of the said Company Jamaica described JAMAICA is an Isle of a large extent being from East to West 170 miles in length and from North to South where it is broadest about 70 being of an Oval form and waxing narrower and narrower at both extream ends It is seated betwixt the Tropicks in the 17 and 18 degrees of Northern Latitude It s scituation Extent and beareth from off the Isle of Hispaniola Eastwards about 35 Leagues In the midst of the Isle from East to West runs a continued ridge of lofty Mountains which are well stored with fresh Springs whence flow the many Rivers that so plentifully water the Island Well watered to the great benefit of the Inhabitants The Air is observed to be more temperate than any of the Caribe Isles and of as mild a temperature as any place betwixt the Tropicks being alwaies refreshed with cool breezes frequent showers and great dews in the nights that it may be deemed Temperate and by its continual verdure exceeding delightful The Weather The weather is less certain than in the Caribe Isles the most observable wet seasons are in November and May there being no seemable Winter but by a little more rain and thunder in the Winter months nor is there scarce any sensible lengthning or shortning of the Days or Nights Hurricanes are here never known It s fertility and commodities This Isle in most parts especially the North is of a Fertil and rich soil and liberally answers the Cultivators cost and pains for what is planted The chief Commodities that it produceth are Sugars which are so good that they out sell those of the Barbados 5 s. per cent Cocao the richest Commodity of the Island Indico Cotton Tobacco but indifferent Hides Copper great variety of Woods for Dyers also Cedar Brasilletto Lignum vitae Ebony c. Tortoises in exceeding great plenty whose flesh is excellent good and nourishing but those that are troubled with the French man it is dangerous to eat Salt Salt-Peter Ginger Cod-pepper Piemente being an excellent Aromatick spice of a curious gusto having the mixt tast of divers Spices Cocheneil divers excellent Druggs Gumms and Balsoms many of which are not yet known by their names Here are greater abundance of Cattle than in most of the English Plantations as Horses Cows Hoggs Sheep Goats Asnegroes Mules Great plenty of Cattle which came from the breed of those put into the Woods by the Spaniards when they were first Masters of the Island which for want of Masters became wild but since the English have had to do here they are much wasted to what they were The Bays Rivers Roads and Creeks Fish Fowl are well stored with excellent Fish of sundry sorts appropriate to the Indies Likewise great store of Fowl both tame and wild the chief of which are Ducks Teal Wigeon Geese Turkyes Pigeons Hens Plovers c. Here are great plenty of excellent Fruits as Oranges Fruits Cocarnuts Pomegranates Limes Guavers Mammes Alumee-Supotas Avocatas Cashues Prickle-Apples Prickle Pears Grapes Sower sops Custard-Apples Dildoes Plantains Pines c. And Herbs Roots Herbs and Roots and Flowers common to England grow here very well Here are very noxious Beasts or Insects found those most dangerous are the Alegators Hurtful things some of which are fifteen and twenty foot long here is also Manchonele which is a kind of Crab likewise Snakes and Guianas but not poysonous as also Muskettoes and Merrywings a sort of stinging Flies found very troublesome to the Inhabitants The Diseases that Strangers are most incident unto are Dropsies occasioned by ill Dyet Drunkenness Diseases and Sloathfulness Calentures too frequently the product of Surfeits also Fevers and Agues but it is experimentally sound that if a good Dyet and moderate Exercises are used without excess of Drinking they may enjoy a competent measure of health and the reason of the great mortality of the Army at their arrival was the want of Provisions together with an unwillingness to labouror exercise joyned with discontent This Island is divided into Fourteen Precincts Divisions or Parishes It s division in to Precincts or Parishes many of which are well Inhabited especially the Southern part so far as the ridge of Mountains which runneth in the midst nor are its Southern parts especially near the Sea without Plantations though not so thick as about St. Jago and of late years the Island is much increased in its Inhabitants and Plantations being likely to prove the Potentest Colony the English are Masters of in America being able to bring into the Field upon occasion about eight or ten thousand men This Isle abounds with goods Bays Roads and Harbours the chief amongst which are Port Royal formerly Cagway It s chief places Port Royal. seated on the extream end of that long point of Land which makes the Harbour which is exceeding commodious for Shipping and secured by a strong Castle and land lock't by a point of land that runs twelve miles South-East from the main of the Island having the great River that runs by los Angelos and St. Jago falling into it where Ships do commonly water and conveniently wood The Harbour is two or three Leagues broad in most places with good Anchorage and so deep that a Ship of one thousand Tun may lay her sides to the Shoar of the point and load and unload with Planks afloat which commodiousness doth make it much resorted unto and as well Inhabited by the Merchants Store-house-keepers and other Inhabitants this being the only noted place in the Isle for Traffick and resort being said to contain about 12 or 1500 well built houses which are as dear rented as if they stood in well traded streets in London yet its scituation is very unpleasant and uncommodious having neither Earth Wood or fresh water but only made up of a hot loose sand which renders it more unhealthful than up in the Country and Provisions are very dear about 12 miles up in the Land from this Town is St. Jago St. Jago or St. Jago de la vega which when the Spaniards were Masters of it was large containing about 2000 houses which were destroyed and reduced to about 500 when the English first seized the Isle and here the Governour resideth and where the chief Courts of Judicature are held which makes it to be well resorted and inhabited where they live in great pleasure recreating themselves in their Coaches and on Horseback in the evenings in the Savana near adjoyning as the Gentry do here in Hide-Park The present Governour is his Excellency Charles Earl of Carslile Viscount Howard of Acorpeth Lord Dacres of Gilsland one of the Lords of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council a person for prudence and noble qualifications every way beâ—itting such a place Six miles Southward of this Town is seated Passage at the mouth of the River Passage which at six miles course falleth into the Harbour of
now this Problem is the same with that to find out the Meridian Line and the North and South quarters for these being known it is easy to know the rest First by the Stars viz. in the night the Bear or the Helice and Polary Star so called in the extremity of the tail of the Vrsa Minor of great same amongst the Ancients which shewed the North quarter whence all the rest are found for the face being turned to the North the East is at the right hand and the West on the left the Line of which quarters at Right Angles cutteth the Line of the North and South And these Cardinal quarters being found it is easy to find the intermedial quarters unto which purpose that there may be no need of a description they had a Circle made with the quarters whose Northern Line being placed above the Northern Line of any place the other quarters at one sight are discovered But in the day they sought out the quarter by the rising or setting of the Sun as we have shewed in the XXVIII Chapter See Chap. 28. 2. The other Method of the Antients for the knowing of quarters was the knowledge of the scituation or extension of the Shoars and one Promontory to the other For seeing the quarter of this extension was known to them either from the Maps or from Observation and Experience they might in Navigation by seeing them know the other quarters For one quarter being known all the rest are known therefore the Ancients did not far depart from the Coasts viz. that they might know the quarter by the benefit of the known quarter of the extension of Shoars For they could not always use the Method of the Stars and the rising and setting of the Sun 3. The third Method of the Ancients of the knowledge of the quarters was the observed course of the Ship For going from any place and guiding the Ship to the known quarter they were able from the mutation of the course of the Ship to know the quarters 4. Hence it is manifest that the chief cause of the dangerous and imperfect Navigation of the Ancients was the ignorance of a Method by which every where in the middle of the vast Ocean they might know the quarters and so that quarter unto which the Ship was to be steered For as I have said the Method by the Stars and the rising and setting Sun cannot be applied on all days and on the hours of every day for the mark from the scituation of the Shoars faileth in the mid Seas in the night neither is it safe enough in the day time The third Method from the observed course of the Ship hath not place when the Ship is tossed by boysterous winds and tempests from one quarter to another And in this casually lyeth the chief difficulty This I thought fit to admonish concerning the Modes of the Ancients for the finding out the Meridian Line and the North and South by reason that the imperfection of these was the cause of the dangerous and small Navigation of the Ancients seeing that they were never able to commit themselves to the vast Ocean and therefore never knew those Regions between which the Ocean is interposed of which the chief is all America never yet fully known But at this day the Method of knowing the quarters in all places and of finding out the Line of the North and South is facile by the benefit of the admirable propriety which the Loadstone and all Iron touched by it hath been found to have Viz. that all Magneticks not hindred by others in any place direct their points almost to the same quarters For there are two opposite points in the Loadstone whereof one always and in all places turneth it self to the North or the adjacent quarter the other to the South and so also the other points of the Magnes respect the other quarters viz. every point its particular quarter but all of them are not considered but only those two points which as I have said do convert themselves to the North and South which are termed the Poles of the Magnes one Northern the other Southern And the same virtue much to admiration is communicated to the Needle but by an inverted and contrary operation of nature For the end of the Lamine or Needle which is touched at the North Pole of the Magnes doth not convert it self to the North but to the South and that end which is rubbed at the South Pole of the Loadstone turneth not to the South but to the North. These points of the Needle are also termed the Poles The virtue of the Loadstone Although therefore the Loadstone and the Iron touched by it have very many notable properties yet all may be referred to two species or heads one is that virtue which doth extract the Iron the other by which in every place it directeth the two points of its Superficies to the North and South The former faculty the Ancients were not ignorant of but only this latter Seeing therefore the Magnes hath this property therefore by its help it is easy to find in any part of the Earth or Sea where the North or South is whence all the other quarters are soon known For if those points of the North and South be noted in any Loadstone or the North and South Pole and we have this Magnes in the Ship where we are in the Sea when we desire to know the quarters the Loadstone being hung by a Cord that it may easily move it self will so direct its Poles to the quarter of the North and South that it will shew the quarters demanded But the Magnetick Needle is more easy for use whose end is touched at the South Pole of the Magnes For if that this Needle be placed in the middle upon a sharp perpendicular pin so that it can freely turn round the Needle resting will shew by one of its ends the North quarter and by the other the South From what hath been said it is easy to make a Nautical Instrument Proposition II. To make a Mariners Compass Of the making the Mariners Compass Let the described Circle on any Paper be divided into 32 Quarters or degrees and let one of these deg being taken for the North Quarter be ascribed with these appellations Viz. with a peculiar Sign the Flower de Luce and the found out points for the other Quarters viz. South East West North-East North-West as we have propounded them in the Diagram in the XX Chapter Mariners term this Chart the Rose Then let the Magnetick Needle be so affixed beneath the Chart that the middle of the Needle may be beneath its Center and the North Pole of the Needle may be subjected to the Line of the Paper unto which we ascribe the Northern Quarter Moreover the Paper being so made with the Needle lying under let it be put upon the pointed pin that it may have a free Circumrotation So the Index of the
of Candis Between the Kingdoms of Cambaya and Bengala are those of Candis Chitor Malway Berar Gualeor Narvar Ranas and Berar Brampore is the chief City of Candis seated on the River Tapta which descends into the Gulph of Cambaya below Surat The City is great but ill built unhealthful and a place which hath been unfortunate to many Children of the Great Mogolls In the old City of Mandow are the Sepulchres and Remains of the Palace of its Ancient Kings the new City is better built but less Province of Chitor The Province of CHITOR with its City of the same name is quite engaged in the Mountains which meet in the way of Amedebat and Cambaya to Agra The City was of 5 Leagues circuit before Ekebar took it from Raja Cana and ruined it It hath now little more then the Remains of 100 and odd Temples and of a great number of Buildings which have been stately and magnificent The Castle was in a place so advantagious and strong that the Kings of Delli could never take it and Sultan Alandin was constrained to raise the siege after having been 12 years before it Province of Malway The Province of MALWAY hath its Territory fruitful and for its principal place Rantipore others put Vgen or Ougell It s chief Fortress is Narvar whose City is near the Spring-head of a River and at the Foot of Mountains of the same name and which stretch themselves from the Kingdom of Guzurate unto that of Agra and Narvar and in these Mountains abide some Princes which obey not the Mogoll Province of Gualeor The Province of GVALEOR takes its name from its chief City where there is one of the best Cittadels or Fortresses of the Estate wherein the Mogoll confines such as are Prisoners of State and those Lords of which he hath any jealousie and where he also keeps a great part of his Treasure Province of Ranas The Province of RANAS hath for its chief place Gurchitto seated on a high Hill Province of Narvar The Province of NARVAR hath for its chief City Gehud seated on a River which falls into the Ganges and touches on the Mountains of Narvar Province of Berar The Province of BERAR hath for its capital place Shapor which reaches Southward and touches that of Guzurate and the Mountain of Rana Several other Provinces In the midst of all the Mogolls Estates are the provinces of JENVPAR HENDOWNES JESSELMERE and BANDO The Province of Jenupar takes its name from its chief City Hendowns of Hendowns which is towards the Indies Jesselmere whose chief City is so called in whose Castle Ammer in 1548. Zimlebege Wife of Hymayon flying into Persia Lay in of Ekebar who restored the Mogolls and made their Estates so great and powerful in the Indies And lastly the Province of Bando whose chief City bears the same name is between the Cities of Jesselmere Delli and Agra at 70 or 80 Leagues from the one and the other besides its City of the same name Asmere is famous for the Sepulchre of Hogimondee a Mahumetan whom the Mogolls esteem a Saint and there where Ekebar made his devotions to the end he might obtain a Son to succeed in his Estate and afterwards caused to be set up at every Leagues end a Pillar of Stone and several Lodgings to be built on the way to receive Passengers and Pilgrims The extent bounds c. of the Great Mogolls Countrey These are the Provinces or Kingdoms which the Great Mogoll possesses whose Empire stretches from South to North 500 Leagues and from West to East 6 or 700 is bounded either with Mountains or the Sea Its Neighbours are the Vsbeck the Cascar the Thibet and the Turquestan parts of Tartary towards the North the People of Maug and others which have been of Pegu towards the East the Persians towards the West and the Kingdom of Decan and Golconda towards the South The Indian Ocean where are the Gulfs of Indus and Cambaya on one side and that of Bengala on the other side wash the rest The Tartars Persians very troublesome to the Mogol Of all his Neighbors the Tartars and Persians are the most powerful The Tartars nevertheless being divided into many Estates where they border on him are more likely to damage him by Inroads then by open War The Persian regained from him Candahar some years past which he lost not again till he had at the same time to deal with the Mogolls and Turks The others have much ado to defend themselves against him as the Kings of Golconda and Decan this last having lost some part of his Estates and the other giving him some present in the way of Tribute But the great Mogoll would make nothing to seise both these Kingdoms if he were not often perplexed with intestine War and if there remained not in his Estates divers Princes which they call Rahias or Kings and many people of whom he cannot absolutely dispose neither the one nor the other obeying him or paying any Tribute to him but by constraint and the greatest part paying it only when and how they please and sometimes not at all Amongst these little Kings and People are the Rahia Bossou Petty Kings people under the Mogoll who resides at Temery 50 Leagues from Lahor The Rahia Tulluck Chan who resides at Naugracut 80 Leagues from Lahor The Rahia Decomperga is 150 Leagues from Agra residing at Calsery the Rahia Mansa is 200 Leagues from Agra residing at Serimgar The Rahia Rodorou is beyond the Ganges residing at Camayo The Muggi likewise beyond the Ganges to the South of Rahia Rodorou is very powerful as well as the two last between the Armes of the Ganges is a Prince of the ancient family of the Kings of Delli who likewise maintains himself Above Cassimere the Rahia Tibbon acknowledges neither Mogoll nor Tartar descending often and making incursions both on the one and the other The People called Balloches or Bulloques do unpunished live like Vagabonds in the Province of Haiacan likewise the Aguvanes and the Patanes in Candahar likewise the Quilles or Colles and the Resbutes in the Mountains between Cambaya and Decan and sometimes the Colles of Decan the Rebustes of Cambaya and the Patanes of Candahar have raised Tribute These Kings and People are almost all Pagans descending from divers Kings and People which possessed divers parts of the Indies before the Mogolls There is one Rahia of the Colles above Amadebat another the Rahia Partaspha near Breampure who hath some time taken and pillaged Cambaya The Rahia Rana resides at Gorchitto and after having well defended himself against the ancient Kings of India yields now some Tribute to the Mogoll Yet is the Great Mogoll one of the greatest and most powerful Princes of Asia Mogol very potent he can bring into the field 200000 Horse 500000 Foot and 2 or 3000 Elephants he gives pensions to the greatest part of the
to wit In the South-East and North-East or in the quarters more near to the North and South its cause seemeth to be referred either to the divers scituation of the places in which the Snow and the more thick Clouds are there collected or rather unto a general wind which is very forcible to attract those Motions unto another quarter For seeing that a general wind of its own nature tendeth directly from the East to the West and these Motions tend from one Pole unto the other thence ariseth a mutual hindrance and thence it may come to pass that the wind may gain an intermedial quarter between the East and South and East and North. The South-West and North-West Motions are unconstant rare and weak and therefore are scarce reckoned amongst Motions when that the North and South by accident seem to decline sometimes to the West but they are attracted to the East by a general wind Now to render a reason concerning the great diversity of these Motions in divers places more accurate observations are required and those not of one year but of many with the notation of the Winter Rainy Snowy Seasons and the Mountains of these places from the quarters of which these state winds do blow we should also know the Phasis and Motion of the Moon and what variation this maketh Several winds blow at certain times in set places 2. In July South winds blow at Cape Verd for then there is the Winter in the time of Rain and this seemeth to produce from no other Cause than that by which in our Zone North winds blow in the Winter 3. At the Promontory of Good-hope in September the North-East wind bloweth 4. At Patanen in India in November December and January continual Rains and a North-East wind predominateth but in other Months an East wind bloweth and it is Summer 5. About Sumatra there is a mutation of the Motions in November and December 6. In the Isle of Mayo one of the Azores in the end of August a vehement wind bloweth from the South and bringeth Rain which moistens the Earth otherwise dry and then first of all Grass springeth up which feedeth many Goats at the end of December 7. In Congo from the middle of March to September at what time it is Winter there the North and North-West wind blow or other intermedial winds which force and gather the Clouds on the tops of the Mountains and generate an obscure Air with Rain But from September to March the South and South-East and other intermedial winds blow that are contrary to the former See the following Proposition We have taken these differences of the state and Anniversary winds from the Observation of Mariners that term them Moussons or Motions if that they blow in a long tract of the Sea And now we should Treat of their Causes but that we are ignorant of the Mountains of the Regions of the times of the Snows and their meltings and many other matters Moreover those Observations of Seamen are not sufficiently accurate so that they deserve a diligent inquisition concerning their Causes The more noted Motions are these More noted Motions 1. In the Indian Ocean between Africa and India and to the very Moluccos in an Oriental Motion towards the West which begineth in January and bloweth for six Months even to the begining of June In August and September a contrary Motion begineth viz. Western winds In June July and August is a mutation of Motions and great Tempests from the North. Now when that we speak of Oriental and Occidental winds we do not only understand the East and West winds but also the Collateral winds 2. The Oriental motion varieth very much at the Shoars so that Ships can only Sail from India on this side Gatis or on the Coasts of Malabar from January to the middle of May to Persia Arabia Mecha and Africa for seeing that in the end of May and all June July and August the Tempests rage violently and often a North wind or furious North-East wind frequently intermixing it self therefore in these Months no Ships pass from India on this side Gatis but on the Coast of India beyond the Gatis or Ganges that is on the East quarter or on the Coasts of Choromandel such Tempests are not known A Voyage is undertaken from Ceilan Java and other Isles to the Moluccoes in September because that then the Oriental motion begineth which hindereth the general wind But when you depart to 15 degrees of South Latitude beyond the Aequator this Occidental motion is not discovered in the Indian Ocean but a general South East wind filleth the Sails 3. From Cochin to Malacca that is from the West to the East they begin their Voyage in March because that then there the Western motion begineth or rather the North West wind frequently bloweth 4. In the Kingdom of Guzurat half the year the North winds blow from March to September and in the other half the South winds and that without any other hindrance caused by other winds 5. The Dutch set Sail from Java for the most part in January or February when that they return for Europe then they Sail with an Easterly wind even to 18 degrees of South Latitude and here the South or South-East wind begineth to blow by which they Sail even to St. Helena 6. Although in the Indian Ocean from January even to June the motion be Oriental and then from August to January the motion be Occidental yet nevertheless in divers parts of it when we must Sail from one place to another divers seasons are discovered more or less convenient by reason that the Collateral winds do more or less blow or the motion is more or less vehement at those times or other winds more often or more seldom intermix at that time therefore those that are to Sail from Cochin to Malacca observe another motion another from Malacca to Maccou the Emporium of China another from Maccou to Japan 7. At Banda the Western winds cease with the end of March and at the end of April there are variable winds and calms with the Month of May violent Easternly winds with Rain begin 8. At Ceilan about the Promontory called Punto Gullo on the 14th of March the first Occidental wind beginneth viz. the West-South-West then the South-West constant and continnual from the end of March to the first of October then the North-East begineth which bloweth there even to March but some daies at ten or also more these State-winds or motions happen sooner or later 9. In the Voyage from Mozambique to Goa in May and June the South-East winds are predominate even to the Aequator but from the Aequator to Goa the South-West and South winds reign in July August and the following Months 10. In the 35 deg of the Elevation of the Meridian which passeth through the Isle of Tristan de Conha in May on the New Moon the West wind reigneth 11. At the 2 â…• of
value erected by the Senators which for their Grandure are fit to lodge and entertain any Prince in Christendom most of which are seated on the Grand Canal Also the Royal and proud Palace of the Duke deserves a particular description which for its largness beauty and riches as well in its fabrick without as in its Pictures and Statues within exceeds all others then the Tribunals or Courts of Justice the Senate-house or great Hall Its Arsenal or Magazine of War being about two miles in circuit encompassed with high Walls and the Sea having but one place or Gate for entrance and only one Channel for Ships to pass in and out at and here is kept always in readiness about two hundred Gallies with all things fit for a Voyage or fight also here are kept a thousand Coats of Plate garnished with Gold and covered with Velvet but above all its Church of St. Mark which for its exteriour and interiour beauty and richness of its Ornaments have deservedly made this City famous and in this Church according to report lyeth the body of St. Mark the Patron of this City which was brought hither from Alexandria In this City are seventeen rich Hospitals 56 Tribunals 67 Parish Churches 26 Monasteries of Nuns 54 Convents of Fryars 18 Chappels and six Free-Schools for the increase of Learning It s Piazza or broad place of St. Mark adorned with sumptuous Fabricks Statues c. is a place much frequented by the Gentry This City is the only place where Policy Warfare and Merchandize have embraced one another the Gentry are here held in such esteem that it is held for the greatest honour they can bestow upon the best deserver to make him a Gentleman of this City and from them the Sonatours are chosen and out of them the Duke who in a manner is only titular not having the Regal power his Salary which is paid him out of the Common Treasury is forty thousand Duccals yearly In this Estate are two Patriarchs and 34 Bishops Dukedom of Mantoua The Dukedom of MANTOVA seated Northwards of the Estates of Venice It s chief City is so called a place of good strength encompassed on the sides with Water about a quarter of a mile broad and on the other side with a Wall it is seated on a River which emptieth it self into the Po. In this City Virgil that famous Poet was born Dukedom of Modena The Dukedom of MODENA formerly joyned to that of Mantoua hath for its chief City Modena famous for the Battle between Anthony and Augustus where Hirtius and Pansa the two Consults were slain and Anthony lost the day This place is the residence of its Dukes as Mantoua is of hers Dukedoms of Parma and Placentia The Dukedom of PARMA and PLACENTIA Northwards of Mantoua hath for its chief place Parma seated in a fruitful Plain five miles from the Appenuines It is about four miles in circuit adorned with many rich and stately Structures is very populous and well inhabited by Gentry who are much addicted to Learning and Arms it hath a fair and spacious Campagnia which feeds abundance of Sheep and here the Duke hath his Palace which is a place of great delight and state This Country boasts of its Parmasan-Cheese so much esteemed by some The chief place of Placenza is so called it is seated on the Po comodious for Traffick and famous for its Fairs in Exchanges here quarterly kept which are much resorted unto it is about five miles in compass a place of good strength and beauty being adorned with many fair and rich Structures and Churches Bishoprick of Trent The Bishoprick of TRENT whose chief City bears its names it is seated in a Plain and surrounded with Mountains of an excessive height being always covered with Snow by reason of which it is more fit for Wines than Corn. The City is not large but indifferent strong its Houses are fair and stately its Streets large its Churches beautiful and richly adorned and its Royal Palace sumptuous and stately This City is famous for the general Council there held for the establishment of the Roman Catholick Religion ITALY particularly so called The second part of Italy according to our method will contain the Estates of the CHVRCH and TOSCANE which may again be subdivided into others which are taken notice of in the Geographical Tables of which in order Territory of Ferraresse The Territory of FERRARESSE about 160 miles in length and 50 in breadth had once Dukes of its own but now belongs to the Pope its chief place is Ferrara so called from the Iron-Mines about it it is seated on the Po which serves as a Rampire to defend it on the one side as doth a strong Wall well fortified with a spacious Mote on the other side it is about five miles in compass beautifully built and adorned with superb Edifices and is accounted one of the pleasantest Cities in Italy having in the midst thereof a spacious Green into which doth open about 20 Streets most of which are about half a mile in length and so even and uniform that from thence the utmost ends of each may be easily discovered It is well inhabited rich and dignified with an Vniversity Province of Bolognois The Province of BOLOGNOIS Eastwards of Modena hath for its chief place Bologna once the head of 12 Cities it is seated on the River Aposa and in a large and fertil Territory for Corn Wine Fruits and Olives it is about five miles in circuit and begirt with a Wall This City is adorned with many fair and proud Buildings in which they observe a uniformity amongst which is the Pope's Palace for his retirement which for grandure and statelyness is fit to give entertainment to any Prince in Christendom It is dignified with the chief Vniversity of Italy famous for the study of the Civil Law it is proudly built having spacious Courts Province of Romandiola ROMANDIOLA or ROMAGNE Eastwards of Bolognese hath for its chief places 1. Ravenna seated on the Adriatick and once a place of good account having one of the fairest Havens in the World which is now choaked up This City was the seat of the Emperour Honorius and his Successors then of the Gothish Kings and lastly of its Patriarch but now as its Haven is choaked up so is the Land covered with water which makes it become useless 2. Rimini seated on the mouth of the River Rubicon 3. Cervia seated on the Adriatick Sea a place where so great quantity of Salt is made that the Popes part is valued yearly at 60000 Crowns and 4. Faenza Dukedom of urbin The Dutchy or Dukedom of VRBIN not long since fallen to the Holy Seat it lying in the midst of his Territories It s chief places are 1. Vrbin seated at the bottom of the Appennine formed like a Miter 2. Belfort seated in the Midland 3. Fano a Sea-port Town to Vrbin where the English do
City and Cornwall 604 239 Chester hath Cheshire Richmondshire Lancashire part of Cumberland Westmoreland Flintshire and part of Denbighshire 256 101 Bristol hath Dorsetshire and the City of Bristol 236 64 Norwich hath Norfolk and Suffolk 1121 385 Gloucester hath Glocestershire 267 125 Hereford hath Herefordshire part of Shropshire Worcestershire in part and part of Radnorshire 313 166 Coventry and Lichfield hath Staffordshire Derbyshire Warwickshire and part of Shorpshire 557 250 Besides peculiar to the Diocess of Canterbury 57 14 To these may be added the Bishoprick of Sodor in the Isle of Man under the Archbishoprick of York but hath no place or Vote in Parliament ENGLAND is a Kingdom blest with a sweet and temperate Air and for the generality of a fertil Soil It s fertility and commodities and very grateful to the Husbandman abounding in all things necessary for the use of Man both for Food and Rayment as Corn Cattle Fowl Fish Fruit Roots c. In the bowels of the got else-Earth are store of excellent Mines of Lead Tin Iron Copper Black-Lead not where in Europe Coal and some of Silver It also produceth Hops Linnen-Cloth Tallow Hides Leather Calves-skins Lamb-skins Sheep-skins Cony-skins and some Furrs also Wax Stockings Hats Saffron Hony Madder Butter Cheese Herrings Pilchers and Barrel-Cod but above all Wool of which is made great abundance of excellent Cloth Serges Bays Kerseys Worsteds and the like Manufactures which find great vent in Forreign parts and for Building it affordeth all Materials The Weights The Weights currant in this Kingdom are of two sorts viz. Troy and Averdupois Of Troy 24 grains make a penny-weight 20 penny-weight an ounce and 12 ounces a pound from which pound wet Measures are derived a pint making a pound and by this weight Gold Silver Silk Pearl Precious Stones Bread c. are weighed By the Averdupois is weighed Butter Cheese Flesh Tin Iron Fruits and generally all garbled and ponderous Commodities and this weight is reduced into several denominations as Tuns Hundreds Quarters Pounds Ounces and Drams where note that 16 drams make an ounce 16 ounces a pound 28 pound a quarter 4 quarters a hundred and 20 hundred a Tun. The Measures The Measures are three viz. dry liquid and long the Dry are those in which all sorts of dry Commodities are measured and consisteth also of several denominations as a pint quart gallon or half-peck peck and bushel which containeth 64 pints or 32 quarts which is 8 gallons also 8 Bushels make a Quarter 9 Bushels a Fat of Coals which is a quarter of a Chaldron 5 Quarters a Wey 10 Quarters a Last and 20 Lasts a Combe Liquid Measures are those in which liquid substances are measured of which a Gill is the least next a quarter half-pint pint quart pottle and gallon which is 4 quarts 8 Gallons make a Firkin of Ale and 9 a Firkin of Beer 2 Firkins a Kilderkin 2 Kilderkins a Barrel which is 36 gallons 42 Gallons a Tierce 63 Gallons a Hogshead 2 Hogsheads a Butt or Pipe and 2 Buts a Tun. But note that the Wine Measures are of less content than the Ale for 4 Gallons Ale-measure make 5 Wine-measure Long Measures are those by which Cloth Stone Glass Land c. is measured of which an Inch which is esteemed the length of 3 Barly corns though divided into less denominations as half a quarter of an Inch is the least and 12 Inches make a Foot 3 Foot a Yard which is divided into 16 parts or Nails 3 Foot 9 Inches is an Ell 6 Foot a Fathom 5 ½ yards or 16 ½ foot is a Rod Perch or Pole 40 Rods a Furlong 8 Furlongs an English Mile which is 320 Poles or 1760 Yards or 1056 Paces at 5 foot to the Pace Of Weights Measures c. used in particular Commodities viz. The weight and measure of particular commodities A Fodder of Lead is 19 ½ Hundred a Load is 36 Formels or 175 Stone and a Stone is 5 ⅜ pound A Fagot of Steel is 120 pound and a Barrel of Gad-Steel is 180 pound A Stone of Glass is 5 pound and 24 Stone is a Seam A Last of Herrings is 12 Barrels every Barrel 12 hundred and every Hundred 120 Herrings A Last of Powder is 24 Firkins every Firking weighing 100 pound neat and the empty Firkin 12 pound A Load of Timber is 50 foot of square Timber A Stack of Wood is 3 ½ foot in height and 12 in length A Fagot of Wood ought to be 3 foot in length and 14 inches about besides the Band. Billets ought to be 3 foot and 4 inches in length and the single Billet must be 7 ½ inches about the Cast-Billet 10 inches and the two Cast-Billets 14 inches about Billets of a Cast must be nicked within 4 inches of the end and Billets of 2 Casts within 6 inches of the middle A full Sack of Coals is 3 Bushels Ten Hides make a Dicker and 20 Dickers a Last of Leather A Rowl of Parchment is 5 dozen Twenty Quires of Paper is a Ream and 10 Reams a Bail A Lath must be 5 foot long 2 inches broad and half an inch thick A Plain-Tile must be 10 ½ inches in length 6 ½ in breadth and half an inch thick Roof-Tiles must be 13 inches in length with a good and equal proportion of breadth and thickness Pan or Paving-Tiles must be 10 inches square and 1 ¼ inch thick A Brick must be 9 inches long 4 broad and 2 inches thick Nails are sold by the 1000 and 120 to the hundred A Truss of Hay is to weigh 56 pound and 36 Trusses make a Load A Truss of Straw should weigh 36 pound and 36 Trusses make a Load Courts of Judicature As concerning the Courts of Justice of this Kingdom they may be considered under three sorts to wit Ecclesiastical Temporal and one mixt of both and under these three sorts are comprehended all the Courts of Judicature For Ecclesiastical Affairs are the Synod or Convocation of the Clergy and the Provincial Synod which is kept in both Provinces of Canterbury and York viz. the Courts of Arches the Courts of Audience the Courts of Faculties the Prerogative Court and the Court of Peculiars The Courts for Temporal Affairs are of two kinds viz. for Law and Equity for Law those of the Kings Bench Common Pleas Exchequer Assizes Court of Admiralty Dutchy Court c. And for Equity those of the Chancery Exchequer Requests c. And besides these Courts there are several other Inferiour Courts held in particular Liberties for the Inhabitants thereof And all these Courts have their peculiar Judges and other sub-Officers As concerning Precedency Precedency all Nobles of each degree take place according to their Seniority of Creation and not of years unless descended of the Blood Royal and then they take place of all others of that degree Yet there are some that by their great Offices or Places at Court or setting at
Church and a bulky tall Steeple on a Hill County of Surrey described SVRREY a County of a different Soil not over fertil especially in the midst yet the parts near the Thames which is plain and Champain is grateful to the Husbandman and the parts called Holmesdale by reason of the aspiring Hills Rivers Parks Meadows Groves and Fields is a place of great delight The Air is very healthful It is garnished with the Seats of several Gentlemen and is better stored with Game than Grain Here are seated 140 Parish Churches and hath the accommodation of 9 Market Towns Southwark or the Borough of Southwark Southwark on the South-side of the Thames opposite to the City of London to which it is joyned by a stately Stone-bridge and is a member thereof being annexed by King Edward the Sixth but doth still enjoy several of its ancient Priviledges as electing Burgesses holding of Courts within themselves c. It is a place which for largeness of good Buildings and quantities of Inhabitants may be ranged with Cities enjoying a good Trade and is well resorted unto Croydon seated low near the Spring-head of the River Wandle Croydon and in a manner begirt with aspiring Hills which for the most part are well clothed with Wood of which great store of Charcoal is made for which this place is of note It is a large Town dignified with the Seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury is beautified with a large and fair Church hath an Hospital for the relief of Poor people and a Free-School for the Education of Youth The Town is large its Houses well built and its Market which is on Saturdays is considerable and well served with Corn and Provisions From this Town to Farnham runneth the Downs called Banstead-Downs which affordeth great diversion for Hawking Hunting and Horse-Races Kingston a large and ancient Town Corporate Kingston enjoying large Immunities and is of chief note for being the place where upon a Stage in the open Market-place stood the Chair of Majesty where Aethelstan Ethelred and Edwin were Crowned Kings and received their Imperial Scepters from whence 't is said the Town took its name being before called Moreford It is pleasantly seated on the Banks of the Thames over which it hath a fair Bridge which leadeth to Kingstonwick in Middlesex about a mile from Hampton-Court the Palace of his Majesty Its Houses are well built and hath several Inns and Taverns it is the usual place for the Assizes and its Market on Saturdays is very considerable for Corn and Provisions Reygate seated in the Vale of Homes dale Reygate of note for its bloody Battles here sought against the Danes in which they were vanquished and also for its ancient but ruinated Castle where in the midst of a large Court there is a Vault of a great depth and length at the end of which is a spacious Room where according to report the Barons met in Council in their War against King John Here is Fullers-Earth dug up in great plenty It is a large Borough Town which sends Burgesses to Parliament and hath a very considerable Market on Tuesdays being well served with Corn and Provisions Not far from this Town are Blechingley and Gatton two ancient Borough Towns which electeth Parliament men once places of good account especially Gatton Guilford no less pleasantly than commodiously seated on the River Wey Guilford which is navigable for Barges very commodious to the Inhabitants for the conveyance of their Goods by water to London It is an ancient Borough Town governed by a Major and other sub-Officers hath the election of Parliament men and was a place of a larger extent when the English-Saxon Kings had their Palace here than now it is yet is it a fair neat well built and large Town containing three Parish Churches one of which is a fair Structure It is a place well inhabited and frequented where the Assizes are oft kept and as seated on a High-road is well furnished with Inns and Taverns for the reception of Travellers and its Market which is on Saturdays is of good Account and well served with Corn and Provisions Farnham Farnham said to be so called from the great store of Fern here growing It is a good Town seated on the River Wey of note for being the place where King Elfred with a small Power subdued the Danes with a great slaughter and for its spacious Castle highly seated It hath a great Market on Saturdays for all Provisions but chiefly Oats and Barley County of Sussex described SVSSEX a large County in form long and narrow which with its extent bounds division into Rapes scituation c. may appear by the Table The Air though clouded with Mists and thick Vapours which arise from the Sea yet is it good and healthful It is well watered with Rivers which fall into the Sea which washeth its Southern parts and although its Sea-Coast is of so large an extent yet it is but thin of Harbours and those not very good being dangerous for entrance by reason of its Rocks and Shelves The Soil is fertil the Sea-Coast called the Downs is hilly but very pleasant and feedeth good store of Cattle The North-part is overshadowed with Woods and Groves where in times past was that famous Wood Andradswald being about 120 miles in length and 20 in breadth and in these parts are many Iron-Mines The Commodities that this County affordeth are Iron unwrought and wrought into Guns c. Corn Cattle Sheep Wool and Wood. This County is severed into 6 Rapes all which traverse the Shire and have each of them their particular River Forest and Castle and in these Rapes are 65 Hundreds in which are numbred 312 Parish Churches and is traded unto by 16 Market Towns In Chichester Rape are 7 Hundreds and its chief places are Chichester Chichester seated on the Banks of the Levant which at a small distance falleth into the Sea It is an indifferent large City containing 5 or 6 Parish Churches besides its Cathedral it is graced with good Buildings and spacious Streets especially the 4 which lead from the 4 Gates of its Wall and cross one another at the Market-place which is a fair Stone-Building sustained with Stone-Pillars It is dignified with an Episcopal See and Seat of a Bishop It is a City endowed with many Priviledges electeth Parliament men is governed by a Major Aldermen Recorder with sub-Officers is a place of pretty good Trade and its Markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays are well provided with Corn Cattle and all sorts of Provisions both Flesh Fish and Fowl Nigh unto this City is Selsey-Isle or rather a Peninsula as being almost encompassed with the Sea and its Arms and Branches at present of chief note for its Cockles and Lobsters here taken in great plenty but in former time was of note for its City so called now devoured by the Sea where there was an Episcopal See which afterwards
The Gadeni who possessed the Counties of Lothien Merches and Teifidale or Tivedale 2. The Selgovae or Counties Liddisdale Eusedale Eskedale Annadale and Nidthesdale 3. The Novantes or Shires of Galloway Carrickt Kyle Cunningham and Arran 4. The Damnii or Counties of Cludesdale Striveling Lennox Menteith and Fife 5. The Caldedonii or Shires of Stratherne Argile Cantire Lorne Albany or Bruidalbin Perch Athol and Anguis 6. The Vermines or Counties of Mernis and Marr. 7. The Talgali or County of Buquhan 8. The Vacomagi or Counties of Murray and Loquabrea 9. The Cantae or Shires of Ross and Sutherland 10. The Catini or County of Cathanes And 11. the Cornubii or County of Strathnaverne Scotland divided into Sheriffdoms These parts are again according to their Civil Government divided into Sheriffdoms Stewarties and Bailiffwicks viz. the Counties or Sheriffdoms of Edenburgh Lynlythio Selkirk Roxburgh Peblis Berwick Lanarke Renfrew Dunfreis Wighton Aire Bute Argile Tarbet Dunbarton Perch Clackmannan Kinros Fife Kincardin Forfair Aberdene Bamff Elgin Forres Narne Innerness Cromartie Orknay and Shetland The Stewarties of Menieith Stewarties Kircudbrieht Stratherne and Annandale The Bailiwicks of Kile Bailywicks Carrickt and Cunningham It s further division Again Scotland according to the scituation of its Parts Provinces or Counties may be divided into two parts to wit Southwards and on this side the Tay which made the ancient Kingdom of the Picts so called for that they painted their Bodies like the ancient Britains from whom they are said to descend which is the more confirmed for that the Northern Britains converted to the Faith by St. Colombe were called Britain Picts And Eastwards Northwards and beyond the Tay which made the ancient Kingdom of the Scots besides abundance of Isles dispersed in its Northern and Western Seas the chief of which shall be treated of Its Counties The Counties comprehended in the South-part are Lothien Merche Teifidale or Tivedale Eskdale Euskdale Liddesdule Annadale Nydthesdale Galloway Carrickt Kyle Cunningham Cludesdale Lennox Striveling Menteith Fife Stratherne Argile Lorne Cantyre and Arran And these in the North part are Albany or Badalbin Paerch Athol Anguis Mernis Buquihan Marr Muray Loquabrea Ross Sutherland Strathnaverne and Cathanes And of these in order It s name and fertility The County of Lothien in former times by the Picts called Pictland shooteth it self forth from Merche unto the Sea a Country very Hilly and but thinly clothed with Wood but for the fertility of its Earth and the civility of its Inhabitants is deservedly esteemed the flower of all Scotland The chief places are It s chief places Edenburgh or Edenborow of old Castrum Alatum the Metropolis of the Kingdom It s scituation is high in a wholsom Air and rich Soil and by reason of its commodious Haven called Leth-Haven Edenburgh not above a mile distant it is a place of good Trade and well resorted unto by Shipping This City chiefly consisteth of one Street which runneth about a mile in length which receiveth divers petty Streets and Lanes so that its circuit may be about three miles which is strongly begirt with a Wall and at the west-West-end of the City on the top of a Rock is seated a fair and powerful Castle with many Towers which commands the City and is esteemed in a manner impregnable It belonged once to the English till in Anno 960. the Scots took it from them when oppressed by the Danish Tyranies It is well watered with clear Springs and Fountains is adorned with many fair Edifices as well publick as private the principal amongst which is the Kings Palace a fair Structure and its private Houses are generally fair lofty built of Free-stone and so well inhabited that several Families have their abodes under one Roof It is also dignified with the Courts of Judicature High Courts of Parliament and with an Vniversity And being the Scale of Trade for the Kingdom it will be necessary to give an account of their Coins Weights and Measures As to their Coins Their Coins Weights and Measure note that 13 ½ d. sterling makes a Mark Scotch 6 ¼ d. sterling a Scotch Noble and 20 d. sterling a Scotch Pound Their Weight used in Merchandizes is the Pound of 16 Ounces 100 of which make their Quintal or C which is found to make at London 108 l. Averdupois Their Measures for length is the Ell and is about 4 per Cent. greater than the English Ell. Their Liquid Measures are such as in England but of a double content a Pint being an English Quart and so answerable Their Dry Measures are also the same with those of England but also bigger Athelstanford so called from Athelstane a chief Commander of the English Athelstanford which was there slain with most of his Men about the year 815. Haddington seated in a wide and broad Plain a place of good account Haddington and which the English fortified with a deep and large Ditch and other Fortifications Dunbar scituate on the Sea-shoar once defended by a strong Castle Dunbar which was the Seat of the Earls of Merch a place which hath oft-times been taken by the English and as often retaken by the Scots which was the cause of its demolishment since which it is honoured with the Title of an Earldom North-Barwick seated on Edenbrough-Frith North-Barwick a place in former Ages famous for its House of Religious Virgins Not far from this place and near the Shoar Bass-Island lieth a small Isle called Bass-Island which feemeth to be a high craggy Rock and to be almost cut through by the undermining Sea-waves It hath a Fountain of Water and fresh Pastures and above all is remarkable for the exceeding great abundance of those Geese called Scouts and Soland-Geese which here frequent and breed which as I before noted is very profitable to the Inhabitants in these parts Lyth hath a most commodious Haven being the present Port to Edenburgh Lyth Abercorne seated on the Forth or Frith Abercorne in former time of note for its famous Monastery as at present for giving Title of an Earldom unto the Duke of Hamilton Linquo Linquo or Linlithquo said to be the ancient City of Lindum mentioned by Ptolomy a place once beautified with a House of the Kings and a fair Church County of Merch described MERCH a County so called as being a March it is wholly on the German Ocean was of great note for its Earls thereof and hath for its chief places Coldingham Cadingham called by Bede the City Coldana a place of great antiquity and note for its chaft Nuns for it is said that they together with Ebba their Prioress cut off their own Noses and Lips to render themselves deformed that the Danes might not deflour them but this so exasperated them that they not only burnt their Monastery but them therein Not far from Coldingham is Fast-Castle Fast-Castle and here the Sea
yielding the tenth part of what the others do so great difference is there in being at the foot and on the East of a Mountain These 5 Cassilifs answer to the higher Egypt or the Thebais of the Ancients in which are a great many Cities Walled Towns and Villages as are generally found throughout all Egypt as anon I shall have occasion to treat of Those Cassilifs of Fium and Giza with the Territory of Cairo to the middle The Cassilifs of Fium and Giza have very good Earth and which is easily watred by the Nile it yields store of Grain Fruits as Raisins c. Flax Milk feeds many Cattle c. but the Cassilif or Governour of the last hath not a free sword that is hath not power of life and death as he pleases as the others have being out of the course of the Arabs and too near Cairo of which a word or two City of Cairo described This City of CAIRO hath for a long time been all the Ornament of Egypt It was the Residence of the Sultans is now of the Bassa some make it very great others much less the first compose it of 4 parts to witt Old Cairo New Cairo Boulac and Charafat there being some void places between each they say that these 4 parts together with their Suburbs may be about 10 or 12 Leagues long and 7 or 8 broad nor give they it less then 25 or 30 Leagues Circuit They count 16 or 18000 Streets 6000 Mosques and if the particular Oratories be comprised above 20000 as also they account about 200000 Houses among which are divers Bazars or Markets Canes or Magazines of certain Merchandizes many Hospitals and magnificent structures The Castle is great strong and well fortified scituate on the top of a Rock which overlooks the City and discovers the Plain on all sides even to the loss of sight The buildings paintings and other Ornaments which yet remain do testify the magnificence of the Soldans This Castle as Heylin noteth for largeness Walls and divided into many Courts in which were stately buildings but now hath lost much of its glory being in part destroyed by Selimus that which now remains serveth for the Court or habitation of the Bassa In and about this City are abundance of delicate Orchards which are places of great delight in which are excellent Fruits Walks c. and nigh to this City there is a pleasant Lake which is much frequented by the Inhabitants who for their recreation pass some time daily on this Lake in boates for their further mutual society and seeing their friends and acquaintance Coesar Lambert his description of Cairo Coesar Lambert of Marsillia in his relations of the year 1627 28 29 and 32 saith that Cairo separated from the other Cities and Towns is not so great as Paris and if an eye witness of both may be believed he speaks truth and takes for witnesses some eminent French Gentlemen then at Cairo who confesses that joyning it to the Cities and Boroughs adjacent it may with reason be called Grand Cairo but however he maintains this to be but almost the shadow of Cairo as it was 100 and odd years since so much is the trade diminished and that according to the report of the people of the Country He saith likewise that the Castle hath been much greater and more magnificent then it is at present and observes several footsteps or proud buildings now of no use and after all saith that this is not strong Sandys his description of Cairo Sandys in his book of Tavels among other remarkable things makes this description of it saying that this great City called Grand Cairo is inhabited by Moors Turks Negroes Jews Copties Greeks and Armenians who are observed to be the poorest and yet the most laborious the civillest and honestest of all others they are not subject to the Turk neither do they pay him any Tribute of Children as other Christians do and it they happen to be taken in Wars they are freed from bondage and this priviledge they gained by a certain Armenian that foretold the greatness and glory of Mahomet Here he saith they hatch Eggs by artificial heat and that in exceeding great numbers which they do in this manner In a narrow entry on each side are 2 rows of Ovens one over the other On the floors of the lower they lay Flax over those Mats and upon them Eggs. The floors of the upper Oven are as roofs to the under being grated over like kilns onely having tunnels in the middle which have covers over them These gratings are covered with mats and on them they lay dry and pulverated dung of Camels c. three or four inches thick at the farther and higher sides of these upper Ovens are trenches of Lome which are about a handful deep and two handfuls broad The hatching of Chicken and in these they burn the aforesaid dung which yieldeth a gentle heat without any fire under the mouths of the upper Ovens are conveyances for the smoak having round roofs with vents at the top to open and shut and thus ly the Eggs in the lower Ovens for the space of eight daies turning them daily and looking that the heat be gentle and moderate then they put out the fire and put the one half into the upper Ovens then they shut all close and let them alone ten daies longer at which time they become hatched Sir Henry Blunt his description of this City Cairo I shall conclude my description of this City with some observations which Sir Henry Blunt hath observed during his abode there first he saith that there are Mosques and Oratories to the number of thirty five thousand some of which are very stately and magnificent next he saith there is twenty four thousand noted Streets besides by-Streets and Lanes and some of these Streets are about two miles in length and to all these Streets at each end there is a Door which every night is lockt up and kept guarded by which means tumults robberies fire or the like is prevented and without the City to hinder the Incursions of the Arabs from abroad there doth also watch every night four Saniacks with each of them one thousand horsemen the number of men that do every night guard this City is twenty eight thousand This City is built he saith after the Egyptian manner high and of large rough stones with part of Brick the Streets are but narrow but as the Houses decay they are rebuilt after the Turkish manner mean low and made of Mud and Timber yet their Palaces are stately with spacious Courts wherein are fair Trees to keep them from the heat of the Sun also other Courts belonging to their Palaces adjoyning to curious Gardens wherein are variety of excellent fruits and watred with Fountains nor want they any state in their Edifices which are vast lofty and very magnificent This City notwithstanding its greatness he saith is so exceeding populous
that the people pass to and fro as it were in throngs near to this City are Josephs 7 Granaries now brought to ruines yet 4 of them are so repaired as they are made use of to keep the publick Corn. On the South end of this City he saith there yet remaineth a round Tower wherein Pharaohs daughter lived when she found Moses in the River which runs hard by it South West of Grand Cairo on the other side of the Nile about four Leagues distance stands the three oldest and greatest Pyramides the Jews affirming them to be built by Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea the fairest for himself the next for his Wife and the least for his only Daughter The greatest of the three and chief of the Worlds Seven Wonders is made in form Quardangular lessening by equal degrees the Basis of every Square is 300 paces in length and so lessening by degrees ascending by 250 steps each being about 3 feet high the Stones are all of a bigness and hewed four square And in this as also in the others there are several Rooms There are also about 16 or 18 other Pyramides but of less note and not so ancient as these 3 aforesaid are which I shall pass by Nigh to this City in the Plain is the place where they did inter their dead in which they used such art that the bodies of their dead remain to this day perfect sound and these we call Mummies The places where these bodies ly are about ten fathom under ground in Vaults either in the Sand or upon an open stone The Earth is full of dry Sand wherein moisture never comes which together with their art of Embalming them doth thus preserve the bodies for some thousand years past In the brest of these Mummies is set a small Idol some of one shape some of another with Hieroglyphicks on the back side of them This City of Grand Cairo was formerly of a very great Trade but that which hath now ruined it as likewise that of Alexandria is the discovery of the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope by which the English Portugals and Hollanders at present go to these Indies and bring into the West all those Drugs Spices Precious Stones Pearls and a thousand other Commodities which came before by Aleppo or by Egypt but passing by Cairo let us come to the other Cassilifs The Cassilifs in the lower Egypt In the lower Egypt are those of Garbia Menufia and Callioubech within the Delta and between the Branches of the Nile That of Mansaura without and Eastward towards the Holy Land and Arabia Likewise without and Westward of the Nile is the Cassilif of Bonhera or Baera which stretches it self from the Nile unto the Cape of Bonandrea This last Cassilif is almost quite out of Egypt though within its Government and the length of its Sea Coast not less then that of all Egypt along the Nile But that which is distant from the Nile is subject to the Arabs and very Desart that which is near it is better worth It s Governor is obliged to Mannel a Callech or Channel of 100000 paces in length to carry water from the Nile to Alexandria and when a new Bassa arrives in Egypt this Governor hath likewise to furnish him with Horses and Camels for himself his Train and Baggage and to defray his charges from Alexandria unto Cairo But since the Wars with the Venetians the Bassa's have generally come round by Land and not adventured by Sea to Alexandria Among the Desarts of this Cassilif those of St. Macaire have had 360 and odd Monasteries And here is likewise to be seen a Lake of Mineral Water which converts into Nitre the Wood Bones or Stones that are thrown into it The Cassilifs of Callioubech Menousia and Garbia being between the Branches of the Nile and out of the course of the Arabs ought to be esteemed the best in Egypt and particularly the last which yields more abundantly Sugar Rice Milk Grains Oyl Flax Herbs Honey Fruits c. And Maala one of its principal Cities which they call the Little Medina is a place of great devotion with them where they hold yearly a famous Fair which the Governor opens with great pomp observing many Ceremonies The Cassilif of Mansoura doth produce the same Commodities but not in so great a quantity though of a greater extent then Garbia but more over it yields Cassia These four or five Cassilifs take up the whole Coast of Egypt and of its Government and on this Coast are the Cities of Alexandria Rosetto Damiata and some others The City of Alexandria Alexandria among the Turks Scanderia was built by the command of Alexander the Great and by him peopled with Greeks immediately after the conquest of Egypt and the Moddel traced by the Architect Dinocrates who for want of other matter made use of Wheat-flower to mark out the circuit which was taken for a good Augury It was afterwards beautified by many but especially by Pompey It is scituated Westward of the Delta over against the Isle of Pharos and built upon a Promontory thrusting it self into the Sea with which on the one side and on the other the Lake Mareotis It is a place of good defence its circuit is about 12000 paces adorned with many stately Edifices among which the most famous was the Serapium or the Temple of their god Serapis Which for curious workmanship and the stateliness of the Building was inferior to none but the Roman Capitol then the Library erected by Ptolomy Philadelphus in which there were 200000 Volums which Demetrius promised to augment with 300000 more And this in the War against Julius Caesar was unfortunately burnt And this is that Philadelphus who caused the Bible to be translated into Greek by the 72 Interpreters which were sent him by the High Priest Eleazar In this City in Anno 180 Gantenus read Divinity and Philosophy who as it is thought was the first institutor of Vniversities This City hath been enriched with 400 high and strong Forts and Towers and the Ptolomies or Kings of Egypt having made here their residence after the death of Alexander the Great and caused many stately and magnificent Palaces to be built Under the Houses are Gisterns sustained with Pillars of Marble as also Pavements for their refreshment being their Summer habitation their ancient custom by reason of the heat being to build their Houses as much under ground as above the upper part serving for their Winter habitation It was their custom also to erect great Pillars of Marble or Porphyry among others that of Pompey which stands upon a four square Rocky Foundation without the Walls on the South side of the City It is round and of one intire piece of Marble and of an incredible bigness being above One hundred foot high not far from the place where he was slain in a Boat at Sea and where his ashes were laid In this City are also two
Aethiopian Woman which heretofore was adorned as a Rural Deity This Colossus is of a vast bigness and is made out of the natural Rock together with huge flat Stones Also the Isle and Tower of Pharos opposite to Alexandria a place of a great bigness and of great rarity and magnificence its Watch-Tower was of an exceeding great height being ascended by steps and on the top of this Tower there were placed every night abundance of Lanthorns with Lights for the direction of Sailors by reason of the dangerousness of the Sea on that Coast being so full of Flats The Egyptians instead of Letters made use of Hieroglyphicks of which Their several Hieroglyphicks an example or two shall suffice viz. For God they painted a Falcon for Eternity they painted the Sun and Moon for a Year they painted a Snake with his Tail in his Mouth for any thing that was abominable they painted a Fish with a thousand more in the like nature too tedious to name They are said to be the first that invented Arithmetick Geometry Musick Philosophy Physick and by reason of the perpetual serenity of the Air found out the course of the Sun Moon and Stars their Constellations Risings Settings Aspects and Influences dividing by the same Years into Moneths grounding their divinations upon their hidden properties Also the first Necromancers and Sorcerers These People are much given to Luxury prone to Innovations Cowardly Cruel Faithless Crafty and Covetous much addicted to Fortune telling wandring from one Countrey to another by which cheating tricks they get their livelihood But these people are not the same as the ancient Inhabitants were being a Misceline of other Nations as aforesaid these People not addicting themselves to Arts or Letters as the former did They are of a mean stature active of a tawny complexion but indifferently well featured and their Women fruitful in Children sometime bringing two or three at a time Their habit is much after the Turkish dress Their habit in which they are not over curious They have in this Countrey a Race of Horses which for one property may be esteemed the best in the World that is they will run without eating or drinking one jot four daies and nights together And there are some Egyptians which with the help of a Sway bound about their body and carrying with them a little Food to eat are able to ride them For shape these Horses do not surpass others and for this property they are held so rare and esteemed at three years of age to be worth 1000 pieces of Eight and sometimes more And for this breed of Horses there are Officers appointed to look after them and to see the Foles of them and to register them in a book with the colour c. which they receive from the testimony of credible persons to avoid cheats But these Horses are not fit for any other then such a Sandy Countrey by reason of their tender feet But let us come to the Nile which is the principal piece in all Egypt I hold it for one of the most considerable Rivers of the World The length of it course and the divers Mouths by which it discharges it self into the Sea Its inundation at a perfixed time the quality of its Waters and the fertility and richness it leaves where it passes are my inducing Reasons It begins towards the Tropick of Capricorn ends on this side that of Cancer running for the space of above 45 degrees of Latitude which are 11 or 1200 Leagues in a streight line and more then 2000 in its course crosses a great Lake embraces the fairest River Island and waters the richest Valley we have knowledge of Among its Inhabitants this is particular that naturally some are black and some white and that in the same time the one have their Summer or their Winter when the others which is not known elsewhere have their Winter or their Summer It s true Spring is likewise almost unknown it is certain that the River that comes out of the Lake of Zair and takes its course towards the North is that which we call the Nile But this Lake receives a number of Rivers which descend from the Mountains of the Moon To tell whether any of these Rivers bears the name of Nile and which they be cannot be done Though there have been Kings of Egypt Roman Emperors Sultans and Kings of Portugal which have made the search In sum and according to Ptolomy who hath said as much as any hitherto it must be that most advanced towards the South and which washes at present the City of Zambery crosses the Lake of the same name or of Zair the City of Zair being likewise on the same Lake At the coming out of the Lake the Nile passes between the Kingdoms of Damont and Goyame in the Abissines receives a little on this side the Equator the Zafflan which comes out of the Lake of Zafflan near the Isle of Mero or Gueguere the Cabella or Taguezzi which descends from the Lake of Barcena and at the entrance into Egypt of the River Nubia which crosses Nubia and comes from Saara and Billedulgerid and apparently answers to that which Juba believed to be the true Nile These 3 Rivers are the greatest of all those which disburthen themselves in the Nile and carry a great many others But in Egypt the Nile remains alone passes between two ranks of Mountains approaching the Sea the Valley enlarges and the Nile divides it self into many Branches and glides by many Mouths to the Sea The Ancients made account of seven nine or more now except in the time of Inundation there are only two principal ones which pass by Rosetto and Damiata and three lesser by Turbet Bourles and Maala These not being Navigable but during the Inundation the others always This Inundation of the Nile is wonderful some attribute it to certain Etesian winds that is North-West which repulse the current and make it swell Others to the quantity of Snows which melt and to the continual Rains which fall there where the Nile hath its beginnings or there where it passes Others will have the Ocean then to swell and under ground communicate its waters to the Nile c. But there are so many different opinions touching the cause of this Inundation and so many Reasons are given pro and con that a whole treatise might be made of it This Inundation begins about the sixteenth or seventeenth of June It s Inundation and effects increases for the space of forty daies and decreases for other 40 days so that its greatest height is about the end of July and it ends about the beginning of September If it begins sooner or later which is observed by certain Pillars in the Towns and particularly in the Castle of Rhoda which stands in a little Isle opposite to old Cairo and where the Bassa resides during the solemnity of opening the Channel which passes through and fills the Cisterns of
with the Mono-Motapa of which he seems once to have been a part is in peace with the King of Zanguebar that he may have commerce to the Sea for he hath much Gold Silver Ivory and the same Commodities as Mono-Motapa but its People are more barbarous and brutish The chief places in the Mono-Emugi are Agag Astagoa Leuma Camur Beif Bagametro and Zembre seated on the bottom of the Lake Zaire CAFRERIA or the Land of CAFRES The Land of Cafreria described CAFRERIA or the Land of CAFRES makes the most Southern Coast of all Aethiopia winding like a Semicircle about the Cape of Good Hope some begin it from Cape Negro and continue it unto the River of Cuama this separating it from Zanguebar and the other from Congo or what we have esteemed with Congo Others begin it and end it with the Tropick of Capricorn as well on this side as beyond the Cape of Good Hope I esteem under the name of Cafres all the Coasts which environ the Mono-Motapa both towards the West South and East so that we may call these Cafres Occidental Meridional and Oriental This distinction being taken in regard of the natural scituation in which these People are from the Mono-Motapa or we may chuse rather to consider them in Occidental or Oriental as we have already done the Cape of Good Hope then keeping the one from the other It hath formerly been believed that these People had neither Kings Law nor Faith and therefore were called Cafres that is without Law But it hath since been known that they have divers Kings and Lords as those of Mataman where there are divers Metals Chrystal c. And of Melemba among the Occidentals those of Chicanga Sedanda Quiteva and Zefala among the Orientals and others we know not towards the South and Cape of Good Hope On the Coast of Cafres are these places and Isles viz. St. Nicolai Piscarius the Port of Carascalis the Cape of Good Hope St. Martins Bay and the Cape of St. Lucia Also these Isles 4 bearing the name of St. Lucia 2 of St. Christophers 5 of Crucis and 3 of Aride Many of which as likewise the Capes are well known by Sea-men especially the Cape of Good Hope All these Coasts of Cafreria are bounded within Land by a Chain of Mountains formed by the Mountains of the Moon and which inclose Mono-Motapa That part of these Mountains which advance towards the Cape of Good Hope are called by the Portugals The Cape of Good Hope Picos Fragos that is Watry Points or Rocks This Cape is the most remarkable piece in Cafreria the most Southern point of Africa and of our Continent and the most famous Promontory of the whole World Vasco de Gama knew it in 1498 and after having doubled it found the way by the East-Indies to the Great Sea and from hence the Portugals boast to have been the first that had the knowledge of this Cape But we have made appear in the general discourse of Africa that the Ancients have both known and spoke of it Near the Cape of Good Hope and farther towards the South is the Cape of Needles which should be more famous since it is more Southernly than the other by 12 or 15 Leagues But the name Cape of Good Hope is given to all that Head of Land which is the most Southern of Africa The Air Fertility Commodities c. of the Country The Air of this Country is sometimes temperate and sometimes cold by reason of the Mountains which are covered with Snow and Ice from whence descends quantity of cold Waters The Vallies and Lower Countries pleasant and fertil hath store of Woods and Forests in which are abundance of Beasts and Fowls as Deer Antilopes Baboons Foxes Hares c. Also Ostriches Herons Pelicans Pheasants Partridges Geese Ducks c. They are well supplied with good Water feed much Cattle which they truck with Strangers for Knives Scizzars Spoons and divers Toys they have likewise much Fish in their Rivers The People and their Trade The Inhabitants are Black have thick Lips flat Noses long Ears and in a word very ill-shapen They are more barbarous and brutish than the rest of Africa they are Man-eaters their chief ornaments in their Apparel are Chains of Iron Brass Beads Bells or the like and cutting and slashing their Skins in several shapes Clothing they have none only in the Cold season they wrap themselves about with Skins of Beasts Towns they have none or very few for the most part living in the Woods and Forests like brute Beasts But the Cafres on the East are much more civil than the others most of them have made a part and are yet subject to the Mono-Motapa who about 50 years ago divided his Estate into four parts giving to his eldest Son what is within Land and by much the greatest part and to his three younger Sons Zuiteva Sedanda and Chicanga towards the Sea-Coast for their Portions Cefala or Zefala seems to make its piece apart whose King pays Tribute both to the Mono-Motapa and the Portugals and these have divers Fortresses on the Coast Sena Tete Cuama c. Zefala is so abundant in Gold and Elephants that some take it for the Ophir whither Solomon sent his Fleet every three years And they give for a reason that the Gold Ivory Apes c. which that Fleet brought are here found in abundance That this Fleet parting from the Red Sea there is no likelyhood it should go to Peru which some take for this Ophir besides that there is there neither Ivory nor Apes but that it was rather to some part of Asia or Africa They add that there remains not far from Zefala some footsteps of ancient Buildings and Inscriptions left there by Strangers long time ago Nay likewise that there is some notes and Books how Solomon sent thither his Fleet. Moreover the Septuagint translate Sophira instead of Ophir and the name of Sophira is not overmuch different from Sopholo However it be there is here store of Gold both in the Mountains and Rivers and often very clean and pure as well in Powder as Sand and this Gold is esteemed the best and finest in Africa ours seeming but Brass in comparison of it The Country is healthful and pleasant seated only on the Coast the Mono-Motapa confining it within Land A part of its now Inhabitants are not the Natives but descended from that Coast which belonged to the Mono-Motapa The Natives as I said before are Black and Idolaters or Cafres the others very swarthy and for the most part Mahometans They have a great Trade on this Coast for their Gold two or three Millions being yearly brought hence and that for Toys and things of a very small value which are carried them from divers parts of Asia and Europe and some parts of Africa The ISLES of AFRICA as they lie and are found In the Mediterranean Sea And on the Coast of BARBARY as the ISLES of
West and advancing a little towards the South So that St. Anthony and Brava make the two Ends or Points towards the West Bona Vista makes the middle of the half Circle towards the East SANCTA LVCIA St. Nicholas St. NICHOLAS and St. JAGO are the greatest having each 100 or 120000 paces of length 15 20 or 30000 of breadth and 200 or 250000 paces of circuit St. Anthonio and St. Vincent are less by more then half and not of above 100000 paces in circuit the rest which are the least have not above 30 40 or 50000 paces I make no account of seven or eight others whose names have not been given us and which are rather Rocks than Isles St. JAGO is the greatest and the chief of all having a Bishops seat in the City of the same name St. Jago besides which are Ribera Grande with a good Port towards the West Praya towards the East St. Mary towards the North all with their Ports Some place likewise St. Thomas whose Port is dangerous others St. Domingo others St. Michael possibly these fall under some of the others Ribera Grande hath 500 Houses the Air is unhealthful the Land hilly but the Valleys fruitful in Grains Vines Fruits Sugar Canes Millons c. Feeding much Fowl and Cattle and particularly Goats in abundance These Beasts bringing forth young every four Moneths and three of four at a time and the Kids are very fat and delicate Sancta Lucia St. Vincent St. Anthony SANCTA LVCIA is the best peopled after that of St. Jago St. Nicholas St. Vincent and St. Anthony have been esteemed Desert yet they appear to have many Inhabitants though not so many as they could feed The Ships of the Vnited Provinces passing here in 1622. found in that of St Anthony 500 persons Men Women and Children all Aethiopians St. Vincent and St. Nicholas had no less At Mayo these Aethiopians are strong and of good stature but it is to be believed that every where are some Portugals to keep the rest in aw Salt Bona Vista The Isles of SALT of BONA VISTA of MAYO and of St. JAGO yield so great quantity of Salt which is made naturally of the Water which the Sea from time to time leaves that besides what they consume in the Countrey they laded every year more then 100 Ships which is transported into other Countreys and yet there remains six times as much which becomes useless It is reported that the Isle of Mayo could make alone lading for two thousand Sail of Ships yearly and the others not much less The other riches of the Countrey lies in the Skins of their Goats which are in so great quantity through all these Isles that many flocks are seen of 1000 Head The Skins are sent to Brasil Portugal and other places and make excellent Cordovants The Flesh is salted in the Countrey and sold to Ships going and returning from Brasil to the Indies Besides the Salt and Woats which are the principal riches of the Countrey they have many Wild Horses Oxen Apes c. also Cotton whereof they make several Manufactures Also Rice and many sorts of Grains Among their Fowl they have one kind particular to them which they call Flamencos the Feathers of their Bodies are all White and those of their Wings Red as Blood Their Tortoises are not above two or three foot long they come out of the Sea and lay their Eggs in the night covering them with Sand and the heat of the Sun hatches them Fuego Brava In Fuego and Brava they gather Wines which yield little to those of the Canaries The Sargasso Sea Between the Islands of Cape Verde and the main Land inclining towards the Canaries the Sea is called Sargasso because from the 20 to the 24 degree and for the length of 30 40 or 50 Leagues the Sea is covered with an herb like to that which is found in the bottom of Wells and which the Portugals call Sargasso This Herb except that it is more Yellow resembles Sea-Parsley bearing certain Grains or Fruit at the end but of neither taste nor substance Many have been much troubled to know from whence these Weeds come which are distant from the Isles and from the firm Land more then 60 Leagues and in a part of the Sea where there is no bottom found Nevertheless they are so close and in so great quantity that the Water seems rather a Meadow or Green Field then a Sea Ships which fall among these Weeds had need of a good Wind to disingage themselves and I believe it was these which hindred Sataspes from finishing his course about Africa and were the cause of his misfortune This Sataspes Son of Teaspes one of the Achemenides A story of Sataspes having ravished the Daughter of Zopyrus the Son of Magabises was condemned by Xerxes to be crucified His Mother the Sister of Darius caused this punishment to be changed into another to wit he was caused to make the Circumnavigation of Africa which could not be done without great difficulty and hazard He embarked in Egypt passed the Pillars of Hercules entred into the Occidental Ocean and passed far to the South along Africa but knowing that it would yet require much time and pains to end this course he returned into Egypt and thence to the Court where he said he had met with somewhat that hindred his Ship from passing farther Xerxes took him for a liar and made him suffer the death he was before condemned to But to continue The Isles of Cape Verde The Position wherein the Isles of Cape Verde are now found answers much better to the Position of the Fortunate Isles of Ptolomy then that of the Canaries Ptolomy places his Fortunate Isles between the 10 and 16 degree of Latitude the Isles of Cape Verde are between the 13 and 19 the Canaries beyond the 26. The Meridian of the Fortunate Isles of Ptolomy is at 8 degrees of Longitude from the Coast of Africa and towards the West The least Meridian of the Isles of Cape Verde is at 8 degrees of Longitude from the same Coast and towards the same side The least Meridian of the Canaries touches the Coast of Africa Ptolomy confines his Fortunate Isles under one Meridian and extends them from South to North between the tenth to the sixteenth parallel or degrees of Latitude which are five degrees of Latitude The Isles of Cape Verde are not justly under one Meridian but under two or three and extend themselves from the 13 ½ to the 19 which are five degrees of Latitude The Canaries on the contrary are all couched from West to East and almost under the same parallel or degree of Latitude which is the 27 lengthning themselves from the first to the 6 of Longitude These four Reasons are very strong to prove that the Isles of Cape Verde do rather answer to the Fortunate Isles of Ptolomy then the Canaries Their distance in regard of the Aequator is
our Coast into the other Continent It may likewise be believed that others have passed from the other Coast that is to say from Asia Whence it comes that some believe that the Inhabitants of Peru and Mexico descend rather from the Chinois and Japanois than from the Europeans or Africans But this subject will be too tedious to handle let us therefore content our selves to speak a word or two of this America in general before we descend to particulars AMERICA considered in its whole Body is part on this side and part beyond the Equator It stretches it self to near 54 degrees beyond and extends it self to 80 or more on this side which are more than 130 degrees of Latitude our Continent not having much more than 100 But the breadth of America is very unequal this Continent being composed of two great Peninsula's almost divided the one from the other by the Equator its breadth here is not in some places of above 30 40 or 50 Leagues The bigness of America though in other places 1000 or 1200 and possibly much more in America Septentrionalis if the Land of Jesso be contiguous to it The scituation and Land of Jesso This Land of JESSO or YEDSO is between America and Asia and we know not yet whether it joyn upon Asia or America or make a Piece apart if it be divided both from the one and the other and that New Denmark and Greenland are upon it as there is much reason to believe it makes a Piece not less than the three parts of our Continent or of the two of the other but possibly it makes a third part of the other Continent Let us proceed to the two parts of America as they are esteemed and known at present AMERICA SEPTENTRIONALIS AMERICA SEPTENTRIONALIS is that part of America which is not only the most Northern of the two America's but likewise doth all lie between the Equator and the North The length and breadth of America Septentrionalis it extends it self from the 8th or 10th degree of Latitude even beyond the Artick Circle and if we comprehend the Artick Lands with America it advances at least to the 88th degree of Latitude which are 70 degrees for its height from South to North. Its length from West to East possesses near all the degrees of Longitude of the other Hemisphere to wit from about the 180th where ours end even beyond the 300th which is the end of the other The Mer del Nort is on the East of it the Mer del Sud on its West towards the North its bounds are unknown there being Land found even beyond the 80th degree of Latitude Its bounds with appearance that they extend yet farther towards the Pole so that we cannot judge to what degree or whether it be contiguous to New Denmark and Greenland or whether it be in Islands and on the South it makes America Meridionalis We will divide this America Septentrionalis into Canadiana and Mexicana Under the name of Canadiana is understood that part of America which is about Canada where the English French Hollanders Danes and Swedes have divers Colonies And under the name of Mexicana It s division according to Mons Sanson that part of America which the King of Spain doth almost alone possess and where he hath established abundance of Colonies subdividing Canadiana into the Artick Lands and Canada or New France and Mexicana into New Mexico and Mexico or New Spain Of these four parts Mexico or New Spain is the most advanced towards the Equator and the South the Artick Lands towards the North It s scituation the other two parts rest in the middle Canada or New France towards the East and New Mexico towards the West The first is under and about the Tropick of Cancer the second under or about the Polar Circle the two others lie from 25 or 30 unto 60 degrees of Latitude so that the first is within or very near the Torrid Zone the second within or near the Frozen Zone and the two in the middle quite in the Temperate Zone The first and most Southernly ought to be called Mexico or New Spain Mexico because Mexico is by much the fairest City and the Dominion of the ancient Kings of Mexico extended over the best part of it New Spain because the King of Spain possesses near all of it having established a great many Colonies a Vice-Roy divers Archbishops Bishops Audiences and Governments the Natives of the Country that are left being almost all Tributaries to him The second may be called the Arctick Lands because it approaches the Arctick Pole Arctick Lands and is for the most part comprehended within the Arctick Circle these are but little known We understand well that they are divided by some Streights and that it apparently consists in many and divers Isles which hath been the cause a Passage hath been sought to go this way to China and the East-Indies The Natives do here enjoy a full and entire liberty the People of Europe not thinking it worth their pains to establish Colonies Of the two middle parts the most Easternly and nearest to Europe ought to be esteemed under the general name of Canada or New France Canada or New France of Canada because in that particular Region the Europeans first Landed of New France because the French did first establish themselves here before any other Europeans The most Western and farthest from Europe may in general be called New Mexico because the Spaniards of Mexico or New Spain discovered it not till after they had been sometime settled in this other Of these four parts of America Septentrionalis to wit Mexico or New Spain New Mexico Canada or New France and America Arctica New Spain is washed by Mer del Nort and Mer del Sud America Arctica likewise by both Seas New France only by Mer del Nort and New Mexico only by Mer del Sud These four great parts are subdivided into many less which we call Regions Peoples Provinces c. We will observe the chief of them the most clearly and succinctly as possibly we can but because New Spain touches on America Meridionalis we will begin our America Septentrionalis by the Arctick and New France so proceeding to the one and the other Mexico that we may pass in order to the parts bordering on America Meridionalis And likewise because the Arctick Lands of America are very little known and that we cannot judge to make a particular discourse of them we will content our selves to speak something here before we pass to the other parts That part of America which is comprised for the most part between the Arctick Pole and Circle or which at most descends unto the 60th or 55th degree of Latitude is named according to our method America Arctica In all this part we know only some Coasts and Gulphs of that which is most towards Europe There we have the Isles of Iseland and