The old ones perceiving the fire to approach to their Nests attempted to carry away their young ones but could not they were so weighty which they perceiving never ceased with their spread wings to cover them till they all perished in the flames together Belg. Common Wealth p. 63. In America there are certain small Birds called Viemalim with small and long bills that live upon the dew and of the juice of Flowers and roses like Bees their feathers are of very curious colours they dye or sleep every year in October sitting upon the bough of a Tree in a warm place and in Aprill following when the Flowers are sprung they awake again I have one of them In the Arabian Deserts there are great store of Ostriches that go in flocks and often affright passengers that are strangers with their fearful schreeches appearing a farre off like a Troop of horsemen Their bodies are too heavy to bee born up by their wings which though uselesse for flight yet serve them to run with greater speed so that a swift horse can scarce overtake them whatsoever they findâ—e bee it stones or iron they greedily swallow it down and concoct it when they have laid their eggs which are as big as a Culverin Bullet they forget where they left them and so return no more to them but they are hatched by the heat of the Sun in the warm sands hence those expressions Lam. 4.3 The Daughter of my people is become cruell like the Ostriches in the wildernesse whereupon shee is made the Embleam of folly Job 39.14 c She leaveth her eggs in the earth and warmeth them in the dust and forgets that the foot may crush them c. In Brasile there is a little bird which they call The risen or Awaken Bird because it sleeps six months and awakes the other six It hath a Cap on its head of no one colour but on what side soever you look it sheweth red green black and other colours all very fine and shining the breast also shews great variety of colours especially yellow more fine than gold the body is grey and it hath a very long small bill and yet the tongue is twice as long as the bill it flyes very swiftly and makes a humming like a Bee It always feeds flying Pur. Pil. In Socotera there are Bats whose bodies are almost as big as a Conies their heads are like Foxes with an hairy Furr upon them In other things they are like our Bats One of them being killed by some English his wings when they were extended were an ell in length their cry is shril and loud Idem In Italy are the Flies Cantharides which by day are of a green shining colour but in the night they shine in the air like flying Glow-worms with fire in their tailes Raimunds Mercu. Ital. In China there is a Fowl of a prodigious shape and bignesse It is three foot high the body being exceeding great more than a man can fathom their feathers are all white like a Swans their feet broad like Fowls that swim their neck half a fathom long and their beak half an ell the upper part of it being crooked From the nether parâ— of the beak there hangs a very great and capable bag of a yellow golden colour resembling Parchment With these Fowls the Natives use to fish as wee do in England with Cormorants They will catch fish with great dexterity and when they have filled their great bag which will hold divers fishes of two foot long a peece they will bring them to their Masters Pur. Pil. v. 2. p. 1643. In the African Desarts is a certain Fowle called a Nesir some call it a Vultur It s bigger than a Crain In flying it mounts very high yet at the sight of a dead carkass it descends immediatly Shee lives long and in extream old age looseth her feathers and then returning to her nest is there fed by the young ones of the same kinde Idem Near unto the Streights of Magellane there is an Island called Penguin Island wherein are abundance of Fowls called Penguins that go upright their wings in stead of feathers are only covered with down which hang down like sleeves faced with white They flye not but walk in paths of their own making and keep their divisions and quarters orderly They are a strange Fowle or rather a miscellaneous creature of beast Bird and Fish but most of Bird. Pur. Pil. v. 1. p. 536. In the Isle of Man there is a sort of Sea-Fowles called Puffins they are of a very unctious constitution and breed in Cony-holes the Conies leaving their burrows for that time they are never seen with their young but very early in the morning and late in the evening they nourish their young as it is conceived with Oil drawn from their own bodyes and dropped into their mouths for that being opened there is found in their crops no other sustenance save a single Sorrel-leaf which the old give their young as is conjectured for digestions-sake the flesh of them whilst raw is not savoury but powdered it may bee ranked with Anchoves and Caviare profitable they are in their feathers and oil which they use much about their Wooll In the Isle of Mauritius is a Fowle called a Dodo Her body is round and extream fat which makes her pace slow few of them weigh less than fifty pound Her wings are so small that they cannot lift her above the ground Her head is variously dressed the one half hooded with downy black feathers the other wholly naked of a whitish colour as if a transparent Lawn had covered it her bill is very hooked bending downwards the breathing place being in the midst of it from which part to the end the colour is light green mixt with a pale yellow Her eyes are round and small and bright as Diamonds her cloathing is of the finest down her train is of three or four short feathers her legs thick and black her tallons sharp her stomach so hot that shee digests stones or Iron as doth the Ostrich In Lincolnshire there is a Bird called a Dotterel so named of his doltish foolishness It s a bird of an apish kinde ready to imitate what it sees done they are caught by Candle-light by the Fowlers gestures for if hee put forth an arm they stretch forth a wing if hee sets forward a leg or hold up his head they likewise do the same In brief whatsoever the Fowler doth the same also doth this foolish bird untill it bee caught within the net Camb. Brit. p. 543. There is an Island called Bas bordering upon Lathaien in Scotland unto which there resort a multitude of Sea fowls especially of Soland Geese which bring with them such abundance of Fish that as it is reported an hundred souldiers that lay there in Garrison for defence of the place fed upon no other meat but the fish that was thus brought to them And the said Fowles also bring such a
bee found in the World and our Marriners and Souldiers are not to bee equalled In King Edward the third his time two hundred of our ships neer Scluse overcame four hundred of the French of which they sunk two hundred sail and slew thirty thousand Souldiers In eighty eight a few of our Queens ships overthrew the Spanish Invincible Armado consisting of one hundred thirty and four great Gallions Sir Francis Drake with four ships took from the Spaniard one million and one hundred eighty nine thousand and two hundred Duckats in his voyage Anno Christi 1587. And again with five and twenty ships hee awed the Ocean sacked St. Jago Domingo and Carthagena bringing away with him besides much treasure two hundred and forty peeces of Ordnance Our Country men Drake and Cavendish have sailed round about the World I omit the voyage to Cales mentioned before Sir Richard Creenvil in one of the Queens ships called the Revenge wherein were but one hundred and fourscore Souldiers and of them ninety so sick as not able to fight yet maintained hee a Sea-fight for four and twenty hours against above fifty of the Spanish Gallions and though when his powder was spent to the last barrel hee yeilded on honorable tearms yet before he had killed one thousand of the Spaniards and sunk four of their greatest vessels And what victories wee have had of late over all the Navies of the Lowcountries I omit to speak of because they are fresh in every ones memory In land service our souldiers are able to endure and resolute to undertake the hardest enterprises witnesse our warres and conquests in Spain France Ireland and Scotland and the Netherlands assisted by us England is a most fertile and a most potent Island as well for situation as for men and ships and the Inhabitants are good souldiers both by sea and land in valour and courage not inferior to any one Nation whatsoever and are more apt to offend by temerity and overmuch forwardnesse than by cowardize It excells all other nations in Mastiffs Cocks of the Game and Women who are incomparably beautiful and therefore have great influence upon the men yea the Queens have commanded here more absolutely and have been much better obeyed and respected than the Kings The division of England is into forty shires and nine thousand seven hundred and twenty five Parishes beside Chappels In these are five hundred fourscore and five Market Towns besides Cities the chief are Shrewsbury Northampton South-hampton Lecester Warwick c. Our Universities are two Cambridge and Oxford which for number and beauty of Colledges multitudes of Students and largeness of revenues are not to bee equalled in the Christian world I will not determine which is of greater antiquity this question having been agitated by so many In several places of England there is excellent white salt made I shall describe the manner of the making of it at Nantwich only There is one salt spring which they call the Brine-pit standing close by the River Weever from whence the Brine is conveyed into the severall Wich-houses and when the Bell rings they begin to make fire under the Leads wherein they boil the said salt-water and as it seeths the Wallers which are commonly women do with a woodden Rake gather the Salt from the bottome which they put into long wicker baskets and so the water voideth and the Salt remains In some other places they boil it in Iron pans with coals but they say the salt is not so white The Cities in England Described The City of London Described No Records set down the Original of this ancient City A City it was when Caesar first entred Brittain and by the Testimony of Tacitus Ptolemy and Antonine was called Londinium and by Ammianus Marcellinus for her successive prosperity Augusta the greatest title that can bee given to any In regard of both elements it is most happy as being situate in a most rich and fertile soil abounding with plenty and store of all things and on the gentle ascent and rising of a hill hard by the Thames side which by his safe and deep channel is able to entertain the greatest ships which daily bring in such store of rich Merchandise from all parts of the VVorld that it striveth at this day with the Mart towns in Christendome for the second place and affordeth a most sure and beautiful rode for shipping This City doth shew her self as the Cedar amongst shrubs It was the seat of the British Kings and is the model of the Land and Mart of the World For thither are brought the Silks of Asia the Spices of Africa the Balms from Grecia and the Riches from both the Indies No City hath been so long famous nor in civil Government can bee compared with her Her walls were first built by Constantine the great at the request of his mother Helena reared with rough stone and british brick three English miles in compass through which are seven fair Gates besides posterns A long the Thames this wall at first ranged with gates the one Douregate now Dowgate the other Billingsgate a receptacle for ships In the middest of the City was set a mile mark as the like was in Rome also from whence they measured their stations which stands till this day and is commonly known by the name of London stone St. Peters in Cornhill is thought to have been the Cathedral of Restitutus a Christian Bishop in Constantine the great 's time which was afterwards removed to St. Pauls whose greatness exceeds all others and spires had so high that twice they were consumed by lightning from heaven It hath in it besides this Church one hundred twenty and one Churches more viz. ninety and six within the walls and sixteen without but within the liberties and nine more in her suburbs It s divided into six and twenty Wards governed by so many Aldermen a Lord Maior and two Sheriffs the yearly choice whereof was granted them by Patent from King John In whose time also a Bridge of stone was built over the Thames upon twenty Arches built of excellent freestone and each Arch being sixty foot high and full twenty in distance from one another so that for length breadth beauty and building the like is not again to be found in the world King John gave certain void places in London to the City to build upon and the profits thereof were to go toward the charges of building and repairing the same bridg and the Mason who was the chief woâ—kman in building it erected a large chappel upon it at his own charges and largely endowed it which is since turned to a dwelling house It was finished Anno Christi 1209. having been thirty and three years in building Afterwards sundry beautiful houses were built upon it that it seems a street rather than a bridge and many charitable men have given lands houses and summes of money towards the maintenance of it At the East end of this City
Bridges and each of them have their several Churches Venerable Bede lies under a marble Tomb in the Cathedral Church of this City The City of Carlile in the County of Cumberland Described The City of Carlile is passing commodiously and pleasantly seated between severall rivers being guarded on the North side with the Channel of Eden on the East with Petteril on the West with Caud Besides which natural fences it is fortified with strong walls of stone with a Castel and a Citadel In form it is somewhat long running out from West to East On the West side stands the Castle fair and large Almost in the middest of the City riseth on high the Cathedral Church the upper and newer part of it being very artificially and curiously wrought On the West side stands the Citadel built by King Henry the eight very strongly and with bulworks VVales Described VVales is bounded with the Seas on all sides but the East where it is separated from England by the River Dee and a line drawn to the River VVie or rather by that huge ditch cast up by King Offa which begins where Wie falls into Severn and reacheth unto Chester even fourscore and four miles in length The Country is very Mountainous and barren yet by the industry of the Inhabitants is made fruitful their chiefest commodities are woollen Flannels Cottons Bays c. brought weekly to Oswestre the farthest Town in Shropshire and thence dispersed into other Countries It is divided into North-Wales and South-Wales in both which are twelve shires having in them one Chase thirteen Forrests thirty and six Parks ninety and nine bridges The chiefest Rivers are Dee VVie Conwy Tivy and Chedhidy The Welsh Language is least mixed with forreign words of any used in Europe but having many Consonants in it is lesse pleasing The People are cholerick and hasty but very loving each to other In VVales are one thousand and sixteen Parishes of which fifty and six are market Towns besides the Cities which are four viz. St. Davids in Pembrookshire Bangor in Carnarvonshire Asaph in Flintshire and Landaff in Glamorganshire In Cardiganshire were found some silver Mines by the industry of Mr. Thomas Middleton that yeilded some good quantity of Silver The twelve shires of VVales are Pembrookshire Caermardenshire Glamorganshire Brecknockshire Radnorshire Cardiganshire Moungomeryshire Mertonethshire Denbighshire Flintshire Caernarvonshire and the Isle of Anglesey which is separated from the main Land by the River Moenay wherein are Beu-marish and Holi-head common passages to Ireland Scotland described Scotland is separated from England by the Rivers Tweed and Solway and the Cheviot-Hills reaching from one river to the other It s in length four hundred and eighty miles In breadth much lesse no place being threescore miles from the Sea It s divided into High-land and Low-land The people of the High-land living on the VVestern parts of Scotland have some civility but those in the out Isles are very barbarous The Low-landers are in dispositions and language almost like the English Scotland is far more barren than England The chief commodities are course cloathes Freeses Fish Hides Lead-oare c. The principal Rivers are Forth Clada and Tay all navigable In Scotland there are four Universities St. Andrews Glasco Aberdeen and Edenburgh The Nobility and Gentry are great affecters of Learning and therefore do not only frequent their own Universities but travel into forraign parts for improvement of the same The whole Country is divided into two parts by the great River Tay the Southern part is more populous and fruitful every where bestrewed with Cities and Towns as England is the Northerly more barren and rude retaining the customes of the wilde Irish from whence they came The Southren part hath in it these Counties Tividale Merch Laudien Liddesdale Eskedale Annandale Niddesdale Galloway Carrick Kyle Cunningham Arran Cluidesdale Lenox Sterling Fife Strathern Menteith Argile Cantire and Lorn The Northern counties are Loquabrea Braidalbin Perth Athol Anguse Merâ—s Mar Buguhan Murrey Ross Sutherland Cathnes and Strathnavern And these again are divided into Sheriffdoms Stewardships and Bailiwicks The chief Cities in Scotland described Edenburgh is the Regal City of Scotland seated in Lothien where is the Royal Palace and the chief Courts of Justice It consists principally of one street about a mile long into which runne many petty lanes so that the whole compasse may be about three miles It s strengthened by a Castle that commands the Town Glasco in Cluidsdale where an University was founded by Bishop Turnbull Anno Christi 1554. St. Andrews in Fife Sterling or Striveling seated in Striveling hundred Aberdeen in Mar. Dondee in Anguis Perth or St. Johns Town Scotland was once inhabited by two populous Nations the Scots and Picts the former inhabited the Western parts of the land the latter the Eastern These two Nations at length falling out there were great and large warres betwixt them till at last the Scots prevailing they extinguished not the Kingdome only but the very name of the Picts Most memorable was that fortification drawn from Abercorn upon the Frith of Edenburgh unto Dunbritton opening upon the West Sea where Julius Agricola set the limits of the Romane Empire At this place began the great wood Caledonia famous for the wilde white Bulls bread therein with Manes like Lyons thick and curled of nature fierce and cruell so hatefull to mankind that they abhorred whatsoever was by them handled or breathed upon The Cattle in Scotland are but small yet many Fish so plentifull that in some places men on horseback hunt Salmons with Spears The Islands belonging to it are the Western the Orknayes and the Shetlands in number above three hundred Amongst the Western the Hebrides Skie Mula Ila and Arran are the chief all abounding with Corn Wood Salmons Herrings and some with Conies Deer Horses and Sheep The Orknay Islands upon the North lie in a raging Sea about three and thirty in number whereof thirteen are inhabited the other replenished with Cattel In them are no venemous Serpents nor other ugly vermine the aire sharp and healthful apt to bear Oats and Barley but have no wood Of these Pomonia is the greatest that hath six Minerals of Lead and Tin and twelve Parishes in it Ireland described Ireland is divided into four Provinces Mounster Leinster Connaught and Ulster In Mounster are the Counties of Limmerick Kery Cork Waterford Dismond and Holy Cross in Typperary In Leinster are East-Meath West-Meath Kilkenny Caterlough Queens County Kings County Kildare VVeshford and Dublin In Connaught are Clare â—r Towmund Gallaway Maio Slego Letrim and Roscoman In Ulster are Dungal or Tyr-connel Tyrone-upper Tyrone-nether Farmanagh Cavan Monaghan Colrane Antrim Down Armagh and Lough Ireland hath on the East that tempestuous Sea that divides it from England On the West the Western Ocean On the North the Deucalidonian Sea and on the South the Vergivian Sea It contains in length four hundred and in breadth two hundred miles The air is
temperate but not so clear as ours in England it doth not therefore ripen Corn well but causeth grasse to grow abundantly The Winter is more subject to wind than snow The soil is uneven wooddy wilde watrish and boggy full of Loghs and Meers yea great ponds are sometimes found upon high mountains hence new commers are subject to Rheumes dissenteries and Fluxes the usual cure whereof is Uskebah This Island breeds no venemous creature neither will any live there if brought from other places All the breed in Ireland except women and Grayhounds are lesse than in England The commodities are cattel and sheep which are twice shorne in one year but their wool is course of which they make Mantles Caddows and Coverlets their Hobbies also are of great esteem Bees there are in great abundance The people are generally strong and nimble patient of hunger and cold implacable in enmity light of beleef greedy of glory The Kernes or wilde Irish are extreamly barbarous not behaving themselves as Christians scarcely as men The chief Rivers are 1. Shenin or Sinei beginning in Ulster and running two hundred miles till it falls into the Vergivian Sea and is navigable threescore miles 2. The Slane 3. Awiduff or Blackwater 4. Showre c. of which Spencer makes these verses There was the Liffie rowling down the Lea The sandy Slane the stony Aubrian The spacious Shenin spreading like a Sea The pleasant Boyne the fishie-fruitful Bann Swift Awiduffe which of the English man Is call'd Blackwater and the Liffar deep Sad Trowis that once his people over-run Strong Allo tumbling from Slewtogher steep And Mullamine whose waves I whilome taught to weep There also was the wide embayed Mayer The pleasant Bandon crown'd with many a wood The spreading Lee that like an Island fair Enclosed Corke with his divided flood And baleful Oure distain'd with English blood With many more c. The principal Lakes are Lough Earn Lough Foile and Lough Corbes in length twenty in breadth four miles in which are three hundred Ilets abounding with Pine-trees Dublin the Metropolis of Ireland is seated on the Liffie in which is an University Our King John was the first that was entituled Lord of Ireland which title the Kings of England retained till Anno Christi 154â— at which time in an Irish Parliament King Henry the eight was declared King of Ireland as a name more repleat with Majesty The Province of Mounster described Mounster hath on the South the Vergivian Sea on the North part Connaught on the East Leinster and on the VVest the Ocean It s in length from Baltimore in the South unto the Bay of Galway in the North fourscore and ten miles Its breadth East and West from Waterford haven to Feriter haven is one hundred miles The air is mild and temperate the soil in some parts hilly with woods and solitary mountains the vallies beautified with Corn-fields The commodities are Corn Wood Cattel Wool and Fish especially abundance of Herring and Cod. The principal City is Limrick compassed about with the famous River Shannon by the parting of the channel Also neer unto the River Savaren which issues out of Muskerry mountains stands the City of Cork and lastly in this Province is the fair City of VVaterford having a commodious Haven for trade and traffick The Province of Leinster described Leinster hath on the East the Irish Seas VVestward on Connaught side it s bounded by the River Shannon Northward with the territory of Lougth and Southward with part of Mounster It s in length fourscore miles in breadth seventy The airds clear and mild the soil generally fruitful and plentifull both in fish and flesh stored with corn cattel and pastures It s well watered with Rivers and for the most part well wooded except the County Dublin where it is much wanting It breeds excellent Hobbies that amble very easily It hath in it three Rivers of note Shour Neor and Barraeo which issue out of the huge Mountains Blandinae and meet together before they empty themselves into the Ocean In this Province are 1. Kilkenny a fair midland Town 2. Kildare 3. VVexford which was the first English Collony 4. Dublin the Metropolitan City which is strong beautiful and frequented by Merchants Near to it is the beautiful Colledge consecrated to the holy Trinity which Queen Elizabeth made an University The Province of Connaught described Connaught is bounded Eastward with part of Leinster Northward with part of Ulser Westward with the main Ocean and Southward with part of Munster It s in length one hundred six and twenty miles and in breadth fourscore The Air is not so pure and clear as in other Provinces by reason of the many Bogs In it Twomond or the County of Clare is best both for Sea and Soil Galway commodious for shepheards Maio replenished with Cattel Deer Hawks and Hony Slego with pasturidge Le Trim full of rank grasse and forrage Roscomen plain and fruitful fit for cattel or husbandry The principal City and indeed the third in Ireland is Galway built in manner much like a Tower and is well frequented with Merchants having a convenient Haven near unto it is the Isle of Arran The Province of Ulster described Ulster on the North is divided with a narrow Sea from Scotland Southward it extends to Connaught and Leinster and on the VVest is beaten with the vast Ocean It s length is near one hundred miles from North to South the breadth one hundred and thirty and odd miles The air is temperate which causeth the ground to bring forth great store of several trees both for building and fruit-bearing plentiful it is of grasse for Cattel well furnished with horses sheep and Oxen. The Rivers carry Vessels for pleasure and profit furnished they are with great store of fish especially of Salmons abounding more in some of these Rivers than in any other place in Europe Indeed in some places this Country is barren troubled with Loughs Lakes and thick woods but in other places fruitful enough if it were but well husbanded The principal place in this Province is Armagh near unto the River Kalin which though it make but a poor shew yet lately was an Archiepiscopal See wherein once sate Richard Fitz-Ralph commonly called Armachanus who Anno Christi 1355. wrote so sharply against the begging Friers detesting such voluntary beggery in Christians Thus was the state of Ireland before the late horrid rebellion brake forth what alterations the same hath produced I am not able to write The Isle of Man Described Man is situated in that part of the British Sea that is called St. Georges channel It lyes between England and Ireland containing in length about thirty miles the broadest place exceeds not nine miles the narrowest is not lesse than five Generally it s an high land upon the Sea-Coasts defended with rocks lying out into the Sea The Harbours for shiping are 1. Douglas the safest 2. Rainsway 3. Ramsey 4. Laxie all towards England
beds of Cotton called Hammackoeâ— and they worship only the Sun and Moon They have Parrats bigger than Pheasants with backs breasts and bellies of a purple colour In Guadabuza is a fountain so hot that it will quickly boil a peece of meat In Mevis also there is an hot bath like ours in England In Mona are wild Boars and great wild Bulls in Moneta are abundance of Fowl The Antiles Islands are seven St. Vincent Granado Lucia Matalina Dominica Guadalupa and Aysey where the Natives paint themselves to keep off the Muskitoes wear their hair long cut their skins in diverse works worship the Devil and poison their arrows Boriquen or St. Johns Island is three hundred miles long and seventy broad traversed with a rough Mountain out of which flow many rivers Here the Spaniards have some Towns the chiefest is Porto Rico taken by the Earl of Cumberland Anno Christi 1597. from whence hee brought about eighty cast peices and much other wealth Mevis hath in it great store of wood and in a valley betwixt two hills there is a bath like unto ours in England There are in it store of Conies sundry kinds of Fowl and plenty of Fish some of our English under Captain Middleton Anno Christi 1606 passing through the woods came to a most pleasant Garden being one hundred paces square on every side and had many Cotton trees growing in it and many Guiacum trees about it were such goodly tall trees growing as if they had been planted by Art In the Islands of Margarita and Cubagua which are situate nigh unto the Golden Castile there is neither Corn Grass Trees nor water so that sometimes the people will give a tun of Wine for a tun of Water But they have abundance of precious stones hence called Margarites and the gems called Unions because they alwayes grow in couples Jamica described Jamica or the Island of St. James which was once very populous but now is almost destitute of Inhabitants the Spaniards having slain in this and a neighbouring Island called Boriquen above sixty thousand living souls so that the women used to kill their Children before they had given them life that they might not serve so cruel a Nation It s in length two hundred and fourscore milâ—s and in breadth threescore and ten It s well watered and hath two Towns of note Oristana and Sevil Here the English have this last year planted themselves Jamica is very subject to Hurricanes which are such terrible Gusts of wind that nothing can resist them They â—urn up Trees overturn houses transport ships from Sea to Land and bring with them a most dreadful confusion they are most frequent in August September and October The natives are of quicker wits than in other Islands Cuba is three hundred miles long some say three hundred leagues and threescore and ten broad It s full of Forrests Rivers Lakes salt and fresh and mountains Here the people were prohibited the eating of Serpents as a dainty reserved for the higher powers The air is temperate the soil is fertil producing excellent brass but the gold is drossie it abounds with Ginger Mastick Cassia Aloes Cinamon Sugar Flesh Fish and Fowle The chief Cities being seated on the Northern shoar are St. Jâ—go and Havana a safe rode for ships where the King of Spains Navie rides till they carry home their rich lading In this Isle of Cuba two things are admirable one a Valley trending between two hills for three leagues which produceth abundance of stones of a perfect round form like bullets The other a Fountain whence Bitumen or a pitchie substance floweth abundantly and is excellent to pitch ships In these Islands the Inhabitans have been wasted by the Mines of Hispaniola and Cuba to the number of twelve hundred thousand Bermudae were discovered by Sir Thomas Summers and thence called Summers Islands they are four hundred in number In the biggest is a Colony of English who found it fruitful and agreeable to their constitutions The commodities in these Islands are variety of Fish plenty of Swine Mulberries Silk-worms Palmitos Cedars Pearls and Amber-greese They have great variety of Fowle as big as Pidgions which lay speckled Eggs as big as Hens Eggs on the Sand. Another Fowle there is that lives in holes like Conie-holes Tortoises they have and in the belly of one of them they finde a bushel of Eggs very sweet One of them will serve fifty men at a meal Their winter is in December January and February yet not so sharp but then you may meet with young birds It s so invironed with Rocks that without knowledge a Boat of ten Tuns cannot bee brought in and yet within is safe harbour for the greatest ship Hispaniola which lamenteth her loss of three millions of her inhabitants murthered by the bloody Spaniards It s in compass one thousand and four hundred miles having a temperate air fertil soil rich Mines Amber and Sugar It excels Cuba in three things 1. In the fineness of gold 2. In the increase of Sugar one Sugar-Cane will here fill twenty sometimes thirty measures 3. The great fruitfulness of the soil the Corn yeelding an hundred fold The chief City is St. Domingo ransaked by Sir Francis Drake Anno Christi 1585. And lately attempted by our English but through miscarriages they lost their opportunity of taking it which made them go to Jamica Hispaniola seemeth to enjoy a perpetual spring the trees always flourishing and the Medows all the year cloathed in green It s in a manner equally divided by four great Rivers descending from high mountains whereof Junna runneth East Attibunicus West Nabiba South and Jache Northward Diverse of their Rivers after they have run a course of ninety miles are swallowed up of the earth On the top of an high Mountain is a lake three miles in compasse into which some Rivolets run without any apparent issue In one part of this Island is a Lake whose water is salt though it receive into it four great fresh rivers and twenty smaller It is thought to have some intercourse with the sea because some Sharks are found in it it is subject to stormes and tempests Another Lake there is that is partly salt partly fresh being twenty five miles long and eight broad These are in a large plain which is one hundred and twenty miles in length and between twenty five and twenty eight miles in breadth Another valley there is that is two hundred miles long and broader than the former and another of the same breadth but one hundred and eighty miles long One of the Provinces in Hispaniola called Magua is a plain compassed about with hills wherein are many thousand Rivers and Brooks whereof twelve are very great some thousands of them are enriched with gold Another Province is most barren and yet most rich with Mines From this Island the Spaniards used to bring yearly four or five thousand Duckats of gold This Island is much infested with flyes whose stinging
causeth great swelling also there is a worm that creepeth into the soles of mens feet which causeth great swelling and pain for which they have no remedy but to lance the flesh and so to dig them out They have a certain kinde of Beetles which have four lights that shine much in the dark two in their eyes and two under their wings when they flye they use to bring them into their houses where they do them double service First by killing the Gnats secondly by giving them light which is so great that they can see to read by it Kine in this Island carried thither by the Spaniards are so multiplied and grown wild that they kill them for their hides and Tallow leaving their flesh to bee devoured by dogs and fowl Almost forty thousand of them have been transported in one year Anno Christi 1519. Ants were as noisome to them as Grashoppers in other parts of the world they spoiled their fruits and fruit trees they could keep nothing in their houses which was fit to bee eaten from them and had they continued they would have unpeopled the Island There are worms also which do such harm in Timber that a house will scarce stand here thirty years when the King in this Countrey died they buried the best beloved of his Concubines with him who also had other women buried for to attend upon them in the other World together with their Jewels and Ornaments they had also set in their Sepulchre a Cup of water and some of their Cassavi bread Anno Christi 1508 here happened such an Hurricane as threw down most of the houses in Domingo and Bona ventura destroied twenty sail of ships lifted up many men into the air who falling down again were miserably bruised Newfound-land described Newfound-land is an Island bordering upon the continent of America no farther distant than England is from the nearest part of France It lies between six and forty and three and fifty degrees of Northerly latitude It s near as big as Ireland and is near half the way between Ireland and Virginea even in winter it s as pleasant and healthful a place as England The natural Inhabitants are not many and those rude ignorant of God and living under no kinde of civil Government In their habits customes and manners they resemble the Indians which live upon the continent They are ingenious and tractable and take great pains in helping those Christians which yearly fish upon their coasts to kill cut and boil their Whales expecting nothing for their labour but a little bread or some other trifles All along the coast of this Country there are many spacious and excellent Bayes some of them stretching into the land more than twenty leagues And round about the Coast and in the Bayes there are many small Islands all within a league of the land which are both fair and fruitful neither doth any Country in the world afford greater store of good harbours nor those more safe commodious and free from danger The soil of the Country in the Vallies and sides of the Mountains is so fruitful that without the labour of man it naturally produceth great plenty of Pease and Vetches as full and wholesome as ours in England Other places produce plenty of Grass There are Strawberries red and white and Rasberries as fair and good as ours in England Multitude of Bilberries and other delicate Berries in great abundance There are also Pears Cherries Filbeards c. There are Herbs for Sallets and broth as Parsley Alexander Sorrel c. As also Flowers as Red and Damask-Roses with others beautiful and delightful both to the eye and smell There are also diverse Physical Herbs and Roots Some Corn that our men have sowed proved very good and yeelded great increase so do Cabbages Carrats Turneps Lettice c. In the Country there are great store of Deer Hares Foxes Squirrels Beavers Wolves Bears and other kindes of Beasts both for necessity profit and delight Besides great numbers of small Birds there are Hawks great and small Partridges Thrustles Nightingals c. As also Ravens Gripes Crowes c. besides plenty of water-Fowle as Geese Ducks Gulls Penguines Pigeons c. Of these there is such abundance that the Fisher-men which yearly trade thither finde great refreshing by them The Country yeelds store of Rivers and Springs pleasant delightful and wholesome together with abundance of fuel for the fire besides Timber Trees as Fir Spruce fit for Masts of ships from whence also comes abundance of Turpentine Pines also and Birch-Trees c. The Rivers and Harbours are stored with delicate Fish as Salmons Pearles Eeles Herrings Makarel Flounders Cods Trouts as large fat and sweet as any in the world Besides Lobsters Crab-fish Muscles c. There are also Beavers Otters c. The Seas along the shore yeeld Whales Spanish-Makarel Dorrel Pales Herring Porposses Seales c. Especially by their Cod-fishing both our own and other Nations are much enriched Two hundred and fifty sail of Ships go thither usually in one year from England New-Scotland described New-Scotland lyeth on the East of St. Croix on the North it s compassed with the great River Canada and hath the main Ocean on the South It hath many safe harbours and great Rivers having on the sides of them delicate medows where the earth of it self bringeth forth Roses red and white and Lillies having a dainty smell The soil is fat producing several sorts of Berries as Goos-berries Straw-berries Hind-berries Ras-berries c. as also Pease Wheat Barley and Rye The Rivers abound with Lobsters Cockles and other small fishes There are great store of wild fowle as Geese Herons Ducks Wood-cocks Pigeons The Coast hath store of Cod and other great fishes The Land is full of wood mostly of great Oaks the rest Fir-trees Spruce Birch and many other sorts here unknown Groenland described Groenland is accounted part of America and is high mountainous and full of broken Islands along the Coast It hath good Baies and navigable Rivers that are full of fish Between the mountains are pleasant plains and vallies there aâ—e store of fowle black Foxes and Deer The people wander up and down in the Summer time without fixed habitations for hunting and fishing carrying their Tents and baggage with them they are of a middle stature brown active warlike eating raw flesh or a little perboiled in blood oil or a little water which they drink Their apparrel are Beasts or Fowles skins the hairy or feathered side outward in summer and inward in winter Their Arrows and Darts have but two feathers and a bone-head no wood growes there they worship the Sun Their Winter-houses are built of Whales-bones covered with earth and vaulted two yards deep under the earth within land they have a King that is carried upon mens shoulders They have Hares as white as Snow with long fur Dogs which live on fish whose pizzels as also of the Foxes are bony Their Summer work is