92 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF FELIX FABRI
THE SECOND CHAPTER, CONTAINING THE DOINGS OF THE PILGRIMS DURING THE MONTH OF MAY.
THE delightful and joyous month of May offers for our devout worship on its first day the holy Apostles St. Philip and St. James. Wherefore, very early in the morning, when the lords and the rest of our company had risen and were making themselves ready for going to church and hearing Mass, they asked me in which church we should hear divine service to-day. I replied, 'Lo, now, my lords, we have set out upon a pilgrimage in the name of God, and [36 a] it is not fitting that a pilgrim should stand idle. Now we must remain in this city for a whole month longer. And seeing that we are set about on every side by waters, we cannot solace ourselves and pass our time by visits to flowery gardens or smiling plains, to shady woods, green meadows, or delightful plantations of trees and flowers, roses and lilies; nor can we employ our leisure in hunting, while it would not befit us to attend tournaments or dances; therefore my advice is that, while we remain here, we should every day make a pilgrimage to some church, and visit the bodies and relics of the saints, whereof there is a great multitude in this city, and that thus throughout this month of May we may be plucking flowers, the roses and lilies of virtues, of graces and indulgences.' When they heard this, my advice was approved by all, and it was unanimously agreed that we should row or walk every day to one of the churches; and if not all of us together, that at least some of our company should do so, that they might afterwards tell the rest what they had seen. So on that first day of May we hired a boat and rowed to the church of the holy Apostles St. Philip and St. James, and attended service there. After service we went up to the altar and kissed the holy head of St. Philip, which is kept there, and the holy arm of St. James. There was a great crush of people to see and kiss the holy relics. When service was over the people went away, but we waited until we could have a better view of the relics without being jostled, and could touch them with our jewellery. For pilgrims to the Holy Land are wont to carry with them to the holy places choice rings of gold or silver, and beads of precious stones for 'paternosters' or rosaries, or the rosaries themselves, little gold or silver crosses, or any of the like precious and easily carried trinklets, which are entrusted to them by their parents or friends, or which they buy at Venice or in parts beyond the sea for presents to those who are dear to them; and whenever they meet with any relics, or come to any holy place, they take those jewels and touch the relics or the holy place with them, that they may perchance derive some sanctity from the touch; and thus they are returned to the friends of the pilgrims dearer and more valuable than before.
I myself was the least of all, and the poorest of all our company, yet had I many precious jewels which had been lent me by my friends, patrons and patronesses, in order that I might touch with them the relics and holy places to which I came, and bring them back to them, receiving a reward for so doing. Among others, his worship, Master John Echinger, at that time Mayor of Ulm, entrusted me with his most cherished ring, which ring his father, James Echinger, had drawn from his thumb in his last moments and given to his son, even as he himself had received it from his father before him: I verily believe it was of more value to him than a hundred ducats, and that now he values it at more than two hundred. So, after the people had retired, we drew near and, as I have described, touched the relics of the holy Apostles. It was my duty [b] to take all the jewels belonging to the secular pilgrims at holy places, or places where relics were kept, and with my hands I touched the holy things with each of them, and then gave them back to their owners. But some of the nobles left their jewels in my hands throughout the pilgrimage. Thus we did at all the holy places and with all the relics which we found during our whole pilgrimage, beginning with the holy child Simeon at Trent. So when we had done all this we went home to our inn for dinner.
On the 2nd of May we went in the morning to St. Mark's, and attended Masses in the great church of St. Mark. When the Masses were over, we went into the palace of the Doge of Venice, to wait upon the Doge himself with the letter which the most illustrious Sigismund, Archduke of Austria, had entrusted to my lords for them to present to him, as aforesaid, page ~6, in the account of the I7th day. So we went up the stone stairs from the court of the palace to the portico, and standing outside the hall of judgment, we asked to be admitted to an audience of the senate. We were at once admitted into the place of the consuls, and placed in the presence of the Doge and the senate. Now, the Lord John, Baron van Cymbern, holding aloft the letter of the Archduke of Austria, walked forward in a most gallant fashion into the midst of the hall, went up to the Doge, presented the letter to him with a courtly reverence, and retired. The Doge looked at the seal, and on recognising it, kissed it, and handed it to the senators who sat with him, that they also might kiss it. He then caused the letter to be read in the hearing of all present. When he had heard it, the Doge arose, and through an interpreter offered his services to the pilgrims, and calling each of them to him severally, gave his hand to each man, drew him towards him, and kissed him in the Italian fashion. After this my lords begged for letters commendatory to the Captain-general of the Sea, and to the governors of the islands, in order that, if need were, they might invoke the protection of these persons aforesaid. This request was straightway granted, and the letters were written and delivered to us.
On the 3rd, which is the feast of the Invention of the Cross, we rowed to the church of St. Cross, and after hearing service there, we saw and kissed the body of St. Athanasius, which rests there; and we touched it with our jewels, as has been described in the account of the day before. This saint, a most mighty champion of the faith, wrote for the confusion of heretics the creed: ' Whosoever will be saved,' etc. After this we returned to our inn for dinner. After dinner we went by water to the greater convent of Minorites, and saw the buildings, which are very grand. In a chapel attached to the church stood a horse, built together with wondrous art. The Venetians, imitating the customs of the heathen nations, once determined to reward one of their captains who had fought bravely for the republic, and gained much new territory for it by his velour, by setting up an everlasting memorial of him, and placing a brazen statue of a horse and his rider in one of the streets or squares of the city. In order that this might be done as splendidly as possible, they sought out sculptors throughout their country, and ordered each of them to make a horse of any material he chose, and they would then choose one out of the three best [37 a] horses, and have a horse cast in brass on the model of that one. Besides the price of his statue, they proposed to bestow especial honours upon the artist who made the best-shaped horse.
So three sculptors met together at Venice, and one of them made a horse of wood, covered with black leather, which is the horse which stands in the aforesaid chapel; and so life-like is this figure, that unless its unwonted size and want of motion betrayed that the horse was artificially made, a man would think that it was a real living horse. Another sculptor made a horse of clay, and baked it in a furnace; it is admirably formed, and of a red colour. The third moulded an exquisitely-shaped horse out of wax. The Venetians chose this latter, as being the most cunningly wrought, and rewarded the artist. But as for what will be done about casting it I have not heard; perhaps they will give the matter up. So, after we had seen this convent and the aforesaid things, we returned to our own place.
On the 4th, which was the Sunday called ' Vocem jucunditatis,' and was the feast of the most holy virgin, St. Catharine of Siena, we crossed from the penitentiary of St. Dominic to the church of St. John and St. Paul, and there saw a solemn procession and attended divine service. The whole church was crowded with people, and many women were there habited as Beguines. When service was over, I went to the cloister of the brethren, and there I found a brother of my own order who was staying there on his way. He bore the badges of a pilgrim to the Holy Land, and came from the country of France, and from the convent of our order in the Isle of France, and intended to sail with us. I therefore made his acquaintance, and we agreed to bear one another company. Howbeit, he did not embark on board of my galley, but on the other; yet at Jerusalem he often visited me, and I often visited him there, and we bore one, another company. After dinner I went away alone by boat to St. Dominic's to see the fathers there, and they showed me an entire hand of the most blessed virgin, St. Catharine of Siena, very large and beauteous, with all its flesh and bones, which hand I kissed many times. In the same convent I found another brother of my order who came from Naples, and bore the badges of a pilgrim. But he also did not sail in my galley. After this I rowed back to my inn.
On the 5th day we went by water to the island of St. Helena the Empress, and there I read Mass to my lords. After Mass the monks opened the tomb of St. Helena for us, and we saw her entire body, with many other relics, and after kissing them and touching them with our jewels, we returned home. After dinner we went in a boat to the galley which we had hired, and found that the captain had caused planks to be put along the lower part of our berths, so that some of them came just by our feet, where we wanted to put our shoes and chamber-pots. We therefor told the men in charge of the galley that, unless on the marrow they took down those planks, we should hold our contract void, seeing that their doing this was contrary to article nine. Upon this there arose a dispute between the pilgrims and the captain. Howbeit, if he wanted to keep us, he was bound to destroy the work which he had put up. So, having thus arranged our berths, we returned to our inn. [b]
On the 6th we rowed to St. Lucia's, and there, after hearing Mass, we saw and kissed the body of that virgin, which is kept in a tomb there with great honour. On the same day we went to the market and bought all that we should need on our galley for the voyage out-cushions, mattresses, pillows, sheets, coverlets, mats, jars, and so forth, for each berth. I bade them buy a mattress for me stuffed with cows' heir, and I had brought woollen blankets with me from Ulm, that I might sleep on board the galley just as I did in my cell, for I thought it unbecoming for me to lie softer on board a galley than in my own cell.
On the 7th, which is the feast of the translation of St. Peter Martyr, we went in a boat out of Venice to the island of Murano, and heard the Dominican service in the church of St Peter Martyr1 there. After we had seen the convent and the brethren there, we roved to the parish church, wherein the parish priest showed us the entire bodies of many of the Holy Innocents, all lying in one tomb, which we kissed, and then crossed over to the furnaces of the glass-workers, in which glass vessels of divers forms are wrought with the most exquisite art-for there are no such workers in glass anywhere else in the world. They make there costly vases of crystal, and other wondrous things are to be seen there. After we had seen all these we went back in our boat to our inn at Venice.
On the 8th day, which was the feast of our Lord's Ascension, we went up to the church of St. Mark, both to attend service there and to see the grand sight, for countless folk flock thither together on that day. When they are all gathered together the Patriarch with his clergy and the religious from all the convents, and the Doge with the Senate and all the guilds of Echevinseach in their appointed order, and wearing their peculiar badges, with banners, torches, reliquaries, and crosses, walk in procession from the church of St. Mark to the sea, and there embark upon ships which are prepared for them. The Patriarch with the Doge and Senate go on board of the Bucentaur (in Latin Bucephalus, so named after the horse of Alexander the Great), which is a great ship fashioned like a tabernacle painted, covered, with gilding, and shrouded with silken hangings; and all this takes place with pompous ceremonial, with the ringing of all the bells in the city, the braying of trumpets, and the singing of various hymns by the clergy. When the Bucentaur is moved away from the shore by the stroke of its oars, which number more than three hundred, it is accompanied by above five thousand vessels. They sail as far as the castles which form the harbour of Venice, and when all the ships have passed outside the harbour into the sea, the Patriarch blesses the sea, just as it is customary in many places to bless the waters on that day. When the ceremony of blessing is over, the Doge takes a gold ring from his finger and throws the ring into the sea, thereby espousing the sea to Venice. After the ceremony of the ring many strip and dive to the bottom to seek that ring. [38 a] He who finds it keeps it for his own, and, moreover, dwells for that whole year in the city free from all the burdens to which the dwellers in that republic are subject. While all this is being done all the ships crowd round the Centaur with great press and jostling, and make such a noise with the cannons which they fire off, trumpets, drums, shouting and singing, that they seem to shake the very sea. We were present at this sight in our own hired boat. After the blessing and espousal of the sea is over they row the Bucentaur towards the monastery of St. Nicholas on the Lido, and on reaching the shore there all disembark from all the ships and enter the church, which not a hundredth part of the people is able to enter, though it is a great church; and in all that multitude there is not one single woman, but the whole ceremony is performed by men alone. When the Patriarch, dressed in his pontifical robes, and the Doge, with all his retinue, are walking towards that church, the Abbot of the monastery, wearing his mitre, and all his monks dressed in their sacred vestments, comes out to meet the multitude, takes the Patriarch and Doge by the hand, and leads them into the choir of the church, where they hold the service for the day with great solemnity. After this they return to their ships, and each man sails home to his own place to dinner. I have sometimes seen such sights elsewhere, with regard to which see page 210, part 2. Throughout the entire octave2 of the Ascension a fair is held, and there are wondrous shows in that week.
On the 9th day we rowed to the monastery which is called after the Crutched Friars,3 and after hearing Mass there we were shown the body of St. Barbara, with many other relics, which we reverently kissed, and returned to our inn. The same day we all went together to a house wherein stood an elephant, a huge and terrible animal, which we viewed, and were astonished to see so ungainly a creature so well taught, for he did wondrous things before our eyes at a sign from his keeper. This man had bought the beast for five thousand ducats, and from Venice he took him into Germany, and made much money, for he would not let anyone see him without paying for it. Afterwards he took him to Britain, and there being at sea in a storm, he was cast overboard by the mariners and so perished.
On the 10th, which was Saturday, we went by water to the church which is called St. Mary of Grace, and heard Mass; and thence we rowed to St. Mary of Miracles, where they are building a church of wondrous beauty with a very fine monastery. At the time of my first pilgrimage folk began to flock to that place, and at that time there was no chapel there, [b] but merely a portrait of the Blessed Virgin on a panel affixed to a wall, and it was said that miracles were wrought there. And such a concourse of people came thither, and so many offerings were made, that a costly church now stands on the spot, and is called St. Mary of Miracles. I shall say more of it in Part II., p. 208 b.
On the 1lth day, which was the Sunday within the octave of the Ascension, we heard Mass in the nearest church, which was over against our inn, and after dinner went by water to the church which is called the Church of the Castle, where the Patriarch of Venice dwells, and where every Sunday plenary indulgences are to be had. We obtained these indulgences and viewed the place. The church is large and ancient, and we found therein a brother of the order of Preaching Friars, who was preaching, though we could not understand his sermon. When the sermon was over we returned home.
On the 12th, which is the day of the martyrs Nereus, Achilles, and Pancratius, we went by water to the church of St. Zacharias, and attended Mass there. After Mass we sent a message to the Abbess of the monastery which joins the church, asking to have the relics shown us. These nuns are rich and noble, and are very, lax in their rule, which is that of St. Bene't. They opened for us a tomb in which lay the bodies of the three martyrs whose feast day it was, to wit, Saints Nereus, Achilles, and Pancratius. In another tomb, made of silver, we saw the entire body of St. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, with his mouth open, and by his side the body of St. Gregory Nazianzen, and the body of St. Theodore the confessor, and the body of St. Sabina, virgin and martyr. I was astonished at the wealth of this church in relics, and was told that the daughter of some Emperor was once Abbess thereof, and that he, out of love for his daughter, brought these bodies thither. So after we had seen and kissed the relics we returned to our own place.
On the I3th, after dinner, we went by water to the Carthusian4 church of St. Andrew, where there is a great and very grand monastery, on an island of its own, with four cloisters and large and beautiful cells. There we saw many relics, such as the finger of St. Andrew the Apostle, the arm of St. Laurence the martyr, and so forth. After this we went home.
On the 14th we went in the morning by water to the monastery of St. George,5 opposite the palace of St. Mark, beyond the Grand Canal, and made the monks of that monastery sing for us a Mass of St. George. After Mass they showed us their relics, that is to say, the head, left arm, and hand of St George; the head also of the Apostle St. James the Less, the entire body of St. Paul, Duke of Constantinople; a piece of the sponge offered to our Lord, and many other things. When we had seen these things we returned home.
[39 a] On the 15th, which was the octave of the Ascension, and was kept as holy as the first day thereof, we went early to St. Mark's, and after we had heard Mass we were shown the treasure of St. Mark, which is of inestimable value, in gold, silver, and precious stones. There we saw the tomb and body of St. Isidore. The body of St. Mark, which the Venetians brought from Alexandria to their city, we did not see, because it is said that a monk stole it and carried it away into Germany to Owia Major,6 about all which matters a more complete account will be found in Part II., p. 206.
Then from the church we went to the Doge's palace, and were conducted by some one belonging to the Doge's court round all the inner chambers of the Doge, even to the Doge's treasury, which we saw. That day is an especial festival of women, and we beheld a display of women's worldly ornaments so costly that it was a wonder to behold them.
On the I6th, while we yet lay in our beds, we heard the family of the house weeping and wailing, for our landlord, Master John, had died in the night, and they were making ready for his burial. Wherefore some of us, thinking that he might have been plague-stricken, hired vessels and sailed up to Padua, where they stayed for some days. Howbeit, I and those who stayed behind went by water to the church of St. Roch, in the city of Venice, and invoked the aid of the aforesaid saint, who is the especial helper of those who fear the plague, lest we should take the infection.
On the 17th, which was the eve of Pentecost, we rowed to the monastery of St. John, of the order of White Monks, and there attended service, and kissed the relics. After dinner we went to the storehouse of arms of the city, which they call the Arsenal, and begged to be admitted. When admitted we saw therein a wondrous amount of apparatus for war, and stores belonging to the state to equip men for fighting at sea, on horseback, or on foot, as is described hereafter, Part II., p. 205. After this we went likewise to the house of the bakers, who bake biscuit for use at sea, and we shuddered at the great furnaces and the fires, and the labours of the workmen. And after all this we went home.
On the 18th, which was the Sunday, and feast of Pentecost, we went in the morning to the church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, which is the parish church of our inn, and there I heard the confessions of some pilgrims, and after obtaining leave from the parish priest of the aforesaid church, I administered the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist to them, and we remained in the church throughout the whole service. After dinner we went by water to the church of the Holy Spirit, to which many people flocked to obtain indulgences, and to see a solemn procession of the guilds, which they call schools.
On the 19th we went by water to the church which is called St. Mary of Pity, which is most beautiful, and is richer and more ancient than any other church in the city, where we attended service, and admired the painting and sculptures with which it is adorned. On our return to our inn we visited many other churches, in which we obtained indulgences; but it would weary me to write down all their names.
On the 20th we went in the early morning, before the sun became hot, to the church of St. Mary the Beautiful7; and indeed the church is large and beautiful: so there we heard Mass, and then returned to our inn. During the rest of that day we did not venture out of doors because of the excessive heat, for the heat was greater than had ever been known at Venice before. By it the wells were dried up, and fresh water became very dear, for there was no drinkable water to be had there, except what was brought in ships from the river Brenta, and this was sold very dear, and was poured round about the wells, that it might be strained through the earth and filter into them.
On the 21st we went in a boat to St. Antony, near St. Dominic, and there attended divine service. After service we went round and looked at the great buildings which the lords of Venice are raising in that place, and wondered at the great cost of such works, for they are raising up huge walls out of the very waters of the sea, and it is very expensive to make foundations there. On account of this building, the Doge and the other senators of Venice were very angry with my brethren of St. Dominic, because they asked the brethren to give them half the ground of our convent garden to enlarge the monastery of St. Antony; but my brethren would not consent, and withstood the Doge and the Senate with a bold front, which raised great indignation against them. In order to obtain the consent of the brethren they offered to give them as much ground in the sea to the eastward as they would choose to accept, and offered to lay the foundations at the expense of the State; but the then Prior, a fear. less man, refused- altogether to give his consent. The lords of Venice are building this plane thus magnificently with fine houses and many rooms, for the reception of pilgrims to Jerusalem therein; for they deem it unbecoming that pilgrims bound on so holy a pilgrimage should be lodged in public inns, and that in so great a city they should have no place of their own save in public taverns. For among them the public inns are not well famed, and therefore when great magnates visit them, they assign private houses to them, to prevent their lodging in inns. Moreover, they are very unwilling that the dinners which they send at the public expense to strangers of importance should be taken into inns, and if they do send them to an inn they send small and scurvy ones. My lords were told, when they received [40 a] a dinner presented by the State, that if they were in any place but a public inn, the lords of Venice would send them dinners more often, and would deal more liberally with them. For this reason they are building this house at so great an expense, that honourable pilgrims may dwell therein, and may receive honour at their hands. From hence we rowed to our galley, and found many men at work on her, fitting her with rowing benches, oars, masts, and other things needful, and ballasting her with sand. When we saw this we rejoiced, hoping that we should soon set out.
On the 22nd day we went by water to the church which is called the Church of the Apostles, and attended service there. After Mass they showed us the body of St. Mary the Virgin, whereof there is so glorious an account in the Best part of the 'Lives of the Fathers' (p. 49 b). After dinner we went again to the galley, and took some boxes and chests to our berths. We rowed also to the place where ships of the largest size lie, and went on board some of them. We were astonished at what we saw, and wondered how the water could support such huge structures and such vast weights.
On the 23rd we went by water to the church of St. Jeremiah, where, after Mass, we were shown the body of St. Magnus the Bishop, who was the first Bishop of the city of Venice. From thence we went to the monastery of St. Mary, which is called St. Mary of the Virgins, and saw many relics of the saints there; and we visited many other chapels on that day, whose names I pass over.
On the 24th, which is the translation of St. Dominic, we went by water to St. Dominic's, the church of the Preaching Friars, and attended service there; and thence we passed to St. Anne's, which is close by, where we were shown many relics. On our way home we went to St. Mary of the Vineyard,8 where the Minorite Observantine Friars have a very fine convent, which they are daily making still more precious. There we saluted the glorious Virgin, and returned to our own place.
On the 25th, which was a Sunday, and the feast of the Blessed Trinity, we rose early and crossed the Grand Canal to the church of the Holy Trinity, where is the house of German Canons, where we attended a procession and divine service, and were invited to dinner by their lordships. On that day there is a great concourse of people thither; and all day the canal is full of boats with people who are coming and going. When we returned to our inn we heard that the Lords Consuls of Venice had given orders [I] to both the captains to start with their pilgrims that week, and wait no longer. On hearing this we rejoiced, because we were beginning to be exceeding weary of Venice.
On the 26th we crossed the canal to St. Stephen's, where there is a convent of Augustines, and heard Mass there. After service the brethren showed us some stones, which are believed to be those wherewith St. Stephen was stoned in Jerusalem. On that day our captain gave orders that we were to bring all our chests and baggage on board the galley, which, we straightway did with great joy, for we were eagerly looking forward to our departure.
On the 27th we rowed to St. Cartianus, where there is a parish church, in which we heard Mass. After service the clerks showed us the body of St. Maximus the Bishop, which is kept with great honour in a silver case. We also went to a church wherein rests the body of St. Saba the Abbot. After having kissed these relics we returned to our inn. On that day we worked hard at malting our preparations on board of the galley, and it seemed to us that the days which we had left of our stay at Venice would hardly suffice to complete our preparations.
On the 28th we went early by water to St. Mary of Carmel, where the Carmelite Friars have a convent, and after hearing Mass returned to our inn quicker than was our wont, for my lords had made an appointment with a physician who was to dine with us. From him they received written rules to be followed at sea, each man according to his own condition of body; and he gave them prescriptions for medicine, and many of us took purgatives from him, for it is necessary that those who are going to sea should be previously purged.
On the 29th, which was the feast of the most holy 'Corpus Christi,' we went up to St. Mark's and attended the solemn procession. Never had we seen such magnificence on that day as at Venice. The procession was marvellous, and contained a vast multitude of priests and religious of all orders, all of whom, wearing their sacred vestments, and carrying most precious reliquaries of every kind, walked in regular order all round the great square of St. Mark, which was covered with linen cloths all round the great circuit along which the procession moved from one of the doors of the church of St. Mark to another The Patriarch bore the Host, and by his side walked the Doge in his costly ducal cap. After them came the Abbots, Rearing their mitres, and the entire [48 a] Venetian Senate. Besides the ecclesiastical display, which was magnificent, it was interesting to see the gravity of the lords senators, and their very becoming robes: after them came many guilds, and then the common people. She religious, both regular and secular, walked first, with singing and every kind of musical instruments, interludes and spectacles of all sorts. In this procession no college, no monastery, no guild appeared without some pageant of its own for the admiration and delight of the beholders. The Friars Preachers of St. John and St. Paul embellished the whole procession by their droll and beauteous pageants: we saw there so much gold and silver, so many precious stones and costly dresses, that no man could reckon their value. There is nothing but a confused crowding, running, and pushing multitude. After dinner we went by water to the monastery of Corpus Christi, where dwell rich and noble Venetian ladies, who are nuns of the Order of St. Dominic; and, indeed, after dinner almost the whole city came by water to that church, and there was great crowding and crushing to see the procession: for the Preaching Friars of three convents, namely, St. John and St. Paul, St. Dominic and St. Peter Martyr, all come thither and make a superb procession with the Corpus Christi, reaching a long way, upon the Grand Canal, with many pageants. Among these holy solemnities how many vanities are to be seen, how much extravagant dress of women and dissolute behaviour of laymen, and disorderly conduct of both regular and secular clergy, may be conceived by anyone who considers what an enormous multitude is there gathered together. Whether the honour thus profanely bestowed on the most holy and divine sacrament its acceptable, God, who knoweth all things, alone can tell. So when all this was finished we went home to our inn to supper.
On the 30th we went by water to the church of St. Daniel, and heard Mass there. After Mass they showed us the entire body of one St. John, a martyr. We kissed these relics, and returned home. On that same day, after dinner, many of the pilgrims packed up their bags, and went by boat on board of the galley, from whence the, returned no more into the city, but remained on board of her until we all set sail.
On the 31st, which is the last day of May, we rose early and went to hear Masses at the church of St. Saviour, where there are regular Observantine Canons. After this we hired a boat, and caused ourselves to be taken to those churches whose patron saints are of peculiar service to those who are about to go on a pilgrimage; for now our time of departure was drawing near, and we wished to call upon the saints for their aid. First, therefore, we went to the church of St Raphael the archangel, where we prayed to God that He would send us His holy archangel for our guide, even as He did to Tobias. Thence we rowed to the church of St. Michael the archangel, and begged him [a] to trample beneath his feet every evil thing that might assail us, whether from visible or invisible enemies. From thence we rowed to St. Christopher's, and begged him to bear US safely across the great sea. For between Venice and the Isle of Murano there is an isle, whereon stands a new and fair church of St. Christopher, with a monastery of White Friars. In that monastery is painted a very fine map of the world. From that isle we rowed to the church of St. Martha, the hostess of the Lord Jesus, and begged her that she would take care to provide us with good and honourable inns, or at all events provide us with patience to bear the shortcomings of our inns during our long journey. Round about this church dwell nuns who wear a white habit. When we had done this we returned to our inn. See how even when dwelling in a city we could not keep ourselves from making pilgrimages! I have written' down only the holy and honourable wanderings which we made in the city of Venice. As for such as were undertaken out of curiosity, or worse motives, I pass them by' albeit they were made also. Here, then, endeth the account of our Venetian wanderings. Now, all that day we were busied in making ourselves ready for going on board our ship on the morrow. We settled with our physician, paid the reckoning of Dame Margaret our hostess, entrusted those things which are useless at sea to the charge of Nicholas Frig, a German, who was the cellarer of the inn, and awaited the morrow.
Here follow certain things necessary to be explained for the understanding of our wanderings on the sea.
Before beginning to recount our wanderings at sea, I have thought it necessary to preface them by a few necessary explanations to clear up the many difficulties which must arise in describing a pilgrimage by sea. For a pilgrimage to the Holy Land is for the most part performed at sea, and the greater part of the time is spent in the sea-voyage. I have therefore determined to write three prefaces to it.
First, about the many kinds of seas, their natures, and their perils.
Second, about a three-banked galley and its arrangements.
Third, about the discipline and mode of life on board of a galley, and advise to those who sail therein.
When these three are properly understood, even he who has never beheld the sea may rest satisfied [that he will understand my story]
OF THE THREEFOLD NATURE OF THE SEA
The sea is by nature threefold, consisting, that is to say, of the great sea, the greater sea, and-the greatest sea. The great sea is the Mediterranean Sea, which is called 'our sea'; the greater sea is the Pontic Sea; the greatest sea is the Ocean, which runs round the world. We will first briefly consider the Ocean, and then the other seas.
[42a] The Ocean, or greatest Ocean sea, is that which encloses the round world, running round about it like a ring. It is called Ocean both by the Greeks and the Latins, because it runs round the world; either from its, swiftness, because the ocean runs ocius, that is to say, fast, or by connecting its middle syllable ce with coelum, the heaven, because this sea bath a likeness to the heavens in colour, and of whatever colour the heavens may be, of that the Ocean will be likewise. This Ocean groweth out of the world, and bath its root and beginning therein; moreover, the end of the one is at the end of the other. It is likewise the origin of all the waters in the world, which flow from it and to it. Wherefore the Ocean is named the home. of rivers and the fountain of showers; yet it is not increased by the influx of the one, nor decreased by the efflux of the other, because it gives back as much water as it receives. Yet it seems marvellous, seeing that there are so great a number of rivers running thither and so continual, so almost infinite a pouring in of waters, that Ocean should not wax thereby. Nor is it less wondrous that though many rivers flow from it underground, and the stars draw a great part of its waters away, because the sun and the other stars do by their fierce fires draw away a very great abundance of water, and pour it round about all the stars, to temper the fiery parts of them, yet by these copious draughts of the stars the Ocean is nowise minished, because, as aforesaid, it takes in again as much as it loses by these draughts. How this is brought about is known to God alone, for the world is the work of His hands, and He alone knows all the parts thereof. This sea beyond all others follows the courses of the moon, and is therefore a whirlpool which sucks in waters and ships, and casts them up again; and it draws its waters in and out with a stronger current when there is a new moon. This whirlpool is called 'the great deep,' whereof we read in Genesis, chapter vii., verse 11: ' All the fountains of the great deep were broken up.' Over against this are cavernous places and wide-open caves, wherein the winds take their rise from the breath of the waters, and those caverns are as it were the nostrils9 of the world, and that breath is called in Scripture the spirit of the storm. The winds by their breathing through these open caverns drive the waters of the sea inwards into the great deep, and force them to gush forth again with a more violent current. These matters are discussed at large by Vincentius in the ' Speculum Naturae.' The waters of this sea are salt, as also are those of the other seas, as will be explained hereafter. Now, the size of the Ocean is such that nothing can be compared therewith, and its breadth is such as cannot be crossed, and beyond it there is no land; but that sea is bounded only by air thick with clouds; howbeit, there is land beneath it. According to the regular order of nature, the whole surface of the earth would be covered with water, but God of His infinite mercy was pleased to keep a portion of the earth dry for a dwelling for men and beasts, when He said: ' Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear.' This part which stands above the waters is meant when it is said of the world itself that 'He hath founded it upon the seas' (Psa. xxi. 2), so that it would be covered thereby were not the waves kept back by the power of the Creator. Wherefore saith the Psalm: ' Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth' (Psa. civ. 9). And also Job (xxxviii. 8): 'Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth.' Whosoever wishes to have a clear understanding of these things, let him read the commentaries of Paulus10 of Burgos on the 'Postilla' of De Lyra, concerning the works of the third day, where we read: 'Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place.' From this sea an into it flow other seas, the Mediterranean; the Pontic Sea,[b] and the Red Sea, like branches from one stem.
The Pontic Sea is called the Greater Sea, not that it is really larger than our sea, but because it is divided by no islands, or scarcely any. It is called the Pontic Sea because all that collection of waters flows through the narrow channel where Xerxes crossed by a bridge (pons) made of ships, which strait is called the Hellespont. Or it may be called the Pontic Sea because it is without a bridge, and cannot be crossed by a bridge. Or it may be called Poetic from 'point,' because it is said to be round like a paint or spot Or it may be called Pontic because it is short. This sea is commonly known as Pontus Euxinus from the morals of its inhabitants, as we are told by Isidorus; for according to Ptolemaeus the people of the Euxine had the worst possible character for morals, so that no one meddled with them, and they were as an asylum to which the people of other countries fled for refuge. Moreover, the river Euxes, which flows from Mount Caucasus, empties itself into this sea, and gives it its name; or perhaps the river takes its name from the sea. At the back of Pontus is the very wide Maeotic marsh, which receives the river Tanais, the boundary between Europe and Asia, which flows from the Rhiphaean Mountains. And this Pontus Euxinus is a sea of sweeter water than other seas, from the number of rivers of fresh water which run into it. Indeed, our own river Danuber swelled by sixty other great rivers, runs through seven nouths into the Euxine Sea.
The Great Sea is that which is called 'our sea,' and 'the Mediterranean Sea'; and it is my purpose to speak of this sea rather than of the others. In the first place, it is called 'the Great Sea' because in comparison with it Other seas and lakes are smaller. Secondly, it is called 'our sea ' because it is known to us, is near to us, and is used by us. Thirdly, it is called 'the Mediterranean' because it flows through the midst of the earth, from the west even unto the east, seeing that it lies between the principal parts of the world, namely, Europe, Asia, and Africa, and divides and marks off each of them from the other by itself and its arms. For on the west and north it has Europe, on the east Asia, on the south Africa. Wherefore the pilgrim who goes to St. Catharine's touches by sea at each one of these three parts of the world. He begins his voyage in Europe; at Crete, Rhodes, and Cyprus he reaches Asia, and when he arrives at Alexandria in Egypt he will be in Africa; for the Nile divides Asia from Africa, on the African side whereof is Alexandria Now, our sea joins the two afore-mentioned seas, and the waters of the Pontic Seas the Ocean and the Mediterranean are all the same, seeing that they flow from the kingdoms of Spain past Gaul, Italy, Sicily, and Crete as far as Egypt. That branch by which it joins the Ocean near Spain is properly termed the Strait of Morocco, and divides the kingdom of Morocco, which is in Africa, from Spain. Between these two countries the Mediterranean Sea flows in from the Ocean through the aforesaid strait, which is scarce a quarter of a mile in width. For washerwomen stand on either bank, pagan women in Morocco, Christian women in Spain, and abuse one another, and there Africa is divided from Europe.
Its other arm, which is called the Hellespont, or the arm of St. George, joins it to the Pontic Sea, and this arm divides Europe from Asia Minor, which is now called Turkey, because the Turk has taken the whole "Hereof. Vulgarly this arm is called the Gulf of Constantinople, for that the city of Constantinople stands upon its European shore. At the place where this arm begins to leave the Mediterranean, on the shore of Asia- Minor, the ancient and powerful city of Troy is said to have stood: howbeit, it has not been proved with complete certainty that Troy stood there. Thus our sea is rightly called the Mediterranean, because it lies in the midst of the land, and holds the middle place between the two other seas. All rivers known to us run into these three seas. Our river Danube leads to the eastward along with itself into the Pontic Sea which is otherwise called the Euxine, all the rivers which run from the Rhaetian Mountains. [43 a] The Rhine rises in the Rhaetic Mountains and runs to the westward, and takes innumerable rivers into the Ocean along with itself The Rhone, whose source is close to that of the Rhine, runs to the southward, and takes the remaining rivers with it into the Tyrrhenian Sea. So, too, the Adige, the Po, and the Brenta, which rise in the Alps, run into the Mediterranean Sea. There are also other seas well known to us from Scripture, which are all connected with some one of the three aforesaid seas, albeit by channels which we cannot see-it is believed by subterranean rivers: as, for instance, in the east there is the Caspian Sea, which is solitary and has no apparent connection with any other, yet is said to flow secretly beneath the earth into the Pontic Sea. Moreover, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are said to flow by hidden channels into the Red Sea, which flows from Ocean, and is a tongue of Ocean whereby Persia and Arabia are bounded, and whereby men sail to India, al we are told by Jerome in his letter to Fabiola.
Furthermore, it should be noted that this Mediterranean Sea, being one, has nevertheless various names according to the various countries whose shores it washes, even as the earth, which is one, has various names. Sometimes it borrows its names from countries, as, for example, it is called the Asiatic Sea, the Syrian Sea, or the Iberian Sea sometimes from islands, as the Balearic, the Sicilian, the Cretan, or the Cyprian Sea; sometimes from promontories as the Malean or Aegean; sometimes from nations, as the German, Gaulish, Italian, Dalmatian Sea; sometimes from the neighbouring cities, as the Adriatic, Tyrian, Joppan Alexandrian, or Venetian Sea. Wherefore, when yot read in my wanderings of different seas, it must be understood that it is but one sea, which has different names.
This sea, like the Ocean and the other seas which flow from it, contains water which is salt, bitter, distasteful unwholesome, and altogether unfit for drinking, and more loathsome than urine, both for man and beast. The reason of this saltness is a great mystery, as we may learn from the fact that the ancient philosophers took great pains to find out the cause of it, and seem to have erred very far from the truth in assigning causes to it, even as they have erred in the matter of the Nile and its rising, as may be seen in Part II., p. 119, a, b, throughout Even so they have fallen into mere folly when they discuss the causes of the saltness of the sea. For the most ancient Demogorgonists, being unable to rise above sensual ideas, told a fable that Demogorgon, whom they thought to have been the first parent of all things, tore away a great fiery mass from the mountain Acroceraunus, and after having pressed it together into a solid globe, dipped it six times in the Ocean, in consequence of which immersion the whole collection of waters began to boil and be hot, so that, had he not straightway drawn that globe out again, the whole enormous mass of waters would have been turned into solid salt; but since he wished that there should be sea, it remained water, but salt water: Moreover, Aristotle in his second book of Meteorics has a long discussion about why the sea is salt; but besides what Aristotle himself says, some declare that, as the earth is warmed by the sun it sweats out the moisture which is in it, and that thus the sea is formed by the collecting together of this sweat, and that, seeing that sweat is salt, even so the sea, being the sweat of the earth, is salt. Wherefore these men say that the sea is nothing more than the sweat which is always flowing from the surface of the earth. Others say that because the sea lies above the torrid zone of the earth, it is thickened by its heat, and like fresh water, is made into salt through heat. Others ally that some part of the earth is salt, and that when the sea mixes with it, it is made salt by this earth, as, for example, water which has been filtered through ashes becomes salt. Others say that the saltness arises from the mixture of warm vapour with the particles of water; for sweat and urine, both of which are acted upon by heat, are known to be salt. Others say that the water of the sea is dried up by the heat of the sun; for the sun dries and drinks up everything, and thus the savour of salt is infused into the sea because it lies widely open to receive its beat, so that the water, being decocted by the heat of the sun and the stars, is made salt, even as fresh water by decoction becomes solid salt, and a man who drinks sweet wine and sweet water voids salt urine, because heat produces bitterness. Others say that the sun draws away all the sweet and thin particles, which are easily attracted by the power of fire, and that all the harsher and thicker particles Me left behind; wherefore the surface of the sea is sweetest, [d] and the bottom is bitterest. Now, the moon is fed by fresh water, but the sun by salt water, Sea-water freezes less readily than fresh water, but becomes warm sooner; wherefore sweetness and saltness are mixed in the sexes may be proved thus: If a vessel be made of wax, and closed on all sides, so that the water cannon enter it, and then this vessel be placed in the sea, then the seawater, as it filters through the sides, will, when inside, become sweet and drinkable, and all the thick salt particles will be removed from it as though by a colander. Moreover, if a man digs a pit on the beach near the sea, the water which percolates into it from the sea through the sand becomes sweet and drinkable.
Others refer the saltness of the sea to a more theological cause: for it is more reverent to say that the sea was created salt as it now is, by God, and that just as each of the other elements has its own special nature, even so saltness is the nature of the sea, which, unless it were thus seasoned with salt, would grow putrid like other stagnant waters, and some foul lakes: for which cause also it has been ordained by God that the sea should be in continual movement, that by the motion of its substance it may be preserved from corruption; for by continual movement tit is refined and saved from corruption, This saltness also has been ordaided by the Divine wisdom in order that ships may more easily sail upon it, and that those who cross it may incur less danger. For salt water is much thicker and heavier than fresh, because the fresh is altered and refined; wherefore salt water is better for carrying ships. For ships which would not sink in salt water often sink in fresh, as may be proved, because an egg sinks in fresh water, but swims on salt. Moreover, the saltness of the sea is of great service to men's health, for if the sea were drinkable men could hardly cross it alive, because through the heat of the sun, and the toils of the sea, mariners are usually exceeding thirsty; and if they had sweet water to drink as much as they would, they would destroy themselves. It is therefore useful for the saving of the lives of those who sail upon the sea that it should be salt. Sea-water is thick and loathsome; wherefore when drawn out of the sea and poured upon stones it straightway is converted into salt by the heat of the sun From this natural saltness the sea derives its name, and is called the sea (mare) because of its bitterness (amaritudo). Of this sea mention is made in Amos v. 8: 'Seek Him . . . that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; the Lord is His name.' Upon which passage Jerome (Book VI, p. 3, b) comments as follows: 'God calls the waters of the sea when He raises them up, bitter as they are, by the heat of the air, and clarifies and purifies them into the sweet waters of rain.' With regard to the saltness of the sea, see the 'Speculum Naturae,' Book VI., chapter 9. Seawater contracts divers qualities, which is brought about as follows: Whereas the earth is cavernous, the water, being liquid, runs into it down below, and there passing through watercourses, is filtered and thinned, and contracts divers qualities from the nature of the earth. For if it passes through sandy and stony earth, it obtains from thence a sweet savour, and becomes clear, and hard, and cold. If it passes through salt earth, it is salt; if through muddy earth, it is vapid to the taste; if through beds of sulphur, or chalk, or copper, it is bitter; if it runs through pits full of alum and sulphur, it contracts from them [44a] heat and a foul smell. Thus it obtains different qualities according to the varieties of the earth through which it flows, even as it changes its colour according to the varieties of the wind: for at one time it is yellow, at another white, at another black; now muddy, now dark, now clear, now thick; sometimes golden, sometimes ruddy; whatever colours are to be seen in the sky may be seen in the sea also; albeit to one who looks at both together, and compares them, they will often appear different. Often it seems that though the sky is bright, yet the waters look black like coals. This is brought about because it takes its colour sometimes from the blowing of the winds, and sometimes from the radiance of the firmament.
OF THE VARIOUS PERILS OF THOSE WHO TRAVEL BY SEA.
A journey by sea is subject to many hardships. The sea itself is very injurious to those who are unaccustomed to it, and very dangerous on many accounts; for it strikes terror into the soul; it causes headache, it provokes vomiting and nausea; it destroys appetite for food and drink; it acts as an alterative on the human body; it excites the passions and produces many strange vices; it causes extreme and deadly perils, and often brings men to a most cruel death. And the most terrible danger is that it is the wise who are most afraid of it, while fools hold it cheap. Wherefore when the great philosopher Aristippus was in a storm at sea, suffering from nausea and upsetting of the stomach, and racked with headache, he feared for his life. When it grew calm, and all were become as well as before, a chattering fellow said to the philosopher: 'What is the reason that we laymen are brave, and you philosophers are frightened ?' He replied: ' Because we have not the same sort of life to take care of. It would be unbecoming for you to show any solicitude about the life of a detestable scoundrel like yourself; but I when in danger had a right to fear that a philosopher should die. For rich men fear thieves more than paupers. I bear about me a soul full of virtues; I am justified, therefore, in fearing that most subtle thief, that most hardened brigand, that most cruel robber, the sea' All these afore-mentioned perils of the sea can be proved by no one so well as by one who has endured them, who has not learned them by reading books, or listening to travellers, but by his own feelings and experience. See Ecclesiasticus, chap. xliii., v. 26 (24): ' They that sail upon the sea tell of the danger thereof, and when we hear it with our ears we marvel thereat.' As a rule, those who cross the sea suffer perils caused either by the sea, the wind, or the ship: albeit there are special perils without number, arising either from a man's own disposition, or from evil companionship, or from want of food and drink, or from bad steersmen, or excessive heat or cold, or bad equipment, and the like, of which perils there are so many that words would fail me should I attempt to tell them all. Wherefore I will say somewhat about the general dangers of the sea, and the especial ones will be shown in the course of my story, and some of them have to some extent been shown in the account of my first pilgrimage.
The first danger which mariners incur arises from the sea. For if the sea be thickly studded with rocks and crags, as it is among the isles called Cyclades, and in the Athaean Sea, and off the coast of Illyria and Dalmatia, it cannot be crossed without peril. In these parts it is impossible to sail at night because of the rocks, capes, and crags. This danger was feared by the sailors who carried St. Paul, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, xxvii. 29. I myself have often been in this danger. Or, again, if the bottom of the sea be not level, but at one place raised up by heaps of sand, in another sinking down like a whirlpool, or at any rate uneven, with deep pits and valleys, in such a place it is hard for ships to pass, for albeit the sea looks level everywhere (wherefore it is sometimes called aeqour in Latin), yet, when a ship comes to the place where the bottom is uneven, [b] it stops short, and unless there be a wind to drive it along, it is hard to move it away from thence. This I learned by experience, as appears on page 17.
Secondly, they incur peril from the air; for a very moderate wind renders the sea unquiet, stormy, rough, boiling and tumultuous, wherefore the sea is often called fretum in Latin. It is perilous to put to sea in stormy, cloudy, wet and dark weather, especially when the ship is being carried into danger and the danger can(not) be seen. What is dreaded above all is an exceeding violent wind, especially when the wind is contrary, and rises suddenly; then shipwreck is dreaded. This danger is common, and I have often been in it myself.
The third peril arises from the weakness and insufficiency of the ship itself; for it is not safe to entrust- one's self to a ship which is too small, or which is weak, or damaged, or old, because such a vessel is not safe in a raging storm, for it either is overwhelmed by the waves by reason of its small size, and oversets, or else, owing to its weakness, is crushed by the force of the winds and waves. Sometimes through the steersman's want of skill a vessel takes longer than it should do to reach its port; wherefore a fourth general peril may be added to the list, which peril arises from the ignorance, or laziness, or carelessness and sleepliness of ship-masters; and this also I have experienced.
It is horrible to see the danger that there is in getting into a small boat from a galley, or from a galley into a small boat when it is blowing fresh. One must then make one step or leap, and if by chance a man's foot does not reach the galley or the boat, he must fall into the sea, and perish without hope of aid. See page 60.
Moreover, there is another danger, of which the inexperienced would never think; nor is it to be found in the books of writers about the perils of the sea, and yet it is most distressing, though it does not cause terror. When all the winds are silent, and the sea is dumb, and it is calm everywhere, I declare of a truth that such a calm of the sea and silence of the wind is more distressing to travellers by sea than any of the aforesaid perils, except actual shipwreck. For when no winds blow, and the sea is without motion, and the ship stays fixed in its place, then everything that is on board becomes putrid, and foul, and mouldy; the water begins to stink, the wine becomes undrinkable, meat, even when dried and smoked, becomes full of maggots, and all of a sudden there spring into life innumerable flies, gnats, fleas, lice, worms, mice and rats. Moreover, all men on board become lazy, sleepy, and untidy from the heat, fretful from the evil passions of melancholy, anger, and envy, and troubled with other like distempers. I have seen few men die on board ship during storms, but many I have seen sicken and die during these calms aforesaid. All this will appear in the course of my story. There are perils of the sea known by other names; for example, there is a peril called Bythalassium,11 another called Syrtis, another Charybdis. Bythalassium is when two seas rush together, and by that rush endanger a ship. Syrtis is a place where there are heaps of sand, and where the bottom of the sea is not level, so that in one place the water is deep, and close by it is shoal, or where there are hidden rocks upon which a ship might strike. Charybdis, according to the fables of the poets, was a very greedy old woman, who, because she had stolen the oxen of [45a] Hercules, was struck by Jove with a thunderbolt, and cast into the sea, and who, even to this day, prowls about the bottom of the sea, and strives to draw passing ships' down to herself, that she may rob them as she was wont of old. Wherefore those places in which ships are sucked down, and where there are hidden whirlpools, like the place among the Isles of Gozapolis mentioned in page 13, are called Charybdises, and the danger itself is called a Charybdis, from the old woman Charybdis, who, the ancients believed, drew down ships in such places as these. There is also another peril, which some name Gulf, which is incurred by sailors when winds burst forth from caves among mountains with such force that the ship is thrown over upon its side. Another peril is named Grupp, and happens when two winds fight one against the other, and a ship between them is lashed by gusts from opposite quarters. Yet another peril is to be met with, which is called Troyp, from the fish Trays, which, when it becomes aware of a ship, comes forth from the depths, and pierces the ship with his beak; for he has a beak fashioned like an auger, and unless he be driven away from the ship he bores through it. He cannot be forced away from the ship save by a fearless look, so that one should lean out of the ship over the water, and unflinchingly look into the eyes of the fish, while the fish meanwhile looks at him with a terrible gaze. If he who looks at the fish grows terrified, and begins to turn his eyes away, the beast straightway rises, snatches him down beneath the water, and devours him. Let this suffice about the perils of the sea.
ABOUT THE SHIP IN WHICH THE PILGRIMS CROSS THE SEA, WHICH IS NAMED A GALLEY; HOW GREAT AND OF WHAT SORT IT IS.
The sea bath various and different ships, which are great, middle-sized, and small ones. At first there were none but small ships on the sea, up to the time of Jason, for whom Argus built a great ship, wherein he and his comrades the Argonauts sailed to Colchis. Afterwards Aminodes built triremes for the Corinthians to use against them of Corcyra. The first inventor of ships is said to have been Athlas in Libya, who sailed on the sea. Howbeit, I intend here to speak only of that sort of ship in which pilgrims to the Holy Land are wont to cross the sea, which is called a galley, which name this kind of vessel hath even in the canonical books of Holy Scripture, as is shown in the accounts of Jews and Saracens. A galley is one of the middle-sized kind of seagoing ships, and is not of the greatest, nor yet of the smallest sort. This vessel is named in Latin a bireme or a trireme. Isidorus, in his nineteenth book of Etymologies, calls it a dorma. Howbeit, common people, whether they be Germans or Italians, call it a galley. The vessel is given this name because the prow has the shape of a helmet (galea), when viewed from the front, and because it meets the waves like an armed man A galley is an oblong vessel, which is propelled both by sails and oars. All galleys are alike, or very nearly so, in shape, but differ in size, because some galleys are great ones, which are called triremes, some small, which are named biremes; and there is a further difference, in that some galleys are ships of war, and others are ships of burthen. In my first pilgrimage I went across the sea in a bireme, but in my second in a trireme. Now, a bireme is one which is rowed by pairs and pairs of oars; but a trireme is one which is rowed by threes and threes of oars, because on each bench it has three oars, and as many rowers. Now, the galley on board of which I crossed the second time had sixty cross-benches, and upon each bench three rowers with their oars; and if it be equipped as a war-galley it has an archer with his bow on every bench together with the rowers. The length was thirty-three cubits, understanding by a cubit as far as a man can reach with both his arms stretched out. This length is the measurement from the prow even to the stern, and the breadth thereof is seven cubits, measuring, across the ship just by the mast. But if we were to measure the entire breadth which it has when the oars are put out on either side, then it will be thirteen cubits in width. In height, measuring from the well to the keba, or truck, which is on the top of the mast and [b] in the round top, it measured more than eighteen cubits.
Now, all galleys of the same size are so much alike in all respects that a man who passes from his own galley on board of another would hardly find out that he was on another, except from the officers and crews of the vessels being different, for Venetian galleys are as like one to another as swallows' nests. They are built of the stoutest timbers, and fastened together with many bolts, chains, and irons. The first and foremost part of a galley, which is called the prow, is sharp where it meets the sea, and has a strong beak, made somewhat like a dragon's head, with open mouth, all of which is made of iron, wherewith to strike any ship which it may meet. On either side of the beak are two holes, through which a man can put his head, through which are passed the cables of the anchors, and through which the anchors are pulled up; nor can the sea run in through those holes except in great storms. The beak of the prow reaches high up, and from it the belly of the ship begins to swell round against the sea. The prow likewise has a sail of its own, named dalum, which is commonly called trinketum; and it has beneath it a small chamber, wherein ropes and sails are stored, and therein sleeps the captain of the prow, who has a crew of his own, who dwell there and nowhere else, and do the work of that part of the ship; and it is also the place of the poor wretches whom the slaves of the prow pick up. Also on either side of the prow hang great iron anchors, which at fitting seasons are let down into the sea. The stern, which is the other and hindermost end of the galley, is not sharp where it meets the sea, like the prow, nor has it a beak; but it is wide and curves from above downwards to the water, and is much higher than the prow, having upon it a building which they call the castle. From it there hangs down into the sea the rudder, or rudder-post, above which, in a latticed chamber, is the steersman, holding the tiller in his hands. The castle has three stories: the first, wherein is the steersman and the compass, and he who tells the steersman how the compass points, and those who watch the stars and winds, and point out the way across the sea; the middle one, wherein is the chamber of the Lord and captain of the ship, and of his noble comrades and messmates; and the lowest one, which is the place wherein noble ladies are housed at night, and where the captain's treasure is stored. This chamber receives no light save through the hatchway in the floor above it. On either side of the poop hang the boats, one large, and one small, which in harbours are lowered into the sea, and used for landing people. On the right-hand side are the steps, down which one goes to the boats at sea' or up which one comes from them. The poop also has its own sail, which is bigger than the sail at the prow, and which they call mezavala, that is, 'the middle sail ': its Latin name is epidromus. Upon the poop also the flag is always hoisted, to show which way- the wind is blowing. Two benches beyond the house on the poop, on the righthand side, is the kitchen, which is not covered in: beneath the kitchen is the cellar, and beside the kitchen is the stable for animals for slaughter, wherein sheep, goats, calves, oxen, cows and pigs stand all together. Further on, on the same side, are cross-benches with oars all the way to the prow. On the left-hand side there are rowers' benches [46 a] all the way from the poop to the prow, and on every bench three rowers and an archer. Between two benches on the edge of the ship on either side there hangs a bombarda in a movable iron swivel, and on either side there is a bombardana, from which, in case of necessity, stones are shot forth. In the midst of the ship stands the mast, a tall, thick and strong tree made of many beams fastened together, which supports the yard with the accaton, or mainsail. On the top of the mast is the chamber which the Germans call 'the basket,'12 the Italians the 'keba,' the Latins 'carceria.'13 On deck beside the mast there is an open space wherein men assemble to talk, as in a marketplace; and it is called the market-place of the galley. The mainsail has in its width fifty-three cloths, each of which cloths measures more than an elf; but to meet different kinds of weather different sails are hoisted, not so large as the accaton. In storms they set a square sail of stout canvas, which they call papafigo. Now, on this upper deck of the galley dwell the officers of the galley, and the galley-slaves, each man upon his own bench, and there they sleep, eat, and work. Between the benches along either side is a pretty wide space, wherein stand great chests full of merchandise, and above those chests there is a walk from the stern to the prow, on which the officers run up and down when the oars are being worked. Close to the mast is the main hatchway, through which one descends by seven steps into the cabin, which is the place where the pilgrims live, or where the cargo is put in galleys of burthen. Now in length this cabin reaches from the cellar in the stern to the small chamber in the prow, and in width from one side of the ship to the other, and it is like a great and spacious chamber. It receives no light save what comes through the four hatchways by which it is entered. In this cabin every pilgrim has his own berth or sleeping-place. The berths of the pilgrims are so arranged that all along the ship, or rather the cabin, one berth joins the next one without any space left between them, and one pilgrim lies by the side of another, along both sides of the ship, having their heads towards the sides of the ship, and their feet stretching out towards one another. As the cabin is wide, there stand along the middle of it, between the berths, chests and pilgrims' trunks, reaching from the cellar to the chamber in the prow, in which the pilgrims keep their own private property, and the feet of the sleepers on either side stretch out as far as these trunks. Beneath the pilgrims is a large space reaching deep down to the bottom of the galley, which space is called the belly of the galley, for a galley is not flat-bottomed like other ships, but is sharp from the bows to the stern, so that a galley ends in a sharp foot below, so sharp that when it is not in the water it cannot stand upright on the land, but must lie on its side. This sharp hold is filled with sand right up to the deck-beams, whereon the pilgrims lie; and the pilgrims lift up the deck and bury in the sand the bottles wherein they keep their wine, and eggs and other things which need to be kept cool. Down below, in the place where the pilgrims live, is the well for bilge water, just by the middle of the mast, and this well does not contain human filth, but all the water which visibly or invisibly enters [b] the galley filters through and collects in that well, and a most loathsome smell arises from it, a worse smell than that from any closet of human ordure. This well has to be pumped out once in every day, but in rough weather the water has to be drawn out of it without cessation. Along the outer sides of the galley are places arranged for necessary purposes.
The whole galley, within and without, is covered with the blackest pitch, as are even the ropes, planks, and everything else, that they may not easily be rotted by the water. The ropes for working the sails and anchors take up a large part of the galley, because they are many, and Ire long, thick, and of manifold kinds. It is wondrous to see the multitude of ropes and their joinings and twinings about the vessel. A galley is like a monastery, for the place of prayer is on the upper deck beside the mast, where also is the market-place; the middle part of the poop answers to the common refectory; the benches of the galley-slaves and berths of the pilgrims are the dormitory; the chapter-house is over against the kitchen; the prisons are beneath the deck of the prow and poop; the cellar, kitchen, and stable are all open to the sky on the upper deck. Thus in brief, passing over many things, you have the portraiture of a galley. St. Jerome, in his epistle to a sick friend, compares the world to the sea, and the cloister to a ship, and moralizes thereon, pointing out how the world is like the sea because it is by nature restless and boisterous without wind, raising even in time of calm fierce and dreadful waves, and even if it hurt not those who float upon it, yet its vastness, even when doing no harm, strikes somewhat of terror into the heart; nor do those who sail thereon lack terrors often, and blows from the waves, yet after them the steersman may sometimes spread abroad all his sails without fear. In the world, as at sea, prosperity is rare, disorder is common; both are full of alarms and terrors; distempers, too, are not lacking; the only safe harbour is death.
OF THE CONSTITUTION BY WHICH A GALLEY IS GOVERNED.
The constitution of a ship is of all constitutions the most exactly arranged; wherefore Aristotle and other writers on politics all alike take their examples from naval systems, and draw inferences from it, as appears in the beginning of the first book of 'Ethics.' For in a ship more than anywhere else there is the household community which includes all other communities, for without it neither a kingdom, nor a city, nor a village can exist, and it is the first of all. Now a perfect house contains three communities: that of husband and wife, of master and servant, of father and son. The household of a ship does not include the first of these; the second it has in perfection, and it contains a sort of likeness of the third. In it there is the master and captain, with many servants; and he likewise is the father and protector of the pilgrims, who are, as it were, his sons. Aristotle, in his first book of ' Politics,' defines three forms of household rules, the first being the rule of a husband over his wife, which again exists in a ship, and whose meaning is that by means of generation the community of the house may be perpetuated; but no one tries to perpetuate the community of a ship, but rather to break it up as soon as possible by arriving at the desired haven. The second is the paternal rule, that, namely, whereby a father rules his sons; and this connection exists between the captain and the pilgrims, as far as obedience goes, seeing that it is their duty to obey the captain. The third is the despotic rule, being that whereby a master rules his servants, and this kind of discipline is most elaborate and orderly in a nautical [47 a] household, wherein the noble captain, who is the first mover and teacher, appoints for the rest different orders and degrees of authority over one another, but remains himself immovable as the king and governor, at whose bidding a ship is carried whithersoever he will. He does not interfere with the art of navigation, nor does he understand it, but merely orders the ship to be sailed hither or thither. All who are in the ship stand in awe of him, and all grave disputes either between the pilgrims or the crew are referred to him. No one is appointed captain of a galley, especially of one which carries pilgrim knights, unless he be noble, powerful, rich, wise and honourable. When appointed he takes with him some wise and tried friends, with whom he takes counsel, and to whom he tells his secret thoughts. Moreover he chooses and hives a brave and warlike man, experienced in naval warfare, and appoints him chief of the armament, or, what they call, ' master-at-arms.' He provides the galley with cannons, catapults, bows, spears, clubs and swords, corslets and shields. The captain has likewise a steward, who provides everything connected with victuals, and whom they call the Schalk. He manages the cellar and kitchen, and sees after the bread and the wine, and the beasts for slaughter, and every day gives orders to the cooks and the cellarer to make such and such arrangements about food and drink; and should food or drink fail, it is no one's fault save his, and he alone bears the blame of it. Wherefore Schalks are generally hated on board ship. Moreover the captain has another powerful officer, whom they call the Caliph, who rules the galley and all her parts in so far that he watches whether anything is wrong, whether any part of her is broken, or anything hinders her sailing. He trims the cargo, refits and repairs damages, and looks after the galley from her well to her mast-head, from her prow to her poop. Another powerful officer of the ship is called the Pirate, by which we Germans suppose is meant the Pilot. He knows the safest and nearest routes across the sea, and the ship's course is directed according to his orders and advice. Should he come into a part of the sea with which he is unacquainted, he causes them to put into the nearest port, and there lays down his office, while the captain engages another pilot who knows the paths of the sea, lest through ignorance the ship might meet with a Bythalassium, a Syrtis, or a Charybdis. With this same pilot are certain cunning men, astrologers and soothsayers, who watch the signs of the stars and the sky, and decide what winds will blow, and give advice to the pilot himself. These men are all alike so learned in their art that by looking at the heavens they can foretell storms or calms, whereof they can also read signs in the colour of the sea, in the flocking together and movement of the dolphins and flying fish, in the smoke of the fire, the smell of the bilge water, the glittering of the ropes and cables at night, and the flashing of the oars as they dip into the [b] sea. At night they know all the hours by looking at the stars. Beside the mast they have one compass, and another in the uppermost chamber of the castle, and a lamp always burns beside it at night; nor do they ever turn their eyes away from it when sailing at night, but one always gazes at the compass, and chants a kind of sweet song, which shows that all is going well, and in the same tone he chants to him that holdeth the tiller of the rudder, to which quarter the rudder itself ought to be moved: nor does the steersman dare to move the tiller any whither save by the orders of him who looks after the compass, wherein he sees whether the ship be going straight or crookedly, or sideways. See more about this subject hereafter. They have also other instruments by means whereof they learn the courses of the stars, the blasts of the winds, and the paths of the sea; for instance, they have a chart, which is an ell long, and an all broad, whereon the whole sea is drawn with thousands and thousands of lines, and countries are marked With dots and miles by figures. In this chart they observe and see where they are, even when they can see no land, and when the stars themselves are hid by clouds. This they find out on the chart by drawing a curve from one line to another, and from one point to another with wondrous pains. They have also many other instruments with which they find their way over the sea, and they sit together every day conferring about them. Next to these the chief officer of the galley, who does the actual work, and w ho first receives the orders of the navigators, is called the Cometa, and is, as it were, the mate of the galley. His place is below the castle between the rowers' benches on the upper deck. To him the captain confides his wishes, and he thereupon sets the whole crew in motion. He carries hanging round his neck a silver whistle, with which he gives the signal for what nautical labours are to be performed; and at whatever time of the day or night that whistle is heard, straightway all men run making a whistling noise in answer. This officer orders them to put into or out of harbour, to let go or weigh up the anchors, to set or furl the sails, to cork at the oars or to cease working, to heave the lead, to plant mooringposts ashore, or to let go moorings. All his subordinates fear him as they would fear the Devil, because he strikes with staves, and punishes whomsoever he will with his fists and with ropes' ends; nor dare any murmur against him, because all would rise and attack the murmurer if the signal were given. I have seen most inhuman cruelties practiced by these mates on the poor galleyslaves. Under him there is another who is called the baron, or boatswain, of the galley, who moves and is moved by the mate's orders, and always lives in the middle of the galley near the mast. He also carries a whistle to give orders with hanging round his neck, and where the mate cannot be, thither runs the boatswain whistling, shouting, and encouraging the men to work. His special charge is the ropes, sails, and anchors, that they shall always be fit and ready for use, and he has especial privileges and rights on board the vessel Under him there is another officer known as the sub parono, who takes his orders and gives them [48a] to others. After these come some men who are called compani, that is, comrades, about nine in number, some of whom, however, are superior to others in station, and these are the men who know how to run about the ropes like cats, who ascend the shrouds very swiftly up to the cap, run along the yard standing upright even in the fiercest storms, who weigh up the anchors, diving into deep water if they stick fast, and who do all the most dangerous work on board. They are in general very active young men, who are quite reckless of their lives, and are also bold and powerful in the galley like a baron's armed followers. Under these again there are others who are called mariners, who sing when work is going on, because work at sea is very heavy, and is only carried on by a concert between one who sings out orders and the labourers who sing in response. So these men stand by those who are at work, and sing to them, encourage them, and threaten to spur them on with blows. Great weights are dragged about by their means. They are generally old and respectable men. Lowest of all are the galleyslaves of the first and second class, whom in Latin we call remiges, or rowers, who sit on the cross-benches to work at the oars. There are a great many of them, and they all are big men; but their labours are only fit for asses, and they are urged to perform them by shouts, blows, and curses. Just as when horses are drawing loaded carts up a steep road, the harder they pull, the more they are urged on, so these wretches, when they are pulling with their utmost strength, are still beaten to make them pull harder. I am weary of writing, and shudder to thinly of the tortures and punishments of those men: I have never seen beasts of burden so cruelly beaten as they are. They are frequently forced to let their tunics and shirts hang from their girdles, and work with bare backs, arms and shoulders, that they may be reached by whips and scourges. These galleyslaves are for the most part the bought slaves of the captain, or else they are men of low station, or prisoners, or men who have run away, or been driven out of their own countries, or exiles, or such as are so unhappy that they cannot live or gain a livelihood ashore. Whenever there is any fear of their making their escape, they are secured to their benches by chains. As a rule they are Macedonians, and men from Albania, Achaia, Illyria and Sclavonia; and sometimes there are among them Turks and Saracens, who, however, conceal their religion. I never saw a German galleyslave, because no German could survive such misery. They are so accustomed to their misery that they work feebly and to no purpose unless someone stands over them and beats them like asses and curses them. They are fed most wretchedly, and always sleep on the boards of their rowing benches, and both by day and by night they are always in the open air ready for work, and when there is a storm they stand in the midst of the waves. In general they are thieves, and spare nothing that they find; for which crime they often are most cruelly tortured. When they are not at work they sit and play at cards and dice for gold and silver, with execrable oaths and blasphemies. I never have heard such terrible swearing as on board of the aforesaid vessels, for they do nothing, either in jest or in earnest, without the foulest blasphemies of God and the Saints. Sometimes there are [b] among them some respectable merchants, who subject themselves to this most grievous servitude in order that they may ply their trade in harbours. Some are mechanics, such as tailors or shoemakers, and in their seasons of quiet make shoes, tunics, and shirts on board the ship; some are washermen, and wash shirts on board for hire.
Indeed, in this respect all galley-slaves are alike; they are all traders, and everyone of them has something for sale under his bench, which he offers for sale when in harbour, and trading goes on daily amongst them. Moreover they generally know at least three languages, to wit, Sclavonian, Greek, and Italian, and the greater part of -them know Turkish as well. Even among the galleyslaves there are orders and degrees; for some of them are put in authority over the others, and those who are most trusted are placed as guards round about the gangways of the galley, and are called 'guardians.' Some are in command of the prow; some on the right-hand side, others on the left-hand side; some serve in the stern, and these are the best treated. There are also on most galleys three or four strong youths who are learning to run about on the ropes, and who practice themselves in other labours which need courage. Besides the galleyslaves there are some cannoneers, some trumpeters, who always sound their trumpets in the morning and in the evening, before dinner and after dinner, and in all harbours. Some, too, are employed in cleaning and decorating the galley. There are also on board of it at least two barbers14, who also are physicians and surgeons, and there are withal torturers of malefactors, who, like 'lictors' ashore, torture whomsoever the captain may command. There is also another officer of great power in a galley, whom they call the 'scribe' or 'clerk,' who has all the names of the persons on board the galley written down in his books, and takes the names of those who come on board, or who leave in ship in each harbour. He arranges all disputes which arise about berths, and makes men pay their passage money, and has many duties. He is, as a rule, hated by everyone alike. So much for the officers of a galley.
OF JUSTICE AND JUDGMENT, WHICH ARE CAREFULLY OBSERVED ON BOARD OF A GALLEY.
Now to the end that the peace may be kept among such a multitude, a place is set apart for justice, and strict justice is observed on a galley. There are on board judges, who every day, and as occasion arises, sit in judgment, hear both sides, and decide causes. The procedure is very strict on board. Moreover, if any persons have a dispute about anything which takes place in the galley, unless they settle it by the judgment of the naval court, they are not permitted to plead against one another in any court not held at sea, nor is anyone obliged to abide by a contract- made with another after leaving the vessel; nor will any judge ashore interfere with covenants made at sea. If a man lends ten ducats at sea, and after they have gone on shore the other says that he has never received them, no judge will compel him to repay, nor will any witnesses be listened to against him. So mariners say: whether it be so in truth, and, if it really be so, whether it is reasonable, anyone who pleases may determine. For this cause, however, strict justice is observed. Thieves are punished, but lightly. No one is condemned to death, but the harshest sentence on shipboard is that he who has committed any grave offense should be lashed to the shrouds and flogged, and that after this punishment he be rowed to the nearest [49 a] land, and there let go, after which the ship sails away. I once saw them deal thus with a homicide. So much for this subject. Now follows that of
DIVINE SERVICE, AND HOW IT IS CELEBRATED ON BOARD OF A GALLEY.
We must not omit to observe how those who go to sea behave themselves towards God in their acts of service; for indeed amid such risks and perils they ought not to be forgetful of God. On shipboard God is worshipped three times a day, first in the early morning at sunrise, when one of the servants of the captain, standing aloft on the top of the castle, commands silence with his whistle, after which he lifts up a wooden board, whereon is painted the Blessed Virgin, holding her child in her arms, on beholding which all kneel, and say the Ave Maria, and other prayers if they choose. As soon as he takes away the picture the trumpeters begin to sound their trumpets, and then everyone betakes himself to his usual work. Secondly, about the eighth hour before mid-day the signal for prayer is again given, and a chest which stands on the upper deck near the mast is covered with a fair cloth, and thereon are placed two candlesticks, and between the candlesticks a figure of the crucifixion, and a missal, just as though Mass were about to be celebrated; and all the pilgrims come on deck and stand round about the mast. Then comes the priest wearing a stole about his neck, and begins with the Confiteor and from thence he reads the service which follows, leaving out the 'canon,' which he does not read, because he does not consummate; thus he performs the Mass without the sacrifice, ending it with the Gospel 'In the beginning was the Word.' These Masses are termed 'dry,' or 'torrid.' I do not remember to have read anywhere whether this method of reading Mass is founded on the canon law, but this I know, that some learned men are displeased with it, and say that to read that part of the service which is openly sung by the choir is unobjectionable, but that to read that part wearing a stole, with all the accompaniments and priestly solemnities of the Mass itself, is a deceit. They chant such masses as these on feast days, but the sacrifice of the Eucharist is never consummated on shipboard. Before I had carefully considered the matter I was often surprised at this, and ascribed it to the carelessness of our Prelates, who seemed to me to have taken less heed of the salvation of the children of the Church than was due and right, especially when we read that in the days of St. Gregory Masses were celebrated on board ship, or at least the Host was preserved on board, as may be seen in his Third Dialogue, where we read that some who were in danger in the Adriatic Sea partook of the Lord's body and blood. See also the legend of St. Louis, King of France. It indeed appeared to me to be a great piece of negligence on the part of the Church that provision had not been long ago made for administering the sacrament to men who are in the midst of such great perils, and more especially to pilgrims, who are enduring those perils for the love and honour of God. But after I had carefully weighed and reasoned upon this matter, I found that our wise and holy mother Church cloth not desire the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist to be consummated, nor yet to be preserved on board ship, and that for several reasons. First, because this sacrament is not a sacrament of necessity, but it suffices to salvation if a man has the intention of partaking thereof at a fitting time and place. Now on shipboard there is no fitting place, as will be seen hereafter, even if there be time, albeit the time also is at every instant unfitting. Secondly, because there is on board ship no proper priest whose special duty it is to celebrate the Holy Communion, as the law directs; for no one knows to what parish the ship belongs, wherefore it is omitted. Thirdly, the Host cannot well be preserved there, for big, solid, well-baked loaves of bread do not last long on board ship, but straightway after a few days become watery and motley; how much less then would bread of the thinnest kind, and not thoroughly baked, exist there? In damp weather the Host could not last three hours without melting away into liquid paste. This same thing happens to wafers, which are quite unfit for use in damp weather. Fourthly, the Eucharist ought to be preserved in a church, and in a holy place. Now, a ship is not a church, nor is it a consecrated place, nor is it meet for keeping it in. Fifthly, near the sacrament of the Eucharist a light ought to be always burning, which cannot be on board of a galley; for such is the force of the winds and the rushing of the waters, that often the whole galley is covered with water, and no light can be kept burning, either in lanterns or in lamps. Sixthly, Mass ought not to be celebrated, nor ought the Host to be kept on board of galleys, because of the uncertainty of the perils which beset them; for of a sudden, in the twinkling of an eye, storms arise, at whose coming the ship is violently tossed, so Slat if a priest were standing at the altar, he could not keep his feet, nor could the cup, or the crucifix, or the altar table remain in its place, but in an instant everything would be overthrown. Seventhly, because of the violence of the winds, for when it was blowing the lights could not burn, and the corporalia and the other altar cloths would be cast down from the altar. Eighthly, because of the uncertain movement of the water, which runs now hither and now thither, even when there is but little wind, when no one is expecting it or fearing it, the water splashes abundantly over the galley and upsets whatever it touches; wherefore Mass is not said on board ship. Ninthly, because of want of due reverence, for there is no place on shipboard to which at some times an irreverent rush is not made. The sailors when running about as their business requires would show no respect to a priest in the act of celebrating, or to the sacrament itself, but would overturn everything, priest, altar, and sacrament together. For work at sea must be done suddenly, and as it were with lightning speed, and is pressing, and cannot be delayed. Moreover, in every part of a galley men sleep, eat, drink, gossip, lie, and perjure themselves, all of which is destructive to the respect due to the sacrament. Tenthly, Mass ought not to be celebrated on shipboard because of the presence of unworthy persons; for there are often on board of these ships Jews, Turks, Saracens, Schismatics, heretics, men outlawed by law and judge, and excommunicate: and if all these unworthy persons be not found together, yet some of them are always to be found there, in whose presence Mass ought not to be celebrated, Eleventhly, on account of the great and enormous sins which are committed on board ship, for there men daily play at dice and cards, and horribly blaspheme God and the Saints, perjure themselves, lie, pick and steal, gormandize, stuff themselves, and get drunk. I have often heard-I pray God it may not be true-that the Eastern galleyslaves commit the most unspeakable sin [50 a] of sodomy on board of galleys; wherefore the place wherein such vices are exercised is unworthy to have so great a sacrifice performed in it. Twelfthly, the foul stench and dirtiness of both the galley and the men on board of her make the place unfit. Thirteenthly, Mass ought not to be celebrated because of the derision of the infidels, and the scandal of their presence; for if they heard that our God was present on board in the sacrament, as we believe according to our religion, and yet they saw us nevertheless live sinfully, or come into trouble, it would cause a grave scandal, and they would hold the most holy sacrament in derision. Fourteenthly, on account of the folly of bad Christians. For if the sacrament were on board of a galley, and a storm came on at sea, and the ship were to become endangered, and relief or help did not come straightway, those foolish Christians would at once turn this into a reproach against the holy sacrament, and would say in their hearts, if not with their lips: 'If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us.' I have seen a case of this kind with my eyes, for once when a storm had lasted long and was growing fiercer, I and other priests and persons in holy orders turned ourselves to the Lord and sang litanies, and invoked the aid of the Saints of God, because the storm was dangerous; but while it was at its height, some noblemen who had received knighthood at Jerusalem, but yet were faithless, said that we must cease praying, because they believed that on
account of our prayers the storm was raging all the more fiercely; and they said, as they put a stop to our singing of psalms and litanies: 'If your prayers 'found any favour with God, we should long ago have been saved from this danger.' So, beyond doubt, if the Holy Communion were celebrated on board ship, the same thing would happen; for ignorant and unbelieving secular people would imagine that when the sacrament was present among them no' evil ought to befall them, and should anything befall them it would be attributed to its presence. So did the children. of Israel when they took the Ark of the Lord into battle with them, thinking that so they would suffer no harm at the hands of their enemies. But in spite of it they were overthrown, and the Ark of God was taken, as is told in the fourth chapter of the first book of Kings. For an unworthy and irreverent handling and carrying about of holy things provokes the wrath of God more than a humble and timid letting them go. Thus some peasants make their curates carry the sacrament through their fields, that the crops may not be destroyed by hail; and if the crops do well they are ungrateful, but if they fail they are scandalized, and murmur against God. The fifteenth reason why the Eucharist is not to be partaken of on shipboard is because of the ease and suddenness with which men vomit there; for if a storm should arise immediately after a priest had finished the celebration of Mass, he would be compelled by the force of nature to vomit forth the. sacrament, nor could he retain it; which thing is horrible to be told. Therefore it is through piety that this sacrament is withheld from those at sea.
The third time at which men praise God on board of a galley is at sunset, for then all assemble about the mainmast, which is the place of meeting on a galley, and there they kneel and sing Salve, Regina, prefacing it with [b] litanies when they are in exceeding great straits. After the Salve the captain's chamberlain blows a call on his whistle, and straightway, standing aloft on the poop, wishes everyone good-night in his master's name, and again, as in the morning, shows the picture of the Blessed Virgin, on seeing which all say Ave Maria thrice, as is wont to be done on shore later at the sound of the bell. After this is over the pilgrims descend into the cabin to their berths. Now, after the pilgrims have gone below, the clerk of the galley stands on the castle and begins a long chant in the common Italian tongue, and Joins thereunto a litany, to which all the galley-slaves and officers of the ship reply on their bended knees; and they use many words, and this prayer of theirs lasts for about a quarter of an hour. I have frequently been present during this prayer. At the end thereof he begs everyone to say one Pater Noster and one Ave Maria for the souls of the parents of St. Julian. This they do every night, and never omit it. Moreover, I inquired why prayer should be made for the parents of St. Julian, because that prayer is offered every evening on board ship, and to this question I received a double answer. Some told me that this prayer was offered in praise of Simon the leper, who was first named Julian, and who hospitably received our Lord, and that it is said in order that by his intercession mariners may reach a good harbour and be hospitably received. To this I answered that the prayer is made not in praise of the saint, but for the souls of the parents of St. Julian; and if they said a prayer that they might meet with hospitality, why, I asked, did they not pray rather to the blessed Martha, who received our Lord with especial hospitality? This they were not able to answer. Others said that they said this prayer for the parents of the St. Julian of whom we read in the 'Speculum Naturae of Vincentius,15 Part II., Book 10, ch. 115. He, when a young man, in ignorance slew his father and mother in their bed, imagining that his mother was his own wife, and that his father was in the act of adultery with her, as may there be read. How this custom was established no one knows. The above, then, is the order of Divine service in use at sea; but in addition thereto many prayers are said by pilgrims both by day and by night. As soon as they arrive at any port, all run to church with the utmost devotion to hear Mass. But as Nor the celebration of Sundays and saints' days at sea, I declare that they are most infamously kept. I have no doubt that the devil takes especial pains to throw hindrances in the way of keeping feast days holy. I have often observed that on solemn feast days there is always a greater disturbance on board ship than at other times; and sometimes when we have lain four or five days in some harbour, as soon as Saturday evening comes we make ready to set out, and, having started, sail all night, so that on Sunday no Mass can be held. This took place on board of the ship on which I have sailed as often as if it were done on purpose. Indeed, the holier the day, the harder is the work done at sea, as will be seen in the course of my story. It was my custom on board ship to preach a sermon on holy days, but I will tell briefly what befell me in this pious work. During my first pilgrimage, while I was preaching, a certain son of Belial many times interrupted the Word of God by his laughter, and neither entreaties nor blows would keep him quiet, but he laughed all the more. Wherefore I held my peace, and after that would preach the Word of God no more, although many begged me to do so. For the wise man says in Ecclesiasticus xxxii. 6: 'Pour not out words where there is none to hear.'16 And our Lord says, St. Matt. vii. 6: 'Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine.' Howbeit, in my second pilgrimage there were more noble and respectable men on board, who were very pleasant companions, and who' were wont to ask 'me to preach the Word of God to them, which I did 'on all holy days. Yet I gained by my preaching the dislike of many noblemen, who believed that I marked them and held them up in my sermons as examples of certain vices. For as obsequiousness gains friends, even so truth begets hatred.
The burial of the dead also is a part of Divine service, and is conducted in the following manner on board of a galley. When anyone falls sick, he confesses to whatever priest he pleases, because in such a case there seems to be the article of necessity, in which any priest is able to give absolution. When he draws near to death his comrades take care of him by watching over him and; waiting upon him; for, as I have said, there is no Eucharist there, neither is there any extreme unction, for there is no provision made for this also; yet it seems as though this rite might be observed, since it is not the oil itself but the use which is made of it, in which the sacrament Consists. The sick man, therefore, dies after confession only, and when he is dead, and rolled up in his shroud, they put him into the boat and row him to the nearest shore, if they are near land, and there they bury him in the cemetery if there is a church there; if not, they commit him to the earth elsewhere. If they are near land, but it is a land of infidels, they do not take him ashore, but cast his body into the sea. If' they are at a distance from land, they take the shroud and: bring up sand from the hold of the ship, pour the sand upon the shroud, lay the corpse upon the sand, and roll it up, tying a bag of stones to the feet. Then in the presence of the whole ship's company, the priests chanting Libera me, Domine, the galley-slaves take up the body, and let it fall into the sea in the name of the Lord; and straightway the body, thus weighted with stones, sinks into the depths, and the soul climbs to heaven. This I have often seen; but I have never seen that mode of burial which some say that they have seen, in which the body is wound about with its shroud and is then bound to a plank, and thrown into the sea, together with the plank. Yet it is true that when the deceased has any friends they do what they please with his body, and put it into the sea either without stones or with stones, or with a plank. When the body has been laid out the clerk of the galley makes a list in writing of all the property left by the deceased, and presents it to the captain, and pays the deceased's debts, if he has no friends. If he has friends they manage this for him, and have him buried in the next port at which they touch; and unless pilgrims previously make a covenant with the captain, as we ourselves did, the captain receives the bed and bedding, and clothes, of the deceased. Many think this to be the noblest kind of burial, and preferable to being crushed by the weight of the earth. So at the present day the Aethiopians throw their dead into the river Nile, as we are told by Diodorus, because they hold the river to be the best of all sepulchres, for whether the body be eaten by beasts, or whether it rots there, it defiles neither the air nor the earth. If one of the Venetian grandees dies at sea, they bury his body in the sand which is within the ship, and bring it to Venice; this I have seen, as will appear on page 165, Part II.
HOW MEN PASS THEIR TIME ON BOARD OF A GALLEY.
The mode of life among pilgrims on a galley differs according to their several dispositions. They employ themselves in various occupations that they may pass the time while they are afloat, and unless a man knows how to redeem the time on board of a galley, he will find the hours very long and very tedious. Wherefore some, as soon as they arise from table, go about the galley inquiring where the best wine is sold, and there sit down and spend the whole day over their wine. This is usually done by Saxons, Flemings, and other men of a low class. Some play for money, some of them with a board and dice, others with the dice alone, some with cards, others with chess boards, and one may say that the greater number is engaged at this pastime. Some sing songs or pass their time with lutes, flutes, bagpipes, clavichords, zithers and other musical instruments. Some discuss worldly matters, some read books, some pray with beads; some sit still and meditate, some shout aloud for lightness of heart. Some laugh, some whistle. Some work with their hands, some sleep out of laziness; some pass almost the whole time asleep in their berths. Others run up the rigging, others jump, others show their strength by lifting heavy weights or doing other feats. Others accompany all these, looking on first at one and then at another. Some sit and look at the sea and the land which they are passing, and write about them and make books of travel, which was my daily employment out of the aforesaid canonical hours, for busy men are not weary of life even on board ship. Jerome wrote a very beautiful letter to Asella about false friends when he was on board ship, on his return from Rome to Jerusalem. Finally, there is among all the occupations of seafarers one which, albeit loathsome, is yet very common, daily, and necessary-I mean the hunting and catching of lice and vermin. Unless a man spends several hours in 'this work when he is on a pilgrimage, he will have but unquiet slumbers. In the 'Lives of the Philosophers' we read of the philosopher Homerus, that one day he was walking on the seashore and a ship put in thereto, upon which sat men hunting for lice, and laughing. When the philosopher asked them why they laughed, one of them answered him: 'We laugh,' said he, ' because all that we catch we have not got, and those which we do not catch we keep.' Now, Homerus turned his thoughts to the catching of fish, and he could not understand this puzzle; wherefore he became so embittered in spirit that he went mad, and put himself to death by hanging. All these occupations are pursued more or less according to the state of the weather, for men's dispositions vary remarkably at sea, more than they do on land, according to the influence of the heavenly bodies, the effect of the air, and the motion of the sea. I have often seen days when we were all joyous, happy, and good comrades, when no one slept, but everyone was glad at heart. On the other hand I have seen days on which there was such deep silence, such stillness, that no man's voice could be heard, and all were either dozing or sitting sorrowful. Often I have seen the pilgrims united together in as great peace and concord as though they had all been brethren, the sons of one mother. But, again, I have sometimes seen so many quarrels and disputes arise from the most trifling causes, that the galley was like hell with their curses and blasphemies. I have marked it for a fact that the movement of all human passions is more violent on the water than elsewhere. So this is how they pass the hours of the days on shipboard. The day always failed [52 a] me before I had finished my work.
HOW PILGRIMS EAT ON BOARD A GALLEY.
When the hour of dinner or supper draws near, four trumpeters rise up, and with their trumpets sound a call to table, on hearing which all those who sit at the captain's table run with the utmost haste to the poop; and they run that they may get a place where they can sit comfortably, for he who comes thither late gets a bad seat. There are three tables well and orderly set out on the poop, and he who can sit at them is well off; but he who comes late must sit outside the poop on the galley-slaves' benches, uncomfortably, in the sun, the rain, or the wind. In sitting at table there is no order, but he who comes first sits down as he pleases; nor does the poor man make way for the rich, the peasant for the noble, the working man for the priest, the layman for the learned doctor, or the worldling for the monk, unless anyone shows honour to another out of especial friendship. The reason of this want of order and respect I imagine to be this, that all pay the same money to the captain, great and small alike.
I well believe that if personages of high rank paid sixty ducats, and simple plebeians paid twenty, or if the captain took money from each man in proportion to his station then honour and respect would be shown to the great by the small. For this reason noblemen who have their own secants with them always eat near the mast (on deck), or in their berths (below), with lights, even at mid-day, since the air is dark there. Now, always before beginning a meal everyone is served with malvoisie, and the food which follows for all the guests is dressed in the Italian fashion. First there is a salad of lettuce with oil, if green herbs can be come by; and at dinner mutton, and a pudding, or a mess of meal, or of bruised wheat or barley, or panada and thin cheese. On fast days, when flesh is not eaten, the little fish called zebilini are served, salted, with oil and vinegar, or a cake made with eggs, and a pudding. Fresh loaves are served out when the ship is near a harbour, for fresh bread will not keep on board of a galley after the fifth day. When fresh loaves fail, they serve out twice-baked cakes, which they call biscuits, and which are as hard as stones, but straightway become soft if water or wine be poured over them. As much wine is given as one can drink, sometimes goods sometimes thin, but always well mixed and baptized with water. The pilgrims' dinner is quickly served, everything is brought to them hurriedly, and when their dinner is at an end, the trumpeters again sound their trumpets. When the tablecloths have been removed, the tables are again solemnly laid for the captain and those of his council. His table is more frugal than that of the pilgrims, but his food is brought to him in silver dishes, and his drink is tasted before it is presented17 to him, as is done to princes in our own country. Women pilgrims do not come to the common table, but remain in their berths, and both eat and sleep there. My lords had their own cook and their own eating-place. The galley-slaves eat in messes of three each, on their rowing-benches, and prepare their own food. I have often seen them eat [b] meat while still red with blood. If pilgrims wish to have anything especial from the kitchen, they must show money to the cooks, for there are three or four very hot-tempered cooks, who cannot be appeased unless money be given them; they care nothing about promises of it. Yet it is no wonder that the cooks should be so ill-tempered, seeing that the kitchen is narrow, and there are many pots, many different things to be cooked, a small fire, and a great shouting going on outside the kitchen, many men asking to have things done, besides that the labour of cooks is always such as moves one to pity. Lords and knights always loathe the food provided by the captain, and give the cooks great sums of money to have separate meals of their own food, while they hand over the captain's food to the poor galley-slaves. The meat provided by the captain is particularly disgusting, because they slaughter those animals which they see cannot live any longer, and diseased sheep. They slaughter any animal which they see is sick and will soon die of itself Except at the hour of dinner, no wine is served out from the captain's cellar, but the galley-slaves themselves sell excellent wine, which is bought of them by the pilgrims. In stormy weather eating and vomiting go on at the same time.
HOW UNQUIET THE SLEEP OF PILGRIMS IS ON BOARD SHIP.
After supper the pilgrims sit down to talk with one another on the upper deck, near the main-mast, and never go to bed save with lights. When they go below to take their rest there is a tremendous disturbance while they are making their beds: the dust is stirred up, and great quarrels arise between those who are to lie side by side, especially at the outset, before they have become used to it; for one blames his neighbour for overlapping a part of his berth with his bed, the other denies it; the first persists that he is so doing. Then each of them call on their comrades for aid, and sometimes whole companies of pilgrims quarrel one with another. During these quarrels I have seen pilgrims fall upon one another with naked swords and daggers, and shout, making a horrible riot. During such a quarrel as this, if the clerk of the galley, whose business it is to divide the berths equally, should have interfered, he would have been torn to pieces by the pilgrims. When this quarrel comes to an end, or supposing that it does not arise, some come down to bed late, and make themselves disagreeable to the rest by their lights and their too long protracted talk. I have seen some hot-tempered pilgrims throw their chamber-pot at burning lights to put them out, and then for a second time there arose great quarrels. Some, after all lights are put out, begin to settle the affairs of the world with their neighbours, and go on talking sometimes up to midnight; and if anyone should chide them, and bid them hold their peace, they shout all the more, and begin a new quarrel: so that unless there were some virtuous and respectable men there to settle these quarrels, the night would never pass in quiet, especially when there are drunken Flemings there. There are many hindrances to sleep beside those aforesaid. Monks who are accustomed to sleep alone in their cells find it hard to sleep on shipboard because of their restless or snoring neighbours. During many nights I never closed my eyes. Moreover, the narrowness of the place for one's bed, and the hardness of the pillows, makes one restless. A pilgrim can hardly move without touching his neighbour; moreover, the place is enclosed and exceeding hot, [53a] and full of various foul vapours. Wherefore one must needs sweat all night, which greatly mars one's rest. Fleas and lice swarm there at that time in countless numbers, also mice and rats.18 Oftentimes, I may say every night, I have risen silently and gone up into the open air, and have felt as though I had been freed from some filthy prison. Rest, too, is hindered by men who are restless while sleeping, and snore and talk in their sleep, and by the moans of the sick, their coughings and cursings. I was once for some time on board a galley where horses and mules stood on the deck above us, and kept up a continual noise with their feet upon the planks all night and all day. Besides this, the running about of the sailors overhead, and the noise of the sea, and many other things, take away a pilgrim's rest: and so much for this subject.
* * * * *
Besides all this there is the heat of the sun on deck, and in the cabin darkness, crowding, foul heat and tainted air. And although the blowing of the wind is essential to those who sail in a ship, yet is it very unpleasant, because when the ship is tossed by it the pilgrims are made dizzy and sick, and all within them is shaken so that they vomit up all that is in their stomachs, and their bowels are entirely upset. Nor is it possible to stay on deck because of the force of the wind, and the water which it throws over the ship, and the labours and running to and fro of the crew, nay, they cannot even stay in their berths if the sail hangs over that part of the ship where their berth is, but they must cross to the other side, and sometimes [b] one must shift one's bed, so as to put the feet where the head was, and the head in the place of the feet, by reason of the leaning over of the ship on one side through the power of the sails. Moreover, the smoke from the kitchen is blown into the ship when there is a wind, and sometimes troubles the pilgrims much.. Healthy men become weak during a storm, and sick men grow weaker still, while the continual pumping out of the bilge water is a nuisance to pilgrims, both because of the stench arising from it, and because they are for" bidden either to go on deck, or to come below from the deck while pumping is going on. The fleas, too, of which the ship is full, are a great trouble, and so are the lice and flies, and misery from perspiration, which troubles a man more than living vermin. In the course of time mice and rats breed in a ship in great numbers, and they run about all night long, nibble at men's private larders, and gnaw their way into them and befoul the food, spoil pillows and shoes, and fall on men's faces while they sleep; and this they do more or less at different times, for they do not always come abroad, but only in their own season. When certain winds blow all living things on board perish and disappear, both fleas, flies, mice, and the like, so that not one can be found; but when that wind or air changes they breed again. Gnats also in their season annoy pilgrims much by their buzzing and their stings. Moreover, the damp on board ship breeds fat white worms, which crawl everywhere, and come by stealth upon men's legs and faces, and when a man becomes aware of them, and puts his finger to them, thinking them to be flies, they burst, and befoul the place where they hung with blood. Yet albeit there are many filthy things bred of putridity on board of a galley, nothing venomous can be bred or can live thereon. In it there are no scorpions' or vipers, or toads, or poisonous snakes, or spiders. For the seawater drives away poison, heals the stings of scorpions, cures the bites of vipers and serpents, and is a foe to venom of all kinds. And unless Divine Providence had thus ordered it, no man could live on board of large old ships.
Another great trouble to pilgrims is the laying down their beds at night and packing them up in the morning for in the morning each man rolls up with a rope his bed, with his sheets, pillow, and blankets, and hangs it on a nail driven into the ship's side above his head, to the end that during the day there may be a free passage (through the cabin), and in the evening he takes it down, unrolls it, and makes his bed; and this causes great fatigue. Lastly, the untrustworthiness and thievishness of the galley-slaves is a trouble to pilgrims, because they cannot be sure of anything, for a galley-slave steals whatever he can lay hands upon. Wherefore the crew are forbidden to go below to the berths of the pilgrims, nor does any of them dare to do so; nay, even when the pilgrims call for them they dare not go below.
WARNINGS AS TO WHAT THINGS A PILGRIM OUGHT TO BE ON HIS GUARD AGAINST WHEN ON A SEA-VOYAGE.
A pilgrim to the Holy Land ought to be on his guard, not only against becoming sinful in his mind, and incurring perils to his soul, but also against carelessness, lest he receive hurt to his body and life. [55a] Wherefore in this place I mean to set down needful warnings for a pilgrim when crossing the sea; not indeed advice, which it belongs to a physician to give, but the warning of a friend, and what I have learned by experience. For in general physicians advise pilgrims to beware of fruit, of drinking water, of sea air, and of fish; they give this advice against heat, and other advice against cold; while for thirst and constipation, and excessive purging, they advise many different remedies, as also for dizziness, and to encourage appetite, and to counteract poison; and many more remedies and much more advice they give to those who are going to sea, which things certainly are wholesome and good, and in which matters it is but reasonable to follow the directions of physicians. Yet I confess that this is what I myself have seen: I have known pilgrims who were so careful and exact in following the advice of their physicians, that they did not dare to swallow or to do anything unless it was recommended by them, who nevertheless became sick and weakly during their pilgrimage, and some of whom died. On the other hand, I have seen men who ate, drank, and did whatever they pleased, both at sea and on land, who kept no rule of diet, and often exceeded, yet with all this never took to their beds, and always were cheerful and happy. Yet I do not write this as wishing to hint that the former died because of their carefulness in taking medicine, and that the latter remained alive owing to their intemperance, but rather to show the uncertainty of fortune. Let a pilgrim first commit himself to the care of God, and next to that of physicians in a moderate degree. In other respects let him observe the following cautions. Let the pilgrim beware of plunging into the deep sea for a bath, because therein are manifold perils even to those who well know how to swim. Let him be wary, withal, when on board ship, as he goes from one cross bench to another, lest he fall, for to fall anywhere on shipboard is dangerous; and let him always go up and down to and from the place where the berths or sleeping places are with due deliberation. I myself have had two falls down these same steps, and it is a wonder that I was not dashed to pieces. After these falls I always went up or down deliberately, and with caution. I have seen some men fall there and nearly kill themselves. Above all, let him be most careful when going to the private closet, seeing that the way down thereto is dangerous; and when walking along the ship's side, let him not trust to any ropes without pulling them with his hands and proving them to be firmly stretched; for should the rope give way when he tried to hold by it, he would fall into the sea. Let the pilgrim beware of insulting and angering the wretched galley-slaves, because it may chance that they may be of the greatest use to him, or, again, they may do him the greatest hurt and injury. Let him bear himself towards the rest of the ship's company so as not to stir up hatred against himself: it is a ruinous thing for a man to have enemies on board ship. I once saw a haughty pilgrim, who insulted and angered many people; this same man came to misery on board, and was forced to beg the help of those whom he had insulted: and even when some of the more pious [b] performed. Offices of charity for him, he nevertheless suspected that they despised him, for he knew that be deserved to be despised. Let the pilgrim beware of occupying a place either on deck or below which belongs to another man, save with that other's full consent. By day he has a place to stand in near the mast, which is common to all; but by night he has no right anywhere save in his berth. For if anyone at night frequents any place besides his own berth, those who know him not take him for a thief. Howbeit, if for any cause he cannot stay quiet in his berth, let him go on deck and seat himself upon the woodwork19 at the sides of the galley, letting his feet hang down towards the sea, and holding on by the shrouds which support the mast. Experience will teach a man much about these matters, which he would hardly believe when first told of it. Let the pilgrim beware when sitting down on deck, not to sit upon any ropes, lest the wind should change of a sudden and he be thrown overboard or hurt by the ropes. And let him on no account touch the ropes with his hand when they are pulling them, lest this hand or his fingers be forcibly torn off, as often befalls, for they pull with the greatest violence, and move enormous weights. The pilgrim should also beware of sitting in any place where pulleys are hung above him, where in the time of an arrow's flight he may be either grievously hurt or killed outright, as befell that steersman whose story I have told on page 16 b. Let him also beware of getting in the way of the crew of the galley when they are about to run to their work, for, however noble he may be, nay, were he a bishop, they will push against him, overthrow him, and trample on him, because work at sea has to be done with lightning speed, and admits of no delay. Neither let him take part in their work, for this is displeasing to them; and above all, let him not stay on deck with them at night during a storm. He should also be cautious as to where he sits down, lest he stick to his seat, for every place is covered with pitch, which becomes soft in the heat of the sun, and whosoever sits thereon goes away with his clothes dirtied. He must beware, too, when he sits resting himself on the side of the galley, not to hold anything which he values in his hand, and not to let it fall into the sea A nobleman who was sitting there once with me let fall a rosary of precious stones which he valued exceedingly, and would not have parted with for many ducats, and it was: hopelessly lost. So also when I was sitting there reading the service of vigils for the dead, the book fell from my hand into the sea and perished; and many things slip in this way from careless people's hands, especially the hats from their heads when there is a strong wind. Let the pilgrim beware of carrying a light upon deck at night, for the mariners dislike this strangely, and cannot endure lights when they are at work, wherefore in storms they are careful to put out all lights, or cover them with bushels, even in the cabin. The pilgrim should watch carefully over his own property, and never let it lie unguarded even among his own friends, because no sooner does he turn his face away than it is gone. He should not leave his money in a box in his berth [56 a], but should carry it always about his own body, and trust it neither to his servants nor to his comrades. For men are strangely apt to play the thief on board ship, even though they may abhor thieving when not at sea, and especially in the matter of trifles, such as kerchiefs, belts, shirts, and the like, which even comrades will steal one from another, because a man often wants things on board ship, and, being unable to do without them, takes any means, right or wrong, to supply himself therewith. For example, while you are writing, if you lay down your pen and turn your face away, your pen will be lost, even though you be among men whom you know; and if you lo