Persian who procured unto himselfe great fame by his many valorous attempts against the Turke Surius in his Commentaries writing upon him saith that upon some fond conceit the Iewes were strongly of opinion that hee was that Messias whom unto this day they expect and therefore hoped that he should have beene their deliverer and advancer But he addeth in his report that it fell out so cleane contrary that there was no man who more vexed and grieved them than that Ismael did Their Religion The Persians are all at this day Sarazens in Religion beleeving in Mahomet but as Papists and Protestants doe differ in opinion concerning the same Christ so doe the Turks Persians about their Mahomet the one pursuing the other as Heretikes with most deadly hatred in so much that there is in this respect almost continuall war betweene the Turke and the Persians Of Parthia and Media Situation of Parthia ON the North-East side of Persia lyeth that Country which in old time was called Parthia but now named Arach of whom those great warres of the Romanes with the Medians or Armenians in Tacitus and ancient Histories are true This Country boundeth on Media by the West and it was in ancient time veryful of people whose fight as it was very much on horsebacke Their manner of fight so the manner of them continually was for to give an onset and then to returne their wayes even to returne againe like to the Wilde Irish so that no man was sure when he had obtained any victory over them Great wars of the Parthians against the Romanes These were the people that gave the great overthrow to that rich Marcus Crassus of Rome who by reason of his covetousnesse intending more to his getting of gold than to the guiding of his army was slaine himselfe and many thousands of the Romanes The Parthians with exprobation of his thirst after money poured moulten gold into his mouth after he was dead Against these the great Lucullus fought many battels but the Romanes were never able to bring them quite to subjection Media how situated On the West-side of Parthia having the Mare Caspium on the North Armenia on the West and Persia on the South lyeth that Country which in time past was called Media but now Shirvan or Sarvan which is at this day governed by many inferiour Kings and Princes which are tributaries and doe owe subjection to the Sophy of Persia So that hee is the Soveraigne Lord of all Media as our English-men have found who passing through the dominion of the Emperour of Russia have crossed the Mare Caspium and merchandized with the inhabitants of this Media A famous Nation This Nation in former times was very famous for the Medes were they that removed the Empire from the Assyrians unto them which as in themselves it was not great yet when by Cyrus it was joyned to that of the Persians it was very mighty and was called by the name of the Empire of the Medes and Persians Here it was that Astyages raigned the Grandfather of Cyrus and Darius of the Medes The chiefe City of Media The chiefe City of this Kingdome was called Ecbatana as the chiefe City of Persia was Babylon It is to bee observed of the Kings of Media that in the Summer time they did use to retire themselves Northward unto Ecbatana for avoyding of the heate but in the winter time they came downe more South unto Susis which as it seemeth was a warmer place but by this meanes they were both taken for Imperiall Cities and chiefe residences of the Kings of Media which being knowne takes away some confusion in old Stories The like custome was afterward used also by the Kings of Persia Of Armenia and Assyria Situation of Armenia ON the West-side of the Mare Caspium of Media lieth a Countrey called by a generall name Armenia which by some is distinctly divided into three parts the North part whereof being but little Divided into three parts is called Georgia the middle part Turcomania the third part by the proper name of Armenia By which a man may see the reason of difference in divers writers Some saying that the countrey whence the Turkes first came was Armenia some saying Turcomania and some Georgia the truth being that out of one or all these Countries they did descend These Turks are supposed to bee the issue oâ— them whom Alexander the Great did shut up within certaine Mountaines neere to the Mare Caspium A memorable Note There is this one thing memorable in Armenia that after the great Floud the Arke of Noah did rest it selfe on the Mountaines oâ— Armenia where as Josephus witnesseth it is to be seene yet to this day the hills whereon it resteth are called by some Noae Montes Armenians Christians The people of this Nation have retained amongst them the Christian Faith as it is thought from the time of the Apostles but at this day it is spotted with many absurdities Bathing of their children Among other Errours which the Church of Armenia hath bin noted to hold this is one that they did bathe their children waving them up and downe in flames of fire and repute that to bee a necessary circumstance of Baptisme Which errour ariseth by mistaking that place of Iohn the Baptist where he saith That he that came after him meaning Christ should baptize them with the holy Ghost and with fire In which place the word doth not signifie materiall fire but expresseth the lively and purging operation of the Spirit like to the nature of fire On the South part of Armenia bending towards the East lyeth the Country of Assyria Assyria bounded which is bounded on the West with Mesopotamia This Country was that Land wherein the first Monarchy was setled which began under Ninus whom the Scripture calleth Nimrod living not long after Noahs Flood and it ended in Sardanapalus continuing a thousand and three hundred yeares The King of this Countrey was Senacherib Kings of Assyria of whom wee reade in the Booke of the Kings and here reigned Nebuchadnezzar who tooke Ierusalem and led the Iewes away prisoners unto Babylon In this Countrey is the swift River Tygris The swift river Tygris The City Ninivee neere unto the which was Paradice Vpon this River stood the great City Ninivee called by prophane writers Ninus which was almost of incredible bignesse and exceeding populous by the neerenesse of the River and marvellous fruitfulnesse of the soile which as Herodotus writeth did returne their Corne sometime two hundred and sometimes three hundred fold and did yeeld sufficiency for to maintaine it This Citie for a long time was the Imperiall Seat of the Monarchy but being destroyed as God foretold it should be by the Chaldeans the residence of the King was afterwards removed unto Babylon a great City in Chaldea first built by Semiramis Of Chaldea Situation of Chaldea NExt unto Assyria
that Gordius who knit the knot called for the intricatenesse thereof Nodus Gordianus Gordius knot and when it could not bee untied was cut in sunder by Alexander the Great supposing that it should bee his fortune for the loosing of it so to bee the Conquerour and King of Asia as by a prophecie of the same Gordius had beene before spoken Yet North-ward from Phrygia lyeth the Countrey of Bythinia Bythinia which was sometimes a Kingdome where Prusias raigned that had so much to doe with the Romanes In this Countrey standeth the Citie Nicea Citie of Nice where the first Generall Councell was held against Arius the Heretike by Constantine the Great thereof called the Nicene Councell Here standeth also Chalcedon where the fourth Generall Councell was held by the Emperour Martianus Chalcedon against the Heretike Nestorius From Bythinia Eastward on the Northside of Asia the lesse standeth the Countrey of Paphlagonia Paphlagonia where was the Citie built by Pompey the Great called by his name Pompeiopolis On the South of Paphlagonia toward the Iland of Asia Minor Pompeiopolis did stand the Countrey of Galatia whereunto Saint Paul wrote his Epistle to the Galathians Galatia And this also was one of those Countries where the Iewes were dispersed unto which Saint Peter wrote his first Epistle as also unto them which were in Pontus Cappadocia and Bythinia from whence Southward lyeth the Province termed Lycaonia Lycaonia And from thence yet more South bordering upon Pamphilia which touches the Mediterranean Sea lyeth Pisidia Pisidia concerning which countries we finde oftentimes mention made in such Stories as doe touch Asia the lesse From these Southerne parts if we returne backe againe unto the North and East of Asia Major The kingdome of Pontus lyeth the Kingdome of Pontus confining upon that which is named Pontus Euxinus In this Pontus did raigne Mithridates Mithridates who in his younger dayes had travelled over the greatest part of Asia and is reported to have beene so skilfull that hee could well speake more than twentie Languages His hatred was ever great towards the Romanes against whom when hee meant first to put his malice in practise he so combined with the Naturals of those parts that in one night they slew more than threescore and tenne thousand of the Romanes carrying their intendment so close that it was revealed by none till the execution was done Pompey brought Mithridates to distresse Pompey the Great was the man who distressed this Mithridates and brought him to that extremity that hee would gladly have poysoned himselfe but could not in as much as his stomack had beene used so before unto that kinde of Triacle which by reason of his inventing of unto this day is called Alithridate which is made of a kinde of poyson allayed that no venome would easily work upon him Southward from this Pontus standeth the old Kingdome of Cappadocia Cappadocia which in times past was observed to have many men in it but little money Whence Horace saith Mancipiis locuples eget aris Cappadocum Rex Armenia Minor Eastward from this Cappadocia as also from Pontus is Armenia Minor whereof the things memorable are described in the other Armenia And thus much touching Asia the lesse Of Syria and Palestina or the Holy Land SOuthward from Silicia and Asia the lesse Syria bounded lyeth Syria a part whereof was called Palaestina having on the East Mesopotamia on the South Arabia on the West Tyre and Sydon and the end of the Mediterranean Sea The people of this Syria were in times past called the Aramites Their ancient names In their language is the translation of the new Testament called Syriacke Citie of Antioch In this Countrey standeth Antioch which was sometimes one of the ancient Patriarchs Seas and is a Citie of reckoning unto this day Here also standeth now the Citie of Aleppo Aleppo which is a famous Mart Towne for the Merchandizing of the Persians and others of the East and for the Turks and such Countries as be adjoyning Here standeth also Tripolis Tripolis The South part of Syria lying downe toward Aegypt and Arabia was the place where the Children of Israel died well being a Country of small quantity not 200 Jtalian miles in length it was so fruitfull flowing with Milke and Honey as the Scripture calleth it that it did mayntayne above thirty Kings and their people Thirty Kings before the comming of the Children of Israel out of Aegypt and was sufficient afterwards to relieve the incredible number of the twelve Tribes of Israel It is noted of this Countrey Note that whereas by the goodnesse of the Climate wherein it stood and the fertilitie of the Soyle but especially by the blessing of God it was the most fruitfull Land that was in the World Now our Travellers by experience doe finde the Countrey in respect of the fruitfulnesse to be changed God cursing the Land together with the Iewes the Inhabitants of it It is observed also for all the Easterne parts that they are not so fertile as they have beene in former Ages the Earth as it were growing olde which is an Argument of the dissolution to come by the day of Iudgement The River Iordan Through this Countrey doth runne the River Iordan which hath heretofore beene famous for the fruitfulnesse of the trees standing thereupon and for the mildnesse of the Ayre so that as Iosephus writeth when Snow hath been in other places of the Land about the River it hath beene so calme that men did goe in single thinne linnen garments In this Countrey standeth the Lake The Lake Asphaltites called Lacus Asphaltites because of a kinde of slime called Bitumen or Asphaltum which daily it doth cast up being of force to joyne stones exceeding fast in building And into this Lake doth the River Iordan run Mare Mortuum This Lake is it which is called Mare Mortuum a Sea because it is salt and Mortuum or Dead for that no living thing is therein The water thereof is so thicke that few things will sinke therein in so much that Iosephus saith that an Oxe having all his legges bound will not sinke into that water The nature of this Lake as it was supposed was turned into this quality when God did destroy Sodome and Gomorrah and the Cities adjoyning with fire and Brimstone from Heaven for Sodome and the other Cities did stand neere unto Iordan and to this Mare Mortuum for the destruction of whom all that Coast to this day is a witnesse the Earth smelling of Brimstone being desolate and yeelding no Fruit saving Apples which grow with a faire shew to the eye like other Fruit but as soone as they are touched doe turne presently to soot or ashes as besides Josephus Solinus doth witnesse in his 48 Chapter Twelve Tribet of Israel The Land of Palestina had for its Inhabitants all the Twelve Tribes of
Russians doe hold that so holy a thing as that is highly prophaned if any resemblance of it be worne but above the girdle Possevinus in a treatise written of his Embassage into that Countrey where hee discourseth this whole matter Possevinus feare of the Emperour confesseth that hee was much afraid lest the Emperour would have strucken him and beaten out his braines with a shrewd staffe which then hee had in his hands did ordinarily carry with him and he had the more reason so to feare because that Prince was such a tyrant that he had not onely slaine and with cruell torture put to death very many of his subjects and Nobility before shewing himselfe more brutishly cruel to them than ever Nero and Caligula were among the Romans but he had with his owne hands and with the same staffe upon a small occasion of anger killed his eldest sonne who should have succeeded him in his whole Empire The people of this countrey are rude and unlearned Chiefe people rude and unlearned so that there is very little or no knowledge amongst them of any liberall or ingenuous Art yea their very Priests Monks wherof they have many are almost unlettered so that they can hardly do any thing more than reade their ordinary service And the rest of the people are by reason of their ignorant education dull and uncapable of any high understanding but very superstitious having many ceremonies and Idolatrous Solemnities as the consecrating of their Rivers by their Patriarch at one time of the yeare when they thinke themselves much sanctified by the receiving of those hallowed waters yea and they bathe their Horses and Cattell in them and also the burying of most of their people with a paire of Shooes on their feet as supposing that they have a long journey to goe and a letter in their hand to S. Nicholas whom they reverence as a speciall Saint and thinke that he may give them entertainement for their readier admission into heaven The Muscovites generally have received the Christian Faith but yet so that rather they doe hold of the Greeke Difference betweene the Greeke and Latin Church and the Easterne then of the Westerne Roman Church The doctrines wherin the Greek Church differs from the Latine are these First they hold that the holy Ghost proceeds from the Father alone and not from the Sonne Secondly that the Bishop of Rome is not the universall Bishop Thirdly that there is no Purgation Fourthly their Priests doe marry and fiftly they doe differ in divers of their ceremonies as in having foure Lents in the yeere whereof they doe call our Lent their great Lent At the time of the Councell of Florence There was some shew made by the Agents of the Greeke Church that they would have joyned in opinion with the Latines but when they returned home their Countrey-men would in no sort assent thereunto In the Northerne parts of the dominion of the Emperour of Russia which have lately been joyned unto his territories as specially Lapland Biarmia and thereabouts The people of Lapland very heathenish there are people so rude and heathenish that as Olaus Magnus writeth of them looke whatsoever living thing they doe see in the morning at their going out of their doors yea if it be a Bird or a worm or some such other creeping thing they doe yeeld a divine Worship Reverence thereunto for all that day as if it were some inferiour God Damianus a Goes hath written a pretty Treatise describing the manners of those Lappians The greatest part of the Country of Russia is in the winter so exceeding cold The extraordnary sharpnesse of the weather in winter that both the Rivers are frozen over the Land covered with snow and such is the sharpenesse of the Ayre that if any goe abroad bare faced it causeth their flesh in a short time to rot which befalleth to the fingers and toes of divers of them therefore for a great part of winter they live in Stoues and Hot-houses and if they be occasioned to goe abroad they use many Furs whereof there is great plenty in that Country as also wood to make fire but yet in the summer time the face of the soyle the ayre is very strangely altered insomuch that the Country seemeth hot the Birds sing very merrily the trees grasse corn in a short space do appeare so cheerfully greene and pleasant that it is scant to be beleeved but of them which have seene it Their building is most of wood even in their chiefe citie of Mosco Their buildings of wood insomuch that the Tartars who lie in the North-east of them breaking oft into their countries even unto the very Mosco doe set fire on their Cities which by reason of their woodden buildings are quickly destroyed Their government The maner of government which of late yeers hath bin used in Russia is very barbarous little lesse than tyrannous for the Emperour that last was did suffer his people to be kept in great servility permitted the Rulers chiefe Officers at their pleasures to pill ransack the common sort but to no other end but that himselfe might take occasion when he thought good to call thē in question for their misdemeanor and so fill his own coffers with fleecing of them which was the same course the old Roman Emperor did use calling the deputies of the Provinces by the name of Spunges whose property is to sucke up water but when it is full then it selfe is crushed and yeeldeth forth liquor for the behalfe of another The passage by Sea into this country The passage by Sea into this country which was wont to be through the Sound and so afterward by land was first discovered by the English who with great danger of the frozen seas did first adventure to sayle so far North as to compasse Lapland Finmark Scricfinia Biarmia and so passing to the East by Noua Zembla half the way almost to Cathaio have entred the River called Ob by which they disperse themselves for merchandize both by water and land into the most parts of the Dominion of the Emperour of Russia The first attempt The first attempt which was made by the English for the entrance of Moscovia by the North Seas was in the dayes of King Edw. the 6. at which time the Merchants of London procuring leave of the King did send forth Sir Hugh Willoby with shipping and men who went so far toward the North that he coasted the corner of Scricfinia Biarmia and so turned toward the East but the weather proved so extream the snowing so great the freezing of the water so vehement that his ship was set fast in the Ice and there he his people were frozen to death and the next yeer some other comming from England found both the Ship and their bodies in it a perfect remembrance in writing of all things which they
threescore Degrees to returne againe From these Ilands it is that those strong and pleasant Sacks which are called * From hence the best Canary Sackâ—s Canary Wines are brought and from thence are fetched those that they call Canary Birds These Ilands are under the Crowne of Spaine The heat of the Countrey is very great and therefore fitter for concoction but besides that the soyle of it selfe is accommodated thereunto and by reason of them both these Ilands doe bring forth a Grape which is sweeter in taste then any other Grape and hath that propertie with it that the Wine which is made thereof doth not fume into the head like other Sacke but doth helpe the stomacke and exercise the force of it there The slips of their Vines have beene brought into Spaine and some other places of Europe but they have not sorted to the same purpose as they doe in their native Countrey There doe grow also in these Iles From hence great store of Sugar-canes good store of Sugar-canes which yeelde plentifully that kinde of commoditie unto Spaine either for Marmalets wherein they much delight or for other uses Peter Martyr in the beginning of his Decades which hee hath written De Orbe novo doth particularly touch the names and some other things of these Ilands On the backe-side of Africa also just under the Aequinoctiall is the * The I le of S. Thomas I le of Saint Thomas inhabited by the Portugals which Island was taken in the latter time of Queene Elizabeth by the Dutch it is reported that in the middest of this Island is an Hill and over that a continuall Cloud wherewith the whole Island is watered such a like thing as this is reported of the * The I le of Cloves Isle of Cloves The ayre of this Island is unwholsome and there is hardly seene any Portugall or stranger that comes to dwell there which lives till hee be above fortie yeares of age More Northward from Africke lie those Islands which are called * The Ilands of Azores Azores Insulae being sixe or seven in number of which Tercera is one of the chiefe of whom the rest by some are called Terceras which are farre inferiour in fruitfulnesse unto the Canaries These were first under the Crowne of Portugall and one of them was the last which was kept out from the King of Spaine by the Prior Don Antonio who afterward called himselfe King of Portugall but the Spaniard at last tooke this Tercera from him and doth possesse all these Islands together with the rest of the Dominion which did belong to the Portugals Hee who list to see the unadvised proceedings of Don Antonio both in parting with Lisbon Note the unadvisednesse of Don Antonio and the rest of Portugall as also in losing these Islands which last of all held out for him let him read Conestagio of the uniting of Portugall to the Crown of Castile But these Azores have in times past yeelded much Oade which thereupon in England was called Jsland Oade but now they are the place where the Spaniards do commonly touch and take in fresh water both going and comming to and from America finding that to passe directly without turning on either hand towards America is very hard by reason of the strong current of the water from the Gulph of Mexico and so forward to the East and therefore they are enforced either to goe lower to the South and so to water in some part of Guinea or thereabout or else to keepe up as high as these Ilands Of America or the new World ALthough some doe dispute out of Plato and the old Writers that there was not onely a guesse but a kind of knowledge in ancient time that besides Europe Asia and Africa there was another large country lying to the West yet he that shall advisedly peruse the conjectures made thereupon may see that there is nothing of sufficiencie to enforce any such knowledge but that all Antiquity was utterly ignorant of the new found Countries towards the West Whereunto this one argument most forcible may give credite * The people of America utterly void of all manner of God or goodnesse that at the first arriving of the Spaniards there they found in those places nothing shewing trafficke or knowledge of any other Nation but the people naked uncivill some of them devourers of mens flesh ignorant of shipping without all kinde of learning having no remembrance of Historie or writing among them never having heard of any such Religion as in other places of the World is knowne but being utterly ignorant of Scripture or Christ or Moses or any God neither having among them any token of Crosse Church Temple or Devotion agreeing with other Nations The reasons which are gathered by some late Writers out of Plato Seneca and some other of the Ancient are rather conjecturall The reasons conjecturall of a new found World that it was likely that there should bee some such place then any way demonstrative or concluding by experience that there was any such Countrey and the greatest inducement which they had to perswade themselves that there was any more Land towards the West then that which was formerly knowne was grounded upon this that all Asia Europe and Africk concerning the Longitude of the World did containe in them but 180 Degrees and therefore it was most probable that in the other 180 which filleth up the whole course of the Sunne to the number of 360 degrees GOD would not suffer the water onely to possesse all but would leave a place for the habitation of men beasts flying and creeping creatures I am not ignorant that some who make too much of vaine shewes out of the British Antiquities have given out to the World and written something to that purpose that Arthur sometimes King of Britaine had both knowledge of these parts and some Dominion in them for they finde as some report that King Arthur had under his government many Ilands and great Countries towards the North and West which one of some speciall note hath interpreted to signifie America and the Northerne parts thereof and thereupon have gone about to entitle the * Some have entitled the Queene of England Soveraigne of these Provinces Queene of England to bee Soveraigne of those Provinces by right of Descent from King Arthur But the wisedome of our State hath beene such as to neglect that opinion imagining it to be grounded upon fabulous foundations as many things are which are now reported of King Arthur onely this doth carrie some shew with it that now some hundred of yeares since there was a Knight of Wales who with shipping and some pretty Company did goe to discover those parts whereof as there is some record of reasonable credit amongst the Monuments of Wales so there is this one thing which giveth pregnant shew thereunto that in the late Navigation of some of our men to Norumbega and some other
A BRIEFE DESCRIPTION OF THE WHOLE WORLD Wherein is particularly described all the Monarchies Empires and Kingdomes of the same with their ACADEMIES As also their severall Titles and Situations thereunto adjoyning Written by the Most Reverend Father in God GEORGE late Arch-bishop of Canterbury LONDON Printed by T. H. and are to sold by Wil. Sheares at the signe of the Harrow in Brittains Burse 1636. A BRIEFE DISCRIPTION of the whole WORLD Written by the Right Reverend Father in GOD. George Abbott Late Archbishop of Canterbury COSMOGRAPHIA 〈…〉 Will Marshall Sculpsit Printed for Will Sheares at the Harrow in Britaines by 1636. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE whole World THE Globe of the Earth doth either shew the Sea or Land Of the Seas The Sea generall is called by the name of Ocean which coasteth all the World and taketh his name in speciall either of the place neer which it commeth as Oceanus Britannicus The diver â—â—s names giuen to the Seas and the reason why Mare Germanicum Sinus Persicus Mare Atlanticum of the hill Atlas in the West part of Africk or of the finder out as Fretum Magellanicum or of some other accident as the Red Sea because the sand is red Mare Mediterraneum because it runneth betweene the lands of Europe and Africk Mare Jcarium because Icarus was drowned there or the like There be some few Seas which have no intercourse with the Ocean as Mare mortuum neer Palestina Mare Caspium sive Hircanum not farre from Armenia and such a one is said to be in the North part of America Of the Straits or Narrow Seas The Straits or narrow Seas are noted in the Latine by the name of Fretum as Fretum Britannicum the English narrow Seas Fretum Herculeum the Straits between Barbarie and Spain Fretum Magellanicum c. Of the Earth The Earth is either Ilands which are those which are wholly compassed by the Sea as Britanâ—ia Sicilia Corsica or the Continent which is called in the English The firme Land in the Latin Continens The old known firme Land was contained onely in Asia Europe and Africa Europe is divided from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea from Asia by the River Tanais whereby appeareth that the North parts of Asia Europe in old time were but little known and discovered Africa is divided from Europe by â—he Mediterrean Sea from Asia by â—he River Nilus and so Asia by â—anais and Nilus is severed from Europe and Africk Of Spain TO say nothing of England and Ireland the most Western Country of Europe is Spain How Spain is bounded which is bounded on the South with the Mediterranean on the West with the Atlantick on the North with Oceanus Cantabricus or the Spanish Seas on the East with France from which it is severed with certain Mountains called Montes Pyrenei or the Pyrenay hils If wee should enquire into the times that were before the comming of the Carthaginians and Romanes into Spaine wee shall finde nothing but that which is either fabulous or neere to fables The Originall names of the CouÌ„tâ—ey of Spain here it was first called Iberia ab Ibero slumine afterwards Hispania ab Hispano wee may take as a tradition but their Gargoris their Habis their Geryon exceed beliefe of any but those that will take all reports on trust It is certaine that the Syrians planted a Colony there in the Isle of Gades corruptly now called Cadiz or Cales These troubled by their Neighbours desired aid of the Carthaginians a flourishing neighbour commonwealth descended of the Syrians as well as themselves who sent first to defend the Gaditanes against their neighbours afterwards heartned on by their successe in their first Expedition these Cathaginians Carthaginians sent to defend the Gaditanes successively sent thither three Captains Hamilcar Hasdrubal and Hannibal who for the most part subdued the Province and held it till by Scipio's and the Romane Forces they were dispossessed of it Yet for many years after the fortunes of the Romanes stucke as it were in the subduing of that Province so that from the time of the second Punick War untill the time of Augustus they had businesse made them in that Countrey continually neither could they till then bring it peaceably into the forme of a Province Spain once a Province of the Roman Empire It continued a Province of the Romane Empire untill the time of Honorius the Emperour in whose dayes the Vandalls came inâ—o it conquering and making it theirs then the Gothes the Vandalls either driven out or called over into Africke entring erected there a Kingdome which flourished for many yeeres Saracens Mâ—â—â—es erâ—cted it a Kingdome till by the comming of the Saracens and Moores their Kingdome was broken who setling themselves in Spaine erected a Kingdome changed the names of many places and Rivers and gave them new names such as they retaine to this day and continued for the space of some hundred of years mighty in that Countrey till they were first subdued by Ferdinand They were utterâ—y expelled by Philip the Third afterwards and that now lately utterly expelled by Philip the Third After the comming in of these Africans in this Countrey there were many Kingdomes as the Kingdome of Portugall toward the West the Kingdom of Granado toward the South the Kingdome of Navarre and Arragon toward the East and the Kingdome of Castile in the middle of the Land but the whole Dominion is now under the King of Spain Spain in former 〈◊〉 12 sevâ—â—all Kingdomes As Damianus a Goes doth write in that Treatise intituled Hispaniâ— there were in times past twelve several Kingdomes in Spain which hee nameth thus Castellae antiquae novae Leonis Aragoniae Portugalliae Navarâ—ae Granatae Valentiae Toleti Galitiae Algarbiorum Murtiae Cordubae which is not to be wondred at since in England a farre lesse Country there were in the time of the Saxons seven severall Kingdomes and Monarchies In the best Mappes of Spaine the Armes of these severall Kingdomes do yet distinctly appeare where for the Armes of Leons is given a Lion which manifestly argueth that whereas by some it is called Regnum Legionis that name is false for it is Leonis sutable thereunto for the Armes of Castile is given a Castle which was the cause that Iohn of Gaunt sonne to Edward the Third King of England did quarter with the Armes of England the Castle and the Lion as having maried Constance daughter to Peter King of Castile and at this day the first and chiefe Coat of the King of Spain is a Castle quartered with a Lion in remembrance of the two Kingdomes of Castile and Leons In Corduba as in times past it was called standeth Andoluzia neere unto which is the Island called properly Gades but since by deprivation of the word Cadiz and commonly Cales which was lately surprized by the English The Kingdome of Granada Granada â—oo yeeres possessed by the Moores Saracens which
lyeth neerest to the Mediterranean was by the space of seven hundred yeers possessed by the Moores and Saracens who do confesse the Religion of Mahumet the reason whereof Rodericus Toletanus in the third Book of his Story doth shew to be this Rodericus Toletanus that whereas the Saracens after Mahumets time had spred themselves all along Africk even unto the Western part of Barbary a King of Spaine called Rodericus employed in an Embassage to them one Iulian a Nobleman of his who by his wise demeanour procured much reputation amongst the Moores but in the time of his service the King Rodericus destoured the Daughter of the said Iulian which the Father tooke in such indignation that hee procured those Saracens to come over into Spaine that so he might be revenged on his King but when those barbarous people had once set foot in there they could never be remooved untill the time of Ferdinando and Elizabeth King and Queen of Spain about a hundred yeeres since The Authour before named writeth that before the comming of those Moores into Spaine the King Rodericus would needs open a part of a Palace which had been shut long before and had by discent from hand to hand beene forbidden to be entred by any yet the King supposing there had beene great treasure therein broke into it but found nothing there saving in a great Chest the pictures of men who resembled the proportion Attire and Armour of the Moores and a Prophecie joyned therewithall A strange and unexpected prophecie that at that time when the Pallace should be entred such a people as was there resembled should invade and spoile Spaine which fell out accordingly The Spaniards that now are be a very mixt people descended of the Gothes which in former times possessed that Land and of those Saracens and Iews which are the basest people of the World Portugall added to the Kingdome of Spain The Kingdome of Portugall did contain under it Regnum Algarbiorum but both of them are now annexed unto Castile by the cunning of the King of Spaine Philip the Second who tooke the advantage after the death of Sebastian who was slaine in Barbary in the Yeere 1578. Then after him raigned Henry who sometimes was Cardinall and Vncle to Sebastian in whose time although shew was made that it should be lawfully debated unto whom the Crowne of Portugall did belong yet Philip meaning to make sure work did not so much respect the right as by main force invaded and since to the great griefe of the Portugals hath kept it The chiefe City of Portugall is Lisbone Lisbone the chief City of Portugall called in Latine Olysippo from whence those Navigations were advanced by which the Portugals discovered so much of their South part of Africk of the East Indies possessed by them to this day The City from whence the Castilians do set forth their ships to the West Indies is Sevill Sevill called in Latine Hispalis Another great City in Spain is Toledo Toledo where the Archbishopricke is the richest spirituall dignity of Christendome the Papacy onely excepted The magnificent greatnes of Spain and Portugall In the time of Damianus à Goes there were reckoned to be in Spain foure Archbishoprickes of great worth three other inferiour and forty Bishopricks as also in Portugall three Archbishoprickes and eight Bishopricks Hee reckoneth up also in Spaine besides the great Officers of the Crown 17 Dukes 41 Marquesses 87 Earles or CouÌ„ts 9 Viscounts as also in Portugall besides the Officers of the Crown six Dukes 4 Marquesses nineteen Earles and one Vicount In Spaine he saith are seven Vniversities The Country is but dry and so consequently barren in comparison of some other places What commodities it doth yeeld it may be seen in the Treatise of Damianus a Goes which hee calleth his Hispania Not onely this great and large Countrey heretofore divided into so many Kingdomes is now under one absolute King but that King also is Lord of many other Territories as namely of the Kingdome of Naples in Italy and the Dutchy of Millaine of the Isles of Sicily Sardinia Majorque Minorque Evisa In the mid-land Sea of the Ilands of the Canaries in the Atlantique besides divers strong Towns and goodly Havens in Barbary within without the Straits On the back side of Africk he commands much on the Frontiery besides the Islands adjoyning to the mayn Land In the Western Indies he hath Mexico Peru Brasil large Territories with the Islands of the South the North Sea And Philip the Second getting Portugall as a Dowry to that forc't Marriage got also all the dependances of that Crown in Africke the East Indies and the Atlantique Sea the Towns of Barbary and the East Indies willingly submitting themselves unto him but the Terceras hee wonne by force at the first and second Expedition so if we consider the huge tract of ground that is under this Kings Dominion The Empery of the Kingdome of Spain the greatâ—st in the Christian World wee will say that the Empery of the King of Spain is in that respect the largest that now is or ever was in the World Of France France how bounded THE next Countrey is France which is bounded on the West with the Pyrenie hils on the North with the English Seas on the East with Germany on the South-east with the Alpe-hils on the Southwest with the Mediterranean Sea The Kingdome of France is for one entire thing France oâ—â— of the most absolute kingdomes of the World one of the most rich and absolute Monarchies of the World having both on the North and South side the Sea standing very convenient for profit of Navigation and the land it selfe being ordinarily very fruitfull The consideration wherof caused Francis the first King of France to compare this Kingdome alone to all the Dominions and Seigniories of Charles the fifth Emperour for when the Herauld of the sayd Charles bidding Defiance to King Francis did give his Majestie the title of Emperour of Germany King of Castile Arragon Naples Sicilie c. Francis commanded his Herauld to call him so often King of France as the other had Titles by all his Countryes implying that France alone was of as much strength and worth as all the Countries which the other had Concerning this Argument see the warlike and politike Discourses of Monsieur de la Nove. He who writeth the Commentaries of Religion and state of France doth shew that when there had beene of late in France in the dayes of Francis the second and Charles the ninth three Civill warres which had much ruinated the glory and beauty of that Kingdome Civil wars in France when a little before the great Massacre in the yeare one thousand five hundred seventy two there had beene peace in that Country scant full two yeares yet so great is the riches and happinesse of that Kingdome that in that short time
all things were renewed and repaired againe as if there had never beene any such desolation Revenue of the Crowne of France exceeding great The Revenue of the Crowne of France is exceeding great by reason of the Taxes and Impositions which through the whole Kingdome are layd upon the subjects for their Sizes and Toules doe exceed all Imposts and tributes of all the Princes of Christendome in as much as there are few things there used but the King hath a commodity issuing out of them and not onely from matters of Luxury as in other States but from such things as be of necessity as Flesh Wood Salt c. It is supposed at this day that there be in the Kingdome thirty thousand men who are Vnder-officers and make a good part of their living by gathering of the Kings tribute This is much increased no doubt in these latter times but yet of old it was in so great measure which caused that speech of Maximilian the Emperour as Iohannes Aventinus witnesseth de Bello Turcico who said that the Emperour of Germany was Rex Regum meaning that his Princes were so great men The King of Spaine was Rex hominum because his people would obey their Prince in any reasonable moderation The King of England was Rex Diabolorum because the subjects had there divers times deprived their Kings of their Crownes and dignitie But the King of France was Rex asinorum in as much as his people did beare very heavy burthens of taxes and impositions In France the offices of Iustice bought and sold In this Kingdome of France is one great miserie to the subjects that the places and offices of Iustice are ordinarily bought and sold the beginning whereof was this Lewis the 12. who was called a Father of the Country began to pay the debts of his predecessour Charles the 7. which were very great and intending to recover unto France the Dukedome of Millaine and minding not to burden his people further than was need thought it a good course to set at sale all the Offices of the Crowne but with the places of Iustice he did not meddle But his successors after him tooke occasion also to make great profit of them witnesse the Author contra Machiavel lib. 1. cap. 1. By the customes of that Countrey The Custome of France for mustering and pressing Souldiers the King of France hath not that absolute power to muster and presse out Souldiers as in England and some other places of Christendome the Princes have But the manner is when the King will set forward any Military Service he sendeth abroad his Edicts or causeth in Cities and good Townes the Drum to be strucken up and whosoever will voluntarily follow he is enrolled Notwithstanding he wanteth few Souldiers because the Noble and Gentlemen of France doe hold it their dutie and highest honour both to attend the King unto the warres and to beare their own charges yearely for many moneths The person of the King of France hath in former time beene reputed so sacred that Guicciardine saith of them that their people have regarded them in that respect of devotion as if they had beene de mi-gods And Machiavel in his Questions upon Livie saith that they doted so upon their Kings that they thought every thing did become them which they did and that nothing could be more disgracefull than to give any intimation that such or such a thing was not well done by their King But this opinion is now much decayed the Princes of the bloud are in the next ranke under the King himselfe Paris the chiefe City of France There be many and very rich goodly Cities in France but the chiefest of all is Paris called Lutetia quasi Luto sita as some have merrily spoken which place is especially honoured first by the presence of the King most commonly keeping Court and residence there secondly by the great store of goodly houses whereof part belong to Noble men and part are houses of Religion thirdly by the Vniversity which is incomparably the greatest most ancient and best filled of all France fourthly in that it is the chiefe Parliament City of that Kingdome without the ratification of which Parliament at Paris Edicts and Proclamations comming from the King are not held authenticall fiftly by the great traffique of all kinde of Merchandize which is used in that place The Parliament Cities in France are places where their Termes are kept and in severall provinces are 7. unto which the causes of inferiour Courts within their distinct Provinces may be brought by appeale but the Parliament of Paris hath that prerogative that appeales from all Courts of the Kingdome doe lie there That which we call our Parliament in England is amongst them tearmed Conventus Ordinum or the States The kingdome of France divided into three parts France in ancient time as Casar reporteth in the first of his Commentaries was divided into three parts Aquitania which was towards the West Celtica towards the North and West and Belgica which is towards the North. Belgium is sometime called Gallia inferior and sometimes Germania inferior but wee commonly call it the Low-Countries the governement whereof at this day is not at all under France but Gallia Celtica and Aquitania are under the French King Gaules the ancient inhabitants of France The ancient inhabitants of this Countrey were the Gaules who possessed not onely all that we now call France being the greatest part of that the Romans called Gallia Transalpina but also a good part of Italy which they call Gallia Cisalpina a people whose beginnings are unknowne this of them is certaine that they were a Nation of valour for they not onely sackt Rome but also carried their conquering armes into Greece where they sate down and were called by the name of Gallogrecians or Galathians Some report also that they entred into Spaine and subdued and inhabited that part which was called Lusitania now Portugallia but howsoever their former victories and greatnesse they were by Julius Caesar subdued and made a province of the people of Rome and so continued under the Roman Empire till about foure hundred yeares after Christ when in the ruine and dismembring of the Roman Empire the French invaded Gaule and erected a Monarchie which hath continued to this day in the succession of sixty foure Kings of three severall races that is to say the Merovingians Carolovingians and Capevingians about twelve hundred yeares and now flourisheth under Lewis the 13. the now raigning King of France Although the French have done many things worthily out of their owne Countrey in the East against the Saracens although they have for a while held Sicily the Kingdome of Naples and the Dutchy of Millaine yet it hath been observed of them that they could never make good their footing beyōd the Alps France one of the strongest kingdomes in all Europe or in other forraigne Regions howbeit in it selfe France is one of the
strongest kingdomes in all Europe at this day That which wee commonly call the Low-Countries Of the Low Countries containing 17 severall Provinces containeth seventeene severall Provinces wherof the most part have severall Titles and Governours as the Dukedome of Brabant the Earledome of Flanders c. Of which the inheritance at severall times did fall on Daughters who being married unto the Heyre of some of the other Provinces did in the end bring the whole Country into one entire governement which was commonly called by the name of the Dukedome of Burgundy and yet so that in the uniting of them together it was by composition agreed that the severall Provinces should retaine their severall ancient lawes and liberties which is the reason yeelded why some of those Provinces in our age thinke themselves freed from obedience unto the King of Spaine Note unto whom by inheritance they did descend because he hath violated their liberties to the keeping wherof at the first composition he was bound When this whole Country did belong unto the Crowne of France the Dukedome of Burgundy was bestowed by Philip de Valois King of France unto Iohn de Valois a yonger sonne of his from whom by descent it came at last to Charles the Bold otherwise Proud Duke of Burgundy who left one onely daughter and she was married to Maximilian the Emperour of the house of Austria from whom the inheritance descended unto Charles the fifth Emperour who yeelding it over to his sonne Philip the second did charge him to intreat that people well which he forgetting to doe under pretence of rooting out the profession of Religion did intangle himselfe and all that Country with a very long bloudy and wearisome warre The riches of the States in Generall There is no part of Europe which for the quantity of the ground doth yeeld so much riches and commodity as the Low-Countries doe besides their infinite store of shipping wherein they exceede any Prince of Christendome They were in time past accounted a very heavy dull people and unfit for the wars but their continuall combating with the Spaniards hath made them now very ingenuous full of action and managers of great causes appertaining to fights The names of the 17. Provinces either by Sea or Land The 17. Provinces are these Brabant Gelderland Artois Valencois Luxenburg Flaunders Henault Lile Namurce Holland Zeland Tornabum Tornacetium Mechlin Vtrecht and the East and West Freezeland France hath many petty governments that doe border upon it as the Dukedome of Savoy the State of the Switzers the Dukedome of Loraine the Burgundians or Walloons against all which the King is forced to keep his frontier Towns The Salike Law There is nothing more famous in this kingdome than the Salique Law whereby it is provided that no woman nor the heire of her as in her right shall injoy the Crown of France but it goeth alwayes to the heire male The author of the Commentaries against Machiavel reputeth it a great blessing of God that they have the Salique law in France and that not so much saith he because women by the infirmity of their sex are unfit to governe for therein many men who have enjoyed kingdomes have been and are very defective but because by that meanes the Crowne of France is never indangered by marriage of a forraigner to come under the subjection of a stranger And this is the opinion of Philip de Comines in the 8. Booke of his Commentaries This Law is very ancient among them so that it cannot certainly be defined when it was enacted but by vertue therof By this law Eâ—w the 3. King of England was put by the Crowne of France Edward the third King of England and his Heyres were cut off from inheriting the Crowne of France whereunto by marriage of a daughter hee was heire in generall And by reason of this Law Henry the fourth late King of France rather injoyed that Dominion than the Sonne of the Duke of Loraine who was neerer of bloud by descending from the Elder daughter of King Henry the second The Switzers government The Switzers are a people called in old time Helvetij who have no Noblemen or Gentlemen among them but onely the Citizens of their Townes the yearely Officers whereof and their Councell do governe their State 23 Cities or Cantons in Switzerland There are in Switzerland 23 Cities or Townes which they call their Canton although some rather thinke that name properly doth signifie the Rulers of those townes and of them some doe retaine to this day the Romish Religion but some others have embraced the Gospell The Countrey where they live is not very fertile and being far from any Seas they have no vent for their people but by sending them forth as hired Souldiers which for their pay doe fight oftentimes in Italy and France and sometimes in Germany Geneva Neare unto one part of them standeth Geneva which is challenged by the Duke of Savoy to have heretofore belonged to his Dominion but they pretend themselves to be a free City and by the helpe of Protestant Princes but especially by some of the Helvetians doe so maintaine it In this place there is a rare Law that if any malefactor A rare and excellent Law who hath fled out of his owne Country be convinced of any grievous crime he suffereth there as if he were in his owne Countrey which they are forced to doe because their Cities would be full of all sorts of Runnagates in as much as they stand on the Confines of divers Princes and States Of Germany THe next Countrey unto France on the East side is Germany Germany how bounded which is bounded on the West with France and the Low-Countries on the North with Denmarke and the Danish Seas on the East with Prussia Polonia and Hungary on the South East with Istria and Jllyricum on the South with the Alpe-hils and with Italy The Governour generall of this Country The Emprour governour of Germany Who be the 7. Electors is called the Emperour of Germany who is chosen by three spirituall Princes the Archbishop of Colen called Coloniensis the Archbishop of Ments called Moguntinus and the Archbishop of Trevers called Treverensis and three temporall Princes the Duke of Saxony the Marquesse of Brandenburge and the Count Palatine of Rhene which if they cannot agree as to make a Major part in their Election then thè King of Bohemia hath also a voyce whereof it commeth to be sayd that there be seven Princes Electors of the Empire His manner of Election The manner of the choise of the Emperour was established by a decree which is commonly called Bulla aurea which was made by Charles the 4. Emperour of Germany and King of Bohemia wherin he doth set downe all the circumstances of the Election of the Emperour and appointeth the King of Bohemia to be Sacri Imperij Archipincerna which is the Cup-bearer The 3.
not the least cause why hee resigned the Empire to his Brother Ferdinando The manner of Germany is that the Title of Nobility which is in the Father The titles of their Nobility commonly is imparted to all the sonnes so that every Sonne of a Duke of Saxony is called Duke of Saxony and every Childe of the Count of Mansfield is honoured by the name of Count or Countesse of Mansfield but in the eldest House the chiefe livelihood doth remayne for keeping upright the dignity of the Family Free States and Cities There are also free States and Cities which have the same authority as Argentine Frankeford and other This is to be noted of the Germanes that they may boast this above other more Westernly Nations of Europe A note worthy of observation that they are an unmixed Nation for whereas the Lombards and Gothes at severall times have set downe in Italy and mixed themselves with the people thereof the Gothes Vandals and Saracens in Spaine the Francks in Gaule or France and the Normans also the Saxons Angles Danes and Normans in Great Brittaine they have beene free from such inundation and mixture yea many of the people that have inflicted and inhabited these other Nations have come from thence so that therein Germany hath an advantage of these other Nations that have been subject hereunto Of Italie ON the South side of the Alpes and Germany lyeth Jtaly Situation of Italy stretching it selfe out at length toward the South East It hath on the Southside the Iland of Sicilia on the East that part of the Mediterranean which is called Mare Adriaticum or Mare superum which severeth Italy from Graecia on the Westside that part of the Mediterranean which is called Mare Tyrrhenum or Mare Inferum and the upper or more Northerne part of it neere Liguria Mare Ligusticum This Country for the figure therof is by some likened unto a long leafe of a tree It hath in the middle of it which goeth all in length a mighty Mountain named Mons Apenuinus which is likened unto the Spina or Ridge-bone of the backe Out of this Hill springeth divers Rivers which run on both sides of it into the Adriatick and Tyrrhene or Tuscane Seas As in other Countries so in Italy in times past there were divers severall people and severall Provinces Jtaly divided into foure parts like our Shires in England and so there be at this day but the mayn division of Italy is properly into â—oure parts as in our age we do account it The first Lombardy which â—yeth to the North. The second Tuscane which boundeth toward â—he Mediterranean Sea which way Corsica the Iland lyeth The third is â—he Land of the Church which is the Territory of the Bishop of Rome â—nd containeth in it that which is â—alled Romania The fourth is Naâ—les and in this division now is all â—taly comprehended The North part of this Italy is that which in ancient time was called Gallia Togata or Gallia Cisalpina â—nhabited then by Frenchmen It is â—ow called Longobardia or Lomâ—ardy wherein stand many rich GovernmeÌ„ts vernmeÌ„ts as the Dukedom of Millain of Mantua of Florence and other It is for the pleasantnesse therof in respect of the soyle ayre waters and great variety of wines and fruits Lombardy the Garden of God likened now by some to Paradice or the Garden of God In this Italy which was heretofore one entire government in the flourishing estate of the Romans are now many absolute States and Princedomes by the great policy oâ— the Bishop of Rome The policy of the Bishops of Rome who thoughâ— it the best way to make himself great to weaken the Empire So hâ— hath not onely driven the Emperouâ— out of all Joaly into Germany buâ— hath diminished his Majesty iâ— both by making so many petty governments which hold themselueâ— soveraigne Rulers without relatioâ— to any other The States of Venice As there are many States in Italy so one of the chiefest are the Venetians called Resp Venetorum or thâ— State of Venice because they are noâ—â— governed by any one but by theâ— Senate Gentlemen although they have a Duke with whose stampe their mony is coyned and in whose name all their executions of Iustice are done But this Duke is every way limited by the State City of Venice This City of Venice which joyneth to a corner of Lombardy standeth in Aestuarium or shallow of earth in the North part of the Adriaticke Sea so safely that it is held invincible There is in it but one street of firme Land into the other the Sea doth flow at every tide They have been a great rich State not onely â—ossessing much in Italy as Padua their Vniversity and other things which still they do but a great part of Illiricum many rich Ilands in the Mediterraneum as Candy called commonly Creta Cyprus Zazinâ—hus and other But Cyprus was taken from them a â—ittle before that fight at Sea wherin Don Iohn of Austria together with â—he Venetians had so renowned a viâ—tory against the Turk at the fight â—eer Lepanto The Venetians impoverished The impoverishing of their State hath partly bin by the incroching of the Turk but especially by the decaying of that traffique which they had to Alexandria in Egypt for their Spices and other riches of Persia Arabia and the East Indies since the course of the Portugals to those Eastern Countries hath been by Sea by the backside of Africa These Venetians which in time past were great warriours do now altogether decline enmity or hostility with all other Princes adjoyning and therfore by all means do take uâ— quarrels and cease controversies bâ— wisdome and patience temporizinâ— with the Turk the King of Spain and the Emperour who are mosâ— like to offend them The manner of their governmenâ— and the excellent course which theâ— have in chusing their Duke is written by Contarenus The excelleney of their government and some otheâ— of their Countrymen When theâ— do make any warres they seldomâ— send forth any General of their own but entertaine some Prince of Italy who is renowned for the warres In Lombardy standeth Millain In Lombardy standeth also the Dukedom of Millain a most rich pleasant thing which sometime had beene governed by a Duke of their own but of late hath been possessed by the Spaniard sometime by the French and is now in the government possession of the K. of Spain Tuscany Flo ence In Tuscany the chiefe City and Commander of all the rest is Florence where is supposed to be the best language of Italy called the vulgar Italian and the most circumspect policy of all the governments of Christendome which hath much bin increased since the time of Machiavel who was Secretary or Recorder to that State This was in times past a free City but of late by the policy of the Family of the Medices it is brought under the subjection
now in possession of the Turke that it may justly be feared lest at some time or other the said Turke should make an invasion thereunto as indeed hee hath offered divers times and sometimes hath landed men to the great terrour of all Italy but for the preventing of that mischiefe the King of Spain is inforced to keep a good Fleet of Gallies continually at Otranto where is the neerest passage from Italie into Greece I his part of Italie was it which in times past was named Magna Graecia but in later ages it hath been unproperly called one of the Sicilies which was reprooved long since by Aeneas Sylvius in his twelfth Epistle and yet till of late time the Kings of Spain have been tearmed Kings of both the Sicilies Divers Princedomes and States of Italy There be moreover in Jtaly many other Princedomes and States as the Dukedom of Ferrara the Dukedome of Mantua the Dukedome of Vrbine the Dukedome of Parma and Placentia the State of Luca the State of Genua commonly called the Genowayes which are governed by their Senate but have a Duke as they have at Venice There be also some other by which means the glory and strength of Italy is decayed Of Denmarke Sweden and Norway AS Italy lyeth on the South side of Germany Denmars situation so Denmark lieth on the North into the middle of which Land the Sea breaketh in by a place called the Sound The Impost of which passage bringeth great riches as an ordinary tribute unto the King of Denmark This is a Kingdome and ruled by an absolute Governour On the North and East side of Denmarke Sweden lyeth Suezia commonly called Sweden or Swethen which is also a Kingdome of it self Where the King professeth himselfe to be Rex Suecorum Gothorum Vandalorum Wherby we may know that the Gothes and Vandals which in times past did waste Jtaly and other Nations of Christendom did come out of this Country This whole Country which containeth in it Norvegia Suezia and some part of Denmarke is Peninsula being very much compassed about with the Sea and this is it which in Olaus Magnus Joannes Magnus is termed Archiepiscopus Vpsalensis as also in some of the more ancient Writers is called Scādinavia on the North and West side of Sweden lyeth Norvegia Norvegia or Norway or Norway which is at this day under the government of the King of Denmarke although heretofore it hath been a free Kingdome of it self Beyond Norway toward Russia on the Northern Sea lyeth Scrichivia beyond that Biarmia then Hapia or Hapland Hapland a poore and cold Countrey neere Sinus Boddicus whereof there is little to be spoken but that it is said to be subject to the great Knez or Duke of Muscovie But of these afterwards Within the Sound on the East part of the Sea Dantzike lyeth Dantzike about which are the Townes of the Haustmen Confederates and Allies unto the King of Denmarke These are very rich towns by reason of Merchandize which downe the rivers they receive out of Polonia and transport into other parts of Christendome through the Sound of the King of Denmarke They live as free people keeping amity entercourse with the Kings of Sweden and Denmark and with the Emperour of Germany but within these late yeers Steven Bacour the King of Polon doth challenge them to be members of his Crown and Dignity and by warre forced them to capitulate with him There is no great thing to be noted in these Countries but that from Denmarke commeth much corne to the supply of other parts of Christendome and that from all these Countries is brought great furniture for warre or for shipping Riches of Denmarke as Masts Cables Steele Saddles Armour Gunpowder and the like And that in the seas adjoyning to these parts there are fishes of much more monstrous shape than elsewhere are to be found The people of those Countries are by their profession Lutherans for Religion Their Religion Of Russia or Moscovia Russia situate ON the East side of Sweden beginneth the Dominion of the Emperor of Russia although Russia or Moscovia it selfe doe lie somewhat more into the East which is a great and mighty Monarchy extending it selfe even from Lapland and Finmarke many thousand miles in length unto the Caspian sea so that it containeth in it a great part of Europe and much of Asia also Emperour of Russia The governour there calleth himselfe Emperour of Russia Great Duke of Moscovia with many other titles of princedomes and Cities whose Dominion was very much inlarged by the Emperour not long since dead whom in Russia they call Iuan Vasiliwich in the Latine Iohannes Basilides who raigning long and being fortunate in warre did very much inlarge this mighty Dominion This man as in his younger daies he was very fortunate and added very much unto the glory of his ancestors winning something from the Tartars and something from the Christians in Livonia Lituania and other confines of his countrey so in his latter age growing more unweldy and lesse beloved of his subjects hee proved as unfortunate whereby it came to passe that Stephen Bacour King of Polone had a very great hand of him winning from him large Provinces which he before had conquered Gregory the thirteenth Bishop of Rome thinking by his intreaty for peace betweene those two Princes to have woon the whole Russian Monarchy to the subjection and acknowledgment of the Papacy Possevinus a Iesuite sent by the Pope to the Emperour sent Robertus Possevinus a Iesuite but yet a great States-man as his agent to take up controversies betweene the Muscovite and the King of Polone who prevailed so farre as that he drew them to tolerable conditions for both parties but when he began to exhort him to the accepting of the Romish faith the Emperour being therefore informed by the English Ambassadors who he very much favoured for his Lady and Mistresse Queene Elizabeths sake that the Bishop of Rome was a proud Prelate and would exercise his pretended authority so far as to make Kings and Princes hold his stirrop yea to kisse his very feet he utterly and with much scorne rejected all obedience to him Whereunto when Possevinus did reply A fine excuse for the Popes pride that the Princes of Europe indeed in acknowledgement of their subjection to him as the Vicar of Christ and successour of S. Peter did offer him that service as to kisse his feet but that the Pope remembring himselfe to be a mortall man did not take that honour as due unto himselfe but did use to have on his Pantophle the Crucifixe or Picture of Christ hanging upon the Crosse and that in truth he would have the reverence done thereunto the Emperour did grow into an exceeding rage reputing his pride to bee so much the greater when he would put the Crucifixe upon his shooe The Emperours rage against the Pope in as much as the
had done discovered where amongst the rest meÌ„tion was made of a Land which they had touched which to this day â—s known by the name of Sir Hugh Villobies Land Sir Hugh Willobies Land The Merchants of London did not desist to pursue this discovery but have so far prevailed that they have reached one halfe of the way toward the East part of Chyna and Cathaio but the whole passage is not yet opened This Empire one of the greatest to the world This Empire is at this day one of the greatest dominioÌ„s in the world both for compasse of ground for multitude of men saving that it lyeth far North and so yeeldeth not pleasure or good traffique with many other of the best situated nations Among other things which doe argue the magnificence of the Emperour of Russia this one is recorded by many who have travelled into those parts that when the great Duke is disposed to sit in his magnificence besides great store of Iewels and abundance of massie plate both of gold and silver which is openly shewed in his hall there doe sit as his Princes and great Nobles cloathed in very rich and sumptuous attyre divers men ancient for their yeares very seemly of countenance and grave with white long beards which is a goodly shew besides the rich state of the thing But Olaus Magnus man well experienced in those Northerne parts doth say how truely I cannot tell that the manner of their sitting is a notable fraud and cunning of the Russian in asmuch as they are not men of any worth but ordinary Citizens of the gravest and seemliest countenance which against such a solemnity are picked out of Mosco and other places adjoyning and have robes put on them which are not their owne but taken out of the Emperours Wardrope Of Spruce and Poland Prussia bow situated IN Europe on the East and North corner of Germany lyeth a Countrey called Prussia in Latine most times Borussia in English Pruthen or Spruce of whom little is famous saving that they were governed by one in a kinde of order of Religion whom they call the Grand-Master and that they are a meanes to keepe the Moscovite the Turke from some other parts of Christendome This countrey is now growne to be a Dukedome the Duke thereof doth admit traffique with our English who going beyond the Hants townes doe touch upon his countrey amongst other things doe bring from thence a kinde of leather which was wont to be used in Ierkins and called by the name of Spruce-Leather-Jerkins Spruce Leather On the East side of Germany betweene Russia and Germany lyeth Polonia Polands Situation or Poland which is a kingdome differing from others in Europe because the King there is chosen by Election out of some of the Princes neere adjoyning as lately Henry the third King of France These Elections oftentimes doe make great factions there so that in taking parts they grow often there into civill warre The King of Polonia is almost continually in warre either with the Moscovite who lyeth in the East and North-east of him or with the Turke who lyeth on the South and South-east and sometimes also with the Princes of Germany whereupon the Poles do commonly desire to choose warriours to their King In this Countrey are none but Christians but so Their divers Religions that liberty of all Religion is permitted insomuch that there be Papists Colledges of Jesuites both of Lutherans and Calvinists in opinions Anabaptists Arrians and divers others They hate the Iesuites But of late yeares there hath bin made earnest motions in their Parliaments that their Colledges of Iesuites should bee dissolved and they banished out of that Kingdome as of late they were from France The reason of it is because that under colour of Religion they doe secretly deale in State causes and many times sow seditions and some of them have given counsell to murther Princes and wheresoever they be they are the onely intelligencers for the Pope besides that many of the Papists but especially all their Friers and orders of Religion doe hate and envy them first for that they take upon them with such pride to be called Iesuites as if none had to doe with Iesus but they and are more inward with Princes than the rest are Secondly because many of them are more learned than common Monks and Fryers And thirdly because they professe more strictly and severely than others doe the Capuchins onely excepted Their chiefe Citie Cracovia This is that Countrey which in times past was called Sarmatia the chiefe Citie whereof is named Cracovia Of Hungaria and Austria Hungaria situated ON the South-East side of Germany lyeth Hungaria called in the Latine Pannonia which hath beene heretofore divided into Pannonia superior Pannonia inferior it is an absolute Kingdome and hath beene heretofore rich and populous The Christians that doe live there have among them divers sorts of Religion as in Poland This Kingdome hath bin a great obstacle against the Turkes comming into Christendome but especially in the time of Iohan. Huniades who did mightily with many great victories repulse the Turke Here standeth Bunda which was heretofore a great Fortresse of Christendome Bunda but the glory of this kingdome is almost utterly decaied by reason that the Turke who partly by policy partly by force doth now possesse the greatest part of it So that the people are fled from thence and the Christians which remaine there are in miserable servitude Notwithstanding some part of Pannonia inferior doth yet belong to Christendome The Turks for the space of these forty or fifty yeares last past have kept continuall garrisons and many times great Armies in that part of Hungary which yet remaineth Christned yea and sometimes the great Turks themselves have come thither in person with huge hosts accounting it a matter of their Religion not onely to destroy as many Christians as they can but also to win their land by the revenues whereof they may maintaine some Religious house which they think themselves in custome bound to erect but so that the maintayning thereof is by the Sword to be wonne out of the hands of some of those whom they hold enemies to them Hungary is become the onely Cockpit of the world where the Turkes doe strive to gaine and the Christians at the charge of the Emperour of Germany who entituleth himselfe King of Hungary doe labour to repulse them and few Summers doe passe but that something is either wonne or lost by either party The corner of Germany which lyeth neerest to Hungary or Pannonia inferior Austria is called Austria or Pannonia superior which is an Archdukedome From which house being of late much sprung come many of the Princes of Germany and of other parts of Europe so that the Crown imperiall of Germany hath lately oft befallen to some one of this house In this Country standeth Vienna Vienna that
noble citie which is now the principall Bulwarke of Christendome against the Turke from whence Solyman was repelled by Ferdinandus King of Hungary in the time of the Emperour Charles the fift It was in this countrey that Richard the first King of England in his returne from the Holy land was taken prisoner by the Archduke of Austria and so put to a grievous ransome There were lately divers brothers of the Emperour Rodolphus the second which were al called by the name of Archdukes of Austria Archdukes of Austria according to the maner of the Germans who give the titles of the Fathers nobility to all the children The names of them were Mathias Ernestus the youngest Albertus who for a good space held by dispensation from the Pope the Archbishopricke of Toledo in Spaine although he were no Priest and had then also the title of Cardinall of Austria was imploied for Viceroy of Portugall by Philip the 2 King of Spaine but after the death of the Duke of Parma hee was sent as Lievtenant generall governor of the Low-Countries for the K. of Spaine where since he hath attained to the marriage of the Infanta Isabella Eugenia Clara eldest daughter to K. Philip the second and last King of Spaine and by her hath hee the stile of Duke of Burgundy although peaceably he cannot enjoy a great part of that Country Thorow both Austria and Hungary doth runne the mighty river Danubius as thorow Germany doth run the Rheine The River of Rhine whereon groweth Vinum Rhenanum commonly called Rhenish wine Of Greece Thracia and the Countries neer adjoyning Situation of Dacia ON the South side of Hungary and South-east lieth a Countrey of Europe called in old time Dacia which is large and wide comprehending in it Transylvania Walachia Transylvania Walachia Moldavia Servia Moldavia Servia Of which little is famous save that the men are warlike and can hardly be brought to obedience They have lately bin under the K. of Hungary These Countries of Transylvania Walachia and Moldavia have certaine Monarchs of their owne whom they call by the name of Vognode which do rule their countries with indifferent mediocrity while they have the sway in their own hands but confining upon the Turk they are many times oppressed overcome by him so that often they are his tributaries yet by the wildnesse of the country uncertaine disposition of the Rulers and their people he never hath any hand long over them but sometimes they maintaine warre against him have slaine downe some of his Bassaes comming with a great Army against them by which occasion it falleth out that hee is glad now and then to enter confederacy with them so doubtfull a kinde of regiment is that which now adaies is in those Countries The river Danubius doth divide this Dacia from Mysia commonly called Bulgaria and Russia which lyeth on the South from Danubius and is severed from Graecia by the mountaine Haemus The mountaine Haemus This mountaine is that whereof they reported in times past though but falsly that who so stood on the top thereof might see the sea foure severall wayes to wit East West North and South under pretence of trying which conclusion not Philip Alexanders Father but a latter Philip King of Macedonia did goe up to that hill when in truth his meaning was secretly to meet with others there with whom hee might joyne himselfe against the Romans which was shortly the overthrow of that kingdome It should seeme that about this mountaine it is very cold by reason of that jest which Athenaeus reporteth Stratonicus to have uttered concerning that hill when he said that for eight moneths in the yeare it was very cold and for other four it was Winter Graecia bounded From Haemus toward the South lyeth Graecia bounded on the West by the Adriatike sea on the East by the Thracian sea and Mare Aegeum on the South by the maine Mediterranean sea This contained in old time foure speciall parts Peloponnesus Achaia Macedonia and Epirus Adjoyning whereunto was Illiricum Peloponnesus Moreah which is now called Moreah in the South part of Graecia being Peninsula or almost an Iland for that it is joyned by a little strait called Istmos unto the rest of Graecia Herein stood Sparta Sâ—â—â—ssus and Helicon and the ancient state of Lacedemon the lawes thereof were made by Licurgus by the due observation of which Tullie could say in his time that the title of Sparta in Lacedemon had continued in the same meanes and behaviour for the space of 700. yeares This Sparta was it which so often made warre against the Athenians and this and Athens were called the two edges of Graecia Neere the Jsthmos or Straits stood the famous City of Corinth Corinth which was in old time called the Key of Greece and whither S. Paul wrote two of his Epistles Aeneas Sylvius in his Cosmographicall Treatise De Europa cap. 22. saith that the Straits which divide Moreah from the rest of Graecia are in bredth but five miles and that divers Kings Princes did go about to digge away the earth that they might make it to be an Iland He nameth King Demetrius Julius Caesar Caius Caligula Domitius Nero of all whom hee doth note that they not onely failed of their purpose but that they came to violent and unnaturall deaths From the Isthmos which is the end of Peloponnesus or Moreah beginneth Achaia Achaia and spreadeth it selfe North-wards but a little way unto the Hill Othris which is the bounds betweene Achaia and Macedonia but East and West much more largely as Eastward even unto the Island Euboea Euboea with a great Promontory and Westward bounding unto Epirus The Inhabitants of this place were they which properly are called Achivi which word is so oft used by Virgil Here toward the East part stood Boetia upon the Sea-coast Boetia looking South-ward toward Moreah was Athens Athens which was famous for the Lawes of Solon for the warres against Sparta and many other Cities of Graecia and for an Vniversity of learned men which long continued there Pernassus and Helicon In this part of Greece stood Pernassus and Helicon so much talked of by Poets and Phocis and Thebes and briefly all the Cities wherof Livie speaking doth terme by the name of Achai or Vrbes Achaeorum The third Province of Graecia called Epirus Epyrus lyeth Westward from Achaia and extends it selfe for a good space that way but toward the North and South it is but narrow lying along the Sea-coast and looking South-ward on the Islands of Conegra and Cephalonia This was the Country wherein Olympias wife unto Philip of Macedonia and Mother unto Alexander the Great was born This was also the Kingdome of that noble Pyrrhus which made such great warres against the Romanes and in our later age it was made renowned by the valiant Scanderbeg who was so great a scourge
Asia and Europe so neere together and the Sea running between them which serveth each place with alâ— manner of commodities it appeareth that Constantinople is marvelâ— lously richly and conveniently seated and therefore a fit place from whence the Turke may offer to archieve great attempts After this strait the Sea openeth iâ— selfe more large toward the South and it is called by the name of Propontis But then it groweth againâ— into another strait which they writâ— to be in breadth about two mileâ— This is called Hellespontus Hellâ—spontus Xerxes Bridge having on the one side Abidus in Asia on the other side Sestus oâ— the side of Europe This is thâ— place where Xerxes the great Kinâ— of Persia did make his Bridge oveâ— the Sea so much renowned iâ— ancient History which was not impossible by reason of the narrow nesse the foundation of his Bridg being rested on ships Here alâ— may appeare the reason of the stoâ—â— of Leander and Hero which Leaâ—der is reported for the love of Herâ—to have oftentimes swom over thâ—â— Sea till at last hee was drowned From this strait Southward the Sea groweth more wide and is called afterwards by the name of Mare Aegeum Mare Aegeum and so descendeth to the full Mediterranean Of Asia and first of Tartary ON the Northside of Asia joyning unto the dominion of the Emperour of Russia is Tartary Tartary bounded in ancient time called Scythia the bounds wherof did then extend themselves into a good part of Europe therefore was called Scythia Europea but the greatest part of it lyeth in Asia a mighty large Country extending it selfe on the North to the uttermost Sea on the East to the Dominion of the Great Cham or Prince of Cathaie on the South down to Mare Caspium The Tartarians which now inhabit it are men of great stature rude of behaviour no Christians Their Religion but Gentiles neither doe they acknowledge Mabumet They have few or no Citieâ— among them but after the manner of the old Scythians doe live iâ— Wildernesses lying vnder their Carts and following their drove of cattell by the milke whereoâ— they doe nourish themselves Theâ— sowe no Corne at all because theâ— abide not long in any one place buâ— taking their direction from theâ— North-pole-starre they remoovâ— from one coast of their Countreâ— unto another The Countrey is populous and the men are great warriers fighting alwayes on horse backe with their bow Their manner of war arrowes anâ— a short Sword They have amongâ— them infinite store of horses wheâ—of they sell many into the Countries neere adjoyning Their ordnary food in their warres is horse flesh which they use to eate rawâ— being chafed a little by hanging 〈◊〉 their Saddle They have great wars with thâ— Countries adjoyning but especiall with the Muscovite and sometimes with the Turke from hence came Tamberlaine Tamberlain the Great a Tartarian who brought 7000000 of the Tartarians at once into the field wherein he distressed and took prisoner Bajazet the great Turke whom he afterward forced to feed as a Dogge under his table They have now amongst them many Princes and Governours as those have one whom they call the Crim Tartars and those have another which are the Tartars of Magaiae and so divers others The English have laboured to their great expences to finde out the way by the North Seas of Tartaria to go into Cathay and China but by reason of the frozen Seas they have not yet prevailed although it hath beene reported that the Flemmings have discovered that passage which would be very likely to the great benefit of the Northern parts of Christendome yet that report doth not continue and therfore it is to be thought that the Flemmings have not proceeded so farre Of Cathaie and China NExt beyond Tartaria on the Northeast part of Asia lyeth a great Countrey called Cathaie Situation of Cathaie the bounds whereof extend themselves on the North and East to the utter most Seas and on the South to China The people are not much learned but more civil than the Tartars and have good and ordinary trafficke with the Countries adjoyning This Countrey hath in it many Kings which are tributaries and do owe obedience unto one whom they call the great Cham The Great Can of Cathaie or Can of Cathaie who is the chiefe Governour of all the Land and esteemed for multitude of people and largenesse of Dominion to be one of the greatest Princes of the World but his name is the lesse famous for that hee lyeth so farre distant from the best Nations and the passage into his Countrey is so dangerous either for the perils of the Sea or for the long space by Land His chiefe Imperiall Citie is called Cambalu On the South side of Cathaie Cambalu the chiese Citie of China and East part of Asia next to the Sea lyeth China and the people thereof Osorius describeth by the name of Sina and calleth their Countrey Sinarum Regio A very rich Countrey This is a fruitfull Countrey and yeeldeth as great store of rich Commodities as almost any Countrey in the World It containeth in it very many severall Kingdomes which are absolute Princes in their Seats The chief Citie in this Countrey is called Quinsay Quinsay the chiefe Citie and is described to be of incredible greatnesse as were wont to be the ancient Cities in the East as Babylon Ninivie and others This Countrey was first discovered by the late Navigation of the Portugalls into the East Indies The people skilfull in Arts. The people of China are learned almost in all Arts very skilfull Worke-men in curious fine works of all sorts so that no Countrey yeeldeth more precious Merchandize than the workmanship of them They are great Souldiers very politicke and crafty and in respect thereof contemning the wits of others using a Proverbe That all other Nations doe see but with one eye Their Proverbe but they themselves with two Petrus Maffaeus Historiographer to the King of Spaine for the Easterne Indies doth report of them that they have had from very ancient time among them these two things which wee hold to be the Miracles of Christendome and but lately invented The one is the use of Gunnes for the Warres Two rare wonders invented in China Guns and Printing and the other is Printing which they use not as wee doe writing from the left hand unto the right or as the Hebrewes and Syrians from the right hand unto the left but directly downeward and so their lines at the top doe beginne againe Of the East Indies ON the Southside of China toward the Molucco Ilands and the Indian Sea lyeth the great Country of India extending it selfe from the South part of the Continent Thâ— situation of the Indies by the space of many thousand miles Westward unto the River Indus which is the greatest River in all the Countrey except Ganges one of the greatest Rivers
in the World which lyeth in the East part of the same Indies This is that Countrey so famous in ancient time for the great riches thereof for the multitude of people for the conquest of Bacchus over it for the passage thither of Alexander the Great throughout all the length of Asia for his adventuring to goe into the South Ocean with so mighty a Navy which few or none had ever attempted before him And certainly thither it was that Salomon did send once in three yeeres for his Gold and other rich Merchandise for the Scripture saith that hee sent his Fleet from Ezion-geber which stood upon the mouth of the Red Sea and it was the directest passage which hee had unto the Easterne Indies whereas if his purpose had been to send to Peru as some lately have imagined his course had been thorow the Mediterranean Sea and the Straits of Gibraltar This Countrey had in ancient time In Jndia are many Kingdomes many absolute Kingdomes and Provinces as in the time of Alexander Porus Taxiles and divers others In it were many Philosophers and men of great Learning whom they called Gymnosophistae of whom was Calanus who burnt himselfe before Alexander The men of the South part of India are blacke Their Cattle very big and therefore are called men of Jnde The Cattell of all sorts that are bred there are of incredible bignesse in respect of other Countries as their Elephants Apes Monkies Emêts and other Their riches The riches hereof have beene very great with abundance of Gold insomuch that the Promontory which is now called Malacha was in times past named Aurea Chersonesus The commoditie of Spice is exceeding great that comes from thence The Partugals first discovered the Indies The Portugals were the first which by their long Navigations beyond the Equinoctiall and the farthermost part of Africk have of late yeeres discovered these Countries to Christendome as heretofore to the use of the King of Portugall so now of the King of Spaine who is reputed owner of them Four Kingdoms by the Portugals discovered The Portugals did finde divers Kingdomes at their first arrivall in those parts as the Kingdome of Calecut the Kingdome of Cambaia the Kingdome of Cananor the Kingdome of Cochin and very many other with the Kings whereof they first entring League and Trafficke and having leave given to build Castles for their defence they have since by policie encroched into their hands a great part of the Countrey which lyeth neere unto the Sea-coast and are mighty now for the space of many thousand miles together The K. of Spain hath there a Vice-roy whose residence is commonly in the Imperiall Citie called God Chief City God They doe every yeare send home great store of rich commodities into Spain The Indians Religion The people of the Country when the Portugals came first thither were for the most part Gentiles beleeving in no one God yea at this day there are divers of them who doe adore the Sunne as their God and every morning at the rising thereof doe use very superstitious Ceremonies which our Merchants who doe trade to Aleppo doe oftentimes see for divers of these Jndians do come thither with Merchandize But the Saracens who reverence the Prophet Mahomet from the Bayes or Gulphes of Persia and Arabia doe trafficke much thither so that Mahomet was knowne among them but in one Town called Granganor they found certain Christians dissenting in many things from the Church of Rome and rather agreeing with the Protestants which Christians had received by succession their Religion from the time of Thomas the Apostle by whom as it is recorded in the ancient Ecclesiasticall History part of India was converted In this Countrey of Jndia are many great and potent Kings and Kingdomes which had beene altother unknown and unheard of in our part of the World but that we were beholding to the Portugals for their Discovery and before their Navigation thither by the backside of Africk to some relations that wee had from the Venetians who traded and travelled thither by Land out of Turkie The names of these Kings and Kingdomes are these The King of Biarme the great Mogol Sâ—â— Kingdomes the King of Narsing Pegu Siam the forenamed King of Calecut and others Of Persia Situation of Persia THere be divers Countries betweene India and Persia but they are not Famous Persia is a large Country which lyeth farre West from India it hath on the North Assyria and Media on the West Syria and the Holy land but next unto it Mesopotamia on the South the mayn Ocean which entreth in notwithstanding by a Bay called Sinus Persicus This is that Countrey which in ancient time was so renowned for the great riches and Empire thereof These were they who tooke from the Assyrians the Monarchie and did set up in their Country the second great Empire which began under Cyrus continued unto that Darius who was overthrowne by Alexander the Great In this countrey raigned the great Kings Cyrus The g eat and famous Kings of Persia Cambises Darius the Son of Histaspes the great Xerxes Artaxerxes and many others which in prophane writings are famous for their wars against the Scythians Aegyptians and Graecians in the Scripture for the delivery of the Iewes from Babylon by Cyrus for the building of the second Temple at Jerusalem and for many things which are mentioned of them in the Prophecie of Daniel The people of this Nation although they were in former times very riotous by reason of their great wealth yet after they had lost their Monarchy by the Macedonians Persians great Souldiers they have growne great Souldiers and therefore as they did ever strongly defend themselves against the old Romanes so in the time of Constantine and the other Emperours they were fearefull neighbours to the Romane government and of late time they have strongly opposed themselves against the Turkes ever making their party good with them And yet notwithstanding in the dayes of Amurath the third father to Mahomet the Turke now raigning the Turke had a great hand upon the Persian going so farre with his Army as that hee tooke the strong Citie Tauris standing within the Persian dominions neere unto the Caspian Sea but this losse was to bee attributed partly to the great dissentions which were among the Persians themselves and partly to the multitude of the Turke his Souldiers who by fresh supply did over-beare the Persian although hee slew downe many thousands of them They fight commonly on horseback are govern'd as in time past by a King so now by an absolute ruler Sophy of Persia and a mighty Prince whom they tear me the Shaw or Sophy of Persia Hee hath many Countries small Kings in Assyria Media and the countries adjoyning which are tributaries Among other the Sophies of Persia about a hundred years since there was one of great power called Ismael the
lyeth Chaldea having on the East side Assyria on the West Syria or Palestiâ—a on the North Armenia on the South the desart of Arabia This Countrey is often called by the name of Mesopotamia which name it hath because it lyeth in the middle of two great Rivers Tygris and Euphrates It is called also by the name of Babylonia which word of it selfe properly taken doth signifie onely that part of the Countrey which standeth about Babylon Babylon the chiefe City of Chaldea The chiefe City whereof was Babylon whose ruines doe remaine unto this day It was a rich and most pleasant City for all kinde of delight and was in the later time of that Monarchy the Imperiall City of the Assyrians where Nebuchadnezzar and other their great Kings did lye It was to this city that the children of Israel were carried captives which thereof was called the Captivity of Babylon The Kings of Persia also did keep their residence here it was builâ— upon the River Euphrates some part of it standing on the one side and some part on the other having for it's foundresse Semiramis the wife of Ninus Ammianus Marsellinus reporteth one thing of this Countrey wherein the admirable power oâ— God doth appeare The admirable power of God in preserving the people for he writeth that in these parts are a huge number of Lyons which were like enough to devoure up both men and beasts throughout the Countrey but withall hee saith that by reason of the store of water and mudde thereof there doe breeâ— yearely an innumerable company oâ— Gnats whose property is to fly unto the eye of the Lyon as being a bright and orient thing wherâ— byting and stinging the Lyon he teareth so fiercely with his clawes that he putteth out his owne eyes and by that meanes many are drowned in the Rivers others starve for want of prey and many the more easily killed by the Inhabitants It is supposed by Divines that in this Mesopotamia betweene the River Tygris and Euphrates Paradise did stand Note This was the Countrey wherein Abraham the Patriarch was borne unto which the Romanes could very hardly extend their dominion For they had much to doe to get the governement of any thing beyond the River Euphrates From this people it is thought the wise-men came which brought presents to Christ by the guiding of the Starre For as in India and all the Easterne parts so especially in this Countrey their Noblemen and Priests and very many people doe give themselves to all Arts of Divination Here were the great Southsayers Enchanters and Wise men as they call them Here were the first Astrologians Here were the first Astrologians which are so described and derided in the Scripture and against the Inhabitants of Babylon and Chaldea were the Lawes of the Romanes made which are against divining Mathematicians who in Tullie 〈◊〉 Divinatione Cornelius Tacitus as also in the Lawes of the Emperours are ordinarily collected by the name of Chaldeans and indeed from these and from the Aegyptians is supposed to have sprung the first knowledge of Astronomy It is thought that a great reason whereof these Chaldeans were expert in the laudable knowledge oâ— Astronomy was partly because thâ— Countrey is so plaine that being without hils they might more fully and easily discover the whole facâ— of the Heaven and partly because the old Fathers which lived so long not onely before but in some good part also after the Floud of Noah did dwell in or neere to these parts and they by observation of their owne did finde out and discover many things of the heavenly Bodies which they delivered as from hand to hand to their posteritie But as corruption doth staine the best things so in processe of time the true Astronomie was defiled with superstitious Rules of Astrologie which caused the Prophets Isaiah and Ieremiah so bitterly to inveigh against them And then in their fabulositie they would report that they had in their Records Observations for five and twenty thousand yeares which must needs be a very great untruth unlesse wee will qualifie it as some have done expounding their yeares not of the Revolution of the sunne but of the Moone whose course is ended in the space of a moneth Of Asia the lesse ON the North-West side of Mesopotamia lyeth that Countrey which is now called Natolia but in times past Asia minor having on the North side Pontus Euxinus Situation of Asia the lesse on the West the Hellespont and on the South the maine Mare Mediterraneum In the ancient writings both of the Graecians and of the Romanes this is oftentimes called by the single name of Asia because it was best knowne unto them and they were not so much acquainted with the farther places of Asia the Great Richnesse of the Countrey This Countrey in generall for the fruitfulnesse of the Land standing in so temperate a Climate and for the conveniencie of the Sea every way and so many good Havens hath beene reputed alwaies a very commodious and pleasurefull Countrey It is wholly at this day under the Turke The Mountaine Taurus goeth along from the West unto the East part of it The greatnesse of this Countrey is such that it hath comprehended many Kingdomes and large Provinces besides Cities of great fame On the South-east part thereof neere to Palestina lyeth Cilicia Cilicia The city Tarsus the chiefe Citie whereof is Tarsus the Countrey of Saint Paul the place whither Salomon sent for great store of his Gold and provision for the Temple whither Ionas also fled when he should have gone to Niniveh In the straits of this Cilicia neere to the Mountaine Taurus Alexander his overthrow of Darius did Alexander give a great overthrow in person to Darius in the joyning of their first battaile This place seemes to have beene very fortunate for great fights in as much as there also neere unto the straits was the battaile fought out betweene Severus the Emperour and Niger who being Governour of the Romanes of Syria would needs have aspired to the Empire but in a battaile which was very hardly fought out he was overthrowne in the straits of Cilicia In the very corner where Cilicia is joyned unto the upper part of Syria is a little Bay which in times past was named Sinus J sicus neere unto which Alexander built one of his Cities which he called by his owne name The City of Alexandria But howsoever in times past it was named Alexandria it is now by the Venetians and other Christians called Alexandretta as who should say little Alexandria in comparison of the other In Aegypt the Turkes doe call it Scandarâ—nd and it is a petty Haven where our Merchants do land most of their goods which are afterwards by Camels carried up to Aleppo At this day the Citie is so decayed that there bee onely a few houses there Westward from Cilicia lieth the Province called Pamphilia Pamphilia The
City of Seleuchus wherein stands the Citie Seleucia built by Seleuchus one of the foure great successors of Alexander the Great On the West of this Pamphilia standeth Lycia Lycia more West from thence confining upon the I le of Rhodes is Caria Caria one of the sea-townes whereof is Halicarnassus which was the Countrey of Heredotus who is one of the most ancient Historians that is extant of the Gentiles and who dedicated his nine Bookes to the honour of the Muses Here also was that Dionysius borne who is called commonly Dionysius Halicarnassus one of the Writers of the Romane Story for the first three hundred yeares after Rome was built The whole countrey of Caria is sometimes signified by the name of this Halicarnassus Halicarnassus although it was but one Citie and thereupon Artemisia who in the dayes of Xerxes came to aid him against the Gracians and behaved her selfe so manfully in a great fight at sea whē Xerxes stood by as a coward is intituled by the name not of Queene of Caria but of Halicarnassus Also in the dayes of Alexander the Great there was another Queene named Ada who also is honoured by the title of Queene of Halicarnassus Wee have thus farre described those Cities of Asia the lesse which doe lie from that part that joyneth unto Syria along the Sea coast Westward but being indeed the Southerne part of Asia minor Now upwards towards the North Ionia standeth Ionia where those did dwell who had like to have joyned with Xerxes in the great battell at Sea but that Themistocles by a policie did winne them from him to take part with the Gracians Diodorus Siculus writeth that the Athenians who professed to be of kin to those Ionians were on a time marveilous importunate with them that they should leave their owne countrey come and dwell with them which when the Ionians hardly but yet at length did accept the Athenians had no place to put them in and so they returned with great disgrace to them both A little within the Land lying North and East from Jonium Lydia was Lydia which sometimes was the Kingdome of Croesus who was reputed so rich a King when hee was in his prosperity making best of his happinesse hee was told by Solon that no man could reckon upon felicity so long as he lived because there might be great mutability of Fortune which he after ward found true For he was taken prisoner by Cyrus Croesus overthrown by Cyrus who was once minded to have put him to death but hearing him report the advertisement of Solon formerly given to him hee was moved to thinke that it might bee his owne case and so tooke pitty on him and spared his life These Lydians being inhibited afterward by Cyrus to use any armour did give themselves to bathes and stewes and other such effeminate things Vpon the sea-coast in Ionia standeth the Citie Ephesus Ephesus which was one of the seven cities unto which Iohn in his Revelation did write his seven Epistles and Saint Paul also directed his Epistle to the Ephesians unto the Church which was in this place This was one of the most renowned Cities of Asia the lesse but the Fame thereof did most arise from the Temple of Diana which was there built The Temple of Diana and was reputed for the magnificence thereof one of the seven Wonders of the world This Temple was said to be two hundred yeares in building and was burnt seven severall times whereof the most part was by lightning and the finall destruction thereof came by a base person called Herostratus who to purchase himselfe some fame did set it on fire This was the place of which it is said in the Acts of the Apostles that all Asia and the whole world doe worship this Diana Tullie reporteth De natura Deorum that Timaeus being asked the reason why the Temple of Diana was on fire that night when Alexander the Great was born gave that jest thereof that the Mistresse of it was from home because she being the Goddesse of Midwives did that night waite upon Olympias the Mother of Alexander the Great who was brought to bed in Macedonia City of Smirna Another of the seven Cities unto which John did write is Smirna standing also in Ionia upon the Sea cost but somewhat more North than Ephesus which is the place where Polycarpus was Bishop who sometimes had beene Schollar unto Iohn the Evangelist Polycarpus schollar to S. Iohn the Evangelist and living till hee was of great age was at last put to death for Christs sake when before hee had beene moved by the Governour of the Countrey to deny his Saviour and to burne Incense to an Idoll But hee answered that fourescore and sixe yeares hee had served Christ Iesus and in all that time he had never done him harm and therefore now in his old age hee would not beginne to deny him The third Citie unto which the Epistle is directed in the Apocalyps City of Sardis which standeth within the Land in Lydia as is described by the best Writers and it was a Citie both of great pleasure and profit unto the Kings in whose Dominion it stood which may bee gathered hereby that when once the Graecians had wonne it Darius Histaspis or Xerxes who were Kings of Persia did give charge that every day at dinner one speaking aloud should remember him that the Graecians had taken Sardis which intended that hee never was in quiet till it might bee recovered againe Foure Cities of vote There stood also in the In-land Philadelphia Thyatira Laodicea and most of all to the North Pergamus which were the other foure Cities unto which Saint Iohn the Evangelist did direct his Epistle Going upward from Ionium to the North there lyeth on the Sea-coast a little countrey Aeolis called Aeolis and beyond that although not upon the Sea the two Provinces called Mysia Major and Mysia Minor which in times past Mysia major and Mysia minor were so base and contemptible that the people thereof were used in speech as a Proverbe that if a man would describe one meaner than the meanest it was said he was Mysiorum postremus On the West part of Mysia major did lye the Countrey called Troas The City of Troy wherein stood Jlium and the City of Troy against which as both Virgil and Homer have written the Graecians did continue their Siege for the space of tenne yeares by reason that Paris had stollen away Helena the wife of Menelaus who was King of Sparta Eastward both from Troas and Mysia major a good space within the land was the Countrey called Phrygia Phrygia where the Goddesse which was called Bona Dea or Pessinuntia or Cybele the Mother of the old Gods had her first abiding and from thence as Herodian writeth was brought to Rome as implying that good Fortune should follow her thither In this Countrey lived
Israel which were under one Kingdome till the time of Rehoboam the Sonne of Solomon But then were they divided into two Kingdomes ten Tribes being called Israel and two Iudah whose chiefe Citie was called Ierusalem Jerusalem Twelve Tribes divided The ten Tribes after much Idolatry were carried prisoners unto Assyria and the Kingdome dissolved other people being placed in their roome in Samaria and the Country adjoyning The other two Tribes were properly called the Iewes and their Land Iudaea The Iewes which continued long after in Ierusalem and thereabout till the Captivity of Babylon where they lived for seventie yeares They were afterward restored but lived without glory till the comming of Christ But since that time for a curse upon them and their children for putting Christ to death they are scattered upon the face of the Earth as Runnagates without certaine Countrey King Priest or Prophet In their chiefe City Jerusalem was the Temple of God first most gloriously built by Salomon and afterward destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar Jerusalem destroyed By the commandement of Cyrus King of Persia was a second Temple built much more base than the former For besides the poverty and smalnesse of it there wanted five things which were in the former as the Iewes write Note First the Arke of the Covenant Secondly the pot of Manna Thirdly the Rodde of Aaron Fourthly the two Tables of the Law written by the finger of God And fiftly the fire of the Sacrifice which came downe from Heaven Herod the Great an Edomite stranger having gotten the Kingdome contrary to the Law of Moses and knowing the people to be offended therewithall to procure their favour did build a third Temple wherein our Saviour Iesus Christ and his Apostles did teach The City of Jerusalem was twice taken and utterly laid desolate Ierusalem twice destroyed 1 By Nebuchadnezzar 2 By Vespasian first by Nebuchadnezzar at the Captivitie of Babylon and secondly after the death of Christ by Vespasian the Romane who first began the warres and by his Sonne Titus who was afterward Emperour of Rome who brought such horrible desolation on that Citie and the people thereof by Fire Sword and Famine that the like hath not beene read in any History Hee did afterwards put thousands of them on some one day to be devoured of the Beasts which was a cruel Custome of the Romanes magnificence Although Numbers and Times be not superstitiously to be observed as many foolish imagine yet it is a matter in this place not unworthy the noting which Iosephus reporteth in his seventh Booke and tenth Chapter de Bello Iudaico that the very same day whereon the Temple was set on fire by the Babylonians was the day whereon the second Temple was set on fire by the Romanes and that was upon the tenth day of August After this destruction the Land of Iudaea and the ruines of Ierusalem were possessed by some of the people adjoyning till that about sixe hundred yeares since the Saracens did invade it for expelling of whom from thence divers Frenchmen and other Christians under the leading of Godfrey of Bullen did assemble themselves thinking it a great shame that the Holy Land as they called it the Citie of Jerusalem and the place of the Sepulchre of Christ should bee in the hands of Infidels This Godfrey ruled in Ierusalem by the name of a Duke but his successours after him for the space of 87 yeares called themselves Kings of Ierusalem About which time Saladine who called himselfe King of Aegypt and Asia the lesse did winne it from the Christians For the recovery wherof Richard the first King of England together with the French King and the King of Sicilia did goe in person with their Armies to Ierusalem but although they wonne many things from the Infidels yet the end was that the Saracens did retaine the Holy Land Roger Hoveden in the life of Henry the Second King of England doth give this memorable note that at that time when the Citie of Ierusalem and Antioch were taken out of the hand of the Pagans by the meanes of Godfrey of Bullen and other of his Company the Pope of Rome that then was was called Vrbanus the Patriarch of Ierusalem Heraclius and the Romane Emperour Fredericke and at the same time when the said Ierusalem was recovered againe by Saladine the Popeâ— name was Vrbanus the Patriarch of Jerusalem Heraclius and the Roman Emperour Frederick Ierusalem in the Turkes Dominions The whole Countrey and Citie of Ierusalem are now in the Dominion of the Turke who notwithstanding for a great Tribute doth suffer many Christians to abide there There are now therefore two or more Monasteries and Religious Houses where Friers do abide and make a good commoditie of shewing the Sepulchre of Christ and other Monuments unto such Christian Pilgrimes as do use superstitiously to go in Pilgrimage to the Holy Land The King of Spaine was wont to call himselfe King of Ierusalem Of Arabia Arabia bounded NExt unto the Holy Land lyeth the great Country of Arabia having on the North part Palaestina and Mesopotamia on the East side the Gulph of Persia on the South the mayne Ocean of India or Aethiopia on the West Aegypt and the great Bay called Sinus Arabicus or the Red Sea This Countrey is divided into three parts the North part whereof is called Arabia Deserta Arabia divided into three parts the South part which is the greatest is named Arabia Foelix and the middle between both that which for the abundance of Rockes and Stones is called Arabia Petrea or Petrosa Of the Desart of Arabia The Desart of Arabia is that place in the which God after the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt by passing thorow the Red Sea did keepe his people under Moses for forty yeares because of their rebellion feeding them in the mean time with Manna from Heaven and sometimes with water miraculously drawne out of dry Rockes For the Countrey hath very little water almost no Trees and is utterly unfit for Tillage or Corn. There are no Townes nor inhabitants of this Desart in Arabia Petrosa are some but not many Arabia Foelix for Fruitfulnesse of ground and convenient standing every way toward the Sea is one of the best Countries of the World and the principall cause why it is called Foelix is for that it yeeldeth many things in abundance which in other parts of the World are not to be had as Frankincense especially the most precious Balmes Mirrhe and many other both Fruits and Spices and yeeldeth withall store of some precious stones When Alexander the Great was young after the manner of the Macedonians hee was to put Incense upon an Altar and powring on great store of Frankincense one of the Nobilitie of his Countrey told him that hee was too prodigall of that sweet perfume and that hee should make spare untill hee had conquered the Land wherein the Frankincense did grow But when
Alexander afterward had taken Arabia and had possession thereof hee sent a Ship load of Frankincense to the Noble man and bad him serve the Gods plentifully and not offer Incense miserably Mahumet born in Arabia This is that Countrey wherein Mahumet was borne who being of meane parentage was brought up in his youth in the trade of Merchandize but afterward joyning himselfe with Theeves and Robbers his life was to rob such Merchants as passed thorow Arabia and to this purpose having gotten together many of his own Countrimen hee had afterward a whole Legion or more of the Romane Souldiers who being offended with Heraclius the Romane Emperour for want of their pay joyned themselves to him so that at length hee had a great Army where with hee spoyled the Countries adjoyning And this was about the yeare of Christ six hundred To maintaine his credit and authority with his own men hee fained that hee had conference with the Holy Ghost at such times as hee was troubled with the Falling sicknesse and accordingly he ordained a new Religion consisting partly of Iewish Ceremonies and partly of Christian Doctrine and some other things of his own invention that he might inveagle both Iewes and Christians and yet by his owne fancie distinguish his own Followers from both The Booke of his Religion is called the Alcoran The Turkes Alcaron the people which were his Sectaries whereas indeed they came of Hagar the Hand-maid of Sarah Abrahams wife and therefore should of her be called Ishmaelites or Hagarens because they would not seeme to come of a Bond-woman and from him whom they suppose a Bastard they terme themselves Saracens as comming from Sarah they are called by some Writers Arabians instead of Saracens their name being drawn from their first Countrey The Turkes Religion Mahumet did take something of his doctrine both from the Iewes and Christians as that there is but on God that there is a life eternall in another World and the ten Commandements which they doe admit and beleeve but from the Jewes alone the false Prophet did borrow divers things as that all his males should bee circumcised that they should eate no Swines-flesh that they should oftentimes bathe purge and wash themselves which divers of their people which are more religious than the ordinary sort doe five times in the day and therefore they have neere to their Churches and Houses of Devotion divers Baths whereinto when they have entred and washed themselves they doe perswade themselves that they are as cleere from sinne as they were the first day they were born The City Mecha In this Countrey of Arabia standeth a Citie called Mecha where is the place where Mahumet was buried and in remembrance of him there is builded a great Temple unto which the Turkes and Saracens yearely goe on Pilgrimage as some Christians doe to the Holy Land For they account Mahumet to be the greatest Prophet that ever came into the World saying that there were three great Prophets Moses Christ and Mahumet and a the doctrine of Moses was bettered by Christ so the Doctrine of Christ is amended by Mahumet In this respect as we reckon the computation of our yeares from the Incarnation of Christ so the Saracens account their from the time of Mahumet The Turks The Turkes biginning and their Religion whose Fame began now about 300 yeares since have imbraced the opinions and religion of the Saracens concerning Mahumet Some of our Christians doe report that Medina a Citie standing three dayes journey from Mecha is the place where Mahumet was buried and that by order from himselfe his body was put into an Iron Coffin which being carried into a Temple the roofe or vault whereof was made of Adamant or perhaps of the Loadstone is attracted unto the top of the vault there hangeth being supported by nothing But there is no certainty of this Narration This false Prophet as Lodovicus Vives de veritate fidei doth write being desirous in some sort to imitate Christ Iesus who foretold that hee should rise againe within the space of 3 dayes did give out that himselfe should rise againe but hee appointed a larger time that was after 800 yeeres The blasphemous prophecie of Mahumet and yet that time also is expired but wee heare no newes of the resurrection of Mahumet As the Devill hath ever some device to blinde the eyes of unbeleevers so hee hath suffered it to be reported and credited among the Turkes that as Moses did allude to the comming of Christ so Christ did foretell somewhat of the appearing of Mahumet Whereupon it is ordinarily received among them that when Christ in S. Johns Gospel did say That although hee departed he would send them a Comforter it was added in the Text and that shall be Mahumet But that the Christians in malice to them have raced out those words Their owne Bookes doe mention that Mahumet while hee lived was much given to lasciviousnesse Mahumet a lasciviouâ—â—s person and all uncleannesse of body even with very beasts and his followers are so senslesse that in imitation of him they thinke no such wickednesse to be unlawfull For they are utterly unlearned and most receive whatsoever is delivered unto them out of the Alcoran Mahumet having made it a matter of death to dispute sift or call in question any thing which is written in his Law On the Westside of Arabia betweene that and Aegypt lyeth the Gulph called of the Country Sinus Arabicus by some Mare Erythraeum but commonly the Red Sea The Red Sea not of one Erythrus as some suppose but because the Land and bankes thereabout are in colour red This is that Sea through the which by Moses the people of Israel were led when they fled out of Egypt from Pharaoh God causing by his power the waters to stand on both sides of them that they passed through as on dry Land This is that Sea through which the Spices of the East Indies were in times past brought to Alexandria in Egypt and from thence dispersed into Christendome by the Venetians which Spices and Apothecaries drugs are found to be farre worse than before time they were by reason of the great moysture which they take on the water by reason of the long Navigation of the Portugales by the back part of Africa This is that Sea through the which Salomon did send for his Gold and other precious Merchandize unto the East Indies and not to the West Indies as some lately have disputed Whereout the vanity of that opinion may appeare that America and the West Indies were knowne in the time of Salomon For if he had sent thither his course had beene along the Mediterranean and through the straits of Gibralter commonly called Fretum Herculeum betweene Spaine and Barbary But the Scripture telleth that the Navy which Salomon sent forth was built at Ezion-Geber which is there also said to stand on the Red Sea So his course
Marcellinus doth observe that there was never any or almost hath ever beene but that once in the day the Sunne hath beene ever seene to shine over Alexandria This Citie was one of the foure Patriarchall Seas which were appointed in the first Nicene Councell Good Lawes made by the Kings of Egypt This Countrey was governed by a King as long agoe as almost any Countrey in the World Here raigned Amasis who made those good Lawes spoken of by Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus in whose writings the ancient customes of the Aegyptians are worthy to be read After Alexanders time Ptolomeus one of his Captaines had this Kingdome of whom all his successors were called Ptolemies as before time all their Kings were called Pharaohs they continued long friends and in league with the people of Rome till the time of Iulius Caesar but afterward they were as subjects to the Romanes tilâ— the Empire did decay When they had withdrawne themselves from the Romanes governement they set up a Prince of their owne whom they termed the Sultan or Souldan of Aegypt of whom about 400. yeares since Saladine was one But when the race of these were out the Mamalukes who were the guard of the Sultane as the Ianisaries be to the Turk appointed a Prince at their pleasure till that now about an 100. yeares agoe or lesse the Turke Selimus possessed himselfe with the sole government of the Countrey so that at this day Aegypt is wholly under the Turke There bee Christians that now live in Aegypt paying their tribute unto the Turke as others doe now also in Gracia Aeneas Silvius doth report in his History De mundo universo cap. 60. that divers did goe about to digge through that little Istmos or Strait which at the top of the Red Sea doth joyne Aegypt to some part either of Arabia or of the Holy Land imagining the labour not to bee great in as much as they conceived the space of ground to be no more than 1500 furlongs Sesostris the King of Aegypt as he saith did first attempt this Secondly Darius the great Monarch of the Persians Thirdly Ptolomy one of the Kings of Aegypt who drew a ditch a hundred foot broad thirty foot deepe and thirty seven Miles and a halfe long but when hee intended to goe forward hee was forced to cease for feare of inundation and over-flowing the whole land of Aegypt the Red Sea being found to bee higher by three Cubites than the ordinary plaine of Aegypt was But Plinie affirmeth that the digging was given over lest the Sea being let in should marre the water of Nilus which alone doth yeeld drinke to the Aegyptians Pet. Maffaeus in his Indian story doth tell that there was a Portugall also that of late yeares had a conceit to have had this worke finished that so hee might have made the third part of the old knowne world Africa to have beene an Iland compassed round with the Sea Men commonly in the description of Aegypt doe report that whole Country to stand in Africke but if wee will speake exactly and repute Nilus to bee the bound betweene Asia and Africke we must then acknowledge that the Eastern part of Aegypt from Nilus and so forward to the Red Sea doth lye in Asia which is observed by Peter Martyr in that pretty Treatise of his De legatione Babylonica Although this Countrey of Aegypt doth stand in the selfe same Climate that Mauritania doth yet the inhabitants there are not black but rather dunne or tawny Of which colour Cleopatra was observed to be who by inticement so wonne the love of Julius Caesar and Antony And of that colour doe those runnagates by devices make themselves to be who goe up and downe the world under the name of Aegyptians being indeed but counterfeits and the refuse or rascality of many Nations Of Cyrene and Africke the lesse ON the West side of Aegypt lying along the Mediterranean The Countrey of Cyrene is a Country which was called in old time Cyrene wherein did stand that Oracle which was so famous in the time of Alexander the Great called by the name of the Temple or Oracle of Jupiter Hammon whither when Alexander did repaire as to take counsell of himselfe and his successe the Priests being before taught what they should say did flatteringly professe him to bee the Sonne of God and that he was to be adored So that as the Oracle of Delphos and some other were plaine delusions of Sathan who did raigne in that darke time of ignorance so this of Iupiter Hammon may be well supposed to be nothing else but a cousenage of the Priests In this Countrey and all neere about where the Oracle stood are very great Wildernesses where did appear to Alexander for foure daies journey neither Grasse Tree Water Man Bird nor Beast but onely a deepe kinde of sand so that hee was enforced to carry water with him for himselfe and his company and all other provision on Cammels backs At this day this Countrey hath lost his old name and is reckoned as a part of Aegypt and lyeth under the Turke In dry Countries as in Africa and the Wildernesse of Arabia they have much use of Cammels First because they can carry a huge burthen of water and other provision Secondly because that themselves will goe a long time without drinke travelling as Solinus writeth foure dayes together without it but then drinking excessively and that especially of muddy and puddle water And thirdly because that in an extremity those that travell with them doe let them bloud in a veine and sucke out the bloud whereby as the owner is much relieved so the Camell is little the worse Westward from this Countrey along the Mediterranean lieth that which in ancient time was called Africa minor for as in Asia one part above another was by an excellency called Asia or Asia the lesse so this part of Africke was termed by the Romanes sometimes Africa simply sometime Africa the lesse In this Countrey did stand that place so famous mentioned by Salust under the name of Phillenorum arae which was the bound in that time betweene Africke and Cyrene On the North and East part hereof in the Sea neere unto the shore was that Quick-sand which in times past did destroy so many ships and was called Syrtis magna as also on the North and West part was the other sand called Syrtis parva Some part of this Countrey was heretofore under the Sultan of Egypt whose dominion did extend it self so farre to the West and there was diuided from the Kingdome of Tunis but it is now wholly under the Turk and is commonly reputed as a part of Barbary For now by a generall name from the confines of Cyrene unto the West as farre as Hercules Piller is called Barbary though it containe in it divers Kingdomes as Tunis Fessa and Morocco Of Mauritania Caesariensi A Part of that country which by a generall name is called at this day
Barbarie hath in old time beene called Mauritania which was divided into two parts the East part whereof next to Africa minor was called by the Romanes Mauritania Caesariensis as the other was called Mauritania Tingitana In Mauritania Caesariensi was the Countrey of Numidia the people whereof were used in the Warres of the Carthaginians as Light-horsmen and for all nimble services were very active In the East part of this Countrey standing in the Sea was that famous Citie of Carthage Carthage a famous City supposed to be built by Dido who came from Tyrus This City was it which for the space of some hundred yeares contended with Rome for the Empire of the World In the Romane Histories are recorded the great Warres which the people of Rome had with the City of Carthage In the first warre of the three the contention was for the Iles of Cicilia Corsica and Sardinia when the victory fell to the Romans and the Carthaginians were glad to redeeme their peace with the leaving of those Ilands The second warre was begun by Hannibal who brake the League and after he had taken some part of Spain from the Romanes and sacked Saguntum a Citie of their Friends came first over the Pyrenay hils to France then over the Alpes to Italy where hee overthrew the Romanes in three great Battels and much endangered their estate hee continued in Italy with his Army sixteene yeares till Scipio attempting on Carthage forced Hannibal to returne to rescue his owne Countrey There was Hannibal overthrowne and his City put to a great pension by Scipio who for his victory there was named Africanus In the third Warre because the people of Carthage still brake the League their City was razed to the very ground by the earnest and continuall counsell of Cato the Elder fearing evermore so dangerous a Neighbour though Scipio Nasica counselled to the contrary fearing lest if the dread of that enemy were taken away the Romans would grow either to idlenesse or civill dissention which after they did It is reported of Cato that hee never spake his judgement of any thing in the Senate but his conclusion was thus Thus I think for this matter and withall that Carthage is to be razed down And Scipio Nasica would reply in his conclusion Thus I thinke for this matter and withall that Carthage is not to bee razed down Livie reporteth that the way whereby Cato prevayled that Carthage should be razed downe was this while the question was very hot hee bringeth into the Senâ—te house greene Figges and let the Senatours understand that the same day three weeks those Figges were growing in Carthage Town wherby hee made manifest unto them that it was possible that an Army might be conveyed from Carthage to Rome in so short a time as that they would not be able on a suddaine to resist and so Rome might be surprized whereby they all concluded that it was no safety for their City to have a bad Neighbour so neer unto them In this Countrey toward the West not farre from Carthage stood Vtica whereof the younger Cato was tearmed Cato Vticensis because hee killed himselfe there in the civill warres betwixt Caesar and Pompey because he would not come within the hands of his enemy Caesar Not farre from thence westward standeth Hippo which was the City where S. Augustine was Bishop This whole Countrey at this day is called the Kingdome of Tunis the King whereof is a kinde of stipendary unto the Turke the people that inhabit there are generally Saracens and doe professe Mahumet Some doe write that Tunis standeth in the very place where olde Carthage was which is not so but is situated very neere unto the old ruines of the other Against the king of Tunis Charles the fift had some of his warres by Sea Of Mauritania Tingitana THe other part of Barbary that lyeth along the Mediterranean farthest into the West was called in old time Mauritania Tingitana The people of which Countrey were those which almost in al the old Histories were called by the name of Mauri Those of the other Mauritania being rather termed Numidae Into the North-west part therof did Hercules come and there did set up one of his pillars which answereth to the other in Spain they both being at the straits of Gilbralter in times past called Fretum HerculeuÌ„ On the South part thereof lay the * The kingdome of Bocchus kingdom of Bocchus which in the time of Marius had so much to doe with the Romans In the west part of this Mauritania standeth the Hill called Atlas minor Atlas minor Atlas major on the South part is the great Hill called Atlas major whereof the maine Ocean which lyeth betweene Mauritania and America is called Mare Atlanticum This hill is so high that unto those who stood on the bottome of it it seemed to touch heaven with his shoulders This Countrey hath beene long inhabited by the Saracens who from thence finding it to be but a short passage into Spaine did goe over now seven hundred yeares agoe and possessed there the Kingdome of Granado on the South side of Spaine till they were thence expelled by Ferdinandus and Elizabeth or Isabel King and Queene of Castile In this Countrey since that time have the Spaniards taken some Cities and Holds and so also have the Portugals which by the divers event of victory have often beene lost and won by them Here it was that the Emperour Charles the Fift had divers of his great Warres against the Moores as well as in the Kingdome of Tunis For the assistance of one who claymed to bee King of a part of this Countrey did Sebastian the King of Portugale goe with all his power into Africa in the Yeare 1578. where unadvisedly bearing himselfe hee was slaine together with two other the same day who claymed to be Kings so that there it was that the Battell was fought whereof it was said that * Three Kings slaine in one day at the battle of Aleazar three Kings died in one day which battell is called the battell of Aleazar and was the ruine of the Kingdome of Portugale and the cause of the uniting it to the Crowne of Spaine Astrologers did suppose that the blazing Starre which appeared the Yeare before did signifie that ill event This whole Countrey doth maintaine in it besides some Imperiall Government two absolute Kingdomes * The kingdome of Fezâ— the one of Fezza or Fez which lyeth on the North part toward the Mediterranean and Spain the other is the Kingdome of * The kingdome of Morocco Morroco which lyeth from above the Hill Atlas minor to the South and West part of Mauritania These are both Saracens as be also their people holding true League with the Turke and with some other Christian Princes a League onely for Traffick and Merchandize It may be doubted whether it was in this Mauritania Tingitana or rather but neere unto it in Mauritania Caesariensi
As hee is a Prince absolute so hee hath also a Priest-like or Patriarchall function and jurisdiction among them * One of the greatest in the world This is a very mighty Prince and reputed to bee one of the greatest Emperours in the world What was knowne of this countrey in former time was knowne under the name of Aethiopia but the voyages of the Portugalls in these late dayes have best described it The people thereof are Christians * Their Religion as is also their Prince but differing in many things from the West Church and in no sort acknowledging any supreme prerogative of the Bishop of Rome It is thought that they have retained Christianity even from the time of our Saviour being supposed to bee converted by the Chamberlaine of Candace the Queene of Aethiopia who was instructed concerning Christ by Philip the Evangelist in the Actes of the Apostles Eusebius in his Ecclesiasticall story doth make mention of this But they doe to this day retaine Circumcision whereof the reason may be that the Eâ—nuch their Converter not having any further conference with the Apostle nor any else with him did receive the Ceremonies of the Church imperfectly retayning Circumcision which among the Iewes was not abolished when he had conference with Philip. Within the dominion of Prester John are the Mountains commonly called * Lunae montes Lunae montes where is the first wel-spring and rising of the river Nilus Yet there are that fetch the head of this River out of a certaine great Lake toward the South called Zembre out of which toward the West runnes the River of Zaire into the Kingdome of Moni-congo The River of Zuama or Cuama towards the South to the Kingdome of Monomotapa or Benomotapa as this River Nilus towards the North through the Kingdome of the Abissines to Aegypt which River running violently along this Countrey and sometimes hastily increasing by the melting of much Snow from the Mountaynes would over-runne and drowne a great part of Aegypt but that it is slaked by many Ponds Dammes and Sluces which are within the Dominion of Prester Iohn And in respect hereof for the maintenance of these the Princes of Aegypt have paid unto the Governour of the * The Abissines drowned Egypt Abissines a great Tribute time out of minde which of late the great Turke supposing it to be a custome needlesse did deny till the people of the Abissins by commandement of their Prince did breake downe their Dammes and drowning Aegypt did enforce the Turke to continue his pay and to give much mony for the new making of them very earnestly to his great charge desiring a peace In this Countrey also of Prester Iohn is the rising of the Famous River * The River Nigar Nigar supposed to have in it the most and the best precious stones of any River in the World which rising likewise out of a great Lake out of that Mount after it hath runne a good space hideth it selfe for the space of sixty miles under ground then appearing againe after it hath runne somewhat further makes a great Lake and againe after a great Tract another and at last after a long course fals at Cape Verde into the Atlantick Sea Ortelius in his larger Mappes describes it falling into the Sea like Nilus in Egypt with seven streames or Ostia but those that travell these parts say that there are only some Bayes but there is no River in those parts running into the Sea but Senega There bee other Countries in Africke * Countrie 3 more in Africk as Agisimba Lybia interior Nubia and others of whom nothing is Famous but this may be said of Africke in generall that it bringeth forth store of all sorts of wild Beasts as Elephants Lions Panthers Tygres and the like yea according to the Proverbe Africa semper aliquid apportat novi Oftentimes new and * Strange shapes of wild beasts strange shapes of wilde beasts are brought forth there the reason whereof is that the Countrey being very hot and full of Wildernesses which have in them little water the Beasts of all sorts being enforced to meet at those few watering places that bee where oftentimes contrary kinds have conjunction the one with the other so that there ariseth a new king of Species which taketh part of both Such a one is the Leopard begotten of the Lion and the Beast called Pardus and somewhat resembling either of them And thus farre of Africk Of the Northerne Ilands THe Ilands that do lie in the North are in nuÌ„ber almost infinite the chief of them onely shall bee briefly touched Very farre to the North in the same Climate almost with Sweden that is under the Circle Articke lyeth an Iland called in old time * Thule Thule which was then supposed to be the farthest part of the world North-ward therfore is called by Virgil Vltima Thule The Countrey is cold the people barbarous and yeeldeth little * Their commodities commodity saving Hawkes in some part of the yeare there is no night at all Vnto this land divers of our English Nation doe yearely travell and doe bring from thence good store of Fish but especially our deepest and thickest Ling which are therefore called Island-Lings It hath pleased God * Their Religion that in these latter times the Gospell is there preached and the people are instructed in Christianity having also the knowledge of good Learning which is brought about by the meanes of the King of Sweden unto whom that Iland is now subject There is lately written by one of of that Nation a pretty Treatise in Latine which describeth the manner of that Countrey and it is to be seene in the first Tome of master Hackluits Voyages Southward from thence lyeth * Frizeland Frizeland called in Latine Frizlandia whereas the Frizeland joyning to Germany is in Latine called Frizia On the coast of Germany one of the seventeene Provinces is called * Zealand in it standeth Flushen and Middleburge Zealand which containeth in it divers Ilands in whom little is famous saving that in one of them is Flishen or Flushen a towne of war and Middleburge is another a place of good Mart. Levinus Lemnius and some of the low Germanes bee of opinion that this Citie first was built by Metellus the Romane and that which now is called Middleburge was at the first termed Metelli Burgum The States of the Low-countries doe hold this Province against the King of Spaine These Ilands have beene much troubled of late with inundation of water The Iland that lyeth most West of any fame is * Ireland Ireland which had in it heretofore many Kings of their owne but the whole Land is now annexed to the Crowne of England The people naturally are rude and superstitious the Countrey good and fruitfull but that for want of tillage in divers places they suffer it to grow into Bogges and Desarts * A rare
and admirable Note It is true of this Countrey which Solinus writeth of some other that Serpents and Adders doe not breed there and in the Irish Timber of certaine experience no Spiders webbe is ever found * Of Britaine The most renowned Iland in the world is Albion or Britannia which hath heretofore contained in it many severall Kingdomes but especially in the time of the Saxon. It hath now in it two Kingdomes England and Scotland wherein are * Foure languagâ—s there spoken foure severall Languages that is the English which the civill Scots doe barbarously speake the Welsh tongue which is the Language of the old Britaines the Cornish which is the proper speech of Cornewall and the Irish which is spoken by those Scots which live on the west part of Scotland neere unto Jreland The commodities and pleasures of England are well knowne unto us and many of them are expressed in this Verse Anglia Mons Pons Fons Ecclesia Foemina Lana England is stor'd with Bridges Hils and Wooll With Churches Wels and Women beautifull * Their originall The ancient inhabitants of this Land were the Britaines which were afterward driven into a corner of the Countrey now called Wales and it is not to be doubted but at the first this Countrey was peopled from the continent of France or thereabout when the sonnes of Noah had spread themselves from the East to the West part of the World It is not strange to see why the people of that Nation doe labour to fetch their pedigree from one Brutus whom they report to come from Troy because the originall of that Truth began by Galfriaus Monumetensis above five hundred yeares agone and his Booke contayneth great shew of Truth but was noted by Nubringensis or some Authour of his time to be meerely fabulous Besides that many of our English Nation have taxed the saying of them who would attribute the name of Britannia unto Brutus and Cornubia to Corynaeus Aenaeas Sylvius Epist 1.3 hath thought good to confirme it saying The English people saith hee doe report that after Troy was overthrowne one Brutus came unto them from whom their Kings doe fetch their Pedegrees which matter there are no more Historians that deliver besides a certain English man which had some learning in him who willing to equall the bloud of those Islanders unto the Romane stocke and generositie did affirme and say that concerning Brutus which Livie and Salust being both deceived did report of Aeneas Wee doe finde in ancient Records and Stories of this Island that since the first possessions which the Brittaines had heere it was over-runne and * The Brittains five times conquered conquered five severall times * First by the Romans The Romanes were the first that did attempt upon it under the conduct of Julius Caesar who did onely discover it and frighted the Inhabitants with the name of the Romanes but was not able so farre to prevaile upon it as any way to possesse it yet his Successours afterwards did by little and little so gaine on the Countrey that they had almost all of it which is now called England and did make a great Ditch or Trench from the East to the West Sea betweene their Dominion here and Scotland Divers of the Emperours were here in person as Alexander Severus who is reputed to be buried at Yorke Here also was Constantius Father unto Constantine the Great who from hence married Helena a woman of this Land who was afterwards Mother to the renowned Constantine But when the Romanes had their Empire much weakned partly by their owne discords and partly by that decay which the irruptions of the Gothes and Vandales and such like invaders did bring upon them they were forced to retire their Legions from thence and so leaving the Countrey naked the Scots and certaine people called the Tictes did breake in who most miserably ' wasted and spoyled the Countrey Then were the Inhabitants as some of our Authours write put to that choice that either they must stand it out and be slaine or give ground till they came to the Sea and so be drowned Of these * Secondly the Pâ—cts who used to print or pâ—unâ—e their 〈◊〉 Pictes who were the second over-runners of this Iland some doe write that they did use to cut and pounse their flesh and lay on colours which did make them the more terrible to be seene with the cuts of their flesh But certaine it is that they had their name for painting theÌ„selves which was a common thing in Brittaine in Caesars time as he reporteth in his Commentaries the men colouring their faces with Glastone or Ode that they might seeme the more dreadfull when they were to joyne battaile To meete with the cruelty and oppression of these Barbars the * Thirdly the Saxon. Saxons were in the third place by some of the Land called in who finding the sweetnesse of the soyle and commodiousnesse of the Countrey every way did repaire hither by great troupes and so seated themselves here that there were at once of them seven severall Kingdomes and Kings within the compasse of England These Saxons did beare themselves with much more temperance and placability towards those few of the Countrey that remayned than the Picts had done but yet growing to contention one of their Kings with another partly about the bounds of their territories and partly about other quarrels they had many great battels each with other In the time of these * Their Religion and devotion Religion and Devotion was much embraced and divers Monasteries and rich Religious houses were founded by them partly for penance which they would doe and partly otherwise because they thought it to be meritorious in so much that King Edgar alone is recorded to have built above foure severall Monasteries And some other of their Kings were in their ignorance so devoted that they gave over their Crownes and in superstition did goe to Rome there to leade the lives of private men These seven Kingdomes in the end did grow all into one and then the fourth and most grievous scourge and conquest of this kingdome came in the * Fourthly the Danes Danes who Lording here divers yeares were at last expelled and then William Duke of Normandy pretending that hee had right thereunto by the promise of adoption or some other conveyance from Herald did with his Normans passe over into this Land and obtained a great victory in Sussex at a place which he caused in remeÌ„brance therof to be called Battell and built an Abby there by the name of Battell Abby Hee tooke on him to winne the whole by Conquest and did beare himselfe indeed like a Conquerour For hee seised all into his hands gave out Barons Lordships and Mannours from himselfe reversed the former Lawes and Customes and instituted here the manners and orders of his owne Countrey which have proceeded on and beene by little and little bettered so that the
England One of the honourable commendations which are reputed to bee in this Realme is the * Fair and large Churches fairenesse of our greater and larger Churches which as it doth yet appeare in those which wee call Cathedrall Churches many of them being of very goodly and sumptuous buildings so in times past it was more to be seene when the Abbeyes and those which were called Religious Houses did flourish whereof there were a very great number in this Kingdome which did eate up much of the wealth of the Land but especially those which lived there giving themselves to much filthinesse and divers sorts of uncleannesse did so draw downe the vengeance of God upon those places that they were not only dissolved but almost utterly defaced by King Henry the eight 1. Archbishopricks and 24. other Bishopricks There are here two Archbishoprickes and twenty foure other Bishoprickes within England and Wales It was a tradition among old Writers that Britaine did breed no Wolves in it neither would they live here but the report was fabulous in as much as our Chronicles do write that there were here such store of them that the Kings were enforced to lay it as an imposition upon the Kings of Wales who were not able to pay much money for tribute that they should bring in yearely certaine hundreds of Wolves by which meanes they were at the length quite rid from Wolves * The Countrey of Wales had in times past a King of it selfe yea Of Wales and sometimes two the one of North Wales and the other of South-wales betweene which people at this day there is no great good affection But the Kings of England did by little and little so gaine upon them that they subdued the whole Countrey unto themselves and in the end King Henry the eight intending thereby to benefit this Realme and them did divide the Countrey into Shires appointed there his Iudices itinerantes or Iudges of the circuite to ride and by Act of Parliament made them capable of any preferment in England as well as other Subjects When the first news was brought to Rome that Iulius Caesar had attempted upon Britaine Tully in the elegance of his wit as appeareth in one of his Epistles did make a flowt at it saying that there was no gaine to bee gotten by it For gold here was none nor any other commodity to bee had unlesse it were by slaves whom he thought that his friend to whom he wrote would not looke to be brought up in learning or Musicke Note But if Tully were alive at this day hee would say that the case is much altered in as much as in our Nation is sweetnesse of behaviour abundance of Learning Musicke and all the liberall Artes goodly Buildings sumptuous Apparell rich Fare and whatsoever else may bee truely boasted to bee in any Countrey neere adjoyning * Of Scotland The Northerne part of Brittaine is Scotland which is a Kingdome of it selfe and hath beene so from very ancient time without any such Conquest or mayne transmutation of State as hath beene in other Countries It is compassed about with the Sea on all sides saving where it joyneth upon England and it is generally divided into two parts the one whereof is called the Hye-land and the other the Low-land The Low-land is the most ' civill part of the Realme wherin religion is more orderly established and yeeldeth reasonable subjection unto the King but the other part called the Hye-land which lyeth further to the North or else bendeth towards Ireland is more rude and savage and whether the King hath not so good accesse by reason of Rockes and Mountaynes as to bring the Noblemen which inhabite there to such due Conformity of Religion or otherwise as hee would This Countrey generally is more * Scotland very pooâ—e in former times poore than England or the most part of the Kingdomes of Europe but yet of late yeares the wealth thereof is much increased by reason of their great trafficke to all the parts of Christendome yea unto Spaine it selfe which hath of late yeares beene denied to the English and some other Nations and yet unto this day they have not any Shippes but for Merchandize neither hath the King in his whole Dominion any vessell called A man of Warre Some that have travelled into the Northerne parts of Scotland doe report that in the Solstitium aestivale they have scant any night and that which is is not above two houres being rather a dimnesse than a darknesse The language of the Countrey is in the Lowland a kind of barbarous English But towards Ireland side they speake Irish * Thereason why it is said that in Brittain are soure languages which is the true reason whereof it is reported that in Brittaine there are foure Languages spoken that is Irish in part of Scotland English for the greatest part Welsh in Wales and Cornish in Cornwall In the Confines between the two Kingdomes of England and Scotland which are commonly called the * Borderers great Robbâ—s and Stealers Borders there lie divers Outlawes and unruly people which as being subject to neither Prince by their good wils but so farre as they list do exercise great robberies and stealing of Cattell from them that dwell thereabout and yet the Princes of both Realmes for the better preservation of Peace and Iustice doe appoint certaine Warders on each side who have power euen by Martiall Law to represse all enormities The Queene of England had on her side three whereof one is called the * Lord Warden of the Marches Lord Warden of the East Marches the other of the West Marches the third the Warden of the middle Marches who with all their power cannot so order things but that by reason of the out-rages thereabouts committed the borders are much unpeopled whiles such as desire to be civill do not like to live in so dangerous a place It hath beene wondred at by many that are wise how it could bee that whereas so many Countries having in them divers Kingdomes and Regiments did all in the end come to the Dominion of one as appeareth at this day in Spaine where were wont to bee divers Kings and so in times past in England where the seven Kingdomes of the Saxons did grow all into one yet that England and Scotland Note being continuate within one Iland could never till now bee reduced to one Monarchy whereof in reason the French may bee thought to have beene the greatest hinderance For they having felt so much smart by the Armes of England alone in so much that sometime all that whole Countrey almost hath beene over-runne and possessed by the English have thought that it would bee impossible that they should resist the force of them if both their Kingdomes were united and joyned into one The Custome therefore of the Kings of France in former times was that by their Gold they did binde unto them the Kings and
Nobility of Scotland and by that meanes the Kings of England were no sooner attempting any thing upon France but the Scots by and by would invade England Whereupon the * A Proverbe Proverbe amongst our people grew That hee who will France winne must with Scotland first begin * The policie of the French And these Frenchmen continuing their policie did with infinite rewards breake off the Marriage which was intended and agreed upon betweene King Edward the sixt and Mary the late unfortunate Queene of Scotland drawing her rather to bee married with the Dolphine of France who was Sonne to King Henry the second and afterward himselfe raigned by the name of King Francis the second But this was so ill taken by the English that they sought revenge upon Scotland and gave them a great overthrow in that battell which was called * Musselborough field Musselborough-field The people of this Countrey were in times past so * The barbarousnesse of these Scots in former times barbarous that they did not refuse to eate mans flesh which as Saint Hierome doth witnesse of them hee himselfe saw some of them to doe in France and the fame thereof went so farre that Chrysostome in one place doth allude to such a matter There bee many little Ilands adjoyning unto the great Iland Britaine as at the very North point of Scotland the * The Orcades the people barbarous Orcades which are in number above thirty The chiefe whereof is named Orkney whereof the people are barbarous On the West-side of Scotland towards Ireland lye the Ilands called Hebrides in number forty foure where inhabite the people ordinarily called the * The Red-shankes Red-shankes Not farre from thence is the I le Mona commonly called the * The I le of Man I le of Man the peculiar jurisdiction of the Earles of Darby with homage notwithstanding reserved to the Crowne of England On the North part of Wales is the Iland of * The I le of Anglesey Anglesey which is reputed a distinct Shire Towards France side on the South part of England is the I le of * The I le of Wight Wight in Latine called Vectis which is a good hold in the narrow Seas against the French More neere France are the Iles of * The Iles of Gernesey and Iernesey Gernesey and Iernesey where they speake French and are under the Crowne of England There are also many other but of small account As the Iles of Teanet and Sheppy on the side of Kent the Sorlings or Sully at the end of Cornewall in number as it is said 145. Caldey Lunday and the Flatholnes with * Divers other Ilands others in the mouth of Severne Holy-farne Cocket Ilands on the side of Northumberland And thus much of Great Britaine and the Ilands thereunto adjoyning Of the Ilands in the Mediterranean Sea THere be many Ilāds in the Mediterranean renowned in all the old Writers◠but the chiefe of them onely shall bee touched From the Pillars of Hercules going Eastward are two Ilands not far from Spaine which in times past were called * Iusulae Baleares Insulae Baleares for that the people of them did use both for their delight and Armour Slings which they continually almost carried about with them and whereunto as Pliny writeth they did traine up their Children from their youngest yeares not giving them any meat till they had from some post or beame cast it downe with a Sling Of these were those Fonditors or Sling-casters which the Carthaginians and Spaniards did use in their Warres against the Romanes The lesser of these which lyeth most West was called in old time Minorica The bigger which lyeth more East was called Majorica and now Minorica and Majorica they are both under the Dominion of the King of Spaine More Eastward in the Sea called Mare Inferum or Tyrrhenum lyeth the Island of * The Iland of Corsica Corsica over against Genua and direct Southward from thence lyeth the great * The Iland of Sardinia Island Sardinia For the quiet possession of which two the warres were often revived betweene the old Carthaginians and the Romanes for these two Islands lye in the middle very fitly The Iland of Corsica is subject to the State of Genua whither the Genoes doe transport things out of the Mayne and are ruled by their Governours as the Venetians doe Candie This Iland is but barren either in respect of some other that lye neere unto it or of the Countrey of Italy but yet yeeldeth profit ease and honour unto the States of Genua which have little land beside it The Island of Sardinia also is no way so fruitfull as Sicily but it is under the Government of the King of Spain and was the same which was promised to Anthony the King of Navarre Note Father to Henry the Fourth King of France in recompence of Pamplona and the rest of the Kingdome of Navarre then and now detained from him and his heires by the Spaniard But this was the device onely of the Cardinall of Lorraine who intending to draw him to Papistry and to order his politicke purposes did make shew of this which was no way meant by the Spaniard Further to the East at the very point of the South part of Jtaly lyeth the great * The Iland of Sicilia Iland Sicilia which some have supposed to have beene heretofore a part of the Continent but by an Earth-quake and inundation of water to have beene rent off and so made an Iland The figure of this Countrey is Triquetra triangled or three square Iustin in his fourth Booke doth seeme to suspect that Sicily was in times past fastned unto Italy But Seneca in Consolatione ad Martian Cap. 97. doth say plainly that it was sometimes a peece of the Continent There was also a great contention for this Countrey betweene the Carthaginians and the Romanes but the Romanes obtained it and had from thence exceeding store of Corne yearely whereupon Sicily was called Horreum Pop. Rom. Here stood the goodly * The Citie Syracusa Note City called Syracusa which was destroyed and sacked by Marcellus the Romane When as Livie writeth of him hee being resolved to set on fire that Citie which was then one of the goodliest places of the World could not chuse but break forth into teares to see how vaine and transitory the glory of worldly things is here At that time lived * Archimedes the famous Engine-maker Archimedes who was a most admirable ingenious Engine-maker for all kinde of Fortifications of whom it is said that by burning Glasses which hee made he did set on fire divers ships which the Romanes had lying in the Haven When the Citie was taken hee was making plots and drawing figures on the ground for to prevent the assaults of the Romanes and being unknowne he was slaine by some of the Souldiers which did breake in upon him Some thinke that it was
much hinder the courses of the Turks from Graecia and Asia and of the other Saracens from Fez and Morocco They are very valiant men fit to doe great service either by Land or Sea as appeared when Solyman did thinke to have surprised them and their Iland the description of which warre is diligently laid downe by Caelius secundus Curio in a Treatise dedicated to Elizabeth Queene of England There hath beene divers other Orders of Knights yea and some of them reputed to bee a kinde of Religion in Portugall France England Burgundy and some other places of Christendome but because their service hath not beene employed purposely as these which are before mentioned wee doe not touch them in this place Neere unto Graecia and Peloponnesus on the West side towards Italy is the I le of Corcyra now termed * The Iles Corfu Corfu and not farre South from that is * Cephalenia Cephalenia and from thence South is * Zon. Zon called by Virgill Nemorosa Zacynthus alâ— which Ilands are at this day under the Venetians The greatest * The commodities of the countrey commodity which that Countrey doth yeeld are Currans which are gathered of a kinde of small Grapes and for the making whereof they commonly one time every summer for the space of three weekes haue a continuall drought day and night in which time the Currans are laid abroad in the open ayre and may not be taken in insomuch that if the season doe continue hot and dry their Merchandize is very good but if there fall any raine untill the time be expired of their full drying the Currans are not good but doe mould and change their colour to be somewhat white like meale The state of Venice under whom this Iland is doth make a great commodity of the impost or taxation which is laid upon this Merchandize calling the Tribute which is paid for them the * The Impost laid on this Iland called the Revenue of S. Marke Revenue of S. Marke for unto that Saint is the Citie of Venice dedicated and they hold him foâ— their Patron In this Iland besides the Merchants who repaire thither are divers Italians who be there in Garison for the Venetians in one speciall Castle which commandeth the whole Iland There are also divers Fryers 〈◊〉 that Nation who performe unto their Countrey-men such exercises of Religion as are convenient They will not suffer any of our Merchants to have Christian burial among them unlesse at his death he be confessed after the Romish fashion whereupon some have been forced to convey over some 〈◊〉 their dead bodies into Morea which is not farre distant to be buried there among the Greekes and after their fashion The naturall Inhabitants 〈◊〉 * Zant the Inhabitants Greekes Zant and Greekes both by Language and Religion and observâ— all fashions of the Greekish Church in whose words being now mucâ— corrupted and depraved there may yet be found some tokens and remainders of the old pure and uncorrupted Greeke There are in this Countrey great store of Swine kept whereof the Inhabitants doe feed and carry them into Morea but the Turkes there by their Mahumetane profession will taste no Swines flesh In Zacynthus our English Merchants have an House of abode for their traffick South-east from Morea lieth the great Iland * Creta Creta where Minos sometimes did raign so famous for his severity This Countrey was then called Hecatompolis as having in it an hundred Townes and Cities Here stood the * The Labyrinth of Dedalus Labyrinth which was the worke of Dedalus who conveighed the house so by the manifold turnings infinitenesse of Pillars and Doores that it was impossible to finde the way yet Theseus by the helpe of Ariadne the Daughter of King Minos taking a bottome of threed and tying the one end at the first doore did enter and slay the Minotaur which was kept there and afterwards returned safe out againe * The most noted lyers The ancient Inhabitants of this Countrey were such noted lyers that beside the Proverbes which were made of them as Cretense mendacium Cretisandum est cum Cretensibus the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to Titus who was left there by him as Bishop of that Iland doth cite a verse out of the Heathen Poet Epimenides that the Cretians are ever lyers evill beasts and slow bellies * The Iland Candie This Iland is in our dayes called Candy being the place from whence our Sugar of Candy is brought It is under the Venetians and reputed a part of their Seigniory Although the Turke when they had taken Cyprus did thinke also to have surprised it but that it pleased GOD by the meanes of Don Iohn of Austria in the behalfe of his brother the King of Spaine and the Venetians to give the Turke that great overthrow at Sea in the fight neere unto Lepanto Yet since that time no doubt the Turkes have a greedy eye upon the Island of Candy Betweene Creta and Peloponnesus lyeth * Cithera where was the fine Temple of Venus Cithera There was the fine Temple of Venus who thereof by the Poets is called Citheraea The Islands are many which lie in the Sea called Mare Aegeum from the bottome of Greece unto the top of the Hellespont as all the Cyclads Euboia and the great Island Samos and Chios â—o Scyros where Achilles was borne and was King of that Countrey There is also Lesbos and * Divers small Ilands Cemnos Mytelene and Ithaca where Vlysses was King and Androse whither Themistocles was sent by the Athenians for Tribute as Plutarch layeth downe the History * Note Themistocles did tell them that hee came to demand Tribute or some great Imposition upon them being accompanied with two Goddesses the one was Eloquence to perswade them and the other Violence to enforce them Whereunto the Andraeans made answere that they had on their side two Goddesses as strong whereof the one was Necessitie whereby they had it not and the other was Impossibility whereby they could not part with that which they never possessed Of these places something may bee read in the olde History of the Greekes Divers of these did strive that Homer was borne in them but of certaine many of those Kings which Homer saith came with Agamemnon to the siege of Troy were Kings but of those small Ilands Eastward from thence not farre from some part of Natolia or Asia the lesser is the * The Iland of Rhodes Iland of Rhodes the friendship of the Inhabitants whereof was in ancient time very much defired by the Princes that had to do that way so that Alexander first and the Romanes afterwards did embrace their league Here was that huge and mighty Image of the Sunne which was called Colossus Rhodius This Countrey was long defended by those who were called the Knights of Rhodes against the power of the Turke and it was a great Bulwark to defend Christendome
till that in the yeare one thousand five hundred twenty and one Solyman the Great Turke did winne it from the Christians by force From thence South-ward is the I le * The Ile Carphathus Carphathus but in the farthest end of the East part of the Mediterranean is * The I le of Cyprus Cyprus which about three hundred yeares since was a Kingdome and did afford great ayde unto the Christians that went to conquer the Holy-Land but it is now under the Turke The chiefe City thereof is * The Citie of Famogusta Famogusta which is an Archbishops Sea for Christians for their Tribute doe yet live there In this Countrey in old time was Venus much honored and therfore she was called Cypria as also Paphia because shee had a Temple in a Citie there called * The Citie Paphos Paphos * The Iland Tyrus Neere unto Syria stood the Iland Tyrus against the pride whereof the Prophets doe much speake this was a rich Citie for Merchandize and Navigation in old time and is the place from whence Dido and the builders of Carthage did come The destruction of it is most famous by Alexander the Great Of the rest of the small Ilands wee doe say nothing Of the Ilands in the Jndian Sea THe Ilands are very many that doe lie in the Seas adjoyning to the East Indies but the most famous among them shall only be touched Among old Writers as especially appeareth by Solinus was well knowne that which was then called Taprobana which lieth neere the Aequinoctiall Line It was in that time a Monarchy where the Kings raigned not by succession but by election and if any of them did grow intolerable hee was deposed and enforced to die by withdrawing from him all things necessary This is now called * The Iland of Sumatra Sumatra and hath in it divers Kings Not farre from thence lie Eastward the two Ilands called * Two Jlands Iava major and Iava minor Java-major * Java-minor which were all knowne to the old Writers as in generall may bee noted that all the East-part either in the Continent or in the Ilands have very many small Kings and Kingdomes From whence yet more East lieth a great number of Iles which are now called the * The Ilands of Moluccoes the great Riches which the King of Spaine receives from hence yearly Moluccoes which are places as rich for their quantity as any in the World from these it is that the Spaniards have yearely so great quantity of all kindes of Spice neither is there any place of all the East Indies that doth more richly furnish home their Carrects then doe these Moluccoes The Ilands which are called by that name are by some of our Writers accounted to bee at least foure and twentie or five and twentie and some of them which are the bigger have in them two or three Kings a peece and some of them which are lesse are either the severall Dominion of severall Kings or else two or three of them doe belong to some one Prince * Note When Sir Francis Drake did compasse the whole World hee came neere unto these but did not touch at any of them but Master Candish taking at large a journey was in one or more of them where hee found the people to bee intelligent and subtill and the Kings of the Countrey to take upon them as great state as might be convenient for such petty Princes Some of these Islands the Spaniards in right of the Portugals have got into their owne possession with the Kings of some other they have leagued and a third sort utterly detest them More North-ward over against China lyeth a Countrey consisting of a great many Islands called Iapona of * The Iland of Iapan Iapan the people whereof are much of the same nature with the men of China this Countrey was first discovered by the Jesuites who in a blinde zeale have travelled into the farthest parts of the World to winne men to their Religion This Iland is thought to be very rich About the parts of Iapan there are divers people whose most ordinary habitation is at the Sea and doe never come into the Land but onely for their necessities or to furnish themselves with new vessels wherein they may abide but lying not farre from the Land they have Ducks and other Fowles swimming about them which sometimes they take into their Boats and Ships and in such sort doe breed them to the maintenance of them and their Children Into this Iapan of late dayes have our English also sayled as into other parts of the East Indies and there erected a Factory The rest that be either neere unto Asia or Africa because there is little written of them wee passe over Divâ—rs smal Iionds onely named onely naming them as the Philippina Borreo Bandara as also on the side of Africke the Island of Saint Laurence called by the Inhabitants Madagascar Sumatra and other of lesse note And yet we doe finde in Solinus and Plinie but especially in Pomponius Mela that it was knowne in old time that there were many Ilands neere unto the East Indies which as it might bee first discovered by the trafficking of the Ilanders into the Continent so no doubt that Navie which Alexander sent out to Jndia to descry and coast thorow the Easterne Seas did give much light thereunto partly by that which themselves did see and partly by those things which they heard in such places or of such persons as they met with in their travell Of the Ilands in the Atlanticke Sea THere bee many Ilands which be westward from Africa and from Europe as those which are called the * Iland of Gorgades Gorgades that lie in the same climate with Guinea which are foure in number not inhabited by men but they are full of Goates Peter Martyr in his first Decade the sixt Booke saith that the Admirall Colonus in the yeare of Christ 1498 sailing to Hispaniola with eight Ships came to the I le * The Ile Madera Madera from whence sending directly the rest of his Ships to the East Indies hee in one Ship with deckes and two Carayels sayled to the Equinoctiall betweene which and the I le Madera in the middest way lie thirteene Ilands of the Portugals in old time called * Hesperides Hesperides now Cabonerde two dayes sayling distant from the inner parts of Ethiâ—pe one whereof is called * Bonavista Bonavista North-ward from thence in the same climate with the South part of Morocco lie those which are called * Canariae Ilands Canariae or the fortunate Ilands which are seven in number being most fruitfull and very pleasant and therefore called by that name Fortunatae insulae This is famous in them that it hath pleased all Cosmographers to make their Meridian to bee their first point where they doe beginne to reckon the computation of their Longitude and unto them after three hundred and
Northern parts of America they finde some tokens of civility and Christian Religion but especially they doe meet with some words of the Welch Language as that a bird with a white head should be called Pengwinn and other such like yet because we have no invincible certaintie hereof and if any thing were done it was only in the Northerne and worse parts and the entercourse betwixt Wales and those parts in the space of divers hundred yeares was not continued but quite silenced wee may goe forward with that opinion that these Westerne Jndies were no way knowne to former ages God therefore remembring the Prophecie of his Sonne that the Gospell of the Kingdome should before the day of judgement bee preached in all coasts and quarters of the World and in his mercy intending to free the people or at the least some few of them from the bondage of Satan who did detaine them in blockish ignorance and from their Idolatrous service unto certaine vile spirits whom they call their Zemes Their Religion and most obsequiously did adore them raised up the spirit of a man worthy of perpetuall memory one * Columbus the first discoverer of America Christophorus Columbus borne at Genua in Italy to set his mind to the Discovery of a new World who finding by that compasse of the old knowne World that there must needs be a much more mighty space to the which the Sunne by his daily motion did compasse about then that which was already known and discovered and conceiving that this huge quantity might as wel be land as Sea he could never satisfie himselfe till that he might attempt to make proofe of the verity thereof Being therefore himselfe a private man and of more vertue then Nobility after his reasons and demonstrations laid downe whereby hee might induce men that it was no vaine thing which hee went about hee went unto many of the Princes of Christendome and among others to Henry the seventh King of England desiring to bee furnished with shipping and men fit for such a Navigation but these men refusing him partly because they gave no credit to his Narration and partly lest they should bee derided by their neighbour Princes if by this Genoe-stranger they should be cousened but especially for that they were unwilling to sustaine the charges of shipping at last hee betooke himselfe unto the Court of Ferdinandus and Elizabeth King and Queene of Castile where also at the first hee found but small entertainment yet persisting in his purpose without wearinesse and with great importunity it pleased God to move the mind of Elizabeth the Queene to deale with her husband to furnish forth two Ships for the discovery onely and not for conquest whereupon * In the yeare 149. America discovered by Columbus Columbus in the yeare one thousand foure hundred ninetie and two accompanied with his brother Bartholomeus Columbus and many Spaniards sayled farre to the West for the space of threescore dayes and more with the great indignation and often mutinies of his company fearing that by reason of their long distance from home they should never returne againe insomuch that the Generall after many perswasions of them to goe forward was at length enforced to crave but three dayes wherein if they saw not the Land hee promised to returne and God did so blesse him to the end that his voyage mighâ— not prove in vaine that in that space one of his Companie did espie fire which was a certainâ— Argument that they were neere to the Land as it fell out indeed The first Land whereunto they came was an Iland called by the Inhabitants * The Iland Haity Haity but in remembrance of Spaine from whence heâ— came hee termed it Hispaniola and finding it to bee a Countrey full of pleasure * The riobes of the Countrey and having in it abundance of Gold and Pearle hee proceeded further and discovered another bigge Ile which is called * The Iland Cuba Cuba of the which being very glad with great treasure hee returned unto Spaine bringing joyfull newes of his happy successe When Columbus did adventure to restraine the time of their expectation within the compasse of three dayes engaging himselfe to returne if in that space they saw no Land there bee some write that hee limited himselfe not at all adventures but that bee did by his eye discerne a difference in the colour of the Clouds which did arise out of the West from those which formerly hee had seene which Clouds did argue by the clearenesse of them that they did not arise immediately out of the Sea but that they had passed over some good space of the Land and thereby grew clearer and clearer not having in them any new or late risen vapours but this is but conjecturall * The pride of the Spaniard labouring to abscure the same of Columbus The Spaniards who are by nature a people proud have since the death of Columbus laboured to obscure his fame envying that an Italian or stranger should be reported to bee the first discoverer of those parts And therefore have in their writings since given forth that there was a Spaniard which had first beene there and that Columbus meeting with his Cardes and Descriptions did but pursue his enterprize and assume the glory to himselfe But this fable of theirs doth savour of the same spirit wherewithall many of them in his life time did reproach him that it was no matter of importance to finde out these Countries but that if that hee had not done it many other might and would Which being spoken to Columbus at a solemne Dinner hee called for an Egge and willed all the Guestâ—one after another to set it up on end Which when they could not doe he gently bruising the one end of it did make it flat and so set it up by imitation whereof each of the other did the same whereby hee mildely did reprove their envy towards him and shewed how easie it was to doe that which a man had seene done before To go forward therefore Columbus being returned to Castile after his welcome to the Princes was made Great Admirall of Spaine and with a new Fleete of more Ships was sent to search further which hee accordingly did and quickly found the mayne Land not farre from the Tropick of Cancer Which part of the Countrey in honour of Spaine hee called * Hispania nova Hispania nova in respect whereof at this day the King of Spaine doth entitle himselfe Hispaniarum Rex Some there bee which write that Columbus did not discover further than the Islands and that hee spent the greatest part of his former labours in coasting Cuba and Hispaniola to see whether they were Ilands or a Continent that some other in the meane time did thrust themselves forward and descryed the firme Land Among whom * Of whom this Countrey had its name Americus Vespucius was the chiefe of whose name a great
part of the Countrey is called at this day America They found the people both of the mayne Land and Islands very many in number naked without Clothes or Armour sowing no Corne but making their Bread of a kinde of Roote which they call Maiz. Men most ignorant of all kind of Learning admiring at the Christians as if they had beene sent downe from Heaven * Manner of the prople and thinking them to bee immortall wondring at their Ships and the Tacklings thereof for they had no Ships of their owne but bigge Troughes which they call their Canoes being made hollow of the body of a Tree with the sharpe bones of Fishes for Iron or such like Instruments they have none Although it doe appeare that by the Warres of one of their petty Princes or Kings whom they call Cassickes had against another many thousands of the Inhabitants of those Countries were continually wasted and spoyled yet the number of them was so great in every part of the West Indies that in Hispaniola alone there were supposed to bee by computation of the Spaniards first arriving there not so few as 2000000 which yet by the * The cruelts of the Spaniards cruelty of the Spaniards were so murthered and otherwayes made away that within fifty yeares after as their Writers report there were scant any thousands in that Island remayning of them The like is to be said of the populousnesse of other Coasts and quarters there The * Their Armour Armour which those people did weare when they entred into the Warres was nothing but some sleight covering either made of Wood or shels of Fishes or of Cotton-wooll or some such foolish matter For they had no use at all of Iron or Steele but the most part of them came without any kinde of cloathing or covering yet armed with Bowes and Arrowes which were made sharpe in the end with the scraping of Fish-bones or with Fish-bones themselves put on the end like an Arrow-head and that oftentimes they dipped in a kinde of most venomous poyson Some other of them had for their Weapons great Clubs wherewith they did use to beate out the braines of those with whom they did combate * Note their Bread They had amongst them no good nor wholsome food for even that Maiz whereof they made their bread had in the root thereof a most venemous kinde of liquor which is no better than deadly poyson but they crush out that juyce and afterward doe prepare the roote so that it maketh them a kinde of Bread * No good Literature amongst them There was no sort of good Literature to be found amongst them nay they could not so much as distinguish any times the one from the other but by a blockish kinde of observation of the course of the Moone according to which they made their computation but without any kinde of certainty saving for some few Moneths which were lately past but for the set calculating of ought which was done divers yeares before they could doe nothing therein but onely grossely ayme at it But that in all ages it hath appeared that Sathan hath used ignorance as one of the chiefest meanes whereby to encrease Idolatry and consequently to enlarge his Kingdome it were otherwise incredible that any who have in them reason and the shape of men should bee so brutishly ignorant of all kinde of true Religion Devotion and Vnderstanding For the adoration which they doe give was onely unto certaine foule Spirits which they call by the name of their Zemes. In remembrance of whom divers of them did keep in their houses certaine things made of cotten wooll in the manner of Puppets or like Childrens Babies and to these they did yeeld a Reverence supposing some divine nature to be in them because sometimes in the evening Note how the Divill did strangely delude thâ—se people in the night time they had such illusions offered unto them as that they saw these their Puppets to move and stirre up and downe in their houses and sometimes to utter voyces and give divers significations of such things as they would have to bee done or not to bee done Yea and that with such effect from the Devill also that if their wils and commandements were not fulfilled there was some vengeance or punishment executed upon them or their Children the more to keepe them in awe and servilitie to the great enemy of Mankind Not long after the Spaniards entred those parts there were in divers of the Ilands and some part of the Mayne such incredible Tempests and Disturbances of the Ayre by Wind and Raine Thunder and Lightning as that the like had never beene seene nor heard of in the memory of man which are ordinarily interpreted to be the speciall worke of the Devill who not unfitly is tearmed by Saint Paul the Prince of the Ayre as having a liberty given him of God there sometimes to doe strange Executions and of likelihood hee did make these stirres Note the malice of Satan either grieving that the name of Christ was at all brought into those parts or else seeking to fright the Inhabitants from associating themselves with those who brought although but superstitiously the knowledge of God and the Redeemer being desirous that they should looke for more such distemperatures and vexations if they would confederate themselves with them * he adâ—tion of 〈◊〉 ople be apâ—â—â— of the 〈◊〉 and â—â—ping The people were so ignorant of all humane and civill conversation and trafficking into those parts at the first comming of the Christians thither that they thought they could never sufficiently admire their persons their Shipping or any other thing which they brought with them Whereupon they without ceasing gazed on the manner of their Ships seeing them to bee so great and consisting of divers Plancks But they were never satisfied with staring upon their Mastes Sayles Cables and other Ropes and Tacklings whereunto they had never beheld any thing like before and yet nature and necessity had taught them to make unto themselves certaine Vessels for the Sea of some one tree which they did use to get downe not with cutting but with fire and when it lay along upon the ground they did use also fire either to burne away that which was tough and unfit without or to make it hollow within although they have also the shels and bones of Fishes wherby they made it smooth But some of these Troughes or Canoes were so great that sometimes above twenty men have been found rowing in one * The mighty bignesse of the Trees of â—rasile The Trees of America but especially in Brasilia being so huge that it is reported of them that severall Families have lived in severall Armes of one Tree to such a number as are in some petty Village or Parish in Christendome * They conceived them to be some Gods Among other strange opinions which they conceived of the Spaniards this was one
low to the South * Divers Ilands in the Gulph of Mexico In and neere unto this Gulph are divers Ilands conquered and inhabited by the Spaniards as the forenamed Cuba and Hispaniola where the Spaniards were visited by our English in the time of Queen Elizabeth and their Towns of Sancto Domingo and Saint Iago taken by Sir Francis Drake as also Iarvaica and Boriquen otherwise called the Island of Saint Phu where the Earle of Cumberland tooke the Towne of Porto Ricco and many other Ilands of lesse note In the Sea coasts of all this Nova Hispania the Kings of Spaine have built many Townes and Castles and therein have erected divers Furnaces and Forges for the Trying and Fining of their Gold They that doe write of the discovery of the West Indies doe report that when Columbus at the first went thitherward in their greatest distraction and doubtfulnesse of minde whether to goe forward or backward and Columbus had begged onely two or three dayes respit there was one of his Company who after the Sea manner going up to discover the Land did espie some fire for the which being so happy and lucky a token hee did hope to receive at the hands of the King of Spaine some bountifull Reward but when hee returned home there was * Note nothing at all given unto him which hee tooke with that male contentednesse and disdaine that hee fled over into Africa and there among the Moores did apostatate and renounce the Christian Faith so that hee became a Sarazen Of the parts of America towards the North. THe rumour of the discovery of these parts being blowne over Christendome and the great quantitie of the Land together with the fruitfulnesse thereof being reported abroad some other nations did enterprize to set foote therein as namely the Frenchmen who sent certaine Shippes to a part of this Countrey lying North from Hispania nova some few degrees without the Tropicke of Cancer into which when they had arrived because of the continuall greenenesse of the ground and Trees as if it had beene a perpetuall spring they call it * And named it Florida Florida where after some few of them had for a time setled themselves the Spaniards tooke notice of it and being unwilling to endure any such neighbours they came suddenly on them and most cruelly slew them all without taking any ransome And the French in revenge of this deed of the Spaniards came in againe afterwards into this Countrey and slew those that were the slayers of their Countrey men Yet the Spaniards for want of men are not able to inhabite that Countrey but leave it to the old people The French had built in Florida upon the * The River Mayo River of Mayo where they were visited by our Sir Iohn Hawkins a Fort which they called Fort Carolin and had reasonably assured themselves for their defence against the Natives but some malicious spirits amongst them fled to the Spaniards with whom they returned againe into Florida to the murther and overthrow of their owne Countreymen Hee who list to see both the attempt of the French-men for the inhabiting of that part and the usage of the Spaniards towards them let him reade the Expedition into Florida which is the end of Benzo his Storie concerning the New found World and there hee shall finde both the covetous and insatiable nature of the Spaniards who would not endure the French neere unto them although there was Land sufficient and much to spare for both of them also their perfidiousnesse in breaking of Oathes and Promises and their * Note the Spaniards unchristian cruelty unchristian cruelty whereby they massacred all The Spaniards also to the number of three hundred Foote and two hundred Horse under the conduct of Ferdinando de Soto entred Florida about the yeare of the Lord 1550 and there conquered a thousand miles wide and large and after foure or five yeares continuance in that Countrey betooke themselves again from thence and went to New Spaine landing at Panuc in Shippes and Vessels that they had built in Florida And in all that time notwithstanding many conflicts with the Natives and divers discommodities and wants which they sustained in the Countrey they lost but two hundred men After this departure of the Spaniards out of Florida brought thither by Ferdinando de Soto who died in the Countrey after the defeat of the French and their revenge againe taken on the Spaniards the King of Spaine sent thither some small Forces to take possession of the Countrey and set downe there for no other end as it is thought but to keepe out other Nations from entring there the one halfe whereof set downe on the River of Saint Augustine and the other halfe a dozen leagues from thence to the Northward at a place by them called Saint Helena In the yeare 1586. as * Sir Francis Drakes Voyage Sir Francis Drake came coasting along from Cartagena a Citie in the mayne Land to which hee put over and tooke it after hee departed from Sancto Domingo when the mortality that was amongst our English had made them to give over their Enterprize to goe with Nombre de Dios and so over Land to Pannaenia there to have stricken the stroake for the Treasure hee was on the Coast of Florida in the height of thirtie our men described on the shoare a place built lâ—ke a Beacon which was made for men to discover to Sea-ward so comming to the Shore they marched along the Rivers side till they came to a Fort built all of whole Trees which the Spaniards called the Fort of Saint Iohn where the King entertained halfe his Forces that hee then had in the Countrey which were a hundred and fifty Souldiers the like number being at Saint Helena all of them under the governement of Petro Melendez Nephew to the Admirall Melendez that a fifteene or sixteene years before had beene to bring with our English in the Bay of Mexico this Fort our English tooke and not farre from thence the Towne also of Saint Augustine upon the same River where resolving to undertake also the Enterprize of Saint Helena when they came to the Havens mouth where they should enter they durst not for the dangerous shols wherefore they forsooke the place coasting along to Virgina where they tooke in Master Ralph Lane and his Company and so came into England as you shall heare when wee speake of Virginia In these Northerne parts of America but especially within the maine Continent some have written but how truely I cannot tell that there is a Sea which hath no entercourse at all with the Ocean so that if there be any third place beside the Mare Caspium and the Mare Mortuum in Palestina which retaineth in it selfe great saltnesse and yet mingleth not with other Seas it is in these Countries There is also in new Spaine a great salt Lake as bigge or bigger then the dead Sea of Palestine in
the midst of which stands the great City of Tenustitan or Mexico the Mistris or imperiall City of those parts and on the bankes or sides of that Lake many other Cities also beside which though they are but little in comparison of the greatnesse of Tenustitan yet of themselves are great This Tenustitan is supposed to consist of sixty thousand houses as you may reade in the third Chapter of the fifth of the Decades and this City standing in the midst and centre of this salt Lake goe which way you will from the Continent to the Citie it is at least a league and an halfe or two leagues on the Lake unto it some of the other Cities are said to be thirty some of fortie thousand Houses the names of these are * Foure Cities more in America Mesiqualcingo Coluacana Wichilabasco Iztapalapa and others the Lake though it bee in the middest of the Land hath his fluxus refluxus his ebbing and flowing like the Sea and yet seventy leagues distant from the Sea But certaine it is that towards the South of these parts which is the Northerne part of Hispania nova above Mexico there * The burning Hill in America is a burning Hill which oftentimes breaketh out into flames as Vesuvius in Campania did in the time of the elder Plinie and as Aetna hath done many Ages since and before Peter Martyr in the fift of his Decads saith that eight leagues from Tenustitan or Mexico as Ferdinando Cortes went thither from the Chiurute Calezthere is a Hill called of the Inhabitants Popecatepeque as much as to say a smokie Mountaine at the top whereof there is a hole of a League and a halfe wide out of which are cast * A strange fire fire and stones with Whirlewindes and that the thicknesse of the ashes lying about the Hill is very great It is reported also elsewhere of this Hill that the flames and ashes thereof oft times destroy the fields and Gardens thereabouts When Cortes went by it he senten Spaniards with Guides of the Countrey to see and make report thereof unto him two of which ten venturing further then the rest saw the mouth of this fiery Gulph at the Hils top and had they not happily soone returned towards their Fellowes and sheltred themselves under a Rock on the side of the Hill such a multitude of stones were cast out with the flame that by no meanes they could have escaped * Of Virginia the first plantation The Englishmen also desirous by Navigation to adde some thing unto their owne Countrey as before time they had travelled toward the farthest North part of America so lately finding that part which lyeth betweene Florida and Nova Francia was not inhabited by any Christians and was a Land fruitfull and fit to plant in they sent thither two severall times two severall Companies as Colonies to inhabite that part which in remembrance of the Virginitie of their Queene they called Virginia But this Voyage being enterprized upon by private men and being not throughly followed by the State the possession of this Virginia for that time was discontinued and the Countrey left to the old Inhabitans * The second plantation I here was some English people who after they had understood the calmnesse of the Climate and goodnesse of the foyle did upon the instigation of some Gentlemen of England voluntarily offer themselves even with their Wives and Children to goe into those parts to inhabit but when the most of them came there upon some occasions they returned home againe the first time which caused that the second yeare there was a great company transported thither who were provided of many necessaries and continued there over a whole Winter under the guiding of Master Lane but not finding any sustenance in the Country which could well brooke with their nature and being too meanely provided of Corne and Victuals from England they had like to have perished with Famine and therefore thought themselves happy when Sir Francis Drake comming that way from the Westerne Indies would take them into his Ships and bring them home into their Native Country Yet some there were of those English which being left behind ranged up and downe the Countrey and hovering about the Sea coast made meanes at last after their induring much misery by some Christian Shippes to bee brought backe againe into England While they were there inhabiting there were some children borne and baptized in those parts and they might well have endured the Countrey if they might have had such strength as to keepe off the inhabitants from troubling them in tilling the ground and reaping such Corne as they would have sowed * The third plantation Againe in the dayes of our now raigning Soveraigne in the yeere of our Lord 1606. the English planted themselves in Virginia under the degrees 37 38 39. where they doe to this day continue and have built three Towns and Forts as namely Iames-Towne and Henrico Fort Henricke and Fort Charles with others which they hold and inhabite sure retreats for them against the force of the natives and reasonably secured places against any power that may come against them by Sea In the same height but a good distance from the coast of Virginia lyeth the Iland called by the Spaniards La Bermuda but by our English the * Of the Summer Ilands Summer Ilands which of late is inhabited also by our Countrey-men North-ward from them on the coast lyeth Norumbega which is the South-part of that which the French-men did without disturbance of any Christian for a time possesse For the French-men did discover a large part of America towards the Circle Articke and did build there some Townes and named it of their owne Countrey Nova Francia As our English-men have adventured very farre for the discovery of new found Lands so with very great labour and diligence they attempted to open something higher than Nova Francia and therefore with some Shippes they did passe thither and entred upon the Land from whence they brought some of the people whose countenance was very tawny and duskie which commeth not by any heate but the great cold of the Climate chilling and pricking them but the digestion and stomacke of these people is very good in so much that like unto the Tartars some other Northerne Nation their feeding was for the most part upon raw meate their manners otherwise being barbarous and sutable to their Diet. They had little leatherne Boats wherein they would fish neere the brinckes of the Sea and at their pleasure would carry them from place to place on their backes Notwithstanding all their paines there taken it was a great errour and ignorance in our men when they supposed that they should finde good store of Gold-mines in those quarters for the Countrey is so cold that it is not possible to find there any full concoction of the sunne to breed and worke such a mettall within the
and so to the Molucco Ilands then homeward from the East by Africke did in a devise give the Globe of the Earth with this word or motto Primus me circumdedisti which is not simply to be understood that never any had gone round the World before him but that never any of fame for Magellane himselfe was slaine as before is noted or else he did doubt of the truth of that narration that the Ship called Victoria did returne with safety into Spaine The Maps which were made at first concerning America Peru did so describe the Westerne part of Peru as if when a man had passed Magellane Straits and did intend to come upwards towards Nova Hispania on the further side he must have borne much West by reason that the Land did shoot out with a very great Promontory and bending that way But our Englishmen which went with Sir Francis Drake did by their owne experience certainely finde that the Land from the uttermost end of the Straits on Peru side did goe up towards the South directly without bending to the West and that is the cause wherefore all the new Maps and Globes especially made by the English or by the Dutch who have taken their directions from our men are reformed according to this new observation When the Spaniards had once found an ordinary passage from the South Sea towards the Moluccoes they never ceased to travaile that way and discovered more and more and by that meanes they have found out divers Ilands not knowne in former Ages as two for example sake a good distance from the Moluccoes which because * Insulae Latronum they be inhabited by men which do steale not only each from other but doe pilfer away all things that they can from such strangers as doe land thereabouts they are called Insulae Latronum They have also descryed some other neere unto the East Indies which they now tearme * Jnsulae Solomonis Insulae Solomonis But the most renowned of all are those of whom the name is given * Philippinae Philippina in remembrance of Philip the Second King of Spaine at whose cost they were discovered * Their Richâ—s These Philippinae are very rich and from thence is brought abundance of costly Spices and some other rich Merchandize yea and Gold too There were also some other Ilands descryed by Magellanus himselfe which he called * Insulas infortunatas Insulas infortunatas as being of quality contrary to the Canaries which are tearmed the fortunate Islands for when hee passing thorow the South Sea and meaning to come to the Moluccoes where hee was slaine did land in these Ilands thinking there to have furnished himself with victuals and fresh water hee found the whole places to be barren and not inhabited Of the Countreys that lie about the two Poles HAving laid downe in some measure the description of the olde known World Asia Africa and Europe with the Islands adjoyning unto them and also of America which by some hath the title of New-found-world it shall not be amisse briefly to say something of a fift and sixt part of the Earth the one lying neer the South Pole and the other neer the North which are places that in former times were not known nor thought of When Magellanus was come downe to the Southerne end of Peru he found on the further side of the Straits a maine and huge land lying towards the South-Pole which some of his name called since * Regio Magellanica Regio Magellanica and that so much the rather because he touched upon it againe before he came to the Moluccoes Since his time the Portugales travelling towards Calecut and the East Indies there have some of them bin driven by tempest so far as to that which many now call the South Continent and so divers of sundry Nations have there by occasion touched upon it It is found therefore by experience for to goe along all the degrees of longitude and as in some places it is certainely discovered to come up so high towards the North as to the Tropicke of Capricorne so it is conjectured that towards the South it goeth as farre as to the Pole The ground whereof is that never any man did perceive the Sea did passe thorow any part thereof nay there is not any great River which hath yet beene described to come out of it into the Ocean whereupon it is concluded that since somewhat must fill up the Globe of the Earth from the first appearing of this land unto the very Pole and that cannot be any Sea unlesse it should be such a one as hath no entercourse with the Ocean which to imagine is uncertaine therefore it is supposed that it commeth whole out into the Land to the Antarticke Pole which if it should be granted it must needs be acknowledged withall that this space of Earth is so huge as that it equalleth in greatnesse not only Asia Europe and Africa but almost America being joyned unto them Things memorable in this Countrey are yet reported to be very few only in the East part of it over against the Moluccoes some have written that there bee very waste countries and wildernesses but we find not so much as mention whether any do inhabit there or no. And over against the promontory of Africke which is called Caput bonae spei there is a Countrey which the Portugals called * Psittacorum Regio Psittacorum regio because of the abundant store of Parrots which they found there Neere to the Magellane straits in this South part of the world is that land the Spaniards call Terra del fuego * Terra del fuego those also which have touch'd at it in other places have given to some parts of it these names Boach Eucach Maletur but we have no perfect description of it nor any knowledge how or by whom it is inhabited * A description of the people About this place the said Portugals did at one time saile along for the space of 2000. Miles and yet found no end of the land And in this place they reported that they saw inhabitants which were very faire and fat people and did goe naked which is the more to be observed because we scant read in any writer that there hath bin seen any people at all upon the South-coast More towards the East not far from the Moluccoes there is one part of this countrey as some suppose although some doubt whether that be an Iland or no which commeth up so high towards the north as the very Aequinoctial line and this is commonly called * Nova Guinea Nova Guinea because it lieth in the same climate and is of no other temperature then Guinea in Africke is I have heard a great Mathematician in England finde fault both with Ortelius and Mercatâ—r and all our late Makers of Maps because in describing this Continent they make no mention of any Cities
computation is onely by the Sunne and Moone who they hold to be of a Divine nature and although they know nothing truly concerning God yet they have a darke opinion that the soule doth live after the separation from the body * Their apparell The men and women thorowout the whole Countrey doe goe starke naked even very few of them having any thing on to cover their Privities only some of them doe pull some kinde of ornaments thorow their eares and the most of them have their lower-lip bored thorow with a great hole therein putting some device or other * The proportion of the Inhabitants They looke very disguisedly but they are all wonderfull straight of limbe and proportion insomuch that the Author writeth that in all the time wherein hee lived among them hee saw not one crooked backt or mishapen in any part whereof seeking to give a reason hee ascribeth it to this that their Children are never swathed nor bound about with any thing when they are first borne but are put naked into the bed with their Parents to lie which beds are devised of Cotton wooll and hung up between two trees not farre from the ground in the which slagging downe in the middle men and their wives and their children doe lie together But whether this bee the true reason of the straightnesse of their bodies it may bee doubted from the authority of Saint Hierome who in one of his Treatises mentioning that the Children of the noblest and greatest Romanes in his time were very crooked when other which were bred of meaner parents were not so imputeth it to this cause that the Gentlewomen of Rome in a kinde of wantonnesse did not suffer their Infants to bee so long swathed as poorer people did and that thereby their joynts and members not being tied and restrained within compasse did flye out of proportion Certainely howsoever there may be some reasons naturally given of these things it is much to be ascribed to the immediate will of God who giveth and taketh away beauty at his pleasure * Note The men of these parts are very strong and able of body and therefore either give sound strokes with their Clubs wherewith they fight or else shoot strong shoots with their Bowes whereof they have plenty and if any of them bee taken in the Warres after they have beene crammed of purpose to bee eaten of their enemies they are brought forth to execution wherein marvellous willingly they doe yeeld themselves to death as supposing that nothing can be more honourable unto them than to bee taken and to dye for their Countrey He therefore who is to kill the other doth with very much insolencie pride insult over him which is to be slaine saying thou art he which wouldst have spoyled and destroyed us and ours but now I am to recompence thee for thy paines and the other without all feare replies Yea I am hee that would have done it would have made no spare if I had prospered in mine intent and other such sutable words shewing their resolution to conquer or willingly to dye in the common cause of themselves and their people * The Canibals or man-eaters which is the Countrey custome It is strange to see the inhumane and unnaturall custome which many of the people of the West Indies have for there are whole Ilands full of such Canibals as doe eate mans flesh and among the rest these Tovonpinambaltij are famous that way who when they are disposed to have any great meeting or to have any solemne feast they kill some of their adversaries whom they keepe in store for that purpose and cutting him out into collops which they call Boucan they will lay them upon the coles and for divers dayes together make great mirth in devouring them wherein they have this fashion very strange that so long as they are in their eating banquet although it continue divers dayes they doe never drinke at all but afterwards when they are disposed to fall to drinking of a certaine liquor which they have amongst them they will continue bousing at it for two or three whole dayes and in the meane time never eate In many parts both of Hispania nova and Peru as also in the Ilands neere adjoyning they have an herbe wherof they make great use of which some is brought into divers parts of Europe under the name of * Their great use of Tobacco Tobacco Paetum or Nicosiana although we have also much counterfeit of the same the people of those parts doe use it as Phisicke to purge themselves of humours and they apply it also to the filling of themselves the smoake of it being received through a leafe or some such hollow thing into the nostrils head and stomacke and causing the party which receiveth it to lie as if he were drunke or dead for a space needing no food or nourishment in the meane while Whereof it cannot be denied but that it is possible that by prescript of Physicke it may be serviceable for some purposes among us although that also it be very disputable in as much as they who speak most highly of it must and doe confesse that the force of it is obstupefactive and no other whereby it produceth his owne effects and wisemen should be wary and sparing in receiving of such a thing But when we doe consider the vaine and wanton use which many of our Countrymen have of late taken up in receiving of this Tabbaco not onely many times in a day but even at meat Note and by the waâ— to the great waste both of their purse and of their bodies wee may well deplore the vanitie of the Nation who thereby propose themselves as ridiculous to the French and other our Neighbours And certainly if it were possible that our worthy warlike and valiant Progenitors might behold hold their manners who doe most delight therein they would wonder what a generation had succeeded in their roomes who addict themselves to so fond and worse then effeminate passion Benzo who lived among them of the West Indies doth call the smell of it a Tartarus and hellish savour And whosoever looketh into those Bookes which our Christians travelling thither have written concerning those West Indies shall finde that the Inhabitants there doe use it most as a remedy against that which is called Lues Venerea whereunto many of them are subject being uncleane in their conversation and that not onely in Fornication and Adultery with Women * Note this yee Tobacoonists but also their detestable and execrable sinne of Sodomie After that the Spaniards had for a time possessed Hispania Nova for the desire of Gold and Pearle some of them travailed toward the South and as by water they found the Sea West-ward from Peru which is alwaies very calme and is by them called the South-Sea as the other wherein Cuba standeth is tearmed the North-Sea so by land they found that huge mighty
Country which is called * A description of the people of Peru. Peru wherein the people are for the most part very barbarous and without God men of great stature yea some of them farre higher than the ordinary sort of men in Europe using to shoot strongly with Bows made of Fish-bones and most cruell people to their enemies Our English people who have travailed that way do in their writings confesse that they saw upon the South of Peru very huge tall men who attempting upon them when they put to land for fresh water were much frighted with their Gunnes or else doubtlesse had offered violence unto them which our men fearing got them away as speedily as they could There was one Petrus de Cieca a Spaniard who when he had travailed two and twenty yeeres returned backe againe into Europe and wrote an excellent Booke of the Discovery of that whole Country And he amongst other things doth record that there are found in some parts of Peru very huge and mighty bones of men that had bin Gyants who dwelt and were buried there * The Riches of the Countrey of Peru. Amongst these the Spaniards partly by force but especially by perfidious treason did get infinite sums of Gold and Pearles wherewith being allured they hoped for more by reason that a great part therof lyeth under the Zona Torrida and that caused them to spread themselves here and there as farre as they durst in the Country where in some places they digged Gold out of the Earth and in some other they found it ready digged and tryed unto their hands by the people of the Country which had used that trade before their comming thither Among other creatures which are very famous in this Peru there is a little * A strange story of the Beast Cincia beast called Cincia which is no bigger then a Fox the tayle whereof is long the feet short and the head very like a Fox which hath a bagge hanging under her belly whereinto shee doth use to put her young when shee seeth them in danger of any hunter or passenger That Petrus de Cieca of whom mention was made before telleth that himselfe saw one of them which had no lesse then seven yong ones lying about her but as soone as she perceived that a man was comming neere unto her shee presently got them into her bagge and ranne away with such incredible swiftnesse as one would not have imagined After the Spaniards had conquered Mexico they discovered Peru travelling towards the South and as they prevailed against the Mexicans taking part with an enemy Neighbour so finding two brothers striving in Peru Guascar and Atabaliba they so demeaned themselves in their difference that they ruin'd both and got there incredible store of Gold The first attempters against the Peruvians The first that attempted against the Peruvians and destroyed their Kings were Iames of Almagra and the two brothers of Pizarroes but dealing trecherously cruelly with the Peruvians the long enjoyed not their victory but all of them died a violent death The people of Peru are in many places much wiser than those of Cuba Hispaniola and some other parts of the Continent where the Spaniards first landed and therfore they have some orders and solemne customes among them as among the rest they doe bury their dead with observable Ceremonies laying up their bodies with great solemnity into a large house prepared for that purpose They have also in one Province there a custome of carrying of news and messages very speedily to the end the King and Governour of the Country may presently take advertisement of any thing which falleth out and this is not on Horse-backe or by the Dromedary or Elke as they use in other places but onely men who passe over Rockes and thorow Bushes the next way and in certain set places there be always fresh Postes to carry that farther which is brought to them by the other The Spaniards have here and there scatteringly upon the Sea-coasts set up some Towns and Castles but are not able to possesse almost any thing of the Land neither have they as yet discovered the inward parts thereof though daily they spread themselves more and more in so much that it is supposed that within these seven yeares last past they have gotten into Guiana where in former time no strength of that Nation hath bin * Guiana Guiana is a Countrey which lyeth to the North-sea in the same height as Peru to the South as it is described about five degrees from the Aequinoctiall and that as I take it towards the South * The richnesse and pleasantnes of the Countrey The Countrey is supposed to be exceeding rich and to haue in it many Mynes of Gold which have not yet been touched or at least but very lately and to be exceeding fertile and delightfull otherwise although it lie in the heate of Zona Torrida but there is such store of Rivers and fresh waters in every part thereof and the soyle it selfe hath such correspondency thereunto that it is reported to be as green and pleasant to the eye as any place in the World Some of our Englishmen did with great labour and danger passe by water into the heart of the Country and earnestly desired that some forces of the English might be sent thither and a Colony erected there by reason of the distance of the place and the great hazard that if it should not succeed well it might proove dishonourable to our Nation and withall because the Spaniards have great companies and strength although not in it yet many waies about it that intendment was discontinued In divers parts of this Peru and neere unto Guiana there are very many great rivers which as they are fit for any navigation that should be attempted to goe up within the Land so otherwise they must needs yeeld health and fruitfulnesse to those that inhabite there The greatest of these Rivers is that which some call Oregliana or the * The River of the Amazones river of the Amazones And next is the river Maragnone down towards Magellane straits Rio de la Plata and our Englishmen doe speake of the river Orinoque In the greatest of which this is famous that for a good space after they have run into the maine sea yea some write 20. or 30. miles they keepe themselves unmixt with the salt water so that a very great way within the Sea men may take up as fresh water as if they were neere the Land The first of our Nation that sailed to Guiana and made report thereof unto us Sir Walter Raleigh did first discover it to the English was Sir Walter Raleigh who travelled far up into the Country upon the River Orinoque after him one or two voyages thither did Captaine Kemmish make and now lately Captain Harcourt with others have visited that Country where our men continued the space of three or foure yeares