their Plough'd-Lands These as other Arabs rove up and down changing Pasture as far as Yguid they have store of Cattel and Dates and are so numerous that they have brought under their Contribution a great part of Biledulgerid They have other great Arabs Assisters as the Garfa and Esbeh which are looked upon as Nobles descended from famous Ancestors whom the Kings of Barbary have often courted desiring to make Alliance with them The Desart of Hayr or Terga THe Desart of Hayr The Desart of Hayr so call'd from a populous Town there yet by some call'd Terga from the Tergans of Little Africa hath for its Western Borders the Wilds of Zuenziga in the East that of Yguid in the North Its Borders the Wilderness of Tuat Teguirin and Mezzeb in Biledulgerid on the South conterminates with the Desarts near the Kingdom of Agade in Negro-Land spreading it self in some places the breadth of sixty mile that is from Biledulgerid to the Negroes Countrey The Air of this Desart is so temperate that in many places there is abundance of Grass and though other parts be very sandy yet nothing so bad to travel in as that of Zanaga or Zuinziga because it hath store of Springs and deep Wells with sweet and fresh Water but more especially on the Verges of Zuenziga On its Southern Limits near Agadez they find great store of Manna which early in the Morning the Inhabitants gather and carry to the Markets of that City which the Negroes mix with Water making it their Food being as they suppose very much refreshing and wholesome So that Strangers are not so often sick in Agadez though the Air be not so healthy as at Tombut this Cordial not being there so frequent ¶ THis Desart hath also wilde Arabs call'd Uled Huscein Arabians of Hayr which though they belong to the Numidian Countrey fetch in Winter larger Rovings with their Cattel as far as the Desart and sometimes to the Skirts of Atlas though they have few Laws yet they are all under one Government and these great Arabians have a meaner sort of little Arabs under them which live in the condition of Subjects or Servants some of which settle in Fenny Places and follow Tillage But the general business of the foremention'd is to steal and spirit away poor Negroes from thence carrying them to Barbary and Biledulgerid there selling them for great Rates as Slaves The Desart of Iguidi or Lemta THe Desart Iguidi or Lemta The Desart of Lemta taking its Name Iguidi from its chiefest Seat and Lemta from the Name of the Inhabitants The Borders borders in the West on the Wild of Hayr Eastward on that of Berdoa Northward on the Desart of Tekort Guerguela and Gademez in Biledulgerid and to the South Verges with a Desart near Kano in Negro-Land Between this and that of Sugulmesse lieth the Countrey of the Morabitins or Morabites which others call Almoravides Here is dangerous travelling for Merchants which pass from Constantine to the Negroes Countrey the Inhabitants being rude savage and beastial robbing all theymeet and taking all they lay their hands on They have also an antient feud and hatred against those of Guergula a Territory in Biledulgerid which they cruelly massacre putting to death when and where they come within their power In this Desart dwell also certain Arabians call'd Hemrum Kayd and Yahya mingled among the Lempta's The Desart of Berdoa THis Wild hath on the West for Borders the Wilderness Lempta The Desart of Berdoa The Borders on the East that of Augele on the North Fessa in Numidia and Barka and on the South it conterminates with a Desart bordering on the Kingdom of Borno a hundred ninety eight miles from Nylus it contains three fortifi'd Towns and six Villages It is very dry Plates and dangerous for travelling yet convenient for those of Gadamez or Numidia Allies to the Berdoaners The inhabited places have good Water and plenty of Dates The VVilderness of Augele BY some taken for the Countrey Augiles The Desart of Augele described by Mela hath for its Western Borders the Wild of Berdoa on the North the Desart of Barka and Marmarica and spreads in the form of a Towel to the Mediterranean-Sea opposite against Syrtes on the East the Wilds of the Levetans which reach to the Nyle It compriseth three inclosed Towns and many Villages a hundred and twenty miles distant from Nylus Their abundance of Dates answers all which supplies them with Corn and other Necessaries This Countrey is molested also with deadly biting Serpents The Desart of Serte and Alguechet THe Sertan Wild The Desart of Serte and Alguechet divided from the five other more eminent hath for its Western Borders the Desart of Augele on the South the Kingdom of Gaogo on the East Egypt There are yet to be seen the Ruines of the City Serte Also on the South of Serte four and twenty miles from Egypt the Countrey of Alguechet with three inclosed Towns and many Villages and whole Groves of Dates The Inhabitants are black and though stored with Dates yet are poor and Covetous and Tributary to a Xeque or King In this Dominion live eminent Arabians call'd Uled Yahaia Uled Said and Uled Sumeir being able to raise an Army of thirty thousand Horse and an innumerable number of Foot Yet they possess no fortifi'd Towns but live in Tents and are Masters of the Campaigne NIGRITARUM REGIO Negro-Land 3.5 contains In the Inland Gualata Towns Three very large and populous besides the Metropolis Gualata Rivers Zenega or Niger Mountains None of any remark Guinee or Genoua Neither Cities Towns nor Fortresses but one single village the Seat of the King and a University Melli The Village Melli with some Desarts and barren Mountains Tombut Towns Tombut Cabra or Kambre Rivers Niger Guber Towns Guber besides a great Number of Villages and Hamlets Agadez Towns Agadez Kano Towns Cano the head City and some Mountains Kassene Nothing but slight Huts in the manner of Villages Zegzed Towns Zegzed a City with some excessive cold Mountains Zanfara Some Villages consisting of mean Huts Gangara Some Villages consisting of mean Huts Borno Towns Borno the principal about which many smaller Cities Hamlets and Villages Gago Towns Gago the Metropolis standing by the River Zenega the rest of the inhabited Places are Villages and Hamlets Nubia Towns Tenepsus Kondari Dangala Nubia the Metropolis Kusa Ghatua Dankala Jalake and Sala besides Villages Bito Towns Onely Bito Temiam Towns Temikan alone Dauma Each one poor Town Madra Each one poor Town Gorhan Each one poor Town Semen A Countrey little known and less convers'd with Upon the Sea-coast about Cape-Verde Towns and Villages Refrisko Camino Punto Porto Novo Ivala Rivers De la Grace Barsala Garnba Rha St. Domingo Katcheo Rio de les Iletas Rio Grande Danalves Nunno Tristan Tabito Rio das Piedras Pechel Palmas Pagone Kagranka Kasses Karokane Kaper Tambefine Tabarim Rio de
and by the receiving of many other Streams becomes full of water and gliding also easier by reason of the breadth to the great ease of all Vessels that go up against the Stream By the Village Tinga the River is fordable but none dare venture to wade through it but the Blacks for fear of the Crocodiles however on both its Shores are many Villages and within its bosome divers small Islands Twelve miles upwards of Tondebu half a mile above the Creek Jayre on the left hand lies a little Island betwixt the which and the main Land the Stream is no broader than a Musquet-shot shallow and runs in many Meanders but higher on the left side is four or five fathom deep About two miles about Mansibaer lies another Island that so straightens the passage that without great trouble they cannot go through it Not far from Nabare half way between the Mouth of the River and the Gold place of Cantor or Reskate lieth Elephant-Island so call'd for the great number of Elephants which breed there ¶ THe Air in this Countrey is continually hot The Air. though with some little variation from the beginning of June till the end of September in which time it rains every day at Noon and at Night from the East and South-East continual Lightnings and Thunder But the greatest Rains falls from May till the beginning of August which causes the Rivers to swell and overflow their Banks and that proves a very unhealthful time for the first Rains falling upon the naked people cause blotches and spots and on the Clothes of the Whites it breeds Worms but after a little time that inconvenience vanishes ¶ ALl along the Banks of Gambea and about Cassan Vegetables or Plants Tobacco grows plentifully which the Portugals fetch with Sloops both green and dried without making up in Rolls Cotton also with Mille Rice Lemons Oranges Apples and Ananasses but not in such abundance as some have written On the Sea-Coast are Trees above seventeen Paces in compass and not twenty in height whereas further into the Countrey they are tall and slender ¶ BEasts fit for labour and service breeding here are Camels The Beasts small Horses and Asses But they have besides many Cows and Oxen as appears by their Hides yearly brought into Europe as also Goats Sheep Deer red and fallow with divers others besides the Wilde Beasts found in the Wildernesses viz. Lyons Tygers Baboons Otters Elephants and the like This plenty of Cattel makes Provision in those places so cheap that about Gambea you may buy a Beast of three or four hundred weight for a Bar of Iron although at Cape de Verde they pay four or five Bars for the like ¶ THe people heretofore were savage and cruel but since they have in some sort by the Converse of Christian Merchants received some notions of Religion they are become tractable and courteous The Kings as we said keep a Majestick Port according to their manner of State seldom appearing in publick to their Subjects They are all great lovers of Brandy and will drink thereof even to excess Their propensity to Brandy And if any Forreigner Merchant or other desires Audience of the King he can by no means sooner effect it than by presenting him with a Bottel of Brandy The King of Great Cassan call'd Magro who spoke the Portugal Tongue The King of Cassan a great Sorcerer yet could not be won to Christianity was well skill'd in Necromantick Arts whereof one Block in a Journal of his Travels gives a particular account We will onely instance in one or two of his prestigious actions He commonly wore as many inchanted Chains without trouble as would have over-loaden a strong Man One time to shew his Art he caused a strong Wind to blow but confined it onely to designed limits so that the next adjoyning places were not sensible of any violent motion Another time desiring to be resolved of some questioned particular after his Charms a smoke and flame arose out of the Earth by which he gathered the answer to his demand ¶ MOst of the Wealth of the Inhabitants consists in Slaves Their Riches though some have Gold for among them are few Artificers and those that are onely Weavers and Smiths Artificers who are ill provided of Tools for their Work yet make shift therewith The Smiths make short Swords and knowing how to harden the Iron form the Heads of their Assagay's or Lances Darts or Arrows and all sorts of Instruments with which they Dig the Earth Their Bellows are a thick Reed or hollow piece of Wood in which is put a Stick wound about with Feathers which by the moving of the Stick makes the Wind. The Iron which they Forge is brought over out of Europe thither in Bars in Pieces of eight or ten Inches long and are exchanged with great gain in barter for their In-land Commodities The Weavers make Cloathes of Cotton which by the Merchants are carried to Serre-Lions Serbore and the Gold-Coast and there barter'd for Ivory red Wood and Gold These Cloathes because made also about Cape Verde are call'd Cape de Verde Cloathes being of three sorts the best and chiefest call'd Panossakes are two Ells and a half long and an Ell and a half broad whitened upon the Ground and with Lists commonly of eight Bands sew'd together the second Bontans two Ells long and an Ell and a half broad very neatly Strip'd having six Lifts sew'd together but the third sort named Berfoel are great Cloathes made with blue Stripes all which are commonly bought for Iron that is one Panossakes for one Bar of Iron three Bontans for two Bars and two great Barfoel Cloathes for one Bar. ¶ EVery one Their Tillage be he Spiritual or Temporal old or young must Till his own Ground if he intends to eat the King onely and some chief Nobles and antient decrepid people excepted for the doing whereof they use no Ploughs but dig the Earth with a kind of Mattocks in the time of their Rain because then the Ground is softened ¶ THeir Food is Mille Their Food Shell-Fruit Milk and some Flesh They Bake no Bread but boyl it as we in these Countreys do Puddings which they eat hot Their Drink is Palmito-Wine and for want of that Water but the Priests with their whole Families drink no sort of strong Drink but only Water ¶ THe Houses Their Houses like those in Zenega are onely round Huts with Walls of Reed Lime and Earth covered with Canes and environ'd with a Pallisado or Hedge of Canes ¶ THe Habit of this People Cloathes Sanutu◠as well Men as Women is onely a Shirt that reaches down to their Knees with long wide Sleeves a pair of Cotton Breeches and little white Hats with a Plume of Feathers in the middle The Maidens cut and prick their Breasts Thumbs Arms and Necks with Needles in fashion of Embroidery and burn in these marks that they
long Rains begin and continue in a manner without ceasing to the beginning of August These Rains bringing a sudden chilness upon the Air The alteration of the Weather occasions Sickness which newly before was as it were parching hot occasions oftentimes in the Bodies of Foreigners there resident strange Sicknesses because they know not how to preserve themselves from the Cold and Wet so well as the Blacks and moreover the Skins of the Blacks are so hardned by the heat that as if naturaliz'd they are little offended thereby whereas the English and Hollanders living in colder Climates when they feel those violent scorchings to them unaccustom'd fall into violent Sweats which by an insensible transipration exhales even the radical Moisture and so leaving the Vitals without assistance subject the Body to all casual Infirmities During the Season of Rain viz. May and July little or no Land-Winds stir but from the Sea they blow out of the South-West and West South-West causing the Waves to rowl very high In August the Rainy Season begins to cease and yet then the Sea hath a rowling motion with tumultuous Billows In September the Weather grows fair and the Air clear with gentle South-Winds In October November December January and February they reckon the Summer for then is the fairest Weather of the whole Year especially in December and January which have the hottest days In February stiff Land-Winds begin to blow one especially among the Blacks call'd from one of their Moneths Hermanta The Wind Hermanta coming out of the East South-East and continues sometimes not above three or four days and sometimes almost a fortnight otherwhiles a whole moneth though very seldom Then is the Air cold foggy and moist with some sharpness whereby many especially Forreigners get sore Eyes There are also every day two several Winds as we said before the Land-wind beginning in the Morning which they call Bofoe and towards Noon the Sea-wind and by them call'd Agan-Brettou Of Fruits this Countrey is reasonably provided The Plants and Fruits which they feed upon the whole year First there grows Rice also Turkish Wheat call'd by the Indians Mays which the Portuguese brought out of the West-Indies to the Island St. Thomas and from thence carry'd over to the Gold-Coast to supply their necessities For before the coming of the Portuguese this Plant was unknown to the Inhabitants But at this day the Countrey is fill'd therewith whereof they chiefly make Bread The Mille by the Inhabitants call'd Mieuw Mille or Miâ—â— the usual Bread-Corn of the Blacks grows there in abundance which the Inhabitants have had from all ages The Seed bears a resemblance of our Tares but sweeter of Taste and white and grows with long Ears like Bearded-Wheat or Rye It attains perfect growth and maturity in three Moneths then being cut down it lies in the Field a Moneth to dry And lastly the Ears cut off and bound in Bundles and brought into their Huts the Straw serves for a Cover to the Habitations Of this as we said being a Juicy and excellent Grain they make Bread with little labour considering it must not be Ground They have also Potatoe's Jams or In-Jams which grow like Turnips under the Ground and boil'd afford as good Food So the Bananasses and Bakoves they use with equal advantage as we Apples or Pears Ananasses not much eaten because of their tartness yet remarkable in this that the longer they are kept the more they Grow Of Lemmons and Oranges they have great plenty yet the Inhabitants make little use of them for the before-mention'd reason But the Lemmons are by the European Merchants bought up who Press out the Juyce into Vessels to Transport Palmeto-Trees grow in every place from whence they daily get so much Wine that seldom any in the evening can be found Sober In like manner also they get Tow to make Ropes from the Rind and extract Oyl of Palm from the Nuts ¶ LIving Creatures breed here of several kinds Living Creatures both Beasts and Fowls Wild and Tame Elephants particularly Elephants white Tygers Leopards and other Beasts of Prey frequenting the Woods An Elephant is in the Minish Tongue call'd Osson Hares A Tyger Bohen Hares also and Harts Staggs Hinds and Dear like those in our Parks onely their Horns like Goats There are many Dogs Dogs call'd by them Ekia or Kua and Cats as in Europe but the Dogs are sharp Snouted and of more various Colours as Black Red Yellow White and Spotted otherwise not much differing from ours in Shape but much in Nature for they will run away when men strike them without making any kind of Noise but not without Biting though they cannot Bark These Dogs they so frequently Eat They are eaten that in many places they are brought to Market and driven Coupled with Cords one to another The first Gift that a man gives when he Buys his Nobility is a Dog The Blacks keep many of them and have them in great esteem Cats Cats which they term Ambaio are much cherish'd for their killing Mice wherewith the Inhabitants of the Cities and Towns are much pester'd and their Flesh serves them for Food Bulls call'd in the Minish Tongues Nanne Bainin Cows Nanne Boewesja Oxen Cabrietes Sheep Ennan or Nanna and Sheep Cabrietes of which last there are very few found and those seldom kill'd The Cows and Oxen are small body'd like Yearling Calves having Horns standing cross but the Females never give any Milk The young Calves call'd Nanne Bay very bad Food caus'd by the dryness of the Pasture and heat of the Countrey Hens were brought hither by the Portuguese Hens from St. Thomas Isle and have wonderfully increas'd to the great refreshing of Merchants and Strangers when they come on Shore They grow fat as Capons by the feeding on Mille but are small Body'd and lay Eggs not much greater than Pigeons The Pigeons brought thither also by the Portuguese Pigeons are in the Countrey Phrase call'd Abronama that is The White men's Fowl They differ little from those among us onely smaller Headed Swine which they name Ebbio were Transported thither first from Portugal Swine but their Flesh by the change of the Climate becomes unsavoury so that they run wild as a prey fit onely for ravenous Beasts The Dutch carry'd thither some Geese which the Blacks call Apatta and make a choice Dainty at their chiefest Festivals They have no Horses and if one be presented to them they kill and eat it But Apes or Monkies are almost innumerable Apes Gatamountains breed here of two sorts one with white Beards Catamountains black Faces and a speckled Skin white under their Bellies with a broad black List on their Backs and black Tails the other with white Noses all which are catcht by the Blacks with Snares hang'd on the Trees There are also some Civet-Cats call'd Kankan ¶ THe Fowl here are not onely numerous but
be set forth in because of their rarity ¶ AFrica abounds with Camels especially in the Wilderness of Lybia Beasts Biledulgerid and Barbary they have them also in Asia Camel the Bactrians and Arabians use them for Burthens nor travel they in Egypt without them the Beast is cloven-footed having a fleshy bunch on his back onely peculiar to its Species and another lesser bunch on the bending of his Knees which seems Supporters to the whole Body his Tayl is like an Asses but has four knots like a Cows his Pizzle which sticks out behind is so sinewy that they make of them the strongest Cross-bowe strings Each Leg hath onely one Knee-joynt or bending though they seem more because of the trussness of his Hips and short Buttocks his Dung is like that of an Ox his Gall lyes not separated as in other Beasts but keeps in certain veins Nature as Aristotle and Plinie write hath bestowed on him two Maws because he eats Thistles and Thorns for the Uval of his Mouth and the inward Skin of his Maw are very rough Modern Writers as Purchas Peter de Avicen and others Three sort of Camels say there are three sorts of Camels the first as Marmol tells us the Arabians call Elhegen which is so large and strong that he will carry a thousand weight the Africans geld them so making them more hardy ordering onely one Male to ten Females The second sort call'd by the Arabians Bocheti or Bechet is lesser and hath two bunches each carrying Burthens or a Man these are onely in Asia Of their Burthen The third they call Raguahill or Elmahari are the Dromedaries which are small Of the Dromedary lean and tender fit onely to carry men but in swiftness they so far excel that in one day they will travel a hundred miles posting seven or eight days through Desarts with little or almost no food All the Arabian Nobles of Biledulgerid Of his Swiftness and the Africans of Lybia ride on them usually and when the King of Tombut would impart weighty Affairs to the Biledulgerid Merchants he postes one away upon a Dromedary to Darha or Segelmess in seven or eight days which are each from Tombut about seven hundred and fifty miles When they load a Camel or unload he sinks down on his Belly and when he feels that he hath a sufficient Burthen he rises nor will take more upon him than he is able to carry The African Camel far excels the Asiatick for they travel forty or fifty days without Provender Of his enduring Hunger and Thirst contented onely with a little Grass and browsing on the Leaves of Trees Solinus saith they endure thirst four days but swill when they come to it not onely satisfying their arrears but barrelling up store for the future puddle-water best suits their palate for finding what is clear they will stir up the bottom with their feet so delighting as it were in the Must or drink with a flying Lee. Late Authors say they will endure thirst fourteen or fifteen days and it is certain in the Desarts of Hara and Biledulgerid they never drink if they can finde Grass to feed They copulate backward says Plinie Their Generating but Aristotle tells us that the Female stoops under the Males embraces as other Juments and that in their Amours they spend whole days in dark Recesses and private Retirements concealed amongst Bushes and the like none daring come near to disturb them in their commutual Love-fits They go as Suidas says ten moneths producing on the eleventh and after the twelfth moneth prepare for the like encounters Plinie will have twelve months e're they are delivered and that being three years old they generate bringing forth always in the Spring and so soon as delivered couple again But Aristotle puts twelve moneths to their pregnancy and that they never bring forth more than one Foal They by natural instinct hate the Horse Their Enmity Lyon and Gnat which Cyrus King of Persia well observing drew up his Camels against Croesus Horse who cannot endure their smell Elian writes how offensive Lyons are to them the Arabs noint them over with the fat of Fish so to keep off their Enemy the Gnat Authors differ much about their age Their Age. Aristotle says they live above fifty years Solinus a hundred unless the disagreeing temperature of the Air out of their Native Countrey cut them sooner off They are docile and vindicative and extreamly fond of their young They swell if beaten and conceal how much they take it ill Revengeful and study revenge till they finde an opportunity The Camel Colt learns to Dance Learn to Dance as saith Africanus to a Tabor beaten behinde the door where he is put up in a room with a hot Stove which not well enduring he lifts up lightly one foot after another which quick and tripping motion when ever he hears the like Musick reminding his old lesson he puts in practice so seeming to dance They are driven with great trouble yet not with stripes but onely a Song so that they seem delighted with vocal Harmony Camels flesh amongst the Arabians and Sineses is esteemed as a Dainty but prohibited to the Jews The Arabs count their Wealth by their stock of Camels for when they Audit their Princes Estate they reckon not by Pounds and Duckats but adjust his Revenues by thousands of Camels for they live in full pleasure freedom and safety because they can remove with all they have into the Desarts where no Army nor Invasion can reach them ¶ THe Elephant call'd by the Arabs Elfill Elephant is common both to Asia and Africa but especially to the last Amongst the Woods behinde Syrtes and the Desarts of Salee in Upper Ethiopia Guinee on the banks of Niger and in the Wilderness of Atlas and other parts of Africk they abound of which there are also of divers kindes as the Lybian the Indian Marsh Mountain and Wood Elephants the Marsh hath blew and spungy teeth hard to be drawn out and difcult to be wrought and bored through being knotty and full of little knobs The Mountain are stern and ill-condition'd their teeth smaller yet more white and of a better shape the Field-Elephant is the best well natur'd most docile having the largest whitest teeth and easiest to be cut of all the other and may by bending be shaped into any form according to Juvenal Dentibus ex illis quo mittit porta Syenes Et Mauri celeres From whiter Teeth Sat. 2. which the Syene sends And the swift Moors So it appears the Wealth of Africa did as much consist in Elephants Teeth as Corn by this Crown or Wreath described by Claudian Mediis apparet in astris Africa rescissae vestes spicea passim Serta jacent lacero crinales vertice dentes Et fractum pendebat Ebur Amidst the Stars next Africa appears De Bello Gildon Her Garments torn her Wreath
more his torrent with impetuous waves Drawn up against his rage A second the Ocean from whence they supposed that superabundance of water came at that season The third was rain because as Democritus writes at that time in the Southern parts great quantities of rain pours down the Trade-winds driving the clouds that way Anaxagoras a great Naturalist holds the melting of the snow in the Ethiopian Mountains as a cause agreeing therein with Euripides Aquam pulchram deserens Fluminis Nili quae extera defluit Nigrorum hominum tunc tumefacit undas Quum Aethiopicae nives liquuntur Then leaving pleasant streams of Nile Issuing from the Negro soil Who annually his Banks o'reflows At Thaws of Aethiopian Snows But Ephorus a Scholar of Isocrates says it proceeds from an abundance of moisture all the Winter retained in Subterranean Caverns which at the approach of the Summer solstice break forth and evaporate like Sweat by an insensible transpiration to such a quantity as produces the rising of the River Contrary to which Lucan l. 10. says thus Vana fides veterum Nilo quod crescat in arva Aethiopum prodesse nives non Arctos in illis Montibus aut Boreas testes ubi Sole perusti Ipse color populi calidisque vaporibus Austri Adde quod omne caput fluvii quodcunque soluta Praecipitat glacies ingresso Vere vanescit Prima tabe nivis Slight antient Saws that Nile his banks o'reflows From melting swoln of Ethiopian Snows No Boreas hoars those hills their people tan'd With sweltring Southern Windes and scalding Sand No streams in brimmers from their Fountains post Till Spring dissolves the hoards of Winter frost Kircher in his Enquiries upon this subject first makes the natural scite and disposition of the Ethiopian Mountains a prime and the condition of the Channel a second cause but after coming more home to the point he gives two more probable One when their mouths are so obstructed they cannot discharge their Water Another when the Channels receive more than they are wont or can contain This later happens either through molten Snow or the falling of excessive Rain Thales one of the seven Grecian Sages asserts the former opinion Anaxagoras and most other Philosophers the second and in truth the belief that the increase of Rivers proceeds from violent Rains hath obtained the greatest credit being manifest not onely in Countreys lying under the North-Pole but even in Mountainous parts under the Line such as tâ—â— Hills of Andes in America and the Mountains of the Moon in Africk These great Rains come not from the Clouds driven thither by annual Windes but from those exhaled in Ethiopia it self which are so much the greater as the Sun-beams there in a perpendicular line have the greater vigour to attract for which reason at the Suns coming out of Gemini the matter causing Nile to overflow is onely preparing but when the Sun enters Cancer then the Nile and other Rivers pass over their Banks among whom the great African River Niger then passing between mighty Mountains in West-Ethiopia dischargeth himself into the Ocean With this of Kircher agrees Odoardo Lopez saying Odoardo Lopez there Rains fall from the beginning of March till August not by drops as with us in Europe but pouring down as it were by whole Payls or Buckets full with such impetuousness that they cause all streams to swell above their Banks The reasons of the overflowing of Nile being thus shewn Kircher starts up two new Difficulties viz. Why the mentioned Rains fall the Sun passing the Northern Signs and not at any other time The second Why the Rains which fall in the Moors Countrey do not cause the same overflowing Or why Egypt onely in the overflowing of Nile should so much participate of it as to seem no Land but all Main Sea As to the first it is to be observ'd Why the Rain falls in the Moors Countrey when the Sun is in the North. that a constant effect cannot be produced without a certain and constant cause Now the Position of the Sun and natural Scituation of the Ethiopian Mountains are the chiefest and greatest cause of these Rains and the overflowing of Nile and some other Rivers for wise and provident Nature hath made these Mountains especially those between the Equinoctial and the Winter Tropick in 22 degrees of Southern Latitude and which encompass the Southerly Ethiopia on the East South and West to be as hollow or concav'd Burning-glasses which lying to the Sun in his Northern Latitude fitly gathers and so concenters his Beams that they reverberate such a fiery heat as makes extraordinary Exhalations by which abundance of thick Clouds are consequently engendred which crouded and thrust together by the Trade-windes at that time always Northerly and beaten towards the capacious Receptions of the aforesaid Mountain Convexities are dissipated thence at length by the fervent cold descending from the tops of the Hills and so are dissolved and come pouring down in hideous Showres or rather in Streams Floods or Rivers of Rain from whence it appears that Nature hath set them as Receptacles of Vapors and Clouds for how much the scituation of Mountains not onely in Ethiopia but also in other parts of the World conduce to the breeding of Windes and Rain is not strange to any who have made search into Natural Causes To the second 't is answer'd Why the Nile overflowâ— onely in Egypt and not in the Moors Countrey That the Channels of Nile are the cause of its overflowings For as the Channels of Rivers running between the sides of Mountains are deeper so they can swallow the greater quantity of waters because the Mountains hinder their overflowing and running away On the other side where the Channels are shallow and go through flat places and wide extended Grounds with Banks low the more overflowing they are subject to The great Mountains therefore pouring down waters between their narrow Openings and Precipices into the Nile makes it flow far and near over its shallow Channels not able to contain that abundance And for this reason all the flat Grounds in the Moors Countrey are subject to the like Nilian overflowings As therefore the natural Scituation and Position of the Mountains which are so conjoyn'd as we before said and the Plains surrounded by them serving for a Laboratory as it were The shallowness of the banks in Egypt a cause of the overflowing of Nile to make Rain in is an infallible cause of Showres at set-times So also must the Natural Position and Constitution of the Channel of Nile be held for a certain cause of his overflowing Now the reason why these Rains fall when the Sun is in the Northerly Signs Why it rains when the Sun is in the Northern Signs must be attributed to Annual Winds call'd by the Portuguese General or Trade-Windes which at the Suns entrance into Capricorn come blustering out of the North and turn the Clouds to Rain but when the
from Putrifaction of the Air Seldom does the Pestilence in Egypt arise from the Putrifaction of the Air. unless the Nile overflowing the Countrey too high leaves his Water a long while upon the Ground whereby the whole Land becomes as a corrupt and standing Lake that by the Southerly Winds and Summer Heat are ripened and made fit to send up infectious Vapours There being then no Natural Cause to breed this Contagion within Egypt The Pestilence is always brought over from other Places into Egypt it follows that it is brought thither from other Neighbouring and Bordering Places and especially out of Greece Syria and Barbary That which is brought thither out of Greece and Syria and falls upon Caire is very milde kills few and holds but a short time But when it comes from Barbary thither it is most pernicious and of longest continuance Such was that in the Year Fifteen hundred and eighty that raged so furiously that in a short time it clearly swept away above five hundred thousand men By the continual rising of the Dust Why the Baths are in great use among the Egyptians and extraordinary Sweating the Bodies of the People become foul nasty and verminious and therefore Baths are of very great use to cleanse and keep them sweet and free from breeding Cattel But the Women with most frequency and care use Bathing as intending or at least imagining that such Lotions make them more pleasing to their Husbands and to have a gracious and pleasant Scent in their Nostrils when they come together to recreate themselves They take little care of their Hair Alpin de mâ—de Egypt ordering it slightly according to the manner of the Countrey in a Silken Caul but are very curious elsewhere using the Razor where necessary Afterwards they anoint themselves with several rich Perfumes such as Musk Amber Civet and the like which there are bought in great abundance for a small matter as aforesaid This frequent Bathing and Anointing they use not onely for Ornament Fat Women are pleasing to the Egyptians Cleanliness and Coolness but especially to make them if lean to become plump and fat because such Women be highly esteemed of in those Parts by which means some grow Bona-Roba's and others out of all measure with fathomless Wastes like foul Sows chiefly the Jews whose Women are more liable to that undecent Extream All in general when they are Bathing the sooner to facilitate their Design What they do to be fat take nourishing cool Broaths and Cordial Jellies on purpose made of Pinguefying Ingredients to wit Bammia Melochia and Colocasia The poorer sort in the Bannias drink the Settling of the Oyl of Sesamus Seed which they call Thaine or the decoction of China Roots or the Oyl pressed out of the Indian Nuts or the Fruit of the Turpentine-Tree Sweet Almonds Hasle-nuts and Pistaches eating besides much food and Flesh of fatted Fowls with the Broath boiled to a Jelly and mixed therewith Nor do these Lotions and Unctions suffice The chasing of the Body unless attended with a threefold Frication The first is done with the naked palm of the hand anointed with the Oyl of Sesamus the second with a rough linnen cloth and the third with a course cloth of Goats-hair After which they are rubbed all over with Sope which they wash off in a Bath of warm sweet-Water And lastly they lay upon their Feet a mixture of the Powder of Archanda mixed with ordinary water and is very serviceable for moist and stinking Feet drying them speedily by its great astringency At Cairo and Alexandria great multitudes of Houses are appointed for the use of Baths which have many Caves Cellars or Chambers The Superfluity of Baths at Cairo wherein people sweat are chafed and washed containing at all times hot warm and cold Baths but usually moderately warm because principally in use among them The Egyptians keep a slender and sparing Table eating little but often The Egyptians feed sparingly but often They are not pleased with Variety but content themselves with one Dish of Meat at a meal And if Flesh eat sparingly of it as having no great appetite thereto but when they do they chuse Mutton simply cook'd without either addition or Sauce to it But of late some Merchants have begun to learn to eat Chickens They chiefly delight in moist Food Their Food and therefore commonly use Rice boiled in preserved Juices of Linse Erwetes white Cives Melochia Beets Melda Coale Bammia Cucumers or Chate the Roots of Colocasia Melons Dates Musae Fruit Figs Apricocks Peaches Oranges Lemons Citrons Granates The poor people eat Beef and Camels flesh and some Fish as Pikes or Pickerels and many other and among the rest the flesh of the Crocodile In places near the Sea Fish may be had in great abundance which they eat without distinction for the most part salted and sometime half rotten Milk and all that come of it or are made with it is with them in very great use And as they are best pleased in simple Diet of one kinde of Food They eat not many sorts of Food so a little of it contents them For many make their Dinner and Supper onely of Melons or Wheaten Bread some of such simple Broth as we mentioned before and others chew upon a green Sugar-Cane or onely with Figs or Grapes or Cucumers or some such trifling Diet. All their Pot-herbs and Fruits are moister than the European and therefore more unsavoury The Fishes are unwholesom In like manner the Fishes taken in the Nile are fat enough and pleasant in Taste but accounted unwholesom because that River hath no stony or gravelly but a sedimented bottom and the Water unsetled with a flying Lee which must of necessity make the Fishes that breed in it unwholesom The common Drink of the Countrey is the Nile Their Drink which is very sweet but the Christians and Jews drink Wine also as also some Turks and especially the Soldiers that often at Cairo take the Creature in such abundance that they return home laid athwart on Asses Backs in those mad and inebriating Frolicks no more minding their Prophets Wine-forbidding Laws The best Wine for in Egypt there grows none is brought from the Island of Candy Rhodes and Cyprus the Wine of Italy Corcyre and Zacynthe turning sowre presently This Water of Nilus The Water of Nilus very wholesom to drink which by the length of his Current and the Heat of the Sun must needs be sufficiently concocted and made thin is very wholesom for as to the dregs or muddy part thereof the Egyptians have a way to make it clear which they do in this manner As soon as the Water is brought home in Leathern Flasks or Bottles they put it in long-neck'd great earthen Jugs or Jarres with broad round Bellies anointing the edge a little with stamp'd sweet Almonds then taking a handful of the same they thrust their Arm into
on the Kingdom of Fez then gliding through the Plain of Adaksuni and afterward shut up as it were in a narrow Valley where a fair Bridge was erected over it by Abul Hascen the Fourth King of the Marin Family From thence Southward overspreads the Levels between Dukala and Temesne till at length by Azamor after it hath received the Waters of the River Hued la Abid and Derna it pours it self into the Ocean This River neither Spring nor Winter can be forded therefore the neighbouring Inhabitants ferry over both Passengers and Merchandise upon a Float made of Goat-skins blown up like a Bladder with Hurdles fasten'd to them upon which they take in their Fare and other Lading This River abounds so much with Shads that not only the Inhabitants of Azamor and Marocko are serv'd but also Andalusia and Portugal are suppli'd with them as a forreign Dainty Darna runs out of Mount Magran by the Cities Efza and Tefza from Tedle Darna between the Mountains full North till it meets with Ommirabilis streams The Brook Sicsiva call'd by some Sessua and Sefsava Sicsiva runs betwixt the Mountains of Nefise and Semede and through the City Elgumuha then mingling with the Asifnaal Tefethne takes its beginning out of the Mountain Gabelelhadi Tefethne passing through the Plains of Hea watering Heusugaghen Tesedgest and Kuleihata then branching into several Arms glides into the Ocean over against Cape Magador The River of Sanut call'd in Spanish Rio dos Savens and in Portugues Rio dos Savens De los Savalos in English Shad-Brook it shoots out of the Mountain Gabelelhadi so descending through the Campaign of Hea to Amama then delivering up his fresh Water to the briny Ocean Tekuleth Tekuleth supposed to be the River by Ptolomy call'd Diur whose Margents are crown'd with the Famous City Tekuleth and not far thence looseth it self and name between Goz and Amama in the Atlantick Lastly And the Fifteenth River which waters this Kingdom of Morocco is Imiffen Imiffen proceeding out of the Mountain Sicsiva then gliding Southward dispatches a short Progress falling into the Ocean at Cape Non. The Air of this Countrey The Air of it is commonly much warmer than that of Europe but the Air on the Mountains is commonly cold especially on the highest which are covered with Snow and so probably are more unfruitful The Plains of Morocco and Fez The fruitfulness of Morocco thus water'd with abundance of Rivers and Brooks are exceeding fruitful This Kingdom abounds with all things necessary for humane sustenance particularly good Oyl d'Olive and other useful Oyls The variety of their Vines are numerous of whose grapes they eat many fresh gathered many they dry and some they press which yield both pleasant brisk and full-bodied Wines Here also is exceeding plenty of Dates Figs Peaches Nuts Pine-Apples Sugar Flax Hemp Woad and Honey Mines of Gold Gold Mines Silver and Copper are frequent so also are great Stone-Quarries but none of them all are at any time open'd or sunk without special Order of the Xerif Upon the Plains and Mountains feed large Oxen Beasts Horses Mules wilde Goats Roe-Deer Asses Sheep also frequented by Lions wilde Swine Wolves and many other Beasts of prey as shall appear in the Description of the particular Territories There is no place in Barbary so well stored with Camels as Morocco Camels of which the Inhabitants make great use in carrying Burdens and Merchandise out of the in most places to the Sea-coast Leo Afric A sign of Apprehension in Camels to their no small advantage These Creatures seem to have a notable apprehension for when between Ethiopia and Barbary they are forced to go a days Journy more than the common Stages Leo Afric their Masters cannot drive them forward with blows but are necessitated to sing and whistle before them which supererogated Reward seems to them a sufficient bounty to draw and entice them to the performance of their over-service Experience confirms that the African Camels far exceed the Asian in strength being able to travel fifty days with their Burdens on Camels travelling fifty days together never unloaden without any Fodder or Meat Nature in them supporting it self by a Consumption as it were of the parts for first the flesh of their Bunches fall away and consume afterwards their Bellies and lastly of their Hipps and Buttocks whereby they become so feeble that they can scarce bear a hundred weight Concerning their Form Nature and other Properties we have mentioned at large in our general Description of Africa Here likewise also in Ducala and Tremisen Guabox or Wilde Oxen. breed a kind of wilde Oxen by the Inhabitants call'd Guahox and by the Spaniards Vacas Bravas that is Mad Bulls they run as swift as a Hart and are smaller than an Ox with a dark brown Tail black and sharp Horns the Flesh sweet with a Skin fit to tan for Shoo-leather They generally range through the Woods in great Herds In the Rivers are found great pieces of Amber abounding also with Shads Pikes Eels and other variety of Fish ¶ THe People of Morocco are well set and strong of Body The Constitution of the Moroccaians as most of the Inhabitants of Barbary are of a subtil and piercing spirit abounding with Choler Adust which commonly denotes acuteness of wit Some of them follow Merchandizing others Husbandry a third sort Wars Diego Torres c. 88. a fourth Arts and Sciences but all in general have a peculiar Inclination to Judiciary Astrology as may be supposed from the opportunities of their Serene and long Nights Their Women constantly keep within doors using Spinning working Tapistry or doing other things and have black and white Slaves of both Sexes to serve them on all occasions For want of Knives they break their Bread in pieces with their Hands and eat their Meat on Matts spread on the Ground as we said before They have variety of Dishes as Beef Mutton Fowl and Venison Their Food but their most usual is Couscous made of Meal Rice and other Ingredients mixt with water and made up in Balls then put into an Earthen Vessel full of little holes set upon the Hearth the heat whereof Bakes it enough This they eat in great pieces being very pleasant in Taste and of a wonderful pinguefying Nature Feasting is here very frequent especially in the Houses of Great Persons where for one Entertainment sometimes twenty or five and twenty Sheep all of a large size than ours are drest Their Drink commonly is a Liquor made of Raisins Their Drink steep'd in Sugar and Water or else * Like our Metheglin compounded of Water and Honey But the Inhabitants in and about Mount Atlas drink commonly boyl'd Wine whereas others will drink nothing but Goats and Camels Milk The Citizens of Morocco and other great Towns wear Shirts The Habit of the Men. long Breeches and Coats reaching to the Knees
to Salee the fourth of September The sixteenth of June in the Year Sixteen hundred sixty and six Gailand Lord of Alkazir drew into the Field against Muly Resis King of Tafilet Brother to the King of Fez but three Days after came back again to Alkazir About two Days after he drew into the Field again was met by the King of Tafilet routed and put to Flight with the loss of many and revolt of more Soldiers to the Kings side Gailand himself wounded with a Semiter escaping to Alkazir but not daring to trust himself there within an hour fled to Arzile The King without any opposition took in Alkazir whereupon Tituan and Old and New Salee fell to him so that now the City and Castle was once more reduced under the Power of the King of Fez. Once before the Portugues took it but were not able to hold it long ere it returned to the right Owner When Sydan the third Son of Hamet after the Death of his Father and Brothers had possest himself of the Kingdom of Fez though afterwards stripped both of that and Morocco for a time by the several opposite Factions in those Kingdoms commanded by Hamet Ben Abdela a Religious but hypocritical Heremite who hoping to get all for himself was opposed by Sid Hean that took part with Sydan by which assistance the Tumults at last were pacified in some measure yet nevertheless a rabble of Pyrates invested themselves in this chief Port of Fez inabling themselves thereby to do him infinite mischief both by Sea and Land and not to him only but all others whose business of Trade drew them into those infested Seas Many fruitless Attempts he made upon them so that considering his own weakness at Sea for want of Shipping he sent an Embassador unto King Charles the First of England to desire his Assistance Nor did that Pious Prince need much Importuning to put his hand to so good a Work for he soon dispatched thither the requested Aids by whose Assistance Sydan became Master of the Town unroosted and punished the Pyrates and sent Three hundred Christian-Slaves freed for a Present to his Majesty Nor staid he there but raising his thoughts to a higher Pitch of General Good he sent another Embassador with a Letter to His Majesty to give him the like Assistance against Algiers who Roved with as much Cruelty through the Mediterrane as the Salee-Men before had done over the Atlantick The which Letter savouring of more than Mahumetan Piety and much conducing to the King of Great Britains Honour we will Insert for Satisfaction THE King of Moroccos Letter TO KING CHARLES The FIRST of ENGLAND WHEN these our Letters shall be so happy as to come to Your Majesties Sight I wish the Spirit of the Righteous God may so direct your Mind that you may joyfully embrace the Message I send The Regal Power allotted to Us makes Us common Servants to our Creator then of those People whom we Govern So that observing the Duties We owe to God We deliver Blessings to the World in providing for the publick good of Our Estates We magnifie the Honour of God like the Celestial Bodies which though they have much Veneration yet serve only to the Benefit of the World It is the excellency of Our Office to be Instruments whereby Happiness is delivered unto the Nations Pardon me Sir This is not to Instruct for I know I speak to one of a more clear and quick sight than my self but I speak this because God hath pleased to grant Me a happy Victory over some part of those Rebellious Pyrates that so long have molested the peaceable Trade of Europe and hath presented further occasion to root out the Generation of those who have been so pernitious to the good of Our Nations I mean since it hath pleased God to be so cuspicious to Our beginnings in the Conquest of Sale that We might joyn and proceed in hope of like Success in the War of Tunis Algiers and other Places Dens and Receptacles for the inhumane Villanies of those who abhor Rule and Government Herein whilst We interrupt the corruption of Malignant spirits of the World We shall glorifie the great God and perform a Duty that will shine as glorious as the Sun and Moon which all the Earth may see and reverence a Work that shall ascend as sweet as the Perfume of the most precious Odours in the Nostrils of the Lord a Work grateful and happy to Men a Work whose Memory shall be reverenced so long as there shall be any remaining amongst Men that love and honour the Piety and Vertue of Noble Minds This Action I here willingly present to You whose Piety and Vertues equal the Greatness of Your Power that We who are Vicegerents to the Great and Mighty God may hand in hand triumph in the Glory which the Action presents unto us Now because the Islands which You Govern have been ever Famous for the unconquered Strength of their Shipping I have sent this my trusty Servant and Ambassador to know whether in Your Princely Wisdom You shall think fit to assist Me with such Forces by Sea as shall be answerable to those I provide by Land which if You please to grant I doubt not but The Lord of Hosts will protect and assist those that Fight in so glorious a Cause Nor ought You to think this strange that I who so much reverence the Peace and Accord of Nations should exhort to a War Your Great Prophet CHRIST JESUS was the Lion of the Tribe of JUDAH as well as the Lord and Giver of Peace which may signifie unto You That he which is a Lover and Maintainer of Peace must always appear with the Terror of his Sword and wading through Seas of Blood must arrive to Tranquility This made JAMES Your Father of glorious Memory so happily Renowned among all Nations It was the Noble Fame of Your Princely Vertues which resounds to the utmost corners of the Earth that perswaded me to invite You to partake of that Blessing wherein I boast my self most Happy I wish God may heap the Riches of his Blessings on You increase Your Happiness with Your Days and hereafter perpetuate the Greatness of Your Name in all Ages But now to return to the Course of our History Two large Miles from Salee Tefensare there lyeth another antient City call'd Tefensare or according to Sanutus Fansare and by Marmol suppos'd to be Ptolomy's Banasse In the same Place Mahmore at the Mouth of the River Subu stood formerly the City Maamore or Mahmore destroyed in the Moorish Civil Wars Emmanuel King of Portugal sailing into that Countrey pleased with the situation erected a Fort there Anno Fifteen hundred and fifteen which e're made well defensive the King of Fez his Brother came with an Army of Fifteen thousand strong with which defeating the Portugues he utterly raised King Emmanuels new erected Work But the King of Spain in the Year Sixteen
commonly peculiar Turrets something elevated from the rest in which when they go abroad they secure their Wives who to pass the time with more content from thence have a full Survey of the whole City Of the seven hundred Mosques there The Churches above half a hundred are very spacious and of great Reception and stately built on Marble Pillars mingled with Stone Fountains on the Tops They are built after the manner of our Churches in Europe vaulted with Wooden Arches but the Floors are cover'd with matted Rush so close and neatly joyn'd together that the Seams can hardly be seen nor any dust come through And the Walls also in the same manner matted above six foot high The most Eminent Mosque in this City The chief Church is call'd Karuven which Gramay says is half a Mile in Compass with thirty Porticoes every one of an extraordinary Heighth and Breadth with a Roof of an hundred and fifty Cubits long and eighty Cubits broad The Tower or Steeple of it whence they daily cry aloud and set up certain Flags to give notice to call the people to the Sala or their Divine Service is exceeding high and being built not Square but Quadrangular Oblongo stands supported in Breadth with twenty and in Length with thirty Marble Pillars under which are always above four hundred Vessels of Water to wash in before Prayers Round about stand several Cloisters each of forty Cubits in Length and thirty in Breadth wherein all sorts of Church Utensils as Oyl Lamps and Mats are kept There are in that Church above nine hundred Arches with Marble Pillars at each of which hangs a lighted Lamp About a Mile from hence lieth New-Fez a glorious Structure New-Fez built by one Jacob son of the First Abdullach of the Marine Family in a rich and delightful Plain one Arm of the River on the Northside runs into the City and the other makes its Entry on the Southside taking a view of the Castle and the Colledge of King Abuhinam who nam'd it The White City but the common People New-Fez Founded at the first onely to be the nearer to the King of Telesin who at the beginning of his Reign had been his great Enemy He divided it into three parts the first allotted to be the Kings Palace It was divided into three Parts and a Residence for the Children and Brothers of the King wherein were contained many Gardens stately Mosques and Chambers for Accounts and Receipts of the Revenue Round about were Mansions for Artificers in the midst Dwellings for Receivers Treasurers Labourers Notaries Accomptants and Secretaries Near the Treasury-Chamber was the Goldsmiths Row and other Conveniences for the Assay-Master and Master of the Mint The second Part he set out for a Palace for his Courtiers Officers and chief Men contain'd within a Line of Fifteen hundred Paces from East to West and adjoyning to a Market set round about with Shops of Merchants and Artificers The third Part was at first the Quarters of the Kings Life-Guard but now is for the most part Inhabited by Jews and Goldsmiths This New City hath no fewer Mosques Baths and Colledges than the Old Here is an ingenious Water-Work the Invention of a Spaniard having many great Wheeles each of which turn but once round in four and twenty Hours and convey Water out of the River into Cisterns from whence again through Leaden-Pipes the Palaces Gardens Mosques Baths and Colledges are all plentifully served This City was brought to full Perfection in an Hundred and forty Years being environ'd with strong Walls and accommodated with Conveniences and Ornaments fit for a City except the fore-mentioned Water-Work which it had not of divers Years after being only contented with Water brought thither from a Spring ten Miles distant through Pipes by the contrivance of a Genoese ¶ THe Mountains of this Province are Zalagh Zarhon Tagat and Gereygure Zalagh somewhat more than half a Mile distant from Fez Northward The Mountains of Fez. beginneth on the East-side of the River Subu and extending four Miles Westward on which is scituate Lampte a fair Town supposed by Marmol to be the Bobrise of Ptolomy Zarhou call'd by the Inhabitants Zarahanum appearing first in the Plains of Eceis or Aseis three Miles from Fez and stretching eight Miles Westward It is properly under the Jurisdiction of Mequinez and contains forty Hamlets or Villages lying among the Green Olive-Trees wherewith it is every where abundantly shadowed Titulit standing on the top of it was formerly the Chief City of this Territory two Miles in Compass but by King Joseph of the Race of the Almoraviden utterly destroyed and hath ever since remain'd waste only that fifteen or twenty Alsakues or Priests reside there in so many Houses standing about the Mosque Some report there yet remains a City commonly call'd Elkazar-Pharon that is Pharaoh's Palace but by Geographers Kazar Zarahanum being three Miles from Titulit with a small River on each side and shadowed round about with Groves of Olive This City was ruined the same time with Titulit there being at present no other Remainder of it but a Market-place call'd Larbaa el Haibar frequented every Wednesday by the People of Fez and Mequinez But Dar el Hamare which Marmol thinks is The Epitiane of Ptolomy stands here yet without any injury and well Peopl'd though the Inhabitants are mightily terrifi'd with Lions coming thither frequently to seek Prey At the Foot of this Mountain near the way from Mequinez to Fez appear the Ruines of Gemae formerly call'd Gotiane destroyed by King Abu-saiid of the Benimerin Race Tagat or Togat two Miles West from Fez and extending from West to East two Miles as far as the River Bu Nacer Guerygure is very populous close to Atlas three Miles from Fez between the Plains of Eceis and Adhasen Here rises the Head of the River Aguber that after a short Western Course joyns with the Stream Beber ¶ IN this Province also six Miles from Fez lie the Plains of Eceis or Aseis full of Villages and Inhabitants and Beniguarten Vale containing about two hundred Residences of the Arabs This Jurisdiction produceth great abundance of Grain The Quality of the Soil of the Territory of Fez. Cotton and Flax even to admiration as also variety of Fruits especially Figs Almonds Olives and large Grapes Horses Camels Oxen Sheep Goats Deer and Hares breed here in great numbers But this Plenty of all Necessaries is attended with a great Inconvenience for the Air of the Countrey ten Miles in Length and five in Breadth Westward from Old Fez is infectious and unhealthful causing in the Inhabitants a pale yellow Colour and casting them into malignant and other mortal Diseases The whole Countrey is full of Gardens wherein grows Flax Melons Citrons Beets Herbs and all sorts of such Plants in such vaste quantities that it is said that the Gardeners in Summer bring five thousand Waggons with Fruit and Herbs to Market and
call'd The Ornament of the World But soon after the Vandals under their King Genserick in the Year after Christ's Nativity Four hundred forty two reduced it to great misery which yet once more it recovered and remained a City of good estimation till suffering under the Gothish Devastations but at length finally destroy'd by the Arabians and made a heap of Ruines as it still continues The chief and greatest remaining Antiquity of this once so famous Place is a Water-course Vaulted over with high Arches through which it runs into the City although many remainders of the old Fortifications may yet be seen and some ruined Structures The Village Marsa which we mention'd before is the onely place that keeps up the memory of Carthage being built in part of its Ruines and a poor piece of the Skeleton of that once so glorious Body so true is that of the antient Poet Sic patet exemplis Oppida posse mori ¶ THe Valleys lying round about have a very sweet Air The Condition of the Countrey because continually cleared by fresh Breezes that come from the Sea and are full of Orchards Planted with great variety of Fruit of a pleasant taste and very large especially Peaches Pomegranates Olives Figs Citrons Lemmons and Oranges wherewith the Markets of Tunis are plentifully furnisht the rest of the Ground also being exceeding Fertile though circumscribed in narrow Limits for on the North lieth the Mountain Thesea and the Lake of Goletta and on the East and South the Plain of Byserta the rest between Carthage and Tunis for almost three miles dry and barren Land ¶ THe Ground about Arriane produceth some Wheat and St. Johns Bread Plants or Vegetables but about Naples nothing but Flax and about Kammart many Sugar-Canes ¶ SOme wild Beasts are found hereabouts as also a sort of Gray Partridges Beasts and others with black Feathers on their Breasts and Wings the remaining part Ash-coloured with the Bill and Feet much shorter than the Partridges here with us In the Lake of Goletta are Birds by the Moors call'd Louze and by the Turks Kalckavensi having Legs two Foot and a half long and all their Feathers Milk white THE DOMINION and CITY OF BYSERTA or BESERTA SOme take Byserta now a small Village for that Ituqua of Ptolomy or Utica of Caesar and Titus Livius famous by the Death of Cato who having in behalf of the Pompeyan Faction undertaken the Defence of this City when he could no longer hold it chose rather to lay violent hands on himself than fall into the Power of Caesar Marmol takes it for Porto Farnia which he says the people of Barbary call Garelmetha although some stick not to say that it hath been and is known by the Name of Mazacharus or Kallefort as being a Member of the French Garrisons in Africa However it is the Moors give it the Name of Bensart or Benserth that is Son of the Lake for Ben signifies Son and Serte A Lake from whence it is easily corrupted to Byserta It stands on the Mediterranean-Sea between Razamuza by the Antients call'd The Point of Apollo and The Mouth of the River Bagrada ten French miles from Tunis where there is a great Lake much frequented by Fishermen formerly containing within the Walls six thousand Families but now Garrison'd by the Turks who keep there two great Prisons for Slaves besides Store-Houses for Merchandise and two strong Fortifications or Sconces for the Security of the Haven Westward of the Lake lies a great Plain call'd Mater Plains of Water belonging to Byserta but bordering on Goletta Not far distant is Choros formerly call'd Clypea or rather according to Davity Kurobis because Clypea is the true Quippia and the modern Kalibbie seated on the River Magride about two miles from Tunis formerly in the Civil Wars of the Countrey laid waste but re-built and peopled by a sort of Alarbes call'd Benicheli intermixt with others so that at present it shews the face of a well-inhabited Town The Haven of Farine is famous onely by the fatal Wreck of St. The Haven of Farine Lewis King of France in his return back from the Holy Land and two great Rocks lying at its Mouth ¶ THis Countrey hath abundance of fresh Water in all Quarters The Constitution of the Countrey which afford great variety of Fish in the Lake are usually taken Dorads or Dolphins of five or six pound weight and from the end of October to the beginning of May great quantities of a Fish call'd by the Natives Elft by the Spaniards Jachas and by the Moors of Barbary Giarrafas The great Plain of Mater is a fat and marly Soyl which would yield a good Return to the painful Husbandman if he might reap the Profits free from the Incursions and Thieveries of the Arabs Choros also is not backward in a Fertile Return according to the quality of its Soyl which yields vast and lofty Groves of Olive-Trees for the great benefit of the Inhabitants ¶ THe People go almost naked Their Cloathing wearing onely a Barrakan or short Apron a half Turban a Cloth about their Necks but bare-footed and bare-legg'd ¶ THeir Food is a kind of Couscous made of Meal Their Food Eggs Salt and Water which they dry and can keep a whole year Their Bread is a sort of Cakes call'd Obs Baked on the Hearth and their Drink made of Raisins and Wine Lees boyl'd together The poorer sort have no Beds but sleep upon Mattresses of Sedge laid on the Ground The more noble have in their Chambers long and narrow Divisions higher than a Man made fast to the Walls with very fine Wicker-work which they climb up to by a Ladder when they go to sleep ¶ THe Houses and Churches are whited once a year on the out-sides Their Houses but the in-sides are slovenly enough In their Kitchins if so we may call them Fire is a stranger all their Victuals being drest and boyl'd in a sort of moveable Ovens They are much inclined to Sorcery wearing Papers Written with small Characters Sticht in Leather on their Necks and on the Heads of their Horses when they draw into the Field to Fight believing that they will free them from all Diseases and Mishap URBS and BEGGIE URbs and Beggie two several Territories comprehend these Cities Urbs Beggie Hain-Sammin and Kasba with some great Plains The City Urbs formerly Turridis The City Vrbs founded by the Romans on a delightful Plain eight and thirty miles on the South of Tunis shews yet many Remainders of Antiquity as Marble Images Borders upon the Gates with Latine Inscriptions and Walls of thick Square-hew'd Stone together with a Castle betwixt which and two adjacent Villages runs a River of fresh Water convey'd in a Trench of pure white Stone to the City Beggie also built by the Romans about six miles from the Mediterrane Beggie and twenty to the Westward of Tunis by a High-way leading from
accounted a rich Man that can lay up two Tunns of Corn for his own use ¶ THe Revenue Tributes and Customs The Revenue and Trade which the Bassa receives yearly amounts to a hundred and eighty thousand Ducats Gramay all which come from the Customs set upon Exported and Imported Commodities the Poll-Money or Tribute of the Jews and the Contributions fetcht in by the Flying Armies of Dragoons from the Moors and Arabians in the Countrey The Venetians used formerly to Trade hither with their Galleys but have long discontinued going farther to Alexandria or Scandaroon there being no City of note between that and Tripolis The chiefest Trade now is in Blacks or Negro's which formerly were sold in Sicilia but now in Turky But when we have said all we must conclude that their Pyracies at Sea brings in their greatest Gain for though it be the most inconsiderable of all the Corsaire Towns yet they do much mischief which the fitness of their Scituation doth exceedingly promote though it is a place that usually all Christian Ships Laden with Merchandise to Alexandria Siorte or Seide Aleppo and other Ports that way must pass by THE ISLAND OF GERBES OR ZERBY THe Island of Gerbes The Names Ptolomy calld Meninx or Lotofagites Antoninus Gerba Mercator Zetha Thevet Glaukon the Spaniards Gelves the Arabians formerly according to Ananie Gezira and at present Algelbens and the now Inhabitants Gelbens Pliny saith it lies two hundred Paces to the West Entrance of the little Syrtes and so close to the Shore of the Main Land that it was formerly annexed by a Bridge which the Inhabitants upon the Report of an intended Invasion pulled down Leo Africanus Bigness and Gramay give it four Miles in Compass but Pliny inlarges its Length to eight Miles and its Breadth to six scituate in two and thirty Degrees Northern Latitude Ptolomy places two Cities on this Island Places Meninx and Gerra but Pliny three namely Meninx on the side next Africa Thoar on the other side and Sibele between which they say was overthrown in the Year Eleven hundred fifty nine and the whole Island wasted by the King of Sicily But at the present there are no Cities nor any thing else but some Huts scatter'd here and there far from one another onely on the North side there be some Villages under the Protection of the Fort wherein lies a Garrison of the Turks Thevet tells us there sometime were here Zadaique Zibida Camusa Agimur Borgi Rochere and Kantare but little remains of them besides the Names ¶ THe Ground The Soyl. though plain and even yet is sandy and barren so that the Inhabitants notwithstanding they use great care with all their industry get onely a small pittance of Barley But Dates Figs Olives and Grapes grow here without Cultivating The Island and the neighboring Shore Lotus-Tree produceth also the Lotus whose Fruit grows to the bigness of a Bean at first yellow but often changing Colour before it be perfectly ripe This Fruit is of so sweet and pleasant a Taste that the People from the eating thereof are call'd Lotofagi that is Lotus-Eaters This Name the Greeks imposed who for its extraordinary Deliciousness feigned that Forreigners after the eating of it forget their Native Countrey which Homer taking notice of recites that some of Ulysses Fellow-Travellers in their wandring falling in here inticed by the sweetness of this Fruit Homer would not return again His words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tost with cold Winds upon the raging Main The tenth the (b) The Ancients agree not on the Seat of these Lotophagi Artemidor◠says that they inhabited the Desarts of Africa South of Mauritania from the Atlantick Ocean even to Cyrene Others say that it is the Island Meninx which lies before the lesser Syrtis which is here denoted because there is abundance of those Lotus-trees in that Island which bear a very pleasant fruit and an Altar of Vlysses's still remaining Lotophagian Coasts we gain Who feed on Flowr's we din'd and water'd there When Thirst and Hunger satisfied were Two then to make Discovery I sent Of our prime men with them a Herald went Who found the Lotophagi planted there They pleasant Lotus for them did prepare Not meaning Harm now they who Lotus eat Ne'r mind returning to their Native Seat These whilst they shreek acting distracted Pranks I forc'd aboard and fasten'd to their Banks Then shipt I all the rest lest they should eat Sweet Lotus and their Native Soyl forget Most of the Inhabitants are Merchants carrying Cloth to Alexandria Leo 6. d. Sanut 5. b. and Raisins not onely thither but Barter with them to several other places Their Language the Morisk or antient African ¶ FOrmerly this Island had a particular Xeque but now is wholly under the Bashaw of Tripoli who raiseth from hence a great Revenue The Emperor Charles the Fifth Conquered it at the same time with Tripoli and put it under the Jurisdiction of the Vice-Roy of Sicily who kept it not long being deprived thereof by the Dukes d' Alva and Medina Coeli EZZAB EZzab or rather Azzab containeth the Countreys of Mecellata Mesrata Taurka and the Mountains Garian and Beniguarid This Territory begins at the Westerly end of the Mountains Garian and Beniguarid and ends at the outermost Borders of the Territory of Mesrata on the East Sanutus makes Ezzab to contain Ras Axara Tessuta Rasamisar Lepida formerly Eoa and Ruscelli Commenting upon Ptolomy believes it from the similitude of the Name Leptis out of whose Ruines Tripoli rose ¶ GArian a high and cold Mountain three Miles in length The Mountain Garian and as much in breadth lieth Northward of Great Atlas about four Miles from Tripoli and notwithstanding the sharpness of its Air is yet well inhabited containing by common repute a hundred and thirty Villages Beniguarid eighteen miles from Tripoli and a part of the Great Atlas boasts above an hundred and fifty inhabited Villes This Countrey affords little Corn but abundance of Dates Olives and Saffron held to excell all in these Parts both for Colour and goodness and is Transported to Gran-Cayre where it is sold dearer by a third part then other Saffron The Inhabitants of Mount Garian are faint-hearted and continually molested and Cow'd by the Arabs but those of Beniguarid are so Warlike that they not onely preserved their Liberty but kept both the Kings of Tripoli and
Ytata part of Tafilet on the Borders of Lybia is almost as big as the Daran Countrey The Inhabitants are a mixt People call'd Garib and their Neighbors are Breberians Sikutaners and Etuaguits ¶ THis Countrey is Mountainous The Nature of the Soyl. and yields not much Grain but superabounds in Dates the best of all Numidia and hath some good Pasturage for Cattel There grows also a Plant of which Anil or Indigo is made They have store of Cattel Camels and Horses for the Race which they highly esteem who wanting Oats and Barley are contented with Dates As for Ytata the whole Countrey seems a Grove of Dates of which onely they have great store and scarcity of all other Fruits ¶ THe Tafiletters are not so well accommodated as their Neighbors The Inâ—abâ—tants their Countrey being rough and barren yet they are subtle and ingenious Their Language Those of Ytata are a mixt people and speak neither good Arabick nor Zenetish but a broken Dialect betwixt both Those of Tafilet drive a great Trade in Indigo Their Trade and Hides which in Arabick they call Xerques that is the Lant-Skin which Beast we have at large describ'd in the General Africa and in Linnen woven after the Morisk manner embroider'd with Silk Here you must observe that most of the Dates which are brought into Europe are transported from Tafilet because the Kings of Morocco and Fez prohibit the Exportation of them from any other part in their Dominions ¶ BOth these places are under the Xeriffs the Kings of Morocco and Fez Their Government who commonly write themselves Lords of Dara and Tafilet and cause those Countreys to be Governed by some of the Stock of Xeriffs which they permit to be call'd Kings of Tafilet This Countrey was formerly pillaged by the Arabians call'd Uled Eelem Uled Abdulquerims and Zorgan and was under a Xeriff or Supream Head of the same People But afterward Hanen Xeriff or King of Morocco made himself Master of the chief City of Tafilet by the help of his great Guns which was such that the Xeque or Supream Head call'd Amar of the Family of Uled Abdulqueris Governour of the Countrey found himself necessitated to surrender so likewise those of Ytata are under the King of Fez and Morocco Sugulmesse THe Territory of Sugulmesse or Segelmesse so call'd from the chief City The Borders of the Territory of Sugulmesse which stands upon the River Ziz and spreads it self from the narrowest part of it lying near to Gerseluin extends Southwards to the Borders of the Lybian Desart about twenty eight miles running in length from the Darran Countrey to the Borders of Tesset Segelmesse the chief City of the Countrey scituated on a Plain by the River Sis formerly strong and well built but the Air proving unhealthy the Inhabitants quitting it dispersed themselves into small Towns and Hamlets so that it became desolate But as Gramay affirms it recovered its former lustre in the Year Fifteen hundred forty eight In this Countrey on the Banks of Ziz Grammay lib. 10. c. 11. are three hundred and fifty Wall'd Towns and Cities great and small and Hamlets innumerable Amongst these are three more eminent than the rest the first Tenegheut near Segelmesse containing a thousand Houses next Tebuhasan the third and last is Mamun or Mamua which is both large and populous This Countrey being Mountainous reacheth from Mezetazu on the West to Telde It affords little Grain but many Dates and most places suffer extreamly with venomous and various Serpents and the worst sort thereof Scorpions ¶ HEre the Summer Heatsare so excessive that the Sun-beams draw up the Sand in minute Atoms like moist and watry Exhalations which agitated by the Winds beats so much in their Faces that they are always troubled with inflamed and ulcerated Eyes This Droughty Season also exhausting the Rivers necessitates them to dig for Water which they are forced to drink though the most of what they find proves brackish The Air of Sugulmesse is pure and healthy unless in Winter then growing danky and gross being moister it affects them with cold Rheums Catarrhs and sharp Defluxions causing sore Eyes which are easier to be Cured than those which they get in Summer These People have amongst them as they distinguish five sorts of Wizards or rather Witches such as are skilful in Black or Magick Arts the first they call Malurman these Exorcising Charm the Reptilia or creeping Animals the second call'd Mahazin take upon them to Cure all humane Distempers restoring health to the sick Bodies the third Makabelt Cure onely Cattel the fourth Zira these boast of raising Storms and Tempests mustering showers of Rain and Hail Clouding and Serening the Skie at pleasure the fifth are the Sadulacha's these go highest professing to drive out the evil Spirits from those that are possessed making no doubt to confine the Devil after excluded if you will believe them In Tebuhasan are many Foreigners Their Trade and amongst them Jews that Trade Their Food is Corn and Dates Their Food ¶ THis Countrey had formerly Kings of their own Their Government but afterwards by King Joseph of Morocco of the Race or Stock of Luntune they were subdu'd and made Tributary to that King next to the Almohadie and after that to the Merins but at length they Rebelling slew their chief Governour in which Commotion the whole City was destroy'd and lay desolate till Anno 1548. Then they gathering together re-built the City and Planted many other Towns and Villages some of which are yet free others under the Arabs THE TERRITORY OF QUENEG or QUENEN THe Territory of Queneg Lâ—â— p. 6. near the River Fez bordering on Mount Atlas hath a High-way reaching to Fez and Sugulmesse Mâ—rmol l. 7. in which Road are three Towns of Receipt and Entertainment The first which is call'd Zehbel stands in the entrance of the Road on such a high Rock that its Spire seems to salute the Clouds The other is call'd Gastrir or Gastir Gastrir three miles from Zehbel stands under the brow of a jutting Mountain near a Plain The third call'd Tammarakrost Tammarakrost lieth about five miles Southward from the second in the same way The rest are twelve small Forts and six and twenty inconsiderable Villages ¶ THis Countrey hath also store of Dates The Condition of the Soyl. but none of the best the Soyl is poor except in some few Spots which are the Margents of the River and the Skirts of the Mountain They sowe onely Barley and a few Tares but so abounding in Goats that they are their chief Sustenance They have for their Houses or Habitations onely a greater sort of Huts rais'd very high with a small entrance and narrow steps to ascend on some of these People are under the Arabians or the City Gherseluin the rest Free-States Matgara or Margara THe Territory of Matgara borders on the South on Queneg or Quenen
upon it yet they keep some Goats onely for the Milk But all these Wants are amply supply'd with that which answers all things Gold found by the Inhabitants of Tivar though others say that they are thus richly supply'd from Negro-Land ¶ THeir usual Food is Milk and Camels Flesh Their Food brought by the Arabians to their Markets with Salt-Suit with which they dress and relish their Dishes It is brought thither out of Fez and Telensin ¶ THere dwelt amongst them formerly very rich Jews Riches but the people being stirr'd up by the instigations of the Mahumetan Priests they were banish'd from thence and most of them in their departure slain by the Vulgar in a tumultuous Riot which happen'd about the same time when they were driven out of Spain and Sicily by King Ferdinand Meszab MEszab a Countrey in the Numidian Desart Messab about sixty miles Eastward from Tegorarin and a like distance from the Midland-Sea in two and thirty Degrees Longitude and eight and twenty Northern Elevation containing six strong Holds and many Villages The Inhabitants are Rich they drive a great and subtle Trade with the Blacks and are Tributaries to the Arabs THE KINGDOM OF TEKORT OR TEKURT THe Kingdom of Tekort or Tekurt according to Gramay The Kingdom of Tekort is that which they call Tikarte accounted by the Turks for an In-land Territory of the Kingdom of Algier as also that of Guerguela for another because they both pay Tribute This Province derives its Name also as others from its Head City which they say lieth fifty or sixty miles from Tegorarin and ninety from Algier in two and thirty Degrees and fifty Minutes Longitude and in seven and twenty and ten Minutes Latitude This City held by some to be Ptolomy's antient Turafylum The City Tekort was built by the Numidians near a Hill at whose Foot runs a River with a Draw-bridge over The Town is well Fortifi'd with Lome-Walls mixt with Stone except on that side where the Cliffy Rocks and steep Declivings of the Hill make it inaccessible Their Houses which are above two thousand are all of Sun-baked Brick except the Mosque which is built more stately About this City are reckon'd up forty Strong-holds and an hundred and fifty Villages some of them at least four days Journey off so that this Site seems to be the Centre to the Circumference of what is under its Jurisdiction ¶ THis populous Territory wanting Corn is suppli'd sufficiently by the Arabians from Constantine The Condition of the Countrey which they Barter for Dates that grow here in abundance ¶ THe People are very Civil The Condition of the Inhabitants Affable and exceeding Hospitable to all rather bestowing their Daughters on them than the Natives Nay they are so good-natured and generous that they many times present their new Acquaintance with costly Gifts at their departing though they never expect to see them any more or receive a Return from them They are a mixt People of which the chief live like Gentlemen on their Estates the others follow Trades and are Artificers THE DOMINION OF GUARGALA OR GUERGULA THe Countrey of Guargala The Kingdom of Guargala by Gramay call'd Huergula by Marmol Guerquelen and Guergula and by the Africans Verquelen lies in the Desart of Numidia on the Borders of the Kingdom of Agadez This also hath denomination from its chief City The chief City by some taken for the antient Tamarka of Ptolomy The Centre of this Province lieth in thirty seven Degrees and a half Longitude and in twenty five and fifty Minutes Latitude This City hath no other near but surrounded with store of Villages as Gramay reckons a hundred and twenty ¶ THis Countrey The Constitution of the Countrey like the others abounds with Dates but hath scarcity of Flesh and Grain Most of the Inhabitants are black not from the temper of the Climate but their intermixing with the Negro's that are their Slaves They are also mild and of affable Conversation always kind to Strangers because most of their Necessaries and Sustenance they are supplied with from them as Corn Salted-Flesh Fat or Suet Cloth Linnen Arms and Knives In the City Guargala are both Merchants and Artificers Their Food They have their Bread Camels Flesh and Ostriches from other parts The Revenue of the Lord of this Countrey is accounted to amount to a hundred and fifty thousand Ducats yearly Revenue To this their Governour they give Supream Honor like a King Government yet he pays some Tribute to the Arabians and also acknowledges the Bashaw of Algier yearly with a Present of thirty Negro's THE TERRITORY OF ZEB THe Territory of Zeb formerly call'd The Countrey of Zebe The Territory of Zeb lying by the Mountain Auran according to Procopius runs through the midst of Numidian Wilds It s Eastern Borders are Biledulgerid Borders opposite against the Kingdom of Tunis and Tripoli on the West Messile on the North the Foot of the Mountain Bugie on the South a Desart where a Way runs along from Tekort to Guargala Here are five eminent Towns viz. Zeb Peskare Nefta Teolacha and Deusca Lee Afrie 6. Decl. besides many Villages The City Zeb from whom the Countrey hath its Name is in four and thirty Degrees Longitude and in thirty Degrees and ten Minutes Latitude it is accounted very antient being according to Africanus erected by the Romans and also destroy'd by them but after in process of time it rose to its former splendour and now also well Peopled Nefta or Neota is a City or rather a Countrey Nefta containing three great Cities especially where a Fort was built by the Romans Leo p. 6. All these three as Gramay affirms was destroy'd in the Year Fifteen hundred and fifteen but since they have returned leisurely to their former Lustre Teolacha is the antientest surrounded with sleight Walls Teolacha by which glides a River of warm Water Deusen another old City built by the Romans on the Borders of Bugie Deusen and the Desart of Numidia Not far from this last City many Antique Tombs and Monuments present themselves in which several Antique Coyns and Medals Engraven with Emblems and on the Reverse Characterized with various Hieroglyphicks are found ¶ THis Soyl is dry and sandy the Air fiery hot The Constitution of the Countrey wanting the two special Ingredients Water and Corn most of their Ground being unfit for Tillage but their store of Dates supplies all Peskare is much pestered with Scorpions in the Summer whose least bite is immediate death therefore in Summer the Citizens desert their Houses and dwell in the Countrey not returning till October ¶ THe Inhabitants of this place The Condition of the Inhabitants though poor are Civil but those of Nefta are Rough and Surly but those of Teolacha are a proud and high-minded People looking down on all Strangers as too mean for their Conversations but
of Epaphus Son of Jupiter others would force the Name Lybia from the Arabick word Lebib which signifies Excessive Heat Now the Arabs call this Land Zaahara Zaara or Sarn that is The Desarts ¶ THe migrating Arabs The Arabian division of Lybia that so often in great companies shift their eaten up Stations for fresh Pasturage roving through this Lybia divide it now into three parts according to the diversity of the Soyl and varieties of Places to which they progress for the Sandy bearing neither Shrub nor Grass they call Tehel the Stony or Gravel Countrey Zaara and all that which is Morass or Boggy being always green Azgar And lately it hath been divided into ten Cantons Other Partitions into ten Territories or Desarts or Desarts in which there are some populous places the first that which belongs to the Lybick Nun to the Desart of Zenega or Zanaga Tagaza Zuenziga Hayr or Terga Lempta Berdoa Augele Serte and Alguechet every one so call'd from their Metropolis Cluverius on the other side brings the Desarts Lempta Hayr Zuenziga Zanhaga and the Kingdom of Targa and Berdoa under Biledulgerid and extends Sarra all the length of the Kingdom of Gaoga quite to Gualata ¶ MOst of the People of Lybia have their Dwelling-places about the River Zenega Where the People of Lybia have their chiefest dwelling-places a branch of the River Niger that they may the better drive their Trade and hold Commerce with the Negro's ¶ THis Lybia The Air. or Sarra hath so excellent and wholsom Air that it not onely excludes all Diseases from the Inhabitants but makes a Cure on all others that have long despaired of their recoveries of health so that from Barbary and other adjacent Countreys they thither repair and suddenly shaking off their weakness and Malady they return sound and able ¶ THe Soyl is very hot and dry The Water and hath great scarcity of Water none to be found but here and there in Pits or Wells and them for the most part brackish for in some places they travel six or seven days finding no Water so that the Merchants Trading from Fez to Tombut or from Telensin to the Kingdom of Agadez Bottle it up in Goat-skins and carry their provision of Liquor on Camels Backs But though the Way be much more troublesome which goeth from Fez to Gran-Cayre through the Wilderness of Lybia they have the benefit of a great Lake in their passage where the People of Ceu and Gorhan dwell Ieo Eerst Decl. Marmel lib. 1. cap. 14. and lib. 8. cap. 1. But in the other Road from Fez to Tombut they find some Springs covered over with Camels Hides out of which they draw their Water as in little Buckets with the Shank-bones of the same Creature The Merchants adventure more by Land than ours at Sea putting themselves oft in greater dangers especially if they set forth in Summer for then usually arise in those Countreys Southern Winds which raise abundance of Sand that new congealed drifts cover those Pits so deep that all Marks are lost whereby they may recover them again scarce guessing where they were they often fainting with thirst perish there as may appear by many of their dead Bodies found in the Way by following Travellers To prevent which misery in this necessitous exigent no other means being left they kill their Camels and squeeze the Water out of their Bowels and Maws which when they set forth they Tun up in their Bellies in such a quantity as would suffice them ten or twelve days this they refresh themselves withall and oft save their lives till they find some formerly known Pit yet in many places Camels Milk may be had ¶ THis Countrey is scatteringly inhabited and but thinly peopled The Soyl of the Countrey In the Rainy Season when wet Weather begins which commonly happens in mid August and continues to the end of November but sometimes stretching out a Moneth or two nay almost three Moneths longer then the Countrey flourishes with Grass and Herbage and the Temperature makes Travelling very pleasant and well accommodated for then there is neither scarcity of Water nor Milk the necessity of which at other times makes the whole Countrey a Map of misery But if those that observe their times to Travel set forth upon the advantage of the expected Season if then it happens as sometimes it falls out a general or second Drought then not onely Travellers are put to run the risque but the Inhabitants lose the Product of the whole year ¶ THere are some barren Mountains which bear nothing but inconsierable Shrubs Briers and Thorns The Vegetables The most fertile Soyl of all Lybia Manured produces onely Barley and but a few Dates by which we may judge the sterility of that Countrey Their chief support are Camels which there they have in abundance whose Flesh and Milk supplies sufficiently what their barren Earth and droughty Air denies them ¶ THey have also Adimmain Beasts not unlike Sheep The Animals See p. 24 which we have before mentioned and Ostriches But the People have also added to their other suffering viz. sudden incursions of wild Beasts and deadly biting Serpents preying both on Men and Cattel but most of all they are miserably infested with Locusts which in vast Armies clouding the Skie in their speedy March from Arabia and other Eastern parts take up their Quarters in those Desarts which what-ever they yield though little they utterly destroy enabling them for greater expeditions and their second flights to the Fare and Plunder of richer Countreys Barbary and Spain But a worse mischief when they are gone they leave behind them viz. their Spawn which produceth a more ravenous and greedy generation who heavy and unweildy not fit for flight sit down on the Trees and Plants and eat not onely the Leaves but the Bark and Rinds making all over a Famine which the Arabs call Jarat Yet the Inhabitants of the Arabian Wilds are hard enough for them though they spoyl theirs as other Countreys making them quit scores by eating the Eaters which they esteem savoury balances of the accounts of their losses ¶ HEre are five sorts of People Sects or Tribes as Zanaga's Guenazeries Several sorts of People in Lybia or Zerenziga's Terga's Lempta's and Bardoa's some of which are call'd Habexes others Breberians Natives of the Countrey one part reaching in Villages amongst Morass and Fenny Grounds and the others flitting from place to place for fresh Pasture for their Cattel like the wandring Arabs ¶ MAny of the Inhabitants are Meagre The Constitution of the Inhabitants Lean and more or less Deformed yet their so seemingly weak Constitution gives them strength and good health to the sixtieth year of their age The Women are something gross but their Arms and Legs their supporters are slender like Sticks or Tabletressles they are rather Brown than Fair their Speech and Behaviour Comely ¶ Both Sexes are naturally
seem to have appearance of Truth because the chiefest Geographers of this Age hold Gambea and Zenega to be two Branches of the Niger Yet some will have it Original Leo p. 1. that the Niger taketh its Original out of a Lake Eastward of the Desart Seu gliding from thence to the West and in the Atlantick disburthens its self But the Arabian and African Geographers assert that Niger is a Branch of the Nyle which running under ground after a great distance shews his so long-lost Streams again And that the Niger proceeds from the same Head or Fountain they also affirm from these Evidences First that they both breed one and the same sorts of Fish especially the Hipopotamus or Sea-Horse and overflow the Ground inriching the Neighboring Countreys near the same time and in the same manner as the Nyle The Antients themselves among whom Pliny make Nylus and Niger to be of one Nature or Quality and adde moreover that it produceth Reeds and the Papyrian or Paper-Plant as Nylus doth which the Egyptians used to write on as we on our Paper The Modern Geographers make Niger to take its Original out of a Lake call'd The Black Lake bordering on the Kingdoms of Medra and Vanque and make it also serve for a Boundary between the Abyssine or Prester-Johns Countrey and Negro-Land Afterwards it cuts through the Countreys of Biafar and Nubia diving about eighteen miles under ground and at last appears again and makes the great Lake of Borna lying upon the Borders of four Kingdoms From thence it floweth through these Realms Guangara Biafara Kassena Zegzeg and Kano and makes another great Lake call'd Sigisma or Guarda which in the South moisteneth the Kingdoms of Mandinga Guber and Gago and in the North that of Kano and Agadez gliding out of this Lake it runs to the West then rushing towards the North close by the Kingdom of Tombut and in the South hard by Melli spreads it self into a third ample Lake Niger parts into four Branches from thence branching into four Rivers near which losing its own Name Niger receives four new Denominations The first of which is call'd The River of Saint-John which in the Bay of Arguin falls in the Ocean whose Mouth makes the Haven Tofia The second running direct West which we have so often mention'd is Zenega The third gliding by degrees also West is call'd Gambea but the last Branch of Niger parts instantly into two other Branches one of which is call'd Sante Domingo and the other which taketh its Course to the South in Portuguese Rio Grande Each of these Branches boast of whole Kingdoms bordering their Banks as Guihala and Biguba according to the Name of those Rivers Rio Grande or The Great River distinguishes it self from the other Rivers in eleven Degrees Latitude and after having dispatch'd two Branches more from its own which are call'd Guinala and Biguba between the Islands of Bisegos falls into the Sea Sante Domingo otherwise call'd Jarim The River Sante Domingo is held by some for the eminentest River of the whole Coast because of the abundance of Slaves sold near its Banks It seems to be a Branch of Rio Grande which near the Bay call'd Esteirs Katerina ends its Progress in the Sea Many of the other Rivers gliding down from the In-land water the Coast of Negro-Land and fall into the Ocean But of these in their own particular place as of the other Rivers being Arms of Niger as Zenega and Gambea shall be treated of in the Kingdom Zenega between which they are included All these foremention'd Branches and Sub-branches swell and over-flow in the same manner and near the same time with the Nyle when the Sun in their Zenith enters Cancer all the benefit the Nyle brings to Egypt the like accommodation the Niger with other Rivers brings to Negro-Land Niger together with other Rivers beginning from the fifteenth of July rises forty days and retreating as long all which time till it draw within its circumscribed bounds the Low-Lands Plains and level Countrey becomes a Sea all places covered with Water as in Egypt where also during that time the Travellers are Rowed up and down in Boats The equal over-flowing of this River with the Nyle Isaac Vostius de Nili aliorum fluminum is not occasioned by the vicinity of the Springs of those Rivers belonging to the Nyle as the received Opinion but because their Head Fountains lie almost the same distance from the Equinox as we have declared at large Concerning the temper of the Air condition of the Soyl Vegetives Animals and the Constitution Modes and Manners of the Inhabitants their Riches their Policies in Government and several Religions of the Negro's Countrey in general shall here briefly be declared and as to what belongs to the materials of every Kingdom shall also in particulars be handled but observe that their Plants Beasts Men and Languages differ very much from neighboring Countreys under the Equator though the temperature of the Air and all the mutations thereof as Heat Cold Wind and Rain are not unlike but in a manner one and the same By the over-flowing of Niger Zenega and Gambea as also by the Rains Negro-Land is moistened and made exceeding fruitful in all manner of terrene Products especially Mille and Rice both being the chiefest Bread-corn of the Inhabitants The Countrey is in some parts plain and others Hilly but about the Banks of the River Niger it is very level and watered by several standing Pools left there by the retreating River which are planted about with shady Groves Recesses for ravenous Beasts and Elephants This Dominion fosters not onely tame but also wild Beasts in great numbers The Natives are very black but the Features of their Faces and their excellent Teeth being white as Ivory make up together a handsom Ayre and taking comeliness of a new Beauty they are well Limm'd and much addicted to Venus Their Languages are divers Their Language Gualata Tombut the In-land Guinee Melli and Gago there all these use onely one Tongue call'd Sungai but in the Kingdom of Kano Kalsene Zegzeg Guangura and Guber they have another call'd Guber and another in the Kingdom of Borno which is like that of Gaoga Likewise those of Nubia have a peculiar Speech of their own a Maslin of the Arabick Chaldee and some Coptick or Egyptian Besides along the Sea-Coast their Dialects differ every three or four miles distance but on the Coast of Guinee a particular Language Of which more hereafter As for their Governments Their Government some of them know none neither ever scarce heard of any but live in a confused Ataxy sway'd on all occasions like tumultuous Herds and at other times like tame Cattel feeding and following their idle pleasures But the rest are all Monarchical living under Laws Order and Princes Leo Eerst Decl. In the first place the King or rather Emperour of Tombut to whom they pay Tribute and
stand two large Portugal Houses each having an exceeding great and tall Tree call'd Talbassero before the Door whose interwoven Boughs that afford a pleasant shade make a delightful Arbor whereinto they frequently go and eat and sleep there North-East from thence appears Magar Magar where the King of Cayor many times keeps his Residence Emboul and seven miles farther Eastwards Emboul where the Kings Palace is divided from the City with Pallisado's interweaved with Bands and Palmito-Boughs and on the in-side Planted with many Vines Before the Court lieth a great Plain The Court of Rayer where they use to break and exercise Horses set round with Trees Into this none may enter but such as are appointed because the King 's chiefest Wives therein have their particular Apartments yet about it at the distance of a Musquet-shot many persons dwell in small Huts or Tents making a reasonable Livelihood by petty dealing with the Servants and Attendants of the Court. Ten miles from the Palace they have Embar Embar a Town set apart onely for the Reception and Entertainment of all such as come of the Blood-Royal and may have any hopes to the Succession of the Crown Three or four miles farther Bey-hourte upon the Shore of the River Zenega is a large Hamlet termed Bey-hourte where the King's Customers and Receivers reside for the Collection of all his Revenues of all sorts thither brought to them About three miles from hence Westwards The Fort of the French the French have a Fort which they maintain to support the Trade they drive there but they pay to the King Sixteen in the Hundred for Hides whereas the Portugals pay but Ten and but a little for other Wares In this Tract we arrive at Baool Lambay whose Metropolis is Lambay where the King usually resides about two miles from whence towards the North-West lieth Sangay Sangay where sometimes the King takes his Divertisements Four miles removed Eastward stands Jamesil Jamesil and about five and fifty miles to the In-land the City Borsalo Borsalo But the Royal City of the whole Kingdom of Zenega is Tubakatum Turbakatum the Court and Chamber of the Great Jalof ¶ THese Countreys are usually infested with sultery heats The Air or temper of the Climate so that the depth of their Winter is warmer than May with us yet have they stormy and wet Weather Travaden or Stormy weather or Rains which they call Travaden that is Tempestuous accompanied with much Thunder and Lightning these begin on the Sea-Coast for the most part in June and continue till September though sometimes accidental Storms happen in October and May but without Rain These sudden Gusts arise commonly out of the South-East but the stiffest and strongest out of the East-South-East which too often prove dangerous to the Sea-men The most unhealthy time here is in October for then the Air parches with Heat but when the Winds begin to blow those Breezes temper and cool the Air and so continues till towards May. ¶ SEveral Rivers water this Countrey the Chief of which are those of Zenega and Gambea both after many meandring Courses discharg'd their full Streams into the Atlantick Ocean Ortelius believes that Zenega is the same which Ptolomy nam'd Daras or Darade but Lewis Cadamost maintains it to be the Niger of the Antients and makes it a bordering Limit to Negro-Land But that Opinion seems altogether impossible because like the Nyle Niger overflows and fertilitates the Countreys it passes through whereas Zenega leaves all lying about it very lean and barren Zenega hath as many Names as it runs through Countreys Several Names Marmol l. 8. c. 3. for the Jaloffs call it Dengueh the Turkornols Maso the Caragols name it Colle the people of Bagano Zimbala those of Tombut Iza but the Portugals not knowing its proper Name stil'd it Zenega from the Name of a Prince with whom upon their first coming into these Parts they contracted a League of Amity Johannes Barros derives this Stream from certain Lakes lying in the East The Head-Fountains by Ptolomy nam'd Chelonides the greatest whereof at present is call'd Goaga and the other Nuba The Course of it is very long and straight almost in a right line till about seventeen miles above Cape de Verde disemboguing into the Ocean In Zenega though not so full of Water as Gambea many Islands appear Islands of Zenega the greatest part whereof are full of Serpents and Wilde Beasts Nor is it much profitable otherwise to such as inhabit near being not passable in many places by reason of huge Rocks causing great and unusual Cataracts like those of the Nyle which some of the Inhabitants call Huaba others Burto that is a Bowe because sometime the Water is carried up into the Air by the force of the Wind in the manner of a Bowe Many other great Rivers run into this A strange Vertue of two Rivers especially one coming out of the South and seeming to have Red-Water between these two they say is such a strange Antipathy that whoever drinks the Water of one and presently that of the other findes himself necessitated to vomit yet neither of them produce this effect single nor both together after they have mingled their Streams and run in one Channel Several kinds of Fishes and other Creatures breed herein as the Hippopotamus or Sea-Horse Crocodiles and Serpents with little Horns yet notwithstanding all these inconveniencies the Water hath a Prolifick Quality foecundating Cattel that drink of it ¶ SIx miles Southward flows Borsalo full of great dry Sholes or Sands The River Borsalo on both sides several Villages shew themselves Fountain-Springs supply'd with fresh Water from a clear Spring that rises on the Easterly Shore A Tree four fatsiom thick by a Tree above four Fathom thick For the River Water by the flowing of the Sea is brackish near forty miles ¶ NOt far from Punto Sereno floweth a small River call'd Rio de la Grace being a Border to the Kingdom of Ale before whose Mouth lieth a Shelf many times overflow'd by the Sea from which as soon as dry fresh and sweet Water continually springs Somewhat more Southerly runs Bassangamar full of great Rocks The River Bassangamar The next is Rio des Ostro's or Oyster-River The River of Oysters deep enough for the coming in of Ships Between Borsalo and Gambea the Countrey all along is plain but full of high Trees yet wholly void of Inhabitants About three miles from Jandos Northwards The Lake Eutan is the Lake Eutan six miles long and half a mile broad In time of Rain it abounds both with Water and Fish but in a dry Season so empty that they can go over dryshod The bottom for the most part covered with Simbos or pieces of Horn and Glass which in Angola they use for Money Not far distant from hence is a Well of ten Fathom deep
the Sea-shore to Trade with the Whites Trade but wholly deal in the Countrey with their Neighbours giving Gold for Clothes and other Wares which most frequently they have from the Countrey of Abonce or else from the Akanists their next Neighbours Akam AKam touches in the West upon Into as the South on Ahim in the North Akam an unknown Land and in the East on Kuahoe and Taffo little known and as little taken notice of because they have nothing fit for Commerce Aqua AQua hath on the West Atty and Dahoe Aqua in the South the Territory of Fantyn lying at the Sea and on the North Ahim. A place of little consequence belonging to Fantyn The TERRITORY of SANQUAY SAnquay lieth in the South on Fantyn in the North on Akim Sanquay and in the East on Agwana The People live hardly being forc'd for supply of Provision to come to the Rough Point to buy Fish which by reason of their remote distance seldom comes home other than stinking It yields obedience to the King of Agwana The TERRITORY of AQUUMBOE AQuumboe hath in the West Aquumboe Ahim in the North Quahoe in the South Agwana in East the Countrey Abonce and Aboera of little farther note or value than onely to be named Abonce THis small Countrey borders on the West Abonce at Aquumboe on the South at Agwana on the North at Amboera on the East upon Great Akara and part of Aboera Here is held the Market of Great Akara though about two hours Journey behind it whither resort out of divers Countreys several sorts of People Kuahoe KUahoe hath on the West Kuahoe Akam on the South Aquumboe and Ahim on the North Tafoe on the East Aboera and Kamana The Inhabitants are deceitful and false and therefore little esteemed by their Neighbors Tafoe THe Countrey of Tafoe lies bounded on the West Tafoe by Aka on the South by Kuahoe on the East by Kammana and Kuahoe 'T is reported to yield great store of Gold which the Natives bring chiefly to Abonce but some small quantities to Moure Aboera THe Territory of Aboera hath on the West Aboera Aquumboe on the North Kuahoe and Kammana on the South Abonce and Great Akara on the East Bonce It possesses much Gold which the Inhabitants of Abonce bring to the Market of Great Akara and there Truck for foreign Commodities Quahoe QUahoe hath on the South Kammana and Small Akara and on the West Quahoe Tafoe From hence also they bring Gold to accommodate and enrich the Market of Great Akara Kammana KAmmana hath on the West Kuahoe on the North Quahoe on the South Kammana Aboera and Bonoe on the East Equea Lataby and Small Akara The Inhabitants follow Husbandry and not onely get their own Living thereby but furnish and feed many of their Neighbors Bonoe BOnoe touches on the West upon Aboera on the North upon Kammana Bonoe on the South hath Great Akara and on the East the Territory of Equea and Ningo The People drive a Trade and carry their Merchandise to sell onely among their Neighbors Equea THe Territory of Equea hath on the West Bonoe on the North Equea Kammana on the South Ningo and Lataby on the North. The Inhabitants maintain themselves by Traffick Lataby LAtaby borders on the West upon Equea and Kammana Lataby on the North and East on Small Akara on the South upon Ningo and Latibo The Natives hold here also a great Fair or Market whither all sorts of Wares are brought but much exceeded by that at Abonce Akarady AKarady hath for Limits in the West Akarady Kammana on the North Quahoe on the South Lataby and Ningo This Countrey abounds with Gold which as likewise all that which comes to Akara is as well cleared of Dross as that brought by the Akarists which the Inhabitants bring for Vent to all the adjoining Markets and Factories The Land hereabouts hath few Trees and those also yielding little profit whereas Kormantyn and other places lying upward have many to be admired for their fertility and usefulness Insoko INsoko lieth Insoko according to the report of the Akarists four or five days Journey from the Sea-shore but that the Countreys between are for the most part unknown to them because they very seldom go to Insoko by reason of the great numbers of Thieves that haunt the Ways The Inhabitants make very fine Cloathes Their Cloathes whereby those which making a safe Voyage return from thence home again may gain vast Riches they are bought for Royals of Eight or other Pieces of Silver and sometimes for fine Linnen but as the same Akanists say know nothing either of Gold or Copper neither have they any Concern in it Thus much as to the Countrey in general we will now proceed to declare a more particular Relation of its Nature Air Plants Beasts Customs and Religions and what else obviously we meet with concerning the same ¶ THe whole Gold-Coast The Nature of the Countrey especially about Myna appears Wild Desolate Mountainous and full of Woods having such narrow Ways that two cannot go together and those so incumbred and over-grown with Brambles and Trees that the Sun can hardly through their density be discern'd in short they are fit hiding-places for Thieves and yet few such found there From Cape de Tres Puntas to Akara it lies high and higher up into the Land the Soil is fruitful intermingled with good Pasturage very convenient for the Feeding of Cattel in as also for Planting of Mille and other Corn the Shore extending East North-East The People here know not what a Frost means There is no Prest so that indeed we may justly say they have no Winter but one continual Summer covered by the continual Heats of the Air and Sun yet notwithstanding this certain warm temperature of the Clime hath distinguish'd the Seasons of the Year attributing some Moneths to Summer others to Winter by peculiar observing the difference of the Weather and accordingly they reckon it Winter when the Sun shines in a Perpendicular Line from the Vertical Point of the Heavens upon their Heads which happens in April and June and they judge it Summer when the Sun is farthest from them which is in October November December and February the reasons whereof we will endeavour briefly to give you In January blow along this Coast out of the South-West hard Sea-Storms but harder in February which sometimes bring with them a Hericane and sometimes Rain In the latter end of March and beginning of April great Tempests a rise both at Sea and Land by the Portuguese call'd Ternados and by the Inhabitants Agombrettou attended with great Rains mixt with Thunder Lightning and Earthquakes which continue to the end of May They foresee the coming of this strange Weather by the clouding of the Skie in the South-East yet then is the Sowing-time for Mille. The Ternados past the
by one of its chiefest Mouths near the Kingdom of Melinde The Portuguese Writers will have this River Quilmanzi to be the same with Zebee which rises out of Maria a Territory in the Abyssynes from a place call'd Boxa and from thence running South with a swift course into the Kingdom of Gingiro Other Portuguese affirm That it lieth no more than a thousand Paces from Melinde being a very great River flowing out of the Abyssine Countrey but that they could never attain the full knowledge thereof because those that were sent to discover it were driven back and assaulted by the Inhabitants The Air is very Unhealthy Feaverish and Corrupt Air. and no less unwholsome are the products of the Earth caus'd partly from the Moorassness of the Grounds and partly from the multitude of Rivers and Lakes which makes this Countrey a great pack of Islands The Inhabitants are black having short curl'd Hair The constitution of the Inhabitants they go from the shoulders down to the middle naked but have their nether parts cover'd with party colour'd Clothes or wild Beasts Skins the Tails whereof especially among people of Quality hang down behind The Blacks on the Sea-Coast and of the near adjacent Islands Food live upon Fruits the flesh of wild Beasts and milk of the Cattel which they breed especially the Moors call'd Beduines who dwell a little deeper into the Countrey and Trade with the Kaffers Gold is none of the least advantages drawn from this Countrey Riches wherewith it so abounds for which onely they get a supply of all other necessaries The Natives of the Main-Land are Idolaters Religion but the Islanders almost all Mahumetans extracted from certain Arabians exil'd from their Countrey for introducing of some Heresie in their Religion as following the Doctrine of one Zaid Nephew of Hocem Son of Haly whereupon they were call'd Emossayders The Islands of QUIRIMBA OVer against Zanguebar L'Ambassade de D. Garvas Figuerra en Perse lie the Islands of Quirimba extending above fifteen miles along the Coast to the out-lying Point call'd in Portuguese Cabo del Gabo They are not all of one equal bigness nor alike distant from the Main-land and sever'd one from another by Channels so small and shallow that at low-Water they may be Waded over And although each Island hath its particular name yet the Portuguse call them all Quirinba The Islands were formerly inhabited by the Arabians as may plainly appear by the Ruines of the Houses and Mosques being built by people less barbarous than those that have their Residence there at this day of Lime Stone and Tiles like the Cities of Quiloa Monbaza and Melinde But since the Portuguese began to set forth their Ships to the East-Indies the Souldiers and Mariners out of a natural hatred and antipathy to all Mahumetans thought it not enough to rob them burn their Houses and Mosques and to carry them away for Slaves but with a sweeping Rage sparing neither Age nor Sex destroy'd all of the remainder These Islands many years since lay waste and void of people till some Portuguese from the Main-Land wafted themselves over thither and planted them and so became subject to the Governor of Mayambique about three and thirty miles from thence from whence every year cometh a Judge to decide Controversies The Lord of every Island hath his House built of Stone and Lime wherein resides his Wife Children and Slaves of both Sexes as also Friends and Servants whom they hire to have their assistance against the Negro's of the Main-Land which by their living so near are ready enough to do them a mischief And therefore both themselves and Slaves are Arm'd with Muskets Pistols and other Weapons Most of these Islands are not above half a mile or a mile in compass but very fruitful full of Palmito-Trees Oranges Figs Grapes Herbs and Pome-Citrons and excellently accommodated with fresh Water They have besides many Oxen Cows Goats and an infinite number of Fowl among which Wild-Pigeons and Turtle-Doves but Corn Rice Drugs dry'd and confected Fruits are brought to them from Ormus The Island of Quirinba is the biggest and was the first Peopled yet hath onely twenty five Houses inhabited by Portuguese and Mesties they stand not close together but lie scatter'd here and there two or three together Every one of these little Islands hath their own Governor which every three year are chang'd From Gou they receive a Dominican Priest who celebrates Mass and performs all other Sacred Duties to which end there stands a Cloyster in the midst of the Houses whither all those of these Islands come to do their Devotion The second of these Islands call'd Oybo Oybo is not so big as Quirinba but the Air more temperate and fresher so that a man may well say that the whole makes one pleasant Garden moisten'd and besprinkled in many places with the best and most wholsomest Waters in the world The other Islands have no Road nor Haven where Ships can come to an Anchor because in the deepest Channel at a low Ebb there is not three Foot water Over this Island Oybo a Portuguese Commands who dwells in a great and handsome House with Chambers below and above and behind it a Garden incompass'd with a Stone-Wall of two Fathom high with Spiers at the top so that it may seem in stead of a Bulwark This with assistance of his Houshold Family who are all Arm'd may be defended against any Incursion of the Blacks from the Main-Land if they should offer to attempt it but they live in good Peace one with another because of their mutual Trade The Kingdom of MONGALO and ANCHE or ANGOS UPon one side of the River Quama lieth Mongalo a Tract of Land inhabited by Mahumetans or Moors They have abundance of Gold brought thither from Monomotapa not far from thence you see the River Ango by Pigafet call'd in Italian Agnoscia by Moquet in French Angoche but by Barbosa Angos The Countrey produces great store of Mille Rice and Cattel The Inhabitants are of a middle Stature but very black they go with the upper part of the body naked but cover'd from the Girdle downward with Cotton and Silk Clothes Some wear Turbants upon their heads and others Caps made of Silk Stuff They use a peculiar form of Speech though many of them speak Arabick Language These Moors of Angos are all Merchants Trading in Gold Ivory Cotton Silk Their Customs Clothes and Kambain Beads or Bracelets The Cotton Silk Cloth and Beads they receive from the hands of the Merchants of Quiloa Mombaze and Melinde which bring them thither in small Baskets or Almides cut out of the whole Wood. They own no Governor unless one who speak their proper Language and by profession a Mahumetan yet all their care doth not keep them from a mixture of Heathenism The Kingdom of MOZAMBIKE A Little beyond Angos appeareth the Kingdom of Mozambike so call'd from the
but through it being environ'd with a Wall planted with Guns to defend it against the Portuguese who in the Year Fifteen hundred under the Command of Vasques de Gamma took this Fort with all the Turkish Gallies At the same time the City was also conquer'd by a People call'd Imbires living not far from the Cape of Good Hope by the aid of the Portuguese after a long Siege into which five hundred of them entring by Storm pull'd down the Walls Churches and a greatvaulted Castle to the ground and burn'd all the Ships in the Haven The King of Mombaza himself with all his Courtiers and great Officers fell into the hands of these Imbires which not onely put them to death but eat them up The City was once before in the Year Fifteen hundred and five ruin'd by one Francois Almede and some years afterwards again re-built by the King of Mombaza but it long held not up its head being again assaulted taken and plunder'd by another Portuguese call'd Nunno de Acunha who endeavouring to settle were forced to leave their Conquest and retire to the fore-mention'd Fort but were also at last dispossessed thereof by the same King in the Year Sixteen hundred thirty one The temperature of the Air gives no cause of complaint to such as dwell there Air. nor the barrenness of the Countrey any discouragement to Planters there being store of Mille Plants Rice many sweet and sowre Oranges and also some very large with sweet Rhinds like China-Oranges Citrons Pomegranates and Peaches without Stones They have many excellent Sheep Beasts Cows very large Goats and Hens The People are of a whitish-brown Colour Nature somewhat inclining to black more loving and courteous than those of the other Places lying near the Sea The Women are very richly Habited Apparel in Cloth of Gold and Silver after the Arabian manner Their common Food is Mille and Rice Food and their Drink either Areka made of boyl'd Rice or Wine of Honey which they keep in great Horns in stead of Casks cut in several fashions They have a King Government whom they honor like a God and say he Reigns only upon the Earth as the Portuguese do upon the Sea He is said to be so arrogant and self-conceited that at the falling of Rain against his pleasure or excessive Heat he breaks out into several exclamations against Heaven and out of madness draws his Bowe against the Sun In brief he calls himself the Emperor of all the World and imagines that he shall overcome the whole Earth He keeps commonly an Army of fourscore thousand Men in the Field and in their March observes this Order First he commands to go before him many Droves of Cattel next several persons carry Fire whereby he intends to declare that all those whom he Conquers must expect nothing else but to be Roasted and Eaten All the Towns and Villages he travels through of the Enemies he ruines and without distinguishing of Men from Beasts kills all he finds so that all stand in great fear of him and betake themselves to flight when they hear of his approach The King of Mombaza and all his Subjects were formerly Idolaters Religions but at present embrace Mahomet's Superstition introduced by their last King about the Year Sixteen hundred thirty one He was from his Infancy inclin'd to Christianity and Marry'd to a Christian Woman but being too highly affronted by the Governor of the Portuguese Fort fell off from it and then raged against them with horrible fury putting all to death that fell into his Hands and never ceased till he had expell'd them the Countrey This Seat was formerly for the conveniency of its Haven a Place of great Trade being much frequented by neighboring Merchants from Zanzibar Penda Araer and other parts of Africa The Kingdom of Melinde THe Kingdom of Melinde lying more to the North than that of Mombaza hath received its Name from the chief City Borders seated on the Shore of the Sea It lyeth in two Degrees and a half South-Latitude and reaches along the Sea-Coast of Mombaza to the River Quilmanzi and runs into the Countrey to the Place call'd Calice The chief City Melinde situate in a pleasant Plain The chief City and surrounded with several Gardens contains many Houses very neatly built of hew'n Stone with handsom Rooms and Painted Cielings Some will have it from the famous Arabian Physitian Avicen call'd Avicenne Mondelle from whence the black Aloe comes to be the same with Melinde The Haven lieth a little distant from the City by reason of sundry Rocks which makes the Landing-place very dangerous The Countrey is fat and fruitful and yields all necessary Provisions Plants except Bread in stead of which the Inhabitants use the Root Potatesen Some Rice and Barley grows there but inconsiderable nor have they any Wheat and Rye but what is brought from Kambaye There are several sorts of Fruits-Trees and above all very excellent and well tasted Melons in the Countrey Language call'd Dormous which the Inhabitants eat in the Summer time as a pleasant cooler There is all sorts of Venison and Fowl great and small Cattel Beasts chiefly Sheep much bigger than those in Europe with Tails of five and twenty and thirty Pound weight Hens Geese and all sorts of Flesh may be had here in great abundance The Inhabitants are some black Nature of the Inhabitants and some brown with Curl'd Hair but those which live by the River Quilmanzi are white as also most of the Women of Melinde The Women go very nobly apparell'd in Silks Apparel and wear Gold and Silver Chains with a Cloth before their Faces when they go abroad The Men go naked down to their Wastes but from thence wear Cotton or Silk Coats with a Linnen or Cotton Turbant on their Heads The principal Commodities for Trade are Gold Ivory Copper Quicksilver and Wax which the Mahumetan and Cambayan Merchants barter for Clothes and Stuffs For Arms they use Scimiters Arms. Shields Bowes and Arrows Some have reputed them the valiantest of all Africa yet those of Mombaza have often put them into fear and would have treated them very badly had they not obtain'd the Portuguese assistance The Subjects honour their King very highly Honor shown to the King carrying him on their Shoulders and at his going out in the Streets burning sweet Perfumes before him which also they use to do before all other Princes and Lords that come to visit them The King takes cognisance in Person of all Matters in debate Their manner of executing Justice although he hath appointed Officers and Judges to officiate in the administration of Justice And if any complain of another person to the King he must be sure to give a good account of the Matter or else he runs in danger of losing his Head however upon the Complaint he immediately sends for the person if the
of Turks Mahumetans and Arabians The Haven of Arquico or Ercocco THe Haven of Ercocco otherwise call'd Arquico and by Jarrick held to be the Adule of the Antients lieth against the Island of Mazuan five or six miles from Mount Bisan in fifteen Degrees and a half It was formerly a Port belonging to the Abyssines but since that taken from them by the Turks to whom at present they are subject The heat of the Air causeth an infertility in the Soyl as to Corn and Grain but as well those as the Maritime Parts afford several sorts of Trees as Willows Jujubes and Tamarinds which two last are no despicable Commodity to the Europeans The Inhabitants are Blacks and go all naked with a Skin onely before their Privacies As well Men as Women have upon their Heads Coverings resembling a Coronet and the Hair bound up round The Haven submits to the Commands of a Turkish Bashaw Sanutâ—â— and by that means inhabited principally with Mahumetans taking up the rooms of Christians by them dispossess'd In the Red-Sea lie the several Islands of Mazuan Paimuras Delacca Mayot Suachem and some other The Island of Mazula ON the Coast of Habex in the Red-Sea you discover the Island Mazua or Mazuan possessed by the Turks at this day who in the year Fifteen hundred fifty and seven did take it away from the Abyssines Thevet places it half a French mile distant over against Ercocco in fifteen Degrees and forty Minutes North-Latitude Between Mazuan and Donkale the Turks had formerly a Castle call'd Dafalo which the Abyssines took and sleighted When the South-winds blow hard no Ships without danger can approach the Coast The Islanders are good Soldiers but the Women give themselves over to loose living accounting it no dishonor to have many Gallants while they remain unmarry'd nor is their profession of Mahumetanism a small encouragement thereto the greatest promises of their Prophet aiming at no higher satisfactions The Island of Dalaca THevet calls this Island Dalaca others Dalaccia Delaqua Delalaca Dalaqualacari and Daleck It lies below Mazua a little more Southerly but by Sanutus set opposite to Mazua five miles from the Main Land of the Abyssines in sixteen Degrees North-Latitude saith Andrew Corsali but according to Huez in fourteen Degrees and twenty Minutes Marmol placeth it it eighteen Miles from Mazua and gives it one City of the same Name with the Island Sanutus extends it in compass to eighty Italian miles four reckon'd to one of the Dutch but Corsali accounts it twenty French miles This Island boasts a healthy Air and plenty of fresh Water which happening very seldom in these Countreys invites many People thither 'T is high and barren but pleasant for both the Hills and Dales have lovely Groves of Trees yielding a delightful shadow but no Fruit contrary to Thevet who makes this Island abound with Oranges and Lemons adding moreover that in March the whole Air is perfum'd with a most delicious scent There grows little Corn or Grain but what they have as also Honey Barley and Butter they fetch from the Abyssines yet they have very fair Pastures and full of Grass which feed Cows Camels and many Goats The Inhabitants an expert and Warlike People are either black or tawny of Colour sowre of Countenance treacherous and inveterate Enemies of the Turks against whom they hold Wars continually They speak distinctly bear no regard to foreign Merchants from whom notwithstanding their most serious engagements they steal whatever they can meet with Their Language is more difficult and obscure than the Turkish Persian or Indian but their Habit if so we may call it differs not from the last before-mention'd Their Government seems Monarchical Government one Person giving the Rule both to this and the adjacent Islands Their Religion is as great a mixture as their People Religion of whom most take Christianity from the Abyssines some are Mamalukes fled thither after the loss of Egypt besides Arabian Mahumetans of the Persian Sect and others pretended Musselmans professed Enemies to the other The Island of Bebel-Mandel PAssing from North to South you arrive at an Island now known by the Name of Bebel-Mandel but antiently call'd The Island of Diodorus situate in the midst of the Red-Sea which it divides into two Channels not above a mile from the Main Land of Arabia and the like distance from Abyssinia towards the Cape of Zeila so that the King of Egypt formerly shut up this Passage on his side with an Iron Chain drawn from one to the other Pigafet will have one of the Channels towards the West-side to be five and twenty Italian miles or five Dutch miles wide with a good Bottom and the common Passage for great Ships but the other scarce a large Dutch mile wide full of Rocks Shelves and Banks of Sand. It lieth in twelve Degrees and fifty Minutes North-Latitude Thevet calls it Muim and makes it two French miles in compass having some few Trees but otherwise wholly barren Formerly the Abyssines and Arabians of Aden made great Wars against the Possessors thereof by which it became subject sometimes to the Christians and then to the Moors till at last the Portuguese utterly laid it waste and so left it without hope of re-peopling The Island Suachem or Suaquem by Marmol call'd Suaquum standing according to Thevet East and West contains fifteen or sixteen French miles in compass but Rosaccio makes it much less and divides it almost from the City of the same Name beautifi'd with many fair built Houses Maginus supposeth the Haven of this Place to be the Sebastian Mouth mention'd by Ptolomy Over against Adel in the Red-Sea lieth the Island Barbora already mention'd About Suez inhabit two sorts of Christians one Circumcised nam'd Jacobites the other Uncircumcised commonly call'd Melaquiters The Inhabitants of these Islands and the Places on the Coast of the Red-Sea Trade with the Arabians over against it Sanutus saith that in the Haven of Chessir they have many Huts made with Mats wherein they stow the Wares carry'd from Cairo to Mecha The Moors of Ziden convey to Suez all sorts of Spicery Drugs precious Ambergreece which they bring from the Indies and transport from thence upon Camels to Cairo In like manner the Merchants bring from Cambaya into Asia and from all Arabia to Barbora all sorts of Clothes Beads or Motamugo's Elephants-Teeth and other Commodities The Red-Sea by the Moors call'd Bahar Queizum by others The Arabian Bay Red-Sea Gaspar Sam. Bernardino and Streights of Mecha the Burial-place of Mahomet lieth between the Coast of Ethiopia and Abyssine in Africa so that it parts Asia and Africa At the entrance of this Sea lie two Harbors the one call'd Guardafuy and the other Fartague The breadth between them is sixty Leagues or Spanish Miles and the length five hundred that is an hundred to the Straights of Bebel-Mandel and four hundred from thence to Suez where it ends Geminiano a Jesuit averr'd that
Valetta Citta Vecchia or Old Malta Burgo St. Angelo or Citta Vittoriosa and the Town of St. Michael besides 60 good Villages Comin and Cominot Onely one Fort. Goze or Gozo One Castle and a good Fort and about 5000 Inhabitants Lampadowze Altogether desolate Linose Lies desolate Pantalaree Towns Pantalaree An Abyss call'd Fossa AN EXACT DESCRIPTION OF THE AFRICAN ISLANDS AS Madagascar or Saint Laurence Saint Thomas the Canary-Islands Cape de Verd Malta and others With their Names Scituations Cities Rivers Plants Beasts Manners Habits Languages Riches Religions and Dominions AFter the Description of the Main Land of Africa the Subjected Islands belonging to the same must be taken notice of and they are found partly in the Atlantick Ocean partly in the Mid-Land and partly in the Red-Sea The Isles in the Atlantick on the East of Africa are these Zokotora Madagascar or St. Laurence the greatest of all Nossihibrahim or St. Mary Bouebon or Maskarenhas or Maskareign Almirante St. Francis As Sete Jemanas Os tres Irmanas Roque Piz do Natal do Arko Don John of Miz Pemba Monfia Zanzibar Anisa Quezimba Mozambike Don John of Castro Cosmoldo As doze Ilbeos John da Novo Ilhas Primuras Angoxas Galaga Comoro or Thieves Island Aliola St. Spirito St. Christophano Mazare dos Gorajos St. Brandaon St. Apolonu Mauritius or do Ciene Diego Rois John of Lixbon dos Romaros dos Castellianos By the Cape of Good Hope lieth the Island St. Elizabeth Korwli or Robben and Dassen Island South-Westward from the Cape of Good Hope lieth the Island of Tristano Kunha but more Southerly are the Islands dos Pikos Martyn Vaz St. Maria de Agosta de Trinitad Ascension St. Helen New St. Helen Annoban St. Thome Rolletjes Princes Island Carakombo Ferdinando do Po St. Matthias Ferdinand Noronho Penedo de St. Paulo the Salt or Cape de vard Islands the Canary Islands the Islands of Borodon Madera Porto Santo The Islands in the Mediterrane are Galatha Tabarka Pantalerce Malta Goze c. In the Red-Sea Primeiras Delacca Masuan Magot Mirt Suachen c. But here we must observe that some of these being close by the Main Land of Africa are already describ'd in the foregoing part such be Zokotora Quirimba Zanzibar Mozambike Robben and Dassen Islands Corisco the Islands Amboises Bisegos De los Idolos Bravas c. The Island of MADAGASCAR or St. LAURENCE THe Island commonly by Geographers call'd Madagascar and in the Countrey Language Madecase by Theuck Albazgra by the Persians and Arabians Sazandib by the Portuguese Ilha de sam Lourengo from the first Discoverer Laurence Almeide Son of Francois Almeide Viceroy of the East-Indies for the King of Portugal who in the Year Fifteen hundred and six put with eight Ships first of all into this Island of St. Laurence Gaspar de St. Bernardino in his Journey through India by Land affirms That in the Year Fifteen hundred and eight with whom agrees Damianas de Goez it was discover'd on the outside and a little afterwards the inside scarifi'd by one Ruy Pircira de Kontinho and afterwards by Tristano da Kunha who Sail'd quite round it upon the Command of Alfonso d' Albuquerque There are that report this Island was known to the Antients Merkat Magin Ortel and that Pliny call'd it Cerne Ptolomy Menuthias and Diodorus The Island of Merchant Jol but this cannot be because they never had any knowledge of the Countreys lying Southward above Serre-Lions It spreads in length North North-East Situation Flakkourt Fraxscis Canche and South South-West Southward of the Equinoctial Line and begins with its North end from the eleventh or twelfth degree and odd minutes or according to Pyrad from the fourteenth degree and ends with its South end in the six and twentieth that is from the Cape of St. Sebastian to the Cape of St. Mary Linschot places it a hundred six and twenty Leagues from Cabo das Corinthas on the Main Coast of Africa a hundred and ten from Sofala and four and forty from Mozambike It is one of the greatest Islands in the World for the length from South to North hath been reckon'd to twelve hundred Spanish or two hundred Dutch Miles though Linschot says two hundred and twenty the breadth seventy and the Circumference nine hundred The Sea between the Island and the Main Land towards that side of the Cape of Good Hope sets with a strong Current and goeth with a mighty Tide of Ebbing and Flowing making a Channel at the Westerly entrance eighty five Miles broad and in the middle where it is narrower over against the Island Mosambike four and forty Dutch Miles but it grows wider again towards the East The Ships which go from Europe to the Indies and from thence back again Sail commonly through this Channel unless Storms and Tempests force them to Steer another course This Island hath been Canton'd into many Divisions Divided into Territories whose names we will endeavor to give you viz. Anossi or Karkanossi Manatensi or Manapani the Valley of Amboulle the Countrey of Vohitsbang Itomampo Ikondre Vattemahon Manamboule INSVLA S. LAVRENTII vulgo MADAGASCAR Anachimonssi Gringdrane Vohitsanghombe Manakargha Matatane Antainare Galemboulou Tametavi Sahaveh Vouloulou Andouvoche Manghabei Adcimoi Mandrerci Ampatre Karemboule Mahafalle Houlouve Siveh Ivoronheok and Machicore All large Territories but the biggest is Machikore being seventy French Miles long and forty broad and the most populous are Vohitsanghombe and Erindrane We will give you a particular account of each with what is remarkable therein Beginning first with Carkanossi and from thence will run up Northward to the Bay of Antongil so turn back to the South from Carkanossi to the River Ongelahe To the Northward of this great Island two or three smaller as Nosey Ibrahim or Abraham's Isle by the French nam'd St. Mary and another to the South call'd Maskarenhas or Maskareigne and by the French Bouchon The whole Coast of this Island on the East-side The spreading of the Coast spreads due North North-East and South South-West that is from the Cape of Itapere otherwise call'd Fitorah in five and twenty degrees and six minutes South-Latitude to the Bay or Inlet of Antongil and from thence to the Lands-end due North from the Cape of Itapere to the Island of Karenboule Westerly From Karemboule to the Mouth of the River Sakalite the Coast runs North-West and from thence to the seventeenth degree South-Latitude North North-East and thence to the fourteenth degree being the Road of the Island due North. The whole extent comprehends many beneficial and large Rivers that having their heads within the Land irrigate the same to a rich fecundity and at last emit their Waters into the Sea by which means there appear divers fine Bays which make convenient and safe Roads for Ships The South-side from the Cape of Itapere to Karemboule the People of Europe best know by most of whom frequented but especially by the French who have to the chief Bay assign'd the Name of Dauphin
they use odd Postures and all the by-standers keep time by clapping of hands which they call Manghovah that is Keeping as if they should say they would keep time Men and Women when they have any sickness in their Eyes or Head they anoint their Faces sometimes with white sometimes with black red or yellow Colours But old Women use that kind of Painting to make them seem the more lively and youthful The Women and Maids have an observant and strict eye held over them so that a man cannot without difficulty be permitted access to them They are very diligent in Husbandry In the morning before Sun-rise Employment going to the Rice-Fields from whence they return not till Sun-set The Men cut up Canes call'd by the Indians Bambu and here Voulou which being dry'd they set on fire and then lay the ashes as Compost upon the ground to inrich it after that the Women and Girles set the Rice Grain by Grain making a hole in the Earth with a Stick into which the Grain being cast they fill it up The Seed-time as we may call it being over they sever the Rice from the Weeds and carry the ripe Corn from the Field into the Barns In the mean time while the Women are busie at their labour the Men begin in other places to cut up and burn for as soon as they see the first Sown Rice come up they set another Crop immediately so that they continually labour and have the whole year through Rice in the Leaf in the Blossom and in the Ear. The same they do with all other Dressings and Plantings Here you must take notice that the Canes or Bambu beforemention'd in burning makes so great a noise that may be heard at a great distance as if a multitude of Ordnance Muskets and Pistols were shot off together The Merchandize which the French sell to the Galemboulle Riches serveth them not for Ornament or wearing but they keep it up as a Treasure and buy Cattel with it in the Countrey of Ansianackte and the Mountains of Ambohitsmene They find little Gold among those of Galemboulle but some quantities of Silver and that reddish course and unrefin'd or of a base allay These people Religion and all the Zaffehibrahims keep the Saturday holy as we hinted before They do not acknowledge Mahomet but call all the Mahumetans Caffers they reverence Noah Abraham Moses and David but take no notice of the other Prophets nor of Christ and hold Circumcision They observe no Fasts nor have any Law or Worship neither know what it is to pray to God though nevertheless they offer Sacrifices of Oxen Cows and Goats They have no Temples or other places of Worship or Assembly but Amounouques or Burying-places of their Fore-fathers to whose memory they shew great reverence by all which they seem to have some little Reliques of Judaism They are so greatly addicted to their own Customs that they will rather die of hunger than eat of a Beast or Fowl kill'd by any Christian or one of the Southern Coast All the Children born on a Tuesday Thursday or Fryday they bring into the Woods and lay down as untimely Fruits for to perish by cold or hunger or be devour'd by the wild Beasts although sometime by one or other of the Women out of tenderness and compassion taken up and suckled Every Village hath a peculiar Lord Government in the Countrey Language call'd Filoubei who administers Justice to the People and the eldest takes upon him as a Judge to decide all differences They assist and aid one another in the Wars but if any of the Filoubei quarrel all the rest interpose as Mediators who take up and moderate the Controversie but if they will not hearken they leave them to decide it by Arms sitting neutral Spectators These people use their Slaves more like Children than what they are insomuch that they esteem them as Sons admitting them to eat at their Tables and not seldom bestowing their Daughters upon them for Wives The Hollanders have formerly frequented this Bay to buy Rice and Slaves and some years ago began to grow numerous till the unwholesomness of the Air kill'd many and the Lords of the Countrey either by open force or clandestine practises weary'd out and destroy'd the rest This is all that hitherto could be known concerning this Island at the South East and East side for from the Bay of Antongil to the North end little discovery hath yet been made by the people of Europe onely we have heard of a Territory call'd Vohemaro and in the Portugal Sea-Cards set down by the name of Boamaro inhabited by White People According to the relation of a Goldsmith whose Ancestors were the off-springs of Vohemaro In this Territory much Gold hath been found On the East Coast of this Jurisdiction appears the Bay of Vohemaro or Boamaro lying in South-Latitude It remains yet that we describe the Coast and the adjacent Countreys lying at the Mouth of the River Franshere as you pass to the West and North to the Bay of Zonghelabe so call'd by the Inhabitants but by the Europeans St. Augustin and Mansiatre The Coast of the Territory of Carcanossi to the River Mandreri BEyond the Mouth of the River Franshere to the Cape of Monkale lieth a Sandy way of four great French Leagues and from thence to the Bay of Ranoifoutchy otherwise call'd the Bay of the Galliones two Leagues Upon this Sandy Coast stand some Bushes between two Lakes call'd The Pools of Ambouve upon whose more fertiliz'd Banks grows abundance of Aloes in the Countrey phrase named Tetech Beyond Monkale and Ranoifoutchi you pass through a way call'd Mozambike but the chiefest Village call'd Italy The Bay of Ranoifoutchi hath a good coming in for a Bark or Sloop but not for a great Ship it lieth open to the South and South-East Winds the worst that blow in these Countreys never arising but accompany'd with Thunder and Tempests Five Miles from thence glides the River Mandreri upon whose Banks they make abundance of Salt with little labor and cost The Soil here cannot produce Rice by reason of the two much Sandiness but Cotton they have in abundance and Oil made of the Plant Ricinus good for many sicknesses and other uses Ever since four hundred and twelve the Portuguese had at the Bay a Habitation under a Captain of their own call'd Macinorbei by the Natives but by the Portuguese Miosignor with the addition of the word Bei that is Lord. The Territory of Ampatre Mananghare and Caremboule AMpatre hath in the East the Territory of Carcanossi with the River Mandreri between both it spreads in length by the Coast twenty French Miles in the breadth twelve from the Sea to Machicore The Countrey within hath neither Rivers nor Water onely by chance some Ditches or Ponds yet boasts an exceeding fertility being full of Wood with which the Inhabitants erect their Villages surrounded with Poles and Thorns so that it is
differences such as have done others wrong to punish them in their Estates or Goods A Thief must recompence his theft fourfold if he have wherewithal if not he must pay for it with his life or be his Slave which he stole the Goods from The Natural Law or Massinpah concerns every ones particular method in Working Speaking Merchandize Gesture and manner of Life Massintane is the settled Custom of the Countrey not onely there but in more civilized Places held for a firm Law in all Cases This here extends to the way of Planting necessary Provisions Building of Towns Wars publick Rejoycings Dancings Exercises of Arms and many other matters The Antiquity of this Massintane hath so prevail'd that the Law of the Prince stands upon no other foundation so that it cannot be alter'd nor indeed will they alter it for any cause whatsoever That which they have receiv'd from hand to hand by Tradition from their Fore-fathers they esteem more than any thing else that can be taught them As for instance in the manner of Tilling their Ground if any should tell them that the Earth must be digg'd deep or stirr'd and broken with a Plough they would not hearken thereto but instantly reply Their Ancestors us'd no such Custom The Person that is hurt or wrong'd may do himself right without bringing the Offender before his Lord for they make no more of killing a Thief than they do about a venomous Serpent or other Vermin Perjur'd Persons and breakers of their Oath are punish'd with heavy Penalties and the Women sometime kill'd by their Husbands for it When a Marry'd Woman departs from her Husband and hath a Child by another man that Child must belong to the Marry'd Husband till the Woman without consent Marrieth another to which nevertheless he will not agree till his Tacq that is the Brides Portion which he paid to the Womans Father at his Marriage be restor'd to him again These arise also continual quarrels and differences among particular people upon Trifles as either about the Cattel which run into one or others Torraks and spoil or eat up their Rice or Slander and wrong or if one Neger steps over another lying on the Ground or treads upon his Legs without speaking Jossles against another unawares for all which he is liable to be punish'd by the Judge The Island of Saint Mary otherwise called Nossi Hibrahim THe Isle of St. Mary commonly call'd Nossi Hibrahim that is Abraham's-Isle lieth from the sixteenth to the seventeenth degree South-Latitude opposite to the River Manangare and stands the nearest from Madagascar two small Miles and at the farthest four containing in length from South to North about eleven and in breadth from East to West full two Miles To the South of this Island lieth another small one in the shape of a Tre-Angle separated by a Channel of thirty yards broad and two foot deep in some places and in others deeper This Island hath curious Meadows with Grass where the Cattel of St. Maries Isle go to Pasture The Island of St. Mary stands encompass'd with Rocks over which at the time of High-Water the Canoos go but at Low-Tide they are dangerous within a foot or half a foot of the Surface On the Shore are found Rocks of white Corral which the Negro's seek and sell to the French The whole is cut thorow by small Rivers and Springs by which means together with its natural fatness the Ground proves infinitely fertile and all over Sown with Rice whereof sometimes they gather two Crops in a year there are also large Sugar-Canes Pease Bananoes Ananassen and better to Bake than in any place of Madagascar The Air is very moist so that scarce one day in the year passeth without Rain and sometimes it Showres six days together without ceasing The Cattel are very large and fat feeding at pleasure On the Easterly Shore much Ambergreece hath been found of which the Negro's make Burnt-Offerings on the A Mounouques or Burying-places of their Fore-fathers Besides several sorts of Gums which they use for sweet Scents and likewise Taccamahacca in great abundance There grows a Tree by the Natives call'd Thionti and its Fruit Voathions which is no sooner fallen from the same but it Roots in the Earth and makes such a close Thicket that it is impossible to go thorow it There are about ten or twelve Villages Inhabited since the French have had their abode there so that the Governor of Antongil which used formerly to War against this Island continually dare not come thither for fear of the French The whole contains about six hundred Inhabitants which call themselves Zaffe-Hibrahim that is Children of Abraham The Chief Commander hath to name Raignasse or Raniassa Son of Ratsiminon that is Head because onely acknowledged by them as Head of the Stock of Abraham in this Island and Madagascar The Islanders maintain themselves by Planting of Rice Ignames Bananoes Sugar-Canes Pease and Beans and Fishing for Houzites a sort of Fish which they carry to sell at St. Lawrence paying to the Governor the fifth part for Tribute which also they do of Rice and other Plants These Islanders will enter into no League with the Christians yet Trade with them because it seems they have retain'd somewhat of the Antient Judaism The Island of Maskareigne otherwise called BOURBON THe Island of Maskareigne or Maskarenhas so call'd from the first Discoverer a Portuguese out of the Family of Maskarenhas by some call'd Apollime but by the French from the houses of Bourbon Isle de Bourbon who in the Year Fifteen hundred sixty nine by Flakour then Commander of the Island of Madagascar for the French East-India Company took possession of it for them It lieth to the East of Madagascar in one and twenty degrees and a half South-Latitude being fifteen Leagues long and ten broad and full eight days Journey in circumference There is not one convenient Haven by reason of the Rocks on the Shore which makes the coming of Ships to this Island oftentimes dangerous but there are several Roads the best of which lieth West and North-East the next is on the Northside and another on the Southside surrounded with Rocks with an entrance scarce wide enough for one Ship to come in at near which the French have built a Chappel for St. Paul At the Southside of this Island stands a Mountain which continually Burns and Vomits out Fire as another on the Island Del Fuoga one of the Cape de Verd Islands and the Mountain Hekla in Ysland from the South to the Eastside lieth a Tract of Land of twenty Miles quite burnt up by the sultry heat of the Air however this Countrey doth seem to have been very good formerly The Burning begins from the South-Point and takes its course aloft over the Mountains As you travel cross thorow the Countrey from the South to the West you may find a small Tract of Land of about six Miles wherein is a Lake whence issues a small River
which runs through all the Countrey The Air though very hot hath the repute of being healthful as receiving frequent cooleness from the fresh Breezes arising out of the Mountains It hath several Rivulets Brooks and Springs which along the Cliffs and the gaping of the Mountains pour their Water from one quarter into the other The Rivers by the French discover'd on the Coast and flowing into the Sea are the grand River Du Galet the East-River Stone-Cliffe River and the River of St. John St. Steven and St. Giles It lieth totally desolate notwithstanding the French have sometimes endeavor'd to have Planted it with some Colonies of People This Island boasts an exceeding fertility both of Plants and Beasts for first there grows Tobacco as good as any Countrey can afford abundance of Aloes Cubebs white-tail Pepper Ebony and other Wood serviceable to build Houses and Ships Trees which afford well-scented Gums Benzoia and others besides many Palmito's and other Fruit-Trees They cannot complain for want either of Fish or Flesh the Rivers plentifully affording the one and the Land the other viz. wild Swine very great Sea and Land-Turtles wild Pigeons and Drones the fairest Paraketo's in the world and many other sorts of Fowl The Sea-shores are full of Goats which are delicate Meat yet the Flesh of the wild Swine exceeds all the other for daintiness and wholsomness according to the relation of those French of Madagascar which were by the Governor banish'd three years into this Island where they preserved themselves onely by this Flesh without either Bisket or Rice or tasting any other tame or wild Beast or Fowl During their three years continuance there they averred that they perceived not the least spice of either Ague or Fever neither had pain in the Head or Teeth notwithstanding they went continually naked bare-footed and nothing on their Heads yea some of them coming sick thither immediately recover'd health In the Year Sixteen hundred fifty four a French-man call'd Antonis Thaureau went with leave of the French Governor of Madagascar with seven other of his own Nation and six Blacks to settle themselves in this Island After a Journey of twelve days arriving there they seated themselves at the side of a certain Lake which mixes its Water with the Sea at a place where a great Bay lieth a convenient Road for ships in the West-North-West part of the Island They took along with them from Madagascar five Cows with one Calf and one Steer which mixed themselves with five and thirty other very fine and fat Steers which were come of those that had been put on Shore five years before They immediately built Huts for their abode and busied themselves in making of Gardens and Planting of Tobacco Melons and all sorts of Cod-Fruits but when the Tobacco was almost ripe the same with their Huts was ruin'd by a Heuricane so that they were necessitated to Build and Plant anew In the mean time while the Season of Planting came on again being in October November and December for their Harvest is in April the aforesaid Thaureau with some of the other concluded to take a Journey round about the Island to discover the same exactly and to take notice of the Countrey but they found almost nothing but Plants of Aloes after two days Journey they came to the Sea-coast which runs from the Point in the North to the other in the South five Miles long convenient for Habitation and very delightful and pleasant Meadows water'd by seven very fine Rivers which take their original out of a great Lake surrounded with Mountains where the Standard with the Arms of France were set up by the command of Flaccourt After a stay of two years and eight moneths without receiving any relief from Madagascar and seeing no other opportunity to get from thence they betook themselves to an English Vessel which put in there in the Year Sixteen hundred fifty eight and in the Moneth of May together with their six Blacks came to the English Fort of Maderespartan on the Coast of Cormandel or Narsinge a Mile from the City St. Thomas the Apostle of India where they arrived on the twelfth day of the following Moneth with a great deal of Aloes Tobacco and Benzoin in hopes to dispose of those Commodities there but arriving they found the contrary and that one Roll of Tobacco was enough for the whole Coast to make Snuff of by reason of the little use of it And likewise the Aloes prov'd a Drug because it grew there also The Island of St. Apollonie THe Island of St. Apollonie which Francois Caucha seems to take for that of Mauritius some Chards place forty Miles Eastward of Mascareigne but Flaccourt in his Description of Madagascar makes it a distinct thing The Island of Mauritius or Cerne THe Island of Mauritius so call'd by the Hollanders for the Honour and Memory of Maurice Prince of Orange a Branch from the House of Nassaw not well knowing and uncertain of its proper Name Some wrongfully hold it to be the Cerne of Pliny and placed in eighteen Degrees and thirty Minutes of South-Latitude whereas according to Caucha it is call'd The Island of Apollonie and lieth in the Elevation of one and twenty Degrees South-Latitude close by Mascaronhas The Hollanders first touched upon it in the Year Fifteen hundred ninety eight the eighteenth of September in their second Voyage to the East-Indies under the Command of the Admiral Jacob Cornelius van Nek It s Circumference they guess at fifteen Leagues affording a Haven and convenient Road but remains void both of Men and Beasts except Cats The Air seems to be good and wholsom and there is a River found which takes its orignal out of the Mountains whereof there are many towards the Sea yet within the Countrey are very delightful Plains By reason of the many and high Mountains the whole lies almost continually cover'd with Snow and oftentimes there doth such Mists arise from them that a Man can see no farther than just down before him The Ground lies very stony and so overgrown with wild and unfruitful Trees that it is scarce passable Among them are found many Palmito's and other Trees with a green Bark and Wood underneath as black as Pitch which some have taken for the right Ebony and other Trees whose Wood appears of a deep red or very yellow like Wax Fowl are here innumerable and so tame and fearless that they will suffer a Man almost to touch them as Pigeons Turtle-Doves Cranes gray and speckled Parrots and strange Birds as big as Swans with thick Heads whereon are Skins like Lappets In stead of Wings for they have none they have upon their sides onely three or four black Quills and behind in stead of a Tail four or five small Feathers or curl'd Plumes standing somewhat higher than the other they have large and thick Feet with a great and ugly Bill and Eyes and have commonly a Stone in their Maw as big as
ones Fist the longer the Flesh is boyl'd the harder it grows except it be the Breast which is very good to eat The Sea-men that first saw them gave them the name of Loathsom Fowls Bats as big or rather bigger than Pigeons with a Head like a Cat flie there in great numbers hanging in the Trees and doing much hurt to other Fowls Another sort of these are hairy all over their Bodies like Monkies or Cats and therefore some have call'd them Flying Cats for they are as big as a Hen or Goose such as these are found in several places of Asia as in the Kingdom of Mogor in the Territory of Casmir in Suratta and neighboring Islands and likewise in Brasile they keep in the closest Woods and hang with their Claws in the day-time on the Branches of Trees and shew more like hanging Bags than Beasts or Fowls The China's in the Province of Xensi eat their Flesh with a great appetite and report it better and more savoury than that of a Hen in the nights they miserably torment Cows Goats and Sheep by sucking out their Blood Fish may be plentifully taken in the Rivers within the Countrey as without in the Sea with little pains two or three Tubs full at one haling among which the ignorant Sea-men sometimes catch a sort of Fishes of a red colour but so poysonous that he that eats of it hath for some days together a most intolerable pain There are also Sea and Land-Turtles but the best not pallatable and of an uncouth aspect but of the first some have three hundred Eggs in their Bodies as big as Hen-Eggs and Shells wherein ten or twelve men can stand and one of them alive as they say can carry seven men The Island of Diego Rodrigue or Diego Rois and the Islands Primieras Angoxos or Angoises and Veiques THe Islands of Diego Rois and according to the Portuguese Diego Rodrigue or Rodrigo lieth in the Altitude of twenty Degrees two and twenty Miles from Madagascar in the East and not inhabited The Islands in Portuguese call'd Ilhas Primieras that is The first Islands lie over against the Coast of Sofale in sixteen Degrees South-Latitude and the Islands of Angozas to the number of four hard by the Coast of Mozambique Beyond the Cape of St. Sebastian on the Coast of Sofale towards the North in four and twenty Degrees South-Latitude appear several Isles some bigger some less but all call'd Veiques nine Miles from the Continent and eight ten and twelve Miles distant from each other These yield Rice Mille and a great many Cattel The Sea-shore offers Ambergreece which the Moors carry to sell to other Places and likewise great and small Pearls which the ignorance of the finders spoil with boyling The Inhabitants drive a Trade with those of the Main Land and are all Mahumetans The Islands of Comorre or Comarre and Gomara THese by a general Name call'd Comarre or Gomara and by Vincent de Witt taken for the Thieves Island lie between Madagascar and the Main Land of Mozambique Linschot saith there is onely one Sanutus averrs them to be three Pyrard and the foremention'd Vincent five others eight and some for four as Molaloa or Molaile Angazesia or Augazia Ivany or Amtuane Sir Thomas Rot. and Maota or Majotta which last three lie close together but Angazesia somewhat Northerly and Molaloa in twelve Degrees and twenty Minutes Angezia lieth North-west five Miles from Molaloa with its farthest Point in eleven Degrees and five Minutes and with the nearest in eleven Degrees and six Minutes The South-side lieth very high out of the Water Ivanny hath its situation Eastward of Majotta and Molaloa both which have a good Coast All these Islands but chiefly Molaloa have abundance of Cows Oxen Goats Sheep with great and broad Tails Coneys Hens and other Fowls several sorts of Fruits as sowre and sweet Oranges great and small Citrons Coco-Nuts Bananossen Honey Betel-Leaves and according to Sanutus Ginger Sugar and Rice which boyl'd gives a Violet-colour Moors Angazesia which drive a Trade with Beasts and Fruits in many places on the Coasts and the Eastern Islands in exchange for Calico's and other Clothes and Cotton Stuffs Their Bread is made of Chesnuts Baked in an Oven with a little Honey and their Drink Palm-Wine and the Juice of Coco-Nuts They never let their Women be seen with any Strangers but with permission of the Sultan Many amongst them can Speak and Write Arabick some also Portuguese which they learn at Mozambique where they come to Trade with Barks of thirty or forty Tuns apiece The Houses in Molaloa are built of Stone and daub'd over with Mortar with low Roofs cover'd with Boards and Leaves over them Angazesia stands divided among the several Lords that of Ivanny one peculiar Governour claims by the Title of Sultan who gave Molaloa to his Children viz. two Sons and one Daughter each of whom during their lives held their parts severally The Sultan keeps a great Train according to his manner being continually attended by fifty Men and his Habit a red and blew Cloth hanging over his Knees down to his Feet wearing a Turbant from which his Subjects vary little Both the Grandees and meaner sort of People chew continually a mixture of Oysters-shells and Nuts Areka with Betel-Leaves which cleanseth and fastneth the Teeth The Island of Ferdinando Po. NOt far from Guinee lie four Islands viz. of Ferdinando Po Princes Island St. Thomas and Anobon The Island of Ferdinando Po the Name of the first Discoverer who himself call'd it Ilhas das Formosa that is The Fair Island lieth in three Degrees and a half North-Latitude between the High-land of Amboyses and Rio des Camarones about four Miles and a half from the Main Land It seems the biggest of all the four although St. Thomas come near it rises very high and produces the Root Mandihoka Tobacco Rice and Fruit-Trees The People are wild barbarous and deceitful Govern'd by seven Lords continually Warring one against another No People of Europe come thither to Trade because the Inhabitants upon their Landing make away with all speed so that they onely put in there for fresh Water The Princes Island THe Princes Island or Ilha de Principe so call'd in Portuguese because a Portuguese Prince did find it out first of all being the smallest of the four it lieth in two Degrees North-Latitude thirty Miles from the Main Land of Africa and about four and twenty Northward of St. Thomas On this Island blows a more serene and wholsomer Air than on that of St. Thomas On the Shore appears a little Town containing about two hundred Houses and defended with Breast-works three Foot high against any Onset within which stand four small Cannon which the Inhabitants have formerly gotten from some Shipwrack The Countrey hath many Trees most of which produce Oranges Lemons Banano's Coco-Nuts and such like There are also Sugar-Canes and Cotton of which the Women Weave their own wearing Clothes
and Mandihoka and here and there a Vine The Inhabitants are Portuguese but few in number being but about thirty or forty Mulato's Negro's and Slaves three thousand which work in the Sugar-Mills and plant Rice Tobacco Mille and other Fruits The Island of Anaboon or Anabon ANabon or Anaboon which signifieth New or Good Year so call'd perhaps by the Portuguese because discover'd on a New-years-day it lieth in one Degree and fifty Minutes South-Latitude or as others in one Degree and a half about five and twenty Miles from St. Thomas and five and forty from Cabo de Lopez Gonzalves on the Main Coast It takes in Circumference according to Pyrard about five or six French Miles and in length not above half a Mile The Harbor appears at the North-side but very dangerous by reason of the Shoals and Rocks This Island hath a wholsom Air many Fountains Springs and Brooks with fresh Water onely a little brackish at the New and Full-Moon by reason of the high flowing of the Sea It rises with Mountains whose aspiring tops seem to kiss the Clouds and are commonly cover'd with Snow The Hills and Dales prove fruitful in all sorts of Plants and affords the Eye a pleasant and delightful sight The Shores of the Brooks stand beset with Palm-Trees out of which the Inhabitants extract the often mention'd Palm-Wine Ignames Injames Potato's Banano's Ananassen Orange-Trees Tamarind-Trees Sugar-Canes and Cotton-Trees also Rice Maiz or Turkish Wheat several sorts of Turkish Beans black Physick-Nuts and many other Trees and Plants There are many wild Swine Stags Goats Hens Pigeons black and white Cranes and other Fowl The adjoyning Sea produces many sorts of Fishes and Oysters Mercator and some others make this Island waste and desolate contrary to the truth for 't is inhabited though but meanly there being some years ago a few Portuguese with fifty or sixty Blacks which all liv'd by tilling the Ground and Fishing The Netherlanders found in the Year Sixteen hundred and five in their Voyage to the East-Indies under the Admiral Matelief two hundred Blacks on this Island The Town stands surrounded with a Breast-work for Defence and contains about a hundred Houses built of Canes besides some few of Wood belonging to the Portuguese The Blacks go stark naked both Men and Women Clothes having onely a Cotton Cloth before their Privacies The Women carry their Children on their Backs and when they will give them Suck they throw their Breasts over their Shoulders for they have them very great The Portuguese have the Command of it who send thither a Vice-Roy Government All the Inhabitants both Blacks and others embrace the Christian Religion Religion converted by the endeavor of the Portuguese The Island of St. Thomas THe Island of St. Thomas in Portuguese St. Thomee because first of all discover'd on that Saints Day yet Thevet calls it Santas Honore and the Barqarians Ponkas it lieth in the Ethiopian Sea right under the Equinoctial Line which comes through the City and the great Church and therefore no Latitude hath been ascribed to it and not far from the Cape of Lopez Gonsalvez It bears an Oval form about thirty Miles in Circumference and in length and breadth twelve Miles The chief City call'd Pavosan or Pavaose through which run two small Rivers hath its situation on an even place on the North-side of the Bay somewhat more longer than round and about half a days walking in compass containing about fifteen hundred Houses every one ten Stories high On that side towards the Sea-coast defended with some Breast-works of Stone which the Portuguese Governor raised in the Year Sixteen hundred and seven commanding every one that passed backwards and forwards by the City to bring one Stone towards the Building The Houses are erected of white and hard Wood like Oak which grows there on the Spot before behind and also on the top cover'd with Planks made fast together There stand onely on the whole Island three Stone Houses in one of which the Governor dwelleth The City boasts of three Churches whereof the biggest is intitled Conceptio or The Church of the Conception of the Virgin Mary next the Church of Isabella whereto adjoyns an Hospital and the Church of St. Sebastian a small one standing by the Castle But several other Churches stand without the City as St. Anthonies two Musquets shot distant and somewhat nearer St. Johns then you may see the Church of Maitre de Dios or The Mother of God about a Mile from the City towards the South-east and about two Miles from it towards the East Trinitado or The holy Trinity and about three Miles towards the South-east the Church of St. Anna. The Castle of St. Sebastian Castle St. Sebastian seated on an out-lying Corner at the North-side of the City and of the Bay is a handsom Building of Stone to the heighth of twenty five Foot and both of it self and by the conveniency of the place whereon it stands seems almost impregnable The Garrison within consists of a hundred Soldiers well stor'd and provided with Ammunition and Victuals besides continual Supplies are and may be brought thither by Sea without hindrance The Ground is moistned by several Brooks and Rivers of clear and fresh Water to their great enriching On the middle of this Island rises a Woody Mountain continually cover'd with Snow whence divers Brooks and Streams draw their originals The Air is very hot and untemperate moist unwholsom inimical to the People of Europe who seldom attain there to the age of fifty years whereas the Natives a People that have but little Blood oftentimes arrive to above a hundred Some affirm that a young Man in his growth coming thither shall never grow bigger but always remain at his first Stature and that a dead Corps laid in the Ground will rot and decay in four and twenty hours The cause of this unwholsomness hath been imagin'd to proceed from the over-great Heats and damp Fogs Some have reported that this malign intemperature doth not spread over the whole but confin'd chiefly to the City and occasion'd by the low situation thereof for from the Rain-water which falls down abundantly from the Hills to the Valleys are exhal'd noysom Vapors which afterwards fall down in the Evenings and Mornings with an offensive influence whose fume or dewy stream receiv'd into the Body corrupts and irritates the Blood for the avoiding which direful hazards at those times the Portuguese there resident keep within their Houses But this Air loses some of these ill qualities in June July and August by reason of the South-east and South-west dry and cool Winds which blowing over from the Coast of Ethiopia refresh the Countrey and clear the Air to the great advantage of Strangers although the Natives receive detriment thereby These Islanders as all others under the Equinoctial have two Winters not in respect of Cold but onely of Moistures one in March and another in September at which
immoderately they are by Nature very Wakeful and little inclining to Sleep of a chearful Spirit yet delighting in an Idle and Lazy Life only the Arabians and Farmers take Pains or else they must Starve ¶ THis Countrey is very subject to several and dangerous Diseases Egypt is much subject to Land-Sicknesses partly because of the intemperate Air partly by the immoderate use of Women and partly because the Poor there which are numerous are necessitated to use foul unwholesom Food and muddy and corrupt Water The chief Diseases afflicting them are Blear Eyes Scabs Leprosie and Mortal Phrensies Small Pox pain in the Limbs and Joints Ruptures Stone in the Kidneys and Bladder Consumption Obstructions or Stoppings Weaknesses of the Liver Spleen and Stomach Tertian Agues Consuming Quartanes and all manner of Maladies of the Head It is true other people are subject to the like but not so continually nor grievously and therefore properly may be call'd The Plagues of Egypt In Alexandria in Harvest-time many malignant and mortal Agues reign by drinking the tainted and foul Water which the Townsmen from year to year keep in their Wells under their houses In Winter they are troubled with sore Eyes but the Inhabitants of Cairo much more among whom it reigns so Epidemically that scarce half of them escape the Distemper There also rages that most terrible Egyptian Disease by the Arabians call'd Dem El Muia which in few hours suddenly possesses the Brain like an Apoplexy and bereaving them of sense and understanding in few minutes irremediably kills them Every year once are the Egyptians surprized with this Sickness of which multitudes dye At the same time Children are much afflicted with a malignant kind of Pox bred by the venomous Damps raised from the corrupt Water of Caleg Malignant Childrens Fox in Alexandria which is a Branch or rather a Trench cut from the Nile into Alexandria Every year Whence they arise when the Nile is risen eight or ten Cubits it falls into this Trench and runs from thence through the whole City and at the recess of Nile this Water then in the Caleg remaining without current or motion at length corrupts and first becomes green then black and in the end sends forth a very noisome Stench which corrupting sends forth venomous Vapours whereby the Air is polluted and that Infection bred and therefore all the Children which dwell thereabout for that cause are carried thence to other places Many other Diseases are in Egypt which are bred by the eating Ox and Camels Flesh and rotten Salt Fish taken in Pools and Lakes and mouldy stinking Cheese by them call'd Gibnehalon whereby is ingendered much thick Blood Choler adust Grossness and soft and crude Humours The Cause of the Dropsie The Dropsie here is very frequent and such as have it have Legs which by the abundance of hardness and gross Swelling are blown and puffed up like the Legs of Elephants though indeed they feel no Pain but are only unwieldy to walk One main Cause of these Distempers proceeds from the too frequent Use of Colocasie Beets Bammia and Melochia Herbs breeding thick and tough Flegm Many of the better Sort also have a Weakness in their Joynts and Limbs Why the Egyptians have weak Joynts and feeble Limbs like Childrens Rickets relaxed either by immoderate Venery or the too frequent Use of Sweat-Baths Alpin Medicin Egypt But the meaner Sort get it by wearing the same Clothes in Winter and Summer and going bare-foot and bare-legg'd And are troubled with the Stone The Stone is no stranger among them being bred from the Sediment of the Water of Nilus which as all Water causing Urine comes to the Kidneys but the more Earthy Part remaining like Dregs behind by the extraordinary Heat of the Body becomes dry and in a little Series of time is turned into Stones There are also many of a Melancholy Temper Sad spirited People in Egypt which are generally accounted Holy Men For the vulgar perswade themselves that they live without Sin leading their Lives in great Sanctity the better to mind Sacred Mysteries retiring from the World into desart and barren Places The Mahumetans look upon them as Santons because they seem to contemn Riches and slight the vain Pleasures of the World They live single giving Hospitable Entertainment to all Strangers of what Religion soever They reprove Vice very sharply affirming the World to be nothing but a Vale of Misery and Trouble In a sad and morose Reservation they denounce great Punishments to Man for Sin and so macerate and mortifie their Bodies by a vowed Abstemiousness and Labour that they are little better than the dried Mummies The Pestilence is very frequent in these Parts Egypt is much afflicted with the Pestilence and prevails against them the more because they seek no Remedy for it falsly conceiting that God hath certainly appointed and ordained every ones Death aforehand and the manner of his Dying so that he that must die in the Wars cannot die of the Pestilence and those onely can die of the Pestilence that are aforehand destined of God for it For this cause as we said no Egyptian will go about to avoid the Place nor shun converse with the Infected and the Clothes and other Houshold-stuff of such as dye of that Distemper are instantly sold in the open Market by Out-cry which none are afraid to buy by which mad obstinacy in this their foolish Perswasion the Plague in Cairo in the space of six or seven Moneths sometimes sweeps away above five hundred thousand People This dreadful Malady commonly begins in their first Summer When it commonly begins in Egypt continuing till the cool Northern Winds arise and then it begins to abate That which begins in the first Moneths is the worst of all especially if it come over out of Barbary for then it sometimes almost depopulates whole Cities leaving them destitute of Inhabitants But if it comes later it is so much the milder and ceaseth the sooner But although it rage never so fiercely At the Suns entrance into Cancer the Pestilence ceases in Egypt yet at the Suns entrance into Cancer it wholly ceaseth which by them is accounted no small Blessing for from thence forward as if never any such infectious Disease had been the City and all things in it are from a depth of miserable despair reduced into a secure safe and healthful condition Neither while the Contagion lasted did any other Diseases appear among the People Now the reason of this so sudden Cessation seems to be caused by the even and constant temper of the Air How this comes to pass by the blowing of the Anniversary Northwinds which then begin to rise and oppose the moist Nature of the South-winds call'd as we said Campsien which cooling as well the Air as Mens Bodies taking away the Cause the infectious Heat the Effect ceaseth Very seldom or never doth the Plague begin here