in Christians odious to them that they may season them from their child-hood with hatred of them When they are seuen yeeres old they learne to write and reade and when they can reade they learne to construe the Text of Moses in their vulgar tongue When the Mother carrieth him first to the schoole to the Rabbi she maketh him cakes seasoned with honie and sugar and as this cake so saith she let the Law be sweet to thy heart Speake not vaine trifling words in the schoole but onely the words of God For if they so do then the glorious Maiestie of God dwelleth in them and delighteth it selfe with the ayre of their breath For their breathing is yet holy not yet polluted with sinne neither is hee Bar-mitzuah bound to obey the Commandements till he bee thirteene yeeres old When he is ten yeers old and hath now some smattering in Moses he proceedeth to learne the Talmud at thirteene yeeres his Father calleth ten Iewes and testifieth in their presence that this his sonne is now of iust age and hath beene brought vp in their manners and customes their daily manner of praying and blessing and hee will not further stand charged with the sinnes of his Sonne who is now Bar-mitzuah and must himselfe beare this burthen Then in their presence hee thanketh God that he hath discharged him from the punishment of his sonne desiring that his sonne by diuine grace may be long safe and endeuour to good workes At the fifteenth yeere of their life they are compelled to learne their Gemara or the complement of their Talmud Disputations and subtill Decisions about the Text of their Talmud And in these they spend the greatest part of their liues seldome reading any of the Prophets and some not in the whole space of a long life reading one Prophet through and therefore know so little of the Mossias At eighteene yeeres their male children Marrie according to their Talmud-constitution and sometimes sooner to auoyde fornication Their Maydens may marrie when are twelue yeeres old and a day At twentie yeeres they may traffike buy sell and circumuent all they can for their neighbour in the Law is in their sense such a Iew as you haue heard described But because these things are ioyned together in one of their sentences or Apophthemes of the R R. called Pirke Aboth I thought good to adde the same as containing a mappe of the Iewes life A sonne of fiue yeeres to the Bible a sonne of ten yeeres to the Mischna a sonne of thirteene yeeres to the Precepts a sonne of fifteene yeeres to the Thalmud a sonne of eighteene yeeres to marriage a sonne of twentie yeeres to follow the affaires of the world a sonne of thirtie yeeres to strength a sonne of fortie yeeres to wisedome a sonne of fiftie yeeres to counsell a sonne of sixâ—ie yeeres to old age a sonne of seuentie yeeres to gray haires a sonne of eightie to the height a sonne of ninetie to the graue a sonne of one hundred yeeres is as a dead man departed out of the world CHAP. XV. Of their Morning Prayer with their Fringes Phylacteries and other Ceremonies thereof §. I. Of their Behauiour before they goe to the Synagogue THe good-wife is to waken her Husband and the Parents to awaken their Children when after thirteene yeeres they are subiect to the Iewish Precepts before their Penticost they rise before it is light and after the nights being shorter when it is now day They are to awaken the day not to tarrie till it awaken them For their Morning-prayer must bee made whiles the Sunne is rising and not later for then is the time of hearing as they interpret Lamen 2.19 And hee which is deuout ought at that time to bee sad for Ierusalem and to pray euerie morning for the re-edifying of the Temple and Citie if in the night-time any sheddeth teares for their long captiuitie God will heare his prayer for then the Starres and Planets mourne with him and if he suffer the teares to trickle downe his cheekes God will arise and gather them into his bottle and if any decree be by their enemies enacted against them with those teares he will blot out the same Witnesse Dauid Put my teares in thy bottle are they not in thy booke And if any rub his fore-head with his teares it is good to blot out certaine sinnes that are there written In there beginning of the night God causeth all the gates of heauen to be shut and the Angels stay at them in silence and sendeth euill spirits into the world which hurt all they meet but after mid-night they are commanded to open the same This command and call is heard of the Cocks and therefore they clap their wings and crow to awaken men and then the euill spirits lose their power of hurting and in this respect the Wise-men haue ordained them a thanksgiuing to be said at Cock-crowing Blessed art thou O God Lord of the whole world who hast giuen vnderstanding to the Cocke They must not rise vp in their beds naked nor put on their shirts sitting but put their heads and armes into the same as they lye lest the walls and beames should see their nakednesse It is a brag of Rabbi Iose that in all his life hee had not herein faulted But to goe or stand naked in the chamber were more then piacular and much more to make water standing naked before his bed although it be night Hee must not put on his garments wrong nor his left shooe before the right and yet he must put off the left foot shooe first When he is clothed with his head inclined to the earth and a deuout minde in remembrance of the destruction of the Temple hee goeth out of the chamber with his head feete and all couered because of the holy Schechinam diuine glorie ouer his head Then hee goeth to stoole in some priuie place for so hath Amos commanded Prepare thy selfe O Israel to meete thy God and DAVID All that is within mee praise his holy name That is all within the body emptie and cleane For else must not God bee named and therefore his garments must not be spotted and fouled To restraine nature too long were a sinne and would cause the soule to stinke and sauing your reuerence hee must wipe with the left hand for with the right he writeth the name of God and the Angels And in this place and businesse hee must take heed he thinke not of God or his Word much lesse name him for God will shorten the dayes of such a one R. Sira told his Scholers that the cause of his long life was that in an impure place hee neuer though of the Word nor named the name of God Besides hee must turne his face and not his hinder-hinder-parts toward the Temple of Ierusalem Hee ought not to touch his body with vnwashen hands in regard of the euill spirits which rest thereon till they
and besides them come in no company of men nor doe they speake with a man or in any part of their body are seene of any man because they thinke sight especially where beautie or comlinesse is cannot bee without sinne Onely the brother may bee permitted to see the sister but not the husbands brother Yea their sonnes when they come to growth are separated from them For this cause that sexe is not suffered to buy and sell but is closely mewed saue that their law alloweth them to frequent the publike Baths The wife and Concubine differ in the right to a dowrie which the later wanteth but the wife must cause the other to bee her husbands bed-fellow when hee commandeth without gaine-saying except on their Sabbath or Friday night which is the wiues peculiar Yet are the Turkes giuen in both Sexes to vnnaturall lust in these times euen the women in publike Baths sometimes are so enflamed in that filthinesse as is intollerable Busbequius tells of one woman which falling in loue with a young maide and no way else preuailing clothed her selfe in mans apparell and hyring a house neere procured the fathers good will to haue that his daughter in marriage which being solemnized betweene them and the truth discouered which the blacke mantle of night could not couer from Hymaeneus complaint was made and the Gouernour quenched the hot flames of this new Bridegroome causing her to bee drowned for that offence If the man abuse the wife to vnnaturall lust shee may haue her remedie by diuorce if shee accuse her husband which modestie forbiddeth to bee done in words and therefore shee puts off her shooe and by inuerting the same accuseth her to her husbands peruersenesse One Master Simons which liued amongst them told me that there are some which keepe boyes gallantly arraied to serue for the worse then beastly lust of such as will hyre them He affirmed also That they haue this lothsome punishment for that lothsome sinne of whoredome to take the panch of a beast new killed and cutting a hole thorow to thrust the adulterers head in this dung-wallet and so carrie him in pompe thorow the streets It is death either to the bodie by iudiciall sentence or the soule by turning Turke for a Christian to haue carnall dealing with any of their women A Iew which had dealing with a Turkes wife with her husbands consent could not escape hanging therefore this indeed was a fauour for hee should haue beene burned notwithstanding his rich countrey-men offered 2000. Duckets to saue him Her husband was hanged for his wittoldly permission and she her selfe drowned George Dousa reporteth the like danger which an Armenian hardly escaped but for talking with a Turkish woman both of them being therefore imprisoned and thence deliuered at a deere rate Hee telleth of their Paederastie that they buy boyes at an hundred or two hundred Duckets and mew them vp for their filthy lust till they proue bearded they will also steale boyes for that villanie as hee instanceth of one which came with the Polonian Embassadour so stolne and neuer could after bee heard of Murther prohibited in their eight Commandement they hold vnpardonable if it bee done wilfully Often will the Turkes braule but neuer in priuate quarrels strike one another for feare of this Law and the seueritie of the Magistrate And if one bee found dead in street or house the Master of the house or the Parish must finde out the murtherer otherwise hee himselfe shall be accused of it and the whole Contado shall be fined and likewise in case of robberie During the time that I remained amongst them you heare Mr. Sandys it being aboue three quarters of a yeere I neuer saw Mahometan offer violence to a Mahometan nor breake into ill language If any giue a blow hee hath many gashes made in his flesh and is led about for a terrour but the man-slayer is deliuered to the friends of the slaine to bee by them tortured to death For publike punishments to mention that heere they haue impaling on stakes thrust in at their fundament ganching on hookes on which they are cast from some high place there to hang till famine if some more gentle crueltie haue not made a suddenner dispatch consumed them they also haue another inuention to twitch the offender about the waste with a towell enforcing him by often prickings to draw vp his breath till they haue drawne him within the compasse of a spanne then tying it hard they cut him off in the middle and setting the bodie on a hot plate of copper which seareth the veynes vp-propping him during their cruell pleasure who not onely retaineth sense but discourse also till hee be taken downe and then departeth in an instant Little faults are chastised by blowes on the soles of their feet by hundreths at a time Parents correct their children by stripes on their bellies §. II. Of other their Opinions and Practices in Religion MEnaninus reckoneth seuen mortall sinnes Pride Auarice Lecherie Wrath Enuie Sloth and Gluttonie The first they say cast Lucifer out of heauen The second is the root of many other sinnes The third is most rise amongst them and that in the most filthy and vnnaturall kinde of Sodomie their Law to the contrarie notwithstanding Their fourth maketh a man a beast The fifth shutteth men out of Paradise and so forth of the rest Wine is also forbidden them but yet they will bee drunke with it if they can get their fill of it And Mahomet the third Anno 1601. imputing diuers insolencies of the Ianizaries to their excessiue drinking of Wine by the Musties perswasion commanded on paine of death all such in Constantinople and Pera as had Wine to bring it out and staue it except Embassadours onely so that the streets ranne therewith One drinking Wine with Busbequius made great clamors being asked the cause hee said hee did it to warne his soule to flee into some corner of the bodie or else be quite gone lest it should bee polluted with that sinne Yet in their Fast or Lent they abstaine very religiously If it be proued against a Priest that he hath drunke wine but once hee shall neuer be beleeued as a witnesse after it Swines flesh is prohibited too in abstaining from which they are more obedient it being vtterly abhorred The Turkes generally hate saith Septemcastrensis that lightnesse in apparell speech gesture c. vsed of the Christians whom for this cause they call Apes and Goates Likewise they are not sumptuous in their priuate buildings They go to the warre as it were to a wedding esteeming them blessed which are therein slaine The wiues and women-sernants agree in one house without iealousie and grudging they are in their habite and behauiour modest and where himselfe dwelt the Father-in-law had not seene the face of his Daughter-in-law liuing in the same house with him in twentie yeeres space so religiously doe they veyle themselues
of Barbary the one swelling the other not at all heightned in the East and West Indies I could instance the like not mentioning those currents which hinder all courses of Tides Further the Floud continueth in some places seuen houres in some foure in most sixe In the Straits of Sunda some haue obserued that it flowes twelue houres and ebbes twelue In Negropont it is said to ebbe and flow seuen times a day and Patritius affirmeth that himselfe obserued at Ausser in Liburnia in a hand-made Strait of Sea-water the same to happen twentie times in a day Againe wee see these Tide-motions differ according to their daily weekely monethly and as some adde halfe yearely and yearely alterations All which varieties cannot be attributed to one simple cause neither to any vniuersall whether Sunne Moone or Natiue heat of the Sea or any the like although wee must needs acknowledge which we cannot know one principall cause hindred or altred by manifold accidents and therefore producing effects thus diuersified Other motions also may be obserued in the Sea as that namely which is continuall and if wee call the Tides the breathing this may be tearmed the pulse of the Sea whereby the waters alway wash the shore falling on and off couering and presently vncouering the feet of such as stand by which hath force to expell all Heterogenean or differing natures as drowned carkasses wrackes and the like This as that of the Tides Patritius Peucorus Lydiate and others attribute to a kinde of boyling which as in a vessell of seething water causeth it thus to rise and fall and to expell the drosse and things contrary But the heate which causeth this boyling one ascribes to the Sunne another to fires in the Sea another to the naturall heate of the Sea engendring spirits and causing rarefaction and motion Patritius doth not onely auerre this but that the Sea is as a sublunarie Planet mouing it selfe and moued by the superiour bodies to effect the generation of things for which cause Orpheus calls the Ocean Father of Gods Men and other things The saltnesse thereof is in his opinion the instrument of this motion and the neerest inward and most proper cause of marine mouings as in the two Mexican Lakes appeareth the one whereof is salt and ebbes and flowes which the other being fresh doth not This saltnes saith he with greater heat ingendreth more spirits in moysture the cause of greater Tides he thinketh to be the shallownesse and narrower shores the force of the Ocean thrusting the same most forwards where it findes interruptions and indraughts the certaintie of the motions hee ascribes according to his Philosophie to the soule of the world mouing this as other Planets For my censure it shall bee rather on my selfe then these opinions where silence rather then boldnesse becommeth Euen a foole whiles hee holdeth his peace is accounted wise And to borrow the words of a subtill Disputer Quod vbique clamare soleo nos nihil scire maximè conuenit huic disquisitions quae maris tracta motum Let this also bee arranged amongst the wonders of the Lord in the deepe rather to be admired then comprehended I might heere speake of other Sea-motions either particular or accidentall as that in the open Seas betweene the Tropikes vncertaine whether it may bee termed an Easterly winde or some impetuous violence caused by the superiour motions which draw together with them the inferiour Elements likewise those currents in diuers coasts as at Madagascar on the African and in the great Bay on the American shores From other accidents arise other motions caused by the windes in the ayre which somewhere haue their set seasons by whirle-pooles or rather contrarie currents meeting in the Sea by Capes Indraughts Riuers Ilands of the land by the conceptions and trauelling throwes in the waters in bringing forth some imminent tempest and the like I might speake of strange Currents in many Seas vpon the coast of Africke neere to Saint Laurence and Iohn de Noua and Mayella Captaine Saris hath related that the currents detayned him a long time euen almost to desperation of getting out and one of them so dreadfull that it made a noise like that at London Bridge with a fearefull rippling of the water the more the further from land and there where they founded an hundred fathom depth as it were proclaiming open defiance to winde and sayle notwithstanding their puffing threats and most swelling lookes in foure and twentie houres carrying them a whole Degree and nine Minutes from the course which vnder full sayle with the windes assistance they intended §. III. Of the Originall of Fountaines and other Commodities of the Sea I Might adde touching the Originall of Fountaines which both Scripture and reason finding no other store sufficient deriue from the Sea how they are from thence conueyed by secret Channels and concauities vnder the earth and by what workmen of Nature thus wrought into new fresh waters Scaligers experiment to proue the Sea-water at the bottome fresh by bottles filled there by cunning Diuers or otherwise is by Patritius his experience as hee saith found false And this freshnesse of the springs not withstanding their salt originall from the Sea may rather be ascribed to percolation and straining thorough the narrow spungie passage of the earth which makes them leaue behind as an exacted toll their colour thicknesse and saltnesse Now how it should come to passe that they should spring out of the earth being higher then the Sea yea out of the highest Mountaynes hath exercised the wits of Phylosophers some ascribing it to a sucking qualitie of the thirstie or spungie earth some to the weight of the earth pressing and forcing the waters vpwards some to the motion of the Sea continually as in a Pumpe thrusting forwards the water which expelleth the weaker ayre and followeth it till it finde an out-let whereof both by the continuall protrusion of the Sea and for auoyding a vacuum or emptinesse which Nature abhorreth it holdeth continuall possession some finde out other causes And Master Ladyate in a Treatise of the Originall of Springs attributeth the same to vnder-earth fires which no lesse by a naturall distillation worketh these waters vnder the earth into this freshnesse and other qualities then the Sunne and heauenly fires doe by exhalations aboue Yea such are his speculations of these hidden fires that hee maketh them the causes of Windes Earth-quakes Minerals Gemmes fertilitie and sterilitie of the earth and of the saltnesse and motion as is before said of the Sea But loath were I to burne or drowne my Readers in these fierie and watrie Disputes let vs from these speculations retire our selues to the experimentall profits and commodities which this Element yeeldeth Concerning the commodities of the Sea as the world generally so the little models of the world the Ilands whereof this of Great Britaine is iustly acknowledged the most excellent of
measured by Time proclaime that they had a beginning of Time Are not Motion and Time as neere Twinnes as Time and Eternitie are implacable enemies Nay how canst thou force thy mind to conceiue an Eternitie in these things which canst not conceiue Eternitie which canst not but conceiue some beginning and first terme or point from whence the motion of this Wheele began And yet how should we know this first turning of the Worlds wheele whose hearts within vs mooue be we vnwitting or vnwilling the beginning whereof thou canst not know and yet canst not but know that it had a begginning and together with thy body shall haue an ending How little a while is it that the best Stories in euery Nation shew the cradle and child-hood thereof Their later receiued Letters Arts Ciuilitie But what then say they did GOD before he made the World I answer that thou shouldest rather thinke Diuinely of Man then Humanely of GOD and bring thy selfe to be fashioned after his Image then frame him after thine This foolish question some answer according to the foolishnesse thereof saying He made Hell for such curious Inquisitors Aliud est videre aliud ridere saith Augustine Labentius responderim nescio quod nescio Quae tempora fuissent quae abs te condita non essent Nec tu tempora tempore praecedis sed celsitudine semper praesentis aeternitatis c. Before all things were GOD onely was and he vnto himselfe was in stead of the World Place Time and all things hauing all goodnesse in himselfe the holy Trinitie delighting and reioycing together To communicate therefore not to encrease or receiue his goodlinesse he created the World quem Graeci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Plinie nomine ornamenti appellant nos à perfecta absolutaque elegantia Mundum But for this matter it is also of the wisest and most learned in all Ages confessed as their testimonies alleadged by Iustin Martyr Lactantius and other Ancients and especially by Philip Morney doe plainely manifest To him therefore to Viues and others which haue vndertaken this taske by reason and by humane authoritie to conuince the gaine-sayers of our faith let such resort as would be more fully resolued in these curious doubts As for all such strange and phantasticall or phreneticall opinions of Heretikes or Philosophers which haue otherwise related of this mysterie of the Creation then Moses they need not confuting and for relating these opinions we shall find fitter place afterwards I will here adde this saying of Viues to such vnnaturall Naturalists as vpon slight and seeming naturall reasons call these things into question Quà m stultum est de mundi creatione ex legibus huius Naturae statuere cùm creatio illa naturam antecesserit Tum enim natura est condita quando mundus nec aliud est natura quam quod Deus iussit alioqui minister esset Deus naturae non Dominus Hence was Aristotles Eternitie Plinies Deitie ascribed to the World Democritus Leucippus and Epicurus their Atomi the Stoikes Aeterna materia PLATO'S Deus exemplar materia as Ambrose tearmeth them or as others vnum or bonum Mens Anima a Trinitie without perfect Vnitie the Manichees two beginnings and an endlesse world of errors about the Worlds beginning because they measured all by Naturall axiomes Orpheus as Theophilus the Chronographer cited by Cedrenus alleadgeth him hath his Trinitie of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which he ascribeth the Worlds Creation but the Poets dreames are infinite which might make and marre their Poetical Worlds at pleasure CHAP. III. Of Man considered in his first state wherein hee was created and of Paradise the place of his habitation HItherto we haue spoken of the framing of this mightie Fabrike the Creation of the visible World leauing that Inuisible to the Spirituall Inhabitants which there alway behold the face of the Heauenly Father as not daring to pry too farre into such Mysteries aduancing our selues in those things which wee neuer saw Rashly puft vp with a fleshly minde This whereof we treat they need not as finding all sufficience in their All-sufficient Creator The inferiour Creatures which hither to haue beene described know it not but content themselues with themselues in enioying their naturall being mouing sense Onely man in regard of his body needeth it and by the reasonable power of his soule can discerne and vse it Man therefore was last created as the end of the rest an Epitome and Mappe of the World a compendious little other World consisting of a visible and inuisible heauenly and earthly mortall and immortall Nature the knot and bond of bodily and spirituall superiour and inferiour substances resembling both the worke and the worke-man the last in execution but first in intention to whom all these Creatures should serue as meanes and prouocations of his seruice to his and their Creator Man may be considered in regard of this life or of that which is to come of this life in respect of Nature or Grace and this Nature also sustayneth a two-fold consideration of integritie and corruption For GOD made man righteous but they sought to themselues many inuentions His first puritie in his Creation his fall from thence by sinne his endeuour to recouer his former innocency by future glory eyeher in the by-wayes of Superstition which Nature a blind guide leadeth him into through so many false Religions or by the true new and liuing way which GOD alone can set him and doth conduct him in is the subiect of our tedious taske the first two more briefly propounded the two last historically and largely related In that first state his Author and Maker was Iehoua Elohim GOD in the pluralitie of Persons and vnitie of Essence the Father by the Sonne in the power of the Spirit wherevnto he did not only vse his powerfull Word as before saying Let there be Man but a consultation Let vs make Man not that he needed counsaile but that hee in this Creature did shew his counsell and wisdome most apparantly The Father as first in order speaketh vnto the Sonne and Holy Ghost and the Sonne and Holy Ghost in an vnspeakeable manner speake and decree with the Father and the whole Trinitie consult and agree together to make Man which for Mans instruction is by Moses vttered after the manner of Men. The manner of his working was also in this Creature singular both in regard of his body which as a Potter his Clay he wrought and framed of the dust into this goodly shape and of his soule which he immediately breathed into his nostrils Thus hath Man cause to glorie in his Creators care in himselfe to bee humbled hauing a body framed not of solid Earth but of the dust the basest and lightest part of the basest and grossest Element
Esay speake to the Princes of Sodome in his time and the people of Gomorrha in respect of that their wickednesse which suruiued them and hath fructified vnto vs among whom yet the Lord of Hoasts as with them hath reserued a small remnant from this worse plague then Sodoms brimstone a Reprobate sense The difference betwixt ours and them is that they were more open ours more close both in like height but not in like weight of wickednesse our darkenesse excelling theirs both in the sinne and in the punishment in as much as a greater light hath shined which we with hold in vnrighteousnesse And if you will haue the maine character of difference betwixt these and those the one are beastly Men the other are Deuils in the flesh First from a sparke of Hell Concupiscence guided by Sensuall Lust attended by Ease and Prosperitie and further inflamed and blowne by the Deuill an vnnaturall fire which stil beareth the name of Sodomie was kindled which gaue coales to a supernaturall flame rained by the LORD in Brimstone and fire from the LORD out of Heauen and burning euen to Hell againe the Alpha and Omega of wickednesse where they suffer saith Iude the vengeance of eternall fire This is written for our learning on whom the ends of the world are come their ashes being made an example vnto them that should after liue vngodly Let not any obiect the Preacher here and require the Historian seeing that Historie builds no castles in the ayre but preacheth both ciuill and diuine knowledge by examples of the passed vnto the present Ages And why should not I preach this which not my calling alone but the very place it selfe exacteth Discite iustitiam moniti is the quintessence of all Historie They being dead yet speake and the place of their buriall is a place to our memorie being turned into a Sea but a Dead Sea which couereth their sinnes that it may discouer ours which as astonished at their vnnaturalnesse hath forgotten her owne nature It drowneth the Earth which it should haue made as whilome it did fertile it staies it selfe with wonder and indignation and falling in a dead swowne sincketh downe with horrour not wakened not mooued with the windes blustering refusing the light of the Sunne the lappe of the Ocean the Commerce of strangers or familiarity of her owne and as it happeneth in deepe passions the colour goeth and commeth changing three times euery day it gaspeth foorth from her dying entrailes a stincking and noysome ayre to the neere dwellers pestiferous sometimes voyding as it were excrements both lighter ashes and grosse Asphaltum The neighbour fruits participate of this death promising to the eye toothsome and wholesome foode performing only smoake and ashes And thus hath out GOD shewed himselfe a consuming fire the LORD of anger to whom vengeance belongeth all Creatures mustering themselues in his sight and saying at his first call to execution Loe we are heere That which I haue said of these miracles still liuing in this dead-Sea is confirmed by testimonie of many h Authors Brocard telleth of those Trees with ashes growing vnder Engaddi by this Sea and a vapour rising out of the Sea which blasteth the neighbour-fruits and the slimie pits on the brinkes of the Sea which hee saw Neither strangers nor her owne haue accesse there where Fishes the naturall inhabitants of the Waters and Water-fowles the most vsuall ghests haue no entertainment and men or other heauie bodies cannot sinke Vespasian prooued this experiment by casting in some bound vnskilfull of swimming whom the waters surfetted with swallowing her owne spewed vp againe This is mentioned by Aristotle also who saith that the saltnesse there of is the cause why neyther man nor beast though bound can sinke in it nor any fish liue therein which yet in the salt-sea wee see no otherwise The Philosopher could see no further then reason nor all that neither but Moses guideth vs beyond Philosophie to diuine vengeance which thus subuerted Nature when men became vnnaturall The Lake Iosephus saith is fiue hundred and fourescore furlongs in length Plinie hath an hundred myles the breadth betweene sixe and fiue and twentie myles Strabo telleth of thirteene Cities still whereof Sodome was chiefe of threescore furlongs compasse wherof some were consumed by fire or swallowed by Earth-quakes and sulphurous Waters the rest forsaken some Remainders as bones of those carkasses then in his time continuing Vertomannus saith That there are the ruines of three Cities on the tops of three Hils and that the Earth is without water and barren and a greater miracle hath a kinde of bloody mixture somewhat like red waxe the depth of three or foure cubites The ruines of the Cities are there seene still Georgius Cedrenus in his Greeke History written aboue fiue hundred and fiftie yeeres since writeth that hee had seene this dead-Sea and reckoneth thereof these maruells That it produceth no quicke Creature that dead carkasses sinke therein a liuing man can scarcely diue vnder water lamps burning swimme but being put out they sinke there are fountaines of Bitumen allume also and salt but bitter and shining Where any fruit is found nothing is found but smoake The water thereof is holesome to such as vse it but differing from other waters in contrarie accidents Not long after his time Fulcherius Carnotensis in the beginning of the Westerne kingdome in these parts testifieth the vntolerable saltnesse of this sea from his owne taste And that neere the same is a hill which in diuers places thereof is likewise salt shining therewith like ice and hard as stone and ghesseth that the saltnesse of this sea proceedeth partly from that cause partly from the intercourse which vnder the earth it holdeth with the greater sea Compassing this lake on the South side we came to a Village which they say is Segor abounding with Dates where the Inhabitants were blacke And there saith he did I see apples on the trees which when I opened I found blacke and dustie within * The like is read Sap. 10.7 Of whose wickednesse euen to this day the waste Land that smoketh is a testimony and plants bearing fruits that neuer came to ripenesse and a standing pillar of Salt is a monument of an vnbeleeuing soule They left behind them to the World a memoriall of their foolishnesse c. And Moses Deut. 32.32 their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the vine of Gomorrah their grapes are grapes of gall their clusters are bitter c. Which allegorie must haue his foundation in the naturall disposition of those places and fruits Later Trauellers as William Lithgow and I haue heard the like of Master Eldred which haue seene these parts say there are now no such fruits which may come to passe by that alteration which so long space may cause or else because they visited not those parts which Fulcherius mentions Lithgow addes that the water of this dead Sea contrarie
stones which they binde in an handkerchiefe and carry to that place of Mina where they stay fiue dayes because at that time there is a Fayre free and franke of all custome And in this place are other three Pillars not together but set in diuers places Monuments of those three Apparitions which the Deuill made to Abraham an to Ismael his sonne for they now a dayes make no mention of Isaac as if he had neuer beene borne They say that when as Abraham at Gods command went to offer his sonne Ismael the deuill dehorted him from the same but seeing his labour lost he went to Ismael and bid him pittie himselfe But Ismael tooke vp stones and threw at him saying I defend me with God from the Deuill the offender These words the Pilgrimes repeate in their visitation of these Pillars hurling away the stones they had gathered From hence halfe a mile is a Mountaine whither Abraham went to sacrifice his sonne In the same is a great den whither the Pilgrimes resort to make their prayers and there is a great stone separated in the middest by the knife of Ismael they say at the time of this sacrifice Barthema reporteth that heere at Mecca he saw two Vnicornes which I mention because since that time I haue not found any Author which hath testified the like sight They were sent to the Seriffo for a present by an Aethiopian King The Carouan departing for Medina as soone as they come in sight thereof they call the place The Mountaine of Health they alight and going vp the hill shout with loud voyces and say Prayer and health be vnto thee O Prophet of God Prayer and health be vpon thee O beloued of GOD. They proceed on their iourney and lodge that night within three miles of Medina and the next morning are receiued with solemnitie of the Gouernour Medina is a Citie two miles in circuit with faire houses of lime and stone and a square Mosquita in the middest lesse but more sumptuous then that of Mecca This is called Medina Tal Nabi that is the Citie of the Prophet in Barthemaes time it contained about three hundred houses and was very barren one garden of Dates excepted but now they haue store of fruits This Temple is square an hundred paces in length fourescore in breadth It hath in it an I le made Arch-wise supported with foure hundred Pillars and supporting as he saith three thousand Lampes In one part of this Mosquita was a Librarie of fortie fiue Mahumeticall bookes Also within the same in a corner thereof is a Tombe built vpon foure Pillars with a Vault exceeding in height the Mosquita being couered with Lead and the top all inameld with gold and an halfe Moone vpon the top wrought within verie artificially with gold Below there are round about great yron staires ascending vp to the middest of the Pillars and in the middest lyeth buried the bodie of Mahumet not in an yron chest attracted by Adamant at Mecca as some affirme Or to say the truth neither here nor at Mecca can they shew this Seducers bodie For the Captaine of that Carouan of Damasco in which Barthema went on this Pilgrimage offered to the chiefe Priest of that Mosquita three thousand Saraffi of gold to shew him the bodie of the Nabi or Prophet that saith he being the onely cause of my comming The Priest answered proudly How can those eyes wherewith thou hast committed so much euill in the world see him by whom GOD hath created Heauen and Earth The Captaine replied True Sir but doe me that fauour to let me see his bodie and I will presently plucke out mine eyes The Priest answered O Sir I will tell you the truth It is true that our Prophet would die heere to giue vs good example for hee might haue died at Mecca but such was his humilitie for our instruction and presently after hee was dead he was carried by the Angels into heauen And where saith the Captaine is Iesus Christ the Sonne of Marie The Priest answered At the feet of Mahomet In the night time by some fire-workes in the steeple they would haue gulled the credulous people with opinion of miracle vsing out-cryes in the night saying Mahomet would rise againe and when the Mamalukes could see no such light shine forth of Mahomets Tombe as they rumoured they said It was because they were slaues and weake in the faith and could not see heauenly sights To returne to the discouery of this supposed Sepulchre Ouer the bodie they haue built a Tombe of speckled stone a brace and halfe high and ouer the same another of Legmame foure-square in manner of a Piramis Round about the Sepulchre there hangeth a curtaine of silke which hideth the Sepulture from their sight that stand without Beyond this in the same Mosquita are other two Sepulchres of Fatma and Hali who yet as some say was buried at Massadalli neere Cusa others say hee neuer died but his comming is still expected The attendants on these Sepulchres are fiftie Eunuches white and tawnie of which three onely of the eldest and best esteemed white Eunuches may enter within the Tombe which they doe twice a day to light the Lampes and for other seruices The other attend on the Mosquita and those two other Sepulchres Where euery one may goe and touch at his pleasure and take of the earth for deuotion as many doe The Captaine with great pompe presenteth that Pyramid-like Vestment whereof you haue heard for the Tombe the Eunuches taking away the old and laying on the new and after this other vestures for the ornament of the Mosquita And the people without deliuer vnto the Eunuches each man somewhat to touch the Tombe therewith which they keepe as a Relique with great deuotion Here is a stately Hospitall built by Cassachi or Rosa the wife of great Soliman richly tented and nourishing many poore people A mile from the Citie are certaine houses in one of which they say Mahomet dwelt hauing on euery side many Date-trees amongst which there are two growing out of one stocke exceeding high which their Prophet forsooth grafted with his owne hands The fruit thereof is alway sent to Constantinople for a Present to the Grand-Signior and is said to be the Blessed fruit of the Prophet Also there is a little Mosquita wherein three places are counted holy The first they affirme their Prophet made his first prayer in after hee knew God The second is that whither he went when he would see the house of Abraham Where when he sate downe to that intent the Mountaines opened from the top to the bottome to shew him the house and after closed againe as before The third is the middest of the Mosquita where is a Tombe made of Lime and Stone fouresquare and full of sand wherein they say was buried that blessed Camell which Mahomet was alway wont to ride vpon Euen still as one Mr. Simons a Merchant and beholder thereof
and Peloponnesus for feare of a second returne of Techellis The remainder of Techellis his power as they fled into Persia robbed a Carauan of Merchants for which outrage comming to Tauris their Captaines were by Ismaels command executed and Techellis himselfe burnt aliue but yet is this Sect closely fauoured in Asia §. III. Of their Rites Persons Places and Opinions Religious WE haue now seene the Proceedings of this Sophian Sect both in Persia and Turkie both here kept downe and there established by force To weare red on the lower parts of their body were to these Red-heads scarsely piacular Touching Hali they haue diuers dreames as that when they doubted of Mahomets successor a little Lizard came into a Councell assembled to decide the controuersie and declared that it was Mahomets pleasure that Mortus Ali or Morts Ali should be the man He had a sword wherewith hee killed as many as he stroke At his death he told them that a white Camell would come for his body which accordingly came and carried his dead body and the sword and was therewith taken vp into heauen for whose returne they haue long looked in Persia For this cause the King kept a horse ready sadled and kept for him also a daughter of his to be his wife but she died in the yeere 1573. And they say further that if he come not shortly they shall be of our beleefe They haue few bookes and lesse learning There is often great contention and mutinie in great Townes which of Mortus Ali his sonnes was greatest sometime two or three thousand people being together by the eares about the same as I haue seene sayth Master Ducket in Shamaky and Ardouill and Tauris where I haue seene a man comming from fighting and in a brauery bringing in his hand foure or fiue mens heads carrying them by the hayre of the crowne For although they shaue their heads commonly twice a weeke yet leaue they a tuft of hayre vpon their heads about two foot long whereof when I enquired the cause They answered that thereby they may bee the easier carried vp into heauen when they are dead In praying they turne to the South because Mecca lyeth that way from them When they be on trauell in the way many of them will as soone as the Sunne riseth light from their horses turning themselues to the South and will lay their gownes before them with their swords and beads and so standing vpright doe their holy things many times in their prayers kneeling downe and kissing their beades or somewhat else that lieth before them When they earnestly affirme a matter they sweare by God Mahomet and Mortus Ali and sometime by all at once saying Olla Mahumet Ali and sometime Shaugham bosshe that is by the Shaughes head Abas the young Prince of Persia charged with imputation of treason after other Purgatorie speeches sware by the Creator that spread out the ayre that founded the earth vpon the deepes that adorned the heauen with Starres that powred abroad the water that made the fire and briefly of nothing brought forth all things by the head of Ali and by the Religion of their Prophet Mahomet that hee was cleare If any Christian will become a Bosarman or one of their superstition they giue him many gifts the Gouernor of the Towne appointeth him a horse and one to ride before him on another horse bearing a sword in his hand and the Bosarman bearing an arrow in his hand rideth in the City cursing his father and mother The sword signifieth death if hee reuolt againe Before the Shaugh seemed to fauour our Nation the people abused them very much and so hated them that they would not touch them reuiling them by the names of Cafars and Gawars that is Infidels or Mis-beleeuers Afterwards they would kisse their hands and vse them gently and reuerently Drunkards and riotous persons they hate for which cause Richard Iohnson caused the English by his vicious liuing to be worse accounted of then the Russes Their opinions and rites most-what agree with the Turkish and Saracenicall Their Priests are apparelled like other men they vse euery morning and afternoone to goe vp to the toppes of their Churches and tell there a great tale of Mahomet and Mortus Ali. They haue also among them certaine holy-men called Setes accounted therefore holy because they or some of their ancestors haue beene on pilgrimage at Mecca these must be beleeued for this Saint-ship although they lie neuer so shamefully These Setes vse to shaue their heâ—ds all ouer sauing on the sides a little aboue the Temples which they leaue vnshauen and vse to braide the same as women doe their hayre and weare it as long as it will grow Iosafa Barbaro at Sammachi lodged in an Hospitall wherein was a graue vnder a vault of stone and neere vnto that a man with his beard and hayre long naked sauing that a little before and behind he was couered with a skinne sitting on a peece of a matte on the ground I sayth hee saluted him and demanded what hee did he told mee hee watched his father I asked who was his father He quoth he that doth good to his neighbour with this man in this Sepulchre I haue liued thirty yeeres and will now accompany him after death and being dead be buried with him I haue seene of the world sufficient and now haue determined to abide thus till death Another I found at Tauris on all-Soules day in the which they also vsed a commemoration of Soules departed neere to the Sepulchre in a Church-yard hauing about him many birds especially Rauens and Crowes I thought it had beene a dead corpse but was told it was a liuing Saint at whose call the birds resorted to him and he gaue them meat Another I saw when Assambei was in Armenia marching into Persia against Signior Iausa Lord of Persia and Zagatai vnto the City of Herem who drew his staffe in the dishes wherein they are and sayd certaine words and brake them all the Sultan demanded what he had sayd they which heard him answered that he said hee should be victorious and breake his enemies forces as hee had done those dishes whereupon he commanded him to be kept till his returne and finding the euent according he vsed him honourably When the Sultan rode thorow the fields he was set on a Mule and his hands bound before him because he was sometime accustomed to doe some dangerous folly at his feet there attended on him many of their religious persons called Daruise These mad trickes he vsed according to the course of the Moone sometimes in two or three dayes not eating any thing busied in such fooleries that they were faine to bind him Hee had great allowance for his expences One of those holy men there was which went naked like to the beasts preaching their faith and hauing obtained great reputation hee caused himselfe to bee immured in a wall forty
Doer or his Posteritie The Ancients made no question of the Soules immortalitie speaking often of the Dead as liuing in Heauen But of the punishments of wicked men in Hel not a word The later Professors teach that the Soule dies with or soone after the Bodie and therfore beleeue neither Heauen nor Hel. Some of them hold that good mens soules by the strength of vertue hold out some longer time but of bad men to die with the bodie But the most common opinion taken from the Sect of Idolaters and brought in fiue hundred yeeres since holdeth that the World consisteth of one substance and that the Maker thereof together with Heauen and Earth Men Beasts Plants and the Elements doe make vp one bodie of which euery Creature is a distinct member thence obseruing what loue ought to be amongst all things and that Men may come to become one with GOD. Although the learned men acknowledge one supreame Deitie yet doe they build him no Temple nor depute any place to his worship no Priests or Ministers of Religion no solemne Rites no Precepts or Rules none that hath power to ordaine or explaine their Holies or to punish the Transgressors They doe Him no priuate or publike deuotions or seruice yea they affirme that it belongs to the King only to do sacrifice and worship to the King of Heauen and that it is treason for others to vsurpe it For this cause the King hath two Temples very magnificent in both the Royall Cities the one consecrate to Heauen the other to Earth in the which hee was wont himselfe to sacrifice but it is now performed by some principall Magistrates which slay there many Sheepe and Oxen and performe other Rites many to Heauen and Earth in his stead To the other spirits of Hills Riuers and the foure Regions of the World onely the chiefe Magistrates doe sacrifice nor is it lawfull to priuate men The Precepts of this Law are in their nine Bookes before mentioned Nothing in this Sect is moee generall from the King to the meanest then their yeerely Obits to their Parents and grand-fathers which they account obedience to Parents though dead of which afterwards The Temple they haue is that which in euery Citie is by the Law built to Confutius in that place where there Schoole or Commencement house is This is sumptuous and hath adioyning the Palace of that Magistracie which is ouer the Bachellors or Graduates of the first degree In the chiefe place of this Temple or Chappell is placed his Image or else his name in golden Cupitall Letters on a faire Table besides which stand other Images of his disciples as inferiour Saints Into this Temple euery new and full Moone all the Magistrates of the Citie assemble with the Bachellors and adore him with kneelings wax-lights and incense They do also yeerely on his birth-day and other appointed times offer vnto him meat-offerings or dishes with great prouision yeelding him thanks for the learning they haue found in his Bookes as the cause of their Degrees and Magistracies But they pray not to him for any thing no more then to the dead in their Obits There are other Chappels of the same Sect vnto the Tutelare spirits of each Citie and proper to euery Magistrate of the Court Therein they binde themselues by solemne oath to obserue the Lawes in their function and that at their first entrance heere they offer meates and burne odours acknowledging diuine Iustice in punishing periurie The scope of this Sect of the learned is the publike peace and well ordering of the priuate and publike state and framing themselues to Morall vertues wherein they doe not much disagree from the Christian veritie They haue fiue concords in their Moralitie in which as Cardinall vertues they comprise all Humanitie the duties namely of Father and Child Husband and Wife Master or Superiour and those vnder them Brethren amongst themselues and lastly Equals and Companions They condemne single life and permit polygamie This precept of Charitie to doe to others as one would bee done to is well handled in their Bookes and especially the pietie and obseruance of Children to their Parents and Inferiours to their Superiours Longobardus saith that euery new and full Moon-day a little before Sun-rising in all the Cities of this Kingdome and in all the streets at one and the same houre they make publication of these sixe Precepts First Obey thy Father and Mother Secondly Reuerence thy Elders and Superiours Thirdly Keepe peace with thy Neighbours Fourthly Teach thy Children Fiftly Fulfill thy Calling and Office The last prohibiteth crimes Murther Adulterie Theft c. Many mixe this first with other Sects yea some hold not this a Sect but an Academie Schoole or Profession of Policie and gouerning the priuate and publike State §. IIII. Of the Sect Sciequia THe second Sect is called Sciequia or Omitose in Iapon pronounced Sciaccu and Amidabu the characters to both are the same the Iaponites call it also the Totoqui Law This was brought into China from the West out of a Kingdome called Thiencio or Scinto now Indostan betweene Indus and Ganges Anno Dom. 65. I haue read That the King of China mooued by a dreame sent Legates thither which brought thence Bookes and Interpreters which translated those Bookes from hence it passed into Iapon and therefore the Iaponders are deceiued which thinke that Sciaccu and Amidabu were Siamites and came into Iapon themselues Perhaps they then heard of the Apostles preaching in India and sending for that had this false doctrine obtruded on them These hold that there are foure Elements whereas the Chinois foolishly affirme fiue Fire Water Earth Metals and Wood not mentioning the Aire of which they compound this Elementary World with the creatures therein They multiplie Worlds with Democritus and with Pythagoras hold a Metampsychosis or passage of Soules out of one body into another They tell of a Trinitie of Gods which grew into one Deitie This Sect promiseth rewards to the good in Heauen to the euill threatens punishments in Hell extolleth Single life seemes to condemne Marriage bids fare-well to house and houshold and begs in Pilgrimages to diuers places Their Rites doe much agree it is the Iesuites assertion with the Popish their Hymnes and Prayers with the Gregorian fashion Images in their Temples Priestly Vestments like to their Pluutalia In their Mumsimus they often repeate a name which themselues vnderstand not Tolome which some thinke may be deriued from that of Saint Thomas Neither in Heauen or Hell doe they ascribe eternitie but after certaine spaces of yeeres they allow them another birth in some other Earth there allowing them penance for their passed sinnes The seuerer sort eate not flesh or any thing that had life but if any delinquish their penance is not heard the gift of some money or the mumbling ouer their Orisons being they promise of power to free from Hell These things made a faire shew but their corruptions
gouerned at the same time in seuerall parts of Egypt as in so small a Region as Canaan Ioshua destroyed 31. Kings This Scaliger coniectureth Lydiat affirmeth Neither yet is Scaliger to be blamed for acquainting the World with these fragments of Manetho considering that the middle part therof holdeth not onely likelihood in it selfe but in great part correspondence with the Scriptures If the Egyptians deuised otherwise to Herodotus and Diodorus it was easie for them to deceiue strangers or bee deceiued themselues The like History of prodigious Antiquities Augustine relateth of an Egyptian Priest that told Alexander of the continuance of the Macedonian Kingdome eight thousand yeeres whereas the Grecians accounted but foure hundred and fourescore Yea the Scriptures themselues haue not escaped that mis-reckoning of Times almost all Antiquitie being carried downe the streame of the seuenty Interpreters which adde many hundred yeeres to the Hebrew Text either of purpose as some suppose or as Augustine thinketh by errour of him that first copied the Scriptures out of Ptolemeys Library Sir Walter Raleigh in that his laborious and learned Worke called The History of the World supposeth That Egypt first tooke that name at such time as Aegyptus or Ramesses chased thence his brother Danaus into Peloponnesus which some reckon 877. yeeres after the Floud some more As for the prodigious Antiquities which they challenge hauing refuted Mercator and Pererius he enclineth to this opinion touching their ancient Dynasties that they are not altogether fabulous but that Egypt being peopled before the Floud two hundred yeeres after Adam there might remayne to the sonnes of Mizraim some Monuments in Pillars or Altars of stone or metall of their former Kings or Gouernours which the Egyptians hauing added to the List and Roll of their King after the Floud in succeeding time out of the vanitie of glory or by some corruption in their Priests something beyond the truth might be inserted Petrus Alexandrinus lately set forth in Greeke and Latine by Raderus writes That Mizraim hauing giuen beginning to the Egyptian Nation did after goe into the East to the Persians and Bactrians and is the same that was called Zoroastres by the Greekes Inuenter of Iudiciall Astrologie and Magicke He hauing giuen order for the keeping of the ashes of his burned body as the pledge of the Empire so long to continue with them called vpon Orion which he saith was Nimrod by the Persian Superstition beleeued thus honoured after his death and was consumed with Lightning the Persians reseruing his ashes to this day the cause saith the Note on that place why the Persians worship the fire . Yet the Author mentions another cause from Perseus which kindled fire by Lightning and preseruing the same built a Temple to it Hee saith also That Picus or Iupitar his father taught Perseus to diuine by a Cup like to that which is mentioned of Ioseph in Egypt and the same Picus was father to Hermes or Mercurie King of Egypt with other Legends too long for this place This Mercurie he maketh the same with Faunus the first finder he saith of Gold and that in a golden Vesture he foretold diuers things and that the Egyptians worshipped him hauing before made him their King which place he held thirty nine yeeres After him reigned Vulcan 1680. dayes for at that time the Egyptians knew not to number by yeeres He first made a Law against Adulterie and that the Egyptian women should haue but one husband He was Inuentor of Iron and Armour Stones and Clubs being before that time the only Weapons His sonne Sol succeeded a great Philosopher after him Sosis and next Osiris then Orus Thules Conqueror of Africa and after that Sesostris of the race of Cham the same as he supposeth with Trismegistus Thus much I haue thought here to adde out of him where the Reader may further satisfie himselfe if that can satisfie any which can nothing certifie or make certaine in these Antiquities wherein we may find many opinions scarcly any truth but in the Word of Truth the Scriptures That which we read of the Dynasties of Shepherds Scaliger interpreteth of that baser seruile sort which Moses saith were abominable to the Egyptians and seeme to haue beene strangers that inhabited some fenny places which Nature had fortified if we beleeue Heliodorus and thence made forrages into the Countrey the custome of Borderers and were called therefore Robbers These it seemeth driuen to their shifts by the hard and tyrannous vsage of the Egyptians procured as wee reade of the Tartars their owne Freedome and thraldome of their Lords The Romanes in their times were forced to mayntaine a Garrison against them therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Ierome mentioneth the Bucolia where no Christians dwelled but onely a fierce Nation Iosephus and Eusebius thinke them to bee the Israelites which is vnlikely because they liued in seruitude and neuer raigned there Lydiat supposeth the Philistims vnder Abimelech and Phicol to be the men Nothing is more obscure in the Egyptian Chronologie then the time of the departure of Israelites thence vnder Moses whom Iustin Martyr affirmeth out of Diodorus to haue bin the first that wrote the Egyptian Lawes Tatianus Assyrus who after became an Heretike saith and alledgeth Ptolemey Mendesius a Priest for his Author That this departure was in the dayes of Amasis King of Egypt who liued in the time of Inachus Theophilus and Iosephus out of Manetho in the Reigne of Tethmoses Eusebius in the reigne of Cenchres Cedrenus saith Petisonius Others otherwise according to the diuers interpretation of Manetho The Scripture sheweth it was foure hundred and thirty yeeres from the promise first made to Abraham as all that I know both elder and later Greeke and Latine Chronographers except Genebrard and Adriehomius reckon it Lydiat thinketh That the drowning of the Egyptian Pharo was the cause of those tumults in Egypt about Succession which are ascribed to Egyptus and Danaus Orosius reporteth That the prints of the Chariot-wheeles of the Egyptians then pursuing the Israelites through the Sea did yet in his time remayne in the Sands on the shore and vnder-water which no curiositie or casualtie can so disorder but that Diuine Prouidence doth re-imprint them in their wonted forme Hard it is to apply the yeeres of the Egyptian Chronologie to the true account of the Worlds generation by reason of the disagreement of Authors touching the Egyptian Kings vntill Sesacs time which after Lydiat was in the yeere of the World 3029. although euen from hence we haue but slippery footing Augustus after the same Author made Egypt a Prouince in the yeere 3975. Vnder which Roman gouernment it continued vntill the Saracens conquered it in the time of Omar the third Chalipha who began his reigne after Scaligers computation in his Catalogue of the Chaliphaes in the yeere of Christ 643. The names of the Caesars
they haue a set Winde in some places for the day and another quite contrary bloweth in the night Also neere vnto the Coasts they are more subiect to calmes in this burning Zone than further off in the Sea the grosser vapours which arise out of the Earth and the diuers situation thereof being the cause of these differences Such is the force of this naturall situation that in some places it is strange what effects it produceth There is in Peru an high mountaine called Pariacaca whereupon Ioseph Acosta saith he ascended as well prouided as he could being fore-warned and fore-armed by men expert But in the ascent he and all the rest were surprised with so sudden pangs of straining and casting and some also of scowring that the Sea-sicknes is not comparable hereunto He cast vp Meat Flegme Choler and Blood and thought hee should haue cast out his heart too Some thinking to dye therewith demanded Confession and some are said to haue lost their liues with this accident The best is it lasteth but for a time neither leaueth any great harme behinde And thus it fareth in all the ridge of that Mountaine which runnes aboue a thousand and fiue hundred miles although not in all places alike In foure different passages thereof hee found the like difference and distemper but not so grieuous as at Pariacaca Hee ascribeth it to the subtiltie of the Aire in those high Hils which he thinketh are the highest in the world the Alpes and Pirenees being in respect hereof as ordinarie houses compared to high Towers It is Desart the grasse often burnt and blacke for the space of fiue hundred Leagues in length and fiue and twenty or thirty in breadth There are other Desarts in Peru called Punas where the Aire cutteth off mans life without feeling a small breath not violent and yet depriuing men sometimes of their liues or else of their feet and hands which fall off as a rotten Apple from a Tree without any paine This seemeth to be done by the force of cold which in the Northerne and Northeasterne parts of Europe worketh like effects some being found dead suddenly in those sleds in which they came to market sitting therein as if they were aliue and some losing their ioynts by the like cause But this maketh vp the strangenesse of these mortall accidents that this piercing cold Ayre both killeth and preserueth the same bodie depriuing it of life and yet freeing it from putrifaction A certaine Dominike passing that way fortified himselfe against the cold winds by heaping vp the dead bodies which here hee found and reposing himselfe vnder this shelter by these dead helpes saued his life The cause is Putrefaction cannot be procreated where her Parents Heate and moisture are confined and haue little or no force The Seas which compasse this Westerne India besides the Magellane Streits and the Northerne vnknowne for the knowledge whereof our Countrey-men Frobisher Dauis Hudson and others haue aduentured their liues and fortunes and at last haue giuen vs more hope then euer of the discouerie are the great and spacious Ocean which on this side is called the North Sea and on the other side of America is named the South Sea The qualities thereof will better appeare when we come to speake of the Ilands therein §. III. Of the nature of metals in generall of Gold Siluer Quick-siluer and the plenty and Mines thereof in America COncerning the Land of the New World Acosta diuideth it into three parts High Low and Meane which hold almost the same proportion that Master Lambert obserueth of Kent the first hauing some wealth by reason of the Hauens and Ports therein and of the Vines that grow there but are very vnholesome the Hils are healthfull but not fertile except in the Siluer bowels and Golden entralls thereof the third is the most commodious habitation where the soile yeeldeth Corne Cattle and Pasture and the Ayre health The principall thing that hath brought this Westerne India into such request is the Mines and Metals therein The Wisedome of God hath made Metals for Physicke for defence for ornament and specially for instruments in the worke which God hath imposed vpon man That in the sweat of his browes he should eate his bread The industry of man hath added another vse of Metals by weight or stampe conuerting it to money which the Philosopher calleth the measure of all things And a fit measure might it haue beene if the minde of man were not vnmeasurable and vnsatiable in measuring his measure Metals naturally grow as some obserue in land naturally most barren Nature recompensing the want of other things with these hidden treasures and the God of Nature enriching the Indians with this substance otherwise barren of Humane and Diuine knowledge that might as a rich Bride but withered and deformed make her finde many suters for loue of her Portion And would God they which reape heere these Temporall things would sowe Spirituall and giue them Gold tried in the fire and that which is as Siluer tried seuen times I meane the Word of God sincerely preached without the drosse of their owne superstitions And would they gaue them not Iron for Gold an Iron Age for a Golden imposing a heauy yoke of seruitude which hath consumed worlds of people in this New-World and made the Name of Christ and Christian to stinke amongst them yea they abhorre the Sea it selfe for bringing forth such monsters as they thinke the Spaniards whom for their execrable wickednesse they esteemed not to come of humane generation but of the froth of the Sea and therefore call them Viracochie or Sea-froth That which one saith of Religion I may apply to this American World Peperit diuitias filia deuorauit matrem Shee brought forth rich metals and the Daughter hath consumed the Mother her Gold that should haue beene a price in her hand to buy Wisedome hath to these importunate Chapmen sold her freedome It is i a Golden and Siluer Age indeed to the Spaniards for the condition and state which hereby accrueth to them not for the conditions and state of life which they obserue In the yeare 1587. when Acosta came to Peru eleuen millions were transported in the two Fleets of Peru and Mexico almost one halfe thereof for the King In the time when Pollo was Gouernour of Charcas in Peru from the Mines of Potozi alone were drawne and customed euery day thirty thousand Pezos of Siluer euery Pezo amounting to 13. Rials and a fourth part and yet it is thought the one halfe was not customed or as Ouiedo reckoneth one fourth part more then a Spanish Ducket Hee writeth that Anno 1535. three or foure ships came to Siuil laden with none other commodities but Gold and Siluer Miles Philips recordeth that when he returned out of the Indies 1581. there were seuen and thirty sayle and in euery of them one with another thirtie pipes of siluer
like vnto Kine or Mules which diue and goe but swimme not vnder the water Bores of two sorts Conies Pigs Ounces Foxes with bags to carry their yong vnder the belly The Tatu or Armadilla which digs as much as many men with Mattocks the Conduacu or Porcupine of three sorts the Hirara like Ciuet Cats which eate honey the Aquiqui bearded Apes blacke and sometimes one yellow which they say is their King hauing an Instrument from his gullet as bigge as a Duck-egge wherewith he maketh a loud sound so actiue that they sometimes are said to catch an arrow with the hand and redart it at the shooter and so cunning that they seeke a leafe chew it and put the same into their wounds There are of them many kindes The Cuati are like Badgers they climbe trees no snake egge or bird escapes him There are others greater as great Dogs with Tusks which deuoure men and beasts There are wilde Cats which yeeld good Furre and are very fierce the lagoarucu are Dogs of Brasile the Tapati also barke like Dogs The Iaguacinia is a kind of Foxe which feedeth on Sea-crabs and Sugar-canes The Birataca a kinde of Ferret of such stinking sauour that some Indians haue died thereof yea Dogges which come neere escape not the sent endureth fifteene or twenty dayes in those things which he hath come neere to and causeth some towne sometimes to bee disinhabited This commeth of a ventositie which it voideth and couereth in the earth or casteth it out being in danger to be taken it feedeth on birds Eggs and Amber Ten or twelue kinds of Rats all good meat Other beasts are before mentioned Of Snakes without venome hee numbreth the Giboya some of which are twenty foot long and wil swallow a Deere whole crushing it with the winding of his taile and bruising it with licking to that purpose The Guiaranpiaquana eateth eggs goeth faster on the trees then any man can runne on the ground with a motion like swimming The Camoiama is all greene and liueth on like food The Boytiapua eate Frogs the Indians strike this Serpent on womens hips as remedy to barrennesse The Gaitiaepia smelleth so that none can abide it such is also the Boyuma the Bam so termed of his crie is great and harmelesse the Baicupeganga hath venemous prickles on his backe There are other venomous Snakes as the Iararaca of which are foure kinds of musky sent one ten spannes long with great tuskes which they hide and stretch out at pleasure The Curucucu fifteene spannes long which lyeth on a tree to hunt his prey The Boycimiaga which hath a bell in his tayle so swift that they call it the flying Snake there are two kinds thereof The Ibiracua causeth by his biting the bloud to issue thorow all parts of the body eyes mouth nose eares c. The Ibiboca is the fairest but of foulest venome amongst them all The fields woods houses beds bootes are subiect to the plenty of Snakes which without helpe kill in foure and twenty houres There are also many Scorpions which ordinarily kill not but cause extreme paine for foure and twenty houres space Lizards couer the wals of houses and holes are full of them Their fundament-worms are very dangerous which Sir Richard Hawkins saith he saw like a long Magot greene with a red head creeping in and glewing himselfe to the gut where it groweth so great that it stoppeth the passage and killeth with cruell Colicke torments Master Kniuet speakes of one Serpent which he killed thirteene spans long with foure and twenty teeth great shels about the necke blacke and russet like a collar lesse on her bodie and darke greene vnder her belly all speckled with blacke and white with foure sharpe feet no longer then a mans finger and a tongue like a harping iron Her tayle like a strait bull-horne blacke and white listed If they finde fire they beat themselues in it till either the fire or themselues be extinguished They vse from a tree to fall on their prey passing by thrusting their tayle into the fundament The Indians will not goe vnder fiue or sixe to set vpon one of them this yet he killed with the helue of an axe Of Birds there are Parrots innumerable more then Starlings or Sparrows in Spaine the Guaminbig like Bees which sleepe sixe moneths the Tangara which haue the falling-sicknesse the rest dancing about that which is fallen with a noise from which they will not bee skarred till they haue done c. Of Fruits hee reckons the Iacapucaya like a pot as bigge as a great bowle two fingers thicke with a couer in it within full of Chesnuts being much eaten greene it causeth all haire to fall off Balsam trees pricked excellent for cure and sent Oyle-trees many one as a Well or Riuer growing in dry places where no water is it hath holes in the branches as long as ones arme full of water Winter and Summer neuer running ouer but alwayes at like stay fiue hundred persons may come to the foot of it and drinke and wash their fill without want the water is sauoury and cleere There are hearbs which seeme to sleepe all night and others which make shew of sence as wee haue before obserued from Master Harcourt in Guiana Of strange fishes in Brasil he nameth the Oxe-fish with eyes and eye-lids two armes a cubit long with two hands fiue fingers and nayles as in a man and vnder the armes the female had two paps inwards like an Oxe it cannot bee long vnder water it hath no fins but the tayle which is round and close two stones neere the braine of great esteeme the inwards of an Oxe and taste like Porke The Cucurijuba is a fresh-water Snake fiue and twenty or thirty foot long the Mamma is a greater kinde toothed like a dogge with a chaine striped along the backe very faire It catcheth a Man Cow Stag or any other prey winding it with the tayle and so swalloweth it whole after which she lyes and rots the Rauens and Crowes eating her all but the bones to which after groweth new-flesh by life deriued from the head which is hidden all this while in the mire which therefore they that finde seeke and kill They will sleepe so being full that they may cut off pieces he tels an instance from the tayle and they not awaken They found one which was fifty spans or twelue yards and a halfe long hauing two wilde Bores in the belly Thus much of the creatures in Brasile Let vs now take better view of their Warres Religion and other their Rites CHAP. V. Of the Customes and Rites of the Brasilians §. I. Of their warres and man-eating and of the Diuel torturing them THe Brasilians for the most part as you haue seene exercise irreconciliable hostilitie not to enlarge their dominions but onely to be reuenged for the death of their friends and Ancestors slaine by their enemies The Elder men as they sit or
vpon him He was solemnely inaugurated accordingly Hee was of comely person well fauoured affable easie and apt to ill counsell but dangerous in the end to the giuer of good capacity and ready wit about forty six yeeres of age much affected to Necromancie made shew of great Deuotion and Religion not Learned of a sudden apprehension very precipitate subtle a naturall good Oratour reuengefull not much giuen to luxury temperate in dyet Heroicall in outward shew one which gaue great entertaynment to forreigne Embassadours sent rich Presents to forreigne Kings to illustrate his owne greatnesse Hee now desired league by his Embassadours sent with Letters and Presents to the Emperour Pole Dane Swethen which the three last refused but vpon conditions to his loffe To them adhered those which loued him not and procured his ruine Hee continued the same course of gouernment but made shew of more security and liberty to the Subiect Still fearing his owne safety and continuance he desired to match his Daughter with Hartique Hans the King of Denmarks third Sonne Conditions were agreed on time appointed for the Marriage but this valorous hopefull Prince on that day whereon he should haue beene married dyed in the Musco Not long after he was put to extreame exigents by the Crimme the Pole and Swethen all inuading the neerest Confines Bodan Belskoy the old Emperours Minion vpon whom hee serued Boris his trusty turne making him away and so opening a way to that which Boris aymed at none being also better able to bring in subiection the aduerse Nobilitie and others was rewarded with such recompence as vsually followeth such trecherous Instruments Boris and the Empresse fearing his subtle wit found occasions and placed him remote with his Confederates sure as they thought But he in the time of his greatnesse hauing conuayed infinite Treasure now vseth it to reuenge and ioyning with many discontented Nobles stirres vp the King and Palatines of Poland with the power of Lithuania and with a meane Army hoping of assistance in Russia gaue out that they brought the true Dmetrius Sonne to Iuan Vasilowich Boris wants courage to fight notwithstanding sufficient preparations hee his Wife Sonne and Daughter tooke poyson whereof three presently dyed the Sonne liued to bee proclaymed but quickly dyed And now the Counterfeit Demetrius was admitted and crowned Sonne to a Priest sometimes carried Aquauitae to sell about the Country Married the Palatines Daughter and permitting the Poles to domineere ouer the Russe Nobility and to set their courses of Religion and Iustice out of ioynt hauing rooted out Boris his faction and Family c. The Russes conspire and kill Demetrius take him out of his bed dragge him on the Terras the Gunners and Souldiers thrust their Kniues in his body hacke hew and mangle his head body and legs carry it to the Market place shew it for three dayes about the City the people cursing him and the Traytors that brought him The Palatine his Daughter were conuayed away A new Election was made two propounded Knez Iuan Mishtelloskoy and Knez Vasily Petrowich Suskoy this was chosen and crowned but summoned as a Vassall by a Herald of Armes to yeeld obedience to the Crowne of Poland The Pole strikes the Iron whiles it is hote hauing gotten good footing amongst them inuades Russia repossesses the Musco takes Suscoy and diuers Nobles which are carried Captiues to Vilna chiefe Citie of Lituania Now the Poles tyrannise ouer the Russe more then before seize on their goods money and best things which they conuay into Polaud and Lituania But those hidden by Iuan Vasilowich and Boris in secret places doubtlesse remayne vndiscouered by reason the parties which had beene therein employed were still made away The Russe submits to the Pole desires Stanislaus his Sonne to liue and Reigne ouer and amongst them but that King and State would not herein trust them with their hope of Succession nor doe them so much honour but rule by their Presidents c. The Luganoie Nagoie and Chercas Tartars long setled in obedience to the Russe and best vsed by them now straitned of their wonted Salaries and vsage hate the Pole take armes in great numbers robbed spoyled killed carried away many of them with their rich booties before gotten the Russe Nobilitie tooke heart againe and bethinke them of another Emperour The Sonne of the Archbishop of Restona now Patriarch of Mosco Sonne to Mekita Romanowich before mentioned borne before he was made a Bishop Michael Fedorowich is elected and crowned by generall consent of all Estates God send him long to Reigne with better successe then his Predecessors RELATIONS OF THE KINGDOME OF GOLCHONDA AND OTHER NEIGHBOVRING NATIONS within the Gulfe of BENGALA Arreccan Pegu Tannassery c. And the ENGLISH Trade in those Parts by Master WILLIAM METHOLD THe Gulfe of Bengala famous for its dimensions extendeth it selfe from the Cape called Comorijne lying in 8. degrees of North latitude vnto Chatigan the bottome thereof which being in 22. degrees is not lesse as the Coast lyeth then a 1000. English miles and in breadth 900. limited on the other side by Cape Singapura which lyeth in 1. degree of South latitude washeth the Coast of these great and fertile Kingdomes viz. Ziloan Bisnagar Golchonda Bengala Arreccan Pegu and Tanassery and receiueth into its bosome many Nauigable Riuers which lose their note and names in the eminent Neighbourhood of the famous Ganges whose vnknowne head pleasant streames and long extent haue amongst those Heathen Inhabitants by the Tradition of their Fore-fathers gained a beliefe of clensing all such sinnes as the bodies of those that wash therein brought with them for which cause many are the Pilgrimes that resort from farre to this lasting Iubilee with some of whom I haue had conference and from their owne reports I insert this their beliefe The Island of Zeloan our Nation hath onely lookt vpon en passant the Portugals that clayme all East India by donation hold a great part of this in subiection and with such assurance that they beleeue they can make it good against all their Enemies yet are not they the onely Lords thereof for the naturall Inhabitants haue also their King commonly called the King of Candy with whom the Danes had not long since a fruitlesse treaty for commerce which falling short of their expectation they fortified vpon the Mayne not far from Negapatnam at a place called Trangabay with what successe or hopes of benefit I cannot relate The first Kingdome vpon the Mayne is that ancient one of Bisnagar rent at this time into seuerall Prouinces or Gouernments held by the Naickes of that Countrey in their owne right for since the last King who deceased about fiftene yeeres since there haue arisen seuerall Competitors for the Crowne vnto whom the Naickes haue adhered according to their factions or affections from whence hath followed a continuall Ciuill Warre in some parts of the Countrey and