The voyages and adventures of Fernand Mendez Pinto, a Portugal, during his travels for the space of one and twenty years in the Kingdoms of Ethiopia, China, Tartaria, Cauchinchina, Calaminham, Siam, Pegu, Japan, and a great part of the East-Indiaes with a relation and description of most of the places thereof, their religion, laws, riches, customs, and government in time of peace and war : where he five times suffered shipwrack, was sixteen times sold, and thirteen times made a slave / written originally by himself in the Portugal tongue and dedicated to the Majesty of Philip King of Spain ; done into English by H.C. Gent.

CHAP. LX. Our arrivall at Pegu, with the death of the Roolim of Mounay. (Book 60)

COntinuing our course from this town of Pavel,* 1.1 we came the next day to a village, called Luncor, invironed about the space of three leagues, with a great number of trees of Benjamin, which from this place is transported into the Kingdoms of Pegu, and Siam. From thence we sailed for nine daies together down that great river, all alongst the which we saw many goodly towns, and then we arrived at another river, called Ventrau thorough the which we continued our voyage to Penauchin, the first Borough of the Kingdome of Iangumaa, where the Ambassador registred his vessells, and all that were within them, because such was the custom of the country. Being departed from thence, we went and lay that night at the Rauditens, which are two strong places be∣longing to the Prince of Poncanor. Five days after we came to a great town, called Magdaleu, which is the country from whence lacre is brought to Martabano; the Prince thereof, during the time that we stayed there, shewed the Ambassador a generall muster of all the men of war that he had levied against the King of the Lau••os, with whom he was at difference, because he had repudiated a daughter of his, which he had married three years before, intending to espouse a gentlewoman by whom he had had a son that he had legitimated, and made choice of for heir of his Kingdom, thereby frustrating his Nephew (by his daughter) of his right. Passing on then thorough the streight of Madur, wherein we sailed five days, we arrived at a village called Mouchell, the first place of the Kingdom of Pegu; there one Chalag••ni••, a famous Pyrat, that went up and down robbing in this place with thirty Ceroos, well equipped, and full of warlike men, assailed us one night, and fighting with us till it was almost day, he handled us in such sort, as it was the great grace of God that we escaped out of his hands, neverthe∣less it was not without the loss of five of the twelve vessells that we had, together with an hundred and fourscore of our men▪ whereof two were Portugals: The Ambassador himself had a cut on one of his arms, and two wounds besides with arrow shot, which had almost cost him his life; all of us likewise were cruelly hurt, and the Present which the Calaminham sent to the King of Bramaa, being worth above an hundred thousand duckats, was taken by the Pyrat, together with a great deal of rich merchandize that was in the five vessells, whereof he had made himself master. In this sad equipage we ar∣rived three days after at the City of Martabano, from whence the Ambassador wrote the King a letter, wherein he rendred him an accompt of all that had happened to him in his voyage, as also in his disaster. Whereupon the King sent presently away a Fleet of sixscore Ceroos, with a number of choice men, amongst which were an hundred Por∣tugals in quest of this Pyrat. This Fleet having by good fortune discovered him, found that he had put on shore his thirty Ceroos, wherewith he had assailed us, and was with all his forces retired into a fortress, which was full of divers prizes that he had ta∣ken in severall parts thereabout; our men immediately attacqued the place, and carried it easily at the very first assault, only with the loss of some few Bramaas and one Portu∣gal, howbeit many were hurt with arrows, but they recovered in a short time without the ma••••ing of any one. As soon as the fortress was gained, all that were found with∣in it were put to the sword, not sparing the life of any, but that of the Pyrat, and six∣score others of his company which were led alive to the King of Bramaa, who caused them to be cast to his Elephants, that instantly dismembred them. In the mean time the taking of this fortress was so advantagious to the Portugals that were sent thither, as they returned from thence all very rich; and it was thought that five or six of them got each of them the value of five and twenty, or thirty thousand duckats a piece, and that he which had least, had the worth of two or three thousand for his share: After that the Ambassador was cured at Martaban•• of the hurts which he had received in the fight, he went directly to the City of Pegu, where, as I have declared, the King of Bramaas Court was at that time, who being advertised of his arrivall, and of the letter which he brought him from the Calaminham, whereby he accepted of his amity, and allied him∣self with him, he sent the Chaumigrem, his foster-brother, and brother-in-law, to receive him; to which end he set forth, accompanied with all the Grandees of the Kingdom, and four battalions of strangers, amongst the which were a thousand Portugals com∣manded

by Antonio Ferreira, born in Braguenca, a man of great understanding, and to whom this King gave twelve thousand duckats a year pension, besides the Presents which he bestowed on him in particular, that came to little less. Hereupon the King of Bramaa seeing that by this new league God had contented his desire, he resolved to shew himself thankfull for so great a favour, wherefore he caused great feasts to be made amongst these people, and a number of Sacrifices to be offered in their Temples, where there was no spare of perfumes, and wherein it was thought there were killed above a thousand, stags, cows, and hogs, which were bestowed for an alms among the poor, besides many other works of charity, as the cloathing of five thousand poor folks, and imploying great sums of money in the releasing of a thousand prisoners which were detained for debt. After that these feasts had continued seven whole days toge∣ther, with a most ardent zeal, and at the incredible charge of the King, Lords, and peo∣ple, news came to the City of the death of the Aixquendoo, Roolim of Mounay, who was as it were their Soveraign Bishop, which caused all rejoycings to cease in an in∣stant, and every one to fall into mourning, with great expressions of sorrow: The King himself retired, the fairs were given over, the windows, doors, and shops were shut up, so that no living thing was seen to stir in the City, withall their Temples and Pagods were full of penitents of all sorts, who with incessant shedding of tears, exer∣cised such an excesse of repentance, as some of them died therewith. In the mean time the King departed away the same night for to go to Mounay, which was some twenty leagues from thence, for that he was necessarily to be assistant at this funerall pomp, ac∣cording to the antient custom of the Kings of Pegu; he arrived there the next day some∣what late, and then gave order for all that was necessary for his funerals, so that the next day every thing being in a readiness; the body of the deceased was about evening brought from the place where he died, and laid on a Scaffold that was erected in the midst of a great place, hung all about with white velvet, and covered over head with three cloths of Estate of gold and silver tinsell: in the middle of it was a Throne of twelve steps ascent unto it, and an hearse almost like unto ours, set forth with divers rich works of gold and pretious stones; round about hung a number of silver candlesticks, and perfuming pots, wherein great quantities of sweet odours were burnt, by reason of the corruption of the body, which already began to have an ill savour. In this manner they kept it all that night, during the which was no little ado, and such a tumult of cries and lamentations made by the people, as words are not able to express; for the on∣ly number of the Bicos; Grepos, Menigrepos, Talagrepos, Guimons, and Roolims, who are the chiefest of their Priests, amounted to above thirty thousand, that were assembled to∣gether there, besides a world of others which came thither every hour. When divers in∣ventions of sorrow, that were well accommodated to the subject of this mourning, had been shown, there came some two hours after midnight out of a Temple, called Quiay Figrau, god of the Motes of the Sun, a procession, wherein were seen five hun∣dred little boys stark naked, and bound about the neck and the middle with cords, and chains of iron; upon their heads they carried bundles of wood, and in their hands knives, singing in two Quires with a tone, so lamentable and sad, as few that heard them could hardly forbear crying: In the mean time one amongst them went, saying in this manner, Thou that art going to enjoy the contentments of heaven, leave us not prisoners in this exile; whereunto another Quire answered, To the end we may rejoyce with thee in the blessings of the Lord: then continuing their song in manner of a Letany, they said many otherthings with the same tone. After that, when they were all fallen on their knees before the Scaffold where the body lay, a Grepo above an hundred years old, prostrated on the ground with his hands lifted up on high, made a speech to him in the name of these lit∣tle boys▪ whereunto another Grepo, who was neer the hearse, as if he had spoken in the person of the deceased, came to answer thus, Since it hath pleased God by his holy will to form me of earth, it hath pleased him also to resolve me into earth, I recommend unto you, my children, the fear of that hour, wherein the hand of the Lord shall put us into the balance of his justice; whereupon all the rest with a great cry replied in this sort, May it please the most Almighty high Lord that raigns in the Sun, to have no regard to our works, that so we may be delivered from the pains of death: These little boys being retired, there came o∣thers about the age of ten or eleven years, apparrelled in white Sattin robes, with chains

of gold on their feet, and about their necks many rich jewels and pearls: After they had with much ceremony done a great deal of reverence to the dead body, they went and florished naked scymitars which they had in their hands all about the hearse, as if they would chace away the divell, saying aloud, Get thee gone, accursed as thou art, into the bot∣tom of the house of smoke, where dying with a perpetuall pain, without making an end of dy∣ing, thou shalt pay, without making an end also of paying the rigorous justice of the Lord a∣bove. This said, they withdrew, as if they would shew that by this action they had left the body of the deceased exempt from the power of the divell, which besieged it before; In the place of these same came in six and twenty of their principall Talagrepos, being fourscore years old and upwards, apparrelled in robes of violet coloured damask, and carrying silver censors in their hands, before whom for the greater gracing of them marched twelve gentlemen Ushers with Maces of the same metall; as soon as these Priests had censed the hearse four severall times with many ceremonies, they all prostra∣ted themselves with their faces on the ground, and then one of them began to say, as if he had spoken to the dead man, If the clouds of heaven were able to tell our grief unto the beasts of the fiel••▪ they would forsake their pasture for to help us to wail thy death, and the great extremity whereunto we are reduced; or els they would beseech thee Lord, to imbarque us with thee into this deadly house, where thou seest not us, because we are not worthy of so great a favour▪ but that all this people may be comforted in thee before the tomb shall hide thy body from us, shew us, Lord, by figures of earth▪ the peaceable joy, and sweet contentment of thy repose, that we may be all awaked out of the heavy sleep, wherein the obscurities of the flesh doth wrap us, and that we miserable wretches may be incited to imitate thee, and follow thy steps, for to behold thee in the joyfull house of the Sun at the last gasp of our lives. To these words, the people having made a very dreadfull cry, answered incontinently, The Lord grant us this grace. Then the twelve gentlemen Ushers that carried the Maces, go∣ing on afore to make way thorough the press, though with much ado, because the peo∣ple would not withdraw, there came forth of an house on the right side of the Scaffold four and twenty little boys richly apparelled, with chains of gold and pretious stones about their necks, who playing after their manner on divers instruments of musick, and falling down on their knees in two ranks before the hearse, they continued playing on their instruments, to the tune whereof there were only two of them that sung, where∣unto five others answered from time to time in such a dolefull manner, as made all the assistants shed abundance of tears, yea some of them were so sensible of it, as they could not forbear plucking of their hair, and knocking their heads against the steps of the Throne where the hearse stood. During this and many other ceremonies there per∣formed, six young gentlemen Grepos sacrificed themselves, by drinking out of a golden cup a certain yellow liquor, so venemous, that before they had made an end of their draught, they fell down stark dead on the ground; this action of theirs brought these Martyrs of the divell into the number of their Saints, so as they were envied by every one for it, and presently their bodies were carried with a solemn procession to be burnt in a great fire, that was made of Sanders, Aloes, and Benjamin, where they were quickly reduced unto ashes. The next morning the Scaffold was disgarnished of all the richest pieces about it, and the hearse, but the cloths of estate, the hangings and banners, as also many other moveables of great worth were not stirred, and so with divers cere∣monies, fearfull cries and lamentations, and a strange noyse of severall sorts of instru∣ments, they set fire on the Scaffold, and all that was upon it, anoynting it often with o∣doriferous liquors, and confections of great price. Thus was the body consumed to a∣shes in a very short time, but whilst it was burning, the King and all the Grandees of his Court which were then present, cast in by way of alms many pieces of gold, pre∣••ious stones, jewels, and chains of pearl of exceeding great value, all which so ill imployed were instantly consumed by the fire, together with the body and bones of that wretched dead man, so as we were certainly informed afterward, that this funerall pomp cost above an hundred thousand duckets, besides the garments which the King and the Grandees of the country gave to thirty thousand Priests that vvere assisting at it, wherein was imployed an incredible quantity of stuffes of severall sorts, witnesse the Portugals, who mightily profited by so lucky an occasion, because they sold at what price they would such as they brought from B••ngala, for which they were paid in lin∣gots of gold and silver.

Notes

• * 1.1

  §. 1.