name And it was called Albion as my Authors tell me either from Albion the Brother of Bergâ—on the Sonne of Neptune mentioned by Aeschilus Dionysius Strabo Mela Solinus 〈◊〉 and others it being not improper that the greatest Iland of the Ocean should be denoâ—â—luated from a Sonne of the greatest Sea-god or from the old word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying White amongst the Greeks from whence the Latines had their Album by reason of the white chalkie cliffs seen by the Mariners a farre off as they sailed those Seas But to return again to Britain in the generall notion and to the severall Ilands which that name includeth we may distinguish them into the Greater and the Lesser the Greater subdivided into 1 Great Bâ—itain or Britain specially so called and 2 Ireland the Lessâ—r into 1 the Orcades 2 the Hâ—brides 3 Man 4 Anglesey 5 The Ilands of the Severn Sea 6 the Sorlinges or Isles of Silly 7 Wight 8 Thanet 9 Sunderland and 10 Holy Iland GREAT BRITAIN TO speak much of GREAT BRITAIN or BRITAIN specially and properly so called I hold somewhat superfluous it being our home and we therefore no Strangers to it Yet as Mela once said of Italie De Italia magis quia ordo exigit quam quia monstrari egeat pauca dicentur not a sunt omnia so say I of Britain It is so obvious to the eye of every Reader that he needs not the spectacles of Letters Yet something must be said though for methods sake rather than necessity First then we will begin with laying out the bounds thereof as in other places which are on the East the German Ocean dividing it from Belgium Germanie and Danemark on the West S. Georges Channel which divides it from Ireland and to the North of that with the main Vergivian or Western Ocean of which the Antients knew no shore on the North with the Hyperbâ—rcan or Deucaledonian Ocean as Ptolomie calls it extending out to Iseland Freezeland and the ends of the then known World and on the South the English Channel which divides it from France The length hereof from North to South is reckoned at 620 Italian mlles the greatest bredth from East to West measured in a right line no more than 250 of the same miles but by the crooks and bendings of the Sea-coast comes to 320 miles the whole circumference accompted 1836 miles The greatest Iland in the World except Java Borneo Sumatra and Madagascar and therefore by Solinus and some other Antients to whom those Ilands were not known called the other World by others of late times the Ladie and Mistress of the Seas Situate under the 8th 9th 10th 11th and 12th Climes so that the longest day at the Lizard point in Cornwall being the most Southernly part hereof containeth 16 hours and a quarter at Barwick which is the Border of England and Scotland 17 hours 3 quarters and one hour more at Straithby head in the North of Scotland where some observe that there is scarce any night at all in the summer Solstice but a darker Twilight To which alludes the Poet saying Et minima contentos nocte Britannos and the Panegyrist in the time of Constantine amongst other commendations which he gives to Britain saith that therein is neither extreme cold in Winter nor any scorching heats in Summer and that which is most comfortable long dayes and very lightsome nights Nor doth the Panegyrist tell us onely of the temperateness of the Air or the length of the dayes but of the fruitfulness of the soyl affirming Britain to be blessed with all the commodities of Heaven and Earth such an abundant plenty of Corn as might suffice both for Bread and Wine the woods thereof without wild Beasts the Fields without noysome Serpents infinite numbers of milch-Beasts and Sheep weighed down with their own Fleeces Whereto adde that of Alfred of Beverley a Poet of the middle times saying thus of Britain Insula praedives quae toto vix eget orbe Et cujus totus indiget orbis ope Insula praedives cujus miretur et opâ—et Delicias SOLOMON Octavianus opes A wealthy Iland which no help desires Yet all the World supply from her requires Able to glut King SOLOMON with pleasures And surfet great Augustus with her treasures Proceed we next to the name of Britain of which I find many Etymologies some forced some fabulous and foolish and but few of weight That which hath passed for currant in former times when almost all Nations did pretend to be of Trojan race was that it took this name from Brutus affirmed to be the Sonne of Silvius who was the Grandchild of Aeneas and the 3d King of the Lâ—tines of the Trojan Blood Which Bâ—utus having unfortunately killed his Father and thereupon abandoning Italy with his friends and followers after a long voyage and many wandrings is said to have fallen upon this Iland to have conquered here a race of Giants and having given unto it the name of Britain to leave the Soveraignty thereof unto his posterity who quietly enjoyed the same till subdued by the Romans This is the summe of the Tradition concerning â—rute Which though received in the darker times of ignorance and too much credulity in these more learned dayes hath been laid aside as false and fabulous And it is proved that there was no such man as Brutus 1 From the newness of his Birth Geofry of Monmouth who lived in the reign of K. Henry the second being the first Author which makes mention of him for which immediately questioned by Newbrigensis another Writer of that Age. 2ly By the silence of all Roman Historians in whom it had been an unpardonable negligence to have omitted an Accident so remarkable as the killing of a Father by his own Sonne especially when they wanted matter to sill up the times and the erecting of a new Trojan Empire in so great an Iland 3ly By the Arguments which Caesar useth to prove the Britains to be derived from the Galls as Speech Lawes Customes Disposition Making and the like 4ly And lest it might be said that though the Britans in Caesars time were of Gallick race yet there had been a former and more antient people who had their Originall from the Trojans Tacitus putteth off that dispute with an Ignoramus Qui mortales initio coluerint parum compertum est saith that knowing writer And 5ly By the Testimony of all Roman Histories who tell us that Caesar found the Britains under many Kings and never under the command of one sole Prince but in times of danger Summa Belli administrandi communi consensu commissa est Cassivellauno as it is in Caesar Dum singuli pugnabant universi vincebantur as we read in Tacitus To omit therefore that of Brutus and other Etymons as unlikely but of less authority the name of Britain is most probably derived from Brit which in the antient British signifieth Painted and the word Tain signifying a Nation agreeable unto the
to the Crown of England by the puissance of King Edward the first by whom made one of the shires of Wales as it still continues Not far from Anglesey some what inclining to the South is the Isle of Bardsey by Ptolomie called Edri by Plinie Adros by the Welch Eulby extending towards the East with a rockie Promontory but rich and fruitfull towards the West the retiring place of many godly and devout Hermits in the former times Southwards from hence and over against St. Davids are two other Ilands the one called Selame plentifull of wild honey the other named by the Welch Lymen by the English Ramsey thought to be the Limni of Ptolomie the Silimnum of Plinie but not else remarkeable VI THE ILANDS OF THE SEVERN SEA are four in number of no great note but I must take them in my passage to the Isles of Silly Of those the first is Flat-Holm from the flat and levell the 2d Stepholm from the steep and craggie disposition of it both by the Welch called Echni and both situate over against the County of Somerset More towards the opening of the Channel lieth the Isle of 3 Chaldey called by the Welchmen Inis Pâ—r of as small note as the other and at the very mouth thereof the Isle of 4 Lundey over against Devonshire the principall Iland of this Sea extending two miles every way of excellent pasturage well stored with Conies and great plenty of â—igeons Situate a good distance from any part of the land in the middest of the Salt and Brackish Ocean and yet yieldeth many Springs of Fresh-Water for the use of the people inhabiting for the most part in a Town of the same name with the Iland A place of very great strength and safety begirt about with dangerous unapproachable Rocks and having but one way of access into it and that so narrow that two men cannot go a brest VII The Isles of SILLY in number 145 are situate over against the most Western Promontorie of Cornwall from which distant 24 miles and lie round together in the manner of a ring or Circle Discovered first by the Silures a Phoenician Colonie in Spain opposite against which they lie thence called Silures by Solinus much traded and resorted to by the said Phoenicians from the Isle of Gades invited thereunto by the unexhaustible Mines of Tinne which they found amongst them A Trade so great and gainfull to them that they held it a great point of State 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep it as a secret from all the World as we find in Strabo who addes the story of a Carthagâ—nian or Phoenician Merchant incountred in his voyage hither by some Roman Vessels and splitting his ship on the next shore where he knew the Romans would not follow him rather than let them know to what place he was bound Rewarded for his honest care and recompenced for the loss of his ship and goods out of the publick Treasurie From this abundance of Tinne the Graecians when they came to know them called them Cassitâ—rideâ— Cassiteres in that language signifying Tynne accordingly Herodotus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affirming that he knew not those Ilands called Cassiterides from whence Tynne was brought The richness of this Commodity the pleasures of the place and the Western Situation of them make many of the Grecians call them the Hâ—sperides mistaking them for the Fortunate Ilands By Solinus they are called Silures as before is said Sigdeles in the corrupt Copies of Antoninus insulae Sillinae by Severus Sulpitius from whence we have the name of the Isles of Silly The Flemings I know not why call them the Sorlings All of them very fruitfull in Corn and Herbage besides the treasures hid within well stored with Conies Cranes Swans and most sorts of Wild Fowl Ten of them more esteemed than the rest are called by the names of 1 Aâ—math 2 Agnes 3 Sampson 4 Silly 5 Bresar 6 Rusco 7 S. Helens 8 Arthur 9 S. Maurice and 10 St. Maries Of which the most famous in the accompt of former times was that of Silly as giving name unto the rest but in the present estimate St. Maries is accompted the chief of all 8 miles in compass fruitfull of all necessaries and fortified with a very strong Castle built by Queen Elizabeth well manned and Garrisoned for defence of a large and goodly Harbour made amongst these Ilands capable of the greatest Navies These Ilands first discovered by Himilco a Carthaginian sent by that State to search into the West Coasts of Europe became of great same afterwards both in Greece and Italy by reason of the Mines of Tynne spoken of before So beneficiall to the Romans that they used to send hither their condemned Prisoners to work in the Mines as the best service to be done by their forfeited lives And hither amongst others Iustantius a fierce Priscillianist for his factious and seditious cariage was â—ent by Maxâ—mus ad Sulliman 〈◊〉 ultra Britanniam deportatus as Sulpitius hath it After the Romans had forsaken their hold in Britain they returned again into the power and possession of the Naâ—ives from whom subdued and added unto the English Crown by Atheâ—stan the eighth King of England now ordered for Civill matters as a part of Cornwall for military by their own Captain subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant of that Countie and for the Tâ—â—-trade by the Lord Warden and Court of Stanneries An Officer and Court erected for the benefit and regulating of the Tinners of Cornwall who by reason of their employment in there Mines have many privileges and exemptions more than other Subjects but of late limited and restrained by Act of Parliament VII The Isle of WIGHT lieth over against Hampshire from which it seemeth to have been divided the passage betwixt it and Huâ—st-Castle on the opposite shore being very narrow and the name of it intimating some such division For by the Bâ—itans it was antiently called Guith which signifieth a breach or separation from whence the English have their Wight the turning of Gu. to W. being familiar with the Saxons and all other Dutch people and from the same Root probably the Romans had the name of Vectis Vecht Wight and Guith being words of such neer resemblance that we need not travell further for an Etymologie The Iland of an Ovall form 20 miles in length and 12 miles broad about the middest from thence growing narrower towards each end to the North and South Naturally fenced about on all sides on the South especially where it looks towards France on which side inaccessible by reason of the steep and craggie Rocks the whole length thereof and not much less safe on the North-west where the remainder of the Rocks which they call the Shingles and the Needles not worn away either at or since the first separation from the other shore make the passage dangerous except to single ships and those not unacquainted with the course of the Channell Towards the North-East
Persians laid the tributes of the Western Provinces whence all Riches had in time the name of Gazae Once Caleb took it but not able to hold it against the Philistins he again deserted it Destroyed by Alexander the Great and re-built again it made notable resistance against the Maccabees till at last forced by Simon the brother of Judas who liked the place so well that he intended to have made it his place of residence not so decayed in length of time but that it was a goodly City in the dayes of Brochardus And is still the best of all this coast built on an hill encompassed with rich and pleasant vallies the building low and mean as in other places but some of them adorned with pillars of fair Parian marble digged out of the remaining ruins 6. Maioma the Port Town of Gaza but made a City of it self by Constantine by whom called Constantia but restored again by Julian unto those of Gaza and by him commanded to be called Gaza Mariâ—ma These were the chief places holden by the Philistims a strong and Giantlike race of men such as the Scripture call by the name of Anak or the Sonnes of Anak Originally descended from Casluhim and Copthorim of the race of Mizraim the sonnes of Cham as appeareth both by the common consent of antient Writers and plain Texts of Scripture Jerem. 47. 4. and Amos 9. 7. These being setled first in the borders of Egypt and Idumaea where the Casluhim gave name unto the Province of Casiotis and the Mountain Casius proceeded North-wards and subdued the Avim a Canaanish people planting themselves in their habitations as is said expressely Deut. 2. 23. Here Abraham found them in his time and here they were when Israea went down to Gezar Governed at first by one King whom they called alwayes by the name of Abimelech as the Egyptians theirs by the name of Pharaoh sometimes by five according to the number of their principal Cities but still united in the times of approaching dangers Too strong to be subdued by the Tribes of Israel they made head against them and mastered them at several times for above 150. years Tyrannizing over them till broken by Sampson and for a time kept off by Samuel Recovering again they vanquished the Israelites in the time of Saul whom they discomfited and hanged his dead body barbarously on the walls of Bethsan But David a more fortunate Prince overthew them in many set battels and at length took the Town of Gath one of the strongest Towns they had and by that means so weakned them that they durst not stirre all the time of David nor a long while after Beginning to be troublesome in the dayes of Ozias King of Judah they were warred on by him their army overthrown Ita and Amnia two of their strong Forts took and razed and the Town of Gath again dismantled In the time of the Idolatrous Achaz associating with the Edomites who evermore attended the destruction of Judah they brake out again took Bethsemes Aialon Timnah and some other Towns carried away many Prisoners and flew much people But the good King Ezeâ—â—ah made them pay dear for it taking from them the greatest part of their Country betwixt Gath and Gaza Which notwithstanding they recovered to so great esteem that the whole Countrey had from them the name of Palestine But broken by degrees by the Maccabaeans they lost both their power and reputation passing in common estimate as a part of â—ewry the fortunes of which it followed for thetimes succeeding 2. The Tribe of DAN so called from Dan the fift sonne of Iacob by Bilhah the hand-maid of Rache of whom were mustered at Mount Sinai 62700. fighting men and 66400. at the second muster in the Land of Canaan where their lot fell betwixt Ephraim on the North Simeon on the South the Tribe of BENIAMEN on the East and the Mediterranean on the West Places of most note in it 1. Ioppa now called Iaffa once a famous Mart-Town and the onely Haven to Iudaea in foregoing times the Town where Ionah took ship to fly unto Tarshiesh where Peter raised Dorcas from death to life and where he lying in the house of one Simon a Tanner was in a vision taught the conversion of the Gentiles This City they report to have been built before the floudn here they say reigned Cepheus whose daughter Andromeda was by Perseus delivered from a Sea-monster some of whose bones the people use to shew to strangers even till the flourishing of the Romans Just as our Citizens of Coventry and Warwick shew the bones of the Dun-Cow of Dunsmear heath and the bones of I know not what Gyant slain by Guy Earl of Warwick In the time of the Maccabees it was garrisoned by the Syrians who having in the Port a Fleet of good power and strength invited 200 of the chief Citizens to go aboard with them and there drowned them all for which their fleet was fired by Iudas and such as did escape the fire fell upon his sword Twice taken by the Romans and the second time burnt unto the ground new walled and fortified with Towers by King Lewis of France in the year 1250 the Holy Warres then drawing to their finall end Now nothing standing of it but two little Turrets where are certain Harquebusses for defence of the Haven none of the best defended from the South and West winds with eminent Rocks but exposed to the fury of the North which makes it more unsafe than the open Seas when inraged by Tempests Not much frequented by the Merchant who trade here but for Cottons onely and hold their Factory not far off in a Town called 2. Rama by the Moores called Ramula situate in a sandy plain on the rising of a little hill built of free-stone but the streets thereof narrow and the houses contemptible More beautifull in the ruins of some Christian Churches and a Monastery built by Philip the Good of Burgundie where the house of Nicod mus stood than in any of the remaining edifices 3. Iamnia neer Ioppa where Iudas burnt the rest of the Syrian Fleet the flame whereof was seen to Hierusalem 240 furlongs off mentioned by Ptolomy and in the times of Christianity an Episcopall Sâ—e now not discernable in the ruins 4. Cedar or Cedron fortified against the Iews by Cendebaeus one of the Lieutenants of Antiochus who hereabouts was overthrown by the Maccabees 5. Modin a small Town but honoured with the birth and sepulchre of those Maccabaeans the Sepulchre being seven Marble Pillars of so great an height that they served as a mark for Seamen 6. Gibbethon in the Countrey called Makats a City of the Levites but afterwards possessed by the Philistims at the sieige whereof Nadab the Sonne of Ieroboam King of Israel was slain by Baasha who succeeded and Omri chosen King on the death of Zimri 7. Cariathi rim where the Ark of the Lord was kept for 20 years in the house of Aminadab
of the Indus three dayes journey from Tutta the Port-town unto which it is notwithstanding that distance Supposed to be situate in or neer the place of that Alexandria which Alexander built in memory of his navigation down this River to the Indian Ocean An Haven much frequented because free from worms which about Surat and other Havens on these Seas so infest the ships that without much cost and care bestowed upon them they make them unable to return 3. Calwalla memorable for the Tenure as given by Echebar the Mongul to a company of Women and their posterity for ever to bring up their daughters to dancing and more wanton exercises 4. Radempoore a great Town with a strong Castle seated at the edge of the Desarts thorow which those that are to pass use here to provide themselves of water and other necessaries for their journey 5. Nuraquemire a pretty Town on the further side of the Desarts esteemed a Paradise by such as have passed thorow those uncomfortable and dangerous sands for the space of ten or twelve daies journey 6. Sarrama a large Town twenty miles from Tutta the Center in which all lines meet and from whence the distances of all Towns in Sinda are accustomably measured The Countrey antiently subject to the Kings of Cambaia and in the right of that Crown to the Great Mongul but the people for the most part so untamed and masterful that except in some of the greater Towns they pay no Tributes and in some places even within half a daies journy of Tutta will acknowledge no King but rob and spare whom they please If at any time the Mogul sends a force against them as he doth sometimes they fire their houses made like a Bee-Hive of straw and mortar which are soon rebuilded and retire themselves unto the Mountains Yet one good quality they have amongst many ill ones When they have robbed a Traveller or took money of him in the way of toll or custome for his passage by them they will conduct him honestly to the end of the Desarts lest any should rob him but themselves 2. GVZARATE hath on the North Sinda on the South the main Ocean the River Indus on the East on the West Gedrosia which the Indians call Nawatacos but the Persians Circam The Soil of the same temper and fertilitie with that of Cambaia specially so called and there we shall speak further of it The common people whom they call Guzorates of the same disposition generally with the rest of the Indians but the greatest part of the Countrey is possessed by the Resbutes or Rasâ—ooches the antient Inhabitants of this tract Who when their Countrey was subdued by the Moores or Saracens retired unto the Mountains and fatuesses of it standing upon their guard and were never yet subdued by the Great Monguls Who though possessed of the Sea-shores and most Towns of consequence are fain to leave the inland parts and open Countries to the power of these Out-lawes who either prey upon the people or force them to compound for their peace and quiet at uncertain prices Their Arms most commonly a Sword Buckler and Launce well-horsed and resolute in any thing which they undertake which made one of the Moguls say of them that no men in the world knew to die but they Places of most importance in it 1. Diu in a Peninsula looking towards Persia but on the Eastside thereof neer the mouth of Indus Possessed by the Portugal and by them fortified with a strong and impregnable Citadel built with the leave and liking of King Badurius thereby to buy their aid against Merhamed the Mongul who had newly vanquished him A matter of such consequence to the Crown of Portugal that John Bo elius confined to India for some Crimes by him committed undertook in hope by the merit of that service to obtain his pardon to carry the first news of it in a small vessel not above 18 foot long and but 6 foot broad the best which for the present could be provided which with great courage he performed and thorow that large wide and tempestuous Ocean came in safety with his news to Lisbon to the great joy of the King but greater admiration of all sorts of people Scarce settled in their new possession when besieged by Solyman Bassa Admirall to Solyman the Magnificent with a Flcet of 80 ships and Gallies Anno 1537. offended with the Portugals for aiding the King of Persia more for diverting the Spice-trade unto Alexandria In which he had so ill success that having assaulted it in vain with his Land-forces he was fain to raise his siege in such hast and tumult that he left his great O dnance behind him 2. Sauran a Town and Castle of the Resbutes spoken of before and by them held against the power of the Great Mongul 3. Boldra a very fair and beautiful City but of no great compass 4. Ardovat not far from the banks of the Indus on the North of this Region towards Sinda 5. Madibat by some called Amadabat affirmed to be both for wealth and greatness the cheif of Guzarate neer as big as London well walled and situate on a plain neer the Rivers side seldome without Merchants of all Religions Jews Gentils Christians Moores some of all and neither 6. Saringt 7. Periano 8. Serkeffe this last remarkable for the Sepulchres of the old Kings of Cambaia fair and well kept and visited from all parts of the Kingdome Nothing considerable in this part of the Countrey as to point of story but what is common to them with the rest of Cambaia but that the Rasbutes or Rasbooches still remain unconquered Possessed not only of the hills and Mountains but of some strong holds and governed by the Heads of their Casts or Tribes all which acknowledge the Morgul for their Superiour in regard of his power but none of them obey him as their Lord or Soveraign conceiving it to be some abasement of their own authority if they admit of him as an Umpire to compose their differences which they sometimes do 3 CAMBAIA specially so called hath on the North Mandao on the South the main Ocean and some part of Decan on the East Delly from which parted by a ridge of Mountains on the West the Main Ocean with some part of Guzarate It standeth on the East-sides of the out-less of Indus running along the Sea-shore for 500 miles and took this name from Cambaia the chief City of it The Countrey said to be the most fruitful of all India abounding in Rice Wheat Sugar Spices of all sorts and choicest fruits of silk and Cotton so great plenty that they fraught yearly forty of fifty ships with those commodities In the mountains they find Diamonds Chalcedonies and a kind of Onyx-stone which are called Cornelines and corruptly Cornelians Amongst the Rarities hereof they reckon the Abades a great Beast twice as bigge as a Bull having on their snowts a little horn and the hide so hard
who formerly made their Nest like Birds on the tops of trees 2 Bizu 3 Los Angadesos two small villages on the other side of the Country possessed by the Savages Besides these and some sorry sheds here and there dispersed all the rest a Desart So that not being able to maintain the reputation of a distinct Province the government here of hath of late been devolved on the Prefect of Panama 3 NOVA AND ALVSIA hath on the West the River Darien and the Golf of Vraba on the East the Province of S. Martha on the North the main Ocean and on the South the new Realm of Granada So called with reference to Andalusia a Province of Spain Called also by some Writers Carthagena from Carthagena now the chief City of it It is in length from the Golf of Vraba to the River of Magdalen 80 Leagues and neer upon as much in breadth Mountainous and very full of woods but in those woods great store of Rosin Gums and some kinds of Balsams Here is also said to be a Tree which whosoever toucheth is in danger of poisoning The Soil by reason of the abundance of rain which fals upon it very moyst and spewie insomuch that few of our Europaean fruits have prospered in it Few veins of Gold in all the Country except only in that part hereof which is called Zena where the Spaniards at their first coming found great store of treasure But it was taken out of the graves and Monuments of the dead not found in Mines or digged for as in other places such being the reputation of that Territory in former times that the Nations far and neer did carry the bodies of their Dead to be buried in it with great quantity of Gold Jewels and other Riches The Natives very fierce and stout whiles they were a People But giving the Spaniards many overthrows before fully conquered they have been so consumed and wasted by little and little that there are not many of them left Chief Rivers hereof 1 Rio de los Redos 2 Rio de los Anades both falling into the Bay of Vraba 3 Zenu which passing thorow the Province above-mentioned to which it gives name falleth into the Ocean over against the Iland Fuerte 4 S. Martha of long course and much estimation For rising in the most Southern parts of the New Realm of Granada neer the Aequinoctial it passeth thorow the whole length of that Kingdom and at the last mingleth its streams with that of the River Magdalen not far from Mopox By the Natives it is called Cauca And as for Mountains those of most note are a continual Ridge of hils by the Spaniards called Cordillera by the Natives Abibe craggie and difficult of ascent in breadth affirmed to be 20 leagues but the length uncertain the furthest ends of them towards the South not discovered hitherto Places of most importance in it 1 Carthagena situate in a sandie Peninsula ten degrees distant from the Aequator well built and for the bigness of it of great wealth and state consisting of 500 houses or thereabouts but those neat and handsom Beautified with a Cathedral Church three Monasteries and one of the best Havens of all America Well fortified on both sides since the taking of it by Sir Francis Drake who in the year 1585. took it by assault and carried thence besides inestimable sums of money 240 Brass pecces of Ordinance 2 Tolu by the Spaniards called S. Jago twelve miles from Carthagena memorable for the most soveraign Balsam of all these parts called the Balsam of Tolu little interior if at all to the Balsam of Egypt 3 Mopox or Santa Crux de Mopox neer the Confluences of the Rivers of Martha and Magdalens 4 Baranca de Malambo on the Banks of the River Magdalen six leagues from the Ocean where such Commodities as are brought by sea for the New Realm of Granada use to be unshipped and carried by Lighters or small Boats up the River 5 Sebastian de Buena vista built by Alfonso de Oieda An. 1508. in his first attempt upon this Country situate on a rising ground neer the mouth of the Bay of Vraba a league and an half from the sea 6 Villa de Maria 30 leagues South of Carthagena but of no great note 4 S. MARTHA hath on the West Nova Andalusia on the East Rio de la Hacha on the North the main Ocean on the South the New Realm of Granada about 70 leagues in length and as much in breadth So called from S. Martha the chief City of it The Country mountainous and barren not fit for pasturage or tillage productive notwithstanding of Limons Orenges Pomgranats and such other fruits as are brought hither out of Spain The Air on the Sea-coasts very hot and scalding and in the midland parts as cold because of the neighbourhood of some Mountains alwayes covered with snow The principal of those Mountains a long Ridge of Hils by the Spaniards called Las Sierras Nievadas or the Snowy mountains discernable by the Mariners 30 leagues at sea by whom called the Mountains of Tairona from a Vallie of that name beneath them the Inhabitants whereof by the advantage of those hils have hitherto preserved their liberty against the Spaniards The rest though subject to the Spaniards have their several â—â—ings affirmed to be an arrogant and ill-natured people made worse perhapâ— then indeed they are by reason of their hate to the Spaniards whose government they live under with great unwillingness Chief Rivers of this Province 1 Rio Grando de la Magdalena which hath its fountain in the hils of the new Realm of Granada not far from the Aequatâ—r but its fall into the Ocean betwixt Carthagena and S. Martha in the Latitude of 12 Degrees where dividing it self it maketh an Iland of 5 leagues long and after openeth into the Sea with two wide mouths discernible for ten leagues space from the rest of the Main by the taste and colour of the water 2 Rio de Cazaze which falleth into the Magdalen as doth also 3 Caesar by the Natives called Pompatao which having its fountain neer the City of Kings in the Vale of Vpar passeth directly towards the South till it meet with 4 Ayumas another River of this Tract accompanied with whom he runneth westward for the space of 70 leagues and endeth in the great River of Magdalens as before is said neer the Forrest of Alpuerte 5 Bubia 6 Piras 7 Don Diego 8 Palamini 9 Gayza falling into the Ocean Towns of most observation 1 S. Martha situate on the shores of the Ocean in the Latitude of ten Degrees 30 Minutes neighboured by a safe and convenient Haven defended from the winds by an high Mountain neer unto it and honoured with an Episcopal See Small and ill built when it was at the best nor well recovered of the spoil it suffered by Sir Francis Drake An 1595. and by Sir Anthony Sherley the next year after 2 Tenariffe on the
from the Eastern parts as his occasions did require These Exarchs having divided Italie into many Governments appointed over each some supreme Commander dignified with the name of Dukes And even the City of Rome it self so far then was it from being subject to the Pope in Temporall matters had a chief Officer of this kinde accomptable to the Exaroâ— and subordinate to him whose Government was called the Roman Dukedom They which they kept unto themselves as their own peculiar contained the Cities of Ravenna Rbegium Mutina Bononia Classi Forli Fâ—â—limpoli Sarcino Parma and Placentia which ten Cities with the Territories belonging to them made up that District which properly was called the Exarchate of Ravenna much mentioned in the Histories of the middle times by reason of the continuall wars which they had with the Lombards but newly entred when this Magistracy had its first beginning The names of these Exarchs are as followeth The Exarchs of Ravenna A. C. 570. 1 Longinus 21. 591. 2 Smaragdus 4. 595. 3 Romanus Patricius 596. 4 Callinicus 13. 609. 5 Smaragdus 3. 612. 6 Joh. Lamigius 4. 616. 7 Elentherius 5. 621. 8 Isaacus Patricius 24. 645. 9 Theod. Calliopa 10. 655. 10 Olympius 2. 657. 11 Theod. Calliopa II. 30. 687. 12 Joh. Plotina 15. 702. 13 Theophilactus 25. 727. 14 Paulus 728. 15 Eutipenus 12. In the days of this Exarch Ravenna was taken from the Empire by Luitprandus King of the Lombards Ano. 740. but regained by Charles the Great and by him given to the Bishops of Ronne together with Anconitana and Spoleto as a requitall for the Kingdom of France confirmed unto King Pepin his Father by the consent and authority of the Popes The donation of this Exarchate to the Popes partly to blot out the memory of the Exarchs and partly to make the people obedient to those Prelates changed the name of the Countrey from Flaminia by which name it was formerly known to Romadâ—diola and now to Romagna Notwithstanding which Donation or Originall Grant the Popes injoyed not long the possession of it the Emperors of Germanie and their Vice-gerents in Italia wresting it by strong hand out of the possession of the Church and giving it to such as deserved well of them and were most likely or most able to uphold their Faction And so it stood till the last Popes conspiring with the French Kings Lewis the twelfth and Francis the first brought them into Italie and by their aids and by the censures of the Church so prevailed in fine that they extorted Ravenna and some other places out of the hands of the Venetians erected many petit Princes out of other Cities which they pretended to belong to S. Peters Patrimony and thereby got possession of all those Territories which lie betwixt the State of Venice and the Marches of Ancona 2. The Territory of FERRAARA lieth in the very skirts of Romandiola towards the Venetian extending one hundred and sixty miles in length and about fifty in breadth the soyl thereof exceeding rich but subject to the overflowings of the River Po which makes the air in many places to be somewhat unwholesome And though as well the former Dukes as the Popes who are now Lords hereof have been at great charge in raising high Banks and Ramparts to keep in the waters yet could not this resist the violence of the River falling from so high a Springs and seconded with so great Land-floods as sometimes it is but that it makes many breaches in them do they what they can The places of most note herein are 1. Graffignan in the borders of Tuscany neer the Apennine 2. Carpi a place of great importance seaâ—ed in the midst of this Dukedom belonging heretofore to the House of the Picâ— but partly by exchange made with Marcus Pieus partly for one hundred thousand Crowns in ready money given unto Lionel Pico once the Lords hereof it was by Charles the 5th incorporated into this estate 3. Commachia seated in the Marshes of the Adriatick from which the Princes of this Family of Este were at first called only Lords of Commachia a place which yeelded great profit to the former Dukes by the fishing of Eels 4. Saxole given by Duke Alphonso in exchange for Carpi Here is also the Territory and Lordship of the Polesine the cause of so many quarrells and contentions between the antient Dukes of Ferrara and the State of Vonice But the chief honor of this Dukedom it in the Capitall City that which denominates the whole Ferrara a City of five miles in compass so called from the Iron Mines which are about it commodiously seated on the River â—o which by reason of its breadth depth and violent swiftness of the current is a sufficient rampart to it on that side the other fides being fortified with a strong wall and a spacious mote In the middle of the City is a fair and spacious Market-place into which do open on all fides about twenty streets all of them half a mile in length and all so strait and evenly built that the furthest end of each of them may be easily seen Neer to this Market-place is a little Iland in which the former Dukes had a stately Palace called Belvedere from the fair prospect which it had or gave to the whole City and on the North side of the City a large Park for pleasure The other houses are for the most part built of fair Free-stone not joyning unto one another as in other Cities but at a pretty distance with neat Gardens between Ariosto the Author of that ingenious Poem called Orlando Furiosâ— and Hierome Savaniarolo the Propheticall Fâ—ier were both of them Natives of this place of which the first lieth here entombed the last for preaching against the Pope was burnt at Florence In the declining of the power and Empire of the Lombards this City together with Favenza was given by Desiderius their last King to the Church of Rome the better to oblige the Popes by so great a benefit But being taken from them by the Emperors of the House of Schwaben it was again recovered by the prowess of the Countess Mathildis Ano. 1107. who took it with many other Towns in Italie from the Emperor Henry the 4th and at her death conferred the same upon the Church The Popes once more possessed hereof and not able to hold it gave it in Fee for ever unto Azo of the House of Este a man of great sway in the affairs of Italie who valiantly had defended it against Ezelinus Vicegerent of Frederick the 2d. This was the first of this Family who had Ferrara in propriety His Ancestors being called before the Marquesses of Este and sometimes Marquesses of Ferrara but in title only as Governors hereof in behalf of the Popes of Rome Obizo the Grand-child of this first Azo obtained of Rodolfus the first who was willing to make what money he could of his lands in Italie the Cities of Regium and Modena
of the Barbarians then confederate with him would become too insolent gave him leave to retire home through Italy which he â—arassed with Fire and Sword murdering the People and ruining the Towns so that he was then and long after called Flagellum Dei Aetius notwithstanding this good service was by Valentinian the Emperour of the West rewarded with the loss of his head By which act the Emperour as one truly told him had cut off his right hand with his left And indeed so it happened For not long after he himself was by Maximus murdered and the Empire of Rome irrecoverably destroyed Now that these Fields say here abouts and not about Chalons in the Province of Champaigne as some learned and industrious men have been of opinion I am assured by these three reasons First the improbabilitie that Aetius having got the victory should suffer such a vast and numerous Army to pass through the whole length of France from one end to the other and having wasted all the Countrie to break into Italy and secondly the testimony of â—ornandes an antient writer who telleth us first that before this fight Attila had besiedged and distressed the City of Orleans and therefore was not vanquished in the fields of Chalons and then that immediately upon the Victory Torismund the King of the Gothes his Father Theodoriâ— being slain in Campis Catalaunicis ubi pugnavâ—rat Regia Majestate subvectus Toloâ—am ingreditur being proclamed King in those very fields entred with great Statâ— and Triumph into Tholouse The Regall Citie at that time of the Gothish Kingdom Which plainly proves the place of battle to be neer this City though possible by the name Campi Catalaunici the great length and breadth thereof considered we are to understand the whole Country of Languedoc The old Inhabitants of this Countrie besides the Helvii the 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Vages and Albigenses formerly remembred were the Agâ—â—enses 〈◊〉 Gâ—bâ—les Volcae and the Arâ—comici all which together with some others of lâ—sser note made the Province of Narbonensis Prima whereof the Metropolis was Narbon In the falling of the Râ—man Empire assigned with the rest of Narbonensis some part of Spain to Aâ—â—â—ulfus King of the 〈◊〉 whom Hoâ—orius by this gift bought out of â—talie The Gothes having got so good footing in Gauâ— enlarged their bounds by taking in the most part of Aquitain Quercu and 〈◊〉 but forced to quâ—t them to the French who Conquered that from them which they got from the â—omans and shut them up within the limits of their first Donation after this they 〈◊〉 as fast in France as they thrived in Spain losing Provence to Theodoric King of the 〈◊〉 Gâ—thes or Gothes of Itali Whose successour Amalâ—sunta fearing a War from Greece resigned her intereâ—s in Provence to Theodobert the French King of Mets. Nothing now left unto the Gales of their Gallick purchases but this Languedock only and this they held as long as they had any thing to do in Europe but lost it finally to the Moors with all Spain it self Recovered from the â—oors by Charles Martel and added to the rest of the French Empire it was by Charles the great given to one Thursin of the race of the antient Kings with the title of the Earl of Tholâ—uâ—e on condition that he would be Christned How long it continued in his Race it is hard to say the story and succession of these Earls being very imperfect not setled in a way of Lineall Deâ—cent till the time of Raimâ—nd the eighth Earl Brother to another Raimond Earl of St. Giles a Town of Guienne whose Grand-child Hugh being an adventurer in the Wars of the Holy Land and wanting money to provide himself for that expedition sold his Estate herein to his Vncle Raimond the Earl of St. Giles before mentioned From this time forward we find these Earls to be as often called the Earls of St. Giles as the Earls of Tholouse and by that name frequently remembred in the Eastern stories but not without some mark of infidelity as if not sound and through-paced to the Cause on foot A punishment whereof the short continuance of this house is supposed to be For Raimond the Great Earl of Tâ—olouse St. Giles and Tripoli in the Holy-Land had three Sonnes all of them succeeding the first two issuless the third the Father of Raimond the Father of another Raimond who proved a great maintainer of the Albigenses and in pursuance of that Cause murdered the Legat of the Pope sent to Excommunicate him strangled his own Brother Baldwin because he found him not inclinable to his opinions For this cause Warred upon and Vanquished by Simon de Monfort Father of Simon de Monfort the great Earl of Leicester and after many troubles and continuall Wars left his estate and quarrell to his Sonne named also Raimond the last Earl of this House Who proving also a strong Patron of these Albigenses was condemned for a Heretick cursed by the Pope and persecuted by the French Kings Philip the second Lewis the 8th and St. Lewis This last willing to make a peaceable composition maried his Brother Alfonso to Jane daughter and heir to Count Raimond with this clause That if it should happen these two to die without issue then Languedoc should be incorporated to the Crown Raimond agreed the mariage was solemnized Anno 1249. They both died without issue 1270 and Languedoc returned to the Crown in the dayes of Philip the third The names and Succession of these Earls in regard they were Peers of France great Princes and for the most part men of action take in order thus A. Ch. The Earls of Tholouze 779. 1 Tursiâ— the first Earl of Tholouze 803. 2 William made Earl by Charlemaigne Peer of France at the first foundation of that Order 828. 3 Isauret Thursin Sonne of Thursin the first Earl 841 4 Bertrand Sonne of Isauret Thursin 894. 5 William II. of some other house 919. 6 Ponce a great Justiciar but of unknown race 963. 7 Almaric of as obscure parentage as Ponce 1003. 8 Raymond the Brother of Raymond Earl of S. Giles advanced by Robert King of France 1052. 9 William III. Duke of Aquitaine succeded in right of his Wiâ—e the Daughter of Raymond 1086. 10 Hugh â—rmon Sonne of William the 3d sold his Estate and Earldom to his Uncle Raymond 1096. 11 Raymond II. Earl of S. Gâ—les Tholouzeâ— and Tripoli of great note in the Warre of the Holy-Land 12 Bertrand Sonne of Raymond the Great 13 William IV. Brother of Bertrand 1101. 14 Alfonso Brother of William the fourth 1146. 15 Raymond III. Sonne of Alfonso 1185. 16 Raymond IV. Sonne of Raymond the 3d the Great Patron of the Albigenses 1222. 17 Raymond V. Sonne of Raymond the 4th vanquished and compounded with by King Lewis the Saint 1249. 18 Alfonso II. Brother of St. Lewis and Husband of Ioan. daughter and heir of the last Raymond after whose death and the decease of Ioan the
England made him stay it out So that his Maxim of no Bishops no King was not made at Random but founded on the sad experience of his own condition And though upon the sense of those inconveniences which that alteration brought upon him he did afterwards with great both Policie and Prudence restore again the Episcopall Order and setled it both by Synodicall Acts and by Acts of Parliament yet the same restless spirit breaking out again in the Reign of his Sons Anno 1638. did violently eject the Bishops and suppress the calling and set up their Presbyteries thorowout the Kingdom as in former times The famous or miraculous things rather of this Countrey are 1 the Lake of Mirton part oâ— whose waters doe congeal in Winter and part of them not 2 That in the Lake of Lennox being 24 miles in compass the Fish are generally without Fins and yet there is great abundance of them 3 That when there is no wind stirring the waters of the said Lake are so tempestuous that no Mariner dares venture on it 4 That there is a stone called the Deaf-stone a foot high and 33 Cubits thick of this rare quality that a Musket shot off on the one side cannot be heard by a man standing on the other If it be otherwise as he must have a strong Faith who beleeves these wonders let Hector Boetius bear the blame out of whom I had it Chief Mountains of this Kingdom are the Cheviot Hills upon the Borders and Mount Grampius spoken of by Taciâ—us the safest shelter of the Picts or Northern Britans against the Romans and of the Scots against the English now called the hills of Albanie or the mountainous Regions of Braid-Albin Out of these springeth the 1 Tay or Taus the fairest River of Scotland falling into the Sea about Dâ—ndec in the East side and 2 the Cluyd emptying it self into Dunbritton Frith on the West side of the Kingdom Other Rivers of most note are the 3 Banoc emptying it self into the Frith of Edenburgh on the banks whereof was sought that fatall battell of Banocks-bourn of which more anon 4 Spey 5 Dee the Ocasa of Ptolomie none of them of any long course by reason that the Countrey Northward is but very narrow In reference to Ecclesiasticall affairs this Kingdom hath been long divided into 13 Dioceses to which the Diocese of Edenburgh taken out of that of S. Andrews hath been lately added and in relation to the Civil into divers Seneschalsies and Sheriffdoms which being for the most part hereditary are no small hinderance to the due execution of Justice So that the readiest way to redress the mischief as King Iames advised is to dispose of them as they fall or Escheat to the Crown according to the laudable custom in that case in England The greatest Friends of the Scots were the French to whom the Scots shewed themselves so faithfull that the French King committed the defence of his Person to a selected number of Scotish Gentlemen and so valiant that they have much hindered the English Victories in France And certainly the French feeling the smart of the English puissance alone have continually heartned the Scots in their attempts against England and hindred all means of making union betwixt them as appeared when they broke the match agreed on between our Edward the sixth and Mary the young Queen of Scots Their greatest enemy was the English who overcame them in many battels seized once upon the Kingdom and had longer kept it if the mountainous and unaccessible woods had not been more advantagious to the 〈◊〉 than their power for so much King Iames seemeth to intimate in his Speech at 〈◊〉 1607. And though saith he the Scots 〈…〉 nour and good fortune never to be conquered yet were they never but on the defensible side and may in paâ—t thank their hills and inaccessible passages that saved them from an utter overthrow at the hands of all them that ever pretended to conquer thâ—m But Jam cunctigens una sumus siâ—â—â—mus in aevum One onely Nation now are we And let us so for ever be The chief Cities are Edenburgh of old called Castrum Alatum in Lothien where is the Kings Palace and the Court of Justice It consisteth chiefly of one street extending in length one mile into which runne many pretty lanes so that the whole compass may be nigh three miles extending from East to West on a rising ground at the Summit or West end whereof standeth a strong and magnificent Castle mounted upon a steep and precipitious Rock which commandeth the Town supposed to be the Castrum Alâ—tum spoken of by Ptolomiâ— Under the command or rather the protection of which Castle and thorough the neighbourhood of Lâ—ith standing on the Fryth and serving as a Port unto it and finally by the advantage of the Courts of Justice and the Court Royall called Holy-Rood-House it soon became rich populous well-traded and the chief of the Kingdom but withall factious and seditious contesting with their Kings or siding against them upon all occasions No way to humble them and keep them in obedience to their Soveraign Lords but by incorporating Leith indulging it the privileges of a City and removing thither the Seat Royall and the Courts of Judicature which they more fear than all the Plagnes that can befall them It belonged in former times to the English-Sâ—xons as all the rest of the Countrey from the Fryth to Barwick from whom oppressed by the tyranny of the Danes it was taken by the Scots and Picts Anno 800. or thereabouts 2 Sterling situate on the South-side of the Forth or Fryth in the Sheriffdom so called a strong Town and beautified withall with a very fair Castle the birth-place of King Iames the sixt the first Monarch of Great Britain Neer to which Town on the banks of the River Bâ—nnock hapned the most memorable discomfiture that the Scots ever gave the English who besides many Lords and 700 Knights and men of note lost in this Fight as the Scotish Writers do report 50000 of the common Soldiers our English Histories confess 10000 and too many of that the King himself Edward the 2d being compelled to slie for his life and safety Some of the Scotish Writers tell us that the purer sort of Silver wâ—ich we call Sterling money did take name from hence they might as well have told us that all our Silver Bullion comes from Bouillon in Luxembourgh or from the Port of Boulâ—gne in France the truth being that it took that name from the Easterlings or Merchants of East Germany drawn into England by King Iohn to refine our Coin 3 Glasco in Cluydsdâ—le honoured with an Archbishops See and a publick School to which some give the name of an University founded here by Archbishop Turnbal Anno 1554. 4 S. Andrews the chief Town of Fife an Archiepiscopall See â—nd an Vniversity by the Latines called Fanum Reguli which and the English name it took from the bones
of S. Andrew the Apostle translated first from Patras in Peloponnesus where he suffered death unto Constantinople and thence brought hither by a Monk called Albatus Regulus in the yeer 378 if they be not mistaken in the time who made the storie Over which Râ—licâ—s he is said to have built a Monastery which after grew to be a City called from the Founder Fanum Reguli in honour of the Saint S. Andrews The Bishop hereof is the Metropolitan of all Scâ—tland the City seated on the Ocean neer the fall of the Ethan overlooked with a strong and goodly Castle the Archbishops seat 5 Falkland in the same Province of Fife beautified with a retiring house of the Kings resorting often thither on recess from business or for the commodity and pleasure of hunting which the place affords 6 Dundee in Latine Taodunum a rich and noted port at the mouth of the Tay the chief Town of Anguis 7 Aber-don at the mouth of the River Done whence it hath the name the word Aber in the Bâ—itish signifying the mouth or influx of a River an Vniversity and Bishops See 8 Peâ—th or S. Iohns Town seated on the Tay but in the middle of the kingdom walled and replenished with an industrious people the chief Town of the Sheriffdom of Perth 9 Scone on the further side of the Tay adorned heretofore with a famous Monastery the usuall place for the Inauguration of the Scotish Kings the fatall stone on which they did receive their Crown the Palladium of the Scotish Kingdom here kept till the removall of it unto Westminster by King Edward the first Vpon which stone there were of old ingraven these Verses Ni fallat fatum Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem Translated in old Meeter thus The Scots shall brook that Realm as natif ground If Weirds fail not whaire ere this Stane is found Most happily accomplished in the Succession of King James the sixt to the Crown of England 10. Dunbritton Bâ—itannodunum in the Latine seated in a grassie Plain at the fall or influx of the River Levin into the Cluyd upon two steep and precipicious Rocks flanked on the West with the said two Rivers and on the East with a myerie Flat drowned at every full Sea the strongest Hold of all the Kingdom and thought to be impregnable but by Famine or Treason and the chief Town of the West side of Scotland the name hereof communicated to the Fryth adâ—oyning The Antient Inhabitants of this Countrie dwelling within the limits of the Roman Province were the Gadeni possessing Tevidale Twedale Merch and Lothien whose chief Citie was Castra Alala now Edenburgh 2 the Damnii dwelling in Cluydsdale Lennox Sâ—erling and Menteith whose chief Citie was Vanduara now Renfraw Lindum now Linlithquo 3 the Sâ—lgovae inhabiting in Iadd sdale Eusâ—dale Eskdale Annandale and Niddisdale whose chief place was Carbantorigum now Caer-Laverocâ— and 4 the Novantes conteining Galloway Carriâ—k Kyle and Cunningham principall places of the which were Leucopibia now Whit-herne and Reâ—igoâ—um now Bargenic Without the Province amongst the Picts or barbarous Britans divided generally into Caleaonii and Meatae the Nations of most note were 5 the Caledonii properly so called taking up all Strathern Argile Cantire Albanie Lorn Perth Angus and Fife 6 the Vermines of Mernis and Mar. 7 the Talzali of Buquhan 8 the Vacomagi of Loqbuabre and Murray 9 the Cantae of Ross and Sutherland 10 the Cantini of Cathness and 11 the Cornubii of Sâ—rathnavern the furthest Countrey Northward of all the Iland Chief Towns of which were Tamia Banatia Orea Devana and Tuesis which we know not where to find upon any certainty The fortunes of this people as they related to the Romans hath been shewn before On the withdrawing of whose Forces so much hereof as formerly had belonged to that Empire was possessed by the Saxons the residue thereof as formerly by the Scots and Picts save that the Saxons not content with that which the Romans held made themselves masters also of the plain Countries lying on the German Ocean to which the passage out of Germany was both short and easie By which accompt besides those places in the East they were possessed of the Counties or Sheriffdoms of Teifidile weedale March Lothien Liddisdale Eusedale Eskdale Annandale Nâ—disdale Cluydsdale Galloway Carick Kyle Cunningham Lennox and Sterling being the richest and most flourishing part of the modern Scotland The Scots for their part had the Counties of Cantire Argile Braid Albin or Albaâ—ie Lorâ— Lâ—quhabre and Strathnavern lying on the West and North the other Northern moyite excepting some parts neer the coast of the German Ocean possessed by the Saxons conteining the now Counties of Catness Sutherland Ross Murray Buqâ—hâ—n Marre Mern Anguis Athol Perth Fife Strathern and Menteâ—th being only left unto the Picts From whence the Saxons and Scots came into these parts hath been shewn already And for the Picts to omit here the refutation of those who will have them to descend from the Agathyrsi a People of Scythia they were no other than such of the naturall Britans as never were brought under the Râ—man Empire but still preserved their Countrie in its former Libertie called therefore by Tâ—rtulliâ—n inaccessa Romanis loca as indeed they were and using still their antient custom of painting their bodies after the rest of their Countriemen had conformed themselves to more civill courses were by the Romans called Picti and by that name first mentioned in the Panegyrick of Eunomius in the time of Constantine the Great They long possessed these parts without any In-mate even till the yeer 424. when the Irish-Scots wanting room at home and having formerly possessed themselves of the Western Isles first set foot in Britain with whom they had continuall Warre till in the end the Scots prevailing compelled the Picts to abandon to them the Western parts and withdraw themselves into the Eastern Afterwards growing into better terms with one another and willing to enlarge their borders towards the more flourishing South they contracted an Offensive and Defensive League against the Britaus whom on all sides they most miserably tortured till vanquished and beat back by the conquering Saxons against whom they contracted a new Confederacy Taking the advantage of the death of Etheldred King of the Northumbers and the invasion of the Danes on the rest of England they got into their hands all Bernicuâ—a or so much of the Kingdom of the Northumbrians as lay on the North of Twede and Solway reckoned from that time forwards as a part of their Dominions But this good neighbourhood held not long betwixt these two Nations It hapned at the last that Achaius King of the Scots maried Fergusia Sister unto Hungust King of the Picts and had by her a Sonne called Alpine who after the death of Hungust dying without issue and having none of a neerer kindred was in the judgement of the Scots to succeed in that Kingdom But the Picts alleging
County of Burgundie As for the Forrests of this Countrey besides those spoken of already that of most note was the Forrest of Hercinia of which all the rest were but limbs or branches the beginning whereof was about the borders of Switzerland and Alsatia from thence running Eastward along the course of the Danow unto Transilvania and thence declining on the left hand through the vast Countries of the Lituanians Moscovites and Russes in which last there are still many vast deserts of it the greatest part thereof in Germanie being long since consumed in place whereof are many goodly cornfields and wel-built Cities A wood so formidable to the Romans that they durst never venture to search the end of it the length thereof after the end of sixty daies journey being undiscoverable and the further search into it quite laid aside These Boundaries and Landmarks being thus described we shall the better follow the Chorographie of this great continent according to the severall Principalities and Estates therein having first taken a survey of the ancient condition of it with so much of the story as concerns the whole before it came to be divided into so many hands The Countrey first planted by the posterity of Gomer who descending from the Mountains of Albania their first seat in memory thereof first called Gomerini after Cimmerini by which name known to Pliny Ptolemy and others of the ancient writers removed into the more fruitfull plains of Phrygia and there built the City Cimmeris which Pliny speaks of But that small Province proving of too narow a compasse to contain his Off-spring and the adjoyning Countries being taken up in the former Plantations they removed unto the Northwest of the Euxine sea where we finde a City of their building called Cimmerium mentioned both by Pliny and Strabo and the adjoyning straight or Fretum called by the name of Bosphorus Cimmerius by the Greeks and Latins Driven from these dwellings by the more powerfull Scythians they spread themselves into the West where they began to be called Cimbri and by that name and under those of the Ambrones and Teutones severall branches of them intended an invasion and conquest both of Gaul and Italy wherein they had prevailed in all probability nisi isti seculo Marius contigisset had not Marius hapned to have lived in that Age by whom discomfitted and destroyed That these Gomerians or Cimbre were the first inhabitants of Gaul Germany and all the nations of the North and West of Europe is generally agreed upon by all the learned divided into severall nations and those also subdivided into lesser tribes and more obscure families amongst which those of Teutones or Tuiscones from which the Dutch do so affect to derive themselves might be some of the principall there setled and not well pleased with that desert dwelling such of them as dwelt nearest to the Rhene passed over that River and beating the Gauls further up into the Countrey possessed themselves of their dwellings enjoying them till conquered by Julius Caesar without any Rivall But Caesar moved with the complaints of the Gauls and the insolencies of Ariovistus a king of the Germans for by that name for the Reasons aforesaid the Romans called them marched into their Quarters the Roman Legionaries being so affraid of this dreadfull Enemy ut testamenta passim in principiis scriberntur saith the Historian that many of them made their testaments at the Gates of their Camp before they fell upon the Enemy Vanquished by Caesar and Ariovistus being fled over the Rhene the Romans by command of their Generall made a bridge over the River and rather terrified then conquered the neighbouring Germans more fully brought into subjection by Drusus the adopted son of Augustus Caesar from thence called Germanicus by whom the Rhoeti and Norici then lying out of the bounds of Germany now included in it were subdued also So that the whole conquests of the Romans upon this Countrey as it is now bound contained no more then the Provinces of Germania and Belgica prima with part of Germania Secunda belonging unto the Diocese of Gaule the greatest part of the two Rhoetia's being under the Diocese of Italy Noricum Mediterraneum and Ripense with some part of Pennonia parts of the Diocese of Illyricum none of them lying within the bounds of the ancient Germanie For the Germans did not endure the yoke so long as to be brought within the number of the Roman Provinces Provoked with the lust and insolencies of Quintilius Varus who succeeded Drusus in that charge they set upon him under the conduct of Arminius a chief Prince amongst them kill him and utterly cut off three Legions After which defeat Augustus laid aside the affairs of Germany confining his Empire within the Rhene which Drusus had extended to the banks of the Ocean Hac claede factum ut imperium quod in littore Oceani non steterat in ripa Rheni fluminis staret saith the Historian Nor did the Romans only forbear to revenge this losse by making a new war upon them but seemed more carefull to defend themselves against their invasions then to incurre the hazard of a new defeat quartering eight Legions with their severall wings and Aides on the shores of the Rhene and four upon the Banks of the Danow to keep these people from incroaching on the Romans Provinces But the fatall period of that Empire drawing on apace the French Burgundians Almans and other Dutch nations break through those Guards dispossesse the Romans of all Gaul Rhoetia and Noricum which they share amongst them till in the end the French prevailing over the rest extend their Empire over all the modern Germanie chiefly performed by the valour of Charles the Great created Emperour of the West by the people of Rome and crowned with the Imperiall Crown by Pope Leo the 4. on Christmasse-day anno 801. So that now the old Prophacie of the Druides concerning the removing of the Empire into the West came to be accomplished though Tacitus in his time accounted it for a vain and idle prediction For when Civilis raised a Rebellion amongst the Batavi the Hollanders and parts adjoyning against Vespasian then newly made Emperour possessionem rerum humanarum Transalpinis gentibus portendi Druidae canebant the Druides prophecled of the translation of the Empire to the Transalpine nations Accomplished as before is said in the person of Charles the Great King of France and Germany by whom divided for the better ordering or Governance of it into West-France or West-reicts in the barbarous Latine of those times called Westrasia containing the modern France and so much of the Netherlands as lyeth on the French side of the River Maes and Osten-rich i. e. the Eastern Kingdome in the Latine of those times Austrasia containing so much of the modern Germany and Pannonia as was possessed by the French with the rest of the Netherlands this after subdivided into the Kingdomes of Lorrain and Germany whereof the first contained
of Asia were armed like the Indians but the Aethiops of Africa were arrayed with the skins of beasts Here then we have an Asian Aethiopia in the time of Herodotus the same acknowledged by Pausanias an old Greek writer and by Philostratus after him though they look for it in the wrong place the first amongst the Seres in the North of Asia the other on the River Ganges too much in the East Nor doth Aethicus one of the old Cosmographers published by Simlerus shoot more nâ—or the mark who speaking of the River Tigris faith that it buryeth it self and runneth under the ground in Aethiopia Which though Simler doth interpret of these parts of Arabia yet questionless that Author meaneth it of the Countreys about Mount Taurus where that River doth indeed run under ground and having passed under those vast mountains riseth up again But what need further search be made to find out the situation of this Aethiopia when it is bounded out so plainly in the holy Scriptures For when it is said of Zipporah the wife of Moses that she was an Aethiopian woman Num. 12. 1. who is well known to have been a native of this Countrey and when it is said in the 2 Chron. 21. 16. that the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistims and of the Arabians that were near the Aethiopians it must needs be that the Aethiopia there spoken of must be conterminous to the rest of Arabia and be intended of that Countrey wherein Madian was So where God threatneth by the mouth of the Prophet Exekiel that he would lay wast the land of Egypt from the Tower of Syene even unto the borders of Aethiopia chap. 29. 10. that is to say from one end thereof unto the other it followeth necessarily that Aethiopia there meant must be this part of Arabia or the Land of Chus as the bound of Egypt most remote from the tower of Syene which all Geographers acknowledge to be in the extreme South parts thereof towards the Cataracts of Nilus For to expound it as some do of Aethiopia in Africk on the borders whereof Syene stood and stood so indifferently betwixt it and Egypt that Stephanus an antient Writer makes it very doubtfull to which of the two it did belong were to make the Scripture speak plain non-sence as plain as if a man should say that the French comquered all the Netherlands from Graveling to Flanders or that the sword hath ranged over all England from Barwick to Scotland As then we have found this Aethiopia of the old Testament to be neer the Philistims on the one side and the Land of Egypt on the other so may we find it to be bounded also on the East with Babylonia or Chaldoea the River Gihon which is said to compass the whole Land of Aethiopia or the land of Chus Gen. 2. 13. being no other than a branch of the River Euphrates which falleth into the Lakes of Chaldoea So that the translation of the Septuagint in reading Chusit is or the land of Chus by Ethiopia needs no such alteration or emendation as some men suppose The mistakes whereof there have been many which arise from hence not being to be charged on them or on their translation but on the ignorance of the Reader or errour of such Expositors who dreaming of no other AEthiopia than of that in Africk have made the Scriptures speak such things as it never meant and carried these Chusites into the African Ethiopia where they never were And yet perhaps it may be said that this posterity of Chus being streitned in their own possessions or willing to seek new adventures might have crossed over the Red-Sea or Gulf of Arabia being but seven miles broad where narrowest and mingling with the Sons of Ludim on the other side might either give the name of Aethiopians to them or receive it from them Now to go forwards with the story the first great action atributed to these Cbusites or Arabian Aethops incorporated with the rest of those mingled Nations is the expedition of Zerah the King hereof against Asa King of Judah drawing after him an Army of a million and three hundred Chariots of war the greatest Army ever read of in unquestioned story but for all that discomfited by the Lord of hosts on the praiers of Asa and all the spoyl of that huge Army carried to Hierusalem After this Tirrakth another of these Aethiopian Kings finding how dangerous the great growth of the Assyrian Kingdome might prove unto him prepared a puissant Army against Senacherib then besieging Libna threatning the conquest of all Judah and invading Egypt upon the news of whose approach Senacherib's forces which were even upon the gaining of Pelusium the Gate of Egypt were fain to dislodge and provide for their safety For though Herodotus call Senacherib King of Arabia and Assyria yet was he Master onely of those parts of Arabia which had been formerly possessed by the Kings of Israel being no more than some few Cities of Petraea bordering next unto them or perhaps called so onely in respect of those parts of Syria and Mesopotamia which were sometimes comprehended under the name of Arabia as before is said What part they after took in the great war betwixt Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh Necho King of Egypt is not hard to say For that besides the same reasons of state obliging them to side with the Egyptian were stil in force their giving Necho leave to pass thorow their Countrey with his Army to invade the Babylonian on the banks of Euphrates make that plain enough Now that both Tirr akah and Zerah were Kings of this Asian and not of the African Aethiopia is most clear and evident partly in regard the Kings 〈◊〉 Egypt would never suffer such huge Armies to pass thprow the whole length of their Dominions but principally because it is said in the holy Scriptures that Asa having overthrown that vast Army of Zerah smote all the Cities about Gezar which formerly had belonged unto the Philistims but were then possessed by these Chusites and their Associates After this either as Confederates or subjects we find them aiding unto Xeâ—xes in his war on Greece and like enough it was that in Alexanders march from Egypt towards Persia they submitted to him as did all the other Countries thorow which he passed He being dead Antigonus one of his great Commanders sent Athenaeus with an Army to bring them in who being trained into an ambush was discomfited by them Demetrius the Sonne of Antigonus thinking that he had done enough in revenge of that overthrow by compelling them to sue for peace In the time of the Seleucian race in Syria we find them governed by Kings of their own most of them called by the name of Aretas of which one was of special note in the declining forrunes of the Seleucidans for bidding very fair for the Crown of that Countrey another mentioned by Saint Paul 2 Cor. 11. 32. as Lord of
nor the sonne of Julius But leaving Joseph to the singularity of his own conceits we find nothing done by the Assyrians or Chalaeans after this subjection which might denote them to have been once the Lords of so great an Empire Successively inslaved by the Medes Persians and Macedonians then by the Persians again afterwards by the Saracens next by the Turks a third time by the Persians once again by the Turks of the Ottoman Family unto whom now subject never endeavouring to assert in the way of war or opposition either their antient reputation or their native liberties but suffering themselves to be won lost fought for and again recovered by their quarrelsome Masters as if they had no title to their own Countrey but were born to follow the fortunes of all pretenders The reason of which is principally to be ascribed to the form of Government used amongst the Persians which was so Despoticall and absolute if not tyrannicall that they held all the people conquered by them in the nature of slaves not suffering any to grow great in a state of inheritance or to enjoy any place of power and profit under them in the conquered Provinces but at the pleasure of the Prince as it is now used amongst the Turks of the Ottoman Empire By means whereof the great men having no alliances amongst themselves and as few dependants amongst the people were never able to take head against the Conqueror but in the fall of the present Prince fell together with him it being a good rule of Machiavet that where the antient Nobility is in good regard linked in alliances with themselves and well respected by the common and inferiour people there it is difficult for the Invader though a Conqueror to win a Countrey and harder to keep it being conquered But on the other side where Nobility is quite worn out the Prince doth hold his Subjects in the nature of slaves there both the Conquest will be easie and soon assured For to what purpose should the Subjects resist the Conqueror or stand any longer to their King than he stands to himself when they are sure the Conqueror can lay upon them no heavyer burdens than they were accustomed to before and have withal a flattering hope that their new Masters may be gentler to them than their former were It fares with them no otherwise than with Aesops Ass which refused to make the opportunity of an escape from the hands of the enemie by which he was taken because he knew it was not possible they should lay more load upon his back than his old Master made him bear To which condition the Chaldeans and Assyrians being brought by the Persians and never accustomed to the tast of a better fortune have followed the same successes as the Persians did falling together with them from one hand to another the particular accompt of whose estate we shall find in Persia taking this onely for the close that when Solyman the Magnificent had discomfited Tamas King of Persia and taken the great City of Bagdat Caramit Merdin and the rest both in Assyria Chaldaea and Mesopotamia submitted to him without any resistance and received his Garrisons And for a confirmation of his estate he received at the hand of the Caliph of Babylon who by an old Prerogative had the nomination or confirmation at the least of the Kings of Assyria and the Sultans of Aegypt the Royall Ornaments and Ensignes Anno 1534. incorporating by that means those Regions into his estates and making them Provinces of his Empire in which he left a Beglerbeg at Bagdat to command in chief and divers Sanziacks in their severall and respective Provinces And though the Persian Kings have since taken and are still possessed of some places of importance in them yet I account them in regard of the said investiture and the long possession following on it for Provinces of the Turkish Empire as I do Media of the Persian though Tauris and some other peeces of it be possessed by the Turks OF MOUNT-TAURUS MOVNT-TAVRVS is a constant and continuall Ridge of hils which extend from the Mediterranean to the Indian Seas running thorow the whole length of Asia from West to East and dividing it as the Aequator doth the Globe into North and South It was called Taurus from the word Tur or Taur which in the Syriack and Chaldaean signifieth a mountain the common name of all high mountains being made peculiar unto this by reason of its greatness and continued length yet so that it had other names also in some parts thereof according to the Regions and Nations by which it passed and on which it bordered The course where of is thus set down by Sir Walter Ralegh premising onely that it beginneth in the Province of Lycia a Region of Asia Minor neer the Mediterranean These Mountains saith he which sunder Cilicia from the rest of Asia the less on the North thereof are called Taurus and where they part it from Comagena a Province of Syria they are called Amanus On the East side of the River Euphrates which forceth it self a way thorow it it sometimes resumeth the name of Taurus as in Ptolomies three first Tables of Asia and sometimes taketh the name of Niphates as in the fourth retaining that uncertain appellation so long as they bound Armenia from Mesopotamia After the River Tigris hath also cut them asunder they continue the name of Niphates altogether untill they separate Assyria and Media but then they call themselves Coatras although between the upper and lower Media they appear not alwaies but are seen discontinued and broke in pieces such parts of it as are found in the midle of that Countrey being called Orontes those which lie more towards the East being named Coronus out of the Southern parts whereof issueth the River of Bagradus which divideth the antient Persia from Caramania Continuing further East-ward by the name of Coronus they give unto the Parthians and Hyrcanians their proper Countries and afterwards change themselves into the Mountains of Seripht out of which riseth the River Margus And now beginning to draw towards the end of their course they first make themselves the South border of Bactria and are then known by the name of Paropamisns and after take unto themselves the name of Caucasus where the famous Rivers Indus Hydaspis and Zaradrus have their first beginnings In this point do they hold their heads exceeding high to equal the Mountains of Imaus whom they encounter within the 35 36. 37. Degrees of Latitude and the 140 Degree of Longitude known by no other name than this till finally they terminate their course in the Indian Seas So farre and to this purpose that noble Gentleman It may be added hereunto that though the antient Writers could trace the course of this Mountain no further than the meeting of it with Imaus yet later observations follow it to the wall of China the parts beyond Caucasus being now known by the
art of tillage to which this Vitey having found out the way of cutting or sawing timber added the use of Ships and Houses and many other the effects of mechanicall hands Having by the valour of Lincheon one of his Commanders subdued a great part of the Countrey he drew them into Towns and villages distributed them into Offices and severall trades disposing those of the same trade into Streets by themselves and commanding that no man without leave from himself or his Officers should follow any other trade than that of his Father He prescribed them also the fashion of their Garments taught them the art of making and dying Silks and having reigned an hundred years left the Kingdome well established unto his posterity Of this race there are said to have been 217 Kings who held the State 2257 years The last of them was that Tzaintzon who being ill-neighbored by the Scythians not yet called Tartars built that vast wall spoken of before extended 400 Leagues in length and at the end of every League a strong Rampart or Bulwark continual'y garrisoned and well furnished with all warlike necessaries He being slain by some of his Subjects burdned and wasted with this work the race of Vitey ended and that of Anchosan succeeded a Prince of much prudence but greater courage In his line it continued under 25 Kings but shrewdly shaken towards the close by a civil war betwixt Trunthey the 23 of this house and his Nephew Laupy Hardly well settled under Quiontey the last of this house when Tzobu a great Tyrant of the other faction set upon him and slew him And so the majesty of the blood-roâ—all being trod under foot the Crown was also tossed from one hand to another and made a prey unto the strongest there being of the race of this Tzobu eight Kings reigning 62 years Of the race of Dian five Kings who reigned thirty one Of the race of Tzoy three onely who reigned thirty seven Of the race of Tencâ— one and twenty who held the Crown 294 years and eight there were who reigned 120 years of the house of Tautzom Of other upstart families to the number of five were fourteen Kings also who governed onely for the space of 66 years And then one Zaitzon deriving himself from Vifey the first King of this Countrey obtained the Kingdome which he and seventeen of his posterity for the space of 320 years governed with much peace and honour Forfar the last King of that Royall Family foretold by prophecy that he should be deprived of his Kingdome by one who had an hundred eyes neglected the Advertisement as unworthy credit but it fell out agreeable to that prediction when vanquished by Châ—â—â—-baan which word signifieth an hundred eyes Lieutenant unto Vzan a Tartarian Prince but Feudatarie and Vassal to the Great Cham. China thus made a Province of the Tartarians was governed for the space of 93 years under nine Tartar-Kings Tributaries to the Great Cham and when it did revolt in the daies of Gino-Cham the fourth from â—ingis it was reduced again by the valour of Tamerlâ—e For though Hombu or Combu the new elected King of China having expelled the Tartars and repaired the breaches of the wall by them thrown down had brought into the field an Army of 350000 horse and foot yet nothing could withstand the fortune of Tamerlane who obtained the victory with the slaughter of 60000 Chinois But wisely moderating his prosperity he thought it the best and safest way to let that Nation have a King of their own imposing on him the fine of 300000 Crowns of ready money and such other conditions as were most pleasing to the victor and yet not destructive to the vanquished Before this time the Chinois were possessed of a great part of that Countrey which we now call by the name of Cathay which lying without the wall of China was taken from them by Tamerlane and made by him part of the Empire of Tartary Which possibly might be the reason part of Caâ—hay being antiently a member of the Kingdome of China and still retaining somewhat of their customs and ingenuity that by some writers easily misguided by such probability Cathay and China have been reckoned to be one and the same Nor did the Empire of the Chinois extend in those times onely over part of Sâ—ythia but also over part of India and most of the Oriental Ilands But the Princes of the house of Hombu finding their own Kingdome large enough to content their desires abandoned all the Accessories and Out-parts of their Dominions prompted thereunto not onely by their own moderation but by some misfortunes which befell them For as we find that the Romans having by the fury of two violent tempests lost no fewer than 206 of their ships and gallies resolved to abandon and for a long time did forbear the Seas which had used them so unkindly So the Chinois having received a great overthrow and loss of 800 ships nigh unto Zeâ—lan they freed all the Ilands from obedience unto them and contented themselves with the bounds which nature had bestowed on them And of their moderation herein we have a late example For when the people of Corea a small Iland a butting on the confines of China were invaded by the Japonites they submitted themselves unto the King of China who having repulsed the enemy and thereby cleared his own Countrey from danger presently redelivers over unto the Coreans their Town and liberty A rare fact of a contented people Which whether it favoured of greater moderation or magnanimity I am not able to determine In this family hath the Realm continued under twelve Kings for the space of 200 years and upward reckoning from Hombu unto Boneg who being the twelfth of this line succeeded his elder brother unfortunately slain with a fall from an horse Reported for a Prince of good disposition great judgement and a severe Justiciary But whether still alive or who hath since succeeded if he be deceased I am yet unsatisfied though whosoever he be that now sits in the throne or at least pretends a right unto it he hath but little joy in this great estate the Tartars being called in to a bet some differences touching the succession who finding their advantages and the unwarlikeness of the People are said to have lately broken down the Partition-wall and let in infinite numbers of their Country-men and made themselves Masters in short time of the best parts of the Countrey In which estate it now standeth for ought I have heard unto the contrary The Government of this Kingdome is meerly tyrâ—â—â—icall there being no other Lord but the King no title of dignity or nobility ever known amongst them nor toll or duty paid unto any but to him the younger Princes of the blood being mantained by stipends and annuall pensions large enough to support their trains but without any Lands or Tenants for fear of drawing on them any great dependances The King alone is the generall
inhabiting for the most part in that large tract of ground which beginning at the outlets of Indâ—â—s and Ganges stretcheth unto the Cape or Promontory called Cape Comari The points wherein they differed from the Church of Rome 1. Their administring the Sacrament of the Eucharist in bread seasoned with salt 2. Administring in both kinds but using instead of wine which is scatce or not at all to be had in this Countrie the juice of raisins softnâ—d in water over night and so pressed forth 3. Not baptizing children untill 40 dayes old xcept it be in danger of death 4. Permitting no Images in their Churches but that of the Cross 5. Allowing one mariage to their Priests but debaring the second 6. In painting God with three heads on one body to denote the Trinity 7. Denying the use of extreme Vnction and 8. Not acknowledging the Popes Supremacie And in this State they stood till the year 1599 when by the sollicitation of the Portugals they renounced their obedience to the Paâ—riarch of Musall and submitted their Churches to the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome in a National Synod held at Diamper not farre from Maliapar by the Arch-bishop of Goa the Primate of the Portugals in those parts not onely rejecting all opinions contrary to the Romish Tenets but delivering all their Books and Liturgies to be altered and reformed by the said Arch-bishop according to the Rites and doctrines of the Church of Rome which was done accordingly But these comparatively to the rest come not to an handfull the main body of the People wallowing in their Gentilism and still retaining many of those antient Customes which they used of old as viz. 1. Not knowing their wives after they have born them two children 2. Nor keeping them if after five years â—â—habitation they can raise no issue by them but then exchanging them for others 3. Rewarding none for any military exploit if they bring not with them in their hands the head of an enemy 4. Killing their Friends before they were withered or decaied by Age or sickness To these they have since added others of a later invention perhaps more barbarous of which we may have opportunity to speak anon Their Priests or learned men in the time of old were called Brachmanes from one Brachman the prescriber of their Rites and Laws by whom instructed in the Rudiments of their Philosophy a Sect of which from their going naked had the name of Gymnosophists who were to them as the Chaldaei to the Assyrians the Magi to the Persians and the Druides to the antient Britans Had in great Reverence by the People and living for the most part an austere and solitary life in Caves and Desarts feeding on herbs poorly apparelled and for a time abstaining from all carnall pleasures but that time past they may indulge themselves more liberty and admit the company of women Others of them live together with the common-people as being their ordinary Priests Of these the great Alexander when he was in this Countrey surprized ten one of them called by the name of Calanus with whom he had a great deal of communication propounding to him many strange questions and receiving back to many of them as himself confessed some not unsatisfying though strange answers To these Gymnosophists or Brachmans the Bramines do now succeed both in place and authority but differ from them most extremely in point of learning and the civilities of their lives these Bramines being the most impure libidinous and sensuall beasts in all the Countrey privileged with the first nights lodging of every Bride which when sated with their filthy lust they sell or trafick with to strangers serving as Stallions to old men and as Pandars to young so flesh'd in wickedness and ignorant of all good letters that they have nothing of a man but the voice and shape Mahometanism is also entertained in a great part of the Countrey first brought in by the Tartars and neighbouring Persians unto whom conterâ—â—nous but much increased by the victories of the Great Mongul who being originally a Tartar and of that Religion hath caused it to be propagated in most parts of his large dominions Mountains of most note in it besides Caucasus and some other of the branches of Taurus or Araraâ— common to this and the Tartarian and Persian Empires 1. Sardonix full of mines of those precious stones which are called after the name of the Mountain 2. Vindius 3. Bittigo 4. Adisathras 5. Those called Apocopi and 6. Those named Orodii And on the further side of Ganges 7. Seâ—yrrus 8. Maeandrus 9. Those called Damusi and 10. Semanthinus part of this last extending also unto China All of them very fruitfull in the production of mines and Rivers as will appear by looking over the particulars when we come unto them But the Mountain of Chief note of all is that which Ptolomy calleth Bitigo and is now named Gates the Southern part of the great Mountain Imaus spoken of before extended from Mount Caucasus where it crosseth the Taurus in right Angels to Cape Comari a known Promontory of Industan or the Hither India which it divideth into East and West for the space of 400 leagues and upwards Conceived by Postellus a learned Writer to be that Mount Sephar mention whereof is made in the 10th of Genesis where it is said to be the utmost Eastern limit of the Sonnes of Joktan Gen. 10. v. 30. With probability enough for ought I can see the sonnes of Joktan being settled in these parts of India and the Provinces of the Persian Empire which lie neerest to them And so farre Stephanus doth concurre with Postell as to affirm of this Mount Sephar that it is Mons Indiae an Indian Mountain both of them grounding on Saint Hierom who expressly saith Sopheramons Orientis in India juxta quem habitaverunt filii Jectam i. e. that Sephar or Sopher is the name of a Mountain of the East in India neer to which dwelt the sonnes of Jocktan More probably without doubt than that we should transfer it into Amercia as I see some do and make it there to be the great Mountain of the Andes which runneth the whole length of Peru from one end to the other and thence as some will have it to the Streights of Magellan Which should we grant we must not look for Joktan or the sons of Joktan either in Arabia Felix where Bochartus placeth them nor in the Eastern parts of Asia where most probably they may be found but we must cross the vast Orientall Ocean and look for them in a place where they never were besides that granting this for true we must allow America to have been known in the time of Moses which no Author that I ever met with did so much as dream of Rivers of most note are 1. Indus which ariseth out of that part of Taurus which the Antients called Paropamisus the Moderns Naugrocot and having received into it 19 other Rivers after
Southwards in the Latitude of 28. But what it loseth in Antiquity it hath got in honor the Town and Territory being a peculiar Kingdome till Echebar the Mogul subdued it Anno 1598 in his passage from Lahor to Decan But it lost nothing by the hand For Echebar delighted in the situation of it and that withall it stood in the middest of his Kingdomes made it the Seat Royall of his Empire fixt there for the most part ever since by means whereof exceedingly increased in wealth beauty and greatness the very Castle in which the Mogul usually resideth being two miles in compass environed with most high and unscalable walls and fortified with great store of Ordinance The whole space betwixt it and Fatipore being 18. miles affirmed to be a continuall Market and all the Intervall from hence to the Town of Lahor from which distant 600 miles towards the South adorned with continuall Rowes of Trees on both sides of the wayes most of them bearing a kind of Mulberâ—y and at every ten miles end houses erected by the King or some of the Nobles for beautifying the way to the Regall City preserving their own memory and the safe lodging of Passengers in danger otherwise by night of Theeves and Cut-throats 3. Hendee a Town more towards the South beautified with a fair Castle of the Kings cut out of the main Rock and wrought with carved work round about fortified with 50 peeces of Ordinance and thought impregnable for that cause made a Prison for great persons Here are also two Hospitals for such Captains and Captains only as are maimed in the wars 4. Beani twelve course or 18. miles from Fattipore the most noted place for Indico in all the Indies for the making whereof they have here twelve mills Which Indico by the way groweth on a small shrub like our Goose-berry-bushes bearing seed like a Cabbage-seed which being cut down are laid in heaps for half a year and when rotten brought into a vault to be trodden with Oxen from the Stalks and being ground small and fine at the Mills is last of all boiled in furnaces refined and sorted 6 SANGA SANGA is bounded on the North with the East parts of the Realm of Agra on the South and West with Cambaia from which parted on the West by the Mountain Gate and on the East with Oristan The reason of the name I find not this Country being too far South to be so called from Sangalassa a Town of chief note neer the fountains of Indus where placed by Arianus lib. 5. Places of most importance in it 1. Azmere or Agimer 180 miles from Agra At the end of every course each course a mile and an half a fair pillar erected and at every tenth course a fair Seraglio such as we call Innes for the entertainment of Travellors All built by Echebar who wanting Children is said to have gone in Pilgrimage on foot from Arra to Azimere saying his prayers at the end of every course and lodging all night at the tenth 2. Citor the chief City of Sanga and once a Kingdome of it self or the chief of that Kingdome Situate in the midle way betwixt Surat a known Port of Cambata and Agra spoken of before and most magnificently built on the top of a rocky hill to which the passage is so narrow and so well fortified there being in it three Gates at the top the middle and the bottom that thereby and by other advantages of Art and nature it was thought impregnable Affirmed to he 12 miles in compass beautified with many goodly buildings both publique and private but once more glorious than it is here being to be seen the ruins of 100 Temples and above 100000 houses either demolished by the wars or suffered to decay by the great Moguls who would not willingly have any thing in the Indies of more Antiquity than themselves and therefore are rather inclined to build new Cities than uphold the old The greatness and Antiquity of it have made some men think that it was the Royall Seat of Porus. Others affirm the same of Delly but neither rightly the Kingdome of Porus lying more towards the River Indus and not so far South Governed not long since by a Queen called Crementina not more fair than valiant who revolting from Badurius King of Cambaia to whom she formerly had paid tribute was dispossessed of the Town of Citor where she had fortified her self with 30000. foot and 2000 horse the People in a desperate resolution laying all their treasures on an heap which they burnt together with themselves in which flame it is said that there perished 70000 persons But the Cambatan did not long enjoy his victory For not long after both the City and a great part of the Countrey was conquered by the great Mogul the mountainous parts hereof being held against him by Ramee the Sonne or successor of Qu. Crementina till seeing himself destitute of all better helps he put himself into the hands of one of the Sonnes of the late Sultan by whom reconciled unto his Father Some other Towns there are in this Province and in that of Agra before mentioned and those of good esteem perhaps amongst the natives but of no observation or importance in the course of business 7 CAMBAIA CAMBAIA hath on the East Delly and part of Mandao on the West Gedrosia a Province of the Persian Empire on the North Dulsinda and the rest of Mandao on the South the main Ocean and some part of Decan It lieth on both sides of the Indus and is so called from Cambaia the chief Province of it The whole divided into 1. Sinda 2. Guzarate and 3. Cambaia specially so called 1. SINDA hath on the East the River Indus by which separated from Mandao on the North that part of Sanga which is called Dulsinda on the West parts of Gedrosia and Guzarate and on the South the rest of Guzarate onely coasting along the Western banks of the River Indus whence it had the name that River being now called Sind as was said before And for this reason as I take it the Western part of Sanga lying North of this took the name of Dulsinda and not Dulcinda with a C as most commonly written The Country for the generality very rich and fertile but in some places nothing but a sandy Desart inhabited for the most part by wild Asses Foxes Deer and some wilder beasts but none so wild as the Caelies a robbing nation so numerous withall that they sometimes rob whole Caravans as they pass that way notwithstanding the many Forts and Castles built of purpose to secure those passages Places of most importance in it 1. Tutta or Gutu Nagar Tutta on the banks of Indus a Town of great trade but most frequented by the Portugals who here receive such Indian commodities as come down the water from Labor returning Pepper in exchange which they bring up the River from their other Factories 2. Lawribander at the mouth or out-let
of Cattel The chief City of it called Amara by the name of the Province situate in the midst of the Empire and though not much distant from the Aequator if not plainly under it yet blessed with such a temperate air such a fruitful soyl such ravishing pleasures of all sorts that some have taken but mistaken it for the place of Paradise So strangely Heaven Earth Nature and Humane industry have joyned their helps together to enrich and beautifie it But that which is the greatest Ornament of this Province and indeed of the whole Empire of AEthiopia is the Mountain Amara situate in a large and delightful Plain the bottom of the Hill in circuit 90 miles and a dayes journey high the Rock so smooth and even but lesser and lesser towards the top that no wall can be more evenly polished the way up to it is cut out within the Rock through which are divers holes forced to let in the light so easie of ascent that one may ride up with great pleasure and in the midst of the Ascent a spacious Hall as it were to rest in the top it self is a large plain 20 leagues in circuit compassed with an high wall to the end that neither man nor beast fall down upon any chance beautified towards the South with a rising hill out of which issueth a sweet Spring which watering the several palaces and gardens of it uniteth it self into a Lake for the use of Cattel the Plain enriched with all sorts both of fruit and grain adorned with two magnificent Monasteries in each of which are founded 1500 Knights of the Order of S. Anthony a Religious Militia and honoured with 34 Palaces in which the younger sons of the Emperour are continually inclosed to avoid sedition they enjoy there whatsoever is fit for delight or Princely education and from hence some one of them who is most hopeful or best liked is again brought out if the Emperor die sonless to be made successor This mountain hath but one ascent up as before was said which is impregnably fortified and was destinate to this use Anno 470 or thereabouts by the Emperor Abraham Philip advised hereunto as he gave out by an heavenly vision In one of these Palaces is a famous Library wherein are said to be many books which with us are either in part or totally lost as the Oracles of Enoch with the mysteries which escaped the flood being by him engraven on pillars the whole works of Livy and others Which being heretofore translated by the Saracens into the Arabick tongue when having plundered all the most famous Libraries of the East and West they burnt the Originals out of a plot to make that language as renowned and as generally studied as the Greek or Latine are said by some good fortune to be here preserved 5. DAMVT DAMVT hath on the North Amara on the West Bagamedrum on the South Goiamy and on the East the great Lake of Barcena and some part of Zanguebar one of the Provinces of Aethiopia Exterior The Country plentifully furnished with Gold Ginger Grapes Fruits and Living creatures of all sorts For none more famed then for their Slaves sold in great numbers into Arabia Egypt Persia India and much esteemed by them who buy them for their abilities in was dexterity in business but specially for their fidelity in all things which they undertake For this cause placed in Offices of great trust and power by many of the Eastern Princes who using a tyrannical Form of Government and not daring to trust the sword into the hands of their Subjects or to advance them unto places of Court or Counsell do for the most part arm these Slaves and trust them also with the conduct of their chief Affairs A trust in which they never falsified or failed in a true discharge but when presuming of their power and those Advantages which so great a trust and power had presented to them they got into their hands the Kingdom of Bengala and kept it many yeers in a succession of the Abassine Slaves wherewith they still made up their numbers till outed not long since by the Great Mongal The Oxen of this Country are said to be neer as great as Elephants their horns so large that they serve as Tankards to carry and as Barrels to keep either wine or water Here is also said to be a kinde of Unicorn very fierce and wilde fashioned like an horse but no bigger then an Ass but we must think these Unicorns to be but Rhinocerots or else we shall very much mistake the truth of the matter And for the People to go them both over once again they are for the most part Gentiles some Christians intermixt amongst them who have sundry Monasteries To this Kingdom belongeth the Principality of Couche said to have more Gold in it then all Peru a Mountain all of Gold if the Friers say true The People Gentiles but the Prince not long since gained to the Christian â—aith into which he was baptized by the Abbot or chief Governour of the Monasteries on the hill Amara Gradeus the Emperour being his Godfather by whom named Andrew And here they have an hill of great height and very difficult ascent from the top whereof they use to cast headlong such of the Nobility as by the Emperours sentence are condemned to die What Towns they have either in that Kingdom or this Principality I am not able to resolve unless 1 Damut and 2 Couche may be two and the two most eminent as giving name to those estates 6. GOIAMY GOIAMY hath on the North Damut on the West Bagamedrum on the South and East some Provinces of the other Aethiopia The Country in the North parts full of Desarts and Rockie Mountains in the residue plentifully furnished with all things necessary Great store of Gold they finde but drossie the people not knowing how to refine and purifie it or loth here as in other places of this Empire to take pains that way for fear of drawing in the Turks and Arabians to partake of the booty It containeth in it many Rivers or rather Torrents which come tumbling down the hills with a mighty violence and a terrible fall making a noise not much inferiour to a clap of thunder and amongst other Lakes two of special note which for their greatness seem to be Seas in which as some report Mermaids and Tritons or Men-fishes use to shew themselves and out of which it is thought by others that the Fountains of Nilus do arise and both true alike But past all doubt the Abassines themselves are of this opinion and therefore in the stile of the Negaz so they call their Emperour he is termed King of Goiamy with this addition In which are found the Fountains of Nilus Deceived alike in their opinion touching this particular the Springs or Fountains of that River being further South though possibly having lost himself in these vast Lakes and issuing hence into a more
and a great number of poor Children which they daily feed besides the Tythes of all the Mountain in which it standeth fruitful and rich and at least 30 miles in compass they have many good Farms at the foot of the said Mountain and an hundred small Villages appertaining to them out of which they raise yeerly great provision of Corn and above 2000 head of Catteil their Revenues out of Tigremaon being reckoned in A Revenne able to maintain them and their Hospitality in regard their Novices or young Monks are sent abroad to earn their living or to manure their Lands and attend the husbandrie of the house the elder onely being found at the charge of the Monastery though all alike bound to the performance of Religious Offices 5 Erocco another noted Port on the Red Sea or Bay of Arabia to which a passage openeth thorow the Streits of the Mountains as it doth to Suachen conceived to be the Adulis of Ptolomy the Aduliton of Pliny Now in possession of the Turks or at their command 6 Santar 7 Giabel 8 Laccari and 9 Abarach these four last in the Province of Dafila This Country at the present and for long time past is subject both to the Great Neguz or the Frestegian of Aethiopia and the Grand-Signeur of the Turks naturally subject to the one and tributary to the other Governed by a King of their own whom they call Barnagassus by the name of his Province a Vassal and Homager to the Aethiopian to whom he payeth the yearly tribute of 150 of the best breed of Horses besides some quantities of Silk and some other commodities but so ill neighboured by the Turks that he is fain to pay also to the Beglerbeg or Bassa a resident at Suachen 1000 Ounces of Gold yearly for a composition For the Turks having by the conquest of Egypt made themselves masters of those Countries towards Aethiopia which formerly were allied to or confederate with the Mamaluck Sultans within short time viz. An. 1558. possessed themselves also of the town of Suachen and the parts adjoyning made it the residence of one of their Beglerbegs or Bassa's and gave him the title of Beglerbeg of Abassia as before was said Forgot by the industrious Collector of the Turkish History in his enumeration of the Beglerbegs or Bassas of Africk To this they added not long after all the rest of the Sea coasts and the Port of Erocco and not content therewith after some short breathing made a further inrode in which they did so waste the Country that in the end they compelled the Barnagassian not being aided by the Neguz to this Composition 9. DANGALI 10. DOBAS SOuth and South east of Barnagasso lie the two Kingdoms of DANGALI and DOBAS that of Dangali bordering on the Red Sea the other more within the Land both of them held by the Mahometans or Arabian Moors both in continual enmity with the Abassine Emperors and both of like nature in regard of the soil and people DANGALI hath on the North Barnagasso on the South some part of the Kingdom of Adel on the East the Red-Sea or Gulf of Arabia on the West Dobas before mentioned It taketh upsome part of the Arabick Bay within the Streits of Babel-Mandel and without those Streits the greatest part of that spacious Bay which anciently was called Sinus Avaliticus as far as to the Promontory then called Mosylon neighboured by a noted Emporie of the same now the Cape of Docono neer unto which the Sea makes a little Gulf and suddenly streitneth it self again so as the Channel cannot be above ten or twelve leagues broad And in this Channel are five or six Ilands which hinder the passage so as Sailers must have good experience to avoid the Rocks which lie neer those Ilands Chief Towns hereof 1 Bebul or Babel which gives name to the Streits of Babel Mandel a narnow Frith opening out of the Bay of Arabia into the Aethiopian Ocean 2 Vella a well-frequented Port conceived to be the same which Strabo calleth Antiphila not found by that name in Ptolomy 3 Zagnani and 4 Zama in a Province of this Kingdom called Lacca 5 Docano neer the Cape so called and therefore probably the Mosylon of the antient Writers 6 Dangali not far from the Sea-side which gives name to the Kingdom Nothing else memorable of this Kingdom but that there are in it two great Lakes wherein live Crocodiles as in Nilus On the South-west of Dangali lieth the Realm of DOBAS extended on the West to the borders of Angote The Country large containing twelve or as some say 24 several Presectures Of so good Pasturage that the Kine hereof are of greater size then in other places and those for number not easily matched in all this Empire The people such professed Enemies of the Christian faith that they suffer not any man to marry till he hath killed twelve Christians Some reckon them for Tributaries to the Prete or Negus but it is only when they list so far from being Contributioners towards the support of his estate that they take from him what they can The chief of their towns 1 Doba which gives name to the whole kingdom 2 Bally upon the same River but more neer the head on which Dobas standeth 11. ADEL ADEL is bounded on the North with some parts of Dangali and the Red Sea on the South with Adea on the East with the Red-Sea and the Indian or Arabian Ocean on the West with Fatigar extended on the Sea coast from the Cape of Docono to the Cape of Guardasu conceived most probably to be the Ardmata of Ptolomy a noted Promontory in his time The Country plentiful of Flesh Hony Wax Corn Gold and Ivory great flocks of Sheep and many of those Sheep of such burdensom Fleeces that their tails weigh 25 pounds some Kine they have which have horns like a Stag others but one horn only and that in the forehead about a foot and an half long but bending backwards The People inhabiting on the Sea coasts are of Arabian parentage and of the Mahometan religion those towards the Inland Countries of the old Aethiopick race and wholly Gentiles Chief towns hereof 1 Zeila a noted Port town situate in or neer the place where Ptolomy placeth Avalites stored with variety of merchandise and yielding some representation of Antiquity in the building thereof being lime and stone materials not much used amongst them in these later times Of great both beauty and esteem till the year 1516. when sacked and burnt by the Portugals before that time the most noted Emporie of all Aethiopia for the Indian trade 2 Barbora seated on the same Sea-coast well frequented by Merchants and possibly may be the Mundi or Malao of Ptolomy neighboured by a lofty Promontory which they call Mount Fellez 3 Mette another of the Sea-towns neer the Cape of Guardafuni supposed to be the Acane of the Antient writers 4 Assam 5 Selir and 6 Bidar on the Sea-coasts
them that for a Shirt a Razor and a little Bell they sold fifteen Kine and then fell out among themselves who should have the Bell. The Town conveniently seated on a large and â—pacious Haven and fortified with a very strong Castle in the hands of the Portugals who in their going to the Indies and returning back use to call in here and fit themselves with all things necessary to pursue their voyage A Town of so great wealth and trading that the Captain of the Castle in the time of his Government which continueth only for three years is said to lay up 300000 Ducats for his Lawfull gains of the Gold that cometh from Sofala A gain so great that at the end of his three years he is to serve for three years more at some place or other of the East Indies at his own charge without any allowance from the King or State of Portugal and then permitted to return to his native Country Such of that Nation as are suffred to inhabit here are enjoyed to be married to the end the Iland should be well-peopled and as well maintained which otherwise perhaps might have few else in it but the Garrison Souldiers and the Factors of particular Merchants 5. SOFALA lieth on the South of Mosambique from which parted by the River Cuama the greatest River of those parts and thence extended to the mountains which they call Manica by which separated from Monomotapa So called from Sofala the chief City of it situate in a little Iland as the former are but with great influence on the Land adjoyning Both Town and Iland subject unto the power of the Portugals who have a Fort the better to secure the Factory by them here erected one of the richest in the world the People bringing hither great quantity of Gold of which they have most plentifull Mines which they exchange with them for their cloth and other commodities It is supposed that the Gold brought into this Town amounteth to two Millions yeerly The supposition so agreeable to all other circumstances that little question need be made of the truth thereof Insomuch as this Country for its abundance of Gold and Ivory is by some thought to be that land of Ophir to which Solomon sent and of this opinion Ortelius in his Thesaurus was the first Author but in my minde upon no probable conjectures and against very strong presumption For first Ophir the son of Joctan of whom mention is made in the 10. of Gen. vers 29. and from whom the land of Ophir in all likelyhood took its name is in the next verse said to have planted in the East whereas this Sofala is situate South-west from Chaldea in which the confusion of Tongues and dispersing of the People began And secondly it is impossible for the Navie of Solomon which lay at Ezion Geber in the Bay of Arabia to have spent three years in coming hither and returning which we finde to have been the usual times of finishing the voyage to Ophir 1 Kings ch 10. Ophir then is some part of India but whether it were the Iland of Sumatra or that of Zeilan or one of the Molucco's or the land of Malaza called by the Ancient Aurea Chersonesus I dare not determine confidering what worthy men maintain these several opinions 6. MOENHEMAGE or MONOEMVG the only inland Province of any note hath on the East Mombaza and Quiloa on the West the famous River Nilus on the North some part of the Dominions of the Abassine Emperours on the South Mosambique The Conntry very plentifull of Mines of Gold yet the People use it not for money but barter it in exchange with the Portugal Merchants for Silks Taffatas with which they use to cloath themselves from the Girdle downwards In stead of money they make use of Red Counters much resembling Glass Governed by a King of their own who holds confederacie with the Kings of Mombaza and Quiloa for the better ordering of their Trade To whom are also subject a wild and cruel people called Agag inhabiting on Lake Zembre and the banks of the Nilus dispersed about the fields in their homely cottages black Cannibals and of an horrible aspect more horrible then otherwise they would be by drawing lines upon their cheeks with an iron-instrument and forcing their eye lids to turn backwards By the assistance of this people the King of Moenhemage hath hitherto preserved his Estate against the King of Monomotapa and they themselves by some of their own Leaders did so distress the King of Congo that they forced him to retire to a small Iland where he hardly scaped a violent and untimely death most of his people being starved Of which more hereafter Touching the rest of these Provinces we can say but little and that little of no great note or certainty but that they differ for the most part from one another both in speech and behaviour each Village under a several King and each in continual quarrel with its next neighbours whom if they overcome they eat At leasure times they live by hunting and the flesh of Elephants And amongst these but more upon the Borders of the Abassine Empire I place the Gallae a Nationless nation as it were without house or dwelling without Law or Government as barbarous and horrid as the Agags whom some call Jagge or Giacqui are affirmed to be who watching their advantages and joyned together in some Arts of doing mischief have made of late such desolations in the Countries of the Prestor-John 2. MONOMOTAPA MONOMOTAPA BENOMOTANA or BENOMOTAXA for by all these names it is called is bounded on the North with the River Cuama by which and the Mountain of Magnice it is parted from Zanzibar on the West and South by the River of the Holy-Ghost by which separated from Cafraria and on the East by the main Ocean So that it is almost an Iland said to contain in compass 750 Spanish leagues or 3250 Italian miles The Air hereof is said to be very temperate and the Country very good and pleasant yet full of Forrests Well watered besides the two great Rivers before mentioned with the Streams of 1 Panami 2 Luanga 3 Arruga 4 Mangeano and certain others which carry gold with them in their sands By means whereof it 〈◊〉 not only abundance of Corn but great store of Pasturage on which they breed infinite Herds of Cattel and other Beasts very large and great such store of Elephants that they kill 5000 yearly form other reason but to make merchandise of their Teeth their Gold-Mines great and small reckoned to 3000 some in the hils of Magnice others in the Provinces of Matuca and Boro the places where the Mines are known without further Art in the discovery of them by the dryness and barrenness of the loil as if Nature could not hoord up gold in her spacious bosom but she must needs be barren of all good works The People are of mean stature and black complexions but
encouragement wherein he gave me this direction following The News saith he of this New Streit coming into Spain it pleased that King in the year 1618 to send and searâ—â— whether the truth were answerable unto the Report And finding it 〈◊〉 much broader then the other and not above seven Dutch miles long decreed that being the more 〈◊〉 and compendious way for Navigators and less subject to dangers his Auxiliary Forces should be sent that way into the East Indies to defend the Philippinae and Molucco Ilands and the way by the Cape of good Hope to be left In regard that every such voyage requireth twice as much time besides the variety of winds and often change of the Air not only troublesom but full of disâ—â—â—es consumeth the one half of the men before they return Whereas â—â—is way gaineth time and if need be they may dispatch business in the West as they travell into the East without any extraordinary danger or loss of men So far the very words of my letter The intelligence given me in this Lâ—tter I finde confirm'd in a Relation of the Voyage made by Captain Don Iuan de More Anno 618 at the command and charge of the King of Spain who presently arm'd and furnished eight tall Ships to send this new way unto his Philippines and Moluccos under the conduct of Petrus Michaeles de Cordoelâ—n Since it hath been found by experience that even from our parts to the Moluccos through this â—retum de Mayre is but a passage of eight moneths Sine ulla insigni navigantium clade saith the Narrator But of this streit enough to 〈…〉 my unknown 〈◊〉 willers 〈◊〉 and enform my Readeâ— extreamly sorry that the Gentleman was 〈…〉 to 〈◊〉 his name that so his memory might have lâ—ved in these Papers if they themselves bedest nate to a longer life Now for the nature of the sâ—il it is said to be very full of Mountains but those Hills apparelled with woods intermâ—xt with Vallâ—es the Vallies for the most part full of little Brooks which fall down from the Mounâ—â—â—ns and afford good Paâ—â—urage the Sea-coasts well provided of Bays and Roads not unsafe for shipping though the Air everywhere but châ—fly neer the Sea be much subject to Tempests As for the People they are said to be of a white complexion but their Face Arms and Thighs coloured with a kinde of Oâ—er of full stature and well proportioned their hair black which they wear long to seem more terrible The men most generally naked the women only shaded on their secret parts with a pace of Leather Towns they have none nor any Habitations which deserve the name of Houses so that the most which we can do is to Coast the Iland In which we finde towards Mare del Noort 1. A large Arm of the Sea called Entrado de S. Sebastian 2. The Cape of S. Ives 3 Mauritius land 4. Promontorio de Buen Suscio or the Cape of Good Success Opposite where unto in another Iland is the Cape of S. 〈…〉 and betwixt them the Streit called Fretum le Maire Then in the New South Sea as they call it there are 5. Barnwelts Iland 6. the Ilands of S. Ildesonso 7. Cape Horn on a fair Promontory in the South west Ande which doubled the Countrie goes along with a strait shore on which I finde some Bayes and Capes but no names unto them till we come to the VVestern entrances of the Streits of Magellan opposite unto Cape Victoria so often mentioned 2. INSVLAE SOLOMONIS or the Ilands of Solomon are situate on the VVest of Terra del Fogo 11 degrees on the South of the Equinoctial Discovered in the year 1567 by Lopes Garcia de Castro sent by the Vice Roy of Peru to finde out new Countries By whom thus named in hope that men would be the rather induced to inhabit in them imagining that Solomon had his Gold from these Lands of Ophir In number they are many but 18. the principal Some of which 300 miles in compass others 200 and others of them less till we come to fifty and beneath that none All liberally furnished with Dogs Hogs Hens Cloves Ginger Cinnamon and some veins of Gold The chief of these eighteen are 1 Guadalcanal supposed to be the greatest of them upon the coast whereof the Spaniards sailed 150 Leagues where they found a Town which they burned and sacked because the People of it in a sudden surprize had killed fourteen of their men 2 S Isabella 150 leagues in length and eighteen in breadth the Inhabitants some black some white some of brown complexion 3 S. Nicolas 100 Leagues in compass inhabited by a People which are black of hue but said to be more witty then the other Salvages All of them situate betwixt the Strests of Magellan and the Ilands of Thieves and yet not well agreed upon amongst our Authors whether to be accompted Ilands or a part of the Continent The Spaniards having layled 700 Leagues on the Coasts hereof and yet not able to attain unto any certainty But being they pass generally in Accâ—mpt for Ilands and by that name are under the Vice Roy of Peru who appoints their Governours let them pass so still 3. NOVA QVINEA lyeth beyond the Ilands of Solomon in respect of us preceeding 〈◊〉 have begun from the Land of Fire Discovered as before was said An. 1543. by Vilia Lobuâ— Horrera attributes the discovery of it to Alvarez de Saavedra and sets it higher in the year 1527. more perfectly made known if I guess aright by Fernando de Quir. Who being sent with two Ships to make a more full discovery of the Ilands of Solomon and taking his course about the height of the Magellan streits discovered a main Land coming up close to the Aequinoctial on the Coasts whereof he 〈◊〉 800 Leagues till he found himself at last in the Latitude of 15 Degrees discovering a large Bay into which fell two great Rivers where he purposed to settle a Plantation and to that end presented a Petition to the King of Spain This Country I conceive by the site and position of it to be Nova Guinea coming up close as that doth to the Aequinoctial and after turning to the South towards the Tropick of Capricorn where it joyneth with Malatur And taking it for granted as I think I may I shall afford the Reader this Description of it out of his Memorials in which it is soberiy affirmed to be a Terrestrial Paradise for wealth and pleasures The Country plentifull of Fruits Coco-nuts Almonds of four sorts Pomâ—citrens Dates Sugar canes and Apples plenty of Swine Goats Hâ—ns Partâ—iges and other Fowl with some Kine and Buffals Nothing inferiour as it seemeth to Guinea in the Land of Negroes and from thence so named For as he saith he saw amongst them Silver and Pearls and some told him of Gold the Countries on the Coast seeming to promise much felicity within the Land The Ayr he found to be