Part 17
The Diamonds are so scatter'd and dispersed in the Earth, and lie so thin, that in the most plentiful Mines it's rare to find one in digging, or till they have prepar'd the Stuff, and do search purposely for them: They are also frequently enclos'd in Clods; and some of those of _Melwillee_, the New Mine in the Kingdom of _Golconda_, have the Earth so fix'd about them, that till they grind them on a rough Stone with Sand, they cannot move it sufficiently, to discover they are Transparent; or, were it not for their Shapes, to know them from other Stones. At the first opening of the Mine, the unskilful Labourers, sometimes to try what they have found, lay them on a great Stone, and striking on them with another, to their costly experience discover they had broken a Diamond. One I knew who had an excellent Stone of 8 _mangelleens_, served so by ignorant Miners he employed.
Near the Place where they dig, they raise a Wall with such rugged Stones as they find at Hand (whereof all the Mines afford Plenty) of about two Foot high, and six Foot over, flooring it well with the same; for the laying of which they have no other Mortar than the Earth tempered with Water. To strengthen and make it tight they throw up a Bank against the side of it: In one whereof they leave a small vent about two Inches from the bottom, by which it empties it self into a little Pit, made in the Earth to receive small Stones, if by chance any should run through. The vent being stopped, they fill the Cistern they have made with Water, soaking therein as much as the Earth they dig out of the Mines, as it can conveniently receive at a time, breaking the Clods, picking out the great Stones and stirring it with Shovels, till the Water is all Muddy, the gravelly stuff falling to the bottom; then they open the vent, letting out the foul Water and supplying it with clean, till all the Earthly Substance be wasted away, and none but a gravelly remains at the bottom. Thus they continue Washing till about Ten of the Clock before Noon, when they take the gravelly Stuff they have washed, and spread it on a Place made plain and smooth (like a Bowling-Alley) for the purpose, near the Cistern, which being soon dried by the heat of the Sun at that time of the Day, they very curiously look it over, that the smallest bit of a Stone can hardly escape them. They never examin the Stuff they have wash'd but between the Hours of Ten and Three, least any Cloud by interposing, intercept the brisk Beams of the Sun, which they hold very necessary to assist them in their search; the Diamonds, not forbearing to reflect them when they touch therein, rendring themselves thereby the more conspicuous.
Some of the expertest Labourers are employed in searching; he that sets them at Work usually sitting by, and overlooking; but it's hardly possible, especially where many are employed, to watch them so narrowly, but that they may steal part of what they find, as many times some of them do, and, selling it privately, convert to their own use. If they find a large Stone, they carry it not presently to their Employer, but keep on looking, having an Eye on him till they observe he takes notice of it, when with a turn of their Hand they give him a glimpse of it, but deliver it not till they have done Work, and then very privately, it being the general Endeavour to conceal what they find, least it should come to the Knowledge of the Governour of the Place, and he require a share, which in the Kingdom of _Golconda_ is usually practiced, without respect to any agreement made with them.
The Miners, those that employ them, and the Merchants that buy the Stones of them, are generally _Ethnicks_; not a _Musselman_, that ever I heard of, followed the Employment. These Labourers and their Employers are _Tellinga_'s, commonly Natives of or near the Place. The Merchants are the _Banians_ of _Guzzarat_, who for some Generations have forsaken their own Country to take up the Trade, in which they have had such Success, that 'tis now solely engross'd by them; who corresponding with their Country-men in _Surrat_, _Goa_, _Golconda_, _Visiapore_, _Agra_ and _Dillee_, and other Places in _India_, furnish them all with Diamonds.
The Governors of the Mines are also Idolaters: In the King of _Golconda_'s Dominions a _Tellinga Brammee_ Rents most of them, whose agreement with the Adventurer is, that, all the Stones they find under a[19]_Pagoda_ Weight, are to be their own; all of that Weight and above it to be his, for the King's Use: But although this Agreement be signed and sealed unto, he minds not at all the Performance thereof, but endeavours to engross all the Profit to himself, by Tyrannical squeezing both Merchants and Miners, whom he not only Taxes very high, but maintaining Spies among them of their own People, on the least Inkling that they have been any ways Fortunate, he immediately makes a Demand on them, and raises their Tax; else, on a false Pretence they have found a great Stone, drubs them till they Surrender what they have, to redeem their Bodies from Torment. Besides, the Excise is so high on all sorts of Provisions, _Beetle_, and _Tobacco_, which to them is as absolutely necessary as Meat, or at least in their Esteem, that it is thereby raised to double that Price they bear without the Government; and it is furnish'd only by some Licens'd Persons; if any other should endeavour to bring in the least quantity by stealth, he is Fin'd (even for one Leaf of _Tobacco_) if it be a Person of any Repute, or worth any thing, else very severely drubb'd for it; by which Course there is hardly a Man worth five Hundred Pound to be found among them, most of them dealing by Monies taken up at Interest of Usurers, who reside there purposely to furnish them, who, with the Governor eat up their Gains: So that one would wonder any of them should stay, and not betake themselves to Places where they might have better Usage; as there are several in other Governments, and some few that have the Sense to remove; but many their Debts, others hopes of a great hit, detains. Both Merchant and Miner go generally naked, only a poor Clout about their middle, and their Shash on their Heads; they dare not wear a Coat, lest the Governor should say they have thriven much, are Rich, and so enlarge his Demands on them. The Wisest, when they find a great Stone, conceal it till they have an opportunity, and then with Wife and Children run all away into the _Visiapore_ Country, where they are secure.
The Government in the _Visiapore_ Country is better, their Agreement observ'd, Taxes easier, and no such Impositions on Provisions; the Merchants go handsomly Clad, among whom are several Persons of considerable Estates, which they are permitted to enjoy peaceably, by reason whereof their Mines are much more Populous and better employed than those of _Golconda_.
It is observable, that notwithstanding the Agreement with the Adventurers of the Mines, that all Stones above a certain Weight shall be for the King's Use; yet in the Metropolis of either Kingdoms, as the Cities of _Golconda_ and _Visiapore_ are, there is no seizure, all Stones are free, and the late deceased King, _Abdull Cutopshaw_ of the former, and _Edelshaw_ of the latter, would not only give very great Prices for large Stones, but richly Vest, and present the Merchant that Sold them with Horses or something else of Value, thereby encouraging others to bring the like. But the present King of _Visiapore_ is a Child, and the King of _Golconda_'s Delights solely pleased on light Women-Dancers, and Trick-Showers, that he neither minds _Diamonds_, nor many things more necessary, committing the Government of his Kingdom to a _Tellinga Braminee_, which the _Musselmen_ not well resenting, does in some measure threaten the stability of his State.
FOOTNOTES:
[18] _A _Mangelin_ is 4 grains in weight, saith _Linschoten_._
[19] _A _Pagoda_ weight is _9 Mangelleens_._
_A Letter from the _East Indies_, of Mr. _John Marshal_ to Dr. _Coga_, giving an Account of the Religion, Rites, Notions, Customs, Manners of the Heathen Priests commonly called _Bramines_. Communicated by the Reverend Mr. _Abraham de la Pryme_._
_Worthy Sir_,
The last time that I had the happiness to be in your good Company, and to partake of those Favours and Blessings that your Goodness was pleased liberally to bestow upon me and our Companions, at our departure, and as it were Exile from our Native Land, does so loudly call out for some recompence or other at our Hands, that I cannot without the greatest Ingratitude imaginable, let slip this (tho' sudden) opportunity of Writing unto you, and presenting of you at this time with what I understand you more value than all the Riches of the East; to wit, a few Specimens of the Knowledge of those People whom we stile Barbarians, Heathens and Idolaters, which I have read in their own Books, and gather'd from the mouths of those that have been the greatest Speakers and Preachers among them. I have always had a profound Veneration for the Dictates of Nature, and the universal Traditions of Nations, for hereby are Infinite Things to be learned, for the establishing of our Glorious Religion against Atheists, and the more easie propagation of the same among Infidels and Heathens.
Upon what account or grounds it is that some Travellers have stiled these People Polytheists, or Atheists, I cannot tell; or whether there be any such People at all in the World, except some of the base common sort in all Nations, I much question? It is very observable here, that their Priests, or _Bramines_, and Holy Men, whom they call _Jagees_, when they have occasion to Write any thing they always put a figure of one in the first place, to shew, as they say, that they acknowledge but one God, whom they say is _Burme_, that is, Immaterial. When they preach to the People, and Instruct them, which is commonly every Feast-day, full Moon, or the time of an Eclipse of either Luminary, they tell the common People much of God, Heaven and Hell, but very Imperfectly, Obscurely and Mystically. They say that when God thought of making the World, he made it in a minute.
They account this World the Body of God, for all that they say he's Immaterial; and say that the Highest Heavens are his Head, the Fire his Mouth, the Air his Breath and Breast, the Water his Seed, and the Earth and the foundations thereof his Legs and Feet. But assert in general that God is the Life of every thing, yet is the thing neither greater nor less for him.
They hold that God dwelt in a Vacuity before that he created the World, and that as he dwelt in that Vacuity he created several Beings out of himself, the first were Angels, the second Souls, the third Spirits, all differing in degrees of Purity, the first being more pure than the second, and the second than the third. The Angels, they say, neither act Good nor Evil, the Souls either Good or Evil, but the Spirits, or _Dewta's_, as they call them, act scarce any thing but Evil.
They have a good Opinion of the Angels, and think their State mighty happy, hoping that when they dye they shall be made partakers of the same Bliss and Pleasure.
They believe that every thing that hath Life hath a Soul, but especially Man; and they accordingly affirm, that as these Souls behaved themselves in their pre-existent State, so are their Actions in this World either good or bad, by a sort of fatal Necessity, which is very hard to conquer, or to overcome. Hence it is, say they, that there are so many different Humours and Dispositions of Men, for their Souls, before their entrance into their Bodies, being tainted with different Affections, causes the like differences in the Parties, whose Bodies are their Vehicles. So that if a Man happen to have a suddain or unfortunate Death, they immediately ascribe the same to the Party's own Wickedness, or the bad Life that his Soul led before that it enter'd into his Body. For, say they, the afore-acted Evil that his Soul did in its other Life, brought these accidents upon him, by getting the upper hand of him, and by being too powerful and strong. And those that dye thus, they believe that their Souls turn immediately into Devils. They maintain _Pythagoras_'s Transmigration, or _Metempsycosis_, but in a grosser sense than he did. For they believe that Mens Souls, that have not lived so well as they ought, go as soon as the Body dyes not only into Birds and Beasts, but even into the basest Reptiles, Insects and Plants, where they suffer a strong sort of purgation, to expiate their former Crimes: But as for the Souls of the _Jogees_, or _Fuche's_, that is, of Religious Men and Saints, they fancy that they go and inhabit with the good _Dewta_'s, or Angels, among the Stars.
As for the Spirits, or Inferiour Angels, they believe that they are very evil, and have a hand in all Wickednesses, Murders, Wars, Storms, and Tempests; so that when they solemnize the Funerals of those that are dead, they always present Dishes of Meat, as Offerings unto those Spirits, and sometimes Sacrifice unto them, that they may not hurt the Souls of the Dead.
As they acknowledge the being of a mighty God, so they hold that he created the World, and every thing therein. They believe that there are almost infinite number of Worlds, and that God has oftentimes Annihilated and Re-Created the same. But how he came first to Create the World and Mankind, they relate to have been thus--Once on a time (say they) as he was set in Eternity, it came into his mind to make something, and immediately no sooner had he thought the same, but that the same Minute was a perfect Beautiful Woman present immediately before him, which he called _Adea Suktee_, that is, the first Woman: Then this figure put into his mind the figure of a Man; which he had no sooner conceived in his mind, but that he also started up, and represented himself before him; this he called _Manapuise_, that is, the first Man; then upon a reflection of these things, he resolv'd further to create several places for them to abide in, and accordingly assuming a subtil body, he Breath'd in a Minute the whole Universe, and every thing therein, from the least to the greatest.
They constantly believe that the Universe cannot possibly last longer than 71 _Joog's_, which is a measure of time with them, and is ... years. Which when it is come, God does not only annihilate the whole Universe, but even every thing else, as well Angels, Souls, and Spirits, as Inferiour Creatures; and then he remains in the same State that he was in before the Creation; But say, that after he has a while respired thus he Breaths again, and every thing is Created afresh, as well Angels and Souls, as all other things; but as for the Spirits, they are no more thought of. Yet for all this, after 71 _Joogs_ more all is Annihilated again. How many _Joogs_ are past since the World was last Created they cannot certainly tell; only 'tis observable that in an Almanack of theirs, written in the _Sanscript_ Language in 1670, they make the World then 3892771 years old from its last Creation.
The _Bramines_ of _Persia_ tell certain long Stories of a great Giant that was led into a most delicate Garden, which upon certain conditions should be his own for ever. But one evening in a cool shade, one of the Wicked _Dewta's_, or Spirits, came to him, and tempted him with vast sums of Gold, and all the most precious Jewels that can be imagined; but he courageously withstood that temptation, as not knowing what value or use they were of: But at length this wicked _Dewta_ brought to him a fair Woman, who so charm'd him, that for her sake he most willingly broke all his Conditions, and thereupon was turned out.
They tell a great many Stories Absurd and Ridiculous enough, of the first Ages of this present World, which would be too tedious here to take notice of; only I shall here give you out of one of their own Books what they tell us of a great Flood that formerly happened. They say, that about 21000 Years ago the Sea overwhelm'd and drowned the whole Earth, except one great Hill, far to the Northwards, called _Bindd_, and that there fled thither only one Woman and seven Men, the names of whom were _Dehoolah_, _Sunnuk_, _Sunnaud_, _Trilleek_, _Sannotah_, _Cuppyloshaw_, _Suraschah_ and _Burroopung_; these understanding out of their Books that such a Flood would come, and was then actually coming, prepared against the same, and repaired thither; to which place also went two of all sorts of Creatures, Herbs, Trees, and Grasses, and of every thing that had Life, to the number in all of 1800000 living Souls. This Flood (say they) lasted 120 Years, 5 Months and 5 days: After which time all those Creatures that were thus preserved, descended down again and replenished the Earth: But as for the 7 Men and Women, only one of them came down with her, and dwelt at the Foot of the Mountain, the other six turned _Fuchee's_, or Holy Men, and spent there the remainder of their days.
They hold in general the _Ptolomaic_ System of the Universe, and say that there are 8 or 9 Heavens, counting the Air and Earth, every one exceeding another in Beauty and Glory.
Their Religion consists of nothing that I could ever see or learn, but the leading of a Pure Life, the Washing away of their Sins in the River _Ganges_, their muttering over of divers Prayers, and their doing of strange and incredible Penances.
They say, that God is such a one, that whosoever seeks him, let it be after what manner he pleases, whether by thinking that the Sun is he, or the Moon, or the like, if they do it but sincerely and honestly, with a right affected heart, they shall be received of him.
They report, that on a time a _Mussulman_ seeing a _Hindoo_, or Pagan Priest, in Heaven, he ask'd God how that Infidel came to have admittance thither, whom _Mahomet_ so often calls by the name of Bitter Roots? To whom God answered, What if a Bitter Root bring forth sweeter Fruit than any of you, why should I not receive it? Upon which the _Mussulman_ had no more to say.
They hold, that such as suffer not their minds to wander after the lusts of the World are perfect _Jogees_, or Saints, and hold that God is always present with them in all their actions.
It is to be found in many of their Books, that there was a time, a good while ago, in which God took upon him the shape of a Man, and spent many Years in reforming the world, and giving better rules to walk by than had been before: but at length having left them, they soon forgot him and his Rules, and returned to their former courses; upon which he told them that he would leave them to their ways, and never undertake any such thing again.
The Religious at some certain Seasons of the Year come unto the River _Ganges_ (which they call the Holy River) in vast multitudes, even from many parts of _Tartary_, to wash away their sins, and make expiation for their faults.
This _Ganges_ is a delicate fine River chiefly for the sake of its most sweet, pure and clear Waters, which have got it the greatest esteem of any River in the East. I have oftentimes sail'd many Miles up it, and have found it in some places not to be above a Mile broad, in others not half so much, and in one or two places not above one eighth of a Mile. In _April_, when the Water is at the lowest, it is almost dry in many places; but when it is at the highest, which is commonly about the middle of _September_, it is very deep, and many Miles broad.
When the People are here gather'd together, they have a great many strange Customs and Ceremonies, and pay a kind of Divine Honour and Worship to the River, too long and tedious here to mention. The _Hindoos_ and _Bramines_ preach then every day to the people, teaching them their Duties, and ordering them to say such and such Prayers; but above all things to be Charitable to the poor and needy.
It is reported, that upon the Hills by _Casmere_ there are men that live some hundreds of Years, and can hold their Breaths, and lye in Trances for several Years together, if they be but kept warm; and that every year some of them come down unto the People at _Ganges_, and do many great Cures; for whom they have such a Veneration, that they frequently drink the Water they wash their Sweaty Feet in.
The Penances and Austerities that they undergo are almost incredible; most of them, through their continual Fastings, and lying upon the parching hot Sand in the Heat of the Sun, are so Lean, Dry'd and Wither'd, that they look like Skeletons or Shadows, and one can scarce perceive them to breath, or feel their Pulse beat.
When any great Man dyes among them, but especially any of their _Jogees_ or Saints, they make great preparations for their Funeral; the Corpse is laid on its Belly, and Salt and Rice laid round about it at every corner of the Ground. Then the nearest Relations to the Party deceased carry a Pot of Water on their Shoulders several times about the Funeral Pile, when they burn them, then breaking it in pieces, spills the Water. Which Ceremony being ended, the Pile is fired, and then all the Relations begin to howl, and embrace one another, then washing themselves in some Neighbouring River, they depart every one to his Home; and as for the remaining Ashes, if he be Rich they gather them up, and cast them into the _Ganges_ or the Sea.
Sometimes it happens that the Wife of the deceased Party, if she have no Children, and be old, or ill to live in the World, will burn her self with the dead Body; but this happens very seldom. It is said, that in such cases the _Bramines_ give the Woman a stupefying Liquor, which by the time that they are in the Fire makes them senseless of any Pain.
To know into what Body the Soul of the deceased is transmigrated they do thus; they strew the Ashes of the Dead upon the Place where he was first laid after his Death, and handfuls of odoriferous Flowers about the same, and returning again in 44 Hours, they judge by some pretended Impression or other in the Ashes, into what Body it is gone: If the Foot of an Horse, or Dog, or Ox, or such like appear, then they certainly give out that it is gone into such like Creatures; but if nothing appear, then they think it is certainly gone to the Starry Regions.
As for their Learning and Knowledge it is but little; they have indeed several Books writ in divers Languages, but they contain nothing but a great deal of Stuff and Cant about their Worship, Rites and Ceremonies.
They are ignorant of all parts of the World but their own; they wonder much at us, that will take so much Care and Pains, and run thro' so many Dangers both by Sea and Land, only, as they say, to uphold and nourish Pride and Luxury. For, say they, every Country in the whole World is sufficiently endow'd by Nature with every thing that is necessary for the Life of Man, and that therefore it is madness to seek for, or desire, that which is needless and unnecessary.
The last time that I was at _Modufferpore_ in _Indostan_, I had a great deal of talk with a _Bramine_ somewhat more Learned than any of the rest, his Name was _Ramnaunt_; he told me a great many Secrets in Physick, and told me many Traditions and Stories. He says, that if you bury a piece of Mony for some considerable time in the Mouth of a live Frog, and then dig it up again at Midnight, that this piece of Money, to whomsoever you give or pay it, will always return to you again.
He says, that if the little Worm in the Wood _Lukerakera_ be cut in two, and the one part stirs and the other not, if the stirring part be bruised, and given with half a Beetle to a Man, the other half to a Woman, this Charm will keep them from ever lying absent one from the other.