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 PIETRO DELLA VALLE.

Born 1586.—Died 1652.

Born at Rome—Education and early life—Sails from Venice—Constantinople—Plain of Troy—Manuscript of Livy—The plague—Visits Egypt—Mount Sinai—Palestine—Crosses the northern desert of Arabia—An Assyrian beauty—Falls in love from the description of a fellow-traveller—Arrives at Bagdad—Tragical event—Visits the ruins of Babylon—Marries—Beauty of his wife—Departure from Bagdad—Mountains of Kurdistan—Enters Persia—Ispahan—Wishes to make a crusade against the Turks—Travels, with his harem, towards the Caspian Sea—Tragical adventure of Signora della Valle—Arrives at Mezenderan—Enters into the service of the shah, and is admitted to an audience—Expedition against the Turks—Pietro does not engage in the action—Disgusted with war—Returns to Ispahan—Domestic misfortunes—Visits the shores of the Persian Gulf—Sickness and Maani—Pietro embalms the body of his wife, and carries it about with him through all his travels—Sails for India, accompanied by a young orphan Georgian girl—Arrives at Surat—Cambay—Ahmedabad—Goa—Witnesses a suttee—Returns to the Persian Gulf—Muskat—Is robbed in the desert, but preserves the body of his wife—Arrives in Italy—Magnificent funeral and tomb of Maani—Marries again—Dies at Rome     149

JEAN BAPTISTE TAVERNIER.

Born 1602.—Died 1685, or 1686.

Native of Antwerp—Commences his adventures at a very early age—Visits England and Germany—Becomes page to a viceroy of Hungary—Visits Italy—Narrowly escapes death at the siege of Mantua—Ratisbon—Imperial coronation—Tragical event—Turkey—Persia—Hindostan—Anecdote of a Mogul prince—Visits the diamond mines—Vast temple—Dancing girls—Mines of Raolconda in the Carnatic—Mode of digging out the diamonds—Mode of trafficking in jewels—Boy merchants—Anecdote of a Banyan—Receives alarming news from Golconda—Returns—Finds his property secure—Mines of Colour—Sixty thousand persons employed in these mines—Mines of—Sumbhulpoor—Magical jugglers—Miraculous tree—Extraordinary accident at Ahmedabad—Arrival at Delhi—Palace and jewels of the Great Mogul—Crosses the Ganges—Visits the city of Benares—Islands of the Indian Ocean—Returns to France—Marries—Sets up an expensive establishment—Honoured with letters of nobility—Purchases a barony—Dissipates his fortune, and sets out once more for the East, at the age of eighty-three—Is lost upon the Volga     180

FRANCOIS BERNIER.

Born about 1624.—Died 1688.

A native of Angers—Educated for the medical profession—Visits Syria and Egypt—Is ill of the plague at Rosetta—Anecdote of an Arab servant—Visits Mount Sinai—Sails down the Red Sea—Mokha—King of Abyssinia—Bargains with a father for his own son—Sails for India—Becomes physician to the Great Mogul—Is in the train of Dara,