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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70735	Africa being an accurate description of the regions of Ægypt, Barbary, Lybia, and Billedulgerid, the land of Negroes, Guinee, Æthiopia and the Abyssines : with all the adjacent islands, either in the Mediterranean, Atlantick, Southern or Oriental Sea, belonging thereunto : with the several denominations fo their coasts, harbors, creeks, rivers, lakes, cities, towns, castles, and villages, their customs, modes and manners, languages, religions and inexhaustible treasure : with their governments and policy, variety of trade and barter : and also of their wonderful plants, beasts, birds and serpents : collected and translated from most authentick authors and augmented with later observations : illustrated with notes and adorn'd with peculiar maps and proper sculptures / by John Ogilby, Esq. ...	Ogilby, John, 1600-1676.	1670 (1670)	Wing O163; Wing D241; ESTC R22824	857,918	802

allow when Mahomet received the Alcoran his Soul was carried by the Angel Gabriel into Gods presence But the Turks that his Soul and Body were both so carried The Persians pray but thrice a day The Arabians five times besides many other differences about the interpretation of the Alcoran as may be read in Camerarius Bovius and others which for brevity we omit What Mahomet contrived designing his Foundation for this as they call it his Law appears in the Alcoran wherein speaking of Christ the Virgin Mary the Gospel and himself he says That God Jesus and Mary wrought Miracles before men And in another place The Word of God Christ Jesus the Son of Mary was sent by the Creator of the World to be the face of all people in this and the Ages to come Elsewhere he confesses That Christ is the power of God the Word Wisdom Soul Breath and Heart of God born by a Divine inspiration of the Virgin Mary that he raised the Dead to life made the Blind to see the Lame to go and wrought many other miracles That he was more excellent than all the Prophets and that the Jews had no more Prophets after him He prefers Jesus before all men and Prophets and Mary above all Women but averreth withall that the * The Heresie of the Anthropomorphites Traitor Judas was Crucified in stead of Christ being changed into his likeness and apprehended in his likeness in the Garden Speaking of himself in the Alcoran he useth these words That he did no miracle nor should that he was ignorant of most things that he was a meer man though sent and inspired by God and could not forgive sins He forbad people to worship him confessing that the truth of some things extant in his Books may be doubted He acknowledges the power of the Gospel in that he calls in a Light a Guide and Perfection And much diminished the Authority of his Alcoran in saying Every one that worshippeth the true God and liveth honestly and uprightly be he Jew Christian or Saracen shall obtain mercy and salvation His Disciples believe the Creation of the World that Adam was made of earth all the Hebrew Histories and Christs Doctrine in part They acknowledge a Resurrection of the Dead the last Judgment Rewards and eternal Punishment in Hell and that Christ shall sit next to God in judgment which are points so seemingly consonant to the truth that weak Christians mistaking those general notions think it no great error to submit to it but all those fair shews and formal species are quickly overthrown and dash't to pieces by Mahomet's assuming too much to himself where he saith that Christ had profit by him in these words I declare unto you from the Messenger of God who shall come after me whose name is Mahomet that is written from eternity in the sight of Gods Throne on his right hand 'T is true he commends Moses highly and owns Christ greater than Moses but himself the greatest of all He further adds that the Christians have corrupted the Gospel and the Jews the Law of Moses But yet both together makes up the same and as much truth as is in his Alcoran That he was sent and directed by God to settle his Law by force of Arms but Christ in the power of Miracles At eight years of age Circumcision the time of their Circumcision the Children ride to the Mosque with a Turbant on their heads and a Torch carried on a Spear before them After the Circumcision the Child by the Priests direction saith aloud La Illah Illella Muhemet re sul Allah that is God is one God and Mahomet his Prophet and so after some Prayers and Offerings returns The Mahumetan Law contains eight Commandments The first commands to acknowledge one onely God and but one Prophet The second contains the Duty of Children to their Parents The third the love of Neighbors one towards another The fourth the times of their Sala or Prayer in the Mosque The fifth their annual Fasts by all to be observed thirty days The sixth the love and alms to the Poor The seventh of Matrimony And the eighth against Murther A Paradise of all pleasures is promi'sd to the observers of these commands but for the Offenders a Hell with seven gates is prepared wherein they shall eat and drink liquid Fire be laden with Chains and punish'd with hot seething Water The grounds or rise of Mahomet's promised sensual Paradice first appears in Homer which he makes no more but a shady place of quiet retirement concerning which Ulysses congratulating Achilles seeming to him as great a Prince there as when alive and the primest Heroe in the Grecian Camp he much contrary to his expectation thus answers Thou of the Dead a weak discourse dost make Hom. Od. 11. Trather would a Rustick be and serve A Swain for hire ready almost to sterve And living be ' mongst all misfortunes hurl'd Than Dead be Emperor of this shady world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But Virgil raises his Elizium to a higher pitch giving them pleasant slowry walks and shadows of Fruit Trees for delight passing their time in Singing Dancing Wrastling and such like Entertainments For which take a part of himself thus described His demum exactis Virg. Aen. lib. 6. perfecto munere divae Devenere locos laetos sedesque beatas Largior hic campos aether lumine vestit Purpureo solemque suum sua sidera norunt Pars in Gramineis exercent membra palaestris Contendunt ludo fulva luctantur arena Pars pedibus plaudunt choreis carmina dicunt Necnon Treicius longa cum veste sacerdos Obloquitur numeris septem discrimina vocum Jamque eadem digitis jam pectine pulsat eburno This done they came to Seats of Joy and Rest Groves happy Mansions of the ever blest Which larger Skyes cloth with a Purple gray New Stars attending their own God of Day Some in green Meads their time in wrestling spend And gallantly on Golden Sands contend Some graceful footing with a Song present In a long Robe the Thracian Poet went On seven sweet strings descanting sacred Lays His hand now strikes his Ivory quill now plays c. But Tibullus drove it up almost to this our Mahomet's height Tibul. El. lib. 2.3 of which he thus says Sed me quod facilis tenero sum semper amori Ipsa Venus campos ducet in Elysios Hîc choreae cantusque vigent passimque vagantes Dulce sonant tenui gutture carmen aves Fert casiam non culta seges totosque per agros Floret odoratis terra benigna rosis Ad juvenum series teneris immista puellis Ludit assiduè praelia miscet amor Venus her self shall by the hand convey Me her Gall-ant to seats of lasting joy Where Revels never cease where Birds their throats Extending ravish with delicious Notes Cassia

the Hebrew It is true that in Coptick Dictionaries brought from Egypt by Peter Della Valla many words sound like the Greek but it is to be observed withall that this Tongue had not that mixture at the beginning but it fell in in the time of Alexander the Great and the Ptolomys by the mutual Converse of Greeks and Egyptians together for three hundred years And by the same means also Latine Arabick Hebrew and Samaritane Words are blended with it but this is not sufficient to root out its Original Purity Diodorus Siculus sets down so great an Agreement between the Hebrew and Egyptian Tongue From the Hebrew that he seems to maintain those People might very easily have understood one another but this contradicts that Psalm which speaking of Joseph hath these words When he passed into Egypt he heard a Language which he knew not Besides If there were so great an Agreement it must have arisen either by Trading or Converse of both which the Hebrews as the Scripture witnesseth were utterly debarr'd Gesner And from other Eastern Tongues Volateranus Eusebius Ambrose and Theseus seem to assert That the Egyptian Tongue hath some relation to the Abyssine Caldee Arabick Syriack and other Oriental Languages moved by a similitude of Sound and for that like the Hebrews Arabians and Caldeans they use Letters instead of Arithmetical Characters But this Opinion stands upon a loose Foundation for there are great Differences between this and the other Eastern Tongues as well in manner of Pronunciation as in Words As for example The Hebrews call Father and Son Ab-U-Ben The Caldeys Abba-Ubra The Syrians Abo Vabro The Arabians Ellab Vallabu The Abyssines Vb Wawalda The Armenians Hor eu Ordi The Samaritans Ab-U-ben The Egyptian Copticks Fiot Nemsiri Hereby appears the great Agreement of the Eastern Tongues among themselves but not in the least with the Coptick for what likeness have the words Fiot Nemsiri with Ab Uben Abo Vabro Ab Uben Ab Wawolda c. Accordingly Theseus concludes That the Analogy of several Speeches in one or two words makes no more to prove them the same than that Stone and Timber are Identicals because both grow in the Earth The Coptick hath this peculiar Property That all the Words thereof used by a Stranger receive alteration in the first Syllable and not in the termination or ultimate usual in other Languages Neither at this day are any Books remaining of it onely a few words have been preserved by Greek and other Writers of most Antiquity Authors disagree about their Characters The Letters of the Antient Egyptians however we have reason to conclude that they were taken from the form and postures of the whole Bodies of Beasts by them accounted Sacred when they intended to signifie whatever in it self is great The minute or lesser matters were exprest by their several parts or members As they endeavored in their holy Language to perform all their matters by Mysteries so they did also in the vulgar Coptick as will plainly appear by their Alphabet consisting of two and twenty Letters wherein few but signifies some deep Mystery The second Letter in its Figure represents the form of a Capital ● Gamma and signifies A Carpenters * A Square is a Carpenters Rule by which they measure their square Lines it is made of Iron Square but mystically intends the rule or method of square and honest dealings which God the Great Fabricator of the World hath set down and fixt as a Law in our Nature that a Quadrary Proportion should rule all Actions which we call just and vertuous In like manner under all the other Letters according to their specifical differences lay hid other peculiar and deep Mysteries Besides this they had another manner of Writing so that it seems the other were onely used as Sacred Hieroglyphicks to set forth great Secrets As a Testimony whereof several Mummies have been found upon whose gilded and gummed Winding-Clothes many Coptick Letters were inscribed being no small evidence to prove the Antiquity because the Mummies were Interred long before the Invasion of Cambyses who destroyed or banished the Priests by which it was lost as we have often mentioned But neither could its Antiquity or Sacred Use preserve it from being abolisht as at this day it almost is The Arabick having generally prevailed The Coptick Tongue is not spoken any more onely some Christians have retained still a small Remainder in Celebrating their Liturgy and having a few of their Religious Books written in it as among the rest the Books of the Old and New Testament translated out of the Hebrew into that Language above fourteen hundred Years since when the now ruin'd Thebes was the famous Patroness of Religion as Nicephorus reports Nicephorus There is also a Coptick Dictionary of about six thousand Words with the Arabick by it preserv'd and kept in Egypt and another which that Worthy Searcher into Antiquities Peter della Valla brought with him thence in the Year Sixteen hundred twenty and four which in the same order with Latine Interpretations was twenty Years after published in Print at Rome by the Learned Father Athanasius Kircher who had also before that Published an Introduction to the Coptick Tongue wherein he treats largely of its Antiquity Original and Difference from other Tongues together with the Knowledge of the Letters and the Means both of Restoring and Reforming it The Sacred Egyptian Tongue The Consecrated or Sacred Egyptian Tongue consists of comprehensive Representations by Philo Judaeus call'd Figures of Living Creatures and by the Greeks Hieroglyphicks that only denote by Mystical Figures holy Matters These were found out with great Sagacity and consist no way in the Apprehension of Letters Words or Sentences As a Basilisk with the Tail twin'd about its Body signifies the Course of Time a Serpent with the Tail in its Mouth the World a Branch of Palm the Moon because a Palm at the beginning of every New Moon The Palm shoots forth a fresh Branch every Moon sends forth a new Branch so that in a Year it shooteth forth thirteen new Branches as they observe These Hieroglyphicks contain a compleat Sence in what manner soever it be expressed whether Beneath or Above or on the Right or Left Side for upon the Obelisks or Spires they stand perpendicular upon Flats for Painting they stand as we write Level but upon Rounds of Metal or Marble Statues or what other Representations they march strait up or down athwart or promiscuous without Order Also observe that the Sages did not grave upon Stone their Histories as many now suppose or the Famous Acts of their Kings and Princes or the Liberal Arts or any other such like Argument but only what was Holy and which had respect either to the Properties of the Divine Nature or to the Orders of Angels and Spirits or to the Tuition of Corps interr'd These were written not only upon Stones but also upon Winding-Sheets and

the African speech very much different from the other and mixt with many Arabian words Africanus says the five white People of Africa use this Speech which he calls Aquel Marik that is a noble Speech This last is divided into three several Dialects the Tamazegtans using one the Xilhans another and the Zenetans a third each varying from other onely in some words and holding affinity with the Arabick The Gumerians and Haoranians who live on the lesser Atlas and all the Inhabitants of the Cities on the Coast of Barbary between the greater Atlas and the Midland-Sea use the Morisk Tongue But in the City of Marocco and all its Provinces the Numidians Getulians and Western part of Africa speak the antient African known by the two old names of Xilha and Tamazegt Others residing Eastward bordering Tunis and extending beyond Tripoly to the Desarts of Barka speak a broken Arabick Such as live in Dovars or in houses mingle the Zenetan Tongue with corrupt Arabick so that few people in Africa speak pure and true Arabick Sealig ad Cansabon lib. 1. Epist 72. but use generally in their writings the Abimalik Tongue some have observed that in the Cities on the Coasts of Barbary the Citizens speak Arabick but base and corrupt The Peasants use the African Tongue But the common Edicts Commands Lawes and Contracts yea and their very Proverbs are written in pure Arabick The Azengians and other Mahumetans mingle their speech with Arabick and Barbary words The mixture of the African Speeches or Dialects the speech of Gelofe Geneba Tombuto Meli Gago and Galata they call Zungay that of Guber Cano Queseve Perzegreg and Guangray Guber which the people of Borno and Gouga imitate whereas in the Kingdom of Nubia they have a Dialect different from all the former these Countreys lye upon the River Niger In the more Southern the Languages are as various and differing the principal are Zinch and Habex which last the Abyssines use In some of these parts the people are so sullen and brutishly inclined that they will neither speak be sociable nor appear to any and in case one of them be taken he will rather starve to death than open his mouth and speak Eminent Arabian Historiographers affirm that when the Government of Barbary the choicest part of Africk became subject to the Mahumetans the African and Roman Letters were the same and were used commonly in Writing so that all their * The Arrian Hereticks that fled out of Italy from the Gothes and setled here Arrian Histories are Translated out of Latine and abridged with the Names of Princes and Commanders according to the Reigns of the Persian Assyrian Chaldean Israelitish and Roman Kings But the Schismatical Caliphs who conquered Africa raging with malice destroyed all those Books of Histories and Sciences permitting no other to be read than those of their own Sect. And the beforementioned Writer Ibnu Alraquiq sets forth that the Romans after their Conquest destroy'd all the ancient Records and African Books The Romans utterly obliterated all Punick Records Books and Histories introducing in place thereof their own name which in small time so prevail'd with a shining lustre that their honour and glory alone remain'd and the African Letters so totally blotted out that without any glimmering thereof they now write all in Arabick ¶ JOhn Leo saith Africans skill'd in Astronomy c. that the Africans are well skill'd in Astronomy and other Sciences and that they have some skill in Architecture and Husbandry which knowledge they first learn't out of Latine-writers as appears not onely in that they order their Moneths by Ides and Calends as the Latines but that they have likewise a great Book in three Volumes Entituled The Treasury of Husbandry which in the time of Mansor Lord of Granado was translated out of Latine into Arabick wherein are contained the rules of Tillage and Husbandry the alteration of the Seasons manner of Sowing with many the like singularities Insomuch that in former times these parts produced divers ingenious and great Wits Hath produced many famous and Learned men such as the Comedian Terence and some Fathers and Doctors of the Christian Church And others whose valour was not inferiour to the greatest who by an incredible courage maintain'd their liberty against the most magnanimous of the Romans although the present Inhabitants by a sad change are so degenerated from that glory of their Ancestors that they are esteemed the absurdest and most despicable Clowns in the Universe The African and Arabian Mahumetans reckon by the Moon allowing to the year but three hundred fifty four days every year shorter by eleven days than our European Account giving six moneths thirty days and to the other six twenty nine ¶ AS Africa is thus blest with the extraordinary production of Cattel and Corn Mines of Gold and Silver so the infertility of the Desarts is in many places recompenc'd by rich Mines of Gold and Silver Guinee Sofale Gago Nubia and divers other contain such Mines of Gold as Angola Monomotapa and other Kingdoms produce excellent Silver not without some Gold the Kingdom of Neguz is rich in many sorts of Merchandise the Coasts of Barbary inhabited by the Turks yields Corral which they dive for growing upon Rocks under water and Tombuto affords the finest Gold and other precious Rarities so that Africa is not to be esteemed the least or meanest part of the World If the Valor of the Inhabitants did but equal their number Their Valour the united Forces of the rest of the World could little prejudice them so numerous are the Armies alone of the King of Marocco and Fez besides those of the Arabians the bands of the Turks in the Kingdoms of Tunis Algiers Tripoly and Egypt the usual Army of the King of Neguz and the incredible numbers of the King of Angola seeming sufficient to make Africa invincible if they were hardy and couragious and trained up to the use of Arms. It remains then that we touch thereupon and their manner of making war The Arabians of Marocco and Fez use Lances or Sagayes Shields Their manner of War-fare Brest-plates and Helmets Their Swords generally they have from Europe and are much esteemed by them for the hardness of their Steel and excellent temper They are according to their manner of Riding most expert Horsemen casting their Javelins whereof some carry six or seven very swiftly one after another and aiming exactly at great distance All manner of Fire-Arms whether for Horse or Foot or Field-Carriages Cannon great or small wanting experience hitherto they are not skilful in They ride with tuck'd up Stirrops that their heels almost kiss the Skirts of their Saddles and in Fight cast off suddenly their loose upper Garment or Mandilion to ease their Horses and make themselves free and loose for the Battel Those that inhabit Westward near Tremesen and the Wildernesses of Barka carry sharp long-pointed iron Javelins which

unplanted grows the fertile ground With beds of Aromatike Roses crown'd There Youth and Virgins drawn Love-battels fight And never fainting keep up full delight These amorous encounters being the top of his Paradise Mahomet by the help of Sergius an Apostate Monk imping the Poets fancies introduced as the greatest of all allurements setting forth Beauties most admir'd by the Asiaticks with full and black Eyes who shall alone regard their particular Lovers not such as have lived in this world but created of purpose which daily shall have their lost Virginities restored ever young and Feasting with all variety of Delicacies They have three sorts of Marabouts or Saints The first affirming that a man by good works and fasting and abstinence from Meat may attain the nature of an Angel the heart by these Duties say they being so cleansed from all infection of evil that although it would it can sin no more and that to attain happiness they must ascend by the steps of fifty Sciences They live very strictly at first and torment themselves with fasting keeping a long Lent after which the Scene changing their abstinence and mourning turns to all Feast and Merriment and their whole life is a continual * Parallel to those Bacchanalian Revels mentioned by Virgil. Carneval which they spend in Maskings and Serenaids and all manner of dissolute and intoxicated pleasures whereof four Books are written by Eseb-ravardi Schravarden Sein a Learned man born in the City of Corasan Ibnul Farid another Author hath described their whole Religion in a Poetick stile upon which one Elfargari made an Exposition collecting the Rules of the Sect and discovering the steps to attain happiness These Verses are made in so sweet and elegant a stile that they will sing no other at their publick Feasts and Merry-meetings Some of their Tenets are as follow viz. That the Heavens Planets and fixt Stars are holy that no Law or Religion is erroneous every one being at liberty to pray to what his mind is most enclined to That all knowledge of God was infused into the first man whom they name Elchot and that man elected by God is made like him in knowledge After this Elchot's death forty men called Elanted that is the Heads or Chief choose another out of their own number and when any of these forty happen'd to dye then they choose another out of the number of seven hundred sixty five These Vagabond Sectaries are by certain rules of their order to go alwayes unknown in poor and despicable rayment so that whoever sees them would judge them to be Mad-men and void of all honesty and humanity rather than Marabouts or Saints for they run naked and wilde all over Africa and force Women publickly as beasts without modesty or shame Leo saith that many of them are in Tunis but more in Egypt at Alcair where I saith he upon the Market-place Bain Elkasraim saw a Matron-like Woman coming out of a Bath Ravish'd by one of these Fanaticks in the presence of many people who thereupon ran in great numbers to touch her Garment as a Holy thing and the Womans Husband with silence manifested his thankfulness towards the Ravisher by a great Feast and liberal Gifts The second sort called Cabalists fast very severely eat not the flesh of any living creature but have a peculiar Dyet and Clothing They have Set-Prayers for every hour of the day and night according to the diversity of the Days and Moneths and wear small square Tablets Engraven with Characters and Figures They feign daily to converse and discourse with Angels who as they say teach them the knowledge of all things Their chiefest Teacher was one Boni who set them Rules and invented those Prayers and Tablets Their Rule is divided into eight parts the first whereof is call'd Elumha Ennonaritae that is the Demonstration of Light containing their Prayers and Fast-dayes The second Semsul Meharif the Sun of Sciences wherein are the aforesaid square Tablets with their use and advantages The third Lesme Elchufne and in it a Table of the Ninety nine Vertues which as they conceive are comprehended in the name of God each other part of the eight having a particular name and matter whereof it treateth The third sort termed Sunachites reside in the Wildernesses like Hermits living onely upon Herbage and Leaves They have a little smatch of Idolatry and Gentilism using no Circumcision till the thirtieth year yet they Baptize in the Name of the living God so that they have a smack both of Christianity Judaism and Gentilism Thus far of Africa in general we will now descend to particulars beginning first with Egypt having obtain'd the pre-eminence and place both from Antient and Modern Writers and also being so often mentioned in Sacred Scripture Egypt is divided into Erriff containing the Cities and Towns of Plintina or the Arabian Tower Monestor Busiris now Bosiri Heliopolis or Rameses Alexandria the Island Pharos Bocchir or Canopus Casar and Athacon Rosetta now Rassit Natumbes Fuoa or Foa Gezerat Eldekab or the Golden Island Mechella Derota Michellat Cays besides many Villages Elheatrye or Beheyra comprehends The Cape Brule Damiata Tenez or Tenex and the Lake Stagnone Arris or Ostracine Pharamide Seru and Rascaellis Masura or Masur Demanora Fustatio or Fustat Meny Cambri Caracania Bulbaite Abessus and Souta besides many other Villages and inconsiderables Places not worth the naming Sahyd Grand-Cair or Memphis and therein Bulach Charaffa Old Cair and Grand-Cair Mattaria or El-Mattharia The Ruines of Heliopolis The famous Pyramids The Island Michias Niffralhetick Geza Nukullaca The Lake Mani The City Changa Suez Bethsames Mukaisira Benesuait Munia Fyum Manfloth or Menf-loth Azuth formerly Bubastis Ichrim Anthinoe Barnaball Thebes Munsia or Munza with a Cloyster of St. George El-chiam now waste Barbana Cana Cessir a Port-Town by the Red-Sea Conza and Asna Assuan Suaquen Thura Sachila Phogono Narmita Nitriota Elmena Libetezait Saguan Dakat Pharaoh's-Angle The Seven-Wells Menviae and Cosera Veneria and Ansena Cynopolis or Monphalus Heracleopolis besides 24000 Villages The Nyle-River EGYPT EGYPT as we said before Antient Geographers who parted Asia and Africk with the Nile established amongst the Asiatick Territories but the Modern who since disterminated these two Quarters of the World with the Arabian Gulph have totally reduc'd and carried over into Africa as no small Region thereof ¶ EGypt according to Diodorus Strabo and others had that Appellation from their first King Egyptus the Son of Belus the Assyrian Monarch who secluding his Brother Danaus setled the Government of that Realm upon himself and then Reigned sixty eight years the Countrey before call'd Nilea Aeria and Osserina though others assert this Denomination sprung from Nilus whose antient name was Egyptus And as this Countrey hath confounded Chronologers with the strange Vicissitudes and main Alterations of its Government The Antient names so hath it puzel'd them with the numerous variety of its Denominations Berosus calls it Oceania from * A

the Patriarchall See but now held by the Egyptian Christians within it lay the Body of St. Mark St. John Baptist's Stone whence the Venetians secretly removed it to Venice There they say also is the Stone upon which at Herod's command St. John Baptist's Head was chop 't off near which no Turk or Infidel can sit but with great pain and torment Besides these Christian Churches the Mahumetans have several stately Mosques Somewhat distant from the City where now scituated are great heaps of rubbish through whose very disorder appear marks of Antike Grandeur Cleopatra's Building Many secret doors and passages may yet be seen whence not without some shew of truth they are concluded to have been the Palace of Cleopatra And Strabo says that the Royal House of Alexander with the City prospect on the left hand stood in the entrance of the great Haven Formerly Alexandria was the most populous and stately City The Excellency of Alexandria heretofore not onely of Egypt but of all Africa so priding it self in Magnificent Buildings as well Private as Publike that no City but Rome onely could compare with it Christianity even in the Primitive times did here flourish in such a glorious manner that the antient Fathers of the Church call'd it Paradise When the Emperor Augustus after his Victory over Mark Anthony Angustus spared this City and why entred into it he commanded not to spoil it for the memory sake of Alexander the Founder whose reliques he viewed with a serious countenance then in respect to the beauty of the City and lastly for love of the Philosopher Arrius chief Reader in the University there and in high favor with the Emperor for this indeed was in those days the Pernassus of the Muses Serapeum and Iseum two Universities or Colledges rather here were the Schools of Arts and Sciences the beautiful Colledges Serapeum and Iseum so call'd from the Goddesses Serapis and Isis wherein all the youth who for their Learning aim'd either at the Priesthood or other City-employments were educated The Serapeum far exceeded the other in Beauty having an exquisitely curious Portico more than a Mile in length whereto adjoyn'd a Court of Justice and a Grove In this the followers of Aristotles Doctrines had a peculiar School whereof the Alexandrians as Eusebius and Nicephorus write would needs impose the charge on Bishop Anatolius for his extraordinary knowledge in all Arts Lastly St. Mark the Evangelist was here the first Divinity-Professor whose Successor erected a School for Theology wherein for the advancement of Christian Religion several of the most Learned men were appointed Readers who Scholastically handled the main and fundamental Points only Among whom the famous Panthenus who flourish'd about the year of Christ one hundred eighty one and other most excellent Pastors of the Church were of great remark Here also St. Jerome St. Basil St. Gregory and others were brought up and Philo Judaeus became eminent for in this Academy the Jews had a flourishing and populous Synagogue But what hath much enhansed the glory thereof The Library of Alexandria so famous among antient Writers described was that most wonderful Library of Ptolomy Philadephus Son of Ptolomeus Lagus the second of that Name of the Line of the Egyptian Kings first established and afterwards from time to time by the following Kings augmented and enriched This Philadelphus was a Lover of Art and Learning which moved him to advance this most celebrated Library wherein he placed the Books of Aristotle and his own and not onely so but with great labour and charge made a collection of all manner of Books from all places as well of Humane Learning Arts Sciences Histories and the like as Divine such as the Pentateuch and other parts of the Old Testament which he procured out of Judea The other he obtained out of Greece Lib. 1. c. 1. from Athens the Island of Rhodes and other places according to the Testimony of Athenaeus The Copy or Duplicate of his Letter to Eleazar the High-Priest is to be read in Epiphanius Eusebius Epiphanius Josephus Eusebius and Josephus and other of their Historians When this Prince worthy of eternal honor had obtained these Books written in Languages unknown to the Egyptians he burst out into these words O hidden Treasures and sealed Fountains what exceeding benefit is couched in both After some consideration he wrote back to Eleazar with diligence to select six honest and antient men of every Tribe skill'd and experienced in the Greek Tongue and to send them over to Alexandria that they might Translate those Books for more common use In the answering this design Eleazar was very careful and sent over the aforesaid number whom Ptolomy embraced with great care and civility and in the Island of Pharos caused to be erected several convenient Mansions wherein every one by himself was to Translate the Holy Law which was so perform'd Josephus Clemens Alexandrinus Eusebius Nicephorus Augustine that according to the testimony of Josephus Clemens Alexandrinus Eusebius Nicephorus Augustine and other Learned Writers they not onely used the same sense but the very same words certainly not without the special grace and assistance of the Holy Spirit And this is that Translation which bears the name of the Septuagint Septuagint Bible to this day Of this Library was Phalerius Demetrius Phalerius Demetrius made Library-keeper an Athenian exile famous for his Writings made Overseer and promoted also to greater Offices Furthermore this King sent to the Chaldeans Egyptians and Romans for Books and in like manner commanded to be Translated into Greek Seneca says The number of the Books the number of the Books in it were four hundred thousand whereas indeed they were more Agellius Ammianus Diodorus Josephus amounting as Agellius Ammianus and Diodorus alledge to seven hundred thousand Josephus reports that Demetrius the Library-keeper being once ask'd by the King how many thousand Books there were made answer Above two hundred thousand but that shortly he hop'd the number would be five hundred thousand whereby it appears how infinitely the number increas'd in short time which ceased not with Philadelphus but afterwards from time to time were still multiply'd by succeeding Kings yet this precious and invaluable Treasure of Books which were all Manuscripts for then the Art of Printing was far off from being Invented was totally Burnt in the Civil Wars of Pompey and Caesar They are all burnt and by what means taking Fire at first from Caesar's Fleet fired by the Enemy in the Haven a dire and irreparable mischance at which Caesar though it came not by his fault alone was so much asham'd that afterwards in his third Book of the Civil Wars he neither maketh mention of it himself Plutarch Dio Livy Seneca nor the Roman Consul Hirtius But Plutarch Dio Livy and Seneca have not omitted it of which the last thus writes Let another commend this burning Stratagem

that their Gum proceeds not only from this but is a Compound-product of many other because in Egypt and Arabia no sorts of Summer Trees are to be found but this Sant onely The Mauz Mauz or Muza or Muza by which name also the Fruit is known groweth in several places of Egypt and especially about Damiata but in much greater abundance in Guinee and Ethiopia where we shall speak more fully of it Egypt produces also several sorts of fair and beautiful Flowers Why the flowers in Egypt lose their smell as Hyacinthus Daffadil and the like brought over from Constantinople by the Turkish Bashaw's but keep not long any esteem because here their fragrancy is presently lost In Egypt are no Poplars Belon but Myrtles in abundance Here is also a sort of Rue call'd Hermale wherewith the Arabians Turks and Egyptians perfume themselves every morning with perswasion that the scent thereof drives away evil Spirits Here also grow very great Pomegranats Villamont out of which they press a very pleasant Wine as also Pomecitrons Oranges Lemons Figs with other sorts of Fruits which grow not in these Countreys but they have no Eglantine Wallnuts or Hasel-nuts Flax. nor several other European Fruits Some places produce a Lint that makes Russet Flax Pier. Hierogl lib. 53. especially about Rosetta where the In habitants plant such abundance that they serve with it several forreign Countreys Among all the rich Commodities of this Countrey In Egypt is no Wine produced there is no Wine but what Merchants import from other places the flatness of the Region hindering the Planting and Dressing of Vineyards Radzovil yet Prince Radzovil in his Book of Travels writeth that he saw a Vineyard as he went to El Mattharea Secondly the Mahumetans to whom by the Alcoran drinking of Wine is forbidden root up such Vine-stocks as are at any time by the Christians planted out of obedience as they pretend But is brought thither from other places however notwithstanding their zeal many of the Turks strong Wine and suffer Wine of Candia Cyprus and Mount Libanus and of the Island Zant and Cephalonia to be imported so that they have no want thereof though none grows there As to Gardens and Husbandry there are few of the one How Tilage is done in Egypt and little of the other here but abundance of Wheat and other Grain being sowed upon the bare Mud which Nilus at his Overflux left upon the Land without other labor of Ploughing or Tilling than the running it over with a wooden Harrow the better to drive and settle the Seed therein This shall suffice to have spoken concerning Plants or Vegetables we shall now proceed to enumerate Quadrupedes Fowls and Fish wherein it hardly gives place to any other Region in the world ¶ FOur-footed Beasts by reason of the great plenty of Grass Meadows and Pastures excellent Trees and shady Groves bred up and nursed by the Nile are here for the most part very large as Bees Oxen Camels Horses Asses Bellon lib. 2. cap. 25. Goats and Sheep which last are fat and fleshy with a Dew-lap like Oxen and long spreading Tayls that hang upon the ground The Mutton Veal Beef and Lamb is singularly sweet and delicious but somewhat moist and watry The Goats very numerous about Alexandria Goats with long Ears have Ears hanging down to the ground and at the end four or five fingers broad curling upwards There is another kinde of these that are wilde Wilde Goats by the present Natives call'd Gazelles but known to the antient Greeks by the name of Orygis commonly running in great Herds in the Fields and Woods which the Inhabitants shoot or kill with Guns Their Hair and Tayls Eyes and Eye-brows resemble Camels fore-footed like a Hare shorter before than behinde They have a black Horn and bleat like tame Goats but are Beardless very nimble in climbing but unweildy to descend on plain ground very swift The Horns of the Male exceed those of the Female standing very straight onely at the end a little crooked Pliny says they have but one Horn and which is more remarkable if true when the Dog-star ariseth they look stedfastly upon it performing some gestures as it were of Adoration to it Here also are a kinde of Apes the Baboon call'd in Greek Cynocephalus Cynocephalus The Drill or Baboon Arist lib 2. cap. 7. Hist Animal that is Dogs-head for the likeness of that part to a Dog They are much larger stronger and wilder than the other with Teeth sharp and set close together This Beast according to the testimony of Horus had a very extraordinary property which was to urine every hour For these and other rarities observ'd by the Egyptian Priests in this Creature it was of frequent use among the Hieroglyphicks to denote and signifie several Mysteries Chameleon is a Greek word and signifies A Little Lion Chameleon Bellonius says they frequent about Cairo and many other places in the Hedges and Bushes it bears some little resemblance of the Crocodile from which different in Colour Head Their shape Tongue Eyes and Feet It creeps not but walks upon all four the Head long and sharp like a Hog the Neck very short and Eyes which having no Eye-lid can turn about on every side This is a sluggish and dull Animal holding the Head carelesly and the Mouth always gaping lolling out the Tongue and so catching Flies Grashoppers Caterpillars Palmer-worms and such like in stead of Teeth having one entire Jaw-bone indented like a Saw but useless swallowing whole what ever Food it takes wanting both Spleen and Bladder dunging or rather muting like a Hawk The Back hath a hard and rough Skin beset with some few prickles the two fore Feet Bellonius saith have three Claws inwards and two outwards but the hinder Feet three outwards and two inwards with hooked Nails or Talons It hath a strange and ridiculous manner of gate or movement It s gate is ridiculous for stretching both feet on each side at once together and so alternately the other makes such a shuffling gradation one Shoulder jetting foremost the other out-stepping that with a continual untoward hank and loose that it makes Spectators laugh as if it were a match which side should come first to the Goal But he is so nimble in running up Trees that he seems rather to flie wherein he makes great use of his Tail to lay hold on the Boughs especially in coming down whence we may gather that the Camelion more frequents trees than the ground Nor give the motions of the Eyes less cause of Comical admiration It stirs the Eyes wonderfully for he does not as other Creatures who turn both Eyes at once after the same object But somtime like our squinters not only look two opposite ways at once but more seeing right forward with one Eye and looking up with the other aloft another while to

Their Houses because of the overflowing of Nilus are built upon rising Places with thick clay Walls and flat Roofs as is usual in most Eastern Countreys And in regard Wood and Stone are very scarce they are little and low without advantages of many Rooms because most People Eat Drink and Sleep under the Date-Tree for coolness not fearing either Winter or Summer-Rains because the Countrey is free from them The whole Countrey is subject to one Inconvenience which is want of Fuel for in the great scarcity thereof they are forced upon all necessary occasions to burn the dung of Cattel ¶ POlygamy is common among the Nobler Sort Their Marriage who shut up their many Wives together in a Seraglio but separate from one another in distinct Apartments The Moors and meaner Sort to shew their Affection when they go a Wooing sear their Flesh with red hot Irons and flash their Arms without any sense of Smart or Danger And if by that means they can obtain the bare reward of a single Kiss from their Mistris Hand they take it as if they had gain'd the top of Felicity or whatsoever Love-sick Amours desire ¶ THe Parents dispose their Daughters in Marriage at ten or at most at twelve year old When they conduct the Bride to the Bridegrooms House she hath carried before her whatever her Friends or Parents gave her for the Bridegroom bestows on her Money Garments and other Necessaries Jewels Housholdstuff and Slaves of both Sexes ¶ THe Turks in Egypt are either of the Civil or Martial List Their Employment living voluptuously having little or no business but at starts but the Native Egyptians follow Pasturage and Husbandry The Arabians live by downright Robbery the Moors Negroes and Jews mannage Trading and Merchandise so do most of the Inhabitants of Cairo There are another sort of People here call'd Beduines The manner of the Beduines wandring about in great Companies of two or three hundred with their Luggage upon Carts and driving their Cattel like the Tartars from place to place for fresh Pasturage and where they finde good Grass they spread their Tents of course Goats-hair Cloth and thence migrate up and down still for fresh Pasture The Men are most of them Smiths and Weavers they go meanly apparell'd without any Clothes but a blue or gray Shirt with broad Sleaves hanging down to the ground and a piece of Cloth call'd by them Baracan which sometimes they cast over their shoulders as a Mantle when they pitch they sometimes make that their Tent to sleep under in the night and in the day to skreen off the heat of the Sun The Women go for the most part clothed like the Egyptian having maskt their Faces with holes They stick in their Hair many Silver and Copper Plates and black Ear-rings and Jewels of an unusual bigness and the like on their Arms. The Daughters as they become marriagable manifest it by scratching themselves upon the Chin and Lip which they dawb over with Ink and Ox-gall mingled that give such a fixt tincture as will never wear out ¶ THe Potency and Wealth of Egypt ha's ever been famous The abundant Riches of Egypt insomuch that in Antient Times Authors have said there were above twenty thousand Walled Cities and is at present China excepted held one of the richest Spots of earth in the World Cairo onely for its share contains fix hundred thousand Jews from whence the number of the rest of the Inhabitants may be guessed as also from the great destruction in the Year Fifteen hundred and eighty one when died of the Pestilence in seven Moneths above five hundred thousand In the time of Asan Bassa there were numbred seven millions or seventy hundred thousand persons ¶ TWo Languages and two sorts of Writing were used here Two sorts of Tongues among the Egyptians one Common understood by all in ordinary Conversation the other Peculiar onely used by the Priests Prophets and Religious Votaries whose ambition led them to hopes of the Crown and Government of the Kingdom This they nam'd The Sacred but the Coptick or Vulgar The Profane Tongue Which last was also call'd Pharaohs Speech because it was usual in the time of the Antient Egyptian Kings which were call'd by that one General Name of Pharaoh I shall in brief set down the difference and propriety of them both Whence the Name Coptos or Copta took its Original Writers disagree The Tongue Copta why so named Athanasius Kircher seems among all to have come nearest deriving it from Coptos formerly the most famous City in Egypt and the Chief of the Countrey of Thebes though at this day the Ruines thereof are but mean or else from the Coptists the Inhabitants of that City by whom alone this Tongue was kept in being Here we may take notice of a great mistake among most eminent Writers The difference between Coptos and Cophtos who without distinction confound Coptos and Cophtos whereas they differ much in their signification Coptos is an antique word and found in old Authors but Cophtos is a Name invented by the Mahumetans who call the Egyptian Christians by way of derision Cophtites as if they would say Circumcised Some suppose they are call'd Cophtites Della Valla. because they followed heretofore the Erroneous and Heretical Opinions of Eutiches and Dioscorus condemned in the Council of Ephesus which did before Baptism use to receive Circumcision for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is onely a Greek Name and signifies Circumcised whence they were nick-nam'd Christians of the Girdle meaning upwards because from the Girdlested downwards being Circumcised they were rather Jews The present Cophtick Tongue The Coptick is the old Egyptian Tongue is not onely like the Antient Egyptian in the time of the Pharao's but altogether one and the same as appears by some words still in use and among the rest the Names of the Moneths whereby the Old Egyptians and the Modern Coptists name them without any remarkable difference The like you may observe in the Planets Mars was with the Antient Egyptians Moloch which the Holy Scripture so often mentions Remphan in our English Translations Saturn Refan the very word used in the Acts of the Apostles Venus is called Zahara and many Plants and Herbs mentioned by Apuleius in his Book of the Vertues of Herbs may be found very little different from the present Egyptian Names Now since no Tongue comes nearer to the old Egyptian than the Coptick we may rationally conclude that the Coptick is the true and antient Egyptian not so pure and undefiled indeed as it was in the time of the Patriarchs but by process of time the manifest mixture of People and Languages and other alterations of the State disguised and corrupted The Coptick in it self is an Original It s distinction from the Greek Tongue not a Derivative Language though some strongly argue that it is but a Greek Dialect differing as the Caldee from

with other Mahumetans coming over-Sea in small Ships call'd Zambuks and bringing thither Silk Stuffs and Ash-colour'd Yellow and Red Kambaian Beads which they exchange for Gold as those of Sofala barter these Wares again with them of Monomotapa for Gold which they receive without weight They have also abundance of Ivory which they sell into Kambaya Voyage of Spilb. and Ambergreece which they get from the adjacent Islands of Usiques When the Inhabitants lying near the Sea see any Out-Landish Ships they declare by kindling of Fires their coming acceptable They weave many white Cotton Clothes For the Art of Dying they have no skill in sometime they unravel the Kambaian colour'd Clothes and Weave that among their white Yarn and make Cloth of several Colours Their Weapons were onely Daggers Bowes and Arrows Arms. Osor lib. 4. Spilber but now they have the use of Guns Powder and Bullets by instructions from the Portuguese Pigafet holds an opinion that the King of this Countrey was a Mahumetan Dominion and Vassal to the Emperor of Monomotapa with whom being at War he entred into a League with the King of Portugal But in the Voyage of Spilbergen we find that the King was a Portuguese by Birth contrary to what Jarich mentions viz. that he is meerly Tributary to the Portuguese but Marmol says that in his time he obey'd the Emperor of Monomotapa The people saith Pigafet have imbrac'd Mahumetanism Religion which Osorus also confirms although Jarick saith they know no Religion at all In the fourth Book of the Expedition of the King Emanuel but are like a piece of Wax fit to receive any Certain it is that for above two hundred years the Mahumetans flourish'd there and have built a City call'd Sofala upon an Island of the River Quama who though but intruders keep under the native Caffers And now it coming just in our way The differences about the right place of Ophir and seeing both Expositors of holy Scripture and Geographers understand this Countrey of Sofala to be the Golden Ophir to which King Solomon sent a Fleet of Ships Man'd with the Servants of Hiram King of Tyrus from Ezion-geber a Haven lying at the Red-Sea returning again after three years Voyage loaden with Gold and Elephants-Teeth We conceive it not unfit in brief to relate the difference of the ancient Contest about this place hitherto clearly decided with the Arguments on both sides Arias Montanus Baftellus Goropius and others are of opinion that Ophir was that part of America commonly call'd Peru and divided North and South Peru therefore they conclude from the word Parvaim in the Hebrew Text being the Plural Number and that this Gold was brought from the two Peru's but many opposite Arguments refel this Opinion First It is probable that Peru in the time of Solomon was not known nor which is more the Voyage to Peru over so wide a space of Seas not possible to be perform'd especially for want of the use of the Load-stone and Compass Secondly There are in Peru no Elephants so that by consequence from thence no Ivory or Elephants Teeth could be brought Thirdly If Solomon were to go with a Fleet to Peru in America it might have been sent more conveniently out of some Haven of the Mediterranean-Sea as being nearer than out of Ezien-geber at the Red-Sea to fetch so long a compass by the Cape of Good Hope and the whole Guinee-Coast St. Jerome an ingenious Expounder of the Hebrew who in the year Four hundred twenty two in the Nineteenth year of his Age departed this world under Theodosius the Emperor by the word Ophir understands good or pure Gold and in his Translation sets down very good Gold and not Gold of Paruaen or of any Countrey but this opinion also is long ago rejected Athanasius Kircher in his Book of the Coptick or Egyptian Language asserts that Ophir is a Coptick or Egyptian word whereby the ancient Egyptians understood the Indies containing the Kingdoms of Malabar Scilon and the Golden-Chersonesus or the descending Countrey of Ptolomy about the River Ganges Eastward of a Bay by him call'd The Great as also Sumattra the Molucca Islands Great and Little Java and other adjacent Islands full of Gold whither King Solomon's Fleet went with King Hiram The Gold of Parvaim Kircherus judgeth was the Gold of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Javim that is of the Islands of Java having read in the Rabbins these two Islands by the same name In setting Ophir in East-Indie as Kircher doth and not in America the chiefest Geographers agree as Ortelius Volaterranus Gramas and others yet divers make Ophir the same with Sofala because it has much Gold and Ivory And if all the main Land included between the Rivers Magnice and Quama and submitting unto Monomotapa be all as Barros Calles or Sofala as well as the rest on the Sea-Coast it may with great reason be judg'd that this Countrey can be no other than the Golden Ophir of Solomon partly because of the Houses there to be found near the Gold-Mines not built after the manner of the Countrey but seem the work of Foreigners and partly because of the Inscriptions in strange and unknown Letters Moreover Thomas Lopez in his Voyage to the Indies affirms that among the Inhabitants of this Countrey there remain Books which shew that Solomon every three year had his Gold thence Besides the Septuagint Interpreters have Translated the word Ophir into the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which agrees very near with Sofala And Josephus the Jewish Historiographer calleth it Indian-Ophir adding moreover that in his time it was call'd The Gold-Countrey A certain Writer call'd Eupolemeus mention'd by Eusebius calleth it Ophir Ureten and saith 't is an Island of the Red-Sea from whence they used to Fraight Ships to Melanis a City in Arabia The Countrey of ZANGUEBAR THis Countrey some will have to be the same which Ptolomy calleth Agysynima and Paulus Venetus calleth Zengibar Jan. Barr. lib. 13. c. 4. but the Persians and Arabians Zanguebar Zangue in their Language signifying Black and the Inhabitants Zanguy or Neorroes Jan de Barros extends this Countrey along the Sea-Coast Lib. 12. Borders from the Cape das Correntas to the River Quilmanzi but Sanutus sets the Southerly borders thereof at Sofala and Monomotapa and the River Quama and the Northerly borders at the River Quilmanzi But Marmol extendeth it from the South to the North to the Cape of Guardaseu in about twelve degrees North-Latitude It contains the Kingdoms of Angos or Angoche Mongalo Mozambika Melinde Mombaze Quiloa and some Islands The River Quilmanzi by Ptolomy with the near adjoyning Cape call'd Rapte The River Quilmanzi and the great River of Africa takes its original out of a certain Mountain in Abyssina which the Inhabitants call Graro as also the River Obi But the Moores lying at the Mouth thereof call it Quilmanzi from the name of a place they possess

hour of the Morning with an empty body which they can discern by the shadow of a Man in the Sun standing straight upright for they measure the shadow with their Feet which they call Liha or Pas which being nine of their own Feets length is the time of the Circumcision Then the Drums beat and the Circumciser puts on his Garments and binds a Fillet of great strong white Cotton-Yarn to his left Arm to scour his Knife At last every Father takes his Child in his Arms and going a Procession through the Lapa passing in at the Western Door and out again at the Eastern ten by ten one after another twice After some short pause they begin two other for the Oxen which are for the Sacrifice and with the left hand of the Child touch their right Horn as they lie upon the ground with their Feet ty'd together Then all the people are bid to clear the place and a large Ring made whereupon the Circumciser appears with his Knife to cut off the Fore-skin of every Child which the Uncle of the Child receives and lays into the white and yealk of a Hens-Egg which he holds in his hand but a Rhoandrian or Anakandrian kills the Cattel and cuts for every Child a Hens throat and lets the Blood drop upon every Wound and another puts upon it the Juyce of a certain Herb call'd Hota a kind of Clover-Leaf If the Child be a Slave and hath no Uncle then the Fore-skin is thrown upon the ground This day they keep so holy that no Sport is made nor none then drink beyond the measure of hillarity The Priests call'd by them Ombyasses and by the Moors Marabauts are of two sorts that is Ombiasses Ompanorats and Ombyasses Omptifiquili the Ompanorats are Scribes who can write Arabick very Expertly they have many Books wherein are some pieces of the Alcaron most of them understand the Arabian Tongue which they teach together with Writing Several Offices are conferr'd upon the Ombyasses Ompanorats which very much agree with the Church-Offices among Christians as Male Ombyasse Tibou Mouladzi Faquihi Catibou Loulamaba Sabaha Talisman Male is a Clerk which onely teacheth to Write Ombyasse a Master of Arts Tibou an under Deacon Mouladzi a Deacon Faquihi a Priest Catibou a Bishop Loulamaba an Arch-Bishop Sabaha a Pope These People cure the Sick make Hiridzi or Talismans or Massasser-Robes which are certain Charms or Spells written with Arabick Letters which they sell to the Grandees and Rich men with promise that they shall be freed from a thousand Mischiefs Sicknesses Thunder Fire Enemies yea from Death it self though they know not how to preserve themselves from it These Cheaters make great gain of those Letters receiving for them Beasts Gold Silver Clothes and all Conveniencies The people stand in great fear of these Ombyasses and hold them for Sorcerers and Witches as also the Grandees of the Countrey make use of them against the French but without any effect alledging that their Sorcery can do nothing upon them because they eat Swines-Flesh and are of another Religion It chanc'd that these Ombyasses close under the Fort of the French to drive them away had brought Baskets full of Papers written with Arabick Letters Eggs laid upon a Friday fill'd over with Characters and Arabick Writing Earthen Pots never yet set upon the Fire written upon within and without Biers to carry the Dead written upon Canoos Girdles Scissers Pinsers of Iron to pluck the Hairs out In brief nothing was omitted that they thought expedient for the Work yet without any other effect than the Pastime of the French at their ridiculous Vanity These Ombyasses Ompanorats are the usual Physitians who visit the Sick and give them Medicines being Decoctions of Herbs and Roots They also Cure Wounds and write Charms with Arabick Characters which moisten'd with Water they hang about the Necks and Middles of the Sick to expel all Sicknesses and evil Influences They make likewise Geomantick Images to find out the time of the Disease and to discover the Remedies fit for the Malady If the Sick recover not as they expect they acquaint him that he wants somewhat and so set upon the Work anew either till he die or grow well of himself The Ombyasses in the mean time get both from the Patient and his Friends all they require as Gold Silver Corral Cows Clothes Girdles and other things The Ombyasses Ompanorats among the People of Matatane keep publick Schools to teach Children The Omptifiquili are commonly Negro's and Anakandrians which undertake the practice of Geomancy or Soothsaying in the Countrey Language call'd Squili and do such like Feats as in Europe the Books of Geomancy express onely they erect their Schemes or Work upon a Plank strew'd over with Sand whereupon they make Figures with their finger setting down the Day Hour Moneth Planet and Signs that have Dominion over the Hour according to which they Presage Strange things are attempted in this Art yet they seldom hit upon the truth but rather judge blindly by guess nevertheless they are esteem'd by all There is another sort of Ombyasses among the Negro's which the Sick also send to yet can neither Write nor Read but make onely Geomantick Figures and use Crystals Topazes Eagle-Stones Amethysts and others which they call by the general name of Filaha making the people believe God sends them these Stones by the Thunder to work Cures by which perswasion hath taken so deep root in the hearts of the Islanders that they cannot be drawn to believe the contrary They have great glistering Crystals but foul and cloudy which they say are Terachs that is having others within when they make Figures they have one of these Stones in the corner of their Tables saying That it hath power to bring activity into their fingers Vincent le Blank and Casper de Saint Bernardino Government set down six Kingdoms in this Island which Kings continually wage War one against the other But Marcus Paulus Venetus affirms That in his time it was govern'd by four Cheques but at this day every Territory hath a peculiar Lord or Dian who usually sets over every Town under his Jurisdiction a particular Philoubei that is Bailiff of the Town In the whole there is not a foot breadth of Land but belongs to some Lord or other so that it is an error and mistake to say that every one may make use of as much Land as he will There are not found in this whole Island any written Laws but all is done according to the Law of Nature being three-fold Massindili or the Princes Law Massinpah the natural Law of particular people which is no other than their own way and Massintane the Law or Custom of the Countrey The Princes Law or Massindili is a compound word of Massin that signifies Law or Custom and Hadili that signifies Command being nothing else but arbitrary Will grounded nevertheless upon Reason consisting in the doing every one Right to determine