Travelling-Provision, _viz._ Bread, Almonds, Raisons, Figs, hard Eggs,
cold Fowl, _&c._ But what is most used by Travellers, is _Zumeet_,
_Tumeet_, or Flower of parched Barley for _Limereece_. These are not
_Arabian_ but _Shilha_ Names, so I believe it is of a longer standing
than the _Mahometans_ in that Part of _Africk_. They are all three
made of parched Barley Flower, which they carry in a Leather Satchel.
_Zumeet_ is the Flower mixed with Honey, Butter, and Spice; _Tumeet_
is the same Flower done up with _Organ Oil_; and _Limereece_ is only
mixed with Water, and so drank: This quenches Thirst much better than
Water alone, satisfies a hungry Appetite, cools and refreshes tired and
weary'd Spirits, overcoming those ill Effects a hot Sun and fatiguing
Journey might occasion. This among the Mountaineers of _Suse_ is used
for their Diet as well at home as on their Journey. All things taken
in Game, as Hawking, Hunting, and Fowling, are lawful for them to eat,
if they take it before it be dead, so that they can have time to cut
its Throat, and say, _Bismiillahe_; or if he is known to be an expert
Man at the Game, and says those Words before he lets the Hawk take
its Flight, lets slip the Grey-hound, or fires his Gun, it is lawful;
all (I say, but Swine's Flesh, and what dies of its self) they have
Liberty to eat, and may sell it. They tell us there is but one Part
about the Hog or Swine that is unlawful, which they do not know, and
are obliged to abstain from the whole; but if they knew it, they would
let us have but little to our share. They eat Snails boil'd with Salt,
and praise their Wholesomeness. Fish of all sorts, are lawful. In
_Taffilet_ and _Dra_ most of their Food is Dates, there are ten or a
dozen sorts. They have good Capons all the Country over; no Turkeys,
Ducks, nor Geese but wild, and those they have of two sorts; Duck,
Teal, and Mallard, Curlews, Plovers, Snipes, Ox-birds, Pipers, a sort
of a black Crow, with a bald Pate, and long crooked Bill, is good
Meat, and a hundred other sort of Fowl. I have eat Antelope, which we
have kill'd in hunting, and are very good Food. They are as large as
a Goat, of a Chestnut Colour, and white under the Belly; their Horns
are almost quite streight from their Head up, tapering gradually, with
Rings at a distance from one another, till within an Inch and a half of
the top; fine large black Eyes, long and slender Neck, Feet, Legs, and
Body, shaped somewhat like a Deer; they have two Cavities between their
Legs, I think the Male as well as the Female. I have sent of these
Antelopes alive to _England_. There are many in a Herd, when at the
same time they have Scouts, or those who by running give 'em notice of
an approaching Foe. When two lie down together, they lay themselves so,
that their Backs are towards each other, and the Head of one towards
the Tail of the other, that they may see every way. Their Dung is sweet
and pleasant enough. They are taken sometimes by the Hawk, sometimes by
the Shot; for they are too swift for a Grey-hound. Partridges in _Sus_
commonly roost on Trees; there are so many Foxes which would otherwise
destroy them.
And here I should make mention of another Dish: The _Moors_ will eat
Fox, if it be Fat, either stewed or roasted, but they do not care for
it lean, which has occasioned a Proverb among them on that Account, to
wit, _Hellel deeb, harom deeb_; alluding to the Scruple might be made
of its lawfulness. Those Words signifie, a Fox is lawful, and a Fox is
unlawful; _i. e._ Fat, Lawful; Lean, Unlawful.
[Illustration]
[Sidenote: Lat. 30, or thereabouts.]
Fruits and Sweat-Meats they have of many kinds, as of three or four
sorts of Pumpkins, Macaroons, Almonds prepared many ways, Raisins,
Dates, Figs dry and green, excellent Melons of two or three sorts,
and Water-Melons, Pomegranates of several kinds, Apples, Pears,
Apricocks, Peaches, Mulberries white and black, Plumbs, and Damascens,
Cherries,[21]Grapes of many kinds, and very good, and if they would
assist Nature, they might have every thing in Perfection.
* * * * *
Their Salating is Lettuce, Endive, Carduus, Parsley, Apium, and other
sweet Herbs, Onions, Cucumbers of several kinds, some about a Yard in
length, and two or three Inches thick, and hairy, (this is esteemed
the wholesomest) Radishes, _Fumatas_, or Apples of Love, all which
they will cut, and put Oil, Vinegar, and Salt, with some red Pepper:
This Salate they eat with Bread. They have a Fruit called _Baraneen_,
in _Spain_, _Baragenas_; these they stew with their Victuals, and
sometimes cut them in thin slices, and fry them; it makes a pretty
Dish. When the _Moors_ have feasted, every one washes his Hands and
Mouth, thanks God, and blesses the Hosts and Entertainers from whom
they had it; they talk a little, or tell some Story, and then lie down
to rest, where I shall leave them at present, and do beg your Pardon
for so tiresome and frivolous a Discourse.
FOOTNOTES:
[20] _Alcoran._
[21] Grapes in _Messina_ I have known as big as a Pigeon's Egg; but
they do not make Wine.
_A Letter from Mr. _John Monro_ to the Publisher, concerning the
Catacombs of _Rome_ and _Naples_._
_SIR,_
The Catacombs are an obscure Argument. I have seen those of _Rome_,
I have seen those of _Naples_, and as they say there are Catacombs
in the Neighbourhood of all the great Towns of that part of _Italy_,
I had been glad to have seen them where-ever they are. They are an
obscure argument indeed; but perhaps the greatest obscurity about them
is, that a Matter that has so much exercis'd the Pens of the Moderns,
shou'd be totally neglected by the Ancients: Neither the name nor the
thing is found in the latter, whereas among the former, Antiquaries
and Travellers are full of them. All they into whose way they come,
think they do nothing if they do not exhaust them before they leave
them; they take all their dimensions, and measure their height, their
breadth and their length; they survey all the little Rooms, search
every hole and corner, Criticize nicely on the quality, and calculate
the Age of the poor Painting and Inscriptions, and make excursions into
other Arguments, to find out the end for which they were made. The
Catacombs are a narrow Gallery dug and carried a vast way under Ground,
with an infinite number of others going off it on all hands, and an
infinite number of little Rooms going off the Principal, and them too.
Those commonly shew'd Strangers are those of _San Sebastiano_, those of
_San Lorenzo_, those of _San Agnese_, and the others in the Fields a
little off of _Sant Agnese_. They take their Names from the Churches in
their Neighbourhood, and seem to divide the circumference of the City
without the Walls between them, extending their Galleries every where
under, and a vast way from it, so that all the Ground under, and for
many Miles about it, is said to be hollow. Now there are two sorts of
Authors that run into extravagance on this subject; the one will have
them made by the Primitive Christians, adding, that in the times of
Persecution they liv'd, held their Assemblies, and laid up the Bodies
of their Martyrs and Confessors in them. This is the Account that
prevails at _Rome_, and consequent to it there are Men kept constantly
at Work in them. As soon as these Labourers discover a Repository,
with any of the marks of a Saint about it, Intimation is given to the
Cardinal Treasurer, who immediately sends Men of Probity and Reputation
to the place, where they find a Palm painted or ingraven, or the Cypher
XP, which is commonly read _pro Christo_, or a small round projection
in the side of the Gallery, a little below the Repository; what is
within it is carried to the Palace. Many of these Projections we have
seen open, with pieces of the Vials in them; the Glass indeed was
tinctur'd, and 'tis pretended that in these Vials was conserved the
Blood of the Martyrs, which was thus laid up nigh their Bodies, towards
the Head, to distinguish them from those of the others that were not
called to the Honour of laying down their Lives for the Faith of the
Gospel. After the Labourers have survey'd a Gallery, they do up the
entry that leads into it; thus most of them are shut; nor are more left
open than what is necessary to keep up the Trade of shewing them to
Strangers, which they say is done to prevent what has often happen'd,
I mean Peoples losing themselves in these subterraneous Labyrinths; by
this conduct depriving us of the means of knowing whither and how far
they were carried. To this it may be justly excepted, that allowing the
Catacombs to be proper for the end for which they are presum'd to be
made, and that the Christians of that Age were in a capacity of making
that convenience, for themselves to live and assemble in below Ground,
at a time when 'twas so very unsafe to appear above it; yet to suppose
that a work of that Vastness and Importance cou'd be carried on without
the knowledge of the Government, is to suppose the Government asleep,
and that that was actually done under its Nose, that must necessarily
have alarm'd it, had it been attempted on the frontiers of the Empire.
The other sort of Authors give indeed a mighty Idea of the Catacombs,
represent them as a work of that Vastness, that the Christians in the
persecuting times had not number enough to carry it on; but then most
unadvisedly with the same breath they confound them with the _Puticuli
in Festus Pompeius_, where, at the same time that the Ancient _Romans_
us'd to burn the Bodies of their dead, the custom was, to avoid
expence, to throw those of the Slaves to rot.
This is not all, the _Roman_ Christians, say they, observing at length
the great veneration that certain Places gain'd by the presence
of Relicts, resolv'd to provide a stock for themselves; entring
therefore the Catacombs, they made in some of them what Cyphers, what
Inscriptions, what Painting they thought fit, and then shut them up;
intending to open them again upon a Dream, or some other important
incident. The few that were in the secret of this Artifice either
dying, or as the Monks, who were the only Men that seem to have had
Heads adapted to a thought of this quality, were subject to so many
removes, being transported to other Places, the contrivance came to be
forgot, and those Galleries continu'd shut, till Chance, the Parent
often of great discoveries, open'd them at last. Thus they conclude,
the Remains of the vilest part of Mankind are trump'd up in the Church
for the Bodies of the most eminent Confessors and Martyrs.
To leave the latter part of this Tale to shift for it self as well
as it can, either the Catacombs are not that great work they are
represented to be, nor to be found every where about the City, or
'twas very improper in _Festus Pompeius_ to call them by the little
name of _Puticuli_, and so confine them to one place only, that I mean
unknown now without the _Esquilin_-Gate. Indeed the Characters of the
Places are so very unlike, that one wou'd wonder how a common Burying
place, where in holes Bodies were thrown together to rot, came to be
confounded with Repositories cut in the face of a long Gallery, one
over another, sometimes to the number of seven, in which Bodies were
singly laid, and handsomly done up again, so that nothing cou'd offend
the view of those that went in, especially with the little Rooms of
the fashion of Chappels, that have all the Appearances of being the
Sepulchers of People of distinction.
The Remark, _Puticulos Antiquissimum sepulturæ genus appellatos, quod
ibi in puteis sepirentur homines_, is that of an Etymologist, that
would be now thought to speak against all the property of Language,
if he apply'd the name to our Graves or Vaults, to which it may with
more Justice and Reason be apply'd, than to the Galleries of the
Catacombs, and the Rooms that go off them. What the particulars were
is not difficult to define, after what we have seen so often. When the
Persecutors spilt the Blood of so many Martyrs, they us'd to dig holes
perpendicularly in the Ground, and to throw their Bodies promiscuously
in them; of this the Memory is still conserv'd, Churches being built in
the Places where the holes were made, and little Monuments erected over
the holes themselves, to which the name of _Putei_ is continued to this
day.
This is the true notion of the _Puticuli_, holes dug perpendicularly
in the Ground to throw Bodies indifferently and without any decency
in; and according to the Argument this ought to be the conduct of the
Ancient _Romans_, with Respect to their Slaves, as implying simplicity
and the care to avoid a greater expence; but then what's all this
to the Galleries and Chambers of the Catacombs, where decency and
distinction of quality is nicely observ'd; and that, if they were
look'd after, and kept in better repair, would be without dispute the
noblest Burying-place this Day in the World? As often as they fall
under my consideration, I cannot forbear thinking they were made for
this end by the Ancient _Romans_, and made in consequence of these two
Ancient opinions, that the shadows hate the light, and love to hover
about the place where the Bodies are laid, they appear so easie and
decent a resting-place for the one, without the least fear of being
ever disturb'd, and at the same time there is provided a noble and a
vast convenience full of variety for the others, to space themselves
freely and with pleasure in.
I think 'twill not be denied, that laying up the Bodies in Caves
was the original way of disposing of the dead; this was that of the
_Phænicians_, and as they were the Men that with their Colonies peopled
the Western parts of the World, 'tis more than probable they carried
it along with them whither soever they went. Afterwards, as Men grew
great and powerful, they erected noble and magnificent Monuments
for themselves above ground; at length others of inferior degree
imitated them, all leaving room enough and excluding the light: But
then interring as we do now in the open Air, or in Temples, was never
the manner till Christianity brought it in. Of the whole we have many
Instances, and _Il Signior Abbate Bencini_, Bibliothecary of the
_Propaganda_, a Gentleman of good Ancient Learning, assured me in the
conversation I had with him on this Argument, that on the great Roads
in most parts of _Italy_ little Catacombs have been and are still
found under ground, and that 'twas the Custom to build little Houses
over them. This, and the testimony of the Labourers whom I consulted
on the matter, made me abandon an opinion of which I was once fond,
that the Catacombs are of the Nature of our Gravel-pits, as old as the
City itself, and yet out of them was taken the _Puzzolana_, the famous
Ingredient in the _Roman_ Mortar. The same learned Gentleman added,
relating to the marks of a Martyr, that they don't conclude much;
that the so fam'd Cypher XP was in use among the Ancients long before
Christianity begun: And when I ask'd him what the meaning of it might
be among them? return'd, that 'twas compos'd of the two _Greek_ Letters
Χ Ρ, under which something mystical was comprehended, but that he met
with no Author that gave account what the mystery was.
Thus, after a multitude of thoughts about the Catacombs, I'm forced to
take up with this; so natural it is, arising from the sole Theory of
the Place, and falls in so oppositely with the Religion and Practice
of the Ancients, among whom the _Dii Manes_ were the Tutelary Gods of
the Country, and _D. M._ at the head of an Inscription, argues the
Moles, the Sepulchre, the Monument, _&c._ was in the primary intention
made for and dedicated to the Soul. Upon the same Maxims, in Foreign
expeditions, when a Hero died or was kill'd, as the Body was liable
to a quick corruption, and for that Reason unfit to be transported
entire, they fell on the expedient of Burning, in order to bring home
the Ashes, to oblige the _Manes_ to follow, that so the Country might
not be deprived of the Benefit of its tutelage. This I humbly conceive
was the Original of Burning, which by Degrees became more and more
universal, till at last the Pomp and Magnificence of it reconcil'd it
to all that were able to go to the length of the expence.
As for the prejudice of the Silence of the Ancient Authors in this
matter, 'tis easily removed, and to be regretted at the same time
that the Authors of all Ages, too much neglect the customs of their
own time. Writing for the satisfaction of their Cotemporaries, they
think it impertinent to Trouble them with the Account of what they see
Transacted every Day. By this means the Ancient Customs, with the Time,
and Reasons of their disuse, are lost with Respect to us, and ours with
the same Circumstances may come to be so with relation to Posterity.
As the Authors are pleas'd to adopt them for their Children, one wou'd
wonder greater care is not taken not to entail visible occasions of
complaint on them; nay, one wou'd wonder more, to see these Gentlemen
so little ambitious of a future reputation, when they may infallibly
assure it themselves, without resigning the present, by transmitting
the knowledge of things, the knowledge of which may in a small series
of Years become otherwise irretrievable; they cannot but observe every
Day what esteem is placed on those Authors, to whom we are forced to
go, to find in them what cannot be found elsewhere, to compare with the
others, in whom nothing is to be found, but what Men of Reason are able
to find at home.
Upon the whole, the Catacombs I humbly conceive were the Burying-places
of the Ancient _Romans_; at length the manner of Burning, which they
received from the _Græcians_, coming by degrees to prevail universally,
they fell under a total neglect. This is the State in which the
Primitive Christians must be suppos'd to have found them; 'tis not
to be imagin'd they could have made any use of them, at a time when
'twas the daily practice to lay up even the depositions of the Slaves
in them; so that either the Christians made no use of them at all,
or they never were the burying Place of the Slaves. Now as these are
Suppositions that naturally destroy one another, one would count it
more safe to follow the faint light of a glimmering tradition, than
abandon ones self to the Conduct of an _Ignis fatuus_, that for ought
a Man knows is actually misleading him, so I beg leave to call the
Testimony of _Festus Pompeius_, that may rather be apply'd to any other
thing than to the Galleries of the Catacombs, carry'd under ground,
they say 20 Miles from the City in some places, and no Body knows how
far in others, and to that vast number of Chambers that go off them.
Thus therefore the Christians finding them in a state of neglect laid
up the Bodies of their Dead in them; and perhaps when the Persecution
was hot, conceal'd themselves and kept little separate Assemblies in
their Chambers. At last the Empire turning Christians, they fell again
in the old state of neglect, in which they continu'd till upon the
reading of I have forgot what Author that makes mention of them, they
came to be look'd into and search'd. What I have writ relates to the
Catacombs of _Rome_, those of _Naples_ are a quite other thing, of
which _per_ next. I am,
_Sir_,
_Your most humble Servant_,
Marseilles, Aug. 22.
1700.
J. Monro.
_An accurate Description of the _Lake of Geneva_, not long since
made by a Person that had visited it divers times in the
pleasantest season of the Year; and communicated to the Publisher
by one of his Parisian Correspondents: English'd as followeth._
You have reason, _Sir_, to demand of me an Account of the _Lake of
Geneva_, which, in my opinion, about this Season of the Year (in
_June_) is one of the most pleasant Places of the World. This is the
Third time I have visited it, and I am, if I may say so, more charmed
with it than the first.
I shall say nothing of the _Alpes_, nor of mount _Jura_, which do
environ it, which by this Lake as by a large Ditch, are separated
from one another: For that would not give you a sufficiently fair
_Idea_ of the Country. Be pleased therefore to represent unto your
self a Croissant of Water, one extremity whereof is Eighteen Leagues
distant from the other, and the Banks of which are gently raised to
some heights, then to collines, and at length to stupendous Mountains;
which yet are not so linked to one another but that they leave betwixt
them interstices of Fifteen or Twenty Leagues prospects, checkered by
Meadows, Corn-Fields, Orchards, Vines, Forrests of Fir-Trees, Snow
lying on the sides of the Rocks. All these Objects, which at a distance
are confounded, and seem to make but one, have near hand their several
Beauties: So well is the Country intersected by Rivulets, which, after
they have served to make Iron, Paper, &c.; run into the Lake, carrying
with them very many Fountains.
But leaving these Things, I shall now content my self to entertain your
Curiosity by giving you a candid Relation of what I have there observed
in the space of Four Months.
* * * * *
Although I have told you, that this Lake hath the figure of a
_Croissant_, yet that point, where is _Geneva_, is somewhat longer and
more extended than the other. This Croissant where 'tis largest, which
is from _Morges_ to _Thonon_, is about Five good Leagues over. That
which hinders from making an exact estimate of its Largeness in other
places, is, that the Winds by driving the Water toward the Banks have
made certain points, which advance far into the Lake, in such sort
that when one happens to be opposite to the other, the Lake seems to
be narrow: As may be observed in going from _Geneva_ to _Nion_, where
it seems as if the _Pharus_ or watch Tower of _Prangin_, which is in
_Suisse_, did almost touch _Savoy_; whereas yet one is a League distant
from the other. And, what is remarkable, is, that at the coming out
of this Streight, the Lake hath there almost its greatest breadth and
depth.
The Water of this Lake is very good to drink, and ever so limpid, that
even in the rolling of the Waves, which sometimes go high enough, the
Water is not troubled but along the Banks. And if one do attentively
look down from the Castle of _Chilon_ or from any of the neighbouring
heights into the bottom of the Lake, he may see high Mountains under
the Water. And the Water is so Deep before _Veuvay_, that the sounding
Line at the end of four hundred Fathoms seems, because it will not
stay, to Touch upon something slippery. 'Tis held to be 500 Fathoms
deep before _Roole_; and 'tis affirm'd, that near this great Depth
there may be seen a kind of _Isle_ under Water.
The _Rhone_ enters at one of the Points of the Croissant into the Lake,
and issueth out at the other; but with this Difference, that whereas
he comes in Dirty and Miry, he ever goes out so Pure and Clear, that
under the Bridge of _Geneva_, where the Water is deep twenty five Feet
in Summer, you may well discern the smallest Stones at the bottom. And
the same Water, which in this Place appears of a Saphyring Blew in the
shade of the Houses, appears altogether Green, nor is so Transparent,
when the Sun shines on it.
There is a great diversity of Opinions as to the _Current_ of the
_Rhone_ in the Lake; some maintaining, that it may be discerned, others
denying it. Having heard the Sentiments of the Curious of _Lausanne_
and _Geneva_, and the Opinions of the most knowing Fishermen that are
there in great Number, and especially at _Coupet_, I believe with the
latter; that, although the _Rhone_ entring into the Lake loseth its
Violence, yet doth he still keep some sensible Motion in some places,
and every were observable, and that no Trouts are taken any were in
this Lake, but in this Current of the _Rhone_; which is what these
Fishermen call, to go and Fish _sur le mont_.
Others there are, that go further and say, that one may every where
distinguish the Water of the Lake from that of the _Rhone_: But the
Fishermen will not allow this, but assert, that there is no other Mark
than those lately alledged, _viz._ of the Trouts, and the Current;
and that the latter of these is alone sufficient, in calm Weather, to
observe the Current of the _Rhone_ from the place of his entring the
Lake unto that of his going out.
The Water of this Lake commonly begins to Increase about the end of
_January_, or the beginning of _February_, and continues to do so unto
the twentieth of _July_, and often unto the very Month of _August_; and
then it insensibly decreaseth, so that the Water is less high in Winter
than Summer by twelve or fifteen Feet; the Frosts draining the Springs,
or rather Freezing the Waters that issue out of them.