Travels in India (Tavernier) 32.2
Travels in India (Ball) 32.2
- Language
- English
32.2.1
They arrived at Goa on the 19th of February 1649, and the vessel had scarcely reached port when St. Amant came on board on the part of the Viceroy, both to receive the letters and to get news of what was going on in China. His surprise was great on seeing Du Belloy in this condition, and learning that the captain would not allow him to land till he had made him over to the Inquisitor. Nevertheless, as St. Amant then possessed great authority, by force of his entreaties he obtained permission from the captain for Du Belloy to go with him to the town. Du Belloy purposely again put on his old clothes, which were all in rags and full of vermin, and St. Amant, who knew that it would not do to play with the Inquisition, went first to present him to the Inquisitor, who, seeing this gentleman in so poor a condition, took some pity on him, and allowed him the run of the town as his prison till he should see what had been written regarding him, on condition that he should return when required to do so. After these proceedings St. Amant brought Du Belloy to my lodging, as I was on the point of going out to see the Bishop of Mire (i.e. Myra in Lycia), whom I had formerly known at Constantinople when he was guardian of the Franciscans of Galata. I asked them to wait my return for a while, and to dine with me, which they did, after which I offered board and lodging to M. du Belloy, who stayed with me, and I ordered three suits of clothes and whatever linen was necessary for him.
32.2.2
I remained eight or ten days longer at Goa, during which it was impossible for me to induce M. du Belloy to put on the new clothes. But he would never tell me why, whilst from day to day he promised me to put them on. Being on the point of departure I told him I was about to take leave of the Viceroy, and he besought me earnestly to try to obtain permission for him to go too. I did so willingly and successfully. We left the same evening in the vessel in which I had come, and immediately M. du Belloy began taking off his old clothes and putting on the new ones, threw his old ones into the sea, and continued swearing against the Inquisition without my knowing the reason, for I was still unaware of what had passed. In my amazement at hearing him swear in this manner, I told him that he was not yet out of the hands of the Portuguese, and that he and I, with my five or six servants, would never be able to defend ourselves against the forty men who rowed our boat. I asked him why he swore in this way against the Inquisition, and he replied that he would tell me the whole story from beginning to end; this he did when we reached Vengurla, where we arrived at eight o’clock in the morning. Having landed, we found some Dutchmen with the Commander, who had come to the seashore to eat oysters and drink Spanish wine. They asked me at once who it was whom I had with me.
32.2.3
I told them that he was a gentleman, who, having come with the French Ambassador to Portugal, had embarked for India with four or five others, who were still at Goa, and that, as neither his residence in the town nor the manners of the Portuguese were pleasing to him, he had asked me to help him to get back to Europe. Three or four days later I bought him a country mount, i.e. an ox, to enable him to go to Surat, and I gave him an attendant to serve him, with a letter to the Capuchin, Father Zenon, begging the Father to give him, through my broker, 10 écus a month for his expenditure, and to obtain from the English President permission for him to embark on the first opportunity. This, however, did not come about, for Father Zenon took him back to Goa when he went thither on the business of Father Ephraim his comrade, of which I shall speak in the next chapter, Father Zenon thought, no doubt, that Du Belloy, by showing himself to the Inquisition and asking pardon, would obtain it easily. It is true that he did obtain it, but only after being two years in the Inquisition, and coming out of it wearing a brimstone-coloured shirt with a great St. Andrew’s cross on the front of it. He had with him another Frenchman called Maitre Louys de Bar-sur-Seine, who was treated in the same fashion, and they both had to go in procession with those who were led to torture. M.
32.2.4
du Belloy had done ill in returning to Goa, and did much worse in showing himself at Vengurla, where the Dutch, who had learnt that he had previously escaped from their service, by the advices which they had received from the Commander at Surat, seized him immediately, and placed him on a vessel which was going to Batavia. They said that they had sent him to the General of the Company to be disposed of as that officer should think proper. But I know on good authority that when the vessel was a short distance from land they put this poor gentleman into a sack and threw it into the sea. This, then, was the end of M. du Belloy, but that of M. des Marests had nothing tragical about it, as will be seen from his history, which I shall relate in a few words. M. des Marests was a gentleman of Dauphiné, from the neighbourhood of Loriol, who, having fought a duel, and having killed his man, fled into Poland, where he did some gallant acts, which secured for him the esteem and affection of the General of the Polish army. At this time the Grand Seigneur kept two Polish Princes as prisoners at Constantinople in the Castle of the Seven Towers, and this General, knowing the valour and skill of Des Marests, who was enterprising, and a good engineer into the bargain, proposed to him to go to Constantinople to see if by any means he could manage to get the Princes out of prison.
32.2.5
Des Marests accepted this commission very willingly, and he would no doubt have had the good fortune to succeed if he had not been discovered by certain Turks, who accused him of having been seen examining the Seven Towers with too much attention, and with pencil in hand making a plan in order to accomplish afterwards some evil design. It had been sufficient to cause the destruction of this gentleman if M. de Cesi, the Ambassador of France, had not so arranged that the matter was promptly stifled by a present (this is in Turkey the most sovereign remedy in such troublesome matters), and by representing that he was a young gentleman who was travelling for his pleasure, and proposed going to Persia by the first opportunity he could meet with. It was not, however, the intention of the Sieur des Marests to go farther, and he was waiting his opportunity to return to Poland after having done all that was possible to get the Princes out of prison; but to escape from the hands of the Turks it was necessary to say that he was going to Persia, and to act in such a manner that he did in fact go thither. The Grand Seigneur had resolved never to give liberty to these Princes, but they were lucky enough at length to find means of winning over a young Turk, son of the Captain of the Seven Towers, to whom the father generally entrusted the keys to open and close the doors of the prison.
32.2.6
On the night destined for their flight this young man pretended to lock certain doors, but left their padlocks open, afterwards taking the keys to his father; but he did not dare to do the same to the two principal doors—at one of which the captain with the main guard was stationed—for fear of being discovered. This young man, who was entirely devoted to these Princes, having well considered his plans, had made timely provision of rope-ladders in order to get over two of the walls. But for that purpose it was necessary to have some correspondence outside, and also some one inside who shared this important secret. As the severest rigour was not observed towards these Princes they were allowed to receive some dishes from the kitchen of the French Ambassador, and the groom of the kitchen, who was in the plot, having sent them on different occasions some pastry filled with ropes, they made ladders to aid them in their escape. The matter was so well planned and so well carried out that it succeeded, and the young Turk followed the Princes into Poland, where he became a Christian, and received an ample reward in appointments and money. It was the same in proportion with the others who had aided in the escape of the Princes, and the latter, when they reached Poland, made ample acknowledgment of the services which had been rendered to them by each individual.