'A New Account of East-India and Persia, in Eight Letters. Being Nine Years Travels, Begun 1672. And Finished 1681. Containing Observations made of the Moral, Natural, and Artificial Estate of Those Countries: Namely, of their Government, Religion, Laws, Customs. Of the Soil, Climates, Seasons, Health, Diseases. Of the Animals, Vegetables, Minerals, Jewels. Of their Housing, Cloathing, Manufactures, Trades, Commodities. And of the Coins, Weights, and Measures, Used in the Principal Places of Trade in Those Parts.' [‎264] (311/506)

264
Travels into PERSIA.
Letter V.
London Sack
cloth, or
Woolen Cloth
as cheap as iiV,
England.
Engl'fo Cloth
and Tin come
to a B^d Mar
ket.
The Caravans
of the City.
Bain t os.
Coffee-houfes.
Necroman
cers.
Horre-cIoth,and them to lye on; they are a kind of Privateers inTrade
No Pur chafe , n) Pay; they enter the Theatre of Commerce by
means of fome Benefactor, whofe Money they adventure upon, and
on Return, a Quarter Part of the Gain is their own: From fuch Be
ginnings do they raife fometimes great Fortunes for themfelves and
Mailers.
And from thefe expatiating the Terreftrial Globe, together with
the mix'd Concourfe of other Merchants from all Parts it is, that the
Commodities of all the Earth are feen in diftindt Buzzars in this one
City, as cheap as in their feparate Homes. For beholding the Sack
cloth Buzzar, for fo they call Engtifb Cloth, I thought it exceeded
B/arfwe/l HaW , or any Cloth-Fair in England, being piled in huge
Quantities both in their Shops around the Buzzar, and Heaps amidd
thereof, of all Sorts, Colours, and Conditions; where I bought a
Coat of Broad-Cloth to line with Furrs againfl: the Winter, for
Fourteen Shillings ihzCohit, almoft equal with our Yard, for what
lamfurel have paid Twenty Shillings the Yard at home.
Whereby it was eafy to guefs, that the Company's Broad -Cloth
came to a Bad Market, the Merchants bringing it in Truck for their
Goods cheaper from the Mediterranean, than the Company could
fend it, of which at prefent there is a great Glut: Nor will their
Tin fare much better, for that Tuthinage brought from the South-
Seas anfwers in all refpedfo, if not furpafles the fined of that Metal.
From hence T went to the Caravan Ser Raws, flateJy huge Fabricks
of Brick and Stone, bigger than our Inns^of Court, but far more
uniform, being Three or Four Stories high, with Walks and Galleries;
every Country has a feparateone, where they lodge whole Capbalaes
for Sale of Indian (Z\oi\\, furkifo, Arahian, European, and all manner
of Goods from the Four Quarters of the Univerle. Here they Rent
the Warehoufesand Apartments, not Let them out at free-coft, as up
on the Roads: The King and Queen, as they have built Royal Ones,
receive from them a great Annuity: Some of thefe Caravan Ser Rm
with th^ir Goods and Chapmen, refemble moftour LeadenhallUu-
ket and Market-houfe ( not for the Shambles there, which is be
yond any other, but) for Hides and Leather from Bulgaria, turky,
and of their own drefling, which excels that we call Spanijh, or the
bed Cordevan for Finenefs, and Shagreen for Durablenefs; for Bri
dles, Harnelles, Boots, and Shooes, here are beyond compare.
The next great Buildings are the Balneos, to which they go with
as much Devotion as to their Temples, not permitting any Hetero
dox to their Opinion, to Bathe with tl\em.
Their Coffee-houfes, as they are more publick, are finfe Rooms,
mining with Lamps in all their Buzzars.
Nor can we forget another fort of Black Traders, burning Light
at Noon day, which are the Necromancers, whofe Shops are beftuck
with Candles lighted in every Hole, who pretend to unravel the
Secrets ot Nature, to difcover Things loft, help the fooli/hly-inqui-
jitive to the Sight of their Abfent Lovers, and by their Art can
command Fate, and prophefy all things to wheedle their Admirers;
which is fo general, that they have Profelytes of all Qualities and
Degrees. *
In
N