Hamilton’s account of the east Indies.

297

green fruit, with bloffoms, all at once. In the hot feafon it is well watered from its'veils, fo that roots and herbage are plentiful, and good in their feafons, which fupplythe factory at Gombroon : and there is pretty good fowling and hunting in that plain ;but the road to the town is only paffable for men, and affes or camels, but not forhorfes: nor are there any houfes on the road, but one fackire’s or beggar’s lodge.®ut Naban is a village pretty well peopled, and has one tree, or rather a wood fprungfrom the root of a tree, whofe branches fpread wide, and from them other branchesdefcend to the ground, and'take root, and the branches of them fpread as the firft did,that it became near three hundred yards from one end to another, and could fhelter1 0,000 men from the heat of the fun. The leaves are large and thick, and it bears ared berry, only ufeful for crows and parrots, who alfo build nefts on the tree.

Gombroon is very unhealthy for Europeans, occafioned by the fcorching heat offummer, and piercing cold of winter ; for as thofe that ftay there in iumtner have'ymd-chimnies to cool and fan them, fo they are obliged, in winter, to wear cloth coats,hned with fur, to keep them warm. The Europeans often haften death fooner than he■would come of his own accord, by intemperance and debauchery of feveral kinds ; and.they have a burial-place pretty near the town, well ftored with tombs, but never aChriftian church in this town, though the Portugueze have one at Cong, where ge-nerally refi.de a prieft or two, who fubfift on alms and perquifites. When an Englifh°r Dutch heretick marry, or bring the fruits of their labour to light unmarried, then thepHeft i s font for to make the infant a Chriftian ; but we officiate in burials ourfelves.

I'he animal provifions of cattle, ffieep, goat, fowl, and fffh, are all in their kindgood, and pretty cheap ; but they kill no cows publickly, becaufe the Banyans fromndia, who make a good figure in the town, and are pretty numerous, give the Sha-n afheen or Governor, a yearly prefent of value, to prohibit cow-killing, for they beinga f Pythagoreans in the belief of tranfmigration, worfhip that beaft in as great a degreeVe neration as a Papift does the image of a faint given him for a protector. The de-v °tees of both differ not much in point of adoration ; for fetting afide the divinity ofc attle, v/ho till the ground, and nouriffi them by their milk, which, they fay, is morepan a dead image can do, they have greater antiquity, and as great authority as Chrif-J an idolaters can pretend to. Their books are as numerous, and their traditions andG gends as full in relating prophecies uttered by the cow, as well as miracles performedher, as the others can boaft of done by their images; fo they laugh at a Papift thatCa ' s them idolaters.

, 1 h_ e grapes, melons, and mangoes that fupply the market of Gombroon , come frome high mountain beforementioned, or from the vallies on the north fide of it. In°vember and December, the fnow falls fo plentifully on that mountain, as well as oners to the fouthward of it, that it clothes them in white generally till the month of

r P* Auguft the poorer fort of people go up the country to their date harveft ; andr a month’s time that the harveft lafts, we can hardly find boatmen and porters^ i° u gh to lade or unlade our {hipping, which often proves very inconvenient for thofefo h Vo y a 8 e depends on quick difpatch. And the winds blowing then hard at thefanA fr° m the Arabian fhore, bring along with them fuch clouds of fcorchingS s that the fun is obfcured by them. ■*

Memorable accident happened about the year 1712, to tw r o French gentlemen,mon £ ontrar y to the advice of their friends at Gombroon , would needs travel in theDomK 0i Jul D f° r Ifpahan, the metropolis of Perfia, which lies 700 Engliffi miles fromroon. The chief of the Engliffi factory, who was a gentleman of much candourviii. q q and

Vol.