Town from the beginning of it to 1669 is just forty years in which time there hath been an increasing of forty Churches in this Colony but many more in the rest and Towns in all New-England one hundred and twenty for the most part along the Sea Coasts as being wholsomest for somewhat more than two hundred miles onely on Connecticut-River as I have said is thirteen Towns not far off one another The other Towns of note in this Colony are Green-Harbour to the Eastward of Plimonth towards the point of the Cape therefore somewhat unaccessible by land here is excellent Timber for shipping then Marshfield Yarmouth Rehoboth Bridgwater Warwick Taunton Eastham by the Indians called Namset The first Town Northeast from Greenbarbor is Sittuate in the jurisdiction of the Mattachusets-Colony more Northward of Sittuate is Conchusset and Hull a little Burg lying open to the Sea from thence we came to Merton-point over against which is Pullin-point Upon Merton-point which is on the Larboard-side is a Town called Nantascot which is two Leagues from Boston where Ships commonly cast Anchor Pullin-point is so called because the Boats are by the seasing or Roads haled against the Tide which is very strong it is the usual Channel for Boats to pass into Mattachusets-Bay There is an Island on the South-side of the passage containing eight Acres of ground Upon a rising hill within this Island is mounted a Castle commanding the entrance no stately Edifice nor strong built with Brick and Stone kept by a Captain under whom is a master-Gunner and others The Bay is large made by many Islands the chief Deere-Island which is within a flight shot of Pullin-point great store of Deere were wont to swim thither from the Main then Bird-Island Glass-Island Slate-Island the Governours Garden where the first Apple-Trees in the Countrey were planted and a vinyard then Round-Island and Noddles-Island not far from charles-Charles-Town most of these Islands lye on the North-side of the Bay The next Town to Nantascot on the South-side of the Bay is Wissaguset a small Village about three miles from Mount-wolleston about this Town the soil is very sertile Within sight of this is Mount-wolleston or Merry-mount called Massachusets-fields where Chicatabat the greatest Sagamore of the Countrey lived before the plague here the Town of Braintree is seated no Boat nor Ship can come near to it here is an Iron mill to the West of this Town is Naponset-River Sâ—x miles beyond Braintree lyeth Dorchester a frontire Town pleasantly seated and of large extent into the main land well watered with two small Rivers her body and wings filled somewhat thick with houses to the number of two hundred and more beautified with fair Orchards and Gardens having also plenty of Corn-land and store of Cattle counted the greatest Town heretofore in New-England but now gives way to Boston it hath a Harbout to the North for Ships A mile from Dorchester is the Town of Roxbury a fair and handsome Countrey Town the streets large the Inhabitants rich replenished with Orchards and Gardens well watered with springs and small freshets a brook runs through it called Smelt-River a quarter of a mile to the North-side of the Town runs stony River it is seated in the bottom of a shallow Bay but hath no harbour for shipping Boats come to it it hath store of Land and Cattle Two miles Northeast from Roxbury and Forty miles from New-Plimouth in the latitude of 42 or 43 degrees and 10 minutes in the bottom of Massachusets-Bay is Boston whose longitude is 315 degrees or as others will 322 degrees and 30 seconds So called from a Town in Lincolnshire which in the Saxons time bare the name of St. Botolph and is the Metropolis of this Colony or rather of the whole Countrey situated upon a Peninsula about four miles in compass almost square and invironed with the Sea saving one small Isthmus which gives access to other Towns by land on the South-side The Town hath two hills of equal height on the frontire part thereof next the Sea the one well fortified on the superficies with some Artillery mounted commanding any Ship as she sails into the Harbour within the still Bay the other hill hath a very strong battery built of whole Timber and fill'd with earth at the descent of the hill in the extreamest part thereof betwixt these two strong Arms lyes a large Cove or Bay on which the chiefest part of the Town is built to the Northwest is a high mountain that out-tops all with its three little rising hills on the summit called Tramount this is furnished with a Beacon and great Guns from hence you may overlook look all the Islands in the Bay and descry such Ships as are upon the Coast the houses are for the most part raised on the Sea-banks and wharfed out with great industry and cost many of them standing upon piles close together on each side the streets as in London and furnished with many fair shops their materials are Brick Stone Lime handsomely contrived with three meeting Houses or Churches and a Town-house built upon pillars where the Merchants may confer in the Chambers above they keep their monethly Courts Their streets are many and large paved with pebble stone and the South-side adorned with Gardens and Orchards The Town is rich and very populous much frequented by strangers here is the dwelling of their Governour On the North-west and Northeast two constant Fairs are kept for daily Traffick thereunto On the South there is a small but pleasant Common where the Gallants a little before Sun-set walk with their Marmalet-Madams as we do in Morefields c. till the nine a clock Bell rings them home to their respective habitations when presently the Constables walk their rounds to see good orders kept and to take up loose people Two miles from the town at a place called Muddy-River the Inhabitants have Farms to which belong rich arable grounds and meadows where they keep their Cattle in the Summer and bring them to Boston in the Winter the Harbour before the Town is filled with Ships and other Vessels for most part of the year Hingham is a Town situated upon the Sea-coasts South-east of Charles-River here is great store of Timber deal-boards masts for Ships white-Cedar and fish is here to be had Dedham an inland-town ten miles from Boston in the County of Suffolk well watered with many pleasant streams and abounding with Garden fruit the Inhabitants are Husbandmen somewhat more than one hundred Families having store of Cattle and Corn. The Town of Waymouth lyes open to the Sea on the East Rocks and Swamps to the South-ward good store of Deer arable â—and and meadows On the North-side of Boston flows Charles-River which is about six fathom deep many small Islands lye to the Bayward â—nd hills on either side the River a very good harbour here may forty Ships ride â—he passage from Boston to Charles-Town is â—y a Ferry worth forty
by one Andrew Thorn an English man in Anno 1527. Sir Humphrey Gilbert a west Countrey Knight took possession of it in the Queens name Anno 1582. The two first Colonies in New-England failing there was a fresh supply of English who set down in other parts of the Countrey and have continued in a flourishing condition to this day The whole Countrey now is divided into Colonies and for your better understanding observe a Colony is a sort of people that come to inhabit a place before not inhabited or Colonus quasi because they should be Tillers of the Earth From hence by an usual figure the Countrey where they sit down is called a Colony or Plantation The first of these that I shall relate of though last in possession of the English is now our most Southerly Colony and next adjoyning to Mary-land scil the Manadâ—es or Manahanent lying upon the great Râ—ver Mohegan which was first discovered by Mr. Hudson and sold presently by him to the Dutch without Authority from his Soveraign the King of England Anno 1608. The Dutch in 1614 began to plant there and call'd it New-Netherlands but Sir Samuel Argal Governour of Virginia routed them the Dutch after this got leave of King James to put in there for fresh water in their passage to Brasile and did not offer to plant until a good while after the English were settled in the Countrey In Anno 1664 his Majestie Charles the Second sent over sour worthie Gentlemen Commissioners to reduce the Colonies into their bounds who had before incroached upon one another who marching with Three hundred red-Coats to Manadaes or Manhataes took from the Dutch their chief town then called New-Amsterdam now New York the Twenty ninth of August turn'd out their Governour with a silver leg and all but those that were willing to acknowledge subjection to the King of England suffering them to enjoy their houses and estates as before Thirteen days after Sir Robert Care took the Fort and Town of Auravia now called Albany and Twelve days after that the Fort and Town of Awsapha then De-la-ware Castle man'd with Dutch and Sweeds So now the English are masters of three handsome Towns three strong Forts and a Castle not losing one man The first Governour of these parts for the King of England was Colonel Nicols a noble Gentleman and one of his Majesties Commissioners who coming for England in Anno Dom. 1668 as I take it surrendered the Government to Colonel Longlace The Countrey here is bless'd with the â—ichest soil in all New-England I have heard it reported from men of Judgement and Integrity that one Bushel of European-Wheat hath yielded a hundred in one year Their other Commodities are Furs and the 〈◊〉 New-York is situated at the mouth of the great River Mohegan and is built with Dutch Brick alla-moderna the meanest house therein being valued at One hundred pounds to the Landward it is compassed with a Wall of good thickness at the entrance of the River is an Island well fortified and hath command of any Ship that shall attempt to pass without their leave Albany is situated upon the same River on the West-side and is due North from New-York somewhat above Fifty miles Along the Sea-side Eastward are many English-Towns as first Westchester a Sea-Town about Twenty miles from New-York to the Eastward of this is Greenwich another Sea-Town much about the same distance then Chichester Fairfield Stratford Milford all Sea-Towns twenty and thirty mile distant from one another twenty miles Eastward of Milford is Newhaven the Metropolis of the Colony begun in 1637. One Mr. Eaton being there Governour it is near to the shoals of Cape Cod and is one of the four united Colonies The next Sea-Town Eastward of New-haven is called Guilford about ten mile and I think belonging to that Colony From Guilford to Connecticut-River is near upon twenty miles the fresh River Connecticut bears the name of another Colony begun in the year 1636 and is also one of the four united Colonies Upon this River are situated 13 Towns within two three four miles off one another At the mouth of the River on the West-side is the Lord-Say and Brooks for t called Saybrook-fort Beyond this Northward is the Town of Windsor then Northampton then Pinsers-house On the Eastside of the River Hartford about it low land well stored with meadow and very fertile Wethersfield is also situated upon Connecticut River and Springfield but this Town although here seated is in the jurisdiction of the Mattachusets and hath been infamous by reason of Witches therein Hadley lyes to the Northward of Springfield New-London which I take to be in the jurisdiction of this Coloney is situated to the Eastward of Connecticut-River by a small River and is not far from the Sea From Connecticut-River long Island stretcheth it self to Mohegan one hundred and twenty miles but it is but marrow and about sixteen miles from the main the considerablest Town upon it is Southampton built on the Southside of the Island towards the Eastern end opposite to this on the Northernside is Feversham Westward is Ashford Huntingdon c. The Island is well stored with Sheep and other Cattle and Corn and is reasonable populous Between this Island and the mouth of Connecticut-River lyeth three small Islands Shelter-Island Fishers-Island and the Isle of Wight Over against New-London full South lyeth Block-Island The next place of note on the Main is Narragansets-Bay within which Bay is Rhode-Island a Harbour for the Shunamitish Brethren as the Saints Errant the Quakers who are rather to be esteemed Vagabonds than Religious persons c. At the further end of the Bay by the mouth of Narragansets-River on the South-side thereof was old Plimouth plantation Anno 1602. Twenty mile out to Sea South of Rhode-Island lyeth Martins vineyard in the way to Virginia this Island is governed by a discreet Gentleman Mr. Mayhew by name To the Eastward of Martin's vinyard lyeth Nantocket-Island and further Eastward Elizabeths-Island these Islands are twenty or thirty mile asunder and now we are come to Cape-Cod Cape-Cod was so called at the first by Captain Gosnold and his Company Anno Dom. 1602 because they took much of that fish there and afterward was called Cape-James by Captain Smith the point of the Cape is called Point-Cave and Tuckers Terror and by the French and Dutch Mallacar by reason of the perillous shoals The first place to be taken notice of on the South-side of the Cape is Wests-Harbour the first sea-Sea-Town Sandwich formerly called Duxbury in the Jurisdiction of New-Plimouth Doubling the Cape we come into the great Bay on the West whereof is New-Plimouth-Bay on the Southwest-end of this Bay is situated New Plimouth the first English-Colony that took firm possession in this Countrey which was in 1620 and the first Town built therein whose longitude is 315 degrees in latitude 41 degrees and 37 minutes it was built nine years before any other
New-England and now we are 100 and 75 leagues off Cape-Sable the sandy Cape for so Sable in French signifieth off of which lyeth the Isle of Sable which is beyond New-found-land where they take the Amphibious Creature the Walrus Mors or Sea-Horse The Two and twentieth another passenger dyed of a Consumption Now we passed by the Southern part of New-found-land within sight of it the Southern part of New-found-land is said to be not above 600 leagues from England The Six and twentieth day Capt. Thomas Cammock went aboard of a Barke of 300 Tuns laden with Island Wine and but 7 men in her and never a Gun bound for Richmonds Island set out by Mr. Trelaney of Plimouth exceeding hot weather now The Eight and twentieth one of Mr. Edward Ting's the undertakers men now dyed of the Phthisick The Nine and twentieth day sounded at night and found 120 fathome water the head of the Ship struck against a rock At 4 of the clock we descryed two sail bound for New-found-land and so for the Streights they told us of a general Earth-quake in New-England of the Birth of a Monster at Boston in the Massachusets-Bay a mortality and now we are two leagues off Cape Aun The Thirtieth day proved stormie and having lost the sight of Land we saw none untill the morning doubtfully discovering the Coast fearing the Lee-shore all night we bore out to Sea July the first day we founded at 8 of the clock at night and found 93 fathome water descried land The Third day we Anchored in the Bay of Massachusets before Boston Mr. Tinges other man now dyed of the small pox The Tenth day I went a shore upon Noddles Island to Mr. Samuel Maverick for my passage the only hospitable man in all the Countrey giving entrtainment to all Comers gratis Now before I proceed any further it will not be Impertinent to give the intending planter some Instructions for the furnishing of himself with things necessary and for undertaking the Transport of his Family or any others To which end observe that a Ship of 150 Tuns with 2 Decks and a half and 26 men with 12 pieces of Ordnance the charge will amount per moneth with the Mariners to 120 pound per moneth It is better to let the Owners undertake for the Victualling of the Mariners and their pay for Wages and the Transporter only to take care of the passengers The common proportion of Victuals for the Sea to a Mess being 4 men is as followeth Two piece of Beef of 3 pound and ¼ per piece Four pound of Bread One pound 1 â— of Pease Four Gallons of Bear with Mustard and Vinegar for three flesh dayes in the week For four fish dayes to each mess per day Two pieces of Codd or Habberdine making three pieces of a fish One quarter of a pound of Butter Four pound of Bread Three quarters of a pound of Cheese Bear as before Oatmeal per day for 50 men Gallon 1. and so proportionable for more or fewer Thus you see the Ships provision is Beef or Porke Fish Butter Cheese Pease Pottage Water-gruel Bisket and six shilling Bear For private fresh provision you may carry with you in case you or any of yours should be sick at Sea Conserves of Roses Clove-gilliflowers Wormwood Green-Ginger Burnt-Wine English Spirits Prunes to stew Raisons of the Sun Currence Sugar Nutmeg Mace Cinnamâ—n Pepper and Ginger White Bisket or Spanish rusk Eggs Rice juice of Lemmons well put up to cure or prevent the Scurvy Small Skillets Pipkins Porrengers and small Frying pans To prevent or take away Sea sickness Conserve of Wormwood is very proper but these following Troches I prefer before it First make paste of Sugar and Gum-Dragagant mixed together then mix therewith a reasonable quantitie of the powder of Cinnamâ—n and Ginger and if you please a little Musk also and make it up into Roules of several fashions which you may gild of this when you are troubled in your Stomach take and eat a quantity according to discretion Apparel for one man and after the rate for more  l. s. d. One Hatt 0 3 0 One Monmouth Cap 0 1 10 Three falling bands 0 1 3 Three Shirts 0 7 6 One Wastcoat 0 2 6 One suit of Frize 0 19 0 One suit of Cloth 0 15 0 One suit of Canvas 0 7 6 Three pair of Irish Stockins 0 5 0 Four pair of Shoos 0 8 0 One pair of Canvas Sheets 0 8 0 Seven ells of course Canvas to make a bed at Sea for two men to be filled with straw 0 5 0 One course Rug at Sea for two men 0 6 0 Sum Total 4 0 0 Victuals for a whole year to be carried out of England for one man and so for more after the rate  l. s. d. Eight bushels of Meal 2 0 0 Two bushels of Pease at three shillings a bushel 0 6 0 Two bushels of Oatmeal at four and six pence the bushel 0 9 0 One Gallon of Aqua vitae 0 2 6 One Gallon of Oyl 0 3 6 Two Gallons of Vinegar 2 0 0 Note Of Sugar and Spice 8 pound make the stone 13 stone and an half i. e. 100 pound maketh the hundred but your best way is to buy your Sugar there for it is cheapest but for Spice you must carry it over with you  l. s. d. A Hogshead of English Beef will cost 5 0 0 A Hogshead of Irish Beef will cost 2 10 0 A Barrel of Oatmeal 0 13 0 A Hogshead of Aqua-vitae will cost 4 0 0 A Hogshead of Vinegar 1 0 0 A bushel of Mustard-seed 0 6 0 A Kental of fish Cod or Habberdine is 112 pound will cost if it be merchantable fish Two or three and thirty Rials a Kental if it be refuse you may have it for 10 or 11 shillings a Kental Wooden Ware  l. s. d. A pair of Bellowes 0 2 0 A Skoope 0 0 9 A pair of Wheels for a Cart if you buy them in the Countrey they will cost 3 or 4 pound 0 14 0 Wheelbarrow you may have there ' in England they cost 0 6 0 A great pail in England will cost 0 0 10 A Boat called a Canow will cost in the Countrey with a pair of Paddles if it be a good one 3 0 0 A short Oake ladder in England will cost but 0 0 10 A Plough 0 3 9 An Axletree 0 0 8 A Cart 0 10 0 For a casting shovel 0 0 10 For a shovel 0 0 6 For a Sack 0 2 4 For a Lanthorn 0 1 3 For Tobacco pipes short heads and great bouls 14 pence and 16 pence the grose  l. s. d. For clipping an hundred sheep in England 0 4 6 For winding the Wool 0 0 8 For washing them 0 2 0 For one Garnish of Peuter 2 0 0 Prizes of Iron Ware Arms for one man but if half of your men have Armour it is sufficient so that all have pieces and swords One Armour compleat light 0
upon a Rock at Cape-Ann a Boat passing by with English aboard and two Indians they would have shot the Serpent but the Indians disswaded them saying that if he were not kill'd out-right they would be all in danger of their lives One Mr. Mittin related of a Triton or Mereman which he saw in Cascebay the Gentleman was a great Fouler and used to goe out with a small Boat or Canow and fetching a compass about a small Island there being many small Islands in the Bay for the advantage of a shot was encountred with a Triton who laying his hands upon the side of the Canow had one of them chopt off with a Hatchet by Mr. Mittin which was in all respects like the hand of a man the Triton presently sunk dying the water with his purple blood and was no more seen The next story was told by Mr. Foxwell now living in the province of Main who having been to the Eastward in a Shallop as far as Cape-Ann-a Waggon in his return was overtaken by the night and fearing to land upon the barbarous shore he put off a little further to Sea about midnight they were wakened with a loud voice from the shore calling upon Foxwell Foxwell come a shore two or three times upon the Sands they saw a great fire and Men and Women hand in hand dancing round about it in a ring after an hour or two they vanished and as soon as the day appeared Foxwell puts into a small Cove it being about three quarters floud and traces along the shore where he found the footing of Men Women and Children shod with shoos and an infinite number of brands-ends thrown up by the water but neither Indian nor English could he meet with on the shore nor in the woods these with many other stories they told me the credit whereof I will neither impeach nor inforce but shâ—ll satisfie my self and I hope the Reader hereof with the saying of a wise learned and honourable Knight that there are many stranger things in the world than are to be seen between London and Stanes September the Sixth day one Mr. John Hickford the Son of Mr. Hickford a Linnen-Draper in Cheapside having been sometime in the province of Main and now determined to return for England sold and kill'd his stock of Cattle and Hoggs one great Sow he had which he made great account of but being very fat and not suspecting that she was with pig he caused her to be kill'd and they sound 25 pigs within her belly verifying the old proverb As fruitful as a white sow And now we were told of a sow in Virginia that brought forth six pigs their fore-parts Lyons their hinder-parts hogs I have read that at Bruxels Anno 1564. a sow brought forth six pigs the first whereof for the last in generating is alwayes in bruit beasts the first brought forth had the head face arms and legs of a man but the whole trunck of the body from the neck was of a swinâ— a sodomitical monster is more like the mother than the father in the organs of the vegetative soul The Three and twentieth I left Black-point and came to Richmonds Island about three leagues to the Eastward where Mr. Tralanie kept a fishing Mr. John Winter a grave and discreet man was his Agent and imployer of 60 men upon that design The Four and twentieth day being Munday I went aboard the Fellowship of 100 and 70 Tuns a Flemish bottom the Master George Luxon of Bittiford in Devonshire several of my friends came to bid me farewell among the rest Captain Thomas Wannerton who drank to me a pint of kill-devil alias Rhum at a draught at 6 of the clock in the morning we weighed Anchor and set sail for the Massachusets-bay The Seven and twentieth day being Fryday we Anchored in the afternoon in the Massachusets-bay before Boston Next day I went aboard of Mr. Hinderson Master of a ship of 500 Tuns and Captain Jackson in the Queen of Bohemia a privateer and from thence I went ashore to Boston where I refreshed my self at an Ordinary Next morning I was invited to a fishermans house somewhat lower within the Bay and was there by his Wife presented with a handful of small Pearl but none of them bored nor orient From thence I crost the Bay to Charles-town where at one Longs Ordinary I met with Captain Jackson and others walking on the back side we spiâ—d a rattle Snake a yard and half long and as thick in the middle as the small of a mans leg on the belly yellow her back spotted with black russet yellow and green placed like scales at her tail she had a rattle which is nothing but a hollow shelly bussiness joynted look how many years old she is so many rattles she hath in her tail her neck seemed to be no bigger than ones Thumb yet she swallowed a live Chicken as big as one they give 4 pence for in England presently as we were looking on In the afternoon I returned to our Ship being no sooner aboard but we had the sight of an Indian-Pinnace sailing by us made of Birch-bark scwed together with the roots of spruse and white Cedar drawn out into threads with a deck and trimmed with sails top and top gallant very sumptuously The Thirtieth day of September I went ashore upon Noddles-Island where when I was come to Mr. Mavericks he would not let me go aboard no more until the Ship was ready to set sail the next day a grave and sober person described the Monster to â—ne that was born at Boston of one Mrs. Dyer a great Sectarie the Nine and twentieth of June it was it should seem without a head but having horns like a Beast and ears scales on a rough skin like a fish called a Thornback legs and claws like 〈◊〉 Hawke and in other respects as a Woman-child The Second of October about 9 of the clock in the morning Mr. Mavericks Negro woman came to my chamber window and in her own Countrey language and tune sang very loud and shril going out to her she used a great deal of respect towards me and willingly would have expressed her grief in English but I apprehended it by her countenance and deportment whereupon I repaired to my host to learn of him the cause and resolved to intreat him in her behalf for that I understood before that she had been a Queen in her own Countrey and observed a very humble and dutiful garb used towards her by another Negro who was her maid Mr. Maverick was desirous to have a breed of Negroes and therefore seeing she would not yield by perswasions to company with a Negro young man he had in his house he commanded him will'd she nill'd she to go to bed to her which was no sooner done but she kickt him out again this she took in high disdain beyond her slavery and this was the cause of her grief In the afternoon I walked into the Woods
9 leagues off our course W. S. W. the Start bore North distant about 6 leagues from whence our reckonings began the wind now E. N. E. a fair gale The second day the Lizard bore N. N. W. in the latitude 51.300 leagues from Cape-Cod in New England our course W. and by S. One of our passengers now dyed of a Consumption The Fifth day we steered S. W. observed and found the ship in latitude 47 degrees and 44 minutes The Tenth day observed and found the ship in laâ—iâ—ude 49 degrees and 24 minutes The Five and twentieth day about 3 of the clock in tâ—e morning we discovered land about 6 of the clock Flowers so called from abundance of flowers and Corvo from a multitude of Crowes two of the Azorâ—â— or western Islands in the Atlantique Oceaâ— not above 250 leagues form Lisbon boâ—â— N. W. of us some 3 leagues off we steereâ— away W. by W. observed and found Floweâ—â— to be in the Southern part in latitude 39 degrees 13 minuts we descryed a Village and a small Church or Chappel seated in a pleasant valley to the Easter-side of the Island the whole Island is rockie and mountanious about 8 miles in compass stored with Corn Wine and Goats and inhabited by out-law'd Portingals the Town they call Santa Cruz. Corvo is not far from this I supposed two or three leagues a meer mountain and very high and steep on all sides cloathed with tall wood on the very top uninhabited but the Flowreans here keep some number of Goats The Seven and twentieth day 30 leagues to the westward of these Islands we met with a small Vessel stoln from Jamaico but 10 men in her and those of several nations English French Scotch Dutch almost samish'd having been out as they told us by reason of calms three moneths bound for Holland July the sixth calm now for two or three dayes our men went out to swim some hoisted the Shallop out and took divers Turtles there being an infinite number of them all over the Sea as far as we could ken and a man may ken at Sea in a clear Air 20 miles they floated upon the top of the water being a sleep and driving gently upon them with the Shallop of a sudden they took hold of their hinder legs and lifted them into the boat if they be not very nimble they awake and presently dive under water when they were brought aboard they sob'd and wept exceedingly continuing to do so till the next day that we killed them by chopping off their heads and having taken off their shells that on their back being fairest is called a Gally patch we opened the body and took out three hearts in one case and which was more strange we perceived motion in the hearts ten hours after they were taken out I have observed in England in my youthful dayes the like in the heart of a Pike and the heart of a Frog which will leap and skip as nimbly as the Frog used to do when it was alive from whom it was taken Likewise the heart of a Pig will stir after it is exenterated Being at a friends house in Cambridg-shire the Cook maid making ready to slaughter a Pig she put the hinder parts between her legs as the usual manner is and taking the snout in her lest hand with a long knife she stuâ—k the Pig and cut the 〈…〉 of the heart almost in two letting 〈…〉 as any bloud came forth 〈…〉 â—â—â—ing of it into a Kettle of boyâ—◠〈…〉 the Pig swom twice round aâ—â—â— the kâ—ttle when taking of it out to the dresser she rubd it with powdered Rozen and stript off the hair and as she was cutting off the hinder pettito the Pig lifts up his head with open mouth as if it would have bitten well the belly was cut up and the entrails drawn out and the heart laid upon the board which notwithstanding the wound it received had motion in it above four hours after there were several of the Family by with my self and we could not otherwayes conclude but that the Pig was bewitched but this by the way Of the Sea Turtles there be five sorts first the Trunck-turtle which is biggest Secondly the Loggerhead-turtle Thirdly the Hawkbill-turtle which with its bill will bite horribly Fourthly the Green-turtle which is best for food it is affirmed that the feeding upon this Turtle for a twelve moneth forbearing all other kind of food will cure absolutely Consumptions and the great pox They are a very delicate food and their Eggs are very wholesome and restorative it is an Amphibious Creature going ashore the male throws the female on her back when he couples with her which is termed cooting their Eggs grown to perfection the female goes ashore again and making a hole in the Sand there layes her Eggs which are numerous I have seen a peck of Eggs taken out of one Turtle when they have laid they cover the hole again with sand and return to the Sea never looking after her Eggs which hatching in the sand and coming to some strength break out and repair to the Sea Having fill'd our bellies with Turtles and Boniâ—o's called Spanish Dolphins excellently well cooked both of them the wind blowing fair The Eighth day we spread our sails and went on our voyage after a while we met with abundance of Sea-weeds called Gulfweed coming out of the Bay of Mexico and firr-trees floating on the Sea observed and found the Ship to be in 39 degrees and 49 minuts The Fifteenth day we took a young Sharke about three foot long which being drest and dished by a young Merchant a passenger happened to be very good fish having very white flesh in flakes like Codd but delicately curl'd the back-bone which is perfectly round joynted with short joynts the space between not above a quarter of an inch thick separated they make fine Table-men being wrought on both sides with curious works The One and twentieth thick hasie weather The Five and twentieth we met with a Plimouth man come from St. Malloes in France 10 weeks out laden with cloath fruit and honey bound for Boston in New-England The Six and twentieth we had sight of land The Seven and twentieth we Anchored at Nantascot in the afternoon I went aboard of a Ketch with some other of our passengers in hope to get to Boston that night but the Master of the Ketch would not consent The Eight and twentieth being Tuesday in the morning about 5 of the clock he lent us his Shallop and three of his men who brought us to the western end of the town where we landed and having gratified the men we repaired to an Ordinary for so they call their Taverns there where we were provided with a liberal cup of burnt Madera-wine and store of plum-cake about ten of the clock I went about my Affairs Before I pursue my Voyage to an end I shall give you to understand what Countrie New-England is New-England is that part
of America which together with Virginia Mary land and Nova-scotia were by the Indians called by one name Wingadacoa after the discovery by Sir Walter Rawleigh they were named Virginia and so remained untiil King James divided the Countrey into Provinces New-England then is all that tract of land that lyes between the Northerly latitudes of 40 and 46 that is from De-la-ware-Bay to New-found-land some will have it to be in latitude from 41 to 45. in King Jame's Letters Patents to the Council of Plimouth in Devonshire from 40 to 48 of the same latitude it is judged to be an Island surrounded on the North with the spacious River of Canada on the South with Mahegan or Hudsons River having their rise as it is thought from two great lakes not far off one another the Sea lyes East and South from the land and is very deep some say that the depth of the Sea being measured with line and plummet seldom exceeds two or three miles excâ—pt in some places near the Swevian-shores and about Pontus observed by Pliny Sir Francis Drake threw out 7 Hogsheads of line near Porto-bello and sound no bottom but whether this be true or no or that they were deceived by the Currants carrying away their lead and line this is certainly true that there is more Sea in the Western than the Eastern Hemisphere on the shore in more places than one at spring-tides that is at the full or new of the moon the Sea riseth 18 foot perpendicular the reaâ—on of this great flow of waters I refer to the â—earned onely by the way I shall acquaint you â—ith two reasons for the ebbing and flowâ—ng of the Sea the one delivered in Common conference the other in a Sermon at Boston in the Massachusets-Bay by an eminent man The first was that God and his spirit â—oving upon the waters caused the motion â—he other that the spirit of the waters gathered â—he waters together as the spirit of Christ gathered Souls The shore is Rockie with high cliffs â—aving a multitude of considerable Harâ—ours many of which are capacious â—nough for a Navy of 500 sail one of a â—housand the Countrie within Rockie and mountanious full of tall wood onâ— stately mountain there is surmounting the 〈◊〉 about four score mile from the Sea The description of it you have in my rarities of New-England between the mountains are many ample rich and pregnant valleys as â—ver eye beheld besâ—t on each side with variety of goodly Trees the grass man-high unmowed uneaten and uselâ—sly withering within these valleys are spacious lakes or ponds well stored with Fish and Beavers the original of all the great Rivers in the Countrie of which there are many with lesser streams wherein are an infinite of fish manifesting the goodness of the soil which is black red-clay gravel sand loom and very deep in some places as in the valleys and swamps which are low grounds and bottoms infinitely thick set with Trees and Bushes of all sorts for the most part others having no other shrub or Tree growing but spruse under the shades whereof you may freely walk two or three mile together being goodly large Trees and convenient for masts and sail-yards The whole Countrie produceth springs in abundance replenished with excellent waters having all the properties ascribed to the best in the world Swift is' t in pace light poiz'd to look in clear And quick in bâ—iling which esteemed were Such qualities as rightly understood Withouten these no water could be good One Spring there is at Black-point in the Province of Main coming out of muddy-clay that will colour a spade as if hatcht with silver it is purgative and cures scabs and Itch c. The Mountains and Rocky Hills are richly surnished with mines of Lead Sâ—lver Copper Tin and divers sorts of minerals â—ranching out even to their summits where â—n small Crannies you may meet with threds of perfect silver yet have the English no â—naw to open any of them whether out of â—gnorance or fear of bringing a forraign Enemy upon them or like the dog in the manger to keep their Soveraign from parâ—aking of the benefits who certainly may claim an interest in them as his due being eminently a gift proceeding from divine bounty to him PLACE = marg Isa 45.3 no person can pretend interest in Gold Silver or Copper by the law of Nations but the Soveraign Prince but the subjects of our King have a right to mines discovered in their own Lands and inheritances So as that every tenth Tun of such Oar is to be paid to the proprieters of such lands and not to the state if it be not a mine-Royal if it prove to be a mine-Royal every fifth Tun of all such Oar as shall hold Gold or Silver worth refining is to be rendered to the King The learned Judges of our Kingdom have long since concluded that alihough the Gold or Silver conteined in the base mettals of a mine in the land of a Subjâ—ct be of less value than the baser mettal yet if the Gold or Silver do countervail the charge of refining it or be more worth than the base mettal spent in refining it that then it is a mine-Royal and as well the base mettal as the Gold anâ— Silver in it belongs by prerogative to thâ— Crown The stones in the Countrey are for thâ— most mettle-stone free-stone pebble slate none that will run to lime of which they have great want of the slate you may make Tables easie to be split to the thickness of an inch or thicker if you please and long enough for a dozen men to sit at Pretious stones there are too but if you desire to know further of them see the Rarities of New-England onely let me add this observation by the way that Crystal set in the Sun taketh fire and setteth dry Tow or brown Paper on fire held to it There is likewise a sort of glittering sand which is altogether as good as the glassie powder brought from the Indies to dry up Ink on paper newly written The climate is reasonably temperate hotter in Summer and colder in Winter than with us agrees with our Constitutions better than hotter Climates these are limbecks to our bodies forraign heat will extract the inward and adventitions beat consume the natural so much more heat any man receives outwardly from the heat of the Sun so much more wants he the same inwardly which is one reason why they are able to receive more and larger draughts of Brandy the like strong spirits than in England without offence Cold is less tolerable than heat this a friend to nature that an enemy Many are of opinion that the greatest enemies of life consisting of heat and moisture is cold and dryness the extremity of cold is more easie to be endured than extremity of heat the violent sharpness of winter than the fiery raging of Summer To conclude they are both bad too much heat brings a hot
â—â—â—gions Non omnis fert omnia tellus The Walnut which is divers some bearing square nuts others like ours but smaller there is likewise black Walnut of precious use for Tables Cabinets and the like The Walnut-tree is the toughest wood in the Countrie and therefore made use of for Hoops and Bowes there being no Yew there growing In England they made their Bowes usually of Witch Hasel Ash Yew the best of outlandish Elm but the Indians make theirs of Walnut The Line-tree with long nuts the other kind I could never find the wood of this Tree Laurel Rhamnus Holly and Ivy are accounted for woods that cause fire by attrition Laurel and Ivy are not growing in New-England the Indians will rub two sear'd sticks of any sort of wood and kindle a fire with them presently The Maple-tree on the boughs of this Tree I have often found a jellied substance like Jewes-Ears which I found upon tryal to be as good for fore throats c. The Birch-tree is of two kinds ordinary Birch and black Birch many of these Trees are stript of their bark by the Indians who make of it their Canows Kettles and Birchen-dishes there is an excrescence growing out of the body of the Tree called spunck or dead mens Caps it growes at the Roots of Ash or Beech or Elm but the best is that which growes upon the black Bâ—rch this boiled and beaten and then dried in an Oven maketh excellent Touchwood and Balls to play with Alder of which wood there is abundance in the wet swamps the bark thereof with the yolke of an Egg is good for a strain an Indian bruising of his knee chew'd the bark of Alder fasting and laid it to which quickly helped him The wives of our West-Countrey English make a drink with the seeds of Alder giving it to their Children troubled with the Alloes I have talk'd with many of them but could never apprehend what disease it should be they so name these Trees are called by some Sullinges The Indians tell of a Tree that growes for up in the land that is as big as an Oake that will cure the falling-sickness infallibly what part thereof they use Bark Wood leaves or fruit I could never learn they promised often to bring of it to me but did not I have seen a stately Tree growing here and there in valleys not like to any Trees in Europe having a smooth bark of a dark brown colour the leaves like great Maple in England called Sycamor but larger it may be this is the Tree they brag of Thus much concerning Trees now I shall present to your view the Shrubs and first of the Sumach Shrub which as I have told you in New-Englands rarities differeth from all the kinds set down in our English Herbalâ— the root dyeth wool or cloth reddish â—he decoction of the leaves in wine drunk is good for all Fluxes of the belly in man or woman the whites c. For galled places stamp the leaves with honey and apply it nothing so soon healeth a wound in the head as Sumach stampt and applyed once in three dayes the powder strewed in stayeth the bleeding of wounds The seed of Sumach pounded and mixt with honey healeth the Hemorrhoids the gum put into a hollow tooth asswageth the pain the bark or berries in the fall of the leaf is as good as galls to make Ink of Elder in New-England is shurubbie dies once in two years there is a sort of dwars-Elder that growes by the Sea-side that hath a red pith the berries of both are smaller than English-Elder not round but corner'd neither of them small so strong as ours Juniper growes for the most part by the Sea-side it bears abundance of skie-coloured berries fed upon by Partridges and hath a woodie root which induceth me to believe that the plant mention'd in Job 30.4 Qui decerpebant herbas é salsilagine cum stâ—rpibus etiam radices Juniperorum cibo erant iliis was our Indian plant Cassava They write that Juniper-coals preserve fire longest of any keeping fire a whole year without supply yet the Indian never burns of iâ— Sweet fern see the rarities of New England the tops and nucaments of sweet forn boiled in water or milk and drunk helpeth all manner of Fluxes being boiled in water it makes an excellent liquor for Inck. Current-buâ—hes are of two kinds red and black the black curâ—ents which are larger than the red smell like cats piss yet are reasonable pleasant in eating The Gooseberry-bush the berry of which is called Grosers or thorn Grapes grow all over the Countrie the berry is but small of a red or purple colour when ripe There is a small shrub which is very common growing sometimes to the height of Elder bearing a berry like in shape to the fruit of the white thorn of a pale yellow colour at frist then red when it is ripe of a deep purple of a delicate Aromatical â—â—st somewhat stiptick to conclude alwayes observe this rule in taking or resusing unknown fruit it you find them eaten of the fowl or beast you may boldly venture to eat of them otherwise do not touch them Maze otherwise called Turkie-wheat or rather Indian-wheat because it came first from thence the leaves boiled and drunk helpeth pain in the back of the stalkes when they are green you may make Beverage as they do with Calamels or Sagarcanes The raw Corn chewed ripens felons or Cats hairs or you may lay Samp to it The Indians before it be thorow ripe eat of it parched Certainly the parched Corn that Abigail brought to David was of this kind of grain 1 Sam. 25.18 The Jewes manner was as it is delivered to us by a learned Divine first to parch their Corn then they fryed it and lastly they bailed it to a paste and then tempered it with water Cheese-Curds Hâ—ncy and Eggs this they carried drye with them to the Camp and so wet the Cakes in Wine or milk such was the pulse too of Africa French-beans or rather American-beans the Heabalists call them kidney beans from their shape and effects for they strengthen the kidneys they are variegated much some being bigger a great deal than others some white black red yellow blew spotted besides your Bonivis and Calavances and the kidney-bean that is proper to Ronoake but these are brought into the Countrie the other are natural to the climate So the Mexico pompion which is flat and deeply camphered the flesh laid to asswageth pain of the eyes The water-mellon is proper to the Countrie the flesh of it is of a flesh colour a rare cooler of Feavers and excellent against the stone Pomum spinosum and palma-Christi too growes not here unless planted brought from Peru the later is thought to be the plant that shaded Jonah the Prophet Jonas 4.6 Paraverat enim Jehova Deus ricinum qui ascenderet supra Jonam ut esset umbra super caput ejus ereptura eum à malo ipsius laetabaturque
Jonas de ricino illo laetitia magna Ricinum that is palma Christi called also cucurbita and therefore translated a Gourd Tobacco or Tabacca so called from Tabaco or Tabagâ— one of the Caribbe-Islands about 50 English miles from Trinidad The right name according to Monardus is picielte as others will petum nicotian from Nicot a Portingal to whom it was presented for a raritie in Anno Dom. 1559. by one that brought it from Florida Great contest there is about the time when it was first brought into England some will have Sir John Hawkins the first others Sir Francis Drake's Mariners others again say that one Mr. Lane imployed by Sir Walter Rawleigh brought it first into England all conclude that Sir Walter Rawleigh brought it first in use It is observed that no one kind of forraign Commodity yieldeth greater advantage to the publick than Tobacco it is generally made the complement of our entertainment and hath made more slaves than Mahomet There is three sorts of it Marchantable the first horse Tobacco having a brâ—ad long leaf piked at the end the second round pointed Tobacco third sweet scented Tobacco These are made up into Cane leaf or ball there is little of it planted in New-England neither have they learned the right way of curing of it It is sowen in April upon a bed of rich mould sifted they make a bed about three yards long or more according to the ground they intend to plant and a yard and a half over this they tread down hard then they sow their seed upon it as thick as may be and sift fine earth upon it then tread it down again as hard as possible they can when it hath gotten four or six leaves they remove in into the planting ground when it begins to bud towards flowring they crop off the top for the Flower drawes away the strength of the leaf For the rest I refer you to the Planter being not willing to discover their mysteries The Indians in New England use a small round leafed Tobacco called by them or the Fishermen Poke It is odious to the English The vertues of Tobacco are these it helps digestion the Gout the Tooth-ach prevents infection by scents it heats the cold and cools them that sweat feedeth the hungry spent spirits restoreth purgeth the stomach killeth nits and lice the juice of the green leaf healeth green wounds although poysoned the Syrup for many diseases the smoak for the Phthisick cough of the lungs distillations of Rheume and all diserses of a cold and moist cause good for all bodies cold and moist taken upon an emptie stomach taken upon a full stomach it precipitates digestion immoderately taken it dryeth the body enflameth the bloud hurteth the brain weakens the eyes and the sinews White Hellebore is used for the Scurvie by the English A friend of mine gave them first a purge then conserve of Bear-berries then sumed their leggs with vinegar sprinkled upon a piece of mill-stone made hot and applied to the sores white Hellebore leaves drink made of Orpine and sorrel were given likewise with it and Seascurvie-grass To kill lice boil the roots of Hellebore in milk and anoint the hair of the head therewith or other places Mandrake is a very rare plant the Indians know it not it is found in the woods about Pascataway they do in plain terms stink therefore Reubens-Flowers that he brought home were not Mandrakes Gen. 30.14 15 16. They are rendered in the Latine Amabiles flores the same word say our Divines is used in Canticles 7.4 Amabiles istos flores edentes odorem secundum ostia nostra omnes pretiosos fructus recentes simulac veteres dilecte mi repono tibi So that the right translation is Reuben brought home amiable and sweet smelling Flowers this in the Canticles say they expounding the other Calamus Aromaticus or the sweet smelling reed it Flowers in July see New-Englands rarities Sarsaparilla or roughbind-weed as some describe it the leaves and whole bind set with thorns of this there is store growing upon the banks of Pouds See the rarities of New-England The leaves of the Sarsaparilla there described pounded with Hogs grease and boiled to an unguent is excellent in the curing of wounds Live for ever it is a kind of Cud-weed flourisheth all summer long till cold weather comes in it growes now plentifully in our English Gardens it is good for cough of the lungs and to cleanse the breast taken as you do Tobacco and for pain in the head the decoction or the juice strained and drunk in Bear Wine or Aqua vitae killeth worms The Fishermen when they want Tobacco take this herb being cut and dryed Lysimachus or Loose-strife there are several kinds but the most noted is the yellow Lysimachus of Virginia the root is longish and white as thick as ones thumb the stalkes of an overworn colour and a little hairie the middle vein of the leaf whitish the Flower yellow and like Primroses and therefore called Tree-primrose growes upon seedie vessels c. The first year it growes not up to a stalke but sends up many large leaves handsomely lying one upon another Rose fashion Flowers in June the seed is ripe in August this as I have said is taken by the English for Scabious St. John's wort it preserveth Cheese made up in it at Sea Spurge or Wolfes milch there are several sorts Avens or herb-bennet you have an account of it in New-Englands rarities but one thing more I shall add that you may plainly perceive a more masculine quality in the plants growing in New-England A neighbour of mine in Hay-time having over-heat himself and melted his grease with striving to outmowe another man fell dangerously sick not being able to turn himself in his bed his stomach gon and his heart fainting ever and anon to whom I administred the decoction of Avens-Roots and leaves in water and wine sweetning it with Syrup of Clove-Gilliflowers in one weeks time it recovered him so that he was able to perform his daily work being a poor planter or husbandman as we call them Red-Lilly growes all over the Countrey amongst the bushes Mr. Johnson upon Gerard takes the Tulip to be the Lilly of the field mentioned by our Saviour Matth. 6.28 29. Ac de vestitu quid soliciti estis discite quomodo lilia agrorum augescant non fatigantur neque nent sed dico vobis ne Solomonem quidem cum universa gloria sic amictum fuisse ut unum ex istis Solomon in all his Royalty was not like one of them His reasons are first from the shape like a lilly The second because those places where 〈◊〉 Savioâ—r was conversant they grow wild in the fields Third the infinite variety of the colours The fourth and last reason the wondrous beautie and mixture of these Flowers Water-lillys the black roots dryed and pulverized are wondrous effectual in the stopping of all manner of fluxes of the belly drunk with
bush-tail like a Fox and offensive Carion the Urine of this Creature is of so strong a scent that if it light upon any thing there is no abiding of it it will make a man smell though he were of Alexanders complexion and so sharp that if he do but whisk his bush which he pisseth upon in the face of a dogg hunting of him and that any of it light in his eyes it will make him almost mad with the smart thereof The Musquashes is a small Beast that lives in shallow ponds where they build them houses of earth and sticks in shape like mole-hills and feed upon Calamus Aromaticus in May they scent very strong of Muske their furr is of no great esteem their stones wrapt up in Cotten-wool will continue a long time and are good to lay amongst cloths to give them a grateful smell The Squirril of which there are three sorts the mouse-squirril the gray squirril and the flying squirril called by the Indian Assapanick The mouse-squirril is hardly so big as a Rat streak'd on both sides with blâ—ck and red streaks they are mischievous vermine destroying abundance of Corn both in the field and in the house where they will gnaw holes into Chests and tear clothes both linnen and wollen and are notable nut-gâ—therers in August when hasel and tiâ—â—ert nuts are ripe you may see upon every Nut-tree as many mouse-squirrils as leaves So that the uâ—s are gone in a trice wâ—ich they convey to their Drays or Nests The gray squirril is pretty large almost as big as a Conie and are very good meat in some parts of the Countrie there are many of them The flying squirril is so called because his skin being loose and large he spreads it on both sides like wings when he passeth from one Tree to another at great distance I cannot call it flying nor leaping for it is both The Mattrise is a Creature whose head and fore-parts is shaped somewhat like a Lyons not altogether so big as a house-cat they are innumerable up in the Countrey and are esteemed good furr The Sable is much of the size of a Mattrise perfect black but what store there is of them I cannot tell I never saw but two of them in Eight years space The Martin is as ours are in England but blacker they breed in holes which they make in the earth like Conies and are innumerable their skins or furr are in much request The Buck Stag and Rain-Dear are Creatures that will live in the coldest climates here they are innumerable bringing forth three Fawns or Calves at a time which they hide a mile asunder to prevent their destruction by the Wolves wild Cats Bears and Mequans when they are in season they will be very fat there are but few slain by the English The Indians who shoot them and take of them with toyls bring them in with their suet and the bones that grow upon Stags-Hearts What would you say if I should tell you that in Green-land there are Does that have as large horns as Bucks their brow Antlers growing downwards beyond their Musles and broad at the end wherewith they scrape away the snow to the grass it being impossible for them otherwayes to live in those cold Countries the head of one of these Does was sometime since nailed upon a signposi in Charter house-lane and these following verses written upon a board underneath it Like a Bucks-head I stand in open view And yet am none nay wonder not 't is true The living Beast that these fair horns did owe Well known to many was a Green-land Doe The proverb old is here fulfill'd in me That every like is not the same you see The Moose or Elke is a Creature or rather if you will a Monster of superfluity a full grown Moose is many times bigger than an English Oxe their horns as I have said elsewhere very big and brancht out into palms the tips whereof are sometimes found to be two fathom asunder a fathom is six feet from the tip of one finger to the tip of the other that is four cubits and in height from the toe of the fore-foot to the pitch of the shoulder twelve foot both which hath been taken by some of my sceptique Readers to be monstrous lyes If you consider the breadth that the beast carrieth and the magnitude of the horns you will be easily induced to contribute your belief And for their height since I came into England I have read Dr. Scroderns his Chymical dispensatory translated into English by Dr. Rowland where he writes that when he lived in Finland under Gustavus Horns he saw an Elke that was killed and presented to Gustavus his Mother seventeen spans high Lo you now Sirs of the Gibing crue if you have any skill in mensuration tell me what difference there is between Seventeen spans and twelve foot There are certain transcendentia in every Creature which are the indelible Characters of God and which discover God There 's a prudential for you as John Rhodes the Fisherman used to say to his mate Kitt Lux. But to go on with the Moâ—se they are accounted a kind of Deer and have three Calves at a time which they hide a mile asunder too as other Deer do their skins make excellent Coats for Martial men their sinews which are as big as a mans finger are of perdurable toughness and much used by the Indians the bone that growes upon their heart is an excellent Cordial their bloud is as thick as an Asses or Bulls who have the thickest bloud of all others a man the thinnest To what age they live I know not certainly a long time in their proper climate Some particular living Creatures cannot live in every particular place or region especially with the same jâ—y and felicity as it did where it was first brâ—d for the certain agreement of nature that is between the place and the thing bred in that place As appeareth by Elephants which being translated and brought out of the Second or Third Climate though they may live yet will they never ingender or bring forth young So for plants Birds c. Of both these Creatures some few there have been brought into England but did not long continue Sir R. Baker in his Chronicle tells us of an Elephant in Henry the Thirds Râ—ign which he saith was the first that was ever seen there which as it seems is an error unless he restrain it to the Norman's time For Mr. Speed writeth that Claudius Drusius Emperour of Rome brought in the first in his Army the bones of which digg'd up since are taken for Gyants bones As for the Moose the first that was seen in England was in King Charles the First Raign thus much for these magnals amongst the Creatures of God to be wondered at the next beast to be mentioned is The Maurouse which is somewhat like a Moose but his horns are but small and himself about the size of a Stag
Owl the most flagging Bird that is of which there are three sorts a great grey Owl with ears a little grey Owl and a white Owl which is no bigger than a Thrush Plinie writes that the brains of an Owl asswageth the pain inflammation in the lap of the ear And that Eggs of an Owl put into the liquour that a to spot useth to be drunk with will make him loath drunkenness ever after But now peradventure some will say what doth this man mean to bring Owls to Athens verily Sirs I presume to say had I brought over of the little white Owls they would have been acceptable they are good mousers and pretty Birds to look upon the Athenians no question are better imployed than to take notice of my Owls poor ragged Birds they are and want those glistering golden feathers that Draiton's Owl is adorned with yet they are somewhat of that nature if an Athenian chance in this season of divertisement to cast an eye upon them I shall be glad but more glad if he vouchsafe to prune and correct their feathers which I confess are discomposed for want of Art plain Birds they are and fit for none but plain men to manage Sirs do not mistake me there 's no man living honours an Athenian more than I do especially where I perceive great abilities concomiting with goodness of nature A good nature saith Mr. Perkins is the Character of God and God is the father of learning knowledge and every good gift and hath condescended to become a School-master to us poor mortals furnishing of us with Philosophy Historie Divinity by his holy Scriptures which if we diligently learn and practise we shall in time be brought into his Heavenly Academy where we shall have fulness and perfection of knowledge eternally But there are a Generation of men and women in this prophane age that despise Gods learning and his Ushers to the Athenians choosing to wallow in the pleasures of sin for a season I shall conclude this excursion with that which a Poet writ sometime since and then return to the trimming of my Owl Say thou pour'st them Wheat And they would Acorns eat 'T were simple fury in thee then to wast Thy self on them that have no tast No give them draff their fill Husks Grains and swill They that love Lees and leave the lustie Wine Envy them not their palats with the Swine The Raven is here numerous and Crowes but Rooks Danes Popinjaes Megpies there be none It is observed that the female of all Birds of prey and Ravin is ever bigger than the male more venturous hardy and watchful but such Birds as do not live by prey and Ravin the male is more large than the female So much for Birds of prey the next are Birds for the dish and the first of these is The Turkie which is in New-England a very large Bird they breed twice or thrice in a year if you would preserve the young Chickens alive you must give them no water for if they come to have their fill of water they will drop away strangely and you will never be able to rear any of them they are excellent meat especially a Turkie-Capon beyond that for which Eight shillings was given their Eggs are very wholesome and restore decayed nature exceedingly But the French say they breed the Leprosie the Indesses make Coats of Turkie-feathers woven for their Children The Partridge is larger than ours white flesht but very dry they are indeed a sort of Partridges called Grooses The Pidgeon of which there are millions of millions I have seen a flight of Pidgeons in the spring and at Michaelmas when they return back to the Southward for four or five miles that to my thinking had neither beginning nor ending length nor breadth and so thick that I could see no Sun they â—oyn Nest to Nest and Tree to Tree by their Nests many miles together in Pine-Trees But of late they are much dimiâ—ished the English taking them with Nets 〈◊〉 have bought at Boston a dozen of Pidgeons ready pull'd and garbidgd for three penc Ring Doves they say are there too but I could never see any The Snow-Bird is like a Chaf-Finch go in flocks and are good meat The singing Birds are Thrushes with red breasts which will be very fat and are good meat so are the Thressels Filladies are small singing Birds Ninmurders little yellow Birds New-England Nightingales painted with orient colours black white blew yellow green and scarlet and sing sweetly Wood-larks Wrens Swallows who will sit upon Trees and Starlings black as Ravens with scarlet pinions other sorts of Birds there are as the Troculus Wag-tail or Dish-water which is here of a brown colour Titmouse two or three sorts the Dunneck or hedge Sparrow who is starke naked in his winter nest The golden or yellow hammer a Bird about the bigness of a Thrush that is all over as red as bloud Wood Peckers of two or three sorts gloriously set out with variety of glittering colours The Colibry Viemalin or rising or waking Bird an Emblem of the Resurrection and the wonder of little Birds The water-sowl are these that follow Hookers or wild Swans Cranes Geese of three sorts grey white and the brant Goosâ— the first and last are best meat the white are lean and tough and live a long time whereupon the proverb Older than a white Goose of the skins of the necks of grey Geese with their Bills the Indians makes Mantles and Coverlets sowing them together and they shew prettily There be four sorts of Ducks a black Duck a brown Duck like our wild Ducks a grey Duck and a great black and white Duck these frequent Rivers and Ponds but of Ducks there be many more sorts as Hounds old Wives Murres Doies Shell-drakes Shoulers or Shoflers Widgeons Simps Teal Blew wing'd and green wing'd Divers or Didapers or Dipchicks Fenduck Duckers or Moorhens Coots Pochards a water-fowl like a Duck Plungeons a kind of water-fowl with a long reddish Bill Puets Plovers Smethes Wilmotes a kind of Teal Godwits Humilities Knotes Red-Shankes Wobbles Loones Gulls white Gulls or Sea Cobbs Caudemandies Herons grey Bitterns Ox-eyes Birds called Oxen and Keen Petterels Kings fishers which breed in the spring in holes in the Sea-banks being unapt to propagate in Summer by reason of the driness of their bodies which becomes more moist when their pores are closed by cold Most of these Fowls and Birds are eatable There are little Birds that frequent the Sea-shore in flocks called Sanderlins they are about the bigness of a Sparrow and in the fall of the leaf will be all fat when I was first in the Countrie the English cut them into small pieces to put into their Puddings instead of suet I have known twelve score and above kill'd at two shots I have not done yet we must not forget the Cormorant Shape or Sharke though I cannot commend them to our curious palats the Indians will eat them when they are
croak like Toads It is admirable to consider the generating of these Creatures first they lay their gelly on the water in ponds and still waters which comes in time to be full of black spots as broad as the head of a Ten-penny nail and round these separate themselves from the gleir and after a while thrust out a tail then their head comes forth after their head springs out their fore-legs and then their hinder-legs then their tail drops off and growes to have a head and four legs too the first proves a frog the latter a water-nuet The Herbalist useth to say by way of admiration quaelibet herba deum c. So God is seen in the production of these small Creatures which are a part of the Creation Laudate Jehovam coelites laudate eum in excelsis c. Laudent nomen Jehovae quae ipso praecipiente illico creata sunt c. ipsae bestiae omnes jumenta reptilia aves alatae Psal 148. The Toad is of two sorts one that is speckled with white and another of a a dark earthy colour there is of them that will climb up into Trees and sit croaking there but whether it be of a third sort or one of the other or both I am not able to affirm but this I can testifie that there be Toads of the dark coloured kind that are as big as a groat loaf Which report will not swell into the belief of my sceptique Sirs nor that there is a Hell being like Salomon's fool Prov. 26.22 Sed si contunderes stultum in mortario cum mola pistillo non recederet ab eo stultitia ejus Now before I proceed any further I must to prevent misconstructions tell you that these following Creatures though they be not properly accounted Serpents yet they are venomous and pestilent Creatures As first the Rat but he hath been brought in since the English came thither but the Mouse is a Native of which there are several kinds not material to be described the Bat or flitter mouse is bigger abundance than any in England and swarm which brings me to the infects or cut-wasted creatures again as first the honey-Bee which are carried over by the English and thrive there exceedingly in time they may be produced from Bullocks when the wild Beasts are destroyed But the wasp is common and they have a sort of wild humble-Bee that breed in little holes in the earth Near upon twenty years since there lived an old planter at Black-point who on a Sunshine day about one of the clock lying upon a green bank not far from his house charged his Son a lad of 12 years of age to awaken him when he had slept two hours the old man falls asleep and lying upon his back gaped with his mouth wide enough for a Hawke to shit into it after a little while the lad sitting by spied a humble-Bee creeping out of his Fathers mouth which taking wing flew quite out of sight the hour as the lad ghest being come to awaken his Father he jogg'd him and called aloud Father Father it is two a clock but all would not rouse him at last he sees the humble-Bee returning who lighted upon the sleepers lip and walked down as the lad conceived into his belly and presently he awaked The Countrey is strangely incommodated with flyes which the English call Musketaes they are like our gnats they will sting so fiercely in summer as to make the faces of the English swell'd and scabby as if the small pox for the first year Likewise there is a small black fly no bigger than a flea so numerous up in the Countrey that a man cannot draw his breath but he will suck of them in they continue about Thirty dayes say some but I say three moneths and are not only a pesterment but a plague to the Countrey There is another sort of fly called a Gurnipper that are like our horse-slyes and will bite desperately making the bloud to spurt out in great quantity these trouble our English Cattle very much raising swellings as big as an egg in their hides The Butterfly is of several sorts and larger than ours So are their Dragon-flyes Glow-worms have here wings there are multitudes of them insomuch that in the dark evening when I first went into the Countrey I thought the whole Heavens had been on fire seeing so many sparkles flying in the air about Mount-Carmel and the valley of Acree in the Holy-land there be abundance of them These are taken for Cantharides Cantharides are green flyes by day in the night they pass about like a flying Glow-worm with fire in their tails I have finished now my relation of plants c. I have taken some pains in recollecting of them to memory and setting of them down for their benefit from whom I may expect thanks but I believe my reward will be according to Ben Johnsons proverbs Whistle to a Jâ—de and he will pay you with a fart Claw a churl by the britch and he will shit in your fist The people that inhabited this Countrey are judged to be of the Tartars called Samonids that border upon Mascovia and are divided into Tribes those to the East and North-east are called Churchers and Tarentines and Monhegans To the South are the Pequets and Narragansets Westward Connecticuts and Mowhacks To the North ward Aberginians which confist of Mattachusets Wippanaps and Tarrentines The Pocanakets live to the Westward of Plimouth Not long before the English came into the Countrey happened a great mortality amongst them especially where the English afterwards planted the East and Northern parts were sore smitten with the Contagion first by the plague afterwards when the English came by the small pox the three Kingdoms or Sagamorships of the Mattachusets were very populous having under them seven Dukedoms or petti Sagamorships but by the plague were brought from 30000 to 300. There are not many now to the Eastward the Pequots were destroyed by the English the Mowhacks are about five hundred Their speech a dialect of the Tartars as also is the Turkish tongue There is difference between Tongues and Languages the division of speech at Babel is most properly called Languages the rest Tongues As for their persons they are tall and handsome timber'd people out-wristed pale and lean Tartarian visag'd black eyed which is accounted the strongest for sight and generally black hair'd both smooth and curi'd wearing of it long No beards or very rarely their Teeth are very white short and even they account them the most necessary and best parts of man And as the Austreans are known by their great lips the Bavarians by their pokes under their chins the Jews by their goggle eyes so the Indians by their flat noses yet are they not so much deprest as they are to The Southward The Indesses that are young are some of them very comely having good features their faces plump and round and generally plump of their Bodies as
or fifty pounds a year and is a quarter of a mile over The River Mistick runs through the right side of the Town and by its near approach to Charles-River in one place makes a very narrow neck where stands most part of the Town the market place not far from the waterside is surrounded with houses forth of which issue two streets orderly built and beautified with Orchards and Gardens their meeting-house stands on the North-side of the market having a little hill behind it there belongs to this Town one thousand and two hundred Acres of arable four hundred head of Cattle and as many Sheep these also provide themselves Farms in the Country Up higher in Charles-River west-ward is a broad Bay two miles over into which runs Stony River and Maddy-River Towards the South-west in the middle of the Bay is a great Oyster bank towards the North-west is a Creek upon the shore is situated the village of Medford it is a mile and half from Charles-town Aâ— the bottom of the Bay the River begins to be narrower half a quarter of a mile broad by the North-side of the Râ—ver is New town three miles from Charles-town a league and half by water it was first intended for a City the neatest and best compacted Town having many fair structures and handsom contrived streets the Inhabitants rich they have many hundred Acres of land paled with one common fence a mile and half long and store of Cattle it is now called Cambridge where is a Colledg for Students of late it stretcheth from Charles-River to the Southern part of Merrimach-River Half a mile thence on the same side of the Rvier is Water-town built upon one of the branches of Charles-River very fruitful and of large extent watered with many pleasant springs and small Rivulets the Inhabitants live scatteringly Within half a mile is a great pond divided between the two Towns a mile and half from the Town is a fall of fresh waters which conveigh themselves into the Ocean through Charles-River a little below the fall of waters they have a wair to catch fish wherein they take store of Basse Shades Alwives Frost fish and Smelts in two tides they have gotten one hundred thousand of these fishes They have store of Cattle and Sheep and near upon two thousand Acres of arable land Ships of small burden may come up to these Towns We will now return to Charles-town again where the River Mistick runs on the North-side of the Town that is the right side as before said where on the Northwest-side of the River is the Town of Mistick three miles from Charles-town a league and half by water a scattered village at the head of this River are great and spacious ponds full of Alewives in the spring-time the notedst place for this sort of fish On the West of this River is Mâ—rchant Craddock's plantation where he impaled a park Upon the same River and on the North-side is the Town of Malden The next Town is Winnisimet a mile from Charles-town the River only parting them this is the last Town in the still bay of Massachusets Without Pullin-point six miles North-cast from Winnisimet is Cawgust or Sagust or Sangut now called Linn situated at the bottom of a Bay near a River which upon the breaking up of winter with a furious Torrent vents it self into the Sea the Town consists of more than one hundred dwelling-houses their Church being built on a level undefended from the North-west wind is made with steps descending into the Earth their streets are straight and but thin of houses the people most husbandmen At the end of the Sandy beach is a neck of land called Nahant it is six miles in circumference Black William an Indian Duke out of his generosity gave this to the English At the mouth of the River runs a great Creek into a great marsh called Rumney-marsh which is four miles long and a mile broad this Town hath the benefit of minerals of divers kinds Iron Lead one Iron mill store of Cattle Arable land and meadow To the North-ward of Linn is Marvil or Marble-head a small Harbour the shore rockie upon which the Town is built consisting of a few scattered houses here they have stages for fishermen Orchards and Gardens half a mile within land good pastures and Arable land Four miles North of Marble-head is situated New-Salem whose longitude is 315 degrees and latitude 42 degrees 35 minutes upon a plain having a River on the South and another on the North it hath two Harbours Winter Harbour and Summer Harbour which lyeth within Darbie's sort they have store of Meadow and Arable in this Town are some very rich Merchants Upon the Northern Cape of the Massachusets that is Cape-Aun a place of fishing is situated the Town of Glocester where the Massachusets Colony first set down but Salem was the first Town built in that Colony here is a Harbour for Ships To the North-ward of Cape-Aun is Wonasquam a dangerous place to sail by in stormie weather by reason of the many Rocks and soaming breakers The next Town that presents it self to view is Ipswich situated by a fair River whose first rise is from a Lake or Pond twenty mile up betaking its course through a hideous Swamp for many miles a Harbour for Bears it issueth forth into a large Bay where they fish for Whales due East over against the Islands of Sholes a great place of fishing the mouth of that River is barr'd it is a good haven-town their meeting-house or Church is beautifully built store of Orchards and Gardens land for husbandry and Cattle Wenham is an inland Town very well watered lying between Salem and Ipswich consisteth most of men of judgment and experience in re rustica well stored with Cattle At the first rise of Ipswich-River in the highest part of the land near the head springs of many considerable Rivers Shashin one of the most considerable branches of Merrimach River and also at the rise of Mistick River and ponds full of pleasant springs is situated Wooburn an inland-Town four miles square beginning at the end of Charles-town bounds Six miles from Ipswich North-east is Rowley most of the Inhabitants have been Clothiers Nine miles from Salem to the North is Agowamine the best and spaciousest place for a plantation being twenty leagues to the Northward of New-Plimouth Beyond Agowamin is situated Hampton near the Sea-coasts not far from Merrimach-River this Town is like a Flower-deluce having two streets of houses wheeling off from the main body thereof they have great store of salt Marshes and Cattle the land is fertil but full of Swamps and Rocks Eight miles beyond Agowamin runneth the delightful River Merrimach or Monumach it is navigable for twenty miles and well stored with fish upon the banks grow stately Oaks excellent Ship timber not interiour to our English On the South-side of Merrimach-River twelve miles from Ipswich and near upon the wide venting streams
1 their lands 2 their Treasure 2 or causes 1 Civil they concern 1 The publick State or 2 Particular persons 2 Criminal Whether between the members of their own Common-wealth they are 1 either of Trespasses or 1 in their personal Inheritances and proprieties 2 In their mutual commerce whether in way 1 Of buying and selling 2 Lending and borrowing 2 of Capital Crimes 2 Between Burgesses and the people and forraign Nations whether in case 1 That we do them wrong 2 That they do us wrong Anno Dom. 1646. they drew up a body of their Laws for the well ordering of their Commonwealth as they not long since termed it The military part of their Common-wealth is governed by one Major-General and three Serjeant Majors to the Major-General belongeth particularly the Town of Biston to the three Serjeant Majors belong the four Counties but with submission to the Major-General The first Serjeant Major chosen for the County of Suffolk was Major Gibbons For the County of Middlesex Major Sedgwick For the County of Essex and Northfolk Major Denison Every Town sends two Burgesses to their great and solemn general Court For being drunk they either whip or impose a fine of Five shillings so for swearing and cursing or boring through the tongue with a hot Iron For kâ—ssing a woman in the street though in way of civil salute whipping or a fine For Single fornication whipping or a fine For Adultery put to death and so for Witchcraft An English woman suffering an Indian to have carnal knowledge of her had an Indian cut out exactly in red cloth sewed upon her right Arm and injoyned to wear it twelve moneths Scolds they gag and set them at their doors for certain hours for all comers and goers by to gaze at Stealing is punished with restoring four fould if able if not they are sold for some years and so are poor debtors If you desire a further inspection to their Laws I must refer you to them being in print too many for to be inserted into this Relation The Governments of their Churches are Independent and Presbyterial every Church for so they call their particular Congregations have one Pastor one Teacher Ruling Elders and Deacons They that are members of their Churches have the Sacraments administred to them the rest that are out of the pale as they phrase it are denyed it Many hundred Souls there be amongst them grown up to men womens estate that were never Christened They judge every man and woman to pay Five shillings per day who comes not to their Assemblies and impose fines of forty shillings and fifty shillings on such as meet together to worship God Quakers they whip banish and hang if they return again Anabaptists they imprison fine and weary out The Government both Civil and Ecclesiastical is in the hands of the thorow-pac'd Independents and rigid Presbyterians The grose Goddons or great masters as also some of their Merchants are damnable rich generally all of their judgement inexplicably covetous and proud they receive your gifts but as an homage or tribute due to their transcendency which is a fault their Clergie are also guilty of whose living is upon the bounty of their hearers On Sundays in the afternoon when Sermon is ended the people in the Galleries come down and march two a breast up one Ile and down the other until they come before the desk for Pulpit they have none before the desk is a long pue where the Elders and Deacons sit one of them with a mony box in his hand into which the people as they pass put their offering some a shilling some two shillings half a Crown five shillings according to their ability and good will after this they conclude with a Psalm but this by the way The chiefest objects of discipline Religion and morality they want some are of a Linsie-woolsie disposition of several professions in Religion all like Aethiopians white in the Teeth only full of ludification and injurious dealing and cruelty the extreamest of all vices The chiefest cause of Noah's floud Prov. 27.26 Agni erant ad vestitum tuum is a frequent Text among them no trading for a stranger with them but with a Graecian faith which is not to part with your ware without ready money for they are generally in their payments recusant and slow great Syndies or censors or controllers of other mens manners and savagely factious amongst themselves There are main travelling women too in Salomon's sence more the pitty when a woman hath lost her Chastity she hath no more to lose But mistake me not to general speeches none but the guilty take exceptions there are many sincere and religious people amongst them descryed by their charity and humility the true Characters of Christianity by their Zenodochie or hospitality by their hearty submission to their Soveraign the King of England by their diligent and honest labour in their callings amongst these we may account the Royalists who are lookt upon with an evil eye and tongue boulted or punished if they chance to lash out the tame Indian for so they call those that are born in the Countrey are pretty honest too and may in good time be known for honest Kings men They have store of Children and are well accommodated with Servants many hands make light work many hands make a full fraught but many mouths eat up all as some old planters have experimented of these some are English others Negroes of the English there are can eat till they sweat and work till they freeze of the females that are like Mrs. Winters paddocks very tender fingerd in cold weather There are none that beg in the Countrey but there be Witches too many bottle-bellied Witches amongst the Quakers and others that produce many strange apparitions if you will believe report of a Shallop at Sea man'd with women of a Ship and a great red Horse standing by the main-mast the Ship being in a small Cove to the Eastward vanished of a suddain Of a Witch that appeared aboard of a Ship twenty leagues to Sea to a Mariner who took up the Carpenters broad Axe and cleft her head with it the Witch dying of the wound at home with such like bugbears and Terriculamentaes It is published in print that there are not much less than Ten hundred thousand souls English Scotch and Irish in New-England Most of their first Magistrates are dead not above two left in the Massachusets but one at Plimouth one at Connecticut and one at New-haven they having done their generation work are laid asleep in their beds of rest till the day of doom there and then to receive their reward according as they have done be it good or evil Things of great indurance we see come to ruine and alter as great Flouds and Seas dryed up mighty hills and mountains sunk into hollow bottoms marvel not then that man is mortal since his nature is unconstant and transitory The Diseases
by one Andrew Thorn the Southern part but 600 leagues from England John de Ponce for the Spaniard took possession of Florida Anno Domini 1528 Nevis or Mevis planted now according to some writers Anno Domini 1534 Califormia questioned â—â—â—ther Island or Continent first discovered be the Spaniard Nova Francia lying between the 40 and 50 degree of the Artic-poles Altitude discovered by Jaques Carthier in his first voyage the first Colony planted in Canada Anno Domini 1536 The Puritan-Church policy began now in Geneva Anno Domini 1542 Monsieur du Barvals voyage to Nova Francia sent to inhabite those parts Anno Domini 1548 Henry the Eighth dyed Edward the Sixth King of England began to Raign Sebastian Cabota made grand Pilot of England by Edward the Sixth Anno Domini 1550 The sweating sickness in England Anno Domini 1553 Edward the Sixth dyed Mary Queen of England began to Raign Sir Hugh Willoughby and all his men in two Ships in his first attempt to discover the North-east passage were in October frozen to death in the Haven called Arzima in Lapland Anno Domini 1558 Queen Mary dyed Elizabeth Queen of England began to Raign November the Seventeenth Anno Domini 1560 Salvaterra a Spaniard his voyage to the North-west passage Anno Domini 1562 Sir John Hawkin's first voyage to the West-Indies The first expedition of the French into Florida undertaken by John Ribald Anno Domini 1565 Tobacco first brought into England by Sir John Hawkins but it was first brought into use by Sir Walter Rawleigh many years after Anno Domini 1566 The Puritans began to appear in England Anno Domini 1569 Anthony Jenkinson the first of the English that sailed through the Caspian-Sea Anno Domini 1572 Private Presbyteries now first erected in England Sir Francis Drake's first voyage to the West-Indies Anno Domini 1573 The Hollanders seek for aid from Queen Elizabeth Anno Domini 1576 Sir Martin Frobisher the first in Queen Elizabeths days that sought for the Northwest passage or the streight or passage to China and meta incognita in three several voyages others will have it in 1577. Anno Domini 1577 November the 17 Sir Francis Drake began his voyage about the world with five Ships and 164 men setting sail from Plimouth putting off Cape de verde The beginning of February he saw no Land till the fifth of April being past the line 30 degrees of latitude and in the 36 degree entered the River Plates whence he fell with the streight of Magellan the 21 of August which with three of his Ships he passed having cast off the other two as impediments to him and the Marigold tossed from her General after passage was no more seen The other commanded by Capt. Winter shaken off also by Tempest returned thorow the Streights and recovered England only the Pellican whereof himself was Admiral held on her course to Chile Coquimbo Cinnama Palma Lima upon the west of America where he passed the line 1579 the first day of March and so forth until he came to the latitude 47. Thinking by those North Seas to have found passage to England but fogs frosts and cold winds forced him to turn his course South-west from thence and came to Anchor 38 degrees from the line where the King of that Countrey presented him his Net-work Crown of many coloured feathers and therewith resigned his Scepter of Government unto his Dominion which Countrey Sir Francis Drake took possession of in the Queens name and named it Nova Albion which is thought to be part of the Island of Califormia Sir Martin Frobisher's second voyage Anno Domini 1578 Sir Humphrey Gilbert a Devonshire Knight attempted to discover Virginia but without success Sir Martin Frobisher's third voyage to Meta incognita Freezeland now called West-England 25 leagues in length in the latitude of 57. Sir Francis Drake now passed the Streights of Magellan in the Ship called the Pellican Anno Domini 1579 Sir Francis Drake discovered Nova Albion in the South-Sea Others will have Sir Martin Frobisher's first voyage to discover the North-west passage to be this year Anno Domini 1580 From Nova Albion he fell with Ternate one of the Isles of Molucco being courteously entertained of the King and from thence he came unto the Isles of Calebes to Java Major to Cape buona speranza and fell with the coasts of Guinea where crossing again the line he came to the height of the Azâ—res and thence to England upon the third of November 1580. after three years lacking twelve days and was Knighted and his Ship laid up at Deptford as a monument of his fame Anno Domini 1581 The Provinces of Holland again seek for aid to the Queen of England Anno Domini 1582 Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of New found-land or Terra Nova in the harbour of St. John for and in the name of Queen Elizabeth it lyeth over against the gulf of St. Lawrence and is between 46 and 53 degrees of the North-poles Altitude Anno Domini 1583 Sir Walter Rawleigh in Ireland Sir Humphrey Gilbert attempted a plantation in some remote parts in New-England He perished in his return from New-found-land Anno Domini 1584 The woful year of subscription so called by the Brethren or Disciplinarians Sir Walter Rawleigh obtained of Queen Elizabeth a Patent for the discovery and peopling of unknown Countries not actually possessed by any Christian Prince Dated March 25. in the six and twentieth of her Raign April the 27 following he set forth two Barkes under the Command of Mr. Philip Amedas and Mr. Arthur Barlow who arrived on that part of America which that Virgin Queen named Virginia and thereof in her Majesties name took possession July the Thirteenth Anno Domini 1585 Cautionary Towns and Forts in the low-Countreys delivered unto Queen Elizabeths hands Sir Richard Greenvile was sent by Sir Walter Rawleigh April the Ninth with a Fleet of 7 sail to Virginia and was stiled the General of Virginia He landed in the Island of St. John de porto Rico May the Twelfth and there fortified themselves and built a Pinnasse c. In Virginia they left 100 men under the Government of Mr. Ralph Lane and others Sir Francis Drake's voyage to the West-Indies wherein were â—â—ken the Cities of St. Jago St. Domingo Cartagena and the Town of St. Augustine in Florida Now say some Tobacco was first brought into England by Mr. Ralph Lane out of Virginia Others will have Tobacco to be first brought into England from Peru by Sir Francis Drake's Mariners Capt. John Davies first voyage to discover the North-west passage encouraged by Sir Francis Walsingham principal Secretary Anno Domini 1586 Mr. Thomas Candish of Trimely in the County of Suffolk Esq began his voyage in the ship called the Desire and two ships more to the South-Sea through the Streights of Magellan and from thence round about the circumserence of the whole earth burnt and ransack'd in the entrance of