we came to the point thereof That Land turning to the Westward we ranne along sixteene leagues North-west then comming into a faire Bay we went on Land with our Boat which place was vninhabited but yet it appeared vnto vs that the people had beene there by crosses and other signes from thence we went all along the coast Westward The fourth day of September we lost sight of Land by reason of contrarie windes and the eighth day we descried Land againe Within two dayes after we lost the sight of it then running West and by South about thirtie leagues we gat the sight of Land againe and bare in with it vntill night then perceiuing it to bee a lee shoare we gat vs into the Sea to the end to haue Sea roome The twelfth of September wee haled to shoare-ward againe hauing then indifferent winde and weather then being neere vnto the shoare and the tide almost spent wee came to an anchor in thirtie fathoms water The thirteenth day we came along the coast which lay North-west and by West and South-east and by East The fourteenth day we came to an anchor within two leagues off the shoare hauing sixtie fathoms There wee went ashoare with our Boat and found two or three good Harbours the Land being rocky and high but as for people could we see none The fifteenth day we ran still along the coast vntill the seuenteenth day then the winde being contrarie vnto vs we thought it best to returne vnto the Harbour which we had found before and so we bare roomer with the same howbeit wee could not accomplish our desire that day The next day being the eighteenth we entred into the Hauen and there came to an anchor at six fathoms This Hauen runneth into the Mayne about two leagues and is in bredth halfe a league wherein were very many Seale-fishes and other great fishes and vpon the Mayne wee saw Beares great Deere Foxes and diuers strange beasts as Guloines and such other which were to vs vnknowne and also wonderfull Thus remayning in this Hauen the space of a weeke seeing the yeere farre spent and also very euill weather as Frost Snow and Hayle as though it had beene the deepe of Winter wee thought best to winter there Wherefore we sent out three men South South-west to search if they could finde people who went three dayes iourney but could finde none after that we sent other three West-ward foure dayes iourney which also returned without finding any people Then sent we three men South-east three dayes iourney who in like sort returned without finding of people or any similitude of habitation The Riuer or Hauen wherein Sir Hugh Willoughby with the companie of his two ships perished for cold is called Arzina in Lapland neere vnto Kegor But it appeareth by a Will found in a ship that Sir Hugh Willoughby and most of the companie were aliue in Ianuary 1554. A Letter of RICHARD CHANCELLOR written to his Vncle Master CHRISTOPHER FROTHINGAM touching his discouerie of Moscouia FOrasmuch as it is meet and necessarie for all those that minde to take in hand the trauell into strange Countries to endeauour themselues not onely to vnderstand the orders commodities and fruitfulnesse thereof but also to apply them to the setting forth of the same whereby it may incourage others to the like trauell therefore haue I now thought good to make a briefe rehearsall of the orders of this my trauell in Russia and Muscouia and other Countries thereunto adioyning because it was my chance to fall with the North parts of Russia before I came towards Moscouia I will partly declare my knowledge therein Russia is very plentifull both of Land and People and also wealthie for such commodities as they haue They be very great fishers for Salmons and small Cods they haue much Oyle which wee call Trane Oyle the most whereof is made by a Riuer called Dâ—ina They make it in other places but not so much as there They haue also a great trade in seething of salt water To the North part of that Countrey are the places where they haue their Furres as Sables Marterns greesse Beuers Foxes white blacke and red Minkes Ermines Miniuer and Harts There are also a fishes teeth which fish is called a Morsse The takers thereof dwell in a place called Postesora which bring them vpon Harts to Lampas to sell and from Lampas carrie them to a place called Colmogro where the high Market is holden on Saint Nicolas day To the West of Colmogro there is a place called Gratanoue in our language Nouogorode where much fine Flaxe and Hempe groweth and also much Waxe and Honie The Dutch Merchants haue a Staple-house there There is also great store of Hides and at a place called Plesco and thereabout is great store of Flaxe Hempe Waxe Honie and that Towne is from Colmogro one hundred and twentie miles There is a place called Vologda the commodities whereof are Tallow Waxe and Flaxe but not so great plentie as is in Gratanoue From Vologda to Colmogro there runneth a Riuer called Duina and from thence it falleth into the Sea Colmogro serueth Gratanoue Vologda and the Mosco with all the Countrey thereabout with Salt and salt Fish From Vologda to Iereslaue is two hundred miles which Towne is very great The commodities thereof are Hides and Tallow and Corne in great plentie and some Waxe but not so plentifull as in other places The Mosco is from Ieraslaue two hundred miles The Countrey betwixt them is very well replenished with small Villages which are so well filled with people that it is wonder to see them the ground is well stored with Corne which they carrie to the Citie of Mosco in such abundance that it is wonder to see it You shall meet in a morning seuen or eight hundred Sleds comming or going thither that carrie Corne and some carrie fish You shall haue some that carrie Corne to the Mosco and some that fetch Corne from thence that at the least dwell a thousand miles off and all their carriage is on Sleds Those which come so farre dwell in the North parts of the Dukes Dominions where the cold will suffer no Corne to grow it is so extreme They bring thither Fishes Furres and Beasts skinnes In those parts they haue but small store of Cattell The Mosco it selfe is great I take the whole Towne to be greater then London with the Suburbes but it is very rude and standeth without all order Their houses are all of timber very dangerous for fire There is a faire Castle the walls whereof are of bricke and very high they say they are eighteene foot thicke but I doe not beleeue it it doth not so seeme notwithstanding I doe not certainly know it for no stranger may come to view it The one side is ditched and on the other side runneth a Riuer called Mosâ—ua which runneth into Tartarie and so into the Sea called
and presently at another casting of the Lead they had but six fathome and presently after that againe ten eleuen and twelue fathome the streame running hard against the Flats From the east-East-end of the Admirals Iland to Cape Negro that is the Blacke point they sayled about fiue or six miles East North-east and a mile without the Blacke point it iâ— seuenty fathome deepe the ground slimy as vpon Pamphius right East-ward of the Blacke point there are two sharpe pointed Hils in the Creeke that are easie to be knowne The sixt of Iuly the Sunne being North they come right before the Blacke point with faire weather this Blacke point lyeth vnder 75. degrees and 20. minutes From the Blacke point to Williams Iland they sayled seuen or eight miles East North-east and betweene them both about halfe a mile there lay a small Iland The seuenth of Iuly they sayled from Williams Iland and then William Barents tooke the height of the Sunne with his Crosse-staffe and found it to be eleuated aboue the Horizon in the South-west and by South 53. degrees and 6. minutes his declination being 22. degrees and 49. minutes which being added to 53. degrees and 6. minutes make 75. degrees and 55. minutes This is the right height of the Pole of the said Iland In this Iland they found great store of Driftwood and many Sea-horses being a kind of fish that keepeth in the Sea hauing very great teeth which at this day are vsed in stead of Iuory or Elephants Teeth there also is a good Road for ships at twelue and thirteene fathome deepe against all winds except it bee West South-west and West-winds and there they found a piece of a Russia ship and that day they had the wind East North-east mistie weather The ninth of Iuly they entred into Beeren-fort vpon the Road vnder Williams Iland and there they found a white Beare which they perceiuing presently entred into their Boat and shot her into the bodie with a Musket but the Beare shewed most wonderfull strength which almost is not to be found in any beast for no man euer heard the like to bee done by any Lion or cruell beast whatsoeuer for notwithstanding that she was shot into the bodie yet she leapt vp and swamme in the water the men that were in the Boat rowing after her cast a Rope about her necke and by that meanes drew her at the sterne of the Boat for that not hauing seene the like Beare before they thought to haue carryed her aliue in the ship and to haue shewed her for a strange wonder in Holland but she vsed such force that they were glad that they were rid of her and contented themselues with her skinne only for shee made such a noyse and stroue in such sort that it was admirable wherewith they let her rest and gaue her more scope with the Rope that they held her by and so drew her in that sort after them by that meanes to wearie her meane-time William Barents made neerer to her but the Beare swamme to the Boat and with her fore-feet got hold of the sterne thereof which William Barents perceiuing said she will there rest her selfe but she had another meaning for she vsed such force that at last she had gotten halfe her body into the Boat wherewith the men were so abashed that they ranne into the further end of the Boat and thought verily to haue beene spoyled by her but by a strange meanes they were deliuered from her for that the Rope that was about her necke caught hold vpon the hooke of the Ruther whereby the Beare could get no further but so was held backe and hanging in that manner one of the men boldly stept forth from the end of the Scute and thrust her into the bodie with a halfe-pike and therewith shee fell downe into the water and so they rowed forward with her to the shippe drawing her after them till shee was in a manner dead wherewith they killed her out-right and hauing slayed her brought the skin to Amsterdam The twentieth of Iuly they sayled out of Beeren-fort from Williams Iland and the same day in the morning got to the Iland of Crosses and there went on Land with their Pinnasse and found the Iland to be barren and full of Cliffes and Rocks in it there was a small Hauen whereinto they rowed with their Boat This Iland is about halfe a mile long and reacheth East and West on the West end it hath a banke about a third part of a mile long and at the East end also another banke vpon this Iland there standeth two great Crosses the Iland lyeth about two long miles from the firme Land and vnder the East-end thereof there is a good Road at sixe and twentie fathome soft ground and somewhat closer to the Iland on the Strand at nine fathome sandie ground From the Iland of Crosses to the point of Cape Nassaw they sayled East and East and by North about eight miles it is a long flat point which you must be carefull to shunne for thereabouts at seuen fathome there were flats or shoales very farre from the Land it lyeth almost vnder 76. degrees and a halfe From the West end of Williams Iland to the Iland with the Crosses is three miles the course North. From Nassaw point they sayled East and by South and East South-east fiue miles and then they thought that they saw Land in North-east and by East and sayled towards it fiue miles North-east to descrie it thinking it to bee another Land that lay Northward from Noua Zembla but it began to blow so hard out of the West that they were forced to take in their Marsaile and yet the wind rose in such manner that they were forced to take in all their Sayles and the Sea went so hollow that they were constrayned to driue sixteene houres together without sayle eight or nine miles East North-east The eleuenth of Iuly their Boat was by a great waue of the Sea sunke to the ground and by that meanes they lost it and after that they draue without sayles fiue miles East and by South at last the Sunne being almost South-east the wind came about to the North-west and then the weather began somewhat to cleere vp but yet it was very mistie Then they hoysed vp their sayles againe and sayled foure miles till night that the Sunne was North and by East and there they had sixtie fathome deepe muddie ground and then they saw certayne flakes of Ice at which time vpon the twelfth of Iuly they woond West and held North-west and sayled about a mile with mistie weather and a North-west wind and sayled vp and downe West South-west three or foure miles to see if they could find their Boat againe after that they woond againe with the wind and sayled foure miles South-east till the Sunne was South-west and then they were close by the Land of Noua Zembla that lay East and
a Beare that lay there and slept awaked and came towards vs to the ship so that wee were forced to leaue our Worke about turning of the ship and to defend our selues against the Beare and shot her into the bodie wherewith she ranne away to the other side of the Iland and swamme into the water and got vp vpon a piece of Ice where she lay still but we comming after her to the piece of Ice where she lay when she saw vs she leapt into the water and swamme to the Land but we got betweene her and the Land and strooke her on the head with a Hatchet but as often as wee strooke at her with the Hatchet she duckt vnder the water whereby wee had much to doe before we could kill her after she was dead we flayed her on the Land and tooke the skinne aboord with vs and after that turned our shippe to a great piece of Ice and made it fast thereunto The sixteenth ten of our men entring into one Boat rowed to the firme Land of Noua Zembla and drew the Boat vp vpon the Ice which done we went vp a high Hill to see the situation of the Land and found that it reached South-east and South South-east and then againe South which wee disliked for that it lay so much Southward but when wee saw open water South-east and East South-east we were much comforted againe thinking that we had wonne our Voyage and knew not how we should get soone enough aboord to certifie William Barents thereof The eighteenth we made preparation to set sayle but it was all in vaine for wee had almost lost our Sheat Anchor and two new Ropes and with much lost labour got to the place againe from whence wee came for the streame ranne with a mightie current and the Ice draue very strongly vpon the Cables along by the ship so that we were in feare that wee should lose all the Cable that was without the ship which was two hundred fathome at the least but God prouided well for vs so that in the end we got to the place againe from whence we put out The nineteenth it was indifferent good weather the Wind blowing south-South-west the Ice still driuing and wee set sayle with an indifferent gale of Wind and past by the point of Desire whereby we were once againe in good hope and when we had gotten aboue the point we sailed South-east into the Sea-ward foure miles but then againe wee entred into more Ice whereby wee were constrayned to turne backe againe and sayled North-west vntill we came to the Land againe which reacheth from the point of Desire to the head point South and by West six miles from the head point to Flushingers head it reacheth South-west which are three miles one from the other from the Flushingers head it reacheth into the Sea East South-east and from Flushingers head to the point of the Iland it reacheth South-west and by South and South-west three miles and from the Iland point to the point of the Ice Hauen the Land reacheth West South-west foure miles from the Ice Hauens point to the fal of Water or the streame Bay and the low Land it reacheth West and by South and East and by North seuen miles from thence the Land reacheth East and West The one and twentieth we sayled a great way into the Ice Hauen and that night anchored therein next day the streame going exreame hard Eastward wee haled out againe from thence and sayled againe to the Iland point but for that it was misty Weather comming to a piece of Ice wee made the ship fast thereunto because the Wind beganne to blow hard South-west and South South-west There we went vp vpon the Ice and wondred much thereat it was such manner of Ice For on the top it was full of Earth and there wee found aboue fortie Egges and it was not like other Ice for it was of a perfect Azure colour like to the Skies whereby there grew great contention in words amongst our men some saying that it was Ice others that it was frozen Land for it lay vnreasonable high aboue the Water it was at least eighteene fathom vnder the water close to the ground and ten fathome aboue the water there wee stayed all that storme the Wind being South-west and by West The three and twentieth wee sayled againe from the Ice South-eastward into the Sea but entred presently into it againe and woond about to the Ice Hauen The next day it blew hard North North-west and the Ice came mightily driuing in whereby we were in a manner compassed about therewith and withall the Wind beganne more and more to rise and the Ice still draue harder and harder so that the pinne of the Rother and the Rother were shorne in pieces and our Boat was shorne in pieces betweene the ship and the Ice we expecting nothing else but that the ship also would be prest and crusht in pieces with the Ice The fiue and twentieth the Weather began to be better and we tooke great paines and bestowed much labour to get the Ice wherewith we were so inclosed to goe from vs but what meanes soeuer we vsed it was all in vaine but when the Sunne was South-west the Ice began to driue out againe with the streame and we thought to saile Southward about Noua Zembla to the Streights of Mergates seeing we could there find no passage Wee hauing past Noua Zembla were of opinion that our labour was all in vaine and that we could not get through and so agreed to goe that way home againe but comming to the Streame Bay wee were forced to goe backe againe because of the Ice which lay so fast thereabouts and the same night also it froze that wee could hardly get through there with the little wind that we had the Wind then being North. The six and twentieth there blew a reasonable gale of Wind at which time wee determined to sayle backe to the point of Desire and so home againe seeing that wee could not get through the Wergats although we vsed all the meanes and industry wee could to get forward but when we had past by the Ice Hauen the Ice began to driue with such force that wee were inclosed round about therewith and yet we sought all the meanes we could to get out but it was all in vaine and at that time we had like to haue lost three men that were vpon the Ice to make way for the ship if the Ice had held the course it went but as we draue backe againe and that the Ice also whereon our men stood in like sort draue they being nimble as the ship draue by them one of them caught hold of the beak head another vpon the shrouds and the third vpon the great brase that hung out behind and so by great aduenture by the hold that they tooke they got safe into the ship againe for which they thanked God with all their
noone I found the height to bee 43. degrees 56. minutes This Eeuening being very faire weather wee obserued the variation of our Compasse at the Sunnes going downe and found it to bee 10. degrees from the North to the VVestward The seuen and twentieth faire sun-shining weather the winde shifting betweene the South-west and West and by North a stiffe gale we stood to the Southward all day and made our way South and by West seuen and twentie leagues At noone our height was 42. degrees 50. minuts At foure of the clocke in the after-noone wee cast about to the Northward At eight of the clocke we tooke in our top-sayles and our fore-bonnet and went with a short sayle all night The eight and twentieth very thicke and mystie and a stiffe gale of wind varying betweene South South-west and South-west and by VVest we made our way North-west and by VVest seuen and twentie leagues wee sounded many times and could get no ground At fiue of the clocke we cast about to the Southward the wind at South-west and by VVest At which time we sounded and had ground at seuentie fiue fathoms At eight wee had sixtie fiue fathoms At ten sixtie At twelue of the clocke at mid-night fiftie sixe fathoms gray sand The Compasse varyed 6. degrees the North point to the VVest The nine and twentieth faire weather we stood to the Southward and made our way South and by VVest a point South eighteene leagues At noone we found our height to bee 42. degrees 56. minutes wee sounded oft and had these 60.64.65.67.65.65.70 and 75. fathoms At night wee tryed the variation of our Compasse by the setting of the Sunne and found that it went downe 37. degrees to the North-ward of the VVest and should haue gone downe but 31. degrees The Compasse varyed 5. 1 â— degrees The thirtieth very hot all the fore-part of the day calme the wind at South South-east wee steered away VVest South-west and sounded many times and could find no ground at one hundred and seuentie fathomes VVe found a great current and many ouer-falls Our current had deceiued vs. For at noone we found our height to be 41. degrees 34. minutes And the current had heaued vs to the Southward fourteene leagues At eight of the clocke at night I sounded and had ground in fiftie two fathomes In the end of the mid-night watch wee had fiftie three fathomes This last obseruation is not to be trusted The one and thirtieth very thicke and mystie all day vntill tenne of the clocke At night the wind came to the South and south-South-west and South We made our way West North-west nineteene leagues Wee sounded many times and had difference of soundings sometimes little stones and sometimes grosse gray sand fiftie six fiftie foure fortie eight fortie seuen fortie foure fortie six fiftie fathomes and at eight of the clocke at night it fell calme and we had fiftie fathomes And at ten of the clocke we heard a great Rut like the Rut of the shoare Then I sounded and found the former Depths and mistrusting a current seeing it so still that the ship made no way I let the lead lie on the ground and found a tide set to the South-west and South-west by West so fast that I could hardly vere the Line so fast and presently came an hurling current or tyde with ouer-fals which cast our ship round and the Lead was so fast in the ground that I feared the Lines breaking and we had no more but that At mid-night I sounded againe and we had seuentie fiue fathomes and the strong streame had left vs. The first of August all the fore-part of the day was mystie and at noone it cleered vp We found that our height was 41. degrees 45. minutes and we had gone nineteene leagues The after-noon was reasonable cleere We found a rustling tide or current with many ouer-fals to continue still and our water to change colour and our sea to bee very deepe for wee found no ground in one hundred fathomes The night was cleere and the winde came to the North and North North-east we steered West The second very faire weather and hot from the morning till noone we had a gale of wind but in the after-noone little wind At noone I sounded and had one hundred and ten fathomes and our height was 41. degrees 56. minutes And wee had runne foure and twentie leagues and an halfe At the Sun-setting we obserued the variation of the Compasse and found that it was come to his true place At eight of the clocke the gale increased so wee ranne sixe leagues that watch and had a very faire and cleere night The third very hot weather In the morning we had sight of the Land and steered in with it thinking to goe to the North-ward of it So we sent our shallop with fiue men to found in by the shore and they found it deepe fiue fathomes within a Bow-shot of the shoare and they went on Land and found goodly Grapes and Rose trees and brought them aboord with them at fiue of the clocke in the Eeuening We had seuen and twentie fathomes within two miles of the shoare and we found a floud come from the South-east and an ebbe from the North-west with a very strong streame and a great hurling and noyses At eight of the clocke at night the wind began to blow a fresh gale and continued all night but variable Our sounding that wee had to the Land was one hundred eightie seuentie foure fiftie two fortie sixe twentie nine twentie seuen twentie foure nineteene seuenteene sometimes Oze and sometimes gray sand The fourth was very hot we stood to the North-west two watches and one South in for the Land and came to an Anchor at the Norther end of the Headland and heard the voyce of men call Then we sent our Boat on shoare thinking they had beene some Christians left on the Land but wee found them to bee Sauages which seemed very glad of our comming So wee brought one aboord with vs and gaue him meate and he did eate and drinke with vs. Our Master gaue him three or foure glasse Buttons and sent him on Land with our shallop againe And at our Boats comming from the shoare he leapt and danced and held vp his hands and pointed vs to a riuer on the other side for we had made signes that we came to fish there The bodie of this Headland lyeth in 41. degrees 45. minutes We set sayle againe after dinner thinking to haue got to the Westward of this Headland but could not so we beare vp to the Southward of it made a South-east way and the Souther point did beare West at eight of the clocke at night Our soundings about the Easter and Norther part of this Headland a league from the shoare are these at the Easterside thirtie twentie seuen twentie seuen twentie foure twentie fiue twentie The North-east point 17. degrees
7. degrees and a halfe variation from the North point to the West The fourteenth faire weather but cloudie and a stiffe gale of wind variable betweene North-east and South-west wee steered away West by South a point South all day vntill nine of the clocke at night then it began to Thunder and Lighten whereupon we tooke in all our sayles and layd it a hull and hulled away North till mid-night a league and a halfe The fifteenth very faire and hot weather the winde at North by East At foure of the clocke in the morning we set sayle and stood on our course to the Westward At noone wee found our height to bee 37. degrees 25. minutes The after-noone proued little wind At eight of the clocke at night the winde came to the North and wee steered West by North and West North-west and made our way West The Compasse varyed 7. degrees from the North to the West The sixteenth faire-shining weather and very hot the wind variable betweene the North and the West wee steered away West by North. At noone wee found our height to bee 37. degrees 6. minutes This morning we sounded and had ground in ninetie fathomes and in sixe Glasses running it shoalded to fiftie fathoms and so to eight and twentie fathoms at foure of the clocke in the after-noone Then wee came to an Anchor and rode till eight of the clocke at night the wind being at South and Moone-light we resolued to goe to the Northward to finde deeper water So we weighed and stood to the Northward and found the water to shoald and deepe from eight and twentie to twentie fathomes The seuenteenth faire and cleere Sun-shining weather the winde at South by West wee steered to the Northward till foure of the clocke in the morning then wee came to eighteene fathomes So we Anchored vntill the Sunne arose to looke abroad for Land for wee iudged there could not but be Land neere vs but we could see none Then we weighed and stood to the Westward till noone And at eleuen of the clocke wee had sight of a low Land with a white sandie shoare By twelue of the clocke we were come into fiue fathomes and Anchored and the Land was foure leagues from vs and wee had sight of it from the West to the North-west by North. Our height was 37. degrees 26. minutes Then the wind blew so stiffe a gale and such a Sea went that we could not weigh so we rode there all night an hard rode The eighteenth in the morning faire weather and little winde at North North-east and North-east At foure of the clocke in the morning we weighed and stood into the shoare to see the deeping or shoalding of it and finding it too deepe we stood in to get a rode for wee saw as it were three Ilands So wee turned to windward to get into a Bay as it shewed to vs to the Westward of an Iland For the three Ilands did beare North off vs. But toward noone the wind blew Northerly with gusts of wind and rayne So we stood off into the Sea againe all night and running off we found a Channell wherein we had no lesse then eight nine ten eleuen and twelue fathomes water For in comming ouer the Barre wee had fiue and foure fathomes and a halfe and it lyeth fiue leagues from the shoare and it is the Barre of Virginia At the North end of it it is ten leagues broad and South and North but deepe water from ninetie fathoms to fiue and foure and a halfe The Land lyeth South and North. This is the entrance into the Kings Riuer in Virginia where our English-men are The North side of it lyeth in 37. degrees 26. minutes you shall know when you come to shoald water or sounding for the water will looke Greene or thicke you shall haue ninetie and eightie fathomes and shoalding a pace till you come to ten eleuen nine eight seuen ten and nine fathomes and so to fiue and foure fathomes and a halfe The nineteenth faire weather but an hard gale of winde at the North-east wee stood off till noone and made our way South-east by East two and twentie leagues At noone wee cast about to the Westward and stood till sixe of the clocke in the after-noone and went fiue leagues and a halfe North-west by North. Then wee cast about againe to the Eastward and stood that way till foure the next morning The twentieth faire and cleere weather the winde variable betweene East North-east and North-east At foure of the clocke in the morning wee cast about to the Westward and stood till noone at which time I sounded and had two and thirtie fathomes Then we take to the Eastward againe wee found our height to bee 37. degrees 22. minutes We stood to the Eastward all night and had very much wind At eight of the clocke at night we tooke off our Bonnets and stood with small sayle The one and twentieth was a sore storme of winde and rayne all day and all night wherefore wee stood to the Eastward with a small sayle till one of the clocke in the after-noone Then a great Sea brake into our fore-corse and split it so we were forced to take it from the yard and mend it wee lay a trie with our mayne-corse all night This night our Cat ranne crying from one side of the ship to the other looking ouer-boord which made vs to wonder but we saw nothing The two and twentieth stormy weather with gusts of rayne and wind In the morning at eight of the clocke we set our fore-corse and stood to the Eastward vnder our fore-sayle mayne-sayle and misen and from noone to noone we made our way East South-east fourteene leagues The night reasonable drie but cloudie the winde variable all day and night Our Compasse was varyed 4. degrees Westward The three and twentieth very faire weather but some Thunder in the morning the winde variable betweene East by North. At noone wee tackt about to the Northward the winde at East by North. The after-noone very faire the wind variable and continued so all night Our way we made East South-east till noone the next day The foure and twentieth faire and hot weather with the wind variable betweene the North and the East The after-noone variable winde But at foure of the clocke the wind came to the East and South-east so wee steered away North by West and in three Watches wee went thirteene leagues At noone our height was 35. degrees 41. minutes being farre off at Sea from the Land The fiue and twentieth faire weather and very hot All the morning was very calme vntill eleuen of the clocke the wind came to South-east and South South-east so wee steered away North-west by North two Watches and a halfe and one Watch North-west by West and went eighteene leagues At noone I found our height to bee 36. degrees 20. minutes being without sight of Land The sixe and
hot that it would scald a Fowle From hence the first of Iune we put to Sea for Groneland but to the West wee saw Land as we thought for which we beare the best part of a day but it proued but a foggie banke So wee gaue it ouer and made for Gronland which we raysed the fourth of Iune Vpon the Coast thereof hung good store of Ice so that our Master could not attayne to the shoare by any meanes The Land in this part is very Mountaynous and full of round Hils like to Sugar-loaues couered with snow We turned the Land on the South side as neere as the Ice would suffer vs. Our course for the most part was betweene the West and North-west till we raysed the Desolations which is a great Iland in the West part of Groneland On this Coast we saw store of Whales and at one time three of them came close by vs so as wee could hardly shunne them then two passing very neere and the third going vnder our ship wee receiued no harme by them praysed bee God From the Desolations our Master made his way North-west the wind being against him who else would haue gone more to the North but in this course we saw the first great Iland or Mountayne of Ice whereof after we saw store About the latter end of Iune we raysed Land to the North of vs which our Master tooke to bee that Iland which Master Dauis setteth downe in his Chart. On the West side of his Streight our Master would haue gone to the North of it but the wind would not suffer him so we fell to the South of it into a great Rippling or ouer-fall of current the which seâ—teth to the West Into the current we went and made our way to the North of the West till we met with Ice which hung on this Iland Wherefore our Master casting about cleered himselfe of this Ice and stood to the South and then to the West through store of floting Ice and vpon the Ice store of Seales We gained a cleere Sea and continued our course till wee meete Ice first with great Ilands and then with store of the smaller sort Betweene them we made our course North-west till we met with Ice againe But in this our going betweene the Ice we saw one of the great Ilands of Ice ouerturne which was a good warning to vs not to come nigh them nor within their reach Into the Ice wee put ahead as betweene two Lands The next day we had a storme and the wind brought the Ice so fast vpon vs that in the end we were driuen to put her into the chiefest of the Ice and there to let her lie Some of our men this day fell sicke I will not say it was for feare although I saw small signe of other griefe The storme ceasing we stood out of the Ice where wee saw any cleere Sea to goe to which was sometime more and sometime lesse Our course was as the Ice did lye sometime to the North then to the North-west and then to the West and to the South-west but still inclosed with Ice Which when our Master saw he made his course to the South thinking to cleere himselfe of the Ice that way but the more he stroue the worse he was and the more inclosed till we could goe no further Here our Master was in despaire and as he told me after he thought he should neuer haue got out of this Ice but there haue perished Therefore hee brought forth his Card and shewed all the company that hee was entred aboue an hundred leagues further then euer any English was and left it to their choice whether they would proceed any further yea or nay Whereupon some were of one minde and some of another some wishing themselues at home and some not caring where so they were out of the Ice but there were some who then spake words which were remembred a great while after There was one who told the Master that if he had an hundred pounds hee would giue fourescore and ten to be at home but the Carpenter made answere that if hee had an hundred hee would not giue ten vpon any such condition but would thinke it to be as good money as euer he had any and to bring it as well home by the leaue of God After many words to no purpose to worke we must on all hands to get our selues out and to cleere our ship After much labour and time spent we gained roome to turne our ship in and so by little and little to get cleere in the Sea a league or two off our course being North and North-west In the end we raysed Land to the south-South-west high Land and couered with Snow Our Master named this Land Desire prouokes Lying here wee heard the noyse of a great ouer-fall of a tyde that came out of the Land for now we might see well that wee had beene embayed before and time had made vs know being so well acquainted with the Ice that when night or foggie or foule weather tooke vs we would seeke out the broadest Iland of Ice and there come to anchor and runne and sport and fill water that stood on the Ice in Ponds both sweete and good But after we had brought this Land to beare South of vs we had the tyde and the current to open the Ice as being carried first one way and then another but in Bayes they lye as in a pond without mouing In this Bay where wee were thus troubled with Ice wee saw many of those Mountaynes of Ice aground in sixe or seuenscore fathome water In this our course we saw a Beare vpon a piece of Ice by it selfe to the which our men gaue chase with their Boat but before they came nigh her the tyde had carried the Ice and the Beare on it and ioyned it with the other Ice so they lost their labour and came aboord againe We continued our course to the North-west and raysed Land to the North of our course toward which we made and comming nigh it there hung on the Eastermost point many Ilands of floting Ice and a Beare on one of them which from one to another came towards vs till she was readie to come aboord But when she saw vs looke at her she cast her head betweene her hinder legges and then diued vnder the Ice and so from one piece to another till she was out of our reach We stood along by the Land on the Southside ahead of vs wee met with Ice that hung on a point of Land that lay to the South more then this that we came vp by which when our Master saw he stood in for the shoare At the West end of this Iland for so it is we found an Harbour and came in at a full Sea ouer a Rocke which had two fathome and an halfe on it and was so much bare at a low water But by
Archdeacon of the rest and his friends sent for a certayne Saracen which was a Sooth-sayer Who said vnto them A certayne leane man who neyther eateth nor drinketh nor sleepes in a Bed is angry with him if hee can obtayne his blessing hee may recouer Then they vnderstood it was the Monke And about mid-night the Priests Wife his Sister and his Sonne came intreating that hee would come and blesse him They also raised vs vp to intreate the Monke Then he said vnto vs intreating him Let him alone because hee with three others who likewise tooke euill courses consulted to goe vnto the Court to procure Mangu Chan that I and you should bee expelled from these parts For there arose a contention among them because Mangu and his Wiues sent foure Iascots and certayne Silkes vpon Easter Eeuen to the Monke and Priests to distribute among them And the Monke had kept vnto himselfe one Iascot for his part and of the other three one was counterfeit for it was Copper Whereupon it seemed to the Priests that the Monke had kept too great a portion to himselfe Whence it might bee that they had some words among themselues which were reported to the Monke When day came I went vnto the Priest hauing an extreme griefe in his side and spitting bloud whereupon I thought it was an Impostume Then I counselled him if he had any thing that was an others to restore it He said hee had nothing I spoke vnto him also of the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction Who answered we haue no such custome neither doe our Priests know how to doe it I intreat you that you would doe it for mee as you know best to bee done I aduised him also concerning Confession which they frequent not hee spake shortly in the Eare of a certayne Priest one of his fellowes After this hee beganne to bee better and hee intreated mee to goe for the Monke So I went but the Monke would not come at the first yet when hee heard hee was some-what better hee went with his Crosse. And I also went and carryed in a Boxe of Master Williams the bodie of Christ which I had reserued vpon Easter Day at the intreatie of Master William Then the Monke beganne to kicke him with his feet and hee most humbly imbraced his feet Then I said vnto him It is the custome of the Church of Rome that the sicke should receiue the Bodie of Christ as it were prouision for their iourney and a defence against all the Deceits of the Enemie Behold the Bodie of Christ which I consecrated on Easter Day You must bee confessed and desire it Then said hee with a great Faith I desire it with all my heart Which when I had discouered hee with great affection said I beleeue that this is my Creatour and my Sauiour who gaue mee life and will restore it againe vnto mee after death in the generall Resurrection and so tooke the Bodie of Christ from my hand made after the manner of the Church of Rome Then the Monke abode with him and gaue him in my absence I know not what Potions On the morrow hee beganne to haue the pangs of death vpon him Then taking their Oyle which they said was holy I anointed him according to the manner of the Church of Rome as they intreated mee I had none of our Oyle because the Priests of Sartach kept all And when wee should sing a Dirge and I would haue beene present at his end the Monke sent vnto mee willing me to depart because if I should bee present I could not come into the house of Mangu Chan for one whole yeare Which when I had told his friends they said it was true and requested me to depart lest I might be hindered in that good which I might promote Assoone as hee was dead the Monke said vnto mee care not I haue killed him with my Prayers This fellow only was Learned and opposed himselfe against vs the rest know nothing Henceforth Mangu Chan himselfe and they all will crouch at our feete Then hee declared vnto me the foresaid Answere of the Sooth-sayer Which not beleeuing it I inquired of the Priests who were friends of the dead whether it were true or no. Who said it was But whether he were pre-instructed or not that they knew not Afterwards I found that the Monke called the foresaid Sooth-sayer and his Wife into his Chappell and caused dust to bee sifted and to diuine vnto him For hee had a certayne Rutenian Deacon who diuined to him Which when I vnderstood I was astonied at his foolishnesse and said vnto him Brother a man full of the Holy Ghost which teacheth all things should not demand Answeres or Counsell from Sooth-sayers seeing all such things are forbidden and they excommunicated who follow such things Then hee beganne to excuse himselfe that it was not true that hee sought after such things But I could not depart from him because I was placed there by the commandement of Chan himselfe nor could I remooue my selfe without his speciall command COncerning the Citie of Caracarum know this that excluding the Palace of Chan himselfe it is not so good as the Castle of Saint Denis and the Monasterie of Saint Denis is tenne times more worth then that Palace and more too There are two streets there one of the Saracens where the Faires are kept and many Merchants haue recourse thither by reason of the Court which is alwayes neere and for the multitude of Messengers There is another street of the Cataians who are all Artificers Without those streets there are great Palaces which are the Courts of the Secretaries There are there twelue kindes of Idolatries of diuers Nations Two Churches of Mahomet where the Law of Mahomet is proclaimed one Church of the Christians at the end of the Towne The Towne is inclosed with a mudde Wall and hath foure Gates On the East part Millet and other Graine is sold which yet is seldome brought thither On the West Sheepe and Goates On the South Oxen and Waggons are sold. At the North Horses are sold. Following the Court before the Ascension wee came thither the Sunday before the Ascension The next day after we were called before Bulgai who is a Iustice and chiefe Secretarie both the Monke and all his Family and wee and all the Messengers and Strangers which frequented the house of the Monke And wee were called before Bulgai seuerally first the Monke and after wee and they beganne diligently to inquire whence wee were and for what purpose wee came and what our errand was And this inquirie was made because it was told Mangu Chan that foure hundred Hassasines or secret Murtherers were gone forth in diuers Habits to kill him About that time the foresaid Ladie was restored to health and shee sent for the Monke and hee not willing to goe answered shee hath sent for Idolaters about her let them cure her if they can I will goe no more Vpon Ascension
to the dangerous Passage of twentie there were two which had Habergions And I demanded whence they had them They said they had gotten them of the Alani aforesaid who are good Worke-men for such things and excellent Smiths Whereupon I thinke they haue small store of Armour but Quiuers and Bowes and Leather Iackes I saw them presented with Iron Plates and Iron Sculls capillos out of Persia. And saw two also who presented themselues to Mangu armed with Coats made of Hogs skins bent inward of rough Leather which were very vnfit and vnwildy Before we came to Porta ferrea we found one Castle of the Alani which was Mangu Chans for hee had subdued that Countrey There we first found Vineyards and drunke Wine The day following wee came to Porta ferrea which Alexander the Macedonian King made And it is a Citie whose East end is vpon the Sea shoare and there is a little Plaine betweene the Sea and the Mountaines through which the Citie is stretched forth in length vnto the top of the Mountaine which bordereth vpon it on the West so that there is no way aboue for the roughnesse of the Mountaines nor below for the Sea but forth-right through the middest of the Citie ouerthwart where there is an Iron gate from whence the Citie hath the name And the Citie is more then a mile long and in the top of the Hill a strong Castle and it is as much in bredth as a great stones cast it hath very strong walls without Trenches and Turrets of great polished stones But the Tartars haue destroyed the tops of the Turrets and the Bulwarkes of the Walls laying the Turrets euen with the Wall Beneath that Citie the Countrey was wont to bee like a Paradise Two dayes iourney hence we found another Citie called Samaron wherein there were many Iewes And when we past it we saw walles descending from the Mountaines to the Sea And leauing the way by the Sea by those walles because it bent towards the East wee went vp into the high Countries towards the South On the morrow wee passed through a certaine Valley wherein the foundations of walles appeared from one mountaine to another and there was no way through the tops of the Mountaines These were sometimes the Inclosures or walles of Alexander restraining the fierce Nations to wit the Shepheards of the Wildernes that they could not inuade the inhabited Countries and Cities There are other walles or Inclosures where Iewes are The next day we came vnto a certaine great Citie called Samag And after this we entred into a great Plaine called Moan through which the Riuer Cur floweth of the which the Curgi haue their name whom we call Georgians And it runneth through the middle of Tiflis which is the Metropolis of the Curgines and in comes directly from the West running to the East to the foresaid Caspian Sea and it hath excellent Salmons In that plaine wee â—ound Tartars againe Also by that plaine comes the Riuer Araxes which commeth from the greater Armenia from betwixt the South and West of which it is called the Land Araxat which is Armenia it selfe Whereupon in the booke of the Kings it is said of the Sonnes of Sennacherib that hauing slaine their Father they fled into the Land of the Armenians And in Esay it is said that they fled into the Land of Ararat To the West then of that most beautifull Plaine is Curgia In that Plaine the Crosmini were wont to be And there is a great Citie in the entrance of the Mountaines called Ganges which was their Metropolis stopping the Georgians that they could not come downe into the Plaine Then wee came to the Bridge of Ships which were fastened together with a great Yron chaine stretched forth crosse the Riuer where Cur and Araxes meet together But Cur loseth his name there AFter that wee went alwayes vpward by Araxes whereof it is said Pontem dedignatur Araxis Araxes disdaines a Bridge Leauing Persia and the Caspian mountaines on the left hand towards the South on the right hand Curgia and the great Sea toward the West going Southwest betweene the South and the West We passed through the meadows of Bacchu who is Generall of that Armie which is there within Araxis And hee hath made the Curgi and Turkes and Persians subiect to him There is another Gouernour in Persia at Taurinum ouer the Tribute called Argon Both which Mangu Chan hath called home to giue place to his Brother comming into those Countries That Countrey which I haue described to you is not properly Persia but was sometimes called Hyrcania I was in Bacchues house and hee gaue vs Wine to drinke and he himselfe dranke Cosmos which I would willingly haue drunke if he had giuen it me yet it was the best new Wine but Cosmos is more wholsome for an hunger-staruen man Wee went vp therefore by the Riuer Araxes from the Feast of Saint Clement vnto the second Sunday in Lent till we came to the head of the Riuer And beyond that Mountaine where it riseth there is a goodly Citie called Arserum which belongeth to the Soldan of Turkie And neare thereabout Euphrates ariseth towards the North at the foot of the Mountaines of Curgia to whose Spring I had gone but the Snow was so great that no man could goe out of the trodden path on the other side of the Mountaines of Caucasus towards the South ariseth Tigris When we departed from Bacchu my Guide went to Taurinum to speake with Argon carrying my Interpreter with him But Bacchu caused me to bee brought to a certaine Citie called Naxnan which sometimes was the head of a certaine great Kingdome and the greatest and fairest Citie but the Tartars haue made it a Wildernes And there were sometimes Eight hundred Churches of the Armenians there now there are but two little ones for the Saracens haue destroyed them In one of the which I held the feast of Christmas as I could with our Clerke And the next day following the Priest of that Church dyed to whose buriall came a certaine Bishop with twelue Monkes of the high Countries For all the Bishops of the Armenians are Monkes and of the Greekes likewise for the greater part That Bishop told me that there was a Church neere that where Saint Bartholmew and likewise Saint Iudas Thaddaeus were martyred but there was no way open for Snow He told me also that they haue two Prophets The first or chiefe is Methodius the Martyr who was of their Country and plainely Prophesied of the Ismaelites Which Prophesie is fulfilled in the Saracens The other Prophet is called Acacron who when hee dyed Prophesied of a Nation of Archers that should come from the North saying That they should Conquer all the Countries of the East and should spare the Kingdome of the East that he might giue them the Kingdome of the West But he saith our Friers the Frankes being Catholikes beleeue them not
very great each hauing a woman sitting thereon with a Sword in her hand of the same metall and a siluer Crowne on the head so many had sacrificed themselues at her death to doe her seruice in the next World Another compasse environed that of the Giants all of triumphant Arches gilded with a great quantitie of siluer Bels hanging on siluer chaines which by the motion of the Aire continually yeelded a strange sound Without those Arches in the same proportion stand two rankes of Latten grates encircling the whole worke set in spaces with Pillars of the same and thereon Lions set on balls which are the Armes of the Kings of China At the foure corners were placed foure Monsters of Brasse one which the Chinois call the Deuouring Serpent of the deepe Caue of the House of smoke in the figure of a dreadfull Serpent with seuen Serpents comming out of his brest sported with greene and blacke with many prickles more then a span long quite thorow the bodie like Hedge-hogges each hauing in his mouth a woman ouerthwart with disheuelled haires looking deadly The old or great Serpent holds in his mouth a Lizard halfe out of aboue thirty spans in length as bigge as a Pipe with nose and lips full of bloud and in his hands he holds a great Elephant so forcibly that his entrailes seeme to come out of his mouth all so naturally represented that it is most dreadful to behold The folds of his tayle were aboue twentie fathome long enfolding therein another Monster the second of the foure called Tarcamparoo which they say was the Sonne of that Serpent which stands with both his hands in his mouth which is as bigge as a gate the teeth set in order and the blacke tongue hanging out aboue two fathomes Of the two other one was the Figure of a woman named Nadelgau seuenteene fathomes long and sixe about from whose waste issued a beake or face aboue two fathomes which cast smoake out of the nosthrils and flames of fire out of the mouth which they make therein continually saying shee is the Queene of the Fierie Spheare and shall burne the Earth at the end of the World The fourth is like a man set cowring with cheekes puffed like ships sayles so monstrous that a man could not endure the sight The Chinois call him Vzanguenaboo and say that it is hee which makes Tempests in the Sea and throwes downe Houses by Land to which the people giue much Almes not to hurt their Iunkes The second day we went from Pocasser and came to another Citie called Xinligau very great well built walled with Tyles ditched about with two Castles at the end hauing their Towres Bul-warkes and Draw-bridges in the midst of each Castle was a Towre of fiue Lofts with many workes painted in which the Chinois said were fifteene thousand Picos of siluer of the Rents gathered in that Archipelago which this Kings Grand-father there layd vp in memory of his Sonne Leuquinau which signifieth the ioy of all holden for a Saint because he dyed a Religious man and lyes there buried in the Temple of Quiay Varatel the God of all the Fishes in the Sea of whom they haue large Legends In that Citie and another fiue leagues from it is made the greatest part of the Silke of that Kingdome the waters there giuing quicker colours they say then in other parts The Weauers Loomes of these Silkes which they affirme thirteene thousand pay yearely to the King three hundred thousand Taeis Going further vp the Riuer wee came the next day Euening to a great Champaigne continuing ten or twelue leagues in which were many Kine Horses and Mares pastured for the shambles as well as other flesh and kept by many men on Horse-backe These Champaignes past wee came to a Towne called Iunquileu walled with Tyles but without Towres or Bul-warkes Here wee saw a stone Monument with an Inscription Heere lyeth Trannocem Mudeliar Vncle to the King of Malaca who dyed before hee was reuenged of Captayne Alboquerque the Lion of Sea Robberies We enquiring hereof an old Chinese said that about fortie yeares agoe the man there interred had come Embassadour from a King of Malaca to sue to the Sonne of the Sunne for succour against a Nation of a Land without name which had comne from the end of the World and taken Malaca with other incredible particularities printed in a Booke which hee made thereof Hauing spent three yeares in this Suite and brought it to some maturitie hee sickned of the Aire one night at Supper dyed in nine dayes and left this Memoriall Wee proceeded on our way the Riuer growing lesse but the Countrey more peopled scarsly a stones cast free of some House eyther of a Pagode or Labourer And two leagues higher on a Hill compassed with Iron grates were two Brasse Statues standing on their feete one of a man the other of a woman both seuentie foure spans long with their hands in their mouthes and puffed cheekes fastned to Cast-Iron Pillars seuen fathomes high The Male was named Quiay Xingatalor the woman Apancapatur The Chinois told vs that the man was Fire-blower in Hell to torment such as in this life gaue them no Almes the woman was the Hell-Porter which suffered the Almes-giuers to flye by a Riuer of cold water called Ochileuday and hid them their from the Deuils hurting them One of our company laughed at this Tale whereat a Bonzo was so offended that hee set Chifu in rage with vs who bound vs hand and foot and gaue vs one hundred stripes a-piece Twelue Priests were incensing these Monsters when wee were there with Siluer-censours full of sweet Odours Saying as wee serue thee helpe thou vs another company of Priests answering So I promise thee as a good Lord. And thus went they on Procession about the Hill an houres space sounding certayne Bels causing a dreadfull noyse Hence wee passed vp the Riuer eleuen dayes all peopled with Cities Townes Villages Castles in many places scarsly a Calieuer shot distant one from another and all the Land in compasse of our sight had store of great Houses and Temples with gilded Steeples which amazed vs with the sight Thus wee came to the Citie Sampitay where wee stayed fiue dayes by reason of the sicknesse of Chifus Wife There by his leaue wee went thorow the streets a begging the people wondering at vs and giuing vs largely One woman amongst others which busily questioned with vs shewed vs a Crosse branded on her left arme asking if we knew that signe and wee deuoutly answering yes shee lifted vp her hands to Heauen and sayd Our Father which art in Heauen hallowed be thy Name in Portugues and could speake no more but proceeded in China speech and procured leaue to lodge vs at her House those fiue dayes telling vs she was named Inez de Leiria and was the Daughter of Thomas Perez which came Embassadour to China
at the least the three that went forward in that sort were Cornelius Iacobson Master of William Barents ship William Gysen Pylot of the Pinnasse and Hans van Nuflen William Barents Purser and after that the sayd Master and Pylot had shot three times and mist the Purser stepping somewhat further forward and seeing the Beare to be within the length of a shot presently leuelled his Piece and discharging it at the Beare shot her into the head betweene both the eyes and yet she held the man still fast by the necke and lifted vp her head with the man in her mouth but shee began somwhat to stagger wherewith the Purser and a Scottish-man drew out their Curtelaxes and strooke at her so hard that their Curtelaxes burst and yet she would not leaue the man at last William Geysen went to them and with all his might strooke the Beare vpon the snout with his Piece at which time the Beare fell to the ground making a great noyse and William Geysen leaping vpon her cut her throat The seuenth of September wee buried the dead bodies of our men in the States Iland and hauing stayed the Beare carryed her Skin to Amsterdam The ninth of September we set sayle from the States Iland but the Ice came in so thicke and with such force that we could not get through so that at Eeuening we came backe againe to the States Iland the winde being Westerly There the Admirall and the Pinnasse of Rotterdam fell on ground by certayne Rockes but got off againe without any hurt The tenth of September we sayled againe from the States Iland towards the Wey-gates and sent two Boates into the Sea to certifie vs what store of Ice was abroad and that Eeuening wee came all together into Wey-gates and Anchored by the Twist-point The eleuenth of September in the Morning we sayled againe into the Tartarian Sea but we fell into great store of Ice so that we sayled backe againe to the Wey-gates and Anchored by the Crosse-point and about midnight we saw a Russian Lodgie that sayled from the Bâ—â—lt-point towards the Samuters Land The thirteenth of September the Sunne being South there began a great storme to blow out of the South South-west the weather being mistie melancholy and snowie and the storme increasing more and more we draue through The fourteenth of September the weather began to bee somewhat clearer the winde being North-west and the storme blowing stiffe out of the Tartarian Sea but at Eeuening it was faire weather and then the wind blew North-east the same day our men went on the other side of Wey-gates on the firme land to take the depth of the Channell and entred into the Bough behind the Ilands where there stood a little House made of wood and a great fall of water into the land The same Morning we hoysed vp our Anchor thinking once againe to try what wee could doe to further our Voyage but our Admirall being of another minde lay still till the fifteenth of September The same day in the Morning the winde draue in from the East-end of the Wey-gates whereby we were forced presently to hoyse Anchors and the same day sayled out from the west-West-end of the Wey-gates with all our Fleet and made homewards againe and that day past by the Ilands called Matfloe and Delgoy and that night we sayled twelue miles North-west and by West till Saturday in the morning and then the winde fell North-east and it began to Snow We saw the point of Candyâ—aes lying South-east from vs and then wee had seuen and twentie fathom deepe red sand with blacke shels The nine and twentieth of September in the Eeuening entred into Ward-house and there we stayed till the tenth of October And that day we set sayle out of Ward-house and vpon the eighteenth of Nouember we arriued in the Maes CHAP. V. The third Voyage Northward to the Kingdomes of Cathaia and China in Anno 1596. Written by GERAT DE VEER §. I. What happened to them at Sea before they came to build their House AFter that the seuen Ships as I said before were returned backe againe from their North Voyage with lesse benefit then was expected the Generall States of the Vnited Prouinces consulted together to send certayne Ships thither againe a third time to see if they might bring the said Voyage to a good end if it were possible to bee done but after much Consultation had they could not agree thereon yet they were content to cause a Proclamation to be made that if any either Townes or Merchants were disposed to venture to make further search that way at their owne charges if the Voyage were accomplished and that thereby it might be made apparant that the sayd passage was to be sayled they were content to giue them a good reward in the Countries behalfe naming a certayne summe of money Whereupon in the beginning of this yeere there was two Ships rigged and set forth by the Towne of Amsterdam to sayle that Voyage the men therein being taken vp vpon two Conditions viz. What they should haue if the Voyage were not accomplished and what they should haue if they got through and brought the Voyage to an end promising them a good reward if they could effect it thereby to encourage the men taking vp as many vnmarried men as they could that they might not bee disswaded by meanes of their Wiues and Children to leaue off the Voyage Vpon these Conditions those two Ships were ready to set sayle in the beginning of May. In the one Iacob Heemskerke Hendrickson was Master and Factor for the Wares and Merchandizes and William Barents chiefe Pylot In the other Iohn Cornelison Rijp was both Master and Factor for the goods that the Merchants had laden in her The fifth of May all the men in both the Ships were Mustered and vpon the tenth of May they sayled from Amsterdam and the thirteenth of May got to the Vlie The thirtieth of May we had a good winde and sayled North-east and wee tooke the height of the Sunne with our Crosse-staffe and found that it was eleuated aboue the Horizon 47. degrees and 42. minutes his Declination was 21. degrees and 42. minutes so that the height of the Pole was 69. degrees and 24. minutes The first of Iune we had no night and the second of Iune we had the winde contrarie but vpon the fourth of Iune we had a good winde out of the West North-west and sayled North-east And when the Sunne was about South South-east wee saw a strange sight in the Element for on each side of the Sunne there was another Sunne and two Raine-bowes that past cleane thorow the three Sunnes and then two Raine-bowes more the one compassing round about the Sunnes and the other crosse thorow the great rundle the great rundle standing with the vttermost point eleuated aboue the Horizon 28. degrees at noone the Sunne being at the highest the height thereof was measured and
the decke thinking to finde a Foxe there we sought all the holes but we found none but when we entred into the Cabbin and had stricken fire to see in what case the ship was and whether the water rose higher in it there wee found a Foxe which we tooke and carryed it home and eate it and then we found that in eighteene dayes absence for it was so long since we had beene there the water was risen about a finger high but yet it was all Ice for it froze as fast as it came in and the vessels which wee had brought with vs full of fresh water out of Holland were frozen to the ground The nineteenth it was faire weather the winde being South then we put each other in good comfort that the Sunne was then almost halfe ouer and ready to come to vs againe which wee sore longed for it being a weary time for vs to bee without the Sunne and to want the greatest comfort that God sendeth vnto man heere vpon the earth and that which rejoyceth euery liuing thing The twentieth before noone it was faire cleere weather and then we had taken a Foxe but towards Eeuening there rose such a storme in the South-west with so great a snow that all the house was inclosed therewith The one and twentieth it was faire cleere weather with a North-east winde then we made our doore cleane againe and made a way to goe out and clensed our Traps for the Foxes which did vs great pleasure when we tooke them for they seemed as daintie as Venison vnto vs. The two and twentieth it was foule weather with great store of snow the winde South-west which stopt vp our doore againe and wee were forced to digge it open againe which was almost euery day to doe The three and twentieth it was foule weather the wind South-west with great store of snow but wee were in good comfort that the Sunne would come againe to vs for as we ghest that day hee was in Tropicus Capricorni which is the furthest Signe that the Sunne passeth on the South-side of the line and from thence it turneth Northward againe The foure and twentieth being Christmasse Eeuen it was faire weather then wee opened our doore againe and saw much open water in the Sea for we had heard the Ice cracke and driue although it was not day yet we could see so farre Towards Eeuening it blew hard out of the North-east with great store of Snow so that all the passage that wee had made open before was stopt vp againe The fiue and twentieth being Christmasse day it was foule weather with a North-west winde and yet though it was foule weather we heard the Foxes runne ouer our House wherewith some of our men sayd it was an ill signe and while we sate disputing why it should bee an ill signe some of our men made answer that it was an ill signe because wee could not take them to put them into the Pot or roast them for that had beene a very good signe for vs. The sixe and twentieth it was foule weather the winde North-west and it was so cold that we could not warme vs although wee vsed all the meanes we could with great fires good store of cloathes and with hot stones and billets layd vpon our feete and vpon our bodies as we lay in our Cabbins but notwithstanding all this in the morning our Cabbins were frozen which made vs behold one the other with sad countenance but yet wee comforted our selues againe as well as we could that the Sunne was then as low as it could goe and that it now began to come to vs againe and we found it to bee true for that the Dayes beginning to lengthen the Cold began to strengthen but hope put vs in good comfort and eased our paine The seuen and twentieth it was still foule weather with a North-west wind so that as then wee had not beene out in three dayes together nor durst not thrust our heads out of doores and within the house it was so extreame cold that as we sate before a great Fire and seemed to burne on the fore-side we froze behind at our backes and were all white as the Countrey-men vse to bee when they come in at the gates of the Towne in Holland with their Sleds and haue gone all night The eight and twentieth it was still foule weather with a West wind but about Eeuening it began to cleere vp at which time one of our men made a hole open at one of our doores and went out to see what newes abroad but found it so hard weather that hee stayed not long and told vs that it had snowed so much that the Snow lay higher then our house and that if he had stayed out longer his eares would vndoubtedly haue beene frozen off The nine and twentieth it was calme weather and a pleasant ayre the wind being Southward that day he whose turne it was opened the doore and digged a hole through the Snow where we went out of the house vpon steps as if it had beene out of a Celler at least seuen or eight steps high each step a foote from the other and then we made cleane our Springes for the Foxes whereof for certaine dayes we had not taken any and as we made them cleane one of our men found a dead Foxe in one of them that was frozen as hard as a stone which he brought into the house and thawed it before the fire and after flaying it some of our men eate it The thirtieth it was foule weather againe with a storme out of the West and great store of Snow so that all the labour and paine that we had taken the day before to make steps to goe out of our house and to clense our Springes was all in vaine for it was all couered ouer with Snow againe higher then it was before The one and thirtieth it was still foule weather with a storme out of the North-west whereby we were so fast shut vp into the house as if wee had beene prisoners and it was so extreame cold that the fire almost cast no heate for as we put our feet to the fire we burnt our hose before we could feele the heate so that we had worke enough to doe to patch our hose and which is more if we had not sooner smelt then felt them we should haue burnt them ere we had knowne it After that with great cold danger and disease wee had brought this yeere vnto an end we entred into the yeere of our Lord God 1597. the beginning whereof was in the same manner as the end of Anno 1596. had beene for the weather continued as cold foule and Snowie as it was before so that vpon the first of Ianuary wee were inclosed in the House the winde then being West at the same time wee agreed to share our Wine euery man a small measure full
but were forced to lie still but not long after the Ice opened againe like to a sluce and we past through it and set sayle againe and so sayled along by the Land but were presently enclosed with Ice but being in hope of opening againe meane time wee eate somewhat for the Ice went not away as it did before after that wee vsed all the meanes wee could to breake it but all in vayne and yet a good while after the Ice opened againe and we got out and sayled along by the Land West and by South with a South vvind The three and twentieth wee sayled still forward West and by South till the Sunne was South-east and got to the Trust-point which is distant from the Ice-point fiue and twentie miles and then could goe no furtheer because the Ice lay so hard and so close together and yet it was faire weather the same day we tooke the height of the Sunne with the Astrolabium and also with our Astronomicall Ring and found his height to be 37. degrees and his Declination 23. degrees and 30. minutes which taken from the height aforesayd there rested 13. degrees and 30. minutes which substracted out of 90. degrees the height of the Pole was 76. degrees and 30. minutes and it was faire Sun-shine weather and yet it was not so strong as to melt the Snow that we might haue water to drinke so that wee set all our Tinne platters and other things full of Snow to melt and so molt it and put snow in our mouthes to melt it downe into our throates but all was not enough so that we were compelled to endure great thirst FRom the Low-land to the Streame Bay the course East and West foure miles From the Streame Bay to the Ice-hauen point the course East and by North foure miles From the Ice-hauen point to the Ilands point the course East North-east fiue miles From the Ilands point to the Flushingers point the course North-east and by East three miles From the Flushingers point to the Head point the course North east foure miles From the Head point to the point of Desire the course South and North sixe miles From the point of Desire to the Iland of Orange North-west eight miles From the Ilands of Orange to the Ice point the course West and West and by South fiue miles From the Ice point to the point of Trust the course West and by South fiue and twentie miles From the point of Trust to Nassawes point the course West and West and by North ten miles From the Nassaw point to the East end of the Crosse Iland the course West and by North eight miles From the East end of the Crosse Iland to Williams Iland the course West and by South three miles From Williams Iland to the Blacke point the course West South-west sixe miles From the Blacke point to the East end of the Admirable Iland the course West South-west seuen miles From the East to the West point of the Admirable Iland the course West South-west fiue miles From the West point of the Admirable Iland to Cape Planto the course South-west and by West ten miles From Cape de Planto to Lombs-bay the course West South-west eight miles From Lombs-bay to the Staues point the course West South-west ten miles From the Staues point to Langenesse the course South-west and by South fourteene miles From Langenesse to Cape de Cant the course South-west and by South sixe miles From Cape de Cant to the point with the Blacke clifts the course South and by West foure miles From the point with the Blacke clifts to the Blacke Hand the course South South-east three miles From the Blacke Iland to Constint-sarke the course East and West two miles From Constint-sarke to the Crosse point the course South South-east fiue miles From Crosse point to Saint Laurence Bay the course South South-east sixe miles From Saint Laurence Bay to Mel-hauen the course South-east sixe miles From Mel-hauen to the two Ilands the course South South-east sixe miles From the two Ilands where we crost ouer to the Russia Coast to the Ilands of Matfloe and Delgoy the course South-west thirtie miles From Matfloe and Delgoy to the Creeke where we sayled the compasse round about and came to the same place againe two and twentie miles From that Creeke to Colgoy the course West North-west eighteene miles From Colgoy to the East point of Camdenas the course West North-west twentie miles From the East point of Camdenas to the West side of the White Sea the course West North-west fortie miles From the West point of the White Sea to the seuen Ilands the course North-west foureteene miles From the seuen Ilands to the VVest end of Kilduin the course North-west twentie miles From the VVest end of Kilduin to the place where Iohn Cornelis came vnto vs the course North-west and by VVest seuen miles From thence to Cola the course VVest Southerly eighteene miles So that wee sayled in the two open Scutes sometimes in the Ice then ouer the Ice and through the Sea three hundred and eightie one miles Flemish which is one thousand one hundred fortie and three miles English The foure and twentieth of Iune the Sunne being Easterly we rowed heere and there in the Ice to see where we might best goe out but wee saw no opening but when the Sunne was South we got into the Sea for the which we thanked God most heartily that hee had sent vs an vnexpected opening and then we sayled with an East winde and went lustily forward so that we made our account to get aboue the point of Nassawes close by the land and wee could easily see the point of Nassawes and made our account to bee about three miles from it The sixe and twentieth it still blew hard out of the South and broke the Ice whereunto we were fast in pieces and we thereby draue into the Sea and could get no more to the fast Ice whereby we were in a thousand dangers to bee all cast away and driuing in that sort in the Sea wee rowed as much as we could but we could not get neere vnto the Land therefore we hoysed vp our Focke and so made vp with our sayle but our Fock-mast brake twice in peeces and then it was worse for vs then before and notwithstanding that there blew a great gale of Wind yet we were forced to hoyse vp our great Sayle but the winde blew so hard into it that if wee had not presently taken it in againe we had sunke in the Sea or else our Boate would haue been filled with water for the water began to leape ouer-boord and wee were a good way in the Sea at which time the waues went so hollow that it was most fearefull and wee thereby saw nothing but death before our eyes and euery twinckling of an eye looked when wee should sinke But God that had deliuered vs out of so many dangers of Death
durst not without the Emperour of Russia his licence Whereupon I answered that the Emperours Maiestie when he was raigning was very gracious vnto our Nation aboue all other strangers and shewed what great priuiledges hee had bestowed on our people and how by the English-mens meanes at the first what a trade is now at Arkania and what profit came not onely into his Maiesties Treasurie but also into all parts of his Dominions which in time might be brought hither and withall shewed the Emperours priuiledge Wherefore then they began to put away feare and willed vs to stay fiue or sixe dayes vntill he had sent for the chiefest men of the Townes-men who were abroad and then they would giue vs an answer Then I desired that we might haue an house to be in and not to stay without doores So he gaue libertie to any that would to entertayne vs whereto there was one Callem that made answer that he would whereupon wee went with him and were in an Ambar of his vntill wee receiued answer from them In the meane time wee made much of them and feasted them with our Aqua vitae Biscuit and Figs that we might the better obtayne their loue The foure and twentieth the Customers came to giue vs our answere and told vs that they had concluded that we might stay if wee would but they must write vp to the Musko of our being here So we thanked them and gaue them such entertaynment as we could and sent presents to sixe of them of the chiefest which they tooke very thankfully and promised what fauour they could So this night I made ready my Letters to send for England The fourth of August fiue and twentie Lodyas arriued at the Towne laden with Meale and others which were bound for Molgomsey but by reason of contrary winds they were forced into Pechora and came vp to the Towne of Pustozer and vnladed to make sale The sixe and twentieth we remoued from the house where we were at the first vnto a Poles house who is christened Russe where we are to remayne all the Winter The nine and twentieth the frost was so strong that the Ozera was frozen ouer and the Ice driuing in the Riuer to and againe brake all the nets so that they got no Salmon no not so much as for their owne victuals The second of September the frost brake vp againe and it was open weather The eight of September there was a Soyma which the Towns-men bought that went downe the Riuer to haue gone for Iugoria and had a faire wind but they neglecting two dayes sayling that would haue carried them forth of the Riuer to the Sea the wind came contrary so that they were wind-bound and could not get any further and on the nineteenth gaue ouer their Voyage and came vp to the Towne The thirteenth of October the frost was so extreme that the Ozera stood in one night that men did walke on it the next day and so continued all the Winter after The twelfth of Nouember there went two men of Penega to Vst-zilma to buy Squerrils and Beauers and other commodities The thirteenth the Sunne arose at South and by East by the Compasse and set at South-west and by West The foure and twentieth there went diuers men with at the least three or fourescore Sleds drawne with Deere to a place called Slobodca where they hold a Mart from the beginning of December to the middle thereof and they carried fresh-water fish thither with whom William Pursgloue went into Russia The sixe and twentieth the Sunne arose at South and by West by the Compasse and set at South-west and by West The first of December the Sunne arose at South and by West Westerly by the Compasse and set South-west and by West Southerly The fourth the Towns-men of Pechora went ouer land into Iugoria to trade with the Inhabitants there and the Samoyeds The eleuenth Marmaduke Wilson said that he saw the Sunne but it was but the way of the Sunnes beames The thirteenth I saw the Sunnes beames my selfe but I could not see the Sun it selfe although I watched it very strictly The fourteenth it was snowie and stormie weather and continued so vntill the foure and twentieth day which was close weather also The fiue and twentieth being Christmas day I saw the Sunne and it rose at South and by West and set at South-west and by South it hauing the neathermost part of it all the way iust with the Horizon The sixe and twentieth it was stormy and snowy weather and so continued vntill the end of the moneth The second of Ianuarie the Sunne arose at South somewhat Westerly and set south-South-west a little Southerly it mounting a pretie height aboue the Horizon The fift William Pursgloue returned from Colmogro The eleuenth the Sunne arose at South by East by the Compasse and set at South-west and by West The twelfth there came a command from the Patriarch that there should bee a generall Fast both for young and old not exempting the sucking babes which began the thirteenth continuing three dayes space they neither eating nor drinking so much as water neither admitted they their sucking Babes saue those that fainted to whom they gaue a few Figs and a little water The nineteenth the Inhabitants of Pustozer that went into Iugoria returned from thence hauing had but an hard Voyage by reason of the Warres which the Samoyeds had amongst themselues so that they durst not goe into Molgomsey where they catch the most part of the Sables which come into Russia The three and twentieth came the Carratchey which is the chiefe of the Samoyeds but they had no commodities to speake of by reason of the Warres so that they neither durst trade with the Samoyeds of Molgomsey neither hunt for the Sables themselues which at other times they were wont to doe The thirtieth I had the chiefe Carratchey his sonne his sonnes sonne and his brothers sonne at Dinner and had some conference with him who told mee that they had seene ships in the Vaygats two yeeres one after another but they durst not bee seene of them but fled from them for the Russes told them that they would kill them or carrie them away prisoners Yet they seemed to be glad of our comming when they saw our behauiour and the entertaynment that they had of vs Neuerthelesse they are very timerous and vnreasonable couetous as by more acquaintance I perceiued by them The second of February the most part of the Samoyeds went to Slobodca with their commodities because in the Summer they had beene together by the eares with the Samoyeds of Callenose and had slayne one or two of them wherefore they went to agree with them and to pay ransome for some of their men that were taken afterwards The fifteenth the Sunne arose at South-east a little Southerly and set at West and by South Westerly The sixteenth the Sunne arose at
friends will kill three Deere to draw him in the new World and they will strangle a Slaue to tend on him The Deere they kill in this manner to serue the dead man they make a Stake sharpe which they thrust into the Beasts fundament with many howlings and cryings till they be dead The Master with the Slaue they burie the Deere they eate as well raw as boyled or roast although they vse all three If a young Child dye vnder foureteene of their yeeres which is seuen of ours they doe hang it by the necke on some Tree saying it must flie to Heauen If any Controuersie bee which cannot bee decided or the truth knowne then one of the two betwixt whom the Controuersie is must bee sworne which is in this manner they will make an Image of a Man of Snow bringing a Wolues nose deliuering a Sword to him that must sweare he rehearsing by name all his Friends desiring that they might all bee cut in peeces in that manner as hee doth cut that Image of Snow Then he himselfe doth cut the Image of Snow all to peeces with the Sword then after the Wolues nose being layd before him he desires that the Wolfe may destroy all his tame Deere and that hee may neuer more take or kill any wilde Deere after that if hee speake not the Truth so cutting the Wolues nose in peeces there is no more to bee sayd of that Controuersie The Samoit is stout and bold of Spirit not very tall but broad Brested broad Faces with hollow Eyes Their ordinary instruments for Warre are Bowes and Arrowes very dangerous they haue long Speares the heads bee made in Monganzey by another sort of Samoits and short Swords not much vnlike some that I haue seene brought from East India When they would know any thing to come they send for their Priest or Witch to conuerse with the Deuill sitting in one side of the Tent hauing before his face a peece of an old shirt of Mayle hung with Bels and peeces of Brasse in his right hand a great Tabor made with a Wolues skinne beating vpon the same with a Hares foot making a very dolefull sound with singing and calling for the Deuill to answer his demand which being ended they strangle a Deere for a Sacrifice making merrie with the Flesh. The Women be very hard of Nature for at their Child-bearing the Husband must play the Midwife and being deliuered the Child is washed with cold water or Snow and the next day the Woman able to conduct her Argish The Russes haue a yeerely Trade with the Merchants of Beghar at a place called Tumen in Tartarie whither they of Boghar come with Camels euery yeere From Tumen in Tobal in Siberia they come in foureteene dayes From Tobal they come to Beresoua in nine dayes all downe the Riuer Ob. From Beresoua partly by the Riuer Ob then ouer a necke of Land of halfe a mile ouer into the Riuer Ouse and downe the Riuer Ouse into the Riuer Pechora and so to Pustozera in three weekes At Pustozera the English haue Wintered three yeeres CHAP. XIII Diuers Voyages to Cherie Iland in the yeeres 1604. 1605. 1606. 1608. 1609. Written by IONAS POOLE WEe set sayle from London the fifteenth of Aprill 1604. in a Ship called the God Speed of sixtie Tunnes with thirteene Men and a Boy our Merchant was one Master Thomas Welden our Master was one Steuen Bonnit of Saint Catherins We arriued at Cola in Lapland the first of May where wee tarried till the last of the same Moneth at which time wee set sayle from Cola and went to an Harbour called Pechingo which lyeth betweene Cola and Ward-house In which Harbour of Pechingo we continued vntill the thirtieth of Iune At which time wee set sayle from thence and through contrarie windes and foule weather were put into Ward-house where we tooke in fresh water and stayed vntill the sixth of Iuly The same day the wind came Southerly and we steered away Northwest and by North about 56. leagues wee obserued the Sunne at twelue of the clocke at Noone and found our selues to be in 73. degrees 5. minutes of Northerly Latitude The seuenth of Iuly it was all day calme and wee sounded but had no ground in two hundred and fiftie fathoms The eight day we had little winde which was at South-east and foggie weather and at eight of the clocke at Night wee saw great flockes of Sea-fowles which we call Willockes some of these Fowles had each of them a small Fish in their bills and flew toward the North-west and by North. The other without Fish some of them flew contrarie to the former and some sate in the Sea very neere our Ship About twelue of the clocke at night we sounded and had ground at one hundred and twentie fathomes We steered away North-west and by North till foure of the clocke the eight day in the morning then it fell calme and as the ship lay still our Master spied a Morsse which came to our ship and swamme round about it While we were all gazing at this Monster I spied the Iland ten leagues off bearing North North-west halfe a point Westerly which shewed very high Land and much Snow vpon it The wind came to the North-east The ninth day wee came to an Anchor on the South South-east side in fiue and twentie fathomes streamie ground We â—oysed out our Boate and Master Welden went toward the Land but thinking to haue landed he could not because there went a great Sea and great store of Ice all along the shoares side Within one houre the Boate came aboard and they â—aid there were so many Fowles that they couered the Rockes and flew in such great flockes that they shewed like a Cloud While thus they were talking close by the Boate rose vpâ—n huge Morsse putting his head aboue the water looking earnestly at the Boate and made such an horrible noyse and roaring that they in the Boate thought he would haue sunke it The same day at eight of the clocke at night we weighed and stood away South-west and by South about foure miles where wee doubled the Southermost point of the Iland and found the Land to trend North North-west and all along the shoare some scattering Ice We sayled along the shoare finding seuenteene eighteene and sometimes twentie fathomes streamie ground with white shels We held this course till wee saw all the Northermost part of the Iland and being within three miles of it and about thirteene miles from the Point wee came round about it And some two miles from the Land we anchored in sixteene fathomes streamie ground We had not ridden one houre to an end but a great piece of Ice came directly with the tyde vpon vs and before wee could weigh it strooke the ship with such force that it hilded on the one side Assoone as it was past we went on shoare where wee found
Caske and other prouision and told mee that they had slaine fiue or sixe hundred Morses on the North side Hee tarried with mee till the seuen and twentieth of Iuly now seeing no beastes did come on Land because the Ice did hang about the Coue he went to the North side againe but the same day after he was gone they began to come on Land The next day following being the eight and twentieth wee slue about eightie and tooke their Blubber and Teeth Then they began to come on shoare againe the thirtieth day at what time Master Bonner was come into the Coue to seeke his Anchors Then his men came on shoare and we slue about one hundred and fiftie beast more But there rose a storme at South-east that brought in such a surge that it washed aboue sixtie beasts into the Sea so that most of them were lost The next day being the last of Iuly Master Welden and Master Iones came to the Coue with about twelue men being all very wearie For they had left the Shallop in a Coue on the North-west side of the Iland and came ouer Land Then to worke wee went on all hands and placed our Coppers And by the fift day of August we had ended our businesse and the ship came from the North side into the Coue. The sixt of August I tooke the Skiffe and seuen men to fetch the Shallop to the Coue that Master Welden had left in a Coue on the North-west side of the Iland the last of Iuly When I came to the place considering I was neere the North side where we commonly make our Voyage and also desired by Master Welden if I could goe to doe so I went thither and found about fiue and fortie as good headed beasts for Teeth as euer I saw Wee had no more Launces to kill thâ—m with all but two I tooke one and a lustie fellow that was our Cooper had the other we had not killed past ten but his Lance brake Then I slue all the rest in lesse then two houres and wee tooke their Teeth and the next day by a West Sunne wee came aboord the Paul with them The eight day wee got the Southermost Point of the Iland where wee rid all that day Their Skiffe from their long Boats sterne and we manned our Boat to fetch her againe but then rose such a fogge that we had like to haue lost both our Boats and men but they got to the ship againe with much adoe The ninth day it was calme but wee had such a fogge that wee could not see two Cables length from the ship And about eight of the Clocke at night wee lost our Skiffe altogether The tenth day we had a little Wind at North-west and by West Then seeing no amendment of the weather wee left the ship of Hull behind vs in the Iland and about sixe of the Clocke set sayle for England and arriued safely at London the last of August 1609. Blessed bee God A Voyage performed to the Northwards Anno 1603. in a ship of the burthen of fiftie tunnes called the Grace and set forth at the cost and charges of the Worshipfull FRANCIS CHERIE Written by WILLIAM GORDEN being the first Voyage to Cherie Iland which came to my hands since the former or rather later Voyages were in the Presse THe ship being readie the tenth of Aprill whereof was Master Stephen Bennet and for Factor and Ouer-seer William Gorden our Directions from the said Merchant were first to proceed to Cola and there to make sale of such goods as we had and to take in such other as the Countrey of Lappia did affoord and then to proceed vpon some Discouerie Wherefore omitting our Iourney to Cola as a matter of small importance being so well knowne before after our Affaires ended we were readie to proceed forward But our men not being hired thereunto would haue refused if there had not beene made an agreement by meanes of Iosias Logan who was to lye there as Factor for Master Cherie the Master and my selfe partly with promises partly with gifts And thus setting forward the sixt of August from the Riuer of Cola being determined to haue sayled into 80. degrees of latitude if nothing did hinder vs or if we did not light vpon some land our determination was hindered by meanes of meeting with an Iland and likewise the yeere being farre spent keeping our course from the West end of Kilden to the Ilands of Ward-house which wee passed the tenth of August with little wind then directing our course North North-west the wind at south-South-west easie wind so that the eleuenth day we did reckon our selues to haue sayled twentie leagues North-west The twelfth day it was most part calme and foggie The thirteenth day it was cleere and the wind at South and we had sayled twentie two leagues North North-west The fourteenth day the wind at East we kept our course and sayled ten leagues and the same day being thicke and foggie we had thought wee had seene Land about foure of the clocke in the after-noone bearing from vs West North-west and North-west by West but sayling towards it three houres keeping still his forme and not altering till the wind increasing caused it to fade away for it was no other then a banke of fogges after we had sayled three leagues changing our course we sayled then fifteene dayes twentie leagues North-west and by North still hauing close weather that we could not make any obseruation The sixteenth day in the morning at two of the clock we did see two great high Hils which did seeme to vs aboue the Clouds and did seeme very neere but we found it otherwise for sayling towards it we found it further then we did expect for it was sixe of the clocke at night before wee could come neere vnto the Land where wee anchored in thirtie fathomes In which time we could not sayle lesse then eighteene leagues North and by West That night our Master knowing better what did belong vnto those Affaires would not suffer the Boat to goe aland till the morning which was the seuenteenth day of August and before our going aland the Master caused a shanke of Lines to bee shot for to toy for fish and then he and my selfe with foure of our Company went aland First vpon a little Iland meere adjoyning where we had much adoe to get to our Boat againe by reason of the steepnes of the Rockes then we went on shoare vpon the Mayne where at our comming on Land wee did see two Foxes one White the other Blacke Thus spending most part of the day wee returned aboord our ship without any profit only one of our men tooke vp a piece of Lead and I found a piece of a Morses Tooth by which we perceiued that the Sea Morses did vse thither but the time for that yeere was past for we did see none After our comming aboord hauing haled the Line we found nothing but one
all night At noone I found the height 43. degrees 6. minutes The variation one point VVest The thirtieth faire sun-shining weather the winde at South-west and by VVest we steered North-west and by VVest And made our way so by reason of the variation of the Compasse At noone I found the height to bee 43. degrees 18. minutes wee continued our course all night and made our way North-west and by VVest halfe a point VVesterly fiue and twentie leagues The first of Iuly close mystie and thicke weather but a faire gale of wind at South-west and South-west by South We steered away North-west and by West Westerly and made our way so by reason of the variation of the Compasse At eight of the clocke at night wee sounded for the Banke of New-found Land but could get no ground The second thicke mystie weather but little wind and that at West and West and by South At eight of the clocke in the morning we cast about to the Southward and when our ship was on stayes we sounded for the Banke and had ground in thirtie fathoms white sand and shells and presently it cleered and we had sight of a sayle but spake not with her In the night we had much Rayne Thunder and Lightning and wind shifting The third faire Sun-shining weather with a faire gale of wind at East North-east and wee steered away West South-west by our Compasse which varyed 17. degrees Westward This morning we were among a great Fleet of French-men which lay Fishing on the Banke but we spake with none of them At noone wee found our heighth to bee 43. degrees 41. minutes And we sounded at ten of the clocke and had thirtie fathoms gray sand At two of the clocke wee sounded and had fiue and thirtie fathoms gray sand At eight of the clocke at night we sounded againe and had eight and thirtie fathoms gray sand as before The fourth at the fore-part of the day cleere with a faire gale of wind but variable betweene the East North-east and South and by East wee held on our course as before The after-noone was mystie the wind shifting betweene the South and the West till foure of the clocke Then we tooke in our top-sayle and sprit-sayle and sounded and had no ground in seuentie fathoms The winde shifted still vntill eight of the clocke then it came to the North North-east and North-east and by North and we steered away West North-west by our varyed Compasse which made a West way halfe point North. The Compasse varyed 15. degrees from the North to the West The fift faire sun-shining weather the wind at North-east and by North we steered away West North-west which was West halfe a point North. At noone we found our heighth to be 44. degrees 10. minutes and sounded and had no ground in one hundred fathoms The after-noone proued calme sometimes and somtimes little wind vntill nine of the clocke in the night Then the wind came to the East and we held on our course At mid-night I obserued and found the height to bee 44. degrees 10. minutes by the North Starre and the Scorpions heart The Compasse varyed 13. degrees The sixth the fore-part of the day faire weather and a stiffe gale of wind betweene South South-east and South-west wee steered West and by North and West North-west The after-part of the day from two of the clocke was all foggie and thicke weather the wind a hard gale varying betweene South-west and by South and West and by North we made our way North-west halfe a point Northerly nineteene leagues vpon many points foure Watches At night at eight of the clocke we sounded and had no ground at one hundred fathoms The seuenth faire sun-shining weather the wind varying betweene West and by North and West and by South At foure of the clocke in the morning we cast about to the Southward and stood so till one in the after-noone At noone we found our height to be 44. degrees 26. minutes At seuen of the clocke we tackt to the Northward At eight at night we tackt to the Southward and sounded and had nine and fiftie fathoms white sand The eight in the fore-noone faire weather but the morning foggie till seuen of the clocke At foure of the clocke in the morning we sounded and had fiue fortie fathoms fine white sand and we had runne fiue leagues South and by West Then wee stood along one Glasse and went one league as before Then we stood one Glasse and sounded and had sixtie fathoms Then wee ta kt and stood backe to the Banke and had fiue and twentie fathoms and tryed for Fish and it fell calme and we caught one hundred and eighteene great Coddes from eight a clocke till one and after Dinner wee tooke twelue and saw many great Scoales of Herrings Then wee had a gale of wind at South and it shifted to the West North-west and we stood three Glasses and sounded and had sixtie fathomes and stood two Glasses and had two and fortie fathoms red stones and shells So wee sounded euery Glasse and had seuerall soundings 35.33.30.31.32.33 and 34. fathoms The ninth faire calme weather we lay becalmed all day and caught some Fish but not much because we had small store of salt At three of the clocke in the after-noone wee had a gale at South-east and South South-east and we steered away Westerly our Compasse was West and by South halfe a point South At foure of the clocke we sounded and had but fifteene seuenteene and nineteene fathoms on a fishing Banke and we founded euery Glasse Then we could get no ground in fiue and twentie fathoms and had sight of a sayle on head off vs. At noone our height was 44. degrees 27. minutes We stood to the Westward all night and spake with a French-man which lay Fishing on the Banke of Sablen in thirtie fathoms and we saw two or three more The tenth very mystie and thicke weather the wind at South-west a faire gale We stood to the South-ward and made our way South-east and by East At twelue of the clocke we sounded and had eight and fortie fathoms againe at two we sounded and had fiftie fathoms And at sixe of the clocke we sounded and had eight and fortie fathoms on the end of the Banke Againe at eight of the clocke at night wee sounded and had no ground in eightie fathomes and were ouer the Banke So wee stood along till mid-night The Compasse varyed 17. degrees to the Westward The eleuenth very thicke and mystie weather At twelue of the clocke at night we cast about to the Westward and stood so all day and made our way West North-west We sounded at twelue of the clocke but had no ground so we stood to the Westward all the fore-part of the night and sounded but could get no ground in fiftie or sixtie fathoms till mid-night Then I sounded and had ground at fifteene fathoms white
the great mercie of God we came to an Anchor cleere of it and close by it our Master named them the Iles of Gods Mercie This is an Harbour for need but there must be care had how they come in Heere our Master sent me and others with me to discouer to the North and North-west and in going from one place to another we sprung a Couey of Partridges which were young at the which Thomas Woodhouse shot but killed only the old one This Iland is a most barren place hauing nothing on it but plashes of water and riuen Rockes as if it were subiect to Earthquakes To the North there is a great Bay or Sea for I know not what it will proue where I saw a great Iland of Ice aground betweene the two Lands which with the Spring-tide was set afloat and carried into this Bay or Sea to the North-westward but came not backe againe nor within sight Here wee tooke in some Drift wood that we found ashoare From hence we stood to the South-west to double the Land to the West of vs through much floting Ice In the end wee found a cleere Sea and continued therein till wee raysed Land to the North-west Then our Master made his course more to the South then before but it was not long ere we met with Ice which lay ahead of vs. Our Master would haue doubled this Ice to the North but could not and in the end put into it downe to the south-South-west through much Ice and then to the South where we were embayed againe Our Master stroue to get the shoare but could not for the great store of Ice that was on the coast From out of this Bay we stood to the North and were soone out of the Ice then downe to the South-west and so to the West where we were enclosed to our fight with Land and Ice For wee had Land from the South to the North-west on one side and from the East to the West on the other but the Land that was to the North of vs and lay by East and West was but an Iland On we went till we could goe no further for Ice so we made our ship fast to the Ice which the tide brought vpon vs but when the ebbe came the Ice did open and made way so as in seuen or eight houres we were cleere from the Ice till we came to weather but onely some of the great Ilands that were carried along with vs to the North-west Hauing a cleere Sea our Master stood to the West along by the South shoare and raysed three Capes or Head-lands lying one aboue another The middlemost is an Iland and maketh a Bay or Harbour which I take will proue a good one Our Master named them Prince Henries Cape or Fore-land When we had layd this we raised another which was the extreme point of the Land looking towards the North vpon it are two Hills but one aboue the rest like an Hay-cocke which our Master named King Iames his Cape To the North of this lie certaine Ilands which our Master named Queene Annes Cape or Fore-land Wee followed the North shoare still Beyond the Kings Cape there is a Sound or Bay that hath some Ilands in it and this is not to be forgotten if need be Beyond this lieth some broken Land close to the Mayne but what it is I know not because we passed by it in the night Wee stood to the North to double this Land and after to the West againe till wee fell with Land that stretched from the Mayne like a shewer from the South to the North and from the North to the West and then downe to the South againe Being short of this Land a storme tooke vs the wind at West we stood to the North and raised Land which when our Master saw he stood to the South againe for he was loath at any time that wee should see the North shoare The storme continuing and comming to the South shoare againe our Master found himselfe shot to the West a great way which made him muse considering his Leeward way To the South-west of this Land on the Mayne there is an high Hill which our Master named Mount Charles To the North and beyond this lieth an Iland that to the East hath a faire head and beyond it to the West other broken Land which maketh a Bay within and a good Road may be found there for ships Our Master named the first Cape Salsburie When we had left this to the North-east we fell into a Rippling or Ouer-fall of a Current which at the first we tooke to bee a Shoald but the Lead being cast wee had no ground On we passed still in sight of the South shoare till we raised Land lying from the Mayne some two leagues Our Master tooke this to bee a part of the Mayne of the North Land but it is an Iland the North side stretching out to the West more then the South This Iland hath a faire Head to the East and very high Land which our Master named Deepes Cape and the Land on the South side now falling away to the South makes another Cape or Head-land which our Master named Worsenhams Cape When wee were nigh the North or Iland Cape our Master sent the Boat ashoare with my selfe who had the charge and the Carpenter and diuers others to discouer to the West and North-west and to the South-west but we had further to it then we thought for the Land is very high and we were ouer-taken with a storme of Raine Thunder and Lightning But to it we came on the North-east side and vp we got from one Rocke to another till we came to the highest of that part Here we found some plaine ground and saw some Deere as first foure or fiue and after a dozen or sixteene in an Herd but could not come nigh them with a Musket shot Thus going from one place to another wee saw to the West of vs an high Hill aboue all the rest it being nigh vs but it proued further off then we made account for when wee came to it the Land was so steepe on the East and North-east parts that wee could not get vnto it To the South-west we saw that wee might and towards that part wee went along by the side of a great Pond of water which lieth vnder the East side of this Hill and there runneth out of it a streame of water as much as would driue an ouer-shot Mill which falleth downe from an high Cliffe into the Sea on the South side In this place great store of Fowle breed and there is the best Grasse that I had seene since we came from England Here wee found Sorell and that which wee call Scuruy-grasse in great abundance Passing along wee saw some round Hills of stone like to Grasse cockes which at the first I tooke to be the worke of some Christian. Wee
passed by them till we came to the South side of the Hill we went vnto them and there found more and being nigh them I turned off the vppermost stone and found them hollow within and full of Fowles hanged by their neckes Then Greene and I went to fetch the Boat to the South side while Robert Billet and hee got downe a Valley to the Sea side where wee tooke them in Our Master in this time came in betweene the two Lands and shot off some Peeces to call vs aboord for it was a fogge Wee came aboord and told him what we had seene and perswaded him to stay a day or two in this place telling him what refreshing might there bee had but by no meanes would he stay who was not pleased with the motion So we left the Fowle and lost our way downe to the South-west before they went in sight of the Land which now beares to the East from vs being the same mayne Land that wee had all this while followed Now we had lost the sight of it because it falleth away to the East after some fiue and twenty or thirty leagues Now we came to the shallow water wherewith wee were not acquainted since we came from Island now we came into broken ground and Rockes through which we passed downe to the South In this our course we had a storme and the water did shoald apace Our Master came to an anchor in fifteene fathoms water Wee weighed and stood to the South-east because the Land in this place did lie so When we came to the point of the West Land for we now had Land on both sides of vs we came to an anchor Our Master sent the Boat ashoare to see what that Land was and whether there were any way through They soone returned and shewed that beyond the point of Land to the South there was a large Sea This Land on the West side was a very narrow Point Wee weighed from hence and stood in for this Sea betweene the two Lands which in this place is not two leagues broad downe to the South for a great way in sight of the East shoare In the end we lost sight thereof and saw it not till we came to the bottome of the Bay into sixe or seuen fathomes water Hence we stood vp to the North by the West shoare till wee came to an Iland in 53. where we tooke in water and ballast From hence wee passed towards the North but some two or three dayes after reasoning concerning our comming into this Bay and going out our Master tooke occasion to reuiue old matters and to displace Robert Iuet from being his Mate and the Boat-swaine from his place for words spoken in the first great Bay of Ice Then hee made Robert Billet his Mate and William Wilson our Boat-swaine Vp to the North wee stood till we raised Land then downe to the South and vp to the North then downe againe to the South and on Michaelmasse day came in and went out of certaine Lands which our Master sets downe by the name of Michaelmasse Bay because we came in and went out on that day From hence wee stood to the North and came into shoald water and the weather being thicke and foule wee came to an anchor in seuen or eight fathome water and there lay eight dayes in all which time wee could not get one houre to weigh our anchor But the eight day the wind beginning to cease our Master would haue the anchor vp against the mind of all who knew what belonged thereunto Well to it we went and when we had brought it to a peake a Sea tooke her and cast vs all off from the Capstone and hurt diuers of vs. Here wee lost our Anchor and if the Carpenter had not beene we had lost our Cable too but he fearing such a matter was ready with his Axe and so cut it From hence we stood to the South and to the South-west through a cleere Sea of diuers sounding and came to a Sea of two colours one blacke and the other white sixteene or seuenteene fathome water betweene which we went foure or fiue leagues But the â—â—ght comming we tooke in our Top-sayles and stood afore the wind with our Maine-sayle and Fore-sayle and came into fiue or sixe fathomes and saw no Land for it was darke Then we stood to the East and had deepe water againe then to the South and Southwest and so came to our Westermost Bay of all and came to an anchor neerest to the North shorae Out went our Boat to the Land that was next vs when they came neere it our Boat could not flote to the shoare it was so shallow yet ashoare they got Here our men saw the footing of a man and a Ducke in the snowy Rockes and Wood good store whereof they tooke some and returned aboord Being at anchor in this place we saw a ledge of Rockes to the South of vs some league of length It lay North and South couered at a full Sea for a strong tide setteth in here At mid-night wee weighed and stood to goe out as we came in and had not gone long but the Carpenâ—er came and told the Master that if he kept that course he would be vpon the Rockes the Master conceiued that he was past them when presently wee ranne on them and there stucke fast twelue houres but by the mercy of God we got off vnhurt though not vnscarred Wee stood vp to the East and raysed three Hills lying North and South wee went to the furthermost and left it to the North of vs and so into a Bay where wee came to an anchor Here our Master sent out our Boat with my selfe and the Carpenter to seeke a place to winter in and it was time for the nights were long and cold and the earth couered with Snow Hauing spent three moneths in a Labyrinth without end being now the last of October we went downe to the East to the bottome of the Bay but returned without speeding of that we went for The next day we went to the South and the south-South-west and found a place whereunto we brought our ship and haled her aground and this was the first of Nouember By the tenth thereof we were frozen in but now we were in it behooued vs to haue care of what we had for that we were sure of but what we had not was vncertaine Wee were victualled for sixe moneths in good proportion and of that which was good if our Master would haue had more he might haue had it at home and in other places Here we were now and therefore it behoued vs so to spend that wee might haue when time came to bring vs to the Capes where the Fowle bred for that was all the hope wee had to bring vs home Wherefore our Master tooke order first for the spending of that wee had and then to increase it by propounding
as was the Geographicall partition of the Iland it selfe mentioned before at the end of the first Chapter diuided into North East South and West quarter And againe they diuided the Fourths into Thirds except the North quarter For this as it was larger then the rest was parted into Fourths But these Thirds they subdiuided againe into their parts some Tenths and others somewhat otherwise For the which not finding a fit name I haue retayned the proper name of the Countrey that which with them is Hreppar wee may counterfeitly call Reppae vnto the which also we may imagine no vnapt Etymon from the word Repo For here was the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of them that executed any publike Office for equitie either of opinion and judgement and the equall ballancing of mindes to be preserued in the rest of the Magistrates worthily ought to begin there vnlesse any would rather thinke they had respect heere vnto Reeb that is to say Coards with the which the diuision was made after the most ancient manner of the Hebrewes themselues Euery Reppa regularly contayned twentie Inhabitants at the least for oftentimes it contayned more limited by a certayne increase of the wealth of their Family vnder which they might not be reckoned to the poorer Reppes to the richer they might Moreouer in euery Third as also in the Fourths of the North Tetrade which Iurisdictions in times past they called Pyng at this day also Syslu herad they appointed three more famous places consecrated to the Seat of Iustice and Iudgements besides also dedicated to Ethnicke Sacrifices which they call Hoff we call them Holy Places and Temples Euery Chappell after the manner of this Countrey was sumptuously built whereof wee reade of two of one hundred and twentie foot long One in the Iurisdiction of Washdall of North Island the other in Rialarnes of South Island and this surely sixtie foot broad Moreouer euery such holy place had a kind of Chappell adjoyning This place was most holy Heere stood the Idols and Gods made with hands vpon a low stoole or a certayne Altar about which the cattle which were to be sacrificed vnto them were orderly placed But the chiefe and middlemost of the Gods was Iupiter by them called Por from whom these Northerne Kingdomes yet call Thors day Thorsdagh The rest of the Gods were collateral vnto it whose certayne number and names I haue not heard Yet in the ancient forme of oath whereof mention shall be made hereafter three besides Thorus are specially noted by name Freyr Niordur and As whereof the third to wit As I thinke to be that famous Odinus not accounted the last among those Ethnicke Gods of whom I made mention before Synecdochically called As because hee was the chiefe of the people of Asia who came hither into the North for in the singular number they called him As which in the plurall they called Aesar or Aeser This Odinus as aforesaid for his notable knowledge in Deuillish Magicke whereby like another Mahomet hee affected a Diuinitie after his death was reckoned among the number of the Gods from whom at this day Wednesday is called Odens Dagur the day of Odinus whereupon peraduenture I shall not vnaptly call Odin Mercurie as Thor Iupiter Yet the ancients honoured Odin in the place of Mars and such as were slaine in the warres they say were sacrificed to Odin And the companions or Sonnes of Odin were Freyr and Nâ—ordur who through the same artes which their Father or Prince Odinus practised obtayned an opinion of Diuinitie I haue before aduertised you that chiefly in the North Countrey Kings after their death are honoured for Gods But the worshipping of them hath not yet come vnto the Islanders wherefore we will speake nothing of them in this place Before that seate of the Gods placed in the foresaid Temples stood an Altar erected couered aboue with Iron that it might not be hurt with fire which must bee continually there A Caldron also or brasen vessell was set vpon the Altar to receiue the bloud of the sacrifices with an holy water sticke or sprinkle to bedew the standers by with the bloud of the sacrifices Besides on the Altar a siluer Ring was kept or of copper of twentie ounces which being anointed with the bloud of the sacrifices they who executed any office pertayning to Iustice being now readie to take their oath religiously handled while they were sworne Foure-footed beasts for the most part were appointed for sacrifices to bee conuerted to the food of the Sacrificers Although in the meane space I finde a lamentable matter that the blinde Ethnicks in the foresaid place of Rialarnes vsed also humane sacrifices where at the doore of the Temple was â— very deepe Pit wherein the humane sacrifices were drowned which Pit was called Blotkellda from the Sacrifice Also in West Island in the Prouince of Thornsthing in the middle of the Market place there was a round circle into the which men appointed to be sacrificed to the Gods were gathered who being violently smitten against an exceeding great stone set there were cruelly slaine The indignitie whereof that stone is reported to haue declared many ages after by the bloudy colour which no shower of raine or water could euer wash away An abominable crueltie surely yet not wanting examples deriued euen from the most ancient times I omit those of later time and found in the neare bordering Countries as the humane sacrifices of the French whereof Cicero pro Fonteio speaketh and also the custome of nearer bordering Countries I doe not mention the Roman sacrifices among which Luperca Valeria appointed to be sacrificed was deliuered from present death by an Eagle Let the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sacrificing of noble Virgins of the Greekes not be remembâ—ed with whom Helena was likewise freed from imminent perill of sacrificing by the benefit of an Eagle But who is it that can be ignorant of Benhennon or Gehennon of the Hebrewes and their crueltie farre greater then this exercised not vpon slaues or guiltie persons but euen vpon their dearest children Concerning which matter I thought good to set downe the wordes of Christoph. Adricomus Delphus Gehennon saith he was a place in the suburbs of Ierusalem ouer against the East vnder the Mountayne of Offence neare the Fish poole of the Fuller most pleasant like Tempe In this Valley stood a Pauilion and the brasen Idol of Moloch cunningly wrought in the shape of a King bâ—llow within whose head resembling a Calfe the other parts a man had armes stretched forth to sacrifice children who through the vehement heat of the Idol were burned amidst those cursed embracements For when by the fire put vnder in the concauity of the Idoll it became all fiery then the most wicked parents with incredible crueltie deliuered their dearest children to wit their Sonnes and Daughters to be burned within these detestable
and I haue sent to you Ichkmen Kichenga to do obeysance vnto your Maiesty and see your Princely eyes whâ—n your Maiestie vouchsafed to doe their obeysance and see your Princely eyes And to me you sent of your Grace three Cups of Siluer a Bow a Sword two Gunâ—es and two Garment Clothes all which your Princely fauours I haue receiued and what shall bee behouâ—â—full for your Majesty from hence I will furnish you withall As also I am to request your 〈◊〉 in respect the Ambassadours doe passe betweene vs very miserably and poore by reasonâ— hâ—re are now some small warres betwixt vs and the blacke Kâ—lâ—â—acks and there are but small 〈◊〉 Tobolsko Castle and in the Castles of Tomin Darkâ— and from the Barban people Now if so be your Majestie will fauour me and defend me with these people from Karakula and will bee pleaâ—ed to 〈◊〉 on warre on your owne side and I on mine that matter will bee done betweene vs and all good matters continue betwixt vs. And so by your Princely fauour Ambassadors may continually passe betweene vs. Iuan Tarchan Varchies and Andrei Tarchan Varchies did conduct two of your Maiesties Messengers into the Dominions of Catay according to your Majesties commandement and they are returned to me againe out of Catay Also Lord there is come vnto me the Tarchan of Labaia and I haue sent vnto you with my Presents the said Tarchan Labar and Riâ—ibacshy Anâ—haij and with them ten men and two men of Sirgos in their Letter is written that there is sent vnto your Maiestie three Leopards with their clawes an Irbish with his clawes three Lizernes with their clawes a red and a yellow Damaske vpon a gold ground a piece of Veluet and an ambling Horse And I am humbly to request your Majestie if it bee your Majesties fauour to grace mee for your owne honour with a garment of cloth of Gold and of diuers colours fiue Garments of fine Cloth a Head-piece a shirt of Male a Sword a Bow twentie Gunnes a Flaggon of Gold a Kettle of Siluer and fiue sorts of Precious Stones of each one a Tennet a Dwarfe and Workmen to make Guns and Powder and two thousand pence Your Maiesties name is growne renowmed and famous euery where therefore I doe reuerence vnto your Majestie because many Kings of many Countreyes haue spread abroad the fame of your Majesties name euery where And I request that Ambassadours may speedily passe betwixt vs and now if it be your Maiesties fauour I desire you to dispatch these my Ambassadours with speed to me backe againe Anno 7128. the three and twentieth of September in the Emperours Dominions at Soldota a Cazacke of Siberia called Euashko Pettlin did report beeing examined of his Trauels The last yeere past 7127. hee said that the Boiaren and Voyauod Knez Euan Simonowich Koorockin sent him from the Castle of Tomo and his fâ—llowâ— Andrashko to conduct the Kings Altines Ambassadours as also to inquire or search the Kingdomes of Catay They went from the Castle of Tomo about the ninth of May and trauelled from Tomo to Kirgis with much expedition tenne dayes and in Kirgis is a Duke subiect to the Emperours Maiestie his name is Nemi who gaue them victuals and post Through this Land of Kirgis they werre halfe a day and came to the Dominion of Mutalla to the Altine King who gaue them prouisions and post and dispatched them thence so they passed through his Land fiue weekes to the Country of Sheremugaly where raigneth a Queene called Manchika who caused to haue prouision and post giuen them In this Countrey of Sheromogula they trauelled foure dayes and came into the Dominions of Catay called Crim where is a wall made of stone fifteene fathomes high alongst the side of which wall they went ten dayes where they saw pettie Townes and Villages belonging to 〈◊〉 Queene Manchika but in those ten dayes they saw no people vpon the wall at all At the end of these ten dayes they came to the gate wherein lye very great Peeces of Ordnance shooting shot as bigge as a mans head and in the said gate standeth in watch three thousand men and they come with their Merchandizes to traffique at the gate The Altine men also come to the gate with their Horses to sell to the Catay men but are not permitted to come within the walls except very few at once Thus their whole trauell from Tomo Castle to this gate was twelue weekes besides some dayes that they stood still and from the gate to the great Empire of Catay tenne dayes and came to the Citie or Castle of Catay about the beginning of September and were lodged in the great Embassadors house and hauing beene there in Catay foure dayes there vsed to come vnto them a Secretary with two hundred men vpon Asses very well apparelled and did entertayne and feast them with Sacke and other Drinkes made of Grapes and told them that the Emperour or King Tambur had sent him to aske them wherefore they were come into the Dominions of Catay Whereupon they answered that our great Lord and Emperour had sent them to discouer the Dominions of Catay and see the King thereof but hee answered them againe that without presents they could not see the King and withall gaue them a Letter which Letter they brought with them to Tolbosko and from thence is sent to the Emperours Maiestie by them Out of Catay they went about the twelfth of October and came to the Castle of Tobolsko about Whitsontyde the same yeere 1619. A Description of the Empires of Catay and Labin and other Dominions aswell inhabited as places of Pasture called Vlusses and Hords and of the great Riuer Ob And other Riuers and Land passages FRom Kirgis to the Riuer Bakanna is sixe dayes trauell and from Bakanna to Kinchike is nine dayes trauell from Kinchike to the great Lake in which Lake Rubies or Saphires grow is three dayes trauell and the compasse of that Lake is twelue dayes trauell on horsebacke There falleth also into the said Lake foure Riuers to wit from the East South West and North yet the water doth not increase in the Lake nor decrease There falleth yet another Riuer into the said Lake which commeth from betweene the East and the North and is called Kitta vpon which we went fifteen dayes to the head of it where we found the King Altine in progresse the way is very stony And from the King Altine to an Vlusses fiue dayes trauell the Vlusses is called Algunat and the Duke in it is called Tâ—rmâ—shine from him to another Vlusses fiue dayes the Vlusses is called Chikursha and the Duke in it is called Carakula from thence to an Vlusses fiue dayes called Suldussa wherein is a King called Chaksaâ—a from him to an Vlusses called Bâ—suâ— fiue dayes the Dukes name is Chichim from him to an Vlusses called Iglethin fiue dayes the Duke is Taschils Cherekta from him
the Hauen of Saint Iohn the third day of August written in haste 1527. By your seruant Iohn Rut to his vttermost of his power I haue by me also Albert de Prato's originall Letter in Latin stile almost as harsh as the former English and bearing the same date and was indorsed Reuerend in Christo Patri Domino Domino Cardinali Domino Legat◠Angliae and began Reuerendissime in Christo Pater salutem Reuerendissime Pater plaeceat Reuerendissima peternitati vestra scire Deo fauente post quam exiuimus à Plemut quae fuit x. Iunij c. the substance is the same with the former and therefore omitted Datum apud le Baya Saint Iohan in Terris Nouis die x. Augusti 1527. Reuer Patr. vest humilis seruus Albertus de Prato the name written in the lowest corner of the sheet The voyage of Captaine GEORGE WEYMOVTH intended for the discouerie of the North-west Passage toward China with two flye Boates. ON Sunday the second day of May 1602. in the afternoone I weighed anchor and set saile from Redcliffe with two Fly-boates the one called the Discouery of seuentie Tunnes and the other called the God speed of sixtie Tunnes to discouer the North-west passage hauing in my ships fiue and thirtie men and boyes throughly victualled and abundantly furnished with all necessaries for a yeere and an halfe by the right Worshipfull Merchants of the Moscouie and Turkie Companies who for the better successe of the voyage prouided mee of a great trauailer and learned Minister one Master Iohn Cartwright The Master vnder mee in the Discouerie was one William Cobreth a skilfull man in his profession and in the God speed one Iohn Drewe and Mate in the said ship one Iohn Lane The first of Iune we descried Buquhamnes in the Latitude of 57. degrees The second day we saw the Point of Buquhamnes North-west from vs being a very smooth land and the land by it to the Southward riseth with many Homocks There lyeth a ledge of Rockes hard by the Nesse in a sandie Bay faire by the shore When we came neer the land we met with a fisher Boat and I agreed with one of the fisher men to carry me betweene the Isles of Orkney because I was not acquainted with the coast The fourth day at ten of the clocke wee descried the Isles of Orkney Some of those Southerne Ilands are prettie high land but the Northerne Iland which is called the Start is very low land There is no danger giuing the shore a good birth vnlesse it be by the Norther point of the Start there doth a ledge of Rockes lye a mile from the shoare At noone I found my selfe to be in the latitude of 59. degrees and 30. minutes the point of the Start bearing West and at one of the clocke in the afternoone we saw a faire I le which bare North-east and by North from vs and at eight of the clocke at night wee were North of the Start Then I directed my course West and by North. The fifth day about ten of the clocke in the morning we ranne some tenne leagues and then we saw two small Ilands some two leagues off and at eight and nine of the clocke we saw foure or fiue Boats of Fisher-men and spake with one of them and they were Scottish-men The sixt in the morning fell much raine and lasted till nine of the clocke and at ten of the clocke it cleared vp and became very faire weather and very temperate and warme and our course was West The seauenth the winde was at East and by North faire weather and our course West The eight at noone I obserued the Sunne and found vs to be in 59. degrees and fortie seuen minutes and we ran West South-west The twelfth day we held our course West the winde at East North-east with fogge in the morning at noone I obserued the Sunne and found my selfe in 57. degrees and 55. minutes the variation here was nothing at all The thirteenth at noone our course was West and by North the winde at North-east with fogge some three or foure houres and then cleare againe the ayre very warme as in England in the moneth of May. The foureteenth was faire weather and the winde at East North-east and our course West and by North. The fifteenth much raine all the forenoone our course West the winde at East and by North. The sixteenth the winde was at North North-east with much raine winde and fogge In the forenoone being very cold and at noone I obserued the Sun and found vs to be in 57. degrees and 35. minutes we found the variation to be eleuen degrees Westward and by that meane I found my selfe to be one degree more to the Southward then we should haue bin by our course for we could not see the Sunne in 96. houres before this day at noone and at our last obseruation before this which was the twelfth day we could not finde any variation at all Then we stood close by a winde to the Westward the winde being at North North-east The seauenteenth wee ranne North and by West the winde at North North-east faire weather This day we saw many gray Gulles and some Pigions The eighteenth at noone I obserued the Sunne and found our selues to be in the latitude of 59. degrees and 51. minutes And then we first descried a great Iland of Ice which lay North from vs as farre as we could ken it from the head of our maine topmast and about two of the clocke in the afternoone we saw the South part of Groneland North from vs some ten leagues As we coasted this Ice to the Northward we found it to be a maine banke of Ice for we saw the other end of it to beare West North-west from vs the winde being at South South-west little winde Then we ranne West South-west to cleere vs of the Ice The nineteenth the winde was at East South-east with some small raine The twentieth our course was West North-west the winde being at North and by East little winde This day sometimes we came into blacke water as thicke as puddle and in sailing a little space the water would be cleare againe Seeing this change of water so often to be thick and cleare againe so suddenly we imagined it had beene shallow water then we founded and could fetch no ground in one hundred and twenty fathomes and the Sea was so smooth that we could discerne no current at all At this time I reckoned the Cape of desolation to beare North North-east twentie foure leagues from vs. The one and twentieth the winde was variable The two and twentieth we were in the latitude of 60. degrees and 37. minutes the winde being at West wee ranne North and by West The seauen and twentieth the winde was at West South-west then our course was North-west and by North the weather faire and warme as in England in
compâ—st with Ice we hearing to the same the winde comming vp to the East South-east we 〈◊〉 South to the Ice were forced to loose for one Iland and to beare roome for another till about foure a clocke when by Gods helps 〈…〉 cleere off the same the winde comming vp to the South-east and by South wee lay South-west and by South off all this night The two and twentieth thicke weather the winde 〈◊〉 before This morning about seuen a clocke we saw a saile West and by South of vs we standing to him for it was our Vice admirall the Lion who had beene greatly troubled with the Ice wee being glad to meete one another againe The eight and twentieth about foure in the morning the storme ceased the winde comming vp to the West South-west About three a clocke wee set our sailes standing South-east away But being vnder saile we spyed great bankes and Ilands of Ice to leeward of vs lying off East and by South which Ice I did iudge to lye off Cape Desolation about eight leagues off the which by reason of the fogge we could not 〈◊〉 The nine and twentieth about sixe in the morning the winde came vp to the North-east and by North we making saile went South South-east away till noone with a stiffe gale wee seeing in the morning pieces of drift Ice to windward of vs hauing at noone a shrinke of the same I found vs in the latitude of 39. degrees 46. minutes hauing from noone to noone made a South-east and by South way eight leagues The one and thirtieth the winde continuing wee holding still our course with the winde still at North North-west with faire and cleere weather it blowing very much so that wee stood away vnder a couple of courses low set the Sea very 〈◊〉 growne being in the â—â—titude of 59. degrees 10. minutes hauing made an East South-east way somewhat Easterly foure and thirtie leagues This afternoone after my obseruation wee saw some Ilands of Ice 〈◊〉 some drift Ice I something maruelling of the same knowing both by my account and my 〈◊〉 â—â—seruation that we were shot too farre from 〈◊〉 part of Groinland that was described 〈…〉 Marine Chart. For the southermost part described therein is not in the latitude of 60. degrees and we being now in the latitude of 59. degrees ten minutes Cape Desolation bearing West North-west halfe Northerly about sixtie foure leagues and Cape Christian which was the next known part of Groenland North-west and by West westerly eight and thirtie leagues so holding our course East South-east away about foure a clocke we had sight of Land being very high Land it lying alongst East South-east about sixteene leagues the westermost part seemed either to fall away East North-east and the southermost point bearing East northerly fell away East and by North. This Land is very high hauing the Hills couered with snow the shoare being very thicke with Ice this place because I knew not whether it was of the Mayne or an Iland I named Frost Iland after the name of the ship The first of September at noone I made obseruation and found vs in the latitude of 58. degrees hauing made a South-east and by South way southerly sixe and twentie leagues This day at noone I directed my course East and by South This afternoone about sixe a clock it fell calme and so continued all the night following This euening I found the variation 10. degrees 50. minutes Northwesting The fourth day the winde at East and by South we lying South and by East hauing a shrinke of the sunne about noone I did suppose vs in the latitude of 57. degrees 20. minutes hauing made a South-east and by South way southerly about ten leagues all this day and the night following we lay as before The eight day faire weather the winde as before it being almost calme wee going away as before being at noone in the latitude of 58. degrees 36. minutes hauing made an East North-east way northerly twentie leagues by reason of the great southerly Sea All this afternoone and the night following it was for the most part calme This euening I found the Compasse varied about two degrees 45. minutes northwesting The ninth day also faire weather the winde southerly a fresh gale our course still East being at noone in the latitude of 58. degrees 40. minutes our way East and by North easterly twelue leagues This afternoone the winde came vp to the South or South and by East with raine This night about midnight thicke weather with raine the winde comming to the South-east we lying East North-east and North-east and by East with the stemme The tenth day about two in the morning the winde came vp to the South South-west wee steering our course East being at noone in the latitude of 59. degrees 10. minutes hauing made an East and by North way easterly foure and fortie leagues wee hauing a fresh gale westerly This day wee saw one of the Fowle the which are on the Iland of Bas in Scotland called Bas Geese This euening I found the Variation 1. degree 4. minutes northeasting The eighteenth this forenoone about nine a clocke wee espyed land rising somewhat ragged the Eastermost point of the same bearing South-east and by South and the Westermost part South and by West about eight leagues These Ilands by my account and obseruation I found to be the Ilands of Ferris being at noone in the obseruation of 62. degrees 5. minutes The nineteenth I set a little Rocke called the Monke which lyeth off to the South-east end it being about fiue a clocke East South-east of vs three leagues off This night about ten a clocke it fell calme The twentieth wee did see the streame had set vs to the Northwards This streame setteth vnder the Ilands of Farre next hand East and West So casting about wee stood to the westwards lying West South-west and sometimes West and by South and sometimes South-west it being very raynie weather about midnight it fell calme and so continued all night vnto the morning The first of October in the afternoone about foure of the clocke we had sight of The Holmes The second day wee steered away South-east and by South and South South-east for The Col. And about eight of the clocke this night wee came into Turco where wee rode all the day following The third day at night the winde came to the North-east so wee weighed and came into Elsenor Road. The fourth day by the prouidence of God we arriued in our desired Port of Copen Hauen 1606. The seuerall burthens and numbers of men employed in the ships of the Fleet aforesaid were as followeth THe Trust being Admirall was of sixtie tunnes had eight and fortie men The Lion Vice-admirall was of seuentie tunnes had eight and fortie men The Vrin or Eagle Reare-admirall of one hundred tunnes had fiftie men The Gilliflowre was of fortie tunnes had sixteene men
Licentiate Iohn of Obando Predecessor of your Lordship in whose time the Office of chiefe Chronicler of the Indies was instituted for writing with greater authoritie foundation and truth the Acts of the Castilians in the New World and to see and examine that which the other Chroniclers should write for I finde that almost to all that is written no credit could be giuen for ouer-much licence wherewith vntill then it was done hee vsed great diligence in gathering the most certaine Relations that were found as well in the Indies as in Spaine of that which happened in the Discoueries of those Regions the foundations of those Townes and Customes of the people And many yeers being past after his death without making any beginning of this History your Lordship being prouided for President of the Royall and Supreme Councell of the Indies knowing how much it behoued that deeds so worthy of memorie should no longer be buried and that they should be written by a Royall Chronicler seeing so much frâ—â— is gotten of Historie that it exceedeth so much the Picture as the soule the bodie against the opinion of a moderne Writer Prouiding all the meanes necessarie with liberalitie and diligence haue beene the meere and onely Instrument following the opinion of S. Augustine that this Historie and the Description that followeth hath come to the present estate And because it hath not beene of least importance to honour the Author animating him to goe forward with so great a labour conforming your selfe with the vniuersall opinion of the much that is due to the watchings and labours of the Writers placing this Office of Chiefe Chronicler in that point and reputation that so noble an Exercise deserueth as the most famous men of the World haue iudged it and it is esteemed and talked of among all Nations be they neuer so barbarous your Lordship shall be praysed eternally and thanked of all that are interessed in it by which is procured the making mention of their Fathers and Predecessors with their Names and Countrey all that hath beene possible against the barbarous and most vniust opinion of Iohn Baptista Ramusio in his Proeme in the third Volume of the Nauigations where hee saith to bee a vaine thing and ridiculous that the Spanish Authors should take paines in writing the names and Countrey of those which serued in the matters of the Indies Wherein he sheweth the venime of the enuie conceiued of the glorious deeds of these Catholike Kings and of the Castillian Nation seeing the Chronicles doe serue to honour the good and to reproch the euill for an example of those to come which could not be obtayned with the opinion of this Ramusius whom the saying of Cato against the Grecians doth fit But the opinion of your Lordship hath beene according to your prudence and valour of the which as it is iust there will be a perpetuall memorie and for that which this Nation is indebted vnto you for the same you shall bee reknowledged of it eternally God keepe your Lordship from Vallyadolyeede the fifteenth of October 1601. THe compasse of the Earth is 360. degrees which being reduced to leagues of Castile are 6300. and by the compasse of the Earth is vnderstood the Sea together with it which two Elements make the Globe whose vpper face in part is Earth and in part is Sea The Ancients diuided the Earth in three parts and gaue to euery one his name The first they called Europe more celebrated then any of the other The second Asia which is greater then the rest and contayneth the great Kingdome of China The third Africa And men being in a supposition that the World contayned no more then was rehearsed not contenting themselues with it entred in the Art of Nauigating and in the inuention of ships of high building fitting them in such order that they might abide the force of the waues of the Sea in this Art the Spaniards haue surpassed all the Nations of the World For whiles there reigned Ferdinand in Castile and in Lyon the famous Kings Catholike Ferdinando the Fift and Isabella a most wise prudent and most puissant Queene and Don Iohn the Second called the Pellican raigned in Portugall hee that euer will be worthy of memory Don Christopher Coloâ— first Admirall of the Indies hauing liued many yeeres married in Spaine with the counsell of Martin of Bohemia a Portugall borne in the Iland of Fayall a famous Astrologian and especially a Iudiciarie and of others with whom he communicated it gaue a beginning to the Discouery of that which at this day is counted the fourth part of the World and the greatest of them all and taking his course toward the Sunne setting going from Pallos a Village of the Earle of Miranda in the Coast of Andaluzia he sayled so much by the Ocean that hee found this great Land which the Equinoctiall Line cutteth in the middest and it goeth so farre toward the South that it reacheth to fiftie two degrees and an halfe and goeth so high to the North that it hides it selfe vnder the Pole Articke without knowing any end The greatnesse of this fourth part hath set the people in great admiration whose description shall here be handled vnder the name of Ilands and firme Land of the Ocean Sea because they are compassed with this Sea and placed to the West and are commonly called the West Indies and the New World and comprehended within the limits of the Kings of Castile and of Lyon Which is an Hemisphere and halfe of the World of 180. degrees beginning to reckon from a Meridian Circle which passeth by thirtie nine or by fortie degrees of longitude Occidentall from the Meridian of Toledo through the mouth of the Riuer Maranyâ—â— and to the Orientall through the Citie of Mallaca in sort that at twentie leagues sayling for a degree these bounds haue from the one part to the other 3900. Castillan leagues euery one of 3000. paces of fiue foot of a Castillan yard which men say are sixtie Italian miles from the Orient to the Occident which the Sea-men doe call East and West And this account of twentie leagues to a degree is according to Ptolomie and to the opinion of many curious men It hath seemed to others that the miles of euery degree are seuentie and that they make no more then seuenteene leagues and an halfe of Castile which is held for the truest account The degrees of longitude which are those that are reckoned by the Equinoctiall which goeth from East to West through the middest of the Orbe and Globe of the Earth haue not beene able to bee taken well because there is no fixed signe in the Heauen Degrees of altitude are those which are taken and reckoned from the Pole which fall out certayne because it is a fixed point which is the marke that is taken by the which it shall be shewed in this description There is discouered and nauigated from the North
second Admirall to pacifie it It hath two hundred and thirty leagues from the Cape of Saint Antonie vnto the Point of Mayzi going by Land although by the Sunne and by water there are not so many It hath in breadth from the Cape of Crosses to the Port of Manati fortie fiue leagues and then it beginneth to streighten and goeth to the last Cape or Occidentall Point where it is narrow of twelue leagues little more or lesse from Matamano to the Auana Her situation is within the Tropicke of Cancer from twentie to twentie one degrees the Countrey is almost all plaine with many Forrests and thicke Woods from the Easterne Point of Mayci for thirtie leagues it hath most high Mountaynes and likewise in the middest it hath some and there runne from them to the North and to the South very pleasant Riuers with great store of fish On the South side it hath the little Ilands which the first Admirall called the Queenes Garden and the other on the North side which Iames Velazquez called the Kings Garden the trees are of many differences and wild Vines as bigge as a man they gather no Wheate nor other Seedes of Spaine but great abundance of Cattle it hath great Copper Mynes and of Gold and is it found in the Riuers though it be base in the touch Iames Velazquez peopled first the Citie of Saint Iames in the South Coast fortie leagues from the Cape of Tiburon which is in Hispaniola and two leagues from the Sea neere to a Port one of the best in the World for securitie and greatnesse The Citie came to haue two thousand Inhabitants now it hath few with a Gouernours Deputie the Cathedrall Suffragane to Saint Domingo is resident in it and a Monastery of Franciscan Friers The Village of Baracoa is a Towne furthest East of the Iland of Cuba at the beginning of the North Coast 60. leagues from the Citie of S. Iames toward the East North-east which was also an inhabiting of the President Iames Velazquez The Village of Bayamâ— which Iames Velazquez also built is 20. leagues from S. Iames to the North-west it is the soundest Town of the Iland of a more open soyle and of a good disposition The Village and Port of the Prince in the Coast of the North is about fortie leagues from Saint Iames to the North-west The Village of Sancti Spiritus is a Port on the South side betweene the Trinidad and the Cayo de Basco Porcallo of Figueroa about fiftie leagues from Saint Iames a Colonie of Iames Velazquez The Village and Port of Saint Christopher of the Abana is in the North Coast almost opposite to Florida in twentie two degrees and an halfe in height of more then sixe hundred Housholds where the Gouernour resides and the Officers Royall The Port is maruellous in greatnesse and securitie especially since that King Philip the Second the prudent sent the Campe-master Iohn of Texeda and Baptista Antonelli to fortifie it in it all the Fleetes of the Indies doe meete for to come for Spaine in company It was first called the Port of Carennas and Iames Velazquez built this Village and all the rest of the Iland with the assistance of the Father Bartolome de las Casas which afterward became a Dominicke Frier and Bishop of Chiapa The Ports and Capes and point of the Coast of Cuba and the Ilands belonging to it besides those which are rehearsed are in the South Coast the Port of the Citie of Saint Iames in twentie degrees and twentie fiue leagues to the West the Port of Sancti Spiritus Cape of the Crosse twelue leagues forward and the Queenes Gardens which is a great shelfe of Ilands and shoales the Port of Trinitie in twentie one degrees about thirtie leagues from the Cape of the Crosse and ten more to the West the Gulfe of Xagua a great defence with some Ilands in the middest and forward the Two Sisters two Ilands at the beginning of the great shelfe and Ilands and shoales which they call Camarco betweene the Coast and the Ilands which is of ten leagues in length and seuen in breadth twelue leagues from the Cape of Correntes which is as many from the Cape of Saint Antonie the furthest West of this Iland In the North Coast standeth the Port of Abana and thirtie leagues to the East is the Port of Slaughters where was a Towne and was called de Matanças of the Slaughters because the Indians killed certaine Spaniards which they carried in their Canâ—ose vnder securitie to the other side only one escaping and two women whom they kept sometime with them From the Matanças to the Port of Yucanaca are fiftie leagues to the Kings Garden which is a great shelfe of little Illets and shoales and at the end of the Iland Obahaua eight leagues before the Port of the Prince foure or six from the Port of Fernando Alanso and six to the East of this Cubana which is a point The Port of Varocoa is about twentie leagues before the point of Maizi the farthest West of Cuba and the hidden Port and Gulfe neere to Cape Roio in the South-coast about twentie leagues from the Port of Pidgeons which is about ten leagues from the Port of Saint Iames. THe Iland of Iamayca was so abundant of victuals and breedings that it gaue great prouision of Cotton Horses Swine and Cozabi for the new Discoueries and the first Admirall called it Saint Iames when hee discouered it and the first that passed to inhabit it was the Captayne Iohn Esquiuell the yeere 1509. by order of the second Admirall Don Diego Colon. It stands in seuenteene degrees and an halfe of altitude in the middest of it and twentie leagues from Cuba to the South and as many from Hispaniola direct to the West It hath in compasse one hundred and fiftie leagues it hath East and West fiftie and twentie in breadth There are in it three Villages Siuill in which is the Seat of the Colledge toward the North Coast somewhat Westerly Iohn Squinell a Gentleman of Siuill peopled it Melilla which stands in the North Coast fourteene leagues from Siuill to the East Oristan in the South Coast towards the West fourteene leagues from Siuill and are Plantations of the President Francisco de Garay which gouerned in it But of the Towne de la Vega whence the Admirals Lords of this Iland tooke the Title of Dukes nor of other two Plantations painted in some Maps there is no notice There is in the Coast of this Iland the Point of Moranta the vttermost West of it by the North Coast ten leagues to the West the Port of Ianta and tenne leagues forward the Port of Melilla where they say the first Admirall arriued and called it Santa Gloria when hee returned lost from Veragua and heere happened to him the mutiny of the Porras of Siuill and it was the first Ciuill Warre of the Indies
great shelfe of fifteene leagues the middest of it in twentie degrees and among these Ilands are many little ones without name The Ilands that are from the Iland of Saint Iohn of Porte-Rico to the East of it toward the coast of Terra firmâ— were called the Canibals by the many Caribes eaters of humaine flesh that were in them and in their language Canibal is to say Valiant man for they were held for such of the other Indians All these Ilands are dangerous for shelues and the nearest to Saint Iohn are Sancta Cruz to the South-west from it in 16. degrees and a halfe of sixteene leagues and Saba las Virgines two little illets compassed with shelues and other eight or ten Ilands the greatest of ten leagues Virgen gorda and the Blancos or White Ilands Westward from Virgen gorda Lâ— Ane gada of seuen leagues in length in 18. degrees and a halfe compassed with shelues as Sambrero is a little Iland neere vnto it and these Ilands which are called the Weather Ilands or Barlouento the first Admirall discouered and in particular the men of Sancta Cruz and others had a custome to goe and hunt for men to the Iland of Saint Iohn for to eate and at this day they of Dominica doe it They did eate no women but kept them for slaues Now they say that within this little while they of Dominica did eate a Fryer and that all they which did eate his flesh had such a fluxe that some dyed and that therefore they haue left eating humane flesh and it may be because instead of men with lesse danger they steale Kine and Mares for the great quantitie there is of them and with this they satisfie their raging appetite Anguilla hath ten leagues of length it standeth in 18. degrees Saint Martin in 17. degrees and a halfe it is of sixteene leagues compassed with little Illets and neere vnto it Saint Eustace Saint Bartholomew and Saint Christopher euery one of tenne leagues The Barbada in 17. degrees and a halfe compassed with shelues neere to the Redoâ—da and the Snowes or Nieues and of Monserrate of fiue leagues euery one in 15. degrees and a halfe The Antigua Guadalupe and Todos Santos from 14. to 15. degrees The Desseada to the East of Guadalupe about sixe leagues the first which the Admirall Don Christopher discouered in the second Voyage that he made to the Indies in 14. degrees and a halfe for which the fleete goe alwayes from the Canaries Marigalante the name of the Shippe the Admirall had fiue leagues to the South-west from the Desired and from the Dominica in 13. degrees twelue leagues in length where the Fleetes take in water and wood for it hath good roades although with danger of the Canibals Neere vnto Dominica to the South stands Matinino Sancta Lucie and the Barbudos the which because they fall on the left hand of the Fleetes when they goe they call them already of the Ilands of the Leeward de Sotauento which appertaine to the coast of Terra firme and of them the greatest the first and the most Orientall is the Trinidad neere two hundred leagues from Hispaniola North and South with the Dominica about sixtie leagues from it It hath fiftie leagues in leangth East and West and almost thirty in breadth The Admirall discouered it the yeare 1498. the third Voyage that he made to the Indies and called it the Trinitie because hauing great trouble in the Voyage he had promised to God to giue such a name to the first Land that he should finde and presently the Mariner that was in the top saw three points of Land whereby the name fitted euery way to his vowe then hee discouered also the mouthes of the Dragon and of the Serpent the gulfe of Paria and all the firme Land vnto Cumana which iniustly Americus Vesputio claimes to himselfe whose name vnworthily is giuen to the port which they call Peninsula Australis or Indies of the South This Iland of Trinidad is knowne that it is no good Countrie though it hath many Indians it hath thirtie fiue leagues of longitude and others say more and twentie fiue of latitude it stands in 8. degrees the most orientall part of it is a point on the North side which is called de la Galera and to the North of it a small Iland compassed with little Iles which they call Tabago and in the South coast a Cape which they call the Round Point at the East the point of Anguilla at the West in the gulfe of Paria which is that that is from the Iland to Terra firme which may be eight leagues of distance because the firme Land maketh an oblique semicircle as a Diadem and in the entrance of the East is the distance recited in the entrance of the West the straightnes is much and with great depth and two little Ilands at the end of the North coast by the West which is called the Dragons mouth and to the North S. Vincent and Granada other two little Ilands The Iland of Margarita so named by Christopher Colon the first Admirall as also all the rest a most sufficient proofe of the Finder to the confusion of those which depriued him of the glory of the discouerie of the firme Land attributing it to themselues although changing the times it is twentie leagues from Trinidad Westward and one hundred and seuenty from Hispaniola it hath sixteen leagues in length East and West and yet some say twenty and the halfe in breadth it hath no store of water although it is very plentifull of Pastures for Cattle There is in it two Townes one neare the Sea which reacheth to a fortresse where the Gouernour is resident and another two leagues within the Land which is called the Valley of Sancta Lucie there is in his coast a good port and a nooke and many beds of Pearles whither the fishing of them is remoued which before was in Cubagua and they say it went away from thence for the rumour of the ordnance of the many Shippes that resorted to this Iland to the trafficke of the Pearles which was very great Cubagua stands one league from Margarita to the East there is no water in it and yet the new Cadiz was built there and they carried their water seuen leagues from the Riuer of Cumana To the East of Cubagua are foure little Illets close by the shoare which the first Admirall called Los Frayles and to the East betweene them and Granada other foure or fiue which he called Los Testigos the Witnesses and to the West after Cubagua another little Iland which he named Tortuga the Tortoyse neere to the point of Araya and from hence the discouery being made from below Paria he went to Hispaniola with a purpose to finish the discouery of Terra firme and as here after shall be seene hee went after to discouer and found the Ilands of the Guanaios and from before Veragua
a temperate Countrie plentifull of Seedes Cattle and Fowle of Europe it hath Mines of Iron and Steele the Countrie men are strong valiant and for much labour those Ilands stand in thirtie fiue degrees of the Pole little more or lesse according to the distance of euery Iland The Iapones doe not vnderstand the Chinas but by writing because of the Characters or Letters being one for them all and though they signifie the same they haue not the same name for they are to declare things and not words aâ— the figures of Arithmeticke that if a 9. be set the French the Castillan and the English man doe vnderstand it that it signifieth 9. but euery one doe name it after their owne fashion By another side the Iapones doe confine with the Phillipines from whence there is commerce with them and a great incouragement is giuen to the Fathers of the Company for to labour in the conuersion of the people of those Kingdomes where notable fruite hath beene gotten for the which these Ilands are much celebrated in the world and by the comming of the Ambassadours of the new Christendome to the Pope and to the King Phillip the second the Prudent and so as nature placed them in a scituation separated from the rest of the Land the men of that Region are differing in customes from other people In the yeare 1592. Nobunanga which caused himselfe to be called Emperour of Iapan interprised with eightie Vessels and 20000. men certaine Prouinces tributarie vnto China and wan it From the Iland of Simo which is among them of Iapan the greatest is extended a row of small Ilands called the Lequios and doe prolong themselues toward the Coast of China the two greater which is euery one of fifteene or twentie leagues neere the Coast of Iapan are called the greater Lequio and other two also great though not so much which are at the end of the Rowe they call Lequio the lesser some are inhabited of well shapen people white politicke well apparelled warlike and of good reason they abound in Gold more then others of that Sea and not lesse in Victuals Fruits and good Waters Neere vnto the lesser Lequio stands Hermosa or the beautifull Iland which hath the same qualitie and say it is as big as Sicilie THe Coast of new Guiena beginneth one hundred leagues to the East of the Iland of Gilolo in little more then one degree altitude on the other side of the Equinoctiall from whence it is prolonged toward the East three hundred leagues till it come to fiue or six degrees It hath beene doubted vntill now whether it be an Iland or firme Land because it doth enlarge it selfe in so great a Voyage from being able to ioyne with the Countries of the Ilands of Salomon or Prouinces of the Straight of Mâ—gellanes by the South side but this doubt is resolued with that which those do affirme that sailed on the South side of the Straight of Magelanes that that is not a continent but Ilands and that presently followeth a spacious Sea and among those that doe affirme iâ— is Sir Richard Hawkins an English Knight which was fiue and fortie dayes among the same Ilands From the Sea the Land of this coast of Guinea seemeth good and the men that haue been seene are cole black and in the coast are many Ilands with good roads and ports whereof is no particular notice for hauing sailed it few times those which are found in some cards are Aguada or the watering to the East thirty fiue leagues from the first Land is in one degree of Southern altitude and eighteene forward the port of Saint Iames and the Iland of the Crespos of sixteene leagues long neere the coast right against the Port of Saint Andrew and neere to it the Riuer of Saint Peter and Saint Paul before the Port of Saint Ierom and a small Iland neere the thrust out Point 40. leagues from S. Austin which they call of Good-pence and more forward from it the Shelter and Euill people two little Ilands and the Bay of Saint Nicholas fiftie leagues from Puntasalida and among other Ilands one of white men and the Mother of God before Good Baye and of the Natiuitie of our Lady the last of that which is discouered and as to the North from it the Caymana an Iland without in the Sea among others which haue no name The Meridionall coast is not yet known the first that discouered the new Guine was Aluaro of Saauedra being lost with many stormes from his course returning to new Spain when in the year 1527. the Marques of the Valley sent him that on that side he should seek the Ilands of the Spicerie The Ilands of Salomon are eight hundred leagues from Piru the opinion that is held of their riches gaue them this name the which properly are called of the West because they fal to the West from the Prouinces of Piru from the place that Aluaro of Mendoça made discouery of them by order of the Licentiate Lope Garcia de Castro his Vnckle Gouernor of the Kingdomes of Piru in the yeare 1567. the first that saw the Land of these Ilands was a yong man called Treio in the top of a Ship they are from seuen degrees of altitude on the other side of the Equinoctiall about 1500. leagues from the Citie of the Kings they are many in quantity greatnes and eighteen the most famous some of 300. leagues in compasse and two of 200. and of 100. and of 50. and thence downward besides many which are not yet made an end of coasting and they say that they might bea-continent with the coast of the new Guiney and the Countries to be discouered toward the West of the straight the Countrie of these Ilands seemeth of a good temper and habitable plentifull of victuals and Cattell there were found in them some fruits like those of Castile Swine Hens in great number the Countrie men some of a brown colour like Indians others white ruddie and some cole blacke which is an argument of continuance with the Countries of the new Guinie whereby there may so many differences of people be mingled of those which resort to the Ilands of the Spicery The greatest and most renowned are Sancta Ysabel from eight to nine degrees of altitude of more then 150. leagues in length and eighteene in breadth and one good port called of the Star Saint George or Borbi to the South of S. Isabel one league and a halfe of thirty leagues compasse Saint Marcos or Saint Nicholas of one hundred leagues compasse to the South-east of Saint Isabel the Iland of the Shelues as great as the former to the South of Saint Isabel and Saint Ierome to the West of 100. leagues compasse and Guadalcauall to the South-west greater then all and to the East of Saint Isabel the Iland of Buenauista and Saint Dimas and the Iland of Florida of
is the Realme of Chille which is without the generall rule of these other Prouinces being seated without the burning Zone and the Tropicke of Capricorne This Land of it selfe is coole and fertile and brings forth all kindes of fruits that bee in Spaine it yeelds great abundance of bread and wine and abounds in Pastures and Cattell The aire is wholsome and cleere temperate betwixt heat and cold Winter and Summer are very distinct and there they finde great store of very fine gold Yet this Land is poore and smally peopled by reason of their continuall warre with the Auricanos and their Associates being a rough people and friends to libertie There are great coniectures that in the temperate Zone at the Antartike Pole there are great and fertile Lands but to this day they are not discouered neither doe they know any other Land in this Zone but that of Chille and some part of that Land which runnes from Ethiopia to the Cape of Good Hope as hath beene said in the first Booke neither is it knowne if there bee any habitations in the other two Zones of the Poles and whether the Land continues and stretcheth to that which is towards the Antartike or South Pole Neither doe we know the Land that lyes beyond the Straight of Magellan for that the greatest height yet discouered is in fiftie sixe degrees as hath beene formerly said and toward the Artike or Northerne Pole it is not known how farre the Land extends which runnes beyond the Cape of Mendoçin and the Caliphornes nor the bounds and end of Florida neither yet how farre it extends to the West Of late they haue discouered a new Land which they call New Mexico where they say is much people that speake the Mexican tongue The Philippines and the following Ilands as some report that know it by experience ranne aboue nine hundred leagues But to intreat of China Cochinchina Siam and other Regions which are of the East Indies were contrarie to my purpose which is onely to discourse of the West nay they are ignorant of the greatest part of America which lyes betwixt Peru and Bresil although the bounds be knowne of all sides wherein there is diuersitie of opinions some say it is a drowned Land full of Lakes and waterie places others affirme there are great and flourishing Kingdomes imagining there be the Paytiti the Dorado and the Caesars where they say are wonderfull things I haue heard one of our companie say a man worthy of credit that he had seene great dwellings there and the wayes as much beaten as those betwixt Salamanca and Villadillit the which he did see when as Peter d'Orsua and after those that succeeded him made their entrie and discouerie by the great Riuer of Amazons who beleeuing that the Dorado which they sought was farther off cared not to inhabit there and after went both without the Dorado which they could not finde and this great Prouince which they left To speake the truth the habitations of America are to this day vnknowne except the extremities which are Peru Bresil and that part where the Land begins to straighten which is the Riuer of Siluer then Tucuman which makes the round to Chille and Charcas Of late we haue vnderstood by Letters from some of ours which goe to Saint Croix in the Sierre that they goe discouering of great Prouinces and dwellings betwixt Bresil and Peru. Time will reueile them for as at this day the care and courage of men is great to compasse the World from one part to another so we may beleeue that as they haue discouered that which is now knowne they may likewise lay open that which remaynes to the end the Gospell may bee preached to the whole World seeing the two Crownes of Portugal and Castile haue met by the East and West ioyning their discoueries together which in truth is a matter to be obserued that the one is come to China and Iapan by the East and the other to the Philippines which are neighbours and almost ioyning vnto China by the West for from the Ilands of Lusson which is the chiefe of the Philippines in the which is the Citie of Manille vnto Macaeo which is in the I le of Canton are but foure score or a hundred leagues and yet we finde it strange that notwithstanding this small distance from the one to the other yet according to their account there is a dayes difference betwixt them so as it is Sunday at Macao when as it is but Saturday at Manille and so of the rest Those of Macao and of China haue one day aduanced before the Philippines It happened to father Alonse Sanches of whom mention is made before that parting from the Philippines hee arriued at Macao the second day of May according to their computation and going to say the Masse of Saint Athanasim he found they did celebrate the feast of the Inuention of the holy Crosse for that they did then reckon the third of May. The like happened vnto him in another voyage beyond it Some haue found this alteration and diuersitie strange supposing that the fault proceedes from the one or the other the which is not so but it is a true and well obserued computation for according to the difference of wayes where they haue beene we must necessarily say that when they meet there must be difference of a day the reason is for that sayling from West to East they alwayes gaine of the day finding the Sunne rising sooner and contrariwise those that saile from East to West doe alwayes lose of the day for that the Sunne riseth later vnto them and as they approach neerer the East or the West they haue the day longer or shorter In Peru which is Westward in respect of Spaine they are aboue sixe houres behinde so as when it is noone in Spaine it is morning at Peru and when it is morning here it is mid-night there I haue made certaine proofe thereof by the computation of Eclipses of the Sunne and Moone Now that the Portugals haue made their nauigations from West to East and the Castillans from East to West when they came to ioyne and meet at the Philippines and Macao the one haue gayned twelue houres and the other hath lost as much so as at one instant and in one time they finde the difference of foure and twentie houres which is a whole day Although we finde vents of fire in other places as Mount Aetna and Vesunio which now they call Mount Soma yet is that notable which is found at the Indies Ordinarily these Volcans be Rocks or Pikes of most high Mountaines which raise themselues aboue the tops of all other Mountaines vpon their tops they haue a Playne and in the midst thereof a pit or great mouth which descends euen vnto the foote thereof a thing very terrible to behold Out of these mouthes there issues smoake and sometimes fire some cast little smoake and haue in a manner no force
quantities and when they come out of the Sea and bring forth their egges and goe together by companies from the Sea to feede on the Land the Christians or Indians follow their steps which they finde in the Sand and soone ouertake them because they are very heauie and slow in going although they make all the haste they can to returne to the Sea assoone as they espy any body When they that pursue them haue ouertaken them they put a stake or staffe vnder their legs and ouerturne them on their backs as they are yet running so that they can goe no further nor yet rise againe or turne and thus they suffer them to lye still while they follow after the rest which they ouerturne in like manner and by this meanes take very many at such times as they come forth of the Sea as I haue said This fish is very excellent and wholesome to be eaten and of good taste The second of the three fishes whereof I haue spoken is the Tiburon this is a very great fish and very quick and swift in the water and a cruell Deuourer these are oftentimes taken aswell when the ships are vnder saile in the Ocean as also when they lye at anker or at any other time and especially the least kinde of these fishes When the ships are vnder saile the biggest sort are taken after this manner When the Tiburon seeth the ship sayling hee followeth it swimming behind the which things the Mariners seeing cast forth all the filth of the ship into the Sea for the fish to eate who neuerthelesse followeth them with equall pase although they make neuer such haste with full winde and sailes and walloweth on euery side and about the ship and thus followeth it sometime for the space of a hundred and fiftie leagues and more and when the Mariners are disposed to take them they cast downe by the sterne of the ship a hooke of Iron as bigge as the biggest finger of a mans hand of three spans in length and crooked like a fish-hooke with beards according to the bignesse thereof and fastned to an Iron chaine of fiue or sixe linkes neere vnto the end and from thence tyed with a great rope fastning also on the hooke for a bait a piece of some fish or hogs flesh or some other flesh or the bowels and intrals of another Tiburon which they haue taken before which may easily be done for I haue seene nine taken in one day and if they would haue taken more they might also Thus when the Tiburon hath pleasantly followed the ship a long voyage at the length he swalloweth the bait with the hooke and aswell by his striuing to flee or escape as also by the swift passage of the ship the hooke ouerthwarteth and catcheth hold of his chaps the which fish when it is taken it is of such huge bignesse that twelue or fifteene men are scarsly able to draw it out of the water and lift it into the ship where one of the Mariners giueth it many knocks on the head with a club or beetle vntill he haue slaine it they are sometimes found of ten or twelue foote long and of fiue sixe or seuen spans in breadth where they are broadest they haue very great and wide mouthes to the proportion of the rest of their bodies and haue two rowes of teeth the one somewhat separate from the other of cruell shape and standing very thicke When they haue slaine this fish they cut the body thereof in small pieces and put it to drie hanging it three or foure dayes at the Cordes of the saile clothes to drie in the winde and then eate it It is doubtlesse a good fish and of great commoditie to serue the ships for victualls for many dayes the least of these fishes are most wholesome and tender it hath a skin much like to the skin of a Sole whereunto the said Tiburon is like in shape Which I say because Plinie hath made mention of none of these three fishes among the number of them whereof he writeth in his Naturall historie These Tiburons come forth of the Sea and enter into the Riuers where they are no lesse perillous then great Lizards or Crocodiles whereof I haue spoken largely before For they deuoure Men Kine and Horses euen as doe the Crocodiles they are very dangerous in certaine washing places or Pooles by the Riuers sides and where they haue deuoured at other times Diuers other fishes both great and small of sundrie sorts and kindes are accustomed to follow the ships going vnder saile of the which I will speake somewhat when I haue written of Manate which is the third of the three whereof I haue promised to entreat Manate therefore is a fish of the Sea of the biggest sort and much greater then the Tiburon in length and breadth and is very brutish and vile so that it appeareth in forme like vnto one of those great vessels made of Goats skins wherein they vse to carry new wine in Medina de Campo or in Areualo the head of this beast is like the head of an Oxe with also like eyes and hath in the place of armes two great stumps wherwith he swimmeth It is a very gentle and tame beast and commeth oftentimes out of the water to the next shoare where if he finde any herbes or grasse he feedeth thereof Our men are accustomed to kill many of these and diuers other good fishes with their Crosse-bowes pursuing them in Barkes or Canoas because they swim in manner aboue the water the which thing when they see they draw them with a hooke tyed at a small corde but somewhat strong As the fish fleeth away the Archer letteth goe and prolongeth the corde by little and little vntill he haue let it goe many fathoms at the end of the corde there is tyed a corke or a piece of light wood and when the fish is gone a little way and hath coloured the water with his bloud and feeleth himselfe to faint and draw toward the end of his life he resorteth to the shoare and the Archer followeth gathering vp his corde whereof while â—here yet remaine sixe or eight fathoms or somewhat more or lesse he draweth it toward the Land and draweth the fish therewith by little and little as the waues of the Sea helpe him to doe it the more easily then with the helpe of the rest of his companie he lifteth this great beast out of the Water to the Land being of such bignesse that to conuey it from thence to the Citie it shall be requisite to haue a Cart with a good yoke of Oxen and sometimes more according as these fishes are of bignesse some being much greater then other some in the same kinde as is seene of other beasts Sometimes they lift these fishes into the Canoa or Barke without drawing them to the Land as before for as soone as they are slaine they flote aboue the water And I beleeue verily
from place to place by the winde or course of the water Quintus Curtius writeth in his Historie that great Alexander came to the Citie of Memi where is a great Caue or Denne in the which is a Spring or Fountaine that continually auoideth a great quantitie of Bitumen in such sort that it is an easie thing to beleeue that the stones of the wals of Babylon might be laid therewith according as the said Author writeth I haue seene this Mine of Bitumen not onely in the Iland of Cuba but also such another in new Spaine in the Prouince of Panuco Thus farre I haue giuen you from Master Eden his Edition wherein because many things necessary to the naturall History of the Indies are in the Authors Summarie and in his 20. Books of a larger Historie I haue added hither such things as I thought fittest The Vâ—ias are like great Rats and the Cories like Conies of which the people in Hispaniola eate as also of the Yuanas Chemi and Mohni are little creatures also in that Iland which and their little mute Dogges were all the foure footed Beasts they had saue that of Rats there is some question The Indians of Iamaica and Cuba vse to catch fish with the fish Rouerso as Huntsmen or Falconers vse Hounds or Haukes in their game The Indians take it sometimes in their Nets of which I haue eaten and when they will bring vp one of them they feede it in the Sea and carrie it tied to their Canar by a strong line which when they see a fish fit for pray they loosen and vse words to excite courage and valour in this fish which presently flies like an arrow at that fish and fastens thereon and the Indian lets the line runne out at length being oiled of many fadomes and hauing a peece of wood at the end to buoy it till the fish be wearied this little fish little aboue a spanne long vnsightly to looke on still holding fast till the Indian gathering in his cord prepares to shoare to take the greater fish with much commendation and words of encouragement to this chase-fish perswading him to let goe his hold which otherwise should sooner by violence breake in peeces this Huntsman then force him to vnfasten Thus will he fasten on the belly of a Tortoise so great that two Indians and sometimes sixe haue enough to doe to carrie the same to their houses This fish Rouerso hath scailes Staire fashioned or like the roofe of a mans mouth and on them certain prickles very sharpe and strong whereby he fastens himselfe to what fish him pleaseth and these prickly scales he hath on the most part of his body They haue likewise a cunning wild-goose-chase in a great Lake casting in certaine great emptie Pompons in the season when Geese resort thither wherewith they being accustomed grow out of feare and will sit on them to bee carried Being thus acquainted the Indian puts one of these emptie Pompons on his head and with much dexteritie of swimming enters amongst the Geese and when one hath made him his Porter no part of his body being seene he swimmes from the rest and then with his hand pulls her in and hangs her thus strangled at his girdle and begins a fresh game When their Caciques are dead they lay them on a piece of wood or stone and make a fire about the same which may not burne them but by degrees draw forth all the moysture in sweat leauing onely the skin and bones and then in a place separate repose the same with the Ancestors which before had beene so dealt with this being their best Booke of Heraldrie to recount the Names and seuerall Descents in that Pedegree If any die in battell or so that they cannot recouer his body they compose Songs which the Children learne touching him and the manner of his death to supply that memoriall These Songs they call Areytos As for Letters they were so ignorant that seeing the intercourse of Spaniards by Letters they thought that Letters could speake and were very cautelous in their carriage of them lest the Letters might accuse them of ill demeanor by the way When they will disport themselues the Men and Women meet and take each other by the hand and one goeth before which is called Tequina or their Master with certaine paces measured to his singing in a low voice what commeth in his minde and after him all the multitude answereth in a higher voice with like measures proportioned to the tune and so continue they three or foure houres with Chicha or Mayz-wine among sometimes also changing the Tequina and taking another with a new tune and song Their Houses are commonly round like a Tent and sometimes with a double water passage which they call Buhio of good Timber thatched with Straw or long Grasse the Walls of Reed pitched into the ground In the Prouince of Abrayne in Golden Castile and thereabouts there are many Villages of Indians which dwell on the tops of Trees in Houses or Roomes there made to which they ascend by certaine staires of Besuco which growes about Trees and is vsed to binde their Walls and Timbers in their houses before mentioned Beneath the ground is fenny and couered with water not so high as a man and where it is deeper they vse Canoas and therewith passe to drie Land to sow their Mays and Iucca Battatas and Aies In those houses they are secured from wild Beasts Enemies and Fire They are not Archers and vse Clubs In the Gulfe of Vraba where Rio Grande enters the Sea are many Palme trees in the middest of the Riuer growing neere together on the tops whereof are houses made as the former and much bigger in which many Inhabitants dwell together and haue their beds tyed to the lower parts of the said Palme trees These beds they call Hamacas being couerlets of Cotten of good threed and well wouen of two or three braces long but narrower with cordes at the ends The cordes are of Cotton or of Henequen or Cabuya this the courser threed that the finer and able to cut Iron made of the leafe of a certaine herbe These Indians fight also with Clubs and did much harme to Captaine Vasco Nunes di Balboa his men which returned with losse not able to ouer-come them I haue also obserued that these Indians haue the bones of their skulls foure times as thicke as those of the Christians so that to strike them with a Sword must be warily done the Swords being thereby often broken Besides the Tigre and other beasts before mentioned in the firme Land are the Beori the Christians call them Dants not that they are such but for some resemblance as is also said of the Tigre of the bignesse of a meane Mule without hornes ash-coloured they know not to dresse and tanne their hides They take them with Dogs but if they take water they are fierce and
fiue or ten dayes together before any of their great Feasts and they were vnto them as our foure Ember weekes they were so strict in continence that some of them not to fall into any sensualitie slit their members in the midst and did a thousand things to make themselues vnable lest they should offend their gods They drunke no Wine and slept little for that the greatest part of their exercises were by night committing great cruelties and martyring themselues for the Deuill and all to bee reputed great fasters and penitents They did vse to discipline themselues with cords full of knots and not they onely but the people also vsed this punishment and whipping in the procession and feast they made to the Idoll Tezcalipuca the which as I haue said before is the god of penance for then they all carried in their hands new cordes of the threed of Manguey a fadome long with a knot at the end and wherewish they whipped themselues giuing great lashes ouer their shoulders The Priests did fast fiue dayes before this Feast eating but once a day and they liued apart from their wiues not going out of the Temple during those fiue dayes they did whip themselues rigorously in the manner aforesaid In Peru to solemnize the feast of the Yta which was great all the people fasted two dayes during the which they did not accompanie with their Wiues neither did they eate any meate with Salt or Garleeke nor drinke Chica They did much vse this kinde of fasting for some sins and did penance whipping themselues with sharpe stinging Netâ—les and often they strooke themselues ouer the shoulders with certayne stones This blind Nation by the perswasion of the Deuill did transport themselues into craggie Mountaynes where sometimes they sacrificed themselues casting themselues downe from some high Rocke Wee may draw all the Sacrifices the Infidels vse into three kindes one of insensible things another of beasts and the third of men They did vse in Peru to sacrifice Coca which is an hearbe they esteeme much of Mays which is their Wheate of coloured feathers and of Chaquira which otherwise they call Mollo of shels or Oysters and sometime Gold and Siluer being in figures of little beasts Also of the fine stuffe of Cumbi of carued and sweet wood and most commonly Tallow burnt They made these Offerings or Sacrifices for a prosperous winde and faire weather or for their health and to be deliuered from some dangers and mishaps Of the second kind their ordinary Sacrifice was of Cuyes which are small beasts like Rabbets the which the Indians eate commonly And in matters of importance or when they were rich men they did offer Pacos or Indian sheepe bare or with Wooll obseruing curiously the numbers colours and times The manner of killing their Sacrifices great or small which the Indians did vse according to their ancient Ceremonies is the same the Moores vse at this day the which they call Alqulble hanging the beast by the right fore-legge turning his eyes towards the Sunne speaking certayne words according to the qualitie of the Sacrifice they slue for if it were of colour their words were directed to Chuquilla and to the Thunder that they might want no water if it were white and smoothe they did offer it to the Sunne with certaine words if it had a fleece they did likewise offer it him with some others that he might shine vpon them and fauour their generation If it were a Guanaco which is gray they directed their sacrifice to Viracocha In Cusco they did euery yeere kill and sacrifice with this Ceremony a shorne sheepe to the Sunne and did burne it clad in a red Waste-coate and when they did burne it they cast certayne small baskets of Coca into the fire which they call Vilcaronca for which Sacrifice they haue both men and beasts appointed which serue to no other vse They did likewise sacrifice small Birds although it were not so vsuall in Peru as in Mexico where the sacrificing of Quailes was very ordinary Those of Peru did sacrifice the Birds of Puna for so they call the Desart when they should goe to the Warres for to weaken the forces of their aduersaries Guacas They called these Sacrifices Cuzcouicca or Conteuicca or Huallauicca or Sophauicca and they did it in this manner they tooke many kinds of small Birds of the Desart and gathered a great deale of a thorny wood which they call Yanlli the which beeing kindled they gathered together these small Birds This assembly they called Quico then did they cast them into the fire about the which the Officers of the Sacrifice went with certayne round stones carued whereon were painted many Snakes Lions Toades and Tygres vttering this word Vsachum which signifies Let the victorie be giuen vnto vs with other words whereby they sayd the forces of their enemies Guacas were confounded And they drew forth certayne blacke sheepe which had beene kept close some dayes without meate the which they called Vrca and in killing them they spake these words As the hearts of these beasts bee weakened so let our enemies be weakned And if they found in these sheepe that a certayne piece of flesh behind the hear were not consumed by fasting and close keeping they then held it for an ill Augure They brought certayne blacke Dogges which they call Appuros and slue them casting them into a Playne with certayne Ceremonies causing some kinde of men to eate this flesh the which Sacrifices they did lest the Ingua should bee hurt by poyson and for this cause they fasted from morning vntill the starres were vp and then they did glut and defile themselues like to the Moores This Sacrifice was most fit for them to withstand their enemies Gods and although at this day a great part of these customes haue ceased the warres being ended yet remaynes there some Relikes by reason of the priuate or generall quarrels of the Indians or the Caciques or in their Cities They did likewise offer and sacrifice shels of the Sea which they call Mollo and they offered them to the Fountaynes and Springs saying that these shels were daughters of the Sea the mother of all waters They gaue vnto these shels sundry names according to the colour and also they vse them to diuers ends They vsed them in a manner in all kinde of Sacrifices and yet to this day they put beaten shels in their Chica for a superstition Finally they thought it conuenient to offer Sacrifices of euery thing they did sow or raise vp There were Indians appointed to doe these Sacrifices to the Fountayne Springs and Riuers which passed through the Townes or by the their Charcas which are their Farmes which they did after Seed time that they might not cease running but alwayes water their grounds The Sorcerers did conjure to know what time the Sacrifices should be made which beeing ended they did gather of the contribution of the people what should
all such as had the vse of reason not to drinke any water which if they did the anger of God would come vpon them and they should die which they did obserue very carâ—fully and strictly The ceremonies dancing and sacrifice ended they went to vnclothe themselues and the Priests and Superiors of the Temple tooke the Idoll of paste which they spoyled of all the ornaments it had and made many pieces as well of the Idoll it selfe as of the Tronchons which were consecrated and then they gaue them to the Communion beginning with the greater and continuing vnto the rest both Men Women and little Children who receiued it with such teares feare and reuerence as it was an admirable thing saying that they did eate the flesh and bones of God wherewith they were grieued Such as had any sicke folkes demanded thereof for them and carried it with great reuerence and veneration All such as did communicate were bound to giue the tenth of this seede whereof the Idoll was made The solemnitie of the Idoll being ended an old man of great authoritie stept vp into a high place and with a loud voice preached their Law and Ceremonies THe father of lyes would like wise counterfait the Romish Sacrament of Confession and in his Idolatries seeke to be honored with ceremonies very like to the manner of Christians In Peru they held opinion that all diseases and aduersities came for the sinnes which they had committed for remedie whereof they vsed sacrifices moreouer they confessed themselues verbally almost in all Prouinces and had Confessors appointed by their Superiors to that end there were some sinnes reserued for the Superiors They receiued penance yea somtimes very sharply especially when the Offendor was a poore man and had nothing to giue his Confessor This office of Confessor was likewise exercised by Women The manner of these Confessors Sorcerers whom they call Ychuâ—ri or Ychuri hath beene most generall in the Prouinces of Collasuâ—â— They hold opinion that it is a haynous sinne to conceale any thing in confession The Ychuiri or Confessors discouered by lots or by the view of some beast Hides if any thing were concealed and punished them with many blowes with a stone vpon the shoulders vntill they had reuealed all then after they gaue him penance and did sacrifice They doe likewise vse this confession when their children wiues husbands or their Caciques be sicke or in any great exploit And when their Ingua was sicke all the Prouinces confessed themselues chiefly those of the Prouince of Collao The Confessor were bound to hold their Confessions secret but in certaine cases limited The sinnes that they chiefly confessed was first to kill one another out of warre then to steale to take another mans wife to giue poyson or sorcerie to doe any harme and they held it to be a grieuous sinne to be forgetfull in the reuerence of their Guacas or Oratories not to obserue the Feasts or to speake ill of the Ingua and to disobey him They accused not themselues of any secret acts and sinnes But according to the report of some Priests after the Christians came into that Country they accused themselues of their thoughts The Ingua confessed himselfe to no man but onely to the Sunne that hee might tell them to Virachoca and that hee might forgiue them After the Ingua had beene confessed he made a certaine bath to cleanse himselfe in a running Riuer saying these words I haue told my sinnes to the Sunne receiue them O thou Riuer and carry them to the Sea where they may neuer appeare more Others that confessed vsed likewise these baths with certaine ceremonies very like to those the Moores vse at this day which they call Guadoy and the Indians call them Opacuna When it chanced that any mans children dyed hee was held for a great sinner saying that it was for his sinnes that the sonne dyed before the father And therefore those to whom this had chanced after they were confessed were bathed in this bath called Opacuna as is said before Then some deâ—ormed Indian crooke-backt and counterfait by nature came to whip them with certaine Nettles If the Sorcerers or Inchanters by their lots and diuinations affirmed that any sicke body should die the sicke man makes no difficultie to kill his owne sonne though he had no other hoping by that meanes to escape death saying that in his place he offered his sonne in sacrifice And this crueltie hath beene practised in some places euen since the Christians came into that Country In truth it is strange that this custome of confessing their secret sinnes hath continued so long amongst them and to doe so strict penances as to fast to giue apparell gold and siluer to remaine in the Mountaynes and to receiue many stripes vpon the shoulders Our men say that in the Prouince of Chiquito euen at this day they meet with this plague of Confessors oâ— Ychuris where as many sicke persons repaire vnto them but now by the grace of God this people begins to see cleerly the effect and great benefit of our Confession whereunto they come with great deuotion I will report the manner of a strange confession the Deuill hath inuented at Iapon as appeares by a Letter that came from thence which saith thus There are in Ocaca very great and high and steepe Rocks which haue pricks or points on them aboue two hundred fathom high Amongst these Rocks there is one of these pikes or points so terribly high that when the Xamaâ—usis which be Pilgrimes doe but looke vp vnto it they tremble and their baire stares so fearfull and horrible is the place Vpon the top of this point there is a great rod of Iron of three fathom long placed there by a strange deuice at the end of this rod is a ballance â—yed whereof the scarles are so bigge as a man may sit in one of them and the Goquis which be Deuils in humane shape command these Pilgrimes to enter therein one after another not leauing one of them then with an engine or instrument which mooueth by meanes of a wheele they make this rod of Iron whereon the ballance is hanged to hang in the aire one of these Xamaâ—usis being set in one of the scales of the ballance And as that wherein the man is set hath no counterpoise on the other side it presently hangeth downe and the other riseth vntill it meets with and toucheth the rod then the Goquis telleth them from the Rocke that they must confesse themselues of all the sinnes they haue committed to their remembrance and that with a loud voyce to the end that all the rest may heare him Then presently hee beginneth to confesse whilest some of the standers by doe laugh at the sinnes they doe heare and others sigh and at euery sinne they confesse the other scale of the ballance falls a little vntill that hauing told all his sinnes it remaines equall with the other wherein the
answered to our Nouember they prepared what was necessary for the Children that should bee made Nouices the moneth following the Children with the old men made a certayne shew with rounds and turnings and this Feast was called Ituraymi which commonly they make when it raines too much or too little or when there is a plague Among the extraordinary Feasts which were very many the most famous was that which they called Ytu This Feast Ytu hath no prefixed time nor season but in time of necessitie To prepare themselues thereunto all the people fasted two dayes during the which they did neither company with their wiues nor eate any meate with Salt or Garlicke nor drinke any Chica All did assemble together in one place where no stranger was admitted nor any beast they had Garments and Ornaments which serued onely for this Feast They marched very quietly in Procession their heads couered with their Veâ—les sounding of Drummes without speaking one to another This continued a day and a night then the day following they danced and made good cheere for two dayes and two nights together saying that their Prayer was accepted And although that this Feast is not vsed at this day with all this ancient Ceremony yet commonly they make another which is very like which they call Ayma with Garments that serue onely to that end and they make this kinde of Procession with their Drummes hauing fasted before then after they make good cheere which they vsually doe in their vrgent necessities And although the Indians forbeare to sacrifice beasts or other things publikely which cannot be hidden from the Spaniards yet doe they still vse many Ceremonies that haue their beginnings from these Feasts and ancient Superstitions for at this day they doe couertly make this Feast of Ytu at the dances of the Feast of the Sacrament in making the dances of Lyamallama and of Guacon and of others according to their ancient Ceremonies THe Mexicans haue beene no lesse curious in their Feasts and Solemnities which were of small charge but of great effusion of mans bloud We haue before spoken of the principall Feast of Vitziliputzli after the which the Feast of Tezcalipuca was most solemnized This Feast fell in May and in their Kalender they called it Tozcolt it fell euery foure yeere with the feast of Penance where there was giuen full indulgence and remission of sinnes In this day they did sacrifice a Captiue which resembled the Idoll Tezcalipuca it was the nineteenth day of May vpon the Euen of this Feast the Noblemen came to the Temple bringing a new Garment like vnto that of the Idoll the which the Priest put vpon him hauing first taken off his other Garments which they kept with as much or more reuerence then wee doe our Ornaments There were in the Coffers of the Idoll many Ornaments Iewels Earerings and other Riches as Bracelets and precious Feathers which serued to no other vse but to be there and was worshipped as their God it selfe Besides the Garment wherewith they worshipped the Idoll that day they put vpon him certayne ensignes of Feathers with fannes shadowes and other things being thus attired and furnished they drew the Curtayn or Veile from before the doore to the end he might be seene of all men then came forth one of the chiefe of the Temple attyred like to the Idoll carrying flowres in his hand and a Flute of earth hauing a very sharpe sound and turning towards the East he sounded it and then looking to the West North and South he did the like And after he had thus sounded towards the foure parts of the World shewing that both they that were present and absent did heare him he put his finger into the Aiâ—e and then gathered vp earth which hee put in his mouth and did eate it in signe of adoration The like did all they that were present and weeping they fell flat to the ground inuocating the darknesse of the night and the winds intreating them not to leaue them nor to forget them or else to take away their liues and free them from the labours they endured therein Theeues Adulterers and Murtherers and all other offenders had great feare and heauinesse whilest this Flute sounded so as some could not dissemble nor hide their offences By this meanes they all demanded no other thing of their God but to haue their offences concealed powring forth many teares with great repentance and sorrow offering great store of Incense to appease their Gods The couragious and valiant men and all the old Souldiers that followed the art of Warre hearing this Flute demanded with great deuotion of God the Creator of the Lord for whom we liue of the Sun and of other their Gods that they would giue them victory against their enemies strength to take many Captiues there with to honour their Sacrifices This Ceremony was done ten dayes before the Feast During which ten dayes the Priest did sound this Flute to the end that all might doe this worship in eating of earth and demand of their Idoll what they pleased they euery day made their Prayers with their eyes lift vp to Heauen and with sighs and groanings as men that were grieued for their sinnes and offences Although this contrition was onely for feare of the corporall punishment that was giuen them and not for any feare of the eternall for they certainly beleeued there was no such seuere punishment in the other life And therefore they offered themselues voluntarily to death holding opinion that it is to all men an assured rest The first day of the Feast of this Idoll Tezcalipuca beeing come all they of the Citie assembled together in a Court to celebrate likewise the Feast of the Kalender whereof we haue already spoken which was called Toxcoalth which signifies A dry thing which Feast was not made to any other end but to demand raine in the same manner that wee solemnize the Rogations and this Feast was alwayes in May which is the time that they haue most need of raine in those Countreyes They beganne to celebrate it the ninth of May ending the nineteenth The last day of the Feast the Priests drew forth a Litter well furnished with Curtaynes and Pendants of diuers fashions This Litter had so many armes to hold by as there were Ministers to carrie it All which came forth besmeered with blacke and long haire halfe in tresses with white strings and attyred in the liuery of the Idoll Vpon this Litter they set the personage of the Idoll appointed for this Feast which they called the resemblance of their God Tezcalipuca and taking it vpon their shoulders they brought it openly to the foot of the staires then came forth the young men and Maydens of the Temple carrying a great coard wreathed of chaines of roasted Mays with the which they enuironed the Litter and putting a chaine of the same about the Idols necke and a Garland vpon his head They called the coard Toxcalt
signifying the drought and barrennesse of the time The young men came wrapped in red Curtaines with Garlands and chaines of roasted Mays The Maydes were clothed in new Garments wearing chaines about theirs neckes of roasted Mays and vpon their heads Mytres made of rods couered with this Mays they had their feet couered with feathers and their armes and cheekes painted They brought much of this roasted Mays and the chiefe men put it vpon their heads and about their neckes taking flowres in their hands The Idoll being placed in his Litter they strewed round about a great quantitie of the boughes of Manguey the leaues whereof are large and pricking This Litter being set vpon the religious mens shoulders they carried it in Procession within the circuit of the Court two Priests marching before with Censors giuing often Incense to the Idoll and euery time they gaue Incense they lifted vp their armes as high as they could to the Idoll and to the Sunne saying that they lifted vp their Prayers to Heauen euen as the smoke ascended on high Then all the people in the Court turned round to the place whither the Idoll went euery one carrying in his hand new coards of the threed of the Manguey a fadome long with a knot at the end and with them they whipped themselues vpon the shoulders euen as they doe here vpon holy Thursday All the wals of the Court and Battlements were full of boughes and flowres so fresh and pleasant as it did giue a great contentment This Procession being ended they brought the Idoll to his vsuall place of abode Then came a great multitude of people with flowres dressed in diuers sorts wherewith they filled the Temple and all the Court so as it seemed the ornament of an Oratory All this was put in order by the Priests the young men administring these things vnto them from without The Chappell or Chamber where the Idoll remayned was all this day open without any Veile This done euery one came and offered Curtines and pendants of Sandally precious Stones Iewels Incence sweet wood Grapes or eares of Mays Quailes and finally all they were accustomed to offer in such solemnities When as they offered Quailes which was the poore mans offering they vsed this ceremonie they deliuered them to the Priests who taking them pulled off their heads and cast them at the foote of the Altar where they lost their bloud and so they did of all other things which were offered Euery one did offer meate and fruite according to their power the which was laid at the foote of the Altar and the Ministers gathered them vp and carried them to their Chambers This solemne offering done the people went to dinner euery one to his village or house leauing the feast suspended vntill after dinner In the meane time the yong Men and Maidens of the Temple with their ornaments were busied to serue the Idoll with all that was appointed for him to eate which meate was prepared by other women who had made a vow that day to serue the Idoll And therefore such as had made this vow came by the point of day offering themselues to the Deputies of the Temple that they might command them what they would haue done the which they did carefully performe They did prepare such variety of meates as it was admirable This meate being ready and the houre of dinner come all these Virgins went out of the Temple in procession euery one carrying a little basket of bread in her hand and in the other a dish of these meates before them marched an old man like to a steward with a pleasant habit he was cloathed in a white Surples downe to the calues of his legges vpon a doublet without sleeues of red leather like to a iacket he carried wings instead of sleeues from the which hung broad ribbands at the which did hang a small Calibasse or pumpion which was couered with flowers by little holes that were made in it and within it were many superstitious things This old man thus attyred marched very humbly and heauily before the preparation with his head declining and comming neere the foote of the staires he made a great obeisance and reuerence Then going on the one side the Virgins drew neere with the meate presenting it in order one after another with great reuerence This seruice presented the old man returned as before leading the Virgins into their conuent This done the yong men and ministers of the Temple came forth and gathered vp this meate the which they carried to the Chambers of the chiefe Priests of the Temple who had fasted fiue dayes eating onely once a day and they had also abstained from their wiues not once going out of the Temple in these fiue dayes During the which they did whip themselues rigorously with cords they did eate of this diuine meate for so they called it what they could was it Lawfull for any other to eate thereof All the people hauing dined they assembled againe in the court to see the end of the feast whither they brought a captiue which by the space of a whole yeare had represented the Idoll being attired decked and honoured as the Idoll it selfe and doing all reuerence vnto him they deliuered him into the hands of the sacrificers who at that instant presented themselues taking him by the feete and hands The Pope did open his stomacke and pull out his heart then did he lift vp his hand as high as he could shewing it to the Sunne and to the Idoll as hath beene said Hauing thus sacrificed him that represented the Idoll they went into a holy place appointed for this purpose whither came the yong Men and Virgins of the Temple with their ornaments the which being put in order they danced and sung with Drummes and other instruments on the which the chiefe Priests did play and sound Then came all the Noblemen with ensignes and ornaments like to the yong men who danced round about them They did not vsually kill any other men that day but him that was sacrificed yet euery fourth yeare they had others with him which was in the yeare of Iubile and full pardons After Sunne set euery one being satisfied with sounding eating and drinking the Virgins went all to their conuent they tooke great dishes of earth full of bread mixt with hony couered with small panniers wrought and fashioned with dead mens heads and bones and they carried the collation to the Idoll mounting vp to the Court which was before the doore of the Oratorie and hauing set them downe they retired in the same order as they came the steward going still before Presently came forth all the yong men in order with canes or reedes in their hands who began to runne as fast as they could to the top of the staires of the Temple who should come first to the dishes of the collation The Elders or chiefe Priests obserued him that came first second third and fourth without regarding the
Opinion of the Resurrection ibid. Their Kings Buriall place 281.20 Their theeueries in the Borders 314 60. Their Custome to cease vpon the Goods of Strangers deceased 313. 316.10 When They conquered China how long they held it and how expelled See 376.20 Tartars vide Crim Tartars Nagayan Tartars Mordwit Tartars Chicasce Tartars Cheremisse Tartars c. Tatami are Iaponian Mats 326 10 Taurica Chersonesus now Cassaria 53.30 Taurica Chersonesus described from pag. 632. Vnto 643. The length of the banke 636.1 The soyle 636.50 The Seasons Soyle Bounds Originall Princes c. 637. Part belongs to the Turke and part to the Tartars ibid. Taurinum the Citie where 49 40 Tauris in Persia the Merchandise of it 70.40 Taute and Manse Ilanders of Cathaya 34.10 Tayth City in Catay 800.50 Described ibid. Tebeth the Prouince now a Wildernesse 90.20 How Trauellers passe it ibid. They desire Strangers to take their Daughters Mayden-heads 90 40. They are great Negromancers 90.60 And 91 20 Tebet a Tartarian people that for pitty eate their Dead Parents 23.1 They make Cups of their Sculles 23.10 30. They haue much Gold 23.10 Teeth couered with Gold 92 20 Teeth the fume of Quick-siluer makes them fall out 950.1 Telegas or Waggons in the Russian 242.20 Temple of the Sun in the Indies 893.60 Conuerted into a Monastery 895.60 Temple and Statua erected to a Gouernour 328 Temple a most huge one 281 1. With gilded Steeples 265. 267.10 Temples of Peru 1032. Of Mexico described 1033. 1133 40 Temples of Mexico described 1133.30 Their Muniton kept in them 1134.1 Temples of the Mexicans haue Cloysters and Couents 1049 30 Tempests yearely in China and strange ones 198.1.39.60 Tempests cruell ones in the Mountaynes of Cathay 36.20 Layed ibid. Tempests extreme ones in Hispaniola 997.1 Tempests vsuall at the new Moone 256 Tempests raysed by the Deuill 974 60 Tenduch the Prouince of the Tartarian Presbyter Iohn 710.20 Tenerise in the West Indies the scite and distance from Santa Martha Villages about it Mynes c. 885.40 Riuers ibid. Tennis play of the Mexicans the fashion of it 1127.40.50 Tensa the Lords of it command all in Iapon 324.20 They are as Heires apparent 325.40 Tenth of the Spoyles due to the Prince of the Crim Tartars 641 40 Tenths of Wooll the great Cham hath 88.22 Tents the huge number and richnesse of the Tartarian Princes 86.20 Tenure in Capite in Russia 424.10 Tephelis or Tiflis the Georgians chiefe Citie 55.1 Terme for Law suites in Island 650.50 Terzas the Armenian Christians in Persia 400 Testimoniall in the Russes Coffin 218.1 Tezcalipuca the Mexican Idoll his great Festiuall the cause and manner 1047 Thaican or Thracian the Castle where 73.20 Thebeth Chesmir Sensim and Bachfi orders of Southsayers in Tartarie 81.1.20 Theeues their Thumbes cut off 264.50 Theeues how punished in China 204.10 Theeues all the way betwixt the Dominion of the Mogores and Cathay 311.312 c. Theeuerie ignominions to Posteritie 335.40 Theft dispensed withall vpon Confession before the Sacrament 37.20.30 Theodosia or Capha the Citie in Taurica 636.20 Christianitie deâ—ayed there ibid. How farre from Constantinople ibid. Theologie of the Chinois 397 Theodulus of Acon his foolish message to Mangu-Chan 29.10.20 c. Thistles with Stalkes foure inches square in the Indies 897.60 Tholoman the Prouince Gold plentifull there 94.30 Thomas Edge his Voyage 464.60 His returne 466.1 And second Voyage ibid. His second Voyage and Commission 709. His third Voyage 467.10 His Iland ibid. His fourth Voyage ibid. Another Voyage 468.30 Another 469.10 Thomas Perez Ambassadour to China how vsed 267.20 Sir Thomas Button confident to finde the Northwest Passage 848.40 Sir Thomas Smith Embassadour into Russia 747. His stately intertainment puts the Russes out of their Complement ibid. Denies to giue the Copie of his Embassage beforehand 748.10 His Audience ibid. His entertainement 749. His second audience 750.40 Take his leaue and returnes for England 751.20 A message sent to him from Demetrius 759.20 Sir Thomas Smiths Iland 730.10 A barren place ibid. Sir Thomas Smiths Inlet discouered to the furthest end 725.30 Sir Thomas Smiths Sound the Latitude 847 Saint Thomas buryed in Malepur 138.40 Saint Thomas his Tombe stâ—aâ—ge things concerning it 105.1.40.50 Thornsting Prouince in West Island 665.10 Thorro King of Goâ—land c. Made and a God 659.50 Thred made of Indian Nuts and how 71.50 Thred of Conies haire 1132.40 Thred gotten out of a Leafe 557.10 Threshold the Tartars touch not 84.20 Throne a most stately one 279.30 Throne of the King reuerenced in his absence 392.40 Thule whether it bee Island 643.50 Thule is not Island 655.10 But one of the Brittish Iles or Scandia or Tylemarke in Norway 655.50 marg Thunder in 70. Degrees 42. minutes North 580 Thunder worshipped by the Mexicans their odde opinion one 1027.30 Thunderbolts frequent in the West Indies where 885.1.890.40 Thunderbolt one Beast killed with it exempts the Hâ—ard from tribute 87.50 Thursday the Etymâ—n 664.50 Tibaldo de Vesconti di Piacenza the Popes Legate at Acon 67.1 Chosen Pope and called Gregorie the tenth 67.10 Sendeth Preachers into Tartarie ibid. Tiburon the Cape on the West of Hispaniola 859.10 Tickes of the water troublesome in the West Indies their cure 975.10 Tien tautec what in Chinese 201.40 Tiflis the Metropolitan Citie of the Georgians 49.10 Tiger deuoures a man â— story of it 902.50 Tigres their battels with the Crocodile 931 Tigres of the West Indies can distinguish an Indian from a Spaniard 963.30 Tigres of India described how killed a Tigre tamed 991 Tigris the head of it 49.30 Timber how Island is supplyed with 662.40 Timochaim in Persia 70.50 72.20 Tingoesi the people described 527.30.551.40 Speake like Turkie-Cockes ibid. Nations beyond them 528.10 Their dexterity to take Fowle Fish and Venison ibid. See also 530.20 Neere to China 543.60 546 Tingui the Citie 96.40 Tinguigui the Citie Drunkennesse well ouertaken there 97.40 Tinna the chiefe Citie of the Russes in the Samoieds Countrey 526.10 Tinlau a Riuer 257.30 Tipany in Lapland 560.20 Tides in the Sea where none 518.30 Tides a discourse of them 930.1.10.20 c. Tids their Course come from the North 492 Tides the chiefe Argument of the Northwest passage 848.40 Tylemarke in Norway is Thule 655. marg Time of the day finely declared 409 30 Tyras the Riuer Nester in Moldauia 633.1 Tithes payed in Groneland 520.1 Tithes payed in the West Indies 908.50 Titicaca Lake the greatnesse thicknesse of the water sorts of the Fishes and Fowles and the taking of them 932.20 Title of the King of Sweden 771. Of the Emperour of Russia See Russian Emperour or Emperour of Russia of the King of Poland 783.1 Titles the Chinois Ambition of them 393.1 Titles a great Merchandize in Iapon 324.10 Titubul the Citie 291.30 Tlacaellec a valiant Mexican Generall his Acts 1011.1012.1013 c. Winnes a battell onely with Children 1014.10 Refuses the Kingdome 1015. His great Honour Death and Funerall 1016.10 Toade found aliue
brought to an end To the which end Cicero wisely saith God hath giuen vs some things and not all things that our Successors also might haue some-what to doe Therefore we must not leaue off nor stay our pretence in the middle of our proceedings as long as there is any commoditie to be hoped and in time to bee obtayned for that the greatest and richest Treasures are hardliest to be found I thought good to set downe in regard that I haue vndertaken to describe the three Voyages made into the North Seas in three yeeres one after the other behind Norwary and along and about Muscouia towards the Kingdome of Cathaia and China whereof the two last I my selfe holpe to effect and yet brought them not to the desired end that we well hoped First to shew our diligent and most toylesome labour and paines taken to find out the right course which we could not bring to passe as wee well hoped wished and desired and possible might haue found it by crossing the Seas if we had taken the right course if the Ice the shortnesse of time and bad crosses had not hindered vs. We haue assuredly found that the onely and most hinderance to our Voyage was the Ice that we found about Noua Zembla vnder 73.74.75 and 76. degrees and not so much vpon the Sea betweene both the Lands whereby it appeareth that not the neerenesse of the North-pole but the Ice that commeth in and out from the Tartarian Sea about Noua Zembla caused vs to feele the greatest cold Therefore in regard that the neerenesse of the Pole was not the cause of the great cold that wee felt if wee had had the meanes to haue held our appointed and intended course into the North-east we had peraduenture found some entrance which course wee could not hold from Noua Zembla because that there we entred amongst great store of Ice and how it was about Noua Zembla we could not tel before we had sought it and when we had sought it we could not then alter our course although also it is vncertayn what we should haue done if we had continued in our North-east course because it is not yet found out But it is true that in the Countrey lying vnder 80. degrees which we esteeme to be Greenland there is both Leaues and Grasse to be seene Wherein such Beasts as feed of Leaues and Grasse as Harts Hinds and such like beasts liue whereas to the contrary in Noua Zembla there groweth neyther Leaues nor Grasse and there are no beasts therein but such as eate flesh as Beares and Foxes c. Although Noua Zembla lyeth 4.5 and 6. degrees more Southerly from the Pole then the other Land aforesaid It is also manifest that vpon the South and North-side of the Line of the Sunne on both sides betweene both the Tropicks vnder 23. degrees and an halfe yet it is as hot as it is right vnder the Line What wonder then should it be that about the North-pole also and as many degrees on both sides it should not be colder then right vnder the Pole It was not the Sea nor the neerenesse vnto the Pole but the Ice about the Land that let and hindered vs as I said before for that assoone as we made from the Land and put more into the Sea although it was much further Northward presently we felt more warmth and in that opinion our Pilot William Barents dyed who notwithstanding the fearefull and intolerable cold that he indured yet he was not discouraged but offered to lay wagers with diuers of vs that by Gods helpe hee would bring that pretended Voyage to an end if he held his course North-east from the North Cape But I will leaue that and shew you of the three Voyages aforesaid begunne and set forth by the permission and furtherance of the Generall States of the vnited Prouinces and of Prince Maurice as Admirall of the Sea and the rich Towne of Amsterdam First you must vnderstand that in Anno 1594. there was foure ships set forth out of the vnited Prouinces whereof two were of Amsterdam one of Zelandt and one of Enckhuysen that were appointed to sayle into the North Seas to discouer the Kingdomes of Cathaia and China Northward from Norway Muscouia and about Tartaria whereof William Barents a notable skilfull and wise Pilot was Commander ouer the ships of Amsterdam and with them vpon Whit-sunday departed from Amsterdam and went to the Texell Vpon the fifth of Iune they sayled out of the Texel and hauing a good wind and faire weather vpon the three and twentieth of Iune they arriued at Rilduin in Muscouia which for that it is a place well knowne and a common Voyage I will make no further description thereof The nine and twentieth of Iune at foure of the clocke in the after-noone they set sayle out of Kilduin The fourth of Iuly they saw Noua Zembla lying South-east and by East six or seuen miles from them where they had blacke durtie ground at one hundred and fiue fathome William Barents tooke the height of the Sunne with his Crosse-staffe when it was at the lowest that is betweene North North-east and East and by North and found it to be eleuated aboue the Horizon six degrees and 1 â— part his declination being 12. degrees and 55. minutes from whence substracting the aforesaid height there resteth sixteenth degrees and 35. minutes which being substracted from 90. degrees there resteth 73. degrees and 25. minutes Then they woond East-ward and sayled fiue miles East and by South and East South-east and past by a long point of Land that lay out into the Sea which they named Langenes and hard by that point East-ward there was a great Bay where they went a Land with their Boat but found no people From Langenes to Cape Bapo East North-east it is foure miles From Cape Bapo to the West point of Lombsbay North-east and by North are fiue miles and betweene them both there are two Creeks Lombsbay is a great wide Bay on the West-side thereof hauing a faire Hauen six seuen or eight fathome deepe blacke sand there they went on shoare with their Boat and vpon the shoare placed a Beacon made of an old Mast which they found there calling the Bay Lombsbay because of a certayne kind of Beares so called which they found there in great abundance The East point of Lombsbay is a long narrow point and by it there lyeth an Iland and from that long point to Sea-ward in there is a great Creeke This Lombsbay lyeth vnder 74. degrees and 1 â— part From Lombsbay to the point of the Admirals Iland they sayled six or seuen miles North-east and by North. The Admirals Iland is not very faire on the East-side but a farre off very flat so that you must shunne it long before you come at it it is also very vneuen for at one casting of the Lead they had ten fathome deepe
did see in some battailes the Image of our Lady from whom the Christians haue receiued in those parts incomparable fauours and benefits c. And therefore we ought not to condemne all these things of the first Conquerors of the Indies as some religious and learned men haue done doubtlesse with a good zeale but too much affected For although for the most part they were couetous men cruell and very ignorant in the course that was to be obserued with the Infidels who had neuer offended the Christians yet can we not denie but on their part there was much malice against God and our Men which forced them to vse rigour and chastisement Euery one may vnderstand by the Relation and Discourse I haue written in these Bookes as well at Peru as in New Spaine when as the Christians first set footing that these Kingdomes and Monarchies were come to the height and period of their power The Inguas of Peru possessing from the Realme of Chille beyond Quitto which are a thousand leagues being most abundant in gold siluer sumptuous seruices and other things as also in Mexico Moteçuma commanded from the North Ocean Sea vnto the South being feared and worshipped not as a man but rather as a god Then was it that the most high Lord had determined that that stone of Daniel which dissolued the Realmes and Kingdomes of the World should also dissolue those of this new World And as the Law of Christ came when as the Roman Monarchie was at her greatnesse so did it happen at the West Indies wherein wee see the iust prouidence of our Lord For being then in the World I meane in Europe but one head and temporall Lord as the holy Doctors doe note whereby the Gospell might more easily bee imparted to so many People and Nations Euen so hath it happened at the Indies where hauing giuen the knowledge of Christ to the Monarchs of so many Kingdomes it was a meanes that afterwards the knowledge of the Gospell was imparted to all the people yea there is herein a speciall thing to be obserued that as the Lords of Cusco and Mexico conquered new Lands so they brought in their owne language for although there were as at this day great diuersitie of tongues yet the Courtly speech of Cusco did and doth at this day runne aboue a thousand leagues and that of Mexico did not extend farre lesse which hath not beene of small importance but hath much profited in making the preaching easie at such a time when as the Preachers had not the gift of many tongues as in old times He that would know what a helpe it hath beene for the conuersion of this people in these two great Empires and the great difficultie they haue found to reduce those Indians to Chrisâ— which acknowledge no Soueraigne Lord let him goe to Florida Bresil the Andes and many other places where they haue not preuayled so much by their preaching in fiftie yeeres as they haue done in Peru and new Spaine in lesse then fiue If they will impute the cause to the riches of the Country I will not altogether denie it Yet were it impossible to haue so great wealth and to be able to preserue it if there had not beene a Monarchie This is also a worke of God in this age when as the Preachers of the Gospell are so cold and without zeale and Merchants with the heat of couetousnesse and desire of command search and discouer new people whither we passe with our commodities for as Saint Augusâ—â—ne saith the prophesie of Esay is fulfilled in that the Church of Christ is extended not onely to the right hand but also to the left which is as hee declareth by humane and earthly meanes which they seeke more commonly then Iesus Christ. It was also a great prouidence of our Lord that when as the first Spaniards arriued there they found aide from the Indians themselues by reason of their partialities and great diuisions This is well knowne in Peru that the diuision betwixt the two brothers Atahualpa and Guasca the great King Guanacapa their father being newly dead gaue entrie to the Marquesse Don Francis Pizarre and to the Spaniards for that either of them desired his alliance being busied in warre one against the other The like experience hath beene in new Spaine that the aide of those of the Prouince of Tlascalla by reason of their continuall hatred against the Mexicans gaue the victorie and siegniorie of Mexico to the Mâ—rquesse Fernando Cortes and his men and without them it had beene impossible to haue wonne it yea to haue maintayned themselues within the Country They are much deceiued that so little esteeme the Indians and iudge that by the aduantage the Spaniards haue ouer them in their Persons Horses and Armes both offensiue and defensiue they might easily conquer any Land or Nation of the Indies Chille stands yet or to say better Arauco and Tuecapel which are two Cities where our Spaniards could not yet win one foot of ground although they haue made warre there aboue fiue and twentie yeeres without sparing of any cost For this barbarous Nation hauing once lost the apprehension of horse and shot and knowing that the Spaniards fall as well as other men with the blow of a stone or of a dart they hazard themselues desperately entring the Pikes vpon any enterprise How many yeeres haue they leuied men in new Spaine to send against the Chychymequos which are a small number of naked Indians armed only with bowes and arrowes yet to this day they could not be vâ—â—quished but contrariwise from day to day they grow more desperate and resolute But what shall we say of the Chucos of the Chiraguanas of the Piscocones and all the other people of the Andes Hath not all the flower of Peru beene there bringing with them so great prouision of Armes and Men as we haue seene What did they With what victories returned they Surely they returned very happy in sauing of their liues hauing lost their baggage and almost all their horses Let no man thinke speaking of the Indians that they are men of nothing but if they thinke so let them goe and make triall Wee must then attribute the glorie to whom it appertaynes that is principally to God and to his admirable disposition for if Moteçuma in Mexico and the Ingua in Peru had beene resolute to resist the Spaniards and to stop their entrie Cortes and Pizarre had preuayled little in their landing although they were excellent Captaines It hath also beene a great helpe to induce the Indians to receiue the Law of Christ the subiection they were in to their Kings and Lords and also the seruitude and slauerie they were held in by the Deuils tyrannies and insupportable yoke This was an excellent disposition of the diuine Wisedome the which drawes profit from ill to a good end and receiues his good from an others ill which it hath not sowen It is most certaine
that no people of the West Indies haue beene more apt to receiue the Gospell then those which were most subiect to their Lords and which haue beene charged with the heauiest burthens as well of Tributes and Seruices as of Customes and bloudie Practises All that which the Mexican Kings and those of Peru did possesse is at this day most planted with Christian Religion and where there is least difficultie in the Gouernment and Ecclesiasticall Discipline The Indians were so wearied with the heauy and insupportable yoke of Satans lawes his sacrifices and ceremonies whereof wee haue formerly spoken that they consulted among themselues to seeke out a new Law and an other God to serue And therefore the Law of Christ seemed vnto them and doth at this day seeme iust sweet cleane good and full of happinesse And that which is difficult in our Law to beleeue so high and soueraigne Mysteries hath beene easie among them for that the Deuill had made them comprehend things of greater difficultie and the selfe-same things which hee had stolen from our Euangelicall Law as their manner of Communion and Confession their adoration of Three in One and such other like the which against the will of the Enemie haue holpen for the easie receiuing of the Truth by those who before had embraced Lyes God is wise and admirable in all his workes vanquishing the Aduersarie euen with his owne weapon hee takes him in his owne snare and kills him with his owne sword Finally our God who had created this People and who seemed to haue thus long forgot them when the houre was come hee would haue the same Deuils enemies to mankinde whom they falsly held for gods should giue a testimonie against their will of the true Law the power of Christ and the triumph of the Crosse as it plainly appeares by the presages prophesies signes and prodigies here before mentioned with many others happened in diuers parts and that the same ministers of Satan Sorcerers Magicians and other Indians haue confessed it And wee cannot denie it being most euident and knowne to all the World that the Deuill dareth not hisse and that the Practises Oracles Answers and visible Apparitions which were so ordinarie throughout all this Infidelitie haue ceased whereas the Crosse of Christ hath beene planted where there are Churches and where the Name of Christ hath beene confessed And if there be at this day any cursed minister of his that doth participate thereof it is in Caues and on the tops of Mountaines and in secret places farre from the name and communion of Christians The Soueraigne Lord be blessed for his great mercies and for the glorie of his holy Name And in truth if they did gouerne this people temporally and spiritually in such sort as the Law of Iesus Christ hath set it downe with a milde yoke and light burthen and that they would impose no more vpon them then they can well beare as the Letters Patents of the good Emperour of happy memorie doe command and that they would imploy halfe the care they haue to make profit of these poore mens sweats and labours for the health of their soules it were the most peaceable and happy Christian part of all the World c. CHAP. V. Of the ancient superstitions of the Mexicans and Indians of America gathered out of the fifth Booke of IOSEPHVS ACOSTA FIrst although the darknesse of Infidelitie holdeth these Nations in blindnesse yet in many things the light of Truth and Reason workes somewhat in them And they commonly acknowledge a supreme Lord and Author of all things which they of Peru called Vnachocha and gaue him names of great excellence as Pachacamac or Pachayachachic which is the Creator of Heauen and Earth and Vsapu which is admirable and other like names Him they did worship as the chiefest of all whom they did honor in beholding the Heauen The like wee see amongst them of Mexico and China and all other Infidels Which accordeth well with that which is said of Saint Paul in the Acts of the Apostles where he did see the Inscription of an Altar Ignoto Deo to the vnknowne God Whereupon the Apostle tooke occasion to preach vnto them saying Hee whom you worship without knowing him doe I preach vnto you In like sort those which at this day doe preach the Gospell to the Indians finde no great difficultie to perswade them that there is a High God and Lord ouer all and that this is the Christians God and the true God And yet it hath caused great admiration in mee that although they had this knowledge yet had they no proper Name for God if wee shall seeke into the Indian tongue for a word to answere to this Name of God as in Latin Deâ—s in Greeke Theos in Hebrew El in Arabike Alla but we shall not finde any in the 〈◊〉 or Mexican tongues So as such as preach or write to the Indians vse our Spanish name Dios fitting it to the accent or pronunciation of the Indian tongues the which differ much whereby appeares the small knowledge they had of God seeing they cannot so much as name him if it be not by our very name yet in truth they had some little knowledge and therefore in Pâ—ru they made him a rich Temple which they called Pachacamac which was the principall Sanctuarie oâ— the Realme And as it hath beene said this word of Pachacamac is as much to say as the Creator yet in this Temple they vsed their Idolatries worshipping the Deuill and Figures They likewise made Sacrifices and Offerings to Viracocha which held the chiefe place amongst the worships which the Kiâ—gâ— Iuguâ—â— made Hereof they called the Spaniards Virâ—cochas for that they hold opinion they are the 〈◊〉 of Hâ—auen and diuiâ—e eâ—en as others did attribute a Deitie to Paul and 〈◊〉 calling the one Iupiter and the other Mercurie so would they offer sacrifices vnto them as vnto gods and as the Barbarians of Mâ—litâ— which is Maltè seeing that the Viper did not huâ—â— the Apostle they called him God NExt to Viracocha or their supreme God that which most commonly they haue and doe adore amongst the Infidels is the Sunne and after those things which are most remarkâ—able in the celestiall or â—lementarie nature as the Moâ—ne Starres Sea and Land The Guiâ—cas or Oratories which the Iâ—guas Lords of Peru had in greatest reuerence next to Viracocha and the Sunne was the Thunder which they called by three diuers names Châ—â—â—â—illa Catuillâ— and Iâ—tiillapa supposing it to be a man in heauen with a Sling and a Mace and that it is in his power to cause Raine Haile Thunder and all the rest that appertaines to the Region of the Aire where the Cloudes engender It was a Guacâ— for so they called their Oratories generall to all the Indians of Peru offering vnto him many sacrifices and in Câ—scâ— which is the Court and Metropolitan Citie they did sacrifice children vnto him