agreeing very well with the English Constitution The Summer is as hot as in Spain the Winter as cold as in France or in England The Heat of Summer is in Iune Iuâ—…y and August but the constant breezes at that time of the year do much allay its vehemency The extreme cold of the Winter is half December Ianuary February and half March The Winds are variable but no such Thunder or Lightning as in Europe all the varieties of needful Fruits which we have here may by the industry of men be in great plenty there There is but one entrance by Sea into this Country and that is at the Mouth of a very goodly Bay eighteen or twenty miles broad The South Cape is called Cape Henry and the North Cape Charles in honour of those two Princes The Land may have the prerogative over most places known for large and pleasant Navigable Rivers Mountains Hills Valleys and Champion Fields In the Bay which lieth North and South are many Isles both great and small the water floweth herein neer 200. miles and hath a Channel for 140. miles of betwixt 6 and 15 Fathom deep being in breadth some 10 or 14 miles The Mountains are of divers natures for at the Head of the Bay the Rocks are of a Composition like Mill-stones some of Marble c. the Colour of the Earth did in some places resemble Bole Armeniac Tirra Sigillata Fullers Earth but generally it is a black Sandy Mould In some places again fat slimy Clay in others a very barren Gravel The whole Country is neither Mountainous nor yet low but bestowed into pleasant Hills and fertile Valleys one prettily crossing another and watered conveniently with fresh Brooks and Streams no less commodions then delightful There is little Grass for all the Country is over-grown with Trees whose continual Droppings causeth their Grass to turn to Weeds by reason of the ranckness of the Ground which is now well amended by the Plantations The Wood is commonly Oake and Walnut many of their Oakes so tall and streight that they will bear two foot and an half square of good Timber for twenty yards long there is also some Ash and Elm Mulberries Chesnuts which taste like Damsons and Vines but they are wild and bear few Grapes There are also Gums Cedars Saxafras-Trees Berries Herbs and Roots Pellitory and Oranges For Beasts there are Deer Squirrells Beaver Otters Foxes Dogs Martins Pole-cats and Weasels For Birds there are all sorts of Hawks Partridges Turkeys Blackbirds Thrushes and divers of our small Birds In Winter there are great plenty of Swans Geese and such Wilde Foul as also Parrots and Pigeons For Fish there is Sturgeon Grampus Porcupisce Seal Mullets white Salmons Trouts Soales Plaise Herrings Pearch Crabs Stromps Eeles Lampreys Oysters Cockles and Muscles The Inhabitants differ much in stature but generally they are tall and streight they are of colour Brown or enclining to an Olive when at Age but are born white They are inconstant in every thing but what fear constraineth them to keep Crafty Timorous quick of apprehension and very ingenious They are soon moved to anger and so malicious that they seldome forget an Injury Their Buildings and Habitations are for the most part by Rivers or not far distant from some fresh Spring their Houses are built like our Arbours of small young Twigs bowed and tyed and so close-covered with Mats or the Barks of Trees very handsomly that notwithstanding either Wind Rain or Weather they are as warm as Stoves but very smoky yet at the top of the House they have a Hole to let it out The Men use Fishing Hunting and other Manly Exercises while the Women sow and reap and carry burdens and do all the Drudgery Their Chief God they serve is the Devil whom they call Okee more out of fear then love In their Temples which are Houses 60. foot high built Arbour-wise are placed the Images of their Devils and Kings and their Tombes They have a Chief and Inferiour Priests but keep no Day more Holy then another They use also divers Conjurations and have Altars but they stand from their Temples In some parts of their Country they have yearly a Sacrifice of Children Upon some conference with them concerning their Religion although they could not be perswaded to forsake their False Gods yet they did believe that our God as much exceeded theirs as our Guns did their Bows and Arrows Many encounters the English had with these Natives who by treacheries and open assaults endeavoured to disturb their possession but they were so frighted with the noise and so terrified with the Execution of the Guns that they were kept in some awe while Iames Town was finished which by the constant supplies sent yearly by the Council for Virginia was at last well built and fortified and pallisadoed and the Salvages awed into a good Comportment untill the comming of the Lord de La Ware just as through want the English were resolved to quiâ—…t the Country a little before which time as they had taken the same resolution Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Sommers prevented them by arriving from the Bermudas where they had been in great danger by a leaking Ship His Lordship arrived the 9. of Iune 1610. accompanied with Ferdinando Waynman Captain Houlcroft Captain Lawson and divers others in three ships well appointed with a years provision who built Fort Charles and Fort Henry that were afore but bare Capes and soon after good store of Kine and Swine were sent by Sir Thomas Dale who was Governour after my Lord De la Ware was returned who built a Town called Henrico and portioned out the adjacent Country into Hundreds as also he built another Town and called it the New Bermoudas about fifty miles from Iames Town and the English Collony fell to planting their Corn about April every year every man having been allotted three Acres of Ground in the nature of Farms the first Farmer there being one William Spence who were to supply their stores for it with a small quantity of Corn yearly by which means it was wonderfull to see how in so short a time this Colony was thriven in its reputation But it advanced faster soon after by the means of the standing Lottery and a perfect peace made with Powhatan the King of the Country whose Daughter being surprised one Mr. Rolfe had married She proved a very good Christian and Vertuous Woman being Christened Rebecca They begun also now to plant Tobacco every year changing their Governour and had a dispute with the French in their new plantations A Convention also in the nature of a Parliament was called and several gifts to charitable uses for bringing up the Indian Children transmitted to the Governour and Council so that they were by the year 1620 in a very flourishing condition that year arriving no less than eleven ships and 1216 persons which were thus to be disposed 80. for Tennants to the Governors Lands besider 50. sent the
Cloth that serves not onely themselves but is also transported into other parts their chief City is London the Inhabitants are brave Warriors both at Sea and Land and many of them learned and witty The Orders of Knighthood are of St. George or of the Garter there are twenty six Knights of it whereof the King of England is the Soveraign the Ensign is a blew Garter buckled on the left leg on which these words are embroidered Hony soit qui mal y pense about their necks they wear a blew Ribond at the end of which hangeth the Image of Saint George upon whose day the Order is for the most part celebrated Secondly of the Bath instituted one thousand and nine They use to be created at the Coronation of Kings and Queens and the installing of the Prince of Wales Their duty to defend true Religion Widows Maids Orphans and to maintain the Kings Rights the Knights thereof distinguished by a red Riband which they wear ordinarily about their necks to difference them from Knights Batchelours of whom they have in all places the precedence unless they be also the Sons of Noble-men to whom the Birth gives it before all Orders Thirdly of Baronets an hereditary Honour the Armes are Mars three Lions passant gardant Sol. This Kingdome famous for Warlike Exploits abroad there being no Nation in the known world but where their dreadful Arms have been carried witness our Holy-Land Expeditions our Atchivements in Spain several Times our Conquests in France our defence of the Netherlands our Triumphs over Scotland and subduing of Ireland our Naval Power not less formidable in 88. and lately with the stubborn Dutch whom for all our more than uncivil Broyls we humbled into an intreaty of Peace was infinitely more terrible to it self in the late Convulsion and Subversion of the Laws and Government by a fatal Quarrel of the Parliament with the King A Prince no doubt of the greatest vertues piety and abilities that ever Swayed this Scepter nor could the Malignity of our Distempers have seized one of a sounder Constitution as to Honour Conscience Clemency Justice or what ever good quality is requisite for a King being absolutely the best of all the Princes that ever Reigned in this Island It will be alike grievous and tedious to relate the Miseries of this unnatural War the Battels Seiges and Surrenders that happened therein It will be too much to say that after a bloody Contest the King was worsted and with him the Laws and afterwards by his own rebellious and traite ous Subjects brought to a new unparallel'd High Court of Justice and by Sentence thereof beheaded before his own Court-Gates at White-Hall Ianuary 30. 1648. By the perpetration of this Murder and by a thing called an Act of Parliament Monarchy seemed to be actually dissolved it being made Treason to Proclaim the Prince or any other Person King or Queen of England All Empires have their certain periods and measures of Time at the Expiration whereof they tast of that Vicissitude and Change to which all other sublunary things are more frequently subject This Monarchy had â—…asted without any great alteration in a direct Line the Name only changed from Plantagenes which begun in Henry the second who restored the Saxon Line to Tâ—…wdor in the Person of Henry the seventh who united the two Houses of York and Lancaster after to Stuart in the Person of King Iames who united the two Kingdomes of England and Scotland and continuing and long may it in our present Soveraign six hundred years and upwards till this fatal Revolution was come when we were under an Anarchy no Government at all in reality There are reckoned during this interregnum no less then seventeen Forms of Authority we were under in the space of eleven years betwixt the Parliament Protector and Army In the year 1651 our present Soveraign to regain his Right entered England from Scotland where Cromwell had p evailed and very like to carry all before him and got a start of three dayes march and came to Worcester where he was not long after defeated but most miraculously escaped into France where Divine Providence preserved him safe and after many strange over-turnings after we had been ridden by a Rump of a Parliament and tyrannised over in our Lives and Estates by the Protector Oliver Cromwell who by wicked means had scrued himself into the Supreme Power and wearied with the lording Insolencies of an Army by the Conduct of General Monk returned him in Honour and safety to his Kingdomes and his Kingdomes to Peace and Prosperity on his most happy Birth-day May 29. 1660. since which His Majesty is most happily Married to the Infanta of Portugal and such an alliance made as will be most beneficial to the Trade and consequently promote the Glory of these Nations Scotland invironed with the Sea except on the south side where it bordereth with England is not so fruitful yet hath of all things enough to fustain it self the head-City is Edenborough Scotland giveth many sorts of course Woollen Cloth Wool Mault Hides Fish The principal Order of Knighthood here is that of St. Andrew The Knights did wear about their necks a Collar interlaced with Thistles with the picture of St. Andrew appendent to it The Motto is Nemo me impune lacesset Secondly of Nova Scotia ordained by King Iames one thousand six hundred twenty two hereditary but the Knights thereof distinguished by a Riband of Orange Tawney the Arms of the Kingdome are Sol a Lion Rampant Mars within a double Tressure counter-flowered Little can be said of Scotland because its story is all one with England as to latter Times But be it remembred that soon after the union of the two Kingdoms was dissolved by dividing the Head thereof by the hand of Violence that Realm was totally Conquered by the English which all the English Prowess and valour of our Ancestors could never effect This was atcheived by the incomparable Felicity and conduct of the thrice renowned General Monck who in 1653. marched over Hills Rocks and Praecipices into the furthest Northern parts of Scotland and there forced General Middleton to fight where the said Middleton was overthrown and the whole Countrey thereupon submitted to the Conquerour Ireland is full of brooks marshes waters and woods hath good pasture and abundance of tame and wilde beasts but little grain the Inhabitants are rude and wilde People yet through the conversation and Government of the English are daily more and more brought to Civility the air here is very temperate cooler in Summer and warmer in Winter than in England the Arms of Ireland are Azure an Harp Or stringed Argent This Kingdom was never in a better constitution of Government as to appearance than in the beginning of our Troubles in 1639. by the prudent steerage of the Earl of Strafford Deputy thereof but in 1640. the 23. of October such a sudden and bloody Rebellion broke out that from that day
to the 25. of March 1641. but five months there are reckoned 150000. Protestants slain and murthered by the Catholick confederate Rebels After many Combats and change of Fortune and Governors in that Kingdom it was by Ireton Cromwel's Son in Law totally reduced and the prime ringleaders of the Rebellion with Sir Phelim O Neale of the Family of Tyrone their Generalissimo deservedly executed The Isles belonging to Great Brittain are the Surlings or Scillies Garnesey Iarsey Wight Anglesey Man Hebrides 〈◊〉 and many others All which three Kingdoms and Islands aforesaid make up one Realm restored to the Government of his most Sacred Majesty Charâ—…es the second whom God long preserve Their Religion is Protestant their Church Government by Gods mercy again Episcopal The Low Countries contain seventeen Provinces the Dukedoms of Erabant Guelderland Lymburge and Luxenburgeâ—… the Counties of Flanders Artois Utrecht Henault Holland Zeland Nâ—…men Zutfen the Marquisate of the Holy Empire the Lordships of Freezland Mechlen Overysel and Graving All which are Lands above measure well tilled and inhabited contaâ—…ning two hundred and eight Cities fortified with Walls and Ditches and about six thousand three hundred Villages with Parish-Churches beside the Castles Forts and Noble-Mens Houses which are almost infinite in number This Land is watered with many excellent Rivers as the Rhine the Mose the Mard the Scheld and others It hath also many commodious Sea-Havens abounding in Ships and very skilful and expert Mariners and Pilots as by their Navigations may appear whereby they have compassed as it were the whole World The Inhabitants are also very valiant and notable Warriours as well by Sea as by Land as their Enemies themselves will witness They are excellently well skilled in all cunning and handy-crafts Many attribute unto them the Invention of the Sea-Compass as also the Needle and laudable Art of Printing Books they send abroad into other parts all sorts of Linnen and Woollen Cloth Camerick Pasement-lace of Gold Silver and Silk Taffata Wrought Velvet Grograms Sayes whole and half Velvet Bags Silk Laces Say and Liâ—…en All manner of twined Thred wrought Silk refined Sugar prepared Buff and Ox-hides as also Spanish Leather Pictures Books Cables Ropes and other Ship-furniture Cards Pins and all kind of Mercery dried and salt Fishes Herrings Butter Cheese and Bisket the People are of the Reformed Religion except the Spanish Provinces and they are Papists they suffer any Religion among them the principal Order of Knighthood ordained by these Princes is that of the Golden Fleece instituted one thousand four hundred thirty nine ordained as someâ—… conceive from Gideons Fleece Their Habit is a Collar of Gold interlaced with Iron seeming to strike fire out of a Flint Or Ex ferro flammam being the word at the end whereof hung the Foison'd Or or a Fleece of Gold the King of Spain may now make as many of them as he please There are in these parts three Arch-bishops fifteen Bishops These Provinces have been Governed by several distinct Soveraigns as the Dukes of Brabant and Guelderland Earls of Flanders Holland Henault and Zeland c. All which by several Marriages of the Co-heirs for want of Issue-male at last devolved the entire Soveraignty into the House and Family of the Dukes of Burgundy the Male-line whereof expiring the Heir General Married with Maximilian Arch-Duke of Austria in the time of H. 7. and conveyed these seventeen Provinces to her Son Philip the 1 of Spain by Marriage with Ioan Daughter and Heir of Castile and Arrâ—…gon in whose Posterity they continue the Emperour Charles the fifth in his division of his Estates leaving these to his Son Philip the second who by the Tyranny of the Duke of Aâ—…va and the Establishing the Inquisition and a bloody Council like our High Courts of Justice contrary to the Fundamental Laws of those People so alienated the Affection of those Provinces that they the most of them revolted and being Headed and led by William Prince of Aurange Count of Nassâ—…n and a Feudatory Subject of Burgundy shook off the yoke of Spain and declared themselves a Free Estate for that the King of Spain had forfeited his Right Title and Authority over them The Wars thereupon are so famous both for the length vigourousness and policy thereof both in Battels and Seiges it becoming a Trade in which most of the young Gallants of all Nations were bred and also for the renown of those Captains Generals on both sides such as Prince William assissinated by a Bâ—…rgundian Prince Maurice and Prince Frederick Grandfather to this prince of Aurange on the Estates side who were mainly supported by the English and by their blood raised to this Grandeur and partly also by the French and Alexander prince of Parma natural Son to Charles the fifth and the Marquiss of Spinola on the King of Spains who by more moderation and Arms regained some provinces of the Defection but seven of them to wit Holland Zeland and â—…trecht and Overysel part of Brabant and most part of Guelderland and Zutfen could never be reduced but after a War of 80. years he was constrained to acknowledge them a Free State or Commonwealth now Governed in Common by the States General and in particular by the Estates of each individual Province This peace was concluded on at Munster in 1647. to the great content of the Spaniard who was embroiled in a fierce War against the French who therefore mightily obstructed the proceeding thereof but after this calm there arose such a Tempest at Sea that had neer sunk them to their former condition of the distressed Estates by a difference between the up-start Common-wealth of England and them concerning Traffique and Soveraignty of the Sea The usurping Protector after six terrible Naval Fights to secure his invasion of the Government granted them peace in 1653. which hath been better confirmed by our Soveraign Charles the second since his Restitution of which they seemed to be as exceedingly and pompously during his stay in their countrey just before his happy return as concernedly joyous Of the ten other provinces belonging to the Spaniard two of them Artois and Henault are conveyed and transferred to the French in portion for the late Marriage and a part of West-Flanders in which is seated that memorable and well fortified Port of Dunkirke at present acknowledgeth the Dominion of the Crown of England being put into English Hands during the Usurpation in 1658. after the joynt Conquest of it by their and the French Forces the same year Germany is one of the greatest Provinces in Europe and is in the midst thereof bounded on the East with Hungaria and Polonia on the South with Italy and Bolonia on the West with France and on the North with the North-Sea and with the Sea called Mare Balticum In the midst whereof lieth Bohemia wherein stands Prague where the Emperour commonly keeps his Court It is adorned with magnificent Towers well fortified and furnished with such a number
of Castles and Villages such abundance of People and with such Politique Government that she may compare with any The Soil is fruitful both in Corn and Wine it hath many Navigable Rivers stored with plenty of Fishes most excellent Fountains and hot Bathes Mines of Gold Silver Tin Copper Lead and Iron it hath very Learned Men skilful in all Sciences and Mechanick Arts The Religion is here very diverse for there being many free Provinces some are Papists some Protestants and of these again some Calvinists some Lutherans There are six Arch-Bishops and thirty four Bishops The Wars of Germany ushered in by the Comet or Blazing-Star in 1618 have had dire and prodigious effects first the Prince Elector Palatine undertaking the Crown of Bohemia was worsted at Prague and the King of Denmark seconding him was likewise brought very low by Count Tilly the Emperour's General and glad to accept of a Peace upon hard terms when in 1629 enters Gustâ—…vus Adolphus the King of Sweden whose victorious Armes conquered Tilly at the Battel of Leipsick and presently over-run all Germany defeated the Emperours next General Wallestein Duke of Freidland at Lutzen where notwithstanding he was killed his Army had the Day of whom it was said that Before Death in Death and after Death he was victorious At the Battel of Nordlingâ—…in the Fortune of the Swedes failed a great slaughter being made on them by the Imperial Army and so a Peace was afterwards patched and again interrupted till the solemn and general Pacification at Munster since which time the Princes and People have been in quiet The Prince Elector Palatine losing the one half of his Estate as forfeited to the Emperour who hath invested the Duke of Bavaria the Electors neerest kinsman in the upper Palatinate Denmark and Norway are very great Regions bordering southward upon Germany they extend toward the north to seventy one degrees and thirty minutes north Latitude towards the east they border upon Sweden and on the west and north-side they are invironed with the Sea they at this time are under the Government of one King who is Lord of Seland Greenland Hitland and Gothland These Kingdomes afford unto other Lands Oxen Barley Mault Stock-fish Tallow Sand Nuts Hides Goat-skins Masts Deals Oaken-boards Wood to burn Pitch Tarr Brimstone and the like their Religion is the Lutherans The chief Order of Knighthood in it is that of the Elephant their Badge a Collar powdered with Elephants towered supporting the Kings Arms and having at the end the Picture of the Virgin Mary The Arms of the Land are Quarterly Of three Lions passant Vert crowned of the first for the Kingdome of Denmark and two Gules a Lion rampant Or crowned and armed of the first in the Paws a Dansk hatchet Argent for the Kingdome of Norway there are two Arch-Bishops thirteen Bishops This King is allyed to the Crown of England Queen Ann Wife to King Iames being Aunt to this present King Frederick Twice in twenty years not to mention other Wars before hath this Crown been endangered by the Swedes but more neerly in 1657 and 8 when the King of Sweden Carolus Gustavus being drawn out of Poland to prevent the Dane then in Arms against him with strange success almost over-run his Countrey In a most hard Winter he passed his Arms and Canon over the Sea from the Continent unto the Island of Funen where he overthrew the Dane took Cronenburg Castle which Commanded the Sound and at last laid Seige to Copenhaguen the chief City of Denmark where attempting a Storm by night he was repulsed with the loss of three thousand Men and soon after the Hollanders with a Fleet in spight of his Navy and the said Castle entered and relieved the Town with Conceit whereof and a violent Feaver the said King not long after deceased and the Danes in gratitude and Honour of their King Frederick who had so bravely defended and stood by them consented to make that Kingdome hereditary as now it is established all the Estates having done Homage which before was onely Elective the Family of this King afore injoying onely the Crown of Norway by descent and inheritance This Prince suffered much for siding with the Dutch against the English in the late difference seizing there twenty of our Merchant-men on pretence of his Aunts Dower but was forced at last to make recompense for the dammages which the Dutch undertook for him Sweden is a great and mighty Kingdome bordering on the East upon Muscovia on the south upon the Baltick Sea and Denmark on the West upon Norway and on the North upon the Finmark and the Zurick Sea The Merchandises it selleth are Copper Iron Lead costly Furrs Buff and Ox-hides Goat-skins Tallow Pitch Barley Mault Hazel-nuts and such like things their Religion is Lutheran the Arms of the Kingdom Azure three Crowns Or It hath two Arch-Bishops eight Bishops It is a wonder and Men can scarce comprehend how this Nation is come to this greatness to make War in so many parts of Europe being to pass over the Sea or how they get so many Men in Arms the Dominions thereof being large but not populous so that there never came from thence sixty thousand Men. It was reported that many Women in Mens clothes supplyed their places and fought like Amazons The beginning of this upstart greatness was from Charles Duke of Sunderman who being Uncle to Sigismond King of Sweden by Descent and of Poland by Election upon his seating himself in that Kingdom and constituting his Uncle Vice-Roy of his Native Kingdome of Sweden he with the consent of the Senators assumes the Crown and maintaines it against his Nephew whereupon ensued divers Battels the Usurper wafting over his Swedes into Poland and beginning an offensive War when he dying his Son the Great Gustavus prosecuted it afresh till after various Successes a Truce was concluded on before the expiration of which he fell with that strange success into Germany before said After his death his Daughter Christina was Crowned and Reigned seventeen years when another occasion of War hapning they judging her not capable to mannage it procured her to renounce her right to the Crown and resign it to her kinsman Carolus Gustavus who with a powerfull Army invaded Poland prompted thereunto by Cardinal Mazarine and the Usurping Protector of England who by an Ambassador Mr. Whitlock projected that Invasion to keep the Arms of the House of Austria in suspence and attendance of the issue of that War which were raised to the assistance of the Spaniards then in War with both French and English Carolus Gustavus dying as aforesaid the Crown is placed on the head of his Son Charles a Child of five years old by his Wife the Daughter of the Duke of Holsteyn Of their late Conquests within these fourty years there remains to that Crown all Pomerania and the Arch-Bishoprick of Brâ—…men in Germany besides other less Provinces gained from the Dane and several Islands
is necessary to the life of man it is the nature of this tree though never so ponderous a weight wereput upon it never to yield to the burden but still to resist the heaviness of it and to endeavour to lift and raise it self the more upwards a fit emblem of the resurrection The people are not black but tawny or olive-coloured they weep and mourn over the bodies of their dead daubed over with dung they hold it a great impiety to burn or bury them but having embalmed them they lay them in some inner room the men keep at home for the houshold business the Women follow merchandise and affairs abroad the men carry burdens upon their heads and the women upon their shoulders a witty and ingenious people the first Inventers of Geometry Arithmetick Physick Astronomy Necromancy and Sorcery yea they found out the very use of Letters The Christians among them differ from all other Christians first using circumcision with baptism Secondly conferring all orders under priesthood on infants immediately after baptism their parents till they come to sixteen years of age performing what they promised in their behalf to wit chastity fasting on Wednesday and Friday and the four Lents of the year Thirdly reputing baptism not to be of any efficacy except ministred by a Priest in the open Church in what extremity soever Fourthly and yet not baptising any children till the fortieth day though they die in the mean time Fifthly giving the Lords Supper to Infants as soon as Christned Sixthly contracting marriages in the second degree without dispensation Seventhly not observing the Lords day nor any Festivals except in cities Eighthly reading the Gospel writ by Nicodemus They differ from the Papists in these things first administring the Lords Supper in both kinds secondly with leavened bread thirdly admitting neither extreme unction nor the Lords Supper to those that are sick fourthly nor Purgatory nor prayer for the dead fifthly nor using elevation in the act of administring and sixthly accounting the Roman Church for heretical and esteeming the Latines no better then the Jews This Kingdom of Aegypt was a long while possessed by the Mamalukes a kind of Stratocracy or Army-power such as we had lately in England by Red-coats and Protector the Sultan was always elected by the souldiery who chose always one out of themselves the last of that Dignity was Tomombejus who being defeated by Sultan Selymus some 260 years ago was taken in Grand Cayro whither he fled out of the field and had made a brave defence by barricading the streets for three days He continued not long in a condition of Captivity for he was hanged at his Prison Door and exposed to the view of the Egyptians as a spectacle of the Vanity of humane greatness By this Selymus this Kingdom was reduced into a province where one of the principal Bashawes keeps Court in great state His Government being the richest in all the Turkish Dominions from whence yearly many ships lading of wealth is brought to Constantinople which is alwayes way-laid by some Gallies of Malta or Florence but of late years with little success they come so strongly guarded and if they fear any danger have all the Coast of Cyprus Rhodes and the Continent to Friend The Bashawes are sent thither as Spunges for when they have sucked an incredible treasure by pilling fraud and rapine they are sent for home and are squeezed to their skins which sometimes they are forced to part with to boot There hath been no change but of the Governours ever since the Conquest of this Kingdom which is usual with other Bashawes as namely those of Aleppo who do often rebel and threaten the Grand Seigniour so that at present the Egyptians continue in the same obedience and dumb slavery to which they have been so long accustomed changing in this Turkish Tyranny the names not the nature thereof from that they suffered under the Mamalukes Mount Atlas is a ridge of hills of exceeding height and of no small length it is above the clouds and is always covered with snow in the midst of summer full of thick woods and against Africa so fruitful that it affords excellent fruits of its natural growth not planted grafted or inoculated with the hand of man Lybia hath mount Atlas on the north by which it is parted from Barbary and Asrenaca on the east with Lybia Marmarica interposed betwixt it and Egypt and part of Ethiopia superior or the Abassine Empire on the south with Ethiopia inferior and the land of Negroes and on the west with the main Atlantick Ocean the countrey abounds with dates the chief diet of the people which commonly rotteth out their teeth their Goats they feed with the stones wherewith they grow fat and yield store of Milk the Air is so sound that it cureth the French Pox without any Physick the Inhabitants are base and vile People Thieves Murderers Treacherous and ignorant of all things feeding most on Dates Barley and Carrion counting Bread a diet for Holidayes their Garments of the coarsest Cloth so short that they cover not half the body the richer sort wear a Jacket of blew Cotton with great Sleeves they ride upon Camels without Stirrup or Saddle a Leather thrust through an hole made in the nose of the Camel serves them for a Bridle and to save Spurs they use a Goade their Religion is Mahometisme The land of Negro's is bounded on the east with Ethiopia superior on the west with the Atlantick Ocean on the north with Lybia Deserta and the south with the Ethiopick Ocean and part of Ethiopia inferior the Country very hot by reason of the situation under the Torrid Zone yet very well inhabited full of People and in some places alwayes grassy well watered specially where the River Nâ—…ger overfloweth well stored with Corn Cattel and Garden ware well wooded having store of Beasts wilde and tame they want fruit Trees they have both Gold and Silver Mines very pure the Inhabitants are of little wit and destitute of all Arts and Sciences prone to Luxury and for the most part Mahomeans Ethiopia superior is bounded on the east with the Red Sea and the Sinus Barbaricus on the west with Lybia inferiour the Realm of Nubia in the Land of Negroes and part of the Kingdome of Congo in the other Ethiopia and on the north with Egypt and Lybia Marmarica and on the south on the Mountains of the Moon it is in length a thousand five hundred miles in breadth half as much The religion of the people is they use to circumcise their children both males and females Secondly they baptise the males at forty and the Females eighty dayes after Circumcision Thirdly after the Lords Supper they are not to spit till the Sun-set Fourthly they professe but one nature and one will in Christ. Fifthly they accept only the three first generall Councils Sixthly their Priests live by the labour of their own hands for they allow them nothing nor
besides Malta In the Western Ocean the Canaries the Cape Verd and the Isle of Saint Thomas the chiefest in the Canaries is called Saint Iago and in Saint Thomas Panoasan In the Eastern Ocean there is the Isle of Madagascar or Saint Laurence and the Isle of Zocotora which hath a City after her own name America THE Vain and Ambitious lamentation of Great Alexander had he extended his Life to the same prodigious length as he did his victorious Arms might have found new Worlds to conquer when he might have past from his Conquest of the Sea of the East to the Shore of the West-Indies It hath been observed by those that have curiously calculated the rise growth and perfection of Arts and Learning that they have alwayes followed the fortune of Arms and Empire which having traversed the East and verged Westward to Grecia setled in the Roman Greatnesse among the rest of those Arts Astronomy and Geometry and the product of those Navigations have been by the Europeans highly improved who scorning the pusillanimity of former Ages that crept in their Vessels by the Shore have adventured into the dangerous Main and by skilfull presumption have discovered new Lands and so far advanced the knowledge of them by frequent Voyages that it is concluded so far as Sea and Land is passable there can be no other Countries undiscoverable Since which fortunate adventures the course of the World and Governments have been altered for Empire hath followed Arts to wit the discovery of those Treasures and Mines which innocent Nature had so long obscured and hidden from these parts of the World For the King of Spain being possest of these Mines as we shall see presently a wonder it is how formidable he grew and to what greatness he arose even to the aspiring ambition of an Universal Monarchy disdaining to be numbered the Fifth the other Four being indeed but partly so whereas this aimed to be one and all and Thomas de Campanella a Learned Iesuit hath written a very elaborate Tract shewing the means and feisible wayes thereunto The first Discoverer of this Fourth part of the World was Christopher Columbus a Genoese who having studied Geometry and been bred at Sea had more then strong imaginations that there were great and vast Regions to the Westward of Europe and thereupon communicated the Project to several Merchants who unwilling or unable to hazard so much Money as was requisite to such an undertaking advised him to address himself to some Prince whose Dominions were accommodated to the Design if it did succeed by whom he might be set forth upon the Voyage which he so importunately prosecuted as it is natural with all Men who fancy to themselves a single and sure way to Honour and Profit VVhereupon he addressed himself first to our King Henry the Seventh and laid open to him and his Council the fair possibilities of the Design and the advantages which would thence accrue to this Crown being so conveniently scituated for that Navigation King Henry heard him but gave little credit to his Discourses affecting a secure Exchequer which he had unknown wayes before to fill beyond the uncertain hopes of unknown Mines which like the Philosophers Stone might have no other existence than in projection He then made offer of this his service to Ferdinand King of Arragon and Castile a wise and prudent Prince who publickly weighing the small charge against the exceeding Honour and Gain consented to His desires and furnished him with fifteen Ships Men and Victuals for the Vovage giving him Commission and Authority in his name to pursue the adventure Our Chronicles indeed report that after this fruitless proffer which was in the year 1488. King Henry gavea Commission to one Iohn Canbâ—…t and his three Sons Sebastian Lewis and Santius Iohn and Sebastian setting Sail ranged a great part of this unknown Land in one thousand four hundred ninety and seven which Columbus had only touched in 1492 and it was 1498 ere he saw the continent Americus Vesputius came long after though the whole Continent at this day is called America after his own name This Sebastian discovered more than them all and was therefore Knighted by K. Henry the Eighth who made him grand Pilot of England with a pension of 166 l. 13 s. 6 d. yearly but the Spanish Seizure and Landing prepossessing the Countrey we got nothing there more then our pains for our labour till a great while after For it was almost 100 years after before we set footing in any part thereof The first that promoted it was Sir Walter Rawleigh in 1584. who with Letters Patents assisted by Sir Richard Greenvile great Unckle to the now Earl of Bath and other Gentlemen set out two ships from the Thames who in less then three Moneths time by an undue course to the Southward passing the Canaries fell in with the Coast of Florida and entring there into Harbour after they had sailed an hundred and twenty miles in sight of land they took possession of it for the Queens Majesty which from the tops of the Hills beholding the Sea on both sides they reputed to be an Island which they named Florida by reason of its flowery green soyl and flourishing herbage The Continent was then called by the Salvages Weganâ—…aca but afterwards upon the return of the Fleet Her Majesty was pleased to honour it with her own unmarried State and to call it Virginia the first Governour thereof being Mr. Ralph Lane Hither during the aboad of the English that were left while the Ships returned came Sir Francis Drake and seeing the men in distress lent the Governour and them a ship to carry them home The next were those in 1485 that came with Sir Richard Greenvile from Plimonth with seven sail who in a Months time came to St. Domingo in Hispaniola and within a fortnight after anchored at Florida and in 1586. Sir Richard Greenvile came again but the Colony he had left were all killed so he returned and sent Mr. White who made a successeful Voyage and was Governour there who returning into England and leaving another Colony they were all destroyed at his coming again which so dis-heartned all further undertakings that it was twelve years before another Voyage was begun under Captain Gosnol in the year 1602. who passing by the Azores made the Voyage shorter by 500. Leagues which was also seconded by two Barks from Bristoll 1603. and another from London 1605. But still no convenient Harbour for Ships nor Security for the Men that should stay there was yet found till the Arrival of Capt. Smith in 1606. Virginia is seated between the degrees of 34. and 45. North Latitude the Bounds thereof on the East-side are the great Ocean on the South lieth Florida on the North Nova Francia as for the VVest thereof the limits are unknown The English Plantations as they were in that year 1606. were under the degrees of 35 38. and 39. the temperature thereof
former Spring for the Companies Land and 150. for the Colledge 100. for the Glebe-land 90. young Women to make Wives 50. Servants for publique Service and 50. more whose Labours were to bring up 30. of the Infidels Children the rest were sent to private Plantations The year before the Lord De la Ware had mainly promoted this good and great Work passing over thither though he had hardly escaped before dyed to the great grief and discouragement of the Plantation most of the Nobility entred now also into the undertaking and were Treasurers for it to the further promoting of these good beginnings by whose Directions order was taken for suppressing the Planting of Tobacco Planting of Corn but all to little effect the stream of the Inclination of the Planters or good nature of the Soyl to cherish that Plant preferring it before all Grain whatsoever to the incredible profit of that Colony as it afterwards proved Now also there was much suit for Patents for Plantations and several Persons transported themselves upon their own Accompts bu twe shall see met with a miserable entertainment For on the 22 of March 1622. these perfidious Infidels though they had promised to hold the League inviolable till the Sky should fall as they termed it resolved upon a General Massacre which by reason of the English separating themselves for the better Soyl and commodiousness of Ground no way in the least distrusting these Miscreants whom in hope of their Conversion they had used with all Familiarity and Civility imaginable and therefore every way unprovided of defence their Guns never used but against Deer or Wild-foul they had very near effected if it had not been discovered by one of their own Nation that turned Christian. There were murthered in this attempt 347 Men Women and Children all with their own weapons they comming upon them in the disguise of the same familiarity but hurting none that opposed them By the discovery of the Indian aforesaid eleven parts of Twelve of the English escaped for it being revealed at Iames Town most of the Plantations dispersed thereabours among the Indians who commonly keep not above a 100 or 200 in a division of ground took the Alarm and stood upon their Guard which the Indians perceiving fled but the plantations far distant to a 140 miles were most destroyed which afterwards for more security were reduced to five or six and these inhumane Barbarians so severely dealt withal that in a short time the Country was wholly subjected to the English and became very well peopled and of great Trade and continued so proving a receptacle and good retreat for many families in our late confusions and now yieldeth great emoluments to the Inhabitants and Planters and so we will leave it and take a short view of the Bermuda's Islands The Islands of Bermuda's THese Islands lye in the main Ocean and 200 Leagues from any Continent scituated in 32 degrees and 25 Minutes of Northerly Latitude and distant from England West South-west about 3300 miles some twenty miles in length and not past two miles and a half in breadth environed with Rocks which make it naturally very strong but infamous for Shipwrack there being but two places and those not very wel known where Shipping may safely come in and those now are exceedingly well fortified but within is room to entertain a Fleet Royal The Island is very uneven distributed into Hills and Dales the Mold is of divers colours neither clay nor sand but a mean between both under the Mold two or three foot deep and sometime less is a kind of white hard substance which they call the Rock but Trees will fasten root in it being pumice like and spungy The Air is most commonly clear and very temperate and moist with a moderate heat very apt to nourish all things so as many things transported hence yield a far better increase and if it be a living creature it becomes far better and fatter by this means the Country is replenished with Hens and Turkeys yet being through their multitude not to be attended they turn wild and forsake the Houses There seems to be a perpetual Spring which is the cause some things come not to that maturity and perfection which is requisite and though the Trees shed their leaves yet are they alwayes full of Green The Coâ—…n is the same they have in Virginia and the West-Indies of which without plowing or much labour they have two harvests every year in Iuly and December it hath no Grapes in perfection and the Oranges and Lemmons grow twice a year likewise The Sun every day in the year shines upon it for the temperature is beyond all others the most admirable no cold greater than we feel here in April nor heat much greater than an ordinary May. Frost and Snow is never seen here and stinking and infections Mists very seldom by reason of the Main Ocean the Winter they have keeps time with ours but the longest dayes and nights are shorter than ours by two hours At its first Discovery 't was all overgrown with Weeds and Plants of several kinds many tall and goodly Cedars infinite store of Palmito's and Mulberries and Wild Olive Trees with divers others unknown both by Name and Nature there is also diversity of curious strange fowl as also for Game and Diet and likewise of Fish the Sea as well as the rest of the Elemeets being abundantly liberal It is uncertain how it came by this name of Bermuda's but that which is most noised for it is the casting away of a Spanish ship called by that name carrying black Hogs to the West Indies who swam ashore and were found there in great numbers so that it was called the Isle of Devils and shunned as the rock of Perdition One Henry May an English man being cast away in a French Vessel by the presumption of the Pilots who said they were twelve Leagues beyond it with some Frenchmen got ashore and making a new Bark there got to England in the year 1594. The next ship that was cast away or indeed rather to be said saved was that of Sir George Summers designed in 1609 for Virginia which by a Hurricane being covered with water and so leaking that after three days the men gave over working committing themselves to Gods mercy unexpectedly as Sir George was sitting at the Steerage guiding the ship to keep her upright came within sight of Land to which they made and ran her so even between two Rocks that she poised her self where he unladed the goods the storm ceasing and came on shore where finding such unhoped for plenteous refreshments though he went to Virginia in a Cedar-ship in which he returned thither again and there died two of his men which staid afterwards behind two years and one he left when he was carried home dead when as they were contriving their departure and committing themselves to the Sea in a little Bark a Ship appeared and stayed
their resolutions During their abode here they found in one entire Lump among the crevises of the Rocks a piece of Ambergreece the greatest yet found weighing 80 l. with other small crumbles This with much adoe was secured for the Company of these Sumer-Islands who to the number of one hundred and twenty had purchased a Patent for the said Isle whom the News of the Ambergreece much augmented The first Governour was Mr. More he departing there was a monthly succession of six till one should come from England which was Captain Daniel Tucker in the mean time the Fortifications were finished and the Isle secured from any attempt of the Spaniard in whose time happened that memorable Voyage of five Persons Viz. Richard Sanders William Godwin a Ship-Carpenter Thomas Harrison a Joyner Iames Barker a Gentleman and Henry Puet who making a Boat under pretence for Fishing being hardly used and not suffered to depart in the Ships by the assistance of a Compass unknown to any person till they were gone set to Sea having provided themselves of Victuals and by a direct Course the wind favouring them in five weeks time though a Pyrat to whom they sailed hoping to be taken in took away from them their Compass and other necessary implements arrived in Ireland where the Earl of Thomond honourably received them and hung up their Vessel for a Monument It is now divided into eight Tribes each Tribe having in it 50. Shares of which there are some for their publike charge The names of the Tribes are Sandys Southampton Warwick Paget Pembroke Cavendish Smith Hamilton formerly Bedford And thus much for Bermuda's The Swedes Plantation The Swedes are seated between the Dutch and Virginia in a Village by a Fort which lyeth eight miles within the River of Delaware in Virginia on the northside of the River they are few in number and their principle business is their Commerce with the Indians for they have little or no Cattle they furnish the Indians with Guns and weapons as the Dutch do and once in a year are supplyed by a ship or two from Swethland that fetch away their Merchandise Mary-Land This Province is divided from Virginia by the great River Patomuck it lyeth on the North side of the great River and the west side of the great Virginia Bay it is more wholesome then the parts of Virginia and seated better for the English grain It is now better peopled than formerly the Inhabitants being Papists and Protestants a like countenanced the propriety by Patent is vested in the Lord Baltimore a Catholick New-Holland To the South-west of New-England lyeth the Dutch Plantation it hath good ground and good air but few of that Nation inhabiting there which maketh that there are few Plantations in the Land they chiefly intending their East-India Trade and but one Village whose Inhatants are part English and part Dutch Here hath been no news or any matter of War or State since the first Settlement There is the Port Orange thirty miles up Hudsons River they are mischievous neighbours to the English for according to the European Mode they sell Guns and Ammunition to the Common Enemy the Indians new-New-England This Plantation was first undertaken in the year 1606. by Patent from King Iames to several Merchants of London and the West-Countries with a special Inhibition not to plant within 100 miles of the former Colony of Virginia but never took effect till 1622 or thereabouts after many losses and discouragements of several adventures At last Sir Francis Popham had the Happinesse and Fortune to establish it though with much hazzard and difficulty by the Treachery of the Indians and the unproportionablenesse of the after-Supplies The Plantation beginneth about 44. degrees and is indifferently peopled with English as Southwardly at 41. At this day it hath three Divisions the North the middle and the South In the middle is Boston the best Seat and best inhabited the South is the Government of New-Plimouth Boston hath a Street neer half a mile long full of Merchandâ—…ze Here is Resident a Council and a Governour which is yearly chosen and accommodated with a very good Port and Castle furnished with Men and Ammunition Near Boston lyeth Charles-Town and five miles into the Countrey is Cambridge an University of Nonconformists to the Church of England This Country having alwayes been the Receptacle of such religious Male-contents The Land of all this Region is generally barren and rocky the Commodities are these ensuing Pipe-staves Clabboard Fish English Grain and Fruits and Iron works with these they drive a Trade to most parts of Europe especially to Spain the Canaries and Chariby Islands They are at present very numerous and deserve their Name except their diversity in Religion which hath made them disgustful to old England Near adjoyning to this Colony the French have a Plantation called Canada or Nova Francia not worth the mentioning save for some bickerings that have lately happened betwixt us and them concerning limits wherein we have been successful driving them out of some Forts they unjustly possessed New-found-land This is the most Septentrional land of America but there is a straight of Sea not yet throughly discovered called Hudsons Straight by which the North-west passage was concluded feasible the Lands adjoyning being called Nova Brittannia or Nova Franmurcia This Island stretcheth North and South from 46. degrees and a half to 50. and a half Latitude The Natives of this place are few and Savage The Commodity thereof is Fish which is mostly Poor Iohn traded for in great quantity by French Biscayners and English chiefly of the West Country who for the profit hereof endure the Winter cold and Summer heat of the Climate amidst other very great difficulties This Island lyes at the mouth of the River Canada distant from the continent at the north end near half a League and the South-west point is about a League from Cape Britton Martins-Vineyard This is a small Island upon the Coast of New-England the Governour thereof being appointed by the Council of New-England It is 20. miles long and 10. miles broad there is great plenty of Fish in this Coast. On the Southwest of this Island lieth Long-Island in length 60. English miles and in breadth 15 inhabited by some English who for their Sectary opinions have been put from New-England They are claimed also by the Dutch but depend of nor pay duty to either As also there are divers other Islands more particularly Cape Hatrash a part of Island in 36 degrees from whence till you come to the point of St Helena which is in 32 degrees all the Coast along are broken Isles and uninhabited the best whereof is Roantke of 18 miles compasse The Islands of Lucahos or Bahama These Islands are Southwest from the Bermuda's and to the North of Portorico Hispaniola and Cuba the most emment is Lucayneque in 27 degrees There is likewise the Islands of Abacoa and Yuma of 12. and 20. Leagues in