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It is very difficult to conceive how Fitch, after his imprisonment at Goa, and escape from thence under surety to the Portuguese viceroy, should have ventured in the sequel to visit the Portuguese settlements in Ceylon, Cochin, Calicut, Goa even, Chaul, and Ormuz, on his way home again by Basora, Bagdat, Mosul, &c. to Aleppo and Tripoli.
Since my departure from Aleppo, I have not written you, because at Bagdat I was ill of flux, and continued in all the way thence to Basora, which was twelve days journey down the Tigris, when we had extremely hot weather, bad fare, and worse lodging, all of which increased my disease; besides which our boat was pestered with people.
In Bagdat are many manufactures of gold and silk, and damasks and velvets with figures of various creatures; in that city there is a university, where the law of Mahoment, physic, astronomy, and geomancy are taught; and from it come all the pearls in Christendom.
All these were placed on the outside of the wooden wall of the great tent, and were supplied with drink; and they almost all gave to us and the duke Jeroslaus the place of honour, when in their company. This term probably signifies the manufacture of Baldach or Bagdat, and may refer to silken stuffs damasced, or woven with gold flowers.
One of the most celebrated of these maps was drawn up by Marin Sanuto, and inserted in his memorial presented to the pope and the principal sovereigns of Europe, for the purpose of persuading and shewing them, that if they would oblige their merchants to trade only through the dominions of the Caliphs of Bagdat, they would be better supplied and at a cheaper rate, and would have no longer to fear the Soldans of Egypt.
At this time there was an ambassador at the court from the khans of Bagdat, of whom it was reported, when Mangu declared he would not grant them peace unless they would destroy all their warlike ammunition, that he answered, "We will do this when you pluck off all the hoofs from your horses."
From Scanderoon to Aleppo; over the desert to Bagdat: a voyage from Bussora to Bombay, and along the west coast of India; from Bombay to Mocha; and a journey from Suez to Cairo, are the principal contents. Travels. By John Lewis Burckhardt. Vol.1. Nubia; vol. 2. Syria and the Holy Land; vol.3, in the Hedjaz. 1823. 4to.
The palace of the king or Mehrage, stands on a river as broad as the Tigris at Bagdat or Bassora; but the sea intercepts its course, and drives its waters back with the tide; yet during the ebb the fresh water flows out a good way into the sea.
This is probably a manufacture of Bagdat or Baldach, from whence its name; and may have been flowered silk or cloth of gold. Of the Military conduct of the Tartars. Zingis-khan divided the Tartars into companies or divisions of ten, of, an hundred, and of a thousand each, every one of which had its appropriate officer.
I believe I owe this to that glorious paper in the Spectator "The Vision of Mirza," a piece that struck my young fancy before I was capable of fixing an idea to a word of three syllables: "On the fifth day of the moon, which, according to the custom of my forefathers, I always keep holy, after having washed myself, and offered up my morning devotions, I ascended the high hill of Bagdat, in order to pass the rest of the day in meditation and prayer."
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