Moreover, whilst I was at Buda, I was very much taken with the sight of a strange kind of Fountain that is without the Gate of the Town, in the way leading to Constantinople, the Water whereof at top was boiling hot, and yet in the bottom there were Fishes playing up and down; so that you would think, they must needs be throughly boiled, before you could take them out.
’Twas the 7th, of December, before the Bashaw was so well recovered as to admit me to his Presence; and then, after I had sweetned him with some Presents, I made my Complaint to him of the Insolency and Ravagings of the Turkish Soldiers; and demanded Restitution of what they had wrongfully taken away, contrary to the express of the Truce made, and which he himself, in his Letter to Ferdinand, had promised him satisfaction for, if he pleased to send an Envoy to Buda. But he, like a cunning Gamester, made as many Complaints of the Injuries and Losses They had sustained by Our Soldiers: And as for his Promise to restore the Places they had wrongfully seized and taken away from the Emperor; he eluded it, by sheltring himself under this Dilemma: Either I made a Promise, or I did not; if I made no Promise, then you can demand nothing of me: If I did make a Promise, I know Sir, you are a Person of that Understanding as not to conceive, that I can, or will perform it; for I am sent hither by my Master to Enlarge, not to diminish the Bounds of his Empire; so that I must by no means make his Condition worse than it was: ’tis my Master’s Business (Sir) not Mine; what you have to say on this Head, pray propound it to him when you come to Constantinople. To be short Sir, you know I am but newly Recovered, and therefore am not in a Condition to maintain any further Discourse. When this course Compliment was put upon me, I thought ’twas time to be gone, neither could I get any thing else from him, only a Truce, till the Grand Seignior’s Mind was known.
I observed, that when I was introduced to the Bashaw, they observed the old Roman Custom of crying aloud, Welcome, Welcome: and so wishing an happy Issue to my Negotiation. I observed also, that the Turks count the left Hand to be most Honourable in some particular Cases; the Reason they give is, because the Sword is worn on that side, and he that is on the right Hand has, as it were, the Command of the Sword of him that is at his Left, whereas his Own is free.
Matters being thus composed at Buda, as well as we could, my Companion Paliani returned to the Emperor; but I for my part, shipp’d my Horses, Coaches, and all my Family on some Vessels, prepared for me on the Danow, and so passed down the Stream to Belgrade; this was a shorter cut, and also more secure; for my Journey by Land to Belgrade, would at that Time have cost me at least twelve Days, especially, having such a deal of heavy Baggage with me; and besides, we had been in danger to be Robb’d by the Heyduc’s, so the Hungarians call a sort of plundering Thieves and Robbers; but upon the Water there was no fear at all of them; and besides, we compassed our Journey in five Days. The Vessel in which I was, was drawn along by a lesser Pinnace, in which there were twenty-four Oars; the other Vessels had but two large Oars a-piece. The Mariners rowed Night and Day without any Intermission, excepting only a few Hours that the poor Souls borrow’d to Sleep and Eat in. In my Passage down the River, I could not but observe the venturousness, not to say temerity of the Turks, who were not afraid to Sail on in the mistiest Weather and darkest Night, and when the Wind blew very hard too; and besides, there were many Water-mills, with several Trunks and Boughs of Trees hanging over the Banks, which made our Passage very Dangerous; so that some times our Vessel, by the boisterousness of the Wind, was driven to the Bank, and there dash’d against old stumps of Trees hanging over, so that it was like to split; this is certain, that she lost some Planks out of her Hulk, which made a terrible crack and noise when they were loosed therefrom. This noise awak’d me; leaping out of my Bed, I advis’d the Mariners to be more cautious: they lift up their Voices, and gave me no other Answer than Alaure, i. e. God will help, and so I might go to Bed again, if I would.
Tho’ we speed pretty well, yet I am apt to believe, that at one Time or other, such Dangerous Sailing will be fatal to some Passengers. In our Passage, I saw Tolna, a handsome Town in Hungary; I cannot forbear to mention it, because there we had very good White-wine, and, besides the Inhabitants were very Courteous to us. Moreover, we passed in sight of the Castle of Walpot, seated on an Hill, and of other Castles and Towns besides; we saw also, where the River Drave, on the one side, and the Tibiscus, or Taise, on the other, made their Influx into the Danow. As for Belgrade itself, it is seated at the confluence of the Save and the Danow; the old City is built in the extreme Angel of the Promontory, the Building is old, it is fortified with many Towers, and a double Wall: Two parts of it are wash’d by the Save, and the Danow, but on that part where it is joined to the Land, it hath a very strong Castle on high Ground, consisting of many loftly Turrets made of square Stone; before you come into the City, there is a vast Number of Buildings, and very large Suburbs, wherein several Nations inhabit, viz. Turks, Greeks, Jews, Hungarians, Dalmatians, and many others. For you must know that ordinarily over all the Turkish Dominions, the Suburbs are larger than the Towns, but take them both together, they give the resemblance of large Cities: ’Twas at this Town, that I first met with some ancient Coins, wherein, as you know, I take a great delight, and my Physician aforesaid, Dr. Quackquelben, fitted me to an Hair, as we say, for he was as much addicted to those Studies as myself. I found a great many Pieces, which on one side represented a Roman Soldier, placed between a Bull and a Horse, (for ’tis known, that the Legions of upper Mæsia did anciently encamp hereabouts) with this Inscription, Taurunum. This City, in the memory of our Grandfathers, was twice violently assaulted by the Turks, first, under Almurath; next under Mahomet, who took Constantinople; but the Hungarians, under the Banner of the Cross, made such a vigorous Defence, that the Barbarians were beaten off with a great deal of Loss. But at last, in the Year 1520. Solomon, in the beginning of his Reign, came before it with a vast Army, and finding it, either by the neglect of young King Ludovicus, or by the Discords of the factious Hungarian Nobles, destitute of a Garrison able to defend it, he took that opportunity to assault it, and so easily became Master thereof. And that Door being once opened, an Iliad of Miseries broke in upon poor Hungary, of which she is sadly Sensible to this Day; for this Pass being gained, there followed the Slaughter of King Lewis Ludovicus, the taking of Buda, the inslaving of Transilvania, and a flourishing Kingdom, hereby brought under the Yoke, not without a Terror struck into the Neighbouring Nations, least they also should partake of the same Calamities; by which Example, Christian Princes may take warning, never to think their Frontier Towns and Castles to be strong enough, nor sufficiently provided against so potent an Enemy as the Turk. For the Truth is, the Ottomans are herein not unlike to great Rivers, whose Swelling Waves, if they break down any part of the Bank or Jitty, that keeps them in, spread far and near, and do abundance of Mischief; so the Turks, but far more perniciously, having once broke through the Obstacles that stopt them, make a vast spoil where-ever they come. But to return to Belgrade, that I may prosecute the rest of my Journey to Constantinople.
After I had provided myself in that City of all Things necessary for a Land Journey, I left Semandria, heretofore a Town or Castle, of the despots of Servia, on the left side of the Danow; from whence we Journied towards Nissa. In our way thither, the Turks shewed us, from the higher Grounds, the Mountains of Transilvania, with Snowey Tops, but at a great Distance from us, and moreover, they pointed with their Fingers, were the Ruins of Trajans Bridge were: After we had past the River called Morava, we came to a Town of the Servians, named Jagodna; there I observed the Funeral Rites of that Country, which differ very much from ours, as you may find by this Relation following.
The dead Body was placed in a Temple, with the Face uncovered; near it were laid Victuals, as Bread, Flesh, and a Flagon of Wine: The Wife and Daughter of the Deceased stood by, in their best Apparel; the Daughter’s Hat was made of Peacocks Feathers. The last Boon that the Wife bestowed on her dead Husband, was a Purple Bonnet, such as noble Virgins us’d to wear in that Country. Then we heard their Funeral Plaints, Mourning and Lamentations, wherein, they asked the dead Corps, How they came to deserve so ill at his Hands? Wherein had they been wanting in their Duty and Observance, that he had left them in such a lonesome and disconsolate Condition? And such like Stuff. The Priests that ministred in this Service, were of the Greek Church. In the Church-Yard, there were erected on Poles, or long Staves, several Pictures of Stags, Hinds, and such Kind of Creatures, cut in Wood; when I asked them the Reason of this strange Custom, they told us, That their Husbands, or Fathers, did thereby signify the Celerity and Diligence of their Wives or Daughters, in managing their Houshold Affairs. Moreover, by some Sepulchres, there hung Bushes of Hair, which Women, or Maidens, had placed in Testimony of their Grief for the Loss of their Relations. We were also informed, that it was the Custom of that Country, after Friends on both Sides had accorded about the Marriage of a young Couple, for the Bridegroom to snatch away his Bride, as it were by Force; for they do not think it handsome, that a Maid should consent to her own Devirgination, or first Nights Lodging with her Husband.
At a small Distance from Jagodna, we met with a little River which the Neighbouring Inhabitants called Nissus, and we kept it on our right Hand almost all the Way till we came to Nissa; yea, and beyond the Town, upon the Bank thereof (were there were some Remains of an old Roman Way) we saw a small Marble Pillar, yet standing, wherein there were some Latin Letters inscribed; but they were so defaced, that they could not be read: As for the Town of Nissa, for that Country, it is a decent one, and full of Inhabitants.