and that he name giuen vnto him of Aethiopia was but through error because the people would haue it to be so Iohannes Teuronicus in his book of the rites customes of Nations is as well deceaued also in this matter as the rest following the cōmon opinion that he of Aethiopia in Afrique should be Prester Iohn the other hauing raigned beene subdued in the end of Asia where as I said the great Cham or Tartare holdeth his Empire signeury who as it is thought is one of the puissantest mightiest monarches of the world so he entituleth himselfe King of Kings Lord of Lords This matter though otherwise well knowne and verified is also confirmed by Marcus Paulus Venetus who was along time resident in Townes Citties of his Empire and by an English Knight likewise called Iohn Mandeuile who seruing him in his warrs receaued his wages pention BER You haue great reason in all this which you haue said and now I call to memory that the Aethiopians beganne to receaue the faith of S. Phillip the Deacon and afterwards by the preaching of S. Mathew the Apostle and therefore they vaunt them selues to be the first Christians that were in the world in community But leauing these there is a prouince of Christians in Asia called Georgia the which say they were so called because they were conuerted by S. George but I rather take it to be the ancient proper name of the Prouince These Georgists are also called Yuori they haue their Embassadours alwaies in the Court of the Sophie I knowe not whether they pay him tribute or no their Country is very colde and full of Mountaines Those also of Colchos are christians now called by an other name Mengrels There is another kind of people called Albanes who maintaine the Christian religion There is another country of Christians who are called Iacobits on the Mountaine Sinay there are other christians named Maromites And all the coast of India is inhabited of christians from the entry of the Red-Sea where the citty of Aden standeth to the citties of Ormur Dia Malaca and frō thence forward to the kingdoms of Iapon China which are verie great mighty and hereabouts border many other Kingdoms citties Ilands as Zamora Taprobana Zeilan Borney and the Iles of Molucco whence the spice cōmeth with many other Regions great little where dwell infinit numbers of Christians as well Portugals as other which through their good example haue conuerted themselues to the Christian faith the like is hoped that those wil doe which liue vnder the subiection of the great Cham seeing they drawe so neere vnto it which should be a great augmentation of christianitie so that by this meanes Christianitie goeth as it were compassing round about the whole world The christianitie of the Armenians is notorious to all men in the greater of which they are in a manner all christians and in the lesser the greatest part There are likewise christians in Sury in Egypt where as yet remaine sundry signes of ancient christianity in many other parts though in respect of their farre distance from hence we haue no plaine and perticuler knowledge of them I haue read in the chronicles of Portugall that vvhen the Ilands of Catatora were founde out the enhabitants were all christians in their beliefe though God wot passing ignorant in the misteries of the same for they onely worshipped the Crosse because they said that God the redeemer of mankind died vpon the same as for the rest they held a few precepts the chiefest of which was to obserue the law of Nature They called themselues by the names of the Apostles and other Saints whereby it may be thought that some good christian man had arriued in that Iland and conuerted thē to the faith through whose death or departure from thence they remained so smally endoctrined in that Beliefe through the which they should worke their saluation As for the christianity of the West Indies new discouered world we al know it hold it for a thing most assured that asmuch as is shall be discouered will embrace the Catholick faith because that people easily discouereth the error of their Idols and false gods knowing him whom they serued to be the verie deuill himselfe for some of them were of the same beliefe as those of India Maior of whom I spake before who held him in solemne reuerence with sacrifice temples But since the christians arriuall in those parts now they see the dreadful state of damnation wherin they stood withall the deuils authority daily decaying for he speaketh nor appeareth now no more vnto thē as he was wont to doe there come daily such mighty numbers of them with such sorrowfull contrition repentance to receiue the Christian faith that it is wonderfull in which after they are once throughly instructed they perseuer with such ardent charity zeale and perfection that trulie I am ashamed to say how far they doe excell vs of vvhom they receaued it LVD At one thing I do much vvonder and that is how the christianity of these Indies remaineth so cleere without Heresies considering the foule contagious infection that is here amongst vs no doubt but diuers haue gone out of these parts thither that haue not beene of the soundest in Religion but it seemeth that God hath layde his hand vpon that Country for the preseruation of the same to the end he may be there honored serued BE. Wee haue vnderstood that Christendom is far greater then we thought it had been if we all could agree in one vnitie of acknowledging obeying the Catholique Church and couer our selfe vnder the blessed protection thereof not as many doe who beare only the name of Christians but are indeed children of damnation following other fantasticall Churches professing new haereticall doctrines I pray God that wee may liue to be all liuely members of one true and Catholique Church the Spouse of Christ that we may one day see the prophecie fulfilled Et erit vnum Ouile vnus Pastor and there shal be one flold one Sheepheard LV. That wee may see say you this were to promise your selfe a longer life then those of whō we yesterday made mention considering the diuersitie of supersticions factious Sectes wherewith the world is infected AN. Say not so for whē soeuer it shall please God to touch the harts of all those in the world with his mercifull hands he can in one yeere yea in one month day houre or moment so illuminate lighten not only all haereticall Christians but also Turkes Moores Pagans and Iewes and all erronious Sectes ouer the whole world that they may see and repent their owne error reconcile themselues into the bosome of our holy Mother the Catholique Church to th' end the prophecies you haue said may take effect but let vs not looke
little was by them brought and put into a pond or standing water in the Iland of S. Domingo a little after the conquest thereof by the Spaniards Being in which fresh water in short space hee encreased to such greatnes that hee became bigger then any horse and withall so familiar that calling him by a name which they had giuen him he would come ashore and receaue at theyr handes such thinges as they brought him to eate as though he had beene some tame domesticall beast The boyes among other sportes and pastimes they vsed with him woulde sometimes gette vp vppon his bace and hee swimme all ouer the Lake with them without euer dooing harme or once dyuing vnder the water with any one of thē One day certaine Spanyards comming to see him one of them smote him with a pyke staffe which he had in his hand from which time forward hee knewe the Spanyards so vvell by theyr garments that if any one had beene therby when the other people called him hee woulde not come ashore otherwise still continuing with those of the Country his vvonted familiaritie Hauing thus remained in this Lake a long space the water vpon a tyme through an extreamitie of raine rose so high that the one side of the Lake ouerflowed and brake into the Sea from which time forward he was seen no more Thys is written by the Gouernour of the fortresse of that Iland in a Chronicle which he made Leauing them therefore now I will briefely speake of certaine notable Fish coasts from the West of Ireland forwards winding about towardes the North For it is a thing notorious that many Kingdoms Regions Prouinces haue their prouisions of Fish frō thence of which our Spaine can giue good testimonie the great commodity considered that it receaueth yeerely thereby To beginne therefore the farther forth this way that you goe the greater plenty you shall finde of fishe many of those Prouinces vsing no other trade forraine Merchants bringing into them other necessary thinges in exchange thereof The chiefest store whereof is founde on the Coast of Bothnia which deuideth it selfe into three Prouinces East West and North-Bothnia The last whereof is different farre from the other two for it is a plaine Champaine Land seated as it were in a Valley betweene great and high Mountaines The ayre thereof is so wholesome the Climat so fauourable that it may be well termed one of the most pleasant and delightfull places of the world for it is neither hote nor cold but of so iust a temperature that it seemeth a thing incredible the Countries lying about it beeing so rigorously cold couered with Snow congealed with a continuall Ise. The fields of themselues produce all pleasant varietie of hearbes and fruites The woods and trees are replenished with Birdes whose sweet charmes melodious tunes breedeth incredible delectation to the hearers but wherein the greatest excellencie and blessing of this Land consisteth is that amongst so great a quantitie of Beasts and Fowles of which the Hilles Woods Fieldes and Valleyes are full it breedeth not nourisheth or maintaineth not any one that is harmefull or venemous neyther doe such kindes of Fishes as are in the Sea hurtfull approach theyr shoares which otherwise abound with Fishes of all sorts so that it is in the fishers handes to take as many and as few as they list The cause of which plentie is as they say that diuers forts of Fishes flying the colde come flocking in multitudes into these temperate waters Neyther bapneth this onely on theyr Sea-shoare but in theyr Lakes Riuers within the Land also which swarme as thicke with fishes great and little of diuers kindes as they can hold The enhabitants liue very long neuer or sildome feeling any infirmity which surely may serue for an argument seeing it is so approouedly knowne to be true to confirme that which is written concerning the vpper Byarmya which though it be seated in the midst of vntemperate cold countries couered and frozen with continuall Snow and Ice yet is it selfe so temperate and vnder so fauourable a Climate and constellation that truly the Authors may well call it as they doe a happy and blessed soile whose people hauing within thēselues all things necessary for the sustentation of humaine life are so hidden sequestred from other parts of the world hauing of themselues euery thing so aboundantly that they haue no need to traffique or conuerse with forraine Regions And this I take to be the cause that we haue no better knowledge of some people that liue vppon the Hyperbores who though they liue not with such pollicy as we doe it is because the plenty of all thinges giueth them no occasion to sharpe their wits or to be carefull for any thing so that they leade a simple and rustique life without curiosity deuoyd of all kind of trouble care or trauaile whereas those who liue in Countries where for their substentation maintenance it behooueth them to seeke needefull prouisions in forraine Landes what with care of auoiding dangers well dispatching their affaires and daily practising with diuers dispositions of men they cannot but becom industrious pollitique and cautelous And hence came it that in the Kingdome of China there was a Law and statute prohibiting and defending those that went to seeke other Countries euermore to returne into the same accounting them vnworthy to liue in so pleasant and fertile a soile that willingly forsooke the same in searching an other But returning to our purpose in this North Bothnya which is beyond Norway is taken incredible store of fish which they carry some fresh some salted to a Citty called Torna situated in manner of an Iland betweene two great Riuers that discende out of the Septentrionall mountaines where they hold their Fayre and Staple many and diuers Nations resorting thither who in exchange of theyr fish accommodate them with such other prouisions as their Country wanteth so that they care not to labour or till their grounds which if at any time they doe the fertillity thereof is such that there is no Country in the worlde able to exceede the same The people is so iust that they know not howe to offende or offer iniurie to any man they obserue with such integrity the Christian fayth that they haue him in horrour and destentation that committeth a mortall sinne They are enemies of vice and louers and embracers of vertue and truth They correct and chasten with all seuerity and rigour those that are offendours insomuch that though a thing bee lost in the streete or field no man dareth take it vp till the owner come himselfe There are also other Prouinces maintayned in a manner wholely by fishing as that of Laponia in the vvhich are manie Lakes both great and little infinitelie replenished with all sorts of excellent fishes and that of Fylandia which is very neere or to say better vnder the Pole The
thy walls and in this manner encreased thy goodlines and beauty BER Perchaunce those Pigmees of which Ezechiell maketh mention was some Nation of little men but not so little as those which wee speake of for Pigmee in Hebrew is as much to say as a man of little stature for if these Pigmees were such as those Authors write they must needes enioy long life seeing they voyaged so farre vsing traffique by Sea bringing vnto vs such commodities as theyr Country yeeldeth and carrying backe such of ours as are necessarie for them so that I account it a matter vnpossible that men whose space of lyues is so short should traffique with such carefull industrie in the farre Countries of Siry and Iury. LU. Your opinion is not without reason but in the ende heerein we cannot stedfastly affirme any thing for trueth so that it is best that wee leaue it euen so contenting our selues with that which hath beene vpon this matter alleadged seeing we haue not as yet ended our discourse of monsters I say therefore that Ctesias affirmeth that beeing with Alexander in India hee sawe aboue 130000. men together hauing all heads like dogges and vsing no other speech but barking BER I would rather call these dogges with two feete or else some other two footed beasts such as there is a kinde of great Apes of the which I haue seene one with a doggs face but standing vpright on his feete each part of him had the shape of a man or so little difference that at the first any man might be deceaued and so perchaunce might Ctesias and the rest of those which saw them seeing they could not affirme vvhether they had the vse of reason vvhereby they might be held for men and not brute beasts AN. Both the one and the other may be but leauing this they write that there are certaine men dwelling on the hill Milo hauing on each foote eight toes which turne all backward and that they are of incredible swiftnes Others that are borne vvith theyr haire hoary gray vvhich as they waxe olde becommeth blacke To be short if I should rehearse the infinite number of such like as are reported I should neuer make an ende for you canne scarcely come to any manne vvhich will not tell you one vvoonder or other vvhich hee hath seene One vvill tell you of an Evve that brought foorth a Lyon vvhich as Elian sayeth happened in the Countrey of the Coosians in the time of the tiranny of Nicippus Another vvill tell you of a Sovve that farowed a Pygge resembling an Elephant vvhich happened not long since in this Tovvne vvherein vvee dwell so that euery one will tell you a new thing and for my part I will not beleeue but that they are true because we see euery day new secrets of nature discouered the world is so great that we cannot knowe in the one part what is done in the other If it were not for this it were vnpossible to write the number of them neither were any booke how great so euer able to containe them But for the proofe of the rest I will tell you of one strange people found out in the world Mine author is Iohanes Bohemus a Dutch man in his booke entituled the manners and customes of all Nations who though he declareth not the time wherein it happened nor what the person was that found them out yet he writeth it so familierly that it seemeth he was some man meruailous well knowne in his Country but because you shall not thinke that I enhaunce the matter with wordes of mine owne I will repeate those selfe same which he vsed in the which haue patience if I be somwhat long Iambolo sayth he a man from his childhood wel brought vp after that his Father died vsed the trade of Merchandize who voyaging towards Arabia to buy spices and costly perfumes the ship wherein he went was taken by certaine Rouers which made him with another of the prisoners Cow-heard and keeper of their cattell with which as he went one morning to the pasture hee and his companion were taken by certaine Aethiopians and caried into Aethiopia to a Citty situate on the Sea whose custome was from long and auncient time to cleanse that place and others of the Country there abouts according to the aunswere of an Oracle of theirs in sending at certaine seasons two men beeing strangers to the Iland which they call Fortunat whose enhabitants liue in great and blessed happines If these two went thither and returned againe it prognosticated to that Country great felicity but if they returned through feare of the long way or tempest of the Sea many troubles should happen to that Country and those which so returned were slaine and torne in peeces The Aethiopians had a little boate fit for two men to rule into the which they put victuals enough for sixe moneths beseeching them with all instance to direct the Provv of their boate according to the commaundement of the Oracle towards the South to the end they might arriue in that Iland where those fortunate men liued promising them great rewardes if after theyr arriuall they returned backe threatning to pull them in peeces if they should before through feare returne to any coast of that Country because theyr feare should be the occasion of many miseries to that Land and as in so returning they should shewe themselues most wicked and cruell so should they at theyr hands expect all crueltie possible to bee imagined Iambolo and his companion beeing put into the boate with these conditions the Ethiopians remained on the shore celebrating theyr holie ceremonies and inuoking theyr Gods to guide prosperously thys little ship and to graunt it after the voyage finished safe returne Who sayling continuallie 4. months passing many dangerous tempests at last wearied with so discomfortable a voyage arriued at the Iland wherto they were directed which was round and in compasse about 5000. stadyes approching to the shore some of the inhabitants came to receiue them in a little Skiffe others stoode on the shoare wondering at the strangenes of theyr habite and attyre but in fine all receiued them most curteously communicating with thē such thinges as they had The men of this Iland are not in body and manners like vnto ours though in forme and figure they resemble vs for they are foure cubites higher and theyr boanes are like sinewes which they double writhe each way they are passing nimble and withall so strong that whatsoeuer they take in theyr handes there is no possible force able to take it from them They are hairie but the same is so polished and delicate that not so much as any one haire standeth out of order Theyr faces most beautifull theyr bodies well featured the entry of theyr eares far larger then ours The chiefest thing wherein they differ from vs is theyr tongues which haue a singuler particularitie giuen thē
reason therfore but they neuer talke of that Land which runneth on in length by the sea coast on the left hand towards the West passing by the kingdome of Norway and many other Prouinces and Countries for they know not what Land it is neither whether it goeth nor where it endeth nor where it turneth to ioyne with those parts of which they haue notice LV. By this meanes then it may be that they are deceaued which say that Europe is the least part of the three olde diuided parts of the world yet some say that on the other side of the bounds of Asia also there is much vnknowne Lande AN. You haue reason for this Land of which I speak stretching out along the Occident commeth turning to the Septentrion euen till vnder the Northern Pole which is the same that we here see from which forward on the other side what Lande there is or howe it extendeth it selfe wee knowe not though perchaunce the same be very great and spacious But let vs leaue this matter till hereafter where I will declare it more particulerly let vs return to entreate of som grounds and principles which are necessary for the facility of vnderstanding that which wee will speake of for otherwise in alleaging euery particuler wee should bring in all the Astrologie and cosmography of the world and therfore ommitting to declare what thing the Sphaere is and in what sort it is vnderstood that the earth is the Center of the worlde and then how the Center of the Earth is to be vnderstood with infinit other the like I will onelie alleadge that which is necessarie for our discourse First therefore all Astronomers and Cosmographers deuide the heauen into fiue Zones which are fiue parts or fiue gyrdings about according to which also the Earth is deuided into other fiue parts The one hath in the midst thereof the Pole Artick or North-pole which is the same that wee see the other hath the South or Pole Antartick directly contrary on the other side of the Heauen These 2. Poles are as two Axeltrees vpon which the whole Heauen turneth about they still standing firme in one selfe place in the midst betweene them both is the same which we call Torrida Zona and of the other two Colaterall Zones the one is between Torrida Zona the North-pole beeing the same in which we inhabite cōtaining Asia Affrick Europe it hath not bin known or vnderstood til these our times that any other of the Zones or parts of the earth hath been enhabited and so saith Ouid in his Metamorphosis that as the heauen is deuided into fiue Zones two one the right hand and two on the left and that in the midst more fierie then any of the rest so hath the diuine Prouidence deuided the Earth into other fiue parts of which that in the midst is through the great heate vninhabitable and the two vtmost in respect of their exceeding cold The selfe same opinion holdeth Macrobius in his seconde booke of the Dreame of Scipio Virgill in his Georgiques and the most part of all the auncient Authors whose authorities it serueth to no purpose to rehearse because in these our tymes we haue seene and vnderstood by experience the contrary as touching Torrida Zona seeing it is as well to be enhabited as any of the others and euery day it is past vnder frō one part to another as wee the other day discoursed And trulie the ignoraunce of the Auncients must bee verie great seeing they know not that Arabia faelix Aethiopia the coast of Guyne Calecut Malaca Taprobana Elgatigara many other Countries then in notice were vnder Torrida zona beeing a thing so notorious manifest that I maruaile how they coulde so deceaue themselues and not onely they but diuers moderne Writers also which though one way they confesse it yet another way they seeme to stande in doubt as may be seene by the Cosmography of Petrus Appianus augmented by Gemmafrigius a man in that Science very famous whose wordes are these The fiue zones of the Heauen constitute so many parts in the Earth of which the two vtmost in respect of theyr extreame cold are vnenhabitable the middlemost through the continuall course of the Sunne and perpendiculer beames thereof is so singed that by reason it seemeth not at all or very hardly to be habitable The Greeke Commendador likewise a man of great fame estimation in Spayne deceaued himselfe in his glosse vvhich hee vvrote vpon Iohn De Meno wherein hee maintayneth thys auncient opinion by these vvordes The Mathematitians sayth hee deuide the Earth into fiue Zones of which the two vtmost next the Poles through theyr great extreamitie of colde are not enhabitable neyther that in the midst through extreame heate the other two of each side participating of the heate of the middle and the colde of the vtter Zones are temperate and inhabitable Of these two the one is enhabited by those Nations of which we haue notice and is deuided into three parts Affrica Asia and Europa the other is enhabited by those whom we call Antypodes of whom we neuer had nor neuer shall haue any knowledge at all by reason of the Torrida or burned Zone which is vninhabitable the fierie heate of which stoppeth the passage betweene them and vs so that neyther they can come at vs nor we at them c. Though heere the Comendador confesse that there are Antypodes with whom wee cannot conuerse nor traffique yet the Auncients accounting the Torrida Zona as vninhabitable doubted whether there could be of the other side therof any people seeming vnto them vnpossible for any man since the creation of Adam which was created in this second Zone of the Pole Articke to passe ouer the burning Zone and there to generate and spred mankind Of this opinion seemeth to be S. Austine when he saith Those which fabulously affirme that there are Antypodes which is to say men of the contrary part where the Sunne riseth when it setteth with vs and which goe on the ground with theyr feete right against ours are by no meanes to be beleeued and Lactantius Firmianus in his third booke of Diuine Institutions laugheth and iesteth at those which make the earth and the water to be a body sphaericall and round at which error of his being a man so wise and prudent I cannot choose but much meruaile in denying a principle so notoriously known as though the world being round those people which are opposite to vs vnderneath should fall downe backwards The grosnes of which ignorance being nowe so manifestly discouered I will spend no more time in rehearsing his wordes so that they deny that there are Antypodes and that the world is enhabitable at all the Zones the contrary whereof is manifest Pliny handleth this matter in the sixty fiue Chapter of his second booke but in the end he resolueth not whether
so strange which for the true proofe and vnderstanding whereof were necessary to be seene with our eyes for confirmation whereof though there be many most sufficient reasons and proofes yet I haue not reade heerein any Author which auoucheth his own knowledge and sight whereas me thinkes if these Regions were so short as by this computation of degrees the Authors seeme to make them there should not haue wanted curious men to discouer the particularities of them howe great so euer the difficulty or danger had beene in doing the same which if they had done they should perchaunce haue found many things farre otherwise then they deemed at least touching some particularities of which some later Writers vaunt to haue in part experience of which seeing we our selues are able to giue no assured testimony of sight I thinke it best that we leaue them to those whose curious industry wil omit no paine to attaine vnto the perfect searching out of things so worthy to be known and seeing the Auncients which went sifting out these matters confesse that from the same Land came Virgins to bring their first fruits to the temple of Apollo in Delos belike there was then some known way the passage betweene nothing so difficill as it nowe seemeth vnto vs which beeing to vs vnknowne and the manner howe to trauaile and passe through those cold Regions beset with deepe Snow thicke Ice wide Riuers painefull high Hils fearefull low Valleyes vnaccessible Desarts and all kinds of cruell wild Beasts we leaue them vnuoyaged not seeking any way whereby we may penetrate into them and attaine the cognition of their particulers in a manner concealed and hidden from vs of which though some fewe of the hether parts thereof were knowne by relation of some painefull and industrious men who affirmed that they had seene them yet the greatest part was by coniectures considerations and probable argumentes though the curiosity of our times hath passed a little farther because as I haue sayde they are eye-witnesses of part of that which wee haue discouered of as I will tell you straight but all shall be little to giue vs such perfect and particuler knowledge of this part of the worlde that we may discourse thereof as of the others which we know Some Authors will haue this Land to be in Asia others in Europe but in whether it be the matter is not great alwayes if it be in Europe then is Europe not so little a part of the earth as they make it of vvhich if they will set the limits there as the Auncients say it finished then must these Regions before time vndiscouered be another nevve part of the world and so they should make foure parts therof or fiue with that which is newly discouered thereof in the West Indies BER I vvonder not much if men haue not so good notice of those partes of which wee haue discoursed neere the one and neere the other Pole and of that vvhich runneth out by the Coast of the North towardes the West because besides the great sharpnes and rigour of the cold we haue no cōuersation at all with the enhabitants of those parts nor they with vs neither is there any cause to mooue eyther them or vs thereunto vnlesse it be the curiositie of some that thirst after the vniuersal knowledge of all things in the world as did Marcus Paulus Venetus who for this cause only trauailed so great a part of the worlde as any man that euer I heard of till this day Truth it is that some Kings and Princes through couetous desire of enlarging their dominions as you shall hereafter vnderstand haue entered so far as they could conquering into these parts which they found neyther ouer all enhabited neyther yet so desert but that it was in manie places and the greater part therof peopled and not so far one from another but that they had knowledge conuersation traffique together And as in these Countries and Prouinces of ours we finde one soyle plaine temperate and pleasant and another quite contrary sharpe barren and vnfruitfull subiect to boystrous winds harsh ayres and continuall snow wherewith some mountaines are all the yeere long couered so that no man will frame in them his habitation So likewise in these extreame Regions of the North no doubt but there are some parts of them vninhabited as those which Pliny Soline and the before remembred Authors terme condemned of Nature yet there want not wayes and compasses in cyrcling about them to discouer that which is enhabited on the other side and though with difficultie yet in fine Nature would not leaue to prouide an open way to the end that this Land should not remaine perpetually hidden and vnknown LV. I remember I haue seene in Paulus Iouius in a chapter which hee made of Cosmography abbreuiated in the beginning of his History these words speaking of the Kingdomes of Denmarke and Norway and the Landes beyond them Of the Nature saith he of these Lands of the peoples that liue beyond them called Pigmaei Ictiophagi which are those that liue by fishes now newly discouered in whose Country by a certaine order of the Heauen of that constellation the dayes and nights are equall which I will make mention in their place AN. Mee thinkes there are many that touch this matter promising to write largely thereof without doing it and if they doe it it is euen as they list themselues because there is no man to controle them and as for Paulus Iouius himselfe all that he wrote of this Country was by the relation of a Muscouian Embassadour in Rome In one place hee saith that the Muscouites border vpon the Tartaryans and that towards the North they are accounted the vtmost dwellers of the worlde and that towardes the West they confine with the Danske Sea And in another place the Muscouites sayth he who are seated betweene Polonia and Tartaria confine with the Ryphaean mountaines enhabite towards the Septentryon in the vtmost bounds of Europe and Asia extending themselues ouer the Lakes of the Riuer Tanays euē to the Hyperborean mountaines and that part of the Ocean which they call the Frozen Sea These are his wordes in which truly he hath little reason for the vtmost Land that the Muscouites possesse is where the day and night continue 3. months long a peece so that they cannot be called the last enhabitants of the earth for those whose day and night is of sixe months are farder North and neerer the Pole then they so that in fine as I sayd before touching these matters which cannot be seene without such difficultie those that entreat of them goe by gesse coniecturing thereat by the probabilitie of reasons considerations LU. As I imagine this countrey must be very great where the daies are so long in encreasing and decreasing and more if there be on the other side of the North before you come at the Sea so much other land of force it
notorious as are these mountaines being situated in a Country of Christians or at least confining there-vpon for the Country where the Auncients desribing them is nowe called Muscouia hardly can they write truly of other thinges which are farther off and in Countries of which we haue not so great knowledge as wee haue of this But turning to that which we entreated of I say that those thinges can hardly be verified which are written by the Auncients concerning these Northern Lands not so much for the small notice we haue of them as for that the names are altered of Kingdoms Prouinces Citties mountaines and Riuers in such sort that it is hard to know which is the one and which is the other for you shall scarcely finde any one that retaineth his olde name and though by signes and coniectures wee hit right vpon some of thē yet it is impossible but that we should erre in many in taking one for another the experience wherof we may see here in our owne Country of Spayne the principall townes of which are by Ptolomie and Plinie vvhich write particulerly of them called by names to vs now vtterlie vnknowne neyther doe we vnderstand which is which they are so altred changed So fareth it with the auncient Geography which though there be many that do practise vnderstand according to the antique yet if you aske them many things according to that now in vre with the moderns so are things in these our times altered and innouated they cannot yeeld you a reason thereof if they doe it shall be such that thereout will result greater doubts But leauing this I will as touching the Lands of which we entreate conclude with that which some Historiographers of our time haue made mention namely Iohan. Magnus Gothus Albertus Cranzius Iohan. Saxo Polonius Muscouita and chiefely Olaus Magnus Archbishop of Vpsala of whō we haue made heere before often mention who in a Chronicle of those lands of the North the particularities of them though beeing borne and brought vp in those Regions should seeme to haue great knowledge of such thinges as are in the same yet is he meruailous briefe cōcerning that which is vnder the same Pole He saith that there is a Prouince called Byarmia whose Orizon is the Equinoctiall circle it selfe and as this circle deuideth the heauen in the midst so vvhen the Sunne declineth to this part of the Pole the day is halfe a yeere long and when he turneth to decline on the side of the other Pole he causeth the contrary effect the night enduring as much This Prouince of Byarmya deuideth it selfe into two parts the one high and the other low in the lower are many hills perpetually couered with Snow neuer feeling any warmth yet in the valleys below there are many Woods and Fields full of hearbes and pastures and in them great aboundance of wild Beasts and high swelling Riuers as well through the Springs whence they rise as through the Snow that tumbleth downe from the hills In the higher Byarmya he saith there are strange and admirable nouelties to enter into which there is not any knowne way for the passages are all closed vp to attempt through which hee termeth it a danger and difficulty insuperable so that no man can come to haue knowledge thereof without the greatest ieopardy that may possibly be deuised or imagined For the greater part of the way is continually couered with deepe Snow by no meanes passable vnlesse it be vpon Beasts like vnto Stags called Rangifery so abounding in those Regions that many doe nourish and tame them Their lightnes though it seeme incredible is such that they runne vpon the frozen Snow vnto the top of high hills downe againe into the deepe Valleyes Iohn Saxon saith that there was a King of Swethland called Hatherus who being aduertised that there dwelt in a Valley betweene those mountaines a Satire called Memingus that possessed infinite riches with many other resolute men in his company all mounted vpon Rangifers domesticall Onagres made a Roade into his Valley and returned laden with rich and inestimable spoiles BER Was he a right Satire indeede or else a man so called AN. The Author explaneth it not but by that which he saith a little after that in that Country are many Satires Faunes we may gather that hee was a right Satire and that the Satires are men of reason and not vnreasonable creatures according to our disputation the other day and in a Country full of such nouelties such a thing as this is not to be wondred at But returning to our commenced purpose I say that this superiour Byarmya of which Olaus Magnus speaketh to vs so vnknowne by all likelyhoode should be that blessed soile mentioned by Pliny Soline Pomponius Mela whose Clymate is so temperate whose ayre so wholesome and whose enhabitants doe liue so long that they willingly receaue death by casting themselues into the Sea of which Land being so meruailous and being as it seemeth seated on the farther side of the Pole the properties are not so particulerly knowne and so he saith that there are many strange people nouelties and wonders But leauing this comming to the lower Olaus saith that the Valleyes thereof if they were sowed are very apt and ready to bring foorth fruite but the enhabitants doe not giue themselues to tillage because the fieldes and Forrests are replenished with Beasts the Riuers with Fishes so that with hunting and fishing they maintaine their lyues hauing no vse of bread neyther scarcely knowledge thereof When they are at warre or difference with any of their neighbours they sildom vse Armes for they are so great Negromancers Enchaunters that with wordes onely when they list they will make it raine thunder and lighten so impetuously as though heauen and earth should goe together and with their Witchcraftes and Charmes they binde and entangle men in such sort that they bereaue them of all power to doe them any harme yea and many times of their sences also and lyues making them to dye mad Iohn Saxon writeth that there was once a King of Denmarke called Rogumer who purposing to subdue the Byarmyans went against them with a mighty and puissant Army which they vnderstanding had recourse to no other defence then to their Enchantments raising such terrible tempests winds and waters that through the violent fury thereof the Riuers ouerflowed and became vnpassable vpon which of a sodaine they caused such an vnkindly heat that the King and all his Army were fryed almost to death so that the same was farre more greeuous to suffer then the cold and through the distemperature and corruption thereof there ensued such a mortality that the King was forced to returne but he knowing that this happened not through the nature of the Land but through coniuration and sorcerie came vpon them another time so sodainly that hee was amongst them
otherwise we should attribute vnto them some vse of reason which can be neither in them nor in Beasts what shewe so euer they make thereof BER Let vs leaue this least otherwise wee interrupt Signior Anthonio in the prosecution of his promised discourse touching the Septentrionall Countries which is a matter not to be let slip AN. I would that I were therein so instructed that I could entreate so particulerly and plainly thereof as it were requisite I should but though the fault be mine in that I vnderstande little yet I want not an excuse where-with to wipe away some part of the blame For the great confusion of the Authors both Auncient Moderne that write thereof as yesterday you vnderstoode is such that it maketh me also confuse and wauering in whether of theyr opinions I should follow Trust me it is a world to see theyr disagreements and he had neede of a very Diuine iudgment that should conforme himselfe to the vnderstanding of Ptolomaeus Solinus Stephanus Dyonisius Rufus Festus Auienius Herodotus Plinius Anselmus Strabo Mela and diuers other of the Auncients some of the which in reckoning vp of Nations and Prouinces name onely one saying forth others aboue this and others aboue that beyond of the one side and of the other some declare the names particulerly of each one but in such sort that comparing them with these by which we now know thē they are not to be discerned which are which for with great difficulty can we know who are the right Getes Massagetes Numades Scythians and Sarmates but onely that we goe gessing according to the names which they now haue for there are Authors that giue to the Land of the Scithians onely 75. leagues of widenes and others will needs haue the most part of all those great Countries Northward to be contained vnder them so that Pliny not without cause speaking of these Septentrionall parts termeth them to be so vast and of so farre a reach that they may be accounted an other new part of the world yet he then knew nothing of the interiour part thereof towards the Pole which is now discouered But leauing this there is no lesse difficulty and difference in the description of those parts which we now know and vnderstand yea euen those which are neere vs and with whom we haue traffique as Norway Denmarke Gothland Sweueland and the Prouinces which we call Russia Prussia of which they write so intricatly especially in some points that they hardly giue resolution to those that reade them notwithstanding which difficulties seeing there is no part of the world in which there are not some thinges though to them common yet rare and strange to those that haue not seene them but newly heare them spoken of I will tell you some particularities recorded by the Authors that make mention of these Regions with which we may passe in good conuersation this euening as we haue done the rest And first to begin with their men they say that they are of great stature their lims members wel proportioned and their faces beautiful Amongst which there are many Gyants of incredible greatnes which as you enter farther into the Lande so shall you finde them greater Of these make mention Saxo Grammaticus and Olaus Magnus chiefely of one called Hartenus another Starchater and two others Angrame and Aruedor who were endued with so extraordinary a force puissance that to carry an Oxe or a Horse vpon their shoulders though the way were very long they accounted nothing There are also women nothing inferiour to them in strength some of which haue beene seene with one hand take a Horse with a man Armed vpon his back and to lift him vp and throw him downe to the ground and of these and others sundry Authors write many notable thinges worthy of memory which seruing nothing to our purpose it were in vaine heere to rehearse Leauing them therefore I say that the continuance of the Snow in all these Septentrionall Lands is such that the high eminent places and toppes of mountaines are couered there-with all the yeere long and many times the valleyes and low places also notwithstanding all which extreamity of cold they haue very good pastures both for Beasts wild and tame for theyr fodder and grasse is of such quality that the very cold nourisheth and augmenteth the force verdure therof The greatest discōmodity they haue is through the wind Circius which the greater part of the yere blustreth in those Prouinces and that with such raging fury violence that it renteth vp the trees by the rootes and whirleth whole heapes of stones from vp the earth into the ayre wherby those that trauaile are often in great danger of their liues the remedy they haue is to hide shroud themselues in caues hollow vauts vnder the mountains for somtimes the tempests are so incredibly raging terrible that there haue ben ships in the Bothnyk Sea which though it be neere the frozen Sea yet notwithstanding is nauigable hoised vp into the ayre thrown down violently against the maine Land a matter scarsly credible but that it is verified by so many so graue Authors at other times you shall see waues of the Sea resembling mighty mountains raised in height then with their fal drowne and ouerwhelme such ships as are neere somtimes the tiles yea the whole roofs of the house taken away blown far off which is more the roofs of their churches couered with Lead other mettals haue ben torn vp caried away as smoothly as though they had been but feathers neither haue men Armed and a Horseback more force to resist the violence of this wind then hath a light reed for either it ouerthroweth them or else perforce driueth thē against some hillock or Rock so that in diuers places of Norway which lie subiest to this wind there grow encrease no trees at all for they are straight turned vp by the roots For want of wood they make fire of the bones of certaine fishes which they take in great quantity the bleetenes of this wind for sildome in those parts bloweth any other is cause that the most part of the yere the Riuers ponds Lakes are all frozen yea the very waters of the Springs doe no sooner com out of them but they are presently congeled into Ice when the heat of the Sun thaweth or melteth any Snow the same presently turneth into so hard an Ice ouer that which is vnderneath that they can scarcely pearce it with Pickaxes so that euery yeere their yong men in plaine fields make thick wals of snow like vnto those of a Fortresse in som such place that they may receaue the heat of the Sun melting through which they conuert into a hard Christaline Rock of Ice and sometimes of purpose after they haue framed this edifice of snow they cast water vppon the same to make
earth A great ignorance of the ancient Commendador is a Knight of some crosse as that of Malta or S. Iames. Antypodes S. Austins opinion touching Antypodes Lactantius Firmianus opinion Pliny touching the same Who are the right Antypodes Perioscaei Amphioscaei Ethoroscaei The whole world is enhabitable The Polar Zones enhabited * Ireland Ptolome ignorant in many countries nowe knowne Plin lib. 4 Cap. 12. The happy soyle of the Hyperborians Solinus touching the Hyperboreans Pom. Mela touching the Hyperboreans The signification of Pterophoras and Hyperbore * 〈…〉 Iacobus Ziglerus of the Northerne parts Nature hath prouided a remedy to euery mischiefe Thule is the same which we now call Iseland The prouinces of Pilapia and Vilapia Pigmees The Bachiler Encisus concerning the length of the dayes and nights towards the Poles The diuersity of the rysing and setting of the sun between vs and those that lyue neere or vnder the Poles An example whereby it is proued that it can neuer be very dark vnder the Poles What thys Word Orizon signifieth Whether all those parts be enhabited or no. Pyla Pylanter Euge Velanter Wild Beasts like vnto white Beares which digge vp the Ice with their nailes A league is three miles Pigmaei Ictiophagi * Island The Prouince of Agonagora Lande yet vnknowne 1650. leagues of the world yet vndiscouered The answer of a boy of Seuilla The shippe called Victoria compassed the world round about Indians driuen by storme into the Norths Sea Fictions of Sylenus to King Mydas out of Aelianus The Citty of Machino The Citty of Euaesus Meropes Anostum The Riuer of delight The Riuer of griefe Iohan Zyglerus Sigismund Herberstain The names of the most part of Prouinces and Regions are changed The Prouince of Byarmya deuided into two parts Wild Beasts like vnto Stags called Rangeferi Hatherus King of Swethland Wild Asses The lower Byarmya In steede of Armes they vse Enchantments Rogumer King of Denmark Finmarchia or Finlande Nature hath ordained a remedy against all inconueniences Things to which men are accustomed becom naturall vnto theÌ„ in time Custome is another nature Adams hill There is nowe no known part of the world out of which the worshipping of auncien feyned Gods is not banished A North North Westerne wind The Snowe on the mouÌ„taines neere the South-pole is blewish of colour like vnto the Skie The song of the Nightingale exceedeth that of all other birdes in sweetnes Birds vnderstand the cal one of another It is written of Apollonius Tyaneê° that he vnderstood the singing of Birdes A pretty iest Birdes or Beasts haue no vse of reason at all The disagreement of writers touching the description situation of Countries Diuersity of writers touching the Scithians Sundry Gyants of wonderfull force puissance North North-westerne wind The strange violence of the tempests in the Northern countries Certaine warlike pastimes that their young men vse Troupes of horsemen skirmishing and fighting vpon frozen Lakes Disa queene of Swethland The white Lake The Lake Vener The Lake Meler Zhe Lake Veher A strange History of a Negromancer The force of enchantments cannot any longer prolong life then the time by God fixed appointed The deuils haue greater liberty in the Northerne Lands theÌ„ in other parts Henry King of Swethland a famous Negromancer Reyner King of Denmark Agaberta a notable Sorceresse Grace of Norway Ifrotus K. of Gothland slaine by a Witch Hollerus a Negromancer Othinus by his Enchantments restored the K of Denmark to the Crowne A mountain that seemeth to be inhabited of deuills A strange noyse heard in certaine mountaines of Angernamia Vincentius in his Speculo historiali Charibdis The strange propertie of a Caue in the Cittie of Viurgo The ayre somtime inclosed within the frozen lakes in seeking vent maketh a terrible thuÌ„dring and noyse The strange propertie of the lake Vether in thawing A notable chance that hapned to a Gentleman vpon thys Lake by which he saued his lyfe Custome is another nature Tauerns and victualing houses built vpon the sea A strange inuention to slide vpon the Ise. I haue seene in Brabant and 〈◊〉 the Noble meÌ„ vse these kinde of slids very cunously made and gilded they call them Trinâ—aus These are in manner like those aboue said which they call 〈◊〉 The maner of their trauailing vpoÌ„ the Snow Rangifer is a Beast in maner like vnto a Stagge The great coÌ„modities that those Country people receaue of the Rangifers Beasts called Onagri The strange iealousie of the Onagres in Affrica 3. Sorts of Wolues in the Northeren Regions The Neurians doe at somtimes of the yeere transforme themselues into vvolues How the Duke of Muscouia dealt with an Enchanter Howe three young men destroyed a number of vvolues that greatly annoyed the towne wher they lyued Of a man that disfigused himselfe like vnto a Wolfe and did many cruelties in the kingdoÌ„â— of Galicia in Spaine A strange property of their Hares Beastes called Gulones The maner of taking the Gulones Tygers Furre of Martres Lynces The Rams of Gothland Weathers whose taile weyed weyed more theÌ„ one of their quarters A kinde of fish called Monster Henry Falchendor Archbishop of Nydrosia Another kinde of fishes called Fisiters A strange miracle Two sorts of Whales A Whale of admirable greatnes The fish called Orca is enemy to the Whale A strange thing written of the Whale A moÌ„strous fish taken in a Riuer of Germany A fish called Monoceros A fish called Serra which is as much to say as saw in English Another called Xifia Rayas Rosmarus The maner of taking him Sundry fishes like to Horses Oxen c. Dolphins A strangt tale of a Dolphin in S. Domingo Bothnia deuided into 3. prouinces The excellencie of the Climat of North Bothnia It nourisheth no venemous or hurtful beast Byarmya superiour A strange Law in the Kingdome of Chinay Filandia Newcastle belonging to the King of Swethen A strange property of the fish Treuius Rainebirds Snowbirds Faulcons of diuers sorts I take this to be that which wee call heere an Ospray of which I haue seene diuers Sea-Crowes Plateae Duckes Ducks bred of the leaues of a tree in Scotland Geese A Towne in Scotlande that receaueth great commoditie through Duckes Serpents Aspes Hyssers Amphisbosna Serpents that haue a King A huge and terrible Serpent in the prouince of Borgia Sundry cruell Serpents in India A kinde of Trees that in the extremity of the colde Regions retaine all the yeere long their greenenesse Many Christian Regions The magnificent tytles of the Emperour of Russia A Nation called Finns that are in warre with the Muscouites A great part of the world vndiscouered A most tyrannous act of the Duke of Muscouia Tierra del Labrador The Land of Bacallaos Fynland coÌ„uerted to the Christian Fayth The deuotion of the North people