 565 Chicherin, Ivan Ivanovich 680n, 684n chicken(s) 145, 148, 149, 156, 264, 294, 295, 310, 320, 322, 353, 427, 461, 684, 728, 783, 790, 855, 856 chief chancellor [Goa] 833 chief doorkeeper 676

900 chief engineer, 843 see also master mason chief guard of the harem 455, 704 chief magistrate 735, 741, 742, 826 chief secretary of state 409n, 676n, 704 chief-pilot 42, 53, 57, 71, 73, 83, 87, 90, 92–95, 102, 105, 112, 120, 137, 145, 155, 265, 854 China 13, 47, 208, 222, 503, 516, 538, 539, 541 chintz, see zarazas Chios, 530 Choaspes [river], see Karḵa [river] Choniates, Niketas 38n, 39, 418 chopines, see pianellas Chorão 160n, 166, 167, 171, 201, 210 Christ 101, 471, 549, 664, 706 Christmas 113n, 355, 661, 664, 773, 820, 841, 844 Chronicle of Italy 657 chueca, see polo Chuki 302n Cicero [Marcus Tullius Cicero] 8, 38n, 534, 595, 596 cidaris 621 Cilician 505 Cimmerian Bosphorus 474, 576 Cimmerians 575 Circassia 25, 343, 430, 474, 577, 685 Circassian(s) 397, 398, 400, 414, 430, 473, 504, 552, 564, 574–577, 643, 684, 685 Circesium 603 circlets 231 Cistercian 263 cistern(s) 261, 274, 278, 283, 292, 298, 300, 309, 311, 315, 317, 318, 338, 393, 404, 613, 660, 710, 726, 729, 731, 735, 736, 746, 781, 801 clavicula of Solomon 541 Clavijo, Ruy González de 10, 14, 18, 545 Clearchus 581, 627 Cleitus 533 Clement VIII 22, 418 Cleonymus [of Sparta] 533 close-hauled 70, 76, 85n, 86, 95, 111, 118, 250, 753, 755, 773, 803, 804, 858 coadjutor 493, 712, 821 Coche [fortress] 604, 607, 608 Cochin, see Kochi cochineal 453 cock 183, 439, 440

Index coconuts 142, 143, 145, 148, 192, 193, 797 cocos, see coconuts Coelho, André 734, 842 coffee 683 coir 142, 145, 149n, 193, 797 colas de junco, see white-tailed tropicbird Colchians 567, 568 Colchis 573, 574 Colégio de Santo Agostinho [Augustinian college, Goa] 212 Colégio de São Boaventura [Franciscan college, Goa] 212, 759 Colégio de São Boaventura [street, Goa] 210 Colégio de São Paulo [Jesuit college, Goa] 202, 205 Colégio de São Roque [Jesuit college, Goa] 202, 210, 212 Colégio de São Tomás [Dominican college, Goa] 182, 212, 235, 245 Colégio do Noviciado da Companhia de Jesús [Jesuit college, Goa] 210 Colégio Real dos Três Reis Magos [Franciscan college, Goa] 218, 249, 759 collation 681, 688, 792 college 202n Colonna, Vittoria 535 Comagene Syria 582 Comenena, Theodora 427n comet(s) 656 Commentaries of D. García de Silva y Figueroa 1–47 Commentarii de bello civili 9 Commentarii de bello gallico 9 Commentario de le cose de’ Turchi 10, 39 common medlars 187 common ravens 81 communion 249 Comnenians 564 Como [lake] 564 Comorin [cape] 138, 163n, 756 Comoros [islands] 123, 783, 837 compadrazgo 32 compass 89, 105, 132–137, 324, 754 Conceição 56n concubine(s) 8, 635 confederation 15 congiarium 403, 444, 709 Congo, see Zaire

Index conjunction of the moon 60n, 225, 258, 809 Constantine I the Great [Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus] 595 Constantinople 5, 18, 39, 282, 335, 418, 470, 482, 491, 492, 527, 528, 559, 567, 570, 574, 480, 588, 609, 654, 669, 679 Constantinople [treaty] (also known as Treaty of Ferhad Pasha) 21, 22 Constantius II [Flavius Julius Constantius Augustus] 587, 595n constellation(s) 77–79, 82, 225, 656 Corbulo [Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo]  557–558 Cordova 331, 350, 576 Cornelia Africana 536 Coromandel 222, 626, 764 Corona Borealis 77 çoropo 236 corral, see zariba corregidor 36, 693 Correntes [cape] 122, 489, 787 corsair(s) 154, 156, 256, 271, 756, 757, 770, 772, 812, 820, 824 Corvinus, Matthias 544 Cospi, Angelo Bartolomeo 38n, 396 cothornos 215n cotton 148, 149, 214, 229, 231, 242, 282, 318, 320, 340, 457, 490, 503, 589, 591, 634 Cotton, Dodmore 399n Council of Portugal 209n, 247, 669, 823 Council of State (India) 819n, 826 Council of State (Spain) 12n, 36, 248, 542, 668 courier(s) 409, 464, 465, 519, 645 courtesans 362, 658–660, 662, 673, 689 Coutinho, Francisco 834 Coutinho, João 272n, 739, 842 Coutinho, Luís de Fonseca 131, 132n Coutinho, Manuel 51n, 52, 65n Coutinho, Manuel de Sousa 122 Covilhã, Pêro da 17, 18 cow(s) 72, 145, 148, 149, 214, 216, 217, 223, 299, 300, 332, 333, 747, 766, 797 craftsmanship 339 craftsmen 208, 282, 490 cranes 339, 361, 369 Cranganore, see Kodungallur Crassus [Marcus Licinius Crassus] 588, 589, 593

901 crested goshawk 139 criminal(s) 829 crocodile(s) 69, 175, 769 crossings 170n, 173, 199 crows 80–84, 88, 97, 112, 408, 763, 776 Cruz [street, Goa] 209 Cruz Ponce de León, Ana de la 32 Cruz, Dimas de la, O. C. D. 733 Cruz, Redento de la, O. C. D. 493, 499, 712, 821, 822 Ctesiphon 560n, 607, 610, 611, 627 Cuama, see Zambesi cuartilla xvi, 680 Cubagua 626 cubits xvi, 548 cucumbers 191, 461, 681 cudgels 340 Cueva-Benavides y Mendoza-Carrillo, Alfonso de la 10 Cumans 575 cuneiform 46, 377 Cunha, João Manuel de Almeida Teles e 24 Cunha, Nuno da 836 Cunha, Tristão da 90 cupbearers 427 cutlasses 150, 656 Cygnus 78, 252n cynanche 531, see also angina cypress(es) 330, 331, 344, 345, 347, 355, 356, 359, 401, 455 Cyprus 188, 192, 466, 700 Cyrene 297, 396, 418, 493, 494, 669 Cyropolis 349, 509 Cyrus II the Great 349, 359, 509, 533, 614, 617, 618 Cyrus [river] 370n, 555, 562, 563, see also Kura Cyrus the Younger 314, 581, 627 Dabhol 358, 365, 802 daftar-kana-ye homayun, see Royal Chancellery Daman 834 Damascus 488, 491, 558, 576, 601, 609, 612, 653, 663 Damietta 491 damson 440 dancers 340, 342, 343, 362, 685 Daniel 38n, 613, 615, 617, 618

902 Danube [river] 504, 578 Daphne 584 Daras [fortress] 590 Darius Hystaspes, see Darius I the Great Darius I the Great 618 Darius II 350n, 394n Darius the Mede 615 dārūgha 406, 428, 444, 450, 466, 474, 717 Darvāzeh Aheni 341, 345, 362 Darvāzeh Pasa 341 dates 264, 721 Daud Khān [Undiladze] 451, 652, 675 Daugin [crossing, Goa] 171, 235, see also Madre de Deus Dauris Beg 494, 495 David [katolikos] 645, 667 David [King of Israel] 536, 600, 601 David I [King of Kakheti] 362n, 451n, 572n dawār(s), see camp(s) dead-works 813 Deccan 199, 219, 220, 238, 365 declination of the sun 135, 253 deer 271, 294, 566, 766, 854 Dehgerdū 401, 710, 711 Dehkūyeh 316, 728, 729 Deir ez-Zor, see Circesium Delgado [cape] 123, 775, 777, 785, 794, 805 Delhi 220, 694, 695 Della Valle, Pietro 29, 35, 47, 482 Delphi 237 demi-falconets 426 Demir Capir 563 Dengīz Beg Rūmlū 492n Denia [Persia] 327 Denia [Spain] 327 Derbent 419, 436, 474, 563, 564, 577, 578 dervish(es) 228, 328, 355, 369, 400, 415, 446, 644, 711, 715, 727 Despina Hatun, see Comenena, Theodora Devereux, Robert 36 Devil’s Mountain, see Jaʿfarābād, Mt. Damāvand Dezful 20 diamond(s) 222, 231, 232, 677 Dias, António 496 Dias, Francisco 814 Dicaearchus of Messana 215 Dido 543 Diego Garcia [island], see San Miguel [island]

Index dike(s) 171, 204, 205 Dio 557 Diocletian [Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Augustus] 587n, 594, 595, 603 Diodorus Siculus 38n, 195n, 350n, 370, 393–395, 514, 556, 619 Diogo Rodrigues [island] 120, 121, 854, 855 Dipper 77 Direita [street, Goa] 205, 207, 234 dirges 533 Diu 246, 515, 756, 809 Divar 166, 170n, 236n Diyārbakr, see Kara Amid Ḏj̲ahāngīr [Nur-ud-dīn Muḥammad Salīm] 240n Djerba [battle] 20 Dmanisi 579, 580 Dnieper [river] 506 Dniester [river] 504 dockyards 198, 201 dolphins 75, 107, 774, 775, 778, 805 Dominican(s) (O. P.) 185n Don [river] 504 donkeys 332, 333, 403, 736 dorado(s), see gilthead seabream dorales, see Iberian chiffchaffs Dormer, Jane 33 Dowlatābād 431, 645, 674 dowlatkana 342n Draco 77, 225 Drake, Sir Francis 109 drawings 388, 541 drugs 95 Druze 699–700 Dry [crossing, Goa], see São Brás Dubravius, Johannes [Jan Skála z Doubravky] 38n, 573 ducat(s) xviii, 453n, 487n, 488, 491, 492n, 625, 758 Duchess of Milan, see Visconti, Bianca Maria Duero [river] 588 Duke of Olivares 34 Duna [river], see Danube dung 217 Dutch 23, 28, 100, 109, 142, 485, 539, 782, 783, 801, 838, 839, 841, 845, 846, 855, 861 Dutch East India Company (VOC) 23, 485n, 782n

Index earrings 231, 679 earthquake(s) 207, 284, 374, 375, 583, 657, 730, 787, 788, 813 eastern imperial eagle 112n Eastern Sea 538, 542 ebony 388, 779, 800, 855 Ebrāhīm Khān II [Mīrzā ʿAlāʿ al-Mulk] 21, 291n, 312, 360, 730 Ecbatana 421, 535, 555–560 Écija 370, 420 Edessa 482n, 585, 587 Edil [river], see Volga Egypt 19, 188, 192, 195, 198, 215, 269, 333, 334, 394, 418, 449, 474, 482, 491, 520, 526, 575, 576, 583, 597, 599, 600, 634 Egyptian mongoose 195n, see also ichneumon Egyptian(s) 491, 575, 583 El Grao 103 Elam 370n elephant(s) 201, 439, 491, 779, 805 Emāmqolī Beg 828, 831 Emāmqolī Khān 302, 314, 343, 360, 366, 451, 647, 650, 652, 675, 701, 702, 717n, 718, 732, 828 Emāmqolī Mirza 477, 605 Emāmqolī Solṭān 364n emāmzāda 398n Emāmzāda ʿAlī ʿAbbās 431, 433 Emāmzāda Esmāʿīl 398, 713, 714 emblem(s) 229, 387, 388, 659 embrasures 260, 261 emeralds 367, 451, 453, 677 endives 191 engenheiro-mor, see chief engineer English 23, 28, 47, 109, 110, 242, 245, 246, 256, 411, 464, 472, 485, 486, 489, 491, 502, 503, 538, 540, 543, 573, 674, 689, 702, 703, 706, 735–743, 746, 748, 750, 782, 783, 821, 824–835, 840, 841, 845, 846, 856, 861 English East India Company (EIC) 23, 245n, 485n Epaminondas 695 Ephesus 570 epidemic(s) 201, 478, 624, 760, 761, 765 Epistles of St. Paul 363 Epistola de rebus persarum 10, 11 equinoctial 296, 317 equinox(-es) 77, 115, 225

903 Erédia, Manuel Godinho de 7 Eritrean Sea, see Red Sea erysipelas 348 Erzincan 581 Erzurum 579–582, 651, 653 escudo(s) 16, 18, 36, 135, 360, 691, 832 Eṣfahān 22, 25, 41–43, 350, 366–371, 404–423, 428–431, 440, 452, 467, 482–484, 487, 492, 493, 502, 503, 507, 509, 510, 551–554, 558, 561, 569, 572, 578, 609, 610, 631–714, 718–728, 733, 739, 746, 750, 821, 824 ešīk-āqāsī-bāšī-e ḥaram, see chief guard of the harem Eskandar Beg Torkamān Monši 671 Esmāʿīl I 16, 18, 23, 24, 88 Esmāʿīl II 16, 435n, 558n esmeriles, see half-pounders Espírito Santo [fortress, Goa] see Narva Espírito Santo [island, Goa] 168, 170, 171 Estado da Índia 18, 23 Esther 393 Estotiland 538, 539, 541 Ethiopia 63, 73, 83, 93, 107, 113, 123, 145, 178, 192, 232, 449, 599, 781, 783, 790, 834, 837 ethnography 1, 41 eunuch(s) 414, 455, 634, 671–673 Euphrates [river] 269, 290, 297, 333n, 580–582, 585, 593–595, 598–606, 610, 612–616, 619, 621–624, 630, 660 Eurasian jackdaws 408, 763, 764 Eurasian sparrow-hawk 139 Eurasian teals 764 European pine marten(s) 195, 725, 767 European shags 80n Eutropius [Flavius Eutropius] 607 Evil-Merodach [Amel-Marduk] 617 exarcolas 8, 389 Extremadura 30, 32, 61, 217, 304, 320, 330, 331, 369, 408, 666, 680, 702, 727 Ezekiel 601 Ezra 618 fable(s) 446, 476, 586, 644 factor(s) 53, 330, 451, 738n Faial 65n Falcão, Francisco de Sousa 819n, 833n, 842 falcon(s) 139, 339, 360, 361, 565, 566, 763, 764 falconets 426, 495, 579, 758

904 Fallujah 612 False Cape 105, 860 fanega xvi, 680 Faraḥābād 366, 409, 429, 482, 502, 552, 648, 668, 670, 681, 704, 705, 713 farmān 302n, 703 Fārs 244, 290–292, 298, 309, 317, 343, 360, 494, 599, 677, 721, 730, 735, 746, 797, 824 fathom(s) xvi, xvii Fātimah 400, 443, 658, 659 Fātimah Maʿsumeh 443n favorites 34 Federici, Cesare 38n, 613 Feijó, João 797 feijões 83 felucca 242 Feodosia 474 Ferdinand I 567 Ferdinand II 567 Ferdinand III 453n Fernández de Córdoba y Enríquez, Catalina 31 Fernández de Córdoba y Figueroa, Pedro I  30, 32, 33 Fernández de Córdoba-Figueroa y Ponce de León, Catalina 33 Fernández de Córdoba-Figueroa y Ponce de León, Lorenzo 32 Fernández de Figueroa, Martín 47 Fernando de Noronha [archipelago, islands] 71 Fernão Veloso [river] 792 Ferreira, Miguel 18 ferret(s) 767 Fez 263, 324 Fieschi, Sinibaldo, see Innocent IV Fifth Count of Redondo, see Coutinho, João Fifth Count of Feria, see Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, Gómez III fig(s) 30, 188, 189, 191, 269, 601, 610, 624, 637, 715, 781, 783 figos da Índia, see banana(s) Figuereido, Sebastião de 712 Figueroa, María de 30 finger(s) xvi First Count of Feria, see Suárez de Figueroa, Lorenzo II First Duke of Alba de Tormes, see Álvarez de Toledo y Carrillo de Toledo, García

Index First Duke of Feria, see Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, Gómez III First Duke of Lerma, see Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, Francisco First India, see Hindustan First Lord of Feria, see Suárez de Figueroa, Gómez I First Marquess of Bedmar, see CuevaBenavides y Mendoza-Carrillo, Alfonso de la First Marquess of Velada, see Ávila y Ávila, Gómez de First Marquess of Villalba, see Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, Lorenzo IV flabella 623 flagship 8, 42, 51–55, 58, 59, 64, 67, 70, 72–74, 92, 93, 95, 100–102, 104, 106, 111–116, 121, 123, 124, 126, 129, 133, 134, 137–139, 141, 144–148, 151–155, 157, 783, 815, 836, 840, 845 Flanders 34, 35, 313, 489, 540 Flemish 242 Florence 657 flying squirrel 768n fodder 598 foist(s) 141, 155, 270, 497, 505, 744, 748, 757, 824, 826, 827, 830, 831, 833, 834, 837, 841, 844, 845 foot (feet) xvi foot (feet), long xvi foot (feet), Roman xvi foremast 72, 92, 788, 790 foresail 89, 112, 262, 734, 752, 785, 792, 804, 858, 859 foundry 212 Fourth Count of Feria, see Fernández de Córdoba y Figueroa, Pedro I Fourth Count of Vidigueira, see Gama, Francisco da France 14, 20, 407, 453, 654, 691, 699, 704, 738 Franciscans (O. F. M.) 102 francolins 353, 566, 766 Franco-Ottoman Alliance 20 Frank(s) 334, 415, 443, 444, 456, 467, 471, 545, 575, 602, 646, 679, 705, 707 Franqui 323 Freire, Nuno Pereira 836n frieze 432 frigate birds 773, 809

Index Frigid Zone 60n Frioli, Juan de, O. F. M. [John of Pian de Carpine] 519 Fugia 530 gabions 829 Gabril [fortress, mountain, Persia] 317, 320 gabrs 407, 422, 424, 687, 698 Gachīn-e Pāʿīn 292–294, 731 Gago, Luís 762, 832 Gaio, João Ribeiro 177n gaitas gallegas, see bagpipes Gaius Gracchus 536 Galatia 524 Galen [Aelius Galenus] 606 Galerius [Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus Augustus] 594–595 gall, see oak apples galleon(s) 34, 55, 487, 490, 491, 712, 738, 739, 743, 818, 819, 822, 825–827, 831, 832, 836–840, 847–849 galley(s) 52, 249, 266, 280, 281, 287, 338, 465, 466, 470, 505, 529, 623, 734, 739, 744, 748, 772, 804, 827, 830–832, 841, 856 galligaskins 687 galliot(s) 262, 734, 738, 803, 833, 834, 849 Gama, Francisco da 838n Gama, Luís da 272, 287, 493, 494, 496, 498, 499, 668, 821, 823 Gama, Rodrigo de 494 Gama, Vasco da 18, 23, 108, 109 Gambia [river, region, West Africa] 107 Gamrū 22, 29, 244, 247, 273, 286, 289, 426, 427, 479, 491–498, 645, 669, 705, 712, 717, 732, 734, 736 Ganges [river] 218, 219, 236, 695, 768, 769 garden(s) 149, 175, 182–196, 201, 203, 206, 212, 233, 259, 217n, 281, 299, 300, 308, 309, 312, 314, 326–330, 339–355, 359, 361, 362, 366, 368, 393, 420–427, 432, 435, 440–444, 448, 449, 454, 455, 461–465, 471, 472, 475, 480, 507, 601, 602, 613, 622, 624, 636–638, 646, 670–676, 708, 710, 719, 721, 783, 796, 797, 817 Gates of Alexander, see Iron Gates Gaugamela [battle] 618 Gayangos y Arce, Pascual de 4–5 gazelles 271, 276, 294

905 gazettes 406 Gaziantep, see Zeugma Gedrosia, see Balochistan genealogy 30 Genesis 224 Genghis Khān [Temüjin] 518, 520 Genil [river] 370, 420 Genoa 19, 750 Genoese 505, 531, 550, 574, 575 Genpsit 351 Gentiles 149, 155, 160, 170–224, 227, 230, 235–241, 262, 274, 275, 282, 398, 407, 439, 740, 747, 768, 817, 831 gentlemen 58 Georgia 397, 398, 430, 504, 562, 564, 571–574, 650 Georgian(s) 410, 414, 429, 430, 459, 461, 477, 552, 562, 564–577, 631–646, 651–654, 666, 670, 684, 707, 716, 717 Georgiana 397, 430, 564, 574 German(s) 242, 406, 411, 464, 475, 528 Germany 419, 486, 533, 679, 691, 767 Gerun, see Hormuz Ghat(s) (also known as Western Ghats) [mountains] 138, 151, 767, 768 Ghazan [Mahmud Ghazan] 334 Gibraltar 36 gift(s) 114, 295, 302, 339, 403, 412, 418, 450–459, 473, 477, 482, 490, 530, 543, 546, 575, 596, 686, 687, 698, 718, 719, 732 Gil Fernández, Luis 30 Gīlān 553, 554, 557, 562 gilthead seabream 63, 775, see also aurata and palometas Giovio, Paulo 8, 10, 38n, 39, 40, 560, 561, 573, 575, 579 Giralda 415n Giulio 432 global history 47 Goa [Book II] 160–243 goat(s) 145, 149, 263, 264, 294, 299, 300, 327, 333, 336, 728, 736, 766, 796, 797, 855, 856 godchild 32 godfather 32 godmother 32 godparents 32 Gogarena 568

906 Góis, Bento de 516 ḡolāmān-e ḵāṣṣa-ye šarīfa, see slaves of the royal household gold xviii, 200, 216, 231, 287, 303, 310, 314, 340, 341, 366, 403, 473, 449, 451, 453, 459, 461, 464, 473, 487, 541, 568, 650, 664, 665, 672, 673, 676, 677, 682, 691, 700, 702, 707, 747, 831, 832 goldsmiths 208 Golestān 409n, 552n Gomes, Jerónimo 126 Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, Francisco 327n Gonçalves, João 325 goose 84 Gordian III [Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius Augustus] 594 Gospels 363 Goths 407 Gouveia, António de, O. E. S. A. 22, 38n, 40, 46, 396, 418, 493, 496 Gouveia, Marcial de 498 governors 16, 174, 309, 339, 340, 406, 409–412, 418, 426–428, 434–438, 442–446, 434–438, 442–446, 525, 552, 587, 588, 608, 643, 661, 694, 728, 732, 850 Governor’s plum 187n governor-general 287, 302, 339n, see also beglarbeg Grammaticus, Johannes Saxo 38n, 572 Granada 234, 263, 308, 361, 487 Grand Master of the Order of St. John 529 Grand Turk Mehmed, see Mehmed II Grand Turk Mehmed, see Mehmed III Grand Turk, see Sūleyman I and Bāyezīd granite 195, 692 grapes 191, 192, 269, 295, 302, 330, 347, 355, 427, 721, 722, 781, 783, 795, 856 graveyards 177 great bustard 97 great egret 764n Great Hungarian Plain 17 Great Mosque 658, 660 Greater Armenia 370, 421, 422, 460, 562, 574, 578, 580, 581, 592, 593, 628 grebes 369, 764, 775 Greece 215, 336, 432, 467, 523, 527, 531, 569, 629 Greek 9, 35, 38, 105, 215, 223, 233, 333, 336–338, 361, 385, 396, 418, 432, 487,

Index 505, 509, 523–528, 548, 562, 568, 570, 574, 581–584, 587, 590, 596–598, 627, 649 Greenland 538 gregale [wind] 509n Gregoras, Nikephorus 38n, 39, 418 Gregory XV 860n Gremi 565, 570 grenades 495, 758, 772 greyhounds 361, 439 grosgrain 208 grummet(s) 68, 101, 109, 112, 119, 128, 144, 154, 770, 774, 776, 792 Guadalupe [beach, Goa] 175 Guardafui [cape] 774, 777 Guinea 61, 65, 66, 71, 75, 78–80, 101, 107, 114, 250, 449, 783, 836, 849 Guinea fowl 783n Gul Khānum 729 Gunpowder Magazine [Goa], see Casa da Pólvora gunwale(s) 265, 758 Gwadar [cape] 264, 290, 291, 371, 490, 599 gyrfalcons 84, 764 Ḥabīb as-siyar (Friend of Biographies) 40 Habsburgs 8, 12–28, 46 Hadadezer 600, 601 Hadrian [Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus] 691, 692 haemorrhoïs 181 Hagia Sophia 559 Hail Mary 55 Hajar (Lima) [mountains] 267 Hajji-tarkhan (also known as Xacitarxan) [fortress] 577 halberds 233 half-pounders, see esmeriles Hamadān 641, 750 Hamadi [mountains] 496, 827 Hamadiz [people] 827 Hamath 600, 601 hanak, see angina Hanging Gardens 393, 613 Hanseatic 540 hapas 308, see also chapaat Haran 585n, 588, see also Carrhae harbor master 793, 812–814 hare(s) 176, 271, 276, 353

Index harem(s) 345–347, 413, 414, 419, 435, 459, 484, 507, 634, 659, 671, 673, 683, 687, 697, 702, 703, 706, see also seraglio(s) harlots 367 harpoons 63 harquebus(-es) 139, 141, 143, 168, 184, 195, 287, 289, 311, 314, 328, 399, 425, 453, 454, 457, 495, 496, 505, 550, 551, 643, 650, 670, 675, 682, 710, 745, 746, 749, 758, 762, 766, 767, 771 harquebusier(s) 303, 318, 319, 434, 495, 497, 578, 609, 652, 709, 711, 745, 757, 764 hartabellacos 702 Ḥasan [Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib] 443, 658–663 Ḥasan or Ḥosayn Beg [official in Fārs] 287 Ḥasan or Ḥosayn Beg [qūrchī] 640 Ḩasanābād, see Abas Asad Hatra 590 hawthorn berries, see manjolinas Ḥaydar 15, 16, 335, 428, 457, 554, 647 Ḥaydar’s crown 445n Hayton 517 headdress(-es) 179, 215, 239, 287, 295, 303, 310, 320, 344, 390, 408, 429, 457, 458, 619, 621, 666, 682, 687, 728 Hebrew(s) 38, 222, 282, 363, 385, 617 Hector 311 hedge mustard, see jaramagos heliocaminus 344 Heliodorus of Emesa 598 Heliopolis 582, see also Aleppo helmsman(-men) 57, 809, 813 Henares [river] 563 Henrique de Portugal, see Prince Henry the Navigator Henriques, João Soares 51n, 64n Henry III of Castile [Henry III the Sufferer] 14, 18, 545n Hephaestion 533 heralds 671n, 683, see also jarchi Herat 40, 510 herbalists 214 Herbert, Thomas 399n Hercules [god] 45, 215 Hercules [star] 77, 225 Hercules and the Hydra [painting] 45, 391 Hercynian 767

907 hermit(s) 226, 228, 229, 241, 284, 328, 331, 352, 355–359, 369, 400, 415, 660, 711, 715, 727 Herodotus 38n, 613–616, 629 heron(s) 339, 361, 369, 764 Hesperides 78 Hezekiah 602 hiemal [wind] 593 High Court [Goa] 272n Hindu Kush [mountains] 218n, 243n, 364n, 526n, 628n Hindustan 218, 219, 222, 229, 235, 236 hippopotamus(es) 104, 105, 473 Hispanicae historiae breviarium 10 Histories of Polybius 601 holm oaks 326 Holy House of Mercy, see Santa Casa da Misericórdia Holy League 20, 21 Homer 393 homosexual 10 honey 193, 354 Honnavar 156n Hormozgān 252n Hormu 328, 723 Hormūd-e Mirkhoyi 300 Hormuz [island, kingdom, Persian Gulf] 1, 18–24, 28, 42, 46, 47, 244–289, 297, 304, 305, 313, 321, 348, 361, 366, 371, 418, 464, 468–472, 479–483, 487, 492–503, 515, 553, 610, 614, 621–627, 630, 645–647, 654, 667, 668, 680, 687, 695, 703–707, 712, 713 horse(s) 69, 105, 171, 283, 287, 289, 292, 294, 301, 303, 304, 313, 323, 327, 329, 332, 340, 342, 362, 367, 373–378, 385, 399, 402, 412, 413, 429, 434, 447, 448, 451–453, 465, 471–476, 480, 482, 524, 544, 566, 631, 633, 639, 643, 650, 652, 653, 672–675, 683, 697–699, 704, 706, 710, 715, 718–720, 724, 726, 732, 734, 745, 747, 752 Ḥosayn Beg Zuʿl-Qadar, see royal chamberlain Ḥosayn-ʿAlī Beg 21, 22 Ḩoseynābād-e Mishmast 442 Hospital [Goa] 159 hounds, see Cape seals House of Avis 17

908 household(s) 25, 35, 183, 194, 228, 234, 275, 281, 282, 360, 403, 479, 520, 568, 609, 635, 641, 686, 709, 717, 740, 797, 831 hubris 467, 803 hulk(s) 55n, 799, 800, 821n humanist 7, 38, 44, 45 Humāyūn [Nāṣir ud-Dīn Muḥammad Humāyūn] 690, 694 Hungary 19, 20, 462, 517, 518, 531, 679 Ḥusayn [Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib] 443, 658–663 Hydaspes [river] 515 hyena(s) 44, 176–178, 348 Hyrcania 409, 429, 510, 550–553, 694 Hyrcanian Sea, see Caspian Sea Iberia [Caucasus] 564, 574 Iberian chiffchaffs 764 Iberian(s) [Caucasus] 564, 568 Ibo [island] 797 Ibrāhīm Sultān 546 Idumeans 597 II Chronicles, see Paralipomenon ichneumon 195 ilchi Hispania 683, 698 Ilha dos Mortos [island, Goa], see Mercantor Immaculate Conception [painting] 45 impalement 642 Imperii graeci historia 39 incense 326, 530, 665 India [shoals, Mozambique Channel] 122 Indian chameleons 182 Indian cobra 179 Indian palm squirrel 194–195 Indian plum 187 Indus [river] 218, 515 inner route 94n, 113, 115, 489, 759 Innocent IV (Sinibaldo Fieschi) 519 Inquisition 201 insignia(s) 385, 390, 621, 727 inspector of the treasury 272, 735, 742, 743, 748, 834 interpreter(s) 297, 310, 320, 329, 339, 341, 367, 368, 398, 410, 428, 444, 445, 449, 445, 456, 458–461, 476, 477, 480, 481, 625, 642, 643, 655, 660, 683, 701, 704, 706, 713, 718 intra-Asian voyages 46 Ionia 335, 526, 570

Index Iran Heritage Foundation 12 Iron Gates 419, 563 irrigation 196, 298, 308, 319, 346, 622, 629, 710, 715 Irum Zami 350 Isaac 282 Isabel la Católica 31 Isaura 505 İskenderun, see Alexandretta Isla / Isleta de los Ratones 270 Isthmian Games 437 Isthmus of Corinth 215 Italian(s) 9, 103, 183, 231, 344, 406, 411, 432, 464, 466, 475, 482, 535, 567, 693 Italy 34, 53, 83, 180, 204, 208, 407, 432, 453, 464, 466, 487, 534, 550, 657, 691, 699, 704, 797 Izadkhāst 401, 709, 710 jackal(s) 176 jackfruit 44, 187, 189 Jacobite(s) 568, 587, 588, 591, 664 jacule 181, see also haemorrhoïs Jaén 36 Jaʿfarābād 446 jaguar 551n Jahrom 320, 328, 479, 720, 721, 723, 725, 727 Jahrom [river], see Kārūn [river] jambos 186 James the Greater 476, see also Santiago Jami al-Tavarikh (Compendium of Chronicles) 40 jangada 67 jangoma, see Governor’s plum Janissaries 15, 389, 578, 609, 623, 643 Japan 503, 539, 541 Jarama 436 jaramagos 326 jarchi 671 Jask [cape and port], see Bandar-e Jāsk jasmines 191, 676 Jason(s) 568 jasper 391, 394, 395, 414, 435, 676, 677 javelin [serpent], see jacule javelins 150, 152 Javier, Jerónimo de, S. J. 516 Jaxartes [river], see Syr Daryā Jazirat Limah [islet], see Isla de los Ratones Jeconiah 618

Index Jedda 491 Jehoahaz 600 Jehoiakim 617, 618 Jeremiah 615, 616, 618 Jerusalem 600, 602, 614, 618, 667, 705 jester 695, 696 Jesuit(s) (S. J.), 157n, 519, 690, 841, see also Society of Jesus Jews 262, 263, 274, 282, 602, 672, 717, 740, 828 jewelry 200, 208, 229, 231, 312, 399, 650, 741 Jeyḥūn 298 Jhelum [river] 515n Jiménez, Pedro 300 jubbah(s) 287, 303, 310, 319, 340, 361, 427, 451, 453, 456–459, 567, 571, 660, 678 João da Nova [islet/shoal, Mozambique Channel] 784, 790 João Rangel [island, Goa] 174 João II 17, 18 João III 17, 20 John IV Comnenus 423n John of Genoa 19 John VI Kantakouzenos [Johannes Kantakouzenos] 38n, 39, 326 John XXII 424 Johor 227 Jonah 38n, 591 Jonayd 15 Joram 600 Jorge, Pedro 756 Josephus [Titus Flavius Josephus] (also known as Joseph ben Matityahu)  38n, 618 Josiah 600, 618 Jovian [Flavius Jovianus Augustus] 590–592 Joyom 318–322, 328, 330, 720–726 Juan Brandon [island] 854, see also St. Brandon Judah 618 Judith 216 juiz ordinário, see ordinary judge jujubes 187, 723 Julayechi, see David [katolikos] Julfa 25, 41, 406, 419, 424, 558, 580, 696, 698 Julian the Apostate [Flavius Claudius Julianus Augustus] 585, 628 Julpha [Fārs] 743, 744, 827 Jupiter 515 Justin [Marcus Junianus Justinus] 38n, 514

909 Justin II [Flavius Justinus Junior Augustus] 577 Justinian I (the Elder) 577 Juvenal [Decimus Junius Juvenalis] 38n, 693 Kachi Beg 717 Kahūrestān 294, 295, 301, 325, 731, 733 Kakheti 45, 362n Kalāntar 714 kalāntar 715n Ḵalil-Solṭān Ḏuʾl-Qadar 23 kamal 252n Kanara 156, 162, 199, 217, 219, 220, 236 Kanarans 156, 761 Kandahār 490, 514, 696 Kannur 142, 145, 147–149, 151, 152, 189 Kara Amid 483, 587 Karayazici Abdülhalim 586 Karḵa [river] 629n Kars 579, 580 Kārūn [river] 479n, 612n, 629n, see Pisitigris Kāshān 41, 434, 435, 437, 440–442, 448, 554, 636, 637, 641, 652, 670, 674, 697, 807 ḵāṣṣa 25 Kay Solṭān 739, 763 Kayseri 527 Kazan Tatars 577 Kenās-e Soflā, see Ūjan Kentish plover 99n Kermān 289, 291, 305, 322, 349, 360, 366, 371, 407, 424, 510, 627, 725, 750 Ketevan 43, 45, 362n, 571, 572, 716n Khalīl Pasha 470, 472, 483, 555, 561, 578n, 649–654 Khambhat 198, 219, 220, 282, 489, 514, 679, 694, 695, 756 Khān Ber Beg 303n Khanbaliq 515, 517, 683 khan 244n khānum 571, 716n Kharepatan 757, 811 Khayr al-Nisa Begom 542n Khoja Nazar 729, 730 Khoja Safar 53, 667 Khorāsān 364, 365, 471, 490, 510, 514, 548–550, 578, 651, 696, 831 Khorasans 694, 696 Khoy 556, 558, 579, 580, 648

910 Khurīyā Murīyā [islands] 253, 254, 856 Khūzestān 291n, 456n, 484n, see also Susiana Khwāndamīr [Ghiyās ad-Dīn Muḥammad Khwāndamīr] 40, 524, 538, 545, 549 Kilwa 794, 805 kinship 29, 32 kites 123, 361 kaffirs 108, 111, 113, 123, 145, 489, 784, 786, 790, 794 Koca Sinan Pasha 580 Kochi 130, 131, 137, 138, 144, 148, 149, 155, 750, 752, 758, 841, 844–847, 851 Kodungallur 144 Konkani 194 Konya 523 Kor [river] 329n, 350n, 369n, 554n, 714n, see also Bendemir Kozhikode 144 Kromer, Marcin 38n, 543 Kufa 663 Kullam 138 Kura [river] 370n, 554n, 562–564, 566, 574, see also Cyrus Ḳurʾān 331, 659 Kurds 343, 366, 456, 627, 628, 631, 640, 642, 651, 653, 702 Kurdistan 557, 581, 591, 627–629, 641 Kūshkeźar 401, 711 Kutahya 523 Kuyucu Murād Pasha 586 Ḵᵛāja ʿAli 15 L’Aquila 586 La Mancha 457 La Rioja 469 Labrador 541 Laccadives 765n Lacedaemonians, see Spartans Lacerda, Luís Pereira de 22 Lady Rose, see Gul Khānum Lagoa [bay] 856, 858 Lahore 483, 514, 516, 631, 675, 678–680, 684, 686, 688–690, 694–696, 700, 701 Lajazzo 583 Lakshadweep (Mamales) [islands] 130, 131, 137, 138, 142, 143, 145, 149, 756, 841 Lala Beg 484

Index lamb(s) 294, 353, 728 Land of Darkness 537 Land of Light 537 lanhas, see coconut(s) lapis philosophorum 541n Lār 41, 289, 292, 293, 296, 302, 304, 313–320, 325, 329, 342, 349, 420, 426, 494, 610, 622, 623, 630, 721, 725, 726, 729–734, 750, 801, 824, 827 Larak [island] 271, 272, 723 larin(s) xviii, 310, 734 lateen 66, 70, 776, 790 laurel 344, 356 Layla [Layla bint Abi Murrah bin ʿUrwah bin Masʿud al-Thaqafi] 443 Laz 430, 474, 562, 564, 574, 575, 577 Lazarus 536 Lazica 573n Leandro, Juan, O. C. D. 676, 681 Ledesma 300 leggings 361, 460 Leilão [square, Goa] 198, 201, 234 lemon(s) 257, 314, 330, 372, 564, 601, 729, 768, 795, 797 Lemos, Fernão Gomes de 19 lentisks 326–328, 332, 353, 399, 402 Lepanto [battle] 21 Lesser Armenia 581 Lesser Russia 474, 506, 518 lettuce 191 Libano, Petrus de Monte 19 Libra 225 Licinius I [Gaius Valerius Licinianus Licinius Augustus] 607 lightning 64, 66, 356, 375, 607, 608, 755, 816, 859 Lillis, Simon de 20 Lima, Manuel de 834 Lima, Miguel de Abreu de 21 lime(s) 187, 330 linen(s) 140, 214, 232, 235, 239, 240, 263, 276, 315, 341, 355, 361, 408, 460, 468, 568, 608, 719 Linschoten, Jan Huyghen van 47 Lisbon 4, 10, 46, 55, 56, 69, 72, 76, 92, 100, 113, 116, 135, 151, 158, 210, 487, 509, 655, 769, 819, 820, 836, 840, 849 Lithuanians 544

Index litter(s) 213, 233, 297, 301, 316, 325, 397, 399, 404, 405, 446, 634–638, 645, 646, 707–709, 713–715, 720, 729 Little Ganges 768 lizard(s) 69, 182, 656 Llaguno y Amírola, Eugenio 11 Lobo, Diogo 752, 762 Lobo, Luís 47 lobos marinos, see Cape seals Lombardy 313, 564 loom(s) 232, 440, 444 Lord of Benadalid y Benalauría, see Toledo, García de Louis II [king of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia] 19 Loureiro, Rui Manuel 4, 12 Low Countries 475 Lower Moesia 528 Luabo [river] 799 Lucena, João Rodrigues de 758 Lucian of Samosata 582, 607 Lucius Verus [Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus] 592, 594, 606 Lucullus [Lucius Lucinius Lucullus] 555, 556, 557, 559, 580 Luetz, Gabriel de 20 Lupata [mountains, Mozambique] 794 Lupercalia 687 lupos, see Cape seals Lusisms 9 Lycia 335, 527, 530 Lyra 77, 78 Māʿin 397, 398, 710, 713, 714 Maʿan, see Amīr Fakhr-al-Dīn Beg ibn Maʿan Macau 515 Macedo, Henrique de 20 Macedonia 337, 394 Macedonian Empire 575 machinas y dañosas chimeras 28 Madagascar, see São Lourenço Madeira 57, 101, 147 Madrakah [cape] 253 Madre de Deus [crossing, Goa] 170n, 171, 172, 235 Madre de Deus [neighborhood, Goa] 201 Madrid 186, 312, 343, 416, 436, 468, 487, 534, 539, 540, 542, 662, 665, 669, 691–693, 712, 822 madrina, see godmother

911 Mafia 775 Magalhães, Fernão de 539 Magdalena [river] 107 Maggiore [lake] 564 Magnus [Gothus], Olaus [Månsson, Olaus] 572 Magnus, Johannes [Månsson, Johan] 572 Maharlou [lagoon] 720n Mahyār 404 Maidān [square(s), Persia] 411, 413, 414, 419, 435, 436, 463–465, 471–473, 477, 479, 480, 507, 577, 578, 670, 673–675, 682, 683, 686, 697, 698, 702–704, 706, 718 mainmast 74, 854, 858–860 mainsail(s) 89, 813 majles-nevīs, see chief secretary of state mako(s), see marrajo(s) mal de Loanda, see scurvy Malabar 131, 143, 145, 147, 149, 150, 154, 155, 217, 694, 756, 757, 770, 791 Malabar plums 186n Malatya 582n Maldives 128, 138, 143, 149, 193 Maldonado, Lorenzo Ferrer 542n Malik al-Ẓāhir, see Baybars I Malik Aslan 358 Maliku [island] 142 Malindi 805 Malta 21 Malukus (Moluccas) [islands] 34, 118, 119, 485, 515, 540, 756 mamālek 25 Mamales, see Lakshadweep Mamluks 18, 14, 24, 575, 576 Mamora [river], see Sebou [river] Manasseh 613 manchua(s) 249, 272, 287, 734, 759, 814 Mandrakah [cape, islet], see Maṣirāh Manduin [square, Goa] 197, 205, 206, 816, 817 Mangalore [bay]156, 157 Mangalore [cape] 153, 154 Mangalore [city] 155 Manganil [springs, Goa] 210, 212 Manganil [street, Goa] 210 mangas de Bretão 98 mangas de veludo 88, 98n, 105n, 106, 859, see also wandering albatross mango(es) 167, 185–189 manjolinas 727 Manila 34, 185, 485, 758

912 Manrique de Benavides, Mencia 31 mantillas 179, 232 mantles 179n Manuel I o Afortunado 17 Manuel, Francisco 812 Manuzio, Aldo 38n, 778 Maputo, see Lagoa marabout 341 Marañón [river] 71, 107, see also Amazon [river] maravedí(es) xviii, 310 marble 195, 234, 235, 305, 342, 344, 346, 347, 357, 359, 373–375, 379, 384–386, 388, 390, 391, 392, 394, 414, 435, 454, 626, 675–677, 690, 692, 693, 718 Marchioness of Pescara, see Colonna, Vittoria Marcus Aurelius [Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus] 606 Mardin 590 Margarita 626 Margascan 350, 369–372, 393, 397, 629 Margiana 511 Maria Anna of Austria 453n mariner(s) 57, 61, 68, 69, 82, 84, 85, 93, 94, 103, 117, 264, 267, 270, 539, 738, 742, 770, 772, 783, 788, 793 Mark Antony [Marcus Antonius] 556, 567, 594 Maronite(s) 19, 410, 568, 587 marrajos 67 marrecos 369 married settler(s) 762 Marseilles 835 marsh harrier 139 marshes 296, 537, 553, 764 Marsi 180 martinetes, see black-crowned night herons Martinopolis 590 Marvdašt 350n, 371n, see also Margascan Mary I 62 Maryam Solṭān Begom 554n Mascarenhas, Filipe 849 Mascarenhas, Francisco 838, 840 Mascarenhas, João Carvalho 712–714 Mashad 639 Maṣirāh [island] 254 Massinissa 533 master 53n, 58, 144, 147, 155, 252, 264, 758, 770–772, 780, 798, 810, 814, 850

Index master mason 843 master shipwright 265 mastic 326, 399, 402, 530, 531, 714 mastiff(s) 108, 178, 333, 349, 386, 405, 439, 454, 767 Mata Vacas, see Azougue matron(s) 274, 408, 535, 690 Matthias of Austria 462n mattocks 302, 322, 537, 830 Maurice of Nassau 120n, 143 Mauritius 120, 121, 855 Maximilian II 567 Māzandarān 631, 648, 670 Mecca 208, 357, 627, 678, 856 medallions 344, 387 Medea 568 Medes 334, 387, 554, 555, 560, 615–617 Media 434, 460, 509, 510, 552, 554, 557, 581, 627, 628, 638, 641, 649, 694 Megrelia 576 Megrelians 567, 573, 574, 576 mehmāndār 451n, 452, 674, 675, 682, 686, 688, 704, 707 Mehmed Āḡā 474, 520 Mehmed I 337n, 524 Mehmed II 424, 466n Mehmed III 586 Mejías [family] 692 Melaka 35, 47, 185, 227 Melchizedek Garnechi 645, 667 Melicarcham 364 Melo, Diogo de 769 Melo, Martim Afonso de 834 Melo, Nicolau de, O. E. S. A. 22 Melo, Simão de 826, 829, 832, 834 melon(s) 186, 295, 302, 440, 587, 637, 721, 731 Memphis 393 Mendonça, André Furtado de 843 Mendonça, Luís Ferreira Furtado de 51n, 102 Meneses, Aleixo de, O. E. S. A. 177n, 209, 247n, 418, 797 Meneses, Brás Teles de 123 Meneses, Duarte de 19 Meneses, Diogo de Sousa de 102n, 146, 833 Meneses, Manuel de 71, 103 Mentor 796 Mercantor [island, Goa] 174 Mérida 692, 693 merlins 361, 764

Index merlons 426 Merodach (Marduk) 617, 618 Mesopotamia 18, 20, 333, 473, 518, 559, 582, 585, 587, 589, 592–602, 628, 704 mestizo(s) 199, 213, 234, 795, 846 mesura 1 mice 140, 182, 725, 808 migration 400, 422, 572 mile(s), Italian xvi, 345 mile, Roman xvi mileque 468, 567 Milky Way 78, 81 minaret(s) 149, 277, 339, 352, 365, 369, 372, 374, 396, 405, 414–417, 445, 702 Miran Shah [Mīrzā Miran Shah Beg] 694 Mīrkhwānd [Muḥammad ibn Khawand Shah ibn Maḥmūd] 40, 522, 694 Mīrzā Çelebi, see Mehmed I Mīrzā Jaru, see Shāhrukh Mīrzā Mīrzā Khan 641 Mīrzā Pīr Muḥammad (Mirza Pira Mahamet, Pira Mahamet, Soltan Mahamet) 523, 530, 532 Mistral [wind] 86, 89, 203, 508, 510 Mithridates VI 556, 580 mizzenmast 128, 139, 776, 859 Moabites 597, 600 Mogadishu 775 Mogincual [shoals, river, Mozambique] 837, 838 Mogostan, see Hormozgān Mohács [battle] 19 Moḥammad Khudā-Bandah, see Solṭān Moḥammad Shah [Solṭān Moḥammad Mīrzā] Moḥammad Shah IV 275n Moḥammadābād 450, 631 Mombareca, see Ahvāz Mombasa 796, 816, 819 Moncastro [Maurocastrum] (also known as Mauricastro) 506 Mongol(s) 518, 536 Mongolia 518, 520 Monnox, Edward 738 Monroy, Gutierre de 11, 322, 323, 772 monsoon(s) 54, 75, 113–116, 245, 247, 248, 253, 255, 502, 707, 737, 739, 750, 755, 773, 782, 785, 797, 799, 803, 806, 833, 837, 845, 847–850

913 Moon [island(s), Goa] 167, 168, 172, 173, 235, 768 moqarrariya 23, 494n Moraes, Simão de, O. E. S. A. 22 Moraga, Hernando de, O. S. F. 484 Morais, Gaspar de 854 Morea 470 Mormugão 813 Morocco 263 mosque(s) 149, 277, 319, 330, 331, 339, 341, 352, 354, 365, 368, 369, 374, 391, 398–400, 411–415, 419, 431, 441, 443, 446, 448, 452, 560, 585–588, 639, 646, 658–660, 663, 675, 698, 711, 727, 728, 794 mosquitoes 434, 448, 637 Mossel Bay, see São Brás [bay] Mossuril 781n Mosul 591, 592, 608, 847 motus raptus 118 Mousen, O. S. B. M. 363, 716 Mozambique [island, port, settlement] 159, 777–805, 834–841, 844–850, 855, 860 Mt. Caspius 563 Mt. Damāvand 446n Mt. Deli 152 Mt. Formoso 153 Mt. Imeon 243, 694, 695 Mt. Lebanon 699, 700 Mt. Olympus 337 Mt. Taurus 555 muʿallim (al-baḥr), muʿallamūn 252 Mucianus [Gaius Licinius Mucianus] 640 mufti 655 Mugello 657 Mughal(s) 13–15, 150, 220, 221, 240, 243, 483, 489–491, 514, 520, 631, 670, 689, 690, 693, 695, 698, 701 Muḥammad [prophet] 43, 400, 408, 411n, 430, 443, 452, 457n, 521n, 611, 635, 658, 659, 663, 703n, 727 Muḥammad I of Granada [Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAḥmar] (also known as Muḥammad ibn Yusuf ibn Nasr) 331 mulatto(-es) 238, 795, 846 mule(s) 329, 358, 403, 431, 614, 639, 710, 724, 818 mullah(s) 43, 341, 456, 646, 655, 658–660, 663 Mumbai 809

914 municipal council [Goa], see Senado da Câmara [Goa] Muñiz, Francisco 776, 792, 822 Munyal-Par [shoals] 131n Murād I 336, 337n, 527 Murād II 337, 576 Murād III 21, 555n, 580, 586n Murād IV 470n Murena [Lucius Licinius Murena] 557 Musandam [cape] 256, 266, 270, 296, 752, 803 musas, see banana(s) Muscat 23, 46, 47, 257–267, 270, 278, 282, 320, 753, 755, 782, 809, 828–842, 847, 856 Muscovites 575, 579, 678, 680 Muscovy 678, 680, 684 musket(s) xvii, 54, 141, 289, 453, 734, 753, 758, 766, 771, 795, 831 Mustafa 252 Mustafa I Deli 654, 705 mutiny 829 Mylapore, see São Tomé de Meliapor myrtle 327 Nahr Malcha 605, 612 Nahum 38n, 393, 591 Nairs 150 Nakhchivān 422, 424 Nakhīlū 271, 297, 494, 744–746 Naples 447, 505, 586 Naqš-e Rostam 46, 329n, 350n, 394n naren, see coconuts Narseh 587n, 595 Narsinga 218–222 Narva [pre-Portuguese fortress, Goa]  166–169, 170n, 192, 199, 235 Natal 113, 489n, 856, 857 Naţanz 431, 638–640, 644, 727 Nautaque 271 naveta 249, 841 Nazareth [bank i.e. shoals] 120–122, 125 Nebrija, Antonio de 7 Nebuchadnezzar 600, 617, 618 necklace(s) 231, 390, 691 Negro, Pietro da 20 Negroes 448, 795, 799, 801 Negroponte [island] 466 Nembroth 586

Index Nero [Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus] 543, 690, 692 Nestorian(s) 410, 482, 568, 589, 591, 609, 612, 664 Netherlands 204 New Julfa 25, 41, 43, 410, 421, 422, 424, 655, 664, 666, 667, 687, 695 New Pillory Square, see Pelourinho Novo New Spain (Mexico) 34, 110, 118, 756 New Testament 45, 467 New World 73, 110, 189, 192, 540 Nicopolis [battle] 15, 18, 528, 532 Nile [river] 104, 599 Nimrod, see Nembroth Nina Chatu 227 Nineveh 393, 558, 591 Niobe 311 Nisibis 556, 559, 561, 587–592, 595, 598 Niza ul-Mulk 220 nobleza de servicio 32 Nogai Tatars 510, 511, 536 Nogueira, Vicente 10 nomads 520 Noort, Olivier van 109 Noronha, Afonso de 818, 834, 836, 839 Noronha, Antão de 213 Noronha, António de 172, 266 Noronha, Constantino de Sá e 833n Noronha, Fernão de 266 North Pole 77, 133, 366, 372, 537 North Star, see Polaris Northeast Passage 538 Northern Cross, see Cygnus Northern Ocean 110 Northern Passage 538n, 540 northern royal albatross 98n Northern Scythian Sea 538 Northwest Passage 538 north-westing 132, 136, 137 Nossa Senhora da Encarnação [parish, Goa] 207 Nossa Senhora da Graça [church, monastery, Lisbon] 272 Nossa Senhora da Luz [parish, neighborhood, church, Goa] 200, 202 Nossa Senhora da Luz 51, 65n Nossa Senhora da Merced [neighborhood, church, Goa] 817

915

Index Nossa Senhora da Penha de França [hermitage, Hormuz] 272 Nossa Senhora da Penha de França 836n Nossa Senhora da Piedade [hermitage, Goa] 171 Nossa Senhora de Ajuda [church, Goa] 166 Nossa Senhora de Conceição 849n Nossa Senhora de Esperança [hermitage, cape, Hormuz] 273, 274, 276, 280 Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe [church, Goa] 175 Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe 8, 51, 54, 58, 59, 64–67, 72, 73, 92, 94, 99, 100 Nossa Senhora de Misericórdia 849n Nossa Senhora de Nazaré 770 Nossa Senhora de Ribandar, see Nossa Senhora de Ajuda Nossa Senhora do [Monte de] Carmo [monastery, Hormuz] 278, 280, 281 Nossa Senhora do Cabo [headland, convent, church, Goa] 158, 164, 207 Nossa Senhora do Monte [hillock, hermitage, church, Goa] 206 Nossa Senhora do Monte [street, Goa] 206 Nossa Senhora do Pilar [hill, hillock, church, convent, Goa] 165, 175 Nossa Senhora do Rosário [church, Goa]  210, 212 Nossa Senhora dos Remédios 51, 54, 58, 59, 64, 72, 73, 92, 100, 833n Nova Zembla 537 nozes da Índia, see coconuts Nubia 449 numismatics 45 Nunes, Domingos 497 Nunes, Fernão 221n Nūr ad-Dīn [Nūr ad-Dīn Abū al-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿImād ad-Dīn Zengī] 576 Nur Muḥammad Khān bin Abul-Muḥammad Khān 363, 365 Nusaybin, see Nisibis nymphaeum 584 oak apples 142 obelisks 345 ocelot 551n Ochiar 339, 719, 720 Odaenathus [Lucius Septimius Odaenathus] 594, 596, 597, 607, 611 Öküz Kara Mehmed Pasha 578

Old Castile 313, 457 Old Goa 158, 160n, 165, 168, 175, 199, 813, 815, 844 Old Testament 282, 363 Olearius, Adam 3 olives 554 Olympic 437 Oman 23 Onor 156, see also Honnavar opposition of the moon 60 orange(s) 147, 148, 187, 188, 257, 266, 314, 327, 331, 372, 564, 601, 729, 768, 795, 856 Orchan 39 Order of Santiago 30, 32, 34, 485n Order of St. Basil 45, 363 Order of St. John 34, 390, 526, 529 Order of the Golden Fleece 32n, 390 ordinary judge 797 ordu 302, 333, 225, 519, 520, 537, 543, 646, 647 Orhan I [Orhan Gazi] 336 Orinoco [river] 170 Orontes [river] 585 Orrha 482, 582 Osman I [Osman Gazi] 336 Osman II 654, 705 Osman the Young, see Osman II Otho [Marcus Salvius Otho Caesar Augustus] 691 Otrar 548 Ottoman Empire 24, 39 Ottoman-Safavid War 20–22 Ottomans 12–25, 652 outer route 94, 112–116, 123n, 126, 127, 769, 798, 800, 820 ouvidor, see magistrate ouvidor-geral, see chief magistrate ouvidor-mor, see chief magistrate oxen 213, 216, 217, 300, 332, 333, 551, 736, 766, 855 Oxus [river] 364n, 511, see also Āmū Daryā [river] oyster(s) 234, 235, 301 Ozaeta, Juan de 12, 37 Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha 555 pace(s) xvi Pacheco y Osorio, Rodrigo 34 Pacheco del Río, Francisco 45 padrino, see godfather

916 Padua [shoals], see Munyal-Par paelices 635 Paes, Domingos 221n pagoda(s) 9, 218, 229, 236, 238, 240 painting(s) 45, 215, 344, 384, 391, 432, 546, 666, 690, 693 Pākiza Emāmqolī Beg 21 Palácio da Inquisição 233 palanquin(s) 213, 230, 232, 283, 294, 311, 316, 405 Palestine 215, 597, 599, 600, 617 palheiros 255 palms 44, 145, 152, 171, 175, 192–194, 203, 210, 233, 257, 259, 314, 328, 610, 623, 624, 721, 722, 779 Palma del Río 370 Palmyra 43, 594, 596, 597 palometas, see gilthead seabream Panaji 160n, 164n, 165n pancratium 437 Panelim 169 pangaio 783 Pangim [neighborhood, Goa] 508, 759, 763, 765, 812–815, 819, 841–843 Pangim [river, Goa] 165–167, 171, 172, 182, 197, 200, 201, 210, 212, 235, 760, 811, 825, 848, 851 Pão 791 Paralipomenon 38n, 597 Paralus 533 parapet(s) 261, 311, 355, 358, 373, 385, 421, 425, 426, 578, 688, 701, 800, 801 parasol(s) 315, 388–390, 710 parcel(s), see sandbank(s) Paria 66, 69, 626 Parī-Khān Khānum 635 parish(-es) 177, 197, 199, 202, 207, 258, 588 Parmenion 560 Paropamisus 526 parotids 760 Parthia 364, 474, 510, 514, 556–560, 578, 580, 589, 593, 594, 604, 649 Parthian Empire 591 Parthiene, see Parthia partridges 176, 271, 294, 353, 363, 566, 855 parvāna 302 Pasa, see Maharlou Pasargada, see Pasargadae Pasargadae 338, 341, 349, 360, 371

Index Pasha Muḥammad, see Humāyūn [Nāṣir ud-Dīn Muḥammad Humāyūn] pasha(s) 449, 587, 591, 608, 609, 622, 623, 647, 649, 651, 653 patache 249–272, 738, 750–762, 810, 812, 825, 831, 834–849 Pathans 243 Patras 470 patriarch(s) 422, 589, 645n, 664 patricide 571 Patroclus 533 Patron [shoals] 775 patrão-mor, see harbor master Paul V 423 Payanda Mīrzā 679n peacocks 766 pear(s) 189, 297, 347, 565 pearl(s) 222, 231, 367, 434, 453, 479, 624–627, 677, 679, 680, 691, 831 pedophile 10 Pedro de Banhos [shoals] 853 pelotas 476 Pelourinho, Pelourinho Novo [square(s), Goa] 202, 205, 208, 209 Pemba [island] 775 penguin(s) 109, 110 pepper 368 Pereira, Luís 669 Pereira, Simão de Melo 826n Pereira, Francisco de Sousa 56n Perekop Tatars 504, 505, 678 Perekopan 475, 679 Pérez de Guzmán, Alonso 36 Pericles 533 Persepolis 44, 46, 350n, 370, 372, 374, 393, 395, 396, 509, 558, 629 Persia [kingdom] 302, 360, 371, 427, 490, 502, 515, 522, 635, 686, 732 Peru 118 Pessoa, Baltasar 19 petraries 9, 812 Phasis [river] 574 pheasants 353, 566, 766 Philip II 13, 17, 20, 21, 33–35 Philip III 7, 14, 17, 21, 26, 33–38, 52n Philip IV 34 Philip, Duke of Burgundy 424 Philippines 614, 756, 854 Philistines 600

Index Phoenicia 43, 583, 597 Phoenicians 10 Phraaspa 556, 557 Phrygia 337 physeteres, see sperm whales pianellas 231 Piccolomini, Enea Silvio Bartolomeo, see Pius II Picos Fragosos, see Lupata [mountains] pied crows 97n pigeon(s) 610, 757, 796 pike(s) xvi pike(s) handle xvi pilgrimage(s) 190, 238, 325, 357, 627 pilgrims 63 pilot fish 63n pilot(s) 98–157, 250–255, 258, 264–270, 754–759, 773–780, 783–794, 798–813, 838, 842–850, 853–861 piloto-mor, see chief pilot Pimentel, Miguel de Sousa 272 piñas, see pineapples Pinda [shoals] 777, 779 pineapples 44, 189, 190 Pineiós [river] 562 Pinheiro, Manuel, S. J. 516 Pinto, João, O. E. S. A. 272 pippin apple 186 pirate(s) 503–505, 575, 722 Pir-e Yūsefiyān 450 Piscis Austrinus 77 Pisitigris [river] 612, 627–629 pistachios 347, 688, 700 Pisuerga [river] 420 Pius II [Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini] 573 plane tree(s) 345, 347, 348, 411, 432, 453, 638–640, 644, 719, 727 Playa Honda 485 Pliny the Elder [Gaius Plinius Secundus]  38n, 184 Plutarch 38n, 394 Poço [anchorage, Goa] 814 Podolia 474, 506 Poland 22, 419, 462, 474, 578, 679 Polaris, see North Star Pole Star 77, 252 Poles 136, 544, 678 Polo, Maffeo 517

917 Polo, Marco 515, 517 Polo, Nicolò 517 polo 275, 413, 463, 476 Polybius 38n, 601 Polydore Vergil 38n, 573 polymath 45 pomegranate(s) 269, 327, 330, 601, 610, 624, 856 Pompey [Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus] 557, 564, 570, 580 Ponce de León, Luis Cristóbal 31 Ponda 172 Pontus Euxinus 581, see also Black Sea poop 84, 139, 147, 154, 750, 755, 776, 788, 789, 820, 854, 858 poplar(s) 320, 347, 348, 359, 401, 420, 637, 638 Poppaea Sabina Augusta 691n Populo, Manuel del, O. E. S. A. 321, 327, 357 Porto 796 Porto Santo [island, Madeira] 55, 57 portrait(s) 39, 387, 453, 690–693 Pracala 556, 559, 579 praetorians 643 praetorium 608 Prasini 437 Primum Mobile (also known as Prime Mover) 118 Prince Henry the Navigator 57 Prince of Wales 489 prisoner(s) 43, 44, 274, 363, 365, 498, 519, 522, 527, 577, 600, 631, 636, 642, 643, 653, 716, 829, 834, 841–847 Promised Land 597 Promontorium Sacrum 77 Proteus 502 provincial 133 prows 155, 757, 758, 770, 772, 799 Prussians 544 Przemysław II 573 Psalms of David 363 Ptolemaida 336, 526, see also Acre Ptolemy [Claudius Ptolemaeus] 38n, 227, 423, 509, 578 public houses 430 Pulvar [river], see Sivan Purchas, Samuel 11 Purificação, Vicente da, O. E. S. A. 734n Pythagoras 223

918 qāḍīs 658 Qalhat 256 qapuchibāshi, see chief doorkeeper Qara Qoyunlu (also known as Black Sheep Turkmen) 15 Qarchaqāy Beg 305n, see also Qarchqāy Khān Qarchaqāy Khān 650, 652 Qatif 494 Qazvīn 25, 41, 371, 430–508, 520, 553–562, 577, 609, 610, 629–695, 702–728 Qeshm [island, fortress, watering station, Persian Gulf] 22, 28, 244, 271, 274, 281, 285, 286, 297, 479, 481, 493, 499, 669, 705, 712, 732, 735, 736, 740, 741, 821–833 qezelbāš 16, 25, 444, 457, 521 Qom 41, 442, 443, 445, 554, 636, 641, 670 Qomīsheh [Shahreẕā] 404, 708 quadrant 253 Quadros, André de 494, 496 Quadros, João de 258 quails 439 Queimados [islands, near Goa] 759, 772, 809, 811 quelen, see banana(s) Quilon, see Kullam quince(s) 186, 191, 330 Quiñones y Toledo, María Enríquez de 31 quintal(es) xvi, xvii, 793, 816 Quintus Curtius [Rufus] 38n, 226, 370, 394, 514, 613 Quirimba [islands] 777, 779, 792–796 qūrchībāshī 643 qūrchīs 641, 642, 645, 675 Quryat 753 Qutb Shah [Sultan Quli Qutb Mulk] 150n, 220 Qutlugh Timūr 544 Raba [fortress] 600 rabbit(s) 176, 183, 184, 195, 353 Rabsaris 602 Rachol 163, 818 Raïs Murād 831 rams 342, 435–437, 697 Rama 223, 224 Ramadan 703 Rashid 491 Rashīd al-Dīn Fadhl-allāh Hamadānī 40

Index Rauzat-us-Safa (The Garden of Purity) 40 ravelin 260, 262 real(-es) xviii, 324, 353, 444, 733 rear-flagship 51, 64, 100 red bream 859 Red Sea 198, 215, 266, 269, 491, 599, 627, 669, 712, 822 redoubt 166 regulus 184–185 Rehob 600 Reimão, Gaspar Ferreira 53, 64, 65n, 73, 92, 93, 94, 96, 100 Relação 272n renegades 342, 642 resin(s) 326, 529, 714 Ressurreição, Diogo da, O. E. S. A. 676 Rhodes 466, 526, 527, 529, 530 Rhodope 298 Rhône 372 Ribandar [cape, neighborhood, Goa] 166, 167, 169 Ribeira, Francisco 832 Ribeira, Luis de, O. E. S. A. 321 Ribeiro, Bernabé 763, 764 Riblah 600, 601 Ricci, Matteo, S. J. 516, 517 rice 142, 143, 148, 179, 204, 207, 212, 216, 239, 263–265, 295, 309, 318, 427, 461, 563, 589, 591, 710 rigging 66, 116, 149, 493, 754, 758, 766, 858 Rio de Janeiro 96 Rioni [river], see Phasis [river] River Plate 107 Rodrigues, Vicente 122 roe 553 roe deer 271n Roland 405 Rolim, Luís de Moura 818, 832 Roman History 39, 418n Romania 338 Romanov [royal house] 684n Romanov, Mikhail I Fedorovich 684n Rome 29, 378, 408, 437, 482, 487, 493, 510, 536, 543, 558, 607, 608, 640, 648, 692 Romelia 338 romeiros, see pilgrims rook(s) 81 Rosalgat [cape] 250, 253, 255, 264, 267, 270, 490, 599, 626, 754, 856

Index Rosetta, see Rashid Rose of Alexandria 348 rose(s) 348, 405, 427, 532 rosewater 348 rowanberries 184 Royal Camp, see ordu Royal Caravanserai 435 Royal Chamberlain, see mehmāndār  Royal Chancellery 671n Royal Custom’s House [Goa], see Alfândega do Rei Royal Mountain 395 Royal Palace of Madrid 343 Rubens 45 rubies 287, 367, 451, 672 rudder 66, 72, 789, 798, 810, 811, 813 Rudolf II 462n rumes (also known as rumis) 538 Rumi Capir 587 Russia 430, 474, 504, 506, 518 Russian(s) 504, 506 Rust 537 Ruthenian 543 rutters 42, 61, 113, 121, 122, 137, 140, 787, 855, 856 Sá e Lisboa, Cristóvão de, O. S. H. 177, 843 Sabaios 198, 201, 233, 234 Sabina Augusta [portrait] 691 Sabina Augusta, see Poppaea Sabina Augusta and Vibia Sabina Augusta sable(s) 473, 474, 482, 537, 680 sad [tree], see triste Ṣadr-al-Din 15 Safavid(s) 1–28 Safī Mīrzā [Moḥammad Bāqir Mīrzā] 477 Ṣafi-al-Din 15 Saida 699 Sakas, see Sogdians sakers 361 Sakiz, see Chios Saladin [Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb] 575 salah, see adhan Salamis 776 Salcete 157, 163, 165, 175, 761, 844 Saldanha [bay, watering station, South Africa] 98, 861 salmon 553, 554, 610, 670 saltpeter 196, 273, 446, 448

919 Salvação 272n Salvador, Giuseppe (also known as Giuseppe Armenio) 184, 297, 329, 717 Salve Regina 269 Samarkand 10, 14, 511, 514, 515, 521, 545–550, 682, 683 Samarro, Mathias Figueira de 65n, 147, 148, 155 Samegrelo 565n, see also Megrelia Samosata 582, 607 Sampaio, Gaspar de Melo de 836 Sampaio, Rui de Melo de 56 Samsun, see Amisos San Eliseo, Juan Thadeo de, O. C. D. 419, 647 San Julián [port, bay] 109, 110 San Miguel [island] 125, 127 sandbank(s) 74n, 93, 106, 107, 110, 123, 125, 168, 169, 779, 783, 787 sanjak 623, 627, 653 Şanliurfa, see Orrha and Edessa Santa Ana [low lying fields, Goa] 171, 175, 178 Santa Casa da Misericórdia 43, 159, 198, 846 Santa Catarina [hospital, hermitage, monastery, Goa] 198, 212 Santa Cruz [church, Madrid] 416 Santa Isabel 849n Santa Lúcia [hermitage, neighborhood, Hormuz] 272, 274, 276, 278 Santa Lúcia [neighborhood, Goa] 197, 200, 201, 206, 815 Santa Maria, Manuel de, O. E. S. A. 734 Santa Maria [islands, near Goa], see St. Mary’s Santa Marta 626 Santa Mónica [convent, Goa] 209 Santiago de Compostela 301 Santiago, see James the Greater Santo Agostinho [cape], see St. Augustine [cape] Santo André 849n Santo António [church, Goa] 210 Santo António [rampart, fortress, Mozambique] 800, 801 Santo Domingo [Dominican Republic] 110 Santo Estêvão [island, Goa] 167–168, 235, 243 São Alberto 838–839 São Aleixo [church, Goa] 206 São Amaro [hillock and church, Goa] 204, 206, 207

920 São Amaro 783 São Boaventura 51n, 52, 53, 55, 56, 65n, 72, 100–102, 106, 111, 114, 115, 127–129, 138, 141, 146, 147, 152, 156–158 São Brás [bastion, Goa] 173 São Brás [crossing, Goa] 170n, 172, 206 São Brás [street, Goa] 200, 206 São Brás [watering station, South Africa]  108 São Carlos 838, 839 São Domingos [monastery, Goa] 206, 816–818 São Filipe 51n, 52, 53, 55, 56, 65n, 72, 100, 115, 128, 141, 152 São Francisco 287 São Francisco [monastery, Goa] 198, 208 São Francisco Xavier 849n São Gabriel [rampart, fortress, Mozambique] 781, 800, 801 São Jorge [island, Mozambique] 781 São José 838, 840, 842 São Lourenço [crossing, Goa] 170n, 174n São Lourenço, see Madagascar São Matias [neighborhood, Goa] 205, 206 São Matias, João de, O. F. M. 223 São Pedro [bastion, Hormuz] 827 São Pedro [parish, church, neighborhood, Goa] 177, 197, 200 São Pedro, Sebastião de, O. E. S. A. 258n São Simão 849n São Tiago [crossing, Goa] 170n, 173 São Tiago [island, Mozambique] 781 São Tomé 836, 837, 840, 842, 847–851 São Tomé [archipelago, island, Atlantic] 56 São Tomé de Meliapor [coast, city, Coromandel] 221, 227, 764 São Vicente, António de, O. E. S. A. 55 sappers 546 sapphires 677 Sara Khoja 676–681, 701, 704 Sarāī Mulk Khātūm 549 sardār 649 Sarmento, Jácome de Morais 782, 783, 799, 836n Sarmiento de Gamboa, Pedro 109, 110 sati 230n satrapy 549 Saturn 224 saturnalias 842

Index Saulisante 11, 37, 750 Sāveh 448, 449, 636 Savory, Roger M. 25 Sawākin 599 Saya de Malha [shoals] 124, 125, 853 sayyid 452 scimitar(s) 150, 287, 303, 340, 361, 399, 449, 451, 456–459, 469, 505, 524, 546, 571, 577, 642, 653, 661, 670, 675, 679, 682, 685, 690, 704, 709, 716 Scipio Africanus [Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus] 536 scorpions 529 Scorpius 77 scurvy 126n Scythia 332–337, 520, 521, 537, 547, 548, 564, 649 Scythian(s) 334, 474, 510, 511, 518, 520, 521 Sé Cathedral [Goa] 234 sea dogs, see Cape seals sea horses, see hippopotamus(es) Sea of Azov 474, 576, see also Tana Sea and Zabacha sea onions 190 seagulls 252 Sebaste 527 Sebastião I 17, 21 Sebou [river] 54 Second Count of Alba de Tormes, see Álvarez de Toledo y Carrillo de Toledo, García Second Count of Arcos, see Ponce de León, Luis Cristóbal Second Count of Feria, see Suárez de Figueroa, Gómez II Second Duke of Feria, see Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, Lorenzo IV Second Earl of Essex, see Devereux, Robert Second Lord of Feria, see Suárez de Figueroa, Lorenzo II Second Lord of Zafra, Villalba, and Parra, see Suárez de Figueroa, Lorenzo II Second Marchioness of Priego, see Fernández de Córdoba y Enríquez, Catalina Second Marquess of Santa Cruz, see Bazán Benavides, Álvaro II de Second Marquess of Villalba, see Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, Gómez IV sedans 9, 230, 232, 707 Seleucia 560, 591, 592, 594, 604, 606–611

Index Seleucus I Nicator 591 Selim I 18, 558, 580, 648 Semele 215 Semendria [battle] 532 Sempronius Gracchus 536 Sena 105 Senado da Câmara [Goa] 170 Sennacherib 602 Sensen 441, 442 Septentrion 349, 510, 564 Septimius Severus [Lucius Septimius Severus Augustus] 590, 604 sepulcher 316, 331 Sequeira, Paulo de 839 Sequeira, Rui Gonçalves de 515 Serbia 337, 531 Serbian(s) 337 Serlio, Sebastiano 45, 396 serpent(s) 178–183, 389, 391, 657, 808 Serrano y Sanz, Manuel 5 Seven Brothers, see Seychelles Seven Sisters, see Seychelles Seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia, see Pérez de Guzmán, Alonso Severus Alexander [Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander Augustus] 594 Seville 415 Seychelles [islands] 125n, 853n Seyf-al-Din Abā Nażar 23 Sforza, Francesco 535 shads 60 Shah ʿAbbās I, see ʿAbbās I Shah Malik 547, 548 Shah Rial 830 Shah Ṣafī 3n, 302n shah(s) 2, 15–26, see also under each individual Shah’s name Shahristān 404n Shāhrukh Mīrzā 546 shallop(s) 141, 143, 146, 148, 154, 155 Shamakhi 562–564 shamāl 264, 267, 268 Shapur I 593n, 594n, 595n, 597 Shapur II 587, 588, 595, 607, 612 Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī Yazdī 40, 523, 524, 528–531, 533, 538, 545, 547, 549 sharīf 400n shatir, see courier Shaybanid Uzbeks 19

921 sheep 72, 327, 336, 340, 353, 565, 568, 802, 855, 856 sheep-herding 338 sheepskins 313 sheikh 15, 602 Sheikh ʿAlī Baku 357 Sheikh Baba 356 Sheikh Muḥammad Jahan 356 Sherley, Anthony 21, 28, 486, 487 Sherley, Robert 21, 28–29, 467, 486–490, 493, 499–502, 654, 655, 669, 681, 712, 821–823 Shiʿa(s), Shiʿism 42, 42, 335n, 422n, 443n, 663n shipwreck(s) 42, 46, 64, 93, 110, 112, 115, 122, 165, 264, 265, 267, 325, 764, 797, 811, 848, 855 Shīrāz 41, 44, 286, 289, 292, 297, 302–305, 312–314, 318, 324, 326, 328, 338–369, 371, 372, 374, 399, 403, 404, 411–414, 427–429, 435, 449, 451, 452, 460, 471, 494–499, 502, 503, 509, 553, 555, 562–564, 571, 610, 624, 625, 629, 638, 647, 650, 652, 657, 661, 663, 670, 676, 685, 701, 702, 709–721, 726, 729–733, 739, 740, 744, 750, 824, 827, 830 Shīrvān 430, 473, 482, 592, 555, 562–564, 574, 578, 649, 650, 707 Shūshtar 353, 370, 456, 629–631, 731 Sicilian Corps 36 Sicily 447, 487, 627 Sidon 699 Sigismund 531–532 Sigismund III Vasa 22, 462n Silesia 517–518 silk 25, 28, 208, 310, 403, 440, 472, 488–491, 502, 552, 554, 562, 563, 568, 669, 712, 713, 822, 824, 825 Silva y Figueroa, García de 1–47 Silva, António Barreto da 735 Silva, Antonio de 36 Silva, Fernando de 34 Silva, Fernão de 497 Silva, Gómez de 30 Silva, Gonzalo de 35 Silva, Jerónimo de 11, 34, 484, 485 Silva, Juan de 34, 35, 485 Silva, Lorenzo de 34 Silva, Manuel de 10

922 Silveira, Gonçalo de 834 Silveira, Jerónimo de 815 silversmiths 208 Simon I 570 Simon of St. Quentin 519n Sindh 263, 282, 490, 491, 514, 515, 679, 694–696, 744, 748, 755, 834, 836 singapor 181 Singer 595 Sinop 505, 582n Sintra [mountains] 53 Sio-se Pole (Bridge of Thirty-Three Arches, Allāhverdī Khān Bridge) 420 sirocco [wind] 508, 510, 589, 593 Sittacene, see Stacie Sivan [river] 329, 330, 338, 530, 720 Sixtus IV 423 skiff 146–155, 256, 257, 262, 267, 268, 774 Slaughterhouse district 211 slave(s) 210, 228, 230–233, 276, 313, 315, 338, 388, 430, 449, 495, 499, 575–577, 635, 656, 686, 693, 734, 742–744, 748, 758, 762, 765, 767, 770, 771, 776, 795, 786, 7991–801, 804, 812–818, 831, 851 slaves of the royal household 305n slippers 140, 215, 231, 361 smock(s) 231–232, 320 Smyrna 526–530 snake(s) 178–183, 236, 237, 657, 756 Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles 5 Society of Jesus (S. J.) 159, 199, 202, 835, see also Jesuit(s) Socotra [island] 130, 144, 774, 807 Sofala [port, shoals, East African coast] 104, 122, 784, 787, 799 Sogdia 364n, 511, 514, 515, 518, 521, 524, 457, 550, 683 Sogdian(s) 364, 416, 511, 521 Ṣoḥār 753 Solomon 541, 597 Solṭān Moḥammad Shah [Solṭān Moḥammad Mīrzā] 24, 425, see also Moḥammad Khudā-Bandah Solţānīyeh 461, 464, 479, 482–484, 554, 560–562, 639, 641, 650, 654, 655 Sophonisba 533 Sophy(-ies), see Ṣūfī Sorrentino, Viçente 321 sotilicairos, see Cape penguins

Index sour cherries 722 Sousa, Francisco de 752, 823, 826, 833 Sousa, João de 496 Sousa, Luís de 712, 734, 739, 823 Sousa, Manuel Borges de 735 soutane 408 South Pole 79, 81, 82, 91, 95, 111 Southern Cross 81 Southern Ocean 110 southern royal albatross 98n span(s) xvii sparrow-hawk 139 Spartans 460n Spartianus [Aelius Spartianus] 691 sperm whales 805 Spice Islands 118n, 119, 490, 539 spice(s) 490, 503 Spoletines 180 spotted dogfish 60 spritsail 97, 262, 752, 783, 788, 813, 858 squall(s) 72, 76, 257, 264, 788, 803, 804, 853 squirrels 194, 195 Sri Lanka 222, 453, 454, 626 seraglio(s) 345–347, 414 St. Augustine [cape] 71, 73, 74, 94–96 St. Basil 363n, 569n, 665 St. Benedict of Nursia 263n St. Bernard of Clairvaux 263n St. Brandon [shoals] 120n, 856n St. Dominic de Guzmán 185n St. Elmo’s Fire 859 St. Eulogius of Córdoba 576 St. Francis [convent, Zafra] 37 St. Francis of Assisi 102n St. Francis Xavier 860 St. George 476, 568 St. George [hermitage, Edessa] 586 St. Gregory of Nanzianzus 569 St. Gregory of Nyssa 569 St. Helena [island, South Atlantic] 820, 835 St. Ignatius of Loyola 157n, 860n St. John of the Cross 406n St. Mary’s [islands, near Goa] 155 St. Peter [and St. Paul] [archipelago] 69 St. Peter [castle, Lycia] 527 St. Roman [cape] 115n, 121 St. Teresa of Ávila 406n St. Thomas [hermitage, Edessa] 587 St. Vincent [cape] 78

Index Stacie 595 stade(s) 17, 346, 347, 359, 657, 677, 715, 721, 729 stadia 16, 17, 619 State of India, see Estado da Índia Stimmer, Tobias 39 Stoics 534 stolata 690 storks 339, 369, 397 Strabo 592, 593, 598, 611, 613, 633, 711 Straight Street, see Direita Strait of Anián 542 Strait of Hormuz 266 Strait of Kerch, see Cimmerian Bosphorus Strait of Mecca, see Red Sea Straits of Magellan 91, 109, 539 Stuart, Henry Frederick, see Prince of Wales sturgeons 553, 563 Suárez de Figueroa [family] 30–34 Suárez de Figueroa, Gómez I 30 Suárez de Figueroa, Gómez II 30, 31 Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, Gómez III 30 Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, Gómez IV 30 Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, Lorenzo IV  30, 33 Suárez de Figueroa, Lorenzo I 30 Suárez de Figueroa, Lorenzo II 30, 32 Suárez de Figueroa, Lorenzo III 30, 31, 33 Suazo, Alonso de 110 Suez 266, 491 Ṣūfī 334, 422n see also Esmāʿīl I Sufism 42, 422n Sūleyman I (the Magnificent) 19, 20, 39, 507, 561, 580 sulfur 446, 447 Sunda 855 Sunni(s) 43, 521, 658–660, 663, 678, 705 Susa 353, 370, 558–560, 627, 629, 630 Susana 613 Susiana 291, 353, 371, 388, 456, 484, 510, 592, 595, 608 Swally [battle] 23, 245n, 485n Swan [island], see Mauritius swans 80 sweetmeats 697 Syr Daryā, see Jaxartes Syracuse 558, 615

923 Syria 43, 188, 192, 215, 269, 333–336, 482, 526, 557, 563, 575, 576, 583, 584, 587, 589, 597, 600, 604, 617 Syriac(s) 222, 410, 429 Tabrīz 18, 20, 406, 419, 421, 481, 483, 507, 554–561, 574, 579, 638, 647, 650, 651, 687, 698 Tacitus [Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus] 38n, 543, 557, 559 taffeta 208, 242, 295, 313, 429 tagarotes, see Barbary falcons Tagus [river] 51n, 151, 563, 602 Ṭahmāsp Beg 471 Ṭahmāsp I 16, 19, 425, 428, 429, 482, 507, 554, 555, 561, 580, 635, 704, 707 Ṭahmāsp Khān 643 Tahmūraṯ 471 tāj-e ḥaydar, see Ḥaydar’s crown Tajir Abad 644 Talangan, see Taleigão Taleigão 164 tamasha 345, 698 tambourine(s) 303, 304, 310, 311, 340, 342, 343, 412, 434, 442, 685 tamrahs, see dates Tana Sea, see Sea of Azov Tanais [river] 504, see also Don Tang-e Dālān 298, 299 Tarauste 143 Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā (History of the World Conqueror) 40 Tatar Charu 474 Tatar(s) 219, 333, 334, 407, 419, 430, 471, 474, 475, 504–506, 518–525, 530, 537, 538, 543, 544, 560, 564, 575, 649, 651–653, 678, 679, 683 Tatary 334, 473, 520, 538, 543 Tauric Chersonese 577 Taurus [mountains] 335, 555 Tavares, António 740, 741 Tbilisi 574 teals 369, 764 Teimuraz I (also known as Teimuraz Khan)  44, 362, 363, 650, 653, 716, 717 Tempe 769 Temperate Zone 60n

924 Tenebrae 356 Tenreiro, Leonor 818 tercels 764 terçia 17, 387 Ternate 34 terrada(s) 267, 289, 497, 498, 733, 740, 742, 745, 749 terranquin(s) 267n, 271, 494, 497, 626, 733, 752, 835 terreplein(s) 200n, 244, 277, 426, 578, 781, 801 Terva 423 Tete 105 Thäis 395 Thatta 490 The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II 13 Theban 215 Thebe 595, 596, 598 Thebes [Egypt] 328n Thebes [Greece] 215 Thirty-third Master of the Order of Santiago, see Suárez de Figueroa, Lorenzo I Theodosia, see Feodosia Theodosius [Flavius Theodosius] 584 Thermōdōn, see Terme Thermopylae 215 Thessaly 769 Third Count of Feria, see Suárez de Figueroa, Lorenzo III Third Duke of Feria, see Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, Gómez IV Third Marchioness of Priego, see Fernández de Córdoba-Figueroa y Ponce de León, Catalina Third Marquess of Cerralbo, see Pacheco y Osorio, Rodrigo Thrace 337 Thracians 528 thrushes 88, 332 thunderbolt, see Yïldïrïm thunderstorm 63n, 113, 114, 139, 636, 815, 853 Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus 536 Tidore 515 Tigranakert, see Tigranocerta Tigranes II 555, 556, 580 Tigranocerta 555 Tigris 333, 393, 556, 559, 589–595, 599, 604–612, 621, 622, 627, 628

Index Timoja 156 Timūr [Timūr Beg Gurkani] (also known as Tamerlane) 334, 442, 471, 511–538 Timūr, see Qutlugh Timūr Timurids 13, 38, 40 tintoreira(s), see blue pointer shark Tiwi 256, 753, 833 toalhas 179 tobacco 700, 701, 816 Tobit 38n, 591 togas 387 Toi 600, 601 Tokhtamïsh 536n, 550 Toledo 99, 602 Toledo y Figueroa, María de 31 Toledo, García de, see Álvarez de Toledo y Carrillo de Toledo, García Toledo, María Álvarez (or María Enríquez) de  31 tollo(s), see spotted dogfish tomb(s) 274, 278, 316, 349, 356, 357, 359, 392, 394–396, 398, 509, 554 ton(s) 17, 79, 249, 799 Toneleiros [street, Goa] 209, 212 toninhas 75n, 77, 774 topmast(s) 776, 812 toponym(s) 8 topsail(s) 53, 54, 57–59, 72, 73, 86–89, 92, 99, 111, 113, 115, 120, 129, 138, 144, 153, 257, 264, 269, 779, 1780, 785, 788, 799, 803, 810–814, 858–860 Toro 36, 588 Torrid Zone 60 Torsis 550 tortoises 110, 855 tostões 807 Totan Beg 388, 670, 674 tower of Babel 613 tower(s) 166, 169, 210, 249, 260–262, 274, 277, 278, 312, 343, 352, 373, 374, 397, 402, 413, 415, 416, 425, 426, 495, 498, 596, 613, 675, 702, 816, 817, 829, 843 tradesmen 214, 282, 352, 361 Trajan [Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trajanus Augustus] 590, 594, 604, 607, 611 tramontane [wind] 510 transcription 7 translation 4–6, 8 travel literature 1, 2n, 10, 47

Index treacle 179 treaty(-ies) 462, 649, 650, 653, 669, 705, 713, 824, 831, 832 Trebizond (Trapisonda, Trapezunte) 423, 581–582 trebuchets 529 Trindade 837 Trindade [island] 71, 96 Trindade [neighborhood, Goa] 200, 201, 203, 204 Tripoli 282, 336, 583, 700, 737 Tristan da Cunha [island] 87, 90, 91, 92, 96, 115, 117, 769 Trojan War 569 trombas 90, 98, 99 Tropic of Cancer 59, 264 Tropic of Capricorn 77, 78, 80, 120 trousers 214, 320, 567 trout 60 trovoada, see thunderstorm Troy 311, 393 truce(s) 462, 649, 650, 653, 669, 705, 713, 824, 831, 832 trumpets 303, 412, 473, 480 tuman(s) 18, 732, 733 tuna 63, 75 tunic(s) 214, 242, 263, 389 turban(s) 214, 361, 415, 448, 452, 456–458, 460, 465, 468, 474, 532, 567, 621, 643, 659, 660, 673, 678, 679, 682, 701, 727 Turkmen(s) 15–16, 323, 324, 327, 330, 332, 333, 335, 338, 340, 397, 716, 724, 729 turquoise 287 turrets 198, 332, 426, 628 turtledoves 83, 757 Turun Bāḡ 271, 275, 276, 752 Tusculan Disputations 534 tusks 104, 473 Tyba, see Thebe typhus 441 Tyra, see Dniester Tyre 297, 583 ʿUmar I [ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb] 521, 659, 663n Ūjan 399 Ulugh Beg (also known as Don Juan of Persia) 486n

925 Union of Spain and Portugal 21 upanayana 229n Ursa Major 77, 225, 349n Ursa Minor 77, 225 Uthman [Özdemiroğlu ʿUthmān Pasha] 580 Uthman [ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān] 521, 659, 663n Uxian(s) 370 Uzbek(s) 19, 25, 364, 466, 474, 510, 511, 515, 520, 521, 524, 537, 550, 552, 678–680, 682, 689, 690, 694–696, 831 Ūzūn Ḥassan 334, 423, 558 Vakhtang 362n Valencia 103, 327, 372 Valerian I [Publius Licinius Valerianus Augustus] 593 validos, see favorites Valladolid 487, 588, 758 Vān 453, 472, 483, 557, 641, 650, 651 Vandals 407 Vara de Coromandel 764 Varus [Publius Quinctilius Varus] 534 varzia 9, see also vega(s) Vecchietti, Giambattista 21, 46 Vecchietti, Girolamo 21, 46 vedor da fazenda, see inspector of the treasury vega(s) 171, 176, 294, 372, 401, 405, 602, 629 Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y 45 velvet 231, 474, 568, 678, 680, 707 Veneti 437 Venetian(s) 18, 39, 344, 387, 423, 464, 503, 517, 550, 553, 574, 575, 583, 613, 654, 670, 672, 673, 699 venetians 18, 832 Vengurla [island] 759n, see also Queimados Venice 20, 53, 543, 778 venison 766 Venus 77 veranda 771 vespers 66 vestal virgins 408 Vibia Sabina Augusta 691n vicar 467, 733, 735, 743, 826 Vieira, Duarte 796–798 vihuela 311 Villani, Giovanni 657 viper(s) 181, 183

926 Visconti, Bianca Maria 535 vitulus, see Cape seal Vives, Juan Luis 7 vizier 275, 406, 429, 443, 625, 647, 661, 740–742, 747, 802, 830, 831 volcano(es) 281, 282 Volga 419 Vopiscus [Flavius Vopiscus] 597, 598, 608 Vytautas the Great 544 walnut(s) 190, 192, 347, 355, 357, 397, 719 walrus 473 wandering albatross 88n, 859n war machine(s) 14, 537 War of Chioggia 550 warehouse(s) 208n, 212, 278, 816 watch(-es) 83, 87, 88, 98, 99, 111, 114, 120, 124, 127, 130, 131, 144, 148, 153, 156, 256, 267, 270, 496, 753, 759, 774, 780, 784, 785, 794, 803–811, 859 watering station 98, 108, 109, 158n, 734, 753, 823, 824, 833, 834, 859, 861 watermelon 189 watermill(s) 319 waterwheel(s) 294, 312, 601, 602 weasel(s) 195, 725, 767, 768 West Indies 63, 67, 69, 71, 103, 107, 110, 145, 188, 189, 194, 538, 551, 626 whale(s) 79, 87, 778, 805 wheat 68, 255, 264, 269, 319, 391, 402, 565, 589, 591, 624, 680, 710 white-tailed tropicbird 124n Wicquefort, Abraham de 3, 5 windcatchers 278–281, 283, 726 wine 76, 114, 193, 295, 310, 328, 329, 343, 360, 362, 432, 461, 463, 464, 469, 473, 565, 566, 574, 644, 670, 672, 681, 682, 688, 700, 702, 719 wolf(-ves) 433 woodcocks 353 wool 84, 263, 333, 340, 678 wrestlers 342 wrestling 697 Xanthippus [father of Pericles] 776 Xanthippus [son of Pericles] 563n

Index Xenocrates 695 Xenophon 38n, 314, 581, 614, 615, 622, 627, 628 xerafine(s) xviii, 832 Xerxes I 350n, 378, 379, 387n, 394n, 629 yajñopavītam 229n yappers 178 Yaʿqūb Khān [Yaqub Beg Ẕuʾl-Qadar] 351 yardarms 776 Yerevan 471 Yïldïrïm, 522, 523, 524, 528 yogis 226, 228, 229, 237, 240, 241 yogurt 354 Yusef Āḡā 455, 671, 704 Zabacha 474, 576, see also Sea of Azov, Tana Sea Zabba, see Zenobia of Palmyra Zafarābād 331, 720 Zafar-Namah (Book of Victory) 40 Zafra 12, 30, 32, 37, 331 Zagan 570 Zainab Begom 459n, 635 Zaire [river] 107 Zambesi [river] 104n Zanzibar 775n zaragüelles 408 zarazas (chintz) 232 zariba 498, 828 Zarmanochegas 226 Zarqān 368 Zāyandehrūd 420, 664, 687 Zayn-al-ʿAbedīn 552n Zedekiah 600–601 Zenobia of Palmyra [Julia Aurelia Zenobia, al-Zabbaʾ bint Amr ibn Tharab ibn Ḥasan ibn ʿAdhina ibn al-Samida] 43, 596–598 Zephaniah 591 Zeugma 582 zither 311 Zobah 600 zodiac 225 Zugdidi 565