Sea of the North though being frozen the greatest part of the yeare yet that the same at such time as the Sunne mounteth high and their day of such length should through the heate of the Sunne thaw and become nauigable and so in that season the Indians might be driuen through the same with a tempest all which though it be so yet the people assuredly knowing that the same Sea freezeth in such sort euery yeere will not dare or aduenture to saile therein or to make any voyage on that side so that we come not to the knowledge of such thinges as are in that Sea and Land vnlesse wee will beleeue the fictions that Sylenus told to King Mydas LV. Of all friendship tell vs them I pray you for in so diffuse a matter any man may lye by authority without controlement BER That which I will tell you is out of Theopompus alleaged by Aelianus in his book De varia Historia This Sylenus saith he was the Sonne of a Nimph and accounted as inferiour to the Gods but as superiour vnto men who in one communication among many others that hee had with King Mydas discoursed vnto him that out of this Land or world in which wee liue called commonly Asia Affrique and Europe whom he termeth Ilands enuironed rounde about with the Ocean there is another Land so great that it is infinite and without measure in the same are bred Beastes and Fowles of admirable hugenes and the men which dwell therein are twise so great as we are and their life twice as long They haue many and goodly Citties in which they liue by reason hauing lawes quite contrary vnto ours among their Citties there are two that exceede the rest in greatnes in customes no whit at all resembling for the one is called Machino which signifieth warlike and the other Euaesus which signifieth pittifull the enhabitants of which are alwayes in continuall peace and plentifully abounding in great quantity of riches in whose Prouince the fruites of the earth are gathered without being sowed or planted They are alwayes free from infirmities spending their whole time in mirth pleasure and solace they maintaine iustice so inuiolably that many times the immortall Gods disdaine not to vse their friendship and company but on the contrary the enhabitants of Machino are altogether warlike continually in Armes and Warre seeking to subdue the bordering Nations This people doth dominate and commaund ouer many other proud Citties and mighty Prouinces The Cittizens of this Towne are at least 200000. in number they sildome die of infirmity but in the Warres wounded with stones and great staues Iron nor steele hurtes them not for they haue none Siluer gold they possesse in such quantity that they esteeme lesse therof then we doe of Copper Once as he said they determined to come conquer these Ilands of ours and hauing past the Ocean with many thousandes of men and comming to the Hiperborean mountaines hearing there vnderstanding that our people were so ill obseruers of Religion and of so wicked manners they disdained to passe any farther accounting it an vnwoorthy thing to meddle with so corrupt a people and so they returned backe againe He added heere-vnto many other meruailous things as that there were in other Prouinces thereof certaine people called Meropes who enhabited many and great Citties within the bounds of whose Country there was a place called Anostum which worde signifieth a place whence there is no returne this Country saith he is not cleare and light neither yet altogether darke but betweene both through the same runne two Riuers the one of delight the other of greefe vppon the shore both of the one and the other are planted trees about the bignes of Poplar-trees those that are on the banks of the Riuer of griefe bring forth a fruite of the same nature quality causing him that eateth thereof to spend the whole time of his life in sad and melancholly dumps bitter teares perpetuall weeping The fruite of those that grow on the banks of the other Riuer haue a contrary effect and vertue yeelding to the eater thereof a blessed course of life abounding in all ioy recreation and pleasure without any one moment of sadnes When they are in yeeres by little and little they waxe young againe recouering their former vigour and force and thence they turne still backward euen to their first infancie becomming little babes againe then they die LV. These things were very strange if they were true but be howe they will they carry some smell of that of which we entreated concerning the Land which is on the other side of the Riphaean and Hiperborean mountaines seeing he saith that determining to conquer this our world which he calleth Ilands they returned backe after they came to those mountaines and so it is to be vnderstoode that they came from the other part of the North-pole as for that Land which he saith to be so tenebrous obscure it may be the same which as we sayd hath continuall obscurity and is a condemned part of the world I doe not wonder at all if amongst the other works of Nature she made this part of the earth with so strange properties I meane not that which Silenus spake but the other by vs entreated of before the ayre of which by reason of som constellation or other thing we comprehend not is so troubled that it is not onely vninhabitable but also not to be passed through wherby the secreets therein contained remaine concealed though perchance on the other side therof the time temperature may be such and so contrary that it may excell these very Countries wherein we now liue AN. You haue reason for without doubt the Land which is in those parts vndiscouered must be very great and containe in it many things of admiration vtterly vnknowne to vs But comming now to particularize somewhat more of that which is now in these our times known discouered I wil tell you what some very new moderne Authors doe say thereof and principallie Iohn Zygler whom I alleadged before who in person visited viewed some part of these Septentrionall Countries though hee passed neither the Hiperborean neyther the Riphaean mountains who meruaileth greatly at that which sundry Authors haue left written of these parts for he found many things so different and contrary that theirs conformed in no one poynt with the truth as well touching the situation of mountaynes and heads of Riuers as the sundry properties and qualities of the Regions and Prouinces for hee sayeth that he was in that part where they all affirme the mountaines Ryphaeus to be and hee found there no mountaynes at all neyther in a great space of Lande round about it but all a plaine and leuell Country the selfe same is affirmed by Sigismund Herberstain in his voyage so that if they erre in the seate of a thing so common and
earth A great ignorance of the ancient Commendador is a Knight of some crosse as that of Malta or S. Iames. Antypodes S. Austins opinion touching Antypodes Lactantius Firmianus opinion Pliny touching the same Who are the right Antypodes Perioscaei Amphioscaei Ethoroscaei The whole world is enhabitable The Polar Zones enhabited * Ireland Ptolome ignorant in many countries nowe knowne Plin lib. 4 Cap. 12. The happy soyle of the Hyperborians Solinus touching the Hyperboreans Pom. Mela touching the Hyperboreans The signification of Pterophoras and Hyperbore * 〈…〉 Iacobus Ziglerus of the Northerne parts Nature hath prouided a remedy to euery mischiefe Thule is the same which we now call Iseland The prouinces of Pilapia and Vilapia Pigmees The Bachiler Encisus concerning the length of the dayes and nights towards the Poles The diuersity of the rysing and setting of the sun between vs and those that lyue neere or vnder the Poles An example whereby it is proued that it can neuer be very dark vnder the Poles What thys Word Orizon signifieth Whether all those parts be enhabited or no. Pyla Pylanter Euge Velanter Wild Beasts like vnto white Beares which digge vp the Ice with their nailes A league is three miles Pigmaei Ictiophagi * Island The Prouince of Agonagora Lande yet vnknowne 1650. leagues of the world yet vndiscouered The answer of a boy of Seuilla The shippe called Victoria compassed the world round about Indians driuen by storme into the Norths Sea Fictions of Sylenus to King Mydas out of Aelianus The Citty of Machino The Citty of Euaesus Meropes Anostum The Riuer of delight The Riuer of griefe Iohan Zyglerus Sigismund Herberstain The names of the most part of Prouinces and Regions are changed The Prouince of Byarmya deuided into two parts Wild Beasts like vnto Stags called Rangeferi Hatherus King of Swethland Wild Asses The lower Byarmya In steede of Armes they vse Enchantments Rogumer King of Denmark Finmarchia or Finlande Nature hath ordained a remedy against all inconueniences Things to which men are accustomed becom naturall vnto theÌ„ in time Custome is another nature Adams hill There is nowe no known part of the world out of which the worshipping of auncien feyned Gods is not banished A North North Westerne wind The Snowe on the mouÌ„taines neere the South-pole is blewish of colour like vnto the Skie The song of the Nightingale exceedeth that of all other birdes in sweetnes Birds vnderstand the cal one of another It is written of Apollonius Tyaneê° that he vnderstood the singing of Birdes A pretty iest Birdes or Beasts haue no vse of reason at all The disagreement of writers touching the description situation of Countries Diuersity of writers touching the Scithians Sundry Gyants of wonderfull force puissance North North-westerne wind The strange violence of the tempests in the Northern countries Certaine warlike pastimes that their young men vse Troupes of horsemen skirmishing and fighting vpon frozen Lakes Disa queene of Swethland The white Lake The Lake Vener The Lake Meler Zhe Lake Veher A strange History of a Negromancer The force of enchantments cannot any longer prolong life then the time by God fixed appointed The deuils haue greater liberty in the Northerne Lands theÌ„ in other parts Henry King of Swethland a famous Negromancer Reyner King of Denmark Agaberta a notable Sorceresse Grace of Norway Ifrotus K. of Gothland slaine by a Witch Hollerus a Negromancer Othinus by his Enchantments restored the K of Denmark to the Crowne A mountain that seemeth to be inhabited of deuills A strange noyse heard in certaine mountaines of Angernamia Vincentius in his Speculo historiali Charibdis The strange propertie of a Caue in the Cittie of Viurgo The ayre somtime inclosed within the frozen lakes in seeking vent maketh a terrible thuÌ„dring and noyse The strange propertie of the lake Vether in thawing A notable chance that hapned to a Gentleman vpon thys Lake by which he saued his lyfe Custome is another nature Tauerns and victualing houses built vpon the sea A strange inuention to slide vpon the Ise. I haue seene in Brabant and 〈◊〉 the Noble meÌ„ vse these kinde of slids very cunously made and gilded they call them Trinâ—aus These are in manner like those aboue said which they call 〈◊〉 The maner of their trauailing vpoÌ„ the Snow Rangifer is a Beast in maner like vnto a Stagge The great coÌ„modities that those Country people receaue of the Rangifers Beasts called Onagri The strange iealousie of the Onagres in Affrica 3. Sorts of Wolues in the Northeren Regions The Neurians doe at somtimes of the yeere transforme themselues into vvolues How the Duke of Muscouia dealt with an Enchanter Howe three young men destroyed a number of vvolues that greatly annoyed the towne wher they lyued Of a man that disfigused himselfe like vnto a Wolfe and did many cruelties in the kingdoÌ„â— of Galicia in Spaine A strange property of their Hares Beastes called Gulones The maner of taking the Gulones Tygers Furre of Martres Lynces The Rams of Gothland Weathers whose taile weyed weyed more theÌ„ one of their quarters A kinde of fish called Monster Henry Falchendor Archbishop of Nydrosia Another kinde of fishes called Fisiters A strange miracle Two sorts of Whales A Whale of admirable greatnes The fish called Orca is enemy to the Whale A strange thing written of the Whale A moÌ„strous fish taken in a Riuer of Germany A fish called Monoceros A fish called Serra which is as much to say as saw in English Another called Xifia Rayas Rosmarus The maner of taking him Sundry fishes like to Horses Oxen c. Dolphins A strangt tale of a Dolphin in S. Domingo Bothnia deuided into 3. prouinces The excellencie of the Climat of North Bothnia It nourisheth no venemous or hurtful beast Byarmya superiour A strange Law in the Kingdome of Chinay Filandia Newcastle belonging to the King of Swethen A strange property of the fish Treuius Rainebirds Snowbirds Faulcons of diuers sorts I take this to be that which wee call heere an Ospray of which I haue seene diuers Sea-Crowes Plateae Duckes Ducks bred of the leaues of a tree in Scotland Geese A Towne in Scotlande that receaueth great commoditie through Duckes Serpents Aspes Hyssers Amphisbosna Serpents that haue a King A huge and terrible Serpent in the prouince of Borgia Sundry cruell Serpents in India A kinde of Trees that in the extremity of the colde Regions retaine all the yeere long their greenenesse Many Christian Regions The magnificent tytles of the Emperour of Russia A Nation called Finns that are in warre with the Muscouites A great part of the world vndiscouered A most tyrannous act of the Duke of Muscouia Tierra del Labrador The Land of Bacallaos Fynland coÌ„uerted to the Christian Fayth The deuotion of the North people
Sorcerers Hags 84 Opinions of Destenie 101 104. Opinions of the Hiperboreans fo 119. Ophrogeus 88. P. Palmesters 107. Paradise 43 46. Pallas Euanders Sonne 22. Pariardes 24. Pirrhus 8. Pigmies 13 14 120 125. Pigmie what it signifieth 15. Phanaces 11. Phantasma 65. Phaenix 44. Physon 48. Pictorius 24. Planets 105. Pope Marcellus 105. Port Vizantine 10. Prester Iohn 55. Prosperous Fortune 93. R. Rangiferi 129 144. Riuers 42. Riuers of paradise 48. Riuer of greefe 127. Riuer of delight ibid. Robin-good-fellowes 78. Rosmarus 149. Rounceualls 22. S. Satires 12. 73. Sanches Garcia 8. S. Christopher 22. Saludadores 88. Scipio Affricanus first called Caesar 8. Sirboti 23. S. Thomas 55. 56. S. Andrew 72. Soule 105. Spirits 61 62 63. 64. 77. Stryges 84. Strength 21. Suillus Rufus Stones 41. T. Terrestriall Paradise 47. 52. Thalestris 14. Three principal erroneous acts 52 The beginning of Prester Iohn 56 The loue of dogs 96 97. The white Lake 137. The Lake Meler ibid. Tigris 48. Tongues deuided 17. Thule 44. 120. 125. Tritormo 20. Tritons 28. 30. Tyresias 34. V. Versatilis the Seraphins sword 48. Vipers 110. Vener a Lake 141. Vether a Lake 137. Vnderstanding 98. Vse of naturall Magique lawfull fol. 76. W. Water 37. Women of Aegipt 5. Women changed to men 34. 35. Wise men 36. Wild Asses 129. Witches 75. 80. World 23. 52. 115. Whales 148. Weathers 147. Wolfes 145. Y. Yuorie 57. Z. Zona Torrida 46. 48. 115. Zones fiue 113. Zuna 54. FINIS The colde more tolerable then the heate The Philosophers definition of Nature Leuinê° LeÌ„nius definition of Nature Natura naturans Natura naturata Many examples of meÌ„ like one to the other The likenes of Artemon to Antiochus Caius Bibius like to PoÌ„pey Diuers Romaines one like to another Don Rodrigo Girdon and his brother The strange likenes of two men A thing notable of two daughters and a sonne borne all at a burthen The answer of a young man to Augustus Caesar The womeÌ„ of Egipt meruailous fruitfull A woman deliuered of 7. children at once another of 9. A woman deliuered of 4. children all liuing Hermophrodites Two womeÌ„ deliuered at once of fiue sons a peece A Lady of Spaine deliuered of six sonnes 70. Proportioned children at one burden A gentlewoman of Almaigne deliuered of a 150. children The monstrous and strange child birth of the Lady Margaret of Holland The dangerous chyldebirth of women in the kingdom of Naples Hee Goates hauing milk in their teats How long a woman may goe great with child What Hermophrodites are Two Hermophrodites burned The Androgins are all Hermophrodites The linage of Agrippas Nero borne with his feet forward Scipio Affrican called Caesar quiae Caesus ex vtero The strange birth of Don Sanches Garcia king of Nauarre The like of Diego Osorio Children borne toothed Hercules borne with three rowes of teeth The face of a child newe borne couered with long haire A vvench hauing haire vppon the chine of her backe like brisles of a Boare A woman deliuered of an Elephant Sundry strange and monstrous childbirthes Lumpes of flesh called by the PhisitioÌ„s moles Nature forceth her alwayes to do the best The wonderful force of imagination A blacke child borne of white Parents The strange opiration of Nature in the Poet Vizantine A childe couered with hayre The place is called Petroe sancta A wonderfull Monster borne in Germany A wonderful monster A most strange stoie of a Frier Sundrie strange and monstrous formes of men Monosceli Phanaces Sundry diuers shapes of men in the Country of Georgia Arimaspes In what places of the world the monsters are written to be Satyres are men and creatures reasonable The shape of Satyres Meetings of the Satyres Satyres Faunes Egipanes Men with tailes like horses Three Ilands of Satyres Men with tayles like Foxes A race of men hauing all tayles A strange story of a Pilgrima A man with two heads Two children froÌ„ the nauill down ward ioyned in one Two chyldren ioyned backe to backe Pigmees Amazons Thalestris Qu. of the Amazons The Amazons cam to the warres of Troy Pedro Mexias The country stature story description of the Pigmees Theyr fight with the Cranes Ouid. Aristotle Solinus Pomponius Mela. Gemafrisius A shippe of Pigmees driuen on the shore of Norway The relation of Pigafeta in his voyage to the Indies with Magellan Pigmees are men endued with the vse of reason Ezechiel 27. Pigmee in Hebrew signifieth a little man Ctesias 130000. men together with heads like dogs An Ape with a dogs head Men with eight toes Men borne with gray haire which in old age waxeth blacke An Ewe brought forth a Lyon and a Sowe an Elephant Iohanes Bohemus The story of a miraculous Iland found out by Iambolo Iohanes Bohemus Cap. 26. Men whose bones are like sinewes Men with deuided tongues which speâ—â— two purposes at once Bread made of white seede These men vse 28. letters At 150. yeres they kil theÌ„selues A most strange kind of beast They abhor artificiall dressing of meates Theyr sobrietie Their apparrell Theyr exercise Alexander de Alexandria cap. 25. lib. 2. de diebê° Genialibus 4000. Ilands discouered by the Portugales Tritamio a Fencer of exceeding strength The lyke strength of his Sonne being a man of Armes vnder Pompey The miserable end of Milo who liuing was so renowned for his strength The miraculous force of Tritormo Ligdamus the Siracusan hauing his bones massiue and whole within A Gentleman in a certaine infirmity forbidden to drinke remained all his life time euer after without drinking Pero Pardo de Riba de Neyra griped his enemy to death betweene his armes Sundry that abstained long from drinke A man that neuer drank in his life The greatnes of strength consisteth not in the bignes of body Pusion and Secundila x. foote long a peece Orestes was 7. cubits long A bodie found of 33. cubits The miraculous leÌ„gth of the carkas of Antheus The Sepulchre of Pallas sonne to Euander The strange admirable stature of a Giant The bone of a Gyant to which his body being proportioned must be 40. foote long Heereof I take it it comes that seeing a great woman wee say shee is a Rounceuall Iosephus lib. quinto de antiquitatibus A man of Calabria of a meruailous tall and big stature Golyas the Gyant The longer the world lasteth the lesser are the people in stature People among the Ethiopians called Sirboti of 8. cubites in height Wherein the long life of man consisteth The men of Aetolia liue long People of the prouince Pandora The Citty Acroton buâ—lded on the top of the mountaine Atos. There bloweth no wind at all on the top of the hill Olympus Macrobians Men neuer die of sicknes in the Iland Meroe Pictorius liued 300. yeeres Diuers and different coÌ„putation of yeres by the Auncient Nestor liues 300. yeere The Abbesse of MoÌ„uiedro turned to be young again Two men that in theyr old age became youÌ„g againe A man in India that was
340. yeeres old had foure times renued his age A Moore in the Citty of Vengala 300. yeeres olde The lawes both of Gētiles and Moores permitteth to take manie wiues A man that had liued 340. yeres The long life of those that liue on the other side of the Mountaines Hyperbores Cornelius Tacitus writeth that in Illiria a man called Dondomio liued 500. yeeres Long life not to be desired Centauri vel Sagitarij The History of the Centaures Those of Nephele first learned to ride horses The cause of the warrs betweene the Lapiths the Centaures The Indians thoght that the man and the horse had been all one creature Chiron the Tutor of Achilles Tritons or Sea men Nereides A strange History of a Sea man A Sea man brought out of Mauritania into Spaine The Dolphins more cautelous then other Fishes A race of men in Galicia discended of a Triton Reasons refuting the former storie of men called Marini An answere to those refutations A most strange and admirable History of a Virgine deflowred by a Beare The most wonderfull History of a woman begotten with child by an Ape A strange history of the first inhabitation of the Kingdoms of Pegu Sian Mermaids A mermayd driuen a shore on the Sea-coast Tyresias the Theban Prophet The daughter of Casin changed into a man The like of a woman in Argos The like of a woman in the Citty of Caeta A gentlemans daugh ter of Portugall changed her sex The like of a woman called Phaetula The like of a Husbandmans wife in Spaine Strange things not to be told but before such as are learned and wise The cause of the diuersitie of the taste properties of waters The Fountaine of Epirus The Fountaine Eleusidis Iacobs Wel in Sichar The Lake Silias Sundry Springs of different natures in a valley of Iury neer Macherunte The most strange nature propertie of the herbe Baharas The vertue thereof A Spring in Sycilia most admirable A Fountaine in the Country of the Elyans The Fountaines Alteno Alfeno A Lake 〈◊〉 in Scithia A Fountaine in Licia Water of the Fountaine Tenaeus that will by no meanes be mingled with wine A Fountaine in the Iland of Cuba Stones in a Valley of the same Iland all round A strange Fountaine in the Iland of Cerdonia A Lake on the top of a mountaine in the I le of S. Domingo Two Fountaines in Spaine of strange effect A Fountaine in Sauoy breeding stones of great vertue A strange stone in the Earle of Beneuenta his Garden These Fouls are in English called Barnakles The Author is heerin deceaued for these are 2. seuerall stories both very true The strange fruite of a tree in the citty of Ambrosia A strange tree mentioned in Pigafetas relation to the Pope Certaine riuers of incredible greatnesse found out in the West Indyes Aristotles opiniō of the source of Riuers The opinion of Anaximander his followers The surest opinion cōfirmed by Scripture What the word of Paradice generally taken signifieth The Philosophers opinions concerning Paradice Where the Gentiles supposed the Elisian fields to be Thule is thought to be the same which is now called Iseland Plato The Phaenix renueth of her owne ashes Lactantius Firmianus discourse of Paradice S. Iohn Damascenes opinion of Paradise Venerable Bedes opinion Strabo the Theologians opinion Origens opinion These opinions refuted by S. Thomas Scotus Heauen taken for the regiō of the ayre in many places of Scripture Suidas a greek Author Arrianus a Greeke Historiographer The strange aduenture happening to Hanno a Carthagenian Captaine Nicolaus de lyra Ioha de Pechan Opinions of Caetanus Eugubinus touching terestriall Paradice S. Chrisost. The Seraphin with the fiery sword placed before Paradise Fables touching Paradice The foure Riuers that issue out of Paradice The rysing of the riuers Tygris and Euphrates The sources of Ganges and Nylus The mountaine Emodos The mountaine of the Moone The Riuers that come frō Paradise hide themselues in the hollowes of the earth The Riuer Alpheus Sundry Riuers that hiding themselues vnder the earth come to rise out in newe springs The Gulfe called Mare magnum Encisus touching Paradise Some hold opinion that Nilus is not the same w t is in the holy Scripture called Fison The Authors conclusion concerning the foure Riuers The opinion of som who thought the world to be plaine and leuel before the time of the vniuersall flood Three principall sects of Erronius Religions in the world The originall of Idols The olde philosophers in theyr secret conceit detested the adoration of the feyned Gods The cause why the gētiles adore the deuill The Mahometists will neither hear nor answer any man in disputation against theyr religion Many learned Authors that vnrip lay open the beastly absurdities of Mahomets Secte The wise learned men amongst thē what shewe soeuer they make in publique do in secret detest his abusions Mahomets confession touching our Sauiour Iesus Christ our blessed Lady the Gospell and our Christian Beleefe The slauery and seruitude which the Iewes haue endured since the deniall of our Sauiour the true Messias is an euident argument to confute their obstinate blindnes The name of Prester Iohn is rightly Belulgian An egregious fiction of the Papists The place where Saint Thomas the Apostle died The Church holdeth that S. Thomas was slayne with a knife by an idolatrous Priest The beginning of the name and authority of Prester Iohn Prester Iohn is not hee which is in Aethiopia but he who was in the East Indies conquered by the great Chā though the other be now throgh error so called A Prouince of Christians called Georgia Sundry Prouinces kingdoms and Ilands of Christians Christianity goeth compassing roūd about the whole world The deuill speaketh nor appeareth no more to those Gentiles that begin to embrace the Christian fayth The newe conuerted Countries cleer without heresie A man that could by no meanes endure the sight of a Rat. A Noble man that if you shut by night any doore of the house wold be ready to throw him selfe out at the window A strange melancholly humor of a Gentlewoman which by reason discretion she violently suppressed Illusions and apparitions of Spirits do chiefly proceede of the deuill Democrites would by no meanes beleeue that there were any deuils The olde philosophers opinon touching those that were possessed with Spirits Lemures et Lamiae The fabulus fictiō of the old Phylosophers Daemonia Whether Lucifer and those other Angels that offended w t him fell altogether into Hell or no. Sixe degees of Spirits The deuils haue seuerall and sundry offices A strange story written in the book called The Hammer of Witches The office function of the thirde degree of Spirits The deuils malice against vs proceedeth onely of enuie The deuils though of different kindes yet in malice desire to doe euill are all alike Euery man hath a good Angell and a bad attendant vpon him Genium Hominis
the Childe to resemble that thing which the Mother at the time of her conception imagineth The selfe same sayth S. Augustine in his 12. Booke of the Citty of God that the earnest imagination of a woman going great causeth often the child to be borne with the qualities conditions of the thing imagined and vve reade in Plutarch that a white woman conceauing chylde by a vvhite man was deliuered of an Infant coale-blacke because at the tyme that she conceaued she held her eyes and imagination fixed vpon the picture of a Black-Moore which was painted in a cloth vpon the wal which the child wholy resembled LV. Aristotle Pliny many other Authors write of that famous Poet Vizantine that his father and mother beeing white hee was borne black AN. But this was of another sorte Nature making as it were a iumpe from the Grandfather to the Nephewe for his Mother vvas begotten by an Ethiopian in aduoutry which Nature couering in her byrth being white discouered in the byrth of her sonne beeing black Let vs therefore returne to imagination of whose effects we haue seene great experience and I haue heard of a woman deliuered of a child all couered ouer with rough haire the reason wherof was that she had in her chamber the picture of Saint Iohn Baptist clothed in hairy skinns on which the woman vsing with deuotion to contemplate her chyld was borne both in roughnes figure like vnto the same BE. Marcus Damascenus writeth the selfe same which you haue said saying that it hapned in a place of Italy neere the Citty of Pysa It is not long since that there went through Spayne a man gathering money with the fight of a son of his couered with hayre in such quantity so long thicke that in his whole face there was nothing els to be seen but his mouth and eyes Withall the haire was so curled that it crimpled round like Ringes and truely the wilde Sauages which they paynt were nothing so deformed and ouer their whole body so hairie as was thys boy LV. I will neyther wonder at this nor at any such like seeing that in this our time it is known affirmed for a matter most true that certaine Players shewing of a Comedy in Germany one of them which played the deuill hauing put on a kinde of attyre most grisly and feareful vvhē the Play was ended went home to his own house where taking a toy in the head he would needs vse the company of his wife without changing the deformed habite hee had on who hauing her imagination fearefully fixed on the ouglie shape of that attire with which her husband was thē clothed conceaued childe and came to be deliuered of a creature representing the very likenes of the deuill in forme so horrible that no deuil of hell could bee figured more lothsome or abhominable The mother died presently for the small time that this monster liued which was onely three daies there are told of him things strange hellish infernall and to the end this wonder might be knowne vnto the whole world the figure thereof was brought printed into Spaine and carried through Christendome AN. I saw it and can giue thereof good testimonie and it was assuredly reported to be true in such sort as you haue said whereby we may well perceaue how mighty the force of imagination is beeing able to ingender a monster so horrible And seeing we are in the discourse of matters monstrous though this which I will tell you bee not like to these before rehearsed yet I am sure you wil think that it is not a little to be wondred at and perchance it is of a man whom we all haue seene who being a Fryer of the third order of S. Frauncis was wont to make his residence in the Cloister of our Lady of the Vally which is hard by this place where wee nowe are but at this present is in a Cloyster called Soto fast by the Cittie of Zamorra He is so little of stature that without doing him any wrong we may well terme him a Dwarfe but to the bignes of his body he hath an excellent feature and proportion of lymmes and a singuler comlines in his gesture this man as the common voyce is and besides as many religious men haue assured me for a truth was borne in a Village called S. Tiso with all the teeth and tussles which he nowe hath of the which hee neuer changed nor lost any one and with much difficulty could hee be nourished with milke so that hee suckt but a very little while besides hee brought from his mothers wombe the haire of his secretes as if he had beene 20. yeres old At 7. yeres of age his chin was couered with a beard at 10. yeres he begat a child and was in the chiefest strength of his age as other men at 30. and which is more is not at this present aboue 25. yeres olde BER In truth this is a thing very strange worthy of admiration but what shall we say of other monsters which are so many of so sundry shapes in the world that they make those astonished which see them or reade that which is written of them AN. I know not vvhat to iudge because of one side so many graue men and of such authority that we are bound to beleeue them vvrite of these monsters and of the other side we see and heare of so fevv now in the vvorld and of those we scarsely finde any man that can say he hath seene them him selfe and yet there was neuer so great a part of the vvorld discouered as is now for all the which we see not that there are any of these monsters found either in India maior conquered by the Portugales neither in vvest Indies marry they say that they are all retired to mountaines vnaccessible places Pliny Soline and Strabo write perticulerly of them notwithstanding I will make mention of some fevv of them Some they called Monosceli which haue but one legge vvith the which they are so light in leaping that they ouertake all other beasts onely in iumping after them their foote is so great that in hote vveather lying on the ground they lift it vp and with the shadow thereof defend them selues from the heate of the Sunne There are others without either neck or head hauing their eyes in their shoulders others their faces plaine without nosethrils in steed of which they haue tvvo little holes onely others without mouthes maintaining them selues with the onely smell of fruits hearbs the force of whose sent is such that they dry and wither vp the flovvers in smelling out of them all their substance The smell of any euill or noysome thing is so contrary to them that oft-times it putteth them in danger of their liues Their speech and vndestanding is by signes Besides they vvrite that there are men in the mountaines of Scithia or
head so incredibly great that it amazed the beholders but being rotten it fell in peeces the teeth still remaining whole of the which they carried one to Venice shewing it to those that desired the sight thereof as a thing wonderfull Frier Iacobê° Philippê° de Bergamo vvryteth in his Supplementum ChronicoruÌ„ that there vvas found a Sepulchre and in the same a body of admirable greatnesse outreaching as it were in length the high walls or buildings it seemed that he lay sleeping he had woundes vpon him well 4. foote wide at his bolster stoode a candle burning vvhich would not goe out till they bored a hole vnderneath then the light extinguished The body so soone as they touched it turned into powder ashes round about him were written in Greeke Letters these wordes Pallas sonne of Euander slaine by Turnus LUD You would wonder more at that which Sinforianus Campegius writeth in his Booke called Ortus Gallicus alleaging the authoritie of Ioh. Bocacius vvho affirmed to haue seene it himselfe that in Sicilia neere to the Citty of Trapana certaine Labourers diging for chalke vnder the foote of a hill discouered a Caue of great widenesse entring into the which with light they founde sitting in the midst therof a man of so monstrous hugenes that astonished therwith they fled to the vilage reporting what they had seen at last gathering together in great number with weapons torches they returned back to the Caue where they found this Giant whose like was neuer hearde of before in his left hand hee held a mighty staffe so great and thicke as a great maste of a ship seeing that he stirred not they tooke a good hart drew neere him but they had no sooner layde theyr hands vpon him but he fel into ashes the bones onely remayning so monstrous that the very skull of his head held in it a bushell of Wheat and his whole carkas beeing measured was found to be a 140. cubits long AN. It is necessary to alleage many Authors to giue credit to a thing so far out of all limits of reason the like of which hath neuer been seene or written of in the world which if it be true I would thinke it shoulde be some body buried before the floode For in the first age I take it that men vvere farre greater then they are nowe but since the Deluge neyther Nemrod neither anie of those that helped builde the Tower of Babilon neither any other Giant whatsoeuer hath approched any thing neer this monstrous and excessiue hugenes of stature LVD You haue reason but what shall we say thereto when we find it written by such authorized Authors gyuing vs the testimony of antiquity let vs therefore passe on with them returne to that which Sinforian sayd that hee saw himselfe by Valencia in a Cloyster of Grey-friers the bones of a Giant according to the greatnes of which by good Geometry the length of the body could bee no lesse then fortie foote Hee alleageth also Iohn Pius of Bononia which sayth that he sawe in a Towne on the Sea-side neere vnto Vtica or Carthage a tussle of a mans head which if it had been broken in peeces would haue made a hundred such tussles as men now liuing commonlie haue and of the selfe same tussle maketh S. Augustine mention in his booke of the Citty of God BER Many things like vnto these haue beene founde in times past which for my part beeing by such men confirmed I account woorthy of beleefe AN. There want not testimonies to giue them credite if wee will looke into Antiquities we shall finde in the holy Scripture that of Nemrod and those other Gyants of which Signior Ludouico nowe spake who after Noes-flood builded that high Tower to saue them selues in if such another shoulde happen to come or according to the Gentiles opinion to make warre with the Gods and all these in respect of men that now liue were sayd to be of a wonderfull and huge stature and comming vnto other ages neerer vnto ours that which is written of S. Christopher and confirmed by authoritie of the Romaine Church is notorious to all men where we finde that his proportion stature was little lesse then these aboue named Besides I haue heard diuers that haue been in the Monastery of Ronces valles affirme that there are certaine bones of those which as they say were slaine in the battaile wherein Charles the great was ouerthrowne by the King Don Alonso de Leon vvhere many of the twelue Peeres of Fraunce through the great valiantnes of Bernardo del Carpio ended their liues the vvhich bones are so great that they seeme to be of some Gyants a Frier that brought the measure of one of theyr shin-bones shewed it me it was in my iudgement as great as that of three men now a dayes but in this I referre me to those that haue seene them who told me also that there were some armours so great and heauy that they might well serue for a testimony of the greatnes of those bodies which ware them AN. This which you haue sayd agreeth with that which Iosephus writeth in his fift booke of Antiquities There was saith he a linage of Gyants which for the greatnes of their body and proportion different from other men were aboue measure wonderfull of which there are yet some bones to be seene not to bee beleeued of those which haue not viewed them And in time of Pope Iulio the third no longer agone there was a man in a Village of Calabria who perchance is yet aliue of so extraordinary a sise and stature that the Pope desirous to see him sent for him to Rome who because neither Horse nor Mule was able to carry him was brought to Rome in a Coach out of the which his legs from the knees downward hanged foorth he was so high that the tallest man in Rome reached not to his halfe breast according to which height the rest of his members were proportioned it was a thing of admiration to see how deuouringly he eat drank A friend of mine asked him whether his parents were great he aunswered that both his parents and brothers were of the middle sort onely he had a sister as yet young which by all coniecture in time would be as great or greater then himselfe LV. I am of opinion that in times past the men were for the most part greater then they now are and that by little and little they decrease daily and whereas the Auncients write that men then exceeded not the measure of seauen feete in height that their feete were then greater then ours and their cubits inches spans and all their other measures also so that the longer the world lasteth the lesse shall the people waxe Wee may the better vnderstand this to be so through that which is written of the Gyant Golyas in the first booke of Kings that he was sixe cubits high which
if they were then no greater then they now are the greatnes of his stature was not so out of proportion and wonderfull and if the bodies of Antheus Oryon had thē been measured they would not haue been so many of their cubits as they were of theirs that measured them I beleeue that they would nowe be more the cause hereof is that as the world waxeth old so al things draw to be lesser for euen as earth that hath not ben laboured yeeldeth greater fruite at the beginning and in more aboundance then after when it becōmeth weary and tired with continuall trauaile bringing forth euen so the vvorld through wearines and long course of generation ceaseth to breed men of so large and puissant statures as it wonted AN. Although in part of this your argument you seeme to haue some reason yet you are deceaued if you hold this for a generall rule without exception for this age of ours is not without Gyants and those very great truth it is that in times past there were of thē in many parts and now in very few those for the most part in Lands nere to the North South pole for it seemeth that Nature enclineth to create this greater men in cold Countries But seeing this is a matter which cannot be handled without falling into discourse of those Countries towards the Septentrion matter of no lesse admiration let vs leaue it till we meete another time to the ende wee may haue where-with to entertaine good conuersation LU. There are also people of great stature which liue in hote Countries towards the Aequinoctiall for as Crates Pergamenus writeth there is a people among the Aethiopians called Sirboti whose common stature is eight cubites and more in height and what thinke you May not these men well be called Gyants AN. This onely Author maketh relation thereof and though we haue notice of all the Nations of Aethiopians we haue neuer seene nor heard of any such great people amongst them but wee notoriously knowe that there are of them in the colde Regions and such as are commonly helde to bee vninhabitable which at farther leasure I will cause you thoroughly to vnderstand LV. If you thinke that I will forgette this your promise you are deceaued for I holde well in memory all such matters as we doo nowe leaue in suspence but nowe seeing you will haue it so let vs passe on and giue mee to vnderstand vvhether liue longest these great or little men for it agreeth with reason that the one greatnes should be conformable to the other AN. The long life of man consisteth neyther in littlenes nor greatnes but in being wel complexioned hauing good humors not apt to receaue corruption besides a mild reposed life good victuals sobriety in eating drinking many other particuler things which Phisitions prescribe doe help much there-vnto but the chiefest of all is the good quality condition of the country as wel for some particuler constellation as for the temperature purenes of the ayre breeding the victuals in perfection without rawe and flimy humors this I take to be the cause why some Nations liue so long Aelianicus sayth that in the Prouince of Aetolia the men liue 200. some 300. yeres and Pliny sayth that there is a people in India called Cimi who liue ordinarily 140 yeeres Onosecritus also writeth that in a certaine part of India where at noone dayes there is no shadow at all the men are of height 5. cubits and two hand breadths that they liue 130. yeres without waxing old but die euen as it were in their middle age There is another Nation of people of a Prouince called Pandora whose life endureth v. or 300. yeres in their youth their haire is hoary and gray in their elder age turning to be blacke Though these liues be long yet we may giue credite there-vnto for the causes which I haue said chiefely for the purenes of the aire which cōserueth health as wel in humane bodies thēselues as in the fruits victuals which grow there with lesse coruption more perfection vertue thē in other parts 〈◊〉 glueth testimony heereof speaking of the Iland Lemnos and the Citty Mirina the which hath in opposite the mountaine Atos in Macedonia which is so high that being thence in distance 6000. paces it couereth this Citty with his shadow on the top wherof moueth no aire at al but pure in so much that the ashes which there remaine moues not frō one yere to another on the height of this hil was builded a City called Acroton the enhabitants of which liued twice so long as those that dwelt beneath BE. If this Citty were so wholsom the people of so long life wherfore cam it to be dispeopled for saken by reason me thinks it should be as full of people as it were able to hold AN. One cōmodity alone suffiseth not to the life of man for what auaileth long life if men liue continually in penury and want of thinges necessary For in so great a height Spring they could haue none neither could they gather water into Cesternes because it was higher then the Region where the clouds are congealed which could by no means moue themselues wanting wind as they must needs want there for howe can there be any where the ashes lye without mouing so that this other commodities for their sustenance were to be prouided with such paine difficulty and vnease that forsaking this place they chose rather with more ease though shorter life to commodate themselues elsewhere for this selfe same cause is the mountaine of Olympus vninhabited in whose top also it is affirmed the ayre to be so pure that there bloweth no wind at all The like also I beleeue to be of the mountaine Pariardes which is in Armenia where after the flood the Arke of Noe remained But all this is to no other ende then that you should vnderstand the reason how mans life is to be conserned more in some places then in others and euen so I thinke it to be in the Prouinces which we haue rehearsed that also which the selfe Solinus sayeth of the Aethiopians whom they call Macrobians who are on the other side of the Iland Meroe and liue ordinarily 150. yeeres and many reach to 200. And Gaudencius Merula writeth that he hath found Authors which affirme that in the selfe same Iland Meroe the people neuer die of any sicknes liuing so long till very age consume them But leauing this generality of liues let vs come to entreate of some particulers without alleadging the liues of those holy Fathers out of the old Testament before and after the flood of 800. and 900. yeeres a peece which we firmely beleeue through faith and because the holy Church affirmeth it so that wee know it to be true and indubitable neither is that a small argument
furiously sallied dooing great hurt and damage in the Country killing and wounding the passengers and destroying the fruits laboured grounds Ixion seeing that the people hereby endamaged exclaimed vpoÌ„ him resoluing to take some order for the destruction of these Bulls made it be proclaimed that he would giue rich rewards great recompences to who so euer should kil any of them There were at that time in a Citty called Nephele certaine young men of great courage which were taught instructed by those of the same towne to breake tame horses to mount vpon their backs sometimes assailing and sometimes flying as neede required These vndertooke this enterpise to destroy these Bulls and through the aduantage of their horses the vertue of theyr own courage slew tooke daily so many of them that at last they cleared deliuered the Country of this anoyance Ixion accomplished his promise so that these young men remained not only rich but mighty formidable through the aduantage they had of other meÌ„ with this vse redines of their horses neuer till that time seen or known before They retained still the name of Centaures which signifieth wounders of Bulls They grew at last into such haughtines pride that they neither esteemed the King nor any man else doing what they list them selues so that beeing one day inuited to a certaine mariage in the towne of Larissa being wel tipled they determined to rauish the dames and Ladies there assembled which they barbarously accomplished rising of a sodaine and taking the Gentlewomen behind them on their horses riding away with theÌ„ for which cause the wars began betweene them the Lapiths for so were the men of that Country called The Centaures gathering theÌ„selues to the mountains by night came down to rob spoile stil sauing theÌ„selues throgh the swiftnes of their horses Those of the Countries there about which neuer til that time had seen any horsman thought that the maÌ„ the horse had ben all one because the town whence they issued to make their warres was called Nephele which is as much to say as a cloud the fable was inuented saying that the Centaures discended out of the clouds Ouid in his Meramorphosis entreateth hereof say that it was at the mariage of Perithous with Hypodameya daughter to Ixion he nameth also many of the Centaures by whoÌ„ this tumult was committed but the pure truth is that which Eginius writeth LV. It is no meruaile if the people in those dayes were so deceaued hauing neuer before seen horses broken tamed nor men sitting on their backs the strange nouelty whereof they could not otherwise vnderstand for proofe wherof we know that in the Ilands of the vvest-Indies the Indians when they first saw the Spaniards mounted vpon horses thought sure that the man and the horse had beene all one creature the feare conceaued through which amazement was cause that in many places they rendered themselues with more facillity then they would haue done if they had knowne the trueth thereof But withall you must vnderstand that the Auncients called old men also Centaures that were Tutors of noble mens Sonnes and so was Chiron called the maister of Achilles through which name diuers being deceaued painted him forth halfe like a man halfe like a horse BER I was much troubled with this matter of Centaures wherefore I am glad that you haue made me vnderstand so much therof but withall I would that Signior Anthonio would tell vs what his opinion is of Sea men for diuers affirme that there are such and that they want nothing but reason so like are they in all proportions to bee accounted perfect men as wee are AN. It is true indeede there are many graue sincere writers which affirme that there is in the Sea a kind of fish which they call Tritons bearing in each point the shape humane the female sort thereof they call Nereydes of which Pero Mexias in his Forrest writeth a particuler Chapter alleadging Pliny which sayeth that those of the Citty of Lisboa aduertised Tiberius Caesar how that they had found one of those men in a Caue neere to the Sea making musick with the shell of a fish but he forgot an other no lesse strange which the same Author telleth in these very wordes My witnesses are men renowned in the order of Knighthood that on the Ocean Sea neere to Calays they saw come into their shippe about night time a Sea man whose shape without any difference at all was humaine he was so great and wayed so heauy that the boate began to sinke on that side where hee stoode and if hee had stayed any thing longer it had been drowned Theodore Gaze also alleadged by Alexander of Alexandria writeth that in his time one of these Sea men or rather men fishes accustomed to hide him selfe in a Caue vnder a Spring by the Sea side in Epirus where young maydens vsed to fetch their water of which seeing any one comming alone rising vp hee caught her in his armes and carried her into the Sea so that hauing in this sort carried away diuers the enhabitants being aduertised thereof set such grins for him that at last they tooke him kept him some dayes They offered him meat but he refused to eate and so at length beeing in an element contrary to his nature died The same Alexander speaketh of another Sea-monster which Bonifacius Neapolitanê° a man of great authority certified him that he saw brought out of Mauritania into Spain whose face was like a man some-what aged his beard haire curled and glistring his complexion and colour in a manner blew in all his members proportioned like a man though his stature were somewhat greater the onely difference vvas that he had certaine finnes with the which as it seemed he diuided the water as he swamme LVD It seemeth by this which you haue sayd of these monsters that there should be in them a kinde of reason seeing the one entred by night into the Shyp with intention to doe it damage and the other vsed such craft in his embuscades to entrappe those women AN. They are some likelihoods though they conclude not for as we see that there are heere on earth some beastes vvith more vigorous instinct of nature then others and neerer approching to the counterfaiting gestures of men as for example Apes and such like so is there also in this point difference among the Fishes of the Sea as the Dolphins vvhich are more warie and cautelous then the others as well in doing damage as in auoyding danger for Nature hath giuen all things a naturall and generall inclination to ayde help theÌ„selues withall Olaus Magnus handleth very copiously thys matter of Tritons or Sea-men of which in the Northerne Seas he sayth there is great abundance and that it is true that they vse to come into little Shyps of which with their weight
all the rest that is reported of them to be a meer fable BER It is a thing most true known and approued that there are in the Sea as diuers and sundry kindes of Fishes as there is on the earth of beasts or in the ayre of foules so that it is not to be wondred at if some of them resemble humaine forme as these which we haue named LU. And though wee haue long deteyned our selues in this conuersation yet before wee part I beseech you resolue me in one doubt which remaineth coÌ„cerning men the which is this I haue heard say that there haue been in times past certaine women which changing theyr sexes haue been conuerted into men which seemeth so strange and vnnaturall that I hold it but for a fable like that which is reported of Tyresias the Thebane Prophet AN. Neuer wonder so much at this for possibly this which is reported of him as a tale false and feigned was indeede truth as many other the like which haue with great authority beene written and affirmed For proofe whereof read Pliny in his 4. chapter of his 7. Booke where he vseth these words It is no matter feyned sayth hee that women sometimes change their sexe for we sinde in the Chronicles that Publiê° Liciniê° Crassê° Caius Cassiê° Longinê° beeing Consuls a young mayden perfect in that sexe daughter to Casinus was changed and metamorphozed to a perfect man and therefore by the commaundement of theyr Soothsayers was carried away as a thing prodigious and cast into a desert Iland And Licinius Mucianus affirmeth that he saw in Argos a man called Aresconte who had beene first a vvoman called Arescusa after the changing of her sexe she came to haue a beard and married a vvife of the like sort he sawe a young strypling in the Citty of Smyrna and a little farder he coÌ„meth to say I my selfe saw in Affrica Luciê° Cosciê° a cittizen of Triditania who the selfe same day that he was maried beeing then a woman was transformed into a man Neither is Plinie alone author of this wonderful nouelty for Pontanê° a man of great grauity writeth that a woman in the citty of Caeta after she had bin 14. yeres married turned her sex becam a man that another woman called Emilia maried vnto a citizen of Ibula called Anthonio Spensa after she had been 12. yeres his wife becam a perfect man and maried another woman begat children Another far stranger then eyther of these is recited by the same authour of a woman that had been maried brought forth a sonne which afterwards beeing conuerted into a man married another woman and had children by her but because these are old matters and it may be sayd that wee goe farre for witnesses I will tell you what Doctor Amatus writeth a Phisition of no small estimation in Portugall who in a worke of Phisicke which he made sayth that in a village called Esgueyra distant ix leagues from the Citty of Corimbra there liued a Gentleman who had a daughter named Marya Pacheco the which at such age as by the course of nature her flowers should haue come downe in sted thereof as though it had before lyen hidden in her belly there issued forth a perfect and able member masculine so that of a vvoman shee became a man and was presently clothed in mans habite and apparrell and her name changed from Marie to Manuell Pacheco and not long after passing into the East Indies shee wan in the vvarres great reputation through the valour of her person from whence returning most opulent and rich she shortly afterward married a Gentlewoman of a very Noble house by whom whether she had any children or no he writeth not but onely that she neuer came to haue any beard retayning alwayes a womanly face countenance and thys he affirmeth of his owne sight and knowledge But those that will neyther giue credite to these thinges vvhich I haue sayde nor to the Authors of them let them read Hyppocrates by a common consent called the Euangelist of Phisitions There was sayth he in his 6. booke De morbis popularibus a woman called Phaetula in the Citty of Abderis wife to Piteus which beeing of young and tender yeares when her husband was banished from thence remained many months without hauing her flowers which caused her to feele an exceeding payne in her members whereupon her body shortly after miraculously changed sexe her voyce became manly sharpe and her chinne was couered with a beard The selfe fame hapned in like sort in Tafus to Anamisia wife to Gorgippus LUD Truly these things which you haue rehearsed are meruailous and the onely authoritie of Hippocrates suffiseth to giue them credit emboldned through which I will tel you a thing which till nowe I alwayes accounted as a fable or thing dreamed which though it be long since it was tolde me yet would I neuer vtter it to any because I reputed it as a thing altogether incredible It was thus A friend of mine of good authority and credite told me that in a Village not farre hence there was a vvoman maried with a Husbandman by whom hauing no children they were at continuall iarre so that were it through iealousie or other cause she led with him a most vnquiet life for remedy whereof shee rising on euening cloathed her selfe in the garments of a young fellowe that dwelt with them in the house and departed secretly from that time forward faigning her selfe to be a man and put her selfe into seruice gaining where-with to sustaine her life in which estate after she had a while remained whether it were that Nature wrought in her with so effectuall vertue and puissance or that her owne earnest imagination seeing her selfe in that habite had force to worke so strange an effect she was transformed into a man and maried an other woman not daring through simplicity discouer this matter till by chaunce a man that had beene before time acquainted with her looking one day earnestly vpon her and viewing in her the perfect resemblance of her which hee had before time knowne demaunded if she or rather he were her brother vvhereuppon he being now changed and become a man and withall putting great confidence in the other opened vnto him the whole secresie of this successe instantly beseeching him not to discouer it to any man BER Whatsouer Nature hath at one time done it may doe an other and as well may this which you haue tolde bee true as that which is affirmed by Writers and therefore you haue done well to reserue it till nowe comming so well to purpose as it doth for the confirmation of the before rehearsed especially we being nowe so well perswaded of the possibility thereof but if you should tell the same amongst some kinde of men you would be in great hazard to be iested at for your labour as I was for saying that there was
Beleeue me the vertues of the water are no lesse then theyrs for as the herbes sucke and draw theyr propertie and vertue out of the earth which nourisheth and produceth them yeelding moisture and sustenaunce to their rootes so likewise the water draweth to it selfe the propertie of the earth minerals through which it passeth participating with thē of their vertues which beeing so deepe in earth are frō vs hidden vnknown But I know not whether the vertue of a Spring which Aristotle writeth to be in Sycilia in the Country of the Palisciens proceede of thys cause for the misterie which it contayneth is farre greater and so sayth Nicholaus Leonicus that it is a thing verie hardly credible for he affirmeth the propertie thereof to be such that who so taketh a solemne oath and the same oath be written in Tables and cast with certaine solemnities into the Fountaine If the oath contained therein be true the Tables remaine floating aloft vpon the water but if it be false they sink incontinently downe to the bottome And he which tooke the same is burned presently in the place and conuerted into ashes not without damage many times of those that were present They called this the holy Fountaine and appointed the charge and custody thereof to Priests which suffered no man to sweare vnlesse that hee first put in sureties that hee would content him selfe to passe by this triall LV. I rather thinke that Aristotle and those that wrote heereof were deceaued then otherwise because we heare not at this present that there is any such Fountaine knowne in Sicilia if there had beene in times past any of such force and vertue the memory thereof would be farre more rife and famous then it is BER Let vs neuer trouble our selues with the triall heereof for in this sort we may say the like of all those others which we haue not seen AN. The selfe same Nicolaus Leonicus writeth of another Fountaine in the Country of the Elyans nere to the Riuer Citheros into the which all the water that ranne there out degorged There stood by this Fountaine a sacred house the which they constantly affirmed to haue beene the habitation of foure Nimphs Caliphera Sinalasis Pegaea and Iasis All manner of diseased persons that bathed them selues in this Fountaine came there out whole and sound The like is written of two other Riuers the one in Italy called Alteno and the other called Alfeno in Arcadia But of no lesse wonder then all the before rehearsed is that which is vvritten of the Lake in Scithia in the Country of the Dyarbes neere to the Citty Teos the which besides the meruailous plenty of fish in which it aboundeth hath a property most admirable for in calme and warme weather there apeareth aboue the vvater great aboundance of a kind of liquor like vnto oyle which the inhabitants in Baotes made for the same purpose skimme off from the vvater and apply the same to their vses finding it to be as good and profitable as though it were very oyle in deede There is likewise in the Prouince of Lycia nere a Citty called Pataras a Fountaine the vvater that floweth from which looketh as though it were mingled with blood The cause whereof as the Country men say is through one Telephus who washing therein his wounds it hath euer since retained the colour of blood But the likeliest is that it passeth through some veine of red clay or coloured earth vvith the which mixing it selfe it commeth forth stained with that colour the Author hereof is Nicolaus Leonicus And Athenaeus Naucratites sayeth that in an Iland of the Cyclades called Tenaeus there is a Fountaine whose water will agree by no means to be mingled with vvine alwayes howsoeuer it be mingled or poured with vvine into any vessell it remaineth by it selfe a part so that it is to be taken vp as pure vnmedled as when it was poured forth yea though all possible diligence were vsed to ioyne and mingle them LV. There be a great many that would be glad that all water were of this condition by no means brooking the mixture therof with wine as a thing that keepes them somtimes sober against their wils AN. You say truth but leauing them with their fault which is none of the least but one of the greatest foulest that may be in any man pretending to beare honour or reputation I say there is in the Iland of Cuba according to the relation of many which haue seene the same a Fountaine which poureth forth a thick liquor like vnto Tarre which is of such force that they cauke and pitch their ships withall in such sort that they remaine as firme dight against the entry of water as though they were trimmed with the best sort of Pitch that we doe heere vse in these parts BER I haue heard say that there is in the same Iland a great Valley the stones that are found in which are all so round as if they had by Art euery one beene fashioned in the same forme LV. Perchaunce Nature hath so framed them for some effect of the which wee are ignorant seeing that few or none of her workes are without some secrete mistery and as well may these stones serue to some vse as the liquor of that Fountaine but let vs heerewith not trouble Signior Anthonio from prosecuting his discourse AN. Solinus discoursing of the Iland of Cerdonia saieth that it containeth many wholsome vvaters Springs amongst the rest one whose water healeth all infirmity of the eyes withall serueth for a discouery of theeues for whosoeuer by oath denieth the theft which he hath cōmitted in washing him selfe with that water loseth incontinent his fight if so be that his oath be true his eye siight is therby quickned made more sharp liuely but whosoeuer obstinately persisteth in denying his fault remaineth blind for euer But of this Fountaine there is now no notice at all for I haue beene long resident in that Iland during which time I neuer heard any such matter Many the like vnto these are written of by diuers Authors the which for their vncertainty I wil not weary my self in rehearsing only I wil tell you of a Lake which is in the Spanish Iland called S. Domingo in a mountaine very high vninhabited The Spaniards hauing conquered that Country found round about this mountaine no habitation of people through the cause of a hideous noise which was therein continually heard amazing making deafe the hearers therof the hiden cause secret mistery wherof no man being able to comprehend three Spaniards resolutly deliberated to goe vp into the height thereof to discouer if it were possible the occasion whence this continuall roaring proceeded so that prouiding them selues of all things necessary for the difficulty ragged sharpnes of the way being ful of craggy rocks shruby trees bushes
taken in such extremety as you take them for though it be said the superior part yet therby is not meant the vtmost thereof neither is that which we call the superior part with out a difference and distance between the beginning the end the which thogh it be in the midle temperat yet the end being neer to the fire participating with the heat of the Sun wanteth that temprature that which S. Thomas saith is to be vnderstood that if Paradise be in the region where the clowds be engendred it cannot be in a place temperate neither if it reach vnto the vppermost of the superior part of the pure aire by reason of the great heat drines of the fiery element But these are matters spoken at randon without euer beeing seen or verified and therfore euery one thinketh iudgeth that which in his own fancie he imagineth to agree with reason For no man is able to doe that which Lucian in his Dialogues writ of Icarus the which with artificiall wings flewe vp into the ayre Leauing therfore fables I say that the common opinion of all men is that Paradise is seated in the oryent in a country or region abounding in delights so writeth Suidas a greeke Author whose words are these Paradise saith he is in the East the seat therof is higher then all the other earth it enioyeth a temprature pure in al perfection an ayre most delicate cleere the trees therof flourish in perpetuall greenenesse laden vvith flowers and fruites a place full of all solace and sweetnes and of such beauty and goodlines that it passeth all humaine imagination Conciliador and Scotus are of the same opinion and these are the words of S. Thomas him selfe Wheresoeuer wee beleeue Paradice to be it must be so that it be in a place very temperate be it vnder the Aequinoctial or in what other part so euer To this purpose Caelius Rodiginus applieth that of Arryanus a Greeke Historiographer to whom they attribute so much credit that they call him the very searcher of verities who sayeth that Hanno a famous and renouned Cartagenian Captaine parting with an Army from the pillers of Hercules where the Citty of Calyz is forward into the Ocean leauing Lybia Affrica on the left hand sayling towards the West and afterwards turning his course towards the South suffered by the way many and great impediments discommodities for besides the great feruentnes of the hot starres as if it had beene in the part of a burnt vvorld they began to want water or if they found any it was such as they could not drinke they heard terrible thunders without ceasing their eyes were blinded with continuall flashes of lightning and it seemed that there fell from heauen great flakes of flaming fire so that they were forced to returne Some think that this Nauie went very neere the Aequinoctial but Caelius aleadgeth it speaking of Paradice saying that all these were tokens of Paradice beeing neere there abouts according to that of Genesis where he sayeth that God placed before the gate thereof a Cherubin with a sword of fire which turned about on all sides to the end that he should suffer no man to enter into that place But I rather beleeue that Hanno with this Nauy came to be vnder the Torrida Zona at such time as the heate thereof caused these effects making him returne so astonished whereas if he had stayed perchaunce hee should haue found both time and place to passe forward as it happened at the first to Colona who going to discouer the Indies found him selfe vnder the same Zone where the vveather waxing calme his ships were detained two or three daies without any hope euer to come foorth or to saue their liues but afterwards a gentle gale arising they passed forth without any danger and now since diuers passe thereby daily in their Nauigations but all these are imaginations of contemplatiue men seeking to sift out the truth There are some also that affirme Paradise to be in that part where God when he framed the world began the first moouing of the heauens which they call the right hande of the worlde and the best part thereof This is alleaged by Nicholaus de Lyra bringing for his Author Iohan. de Pechan in a treatise which he wrote of the Sphaere though the more generall opinion be that the motion of the heauens tooke not theyr beginning in any one particuler place but that they began to moue ioyntly as they nowe doe There want not also that affirme the whole worlde in which wee dwell to be Terrestriall Paradise who grounde them selues in saying that the foure Riuers which the holy Scripture saith come out of Paradise issue out of diuers and distant partes of the earth which cannot otherwise be verified vnlesse we will grant the whole earth to be Paradise but I woulde aske of these men when the Angell by the commaundement of God draue Adam and Eue out of Paradise whether they went for according to this opinion they should haue gone into some other part out of the world As for their obiection of the foure Riuers you shall heereafter vnderstand it when we fall into discourse of them BER If it please you you may well declare it now seeing you haue satisfied vs with such opinions as are held touching the seate of Paradice AN. One onely remaineth contrary to all the rest maintained by Caetanus and after him by Augustinus Stechius Eugubinus a late Doctor that wrote learnedly highly vpon the Genesis who declaring the wordes of Moises which sayeth God had planted Paradice in Heden prooueth that though this word Heden being interpreted signifieth delights yet in that passage it is not to be vnderstoode for other then the proper name of the Prouince or Country so called where Paradice was planted the which he proueth by strong and sufficient arguments and reasons the first hee gathereth out of the fourth Chapter of Genesis where it is written Cain flying forth went and enhabited the orientall stripe of Heden And out of the 27. of Ezechiel where he reckoneth vp many people diuers Nations that handled trafficked with the citty of Tyre saying that there came also thither people out of the Countries of Charam Chene Heden yet Caeton thinketh that Heden in this authority is not the place where terestrial Paradise was but the name only of a particuler Citty But following the opinion of Eugubinus we may gather that the Country where earthly Paradise was planted was inhabited that neere vnto it were peoples Nations therfore God placed the Cherubin there with the turning fiery sword to the end he should not let enter there-into any person liuing for if Paradise had been thē vnknown as now it is to al men what need had there beene of an Angell to gard it when no man knew where it stoode nor which way to come vnto it Besides it
in our Sauiour Christ but remaine obstinate in stubbernes and hardnes of hart and therefore God permitteth that they liue continually in slauery and subiection of Christians Moores Pagans reproached contemned and persecuted in which seruile miserable state they shall continue so long as they doe perseuer in resisting not willingly acknowledge the manifest and knowne truth But this is so cleare that it were in vaine to spend therein any time Turning therefore to that whereas you said that in respect of other sectes there were but few Christians in the worlde I would haue you otherwise perswaded for presupposed that the greater and truer Christianity be in these our parts of Europe Yet for all that there are Christians in all parts of the world or at least ouer the greater part thereof Besides those with whom we commonly heere conuerse there is on the other side of Alemaigne Hungry Polonia within our Europe a great number of Christian Regions as Russia Prusia Lituania Moscouia part of Tartaria many other mighty Prouinces which followe the Greeke Church though not wholy for some of them apart sepuester them selues from the same holding seueral different opinions Besides these there are the kingdomes of Scotland Mirguena Swethland and Westgothland with infinite others towards the North of which we will one day discourse more particulerly and at length But leauing Europe because it is so knowne and notorious let vs passe into Libia Affrica which is the second part of the world where we shall finde besides many Countries conquered by the Crowne of Portugale and reduced to the Christian faith that on the Coast towards the South in the midst thereof is a Christendome so great large and wide that it is little lesse then this of our Europe which is wholy vnder the gouernment and subiection of one King and Gouernour LU. Is not that hee whom wee call Prester Iohn AN. Yes it is he indeede which is now commonly so called but those which gaue him this name and nowe call him so know not what they say nor whether they name him right or no. LV. This cannot I vnderstand vnlesse you declare it plainlier vnto mee for it is contrary to the common opinion of all men AN. I confesse it to be so and that it is a great chaunce if you find any man affirme the contrary but if you will heare me a little you shal vnderstand wherein the error is so that you your self wil confes that I haue reasō in that which I will say First therefore it were good that you did vnderstand what Paulus Iouius entreating of this matter affirmeth who sayth that this name of Prester Iohn is corrupted that his true name is Belulgian which was cōmon to all the Kings of that Land the which interpreted signifieth a rich pearle of great incomparable excellence But turning to our purpose if you reade the life of S. Thomas the Apostle and S. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles you shall find that S. Thomas went to preach the faith in India maior where he died leauing conuerted to the Christian beliefe infinite multitudes of people who electing and choosing after his death a priest that was called Iohn to gouerne instruct rule them from that time forward each of their Gouernors being for the most part priests were called Priest Iohn bearing the name of the first elected Of their election there is written a very strange History that at the time of the solemnity thereof a hand of S. Thomas was brought forth into which putting a dry withered Vine when hee that was elected passed by the same burgened and sprouted out Vine leaues greene branches and sundry clusters of ripe Grapes out of which they pressed the wine with which they celebrated the same day seruice But though you beleeue not this there is no greater danger For they had not the body of S. Thomas neither knew they where it was and as we find in the Chronicles of Portugale this holy Apostle died in a Country called Choromandel in the kingdom of Bishaga in a citty named Melia somtimes the principal of that kingdom but now ruinated remaining only certaine auncient and noble buildings by which it appeareth the Citty to haue been somtimes great populous amongst the which there is a church held by the enhabitants in great veneration saying that there lay buried the body of S. Thomas another of a King by him conuerted to the faith of Christ. The Portugales digging in search thereof found 3. bodies the one of the king another of the Apostle a third of one of his Disciples That of the Apostle they knew by sundry markes chiefly in that they found lying by him in his graue a Launce with the which the fame went in those Countries that he was slaine vvhich opinion whole India maintayneth but the Church in his life recordeth the same in another sort saying that he was wounded to death with a knife by the hands of an Idolatrous Priest though herein be small difference S. Isidore speaking of him saith that he died with the stroke of a Launce his body as it is written in his life was transported into the Country of Syria into the Citty of Aedisa and this is that which we chiefly ought to beleeue But how so euer it be S. Mathew was he who preached in Aethipia and S. Thomas in India after whom succeeded Prester Iohn whose beginning of rule was great mighty which authority in space of time they came to loose and to be yoked vnder the subiection of the great Cham. The manner of this being so far off hath not beene well vnderstooode though some haue endeuoured to write and giue notice thereof principally though passing obscurely a certayne Armenian but certayne it is that there are as yet sundry tokens of this Christianity Iohn Mandeuile vvryteth in the description of a iourney vvhich he made that there are many of these Christian Prouinces vnder the dominion Empire of great Cham whom at his entry into their Townes they encounter with their Cleargy in Procession the holy Crosse before them to which hee boweth maketh low reuerence and that they blesse fiue Apples presenting them vnto him in a dish of which hee taketh and eateth of the one If he refuse so to doe they take it for a great disfauour Lodouicus Patritius Romanus writeth that being in Taprobana he found there sundry Merchants of the fore-said Prouinces who professed the faith of Christ making him great and large offers if hee would accompany them home into their Country instruct them more amply throughly in the faith according to the vse of the Romain Church which request of theirs he would willingly haue accomplished but that he dared not vndertake so far a voyage so that heereby wee may gather that Prester Iohn is not hee which is in Aethiopia but he who was in the Oriental Indies
and that he name giuen vnto him of Aethiopia was but through error because the people would haue it to be so Iohannes Teuronicus in his book of the rites customes of Nations is as well deceaued also in this matter as the rest following the cōmon opinion that he of Aethiopia in Afrique should be Prester Iohn the other hauing raigned beene subdued in the end of Asia where as I said the great Cham or Tartare holdeth his Empire signeury who as it is thought is one of the puissantest mightiest monarches of the world so he entituleth himselfe King of Kings Lord of Lords This matter though otherwise well knowne and verified is also confirmed by Marcus Paulus Venetus who was along time resident in Townes Citties of his Empire and by an English Knight likewise called Iohn Mandeuile who seruing him in his warrs receaued his wages pention BER You haue great reason in all this which you haue said and now I call to memory that the Aethiopians beganne to receaue the faith of S. Phillip the Deacon and afterwards by the preaching of S. Mathew the Apostle and therefore they vaunt them selues to be the first Christians that were in the world in community But leauing these there is a prouince of Christians in Asia called Georgia the which say they were so called because they were conuerted by S. George but I rather take it to be the ancient proper name of the Prouince These Georgists are also called Yuori they haue their Embassadours alwaies in the Court of the Sophie I knowe not whether they pay him tribute or no their Country is very colde and full of Mountaines Those also of Colchos are christians now called by an other name Mengrels There is another kind of people called Albanes who maintaine the Christian religion There is another country of Christians who are called Iacobits on the Mountaine Sinay there are other christians named Maromites And all the coast of India is inhabited of christians from the entry of the Red-Sea where the citty of Aden standeth to the citties of Ormur Dia Malaca and frō thence forward to the kingdoms of Iapon China which are verie great mighty and hereabouts border many other Kingdoms citties Ilands as Zamora Taprobana Zeilan Borney and the Iles of Molucco whence the spice cōmeth with many other Regions great little where dwell infinit numbers of Christians as well Portugals as other which through their good example haue conuerted themselues to the Christian faith the like is hoped that those wil doe which liue vnder the subiection of the great Cham seeing they drawe so neere vnto it which should be a great augmentation of christianitie so that by this meanes Christianitie goeth as it were compassing round about the whole world The christianitie of the Armenians is notorious to all men in the greater of which they are in a manner all christians and in the lesser the greatest part There are likewise christians in Sury in Egypt where as yet remaine sundry signes of ancient christianity in many other parts though in respect of their farre distance from hence we haue no plaine and perticuler knowledge of them I haue read in the chronicles of Portugall that vvhen the Ilands of Catatora were founde out the enhabitants were all christians in their beliefe though God wot passing ignorant in the misteries of the same for they onely worshipped the Crosse because they said that God the redeemer of mankind died vpon the same as for the rest they held a few precepts the chiefest of which was to obserue the law of Nature They called themselues by the names of the Apostles and other Saints whereby it may be thought that some good christian man had arriued in that Iland and conuerted thē to the faith through whose death or departure from thence they remained so smally endoctrined in that Beliefe through the which they should worke their saluation As for the christianity of the West Indies new discouered world we al know it hold it for a thing most assured that asmuch as is shall be discouered will embrace the Catholick faith because that people easily discouereth the error of their Idols and false gods knowing him whom they serued to be the verie deuill himselfe for some of them were of the same beliefe as those of India Maior of whom I spake before who held him in solemne reuerence with sacrifice temples But since the christians arriuall in those parts now they see the dreadful state of damnation wherin they stood withall the deuils authority daily decaying for he speaketh nor appeareth now no more vnto thē as he was wont to doe there come daily such mighty numbers of them with such sorrowfull contrition repentance to receiue the Christian faith that it is wonderfull in which after they are once throughly instructed they perseuer with such ardent charity zeale and perfection that trulie I am ashamed to say how far they doe excell vs of vvhom they receaued it LVD At one thing I do much vvonder and that is how the christianity of these Indies remaineth so cleere without Heresies considering the foule contagious infection that is here amongst vs no doubt but diuers haue gone out of these parts thither that haue not beene of the soundest in Religion but it seemeth that God hath layde his hand vpon that Country for the preseruation of the same to the end he may be there honored serued BE. Wee haue vnderstood that Christendom is far greater then we thought it had been if we all could agree in one vnitie of acknowledging obeying the Catholique Church and couer our selfe vnder the blessed protection thereof not as many doe who beare only the name of Christians but are indeed children of damnation following other fantasticall Churches professing new haereticall doctrines I pray God that wee may liue to be all liuely members of one true and Catholique Church the Spouse of Christ that we may one day see the prophecie fulfilled Et erit vnum Ouile vnus Pastor and there shal be one flold one Sheepheard LV. That wee may see say you this were to promise your selfe a longer life then those of whō we yesterday made mention considering the diuersitie of supersticions factious Sectes wherewith the world is infected AN. Say not so for whē soeuer it shall please God to touch the harts of all those in the world with his mercifull hands he can in one yeere yea in one month day houre or moment so illuminate lighten not only all haereticall Christians but also Turkes Moores Pagans and Iewes and all erronious Sectes ouer the whole world that they may see and repent their owne error reconcile themselues into the bosome of our holy Mother the Catholique Church to th' end the prophecies you haue said may take effect but let vs not looke
vnderstand by another example of the said Alexander who sayeth that a certaine Monke called Thomas with whom he was familiarly acquainted beeing a man euer after this accident of a most holy and approued good life who being resident in a Monastery neere vnto the Citty of Luka being situated amongst certaine mountaynes falling one day out with some other of the Monkes and mooued with an exceeding passion of choller went furiously out of the Cloyster with determination to absent himselfe from thence for euer and to goe liue in some other part as he was thus trauersing the thickest of the mountaine hee met with a great tall man of a tawnie Sunne-burnd complexion with a long blacke beard rowling eyes and his garment hanging downe to the ground After hauing saluted him the Moonke asked him whether he went that way seeing the same was no beaten or vsuall path The other aunswered him that hee followed a horse of his which was broken loose and had strayed ouer those mountaines into certaine meddowes on the other side so that they went on together talking till they came to a Riuer at the foote of the mountaine which because the same was very deepe and full of great pits they went along the side thereof seeking a Foord or passage till at last comming to a certaine place which seemed passable the Moonke would haue puld off his hose and shooes but the other would by no meanes suffer him so to doe saying that he was tall strong enough to carry him safely ouer on his shoulders in which perswasion he was so earnest that make the Monke what excuse he could he trussed him halfe perforce vp vpon his sholders at which instant looking downward he chanced to spie his Ferrymans feete not hauing seene them till then which were of a farre different making from those of other mens so that entring into some suspition hee would faine haue losed himselfe but he could not for the other began to wade with him into the deepest of the streame vvhere-vpon fearing it to be as in truth it was he began with great inward deuotion to commend him selfe to God and to call vpon the blessed name of Iesus for helpe at which very instant the other who was the deuill indeede threw him downe on the shoare of the Riuer vanishing presently away vvith so horrible a noise and tempest that the very sands of the Riuer were turned vpsie downe and the Oakes that grew vpon the banks were torne vppe by the rootes and the poore Moonke left in a traunce halfe dead who so soone as he reuiued and came to him selfe returned penitently to his Cloyster giuing thankes vnto GOD for the danger out of which hee had deliuered him BER To make recitall of all such like things as happen in the vvorlde were to beginne an endlesse and infinite worke for the deuils though they lost grace yet lost they not theyr naturall vertue as Anthonio de Florencia vvryteth so that if the same vvere not restrayned through the vvill of GOD they coulde vvorke many greater hurtes and damages then those which they doe AN. According to the saying of S. Paule they cannot onely take vpon them such formes of bodies as we haue said but they can also transforme them selues into Angels of light to deceaue vs which they would each moment put in practise as sometimes they doe were not their power suppressed and preuented which God doth somtimes by his only will and somtimes by a third person as that of the deuill which vnder the habite of a very beautifull and wise woman dined with a Bishop who was deliuered from destruction by S. Andrew the Apostle cōming to demaund almes of him like a Pilgrime by aunswering a question proposed to him by the deuill which was how far distant the heauen was from the earth Thou shouldst better know then I answered S. Andrew because thou hast falne from thence where-with the deuill finding him selfe discouered vanished presently But it is to no purpose to detaine our selues in these examples because there are whole volumes full of them and Saint Gregory in his Morrals rehearseth many notable thinges which they may reade that desire to know them BER For all this I must needs tell you one by the way which hath been told me for a matter vndoubted and most assuredly true of one Don Anthonio de la Cueua a Gentleman passing well knowne in this our Country nowe lately dead vvho by Gods permission for some cause to vs vnknowne was while he liued often tempted and vexed with visions and fantasies so that in continuance of time he began not to feare them though hee accustomed to haue all night long continually a candell burning by him in the chamber where he slept One night amongst others lying in his bed and reading of a booke he might heare a great rumbling vnder the bed and as he lay imagining what the same might be he perceaued come from vnder the bed close by the bed side an arme and hand seeming to be of a naked Blackamoore which taking the candell turned it downwards in the candlestick and put it forth and at that very instant offered to come into the bed to him which he endeuoring to refist the blacke Moore or rather deuill grasped him by the armes he him likewise beginning to wrestle and strugle together with such force and making so great a noyse that the seruaunts of the house awaked who comming into the Chamber to knovve what the matter was found Don Anthonio de la Cueua alone in such a heate and sweating as though he had newly come out of a Stew or Hothouse who declared vnto them the particularitie of this accident and withall that so soone as they began to enter into the Chamber the vision vntwynged himselfe from him so that he knew not what was becom thereof LUD At one thing I doe much wonder which I haue often heard to be affirmed for truth that the deuils also are Incubi and Succubi taking oftentimes to that ende the shape likenes sometimes of men sometimes of women ANT. This is affirmed by many Authours For their malice is so great that they will not stick to commit the greatest abhomination and wickednes that may be so that ioyntly they may procure and cause men to commit it with them Caelius Rodiginus saith that there was in Greece a man called Marcus naturall of Cafronesus vvho had great familiaritie with deuils for which cause he liued alwaies solitary conuersing little with other men This man vttered many of the deuils secrets of which this of the Incubi and Succubi was one and many other that for theyr filthines and abhomination are not to be spoken of but according to his confession all the deuils doe not vse this execrable offence but those onely who are neere vnto vs and doe forme theyr bodies of a grosse substance as of water or earth Saint Augustine saith that the Satyres and Faunes
notorious as are these mountaines being situated in a Country of Christians or at least confining there-vpon for the Country where the Auncients desribing them is nowe called Muscouia hardly can they write truly of other thinges which are farther off and in Countries of which we haue not so great knowledge as wee haue of this But turning to that which we entreated of I say that those thinges can hardly be verified which are written by the Auncients concerning these Northern Lands not so much for the small notice we haue of them as for that the names are altered of Kingdoms Prouinces Citties mountaines and Riuers in such sort that it is hard to know which is the one and which is the other for you shall scarcely finde any one that retaineth his olde name and though by signes and coniectures wee hit right vpon some of thē yet it is impossible but that we should erre in many in taking one for another the experience wherof we may see here in our owne Country of Spayne the principall townes of which are by Ptolomie and Plinie vvhich write particulerly of them called by names to vs now vtterlie vnknowne neyther doe we vnderstand which is which they are so altred changed So fareth it with the auncient Geography which though there be many that do practise vnderstand according to the antique yet if you aske them many things according to that now in vre with the moderns so are things in these our times altered and innouated they cannot yeeld you a reason thereof if they doe it shall be such that thereout will result greater doubts But leauing this I will as touching the Lands of which we entreate conclude with that which some Historiographers of our time haue made mention namely Iohan. Magnus Gothus Albertus Cranzius Iohan. Saxo Polonius Muscouita and chiefely Olaus Magnus Archbishop of Vpsala of whō we haue made heere before often mention who in a Chronicle of those lands of the North the particularities of them though beeing borne and brought vp in those Regions should seeme to haue great knowledge of such thinges as are in the same yet is he meruailous briefe cōcerning that which is vnder the same Pole He saith that there is a Prouince called Byarmia whose Orizon is the Equinoctiall circle it selfe and as this circle deuideth the heauen in the midst so vvhen the Sunne declineth to this part of the Pole the day is halfe a yeere long and when he turneth to decline on the side of the other Pole he causeth the contrary effect the night enduring as much This Prouince of Byarmya deuideth it selfe into two parts the one high and the other low in the lower are many hills perpetually couered with Snow neuer feeling any warmth yet in the valleys below there are many Woods and Fields full of hearbes and pastures and in them great aboundance of wild Beasts and high swelling Riuers as well through the Springs whence they rise as through the Snow that tumbleth downe from the hills In the higher Byarmya he saith there are strange and admirable nouelties to enter into which there is not any knowne way for the passages are all closed vp to attempt through which hee termeth it a danger and difficulty insuperable so that no man can come to haue knowledge thereof without the greatest ieopardy that may possibly be deuised or imagined For the greater part of the way is continually couered with deepe Snow by no meanes passable vnlesse it be vpon Beasts like vnto Stags called Rangifery so abounding in those Regions that many doe nourish and tame them Their lightnes though it seeme incredible is such that they runne vpon the frozen Snow vnto the top of high hills downe againe into the deepe Valleyes Iohn Saxon saith that there was a King of Swethland called Hatherus who being aduertised that there dwelt in a Valley betweene those mountaines a Satire called Memingus that possessed infinite riches with many other resolute men in his company all mounted vpon Rangifers domesticall Onagres made a Roade into his Valley and returned laden with rich and inestimable spoiles BER Was he a right Satire indeede or else a man so called AN. The Author explaneth it not but by that which he saith a little after that in that Country are many Satires Faunes we may gather that hee was a right Satire and that the Satires are men of reason and not vnreasonable creatures according to our disputation the other day and in a Country full of such nouelties such a thing as this is not to be wondred at But returning to our commenced purpose I say that this superiour Byarmya of which Olaus Magnus speaketh to vs so vnknowne by all likelyhoode should be that blessed soile mentioned by Pliny Soline Pomponius Mela whose Clymate is so temperate whose ayre so wholesome and whose enhabitants doe liue so long that they willingly receaue death by casting themselues into the Sea of which Land being so meruailous and being as it seemeth seated on the farther side of the Pole the properties are not so particulerly knowne and so he saith that there are many strange people nouelties and wonders But leauing this comming to the lower Olaus saith that the Valleyes thereof if they were sowed are very apt and ready to bring foorth fruite but the enhabitants doe not giue themselues to tillage because the fieldes and Forrests are replenished with Beasts the Riuers with Fishes so that with hunting and fishing they maintaine their lyues hauing no vse of bread neyther scarcely knowledge thereof When they are at warre or difference with any of their neighbours they sildom vse Armes for they are so great Negromancers Enchaunters that with wordes onely when they list they will make it raine thunder and lighten so impetuously as though heauen and earth should goe together and with their Witchcraftes and Charmes they binde and entangle men in such sort that they bereaue them of all power to doe them any harme yea and many times of their sences also and lyues making them to dye mad Iohn Saxon writeth that there was once a King of Denmarke called Rogumer who purposing to subdue the Byarmyans went against them with a mighty and puissant Army which they vnderstanding had recourse to no other defence then to their Enchantments raising such terrible tempests winds and waters that through the violent fury thereof the Riuers ouerflowed and became vnpassable vpon which of a sodaine they caused such an vnkindly heat that the King and all his Army were fryed almost to death so that the same was farre more greeuous to suffer then the cold and through the distemperature and corruption thereof there ensued such a mortality that the King was forced to returne but he knowing that this happened not through the nature of the Land but through coniuration and sorcerie came vpon them another time so sodainly that hee was amongst them
it freeze and become more hard and cleare vsing the same in certaine warlike pastimes they haue in steede of a Castell of lyme or stone one troupe entereth there-into to defende the same and another bideth without to besiege assault or surprize it and this in most solemne sort with all engines stratagems and manners of vvarfare great prices being ordained for those that shall obtayne the conquest besides the tryumph wherein the conquerours doe glory ouer the vanquished Who so amongst them is found to be fearefull or not forward in executing that which he is commaunded is by his companions stuft full of Snow vnder his garments and somtimes tumbled starke naked in great heapes of the same enuring them therby better to abide hardnes another time These Septentrionall Lands haue many Lakes and standing waters of great largenes som of the which are a hundred miles long These are at somtimes so frozen that they trauaile ouer them both a foote and horsebacke In the Countries of East and Westgothland there are Lakes vpon which great troupes of horsmen meete and runne for wagers their horses are in such sort shod that they sildome slide or fall in time of warre they skirmish often vpon these frozen Lakes yea and sometimes fight maine battailes vpon them At sundry seasons they hold vpoÌ„ them also certaine Faires to which there resorteth a great concourse of strange Nations the beginning of which custome was ordained as saith Iohn Archbishoppe of Vpsala Predicessour to Olaus by a Queene of Swethland called Disa who being a woman of great wisedome commaunded her Subiects on a certaine yeere in which her dominions were afflicted with extreame dearth scarsity of graines to goe vnto the bordering Regions carrying with them such merchandize as their Country yeelded and to bring with them in exchange thereof Corne and graine withall to publish franchize to all such as should bring thither any victual to be sold where-vpon many strangers repairing thither at such time and season as the Lake was frozen she appointed them that place for holding of their Faire from which time till this day that custome hath continued Northward of these Regions there are many great and meruailous Lakes such as scarcely the like are to be found in any other part of the world that is peopled of which leauing apart one that is neere the Pole is called the white Lake which is in maner an other Caspian Sea yeelding great commodities of fowle and fish to the adioyning Prouinces part of the same reaching out euen to the Muscouites There are in the Regions of Bothnia Lakes of 300. 400. miles long where there is such quantity of fish taken that if they could conueniently be carried about they would serue for prouision to halfe the world Thereby also are many other notable Lakes of which the three most famous are as the Authors write Vener Meler and Veher Vener containeth in length 130. miles which are about 44. leagues as much in breadth within it it hath sundry Ilands well peopled with Citties Townes and Fortresses Churches and Monasteries for all those three Lakes are in Country of Christians though we haue heere little notice of them Into this Lake enter 24. deepe Riuers all which haue but one only issue which maketh so terrible a noyse amongst certayne Rocks falling from one to another that it is heard by night six or seauen leagues of making deafe those that dwell neere there abouts so that it is sayd there are certaine little Villages and Cottages thereby the enhabitants of which are all deafe They call the issue of these Riuers in their Country language Frolletta which is as much to say as the deuils head The second Lake called Meler is betweene Gothland and Swethland hath in the shore thereof many mynerals of mettals both of siluer and others the treasures gathered out of which enricheth greatly the Kinges of those Countries The third also called Veher aboundeth in mines on the North side thereof The waters thereof are so pure cleare that casting there-into an egge or a white stone you may see it lye in the bottome though it be very deep as well as though there were no water betweene Within this Lake are many peopled Ilands in one of which wherin are two great Parish Churches Olaus writeth that there happened a thing very meruailous and strange There liued in this Iland saith hee a man called Catyllus so famous in the Art of Negromancie that in the whole worlde his like was scarcely to be found Hee had a Scholler called Gilbertus whom hee had in that wicked Science so deepely instructed that hee dared so farre presume as to contend with him being his Maister yea and in som things seeme to surpasse him at which shamelesse ingratitude of his Catyllus taking great indignation as alwayes Maisters vse to reserue vnto themselues certaine secrete points with onely wordes and charmes without other band fetter or prison he bound him in an instant both body hands and feete in such sort that he could not wag himselfe in which plight he conuayed him into a deepe Caue vnder one of the Churches of the same Iland where he remaineth till this day according to the common opinion is alwayes liuing Thither vsed darly to resort many not only of that Country people but strangers also to see him and to demaund questions of him They entred with many Torches and Lanternes and with a clew of threed of which they fasten one end to the dore whereat they enter vnwiding the same still as they goe for the better assurance of finding their way out the Caue being full of many deepe pits crooked turnings and corners But at length because the moisture dampish cold thereof with a lothsome stench besides anoyed so much those that entred that some of them came out halfe dead they made a law that on greeuous paine none of the Countrimen should froÌ„ that time forward resort nor enter into that Caue neither giue counsaile aide or assistance to strangers which for curiosities sake shold atempt the same LV. This is without doubt the worke of the deuil who the same Gilbertê° dying perchance presently entered into his putrified stinking carkasse abusing the people aunswered to their demands For though the force of enchauntments be great yet can they not preserue life any longer then the time fixed appointed by God AN. You haue reason and in truth it seemeth that the deuill is there more lose and at greater liberty then in other parts so that som wil say the principall habitation of deuils to be in the North according to the authority of holy Scripture All euill shal come discouer it selfe from the Aquilon Zachary Chap. 2. crieth ho ho flie from the land of the Aquilon howbeit that these authorties are vnderstoode coÌ„monly in that Antichrist shal come from those parts whose like was neuer in persecuting the people of
little was by them brought and put into a pond or standing water in the Iland of S. Domingo a little after the conquest thereof by the Spaniards Being in which fresh water in short space hee encreased to such greatnes that hee became bigger then any horse and withall so familiar that calling him by a name which they had giuen him he would come ashore and receaue at theyr handes such thinges as they brought him to eate as though he had beene some tame domesticall beast The boyes among other sportes and pastimes they vsed with him woulde sometimes gette vp vppon his bace and hee swimme all ouer the Lake with them without euer dooing harme or once dyuing vnder the water with any one of thē One day certaine Spanyards comming to see him one of them smote him with a pyke staffe which he had in his hand from which time forward hee knewe the Spanyards so vvell by theyr garments that if any one had beene therby when the other people called him hee woulde not come ashore otherwise still continuing with those of the Country his vvonted familiaritie Hauing thus remained in this Lake a long space the water vpon a tyme through an extreamitie of raine rose so high that the one side of the Lake ouerflowed and brake into the Sea from which time forward he was seen no more Thys is written by the Gouernour of the fortresse of that Iland in a Chronicle which he made Leauing them therefore now I will briefely speake of certaine notable Fish coasts from the West of Ireland forwards winding about towardes the North For it is a thing notorious that many Kingdoms Regions Prouinces haue their prouisions of Fish frō thence of which our Spaine can giue good testimonie the great commodity considered that it receaueth yeerely thereby To beginne therefore the farther forth this way that you goe the greater plenty you shall finde of fishe many of those Prouinces vsing no other trade forraine Merchants bringing into them other necessary thinges in exchange thereof The chiefest store whereof is founde on the Coast of Bothnia which deuideth it selfe into three Prouinces East West and North-Bothnia The last whereof is different farre from the other two for it is a plaine Champaine Land seated as it were in a Valley betweene great and high Mountaines The ayre thereof is so wholesome the Climat so fauourable that it may be well termed one of the most pleasant and delightfull places of the world for it is neither hote nor cold but of so iust a temperature that it seemeth a thing incredible the Countries lying about it beeing so rigorously cold couered with Snow congealed with a continuall Ise. The fields of themselues produce all pleasant varietie of hearbes and fruites The woods and trees are replenished with Birdes whose sweet charmes melodious tunes breedeth incredible delectation to the hearers but wherein the greatest excellencie and blessing of this Land consisteth is that amongst so great a quantitie of Beasts and Fowles of which the Hilles Woods Fieldes and Valleyes are full it breedeth not nourisheth or maintaineth not any one that is harmefull or venemous neyther doe such kindes of Fishes as are in the Sea hurtfull approach theyr shoares which otherwise abound with Fishes of all sorts so that it is in the fishers handes to take as many and as few as they list The cause of which plentie is as they say that diuers forts of Fishes flying the colde come flocking in multitudes into these temperate waters Neyther bapneth this onely on theyr Sea-shoare but in theyr Lakes Riuers within the Land also which swarme as thicke with fishes great and little of diuers kindes as they can hold The enhabitants liue very long neuer or sildome feeling any infirmity which surely may serue for an argument seeing it is so approouedly knowne to be true to confirme that which is written concerning the vpper Byarmya which though it be seated in the midst of vntemperate cold countries couered and frozen with continuall Snow and Ice yet is it selfe so temperate and vnder so fauourable a Climate and constellation that truly the Authors may well call it as they doe a happy and blessed soile whose people hauing within thēselues all things necessary for the sustentation of humaine life are so hidden sequestred from other parts of the world hauing of themselues euery thing so aboundantly that they haue no need to traffique or conuerse with forraine Regions And this I take to be the cause that we haue no better knowledge of some people that liue vppon the Hyperbores who though they liue not with such pollicy as we doe it is because the plenty of all thinges giueth them no occasion to sharpe their wits or to be carefull for any thing so that they leade a simple and rustique life without curiosity deuoyd of all kind of trouble care or trauaile whereas those who liue in Countries where for their substentation maintenance it behooueth them to seeke needefull prouisions in forraine Landes what with care of auoiding dangers well dispatching their affaires and daily practising with diuers dispositions of men they cannot but becom industrious pollitique and cautelous And hence came it that in the Kingdome of China there was a Law and statute prohibiting and defending those that went to seeke other Countries euermore to returne into the same accounting them vnworthy to liue in so pleasant and fertile a soile that willingly forsooke the same in searching an other But returning to our purpose in this North Bothnya which is beyond Norway is taken incredible store of fish which they carry some fresh some salted to a Citty called Torna situated in manner of an Iland betweene two great Riuers that discende out of the Septentrionall mountaines where they hold their Fayre and Staple many and diuers Nations resorting thither who in exchange of theyr fish accommodate them with such other prouisions as their Country wanteth so that they care not to labour or till their grounds which if at any time they doe the fertillity thereof is such that there is no Country in the worlde able to exceede the same The people is so iust that they know not howe to offende or offer iniurie to any man they obserue with such integrity the Christian fayth that they haue him in horrour and destentation that committeth a mortall sinne They are enemies of vice and louers and embracers of vertue and truth They correct and chasten with all seuerity and rigour those that are offendours insomuch that though a thing bee lost in the streete or field no man dareth take it vp till the owner come himselfe There are also other Prouinces maintayned in a manner wholely by fishing as that of Laponia in the vvhich are manie Lakes both great and little infinitelie replenished with all sorts of excellent fishes and that of Fylandia which is very neere or to say better vnder the Pole The