before and at the same time that huge floud which striketh up high in the Air against the Land We might also discern that by the Suns effect on the Earth for it shineth hotter in the afternoon then before Mid-day not that its heat is then in it self greater then before but because the Sun must in the forenoon drive away the cold from the Horizon but in the afternoon produceth its heat without any hinderance This explication doth very well agree with the name which Seamen give to that time of the Tide calling it Spring as if it sprung by its own force and would not be directed by the Moon Secondly it is plainly proved that the Moon governeth the Sea by the Quadruple motion of it twice to the West and twice to the East in 24 hours and 48. min. according to the course of the Moon though our Master Herbinius will not grant that not thinking there is such a thing in nature as that the Moon by Antipathy could now in 6 hours and 12 min. drive the Sea from it self and afterwards by a Sympathy in six other hours attract that again whilest nothing of all this happeneth by Antipathy in the opinion of Herbinius For according to these principles the Sea is in a perpetual motion to and fro as water in a Vessel between its limits against which if it beats it cannot get over but must appease its proud waves and fall back again which will last as long as the world continues But the God of order that has created and ordained all things according to weight measure and number hath made the Moon to govern thereover not only as a moving cause with the rest in the manner aforesaid but also regulateth its motion according to its own seasons and the Moon having two Motions the one from East to West together with the Sun and other Planets and Stars the other from West to East by which it moveth every day usually 12 degrees from and to the Sun which maketh 48 min. of time so there can be no Antipathy between the Moon and the Motion of the Sea to what side soever it turneth it self And God having made the distance so broad between the Continents that it can be six hours falling back from one Land to another which it would perhaps perform a great deal sooner if it might follow its own propension nay it might well in its fury and rapidity overwhelm the whole Globe of the Earth by reason of the aforesaid causes therefore the Moon is made to hold back by its course that of the Sea that it may not perfect its motion from one Coast to another in six hours or less but in six hours 12 m. which maketh in the four Tides of a day 48. m. so that the Moon governeth the Sea as a man doth a running Horse sometimes putting him forwards sometimes making him go slowly at other times giving him the Bitt and sometimes keeping him back and notwithstanding maketh him so run that it cometh to his Stage at the appointed time This is my poor opinion concerning Ebb and Floud grounded upon my own experience and dilligent enquiry whereby having written it in our Danish Tongue I would specially give Seamen occasion to enquire into nature wheresoever they come after this manuduction which if they do I doubt not but they shall make such observations that this explication will thereby be so confirmed that it will not be easily refuted We will here transport us from the salt Sea to the fresh Water on Land God can never be sufficiently praised that hath so wonderfully and abundantly blessed that Country with well tasting and wholesome Fountain Water Springing some Fathoms high on the top of the highest Mountains which in the greatest drought runneth constantly almost every where so that there is scarce a Cottage but there runneth along a little Spring water or a great Brook gathered of many such Rivelets whose water is generally colder in Summer then in Winter though they have there no healing Fountain for many diseases as in other Countreys except one in Osteroe near Gote which yet is not much made use of this water is of that nature that it is much warmer in Winter then other Water and if one will keep it a whole year it continueth without corruption One might it seems reasonably conclude that since Brimstone is hot and keepeth Wine from corruption that there may be Brimstone in the rock through which the water floweth whereby it is tinged with this quality and therefore there is doubtless a great vertue hidden in that water for the use of man if it were as convenient to come to as it is discomodious Since all what seemeth strange in the beings that God hath created when reason cannot comprehend it is presently taken for a miracle though it be an effect of nature one may also justly hold this for admirable that God by his wonderful wisdome and power hath so ordained it that the mortal body aggravates the soul and the earthly Tabernacle oppresseth the wandering senses so that they scarce reach the things which are on earth and hardly perceive what it hath under hand as the wise man speaketh in the ninth Chapter of his Book of Wisdome whence cometh that many of the Sons of Men that will not trouble their Brains with such deep thoughts do meerly consider such effects of nature as wonders others give themselves no thoughts at all about them making use of them as unreasonable creatures others to whom God and nature hath given more light of understanding do not persist in searching the secrets of nature so as to tire themselves therewith Amongst these secrets of nature there are not the least but the most in water namely its course and its ascent to the top of hills and its flowing down from thence The strange stream between Boetia and the Island of Negropont called Euripe which runneth in and out 7 times in a day troubled so much that accute Philosopher Aristotle in his deep Speculations to comprehend the cause thereof that he as Historians believe took his Death thereupon The said Aristotle hath also taken great pains to understand the natural cause of the Springing of Fountains but he hath been deceived in the invention of his reasoning Scaliger having long since refuted him But the Wise King Solomon in Eccles 1. 7. teacheth us whence the water Springs come and what is their natural cause all waters saith he flow to the Sea from whence they flow again but he teacheth us not the manner how it happeneth nor the cause whereby the water can Ascend from the Sea some hundreds of Fathoms high through the Mountains as it doth generally here on Feroe Magirus in his Physilogia lib. 4 c. 6. bringeth in the opinion of Scaliger in this manner although we know not the cause of this natural thing yet we judge that the water doth not mount up in a direct line but through many turnings and there
beats the harder upon such ground as ariseth within Botthen which is perceived likewise in the streight near the Isle of Alland where because the grounds lye shallow here is heard a terrible noise which Mr. Herbinius affirms in his Dissertation to have himself experimented believing not before that such things were in nature As Whirle pools have hitherto given much to think to many so streight Currents have not busied the thoughts of a lesser number to explicate fundamentally their true cause ground and manner and though they did invent some causes they have not yet found the true Form and Modell My intention is not to set up my self against such eminent Philosophers but only to write down what I have experimented and discerned in nature if I can thereby bring any light to natural History I hope it will not displease the Ingenious Reader First here is set down the inward cause namely the secret Magnetick Sympathetical and Antipathetical vertue proved and explicated above by which Nature worketh between the Elements and bringeth them into moâ—ion Secondly there are found two other active external causes the one is the inward warmth of the Earth the other the heat of the Sun and Stars The warmth of the Earth is not as some wrongfully think a subterranean fire for then the Sea should be most moved near Island Italy and Sâ—icily since there are seen visible signs of it near them namely burning fires in the Mountains of Hecla Vesuvio and Aetna But there is a natural warmth in the Earth by vertue whereof Grass Herbs and Trees have their growing motion which â—s proved by this that the Sea hath principally in the Spring in March and April its chiefest motion and greatest Ebb and Floud in Feroe when warmth gets the upper hand and the Earth openeth it self for Plants to break out of it which motion with its Ebb and Floud doth not come as Cartesius supposeth from the the Earths Conjunction with the Moon in the Collure of the Solstice The Earth being removed under the Eqnator or the Line and the Moon under the Ecliptick meeting together in Aries and in Libra where the Aequator divideth the Zodiack and therefore the Sea and Stream are strongest in the Spring and in Autumn We will not enter here into the dispute about the motion of the Earth but only say against it that if it were so the Flouds should be greatest and the Streams most rapid both in the Spring and Autumn as Cortesius himself affirmeth though notwithstanding Ebb and Floud is greatest in the Spring and almost least of all in Autumn as is known to all the Inhabitants of Feroe besides which it would also follow that in Summer when the Moon and the Sun are in Cancer or in Winter when they are in Capricorn or in the Collure of the Solsticies the floods should be least and the streams weakest whereas in the middest of Summer the Floud is found to be greatest and the stream almost strongest one may therefore reasonably attribute it to the cause which hath then most force namely the warmth of Earth which then ascends and produceth its vertue Reason might well perswade it to be impossible that such a great and deep water should be altered thereby such a warmth being very moderate my reason would also dictate to me the same if the Magnetical Sympathy whereby this warmth is so qualified in the Water were not in nature There is neither but a mean warmth in a mans stomach which when it is hottest of all cannot be compared with the heat of fire yet in a short time it Cooks and Digests Meat to such an alteration by its natural vertue that the greatest fire could not do the like with any meat in a Kettle or boyling Pot. It is also proved that the heat of the Sun and Stars moveth the Water by this that when the warmth of the Earth is ascended in Plants and there is Rain and Cold Weather the Stream is then moderate but when the Sun shineth hot and it is Calm weather not only the Water is moved and the Boffves break out as is said before but the streams also are then very rapid and the Ebb and Floud higher then ordinary specially during the Dogdays when the Canicule together with the Sun are hottest but when the Dogdays are past and the Sun advanceth to the South the force of the Streams is weakned more and more untill Winter during which season it is but half as strong as in summer Besides this there is an other extraordinary cause of the increase of the waters motion in Winter which iâ— the hardness of the frost and having spoken of it above the Reader is referr'd thereunto God having thus created nature the Sea in the beginning was brought into a motion which will last as long as the world doth exist The form or manner of this Ebb and Floud hath most of all perplexed Philosophers every one having invented an Hypothesis to Explicate it God is wonderful in all his works and what seems hardest and difficultest of all to our understanding is often most plain and easie so this wonderful augmentation and diminution of the water doth consist in a meer motion to and fro between the Continents from East to West and from West to East and that in great waves as will be proved by the following arguments First the whole may be known by its parts seeing that the drops of water are of a round figure one may conclude that water is round Likewise as one seeth the Superficies of the water to be moved by the wind into waves one may also assuredly conclude that the motion of the great Ocean is made in Wayes so the Boffves whether it be by heat or cold forming themselves into waves the larger Sea doth the like also Secondly this is proved by experience in Nature Those of Feroe by this experience call this manner of Ebb and Floud East and West-fall East-fall is that which with its waves falleth on the East of Norway West-fall is when the Sea is moved and falleth back with its waves to the VVest part of Greenland The East-fall giveth in Feroe Ebb or lowest water falling to the East of Norway and making there highest water West-fall maketh highest water or Floud in Feroe because when the Floud falleth back from the West of Norway the Waves rise and form themselves higher and higher against Feroe according to the nature of Waves which is plainly proved by this that at East of Feroe the Water riseth but three Fathoms and at West seven Fathoms the distance whereof is but forty miles in Longitude Yea one may easily perceive the Sea to arise higher at West of Suderoe then at East though the Land where it is broadest be not above eight miles broad On the contrary Galilaeus Galilaei teacheth that it is the nature of water to lift up it self towards its extremities and run Horizontally between the Latitude whereunto it is answered that when
the water hath its own motion without resistance it floweth Horizontally without waves as through Conduits but when there is a resistance on both sides the bottom is uneven and there is no outlet the one part by its perpetual motion driving the other it must needs according to the supposition of Kircherus arise and fall in waves wherefore if it were as Galilaeo believeth either there would never be Ebb or Floud in Feroe in the Flemish Islands or the Islands of Cape Verde which both lye in the mid'st of large Seas where the Ocean should flow Horizontally or else both West-fall and East-fall should make there Ebb and Floud which never happeneth in Nature Ebb and Floud consist therefore without doubt and certainly in the motion of the Sea like that of waves to and fro from one Continent to another or in the fall where the one wave falleth upon the other driving one another against the Land Now since the ground ariseth toward the Land and the waves lift and cast themselves over it that must needs naturally cause the increase of the water towards the Land whence it happeneth that East-fall maketh highest water under Norway from the North Cape to Bergen where the Sea hath a free course as likewise to the west of Scotland and England except it be that Ireland lye in the way As also to the west of Ireland France and all Africa untill the Cape of good Hope contrarywise VVest-fall giveth highest water under all the East Coast of America and on the other west side thereof until Mare del Zuz And on the contrary VVest fall maketh high VVater in Mare del Zuz under the East point of Tartary and China In the mean time sometimes VVest-fall and sometimes East fall maketh high water about the Islands which are spread abroad in the Ocean and in the still Sea according as the difference of their Meridian is and the Seas motion doth augment its waves For Example when the Sea falleth west on Feroe the waves of the Sea fall then highest thereon and therefore VVest-fall maketh highest water Quite contrary when they fall back again on the East the waves have their cavities turned towards Feroe and therefore East-fall giveth there lowest water It is certainly true that as God hath created all things according to weight measure and number a certain wave falling at the west of Feroe in its retiring Nature hath equalized these waves in certain number thickness and length never to be altered according to the distance that is between the Continents and they are moved in such an unalterable perfection that neither the strongest contrary wind can hinder their course or fall nor a fore wind procure that they should come sooner or later the reason is that the wind moveth but the uppermost superficie but cannot move the deep Abyss thereof VVhence it cometh that when the great waves fall on upon the ground of Feroe and the water must thrust it self over the grounds between the Islands as through a â—â—â—ce and when there cometh a strong Storm against the Tide which cou d well move the water from the bottome in the same place where it seems that the course of the stream might be hindered it can nevertheless not happen so the force of the next wave coming from the main deep beating after it and the greatest driving the least the wind not being able to hinder the cause can neither hinder the effect of it yet none of them being willing to yeild they strive against one another with such fury storm and roaring of the Sea that it cannot be expressed with a pen and when the Tide falls back in its time the waves grow quiet and the wind appeaseth it self as two mighty Enemies that can win nothing on each other do at last agree lay down their weapons and walk the same way together But as a great wind cannot hinder neither cana fore-wind further the course of the streams because of the great wave that goeth before at the bottome of the deep which cannot be driven further then its natural course doth require after which the stream that is driven by the wind must needs regulate it self all what a fore-wind can doe is only that what water it driveth afore it self from the Superficie may serve to increase the flood whence cometh flood water that breaketh over Banks and endamageth many places though from this generality particular streams must be excepted For a further proof of this former explication it were to be wished that one had or could get an exact description of the West Coast along Europe and Africa and on the other side the whole East Coast of America and afterwards in the still Sea all the west Coast of America and East Coast of Asia as far as it lyeth open to the Sea when it is highest water at the points and in the Bayes how high the water riseth and falleth in every place and what is their Longitude As also that one could get these three Points dilligently observed about the Islands over the whole world or as far as might be which if it could be performed one could plainly see and perceive that this demonstration is so in nature yea one could also find how big and long every wave is formed None ought to doubt of it because such waves are not perceived by Marriners for as little as they can discern the motion of the water in the Main Sea as little can they perceive the waves rising or fall For the difference in forty miles in Feroe being but four Fathoms of the waves rising how could it be observed by Sailers Neither can it be discern'd any where but about such Islands at Sea and having been undiscovered and untry'd hitherto the wit of many hath invented several Hypothesis which are not in nature Much less ought any one to suffer himself to be seduced by particulars which are all irregular and much of what is written thereof upon the relation of others erronious Thus the Hollanders have err'd in describing the Currents of Feroe after the declaration of Marriners in the same manner Kircherus after the Description of Olaus Magnus and the relation of Seamen also the stream of Moskoe whereupon he hath grounded a great absurdity to explicate the nature of Ebb and Floud which hath made Mr. Herbinius in his publick disputation to err so much that all his suppositions fall of themselves But all particulars are explain'd when universals in their true grounds are right understood and the Inlets and Points diligently observed For an example we will take the stream under the the Low Countries in the North Sea Catigate and the East Sea according to our general demonstration we find the Ocean to fall and run into the Channel with the great waves of its motion by an East-fall as also to both sides thereof of France and England afterwards it fills all the Inlets and Harbours of the Coast of all Netherland thence the stream is
divided into two parts or branches whereof the one runneth Northward between England and Norway and on both sides fills up all their Havens The other runneth towards the East between Norway and Jutland towards Sweden and endeth there its working running back again six hours after from thence to the Channel joyning it self to the general motion of the Ocean at the West of America where then it maketh highest water about this particular Stream and its Ebb and Floud are these following points to be considered First that it is caused by the general motion of the Ocean and therefore the noting of the time thereof cannot contribute to the explanatioâ— of this Phaenomenon but the time oâ— the floud without the Channel ought only to be considered and from thence learn the motion of the Ocean all what is within turning it self according to the ends and points of Land by a meer Flux and re-flux as the Ocean falleth sometimes on the East and sometimes on the west part thereof Secondly it is observed that on the East side of England and Scotland as also over against it under Norway there cannot be a strong Current nor great Ebb and Flood by reason that the wave which the Ocean drives into the Channel is diminished by the many Inlets and Havens that are at the south end of England and in the reach of Land between high Sand to the Elbe and the stream running afterwards partly Northward and the North Sea between England and Norway not being perfectly moved because of its narrowness here and there at East and West that little stream according to its proportion filleth both sides whence it comes that one perceiveth no great stream in Norway till one cometh pretty well North where the Ocean â—loweth without hinderance and it is even so under the remote part of Norway and other neighbouring places In the third place it is to be doubted whether this Flood and Stream which comes in through the Channel and runneth against Gottenborough runneth not through the Catigate into the East Sea and maketh there an ordinary stream of Ebb and Floud in six hours as in the Ocean Our Herbinius denyeth the East Sea all this and for ought I could learn of our Seamen they are almost all in the same opinion not knowing any other thing of a Stream there then what a constant Wind can cause either out or in through the Sound Nevertheless the Stream which comes from the Channel runneth into the East Sea and out again though inperceptibly and all the East Sea though it cannot easily be observ'd hath its ordinary ebb and sâ—oud which is not only proved by the stream of Botthen above mentioned but can also be easily perceived by the little Current running between Faâ—ster and Zealand which orderly runneth East and West absolving its Ebb and Floud in six hours as I have newly been informed and have experimented we have also the like examples in Feroe at North of Nolsoe Stream between Stromoe and Osteroe there is no stream perceived neither ebb nor floud that can be discerned because of the depth of the ground though it be there nevertheless as is proved by the strong stream at North of Stromoe in the streight between the Islands over the high grounds described and explained above which hath its course with the Stream of Nolsoes Inlet The third proof of the manner in which ebb and floud is effected depends of the Moon which God hath created as an assistant to the motion of the Sea in exercising two offices by helping the motion thereof and by directing it That the Moon contributeth to its motion is plainly seen because the stream is in general during the whoâ—e year according to the propriety of every season strongest and ebb and floud greatest in New and Full Moon increasing and diminishing according as the Moon increaseth or diminisheth its light wherefore such a thing happeneth I humbly conceive to be this warmth being a principal cause to the motion of water in general and the Moon being of a cold and moist nature when the same receiveth its light from the Sun it groweth warm thereby and by this warmth moveth the water Now since it is most warm when it is in Conjunction or Opposition with the Sun because then it darts its beams directly upon the Moon The Moon is then therefore most able to move the water when it is New or at Full. Now the Moon generally retiring every day from the beginning of the New Moon twelve degrees from the Sun or coming every day after full Moon twelve degrees nearer it so as it retireth or cometh nearer the Sun it shooteth its beams awry on the Moon and the more byassing the Suns light is distributed the less warmth doth the Moon receive and therefore moveth the Sea as its warmth diminisheth or is increased and therefore the motion of the Sea with its floud and ebb is greatest not only when it is new or full Moon but also three days before and after and is least when the Moon is in the Quadrate or first and last quarter but because the Moon being in the Perigeum or in Conjunction with the Sun is then nearer both Sun and Earth it seemeth then to have the greatest warmth of the Sun and to be able to exercise its overture on the Sea better then when it is in the Apogeum furthest from the Sun and Earth in its opposition or filling The operation of the Moon is nevertheless equal both when it beginneth to be new and when it is filled for the Moon having greater warmth and force at new Moon it is thought to act by reflecting its light towards the Sun the dark and cola part being turned to the Earth yet having less warmth and force when it is full it can nevertheless more conveniently and better pour down what it hath on the Sea by turning its splendid aspect directly upon it But it is very remarkable that two or three days after the beginning of the new or full Moon the Stream increaseth at Floud and doth not diminish which seems to contradict and destroy our demonstration whereunto we must seek another cause then the Moon which in my opinion is this whatsoever is heavy and is brought into motion by some violent force doth not straight ways diminish its said motion when the cause hath lost its force but rather augments it it is even so in this case The Moon hath some difficulty to augment the course of the stream when it is weakest in its first and last quarter but when it is grown rapid in new and full Moon it cannot so still it self again but increaseth naturally specially the Mover having lost in two days time something of its force This is plainly seen in the Sea for when it hath been moved by a great Storm it is more unquiet the next day when the storm is appeased then it was whilest it lasted for then cometh that terrible Alde which we have described
even Polished that they serve to put in Rings whereunto they are used by some It is found that they grow in the Clifts and are washed off by the Sea-waves no body could yet know whether they be of any worth for some of them have by curiosity been carried to Jewelers but they have not been esteemed any thing My late private precept or the Learned and Famous Olaus Normins at my departure for Feroe shewed me amongst other Rarities in his Cabinet that sort of Stones sent him from Feroe and conceived they were Jaspis stones telling me also that they had lost their colour since he had them and desired me that I would send him some more of them which I did accordingly perform The Pearles whereof Mr. Peter Clauson writes in his Description of Norway that they are found in Muscles here are no other then those that are found in the Muscles of Denmark concerning the Stone which he also writes is found here by the sea side shaped like a Heart o Kidney called by the Inhabitants a Fairies Kidney that as Mr. Peter writeth according to the received opinion of the Inhabitants doth bring forth another Stone when it is kept long it is very certain that Fairies Kidneys ore found here but the Inhabitants have not that superstitious opinion of them neither is it any Stone but a West India Bean as hath been told me by a very knowing man for it hath a hard outward shell of a Chestnut brown colour and within a sweet Kernell This doubtless falls in other places off from its stalk into the Sea and is brought hither by the Stream They are carryed to Forreign Countreys and there carved to make Boxes for Sunff Tobacco here is also found but in small quantities some brittle Chrystal which cannot be wroâ—â—ht Though God hath denyed this land the riches aforesaid it hath nevertheless pleased him to enrich it with what can hardlyer be wanted in nature if the Land could be till'd every where as in other places it would in Fertility of Corn go beyond other Countreys equally large but here a Countryman cannot sow above one or two Tuns of Corn but in many places they Reap again 20 or 30 Tuns for one Tun of Seed specially in the Southerly Islands where they reap so much Corn that it need none to be imported from forreign Countryes Here is nothing sowed but Barley for other Seeds will not come to maturity and there being here but little sowed there is the more ground for Pastures In several places Grass is found so abundant and juicy that Oxen feed thereon both Winter and Summer growing sometimes so Fat that one can get in an Ox that is not big of growth 100 pound of Tallow and such places they call Feidelands It is very remarkable that where there are such Feidelands they ever turn to the North East and North wherefore would not think that the North or North East Wind could cause any Fertillity they being cold but rather the South West or West these being warm and moist and having more the Suns assistance to operate with them whence it comes that the old Grecians called the West Wind Zephirus as that which caused life in Plants Nevertheless the contrary is found in these pastures It is also observed that in Island the North part is more Fertile with Grass and Cattell then the South Greenland is also found to be given with Grass on the North East side whence it hath also received its name but on the West side there is found little or no grass If you will inquire the natural cause of this we must consult the Chymists who write much of their great Monarch or Lyon of the North especially mentioned by Theophrastus Paracelsus whereby they mean nothing but Nitre a special Agent in Chymical Operations The cause wherefore they call Nitre a Monarch and Lyon of the North is that in the Snow coming from the North or North East there is naturally found Salt Peter Wherefore when one cannot have other more convenient liquors to make Salt Peter of or sor other Chymical Operations they make use of North or North East Rain and Snow Besides there is found in their writings that Salt peter is not only used in the particular transmutation of Mettals but also that being dissolved and Corn dipt in it it may be sowed without dunging in the very leanest ground giving it an extraordinary production all dunging whereby the Earth is made Feftile having its inward vertue and essence consisting in Nitre or the Salt thereof which is clearly proved by an example known almost every where for those that make Salt Peter dig up old Floors from under Cattel or Sheep whereof they extract the Nitre that is ingendred there of the Beasts virtue whence it comes that Dunghills where Cattels Urine remains and rots are better for Dâ—ngning then dry dung it self For a further example it is seen here in Feroe that they take Sea weeds from the Shoare and lay them on heaps to â—ot wherewith afterwards they lung their ground which then bearâ—th abundance of Corn that effect proceeding doubtless of the Salt in â—he Sea weeds since Salt Peter can naturally be prepared of Salt from the premises North East Snow and Rain having Salt Peter in it self and all lunging consisting in Nitre The Reader may easily conclude that such plaâ—es as are exposed to North East Winds must consequently be more fruitful then others But here is also â—o be observed that the said places are Valleys arising usually with a high Promontory against the Sun which also helps to their Fertility the Scorching Beams of the Sun being hindred thereby One might here well imagine that since it Snoweth and Raineth from the North East or North over the whole Island and the Sun draweth Plants out of the Earth it might be most fruitful where the Sun doth shine the whole day with its beams it is found in nature that the Sun it self doth not produce the Plants from the Earth but warmeth nature and the night cooleth and moistneth what the Sun hath dryed and scorch'd whence principally Plants are produc'd In the Lands which lye under the torrid Zone nothing at all could grow because of the heat of the Sun if the night was not as long as the day and by its cooling and dew did not temperate the Plants It is observed here in Feroe that in the midst of Summer when in two months time there is almost no night Corn groweth but very little though it rainethâ— nor herbs though they be watered in dry weather and when the night beginneth to be longer Corn and Herbs grow more in a night and day then otherwise in fourteen from whence it is seen that the Sun at certain times doth indamage Plants and where it striketh directly down with its gathered Beams consumeth the moisture and fatness of the ground but where by a moderate reflexion it warmeth the Earth which happeneth in the Valleys aforesaid where
as other great Fishes The Fowl wherewith the Sorcerer did present Myggyness is the sule described above which is neither found any where in this Country except there this is sold for the price it cost Though many things happened in those dark times amongst the Children of infidelity both there and other places that seem now in this our light to be very disconsonant and incredible as yet dayly many things are perpetrated by Witches which the childten of light cannot apprehend much less imitate them therein The Inhabitants receive also sometimes a considerable profit from the Whales that are pierced at Sea which come sometimes floating hither to the Land Here are besides seen under the Land great living Whales as the Roar and Witch-Whale on which the Inhabitants dare not venture The Roar is very great and long and the Witch-Whale very dangerous for it will play with Boats sometimes it riseth from under the water under the Boat so that it standeth fast on its back as upon a Rock which often bringeth the people in great danger But God and Nature have revealed them a strange secret means to drive away such dangerous Monsters namely Castoreum which usually they carry in the head of their Boat boaring a hole in the Wood and putting Castoreum in it which they stop afterwards with a peg others have it inclosed in a piece of wood whereunto they link their Fish lines and carry it always with them in the Boat and when the Witch-Whale comes under such a Boat or that they cast that piece of wood upon it it sinketh to the bottome as a Stone This Whale must have a very good scent and cannot suffer the smell of Castoreum wherefore it retireth presently to the deep It is believed here by old experience that Castoreum hath this property that if a man hath any about him and cometh in danger upon the water he cannot save himself but sinketh to the bottome as a piece of Lead and drowneth for it hath been proved by experience that a person that could swim well perished at Sea having Castoreum about him being sunk and drowned whilest others that were in the Boat and could not swim saved their lives whereof the samous expert and learned Dr. Thomas Bartalinus writeth in his Centuries of Anatomical History Cent. 2. Hist 17. The Inhabitants say also that if they have no Castorum they carry with them Juniper wood whereof they cut Chips and cast towards the Whale whereby it also sinketh It was a great while before I would believe this till the Provincial Judge a very prudent man named Jonae Poulson that is well inform'd in the proprieties of this Country assured it me to be true I would nevertheless hardly believe it a long time till I had found the natural cause of it which is this Since Castoreum that can drive down the Whale hath the vertue to drive the dead Foetus out of its mothers Womb by which vertue the Whale is also driven and the Oyl of Juniper hath the same vertue as Castoreum to drive out the Foetus it may also be that Juniper Wood whereof the Oyl is prepared may also drive the Whale and there must be a great Antipathy between the Whale and such things which by reason of its acute scent it presently perceiveth and is weakned in its nature so that it must presently sink to the bottom by which reason it followeth also that all other Medicaments expelling the dead Foetus have also the vertue to drive down the whale as are Assa Foetida Myrrha Galbanum Oppoponax Scammony Brimstone Cinnamon and Mace or these Herbs Rue Sabina Foenum Gracum Hollow Hearb Felworth Matricary as also these Herbs which grow in Feroe Samphire Mugworth Tyme and others though part of the Species aforesaid be but the ingredients of those Medicaments Experience must further teach what is hidden in nature if it be so as is argued of this Species and if Castoreum hath the propriety and vertue to depress a man down to the bottom of the Sea so that he must drown notwithstanding he can swim it followeth also that the aforesaid Species have that propriety to the depression of a man One doth besides often hear that when people come in danger sometimes the greatest part are easily saved one or two perishing some can neither be sav'd by others nor save themselves as if it was so disposed by God that they before others should infallibly dye such a death and could not escape as might be proved by example if it were needful who knows whether any of them had not about him some of the things aforesaid which might easily and ordinarily happen with Mace and Cinnamon Much is hidden in nature that is yet undiscovered and in time will be brought to light For a conclusion as in my time during my abode in Feroe the said Sea-monster namely the Whale-dog was seen so in the year 1670 there was seen at the West of Feroe before Qualboe plaine a Mair-maid close by the Land during two hours and a half by many men not only of Qualboe but also of other places of Suderoe she stood upright above the water having long hair on her head spread on the water round about holding a Fish in her hand with the head downwards it was also told me that the same year the Fisher men of Westmans haven in Stremoe had seen a Mermaid at the North of Feroe whether these Monsters do 〈◊〉 Feroe any evil hereafter time will teach us that consisting Whales in the providence of God passing by what other Monsters have appeared in Feroe in the Figure of Boats whereof we have mentioned something already CHAP. IV. Of the Inhabitation of Feroe and the Facts of the Inhabitants THese Islands of Feroe lying in the mid'st of the storming Sea far distant from other Countryes have during a long time whilest Navigation was not so much practised as in these later times been uninhabited being only visited by the Fowles of Heaven till the time of Harold Pulchricomus first absolute King of Norway when as we are taught by the Chronicle of Snore Sturleson this land was first possessed by men and inhabited in the year of our great Monarch Jesus Christ's Nativity 868. having been uninhabited from its creation during the time of 48â—5 years and hath been tilled till the date of this book a little above 800 years The cause of its inhabitation being this It happened that Harold Haldanson Pulchricomus principal Ness or Promontory King in Norway beginning to reduce the Kingdom under him made War upon the Inhabitants upward of 10 years from the year of Christ 858 to 868 and having during that time put to death a part of those little Kings and Princes reduced a part of them under himself driven another part out of the Land and the last year some Kings and principal men having made alliance to resist him and raised a great Army King Harold destroyed their Forces after which time he found
the most part contemn the opinion there should be any We call such Apparitions Specters because they present themselves to the eyes of men appearing as if they were real bodies whereas they are spirits that take upon them an external figure and in respect to a right created body are to be considered but as shadows Wherefore Christ says to his Apostles that took him to be such a spirit Why are you so afraid and why come such thoughts into your hearts look upon my hands and feet it is my self feel and see for a spirit hath neither flesh nor bones as you see I have that is though a spirit appears with the outward figure of a body By which words Christ doth not refute the Apostles opinion of spirits as vain and erroneous but agrees with them that there are Phantasms that they are spirits and that the figure they take hath not the propriety of a natural body Secondly Christ grants that they had cause to have been afraid if he had been a Phantasm Whereby we are taught that our own nature proveth their existencie since we are afraid when they appear by reason of the innate emnity which is between men and such spirits Wherefore when Eliphas of Theman saw a spirit going before him and there stood an image before his eyes whereof he did not know the figure but heard a voice the hair of his body stood upon end In Latin they call them Spectra that is such spirits as are seen so that the invisible good Angels when they appear in visible forms for as much as they are seen may also be called Spectra but we according to the Holy Scriptures and the explication of all Learned men understanding only by Specters spirits who in several visible Figures and likenesses appear unto men either to hurt or frighten them of which sort was the figure that appeared to King Saul in the likeness of Samuel 1 Sam. 28. as also the Divels outward shape that spoke with Christ and tempted him in the wilderness Mat. 4. The Heathens in their writings call some of those Specters Eaunes Satyrs and Panes which we call in Danish Skow and Bierge-Trold that is Wood and Mountain spirits those of Feroe call them under-ground people hollow men and Foddenskemand The Holy Scripture calls them Gods of the Woods Esaiah 13 th and also field Gods Deut. 32. which really are none but unclean spirits I have read in the writings of a godly man who pretended that besides the good and bad Angels there were also external spirits of the world which were not eternal and took their natural origine of the worlds visible spirit and finished also naturally which if it were they should then be some other Creatures then the eternal spirits or the visible shap'd Creatures Though there be much whereof our eyes cannot see the essence our reason comprehending no further then what is discovered in the outward corporal nature which yet it harldly comprehends as the wise man complaineth nevertheless one ought not to affirm such things as have no ground in the word of God though it were so in nature and therefore we will only contemplate these Apparitions by the clear light of Gods word and thereby together with understanding Learned mens writings see what one may conclude and judge of them One would think it might be worth a particular Speculation that the Holy Scripture speaks of Phantasms together with Zijm Jim and Ochim Esa 13. 21. cap. 34. 14. Jer. 50. 39. for the Lord threatning Babylon with its last destruction saith by the Prophet Esaias Babylon shall be changed as Sodom and Gomorrha and no man shall inhabit there any more neither live there for ever but Zijm shall there pitch their Tents and their houses shall be full of Ochim Ostridges shall live there and wood divels leap thereabouts Owls shall sing in their Palaces and Dragons dwell in their pleasure-houses The Prophets calling them Zihim and Ohim is not expounded by Luther in his Bible by any other word but he writes in the Margin that he taketh them to be all sorts of wild Beasts understanding without doubt such wilde Beasts as the wise man describes in this manner Wis 11. ver 19 c. The Lord saith he sent over them because of their sins new shaped cruel unkown Beasts that either breathed out flame or blew out cruel smoke or darted sparks terribly from their eyes which not only could bruise them to pieces with terror but murther them with the terribleness of their sights The wise man reckoneth also up these unknown Beasts Chap. 17. ver 3. 9. among spirits wherewith the Egyptians were terrified Maldonatus in his Scholia upon Esaiah esteems this kind of cruel unknown wild Beasts to be a sort of Divels That excellent Philosopher and Divine Johannes Henricus Vrsinus in the sixth Book Chap. 27. of his Analâ—ecta sacra writes that these names can signifie both cruel wild Beasts and men but more properly Devils for Zijm from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 driness are properly those that inhabit dry and desart places Jijm from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Island those that live in Islands Ochim from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a funeral Bird those that cry out with a terrible voice but in the Prophet he understands Divels to be so called first because seirim or Wooddivel is also mentioned there secondly because Saint John doth so expound it in the Book of the Revelations Chap. 18. ver 2. when he saith she is fallen she is fallen Babylon the great and is become the habitation of Divels and the domicil of all unclean spirits and the repair of all unclean birds Thirdly because it is plain both by holy and profane writings and experience teacheth actually that Divels have their habitations in desart places My poor conclusion is this that the examples and clear words of the Holy Scripture do agree both with other Histories as also with the above-mentioned of the apparition of spirits that they were not fancies but were real and indeed and those Images not being substantial bodies they must be spirits in external figure and appearing to hurt men that they are not good but bad spirits that is very Divels And such as are mentioned in the abovesaid true Histories whether they appeared in the Figure of man or of any Beast are doubtless that sort of Divels which the Holy Scripture particularly calls Field-gods in the fifth Book of Moses Chap. 32. ver 17. 2 Chron. Chap. 9. ver 15. For Divels can far easier turn themselves in several such forms than in that of Angels of light it being all one what name one gives such Apparitions if one but knows their Chief who as the deadly enemy of all mankind that walketh in every Element to hurt man Sinesius teaching that there are six sorts of spirits that are all bad appearing to men specially to hurt them namely those that are in the air in the fire in the water upon the earth under