is the Realme of Chille which is without the generall rule of these other Prouinces being seated without the burning Zone and the Tropicke of Capricorne This Land of it selfe is coole and fertile and brings forth all kindes of fruits that bee in Spaine it yeelds great abundance of bread and wine and abounds in Pastures and Cattell The aire is wholsome and cleere temperate betwixt heat and cold Winter and Summer are very distinct and there they finde great store of very fine gold Yet this Land is poore and smally peopled by reason of their continuall warre with the Auricanos and their Associates being a rough people and friends to libertie There are great coniectures that in the temperate Zone at the Antartike Pole there are great and fertile Lands but to this day they are not discouered neither doe they know any other Land in this Zone but that of Chille and some part of that Land which runnes from Ethiopia to the Cape of Good Hope as hath beene said in the first Booke neither is it knowne if there bee any habitations in the other two Zones of the Poles and whether the Land continues and stretcheth to that which is towards the Antartike or South Pole Neither doe we know the Land that lyes beyond the Straight of Magellan for that the greatest height yet discouered is in fiftie sixe degrees as hath beene formerly said and toward the Artike or Northerne Pole it is not known how farre the Land extends which runnes beyond the Cape of Mendoçin and the Caliphornes nor the bounds and end of Florida neither yet how farre it extends to the West Of late they haue discouered a new Land which they call New Mexico where they say is much people that speake the Mexican tongue The Philippines and the following Ilands as some report that know it by experience ranne aboue nine hundred leagues But to intreat of China Cochinchina Siam and other Regions which are of the East Indies were contrarie to my purpose which is onely to discourse of the West nay they are ignorant of the greatest part of America which lyes betwixt Peru and Bresil although the bounds be knowne of all sides wherein there is diuersitie of opinions some say it is a drowned Land full of Lakes and waterie places others affirme there are great and flourishing Kingdomes imagining there be the Paytiti the Dorado and the Caesars where they say are wonderfull things I haue heard one of our companie say a man worthy of credit that he had seene great dwellings there and the wayes as much beaten as those betwixt Salamanca and Villadillit the which he did see when as Peter d'Orsua and after those that succeeded him made their entrie and discouerie by the great Riuer of Amazons who beleeuing that the Dorado which they sought was farther off cared not to inhabit there and after went both without the Dorado which they could not finde and this great Prouince which they left To speake the truth the habitations of America are to this day vnknowne except the extremities which are Peru Bresil and that part where the Land begins to straighten which is the Riuer of Siluer then Tucuman which makes the round to Chille and Charcas Of late we haue vnderstood by Letters from some of ours which goe to Saint Croix in the Sierre that they goe discouering of great Prouinces and dwellings betwixt Bresil and Peru. Time will reueile them for as at this day the care and courage of men is great to compasse the World from one part to another so we may beleeue that as they haue discouered that which is now knowne they may likewise lay open that which remaynes to the end the Gospell may bee preached to the whole World seeing the two Crownes of Portugal and Castile haue met by the East and West ioyning their discoueries together which in truth is a matter to be obserued that the one is come to China and Iapan by the East and the other to the Philippines which are neighbours and almost ioyning vnto China by the West for from the Ilands of Lusson which is the chiefe of the Philippines in the which is the Citie of Manille vnto Macaeo which is in the I le of Canton are but foure score or a hundred leagues and yet we finde it strange that notwithstanding this small distance from the one to the other yet according to their account there is a dayes difference betwixt them so as it is Sunday at Macao when as it is but Saturday at Manille and so of the rest Those of Macao and of China haue one day aduanced before the Philippines It happened to father Alonse Sanches of whom mention is made before that parting from the Philippines hee arriued at Macao the second day of May according to their computation and going to say the Masse of Saint Athanasim he found they did celebrate the feast of the Inuention of the holy Crosse for that they did then reckon the third of May. The like happened vnto him in another voyage beyond it Some haue found this alteration and diuersitie strange supposing that the fault proceedes from the one or the other the which is not so but it is a true and well obserued computation for according to the difference of wayes where they haue beene we must necessarily say that when they meet there must be difference of a day the reason is for that sayling from West to East they alwayes gaine of the day finding the Sunne rising sooner and contrariwise those that saile from East to West doe alwayes lose of the day for that the Sunne riseth later vnto them and as they approach neerer the East or the West they haue the day longer or shorter In Peru which is Westward in respect of Spaine they are aboue sixe houres behinde so as when it is noone in Spaine it is morning at Peru and when it is morning here it is mid-night there I haue made certaine proofe thereof by the computation of Eclipses of the Sunne and Moone Now that the Portugals haue made their nauigations from West to East and the Castillans from East to West when they came to ioyne and meet at the Philippines and Macao the one haue gayned twelue houres and the other hath lost as much so as at one instant and in one time they finde the difference of foure and twentie houres which is a whole day Although we finde vents of fire in other places as Mount Aetna and Vesunio which now they call Mount Soma yet is that notable which is found at the Indies Ordinarily these Volcans be Rocks or Pikes of most high Mountaines which raise themselues aboue the tops of all other Mountaines vpon their tops they haue a Playne and in the midst thereof a pit or great mouth which descends euen vnto the foote thereof a thing very terrible to behold Out of these mouthes there issues smoake and sometimes fire some cast little smoake and haue in a manner no force
Riuers which after become great flouds Vpon the way from Arequippa to Callao there are two Lakes vpon the Mountaines of the one and other side the way from the one flowes a brooke which growes to a floud and fals into the South Sea from the other they say the famous Riuer of Aporima takes her beginning from the which some hold that the renowned Riuer of Amazons otherwise called Maragnon proceedes with so great an assembly and abundance of waters which ioyne in these Mountaines It is a question may be often asked why there is so many Lakes in the tops of these Mountaines into the which no riuer enters but contrariwise many great streames issue forth and yet doe we scarce see these Lakes to diminish any thing at any season of the yeare To imagine that these Lakes grow by the Snow that melts or raine from heauen that doth not wholly satisfie me for there are many that haue not this abundance of Snow nor raine and yet wee see no decrease in them which makes me to beleeue they are Springs which rise there naturally although it be not against reason to thinke that the Snow and raine helpe somewhat in some seasons These Lakes are so common in the highest tops of the Mountaines that you shall hardly finde any famous riuer that takes not his beginning from one of them Their water is very cleere and breedes little store of fish and that little is very small by reason of the cold which is there continually Notwithstanding some of these Lakes be very hot which is another wonder At the end of the Vallie of Tarapaya neere to Potozi there is a Lake in forme round which seemes to haue beene made by compasse whose water is extreamely hot and yet the Land is very cold they are accustomed to bathe themselues neere the banke for else they cannot endure the heate being farther in In the midst of this Lake there is a boiling of aboue twentie foote square which is the very Spring and yet notwithstanding the greatnesse of this Spring it is neuer seene to increase in any sort it seemes that it exhals of it selfe or that it hath some hidden and vnknowne issue neither doe they see it decrease which is another wonder although they haue drawne from it a great streame to make certaine engines grinde for mettall considering the great quantitie of water that issueth forth by reason whereof it should decrease But leauing Peru and passing to new Spaine the Lakes there are no lesse to be obserued especially that most famous of Mexico where we finde two sorts of waters one salt Lake like to that of the Sea and the other cleere and sweete by reason of the Riuers that enter into it In the midst of this Lake is a rocke very delightfull and pleasant where there are bathes of hot water that issue forth the which they greatly esteeme for their health There are Gardens in the middest of this Lake framed and fleeting vpon the water where you may see plots full of a thousand sorts of hearbes and flowers they are in such sort as a man cannot well conceiue them without sight The Citie of Mexico is seated in the same Lake although the Spaniards haue filled vp the place of the scituation with earth leauing onely some currents of water great and small which enter into the Citie to carrie such things as they haue neede of as wood hearbs stone fruites of the Countrie and all other things When Cortez conquered Mexico hee caused Brigandins to be made yet afterwards he thought it more safe not to vse them therefore they vse Canoes whereof there is great store There is great store of fish in this Lake yet haue I not seene any of price notwithstanding they say the reuenue of this Lake is worth three-hundred thousand Duckets a yeere There are many other Lakes not farre from this whence they bring much fish to Mexico The Prouince of Mechonacan is so called for that it aboundeth greatly with fish There are goodly and great Lakes in the which there is much fish and this Prouince is coole and healthfull There are many other Lakes whereof it is not possible to make mention nor to know them in particular onely wee may note by that which hath beene discoursed in the former Booke that vnder the burning Zone there is greater abundance of Lakes then in any other part of the world There is at the Indies as in other parts of the world great diuersitie of Springs Fountaines and Riuers and some haue strange properties In Guancauilica of Peru where the Mines of Quick-siluer be there is a Fountaine that casts forth hot water and in running the water turnes to rocke of which rocke or stone they build in a manner all the houses of the Village This stone is soft and easie to cut for they cut it as easily with Iron as if it were wood it is light and lasting If men or beasts drinke thereof they dye for that it congeales in the very entrailes and turnes into stone and for that cause some Horses haue died As this water turnes into stone the which flowes stoppes the passage to the rest so as of necessitie it changeth the course and for this reason it runnes in diuers places as the rocke increaseth At the point of Cape Saint Helaine there is a Spring or Fountaine of Pitch which at Peru they call Coppey This should be like to that which the Scripture speakes of the sauage Valley where they did finde pits of Pitch The Marriners vse these Fountaines of Pitch or Coppey to pitch their ropes and tackling for that it serues them as Pitch and Tarre in Spaine When I sailed into new Spaine by the coast of Peru the Pilot shewed me an Iland which they call the I le of Wolues where there is another Fountaine or Pit of Coppey or Pitch with the which they anoint their tackling There are other Fountaines and Springs of Gouliranrozen which the Pilot an excellent man in his charge told me he had seene and that sometimes sailing that waies being so farre into the Sea as he had lost the sight of Land yet did he know by the smell of the Coppey where he was as well as if he had knowne the Land such is the fauour that issues continually from that Fountaine At the Bathes which they call the Bathes of Ingua there is a course of water which comes forth all hot and boiling and ioyning vnto it there is another whose water is as cold as Ice The Ingua was accustomed to temper the one with the other and it is a wonderfull thing to see Springs of so contrarie qualities so neere one to the other There are an infinite number of other hot Springs specially in the Prouince of Charcas in the water whereof you cannot indure to hold your hand the space of an Aue Maria as I haue seene tried by wager In a Farme neere to Cusco
also other strange Countries make sumptuous buildings therewith The Indians doe draw from these flouds that runne from the Mountaines to the Vallies and Plaines many and great Brookes to water their Land which they vsually doe with such industrie as there are no better in Murcia nor at Millan it selfe the which is also the greatest and onely wealth of the Plaines of Peru and of many other parts of the Indies §. III. Of the qualitie of the Land at the Indies in generall Properties of Peru and of new Spaine and other parts Of Vulcanes and Earthquakes WE may know the qualitie of the Land at the Indies for the greatest part seeing it is the last of the three Elements whereof we haue propounded to treate in this Booke by the discourse we haue made in the former Booke of the burning Zone seeing that the greatest part of the Indies doth lye vnder it But to make it knowne the more particularly I haue obserued three kindes of Lands as I haue passed through those Regions whereof there is one very low another very high and the third which holds the middle of these two extreames The lower is that which lyeth by the Sea coasts whereof there is in all parts of the Indies and it is commonly very hot and moist so as it is not so healthfull and at this day we see it lesse peopled although in former times it hath beene greatly inhabited with Indians as it appeareth by the histories of new Spaine and Peru and where they kept and liued for that the soile was naturall vnto them being bred there They liued of fishing at Sea and of seeds drawing brooks from the Riuers which they vsed for want of raine for that it raines little there and in some places not at all This low Countrie hath many places vnhabitable as well by reason of the Sands which are dangerous for there are whole Mountaines of these Sands as also for the Marishes which grow by reason of the waters that fall from the Mountaines which finding no issue in these flat and low Lands drowne them and make them vnprofitable And in truth the greatest part of all the Indian Sea coast is of this sort chiefly vpon the South Sea the habitation of which coasts is at this present so wasted and contemned that of thirty parts of the people that inhabited it there wants twenty nine and it is likely the rest of the Indians will in short time decay Many according to the varietie of their opinions attribute this to diuers causes some to the great labour which hath beene imposed vpon these Indians others vnto the change and varietie of meates and drinkes they vse since their commerce with the Spaniards others to their great excesse and drinking and to other vices they haue for my part I hold this disorder to be the greatest cause of their decay whereof it is not now time to discourse any more In this low Countrie which I say generally is vnhealthfull ond vnfit for mans habitation there is exception in some places which are temperate and fertile as the greatest part of the Plaines of Peru where there are coole vallies and very fertile The greatest part of the habitation of the coast entertains all the traffike of Spain by Sea whereon all the estate of the Indies dependeth Vpon this coast there are some Towns well peopled as Lima and Truxillo in Peru Panama and Carthagena vpon the maine Land and in the Ilands Saint Dominique Port Ricco and Hauana with many other Towns which are lesse then these as the True Crosse in new Spain Yâ—a Arigua and others in Peru the Ports are commonly inhabited although but slenderly The second sort of Land is contrary very high and by consequent cold and dry as all the Mountaines are commonly This Land is neither fertile nor pleasant but very healthfull which makes it to be peopled and inhabited There are Pastures and great store of Cattle the which for the most part entertaines life and by their Cattell they supply the want they haue of Corne and Graine by trucking and exchange But that which makes these Lands more inhabited and peopled is the riches of the Mines that are found there for that all obeys to Gold and Siluer By reason of the Mines there are some dwellings of Spaniards and Indians which are increased and multiplied as Potozi and Gancanelicqua in Peru and Cacatecas in new Spaine There are also through all these Mountaines great dwellings of the Indians which to this day are maintained yea some will say they increase but that the labour of the Mines doth consume many and some generall diseases haue destroyed a great part as the Cocoliste in new Spaine yet they finde no great diminution In this extremitie of high ground they finde two commodities as I haue said of Pastures and Mines which doe well counteruaile the two other that are in the lower grounds alongst the Sea coast that is the commerce of the Sea and the abundance of Wine which groweth not but in the hot Lands Betwixt these two extreames there is ground of a meane height the which although it be in some parts higher or lower one then other yet doth it not approach neither to the heate of the Sea coast nor the intemperature of the Mountaines In this sort of soyle there groweth many kindes of Graine as Wheate Barley and Mays which growes not at all in the high Countries but well in the lower there is likewise store of Pasture Cattell Fruits and greene Forrests This part is the best habitation of the three for health and recreation and therefore it is best peopled of any part of the Indies the which I haue curiously obserued in many Voyages that I haue vndertaken and haue alwayes found it true that the Prouince best peopled at the Indies be in this scituation Let vs looke neerely into new Spaine the which without doubt is the best Prouince the Sunne doth circle by what part soeuer you doe enter you mount vp and when you haue mounted a good height you begin to descend yet very little and that Land is alwayes much higher then that along the Sea coast All the Land about Mexico is of this nature and scituation and that which is about the Vulcan which is the best soile of the Indies as also in Peru Arequipa Guamangua and Cusco although more in one then in the other But in the end all is high ground although they descend into deepe Vallies and clime vp to high Mountaines the like is spoken of Quitto Saint Foy and of the best of the New Kingdome To conclude I doe beleeue that the wisedome and prouidence of the Creator would haue it so that the greatest part of this Countrie of the Indies should be hillie that it might be of a better temperature for being low it had beene very hot vnder the burning Zone especially being farre from the Sea Also all the Land I haue seene at the Indies is neere
house ministring there things necessary vnto him vntill his businesse be dispatched For if any stranger should trauell through that Countrey the Catttell would flie away at the very sent of him and so would become wilde Beyond Muc is great Cataya the Inhabitants whereof as I suppose were of old time called Seres For from them are brought most excellent stuffes of silke And this people is called Seres of a certaine Towne in the same Countrey I was credibly informed that in the said Countrey there is one Towne hauing Walls of siluer and Bulwarkes or Towers of gold There bee many Prouinces in that Land the greater part whereof are not as yet subdued vnto the Tartars And the Sea lyeth betweene them and India These Catayans are men of a little stature speaking much through the nose And this is generall that all they of the East haue small eyes They are excellent workemen in euery Art and their Physicians are well skilled in the Vertues of Herbs and iudge exactly of the Pulse But vse no Vrinals nor know any thing concerning Vrine This I saw for there are many of them at Caracarum And they are alwaies wont to bring vp all their children in the same trade whereof the father is And therefore they pay so much tribute for they giue the Moaellians euery day one thousand and fiue hundred Cessines or Iascots Iascot is a piece of siluer weighing ten Markes that is to say euery day fifteene thousand Markes beside silkes and certaine victuals which they receiue from thence and other seruices which they doe them All these Nations are betweene the Mountaynes of Caucasus on the North side of those Mountaines to the East Sea on the South part of Scythia which the Shepheards of Moal doe inhabit All which are tributarie vnto them and all giuen to Idolatry and report many fables of a multitude of gods and certaine Deified men and make a pedigree of the gods as our Poets doe The Nestorians are mingled among them as Strangers so are the Saracens as farre as Cathay The Nestorians inhabit fifteene Cities of Cathay and haue a Bishopricke there in a Citie called Segin But further they are meere Idolaters The Priests of the Idols of the said Nations haue all broad yellow hoods There are also among them as I vnderstood certaine Hermits liuing in the Woods and Mountaines of an austere and strange life The Nestorians there know nothing for they say their Seruice and haue holy Bookes in the Syrian tongue which they know not So that they sing as our Monkes doe who are ignorant of Grammar and hence it commeth that they are wholly corrupted They are great Vsurers and Drunkards and some of them also who liue among the Tartars haue many Wiues as the Tartars haue When they enter into the Church they wash their lower parts as the Saracens doe They eate flesh on Friday of the weeke and hold their Feasts that day after the manner of the Saracens The Bishop comes seldome into those Countries perchance scarse once in fiftie yeares Then they cause all their little Children which are Males to be made Priests euen in the Cradell so that all their men almost are Priests and after this they marrie Wiues which is directly against the decrees of the Fathers they are also Bigami for the Priests themselues their first Wife being dead marrie another They are all Simonists for they giue no holy thing freely They are very carefull for their Wiues and Children whereby they apply themselues to gaine and not to the spreading of the Faith Whence it commeth to passe while some of them bring vp some of the Nobilities children of Moal although they teach them the Gospell and the Articles of the Faith yet by their euill life and couetousnesse they driue them further from Christianitie Because the life of the Moallians and Tuinians who are Idolaters is more harmelesse then theirs WE departed from the foresaid Citie of Cailac on Saint Andrewes day And there wee found almost within three leagues a whole Castle or Village of Nestorians Entring into their Church we sang Salue Regina c. with ioy as loud as we could because it was long since we had seene a Church Departing thence in three daies we came to the entrance of that Prouince in the head of the foresaid Sea which seemed to vs as tempestuous as the Ocean and we saw a great Iland therein My Companions drew neere the shoare and wet a Linnen cloath therein to taste the Water which was somewhat salt but might bee drunke There went a certaine Valley ouer against it from betweene the great Mountaines betweene South and East and betweene the hils was another certaine great Sea and there ranne a Riuer through that Valley from the other Sea into this Where came such a continuall winde through the Valley that men passe with great danger least the wind carrie them into the Sea Therefore wee left the Valley and went towards the North to the great hilly Countries couered with deepe Snow which then lay vpon the Earth so that vpon Saint Nicholas day we beganne now to hasten our iourny much and because we found no people but the Iani themselues to wit men appointed from daies iourney to daies iourney together the Messengers together Because in many places in the hilly Countries the way is narrow and there are but few fields so that betweene day and night we met with two Iani whereupon of two daies iourneys we made one and trauelled more by night then by day It was extreame cold there so that they lent vs their Goats skins turning the haire outward The second Sunday of Aduent in the euening we passed by a certaine place betweene very terrible Rockes and our Guide sent vnto me intreating me to speake some good words wherewith the Deuils might be driuen away because in that passage the Deuils themselues were wont suddenly to carrie men away so that it was not knowne what became of them Sometimes they violently snatched a Horse and left the man sometimes they drew out a mans bowels and left the emptie carkasse vpon the Horse And many such things did often fall out there Then we sang with a loud voyce Credo in Deum c. And by the Grace of God wee passed through with all our company vnhurt After that they beganne to intreat me that I would write them Papers to carrie on their heads and I told them I would teach them a word which they should carrie in their hearts whereby their soules and bodies should be saued euerlastingly But alwaies when I would teach them I wanted an Interpreter Yet I wrote them the Creede and the Lords Prayer saying Heere it is written whatsoeuer a man ought to beleeue concerning God Here also is that prayer wherein we begge of God whatsoeuer is needfull for a man Whereupon beleeue firmely that which is written here although you cannot vnderstand
hundred and sixtie Mariners each of them In these ships the Embassadours the Queene and Nicolo Maffio and Marco set sayle hauing first taken leaue of the Great Chan who gaue them many Rubies and other precious gems and expenses for two yeeres After three moneths they came vnto a certaine Iland named Iaua and from thence sayling through the Indian Sea after eighteene moneths they come vnto the Countrey of King Argon sixe hundred men of the Mariners and others and but one of the Women and Damsels died in the iourney and onely Coza of the three Embassadours was liuing When they came to the Countrey of King Argon they found that hee was dead and that one Chiacato gouerned the Kingdome for his sonne being young They sent to acquaint him with their businesse who answered that they should giue her to Casan the Kings sonne then in the parts of Arbor secco in the Confines of Persia with sixtie thousand persons for the guard of certaine passages against the enemie Hauing done so Nicolo Maffio and Marco returned to Chiacato and stayed there nine moneths After this taking leaue Chiacato gaue them foure Tables of Gold each a cupit long fiue fingers broad of the weight of three or foure Markes in which was written that in the power of the eternall God the name of the Great Chan should bee honoured and praised many yeeres and euery one which should not obey should be put to death and his goods confiscate It was further contayned that these three Embassadours should be honoured and seruice done them in all Lands and Countries as to his owne person and that Horses Conuoyes expenses and necessaries should be giuen them All which was duly put in execution that sometimes they had two hundred Horses for their safeguard In this their trauell they heard that the Great Chan was dead which tooke from them all hope of returning thither They rode till they came to Trabesonde and from thence to Constantinople and after to Negroponte and at last came with great riches safe to Venice Anno 1295. And thus much may serue for a Preface to the following worke whereby might appeare how Marco Polo could come to the knowledge of the things therein contayned To supply a little more deliuered by Tradition and recorded by Ramusio he sayth that these three being comne to Venice like Vlysses in Ithaca none knew them all esteeming them long since dead Besides their voyage had so altered them that they seemed rather Tartarians then Venetians hauing in manner forgotten their natiue Language their habite also was of thicke Cloth like Tartars They went to their house in Saint Iohn Chrysostomes Street and is there still to be seene then a faire Palace and now called The Court of millions which name it had by reason of Marcos relations of so many millions in this worke and in his dâ—scourses of the Great Chans incredible wealth They found there inhabiting some of their kindred nor knew how to make themselues knowne Therefore as I haue often heard of Magnifico Messer Gasparo Malipiero a very old Gentleman of singular integritie from the report of his Father and Grandfather c. they agreed to inuite many of their kindred to a feast prepared in honourable manner with much Magnificence in which at first all three came forth in Crimson Sattin sutes and after the Guests were set stripped themselues and gaue them to the Seruitors comming forth in Crimson Damaske and at the next seruice in Crimson Veluet and after in the common habit giuing still the former to the seruitors Dinner ended and the Seruitors put foorth Marco brought forth their three habits of thicke Cloath in which they had comne home and thence tooke and set on the Table an incredible quantitie of Iewels artificially sewed therein which was no lesse maruell to the beholders then euidence of their being of the Polo family as they pretended Maffio was made a Magistrate in Venice Marco was daily frequented with the youth and all wanne great reputation In few moneths after Lampa Doria Generall of a fleet of Genois being come to the I le Curzola with seauentie Galleyes Andrea Dandolo was sent against them and in that Fleet Marco was made Captaine of a Galley which by disaduenture of Warre was taken and he carryed prisoner to Genoa Where his strange trauels being made knowne a certaine Gentleman daily resorting to him as did the whole Citie in admiration caused and helped him to write this storie hauing sent to Venice for his Notes The booke was first written in Latine and thence translated into Italian One of which Latine Copies very ancient and haply copied out of Marcos originall I haue seene and compared with this which I heere Publish lent me by a Gentleman of this Citie of the house of the Ghisi my speciall friend which holds it in speciall esteeme No price might ransome him insomuch that his Father wanting an heyre to his wealth marryed againe and had by his wife three Children Marcos worthinesse obtained that which no moneys worth could doe and being at libertie hee returned and marryed and had two Daughters but no sonne Moretta and Fautina c. That Gentleman of Genoa made a Preface to the Booke and Francisco Pipino a Frier Preacher which translated the same Anno 1320. out of the Vulgar the Latine being rare as well it might before Printing and perhaps neuer seene of him into Latine Both those Prefaces are in Ramusio the latter commends M. Polo for a deuout and honest man and saith his Father confirmed the truth of this Booke and his vncle Maffio on his Death-bed to his Confessor Pipino abbreuiated the Booke and perhaps gaue occasion to that corruption which was after increased by others §. II. Obseruations of M. POLO of Armenia Turkie Zorzania Baldach Persia Chirmain Cobniam Ormus Knaue-fooles Paradise and other Easterne parts in Asia and Armenia the lesse THere are two Armenia's the greater and the lesse In the lesse the King abides in a Citie called Sebastoz which in all his Countrey obserueth Iustice and good Gouernment The Kingdome it selfe hath many Cities Fortresses and Castles the soyle also is fertile and the Countrey lacketh no necessary thing nor doth it want game of Beasts and fowle the ayre is not very good The Gentlemen of Armenia in times past were stout warriours but become now effeminate and nice giue themselues to drunkennes and ryot There is a certaine Citie in this Kingdome seated neere the Sea named Giazza hauing an excellent Hauen whither many Merchants resort from diuers Countries euen from Venice and Genua by reason of the diuers marchandises brought thither especially Spices of sundry sorts and certaine other precious riches brought thither out of the East Countries for trading for this place is as it were a certaine part of all the East Countries In Turchomania are three sorts of Nations to wit the Turchomans or Turke-men which obserue the law of Mahumet They are men vnlearned rude
Chesmacoran are thirteene Kingdomes India minor is from Ziambi to Murfili in which are eight Kingdomes besides Ilands many The second or middle India is called Abascia The chiefe King is a Christian there are six other Kings three Christians and three Saracens subiect to him there are also Iewes Saint Thomas hauing preached in Nubia came to Abascia and there did the like and after to Malabar They are great Warriors alway in Armes against the Soldan of Adem and the people of Nubia I heard that An. 1288. the great Abissine would haue visited Ierusalem but being disswaded by reason of Saracen Kingdomes in the way he sent a Bishop of holy life to doe his deuotions who in his returne was taken by the Soldan of Adem and circumcised by force whereupon the Abissine raysed a power discomfited the Soldan with two other Mahumetan Kings tooke and spoyled Adem Abascia is rich in gold Escier is subiect to Adem fortie miles distant South-east where is store of white Frankincense very good which drops from small Trees by incision of the barke a rich merchandise c. Some in that Countrey for want of Corne make Bisket of Fish whereof they haue great plentie They also feede their beasts with fishes They take them in March April and May c. Hauing spoken of the Prouinces on the Coast I will now returne to some Prouinces more to the North where many Tartars dwell which haue a King called Caidu of the Race of Cingis Can but subiect to none These obserue the customes of their old Progenitors dwell not in Cities Castles or Fortresses but abide with their King in the Fields Playnes Valleyes and Forests and are esteemed true Tartars They haue no sort of Corne but liue of Flesh and Milke in great peace They haue store of Horses Kine Sheepe and other beasts There are found great white Beares twentie palmes long black Foxes very great wilde Asses and little beasts called Roudes which beare the Sable Furres and Vari arcolini and those which are called Pharaos rats which the Tartars are cunning to take The great Lakes which are frozen except in a few moneths of the yeere cause that the Summer is scarse to bee trauelled for myre And therefore the Merchants to buy their Furres for fourteene dayes iourney thorow the Desart haue set vp for each day a house of Wood where they abide and barter and in Winter they vse Sleds without wheeles and plaine in the bottome rising with a semi-circle at the top or end drawne easily on the Ice by beasts like great Dogs six yoked by couples the Sledman only with his Merchant and Furres sitting therein In the end of the Region of these Tartars is a Countrey reaching to the furthest North called Darknesse because the most part of the Winter moneths the Sunne appeares not and the Ayre is thicke and darkish as betimes in the morning with vs. The men there are pale and great haue no Prince and liue like beasts The Tartars oft rob them of their Cattell in those darke moneths and left they should lose their way they ride on Mares which haue Colts sucking which they leaue with a Guard at the entrance of that Countrey where the Light beginneth to faile and when they haue taken their prey giue reynes to the Mares which hasten to their Colts In their long continued day of Summer they take many the finest Furres one occasion of the Tartars going to rob them of which I haue heard some are brought into Russia Russia is a great Countrey in that Northerne Darknesse the people are Greeke Christians the Men and Women faire and pay Tribute to the King of the Tartars of the West on whom they border on the East There is store of Furres Waxe and Minerals of siluer It reacheth as I was told to the Ocean Sea in which are store of Gerfalcons and Falcons To the Reader IN this admirable Voyage of Polo I confesse Inopem me copia fecit the Translation which I had of Master Hakluyts from the corrupted Latine being lesse then nothing nimirum damno auctus fui did me no steed but losse whiles I would compare it with the Latine and thought to amend it by the Italian and was forced at last to reiect both Latine and English and after much vexation to present thee this as it is out of Ramusio I haue not giuen thee word for word as an exact Translator but the sense in all things substantiall with longer Relations then I haue admitted in others because many which haue read M. Paulus neuer saw M. Polo nor know the worth of the worthiest Voyage that perhaps any one man hath written a man credible in that which hee saw himselfe in some things receiued by Relation rather telling what he heard then that which I dare beleeue and specially toward the end of his third Booke which I haue therefore more abridged Pitie it is that time hath so gnawne and eaten some-where and some-where deuoured vtterly many his names and Tracts which new Lords and new Lawes the Saracenicall Conquests especially euer since his time in those parts haue caused And farre easier by the Cans greatnesse then and his employments vnder him might hee know the World in those times then in the combustions long since begunne and still continued in diuersified and quarrelling States is possible the Saracens quarrelling with Ethnikes Christians and other Saracens the Tartars diuided and sub-diuided into so many quarrelsome Serpentine heads whereby that hugenesse is broken in pieces the Chinois and others prohibiting ingresse of strangers egresse of their owne that I mention not Ethnike and Moorish Diuisions amongst themselues In the same time with Polo liued this following Armenian of whom Ramusio relateth and this Discourse intimateth that the Holy Land being quite lost Pope Clement the Fift minding to recouer it was giuen to vnderstand of helpes which might be gotten from the Tartars and withall of this Haiton or Antonie a Kinsman of the King of Armenia then liuing a Monke or Frier of the Order Premonstratensis in Episcopia in Cyprus who in his young time had beene exercised in the Warres betwixt the Tartars and Egyptian Soldans by whom he might receiue the best Intelligence of Tartarian Affaires He therefore as hee first remoued the Court from Rome to France where it abode seuentie yeares caused the said Hayton to be brought from Cyprus to France with all his Memorials and Writings of that subiect and being comne to Poitiers caused one Nicolo di Falcon a Frenchman to write in French which the other dictated in Armenian which was done Anno 1307. A Copie of this Storie written aboue two hundred yeares since came to Ramâ—sioes hand whereto I here that I say not you are beholden whence hee tooke that which concerned the Tartars omitting the rest or remitting rather his Reader to M. Polo Betwixt which two some difference may seeme but so little that Wisemen need no aduertisement thereof One
here with that Trade others are laden with skuls of dead men they dreaming that all the Almes of those men whose skuls these haue beene shall belong to their soules and that the Porter of Heauen seeing them come with thus many attending will open to him as an honourable person Others haue Cages of Birds and call to men to set free those Captiues which are the creatures of God with their Almes which they which doe let loose the Bird and bid him tell God what he hath done in his Seruice others do the like with liuing fishes offering their freedome to the charitable Redeemers which themselues will not giue them much like the sale of Indulgences saying they are Innocents which neuer sinned which freed by Almes are let goe in the Riuer with commendations of this their Redeemers Seruice to the Creator Other Barkes carry Fidlers and Musicians to offer their Seruice Others the Priests sell Hornes of sacrificâ—d Beasts with promise of I know not what Feasts in Heauen others had Tents of sorrow Tombes and all Funerall appurtenances with Women-mourners to be let out for Burials others laden with Books of all sorts of Historie and these also haue Scriueners and Proctors others haue such as offer their seruice to fight in defence of their honour others haue Mid-wiues others Nurses others carry graue men and women to comfort those that haue lost Husbands Wiues Children and the like disconsolate persons others Boyes and Girles for seruice others offer Counsellors in Cases of Law or Learning others Physicians and to conclude nothing is to bee sought on the Land which is not here to be found in this Water-citie Once the cause of the greatnesse of this Kingdome of China is this easie concourse of all parts by water and Riuers some of which in narrow places haue bridges of stone like ours and some made of one only stone laid ouer sometimes of eightie ninetie or one hundred spannes long and fifteene or twentie broad All the High-wayes haue large Causies made of good stone with Pillers and Arches fairely wrought inscribed with the Founders names and prayses in golden Letters In many places they haue Wels to refresh the Trauellers And in more barren and lesse inhabited places are single women which giue free entertainment to such as haue no monie which abuse and abomination they call a worke of Mercie and is prouided by the deceased for good of their soules with Rents and mayntenance Others haue also bequeathed in the like places houses with Lights to see the way and fires for Trauellers water and Lodging I haue in one and twentie yeares vnfortunate trauels seene a great part of Asia and the riches of Europe but if my testimonie be worthy credit all together is not comparable to China alone such are the endowments of nature in a wholsome Ayre Soyle Riuers and Seas with their Policie Iustice Riches and State that they obscure all the lustres of other parts Yet such is their bestiall and Deuillish Idolatry and filthy Sodomitry publikly permitted committed taught by their Priests as a vertue that I cannot but grieue at their vngratitude Departing from this admirable Citie we sailed vp the Riuer till on the ninth of October on Tuesday we came to the great Citie of Pequim whither wee were sent by Appeale Wee went three and three as Prisoners and were put in a Prison called Gofania serca where for an entrance they gaue each of vs thirtie stripes Chifu which brought vs presented to the Aitao our Processe signed with twelue seales from Nanquiu The twelue Conchalis which are Criminall Iudges sent one of their company with two Notaries and sixe or seuen Officers to the Prison where wee were and examined vs to whom we answered as before and hee appointed vs to make petition to the Tanigores of the holy Office by our Proctors and gaue vs a Taell for almes with a caueat to beware of the Prisoners that they robbed vs not and then went into another great Roome where he heard many Prisoners Causes three houres together and then caused execution to be done on seuen and twentie men sentenced two dayes before which all dyed with the blowes to our great terrour And the next day wee were collared and manicled being much afraid that our Calempluys businesse would come to light After seuen dayes the Tanigores of the Hospitall of that Prison came in to whom we with pitifull lamentation gaue the Certificate which wee brought from Nanquin By their meanes the Conchalis petitioned the Chaem to reuoke the Sentence of cutting off our thumbs seeing there was no testimonie of theft by vs committed but only our pouertie we more needed pitie then rogour He heard the pleading for and against vs for diuers daies the Prometor or Fiscall laying hard against vs that wee were theeues but being able to proue nothing the Chaem suspended him from his Office and condemned him in twentie Taeis to vs which was brought vs. And at last we were brought into a great Hall painted with diuers representations of execution of Iustice for seuerall crimes there written very fearefull to behold and at the end a fairer gilded roome crossed the same where was a Tribunall with seuen steps compassed with three rewes of grates Iron Latten and blacke Wood inlayed with Mother of pearle hauing a Canopie of Damaske fringed with Gold and greene Silke and vnderneath a Chaire of Siluer for the Chaem and a little Table before him with three Boyes attending on their knees richly attired with chaines of gold on their neckes the middlemost to giue him his Penne the other two to receiue Petitions and to present them on the Table two other Boyes standing at his side in exceeding rich aray the one representing Iustice the other on the right hand Mercy without which conioyned the Iudge they say becomes a Tyrant The rest of the state and ceremonie I omit wee kneeling on our knees with our hands lifted vp and our eyes cast downe to the ground heard gladly our Sentence of absolution Only we were for one yeere banished to the workes of Quansy and eight moneths of that yeere ended to haue free pasport to goe home or whither we would After the Sentence pronounced one of the Conchalys stood vp and fiue times demanded aloud if any could take exception against the Sentence and all being silent the two Boyes representing Iustice and Mercy touched each others Ensignes which they had in their hands and said aloud let them be free according to the Sentence and presently two Chumbims tooke off our Collars and Manicles and all our bonds The foure moneths the Tanigores told vs were taken off the yeere as the Kings almes in regard of our pouertie for had wee beene rich wee must haue serued the whole yeere They gaue vs foure Taeis of almes and went to the Captaine which was to goe for Quansy to commend vs to his charitie which vsed vs accordingly PEquin
Edict set vp by Co the new Vice-roy blaming the China Interpreters which had put into the heads of Stranger-priests to learne the China language and Characters and to desire some place for to erect a sacred and priuate house threatning those interpreters if they persisted In this dispayre of proceeding they had not beene a weeke gone when from Sciauquin the seate of the Vice-roy one of his guard came to Amacao and brought the Ci-fu so they call the Gouernour of that Prouince his Letters Patents by the Vice-royes authoritie inuiting the Fathers to Sciauquin there to receiue a piece of ground for a Church and dwelling house The cause hereof was an offer made by the Fathers when they were sent away from Sciauchin by the deposed Vice-roy to Canton of a summe of money to any which should procure of the New Vice-roy license for their returne One of the meanest Souldiers in name of Interpreter to the Societie had put vp a Petition to the Vice-roy who sent it to the Gouernour of the Region called Guam-puon of Cequion Prouince to bee dispatched who gaue the former Letters Patents to the Souldier which brought them himselfe to Macao They with great ioy as seeing the Diuine hand herein made ready for the iourney which the former expenses and late Ship-wrackes especially of the Iapon Ship in the I le Leuquiceo which alone hath most of the wealth of the Citie in it made difficult but Gaspar Viegas charitably bestowed the expense seconded also by others Thus full of hope they set sayle and in Canton both now and when before they were dismissed from Sciauquin they found Spaniards Then a Ship which from the Philippinas was bound for New Spaine was wracked at the I le Nan-tau on the Canton coast the men which escaped were kept in durance And now seuen or eight Franciscan Friars which had gone from the same Philippinas for Cauchinchina hearing the King was become a Christian and in their returne were wracked on the I le Hainan and taken and spoyled and presented to the Magistrates for Pirats whose libertie these Iesuites procured promising all recompence at Amacao Hence they had set foorth in the beginning of September 1583. and in the same moneth came to Sciauquin in that Souldiers companie by whom they were conueyed to the Gouernours Palace and kneeling before him made request as in the Souldiers mentioned Petition had beene contayned and were kindly answered that they should goe about the Citie and spye out some conuenient place for their purpose which hee doubted not to procure of the Vice-roy for them At the same time at Sciauquin they were erecting by the common charge of the Eleuen Cities of that Iurisdiction a Tower whereof one floore was now raysed to which they intended to adde nine others aboue it in a pleasant place by the Riuers side a myle and more from the Citie the Suburbes continuing further then it In the same place they set foorth a Temple and therein erected a Statue to the Gouernour whose sixe yeeres gouernment had well deserued of the learned and of the vulgar A piece of that field in which the flourishing Tower so they called it was building they desired which hee liked well and promised to further them with the Vice-roy The Iesuites at their former departure had left an Altar with one Ciu Nico who had placed the same in a conuenient place for want of Images inscribing aboue it Thien Chu in Cubicall letters that is To the Lord of Heauen Hee made also thereunto diuers Incenses and at set times yeelded diuine honors before it which much reioyced the Fathers seeing that there was one found which inuoked the true God And this man gaue them entertaynment till they had receiued the Vice-royes answer appâ—ouing their request and the next day the Gouernour set foorth a plot of ground for them with straight caution to obserue the Lawes of China and to admit no Strangers companions to dwell with them which they promised Much was the concourse and admiration of people much the wonder at their triangle Glasse the Image of our Ladie a wrought Handkerchiffe with which they presented the Gouernour but hee returned all afterward fearefull of Bribe-imputation Much trouble arose about that place and another was assigned them where they began to build and were forced to pawne their precious triangle Glasse to fit it for their vse they obtayned also an ample Charter from the Vice-roy and two Patents from the Gouernour which protected them from wrongs In these beginnings they made little mention of the Gospell but imployed their spare time in learning the Language and Characters by a Holy life seeking to insinuate themselues into the peoples good liking Their habite was like the modestest of the Chinois a long Gowne with large sleeues Their house had two Cells and betwixt them a Hall with an Altar in the midst on which they set the Image of the Blessed Virgin carrying her Sonne They called their God Thien-cui Lord of Heauen for the Chinois want the D. which caused that they could not giue any name more fit and this name continueth to this day although they vse others also as Highest Ruler of all First beginning of all and the like The blessed Virgin is called the Great Mother of God This Image on the Altar all which visited them both Magistrates Students Priests and common people did religiously worship kneeling and after their rite knocking lightly the ground with their fore-heads They admired the excellencie of the Picture and colours without ceasing But when it began to bee rumoured that they worshipped a Woman for God they tooke away that Picture and substituted the Image of Christ. After this they painted the ten Commandements in the China language which many approued Some brought them Incense for holy vses and some bestowed their Almes others also Oyle for the Lampe which burned before the Altar and the Fathers commended their Law as agreeing to the light of Nature The first which was Baptised was a poore diseased man cast foorth by his parents whom they instructed and a little before his death baptised The reliefe which they bestowed on him before caused a rumour amongst the vulgar that those Strangers knew by the mans complexion that hee had a precious stone in his head the cause of all that benificence The Chinois much admired the Bookes of which the Fathers had store the artificiall binding gilding cost goodlinesse of the Print and their studiousnesse in the China bookes and receiued with great applause a Booke of Christian learning which they printed Yea the Gouernour after the China rite would needs doe them publike honour which is done by sending a goodly Table with Cubitall letters in praise of them with the Magistrates name and the date inscribed in lesse letters Two of these with great pompe hee sent vnto them the one to bee set ouer the entrance with inscription
Snowes from the Hills whence they spring By the heate in that Iourney of a moneth and sometimes two moneths the viands which they carrie are often corrupted before they come to Pequin for which cause they coole them with Ice and in all those wayes much Ice is preserued for that purpose and distributed to the passengers and so all things are carryed fresh to the Court. The Eunuches of those Ships sell emptie roomes to the Passengers for their gayne for the Chinois thinke it a glory to send that which goeth to the King in many ships not to giue them their full lading which is also profitable for that sterilitie of Pequin Merchants by these conuenient fraights making nothing to want there where nothing growes Ours hyred a roome in like manner for their ease By reason of the great heat they all fell sicke yet by Gods helpe recouered When they were to passe out of the Riuer in the Prouince of Sciantum they met with a hand-made Riuer which runnes out neere Pequin to the Tower Tiensin Another Riuer from Pequin or rather from Tartaria meetes it and runnes together with it into the Sea or into that Bay betwixt Corai and China after they haue runne together one day In this Tower there was a new Vice-roy extraordinary by reason of that inuasion of Corai from Iapon Hee prouided a huge Fleet for defence of Corai by which meanes that whole Riuer was full of Ships of warre and militarie tumult Ours went thorow the thickest of them without let and at length came to the Port or Banke rather of Pequin which banke is a dayes journey from the walls of Pequin And although by Art they haue made a huge Channell to the walls yet lest it should bee filled with multitude of Ships they suffer none but the Kings burthens to goe that way the others being carryed by Carts Beasts and Porters They came to Pequin on a festiuall day the Eeuen of the Virgins Natiuitie The chiefe Mart Townes in this way were Iamcheu in Nanquin Prouince in thirtie two degrees thirtie minutes Hoaingan in thirtie foure not all so much Sinceu in thirtie foure degrees thirtie minutes In Sciantum Prouince Zinim in thirtie fiue degrees fortie minutes Lincin in thirtie seuen degrees fortie minutes In Pequin Prouince Tiencin in thirtie nine degrees thirtie minutes Pequin in fortie large They are deceiued which eleuate it to fiftie Now from Canton which is two dayes from Amacao are of China furlongs fiue of which make a mile and fifteene a league by Riuer to Nanhiun one thousand one hundred and seuentie Thence to Nancian eleuen hundred and twentie From that to Nanquin one thousand foure hundred and fortie And thence to Pequin three thousand three hundred thirtie fiue in all seuen thousand sixtie fiue which makes of miles one thousand foure hundred and thirteene PEquin is situated in the Northerne border about one hundred miles from the wall against the Tartars Nanquin exceeds it in greatnesse composition of the Streets hugenesse of Buildings and Munitions but Pequin exceedeth it in multitude of Inhabitants and of Magistrates To the South it is compassed with two walls high and strong so broad that twelue Horses may easily runne abrest oin the breadth without hindering one the other They are made of Brickes saue that on the foot it stands all on huge stones the midle of the wall is filled with Earth the height farre xceeds those in Europe To the North is but one wall On these walls by night is kept as vigilant watch as if it were time of warre in the day Eunuches guard the gates or rather exact Tributes which is not done in other Cities The Kings Palace riseth within the inner Southerne wall neere the City gates and extends to the Northerne walls seeming to take vp the whole Citie the rest of the Citie running forth on both sides It is some-what narrower then the Palace of Nanquin but more goodly and glorious that seeming by the Kings absence as a carkasse without soule Few of the Streets are paued with Bricke or Stone so that in Winter dirt and dust in Summer are very offensiue and because it raineth there seldome the ground is all crumbled into dust and if any wind blow it enters euery Roome To preuent which they haue brought in a custome that no man of whatsoeuer ranke goeth on foot or rideth without a Veile or Bonnet hanging to his brest of that subtiltie that he may see and yet the dust not annoy him which also hath another commoditie that he may goe any whither vnseene so freed from innumerable tedious salutations and also he spares attendance and cost For to ride is not magnificent enough with the Chinois and to bee carried in their Seats is costly with Attendants especially and in that time of Warre it fitted with ours to passe vnknowne being Strangers Muletters stood at the Palace and City gates and in euery Street to let Mules themselues also attending the Hirers whether they would in the City which leading the beasts by the bridle in that frequencie made way being also skilfull of the wayes knowing most of the great mens Houses all at a reasonable rate There is a Booke also which truly relateth all the Streets Lanes Regions of the City Porters also with Seats to carrie Men and Horses are euery-where found but dearer then at Nanquin or other places All things are to bee had in abundaace but brought thither and therefore dearer Wood is scarce but supplied with Mine-coles we call them Sea-cole necessary to that Region cold beyond what the Glimate vsually exacteth their Beds are so made with Brick-workes that they by a new kind of Stones admit the heate of those Coles a thing vsuall in all those Northerne Regions These Northerne Chinois are some-what more dull but better Souldiers then the other Here they learned that this Kingdome is Cataio and the King of China the great Can and Pequin Cambalu For the nine Kingdomes of Mangi are those Southerly Prouinces which are vnder the great Riuer Iansuchian and sixe vpon it make vp the fifteene so great that some one of them is as great as all Italy Anno 1608. whiles we write it is fortie yeares since two Turkes or Moores out of Arabia brought to China a Lion a beast seldome here seene by Land which had an Office giuen by the King to them and theirs to keepe the Lion and that they should carry no Tales thence They in conference called this Kingdome great Catay and this City Camhalu the like we heard of others which had comne from Persia. The Chinois also haue heard of that name and still call the Tartars Lu and the North parts Pa and Pe to which Can the Tartarian Title added easily makes Canpalu or Cambalu with others for the Chinois seldome vse B. and Marco Polo comming in with the Tartars called it by their name And at
Letter of Taiso to Ricci hee addeth thus inscribed Thaiso younger Brother which stand at the side to learne doe submit my head to the ground and exhibite honour and reuerence to the elder Brother Master and Father Matthew Ricci a famous Peere and Master of the most choise flowers of the great Law and cast downe my selfe at the feet of his Seat and Chaire The Letter followeth After our departing it being foure yeeres since sight of each other there hath not beene a day in which I haue not set before mine eyes the excellent vertue of your Worship I gaue two yeeres since to Sciauchin my Countreyman a Merchant Letters to your Worship thereby to learne where and what it did I know not whether they haue attayned that to come to your magnificent hands c. When I went from your Worship I said it must goe into the North parts if it would behold the splendour and magnificence of this Kingdome that my Countrey had nothing singular that Nanquin Court was troublesome and mixed of all sorts that Chiansi Prouince was fit onely for dwelling because there were learned men in it of excellent vertue and of a true and solid spirit to receiue the Law This yeere gathering together those things which your Worship taught mee I made a Booke and exhibited it to the Society of learned men of which there was none which did not admire and subscribe saying your Worship was Scingin that is a Saint of these times Those things which I haue added haply may be erroneous and I feare lest they contradict its sounder and higher learning and therefore haue sent my seruant to bring it to your Worship to reade which I most humbly entreat and to correct to approue the trueth to blot out the false to illustrate the obscure writing all in another Booke and sending it by the same seruant in few dayes because I would presently commit it to the Presse that your Worships learning might be knowne thorow the World In these places are of greatest reckoning the Bookes of Hothu Coscui Pequa Queuscieu Thaiquitu and other like which haue written of a Point Line Extremitie and Thicknesse All these learned make of a Line a Circle but according to your Worships teaching of a Line is made the termination of a Circle and a Circle consists therein From which principles the conclusions brought of Thaiquu that is of God doe farre exceed the Commentaries of all our learned men And they are enough to illustrate a thousand obscurities of antiquitie which hitherto haue not beene pierced This one thing afflicts mee that my writing and stile is meane and abiect and most vnfit to illustrate and enlarge the most excellent conceits of its mind Meane while I much long and as it were on tiptoes looke about euery where if haply I may see your face From Suceo the two and twentieth of the fourth Moone and the foure and twentieth of the Raigne of Vanlia Subscribed Thaiso younger Brother againe bends his head to the ground c. Lombard proceedeth in his Letter and sheweth the commodiousnesse of one King which ruleth all of one Mandarine Tongue of the common industrie and cheapnesse of prouisions not as in the pouertie of Iapon where the worke-mens maintenance must come from other parts all fitting to bring in the Gospell There are sayth he almost infinite houses of Bonzi maintayned by the King besides gifts which they receiue of others which yet repose no great confidence in Idols what would these doe if they beleeued to receiue a hundred for one and eternall life Their composition of bodie complexion condition rites no vse of weapons not so much as a Knife carried but by Souldiers in Garrison not in the way or at home their habite long and anciently vsed with their hands alway hidden in their long sleeues except in vse of their fanne which all euen the meanest carrie with them their quarrels if any happen in the vulgar ended in a few boxes or brawles their seemely behauiour equall to the European yea in some things to the Religious there their studiousnesse of learning the onely foundation of dignitie and greatnesse as many Athens there as great Cities each hauing a Schoole or Vniuersitie without mixture of other Regions their politike and morall Rules and Lawes all these might be furtherances to the Gospell Their tenacitie also of their owne customes and jelousie of Strangers might better secure them from Heresies Hee commends also their workes of Piety and Charity Almes Hospitals for poore voluntary chastisements of the bodie to subdue the affections as fastings in which they abstaine from Flesh Fish Milke and Egges but eate other things as oft and as much as they will liberties and gifts by Magistrates to Widowes which contayne themselues from second marriages triall of a mans selfe in all his actions commended in their Bookes especially of those things which other men cannot know and herevpon the liking of a solitary and contemplatiue life in the Countrey and restoring themselues to the first state as they say wherein the Heauen created them for which purpose are congregations of learned men together in Villages addicted to contemplation and fleeing publike Offices as the ancient Fathers had their conferences in woody and mountainous places in which also their women are as forward as the men many of them liuing in Nunneries gouerned by an Abbesse and all China women liue so enclosed as if their owne houses were Cloisters These he commends in them as also that of all vertues they giue the first place to Obedience to Parents as in which consists a mans perfection And that no man may be ignorant of his duty if they cannot reade of which there are but few they haue a short Summe or Catechisme for publishing whereof there is a man appointed at publike charge euery full and change to publish the same in euery street of the City so that on the same day houre a little before Sun-rising the same doctrine is propounded in all the Cities of China and thorow all their streets This is sixe Articles or Principles which are First Obey Father and Mother Secondly reuerence Betters and Elders Thirdly make peace among Neighbors Fourthly teach Children and Nephewes Fifthly let euery man well discharge his office Sixthly commmit no offence that is not to kill steale fornication c. which in manner comprehend the second Table of the Decalogue As for the first Table the Chinois especially the learned are Atheists little regarding Idols whereof their Houses and Temples are full little minding the rewards or punishments of the life to come or the soules immortalitie which yet are easily found in their bookes touching the punishments at least of Holy Pao so they call God in Hell Of rewards of blessednesse there is not such euidence as Thaiso affirmed And although many difficulties happened to ours in the Bonzian habite yet is it now farre otherwise As for Canton Prouince
the Seruant of such a Lord. They went to see the House which presently liked him and as they sold it good cheape because of the bad report that it had in two words they agreed together and the Mandarin that sold it was so glad that he gaue vs Patents to possesse it perpetually in China a thing which in no place could be obtayned of any other Mandarin Forth-with they went to it and at their comming in they blessed it according to the Rite of the Holy Mother Church and by the grace of God there was neuer dreame of any euill thing that troubled the same All men looked what would become of this and what successe they should haue with the Deuils And when they saw the great quietnesse without any shew of Spirits they were greatly astonied saying that without doubt this was a great God and that hee sought to dwell in that House and that therefore he had commanded the Deuils to dwell there and not to suffer others to enter therein and that when he came they went their way To this so good beginning the progresse from thence forward was answerable for the graue Mandarins vnderstanding together with the fame that they were Learned men that they had many Bookes that they were men of a good life and that they had some things of their Countrey which were neuer seene in China as certayne Clocks with Wheeles and Images in Oyle and other pretie things all of them setting feare apart and other respects came to visit the Fathers in great estate because they were the greatest Mandarines of all China but with much humanitie respect and courtesie with Presents of things to eate and Banquets as they vse with their equals They were so well pleased with all that they saw and heard that all of them became their great Friends and Patrones and gaue so good report of them that all men sought to doe the like and for continuance of their amity they came oftentimes to visit them and oftentimes inuited them to their Palaces and with this fame and honour of the grauest sort of people all the rest of the inferiour and baser sort vsed them with much reuerence no man daring to doe or say vnto them any discourteous thing This was the state of things when it pleased God to choose me for this Mission and when I entred into it we had three Residences one in the Prouince of Canton another in the Prouince of Quianci which is somewhat more within the Land another in the Citie of Nanquin which is in the midst of the Kingdome and three hundred leagues from Macao I entred secretly as all the rest did I say without particular Licence of any Mandarin But my secrecie continued but a while as hereafter I will declare I came at the first without staying in any other House to Nanquin where three Fathers of vs were foure moneths Father Matthew Riccio our Superiour Father Lazarus Catanio and my selfe and a Brother a Chinois one of the two which are receiued into this Mission and euery thing goeth well But as in matter of strangers the Chinois are exceeding scrupulous more then your Worship can beleeue so there were many which spake of our abiding in Nanquin considering that now wee had three Houses in China Wee beganne with much more earnestnesse to procure another better foundation and to returne to Paquin more openly and seeke accesse vnto the King And because in Nanquin there bee Mandarines to whom this belongeth and some of them were our Friends wee beganne to speake of this point But it was not needfull to spend many words for straight way we met with a Mandarin to whom by right this matter appertayned who frankly and freely offered vs Patents Dispatches and whatsoeuer was needfull to accomplish this businesse The promises of this Mandarin were not vaine for when the time came that the Riuer was vnfrozen which all the Winter is frozen ouer and Barkes began to goe for Paquin he performed his word faithfully giuing vs Patents and Passe-ports needfull for the money and besides hee sent vs a Barke of the Kings to carry our Present and our owne things Beeing glad of these good newes and dispatch we consulted how we should deale in certayne things which offered themselues in this businesse and who should goe There was no question but Father Matthew Riccio should be one but who should be his companion for whom they choose me and the Brother We set our things in order particularly those which were of the Kings Present Which were two Clockes with Wheeles one great one of Iron in a very great Case made faire with a thousand ingraued workes full of gilded Dragons which are the Armes and Ensignes of this King as the Eagle is the Emperours another little Clocke very faire aboue an handfull high all of golden Metall of the best Worke which is made in our Countrey which our Father Generall had sent vs for this purpose which was set in a gilded Case as the other was and in both of them in stead of our Letters were grauen the Letters of China and an hand that came forth did point at them Besides these there were three Images in Oyle two great ones of an Ell high and one little one The greatest was the figures and portrature of Our Lady of the Poplar of Saint Lucar The second was of our Lady with the Babe Iesus and Saint Iohn the third was a Picture of Christ which was the least all of them were of excellent Worke. Besides this there were certayne Looking-glasses two Triangle-glasses which though among vs they be of no account yet are they esteemed here among them adorned with Chaines of Siluer and set in an excellent Case of Iapon which was of twentie times more value then the Glasses to them that know what Glasses are A Booke of The Theatre of the World and a Breuiarie exceeding fairely bound with an inscription That that was the Doctrine of the True God whose Images they did present him withall A very faire Monocord because it is an Instrument whereat the Chinois doe wonder much and other pretie things of lesse importance All which things beeing set in order and imbarqued we tooke our leaue of the Christians of Nanquin which at our departure came to our House with a Banquet with great joy and of the Mandarins our friends which with great sorrow and shewes of loue tooke their leaues of vs and sent vs Presents for our Iourney and many Letters of fauour to the great Mandarins of Paquin We departed with this good dispatch from Nanquin in the yeare 1600. the twentieth day of May. And knowing not how the King and the Mandarins of Paquin and those of the Kings Court would take this our Iourney because wee were Strangers wee sought to prepare our selues for that which might fall out in great hope that we should find ayde eyther in all or in part to
tooke an house in the chiefe situation of this Citie all that which they gaue vs at the Kings cost in that place which was sufficient for our sustentation after wee were gotten out they gaue vs the same allowance in like manner Many Mandarins of this Court heard great fame of vs and of our things and vnderstanding that we were come out of that place bâ—gan to come in great numbers and concourse with much honour and respect courtesie and presents to visite vs and to enquire diuers things which they desired to know For the fame that went of vs that wee knew all Countries and the things and customes of the World and the materiall and spirituall things of Heauen was great and therefore euery one came to enquire that which hee desired And though our knowledge be but little in comparison of the knowledge which is in our Countrey yet being compared with theirs of China which knoweth nothing of the world saue their owne Kingdome which by a common name thy call The World of God and of the things of Heauen nothing and of other things little it was somewhat and was sufficient to send them home amazed and alwayes with a desire to returne They saw a very faire and great Map of the world which wee brought with vs and we shewed them how bigge the world was which they thought to bee so little that they imagined that there was not so much more in all the same as their Kingdome And they looked one vpon another and sayd wee are not so great as we imagined seeing heere they shew vs that our Kingdome compared with the world is like a grayne of Rice in comparison of a great heape They also thought that there was no other Writing nor no other Bookes in the world but theirs and when they saw ours which at the least they saw in outward appearance to bee much better then their owne they were astonied and put out of their errour doing vs alwayes more and more honour and chiefly they were astonied when wee shewed vnto them certayne things in the Mathematickes which they knew not giuing Clockes to certayne persons which for this end we made of purpose and by these and other meanes and principally by discoursing with them of Morall vertues whereof they write speake and haue many Bookes and of Gods matters there ranne so great a fame that the greatest Mandarins of all this Kingdome which are the greatest persons neâ—t the King sought to conuerse with vs and to seeke our friendship and so many sent vs presents and others came to visite vs with great numbers of people others with much courtesie inuited vs to their houses so that in foure moneths space wee had gotten the greatest Mandarins of Pequin to be our friends and readie to fauour vs is all things And he which at this time particularly doth fauour and honour vs iâ— the President of that Audience which hath the charge of vs and at the first approoued vs so that wee remayne Inhabitors of this Citie with all libertie that wee can desire to deale with all such as are willing to heare the things that belong to our holy Law and their saluation And by this good successe our Lord hath made vs forget all that is past And though it bee true that hitherto wee haue gotten no dispatch nor resolution of the King yet wee content our selues in that hee letteth vs stay heere although he neuer grant vs more For albeit by this our Iourney we haue not obtayned all that wee desired yet we hope that this our firme abode heere shall tend greatly to the seruice of our Lord and the good of this Mission They bee commonly of good vnderstandings so that easily they fall into reason and are capable they haue not in the gouernment of this Kingdome any thing that forbiddeth them to follow what Law they list nor any Law nor Obligation which is contrarie to our holy Law They haue none which effectually and with authoritie doth exhort them vnto other Lawes and with-draw them from the truth For the Bonzi which are dedicated for this purpose to Idols are in the common conceit of all men the most base contemptible and worst people in all China whose least care is to exhort them to any thing more then to giue them somewhat and thus they doe not onely not exhort them to follow Idols but also with their bad manner of liuing perswade them as wee haue often heard of men of good iudgement that it is not good to serue them since their Ministers bee such And so in this matter of worshipping of Idols though there be many that worship them and haue many of them and vse their Ministers for their Funerals and other things yet with very small affection and deuotion thereunto we easily make them say that they are naught and that it is not fit to worship them Yet though these things and others which I 〈◊〉 doe helpe them with ease to follow the Law of God the counterpois is great and commonly it weigheth downe the ballance on that side For first because the matter of Strangers is so odious in China and the dealing with them so suspicious one sort because they disdayne it as the Princes who albeit they now conceiue better of vs yet to learne of Strangers and to receiue a Law which is not of their owne meanes they hardly perswade themselues others for feare as the base people The second difficultie and perhaps the greatest iâ— a naturall obliuion that all this Nation hath of another life and of immortalitie and of saluation or condemnation of the Soule and not onely an obliuion but also an auersion from all these things wherein wee haue likewise found them to differ from all other Nations And it is a thing to be noted that since it is a thing so naturall to Man to reuerence some God either false or true and to feare or loue him and to conceiue or imagine what shall follow after this life Those Chinois which on the other side are of so good capacities in humane things and so wittie therein bee as though they were depriued thereof for they are almost all Atheists not knowing nor worshipping neither false nor true God nor neuer thinking what shall follow after this life And those which a man would thinke are most bound hereunto which are the Learned men are they which haue least knowledge hereof yea rather one of the chiefest things that they commend is not to beleeue any thing that concerneth another life Hell nor Paradise which they wholly place in this life The Bookes which they studie from their Child-hood doe them much hurt which are of certayne Philosophers aboue two thousand yeeres old whom they esteeme little lesse then if they were their God to whom euery yeere they offer Sacrifices of whom they hold so great an opinion that they thinke not that any thing
more may bee knowne then They knew And oftentimes they haue asked vs whether wee had not these Bookes in our Countrey What other Bookes might we haue that might compare with them And as these Philosophers as Gentiles spake nothing of the other life but onely of good Gouernment and Morall vertues they thought they might attayne so farre without beleeuing that there could bee another life By reason hereof and of the common vices which Paganisme draweth with it which in this Countrey increase exceedingly by reason of the fatnesse abundance and fruitfullnesse thereof they feele great difficulties to vndergoe the yoke of Christ though it be so sweet so contrarie to their appetite which taketh from them the libertie which they haue in keeping as many Wiues as they are able and in a thousand other things These later yeeres in the residencies of Canton Nanquin and heere in Paquin were made some true Christians which ouercame all these difficulties and goe on forward with great integritie constancie and feruour In the Prouince of Canton in a residencie which wee haue in Xaucheo a principall Citie haue beene Baptised within this two yeeres about three hundred persons which according to the Letters which euen now wee receiued doe all continue with great example and zeale And the Mandarins and grauer sort of people mooued by the good example which they giue doe fauour them much and especially our Lord hath shewed many tokens of his fauour in hauing shewed great plagues vpon such men as persecuted them for becomming Christians And aboue all God hath shewed his ayde vpon the Women who besides the men are very hard to bee wonne to receiue our holy Law which is the great priuatenesse which they vse because it is not lawfull to see them no not for their kinsfolkes But as I say herein the grace of our Lord God shewed it selfe very mightie seeing it ouercame this difficultie and so many of them were Baptised after they had beene very well Catechised by the Fathers On Sundayes and Holy-dayes because they cannot come to Masse with the Men yet at least in this beginning they meete in places appointed for that purpose and there they Pray and reason and intreat of Diuine matters The men for the exhortations that they make vnto them haue dayes appointed of themselues and with their owne consent to conferre and repeate that which they haue told them which going home they repeate to their Wiues and Daughters Euery day some bee Conuerted in Nanquin graue and learned men doe enter Heere in Pâ—quin while wee haue beene heere we haue Baptised some and some great Mandarins come to heare If our Lord doe helpe them and shed his bloud vpon these Chinois as hee hath done in Iapon and in other places there will bee setled one of the most famous and learned foundations of Christianitie that is in all the world For the greatnesse of this Kingdome their Lawes and Gouernment conformable to reason their being so studious as they are and giuen to Learning and to know so much as they know of Morall vertues and their good capacities gentle docile and ingenious and the great peace and quietnesse which they enioy without hauing any bodie to trouble them with warre promise much and giue great hope that the vâ—ntage which they haue ouer other Nations lately discouered in the gifts of Nature being assisted by the grace of God will helpe them in Gods matters And I assure your Worship that if the doore were opened to Preach freely and to Baptise I say not that the Fathers and Brethren of our Companie which might bee spared but without any amplification at all halfe the Religious men of all Europe were needfull to attend so many Cities Townes and places and so infinite numbers of people as there are albeit when Christianitie is once begun indeed there is such abundance of graue people and of much estimation that many of them might bee made Priests Preachers and Bishops without feeling any want of those of Europe since as now they bee Gentiles and their hope goeth no further then to this life there be many very great Mandarins â—hose chiefe delight is to discourse of things concerning Vertue and oftentimes they meete together as it were in Fraternities to treate thereof And the grauer sort doe make Orations and Conferences together perswading one another and deliuering the meanes to gouerne well and to follow vertue And without doubt the more wee see of this and the more zeale in these Christians so much the more our heart is readie to burst to see them so destitute and to haue so few meanes to obtayne necessarie remedie and helpe §. III. The description of the Kingdome of China of Catay and Musk the diuision into Prouinces Cities and Townes described Riuers Shipping Commodities Diet and feeding NOw by the helpe of our Lord I will say somewhat that I remember touching the Customes Policie and Gouernment of this Kingdome but not in such order as were requisite because I haue no leasure and therefore I will onely write as things come vnto my minde though things bee not lincked well together because I cannot first write one Copie and afterward dispose it in order with such distinction as were needfull reseruing that as I sayd in the beginning vntill our Lord grant me a better opportunitie This great Kingdome of China is almost foure square as the Chinois themselues describe the same it runneth North and South from the Prouince of Canton which is the most Southerly part of it beginning seuenteene or eighteene degrees vnder the burnt Zone vnto fotrie two degrees which is the most Northerly part of it it contayneth from Canton by water aboue sixe hundred leagues but in a right line it is foure hundred and fiftie on the East it confineth with Corea which ioyneth with the same and with Iapon and with the Ocean Sea by which they come from Peru and Nucua Espana to Manilla On the West with certayne small Kingdomes which lye betweene Bengala the Lands of Mogor and Persian On the South with the Iles called Philippinas and the Malucaâ— and others and more South-westerly it hath Sion Pegu and other Kingdomes On the North part it hath those people which in our Countries wee commonly call Tartars with whom they haue alwayes had Warre and once they wanne all the Kingdome from the Chinois For the Readers better satisfaction I haue here presented him Hondius his Map of China not to shew it but the erroneous-conceits which all European Geographers haue had of it A more complete Map of China I shall present after as by comparison will appeare HONDIVS his Map of China CHINA This Kingdome standeth in an excellent climate and situation for besides the things which it hath in it selfe it standeth very neere vnto India and other Kingdomes from whence commeth with great facilitie that which it desireth and wanteth And before I passe any further because I haue
spoken of the situation and heigth of China I will note for their sakes which would bee glad to learne and also it may serue to mend two notable errours which our newest Maps haue The one is That they make China a third part bigger then it is placing this Citie of Paquin in fifty degrees being in very deed but in forty onely as we saw which twice tooke the heigth thereof with a very good Astrolabe And the limits and end of this Kingdome which are three dayes iourney or lesse distant from this City of Paquin are at the most but two degrees more And so those great walls so famous in our Europe are in two and forty degrees and this is the greatest heigth of the Kingdome of China The second errour is that our Maps make a Kingdome aboue China which they call Catayo whereas indeed it is none other but this selfe same Kingdome of China and the Citie of Cambalu which they put for the head thereof is this Citie of Paquin wherein wee are Wee finde this here to be true very plainely by occasion of certaine newes which lately were spred ouer diuers parts by the way of Mogor which gaue out many things and great matters of Catayo which seemed to be so peculiar and proper to this Kingdome of China that they made vs doubt that it was not a seuerall Kingdome After wee were come to this Citie of Paquin wee met with two Cafilas or Carauans one of Moores of certaine small Kingdomes bordering vpon China another of Turkes with their Turbants of the Countries of Mogâ—r and of the great Ismael Sophi for with this very name they call him and of other parts which had knowledge by fame of Spaine Italie Venice India and Portugall These Turkes and Moores are wont to come hither euery fiue yeeres by Land in the name of their King to acknowledge and pay Tribute to the King of China for which purpose they counterfeit certaine Letters wherewith they easily deceiue the Chinois which thinke and hold that all the Kings of the World doe acknowledge obedience vnto theirs But the trueth is that they come to vse their trafficke and merchandise and therefore the Chinois admit them willingly howbeit many now doe know that their paying of Tribute is a fayned thing In which their trafficke they speed very well For the King doth maintayne them very plentifully from the time that they come into his Kingdome vntill their departure and they tooke all their Chists of them whereof this yeere they brought a thousand The King tooke of them at an easie price a great part of the merchandise which they brought and afterward hee gaue them rewards The thing of greatest bulke of merchandise are a kinde of stones which themselues call Iasper stones which is white yet somewhat duskish so that it enclineth to grey which seemeth to bee that Iasper which so often times in the holy Scriptures is called Precious stone It commeth in pieces vnhewen but whole like peeble stones which stone for many ornaments the Chinois esteeme much especially the King and they buy euery pound of the best at eightie Duckets and of that which is worse at fiftie or sixtie Duckets whereby they gaine greatly I haue seene these stones of other colours in our Countrey but not of this which the Chinois esteeme When these men come to this Citie of Paquin they put them into a great house which there is for this purpose wherein wee were two moneths and suffer them not to come forth Wee asked these men certaine questions and one was this of Catayo enquiring of them How they called this Kingdome of China in their Countrey They answered Catayo and that in all the Countries of Mogor Persia and other parts it had none other name and that they knew none other Kingdome that was called so Wee asked them how they called this Citie of Paquin They said Cambalu which as I haue said is that which our men set downe for the head Citie of Catayo Whereby it appeareth that there can no doubt bee made but that wee are heere resident in the Countrey which must bee Catayo if there were no fault in the Maps and wee know that there is no such Countrey nor Cities but a few contemptible Moores and Gentiles Wee vnderstood also of their Ciuet or Muske whereof they brought some which is as it were the maw or stomacke of a Beast somewhat bigger then a Cat which they kill to cut away this maw They breed wilde in the field and in a Countrey very neere to China though not of this Kingdome I had read when I departed out of Spaine a Booke which is printed of the things of China which writeth of this Ciuet and of other things which I haue seene with mine eyes it reporteth many errours by halfe informations which hee which wrote it should haue beene better informed in although in many things hee tell the trueth They brought also great store of very good Rhubarbe which heere wee bought of them of the choice at ten Marauedis the pound it is a wilde root like vnto Nauewes whereof they say the fields are full These men say That there is a Sea of sand which our Maps doe place in Arabia neere vnto China which diuideth it from Mogor and other Kingdomes And this should seeme to bee the cause why these Kings which heare great fame of this Kingdome of the greatnesse thereof and of the weakenesse of the people doe not seeke to inuade the same being not very farre off because it would bee very difficult to passe ouer the same sandie Sea with a great Armie The Chinois diuide this Kingdome into thirteene Prouinces and two Courts which are as it were two Prouinces Euery one of them haue their Metropolitane Citie and euery Citie her diuision of so many Townes It is knowne very particularly by Chinish Bookes which are written of this argument how many Cities Townes and places there are in all the Kingdome how many houses euery one hath and commonly what numbers of people what euery Countrey seuerally yeeldeth and how much Tribute it payeth to the King and many other things but I doe not set it downe here because I could not get those Bookes these few dayes past to take a view thereof At some other time God granting mee life I will doe it more at large Onely I say in generall that all the way which wee trauelled wee met with so many Cities Townes and Villages that to beleeue their greatnesse it was necessarie to see them For your Worship will hardly beleeue that wee spent two or three houres in sayling still by the walls of one Citie After which there still followed many Townes and Villages one within sight of another And after this manner all this way continueth euen to Paquin Yea the Villages are very great and full of people and of much trafficke For though wee giue them this
not to speake euill of them yet commonly all of them at a certaine time of the yeare doe them some reuerence because it is the custome though in no sort they worship them as Gods and those which put most confidence in them burne Paper Incense and sweet smels vnto them and kill beasts before them Their Bookes of these Idols speake of Hell and in many places or in a manner in all the Cities there is set vp a portraiture of Hell made with bodily shapes and many Deuils as vglie as wee paint them It is very well set foorth but badly beleeued for it serueth only there for a bugbeare And if any beleeue that which the Idols say of Hell that it is a place of torments they say that after so many yeeres be passed all men come out againe and are transformed into some beast Those which beleeue in the Idols come before them to cast lots to know what things shall come to passe howbeit I haue not heard in all China that there was any answer of a Diuell in an Idoll as is in other parts in regard of the small beliefe that they haue in them and the lewdnesse of the Bonzi that serue them Their houses wherein they set them whereof as yet I neuer saw any good one are commonly verie filthy and stinking And besides this consulting of Idols the Chinois are much giuen to Diuinations to know things to come and whether they shall haue good or bad fortune whether they shall haue that which they desire or no and there bee an infinite number of these South-sayers and all of them pratlers mumblers and cooseners whereby they deceiue many And though the Chinois be of good vnderstanding and know that these fellowes know nothing and euery foot doe take them in lyes yet for all this there are verie few that when any occasion is offered doe not consult with them And though they seeme to bee but few yet some of them are in league with the Deuill as oftentimes wee gather by certaine things Many of these graue men of China haue commonly two follies wherein they doe erre more then in other things The first is that they perswade themselues that they can much prolong their Liues and for this purpose they vse a thousand inuentions and take many medicines which indeed rather doe shorten their dayes There are many Masters and Bookes of this follie which vsuallie are graue and rich men There are many that make themselues very old folks whom the people follow like Saints to learne some rule of life of them wherein they put all their felicitie Many doe not beleeue that we are so old as we say we be and that we doe dissemble but that in deed we bee an hundred yeeres old and that we know this rule to liue for euer and that we doe not Marrie because wee would liue long The other follie is that they perswade themselues that they are able and goe about to make Siluer whereof likewise there are many Bookes They vse for this purpose many Hearbs and Quick-siluer wherein they spend that little Siluer which they haue and remaine beggers but not perswaded but that it is fecible but that it was not their good lucke and good fortune and to obtaine this many of them fast many yeeres §. V. Their bad Souldierie and Artillerie Degrees Priuiledges Honours and promotions of Learning Their Authors and Bookes and Printing The Mandarins commended THere are many Souldiers in many Prouinces of this Kingdome and though they haue had Peace these many yeeres yet they still entertaine them but because they bee louers of peace and quietnesse the most contemptible state except the state of the Bonzi is the Souldier And indeed it is a most base people which hath no valour nor worthinesse much lesse any fortitude in them Many of them are Porters which beare on their shoulders the Chaires wherein the Mandarins and honourable persons are carried And at the time of Musters which are made from time to time they repaire thither to obtaine wages and thus they haue no worth nor jot of honour in them The punishment wherewith their Captaines punish them is the same wherewith they punish all other people they whip them as wee doe Children in Schooles According to the worthinesse and valour of the Souldiers the beautie of their Armour offensiue and defensiue is answerable which is fitter to bee laughed at then to be reported They haue no Harquebusses that are worth any thing and all those which I saw and I saw many Souldiers with them had their barrels but a spanne long so that it seemeth that they beare it and the rest of their Armour for fashions sake And I maruell not for by reason of the exceeding great Peace which they haue so long enioyed they haue none occasion to become valiant but they are able men when occasion serueth and it seemeth they will easilie become valiant The Mandarins of Souldiers is also a thing of small estimation and they are nothing comparable with those which they call the Mandarins of Learning which are those which take Degrees The Mandarins or Captaines of Souldiers obtaine not the same for Heroicall arts or prowesse but they make a Discourse or an Oration vpon some matter concerning warre and they make choise of certaine of those which had done it best Likewise they shoote two or three Arrowes to see if they bee skilfull in shooting They haue no vse of great Ordnance Albeit I saw in the Gates of some Cities certaine small short Pieces as broad at the mouth as at the nether end which I know not whether they shot off sometimes or no I saw about sixe or eight of them vpon the Walls The defence of their Walls is their height without any other Artillerie The greatest force and number of Souldiers resideth in the confines of the Tartars It is foure hundred yeeres since a King of the Tartars wonne all China whereof Paulus Venetus writeth which was in that Countrey and they did also possesse it two hundred yeeres at the end whereof a Bonzo a very prudent and valiant man rebelled and cast the Tartar out and remayned King whose issue continueth vntill this day They alwayes keepe great Watch and ward vpon this frontier Many youthes of these Tartars remayned in China and namely in these parts of Paquin there are many which keepe and maintayne their Law of Mahomet and haue Mezquitas or Turkish Temples and are much different in shapes and countenances from the Chinois Except the Souldiers there is none that keepe Weapons in their houses not because it is forbidden but because there is no need of them but rather the Learned and graue people count it a dishonest thing to keepe Armour there is no vse of them but in the time of warre For you shall neuer see them fight with weapons one with another as wee doe But their fighting
as there are Words so that a Word Syllable Letter are the same and when we ioyne diuers Syllables to make one Word it is after our fashion because they signifie the same thing with them each Syllable is a seuerall word And although the number of things and Characters seeme the same yet doe they so compound them together that they exceed not seuenty or eighty thousand and hee which knoweth ten thousand of them hath the most necessary to know all is in manner for any one man impossible Of these Characters the sound is often the same the figure and signification differing so that no Language is so equiuocall nor can any Speech bee written from the Speakers mouth by the Hearer nor can a Booke bee read to the Hearers vnderstanding except they haue the Booke before them by their eyes to distinguish the equiuocations which their eares cannot Yea in speaking accuratly the Hearer often vnderstands not without repetition and writing either with Inke or water on the Table or forming the Characters in the aire and this most happens in the most elegant and polite discourses the stile of Bookes and Inkhorne-dialect of their learned wholly differing from the vulgar Idiome This equiuocation and paucity of sounds is in some sort eased be Accents which are fiue and not easie to distinguish by which of one Syllable as wee account it they make it with differing tones fiue fold in differing signification and there is no Word which is not pronounced with one of these Accents Hence is the Language so difficult as none else in the World for Strangers to learne to speake and vnderstand which importunate labour of ours hath yet attayned The reason I conceiue to be that they alway haue laboured to adorne their writing more then their speech their eloquence still consisting in writing and not in pronunciation as Isocrates is commended amongst the Greekes This multitude of Characters as it is burthensome to the memory so it hath this commodity the commerce with diuers Nations of different Linguages by community of writing Iapon Corai Cauchinchina the Leuhiees vnderstanding and reading the Characters each into his owne Language which the other vnderstand nothing at all Each Prouince also hath its owne and all haue one common Tongue besides which they call Quonhoa or the Court Language the Magistrates being all forrainers and none bearing Office in his Countrey Prouince vsed in their Courts and by the Learned this onely did ours learne nor is the other vsed by the ciuiller or learneder in conference except priuaâ—ly by Countrey-men yea children and women learne this Court-speech I heare that the Iaponians haue an Alphabet also of Letters after our fashion besides these Characters but in China they haue none so that from their Cradle to the extremest age they are learning their Characters as many as professe Learning which howsoeuer it takes vp time from better Sciences it doth it also from idle youthfull vanities Hence also riseth a kinde of writing with them in few Characters expressing that which would cost vs long discourses Their course of writing is from the right hand the line downward ours contrary from the left and side-wayes Of all the noblest Sciences they are best skilled in morall Philosophie naturall they haue rather obscured and being ignorant of Logicke they deliuer those Ethicke precepts in confused sentences and discourses without order by meere naturall wit Their greatest Philosopher is called Confutius whom I finde to haue beene borne 551. yeeres before the comming of Christ and to haue liued aboue 70. yeeres by example as well as precept exciting to vertue accounted a very holy man And if wee marke his sayings and doings wee must confesse few of our Ethnike Philosophers before him and many behinde But with the Chinois his word is authoritie and no speech of his is called in question the Learned yea the Kings also euer since worshipping him not as a God but as a Man and his posteritie are much esteemed the head of that familie inheriting by grant of Kings a title of great honour with immunities and reuenues answerable They haue some knowledge also of Astrologie and the Mathematikes In Arithmetike and Geometry antiently more excellent but in learning and teaching confused They reckon foure hundred Starres more then our Astrologers haue mentioned numbring certaine smaller which doe not alway appeare Of the heauenly Apparances they haue no rules they are much busied about foretelling Eclipses and the courses of Planets but therein very erroneous and all their skill of Starres is in manner that which wee call Iudiciall Astrology imagining these things below to depend on the Starres Somewhat they haue receiued of the Westerne Saracens but they confirme nothing by Demonstration only haue left to them Tables by which they reckon the Eclipses and Motions The first of this Royall Family forbad any to learne this Iudiciall Astrologie but those which by Hereditary right are thereto designed to preuent Innouations But he which now reigneth mayntayneth diuers Mathematicians both Eunuches within the Palace and Magistrates without of which there are in Pequin two Tribunals one of Chinois which follow their owne Authors another of Saracens which reforme the same by their Rules and by conference together Both haue in a small Hill a Plaine for Contemplation where are the huge Mathematicall Instruments of Brasse before mentioned One of the Colledge nightly watcheth thereon as is before obserued That of Nanquin exceeds this of Pequin as being then the Seat Royall When the Pequin Astrologers foretell Eclipses the Magistrates and Idoll Ministers are commanded to assemble in their Officiary Habits to helpe the labouring Planets which they think they do with beating brazen Bels and often kneelings all the time that they thinke the Eclipse lasteth lest they should then bee deuoured as I haue heard by I know not what Serpent Their Physicke Rules differ much from ours they examine the Pulse alike They succeed well in their Prescriptions which vsually are Simples Herbs Rootes and the like They haue for it no publike Schoole but each learnes it of his owne Master yet in the two Royall Cities Degrees of this Art are giuen after Examination but cursorily and without any respect acquired by his Degree because all may practise which will Neyther doth any study Mathematickes or Physicke which is in any hope of the Ethike glory but such as want of wit or meanes hath deterred from studies more sublime Contrariwise that Ethike Science is the Ladder of China felicity Confutius brought into order the Bookes of foure former Philosophers and wrote a fift himselfe which fiue Bookes hee called Doctrines in which are contayned Morall and Politike Rules Examples of the Ancients Rites and Sacrifices diuers Poems also and the like Besides these fiue Volumes out of Confutius and his Disciples are brought into one Volume diuers Precepts without order Similes Sentences
man of courage I know sayth hee to whom I will commit him that will diligently keepe him and foorthwith hee slew him and buryed him And so the Sedition was appeased And from that time vntill this day the Word of God is taught amongst Barbarous men after the manner of the Confession of Augusta The Life and Manners of the Iselanders IN the whole Iland there are three sorts of men who are held in any reckoning and account for the common people by reason of the scarcitie of Ships wherewith they fish make themselues slaues to the richer Of those three sorts the first is of them whom they call Loshmaders that is to say Men of Iustice for Loch in their language signifieth Law These men administer Iustice and there are many of them but twelue of them onely haue the yeerely charge of Iustice. All men obey their Iudgement and Decrees Another sort is of them who are called Bonden They are in the place of Nobles and as euery one of them is richest in Shipping and Cattle so hee hath most Fishers and followers This onely power they know The third sort is of Bishops and Ministers of the word of God of the which many are found euery where throughout the whole Iland There are many of the Iselanders very proud and high minded especially by reason of the strength of body which they haue I saw an Iselander who easily put an Hamburg Tunne full of Ale to his mouth drinking off it as if hee had had but one small measure Both Sexes in Iseland haue the same habite so that by the garments you shall not easily discerne whether it bee Man or Woman They want Flaxe except it bee brought vnto them by our Countrey-men The Women-kinde there are very beautifull but ornaments are wanting The whole Nation of the Islanders is much giuen to Superstitions and they haue Spirits familiarly seruing them For they onely are fortunate in Fishing who are raised vp by night of the Deuill to goe a fishing And although the Ministers of the Gospell vse all diligence in disswading them from this impietie yet this wickednesse hath taken roote and sticketh so deepely in their mindes and they are so bewitched of Sathan that they can admit no sound Doctrine and Dehortation Yea by the Deuils meanes if you offer them money they promise a prosperous wind and performe it which I know as hereafter shall bee spoken The like Olaus Magnus writeth of the Finlanders in his third Booke They hold Ships also by inchantment almost immoueable and that in a prosperous wind And truely it is a wonder that Sathan so sporteth with them For hee hath shewed them a remedie in staying of their Ships to wit the Excrements of a Maide being a Virgin if they annoynt the Prow and certaine planckes of the Ship hee hath taught them that the Spirit is put to flight and driuen away with this stinke In the rest of the carriage of their life they thus behaue themselues The Parents teach their male Children euen from their child-hood letters and the Law of that Iland so that very few men are found throughout the whole Iland but they know Letters and many Women vse our letters and haue also other characters with the which they expresse some whole words of theirs which words can hardly bee written with our letters They giue themselues to hardnesse and fishing from their Infancie for all their life consists in Fishing They exercise not Husbandrie because they haue no Fields and the greatest part of their foode consisteth in Fish vnsauerie Butter Milke and Cheese In stead of Bread they haue Fish bruised with a Stone Their Drinke is Water or Whay So they liue many yeeres without medicine or Physitian Many of them liue till they bee one hundred and fiftie yeeres old And I saw an old man who sayd hee had then liued two hundred yeeres Nay Olaus Magnus in his twentieth Booke sayth that the Iselanders liue three hundred yeeres The greater part of Iselanders hath neuer seene Bread much lesse tasted it If our men at any time sell them Meale or Corne they mingle it with Milke and lay it vp for a long time as delicates for Nobles They call this sauce or mixture Drabbell The Germaines that trade in Iseland haue a place in the Hauen of Haffenefordt fenced by Nature where vnder Tents they set their Mercbandise to sale as Shooes Garments Glasses Kniues and such kinde of Merchandise of no price The Iselanders haue Oyle molten out of the bowels of Fishes knowne to our Tanners and Shoomakers they haue Fish Brimstone white Foxe skinnes Butter and other things They barter all these for our Commodities nor is the bargaine ratified before they bee well stuffed with our Meat Wine or Beere together with their Wiues and Children whom they bring with them how many soeuer they haue Comming into the Hauen they haue their Daughters with them which are marriage-able they after they haue inquired of our companie whether they haue Wiues at home or not they promise a nights lodging for Bread Bisket or any other trifling things Sometimes the Parents yeeld their Daughters freely euen for a whole moneth or as long as they stay If shee prooue with Child by that lying with her the parents loue their Daughter better then before and the Child being borne they bring it vp some yeeres while either the Father returne or they giue it to their Sonne in law that shall bee for a Dowrie with their Daughter who doth not despise it because it is borne of the Germaine blood If any Virgin haue familiaritie with a Germaine shee is honoured among them and therefore shee is sought of many Suiters And the time was before this that Whoordome which was without the degrees of Consanguinitie and Affinitie had no Infamie And although Preachers crie out against it and the offenders are seuerely punished yet they hardly abstaine They lay not vp Wine and Beere which they buy of our Countrey-men but quaffe it vp house by house by course one with another and that freely or for nothing While they drinke they sing the heroicall acts of their ancestors not with any certaine composed order or melodie but as it commeth in euery mans head Neither is it lawfull for any one to rise from the Table to make water but for this purpose the daughter of the house or another maid or woman attendeth alwayes at the Table watchfull if any becken to him that beckeneth shee giues the chamber-pot vnder the Table with her owne hands the rest in the meane while grunt like Swine least any noise bee heard The water being powred out hee washeth the Bason and offereth his seruice to him that is willing and hee is accounted vnciuill who abhorreth this fashion They entertaine them that come vnto them with a kisse and they behold and looke each on other if paraduenture they may see Lice creeping
the excellency of his beautie was called Halogie so named of the Prouince of Halogalandâ— in Norway That is to say Sâ—â—we surnamed the Ancient because hee is reported to haue liued three hundred yeeres he left one sonne and three daughters Dryfa. A snowy shower Porre King of Gothland Kuenland and Finland Goe A daughter Nor. Of whom Norway is named and the first Monarch Gor. Beiter-Geiter Gylui The said Asian immigration happened in the time of this Gylui Fanun Signifieth Snowe gathered together in thicke heapes by a Tempest Miol Is thin Snowe descending without winde From this Norus Haraldus Pulcriconâ—us is the twelfth of them that descended from the right Line whom some make the first Monarch of Norway but amisse being ignorant of Antiquitie seeing hee was the third Restorer of the Monarchy of Norway for betweene him and Norus Hemngus the sonne of Odinus obtayned the Monarchy also These I say besides many other things are the manifest tokens of the Inhabitants of the Northerne World farre more ancient then the immigration of Odinus of whose originall notwithstanding there is not one word But because it is most repugnant to a Christian man knowing the Bookes of Moses concerning Originals to affirme themselues to be Autochâ—â—â—a as both others but especially the Greekes did concerning their Ancestors yet with better leaue then the rest of the people of Europe who next to the Chaldoes Egyptians and Iewes might worthily boast of Antiquitie in comparison of other people It were better truly to confesse the vnknown originall of Ancestors then to be carried away with the opinion and error of Earth-bred men left surely wee should heare some such thing as sometimes one wittily vpbraided the Grecians with so much boasting by reason of their pretended selfe-originall to wit that Moses the Law giuer of the Iewes was more ancient then the Gods of the Grecians In the meane space because through the onely confession of ignorance or doubt truth doth not so soone appeare some what is to be alleaged touching the proposed question that the historicall Reader may haue some thing here which hee may either confuâ—e or confirme Wee are therefore by probable reasons to inquire who were the first inhabitants of the Northerne World and from whence they came then when they began to inhabit this our World that from hence some coniecture may arise concerning the originall of the language And that I may here acquit my selfe without circumstances I thinke the first inhabitants of the Northerne World were of the number of Giants nay mere Giants men that inhabited the mountaines of an huge and sometimes a monstrous body and of monstrous and exceeding strength and that they were the posteritie and remnant of the Canaanites expulsed from the Territories of Palestina about the yeere of the World 2500. by Iosua and Caleb remoouing into Palestina through Gods pleasure and direction and that this Countrey of the World euen vntill those times or peraduenture longer remayned altogether not inhabited For thus Saxo Grammaticus argueth in the Preface of his Dania But sayth he the stones of exceeding bignesse fastened to the Tombes and Caues of the ancient testifie that the Countrey of Denmarke was sometimes troubled with the inhabiting of Giants But if any doubt that it was done by monstrous strength let him looke vp to the high tops of certayne Mountaynes and say if he know it well who hath brought Rockes of such huge greatnesse to the tops thereof For euery one that considereth this Miracle shall perceiue that it is beyond common opinion that the simple labour of mortalitie or vsuall force of humane strength should rayse so huge a weight hardly or not at all moueable vpon the plaine ground to so high a top of mountaynous sublimitie This Saxo writeth who shall be a sufficient Author vnto vs concerning the first Inhabitants of Denmarke that is to say his owne Countrey So concerning Norway and Suecia and the bordering Countreyes as whatsoeuer is most ancient so it most resembleth a Giant-like disposition and nature Whereof examples are to be taken out of Histories which would bee tedious here For that I may omit ancient examples those things are knowne of late memory to haue beene done Concerning the Giant Doffro inhabitant of the Mountayne Doffraefiall in Norway and Foster-father of Haraldus Pulcricomus King of Norway Also concerning Dunubo who liued in the time of Droffon from whom the Bay Boddick or Bothnicke in time past was called Dumbshaff who in a Sea-fight encountring eighteene Giants alone sent twelue of them first to Hell before he himselfe was slaine Of thirtie Giants at once destroyed by fire by Dumbos Sonnes left in reuenge of their Fathers death There is yet a later example of certayne Giants of Norway destroyed by authoritie of Olaus Triggo King of Norway about the yeere of Christ 995. But the latest in the yeere 1338. Magnus the Sonne of Ericus being King of Norway that a Giant of fifteene Cubits was slaine by foure men as it is found recorded in the Chronicles Hereunto adde that a certayne Prouince of Norway or bordering vpon Finmauchia in ancient time was called Risalande that is to say the Land of Giants for En Râ—se and Rese signifie a Giant from whence Iotum Heimar that is the habitation of Giants is not farre dissonant whereupon as yet En Iaet is said to be a Giant that I may speake nothing heere of Iotumland by which name that which at this day is called Iijtland was sometimes called by our Countrey men and very many other also the Land of the Cimbri or Chersonesus the same name also being giuen it of Kemper that is fighting Giants of Nephilheimar and Karnephill else-where and peraduenture by others shall be spoken as also of the Gotthes and Getts peraduenture also Ietts and such like others Moreouer the remnant of the Giants came into Island whose Names Habitations worthy Acts and Enterprizes are sufficiently knowne and before our eyes Seeing therefore Giants first inhabited this our World it is demanded when or whence they came Gilb. Genebrand Chronol Lib. 1. The first Age sayth hee from the Creation of the World vnto the Floud seemeth to haue beene passed and spent within the mid-lands of the World and that they came not to the borders of Asia Africa and Europe Bodinus sayth that Moses wrote the Historie of the whole World he meaneth inhabited euen to the yeere of the World 2450. And Genebrand againe Lib. 1. Chronol pag. 11. As the first Originall of Mankind was in Armenia Mesopotamia Chaldaea and Syria and men before the Floud dwelt only there so other Countreyes themselues were first inhabited after the Floud Also Genebrand sayth yet further ibid. pag. 35. Before three thousand yeeres for hee wrote in the yeere of Christ 1597. almost all Europe was emptie that is about the yeere of the World 2541. which is chiefly to bee vnderstood of the Northerne World if of the rest of Europe
destructions of their fellowes besides what hee got in Siberia and from the Pole Sweden Prussian extending his Conquests East West North and South yea his memorie is sauourie still to the Russians which either of their seruile disposition needing such a bridle and whip or for his long and prosperous reigne or out of distaste of later tragedies hold him in little lesse reputation as some haue out of their experience instructed me then a Saint His loue to our Nation is magnified by our Countrimen with all thankfulnesse whose gaineâ— there begun by him haue made them also in some sort seeme to turne Russe in I know what loues or feares as if they were still shut vp in Russia to conceale whatsoeuer they know of Russian occurrents that I haue sustayned no small torture with great paines of body vexation of minde and triall of potent interceding friends to get but neglect and silence from some yea almost contempt and scorne They alledge their thankfulnesse for benefits receiued from that Nation and their feare of the Dutch readie to take aduantage thereof and by calumniations from hence to interuert their Trade This for loue to my Nation I haue inserted against any Cauillers of our Russe Merchants though I must needs professe that I distaste and almost detest that call it what you will of Merchants to neglect Gods glorie in his prouidence and the Worlds instruction from their knowledge who while they will conceale the Russians Faults will tell nothing of their Facts and whiles they will be silent in mysteries of State will reueale nothing of the histories of Fact and that in so perplexed diuersified chances and changes as seldome the World hath in so short a space seene on one Scene Whiles therefore they which seeme to know most will in these Russian Relations helpe me little or nothing except to labour and frustrated hopes I haue besides much conference with eye witnesses made bold with others in such books as in diuers languages I haue read and in such Letters and written Tractates as I could procure of my friends or found with Master Hakluyt as in other parts of our storie not seeking any whit to disgrace that Nation or their Princes but onely desiring that truth of things done may bee knowne and such memorable alterations may not passe as a dreame or bee buried with the Doers Sir Ierome Horsey shall leade you from Iuans Graue to Pheodores Coronation The most solemne and magnificent coronation of PHEODOR IVANOVVICH Emperour of Russia c. the tenth of Iune in the yeare 1584. seene and obserued by Master IEROM HORSEY Gentleman and seruant to her Maiestie WHen the old Emperor Iuan Vasilowich died being about the eighteeenth of April 1584. after our computation in the Citie of Mosco hauing raigned fiftie foure yeares there was some tumult vprore among some of the Nobilitie and Comminaltie which notwithstanding was quickly pacified Immediately the same night the Prince Boris Pheodorowich Godonoua Knez Iuon Pheodorowich Mesthis Slafsky Knez Iuan Petrowich Susky Mekita Romanowich and Bodan Iacoulewich Belskoy being all noble men and chiefest in the Emperours Will especially the Lord Boris whom he adopted as his third son and was brother to the Empresse who was a man very well liked of all estates as no lesse worthy for his valour and wisedome all these were appointed to dispose and settle his Sonne Pheodor Iuanowich hauing one sworne another and all the Nobilitie and Officers whosoeuer In the morning the dead Emperour was laid into the Church of Michael the Archangell into a hewen Sepulchre very richly decked with Vestures fit for such a purpose and present Proclamation was made Emperour Pheodor Iuanowich of all Russia c. Throughout all the Citie of Mosco was great watch and ward with Souldiors and Gunners good orders established and Officers placed to subdue the tumulters and maintaine quietnesse to see what speede and policie was in this case vsed was a thing worth the beholding This being done in Mosco great men of birth and accompt were also presently sent to the bordering Townes as Smolensko Vobsko Kasan Nouogorod c. with fresh garrison and the old sent vp As vpon the fourth of May a Parliament was held wherein were assembled the Metropolitane Archbishops Bishops Priors and chiefe Clergie men and all the Nobility whatsoeuer where many matters were determined not pertinent to my purpose yet all tended to a new reformation in the gouernement but especially the terme and time was agreed vpon for the solemnizing of the new Emperours coronation In the meane time the Empresse wife to the old Emperour was with her childe the Emperours son Charlewich Demetrie Iuanowich of one yeares age or there abouts sent with her Father Pheodor Pheodorowich Nagay and that kindred being fiue brothers to a towne called Ouglets which was giuen vnto her and the yong Prince her sonne with all the Lands belonging to it in the shire with officers of all sorts appointed hauing allowance of apparell iewels diet horse c. in ample manner belonging to the estate of a Princesse The time of mourning after their vse being expired called Sorachyn or fortie orderly dayes the day of the solemnizing of this coronation with great preparations was come being vpon the tenth day of Iune 1584. and that day then Sunday he being of the age of twenty fiue years at which time Master Ierom Horsey was orderly sent for and placed in a fit roome to see all the solemnity The Emperour comming out of his Pallace there went before him the Metropolitane Archbishops Bishops and chiefest Monkes and Clergie men with very rich Coapes and Priests garments vpon them carrying pictures of our Lady c. with the Emperors Angell banners censers and many other such ceremonious things singing all the way The Emperour with his nobility in order entred the Church named Blaueshina or Blessednes where prayers and seruice were vsed according to the manner of their Church that done they went thence to the Church called Michael the Archangell and there also vsed the like prayers and seruice and from thence to our Lady Church Prechista being their Cathedrall Church In the middest thereof was a chaire of maiestie placed wherein his Ancestors vsed to sit at such extraordinary times his roabes were then changed and most rich and vnualuable garments put on him being placed in this Princely seate his nobilitie standing round about them in their degrees his imperiall Crowne was set vpon his head by the Metropolitane his Scepter globe in his right hand his sword of Iustice in his left of great riches his six crowns also by which he holdeth his Kingdomes were set before him and the Lord Boris Pheodorowich was placed at his right hand then the Metropolitan read openly a booke of a small volume with exhortations to the Emperour to minister true Iustice to inioy with tranquility the Crowne of his ancestours which God had giuen him and vsed these
Counsels of the holy and generall Inquisition and of the supreame Counsell of the Indies for it behoued to place one Counsell of the holy Office in Mexico for the Kingdomes of New Spaine and the rest of the Indies of the North and another in the Citie of the Kings for the Kingdomes of Piru and the adherents which are called the Indies of the South which the authority that the Councels of these Kingdomes haue so that as yet they should not meddle with the cases of the Indians but onely of the Castillanes other Nations that should be found in the Indies and so that the appeals should come to the supreame Counsell that is resident in this Court as it is done in Spaine and in the accomplishing thereof in the yeare 1570. the King Don Phillip the second called the Prudent gaue a generall power to the Towne of Madrid the 16. of August that the Apostolike Inquisitours that should be named for the present and for hereafter against the hereticall peruersnesse Apostacie and the Officers and Ministers necessary for this holy Office which was commanded to be seated in the Cities of Mexico and of the Kings should exercise vse their Offices and royall warrants that Don Martin Euriques and Don Franciscus of Toledo Viceroyes and Captains generall in the Kingdomes of New Spaine and Piru and the Counsels and Iustices Gouernours and other persons should giue all aide and fauour to the holy Officio and the Inquisitors and Officers were nominated as in their owne place shall be spoken more at large THese Catholike Kings most wisely constituted the Supreme Counsell of the Indies that they might helpe them to beare so great a burden as is already the gouernment of that Orbe and the Counsell consisteth in one President and eight or more Counsellors as necessitie requireth with one Atturney Secretaries Clerkes of the Chamber Relators and other Officers and an Office of Accompts where a notice is had of all the goods Royall of those parts And that proceeding might be according to rule and order they declared first that the Counsell should meet three houres euery day in the morning and two in the afternoone three dayes in the weeke that bee no holy dayes and that they should firme the Warrants that should be deliuered for these Kingdoms but that those that were for the Indies should haue the seale Royall and that in those parts it should haue supreme iurisdiction and might make Lawes and Decrees to see and examine whatsoeuer Statutes Constitutions of Prelates Senates Chapters and Conuents of the Religious and of the Vice-royes Courts and Counsels and that in the Indies and in these Kingdoms in matter dependant of them it should bee obeyed that the gouernment of the Indies should bee like this of these Kingdomes and that more in particular the Counsell doe occupie it selfe in the matters of gouernment That in Suites remitted those of the Councell Royall shall come to giue their voyces to that of the Indies and that two voyces shall make a Sentence in suites of 500. Pesos or vnder That there be a second Supplication in a case of 10000. Pesos that they deale not in the repartitions of the Indians in those parts but the Processes well perused in the Courts according to a Law called of Malinas for there it was made they shall come to the Supreme Counsell touching order to be held in matters of seruices that the Counsell doe see them all and in matters of rewards that which the greatest part doth determine shall be done and that in these there be a Supplication and that no expedient suite be seene the third time and that in the matters they doe resolue with breuitie that the charges be giuen to the best deseruing and that they be not giuen to the allied and kinsmen of them of the Counsell neither may such bee Solicitors nor Atturneys in the prouidings of the Offices no price shall be admitted nor that they of the Counsell haue any Indians of repartition and they shall assist in their houses that the Suiters may find them there when they goe not to Counsel and that due secrecy be kept in all things and aboue all that the Counsell haue a particular care of the Conuersion and good Instruction of the Indians and of the spirituall gouernment and that of 600000. Marmediz vpward the appeale shall come to the Counsell that they may appeale from the Sentences in the fiue Cases of naturall death or mayming of a member or other bodily punishment publike shame or racking and the appeales shall come to the Counsell with many other laudable orders which are omitted for breuities sake That the President being a learned man shall haue a voice in matters of Gouernment gratuities and fauours visitations and accompts and not in suits because he may be the more free for the gouernment of the Counsell and being vnlearned he shall haue no voice but in matters of grace gouernment and fauour and that he may assemble the Counsell in his owne house and haue a noate of the businesses and that the Counsellours doe not accompany with the Suitors And because it seemed a necessary thing that one Fiscad or Atturney should assist in Counsell it was commanded he should haue the same stipend that the Counsellours and that they deliuer him the dispatches of the Office that he haue a care to know how that is accomplished which is prouided for the Indies that necessary Papers be giuen him for his Office that he doe see the visitations before Counsell that he haue a book to register all the capitulations that are taken with the King another wherein he may set down the Atturneys Pleas that he delay not the suits that his demands or those that are against him be admitted if the Counsel think it good that he keep a book of that which is concluded for the cases that he haue a care to know the Officers that doe omit to send a relation euery yeere to the Counsell Hauing ordained all that which appertaineth to the Counsell which is the head of this Gouernment with many other orders which are not rehearsed for breuitie they proceeded in ordering all the Prouinces of the Indies in the matters of iustice as neede required and these Catholike Kings desiring the common good of that new world that their subiects that should possesse it hauing a zeale to the seruice of our Lord God good profit ease of the said Subiects to the Peace and quietnesse of the Towns as the King is bound vnto God and to them for to accomplish with the Office that he hath in earth hee thought good to command to place the Courts and Royall Chanceries that as hath beene said are in the Indies with the Statutes and orders that hath beene giuen them that the Ministers may doe their office and iustice be well administred and the Townes obtained the benefit pretended The first Court that was established
of smoothnesse or barenesse although of diuers colours vpon the ridge of their backes they haue manie long prickes their teeth are very sharpe and especially their fangs or dogge teeth their throates are lâ—ng and large reaching from their beards to their brests of the like skinne to the residue of their bodies they are dumbe and haue no voice or make any noise or crie although they be kept tied to the foote of a chest or any other thing for the space of twentie or fiue and twentie daies without any thing to eate or drinke except they giue them now and then a little of the bread of Cazabi or some such other thing they haue foure feete and their fore-feete as long as a mans finger with clawes like the clawes of a bird but weaker and such as cannot grasple or take hold of any thing they are much better to be eaten then to behold for few that see them will haue desire to eate of them by reason of their horrible shape except such as haue beene accustomed to the beasts of these regions which are more horrible and fearefull as this is not but onely in apparence their flesh is of much better taste then the flesh of Connies and more holesome for it hurteth none but onely such as haue had the French poxe in so much that if they haue beene touched of that infirmitie although they haue beene whole of long time neuerthelesse they feele hurt and complaine of the eating of these Iuannas as hath beene oftentimes proued by experience There are found in the firme land certaine birds so little that the whole bodie of one of them is no bigger then the top of the biggest finger of a mans hand and yet is the bare body without the feathers not halfe so bigge This Bird beside her littlenesse is of such velositie and swiftnesse in flying that who so seeth her flying in the aire cannot see her slap or beate her wings after any other sort then doe the Dorres or humble Bees or Beetels so that there is no man that seeth her flye that would thinke her to be any other then a Doâ—re they make their nests according to the proportion of their bignesse and I haue seene that one of these Birds with her nest put in a paire of gold weights altogether hath waide no more then 2. Tomini which are in poise 24. graines with the feathers without the which she should haue waied some what lesse And doubtlesse when I consider the finenesse of the clawes and feete of these Birds I know not whereunto I may better liken them then to the little birds which the lymners of bookes are accustomed to paint on the margent of Church Bookes and other Bookes of Diuine Seruice Their Feathers are of manie faire colours as golden yellow and greene beside other variable colours their beake is verie long for the proportion of their bodies and as fine and subtile as a sowing needle they are verie hardy so that when they see a man clime the tree where they haue their nests they flye at his face and strike him in the eyes comming going and returning with such swiftnesse that no man would lightly beleeue it that hath not seene it and certainly these birds are so little that I durst not haue made mention hereof if it were not that diuers others which haue seene them as well as I can beare witnesse of my saying they make their nests of flocks and cotten whereof there is great plentie in these regions and serueth well for their purpose But as touching the Birds Foules and Beasts of these Indies because they are innumerable both little and great I intend not to speake much here because I haue spoken more largely hereof in my generall Historie of the Indies There is another kinde of Beasts seene in the firme Land which seemeth very strange and marueilous to the Christian men to behold and much differing from all other Beasts which haue beene seene in other parts of the world these Beasts are called Bardati and are foure footed hauing their taile and all the rest of their bodies couered onely with a skin like the coperture of a barbed horse or the checkered skin of a Lisart or Crocodile of colour betweene white and russet inclining somewhat more to white This Beast is of forme and shape much like to a barbed horse with his barbes and stankets in all points and from vnder that which is the barbe and coperture the taile commeth forth and the feete in their place the necke also and the eares in their parts and in fine all things in like sort as in a barbed courser they are of the bignesse of one of these common Dogges they are not hurtfull they are filthie and haue their habitation in certaine hillockes of the earth where digging with their feete they make their dens verie deepe and the holes thereof in like manner as doe Connies they are very excellent to be eaten and are taken with nets and some also killed with Crosbowes they are likewise taken oftentimes when the Husbandmen burne the stubble in sowing time or to renew the herbage for Kine and other Beasts I haue oftentimes eaten of their flesh which seemeth to me of better taste then Kiddes flesh and holesome to be eaten And if these Beasts had euer beene seene in these parts of the world where the first barbed Horses had their originall no man would iudge but that the forme and fashion of the coperture of Horses furnished for the warres was first deuised by the sight of these Beasts There is also in the firme Land another beast called Ors◠〈◊〉 that is the Ante-beare This beast in haire and colour is much like to the Beaâ—e of Spaine and in manner of the same making saue that he hath a much longer snoue and is of euill fight they are oftentimes taken only with staues without any other weapon and are not hurtfull they are also taken with Dogges because they are not naturally armed although they bite somewhat they are found for the most part about and neere to the hillockes where are great abundance of Antes For in these Regions is ingendred a certaine kind of Antes very little and blacke in the Fields and Plaines whereas grow no Trees where by the instinct of Nature these Antes separate themselues to ingender farre from the Woods for feare of these Beares the which because they are fearefull vile and vnarmed as I haue said they keepe euer in places full of Trees vntill very famine and necessitie or the great desire that they haue to feede on these Antes cause them to come out of the Woods to hunt for them these Antes make a hillocke of earth to the height of a man or somewhat more or lesse and as bigge as a great Chest and sometimes as bigge as a Buâ— or a Hogshead and as hard as a stone so that they seeme as though they were stones set vp to limit the
to death and the rest sent them instructions of the Sentences they had giuen By meanes whereof they gaue the King to vnderstand what had passed in his Realme There was a good order and settled policie for the Reuenues of the Crowne for there were Officers diuided throughout all the Prouinces as Receiuers and Treasurers which receiued the Tributes and Royall Reuenues And they carried the Tribute to the Court at the least euery moneth which Tribute was of all things that doe grow or ingender on the Land or in the water aswell of Iewels and Apparell as of Meat They were very carefull for the well ordering of that which concerned their Religion Superstition and Idolatries and for this occasion there were a great number of Ministers to whom charge was giuen to teach the people the custome and ceremonies of their Law Hereupon one day a christian Priest made his complaint that the Indians were no good Christians and did not profit in the Law of God an old Indian answered him very well to the purpose in these termes Let the Priest said he imploy as much care and diligence to make the Indians Christians as the Ministers of Idols did to teach them their ceremonies for with halfe that care they will make vs the best Christians in the world for that the Law of Iesus Christ is much better but the Indians learne it not for want of men to instruct them Wherein he spake the very truth to our great shame and confusion THe Mexicans gaue the first place of honour to the profession of Armes and therefore the Noble-men are their chiefe Souldiers and others that were not noble by their valour and reputation gotten in warres came to Dignities and Honors so as they were held for Noble-men They gaue goodly recompences to such as had done valiantly who inioyed priuiledges that none else might haue the which did much incourage them Their Armes were of Rasors of sharpe cutting flints which they set on either side of a staffe which was so furious a weapon as they affirmed that with one blow they would cut off the necke of a Horse They had strange and heauy Clubs Lances fashioned like Pikes and other manner of Darts to cast wherein they were very expert but the greatest part of their combate was performed with stones For defensiue armes they had little Rondaches or Targats and some kinde of Morions or Head-pieces inuironed with feathers They were clad in the skinnes of Tigres Lions and other sauage beasts They came presently to hands with the Enemie and were greatly practised to runne and wrestle for thir chiefe manner of combate was not so much to kill as to take Captiues the which they vsed in their sacrifices as hath beene said Moteçuma set Knight-hood in his highest splendor ordayning certaine militarie orders as Commanders with certaine markes and ensignes The most honorable amongst the Knights were those that carried the crowne of their haire tied with a little red Ribband hauing a rich plume of feathers from the which did hang branches of feathers vpon their shoulders and rolls of the same They carried so many of these rolls as they had done worthy deeds in warre The King himselfe was of this order as may be seene in Chapultepec where Moteçuma and his sonnes were attyred with those kindes of feathers cut in the Rocke the which is worthy the sight There was another order of Knight-hood which they called the Lions and the Tigres the which were commonly the most valiant and most noted in warre they went alwayes with their Markes and Armories There were other Knights as the Grey Knights the which were not so much respected as the rest they had their haire cut round about the eare They went to the warre with markes like to the other Knights yet they were not armed but to the girdle and the most honorable were armed all ouer All Knights might carry gold and siluer and weare rich Cotton vse painted and gilt vessell and carry shooes after their manner but the common people might vse none but earthen vessell neither might they carry shooes nor attire themselues but in Nequen the which is a grosse stuffe Euery order of these Knights had his lodging in the Pallace noted with their markes the first was called the Princes lodging the second of Eagles the third of Lyons and Tigers and the fourth of the grey Knights The other common officers were lodged vnderneath in meaner lodging◠if any one lodged out of his place he suffred death THere is nothing that giues me more cause to admire nor that I finde more worthy of commendations and memory then the order and care the Mexicans had to nourish their youth for they knew well that all the good hope of a Common-weale consisted in the nurture and institution of youth whereof Plato treates amply in his bookes De Legibus and for this reason they laboured and tooke paines to sequester their children from delights and liberties which are the two plagues of this age imploying them in honest and profitable exercises For this cause there was in their Temples a priuate house for children as Schooles or Colledges which was seperate from that of the yong men and maides of the Temple whereof we haue discoursed as large There were in these Schooles a great number of children whom their fathers did willingly bring thither and which had teachers and masters to instruct them in all commendable exercises to be of good behauiour to respect their superiours to serue and obey them giuing them to this end certaine precepts and instructions And to the end they might be pleasing to Noblemen they taught them to sing and dance and did practise them in the exercise of warre some to shoote an Arrow to cast a dart or a staffe burnr at the end and to handle well a Target and a Sword They suffered them not to sleepe much to the end they might accustome themselues to labour in their youth and not be men giuen to delights Besides the ordinary number of these children there were in the same Colledges other children of Lords and Noblemen the which were instructed more priuately They brought them their meate and ordinary from their houses and were recommended to ancients and old men to haue care ouer them who continually did aduise them to be vertuous and to liue chastely to be sober in their diet to fast and to march grauely and with measure They were accustomed to exercise them to trauell and in laborious exercises and when they see them instructed in all these things they did carefully looke into their inclination if they found any one addicted vnto warre being of sufficient yeares they sought all occasions to make triall of them sending them to the warre vnder colour to carrie victuals and munition to the Souldiers to the end they might there see what passed and the labour they suffered And that they might abandon all feare they were laden
last discourse with Frier William 43. His letters to the French King 45.50 Mangu or Mango-Chan 114.10 Baptized 115.60 Dyeth 117.20 Mangani what 97.1 Mangu-Chans Iustice done vpon his owne Wife 44.50 45.1 Manguslane a Port 235.30 The people described ibid. Mâ—nilla the Iland 286.10 A Bishops Sea there ibid. Mâ—nna-hota the Riuer in Virginia 599 Manse and Taute Ilanders of Cathaya 34.10 Mansflesh eaten in the Siege of Mosco 780.20 Map-makers and Globe-makers create Lands and Ilands at pleasure 461.10 Map of China the best with notes 401.402 c. Mappes of China their Errour 168.10 Maps purposely made false by the Spaniards 853.30 Maragnon or the Riuer of Amazones in the West Indies the chiefest of the World 933.60 Seuenty leagues broad at the mouth 934.20 Marble a kind of it much esteemed in China 315.312.1 Like to Iaspar ibid. Gotten out of the Riuers and forced with Fire 313.1 Marchpane in China 292.50 298.40 Marcopia or Mangat the Citie 634 30 Marcus Paulus Venetus made one of Cublai Chaâ—s Clerkes 67.40 He learnes foure Languages ibid. Sent Ambassadour by him to Carahan ibid. 50. Writes a Iournall of his trauels ibid. Continues a long time with the Great Chan ibid. Goes to Argon in India 68.30 To Trebesonde Constantinople Negroponte and to Venice againe ibid. 40. Where no body knew him ibid. 50.60 Taken Prisoner by the Genowayes might not be redeemed 69.1 He writes his trauailes ibid. Marcus Paulus Venetus his Booke 65.40 Mares tayle the Tartars Ensigne 643.1 Mares white all Consecrated in Tartarie when and how 44.10 Much like to the Papists fashion saith Rubruquis ibid. Magarita Iland in the West Indies the distance from Hispaniola and Trinidad the Villages in it Pearle-fishing there the Latitude 866.20 Margarites Sound in Orkney 827.20 Marienberg by Danske the Lutheran and Romane Religions exercised there 626.20 Built by whom ibid. Market-wares of Mexico 1132. c. Mermalades of West Indian fruit 957.60.958.20 Marriages of the Chinois 367.50 One Wife and many Concubines which they buy and sell againe their Children inherite ibid. They Marry not any of their owne name ibid. Marriages publicke Vtensiles for them in China 99.10 Marriages of the Mamâ—ses of Curland 628. Of the Lithuanians 628.60 Marriages in China 182.30 Marriages of the Chinois 393.60 See Weddings Marriages of the Mexicans 1009.40 Marriages of the Samoieds 555.40 Marriages the third or fourth not well allowed in the Greeke Church 435.30 The manner of Solemization in Russia 453. Held vnlawfull without consent of Parents 454.1 Large Dowries and no Ioynters ibid. 10. They goe on Horsebacke to Church ibid. The Ceremonies at Church like ours ibid. Performed at the Altar with Ring and ioyning of hands shee knockes her Head vpon his Shooe and he throwes the lappe of his Garment ouer her ibid. The Cermony of the Loafe and Meade and Corne flung vpon them and the Brides silence ibid. The Marriage Feast and the Bridegroome and Bride called Duke and Duchesse 456.1 Marriages of the Crim Tartars what degrees are forbidden them their Dowries 441.30 Marriages of the West Indians 991.40 993.40 998.40 Of the Mexicans 1044 Marriages incestuous of the Kings of Peru 1054.50 Marriage Solemnities 1058 Marriage Rites of Mexico 1107. c. Martauan in Pegu 281.40 Santa Martha Prouince in the West Indies the Extent Site natiue Commodities Mines precious Stones Latitude Martyrs of the Diuels making 70.50 Maskes c. at the Coronation of the Kings of Mexico 1019.40 Masking in China 349.40 Massis the Mountaine where Noahs Arke rested 50.20 Masuaga the Iland 285.20 Mathematickes first taught in China 329.60 339.20 30 The meannesse of their former skill that way 344.20 Their Instruments 346.20 Matriga the City where 2.10 Matrimony the forme in Russia 229.50 230.1 Matepheone or Mathewes Land 805 Mattuschan Y ar in Russia the way thence to Ob 805.30 Maudlen Sownd in Greenland the latitude 721.40 Maundy Thursday the Russian Emperour receiues the Sacrament vpon 227.50 May-feasts and May Flowers brought by the Indians to their houses 1045.30 May-pole of snow 492.10 Mays or Indian Wheate makes men scabbie how it growes differences of the graine how drest and eaten malted for Beâ—re 953 It serues for Butter Bread Wine and Oyle and for man beast 954.1 Meani are Temples in China 201.40 Meades of seuerall sorts 231.1 Meates some holyer then others in Russia 453. Their superstitious abstinence ibid. Meates prepared for Idols in Mexico 104.60 Meate-forkes of Gold 242.50 Mechoacan the Bishopricke Prouince in the West Indies the Extent Altitude of the Citie other Townes vnder it 874.40 875 Mechouacans forsaken by their kinsmen of Mexico how 1002.60 They hate the Mexicans therefore 1003.1 Mecriti or Meditae a Tartarian people of Bargu 79.40 Media now called Sheruan 245.40 Conquered by the Turkes ibid. Possessed by the Turkes 244.20 Mediator the Russes errour about him 452 Meditae or Mecriti in Tartaria 79.4 Mediterranean Sea none of note in all America 926.50 Mâ—goa in China spoyled by fiftie Iaponians 299 Melons of West India described 955.30 Men with tayles 104.1 Men beasts and fowle how they came into America a discourse of it 964 Men-eaters 101.20 103.50 eating their owne kindred 103.60 Mendez his designe and performance 278.20 Merchants poore in Russia 432.50 Merchants Feast of Mexico the manner of it 1048. c. They eate the Man which they had Sacrificed 1049.20 Merclas so the Tartars call the Merdui 12.30 Merdui a people in Tartarie ibid. Mergates Straights 488.50 Merida Citie in the West Indies the Latitude 875.30 The description ibid. Meridin the Prouince where 69.50 Sir Iohn Mericke Agent in Russia 748.749 Sent Ambassadour thither 791. Makes the Peace betwixt Russia Sweden 792.50 Merites onely aduance in China 388 1 Merkit or Crit Nestorian Christians in Catay 15.10 Mermayd seene and described 575.60 Mesopotamia the bounds 110.50 Mestizos or Children gotten by Spaniards vpon Indian women 3. thousand in one Prouince 902.10 Meta incognita discouered by Sir Martin Frobisher 463.30 Metall held by the Chinois for an Element 345.50 Metals grow like Plants a Philosophicall discourse of their production 941.942 Their diuersities and vseâ— of the qualitie of the earth where they grow in barren places the finest Metals on the top of the Mine 946.40 All Metals but Gold swimmes in Quickesiluer 948.1 Metempsychosis or the transmigration of Soules in China 368.60.369 Metempsychosis the opinion of it causes Mothers to kill their Children 396.20 Metempsychosis the Iudge for it 408.10 Methodius the Armenian Prophet 49.50 Metropolitan of Muscouia his State hee sits while the Emperour stands 226.50 The Emperour leades his Horse 227.30 The people spreads their garments vnder him Hee blesseth them ibid. The Emperour dines with him on Palme-sunday 227.40 All matters of Religion the Emperour referres to him 228.1 Metropolitan of Mosco made a Ptatriarch 445.40.50 The maner ibid. His imagined Iurisdiction oueÌ„r the whole Greeke Church 446.20 Metropolitans of Nouogrod and Rostoue vnder the Patriarch of Mosco ibid.