IT would be needless , without doubt , by any Preliminary Discourse , to recommend the Relations of TRAVELS to publick Perusal ; since the universal Approbation they meet with in the World , and the eagerness wherewith they are sought after by all People , is an Argument convincing enough , that they are Delightful at least , if not also Profitable . However , seeing the Credit of Books of this Nature depends chiefly on the Places and Things that are described , and the Genius and capacity of the Traveller who observes them . As the Title Page gives a general account of the first ; so for the second , the Translator hath borrowed a few Paragraphs concerning the Illustrious Author , from the Gentleman who compiled and published the two last Parts of these Relations , in Execution of the last Will of him that made them , who Dying abroad in his Travels , bequeathed them in Legacy to his care ; and these the Translator doth premise by way of Preface , to prepare , but not forestal the Readers acceptance , and by such a short view and glance of the worthy Traveller , who ended his Days in endeavouring to promote Knowledge and improve Learning , to shew how great his Abilities were in this kind .

Monsieur de Thevenot , the Renowned Author of these Travels , was a Gentleman of a good Family , Born the seventh of June , 1633. At Eighteen Years of Age he had accomplish'd his Studies in the College of Navarre , in the University of Paris , and then applied himself to those Exercises , which in the breeding of Youth , commonly succede to their School Education ; till having both a desire and liberty to Travel ; On the Eighteenth of December , 1652. he parted from Paris for England . He made no long stay in this Country , but took the first occasion of Sailing over to Holland , where he remained longer . His next remove was to Colen , and from Colen to Franckfort and Ratisbone , that he might see an Imperial Diet there . He afterwards crossed the remaining part of Germany , and entering Italy by the Mountains of Tirol , went first to Verona , from thence to Venice ; from Venice to Loretto ; and from thence to Rome . He stayed a considerable time there , because when he was just upon parting , Pope Innocent the Tenth Died ; so that he resolved to tarry a little longer that he might see the Ceremonies , and all that happens on such Occasions , during a Conclave , and at the Coronation of a Pope . He left not Rome then , till after the Creation of Alexander the Seventh . The first part of his Travels over most part of Turkey , Egypt , the Holy Land , &c. ( which he himself put to the Press ) is an Account of what he had seen in that time , until he came back again to Legorn ; from whence he made another Journey in Italy , that he might see all the other Places which he had not visited the time before , and made some stay at the Court of Savoy , before he returned into France . Our Author hath published nothing of these Travels ; not but that he made a Relation of them , which he was at the pains to write out fair : But as he was a modest Man , and distrustful of his own performances , he would not give it to be printed with the first part of his Travels , which he himself handed to the Press , thinking these were Countreys sufficiently known already . It is indeed , but his first Essay , yet perhaps not inferior to the exactness of more mature time . He therein gives you a succinct Account of all that is Curious in every place , and a character of the several People . In short , he says enough to give one a reasonable information of those Countreys , and not too much , to cloy the Reader with the repetition of what he hath seen before . The Publisher of the two last Parts of these Travels , has that Relation by him , but has as yet taken no resolution what to do with it .

Our Illustrious Traveller had not been long at home after his first Travels , before the same Motives of Curiosity and Learning , put him upon preparing for a second Expedition , so that privately he withdrew himself from his Friends , without taking leave , in order to travel over Persia and the Indies , which are the Subjects of the two last Parts of his Relations , and of the last part of his days ; for as he was returning again through Persia into Europe , he Died at Miana , a little place about thirty Leagues from Tauris , the twenty eighth of November , 1667. his Observations ending but a few days before his Life ; whose Death , not only his Relations ( to whom he was very dear ) but even the publick hath reason to bewail , as having lost in him an Example of Piety , a Model of Vertue , and a Treasury of Knowledge . Nay , Reader , you also have cause to Lament this Loss , in relation to that Satisfaction you might have had from the last two Parts of his Relations ; which would have been doubtless Augmented , if Providence had granted him longer Life . For Monsieur de Thevenot was not only exact in the daily Memoires he made in Travelling , of all things he observed in the Countreys he passed through , but being a person very inquisitive after the Truth , and who would not rest satisfied with every slight Information , he address'd himself to as many , and as often as possibly he could , the better to find out the truth of what he desired to know , and dispersed the notices he had given him here and there confusedly among his Memoires ; so that the Publisher who imployed all imaginable care and pains in compiling them , is nevertheless forced to complain of the great Fatigue he underwent , in putting them together in the order they should be , and are in . However , it is not to be thought , that there is any thing supposititious or altered in these two last Parts ; no , they are only not so full as they would have been , had the Author lived to decipher the Short Notes , which were clear enough to him , though not altogether so intelligible to others : And the truth is , the ingenious Publisher is so far from Alterations , that he would not so much as change that forreign Air and Dress they brought with them from Abroad , chusing rather to let them speak in the naked and plain strain of the Author , than in the more elaborate Language of the Court and Town , which would chiefly be believed for their words-sake . And indeed , he had reason so to do , for a genuine and simple style , such as can raise a distinct Idea in the mind of the Reader , is the proper style for particular and exact Relations of things ; and that was the Character of Monsieur de Thevenot , in the first Part of his Travels ; which hath been so well taken and approved of by all Men of Breeding and Sense , that it would have been an Injury both to the Author and Reader to have Alter'd it .

The extraordinary Exactness of our Judicious Traveller , in observing the Minutest Particular of any thing that occurred to him abroad , may be dislik'd perhaps , by some who mind their pleasure more than profit , in Reading the Relations of Travels , and had rather be shamm'd with some Romantick idle Tales , than instructed in real and substantial Truths . But seeing all his Observations are made with Judgment , that seeming superfluous exactness can be no small Satisfaction to the Curiosity of all Ingenious Persons , nor no inconsiderable Advantage neither to those who Travel into the same Countries , when they shall find the least things observable on all the Roads he past , so particularly set down and described , that a Traveller who hath the Book with him , may be able to tell as well as his Guide what kind of way and accommodation upon the Road they are like to have , even some days before they Travel it ; insomuch , that it may be confidently affirmed , that no Almanack so exactly describes the Road from London to York , as our Industrious Author hath done it in that vast extent of Countries he pass'd through ; for which all Travellers ought to have a veneration for his Memory , and if they intend to make Publick any thing of this Nature , Imitate him if they can .

I am bold to say , if they can ; because , besides the singular Talents and Abilities Monsieur de Thevenot had for Observation ; he undertook his Travels in a far more noble prospect , than that which carries a great many others so far from home ; who making their Trade their main business , cannot bestow but the least part of their Application upon curious Observation . As for him , he was wholly devoted to it , and that with so great Assiduity , that ( according to the report of many who saw him in those Countries ) he hardly allowed himself time to eat . It is easie to judge of the vastness of his Labour , by the reading of these Relations , wherein it appears , that he was constantly taken up in making Remarks generally on all things . But as a farther confirmation of this , the Gentleman who Published the two last Parts of these Travels , has now by him a Work made by the Author in the Indies , that gives a far greater proof of his exactness and pains . It is a Collection of all the Plants of those Countries , which in Botanick terms is called a Hortus Siccus : it consists of five Volumes , wherein may be seen the natural Leaves of Plants , and Branches also of all sorts of Trees , of which the Leaves and Flowers of some , with their Pods , had not ( when the second part of these Travels was first Published ) lost their Colour . All these are neatly pasted on one Page , and on the opposite , you have the Name of the Plant in Portuguese , Persian , Indian , Malabar and Banian : Then he gives a Description of the Plant , in such a manner , as not only shews his exactness in all things , but his skill also in that Science , the smallest Filament is not omitted in it : He observes the Places where the Plant is most commonly to be found ; the time when it is in Flower , bears Fruit , and its Vertues , if it have any that are known . The truth is , so curious and elaborate a Work , might deserve a better Fate , than to lye moulding in the bottom of a Trunk , and it is no small trouble to him who has it , that being unable to furnish either Time or Expences for Publishing the same , he is forced so to let it Perish in obscurity ; nor was it but only by chance neither , that he got the Figures of two of these Plants ; and because Monsieur de Thevenot , who saw them before he began his Collection , had made an ample Description , and small Design of them in his Memoires .

A Work of this nature may very well raise a high notion of its Author ; but it is a surprizing thing , that at the same time he could pursue his other Observations of the Countrey , and study the Languages , wherein he made great Progress , and hath given us the Malabar Alphabet , and some Rules of the Syntax of that Language . He had an extraordinary aptitude for Languages , for not to mention those that are most known in his own Countrey , he fully understood Turkish , Arabick , and Persian , which enabled him to Know and Write , as he hath done , of those People . And as his Observations , which are in a manner on all sorts of Subjects , require a notion of the most part of Arts and Sciences , so hath he evidently demonstrated , that so many different Employments enough to have busied several Persons , have not at all diverted him from the Study of the most serious and difficult matters . The truth is , he had Parts that could reach and command any thing , was ingenious in unravelling Difficulties , laborious in Study , and constant in pursuing what he set about , so that he attain'd to great knowledge in Natural Philosophy , Geometry , Astronomy , and all the Mathematicks ; and had especially studied the Philosophy of Descartes , rather that he might with pleasure examine Natural Effects in their Principles , than Magisterially dictate and decide , as those who now a days make a shew of that Philosophy , commonly do .

However , it is none of the least Encomiums of Monsieur de Thevenot , that so great Parts and so much Learning , no way lessened his Zeal for Religion , wherein he has the universal Approbation of all who returned from those Countries , or have Written of him to their Friends , who all extoll his Piety and Conduct , which was Civil and Regular , free from any of those Extravagancies , that commonly decry his Countrey-Men among other Nations . He had a Patience that no cross Accident could shake , an useful Quality to Travellers , but more particularly to all that Travel into the Levant ; and which is much to his Praise ; he had acquired that Patience by Reflections no less Christian than Solid , to wit , That nothing befalls us , but by the Orders of Divine Providence , that always takes care of us ; and this was often in his mouth as occasion offered . He had an easie unaffected Conversation ; and his natural and acquired Endowments enabling him to speak pertinently on all Subjects , his company was very agreeable ; nevertheless , he shewed always great Reservedness in discoursing of his Travels , and was so far from being importune upon that head , that nothing but Civility and Complaisance could engage him to enlarge thereon ; but then he did it in so natural and sincere a manner , that he hath had the Art to leave all Men perswaded of his Probity and Veracity ; and whether that good Opinion has been spread by those who knew him , or that his Writings bear a certain Air and Character of Truth ; it is commonly the first Encomium that those who knew him not , give him , ( when they have read his Travels ) that they are assured he speaks the Truth . And so much of the Illustrious Author .

But now as to the Englishing of this Work , since the Translator has no body to Vouch for him , he must e'en leave it to take its chance with the candid and good-natur'd Reader ; whom he would nevertheless have acquainted , that there were two or three words in the Original either not genuine French or Obsolete , which no Dictionary Explained , nor any body that he could meet with , understood , and that these he hath made English as near as he could to the sense of the Context . If the more Critical Reader will needs Cavil at the Purity of the Stile ; besides that the Stile of the Original is Plain and Natural ; the Translator has this to say for himself , that he was somewhat hastened and straitned in time , it being thought fit that this Book should overtake the Travels of Sir John Chardin , of which the first Part was lately Published , that for its Reputation sake it might Travel over the English World in so good Company , and give and receive those Mutual Assistances , which Travellers are willing to impart to one another . The Reader then , is not to expect that the Language should be so Accurate , nor the Style so well turned , as if it had come abroad after many Reviews and Corrections : However the Translator dares venture to affirm for himself , that in the main he hath not Swerved from the Authors Meaning ; and that if he has not magnified his Sense , so neither has he depress'd it .

It is hoped the Reader will be satisfied , that the Translator had reason to English the following Letter , written upon occasion of some words of Oriental Learning , that are variously Accepted , in the Book of the Coronation of Solyman , and in the Second Part of our Authors Travels ; for since the Publisher of that Part thought fit to Consult a Learned Critick in the Eastern Languages , for the Justification of Monsieur de Thevenot , who differed from Sir John Chardin in some Points of that sort of Learning , and that the Book of the Coronation of Solyman , is now Published in English ; the Translator could do no less than Verbatim to English the aforesaid Letter from the Original , that so if any thing be altered in the new Edition or Translation of it , the state of the Controversie may appear as it was at first , and the Author be Vindicated , according to the intent of his Friend , who cannot be suspected to have mis-quoted any passage of the Book , no more than the Translator to have done what he hath done , out of any prejudice to it , or its Author , who is a Gentleman altogether unknown to him .

What Errata may be found in the Book , the Reader is desired to Correct , and not impute them to the Translators Oversight , who had not the Correcting of the Sheets .

I Shall Answer , Sir , in as few words as I can , the Note you did me the Honour to write to me , touching the apprehensions you had , that some words of Oriental Learning to be found in the Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot , may be found fault with , because you meet with them in another signification , in the Treatise called , the Coronation of Solyman ; but let me tell you , Sir , that Apprehension seems to me to be inconsistent with the Justice you owe to that illustrious Traveller ; and that since you are not ignorant of the talents he possessed , it is your part to believe , that what he hath written , must be right , and whatever clashes therewith censureable . His First Travels into the Levant , gained him the Knowledge of the Turkish rnd Arabick Languages ; and his second , of the Persian : These three Languages , which he was so much Master of , and which are indispensably necessary for the understanding of Oriental Books , together with his skill in History , Mathematicks , Astronomy , Botanicks , and other Natural Sciences , wherein he excelled , render'd him so accomplish'd in all Oriental Learning , as you must needs have found by his private Memoires , that there are but few in the Western Parts who come near him in that , and none but may reap Profit from his Instructions .

Nor do I in the least doubt , but that he who hath written the Book of the Coronation of Solyman , is of the same opinion ; and for instance , I cannot think he 'll maintain that the word Mehter , which he attributes to the High Chamberlain of the King of Persia , and makes a Superlative by the signification he gives it , is Arabick , when he finds that our Author affirms it to be a Persian word , and Comparative , seeing its Superlative is Mehterin , which signifies the Greatest .

I am very confident also , he will be ready to confess , that Toboat is an Arabick , and not a Persian word , and that he 'll acknowledge , if he understand Arabick or Persian , that that word which signifies Coffins , hath not the Character of Persian Plurals , which commonly end in Ha , or in An ; but of Arabick .

As to the word Divan beghi , which he says is corrupted from Divanum Begh , no sence can be made of that Proposition , Divanum Begh having never been used , neither in Turkish nor in Persian , and is indeed Non-sense . On the contrary , Divan beghi , which signifies ( as our Author says ) Lord of the Divan , is very good Turkish , and exactly agreeable to the Syntax of that Language .

Nor have you any greater cause of fear , for the two words of Turban and Munedgim , you take notice of to me , as made use of by our Author . The Author of the Coronation of Solyman may say what he will ; but he would have done very ill to have written Dhulbant ; that would be a word as monstrous in a French or English Book , as in the Mouth of him that should pronounce it . Turban is now a vulgar European word , established by Custome , and Dhulbandt a Persian word , provided it were written according to its true Orthography , ( for it ought to be written Dulband . ) And when a European speaks his own Language , and would be understood , he ought not to use Exotick words , when his own Country Language can do the thing ; so as a Man speaking French or English would render himself ridiculous , should he say Chimichir instead of Cimeter , though the one come from the other . But there is more to be said as to this ; for the word Dulband signifies not in Persian , what in French or English is meant by Turban ( as the Author of the Coronation of Solyman thinks , ) and instead of blaming Writers who understood not the language , and of saying that the King's Cap was tied round in manner of a Dhulbandt with a fine Cloth , he ought to have said ( since he pretends that Persian words are to be used ) that the King's Cap was tied in manner of a Destar , which is the Turban , by a Dulband , or fine Cloth , seeng the Dulband is but a part of the Turban , which in Persian is called Dester , as in Turkish Sarick , and only signifies the Cloth that is wreated about the Kaouk or Cap of the Turban ; and by a Turban , is understood the whole Head-attire , after the Eastern way .

Now for the word Munedgim , which signifies Astrologer , and is used by our Author , there is no dispute to be made about it : The word Munehizym , made use of in the Book of the Coronation , is not a word of the Language , and is indeed , insignificant ; but the word in question , is altogether a term of Learning , and is purely Arabick , the root of it being Nedgem , whereof the radical letters are Nun , Dgm , Mim , among which as you see , there is neither H nor Z , and therefore it must be Munedgim .

It is not the same with the word Khanum , interpreted in the Book of the Coronation , by that of Dutchess ; it is more a word of Court than of Art , but for all that it is nothing the worse employed by our Author , and those who are well acquainted with the Court of the King of Persia , say as he does , that Begum is the Title of the Queens and Princesses , and Khanum that of the chief Ladies of his Serraglio . And I wonder , as well as you , at the meaning which is given to that word in the Book of the Coronation of Solyman , seeing it hath no Character that comes near the Natural signification of Khanum , and far less the Artificial , which at most makes it only to signifie a Beloved Lady . This word hath its Original from Galantry ; the Etymology of it is Khan , used in Persia chiefly to signifie the Commander or Governour of a Province or Town , and the two other letters , or rather the Consonant M , with the Vowel or Motion that accompanies it , is an adjunct Particle , which both in Turkish and Persian stands in place of a Pronoun possessive of the first Person : And so the word Khanum signifies my Khan , my Commander , my Governour in the Masculine gender , which hath been given by the Kings of Persia to the Women they passionately loved , in the same manner as some Amorous Man might in English call a Lady who commanded all his affections , his Conquerour ; and this is very far from the serious signification of Dutchess , as it is found in the Book of the Coronation of Solyman .

And now , Sir , as to what remains of your Note , to wit , the two words of Sarazins and Sofi ; certainly there is no fault to be found with the learning of Monsieur de Thevenot in neither of the two ; and when he affirms that Sarazins comes from Sarak to Rob , no exceptions can be taken thereat . There is much more to be said against the Etymology of that word mentioned in the Book of the Coronation of Solyman , notwithstanding the long dissertation inserted in it , and the insulting over those who therein are called Relation-makers , nay and the ancient Historians themselves . How ! in God's name , would he who hath written that Book , have Sarazin to come from Sara Netchim , and where does he find this Etymology ? If he have any Knowledge of the Oriental Languages , which I cannot be positive in , as not having the honour of being acquainted with him , Ought he not to know when there is any question about Etymology , at least , in these Languages , that the Radical letters decide the point ? How then can Sarazins in French or English , Saraceni in Latin , from which we have borrowed it , or in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and in Arabick Sarakioun be derived from Sara Netchim , or ( to gratifie his thought more ) from Sara Nechin , seeing according to the very letters which he assigns to Sara Nechin , the chief character of Nechin , which is the first of Nun , is not at all in Sarazin , as the Chin which he eludes , and makes the English his Vouchers for it , cannot be . But from the Etymology , let us proceed to the Signification ; Where hath that Author found that Sara Netchin signifies those that seat themselves in the Fields ? This word hath several significations , which have no affinity to that . The word which signifies a Desart , or barren Plain , is Sahhra , with a hh , which can in no manner of way , no more than the Sad , wherewith that word begins , enter into the Etymology of Sarazins , seeing Oriental Authors have never used a Hha nor Sad , in writing the Plural Sarakioun or Sarakin , Sarazins , whereof the Arabick root is Sarak to Rob ( the chief business of that People ) that hath for Radical letters a Sin , a Re , and a Kof , which Kof the Greeks mark by a Kappa , and we as well as the Latins , by a C , the pronunciation whereof we have softened by a Z , or an S , saying Sarazins or Sarasins , instead of Saracins : Whereupon it is further to be observed , that the Sarazins are not the Turcomans , as is mentioned in the Book of the Coronation : These last came from the farthest North , and the Sarazins from the South . When first the word Sarazins or Saracins came into use , it was not known what the Turcomans were . The name of Sarazins was given to the Ishmaelitish Arabians , or the Agareneans , to wit , the Arabs of the Desart , who live not in Towns , and who practice at present ( as they did many Ages since ) the trade of Robbing , which got them the name of Sarazins , without doubt , long before the English , who pronounce the Shin as easily as the French do , could have changed that letter of the Persian Verb Netchinem , into a Zin , as it is very ill supposed in the Book of the Coronation of Solyman .

The Author of the same Book takes it ill also , that one should say the Great Sofi , speaking of the King of Persia : Indeed that term were to be blamed , if used in speaking or writing to a King of Persia , or even to a Persian . Texeira and others have long ago written , that it is a term not to be used ; but they have not said , that no King of Persia ever carried that name , as the Book of the Coronation does . These Persons were too well acquainted with the Oriental History , to do so . And when Monsieur de Thevenot writes Ismael Sofi , he makes it apparent enough , that he hath read the Eastern Authors , and knew that the name of Sofi hath been one of the chief means which raised the Family that at present Reigns in Persia , to the Throne . The first King of it joyned the Name or Sirname of Sofi , to that of Ismael , and took it in imitation of his Father and Grandfather , who had already made several Attempts to raise themselves by Power , above the rest of their Country-men : And both these Persons affected to be called Sofies , that they might preserve in their Family the Reputation and number of Friends , which their Ancestors , whom they averred to be descended of Aly , by one of the Imams , had acquired to them , when they were Chief of that Order and Sect of Sofies , in later times grown formidable . That Sect , which in the time of its Piety , applied it self particularly to Mystical Theology and Contemplation , was in Mahometanism the most Puritanical of all the Sects of the East ; and in the French Kings Library , there are entire Manuscripts of the Rules that it observed .

The great esteem that Ismal knew his Forefathers had acquired under that Name , made him think it would be much for his advantage to take it ; and he was not mistaken , for he was first followed by all the Sofies , and those who were addicted unto them , by whose means he Established the Belief , which his Father and Grandfather had but in a manner proposed , to wit , that Aly being the only true Heir of Mahomet , he was to be followed in all things , by those who would be saved . And the truth is , they conceived so high an opinion of that Sofi , that the Friends of his Family , with the Malecontents and Innovators , easily joyned with him , and he as easily employed them to destroy Farochk King or Sultan of Schirvan , who had put to Death his Father Aidar .

This having succeeded so well with Ismael Sofi , he found means afterwards to attack and overcome the other Sultans of Persia , who were of the Family of Akkoionlu , and to mount the Throne of the Empire himself . So that it is not true , that none of the Kings of Persia ever bore the Name of Sofi , though since Ismael's time , these Kings have forborn to take it , having depressed that Order of the Sofies , for reasons that I could alledge elsewhere ; and besides , they stood no more in need of Artifice to maintain their grandeur . This is that Sha Ismael Sofi who gave occasion to the Europeans to call the Kings of Persia Sofies , as from Caesar , they called the succeeding Emperours Caesars ; and from Osman or Othman , those of Turkie , Ottomans .

I must also tell you , that one ought not to take exceptions , if he meet with some diversity in the pronunciation of Oriental words in this Book , especially when the question is about Vowels , or the Consonants Kha , Hha , Kef , and some others : In different Countreys they are variously pronounced ; in some places they pronounce Nameh , Bender , and Bazerghian ; and in others Namah , Bendar , Bazerghion : Some say Kher , and others Hher ; some Gomron , others Komoron , and so in many others ; but the figurative letters always occur in both the one and the other .