IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Cathay and the Way Thither : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
| TO CATHAY. | 553 |
comfort, was a priest, by name Leo Grimanus, the other a merchant called Demetrius.' There were also four servants, Mahomedans by birth and former profession, but converted to Christianity. All of these servants however he discharged as useless when he got to LAHORE (the second capital of the Mogul), and took in lieu of them a single Armenian, Isaac by name, who had a wife and family at Lahore. This Isaac proved the most faithful of all his comrades, and stuck to him throughout the whole journey, a regular fidus Achates. So our brother took leave of his superior, and set out, as appears from the letter of instructions, on the sixth of January in the third year of this century (1603) .2
Every year a company of merchants is formed in that capital to proceed to the capital of another territory with a king of its own, called CASCAR.3 These all take the road together, either for the sake of mutual comfort or for protection against robbers. They numbered in the present case about five hundred persons, with a great number of mules, camels, and carts. So he set out from Lahore in this way during Lent of the year just mentioned,4 and after a month's travelling they came to a town called ATHEC,5 still within the province of Lahore. After (a halt of) about a fortnight they • crossed a river of a bowshot in width, boats being provided at the passage for the accommodation of the merchants. On the opposite bank of the river they halted for five days,
1 The former is probably the same person who is mentioned by Jarric as " the subdeacon Leo Grymonius, a clever and experienced man," a Greek by nation, who was sent by Akbar on a mission to Goa about 1590
(ii, 529).
2 The instructions were probably sent after him to Lahore, for we have seen that according to another and probably more correct statement he set out on the 31st October, and reached Lahore 8th December, 1602. As instructed, he did not put up at the church at Lahore, then occupied by the Jesuits Emanuel Pinner and Francis Corsi, but at the house of
John Galisci, a Venetian (Jamie).
3 Kashgar. a Easter in 1603 was 30th March, N.s.
Attok, on the Indus:
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