Page:The Six Voyages of John Baptista Tavernier.djvu/118
to go abroad but only upon Thursdays, when they go to the Sepulchers to Pray for the Dead. And because that by their Law the Husband is oblig'd to lye with his lawful Wife upon Thursday-night or Fryday-night, upon Wednesday-morning the Women go to the Baths, where they perfume their Heads and Bodies with a sweet Water. They may go abroad sometimes at other seasons, when their Husbands give them leave to visit their Kindred; but then they are to be wrapt up from Head to Foot, that it is impossible for their Husbands themselves to know them if they meet 'em i'the Streets. By the way take notice, that the Persian Women, unless they be such as are very poor, would rather stay within all the days of their Lives, than go abroad without a Horse. And it is a certain sign to know a Curtisan from an honest Woman; for that the Curtisans put their Feet in the Stirup, and the honest Women only in the Stirup-leathers. The Women of Bagdat are very richly habited, after their fashions; but they are not contented to wear their Jewels about their Necks and Wrists, for they hang them like Bracelets about their Faces, and will bore holes in their Ears to put in a Ring. The Arabian Women only bore the separation between the two Nostrils, where they wear hollow Rings, as well to spare cost, as for lightness; for some are so big, that you may almost thrust your Fist through them. Beyond all this, the more to beautifie themselves, they make a round Ring about their Eyes with a certain sort of Blacking: And as well Men as Women, in the Desert, put the same near their Eyes, to preserve them, as they say, from the heat of the Sun.
Of Christians there are three sorts: Nestorians, who have a Church; Armenians and Jacobites, who have none, but go to the Capuchins, who administer the Sacraments to them. The Christians go in Devotion to a Chappel, about a short quarter of a League from the City, dedicated to a Saint whom they call Keder-Elias, paying a small Fee, for admission, to the Turks, who keep the Keys. Two days journey from the City stands another ruin'd Church in a pitiful Village, where they say, that St. Simon and St. Jude were both Martyr'd and Buried. If a Christian dyes, all the rest come to his Burial, and returning home, find a Supper prepar'd to welcom them; the next day they return to the Grave, and pray for the deceas'd and the third day there is a Dinner for all comers and goers. Sometimes there will be a hundred and fifty persons at a Burial. They repeat the same Ceremonies for the seventh, fifteenth, thirtieth and fortieth days afterwards; having a great veneration for the Dead, for whom they pray too often. This custom of Feasting is very inconvenient for the Poor; for they being desirous to imitate the Rich, run themselves sometimes so far in Debt, that they are forc'd to sell their Children to the Turks to discharge themselves.
There are several Jews also in Bagdat, but more that come every year in Devotion to visit the Sepulcher of the Prophet Ezekiel, which is a day and a halfs journey from the City. In short, since the taking of Bagdat by Sultan Amurat, the number of Inhabitants cannot be less than fifteen thousand Souls; which shews that the City is not peopl'd according to its bigness.
About a day and a halfs journey from the Point of Mesopotamia, at distance almost equal between Tigris and Euphrates, there appears a vast Heap of Earth, which the people call to this day Nemrod. It stands in the midst of a wide Plain, and may be discover'd a great way off. The vulgar sort believe it to be the Remains of the Tower of Babel; but there is more probability of the Arabians Opinion, who call it Agartouf, and believe it to have been built by an Arabian Prince, who always kept a Beacon at the top to assemble his Subjects together in time of War. This Heap of Earth was about three hundred Paces in circuit; but it is not easie to guess at the ancient height, the rest being fal'n to ruine, but only eighteen or twenty Fathom. It is built of Brick dry'd in the Sun, every Brick being ten Inches square, and three thick. The Building is thus rais'd. Upon every row of Canes or Reeds bruis'd to pieces and mix'd with Wheat-straw, and spred an Inch and a half thick, lye seven orders of these Bricks with a little Straw between each; then another Bed of Reeds, and six rows of Bricks; then a third with five rows, decreasing in that manner 'till you come to the top. The form of it seems to have been rather square than round; and in the highest part of that which remains there appears a Hole like a Window; if it were not rather an Out-let for Water, or a Hole for the Scaffolding. In short, according to the Description of Moses thereis