three hundred sixty five Days and six hours Now these fix hours at four years end come to twenty four hours that makes up a Day which is added to the Month of February And then that Year is called Leap-year which by the Romans was named Bissextilis As to the Months of the Sun as we reckon them some have thirty Days some thirty one and February alone has but twenty eight except every Leap or fourth year when it has twenty nine Days Which that you may find out readily at any time do but mind these following Verses Thirty Days hath November April June and September Of eight and twenty there is one And the rest are of thirty one Phil. But did the Ancients hold the same Year as we do Sophr. Before the time of Julius Caesar they held several forts of Yeas But that Emperour forty years before Christs Birth ordained the Year to consist of three hundred sixty five days and fix hours Phil. Pray tell me the Difference of the Old and New style and what 's the Ground of it Soph. The Old Style which the Greek Church and most Protestants keep still is the old Julian Account which for many Ages seemed to have no sensible Error But in process of time it was discovered to be not altogether agreeable with the natural Motion of the Sun the Julian Year exceeding the rue Solar Year ten Minutes and forty eight Seconds which caused the Equinoxes and Solstices yearly to change their Places and fly back so many minutes and seconds Whereupon Pope Gregory the XIII by the advice and direction of Antonius Lilius and other excellent Mathematicians corrected the Calender making the Year to consist of three hundred sixty five days five hours forty nine minutes twelve seconds And to the end that the vernal Equinox which then was on to the eleventh of March might be reduced to the one and twentieth of March as it was at the time of the first Nicene Council he commanded ten day in October to be left out so as the fourth day of October was accounted for the fourteenth day This hapned in the Year fifteen hundred eighty two from which time this Account was called the Gregorian Account and so came the Distinction of Old and New Style the Old according to the Julian and the New according to the Gregorian Account Phil. Thus the Nations that hold the New Style do reckon ten days before us and when it is with us for exemple the first day of May 't is the eleventh with them Sophr. Right But as we differ in the Style so we do from some Nations as to the beginning of ' Years and of Days Phil. How so my Sophronius Sophr. You know that in most Parts of Europe they begin the Year as the Romans did on the first of January And so we do here in England in some respect therefore we call it New-Years-Day But upon a Civil Account and for our Date of Buying or Selling c. We begin the Year and so do the Spaniards eight weeks after viz. upon Lady-Day the twenty fifth of March So the Jews after they got our of Egypt began their Year much about the same time in March to which answered in part their Month Nisan Whereas before they were wont to begin it in their Month called Tisri or Ethanim which comprehended part of our September and October Now the Venetians begin theirs the first of March And so did Romulus the Founder of Rome for 't is observed that before Julius Caesar the Month of July was called Quintilis or the fifth Month from March The Moscovites who follow the Greek Church begin their Year the first of September upon this ground For they believe the World began in Autumn and whereas we reckon our Years from the Coming of Christ into the World they reckon theirs from the time of the Creation As for Days you must know there is a Natural and Artificial Day that containing Day and Night and consisting of twenty four hours this beginning at Sun-rising and ending at Sun-set The Natural Day is reckoned in most parts of Europe from one midnight to another reckoning twice twelve hours that is from Midnight to Noon twelve hours and from Noon to the Midnight following twelve hours more beginning with one two three c. But in Italy as formerly in Athens they reckon twenty four hours all along without coming back to one as we do and that from Sun-set to Sun-set At Nuremberg and some other Places of Germany they reckon their Days as the Ancient Jews and Chaldeans from one Sun-rising to another beginning with one a Clock and so on to the twenty fourth hour 'T is true the Jews had besides their Civil Day a Sacred Day destined for Holy Exercises which began at Sun-set and continued till the next Sun-set In Moscovy they reckon their day from the Sun-rising till Sun-set and when the Sun is gone down then they reckon the first hour of the night and so on till the Sun appearing again over their Horizon finishes the time of their Night and begins with them a new Day Phil. I have heard very often of Equinoxes and Solstices but could never understand clearly what they are Be pleased to give me as clear an Account of them as you can Sophr. In Order to that you must know there are yearly two Equinoxes and two Solstices a Vernal and an Autumnal Equinox a Summer and a Winter Solstice which begin the four several Seasons of the Year For the Vernal Equinox begins the Spring the Summer Solstice the Summer the Autumnal Equinox the Autumn and the. Winter-Solstice the Winter And as in the Equinoxes the Days and Nights are of an equal length so in the Summer-Solstice we have our longest Days and in the Winter-Solstice our shortest Now the Equiquinoxes are so called from the Latin Aequinoctium because then the Days and Nights are of an equal length And the Solstices have their Name from the Latin Word Solstitium which signifies a stop of the Sun Not that the Suns Motion be stopped except from coming nearer us than the Tropick of Cancer and from going further from us than the Tropick of Capricorn But of this you shall hear more hereafter Phil. What shall we then proceed upon Sophr. Next to the Glorious Brightness of the Sun the Vastness of its Body the prodigious Distance thereof from us and its continual Motion to or from us let us now consider the Influence of it by its Heat which in a manner is the Life of Plants and Animals For as without the Light of the Sun the whole Frame of Nature should be buried in Darkness so without the Heat that arises from it no living Creature could live Neither is this Heat inherent in the Body of the Sun but it is wonderfully produced as Philosophers teach us by the Reflection of its Beams Wherewith the Air being warmed foments and keeps alive all Vegetables Phil. But what is an Eclipse of the Sun
and five of the third four hundred and seventy seven of the fourth two hundred and seventeen of the fifth and forty nine of the sixth To which if you add besides five Cloudy and nine Dark you will find the compleat Number aforesaid of one thousand twenty two Those of the first Magnitude are reckoned to be each of them an hundred and seven times bigger than the Earth those of the second Magnitude ninety times of the third seventy two times of the fourth fifty six of the fifth twenty six and of the sixth eighteen Thus much for the fixed Stars Now let us come to the seven Planets whose Names follow here according to their respective height with their several Figures as they are used by Astrologers Viz. Saturn ♄ Jupiter ♃ Mars ♂ Sol ☽ Venus ♠Mercury ☿ Luna ☽ Phil. How come they to be called Planets Sophr. They are called Planets that is wandring Stars not that they be subject to any uncertain or irregular Motion but because they have either in respect to themselves or the fixed Stars a different Motion and that they are not always at an equal distance from each other But the Copernicans deny the Sun to be a Planet and will have it to be a fixed Star And whereas we say the Sun turns about the Earth they hold quite contrary that the Earth turns about the Sun I suppose you have heard of this Opinion by the by and for ought I know it may be true enough But we will not insist upon it Shall I now tell you the several but prodigious Distances of the Planets from us You will be amazed at it But thus we have it from approved Astronomers Saturn is fourteen Millions of Leagues distant from us Jupiter eight Millions of Leagues Mars twelve hundred thousand Sol or the Sun eleven hundred thousand Venus a hundred and sixty seven thousand Mercury sixty four thousand and Luna or the Moon betwixt thirty and forty thousand Leagues And yet the Planets are nearer than any of the fixed Stars Phil. This is past any mans Belief but an Astronomers But if it be so sure these Celestial Bodies must be of a vast Magnitude to be seen at such a distance Sophr. The Sun which is counted by much the largest of all the Planets is by some reported to be two hundred times at least bigger than the Earth and by the most moderate a hundred and sixty six times Then they make Jupiter ninety five times at least bigger than the Earth and Saturn ninety times Mars they reckon to be one third part bigger than the Earth Venus lesser by thirty seven times the Moon by thirty nine times but they make Mercury much lesser Phil. Pray what Planet is that you call Venus Sophr. The same which is more commonly known by the name of Morning-Star in the Morning and of Evening-Star in the Evening Phil. But how comes it Sophronius that whilst the Sun appears above our Horizon none of the other Planets and indeed no Star is seen Sophr. The Reason is plain For a greater Light drowns a lesser and the Sun being as it were the source of Light must needs have a greater proportion of it than any of the Stars Phil. Are you then of Opinion that the Stars have no Light of their own Sophr. I do not say so But it is credibly thought they borrow the greatest part of their Light from the Sun And therefore it seems that God has placed the Sun in the midst of the Planets that those above and beneath it might equally partake of its Splendor Phil. So much for that Sophronius I desire now to understand their Motion Sophr. To clear this Point you must know that those Philosophers who hold the Sun moves about the Earth which is the vulgar Opinion suppose two several Motions of the Stars in general The one Natural or Proper from West to East and the other Violent from East to West And they attribute the Cause of this last Motion as I have already hinted to the great Orb called Primum Mobile which turns from East to West round the World with an equal rapidity within the space of twenty four hours and with it hurries away all the lesser Orbs. Which is observable in the Sun particularly Whereas according to the Natural Motion of the Stars from West to East 't is to be observed amongst the Planets That cold Saturn does not finish its Course but within the Compass of almost thirty years bright Jupiter finishes his in about twelve years fiery Mars within little less than two years the Sun in one year fair Venus in one year and a half Mercury in something less than half a year the Moon in twenty seven days and about eight hours Phil. I do not understand these contrary Motions It is apparent as you say that the Sun moves daily from East to West and so goes round about the World But how can it at the same time move by a proper motion of its own a quite contrary way that is from West to East How can any thing go backward and forward at the same time This is past my Understanding Sophr. Do but suppose a small Fly upon a Globe to run through the Ecliptick Line which shews the proper Motion of the Sun Phil. What then Sophronius Sophr. Then turn the Globe never so much about from East to West still you will find that the Fly in the mean time gets forward in her course from West to East And if you do so turn the Globe about that as often as it turns quite round the fly may advance one Degree in her Course Westward you will find that by turning the Globe three hundred sixty five times the fly shall be gone as many Degrees in a quite contrary way Such is the Yearly Course of the Sun from West to East according to which it goes about one Degree every day and in a years time runs over the twelve Signs or Constellations called the Houses of the Sun Phil. You have explained it to me with as much clearness as may be Sophr. Now from this Course of the Sun is come the Distinction and Distribution of Time which is the measure of Motion And to proceed à minori ad majus there is first a Minute next an Hour then Days Weeks Months Seasons Years Threescore Minutes go to an Hour twenty four Hours to a natural Day seven Days to one Week four Weeks to a Month according to the Moon and some odd dayes more to a Month of the Sun Now twelve of these Months make the four Seasons of the Year viz. three Months to each Season And so the Year does consist of twelve Months fifty two Weeks or of three hundred sixty five Dayes and about six hours Except it be a Leap-year and then there is three hundred sixty six Days Phil. Pray what 's the Occasion of this additional Day Sophr. You must know that according to the old Julian Account the Year consists of
and Asia and the greatest part of the Northern America and in the Southern a small part of Africk and almost one half of the Southern America besides what has been discovered of Terra Australis Phil. Now for the Frigid Zones Sophr. These are also one Northern the other Southern And they both lie in the utmost Parts of the World the Northern betwixt the Arctick Circle and the Arctick Pole and the Southern betwixt the Antarctick Circle and the Antarctick Pole So that each of them contains 23. Degrees and a half which comes to 470. Geometrical Leagues or 1340. miles And they are called Frigid or Over-cold because being extreamly remote from the Course of the Sun through the Zodiack they partake but a little of its heat and have Its beams but oblique and without any reflection For which Reason and because of their constant Darkness in Winter-time for several Months the Ancient Geographers and Historians could not imagine these Zones to be at all Inhabited no more than the Torrid for its exceeding Heat But it proves a Mistake though 't is confessed as to the Northern Frigid Zone which is partly known to us that it is but thinly Peopled In which Zone part of Norway and Lapland in Europe is situate some part of Tartary in Asia and Terra Borealis Thus much for the eight principal Circles and the Use of them Now let us take a view of those inferiour Circles which are called Meridians and Parallels The Meridians or Circles of Longitude are those Lines which like the great Meridian go round the Globe from one Pole to the other And the Parallels or Circles of Latitude are those which cross the Globe on both sides of the Aequator You may suppose if you please as many of either sort as there are Degrees But lest the Names of Places and Country's should be darkned with so many Lines therefore in Globes and Maps these Circles do commonly lie at ten Degrees distance of each other And as by the Meridians you may find out the longitude of any Place in a Globe or Map so by the Paralles you may know the Latitude Phil. How so Sophronius Sophr. The Longitude you 'll find thus with a pair of Compasses First set one foot of your Compass in the place the Longitude whereof you desire to know and the other in the next Meridian to it whether it be on the right hand or the left From thence draw down your Compasses following still that Meridian till you come to the Aequator and there mark upon what Degree of the Aequator the foot of your Compasses which was upon the Place do's rest Then see upon the Aequator how many Degrees that is distant from the first Meridian and that is the true Longitude of the Place Phil. But then one must be ruled right or wrong by the great Meridian that 's set down in the Globe or Map Sophr. If you dont like it 't is but adding or bating the number of Degrees which makes the difference The Latitude is to be taken thus First set one foot of your Compasses upon the Place of which you design to take the Latitude and the other upon the next Parallel whether above or beneath Then draw your Compasses from that Place following still that Parallel till you come to the Meridian which is marked with the Degrees of Latitude and mark upon what Degree the foot of your Compasses which you did draw from the Place doth rest That you will find to be the true Latitude of the Place And of that Latitude are all Places Parallel to that how far soever they lie asunder East and West From what is said 't is to be concluded that all Places just under the great Meridian have no Longitude and those under the Aequator no Latitude Phil. I apprehend you Now I desire to know what is the meaning of Climates Sophr. A Clime or Climate is such a Space of the Terr-Aqueous Globe as is included betwixt two Parallels Phi. How many Climes then do you reckon Sophr. The Ancient reckoned but fourteen that is seven in the Northern and as many in the Southern Latitude Those in the Northern Latitude they called by the name of some famous City Island River or Hill through which the middle Parallel of the Climate passeth As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Southern Climes opposite to those they called by the same Names by putting only before them the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But to those fourteen Climes some Geographers have added two more some five and others ten Phil. What is the Use of those Climes Sophr. To find out how long is the longest Day in any Place whatsoever For you must know that the longest Day under the Aequator is equal with the night that is 12. hours of Day and as many of Night But the further you go from the Aequator either Northwards or Southwards the longest Day is longer by half an hour in every Clime till they come to the length of 24 hours that is without any night Which length attained they increase no more by hours but by Months till they come to the length of half a year which is just under the Poles But this Division of the Earth into Climes is not generally approved of and that for these two Reasons First because it is as easie to find out the Length of Days for any Place as to find out the Climates and secondly because of their vast Inequality Therefore if we must divide the Terr-aqueous Globe into Climes the best way will be to divide each Latitude into nine Climes and so each Clime shall equally consist of ten Degrees Thus the Situation of any Place will be presently found out by the Degrees of Latitude As for Exemple Paris Rome and Venice being situate betwixt 40 and 50 Degrees of Northern Latitude shall be counted in the fifth Climate London and Amsterdam betwixt 50 and 60 in the sixth Clime Phil. But then how shall one find out the Length of Days Sophr. By the Degrees of Latitude without any more ado as you have it in the following Table Where by the 30 Minutes you must understand half an hour For as a Degree so is an Hour divided into 60 Minutes A Table shewing the Length of Days by the Degrees of Latitude Latitude Longest Day Deg. Min. Hours Min. 8 34 12 30 16 43 13 00 23 10 13 30 30 47 14 00 36 30 14 30 41 22 15 00 45 29 15 30 49 21 16 00 51 58 16 30 54 29 17 00 56 37 17 30 58 26 18 00 59 59 18 30 61 18 19 00 62 25 19 30 63 22 20 00 64 06 20 30 64 49 21 00 65 21 21 30 65 47 22 00 66 06 22 30 66 20 23 00 66 28 23 30 66 31 24 00 Now from 66 Degrees 31 Minutes to the Pole it self set at 90 Degrees we must account by the Months As Latitude  Deg. Min. Months 67 15 1
Phil. Pray tell me then Sophronius in the first place whether you think the World had a beginning or no or that according to some Philosophers it is from all Eternity Sophr. I believe rather according to the Holy Writ that it was Created or made of nothing some thousand years ago by that Supreme and Spiritual Being we Worship an Immortal Immutable Incomprehensible All-Wise and All-mighty God Phil. How many thousand years do you reckon it since the Creation Sophr. We reckon it commonly 3949 years from the Creation to our Saviour's Coming upon Earth To which if you add 1681. years since Christ's Coming the whole amounts to 5630 years Thus much for the Origine of the World now let us explain if you will the Parts thereof Phil. That I wait for with great Impatiency Sophr. Well But the Question is whether you mean to be a Cosmographer or simply a Geographer Phil. That I leave to you Sophronius Sophr. Come on then Philalethes We are going to begin a great Voyage and vie must take off our Minds from the Earth to raise them as far as Heaven Phil. For my own particular I shall sore up as high as I can Sophr. To say nothing of the Empyreal Heaven the highest largest and most Glorious Heaven supposed to be reserved for the happy Mansion of the Blessed the Astronomers reckon ten several Spheres or Orbs all contained one within another The highest of which is called Primum Mobile or the first Moveable which carry's all the lesser Orbs contained within and under it about from East to West and so to the East again in the space of twenty four hours or one whole day Next to this Orb is the Chrystalline Heaven thought by some to be that which appears so pure blew unto our sight Below this Orb is that which contains all the fixed Stars in it and is called the Firmament To which succeed the seven several Orbs of the Planets the highest of which is Saturn then Jupiter Mars Sol or the Sun Venus Mercury Luna or the Moon Which that it may the better occur to your Memory do but mind this Latin Verse Post SIM SUM sequitur ultima Luna subest For the three Letters of SIM serve to denote severally Saturn Jupiter Mars and the three Letters of SUM Sol Venus Mercury Phil. But which are those you call the fixed Stars Sophr. A Numberless Number of Stars contained in the eighth Orb and called fixed Stars not that they be immovable but because their natural Motion is but flow and that they keep always the same distance Which the Planets do not But there is besides a visible Difference betwixt the fixed Stars and the Planets For it is proper for the fixed Stars to sparkle or shine with a trembling light but chiefly in a Serene weather Whereas the Planets as the Moon among others send forth steady beams and void of all vibration Except Mars Venus and Mercury which are observed sometimes to sparkle but neither so much nor so constantly as the fixed Stars But how long do you think Philalethes that the fixed Stars are finishing their natural Course Phil. A long time sure enough if their Motion be so slow as you said before Sophr. According to Tycho Brahe the Wonder of our Age in point of Astronomy they are no less than 25412. years before they come to their first station And yet in his Calculation he falls very much short of Plato who reckoned it 49000. years which therefore was called the Platonick Year And according to the Opinion of those Times that Year being expired the World is to begin anew in the same Manner and under the very same Circumstances as formerly Phil. What Then at that rate I must about 49000. years hence return into my Mothers Womb be new-born suck go to School and there be soundly lashed again Then you and I after that vast distance of time shall meet here and hold the same Discourses we do now A pretty Conceit indeed But if a Man has got an imperious Scold or a Wanton Flurt to his Wife is he to have her again Sophr. The very same according to that great Philosopher Plato Phil. So Socrates must have his Xantippe again and Octavius his Messalina 'T is a hard fate and for my part if I were to choose I had rather lay for ever in the Dust In the mean time I know not what to think of it There is no new Occurrence whatsoever but what I fancy to have been so a long time since Sophr. A little matter I see would inveigle you into that Opinion especially if one should prove it by Scripture as by these Words of the Wise that there is no new Thing under the Sun But I would not have you Philalethes to be too much affected with it And let us now proceed to a Survey of those fixed Stars which the Ancients took special notice of Phil. Which are those I pray dear Sophronius Sophr. They reckoned 1022. of them in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere the least of which is eighteen times bigger than the Earth And that they might be conveniently discerned from one another they reduced them to forty eight Signs or Constellations and gave them severally the Names of Living Creatures and other Things to which they fancied them most like Twelve of these being the chiefest are found in the Zodiack 21. in the Northern Hemisphere and fifteen in the Southern To which last Frederick Houtman has added since thirteen more discovered by him while he was in Sumatra The Twelve chief Constellations otherwise called the Signs of the Zodiack or the Twelve Houses of the Sun are as followeth with their several Figures so much used by Astrologers Viz. Aries ♈ Taurus ♉ Gemini ♊ Cancer ♋ Leo ♌ Virgo ♠Libra ♎ Scorpio ♠Sagittarius ♠Capricornus ♑ Aquarius ♒ Pisces ♓ I shall pass by the other Constellations both for brevity sake and because they are of less use Phil. But what 's the meaning of that large whitish and bright Tract of the Sky so observable in a clear Night Sophr. I suppose you mean that which the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Via lactea and We from thence the Milky Way 'T is nothing else but a great Multitude of little Stars gathered together in this part of the Sky which give but a confused Light and are not discernable to the eye but with a prospective-glass Phil. But how comes it Sophronius that in a clear Winter-night we see in and about the Constellations an infinite number of lesser Stars which are hardly seen at all in Summer time Sophr. Because in Winter time the Nights are darker and so any thing of light is the more conspicuous and obvious to the eye Now you must know Philalethes that the Astronomers divide the biggest and brightest of the fixed Stars into six several Degrees of Magnitude And they reckon fifteen of the first Rank forty five of the second two hundred
true that towards Euphrates and near the Mountains of Arabia foelix it has some few Towns resorted to by Merchants But this is only in those Parts North-West of China there 's a notable Desart a Sandy one called Xamo Desertum the Desart of Lop or Xamo through some part of which runs Hoang the great River of China As for Africk Desarts are as common there as Forrests in Europe And there is a good Part of it lying betwixt Biledulgerid Northward and the Negroes Land Southward that is but a continual Desart 'T is that we call in Latin Lybia Deserta or by the name of the Country Zara which signifies a Desart or Wilderness In America 't is said there are likewise vast Desarts but we have as yet no good Account of them So Philalethes I shall conclude with these Reflections upon the different Nature of Country's as Parts of the Earth For whereas some Country's are Flat and only set out with some pleasant little Hills here and there others are Mountainous full of huge Hills and dreadful Precipices Some are Fat and Marshy when others are Sand or Stony Some Country's are fruitful irrigated with fair and Navigable Rivers and in short bless'd with all Necessaries whilst others are barren unhappy and full of Desarts fit only to bring forth wild and venomous Beasts Some produce one Thing some another according to that of Ovid Nec eadem Tellus parit omnia Vitibus illa Convenit haec Oleis hîc bene Farra virent Some Country's injoy a Temperate Air as most Country's of Europe whilst some are e'en Scorched by an extream Heat of the Sun and others Frozen up almost all the Year round And here it is that they have almost a continual Day-light for six Months and as long a time of continual Darkness whilst most part of the World enjoys in the space of 24 hours the more convenient and daily Vicissitude of Day and Night more or less Again some Country's but Islands especially are extremely subject to Fogs Winds Rain and Change of Weather whilst Country's remote from the Sea do commonly enjoy a purer Air a more Serene Sky and such Weather as is suitable to the Season Those are commonly Unhealthful and subject to divers Diseases These nothing near so much In fine some Country's as in the East are much subject to Earth-quakes some as the Caribby Islands to Hurricanes and dreadful Tempests and others as Sicily and Iseland to Deluges of Fire The Fifth Discourse Of the Waters SOphr In our last Discourse I have given you Philalethes such an Account of the visible Earth as might fill your Expectation Now I shall make it my business to be as Accurate in the Description of the Waters which as I said before make up together with the Earth the Terr-Aqueous Globe In order to which I must tell you in the first place that as the Earth is chiefly divided into Continents Islands and Peninsules so are the Waters principally divided into Seas Lakes and Rivers By the Sea in general is meant that great Body of Waters which is thought to incompass the Earth on every side and is properly called by the Name of Ocean But there are particular Seas which flow out of the Ocean through a narrow Passage and stretch themselves a long way through several Country's therefore called Inland Seas as the Mediterranean the Baltick and Red-Sea of which more afterwards A Lake is a considerable Body of Waters having no visible Intercourse with the Sea or influx into it as the Lake of Geneva A River is a Water-course issuing from some Spring or Lake and continually running in its proper Channel till it emptys it self either into the Sea immediately or else into a greater River The Place where it begins is called Spring Head or Source where it runs into another Fall Influx or Confluence and where it loses it self in any Sea that is properly termed the Mouth of the River But next to Seas Lakes and Rivers I must explain unto you these Words Viz. Gulf. Bay Creek Streight Haven Pond Torrent Brook Spring A Gulf is properly a part of the Sea that makes a crooked or circling Shore of a large extent as the Gulf of Bengala in the East-Indies and that of Mexico in America A Bay is nothing else but a midling sort of Gulf Though I confess there are great Gulfs which bear the name of Bay as North of America Baffins Hudsons and Buttons Bay A Creek is a little Bay A Streight is an Arm or a narrow Passage of a Sea as the Streights of Magellan Gibraltar and the Hellespont A Haven or an Harbour is a safe Place for Ships to ride at Anchor A Pond or Pool is but a small Body of standing Waters apt to be dryed up in Summer if not fed with some Spring or other A Torrent is a rapid Water caused by some great Rain or Thaw and so rushing down the Hills with great swiftness A Brook or Rivulet is but a little running Stream of a small extent And by a Spring or Fountain is meant a little Stream immediately Springing out of the Ground Now to follow the same Method we used in the Description of the Earth I must give you Philalethes a particular Account of the Seas Lakes Rivers c. The Ocean which surrounds the World may be divided according to its four Quarters into Northern Eastern Southern Western The Northern Ocean is that which lies North of Europe Asia and the Northern America and so parts them from Terra Borealis But it is also called the Frozen Sea as being commonly clogged with Ice in Winter-time The Eastern lyes between Asia and America called Eastern in respect to Asia But about the Southern America it is best known by the name of Mar del zur or South Sea or by the name of Pacifick The Southern Ocean ly's South of Asia Africk and America and so parts them from Terra Australis The Western lies betwixt Europe and Africk of one side and America on the other side called Western because it ly's West of Europe and Africk But towards America it is named Mar del North or the North Sea Now the Ocean has several particular Names commonly taken from the adjacent Country's So about Brittain it is called the Brittish Sea about Ireland Irish Sea about the lower Germany the German Sea or the German Ocean and about Spain the Spanish Sea Towards the East-Indies it is named the Indian Sea On the West side of Africk from Atlas the great African Mountain it bears the name of Atlantick Sea or Atlantick Ocean and towards Aethiopia it is from hence called Aethiopick But besides the Ocean there are some Inland Seas into which the Ocean diffuses it self As the Mediterranean which runs Eastward from the Streights of Gibraltar above a thousand Leagues betwixt Europe Northwards and Africk Southwards as far as the Shore of Asia Therefore 't is called the Mediterranean that is the Midland Sea from the Latin Mare