A new account of East-India and Persia, in eight letters being nine years travels begun 1672 and finished 1681 : containing observations made of the moral, natural and artifical estate of those countries ... / by John Fryer ... ; illustrated with maps, figures and useful tables.

The Parsies,

As they are called,* 1.1 are of the old stock of the Persians, Worship the Sun and Adore the Elements; are known only about 〈◊〉〈◊〉; where they are famous for what all other Nations deem infamous, the ex∣posing their Dead to the Fowls of the Air: And these coming in by permission are obliged to Conformity with the Heathen Customs, being almost, as the Gibeonites to the Israelites, Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water; having been curbed formerly by the Gen∣tiles, and now by the Moors used as perfect Slaves; yet they en∣dure this, that so they may enjoy their Religion, and that benefit, which is tolerated to the Indians more than any where, the liberty of getting Children, and an indulgence for Poverty.

The Indians are Tall of Stature, Large Boned; their Colour va∣ries according to the diversity of the Region; the Parsies are Straw Coloured, as Hyppocrates witnessed for them; Aethiopians are Black

and Frizled; the Indians here are a mixture of these, but long Haired. The heat of the Sun alters our Europe-Men to a dark Brown; such as Sail to and again constantly in these Climates, by going Naked and exposed to the Sun, being almost as Swarthy as the Natives, with this difference, that by Cloathing the Sunburnt wears off; but contrariwise, it remains indeleble on the Indians.

Infants when newly Born have the same Flesh Colour as ours; but in a few Days, by the inbred Humour, and the Sun's Heat, de∣clare their Hew to be of the same with their Parents.

The Women are Small,* 1.2 and most an end Plump, and Short in respect to the Men; as to the order which Nature observes in them they are more forward than ours in Europe, and leave off Child∣bearing sooner. It is reported the Menstruums of the Africans are pernicious, but there is no such slander here, these being Neat, Well-shaped, and Obsequious to their Husbands; for the different Positions of their Veins it's a silly Query, they being of the same Species of the rest of the World, bating their Education, which is agreeable to them, and bear as good a Meen naturally, as ours in∣structed by the Masters of Behaviour; they keep their Breasts bound up carefully, and on that account are no more extended than they should be; they are quick in Labour, and Affectionate to their Children, Bearing them Naked on their Hips a straddle; are well Proportioned, and for that reason not ashamed to shew the Motion of their Bodies, all their Limbs being visible, yet love to hide what should not be seen: They are Cleanly, as well in their Cookery as in their Bodies, Pruning themselves by plucking the budding Hairs off their Privities up by the Roots, they being all as smooth there as the back of their Hands, though they suffer the Hair of their Heads to grow in Tresses, which the Rich Embroider with Gold, Coronets, and Rich Jewels; the Poor Brade with Strings of Jassa∣min Flowers, and make Necklaces of the same; the Rich have their Arms and Feet Fettered with Gold and Silver, the meaner with Brass, Glass, or Tuthinag; besides Rings at their Noses, Ears, Toes, and Fingers: Their Attire alters not into new Modes, nor need they a Taylor; a Lungy being tied loose over their Shoulders Belt-wise, and tucked between their Legs in nature of short Breeches, besides a short Wastecoat, or Ephod to keep up their Breasts, being all their Garb; going constantly without Shooes or Stockins, Shoes being allowed their Midwives only, which are like the Mens, only a few Silk Tufts upon them for distinction sake. Those that have Buried their Husbands (or rather Burnt them) are rifled of all their Jewels, and Shaved, always wearing a Red Lungy, whereby to be known that they have not undergone the Conflagration; for which cause they are despised, and live more Uncomfortably than the meanest Servant.

The Moors Women are all Cloathed like the Men, as has been said elsewhere, only Vailed when they go abroad; and thus the In∣dian Women are Habited.

They use no swathing to their Babes,* 1.3 and have very few deformed or Dwarfs among them; are Temperate, and live to a good Old Age, when their Hair also turns from Black to Grey. What Ovid relates

of the Glaucus Fish, Aestivo nunquam conspectus Sydere Glaucus, is true in these Hot Countries of the Colour of the Eyes of these Sun-burnt people, for I never saw but one Grey-ey'd, and therefore I suppose them rare; (unless they should tincture them with some Fucus, it may be of Antimony, which we read in the Sacred Page the Jews used, especially the Women, both to preserve them from Filth, and to procure a graceful Blackness, 2 Kings 9. Jer. 4. Ezek. 23.) Nor but one Dwarf, which was a Brachmin, 109 Years old, well limb'd, and of a quick Apprehension, being not Three Foot high, free from the Infirmities of Age.

In general they are melancholy inclined,* 1.4 and love a sedate Life more than Action; and whether that may not add to their Dye, I leave to the Sceptical; and conclude in this Point of these Asiaticks, as Naso did of his Africks;

Sanguine tum credunt in corpora summa vocato Aethiopum populos nigrum traxisse colorem.

The Indian Wives dress their Husbands Victuals, fetch Water, and grind their Corn with an Hand-Mill, when they sing, chat, and are merry; such prevalency has Custom: They make their Bread as thin as Wafers, bak'd on broad round Plates or Stones, commonly of Rice; the Moors is made of Wheat, thicker and oblong, bestuck with Seeds to correct Wind, and mostly bak'd in a Furnace, which they stick to the sides, when Dough, as we see Cow-Turds on a Mud-Wall. Boiled Rice, Nichany, Millet, and (in great Scarcity) Grass-Roots, are the common Food of the ordinary People; which with a Pipe of Tobacco contents them.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The Parsies expose their dead to the Fowls of the Air.
• * 1.2

  The Women of the same Species as others, the Position of their Veins being the same.
• * 1.3

  Few Crooked or Deformed.
• * 1.4

  The Cause of their Blackness left in sus∣pence.