Page:The Six Voyages of John Baptista Tavernier.djvu/123

Turks should remain peaceable Masters of the City, where they have a Basha for Governour. But this Treaty endur'd not long; for in the middle of the City there is a Cittadel, call'd Aushel Basha, or the Basha's Court, which the Turks built; so that the Garrison being Turks and the Inhabitants Arabians, who could not endure to be curb'd, they oft-times quarrell'd with the Turks and came to blows. Thereupon the Arabians of the Desert came to the relief of the Citizens and besieg'd the Basha in the Fortress. At length because there could be no such agreement made, but that one party or other took an occasion presently to break it, there was one Basha whose name was Aiud, who after many contests and revolts which had almost tyr'd him, resolv'd to rid himself of the trouble, and sold his Government for forty thousand Piasters to a rich Lord in the Country, who presently rais'd a sufficient number of Souldiers to keep the people in awe. This great man took upon him the name of Efrasias Basha, being the Grandfather of Hussen Basha, who was Governour at the time when I pass'd through before. This Efrasias threw off the Turkish yoak, and took upon him the title of Prince of Balsara. As for the Basha that sold his Government, he no sooner arriv'd at Constantinople, but he was strangl'd. But after Amurath had taken Bagdat, the Prince of Balsara was glad to feed him continually with Presents that chiefly consisted in Horses, which are very beautiful in that Country. The Great Sha-Abas having taken Ormus, sent a powerful Army under the Command of Iman-Kouli-Kan Governour of Shiras, to take in Balsara. Whereupon the Prince finding himself too weak to resist so great a Pow'r, made an agreement with the Desert Arabians to break down the Dam that stops the Sea. Which being perform'd, in came the Sea tumbling fifteen Leagues to Balsara, and four Leagues beyond it, which constrain'd the Persians, surrounded with water, and hearing at the same time of the death of Sha-Abas, to raise their Siege. Since that inundation, several Lands and Gardens have been utterly barren, or have born very little, by reason of the Salt which the Sea has left behind.

The Prince of Balsara has enter'd into Leagues with several strange Nations, so that whencesoever you come, you may be welcom. There is so much liberty and so good order in the City, that you may walk all night long in the Streets without molestation. The Hollanders bring Spices thither every year. The English carry Pepper and some few Cloves; but the Portugals have no Trade at all thither. The Indians bring Calicuts, Indigo, and all sorts of Merchandize. In short, there are Merchants of all Country's, from Constantinople, Smyrna, Aleppo, Damascus, Cairo, and other parts of Turkie, to buy such Merchandizes as come from the Indies, with which they lade the young Camels which they buy in that place; for thither the Arabians bring them to put them to sale. They that come from Diarbequir, Moussul, Bagdat, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, send their Merchandizes up the Tigris by Water, but with great trouble and expence. In regard the Boats are to be tow'd by men, that cannot go above two Leagues and a half in a day, and against the Wind they cannot stir, which makes them oft-times between Balsara and Bagdat to be above sixty days, nay there have been some that have been three months upon the Water.

The Customs of Balsara amount to five in the hundred, but generally you have some favour shew'd you, either by the Customer or the Prince himself, that the Merchant does not really pay above four in the hundred. The Prince of Balsara is so good a Husband, that he lays up three millions of Liuers in a year. His chiefest Revenue is in four things, Money, Horses, Camels, and Date-trees; but in the last consists his chiefest wealth. For all the Country from the meeting of the two Rivers to the Sea, for the space of thirty Leagues together, is all cover'd with these Trees; nor does any one dare to touch a Date, 'till he has paid for every Tree three fourths of a Larin, or nine Sous French. The profit which the Prince makes upon money, proceeds from this, that the Merchants that come from abroad are oblig'd to carry their Reals to his Mint, where they are Coyn'd and converted into Larins, which is worth to him eight in the hundred. As for his Horses, there is no place in the world, where there are more fit for travel, or handsomer shap'd; for there are some that will travel thirty hours together and never draw bit, especially the Mares. But to return to the Palm-trees it is worth observation, that there is more Art to bring up those Trees than any other. The Natives dig a hole in the ground, wherein they heap a great quantity of Date-nuts in a Pyramidical form, the topwhereof