Page:The lives of celebrated travellers (Volume 1).djvu/19

PIETRO DELLA VALLE.

Born 1586.—Died 1652.

Born at Rome—Education and early life—Sails from Venice—Constantinople—Plain
of Troy—Manuscript of Livy—The plague—Visits
Egypt—Mount Sinai—Palestine—Crosses the northern desert of Arabia—An
Assyrian beauty—Falls in love from the description of a
fellow-traveller—Arrives at Bagdad—Tragical event—Visits the ruins
of Babylon—Marries—Beauty of his wife—Departure from Bagdad—Mountains
of Kurdistan—Enters Persia—Ispahan—Wishes to make
a crusade against the Turks—Travels, with his harem, towards the
Caspian Sea—Tragical adventure of Signora della Valle—Arrives at
Mezenderan—Enters into the service of the shah, and is admitted to
an audience—Expedition against the Turks—Pietro does not engage
in the action—Disgusted with war—Returns to Ispahan—Domestic
misfortunes—Visits the shores of the Persian Gulf—Sickness and
Maani—Pietro embalms the body of his wife, and carries it about
with him through all his travels—Sails for India, accompanied by a
young orphan Georgian girl—Arrives at Surat—Cambay—Ahmedabad—Goa—Witnesses
a suttee—Returns to the Persian Gulf—Muskat—Is
robbed in the desert, but preserves the body of his wife—Arrives
in Italy—Magnificent funeral and tomb of Maani—Marries again—Dies
at Rome 149


JEAN BAPTISTE TAVERNIER.

Born 1602.—Died 1685, or 1686.

Native of Antwerp—Commences his adventures at a very early age—Visits
England and Germany—Becomes page to a viceroy of Hungary—Visits
Italy—Narrowly escapes death at the siege of Mantua—Ratisbon—Imperial
coronation—Tragical event—Turkey—Persia—Hindostan—Anecdote
of a Mogul prince—Visits the diamond mines—Vast
temple—Dancing girls—Mines of Raolconda in the Carnatic—Mode
of digging out the diamonds—Mode of trafficking in jewels—Boy
merchants—Anecdote of a Banyan—Receives alarming news
from Golconda—Returns—Finds his property secure—Mines of Colour—Sixty
thousand persons employed in these mines—Mines of—Sumbhulpoor—Magical
jugglers—Miraculous tree—Extraordinary
accident at Ahmedabad—Arrival at Delhi—Palace and jewels of the
Great Mogul—Crosses the Ganges—Visits the city of Benares—Islands
of the Indian Ocean—Returns to France—Marries—Sets up
an expensive establishment—Honoured with letters of nobility—Purchases
a barony—Dissipates his fortune, and sets out once more for
the East, at the age of eighty-three—Is lost upon the Volga 180


FRANCOIS BERNIER.

Born about 1624.—Died 1688.

A native of Angers—Educated for the medical profession—Visits Syria
and Egypt—Is ill of the plague at Rosetta—Anecdote of an Arab servant—Visits
Mount Sinai—Sails down the Red Sea—Mokha—King
of Abyssinia—Bargains with a father for his own son—Sails for India—Becomes
physician to the Great Mogul—Is in the train of Dara,