wherein he declared that the next day after he had embraced the Gospel his Lice which before did so abound were all gone not one remaining and that God so stirred up the hearts of good people to pity and provide for him that he was fed with white bread and wholesome food Act. Mon. Fanius who was burnt for Religion in the City of Ferrara in Italy all the time of his burning a most fragrant and odoriferous smell came to all that were present and so pleased their senses that they were much refreshed thereby Act. Mon. One Laremouth alias Williamson Chaplaine to the Lady Anne of Cleave a Scotchman being imprisoned for the true Religion he heard a voice saying to him Arise and go thy wayes whereto when he gave no great heed at first the second time it was so said upon this as he fell to prayer it was said to him the third time likewise which was about halfe an hour after whereupon he rising up immediately part of the prison-wall fell down And as the Officers came in at the outward gate of the prison he leaping over the ditch escaped And in the way meeting a begger changed his coat with him and coming to the Sea-shoare he found a vessell ready to go over into which he entered and escaped Act. Mon. In the massacre of Paris one Merline a godly Minister flying and hiding himself in an Hay mow was nourished for a fortnight together by an Hen which constantly came and layed an Egge by him every day during all that time Act. Mon. Since the beginning of these Civill wars 40. honest men in Cornewall were condemned to be hanged by Sir Richard Greenvile for not assisting him against the Parliament and when they came to be executed the sixt man brake a new halter wherewith he should have been hanged and after that another and after that two others twisted together which miracle of Gods mercy did so astonish the adversaries that they let him and all the rest depart in safety At that time when P. Rupert plunderd the town of Bolton in Lancashire amongst others that were cruelly slaine by his party there was one William Isherwood and his wife both slain Felice their daughter being then eleven weeks old lay pitifully crying at the breast of her dead mother But and it pleased God that an old woman the wife of one Ralph Holme of the same towne aged above seventy yeares who had not given suck above twentie yeares before seeing and hearing the childe compassioned took it up and having neither food for her self nor for the infant in that commoÌ„ calamity to still the child laid it to her breast and behold the goodness of God who provides for the young ravens that cry the childe sucking milke came into her breasts wherewith she nourished it to the admiration and astonishment of all beholders This is attested by three godly Ministers and divers others of good credit who were eye-witnesses of the same St. Augustine being to visit and instruct the people of a certaine place and having a guide to direct thâ—â— way and conduct him thither did notwithstanding by Gods especiall providence mistake the common and usuall road and ignorantly fell into a by-path whereby he escaped the bloody hands of some Donatists who knowing of his journey way-laid him to have taken away his life Possidonius in vit ejus See his Life in my first part The same Father preaching to the Congregation and forgetting the argument which at first he proposed fell upon a confutation of the errours of the Manichees which he never intended and by that meanes converted one Firmus his auditor who afterwards came and fell downe at St. Augustines feet weeping and confessing that he had lived a Manichee many yeares and now by Gods mercy and this Sermon was converted to the true Catholick belief eodem A godly man passing through his last sicknesse whereof he died with extraordinary calmnesse of conscience and absolute freedome from temptations some of his Christian friends observing and admiring the singularity of his soules quiet at that time especially questioned with him about it He answered that he had sted fastly fixed his heart upon that sweetest promise Esa. 26. 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose minde is stayed on thee because hâ— trusteth in thee And his God had graciously made it fully good unto his soul. Bolton Thomas Whittel a blessed Martyr in Queen Maries dayes was by the wicked suggestions of some Popish incarnate Devills drawn to subscribe to their hellish Doctrine But considering in cold blood what he had done was horribly vexed and felt a hell in his conscience and Satan ready to devoure him which terrible desertion and trouble of minde made him quickly returne with more constancy and fortitude and afterwards by Gods great mercy he proved a most invincible and immoveable Martyr Act. and Mon. James BainhaÌ„ being at the stake in the middest of the flaming fire his legs and his arms being half consumed spake these words O ye Papists behold ye look for miracles and here now you may see one for in this fire I feele no more paine then if I were in a bed of down but it is to me as a bed of Roses Act. and Mon. Iohn Lambert as he was burning in Smithfield when his legges were quite consumed with the fire lifted up his hands his fingers ends flaming like Torches and his heart abounding with comfort cried out None but Christ none but Christ. Act. and Mon. A young man in Wittenberg being kept short by his father was tempted by the Devill to yeeld himselfe body and soule to him upon condition to have his wish satisfied with money which he assented unto and confirmed it by an obligation written with his owne blood whereupon suddenly decaying in his health he was brought to Luther to be examined about the cause unto whom at length he uttered the whole matter which when Luther had heard he brought him into the Congregation where together with the Church he prayed so fervently for him that the Devill at last was forced to bring the bond and throw it in at the window bidding the young man to take it again unto him Act. and Mon. About the yeare 1556. in the town of Weissenstein in Germany a Jew for theft that he had committed was condemned in this cruell manner to be executed He was hanged by the feet with his head downwards betwixt two dogs which constantly snatcht and bit at him The strangenesse of the torment moved Jacobus Andreas a grave and learned Divine to go to behold it Coming thither he found the poor wretch as he hung repeating verses out of the Hebrew Psalms wherein he cryed out to God for mercy Andreas hereupon took occasion to counsell him to trust in Jesus Christ the true Saviour of mankinde The Jew embracing the the Christian faith requested but this one thing that he might be taken downe and be Baptized though
Lord delivered him miraculously for when they had invironed the Church wherein he was he passed safely through the middest of them and though many Arians that knew him were present to discover him yet was he not discerned Theod. See his life in my first part The City of Nisibis being straitly besieged by Sapores King of Persia there was in the City an holy man of God Jacobus by name unto whom the Citizens resorted beseeching him that he would shew himselfe upon the walls and pray to God for help against their enemies which so soone as he had done the Lord sent a cloud of gnats and flies among the Persians whereby the siege was raised and the City saved Simps Eccles. Hist. Sanctius a godly Christian under one of the first persecutions though he was vexed with all sorts of Torments yet could he not be compelled to confesse his name countrey or kindred but to every question still answered I am a Christian whereupon the tormenters applied Plates of Brasse red-hot to all the tenderest parts of his body which was extreame sore with former scourgings whereby his body was so pitifully drawne together that he retained not the shape of a man after which they cast him into prison and after a few dayes his body being all over so sore that he could scarce endure the least touch they bring him forth to new torments presuming thereby either to force him to blaspheme or to die under them on the contrary his body was so suppled and refreshed by his torments that he recovered his former shape and use of his members their intended punishment by the grace of Christ proving a safe medicine unto him Act. Mon. In Tyre a City of Phenicia certain Christians being cast to most savage beasts were not at all hurt by them though the beasts were kept hungry on purpose and raged so vehemently that they which brought them to the Stage though they stood as they presumed out of their reach yet were caught and devoured by them Act. Mon. Quirinus Bishop of Scescanus having an hand-mill tied about his neck was throwne headlong from a bridge into the River where a long time he miraculously floated above the water and called to the lookers on that they should not be dismayed at his sufferings and so at last with much ado he was drowned Act. Mon. The childe of a Christian being but seven years old was asked by a heathen Tyrant how many gods there were whereunto he answered that whatsoever men affirme to be God must needs be one which with one is one and the same and inasmuch as this one is Christ of necessity Christ must be the true God The Tyrant being amazed at this answer asked him where and of whom he had learned this lesson Of my mother quoth the childe with whose milke I sucked in this Doctrine Whereupon the mother was called and she gladly appeared The Tyrant commanded the childe to be horsed up and scourged the joyful mother standing by with dry cheeks whilest all the beholders wept yea she rebuked her Babe for craving a cup of water to quench his thirst charging him to thirst after the cup which the Infants of Bethlehem once dranke of and to remember little Isaac who willingly offered his throat to the sacrificing knife Whilest she thus counselled him the bloody Tyrant puld off the skinne from the crowne of his head the mother cried Suffer my childe for anon thou shalt passe to him who will adorn thy naked head with a crown of glory Whereby the childe was so encouraged that he received the stripes with a smiling countenance After which the Tyrant cast him into prison and shortly after commanded him to be beheaded at which time the mother taking up her childe into her armes kissed him and being required she delivered him to the Executioner saying Farewell my sweet childe and whil'st his head was cutting off she sang All land and praise with heart and voice O Lord we give to thee To whom the death of all thy Saints We know full dear to be The head being off the mother wrapped it in her garments laid it to her breast and so departed Act. Mon. Babilas a godly Christian for the cause of Christ was tormented with most exquisite tortures and so cruelly excruciated from morning till noone that he hardly escaped with life After which some of his friends asking him how he could abide such sharp torments he said that at the beginning he felt some paine but afterwards there stood by him a young man who as he was sweating with paine wiped it off and oft-times refreshed him with cold water wherewith he was so delighted that when he was let down from the Engine it grieved him more then his torments Act. Mon. Pope Martin the fifth raised three great armies intending therewith to destroy all the Bohemians which clave to the doctrine of John Husse and Jerome of Prague but when they came to the encounter five several times each time the said Armies ran away out of the field leaving their Tents and surniture behinde them being strucken and daunted with a causelesse fear before any blow was given or received whereby the godly Bohemians were much encouraged enriched Afterwards under their Captain Zisca they fought eleven battels against the Popes side ever went away victors Act. Mon. See Zisca's Life in my second Part. Ladislaus King of Hungary getting by fraud the two sonnes of Huniades into his hands most cruelly and unjustly caused the eldest of them to be beheaded who after he had received three blowes from the Hangman his hands being tied behinde him rose up upon his feet and looking 〈◊〉 heaven called upon the Lord protesting his innoâ—â—â—cy and so laying down his head again at the fourth blow was dispatched Act. Mon. Examples of Miraculous provision in times of Famine Neere unto Aldborough in Suffolk at what time viz. in the yeere 1555. by reason of unseasonable weather the corne throughout all England was choaked and blasted in the eare there grew up Pease miraculously amongst the rocks without any earth at all about them about the end of September which much brought down the price of corne Camb. Brit. p. 466. In the yeere 1331. when there was a great famine in Ireland the mercy of God so disposed that upon the twenty seventh of June there came to land a mighty multitude of sea-fishes called Thurlheds such as in many ages before had not been seen there They came into the Haven of Dublin Anthony Lord Lucy being Justice of Ireland and by the Citizens of Dublin were many of them killed Camb. Brit. Irel. p. 184. Leyden in the Low Countries being straitly besieged by the Spaniard Anno 1574. and blocked up with thirty six forts the famine grew so great that there died above seven thousand in the City whereupon the Prince of Orange by breaking of ditches and drawing up of sluces did what he could to drown the
a while excluding his servants he kept himselfe in his chamber with his children only Then he conceited that all civil society with others defiled him and thereupon locking his chamber-door continually he caused his servants to reach in at the window food for himselfe and children He cut out all the contents of the Chapters through the whole Bible expected Enthusiasmes and revelations often in the day lying along on the floore and causing his children to do the like with their heads in a ring and when his ancient friends Ministers and others hearing of it came to speake with him amongst whom my selfe was one knocking at his chamber-door importuning intreating and threatening to break open the doore yet could they by no meanes prevaile either to have a word from him or the door opened at length one of his children sickened and died yet he concealing it privately carried it into the next roome and locked it up till the corpse putrefying almost choaked him whereupon he caused his servant to bring him some Mosse still concealing the occasion wherewith he stopped the cranies in his wall to keep out the stench But his course of life being much talked of abroad a neighbour Justice of Peace pittying his condition sent some with command to break open his chamber-doore which being done they found him and his children like Nebuchadnezzar much deformed with their haire and nailes grown very long their clothes almost rotten upon their backes for the want of shift and all their healths very much impaired with that course of life yet neither would he nor any of his children being so tutored by him speak to any one though never so much pressed thereunto But it pleased God at length that his children being taken from him and sent to some friends recovered both their tongues and health Himself upon the breaking open of this door presently took his bed refusing to speak to or converse with any and though by godly Ministers and others which came to him he was laboured with to take notice of the dangerous temptation under which he lay intreated counselled threatened and prayed with and for him yet still turning his face to the wall he would neither heare nor answer them one word In which obstinate condition he remained till his death which was not long after David George alins Haàs Van Burcht borne in Delft in the Low-countreys a man altogether unlearned being a painter of glasses yet subtile of understanding and eloquent withal after he began to disperse his erroneous tenets was sought after by the Magistrates of that place whereupon he fled with his family to Basil in Suitzerland where in private he taught and advanced his damnable Heresies confirming his absent disciples by letters and books which he caused to be printed in the Castle of Beningen He died in the said town of Basil Anno 1556. for griefe that one of his followers was revolted Before his death whereas his disciples thought him to be god seeing him draw towards death he resolutely said unto them Be not amased I go to begin to shew my power Christ my predecessour to shew his power rose again the third day but I to shew my greater glory will rise again at the end of three years Afterwards the Magistrate being throughly informed of his life and doctrine caused his processe to be drawn and by a sentence his body was taken out of the ground and justice done as if he had been alive his goods confiscated and his books burnt Belg. Com. Wealth p. 65. 66. At Boston in New England the seventeenth of Octob. 1637. the wife of Master William Dier which woman held many monstrous and Heretical opinions was brought to bed of a Monster which had no head the face stood low upon the breast the eares like an Apes grew upon the shoulders the eyes stood far out and so did the mouth the nose was hooking upward the breast and back full of short prickles like a Thornback the Navel belly and distinction of the sexe were where the hips should have been and those back-parts were on the same side with the face the armes hands thighes and leggs were as other childrens but instead of toes it had on each foot three clawes with Tallons like a Fowle upon the back above the belly it had two great holes like mouths and in each of them stood out two peeces of flesh it had no forehead but in the place above the eyes it had four hornes two of above an inch long hard and sharpe and the othee two somewhat lesse It was of the female Sexe both the father and mother of it were great Familists The midwife one Hawkins wife of St. Ives was notorious for familiarity with the devil and a prime Familist Most of the women who were present at this womans travel were suddenly taken with such a violent vomiting and purging without eating or drinking any thing that they were forced to go home others had their children so taken with Convulsions which they neither had before nor after that they were sent for home so that none were left at the time of the birth of it but the Midwife and two other one of which was fallen asleep and at such time as the child died which was about two houres before the birth of it the bed wherein the mother lay shook so violently as that all that were in the roome perceived it the afterbirth had prickles on the inside like those on the childes breast See Mr. Wells short story c p. 44. Also about the same time and in the same place one Mistris Hutchinson who held about thirty monstrous and Heretical opinions whereof you have a Catalogue set down by the same Author Pag. 59. c. growing big with childe and towards the time of her labour at last brought forth thirty monstrous births or thereabouts at once some of them bigger and some lesser some of one shape and some of another few of any perfect shape none of all of them of humane shape This Mistris Hutchinson was first banished by the Magistrates of New-England into Read-Island for her Heresies but not staying long there she removed with all her family her daughter and her children into the Dutch Plantation to a place called Helgate where the Indians set upon them and slew her with all her family her daughter and her daughters husband with all their children save onely one that escaped which is the more remarkable because it was never heard that the Indians either before or since did commit the like outrage upon any others A Popish Priest Parson of Crondal neere Canterbury at the coming in of Cardinal Poole was absolved by him got a Copy of the Popes Bull of pardon brought into England by the said Poole which the Sabbath following he read to his people and withal told them that having been with the Cardinal on the Thursday before he had made him as clean from his sinnes as he was at the Font-stone or
about it whilest they strove which should have it and Epicurus the Philosopher was forc'd to preserve his own and the lives of his family by giving them a few Beans every day Diod. Sic. About the year 1595. there fell out so great a famine amongst the Turks in Hungary that the Tartar women that followed the Camp were fain to roast their own children and eat them Turk Hist. p. 1060. In the reign of Maximinus the Roman Emperour there was such a cruel Famine that multitudes died through hunger in the Cities but more in the Villages Divers brought out their best treasure and gave it for any kind of sustinance though never so little Others by selling their possessions for food fell into extreme misery Some did eat grasse others fell upon unwholesome herbs whereby they hurt or poisoned their bodies Many were driven to leave the Cities and to beg up and down the Countries Some through faintnesse fell down in the streets and holding up their hands cryed miserably for some scraps or fragments of bread being ready to give up the ghost and able to say no more then hungâ—â— hungry In the siege of Harlem under the D. De Alva their provisions being spent they were forced to make bread of Linseed and Turneps and lived upon the flesh of Horses Dogs Cats c. See in my General Martyrologie divers remarkable stories which fell out in the time of a terrible Famine in the siege of Sancerre in France Pap. 320. c. In the late Massacre in Ireland one Mary Barlow with her six Children were all stripped stark naked and turned out of doors and being forced to shelter themselves in a Cave they had nothing to eat for three weeks space but two old Calves-skins which they beat with stones and so eat them hair and all her children crying out to her rather to go out and be killed by the Irish then to famish there VVhilest the Saxons here were heathens God plagued them with such a cruel Famine that in Sussex many were so tormented with it that sometimes by fourty together they would get upon the rocks by the Sea-side and throwing themselves from thence drown themselves in the Sea Pegu one of the richest and fruitfullest Countries in the world whence probably Solomon fetched his Gold for it yields three harvests in the year yet by reason of VVars Anno Christi 1598. the City of Pegu formerly replenished with Millions of Inhabitants was so wasted by a terrible Famine that there were scarce 7000. persons men women and children left therein and those feeding on mans flesh the Parents requiring of their children that life which not long before they gave them and now laid them not in their bosomes but in their bowels The children became living Sepulchres of their scarce dead Parents The stronger preyed upon the weaker and if the Famine had left on them nothing but skin and bones for those hungry raveners they ripped up their bellies and devoured their inward parts and breaking the skull sucked out their brains raw Yea the weaker sex was by the strength of Famine armed with no lesse cruel despite against whomsoever they could meet in the streets of the City with their knives which they carried about them as harbingers to their teeth in these inhumane humane banquets Pur. Pilgrimag p. 464. About the year 1604. the Wars in Transylvania had brought such a Famine that roots herbs and leaves of trees were their usual food Horses Dogs Cats Rats c. were rarities to the poor and dainties beyond their reach yea a Mother brought back into her womb by unnatural means satisfying nature her six Children and two men aâ—e their own Mothers Others cut down Malefactors from the Gallowes and did eat them Idem p. 289. The Spaniards in their first Plantation of Dariena in the West-Indes though they met with Gold enough yet were afflicted with such a Famine that one sold an old lean mangie Dog to his fellowes for many pieces of Gold These flayed the Dog and cast his mangie skin and bones of his head amongst the bushes The next day another finds these full of Magots and stinking But hunger had neither eies nor sent he brought it home sod and ate it and found many customers that gave him a piece of gold for a dish of that mangie broth Another found two Frogs and sod them which a sick man bought for two fine shirts curiously wrought with gold others found a dead man â—oâ—ten and stinking which putrifyed carcase they did rost and eat So that of 770. men scarce 40. shadowes of men remained Idem p. 817. See more in my two Martyrologies They that be slain with the sword are better then they that be slain with hungar for these pine away stricken through for want of the fruits of the field Lam. 4. 9. CHAP. LXXII Examples of Gods judgments upon Witches Conjurers Inchanters and Astrologers IT 's heathenish sin Deut. 18 10 11 14. Ezek. 13. 6. 23. 2 King 9. 22. Nah. 3. 4. 2 Chron. 33. 6. 2 King 21. 6. Forbidden Deut. 18. 14. Jer. 27. 9. 29. 8. 14. 14. Ezek 12. 24. Lev. 19. 31. Mich. 5. 12. Gal 5. 20. Isai. 65. 4. 29 4. Wicked seek to them 1 Sam. 6. 2. 2 King 17. 17. Isai. 19. 3. 47. 12 13. Ezek. 21. 21. c. Num. 22. 5 c. Acts 16. 16. 1 Sam. 28. 7. Dan. 2. 2. 4. 7. 5. 7. God oft befools them Isai. 44. 25. Mich. 3. 7. Zach. 10. 2. They should be slaine Exod. 22. 18. Levit. 20. 27. God punisheth such as seek to them 1 Chron. 10. 13. Regard not them that have familiar spirits neither seek after wizards to be defiled by them Levit. 19. 31. A man or a woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard shall surely be put to death they shall stone them with stones their blood shall be upon them Levit. 20. 27. Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live Exod. 22. 18. There shall not be found amongst you any one that useth Divination or an observer of times or an Inchanter or a Witch or a Charmer or a Consulter with familiar spirits or a Wizards or a Necromancer For all that do these things are an abomination to the Lord Deut. 18. 10 11 12. When they shall say unto you Seek to them that have familar spirits and unto wizards that peep and mutter Should not a people seek unto their God Isai. 8. 19. Vitellius Emperour of Rome banished all Astrologers out of Italy enacting that if any remained he should presently be put to death Suet. Domitian the Emperour also banished all Astrologers under a severe penalty Eus. yet in his old age beving full of fears he sent for an Astrologer and asked him about his death the Astrologer told him that it was near at hand then he asked him what he thought of himself he told him that his destiny was that shortly he should be torn in pieces with
of two or three hand-breadthes you shall find sweet water the best in all those Countries and which is most strange when the Ocean ebbeth this water growes brackish but when it flowes to the top it is most sweet P. Pil. v. 2. p. 989. Not far from Casbine the Regal City in Persia is a Fountain of a strange and wonderfull nature out of which there continually springeth and issueth a marvellous quantity of black Oyl which serveth in all parts of Persia to burn in their houses and is usually carried all over the Countrey upon Kine and Asses whereof you may often meet three or four hundred in company P. Pil. v. 2. p. 1431. About three daies journey from old Babylon is a Town called Ait and near unto that is a valley of Pitch very marvellous to behold wherein are many Springs throwing out abundantly a kind of black substance like unto Tar and Pitch which serveth all the Countrey thereabouts to make staunch their Barques with and Boats every one of which Springs makes a noise like to a Smith's Forge in puffing and blowing out the matter which never ceaseth day nor night and the noise is heard a mile off the Moores call it Hell-mouth P. Pil. v. 2. p. 1437. The tree whereon the Coquo-nuts grow in the Indies of all trees in the Forrest may have the preheminence for meerly with it without the least help of any other a ship may be built and furnished to Sea the heart of the Tree will make good Planks and Timber and Masts a Gum that growes thereon will serve to calk it the rind of the same Tree will make Cordage and Sailes and the large nut being full of kernel and pleasant liquor will serve for meat and drink to those that sail in the ship and the store of these nuts for Merchandise P. Pil. v. 2. p. 1466. In the great Mogul's Countrey from Agra to Lahor which are the two chief Cities in this Empire is about four hundred English miles the Countrey in all that distance being even without Mountains or hills and the high-way planted on both sides with Trees like unto a delicate Walk P. Pil. v. 2. 1468. In the same Countrey in a City called Nagracut there is a Chappel most richly set forth both seeled and paved with plates of pure gold wherein is kept an Idol which they call Maâ—ta visited yearly by many thousands of the Indians who out of devotion cut off part of their tongues to make a sacrifice for it In the same Province also there is another famous Pilgrimage to a place called Iallamakae where out of cold Springs and hard rocks there are daily to be seen incessant eruptions of fire before which the Idolatrous people fall down and worship P. Pil. v. 2. p. 1468. In the same Countrey also they have a pleasant clear liquor which they call Taddy issuing from a spongie Tree that growes straight and tall without boughes to the top and there spreads out into branches somewhat like to an English Colewort where they make incisions under which they hang earthen pots to preserve the influence that which distills forth in the night is as pleasing to the taste as any white wine if drunk betimes in the morning and of a piercing and medicinable quality excellent against the stone But in the heat of the day the Sun alters it so that it becomes headdy ill-relished and unwholesome P. Pil. v. 2. p. 1469. For Cotton Wooll they plant seeds which grow up into shrubs like unto our Rose-bushes It blowes first into a yellow blossom which falling off there remains a Cod about the bignesse of a mans thumb in which the substance is moist and yellow but as it ripens it swells bigger till it break the Cod and in short time becomes as white as snow and then they gather it P. Pil. v. 2. p. 1470. Musk is taken from a little reddish beast beaten with many blowes on one place that the blood may all come thither then is the skin so swolne and full of blood bound straight that the blood may not issue forth and being put into one or more bladders is dryed on the beasts back till the bladder fall off of it self and so that blood after a moneth becomes excellent Musk. P. Pil. v. 2. p. 1500. One Peter a Christian Cafar at Sofala his wife dying in travel of a daughter nourished the child with the milk of his own breasts a whole year at end whereof the child dyed of the Worms and then the milk dryed up in his breasts He told me saith the Relator that pity of the Motherlesse crying Infant which his poverty could not otherwise relieve caused him to seek to still it by laying it to his breast and then gave it something to drink which having continued two or three daies his breast began to yield Milk P. Pil. v. 2. pag. 1542. In the Seas near unto Sofala are many womenfishes which from the belly to the neck are very like a woman the Female nourisheth her young with her breasts which are like a womans From the belly downward it hath a thick and long tail with finnes like a Dolphin the skin white on the belly and the back rougher then a Dolphins it hath armes ending from the elbowes in finnes and hath no hands the face is plain round deformed bigger then a mans without humane semblance wide-mouthed thick hanging lips as an hound four teeth hanging out almost a span long like the tusk of a Boar and their nostrils like a Calves P. Pil. v. 2. p. 1546. The Torpedâ— is a strange kind of fish which a man holding in his hand if it stir not it produceth no effect but if it move it self never so little iâ— so torments the body of him which holds it that his Arteries Joynts Sinews and all his Members feele exceeding paine with a certain numness and as soon as it is let goe out of the hand all that paine and numness is gone also P. Pil. v. 2. p. 1183. The Cynamon-tree is a small tree and low having leaves like to our Bay-tree In the moneth of March or April when the sap goeth up to the top of the tree they cut the bark of the tree round about in length from knot to knot or from joynt to joynt above and below and then easily with their hands they take it away laying it in the Sun to drie and yet for all this the tree dies not but against the next yeer it will have a new barke and that which is gathered every yeer is the best Cynamon that which grows longer is great and not so good P. Pil. v. 2. p. 1709 In India is a treee called Arbore de Rays or the Tree of roots it groweth first up like other trees and spreadeth the branches out of which there come strings which seem afarre off to be cords of hemp which growing longer till they reach the ground there take root again so that in the end one tree