‘The travels of Sig. Pietro della Valle, a noble Roman, into East-India and Arabia Deserta. In which, the several countries, together with the customs, manners, traffique, and rites both religious and civil, of those Oriental princes and nations, are faithfully described: In familiar letters to his friend Signior Mario Schipano. Whereunto is added a relation of Sir Thomas Roe’s voyage into the East-Indies’ [‎442] (463/508)

44 2 d Voyage ^ E A S T-I N D I A, fac.
and Drunkards into Swine. So the Souls of the Voluptuous
and incontinent into Monkies and Apes. Thus the Souls of the
Furious.,Revengeful 3 Cruel People^ into Lions^ Wolves;, Tygres^
other beafts of prey. So the Souls of the Envious into Serpents^
and fointo other Creatures according to peoples qualities and
difpofitions, while "they lived fucceffively from one to another
of the fame kind, ad infinitum for ever and ever 3 by confe-
quence they believing the immortality of the World. And
upon that fame mad and groundlefs phanfie, probably they fur
ther believe, that the Souls of Froward, Peevifti, and Teachy
Women go into Wafps $ and that there is never a filly Fly, but
(if they may be credited) carries about it fome Souls (haply
they think of light Women) and will not be perfwaded out of
their wild conceivings, fo incorrigible are their fottifti errours.
The day of reft which thofe Hindoos obferveas a Sabbath
isThurfday, as the Mahometans Friday. Many Feftivals they
have which they keep folemnly, and Pilgrimages., the moft fa
mous briefly fpoken of before in thofe (hort defcriptions of Na*
graiot) and Syba, obferved in my firft Section.
Now there are a race of other Heathens (I named before)
living amongft thofe Hindoos^ which in many things differ very
much from them : they are called Perfees, who (^asthey fay)
originally came out of about that time and his
followers gave Laws to the PerfianSj and impofed a new Religi
on on them 5 which thefePerfees not enduring left their Coun*
try, and came and fetled themfelves in EaJi^India^ in the Pro
vince of Guzarat, where the moft part of them ftill continue
(though there are fome of them likewife in other parts of India)
but where-ever they live they confine themfelves ftriftly to their
own Tribe, or Sed.
F or their Habits, they are clad like the other people of that
Empire 5 but they fhave not their hair clofe as the other do 5 but
fuffer their beards to grow long.
. f heir profeffion is for the generality all kinds of Husbandry,
imploying themfclves very much in Sowing and Setting of
Hei bs 5 in Planting and Dreffing of Vines, and Palmeeto^ or
Toddy-Trees, as in Planting and Husbanding all other Trees
bearing fruit ^ and indeed they are a very induftrious people, and
fo are very many of the Hindoos (as before I obferved) and they
do all very well in doing fo, and in this a due, and deferved
commendation belongs unto them. For,
1 here is no condition whatfoever can priviledge a folded
ai m. Our ftrft Parents before their fall were put into the Gar
den of Eden to drefs it. Certainly, if idlenefs had been better
than labour, they had never been commanded to do work, but
they mufl labour in their eftate of innocency, becaufe they were
happy, and much more we in our finful loft eftate that we may
befo. It was a law given before the Law, that manfimldcat
bread by the fmat of his brom 9 and it is a Gofpel-preccpt too
41 • r . that