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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35222	The English empire in America, or, A prospect of His Majesties dominions in the West-Indies ... with an account of the discovery, scituation, product, and other excellencies of these countries : to which is prefixed a relation of the first discovery of the New World called America, by the Spaniards, and of the remarkable voyages of several Englishmen to divers places therein : illustrated with maps and pictures by R.B., author of Englands monarchs, &c., Admirable curiosities in England, &c., Historical remarks of London, &c., The late wars in England, &c., and The history of Scotland and Ireland.	R. B., 1632?-1725?	1685 (1685)	Wing C7319; ESTC R21113	146,553	216

The English EMPIRE in America By R. B London Printed for Nath Crouch The English EMPIRE IN America Or a Prospect of His Majesties Dominions in the West-Indies Namely Newfoundland New-England New-York Pensylvania New-Jersey Maryland Virginia Carolina Bermuda's Barbuda Anguilla Montserrat Dominica St. Vincent Antego Mevis or Nevis S. Christophers Barbadoes Jamaica With an account of the Discovery Scituation Product and other Excellencies of these Countries To which is prefixed a Relation of the first Discovery of the New World called America by the Spaniards And of the Remarkable Voyages of several Englishmen to divers places therein Illustrated with Maps and Pictures By R. B. Author of Englands Monarchs c. Admirable Curiosities in England c. Historical Remarks of London c. The late Wars in England c. And The History of Scotland and Ireland LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside 1685. TO THE READER VAriety and Novelty are the most pleasant Entertainments of Mankind and if so then certainly nothing can be more divertive than Relations of this New World which as our English Laureat Sings is so happy a Climate As if our Old World modestly withdrew And here in private had brought forth a New Here nature spreads her fruitful sweetness round Breaths on the Air and Broods upon the Ground Here days and nights the only seasons be The Sun no Climate does so gladly see When forc'd from hence to view our parts he mourns Takes little Journeys and makes quick returns Nay in this Bounteous and this Blessed Land The Golden Ore lies mixt with Common Sand Each down fall of a flood the Mountains pour From their Rich Bowels rolls a Silver Shower All lay conceal'd for many Ages past And the best portion of the Earth was wast I need say no more in commendation of this Land of Wonders but only to add that the continued Encouragement I have received in publishing several former Tracts of this volume especially those which had reference to His Majesties Dominions in Europe have induced me to proceed upon those Gallant Atchievements of our English Hero's in this New World and to give my Countrymen a short view of those Territories now in possession of the English Monarchy in the West-Indies of which many have only heard the names but may here find the nature commodities and other Excellencies therein which I doubt not will sufficiently recommend it to the perusal of every Ingenious Reader So wishes R. B. THE First Discovery of the New World called AMERICA CHAP. I. HAving already given an account of His Majesty of Great Britains three famous Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland we shall now ship our selves for a New World and therein discover the Acquisitions and Dominions of the English Monarchy in Amercia The New World is the most proper name for this immense Countrey and new as being discovered by Christopher Columbus not two hundred years ago in 1492. The Ancient Fathers Philosophers and Poets were of opinion that those places near the North and South Pole were inhabitable by the extremity of cold and the middle parts because of unreasonable heat and thought it a great solecism or contradiction to believe the Earth was round for holding which opinion Pope Zachaus was so zealous against Bishop Virgil that he sentenced him To be cast out of the Temple and Church of God and to be deprived of his Bishoprick for this perverse Doctrine that there were Antipodes or people whose feet are placed against ours though this discovery of America has fully confirmed these opinions and evinced that there is no such torrid Zone where the heat is so noxious as to unpeople any part of the Earth and the yearly compassing of the World evidenceth the necessity of Inhabitants living on all parts of this earthly Globe The next inquiry may be whether the Ancient had any knowledge of these Regions which many incline to think they had not for though Seneca says in his Msdea That new Worlds shall be discovered in the last Ages of the World and Thule in Norway shall be no longer the utmost Nation of the World yet this seems only to intimate the common effects and discoveries of Navigation And Plato's Atlantis cannot intend this Countrey because he placeth it at the mouth of the Streights or Mediterranean Sea which is separated from America by a vast Ocean and saies it is not now in being but was by an earthquake sunk and overwhelmed in the Sea Other Authors since that time have mentioned some Islands in that Great Sea but they seem rather to be some of those on the Coasts of Africa than America it being improbable if not impossible any should undertake such long and dangerous Voyages before the compass was found out when they were only directed by the motion of the Sun and Stars Yet is it not incredible but that in former Ages some Ships might by Tempest or other Casualties be driven to these parts whereby some parts of America were peopled but it is likely none ever returned back again to bring any news of their voyage The most probable Relation of this kind is that of Madoc ap Owen Gwyneth who upon the Civil dissentions in his own Countrey of Wales adventured to Sea and leaving Ireland on the North came to a Land unknown where he saw many very wonderful things which by Dr. Dowel and Mr. Humfrey Lloyd is judged to be the main Land of America being confirmed therein as well by the saying of Montezuma Emperor of Mexico who declared that his Progenitors were Strangers as well as the rest of the Mexicans as by the use of divers Welch words amongst them observed by Travellers the story adds that Madoc left several of his People there and coming home returned back with ten sail full of Welchmen yet it is certain there are now left very few footsteps of this Brittish expedition and no signs thereof were found at the Spaniards Arrival they indeed used a Cross at Cumana and worshipped it at Acuzamil but without the least memory or knowledge of Jesus Christ and the Welch words are very few which might happen by chance to any other Language Mr. Bretewood and other learned writers are of Opinion that America received her first Inhabitants from those parts of Asia where the Tartars first inhabited the Coasts of both Countreys being in that place not far asunder and the likeness of the People favouring the same though the Indians in general are so very ignorant as to ascribe their beginning some to a Fountain and others to a Lake or Cave But leaving these uncertainties let us give a brief account of the real discovery thereof by Columbus which is thus related by Gomara and Mariana two Spanish writers A certain Caravel sailing in the Ocean was carried by a strong East wind of long continuance to an unknown Land never mentioned in the Maps or Charts of that Age this Ship was much longer in returning than

Darien where Sir Francis Drake formerly fell acquainted with the Symerons who put him upon surprizing the Treasure at Panama a Place and People which Captain Oxenham very well knew and intended now to make use of Nor was it long ere he met with some of them who inform him that the Mules now travel with a strong Guard of Souldiers which was somewhat contrary to his expectation and quite altered his design However being resolved to act some great thing it did not much disanimate him and therefore finding little hopes of success here they resolve to try their Fortunes on the South Sea To this purpose the Captain brings his own Ship on ground and covers her with boughs and rubbish as well as he could and burying his great Guns in the Earth he with his Company and 6 Negro's to conduct them march by land toward the Coast of Panama and Peru. Having gone about 14 Leagues they came to a River which the Symerons told them ran directly into the South Sea Here they cut down wood and built themselves a Pinnace about 45 foot long wherein they put to Sea making toward the Island of Pearls 25 Leagues South of Panama hoping some Ships from Peru or other places from the South would be sailing that way for Panama So that though Sir Francis Drake hath deservedly the honour of first discovering the South Sea to the English by the open and known way of the Streights yet Captain Oxenham was the first Englishman that ever sailed upon it with command He had not waited long but there came a Bark from Quito a Province of Peru laden with Goods and sixty Thousand Pezo's of fine Gold which he took and within six days after another from Lima wherein were no less than two hundred Thousand Pezo's of Silver in Bars the value of a Pezo both in Gold and Silver you have in Sir Tho. Cavendishes Voyage according to which account this Prize amounted to nine hundred and sixty Thousand Pound S●erling in Gold and fourscore Thousand Pound in Silver which being enough to satisfy reasonable Men they retire with their Pinn●ce up the River intending to make all speed to their Ship but unhappily by the Covetousness and Dissention of some of the Company so much time was spent about sharing their Booty that the Spaniards at Panama had notice of it whereupon Ships were presently dispatcht to pursue them at Sea and Souldiers to intercept them at Land The Captain himself through the obstinacy and wilfulness of some of the Company was forced to leave the Treasure with them and Travel some Leagues up into the Country to find Negro's that might help him to carry it his own Men refusing to do it but quarrelling with him for larger pay In the mean time the Spanish Ships came to the mouth of the River and by the Feathers of certain Hens which the English had taken and pluckt there they judged them to be gone up the River and putting in after them soon overtook them and their Prize together The Captain was absent but either the Negro's or some of the English having discovered that their Ship lay in the Sound neither he nor any of the rest escaped but were all in a short time met with by the Spaniards and having no Commission to shew he going only upon his own Account every Man of them were Executed save two Boys Thus ended the stout and resolute Captain Oxenham the Justice of whose Cause saith my Author I will not dispute with his Adversaries but could wish it had been as perfectly just in all respects as it was gallant and bravely managed on the Captains part insomuch that his very Enemies who put him to death do yet admire and extol it miscarrying only through Passion Covetousness and Self-will of some of his Company whose Lives paid for their folly XII That Valiant and Learned Knight Sir Walter Rawleigh having Intelligence of the Rich and Mighty Empire of Guiana in America which is bounded on the North with Orenoque River and the Sea on the East and South with the River of Amazones and on the West with the Mountains of Peru In March 1595. he set forth for discovery thereof and landed at Curiapan in Trinidado taking the City of St. Joseph and therein Antony Berreo the Spanish Governour leaving his Ships he went with an hundred Men in Boats and a little Galley with Indian Pilots into the famous River of Orenoque which runs from Quito in Peru on the West and hath nine Branches on the North side and seven on the South the Inhabitants on the Northern Branches are the Tivitivas a Valiant Nation and of the most manly and deliberate Speech that I have heard saith Sir Walter In Summer they Build Houses on the Ground in Winter upon Trees where they Build very Artificial Towns and Villages for between May and September the River rises thirty Foot upright and then are these Islands which the River makes overflown twenty five Foot high except in some raised Grounds the Natives never eat any thing that is set or sown using the tops of Palmettos for Bread and killing Deer Fish and Pork for Meat those that dwell on some other Branches are chiefly imployed in making Canoos which they sell into Guiana for Gold and to Trinidado for Tobacco in taking of which they exceed all Nations when their King dies they use great lamentation and when they think the flesh is putrified and fallen from the Bones they take up the Carcass again and hang it up in his House decking his Skull with Feathers of all Colours and hanging Plates of Gold about his Arms Thighs and Legs those who dwell on the South beat the Bones of their King to Powder which their Wives and Friends Drink As they passed along these Streams they were entertained with several curious Divertisements the Deer feeding by the Water-side the Birds of variety of colours and notes singing the Fields embroidered with Plants and Flowers the Fishes and Fowls of all kinds playing in the River only the Crocodile who preys both on the Land and Water had almost spoiled the Comedy by turning it into a Tragedy feasting himself with a Negro of their company before their Eyes Passing hence to Cumana 120 Leagues North they came to a People as black as Negro's but with smooth Hair whose Arrows are so mortally poisoned that they kill with unspeakable Torments especially if men drink after they are wounded At the Port of Morequito they anchored and the King who was an hundred and ten years old came fourteen miles on foot to see them returning the same day they brought them Fruits great store a sort of Pariquetro's no bigger than Wrens An Armadilla which seemed covered all over with small Plates somewhat like a Rhinoceros with a white Horn growing in his hinder parts which they use to wind instead of a Trumpet and the Snout of a Pig this Beast they afterward eat They passed forward till they came in sight of

of Plenty of all sorts of Provisions Insomuch that most sorts are already cheaper there than in any other of the English Colonys and they are plentifully enough supplied with all things from England or other Parts Ashly-River about seven Miles in from the Sea divides it self into two Branches the Southermost retaining the name of Ashly-River the North Branch is called Cooper-River In May 1680. the Lords Proprietors sent their Orders to the Government their appointing the Port-Town for these two Rivers to be Built on the Point of Land that divides them and to be called Charles Town since which time about an hundred Houses are there Built and more are Building daily by the Persons of all sorts that come there to Inhabit from the more Northern English Colonys and the Sugar Islands England and Ireland and many Persons who went to Carolina Servants being Industrious since they came out of their times with their Masters at whose charge they were Transported have gotten good Stocks of Cattle and Servants of their own have here also Built Houses and exercise their Trades And many that went thither in that condition are now worth several Hundreds of Pounds and live in a very plentiful condition and their Estates still encreasing And Land is become of that value near the Town that it is sold for twenty Shillings per Acre though pillaged of all its valuable Timber and not cleared of the rest and Land that is clear'd and fitted for Planting and Fenced is let for ten Shillings per annum the Acre though twenty miles distant from the Town and six men will in six weeks time Fall Clear Fence in and fit for Planting six Acres of Land At this Town in November 1680. There Rode at one time sixteen Sail of Vessels some of which were upwards of 200 Tuns that came from divers parts of the Kings Dominions to trade there which great concourse of shipping will undoubtebly in a short time make it a considerable Town The Eastern Shore of America whether it be by reason of its having the great Body of the Continent to the Westward of it and by consequence the Northwest-Wind which blows contrary to the Sun the Freezing-Wind as the North-East is in Europe or that the Frozen Lakes which lie-in beyond Canada and lie North and West from the Shore Impregnate the Freezing Wind with more chill and congealing qualities or that the uncultivated Earth covered for the most part with large shading Trees breathes forth more nitrous Vapours than that which is cultivated or all these Reasons together it is certainly much more cold than any part of Europe in the same Degree of Latitude insomuch that New-England and those parts of America about the Latitude of thirty nine and forty and more North though above six hundred miles nearer the Sun than England is notwithstanding many degrees colder in the Winter The Author having been informed by those that say they have seen it that in those Parts it Freezeth about six Inches thick in a Night and great Navigable Rivers are Frozen over in the same space of time and the Country about Ashly-River though within nine Degrees of the Tropick hath seldom any Winter that doth not produce some Ice though I cannot yet learn that any hath been seen on Rivers or Ponds above a quarter of an Inch thick which vanisheth as soon as the Sun is an hour or two high and when the Wind is not at North-west the Weather is very mild So that the December and January of Ashly-River I suppose to be of the same Temperature with the latter end of March and beginning of April in England this small Winter causeth a fall of the Leaf and adapts the Countrey to the production of all the Grains and Fruits of England as well as those that require more Sun insomuch that at Ashly-River the Apple the Pear the Plum the Quince Apricock Peach Medlar Walnut Mulberry and Chesnut thrive very well in the same Garden together with the Orange the Lemon the Olive the Pomgranate the Fig and Almond nor is the Winter here cloudy Overcast or Foggy but it hath been observed that from the twentieth of August to the tenth of March including all the Winter Months there have been but eight overcast days and though Rains fall pretty often in the Winter it is most commonly in quick Showers which when past the Sun shines out clear again The Summer is not near so hot as in Virginia or ●●e other Northern American English Colonies which may hardly gain belief with those that have not considered the reason which is its neerness to the Tropicks which makes it in a greater measure than those ports more Northward partake of those Breezes which almost constantly rise about eight or nine of the Clock within the Tropicks and blow fresh from the East till about four in the Afternoon and a little after the Sea-breeze dies away there rises a North-wind which blowing all night keeps it fresh and cool In short I take Carolina to be much of the same nature with those delicious Countries about Aleppo Antioch and Smyrna But hath the advantage of being under an equal English Government Such who in this Countrey have seated themselves near great Marshes are subject to Agues as those are who are so seated in England But such who are Swan wild Geese Duck Widgeon Teal Curlew Snipe Shell Drake and a certain sort of black Duck that is excellent meat and stayes there all the year Neat Cattle thrive and increase here exceedingly there being perticular Planters that have already seven or eight hundred head and will in a few years in all probability have as many thousands unless they sell some part he Cattle are not subject to any Disease as yet perceiv'd and are fat all the Year long without any Fother the little Winter they have not pinching them so as to be perceiv'd which is a great advantage the Planters here have of the more Northern Plantations who are all forc'd to give their Cattle Fother and must spend a great part of their Summers Labour in providing three or four Months Fother for their Cattle in the Winter or else would have few of them alive in the Spring which will keep them from ever having very great Herds or be able to do much in Planting any Commodity for Foreign Markets the providing Winter Food for their Cattle taking up so much of their Summers Labour So that many Judicious Persons think that Carolina will be able by Sea to supply those Northern Colonies with salted Beef for their Shipping cheaper than they themselves with what is bred among them for considering that all the Woods in Carolina afford good Pasturage and the small Rent that is paid to the Lords Proprietors for Land an Ox is raised at almost as little expence in Carolina as a Hen is in England And it hath by experience been found that Beef will take salt at Ashly-River any Month in the Year and save very

the top from whence next Morning they had a beautiful Prospect of the Atlantick Ocean washing the Virginian Shores but to the North and West other higher Mountains hindred their sight Here they wandred in Snow three or four days hoping to find some passage through the Mountains but the coldness of the Earth and Air seizing their hands and feet caused their return and put a stop to their further Travels In a second Expedition he came to another sort of Indians enemies to the Christians yet ventured among them because they hurt none whom they do not fear and after he had given them some sin all Trifles of Glass and Metal they were very kind to him and consulted with their Gods whether to admit him into their Nation and Councils and oblige him to stay among them by a Marriage with their Kings or some of their great Mens daughters but he with much ado waved their courtesies and got leave to depart upon promise to return in six Months At length he came to a Town more populous than any he had seen before in his Journey The King whereof though his Dominions are large and populous is in continual fear of his Neighbour Indians who are a People so addicted to Arms that even their Women come into the Field and shoot Arrows over their Husbands Shoulders The men it seems fight with Silver hatchets for an Indian told him they were of the same metal with the hilt of his Sword They are a cruel Nation and steal their Neighbours Children to sacrifice them to their Idols The Women delight much in Ornaments of Feathers of which they have great Variety but Peacocks are most in esteem because not common in that Countrey They are reasonably handsom and more civil in their Carriage than their Neighbours but miserably infatuated with the Illusions of the Devil it caused no small horror in him to see one of them with his neck all one side foam at the mouth stand barefoot upon burnings Coals for neer an hour and then recovering his senses leap out of the fire without hurt or s gn of any this he was an Eye witness of Southwest from hence he arrived at a Nation who differ in Government from all the other Indians of these parts being slaves rather than Subjects to their King their Monarch was a grave man and courteous to Strangers yet our Authour could not without horror observe his Barbarous Superstition in hiring 3 Youths to kill as many young Women of their Enemies as they could meet withal to serve his Son then newly dead in the other World as he vainly imagined These youths during his stay returned with Skins torn off the Heads and Faces of three young Girls which they presented to their King and were by him gratefully received Our Author in his sleep was stung by a Mountain Spider and had not an Indian suckt out the Poyson he had died for receiving the hurt at the rip of one of his Fingers ●he venom shot up immediately into his Shoulder and ●o inflamed his side that it is not possible to express ●he Torment the means used by the Indian was first ● small Dose of Snake-root Powder which he gave him ●n a little Water and then making a kind of Plaister of ●he same applyed it neer to the place affected which when he had done he swallowed some himself by way ●f Antidote and then suckt the wounded Finger so ●iolently that the patient felt the venom retire back ●rom his side into his Shoulder and from thence down his ●rms The Indian having thus suckt half a score times and ●pit as often our Author was eased of all his pain and ●refectly recovered He thought he had been bit with a Rattle-Snake for he did not see who hurt him but the ●ndian found by the wound and the effects of it that it was given by a Spider one of which he saw the next ●ay much like our great blue Spider only somewhat longer It is probable the nature of this Poyson is much ●●ke that of the Tarantula being thus beyond hope and expectation restored to himself he with his fellow travellers resolved to return back to Carolina without mak●ng any further discovery CHAP. XI A Prospect of Bermudas or the Summer Islands with the Discovery Plantation and Product thereof Having travelled thus long upon the Main Land of America let us now venture again to Sea and look into the Islands belonging to his Majesty in the West Indies The first which offers it self is Bermudas or the Summer Islands which are a multitude of broken Isles some write no less than four hundred scituate directly East from Virginia from which they are distant five hundred English Miles and three Thousand three hundred Miles from the City of London so named from John Bermudaz a Spaniard who first discovered them Oviedo writes that he was near it and had though● to have sent some Hogs on Shore for increase but by force of Tempest was driven from thence it being extreamly subject to furious Rains Lightning and Thunder for which and the many Shipwracks tha● have hapned upon the Coast it is called the Island of Devils Job Hartop relates that in the height of Bermudas they had sight of a Sea-Monster which shewed it self three times from the middle upward in shap● like a man of an Indian or Mulatto Complexion I● was after named the Summer Islands from the shipwrack of Sr George Summers who was so much delighted with the misadventure that he endeavoured what he could to settle a Plantation there together with Sr T●o● Gates They found there plenty and Variety of Fish● abundance of Hogs which probably escaped out of some shipwrack Mulberries Silkworms Palmettos Cedars Pearls and Ambergreice but the most surprizing thing was the Variety of Fowl taking a Thousand of one kind in two or three hours as big as a Pigeon laying speckled Eggs as large as hens on the Sand which they do dayly without affright though men sit down by them Other Birds were so tame that by whistling to them they would come and gaze at you while with your stick you might kill them when they had taken a Thousand soon after they might have as many more They had other Eggs of Tortoises a bushell being found in the belly of one of them which were very sweet and good they took fourty of these Turtles or Tortoises in a day one of which would serve fifty men at a meal This shipwrackt Company built here a ship and a Pinnace two of their Company being Married and two born among them whereby they took the most natural possession thereof for our Nation These Islands seem rent asunder with Tempests which threaten in appearance to swallow them all in time the storms in the Full and Change keep their unchangable ●ourse Winter and Summer rather thundring than ●lowing from every Quarter sometimes for 48 hours ●ogether The North and North-West Winds cause Winter in December January and February Yet