Part 15

The village _Elugo_ lyeth on the place where formerly old _Babylon_, the metropolis of _Chaldee_, did stand; the harbour lyeth a quarter of a league off, whereinto those use to go, that intend to travel by land, to the famous trading city of _Bagdet_, (which is situated farther to the east on the river _Tygris_, at a day and a half’s distance). At this harbour is the place where the old town of _Babylon_ did stand, but at this time there is not a house to be seen, whereinto we could go with our goods and stay till our departure. We were also forced to unload our merchandises into an open place, as if we had been in the midst of the desarts, and to pay toll under the open sky, which belongeth to the _Turks_. This country is so dry and barren, that it cannot be tilled, and so bare, that I should have doubted very much, whether this potent and powerful city (which once was the most stately and famous one of the world, situated in the pleasant and fruitful country of _Sinar_) did stand there if I should not have known it by it’s situation, and several ancient and delicate antiquities that still are standing hereabouts in great desolation. First by the old bridge, which was laid over the _Euphrates_ (which also is called _Sud_ by the prophet _Baruch_ in his first chapter) whereof there are some pieces and arches still remaining, and to be seen at this very day a little above where we landed. These arches are built of burnt brick, and so strong, that it is admirable; and that so much the more, because all along the river as we came from _Bir_, where the river is a great deal smaller, we saw never a bridge, wherefore I say it is admirable which way they could build a bridge here, where the river is at least half a league broad, and very deep besides. Near the bridge are several heaps of _Babylonian_ pitch, to pitch ships withal, which is in some places grown so hard, that you may walk over it, but in others that which hath been lately brought thither is so soft, that you may see every step you make in it. Something farther; just before the village _Elugo_, is the hill whereon the castle did stand in a plain, whereon you may still see some ruins of the fortification, which is quite demolished and uninhabited: Behind it pretty near to it, did stand the tower of _Babylon_, which the children of _Noah_ (who first inhabited these countries after the deluge) began to build up unto heaven; this we see still, and it is half a league in diameter, but it is so mightily ruined, and low, and so full of vermin that hath bored holes through it, that one may not come near it within half a mile, but only in two months in the winter, when they come not out of their holes. Among these Insects, there are chiefly some, in the _Persian_ language called _Eglo_ by the inhabitants, that are very poisonous; they are (as others told me) bigger than our lizards, and have[2] three heads, and on their back several spots of several colours, which have not only taken possession of the tower, but also of the castle (which is not very high) and the spring-well, that is just underneath it, so that they cannot live upon the hill, nor dare not drink of the water (which is wholesome for the lambs.) _This is Romance._

From this tower, at two leagues distance eastward, lieth the strong town _Traxt_, which was formerly call’d _Apamia_, mention’d by _Pliny_ in book VI. chap. 26, 27, between the _Tygris_ and _Euphrates_, those two great rivers of Paradise, whereof is made mention in the second chapter of _Genesis_; which two rivers not far below it meet together, and are there united. The town _Traxt_ is surrounded with ditches, and very well defended by two strong citadels, that lie on each side thereof, so that it is as it were, a key and doorway into the kingdom of _Persia_, to which it doth also belong, as others not far from thence, _viz._ _Orthox_, _Laigen_, which lie on the road towards _Media_; and also _Goa_, which lieth a league and an half at the other side of the _Tygris_, and _Axt_, two leagues farther still, in the way to _Persia_.

The next day, being the 25th of _October_, we spent in bespeaking of camels and asses to load our goods upon, and after we were quite ready, we broke up the day following early in the morning with the whole caravan, to travel to _Bagdat_. In the beginning the ways were very rough, by the stones and ruins that lie still from thence dispersed. But after we were passed the castle and also the town of _Daniel_, the dry desarts began again, where nothing was to be seen but thorns, neither men nor beasts, neither caves nor tents, so that a man that knoweth the ways never so well, hath enough to do to find them through it, which I did often observe in our guide or Caliphi, who did several times, because there was neither way nor mark neither of men nor beasts to be found, very much doubt which way to turn himself, and so he did more than once turn sometimes toward one, than towards the other side the whole caravan. By the way we saw in the plain many large, ancient, high, and stately buildings, arches, and turrets standing in the sand, which is very fine, and lieth close together, as you find it in the valleys, here and there, whereof many were decay’d and lay in ruins; some to look upon were pretty entire, very strong, adorn’d with artificial works, so that they were very well worth being more narrowly look’d into. Thus they stand solitary and desolated, save only the steeple of _Daniel_, which is intire, built of black stones, and is inhabited still unto this day; this is in height and building something like unto our steeple of the Holy Cross church, or of St _Maurice_ in _Augsburg_; on which as it stands by itself, you may see all the ruins of the old _Babylonian_ tower, the castle-hill, together with the stately buildings, and the whole situation of the old town very exactly.

After we had travell’d for twelve hours through desolate places, very hard, so that our camels and asses began to be tired under their heavy burdens, we rested and lodged ourselves near to an ascent, we and our beasts, to refresh ourselves, and so to stay there till night, and to break up again in the middle thereof, that we might come to _Bagdat_ before sun-rising. The mean while, when we were lodged there, I consider’d and view’d this ascent, and found that there was two behind one another, distinguish’d by a ditch, and extending themselves like unto two parallel walls a great way about, and that they were open in some places, where one might go through like gates; wherefore I believe that they were the walls of the old town, whereof _Pliny_ says that they were two hundred foot high, and fifty broad, that went about there, and that the places where they were open, have been anciently the gates of that town, whereof there were a hundred iron ones; and this the rather, because I saw in some places under the sand, wherewith the two ascents were almost cover’d, the old wall plainly appear. So we found ourselves to be just lodged without the walls of that formerly so famous kingly city, which now with it’s magnificent and glorious buildings, is quite desolated and lieth in the dust, so that every one that passeth through it, in regard of them, hath great reason to admire with astonishment, when he considers, that this city, which hath been so glorious an one, and in which the greatest monarchs and kings that ever were (_Nimrod_, _Belus_, and after him King _Merodach_ and his posterity to _Balthasar_ the last) have had their seats and habitations, is now reduced to such a desolation and wilderness, that the very shepherds cannot abide to fix their tents there to inhabit it. So that here is a most terrible example to all impious and haughty tyrants, shewn in _Babylon_, which may be sure, that if they do not give over in time, and leave their tyranny, ceasing to persecute the innocent with war, sword, prison, and all other cruel and inhuman plagues, as these did the people of God the _Israelites_, that God the Almighty will also come upon them, and for their transgressions punish them in his anger, for God is a jealous God, that at long run, will not endure the pride of tyrants, nor leave unpunish’d the potentates that afflict his people; wherefore be sure, he will also in them verify the prophecies which he had utter’d by the Prophet _Isaiah_, in his thirteenth chapter, and _Jeremiah_ in the fifty first, against those insolent and haughty _Babylonians_.

As I passed by, I found some thorns growing in the sand, _viz._ the Acacia, call’d _Agul_, whereon, chiefly in _Persia_, the Manna falls, whereof I have made mention before: Above all I found in great plenty some strange kinds of Cali of _Serapio_, of Coloquints. When evening fell in, and the night did approach, our mockeries that drove the asses, made themselves ready again for our journey; who kept every thing together, in good order, and were so quick in loading and unloading, that they were ready in less than a quarter of an hour. By the way I saw again several antiquities, but the night falling in I lost them; so we went on a-pace in darkness, so that we did arrive at _Bagdat_, by some call’d _Baldac_, two hours before day. In the morning, which was the twenty seventh of _October_, I and one of my comrades took our lodging at an eminent Merchant’s house, that belonged to _Aleppo_, and was lately come from the _Indies_; he received us kindly, and very readily, and kept us for four days, when we took a shop in the great camp of the _Turkish_ Bashaw, in the other town, on the other side of the _Tygris_, which we went into.

CHAP. VIII.

_Of the famous city of ~Bagdat~, called ~Baldac~; of it’s situation, strange plants, great traffic, and Merchants of several nations that live there, together with several other things I saw and did learn at my departing._

The town _Bagdat_, belonging to the _Turkish_ Emperor, is situated on the most easterly part of his dominions, on the rapid river _Tygris_, and the confines of _Persia_, in a large plain, almost like unto _Basiel_ on the _Rhine_, it is divided into two parts, which are rather bigger than _Basiel_, but nothing near so pleasant, nor so well built, for the streets thereof are pretty narrow, and many houses so miserably built that some of them are down to the first story, and others lie quite in ruins. The case is the same with the churches, which for age look black, and are so much decay’d, that you shall hardly find a whole one; whereon are still several old _Arabian_, or rather _Chaldean_ inscriptions to be seen, cut out in stone, by the means whereof many antiquities of the town might have been truly explain’d, but I could not only not read them, but could get no body that could interpret them to me. These are some buildings that are worth seeing, as the camp of the _Turkish_ Bashaw, and the great Batzar or Exchange beyond the river in the other town, and the Baths which are not to be compared with those of _Aleppo_ and _Tripoli_, for they are at the bottom and on the walls done over with pitch, which maketh them so black and dark, that even in the day time, you have but little light. There being two towns, one of them which lieth on this side is quite open, so that you may go in and out by night without any molestation; wherefore it should rather be call’d a village great than a town; but the other that lieth towards _Persia_ on the confines of _Assyria_, is very well fortifieth with walls and ditches, chiefly towards the _Tygris_, where there are also some towers, two whereof are within by the gates that lead towards the water side, to guard them, and between them are the old high walls of the town, whereon on the top are stately writings, with golden letters, each whereof is about a foot long, to be seen; the true meaning thereof I would fain have learned, but for want of understanding and interpreters, I could not obtain it, but was forced to go without it. Near unto it there is a bridge made of boats, that reacheth over the _Tygris_ into the other town, which in that place is about as broad as the _Rhine_ is at _Strasburg_, and because of it’s rapid stream so dark and dull, that it is a dismal sight to look upon it, and may easily turn a man’s head and make him giddy. This river runneth not much below the town into the _Euphrates_, and so they run mixt together into the _Persian_ gulf, by the town _Balsara_, which is six days journey distance from thence eastwards. These two towns as is said, at the river _Tygris_, were many years agone built out of the ruinated city of _Babylon_, whereof the one on the other side of the river is accounted to be the town of _Seleucia_ of _Babylon_, and that on this side, which is more like unto an open village, is believed to be the town _Ctesiphonta_. _Strabo_, in book XV, doth testify this, when he writes thus of them: That _Babylon_ hath formerly been the metropolis of _Assyria_, and that after it’s devastation, the town of _Seleucia_, situated upon the _Tygris_, near which was a great village, wherein the king of the _Parthians_ did keep his residence for the winter. _Pliny_ maketh also mention thereof in his sixth book, and in the twenty sixth and twenty seventh chapter, _viz._ That the two towns of _Seleucia_ of _Babylon_, and _Ctesiphonta_, were built out of the ruins of the old city, and that the river _Tygris_ runs between them. In the town _Seleucia_, stands in a large place, the castle, which is without guarded neither with walls nor ditches, nor is quite finish’d within. Before it lie some pieces of ordnance in the road, which are so daubed with dirt, that they are almost quite covered. In it dwelleth the _Turkish_ Bashaw, who, when he understood that two strangers were come into his camp, sent for us, and had us before him by his men; along with us went freely an _Armenian_, whom we had known formerly at _Aleppo_, to assist us, and to be our interpreter, to give the Bashaw a good and sufficient account of us.

When we came into the room of the Bashaw, which was but very ordinary, yet spread with delicate tapestry and well adorned, and appeared with accustom’d reverences, he ask’d us, sitting in his costly yellow colour’d long gown, by one of his servants, in _French_, which he did not understand very well, from what places we came, what merchandizes we had brought with us, and whither we intended to go. After we had punctually answered him to each question, yet he was not satisfy’d, but bid us to withdraw, and stay until we heard his answer. We understood his meaning very well, that it was only to scrue a present out of us, yet we would not understand it, but shew’d him our pass, subscrib’d both by the Bashaw and the Cadi of _Aleppo_, to try whether that would give him content. So he took it and read it over, and look’d very diligently upon their seals, as they use to seal, after they had dipp’d it first into ink, so that all but the letter is black. When he found them right, and did not know any more to say to us, he let us go, then we made him his reverence again, and so we went backwards out of his lodgings, for if you turn your back to any one, altho’ it be a far meaner person, they take it as a great uncivility, rudeness, and disparagement. This Bashaw keeps a great garrison in the town of _Bagdat_, because it lieth on the confines of _Susiana_, _Media_, &c. which are provinces belonging to the King of _Persia_, and the Grand Signior hath nothing more towards the east of it to command. His greatest dominions are the wildernesses of the desart of _Arabia_, whereof the _Turk_ hath one part, but the other, and the biggest, belongs to the King of _Arabia_. After the Bashaw had given us leave to go, we went to our lodgings again, and bought by the way in the Batzar some provision to eat, and to boil for supper, for in these countries are no inns to be found, whereinto one may go, and find a dinner ready prepared for chance-customers, as in our country is done, except one would go into a cook’s shop, whereof there are a great many in the Batzars; but every one boileth for himself what he hath a mind to, without doors, before his lodgings, where there is a chimney for that purpose; so that in the morning, and at night when it is time to eat, you see every where in the allies of the camp several fires. When we went to eat we were forced, because in these chambers is neither table, nor stools, nor bench, to sit down on the ground, and also lie upon it all night, so that our cloaks were very useful to us, to serve us instead of a bed, chiefly in the winter, to keep us warm; yet the winter is not very severe in those countries, which you may conclude, for that our March-flowers, Narcissus’s, Hyacinths, Violets, _&c._ were here full in flowers in the month of _December_; and that the farmers went to plough at that time; wherefore I judge that their winter is like unto our spring. When we lived at _Bagdat_, I found by our catering, that the scarcity was still very considerable, and it would have been more, and have increased, if the towns that lie above it on the _Euphrates_ and _Tygris_, and chiefly _Mossel_, which formerly went by the name of _Nineveh_, had not sent them great supplies, as did also those of _Carahemit_, _&c._ which supply they have also almost always at any other time occasion for, for their cultivated grounds are chiefly in _Mesopotamia_, where they have almost none at all, so that there groweth not enough to maintain themselves; wherefore the two rivers are very necessary to them, not only to provide them with victuals, as corn, wine, fruit, _&c._ but also to bring to them all sorts of merchandizes, whereof many ship-loads are brought in daily. So that in this town there is a great deposition of merchandizes, by reason of it’s commodious situation, which are brought thither by sea as well as by land from several parts, chiefly from _Natolia_, _Syria_, _Armenia_, _Constantinople_, _Aleppo_, _Damascus_, &c. to carry them farther into the _Indies_, _Persia_, &c. So it happened that during the time I was there, on the second day of _December_, in 1574 there arrived twenty five ships with spice and other precious drugs here, which came over sea from the _Indies_, by the way of _Ormutz_ to _Balsara_, a town belonging to the Grand _Turk_, situated on the frontiers, the farthest that he hath south-eastwards, within six days journey from hence, where they load their goods into small vessels, and so bring them to _Bagdat_, which journey, as some say, taketh them up forty days. Seeing that the passage both by water and land, belongeth both to the King of _Arabia_ and Sophi of _Persia_, which also have their towns and forts on their confines, which might easily be stopt up by them, yet that notwithstanding all this they may keep good correspondence with one another, they keep pigeons, chiefly at _Balsara_, which in case of necessity might soon be sent back again with letters to _Bagdat_. When loaden ships arrive at _Bagdat_, the Merchant, chiefly those that bring spice, to carry through the desarts into _Turky_, have their peculiar places in the open fields without the town _Ctesiphon_, where each of them fixeth his tents, to put his spices underneath in sacks, to keep them there safe, until they have a mind to break up in whole caravans; so that at a distance one would rather believe that Soldiers were lodged in them, than Merchants; and rather look for arms than marchandizes: And so I thought myself before I came so near that I could smell them.